Stepping onto the mat with Tiara Brisco, aka Yogi TB, is more than a stretch; it's a leap into a world of empowerment and authenticity. Our heartfelt discussion shares her transformative path from a college woman seeking an elective for credits in physical education to emerging a beacon of wellness as a yoga instructor and social media influencer. With her candid reflections, Tiara sheds light on the intricacies of maintaining genuine identity amidst the backdrop of ever-present scrutiny and the unique pressures faced by women in their crucial years of growth.
Tiara's narrative weaves the delicate threads of vulnerability with the strength found in a supportive community, and a desire to gain clarity about what is serving her, versus what is not. She shares her courage to pivot in career, fearlessness to identify new pathways and humility to gift her community with what she has learned.
Tierra's story is both an inspiration as well as an invitation to get centered and to get real with our own self.
Drive, Ambition, Doing, Leading, Creating... all good until we forget about our own self-care. This Village of All-Stars pays it forward with transparency about misses and celebration in winning. We cover many topics and keep it 100. We are Proven Not Perfect™️
https://www.provennotperfect.com
Follow me on Instagram at: shontrapowell_provennotperfect
Check out Proven Not Perfect ™️ YouTube Channel as well. Join the community for ideas and events at www.provennotperfect.com.
I'd love to hear what you think!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, proven, not perfect.
This is Sean Trappell.
I am excited to share thisconversation with you.
This conversation is just onethat you will want to share with
any young women, millennial, inyour life.
You know I'm talking probablylate 20s, mid 20s, early 30s,
(00:21):
mid 30s, you know, maybe even upto 40, quite frankly, and you
might want to share it because Ithink it's those tender ages,
depending on you.
Know what.
What you're calling is that youstart to realize that things
always aren't as pure as youmaybe think they were intended
(00:42):
to be.
Also, you learn how to dealwith stress in workplace
environments in a different way.
You learn about equity andinequity.
You learn about positioning.
You learn about finding yourown voice.
You struggle with thatsometimes.
(01:03):
All those things, y'all allthose things and if you know,
you know so, tiara Brisco isjust a wonderful soul, very
present.
I tell her that, but get pastthe initial opening where she
and I are greeting each otherand I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, once you get into the meatof this, it is a conversation
(01:26):
that will really hit home andreally, really challenge you to
think about where you are rightnow with your own self.
We talk yoga, we talkinfluencers.
We talk millennial, we talk allthe things y'all enjoy.
Tiara Brisco, yogi TB.
Tiara Brisco, mic check, miccheck.
(01:48):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Can you hear me All?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
right.
Yes, I hear you.
I hear you loud and proud andloud and clear.
But here's what I'm going totell you I hear you, I see you,
I hear you, I see you Like yourwhole being is.
So I don't want to say big,because big almost can be
confused with all sorts ofthings, but it's present, that's
(02:13):
what I want to say.
Your whole being is verypresent.
I remember meeting you over thesummer at an event and you
happen to be enjoying the eventas well as doing what you do at
the event.
I just remember walking into aspace on a mission for one thing
, and you were in the space andI was just drawn to your
(02:35):
presence.
I was really drawn to yourpresence and let's just say
you're like my little little,little little sister.
But there was something abouthow you were living and standing
and who you are right now, atsuch a young age that it just
caught my attention and I wascurious.
I was really curious and yeah,and then I would learn that all
(03:00):
those mornings that I didn't getup to do yoga, yeah, that part
it was my bad, my mess, becauseyou were there.
So God has a way of sort ofreally making a joke because
he's like yeah, when you talk toyourself out of getting up to
actually show up and do the yoga, that presence that you saw,
(03:23):
that's what happened, but anyway, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay, because we're here now and we still.
You still dropped so many gemson me and now we're here.
That's all that matters.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We are here.
That's right on.
Okay, so I dropped gems.
That's hilarious because that'swhat you remember.
You remember.
I remember this presence ofthis young being and you
remember me dropping gems.
Well, that makes me happy,because I do hope that as I show
up, I'm not only receiving, I'moffering as well.
(03:57):
It's really you know how I tryto recommit daily.
So I want to, first andforemost, for the people.
The people need to know thatyour handle is super cool Yogi
TB right, is that it?
Yogi TB?
All over Instagram and, I'msure, over so much more social.
(04:17):
Are you like a social mediaperson?
Are you like all over social oris it just?
You know, old school, I'm justseeing you on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know.
So I had to accept the terms,Like I would say, the past year
or so, that I am an influencer.
Oh, I guess it sounds and Ionly say that because when I
first started sharing on socialmedia, like Instagram, like I
(04:48):
had.
Instagram of course became, youknow, instagram, but when I
first started sharing, like myyoga practice, it was strictly
for yoga and then somehow,during I think I want to say the
pandemic, you know like, mytrajectory started to change and
I started to become more of aninfluencer.
I guess you would say Wow, orlike more in the wellness space,
(05:11):
but, like my, always my solepurpose was to share yoga.
And now I'm accepting that Ican still have a healthy
relationship with social media.
Being an influencer, you know,being a yoga instructor, a
wellness instructor at the sametime.
So I guess I'm, you're, aninfluencer, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So you're gonna have to double click on that because
you are officially the firstinfluencer that proven that
perfect is talking to, at leastat least self stated self,
called professional influencer,right.
So I want to talk about thatbecause I know that you also
have an amazing degree andprobably you know lots of
(05:51):
choices.
I want to know what did you goto school for?
So let's take her all the wayback and tell us about tiara as
like a young girl, like who wereyou when we met you.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So, tiara, as a young girl I was very inquisitive, I
was very adventurous, like I wasalways.
I always like to say, like Iwas the black sheep in my family
, not like just my media family,but my overall family on both
sides.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Why do you always want to tell us what does that
mean?
Like we know what it, we thinkit means, but but I've come to
learn that when people use thatterm, they stand in their, in
their experience they stood outin different ways.
So I kind of you know there'ssome, there's some ways that I
can relate to that too, but itmight not be the same as yours.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I just, I mean, I always went against the norm.
Like even I wanted to be aprime scene investigator for my
experience.
I used to have like themicroscope set and everything
like dissect birds and and allof it and all of that stuff.
Like I was really like thefinal speaking girl.
So when it came to me the evenlike trisclastic honors, ap
(07:12):
classes, so when it was time forme to go to college I was like
you know, I want to studyforensics, this is what I want
to do.
I want to be a forensicscientist when I grow up.
All that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So then I went to in state that we are just have to
do it for the hubby.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So I studied crime law and justice pre forensics.
It really was forensics atfirst, but then I got to
calculus and I was like I don'tlike that Calculus and chemistry
, I do not like math at all, butI was still able to to have
(07:58):
forensics in my degree basically.
So I still, you know, I'm stillin a situation.
So I got my bachelor's scienceand math and then I left college
.
Of course it's overworked formy background as law enforcement
.
A lot of people don't rememberit.
So I used to be an officer.
(08:18):
I got promoted.
I got promoted very fast to asergeant and then, during my
time as an officer though, I gotmy master's.
So I got my master's inforensics, forensic studies.
So I went to StevensonUniversity, got my master's in
there and then I left the policeforce and I became the agent.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Wow, that's so cool Girl.
This is like some scandalwrapped in.
I don't even know what to wrapit in.
That's pretty doggone cool.
So, I'm starting to see someblack sheep elements there,
right, because I can't imaginein the family there were a whole
(09:03):
lot of people that were talkingabout first of all the forensic
science and then criminaljustice and then ascending to
even agency.
That's super awesome.
What drew you to that?
Is that that curiousness?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That mean my senior year of college.
My senior year of college, Ihad an internship with the Penn
State Justice and SafetyInstitute and we had to do a
project, an intern projectbecause we literally put
together, like from the groundup, a criminal justice office
that took place in Kansas.
I couldn't go because I was awork college student, but, um,
(09:45):
actually none of us could gobecause we're not college
students and we were being paidlike $10 an hour, I think, for
this internship.
We did six hours a week, butanyways.
So my project and the programthat I created was child sex
trafficking in DC, maryland,virginia and in Canada, because
(10:08):
the conference was in Canada,and so I focused heavy on, you
know, sex trafficking, of course, as a whole, as umbrella, child
sex trafficking as a, you know,a sub topic, and so I was like
this is really what I want to do.
Like my goal in life is to getin a child sex trafficking task
force, and so the only way to dothat, like my, my path was
(10:31):
always want to be lawenforcement.
Some type of writers didn't knowwhat that would look like, and
but the only way to get on a sextrafficking task force was to
need to eventually become anagent on that level.
So, yeah, so that's what reallydrove me to that and also
become an agent.
We just have a little bit morefreedom as far as like your
(10:52):
experiences and your training,the agency you get to work with,
like to collaborate with,whether it's on a case, or, you
know, you get rejoin this othertask force, whatever it may be,
or you become a liaison sometype of way.
So that's that's really whatdrove my motivation.
But also I just felt like, nowthat I look back in hindsight
(11:16):
that I'm older, a lot of thethings I was doing also was to
seek like validation andacceptance, like from my family
yeah, prefer every like like mydad's side of the family,
because my brother and I werethe only grandchildren to my
dad's side.
So I think I was like seekinglike validation from like my
(11:39):
aunt and my police and my dad.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I consciously like to do anything, so you think, you
think the achievement so it wasall about.
Subconsciously, there was this,this desire to have others kind
of say okay, she's doing it,she made it, she's, she's good,
she's representing you know allthe things.
Right, wow, how did you so?
(12:05):
You said you look back at it.
When did it become clear to youthat your driver, your internal
driver, was external versusinternal?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I think it was when the job because even when I was
police officer it was a lot ofpeople don't realize it's a, of
course, a male dominated fieldyeah, but a lot of the stuff
that I went through that I don'tknow I never really talked
about it was so stressful.
I remember one time because Ihad to work on weekends too.
(12:38):
As an officer, you work likeevery other weekend, but when
you become a supervisor you work, of course, like more than
others.
So I was at work and I was inlike our control center because
I was like my little hoods, likeI was really good at doing it.
I was so stressed out, my skinit was so dry and like it, it
(13:01):
like cracked and it was justbleeding and I remember I just
left.
I left work Because once I foundout what leave was and they
can't question what's takingleave I was like I'm taking
mental health days.
I started doing that.
So it was bleeding.
I left work.
It went to my mom's house,which is probably like less than
10 minutes away.
I cried on her couch for likesix hours, wow, and so, like
(13:25):
that, I was like, okay, I'mstressed out, I'm highly
qualified for this position.
Like, educationally.
I'm qualified, I carried myselfas a professional, I'm highly
qualified and on to other things.
But it was just so much that Iexperienced because I got
promoted so fast.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yes, there's something real about that.
People don't talk about thathere and I don't.
It is agnostic to industries,right.
But those of us who are justbuilt with this gene to be goal
oriented, to be results drivenand to actually be really good
at what we do, you definitely dosee the results of promotion
(14:04):
quicker than most people, right.
But the part that people do nottalk about is there's something
that goes with the time of thatpromotion versus the quick
based on results, right, thematurity, the actual readiness,
the preparedness, the emotional,social aspects of it don't
(14:26):
always line up to the.
I got the role and I've seen somany people.
If they are honest, they eitherflame out, burnout or they are
just over aggressive and notself aware.
Yeah, all the things right,like I think I was somewhere
(14:46):
between the two at differentpoints, right?
Oh, my God, I love that yousaid that, because too many
people do not talk about that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
It was something that I want you to like from my
superiors to and.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I'm talking early career, but life has taught you
those things right, I'm talkingearly career, when you're being
promoted for being really goodat what you do.
But you still have some life toget.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, so it was so much, and then I became an agent
and then that's when I reallystarted to get deeper into my
yoga practice and I starteddoing more things, and you know-
.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
How did you know about yoga?
Tell me about that.
How did you even know?
How did you know?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So yoga was my gym credit my freshman year at Penn
State and I was like, let metake the class that I can be as
in.
Yes, isn't that my first year?
Yes, I was in the gym for awhile, but I still had a break
when I was-.
Yes, I was hanging out.
Yes, going to Shippetsburg thisweekend, going to Millersville
(15:50):
this weekend going to Temple.
Yes, you know, sometimes we wentduring the week.
Yes, I still got my work done.
But let me just take the classwhere I don't even have to show
up mentally, but it was thetotal opposite.
Yoga was actually very hard Inthe sense as the physical aspect
(16:12):
, because I've always beenflexible without a cheerleader
when I was younger, all thatstuff.
But it was hard in the aspectof mentally and emotionally
being vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yes, in the whole room.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I was wrong.
I'm probably 12 people in myclass because it was very
intimate, but just, I didn'tknow any of these people, right?
Yes, I was the only girl ofcolor in my class and my
children, you know white women.
She was so, so, so, so amazing.
I have been trying to find herhonestly for a very long time.
(16:48):
Wow, just to say thank you,yeah but, I don't know, wouldn't
that be amazing?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
if it comes full circle and she hears this Wow,
that will, you got one of theseout there.
She needs to be out there Allher out.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Look, I would say, call me but I'm not getting on
my number.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
How about dropping my DMs, because I'm Yo UTV.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yes, yes, yes, I know you got Instagram, we got
Facebook and something.
Fine, girl, yeah, that's how Ifound out about me and I had,
you know like, stuck with it.
That's a yoga one too, and so Istuck with it, because the only
person I was going to do it in2008, because generally it
wasn't a thing, but it was likeit was my uncle, my dad's
(17:38):
brother, and I didn't see anyother black person I knew they'd
be a go-go traveling all overto the stars trunks, to the poly
, all these places, and I waslike you know, I want to do that
.
And when I first started now Icome back home from school and I
took you like what I was doing,they really think I was like
worshiping the devil, because ifyou knew something about yoga
(17:58):
back then you should think ofyou know, meditating and all
that stuff, and that really isclearly.
But, yeah, so it just became athing, and some people still in
2023.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Don't understand.
Use better words.
Haven't reconciled theiropinion of yoga, right, Because
it's different than what theyknew.
And, to your point, anythingthat starts looking like
meditation, that looks likeprayer, that looks like you know
, we get worried about it, right, Especially if you're raised a
(18:34):
certain way.
But I'm going to tell you,never has my faith in God been
deeper than when I tapped intothe whole sense of my being
right Like that mind blowing.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
That's what I tell people.
I was like, you know, evenafter talking about my teacher
training, I learned so much asfar as, like, the spiritual
aspect of yoga.
I was like, oh, like really saythose things.
Like I'm spiritual.
I haven't gone to churchphysically, but now I watch
(19:11):
church online still but, like itgives you like a decent
appreciation for, you know, yourspiritual journey, your
spiritual practice basically.
And so, yeah, going off of whatyou said, it brought me closer
in my relationship, you know, toGod, like, especially like if
you're one of those people whodon't really know how to pray,
(19:33):
yes, like me, like you know,some people have like a whole
step a whole list always, that'syou know one day prayer and
just like yeah, god, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And I think that's what he wants.
And that's why I think yoga isso good, because I don't think
it's the list, I think it's justshowing up and listening.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So, yeah, that's really what it was.
And then when I started with it, it's one and all.
And then I got really reallyback deep into it, I would say
my senior college.
And then, definitely in 2014,2015, you know, 2014, I started
to do yoga.
(20:18):
So, like you know, everybodyknows it's the hot yoga or some
more stricter style of yoga, andI did that like six days a week
.
Wow, for your shirt.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Wow.
And so during this time, you'restarting the career, you're
working hard and criminaljustice, you're ascending up the
ladder to sergeant, you'regetting into the agency and it
sounds like you're also growingyour mental, physical connection
(20:51):
, spiritual connection in thispractice like almost parallel to
it, right, and I think thatresonates for me because that's
a lot of my story as well.
So is that what you contributeto, the reason that you were
able to acknowledge when youwere getting really stressed out
, really burnt out, or now bringit full circle, when you
(21:14):
finally decided to shift into adifferent way of being?
How?
What role, if any, did being sogrounded and centered play for
you?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
For me.
I would say that I think thiswas like about 2016.
I had my own place.
Now I have really like startedto create like a safe haven for
me at home, and I started thepractice like very, very heavy,
because I was still going to theother two.
I was getting back into the gymlike working out and all that
(21:50):
stuff, and I was just like youknow, like I know all these
people and explanation, like Ishop every day and I'm a good
person.
I've always been a kind personand funny I say that is because
the team lately has been beingkind, like you don't have to be
a kind person to be a goodperson, and like people please,
(22:12):
and like being the kind personas well.
So I just think like I wasshining with everybody had to be
forward, and I think that's howI realized like everything is
just taking on me and I was moretaken than like there's nothing
that you said, I think, and soI started to really put myself
(22:32):
first, like of course, I wasdoing my job, like I was a great
supervisor, but it was justthat that just didn't balance
out, just the way I wasintriguing, and so that's when I
started to okay.
I knew the atmosphere and planeslike my A to C switch over to
(22:55):
becoming an agent.
And then that's the way, like Iwas interviewing and I got the
positions, become an agent, andthen I started back.
I had to go to the academy allover again and I was 2017.
And then I started likeactually my agent, for it was 28
.
But then that's when I wasteaching more and I started was
(23:15):
just after, and it was a wholething with that and I was just
in both.
I was like I'm leaving thisplace.
I came to work one day afterthey had my like the special
agent and charge set my sack ofmy office equal to his office.
(23:35):
I was like, yeah, a lot ofpeople are in the office,
especially through the days.
I was like, if I still come towork because I will work with
athletes on Tuesday morning andThursday morning and I will come
to work after but I still dideight hours.
It was not like I was in theworking for hours, was reading
and everybody's really into acar.
(23:56):
I was saying to like 50 o'clockat night.
He's like, yeah, they want tolike I'm going eight hours and
maybe just like, yeah, we don'tknow.
You know we don't want you tobe in office by yourself.
After a certain time I was like, hey, we're going to be in the
supervisor, we're over 60 people, but she can't trust me being
(24:16):
off about myself and it was somany factors.
And then I had to work on dayand I was at my desk and I sent
you my team's notice and I left.
Wow, my journey.
Yeah, teaching full time, I hadto be done.
But that's why I say I justalways felt like I was for black
(24:37):
people, because I take risks.
Yeah, my cousin, my dad'sbrother, he had said something
to me before.
He saw me like a smoothie kingaround our way and I was in
there looking very far away andI was telling him about
everything that was going on.
(24:58):
One thing he said to me he waslike what's the risk of no
obligation?
And that just hits the rootever since then.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So what's a risk, no obligation, and so was this your
son.
Yeah, was his guidance to takeor to explore that?
Tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Because I was just telling him how you know, like
my family just stopped talkingto me when I left the garden,
like my dad was sick and stoppedtalking to me and I was telling
him how that was, you know,when he was really heavy on me
because we're all like reallyclose, that was like my work.
But then when I made thatdecision to leave that's what we
(25:44):
best for me in the moment I metsomeone in the house for my
well being and they just it wasmy support and I was saying
nobody's obligated to support me.
But he was just saying, likeyou don't have any children, you
have nothing that can hold youback.
Like you always want to go back, you can go back if you want.
(26:04):
So if you want to, it's likeyou know, explore it, but
there's no, you have noobligation to any of these
people that aren't talking toyou.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
And that's right and that, and I think for the folks
that are listening I don't wantto cut you off, please don't
forget what you just said, butfor the folks that are listening
that are earlier in careerjourney, you know, I think
people spend so much time tryingto find their other or trying
to justify who their other is,and too little time actually
(26:36):
exploring who they are in thosespaces where it's just them.
Right, you have to.
You have to in order to nothave regrets, and we're going to
have regrets anyway, butthere's not a person that
wouldn't tell you on the otherend that take the time to know
yourself, because it makes youmuch more grounded when you
(26:58):
connect with somebody else,right?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, so, yeah.
So he was just basically sayingthat he don't.
He's not doing these things tomake them happy, like they
already had their lives, livesexpensive.
And I was in like my late teensand I did this, so I was just
there.
I could always go back.
(27:22):
I could always go back.
I was very high up in thegovernment at such a young age,
but I was also.
I just also feel like for mygeneration we go into these
spaces the government space, theland of five states, the bay,
everybody that's there before us.
You know that's a differentgeneration and how do you set
(27:43):
life?
So it's either you explain topeople that were welcoming to
you, or people that aresomething judging, or people who
you know wanted you to work, orbe a sort of really, when
that's not how it works.
Like I remember being between Iwas opening and closing my cases
to things.
I'm a writer, yeah, like it wasa whole bunch of that.
(28:05):
We're just being one and overabout my social life rather than
the work that I was doing.
I don't come over to makethings seem like recording, but
I'm wearing that.
You know we're not best friends.
So you know, and like we'll seein a high society that would I
have done it differently?
I would have left.
I still wouldn't let.
So I still wouldn't let, but Iwould have done it differently.
(28:31):
I would have had a plan, youknow.
But I don't regret anything.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So tell me this.
So now you, you leave, youryou're in this entrepreneurial
space, right and probably scary,probably scared, I don't know.
I would imagine even for a risktaker.
There are those times wherewe're just like what did we just
do?
What did we just do?
Yeah, what happens?
(29:00):
Like was it as one, two, three,easy?
Or how did you get to thearticulation of I am an
entrepreneur, I'm a professionalin yoga, I'm an influencer?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Oh my gosh, I'm an influencer.
I'm an influencer, that's whatI say.
I would have had a plan.
So anybody's listening.
Before you leave, have a planin place.
I'm listening.
I have to find the only optionbefore you decide to transition.
But when I first started, I wasa young instructor in the game.
(29:36):
I was taking on like anyopportunity that came to me, but
I got burnt out.
Yeah, I stopped teaching forlike a year at Burnt Out.
I wrote about this in a bloglike years ago.
I didn't have money to go fromplaying with playing B and move
back in with my mom, which I'mnot embarrassed about, but it's
(29:56):
just like shouldn't be, somebodywho has somebody who has taken
care of herself since I left thecollege.
I hadn't lived with my parentssince I was born, my mom says
you know, so it was.
It was a lot.
It was still, to this point,like entrepreneurship for me as
a staff and dance because Idon't start, I don't step into
(30:17):
the influencer space.
Yeah, I was like this is 2018.
I don't know where I was going,but I still, you know, I made a
word.
One thing I've always done is alot, but one thing I had when I
was young was not everoperating in survival mode, ever
(30:40):
again, Like before.
Early on, I definitely wasoperating in survival mode.
Just, you know, taking on, likeI said, any day day sounds, but
that was awesome.
This one appealed to everybodyelse.
This has ultimately gotten meoverlooked, undervalued,
underpaid and I would never,never do that again.
(31:05):
But yeah, it was.
It was not all rainbows anduniforms.
We had a fun moment because itwas starting out.
It was just very scary.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah, I'm glad you said that, because I think that
you know, it's all.
It's almost become a little bitsexy to be an entrepreneur in
this day and age, right, and Ithink that too many people don't
understand, misunderstand thetrue grit and grind that's
required, right, just to even,you know, be self sustaining.
(31:40):
It's a big grind.
So you better know exactly whatyour North Star is.
I mean, I think you had thatright, so you at least you know,
even though it was hard, atleast you knew what was calling
you, which I think is more thana lot of people.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
And you are always going to need to do some service
, so it's not the way right.
I'm sorry, doing a whole bunchof activations in DC and
Maryland, which is great.
The best answer is really helpbuild up who I was and that's
what we find my voice as aperson.
(32:18):
I carry myself as a person Eventhough I'm being a service.
But now I have found those andhow I teach and how I go up and
all of it.
So yeah, and I'm still tryingto find like I never thought,
(32:39):
never thought.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
We have to unpack this because this is actually a
question that I have for thisnew generation of professional
influencers.
When you realize you havethousands of followers thousands
, right, in some instancesyou'll never see their face
right but when you realize that,how would you compare the
responsibility that you feelthere versus the responsibility
(33:03):
that you felt in a corporatesituation where you were a
sergeant and you had, you know,hundreds following you or 30
plus following you right, like?
Tell me about the feeling ofresponsibility and
accountability, because I justwonder if everybody has that or
if it's just something that youhave to let go of because it's
(33:24):
faceless.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I would think I'm.
You can think about it.
I'm back to rest it.
Yeah, earlier, like at first,when I started doing this, I was
like, oh, I got a post, what'sthis, this and what's?
I have to post this and it hasto look like this.
And it's a little bit like thatbecause I'm one of those people
who get a certain audience.
(33:49):
But then it was like that's notwho I am, like I'm going to be
myself and just because Onething and I can't speak for all,
but I know, going in the yogaand going in the states, like in
social media, as a black woman,a lot of stuff has been over
sexualized.
So at one point I had to speakto the handful of different
(34:13):
posters to help this reach andhelp this flow.
You can see the thing that gotto a point I was like I don't
care, because I'm not doing thisfor people to, you know,
validate after me or, you know,re-affectuate it with the
thought of me.
I'm really doing it because whyI'm going to show a woman there
(34:34):
?
Because you're going to color,you aren't like this day you're
like having the archetype.
You know, we like cherds, wehave French, we have length
rules.
We're going to be how can we dothese programs?
You can look this way and dothese things.
There's going to be possibilityof having All these things.
(34:56):
I always do is be transparentand do things.
I'm changing the way things aregoing to be, not for the time,
everything I say or anything Ispeak with my family, even the
real heavy-blooded competition.
So I'm going to have my bodychanged from this to this and
this and this and this.
But even how long I've beendoing this now, even when I was
(35:17):
approaching 15 times less thanfour years ago.
At first I used to be verytense and distressed about how I
personally don't have a shadeup in social media, but now, in
this way, it's like I'm apostman.
I'm a postman unless I have acampaign and I have to post for
(35:40):
a right.
Or if I post, it has to besomething that's really
important in my beliefs.
Really, sometimes, when peopledo post, you can just tell you
know something to it.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So true.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
It's like the stories , so that even when I was a
surgeon, I thought it would be alittle difficult.
But it was easy though, becauseI've never changed.
The only thing that changed wasthe package on my uniform, yes,
and I was like I'm not even allthis, but like people.
(36:18):
I saw it looked after people,they still, I saw it treated
people the same.
I never felt like I wassuperior to anybody, you know,
but even then I was also doing avery outspoken person.
I was very outspoken.
I'm just because I'm in charge.
I mean, I'm about to sign offon the space there, I'm not the
ex question.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Even like social media, like during the pandemic,
I was very focused about, youknow, discrimination within the
world of space.
Yeah, and I was calling peopleout.
But that also worked out myfollowing Could.
I would be in who I am.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
I'm very past, like I'm a schoolgirl.
You can be very passionate.
You could come off like alittle harsh sometimes, but we
mean, bro, yeah, so if I don'tspeak with something, you're
going to believe you have to.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
You have to pull that out, because I'd love to hear
your thoughts on discriminationin the wellness space.
Do you, are you thinking it'sinstitutional, in that you can't
be a professional?
Are you thinking it's a directcorrelation to access?
Do you think it's all parts inbetween?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
A lot of people, like I said, I do a lot of community
activations within DC andMaryland area.
A lot of things in DC that I docommunity activations are
underserved communities but theydon't know.
A lot of them know that yoga istheir first time meditating,
but a lot of them can't go toyoga.
(37:53):
They're expensive yes, that'sright or they're not nowhere,
they're nowhere near them.
So you know, it's so true.
I'll always be an advocate,always be an advocate or make
them brawlers and feel good,accessible.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Like I said in 2008,.
I knew there was a yoga, didn'tlook like.
The only other person I lookedlike was my uncle, so I thought
it was just for the people whodo it, like you.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yes, but that's not true.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
So like you.
Yes, it's not true at all.
Or people think that you haveto pray and look a certain way
as far as, like how your bodydoes not have your body.
You have to move a certain way,you have to be able to talk a
certain way, and really yoga ishow to show for yourself in the
(38:53):
world.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I think that's the thing that I love about yoga so
much, because you can call outfive different poses, right, and
they're going to look fivedifferent ways, and it's because
we are five different people.
And I think when you really getto the place of understanding
(39:15):
that this is about yourrelationship with your body, you
let go in a yoga class whensomebody to your right looks
like they've got the perfectcamel pose and you are still
scared to lean all the way backright.
That's what I love about it.
So how do you get people thathave never been exposed to it
(39:39):
before in these activations?
How do you get them to relateto it first and to trust it
second?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
When I teach my classes, I don't use same great
terms.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Perfect, I speak language, because that does not
resonate for me.
It did not.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
It does not resonate for me and, honestly, I can't
remember half a day.
Yes, true, I use these words onthe basis.
There are some of the shuttersthat I really do at Q&A.
I don't do that because I can'tget to South East DC.
I can't get to South East DCand be like you know go and, as
(40:26):
you said, to inhale and youexhale, slide it to stand up and
look at me like I'm crazy,right, right.
One of the main terms people sayis I took an inhale and as you
exhale, I want you to bend yourleft knee and lean on the left
side.
I want you to bend your leftknee and lean on the right side.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Perfect, I like to teach things that I'm going to
do, and it's okay if theSanskrit words are used in a
space where people understand it.
But what you're saying, right?
There is a lesson, even in life, around inclusion, right, which
is understand the language ofwho you're speaking with.
And if you really want toconnect, you're going to use the
(41:13):
language that will invite aconnection, not one that's going
to be like bye.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
And that's how it brings us all the time.
If you reach out to work withme, or reach out to work with
anybody, you need to do yourresearch on your audience.
Yes, you love what I do, butyou don't know anything about me
or our audience, right?
I don't know if the company wasever changed, but there's a
reason.
I just like to teach how topractice the same way.
(41:44):
You met me and my lovelypersonality.
I don't remember what I wasdoing when you saw me, but
that's the same way I greet you.
I come to my classes.
Hey, can I take your math?
How are you doing?
Can I put your math down foryou?
I'm just making my field workand I always have one thing that
I feel very jealous is that Ican create it and I wrote a
(42:08):
thing for you.
Some women say spaces weredeeply, regardless of how they
spoke.
I feel like if you can create asafe space for people from this
time it will be their space todo some math, like something
might end up even going to sleep.
That says math.
(42:28):
If you go comfortable with that.
Close your eyes around.
You know women, people that dothat, know from Adam and Eve.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
I say something about the trip here, and it also says
something about you as aninstructor, because you're
seeing the whole person andyou're accepting what that soul
needed, which this might havebeen the only place where they
could lay out something, and laythere and close their eyes with
complete trust and get rest.
(42:56):
Girl, that's deep.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
So I would say that if I don't get anything, at the
end of the day, I know that Icreate a safe space and somebody
is going on filming things likeemotional and emotional
experiences, Other aspects I gotyou my class might even chill
(43:26):
play.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
So it definitely makes my heart sweat.
What advice would you give topeople who are still trying to
decide what their relationshipis with with yoga as a tool for
being grounded and centered?
What advice would you give them?
And maybe it's because they'venever been exposed to it before,
(43:52):
because they never saw peoplelike themselves enjoying it, or
maybe they just have their ownmental block around it.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Honestly, it feels good to me.
Your sound day is where I'm inmy mind.
I want to practice becomingpractical with sounds, but then
I might want to mat out and havea simulator.
I realize that the meditationpoint is really good.
What do you think about yoga?
(44:30):
It's about your breath.
How are you breathing?
We don't all actually interpretit as gravity.
Sometimes I'm going in thehouse.
(44:54):
I try to sit in the house for10 minutes.
I'm listening to music.
I'm just breathing.
I'm checking in with myself.
I'm not breathing.
(45:14):
I'm alive.
I'm breathing.
I'm actually controlling mybreath, rather than something
controlling my breath for long.
I'm not controlling my breathfor long.
(45:37):
These are things I just tellpeople.
I mean so many people.
I don't care.
I don't care in the nasty waysI'm saying I don't care because
(45:59):
you don't have to be flexible.
I'm flexible is your mind andheart.
I'm not accepting the thoughtof thinking about being a man.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
I can't tell you how much I really respect and
appreciate your approach toevolving in this practice, quite
frankly bringing a whole newviewpoint to a practice that I
found as a black woman who wasdoing the corporate thing mom,
wife, all the things and, likeyou said, highly stressed out on
(47:03):
the right side and somehow,stumbling into this place next
to my coffee shop and invited tostay, didn't see any of me
around None of me around.
This would have been probablyin the 2008 timeframe.
Very much, like you said,didn't see a lot of me around,
(47:25):
but I am still clear that it wasthat practice of grounding that
helped me to sustain throughsome of the toughest, toughest
years of my life.
Right, I'm still clear on that,and now that you know I'm
getting a bit more mature andsome things don't feel so hard
(47:49):
to do anymore, you know,especially those things that
become right muscle, it'sdefinitely pushing me to be open
to new things too, and newapproaches, and so I love that
too.
Look you, you're a gift and Ilove that you are owning your
influence in this space.
(48:10):
If you have not already gone toInstagram, which is my jam you
haven't already gone there topull up yogi TV.
You should, because she takessome amazing trips and she
shares them with us, and youalso make yoga a centered
lifestyle and you also sharesome tips with us.
(48:31):
It doesn't have to be fancy,and I love it's even so
approachable, as I'm going tobed at night and there you are,
showing what kind of poses gowith you know, right on top of
your bedspread, right.
So you know those are all goodthings and they're in English,
right?
They're in English, they're inthe language that your listener
understands, your audienceunderstands, so you're taking
(48:53):
away even some of theintimidation that goes with that
and to me that is brilliant.
That's brilliant.
Thank you so much for your timeand your space on tick tock or
you yogi TV to so I'm trying tofigure out the tick of the top.
Girl, me too.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
The top are not easy for me, I think my name, or yogi
TV, I think my name on ticktock is yogi TV.
By where something?
Speaker 1 (49:22):
like that You'll be.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
TV by.
You see, if you see my face,it's not the age I mean.
I think it's out there, but Ihave every set of things.
But, you know it's coming back.
I think that's not tick tock.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
It's coming the more we learn lessons and actually
have something to share.
That's what I believe now in mylife.
Right, it's coming the more welearn lessons and have something
to share, because it's notabout the fame just for that
right, the purpose and intentionthat goes with it.
And as we learn lessons andhave something to share and a
heart to give all of it away.
(50:00):
Girl, it just pays, pays andspades.
All right, sweetheart, I can'twait to see you at that same
event this summer, hopefully,and I'll talk to you soon.
Hey, proven, not perfect.
This is Sean Trappell.
I am excited to share thisconversation with you.
This conversation is just onethat you will want to share with
any young women, millennial, inyour life.
You know I'm talking probablylate 20s, mid 20s, early 30s,
(00:21):
mid 30s, you know, maybe even upto 40, quite frankly, and you
might want to share it because Ithink it's those tender ages,
depending on you.
Know what.
What you're calling is that youstart to realize that things
always aren't as pure as youmaybe think they were intended
(00:42):
to be.
Also, you learn how to dealwith stress in workplace
environments in a different way.
You learn about equity andinequity.
You learn about positioning.
You learn about finding yourown voice.
You struggle with thatsometimes.
(01:03):
All those things, y'all allthose things and if you know,
you know so, tiara Brisco isjust a wonderful soul, very
present.
I tell her that, but get pastthe initial opening where she
and I are greeting each otherand I'm telling you, I'm telling
you, once you get into the meatof this, it is a conversation
(01:26):
that will really hit home andreally, really challenge you to
think about where you are rightnow with your own self.
We talk yoga, we talkinfluencers.
We talk millennial, we talk allthe things y'all enjoy.
Tiara Brisco, yogi TB.
Tiara Brisco, mic check, miccheck.
(01:48):
Can you hear me?
Speaker 2 (01:50):
Can you hear me All?
Speaker 1 (01:52):
right.
Yes, I hear you.
I hear you loud and proud andloud and clear.
But here's what I'm going totell you I hear you, I see you,
I hear you, I see you Like yourwhole being is.
So I don't want to say big,because big almost can be
confused with all sorts ofthings, but it's present, that's
(02:13):
what I want to say.
Your whole being is verypresent.
I remember meeting you over thesummer at an event and you
happen to be enjoying the eventas well as doing what you do at
the event.
I just remember walking into aspace on a mission for one thing
, and you were in the space andI was just drawn to your
(02:35):
presence.
I was really drawn to yourpresence and let's just say
you're like my little little,little little sister.
But there was something abouthow you were living and standing
and who you are right now, atsuch a young age that it just
caught my attention and I wascurious.
I was really curious and yeah,and then I would learn that all
(03:00):
those mornings that I didn't getup to do yoga, yeah, that part
it was my bad, my mess, becauseyou were there.
So God has a way of sort ofreally making a joke because
he's like yeah, when you talk toyourself out of getting up to
actually show up and do the yoga, that presence that you saw,
(03:23):
that's what happened, but anyway, yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Okay, because we're here now and we still.
You still dropped so many gemson me and now we're here.
That's all that matters.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
We are here.
That's right on.
Okay, so I dropped gems.
That's hilarious because that'swhat you remember.
You remember.
I remember this presence ofthis young being and you
remember me dropping gems.
Well, that makes me happy,because I do hope that as I show
up, I'm not only receiving, I'moffering as well.
(03:57):
It's really you know how I tryto recommit daily.
So I want to, first andforemost, for the people.
The people need to know thatyour handle is super cool Yogi
TB right, is that it?
Yogi TB?
All over Instagram and, I'msure, over so much more social.
(04:17):
Are you like a social mediaperson?
Are you like all over social oris it just?
You know, old school, I'm justseeing you on Instagram.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know.
So I had to accept the terms,Like I would say, the past year
or so, that I am an influencer.
Oh, I guess it sounds and Ionly say that because when I
first started sharing on socialmedia, like Instagram, like I
(04:48):
had.
Instagram of course became, youknow, instagram, but when I
first started sharing, like myyoga practice, it was strictly
for yoga and then somehow,during I think I want to say the
pandemic, you know like, mytrajectory started to change and
I started to become more of aninfluencer.
I guess you would say Wow, orlike more in the wellness space,
(05:11):
but, like my, always my solepurpose was to share yoga.
And now I'm accepting that Ican still have a healthy
relationship with social media.
Being an influencer, you know,being a yoga instructor, a
wellness instructor at the sametime.
So I guess I'm, you're, aninfluencer, all right.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
So you're gonna have to double click on that because
you are officially the firstinfluencer that proven that
perfect is talking to, at leastat least self stated self,
called professional influencer,right.
So I want to talk about thatbecause I know that you also
have an amazing degree andprobably you know lots of
(05:51):
choices.
I want to know what did you goto school for?
So let's take her all the wayback and tell us about tiara as
like a young girl, like who wereyou when we met you.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
So, tiara, as a young girl I was very inquisitive, I
was very adventurous, like I wasalways.
I always like to say, like Iwas the black sheep in my family
, not like just my media family,but my overall family on both
sides.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
Why do you always want to tell us what does that
mean?
Like we know what it, we thinkit means, but but I've come to
learn that when people use thatterm, they stand in their, in
their experience they stood outin different ways.
So I kind of you know there'ssome, there's some ways that I
can relate to that too, but itmight not be the same as yours.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
I just, I mean, I always went against the norm.
Like even I wanted to be aprime scene investigator for my
experience.
I used to have like themicroscope set and everything
like dissect birds and and allof it and all of that stuff.
Like I was really like thefinal speaking girl.
So when it came to me the evenlike trisclastic honors, ap
(07:12):
classes, so when it was time forme to go to college I was like
you know, I want to studyforensics, this is what I want
to do.
I want to be a forensicscientist when I grow up.
All that good stuff.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
So then I went to in state that we are just have to
do it for the hubby.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
So I studied crime law and justice pre forensics.
It really was forensics atfirst, but then I got to
calculus and I was like I don'tlike that Calculus and chemistry
, I do not like math at all, butI was still able to to have
(07:58):
forensics in my degree basically.
So I still, you know, I'm stillin a situation.
So I got my bachelor's scienceand math and then I left college
.
Of course it's overworked formy background as law enforcement
.
A lot of people don't rememberit.
So I used to be an officer.
(08:18):
I got promoted.
I got promoted very fast to asergeant and then, during my
time as an officer though, I gotmy master's.
So I got my master's inforensics, forensic studies.
So I went to StevensonUniversity, got my master's in
there and then I left the policeforce and I became the agent.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Wow, that's so cool Girl.
This is like some scandalwrapped in.
I don't even know what to wrapit in.
That's pretty doggone cool.
So, I'm starting to see someblack sheep elements there,
right, because I can't imaginein the family there were a whole
(09:03):
lot of people that were talkingabout first of all the forensic
science and then criminaljustice and then ascending to
even agency.
That's super awesome.
What drew you to that?
Is that that curiousness?
Speaker 2 (09:20):
That mean my senior year of college.
My senior year of college, Ihad an internship with the Penn
State Justice and SafetyInstitute and we had to do a
project, an intern projectbecause we literally put
together, like from the groundup, a criminal justice office
that took place in Kansas.
I couldn't go because I was awork college student, but, um,
(09:45):
actually none of us could gobecause we're not college
students and we were being paidlike $10 an hour, I think, for
this internship.
We did six hours a week, butanyways.
So my project and the programthat I created was child sex
trafficking in DC, maryland,virginia and in Canada, because
(10:08):
the conference was in Canada,and so I focused heavy on, you
know, sex trafficking, of course, as a whole, as umbrella, child
sex trafficking as a, you know,a sub topic, and so I was like
this is really what I want to do.
Like my goal in life is to getin a child sex trafficking task
force, and so the only way to dothat, like my, my path was
(10:31):
always want to be lawenforcement.
Some type of writers didn't knowwhat that would look like, and
but the only way to get on a sextrafficking task force was to
need to eventually become anagent on that level.
So, yeah, so that's what reallydrove me to that and also
become an agent.
We just have a little bit morefreedom as far as like your
(10:52):
experiences and your training,the agency you get to work with,
like to collaborate with,whether it's on a case, or, you
know, you get rejoin this othertask force, whatever it may be,
or you become a liaison sometype of way.
So that's that's really whatdrove my motivation.
But also I just felt like, nowthat I look back in hindsight
(11:16):
that I'm older, a lot of thethings I was doing also was to
seek like validation andacceptance, like from my family
yeah, prefer every like like mydad's side of the family,
because my brother and I werethe only grandchildren to my
dad's side.
So I think I was like seekinglike validation from like my
(11:39):
aunt and my police and my dad.
Speaker 1 (11:41):
I consciously like to do anything, so you think, you
think the achievement so it wasall about.
Subconsciously, there was this,this desire to have others kind
of say okay, she's doing it,she made it, she's, she's good,
she's representing you know allthe things.
Right, wow, how did you so?
(12:05):
You said you look back at it.
When did it become clear to youthat your driver, your internal
driver, was external versusinternal?
Speaker 2 (12:15):
I think it was when the job because even when I was
police officer it was a lot ofpeople don't realize it's a, of
course, a male dominated fieldyeah, but a lot of the stuff
that I went through that I don'tknow I never really talked
about it was so stressful.
I remember one time because Ihad to work on weekends too.
(12:38):
As an officer, you work likeevery other weekend, but when
you become a supervisor you work, of course, like more than
others.
So I was at work and I was inlike our control center because
I was like my little hoods, likeI was really good at doing it.
I was so stressed out, my skinit was so dry and like it, it
(13:01):
like cracked and it was justbleeding and I remember I just
left.
I left work Because once I foundout what leave was and they
can't question what's takingleave I was like I'm taking
mental health days.
I started doing that.
So it was bleeding.
I left work.
It went to my mom's house,which is probably like less than
10 minutes away.
I cried on her couch for likesix hours, wow, and so, like
(13:25):
that, I was like, okay, I'mstressed out, I'm highly
qualified for this position.
Like, educationally.
I'm qualified, I carried myselfas a professional, I'm highly
qualified and on to other things.
But it was just so much that Iexperienced because I got
promoted so fast.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yes, there's something real about that.
People don't talk about thathere and I don't.
It is agnostic to industries,right.
But those of us who are justbuilt with this gene to be goal
oriented, to be results drivenand to actually be really good
at what we do, you definitely dosee the results of promotion
(14:04):
quicker than most people, right.
But the part that people do nottalk about is there's something
that goes with the time of thatpromotion versus the quick
based on results, right, thematurity, the actual readiness,
the preparedness, the emotional,social aspects of it don't
(14:26):
always line up to the.
I got the role and I've seen somany people.
If they are honest, they eitherflame out, burnout or they are
just over aggressive and notself aware.
Yeah, all the things right,like I think I was somewhere
(14:46):
between the two at differentpoints, right?
Oh, my God, I love that yousaid that, because too many
people do not talk about that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
It was something that I want you to like from my
superiors to and.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
I'm talking early career, but life has taught you
those things right, I'm talkingearly career, when you're being
promoted for being really goodat what you do.
But you still have some life toget.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Yeah, so it was so much, and then I became an agent
and then that's when I reallystarted to get deeper into my
yoga practice and I starteddoing more things, and you know-
.
Speaker 1 (15:24):
How did you know about yoga?
Tell me about that.
How did you even know?
How did you know?
Speaker 2 (15:29):
So yoga was my gym credit my freshman year at Penn
State and I was like, let metake the class that I can be as
in.
Yes, isn't that my first year?
Yes, I was in the gym for awhile, but I still had a break
when I was-.
Yes, I was hanging out.
Yes, going to Shippetsburg thisweekend, going to Millersville
(15:50):
this weekend going to Temple.
Yes, you know, sometimes we wentduring the week.
Yes, I still got my work done.
But let me just take the classwhere I don't even have to show
up mentally, but it was thetotal opposite.
Yoga was actually very hard Inthe sense as the physical aspect
(16:12):
, because I've always beenflexible without a cheerleader
when I was younger, all thatstuff.
But it was hard in the aspectof mentally and emotionally
being vulnerable.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Yes, in the whole room.
Speaker 2 (16:24):
I was wrong.
I'm probably 12 people in myclass because it was very
intimate, but just, I didn'tknow any of these people, right?
Yes, I was the only girl ofcolor in my class and my
children, you know white women.
She was so, so, so, so amazing.
I have been trying to find herhonestly for a very long time.
(16:48):
Wow, just to say thank you,yeah but, I don't know, wouldn't
that be amazing?
Speaker 1 (16:53):
if it comes full circle and she hears this Wow,
that will, you got one of theseout there.
She needs to be out there Allher out.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Look, I would say, call me but I'm not getting on
my number.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
How about dropping my DMs, because I'm Yo UTV.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yes, yes, yes, I know you got Instagram, we got
Facebook and something.
Fine, girl, yeah, that's how Ifound out about me and I had,
you know like, stuck with it.
That's a yoga one too, and so Istuck with it, because the only
person I was going to do it in2008, because generally it
wasn't a thing, but it was likeit was my uncle, my dad's
(17:38):
brother, and I didn't see anyother black person I knew they'd
be a go-go traveling all overto the stars trunks, to the poly
, all these places, and I waslike you know, I want to do that
.
And when I first started now Icome back home from school and I
took you like what I was doing,they really think I was like
worshiping the devil, because ifyou knew something about yoga
(17:58):
back then you should think ofyou know, meditating and all
that stuff, and that really isclearly.
But, yeah, so it just became athing, and some people still in
2023.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Don't understand.
Use better words.
Haven't reconciled theiropinion of yoga, right, Because
it's different than what theyknew.
And, to your point, anythingthat starts looking like
meditation, that looks likeprayer, that looks like you know
, we get worried about it, right, Especially if you're raised a
(18:34):
certain way.
But I'm going to tell you,never has my faith in God been
deeper than when I tapped intothe whole sense of my being
right Like that mind blowing.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
That's what I tell people.
I was like, you know, evenafter talking about my teacher
training, I learned so much asfar as, like, the spiritual
aspect of yoga.
I was like, oh, like really saythose things.
Like I'm spiritual.
I haven't gone to churchphysically, but now I watch
(19:11):
church online still but, like itgives you like a decent
appreciation for, you know, yourspiritual journey, your
spiritual practice basically.
And so, yeah, going off of whatyou said, it brought me closer
in my relationship, you know, toGod, like, especially like if
you're one of those people whodon't really know how to pray,
(19:33):
yes, like me, like you know,some people have like a whole
step a whole list always, that'syou know one day prayer and
just like yeah, god, I'm here.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
And I think that's what he wants.
And that's why I think yoga isso good, because I don't think
it's the list, I think it's justshowing up and listening.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (19:58):
So, yeah, that's really what it was.
And then when I started with it, it's one and all.
And then I got really reallyback deep into it, I would say
my senior college.
And then, definitely in 2014,2015, you know, 2014, I started
to do yoga.
(20:18):
So, like you know, everybodyknows it's the hot yoga or some
more stricter style of yoga, andI did that like six days a week
.
Wow, for your shirt.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Wow.
And so during this time, you'restarting the career, you're
working hard and criminaljustice, you're ascending up the
ladder to sergeant, you'regetting into the agency and it
sounds like you're also growingyour mental, physical connection
(20:51):
, spiritual connection in thispractice like almost parallel to
it, right, and I think thatresonates for me because that's
a lot of my story as well.
So is that what you contributeto, the reason that you were
able to acknowledge when youwere getting really stressed out
, really burnt out, or now bringit full circle, when you
(21:14):
finally decided to shift into adifferent way of being?
How?
What role, if any, did being sogrounded and centered play for
you?
Speaker 2 (21:30):
For me.
I would say that I think thiswas like about 2016.
I had my own place.
Now I have really like startedto create like a safe haven for
me at home, and I started thepractice like very, very heavy,
because I was still going to theother two.
I was getting back into the gymlike working out and all that
(21:50):
stuff, and I was just like youknow, like I know all these
people and explanation, like Ishop every day and I'm a good
person.
I've always been a kind personand funny I say that is because
the team lately has been beingkind, like you don't have to be
a kind person to be a goodperson, and like people please,
(22:12):
and like being the kind personas well.
So I just think like I wasshining with everybody had to be
forward, and I think that's howI realized like everything is
just taking on me and I was moretaken than like there's nothing
that you said, I think, and soI started to really put myself
(22:32):
first, like of course, I wasdoing my job, like I was a great
supervisor, but it was justthat that just didn't balance
out, just the way I wasintriguing, and so that's when I
started to okay.
I knew the atmosphere and planeslike my A to C switch over to
(22:55):
becoming an agent.
And then that's the way, like Iwas interviewing and I got the
positions, become an agent, andthen I started back.
I had to go to the academy allover again and I was 2017.
And then I started likeactually my agent, for it was 28
.
But then that's when I wasteaching more and I started was
(23:15):
just after, and it was a wholething with that and I was just
in both.
I was like I'm leaving thisplace.
I came to work one day afterthey had my like the special
agent and charge set my sack ofmy office equal to his office.
(23:35):
I was like, yeah, a lot ofpeople are in the office,
especially through the days.
I was like, if I still come towork because I will work with
athletes on Tuesday morning andThursday morning and I will come
to work after but I still dideight hours.
It was not like I was in theworking for hours, was reading
and everybody's really into acar.
(23:56):
I was saying to like 50 o'clockat night.
He's like, yeah, they want tolike I'm going eight hours and
maybe just like, yeah, we don'tknow.
You know we don't want you tobe in office by yourself.
After a certain time I was like, hey, we're going to be in the
supervisor, we're over 60 people, but she can't trust me being
(24:16):
off about myself and it was somany factors.
And then I had to work on dayand I was at my desk and I sent
you my team's notice and I left.
Wow, my journey.
Yeah, teaching full time, I hadto be done.
But that's why I say I justalways felt like I was for black
(24:37):
people, because I take risks.
Yeah, my cousin, my dad'sbrother, he had said something
to me before.
He saw me like a smoothie kingaround our way and I was in
there looking very far away andI was telling him about
everything that was going on.
(24:58):
One thing he said to me he waslike what's the risk of no
obligation?
And that just hits the rootever since then.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
So what's a risk, no obligation, and so was this your
son.
Yeah, was his guidance to takeor to explore that?
Tell me more about that.
Speaker 2 (25:22):
Because I was just telling him how you know, like
my family just stopped talkingto me when I left the garden,
like my dad was sick and stoppedtalking to me and I was telling
him how that was, you know,when he was really heavy on me
because we're all like reallyclose, that was like my work.
But then when I made thatdecision to leave that's what we
(25:44):
best for me in the moment I metsomeone in the house for my
well being and they just it wasmy support and I was saying
nobody's obligated to support me.
But he was just saying, likeyou don't have any children, you
have nothing that can hold youback.
Like you always want to go back, you can go back if you want.
(26:04):
So if you want to, it's likeyou know, explore it, but
there's no, you have noobligation to any of these
people that aren't talking toyou.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
And that's right and that, and I think for the folks
that are listening I don't wantto cut you off, please don't
forget what you just said, butfor the folks that are listening
that are earlier in careerjourney, you know, I think
people spend so much time tryingto find their other or trying
to justify who their other is,and too little time actually
(26:36):
exploring who they are in thosespaces where it's just them.
Right, you have to.
You have to in order to nothave regrets, and we're going to
have regrets anyway, butthere's not a person that
wouldn't tell you on the otherend that take the time to know
yourself, because it makes youmuch more grounded when you
(26:58):
connect with somebody else,right?
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah, so, yeah.
So he was just basically sayingthat he don't.
He's not doing these things tomake them happy, like they
already had their lives, livesexpensive.
And I was in like my late teensand I did this, so I was just
there.
I could always go back.
(27:22):
I could always go back.
I was very high up in thegovernment at such a young age,
but I was also.
I just also feel like for mygeneration we go into these
spaces the government space, theland of five states, the bay,
everybody that's there before us.
You know that's a differentgeneration and how do you set
(27:43):
life?
So it's either you explain topeople that were welcoming to
you, or people that aresomething judging, or people who
you know wanted you to work, orbe a sort of really, when
that's not how it works.
Like I remember being between Iwas opening and closing my cases
to things.
I'm a writer, yeah, like it wasa whole bunch of that.
(28:05):
We're just being one and overabout my social life rather than
the work that I was doing.
I don't come over to makethings seem like recording, but
I'm wearing that.
You know we're not best friends.
So you know, and like we'll seein a high society that would I
have done it differently?
I would have left.
I still wouldn't let.
So I still wouldn't let, but Iwould have done it differently.
(28:31):
I would have had a plan, youknow.
But I don't regret anything.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
So tell me this.
So now you, you leave, youryou're in this entrepreneurial
space, right and probably scary,probably scared, I don't know.
I would imagine even for a risktaker.
There are those times wherewe're just like what did we just
do?
What did we just do?
Yeah, what happens?
(29:00):
Like was it as one, two, three,easy?
Or how did you get to thearticulation of I am an
entrepreneur, I'm a professionalin yoga, I'm an influencer?
Speaker 2 (29:13):
Oh my gosh, I'm an influencer.
I'm an influencer, that's whatI say.
I would have had a plan.
So anybody's listening.
Before you leave, have a planin place.
I'm listening.
I have to find the only optionbefore you decide to transition.
But when I first started, I wasa young instructor in the game.
(29:36):
I was taking on like anyopportunity that came to me, but
I got burnt out.
Yeah, I stopped teaching forlike a year at Burnt Out.
I wrote about this in a bloglike years ago.
I didn't have money to go fromplaying with playing B and move
back in with my mom, which I'mnot embarrassed about, but it's
(29:56):
just like shouldn't be, somebodywho has somebody who has taken
care of herself since I left thecollege.
I hadn't lived with my parentssince I was born, my mom says
you know, so it was.
It was a lot.
It was still, to this point,like entrepreneurship for me as
a staff and dance because Idon't start, I don't step into
(30:17):
the influencer space.
Yeah, I was like this is 2018.
I don't know where I was going,but I still, you know, I made a
word.
One thing I've always done is alot, but one thing I had when I
was young was not everoperating in survival mode, ever
(30:40):
again, Like before.
Early on, I definitely wasoperating in survival mode.
Just, you know, taking on, likeI said, any day day sounds, but
that was awesome.
This one appealed to everybodyelse.
This has ultimately gotten meoverlooked, undervalued,
underpaid and I would never,never do that again.
(31:05):
But yeah, it was.
It was not all rainbows anduniforms.
We had a fun moment because itwas starting out.
It was just very scary.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
Yeah, I'm glad you said that, because I think that
you know, it's all.
It's almost become a little bitsexy to be an entrepreneur in
this day and age, right, and Ithink that too many people don't
understand, misunderstand thetrue grit and grind that's
required, right, just to even,you know, be self sustaining.
(31:40):
It's a big grind.
So you better know exactly whatyour North Star is.
I mean, I think you had thatright, so you at least you know,
even though it was hard, atleast you knew what was calling
you, which I think is more thana lot of people.
Speaker 2 (31:57):
And you are always going to need to do some service
, so it's not the way right.
I'm sorry, doing a whole bunchof activations in DC and
Maryland, which is great.
The best answer is really helpbuild up who I was and that's
what we find my voice as aperson.
(32:18):
I carry myself as a person Eventhough I'm being a service.
But now I have found those andhow I teach and how I go up and
all of it.
So yeah, and I'm still tryingto find like I never thought,
(32:39):
never thought.
Speaker 1 (32:41):
We have to unpack this because this is actually a
question that I have for thisnew generation of professional
influencers.
When you realize you havethousands of followers thousands
, right, in some instancesyou'll never see their face
right but when you realize that,how would you compare the
responsibility that you feelthere versus the responsibility
(33:03):
that you felt in a corporatesituation where you were a
sergeant and you had, you know,hundreds following you or 30
plus following you right, like?
Tell me about the feeling ofresponsibility and
accountability, because I justwonder if everybody has that or
if it's just something that youhave to let go of because it's
(33:24):
faceless.
Speaker 2 (33:27):
I would think I'm.
You can think about it.
I'm back to rest it.
Yeah, earlier, like at first,when I started doing this, I was
like, oh, I got a post, what'sthis, this and what's?
I have to post this and it hasto look like this.
And it's a little bit like thatbecause I'm one of those people
who get a certain audience.
(33:49):
But then it was like that's notwho I am, like I'm going to be
myself and just because Onething and I can't speak for all,
but I know, going in the yogaand going in the states, like in
social media, as a black woman,a lot of stuff has been over
sexualized.
So at one point I had to speakto the handful of different
(34:13):
posters to help this reach andhelp this flow.
You can see the thing that gotto a point I was like I don't
care, because I'm not doing thisfor people to, you know,
validate after me or, you know,re-affectuate it with the
thought of me.
I'm really doing it because whyI'm going to show a woman there
(34:34):
?
Because you're going to color,you aren't like this day you're
like having the archetype.
You know, we like cherds, wehave French, we have length
rules.
We're going to be how can we dothese programs?
You can look this way and dothese things.
There's going to be possibilityof having All these things.
(34:56):
I always do is be transparentand do things.
I'm changing the way things aregoing to be, not for the time,
everything I say or anything Ispeak with my family, even the
real heavy-blooded competition.
So I'm going to have my bodychanged from this to this and
this and this and this.
But even how long I've beendoing this now, even when I was
(35:17):
approaching 15 times less thanfour years ago.
At first I used to be verytense and distressed about how I
personally don't have a shadeup in social media, but now, in
this way, it's like I'm apostman.
I'm a postman unless I have acampaign and I have to post for
(35:40):
a right.
Or if I post, it has to besomething that's really
important in my beliefs.
Really, sometimes, when peopledo post, you can just tell you
know something to it.
Speaker 1 (35:56):
So true.
Speaker 2 (35:57):
It's like the stories , so that even when I was a
surgeon, I thought it would be alittle difficult.
But it was easy though, becauseI've never changed.
The only thing that changed wasthe package on my uniform, yes,
and I was like I'm not even allthis, but like people.
(36:18):
I saw it looked after people,they still, I saw it treated
people the same.
I never felt like I wassuperior to anybody, you know,
but even then I was also doing avery outspoken person.
I was very outspoken.
I'm just because I'm in charge.
I mean, I'm about to sign offon the space there, I'm not the
ex question.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Even like social media, like during the pandemic,
I was very focused about, youknow, discrimination within the
world of space.
Yeah, and I was calling peopleout.
But that also worked out myfollowing Could.
I would be in who I am.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (36:57):
I'm very past, like I'm a schoolgirl.
You can be very passionate.
You could come off like alittle harsh sometimes, but we
mean, bro, yeah, so if I don'tspeak with something, you're
going to believe you have to.
Speaker 1 (37:11):
You have to pull that out, because I'd love to hear
your thoughts on discriminationin the wellness space.
Do you, are you thinking it'sinstitutional, in that you can't
be a professional?
Are you thinking it's a directcorrelation to access?
Do you think it's all parts inbetween?
Speaker 2 (37:32):
A lot of people, like I said, I do a lot of community
activations within DC andMaryland area.
A lot of things in DC that I docommunity activations are
underserved communities but theydon't know.
A lot of them know that yoga istheir first time meditating,
but a lot of them can't go toyoga.
(37:53):
They're expensive yes, that'sright or they're not nowhere,
they're nowhere near them.
So you know, it's so true.
I'll always be an advocate,always be an advocate or make
them brawlers and feel good,accessible.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
I love that.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
Like I said in 2008,.
I knew there was a yoga, didn'tlook like.
The only other person I lookedlike was my uncle, so I thought
it was just for the people whodo it, like you.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yes, but that's not true.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
So like you.
Yes, it's not true at all.
Or people think that you haveto pray and look a certain way
as far as, like how your bodydoes not have your body.
You have to move a certain way,you have to be able to talk a
certain way, and really yoga ishow to show for yourself in the
(38:53):
world.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I think that's the thing that I love about yoga so
much, because you can call outfive different poses, right, and
they're going to look fivedifferent ways, and it's because
we are five different people.
And I think when you really getto the place of understanding
(39:15):
that this is about yourrelationship with your body, you
let go in a yoga class whensomebody to your right looks
like they've got the perfectcamel pose and you are still
scared to lean all the way backright.
That's what I love about it.
So how do you get people thathave never been exposed to it
(39:39):
before in these activations?
How do you get them to relateto it first and to trust it
second?
Speaker 2 (39:51):
When I teach my classes, I don't use same great
terms.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Perfect, I speak language, because that does not
resonate for me.
It did not.
Speaker 2 (40:03):
It does not resonate for me and, honestly, I can't
remember half a day.
Yes, true, I use these words onthe basis.
There are some of the shuttersthat I really do at Q&A.
I don't do that because I can'tget to South East DC.
I can't get to South East DCand be like you know go and, as
(40:26):
you said, to inhale and youexhale, slide it to stand up and
look at me like I'm crazy,right, right.
One of the main terms people sayis I took an inhale and as you
exhale, I want you to bend yourleft knee and lean on the left
side.
I want you to bend your leftknee and lean on the right side.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Perfect, I like to teach things that I'm going to
do, and it's okay if theSanskrit words are used in a
space where people understand it.
But what you're saying, right?
There is a lesson, even in life, around inclusion, right, which
is understand the language ofwho you're speaking with.
And if you really want toconnect, you're going to use the
(41:13):
language that will invite aconnection, not one that's going
to be like bye.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
And that's how it brings us all the time.
If you reach out to work withme, or reach out to work with
anybody, you need to do yourresearch on your audience.
Yes, you love what I do, butyou don't know anything about me
or our audience, right?
I don't know if the company wasever changed, but there's a
reason.
I just like to teach how topractice the same way.
(41:44):
You met me and my lovelypersonality.
I don't remember what I wasdoing when you saw me, but
that's the same way I greet you.
I come to my classes.
Hey, can I take your math?
How are you doing?
Can I put your math down foryou?
I'm just making my field workand I always have one thing that
I feel very jealous is that Ican create it and I wrote a
(42:08):
thing for you.
Some women say spaces weredeeply, regardless of how they
spoke.
I feel like if you can create asafe space for people from this
time it will be their space todo some math, like something
might end up even going to sleep.
That says math.
(42:28):
If you go comfortable with that.
Close your eyes around.
You know women, people that dothat, know from Adam and Eve.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
I say something about the trip here, and it also says
something about you as aninstructor, because you're
seeing the whole person andyou're accepting what that soul
needed, which this might havebeen the only place where they
could lay out something, and laythere and close their eyes with
complete trust and get rest.
(42:56):
Girl, that's deep.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
So I would say that if I don't get anything, at the
end of the day, I know that Icreate a safe space and somebody
is going on filming things likeemotional and emotional
experiences, Other aspects I gotyou my class might even chill
(43:26):
play.
Speaker 1 (43:29):
So it definitely makes my heart sweat.
What advice would you give topeople who are still trying to
decide what their relationshipis with with yoga as a tool for
being grounded and centered?
What advice would you give them?
And maybe it's because they'venever been exposed to it before,
(43:52):
because they never saw peoplelike themselves enjoying it, or
maybe they just have their ownmental block around it.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Honestly, it feels good to me.
Your sound day is where I'm inmy mind.
I want to practice becomingpractical with sounds, but then
I might want to mat out and havea simulator.
I realize that the meditationpoint is really good.
What do you think about yoga?
(44:30):
It's about your breath.
How are you breathing?
We don't all actually interpretit as gravity.
Sometimes I'm going in thehouse.
(44:54):
I try to sit in the house for10 minutes.
I'm listening to music.
I'm just breathing.
I'm checking in with myself.
I'm not breathing.
(45:14):
I'm alive.
I'm breathing.
I'm actually controlling mybreath, rather than something
controlling my breath for long.
I'm not controlling my breathfor long.
(45:37):
These are things I just tellpeople.
I mean so many people.
I don't care.
I don't care in the nasty waysI'm saying I don't care because
(45:59):
you don't have to be flexible.
I'm flexible is your mind andheart.
I'm not accepting the thoughtof thinking about being a man.
Speaker 1 (46:39):
I can't tell you how much I really respect and
appreciate your approach toevolving in this practice, quite
frankly bringing a whole newviewpoint to a practice that I
found as a black woman who wasdoing the corporate thing mom,
wife, all the things and, likeyou said, highly stressed out on
(47:03):
the right side and somehow,stumbling into this place next
to my coffee shop and invited tostay, didn't see any of me
around None of me around.
This would have been probablyin the 2008 timeframe.
Very much, like you said,didn't see a lot of me around,
(47:25):
but I am still clear that it wasthat practice of grounding that
helped me to sustain throughsome of the toughest, toughest
years of my life.
Right, I'm still clear on that,and now that you know I'm
getting a bit more mature andsome things don't feel so hard
(47:49):
to do anymore, you know,especially those things that
become right muscle, it'sdefinitely pushing me to be open
to new things too, and newapproaches, and so I love that
too.
Look you, you're a gift and Ilove that you are owning your
influence in this space.
(48:10):
If you have not already gone toInstagram, which is my jam you
haven't already gone there topull up yogi TV.
You should, because she takessome amazing trips and she
shares them with us, and youalso make yoga a centered
lifestyle and you also sharesome tips with us.
(48:31):
It doesn't have to be fancy,and I love it's even so
approachable, as I'm going tobed at night and there you are,
showing what kind of poses gowith you know, right on top of
your bedspread, right.
So you know those are all goodthings and they're in English,
right?
They're in English, they're inthe language that your listener
understands, your audienceunderstands, so you're taking
(48:53):
away even some of theintimidation that goes with that
and to me that is brilliant.
That's brilliant.
Thank you so much for your timeand your space on tick tock or
you yogi TV to so I'm trying tofigure out the tick of the top.
Girl, me too.
Speaker 2 (49:12):
The top are not easy for me, I think my name, or yogi
TV, I think my name on ticktock is yogi TV.
By where something?
Speaker 1 (49:22):
like that You'll be.
Speaker 2 (49:25):
TV by.
You see, if you see my face,it's not the age I mean.
I think it's out there, but Ihave every set of things.
But, you know it's coming back.
I think that's not tick tock.
Speaker 1 (49:39):
It's coming the more we learn lessons and actually
have something to share.
That's what I believe now in mylife.
Right, it's coming the more welearn lessons and have something
to share, because it's notabout the fame just for that
right, the purpose and intentionthat goes with it.
And as we learn lessons andhave something to share and a
heart to give all of it away.
(50:00):
Girl, it just pays, pays andspades.
All right, sweetheart, I can'twait to see you at that same
event this summer, hopefully,and I'll talk to you soon.
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