My next guest is Laurieann Gibson. She is a creative Visionary, Choreographer for Mary J. Blige, Lady Gaga, P Diddy, The Jonas Brothers, and author of "Dance Your Dance: 8 Steps to Unleash Your Passion and Live Your Dream." Laurieann Gibson is an Emmy-nominated creative visionary, choreographer, director, producer, and entrepreneur. Her new book is packed with personal anecdotes and messages of empowerment; Dance Your Dance highlights Gibson's evolution from a young dancer training in New York City to a well-respected, in-demand industry leader with an eye for cultivating music artists from the ground up. The book unveils the ultimate blueprint to achieving your dreams—a blueprint she's implemented to develop some of the world's greatest superstars, including Nicki Minaj, and Katy Perry, among others. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Laurieann Gibson.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice to many occasions. In the case you didn't notice,
I'm not broke, you know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs,
entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
(00:25):
hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here
we come. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your
host from Sean McDonald. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and really start writing their own. Now
you can be motivated by their success because their stories
could offer direction and help you reach your goals through
your planning and your committed effort. My interview is like
(00:45):
the one you will hear today, will provide you, as
a consumer and the business owner, access to the celebrities.
She's one of those. She's a CEO, she's an entrepreneur,
and most importantly, she's an industry decision maker. My next
guest is Laurie and Gibson. She's an Emmy nominating creative visionary, choreographer, director, producer,
and entrepreneur. Her new book is Dance Your Dance. Eight
(01:07):
Steps to leash your passion and live your dreams. The
book was packed with personal antidotes and messages of empowerment.
Dance Your Dance highlights Gibson's evolution from a young dancer
training in New York City to a well respected, in
demand industry leader with an eye for cultivating music artists
from the ground up. The book unveils the ultimate blueprint
to achieving your dreams, a blueprint she's implemented to develop
(01:30):
some of the world's greatest superstars, including Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj,
Katie Perry, and the Jonas Brothers, among others. Please welcome
to Money Making Conversation for the very second time. She's
a good friend of mine to have on this show
and I'm happy to promote her new book. Laurie Anne Gibson,
How are you doing? Ms Gibson, Hi, You're fantastic. Thank
(01:50):
you for having well. First of all, you know, welcome
to my new studio. I want to because last time
we did to be a podcast and we didn't get
to see each other. But you know, life is changing
a good way, and a lot of success that you've
had in despite the COVID nineteen, How did they de
affect your life or the COVID nineteen the pandemic, and
how did that impact you in and pro motivated you
(02:11):
for Well? The interesting thing is I was told when
it was first happening that creatives would excel, and I
kept hearing this and I kep saying to myself, I think,
I think, I think that's right. You know, when everything
shuts down, when people's idea of what it takes to
make it shift, that's when we do excel. And I
(02:32):
have the opportunity to really dig into the book and
understand the purpose in the book. So I was able
to take more time to really flush out my methodology
that I used in helping big superstars becoming their very best,
and I was able to inspire it in eight steps
(02:52):
to unleash your passion and live your dream. So for me,
COVID was a blessing. There was an opportunity to shift
and shift and be prepared for what's ahead of us.
And part of that is shifting the narrative and creating
inspiration and actual transformation and how people dance their dance
and no one else's well, you know, I definitely want
(03:14):
to I want to walk you through you telling your story. Right.
I read the book, enjoyed the book. I read a
lot of motivational book, a lot of books, said uh,
but each book and fascinating. Read your book because you
have to share personal personal angles, and sometimes you're not
happy to share those angles, like your relationship we had
with the the Greek restaurant owner as a young girl.
(03:36):
You you know, you share it and later on you
realize us the food. But that's part of the process.
It didn't destroy you. And and one of the big
things that you say, life is a dance, and I
bring that moment up that was emotionally dark for you.
But life is a dance. Explain why you say life
is a dance in your book. Life is a dance
(03:57):
because it's about different rhythms, it's about different steps that
you have to take. And again, I believe greatness is
in the process. It's not overnight, it's not an insta
it's in the process of becoming, of shedding and receiving
and building. So for me, it was dark, but I
was faced with the opportunity to overcome insecurities. I talked
(04:22):
about step four staying in there yet, so that means
to me when I faced the adversity, when I faced
the feeling of being in a position where I was
vulnerable in the relationship with the restaurant owner, he did
approach me in a sexual manner, and I was uncomfortable
that I wasn't ready to receive it. It didn't align
(04:45):
itself with the feeling of my dream, and I talked
about that being a flag, something that redirects you to
what will help cultivate your dance and create the confidence
that you need to sustain what it is you have
to endure in order to live the dream. Um So
(05:06):
it was difficult. When I did the audio book and
I heard myself speaking the experience, I was like, Oh
my god, You're gonna find out things about me, And
for a moment, I was like, did I write this
and is this really coming out? Very quickly, I understood
that my passion to connect directly with entrepreneurs and visionaries
(05:31):
as a result of what I went through. It gave
me revelation to write the steps in order for them
to not only be inspirational, but effective that you could
go back to a step when you were faced with
the challenge that would take you out of your dance,
out of your rhythm, and ultimately making it longer for
you to achieve that goal. So it was worth it
(05:54):
in the end because I was able to write a
book that would be effective for visionaries. The thing about
it is that it's effective in a lot of ways
because you have to be honest with these books. I
always I hate reading books to tell you how to
be wealthy, but they don't have money in the bank,
you know what I'm saying. And so you can't tell
somebody how to be successful if you can't tell them
(06:14):
how you came out of a dark moment or you
came down from the base of the mountain to climb
that mountain. And that's what your book is. But throughout
the book, you know, you talk about your dad was
an electrician. You've born in Canada Ja Jamaican immigrants. You
know your mom worked at zeros, but that was enough passion,
you know. And the thing I like about it is
that like your mom's passion was to be a fashion
(06:35):
design and her mom said no, that just an impossibility,
and then Mr Christopher and dance school, you talk about
those dream killers when and and like you might hear,
I always tell people you know that leave with your gifts.
Don't let your friends, family members, or your age stop
you from living your dreams or planning your life. I
say that all the time. And that's basically the mantra
(06:58):
for your book. And I love it because of the
fact that a dream killer tried to stop you as
a young dancer because you didn't fit the structure or
the physical structure of a ballerina. Talk about dream killers
because we encounter them and guess what they are clothed
in so many different disguises, as loved ones, as children,
as as religious leaders. That's what this book. I got
(07:21):
excited when I started reading that part of because I said,
she gets it, and she's telling the truth exactly. And
I'm very humbled by the fact that you do get
it because that's very special to me, because that is
the goal, that is the intention, and I think too
many people are afraid to talk about the process, and
(07:43):
they're afraid to let you know that there will be
a fight. There are dream killers, and there is a fight,
and through the fight once you persevere and you hang
onto the feeling of your dream, it will produce what
you need to endure the time that you need to
(08:03):
become the dream. So a lot of people don't talk
about the Dream Killers because there is a lack of
conversation about the fight and about the process. But here's
a book that is unafraid to talk to you while
(08:24):
you're in the process, to celebrate you while you're in
the process, to inspire you to dance your dance and
not someone else's, and that the fight will be there.
But it's the fact that I had to get back up,
that I had to bob and we've dodge and turn,
and through dancing my dance, it created a confidence, a clarity,
(08:48):
a level of perseverance, and a level of clarity that
would enable me to stand strong now at the best
and biggest time of my career. And I think some
people like to just talk about the glossiness. They're afraid
to say. I was curled up in a ball after
I got, you know, in a big fight with Boffy
(09:09):
on making the band. I was curled up in the
ball after I left my pop star at the biggest
moment in her career. But it's those moments where I
had to hang onto the feeling of the dream and
define myself by staying in my yes. And so if
you're at the position and the business doesn't look like
it's about to prosper, but you have this feeling of
(09:29):
the dream, then you have to take the opportunity to
stay in your yes and hang onto that dream and
go through the pain, get back up, choose to fight,
choose to train again, choose to take another route. But
refused to give up, refuse to give up. I want
(09:51):
the narratives to change. Refused to give up. Well, Lorien,
how do I do that? I'm facing eviction. Face it.
Once you face it, and you acknowledge that your dream
is bigger than the eviction, that the feeling of the
dream is bigger than the eviction. Notice, then you will
find a way out because you've chosen your dance over
(10:13):
somebody else's dance, and so the dream killers are there
to force you to dance your dance. You get it
from the visionary perspective. Why am I facing this? Why
did the door close? It closed? Because that is not
(10:33):
in alignment with the feeling of my dream. That door
ultimately wasn't going to create the greatness in me or
produce the greatness in me. Wow. You know the thing
about greatness, it's a word that's used a lot now
because of the pandemic, the word pivot. And when you
(10:54):
read this book, you the queen of pivoting. You know
you are. When you got on that bus with your
third teen thousand plus dollars and thirteen thousand was going
to your tuition at an a Lee, you know, and
the rest was going to you don't know where. That
was your pivoting moment because there was no destiny. But
when you got there, you you balanced to pivoty. That's
what I'm saying is that, you know, I laugh at
(11:16):
my life because I a lot of terms I just
naturally didn't did in my life. They are common terms
now branding pivoting. You were you know, uh dream book
boards and stuff that people put on that's you. But
you did it naturally. Talker walk us through those steps,
you know, even till the discovering the world of hip hop,
(11:37):
that was a pivot moment for you. You didn't come
to New York to be a hippop d answer and
so so talk about the power of pivoty naturally before
it became a term that people use like it's something
that was discovered overnight. They just, well, pivoty you when
you did it? In this book tells you how you
did it. They weren't act the time when you were pivoting.
(11:58):
They were not You were doing it by yourself as
a young lady in New York City. I lived in
New York City when eighty nine. I was there in
a D eight I lived And when you talk about
the railroad apartment, I lived in the apartment where guess what,
I looked at the window. The garbage truck stopped every night,
woke me up at three am. I got right below
my window, got killed. I to go shower with ten
other people because guess what, there was a giant shower.
(12:20):
So I know exactly the struggle when you talk about pivoty,
you have to do some things that guess what, Duden
you tell the story because goof what God has allowed
you with your faith to be able to tell this story.
But let's talk about pivoty when it was not something
you could read in the book, that you had to
go just on your faith, your belief in your dreams.
(12:42):
Oh my God, that's so beautiful what you just said,
because basically you said it for me, and I'm so
grateful that you have felt the purpose of the book
Evening is a dance move. It is changing the direction
and headed into a better flow. I start out in
(13:03):
the book talking about step one, dare to dream. And
I used the word dare because when you're producing something
that hasn't been done before, you won't see it in
the world. You won't see the reflection because you are
the very thing that you're looking for. It's in you.
(13:23):
So there isn't dare. There isn't a risk to dream.
But I talked about it early so we can get
it out the way, and so you can establish a
confidence in the passion and in the dream, so that
you can hang onto that feeling when a pivot hits you.
So when I went to New York and I thought
I was studying at alban Elly, and all of a
(13:45):
sudden I went to a hip hop audition and I
began to feel something more and there was a pivot.
But yet I was like, how can I do hip hop?
When I was studying technical dancer, I thought I was
supposed to be at alban Elly but in trusting the
feeling of the dream, I realized that I had to
pivot because it wasn't just about dancing his great works.
(14:08):
It was about being inspired by Alvan Elly, J. Jamison,
Katherine Dunham. It was the fact that when I first
saw Ali, I saw a man who spoke about tribulation
and oppression through dance. I realized that his work as
a visionary was what was speaking to my purpose, to
(14:29):
my soul. It was moving me towards me understanding how
to create movement and artists that would speak to the circumstance.
So the pivot was necessary. And so the fact that
we're even talking about the pivot from a real place
like it's gonna feel uncomfortable. There will be a moment
(14:52):
where you're out there and you have no confirmation that
the pivot is right. But what you do know is
where you were didn't feel like all you could be,
which is why you have to hang onto the feeling
of the dream, because it's in the pivot that there
will be a moment where you're sustaining evidence of that
dream and you're becoming it. And so to be able
(15:16):
to pick up a book that will give you strength
during your pivot or while you're pivoting is key because
God gives each enevt one of us a different dreams
so that we can help each other to further empower
each other, so that we could live our perfect dreams
(15:36):
are individual dreams. So I think the pivot is not
something that's just to be taken lightly. Oh, it's easy.
Go ahead and pivot and don't feel nervous. Go have
it and pivot and don't feel sick in your stomach
when you're walking away from your nine to five to
open your own business. No, understand that those are all
(15:58):
flags that are directing you directly into the dream. And
it is scary. You do have to dare to dream,
but you already established that in step one. So continue
to dance because the next step will present itself. You'll
get confident in the idea that pivoting needs to the
(16:18):
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E R dot ai. The then, the thing about it
is interesting about your book. I I I turned Mr Christopher.
Every time a dream killer came in your life, it
(18:28):
was Mr Christopher. You know what I'm saying. So the too,
So be patient with me. Like the Mr Christopher started
way in your life and you ignored him, and I
called the restaurant owner. He's a Mr Christopher, Okay, the
person who who basically parted you and you missed out
on that opportunity in the Malcolm X movie, that was
a Mr Christopher how do we recognize the Mr Christopher's
(18:51):
in our world? Because your book talks about them. We
call them dream killers. There are individuals, these dream killers,
and they are people that sometimes you don't recognize them,
but they came into your life. You didn't let them win.
They I call emotionals. They were never physical setbacks because
you have your health. They were emotional moments. Say, but
(19:12):
you learn from you talk about how you learned. But
the thing I like consistently about your book, hard work
was never something you ran away from you. You admitted
your thoughts, you admitted your errors, and you were responsible
towards correcting them in another situation. And just talk about
(19:33):
that because I think that's important because a lot of people,
when they make mistakes, Your book discusses how to overcome
or not let that mistake win, because it's a mistake
that we all can make. Talk about that. Yeah, I
call them mishaps. You know, you follow out the dance,
you follow out the aid cap, but as a result
of the falling, something in you gets louder. The voice
(19:58):
of the dream, the feeling of the dream. Now you're
able to hear it because you're in a misstep. So
now you're like, Okay, I'm acknowledging it as a misstep
because I don't feel good making that decision. I didn't
feel good being late. I didn't feel like what was
inside of me was aligning itself with what Mr Christopher said.
(20:21):
He said I couldn't be a ballerina. My feet were
too flat, my back was arch. He literally said that
I wouldn't be a great dancer. But my dream told
me different. The feeling inside of me told me different,
and I hung on to that feeling, and as a
result of me being obedient to that feeling, I wasn't
(20:41):
afraid of the work that I needed to develop that
level of ability. I talked about training to sustain, getting
as much information as you need to be able to
persevere through a dream killer. It's the training, It's the
work you put into becoming that sustains you when someone
(21:02):
doesn't see what it is you're meant to become. Because
you're the one of the ones, You're a prototype. So
how how was Mr Christopher supposed to me? He never
saw a young black girl with that much belief, power
and authority when she danced. He was in a very
(21:23):
ignorant phase of his dance. So I tell those people too,
that our dream killers to get out of their period
of oppression and rejection to the greatness and others, because
they're ruining their own greatness in themselves. But the most
important thing as a visionary is to understand that you
(21:45):
must do the work. You must train get as much
knowledge to sustain the dream killers, because what you carry
maybe something original. You may be a prototype, and in
most cases everyone's dream is unique to themselves, and we
are all prototypes. We have something you need to offer,
(22:07):
and in understanding that philosophy and that methodology, you will
be less inclined to design yourself by what someone else
does and begin to embrace the conversation that I'm a prototype.
I gotta dance my dance because what I have to
do hasn't been done the way I'm going to do
it right right. You know that you know this. This
(22:28):
is no time wherever, time limit here. But I want
to ask you one more question. It's a couple of
things I wish I saw that I had sat a
picture of you and you go with black old cowboy
boots because I'm a Texas boy. So I fell in
love when you went out and thought you had to
help a pair of black cowboy boots and when you
went for that audition and heavy d and did In
How You Change and Walk Down Hip Hop se there's
(22:49):
a lot of things that I love about this book.
And the thing I love about this book the most
is that see, fear stops a lot of people. I
always tell people they don't want to change jobs or
they don't want to end relationships. You know, fear could
have stopped you with Lady God God, they keeping nas
to call you got with Michael, Michael Jackson, you was
working with Brandy. These are not these are not trivial
(23:10):
names that are thrown around in the book. They're just
examples to let you let people know that that you
had to make decisions and you couldn't be afraid when
you was making these decisions. And before I wrapped this interview,
I like to if you can just explain to people, yes,
you are afraid, your fear was in you, but faith
got you through that. But talk about that whole process
(23:33):
because a lot of people are stuck at jobs right
now that you quit their relationships they could walk away
from They're living in conditions that they can do better,
Like you said, but they refused to figure out a plan.
This book is about a plan and they if they
follow this plan. They have realized that this book might
have a lot of famous names in it. Just remove
the famous names and write their names, and the people
(23:55):
that are blocking them are helping them there in this book.
That's what I love this book, Miss Gibson, and I
want to thank you for writing it. But before I leave,
if you can expound on overcoming fear when great opportunities
are presenting themselves but you don't know the expectations of
what could happen. You're so awesome. I really am grateful
(24:15):
for you and your guidance and helping me express the
power of this book. So thank you so much for
dancing your dance, but most importantly for being your great self,
because it is blowing you away how much you're helping
people to understand the power of this book. So I'm
so humbled by that. Thank you. I believe and I
(24:38):
know that I wrote this book for the very reason
that if I can speak to your dream, I can
speak to your circumstance. So I know that fear did
not live in me, it lived around me, but faith
lived in me. Once you dare to dream, then the
possibilities of the beautiful power of that dream is about faith,
(25:00):
and faith is in the dream. So very early I
realized that faith was something that was around me, that
was something that was being projected towards me, and that
if I gave it life, if I said yes to it,
then that would actually become something I had to then
(25:22):
experience versus staying in my yes, which is an important
step four. It's a hard step to work because you
have to stay in something that you cannot see. You
have to stay in something that is deeply rooted in
the passion that you feel when you think about your dream,
(25:48):
and in doing so, you choose your dream over the fear.
And now you're saying to life, unfold according to God's plan, unfold,
according to the plan of my dream, my purpose, and
my destiny unfold, according to my dance, unfold according to
(26:10):
who I am. And again you choose the dream over
the fear. And suddenly what starts to rise in you
is confirmation, and the faith gets you to the next step.
Suddenly the phone rings, You pick up the phone, and
(26:32):
it reflects you staying in your yes and not the
fear of losing, but the faith of winning. So it
is about working the steps. It's not about expecting something
to happen magically overnight. No, it's about understanding when you're
facing it and you refuse to choose it, it's gonna come.
(26:58):
And when when when I have to pay that bill
and I didn't have a job and my grand was due,
I was like, okay, God, where am I? When I
was going to the foreign officer, she was like, you
have to go home. I was in that bathroom on
my knees, like, you gave me this dream. I'm gonna
need you to help me understand what I'm gonna have
to say when I go downstairs and they want me
to produce this paper that I don't have. And as
(27:20):
soon as I went downstairs go to test me on
this book, Pape, I got ther fook okause I was
the very woman that he expected me to produce a
paper that I did not have, a paper that would
send me home. Got fired. Yes, yes, And they were like, look,
(27:47):
miss Wanton is not here. I need you to go
back to your class. And what did that do? It
brought me time to do what I needed to do
to stay in my dreams. So I talked about these
situations to support another dreamer at that particular junction where
they need evidence of the yes, evidence of someone staying
(28:08):
in there. Yes. Not just the celebrating materialistically being bold,
being like braggadocious about what you have. This is not
what this book is about. This is about the coming
what you are. And at certain times I have to
talk about what I don't have and what I didn't
have so that you can understand the power of staying
(28:31):
in your yes, the power of your dream. So I'm
so grateful, but it is really important, especially now that
I speak to fear being around you, not in you,
so that you can understand how to stay in your yes,
which completely produces the faith and the confidence and the
perseverance you need to get to what you already are. Wow,
(28:55):
She's Laurie and Gibson. Dance your dance, She says. Numerous
inspirational stories and antidote, including coming up and dancing with
Genial Loaf, Jennifer Lopez, first time meeting Lady Gaga, working
with the late Michael Jackson, the early days of bringing
Nicki Minage of Barbie World to life, A long time
collaboration is p Diddy and you're fantastic. I want to
thank you for taking the time again. I'm supporting this
(29:16):
book Lauren Gibson Dance your Dance. Thanks for coming on
Money Making Conversation. You're amazing, you look amazing and one
will be awesome for you because you're blessing us with
this book. Thank you. Even want to hear more money
Begetting Conversation, please go to Money Making Conversation dot com.
I'm Rashan McDonald. I am your host. In this season
of giving, Cooles has gifts for all your loved ones.
(29:38):
For those who like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
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million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your
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(30:00):
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Welcome to Money Making Conversations. It's the show that she
has the secrets of success experience firsthand by marketing and
Brandon expert Rashan McDonald. I will know he's giving me
advice to many occasions. In the case you didn't notice,
I'm not broke, you know he'll be interviewing celebrity CEOs,
entrepreneurs and industry decision makers. It's what he likes to do,
it's what he likes to share. Now it's time to
(00:25):
hear from my man, Rashan McDonald money Making Conversations. Here
we come. Welcome to Money Making Conversation. I am your
host from Sean McDonald. It's time to stop reading other
people's success stories and really start writing their own. Now
you can be motivated by their success because their stories
could offer direction and help you reach your goals through
your planning and your committed effort. My interview is like
(00:45):
the one you will hear today, will provide you, as
a consumer and the business owner, access to the celebrities.
She's one of those. She's a CEO, she's an entrepreneur,
and most importantly, she's an industry decision maker. My next
guest is Laurie and Gibson. She's an Emmy nominating creative visionary, choreographer, director, producer,
and entrepreneur. Her new book is Dance Your Dance. Eight
(01:07):
Steps to leash your passion and live your dreams. The
book was packed with personal antidotes and messages of empowerment.
Dance Your Dance highlights Gibson's evolution from a young dancer
training in New York City to a well respected, in
demand industry leader with an eye for cultivating music artists
from the ground up. The book unveils the ultimate blueprint
to achieving your dreams, a blueprint she's implemented to develop
(01:30):
some of the world's greatest superstars, including Lady Gaga, Nicki Minaj,
Katie Perry, and the Jonas Brothers, among others. Please welcome
to Money Making Conversation for the very second time. She's
a good friend of mine to have on this show
and I'm happy to promote her new book. Laurie Anne Gibson,
How are you doing? Ms Gibson, Hi, You're fantastic. Thank
(01:50):
you for having well. First of all, you know, welcome
to my new studio. I want to because last time
we did to be a podcast and we didn't get
to see each other. But you know, life is changing
a good way, and a lot of success that you've
had in despite the COVID nineteen, How did they de
affect your life or the COVID nineteen the pandemic, and
how did that impact you in and pro motivated you
(02:11):
for Well? The interesting thing is I was told when
it was first happening that creatives would excel, and I
kept hearing this and I kep saying to myself, I think,
I think, I think that's right. You know, when everything
shuts down, when people's idea of what it takes to
make it shift, that's when we do excel. And I
(02:32):
have the opportunity to really dig into the book and
understand the purpose in the book. So I was able
to take more time to really flush out my methodology
that I used in helping big superstars becoming their very best,
and I was able to inspire it in eight steps
(02:52):
to unleash your passion and live your dream. So for me,
COVID was a blessing. There was an opportunity to shift
and shift and be prepared for what's ahead of us.
And part of that is shifting the narrative and creating
inspiration and actual transformation and how people dance their dance
and no one else's well, you know, I definitely want
(03:14):
to I want to walk you through you telling your story. Right.
I read the book, enjoyed the book. I read a
lot of motivational book, a lot of books, said uh,
but each book and fascinating. Read your book because you
have to share personal personal angles, and sometimes you're not
happy to share those angles, like your relationship we had
with the the Greek restaurant owner as a young girl.
(03:36):
You you know, you share it and later on you
realize us the food. But that's part of the process.
It didn't destroy you. And and one of the big
things that you say, life is a dance, and I
bring that moment up that was emotionally dark for you.
But life is a dance. Explain why you say life
is a dance in your book. Life is a dance
(03:57):
because it's about different rhythms, it's about different steps that
you have to take. And again, I believe greatness is
in the process. It's not overnight, it's not an insta
it's in the process of becoming, of shedding and receiving
and building. So for me, it was dark, but I
was faced with the opportunity to overcome insecurities. I talked
(04:22):
about step four staying in there yet, so that means
to me when I faced the adversity, when I faced
the feeling of being in a position where I was
vulnerable in the relationship with the restaurant owner, he did
approach me in a sexual manner, and I was uncomfortable
that I wasn't ready to receive it. It didn't align
(04:45):
itself with the feeling of my dream, and I talked
about that being a flag, something that redirects you to
what will help cultivate your dance and create the confidence
that you need to sustain what it is you have
to endure in order to live the dream. Um So
(05:06):
it was difficult. When I did the audio book and
I heard myself speaking the experience, I was like, Oh
my god, You're gonna find out things about me, And
for a moment, I was like, did I write this
and is this really coming out? Very quickly, I understood
that my passion to connect directly with entrepreneurs and visionaries
(05:31):
as a result of what I went through. It gave
me revelation to write the steps in order for them
to not only be inspirational, but effective that you could
go back to a step when you were faced with
the challenge that would take you out of your dance,
out of your rhythm, and ultimately making it longer for
you to achieve that goal. So it was worth it
(05:54):
in the end because I was able to write a
book that would be effective for visionaries. The thing about
it is that it's effective in a lot of ways
because you have to be honest with these books. I
always I hate reading books to tell you how to
be wealthy, but they don't have money in the bank,
you know what I'm saying. And so you can't tell
somebody how to be successful if you can't tell them
(06:14):
how you came out of a dark moment or you
came down from the base of the mountain to climb
that mountain. And that's what your book is. But throughout
the book, you know, you talk about your dad was
an electrician. You've born in Canada Ja Jamaican immigrants. You
know your mom worked at zeros, but that was enough passion,
you know. And the thing I like about it is
that like your mom's passion was to be a fashion
(06:35):
design and her mom said no, that just an impossibility,
and then Mr Christopher and dance school, you talk about
those dream killers when and and like you might hear,
I always tell people you know that leave with your gifts.
Don't let your friends, family members, or your age stop
you from living your dreams or planning your life. I
say that all the time. And that's basically the mantra
(06:58):
for your book. And I love it because of the
fact that a dream killer tried to stop you as
a young dancer because you didn't fit the structure or
the physical structure of a ballerina. Talk about dream killers
because we encounter them and guess what they are clothed
in so many different disguises, as loved ones, as children,
as as religious leaders. That's what this book. I got
(07:21):
excited when I started reading that part of because I said,
she gets it, and she's telling the truth exactly. And
I'm very humbled by the fact that you do get
it because that's very special to me, because that is
the goal, that is the intention, and I think too
many people are afraid to talk about the process, and
(07:43):
they're afraid to let you know that there will be
a fight. There are dream killers, and there is a fight,
and through the fight once you persevere and you hang
onto the feeling of your dream, it will produce what
you need to endure the time that you need to
(08:03):
become the dream. So a lot of people don't talk
about the Dream Killers because there is a lack of
conversation about the fight and about the process. But here's
a book that is unafraid to talk to you while
(08:24):
you're in the process, to celebrate you while you're in
the process, to inspire you to dance your dance and
not someone else's, and that the fight will be there.
But it's the fact that I had to get back up,
that I had to bob and we've dodge and turn,
and through dancing my dance, it created a confidence, a clarity,
(08:48):
a level of perseverance, and a level of clarity that
would enable me to stand strong now at the best
and biggest time of my career. And I think some
people like to just talk about the glossiness. They're afraid
to say. I was curled up in a ball after
I got, you know, in a big fight with Boffy
(09:09):
on making the band. I was curled up in the
ball after I left my pop star at the biggest
moment in her career. But it's those moments where I
had to hang onto the feeling of the dream and
define myself by staying in my yes. And so if
you're at the position and the business doesn't look like
it's about to prosper, but you have this feeling of
(09:29):
the dream, then you have to take the opportunity to
stay in your yes and hang onto that dream and
go through the pain, get back up, choose to fight,
choose to train again, choose to take another route. But
refused to give up, refuse to give up. I want
(09:51):
the narratives to change. Refused to give up. Well, Lorien,
how do I do that? I'm facing eviction. Face it.
Once you face it, and you acknowledge that your dream
is bigger than the eviction, that the feeling of the
dream is bigger than the eviction. Notice, then you will
find a way out because you've chosen your dance over
(10:13):
somebody else's dance, and so the dream killers are there
to force you to dance your dance. You get it
from the visionary perspective. Why am I facing this? Why
did the door close? It closed? Because that is not
(10:33):
in alignment with the feeling of my dream. That door
ultimately wasn't going to create the greatness in me or
produce the greatness in me. Wow. You know the thing
about greatness, it's a word that's used a lot now
because of the pandemic, the word pivot. And when you
(10:54):
read this book, you the queen of pivoting. You know
you are. When you got on that bus with your
third teen thousand plus dollars and thirteen thousand was going
to your tuition at an a Lee, you know, and
the rest was going to you don't know where. That
was your pivoting moment because there was no destiny. But
when you got there, you you balanced to pivoty. That's
what I'm saying is that, you know, I laugh at
(11:16):
my life because I a lot of terms I just
naturally didn't did in my life. They are common terms
now branding pivoting. You were you know, uh dream book
boards and stuff that people put on that's you. But
you did it naturally. Talker walk us through those steps,
you know, even till the discovering the world of hip hop,
(11:37):
that was a pivot moment for you. You didn't come
to New York to be a hippop d answer and
so so talk about the power of pivoty naturally before
it became a term that people use like it's something
that was discovered overnight. They just, well, pivoty you when
you did it? In this book tells you how you
did it. They weren't act the time when you were pivoting.
(11:58):
They were not You were doing it by yourself as
a young lady in New York City. I lived in
New York City when eighty nine. I was there in
a D eight I lived And when you talk about
the railroad apartment, I lived in the apartment where guess what,
I looked at the window. The garbage truck stopped every night,
woke me up at three am. I got right below
my window, got killed. I to go shower with ten
other people because guess what, there was a giant shower.
(12:20):
So I know exactly the struggle when you talk about pivoty,
you have to do some things that guess what, Duden
you tell the story because goof what God has allowed
you with your faith to be able to tell this story.
But let's talk about pivoty when it was not something
you could read in the book, that you had to
go just on your faith, your belief in your dreams.
(12:42):
Oh my God, that's so beautiful what you just said,
because basically you said it for me, and I'm so
grateful that you have felt the purpose of the book
Evening is a dance move. It is changing the direction
and headed into a better flow. I start out in
(13:03):
the book talking about step one, dare to dream. And
I used the word dare because when you're producing something
that hasn't been done before, you won't see it in
the world. You won't see the reflection because you are
the very thing that you're looking for. It's in you.
(13:23):
So there isn't dare. There isn't a risk to dream.
But I talked about it early so we can get
it out the way, and so you can establish a
confidence in the passion and in the dream, so that
you can hang onto that feeling when a pivot hits you.
So when I went to New York and I thought
I was studying at alban Elly, and all of a
(13:45):
sudden I went to a hip hop audition and I
began to feel something more and there was a pivot.
But yet I was like, how can I do hip hop?
When I was studying technical dancer, I thought I was
supposed to be at alban Elly but in trusting the
feeling of the dream, I realized that I had to
pivot because it wasn't just about dancing his great works.
(14:08):
It was about being inspired by Alvan Elly, J. Jamison,
Katherine Dunham. It was the fact that when I first
saw Ali, I saw a man who spoke about tribulation
and oppression through dance. I realized that his work as
a visionary was what was speaking to my purpose, to
(14:29):
my soul. It was moving me towards me understanding how
to create movement and artists that would speak to the circumstance.
So the pivot was necessary. And so the fact that
we're even talking about the pivot from a real place
like it's gonna feel uncomfortable. There will be a moment
(14:52):
where you're out there and you have no confirmation that
the pivot is right. But what you do know is
where you were didn't feel like all you could be,
which is why you have to hang onto the feeling
of the dream, because it's in the pivot that there
will be a moment where you're sustaining evidence of that
dream and you're becoming it. And so to be able
(15:16):
to pick up a book that will give you strength
during your pivot or while you're pivoting is key because
God gives each enevt one of us a different dreams
so that we can help each other to further empower
each other, so that we could live our perfect dreams
(15:36):
are individual dreams. So I think the pivot is not
something that's just to be taken lightly. Oh, it's easy.
Go ahead and pivot and don't feel nervous. Go have
it and pivot and don't feel sick in your stomach
when you're walking away from your nine to five to
open your own business. No, understand that those are all
(15:58):
flags that are directing you directly into the dream. And
it is scary. You do have to dare to dream,
but you already established that in step one. So continue
to dance because the next step will present itself. You'll
get confident in the idea that pivoting needs to the
(16:18):
evidence of what you will become, and it will get
easier to dance those pivots. It's finally here, the season
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E R dot ai. The then, the thing about it
is interesting about your book. I I I turned Mr Christopher.
Every time a dream killer came in your life, it
(18:28):
was Mr Christopher. You know what I'm saying. So the too,
So be patient with me. Like the Mr Christopher started
way in your life and you ignored him, and I
called the restaurant owner. He's a Mr Christopher, Okay, the
person who who basically parted you and you missed out
on that opportunity in the Malcolm X movie, that was
a Mr Christopher how do we recognize the Mr Christopher's
(18:51):
in our world? Because your book talks about them. We
call them dream killers. There are individuals, these dream killers,
and they are people that sometimes you don't recognize them,
but they came into your life. You didn't let them win.
They I call emotionals. They were never physical setbacks because
you have your health. They were emotional moments. Say, but
(19:12):
you learn from you talk about how you learned. But
the thing I like consistently about your book, hard work
was never something you ran away from you. You admitted
your thoughts, you admitted your errors, and you were responsible
towards correcting them in another situation. And just talk about
(19:33):
that because I think that's important because a lot of people,
when they make mistakes, Your book discusses how to overcome
or not let that mistake win, because it's a mistake
that we all can make. Talk about that. Yeah, I
call them mishaps. You know, you follow out the dance,
you follow out the aid cap, but as a result
of the falling, something in you gets louder. The voice
(19:58):
of the dream, the feeling of the dream. Now you're
able to hear it because you're in a misstep. So
now you're like, Okay, I'm acknowledging it as a misstep
because I don't feel good making that decision. I didn't
feel good being late. I didn't feel like what was
inside of me was aligning itself with what Mr Christopher said.
(20:21):
He said I couldn't be a ballerina. My feet were
too flat, my back was arch. He literally said that
I wouldn't be a great dancer. But my dream told
me different. The feeling inside of me told me different,
and I hung on to that feeling, and as a
result of me being obedient to that feeling, I wasn't
(20:41):
afraid of the work that I needed to develop that
level of ability. I talked about training to sustain, getting
as much information as you need to be able to
persevere through a dream killer. It's the training, It's the
work you put into becoming that sustains you when someone
(21:02):
doesn't see what it is you're meant to become. Because
you're the one of the ones, You're a prototype. So
how how was Mr Christopher supposed to me? He never
saw a young black girl with that much belief, power
and authority when she danced. He was in a very
(21:23):
ignorant phase of his dance. So I tell those people too,
that our dream killers to get out of their period
of oppression and rejection to the greatness and others, because
they're ruining their own greatness in themselves. But the most
important thing as a visionary is to understand that you
(21:45):
must do the work. You must train get as much
knowledge to sustain the dream killers, because what you carry
maybe something original. You may be a prototype, and in
most cases everyone's dream is unique to themselves, and we
are all prototypes. We have something you need to offer,
(22:07):
and in understanding that philosophy and that methodology, you will
be less inclined to design yourself by what someone else
does and begin to embrace the conversation that I'm a prototype.
I gotta dance my dance because what I have to
do hasn't been done the way I'm going to do
it right right. You know that you know this. This
(22:28):
is no time wherever, time limit here. But I want
to ask you one more question. It's a couple of
things I wish I saw that I had sat a
picture of you and you go with black old cowboy
boots because I'm a Texas boy. So I fell in
love when you went out and thought you had to
help a pair of black cowboy boots and when you
went for that audition and heavy d and did In
How You Change and Walk Down Hip Hop se there's
(22:49):
a lot of things that I love about this book.
And the thing I love about this book the most
is that see, fear stops a lot of people. I
always tell people they don't want to change jobs or
they don't want to end relationships. You know, fear could
have stopped you with Lady God God, they keeping nas
to call you got with Michael, Michael Jackson, you was
working with Brandy. These are not these are not trivial
(23:10):
names that are thrown around in the book. They're just
examples to let you let people know that that you
had to make decisions and you couldn't be afraid when
you was making these decisions. And before I wrapped this interview,
I like to if you can just explain to people, yes,
you are afraid, your fear was in you, but faith
got you through that. But talk about that whole process
(23:33):
because a lot of people are stuck at jobs right
now that you quit their relationships they could walk away
from They're living in conditions that they can do better,
Like you said, but they refused to figure out a plan.
This book is about a plan and they if they
follow this plan. They have realized that this book might
have a lot of famous names in it. Just remove
the famous names and write their names, and the people
(23:55):
that are blocking them are helping them there in this book.
That's what I love this book, Miss Gibson, and I
want to thank you for writing it. But before I leave,
if you can expound on overcoming fear when great opportunities
are presenting themselves but you don't know the expectations of
what could happen. You're so awesome. I really am grateful
(24:15):
for you and your guidance and helping me express the
power of this book. So thank you so much for
dancing your dance, but most importantly for being your great self,
because it is blowing you away how much you're helping
people to understand the power of this book. So I'm
so humbled by that. Thank you. I believe and I
(24:38):
know that I wrote this book for the very reason
that if I can speak to your dream, I can
speak to your circumstance. So I know that fear did
not live in me, it lived around me, but faith
lived in me. Once you dare to dream, then the
possibilities of the beautiful power of that dream is about faith,
(25:00):
and faith is in the dream. So very early I
realized that faith was something that was around me, that
was something that was being projected towards me, and that
if I gave it life, if I said yes to it,
then that would actually become something I had to then
(25:22):
experience versus staying in my yes, which is an important
step four. It's a hard step to work because you
have to stay in something that you cannot see. You
have to stay in something that is deeply rooted in
the passion that you feel when you think about your dream,
(25:48):
and in doing so, you choose your dream over the fear.
And now you're saying to life, unfold according to God's plan, unfold,
according to the plan of my dream, my purpose, and
my destiny unfold, according to my dance, unfold according to
(26:10):
who I am. And again you choose the dream over
the fear. And suddenly what starts to rise in you
is confirmation, and the faith gets you to the next step.
Suddenly the phone rings, You pick up the phone, and
(26:32):
it reflects you staying in your yes and not the
fear of losing, but the faith of winning. So it
is about working the steps. It's not about expecting something
to happen magically overnight. No, it's about understanding when you're
facing it and you refuse to choose it, it's gonna come.
(26:58):
And when when when I have to pay that bill
and I didn't have a job and my grand was due,
I was like, okay, God, where am I? When I
was going to the foreign officer, she was like, you
have to go home. I was in that bathroom on
my knees, like, you gave me this dream. I'm gonna
need you to help me understand what I'm gonna have
to say when I go downstairs and they want me
to produce this paper that I don't have. And as
(27:20):
soon as I went downstairs go to test me on
this book, Pape, I got ther fook okause I was
the very woman that he expected me to produce a
paper that I did not have, a paper that would
send me home. Got fired. Yes, yes, And they were like, look,
(27:47):
miss Wanton is not here. I need you to go
back to your class. And what did that do? It
brought me time to do what I needed to do
to stay in my dreams. So I talked about these
situations to support another dreamer at that particular junction where
they need evidence of the yes, evidence of someone staying
(28:08):
in there. Yes. Not just the celebrating materialistically being bold,
being like braggadocious about what you have. This is not
what this book is about. This is about the coming
what you are. And at certain times I have to
talk about what I don't have and what I didn't
have so that you can understand the power of staying
(28:31):
in your yes, the power of your dream. So I'm
so grateful, but it is really important, especially now that
I speak to fear being around you, not in you,
so that you can understand how to stay in your yes,
which completely produces the faith and the confidence and the
perseverance you need to get to what you already are. Wow,
(28:55):
She's Laurie and Gibson. Dance your dance, She says. Numerous
inspirational stories and antidote, including coming up and dancing with
Genial Loaf, Jennifer Lopez, first time meeting Lady Gaga, working
with the late Michael Jackson, the early days of bringing
Nicki Minage of Barbie World to life, A long time
collaboration is p Diddy and you're fantastic. I want to
thank you for taking the time again. I'm supporting this
(29:16):
book Lauren Gibson Dance your Dance. Thanks for coming on
Money Making Conversation. You're amazing, you look amazing and one
will be awesome for you because you're blessing us with
this book. Thank you. Even want to hear more money
Begetting Conversation, please go to Money Making Conversation dot com.
I'm Rashan McDonald. I am your host. In this season
of giving, Cooles has gifts for all your loved ones.
(29:38):
For those who like to keep it cozy, find fleeces, sweaters, loungeware,
blankets and throws. Or support minority owned or founded brands
by giving gifts from Human Nation and Shame Moisture and
in the spirit of giving, Cole's Cares is donating eight
million dollars to local nonprofits nationwide. Give with all your
heart this season with great gifts from Coal or Coals
(30:00):
dot Com. Still living in one manually taking notes, there
is a better way to start the new year with
auto dot ai automatically get meeting notes. Auto dot ai
works for virtual meetings like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google meet,
Sign up on the web for free or download in
the app stores. Auto dot ai that's O T T
E R dot ai, sticky notes, email alerts, a string
(30:21):
around your finger. They're just not big enough. So here's
a big reminder from the California Lottery. Tomorrow's megamillions jack
potties over three million play out. Please play responsibly. Must
be eighteen years older to purchase player Pian
Host
Rushion McDonald
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United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com