[00:00:10] What's up, everybody? Welcome back to now. No opportunity wasted. I'm your host, Angelica Ross. This is the place where we make room for truth, for change, and for voices that refuse to be silenced.
[00:00:26] I'm Angelica Ross, and today's episode is going to move fast because July 1 is packed with history, with legacy, and with some revolutionary truths that we need to talk about now.
[00:00:41] Okay?
[00:00:42] And in that spirit, today's quote from Buddhism day by day reminds us, quote, if we cherish the spirit to repay our debt of gratitude in the depths of our hearts, then in our good fortune will increase by leaps and bounds. No matter how much action people might seem to be taking outwardly, if they lack the spirit to repay their debt of gratitude, their arrogance will destroy their good fortune.
[00:01:15] End quote. Daisaku Ikeda. That's from Buddhism day by day. So let's keep that in mind as we move through these conversations tonight. Might get a little difficult, might get a little rocky.
[00:01:27] All right, so let's kick it off with a little bit of a history lesson. Because July 1st didn't just happen.
[00:01:35] It arrived on this day. In 1979, Sony released the very first Walkman. Who had one of them? I had a Walkman. It wasn't fancy. It didn't record, didn't even have speakers. But it was revolutionary because it gave us permission to curate our own soundtrack, to put the world on mute and immerse ourselves in music our way. And that moment changed how we move, how we relate.
[00:02:08] We disconnect and reconnect. You know, especially, you know, folks wouldn't, well, they didn't need to carry boom boxes on their shoulders anymore.
[00:02:16] Now, on this same day, just eight years earlier, July 1, 1971, another icon was born. Missy, Mr. Minor Elliott. She didn't just break the MO, baby. She put her thing down, flipped it and reversed it. Then she melted it down, reforged it, and add a bit of rhinestones.
[00:02:36] Missy reimagined what power looks like, especially for black women and femmes who have always had to do the most with the least, especially in male dominated areas.
[00:02:50] So on July 1, tech and art had a baby. And we've been dancing to it every since now. Speaking of icons, also born on July 1st.
[00:03:05] Happy birthday, Amanda Seals.
[00:03:10] I posted earlier and I'm saying it again. Amanda, I adore you, sweetheart. Your voice reminds me of my own power. You don't just speak truth, you live in it. Even when it's uncomfortable, even when it makes other people uncomfortable and shakes the table.
[00:03:27] Amanda and I have both taken hits for calling out political systems, including the Democratic Party. But baby, huh?
[00:03:37] Progress doesn't happen without a little pressure, you know? Qary Lennox, thank you for standing in your truth though, right or wrong, you own it. And that is what leadership, that is what leadership looks like. And we don't celebrate it enough.
[00:03:53] Thank you, girl. Happy Birthday.
[00:03:56] All right, so now let's get into this little bit of JoJo Siwa headline. You know, because SIS came out as a lesbian not too long ago and now she's dating a 32 year old man from Love Island UK.
[00:04:12] And she was saying that she felt pressured by the queer community to identify as a lesbian when maybe, you know, maybe you're just pansexual or bisexual wherever, you know.
[00:04:25] And look who you telling. I get the evolution identity shift. But when you frame queerness as pressure, it plays into the conservative narrative, sweetie, about our community being pushy, manipulative or even predatory.
[00:04:41] And it's dangerous. And it's not the whole story.
[00:04:46] Which brings me to one of my favorite podcasts, Hood Rat to head wrap Shout out to Erica Hart and Ebony Donley. They unpacked this beautifully on their latest episode. Head over to YouTube to watch that.
[00:05:00] And they reminded us that the pressure to be straight, to be cis, to be normative, that's the real omnipresent force.
[00:05:09] And they said it best. Quote, the pressure to be straight is in everything.
[00:05:16] And yet somehow the the queer community gets accused of coercion.
[00:05:21] As someone who never identified as a lesbian and was often misgendered, mislabeled and misunderstood, I feel this in my bones.
[00:05:31] My identity didn't come from pressure. It came from deep listening, from truth, from survival, and yes, from joy too.
[00:05:45] So, JoJo, sweetie, I truly hope you find peace in your truth, but with that truth comes responsibility, especially when the world is watching.
[00:05:58] All right now, Madison, TS Madison, we want to talk about non binary truth and trans freedom. And this actually brings me to a comment that I made earlier today on TS Madison's post from her Outlaw podcast post. If you're not listening to outlaws, what are you waiting for? But TS Madison tapped into some of the confusion that can be had around being non binary and trans.
[00:06:24] So I wanted to respond because this misunderstanding is just so common, even within our own community.
[00:06:31] You know, T.S. madison herself said, I'm still learning. We're all still learning.
[00:06:37] So I, I commented and just said that transness is not defined by the binary.
[00:06:42] It exists in complete defiance of it. Being trans is an ongoing journey with stops, destinations and detours that you Ultimately get to decide for yourself.
[00:06:54] And yes, non binary is under the trans umbrella.
[00:06:59] And to ts, I said with love, then she might even be maybe a little bit more non binary than she thinks, you know, because she's been very clear. She ain't trying to be no CIS woman.
[00:07:11] She's not interested in being measured by someone else's idea of womanhood. She's building her own lane, being the best version of Maddie.
[00:07:20] And that kind of autonomy, that refusal to assimilate into rigid norms, baby, that's a non binary stance. I'm just saying.
[00:07:31] Just saying.
[00:07:33] And me, I identify as a non binary trans woman.
[00:07:38] Yes, I have a vajayjay, but I'm not interested in being seen as a CIS woman. That's not my goal.
[00:07:45] My goal is authenticity. It's freedom and it's joy. And I know that TS Madison shares that too.
[00:07:54] So whether you're JoJo or Maddie or me, the point is, it's not about the labels.
[00:08:03] It's about liberation.
[00:08:05] Let's just be real about who we are without reinforcing systems that never were built for us in the first place.
[00:08:15] Now, before I wrap up, I want to, you know, go tap on one more thing. One more truth that we can't ignore.
[00:08:26] Dave Chappelle called out DJ Khaled for staying silent on Palestine. And while he wasn't wrong to point that out, I got to keep it 100.
[00:08:40] Dave Chappelle, DJ Khed, Israel and Palestine.
[00:08:48] This ain't the time for safe silence.
[00:08:51] It ain't the time for watered down activism.
[00:08:54] Lives are on the line. And if your big ass platform ain't being used to uplift the oppressed, then you, sir, are siding with the oppressor.
[00:09:07] So yeah, stay.
[00:09:09] I'm almost done. Stay. Down.
[00:09:12] Let mommy finish the show.
[00:09:15] Down.
[00:09:17] My dogs got up. Down.
[00:09:20] Please let mommy finish the show real quick. Down. Down.
[00:09:25] Oh, my God, y' all gotten so hard headed, I don't even know what's up. Down.
[00:09:32] Okay, so yeah, July 1st is a whole vibe.
[00:09:39] It's a day where truth, innovation, resistance, and revolution all came to play.
[00:09:47] Missy Elliott, Amanda Seals, the Walkman.
[00:09:51] Truth, technology, realness, resistance.
[00:09:56] That's what now is all about.
[00:09:59] No opportunity wasted.
[00:10:01] Make sure you like, comment and subscribe and share this with somebody who needs to hear it. And let's keep disrupting, keep dreaming and keep showing up.
[00:10:13] Let me look over into the comments. We got. Veronica says. Hey, Angie. Hey, Veronica, girl, how you doing? Thank you for joining us for this stream. All right, so before I go, I'm going to open it up to any questions, any questions you can ask me. Anything. Well, almost anything. Almost anything.
[00:10:36] Let's see what else is going on in, in the headlines today. Wow. I got, I just did like a whole quick 15 minute, like quick little, little show. That's because I don't, I didn't, I don't have an interview today that I'm going to be playing today.
[00:10:52] Just coming on to talk to you all.
[00:10:54] Show face, keep the momentum going. I hope you enjoyed our pride celebration that we kicked off. That pride will never end, starting with Lena Bradford. So if you haven't checked that episode out, make sure you head over to our YouTube channel.
[00:11:11] If you're not already on the YouTube channel, YouTube.com forward/missross.
[00:11:16] Make sure you subscribe and you can even join and become a member because girls got bills to pay, you know what I'm saying? Because they've been trying to silence a girl and been trying to keep the keep, keep the girls checks and cancel the girls gigs just like they've been canceling Kehlani, you know? Know what I'm saying? And I'm a black trans woman. It's only so many. So much of that I can take, you know what I mean? And my former agent still owes me $40,000.
[00:11:40] I don't know how many people can be sitting up here waiting on 4,000, 40, 40, $40,000 for almost a year now.
[00:11:50] Not a year. It's been over. It's been since October. How about that?
[00:11:55] All right. Veronica has a queen question.
[00:11:58] I have a question about Linux Foundation. Yes, sure.
[00:12:03] Ask me a question about Linux Foundation. Linux foundation is one of our partners with Transtech and they help us to provide scholarship opportunities for our members to be able to learn a new skill and get certified.
[00:12:17] So if you want to check out that programming, you have to visit transtech social.org org and sign up to become a member. It's all free.
[00:12:28] And then you'll get access to our Discord channel where There are over 7,000 members from around the world. From UK to look, I was going to say from UK to London, from UK to Africa, Haiti. K, you know, and not obviously all of Africa, but like Kenya. We've got a few people in South Africa.
[00:12:49] We've got some folks in Hong Kong, we've got folks in Brazil, obviously all across the United States, all on various levels of tech, from entry level to the most advanced level. So what are we saying here, Veronica? Veronica's saying I have no tech skills really, but I'm trying To get a new, get new career skills. Wondering if you have any classes for beginners that you offer on TransTech? We absolutely do, baby. If you go to transtechsocial.org you become a member and you can get access to. We have a whole library of free trainings.
[00:13:25] I mean and it's, it's a nasty library. A good old nasty library. I'm talking about. We have tons of videos, everything from the basics of becoming, doing data entry, learning how to do public speaking.
[00:13:42] We have, you know, getting into the music business. We have coding, we have graphic design, we have marketing, we have all kind of workshops for, for free.
[00:13:53] All you have to do is press play. And what I love about the work that we do at Transtech, it's all about meeting you where you're at, you know what I mean? Sometimes life happens, things happen and we have to press pause on things, you know what I mean?
[00:14:07] And get back to it when, when we can, you know, and sometimes that timing doesn't work for institutions.
[00:14:17] But we're not like any institution, we are a community.
[00:14:21] And as I continue to develop Trans Tech, we are partnering with folks with Safi Mojidi over at Hacking the Workforce is another trans led organization that helps us get into the tech industry.
[00:14:33] Safi Mojidi has helped me to be studying for my cyber security certification. I'm already doing cyber security administrative work, you know what I mean? And, and so, and a lot of this has been basic knowledge for me as someone who's been running my own servers, running my own websites, doing things like that. And so, you know, it's these, these types of skills. When you say like I have zero skills to start out with the, you know, doing cyber security is basically like, it's really easy. I just won't say easy but, but it's easy.
[00:15:12] It's kind of you just once you just learn your way around the, the, you know, the, the situation to know, you know, what firewalls are, know what, you know, what, you know what things are to mitigate things, what things are to kind of utilize after there's been a cyber security threat, you know, understanding sort of, you know, just the pillars of cyber security, which are CIA confidentiality, integrity and availability.
[00:15:42] These are things that when you're thinking of your systems, you want to make sure that your information is confidential and only accessible by the right people and that it is accessible when you won't need to access it. Right. And that the integrity of the information is correct and it hasn't been altered or hacked or anything. Like that. So very basic things that once you learn it, it just kind of becomes second knowledge, you know what I mean?
[00:16:06] So join
[email protected] Become a part of the community. It's absolutely free. You can also join my community at the winner's
[email protected] Ross.com that's absolutely free as well. But what isn't free? Well, it is free actually to subscribe to the YouTube channel. It's absolutely free. But you can become a paid member starting at just 4.99 and be able to proudly say, I support Angelica Ross and what she doing over there now, now, now, now, now, now, now, now I support Angelica Ross. Now, now, now see now see I support Angelica Ross. Now, now, now, now see now when I say that like, like that. Now, now, now, now see, that's me giving a little homage to Monica Roberts, the late Monica Roberts, the brilliant, the funny, hilarious trans pioneer who created Trans Grio.
[00:17:05] You will never be forgotten, Monica Roberts. I miss you. I miss that laugh. I miss, you know, I miss everything about you, Monica. All right, what's the name of the program again?
[00:17:18] The program is called Trans Tech and you can find
[email protected] the other program that you want to check out is called Hacking the Workforce.
[00:17:30] These are both amazing organizations that are doing great work to help us take up space in the tech industry.
[00:17:38] And what, like it's hard?
[00:17:44] What like it's hard?
[00:17:46] I mean, it's not hard, you know, Veronica says thanks. I'm going to go back and look again for entry level classes. Yes, check us out.
[00:18:01] All right.
[00:18:03] Are there any other questions? Maybe I could look over at Instagram. Let me see what Instagram is doing.
[00:18:12] Let's see which one.
[00:18:14] That one's the Instagram.
[00:18:16] Oh, gosh.
[00:18:17] The writing just be so small that I'm like.
[00:18:21] So someone says, I'm a trans woman and I want to get into acting and dance and performing. How do I pull, put myself out there when people don't want to see trans women succeed?
[00:18:39] I'm a trans woman and I want to get into acting, dance and performing. Okay?
[00:18:46] So to answer that question, and that's a great question, part of being a entertainer, right? Whether it's a performer, actor, all the different things.
[00:19:03] One of the hardest lessons and one of the lessons that you do need to learn is to know your audience.
[00:19:13] Everybody's not going to be your audience.
[00:19:17] So the people who don't want to see trans people succeed are not going to necessarily be your audience.
[00:19:24] And you don't have to cater to them. How freeing is that?
[00:19:28] Secondly, I would say once you know who your audience is, I always say start.
[00:19:44] So you want to be a videographer, a photographer, and you got one of these start.
[00:19:53] You want to be a singer.
[00:19:56] It's some bar mitzvahs and some birthday parties and some telegrams and a lot of things that you can do for money even, you know what I mean? In the beginning, you know, that ain't gonna be, you know, main stage, Carnegie hall, but it will get you practice in doing the thing.
[00:20:18] So like, you want to. You want to hit up things like community theater. You want to hit up things like college.
[00:20:25] College theater program. College, not college theater programs, college film programs. Because when people are studying film, like at Full Sail or at some college program, not only are they casting local actors, but but they have access to the most high equipment, the usually the latest high tech tech equipment, you know, 4K cameras and sound and a crew to actually do all those things. So the stuff actually looks great.
[00:20:55] And also they get access to their own sort of lane to submit their content to Emmy nominations and to the Oscars.
[00:21:05] So it's a great way for actors to get seen before they're seen. I get again on the big screen and in those ways, go to the colleges. I always say one of my favorite movies, one of my all time favorite movies is Big Fish.
[00:21:23] I love the movie Big Fish. I love the movie Big fish with Eula McGregor and Jessica Lang. And you know, it's just a beautiful, beautiful movie. But I always talk about.
[00:21:37] Because I know what it feels like. I know the experience of being a big fish in a small pond.
[00:21:45] But I'mma tell you what, I think it's necessary before you want to. Cuz let me tell you this, Lane ain't for the faint of heart.
[00:21:58] Creating art is not for the faint of heart.
[00:22:03] Not to mention trying to pay bills with it.
[00:22:06] Do you understand? I'm saying? So, you know, I totally lost my train of thought when telling you this, but basically you really do want to create a situation where you are doing it for the fun of it. You are not putting too much pressure on the situation.
[00:22:29] Um, you are putting yourself into a situation where you become a big fish in a small pond.
[00:22:34] So, you know, body the situation. Because if you can't body. I'm gonna just say it like this, and I don't like take this literally, but if you are a sixth grader and you cannot beat the kindergarten class at, you know, a spelling bee, you know what I'm Saying.
[00:23:03] And not to get, you know, technical and, you know, you know, to talk, to tap on the media literacy. I mean, the reading literacy issue, the literacy issue here in the country. But just saying that, you know, and that's why I'm not even gonna make that connection. Let me just go back. So basically, you want to be a big fish in a small pond, build your confidence, you know what I'm saying?
[00:23:30] And it's not about, like, bullying, the situation.
[00:23:34] It's just a situation that when I was in Racine, Wisconsin, I grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, okay? A lot of y' all don't even know what Racine Wisconsin is. You know, where it's at, you know, whatever. It's a small town.
[00:23:47] And so I grew up in Racine, Wisconsin, and I grew up doing community theater for 11 years before I even graduated high school.
[00:23:56] So I started getting the lead role. I was auditioning. I would get the lead role almost in. Every. Every year in the plays. I was body in this small town. They were writing about me in the. Not only the school newspaper, but in the Racine Journal Times, you know what I'm saying? In the local newspaper or whatever, you know, so there was this trajectory that I was going to be, you know, be a star and do some things, you know, and so. And then once I got to the bigger ponds, you know, let's say when I first got to the big pond of Chicago and had my first major audition, which was for Sesame Street Live, I went to that Sesame Street Live audition. That choreographer said, 5, 6, 7, 8.
[00:24:40] And I looked around, and everybody was doing the kicks in the this and the pot of beret and the tour jetes and all this other stuff. And I'm like, wait, excuse me, question.
[00:24:55] Is we supposed to be doing this in costume, girl?
[00:25:01] I was gagging because I'm like, wait, how is you supposed to be doing all this in costume, girl?
[00:25:10] And I politely escorted myself out of that audition room, you know what I'm saying? Because I was not ready for that. I was definitely not ready for that level.
[00:25:20] Let's see.
[00:25:23] Any advice on someone trying to shop scripts?
[00:25:28] Yeah, get an agent.
[00:25:30] That's what I could say. Because can't nobody take a script without an agent. Because in this day and age, people will easily, easily can say, oh, you know, you come out with something, especially. Think about it this way. I'm a trans woman.
[00:25:44] Every trans woman got a story, right?
[00:25:48] So if me, Laverne Cox, Janet Mock. Who else? If we all try out there about to try to sell A trans story. You know what I'm saying about our lives. Well, a lot of us have some similar stories, from doing shows for tips just to be able to try to rub some nickels together, to doing, you know, sex work, sometimes having rejection from family, you know, going through, you know, different medical, you know, decisions, relationships, all that kind of stuff. So if somebody sent me a script and then I put my story out there and somebody be like, hey, that sound like my story.
[00:26:29] How would you know? We ain't been protected. You didn't have a representative, you know, sort of like, you know, you know, all the things. So, like, won't nobody even touch a script or even look at it if you don't have representation with it.
[00:26:42] So that's what I will say on that.
[00:26:46] Veronica says in between. Oh, I've been working in the healthcare field for a while now, and I've endured a lot being openly trans. And I'm experiencing burnout. So I've been seriously considering pivoting to something remote.
[00:27:03] Baby, let me tell you, remote is where it's at.
[00:27:07] No tea, no shade. You learn tech skills, baby, and you can move around.
[00:27:16] That's why I created transtec Dead ass. So people can move around, move around, all this nonsense. It is what it is, girls. And it's been that way for a very long time now. They're just being either more bold with it. You know, it's just a lot of stuff. But we've always had to move around.
[00:27:37] You know, I appreciate the strides and, you know, the performative allyship and all the stuff that we got to experience, but girl, I. I like it straight up, no chaser.
[00:27:46] I like my. My stuff real.
[00:27:50] Don't fake the funk with me. You know what I mean?
[00:27:56] You are very welcome, Veronica. You appreciate you for creating your platform. Thank you so much.
[00:28:01] I'm doing what I can with what I've got. I'm doing the best I can with what I got.
[00:28:08] Yeah, I mean, all right, I'm going to check over at Instagram again really quick and see what they're talking about. How do I find an agent to represent me as a trans woman?
[00:28:19] Well, you need to think about the question you just asked yourself, because, one, you just need to be specific when we, when we're, when we're.
[00:28:29] You know, I had a conversation with someone earlier, you know, just about what you're putting out there, you know, and I want you to think about it this way. When it comes to, let's say you are going to meet someone that you think five Minutes with them could change your life if you can get five minutes with this person, right?
[00:28:56] So we. You have got to learn, everybody's got to learn how to communicate.
[00:29:01] Like, a lot of stuff that's going wrong right now is because, you know, folks are just not being impeccable with their words. They're not, you know, putting.
[00:29:12] They're being witty. They're trying to be witty quick. A lot of different things, you know, in their communication. So it needs to slow down and be very intentional with your communications. So when you say, how do I get a agent to represent me as a trans woman? Okay, so we got that five minutes there.
[00:29:29] What I mean is be specific, because I'm a trans woman. It's probably 5, 000 trans women, you know? Well, it ain't 5,000. I wish it was 5,000 trans women watching this live right now. I do. But what I mean is, what does it mean to represent a trans woman?
[00:29:46] Now, you could ask, how do I find an agent for acting in the city of blank?
[00:29:55] How do I find a representative as a writer, as a makeup artist, but not as a trans person?
[00:30:04] Do you know what I mean?
[00:30:05] So the skill has to come first. The skill has to be the first thing. And if you don't have that skill yet, you are not going to find representation.
[00:30:13] Nobody wants to represent something they can't sell. That's just the bottom line.
[00:30:19] So your first step is learning that. You need to learn how to sell yourself first.
[00:30:26] Because I'm going to tell you one thing. If you don't know how to sell yourself, it is going to be. It's o.
[00:30:35] If you don't know what you got, how to sell it, how to talk about it, it's going to be hard for other people to do it. And even then, if they can do it, don't you gonna have to constantly keep. Almost like putting a retraction with a journalist, constantly correcting folks. Well, that ain't necessarily what I mean. That ain't really what I want. That's not exactly what I meant, you know. So you want to get very, very clear on what it looks like, what it is that you want, how to sell yourself, what your niche is, all those different things.
[00:31:06] Once what you're doing becomes unmanageable for just you. Because trust me when I tell you, you don't need too many cooks in the kitchen because all they gonna do is take a cut of the pie and leave you hungry. Girl, I'm trying to tell you.
[00:31:22] So until your situation, till that phone starts ringing, off the hook until you can. You got more inquiries than you know what to do with.
[00:31:31] You need to represent you.
[00:31:33] You need to know how to knock on them doors. I'm gonna tell you one way to knock on the door. And this is a little bit different, and it may not be specific to, you know, acting and blah, blah, but hopefully you understand the parable.
[00:31:48] When I moved to Los Angeles and I was looking for work, I had no place to live. I was living in a motel and I was running out of luck, running out of money. I just gotten out of my relationship, giving back the ring to the engagement, everything.
[00:32:05] And so I finally went to Apple and I had applied. I applied online at Apple.
[00:32:12] And then usually I get every job. Usually I feel like I get every job I apply for. That's kind of just my experience.
[00:32:21] So when I apply for the job, I then follow up by going in person to the job in person, showing up, saying, hi, because I can, look at me, I know how to show up. I know how to pull myself together. I can say hi. I can be punctual, I can be whatever. Show up in people faces, you know what I mean? And I'm like, hi, you know, my name is Angelica. I applied for a position online, what have you. Now the lady that was the manager at the time, she was a little rude, you know, at first. And she was like, oh, yeah, well, we have the applications online. You can apply online. I was like, oh, yes, I already applied online.
[00:32:56] I just wanted to come in and show my face and hopefully, you know, see about getting an interview. And it feels. I felt like she was about to dismiss me.
[00:33:06] And then it's just she. It was a second she just looked at me, she was like.
[00:33:11] And again, I think it was the way that I showed up. She was like, you know what? Actually, yeah, come back here. We'll schedule an interview with you. You know. And so I say that to say I have worked every type of job imaginable, from Hardee's, Arby's, selling credit card processors door to door, a little sex work. You know, I did a little bit of everything, right?
[00:33:41] The point is that you need to learn how to say, like, how can I help you?
[00:33:48] And be a great represent representative of McDonald's, you know what I'm saying? Like, you go in and I want that person to make my coffee. I want that person to do my order. I want that person when I go to Applebee's, you know what I'm saying? I used to work at Applebee's, you Know what I'm saying? So you want to be the best representation of that company so that you can get, like, promoted your. Your favorite on the. On the. On the schedule, all those different things, right?
[00:34:15] And then there got to be this point where I was working for Bloomingdale's, and I desperately wanted to work for the Mac makeup counter, but all they had was white girls over at the makeup counter who didn't even know how to wear makeup, but they was just white.
[00:34:30] And they had them over there at the counter wearing their black and their boots and whatever they. This was before they let drag queens and everybody else over there.
[00:34:38] I'm a girl of a certain age, okay?
[00:34:40] So I'm working at Bloomingdale's, and they hire me. And they hire me to work at the Laura Mercier counter.
[00:34:49] I could not wear a drop of foundation at that time from that company, could not use a speck of powder because did nothing fit my skin tone.
[00:35:02] But do you think that stopped me from being the number one sales in that area?
[00:35:09] I sold the hell out of that Laura Mercier. You hear me?
[00:35:13] I sold the hell out of it.
[00:35:15] And they loved it, and they wanted to keep me in that position. But I realized I'm sitting up here looking dark and lovely, stamped to the gods with not a piece of they make up.
[00:35:29] This ain't my best use.
[00:35:33] This is my best use for them.
[00:35:37] That was the moment I decided that was the last time.
[00:35:41] Well, for a long time that I was. That I ever worked for someone else, because I realized that I needed to know I knew how to sell myself better than they did. They. They weren't even using me to my full potential. And I needed to learn how to tap into my full potential and use it for myself. And that is what I've been doing ever since.
[00:36:01] It's something that you. That works across the board.
[00:36:05] I don't care if you clean houses, you do makeup. Whatever you do, at one point, you gonna realize, look up and realize, I don't need a boss.
[00:36:17] I mean, you may need it right now to pay bills and do the things right. You know what I'm saying? But there is a way to turn what you do, what you're passionate about, into your own business, where you make the shots or you call the shots.
[00:36:29] So again, and getting into that, that is how I learned to be literally the best representation of me. I could tell you about my skills, whether they be creative skills, whether they be public speaking skills, whether they be editing and multimedia skills, whether they be conflict resolution skills, community Building skills, you know what I'm saying? Like, advocacy skills. Like, and I could go into depth about each one of those things in a way that is inspirational and make the person say, I want to hire you.
[00:37:00] Same thing for acting and all the different things.
[00:37:03] I hope that answers a little bit of your question.
[00:37:07] I know. I kind of went in.
[00:37:13] All right, and. Okay, so now also. Okay, so this is the other thing. Now that this is working also, if anybody does want to come onto camera and wants to.
[00:37:32] Wants to pop on the camera, say hello, ask a question, I can send you this link and you can join me live on this stream. So if you want to get that link, all you have to do is text me at 1-888-991-2946. You text me at that number.
[00:38:01] And I, I mean, but you're gonna have to text me in the next few minutes, you know what I mean? For me to, for me to get you on this live, you know? But if you text me there, then I will text you the link where you can join me live on video and I can put you on air and on screen here with me.
[00:38:29] So, yeah, if you have any questions you want to talk about, any of the headlines and the stories that we talked about earlier, you got questions about spirituality, about Buddhism, about really anything.
[00:38:41] Okay, so let me go to my text message situation here.
[00:38:50] Conversations.
[00:38:53] There we go.
[00:38:59] This writing be so tiny. Oh, listen, it ain't that I'm old. Let me just go ahead and zoom. See, I love when I can just zoom in.
[00:39:08] There we go.
[00:39:10] Okay, great. Well, I've had a great time talking with you all this evening.
[00:39:17] You know, it was quick, quick and dirty show tonight.
[00:39:21] I will be back tomorrow evening as well. Tomorrow?
[00:39:25] Oh, yes, tomorrow evening. I have, I have some. I was like, wait a minute. I have some pitch meetings that I have happening tomorrow. So, you know, wish me luck.
[00:39:37] I'm pitching a feature film out there right now that I'm starring in and co executive producing.
[00:39:46] Oh, Mel, you got here. You're here a little late, but you're here. Yes, and I did get things working as far as like, you know, I don't know what was going on the other day with this situation, but it was just not trying to cooperate, and now I think it's cooperating. So if per chance anyone wants to get on camera, come on camera here with me. You have a question, a comment, you know, feel free to be bold. Have courage. Have courage. Oh, and that's the other thing as well. I'm going to now That I have finally have this, you know, set right.
[00:40:30] I belong to some group chats where I am able to stay informed when it comes to what's going on in Gaza and around the world. And so I have some people in.
[00:40:49] In there who, who have wanted to come on, but, you know, the technology was just never working correctly.
[00:40:59] Wait, you said I blame Diddy. Wait, what you blame Diddy for just technology not working. Wait, what you blaming Diddy for? You can't blame him for everything. I mean, you need to blame him for the things he need to be blamed for. But we can't blame him for everything.
[00:41:14] But. Yes, let me go here.
[00:41:24] Okay. I mean, let's see what. Oh, yes, so we talked about. I talked about obviously about Jojo Siwa. You know, I. I definitely want sis to. To, you know, listen.
[00:41:35] And honestly, the thing with the jojo Siwa situation, this is why I want folks to pick up the book A New Earth Awakening to your life's purpose by Eckhart Tolle.
[00:41:54] But I know that there's a quote in there where he talks about how when we live up to these labels, we become trapped in these labels, in these identities, you know, and become. And we start performing what it means to be a parent, to be a professional, to be a doctor or a patient. You're. You're in roles, you're in your responding and engaging within the bounds of that role or that label.
[00:42:23] And so that's why so many cisgender heterosexual folks are not all right. They're not okay.
[00:42:33] They're not okay because so many of them are trapped in a contraption of their own making of what it is to be straight, to be morally, you know, right, to be godly, to be holy, to be worth, you know, to be all of these different things when the reality is straight is a social construct.
[00:43:02] I don't believe nobody's straight.
[00:43:06] I just believe people be doing what I don't believe nobody straight. I don't believe in straight. It's against my religion.
[00:43:18] My religion.
[00:43:19] My. My personal. Not. Not, you know, not necessarily nature and Buddhism, the. My. My religion. On top of that.
[00:43:27] Yeah, against my religion. Straightness, Heterosexuality. Against abomination. You know, I'm saying. So I don't believe in it. I don't believe in straight. I don't.
[00:43:39] I believe that people prohibit themselves.
[00:43:44] I believe that people assign judgment to sexual characteristics and behaviors and where the only judgment that needs to be applied is when there is force and coercion and manipulation and. And, you know, statutory situations.
[00:44:11] I'm so tired of people not protecting our children. For real.
[00:44:19] All this virtue signaling and gaslighting about gays and LGBTQ people being groomers when the only groomers are straight people trying to ensure that they get grandkids, ensure that their children become little spin offs of them that they can be proud of.
[00:44:43] So they coerce and they force and they push and they even blackmail and, like, even when they know it ain't your truth and whatever, then. Then that's when they'll try to enforce their will on you, knowing you're unhappy.
[00:45:05] I'm saying compulsory sexual.
[00:45:11] Compulsory sexuality. Yes, right there. Yes.
[00:45:17] Lady Gray says, yep, mind, I'm asexual, but wow. Do a lot of folks both religious and not take us for not being attracted to people, like, at all? Yes, exactly. That's the only other thing people don't even let me. Okay, okay. Can we about to do a psa? Okay, I'm about to do a PSA for that ass. Okay, psa.
[00:45:46] LGBTQIA class.
[00:45:53] What does it stand for?
[00:45:56] Lesbian, gay, lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender queer, Intersex, and asexual.
[00:46:11] No, it does not stand for allies.
[00:46:13] No, allies are not a part of the community now.
[00:46:19] That's why they call it ally, because you ain't a part of the community, girl.
[00:46:27] The A stands for asexual.
[00:46:31] And, and we in a culture that is so hypersexual, they don't see asexuals like, they don't see trans men.
[00:46:40] Asexuals and trans men are almost invisible to the mainstream because it doesn't suit their narratives.
[00:46:50] Control.
[00:46:54] They don't believe in asexual people. What do you mean you don't wanna.
[00:47:00] I might not be asexual, but I'm definitely demisexual.
[00:47:04] There go another terminology, girls, we learning all kind of things today.
[00:47:10] Demisexual.
[00:47:12] That's when, look, I need to be. I need to be attracted to you as a person. Like, I need to get to know you. I can't be just like, wham, bam, thank you, ma' am. I need a little bit of.
[00:47:24] Yeah, I'm saying I just can't. I, I, I'm like, I need to be. I need to like you.
[00:47:38] So there are going to be parts of this podcast. I'm, I'm trying to figure out how to do it, but there are going to be parts of this, this whole thing where it's the regular thing and then it goes unfiltered, and so I don't have to worry about advertisers and things like that. I can kind of stop the clock on one side and then go into the unfiltered. But what I think I'm going to do is just do it all unfiltered on the live stream and then edit it for the advertisers in the podcast and, and create the unedited version for our subscribers on, on. On the private podcast side on now unfiltered. So I'm still trying to figure that out, but we're getting there.
[00:48:23] Also, you know, a girl is going to need some help. So if anybody wants to like, you know, become a volunteer virtual producer on the NOW show, you know, I could show you a thing or two.
[00:48:35] You know, girl needs a little bit of help and I'll take all the help I can get. So not just money and donations, I will take your support in actually helping me produce this thing. Because right now a girl is doing her makeup, her hair, her wardrobe, the lights, the cameras, the graphics, the post editing, the script edit, the script writing in pre production. Okay, we're doing a lot right now. I'm doing a lot.
[00:49:05] And just because I can don't mean I should.
[00:49:09] But this has really forged me as a one woman show.
[00:49:14] Like I am good at a lot of things right now. This like helps me get great at a lot of things and I'm going to be using that skill and I'm going to be helping to uplift a couple other black trans women as we help to create their own shows. So I'm going to be bringing two black trans women onto the NOW platform on their own days and they're going to contribute and bring their special flavor and essence to the show. And as we build their audience, we are going to build their own YouTube channel and their own platform and let them, you know, fly off on out the nest and hopefully, you know, they'll come back to now and, and, and continue to share their brilliance. But this is how I create other, you know, leaders. This is how I help to amplify other voices. Not just from a like or a share, but I also share my platform. I share the spotlight. I share the mic.
[00:50:19] Thank you all for joining me this evening. It's been a great evening.
[00:50:26] Who is this?
[00:50:27] Hey. Hey. Thank you for joining the live stream. Rolando. Hey, hey, hey. Welcome.
[00:50:36] Who said Veronica says?
[00:50:39] I agree. I hate the stereotypes that all queer people are promiscuous and don't have standards. I hate that too. Yes.
[00:50:49] Lady Grace says considering you're doing it all yourself right now, pretty damn top notch. Thank you very much.
[00:50:58] You know what? I'm Saying I appreciate you for noticing and recognizing. Because, baby, I'm talking about. Look at the reels I'm editing. Look at the motion graphics of how my logo comes like a thunder lightning into the frame sometimes, like, we be getting it going before we go. I'm gonna let the dogs come say hello to you as well. So I don't have the doggy camera set up. Candy, I love you. I'm so. You know, listen, I. I'm probably gonna have to. You probably can't hear me because the Mikey's back there, but.
[00:51:49] Hey, baby, I love you.
[00:51:59] I love you. I know. And I'm sorry that I don't have the capacity that I used to have.
[00:52:06] I don't have the capacity that I used to have.
[00:52:09] I know, baby. You're so sweet. You're so sweet.
[00:52:14] Perfect. You are so sweet.
[00:52:24] What. What are you doing, though? Koda? You can't. What are you.
[00:52:29] Your head is so heavy. Can you not throw, like, rip my dress or something? Like, this is where. Okay, cuz. Koda. Sweet.
[00:52:41] I love you. Okay. You're so sweet. I love you.
[00:52:48] Okay, all right, everybody.
[00:52:53] Okay, all right. All right. Okay, okay, okay, okay, Okay. I love you. All right. Okay. All right. Okay, sweetie, stay like. I know.
[00:53:05] No, don't lick me, though. Please don't lick me because you eat your own, so please don't lick me.
[00:53:12] Sit, please. Okay, get off. Mommy. Now we gotta. We gotta end the live stream. Okay, I gotta. I gotta. Yeah, I got two Dobermans. And to be honest, we're gonna be looking for a home because I just. There's a lot of things going on right now, and I'm just not able. I don't have the capacity I used to have to be able to. To.
[00:53:33] And, you know, I can explain that. I have explained it for various reasons. You know, I wish I could, but, you know, at the end of the day, I gotta pay the mortgage. You know what I'm saying? I gotta be able to focus on paying a mortgage.
[00:53:47] What do you say?
[00:53:52] Yellow? Oh, somebody. I think.
[00:53:55] Okay. All right. Okay, okay. All right. Nope, that's enough. Okay, enough. Place.
[00:54:00] Place. Off. Off. Okay, that was enough. Place. Place.
[00:54:05] Place.
[00:54:07] Place.
[00:54:09] Good. Place. No, place.
[00:54:12] Down.
[00:54:14] Down.
[00:54:16] Plots.
[00:54:18] My goodness.
[00:54:20] Down Plots.
[00:54:23] All right, so got these big dogs. All right, the glass ceiling. Who's saying this?
[00:54:35] Glass sitting. Shuttering up MF and bringing people up with you. That's right, Rolando. That's how. That's how we do it here.
[00:54:42] All right, Everybody, it is 11 o' clock. That means it is time for me to end the show. Thank you so much for joining me. Now, no opportunity wasted, please.
[00:54:51] This week, tomorrow, find any opportunity to. To. To make a change in your life and in someone else's life. No. Down. Don't play with me. Down.
[00:55:04] I'm about to take you outside in a minute. Do not play.
[00:55:10] Take an opportunity. Find an opportunity this. This week to make a shift. And again, what I mean by making a shift is. In Buddhism, we believe that every moment is a. Is a win or lose moment.
[00:55:26] Every single moment I can win over my fundamental mindset and darkness, or my pessimistic attitude, or my body, my diet, my mind, my whatever. Like every single moment is an opportunity to do something different.
[00:55:47] Find that moment where you can continue to make these different choices that improve your life and don't create more chaos and drama for you and those around you.
[00:56:00] Yes. So that'll be it for me tonight. Thank you so much. Love you all. Take care of yourselves.
[00:56:06] No opportunity wasted. Time. Talk to you later tomorrow.
