022: Project Management in the Strip Club

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Direction, and I do feel like a lot of that

(00:01):
is pushed upon us from capitalism, and it's the propaganda
that the world is putting out. And as black men
and black women, we have this negative perception. I try
so hard to break some of the stereotypes. I'm gonna
I so I also bartend on the side. I've been
bartending since I was twenty years old. I didn't even mention.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
That we got the we got the start of petition
to change your name to biracial Barbie Barbi.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
I know I do, and I love it. But so
I bartend right. And when black a group of black
women come into the club I work at, I'm like, oh,
hell no, they're about to Margarita Long Island Martini Lemon
dropped me to death and not leave me a damn dollar.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (00:50):
Wow, Wow, it's funny.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
It's funny.

Speaker 5 (00:53):
You say that, correct, You are correct.

Speaker 6 (00:57):
I unfortunately it's about fifty fifty.

Speaker 1 (01:00):
But because of that, when I go out, I overcompensate.
I'm tipping like crazy. I drop a twenty when I
come to the bar. Baby, you gonna remember me all night.

Speaker 6 (01:10):
You're gonna take care of me.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Because the perception is black women don't tip, especially tip
other black women, and don't try to be cute. Oh god,
you know, like then they think you want a man
or that you better than them.

Speaker 6 (01:23):
I'm like, baby, I'm this is just a side hustle
for me.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
So there are there are all these stereotypes of perceptions.
That's just one small example, right, But there's so many.

Speaker 6 (01:32):
Stereotypes of perceptions that we are.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Battling every day just in our own culture to be
better than fucking sexy red. She should not eat a pillar?

Speaker 3 (01:46):
So you are?

Speaker 4 (01:48):
You are?

Speaker 5 (01:49):
We just siw hustling in the bar.

Speaker 7 (01:51):
People ever take you as like a non professional person
as you're a professional person a bar.

Speaker 6 (01:57):
I work at a strip club.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
All right, So I'll see later, check this out.

Speaker 4 (02:07):
I'm gonna see y'all later.

Speaker 5 (02:09):
All this space isn't recognizable, is I.

Speaker 8 (02:15):
Can't take no loss? Ye, I don't even know what
hit the ground? Then and go off, Yah hit the ground?
Then to go off, jam, I can't take no loss, job,
I don't even know what hit the ground, then and
go off, jam hit the ground.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Editor Dada, I like to pronounce as if I'm in
a TeleNova because it just sounds befitting.

Speaker 6 (02:32):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
I currently work as an implementation project manager too in
critical communications, and I also am contracting with a lady
out of Baltimore working in the AI space. So we
create meta versus. So we create virtual environments for a
whole host of different companies. And I signed an NDA,
so I can't disclose who they are, but just know

(02:55):
we have some big things that are our belt. My
history in tech just kind of fell upon me. It
wasn't anything I strived to be. I caratuated high school
in two thousand and three. I came out a little early.
I actually graduated oh two. But yeah, I don't want
to brag about being Magnumkublotti or anything, so I sole

(03:18):
just a small flex went. I went to high school
in Indiana. I graduated again early, and I actually went
to Purdue for my freshman year on a full scholarship
as a math engineer. So I was engaged in a
program in high school called me Minority Engineering Achievement Program.
So I'm really good with numbers, and I thought forever

(03:40):
I was going to be something in engineering. I got
into it and hated it. My personality just didn't fit
in the engineering space. Okay, I have a vivacious personality,
and that's just not what you're gonna get in that
kind of space. Ended up moving to at length. Oh
go ahead, Yeah, that's a question.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
How did you end up getting to this engineering group though,
if it's such your personality.

Speaker 1 (04:05):
Well, I was always super super smart, and in middle school,
one of my teachers, he'd actually end up becoming my mentor.
He knew about this program that they offered through Purdue University,
and they brought kids in every summer for a week
to do different types of engineering. So we did civil engineering,
we did all chemical engineering. So we would study different

(04:27):
things and learn different types of engineering because we are
an underserved market in the engineering space, all types of engineering, right,
So they were promoting this program to bring minorities into engineering. Again,
I liked math, That's where my strong suit was, So
that's kind of what I thought I was going to do,

(04:48):
and I felt really special doing it in like when
I was younger. But going into the college space, I
was like, man, it's boring as hell, Like this is
just not for me, right, So I left. I went
to one year's Indiana and I moved to Atlanta. I
left the full scholarship. I went to Georgia State. Oh yeah,
oh my student loans. Let me know that I made

(05:09):
a wrong decision, Okay, Like I understand that now, right.

Speaker 6 (05:13):
We didn't even to talk about the politics behind that.

Speaker 9 (05:14):
When we let alone Indiana to Atlanta is a Was
it a culture shock?

Speaker 1 (05:21):
It was definitely. And I'm biracial, right, So I'm biracial,
but my mother was the minority in her community. So
my mom was like the token white girl in the
black neighborhood. So even though I'm biracial, I grew up
in black spaces, right, That's all I know. My brothers
and I were all bi racial. My cousins were all

(05:42):
mixed because that's kind of where they grew up. Unfortunately,
back in the day in Indianapolis, poor meant black. So
in the sixties when my mom was growing up, that's
what she grew up around. That's all she went to
school with.

Speaker 6 (05:54):
That's all we know.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
And that's okay. Like, I'm very grateful. And my mom
always raised us that we don't have no white privilege.
So I know that too.

Speaker 6 (06:04):
We'll save that for another conversation, right.

Speaker 10 (06:07):
So go.

Speaker 1 (06:09):
Ahead, hey, let's get into it. So I came down
to Atlanta, left a full scholarship, went to start to
go to school at Georgia State. I was a transient
student because I was like, I don't know if it's
Atlanta thing gonna work out, so let me just keep
my residency at Purdue but take classes abroad at Georgia State.

Speaker 6 (06:28):
Ended up forgetting with my ex husband whatever.

Speaker 11 (06:31):
Left, Hey, we're cooling out.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Cold out. So went to Georgia State. Ended up changing
complete shifts. God, my bachelor's in sociology, so you can
imagine my mother's disappointment.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
Okay, engineering stuff.

Speaker 1 (07:00):
Oh yeah, Well I'm the first person, first gen to
go to any type of university. So I ended up
during my tenure at Georgia State because I had a
state tuition. I ended up going to Georgia Perimeter, got
an associates and education, then transferred back to State when
my tuition went down because now I'm a resident. Got
my bachelor's in sociology. Ended up continuing on, got a

(07:22):
master's in public admin. I'm working in finance, so nothing
I'm doing educationally is matching what I'm doing in my
career field. I worked my way up in finance, starting
as a bank teller all the way up through private
wealth management. So I worked from you know, doing bank
transactions all the way into custom lending using brokerage investments accounts.

Speaker 6 (07:43):
Hated banking, especially in the private self sector.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yes, go ahead.

Speaker 4 (07:47):
So I was going to say, like, this is already
starting out to be quite a journey.

Speaker 9 (07:54):
Yeah, I mean, because yeah, I mean, like you went
from math to so.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
That's that's pretty crazy.

Speaker 1 (08:06):
I was fortunate in high school. The school I went to,
we had a vocational school within our high school realm,
so I took up financial service marketing as an additional
high school diploma. So I got my general diploma. Then
I got a financial service marketing and because of that,
our junior year of high school, they set us up
with jobs. So I was a bank teller my junior

(08:26):
year in high school. So that was just something I
was doing because I was getting paid. Like baby, your
girl was bawling in high school, okay, Like I had
all the latest coach swag. So you got it fifteen
an hour in two thousand and one, two thousand and two,
Like that was a lot of money back then.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
And if you got commissions too, right, I was.

Speaker 1 (08:52):
A teller, so we only got quarterly small bonuses as
a teller, baked on based on the revenue, but it
worked out wonderful and because of that, that's how I
kind of stayed in finance. So my whole time through
college I was able to still maintain banking positions because
I had that experience. That's just why I was comfortable
and I stayed moved my way up through various positions.

(09:14):
Ended up hating the finance world, especially once I got
into private wealth. When you start dealing with people with
real money, I'm not talking about low Wayne money, I'm
talking about wealth generation Carnegie. Okay.

Speaker 6 (09:28):
These are the type of people that I just could
not connect with. And after being.

Speaker 1 (09:33):
After having comments about my race and how I would
never make as much money as them, I was like, yeah,
and having to keep your composure was not a space
that I felt comfortab and I didn't feel protected within
that organization I was with. I felt like my boss
was like, well, they're bringing in eight point five million,
so deal with it. So it wasn't for me. Yes,

(09:55):
So it wasn't for me. Suck it up. So I
got out of finance and I started working and in
corporate housing. Right, I'd like, seriously, my journey's crazy. So
worked in corporate housing. Think of Airbnb before Airbnb. So
I managed three hundred and sumidd apartments in the metro
Atlanta area. Okay, did that for seven and a half years.

(10:16):
I freaking loved it, and honestly, if the company was
still open, I'd probably still be there. I got to
travel for free, have housing for free, all across the
grow globe. So it was an amazing job for me.
As that company was closing, we knew about it, and
so I started applying, like crazy, let's be proactive versus reactive.
This is how I got into tech. So because I

(10:38):
was an account manager in the corporate housing space, I
started to apply and for account manager and project manager positions,
not really knowing much about a PM, but I'm like, oh,
it's similar, it's management. I can do this.

Speaker 6 (10:52):
So I got with a company.

Speaker 1 (10:54):
I did five interviews with them because I don't have
any software development background. I don't have any that, but
what I am good at is talking and organizing. Okay,
I know I can do that. So after I did
five interviews with this company, they brought me on and
I had an amazing boss there. He passed away last
year and I'm still really hurt by it because he's
the one that promoted me into this to where I'm

(11:16):
at now.

Speaker 6 (11:17):
So I got in with this. Oh I still cry
about Dave. That was That's my booth. So I get
into this company.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
It's called Futura, and they do software development for small utilities, cities,
and municipals. So think of your power companies, anything related
to them, lines outside those conductors, those substations, your GIS data,
your outage management services. We provided all the software for that.
So they brought me in as a project manager over

(11:44):
their implementation.

Speaker 6 (11:45):
Services and that's where I started.

Speaker 1 (11:48):
And from there I acquired my PMP, my CSM, and
I'm currently studying for my program manager as well. So
when you guys are referring to working in tech and
the different the spectrum of working in tech, I work
in the management side of tech. So I understand servers,
I understand data, sinks and APIs and all the things

(12:08):
and integrations. I know all of.

Speaker 6 (12:09):
That, but I'm managing more than I'm implementing.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
And this is the side of the business that a
lot of people don't think about getting into when they
think tech. As you guys had mentioned earlier, They're thinking coding.
Do I have to know HTML coding? Do I need
to know SQL server? Do I need to have this
type of license? I'm like, No, I work in tech
and I'm pretty knowledgeable. You learn a lot. I mean,
I actually just learned how to HML code my first
thing a couple of weeks ago.

Speaker 12 (12:34):
Coos and sinks and databases, those are things that you've
picked up along the way, right.

Speaker 1 (12:42):
Yes, absolutely, I've learned from observation. Right. So the job
that I'm in now is more implementation. Again. I'm an
implementation project manager, so I'm doing data sinks on my own.
I'm mapping files, I'm creating sftps. I'm doing those things now.
But I did not go to school for that part
of tech.

Speaker 6 (13:00):
I just learned it from being in the space.

Speaker 9 (13:03):
So are you managing people too? Are you just managing
the implementation? I'm just curious. Do you have a team
that you work with you manage?

Speaker 1 (13:10):
So I don't manage any teams at this time. My
last company that I was with, I did. I managed
all the teams. But now with the current company I'm with,
I'm managing the project and I work in critical communications now,
so we provide the software for companies to send out
critical comms.

Speaker 6 (13:28):
Amber alerts, that's we handle that. So National Weather Service.

Speaker 1 (13:34):
Things that you get to your phone about tornadoes, that's
my company.

Speaker 5 (13:38):
Can you give them?

Speaker 7 (13:39):
Like the difference between managing people as opposed to managing
the project, what does that mean for people?

Speaker 5 (13:45):
Don't understand that?

Speaker 1 (13:47):
Yeah, So if you're used to dealing with a multi
layer project, so you're dealing with different types of teams,
I'll use When I worked in the utility space, you
would have your GIS team, you're out of management team,
your field service team.

Speaker 6 (14:02):
So as a.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
Company was coming on, I had to navigate them through
space team to team and make sure the team A
did what they need to do so Team B could
do what they needed to do, so then.

Speaker 6 (14:13):
Team C can do what they needed to do.

Speaker 1 (14:15):
And managing different people in different teams, you have different personalities,
different work ethics, different forms of communication. Well that's the
big one. Communication and understanding that and what I was
really successful in that position because of my ability to
be a chameleon and communicate. And I feel that being

(14:35):
a chameleon comes with also being a minority in this environment.

Speaker 6 (14:40):
We all know how to code switch.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
I can promise you that, Yeah, sure, we definitely talk
about codes, which actually personally not a fan of it
myself to try to do. I try to do it
lists and list, and I feel like we should do
a list and list as we as we move up,
and our value is undenied, undeniable, right, we've already you know,

(15:05):
people already know what we bring to the table. You
really don't have the need to code switch is much,
I don't think, but it's just I think we still
kind of do it out of habit, but I.

Speaker 6 (15:14):
Think it comes from lack of understanding.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
It's a benefit. I'm sorry that you said, Marco.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
I was gonna say that.

Speaker 7 (15:21):
I think there's benefits to it because when you code switch,
you understand like the dynamics of the code that you're
switching into. So like if you switch it up to
talk on the level of this individual or that individual,
I think having that knowledge benefits you in a position
that you would be in where you need to be
able to talk to these people and kind of be
the condoing for the projects. I definitely think you're gonna

(15:43):
argue different sides of it, so you know, whatever whatever
side of that you feel most comfortable for your specific situation.

Speaker 9 (15:52):
About that, I think I think Kenny was gonna say something.
Let him go first, But I have a question for
you when you get a cool question for Erica. So
currently I work with project managers. So do you with
when you was working with people? Were you like a
micro manager or Oh.

Speaker 3 (16:07):
God, no, I thought, I asked, No.

Speaker 1 (16:10):
I believe letting adults be adult.

Speaker 13 (16:11):
The reason I asked so a point that I let
my work speak for itself now is still the point
she doesn't bother she doesn't bother me. I give her
more than what she needs instead of a point she says,
you know what, I'm gonna shut up now, I'll leave
you alone.

Speaker 3 (16:22):
So I just thought to.

Speaker 1 (16:23):
Ask, Yeah, absolutely, I think even now, like I still
work with I work with customers now, so I am
now customer facing whereas before I was more internal facing.
There's still a people element there, right, and when dealing
with internal teams, I feel like, like you said, let
the work speak for itself. If you know that you

(16:44):
have a deliverable dude to me by Friday, I don't
have a need to touch up checkfaces with you until Friday.
If you haven't marked that task as you know, completed
in whatever CRM or platform that I'm using.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Then I'm gonna check in with you.

Speaker 1 (16:56):
Hair. Are you still able to meet the deadline for today?
Because I don't whatever. I don't feel the need to
do that. We are, I agree, right, I'm not. I'm
not at at daycare. I don't want to daycare.

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Doing three meetings a week.

Speaker 13 (17:07):
You have access, you have access to my status report,
so I thought, I asked, Okay, yeah, why.

Speaker 1 (17:13):
Why are you asking me? I didn't want to. I
did want to talk about the code switching for a second.
So I feel like code switching is a young people's game. Yeah,
I feel like I code switched way more in my
twenties than I ever will. I'm about to be forty, y'alls,
I don't you know whatever, but in my thirties. Okay, well,

(17:35):
I'm just saying, you know, I'm just I'm getting a
little little.

Speaker 6 (17:38):
It is what it is.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
We all get old.

Speaker 4 (17:41):
We all, yeah, we're all long in the tooth. Let's
not like we're young. Nobody's young. Nobody's in their twenties
on this.

Speaker 1 (17:46):
Car, Believe me, I come to an interview with my
nails blue, my nose ring in hand tattoos, arm tattoos.
I have tattoos everywhere. I enjoy that I have my
lashes on. I were big bulky glasses when I put
them on. Like I come to an interview as myself,
and I let everybody know that I'm interviewing with your
interviewing me just as much as I'm interviewing you.

Speaker 6 (18:09):
This is not a one way street. This is a
two way conversation.

Speaker 1 (18:12):
So I feel like with the code switching, we do
that more in our twenties because we have actually there's
a chemical in our bodies that's more people pleasing when
we're younger. It's a known fact. I promise you can
look it up. So we have the tendency to want
to appease. So when we have that tendency to appease,
we're going to modify ourselves to appease our audience. So

(18:33):
that's why I say code switching is a young people's games.
As we get older, it's not as applicable, and.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
That's that it actually requires additional energy for you to
do that you can't.

Speaker 7 (18:45):
That's interesting to take, but I would look in in
to say that's more of a relevancy or like a
re relevancy thing because even young people that are really
competent in what they do, they're really confident and to
know that they can be themselves. Hey, what are you
gonna fire me? I'm the guy, you know what?

Speaker 1 (19:04):
I do see that more with this new generation, right, Like,
if we're all in the kind of the same age bracket,
we didn't grow up with social media, right like, thank god,
spring Break, Panama City. We don't need no evidence, Okay,
but the newer generation, I get rid of it.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
So yeah, I'm gonna edit that out.

Speaker 6 (19:31):
So I feel that with.

Speaker 1 (19:35):
You know, just having this new generation, this Gen Z
or whatever they're called, they have this new profound like no,
I'm not doing that. I'm not gonna do this. I'm
not coming into the office. You're not gonna pay. I'm
gonna quit today because y'all don't give me a two
week notice when you lay me off for fire me.
So if y'all I'm quitting now, like, and I actually
love that shit, if I'm being honest, like, I'm like,

(19:57):
let me get a little bit of that, right, I
want to be a little more like like that. But
I think it's a generational thing. We didn't have some
of the things that they have, the tools and technology. Hey, Siri,
can you do something for me?

Speaker 6 (20:08):
We didn't have that.

Speaker 1 (20:08):
We had Encyclopedia Britannicas if you were lucky, if they
were five years old. In my house, they weren't the
new ones.

Speaker 4 (20:16):
I had the books. I had the books in the
bookcase too.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Yeah, but go ahead.

Speaker 2 (20:23):
I want to press on that though. So what what
are there any like downsides to that? You say you
love that, you know energy, I like it too, But
what are the downsides that that type of uh, you
know positioning.

Speaker 1 (20:37):
I think that with that type of mindset, the one
downside that I see is retirement. So at some point
we're all going to retire and building a foundation with
a company that allows you to have a four o
one K and pensions and whatever else. Having that kind
of mindset, we're constantly jumping from job to job. It's
a little more difficult to build a retirement on a

(20:58):
company based retirement. Not everyone has the skill set to
invest on their own and save on their own. So
I feel like having the bouncing around a lot just
you lose some of that retirement And for me, I
want to retire like I don't want to work. Ti'm
sixty four, and I also am not agring enough to
think I'm gonna be a TikToker, you know.

Speaker 12 (21:17):
So it's kind of funny though, I mean, you was
talking about, you know, what you do as a project manager.
It was kind of different from what I'm used to
as a project manager. Like, I got a project that
I'm working on a work right now, but we're doing
this migration, and I deal with pms all the time,

(21:40):
and the pms that I deal with don't necessarily do
anything stuff start meetings and hit me up on teams
all day and.

Speaker 3 (21:49):
What the status?

Speaker 5 (21:54):
What's the status?

Speaker 4 (21:57):
What's the status?

Speaker 12 (21:58):
She kept hitting me up like every hour on the hour.
I'm like, look, lady, I do this. I got so
many projects that I'm managing right now, give me some time,
Like yeah, don't get the information you need. But with
these project managers, they're not really hands on. They're just
you know, talking to whoever you know, the application team

(22:19):
and taking what they need and coming over to the
network team, which is us just kind of managing us.

Speaker 5 (22:25):
But it seems like you're more hands on.

Speaker 1 (22:28):
Yes, I believe as to be an effective progressive project manager.
And I used to work progressive because I don't have
a desire to just be a PM forever, which I'm
not right, So to be effective and progressive, you should
be more hands on, right, And I believe when I
came in as a PM with no certifications, not really

(22:49):
understanding what this really entailed, I went to each team
that I'd be working with, and I asked them, how
can I make your life easier? What can I do
for you to make it a little bit easier? So
I developed a process and procedure with Futura where I
collected preliminary information making sure their servers were set up properly.
So before we even got to the team, I already

(23:10):
knew we had the documentation we needed, their server was
up to code or specs, we had their proper ipack configuration,
like everything was already done. Anything that I knew I
could understand and do I set up for the team,
and I also created various project management spaces. We used
Confluence in Jira back then, and I used Salesforce for
my own task management, but I created Confluence pages for

(23:32):
all of them so they could see, We've got this
contract signed, these are my deliverables. I have this from
them I have that from them. I attached the file,
so when I handed that person off to them, it
was already done. And therefore my implementations moved seamlessly because
I believe in being hands on. But I also was
the only project manager. I didn't report to a PMO office,

(23:54):
and I didn't have an overbearing boss. My boss came
in and said, fix it. We know the shit's were
we know things aren't going the way they should be. Erica,
do your observation you're analyzing, and make it work. So
it really depends how your organization is structured and how
they're reporting into people, like into their PMO office if

(24:14):
they have one. I don't like that tactic because at
that point you're just glorified secretary. And if you're just
glorified secretary, you're not being progressive in your career.

Speaker 9 (24:24):
So it sounds like Erica, you're saying, so it's like
you're the wolf. Huh, have never seen pulp fiction.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
The wolf?

Speaker 9 (24:34):
If you're working the wolf, that's all you.

Speaker 6 (24:41):
I'm more of a tiger.

Speaker 9 (24:43):
No have you?

Speaker 4 (24:44):
Have you if you haven't seen that?

Speaker 9 (24:47):
Yeah, so you know the part when the guy, the
fixer got to come in and you yeah, yeah, everything.

Speaker 7 (24:54):
Yeah, it sounds like it's like with any other position,
there's people with different levels of competency, and I guess
like with your skills being where they are, you don't
really need to dragt.

Speaker 5 (25:04):
People like that, and you probably don't want to now.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
I mean, at the core of it, it's like, treat
people the way you want to be treated, right, So
if I don't want you to micromanage me, I'm not
going to micromanage you. I do believe in that Golden rule.
I think it was a manual Kant you know that
said that. So I just don't want to put a
burden on someone else because I hate for someone to
put a burden on me. I don't believe in that.

Speaker 7 (25:31):
You can have to as long as you're verbalizing hey,
this is my expectation. And once we get closer, like
hey we talked about this, Hey, where's the stuff?

Speaker 6 (25:40):
What's up?

Speaker 9 (25:42):
Especially when you start looking to the realm, like of
when you start managing people, because I mean, you know,
Carlton to tell Kenny Margot when you dealing with a
bunch of smart people, we don't just let us figure
you know, that's the worst thing you can do to
us because we feel like that's another job and it
actually hinders us from doing our job.

Speaker 12 (26:01):
So absolutely, voice, I said, all righty, you just give
me a task and leave me alone.

Speaker 5 (26:12):
Let me do what I gotta do, and all the
time we good. Just just kind of leave me alone. Wait,
let me clear as Eric.

Speaker 3 (26:28):
I.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
Am not.

Speaker 6 (26:33):
I mean, I just think that in any space, right
that you.

Speaker 1 (26:36):
Should always I don't care if I work at McDonald's.
I'm gonna treat you with dignity and respect and treat
you the same way I want to be treated. I
have a daughter right now, she's sixteen, and she's looking
for a job, right and I keep telling her, my baby,
when you're going into these interviews.

Speaker 6 (26:50):
Be respectful, treat them how they want to treat you.

Speaker 1 (26:52):
And I understand her interviewing at Chick fil A McDonald's
will be as places. They are always the nicest and
friendliest people. And I told you're gonna deal with the
multitude person analities, but it's up to you to keep
uphold yourself to a certain level, right, And that's just
what my motto, like, I'm gonna I know me.

Speaker 6 (27:08):
Eric's not gonna waiver and you ain't gonna see me sweat.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
You can't say nothing to me that ain't already been
called or said before in my life. Ain't nothing you
can do because most of us, unfortunately, some of us
are fortunate enough to work in our career and in
our passion. Some of us, a lot of people are not,
and they are in jobs. You know what a job
stands for, just overbroke that part. So if you work

(27:31):
it for just over broke, baby, treat people will respect it.

Speaker 6 (27:35):
Don't let them see you sweat. Just okay, okay, I'm
gonna be out of here real soon.

Speaker 5 (27:41):
We speak on this team. But dealing with like difficult people,
that's the skill in itself.

Speaker 7 (27:46):
Like the more you're able to deal with difficult people,
that's the better you are off the like.

Speaker 3 (27:50):
Oh no, no, I just said doing company time, but you
can go ahead. That's that's a pretty important thing.

Speaker 2 (27:58):
And mark you just know it, like, yeah, these are
jobs and not careers. But a lot of the skills,
especially the soft skills that you can pick up, that
you can pick up right because everybody doesn't handle those
crucial conversations the right way. So if you can learn
how to navigate a difficult customer, at those toxic levels, you're.

Speaker 3 (28:18):
Gonna be bothering when you get you know, to the people.

Speaker 13 (28:22):
I started a bush guarden, a public grocery super uh
sup supermarket. So I got all my soft skill from
working a cashier bagger, and everybody's like, you're so good
with people. I deal with a lot of different people,
different people.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
So.

Speaker 1 (28:36):
Oh yeah, I started a broker.

Speaker 6 (28:39):
I understand.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
But you know, you guys are mentioning like just how
to navigate with different, you know, different people in the workspace.
I believe in just effective communication. Remember I said, I'm
really good at communication. I'm going to meet you where
you are, right Like, I'm the person that's gonna pick
up the phone and call because I feel like I
accomplished more and assuming a phone call and having fifteen
emails back and forth. Right, But I also understand that

(29:01):
if Carlton, he's not a phone guy, he probably aint
gonna answer me.

Speaker 6 (29:05):
Anyway. I'm gonna email him, and.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
I'm gonna be very concise in my email, right like,
still be pleasant, but concise and get work with him
within the space that he's in. Because that's an effective
project manager, meeting people where they are. If I need
Carlton to complete a task for me by Friday. And
I don't want to harass this man. I don't need
to call him if he's not gonna answer the phone.
Let me be concise and pleasant. Hey, Carlton, where are

(29:29):
we at? You know, do we have an update for
thank you get back to me.

Speaker 2 (29:34):
You can't get back to Yeah, Carton, Carton, You're gonna
You're gonna have back Friday's.

Speaker 5 (29:46):
Gonna to whom this concern?

Speaker 3 (29:51):
I might?

Speaker 1 (29:52):
You know, I do need an API integration taking care
of for a DP. So if you're available, I can try.

Speaker 10 (29:59):
I me, you.

Speaker 3 (30:04):
Can.

Speaker 4 (30:05):
You can send him an email and hit him teams,
but anyway, uh, just.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
So, just.

Speaker 6 (30:13):
So I'll do that.

Speaker 9 (30:15):
So this is uh, and this is kind of a
subject that's coming up a lot, especially like in you know,
when we talk about corporate culture and stuff like that,
and we talked about code switching, talking to different people
and stuff like that. The diversity conversation has been at
the centerpiece of a lot of different a lot of
different news outlets and stuff like that. And so what's

(30:38):
your thoughts on, you know, making diversity a keystone of
a company.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
Culture, diversity and representation diversity and inclusion, inclusions.

Speaker 4 (30:50):
What we call it.

Speaker 1 (30:53):
No, it's inclusive, it's inclusion. I think it still should
be at the top front of everything. There's not enough
of us included in the tech space. And I'm talking
about even from support tier one support level.

Speaker 6 (31:07):
There's not enough of us.

Speaker 3 (31:08):
It's just not I mean, do you if you have
an idea, I guess I don't want to make it
like you.

Speaker 1 (31:13):
I think it's a fear. I think it's a fear
for one right, there's a fear of tech because, like
we mentioned earlier, there's such a broad spectrum.

Speaker 6 (31:20):
So if you look up tech jobs, people are like,
it's overwhelming.

Speaker 1 (31:23):
It's like, oh shit, there's wow. What where avenue do.

Speaker 6 (31:26):
I go down? I think that's the first thing.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
I also am going to take it way way way
back to a lack of education and knowledge. If you
just look at the at the historical data now and
I hate y'all are my black men. I'm so proud
of y'all for being in the space that you're in,
But you guys are the exception to the norm. If
we look at college institutions, there are more black women.

(31:49):
We're far exceeding as black women are our male counterparts
and education. It's just the facts, right, And I know
that stems from generational versus and generational traumas that we
had nothing to do with, right, But I think that
stems with it too. It's just not having enough of
us being educated to step into some of these roles

(32:10):
and to even know about them. Right. Like my daughter
has no idea about some of the stuff that I do.
She's like, what, there's a lack of education there.

Speaker 9 (32:19):
So do you think part of that too is our
heroes nowadays? So like take take a prisons what I
you know, in the neighborhoods that we grew up in, right,
you know, the hero is the guy that gets the
basketball contract or the guy that signs a record deal
or something like that.

Speaker 4 (32:35):
Right.

Speaker 9 (32:36):
That's why this these conversations in this group was brought
together because it's essential we got to be the new
you know, measuring stick. Because like I said before, it
was like, you know, if I ever want to get
out of this this neighborhood, I got to learn how
to play basketball. I gotta learn how to play football,
or I got to learn you know, something like that.

Speaker 6 (32:56):
But as the one that we got to sell ourselves.
So let's not. I mean, there's y'all have the athletics
and rap career as women.

Speaker 1 (33:03):
It was like I got to date the drug dealer
or the basketball store, or I have to go and
literally sell myself.

Speaker 2 (33:12):
A new hell or yeah break on the side.

Speaker 6 (33:16):
Yeah, that's just the harsh reality of it, right, I think.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
Well, I'm not going to say I think I feel
because I do believe in leading with I lead with
my heart with everything I do. This guides me, this
is my compass. This my brain overcomplicates things for me. This,
this messes me up. So I leave with my heart
what feels good, what feels right. She's been good to
me this time. I feel that with the lack of education,

(33:42):
the generational curses that we've in faked that we've been
encountering over just years, centuries, it set us back. And
I'm sure you guys have all seen the video of
there's a white man and there's a.

Speaker 6 (33:54):
Group of students standing on the line.

Speaker 1 (33:56):
He's like, take a step forward, if your parents are
still together, take a step forward if here right, And
so you see the disparity on just where our starting
line is at.

Speaker 6 (34:05):
But I'll commend you gentlemen here, because.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
You guys are something that people aren't expecting to see,
especially with the locks, the beard.

Speaker 6 (34:14):
You know what I'm saying, all of these things. When
you guys step out.

Speaker 1 (34:17):
The world is all of that.

Speaker 6 (34:21):
Just the skin color alone men, black men. When y'all
walk out, y'all front.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
Door, the world is against you every day and the
world is automatically perceiving you to be in a negative
way because of the propaganda that has been pushed upon
our culture or in our country about what you guys represent.
And that's miensportued. That's unfortunate. And as you mentioned, Reginald,
the heroes today are for my kids, right, It's like, oh,

(34:48):
I want to be like this TikTok person, or I
want to be like I Spice or those you.

Speaker 6 (34:56):
Know, Right, So we have to change also to just
like what we look up to.

Speaker 1 (35:08):
People aren't looking up to Angela Rye and I love
that girl that I'm looking up to, Amanda Seals, Like.

Speaker 6 (35:13):
These are people that I'm following that I'm interested in.
Rich what's rich lebron James?

Speaker 1 (35:20):
Yeah, Rich Sorry, just got his book. So we're our
ideology and what we're believing in is really going into
the wrong direction. And I do feel like a lot
of that is pushed upon us from capitalism, and it's
the propaganda that the world is putting out. And as
black men and black women, we have this negative perception.

(35:41):
I try so hard to break some of the stereotypes.
I'm gonna I so I also bartend on the side.
I've been bartending since I was twenty years old. I
didn't even mention it.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
We got the we got the start of petition to
change your name to buy.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
I know, I do, and I love it. But side
bartend right, And when black a group of black women
come into the club I work at, I'm like, oh,
hell no, they're about to Margarita, Long Island, Martini, Leomon,
drop me to death and not leave me a damn dollar.

Speaker 3 (36:20):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (36:20):
Wow, Wow, it's funny.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
It's funny.

Speaker 5 (36:23):
You say that, correct? Correct?

Speaker 6 (36:27):
I Unfortunately it's about fifty to fifty.

Speaker 1 (36:30):
But because of that, when I go out, I overcompensate.
I'm tipping like crazy. I drop a twenty when I
come to bar. Baby, you gonna remember me all night.
You're gonna take care of me. Because the perception is
black women don't tip, especially tip other black women and
don't try to be cute. Oh god, you know, like
then they think you want the man or that you

(36:52):
better than them.

Speaker 6 (36:53):
I'm like, baby, I'm this is just a side hustle
for me.

Speaker 1 (36:56):
So there are there are all these stereotypes of perceptions.
That's just one small example, right, but there's so many
stereotypes and perceptions that we are battling every day just
in our own culture to be better than fucking sexy red.

Speaker 6 (37:10):
She should not be a pillar right now?

Speaker 4 (37:16):
So you are?

Speaker 5 (37:18):
You are? We just how hustling in the bar?

Speaker 7 (37:22):
People ever take you as like a non professional person
because you're a professional person that you're working in a bar.

Speaker 6 (37:27):
I work at a strip club.

Speaker 9 (37:29):
Oh yeah, okay, so I'll see y'all later.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
Checking out.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
I'm gonna see y'all later.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
You know, this face isn't recognizable.

Speaker 4 (37:44):
This is getting out of control.

Speaker 5 (37:46):
You don't know.

Speaker 9 (37:46):
This is getting out of control. This is getting out
of control. This is this is getting out of control.
This is getting out of control. This is getting out
of control.

Speaker 3 (37:55):
This is like.

Speaker 9 (37:57):
So one minute you like and then like the next
my my brain is oozing out of my ears right now,
I don't know what. Wow, this is This is crazy
because I was just about to like really go in
with you on the whole sexy red and I mean,
I'm right there with you, and and and and and.

Speaker 4 (38:24):
Stop it. Stop you guys. My family, My family listens
to this podcast. Y'all stop that ship.

Speaker 1 (38:34):
I'll say that.

Speaker 5 (38:35):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 7 (38:36):
So now I was gonna say, what is the pool
to continue to move light as a bartender in the
strip club? What's the like, just what is the pool
for you to continue move lighting as a bartender on
the strip.

Speaker 1 (38:48):
So I actually just stopped. I worked and one of
them more, Well, I'm going back, but I'm not going
back to the strip club. I'm going to a different place.
So I worked at one of the really really really
power the strip clubs out here in Atlanta. I don't
know if I should say the name.

Speaker 5 (39:03):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
There's no NBA there, honey, I don't give damn. I
worked at pin Ups, and I was at pin Ups
for over three years, so no Pinups is a staple,
just like magic. Working in that kind of environment for me, well,
what's actually so cool about it? I had the most
loyal customers. I worked a midshift, so I worked like
five to like twelve eleven ten, and my customers were

(39:27):
mostly men, obviously, and they're like, yo, I like you.
They would come and sit at my bar just to talk,
like we would talk, eat, have some shots, have some drinks, and.

Speaker 6 (39:35):
They would go home.

Speaker 1 (39:36):
Most of them didn't even get dances. The strip club
is a very safe space for men that are coming
out to places by themselves, right Like, you can come
and watch the game, eat some food, have a drink.
No one's gonna judge you for being in there by yourself,
even if you don't get dances.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
Who cares.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
I had a great experience. Most people didn't realize how
smart I was until I started talking to them, and
they're like, yo, you're You're consistent, your professional, You're nice.
I'm there.

Speaker 6 (40:02):
I'm not like the other girls.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Not not to shade anybody that still works there, but
some of the girls that worked there, they didn't carry
themselves with the same type of etiquette that I do.
And that's okay, And it didn't bother me. I can
I can work in that space. It doesn't bother me
at all. I have worked everywhere in the city. I'm
sure if at.

Speaker 6 (40:18):
Any point y'all are partying in Atlanta. You have seen
me bartend me. I have worked at Mansion, I worked.

Speaker 1 (40:24):
At Pearl, Shark Bar Compound. I've literally worked everywhere, and
there's b Q.

Speaker 6 (40:33):
I've been everywhere.

Speaker 5 (40:34):
So I was losing probably like you probably be a
project marriage.

Speaker 1 (40:47):
You know, I'm actually working Homecoming for Spell House, so
I'm more house spelled spell Spell mean Homecoming.

Speaker 6 (40:54):
Yep, I've already said that event every year.

Speaker 5 (40:57):
Every year.

Speaker 1 (40:58):
I have my own mobile billis my own mole, my
own mobile bartending company too, so I do private events.
But that also comes with project management. There's a skill
behind managing your own type of business. So when we're
talking about like build all the various things that I do,
I've always considered it building my toolkit. Right, So you
have your college degree, that's part of my toolkit. I

(41:20):
have this bartending experience. I'm building my toolkit. I have
my P and P I built that. I'm putting this
all into my toolbox for whatever reference I may need
it later. One thing I know how to do is
get money. One thing I'll never be is broke because
if this don't work, I got something in this toolbox
that I can pull out and use for LT.

Speaker 12 (41:40):
With your customers, like talking to them, understanding their temperaments.
It probably is something you can take to projects where like,
oh man, you got to build.

Speaker 1 (41:50):
If you're surprised how many dope people you meet at
the strip club, you would if I'm met some great people.

Speaker 9 (41:55):
If anything, you can take your people skills right, because
if one place you got to do with people in
personalities is in places like.

Speaker 6 (42:03):
That, I deal with sexy breads.

Speaker 4 (42:10):
Destroying our society anyway.

Speaker 3 (42:12):
I won't even go with my little adequate question. You
keep sitting that what kind of drink did you make
for yourself tonight?

Speaker 6 (42:18):
This is Cheeto's and tonic with a splash of lime juice.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
I don't put the line ue in what's that? That's
that helps for me?

Speaker 3 (42:27):
It does?

Speaker 6 (42:29):
I do a splash of roses lime juice.

Speaker 3 (42:31):
That's it.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
I have to have an affrowork cocktail because I work
all day. I don't stop from eight to about eight.

Speaker 5 (42:41):
One of the things we're going to do on the
podcast have a drink.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
But yeah, Grady, your remind me to get that drink
right here.

Speaker 9 (42:50):
So so so it's funny did you say that because
one of the things that we do a lot is
that we get together and we have drinks, and that's
where we have most of our our biggest you know,
our brainstorm and sessions go crazy when we sit down
and just have a drink. So I know some people

(43:11):
find fault in that. I've seen people judge judge on that,
like you know, having a drink with like why are
you going out haveing a drink? Like, hey, you know,
this is where we sit down and and we get
our stuff across. But I didn't want to kind of
I didn't want to kind of hitt on that because
I've heard because my my sister's a bartender, right and

(43:33):
I and I go to like resorts and stuff like that,
and I hear that same thing, like they didn't. You know,
this is like different countries, not like America where they
talk about like black people on tip. I'm like, dang man,
so I feel like obligated to cover for all the
black people.

Speaker 5 (44:00):
Western Hemisphere thing because over there, like.

Speaker 9 (44:05):
Well, I'm mostly talking about like Mexico dr place, you
know what places where we go on vacation.

Speaker 4 (44:10):
Vacation places.

Speaker 1 (44:11):
Oh I'm sorry, sweetheart, I vacation in Europe and Asia,
but I mean the peasants can go to Mexico.

Speaker 10 (44:19):
Wow, Wow, Wow, I'm joking.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
It's a joke because I literally was in Jamaica in July,
so it's clearly a joke. And then I went to Mexico.
You know, I'm serious. I love to travel. I feel
like traveling is and that makes you richer. So I travel.
I enjoy experiencing other cultures like it's just something I'm
in love with.

Speaker 4 (44:48):
This is what you're doing to me right now.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
I can't even see your face, Reginald. Actually your screen
is black. I only can see Yeah.

Speaker 2 (44:59):
Yeah, that's weird because I can see yeah, I mean
I think yeah, I can see everybody fine too, I
think it.

Speaker 4 (45:08):
Read can you see me? Can you see me now?

Speaker 6 (45:12):
Because literally, let's see Carlton and Marco.

Speaker 1 (45:16):
That's it.

Speaker 4 (45:17):
Well, it's weird because.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
Of all black couch classes.

Speaker 9 (45:22):
Yeah, earlier, I saw see that right there? See that's
right there, see that? Why talk to the black thing.

Speaker 3 (45:31):
I'm not Michael black face.

Speaker 4 (45:34):
Hey, I'm not Michael black you model model.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
I can see those white pillows in the background, there's.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
Ahead. I'm sorry.

Speaker 7 (45:47):
I don't want to break up the funk because this
is a good conversation, but I did want to kind
of pull it back. I wanted to ask you, what
are the pros and cause that you have working in tech?

Speaker 1 (45:59):
So it was by oh, there's so many pros and cons.
I actually wanted to touch on this, and I failed
too earlier contracting. So I like contract work. First of all,
it pays superbly, right, and if you're able to work
from home.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
I doubled it. Okay, I was literally working.

Speaker 1 (46:18):
Two full time jobs and bartending for like six months
earlier this year. I hadn't I.

Speaker 6 (46:27):
Can't seek here.

Speaker 1 (46:29):
Experience black, But I think that the contract world is
also a place that we don't tap into enough with contracts.
For me, I've had great experiences with them literally, I
mean I made so much money doing contracts. And with contracts,
you have your s ow. For those listening don't know,

(46:50):
that's a statement of work. You know exactly what you're
contracted to do. And if you asked me to do
anything outside of my step my so ow, that's another
contract you have to amy on top of that, I'm
only here to do this, and once my project is complete,
I'm done, I'm out.

Speaker 6 (47:05):
Thank you, We shake hands. So I did a contract.

Speaker 1 (47:08):
I've worked with a multitude of fortune one hundred companies
doing contract work.

Speaker 6 (47:14):
And I just pop in, I'm there six months and
I'm out.

Speaker 1 (47:17):
I do what I need to do when I leave,
and they're paying money one hundred and fifty thousand for
six months literally, And there's so many companies out there.

Speaker 2 (47:27):
You asked somebody to ask you to do something outside
of the scope of work, and you know I can't
do it side scope of work, and they.

Speaker 6 (47:34):
Don't even ask. Don't ask me.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
You set the tone in the precedence up front, and
if no one's ever really asked me, but I will say, well,
let me see if that's in the scope of the project.
And as soon as I say that, they're like, oh, actually.

Speaker 6 (47:52):
They already know.

Speaker 1 (47:55):
So I've never really had someone really try to force
himself to have me do additional things. I have what
I need from what the company's expectations. We have a
clear outline of what those deliverables are. We know when
my start date, my end date are. If there's any extensions,
you let me know within the thirty day notice. So
I love the contract space. I think that's a big
pro marco of working in tech. There are so many

(48:17):
companies that contract every position I've had within the last
seven years, I've gotten off of LinkedIn jobs. Everyone I
don't use Indeed, I don't use Monster Group Glass, none
of that. I go to LinkedIn jobs. I put myself
available to work on my profile. I see a position,

(48:38):
I apply for it. I then message the recruiter directly, Hey,
I apply for this position. I wanted to send my
resume to you directly. I'm highly interested in the position,
whatever it is, and I've been lucking up. It works
for me. And again, if you're able to work from home,
like most of us are nowadays, you can double depending.

Speaker 6 (48:56):
On the intensity of the job.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Right. I've been fortunate where I manage my own schedule
with everything that I do, so I doubled. I can
do that. This is part of that retirement plan we
were talking about too. I don't want to work, so
I sixty five. I want to work TI forty five
and at forty six, your girl's working in her passion
and doing the things that I really want to do
with my life, you know. And if I.

Speaker 5 (49:20):
Choose to work, yeah, take a longer vacation, yep.

Speaker 6 (49:24):
I took three months off at the top of the year,
three months didn't work.

Speaker 4 (49:28):
Take vacations to Mexico and Z and I got.

Speaker 1 (49:32):
To London, I got to Paris.

Speaker 4 (49:34):
To again, bro, I mean, I don't know I did that.

Speaker 3 (49:43):
I did it.

Speaker 9 (49:44):
I did that to be funny, okay, but no, but
I mean it's real. It's like it's like two hours
flight for what. Just don't make me fast, like.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
Reginalds. And if you went for a treat, it's Reginald.

Speaker 5 (50:03):
Oh my god, Oh my god.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
I don't even know how to properly say.

Speaker 4 (50:08):
That it's Reginald. It's Reginald.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
The exactly.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Wow, that's what.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
I'm not Vagina.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Don't don't, don't leave it in. He needs to know
what that sounds like later.

Speaker 9 (50:39):
Yeah, okay, right, no though, that's what they called me
when I go to Smish Country.

Speaker 5 (50:46):
Though I did.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
Want to also mention Marco and Reginald. You guys are Reginald.
I'm sorry you had mentioned that you guys get together
in Brainstorm and have cocktails with one another. I'm an
Eastern Star, so I am part of a Mason Lodge
or whatever, of course, and of course I'm used to
being in male dominated spaces, being the space that I'm in,

(51:14):
so I was actually a part of a mason An
investment group with my Mason Lodge. I was the only
female invited to be a part of this association. And
that's because of the skill set that I bring, the
knowledge and the network that I create. One thing I'm
mastering is people relations communication skills. I am that friend
that will tap in with everybody at least once a mole,
even just a text, Hey girls, how you been, what's

(51:35):
going on?

Speaker 6 (51:35):
How are you?

Speaker 1 (51:36):
I sketch, I plan dinners and I invite maybe ten
or fifteen of my homegirls and see who shows up.
But just so they know I'm connected to them and
I can always reach out. So I believe it is
good relationships be intentional, reginald be intentional.

Speaker 5 (51:52):
Good.

Speaker 7 (51:53):
That's good because you're showing a lot of people that
you know, black women are competent.

Speaker 5 (51:58):
It's kind of one of those things that I say
that's important.

Speaker 7 (52:00):
With Deion Sanders and the whole Colorado thing, like what
are you doing that coaches going forward?

Speaker 5 (52:06):
That's important And.

Speaker 9 (52:06):
They want him to feel so bad too. They wanted
to lose so bad, you know.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
They too. But he's definitely winning. And even though they
took an l last week or whatever was that?

Speaker 6 (52:18):
What did they play for?

Speaker 4 (52:25):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (52:26):
All right, well.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Okay, well two weeks ago. I'm a little behind on
my Sports Center. But one thing about me, because I
keep up with many things. I have an office right
here in front of my computer, and I put on
Sports Center and I keep up with what's going on.
I may not know all the players, but I do
know that Kelsey's dating Taylor Swift.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
I'm over that. I'm over that. Man.

Speaker 3 (52:49):
I get tired.

Speaker 4 (52:50):
Yeah, ain't you over that?

Speaker 13 (52:53):
Over that Panther game with a Swiss Kelsey shirt on?

Speaker 5 (52:59):
Yeah, I saw that.

Speaker 1 (53:01):
Bro Okay, well that's a little excessive for me. But
all I'm saying is that as a woman, you should
be versed. You should be well versed in things. My
mother always taught me that I should build a whole
a conversation with from the janitor to the doctor, to
the lawyer to the CEO. So I pride myself on
knowing a little bit about everything. Literally, you could ask

(53:22):
me something about something, I'm like, okay, I know a
little bit about that. I pride myself on being educational.

Speaker 4 (53:28):
Do you subscribe to the twenty pages day rule?

Speaker 6 (53:32):
I do not, but I've heard of it. So I'm
reading a book right now. I'm gonna actually show you, gentlemen.

Speaker 1 (53:39):
We should all be millionaires by Rachel Rogers. So this
mixed black girl. She's talking about making million dollar decisions
and broke ass decisions, bad decisions. This book is really
empowering me to make million dollar decisions and everything that
I do a million dollar decisions, not just a female decision.
It is a decision that all of us should make.
A millionaire decision creates space, energy, and time for you.

(54:04):
That's all a million dollar positions. It's something that sounds
ful feeling.

Speaker 9 (54:08):
I'm gonna recommend if you're If you're not in the audiobooks,
it might not work for you, because I know some
people hate audio books.

Speaker 1 (54:15):
But it's an audiobooks.

Speaker 9 (54:16):
It's a but it's an app called Headway, and they're
basically summarize Headway.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Read the whole book, get the cliff notes exactly. Headspace
has actually like come off of a there's another service
that did that.

Speaker 3 (54:32):
I think Blink is what it is.

Speaker 9 (54:37):
Now Headway Headway and this is one of those things
where you kind of get the cliff notes. You when
you're riding in your car, you like at the gym
or something like that.

Speaker 4 (54:46):
You just put that on and catch that app right there. Yep,
that so red.

Speaker 2 (54:52):
So you so you're too lazy to actually read the book,
so you go to the audio, too lazy to listen
to the whole book.

Speaker 4 (55:01):
So look, so look, so look, so.

Speaker 9 (55:06):
So listen listen, So don't get a twisted. I have
Audible too, and I have other things. But the thing
about it is I heard about this book because, like
you said, it's good to know a little bit about everything.
Who the hell can read every book that you need
to know knowledge about? So just catching a little bit
of knowledge from a bunch of different places while listening

(55:27):
to something like Headway is really good.

Speaker 4 (55:30):
Right.

Speaker 9 (55:31):
So that's what I That's what somebody recommended to me,
recommend it, I'm recommending it to you.

Speaker 1 (55:38):
Yeah, so I'm always here for recommendations.

Speaker 2 (55:42):
To your point, it makes sense to kind of just
get cliff notes on things you don't want to get,
like a real death. Then you just want to kind
of be able to hold a conversation and understand that.

Speaker 4 (55:53):
I get that exactly exactly.

Speaker 1 (55:57):
I would like to say that I think conversations like
this allowing people to see people in tech breaks kind
of the stereotype because there is this misconception about people
that work in tech that we're boring, we don't have personality,
we're just kind of like heads down to the computer
like this all day. We have hunchbacks, right, So I
think having a space like this to show personality and

(56:20):
that we all have a multitude of things and we
come from different avenues and different backgrounds, I think it
does shed light on getting people into tech right. As
Reginald mentioned earlier, we don't want have to be football
basketball strippers, right like we can be in that space.
I added that one I had one that was definitely

(56:46):
me definitely.

Speaker 9 (56:51):
Get me in trouble, Like what's'll be talking about on
that podcast, Reggie.

Speaker 3 (56:57):
No trouble and you just been going downhill.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
He's been going downhill all all call since the time started.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
But I'm hoping it's entertaining that everybody's listening.

Speaker 7 (57:10):
Though, ye, And we definitely want to be respectful of time.
So at the top of the hour.

Speaker 9 (57:18):
I'm sorry, no, we respectful, you got We've done.

Speaker 2 (57:25):
We've done an episode for two hours that we cut
into two episodes, so conversation that was not said, we
want to get for the very reason you just said,
show people.

Speaker 5 (57:36):
Hey, take people the fun too.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Yeah, and we all just had back surgery to get
those hunks from moved and we got there and be
regular people like that.

Speaker 4 (57:45):
I'm still going to physical theoriropractor.

Speaker 6 (57:51):
So but I think that this was for me. It
was a great a great interview.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
You know, if you're looking for a female co host,
hit me up on the.

Speaker 6 (58:03):
So you know, if you need, well.

Speaker 1 (58:08):
What you don't knows well Marco is I actually do
theater and film on the side. I was on in
the stage play that traveled for a year. I have
I am needed credit. Don't play with me, I was, Yeah,
I do all things.

Speaker 5 (58:18):
Erica doesn't ask you what you don't do, do you wrap?

Speaker 6 (58:22):
No, unless I'm drunk, baby drunk, I am nicky.

Speaker 4 (58:27):
Y'all love it, y'all love us, and y'all ever seen
Living Color before?

Speaker 9 (58:31):
Of course the Living Color episode when a dude like
you got ten job, you got one job, you got
job you only got I mean, like, come on, that's
what we're getting into.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Well. Also, so if you look at the state of
the economy and just the inflation rates, right, it's almost.

Speaker 6 (58:51):
You have to or you just won't survive. It's impossible.

Speaker 1 (58:55):
Like I live in Roswell, Georgia summer aside Atlanta out
and just the cost to feed my family like is astronomical, right,
Like my kids eat every fucking thing, but it's hard.

Speaker 6 (59:10):
I could not live just off of my one job.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
I have to have another side of income if I
want to achieve the financial goals I want to achieve.
And I'm an aggressive financial person, so I'm aggressive with
my savings and my debt. So I think with work
life balance comes with a greater sense of understanding and
then also depends on the age of your children, right,
Like my kids are sixteen and eleven. She literally just

(59:34):
turned eleven on Saturday. Side to think about it, So
my kids are self sufficient, you know, and they know
like moms at work for the most part, unless they
want to show me something crazy then they come in here.
But they really do most of the time respect that
I'm working. I am recently remarried, hasn't even been a

(59:54):
year yet, so we still don't see that through no trial.

Speaker 6 (01:00:01):
But why you.

Speaker 2 (01:00:05):
See the project schedule, that's probably why they having this being.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
He's he's actually a great guy, but My husband also
understand No, he's not. He's not in tech at all,
but he does understand my work ethic and he understands
the goal. So I believe in having a balanced equation
in your relationship. If I'm strong in finances and you're not,
it's okay. We balance each other out. You're strong in

(01:00:33):
whatever this is and I'm not. We're going to balance
each other out. So it's all about having that balanced
equation in your relationship. So he lets me lead where
my strong suit is that and I let him lead
or his strong suit is at and that works for us.

Speaker 6 (01:00:46):
And he also understands how he met me is how.

Speaker 1 (01:00:48):
I still am. I'm a busybody. I don't know how
to sit steal. I just I can't like I always
have what's next. My mind is always on the what's next.
I'm actually trying to train myself to enjoy the process
and the journey. I'm one of those people when I
accomplish a goal, I'm instantly focused on the next goal,
and I don't always appreciate the journey that it took
me to get someplace. So when it comes to work

(01:01:09):
life balance, I think I have for me, I have
to do a better job of appreciating my journey and
my accomplishments. I don't always take credit, Like I don't
look at myself like I've done all these things. It's
not until I get with my girlfriends like girl, you've
done da da, I'm like, oh I did huh. Like
I don't even acknowledge them because I'm always focused on
the next line, the next goal. I want to get to.

Speaker 7 (01:01:35):
Performer or something like that, or like just working in
teching like that, Well, no, because you're not.

Speaker 5 (01:01:40):
You didn't start off working in take.

Speaker 3 (01:01:41):
I think I'm like that too.

Speaker 4 (01:01:43):
My brain doesn't shut off.

Speaker 7 (01:01:45):
For a long time, my degrees were sitting in a
stack of papers.

Speaker 3 (01:01:48):
Like.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Yeah, I'm the same way as you are. And the
one thing that I've recently enveloped end of my day
is that I take time to journal.

Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
I journal on what I got, what I'm working on.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
I journal on what I accomplished, just so I can
at least, like, you know, think about it at least
for a second, like, man, I did something cool today,
you know. And I also have a work ejournal, which
that's the way because you know, when you're starting to
update your resume because your boss pissed you all of
a sudden. Now you got to remember all the cool
stuff you did professionally and stuff like that. So I

(01:02:27):
can definitely resonate with going from one thing right into
the next without really being able.

Speaker 12 (01:02:31):
To appreciate, appreciate like you do, like you do, like
the stuff.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
You like your accomplishment.

Speaker 12 (01:02:40):
You're proud of your accomplishments, but in the midst you
don't just talk about if they come up, then oh man, yeah,
let's talk about so.

Speaker 6 (01:02:47):
Yeah, so I'm gonna switch my camera.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
So over here on my sidewalk you'll see my my
first degree and then underneath there that's for my stage play.
So I had people sign my picture with different accolades.
That was something that really important to me.

Speaker 6 (01:03:01):
So these are some of the accomplishments.

Speaker 1 (01:03:03):
I try to make sure I have kind of mementos
around me.

Speaker 5 (01:03:06):
It back real quick.

Speaker 6 (01:03:08):
Yeah, that that's actually what I do my auditions with.

Speaker 1 (01:03:16):
So when I'm auditioning for different roles, I do my
my self tapes on with my bring. I actually have
another selfie cam ring light that is right here too,
So yeah, I have four monitors around me. Like when
people want to see what tech looks like it's laptops
and all types of things someone had mentioned when we
were talking about, you know, not enjoying the journey. So

(01:03:39):
I know we kind of all kind of chimed in
at one time. Where that comes from in me? And
you'll see over here on my house, I have this
sign over here that says hustle, right, that's me every day.
I came from not a lot. When I tell you
not a lot, I mean eating cereal with water, okay,

(01:03:59):
not you know, not having certain things that are necessities.
So Maslow's hierarchy of needs were still in level one right,
And because of that, I have the tendency to operate
out of a sense of survivorship, which keeps me constantly
hustling and constantly building my tool kit because I don't

(01:04:20):
ever ever want to live how I did when I
was growing up. No thoult to my mother she had
me when she was young. I don't want my kids
to live how I lived. So that's why I'm constantly
building myself. I'm constantly making sure that there's always multiple
ways for me to give money and to pay the bills.
I've been so blessed. I live in a five hundred

(01:04:42):
thousand dollars house. Actually it's a praise more than that.
Now in Roswell, I drive. My dream car was a Tesla.
I bought my Tesla last year. Like, I've worked really.

Speaker 6 (01:04:51):
Really hard to get to where I'm.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
At, But now I'm like, I don't want to lose it.

Speaker 6 (01:04:55):
I'm afraid. I literally live in survivorship, in.

Speaker 1 (01:04:58):
Fear all the time, and I want to break that
generational curse.

Speaker 3 (01:05:03):
I'm gonna have the Model X, the Big Trauma trademarks.
Sorry you heard that, I got a Model A great one.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
I like the Model Asses, you got the you got
the plaid?

Speaker 3 (01:05:17):
No, no, I ain't. But have you heard the kind
of like laughing because I just have to?

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
Yeah, yeah, I say I saw that. I just let
I left that alone when I.

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Saw really, sorry, we got nbas in places right now.

Speaker 9 (01:05:36):
So have you seen the flip side of that where
people say, well, people say you shouldn't look back on
your journey because you're basking it too much and it
stops you from moving forward.

Speaker 1 (01:05:48):
Well, I don't believe that I can look through my
rear view mirror for my future, right mirror for my future.

Speaker 9 (01:05:55):
But I mean I think I said it. I said
when you have it when you accomplished something great. If
you basking it too long, it'll stop you from moving
to the next thing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
But should you also smell the roses at some point,
like should you say, like, I did a really good
thing here and it's okay for me to take a
break for thirty days, like I will get a certification
today and tomorrow. I'm like, next, let's go. And I'm
never take you the time to just be like, all right,
cool Erica, you did a good job. It's okay to

(01:06:26):
chill for a week. It's okay. I'm I'm living in
fear and it's not a great place to be in
and I'm trying to break that. But it's it's work
and it's dedication.

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
I heard that from.

Speaker 2 (01:06:42):
It's impost syndrome too, like you just don't feel like
you're doing enough, like even like right now I'm studying,
I'm doing both the same time right now, you know
what I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:06:53):
So it's just it's it's a it's it's.

Speaker 2 (01:06:55):
Not a great thing, but it gives you great fruit.
You just have the final way to make yourself stop
every now and then the smell.

Speaker 3 (01:07:04):
Of roses and.

Speaker 1 (01:07:08):
That basically sometimes we need someone else to remind us that, hey,
you're you're doing it. Because we don't always acknowledge ourselves.
We are our worst critics, right. Our self reflection is
often like our worst reflection. Like I look at myself
and I see every imperfection, every flaw, everything, and not
just esthetically, but like even things that I know I

(01:07:29):
need to work on mentally or spiritually. And recently I
put in my journal as you were mentioning journaling earlier,
put in my journal to enhance my spiritual self. Right,
I don't sleep, hope I might get four hours a night,
and I've got to do a better job.

Speaker 6 (01:07:49):
I've got to heal my space, my mind.

Speaker 1 (01:07:51):
I got to clear some of this space in my
in my in my mind because I don't know how
to rest because of that fear. And I know that
about myself through intense therapy. But I'm working through it.
Hence these bags and these eyes.

Speaker 6 (01:08:06):
I go on vacation.

Speaker 1 (01:08:07):
I don't know how to meditate. I tried, I can't
do it. My mind goes everywhere. I'm thinking about dishes, laundry,
that I take the dog out. Are you calm?

Speaker 5 (01:08:17):
Well?

Speaker 3 (01:08:17):
This actually like it registered your brain activity and it
trains you to learn how to meditate it. It's not
just like music. And you know that's you should definitely
to us.

Speaker 6 (01:08:33):
Y'all give me on site of apps today music.

Speaker 3 (01:08:36):
And line because then they're not an affiliate.

Speaker 4 (01:08:40):
So one time for mental health through.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
In our community.

Speaker 6 (01:08:46):
We don't we don't talk about that enough.

Speaker 5 (01:08:49):
We don't.

Speaker 1 (01:08:49):
We got to heal some of these trihood traumas that
we have and some of these fears that we have
and not be intimidated or afraid of what people are
going to say because we're deciding to go to therapy.
I will say that this younger generation that's coming up,
gen Z, they promote mental health and they're making it
less of as a taboo. So I'm here for that.
We talked about the pros that they had, Marco. This

(01:09:10):
is a pro that they're bringing to the table. It's okay,
cool baby, because we don't been through a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:09:20):
So that's a that's the that's the I don't know man,
that's the that's the philosophical conversation that you have though, right,
That's that's that's waiting to have because we are product
of our trauma. You know, you get you get screwed
over by your best friend as a child. Now you
take conversation with skepticism when you say, oh, trust me, okay,

(01:09:43):
why you know you're you're you're really you know, approaching
situations in a more mature way because.

Speaker 3 (01:09:49):
Of trauma, you know. So that's that's one part.

Speaker 2 (01:09:54):
Well, and I'm not saying and that's not to say that,
you know, trauma is just all good, but I'm just
saying that there's there's value in everything that happens to you,
and it's very much a thing of how you deal
with what happens. So you always teach my kids you're
gonna have set bad, you're gonna have loss, but they
don't have to be bad if you can learn from them,
if you can be better from them. Now, they'll help

(01:10:17):
you and they have served the purpose.

Speaker 3 (01:10:18):
To serve you. But if you don't allow them to
serve you, they will control you.

Speaker 1 (01:10:25):
You know. But it's doing that that what that route
caused analysis. You know, when my husband goes through something,
I'm like, I need to understand the why. I need
you to deep deep dive in yourself because I do
feel like if you want me to understand the how
you got to understand the why. How can you expect
me to forgive you If you don't understand.

Speaker 3 (01:10:44):
The why you did it exactly?

Speaker 5 (01:10:46):
Now, you don't know what you're gonna be able to
not repeat it exactly.

Speaker 1 (01:10:50):
So you have to sometimes dig within yourself and understand
why we are the way that we are. I know
I have trust issues. I have been through a lot
in my life.

Speaker 6 (01:11:00):
I've seen more people always look at me and they're like, oh,
our life is great.

Speaker 1 (01:11:03):
She just no, No, that's not the truth. You know,
I've overcome a lot and I'm happy. I'm blessed, beyond blessed.
So I'm able to smile, I'm able to keep, you know,
keep my face and my skin clear.

Speaker 6 (01:11:18):
But I've been through some things.

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
And Markle talk about it all the time. Well not
all the time, but we talk about quite often.

Speaker 2 (01:11:27):
How you know, at our level, what we're doing, we
got we got good problems, you know what I mean,
But they still problems, you know what I'm saying. People
got to realize that everybody got their own version, their
own you know, level, little problems. You know, your problems
ain't my problems. My problems ain't your problems. I mean

(01:11:48):
a lot of people. You may think you would like
to have their problems, but then you get the mother
you'll be like, yeah, I kind of want my mind back,
you know, money and all the other stuff. That doesn't
mean they better problems than you. What advice would you
give someone that's looking to, you know, move the way
you move, whether it be PMP or just just showing

(01:12:09):
advice to black women that's trying to work in this industry.

Speaker 1 (01:12:14):
Start. The hardest thing about doing anything is the beginning.
You want to lose weight. The hardest thing is going
to the gym the first time you want to do anything.
The hardest thing is starting.

Speaker 4 (01:12:26):
Yeah, preach, start, preach.

Speaker 5 (01:12:28):
Think less well, preach Yeah, not changing anything. I mean,
your life is full of wins and lessons.

Speaker 6 (01:12:37):
And you're not going to win everything, right, Like, we've
all failed at something.

Speaker 1 (01:12:40):
I think t I said it best. You know, he
had said something like I'm paraphrasing like a mug right now.
But he didn't wake up and become TI. He failed
a lot. He had a lot of shows where there
were going two people out there. He did a lot
of things when nobody showed up, a lot of free stuff,
Like you don't just wake up and become this.

Speaker 6 (01:13:00):
You have to go for it, and you have to
realize that not everything is going to be this huge success. Right,
you're gonna hit your head my pm P. I did
not pass my exam the first time.

Speaker 3 (01:13:10):
I didn't.

Speaker 6 (01:13:10):
That's it's hard to tell if you've never taken to
take it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:13):
It's hard. I failed it.

Speaker 2 (01:13:14):
I feeled it twice until if you listen till to
people that me and Mark Oman.

Speaker 9 (01:13:24):
Hey, hey, and he and he trying to you know what,
for him to be brave enough to go start over
again and again because you know he's doing stand up
comedy now because you want to do it?

Speaker 5 (01:13:36):
You really doing that?

Speaker 4 (01:13:37):
Oh yeah, he's doing it for really, he making a
he gotta he gotta.

Speaker 3 (01:13:40):
He got something on Netflix, I think too.

Speaker 4 (01:13:42):
Right now, Yeah, he's he said I wouldn't coming. I'm
doing it.

Speaker 6 (01:13:46):
I'm I'm actually on my bucket list of things I
want to do.

Speaker 1 (01:13:50):
I actually created this list you guys, and I suggest
anybody that's out there listening that will listen, create a
list of things you want to accomplish before your next
milestone age. So I to forty before forty, list forty
things that I wanted to do before I turned forty.
Some of them were so simple, of like just getting acupuncture.
I just want to try it to That was about right.

(01:14:11):
Some things were bigger, traveled to Botley, write an elephant,
write a list of forty things, or if you're fifty
before fifty, thirty before thirty, twenty before twenty of things
that she went to accomplish before the next milestone birthday.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
Right.

Speaker 6 (01:14:26):
So, Tip wanted to do stand up comedy.

Speaker 1 (01:14:29):
I'm actually going to try poetry like kind of like
it's called track Poetry My Homegirl Truth. She hosts it
once a month, and I am putting together a piece
because I just want to try it, Like why not?

Speaker 6 (01:14:40):
I have so many dope things.

Speaker 1 (01:14:42):
To say, Like I'm going for it. So put your
list together. Oh yea, I'm gonna pitch on the invite.
Oh well, I'm I'm gonna be real string. I haven't
completed everything. I have been completed everything, and I'm not
going to complete everything. But it's a starting point and
it feels good when I'm able to scratch the and
I was like, oh man, I did that.

Speaker 6 (01:15:01):
I did that too, and I'm gonna do that and
if I.

Speaker 3 (01:15:04):
Can't, you don't do it find out keys like dance straight.

Speaker 1 (01:15:12):
You know what's funny though, so working at the strip
club one of my things, I know what all the
time now, just my last comment, I'm out of here.
One of my things forty four forty is I want
to dance one night, just one night, because.

Speaker 6 (01:15:23):
I see them girls.

Speaker 3 (01:15:26):
You try?

Speaker 6 (01:15:26):
Why not?

Speaker 2 (01:15:27):
Why not?

Speaker 3 (01:15:28):
You know what I have to lose.

Speaker 1 (01:15:29):
I don't have babies and everything I'm gonna pull up.

Speaker 4 (01:15:35):
Absolutely not, absolutely not.

Speaker 1 (01:15:39):
What is happening right? I said, it's forty before forty
and I just want to try.

Speaker 6 (01:15:48):
And I don't want to dance at night, but just.

Speaker 4 (01:15:50):
Like we could go to the home.

Speaker 1 (01:15:55):
Why so y'all be plased to night, be grateful, be
grateful and all things that you do be blessed.

Speaker 6 (01:16:04):
And I hope to be around y'all again someday.

Speaker 5 (01:16:08):
Definitely, absolutely yeah. I definitely enjoyed Scott by coming on
bringing the spirit error.

Speaker 6 (01:16:16):
Awesome again. Hit me up by my co hosting, Hey
make sure

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}022: Project Management in the Strip Club

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022: Project Management in the Strip Club

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