Podcasts about Lady J

Hey UN•THERAPIST,We need your help UN•THERAPIZING something…What do you do when someone shares their trauma with you: Do you believe them right away, or wait for proof? Let's be honest, that's not as easy as it sounds. It's one thing to say “I believe you,” but when emotions, loyalty, and history get involved, things can get complicated real fast.Coach Fernz kicked it off with a tricky question: "If someone you love accuses another person you love, how do you decide who to stand with?"Shay & Lady J said their first instinct is to "believe and listen," but even she admitted… “If it's family on both sides, now I'm playing detective.” And when Coach brought up how false accusations can destroy a life just as fast as silence can destroy a soul... whew, it got deep.Join us for another session of UN•THERAPY as we UN•THERAPIZE, believing victims vs. seeking proof, how to respond when someone trusts you with their truth, and whether compassion and caution can truly coexist.Connect with UN•THERAPY PodcastInstagram: ⁠⁠@UntherapyPodcast⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠UN•THERAPY Podcast ⁠YouTube: UN•THERAPY  PodcastUN•THERAPY Facebook Group: 

What does it take to keep your voice—and your purpose—strong through every season of life? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with my friend Bill Ratner, one of Hollywood's most recognized voice actors, best known as Flint from GI Joe. Bill's voice has carried him through radio, animation, and narration, but what stands out most is how he's used that same voice to serve others through storytelling, teaching, and grief counseling. Together, we explore the heart behind his work—from bringing animated heroes to life to standing on The Moth stage and helping people find healing through poetry. Bill shares lessons from his own journey, including losing both parents early, finding family in unexpected places, and discovering how creative expression can rebuild what life breaks down. We also reflect on 9/11, preparedness, and the quiet confidence that comes from trusting your training—whether you're a first responder, a performer, or just navigating the unknown. This conversation isn't just about performance; it's about presence. It's about using your story, your craft, and your compassion to keep moving forward—unstoppable, one voice at a time. Highlights: 00:31 – Hear the Flint voice and what it takes to bring animated characters to life. 06:57 – Learn why an uneven college path still led to a lifelong acting career. 11:50 – Understand how GI Joe became a team and a toy phenomenon that shaped culture. 15:58 – See how comics and cartoons boosted classroom literacy when used well. 17:06 – Pick up simple ways parents can spark reading through shared stories. 19:29 – Discover how early, honest conversations about death can model resilience. 24:09 – Learn to critique ads and media like a pro to sharpen your own performance. 36:19 – Follow the pivot from radio to voiceover and why specialization pays. 47:48 – Hear practical editing approaches and accessible tools that keep shows tight. 49:38 – Learn how The Moth builds storytelling chops through timed, judged practice. 55:21 – See how poetry—and poetry therapy—support grief work with students. 59:39 – Take notes on memoir writing, emotional management, and one-person shows. About the Guest: Bill Ratner is one of America's best known voice actors and author of poetry collections Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake (Slow Lightning Lit 2024,) Fear of Fish (Alien Buddha Press 2021,) To Decorate a Casket (Finishing Line Press 2021,) and the non-fiction book Parenting For The Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media's Effect On Children and What To Do About It (Familius Books 2014.) He is a 9-time winner of the Moth StorySLAM, 2-time winner of Best of The Hollywood Fringe Extension Award for Solo Performance, Best of the Net Poetry Nominee 2023 (Lascaux Review,) and New Millennium "America One Year From Now" Writing Award Finalist. His writing appears in Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press,) Missouri Review (audio,) Baltimore Review, Chiron Review, Feminine Collective, and other journals. He is the voice of "Flint" in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe, "Donnell Udina" in the computer game Mass Effect, the voice of Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel, NewsNation, and network TV affiliates across the country. He is a committee chair for his union, SAG-AFTRA, teaches Voiceovers for SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Media Awareness for Los Angeles Unified School District, and is a trained grief counsellor. Member: Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, National Storytelling Network • https://billratner.com • @billratner Ways to connect with Bill: https://soundcloud.com/bill-ratner https://www.instagram.com/billratner/ https://twitter.com/billratner https://www.threads.net/@billratner https://billratner.tumblr.com https://www.youtube.com/@billratner/videos https://www.facebook.com/billratner.voiceover.author https://bsky.app/profile/bilorat.bsky.social About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:21 Well on a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, I am your host. Mike hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to have a voice actor, person, Bill Ratner, who you want to know who Bill Radnor is, go back and watch the old GI Joe cartoons and listen to the voice of Flint.   Bill Ratner ** 01:42 All right. Lady Jay, you better get your battle gear on, because Cobra is on their way. And I can't bring up the Lacher threat weapon system. We got to get out of here. Yo, Joe,   Michael Hingson ** 01:52 there you go. I rest my case Well, Bill, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Bill Ratner ** 02:00 We can't rest now. Michael, we've just begun. No, we've just begun.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 We got to keep going here. Well, I'm really glad that you're here. Bill is another person who we inveigled to get on unstoppable mindset with the help of Walden Hughes. And so that means we can talk about Walden all we want today. Bill just saying, oh goodness. And I got a lot to say. Let me tell you perfect, perfect. Bring it on. So we are really grateful to Walden, although I hope he's not listening. We don't want to give him a big head. But no, seriously, we're really grateful. Ah, good point.   Bill Ratner ** 02:38 But his posture, oddly enough, is perfect.   Michael Hingson ** 02:40 Well, there you go. What do you do? He practiced. Well, anyway, we're glad you're here. Tell us about the early bill, growing up and all that stuff. It's always fun to start a good beginning.   Bill Ratner ** 02:54 Well, I was a very lucky little boy. I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947 to two lovely people, professionals, both with master's degree out at University of Chicago. My mother was a social worker. My father had an MBA in business. He was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. So I had the joy of living in a better home and living in a garden.   Michael Hingson ** 03:21 My mother. How long were you in Des Moines?   Bill Ratner ** 03:24 Five and a half years left before my sixth birthday. My dad got a fancy job at an ad agency in Minneapolis, and had a big brother named Pete and big handsome, curly haired boy with green eyes. And moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was was brought up there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:45 Wow. So you went to school there and and chased the girls and all that stuff.   Bill Ratner ** 03:54 I went to school there at Blake School for Boys in Hopkins, Minnesota. Couldn't chase the girls day school, but the girls we are allowed to dance with certainly not chase. Michael was at woodhue dancing school, the Northrop girls from Northrop girls school and the Blake boys were put together in eighth grade and taught the Cha Cha Cha, the waltz, the Charleston, and we danced together, and the girls wore white gloves, and we sniffed their perfume, and we all learned how to be lovers when we were 45   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 There you are. Well, as long as you learned at some point, that's a good start.   Bill Ratner ** 04:44 It's a weird generation. Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 04:46 I've been to Des Moines before. I was born in Chicago, but moved out to California when I was five, but I did some work with the National Federation of the Blind in the mid 19. 1970s 1976 into 1978 so spent time at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, which became a top agency for the Blind in well, the late 50s into the to the 60s and so on. So   Bill Ratner ** 05:15 both my parents are from Chicago. My father from the south side of Chicago, 44th and Kenzie, which was a Irish, Polish, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian neighborhood. And my mother from Glencoe, which was a middle class suburb above Northwestern University in Evanston.   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 I Where were you born? 57th and union, north, south side, no, South   Bill Ratner ** 05:42 57th union is that? Is that west of Kenzie?   Michael Hingson ** 05:46 You know, I don't remember the geography well enough to know, but I know that it was, I think, Mount Sinai Hospital where I was born. But it was, it's, it's, it's a pretty tough neighborhood today. So I understand,   Bill Ratner ** 06:00 yeah, yeah, my it was tough, then it's tough now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:03 yeah, I think it's tougher, supposedly, than it was. But we lived there for five years, and then we we moved to California, and I remember some things about Chicago. I remember walking down to the local candy store most days, and had no problem doing that. My parents were told they should shut me away at a home somewhere, because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything. And my parents said, You guys are you're totally wrong. And they brought me up with that attitude. So, you   Bill Ratner ** 06:32 know who said that the school says school so that   Michael Hingson ** 06:35 doctors doctors when they discovered I was blind with the   Bill Ratner ** 06:38 kid, goodness gracious, horrified.   Michael Hingson ** 06:44 Well, my parents said absolutely not, and they brought me up, and they actually worked with other parents of premature kids who became blind, and when kindergarten started in for us in in the age of four, they actually had a special kindergarten class for blind kids at the Perry School, which is where I went. And so I did that for a year, learn braille and some other things. Then we moved to California, but yeah, and I go back to Chicago every so often. And when I do nowadays, they I one of my favorite places to migrate in Chicago is Garrett Popcorn.   Bill Ratner ** 07:21 Ah, yes, with caramel corn, regular corn, the   Michael Hingson ** 07:25 Chicago blend, which is a mixture, yeah, the Chicago blend is cheese corn, well, as it is with caramel corn, and they put much other mozzarella on it as well. It's really good.   Bill Ratner ** 07:39 Yeah, so we're on the air. Michael, what do you call your what do you call your program? Here I am your new friend, and I can't even announce your program because I don't know   Michael Hingson ** 07:48 the name, unstoppable mindset. This   Bill Ratner ** 07:51 is unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 07:56 We're back. Well, we're back already. We're fast. So you, you, you moved off elsewhere, out of Des Moines and all that. And where did you go to college?   Bill Ratner ** 08:09 Well, this is like, why did you this is, this is a bit like talking about the Vietnam War. Looking back on my college career is like looking back on the Vietnam War series, a series of delusions and defeats. By the time I the time i for college, by the time I was applying for college, I was an orphan, orphan, having been born to fabulous parents who died too young of natural causes. So my grades in high school were my mediocre. I couldn't get into the Ivy Leagues. I got into the big 10 schools. My stepmother said, you're going to Michigan State in East Lansing because your cousin Eddie became a successful realtor. And Michigan State was known as mu u it was the most successful, largest agriculture college and university in the country. Kids from South Asia, China, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, South America all over the world came to Michigan State to study agricultural sciences, children of rich farmers all over the world and middle class farmers all over the world, and a huge police science department. Part of the campus was fenced off, and the young cadets, 1819, 20 years old, would practice on the rest of the student body, uniformed with hats and all right, excuse me, young man, we're just going to get some pizza at eight o'clock on Friday night. Stand against your car. Hands in your car. I said, Are you guys practicing again? Shut up and spread your legs. So that was that was Michigan State, and even though both my parents had master's degrees, I just found all the diversions available in the 1960s to be too interesting, and was not invited. Return after my sophomore year, and in order to flunk out of a big 10 University, and they're fine universities, all of them, you have to be either really determined or not so smart, not really capable of doing that level of study in undergraduate school. And I'd like to think that I was determined. I used to show up for my exams with a little blue book, and the only thing I would write is due to lack of knowledge, I am unable to complete this exam, sign Bill ranter and get up early and hand it in and go off. And so what was, what was left for a young man like that was the theater I'd seen the great Zero Mostel when I was 14 years old and on stage live, he looked just like my father, and he was funny, and if I Were a rich man, and that's the grade zero must tell. Yeah, and it took about five, no, it took about six, seven years to percolate inside my bread and my brain. In high school, I didn't want to do theater. The cheerleaders and guys who I had didn't happen to be friends with or doing theater. I took my girlfriends to see plays, but when I was 21 I started acting, and I've been an actor ever since. I'm a committee chair on the screen actors guild in Hollywood and Screen Actors Guild AFTRA, and work as a voice actor and collect my pensions and God bless the union.   Michael Hingson ** 11:44 Well, hey, as long as it works and you're making progress, you know you're still with it, right?   Bill Ratner ** 11:53 That's the that's the point. There's no accounting for taste in my business. Michael, you work for a few different broadcast entities at my age. And it's, you know, it's younger people. It's 18 to 3418 years to 34 years old is the ideal demographic for advertisers, Ford, Motor Company, Dove soap, Betty, Crocker, cake mixes and cereals, every conceivable product that sold online or sold on television and radio. This is my this is my meat, and I don't work for religion. However, if a religious organization calls, I call and say, I I'm not, not qualified or not have my divinity degree in order to sell your church to the public?   Michael Hingson ** 12:46 Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I can understand that. But you, you obviously do a lot, and as we talked about, you were Flint and GI Joe, which is kind of cool.   Bill Ratner ** 13:01 Flynn GI Joe was very cool. Hasbro Corporation, which was based in Providence, Rhode Island, had a huge success with GI Joe, the figure. The figure was about 11 and a half inches tall, like a Barbie, and was at first, was introduced to the public after the Korean War. There is a comic book that was that was also published about GI Joe. He was an individual figure. He was a figure, a sort of mythic cartoon figure during World War Two, GI Joe, generic American soldier, fighting man and but the Vietnam war dragged on for a long time, and the American buying public or buying kids toys got tired of GI Joe, got tired of a military figure in their household and stopped buying. And when Nixon ended the Vietnam War, or allotted to finish in 1974 Hasbro was in the tank. It's got its stock was cheap, and executives are getting nervous. And then came the Great George Lucas in Star Wars, who shrank all these action figures down from 11 and a half inches to three and a half inches, and went to China and had Chinese game and toy makers make Star Wars toys, and began to earn billions and billions dollars. And so Hasbro said, let's turn GI Joe into into a team. And the team began with flint and Lady J and Scarlett and Duke and Destro and cover commander, and grew to 85 different characters, because Hasbro and the toy maker partners could create 85 different sets of toys and action figures. So I was actor in this show and had a good time, and also a purveyor of a billion dollar industry of American toys. And the good news about these toys is I was at a conference where we signed autographs the voice actors, and we have supper with fans and so on. And I was sitting next to a 30 year old kid and his parents. And this kid was so knowledgeable about pop culture and every conceivable children's show and animated show that had ever been on the screen or on television. I turned to his mother and sort of being a wise acre, said, So ma'am, how do you feel about your 30 year old still playing with GI Joe action figures? And she said, Well, he and I both teach English in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania school system, and last year, the literacy level of my ninth graders was 50% 50% of those kids could not read in ninth grade. So I asked the principal if I could borrow my son's GI Joe, action figures, comic books and VHS tapes, recordings of the shows from TV. And he said, Sure, whatever you want to try. And so she did, and she played the video tapes, and these kids were thrilled. They'd never seen a GI Joe cartoon in class before. Passed out the comic books, let him read comics. And then she said, Okay, you guys. And passed out notebooks and pens and pencils, and said, I want you guys to make up some some shows, some GI Joe shows. And so they said, Yeah, we're ready. All right, Cobra, you better get into the barber shop, because the barber bill is no longer there and the fire engines are in the way. And wait a minute, there's a dog in the street. And so they're making this up, using their imagination, doing their schoolwork, by coming up with scenarios, imaginary fam fan fiction for GI Joe and she raised the literacy level in her classroom by 50% that year, by the end of that year, so, so that was the only story that I've ever heard about the sort of the efficacy of GI Joe, other than, you know, kids play with them. Do they? Are they shooting each other all the time? I certainly hope not. I hope not. Are they using the action figures? Do they strip their guns off and put them in a little, you know, stub over by the side and and have them do physical battle with each other, or have them hump the woods, or have them climb the stairs, or have them search the trees. Who knows what kids do? Same with same with girls and and Barbies. Barbie has been a source of fun and creativity for lots of girls, and the source of of worry and bother to a lot of parents as   Michael Hingson ** 17:54 well. Well, at the same time, though, when kids start to react and relate to some of these things. It's, it's pretty cool. I mean, look what's happened with the whole Harry Potter movement and craze. Harry Potter has probably done more in the last 20 or 25 years to promote reading for kids than most anything else, and   Bill Ratner ** 18:17 that's because it's such a good series of books. I read them to my daughters, yeah. And the quality of writing. She was a brilliant writer, not only just the stories and the storytelling, which is fun to watch in the movies, and you know, it's great for a parent to read. If there are any parents listening, I don't care how old your kids are. I don't care if they're 15. Offer to read to them. The 15 year old might, of course, say mom, but anybody younger than that might say either, all right, fine, which is, which means you better do it or read, read a book. To me, sure, it's fun for the parent, fun for the kid, and it makes the child a completely different kind of thinker and worker and earner.   Michael Hingson ** 19:05 Well, also the people who they got to read the books for the recordings Stephen Fry and in the US here, Jim Dale did such an incredible job as well. I've, I've read the whole Harry Potter series more than once, because I just enjoy them, and I enjoy listening to the the voices. They do such a good job. Yeah. And of course, for me, one of the interesting stories that I know about Jim Dale reading Harry Potter was since it was published by Scholastic he was actually scheduled to do a reading from one of the Harry from the new Harry Potter book that was coming out in 2001 on September 11, he was going to be at Scholastic reading. And of course, that didn't happen because of of everything that did occur. So I don't know whether I'm. I'm assuming at some point a little bit later, he did, but still he was scheduled to be there and read. But it they are there. They've done so much to help promote reading, and a lot of those kinds of cartoons and so on. Have done some of that, which is, which is pretty good. So it's good to, you know, to see that continue to happen. Well, so you've written several books on poetry and so on, and I know that you you've mentioned more than once grief and loss. How come those words keep coming up?   Bill Ratner ** 20:40 Well, I had an unusual childhood. Again. I mentioned earlier how, what a lucky kid I was. My parents were happy, educated, good people, not abusers. You know, I don't have a I don't have horror stories to tell about my mother or my father, until my mother grew sick with breast cancer and and it took about a year and a half or two years to die when I was seven years old. The good news is, because she was a sensitive, educated social worker, as she was actually dying, she arranged a death counseling session with me and my older brother and the Unitarian minister who was also a death counselor, and whom she was seeing to talk about, you know, what it was like to be dying of breast cancer with two young kids. And at this session, which was sort of surprised me, I was second grade, came home from school. In the living room was my mother and my brother looking a little nervous, and Dr Carl storm from the Unitarian Church, and she said, you know, Dr storm from church, but he's also my therapist. And we talk about my illness and how I feel, and we talk about how much I love you boys, and talk about how I worry about Daddy. And this is what one does when one is in crisis. That was a moment that was not traumatic for me. It's a moment I recalled hundreds of times, and one that has been a guiding light through my life. My mother's death was very difficult for my older brother, who was 13 who grew up in World War Two without without my father, it was just him and my mother when he was off in the Pacific fighting in World War Two. And then I was born after the war. And the loss of a mother in a family is like the bottom dropping out of a family. But luckily, my dad met a woman he worked with a highly placed advertising executive, which was unusual for a female in the 1950s and she became our stepmother a year later, and we had some very lovely, warm family years with her extended family and our extended family and all of us together until my brother got sick, came down with kidney disease a couple of years before kidney dialysis was invented, and a couple of years before kidney transplants were done, died at 19. Had been the captain of the swimming team at our high school, but did a year in college out in California and died on Halloween of 1960 my father was 51 years old. His eldest son had died. He had lost his wife six years earlier. He was working too hard in the advertising industry, successful man and dropped out of a heart attack 14th birthday. Gosh, I found him unconscious on the floor of our master bathroom in our house. So my life changed. I My life has taught me many, many things. It's taught me how the defense system works in trauma. It's taught me the resilience of a child. It's taught me the kindness of strangers. It's taught me the sadness of loss.   Michael Hingson ** 24:09 Well, you, you seem to come through all of it pretty well. Well, thank you. A question behind that, just an observation, but, but you do seem to, you know, obviously, cope with all of it and do pretty well. So you, you've always liked to be involved in acting and so on. How did you actually end up deciding to be a voice actor?   Bill Ratner ** 24:39 Well, my dad, after he was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Des Moines for Meredith publishing, got offered a fancy job as executive vice president of the flower and mix division for Campbell within advertising and later at General Mills Corporation. From Betty Crocker brand, and would bring me to work all the time, and would sit with me, and we'd watch the wonderful old westerns that were on prime time television, rawhide and Gunsmoke and the Virginian and sure   Michael Hingson ** 25:15 and all those. Yeah, during   Bill Ratner ** 25:17 the commercials, my father would make fun of the commercials. Oh, look at that guy. And number one, son, that's lousy acting. Number two, listen to that copy. It's the dumbest ad copy I've ever seen. The jingles and and then he would say, No, that's a good commercial, right there. And he wasn't always negative. He would he was just a good critic of advertising. So at a very young age, starting, you know, when we watch television, I think the first television ever, he bought us when I was five years old, I was around one of the most educated, active, funny, animated television critics I could hope to have in my life as a 56789, 1011, 12 year old. And so when I was 12, I became one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of radio stations with my friends John Waterhouse and John Barstow and Steve gray and Bill Connors in South Minneapolis. I named my five watt night kit am transmitter after my sixth grade teacher, Bob close this is wclo stereo radio. And when I was in sixth grade, I built myself a switch box, and I had a turntable and I had an intercom, and I wired my house for sound, as did all the other boys in the in the B, O, R, S, and that's brotherhood of radio stations. And we were guests on each other's shows, and we were obsessed, and we would go to the shopping malls whenever a local DJ was making an appearance and torture him and ask him dumb questions and listen obsessively to American am radio. And at the time for am radio, not FM like today, or internet on your little radio tuner, all the big old grandma and grandpa radios, the wooden ones, were AM, for amplitude modulated. You could get stations at night, once the sun went down and the later it got, the ionosphere would lift and the am radio signals would bounce higher and farther. And in Minneapolis, at age six and seven, I was able to to listen to stations out of Mexico and Texas and Chicago, and was absolutely fascinated with with what was being put out. And I would, I would switch my brother when I was about eight years old, gave me a transistor radio, which I hid under my bed covers. And at night, would turn on and listen for, who knows, hours at a time, and just tuning the dial and tuning the dial from country to rock and roll to hit parade to news to commercials to to agric agriculture reports to cow crossings in Kansas and grain harvesting and cheese making in Wisconsin, and on and on and on that made up the great medium of radio that was handing its power and its business over to television, just as I was growing As a child. Fast, fascinating transition   Michael Hingson ** 28:18 and well, but as it was transitioning, how did that affect you?   Bill Ratner ** 28:26 It made television the romantic, exciting, dynamic medium. It made radio seem a little limited and antiquated, and although I listened for environment and wasn't able to drag a television set under my covers. Yeah, and television became memorable with with everything from actual world war two battle footage being shown because there wasn't enough programming to 1930s Warner Brothers gangster movies with James Cagney, Edward G   Michael Hingson ** 29:01 Robinson and yeah   Bill Ratner ** 29:02 to all the sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver and television cartoons and on and on and on. And the most memorable elements to me were the personalities, and some of whom were invisible. Five years old, I was watching a Kids program after school, after kindergarten. We'll be back with more funny puppets, marionettes after this message and the first words that came on from an invisible voice of this D baritone voice, this commercial message will be 60 seconds long, Chrysler Dodge for 1954 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I watched hypnotized, hypnotized as a 1953 dodge drove across the screen with a happy family of four waving out the window. And at the end of the commercial, I ran into the kitchen said, Mom, mom, I know what a minute. Is, and it was said, it had suddenly come into my brain in one of those very rare and memorable moments in a person's life where your brain actually speaks to you in its own private language and says, Here is something very new and very true, that 60 seconds is in fact a minute. When someone says, See you in five minutes, they mean five times that, five times as long as that. Chrysler commercial, five times 60. That's 300 seconds. And she said, Did you learn it that that on T in kindergarten? And I said, No, I learned it from kangaroo Bob on TV, his announcer, oh, kangaroo Bob, no, but this guy was invisible. And so at five years of age, I was aware of the existence of the practice of the sound, of the magic of the seemingly unlimited access to facts, figures, products, brand names that these voices had and would say on the air in This sort of majestic, patriarchal way,   Michael Hingson ** 31:21 and just think 20 years later, then you had James Earl Jones,   Bill Ratner ** 31:26 the great dame. James Earl Jones, father was a star on stage at that time the 1950s James Earl Jones came of age in the 60s and became Broadway and off Broadway star.   Michael Hingson ** 31:38 I got to see him in Othello. He was playing Othello. What a powerful performance. It was   Bill Ratner ** 31:43 wonderful performer. Yeah, yeah. I got to see him as Big Daddy in Canada, Hot Tin Roof, ah, live and in person, he got front row seats for me and my family.   Michael Hingson ** 31:53 Yeah, we weren't in the front row, but we saw it. We saw it on on Broadway,   Bill Ratner ** 31:58 the closest I ever got to James Earl Jones. He and I had the same voice over agent, woman named Rita vinari of southern Barth and benare company. And I came into the agency to audition for Doritos, and I hear this magnificent voice coming from behind a closed voiceover booth, saying, with a with a Spanish accent, Doritos. I thought that's James Earl Jones. Why is he saying burritos? And he came out, and he bowed to me, nodded and smiled, and I said, hello and and the agent probably in the booth and shut the door. And she said, I said, that was James Earl Jones. What a voice. What she said, Oh, he's such a nice man. And she said, but I couldn't. I was too embarrassed. I was too afraid to stop him from saying, Doritos. And it turns out he didn't get the gig. So it is some other voice actor got it because he didn't say, had he said Doritos with the agent froze it froze up. That was as close as I ever got to did you get the gig? Oh goodness no,   Michael Hingson ** 33:01 no, you didn't, huh? Oh, well, well, yeah. I mean, it was a very, it was, it was wonderful. It was James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer played Iago. Oh, goodness, oh, I know. What a what a combination. Well, so you, you did a lot of voiceover stuff. What did you do regarding radio moving forward? Or did you just go completely out of that and you were in TV? Or did you have any opportunity   Bill Ratner ** 33:33 for me to go back at age 15, my brother and father, who were big supporters of my radio. My dad would read my W, C, l, o, newsletter and need an initial, an excellent journalism son and my brother would bring his teenage friends up. He'd play the elderly brothers, man, you got an Elvis record, and I did. And you know, they were, they were big supporters for me as a 13 year old, but when I turned 14, and had lost my brother and my father, I lost my enthusiasm and put all of my radio equipment in a box intended to play with it later. Never, ever, ever did again. And when I was about 30 years old and I'd done years of acting in the theater, having a great time doing fun plays and small theaters in Minneapolis and South Dakota and and Oakland, California and San Francisco. I needed money, so I looked in the want ads and saw a job for telephone sales, and I thought, Well, I used to love the telephone. I used to make phony phone calls to people all the time. Used to call funeral homes. Hi Carson, funeral I help you. Yes, I'm calling to tell you that you have a you have a dark green slate tile. Roof, isn't that correct? Yes. Well, there's, there's a corpse on your roof. Lady for goodness sake, bring it down and we laugh and we record it and and so I thought, Well, gee, I used to have a lot of fun with the phone. And so I called the number of telephone sales and got hired to sell magazine subscriptions and dinner tickets to Union dinners and all kinds of things. And then I saw a new job at a radio station, suburban radio station out in Walnut Creek, California, a lovely Metro BART train ride. And so I got on the BART train, rode out there and walked in for the interview, and was told I was going to be selling small advertising packages on radio for the station on the phone. And so I called barber shops and beauty shops and gas stations in the area, and one guy picked up the phone and said, Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you on the radio right now? And I said, No, I'm just I'm in the sales room. Well, maybe you should be. And he slams the phone on me. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. It wasn't interested in buying advertising. I thought, gee. And I told somebody at the station, and they said, Well, you want to be in the radio? And he went, Yeah, I was on the radio when I was 13. And it just so happened that an older fellow was retiring from the 10am to 2pm slot. K I S King, kiss 99 and KD FM, Pittsburgh, California. And it was a beautiful music station. It was a music station. Remember, old enough will remember music that used to play in elevators that was like violin music, the Percy faith orchestra playing a Rolling Stone song here in the elevator. Yes, well, that's exactly what we played. And it would have been harder to get a job at the local rock stations because, you know, they were popular places. And so I applied for the job, and   Michael Hingson ** 37:06 could have lost your voice a lot sooner, and it would have been a lot harder if you had had to do Wolfman Jack. But that's another story.   Bill Ratner ** 37:13 Yeah, I used to listen to Wolf Man Jack. I worked in a studio in Hollywood. He became a studio. Yeah, big time.   Michael Hingson ** 37:22 Anyway, so you you got to work at the muzack station, got   Bill Ratner ** 37:27 to work at the muzack station, and I was moving to Los Angeles to go to a bigger market, to attempt to penetrate a bigger broadcast market. And one of the sales guys, a very nice guy named Ralph pizzella said, Well, when you get to La you should study with a friend of mine down to pie Troy, he teaches voiceovers. I said, What are voice overs? He said, You know that CVS Pharmacy commercial just carted up and did 75 tags, available in San Fernando, available in San Clemente, available in Los Angeles, available in Pasadena. And I said, Yeah. He said, Well, you didn't get paid any extra. You got paid your $165 a week. The guy who did that commercial for the ad agency got paid probably 300 bucks, plus extra for the tags, that's voiceovers. And I thought, why? There's an idea, what a concept. So he gave me the name and number of old friend acquaintance of his who he'd known in radio, named Don DiPietro, alias Johnny rabbit, who worked for the Dick Clark organization, had a big rock and roll station there. He'd come to LA was doing voiceovers and teaching voiceover classes in a little second story storefront out of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So I signed up for his class, and he was an experienced guy, and he liked me, and we all had fun, and I realized I was beginning to study like an actor at 1818, who goes to New York or goes to Los Angeles or Chicago or Atlanta or St Louis to act in the big theaters, and starts acting classes and realizes, oh my goodness, these people are truly professionals. I don't know how to do what they do. And so for six years, I took voice over classes, probably 4050, nights a year, and from disc jockeys, from ex show hosts, from actors, from animated cartoon voices, and put enough time in to get a degree in neurology in medical school. And worked my way up in radio in Los Angeles and had a morning show, a lovely show with a wonderful news man named Phil Reed, and we talked about things and reviewed movies and and played a lot of music. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm earning three times the money in voiceovers as I am on the radio, and I have to get up at 430 in the morning to be on the radio. Uh, and a wonderful guy who was Johnny Carson's staff announcer named Jack angel said, You're not still on radio, are you? And I said, Well, yeah, I'm working in the morning. And Ka big, get out of there. Man, quit. Quit. And I thought, well, how can I quit? I've always wanted to be a radio announcer. And then there was another wonderful guy on the old am station, kmpc, sweet Dick Whittington. Whittington, right? And he said at a seminar that I went to at a union voice over training class, when you wake up at four in the morning and you swing your legs over the bed and your shoes hit the floor, and you put your head in your hands, and you say to yourself, I don't want to do this anymore. That's when you quit radio. Well, that hadn't happened to me. I was just getting up early to write some comedy segments and on and on and on, and then I was driving around town all day doing auditions and rented an ex girlfriend's second bedroom so that I could nap by myself during the day, when I had an hour in and I would as I would fall asleep, I'd picture myself every single day I'm in a dark voiceover studio, a microphone Is before me, a music stand is before the microphone, and on it is a piece of paper with advertising copy on it. On the other side of the large piece of glass of the recording booth are three individuals, my employers, I begin to read, and somehow the text leaps off the page, streams into my eyes, letter for letter, word for word, into a part of my back brain that I don't understand and can't describe. It is processed in my semi conscious mind with the help of voice over training and hope and faith, and comes out my mouth, goes into the microphone, is recorded in the digital recorder, and those three men, like little monkeys, lean forward and say, Wow, how do you do that? That was my daily creative visualization. Michael, that was my daily fantasy. And I had learned that from from Dale Carnegie, and I had learned that from Olympic athletes on NBC TV in the 60s and 70s, when the announcer would say, this young man you're seeing practicing his high jump is actually standing there. He's standing stationary, and the bouncing of the head is he's actually rehearsing in his mind running and running and leaping over the seven feet two inch bar and falling into the sawdust. And now he's doing it again, and you could just barely see the man nodding his head on camera at the exact rhythm that he would be running the 25 yards toward the high bar and leaping, and he raised his head up during the imaginary lead that he was visualizing, and then he actually jumped the seven foot two inches. That's how I learned about creative visualization from NBC sports on TV.   Michael Hingson ** 43:23 Channel Four in Los Angeles. There you go. Well, so you you broke into voice over, and that's what you did.   Bill Ratner ** 43:38 That's what I did, darn it, I ain't stopping now, there's a wonderful old actor named Bill Irwin. There two Bill Irwin's one is a younger actor in his 50s or 60s, a brilliant actor from Broadway to film and TV. There's an older William Irwin. They also named Bill Irwin, who's probably in his 90s now. And I went to a premiere of a film, and he was always showing up in these films as The senile stock broker who answers the phone upside down, or the senile board member who always asks inappropriate questions. And I went up to him and I said, you know, I see you in everything, man. I'm 85 years old. Some friends and associates of mine tell me I should slow down. I only got cast in movies and TV when I was 65 I ain't slowing down. If I tried to slow down at 85 I'd have to stop That's my philosophy. My hero is the great Don Pardo, the late great   Michael Hingson ** 44:42 for Saturday Night Live and Jeopardy   Bill Ratner ** 44:45 lives starring Bill Murray, Gilder Radner, and   Michael Hingson ** 44:49 he died for Jeopardy before that,   Bill Ratner ** 44:52 yeah, died at 92 with I picture him, whether it probably not, with a microphone and. His hand in his in his soundproof booth, in his in his garage, and I believe he lived in Arizona, although the show was aired and taped in New York, New York, right where he worked for for decades as a successful announcer. So that's the story.   Michael Hingson ** 45:16 Michael. Well, you know, I miss, very frankly, some of the the the days of radio back in the 60s and 70s and so on. We had, in LA what you mentioned, Dick Whittington, Dick whittinghill on kmpc, Gary Owens, you know, so many people who were such wonderful announcers and doing some wonderful things, and radio just isn't the same anymore. It's gone. It's   Bill Ratner ** 45:47 gone to Tiktok and YouTube. And the truth is, I'm not gonna whine about Tiktok or YouTube, because some of the most creative moments on camera are being done on Tiktok and YouTube by young quote influencers who hire themselves out to advertisers, everything from lipstick. You know,   Speaker 1 ** 46:09 when I went to a party last night was just wild and but this makeup look, watch me apply this lip remover and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, I have no lip.   Bill Ratner ** 46:20 You know, these are the people with the voices. These are the new voices. And then, of course, the faces. And so I would really advise before, before people who, in fact, use the internet. If you use the internet, you can't complain if you use the internet, if you go to Facebook or Instagram, or you get collect your email or Google, this or that, which most of us do, it's handy. You can't complain about tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. You can't complain about tick tock or YouTube, because it's what the younger generation is using, and it's what the younger generation advertisers and advertising executives and creators and musicians and actors are using to parade before us, as Gary Owens did, as Marlon Brando did, as Sarah Bernhardt did in the 19 so as all as you do, Michael, you're a parader. You're the head of the parade. You've been in on your own float for years. I read your your bio. I don't even know why you want to waste a minute talking to me for goodness sakes.   Michael Hingson ** 47:26 You know, the one thing about podcasts that I like over radio, and I did radio at kuci for seven years when I was in school, what I really like about podcasts is they're not and this is also would be true for Tiktok and YouTube. Primarily Tiktok, I would would say it isn't as structured. So if we don't finish in 60 minutes, and we finish in 61 minutes, no one's gonna shoot us.   Bill Ratner ** 47:53 Well, I beg to differ with you. Now. I'm gonna start a fight with you. Michael, yeah, we need conflict in this script. Is that it The Tick Tock is very structured. Six. No,   Michael Hingson ** 48:03 no, I understand that. I'm talking about podcasts,   Bill Ratner ** 48:07 though, but there's a problem. We gotta Tone It Up. We gotta pick it up. We gotta there's a lot of and I listen to what are otherwise really bright, wonderful personalities on screen, celebrities who have podcasts and the car sucks, and then I had meatballs for dinner, haha. And you know what my wife said? Why? You know? And there's just too much of that. And,   Michael Hingson ** 48:32 oh, I understand, yeah. I mean, it's like, like anything, but I'm just saying that's one of the reasons I love podcasting. So it's my way of continuing what I used to do in radio and having a lot of fun doing it   Bill Ratner ** 48:43 all right, let me ask you. Let me ask you a technical and editorial question. Let me ask you an artistic question. An artist, can you edit this podcast? Yeah. Are you? Do you plan to Nope.   Michael Hingson ** 48:56 I think conversations are conversations, but there is a but, I mean,   Bill Ratner ** 49:01 there have been starts and stops and I answer a question, and there's a long pause, and then, yeah, we can do you edit that stuff   Michael Hingson ** 49:08 out. We do, we do, edit some of that out. And I have somebody that that that does a lot of it, because I'm doing more podcasts, and also I travel and speak, but I can edit. There's a program called Reaper, which is really a very sophisticated   Bill Ratner ** 49:26 close up spaces. You   Michael Hingson ** 49:28 can close up spaces with it, yes, but the neat thing about Reaper is that somebody has written scripts to make it incredibly accessible for blind people using screen readers.   Bill Ratner ** 49:40 What does it do? What does it do? Give me the elevator pitch.   Michael Hingson ** 49:46 You've seen some of the the programs that people use, like computer vision and other things to do editing of videos and so on. Yeah.   Bill Ratner ** 49:55 Yeah. Even Apple. Apple edit. What is it called? Apple? Garage Band. No, that's audio. What's that   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 audio? Oh,   Bill Ratner ** 50:06 quick time is quick   Michael Hingson ** 50:07 time. But whether it's video or audio, the point is that Reaper allows me to do all of that. I can edit audio. I can insert, I can remove pauses. I can do anything with Reaper that anyone else can do editing audio, because it's been made completely accessible.   Bill Ratner ** 50:27 That's great. That's good. That's nice. Oh, it is. It's cool.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 So so if I want, I can edit this and just have my questions and then silence when you're talking.   Bill Ratner ** 50:38 That might be best. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Bill Ratner,   Michael Hingson ** 50:46 yep, exactly, exactly. Now you have won the moth stories. Slam, what? Tell me about my story. Slam, you've won it nine times.   Bill Ratner ** 51:00 The Moth was started by a writer, a novelist who had lived in the South and moved to New York City, successful novelist named George Dawes green. And the inception of the moth, which many people listening are familiar with from the Moth Radio Hour. It was, I believe, either late 90s or early 2000s when he'd been in New York for a while and was was publishing as a fiction writer, and threw a party, and decided, instead of going to one of these dumb, boring parties or the same drinks being served and same cigarettes being smoked out in the veranda and the same orders. I'm going to ask people to bring a five minute story, a personal story, nature, a true story. You don't have to have one to get into the party, but I encourage you to. And so you know, the 3040, 50 people showed up, many of whom had stories, and they had a few drinks, and they had hors d'oeuvres. And then he said, Okay, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats. It's time for and then I picked names out of a hat, and person after person after person stood up in a very unusual setting, which was almost never done at parties. You How often do you see that happen? Suddenly, the room falls silent, and someone with permission being having been asked by the host to tell a personal story, some funny, some tragic, some complex, some embarrassing, some racy, some wild, some action filled. And afterward, the feedback he got from his friends was, this is the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life. And someone said, you need to do this. And he said, Well, you people left a lot of cigarette butts and beer cans around my apartment. And they said, well, let's do it at a coffee shop. Let's do it at a church basement. So slowly but surely, the moth storytelling, story slams, which were designed after the old poetry slams in the 50s and 60s, where they were judged contests like, like a dance contest. Everybody's familiar with dance contests? Well, there were, then came poetry contests with people singing and, you know, and singing and really energetically, really reading. There then came storytelling contests with people standing on a stage before a silent audience, telling a hopefully interesting, riveting story, beginning middle, end in five minutes. And so a coffee house was found. A monthly calendar was set up. Then came the internet. Then it was so popular standing room only that they had to open yet another and another, and today, some 20 years later, 20 some years later, from Austin, Texas to San Francisco, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City to Los Angeles. There are moth story slams available on online for you to schedule yourself to go live and in person at the moth.org as in the moth with wings. Friend of mine, I was in New York. He said, You can't believe it. This writer guy, a writer friend of mine who I had read, kind of an avant garde, strange, funny writer was was hosting something called the moth in New York, and we were texting each other. He said, Well, I want to go. The theme was show business. I was going to talk to my Uncle Bobby, who was the bell boy. And I Love Lucy. I'll tell a story. And I texted him that day. He said, Oh man, I'm so sorry. I had the day wrong. It's next week. Next week, I'm going to be back home. And so he said, Well, I think there's a moth in Los Angeles. So about 15 years ago, I searched it down and what? Went to a small Korean barbecue that had a tiny little stage that originally was for Korean musicians, and it was now being used for everything from stand up comedy to evenings of rock and roll to now moth storytelling once a month. And I think the theme was first time. And so I got up and told a silly story and didn't win first prize. They have judges that volunteer judges a table of three judges scoring, you like, at a swim meet or a track beat or, you know, and our gymnastics meet. So this is all sort of familiar territory for everybody, except it's storytelling and not high jumping or pull ups. And I kept going back. I was addicted to it. I would write a story and I'd memorize it, and I'd show up and try to make it four minutes and 50 seconds and try to make it sound like I was really telling a story and not reading from a script. And wish I wasn't, because I would throw the script away, and I knew the stories well enough. And then they created a radio show. And then I began to win slams and compete in the grand slams. And then I started submitting these 750 word, you know, two and a half page stories. Literary magazines got a few published and found a whole new way to spend my time and not make much   Michael Hingson ** 56:25 money. Then you went into poetry.   Bill Ratner ** 56:29 Then I got so bored with my prose writing that I took a poetry course from a wonderful guy in LA called Jack grapes, who had been an actor and a football player and come to Hollywood and did some TV, episodics and and some some episodic TV, and taught poetry. It was a poet in the schools, and I took his class of adults and got a poem published. And thought, wait a minute, these aren't even 750 words. They're like 75 words. I mean, you could write a 10,000 word poem if you want, but some people have, yeah, and it was complex, and there was so much to read and so much to learn and so much that was interesting and odd. And a daughter of a friend of mine is a poet, said, Mommy, are you going to read me one of those little word movies before I go to sleep?   Michael Hingson ** 57:23 A little word movie, word movie out of the   Bill Ratner ** 57:27 mouths of babes. Yeah, and so, so and I perform. You know, last night, I was in Orange County at a organization called ugly mug Cafe, and a bunch of us poets read from an anthology that was published, and we sold our books, and heard other young poets who were absolutely marvelous and and it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but it's one of the things I do.   Michael Hingson ** 57:54 Well, you sent me pictures of book covers, so they're going to be in the show notes. And I hope people will will go out and get them   Bill Ratner ** 58:01 cool. One of the one of the things that I did with poetry, in addition to wanting to get published and wanting to read before people, is wanting to see if there is a way. Because poetry was, was very satisfying, emotionally to me, intellectually very challenging and satisfying at times. And emotionally challenging and very satisfying at times, writing about things personal, writing about nature, writing about friends, writing about stories that I received some training from the National Association for poetry therapy. Poetry therapy is being used like art therapy, right? And have conducted some sessions and and participated in many and ended up working with eighth graders of kids who had lost someone to death in the past year of their lives. This is before covid in the public schools in Los Angeles. And so there's a lot of that kind of work that is being done by constable people, by writers, by poets, by playwrights,   Michael Hingson ** 59:09 and you became a grief counselor,   Bill Ratner ** 59:13 yes, and don't do that full time, because I do voiceovers full time, right? Write poetry and a grand. Am an active grandparent, but I do the occasional poetry session around around grief poetry.   Michael Hingson ** 59:31 So you're a grandparent, so you've had kids and all that. Yes, sir, well, that's is your wife still with us? Yes?   Bill Ratner ** 59:40 Oh, great, yeah, she's an artist and an art educator. Well, that   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 so the two of you can criticize each other's works, then, just   Bill Ratner ** 59:52 saying, we're actually pretty kind to each other. I Yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of outside criticism. Them. So, yeah, you don't need to do it internally. We don't rely on it. What do you think of this although, although, more than occasionally, each of us will say, What do you think of this poem, honey? Or what do you think of this painting, honey? And my the favorite, favorite thing that my wife says that always thrills me and makes me very happy to be with her is, I'll come down and she's beginning a new work of a new piece of art for an exhibition somewhere. I'll say, what? Tell me about what's, what's going on with that, and she'll go, you know, I have no idea, but it'll tell me what to do.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:33 Yeah, it's, it's like a lot of authors talk about the fact that their characters write the stories right, which, which makes a lot of sense. So with all that you've done, are you writing a memoir? By any chance, I   Bill Ratner ** 1:00:46 am writing a memoir, and writing has been interesting. I've been doing it for many years. I got it was my graduate thesis from University of California Riverside Palm Desert.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:57 My wife was a UC Riverside graduate. Oh, hi. Well, they   Bill Ratner ** 1:01:01 have a low residency program where you go for 10 days in January, 10 days in June. The rest of it's online, which a lot of universities are doing, low residency programs for people who work and I got an MFA in creative writing nonfiction, had a book called parenting for the digital age, the truth about media's effect on children. And was halfway through it, the publisher liked it, but they said you got to double the length. So I went back to school to try to figure out how to double the length. And was was able to do it, and decided to move on to personal memoir and personal storytelling, such as goes on at the moth but a little more personal than that. Some of the material that I was reading in the memoir section of a bookstore was very, very personal and was very helpful to read about people who've gone through particular issues in their childhood. Mine not being physical abuse or sexual abuse, mine being death and loss, which is different. And so that became a focus of my graduate thesis, and many people were urging me to write a memoir. Someone said, you need to do a one man show. So I entered the Hollywood fringe and did a one man show and got good reviews and had a good time and did another one man show the next year and and so on. So But writing memoir as anybody knows, and they're probably listeners who are either taking memoir courses online or who may be actively writing memoirs or short memoir pieces, as everybody knows it, can put you through moods from absolutely ecstatic, oh my gosh, I got this done. I got this story told, and someone liked it, to oh my gosh, I'm so depressed I don't understand why. Oh, wait a minute, I was writing about such and such today. Yeah. So that's the challenge for the memoir is for the personal storyteller, it's also, you know, and it's more of a challenge than it is for the reader, unless it's bad writing and the reader can't stand that. For me as a reader, I'm fascinated by people's difficult stories, if they're well   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:24 told well, I know that when in 2002 I was advised to write a book about the World Trade Center experiences and all, and it took eight years to kind of pull it all together. And then I met a woman who actually I collaborated with, Susie Florey, and we wrote thunder dog. And her agent became my agent, who loved the proposal that we sent and actually got a contract within a week. So thunder dog came out in 2011 was a New York Times bestseller, and very blessed by that, and we're working toward the day that it will become a movie still, but it'll happen. And then I wrote a children's version of it, well, not a children's version of the book, but a children's book about me growing up in Roselle, growing up the guide dog who was with me in the World Trade Center, and that's been on Amazon. We self published it. Then last year, we published a new book called Live like a guide dog, which is all about controlling fear and teaching people lessons that I learned prior to September 11. That helped me focus and remain calm.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:23 What happened to you on September 11,   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:27 I was in the World Trade Center. I worked on the 78th floor of Tower One.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:32 And what happened? I mean, what happened to you?   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:36 Um, nothing that day. I mean, well, I got out. How did you get out? Down the stairs? That was the only way to go. So, so the real story is not doing it, but why it worked. And the real issue is that I spent a lot of time when I first went into the World Trade Center, learning all I could about what to do in an emergency, talking to police, port authorities. Security people, emergency preparedness people, and also just walking around the world trade center and learning the whole place, because I ran an office for a company, and I wasn't going to rely on someone else to, like, lead me around if we're going to go to lunch somewhere and take people out before we negotiated contracts. So I needed to know all of that, and I learned all I could, also realizing that if there ever was an emergency, I might be the only one in the office, or we might be in an area where people couldn't read the signs to know what to do anyway. And so I had to take the responsibility of learning all that, which I did. And then when the planes hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building, we get we had some guests in the office. Got them out, and then another colleague, who was in from our corporate office, and I and my guide dog, Roselle, went to the stairs, and we started down. And   Bill Ratner ** 1:05:54 so, so what floor did the plane strike?   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:58 It struck and the NOR and the North Tower, between floors 93 and 99 so I just say 96 okay, and you were 20 floors down, 78 floors 78 so we were 18 floors below, and   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:09 at the moment of impact, what did you think?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:13 Had no idea we heard a muffled kind of explosion, because the plane hit on the other side of the building, 18 floors above us. There was no way to know what was going on. Did you feel? Did you feel? Oh, the building literally tipped, probably about 20 feet. It kept tipping. And then we actually said goodbye to each other, and then the building came back upright. And then we went,   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:34 really you so you thought you were going to die?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:38 David, my colleague who was with me, as I said, he was from our California office, and he was there to help with some seminars we were going to be doing. We actually were saying goodbye to each other because we thought we were about to take a 78 floor plunge to the street, when the building stopped tipping and it came back. Designed to do that by the architect. It was designed to do that, which is the point, the point.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:02 Goodness, gracious. And then did you know how to get to the stairway?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:04 Oh, absolutely. And did you do it with your friend? Yeah, the first thing we did, the first thing we did is I got him to get we had some guests, and I said, get him to the stairs. Don't let him take the elevators, because I knew he had seen fire above us, but that's all we knew. And but I said, don't take the elevators. Don't let them take elevators. Get them to the stairs and then come back and we'll leave. So he did all that, and then he came back, and we went to the stairs and started down.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:33 Wow. Could you smell anything?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:36 We smelled burning jet fuel fumes on the way down. And that's how we figured out an airplane must have hit the building, but we had no idea what happened. We didn't know what happened until the until both towers had collapsed, and I actually talked to my wife, and she's the one who told us how to aircraft have been crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth, at that time, was still missing over Pennsylvania. Wow. So you'll have to go pick up a copy of thunder dog. Goodness. Good. Thunder dog. The name of the book is Thunder dog, and the book I wrote last year is called Live like a guide dog. It's le

This episode of "Relationshipology" on JQLM Radio, hosted by Lady J and Keith, explores the topic "Love on the Spectrum," inspired by the Netflix show of the same name. The hosts discuss how people on the autism spectrum approach dating and relationships, compare their openness and honesty to typical dating experiences, and reflect on what the general public can learn from their example. The conversation covers show logistics, the role of matchmaking, the authenticity of connections, and the absence of hidden agendas in dating among people on the spectrum. The hosts also celebrate the show's positive impact and discuss differences between neurotypical and neurodiverse dating practices.

This episode of "Relationshipology" on JQLM Radio, hosted by Lady J and Keith Omar, explores the topic "What is the Value of the Black Man?" The show features guests Robert "Sweaty Hands" Day (comedian) and Michelle P. Jones (writer's coach, multi-award-winning international author). The discussion examines societal perceptions of Black men, the challenges they face in education, incarceration, relationships, and family structures, as well as personal anecdotes and audience engagement opportunities. The hosts and guests critically unpack stereotypes, share statistics, and debate differing viewpoints on masculinity, love, and social status.

This episode of "Relationshipology" hosted by Lady J and Keith explores the sensitive topic of whether or not you should "kiss and tell"—share intimate details of your relationship with friends. The show discusses boundaries about what is appropriate to disclose about your significant other, the repercussions of oversharing, and the importance of trust and confidentiality in relationships. Both hosts share personal experiences and opinions, offering practical advice for listeners about navigating social dynamics and maintaining respect for their partners.

Send us a textThe episode of Barbecue Radio Network, hosted by Freddie Bell, features a detailed conversation with Evan Carter and Tyler Palagi, known as the Meat Dudes, who discuss their passion for Wagyu beef and their restaurant, Lady J, in Seattle. They talk about their journey from working at Radiator Whiskey in Seattle to starting their own barbecue and whiskey bar, Lady J. The Meat Dudes explain the origins and different types of Wagyu beef, the benefits of its marbling, and provide tips on how to cook it to perfection. The conversation also touches on their background, their approach to customer service at their butcher shop, and includes a lightning round of barbecue preferences. The episode ends with a masterclass on barbecue do's and don'ts by Freddie Bell and a roundup of upcoming barbecue events.www.bbqradionetwork.com

DJ Square Knot playing some old school joints with Lady J "The Smooth Operator" in the studio and Jolly111 holding it down in the Mixcloud.Live on both Mixcloud and TikTok. Support the show

Lady Jéssica está desfazendo as malas após a chegada da Casa Atreides em Arrakis. Numa conversa rápida com o Duque Leto, é informada sobre a governanta fremen que vai servi-la, chamada Shadout Mapes. Jéssica usa as lendas religiosas implantadas pelas Bene Gesserit para impressionar Mapes, que lhe dá uma dagacris, um presente, caso ela prove ser a "Predestinada".Este é o 7° episódio do DunaCast! O DunaCast é o podcast oficial do fandom de Duna no Brasil. Em cada episódio, discutimos sobre os personagens, as suas origens, as inspirações do autor Frank Herbert e as teorias e filosofias da saga. Pascoal Naib e convidados especiais analisam detalhadamente cada capítulo dos livros da saga Duna sem spoilers dos capítulos posteriores. O livro Duna não tem numeração de capítulos, apenas excertos iniciais. Para facilitar o acompanhamento dosepisódios do DunaCast, disponibilizamos um arquivo em PDF em que numeramos o excerto inicial de cada capítulo e sua página correspondente. Arquivo para baixar. ⁠https://www.mediafire.com/file/5o8pal6780k88d9/Cap%25C3%25ADtulos_e_Excertos_Duna.pdf/file⁠Convocação para o jihad! Criamos uma campanha no Catarse para contribuições de nossos ouvintes que possam nos ajudar a garantir a produção contínua do DunaCast. Para saber mais, acesse: ⁠https://www.catarse.me/dunacast?ref=user_contributed⁠ Nos envie sua pergunta, arte, curiosidade ou correção de algum erro nosso pelo e-mail dunacast@gmail.com Lembre-se de se identificar no texto do e-mail e de colocar o título do episódio no assunto do e-mail. Será um prazer ler sua mensagem em nossos episódios. A arte de capa do DunaCast é um trabalho de Márcio Oliveira (⁠instagram.com/marciooliveiradesign⁠). A edição do DunaCast é um trabalho da Radiola Mecânica(radiolamecanica@gmail.com). Links • DunaCast• Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/dunacast⁠• Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/dunacast⁠• Telegram: ⁠https://t.me/dunacastoficial⁠• Site:⁠ linktr.ee/dunacast⁠ • Duna Arrakis Brasil• Twitter: ⁠twitter.com/dunabrasil⁠• Instagram: ⁠instagram.com/dunaarrakisbrasil⁠• Facebook: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/dunaarrakisbrasil⁠• Youtube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2a4hZ6JZtPxTS7yPOeLRjg⁠• Medium:⁠ https://medium.com/@dunabrasil⁠• Telegram: ⁠t.me/dunaarrakisbrasil⁠• Site: ⁠linktr.ee/dunaarrakisbrasil⁠ • Pascoal Naib (Criador e Administrador)• Twitter: ⁠https://twitter.com/PascoalNaib⁠• Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/pascoalnaibduna/⁠ • Rildon Oliver (Radiola Mecânica)• Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/radiolamecanica/⁠ • Evezel• Instagram:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/evehimself/

Live from Lady J's Mutant and Proud Con! We're here with JUBILEE herself, Holly Chou, and SUNSPOT himself, Gui Agustini!

This week Lady J and Eric Anthony discuss the recent rap beef and competitive rivalry between the “Big 3”, Kendrick Lamar, Drake and the apologetic J.Cole.

Comedy, Community, and the Power of Love with Laydee Jay In this engaging episode, Laydee Jay, a vibrant comedian from California now making waves in Utah, joins the host to dive into the world of comedy and community. The discussion explores the unique dynamics of the Comedy Rumble, where Laydee Jay shares her experiences and insights on how comedy can serve as a bridge for cultural understanding and community building. The conversation delves into Laydee Jay's journey into comedy, highlighting her transition from a self-driven performer to a community-focused artist. They discuss the importance of creating inclusive spaces in the comedy scene, the challenges and rewards of performing in front of diverse audiences, and the transformative power of laughter in addressing complex societal issues. Laydee Jay and the host reflect on their shared experiences in the Comedy Rumble, emphasizing the value of building a supportive community where comedians can hone their craft and grow together. They also touch on broader themes such as faith, self-love, and the role of comedy in fostering understanding and empathy in a divided world. 00:00 This program is presented by Ride the Wave Media 00:24 What are you thankful for right now 03:57 Lady J and I connected early on in the Comedy Rumble experience 07:21 Tell me a little bit about what your experience has been on the Rumble 09:46 The Rumble has been a really beautiful, um, kind of passion project for me 13:36 The first year I was in comedy, um, I really didn't care 18:39 Ryan: Comedians can approach systemic racism with humor, not condescension 23:18 Q: People in Utah are afraid of being perceived as racist 27:03 Do unto others as you would yourself. That saying. Um, do what? 31:15 I think I can be funny with blackness in a way that feels disarming 35:45 One of the most thrilling things about working the Rumble is being able to gather 39:26 Kay made a shift with his comedy where it's not about me 43:37 Christian tradition says God gives himself entirely, and through that he is glorified 49:12 There's a shift in confidence when you discover your true self 54:22 It is so much more fun to win things with people than to win alone 56:14 When you're at Comedy Rumble, you like to listen 57:17 Jimmy Fallon talks about leading with love in his upcoming show 01:00:30 As the curtain closes on the old world, what do you hope to bring back 01:06:10 Faith cultivates the best character in you, Ben says 01:10:07 Do you have an apocalyptic skill that you could teach me real quickly 01:12:03 You can follow King Benjamin on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube Follow Laydee Jay on Instagram: @therealladyjay Upcoming Comedy Rumble Events:   Salt Lake City: December 21st, Wise Guys Las Vegas: December 28th, Girls and Gays Rumble   Join the conversation on how comedy can be a powerful tool for community building and cultural understanding in these challenging times.

Hey UN•THERAPIST,We need your help UN•THERAPIZING something...Based on your experiences, does negative mental health contribute to poor choices, or do poor choices contribute to negative mental health?After Coach & Lady J finished their banter about which country has the best patties, the UN•THERAPIST started to discuss which of the two is more of a contributor to some of the decisions we've made.Now, truly, there is no right or wrong answer; however...What if we could improve some elements of our mental health based on some of the decisions we are making?What if we could improve some of our decisions by adding positive things to our mental health?What do you believe, though?How have your decisions contributed to the stress placed on your mental health?Join us for another session of UN•THERAPY as we UN•THERAPIZE which country has the best oxtails, if we can "actually" judge a book by its cover, & which of the two contributing factors lead to our decision-making.Connect with UN•THERAPY PodcastInstagram: ⁠⁠@UntherapyPodcast⁠⁠Facebook: ⁠⁠UN•THERAPY Podcast ⁠YouTube: UN•THERAPY  PodcastUN•THERAPY Facebook Group: 

Great conversation with Lady about living in between Costa Rica and Texas, surfing and skateboarding, skating with girls she looked up to, the Olympics, living with Mami Tezuka, relaxation techniques, her embroidery skills and much more... --------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE NOW: https://bit.ly/2RYE75F --------------------------------------- INTRO MUSIC: "Mary's Cross" by Natur INTERVIEW & EDITED: Greg "Schmitty" Smith CREDITS MUSIC: “Adirondack gate” by Shane Medanich CLOSING MONOLOGUE: Noelle Fiore EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: Sharal Camisa Smith SMFM GUEST BAND: The Gentle Orchestra (www.instagram.com/thegentleorchestra) SMFM MUSIC DIRECTOR: Shane Medanich http://www.instagram.com/onsmfm WEBSITE: https://talkinschmit.com/ YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/TalkinSchmit INSTAGRAM: @Talkin_Schmit FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TalkinSchmit/ --------------------------------------- CONTACT with comments or suggestions: TalkinSchmit@Gmail.com --------------------------------------- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: BLOOD WIZARD (http://bloodwizard.com/) BLUE PLATE (http://www.blueplatesf.com/) ORO COFFEE (http://www.instagram.orocoffeeroasters_sf --------------------------------------- #skateboarding #podcast #talkinschmit #LadyMeek #skateshop #TalkinSchmit #kickflip #ollie #frontsideair #SanFrancisco --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/talkin-schmit/support

Stilgar se dirige a 20.000 fremen reunidos para o ritual da Água da Vida. Ele avisa que devem deixar Sietch Tabr em breve por conta da perseguição dos Sardaukar. A Reverenda Madre Ramallo está velha demais para fazer outra jornada e vai conduzir o rito para que Lady Jéssica se torne a nova Reverenda Madre daqueles fremen. Este é o 37° episódio do DunaCast! O DunaCast é o podcast oficial do fandom de Duna no Brasil. Em cada episódio, discutimos sobre os personagens, as suas origens, as inspirações do autor Frank Herbert e as teorias e filosofias da saga. Pascoal Naib e convidados especiais analisam detalhadamente cada capítulo dos livros da saga Duna sem spoilers dos capítulos posteriores. O livro Duna não tem numeração de capítulos, apenas excertos iniciais. Para facilitar o acompanhamento dos episódios do DunaCast, disponibilizamos um arquivo em PDF em que numeramos o excerto inicial de cada capítulo e sua página correspondente. Arquivo para baixar. https://www.mediafire.com/file/5o8pal6780k88d9/Cap%25C3%25ADtulos_e_Excertos_Duna.pdf/file Convocação para o jihad! Criamos uma campanha no Catarse para contribuições de nossos ouvintes que possam nos ajudar a garantir a produção contínua do DunaCast. Para saber mais, acesse: https://www.catarse.me/dunacast?ref=user_contributed Ou você pode contribuir via PIX. Nosso PIX é nosso e-mail: dunacast@gmail.com Nos envie sua pergunta, arte, curiosidade ou correção de algum erro nosso pelo e-mail dunacast@gmail.com Lembre-se de se identificar no texto do e-mail e de colocar o título do episódio no assunto do e-mail. Será um prazer ler sua mensagem em nossos episódios. A arte de capa do DunaCast é um trabalho de Márcio Oliveira (instagram.com/marciooliveiradesign). A edição do DunaCast é um trabalho da Radiola Mecânica (radiolamecanica@gmail.com). Links • DunaCast • Twitter: twitter.com/dunacast • Instagram: instagram.com/dunacast • Telegram: https://t.me/dunacastoficial • Site: linktr.ee/dunacast • Duna Arrakis Brasil • Twitter: twitter.com/dunabrasil • Instagram: instagram.com/dunaarrakisbrasil  • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/dunaarrakisbrasil • Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2a4hZ6JZtPxTS7yPOeLRjg • Medium: https://medium.com/@dunabrasil • Telegram: t.me/dunaarrakisbrasil • Discord: https://discord.com/invite/MsBpAaEtpk • Site: linktr.ee/dunaarrakisbrasil • Pascoal Naib (Criador e Administrador) • Twitter: https://twitter.com/PascoalNaib • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pascoalnaibduna/ • Rildon Oliver (Radiola Mecânica) • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/radiolamecanica/ • Fred Negrini • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frednegrini/ • Tese de Mestrado: https://www.mediafire.com/file/8wjwcc4gebij6d6/Disserta%25C3%25A7%25C3%25A3o_de_mestrado_-_Sincronicidade_e_Presci%25C3%25AAncia_em_Duna.pdf/file

Walk with LJ down the wonderful world of pharmacy Chronicles and embrace and endure everything she says because it's hilarious --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/thecoversation/message

Join CBP, Brewery Finance, and Lady Justice Brewing for a discussion on the world of beer, money, and opportunity in the current environment. We'll talk about the current environment for financing breweries and how Brewery Finance and Lady Justice Brewing worked together on Lady J's recent move to a new location. Rick Wehner founded Brewery Finance in 2005 and has provided equipment financing and working capital to thousands of small, independent breweries over the last 19 years. Today, Lady Justice Brewing is owned by Betsy Lay and her wife, Alison Wisneski. It functions as a community-focused brewery dedicating time, space, and money to nonprofits and community partners that support and empower women, girls, and nonbinary people in the state of Colorado. Stay up to date with CBP: http://update.craftbeerprofessionals.org/

The Chill Zone Team is Celebrating 50 Years of Hip Hop so get ready to get in the Vibe and have a great time! Salute! Support the Show.

Dr. Keshia Brown and Jessica Wilkins stop by WAGM studio to talk with Gam and Mz Gogetta about being a "First Lady" and some of the challenges, myths and etc. Both of the ladies shared that while having this title my have it's challenges however the most important thing is to be authentically you as some people want someone that they can relate to. Both ladies will be ordained as minsters sometime mid June 2024. Jessica (lady J) states that she knew that God was calling her at any early age and she always knew that she will be a preacher however years later she married one instead. Dr. Keshia is the First Lady of Mount Chesapeake and Lady J. is at Mount Suffolk....Support the Show.

Join Dr. Dee, Lady J, and Naomi on our podcast as we delve deep into PTSD Awareness this month. This enlightening episode will explore the complex world of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from both a clinical viewpoint and our own personal journeys. We'll discuss the challenging symptoms professionals observe in clinical settings, such as recurring upsetting memories, angry outbursts, substance abuse, and more. We also open up about how PTSD has impacted our lives, including issues like nighttime REM disturbances and how we cope with everyday triggers.Don't miss our special segment, "What's the Tea in the DoD?" where we discuss compelling current events affecting our community. This episode features a thought-provoking discussion on how the U.S. military's recruitment policies impact non-citizens, inspired by a poignant article from The War Horse.Tune in to our discussion on YouTube and join our community as we shed light on these critical issues. Your support and donations help us continue to bring these important conversations to the forefront. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and donate to help us keep the dialogue going.www.glassoldier.org https://www.instagram.com/glasssoldierorg/

DJ Square, Lady J "The Smooth Operator" and Jolly111 bring upbeat Old School Joints for Jammin' at home, in your car, your back yard, your porch, a BBQ, etc. Happy listening! Enjoy Support the Show.

DJ Square Knot brings you a nice smooth evening with this set. So get your snacks, get your smokes, get your drinks and put some smoke in the air (#PSSITA)! Be ready to get in the zone with the The Chill Zone for the next three hours. Enjoy! Support the Show.

Dr. Dee and Lady J fly today...we miss Naomi! You do no NOT want to miss this episode. Talking all things DoD mainly. Air Force Veteran, Roger Fortson's murder in Florida by police and the impact on the community. The rise in women veteran suicides and our call to action. www.glassoldier.org https://www.instagram.com/glasssoldierorg/

This week the gangs all here for a very special edition of the Saturday Special in which we celebrate our very own Lady J just for putting up with our shit. We get into all we did to celebrate her and we have a full episode of Try For Another from the Asian market. Listen to find out more, and yes Frank we did offend you. This podcast is powered by BUMP Energy.Check us out on all social media at time for another or our website at timeforanother.comSend us an email at timeforanother@gmail.com

We are live at Lady J's Mutant and Proud event, hosting an X-Men '97 panel with Lenore Zann (Rogue) and Adrian Hough (Nightcrawler). What was it like for Lenore to voice that iconic scene with her stealing Captain America's shield? What was the audition process like for Adrian back in 1992? We cover it all at Lady J's con!

Lady J and her band are back to give us a tease of what we can expect from her country music performance at TODA this weekend.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

April marks Sexual Assault Awareness Month, a time when conversations about support, healing, and advocacy are more important than ever. Hosted by the compassionate and insightful Dr. Poe alongside the dynamic Lady J, this groundbreaking podcast delves into the complex world of dating and forming meaningful relationships within the military community after experiencing sexual violence. Do not forget to go to glasssoldier.org to support our work. Leave a comment. Share our episode and go to Youtube to watch as well. www.glassoldier.org https://www.instagram.com/glasssoldierorg/

Today's Dads with Daughters' podcast featured some amazing guests. actor, pastor and father, Aqeel Ash-Shakoor and his daughter Jaylah Ash-Shakoor. The discussions revolved around their experiences, highlighting the integral role of fathers in daughter's lives, and providing valuable lessons for dads everywhere.  **A Father's Protective Instinct and Balancing Parenthood with a Career** When Aqeel learned he was about to become a father to a daughter, he felt a profound sense of responsibility and protectiveness. He reflected on his initial desire to have a daughter and shared the powerful moment of witnessing her birth. Aqeel also discussed the concerns fathers often face, particularly when it comes to protecting their daughters in a world that can sometimes be unkind. Balancing a busy career with involved fatherhood, Aqeel emphasizes the importance of prioritization, with a three-rule mantra: 'God, family, handle your business.' **The Importance of Father-Daughter Relationships** Jaylah spoke candidly about the evolution of her appreciation for her father's protective nature. As she transitioned into adulthood, she understood the value of having a supportive dad and recognized the unique challenges that come with the territory. Aqeel and Jaylah mutually stressed the significance of a father's presence and guidance in shaping a daughter's sense of self and decision-making abilities. **Communication and Trust - Key Pillars of Parenthood** A crucial topic discussed in the podcast revolves around the essence of communication in building strong father-daughter relationships. Aqeel and Jaylah highlighted the need for clear dialogue, understanding, and a foundation of trust. They emphasized that parents must believe in their children's capabilities and support them in carving their own paths, even when they diverge from expectations. **Building Confidence and Resilience** Aqeel shared an affectionate account of fostering confidence in Jaylah. He recounted his efforts to instill resilience by encouraging her to embrace challenges, including navigating self-doubt at her new school. This mirrors in Jaylah's own aspirations for impact and influence in her endeavors as an influencer and entrepreneur. **The Ash-Shakoor Legacy of Individualism and Success** Aqeel's humble beginnings and his vow at nine years old to achieve success laid a foundation for his parenting approach, focused on teaching his children to believe in themselves without excuses. Jaylah spoke of her father's imprint on her ambition, the value of taking charge, and owning the room, attributing her confidence to the freedom her parents granted her. In conclusion, this episode serves as a powerful testament to the deep bonds, challenges, and triumphs within father-daughter relationships. It's an encouragement for dads to embrace their unique journey with their daughters, supporting them to reach their full potential, and leaving a legacy of love, respect, and understanding. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:05]: Welcome to Dads With Daughters. In this show, we spotlight dads, resources, and more to help you be the best dad you can be. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:16]: Welcome back to the dads with daughters podcast where we bring you guests to be active participants in your daughters' lives, raising them to be strong independent women. Really excited to have you back again this week. Every week, I love being able to sit down and talk to you about the journey that you are on with your daughters. Doug. It is a exciting time. It is a important time, and it is so important for you to be actively engaged in your daughter's lives And being willing to learn along with her and going on this journey along with her as well. Every week, I also love being able to have different people, different people to share their experiences. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:56]: We've had dads on the show. We've had moms on the show. We've had Other people with tons of resources that are sharing those resources with you. And there are special moments when I have an opportunity to be able to have a Father and a daughter on the show, and that's today what we're going to be doing. Today, I've got 2 great guests with us. Reverend Dr. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor is with us today, and his daughter, Jaylah, is with us as well. And I'm really excited to have them here today to talk about Their journey as father and daughter and to learn more from them. Aqeel, Jaylah, thanks so much for being here today. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:01:35]: Thank you much. Thank you. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:01:36]: No problem. Thank you. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:38]: Well, I really appreciate you both being here. And I guess first and foremost, I wanna turn the clock back in time, Aqeel. I want to have you go back. I wanna go all the way back. I wanna go back to that first moment that you found out that you were going to be a father. To a daughter. What was going through your head? Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:01:55]: Wow. Amazing. That is a trip down memory lane. I will say that. So the journey goes like this. My first son, which is the oldest, his name is Jabriel. And so when I was in the marine corps serving active duty, the One of my gunnery sergeants had a little daughter, and, I was just so marveled that she was, like, 2 years old. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:02:15]: But she was so affluent, and her Noah. Was just incredible. She can carry on the conversation. I just was, like, from there, so I kept asking him, like, what are you guys doing? He just said he just told me that lesson. Just don't talk baby talk to them when they get older. So I had that in mind, but at the same time, our 1st child was a son. And let me tell you something. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:02:34]: I think I forgot all about no That I wanted a girl first. So here we are. We're living in Hollywood, Florida. And I tell you, we came home, and I realized that, wow, No. It's finally happening. We've had we're here to have a girl. It was like, wow. Based off of my mother, my mother had boy, girl,. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:02:53]: Which I have been the oldest, and my sister was the youngest. And so I definitely wanted to complete that, at least have a girl and a boy in this lifetime. And now here it was. We're about to bring this little thing right here that we call Jaylah into the world, and it was just Nuts. So amazing. I can still see standing in the delivery room now, and even our oldest son was standing at the foot of the bed too. No He was witnessing her coming into the world as well, and that is just I'm doing a poor job being able to put it into words because I can never find the words for that. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:03:27]: Now I hear from a lot of fathers that especially with daughters that there are times where the There is fear. There's fear in raising daughters, and I hear that a lot from a lot of dads. And I guess for you, what was or is your biggest fear In raising a daughter. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:03:44]: Okay. We already get to the beat of this thing already. Yes. So my daughter and my wife contend that It is the same raising girls as it is boys, and I contend that it's not. There's a lot of protectiveness And no fault of her own, but I just I have always just felt like, you know, that hedge of protection. If I can't be there, no I'm always worried even when she was away in college. From walking through the house at 2 o'clock in the morning, and I think about it, she gets a call at 2 AM in the morning. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:04:20]: And still sometimes now. And she may say, daddy, what in the world is going on? I said, oh, nothing. I'm good now. I just needed to hear your voice. But you just always wonder about something happening. And I and maybe we shouldn't think that way, but, You're just always wondering. With the boys, I feel like the boys, can handle themselves, but, you know, the daughter, the the daughter is everything. She you know, you think of her being left unprotected with no covering. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:04:49]: And, You know, and I gotta tell the truth here. And, you know, Chris, when we think about who we were as little boys, we understand why we were about our little girls. So Definitely. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:05:02]: And, Jaylah, how does that make you feel? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:05:04]: Well, you know what? Honestly, if you had been asking me this question probably about about 4 years ago. I'd probably laugh and just think it was a joke. But, in all seriousness, I think now, having grown into, Domino's. A woman. I do think that it's it's very interesting because it's true to it. You know? And I think the older you get, the As a young lady, you start to see the world more. You see men like that. You know? You see me and dad's age. You actually you work with some of the men on dad's age and just in that male group, and you start to pick up on how men think, How they speak, how they view themselves, and how they view others, and women as well. It it does as a woman, I feel like When you get older, it does make you, be a little bit more grateful for that. And I've had the Different, friends and associates and different groups who grew up without fathers, and dads or or what have you. And it's very interesting the To hear the difference in the response to that question. So when you're younger, you always think, oh, oh, sure. You know, if I didn't have my dad, my dad's just controlling me. But now looking back, it's like, wow. You know? If you know, fathers need their daughters, and daughters honestly need their fathers. Yeah. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:06:26]: They really, really, really do. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:06:27]: Now, Aqeel, 1 question that I have to throw out your way is that you're a busy guy. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:06:33]: Yes, sir. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:06:34]: And you and I were joking about this before we started today, but you dip your toe in a lot of different water, And you've done a lot of different things in your career. And I guess first and foremost, I wanna what I wanna get into here is the Being as busy as you are, there's a balance that has to happen that you have to have in your life the To be able to be that dad that you wanna be. Talk to me about that road that you had to walk for you to be able to Balance the things that you had going outside of the house, outside of the family unit, and how you balance that with What you wanted to be as a person inside the family unit. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:07:17]: It's easy now that I'm already doing it, and I know the pattern that I set with the children. And I have what we call a three rule priority, and that three rule priority keeps me well balanced. And it goes, god, the Family handle your business. God family handle your business. God, family, handle your business. I am a no nonsense guy when it comes to my family is everything with me, And I teach them all the same. You can do everything in the world. And I hope I'm not jumping a gun here, but they were all raised. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:07:54]: Can't is not in the vocabulary. The I'm trying is not in the vocabulary. You're either doing it or you're not, and you can do. I'm a father that Not just saying cliche is that you can do whatever you wanna do. I'm a realist by saying, no. You can do it if you want to do it. That's just it. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:08:14]: But god, family handle your business. We don't compromise that at any point in life. No And so whether if I get a call and I'm on the road, it's god, family, handle your business. That's how it goes. And it's really as simple as that. And I I even, when I Council people. I talked to him about the same thing, and amazingly, it works. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:08:33]: And, Jaylah, I guess, as you hear that and, the You know, you think back to being raised in a family that is instilling that in you. Talk to me about what that was like for you as a the Young girl moving into womanhood, becoming a woman, now reflecting back on what you have been taught and how that's helped you or hindered you either way the In helping you to become who you are today. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:08:56]: So, actually, I do love that question because it is twofold. So based the what my dad was explaining is we have always in our household, even with the boys, made it about god. God is the center of everything. He's the head of everything. So the 1st father of the family is always gonna be god, and that relationship is very important because as I'm sure you know, because, you know, you explained you have the Children or child as well. You know that parenting has also been said to be very difficult as well. And having god at the the of everything. Sometimes when you don't understand your children or specifically your daughter, you look for answers too. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:09:34]: So it's not just us as daughters wanting all the answers like, the Why does my dad understand? Like, he doesn't get it. Mom, but she gets it, but dad just won't get it. I really feel like, you know, god holds the answers to relationship building. And a big part of relationship building is the communication piece. I feel like that's where a lot of times, daughters, when they're the Being raised, it's that communication piece. It's why won't dad understand me, or does dad understand me? And then vice versa, does my daughter understand what I'm the because this one thing to say, it it sounds good and and it does come off well, but a lot of time, there's a age gap as well where it's a disconnect. We're still trying to be kids. We're wanting to do what what's going on out in the world, especially when you attend, like, public schooling. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:10:21]: You're faced with different things every day, and the It's tempting, but god being the head and the center of everything is always what kinda draws you back to your roots, the Which in the end, goes based off of how you're raised, you're teaching. And so fast forward to now, it's very eye opening because everything I do in my daily life, it always the back to this one lesson that my dad taught me, and it's to take charge. And now when he first started saying this to me, I think I was probably midway through college. And every time I call them, I'm pumped. I'm in the mood. I'm in the the and I'm like, I'm gonna go ahead here. I'm gonna kill this interview, dad. I got the job or what have you. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:11:01]: And he's always like, listen. The I have nothing else to say. Say your prayers, you know, talk to god about it, and take charge. So recently, you know, it really has been on my mind, and I'm like, the What does it really mean to take charge? You know? And I just feel like as a as a as a female and, you know, as a woman and as a daughter, the To me, it's like owning the room that you're staying in. Whatever room you enter into, own the room. Like, the Like, you don't even have to know my name, but you should get the vibe of what I'm about, who I am, and the value that I hold. But so I think that a lot of times, dads, the They really bring that that foundational piece where it's like, take charge. Like, I am who I am, and I'm owning the room, well spoken. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:11:44]: The Like, you wouldn't even have to know my dad to know that I come from good raising just by speaking to me. So that's just, you know, a little bit of of of basically just his teachings and how They started to affect me over the years into now as, you know, a woman. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:11:59]: You know, Chris, can I just add to that? I'm fighting back the Tears right now. So you're about to get some real tears. I tell you, just hearing that is what every parent wants to hear, all the lessons that you've given in life. And what I have attempted to do, not build a machine, but and by god, this is not excluding my wife. But what I'm saying is is that Doug. What I have attempted to do is to lead by exam. And what I mean what I mean by that is if they see. And they've seen me not use excuses for where I am and the conditions that I'm in that can't work. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:12:36]: Then if I show them that it's possible, that and that's all it is. So I started to say, you know, how we had that phrase, think outside the box. The Well, every time I find those cliches, I add to it. So instead of thinking and and instead of me raising them to think outside the box, I tell them to think beyond the outside of the box. You see, because thinking outside the box has a limitation because once you're outside the box, you stop thinking. So I want you to think beyond the outside of the box, and then You create such a situation that you go from believing to knowing in God that it will work. Now we're not. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:13:13]: Not even talking about manifesting it, but I I stick to if you create it in your mind and you see it in your mind, You can do it, and it happens. And I'll I'll probably end up touching up on that a little bit more. So even to hear her talk, under and I'll I'll back off here, but I didn't have that Great confidence I had like that in school even though I was popular playing sports and everything. It wasn't until I got into the marine corps and got all around the world that I Had to build this up. And so what I realized was that you can be very confident and very assured in yourself without being conceded, and that's what I wanted to instill in them. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:13:49]: So, Jaylah, let's reflect back then. How did your dad help you to find that confidence in your life? You talked about that the In college, it really kind of clicked. But think back to as you were younger and you were growing up with your brothers, what did Aqeel do to be able to help you to find that confident? And I know it's not just Aqeel because I know your mother as well, and I know that she is a part of the team. But talk to me about what your dad did specifically to help you to find that confidence to be the person that you are today. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:14:21]: I Can't honestly say I think it has a lot to do with the freedom of individualism. Parents, you guys talk a lot about the How it's different raising all of your children, whether they're boys or girls, is gonna be different for each one given being their personalities. So I think the the Freedom to have whatever personality we chose was the biggest thing for me. Like, I was more so of you know, I was the only girl. I'm the middle child, the And I was just full of personality. I'm singing this day bouncing all across the house. The next day, I wanted to run outside and be with the boys, and the I really think that it had a lot to do with giving us the freedom to experiment within our personalities. Dies. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:15:05]: And I didn't always get it right. Even, like I said, growing up, I started to have issues with my identity, like, just knowing who I was, being confident in who I was. The And I can say for females, we experience a lot of that due to going to puberty, a lot of things that. Take effect going into our teenage years and then our young adult years. A lot of it has to do with the Just the phases of becoming an adult. And so my biggest thing was growing up, went through this gap in this period of time where I was like, okay. The How do I become the young woman that I wanna be while also adhering to what god will want me to be, what the My parents will be proud of. Let's just be honest there as well. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:15:51]: For me, identity was a big thing, and it was just there were days when I was waking up, and I was just like, I'm just not seeing it. The Like, this can't be life. This can't be what it's like to kinda go through the phases of growing up and understanding who you are, and It took effect in my schooling. It took effect, at home, and there were issues there. But, you know, one thing about it is I think that the As parents and specifically having my dad around always since day 1 is that to feel like you're not left alone. The I think that's the biggest thing for me. Just having that male figure to know, like, your love, your light, that I'm not gonna give up on you because it's very easy. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:16:29]: I know. Plenty of females who have dads, but their dads aren't there. I feel like not a lot of people talk about this. When we talk about, you may have a parent physically, But are they there? Are they hearing you? Is there a connect? So definitely freedom of individualism and that room to grow, the room to make mistakes, Learn from your mistakes. Once you hit that age bracket where it's kinda like, yeah, dad can't tell you what to do. Yeah. But, you know, with the help of god, god is is gonna shape you up and the Lead you to where you need to be and definitely give you some lessons when you're drifting off a little bit. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:17:04]: So she said something very important. It's always been a practice of mine that Not that I didn't care about them making mistakes. The rule was I'm not concerned about if you make mistakes as long as you can give me the The evidence of why you chose what you chose. So that that gives them the freedom. So if they if they did something and even It wasn't right. I wanted to hear the plan to how they got there, what made them what made them and have a reason behind what they did. And that allowed them the freedom to discover the world and life, but it also helped them start decision making. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:17:42]: And then I was the crazy, father knows best kid, parent. You know? My thing was And then sometimes I would literally put it in their hands and let them choose the punishment, and that worked. And god blessed us with 3 beautiful children that Sometimes they even know if they said a punishment, they go, oh, not. That's not justified by what I did. And so it worked that way, And then I had to play a few marine corps games on them. Sometimes I'd storm through the house like I'm about to tear everything to pieces, and then that did it enough. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:18:13]: And I just turn around and walk away, and it leaves them thinking, oh my god. And the next time, I'm just quiet. So, you know, it's to keep it all balanced because, Again, we have to raise our children in such a way that it also presents the world. I didn't wanna be overboard. I'm sure they can probably name sometimes. They probably thought I was overboard, but If anything, I'll say this in a back off again. So much comes to mind. But I always told our children and I even told my wife. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:18:37]: I said, listen. And I know this is harsh,. But I'd rather you hate me or dislike me for guiding you the right way than to love me for letting you do what you want to do And knowing that's not Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:18:50]: the best way. I love that. Now, Jaylah, as I said before, your parents are both people that are involved in lots of different things. They have tried lots of different things, done lots of different things, and I know that, and I mentioned that already. So I know that they have had a lot of dreams for themselves, the A lot of dreams for you. How did they instill in you to be a dreamer for the life that you want for your life? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:19:14]: You know, I feel like maybe that is the Probably the trickiest question you've asked me in this whole time. And I say that only because I do think that as the Time goes on, we have to be honest that the world changes. And the way that life is set up now is not how life used to be set up. And I do think that now, like, for me specifically, I have what they would call bigger dreams. And, like, back then, I'm sure you guys can relate. Back then, you were just wanting to be something. Like, man, I just gotta make I came up this way or I came up that way, and all I wanna do is be successful. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:19:50]: I need to have a good job to just be able to pay the bills, and that's great. But for me, personally, I the Honestly had bigger genes beyond my career, and I always like to make sure that there's a big differentiation. The Because what I do every day on the physical place that I go to, which in my case would be the bank, it's bigger than that. And I have to even Darcy. People at work. Like, you see me showing up. I'm gonna be punctual. I'm a be on time. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:20:15]: I'm gonna be here. I'm a be ready to work, but let's not get it twisted. There's more to Jaylah. The So right now in my life, I'm really big on my influencer type of world, and I have started now the Trending with these videos where I post, you know, where I'm getting ready for work. And I think, you know, the other day, I was thinking and I said to myself, No. I said, isn't that something that for someone else looking on the outside end, they'd see it as or I mean, you're just making videos. But for me, I was It's actually deeper than this. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:20:42]: Like, I actually gotta wake up and be on time. So for me, I'm like, look at the lessons. Look at those small lessons the that follow you. You know? And dad and, you know, my parents, they've always been big on show up on time. It says a lot about you. And let's be real. No. Every day, we don't always we're not always perfect, but it tells a lot about who you are and what you're about. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:21:04]: And so I said, It's also a form of discipline. So there's something that I really want beyond just my career that has a lot to do with the Renewal my state. Then it's very much possible that one day I can actually be in business for myself, whether that's a company, whether that's the Getting myself paid directly without there being a middleman. So those are my bigger dreams. Right now in my life, as I approach 25, the I'm very well focused on using my corporate job to get me to where I need to be from the individual standpoint. And As you can see for yourself, that's what my parents are about as well. Everything that they do, they wanna be impactful, but it's also it's them acting as an influencer. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:21:45]: People sometimes attach to you based off of how you influence others. So you have the option. You can be a bad influence instead of influence others, the Or you can choose to be a great influencer and be of something worth value. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:21:57]: And Aqeel, I guess as you hear that and you think about what the Intentionally, you did to try to help your kids to realize those dreams. Talk to me about that. What did you try to do On a daily basis, on an annual basis, on a yearly basis, or just in a day to day life to help your kids to be able to the Push them to think about those dreams in different ways. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:22:19]: So one of the things I did, I actually had a historical African American book set that I actually purchased that probably about no 3 or 4 years prior to even our 1st child born. And then each year, I just build on top of that. So the children were And when I say required, it was not the required where it was, like, mandatory. You have to read it by this time. It was that I always put a book in their hand. And it wasn't always like a African American history, but I'm very big on our culture, very big on self improvement. And so the other thing is having world knowledge. I developed this thing too that wherever I go, I always read something. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:22:59]: You don't have to read it all, But you just read. There are a lot of signs and pictures around. You just read it. If you just read 3 sentences off, maybe, like, 3 or 4 sentences off of it and move on, You'd be surprised how much knowledge you're you're gathering. And so and with each child just talking about our oldest son the other day. And so with that, including Jayla, so No. Our oldest son, it clicked for him. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:23:21]: He got cut from the middle school basketball team in, like, 7th grade. So 1st time we've had what they would call a failure. And so but when he came out, I was like, oh my god. Lord, I am not prepared for this. And so when he got in, I could see it all on his face, so I had to quickly come up with something. And what God gave me was, I asked him. I said, is there anything that you think that No. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:23:42]: You could have done better. And he just turned to me, and he was like, well, yeah. I mean, I I guess I coulda worked on this. And then I just simply said, No. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's the reason you didn't make the team. And something so small when I tell you that it No. His life in such a positive way that this kid never stayed in the house again. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:24:02]: He was always out doing it. Now kinesiology major, he's a fitness. He's a influencer. He started his own business, and we were talking about this the other day. He said that moment he told me he said that moment No. Really defined everything. With Jaylah, it was the same thing. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:24:19]: She talked about her identity. Well, oh, this was hard because Even with Jaylah, you talk about we moved from North Carolina to Michigan. She had only spent, like, 3 days in high school as a freshman, No. And then we moved here. So she went from a class of about or school for about, like, 300 to 400 kids and walked into eastern with about no 1700 kids, and she shut down. And I gotta say this. So then she wanted to transfer. And the very school that she wanted to transfer to, No. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:24:49]: Only being here a week ended up having a shooting. And then she said, no. I wanna stay at Easter. And so we just had to keep working with her and then instilling to her No. You are beautiful. And believe it or not, when you look at her now to whomever's looking at her, she struggled wondering, was she beautiful enough compared to a lot of her friends? And just having that confidence, and and that was it. So it was like, take charge. No. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:25:12]: You are who you are. You're more than what you think you are. Take your eyes off other people. And then the other thing is is that we want you to have a multiplicity of friends. We're not just locking down to one, culture, 1 race, 1 nationality, the influence. And so all of our children, I I guess that's us and them, No. Have that ability to connect to a multiplicity of people. And she has the personality like me. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:25:39]: She can walk into a field, and somebody would think No. That she was talking to a scarecrow, and she'd be talking to the ears of corn. And so that is the thing. Even down to our youngest son, he's a very factual person. So if you say, no. It's only 2 left. He's like, no. It's actually 2.13. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:25:57]: Now, Jaylah, you heard your dad just talk about the fact that, the You know, you tried to build your self confidence in the in the self confidence of both your brothers. And I hear that a lot the from other fathers that and I see it in my own daughters that today it seems like, the the The self confidence of a lot of daughters, but also the whether it's social media or other factors are the Definitely are making an impact on the self confidence that they have about themselves. As a influencer influencer yourself, the someone that has moved on with your life and have found some more of that self confidence for yourself. What do you say to other dads the About this, about how they can best instill that self confidence in their daughters. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:26:47]: So I would say, first and foremost, understanding that it can't just the be you. The daughter's confidence is not gonna just come from you solely. And I do believe that it's healthy, actually, the For a lot of dads not to feel attacked when, they do tell their daughters that they're beautiful, and their daughters just don't see it. The Let's just be honest. There will be many days where, you know, dads just just glorify. You are so beautiful. Oh my god. You're so smart. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:27:16]: The You're this and your dad is like, but that's not what the world's telling me. If I'm that, well, why am I not runner-up? You know? And I think that It's important to, again, to understand it. Like, let take me inside of your world and allow me to the See what you see as my daughter. And let's just be honest. Sometimes you gotta disassociate the father and daughter thing. Because even for you guys, as a dad, it's the Easy for me to sit here and say, you know, dad, you've been the best dad ever. Like, dad, you're so awesome. And, you know, for what my dad does in acting, it's like, the Imagine him going in in in in trying out or auditioning, for the top dad role. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:27:54]: The Let's just say he's everything. He's awesome. And I'm telling him, dad, you got that. Yo. You got it, dad. Trust me. There there is no dad talking you, dad. The And then he goes in, and they're just like, not quite. Something's just not you know, to him, it's like, the Hey. Well, my daughter's telling I'm the best dad. It don't get no better than me. But let's just be honest. There's there's these self, the tick boxes that we tend to check as individuals even. And so it does come with The mentality, and the self confidence. So it is about self at the end of the day. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:28:31]: And there are things that dads can do, the with words of affirmation, and actions of affirmation. So that is the biggest thing. Actions of affirmation, conquers all of the Them. You know, words sometimes feel good make us feel good, but actions are even better. So as as daughters, we don't always wanna, the You know, here that we're beautiful, you know, we wanna see it. You know? We wanna see it. Like, what does that mean to To to tell a daughter that she's beautiful, what do you see? You know? And for me, I feel like even too now in adulthood, I find the best value, in understanding also the things that I don't do well because I feel like that's honest. That's where that truth, Dom. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:29:15]: Comes from so my dad will tell you all the time, like, you know, if if if he gets on video chat with me or if he gets on FaceTime with me, And I'm just not having a good day. I had rolled out of bed. I hadn't combed my hair or anything. He's looking at me like, okay. What's going on? What is going on? This is not my daughter. The And for me, it's just you know, I just understand that that means, like, he sees me. He knows enough about me to know the When I'm having a bad day, when something just isn't there, and then he can go in and provide that reassurance. Like, you know, you're doing it well. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:29:47]: You're doing things right. The You know, it's just something that comes with, with life. So like I said before, 1st and foremost, understanding that the You guys' dads don't always have all the answers. Everything's not gonna be perfect. You can't just, you know, say a thing or two and make it all better. Just just the process. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:30:05]: That was amazing because, Chris, what I heard there and what I wanted to say, and it oh my gracious. It prompted Domino's. Is to understand that these things that she talked about make us great dads. So if we didn't have the if we didn't have the shy daughter, we didn't have the Going daughter. We didn't have the trouble daughter. We didn't have this type of daughter. We didn't have this. How would we grow? With the boys, we sorta got that. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:30:27]: Not that we have it all down pat, but no It's more relate With the girls, the girls are like mini wives. I know this is about dads and daughters, but I think about my wife. It's something that my wife tells them too, And she'll she'll tell me. And she'll just simply say, Jaylah, what I always say? And what does mama always say? And who's gonna tell you that it's not work? Who's gonna tell you that it don't look good? And it's a mentality that you take on. And so seeing her, just going at it and going after not just something, no But naming it and going after it, that make it's more than just proud. It lets us know that they are really coming into their own, And that's the most beautiful thing. It's not about whether you make multimillionaires or billionaires. The value in it is the success. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:31:15]: What they want to accomplish, not with mom and dad. And that was what we did even with schooling. No. You do not have to be around you. Be around us when you go to school. Get as far away as you want as long as they make plain as trains of automobiles, we're good. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:31:29]: So true. Now one of the things that I would love to hear from both of you is the In this relationship that you've built over the years, there are opportunities to be able to have things that the are unique to the 2 of you, things that you share together that are important to the 2 of you. What the Has been a favorite thing that the 2 of you share together that is unique to your relationship. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:31:55]: So, okay, one of the things is our craziness. No It's just something about when we get together, we're gonna cut up. It's just spontaneous. I was just telling them we were just down from my mother's funeral in December, And we were talking about I said, wow. I miss us not being able to just be in the kitchen and start singing, you know, because she loves to sing. And honest to god, I told her I I I remember telling her, like, this is some years ago. This is before she even left home. I told her I said, you know, you're my favorite singer. And she thought I was joking, but it's just something about when she sings. It's like, you're my favorite singer. And in church a couple of weeks ago, A lady visited, and she sung Eyes on the Sparrow. And that's the song that I love my daughter to sing. But when I tell you just No. Endless laughter. It's like nobody's trying to be pretty. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:32:41]: We're not trying to be framed up. We develop a space to where we can really Be ourselves. And I know that that's what we share, but I love to see her strength. I even love the pushback. I shouldn't have told her that here live, but I love the pushback because no It tells me again that she's growing, and it also tells me that she does respect me because that's something that I Theo. So my wife and I, we don't want them to think like us or to be like us. We want them to be way much better than us. And so no It that that's the that's the thing. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:33:14]: I just love the freedom to where we can be across the room, and I could just look at it. She look at me, and we can just bust out laughing because we already know what the thought And Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:33:22]: I'll add to that. Like dad said, you know, it's personality. I I know that you can agree to Christopher even with, you know, your daughter that the It it's a personality match thing. Sometimes as parents, I know you see a lot of, you know, yourselves and and your children. So Domino's. I think for us, we just like I said, we have just that down to earth relationship. It's not always perfect, because it's a learning the experience, but it's definitely one of those things where my dad's gonna look back even in the next couple of years. You know, as I approach 30, that's the but it's gonna be interesting for them. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:33:57]: It's gonna be fun, growing experience. And then even when I move on to have children, the Oh, it's definitely gonna be 10 times more interesting to see how my children take after the things that my parents have instilled Dom. So I just think that as life goes on, you you develop your own ways, but you also still it's like you never detach the From the parenting skills that have shown in how you were raised by your parents. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:34:23]: Now we always finish our interviews with what I like to call our fatherhood five, where I ask you 5 more questions to delve deeper into you. And, usually, it's just a dad, but it's not gonna be just a dad this time. We're gonna ask both of you some questions. The So, Jaylah, I'm gonna start with you. In one word, what is fatherhood? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:34:40]: I'll say accountability. That is a tough word. It can be so harsh, But I will say accountability. And I feel like accountability only because if you relate it back to the real world, the Accountability always reverts back to you as an individual. How does what you produce, or I should say your seed. What does it reflect about you? What does it tell about you? What does it tell about the things that you do well? What does it tell about the things that you the still need a little bit more help with. And so no matter whether it's the good or whether it's the, you know, not so good, it's a lesson in in itself, and it's the Always that room for growth and development as long as you're willing to take accountability within that process. In a queue? Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:35:26]: To my word normally, I wouldn't use this word, but with describing god, and I'm gonna say ubiquitous. And that is to be Uniquely who you are all the time, everywhere with the same power, with the same authority, and with the same strength. Because, Uniquely, no matter what, your family needs to see whom you are in all those situations. So whether it's hard, it's peaceful, it's stress They need to know, and I guess this goes back to the accountability part. They need to know, are you gonna stand on what you say you stand on. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:36:02]: Now, Jaylah, when was the time that you feel like your dad finally succeeded at being a father to a daughter? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:36:08]: So I will say A few years back, gosh, I would have been, at that time, feeling middle school. I was in school and personality. Right? You know your kids, the All of them. And you know how they're different. So you know what they're capable of, what sounds like them, and what doesn't sound like them. And I've always been a talker in class. The Neither, you know, my brothers nor myself were the extreme disrespectful type, so we wouldn't be at school the Disrespecting adults. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:36:35]: That that's definitely not the case. So this particular incident, teacher calls dad specifically, And it's just, like, in a huge uproar. Like, Jaylah is just she is just is not there. She's being rude. She's just saying things. She's Noes. Just clown and all. She's acting like a pretty fool at school. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:36:57]: And, you know, as much as I in my head, I said to myself, and I remember the Telling my friends and my other cousins that went to the same school as me. I said, it's over with now. The teacher done spoke, so my voice don't even count. The When a teacher calls dad, it's just gonna be the adult's word, and I'm just gonna sit over here in the corner and deal with the consequences. But, Ashley, it actually didn't feel that way. He showed up, and, again, communication and understanding, Dom. He listened. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:37:24]: And then he also gave me the opportunity to speak. And for once, I felt heard, and I felt like my voice matters. So it also gave me the opportunity the To be honest, just let them know I just said, hey. This is the type of day that the Tisha was having. The Tisha was actually very frustrated. And based off what you taught me, You taught me that if this is the case, then this is what should happen. And in so many words, like he said, what we would call in 2024, the He stood on business, and he basically addressed the situation for what it was. We raised Jaylah to, first and foremost, always respect her adults, the But all actions can't necessarily be respected. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:38:04]: Because if you teach your children and you raise your children, the Follow underneath, you know, god's teaching and god's word. We know that even adults, like, all adults don't follow that pathway. We've had especially nowadays in time where teachers come to school and they're frustrated, they have realized, and they bring those burdens to school as well. And so that does affect sometimes how they incorporate that in education and being able to handle and deal with other people's children as well. And so he just touched a little bit on that and just said that these are the expectations that when we send our children to school, she's treated fairly. She's treated equally. The She's heard just as you would want your children to be heard. And for once, literally, in in in my younger younger days of living in middle school, I I felt heard, and I just I enjoyed that part of his fatherhood and him being able to be there for me and and give me a voice. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:38:55]: And what about you, Aqeel? The What's the time that you feel like you finally succeeded as a father to a daughter? Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:39:03]: I can't name a no Specific time write off. I'm sure if you gave me a little bit more time, but it it would be surrounding an incident just like this. And so in other words, when she when with the 1st or 2nd or 3rd time in a continuous behavior that she comes to me and has a conversation with me, and she says, dad, I'm thinking about doing this. No I wanna do this. I felt accomplished in because for your child and yes. And I would go on the limb and say, especially your daughter, to feel Even if she even though she has a little nervousness that she felt that freedom and that comfort to know that she can come and talk to you about something. And let's just say the hard topic. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:39:39]: Our daughters with boyfriends and guys they may like to come and talk to us about why they make certain decisions, why they may wanna make certain decisions, And it was beautiful. That was it. And, I think one other time is there maybe a b side to that. Right before Jaylah graduated with her bachelor's Northwood. She wanted a car. I may never forget this, and, she ended up posting on Facebook probably a year before, and I just happened to see the post. So I pick up the phone and I call her. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:40:09]: I go, so what's going on? It's like nothing, daddy. I said, yeah. So I saw this picture that you posted a car. So what's going on? The out of that came, she had been looking for a car, and I was like, woah. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:40:25]: Let's think about this. And so we talked that out. And lo and behold, the very next year, she still hadn't graduated. But She told me she said, dad, well, what she called me now, and we had this various conversation. What do you think about me buying a car now? And I so I told her. I said, well, listen. This is what's happening. I said, If you save your money, whatever you save, I'll match, and then we'll purchase a vehicle. Well, lo and behold, I met a gentleman that, you know, went at the dealership. No And, anyway, so through talking, I talked to him a price range and everything, and he said, oh, no problem. Well, the 1st car I sent No. Somebody ended up buying or they didn't wanna sell it or something to sometime. And, anyway, we found it again. So I said, well, Jaylah, I said, oh, I found one. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:41:04]: Nice car. It's clean. No lights on anything. And I said, I'm sure of this. I said, and here's the price. And she says, No. Okay. And I said, well, understand now. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:41:13]: You gotta pay tags, insurance. I'll handle all of that stuff part for you, but gotta have this. So do you at least have half of this? She says, oh, I'm good. I got that. I said, that didn't sound right. I was like, what do you mean you got that? She was like, oh, I'm good. I got that. I was like, you mean you got the Half of that? Or you say she's like, no. I got the whole thing. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:41:30]: And I was like Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:41:31]: Christopher, I didn't blink. Yeah. That's it. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:41:34]: Are you serious? So yeah. And so she literally bought And paid 4 in 4 her very first car. And that was when I that was another level then that I realized. No. So we didn't know that the day we dropped her off at college that she also started working probably that same week, And we didn't know that. She kept that as a secret, but I guess that business degree was really working. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:41:58]: I will add to that really briefly as we wrap up. It's very interesting because that was a very hard lesson in life, and I think this is really gonna wrap up our conversation surrounding dads with daughters and just fatherhood as the As a whole, is that I contemplated this so much because the rule of thumb was always you're not gonna get a job, you're the You're gonna focus on studies, what have you. And I sat in that room all night long, and I said, I gotta get a job. I gotta get a job. I can't do it. I gotta get this job. And so I said to myself, I said, I would be being rebellious because I would be getting a job with Doubt. Saying anything and doing it even though I know that that wasn't the expectation. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:42:43]: But I said to myself, I said, how cool will it be to prove the My parents, wrong, but also right at the same time. And just to touch base on that, the idea is that, you know, hey. You know, it gets the be overwhelmed. And when you work a job and you go to school at the same time, people typically don't do well. But I think that just showed how cool your specific children are when they are able to conquer that. So I remember I finished that semester, and the only thing I brought up was grades. And I say, you know what's gonna be interesting the It's to not only show them that I got the grades, but how I got the grades that I was working full time would say that. Dom. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:43:20]: It was honestly like a cool experience for me because for once in my life, I got a chance to prove that, yes, I get this was the plan, But, you know, I can be trusted. Like, I can work hard. That discipline is definitely to come. That won't be the the the first and last time that I may have to kinda, like, go a little bit around the parents, but in life, that's just how things end up sometimes. You don't expect, the You know, your children are go certain paths even like I said, for the oldest even, dad will tell you is just that we don't always go the route the that you think we're gonna end up going. But either way, we come out on top and success. And that right there, she that in a nutshell, that was exactly it. So allowing them the space to grow, to use their ingenuity, that's exactly what we taught them. So it was it's beautiful to know that was it. That's another level of showing that, oh, they really got it. They really understand the assignment. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:44:16]: Now, Jaylah, if I was to talk to you and your brothers. How would you guys all describe your dad? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:44:21]: I would actually say disciplined, but meaningful slash the Purposeful. And just a little bit on that, I say strict slash discipline because his teachings, they seem harsh at first. The Sometimes they seem a little way out there and over, you know, over the top. They do they it does seem extreme, But I can honestly say it's so funny how it always comes full circle, and it has a deeper purpose behind it. And, you know, the oldest, he has become just this scientifically factual person just as well as the youngest. And for myself, I'm kinda in the middle. Like, I'm not, the You know, too big on the facts and the scientific behind it, but after I found I finished my master's of science degree, it really taught me how to look at things the or what they are in terms of experiment. And as you know, when you conduct the experiments, there's always these findings. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:45:14]: So why this calls this? And I think that just goes back to what you put in is a big result of what you get out. So a lot of the things that he has instilled in us has developed and got it a lot of what we put into things At full cycle, sure enough, it comes back the great results that we have seen to get throughout the journey of what we've been pursuing. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:45:40]: The Now, Aqeel, who inspires you to be a better dad? Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:45:42]: Life has just really done that. Having grown up the oldest of 2 children, you know, I say these people, they start laughing because No. Know my story. Well, my children do it. I just say and my wife. And I say my biological parents, they separated and divorced when I was 6 or 7 years old, And I watched my mom do it. And my mom would literally go to work and survive off of. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:46:04]: Was it 25, 35¢ nabs and a soda? And I never knew that for all my life, but she always made sure we had. But she the one thing that she always said, she told my sister and I, she says, don't ever let me hear you say you hate your dad because No. She said your father. She says regardless of what happens between us, your father is still your father, and that reigned with me through my life. And so it has always been with me because psychology tells you that you're basically No. Gonna be like your parent, or the guy's gonna the man is gonna be like your father. And my father has some strongholds, and I didn't partake in those. No. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:46:47]: And I remember being older, maybe about in my thirties, and there was another psychologist who was taking, we were in academy, and he said this And I rebelled. I said, that's not true. I said, I don't smoke. I don't drink, and I have a great relationship with my family. So I said, Dom. That's not always true. So who inspires me to be better? My family. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:47:10]: The last thing I wanna do is fill my family, wife included. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:47:15]: Now you both have given a lot of pieces of advice today, a lot of things that, have helped both of you in the journeys that you've been on together. Jaylah, as we finish up today, what's 1 piece of advice you'd wanna give to every dad? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:47:27]: Be you. And I would say to be you because there's nothing worse than the A dad getting frustrated because he can't feel another dad's shoes. When you trust the process and you you learn to be the dad that You're supposed to be. Everything works out in the end. I feel like a lot of fathers go wrong when, you know, they follow that the Society's idea of I'm gonna be the number 1 dad, number 1 super dad. It's always it's been like that for years. There's always been that, You know, that box where there's, like, dads have to be perfect. Like, I've gotta be perfect dad. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:48:04]: I've gotta be the dad that's just super nice and sweet all the time. I can't say anything. I can't discipline. I just gotta be perfect. I've gotta be light. And my dad touched on that a little a little bit earlier too is is, You know, you don't always wanna be the dad that's liked because I almost wanna bet you that you're probably not gonna get the best results always being the dad that's liked. So, yeah, to just be you. Haniqeel? Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:48:26]: I think it goes just in those 2 words. I think when we look at that, and I'm sure you can relate to this, the Just in hearing dad versus your child or your daughter saying, this is my father, it does something right here in in in your the spirit right in your heart because a father is everything that we've talked about in this interview. That's not a dad. And so as Jaylah just said, no. I've never attempted to be like another man. I always think Beyond the outside of the box. And I wanna make the mold for myself, and everybody's position is unique. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:49:04]: And so I wanna be uniquely me and improve on me daily, and so I Do Continue to develop ways to better myself and my family. And so still to this day, what I do periodically is No. I send them self improvement messages as well and affirmation. I still send those out. So the way that my that my mother always said, she No. Despite how old you get, you're gonna always be my baby. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:49:33]: Now, Jaylah, I know you mentioned that you are becoming a social influencer. You're doing things out there. People get to know you in different ways outside of the work that you're doing at the bank. As we finish up today, if people wanna find out more about you, where should they go? Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:49:46]: Yes. So please follow me on Instagram at jaylah.iman_ the Well, you'll also find out that I am a full time photographer as well, and I do the Travel occasionally as well for my very own business, Lady J productions, and then you can also find me on TikTok at jaylah dot Iman as well. Thanks for having me. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:50:11]: Thank you for being here. And Aqeel, as I said before, you're busy. You're out there. If people wanna find out more about you, where's the best place? Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:50:18]: And please forgive me. I don't wanna sound over the top. I really just learned this from a couple of fans. Google me. I think everything pops up. That's so crazy to even do that. It's, I and so I literally had to do that one day. I googled myself, and I'm like, oh my god. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:50:34]: But, yes, Google me, Aqeel T. Ash-Shakoor or Aqeel Ash-Shakoor on Facebook. Again, Aqeel Ash-Shakoor.  Instagram, Aqeel the actor. YouTube, again, Aqeel Ash-Shakoor, And my background is not showing now, but Empowered Minds, I do a lot of, Again, self improvement videos to spiritual videos as well. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:50:55]: So yes. And don't wanna plug, but Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:50:57]: Catch him on TV. Grab your popcorn. Grab the guys. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:51:02]: Been blessed to be a, recognizable face on the Law and Order SVU and Quite a few other to dig with projects and some movies and on television. And something that I'd really just found out, I didn't know that I'm actually presented as one of the No. When they do the Peacock advertisement for the shows, and someone's telling me he's like, I see you every day. I was like, impossible. No boy. He's like, no. I see you every day. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:51:27]: And I was like, really? It's like, wow. So that's an that's an honor within itself. Small town country boy that made an affirmation at 9 years old to his baby sister that one day, this is what I would do. And that's what has been instilling in my family that we do. And my daughter bless she did bless me about a couple of weeks ago. I read a post, And I confirmed it with her, and she said in the post, I just saw it, and it brought me to tears. I didn't tell her that part. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:51:57]: But She says my father made legends. And what else can you say? I'm a blessed husband and father. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:52:04]: Well, Aqeel, well, Jaylah, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for being here, for telling your story, for being raw and open about the journey that you've been on, and I wish you both the best. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:52:15]: No Thank you so Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:52:16]: Yes. Thanks for having us, Christopher. Thank you. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:52:18]: And for your fans, Christopher, I want them to know that this wasn't just No. A pop up. I've appreciated you ever since learning of you and knowing you for years as my wife, Tanisha, was in Thomas Cooleyham Law School, No. And you've always been a familiar face and always, a pleasant person to talk to. And back then, it was also go lug nuts. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:52:42]: No. Yes. Jaylah Ash-Shakoor [00:52:43]: That's it. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:52:43]: So yeah. Yeah. You you've always been special in our lives too, so no Thank you. Thank you ever so much. And for my 1st interview, I think I did that with dad with sons. Some time ago, we did an article. So, I I I applaud the work that you're doing. And and if I could be of help, please give me a call. Aqeel Ash-Shakoor [00:53:01]: Thank you, sir. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:53:03]: If you've enjoyed today's episode of the Dads with Daughters podcast, we invite you to check out the fatherhood insider. The fatherhood the insider is the essential resource for any dad that wants to be the best dad that he can be. We know that no child comes with an instruction manual, and most dads are figuring it out as they go along. And the fatherhood insider is full of resources and information that will up your game on fatherhood. The Through our extensive course library, interactive forum, step by step road maps, and more, you will engage and learn with experts, the But more importantly, dads like you. So check it out at fathering together daughter. Of a daughter and have not yet joined the Dads with Daughters Facebook community, there's a link in the notes today. Dads with Daughters is a program of fathering together. The We look forward to having you back for another great guest next week all geared to helping you raise strong and powered daughters and be the best dad that you can be. Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:54:01]: We're all in the same boat, and it's the Full of tiny screaming passengers. We spend the time. Them. We give the lessons. We make the meals. We buy them presents and bring the AK because those kids are growing fast. The time goes the just like a dynamite blast calling astronauts and firemen, the Carpenters and musclemen get out and be the world to Them. Be the best dad you can be.

4 years of doing this work. We are bringing back our segment 'Whats the Tea in the DoD". Talking about all things good bad and ugly about the progress of sexual assault training, awareness, legislation, and news. Not all is bad that is lost and not all that is good is talked about. Lady J and I are here to give our opinions. And still on the search for our future co-host. www.glassoldier.org https://www.instagram.com/glasssoldierorg/

Renita Johnson, affectionately called Lady J, was cooking everything she could get her hands on as a young girl in her mama's kitchen. Today she owns and operates the Pancake Bakery alongside her husband, Chef Lamont. In addition, she spins the business acumen into ministry thru her summer cooking camps for kids and ministry to women through a group she calls, SKIRTS. Learn more about her new ventures at www.pancakebakerychatt.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lady J's journey is nothing short of extraordinary. Despite facing unimaginable hardships including abuse, homelessness, addiction, and health crises, she emerged victorious, transforming her pain into purpose and becoming an award-winning community leader, speaker, and multimedia mogul.In this deeply moving episode, Lady J shares her raw and unfiltered story of resilience, recounting the pivotal moment when she heard a divine call to rise above her circumstances and reclaim her power. Through her unwavering faith and determination, she not only survived but thrived, founding multiple successful ventures and impacting lives globally.Lady J delves into the heart of abundance, revealing the profound difference between coping and true healing. With wisdom gained from her own journey, she illuminates the path to inner wholeness, urging listeners to confront their past traumas with honesty and embrace the transformative power of forgiveness.This episode is a powerful reminder that no matter how broken we may feel, we possess an innate resilience and strength to rise above our circumstances and create a life of purpose and abundance. Tune in now and embark on a journey of healing, empowerment, and transformation. About the Guest:(bio, personal links, resource links)Lady J, known as the "Bounce Back Queen," is a resilient figure who has triumphed over various life challenges, earning her accolades as an Award-Winning Community Leader, Speaker, and Rising Multimedia Mogul. Having faced abuse, homelessness, addiction, molestation, and health crises, she emerged victorious in life and business. Lady J is a dynamic entrepreneur, author, mentor, and founder of E.G.O. Entertainment Network, Life Support Company LLC, BounceBackology LLC, and No Limits Ministry Inc. She has a global impact with supporters in 63 countries and has been featured on notable media platforms. Dedicated to community service, she runs successful social support programs and mentoring initiatives. With over 15 years of business experience, Lady J is committed to empowering others to bounce back and succeed. Her inspiring story, coupled with her diverse skill set, makes her a compelling speaker and mentor. Lady J continues her mission of making a positive difference in the lives of others, sharing her story and tools for success. Free Gift:How to Show Support: Check out my eBook on Amazon: The Little Girl Nobody Fought For Who Became The Woman Nobody Wanted)Social Media Links:FB: @PRIMERIB.J and @LadyJbrandIG: @ladyj.coLI: Lady J (lady-j-brand)Website: www.LadyJ.coAbout the Host, Elaine Starling: (bio, personal links, resource links)An international TEDx speaker, bestselling author, coach and mentor, ElaineStarling is recognized for her video show and podcast, The Abundance Journey.After a comprehensive conversation with our higher power during a stroke, Elainecreated The Abundance Journey 6 week course to share what she learned. As theAbundance Ambassador, Elaine mentors spiritual, growth-oriented women to alignwith Divine guidance to achieve their dreams. Elaine's clients experience moreclarity, confidence, and commit to action that achieves their goals.Elaine Starling Social Media Links:Facebook:

Lady J was stalked by her ex-boyfriend.  What started as a seemingly ordinary relationship turned toxic within six months; he was possessive, accused her of cheating, and was emotionally abusive. She attempted to break from the abusive cycle, but he resorted to manipulation tactics, including threats and even a suicide attempt, to coerce her into staying.  Despite her efforts to seek help from the police, she found little assistance. When he escalated into stalking, she had no choice but to abandon her business and go into hiding. Lady J lives in constant fear due to her stalker's relentless pursuit.  She has channeled her experiences into something positive by establishing an online community for other survivors of similar situations.  CHECK OUT OUR PATREON:www.patreon.com/strictlystalking GUEST LINKS: Lady J https://www.instagram.com/stopyourstalker/ DO YOU HAVE YOUR OWN STORY TO SHARE? E-MAIL US strictlystalkingpod@gmail.comInstagram: @strictlystalkingpod @feathergirl77 @jaked3000 SPONSORED BY: Delete Me - Go to JoinDeleteMe.com/STALKING and use promo code STALKING for 20% off Noom - Sign up for your free trial today at Noom.com Progressive - Progressive.com The Last Trip - Podcast Listen & Subscribe to The Last Trip - https://audioboom.com/channels/5119581-the-last-trip Follow The Last Trip on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thelasttripcrimepod/ And Subscribe for all the updates on Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/TheLastTripPodcast

The Air Force is in the building. Join me as I welcome our newest addition and military mover Janay to the show. She will be an awesome plus one until we can complete the new round of auditions for what we are calling the "MilView". It is Women's History Month but we wrap up our thoughts on February and just get to know her. Please don't forget to like and subscribe. Leave a review and head over to YouTube and support us there. And ABSOLUTELY go donate on glasssoldier.org's page. www.glassoldier.org https://www.instagram.com/glasssoldierorg/

This week we are back for another Saturday Special and its a very special occasion. We get the whole gang together to celebrate the birth of the one the only Lady J, or insert what our VP has referred to her as over the last few eps. We dive into a few different things but give it as listen and find out. This pod is fueled by BUMP Energy.Follow us on all social media at time for another or check out our website at timeforanother.comSend us an email at timeforanotherpodcast@gmail.com

We sit down with Lady J, the organizer of Mutant & Proud in Philadelphia!

The gangs all here tonight on this Saturday Special including Lady J, The First Lady Of The Podcast aka The Hamburgladon, The Ministress Of Kultur and even our Drug Czar. We dive into a few things give it a listen and find out. BUMP Energy powers this podcast.Follow us on all social media at Time For Another and check out our website at timeforanother.comSend us an email at timeforanotherpodcast@gmail.com

Our heroes are getting closer to the end of their investigation as they move through the memories of Bleakburn Manor's guests. They now find themselves in the room of Lady J and find out more about her appearance change.Cast:Brook Bullock - Ziansi, Spiderkin, Rogue (Twitter)Kyri Hester - Billy the Possum, Fighter (Instagram)Kim Cross - Beatrix, Tabaxi, Rogue Connor Shenold - Dungeon Master and Jaska, Yote, RangerJohnnie Payne - Twitch Grimfoot, Ratfolk, Necromancer Wizard (Instagram)Michael Cross - Blackjack, Jackalopefolk, Warlock (Twitter)Aidyn Cross - Show Runner (Twitter)Special Thanks:Theme Music - The Cinemagician PJ Castillo (Instagram)Incidental Music - Jeffrey McBride (Facebook)Sound Effects and additional music courtesy Table Top Audio, dScryb.com Syrinscape and Monument Studios Dice for the cast of Red Dirt DnD provided by Esty Way Gaming.You can find Red Dirt DnD on Facebook and on our website: RedDirtDND.comThere's also new content on our YouTube and Twitch pages, just search for Red Dirt DnD.We would love for you to become a Patron of our podcast, you can join us on our Patreon Page.Red Dirt DnD is a Red Dirt RPG, LLC production.

We're back baby for another Saturday Special. We get into it again with special guests Lady J and the Hamburglar. Its a fun time and i bet ya'll might enjoy. We may have a few more kirbib stories.Follow us at time for another on all social media and check out our website at timeforanother.com send us an email at timeforanother@gmail.com

In another truly entertaining episode of the "MOPPC", the guys welcome Sandy J (@happiher.artistry) host of "The Art of Happiher" podcast, who answers the infamous "MOPPC Questionnaire" and surprises the guys with the results of a reading. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our heroes have discovered more about the mysterious Lady J, but more information is needed before they can solve the murder mystery in Bleakburn Manor.Cast:Brook Bullock - Ziansi, Spiderkin, Rogue (Twitter)Kyri Hester - Billy the Possum, Fighter (Instagram)Kim Cross - Beatrix, Tabaxi, Rogue Connor Shenold - Dungeon Master and Jaska, Yote, RangerJohnnie Payne - Twitch Grimfoot, Ratfolk, Necromancer Wizard (Instagram)Michael Cross - Blackjack, Jackalopefolk, Warlock (Twitter)Aidyn Cross - Show Runner (Twitter)Special Thanks:Theme Music - The Cinemagician PJ Castillo (Instagram)Incidental Music - Jeffrey McBride (Facebook)Sound Effects and additional music courtesy Table Top Audio, dScryb.com Syrinscape and Monument Studios Dice for the cast of Red Dirt DnD provided by Esty Way Gaming.You can find Red Dirt DnD on Facebook and on our website: RedDirtDND.comThere's also new content on our YouTube and Twitch pages, just search for Red Dirt DnD.We would love for you to become a Patron of our podcast, you can join us on our Patreon Page.Red Dirt DnD is a Red Dirt RPG, LLC production.

We are back for the 7th edition of the Saturday Special. We get into a bit of everything this weekend with special guests Lady J the Hamburglar and or First Lady Of The Podcast and the ARC Ambassador. Listen to find out more..Follow us in all social media at time for another or check out our website at timeforanother.comsend us an email at timeforanotherpodcast@gmail.com

Investigating a murder at the manor for the Duke of Bleakburn, our heroes find themselves in the room of the Duke's betrothed, Lady J.Cast:Brook Bullock - Ziansi, Spiderkin, Rogue (Twitter)Kyri Hester - Billy the Possum, Fighter (Instagram)Kim Cross - Beatrix, Tabaxi, Rogue Connor Shenold - Dungeon Master and Jaska, Yote, RangerJohnnie Payne - Twitch Grimfoot, Ratfolk, Necromancer Wizard (Instagram)Michael Cross - Blackjack, Jackalopefolk, Warlock (Twitter)Aidyn Cross - Show Runner (Twitter)Special Thanks:Theme Music - The Cinemagician PJ Castillo (Instagram)Incidental Music - Jeffrey McBride (Facebook)Sound Effects and additional music courtesy Table Top Audio, dScryb.com Syrinscape and Monument Studios Dice for the cast of Red Dirt DnD provided by Esty Way Gaming.You can find Red Dirt DnD on Facebook and on our website: RedDirtDND.comThere's also new content on our YouTube and Twitch pages, just search for Red Dirt DnD.We would love for you to become a Patron of our podcast, you can join us on our Patreon Page.Red Dirt DnD is a Red Dirt RPG, LLC production.

Cousin Malcolm brought his dog, Fido to Granny's house. Malcolm didn't tell Granny Fido don't have home training. Needless to say Fido made his way to Granny's wigs and now it looks like there's dead squirrels everywhere in the house. The gang pulled up to the cookout to discuss battle rap news including the URL Crucible 4 announcement, Twork vs Jaz announcement, 40 Barrs comments on Chrome 23 and more DONATE: $NewEraPod LIVE SHOW DISCORD: ⁠⁠https://discord.gg/NuunqQau52⁠⁠ FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @NewEraPodcast1 @DAMNIMWILD @LILFR3DDY @DUTCH_KIB @LOLADOPE_ FOLLOW US ON IG: @NewEra_Podcast1 --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/newerapodcast1/support

Back with Part 2 of the Action Force 1988 Annual story featuring Flint, Lady J, Footloose and Laszlo Norval! Laszlo Norval sounds like a Bond villain, that our friends at the Movies and a Meal Podcast would cover! Give them a listen to find out!

Our heroes have met the mysterious Lady J who is engaged to the Duke of Bleakburn, but upon discovering she is not, in fact, their missing friend Jaska, they all run off for a special meeting.Cast:Brook Bullock - Ziansi, Spiderkin, Rogue (Twitter)Kyri Hester - Billy the Possum, Fighter (Instagram)Kim Cross - Beatrix, Tabaxi, Rogue Connor Shenold - Dungeon Master and Jaska, Yote, RangerJohnnie Payne - Twitch Grimfoot, Ratfolk, Necromancer Wizard (Instagram)Michael Cross - Blackjack, Jackalopefolk, Warlock (Twitter)Aidyn Cross - Show Runnerr (Twitter)Special Thanks:Theme Music - The Cinemagician PJ Castillo (Instagram)Incidental Music - Jeffrey McBride (Facebook)Sound Effects and additional music courtesy Table Top Audio, dScryb.com Syrinscape and Monument Studios Dice for the cast of Red Dirt DnD provided by Esty Way Gaming.You can find Red Dirt DnD on Facebook and on our website: RedDirtDND.comThere's also new content on our YouTube and Twitch pages, just search for Red Dirt DnD.We would love for you to become a Patron of our podcast, you can join us on our Patreon Page.Red Dirt DnD is a Red Dirt RPG, LLC production.

Our heroes are talking to guests at the engagement party for the Duke of Bleakburn and the mysterious Lady J as they search for their missing friend.Cast:Brook Bullock - Ziansi, Spiderkin, Rogue (Twitter)Kyri Hester - Billy the Possum, Fighter (Instagram)Kim Cross - Beatrix, Tabaxi, Rogue Connor Shenold - Dungeon Master and Jaska, Yote, RangerJohnnie Payne - Twitch Grimfoot, Ratfolk, Necromancer Wizard (Instagram)Michael Cross - Blackjack, Jackalopefolk, Warlock (Twitter)Aidyn Cross - Show Runnerr (Twitter)Special Thanks:Theme Music - The Cinemagician PJ Castillo (Instagram)Incidental Music - Jeffrey McBride (Facebook)Sound Effects and additional music courtesy Table Top Audio, dScryb.com Syrinscape and Monument Studios Dice for the cast of Red Dirt DnD provided by Esty Way Gaming.You can find Red Dirt DnD on Facebook and on our website: RedDirtDND.comThere's also new content on our YouTube and Twitch pages, just search for Red Dirt DnD.We would love for you to become a Patron of our podcast, you can join us on our Patreon Page.Red Dirt DnD is a Red Dirt RPG, LLC production.

Our heroes are all dressed up and ready to go to the engagement celebration between the Duke of Bleakburn and Lady J as they search for their missing friend Jaska.Cast:Brook Bullock - Ziansi, Spiderkin, Rogue (Twitter)Kyri Hester - Billy the Possum, Fighter (Instagram)Kim Cross - Beatrix, Tabaxi, Rogue Connor Shenold - Dungeon Master and Jaska, Yote, RangerJohnnie Payne - Twitch Grimfoot, Ratfolk, Necromancer Wizard (Instagram)Michael Cross - Blackjack, Jackalopefolk, Warlock (Twitter)Aidyn Cross - Show Runnerr (Twitter)Special Thanks:Theme Music - The Cinemagician PJ Castillo (Instagram)Incidental Music - Jeffrey McBride (Facebook)Sound Effects and additional music courtesy Table Top Audio, dScryb.com Syrinscape and Monument Studios Dice for the cast of Red Dirt DnD provided by Esty Way Gaming.You can find Red Dirt DnD on Facebook and on our website: RedDirtDND.comThere's also new content on our YouTube and Twitch pages, just search for Red Dirt DnD.We would love for you to become a Patron of our podcast, you can join us on our Patreon Page.Red Dirt DnD is a Red Dirt RPG, LLC production.

This week on the Saturday Special we had the who gang here including the first lady of the podcast, Lady J, the Mistress of Kultur and our very own Drug Czar tonight. Listen to see what we got into?Follow us on all social media at time for another podcast or send us an email at timeforanotherpodcast@gmail.com or check out our website timeforanother.com

BEST OF HMS PODCASTS - FRIDAY - July 7, 2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices