Creative Roots Podcast

One Post Can Change Everything - Tinesha | Ep. 58

• Tae Harris • Episode 58

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This episode is a little different!  Deana G takes over the lead seat!

Deana invited this episode's guest and leads the conversation with Tinesha Matthews, a natural hair stylist turned content creator whose journey into content creation started with a heartfelt Mother's Day reel dedicated to her mother. Since then, she hasn't looked back.

Together, Deana and Tinesha dive into topics surrounding natural hair, content creation, faith, hearing from God, and the unexpected lessons that come from life's everyday experiences - including a story you'll have to hear for yourself: "The Audacity of a Dog."

The conversation also touches on identity, purpose, and the importance of honoring who you are - including the name your mother gave you. Put some respect on it.

These two ladies bring authenticity, laughter, wisdom, and plenty of real talk to the table. Whether you're building a brand, strengthening your faith, or simply looking for an uplifting conversation, this episode has something for you.

Tap in and enjoy the ride.


 Recorded exclusively at Charlotte Podcast Studio 

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Tickets are on sale now through August 20 with a discounted rate available until July 15, 2026.

Thanks for listening! If this episode hit home, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and share it with a fellow creative on their journey. 

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Tae-@taewiththeedits
Shamar-@alanluxstudios

SPEAKER_01

I'm just gonna just do what I do and then people will get what they need or if they come in my inbox and ask me a question or say something, then I'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_02

It's a thousand things that could have been her, you know, situation, but to have compassion.

SPEAKER_01

I wasn't gonna post it, but I'm also the type of person because I am creative, I listen to my intuition. I listen to God.

SPEAKER_02

I've been saying that, Tanisha. I don't know if you realize it because it's so freaking simple.

SPEAKER_04

Truth in the air, let it speak.

SPEAKER_01

Well, this is about to be a whole garden. It sure is.

SPEAKER_02

A beautiful garden.

SPEAKER_03

It's on you, Dina. I don't know why you're making it me.

SPEAKER_02

All right.

SPEAKER_03

That's why I asked if you explain how these episodes go.

SPEAKER_02

Well, welcome back to Creative Roots Podcast, where seeds sown become visions grown. And your eyes are not fooling you. Tay is not here today. He allowed me to sit in the chair and I didn't fight it. Is that right, Tay?

SPEAKER_03

Sure, Dina.

SPEAKER_02

Well, today I have the honor of speaking to Tanisha Matthews. Thank you for pronouncing my name correctly. Absolutely. I believe it. You know, respecting people's names. Yeah. Hi, Tanisha. Hi. Thank you for saying yes to me today. Absolutely. You're welcome. I thought it would be very um great to speak to Tanisha because she does so many cool things. Do I? You don't you?

SPEAKER_01

You do. I was saying recently that I felt like my life was just not interesting. And then one of my friends was like, Are you kidding me? And I was like, What? Because it's normal to me. I've normalized the things that I do.

SPEAKER_02

That is true, but it's something a lot of people don't normalize those things. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

So when she explained it, I was like, okay, let me stop tripping.

SPEAKER_02

And it reminds me of the audacity of a dog, but we're gonna get to that.

SPEAKER_01

We're gonna get to that.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Alrighty. Did you stop me?

SPEAKER_03

Girl, we don't stop nothing over here.

SPEAKER_02

You're right here.

SPEAKER_04

Excuse me. I uh I'm here too. My name is Shamal. Tay's trusty sidekick. Clearly, I'm not Dina's.

SPEAKER_03

So we're both here behind the camera. So what we want to do is welcome y'all back to another episode of Creative Roots Podcast where C Song become visions grown. I am your host on the back side today. I am Tay. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_02

Hit the other tagline. And I'm Dina, the trusty sidekick. And what about the Charlotte Podcast? Blah, blah, blah. You do that.

SPEAKER_04

I was waiting on Shamar.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04

Oh. Oh, again, I'm Shamar Tay's trusty sidekick. We've been introducing ourselves. Yes, clearly. And I would like to give a shout out to Alan Love Studios. I'd like to thank us. Give a shout out to Charlotte Podcast Studio. I would like to thank us. And give a shout out to Artbox Charlotte, baby.

SPEAKER_02

I would definitely like to thank us.

SPEAKER_03

Definitely. On that one. But anywho.

SPEAKER_02

However, yes. So Tanisha, we're going to start from the beginning. You're one of Charlotte's own. I call you a unicorn. You don't meet too many Charlatans. I actually am a fake Charlatan.

SPEAKER_01

Really? Because I was born in Monroe, North Carolina. Okay. But I moved here when I was probably like 11 or 12. Okay. So yeah, I've been here long enough to claim it. And Monroe was right down the street. So.

SPEAKER_02

Exactly. So how did your creative world start? Let's start from the beginning.

SPEAKER_01

I think I was born creative. Yes. Well, I think all of us are born creative. I feel like we're co-creators. Like God put us on this earth to create things, to make things. Yeah. And every single thing that you look at every single day was once an idea. Somebody had to create it. These microphones, these chairs, these tables, it was an idea in somebody's mind before it became something.

SPEAKER_02

That is true.

SPEAKER_01

And it's all about how we choose to create whatever it is we're going to create. I feel like we're we all have the ability to be creatives. That is true.

SPEAKER_02

I like that. So how did you start your creative journey? Did you realize it like when you were a child, or did that come to you as a teenager?

SPEAKER_01

Or I I would say probably as a child, I like to draw a lot. You know, I used to have the ads in the magazine, draw to go into drawing school. I mean, I never did that, but I like to just draw when I was young. Okay. And I would enter like a lot of art contests. I was also very much into writing. So as soon as I was able to write for like my school magazine or whatever. What do you call it? The school. Was it a magazine?

SPEAKER_02

It was well, I'm from the country. We didn't have magazines like the paper.

SPEAKER_01

The paper magazine. You know, you get older, words start leaving you. I know. So the school paper, I was into journalism and all those types of things. So that was kind of how I got started and noticed that I was creative in some ways.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, that's great. And I guess as we get older, we realize those things we did as a child. Absolutely. I think that's like a beautiful thing about getting older. You start going back to the like simple things.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Yeah. I am all about the simple things. One of my friends, she's probably like in her 40s, and she was like, I love the fact that you have the wisdom of a 50-year-old, but you have the curiosity of a child. Oh, and I do. I like that about me. Like I'm very curious. I'm like, oh, like, how does that work? Like, what are we doing? And like you said, when you get older, you do start to go back to the simplicity things. Like, I grew up going to the to my grandparents' farm in the summers, like riding horses bareback. Yeah. Making mud pies. We stayed in a tree.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

We stayed in a tree.

SPEAKER_02

So those tell that story.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Scars all over our legs. But think about it. We were just so much active, so much more active back there. We were so much more creative. Because when grandma said go outside and you can't come back in, letting out my good air. That's right. You had to figure out ways to entertain yourself outside.

SPEAKER_02

And use your imagination. Exactly. And you and it's funny because I went one day this week I told one of my co-workers, I said, you know, I have this ideal. I want to finger paint. I haven't heard people talk about finger painting in years, but somehow I was like, you know, when we were kids, it was so relaxing. Yes. So I'm going to buy the materials. I love that.

SPEAKER_01

And I was thinking about it the other day. It's funny that you said that because for Mother's Day, I made my mother a Mother's Day card. Oh, and I wanted to do finger paints, but I didn't. I forgot to go buy some. So I just took some pens and drew some stuff on each.

SPEAKER_02

I love those types of gifts. Absolutely. I mean, they liked it.

SPEAKER_01

She liked it when I was a kid, so hopefully she still likes it.

SPEAKER_02

She should. Look, all the hit, all the man-made cards start sounding alike anyway. So, like, put your spin to or something. Absolutely. And mothers are great because they love anything we present to them.

SPEAKER_01

So that's the good thing about it. My mama should really love me because I made her go viral on Mother's Day.

SPEAKER_02

You know, I vaguely saw that, but I didn't click on it.

SPEAKER_01

So what happened? I post I sub I went to her church and surprised her, and I recorded it. And she started crying, which really threw me for a loop. Because my mama she be kind of thug life. But I guess as she's getting older, she getting soft. And so I wasn't gonna post it, but I'm also the type of person because I am creative, I listen to my intuition. I listen to God, and I kept hearing like just post it, just post it. And I was like, Well, she might be mad because she on here crying and all the things, but I posted it. Yes, and it just started going and going and going. It was like at 150,000, 250, and this kept going. I was like, Ma, you're going viral. And she was like, Stop playing. I was like, No, oh yeah, and now she's at like 1.6 million views.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, so I have to click on it. I was on the cruise last week, so like when I would get Wi-Fi, I saw it, but I didn't get to click on it, so I'm gonna click on it.

SPEAKER_01

That's so awesome. Now we just need Jennifer Hudson to see it.

SPEAKER_02

She's gonna see it or or somebody just as good as Jennifer. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, that's so good. Yeah, I love that. Thank you. I first I first learned about you. I moved in Charlotte, what, in 1999? And so you were really big in the natural hair community. Because I was one of those first people to go natural, and you know, it was hard to like find a natural stylist. Yeah, so I remember that. How was your hair journey? Like, you know.

SPEAKER_01

So the hair journey was like very, very interesting because it's one of them things where I never like to do hair. I never like to do my own hair. I never grew up wanting to do hair. And I know a lot of stylists like they like to do their baby dolls' hairs, their Barbies, and all I was never that person. That is never that person. And so how I ended up doing that is kind of like to me the basis of like my life story in general. Yeah. Um I'm gonna have to cut this part out. I need some tissue. My nose is running, and I don't want to have snots all on camera. Chris, I got some tissue in my bag.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, we have some right here. Okay. You have to edit. Sorry. They gave me time to pull my the three questions.

SPEAKER_03

So, Tanisha, I guess what didn't happen was she didn't explain to you that Tay don't edit. Well, you know, it's a person everything. No, but it's fine. I'll just I'll cut this out.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. If not, you can put me on camera uh wiping my nose, but you won't be the first, honestly.

SPEAKER_03

But I'll I'll cut this out.

SPEAKER_02

We told you it was gonna be great today. You didn't.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, huh? Does it say 111? 117. Okay, all right. Um, okay, so where were we? I'm sorry. That's okay. Uh the hair journey. Okay. So to me, how I got into natural hair and being on the hair journey was kind of like the the backdrop for my life story. Because at the time, I had just gone through really, a really bad point in my life. I was severely depressed. I was suicidal, and through a wonderful series of events, I was able to get help. And so I had went, I was inpatient in the hospital for probably about two to three weeks, and then I was in intensive therapy. And my mother had just gotten a brand new Evalon, and it was only like two or three in the city at the time, and somebody stole her car. Wow. And so at the time on WPEG, you could call in and just say, like, whatever, give a shout out, or talk about anything you wanted to talk about. And so I went on the radio and I was like, somebody stole my mama's car. I know y'all have seen it out here somewhere. Like, if you see it, call the police. And one of my friends, who is actually one of my brother's former girlfriends, I have this habit of becoming friends with my brother's former girlfriend. We all do that. And she heard me on the radio. And when she heard me on the radio, she went to my mom's house to look for me to get my phone number. And my mom was like, Oh, I'll give you her number. And so she gave her my number, and me and her could reconnect her. Her name was Gia. She unfortunately passed a few years ago. Yeah. And so me and Gia started hanging out, and Gia was doing natural hair at the time. And she was like, I'm gonna teach you how to do hair. And I was like, I don't want to do that. I don't like doing hair, I don't even like doing my own hair. And she was like, Well, okay. So I just would watch her doing hair. I would take her to house calls and she would be doing people's hair. And I thought it was just so interesting. Yeah, and I was like, Well, maybe I'll try it. And so I asked my brother if he would grow his hair out so he could like be my test dummy. Great brother. And he agreed to do so. And so that's how I learned to do natural hair. I would do like the twist on him, and then it grew out a little bit longer. I would do the two-strand twist, and then eventually we went to locks. So from watching her and practicing on my own, I kind of self-taught my my self-taught myself to do hair. And once I started doing it, I loved it. I was like, this, it felt like a ministry. Like it just felt like something that I was created to do. Yeah. And it grew from there. Like we started the first salon, and then that blew up. Like we were on the Steve Harvey show, we won all these awards and did all of these things. And then um, I decided to part ways with my first business partner, and then we opened a second salon. Me and my best friend Kelly, we opened Revolution Ego and the same thing. It was a very successful salon. We were very focused on community and creatives in the community, and we wanted to give space for people to be creative and talk about what they did and give them opportunities that they may not have had in any other way. Like our salon was an art gallery.

SPEAKER_02

It was, it was an art gallery.

SPEAKER_01

It definitely was, and we very much focused on local artists who would maybe never got to show their art or their work to anybody, and they got space on our walls for free, and people could come and buy their artwork.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, I did not know that. It was free. Yeah, it was free. That was real and two things I got from this conversation. This is the second time since we've sat down that you talked about listening, and when you listen, how good things come about. So I think that's a good lesson for you know the audience for those of us that don't listen. Yes, you know what I'm saying? So, and I also think it became your therapy, absolutely, yeah. So I think being a creative sometimes does it it provides, you know, therapy as an outlet.

SPEAKER_01

So I think that's very beautiful, and then also like when you're doing stuff like that, I think the part about doing hair that I love the most was it's an outer appearance when we talk about hair. And you know, during the the 90s, it was very hard for women to go natural. It really was because of the stigmas associated with it, and so it was very easy for me to do hair and make it beautiful, but the hard work was more about helping these women to see themselves the way that I saw them, the way that we saw them, yeah, helping them to understand that how you are is enough and that society has convinced you that your hair is not beautiful, that you're not beautiful, that you have to be a certain way and that you have to show up a certain way. And I loved the aha moments of women really embracing that. Yeah. Especially women who at the time worked in corporate, and they would always come in and say, Well, I don't know if it's gonna be professional. And I'm like, Yeah, what's professional? Yeah, who gave you the idea of what professional is? Absolutely, and I love that now we're in a space and time where people are really going against the the quote unquote norms of what it's supposed to be like. People are stepping into a more authentic version of themselves, learning to show up as themselves and not and stop pretending. Exactly. Exactly. We all gonna die, we are so why not live to the fullest and live your life as authentically as you can until you leave the city, and beautifully, because I always think uh especially old, I see a lot of older women, they cut their hair really, really short.

SPEAKER_02

And I think it's so I even when I was young, I just thought it was so empowering, you know what I'm saying? Like to be bold enough to just let it all go. You can't hide behind it, it actually enhances a woman's beauty to me.

SPEAKER_01

Even when I went natural, like what you're saying, and it does something to you inside your body. It does. When I went natural, I remember I went to No Grease Barbershop and Jermaine was cutting my hair, and I had a relaxer. My hair was like long, yeah, and I was like, I want to go natural. And he was like, You know that means I'm gonna cut all your hair off, right? And I was like, Yeah, yeah, and he cut it off, and I never looked back. And I love a shaved haircut, yes, I'm letting it grow out right now, but normally, like, it's yeah, I'm all about shaving it.

SPEAKER_02

I did it once and dyed it blonde, like blonder than you can't tell me anything.

SPEAKER_01

I was gonna say, how did it make you feel?

SPEAKER_02

You can't tell me anything, it's so liberating, but yeah, like I was walking, I was stepping high, like yeah, but I I grew it out. I want to get back to it as I get older, yeah, for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_01

It takes away all of the other stuff. It does. Because it's like you don't have to do hair now, and people can see you, they can, they can really see you, they absolutely and you have to show yourself who you are too.

SPEAKER_02

So I love that. One thing I loved about your space, you you were right, you did um, you all did build a sense of community. I thought that was beautiful because anytime you poke you all did anything, I tried to, you know, I try to pivot um tiptoe in the meditation. Yeah, the meditation was just I think I think that you all actually introduced me to meditation. I think that was my first time doing meditation. Oh, that's that's with you all, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it's you know, even when you're talking about meditation, people don't understand the power of meditation. Like it's so integral to our lives, and we have been taught that we gotta be busy all the time. Yes, we gotta have all this noise, yeah. Our nervous systems are jacked up because we're just constantly in fight or flight. Yes, and meditation takes you out of that, but that's why it's hard for a lot of people to meditate. Yeah, because they can't sit with themselves, stay quiet, they can't be still.

SPEAKER_02

And yeah, I'm trying to get back to that. I became that person, yeah. Like it's and I find that I don't function well when I don't stop to have that quiet time. And I know Kelly was doing yoga on Sundays, yes. So, yeah, so that from you all, I learned to, you know, pause.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And really, and I find that I need to get back to it right now because I'm just off, you know. But when I'm quiet, like you said, I can hear, I can hear better, and I can perform better. That part. So yeah, so you all were very, very important to the community.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's just about listening. Once again, we go back to listening because you have to listen to yourself, you have to listen to your intuition, to the things that are going on around you, and everything that is not putting you on the path of where you're destined to go. It's just a distraction. It is, and they want to distract us, they want us to be distracted, they don't want us to tap into our authentic selves.

SPEAKER_02

I say that about this 40-hour work week. That is true. The more the older I get, I keep reading into it, it really sets us back because you have two days to do what you want to do or need to do, and it's really one day, you know what I'm saying? And then the second day, you kind of have anxiety about starting Monday over. I hopefully I could bring that up now with your journey. I love that about you too. That you slowed your life down and you listened again. Yeah. So you want to tell that journey?

SPEAKER_01

Um, so I was we had the second salon and everything was going well with the second salon. But when me and Kelly opened the second salon, we made an agreement that if either one of us ever wanted out, that we would have a conversation about it and we would figure it out. And so it started happening slowly. I started hearing like there's something else or something else, but I'm like, I love this work, I love what I do. I don't know what else is out there. I just couldn't see past what was happening in the moment. But I just I kept hearing it and I was like, okay, I'm gonna have to do something. And so I had a conversation with Kelly, and it's like we were finishing each other's sentences, so I was kind of like, girl, uh, and I was like, I don't know if I want to keep doing this. And she was like, Okay, good, because I feel the same way. Oh yeah, so we were both kind of in the same space, and she wanted to lean more into her yoga practice and doing yoga, and I had no idea what I wanted to do because I had been in the natural hair care industry at this point for like 20 close to 25 years, and that was my identity. Yeah, that was who I was. People knew me. Uh, people would stop me all the time in the streets, you know. And I had I started in my house. I had a salon in my house, and then it grew into everything that it was, and just being in the community in that space, I didn't know what it was gonna look like. I was very afraid, and I was retiring, but I didn't have like any retirement fund. I didn't have any money. I was like, I don't know what this is gonna look like or how it's gonna be. But I also knew if I stayed in that space, I was gonna go back to the depressed version of me, the sad version of me, and I didn't want to do that. So I was like, well, what can I do? And at the time I really was in a space of where I wanted to leave the US because even you talking about the 40-hour work week, like we're one of the few countries where we're just like, go, go, go, go, go, grind, grind, grind. We don't, don't stop, don't stop, hustle, hustle, hustle, get it. And that just didn't feel good to me. And so I was like, well, if I go to another country, I'll be able to slow down and have this life that I'm looking for. So I was like, well, how can I do that? And so I was thinking about the logical ways. Okay. Well, maybe I'll get a job at some corporation that has uh headquarters in a different country, and then I can go there on a work visa. So I was thinking of it from that standpoint. So I went back to school because I dropped out of college twice, two or three times, went to beauty college, dropped out of beauty college. So I was a multi-dropout girl. College dropout Kanye. Yes, I was Kanye times three, four. And so I was like, well, maybe I'll go back to school and get a degree. So that's what I did. I went back to school. It was different this time. I was in a different headspace. I loved it. I was, you know, in the dean's list, the president's list, all of this was still in my perfectionist mode because I just felt like I had to do the best I could do in school, even though who was it for? Like it didn't make any sense. But that's the headspace I was in. So I ended up getting a degree in international business, and then from there, I ended up going into some corporate spaces. I worked For one of my girlfriends who had an accounting firm. And I always laughed because I'm like, you went from doing hair to working in the county? Like it's so total opposite. But I enjoyed that working in the accounting firm. I learned a lot. And then from there, I ended up working at Vanguard, being also in the corporate space. And I remember one day I was sitting at my desk at Vanguard and somebody walked by and they came and introduced themselves. And they was like, Oh, well, who do you work for? And I told them my boss's name. And she was like, Oh, that makes sense because nobody else would have hired somebody with all those tattoos on their neck. And I was like, I forgot I had tattoos on my neck. I never noticed your tattoos. Like, really? That's what we're focusing on. Right. I had our own naked tattoos. I was like, oh, that's interesting. But I didn't think anything else about it because I was just like, in my mind, I was like, oh, that's a shame that that's what you're focused on. Like, there's so much beauty in the world. Yeah. And so from there, after I started working at Vanguard, I ended up getting this other position working for this art gallery as an executive assistant. And I was like, oh my God, like this is like the best of both worlds. I get to work for art gallery, executive assistant. It was work from home. So I didn't have to do anything, but it was in New York. So I was like, oh, this is like amazing. And the salary, it was a six-figure salary. Like, I was like, they they about to pay me to do nothing. But I'm gonna take their money. Yes. And so I took the job and I got laid off in 30 days. Wow. And I was like, oh, so of course, immediately I was sad. And even the day the lady let me go, she was like, You're amazing. I gave you all these projects. You've done them, you've done them amazingly, da-da-da. But I just decided to go a different route. And so initially I was mad because I was like, dang, like that money was about to give me what I needed in this life. Yes. But at the same time, I was like, God does not make mistakes. And perhaps this is not where I'm supposed to be. Maybe this is blocking me from the things that I'm being called to do. Yeah. And so I just took it gracefully, and from there I became an unemployed, soft life girl. And I was like, I'm gonna trust God to make sure I get everything that I need to have. I'm gonna bring to him the desires of my heart, and then I'm gonna watch the magic happen. Yes. And that's what's been happening.

SPEAKER_02

Happening. Yes. I love that. It's the audacity of a dog. But we're gonna get to that. You know, a lot of a lot of us talk about like, you know, like believing and having this great faith. Yeah. But a lot of us don't do it because it's hard, you know what I'm saying, to go to us from a salary to not having a salary. Yeah. But you are a great example of how it still works out, you know?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and you know, saying it sounds easy and it sounds like, oh, people wish they could do that, but you do have to have a lot of faith and you have to practice that faith faith on a consistent basis. I would never tell anybody just to go out here and quit your job, even though I know that could be the best thing for them. Yeah. Because I understand also the logic that it takes to have to process through that. And you do have bills to pay and you have things that you have to take care of. But on the other side of it, I did the things to prepare me for that life. I started downsizing. Yeah. I was like, okay, I don't need this. I had from when I worked at the salon, designer handbags, designer shoes, designer glass. Like I had so many sunglasses, it was ridiculous. I sold all of that because I was like, this is a way for me to generate some income. Yeah. And so I sold all of those things and I started downsizing and preparing. I even moved back home because I was like, I'm not trying to pay a whole bunch of rent. Now, let's be clear. My mama, she's gonna charge some rent. She's not gonna live there for free. But I was like, how can I have the life that I want in a way that makes it easier for me? And so I took those act, those actions, and those steps to be able to do it. But above all things, I really walk in my faith. Like, and I have so many stories and so many miracles that happen, and I started writing them down. Like I have a list in my phone called My Wins because I don't ever want to forget the things that have happened, how God has shown up for me. And that's what keeps me going. Yeah. And I'm talking about crazy, crazy stories. One of the main stories that's coming to mind to me right now is like one time I remember I had like I don't even know, I don't know the number, five, six, seven dollars in my account, in my bank account. And one of my friends called me and she was like, What are you doing on Friday? And I was like, Nothing, I don't have any plans. And she was like, I figure because you're the kind of person that is free spirited. And she was like, Well, do you want to go to Africa? I'm going to Morocco. And I was like, Morocco. And in my mind, I was like, I do not have any money. Why is she calling me, asking me to go to Morocco? And she was like, and don't worry about it. I'm gonna pay for the trip because it's it's a company, it's a business trip. So here I was in Morocco, living my best life, hotel, food, all the things because I listened and I trusted. And even when we got there, she said, I knew you were the one friend I could call that wouldn't have to be like, oh, well, let me look at this, let me think about this. I knew you would immediately say no.

SPEAKER_02

Right. Right.

SPEAKER_01

So that happens to me on a consistent basis. And I loved it.

SPEAKER_02

I loved it. I think if a lot of us slow down, we could see that. But again, we're going so fast that we sometimes can't see it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

We can't see it. And I love that for you.

SPEAKER_01

And it's all about knowing yourself too. You like you gotta know yourself who you are. You gotta look at all the aspects of who you are as a person. I remember I'm I was married and I got divorced. And I remember after I got divorced, I sat down and I said to myself, like, what did you do in this relationship that could have been different?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Like, what did you bring to the table? How did you contribute to the downfall of this relationship? And a lot of us don't want to do that. We want to blame the other person. We want to say it's their fault. And I never really talked about the details of it because I didn't feel like it needed to be said. It's like this is a time for me to self-reflect on what happened and figure out what I did in the relationship when I get into the next relationship, what I would do differently. And so I constantly spend time looking at me, asking myself questions, asking myself hard questions, looking at how I view life, how I show up in life, how I talk to people. I used to be the person that wanted to fix everything, especially from doing hair. People come, they tell you their problems. You'd be like, oh, well, what about this? So I was always the person that like had a quick answer. And then when I started looking at myself, I was like, you're not benefiting the other person by constantly giving them solutions. It's better if you help them to see their selves. Yeah. So now when people come to me, I'll ask them questions, or I like to just give them a different perspective than what they can see that's right there. Right. Because we also don't do that. We look at things from one view, our view, we try to understand that only from our view and from our past and from our experiences, but everybody's different. Yeah. And everybody's has different life experiences. So you can only assess situations based on what you've experienced.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so I try to come outside of that and look at it from maybe different angles. Like if somebody's, if you go to the grocery store and the lady at the cash register is mean to you, instead of you taking it personally and thinking like, oh, like she's mean to me, I look at it like maybe she's being abused at home. Yes. Maybe she doesn't know how she's gonna pay her rent. Maybe she had a bad day. Maybe she did. Maybe she just lost her spouse. Yeah. Maybe one of her kids is sick. And it helps you to soften. It doesn't make you move through the world in such a way that's like harsh and feeling like you're the victim at all times. That's true.

SPEAKER_02

I just had this conversation with somebody else about road rage. I I want to say it was my nephew, maybe, and he's cursing and he's yelling. And I said, Well, you don't know that lady, she may not have any other means of transportation. She doesn't have family. You know, she's older. I said you have to, she could have been in an accident. This was her first time driving. You know what I'm saying? So you have to kind of just be patient. You're gonna get home. You know what I'm saying? But you want to get home in one piece, but don't make somebody else's nerves worse. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. So you definitely have to look at the world in more than one way. And have compassion for people. That part.

SPEAKER_01

It's a lot going on right now. It is, and you don't know how it's affecting people. So when you learn to have compassion for people, have empathy for people, then it shifts how you move in the world and how you show up in the world. Right. I remember one day, I think I had told y'all the story at one of the T's when I had gone to the grocery store and I was buying a pineapple. And it was an older lady ringing me out at the register, and she was like, Hey baby, I was like, Hey, she was like, Can I ask you a question? And I was like, sure. And she was like, What is this? And in my mind, I was like, What is what? Because I was like, I only had one thing, right? And I was like, Oh, this, I said it's a pineapple, and she was like, A pineapple? And I said, Yeah, and she was like, I only ever seen it in a can. Oh, and I was like, Wow. Oh, yeah. And so she said, I've been working here for a while. I see a lot of people with it, but I never felt like I could ask anybody, and I felt comfortable asking you. And I said, Well, thank you for asking me. And she said, Well, how do they get it from that into the can? Oh, and then I explained to her, yeah. Now, other people would have probably just been like, whatever. They probably would have been mad at the lady, like, why she working here and she don't know what a pineapple is and all these kinds of things. But for me, it was like twofold because it gave me an opportunity to show up for her and be a safe space for her, yeah. And then it gave her an opportunity to learn something that she didn't know, and then it made me feel like I always walk in gratitude, but it gave me an even more, a larger sense of gratitude for the fact that I know what a pineapple is, and you know what it tastes like.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, you know how to cut it, yeah, you know what I'm saying? She could have grew up in foster care. It's it's a thousand things that could have been her, you know, situation, but to have compassion, the world would be a better place with the compassion, it really would. Yeah, and goes back, it goes back to a story I had in the grocery store. There was a young kid, and he was when I tell you I walked up, I said hi. He didn't say anything. His face was a frowned up, was tight, and he never said anything to me. And I kept looking at him. And there was a time I would get mad about that. I'm like, You ignoring me? Like, do you not hear me talking to you? Right, do you not know who I am? Yeah, exactly. But at the end, I said, you know, I hope your day gets better. And it was kind of like this happened to him, and you could see his face. He said, Huh? I said, I hope your day gets better because it looks like you're having a rough day. But I really hope. And it's he said, Yeah, then it was like, Yes, ma'am, thank you, ma'am. And I'm like, Oh, when I got outside, I was like, Oh, you never know what other people are going through. You know, we always go to the negative sometimes. That's another thing. So society, you know, they always pull out the negative things, absolutely, and they don't say these things that could be going on anywhere. So, yeah, I like that. That's a good lesson. Yeah, that was a good story. That was a good lesson. That was a good lesson.

SPEAKER_01

So, so now we're having tea with Tanisha. Yes, so I wanted to figure out a way where I could bring back community because you know, during COVID, all of us were in the house, we were by ourselves, and for a lot of people, that was very uncomfortable. And for some of us who are really introverts and we act like we're extroverts, it was a really good time because it's like I just get to be in the house and I get to be chilling. You're right. And so since then, I think it's been very hard for people to connect with each other and to have community and show up for one another. And I wanted to create a space like that, so that's why I created Tea with Tinesha, just a space for women to come together and just talk about real life things and also for me to implement some of the things that we used to do in the salon, like teaching women about how to meditate, ways to breathe. Because breath work is so powerful, it helps to calm the nervous system, it helps to really make you less stressed, have less anxiety. And breath is the one thing that is free. And we take it for granted. We do. But without it, we can't live.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And so if we spend a little bit more time in the space of breathing, breathing deeply to calm our nervous system, it's just gonna make our days better. But I know a lot of women don't have access to that information, they don't understand breath work, they don't know anything about it. A lot of women don't. They just go through and they don't even understand that they're not even breathing. Because a lot of us, when we're in fight or flight, we're holding our breath. We're holding our breath, yeah. Yeah. And we don't even know that we're holding our breath. Yeah. And so I wanted to bring awareness to that. The idea came about because I decided to join a meditation cohort from this gentleman and the things that he taught me. It's like I had been through therapy, I had learned all about myself, I knew all these things, but understanding the nervous system and how the nervous system works, like that was that was to me like the icing on the cake of all the other things that I had learned. And so from me learning about the nervous system from him, and I'm like, now I've had all of these experiences yoga, meditation, therapy, all these things, and I'm just learning about the nervous system. Like, I want to be able to help other people know about this too. Right. So that's how I learned about it and why I decided to have tea with Tanisha to implement those things, just a space for women to be able to show up as themselves and have other women who understand what they're going through and who can feel vulnerable.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I'm glad, I'm happy that you make that accessible. I not to badmouth the church, but you know, I think as women, we learn about the scriptures, but we don't learn how to really rest, although it's in the Bible a lot to rest. We don't learn to breathe, and it's in the Bible about breathe and breath. I don't, so yeah, I think it's a little deeper. We have to go a little deeper in order to find like some peace. I guess that's the word. So I love that you're making that accessible, and for some women, opening their their view to something outside of what they know. You know, and I signed up for what was it, your second tea, I think. And it was really, really great. I'm always nervous about going into places where I don't know anybody. Yeah. But I also challenge myself to go into places where I don't know anybody too.

SPEAKER_01

And I think that's the beauty of it because a lot of the women that come don't know anybody else that's gonna be there. They never experience anything like that. They don't know what to expect. Like I've had a couple of women, their friends like gifted them the ability to come and they're like, I didn't even know what I was coming to. I just was like, I'm gonna go and hopefully she ain't gonna kill me and all these kinds of things. Yeah. But I like that. Like, I like people who give themselves permission to do something different and to show up in an environment just like I'm gonna try this and see what happens. Yeah, a safe environment. A safe environment. Yeah. And because I I know the power in what it is we're doing, and I see the changes that happen. Like one of the women, she has changed her life significantly just from coming to the T. Like it, she sends me messages. Um, she revealed at the time that she was a hoarder and that she had never told anybody that she was, and she has since like started cleaning up and sending me pictures of stuff she's getting rid of. And that's yes, why I do the work. I'm glad you listen. I'm glad you listen. That's what like really lights my heart up. And I do want to make it accessible for people. It's like, yeah, we live in a world now where you have to have money to be able to do things, and at the same time, I trust that God will provide for me in the ways that I need to be provided for. So it's like I kind of do the opposite of what other people do because it's like high ticket, charge this, do this, do this. And yes, that's good for who it's good for. But for me, I also want people to be able to have access to something and the money not be a barrier to it because I understand the power in it. And it's one of the things that Kelly taught me. And sometimes people don't have the monetary means to do things currently, and it's even been me where I wanted to be a part of something and I didn't have the monetary means to do it, but somebody gave me the opportunity, and I use that opportunity to do something else, and you always get paid back for it. You may not get paid back from the person you gave it to, always, but you're always gonna get a blessing from it, always, and that's how I see it. I even think about you talking about not bad, not bad, mal in the church. We're not gonna do that, but even if you are a person that goes to church, if you look at Jesus' life and you look at it closely, and you live even just based on some of that, it's gonna shift how you are. Like Jesus was a regular person, and he wasn't out here just being like, Oh, I'm holier than now, I'm Jesus. You you can't rock with me because I'm Jesus. No, he was like out with the people, that's right, helping the people that needed to be helped, giving them information, teaching them things. And Jesus talked in parables, so a lot of people didn't understand what he was saying. Yeah, but at the same time, if you sit down and you listen and you close your eyes, you're gonna hear it because you're listening with your soul. That's right, not with your ears. Yes, right. And I think that's what a lot of people miss too. It's like people are just talking, and our attention spans with social media have gotten so much shorter. So bad. So it's like you can't even get what you need because your attention span is so short. And so sometimes I'll still just say stuff even though I know people aren't gonna get it because I'm like, I'm not talking to them, I'm talking to their soul. Yeah. And one day they're gonna be somewhere and they're it's gonna click for them. It's gonna click for them. And so I love that. I love that part of the work.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, one thing I've learned at uh the T is to have the audacity of a dog. That's why I've said it a few times while we were sitting here. I've been saying it, Tanisha. I don't know if you realize it because it's so freaking simple. It's so simple. So simple. But I want you to tell the people what you're doing.

SPEAKER_01

I'm gonna tell the story of that. I want to tell y'all about that, but I want to talk about this first when you said it's so simple. Because this morning I was in the shower and I pray in the shower because the water, I think water is sacred. People don't understand that. Uh, for people who do go to church, you get baptized under water. Like there's water in so many different ways. Water is so powerful. They they show the power of speaking to water, putting it under a microscope, and seeing how the water reacts. Yeah, and so I got to the space where I pray in the shower, and my mama says she was gonna raise my rent because the water bill is getting high, but she's gonna have to raise my rent because I'm gonna take me some showers. Yeah. And I get in there, the first thing I do is I give gratitude. And then after I give gratitude, I confirm. I don't beg, I don't ask, I confirm, and I ask the only thing I do ask for is guidance. Guide me in the direction that you want me to go so that I can meet the people that I'm supposed to meet that are gonna help me get where I'm supposed to go. Right. That's how I maneuver through it. And so when I was talking about having the audacity of a dog, it's like when you have a dog, pets in general, your pets don't have to ask you for anything. Your pets show up expecting that you're gonna take care of them. Yeah, demanding that you're gonna take care of them. And not only do you just take care of them, you bathe them, you feed them, you buy them clothes, you get them a little car seat, you do all these things, they can't even talk. But they're there for you, they're your companion, they're there to give you love and joy. And I feel like if we have that same audacity when it comes to God, it makes our lives better.

SPEAKER_02

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

So that's how I move through life. Like I have the audacity to be like God, I know you're gonna take care of me. You've shown it to me and you said it. Yeah, and so I'm gonna act like I know it to be true. And if more people did it, yes.

SPEAKER_02

So, uh, so you all need to sign up for T with Tanisha because I'm telling you, I carried it through life and I know to like believe, believe, believe, but to break it down to the audacity of a dog. Now, every time I see a dog, I'm like, oh, I wish I had the dog maneuvers. I'm like, somebody pick your poop up. Like all the days. Yeah, I'm like, this is what God does for me all day, every day. He picks my poop up. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? When I wake up and he hugs me, he feeds me. Cause like you went, it goes back to something you said. It was a lot of days I should have been hungry, and I never told anybody, but I didn't, you know what I'm saying? But that was the audacity of a dog, you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_01

You're going to be provided for. Oh, and I was saying earlier when you were talking about simplicity, like, it's like I was I was got off sidetracked about the shower, but in the shower, the message that I got this morning was people ask me all the time, like, how can I live life the way that you do? And I tell them, but they don't believe it because it's so simple. And we have been conditioned to normalize complexity. Yes. To normalize overcomplicating things. And it's not very simple. That hard.

SPEAKER_02

It's so simple. It's so simple. And with you in the water, it's me in the beach. Like if I don't go to the beach every few months, it's like I'm just like, you know what I'm saying? So it's like it's the beach that brings it back to me. The beach is where I talk to God anyway. But I really like, and I come back, I have all kinds of ideals. I have these journal entries, and the water is powerful. Even when we cry, I think you talked about that at the T. Yeah. The cleansing of the tears.

SPEAKER_01

The cleansing of it. Yeah. You know, when I when I I wrote this article the other couple of weeks ago, I think it was about how I found God in the shower, which is why I pray in the shower. And it's the same thing because I was in the shower and I was like, it was actually I was in the mental health facility after my depression, and I was taking a shower and I was just crying and crying, but I was standing under that water and I was like, God, I don't want to feel this pain anymore. I want something different. And I know that you can help me do it. I need you because I can't do it on my own. And if you help me through this, then I'm gonna do whatever it is you want me to do.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And sometimes I be mad I made that agreement because he holds you to it. He holds me to it. And I'll be like, I don't want to do that. I get messages that I have to give to people. I don't want to give them those messages. But because I made that agreement, I have to do it. I have to risk looking a certain way, looking crazy, or people like thinking a certain way about me. But I'm willing to do it. I'm willing to do it. And so the release of the tears, it's like especially as women of color, it's like black women, we've had to carry so much. Yeah, we've had to carry so much. And a lot of our mothers never have the luxury of crying. Yeah, of expressing themselves. They never had the luxury of it because they had to make sure their kids was good. If they were married, their husband was good, and they carry the weight of all these things. But it's like if you just sit down and cry sometimes, it just releases so much from your body. It helps your nervous system to calm down, it just relaxes you.

SPEAKER_02

I would like to think we release now for our mothers and the mother, mothers. You know how they say the body keeps the score. I'll I sometimes I could cry out of nowhere. I'm like, oh, I'm so happy, but why am I crying? But sometimes I think about it. I said, maybe I'm releasing for all the people that came before me that could not release it. So, you know, I've I I don't run from the tears.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, you can't talk about that, talk about that, like the generations because it's yeah, it's deep, and we carry all of that ancestral DNA within us of the things that people endure before us. And I remember when I was a little girl, like I was a crybaby because I didn't know how to express my emotions. Yeah, so if I was sad, mad, angry, I didn't know one emotion from the next. So I just was would cry. And my mom and my brother used to always be like, Oh my god, you're such a crybaby. And I had such shame about being crying. Yeah, I would go in the closet and cry because I didn't want anybody to see me because there's so much shame. And so then it's like as I got older, being able to cry in front of somebody and being able to cry, like you say, even tears of joy, because it's like now that's what I cry. It's like I cry tears of joy because I don't really have much to be sad about. No, so I will cry tears of joy and I do it in a way where it does feel like a release. Yeah. And I was so glad that I was able to move past the stigma associated with that, and to even understand my emotions. From me being in my meditation mentorship, my teacher taught us about like the organs and the emotions that each organs carries and how we don't just digest food with our organs, we digest our emotions. Yes, and I remember the first day, it was probably like 2025, if I'm keeping it real, where I was angry and I could identify that it was anger. And then I was so happy, like, I'm so mad, I'm pissed off. But I was happy because it's like, wow, like you can you know exactly what that emotion is.

SPEAKER_02

So I just learned that about the hips. Yeah, so now when my hips get tight, I'm like, oh yeah, okay, let me get myself together. Trauma in the hips. Yep, the trauma in the hips. I'm like, it's the body is so fascinating.

SPEAKER_01

Like you said, the body keeps the score, like the whole book is so deep because it does. It's like you can gloss over whatever it is you want to gloss over, but your body knows your body knows you're gonna have joint issues, you're gonna have hip pain, you're gonna have back pain. Yep, you're gonna have cancer, all of the things because a lot of that is just your emotions piling up and tightening up.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. So uh something you just said, you were a crier as a child. I was a fighter. So there was shame and fighting too.

SPEAKER_01

My mom was a fighter, which is why I was a crier. Well, all of my mom and all my aunts were fighters, so I were growing up. I was like, I am never gonna fight anybody, I'm not gonna be that person. I get it. I have never had a fight. Oh gosh, you were like my sister. My brother, me and my brother used to fight.

SPEAKER_02

That's what they're there for, though. You don't know. I didn't fight my brother, I fought my sister. And my sister and my brother fought, but I fought at school, I fought wherever. I was the fighter. And again, it comes to you don't know how to express your emotions. But you know, thank goodness, thank God. We grew up and we became real adults.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

And we're able to look at ourselves and do the research and become better and all those things. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I think another reason why I never became a fighter was because I feel like because I didn't know how to express my emotions, I probably would have got on somebody and not stopped. Murder was the case.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm glad you didn't fight. I'm glad you cried. Yeah, I knew how to pull back sometimes. So yeah, but I was a fighter. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So is there something anything that you want to try now at this stage in your life?

SPEAKER_01

I think at this stage, I'm trying all the things. Like, I just like I one day I'll just wake up and be like, I want to try this, I want to do that. So I feel like I'm doing it, and my creativity kind of goes from one space to the other because it goes from writing. Um, I love to paint. So sometimes I'll paint, I'll paint canvas or I'll paint clothes and bags and things of that sort. Um, so just tapping into all of the ways that I can be creative. The other day I was trying to skip. I was I was trying to remember how to skip.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I heard people say this before.

SPEAKER_01

I was like, maybe go back to that, but I'm gonna have to keep trying.

SPEAKER_02

Well, yeah. It's like riding a bike for some people, their brains can't like function how to pedal. Yeah, so that's fine as long as you try. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

I tried, so I said I'm gonna keep trying that. Um, during the pandemic, I started hula hooping. So I love to hula hoop. I tried to skate, I bought some skates, but I couldn't remember how to skate. My brother was trying to help me, but I was like, this is this.

SPEAKER_02

I remember skate. I can't hula hoop. Oh, okay. And I just bought a new one, that new, that upgraded one with the little the bead that goes around. Oh, I saw that. Oh, I laugh at myself. So I think if nothing else, I get to laugh at myself. I saw that. I have a weighted hula hoop that hurt my bag. I had one of those that one I gave.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I was gifted a weighted hula hoop, and I love my weighted hula hoop. And now I try to, I've been practicing doing it on my vibration plate.

SPEAKER_02

I saw you do that. So it's you already vibrated. I said, Oh my god, you my hero to hula hoop and be on that plate. It's just trying stuff, it's fun, and I love that. And I told my nephew is like, what, 21, 22? So I told him young because nobody told me these things. I said, You don't realize it, but you are a creative. So as you get old, you don't see it now. But I want you to remember as you get older, you're gonna come back to it, and you're gonna find that you need it in order to breathe, in order to live. So I said, just remember that I told you this and know that you can come back to it.

SPEAKER_01

And it's interesting that you said that because even like doing the inner child work, and I think that's what helps to connect the two. Yeah. When you're doing that inner child work and you remember what you're doing, that you remember what you were doing as a child and you start to do it now, yeah, it shifts your life so much. Yes. And I'm in the middle of doing this, uh, another cohort that I have, it's called Reclaim Her. It's a six-week program. And last week we talked about doing the inner child work and doing things that are childlike. And one of the women on there was like, Well, she didn't have a good childhood, and that happens for a lot of us. Yeah, she didn't have the ability to like play and have fun. And I was like, You did some of those things, but somebody told you, No, you shouldn't do that, or no, stop doing that. I said, and even if you don't remember, here's some things you could try. Go get a coloring book, color in the coloring book. Yeah, go get some bubbles, blow some bubbles.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, take your shoes off and just walk in the grass, the dirt or the grass. Yeah, do any of those things. Simple, it's simple, it's very, very simple. It is. But you know, I always love seeing you the things that you do. Thank you. You know, and when I can support, I love to support. So yeah. Yeah, I'm glad that you listen. You listen when the voice, you know, because so many of us benefit from that. So I just want you to know that on the days that you may not feel it, just keep going.

SPEAKER_01

That's what I really try to do, and that's what motivates me because it's like you, I had even left social media because I was like, I don't, I want to just be by myself meditating, chilling, looking, you know, just being in my little happy bubble. I never really know what's going on in the world because I don't watch the news. Me either. I'm like really in a bubble.

SPEAKER_06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And it's like once I started going through my meditation mentorship and just learning more about myself and getting deeper into the work, it's very spiritual work. But what I came out with, I'm still in it, but we're on the end of it. It's like, how can I be in this world, not of this world, but still show people how you can combine the two? Yes. Because it's like you can be super spiritual and you can meditate all day and you could do this and you could do that, but who are you reaching? And I'm like, I'm on the cusp of the two because I love culture, yeah. Like, let's be clear. I love culture, and it's like, how can I be in the culture but not of the culture, but help people to see like you don't have to be niche, right? Because I think that's like the downfall that a lot of us have right now, too. It's like if you're on social media, you gotta have a niche market and you can only post about that thing. And that was getting to be like, I didn't know what I want to talk about because I'm a creative, I like to do and talk about a lot of different things. And so when I left, I was like, I'm not going back to social media, I'm off for good, I don't need that, I'm done with that life. And the same thing, one day I was in the shower, and God was like, You gotta go back on social media. I was like, but I don't want to. And I did it anyway, yeah. And so it's like, once again, I didn't know what I wanted to talk about, what I wanted to post about. And going back to what you said, it was like I did want to talk about wellness, and I wanted to talk about um the things that help make us who we are spirituality, wellness, and mindset. Like those are the things to me that are most important. So it's like, how can I talk about these things, but not in a way where I'm preaching to people? Right, right. Because people don't really want to be preached to. Not most of us. Yeah. They just want to get some information and then maybe be like, oh, okay. So it would be simple things that I would be talking about or posting about on my social media, and people would come in my inbox and be like, oh, thank you for saying that, or thank you for posting it. And I was like, Oh, this is the answer. Like, I'm just gonna just do what I do, and then people will get what they need, or if they come in my inbox and ask me a question or say something, then I'll talk about that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And I didn't want to niche myself in, so that's why, like, what's different about my social media lately is my personality. Like, before I used to feel like I want people to know this, and I'm spiritual and I'm this and that, but I'm funny. I I got some comedy in me. Right. So I was like, how can I combine everything? So now that's what it's about. It's about me going on there, being my silly self, show up as yourself, showing up as myself, being funny, saying stuff, but also teaching people stuff in the process. So that's like what works for me. And even with the video of my mom going viral, it's like a lot of people get on social media, they think about social media content, they want to go viral, they want the likes, they want this, they want that, refreshing every five minutes. And me just posting that one video that I didn't even want to post, it going viral. So then it started to create this audience for me. Like I've gained like 3,000 followers of people that I don't know, but I'm still gonna be me. I'm not gonna change my content just because I have these followers. It's like I'm glad y'all are here, but this is my house. Yeah, and this is what I'm doing in my house. So it's like you have to learn to surrender. You do, yeah. And when you learn to surrender, then you start to get the things that you need. So I'm like, okay, God, I've been saying to you, show me how good it can get. That's my favorite. I always say that. Show me how good it can get. I say it all the time, and then guide me in the direction you want me to go. So God told me to go back to social media. Here I am, and then months later, these people are showing up, and the only thing I can do is feed them. That's right. In whatever way they need to be fed. Like who's gonna whoever's supposed to get it is gonna get it, and the ones that aren't, then you know they'll go where they need to go. But even surrendering into that and relaxing into that and understanding that I came here to serve. I came here to serve. I'm glad you know that.

SPEAKER_02

How can I serve it? You do it well. Thank you. You do it really well, and I appreciate you for sitting down with me today. You're welcome. Yes, thank you. Do you all have any questions behind the desk?

SPEAKER_03

Y'all said a lot, y'all covered a lot. I had a lot. Every time I tried to jump in, y'all just kept talking, so I just left y'all alone. Um I'm trying to remember what it was you said, so I'll come back to that. But Miss Tanisha, everything that you do, Tanisha, do you know how I am with names? My bad. Don't you know?

SPEAKER_01

No, and I'm gonna tell you why that's important. Because when you said earlier, like she said, I'm gonna put some respect on your name, it's because for years I disrespected my own name. I allowed people to call me whatever Tanisha, Tanisha, whatever, besides my name. And one day me and my mother were having a conversation. My mom's name is Tiny. And when we were having the conversation, she said, Yo, I named you because I met this lady named Tanisha. And I was like, Oh, that sounds like my name, Tiny Tanisha. And when she said that to me, I was like, Oh my god. Oh like I've been disrespecting my mama all these years.

SPEAKER_04

Every time. Yes, every single time. That's right.

SPEAKER_01

Because of that story, I am very intentional about correcting people when they mispronounce my names.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, because my name isn't T. My name isn't Monty either. You know, so I'm I'm with you. I get on my wife about the same thing. Like, your name is Chandra, not Chandra. Yeah, you know, don't let my T is capital. Capitalize my T. Put some respect up on it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

But I just met a lady in the office, and it was she had a hyphenated first name. I'ma just make up a name. So I say Anna Sue. So when I called her back, I said Anna. And she started walking. I mean, she's a Haitian through and through, older lady. She said, My name is Anna Sue. I said, Yes. I smiled. I said, Yes, I know that. I said, but here I saw Anna Sue, but by the time I got here, it was Anna. And so by the time she left, we hugged each other. Like, because I didn't want to come off disrespectful. And she told me the same story. She said, Yeah, my mom, like when I was tell people my name was Anna, she said, No, that's not your name. That's not what I named you. And I said, Listen, I get it, because I've been disrespected by my name, even my teachers, like your mama can't spell. You know, like so. That was a I was a fighter, I wasn't a crier. So you know how that got in the classroom. It was like, let's go, let's do it.

SPEAKER_01

Let's do it. So yeah. So I absolutely, I yeah, absolutely. And there's a vibration in your name and how your name is pronounced. There's vibration behind it. I didn't even think about it like that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, absolutely. I loved it, but yeah. It's important. Yeah, but Tanisha, tell everybody how to find you. Not unless you have something. Oh, I forgot he started talking to Shamar. I apologize. What did you say? I don't even remember what my question was. See, I knew. See, I listen, I knew. Squirrel. Squirrel.

SPEAKER_03

Squirrel. Oh, what were we saying? What were we talking about? Not the name. No, it was before the name. I don't remember.

SPEAKER_01

We talked about a lot. We talked about the dog. We talked about spirituality. Church.

SPEAKER_03

It was way earlier about something with kids. It's just whatever the thought was, it was like I had a something about the story that was being said at that time. And I jumped in and I was like, mm-mm, I can't stop that conversation. So I just let y'all go. See, I knew what I was doing, Tanisha.

SPEAKER_02

It wasn't rude. You knew what you was doing? I knew. I felt that he forgot. But here's Sh here's the voice. Come on, let's go, boys.

SPEAKER_04

That is I, and I is him. So uh can you um plant a seed to the next generation? So you know, you all excuse me, sir. I got it. I got it. So, you know, we all talk about that we all are born as creatives and stuff, but you know, we have a future generation, we have a responsibility for them. So can you plant something for them?

SPEAKER_01

Yes, when we talk about this future generation, man, it's something special because this new generation, they coming through and they're not playing with us. They are not playing. You're gonna put some respect on their name, you're going to treat them the way they want to be treated. A lot of us look at it as disrespectful, but it's like these kids are coming through now, they know they're worth. They know they're worth. They're coming through like the audacity of a dog. Yeah, they like, I came here for a reason, I came here for a purpose. Now they get confused about what it is because of all the social media and the they're overstimulated. They come here so over stimulated because there's so much going on. But I love the fact that they know who they are at the core when they come through. So the seed that I will plant for them is for them to really tap into who they are, what they like to do, who they feel like when they're doing things they like to do, like what brings them joy, what makes them happy. And don't listen to the noise. If you can figure out a way to not listen to the noise, everything is gonna come to you so easily. And the power of speaking things into existence. We didn't talk about it earlier, but like the power of manifestation. You can manifest your entire life by speaking it into existence, talking about what you want, not talking about what you don't want, don't talk about the bad things, but talk about what you do want. I was talking to one of my girlfriends this morning, and I was saying, man, we need to have the audacity of a dog, but also the audacity of a rapper. Because when you think about a rapper, I don't care if they live in a mama house with 5,000 siblings. When you hear them on that track, you will think they in a Bentley with $12 million, with a house by the ocean, santropey, all of these things. And when we start to speak about ourselves and believe in ourselves with that much audacity, it's really gonna change how we move in the world and the things that happen to us. So for children, it's like especially the young children, like really honoring their ability to make believe, honoring their ability to be in what we view as a fake world, but really they're creating a world for themselves. They're creating the life that they want to see that they can already see and that we can't see. And I know for me being a little child, I had to ask my mom one day because I also didn't remember like what I was as a child, how I was as a child. And I asked my mom, how was I as a child? And she was like, Oh my god, you were just always happy go lucky. You always had your head in the clouds, you were always making up stories and singing songs, and I was like, Oh, the way I am now. Yeah. And I am so much like I live in so much joy now. Regardless of what the bank account says, regardless of what people think about me, I live a life of freedom. And what most people want is freedom. They're chasing money, but they want Freedom.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yep. That is so true. And when you're able to get to the space of relaxing and surrendering into who you truly are, the money is gonna come. Famous people say it all the time. And it's like if you ain't got it, we over here like, well, y'all say the money don't matter, but I don't have this bad. But I've learned to live in a space where the money doesn't matter. So now when the money comes, because it's coming, it's already here. I just can't physically see it. But when the money appears, it's not gonna change who I am at the core, it's not gonna change how I live my life. I'm very simplistic. The only thing I really am gonna spend a lot of money on is travel. I love to travel the world. I think it's imperative. That's another seed I want to plant for the younger generation. Travel the world in any way that you can. Because when you travel, you learn so much. You learn a lot about yourself, you learn a lot about how other people maneuver through this thing called life based on where they live. And when we live in America, it's like we think it's one thing living in America, but when you go to these other countries, you're like, oh, you see the lies they tell us, you understand that a lot of stuff that has been said is not true at all. And it also helps you to become a better person. I remember I went to Panama and I did not speak any Spanish at the time. Not even Ola, I know no Spanish. And the audacity of an arrogant American American, I was like, Well, I'm gonna I they'll have somebody that speaks English when I get over there. It'll be fine. Because I was staying at a Hard Rock Hotel. I got to even that was a talk about a blessing. I got there and somebody else paid for my entire stay. See, yeah, another blessing. But I was like, they're gonna speak Spanish. I got there, I traveled there by myself, even though I was meeting friends there, and nobody spoke English. Nobody spoke English, so I had to maneuver through that. I was like, Well, how am I gonna get the room to the key, the key to the room? How am I gonna eat all of these things? Somehow I was we were able to communicate for me to get the key to the room. Then I was walking around looking for food. The hotel was attached to a mall, and there was a McDonald's in the mall. I had not eaten McDonald's. I don't even know the last time I ate McDonald's. At the time, it had been probably like 15 years since I ate McDonald's. I'ma eat McDonald's today. I'm gonna get me one of these fish balay sales. Yeah, I'm gonna go over here and point at this sign. Y'all, I went to the McDonald's, they had no pict, no, no pictures.

unknown

I was like, how about the star?

SPEAKER_01

So I just kept walking around until I finally found a place that had an English and Spanish menu, and I was able to eat. But the people were so nice to me. You know how over here it's like they be like, you need to learn how to speak English. They were just number one, they thought I was Panamanian, so they kept talking to me in Spanish. Right. And number two, just the way they were like, Oh, you don't speak Spanish. Like they felt like empathy for me. And when I came back, I was like, yo, it shifted how I saw things. I was like, number one, I'm gonna learn how to speak Spanish. And number two, I'm gonna make sure that I have extra side of empathy for the people that I run into that don't speak English. Because imagine what their life has to be like every single day of them moving through this world and they can't even speak the language.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I love that.

SPEAKER_01

So it's like traveling, traveling stretches you. The same thing when I went to Spain. I'll but I had been practicing my Spanish when I went to Spain. So I can say a couple of little sentences, but I said something, and the lady was looking at me, and I when I got back to the room, I was like, Oh, I realized I had said all right, but she had compassion for it. She wasn't like, Lady, what's wrong with you? Oh, but yeah, solo travel too is important. Like it is just doing things by yourself, period. It is. We need to talk about that because we don't do things by ourselves, we don't, we don't even like ourselves, we don't, but when you start to like yourself and love yourself, and I think that's another thing for the kids because they feel like everything's group think, yeah, yeah, yeah. Everything is group think, but it's like you can have your own ideas and be able to do things with yourself. I love doing things by myself. I like me too much sometimes. Me too. Because I don't be wanting to be around other people, me too. But I'm it scares me sometimes.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, because I'm like, oh, how am I gonna go with the group? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But it's it's so I I make myself do it, and and it's been fantastic. But yeah, spending time by yourself. I took myself to the movies yesterday.

SPEAKER_02

Oh, devil wears product. I did, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, that's the hit right now. I know, but I it was mid. Kids will say, it was mid. We'll talk about it.

SPEAKER_02

We'll talk about it. Tanisha, I'm so happy, I'm so grateful for you. My heart is so full that you said yes to me. Thank you, Matavius. For providing space because it's serious, so I'm gonna say your first name. You for giving me space, and he pushed me into this space that I did not want to be in.

SPEAKER_03

Show deep.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, outside of your comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01

Well, he said God told him some things. I said, Well, God didn't tell me that. Well, it doesn't matter sometimes. God has to use other people because you're not gonna listen to your own voice. Don't pump them up. But this morning, let me pump you up, Montreal. Amen.

SPEAKER_02

That's true. But this morning I told him, I said, I'm not nervous or anything. So I think God told me the same conversation. He told me Yeah, you just ignored it.

SPEAKER_03

He did, he did.

SPEAKER_02

So Satan spielte. Oh no, no. First, tell us where we can tell the people where they can find you at.

SPEAKER_01

You can find me on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Tynisha Matthews, any of those. Substack. You have you got some really great subscriptions on Substack. Yes. So yeah. All the socials I'm on there probably. You tap into her, but go on my Facebook because that's where Oh yeah, that's where it is funny on Facebook.

SPEAKER_02

It is. And the great articles are on Substack.

SPEAKER_01

On Substack.

SPEAKER_02

Sometimes I have to read them all at night.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I was gonna say if you're a reader, yeah, then go on Substack. That's where my writer role comes into play. But be a reader. We need to get back to reading, but that's another reading. That's another podcast.

SPEAKER_02

Oh yeah. So I appreciate you. Take us out because I can't remember all the things. Thank the people.

SPEAKER_03

Uh thank y'all for tuning in to another episode of Creative Roots Podcast. We'll see Song Become Visions Grown. I would like to give a shout out to Artbox Charlotte.

SPEAKER_05

I would like to thank us.

SPEAKER_03

Alan Lux Studios.

SPEAKER_05

I would like to thank us.

SPEAKER_03

And Charlotte Podcast Studios.

SPEAKER_02

And thank you, Mono.

SPEAKER_03

And shout out to Mono Pullo. We still loving these mics. We love the mics. And on that note, we are out, Peace.

SPEAKER_02

Thank you.