It was an average day for author Rashon Darling when her youngest daughter, Olivia,
came home from school in tears. Someone made fun of her curly hair.
As she comforted her daughter, a floodgate of memories opened up of her
own childhood struggles with feeling different because of her distinctive curls. Growing up by
Rachel in Hartford, Connecticut, Rashon knows firsthand the challenges of embracing uniqueness.
Motivated by her daughter's experience and fueled by her own journey of self acceptance,
she embarked on a mission to spread a message of self love and confidence.
The result a heartwarming and much needed children's book that not only celebrates curly hair,
but empowers young girls everywhere to embrace their individuality with pride. So if
you have you have a curly girl in your life, you once were a
curly girl, or you can relate to your uniqueness making you feel like an
outsider, This episode is for you. Grab your tea, coffee, or
a glass of wine and let's talk things. Hello everyone, Welcome back to
the Let's Talk the Things podcast, where we discuss the importance of personal growth,
travel, music, and wellness while encouraging you to live fearlessly and fabulously.
I am your host, Ash, and this week we are talking to
Things with the author of the children's book The Curl Girls Were Sewn Darling.
Hi, Shane, how are you hey, Ash? How are you good?
Good? Thanks for coming to talk the things with me to celebrate Women's
Month. Yes, awesome month for a lot of fabulous women. Right,
so right, right, we have to celebrate ourselves, so we get a
whole month, and it's actually a long month, so I can appreciate that
it is it is. I can see who they like better. Listen.
I didn't want to say it, you know what, Since you said it,
I'm just going to agree. So as I'm sure you know. When
we have guests, I like to begin each episode with our listeners and mine
too. My favorite segment that Nason Safe. So I'm going to read a
couple social media or not a couple, a few social media posts or comments
that listeners sent in, and if you think it sounds crazy or concerning,
you would respond and say that Nason safe or it doesn't sound like a good
idea, and briefly explain why, and then if you agree, you would
say the same thing. Just explain why makes sense? Mm hmm. All
right. So the first one is life hack, stop dealing with people who
kind of like you. I agree with that. I agree with that.
Why surround yourself with people who aren't all in for you? I think that's
a waste of your energy exchange with someone else who's just kind of halfway in.
So definitely agree absolutely, And if anything, it can be dangerous,
you know, just being in an environment with somebody that doesn't really like you
exactly. That's the person you have to watch out for. Absolutely, So
we say swerve to that. That no sound safe? That no sounds safe?
Okay. The next one, the person said, do you ever feel
like you're in season five of your life and the writers are just doing outrageous
stuff to keep it interesting? Listen another word right there. That is absolutely
true. And you know, but I think when we look back on the
seasons that we're in, they're not. You always look back at them with
some rolls colored lenses, right, So they don't it doesn't always seem as
bad. But when you're in it, it just seems like they're just throwing
everything at you. It's what do they call that jumping? The shark when
they're on TV shows, that's that phrase where they get to the last season
or towards the end of the show and they just start doing whatever. That's
kind of how it feels, right, Yeah, yeah, you're right,
And like you said, hindsight is twenty twenty because when you're in it,
it feels like the end of the world. But when you look back,
you're like, I was really going crazy over that. When you're in things,
you think it's the end of the world, you know, but when
you look back, you're like, that was maybe even saving me, because
how many times have we been brought through things in our life, you know,
whatever that may be, and you look back and you're like, thank
God that happened. I have five situations I can name off the top of
my head where I am I'm grateful that and you know, and you're familiar
with what I have received after going through those situations, then God is good.
No, all the time, you heard my prayers? Okay, the
next one, Wow, Audacity was on sale in twenty twenty three. Oh
my goodness, And just in twenty twenty three. That not sounds safe,
right, that's all the time. I don't agree with that. It wasn't
just twenty twenty three. It's been like that for I would say at least
the last four years. I would have to agree with you on that.
I mean, twenty twenty three was rough, but I would have to agree.
Like ever since the Panera, Bread, Panasonic, whatever we want to
call it, I just feel like we're slowly getting back to like some type
of normalcy. But people still have that. So you're right, you're right.
Maybe it's on Clarence now, maybe that's the difference why there's a little
bit more happening. It's on sale, absolutely absolutely, Okay. Next one,
the secret to clear skin is not letting anyone's son take your fore idiot.
I must agree with that. I think it is one of the top
three secrets of clear skin, next to actually washing your face and eating the
right things. Listen, stress causes wrinkles and pimples, right, And if
you let some of these men stress you out, you're going to be applying
all kinds of night cream. And we just so far as expensive. It
is very expensive. And if you have children, that's already enough, right
there, So why go throw some man into the mix to mess it all
up? No? Okay? And then last but not least, break the
pattern of over break, the pattern of over nurturing while you under receive.
You deserve more than bread crumbs. M hm, yes, I can say
that to a lot of my friends. We have these discussions. You deserve
more. You have to love yourself more. It's it's kind of funny.
I've read this book out. Sorry a little quick segue, but it's called
one Word That'll Change your Life. And you choose a word instead of a
resolution. You choose a word every year, and you kind of wait for
that word. You get inspired by that word. You sit in silence,
meditate so that you can receive that word. And my word was worthy and
and that is definitely you have to understand that you are worthy of all the
good things in life. That you deserve a loaf of bread, a fresh
one straight out the bakery oven and not just crusty old bread. I love
that. That's beautiful. I have to pick up that book. I love
reading, so I'm always interested in learning about new books. I love that.
I'll send it to you. I'll send you the link. Thank you.
Yeah, that would be great. So, as you know, we
celebrate women regularly on this podcast. However, we are celebrating ourselves a little
bit more this month in honor of Women's History Month. For me, I
just think that who we are as women and even how we show up in
the world really sets the example for the next generation. Right, So,
whether you're a mummy and auntie, a godmother's sister, et cetera, children,
particularly young girls, are always watching, right because we were young girls
once too, and a lot of what we learned was what we observed.
It's not necessarily what our mothers, on, sisters, cousins told us,
but just how we observed and how we watched them carry themselves. So that
said, I wondered if you could share a little bit about what inspired you
to write a children's book centered around self confidence and specifically embracing curly hair.
I think for me, so, I'm biracial, and I grew up in
an area that was pretty diverse. I didn't really get to know my mother's
side of the family. My mother is white, so I don't really know
them. So I was always around the aunties, my black aunties, right,
the family members that taught me about hair and all of those things.
And growing up in the nineties, So I'm saying the nineties. I'm an
eighties maybe, but growing up in the nineties, the hair to have was
that straight doobie right, so keep your dooby fly. I did not have
that hair. I had very very curly hair, and already being biracial in
a place where isn't predominant, you could probably count on one hand how many
black and white families that you saw in our community. I always kind of
felt like an outcast. So you want to fit in, So I would
I mean, I relax my hair. My hair should not be the hair
that you would relax it is. It's not thick if there's just a lot
of it, so I would relax it. I would straighten it all the
time. I would iron it with an actual iron, because the flat irons
want like a big thing back then, so they were very expensive, so
you're using and so it was always just wanting to feel like I was a
part of something and not feeling confident and who I was. When I thought
about this book, Olivia, you know, my little one. She had
come to me crying that someone at school had made fun of her hair,
and they even the other day someone made fun of her hair. They said
it looked like a sponge, you know. So she's like, oh,
you know, I want straight hair, and I want Disney princess hair,
straight hair like the other little girls in my class. And I'm like,
no, we're not going to repeat history. Your hair is beautiful, it's
magical. She said, no, no, I don't think it is.
And I was like, the best way for me to prove that to use
to show you. And little kids love books, they love cartoons, they
love fantasy and magic and superheroes and princesses. And princesses are great, but
I think superheroes are a little bit more powerful. And so when I wrote
the book, I decided that I would create a book four curly haired superheroes
that would prove to her and other little kids how beautiful their natural hair is.
I love that, and I just want to say, you, look,
you didn't tell Auntie Ash because I would have to march on to that
school and talk to those two girls. But I digress. But no,
seriously, I think that's really powerful. I think it's also helpful that you
have, you know, similar hair texture to her, so at least she
can look at you and say, okay, well, you know the person
I admire the most. The first woman that's an example for me has curly
hair too. However, as we all know, you're at school like most
of your day than most of your life as you're growing up, right,
So, like you said, it really matters, you know, the conversations
that you have or the things that little girls and boys say to you.
And I will say, I think the children now have it a little bit
better because there's more talk about embracing natural beauty and your girls and stuff like
that. Whereas even when I came here from Jamaica, like I wanted straight
here because that's what you see, Like, that's what the magazines were showing.
You know, it didn't matter your skin color. What you saw in
the magazines was everyone's hair was bone straight. Whether it was their real hair
or not, we didn't know, but it was straight. That's all you
saw, you know. And I think at a book like this is just
so important because it's really important that little girls can see themselves in other people
and know that they're not alone. Yeah, representation matters, And I know
that that's a tagline that people like to say, but I had a book
launch and we had some of the little kids from where I'm a part of
an organization that is focused on the well being of black children specifically, And
you had a lot of children there that just embrace the idea. They're all
there with their natural curls. We had kids from the community, and they
wanted to know what their special powers were and they were happy that the kids
looked just like them. And I purposely had the children the different characters.
They're different shades of brown, right, They've got different hair textures, so
every little girl and boy can feel as if they're represented in that book.
Growing up, you don't see that the children's books I saw, you know,
you would have books with a lot of animals. Those were cool,
But then the book books that you would want to read about a little girl
like you, they never actually looked like you. And even some of the
ones that maybe had your skin color, the hair that they drew on them
or depicted was still straight m exactly. And that's who they want to be
like. Those are their heroes. You know, they look to their parents,
we're great, we love them. They know this. But I think
of Olivia, she cares more about what her friends think about her right now
than what her parents think about her. And so I can tell her she's
beautiful a million and one times, but if someone else at school is saying
the opposite, how do you combat that? And so this book was a
way to try to do that. And I'm actually going to her school next
week to read to her class because you know, I want her to feel
special and I want the other kids to feel special. Her classroom it's diverse,
but there are a lot of straight haired kids, but there are a
couple that aren't, and you know, I want them to feel just as
special as she does. I love that. And speaking of that, you
know, storytelling in general, in what ways do you think that storytelling can
help children, you know, navigate and overcome any feelings of insecurity or even
a difference in their social settings, like at school. Everyone loves a good
story, right, So even as adults, when you go to let's say
you go to a conference and there's a keynote speaker, the one telling you
about a new policy or procedure is not the interesting one. It's the one
that's talking about themselves or talking about an experience that they had. And kids
are the same way. They want to talk about their experiences. They want
to feel that they're included in a group. And the way you get to
that is by storytelling. You know, there are a lot of great books
out there about loving yourself and loving your hair, but a lot of those
aren't story books. They're usually you know, I look beautiful because I have
brown skin, and I look beautiful because i've but it's never a story.
And so kids like the pictures of those books, but they're not connecting with
what the cares are saying because it's not an actual story. What I like
about my book is that it's a story. It's going somewhere. We're going,
you know, starting my second book now because it's an adventure. Now,
we've already established where the girls have started, I guess, somewhat of
an origin story, and now they're going to have some adventures. That's a
little bit different than a child empowerment book. Kind of combined the two.
I guess you could say I love that. I love that, and without
giving the book away, because we want people to go out and buy it
for their children and you know, their nieces and nephews, what would you
say is your favorite part of the book. When Olivia realizes that she has
power and uniqueness within herself to give to the world. I think that is
super important. Everyone wants to feel as if they are needed. Yeah,
like, who wants to feel disposable? Who wants to feel unnecessary? In
this world? Everyone wants to feel needed. And I just I love when
people get the book. You'll see there's the part when she starts to think
about whether or not this is a movement she wants to be a part of,
and you'll see something forming in the background of where she is, and
it's super cool. I didn't ask my illustrator to do that. She came
up with it. Shout out to her. She's awesome, awesome. She
lives in Columbia, so she is at Latina. She understood the assignment.
I had an illustrator prior to her that she went into labor early so she
couldn't actually start the way I wanted her to. But this illustrator, she
I told her what I wanted and she delivered. I didn't have to go
back and forth with her. So, Adriana, you are awesome, and
you know I can't wait to work on the second book with her. I
love that. I love that. No, that's amazing. What was I
going to ask you? Oh, this is what I was going to say,
lost my train, I thought. So when I was reading the book,
I thought of a conversation that I had with one of my friends actually
this time last year for Women's History Month. Her name is Kimberly Patterson,
and she's an actress and a makeup artist and all the things, and she's
so sweet and so kind. But we were talking about growing up, you
know, and being children, particularly in Jamaica, but just growing up and
being in an environment where you're really good at a lot of things. Right,
So you're really good at a lot of things. And in Jamaica they
have this saying that you know, you think you're enough, you know,
if you're like extra or you're into a lot of things, and people kind
of define it differently, but as children, I would say, somebody enough
is somebody that's like always raising their hand for extra assignments or you know,
the classes about to end, and they have one last question like it's just
too much, Like why do you think you're so good at everything? And
there were so many similarities just about being a child that has something special about
you, right, so, whether it's your looks, you know, your
hair, your skin tone, but when you realize you have this thing and
you're met with you know, she thinks she's all that, or I don't
want to be her friend because she's different, it makes you not want the
thing anymore. Right, So it's not even just with hair, but there's
such a deeper lesson in that, and so I think it's just such a
beautiful thing to have this out there, but particularly for Olivia, you know,
to have this as just a way for her to kind of have something
to confirm that she is everything she's supposed to be, because, like you
said, she's had this book, the book has been out, you know,
you guys have had the conversation, but she still had an encounter with
somebody that said something about her hair. You know, it's going to happen
to her still. Like unfortunately, as a parent and as an auntie,
you can't protect her, you know, from everything. But I think it's
just so important to know that she has that, and that all little girls
and little boys that are different will have that. And just basically to say,
when you're reading this book, or when you're reading the book to your
children, or when you give it to your niece or nephew or Whoever,
I don't even think it's just about hair. I think the broader message in
the book is to just accept the things about you that's our unique and I
think that's just such a lovely message. It is because you always feel I
think every child goes through this, regardless they want to admit it or not.
No one feels one hundred percent just self confident. There's always something that
you feel like you lacking. Whether you're the most beautiful person or the best
athlete, there's always something that you feel like you're lacking. And we need
different mediums, different products that we produce that feed into these children so they
that little percentage that you know, they feel like they're life. Maybe it
doesn't completely close that up for them to make them feel whole, but it
maybe it does it temporarily, or maybe it keeps building on that until they
start to feel that way. Yeah, no, that makes sense. And
let me ask you this, who was the person for you that made you
accept you know, your curly hair, or you know, even you being
biracial, whether it was somebody famous or you know, someone in your community.
I think some of it so it's twofold, I guess, so friends,
I actually have a lot of friends that are Puerto Rican. Two of
my best friends are Puerto Rican and they had curly hair like me. So
I felt that connection with them because they looked like me. A lot of
people think I'm Puerto Rican anyway, and growing up in Connecticut where we grew
up, you were either Puerto Rican, Caribbean, American, or white.
That was it. There was just nothing in between, and so everyone just
assumed. So that made me feel like I was a part of a group.
And then, honestly, Mariah Carey was a really big part of my
childhood. I remember being ten years old or no. Eight, so this
was nineteen ninety and my mom had brought home this cassette tape and she put
on this song and I'm like looking at the little jacket of the cassette tape
and I'm like, wow, like this lady looks like me and you know,
and my mother was like, oh, yeah, you know, this
is this is Mariah, Like she's a new singer. And I remember listening
to her songs and all of her songs I just felt, even at eight
years old, that I could relate to. She has a song on one
of her albums called Outside and it's talking about always feeling like you're on the
outside of everything. So her music was just so relatable. But she also
looked like me, so, you know, to the point where since I
was in fourth grade up until even now, when I see people from back
home, they call me little Mariah. That's like, that's been my nickname
forever. Oh my gosh. I love that. It's kind of like a
full circle moment. At least it sounds like that. You know, you
probably had so many moments where you wanted to fit in and you know,
you felt a certain way, and you didn't have a book like this,
So like, how amazing is it that you're able to create something for your
daughter and for this generation that you're gonna, you know, continue on.
I just honestly wish I would have written it sooner because I have Chloe,
you know, and Chloe's got super curly hair. She's wanted straight here from
time to time. It wasn't yeah, and her I just love her curls,
like they're just they're the little boy one like that. I'm like,
wait, what you know, but you still you still want it. You
want what you don't have sometimes and if other people don't look like you who
wants to stand out. Some people love to stand out, so but some
people really just want to blend in with the group because the more you stand
out, the more likely you're going to be a target. That's what Kim
and I were talking about. Like, so then you end up wanting to
stay in a shell. And it's so funny because I think there's like three
parts, right, Like, you start to very young wanting to fit in,
and then you're like, Okay, I don't like what this is doing,
so let me just shell myself, let me be like everybody else,
let me just get out the way. And then you get to a point
where you're like, wait a minute, I don't want to be like any
of you. I don't really care what you think of me, you know
what I mean. But it takes some life experience to get to that point.
And maybe with books like this, children will get to that point faster
than let's say we got to that point, you know exactly. Even when
I talked to kids about the book. I read to another school last week
and there weren't many curly kids. I think there was maybe one curly kid
in the class, And I asked the kids afterwards, you know, what's
your superpower? And they start to share all their different superpowers, and I
said, even if you don't have curly hair, there's something that you have
that no one else has, and that's your superpower, and that's the thing
that you have to build on. These are kindergarteners, and they were just
they were so on it. They're like, oh, well, I can
climb really high. I'm going to work on that. You know. It
was so cute, But there's just there's something that you have that every person
has. I'm you know, I'm a Christian and I believe in God,
and I believe that God gave all of us gifts so we can come together
as one whole. That's why we're all good at so many different things and
we're not all the same. Absolutely, I think that's so true. I
think that's so true. And I think that's that's great that you're capturing that
essence that kids have. Unfortunately, as we get older, just by sheer
nature of society and our environment, we tend to lose that as we get
to be adults. But I just know that when you're a child, you
really think you can do any and everything. You know, so this is,
like, I think, the perfect age group to kind of capture that
or instill that in them, that yeah, you really do have powers,
you know exactly, and you know Olivia being a part of it. She
and I an interview last week or the week before for one of the local
news stations, and she spoke, yes, yes she. I mean she
she did such a good job. But her being so little and being able
to do that, she didn't think it was impossible. She was nervous,
but she didn't think it was impossible, and this book is helping her to
see that nothing is impossible for you, Like it's almost she kind of helped
write this book. She gave me the idea and even when I was going
through the characters, she's the one that helped me pick out what they were
wearing and what they would look like and what they should do next. So
she I probably should have given her co author credit, to be quite honest,
because she definitely helped me with all of this. But I always say,
this is your book, and it makes her feel proud. I love
that. No, that's really important because it's it's really her story, Like
you said, it's her you know, her friends. I think you said
your niece. Did you include your niece in it too, So it's her
friends that are the characters. But the book is dedicated to my nieces because
I have so many nieces so and they're all curly girls. So it's you
love that and you know it's funny. I was thinking, as you were
saying in the classrooms that there were not a lot of curly kids, and
I was wondering, I wonder how many kids might have had their parents straight
in their hair. Well, I think where we live, they're probably naturally
straight. Oh oh, ok, got it, okay, but you have
a couple that are so yeah. I was just curious, But no,
it makes perfect sense. What advice would you give to parents or caregivers or
just family members who are supporting their child, you know, struggling with self
confidence because of their parents or uniqueness. I think nowadays, maybe back in
the day, parents were too busy working. Now it's parents are too busy
in their phones. And I can be guilty of that as well. I'm
scrolling, scrolling, scrolling When you know, my child gets home from school
and I haven't seen her all day. I should be taking the time to
talk to her and so I'll have to actively say, Okay, get off
your phone. There's nothing that is more important on your phone than this child
here and sit down. She has like a little table and the in our
kitchen area, and I'll sit with her and ask her about her day,
because you're not going to know what your kids insecurities are and unless you talk
to them. Yeah, and it's good that she feels comfortable to talk to
you because you taking the time and sitting with her and making her feel comfortable
to talk to her will give you opportunities to hold her comfortable to say like
Olivia, well, you know she tells you she got in something with her
little girlfriend, Like you know, you shouldn't have said that to her,
or you know, if you pushed her, if you called her a name
that wasn't nice. That's not what we do. Children need those conversation because
we thought them. They think like that's okay, they do, and even
if you're not having it with them. So I think as parents we have
to make sure we're modeling the behavior that we want our children to exhibit.
So I know that with me and Danny, if we get into a disagreement
and we never really truly argue, and the things we disagree about are the
silliest things imaginable. But it's important for me, if we're in the car
and we're having this disagreement, for us to talk about it afterwards, and
for me to say, Okay, I was wrong, which honestly, i'm
wrong, probably more than Oh this is recorded. Maybe I shouldn't have said
that, but I'm wrong more than i'd like to admit. But it's an
opportunity for her to see that you have to take that accountability for your actions.
It's really important because I didn't see that modeling growing up. I read
something that was it was some BuzzFeed thing and it was like were you a
parent to find child, And it essentially talked about how your parents treated you
as if you were a peer instead of a child. So when they had
issues, they're coming to you. They want you to choose a side.
That sort of thing. So the way you could go to your parents,
I couldn't do that. I didn't have that opportunity to really go to my
parents because they were still growing themselves somehow, right, So I didn't know
that. So even now I think with Danny's so good about wanting to talk
things through. I don't like to have a lot of conversation, but he
has kind of forced that on me, and I'm glad he did because now
we can show O, Livia and Sean and Chloe that, Okay, this
is how you're supposed to have a relationship. Like it's not just I'm going
to get mad and walk away because I'm right, and I don't care about
what you have to say. No, we have to talk, we have
to communicate. Yeah, And I think that's wow, that's so important what
you just said, because, as I said earlier, children are always watching.
I mean, and I know this to be true because you know,
with a five year old, she mimics us in so many different ways,
and she does not miss a trick. She doesn't miss anything at all.
She will pick up on things, and not just with us, but with
her older sister since you know, Shan's away at school, and I just
love the way Chloe treats her and she's just very sweeter. She's not as
nice to Chloe as Chloe as to her, but she's very sweet. But
she wants to be like her big sister. So I'm glad she has that
model of such a good person. To patten herself after absolutely, because listen,
there's lots of situations where the older sibling is up to no good,
So you know, it's always a blessing when you have older children that can
lead by example. And luckily for her, you know, Chloe's still there
so she can still you know, kind of see her actions and how she
carries herself. So I think that's great to listen. It is twenty twenty
four, and this year we are decreasing overwhelm and increasing productivity, which is
why I use Audible to listen to my favorite books when I'm on the goal.
Audible makes it easy to listen anytime anywhere, while traveling, working out,
taking a bath, seasoning the meat or cauliflower for my vegetarians you decide,
and to help you start your audiobook journey, we have partnered with Audible
to offer our listeners a free thirty day trial. So don't just take my
word for it. Visit audibletrial dot com backslash Ltdt to start your free trial
today. Okay, last question before our last segment. What message do you
hope that young readers, especially those who might face similar challenges that you talk
about in the book. What do you hope that they take away from the
book that they are powerful and that they are magical, and that they're amazing
just the way they are. Love that perfectly said, perfectly said. Okay,
So for our last segment, I am going to ask you five rapid
fire questions and I would like you to answer with the first thing that comes
to mind, and it could be a word or a sentence. Ready,
yeah, all right. First question, what is the silliest way that you've
gotten an injury? Being in Jamaica last year and tripping over the stare and
are sweet and rolling my ankle? Oh no, after telling me myself to
watch out for the stair and telling my husband to watch out for the stair
and I tripped on the stair, So I felt that was very good.
Talk about that the zone see if not at all at all, that is
hilarious. But I'm glad you're okay, crazy got you? Okay? Next
one, what's more important to you in life? Excitement or stability? Stability?
I've had enough excitement in my life, and any particular reason why besides
the fact that you've had enough excitement. I just grew up in a very
tumultuous household, and then my first marriage was not a bed of roses.
So give me stability any day. Love it, love it. Okay.
The next question, what do you think it means to be healthy to make
sure that what you are putting into your body, whether it's from a mental,
spiritual, physical, food, making sure that it's something that isn't going
to hurt you. I love that, and a lot of times people miss
the mental and like you know, environment part about it, So I'm glad
you said that. Next question, what is something that makes you feel unstoppable?
A really really nice dress and a pair of heels that are high enough
to be sexy, but low enough for me not to kill myself, low
enough for you not to drop down? Makes sense? Great answer, okay.
And the final question, it's a yes or no answer, and I
feel like I should say it's a yes or yes answer because I won't tolerate
to know. But this is your answer, so I'm staying all of it.
But I would like you to explain why are you prode of yourself?
Yes? Absolutely, And I'm proud of myself because i know where I've come
from and i know the things that I've had to do to get to where
I am now, and and my husband and I will speak about this all
the time, but two kids from Harford, Connecticut are living our best lives
in San Diego, California, and it's beyond our wildest dreams to have such
a life, a fulfilling life with love and with some excitement, not the
kind that will cause me to be good excitement, good excitement and just fun.
It's just it's a fun life that we have. I love that.
I love that, and see, excitement can be good when it's how it's
supposed to be, when it's fun, you know. Safe and safe,
yes, because we are big on safety on this Podcas, But no,
I love that. I love that, and I am proud of you because
I think it really I mean, this is your first book. I don't
know if I mentioned that, but this is your first book. So it's
not to say you know, you're an author and you just decided to write
a children's book. The fact that you thought so much of what your daughter
was going through to write something that could help other people, I think that's
really amazing because you didn't have to do that. You could have just helped
your daughter and move on, you know, but you did something that included
her friends, and I just think that's really really amazing. Thank you,
and I am proud of you too. I love your podcast. I'd love
to listen to it. So you're doing some amazing things, and I know
this is not a part of it, but I want you to remember how
special you are and to be proud of how strong you are. Oh,
don't make me cry. Thank you so much. I really really deeply appreciate
appreciate you saying that I'm trying to keep it together because you know, bat
Ya don't cry, but I really I really appreciate it. It means a
lot to me, just because you know, this, as you know,
just came out of me wanting to do something for myself and just feeling that
there's not a lot of podcasts, you know, especially within our diaspora that
are just you know, more positive, like not centered around like gossip or
the man woman argument. And even when we have those discussions, I feel
like they're very positive, you know. As you know, I had your
lovely husband on here, who's like one of my bestest friends, and I
just love the environment. I think it's fun and I love that people feel
comfortable. I tell people all the time. I just think it's so it
makes me feel so good inside that people trust me to come on my podcast
and not even tell them what I'm going to ask them, you know,
Like that's a lot of trust because you don't know, like if you go
somewhere and you're going to talk about God knows what, you have to trust
that person to know they're not going to ask you questions or say anything salacious.
So that definitely really really means a lot to me. So thank you
so much, You're welcome, and thank you for having me on. Of
course, well that concludes this episode. Again, thank you so much for
coming to talk the things with me and for writing this book, and I'm
certain it will help so many young girls just feel seen. And oh before
I forget, before we go, can you please tell everyone where they can
purchase the book and anything else that you want to share. So you can
purchase it on Amazon or Barnes and Noble online. Target has it online now,
and if you go to Instagram, you can follow the page just the
official Cirl girls and there's no underscore between each of it. So we have
some information on there and we have a pop up shop, so if you
want some merchandise, we've got that as well. Where's a pop up shop
going to be? It's a virtual pop up shop, so you can just
oh you can just order online. Oh nice, that's new. I love
that. Nice, very nice. Well everyone, if you haven't already,
please remember to follow us on Spotify and Apple podcast so you're notified when a
new episode is released. And if you enjoyed the podcast, please leave us
a five star rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.