Season 8: Episode 10 w/ Storyteller Satori Shakoor

In the latest episode of Kickin' It with Keke, listeners are in for a powerful and moving experience as the podcast welcomes the multifaceted storyteller, Satori Shakoor. Known for her unparalleled ability to weave tales that resonate deeply with audiences, Satori shares her personal journey of navigating loss, embracing performance, and finding empowerment through storytelling.

During the episode, Satori opens up about her experiences with loss and how these pivotal moments have shaped her both personally and professionally. Her candid reflections offer listeners a profound insight into the strength and vulnerability required to transform life's challenges into art.

Satori's passion for storytelling is evident as she discusses her journey in the performing arts. With warmth and sincerity, she reveals how stepping onto the stage has been an act of healing and empowerment. Her stories are a testament to the transformative power of performance, encouraging listeners to find their voice and share their truths.
A Sneak Peek into "Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale"
Listeners are treated to an exclusive preview of Satori's upcoming film, Confessions of a Menopausal Femme Fatale, set to premiere on Prime Video on June 12th. The film promises to be a captivating exploration of identity, femininity, and the complexities of life’s transitions. Satori's unique perspective and signature storytelling style are sure to make this film a must-watch.
Tune In for Inspiration
This episode of Kickin' It with Keke is not just an interview; it's a celebration of resilience, creativity, and the indomitable spirit of a storyteller who continues to inspire through her work. Whether you're a fan of Satori Shakoor or new to her journey, this episode offers a heartfelt and inspiring narrative that will leave a lasting impression. Be sure to tune in and experience the magic of Satori's stories.

Connect with Satori Shakoor on Facebook and Instagram. Visit her website for more information at www.satorishakoor.com

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/kickin-it-with-keke-life-love-all-that-other-sh-t--5060376/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Chicken and with Kiki Kicking It be Ki
Ki kickin it Ki Ki for a little personality, switching
up the storyline on God we making the story and
hoss one day at a time. Much problems to the side,

(00:26):
enjoy yourself, free your mind, chicken it Ki Ki, Hello,
and welcome back to another episode of Kicking It with Kiki, Life,
love and all that other ship. I am your host,

(00:46):
Kiki Chanel, Award winning author, lifestyle blogger, and certified life coach.
Today I am joined with a very special guest. But
you guys know how I like to do it. I
like to give my guests the opportunity to tell you
a little bit about themselves and then we'll get into
the conversation. So today, hello, my guest, tell the people

(01:07):
who you are and what you do.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Well. My name is so Torri Shakur. I am a storyteller,
writer and social entrepreneur. I am located in Detroit, Michigan,
and I am excited to be on Kiki's show talking
about love and all that other shit. So I basically

(01:32):
come on and share about being a storyteller and about
my upcoming film coming out June twelfth, called Confessions of
a menopausal felm Fatale because I'm on a mission to
have women not be in the dark like I was
when I was going through perimenopause and having all of
these symptoms that I didn't understand that were affecting and

(01:55):
impacting the quality of my lifetickly driving me crazy with
the hot flashes, the mood swings and not knowing. So
I made myself a promise at that time when I
was asking other women, what could this be, and they
would say I don't remember going through this, or I'm
too young, when they really weren't, or trying to preserve

(02:18):
youth because at the time that I was going through it,
there were a lot of self help books about how
to get a man and the rules, and men are
from Mars and women are so well, it wasn't in
your best interests to say I'm fifty or I'm forty five,
which I'm forty seven, you know, because you're supposed to

(02:40):
be You're supposed to be eternally perky, juicy and relevant,
absolute and so if you're looking through the male lens,
you're sort of you're sort of benched for the rest
of your life. And I thought that that was pretty
sad when I had lived most of my life gaining
wisdom and experience, and I was looking forward to this

(03:01):
stage of life being the opportunity to embrace power, freedom,
full self expression, and there was no one around doctors
And still right now there are very few doctors that
understand what menta pause is because the symptoms show up
or don't show up very differently in everyone. But it

(03:23):
affects the quality of your life in the relationships that
you are in. So I thought that was very important.
I created a platform called the Secret Society of Twisted
Storytellers where I bring each month four new storytellers, which
I helped them, I facilitate coaching. I teach storytelling, you know, absolutely,

(03:45):
because everybody has a story that's actually a gift to
others' life. But if you don't know how to tell it,
and you're rambling around and I don't know, then you know.
But if you know how to tell it, it's like
one of the most it is the most effective delivery
system of m brighton and ideas. So they come up

(04:05):
on stage, they tell a twelve to fifteen minute true
and personal story and we have musical guests and dance
performances and art show and we've been doing that thirteen
years nice and it still sells out because there aren't

(04:27):
enough stories. And my mission is to get everybody, at
least in the city of Detroit to share their story,
but ultimately everyone to tell their own story, because who
can tell it better than you if you know.

Speaker 1 (04:41):
Yeah, if you know how to tell it. I wrote
my life story last year, part one, because I have
a three book part you know, three book series that's
coming out and it is hard. It is hard. I
like to be behind the scenes. So the fact that
you're talking about storytelling it makes me smile because I
really want to tap into that. Actually when it comes
to sharing my poetry, because I've been portrait was one

(05:04):
of the first things that I fell in love with
as far as writing is concerned, and now it's like,
I want to do a poetry book. But it's all
about the way that you shared the experience though, So
that brings me to my first question, when did you
know that you were a storyteller?

Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, I have always been a storyteller, but I did
not know that it was something that you could actually be,
like a physician, like a CEO of a company. I
didn't know that because there was no category for it.
I grew up. I grew up with old black women

(05:48):
from the Alabama, Mississippi Jim Crow South and Southern people,
especially older women from the South, like grand They were
my grandmother figures. They knew a story, they did. It
would just they'd pour that story in your ear. Your
mind would make a movie out of it, and they
could make going to the corner store sound like Lord

(06:10):
of the Rings.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
So oh, and I'm from Louisiana, so that's where I'm
at now, so you know, I get it.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Plus that Southern, those Southern tones just were hypnotizing to me.
I didn't but it was when I was telling stories
with the Moth. The Moth is an organization out of
New York and they tell their they tell stories. So
that I had won a contest here in Detroit, so
they were flying me around the country telling my story

(06:40):
of losing my mother and then losing my son nine
months later. It was a story of grief, of loss,
of crawling back to life and redemption, wanting to again
and falling in love out of that, you know, and
finding oh, I'm I'm too much. The guy is telling me,
I'm too much. I was dead. That's a measurement. Yeah,

(07:03):
so I think. So I told them, well, you know,
if you think I'm too much, you know, I'm going
for being way too much, exactly, going for being over
the top of live. I'm alive, you know. So see
you later, sir, and thank you very much. You know.
But I was on stage one night. I don't know

(07:23):
where I would think. I was in Austin, Texas, and
I was telling my story and I noticed I could
hear a pin drop. I looked out into the audience
and they were leaning forward, waiting for my next word,
and I was like really. And then when I finished
the story, people came up to me. They were thanking me.
They were a lot of writers talking about the different

(07:47):
twists in the story. And then I started getting emails
from people from all over the world because they because
I did their podcast, and it hit me I'm a storyteller,
but my purpose, this is what I'm called to do
in life. And then the people who were thanking me
were relating to me telling a story like it was

(08:10):
a service. And I was like, really, telling my story
is the equivalent of a service I do that I
love to do that. I naturally am a storyteller. So
I then owned that category, subsequently became a Kresgy Literary
Arts Fellow, and started the first category called Storyteller that

(08:33):
you could apply for this award end because they had poetry,
spoken word, nothing, storyteller teller. Yeah, so it had lost somehow,
it had lost its place in the category of art forms.
So you know, I'm very proud of that accomplishment. This

(08:55):
storytelling gets to be restored to this rightful places. Is
a relevant and powerful art form. And now all you
hear everywhere is storytelling, storyteller, story.

Speaker 1 (09:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (09:07):
But back when I first started it, people didn't know
what it was. It's just like Doctor Seuss, Can I
bring my kids? You know? And I had videos, so
I made that, created a YouTube channel and began to
videotape the storytellers so that people could see what it
looked like. Right, Yeah, And so now we're we're on,

(09:28):
We're off to the races.

Speaker 1 (09:30):
I love to hear that. I love to hear it.
So we're gonna talk about life a little bit. Can
you share a moment when it seemly was a significant
event and you had to perform that impacted your life journey.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
When you mean when perform on stage, Yes, oh, okay,
so many of them, because I've been you know, I
live on the stage. I had a brother that was killed,
and I was doing stand up comedy. I had a
show the night the next night before. I was going

(10:10):
back to Detroit to you know, be with my family.
And and I was not prepared emotionally to be on stage,
but I was booked. So I tried to tell. I
tried to tell, I tried to make that funny, make

(10:31):
something funny of my and it was just too soon.
And uh, and I and I so I I didn't
really bomb because people could feel my grief, but that
that really showed me that you can't really you just
have to be honest, you know, even if you had Okay,

(10:51):
So then I I was in a musical of play
and uh, and and my I was in menopause, the
musical by the and my and my mother died and
my son died died months later. So in each each
following each of those deaths, it was very hard to

(11:13):
do the role. However, as a professional, you rise to
the occasion and in some cases your performance has deepened better.
But there were times in menopause musical where there's this
there's this perform song sonny and cheer, I got you Mom,

(11:35):
And I would have to tell them, can you hold
occur just a minute, just so I would and pour tears.
So you find out on stage when something in your
life happens. Of course, when something great happens, Oh I
got the part. Then you can go on stage you
know who you know. But when something that really has

(11:58):
changed your life, or you're angry, you have to take
that that energy, which I whichever the however that energy
is colored. It could be angered, joy, grief, it's it's energy,
and you take that energy and you put it into
the character you put it into and that Sometimes those

(12:21):
performances are the most powerful. They're the funniest, they're the tracks,
they they they they're very good performances because you have
that extra energy. And plus grief deepens you. Oh yeah,
it takes you to a place. And my grief was
I wake up in the morning and who should I

(12:42):
grieve my mother or my son today? How can you
package it all together? But I was so devastated that
you know, I had to. It was like wherever that
grief took me, God had never charged the path there,
you know, oh God there, And so I was just
I had to crawl back from hell, you know. And

(13:05):
then one day I realized, six years later, I felt
this life in me. I wanted to live, not not
just be in existence. Yes, yeah, I was walking through life,
going to grief support groups, but I wasn't really there.

(13:26):
And then I kind of felt, oh, this urge to live,
I mean really live, and and and that that that
that brought me back to life. And then I had
these ideas as an artist, and I began to implement
those ideas and to create them and to collaborate with
others and bring others in with me. And that that

(13:50):
that that began to reshape me, rebuild me, redefine me,
give me a new way to be. Because when you
lose your mother and you lose your own child, you're
sort of floating around with no anchor, right, and so
it's like, whoo am I right? So I had to

(14:11):
create myself or recreate myself.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Recreates it is. That's powerful. And thank you for sharing that.
I appreciate you being vulnerable and transparent with the audience
and myself today. So I appreciate that what is a
piece of advice or wisdom that you once received and
have carred with you throughout your life.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
Okay, So all human beings get stopped by something in life.
Oh wow, we we we's inescapable. You want us to
set out to do something and then doubts, fears, obstacles,
challenges stop you. So I was doing a seminar at
the time. I wanted to book did Gregory Gregory to

(14:55):
do the Secret Society Twists and Storytellers. And I'd gone
to Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle where he was performing to
invite him to come. I gave him a little bag
with an invitation and and a piece of food, and
I took a photo with him, and I put it
on Facebook and I hoped he called. But but putting

(15:18):
on Facebook and getting however many likes about it that
that was kind of enough, okay, because I was afraid,
really that well, why would he want to be on
my little show? And then Mark Sweetman he texts me,
He says, well, did did you call Dick Gregory? And

(15:39):
I said no. He said, well, I have his number,
and I was like, oh lord. So he gave him
his number and I got on that number for two
weeks because I was stopped. Yeah, I happened to be
doing a seminar at the time, and the and the
homework was push past the place you would normally stop.

(16:01):
Oh wow that and outside my favorite Peter place, and
it was like, I'm pushing past right now. I made
the call right outside before I got my sandwich. Talked
to the agent and she said, oh, I think I
think did mister Gregory would love to do your show?
And he did.

Speaker 1 (16:20):
Wow, that's amazing. That is amazing. What that is a lot.
I needed to hear that. I needed to hear that.
So think I'm glad that I came up with that question,
but I needed to hear that. So I know you
have a project that's coming up, and you did share
about it a little bit. So let's talk about confessions

(16:40):
of a mental pausele film for teal Aside from you
experiencing and not know what was going on and want
to share the knowledge with other people, what has been
one of the most important factors of creating this.

Speaker 2 (16:55):
Well, I'd never made a film before it, you know,
and and so I didn't know the film industry, who
the director would be. I just knew and I had
I had I had some money, but I had to
go raise money. So I was basically, this is what
I want to do, and I don't know how to
do it, but I know how to write. So I

(17:17):
started writing it in twenty nineteen, and then I was
ready to film it in twenty twenty three. And it
seems like, I don't know how this always becomes true,
but if you really really commit to doing something, all
of a sudden, if everything and I got the exact

(17:38):
perfect director. I performed it three for three nights, three
performances at Detroit Public Theater. I fund I charged to
get in to the theater so that I raised money.
Like that, I would do a little kind of Tupperware
party fundraiser where I go to people's women's homes and

(17:59):
do an excerpt from the play. They would, you know,
cook things for their friends, and we would talk about menopause.
And I noticed that the women were chomping at the
bit to talk about these things. And at the time,
you know, minnopause was taboo. It was stigmatized, and so
for them to be able to talk us, to talk

(18:20):
to each other was And so I got a chance
to see, oh, this is this is an important thing
to do to get the conversation started two years later.
Now that the film is getting ready to come out
June twelfth, I now work with the Michigan Women's Commission.
I've gone to the Governor's mansion. Halle Berry is like
the face of menopause. Oprah Winfrey did a prime time

(18:44):
show about it. It's almost kind of main becoming mainstream
because because the most the largest and most powerful demographic
of women are women in some stage of menopause. Men
talking forty five all run for president. We're the Michelle Obamas,
We're the grandmothers, the CEOs, the women who have gained

(19:08):
knowledge have wisdom at the top of Governor's and so
we're vocal. We want to know about this stage of
life because it's affecting our performance at work, it's impacting
our marriages and our relationships with our children. And and
there are literally very I think doctors spend one hour

(19:30):
you know, talk, you know, learning about menopause. So very
few doctors who know about it. So if you've heard
halle Berry's story, she was misdiagnosed with her yes, and
and really it was menopause, and so they so it's
like a demand for we need you to pay as

(19:52):
much attention to us and our journey as women as
you do with men. And so now that that conversation
is happening, and I'm getting ready to do a town
hall on Monday, and I've been working with them to
do get this word out, because they're going all over

(20:13):
Michigan with the governor and senators and other women representatives
to sort of talk to women and educate women and
saying this is not the end of life. And my
film is not about medical things. It's about the taboo things.
It's about my story. And we can't talk about menopause.

(20:36):
We don't talk about fibroids, we don't talk about postpartum depression,
we don't talk about any of the things that impact
the quality of our life experience. And we do talk
about it, and we do get the support that we
need and totally available in just being female and start

(21:00):
a conversation. We can't really be responsible for the symptoms,
and so we're like having hot flashes and being ashamed
of them, being in boardrooms, excusing yourself having cramps or depression,
having to stay home. So millions and billions of dollars,

(21:22):
you know, you're losing that in in an executive power
because and so I think that it's it's it's a
very important issue to discuss because it's the difference between
life quality of life. And once you address the symptoms,
which are bothersome and scary, if you know what then

(21:44):
you can. Then what happens is that you there's this
parting of the seas or partly the clouds, and there's
your freedom, yes, self expression, there's your power, and now
you can and now you're free to be whatever that
future is. So I kind of my film is a
story about me reclaiming and resurrecting a former self that

(22:10):
I had buried. I didn't talk about that and I
and I so I reclaimed her, resurrected her, embraced her,
and and and restored that part of me, wrapped up
that past, and all I was facing was a future
of possibility, and I created out of that. So that

(22:31):
it's a it's a story of redemption. I love it. Yeah,
I love it.

Speaker 1 (22:36):
How how can we can we watch and support?

Speaker 2 (22:40):
It's going to be streaming on Prime Video, Apple Plus TV,
and Google Play. I love it.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
I would definitely support. I cannot wait. If you have
like a flyer or anything that you would like to share.
Just send that to me or have your your your
people send it to me. I'll promote it on the
website and I'll my social media is because I'm forty seven.
Oh well you're I'm right in it. It's your time, yes, yes,

(23:10):
And I was my best friend and I were talking
like a couple of weeks ago, and she said that
she had a hot flash that stopped. It stopped her
in her tracks and had her on the wall for
about ten minutes trying to figure out if she was
having a heart attack. Yeah, and she's a nurse, so
she has she has made it her business to try
to figure out what's going on, so she could share

(23:31):
the knowledge as well. So I know that she would.
She and I may have have to have a best
friend date and to watch it together.

Speaker 2 (23:37):
Yes, yeah, a whole group of women.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Yes, absolutely, Well I'm excited about it. I am. I
have an older sister and she turns fifty this year
and she's been going through it. So she has been
telling me some of the things that she has noticed.
And so if I started feeling those symptoms, I'm like, okay,
that's what that is. So I don't have to feel
weird or something about it. And like you said, it's
all about having a conversation.

Speaker 2 (24:03):
What kind of symptoms has she noticed.

Speaker 1 (24:05):
She's noticed where she's had a lot of weight, game,
her cramping with her for her administruation, a heavy bleeding, irrootability,
She's she's a school teacher, so she's irritable. And then
she gets emotional sometimes too, yeah, and like not not,
we all get emotional, but it was to the point
where I'm like, what are you crying for?

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Now?

Speaker 1 (24:26):
I understand it?

Speaker 2 (24:28):
Like I was crying on Lucy reruns.

Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, like watching a kid play in the park. I'm like,
what is going on?

Speaker 2 (24:35):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (24:36):
So yeah, those are the things that she has noticed,
and I as we talk about them, I'm like, Okay,
I get it. I understand trying to be there for
her because I am myself is right there is it?

Speaker 2 (24:47):
Yeah? Yeah?

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Okay. So let's move on and talk about love a
little bit. How has your portrayal of love and performances
impact that your personal understanding and it expression of love
in real life?

Speaker 2 (25:03):
Well, I'm i am married for the third time. Okay,
it'll be eight years next February. Okay, and so my
first marriage was I would I would say it was.
I learned a lot in the first marriage. I learned

(25:25):
that I didn't I didn't really want to be married.
That that My advice now is you know, way two
year old and in rocking chairs, didn't get married, you
know what I mean. But so so the first marriage
was kind of like a train trainer marriage. The second
marriage was completely hormonal. I was forty seven, My hormones

(25:48):
were out of whack. I was horny. He was fine, Uh,
let's get married right. A year later, let's get divorced.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
Listen. And it's amazing that we can laugh about it,
but it's so true when you are on a growth
journey and like you said, you have gone through so
much loss and grief and reclaiming who you were by
crawing yourself out of darkness, it's like, I don't have
time for nothing else, Like if it's not positive, I
don't want it right. And you know, we lost a

(26:22):
child in twenty twenty to a car accident.

Speaker 2 (26:24):
I'm so sorry.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
She was nineteen, but she was like the life of
I mean, she was just she loved life. She was
in college and flown, you know, had a whole life
ahead of her, and that was hard. It's still hard.
I think about it every day, but it's to the
point where it's like, if I don't do something, I'm
no longer gonna be here. So yeah, I love that

(26:47):
you say, hey, it's not working. I don't worry about
what people gonna say. Yeah, this is my second marriage,
but whatever, it's my life and I have to live it.

Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:56):
And I think that when it comes to love, we
get caught up in history or not being alone, or
what people will say about you being single or think
that you something is wrong with you by choosing to
stay single versus being in a marriage, that that's not fulfiling.

Speaker 2 (27:11):
Well, when I with the third marriage I had, I
was doing the Secret Society, Twist and storytellers. I was
fulfilled in my purpose. I was happy being single, I
was traveling I had. I mean, I was full full
fully myself and my before you know my I didn't

(27:36):
know him, but he had been coming for eight months
to my shows, watching listening to my stories, and I
guess he was coming with his mother, mother figure and
a good friend of his, another dentist, and they kept
he kept saying I like her, and they kept saying, well,
go in, introduce yourself. And finally, after eight months, introduced

(27:59):
him and my stage man is like, he's really nice.
You should really And so this was someone coming to
date me or to get to know me in fully
myself happy. There was nothing he needed to do to

(28:21):
make me happy. There was something he needed to do
for me to be in love with myself and life.
And so I was very very I learned what love
is for me, you know. I mean, obviously you can
have the belly butterflies, and you can have the swoons,

(28:41):
and you can have the great sex. But at the
end of the day, love is what you love is
that day to day choosing to be with the person.
Because he asked me to marry him, he asked me,
did I like his house? I said, well, no, I
don't like your don't like the location. I prefer to
live in this area of Detroit, and I don't want

(29:05):
to live in a house you lived with in with
a former wife. So he had he was willing to
sell his house and for us to buy, you know,
look for a new house. And he looked at me
and he says, if I sell my house and I
start to look for a new house. Are you with me?
And when I looked at it and looked at it

(29:25):
into his eyes, I said yes. And I think that
was the moment we actually got married, because I knew
that I could not let him down with this, you know,
because he was gonna he was going to be carrying
two more He carried two mortgages for a couple of months.
But it turned out fine, and you know, everything fell

(29:49):
into place. And that was very difficult for the first
two years being married because I had been single and
we and of course anybody in relationship with they're a
whole cultural identity and experience, so communication all. You know,

(30:09):
you're getting to really know the person. We hadn't built
any kind of history because I went on my first
date with him July twenty seventeen. We were married February
twenty eighteen. Oh, history build on. We had to create history.
And so now it's everything is great. He just retired yesterday.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
Nice congratulations.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yes and so and so I learned that love is
a day to day commitment, you know, looking at your
partner and seeing him for who he is and the
unique gifts he's bringing me, not what TV or society
says a man should be having do but actually what

(30:57):
he is doing. And so when I saw his beauty,
you know, you know, I'm I'm like bombastic, and he's
you know, more reserved, and you know, he's like he
worked in dentistry for a long time. He was in
the military, so he's very regimented and logical and doesn't

(31:19):
doesn't like conflict. And I don't like conflict either, but
I'm willing to confront conflict to get to the resolution
to the people, to the side of transformation. Uh so
we we we we're we're learning each other, we're having
good time, and and so you know, we had we

(31:42):
had the our vowels were basically aside from the the
church vowels, divorce is not an option. So I take
my wedding ring when I felt like I wanted to
get divorced, take off, put it in the top drawer
of the dresser until I felt like, okay, I want
to be buried again.

Speaker 1 (32:03):
I read even.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
Noticed oh wow, But for me it was we can't
get divorced. But somehow I got to express this. I
hate you, yeah right now right tell people. I tell
people all the time, if you're getting married, book, the
church book, the reception book the Therapist.

Speaker 1 (32:24):
Wow, and I agree. I agree because my husband and
I coming up on twenty years of married wo July. Hey,
and I'll just leave it like that. It is a
daily process and you have to want to be in it,
and some of the part parts is if you're in
it and you feel like they're not in it. But

(32:44):
he's a great dude and we I passed across when
we were sixteen years old.

Speaker 2 (32:51):
Oh okay, Wow.

Speaker 1 (32:52):
High school sweet high school, high school sweetheart. I went
into college, broke up for years, and then found our
way back to each other.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
I think it's important to break up for years and
find your way because then you get a chance to separate, grow.

Speaker 1 (33:07):
Calm, and then see who you are without that person.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Yes, yes, I love it.

Speaker 1 (33:13):
I love it. Can you share a moment in your
career when life, whether romantic, platonic, or self love, played
a pivotal role in your performance artistic process.

Speaker 2 (33:30):
I did this show in Toronto which was a big
hit called The Kink in My Hair, and I was
playing an older woman whose husband had died and she
looked out of her window after having baked a sweet
potato pie and her grandkids couldn't come over, and so
she had this pie, and she looked out of her

(33:52):
window and she saw Charlie prune in his tomatoes, and
she got this tingly feeling that she never ever felt before,
even with her husband. For some reason, she just couldn't
help herself. She walked out of that door and asked, Charlie,
would you like some of my pie? He came over

(34:13):
and they talked for hours, and it was it was
a great play. But I was playing her like she
was ninety because I didn't know what it was to
be older, right, I was playing her like she was ninety.
But I remember pulling a muscle, pulling my back muscle,
so there I had to move kind of slow and

(34:35):
I couldn't do I couldn't go up the steps to this,
you know, to do some of the other parts. You know.
So I remember because I had that pull muscle and
I had to still go on that me having to
So I said one of the lines was I ran

(34:56):
out of the door, and that was but like this
an audience just lost it because it was you know,
because that was me running. Yeah, And so it's like
whatever happens to you physically emotionally psychologically put that into
the performance. It shapes and it gives you new things

(35:20):
to draw from that. Even after my back snapped back together,
I still could use that. Yeah, it's still use that
because it worked right. And that show went to the
United States. Toronto went to England hit Lines around the
Corner called The Kink and I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, life experience is definitely can you have to lean
into those because it's a part of your journey, you know?

Speaker 2 (35:51):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (35:51):
All right, before we get out of here, last question.
As you continue to blaze the trails for other women
in your industry, especially when they look like you, how
do you stay grounded when dealing with all that other
shit that comes with life and love?

Speaker 2 (36:07):
Well, I stay grounded because I'm always creating, being a
social entrepreneur and being a woman of color. A long
time ago, that parts aren't gonna just come to me.
I would have some girlfriends who were white, and they
would be auditioning two or three times a week or more,

(36:29):
and like maybe, you know, maybe auditioning once every two
weeks for something, and it never was anything really big
or juicy. It was like I was I noticed I
was sitting around waiting for somebody else to give me
an opportunity along with however, other women like that look

(36:51):
like me, one opportunity amongst all of us, and so
the odds. And so that's when I decided. Plus, I'm
impatient as an artist. If I see it in my
mind and the idea is delicious, I want to see
it in the world right now, right now, huh. And
so I can't wait around. You know, I'll ask you

(37:15):
for funding, but I'm not waiting for you to decide
whether you're going to give it to me or not,
because at the end of the day, I'm going to
do this and I'll find a way. So what grounds
me is reinforcing with every project that I complete that
I can complete any project that I decide to do.

(37:36):
So that gives me this. This grounds me in confidence.
It grounds me in collaboration because the things that I
create and their collaborations is nothing individual about it. I
want your ideas, I want your expertise. I want you
to know how in lighting yours and sound, your background

(37:58):
in this or that, So it's always as a team.
And the first thing that I produced a local TV
show when I lived in Hawaii called The Tory's tea room.
And the first time I saw it aired, I saw
all of these people, you know the credits, So and
so did this, did this this, and it would just
run on the screen and I would be blown away

(38:22):
by the number of people that involved themselves in something
an idea I had. They were all there. We had
our rap party. Everybody was so happy because everybody got
a chance to express something that they did this one project.

(38:44):
And I was like, wow, you know I saw I
so producing became just part of my life. It became
a joy. I loved them running up, how do you
like this lipstick color? I think it's great in that role.
You can power people, Yes, you can. You can share.
You can tell people how much you love what they do.

(39:07):
You can you get approval, and if even if you
have to, even if you have to do a correction,
you can create a way to correct that doesn't diminish
them or devastate them that it it enlivens and challenges
them to rat artistic heights. So I love what grounds me.

(39:33):
It's collaborations, the support for that collaboration, the fact that
people are getting joy expressing themselves and and and through
this project that they might have not been working before
on that I get to set the tone of joy empowerment.

(39:53):
And so I say, I say, just do it, like Nike,
just do it because somehow, and I don't know, this
may just be how this medium called earth works. But
if you think about it, you dream about it, you
focus about it, you obsess about it, everything just all's

(40:17):
in place. I don't know how. But you have to share.
You have to open up your mouth and tell people
about it. Just be a maniac.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, yeah, you have to share because they won't know
that it's there otherwise. Right. Yeah, So thank you. Thanks
to Torry for coming to kick it with me today.
This has been an amazing conversation.

Speaker 2 (40:42):
Thank you, it sure has. I could talk to you forever.

Speaker 1 (40:44):
I know. And I'm looking at the time like, Okay,
we can't stay here forever because we have to go
into part two or whatever. But I appreciate you coming
and dropping in.

Speaker 2 (40:52):
You tell your daughter, I love the artwork that surrounds you.

Speaker 1 (40:57):
I will definitely tell her when she starts selling the artwork,
I'm gonna be so upset because I'm like, you're.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Gonna have to make more for me, Yes, make some
prints of those.

Speaker 1 (41:09):
Yes, And she is getting into print too. But she
is a bright light in my life and I love
her dearly, dearly, dearly. And I do have a sixteen
year old son and he is just coming into his
own and he's in the arts too, because he we
had his choir concert the other night and just watching
him on stage, light up singing and you can actually

(41:31):
hear him, so he's singing out loud, and it's just
it's just a proud my moment.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
Yeah, But thank you so much for having me. Absolutely
for your support. I appreciate it so.

Speaker 1 (41:44):
Much, absolutely always, and you're always welcome back whenever you
have the time, because I know that you are very busy,
which I love. I cannot wait to see the film.
Continue to success, continued success and blessings to you. And
so everyone listening, tell the people how they can connect
with you and where do you hang out on social

(42:05):
media or website or anything like that before we get
out of here.

Speaker 2 (42:08):
Where you can find me on Facebook, you can find
me on Instagram. You can go to my web website
sitorishkur dot com and hook up to my link tree
and see articles and things that I'm up to, and
it'll lead you to twiststellers dot org, so you can
pretty much see that, but come out, well, stay home

(42:32):
really in stream Confessions of a menopausal film fatale, laugh, cry,
and get your life.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
Absolutely and all of her information would be in the
show notes, guys said, there's no excuse to go in
and see what she has coming up or going on,
or get to know her by looking at all of
the other stuff that she has uploaded on their stream.
But until next time, thank you guys for tuning in.
I am back every Thursday with a new episode of
Kicking It with Kiki, Life, Love and all that other

(43:01):
shit and purple hugs later, thank you Chickened it with
ke Kee, so the love of goods