November 3, 2025 • 59 mins
In this inspiring episode of Shaping Freedom, host Lisane Basquiat sits down with award-winning journalist, producer, and host Shameika Rhymes — the creative force behind Check the Rhymes TV and Soul Liberation on BlackDoctor.org. Together, they dive into what it means to build your own table in media, stay authentic in storytelling, and embrace wellness while pursuing purpose.
Shameika shares her journey from working in traditional newsrooms to creating platforms that amplify underrepresented voices in entertainment. She opens up about balancing creativity and health, her experiences with self-care and recovery, and how vulnerability can create community and healing. The conversation also explores redefining success, the importance of mentorship, and finding freedom through authenticity and storytelling.
Learn how to set boundaries without guilt. Join Lisane's next Protect Your Peace Shaping Session today: https://shapingfreedom.com/boundaries-workshop
Shameika shares her journey from working in traditional newsrooms to creating platforms that amplify underrepresented voices in entertainment. She opens up about balancing creativity and health, her experiences with self-care and recovery, and how vulnerability can create community and healing. The conversation also explores redefining success, the importance of mentorship, and finding freedom through authenticity and storytelling.
Learn how to set boundaries without guilt. Join Lisane's next Protect Your Peace Shaping Session today: https://shapingfreedom.com/boundaries-workshop
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
I may think that nobody wants to hear, but it
may help somebody else. You don't just wake up and
you're healed, like You've got to go through the process.
And so I didn't think anybody was listening until I
got tagged in a video on TikTok and somebody said
she's got great content about the process of this surgery.
Because I was upset, thinking, how's everybody else healed from
this so quick? They're liars? But I thought, you know what,
(00:30):
I can be real and share my experience, and I
think that is what's helping people. And I've always been
very open with stuff I've been going through.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Shaping Freedom podcast, where we dive into
conversations that inspire personal growth, transformation, and clarity and challenging times.
I'm your host, Lysan Bosquiat. Today, my guest is someone
who's built a platform around celebrating authenticity and legacy in
(01:01):
popular culture. Shamika Rhymes is an award winning journalist, producer,
and host. She is the creative force behind Check the
Rhymes TV, where gen x meets pop culture and celebration
her wellness focused series on Blackdoctor dot Org. She's made
(01:22):
a career at of amplifying stories that might have been forgotten,
the artists who defined our youth, the cultural moments that
shaped who we are, and the wellness conversations that remind
us to care for that person that's behind the performance.
It's important. In this conversation, we'll talk about what it
means to build your own table in media, and why
(01:46):
representation and authentic storytelling still matter, and how creativity and
well being intersect in your life and your work. Shamika
Rime's welcome to Shaping Freedom. I'm so excited that you're here.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Thank you so much for having me and whoever wrote
that bio, I need a copy of it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I shall send you a copy of it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That was great.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I shall make sure that you get a copy of
this introduction for sure. Shamika, we met through Billy Johnson,
and I don't know when it was now, maybe two years,
a year and a half.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Maybe a year ago, Okay maybe, Okay, it's all a
big blur. It's all a blur.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And we had a conversation on your celebration show and
had a beautiful conversation about self care, and since then,
I've wanted to have a conversation with you here on
the show. And I'm really glad that we've been able
(03:00):
to to make this happen.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Me too, Me too, because the conversation that you and
I had we also talked about burnout, that's right, and yeah,
and making sure you take care of yourself before we
get to that point, that's right.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And uh and I you know, it's funny we have
not this is the first conversation that we're having since then.
But we follow each other online, so uh, I, you know,
I see you and and it's funny how even without speaking,
(03:37):
you know, outside of social media, you know, we'll send
some you know, send each each other things like you
know how you do and you're okay over there you're.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Tired and you okay, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
So I want to get to I want to kind
of talk about your lane a little bit. Let's start
with that, if that's okay. And I know that you
worked in traditional newsrooms and you went from that to
creating something of your own, which I always love, Like
I say, create it, create your own thing, right. I'd
(04:13):
love to hear though, something about your story, like how
did you get from whatever it was that you initially
intended to do to.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
This absolutely, So I never really meant to work in
TV news as a news producer. The goal had always
been I want to do entertainment news like E News
Access Hollywood, something like that, or even Soul Train. I
was like, Don Cornelius has got to retire sometime. Girl,
(04:45):
you would do that role. You would do that right,
and so, you know, watching like folks like Annanda Luis
even Ourcine o' hall, I was like, I want to
do that, and of course you go to college. And
I went to a college in northeastern Tennessee where something
(05:07):
like that is absolutely not heard of. It's you go
work in news, go to the newspaper or something like that.
And so it was almost like I felt like, this
isn't what I want to do, but I feel like
this is the trajectory I'm supposed to do, especially getting
a job with the help of my uncle. Sometimes it
pays to have people open doors for you. So I
didn't have to do an internship. I was able to
(05:27):
jump right in, and so I decided I'm just since
I'm here, I'm going to learn everything about the newsroom.
So I started as a production assistant making six dollars
an hour, and as you know, working my way up
and really just following reporters and shadowing producers, learning all
(05:49):
the things because I'm like, I'm going to use this sometime.
I don't know when, but I'm going to use it
at some point. And so fast forward probably two thousand
or five, went through an awful breakup and started blogging.
And I didn't think anybody was reading what I was writing.
I'm just online, you know, you know how we do
(06:09):
now we tell I'll just get it out our online diary. Yeah.
So I was just you know, pouring my heart out
and going on dates and all this stuff after an
eight year relationship, and people were reading it, and I thought, now,
wait a minute, is this a new career idea? So
(06:30):
just you know, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and
I was still I got the news job, a senior
producer role, but my hours were one one am to
nine am, so I needed to stay awake. So I
created the blog, which is the MOFO Chronicles dot com
and started blogging on that and the views still started.
They just kept coming, and I thought, this is I'm
(06:52):
tired of talking about dating. Now. I want to venture
into my interest, which is entertainment music and you know,
throwing stuff out to people that I knew that did that,
said hey can I write for you? Hey can I
do this for you? And then it just so happens
the universe said I forget you want SoulTrain. I didn't
(07:14):
forget you. So by that point, you know, uh, Don
Cornelius had already unfortunately have passed, and the website was
still going SoulTrain dot com, and I saw they were
looking for writers, and that is what changed the trajectory
of everything. And so once that site shut down, I
(07:35):
bounced around to different outlets, and then it got to
the point where I was like, these outlets aren't telling
the stories that I wanted to tell over here at
SoulTrain and for other outlets, and I was tired of
pitching those stories. So I thought, you know what, do
it myself. And that's how I ended up here.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Wow, they weren't telling the stories, so you were going
to do it? Well, thank you for that. We appreciate that.
What was your vision for it?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Honestly, because my lane when I was at soul Train
started to become and this was just by accident, started
to become Whatever happened to such and such. I wonder
where this person is, you know, and it may have
been these artists that when they were in their heyday,
there was no Internet and people aren't picking up these
(08:23):
archives of magazines to see what they were doing. So
I just made it my mission at that point, like
I'm going to tell their stories. I want some place
for them to be able to tell their stories. So
you'll find really on Check the Rhymes, which is my platform.
Now I don't talk to a lot of young artists.
If there may be one or two that slipped through
the cracks, but there's mostly the musical legends that don't
(08:47):
have an outlet really to tell those stories because there
is no soul train, there is no video soul anymore.
All those places they would have gone to share their stories,
those places are gone. And now when you pitch those
stories to so of our legacy magazines, they don't want
to hear it either, and which is sad. So that's
pretty much why what the vision was was to be
(09:09):
able to still preserve their stories and their words. Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And so how do you how do you help them
to I guess balance between like the nostalgia of what
you know of the time that kind of I hate
to say hey day, because it I think in some
ways that it just doesn't it doesn't feel right coming
out of me, because it sounds like a person is
(09:35):
valued based on a particular thing that's very public facing,
and I don't believe that to be true. So I
guess the better question is how do you help them
with their truth telling, especially when they're kind of revisiting
what they their past and their own journey.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, the that is is a lot of them are
still made music, so they're happy to share the new
stuff they're doing. But then, you know, I'll whip out
a vinyl album, I'm like, can we talk about this?
And then they're like, oh yeah, you know, butter them
up first and that they're more than happy to talk
(10:18):
about some of those things, especially you know, I like
to get the stories behind the music, like tell me
the story, the stuff that wasn't in magazine, stuff I
couldn't find on the internet, stuff that nobody knows. And
then eventually as you're having the conversation, they just start
telling all their business.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Which story most if you can share, which story most
surprised you like?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Which is the interview?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And I know all of them are amazing and which
is the story that we need to go find and
listen to.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And it's just because it's talked on top of my
mind right now. It's my Angie Stone interview from twenty
twenty three, and just because I really just posted a
snippet on Facebook and right now I was like, where
did all these people come from? Like it's just literally
a snippet, and she mentioned DeAngelo, And from that twenty
(11:14):
second snippet, people have taken that and run with the stories,
and I'm like, watch the interview, Watch the interview. But
so it's interesting to hear her talk about like even
going through the transformation of how she looked, you know,
before she passed and versus how she looked when she
(11:37):
started out in her career and just kind of gained
weight over the years, and she was saying how people
really couldn't accept how she looked. So just hearing some
of that was really sad. I thought she looked amazing,
didn't matter what size or any of that. But I
think it's interesting to hear some of the stuff in
her words. You know, even I think, off the top
(12:01):
of my mind, of course Ralph's treasment, because who doesn't
Love New Edition. That is my one of my favorite interviews,
you know, hearing him talk about that that his original
album that was supposed to be the debut album that
didn't come out like that, that story was amazing as
(12:24):
well as I finally got to ask that man, did
he really record every little step or was it really Bobby?
Was it Ralph? Was it Bobby? What he said? Do
we have to watch to watch the interview?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
There you go, you got to watch that interview. I say,
we get people watching that interview.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I want to know.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Whose story who Which is the story that you'd really
love to hear.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Honestly Bobby Brown? Like I mean, you know, we know
all the all the things that Bobby has done over
the years, but I really just want I want to
meet him so very badly. But I also want to
just I really want to know, so now that I'm
dipping into the celebration side of things, the mental health aspect,
and because he's had a lot of loss, a lot
(13:15):
of loss in his life, and I think that I
don't know how that man gets out of bed every day,
but he does, and he's still thinking and moving and
grooving and entertaining us. And I think that aspect of
his story is just very important.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, and I think that you with the care that
you have for humans and the way that you create
a space, a safe space for a person to share,
I think that that would be an incredible conversation to
have and it would probably be quite cathartic and helpful
(13:53):
for him and for his family. You know, you mentioned celebration.
Let's talk about that. What is celebration?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
So celebration is My My Newest Baby. I guess My
Newest Baby on its streams on Black Doctor dot org
on their Facebook live and YouTube channel every Wednesday at
seven o'clock Eastern PM or am pm.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Okay, and it's.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Been I started launching that show May of twenty twenty four,
so it's it's been going along. You know. I was like, one,
I'm impressed with myself that I stuck with in this
long something that's every single week, but it's it is
a lifestyle show that I wanted to still have that
(14:41):
entertainment aspect to it, not every show, but a little
bit of bringing check the rhymes. And I do have
a Lady's Edition podcast, which is women's health, so bringing
that element of health into you didn't know that. Yeah,
So it's a fusion kind of both, but it's really
lifestyle health wellness, and I'm always wanting people to take
away something, some nugget that feeds their soul. So every
(15:03):
every show, what's the name of the podcast again, Ladies Edition, podcast.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Ladies Edition? Okay, yeah, we'll make sure to let people
know about that.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So celebration, uh huh, so celebration, Yeah, it's it has
literally become a celebration, like a celebration. But I love
when people walk away or message me later like I
needed that show or whatever. Guests said something that made
me go make an appointment to go get checked or
(15:34):
whatever it is, so that it's a show that really
is empowering. It educates, and so half the time, I
know I can be very entertaining. So it's a little
bit of everything, but it's it's such a fun show.
I absolutely love doing it.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
How does wellness show up in your practices?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Well, currently naps currently listen. Do not underestimate the power
of ant And I say that because I had surgery
in July and I I am one that will push push, push,
push push, and so I said, if I want to
I need to heal correctly right. So now, especially after
(16:17):
doing celebration, listening to my body. So when I feel
that that crash after I get off work, it's like, okay,
let me, let me at least try to lay down
for twenty thirty minutes. I think I have mastered the
twenty minute now, but twenty thirty minutes. Some days it's
an hour. But I call myself meditating. I might hear
the first two minutes and that's it. I go for
(16:40):
walks now, I go for a lot of walks. I
have dance parties. My go to before surgery was going
to yoga. Was very consistent with a yoga practice two
three times a week, and I'm hoping to get back
to that soon. But that was my go to self care.
Shut the phone off, everybody, leave me alone. I'm at yoga.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
The twenty minute nap. You know, on top of how
wonderful it is for your body, it's also such a
wonderful thing. It's a reset in your mind, and so
we don't always need to crawl into bed and be
there for four hours. Sometimes just giving yourself a little
small moment in the day to just kind of recalibrate,
(17:27):
gather yourself, That's what I always tell people, like, give
yourself a minute to gather yourself, and it gives us
like that, really that burst of energy and kind of
fresh energy that so many of us so much, so
many of us need during the day.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Absolutely, Like I think even and if I'm not that tired,
I just even if I just lay there and do
some deep breathing, that helps.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Just a moment, Yeah, just a moment, right, because we
give so much of ourselves throughout the day, and we
give so much to our we're our goals, you know,
our objectives and the things we want and our dreams
and just kind of pour a little bit in to
kind of help to fuel you to keep that going.
(18:22):
So you did every bold thing in creating these spaces
in media as woman, as a black woman, as as
as someone who wants wanted to be involved in entertainment
and all of that. What has that taught you about yourself?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
As Donnie Simpson told me, he's like, you just don't
give up to you. And I was like no, the
way that I was hounding him for an interview, He's
like you just He's like, but I respect that, And
I was like, no, when I when there's something I want,
I'm not going to give up till I get it.
So I was like, I have if I have to
figure out a way, in some kind of way, I'm
(19:05):
gonna do that. But what I have learned about myself
is in the beginning, I was saying yes to everything.
While it may not have aligned with the brand, I
just kept saying yes because I'm like, I need the content.
Had to put the foot down, like I don't want
to do this and it doesn't fit. So I'm learning
how to say no and setting those boundaries. That is
(19:27):
one thing I've had to learn because I wasn't good
at that. Some days I still struggle, but yeah, and
I'm having to learn that with Celebration as well, and
even with Ladies Edition podcasts because on that show, I
have a co host, so it's now, oh, I can't
make all the decisions. I got to check in with
my co hosts because I'm so used to doing everything
by myself. So that's been different as well.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
What is that teaching you about yourself, going from like
kind of doing it all yourself to being part of
a team.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Patience okayations, And it's also it is also helpful to
bounce ideas off each other, and we've been friends for
such a long time that it literally ends up being
just like a conversation. But I also when I'm getting
overwhelmed or burnt out with my other projects, I've had
(20:20):
to learn to say that instead of pushing through and
tell her like, hey, you know, I need I need
to step back for a minute. Let's put this on hiatus,
because I do have to focus on you know, this
project or this project because I've got a busy month,
you know, because I also for a Black Doctor dot Org.
I host the majority of their panels and summits, so
(20:42):
there may be a week where I'm like filming every
day and I don't have time to do a podcast,
you know. So I also have got to do better
with schedules working on that.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, let me know what you find back, okay, because
I'm really good at schedules. I'm really good at adding
to my schedule.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You I'm great at that.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So good, excellent, excellent, so good at it. You know,
what does this term authenticity, which to me, it's one
of my values. It's very important to me. What does
authenticity mean to you?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You know, now that you say that they'd be one
of my values too, because one of the things with
doing my own thing was I'm just gonna be me.
I'm not gonna sit here and try to be someone else.
Even with my blog Buful Chronicles, it is very much
me and I had at one point there were a
(21:48):
couple of people that tried to copy the way that
I was writing, but it didn't quite fly. I had
people say, did you you didn't write this because something's
a little off, And I'm like, because that's not me.
They're trying to be me, and I'm just being me,
whether it is writing or whether it is check the rhymes,
you know, celebration. Well, you know, sometimes I just say
(22:08):
whatever comes up in my head, and.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
So that's what we want to hear, though, Yeah, that's
that's the thing that we really want to hear.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, And sometimes I'm asking the questions like I know
everybody else is wondering, so I just ask. And but
it took a long time to get there because I
was trying to fit into the box of how a
how i'd I thought news reporter type or news producer
type is supposed to be, which is you. You don't
ask these type of questions. You ask this You don't
(22:38):
bring this up, and I'm like, no, I want to know.
I'm going to ask.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So, yeah, I think something. I think that for me personally,
in observing you, we can tell when a person is
doing what they're doing from their heart and then we're
not right. And I think that people are attracted to
(23:03):
people who show us what it looks like to express
yourself from your heart, to just speak your truth, right,
because then I think that the things that we filter
are the things that, in many ways are the things
(23:25):
that kind of get us into trouble when we're like,
you know, a insert the blank, you know, whatever the
blank is, a news reporter or a you know, someone
in a newsroom or someone who is writing a blog
or whatever has to be looks like this right, right,
And I think that you debunk that and you show
(23:45):
up as who you are, and that's I think that
is probably part of your success, a big part of
your success with what you do, just you know, saying
the things.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, And I noticed, am I right. One of my
editors finally just gave in and was like, just be
yourself because I was like, well, I have things I
need to say before I get to the meat of
the article. And she's like, just include your personal part
of it, and then she leads it in there and
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, that resonates with me because I've had times where
I so I was on vacation and I did a
reel and I had and I was like out in
the sun.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I was like, you know, just out in the sun
and you know, head on a bathing suit. I was
just like, and I saw this.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Someone took the reel and they put it up and
they put a filter on it.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And I texted and I said, you take that down.
You take that down, and you put me back up.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It's the way I because that ain't me. I clean
up up nicely.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
But that day I was laying out in the sun
and I probably had a little bit of sweat on
my brow and I was, you know, my skin was
you know, doing what it being what it is. And
that is something that that has I think is important,
especially for people who are watching. I think it's important
(25:23):
to spread the word that you know, be yourself. Who
you are is okay, who you are as acceptable just
as you are. And if you want to do a
little thing and if you want to do some makeup
that are on a wait, whatever the thing is, that's
fine too. But remember who you are and be you know,
(25:44):
and be who you are.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
And I think the.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
More of us that show up that way and encourage
especially younger women to embrace who they are, the better. Absolutely, Yeah,
I love that, even going back to the conversation about
you know, Angie Stone makes you rest in peace. You know,
(26:11):
the fact that there would have to be a conversation
even yeah about you know, a person's body or you
know what's going on, that is uh uh perfection. I
think as being who you are because that's who you
were made to be. So take it up with the creator,
(26:32):
you know, exactly, exactly, take it up with the creator
if that's you know, if you don't like it. What
does success look like for you, Shamika.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
That's a really good question, because I moved that goalpost
so much. I don't know. I think for the longest
I kept and I'm being transparent, I kept feeling like
I wasn't successful, you know, even though you know, people
would say things like, oh, you inspired me to do this,
(27:00):
You inspired me to do this because I am very
much like Okay, I finished this project or this article,
onto the next thing, onto the next show, onto the
next interview, and I wasn't taking time to pause to
like really take it in. And then I go on
rants online about like nobody's ever recognizing me, nobody does that.
The third you know, nobody in the city cares. And
(27:23):
then I started to get little bits of recognition like oh,
you've got an award for this, You've get an award
for that. And then someone messaged me, and I think
it finally hit me when they said, you know, you're
one of the change makers in the Queen City, and
I was like, did you email the right person? Like
(27:43):
who so? And those awards now and it took me
a really long time, but they're on the wall over here.
So anytime I start to doubt it or question have
I been successful, I just look at the wall now.
And actually, something happened last week. So I was doing
a red carpet event for the North Carolina Music Hall
(28:04):
of Fame, and I invited some students from East Tennessee State,
so that's a little bit of a drive for them.
But this was the first time they had had an
entertainment journalism class there, and I'd spoken to the class
and I was like, you know, just blurt it out,
y'all should come, not thinking they actually would, but they did.
And the best compliment in which made me feel successful
(28:29):
was one of the students sent me a message actually
yesterday and she said, you inviting me and letting me
shadow you and watch you and see what you do.
This has been one of the most incredible experiences of
my undergrad like period. And I was like, let me
screenshot this, so I save it. So and I thought, wow,
(28:52):
to play such an integral part of somebody's undergrad like
I wish I would have had that an undergrad. But
you know, but but for you know, and every student
I talk to, So for me, I think it's become
mentoring people. And then after every celebration episode when I
see people saying, oh this, this resonated. So I went
(29:15):
and got my mammogram or you know, I realized I
wasn't doing self care or what was last night's show.
I didn't realize I was doing having a micro manager
and I was letting it my anxiety fill up and
not speaking up and all those things that lets me
know like, Okay, I did my job. That was You're
a success, Like it's not about the money for me, anymore.
(29:38):
And I always tell my sister it's my passion. So's like,
but what if your passion paid a lot of money.
I was like, I mean, of course I would take it,
but it's I'm not doing it for the money, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
I struggle with that myself sometimes where I'm like, I'm
not doing anything, which is insane, right, it does not
make any sense. And uh, and what that brought, what
you shared brought to mind for me that you can
have all the accolades in the world, you can have
the cheerleading squad that follows you from post to post
(30:11):
to post to post to post, and until you're willing
to actually look at that or receive that, you're not
going to You're going to continue to feel like you're
not being acknowledged in some way, right because you're not
doing it for yourself, right. You know, we wait for
the external, and the external can be there like pound
(30:32):
in the ground and you know, clapping their hands together,
but we don't even see it. You know, you don't
even see it until we're ready to see it. It's
been really challenging for me to acknowledge myself in some things,
and it's something that I'm just starting to get more
(30:52):
comfortable with you know, even putting that poster up behind me,
big deal for me, huge deal, and a walk for
me over kind of a line of like, you know what,
it's okay, Like you know it's okay, acknowledge the things
that you've done, the things you've created, because I'm so
(31:13):
willing to do it for other people as I know
you are. You know, you celebrate other human beings. You've
made a career out of celebrating other human beings, and
so it's really wonderful to hear that you're doing that
for yourself too.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
It took a long time and some therapy to get here,
but come on, now, it's a long time. I mean
even I'm looking at it now. I have my first
cover story in twenty twenty, and I just thought, you know,
I'll just stick it over here in my magazine rack
with all the other magazines. And my mom was like,
did you look at that magazine rack. It's like busting
(31:49):
with magazines you've got articles in and I was like,
oh yeah, I need to get a bigger one. And
then I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna go
get this cover blow because I've been chasing that goal.
It is so obnoxiously big and bought a frame for it.
I haven't hung it up yet, but it's right here,
but it's like I see it every single day. Yeah. Yeah,
(32:11):
So just celebrating those wins. Actually, I mentioned that last
night on the show. Celebrating your wins, even the small victories.
And I have one friend. If I tell her like, yeah,
I got assigned an article about blah blah blah, I've
been pitching for a long time, She'll say, how are
you going to celebrate? Hmm? And I'm like what And
(32:36):
she's like, how are you going to celebrate? Every single thing?
I tell her, how are you going to celebrate? And
at one point I was like stop saying that. But
then I was like, she's right, she's right.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
It's good to have a friend like that. Yeah, as
a person who jumps from one thing to the next,
and I'm like, that was great, what's the next thing.
I think there's a there's a gratitude in there that
for me, when I'm doing that is missing sometimes because
it takes a lot to accomplish the things that we accomplish,
(33:08):
no matter what they are public, private, And I think
giving a moment of processing and integration and gratitude is
the way that we really get to capture and integrate
the lessons from it and the learnings from it and
so that we can actually put those into the next
(33:31):
thing that we're doing. So I think that's part of
the word for today, celebrate your wins. Celebrate your wins.
What stories for you are still.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Untold?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Like, what are the stories that you either your own
or the stories that you want to bring to your followers,
to your listeners outside of the stories of you know,
particul killer people. But what kinds of stories.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh well, that's a good question because literally last night,
out of absolutely nowhere, I decided I need to rebrand
a little bit. And it's like, I don't know where
this is coming from, but I was like, I looking
back at say check the rhymes, I'm like, it's it
needs a little shaking up. I don't know what that
looks like yet, but I know on TikTok, I've been
(34:27):
a little bit more vocal about my story. Even with
this surgery, I would have never probably have gone online,
you know, still bandaged up, looking crazy bonnit on and
all I have to talk about, you know, surgery. But
I just decided I'm gonna I'm gonna be real about
this particular surgery. It's not all you know roses, and
(34:50):
there is a recovery period, and I'm like, it's a marathon,
not a sprint. You don't just wake up and you're healed,
like you've got to go through the process. And so
I didn't think anybody was listening until I got tagged
in a video on TikTok and somebody said she's got
great content about the process of this surgery. Because I
was upset, thinking, how's everybody else healed from this so quick?
(35:12):
They're liars? But I thought, you know what, I can
be real and share my experience, and I think that
is what's helping people. And I've always been very open
with stuff I've been going through, but I think maybe
more of that, maybe trying to unlock those areas that
(35:37):
I may think that nobody wants to hear, but it
may help somebody else. And I try to infuse in
celebration some little stories here and there, but maybe doing
more of a I don't know if that looks like
a blog or if it looks like content for Check
the Runs, I don't know, or Ladies Edition I'm not
sure what that looks like yet more of you, yeah,
(35:58):
more of me? Now that might change next week, but
we'll see, we'll see. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
It doesn't matter sterial ideas. You're gonna make it happen anyway.
For those who are listening, is there anything about any
lessons or tips about that surgery that you'd like to
share for someone who may be listening.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Well, just posted a whole YouTube video and podcast about us.
I'm very open. I ended up having a breast reduction.
You know, you never really think about the impact that
you know your when your back is hurting, your neck
and your shoulders. I just always thought it was stressed,
and then after after a while, it was like, no,
(36:43):
it's not stress. You're just carrying literally way too much
and it's impacting the rest of your body. Your knees
and ankled, all of it because you know you're walking
hunched over. Everything hurts. So I don't think a lot
of people knew the intro. We'll pay for it, So
that's one thing I've been trying to walk people through
(37:04):
that process. But for me, I also added on, because
you know, I can't just do one thing. I had
to throw in two other procedures and because I was like,
I don't I only have this much time carved out
to heal, so let's do it all at once. So
let's put it all in there.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Body, do your thing, and do it within two weeks, please, because.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Right, because I'm going to get back to my normal thing. Yeah. Yes,
it was four months later, still not back to like
one hundred percent, but so I because I have been
very vocal about my battle with fibroids and a denimiosis,
a ten year fight with surgeries, and you know, they
kept coming back the iron infusion. So you know, I'm
(37:49):
very vocal about that and passionate about helping women and
guiding them to what they should do or what they
should research as far as that goes. So for me,
you know, I've we were talking earlier about the perfect
and feeling perfect and the filters and all that stuff.
As I'm sitting on celebration like, oh, celebrate yourself, love yourself. Honestly,
(38:11):
I was the one, the main one not loving myself,
and I had to take a step back, like what's
the problem. And I was like, I'm every time I
looked in the mirror, I was seeing somebody that still
had fibroids, despite the fact I had to insurrected me
three years ago. So I still had the evidence of
all the surgeries, and you know, the scar tissue had
(38:34):
settled into a shelf. And so when I went in
for my consultation for the breast reduction, I was like,
while I'm here, can you take care of this shelf?
And if you can, let's do it all at the
same time. And so, you know, there's sometimes a shame
around cosmetic or plastic surgery. Now insurance doesn't pay for
that part, and so it was like that, you know,
(38:55):
do I share this or not? And then I was like,
you know what, why not? Because at my age, how
many people are thinking of even doing something like that,
so they feel a little bit better, a little bit
more confident. So yeah, so they can watch all of
my rants and talking about the nerve pain, because that's
source part of it. On TikTok, it's check the Runs
(39:16):
TV and I have videos on my YouTube, so it
is a little bit more of me sharing those the
journeys and even what to buy before any type of surgery.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah, that's so helpful. My mother, who passed away in
two thousand and eight was she had some mental health issues.
And for me, there's so much that I had to
figure out on my own as a woman about my
(39:47):
body and about other things that are very woman specific, right,
And so I was lucky enough to have older women
in my life that I could reach out to and
ask questions of. But today from where I am, you know,
I'm a grandmother and my children are grown, grown, grown.
(40:10):
I think it's so important and I don't do enough
of it. And I think that's this is a conversation
for me and also a celebration of what you're doing,
because I think that we can't underestimate the importance of
sharing for those who may not have that for themselves,
(40:37):
you know, like the sharing that you did with inviting
that group of students to come and experience something that
they may not have been able to experience otherwise, or
the sharing of your story and your journey through healing
from having a couple of procedures and surgeries. Sometimes all
(40:58):
a person has is something that you've been willing to share.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Right, Yeah, agreed. I remember sharing about the iron confusions
and a lot of people said, I've never heard of that,
but my iron's low. Maybe I'll ask my doctor about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I'm talking to myself because you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
I probably overshare.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
No, No, you're doing that. And I think it's something
that I sometimes grapple with, is like there's a slow doorway,
and I'm like, do I go through that?
Speaker 1 (41:30):
You know?
Speaker 2 (41:31):
So I thank you for being so inspirational in that way,
because I think it's important. I think what's really clicking
for me and what you're watching me process is that
sometimes the thing that we're afraid to share is the
very thing that is so helpful to someone else who
just wants to hear that, to know that it's not
just them, that there's someone out there who understands their journey.
(41:55):
And so thank you for modeling that for me in
this moment, and also for for anyone, you know, the
people that you encounter on a day to day basis. Oh,
thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
I know when I was looking before the surgery or
any surgery, looking online for somebody that had been through
the same thing, and so I struggled finding someone I
could relate to that was going to tell me the
real and not just the Oh. When I got off
the off the table and off the hospital. I was perfect.
(42:28):
I didn't have any swelling because I thought, right, no rights.
Four months and I'm still swollen. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah, if your younger self could watch you now, if
your younger self was watching you, what do you think
(42:58):
she'd say?
Speaker 1 (42:59):
I think one question she would say is can you
slow down and get that husband? Stop working so much?
Where is he? You said we were going to get one?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I had one. I uh, liissans stop it? I had one,
and sometimes today and that was you know, I've been
divorced for many years, but sometimes today I uh, I
think where's my person? Where is my person? And then
(43:34):
I observe myself and I'm like, girl, you are working
from home. You go, you have the same flight path.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Right, You're in your car, he's not in there. Right.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
You drive to the place, you drive to the you know,
primarily female focused co working space, he's not there. Like
you got to get out and be up, out about
and about with people. Yeah, I'm trying to figure that
put out right.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yeah, And you know, my my eighty one year old neighbor,
he said to me, you know, you're a bit of
a recluse. And I thought, you know that you might
be right, because he said, You're you think some man's
going to just show up at your door? And I
was like, well, Amazon comes here all the time, so right,
but I guess I'm waiting. It's taken a while. Just
(44:27):
yeah up here, please? Yeah? Has that?
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Is that a new thing for you? Like reclusive is hard?
But you know, is it you has the pandemic shifted?
I think so your practices in terms of, you know,
being at home.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
I think so because honestly, and it was I, you know,
building check the rhymes at that point. It was the
best time because everybody was at home and it was
easy to get people on the show and build it
up that way. But I think I've just gotten so
used to doing everything from home. It's like, why don't
(45:07):
we go outside. I guess you do need people. You
do need to go outside and meet people, and so
I I And actually I had a dating coach on
the on tolebration the other weekend. She said, she's like,
your assignment is to get out that house once a week,
go somewhere different. And so I'm gonna take her up
on that challenge because it has been and I think
(45:30):
that it's like because I do have a day job,
so I think it's just day job. Then I take
my little nap and then switch to the other stuff.
So then by the time I'm done, it's like, oh
it's ten o'clock at night, go back, go to bed.
It's the same cycle over and over and over. So
it's you get comfortable doing that.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah, So so it was a few weeks ago. Here,
I am I'm talking big mess right because I'm not
doing it. But those a few weeks ago, Shamika.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
She said, once a week, right, a few weeks ago,
you talk about what you get ready to gonna do, right,
Can you model that for me?
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Because I want to see if that works well. I
told her, I might need to start off with baby steps.
Once a month. It's about to be cold here.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Oh. I have friends who can can like just kind
of get something on and they'll go out and they're like,
I want, you know, this number of dates, and I'm like.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
How do you do that? Like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
I just it's just not I don't know. God's going
to have to figure that out, don't right, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
What does some freedom mean to you today?
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Especially with celebration and I thank black doctor dot Org
for this. The freedom to create the show that I envisioned,
you know, the freedom to bring on the guests that
I think will make an impact. Like I love that.
The ability to be able to craft the show the
way I want to without having to constantly ask like
(47:03):
can I do this? Is this okay? You know? The
first few shows, of course I had to do that,
but then after a while they're like, ah, she knows
what she's doing. It's good. Same with check the rhymes, Like,
I just love not having to have to go to
an editor and say, can I do this story? No,
I can do it if I want to, Like, I
love that, and if I don't feel like it that day,
(47:24):
I'm not going to do it. I'm still trying to
find freedom in that day job because I'm finding that
I'm not aligned with it anymore. So now I'm looking
for the door to freedom as far as that goes.
And I don't know what that looks like. If it
is a shift to just doing my own thing full time,
I'm not sure yet.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
We want to see the answer to that question, and
this could be kind of in line with that, Like
when you look at the work that you do the
body of work that you that you're creating, both through
Check the Rhymes, Celebration, the podcast. What legacy are you shaping?
Speaker 1 (48:04):
That's a good question. I used to think about that like, ah,
I'm not leaving a legacy of anything, you know. I
used to literally feel that way until I was at
an event and an intern that I worked with when
I worked in news. She was actually it was like
(48:25):
a child, like, like, that's my child on stage and
she was on stage introducing like the next performer with
Kirk Franklin. And I was sitting there with my mom
and I said, I feel something. She was like, what
is what? She's like, you haven't a hot flash? No,
(48:46):
I was like, I feel something.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Like I was like, I'm about to cry because I
was so proud. And I sent her a text and
she texted me back and she said, you were the
only one that believed in me in that newsroom when
they all put me down, they all said I couldn't
do it, and you were the only one that constantly
uplifted me and encouraged me. And so I think that's
(49:13):
also the legacy that I'm building, is a legacy of
these up and coming journalists and you know, I don't
know what she I think she calls herself a media
personality slash and see and like the students that you
know were just at this event last week. And then
I'm a huge part of the North Carolina Music Hall
(49:35):
of Fame, the advisory board, so being able to shape
what that looks like and honoring North Carolina talent. I
think my hands are a little bit in everything, So
I think there's going to be a touch of me somewhere.
So I think that that's what it is.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yeah, because we're all leaving a legacy, and it's not
all the very public legacy like we're here. There's a
legacy that's being built no matter what we're doing. You
know that's happening, and it's it seems that you're very
intentional in some way, even when you're you may not
(50:10):
be consciously connected to it. Like there's a rhythm. There's
a rhythm that's happening there, there's something being created. Uh,
And what's so beautiful to watch is that you seem
to just feel the next thing without fully without it
being necessarily as clear, but you're willing to walk through
(50:33):
the door to discover what that is. Yeah, you know,
and I think that's so important to this journey for anyone,
is to be willing to go through that door, and
also to be willing to pay attention to those times
where you're thinking, oh wait, maybe this is a little flat,
(50:54):
something else needs to happen here.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, I and I met me. That's what's kind of
pushed me to do a little bit of a not
necessarily a reband, but a refresh, you know. And I
used to be like, oh yeah, I just throw things
up the wall, see what sticks. But yeah, I think
it is just being open and trying. I just told
a friend. I was like, she was trying so hard
to have this project. She wanted to launch, be perfect,
(51:18):
and I was like, you have to do what you
told me. Just do it and you can adjust as
you go along. And that's pretty much what I do.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
What advice do you have for young journalists and storytellers
who are maybe where you were when you started out?
Speaker 1 (51:38):
You know how we mentioned Billy Johnson earlier, So one
thing I did. Billy didn't know me from a Cannap
paint and I said, hello, Billy, I want you to
be my mentor. Is that cool? Oh wow? I did
not know that And Billy, the billy that we all
know and love, said yeah, of course he did. How
(52:01):
can he say yeah to me?
Speaker 2 (52:05):
Wow? Wow?
Speaker 1 (52:06):
So I think I think it is important to have
someone that you can go to for advice and navigate
and you know, because this industry is insanity, especially now,
just having someone that you can talk to, you know.
And I always tell like the students that I talk to,
(52:26):
whether it's you know, I talked to students at a
couple of different colleges and I'm I'm always like I'm
an open door. Sometimes they will they will reach out like, hey,
what do you think of this? Or should I do this?
So I think having a mentor is super super important
because when I was in college, I didn't have one,
and when I started this writing career, I didn't have one.
(52:47):
I just kind of was like, let's just see what happens.
And you know, I had the audacity, That's what I had,
you know. And even with writing, going catching myself the
Soul Train, I had three clips and was like, I'm good,
y'all should check me out. Then luckily they need writers,
so they did. And then when I pitched myself to
(53:07):
Vanity Fair, in hindsight, I thought were you, Why would
you think that you? But I did and they they
picked it up. So I would also say for those
that are up and coming and you know, or if
they're just starting out, just start writing so that you
have something, whether it is a blog, whether it is
(53:30):
you know, what is that a sub stack and all
these new places you can write now, Just something so
that you are starting your portfolio, you know, and if
if you know, being in front of the cameras are thing,
so cell phones are for now, you know, post that content,
So just do it.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
How can we support you, Shamika?
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Well, to Celebration is going on a bit of a hiatus,
so but it is, but but I'll be back. I
will be back soon. But you can still watch all
the old episodes. They're all everything is on Check the
Rhymes TV on YouTube. There's playlists and even the Ladies
of Vision podcast there's a playlist for that too, playlist
(54:12):
for Celebration, and the playlist for all the Check the
Rhymes interviews. So I think that's the best central place
to find all the content, all the interviews. Yeah, and
I just you know, I'm always like people send me
ideas on who I should go after to come on
the show because sometimes my brain is like, I don't
(54:33):
know anybody else, so so yeah, so that's what I
see you posting all the time. You're like, I need, yeah,
needs a suggestion, Right.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Does anyone know of a whatever whatever the thing is
that you're wanting to have a conversation about. Yeah, so
if you have some ideas, follow Shamika rhymes so that
you can help her to Yes, get the folks that
she wants to have in front of her to have
conversations with them. Yes, what are you doing for the holidays?
(55:03):
How are you going to end this year?
Speaker 1 (55:06):
I would like to be dating, but I don't see
that happening. By the end of twenty twenty five. Maybe
I'll go outside. We'll see, but that's a whole two
months ambitious. I got two times to go outside November December.
But in the case, just in case that doesn't happen,
(55:27):
I would probably be with with my my family probably
and still probably racking my brain on how to refresh
check the rhymes and celebration And honestly, the biggest thing
though has been the priority has been healing, so you know,
because I want the swelling to go down, So sitting
down somewhere, and I think that that's the big goal.
(55:51):
But yeah, I haven't really thought about it because I
was looking at my vision board and I was like, yeah,
none of this happened because I was I. I didn't
think I was having surgery this soon this year. So
I think revisiting that vision board is probably something else
I'll do.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Well. We look forward to hearing, to seeing and hearing
what you choose to do in twenty twenty six. I
have a feeling that there's rumblings of something, the next
iteration of something. I think so, and I'm really curious
to see what that actually winds up being. Shamika, thank
(56:31):
you so much for your time. I really appreciate your
willingness to come and chit chat with me. I always
enjoy talking to you. You know, this is like our
second conversation. It always feels I love you. The warmth
of your presence and your authenticity and the fact that
(56:52):
you are so celebrated. You've done so much, and you're
also very generous with with yourself and with sharing and
helping others who who are looking to walk in the
steps that you have in terms of journalism and storytelling
and and all of that, and so thank you so
(57:14):
much for that.
Speaker 1 (57:15):
Thank you for having me. I enjoyed chatting with you
and dming. I'm so glad we could we could do
this because I really did enjoy chatting with you on celebration.
So I'm glad you invited me because I was gonna ask,
can I come on your podcasts? I wish you would have, my.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Goodness, we've been talking about it for such a long time,
and I wish I wish you you would have because I, uh, yeah,
I was really happy to happy here. And when you
decide or when this new thing materializes, which I feel
like it is, you got to come back and share
(57:57):
what that is like what you create in this base
of the next couple of months as we yeah, as
we've watched George twenty twenty six, because yeah, I think
there's something big happening for you, we'll see something big
and beautiful kind of the next the next thing. Thank
(58:17):
you so much for sharing. I appreciate you. Let's continue
to DM and when you find that man, Okay, I
made an assumption there, whatever whatever your thing is, you
let us know.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
Okay, yeah you did, so when I find him, there
will be there will be signs.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
There will be uh, there'll be something in your MOFO
chronicles about that for sure. I'm sure have an amazing
end to your year. Shamika, Thank you so much for
your time. Thank you for for everything that you share
that I know will be of help and in service
to those who are listening. Yeah, and until next time,
this is the Shaping Freedom Podcast. I'm Lussan Boskia Shamika rhymes.
(59:06):
Thank you so much for being on today, and remember
we feel more free when we are willing to tell
the truth and use our own voice authentically and unapologetically.
Love and peace.
I may think that nobody wants to hear, but it
may help somebody else. You don't just wake up and
you're healed, like You've got to go through the process.
And so I didn't think anybody was listening until I
got tagged in a video on TikTok and somebody said
she's got great content about the process of this surgery.
Because I was upset, thinking, how's everybody else healed from
this so quick? They're liars? But I thought, you know what,
(00:30):
I can be real and share my experience, and I
think that is what's helping people. And I've always been
very open with stuff I've been going through.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Welcome to the Shaping Freedom podcast, where we dive into
conversations that inspire personal growth, transformation, and clarity and challenging times.
I'm your host, Lysan Bosquiat. Today, my guest is someone
who's built a platform around celebrating authenticity and legacy in
(01:01):
popular culture. Shamika Rhymes is an award winning journalist, producer,
and host. She is the creative force behind Check the
Rhymes TV, where gen x meets pop culture and celebration
her wellness focused series on Blackdoctor dot Org. She's made
(01:22):
a career at of amplifying stories that might have been forgotten,
the artists who defined our youth, the cultural moments that
shaped who we are, and the wellness conversations that remind
us to care for that person that's behind the performance.
It's important. In this conversation, we'll talk about what it
means to build your own table in media, and why
(01:46):
representation and authentic storytelling still matter, and how creativity and
well being intersect in your life and your work. Shamika
Rime's welcome to Shaping Freedom. I'm so excited that you're here.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
Thank you so much for having me and whoever wrote
that bio, I need a copy of it.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
I shall send you a copy of it.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
That was great.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
I shall make sure that you get a copy of
this introduction for sure. Shamika, we met through Billy Johnson,
and I don't know when it was now, maybe two years,
a year and a half.
Speaker 1 (02:33):
Maybe a year ago, Okay maybe, Okay, it's all a
big blur. It's all a blur.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
And we had a conversation on your celebration show and
had a beautiful conversation about self care, and since then,
I've wanted to have a conversation with you here on
the show. And I'm really glad that we've been able
(03:00):
to to make this happen.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
Me too, Me too, because the conversation that you and
I had we also talked about burnout, that's right, and yeah,
and making sure you take care of yourself before we
get to that point, that's right.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
And uh and I you know, it's funny we have
not this is the first conversation that we're having since then.
But we follow each other online, so uh, I, you know,
I see you and and it's funny how even without speaking,
(03:37):
you know, outside of social media, you know, we'll send
some you know, send each each other things like you
know how you do and you're okay over there you're.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
Tired and you okay, yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
So I want to get to I want to kind
of talk about your lane a little bit. Let's start
with that, if that's okay. And I know that you
worked in traditional newsrooms and you went from that to
creating something of your own, which I always love, Like
I say, create it, create your own thing, right. I'd
(04:13):
love to hear though, something about your story, like how
did you get from whatever it was that you initially
intended to do to.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
This absolutely, So I never really meant to work in
TV news as a news producer. The goal had always
been I want to do entertainment news like E News
Access Hollywood, something like that, or even Soul Train. I
was like, Don Cornelius has got to retire sometime. Girl,
(04:45):
you would do that role. You would do that right,
and so, you know, watching like folks like Annanda Luis
even Ourcine o' hall, I was like, I want to
do that, and of course you go to college. And
I went to a college in northeastern Tennessee where something
(05:07):
like that is absolutely not heard of. It's you go
work in news, go to the newspaper or something like that.
And so it was almost like I felt like, this
isn't what I want to do, but I feel like
this is the trajectory I'm supposed to do, especially getting
a job with the help of my uncle. Sometimes it
pays to have people open doors for you. So I
didn't have to do an internship. I was able to
(05:27):
jump right in, and so I decided I'm just since
I'm here, I'm going to learn everything about the newsroom.
So I started as a production assistant making six dollars
an hour, and as you know, working my way up
and really just following reporters and shadowing producers, learning all
(05:49):
the things because I'm like, I'm going to use this sometime.
I don't know when, but I'm going to use it
at some point. And so fast forward probably two thousand
or five, went through an awful breakup and started blogging.
And I didn't think anybody was reading what I was writing.
I'm just online, you know, you know how we do
(06:09):
now we tell I'll just get it out our online diary. Yeah.
So I was just you know, pouring my heart out
and going on dates and all this stuff after an
eight year relationship, and people were reading it, and I thought, now,
wait a minute, is this a new career idea? So
(06:30):
just you know, I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, and
I was still I got the news job, a senior
producer role, but my hours were one one am to
nine am, so I needed to stay awake. So I
created the blog, which is the MOFO Chronicles dot com
and started blogging on that and the views still started.
They just kept coming, and I thought, this is I'm
(06:52):
tired of talking about dating. Now. I want to venture
into my interest, which is entertainment music and you know,
throwing stuff out to people that I knew that did that,
said hey can I write for you? Hey can I
do this for you? And then it just so happens
the universe said I forget you want SoulTrain. I didn't
(07:14):
forget you. So by that point, you know, uh, Don
Cornelius had already unfortunately have passed, and the website was
still going SoulTrain dot com, and I saw they were
looking for writers, and that is what changed the trajectory
of everything. And so once that site shut down, I
(07:35):
bounced around to different outlets, and then it got to
the point where I was like, these outlets aren't telling
the stories that I wanted to tell over here at
SoulTrain and for other outlets, and I was tired of
pitching those stories. So I thought, you know what, do
it myself. And that's how I ended up here.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Wow, they weren't telling the stories, so you were going
to do it? Well, thank you for that. We appreciate that.
What was your vision for it?
Speaker 1 (08:02):
Honestly, because my lane when I was at soul Train
started to become and this was just by accident, started
to become Whatever happened to such and such. I wonder
where this person is, you know, and it may have
been these artists that when they were in their heyday,
there was no Internet and people aren't picking up these
(08:23):
archives of magazines to see what they were doing. So
I just made it my mission at that point, like
I'm going to tell their stories. I want some place
for them to be able to tell their stories. So
you'll find really on Check the Rhymes, which is my platform.
Now I don't talk to a lot of young artists.
If there may be one or two that slipped through
the cracks, but there's mostly the musical legends that don't
(08:47):
have an outlet really to tell those stories because there
is no soul train, there is no video soul anymore.
All those places they would have gone to share their stories,
those places are gone. And now when you pitch those
stories to so of our legacy magazines, they don't want
to hear it either, and which is sad. So that's
pretty much why what the vision was was to be
(09:09):
able to still preserve their stories and their words. Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
And so how do you how do you help them
to I guess balance between like the nostalgia of what
you know of the time that kind of I hate
to say hey day, because it I think in some
ways that it just doesn't it doesn't feel right coming
out of me, because it sounds like a person is
(09:35):
valued based on a particular thing that's very public facing,
and I don't believe that to be true. So I
guess the better question is how do you help them
with their truth telling, especially when they're kind of revisiting
what they their past and their own journey.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
Well, the that is is a lot of them are
still made music, so they're happy to share the new
stuff they're doing. But then, you know, I'll whip out
a vinyl album, I'm like, can we talk about this?
And then they're like, oh yeah, you know, butter them
up first and that they're more than happy to talk
(10:18):
about some of those things, especially you know, I like
to get the stories behind the music, like tell me
the story, the stuff that wasn't in magazine, stuff I
couldn't find on the internet, stuff that nobody knows. And
then eventually as you're having the conversation, they just start
telling all their business.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Which story most if you can share, which story most
surprised you like?
Speaker 1 (10:44):
Which is the interview?
Speaker 2 (10:45):
And I know all of them are amazing and which
is the story that we need to go find and
listen to.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
And it's just because it's talked on top of my
mind right now. It's my Angie Stone interview from twenty
twenty three, and just because I really just posted a
snippet on Facebook and right now I was like, where
did all these people come from? Like it's just literally
a snippet, and she mentioned DeAngelo, And from that twenty
(11:14):
second snippet, people have taken that and run with the stories,
and I'm like, watch the interview, Watch the interview. But
so it's interesting to hear her talk about like even
going through the transformation of how she looked, you know,
before she passed and versus how she looked when she
(11:37):
started out in her career and just kind of gained
weight over the years, and she was saying how people
really couldn't accept how she looked. So just hearing some
of that was really sad. I thought she looked amazing,
didn't matter what size or any of that. But I
think it's interesting to hear some of the stuff in
her words. You know, even I think, off the top
(12:01):
of my mind, of course Ralph's treasment, because who doesn't
Love New Edition. That is my one of my favorite interviews,
you know, hearing him talk about that that his original
album that was supposed to be the debut album that
didn't come out like that, that story was amazing as
(12:24):
well as I finally got to ask that man, did
he really record every little step or was it really Bobby?
Was it Ralph? Was it Bobby? What he said? Do
we have to watch to watch the interview?
Speaker 2 (12:37):
There you go, you got to watch that interview. I say,
we get people watching that interview.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
I want to know.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Whose story who Which is the story that you'd really
love to hear.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
Honestly Bobby Brown? Like I mean, you know, we know
all the all the things that Bobby has done over
the years, but I really just want I want to
meet him so very badly. But I also want to
just I really want to know, so now that I'm
dipping into the celebration side of things, the mental health aspect,
and because he's had a lot of loss, a lot
(13:15):
of loss in his life, and I think that I
don't know how that man gets out of bed every day,
but he does, and he's still thinking and moving and
grooving and entertaining us. And I think that aspect of
his story is just very important.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Yeah, and I think that you with the care that
you have for humans and the way that you create
a space, a safe space for a person to share,
I think that that would be an incredible conversation to
have and it would probably be quite cathartic and helpful
(13:53):
for him and for his family. You know, you mentioned celebration.
Let's talk about that. What is celebration?
Speaker 1 (14:01):
So celebration is My My Newest Baby. I guess My
Newest Baby on its streams on Black Doctor dot org
on their Facebook live and YouTube channel every Wednesday at
seven o'clock Eastern PM or am pm.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
Okay, and it's.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Been I started launching that show May of twenty twenty four,
so it's it's been going along. You know. I was like, one,
I'm impressed with myself that I stuck with in this
long something that's every single week, but it's it is
a lifestyle show that I wanted to still have that
(14:41):
entertainment aspect to it, not every show, but a little
bit of bringing check the rhymes. And I do have
a Lady's Edition podcast, which is women's health, so bringing
that element of health into you didn't know that. Yeah,
So it's a fusion kind of both, but it's really
lifestyle health wellness, and I'm always wanting people to take
away something, some nugget that feeds their soul. So every
(15:03):
every show, what's the name of the podcast again, Ladies Edition, podcast.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Ladies Edition? Okay, yeah, we'll make sure to let people
know about that.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
So celebration, uh huh, so celebration, Yeah, it's it has
literally become a celebration, like a celebration. But I love
when people walk away or message me later like I
needed that show or whatever. Guests said something that made
me go make an appointment to go get checked or
(15:34):
whatever it is, so that it's a show that really
is empowering. It educates, and so half the time, I
know I can be very entertaining. So it's a little
bit of everything, but it's it's such a fun show.
I absolutely love doing it.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
How does wellness show up in your practices?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Well, currently naps currently listen. Do not underestimate the power
of ant And I say that because I had surgery
in July and I I am one that will push push, push,
push push, and so I said, if I want to
I need to heal correctly right. So now, especially after
(16:17):
doing celebration, listening to my body. So when I feel
that that crash after I get off work, it's like, okay,
let me, let me at least try to lay down
for twenty thirty minutes. I think I have mastered the
twenty minute now, but twenty thirty minutes. Some days it's
an hour. But I call myself meditating. I might hear
the first two minutes and that's it. I go for
(16:40):
walks now, I go for a lot of walks. I
have dance parties. My go to before surgery was going
to yoga. Was very consistent with a yoga practice two
three times a week, and I'm hoping to get back
to that soon. But that was my go to self care.
Shut the phone off, everybody, leave me alone. I'm at yoga.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
The twenty minute nap. You know, on top of how
wonderful it is for your body, it's also such a
wonderful thing. It's a reset in your mind, and so
we don't always need to crawl into bed and be
there for four hours. Sometimes just giving yourself a little
small moment in the day to just kind of recalibrate,
(17:27):
gather yourself, That's what I always tell people, like, give
yourself a minute to gather yourself, and it gives us
like that, really that burst of energy and kind of
fresh energy that so many of us so much, so
many of us need during the day.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Absolutely, Like I think even and if I'm not that tired,
I just even if I just lay there and do
some deep breathing, that helps.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Just a moment, Yeah, just a moment, right, because we
give so much of ourselves throughout the day, and we
give so much to our we're our goals, you know,
our objectives and the things we want and our dreams
and just kind of pour a little bit in to
kind of help to fuel you to keep that going.
(18:22):
So you did every bold thing in creating these spaces
in media as woman, as a black woman, as as
as someone who wants wanted to be involved in entertainment
and all of that. What has that taught you about yourself?
Speaker 1 (18:44):
As Donnie Simpson told me, he's like, you just don't
give up to you. And I was like no, the
way that I was hounding him for an interview, He's
like you just He's like, but I respect that, And
I was like, no, when I when there's something I want,
I'm not going to give up till I get it.
So I was like, I have if I have to
figure out a way, in some kind of way, I'm
(19:05):
gonna do that. But what I have learned about myself
is in the beginning, I was saying yes to everything.
While it may not have aligned with the brand, I
just kept saying yes because I'm like, I need the content.
Had to put the foot down, like I don't want
to do this and it doesn't fit. So I'm learning
how to say no and setting those boundaries. That is
(19:27):
one thing I've had to learn because I wasn't good
at that. Some days I still struggle, but yeah, and
I'm having to learn that with Celebration as well, and
even with Ladies Edition podcasts because on that show, I
have a co host, so it's now, oh, I can't
make all the decisions. I got to check in with
my co hosts because I'm so used to doing everything
by myself. So that's been different as well.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
What is that teaching you about yourself, going from like
kind of doing it all yourself to being part of
a team.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
Patience okayations, And it's also it is also helpful to
bounce ideas off each other, and we've been friends for
such a long time that it literally ends up being
just like a conversation. But I also when I'm getting
overwhelmed or burnt out with my other projects, I've had
(20:20):
to learn to say that instead of pushing through and
tell her like, hey, you know, I need I need
to step back for a minute. Let's put this on hiatus,
because I do have to focus on you know, this
project or this project because I've got a busy month,
you know, because I also for a Black Doctor dot Org.
I host the majority of their panels and summits, so
(20:42):
there may be a week where I'm like filming every
day and I don't have time to do a podcast,
you know. So I also have got to do better
with schedules working on that.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Yeah, let me know what you find back, okay, because
I'm really good at schedules. I'm really good at adding
to my schedule.
Speaker 1 (21:05):
You I'm great at that.
Speaker 2 (21:07):
So good, excellent, excellent, so good at it. You know,
what does this term authenticity, which to me, it's one
of my values. It's very important to me. What does
authenticity mean to you?
Speaker 1 (21:26):
You know, now that you say that they'd be one
of my values too, because one of the things with
doing my own thing was I'm just gonna be me.
I'm not gonna sit here and try to be someone else.
Even with my blog Buful Chronicles, it is very much
me and I had at one point there were a
(21:48):
couple of people that tried to copy the way that
I was writing, but it didn't quite fly. I had
people say, did you you didn't write this because something's
a little off, And I'm like, because that's not me.
They're trying to be me, and I'm just being me,
whether it is writing or whether it is check the rhymes,
you know, celebration. Well, you know, sometimes I just say
(22:08):
whatever comes up in my head, and.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
So that's what we want to hear, though, Yeah, that's
that's the thing that we really want to hear.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, And sometimes I'm asking the questions like I know
everybody else is wondering, so I just ask. And but
it took a long time to get there because I
was trying to fit into the box of how a
how i'd I thought news reporter type or news producer
type is supposed to be, which is you. You don't
ask these type of questions. You ask this You don't
(22:38):
bring this up, and I'm like, no, I want to know.
I'm going to ask.
Speaker 2 (22:43):
So, yeah, I think something. I think that for me personally,
in observing you, we can tell when a person is
doing what they're doing from their heart and then we're
not right. And I think that people are attracted to
(23:03):
people who show us what it looks like to express
yourself from your heart, to just speak your truth, right,
because then I think that the things that we filter
are the things that, in many ways are the things
(23:25):
that kind of get us into trouble when we're like,
you know, a insert the blank, you know, whatever the
blank is, a news reporter or a you know, someone
in a newsroom or someone who is writing a blog
or whatever has to be looks like this right, right,
And I think that you debunk that and you show
(23:45):
up as who you are, and that's I think that
is probably part of your success, a big part of
your success with what you do, just you know, saying
the things.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
Yeah, And I noticed, am I right. One of my
editors finally just gave in and was like, just be
yourself because I was like, well, I have things I
need to say before I get to the meat of
the article. And she's like, just include your personal part
of it, and then she leads it in there and
I love that.
Speaker 2 (24:17):
Yeah, that resonates with me because I've had times where
I so I was on vacation and I did a
reel and I had and I was like out in
the sun.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I was like, you know, just out in the sun
and you know, head on a bathing suit. I was
just like, and I saw this.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
Someone took the reel and they put it up and
they put a filter on it.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
And I texted and I said, you take that down.
You take that down, and you put me back up.
Speaker 1 (24:53):
It's the way I because that ain't me. I clean
up up nicely.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
But that day I was laying out in the sun
and I probably had a little bit of sweat on
my brow and I was, you know, my skin was
you know, doing what it being what it is. And
that is something that that has I think is important,
especially for people who are watching. I think it's important
(25:23):
to spread the word that you know, be yourself. Who
you are is okay, who you are as acceptable just
as you are. And if you want to do a
little thing and if you want to do some makeup
that are on a wait, whatever the thing is, that's
fine too. But remember who you are and be you know,
(25:44):
and be who you are.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
And I think the.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
More of us that show up that way and encourage
especially younger women to embrace who they are, the better. Absolutely, Yeah,
I love that, even going back to the conversation about
you know, Angie Stone makes you rest in peace. You know,
(26:11):
the fact that there would have to be a conversation
even yeah about you know, a person's body or you
know what's going on, that is uh uh perfection. I
think as being who you are because that's who you
were made to be. So take it up with the creator,
(26:32):
you know, exactly, exactly, take it up with the creator
if that's you know, if you don't like it. What
does success look like for you, Shamika.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
That's a really good question, because I moved that goalpost
so much. I don't know. I think for the longest
I kept and I'm being transparent, I kept feeling like
I wasn't successful, you know, even though you know, people
would say things like, oh, you inspired me to do this,
(27:00):
You inspired me to do this because I am very
much like Okay, I finished this project or this article,
onto the next thing, onto the next show, onto the
next interview, and I wasn't taking time to pause to
like really take it in. And then I go on
rants online about like nobody's ever recognizing me, nobody does that.
The third you know, nobody in the city cares. And
(27:23):
then I started to get little bits of recognition like oh,
you've got an award for this, You've get an award
for that. And then someone messaged me, and I think
it finally hit me when they said, you know, you're
one of the change makers in the Queen City, and
I was like, did you email the right person? Like
(27:43):
who so? And those awards now and it took me
a really long time, but they're on the wall over here.
So anytime I start to doubt it or question have
I been successful, I just look at the wall now.
And actually, something happened last week. So I was doing
a red carpet event for the North Carolina Music Hall
(28:04):
of Fame, and I invited some students from East Tennessee State,
so that's a little bit of a drive for them.
But this was the first time they had had an
entertainment journalism class there, and I'd spoken to the class
and I was like, you know, just blurt it out,
y'all should come, not thinking they actually would, but they did.
And the best compliment in which made me feel successful
(28:29):
was one of the students sent me a message actually
yesterday and she said, you inviting me and letting me
shadow you and watch you and see what you do.
This has been one of the most incredible experiences of
my undergrad like period. And I was like, let me
screenshot this, so I save it. So and I thought, wow,
(28:52):
to play such an integral part of somebody's undergrad like
I wish I would have had that an undergrad. But
you know, but but for you know, and every student
I talk to, So for me, I think it's become
mentoring people. And then after every celebration episode when I
see people saying, oh this, this resonated. So I went
(29:15):
and got my mammogram or you know, I realized I
wasn't doing self care or what was last night's show.
I didn't realize I was doing having a micro manager
and I was letting it my anxiety fill up and
not speaking up and all those things that lets me
know like, Okay, I did my job. That was You're
a success, Like it's not about the money for me, anymore.
(29:38):
And I always tell my sister it's my passion. So's like,
but what if your passion paid a lot of money.
I was like, I mean, of course I would take it,
but it's I'm not doing it for the money, you know.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
I struggle with that myself sometimes where I'm like, I'm
not doing anything, which is insane, right, it does not
make any sense. And uh, and what that brought, what
you shared brought to mind for me that you can
have all the accolades in the world, you can have
the cheerleading squad that follows you from post to post
(30:11):
to post to post to post, and until you're willing
to actually look at that or receive that, you're not
going to You're going to continue to feel like you're
not being acknowledged in some way, right because you're not
doing it for yourself, right. You know, we wait for
the external, and the external can be there like pound
(30:32):
in the ground and you know, clapping their hands together,
but we don't even see it. You know, you don't
even see it until we're ready to see it. It's
been really challenging for me to acknowledge myself in some things,
and it's something that I'm just starting to get more
(30:52):
comfortable with you know, even putting that poster up behind me,
big deal for me, huge deal, and a walk for
me over kind of a line of like, you know what,
it's okay, Like you know it's okay, acknowledge the things
that you've done, the things you've created, because I'm so
(31:13):
willing to do it for other people as I know
you are. You know, you celebrate other human beings. You've
made a career out of celebrating other human beings, and
so it's really wonderful to hear that you're doing that
for yourself too.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
It took a long time and some therapy to get here,
but come on, now, it's a long time. I mean
even I'm looking at it now. I have my first
cover story in twenty twenty, and I just thought, you know,
I'll just stick it over here in my magazine rack
with all the other magazines. And my mom was like,
did you look at that magazine rack. It's like busting
(31:49):
with magazines you've got articles in and I was like,
oh yeah, I need to get a bigger one. And
then I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna go
get this cover blow because I've been chasing that goal.
It is so obnoxiously big and bought a frame for it.
I haven't hung it up yet, but it's right here,
but it's like I see it every single day. Yeah. Yeah,
(32:11):
So just celebrating those wins. Actually, I mentioned that last
night on the show. Celebrating your wins, even the small victories.
And I have one friend. If I tell her like, yeah,
I got assigned an article about blah blah blah, I've
been pitching for a long time, She'll say, how are
you going to celebrate? Hmm? And I'm like what And
(32:36):
she's like, how are you going to celebrate? Every single thing?
I tell her, how are you going to celebrate? And
at one point I was like stop saying that. But
then I was like, she's right, she's right.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
It's good to have a friend like that. Yeah, as
a person who jumps from one thing to the next,
and I'm like, that was great, what's the next thing.
I think there's a there's a gratitude in there that
for me, when I'm doing that is missing sometimes because
it takes a lot to accomplish the things that we accomplish,
(33:08):
no matter what they are public, private, And I think
giving a moment of processing and integration and gratitude is
the way that we really get to capture and integrate
the lessons from it and the learnings from it and
so that we can actually put those into the next
(33:31):
thing that we're doing. So I think that's part of
the word for today, celebrate your wins. Celebrate your wins.
What stories for you are still.
Speaker 1 (33:45):
Untold?
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Like, what are the stories that you either your own
or the stories that you want to bring to your followers,
to your listeners outside of the stories of you know,
particul killer people. But what kinds of stories.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Oh well, that's a good question because literally last night,
out of absolutely nowhere, I decided I need to rebrand
a little bit. And it's like, I don't know where
this is coming from, but I was like, I looking
back at say check the rhymes, I'm like, it's it
needs a little shaking up. I don't know what that
looks like yet, but I know on TikTok, I've been
(34:27):
a little bit more vocal about my story. Even with
this surgery, I would have never probably have gone online,
you know, still bandaged up, looking crazy bonnit on and
all I have to talk about, you know, surgery. But
I just decided I'm gonna I'm gonna be real about
this particular surgery. It's not all you know roses, and
(34:50):
there is a recovery period, and I'm like, it's a marathon,
not a sprint. You don't just wake up and you're healed,
like you've got to go through the process. And so
I didn't think anybody was listening until I got tagged
in a video on TikTok and somebody said she's got
great content about the process of this surgery. Because I
was upset, thinking, how's everybody else healed from this so quick?
(35:12):
They're liars? But I thought, you know what, I can
be real and share my experience, and I think that
is what's helping people. And I've always been very open
with stuff I've been going through, but I think maybe
more of that, maybe trying to unlock those areas that
(35:37):
I may think that nobody wants to hear, but it
may help somebody else. And I try to infuse in
celebration some little stories here and there, but maybe doing
more of a I don't know if that looks like
a blog or if it looks like content for Check
the Runs, I don't know, or Ladies Edition I'm not
sure what that looks like yet more of you, yeah,
(35:58):
more of me? Now that might change next week, but
we'll see, we'll see. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
It doesn't matter sterial ideas. You're gonna make it happen anyway.
For those who are listening, is there anything about any
lessons or tips about that surgery that you'd like to
share for someone who may be listening.
Speaker 1 (36:21):
Well, just posted a whole YouTube video and podcast about us.
I'm very open. I ended up having a breast reduction.
You know, you never really think about the impact that
you know your when your back is hurting, your neck
and your shoulders. I just always thought it was stressed,
and then after after a while, it was like, no,
(36:43):
it's not stress. You're just carrying literally way too much
and it's impacting the rest of your body. Your knees
and ankled, all of it because you know you're walking
hunched over. Everything hurts. So I don't think a lot
of people knew the intro. We'll pay for it, So
that's one thing I've been trying to walk people through
(37:04):
that process. But for me, I also added on, because
you know, I can't just do one thing. I had
to throw in two other procedures and because I was like,
I don't I only have this much time carved out
to heal, so let's do it all at once. So
let's put it all in there.
Speaker 2 (37:23):
Body, do your thing, and do it within two weeks, please, because.
Speaker 1 (37:28):
Right, because I'm going to get back to my normal thing. Yeah. Yes,
it was four months later, still not back to like
one hundred percent, but so I because I have been
very vocal about my battle with fibroids and a denimiosis,
a ten year fight with surgeries, and you know, they
kept coming back the iron infusion. So you know, I'm
(37:49):
very vocal about that and passionate about helping women and
guiding them to what they should do or what they
should research as far as that goes. So for me,
you know, I've we were talking earlier about the perfect
and feeling perfect and the filters and all that stuff.
As I'm sitting on celebration like, oh, celebrate yourself, love yourself. Honestly,
(38:11):
I was the one, the main one not loving myself,
and I had to take a step back, like what's
the problem. And I was like, I'm every time I
looked in the mirror, I was seeing somebody that still
had fibroids, despite the fact I had to insurrected me
three years ago. So I still had the evidence of
all the surgeries, and you know, the scar tissue had
(38:34):
settled into a shelf. And so when I went in
for my consultation for the breast reduction, I was like,
while I'm here, can you take care of this shelf?
And if you can, let's do it all at the
same time. And so, you know, there's sometimes a shame
around cosmetic or plastic surgery. Now insurance doesn't pay for
that part, and so it was like that, you know,
(38:55):
do I share this or not? And then I was like,
you know what, why not? Because at my age, how
many people are thinking of even doing something like that,
so they feel a little bit better, a little bit
more confident. So yeah, so they can watch all of
my rants and talking about the nerve pain, because that's
source part of it. On TikTok, it's check the Runs
(39:16):
TV and I have videos on my YouTube, so it
is a little bit more of me sharing those the
journeys and even what to buy before any type of surgery.
Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah, that's so helpful. My mother, who passed away in
two thousand and eight was she had some mental health issues.
And for me, there's so much that I had to
figure out on my own as a woman about my
(39:47):
body and about other things that are very woman specific, right,
And so I was lucky enough to have older women
in my life that I could reach out to and
ask questions of. But today from where I am, you know,
I'm a grandmother and my children are grown, grown, grown.
(40:10):
I think it's so important and I don't do enough
of it. And I think that's this is a conversation
for me and also a celebration of what you're doing,
because I think that we can't underestimate the importance of
sharing for those who may not have that for themselves,
(40:37):
you know, like the sharing that you did with inviting
that group of students to come and experience something that
they may not have been able to experience otherwise, or
the sharing of your story and your journey through healing
from having a couple of procedures and surgeries. Sometimes all
(40:58):
a person has is something that you've been willing to share.
Speaker 1 (41:02):
Right, Yeah, agreed. I remember sharing about the iron confusions
and a lot of people said, I've never heard of that,
but my iron's low. Maybe I'll ask my doctor about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (41:13):
I'm talking to myself because you're doing it.
Speaker 1 (41:18):
I probably overshare.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
No, No, you're doing that. And I think it's something
that I sometimes grapple with, is like there's a slow doorway,
and I'm like, do I go through that?
Speaker 1 (41:30):
You know?
Speaker 2 (41:31):
So I thank you for being so inspirational in that way,
because I think it's important. I think what's really clicking
for me and what you're watching me process is that
sometimes the thing that we're afraid to share is the
very thing that is so helpful to someone else who
just wants to hear that, to know that it's not
just them, that there's someone out there who understands their journey.
(41:55):
And so thank you for modeling that for me in
this moment, and also for for anyone, you know, the
people that you encounter on a day to day basis. Oh,
thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (42:05):
I know when I was looking before the surgery or
any surgery, looking online for somebody that had been through
the same thing, and so I struggled finding someone I
could relate to that was going to tell me the
real and not just the Oh. When I got off
the off the table and off the hospital. I was perfect.
(42:28):
I didn't have any swelling because I thought, right, no rights.
Four months and I'm still swollen. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah, if your younger self could watch you now, if
your younger self was watching you, what do you think
(42:58):
she'd say?
Speaker 1 (42:59):
I think one question she would say is can you
slow down and get that husband? Stop working so much?
Where is he? You said we were going to get one?
Speaker 2 (43:11):
I had one. I uh, liissans stop it? I had one,
and sometimes today and that was you know, I've been
divorced for many years, but sometimes today I uh, I
think where's my person? Where is my person? And then
(43:34):
I observe myself and I'm like, girl, you are working
from home. You go, you have the same flight path.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
Right, You're in your car, he's not in there. Right.
Speaker 2 (43:49):
You drive to the place, you drive to the you know,
primarily female focused co working space, he's not there. Like
you got to get out and be up, out about
and about with people. Yeah, I'm trying to figure that
put out right.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Yeah, And you know, my my eighty one year old neighbor,
he said to me, you know, you're a bit of
a recluse. And I thought, you know that you might
be right, because he said, You're you think some man's
going to just show up at your door? And I
was like, well, Amazon comes here all the time, so right,
but I guess I'm waiting. It's taken a while. Just
(44:27):
yeah up here, please? Yeah? Has that?
Speaker 2 (44:32):
Is that a new thing for you? Like reclusive is hard?
But you know, is it you has the pandemic shifted?
I think so your practices in terms of, you know,
being at home.
Speaker 1 (44:45):
I think so because honestly, and it was I, you know,
building check the rhymes at that point. It was the
best time because everybody was at home and it was
easy to get people on the show and build it
up that way. But I think I've just gotten so
used to doing everything from home. It's like, why don't
(45:07):
we go outside. I guess you do need people. You
do need to go outside and meet people, and so
I I And actually I had a dating coach on
the on tolebration the other weekend. She said, she's like,
your assignment is to get out that house once a week,
go somewhere different. And so I'm gonna take her up
on that challenge because it has been and I think
(45:30):
that it's like because I do have a day job,
so I think it's just day job. Then I take
my little nap and then switch to the other stuff.
So then by the time I'm done, it's like, oh
it's ten o'clock at night, go back, go to bed.
It's the same cycle over and over and over. So
it's you get comfortable doing that.
Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah, So so it was a few weeks ago. Here,
I am I'm talking big mess right because I'm not
doing it. But those a few weeks ago, Shamika.
Speaker 3 (45:56):
She said, once a week, right, a few weeks ago,
you talk about what you get ready to gonna do, right,
Can you model that for me?
Speaker 1 (46:07):
Because I want to see if that works well. I
told her, I might need to start off with baby steps.
Once a month. It's about to be cold here.
Speaker 2 (46:16):
Oh. I have friends who can can like just kind
of get something on and they'll go out and they're like,
I want, you know, this number of dates, and I'm like.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
How do you do that? Like, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
I just it's just not I don't know. God's going
to have to figure that out, don't right, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (46:34):
I have no idea.
Speaker 2 (46:37):
What does some freedom mean to you today?
Speaker 1 (46:40):
Especially with celebration and I thank black doctor dot Org
for this. The freedom to create the show that I envisioned,
you know, the freedom to bring on the guests that
I think will make an impact. Like I love that.
The ability to be able to craft the show the
way I want to without having to constantly ask like
(47:03):
can I do this? Is this okay? You know? The
first few shows, of course I had to do that,
but then after a while they're like, ah, she knows
what she's doing. It's good. Same with check the rhymes, Like,
I just love not having to have to go to
an editor and say, can I do this story? No,
I can do it if I want to, Like, I
love that, and if I don't feel like it that day,
(47:24):
I'm not going to do it. I'm still trying to
find freedom in that day job because I'm finding that
I'm not aligned with it anymore. So now I'm looking
for the door to freedom as far as that goes.
And I don't know what that looks like. If it
is a shift to just doing my own thing full time,
I'm not sure yet.
Speaker 2 (47:44):
We want to see the answer to that question, and
this could be kind of in line with that, Like
when you look at the work that you do the
body of work that you that you're creating, both through
Check the Rhymes, Celebration, the podcast. What legacy are you shaping?
Speaker 1 (48:04):
That's a good question. I used to think about that like, ah,
I'm not leaving a legacy of anything, you know. I
used to literally feel that way until I was at
an event and an intern that I worked with when
I worked in news. She was actually it was like
(48:25):
a child, like, like, that's my child on stage and
she was on stage introducing like the next performer with
Kirk Franklin. And I was sitting there with my mom
and I said, I feel something. She was like, what
is what? She's like, you haven't a hot flash? No,
(48:46):
I was like, I feel something.
Speaker 2 (48:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (48:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (48:51):
Like I was like, I'm about to cry because I
was so proud. And I sent her a text and
she texted me back and she said, you were the
only one that believed in me in that newsroom when
they all put me down, they all said I couldn't
do it, and you were the only one that constantly
uplifted me and encouraged me. And so I think that's
(49:13):
also the legacy that I'm building, is a legacy of
these up and coming journalists and you know, I don't
know what she I think she calls herself a media
personality slash and see and like the students that you
know were just at this event last week. And then
I'm a huge part of the North Carolina Music Hall
(49:35):
of Fame, the advisory board, so being able to shape
what that looks like and honoring North Carolina talent. I
think my hands are a little bit in everything, So
I think there's going to be a touch of me somewhere.
So I think that that's what it is.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Yeah, because we're all leaving a legacy, and it's not
all the very public legacy like we're here. There's a
legacy that's being built no matter what we're doing. You
know that's happening, and it's it seems that you're very
intentional in some way, even when you're you may not
(50:10):
be consciously connected to it. Like there's a rhythm. There's
a rhythm that's happening there, there's something being created. Uh,
And what's so beautiful to watch is that you seem
to just feel the next thing without fully without it
being necessarily as clear, but you're willing to walk through
(50:33):
the door to discover what that is. Yeah, you know,
and I think that's so important to this journey for anyone,
is to be willing to go through that door, and
also to be willing to pay attention to those times
where you're thinking, oh wait, maybe this is a little flat,
(50:54):
something else needs to happen here.
Speaker 1 (50:57):
Yeah, I and I met me. That's what's kind of
pushed me to do a little bit of a not
necessarily a reband, but a refresh, you know. And I
used to be like, oh yeah, I just throw things
up the wall, see what sticks. But yeah, I think
it is just being open and trying. I just told
a friend. I was like, she was trying so hard
to have this project. She wanted to launch, be perfect,
(51:18):
and I was like, you have to do what you
told me. Just do it and you can adjust as
you go along. And that's pretty much what I do.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
What advice do you have for young journalists and storytellers
who are maybe where you were when you started out?
Speaker 1 (51:38):
You know how we mentioned Billy Johnson earlier, So one
thing I did. Billy didn't know me from a Cannap
paint and I said, hello, Billy, I want you to
be my mentor. Is that cool? Oh wow? I did
not know that And Billy, the billy that we all
know and love, said yeah, of course he did. How
(52:01):
can he say yeah to me?
Speaker 2 (52:05):
Wow? Wow?
Speaker 1 (52:06):
So I think I think it is important to have
someone that you can go to for advice and navigate
and you know, because this industry is insanity, especially now,
just having someone that you can talk to, you know.
And I always tell like the students that I talk to,
(52:26):
whether it's you know, I talked to students at a
couple of different colleges and I'm I'm always like I'm
an open door. Sometimes they will they will reach out like, hey,
what do you think of this? Or should I do this?
So I think having a mentor is super super important
because when I was in college, I didn't have one,
and when I started this writing career, I didn't have one.
(52:47):
I just kind of was like, let's just see what happens.
And you know, I had the audacity, That's what I had,
you know. And even with writing, going catching myself the
Soul Train, I had three clips and was like, I'm good,
y'all should check me out. Then luckily they need writers,
so they did. And then when I pitched myself to
(53:07):
Vanity Fair, in hindsight, I thought were you, Why would
you think that you? But I did and they they
picked it up. So I would also say for those
that are up and coming and you know, or if
they're just starting out, just start writing so that you
have something, whether it is a blog, whether it is
(53:30):
you know, what is that a sub stack and all
these new places you can write now, Just something so
that you are starting your portfolio, you know, and if
if you know, being in front of the cameras are thing,
so cell phones are for now, you know, post that content,
So just do it.
Speaker 2 (53:48):
How can we support you, Shamika?
Speaker 1 (53:51):
Well, to Celebration is going on a bit of a hiatus,
so but it is, but but I'll be back. I
will be back soon. But you can still watch all
the old episodes. They're all everything is on Check the
Rhymes TV on YouTube. There's playlists and even the Ladies
of Vision podcast there's a playlist for that too, playlist
(54:12):
for Celebration, and the playlist for all the Check the
Rhymes interviews. So I think that's the best central place
to find all the content, all the interviews. Yeah, and
I just you know, I'm always like people send me
ideas on who I should go after to come on
the show because sometimes my brain is like, I don't
(54:33):
know anybody else, so so yeah, so that's what I
see you posting all the time. You're like, I need, yeah,
needs a suggestion, Right.
Speaker 2 (54:42):
Does anyone know of a whatever whatever the thing is
that you're wanting to have a conversation about. Yeah, so
if you have some ideas, follow Shamika rhymes so that
you can help her to Yes, get the folks that
she wants to have in front of her to have
conversations with them. Yes, what are you doing for the holidays?
(55:03):
How are you going to end this year?
Speaker 1 (55:06):
I would like to be dating, but I don't see
that happening. By the end of twenty twenty five. Maybe
I'll go outside. We'll see, but that's a whole two
months ambitious. I got two times to go outside November December.
But in the case, just in case that doesn't happen,
(55:27):
I would probably be with with my my family probably
and still probably racking my brain on how to refresh
check the rhymes and celebration And honestly, the biggest thing
though has been the priority has been healing, so you know,
because I want the swelling to go down, So sitting
down somewhere, and I think that that's the big goal.
(55:51):
But yeah, I haven't really thought about it because I
was looking at my vision board and I was like, yeah,
none of this happened because I was I. I didn't
think I was having surgery this soon this year. So
I think revisiting that vision board is probably something else
I'll do.
Speaker 2 (56:08):
Well. We look forward to hearing, to seeing and hearing
what you choose to do in twenty twenty six. I
have a feeling that there's rumblings of something, the next
iteration of something. I think so, and I'm really curious
to see what that actually winds up being. Shamika, thank
(56:31):
you so much for your time. I really appreciate your
willingness to come and chit chat with me. I always
enjoy talking to you. You know, this is like our
second conversation. It always feels I love you. The warmth
of your presence and your authenticity and the fact that
(56:52):
you are so celebrated. You've done so much, and you're
also very generous with with yourself and with sharing and
helping others who who are looking to walk in the
steps that you have in terms of journalism and storytelling
and and all of that, and so thank you so
(57:14):
much for that.
Speaker 1 (57:15):
Thank you for having me. I enjoyed chatting with you
and dming. I'm so glad we could we could do
this because I really did enjoy chatting with you on celebration.
So I'm glad you invited me because I was gonna ask,
can I come on your podcasts? I wish you would have, my.
Speaker 2 (57:34):
Goodness, we've been talking about it for such a long time,
and I wish I wish you you would have because I, uh, yeah,
I was really happy to happy here. And when you
decide or when this new thing materializes, which I feel
like it is, you got to come back and share
(57:57):
what that is like what you create in this base
of the next couple of months as we yeah, as
we've watched George twenty twenty six, because yeah, I think
there's something big happening for you, we'll see something big
and beautiful kind of the next the next thing. Thank
(58:17):
you so much for sharing. I appreciate you. Let's continue
to DM and when you find that man, Okay, I
made an assumption there, whatever whatever your thing is, you
let us know.
Speaker 1 (58:32):
Okay, yeah you did, so when I find him, there
will be there will be signs.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
There will be uh, there'll be something in your MOFO
chronicles about that for sure. I'm sure have an amazing
end to your year. Shamika, Thank you so much for
your time. Thank you for for everything that you share
that I know will be of help and in service
to those who are listening. Yeah, and until next time,
this is the Shaping Freedom Podcast. I'm Lussan Boskia Shamika rhymes.
(59:06):
Thank you so much for being on today, and remember
we feel more free when we are willing to tell
the truth and use our own voice authentically and unapologetically.
Love and peace.
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