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#292: Empower Yourself with Takiya La'Shaune's Rise from Tragedy & Trauma to "The Inspirational Beauty Boss"
28th May 2024 • Inspirational & Motivational Stories of Grit, Grace, & Inspiration • Kevin Lowe, Inspirational Speaker & Transformational Coach
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What do you need to hear today? Are you looking for inspiration from someone who transformed pain into purpose, not just once, but multiple times? If so, you just found your haven! Prepare to dive into the incredible journey of a woman who rose from homelessness to hosting healing retreats and learn the true power of walking in her faith.

Who Is This For?

Many of us face seemingly insurmountable challenges that leave us feeling lost and overwhelmed. This episode shares the empowering story of Takiya La'Shaune, the Inspirational Beauty Boss, who overcame tremendous adversity and now dedicates her life to inspiring and empowering others. Her journey from abuse and homelessness to entrepreneurship and spiritual strength can illuminate the path for anyone seeking to turn their own struggles into triumphs.

What It's All About

In this episode, you'll meet Takiya La'Shaune, a woman who epitomizes resilience and faith. From surviving multiple forms of abuse to overcoming homelessness, Takiya's story is a testament to the human spirit's ability to rise above the darkest times. She shares her journey of becoming the Inspirational Beauty Boss, founding her own salons, authoring six books, and launching a podcast. Takiya reveals how her faith and determination helped her transform pain into a purposeful life, and how she now uses her experiences to uplift and support others.

Some Key Takeaways:

  1. Transforming Pain into Purpose: Learn how Takiya turned her traumatic past into a powerful mission to help others through healing retreats and inspirational speaking.
  2. Building Resilience through Faith: Discover the role of faith in overcoming life's toughest challenges and maintaining a positive outlook.
  3. Empowering Others: Understand the importance of community and support in personal healing and growth, and how you can use your experiences to uplift others.

Don't miss this truly empowering conversation! Be sure to listen right away to be inspired by Takiya La'Shaune's journey of faith, resilience, and empowerment.


Mentioned Links & Resources:


Today’s Featured Guest

Takiya La'Shaune

Takiya La'Shaune, known as the Inspirational Beauty Boss, is a remarkable entrepreneur, author, and speaker who has dedicated her life to inspiring others. With 14 years in the beauty industry, she owns a line of salons and spas, has published six books, and launched the podcast "Behind This Smile." Takiya is also the founder of the nonprofit Heal Her, which offers restorative retreats for women. Her journey from enduring severe trauma and homelessness to becoming a beacon of hope and empowerment showcases her unwavering faith and determination to uplift others.


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PODCAST HOST: KEVIN LOWE




Guided by Faith. Inspired by life itself.


© 2024 Grit, Grace, & Inspiration

Transcripts

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I want to ask you right off the bat, what do you need to hear today?

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Could you use some inspiration from somebody who figured out how to turn pain into purpose?

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What about a story of a woman who went from being hurt to hosting healing retreats?

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And what about a story of that same woman who went from being homeless to housing

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and helping other women?

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And of course, I couldn't fail to mention the fact that this woman,

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the Inspirational Beauty Boss, she's going to teach you what it means to be walking in your faith.

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You are about to meet the absolutely incredible Takiyah LaShawn,

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a woman who is going to blow your mind at her level of positivity,

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at her incredible story of the challenges she's overcome,

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the challenges she still overcomes.

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And yet she is here today with a mission to inspire and empower you.

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My friend, I welcome you to episode 292.

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What's up, my friend? And welcome to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

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I am your host, Kevin Lowe. 20 years ago, I awoke from a life-saving surgery

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only to find that I was left completely blind.

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And since that day, I've learned a lot about life, a lot about living, and a lot about myself.

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So in here on this podcast, I want to share those insights with you because

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friend, if you are still searching for your purpose, still trying to understand why,

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or still left searching for that next right path to take, we'll consider this

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to be your stepping stone to get you from where you are to where you want to be.

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So listen, I'm putting the PSA out there. It is not too late for you to still

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That is promo code Kevin so that you can get the best available deal.

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Find all details and information inside of today's show notes.

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So the Inspirational Beauty Bots is a moniker. It's a name that I go by to describe

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myself. And that came about.

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Maybe about four or five years ago, when people started asking me, you know, what do you do?

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And I kind of would freeze up, not because I didn't want to tell people what

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I did, but God has put my hands to so many amazing things that narrowing it

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down, it was almost like giving that 60 second elevator pitch.

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And so I had to come up with something that encompass everything that I am, that explains it all.

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So the inspirational beauty boss is exactly who I am and what I do.

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I have been in the beauty industry for the last 14 years.

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I'm an entrepreneur with my own line of salons and spas. And I also have launched

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my own brand of beauty products.

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So in the beauty industry, I'm an entrepreneur. So that's where the boss part comes from.

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And then the inspirational part is everything that that ties into that.

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It's the foundation and it's the platform of who I am.

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I use every bit of what I've come from and what God has brought me through.

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And he's blessed me to turn that into business, into entrepreneurship.

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And it's my purpose and it's my calling. And I just for years heard so many

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people say, you're so inspiring.

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You're so inspiring. You inspire me. What you're doing is inspiring.

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So I became the Inspirational Beauty Boss.

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I love it. That is a amazing title to have.

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I think any of us would be proud of that. And so, well, that was really amazing,

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the story behind that, because my next question is trying to figure out where it all began.

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Where does your story, your journey begin that kind of leads up to becoming

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this Inspirational Beauty Boss? Take me back to earlier years and give me an

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idea of where it all begins.

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Yeah, good question. So where my foundation begins would be in my childhood.

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I am not only a survivor and overcomer and a thriver of abuse.

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I have encountered pretty much every form of abuse that there is to have mental,

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emotional, physical, psychological and sexual abuse. And so those are things

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that where my the root of my story starts.

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And I endured many of those things in my childhood and on through my teen years,

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young adult years, and even things that God is still healing me through and

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teaching me to overcome now.

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And that foundation is where my story began.

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It's things that on the outside to the exterior were things that people would

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look at and go, wow, that should have took you out.

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Those things going through not one, not two, but many traumas are things that

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you should have lost your mind.

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You maybe should not be here. Just by statistics, God has allowed me to overcome those things.

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And he taught me to turn that pain into purpose.

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And I had to determine very early on, and I say early on because I knew before

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leaving my parents home, which was the birthplace of the trauma,

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the dysfunctional family.

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I knew very odd that I was not going to allow what I was going through to dictate

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who I was going to become.

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OK, I knew that I did not want to allow the pain of my past to be something

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that I use as an excuse in life to have this self-pity or look down on myself.

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I knew that I wanted more out of my life.

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I knew that when I became a parent, I was going to be the best version of myself that I could be.

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And I also learned very quickly that once I turned that pain into a purpose

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to help other people, because that's where I found my healing and I'm still

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on that healing journey. But that's where I found joy.

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I found joy in linking arms with other women and other people that had come

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from situations where doing things like I was in showing them that,

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you know, hey, I went through that as well.

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But I'm not letting that dictate who I am.

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I'm gonna take that and I'm actually gonna flip it upside down and I'm gonna

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step on that and I'm gonna use that as my platform to propel me into my purpose.

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And as the years went on, I started to turn that purpose into passion and that

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passion into profit, P-R-O-F-I-T.

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And so that's how this became who I have become.

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Hmm. Incredible. I listened to you.

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And the next question I have to ask is, where do you get this,

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this mindset, this amazing, I mean, boss woman spirit?

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Did it come from a role model? Or is this just you through and through?

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Wow. I think I certainly have role models, but in this sense of the term, it's who I am.

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I would say I love how you put that me through and through. It's my heart and

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my heart is rooted in my faith.

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Going through the things that I did, I went through a lot of trauma.

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I had a lot of setbacks. I had a lot of questions.

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God, why and how come? And there was this hurt and this pain and anger.

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But when I really found my relationship and my faith in Christ and with God,

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God loved on me and showed me how to heal those things.

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And he showed me his love and in showing me his love, that did something to my heart.

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And it caused me to have a heart to see people the way that he sees people,

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even in all their brokenness and their mess and their hurt and their trauma.

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I have a heart to see people.

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And so it's just who I am because God is in me and God is love.

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And I also determined I came from some of that abuse that was verbal abuse.

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I was told consistently in my childhood that I would never be anything,

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that I would not amount to anything,

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that I would just turn out to be the single mother on welfare,

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all of these things that I was still a child and didn't even really know what I was being told.

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But again, my mindset, I just knew I'm not those things.

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I'm not going to be those things. I'm going to prove people wrong and show them

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that I am something, that I do have value. you.

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And so I adopted that mindset that the only person that I have to compete with is myself.

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And each day I strive to be a better version of myself. And so it's not, I'm not this superhero.

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I go through things every day. I'm human. Like I tell people,

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you cut me, I'm going to bleed red, just like the next person.

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So I have emotions and feelings and things as well. But I just simply have a

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mentality of, I will not quit.

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I'm not built to quit. I don't know what that means. It's not in me.

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And I believe for me, having children helped to further that because I have

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these lives that I'm responsible for, not just myself.

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So I just never adopted a mentality of, I'm going to quit or give up.

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And while those things that were said to me were intended to put me down,

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they were things that I actually took and said, I'm going to prove you wrong. And I did that.

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You talk a lot about your faith. Where did that begin for you,

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your journey with faith?

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My journey with faith began when I was about 21 years old, 2021 years old.

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I was eight months pregnant with my first child, my daughter,

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and that was, gosh, she's 26 now.

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She's almost 27, which is crazy because I feel like I'm still 25.

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I was eight months pregnant with her.

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She was in in my womb, and I was working as a child care provider at a daycare.

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And the woman that owned the daycare, she invited me to her church.

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And that was my first experience.

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I didn't grow up in church. I didn't grow up in a household where we went to

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church or we talked about God or anything like that.

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So fast forward to me being 20, 21 years old, someone invites me to church and I go.

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And I just remember being encompassed by such this feeling and this desire and

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this drive to accept Christ when the altar call, when it was offered that,

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you know, ask Christ to come into your life.

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I just felt like that was the right thing to do. And I did it.

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And that was the entrance of my walk in faith.

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It took many years to get to the place where I've learned earned relationship

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and cultivating, you know, my faith with God.

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But it was started in that moment when my daughter was, I was eight months pregnant

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with my daughter in the womb and the belly.

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And so now, like I said, that was almost 27 years ago. Yeah.

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Amazing. Wow. Now my next question is before I have us kind of move forward in your, in your story,

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you sound like obviously Obviously, the home that you grew up in was not,

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and I'm just going to assume,

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a loving home, an encouraging home.

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How did you make it not turn out to be what they told you you would be, that mother on welfare?

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How do you feel like you didn't fall victim to your circumstance and instead

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broke outside of it? Yeah.

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So I'm smiling as you say that because I don't know that anybody has ever actually

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asked me that so poignantly.

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And I'm smiling so big because the first thing that comes to mind is I'm stubborn.

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If we want to sum it up in a ball, in a nutshell, I'm stubborn.

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I am going to prove you wrong.

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I am going to prove you that I'm not the negative things. I wouldn't say I'm

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competitive, but I have always been someone that's like.

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If you tell me I can't do that, I'm going to show you I can do it.

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And if you tell me that it can't be done, I'm going to show you it can be done.

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And so I just believe I have always had that as a child.

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And I wouldn't say, you know, it was a very difficult home environment.

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There are times that I recall love and laughter and joy in the home,

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but there are also times that it just turned into discord and dysfunction and no peace.

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And so I just I was stubborn. I just was like, I'm going to you tell me I can't do it. Yes, I can.

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I believe it's Audrey Hepburn.

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She said the word is actually it's not impossible.

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It's I'm possible. impossible.

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And I always see the glass is half full, never empty. Yeah, I love it so much.

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Wow, wow, wow. I love the impossible. No, I'm possible that I've never heard that before. I love it.

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I have it in I have a bunch of affirmations throughout my studio in my home.

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And that's one of them. When you walk in, when people walk in to visit me,

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there's all of these positive affirmations. And that's one of them.

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Wow. That's incredible.

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So back kind of on, on your life, you talked about when, when you were pregnant,

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but give me an idea of, of life from childhood, moving into adulthood,

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what did life kind of go from there?

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Oh, well, you know, Kevin, I was a mess.

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I mean, coming from trauma and abuse, I again, Again, grew up in a two-parent

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home, but my stepfather was my abuser.

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So it was like a two-parent home physically, but lacking all the other aspects of what I needed.

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And so I grew up with...

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Some traits that I had to learn lessons from.

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Like I said, I had to walk out. There was no one there to tell me what was right

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and wrong and those things that were done.

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And really no one there to tell me that, you know, this is the path that you

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should or shouldn't take.

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And so I learned a lot of lessons.

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Like I'm cautious to use the word made a lot of mistakes because I feel like

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it's only a mistake if we don't learn from the lesson, right?

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Like if we We don't learn from it. We're going to keep going through it.

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But looking back over that, I have learned in my life that to be human,

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to be easy on myself, to acknowledge what I've gone through and what I've come from,

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and to also acknowledge all the amazing things God has given me to do and just

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to be easy on myself, as well as give myself that grace to be human.

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And again, to learn those lessons as quickly as possible so I don't have to

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keep going through them again.

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Wow. Yes. Powerful, powerful, powerful.

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Talk to me about some of these these things that you went through,

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because I know at some point and you'll have to fill in the gaps. You were homeless.

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How did that all come about? Yeah. So that's one of the things that happened.

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My children and I, when my son was about four years old, my daughter was about 10 at this time.

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And I had found myself in a relationship.

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I thought I was going to marry this guy. We had a home together.

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He had his business. At this time, I had walked into entrepreneurship.

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I'd started a cleaning company. My daughter was two years old,

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was very successful. I got with someone who I thought we were successful together,

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and he turned out to be physically abusive.

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So it was just that pattern of what I'd come from. I still found myself falling

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into relationships like that.

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And I found myself in this state of deep depression because here I am,

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not only myself being subjected to this, but my children.

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And how do I get out of this? How did I get in the middle of something that

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I said I never would again?

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And I really started to spiral until one day, I actually, God gave me this,

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all I know how to describe it as is this out-of-body experience.

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Like you see in the movies, the action movies going on and then the screen slows

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up and everything's in slow motion and the sound goes away.

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I had an experience like that one day. I was standing in the home.

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And the guy, the gentleman that I was dating at the time engaged to,

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he was really angry with me.

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And he started walking towards me screaming and yelling as if he was going to physically harm me.

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And in that moment, my children were upstairs. Again, my son four, my daughter 10.

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And they ran down and stood on the stairwell. And they're watching this whole

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scene between he and I. All of a sudden, everything slows down like a movie.

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I could see faces, but I couldn't hear voices. I could see actions.

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And I hear the voice of God speak to me and say, look at your son.

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Is this what you want him to think he's supposed to do, how he's supposed to

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treat women? You know, and my son had this look on his face,

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like it just excited him.

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And then I hear, look at your daughter. And my daughter looked terrified and

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she's crying and she's afraid.

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And I hear, is this what you want your daughter to think women are supposed

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to be treated like? And I remember I screamed, no.

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And whoosh, all the sound, everything came back in. And I yelled for my kids,

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come on, come on, come on, let's run, let's go.

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And we ran in our pajamas with no shoes on our feet, left everything behind,

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the cleaning business, the home, vehicles, personal items, just left and ended up homeless.

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Homeless but I walked away with my life I

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walked away with my children seeing that their mom

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was not going to allow them to

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grow up in a environment that

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perpetuated the abuse that I had come from and so in that day I changed the

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trajectory of my children and their mindset my daughter knows you do not allow

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a man to physically hurt harm or endanger you my son knows you do not ever put

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your hand on and physically hurt, harm or endanger a woman.

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And so we ended up homeless. And that actually was one of the most pivotal moments

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in my life because it was tough.

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But it was in that moment that God gave me a clean slate and he put me in the beauty industry,

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which took me through the 14

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year journey of self-esteem and self-love and self-care and women's empowerment

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and becoming the inspirational beauty boss and authoring and publishing six

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books and becoming a talk show host and a podcast host and just so many things

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and sitting here now sharing that testimony and telling this story.

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Wow, wow, wow, wow. Before I get to the question of how do you transition from

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running out of that home to being homeless to all that you just gave us a preview you for.

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I just want to acknowledge one fact that even way back then,

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what an amazing mom you were.

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The fact that the fact that you put your children first, you put their safety

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first, but not even just their safety, but you had this opportunity to make a glimpse at the future.

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And again, you were able to remove them from a situation, remove yourself,

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throw yourself into homelessness.

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So scary.

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So just unknown, uncertain. certain, but you knew that was worth it.

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If you could save the lives of your children and not just their life,

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but who they would become.

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Yeah. Amen. Exactly.

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Exactly. Gosh, you had me tearing up, just reminding me and putting it like that.

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I mean, that's 100% what it was about.

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It was me making sure they were okay and changing the trajectory of their lives.

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And while we left and And when we left, I mean, we were living comfortably,

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you know, beautiful home, vehicles.

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He had a business. I had, you know, on the outside looking in,

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we look like the great, you know, all American family. We achieved success.

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I had come out of my back story and now I have kids and I'm going to get married and she's doing great.

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But inside of those walls, there was still turmoil going on.

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And so to leave all of that and to end up homeless by choice,

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people would go. And here's the thing. I had friends.

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I had family. I could have called on people and said, look, I need a place.

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But I will tell you, I was so ashamed that I had ended up in that space that

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I felt like I got to figure this out and fix it myself. Looking back on it now,

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I probably wouldn't have made that because so many of my friends are like,

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I can't believe you didn't call me.

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So I was always surrounded by love.

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But it was just one of those things where I allowed the shame and the guilt

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to say, you got to figure this out for yourself.

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And I remember telling God, I made this choice. I made this mess.

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Whatever we're in, I'm going to trust you fully.

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I know you're going to bring us out of this. It doesn't feel good. It doesn't look good.

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I'm going to trust that you have better in store for me. And he did.

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And so that transition from having it all together to losing everything.

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And we actually ended up living on a farm, sleeping in a barn and a horse trailer and a tack room.

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I ended up meeting this woman and I kind of gave her part of my story,

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but not all of it because I don't want to share everything. thing.

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And she says, you know, well, I have this place that you can stay in. You can stay there free.

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It's not the greatest thing. So I took it. And eventually we became really good

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friends because she learned my

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story and was like, well, let's get you and your kids out of this place.

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But in that space, living in that barn, sleeping in a tack room or sleeping

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in a horse trailer with my two kids, I will tell you what, Kevin,

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my kids did not skip a beat.

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They were so resilient. resilient they were happy that we

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were out of that situation to them it was an adventure

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and I made it as such there were nights that I

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would cry and I would lay on my face boohoo crying to God about ending up homeless

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and being in a situation but then there were days that my kids I'd look and

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they were out there in this field running and playing with horses and feeding

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chicken and it was the most enjoyable and peaceful time of their lives and they

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had no clue that we We were homeless.

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They just knew mom got us out of this situation and we're good.

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Yeah. You know, that's exactly what I started to say is they probably didn't

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realize it then, but they had been taught one of the most valuable lessons of

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life is that the things that matter are family.

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It's being together. It's life. It's none of those big homes and fancy cars and all of that.

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That's just stuff. What matters is being with family, being safe,

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feeling safe, feeling love.

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And that's exactly what you gave to your children. Yeah. Yeah.

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So talk to me from there. I mean, I mean, I mean, let's just like paint the picture like, woo,

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baby, this is like the rags to riches movie that we all be watching on Hallmark

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Channel about the girl in the tack room on the farm to where you are today.

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So so let's you got to skim us along.

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Let's let's hear it. So, yeah, that's so funny you put it like that,

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because, I mean, I always tell people of my life is literally a Lifetime movie.

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Like I am so waiting on Lifetime Movie Network to reach out to me because it's a it's it's good.

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Yes. Amazing movie. So coming through all of that, where is this woman at today?

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As I mentioned, you know, one of the things that I I have always been a writer,

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even in my childhood, I would write very exceptionally. emotionally.

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I was noted, I was commended and noticed for that.

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And I learned that that was a gifting and a talent that God gave me.

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And so as I started maturing, I wrote because it was therapeutic.

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It was a way for me to talk about what I was going through when I didn't have

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anybody to talk to, or I couldn't trust anyone.

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So I would write. And so now I'm,

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I write as an author. I've written and published six books ranging from my first,

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which talks about my story and that homelessness and everything we've talked

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about here on up through women's devotionals, self-help journals.

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You know, just different things I write.

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I've launched a podcast, Behind This Smile, which is the platform for the next

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book that I'll be releasing called Behind This Smile. And it's me going behind

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those photos that you see of me on social media, the rags to riches.

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Look at this girl. She's smiling. She's happy. She's traveling.

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Yeah, but let me take you behind the smile and tell you what I was enduring

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behind that and go deeper and be very vulnerable and authentic and transparent.

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And so that's what the podcast talks about. That's what the book will talk about.

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I founded a nonprofit, Heal Her, which offers restorative retreats to women

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where they can and have safe spaces and gatherings and events and getaways and

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be connected with counselors and therapists for resources and just have that

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mental health moment or that mom day if they need it.

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I work with youth. I love working with youth girls and talking to them about

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where I came from when I was their age so I can hopefully inspire them and cut those things off.

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And I just, you know, I'm living life.

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I'm enjoying podcasting. It's very therapeutic for me.

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I'm enjoying the of speaking and it's, it's snowballing really quickly.

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I'm getting all kinds of opportunities and offers and open doors and I'm just

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enjoying life. I really am.

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Yeah. Oh my goodness. You are the inspirational, amazing, awesome beauty boss.

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I mean, we got to add some more words to the title.

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Wow. I mean, I mean, but, but truly, and, and I mean, here's what I want to

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acknowledge is, I mean, And it's not easy to build what you've built.

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It's not easy to be an entrepreneur. It's easier to be an employee. That is the easy route.

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But the fact that you did it and that you've done it, it's really remarkable.

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Yeah, it has not been easy. And I don't ever want anyone to have the misconception

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that it's just been so easy.

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Sounds like it was a walk in the park for her. No. No, enduring all of those

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things that I've gone through, the trauma, raising children as a single mother,

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building business while I raised my children as a single mother,

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learning of my own trauma and the impact of that, having diagnosis.

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I'm 47 now and I was in my early 40s the first time I saw a therapist.

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And it felt so liberating and so freeing because she put a title to what I had

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been dealing with. She said I was diagnosed extreme PTSD and severe depression.

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And those are harsh things to hear. But I'll tell you, when I heard it,

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I felt like this weight lifted, not because I had these diagnosis, but, oh, I'm not crazy.

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And I have been dealing with a lot. And she said, look at what you've overcome, Takiyah. That's a lot.

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And so I'm learning more and more to be proud of myself. I'm learning more and

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more to share more of myself.

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And it, like you said, it has not been easy.

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There are still days that I have to push through. Like I said, I'm human.

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I'm not superhuman, but my faith in God, I account it and attest it all to him.

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I wholeheartedly believe I would not and could not be here had it not for me

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having faith in God and allowing bowing and acknowledging his hand on my life

::

and him allowing me to use the story of my journey to help other people, other listeners,

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other viewers, other people say, look, you can get up. Not only can you get up, take my hand.

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I'll help you and I'll walk through it with you. Hmm.

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Was there ever a time when you could say that your faith ever wavered?

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Yes i would be lying if i said.

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I would be lying if i said no now have i ever lost my have i ever stopped believing

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in god no i beyond a shadow of a doubt i have not that moment in that barn when

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my kids and i were homeless.

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I remember getting on my knees and crying. It was raining and the roof of the

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barn had deteriorated. And so it was raining and it was destroying and damaging

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the last little bit of clothes that I had managed to bring.

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And I got on my knees and I remember telling God.

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I trust you. I believe in you. It does not matter how it looks or how hard it will ever get.

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I will never stop believing in you.

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And I just have seen him move too much in my life to doubt him.

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But faith, yes, wavering. There were, like I said, times of asking him, well, why?

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Or even and telling him, I don't want to do this anymore.

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You know, just being real with him.

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But see, that's the relationship I've cultivated with God.

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I treat him just like a friend, a father.

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He's all of those things. And so I can come to him with my truth because he knows.

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And I remember I went almost a year, one year, where I didn't not pray,

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but internalizing I was angry with God.

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And I just was different in my walk and my relationship.

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And I remember a whole year later, folding clothes, and I remember hearing the

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voice of God just say, why don't you just say it?

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And I remember I screamed, I'm so angry with you.

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And it's like he knew it. He was just waiting for me to be like,

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why don't you just put it out there? I know you're mad at me.

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I can handle it. Let's talk about it.

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So now I let him know I'm angry. I don't like this.

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I'm not going to do this today, you know, but he's so loving and so gentle and

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so kind and so merciful and so patient.

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And he still has a plan. And it's just like Jonah, when he was in the belly

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of the whale, Jonah didn't want to go do something.

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He went through it for a little bit and then he He pouted and he finally was

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like, all right, God, what are we doing?

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You know, so that's, that's, I do, I do waver at times, but my firm footing

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is I love him and I know that he loves me.

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Yeah. I love it. You know, what I love about the way you explain that is you

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explain it exactly how I do is it's a relationship and it's just like every

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relationship where there's times when we get upset,

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we get angry, but we still love each other. You know what I mean?

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Yeah, absolutely. Still love each other. And that's it.

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And like I said, God, He showed me, He showed me His love in all of those situations I was going through.

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Even when I didn't love myself, when I hated who I had become or didn't understand

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and like it, God's love was just always there.

::

And He, you know, how do we experience God's love?

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He can send it through other people. He can send it through our reading the Bible.

::

He can sit it when we're sitting alone in those deep, dark places and we're

::

hurting and we can just cry out and we may not be able to see him,

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feel him, touch him, hear him, but he's with us.

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If we have the opportunity to open our eyes.

::

Then he's still got a plan for us. And that's his love. Amen to that. Oh my goodness.

::

You're two kids. It's now been many, many years since you guys ran out of that home.

::

Talk to me about your kids today. I just, you know, talking about your kids

::

and being a mother all this time, would just love to kind of hear a little bit more about that.

::

Yeah, yeah, that's a good question. So, again, there now my son is he'll be

::

21 in like a couple of weeks,

::

which I'm still grappling to figure out because, again, I'm only 25 and my daughter is 26.

::

And I will say, you know, this process, this journey has not been easy for them

::

either. They are off the top. They are amazing.

::

They are brilliant. One of the things that I spoke over them all these years

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through their childhood and even now, I would tell them, I would say,

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God, give them wisdom beyond their years.

::

And Kevin, let me tell you, sometimes they're so smart. I just want to tell

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them, just, you know, can you just go sit down? Stop talking.

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I'm the mom. OK. No showing me up.

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But they are. I, I, I've seen that manifest that God has really graced them

::

with wisdom for their age.

::

I mean, when they were young, my daughter, you know, I can remember her as young

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as 10, 11, 12, and she would come to me and she would give me these conversations

::

and these talks and this motivation.

::

She's in med school now. Her dream is to be a trauma surgeon.

::

And so she took a little bit of break.

::

She graduated high school and she took a little bit of a break because while I came from trauma.

::

And while I did all that I knew to do in the moments that I had to do it,

::

my trauma still affected my kids because of my struggles and my not understanding.

::

And so my daughter is in the space that her and my son are six years apart.

::

So she had six years of mom, where I call it my.

::

Unknowing of unhealed trauma and things like that. And so she had six years of that.

::

And then my son came along and he had mom who found Christ, who had a diagnosis,

::

who was learning to deal with that.

::

And so the dynamic is very different between my children, my two children,

::

and we are all on a healing journey. We really are.

::

There's times, there's seasons where we

::

are absolutely close and then there's seasons where we have

::

a little bit of distance because we're each working on

::

our healing journey and they have just overcome so much and I'm extremely proud

::

of them and I just like any parent I want and wish the best for both of them

::

yeah absolutely did you ever get involved in another relationship after that

::

one that you just spoke about earlier?

::

Oh my gosh. Yes, I did.

::

I actually, Kevin, I actually got married and it wasn't right away.

::

Um, it was probably my goodness.

::

So that was about 2017 and I got married in 2020, January, 2021.

::

So that was a long time. And I got into a relationship with someone that,

::

you know, I first marriage, I waited, prayed, asked God, is this the person?

::

And I actually was so nervous when I got a yes from God, because in dating,

::

I normally was used to hearing God go, nope, no, not the one.

::

And so when I got a yes, I, it shook everything in me, because I was like,

::

oh my gosh, this is the person that God wants me to spend my life with.

::

Like, wow, we dated, we went through all the motions, we did counseling, and we married.

::

And two months into the marriage, the bottom fell out and there was infidelity

::

and there was cheating and there was lying on his part.

::

And I just could not understand, God, what happened here?

::

And that was a journey that I am still healing from because we ended up separating. rating.

::

And then I divorced and I actually had to file a restraining order,

::

order of protection because he started stalking me.

::

And that is something that added more stress and trauma to my life.

::

And that is something that I'm healing from now.

::

And it's actually, here's how God works because it's like, well,

::

wait, Takiyah, I thought you prayed and sought God. God, I remember asking God

::

the same thing. Did I miss you?

::

I must not have heard you right. I must, did I just want this so badly?

::

I remember God settling me and telling me, Takiyah, it takes two people to do the right thing.

::

So it was never God's intention to put me through something that would hurt me.

::

It was his intention for this man that I married to come alongside me and have a better life in Christ.

::

But he refused to do the things that needed to be done. And so I'm still healing through that.

::

But I look at it now.

::

And I go, had I not gone through those things, I would not be sitting here on

::

your podcast today talking about all of this stuff.

::

Because I actually in the midst of all of that last year had a nervous breakdown. down.

::

And in the midst of that, in that moment, it was when I was holding my cell phone later that day.

::

And I just was kind of frustrated and going, I'm just swiping all these pictures

::

of me smiling. Oh, she's traveling.

::

She's smiling and she's living here and she's smiling. And I remember saying, I'm always smiling.

::

If people really only knew the truth behind this smile.

::

And in that instant, I heard God say, so tell them. And what evolved from that

::

was the launch of a podcast. and I'm here sharing my story and talking and testifying

::

and just being authentic and vulnerable and real.

::

And I cannot tell you how much it's given me my power back and my voice and

::

has propelled me even deeper and further into doing God's work and the tremendous

::

amount of support and love that has come in and the lives that I hear being

::

changed and breaking free because I'm sharing my voice.

::

So very powerful. I'm going to make a really weird comparison.

::

So you got to bear with me. But this is what, as you're talking,

::

all I can think about, so living here in Florida, we always have afternoon thunderstorms in the summertime.

::

And the thunderstorms will come through and there's days when they are fierce.

::

The thunder rattles the windows, the lightning striking all over.

::

You can say it can be pretty fierce and scary.

::

But when the storm passes, if you go outside and you look at the yard,

::

the grass is greener than it was before.

::

That that grass the world it grew on the other side of that traumatic event

::

and i can't help but but look at you and think of the same thing,

::

that's so beautifully put that's that is so eloquent that's like that's what

::

we call what is it um jesus talked in parables that was a parable like I will never forget that.

::

I love it. Thank you so much for that. That really is.

::

And there's a scripture that talks about how God will give us beauty for ashes,

::

you know, and it just makes me think of that. But that's so beautifully put, Kevin. Thank you.

::

Oh, of course. Of course. Well, I have one last question for you.

::

But before I get to that question, will you please share with us where somebody

::

can get Get plugged into your world to find your books, to listen to the podcast,

::

to get all into your realm. Where can we send them?

::

Yes, they want to get all up in my business.

::

You can find me, the Inspirational Beauty Boss. I have made it so simple for you guys.

::

It's every hashtag, social media, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, website. site.

::

You just simply put in your smile is your weapon and you will find me.

::

Because I had a lady just last year, complete stranger, come up to me and I

::

was having a rough day and she didn't know this.

::

And she walked up to me and she hugged me and embraced me. And she said, you are beautiful.

::

You never stop smiling. Your smile is your weapon.

::

And that stuck with me. And so that is how you can You can find my books,

::

my website, my speaking, my podcast is streaming on all platforms behind this

::

smile with Tequila Sean.

::

And you just plug in your smile as your weapon and you'll find your girl.

::

Amazing. I love that so very much.

::

My last question for you is for the person listening today, and maybe they're

::

a couple of steps behind you.

::

They're in that thunderstorm.

::

They're in the thick of it all. What would you say to that person to give them

::

the encouragement to get to where you are in life?

::

So what immediately comes to mind is actually the title of a podcast episode I just did recently.

::

It says, you got to go through it to get to it. Okay. And let me explain that.

::

A lot of times we're dealing with things and say, oh, well, I'm going through

::

this or I'm going through that or this is going on.

::

I'm going through it. when you visualize going through something,

::

I want you to see a tunnel.

::

You're going through that tunnel. There's an entrance. And when you get into

::

that tunnel, you know, it may be dark or you're just driving, driving, driving.

::

In order to get to the other side of that tunnel and see the light again,

::

you got to keep going to come out on the other side.

::

So you can't stop is what I'm saying. You have to keep going.

::

You have to not give up. And sometimes in that tunnel, it can be very dark.

::

We can find ourselves in a dark place. We're alone. We're sad. We're depressed.

::

We feel like nobody's there with us. And you may sit down and just you want

::

to curl up in a ball in a fetal position.

::

You just want to rest. You just want to stop. You're like, my goodness,

::

how long is this tunnel? How long do I have to keep going through?

::

You have to get up.

::

And you have to keep going because in order to get to the other side of something,

::

you have to go through it. Okay.

::

So if you're going through, just remember, you'll come out on the other side. Eventually keep going.

::

That is absolutely beautiful.

::

Thank you so much for sharing such wisdom, for sharing your story.

::

Story, inspirational, but even more so empowering is what I take from our entire

::

conversation today is just pure empowerment.

::

And I just want to thank you in the most heartfelt way for being here and for

::

sharing all of that goodness with me and my listener.

::

Thank you so much. It has been an absolute honor just to be here.

::

And I love your questions, the prompts, so engaging and so thought provoking

::

and just very touching to me as well. So thank you, Kevin, for everything you are doing.

::

Oh, well, thank you so much. That means the world.

::

And for you listening today, as always, I hope that this podcast can mean more

::

to you than just something entertaining.

::

So I hope that something said today can be an impact on your life.

::

And remember, if there's somebody in your world who you think to yourself, wow, you you know what?

::

They could really benefit from hearing this. Well, go ahead and share it with them.

::

That's what we want to do. That's how we spread the message.

::

That's how we make an impact in the world.

::

So with that, I'm Kevin Lowe. This is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

::

Get out there and enjoy the day.

::

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