The Elijah Winfrey Show

Elijah gets you caught up on his past week, & answers your email questions.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
You're listening to The Elijah Winfrey Show, a space for inspiration, impact,
and community connection. Each week, Elijah shares the latest on
his work in the community, answers listener questions, and reflects
on the week that was, from acts of kindness to
real conversations that matter. This is where purpose meets positivity.

(00:22):
Sit back, relax and enjoy the show. Here's your host,
Elijah Winfrey. Hello, folks, and welcome back to the Elijah
Winfrey Show. I'm indeed your host, Elijah Winfrey. Community advocate,
para educator, children's book author, YadA YadA YadA, I can

(00:46):
on nonprofit leader. We have a great show Linda for
you today, folks, It is good to be back. I
Before I get started, I want to thank everyone who
tuned in to my very special episode that I had
last Thursday where I talked a bit about wellness, shared

(01:09):
my journey a little bit, and again you know that
show was was you know, based on my opinion.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I get asked quite a bit. You know, how do
I do the things that I'm doing? You know, where
do I find time to rest because it's important? How
do I how do I make it all work? You know,
so you know that show was was a little insight
into you know, my journey, the ups and downs, and

(01:37):
I am glad that you all took the time to
listen to it. And I'm glad that you know, a
lot of you sent me texts and emails pertaining to
that show and and it was very positive. So thank you,
thank you, thank you. Today we get back to answering
your email questions. Those are those are always fun and

(02:00):
definitely entertaining. I want to shout out my producer, Greg Nice,
who always puts this show in positions to succeed. Shout
out to iHeart Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your favorite
podcast folks. Thank you all for tuning in and downloading,
and a lot of that credit to my producer. My

(02:21):
past week was it was pretty good. You know. I'm
I'm really starting to find my balance now. You know,
I think the goal for me right now is to
get as healthy as I possibly can heading into the
lot of parts of the year, where again it'll get
busy at some point, you know, but that's that's down

(02:45):
the road, and so I have time to build my
body up and that's what I've been doing, you know,
I try out these workout routines. I don't know about
any of you, but I have these routines that I
like to try from different fitness folks around the country.

(03:10):
And you know, I'm a big push up guy. I
love doing push ups. I do about four hundred push
ups now a day or every other day. You know,
you got to give your body time to recover. I
am still on the peloton extremely hard as well, and
you know, I'm feeling relatively decent, so physically I'm good. Mentally,

(03:30):
I love meditating. It's taking me to places that I
didn't think meditation could take you, and it's helping me
deal with a lot of my childhood and adult traumas.
So I am progressing in that department as well as

(03:50):
far as work goes, I've been able to stay busy
and current with the nonprofit as we you know, start
to put some things together heading into, yeah, the end
of the year, you know, pertaining to holidays. We try
to stay as ahead of things as we possibly can.
So that's been good. I am meeting with legislators next

(04:14):
week to talk about education. I'm excited about that, you know.
I am passionate about education and and civil rights and
human rights and so I am honored to go down
once again, this is my second year and meeting with

(04:34):
a few legislators and talking about things that I see. Right,
I'm trying to use my voice in ways that are
effective and impactful. We all do it differently, you know.
I don't want to criticize anyone for you know, doing

(04:55):
their thing their way, you know, as long as they're
out active in the communit right, there's so many of
us who have different ways of displaying and using our voices.
So I'm going to be doing that next week, hanging
out with some friends and catching up before I take
one more family vacation to really recharge and attack the

(05:18):
rest of the year. So family's doing well, you know,
it's business as usual. We're working extremely hard. Not a
lot to complain about personally, so things are good. I
hope that you all are doing well. I hope that
your week has gotten off to a good start. I
know there's a lot of things going on in the

(05:38):
world right now. I think what we have to continue
to do is to reach out and help one another
as best we can, while also helping ourselves. Right, make
sure that you're making peace with yourself first and foremost.
If you do that, good things will happen. Before I
jump into these questions, I I want to send out

(06:05):
my condolences to Malcolm Jamal Warner's family. As most of
you know by now, he passed away this past weekend. Uh.
He was vacationing with his family in Costa Rica, and
you know, you still wait to hear all the information

(06:31):
that's out there. Apparently he was or allegedly he was,
you know, taking a swim and a big current, you know,
kind of swept them off and it was just it
was an unfortunate accident. And you know, it hit me

(06:51):
yesterday because I grew up with Malcolm Jamal Warner being
he was on The Cosby Show as Steel. We know
him as Steel. He was super talented. He did so
many of the things. He was a great poet, he
was a musician, he did some other TV shows. He
was he was a very deep brother. He knew his
black history. You know, I've listened to many of his

(07:14):
interviews where he talked about that and talked about his
work and the importance of privacy, you know, in living
his life and he's going to be sorely missed. But
it hit me. He was fifty four, I'm fifty two.
I think you start to think about things and you

(07:34):
start putting things in perspective when this happens. I was
very emotional when I saw it. It was it was hard,
and I didn't think it would be because I don't
know him. I've never met him, but because I've seen

(07:54):
him on TV on The Cosby Show, you feel like
you do know him and you grew up with him.
So that was a tough one yesterday. So shot condolences
goes out to his family, and I hope that they
find and get the healing that that they need. I

(08:16):
really do. I know that's a it's a tough way
to transition and pivot to questions, but I had to
get that in there because he's meant so much to
the black community and he is going to be sorely,
sorely missed. He's he's a giant, as we say in

(08:36):
the community, He's going to be sorely missed. Okay, let's
pivot to some of these amazing questions that you all
sent in each and every week. We encourage that you
can go to Elijah dot winfree at gmail dot com.
My producer goes into the email bag and he pulls
out some absolute gems. They're all gems as far as

(08:58):
I'm concerned. But you know, because of time, we're only
able to pull out a few and answer them, and
we're gonna do that today. The first question is from
Jasmine in Atlanta, Georgia. Jasmine Rights, Elijah, I love your show.
How has your summer been so far? Any highlights or

(09:19):
moments that really filled your cup? I think there are
a few highlights. Being able to spend quality time with
family is the highlights. It's the highlight for me. You know,

(09:42):
me and my wife, we we can be two ships
at times because she's extremely busy and then I get busy,
you know, whether I'm writing or I'm doing something on
behalf of the nonprofit. You know, we we can be
two ships. I'm normally waking up and she's coming to bed,

(10:02):
you know, because of my nightmares. But I think that's
the highlight for me, is being able to spend time
with family and laughing and you know, catching up on things.
My trip to Springfield is a highlight. I really love
spending time with advocates there. Shout out to everyone in

(10:24):
Springfield and the incredible Elizabeth Aubrey who is like my
liaison there right, like everything runs through her as if
she doesn't have enough going on in her busy life.
She's a great friend. So that's one. Catching up with
friends when I can. You know, I'm starting to take
walks now, so that's a highlight for me walking. I

(10:47):
walk about. I try to walk about four miles a day.
As a matter of fact, when I'm done with the show,
I'm gonna do just that. And as far as what
really filled my cup, again, I think it's family. It's
spending some alone time, right, some me time where I'm
able to kind of process things and where I am
in my life that is really filled my cup. You know,

(11:10):
what direction am I going? What adjustments do I need
to make to improve to be better? So those types
of things they feel my cup. So that's a great question.
That's a great question to start. Huh. Next question is
from The Shawn in Newark, New Jersey. Deshaun writes, Elijah,

(11:32):
when your continued advocacy for autism awareness and low income families,
what's one issue you feel still doesn't get talked about enough.
I still feel like we just don't we don't really
talk about autism awareness, acceptance, enough. We don't when we

(11:54):
I think when we see things on the news or
we see negative things, we try some of us, not
all of us. Now let me just let me perphrase
it by saying it this way. We see some bad
things on the news of somebody doing something bad, we
always say, well, you know, he was he or she
was autistic. I don't like that. That bothers me. It

(12:20):
tells me that some of us still aren't doing our
homework on autism or about autism. I don't know everything
there is to know, but I know a lot. I
don't think we lead enough with love when we're discussing,

(12:41):
you know, autism. There's some some some terrific advocates out
there that are doing their their best to have their
voices heard, and they're advocating for families in the community
just as I am. And I think the one hope
that we have is that we continue to talk about
it in an open and honest way and leading it

(13:02):
with love and understanding. So I wish we did that more,
you know, as far as you know, the low income
families conversation goes, Look, we've been dealing with this since
I've been alive. We talk about it when it's convenient,

(13:27):
when we're after something in that community. Not all of
us we use we use these communities to make movies,
to tell stories, but some of us aren't really helping.

(13:50):
And I'm just gonna keep it real. Some of us aren't.
So I wish we talked about it more more honestly,
you know, I think sometimes when when some of us
make it, don't we don't look back. We we tend to,
you know, press forward and listen. I get it. I

(14:11):
don't want to judge anybody, you know, but I do
think that you should always keep the door open. I
think you should be trying to pull people up. I
think that you should try to have healthy conversations. Right.
The goal is to make someone or something better. It's
always been that way. So I think we have to

(14:33):
communicate better and we have to talk more. Next question
is from Monique in Brooklyn, New Yorkique Monique rights, Elijah,
You've always emphasized collaboration over competition. Why is working with

(14:53):
others such a vital part of your mission? Well, I
just don't believe in Like, if we're trying to better
the world for for all of us, I don't want
I just don't feel like we should be competing. I
don't want to be looked at as the best in
that field and doing that. I want to be looked

(15:16):
at as somebody who was willing to collaborate, right, I
think that that goes a longer way than competing. And
you're competing, you're you're trying to be You're trying to
outdo the other organizations. I don't want to do that.

(15:36):
I don't have the means to do that, but even
if I did, I wouldn't want to do that. I
love collaborating, and I I just think if we're ever
gonna if we're ever going to be what we've set
out to be or we want to be, we we

(15:57):
we have to be able to have these hard conversations
about collaborating and we have to stop competing. I want
you to win, I want you to succeed. I want
to work with you. So I it's vital to me

(16:22):
because I grew up that way. Each one, teach one
when you make it, extend your hand, collaborate, bring somebody
else along with you, share your ideas, and be open
to others. That's how it works with me, you know,

(16:45):
and I've been successful in doing that, now you want
to compete on the golf course or the basketball court.
You know that's different. But in this world that can
be very mean and can beat you down and keep
you there if you let it. No, I want to collaborate.
Let's work together to solve these problems. Let's do it honestly.

(17:12):
If my idea doesn't work, let's go with your idea.
But let's let's collaborate. Let's let's stay let's stay united,
let's stay locked in together. It works, Trust me, it works.
Next question is from Marcus in San Diego, California. Marcus Rights, Eli,

(17:36):
we know you're always on the go. How are you
taking care of your mental and physical health this summer?
I meditate, I work out as much as I can.
As I said at the top of the show. When
I'm done here, I'm going on a walk. Today I'm
working my lower body. So that's glutes and leg day.
Today is glutes and leg day. You know I don't

(17:58):
I don't have big legs. When I was growing up,
they would always refer to my legs as tabletops or
table table in legs, chicken legs. You know, nothing's changed
in that department. Although although I do think you know,
they filled out a little bit, but I, you know,

(18:20):
I try to make sure that physically and mentally, I
am the best version of myself every day. And I
talked about this on my special episode centered around wellness,
where like, I don't want to like give you half
of me that doesn't do me any good, right like

(18:45):
it it doesn't serve me well to do that or
to be that. So I I really focus on my
mental and physical health as much as I can, you know,
especially during the summer when I feel like I can
really really recharge and shout out the peloton, like I

(19:09):
I really don't think. I don't know where I'd be
without them, and they've been very instrumental in my growth
mentally and physical. So that's one of the ways. You know,

(19:29):
I like to work out, meditate, take walks, hit the
golf ball on the driving range every now and then.
You know, I don't play much anymore, but those are
some of the things that keep me grounded. Great question.
Next question is from Aaliyah in Houston, Texas. Aleia writes, Elijah,

(19:50):
what's been your most impactful moment of advocate advocacy so
far this year and how did it shift your perspective.
This is a this is a tough question. I think
every every moment that I have that I'm able to experience,
it's it's very impactful, right it. I don't know if
it shifts my perspective. It definitely strengthens my perspective on

(20:15):
you know, on the work that I'm doing in the
direction I'm going. I think just interacting with families in general,
like from a very personal standpoint where they see me
and I see them and we're interacting quite a bit.
That means so much to me. You know, sometimes it's
over text, sometimes it's it's a video call. Sometimes it's

(20:38):
over an email. Uh. Sometimes I go meet up with
these families and and you know, you you hear the
struggle and you see yourself. I know, I do. I
know where I come from. Right, That never leaves me,
no matter how successful I become, I know what it's like,
the struggle. So it's not foreign to me. So I

(21:03):
think every encounter I have. But the work that I
do is impactful. It's moving, it's inspiring, it's emotional. It
doesn't really it doesn't really shift my perspective. It strengthens
my perspective, right, it tells me what direction I need

(21:25):
to go or I need to go deeper, you know,
within the community to find some things and to do
some things. But every moment is impacted. Every moment. Next
question is from Raphael and Phoenix, Arizona. Raphael writes, Elijah,

(21:47):
can you share a recent collaboration that really lit a
fire under you and brought something powerful to your life?
I I don't really have again, I I don't really

(22:11):
have that one moment. I think they're all big moments.
You know, when I when I went down to drop
off items for the Divas, you know, it's a women's
group and they do incredible work. When I when I
did that, that was extremely extremely moving. My work with

(22:38):
mister d and collaborating with kids and giving a golf
clinic extremely moving, impactful, inspiring, you know the the you
know I am going to be dropping off some items
to Mary's place tomorrow. Am I feel like I'm collaborating

(23:06):
with them. But also two great friends of mine who
I got this post or message whatever you want to
call it on Instagram Instagram stories from Katie Nielsen and
Megan Porter. Like I I, they're very big community advocates
and they do great work in the community. So I
saw my friends Katie's post and I said, I'm on it.

(23:35):
I like that kind of stuff, you know, that's that's
that's that's motivating to me. So those types of collaborations
are you know, it lights a fire under me and
it and it also it confirms everything that I asked

(23:55):
myself about the work that I'm doing, right Like, this
is what you do. So my my pilot life if
you will, never goes out. It's always lit. But people
in the community, they they find ways to make the

(24:21):
flame bigger for me, right So, and I know I
don't do this by myself. I know that for a fact,
for a fact. Next question is from Carla in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
You know, I want to visit Minnesota. I want to
go to Princess of State and just kind of walk around,

(24:46):
take a picture. You know. I want to go to
Minnesota someday. Carla writes, Elijah, you inspire so many through
your work. What's something you've done this summer just for you? Well? Nothing,
I I just I like to just chill and do nothing.

(25:13):
Maybe that that's it. You know. I went to see
Trevor Noah with with my wife, which was amazing. But
something for me. I just like to just lay around
and do nothing, no social media, no TV, no texting,

(25:39):
no nothing like and just stare at the wall. And
I know to some of you that sounds pretty weird,
and I get it, I guess, but I don't really

(26:00):
I don't really do anything for myself, you know, I
really don't, or I don't think of it in those terms,
you know, because I think everything that I'm doing is
for me, right, it is something that I want to
do or be a part of. So I don't I

(26:26):
don't know if I've done anything yet just for me.
So stay tuned on that though, because the summer is
still going and you never know, I may come back
on the show and say, you know, I did this.
I took a trip by myself for myself, and I
had an amazing time. I don't know. I'm going to
think about that question. That question is gonna stay with me,

(26:50):
all right. Next question is from Eric in Seattle, Washington.
Eric writes, Elijah, what drives you to keep showing up
community even when it gets heavy or exhausting. I just
want to see the world in a better place. I

(27:12):
think we all say that. I think we all wish that.
I think we all dream that. I think we all
see it in our dreams. I know if I keep
showing up, even if I'm not the one that you
know does it or makes things better, it's gonna spark

(27:33):
someone who's watching me. Right, So even when it gets
heavy for me, I can't then step back, right, That's
when I really gotta to get in there. Now. I
have to make sure that I'm good physically and mentally right,
because it does get exhausted, right, it's opposed to right.

(27:59):
If it's not wearing on you or wearing you down,
then you need to maybe make some adjustments. It's supposed
to be exhausting. Right. We see the world that we're in.
It can be cruel and brutal, right, and that stuff
weighs on you. But if you're right with yourself, that's
when you you can dig in and keep pushing forward.

(28:21):
So I love strowing up for my community, and I
like being in the background. I share some of my
work on social media hoping that it will inspire people.
You know, I don't do it to show off, and
I always have consent when I do it. And I
think when we do show up for folks, share your work, right,

(28:46):
share it because you're inspiring that next person that's coming
behind you or that's in front of you, who's looking
for that little niche to get going again. So I'm
driven by my purpose, and the purpose is to see
the world in a better place. And I know we'll

(29:06):
get there. I may not see it right, but I'm gonna,
I feel like, in all honesty, I'm going to spark
the brain that will clean it up. It's a great question,
Eric and I. And that's that's a question you should
ask yourself as well, Eric and listeners of the show.
What drives you to show up for your people? Right?

(29:30):
How does it motivate you? How does it keep you going?
How do you deal with exhaustion when it gets heavy?
What do you do? What are your go to think
about that? All right, let's take a few more questions here.
This next question is from Tasha and Chicago, Illinois. Tasha writes, Elijah,

(29:55):
what advice do you have for folks who want to
collaborate but don't know where to start, for who to trust?
This is a good question. I've gotten this a few times. Look,
I know sometimes we don't know where to start. My

(30:16):
advice on that is, just start, even if you feel
like it's gonna flop, just start. You like the flame
you do it you started. And as far as knowing
who to trust, look, sometimes you got to put yourself
out there and you got to feel some things out.

(30:36):
There'll be people that will stay and they will believe
in your movement. There will be people who will fall
by the wayside. It's all trial and error. I deal
with that every single day. It's not one day that
goes by where I'm shedding people. Right. I know who's
really down for my movement, and I know who isn't.

(31:03):
Like that's the thing. And I think sometimes people think
that I don't know that because I'm not vocal about it.
I feel like I don't have to be vocal about it.
Or I can pull that person aside and say, listen,
it ain't a vibe right not to say that. It
won't get there someday, but the energy, our energy just
isn't matching up. I have no problem telling someone that
in private. I don't need to embarrass you in front

(31:25):
of people, right, I don't need to do that. But
I think a lot of this, Tasha, is trial and error,
and you have to be willing to take the risk
to put yourself out there because you will link up
with people who see what you're doing and they want
to be a part of it. Right, They don't want
to take it, but they want to be part of
the movement that you're you're creating. They're gonna be some

(31:46):
people who they just they're they're gonna leach right, They're
gonna be there until you struggle or until you fall down,
and then they're gonna leave, and then they're gonna talk
about you and all this jazz. You know, you you
have to be ready for or for all of that too,
and be willing to go through that. We all have
to go through that, right. You got to get it

(32:09):
wrong sometimes to get it right. So when and when
you're dealing with people, more times than not, that's what happens.
So I would encourage you to or anyone take the
risk you started, you build it. They'll come those who
like what you're doing, they'll show up. Those that don't

(32:32):
like what you're doing, they'll show up and start with you,
and eventually you'll shed them because you'll see that they're
not in it for the people, right, they're looking for
their game. What's in it for them. You find out
real quick at least for me. I know I did.
I found out really quickly who was in it regarding
Team Winfrey, regarding supporting the movement and who wasn't you

(33:01):
find out? I think you find out relatively quickly. So
stay committed, take the risk, and continue reaching out. Collaboration
to me is everything. Let's take one more question. This
question is from Logan in Denver, Colorado and Logan Rights, Elijah.

(33:26):
How do you balance staying true to your vision while
pertaining while partnering with others who may have different styles
or goals. That's a great question. I'm always going to
be true to to to to the things that I
see that are important to me. You know, I'm gonna

(33:47):
I'm never gonna deviate from that. And when I partner
with people, I think, you know, styles are they make
a lot of things. You know, the old cliche of
the old saying is styles make fight. You know, if
you're gonna be able to collaborate with folks based on

(34:09):
their styles, you know you can feel it. I don't
consider myself loud or brash, or cocky or erican or
any of those things, but sometimes you see that in
other folks, and I'm not saying that's bad. Sometimes we're
all different, right, So we all are motivated, and we

(34:30):
do and say things based on how we feel right
our presentation. My presentation is different from somebody else's presentation.
So I make sure that if when I'm collaborating, we're
relatively on the same track. Right. We may not speak

(34:50):
it the same, but we know we're going to the
same place, and we're able to have positive dialogue because
of that. Right, maybe that person's voice is a bit
better than mine from a style perspective, I don't mind
collaborating with that. We go with that. We both know

(35:11):
that it's not we're not in it for us, it's
for everybody, right, Like I can collaborate with people like
that and we see the goal at the end. You know,
I'm all about enjoying the journey and building it. Right.
We know what the end looks like, you dream it,

(35:32):
you see it. It's the journey for me, and I
think what's helped me is being able to partner with
people who see that and understand that and who accept it.
So it's worked for me and I don't have to

(35:53):
I don't have to deviate I don't have to like
jump off this track to go to this track to
make things work. Not saying that I don't make adjustments.
I think we all do. You have to make an adjustment,
but the adjustment isn't so big that I feel like,
oh now I'm off message. This isn't what I collaborated for,

(36:20):
like I'd enjoined to do this, right, So, as long
as we see the goal and we're able to stylistically
come together, it works. So I really can't complain I have.

(36:42):
I feel like I've been very lucky in collaborating with
people who see the things that I see, and we're
able to be successful successful because of that. All Right,
that is it for questions, And as we wind down

(37:04):
the show here again, I want to thank you all
for sending in questions. Continue to do it every week.
These are important questions pertaining to the things that I'm
doing and the things that you may be doing in
your life. And I'm hoping that I'm providing a little
bit of perspective on that. All Right, I want you

(37:26):
to do me a favor. I say this all the time.
My producer's big smile on his face. This week, all right,
I get out in your communities and check in on
your family and friends, right, that's important. Make sure that
when you're doing that, you're also checking in on yourself.

(37:53):
It is vital that you do that. Put a smile
on your face and then go out and put a
smile on someone else's face. Remember it doesn't take a
lot of energy to do that at all. Every day
isn't a good day, all right, but we'll find something

(38:14):
in that day that was good and we can build upon.
So do that for me and I thank you all
for tuning in to the Elijah Winfrey Show. Please be
sure to download this show wherever you download till next week.

(38:40):
Take care, God bless Bye bye