July 31, 2024 • 41 mins
"Geaux Beyond Limits: Empowering Through Music with Lachi" Welcome to today's episode of the Q-Chat! I am thrilled to introduce our guest, Lachi. She is USA Today’s "2024 Woman of the Year," a GRAMMYs Board Governor, and the Founder of RAMPD.org, a global network that champions music creators and professionals with disabilities. Lachi is a renowned recording artist who uses her platform to amplify identity pride and Disability Culture.
As a visually impaired individual, she has made significant strides in bringing accessibility to the forefront, including walking the red carpet at the GRAMMYs with her signature glammed mobility cane. Her advocacy work and inspiring story have been featured in major publications like The New York Times, Billboard, and Vogue.
Today, we’ll dive into her incredible journey, her advocacy work, and her vision for the future. 📅Record date: [July 16] 📅Release Date: [July 31]
www.geauxqueen.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Reflection Moment You can't afford to let them win.
Have you ever heard of the notion of being a bigger person?
So let me tell you, sometimes being the bigger person is the
only option you have. So think about it.
I know they offended you. I know they talk to you crazy.
I know they handled you wrong, but sometimes you cannot afford
(00:27):
to return that type of energy. Be the bigger person.
And as annoying as it sounds sometimes, because that girl I
know. Listen girl, I know I'm here
with you. I know you want to tell him up.
I know you want to cuss him up. I know you want to prove a
point. But sometimes the only point
(00:47):
that you need to prove is that you're bigger than that person.
That that shade, that negativity, the pettiness is
truly beneath you. Can you afford to really,
really, really. Give it back to him.
Your blessing is bigger. You're moving forward.
Your. Prize is bigger, your prize is
(01:08):
higher, so continue to have thathigh frequency and let them be
low. Vibrational and girls sometimes.
Just be that big a person. You don't have to have Adam.
You don't have to prove a point.Don't do it, girl.
The only point that you need to prove is that you're a winner
and that your blessing is so bigit's tailor made just for you.
(01:30):
And you can't afford to stoop tothat level.
You can't afford to lose that blessing that's waiting for you.
That's tailor made just for you.So don't do it today, girl.
I know you want to do it and I know they treated you wrong.
Believe me, I know. Like I said, I'm here with you.
I know they were wrong and I know you were in the right, but
you don't have to prove nothing.You don't owe anybody anything.
(01:52):
So today, a lesson I want to give you.
Sometimes being a bigger person is the only option because your
blessing is too big. It's tailor made just for you
and there's no one or no person,place or thing.
There's no one that has gotten under their skin that's worth
losing that blessing just to prove a point to them.
(02:13):
Hey, Queen. Welcome to today's episode of
the Q Chat. Today, our special guest is Miss
Lachi. She is USA Today's 2024 Women of
the Year, a Grammys board governor and the founder of
ramp.org, a global network that champions music creators and
professionals with disabilities.As a visually impaired
(02:36):
individual, Laci has made significant strides in bringing
accessibility to the forefront, including walking a red carpet
at the Grammys with her signature glam mobility cane.
Her advocacy work and inspiring story have been featured in
major publications like The New York Times, Billboard, and
Vogue. Today we'll dive into her
(02:57):
incredible journey, her advocacywork, and her vision for the
feature. She's a queen about a business,
working hard on a mission and high purpose driven crown on
never tilted. Go queen, Go queen.
(03:31):
Go Queen. So thank you guys for joining
another episode of the Key Chat today.
My very special guest is Miss Lachi and she is the USA Today's
2/20/24 Woman of the Year. So I'm so excited to speak with
her. She's a singer-songwriter and
she's a disability activist. We're going to dive into her
(03:52):
passion and her mission and whatdrives her and also the
awareness that she's bringing toour community.
So how you doing today? I am doing so well.
Thank you so much for having me.I am honored to be here.
Awesome. I'm so happy and blessed to have
the opportunity to speak with you.
So I wanted to start off with your personal journey.
(04:12):
You know, as I said in your intro, you've achieved a lot.
So I definitely would like you to just give us your background
and just tell us about everything and how you got
started with your advocacy and what makes you such a great,
great, great warrior to just educate everyone about
disability awareness. Yes, so I am based in New York.
(04:33):
I love to tell people I'm a Aries, so I am not shy and I'm
not quiet about anything I'm doing.
Yes, let's go. But you know what?
Listen, I am a recording artist.I am a songwriter.
I have had the pleasure of beingable to tour the world for my
(04:54):
art and work with really amazinghousehold names.
And I speak publicly very often on identity pride, disability
culture, identity women's pride,Black pride, intersectional
pride, queer pride, and speakingon how all of these intertwine
(05:15):
to really make our global culture a beautiful, colorful
and spicy culture. But I wasn't always able to
really get out here and talk about those things.
I mean, when I was growing up, Iwas a very shy and quiet kid, so
born legally blind, I wasn't sort of shoved into the blind
(05:36):
situation because I wasn't totally blind, but I couldn't
really see that well. So I didn't fit in any boxes.
And because of that, I was a bitof an outcast.
However, also because of that, Ispent a lot of time with my
piano, my keyboard, my pen, writing poetry, songs, and
writing little short stories andstuff where I could express
(05:57):
myself and really understand theworld around me and make it so
that perhaps maybe someday the world could understand me.
So music has always been a really huge part of my journey,
the way that I connect with my own self and my own issues and
then get that out to the world. So I am so grateful that I've
been able to use my music to be able to do that.
(06:19):
And today, apart from all of thethings that I do on a personal
level just in my career, I'm also the CEO and founder of an
organization called Ramped Recording Artists and music
Professionals with Disabilities.And it's really the culmination
of my love for music and my recognition that music is what
drives culture and my acceptanceand my celebration of
(06:43):
disability, the deepest part of myself that society has told me
to hide. And through Ramped, we're a
platform that connects the musicand entertainment industry to
disability, inclusive tools to people, getting folks
opportunities in the music spacethat have neurodivergence and
disability. So I'm just so excited,
ecstatic, and energized to be able to wake up every morning
(07:06):
and like live life with purpose,do what I love in a way that I
love with people that I love. And I mean, can I really ask for
more? So I definitely do want to talk
some more about rap, but I wanted to ask you, what was your
first introduction to music as achild and what was that feeling?
(07:27):
Because I know music is such a love affair and just to be able
to be a music artist and to playinstruments, it's a beauty
involved in that. So what was your first
introduction to music? You know, my mom, bless her
heart, because I don't know if this is true or not, but she
said while other babies would kick in the womb, I would play
the piano against her tummy, which I don't see the proof.
(07:48):
I don't know how she would have got a piano in there.
But look, Amazon will deliver anywhere.
So I was like, but from a very super duper young age, I was
very much into music. And I had an older sister who
was into music and dance, and they thought she was going to be
the big musician and then she didn't want her keyboard.
(08:10):
She was about to throw it out because she's like, I can't
figure it out. But for me, I saw her keyboard
just on the wayside when I was about like probably four or five
years old, and I just started tinkering on it.
And I taught myself a chord which is like 3 notes together
that sound very beautiful. And at, you know, 3-4 years old,
I'm like, oh, this is really nice.
I want more of this kind of likefeeling against my soul.
(08:35):
And so very early, I started playing the piano, tinkering
around, writing songs, making all my stuffed animals be a
choir, you know what I'm saying?And my mom figured out like,
listen, she obviously has a lovefor music.
But also it was just a place forme to to talk about the things
(08:56):
that I couldn't talk about even in elementary school and in
middle school when I didn't havea lot of friends.
So I always had that piano and the keyboard to turn to pretty
much at all times as my as the thing that held me.
Awesome. That's beautiful.
So beautiful. I want to also ask you about
(09:17):
ramp the course. Yeah, I know gave us some some
Nuggets obviously about ramp andthe beautiful impact of it.
But I want to get a little deeper and what was the origins
of what like make you decide oneday, hey, I want to stop this
organization. And I also want to ask you what
has been the impact of ramp within the music industry?
Yes. So you know, when I, so I'm
(09:41):
legally blind red, I use a cane.But when I was really young and
I was first told that I needed to use a cane and I granted, I
had much better vision when I was younger.
So my vision that I have is degenerative, right?
So when I was younger, I had much better vision, but it still
wasn't that great. So they said you need to use a
cane. And I was like, I am already
outcast. I'm absolutely not using a cane.
(10:02):
Are you kidding me? Right.
And so the problem with that wasthat I actually needed a cane,
you know what I mean? Like, I was actually should have
been using it. But because of societal stigmas
and already being a black woman and I was a daughter, AMA,
daughter of Nigerian immigrants,I just felt I had so many things
(10:24):
stacked against. So I didn't want to add that to
it. So then when I was, you know,
came out of school, I ended up getting my parents really wanted
me to work at a, a job, like a day job, a desk job.
They weren't, they didn't reallyexactly want me to do music
because listen, they had, you know, a black woman with a
(10:46):
disability trying to make it in America.
They're like, girl, get you a desk job.
Just get, you know, be good. However, I got that desk job and
I was like, this is not me, right?
I don't figure. I actually worked for the US
Army Corps of Engineers. That was my day job, but it was
like, I can't. I didn't know what misogynoir
(11:08):
was. You know what I'm saying?
I didn't have words like that. I didn't have words like ableism
and stuff like that. So I didn't know what was
happening to me at work that I just could not stand.
But I could not stand it. And I didn't have the expression
for it. And the only way that I could,
you know, figure out what was going on was through music.
So eventually, I ended up leaving that day job.
I got signed by a major label atthat time, they were called EMI.
(11:34):
And, you know, while I was with them, they wanted to market me
as like, a blind shtick, right? And I just wasn't feeling it.
I had just got out of my day job.
I was just trying to get on the scene and I felt like I was
being pigeonholed as a blind person.
Now, anyone who knows me will belike, but Laci, you talk about
(11:54):
blindness all the time today. So then what are you talking
about? Well, it wasn't from a place of
strength. I think they were just trying to
use it as a marketing tool. And I just didn't like it.
So I ended up leaving that deal and working independently.
And as I worked independently and, you know, had to build my
own self back up, I started getting in really good rooms.
(12:16):
I got a really great manager whoknew a bunch of people and he
was getting me in great recording rooms with great
artists and stuff like that. Now, here's the reason I said
all of this. It's because what I always
wanted in life was to get in these big rooms, right?
These rooms with real people, these, you know, major label
rooms with major label artists. And I wasn't able to do my best.
(12:39):
Why not? Because I couldn't see.
So I was having trouble seeing. I was tripping on stuff.
I was missing handshakes, but I wasn't going to use the cane and
I wasn't going to tell anybody. Do you get what I'm saying?
And so, but the I'm shooting myself in the foot because if
they knew, then they would provide me with the stuff I need
(13:01):
to do my best and deserve to be there.
So what I finally I had it like I had it up to here.
I was like, I'm going to have tojust come out about my
disability because my blindness is starting to get to a point It
was much worse than it was when I first started.
And so I did. I came out at a Grammy party
that they were having in New York.
(13:22):
I showed up with my cane, and when I walked into the room,
people were like, oh, what's that?
I'm like, oh, well, this is a cane.
I use it because I can't really see that well.
And I'm like, yeah, I knew something was up, you know,
like, it wasn't even that serious because I had already
really established myself musically.
So when I walked into that room,they were like, oh, for real,
(13:42):
you know, aware. So however, when I came out, I
realized nobody else was like meout here.
Or maybe they were, but they were also hiding it like I had
been. And I started asking different
places like, oh, what are y'all doing about accessibility?
Do you have any programming for people with different
(14:04):
disabilities? Even if it's just, even if it's,
you know, mental health disabilities.
And they were like, yeah, Nah, man, we ain't got nothing set up
what you want. So I was like, they, they have
said there's nobody with disabilities.
And I was like, yes, there is. I am.
And I was acting like there wasn't.
So there's got to be way more people like me that are hiding
(14:24):
it, but just ain't got no support.
So I decided on my own to run around and just find all of
them. And so I started looking one by
one. This COVID had hit, you know,
George Floyd, right? So DEI was everywhere.
Nobody was talking about accessibility and except for me.
So people started asking me to come do talks and discussions.
(14:47):
And eventually the Recording Academy asked me to do 1 the
Grammys. And so I was like, OK, so it's
me, a couple of artists that I have found that had disabilities
that were like doing pretty decent and the Recording Academy
leadership like Felicia Butterfield Jones and all them.
And so we had this discussion and we talked about some of the
issues about like disclosure, about inaccessible venues, about
(15:13):
stigmas, all that stuff. And at the end she was like, you
know, this is all great. We're taking notes and we're
going to come back to y'all withwhat the Recording Academy wants
to try to do to, you know, aboutthis topic.
And I remember thinking to myself at the end of this panel,
and it was a public panel, it blew up.
And what kind of viral, I remember thinking at the end,
like, who you going to come backto us?
We just some kids that do music like we're, we're, we can't hold
(15:34):
the Recording Academy accountable.
After that, people started coming into my DMS, they started
coming into my emails and they were like, bro, we want to be a
part of your organization. We want to be a part of your
movement. We want to do this.
We want to do that. And I was like, what
organization? Like what movement?
I did not want it. Everybody's like, Lachi, you
(15:55):
need to start this. You obviously already started
something, so you need to do it,make it.
But I was having trouble in my own career, right?
I was just going from step, you know, one to Step 2.
I was trying to really do my ownthing and double down and make
sure that I can establish myself.
I can't be starting an organization right now.
My manager for four years, the one that put me on, had passed
(16:18):
away to COVID right around that time.
And so it was just so much. But one day I went to sleep,
woke up and I had the acronym Ramped Recording Artists and
Music Professionals with Disabilities, RAMPD.
And I was like, if that's God not telling me I got to do this
then. So I did it.
(16:38):
I doubled down. I got everybody together.
I put together like a, you know,when you register a business and
all of that. And I got some people together.
I was like, I'm going to found this.
Do y'all want to be founding members?
It was some people from the panel.
They said, yes, we started having like these internal like
discussions on Zoom. It's almost, you know, what is
(16:59):
our platform, What are we going to do?
It was all very freedom fighter.It was all very like justice
meets music meets culture meets disability.
And we were just getting real rowdy in there and people
started hearing about us. The Grammys started seeing what
we were doing. National Independent Venue
Association, which is like the independent version of Live
Nation, started hearing what we were doing.
(17:19):
People started going like, hey, we want to be a part of whatever
y'all are putting together because we were established
artists. We were established music
professionals that worked for like labels and stuff that had
never had community before when it comes to disability and
neurodivergence. Then we started getting money.
So we started getting grants andwe were like, yo, we don't even
(17:41):
have an infrastructure to like, we don't have a bank account.
How are we receiving this money?So we started getting money.
We started getting all sorts of press asking us questions.
Finally the Grammys came to us and was like, will y'all help
make the Grammys accessible, more accessible in 2022?
And we were just like, yes, eventhough we had no idea what that
(18:03):
even meant. So we're just like, Yep, we're
going to do it. So we started meeting, we
started meeting with the Grammysand we, you know, we're talking
about like, let's get ASL up there, let's get an accessible
stage. Let's do this, let's do that.
And they were just kind of like,yes.
And you know, let's try it. The Grammys rolls around.
All of a sudden the New York Times comes up to us and they're
(18:23):
like, we heard that y'all are helping do accessibility for the
Grammys. And I was like the New York
Times, Boo, I read you. So they came and it was really
amazing. They did this big beautiful
story on us. It blew up.
We did the Grammys that blew up.Billboard came and spoke to us.
Who else came? Hollywood Reporter came and
(18:43):
spoke to us and it was over. We had a website.
The people started really flooding that website trying to
be members, trying to do partnerships, trying to figure
out where they can have donations.
And it has really taken off. And The funny thing about that
origin story is that the momentum like that kind of like
vigor and passion and like, yo, let's just go do this.
(19:04):
Let's just build the ship as it's happening is still going on
today. We have been working with the
Grammys for three years now. We have done stuff with Netflix
music. We have done programming with
Sony Pictures Television. We have done collaborations with
title. We have done collaborations with
women in music with different mayor's offices.
(19:25):
And now what we do is we also offer like paid opportunities,
paid visibility, community connectivity to our members who
identify as having a disability or neurodivergence within the
music industry. And even right now we have inked
a a nice beautiful collaborationwith Live Nation.
We're going to be having a partywith them on July 26th to start
(19:45):
talking about what we're going to do together to make venues
more accessible in a way that isbeneficial to the venue.
So they're not running away thinking that it's all legalese.
Of course, we're going to continue to work with the
Recording Academy and we're going to continue to provide a
disability inclusive tools and consultation to the music
(20:07):
industry. So it's obviously something I'm
very, very proud of. But it did start from a place of
there is a problem that needs tobe fixed.
Oh shit, I got to be the one to fix it.
Right, right. So of course, as I mentioned,
you were named USA Today's 2024 Woman of the Year.
So I want to ask you, how does it feel to have that recognition
and what is this doing, you know, for your career in which
(20:29):
your platform, what has this done for you?
Yeah, I mean, first of all, the beauty of it is it is always an
amazing feat for a black woman to be recognized, right?
It is not the easiest thing in the world.
So many people want us to be humble, somebody, some of us, so
many people want us to kind of be the one that's always doing
all of the work, but not necessarily getting any of the
(20:50):
glory. So as a person that is
consistently in the trenches, whether it's creating, whether
it is founding an organization, it is very nice and very
beautiful, very humbling. And you know, very, I feel very
privileged to be recognized for the work that we're doing.
So that's number one. But I do want to add that third
layer of disability. I'm not like trying to hide it.
(21:15):
I'm very open about my disability.
So to have somebody who's very open, a black woman who's open
about her disability, to be considered a woman of the year,
that's a very beautiful thing because there's a lot of women,
you know, so there's a lot of women in the world.
There's a lot of women in this country.
There's a lot of women in New York State.
(21:35):
So to be considered as a woman of the year for this large,
beautiful, one of the most populous states in in this
nation, I mean, it's been great and it's been good for my
career. I got to say, a lot of people
have been speaking to us. I've been able to get this
message out even further. And a lot of times when people
think, you know, disability or accessibility, you know, it's a
(21:56):
very white movement just like many of these movements.
And so to be the face of it and have that face be a black woman
out here in the trenches, I mean, it's not lost on me.
And so I'm very humbled. That's beautiful.
I absolutely love it. So I want to ask you to what our
platform, we do talk about self love.
And I know you mentioned just, Iwould say you're an example of
(22:17):
just defying the odds and also making sure that you created
your own lane. And as you've already mentioned,
just women of color, we already have different obstacles,
whether people want to admit that or not, but we do have
different obstacles, you know, So it's already one thing when
you have one card that's dealt to you, but then you have the
(22:39):
other layer of things that's dealt with you as well.
But you have created your own lane.
And not only have you created your own lane, you created an
audience for others, which is great, like you taking what the
cards you have been dealt with, but you've also extended that
baton to help others. So I wanted to ask you, I know
like you, you've definitely overcome a lot.
And you, you have this confidence and this glow and
(23:00):
this energy about you. So I wanted to ask you just self
love is the field to say, Hey, I'm valuable, I'm worthy.
I don't have this crutch, you know, I, I can overcome these
different things. So I want to ask you, what's
your definition of self love andwhat role has it played in your
life and just in your mission and your purpose?
You know, I was just thinking about this the other day with my
(23:22):
coach. When I was young, I was always
told to, like, sit down and be quiet.
I was also taught, you know, being from an immigrant family
may be part of it, but I was always taught, like, you know,
selfishness is bad, right? And so if I ever did anything
that even resembled selfishness in any way, it was like, don't
(23:42):
do that. You're being selfish.
So the two things I was, I always felt was celebrating
myself is selfish and that I should only be seen and not
heard, you know, and today my platform is about self
celebration. It's about identity pride.
Today my platform is about beingheard.
(24:04):
It's about giving voice to the under celebrated and to the
voiceless or to the under heard.And so I feel like it was that
sort of pivotal change that mademe go, hey, everything, all of
the generational sort of triggers that I was given,
turning those into generational treasures is where the shift
(24:29):
happened. Like even today, you know, I am.
So I'm currently writing a book called I Identify as Blind,
which should be out in 2025. And it's a celebration of
identity pride. It is a celebration of it is OK
to stand in front of the part that's the part of yourself, the
deepest part of yourself societywants you to hide.
(24:52):
When you stand in front of it, that is literally how you win at
life. And then finally, I'm also
working on an album called Mad Different.
And it's a celebration of the fact that as a black woman,
people think I'm supposed to be mad.
And as a person with a disability, people other me and
keep me different. So you know what?
I'm going to own both of them. And I'm going to talk about it.
(25:12):
I'm going to sing about it. I'm going to celebrate about it
because at the end of the day, we will not be able to swim to
the other side of the shore if we're allowing all of the other
things to drag us down and drag us back.
Being thinking about yourself and putting number one first is
not selfish. Honestly.
It is a way for you to be able to get out that barrel and drag
(25:35):
everybody else out with you. Self love is the only real,
true, honest way that you can really love anybody else.
I love what you said. Turn triggers into treasures.
That is. That is the line.
That's. The mic trap.
Yes, if I have to take it exactly like interviews over
like you've already said enough to put that's that's amazing and
(25:59):
I love that turn your triggers into treasures because like you
said, and I know like you just mentioned, the generational
things all of us have and I knowsome people refer to things as
generational curses. Regardless, we all have
generational lines that sometimes like we have to
overcome things that have been passed down, you know, I mean,
and like you said, triggers intotreasures, because we can let
(26:23):
these triggers navigate our whole life.
And if we allow these triggers to navigate our lives, it brings
us to a path that is really rocky and that a path that we do
not want to be on. So seeing triggers in the
treasures, it's a great thing. And I know that that's just
something I just love it becauseit just, it gives a person to
(26:44):
feel like, hey, sometimes we just have some things that we
have to deal with that are out of that's out of our control.
You know, no matter what we, we do, we can't change certain
things, but we can handle how wedeal with those things that
control and we can, hey, I can pivot this and like you said,
turn that trigger into treasure,turn that pain into purpose.
(27:07):
There's a vision for all of us and we have purpose.
And that's the beautiful thing about just being self aware and
having that mindset of, hey, I can turn this pain around.
I can take this disability and show you guys like, hey, I can
spin this and show you how wow, I can still accomplish great
(27:28):
things in spite of. So I love, love, love Oh my God.
Like I just, I can't wait to like use this for this episode
so. That's.
Beautiful. You may wanna think about
changing some titles of some feature books or something cuz
I'm not gonna like. That yes.
I love it. So another thing I want to ask
(27:49):
you, so I know you've been described as the new champion
and advocacy. And of course you've given us a
lot of details and accounts of just the only thing that you've
done to just bring some spotlight to just disabilities.
And I love how you also, you didn't just leave it at physical
disabilities. You also mentioned mental
health, which of course is something that we all trying to
(28:11):
build more conversations regarding because we know that
mental health disability is the tricky one because that's the
one that we can't see. It's not visible.
So I love how you also included that as well.
And with your advocacy, it's brought you in some really big
places like the White House and then you.
And so I wanted to ask you againto for someone that they may
(28:32):
have, you know, a disability. And sometimes it's really hard
for people to accept whether it's a physical disability or
whether it's a mental health disability.
Sometimes it's just hard to really grasp that, you know,
just like you said at one point,you didn't want to use your
cane. You know, sometimes there's so
many stigmas involved and there's shame.
Sometimes that's placing us simply by society because we, we
(28:55):
may be concerned with what person will think about us and
just how people will view us. And you know, sometimes when you
have a disability, you don't want to be treated differently
either. So with everything that you've
done, like I said, it's brought you to some great places.
What can you say to just inspirethat next person who they may be
(29:16):
still struggling and OK, how canI build my confidence?
How can I still be able to walk into those different rooms in
spite of? So what would you say to
encourage those individuals? You know, it's the thing about
it is that it's people say stufflike, you know, you need to just
get out there and love yourself and do this and do that and be
(29:38):
proud. And it's so much easier said
than done. One of the things that I love to
tell people is, you know, we have this thing called the
reference man, right? Which is exactly what we would
all consider the average person is.
But this reference average person is generally like a
white, you know, middle-aged or,you know, young middle-aged
(30:00):
healthy male. And if you the more you deviate
away from that, then maybe the less successful you appear or
the less hirable you appear or the less Hollywood movies
represent you, right? And so everybody says do what
you can to be as close to that reference man as possible.
(30:21):
What I say is actually do what you can to not be as close to
that reference man as possible. Do what you can to celebrate the
different parts of yourself. Because you know what?
All of the innovators and all ofthe billionaires out there, they
do that. And this idea of scarcity is a
(30:41):
social construct. There is space for you.
There is space for that different you.
What we don't want is two of thesame thing.
So celebrate that different partof you.
Bring that different part of youout.
Celebrate that different part because you know what?
You don't want to be treated thesame as everybody else.
You actually want to be treated the way you deserve to be
(31:02):
treated, right? When people are like, oh, you
know what, I just want, I have adisability, but I want you to
just treat me like you treat everybody else.
No, bitch, treat me like I deserve to be treated.
And so I tell people, celebrate that part of you because guess
what? Authenticity Fortune favors the
authentic. Fortune favors the bold Fortune
favors the real. And when you are able to be
(31:25):
authentic, bold and real with yourself, then you will start to
attract the power and the beautyand the purpose that you
deserve. I love it, I love it, I love it.
So I wanted to ask you to, obviously we mentioned mental
health. What are some practices that you
do to just keep your mental health intact, You know, to stay
mentally aware and have what your mental Wellness?
(31:47):
Are there some practices that you may do just, you know, to
keep yourself on point? Absolutely.
Obviously everybody's going to tell you sleep, water and
exercise, right? One of the big things that I
think people talk about a lot, but you don't always see people
putting it into practice, but itis really almost like a cure all
(32:08):
is gratitudes. Gratitudes have been proven
scientifically to actually literally work.
I gratitude journal. I gratitude with my partners and
my friends and I'll be like, yo,let's just sit down in a circle
and do some gratitude. And it actually really helps
because really, honestly, life is what you make of it, right?
(32:30):
The way you perceive life is howyou're going to navigate through
it. And if you perceive life as a
series of bogged down hardships,then life is going to be a
bogged down hardship. But if you see life glass half
full silver lining as a great beautiful party that you have
been invited to, you are going to make the best of your life
(32:51):
because you got invited to this dope party that you you
specifically was supposed to be here for.
And so gratitudes really help align the beauty and purpose of
all of the things that have happened to you, even if they
are things that are unfortunate.So I say do gratitudes positive
self talk. The words we use really do
(33:12):
matter. So I remember a lot of times
when I'm doing a lot of these discussions, I tell people to to
self describe for any of the blind folks in the room, right.
So I'll say something like, you know, my name is Lachi, I'm a
black woman with cornrows and I am here to speak with you today,
etcetera, etcetera. Then I'll ask somebody else to
do it and they'll say like, you know, oh, you know, I am, you
(33:33):
know, a short, not too very stocky, you know, very
unassuming, terribly, you know, freckled, you know, just bad
words. And you can say the same exact
thing about yourself using positive words, positive self
talk. And positive words really do
matter because your brain doesn't know the difference.
(33:54):
If someone on the street tells you you're not beautiful or
tells you you're not smart, you know, that doesn't feel very
good. And so it's going to be the same
when you tell that stuff to yourself.
So definitely give yourself positive self talk and give
yourself grace. I love it, I love it.
Can you give us? If you have to come up with an
(34:15):
affirmation, I could be putting you on the spot.
Give us a good affirmation. I feel like I've been trickling
out affirmations left and right.You're.
Somewhat wrong for asking me that because triggers to
treasures was actually perfect, but you know, hey, I'm just
going to toss another bone to you to see if you can come up.
(34:41):
Honestly, the one thing that I always really love to say, and
I've said it a couple times during this interview, but I
believe it stands to be said again, you know, accept the
deepest part of yourself that society wants you to hide, wants
you to change because that is your spark.
(35:04):
That is the most unique you. And when you are able to
celebrate the deepest part of yourself, that is how you went
at life period I. Love it.
So I want to ask you, what can we expect in the future for
RAMP? What are some of the future
goals that you have? What are some things that you
would like to see with RAMP for just putting, bringing more
(35:26):
awareness and just doing more things in the industry?
What are some things that you have on the books for RAMP?
Honestly, with ramped, what we really want to do is have more
major partnerships with folks like Live Nation and folks like
the Recording Academy to begin bringing real platform to this
discussion on disability inclusion culture, mental health
(35:49):
discussion, real mental health discussion, not mental health as
a buzzword, making venues more accessible for all people, not
just folks with in wheelchairs, but folks with arthritis.
I mean, disability goes beyond just folks in wheelchairs that
are blind or deaf. We want to work with folks that
have dyslexia, ADHD, like I said, arthritis, anxiety,
(36:13):
bipolar, all of these things fitand so we want to start to help
normalize it. I believe that how, you know,
hip hop really elevated black culture and country music has
really elevated rural culture. I believe that disability
culture can also be elevated through music.
And that is what we really hope and aspire to do through ramps
(36:34):
in a very in a very major way. And that's what I just, in my
own personal career, really hopeto do, which is to utilize pop
culture to be able to amplify disability discussion to
mainstream narrative. And so that's what I'm doing
through my book. That's what I'm doing through my
album that I'm putting together,and that's what we're doing
(36:57):
through Ramped. And so for anybody who's
watching this, if you are in themusic industry, the
entertainment industry, live events industry, and you have a
disability, neurodivergence, chronic pain, chronic condition,
if you're deaf, if you're a little person, like anything
that makes you stand out and be completely different, please
(37:19):
come reach out to RAMPS. We are looking for you.
We want to work with you. You can be anywhere in the
industry, not just the artist. You can be somebody that works
at the desk, at a table, you canbe a booking agent, whatever.
We want to work with you becausethis movement is taking off and
being for real, and it's doing what we want, which is to
infiltrate pop culture. Is so much for such a wonderful
(37:42):
conversation. Before we do it and everything
though, please tell everyone howthey can connect with you.
I know you also get your call toaction for rent but tell them
how they can reach out to you directly.
All your social medias if you have any.
Tell everybody how they can connect with you and learn more.
Sure, if you want to, I'll give you my personal and I'll give
you ramped. So if you want to connect with
us personally, you can find us at Lachi Music LACHIMUSIC.
(38:08):
We're a fully disability LED team.
You can also e-mail us at team@lachimusic.com with any
questions and any whatever you want.
We're here to help. If there's any way that we can
support you, you let us know. We are here for it.
If you want to get in contact with Ramped, you can find Ramped
on socials at RA at on Instagram, at RAMPD, under score
(38:33):
UP. We are also on Facebook,
YouTube, all of the thing thingsright.
And if you want to reach out to us via e-mail, you can hit us up
at contact at ramp.org. So that's CONCACT, right?
That's how you spell contact at ramps.org, RAMP d.org.
(38:53):
And if you want to, if you need any support from us, we are
absolutely here. Even if it's just to try to talk
through how to disclose, even ifit's just try to meet some other
people that have what you have, even if it's to try to meet
other people who have what you have reached out to us, we're
here for you. Awesome.
Thank you so much again for thisamazing conversation.
(39:14):
And again, I hope that everyone takes, if anything takes a gem
that we can turn our triggers inthe treasure, whatever card
that's been dealt to us. It's not the end all be all.
We can overcome anything. And I know it sounds cliche, no
one wants to hear that, but we really can't take the cars that
were dealt to us and we can map out our own blueprint.
(39:35):
We can create our own lane. There's nothing that has to be a
crutch to us. We can take that and spin it.
We really can create our own lane and we really can turn our
triggers into treasure and just be live the beautiful life like
she said for people to treat youthe way you deserve to be
treated demand that and ask for it.
And when you walk in rooms commanded, no matter what card
(39:57):
that you think you have as handicapping you, sometimes a
handicap is really in our mind and the way that we think and
the way that we box ourselves in.
So remember, you can turn those triggers into treasure.
You can live your best life and just do whatever you can and
just be treated the way you deserve.
Demand it, ask for it. Don't be treated like everybody
(40:18):
else, be treated the way that you deserve.
So thank you guys again, and thank you, Miss Lachi.
Like Versace, this has been an amazing conversation.
And you guys, please go follow her.
Go learn more about Ramped Up. This is a great organization and
be on the lookout for her futurebook and album that's coming up
again, this has been a wonderfulconversation.
Thank you again, Miss Watchy, and you can catch this episode
(40:40):
and more www.goqueen.com. Make sure you guys be safe, turn
those triggers into treasure andgo love yourself she's.
Acquaint about a business working hard on a mission.
Head hyperb driven, crown on never tilted.
Reflection Moment You can't afford to let them win.
Have you ever heard of the notion of being a bigger person?
So let me tell you, sometimes being the bigger person is the
only option you have. So think about it.
I know they offended you. I know they talk to you crazy.
I know they handled you wrong, but sometimes you cannot afford
(00:27):
to return that type of energy. Be the bigger person.
And as annoying as it sounds sometimes, because that girl I
know. Listen girl, I know I'm here
with you. I know you want to tell him up.
I know you want to cuss him up. I know you want to prove a
point. But sometimes the only point
(00:47):
that you need to prove is that you're bigger than that person.
That that shade, that negativity, the pettiness is
truly beneath you. Can you afford to really,
really, really. Give it back to him.
Your blessing is bigger. You're moving forward.
Your. Prize is bigger, your prize is
(01:08):
higher, so continue to have thathigh frequency and let them be
low. Vibrational and girls sometimes.
Just be that big a person. You don't have to have Adam.
You don't have to prove a point.Don't do it, girl.
The only point that you need to prove is that you're a winner
and that your blessing is so bigit's tailor made just for you.
(01:30):
And you can't afford to stoop tothat level.
You can't afford to lose that blessing that's waiting for you.
That's tailor made just for you.So don't do it today, girl.
I know you want to do it and I know they treated you wrong.
Believe me, I know. Like I said, I'm here with you.
I know they were wrong and I know you were in the right, but
you don't have to prove nothing.You don't owe anybody anything.
(01:52):
So today, a lesson I want to give you.
Sometimes being a bigger person is the only option because your
blessing is too big. It's tailor made just for you
and there's no one or no person,place or thing.
There's no one that has gotten under their skin that's worth
losing that blessing just to prove a point to them.
(02:13):
Hey, Queen. Welcome to today's episode of
the Q Chat. Today, our special guest is Miss
Lachi. She is USA Today's 2024 Women of
the Year, a Grammys board governor and the founder of
ramp.org, a global network that champions music creators and
professionals with disabilities.As a visually impaired
(02:36):
individual, Laci has made significant strides in bringing
accessibility to the forefront, including walking a red carpet
at the Grammys with her signature glam mobility cane.
Her advocacy work and inspiring story have been featured in
major publications like The New York Times, Billboard, and
Vogue. Today we'll dive into her
(02:57):
incredible journey, her advocacywork, and her vision for the
feature. She's a queen about a business,
working hard on a mission and high purpose driven crown on
never tilted. Go queen, Go queen.
(03:31):
Go Queen. So thank you guys for joining
another episode of the Key Chat today.
My very special guest is Miss Lachi and she is the USA Today's
2/20/24 Woman of the Year. So I'm so excited to speak with
her. She's a singer-songwriter and
she's a disability activist. We're going to dive into her
(03:52):
passion and her mission and whatdrives her and also the
awareness that she's bringing toour community.
So how you doing today? I am doing so well.
Thank you so much for having me.I am honored to be here.
Awesome. I'm so happy and blessed to have
the opportunity to speak with you.
So I wanted to start off with your personal journey.
(04:12):
You know, as I said in your intro, you've achieved a lot.
So I definitely would like you to just give us your background
and just tell us about everything and how you got
started with your advocacy and what makes you such a great,
great, great warrior to just educate everyone about
disability awareness. Yes, so I am based in New York.
(04:33):
I love to tell people I'm a Aries, so I am not shy and I'm
not quiet about anything I'm doing.
Yes, let's go. But you know what?
Listen, I am a recording artist.I am a songwriter.
I have had the pleasure of beingable to tour the world for my
(04:54):
art and work with really amazinghousehold names.
And I speak publicly very often on identity pride, disability
culture, identity women's pride,Black pride, intersectional
pride, queer pride, and speakingon how all of these intertwine
(05:15):
to really make our global culture a beautiful, colorful
and spicy culture. But I wasn't always able to
really get out here and talk about those things.
I mean, when I was growing up, Iwas a very shy and quiet kid, so
born legally blind, I wasn't sort of shoved into the blind
(05:36):
situation because I wasn't totally blind, but I couldn't
really see that well. So I didn't fit in any boxes.
And because of that, I was a bitof an outcast.
However, also because of that, Ispent a lot of time with my
piano, my keyboard, my pen, writing poetry, songs, and
writing little short stories andstuff where I could express
(05:57):
myself and really understand theworld around me and make it so
that perhaps maybe someday the world could understand me.
So music has always been a really huge part of my journey,
the way that I connect with my own self and my own issues and
then get that out to the world. So I am so grateful that I've
been able to use my music to be able to do that.
(06:19):
And today, apart from all of thethings that I do on a personal
level just in my career, I'm also the CEO and founder of an
organization called Ramped Recording Artists and music
Professionals with Disabilities.And it's really the culmination
of my love for music and my recognition that music is what
drives culture and my acceptanceand my celebration of
(06:43):
disability, the deepest part of myself that society has told me
to hide. And through Ramped, we're a
platform that connects the musicand entertainment industry to
disability, inclusive tools to people, getting folks
opportunities in the music spacethat have neurodivergence and
disability. So I'm just so excited,
ecstatic, and energized to be able to wake up every morning
(07:06):
and like live life with purpose,do what I love in a way that I
love with people that I love. And I mean, can I really ask for
more? So I definitely do want to talk
some more about rap, but I wanted to ask you, what was your
first introduction to music as achild and what was that feeling?
(07:27):
Because I know music is such a love affair and just to be able
to be a music artist and to playinstruments, it's a beauty
involved in that. So what was your first
introduction to music? You know, my mom, bless her
heart, because I don't know if this is true or not, but she
said while other babies would kick in the womb, I would play
the piano against her tummy, which I don't see the proof.
(07:48):
I don't know how she would have got a piano in there.
But look, Amazon will deliver anywhere.
So I was like, but from a very super duper young age, I was
very much into music. And I had an older sister who
was into music and dance, and they thought she was going to be
the big musician and then she didn't want her keyboard.
(08:10):
She was about to throw it out because she's like, I can't
figure it out. But for me, I saw her keyboard
just on the wayside when I was about like probably four or five
years old, and I just started tinkering on it.
And I taught myself a chord which is like 3 notes together
that sound very beautiful. And at, you know, 3-4 years old,
I'm like, oh, this is really nice.
I want more of this kind of likefeeling against my soul.
(08:35):
And so very early, I started playing the piano, tinkering
around, writing songs, making all my stuffed animals be a
choir, you know what I'm saying?And my mom figured out like,
listen, she obviously has a lovefor music.
But also it was just a place forme to to talk about the things
(08:56):
that I couldn't talk about even in elementary school and in
middle school when I didn't havea lot of friends.
So I always had that piano and the keyboard to turn to pretty
much at all times as my as the thing that held me.
Awesome. That's beautiful.
So beautiful. I want to also ask you about
(09:17):
ramp the course. Yeah, I know gave us some some
Nuggets obviously about ramp andthe beautiful impact of it.
But I want to get a little deeper and what was the origins
of what like make you decide oneday, hey, I want to stop this
organization. And I also want to ask you what
has been the impact of ramp within the music industry?
Yes. So you know, when I, so I'm
(09:41):
legally blind red, I use a cane.But when I was really young and
I was first told that I needed to use a cane and I granted, I
had much better vision when I was younger.
So my vision that I have is degenerative, right?
So when I was younger, I had much better vision, but it still
wasn't that great. So they said you need to use a
cane. And I was like, I am already
outcast. I'm absolutely not using a cane.
(10:02):
Are you kidding me? Right.
And so the problem with that wasthat I actually needed a cane,
you know what I mean? Like, I was actually should have
been using it. But because of societal stigmas
and already being a black woman and I was a daughter, AMA,
daughter of Nigerian immigrants,I just felt I had so many things
(10:24):
stacked against. So I didn't want to add that to
it. So then when I was, you know,
came out of school, I ended up getting my parents really wanted
me to work at a, a job, like a day job, a desk job.
They weren't, they didn't reallyexactly want me to do music
because listen, they had, you know, a black woman with a
(10:46):
disability trying to make it in America.
They're like, girl, get you a desk job.
Just get, you know, be good. However, I got that desk job and
I was like, this is not me, right?
I don't figure. I actually worked for the US
Army Corps of Engineers. That was my day job, but it was
like, I can't. I didn't know what misogynoir
(11:08):
was. You know what I'm saying?
I didn't have words like that. I didn't have words like ableism
and stuff like that. So I didn't know what was
happening to me at work that I just could not stand.
But I could not stand it. And I didn't have the expression
for it. And the only way that I could,
you know, figure out what was going on was through music.
So eventually, I ended up leaving that day job.
I got signed by a major label atthat time, they were called EMI.
(11:34):
And, you know, while I was with them, they wanted to market me
as like, a blind shtick, right? And I just wasn't feeling it.
I had just got out of my day job.
I was just trying to get on the scene and I felt like I was
being pigeonholed as a blind person.
Now, anyone who knows me will belike, but Laci, you talk about
(11:54):
blindness all the time today. So then what are you talking
about? Well, it wasn't from a place of
strength. I think they were just trying to
use it as a marketing tool. And I just didn't like it.
So I ended up leaving that deal and working independently.
And as I worked independently and, you know, had to build my
own self back up, I started getting in really good rooms.
(12:16):
I got a really great manager whoknew a bunch of people and he
was getting me in great recording rooms with great
artists and stuff like that. Now, here's the reason I said
all of this. It's because what I always
wanted in life was to get in these big rooms, right?
These rooms with real people, these, you know, major label
rooms with major label artists. And I wasn't able to do my best.
(12:39):
Why not? Because I couldn't see.
So I was having trouble seeing. I was tripping on stuff.
I was missing handshakes, but I wasn't going to use the cane and
I wasn't going to tell anybody. Do you get what I'm saying?
And so, but the I'm shooting myself in the foot because if
they knew, then they would provide me with the stuff I need
(13:01):
to do my best and deserve to be there.
So what I finally I had it like I had it up to here.
I was like, I'm going to have tojust come out about my
disability because my blindness is starting to get to a point It
was much worse than it was when I first started.
And so I did. I came out at a Grammy party
that they were having in New York.
(13:22):
I showed up with my cane, and when I walked into the room,
people were like, oh, what's that?
I'm like, oh, well, this is a cane.
I use it because I can't really see that well.
And I'm like, yeah, I knew something was up, you know,
like, it wasn't even that serious because I had already
really established myself musically.
So when I walked into that room,they were like, oh, for real,
(13:42):
you know, aware. So however, when I came out, I
realized nobody else was like meout here.
Or maybe they were, but they were also hiding it like I had
been. And I started asking different
places like, oh, what are y'all doing about accessibility?
Do you have any programming for people with different
(14:04):
disabilities? Even if it's just, even if it's,
you know, mental health disabilities.
And they were like, yeah, Nah, man, we ain't got nothing set up
what you want. So I was like, they, they have
said there's nobody with disabilities.
And I was like, yes, there is. I am.
And I was acting like there wasn't.
So there's got to be way more people like me that are hiding
(14:24):
it, but just ain't got no support.
So I decided on my own to run around and just find all of
them. And so I started looking one by
one. This COVID had hit, you know,
George Floyd, right? So DEI was everywhere.
Nobody was talking about accessibility and except for me.
So people started asking me to come do talks and discussions.
(14:47):
And eventually the Recording Academy asked me to do 1 the
Grammys. And so I was like, OK, so it's
me, a couple of artists that I have found that had disabilities
that were like doing pretty decent and the Recording Academy
leadership like Felicia Butterfield Jones and all them.
And so we had this discussion and we talked about some of the
issues about like disclosure, about inaccessible venues, about
(15:13):
stigmas, all that stuff. And at the end she was like, you
know, this is all great. We're taking notes and we're
going to come back to y'all withwhat the Recording Academy wants
to try to do to, you know, aboutthis topic.
And I remember thinking to myself at the end of this panel,
and it was a public panel, it blew up.
And what kind of viral, I remember thinking at the end,
like, who you going to come backto us?
We just some kids that do music like we're, we're, we can't hold
(15:34):
the Recording Academy accountable.
After that, people started coming into my DMS, they started
coming into my emails and they were like, bro, we want to be a
part of your organization. We want to be a part of your
movement. We want to do this.
We want to do that. And I was like, what
organization? Like what movement?
I did not want it. Everybody's like, Lachi, you
(15:55):
need to start this. You obviously already started
something, so you need to do it,make it.
But I was having trouble in my own career, right?
I was just going from step, you know, one to Step 2.
I was trying to really do my ownthing and double down and make
sure that I can establish myself.
I can't be starting an organization right now.
My manager for four years, the one that put me on, had passed
(16:18):
away to COVID right around that time.
And so it was just so much. But one day I went to sleep,
woke up and I had the acronym Ramped Recording Artists and
Music Professionals with Disabilities, RAMPD.
And I was like, if that's God not telling me I got to do this
then. So I did it.
(16:38):
I doubled down. I got everybody together.
I put together like a, you know,when you register a business and
all of that. And I got some people together.
I was like, I'm going to found this.
Do y'all want to be founding members?
It was some people from the panel.
They said, yes, we started having like these internal like
discussions on Zoom. It's almost, you know, what is
(16:59):
our platform, What are we going to do?
It was all very freedom fighter.It was all very like justice
meets music meets culture meets disability.
And we were just getting real rowdy in there and people
started hearing about us. The Grammys started seeing what
we were doing. National Independent Venue
Association, which is like the independent version of Live
Nation, started hearing what we were doing.
(17:19):
People started going like, hey, we want to be a part of whatever
y'all are putting together because we were established
artists. We were established music
professionals that worked for like labels and stuff that had
never had community before when it comes to disability and
neurodivergence. Then we started getting money.
So we started getting grants andwe were like, yo, we don't even
(17:41):
have an infrastructure to like, we don't have a bank account.
How are we receiving this money?So we started getting money.
We started getting all sorts of press asking us questions.
Finally the Grammys came to us and was like, will y'all help
make the Grammys accessible, more accessible in 2022?
And we were just like, yes, eventhough we had no idea what that
(18:03):
even meant. So we're just like, Yep, we're
going to do it. So we started meeting, we
started meeting with the Grammysand we, you know, we're talking
about like, let's get ASL up there, let's get an accessible
stage. Let's do this, let's do that.
And they were just kind of like,yes.
And you know, let's try it. The Grammys rolls around.
All of a sudden the New York Times comes up to us and they're
(18:23):
like, we heard that y'all are helping do accessibility for the
Grammys. And I was like the New York
Times, Boo, I read you. So they came and it was really
amazing. They did this big beautiful
story on us. It blew up.
We did the Grammys that blew up.Billboard came and spoke to us.
Who else came? Hollywood Reporter came and
(18:43):
spoke to us and it was over. We had a website.
The people started really flooding that website trying to
be members, trying to do partnerships, trying to figure
out where they can have donations.
And it has really taken off. And The funny thing about that
origin story is that the momentum like that kind of like
vigor and passion and like, yo, let's just go do this.
(19:04):
Let's just build the ship as it's happening is still going on
today. We have been working with the
Grammys for three years now. We have done stuff with Netflix
music. We have done programming with
Sony Pictures Television. We have done collaborations with
title. We have done collaborations with
women in music with different mayor's offices.
(19:25):
And now what we do is we also offer like paid opportunities,
paid visibility, community connectivity to our members who
identify as having a disability or neurodivergence within the
music industry. And even right now we have inked
a a nice beautiful collaborationwith Live Nation.
We're going to be having a partywith them on July 26th to start
(19:45):
talking about what we're going to do together to make venues
more accessible in a way that isbeneficial to the venue.
So they're not running away thinking that it's all legalese.
Of course, we're going to continue to work with the
Recording Academy and we're going to continue to provide a
disability inclusive tools and consultation to the music
(20:07):
industry. So it's obviously something I'm
very, very proud of. But it did start from a place of
there is a problem that needs tobe fixed.
Oh shit, I got to be the one to fix it.
Right, right. So of course, as I mentioned,
you were named USA Today's 2024 Woman of the Year.
So I want to ask you, how does it feel to have that recognition
and what is this doing, you know, for your career in which
(20:29):
your platform, what has this done for you?
Yeah, I mean, first of all, the beauty of it is it is always an
amazing feat for a black woman to be recognized, right?
It is not the easiest thing in the world.
So many people want us to be humble, somebody, some of us, so
many people want us to kind of be the one that's always doing
all of the work, but not necessarily getting any of the
(20:50):
glory. So as a person that is
consistently in the trenches, whether it's creating, whether
it is founding an organization, it is very nice and very
beautiful, very humbling. And you know, very, I feel very
privileged to be recognized for the work that we're doing.
So that's number one. But I do want to add that third
layer of disability. I'm not like trying to hide it.
(21:15):
I'm very open about my disability.
So to have somebody who's very open, a black woman who's open
about her disability, to be considered a woman of the year,
that's a very beautiful thing because there's a lot of women,
you know, so there's a lot of women in the world.
There's a lot of women in this country.
There's a lot of women in New York State.
(21:35):
So to be considered as a woman of the year for this large,
beautiful, one of the most populous states in in this
nation, I mean, it's been great and it's been good for my
career. I got to say, a lot of people
have been speaking to us. I've been able to get this
message out even further. And a lot of times when people
think, you know, disability or accessibility, you know, it's a
(21:56):
very white movement just like many of these movements.
And so to be the face of it and have that face be a black woman
out here in the trenches, I mean, it's not lost on me.
And so I'm very humbled. That's beautiful.
I absolutely love it. So I want to ask you to what our
platform, we do talk about self love.
And I know you mentioned just, Iwould say you're an example of
(22:17):
just defying the odds and also making sure that you created
your own lane. And as you've already mentioned,
just women of color, we already have different obstacles,
whether people want to admit that or not, but we do have
different obstacles, you know, So it's already one thing when
you have one card that's dealt to you, but then you have the
(22:39):
other layer of things that's dealt with you as well.
But you have created your own lane.
And not only have you created your own lane, you created an
audience for others, which is great, like you taking what the
cards you have been dealt with, but you've also extended that
baton to help others. So I wanted to ask you, I know
like you, you've definitely overcome a lot.
And you, you have this confidence and this glow and
(23:00):
this energy about you. So I wanted to ask you just self
love is the field to say, Hey, I'm valuable, I'm worthy.
I don't have this crutch, you know, I, I can overcome these
different things. So I want to ask you, what's
your definition of self love andwhat role has it played in your
life and just in your mission and your purpose?
You know, I was just thinking about this the other day with my
(23:22):
coach. When I was young, I was always
told to, like, sit down and be quiet.
I was also taught, you know, being from an immigrant family
may be part of it, but I was always taught, like, you know,
selfishness is bad, right? And so if I ever did anything
that even resembled selfishness in any way, it was like, don't
(23:42):
do that. You're being selfish.
So the two things I was, I always felt was celebrating
myself is selfish and that I should only be seen and not
heard, you know, and today my platform is about self
celebration. It's about identity pride.
Today my platform is about beingheard.
(24:04):
It's about giving voice to the under celebrated and to the
voiceless or to the under heard.And so I feel like it was that
sort of pivotal change that mademe go, hey, everything, all of
the generational sort of triggers that I was given,
turning those into generational treasures is where the shift
(24:29):
happened. Like even today, you know, I am.
So I'm currently writing a book called I Identify as Blind,
which should be out in 2025. And it's a celebration of
identity pride. It is a celebration of it is OK
to stand in front of the part that's the part of yourself, the
deepest part of yourself societywants you to hide.
(24:52):
When you stand in front of it, that is literally how you win at
life. And then finally, I'm also
working on an album called Mad Different.
And it's a celebration of the fact that as a black woman,
people think I'm supposed to be mad.
And as a person with a disability, people other me and
keep me different. So you know what?
I'm going to own both of them. And I'm going to talk about it.
(25:12):
I'm going to sing about it. I'm going to celebrate about it
because at the end of the day, we will not be able to swim to
the other side of the shore if we're allowing all of the other
things to drag us down and drag us back.
Being thinking about yourself and putting number one first is
not selfish. Honestly.
It is a way for you to be able to get out that barrel and drag
(25:35):
everybody else out with you. Self love is the only real,
true, honest way that you can really love anybody else.
I love what you said. Turn triggers into treasures.
That is. That is the line.
That's. The mic trap.
Yes, if I have to take it exactly like interviews over
like you've already said enough to put that's that's amazing and
(25:59):
I love that turn your triggers into treasures because like you
said, and I know like you just mentioned, the generational
things all of us have and I knowsome people refer to things as
generational curses. Regardless, we all have
generational lines that sometimes like we have to
overcome things that have been passed down, you know, I mean,
and like you said, triggers intotreasures, because we can let
(26:23):
these triggers navigate our whole life.
And if we allow these triggers to navigate our lives, it brings
us to a path that is really rocky and that a path that we do
not want to be on. So seeing triggers in the
treasures, it's a great thing. And I know that that's just
something I just love it becauseit just, it gives a person to
(26:44):
feel like, hey, sometimes we just have some things that we
have to deal with that are out of that's out of our control.
You know, no matter what we, we do, we can't change certain
things, but we can handle how wedeal with those things that
control and we can, hey, I can pivot this and like you said,
turn that trigger into treasure,turn that pain into purpose.
(27:07):
There's a vision for all of us and we have purpose.
And that's the beautiful thing about just being self aware and
having that mindset of, hey, I can turn this pain around.
I can take this disability and show you guys like, hey, I can
spin this and show you how wow, I can still accomplish great
(27:28):
things in spite of. So I love, love, love Oh my God.
Like I just, I can't wait to like use this for this episode
so. That's.
Beautiful. You may wanna think about
changing some titles of some feature books or something cuz
I'm not gonna like. That yes.
I love it. So another thing I want to ask
(27:49):
you, so I know you've been described as the new champion
and advocacy. And of course you've given us a
lot of details and accounts of just the only thing that you've
done to just bring some spotlight to just disabilities.
And I love how you also, you didn't just leave it at physical
disabilities. You also mentioned mental
health, which of course is something that we all trying to
(28:11):
build more conversations regarding because we know that
mental health disability is the tricky one because that's the
one that we can't see. It's not visible.
So I love how you also included that as well.
And with your advocacy, it's brought you in some really big
places like the White House and then you.
And so I wanted to ask you againto for someone that they may
(28:32):
have, you know, a disability. And sometimes it's really hard
for people to accept whether it's a physical disability or
whether it's a mental health disability.
Sometimes it's just hard to really grasp that, you know,
just like you said at one point,you didn't want to use your
cane. You know, sometimes there's so
many stigmas involved and there's shame.
Sometimes that's placing us simply by society because we, we
(28:55):
may be concerned with what person will think about us and
just how people will view us. And you know, sometimes when you
have a disability, you don't want to be treated differently
either. So with everything that you've
done, like I said, it's brought you to some great places.
What can you say to just inspirethat next person who they may be
(29:16):
still struggling and OK, how canI build my confidence?
How can I still be able to walk into those different rooms in
spite of? So what would you say to
encourage those individuals? You know, it's the thing about
it is that it's people say stufflike, you know, you need to just
get out there and love yourself and do this and do that and be
(29:38):
proud. And it's so much easier said
than done. One of the things that I love to
tell people is, you know, we have this thing called the
reference man, right? Which is exactly what we would
all consider the average person is.
But this reference average person is generally like a
white, you know, middle-aged or,you know, young middle-aged
(30:00):
healthy male. And if you the more you deviate
away from that, then maybe the less successful you appear or
the less hirable you appear or the less Hollywood movies
represent you, right? And so everybody says do what
you can to be as close to that reference man as possible.
(30:21):
What I say is actually do what you can to not be as close to
that reference man as possible. Do what you can to celebrate the
different parts of yourself. Because you know what?
All of the innovators and all ofthe billionaires out there, they
do that. And this idea of scarcity is a
(30:41):
social construct. There is space for you.
There is space for that different you.
What we don't want is two of thesame thing.
So celebrate that different partof you.
Bring that different part of youout.
Celebrate that different part because you know what?
You don't want to be treated thesame as everybody else.
You actually want to be treated the way you deserve to be
(31:02):
treated, right? When people are like, oh, you
know what, I just want, I have adisability, but I want you to
just treat me like you treat everybody else.
No, bitch, treat me like I deserve to be treated.
And so I tell people, celebrate that part of you because guess
what? Authenticity Fortune favors the
authentic. Fortune favors the bold Fortune
favors the real. And when you are able to be
(31:25):
authentic, bold and real with yourself, then you will start to
attract the power and the beautyand the purpose that you
deserve. I love it, I love it, I love it.
So I wanted to ask you to, obviously we mentioned mental
health. What are some practices that you
do to just keep your mental health intact, You know, to stay
mentally aware and have what your mental Wellness?
(31:47):
Are there some practices that you may do just, you know, to
keep yourself on point? Absolutely.
Obviously everybody's going to tell you sleep, water and
exercise, right? One of the big things that I
think people talk about a lot, but you don't always see people
putting it into practice, but itis really almost like a cure all
(32:08):
is gratitudes. Gratitudes have been proven
scientifically to actually literally work.
I gratitude journal. I gratitude with my partners and
my friends and I'll be like, yo,let's just sit down in a circle
and do some gratitude. And it actually really helps
because really, honestly, life is what you make of it, right?
(32:30):
The way you perceive life is howyou're going to navigate through
it. And if you perceive life as a
series of bogged down hardships,then life is going to be a
bogged down hardship. But if you see life glass half
full silver lining as a great beautiful party that you have
been invited to, you are going to make the best of your life
(32:51):
because you got invited to this dope party that you you
specifically was supposed to be here for.
And so gratitudes really help align the beauty and purpose of
all of the things that have happened to you, even if they
are things that are unfortunate.So I say do gratitudes positive
self talk. The words we use really do
(33:12):
matter. So I remember a lot of times
when I'm doing a lot of these discussions, I tell people to to
self describe for any of the blind folks in the room, right.
So I'll say something like, you know, my name is Lachi, I'm a
black woman with cornrows and I am here to speak with you today,
etcetera, etcetera. Then I'll ask somebody else to
do it and they'll say like, you know, oh, you know, I am, you
(33:33):
know, a short, not too very stocky, you know, very
unassuming, terribly, you know, freckled, you know, just bad
words. And you can say the same exact
thing about yourself using positive words, positive self
talk. And positive words really do
matter because your brain doesn't know the difference.
(33:54):
If someone on the street tells you you're not beautiful or
tells you you're not smart, you know, that doesn't feel very
good. And so it's going to be the same
when you tell that stuff to yourself.
So definitely give yourself positive self talk and give
yourself grace. I love it, I love it.
Can you give us? If you have to come up with an
(34:15):
affirmation, I could be putting you on the spot.
Give us a good affirmation. I feel like I've been trickling
out affirmations left and right.You're.
Somewhat wrong for asking me that because triggers to
treasures was actually perfect, but you know, hey, I'm just
going to toss another bone to you to see if you can come up.
(34:41):
Honestly, the one thing that I always really love to say, and
I've said it a couple times during this interview, but I
believe it stands to be said again, you know, accept the
deepest part of yourself that society wants you to hide, wants
you to change because that is your spark.
(35:04):
That is the most unique you. And when you are able to
celebrate the deepest part of yourself, that is how you went
at life period I. Love it.
So I want to ask you, what can we expect in the future for
RAMP? What are some of the future
goals that you have? What are some things that you
would like to see with RAMP for just putting, bringing more
(35:26):
awareness and just doing more things in the industry?
What are some things that you have on the books for RAMP?
Honestly, with ramped, what we really want to do is have more
major partnerships with folks like Live Nation and folks like
the Recording Academy to begin bringing real platform to this
discussion on disability inclusion culture, mental health
(35:49):
discussion, real mental health discussion, not mental health as
a buzzword, making venues more accessible for all people, not
just folks with in wheelchairs, but folks with arthritis.
I mean, disability goes beyond just folks in wheelchairs that
are blind or deaf. We want to work with folks that
have dyslexia, ADHD, like I said, arthritis, anxiety,
(36:13):
bipolar, all of these things fitand so we want to start to help
normalize it. I believe that how, you know,
hip hop really elevated black culture and country music has
really elevated rural culture. I believe that disability
culture can also be elevated through music.
And that is what we really hope and aspire to do through ramps
(36:34):
in a very in a very major way. And that's what I just, in my
own personal career, really hopeto do, which is to utilize pop
culture to be able to amplify disability discussion to
mainstream narrative. And so that's what I'm doing
through my book. That's what I'm doing through my
album that I'm putting together,and that's what we're doing
(36:57):
through Ramped. And so for anybody who's
watching this, if you are in themusic industry, the
entertainment industry, live events industry, and you have a
disability, neurodivergence, chronic pain, chronic condition,
if you're deaf, if you're a little person, like anything
that makes you stand out and be completely different, please
(37:19):
come reach out to RAMPS. We are looking for you.
We want to work with you. You can be anywhere in the
industry, not just the artist. You can be somebody that works
at the desk, at a table, you canbe a booking agent, whatever.
We want to work with you becausethis movement is taking off and
being for real, and it's doing what we want, which is to
infiltrate pop culture. Is so much for such a wonderful
(37:42):
conversation. Before we do it and everything
though, please tell everyone howthey can connect with you.
I know you also get your call toaction for rent but tell them
how they can reach out to you directly.
All your social medias if you have any.
Tell everybody how they can connect with you and learn more.
Sure, if you want to, I'll give you my personal and I'll give
you ramped. So if you want to connect with
us personally, you can find us at Lachi Music LACHIMUSIC.
(38:08):
We're a fully disability LED team.
You can also e-mail us at team@lachimusic.com with any
questions and any whatever you want.
We're here to help. If there's any way that we can
support you, you let us know. We are here for it.
If you want to get in contact with Ramped, you can find Ramped
on socials at RA at on Instagram, at RAMPD, under score
(38:33):
UP. We are also on Facebook,
YouTube, all of the thing thingsright.
And if you want to reach out to us via e-mail, you can hit us up
at contact at ramp.org. So that's CONCACT, right?
That's how you spell contact at ramps.org, RAMP d.org.
(38:53):
And if you want to, if you need any support from us, we are
absolutely here. Even if it's just to try to talk
through how to disclose, even ifit's just try to meet some other
people that have what you have, even if it's to try to meet
other people who have what you have reached out to us, we're
here for you. Awesome.
Thank you so much again for thisamazing conversation.
(39:14):
And again, I hope that everyone takes, if anything takes a gem
that we can turn our triggers inthe treasure, whatever card
that's been dealt to us. It's not the end all be all.
We can overcome anything. And I know it sounds cliche, no
one wants to hear that, but we really can't take the cars that
were dealt to us and we can map out our own blueprint.
(39:35):
We can create our own lane. There's nothing that has to be a
crutch to us. We can take that and spin it.
We really can create our own lane and we really can turn our
triggers into treasure and just be live the beautiful life like
she said for people to treat youthe way you deserve to be
treated demand that and ask for it.
And when you walk in rooms commanded, no matter what card
(39:57):
that you think you have as handicapping you, sometimes a
handicap is really in our mind and the way that we think and
the way that we box ourselves in.
So remember, you can turn those triggers into treasure.
You can live your best life and just do whatever you can and
just be treated the way you deserve.
Demand it, ask for it. Don't be treated like everybody
(40:18):
else, be treated the way that you deserve.
So thank you guys again, and thank you, Miss Lachi.
Like Versace, this has been an amazing conversation.
And you guys, please go follow her.
Go learn more about Ramped Up. This is a great organization and
be on the lookout for her futurebook and album that's coming up
again, this has been a wonderfulconversation.
Thank you again, Miss Watchy, and you can catch this episode
(40:40):
and more www.goqueen.com. Make sure you guys be safe, turn
those triggers into treasure andgo love yourself she's.
Acquaint about a business working hard on a mission.
Head hyperb driven, crown on never tilted.
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