Courageous Destiny – Build a Business & Life You Love

In this powerful and heart-centered episode, Kristin Crockett sits down with artist, entrepreneur, and fellow sister in sobriety, Brazil Oswald, to explore what it truly means to choose yourself and build a life aligned with your purpose.

Brazil shares her incredible journey—from navigating sobriety, leaving an unhealthy relationship, and facing major health challenges, to stepping fully into her creative calling and building her art business, Use the Creep, in just over a year.

What started as uncertainty transformed into momentum through courage, community, and taking aligned action. With the support of her sister and a deep commitment to her passion, Brazil turned art into a thriving business—growing a strong presence on TikTok, selling her work, creating murals, and teaching others.

But what makes Brazil’s story truly extraordinary is her heart.

She is using her gifts to give back—transforming children’s rooms, creating meaningful art for families experiencing loss, and now expanding her vision into a nonprofit to serve even more children in need.

Together, Kristin and Brazil dive into:

✨ The courage it takes to choose yourself

✨ Rewriting your identity and breaking old cycles

✨ Building a business through authenticity (not perfection)

✨ Using social media as a tool for impact and growth

✨ Turning pain into purpose and purpose into service

This episode is a reminder that your past does not define you… your courage does.

💗 Your courageous destiny is waiting—and it may be closer than you think.

🔥 Key Takeaways:

1. Choosing oneself is a profound act of courage that leads to personal transformation and purpose.
2. The journey from uncertainty to momentum is achievable through community support and aligned actions.
3. Success in business is not predicated on perfection, but on authenticity and the willingness to be vulnerable.
4. Social media serves as a powerful tool for artists to connect, grow, and impact their communities positively.

🎨 About and Connect with Brazil:

Follow her journey, support her mission, and watch her art transform lives.

Brazil Oswald is a 37-year-old self-taught artist from Chicago and the founder of Uza Kreep (U-Z-A-K-R-E-E-P). Specializing in murals, commissioned pieces, and paint-and-sip experiences, she has spent the past year and a half building her business and bringing creative visions to life. In addition to her work, Brazil is dedicated to giving back—she uses GoFundMe to support projects that transform the bedrooms of underprivileged children through custom murals. As a single mother and a woman in recovery, she channels her life experiences into her art, using creativity as a tool for healing, connection, and change.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Courageous destiny build a business and life you love podcast.

I am your hostess, Kristen Crockett, and I have a really awesome treat for you today.

I'm going to be interviewing Brazil Oswald.

She is an artist, and her company name is use a creepy.

I hope I got that right.

Use a creep.

And she is a very special fellow sister in sobriety of mine, and I am so excited for you guys to meet her.

We were actually having a conversation last week after I met her, because she was painting a beautiful picture at an event that I was at.

And ever since then, I'm like, this is one of the most authentic, real people I have ever met in my life.

And I mean that wholeheartedly.

Welcome to my show, Brazil.

Thank you so much.

Don't make me cry.

That was sweet.

It's true.

It's true.

I appreciate that.

Okay, so we have to.

We have to start.

One of the things that we like to talk about in courageous Destiny is building that business in life you love.

So your business wasn't out of.

It's not like, something they.

They go ahead and they.

At Harvard Business School, they go ahead and teach you how to.

To create what you've done.

So I would love for you to start by explaining your business and what you do and why is it called use a creep, which I love, by the way.

Well, you know, the use the creep name came before the business actually started.

I was asked to partake in a gall be the headliner artist at a gallery show in Chicago, and the theme was textiles.

And at some point, I had, like, a favorite outfit, and I got bleach on it, and I didn't want to throw the outfit away, so I started embellishing clothing with bleach.

And everyone's like, oh, those are so cool.

I wish I could wear those.

So he's like, the gallery owner asked me not only to do paintings but to do some clothing, which, like, sold out.

Which he's like, you need a name for the clothing.

So my.

My daughter's name is Keeper, and my sister calls her Creeper.

And, yeah, we're trying to find a Etsy name that could incorporate the word creep.

And I'm a creep.

They a creep.

Everything was taken.

And then I was like, what if we spell U instead of Y O U?

We do, like, user.

Like, you are a creep.

And it was like a play on words because, you know, I'm an addict in recovery, and I think society, like, kind of views us as creeps, you know, And I wanted to do like a positive take back of the word creep.

So it turned into use a creep.

Thanks to Etsy not having a username for me.

I love that.

I think that's awesome.

And I, I love that you mentioned too.

Tell me.

Let's dig in that.

Why do they think that, you know, some of the most.

And I'm just gonna say this because obviously there's anonymity and all kinds of things, you know, but I have met some of the biggest hearted, responsible, amazing, talented, successful people who were at one point or another using some kind of drugs or alcohol.

Right.

And yet the world is the, has still has that kind of, kind of connotation toward it.

And I, and I think sometimes I think it can be such a blessing because if that didn't happen, there's so many things that wouldn't have happened.

There's so many things that I know I personally wouldn't have learned about myself, about other people, people I would have never met.

And it, and it really is a blessing.

It can be a curse, but it can also be such a blessing.

So, yeah, I definitely, I always introduce myself as grateful to be an alcoholic addict.

I am grateful because, like, I did, like, I don't think I would be, I don't think I would understand the word gratitude unless I was a very ungrateful person at one point.

And I, I think, you know, I think God, my God, for giving me all the adversity and all the things I had to go through because they've taught me so many things and, and brought me to where I am right now.

So I am grateful for every experience.

I think that it's not, it's obviously not society's fault that they see us that way.

Right.

Because what they see is, you know, people laying on the floor outside, homeless, dirty, stealing, lying, cheating, all these things, you know, so these are these.

It's a natural reaction.

Right.

And very often when we meet somebody who is in sobriety who is awesome, who is wonderful, who is kind, who is grateful, who is talented and beautiful, sometimes we don't even know that's who we're talking to.

So they don't see that big picture of the ones that recover.

And I think we have a very unique experience in life, you know, And I, like, like you said, I have not met somebody in sobriety who is not kickass in one way or another.

And I'm just, I, I, you know, I feel so bad that so few of us see the other side.

You know what I'm saying?

Yeah.

Because there's a lot more that are in.

That are in despair right now than there are, you know, making it, you know, and that's what people see.

So that makes sense.

But I wouldn't trade it for the world.

I'm, I'm, I'm happy to be who I am.

Everybody has struggles.

I'm glad this is my struggle because it's brought me to spirituality, it's brought me to success.

It's brought me to a higher way of thinking and gratitude, and I'm grateful today.

So I love that.

I love that.

Tell me about, tell me about your art, because you have so many, like, what do you like most about your, your art?

How did you get into it?

And why special to you?

Okay, so I've been doing my art my whole life, right?

And yeah, other little kids, it's like, totally an alcoholic trait, but other little kids, you say, like, what do you want to be when you grow up?

And they say, I want to be a firefighter or I want to be a police officer.

And I would always say, I don't know.

And I truly did not know.

Like, I had no passion one way or the other toward anything.

And even as I grew up, I, I, I, I didn't.

I didn't want to be anything.

I didn't want to do anything.

And I was naturally, like, good at things, and the things I wasn't good at, I didn't want to do, you know?

So I never learned to, like, take one step at a time and be better at something and, you know, because I was already good at this.

So art was one of those things that I was just naturally good at, like, born that way.

And I always found beauty in, like, garbage.

Like, I'm serious.

Like, I was a city kid.

I'm from Chicago, and, like, graffiti, and, like, I would see, like, rusty things on the floor, and I'd pick them up and put them in my pocket later on, glue them onto something, you know?

And I liken that to my sobriety, too, because, like, I find beauty in, you know, what other people consider trash.

Like, some people consider us creeps or trash, and we are far from it.

And we can be built one step at a time into this beautiful thing, you know?

So that's the only thing that I've ever really been passionate about.

And then, so I got, I got sober, and I didn't know what to do.

I had no college education.

I had no blah, blah, blah, blah.

So I started doing construction, which I had done in my addiction, and I'm good at it.

And I like construction, you know, But I have neuropathy and so on and so forth.

It was getting to my body.

And then I started.

I got sick.

I got really sick.

And I lost 45 pounds in, like, three months.

Everyone was first off, they thought I relapsed because I had all this energy and I was losing all this weight, even though I was eating, you know.

And so I literally went to the store, got a test, took it in front of my family, set it on the table, and I was like, now you see, I'm not doing anything.

Something's wrong with me.

And I went to the doctor, like, a million times, and they diagnosed me with anxiety and all this random menopause.

I'm not menopausal.

The point is, is I was sick.

So they finally said, oh, you have really bad Graves disease and you need your thyroid removed.

So I had my thyroid removed, and they told me that I couldn't work instruction anymore.

And I freaked out.

I freaked out out, because how am I going to raise my daughter?

I'm a single mom.

How am I going to pay the bills?

What am I going to do?

I don't have time to go to college.

I don't.

I'm gonna have to work at McDonald's, you know?

And so I came to my sister's house to recover, and I posted a painting on Facebook, literally just to post it.

And it sold in like, 30 seconds to a stranger.

And I'll never forget it.

I charged him 75 bucks.

I showed up and he gave me like, 150.

He's like, I refuse.

He's like, I refuse to give you 75 for that painting.

So since I was down from my surgery, I just kept posting paintings that I had laying around, and they kept selling.

And I was like, that's weird.

That's weird.

You know?

But I learned weird definitely means God, right?

So I can't.

It's definitely God.

And I think that that's a courageous destiny when it's, like, wide open and it just blows, it just flows.

I.

So.

Everyone's been telling me my whole life, you should do art for a living.

And I would always laugh, like, that's not a job, you know?

Like, what are you talking about?

I need a 401k.

I have a kid, you know?

And everyone's like, no, it's a job.

You're a boss, and you should be a boss of your own business.

And I was like, shut up.

It's like, crazy.

Anyways, my.

My little sister, actually, she's One of my biggest supporters.

I love her so much.

She went out and got, like, 3, 4, $500 worth of spray paint, came home, and started unloading the car.

And she's like, this is what you're going to do for a living.

And I was like, what?

She's like, you're going to be an artist.

And I was like, that's ridiculous.

Take that spray paint back.

I can't pay for that.

I have no money.

I'm recovering from surgery.

So I kept selling paintings, kept selling paintings.

And like, four or five days after that, I had, like, a $2,600 day.

And these are just paintings that I'm selling.

And I'm like, so now I'm starting to think, like, maybe I can do this.

And I had sold, I don't know, like, 50 paintings.

And then somebody put a post on Facebook, I need a graffiti mural done at my shop.

And, like, 150 people tagged me in it.

I still have the screenshots.

I was crying.

They were like, you have to have Brazil.

You have to have Brazil.

You have to have Brazil.

I've never done a mural.

I mean, once in my kid's room, like, just joking around.

And this guy didn't ask me for references.

He didn't.

I was like, he's going to ask me for pictures.

And he didn't.

And I asked him after I had done the job why he hadn't asked me, you know, and he said, because when I need a plumber, I don't Google it, because that's just going to be the plumber that Google tells me.

I asked my cousin and my dad, who did you get to do?

Right, right.

So he's like, if 150 people want Brazil, I'm gonna get Brazil, you know?

And it was a good chunk of change.

And I was like, hey, I could do murals because I love painting large things.

And then another guy came up, and another guy came up.

I did, like, seven or eight different murals at a pet shop out here.

Everybody goes in there.

Then people ask me, do I do kids rooms?

And I said, well, I don't know.

So then I went downstairs and I did my kids room to see if I could do kids rooms.

Guess what?

I could do kids rooms.

And then somebody asked me, hey, you want to teach a paint and sip?

And it just.

It just kept rolling, and it never stopped.

And I've been able to pay my bills.

I've been able to live comfortably on art.

Like, it's insane to me.

It's insane to me.

It's been only like a year and four months since this started, and it's never stopped.

I think I had, like one slow month.

And I, like, I'm.

I'm in awe.

Well, I'm gonna.

I'm gonna geek out just for a second.

So with what I do for a living.

So I'm a coach, and I help people to rewire their identity to get what they want.

And one of the things that happens that I heard you say is you went from, I can't do this.

Like people, art people don't make money off, you know, off of art.

I need a 401k.

I've got a kid, like, all of those things.

And that whole train of thought keeps people out of what I call their courageous destiny, out of living their purpose, you know, very much the same way for me, too.

I was in corporate America.

I was a sales executive.

That's how I thought I made money.

And then one day I was like, why can't I?

Right?

And there was an evidence that supported.

You started.

You know, we.

I always say we've got 95% of our brain is.

It's unconscious to us, right?

So we get 5% to kind of work with.

And where are we going to put that 5%?

That makes a big difference on what we create in our life.

But you can train your unconscious mind to support your courageous destiny, or in your case, being an artist.

And one of the things to.

To do that is to purposefully, even though this might not have been purposefully, but it was certainly for your sister, because she knew, right.

Was to train it by showing the evidence, like, taking the actions.

You start to build evidence and you go from, I can't touch.

I can.

You know what's crazy, too?

I've been inspiring people.

That's crazy to me.

Inspiring people.

Like, people reach out to me that don't know me and ask, like, how I'm doing this.

And so, like my friend Sam, I just helped.

I just encouraged her to start a business because when I was doing these art events, she's just a awesome mom.

Like, she's a crafty mom.

And she would show up and do these free craft tables for children.

And I'm watching.

I'm watching her do it, and she's doing it like a boss, right?

Like, it's the way I do art.

That's the way she does crafts.

So she shows up, she cleans up, she makes sure everybody has everything they need.

These kids are under control.

Parents can shop at the Holiday Mart because she's over here taking care of this.

And she's doing it for free.

And so many of the moms come up to me and they go, hey, can I hire her for my kid's birthday party?

And I started to think about it.

I was like, yeah, you could hire her for, you know.

So I started to help her.

And we're doing a, I told her a lot of the ways that I started my business was doing a lot of free things.

Because when you're doing, when you're doing this unique business that like nobody else does, people have to see you, you have to be present and they have to understand what you're doing.

Like I can tell you all day long, I'm a mural artist.

And then you're going to say, okay, that'd be cool to have a panda on my wall at my house.

But you're never going to envision the panda on your wall at your house.

So social media is important.

Showing up to events, talking to everybody and doing free things.

Like for instance, I paint influencers for free.

I send them the paintings and then they do unboxing videos so that, you know, if they have 150,000 followers, those people are seeing what I can do.

So smart, right?

So I, I, I've been able to help her in, you know, use my connections throughout.

Like I have a, I have a lot of pool in my community because I've done a lot of murals around here.

And so she can advertise at every place that I've ever done a mural at, you know, because these people become my friends.

Like they, my, my customers are honestly my friends.

And I think it's really important for somebody who's starting a business to understand that there is a lot.

I work 247 when I'm having a conversation with a girl at Jewelry.

It could be, it could be, it could lead to me getting a five thousand dollar mural job.

And I don't know that unless I have that conversation.

I think that has led, I have learned that through sobriety as well.

Like if I don't open my mouth, if I don't talk to people, reach out and do the footwork, it's not going to happen.

You know what I mean?

It's a lot of work.

I'm constantly working, but I'm smiling while I'm working, so that's the difference.

And do you love it?

I freaking love it.

Yeah, I love it when you love it.

At least my daughter literally thinks I'm famous because like we went to Dunkin Donuts the other day.

And like, this is.

I'm saying this with so much humility, I promise you.

I ordered a donut and she puts like six in the bag.

And I was like, hey, I didn't order all these donuts.

And she gave me a manager discount.

And I'm like, and this is supposed to be like $30.

And she charged me like 20.

And she goes, no, I see what you do for the kids.

I see.

I follow you on Facebook.

I see what you do for the kids.

You will never pay full price at this Dunkin Donuts, you know, and it just makes feel good because.

Not because people are recognizing me, but because people are recognizing the good things that I'm doing.

You know, talk about the kids.

Yeah, let's talk about the kid.

You guys, this woman is incredible.

I'm telling you.

So wait, so this was a year and four months ago that your sister bought you the spray paint and that's

all this double thyroidectomy in one month.

They had to go in twice.

They had faulty equipment and went in my neck twice in one month.

On my birthday, actually, I got the surgery for the second time.

Yeah.

And she.

My sister told me, you are not allowed to have a 9 to 5.

I don't care if you don't even pay rent.

Like, you have to do this.

So I'm very like, once.

I'm so grateful for my sister, dude.

Yeah, she sounds like a true angel in your life.

For sure.

For sure.

And I have to say, even the podcast that we're doing right now, if we could inspire, inspire somebody to start their own business, because there's somebody out there right now who doesn't think that they can make a living off art.

But I've got to tell you, I'm talking to you.

And I remember coaching this one woman who was amazing and she did sculptors, you know, she sculptures.

Sculptures, not sculptors.

Sculptors.

She might have done.

Never mind.

But she went from couch surfing to making six figures and traveling over to Europe.

Yeah, that's the kind.

Your life, it's not linear.

Your success.

People think that, that, that, that life is linear because we learn that there's a succession to everything.

First we go to college and then we get a degree, and then we work our way up in corporate America.

Well, you know what?

Maybe corporate America works like that, but being an entrepreneur doesn't.

And neither does being self employed.

And you can literally go from nothing to success overnight.

Yeah, no, I know, because I, I'm living it.

And I understand that.

And that's why I, like, I have to be in my friend Sam's ear about the craft business, because it sounds ridiculous to her, but her husband sees it and he's very supportive and he's.

And he's given her.

He's investing.

He's like, no, that's what you need to do.

There's some people on this planet that just weren't meant.

And I'm not knocking corporate America, but they're just not meant for a 9 to 5.

They're just not meant for it.

I'm not meant for it.

Like, I was meant to run, like, this business.

I know that I'm doing it well.

And like, for the people who are listening who think you can't do it, like, there are artists all over that are objectively better than me.

I'm not saying any art is better than any other art.

That is not what I'm saying.

But these people are like painting, like photorealistic.

Like, you can't even tell the difference between a photo and this painting.

You know what I mean?

And the point is, is that they are classically trained.

They went to the Art Institute.

They.

They have a degree in art, you know, and they cannot make a dime, you know, because like I said, business is not just about the passion, it's about the drive, right?

Like, how much passion do you have beyond just for me, the painting?

Because originally I wanted to paint, and I wanted nothing to do with everything else that comes along with it, but everything else that comes along with it shows the world my painting.

So I have to do both, you know what I mean?

And anybody can.

And I think what I'm seeing in you and what I saw from you right from the jump, there's no limit there.

Where is a lot of people get stopped when.

And I know, because I have a whole program called Monetize, that I'm working with people to get them past that hump, to be able to rewrite their identity to support sales and support talking to people and support getting out there.

Because that's part of the issue is that they don't see themselves as that kind of person that could be that go getter or that person that would.

I mean, just the fact that you contact an influencer, don't see them as anything different than yourselves, right then yourself.

You don't see him as different.

That's why you can contact them.

And yeah, that was.

That was cool because he has over a million followers.

The first one that I did on different platforms and he went to my high school and I had wrote something on Facebook.

Does Anyone know an influencer who will actually answer my message?

Because I had written several influencers that I wanted to paint.

For instance, they looked cool or whatever.

And, you know, you can't get them to write back because they have a million followers, right?

But this guy went to my high school and he happened to be on my friends list because of it.

I mean, I didn't know him, but he knows people I know and so on and so forth.

So the point is, is like, don't stop once you have an idea, you know, and keep pushing and keep asking, you know.

And I got him not only to do an unboxing video, but he put my painting right next to his 100,000 follower reward for YouTube on the wall, you know, and that made me feel so cool.

Like, honestly.

And now I'm doing another one.

I just got another one yesterday.

And I keep trying to find angles.

Like you said, this has.

You have to monetize it and you have to like move with the times, right?

So, yeah, you got to do what you got to do.

Like, I didn't want to do a tick tock, I don't want to do Facebook, I don't want to go to Walmart and some random guy, I don't know, say, house, how's your family housekeeper?

I have no idea who he is, you know, but at the end of the day, that's what pays my bills.

You know, people knowing who I am pays my bills and people knowing the things that I do pays my bills.

Like, this is funny.

We had a holiday mart, you know, and my sister said, you have to do marketable artwork.

And I said, no, you know, and

she goes, yeah, you do.

And I said, no, I don't.

They don't like my artwork.

So what?

You know, and I was, I thought about like how close minded that was, and I was like, you know what, I got to like find marketable things and make them mine.

So I don't hate doing them.

But I'm still selling.

So like, she said that I should do like the bears and the cubs.

And I'm not a sports person.

I didn't want to do that.

So I just got like this bear stencil and I like spray painted a whole bunch of bears faces, like on canvases.

And then I started doing like graffiti backgrounds and they all sold.

Like, they're the first ones that sold.

I think I probably made like 300 just on bear paintings.

Like when in the first.

Now you should go to the bears.

Now you should go to the bears and then you should say you should try to get a T shirt or something done.

Yeah, that's the next thing we're doing.

We're putting my paintings on T shirts.

Shirts like, because I was like, how can we make it cheaper?

You know, I'm an Andy Warhol fan.

Like, let's make art affordable for everybody, you know, so if I, we do T shirts, that could be like a 25 thing.

Most people have 25 and then they could still have my art.

And there'll be a walking advertisement for you as a creep, you know.

So we're always trying to find new exciting ways to make a, make a buck.

And you know, I get to smile while I do it.

So that's.

It's too cool.

Okay, before we go any further, we're gonna talk, we're gonna, we're gonna focus in on these kids.

Oh yeah, you're doing is so freaking amazing.

Okay.

So the way that came up is in my program, obviously to keep it, I gotta give it away.

That's the rule, right?

So I was thinking this is, this is all God.

God gave me this talent, God gave me this personality, and God gave me this business.

So I better give something back before I, I lose my humility, you know what I mean?

And I have, I'm a single mom of a seven year old.

And at the time it was her sixth birthday.

And that's why I did her bedroom.

Somebody was saying, do you do kids rooms?

I'm like, I'm gonna do my whole kids room into a fairy room.

And I did it.

And I got a lot of views on tick tock.

And so then the very next day, there was a woman, she was in recovery.

She passed away.

And she was missing for seven weeks in my area.

And they found her unalived in a garbage can.

Very sad.

The mother of this woman contacts me on Facebook and asked me to do a mirror or a portrait of her daughter.

So I told her I would do it for free.

Portraits are the most expensive.

So she goes, absolutely not.

Blah blah, blah.

And I was like, look, your daughter and I did not know each other, but we have a lot of mutual friends because I have the same affliction as her and I would like to do a portrait for free.

And she was crying and you're so great.

I'm not great.

Stop that.

You know, I just have to do great.

My heart tells.

My heart tells me.

Sometimes somebody needs something, you know.

Anyways, so we have this conversation.

The next day, my kid wants to go to the carnival.

I don't Want to go?

I'm irritated.

I'm not going to the carnival.

Come on, mom.

And something in my heart told me, go to this carnival.

I'm at the carnival, and I hear Brazil, which happens often.

People know me all around here, you know?

So I turn around, and there she is.

That's the woman's mom.

And she had this little girl with her, and it was the woman who passed away, his daughter.

And she's this tiny, little gorgeous thing.

Oh.

Anyways, she comes up to me and she goes, how?

I saw on TikTok that you do kids rooms.

How much to.

How much to do my.

My granddaughter's room?

She moved in with me, and I said, how about free?

And she goes, I could never.

I could never.

I could never.

I have the money.

I'll give you the money.

I said, listen, let's do a GoFundMe.

Everybody knows about your daughter passing.

Let's get some money.

Well, I'll donate my time.

We'll do it for free.

The money will pay for paint.

Any money left over will go toward, I don't know, blankets, pillows, decorations, whatever.

And she couldn't.

She couldn't wrap her head around this.

She also has another granddaughter.

Her son passed away seven years ago.

So she's raising two grandchildren, and she has two children that have passed away.

And I said, let's do both of them.

So I raised $750 with GoFundMe, and I had to do a painting raffle to get people to donate.

At first, I was getting scared that we wouldn't get the money, but then at the end, a couple of the places that I had done murals for donated hundreds of dollars, so.

Nice.

Within four days, I did two rooms, and I said, we're gonna keep doing this.

We're gonna keep doing this.

Because the look on her face, that little girl's face, like she had never had her own room, never had her own bed.

And she just walked in there, and she just, like, was so happy.

And I just want to see those faces again.

So I've committed to doing it twice a year.

I got another girl right now.

She just turned five.

She has been in 13 foster homes in the last four years, and now she's getting adopted into a family.

And the family has attended my Peyton Sips, and they asked if they could be the next person.

I said, absolutely.

I have another little boy on the line who has leukemia.

So anybody who is unable to afford my services otherwise, or victims of, you know, drug abuse, alcoholism, somebody who has an illness, anybody that really Just needs a smile a little, you know.

So basically I just reach out on Facebook and ask people, do, you know, anybody, you know, who will be good for this project?

And they tag people and whoever.

Unfortunately, the only thing that I don't like about it is you have to own your own home.

Because I can't just paint on apartment wall, you know, so that's the only thing.

I was thinking about somebody.

I'm writing it down, but I have somebody I'm going to introduce you to.

It's actually a not for profit organization.

I would love.

That's, that's the, that's.

That's been on my mind so much to make this in a not for profit organization specifically because I can get other artists involved, you know, and I can get, I could, we could get more kids per year.

And like, it's like that, you know that show, Move that Bus, like that home improvement show.

Yeah, that's what it's like.

But in real life, like these kids are like walking in these rooms and their faces, it's just everything, you know, that is amazing.

And I, you know, I, I'm going to.

I just want to pause just for a second if you know of somebody, right, Or a child that could use a pick me up with art or you have any ideas or you have a not for profit organization or an organization that's looking for a mural.

Brazil is amazing.

She actually, I actually have some of her art in my very own home that I won, you know, at the, at the end.

I'm trying to remember the name of our.

The name.

Why can't I remember the name?

International Women's Day Conference.

It was the International Women's Day Conference.

Returning to your ancestral roots.

There you go.

There we go.

Okay, Now I'm not going to beat myself up too bad.

Yeah, it's a mouthful.

It is, it is.

But what a special, special event.

And I won this amazing painting that you did and that you painted right there in front of our he eyes.

And that's where we met.

So I knew you're special then, so.

But all of our information is going to be in the show notes.

So I want people to be able to reach out for you and know how to reach out for you.

And I could do a complete series on you and your coolness.

But we've got about a half an hour, so.

And we're coming to.

We're coming to it.

So I have two questions that I ask every guest of mine.

Yes, ma'.

Am.

Okay.

The first question is, what is the most Courageous thing you've done.

Choose me.

Can you, can you dive into that a little bit more?

I've done that a couple different times.

Choosing to leave an abusive relationship, choosing to be sober, choosing to be an active and present mother, choosing to be a business owner, choosing, you know, every time, every time I've taken those steps to, to believe in me and choose me, my life has skyrocketed.

I had a lot of, you know, self esteem problems.

And when I chose me, I, I learned that those were just fallacies.

To be honest.

I have every power inside of me and saying that until I believe it and then doing it until I believe it is, is the best, it's the best thing I've ever done.

And I say it's courageous because it was extremely scary to do that.

It was, it was scary to not live in the darkness because that's what I was used to.

Wow, we have a lot in common.

I would, if you're out there, you're listening, please choose you.

And if you have any questions on how to do that, you can contact me or Brazil because we would be, I'm sure, stand up for you in a heartbeat.

And I also asked the question, what is the most courageous thing that you have on your bucket list right now that you want to make sure you do?

I mean it's a pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty broad.

But I would say continuing to further my business, mostly I'm thinking about the non for profit.

That's a scary thing for me to like just like do research and paperwork is not the easiest thing for me to do.

I mean, sometimes it's hard for me to open my mail, like even if I know there's a check in there.

Like, so I just to continue to build because I could, I could live comfortably doing what I'm doing now, but I would like to continue to build, inspire people, hire people and you know, get people on the same track as me.

Because I've never been happier in my life doing what I love.

Like doing what you love is, is a choice.

It's a choice and it's not easy.

Stress, you know, it manifests the same way whether it's, you know, good stress or bad stress.

So like, yeah, I'm stressed, but I'm blessed to be stressed.

Like I'm telling you, I hear you.

I, I, I remember when I was in corporate America and you know, I was making well into the six figures, had a really good job, all the things, and the day I left, that was the last time I was ever in corporate America.

I remember there wasn't a person in my life that wasn't like, are you crazy?

Why are you doing it?

Doesn't make any sense.

Don't do that.

You'll never.

You'll never be successful at being a coach.

You'll never be successful being a speaker.

Why do you have your head up your ass?

I mean, there was, like, everything you could possibly imagine.

But I remember there was this spark within me.

Yeah.

That just said, watch me.

Yeah.

I think it was the opposite for me.

Everybody else was telling me I could do it, and I was telling myself I couldn't do it.

But it was the same experience where there was something like, right in the way.

You know, and society is always going to tell you to do what's mainstream, to do exactly what you're told, to do it the way you're told.

And, you know, no one ever became great by doing what they were told.

You know what I mean?

Right.

There's certain things I have to do.

So true.

I'm told.

But other things.

No, I don't.

I can do it my way.

I can do the bears painting my way.

You know, I can get another job.

I'm not gonna stop, you know, I'm not gonna get a 9 to 5 when my business is slow.

I'm gonna continue to believe in myself because there's evidence.

It's right there.

Like, you have to get up and do it, and you have to see that you can do it.

And then you gotta keep doing it.

And for those of you who are unhappy right now in your 9 to 5, this is a great example of two women that say, it doesn't have to be like that.

You can choose something else.

Yeah.

And if you go.

If you go where your heart guides you the most, it's those things that probably come as easy as pie to you that are so valuable to somebody else.

Absolutely.

I'm so blessed to have met you.

I'm like, you brighten.

You brighten my.

My soul when I talk to you.

Oh, that's awesome.

That's awesome.

Well, I think my hope is that lots of people hear this and we both brighten their souls because you also brighten mine.

Thank you, Brazil.

Is there anything else you'd like to tell our listeners today before we sign off?

No, I think we covered some really good stuff.

I'm really happy with this conversation.

And even though I know what my answers are going to be, it just feels nice to say it out loud.

Like, it feels good.

Yeah, it feels good.

Yeah.

It's like, I have a cool story.

Yeah.

Because no, a couple years, like, a blink.

A blink ago, I was homeless, like, a blink ago.

Yeah.

So it's just crazy to me.

Like, your life literally can change.

Yeah.

You know, it's.

It's a.

It's a matter of changing your perspective.

That's it.

When you change your perspective, the things that you look at change.

Like.

No kidding.

For sure.

For sure.

All right, well, thank you for being on my podcast today.

Again, to all of our listeners, if you'd like to reach out to Brazil, her information will be in the show notes, along with a picture of both of us with the painting that she painted me.

And if you need anything, don't be shy to reach out.

Out.

Don't be shy to reach out.

If you're sitting there and you want to build a business in life you love, just reach out.

Because you'll never know what conversation will turn it all around.

All right, everybody, thank you so much for listening and live courageously.

Thanks, Kristen.