"Journeys of Empowerment: Women of Color Living Boldly” with Dr. Denise Y. Mose

00:10 01:22- Deneen L. Garrett: Thank you for joining Women of Color, an intimate conversation, formerly an intimate conversation with women of color. This is a podcast about women empowerment stories and for women of color and LGBTQ plus women of color who want more out of life. This show is for women who have had enough and want change, especially those who have been waiting to choose themselves and to live boldly. In each inspiring episode, hear from women from different backgrounds, countries, and ages who have embarked on personal journeys, sharing their stories of empowerment, overcoming, and their path to living a dream lifestyle. I'm your host, Deneen L. Garrett, and I'm committed to elevating the voices of women of color and empowering them to live a dream lifestyle now. I'm also a women's empowerment speaker and a dream lifestyle coach. So sit back or keep it moving and check out today's episode.
01:27 02:01- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Someone, oh, I'm an aunt. My niece is Madison. She's 13 years old, terribly spoiled, but I love being her aunt. I don't have children. I'm not married. So it's fun to check her out of school earlier and go get Starbucks and things like that. That's fun stuff for me. And for her too, we've got a really, really cool bond. And I would also say someone that's interested in pushing the needle. I'm always interested in a new adventure and how I can stretch myself. So let's say always learning. I'll say those three.

02:01 02:04- Deneen L. Garrett: OK, I love that. And so do you also have a sister?

02:04 02:07- Dr. Denise Y Mose: I have a twin sister, yes, Danielle.

02:07 02:23- Deneen L. Garrett: Okay. All right. So that's what I was going to say. Um, so you and I, we, we were connected or we're connected on Instagram. So that's how we know each other. And I'm seeing a picture of you and someone else and you are, we're traveling somewhere and I'm like, Oh my God, they look just alike.

02:23 02:27- Dr. Denise Y Mose: So that's her. That's Danielle.

02:27 02:33- Deneen L. Garrett: Awesome. Okay. Oh my God. My sister's name is Danielle as well.

02:33 02:36- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Oh my goodness. It was, it was, this was meant to be.

02:37 03:02- Deneen L. Garrett: Yeah, that's so, that's very special. Okay, so you are considered a Jill of all trades, with an extensive background in education, having traveled just as extensively to teach and learn, Oxford and Harvard, just to name a couple of places. What was your experience as professor in residence in Shanghai, China, at the George English School in 2015 like?

03:02 06:04- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Oh, it was wonderful. I was at a place in my life, Demene, where I love what I was doing. I was a full-time professor teaching communications and first impressions and public speaking and I enjoyed it all, but I got to a point where it was just routine and I was regressing and not progressing. And I needed a drastic change. I just, I just lost my mojo. And my colleague was like, well, you know, I'm going to China. You should, you should go to China. And I'm like, China, China, China, like Asia, China, China, China, China. Yeah, doc. I mean, I'm going to take a year off. And, and New Shell is known for traveling a lot, going abroad. And I was always curious about that, you know, but never delved too much into it. But I was just telling her, I said, I just, I'm just, I need something different. I need something drastic. I had to find my mojo. And she said, Dawg, you should go to China. And I said, no, I'm not. I don't mean that drastic. You know, maybe just, I mean, two weeks off or something, you know. But she just kept saying, Dawg, I know Frank's son. He owns several schools. He's opening a new education center in China. He needs a new professor. You could be the professor in residence. This is you. And so the more she said that, I said, you know what? Hey, you know what? Hey, I said, you know what, let's call him. So at that point, this was 2014. So this was the days of Skype. So she came to my house, and we did Skype together. She did a warm intro. We talked. And then I guess maybe a good 40 minutes later, he said, so when are you coming to China? And I said, oh, this was just a look-see. This was not in stone. But he said, can I send you a contract? Can I send you a package? Can I do that and see if that will entice you to come to China? And I'm like, well, sure. OK, sure. Why not? And he sent me a package package. And I said, oh, you're serious. Oh, you're serious. So I said, you know what? Wait a minute. Let me think this thing, you know, let me think about this. So it's a great package and they included airfare first class flight to China, a one year residency, a nice apartment. And it just, it just, it was just kind of, he made it hard to say no. So I got with my realtor, and I put my house up for sale. My house sold very quickly. I had to go to Atlanta and stay two weeks and get approval from the Chinese consulate in Atlanta. And of course, they approved me. Because I learned you cannot just go to China. You have to have a work visa or a medical visa or a family visa. But you cannot just go to China and give a reason. I didn't know that. I had to get permission from the consulate to stay a year and I sold my house and I got my cousin Atlanta she took me everywhere. And by that December, I was in China. Wow.

06:04 06:11- Deneen L. Garrett: Yeah, you wanted to push the needle and stretch so I would say that's pushing a needle and stretching for sure.

06:11 06:43- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Absolutely. Absolutely. And since I've done that, I've just been open to doing even more things. So that was the spark I needed, Denine, to get my spark back, to love teaching again, and to just kind of like, hey, OK, there's more I can do here. So that was probably the best thing I ever did as an adult was to to go to China and immerse myself in this community of people who I did not know, didn't look like me, didn't talk like me, and it was just a, I had a great, beautiful, wonderful time, wonderful.

06:43 06:49- Deneen L. Garrett: And you know what, and so what comes to mind for me is just you had a different take on Stella getting her groove back.

06:50 07:49- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Exactly. Exactly. And you know, it's funny because, you know, you hear the rumors, you know, Asians don't like black people. And that was not my experience. They treated me like 24 karat gold. I was not in, um, now I was in a town called Little Sherp, which is about four hours outside of Shanghai. And I said, if I'm going to do this, I want to be where the real deal people are. You know, I don't want to be in Shanghai because that's like New York. And I don't want to be in Beijing because that's like LA. I want to be real deal. So my town was a beautiful town, and we didn't have Walmart, didn't have Starbucks. I'm like, OK, this is it. And my apartment was literally five minutes from the school. I could go out the door, make two turns, and I was at the school. So it was great. And the more the folks in the city saw me, the more they got used to it. I got stared at all the time, wanting to touch my skin. And it was great for me to help them. It was great for them to help me.

07:50 08:23- Deneen L. Garrett: So yeah, absolutely. And so you also travel as a media professional going to events such as the Rio Summer Olympics, Rio, Wimbledon, and Disney Dreamers. And by the way, my son is class of 2018 of DDA. All right. There we go. Come on now. Yes. And you know what? I'm going to tell you, I don't know if the experience was better for him or me, but I had a good time. They treated the parents well. you know, I was just gonna go and hang out at the pool or whatever. No, they had an experience for us as well.

08:23 08:29- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Yeah, they have plans for the parents. Absolutely, yes. Oh, I love DBA, so wonderful, yeah.

08:29 08:45- Deneen L. Garrett: Yes, so tell us what led you to both, so to education as well as to the media. And you already said that teaching is your first love, so I'm gonna take that as your greatest passion. And if not, you know, which of the two would be your greatest passion?

08:45 14:45- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Oh, absolutely, education is. And I was going to be a lawyer. I wanted to be a lawyer. I watched Miami Vice and Crockett and Tubbs. And I said, oh, I'm going to be a lawyer. But my senior year in high school, my economics teacher asked a few of the students who are really good at math to tutor third graders. And she said, Denise, I would love for you and Danielle to tutor third graders. And I said, oh, little people. But she said, but that means half a day on Friday and Thursday, you won't be here. You'll be over there. I said, oh. That's a win. So I went to this school, I went to this classroom that I was assigned to, and there were all these little small little chairs and these small little people. And I sat down with four or five kids and talked about how money works and how you have money, they have allowances and things like that. And a little girl, I'll never forget her, Erin Gray, she said, will you come back tomorrow? And I said, that's it, I'm gonna be a teacher. I'm going to be a teacher. And my dad was a principal. My mom was a math teacher. So I grew up with educators, you know, but I did not want to be a teacher initially. I was going to be a lawyer, but that little girl and then helping those students. And I volunteered the rest of the semester and went to Alabama A&M, majored in education, early childhood, and loved it, loved it, loved it, loved it. And it was not until I was a full time professor in Orlando, how NBC fell in my lap. I went to Full Sail University where I taught first impressions communication and all those things in the communication department of the course director, and it was it was very normal for NBC and Rolling Stone and MTV at that time to come to our school because our school was about recording arts and computer animation and digital design and show production and all those things. So any area of entertainment, that's what the school was about. And I had all the recording arts students. So one day, NBC came to my classroom, and I said, oh, I've got four students who you'll love. And they said, well, can we sit and lecture? And then after lecture, we'll get your kids. So fine. So I taught my class like I normally do, and I'm very animated. I love being a teacher, and I use all the tricks in my bag to get my 80 kids to pay attention. And so when the class was over, of the three producers came by and I said I said so I said here are my students and they said well actually you know what uh if they can wait outside for a minute uh can we talk to you first and I said oh okay sure so to my kids you know go ahead and go outside you know I'll I'll say a good word for you and the producer he said well we don't we don't really want them now we want you and I said you want me You'll be for what, you know? And they said, well, we're doing a new talk show. We need a new host. We're doing some things online for YouTube, and you'd be great for it. So would you consider working for NBC? I'm like, what? I said, I just paused, like, me? No, I'm a teacher. I, you know, I, no, I, no, I know my schedule and I have my classes and I, that's not, that's not me. And so the producer said, you know, we really, we think you'd be great. You're really, really funny. You're, you're naturally funny and you're, you're really lively. And you know how to talk to an audience. You know how to grab a lot of people with very simple things. You should be on the red carpet. I'm like, no, my kids are here. You want my students, you know? So long story short, the producer, I don't know if it's like he harassed me but he definitely put it in contact with my dean and said we know we want her. Can you please talk to her. And my dean said, you know, hey, it's this is something cool you might want to try it. Look, I don't know. But so long story short, I flew to Atlanta to meet. with two of the producers and they said you know you're really really funny and great but you just talk really fast once we slow you down we can get you on the carpet and i'm just thinking you know okay whatever you guys say i got i got a full-time job this is just interesting you're paying me to be here okay fine whatever you know This was all completely new world to me, you know And so the more I got into the studio the more I really enjoyed it, you know I would fly down once a weekend. I mean once a month and go to the studio and this was around God this was around 2002 and I I said, okay, so I was flying every once a month, still teaching my classes, you know, and then they said, okay, so our first event will be the Kentucky Derby, and we're going to be there to interview Bobby Slade and Oprah. And I'm like, oh, who's, I don't, I don't even mean me to do that. I know, I know you don't mean that, you know, you said, no, we're gonna be interviewing, you know, Gabrielle Union and Paul Wall and Earth, Wind and Fire and Tina Marie and Spokane Robinson. And I'm just like, who do, What? I'm being punked here. But Daneen, I had an appointment at Macy's. I had this gorgeous green dress. We flew to Louisville, Kentucky, and I interviewed Earth, Wood, and Fire. And I interviewed Gabrielle Union. And I said, you pay people to do this? right so um it was crazy it was absolutely insane so i stayed at my job another seven months and this was starting to support my income uh and supplement my income and i saw i said you know let me Wait a minute. So I kept doing that part-time, part-time, part-time, part-time. And then I left my job fully as a teacher in 2009 to do NBC full-time. OK. So it was the best. And I was also called a field reporter. So I was not full-time. I worked gig to gig. So that was even cooler. I'm like, OK, ooh, I like this, you know? So it was just, and so here we are years later. And yeah, here we are. That's what it was. It fell in my lap and it was just opportunity. Why not? And best thing ever did. So cool.

14:45 15:01- Deneen L. Garrett: And you know what? And what it is too is, you know, you were operating in your excellence, right? So you were, you know, passionately pursuing your purpose and your passion. And then here, this other thing came along. for you, which is so cool, right?

15:01 15:34- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Yes, it is. If you had told me, you know, 10 years ago that I'd be doing this and going to the Kentucky Derby and going to the Oscars and Sundance Film Festival in Utah and New York Fashion Week and Paris next summer for the Olympics, if you had told me that, I'd be like, what? Not that I could, but I don't have a degree in radio production. I don't have a degree in journalism. You know, I've met people in the red carpet, they have degrees in journalism, creative writing, blocking and film and they're like, where'd you go? And I said, oh, I have a degree in education.

15:34 15:49- Deneen L. Garrett: And the other thing too, is because they saw you operating in your excellence, right? So they saw that and they wanted you for the thing. And that's what I say to people like, do what you do. People are watching.

15:49 15:51- Dr. Denise Y Mose: They are. They are. They so are. They so are.

15:54 16:04- Deneen L. Garrett: And, you know, another similarity is I had considered going into law as well when I was in high school, so. Wow.

16:04 16:09- Dr. Denise Y Mose: The well is deep, Deneen. The well is deep with us. The well is deep.

16:09 16:19- Deneen L. Garrett: Oh, so look, Denise, Deneen. Yep. Elle, sister. We thought about. When is your birthday? May 27. July 22nd. Okay.

16:22 16:25- Dr. Denise Y Mose: The 20s. There we go. There's another one.

16:25 16:38- Deneen L. Garrett: Right. I know. So my concern is about empowering women of color and elevating their voices. Thinking about your journey, your experiences, what three actions can women of color take to tap into their power and voice?

16:40 18:05- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Number one, rest. Get some rest. It's only 24 hours in a day, and you cannot get it all done in one day. So number one is rest. I now understand why my parents made us all take naps as kids. And now I love a good nap. So number one, I would say, make sure you get some rest. Number two, I would say, don't get comfortable. That was me. I was comfortable until I was uncomfortable. But don't get complacent in what you're doing. Because when you get comfortable, you get complacent, and it becomes routine. And I'm not saying everyone will do this, but I lost my spark. I lost it. I lost my mojo. So one, get some rest. Two, don't get comfortable. And three, be okay with change. I moved to China. Now, I wouldn't dare tell everybody, just drop everything and move to China. But that's what I did. I needed new people. I needed new scenery. I needed a drastic change to get me back to Denise. And be okay with trying new stuff. Be okay with trying different things, you know, um, and just see what happens, you know, it's kind of like, if you sit, if you throw enough stuff against the wall, something's got to stick. So that's what I would say. I would say, get plenty of rest, don't get comfortable and be okay with trying new things.

18:05 18:46- Deneen L. Garrett: Yeah. I like, I like that you put rest as the first one rest, something that we as black women, as women, we don't prioritize. We don't. And just now, I would say within maybe the last three years, have we start considering it, considering rest, considering self-care, self-love, all those things. Like it's now kind of a big thing for us to focus on that. So I love that you put rest first. And I'm thinking of this like, well, we haven't done anything yet to rest, but yeah, we have. We've lived. our lives and we've done this and we've done that. We've gone through school, you know.

18:46 19:08- Dr. Denise Y Mose: But just the day-to-day. Go to bed early. Go to bed at 7.30. Turn the lights off and go to bed. Yeah. Go to bed. Take a nice long shower. Take a nice long shower. Take a bath. And just sit there and play some music and have some nice wine and some grapes and chill. Nothing expensive. Stuff that's in your house. You know, that you already have, you know.

19:10 19:43- Deneen L. Garrett: And this rest has kind of taken us to this next question or thing to talk about. So often Black women and other women of color do a lot or even too much. That's what we're talking about. We don't always prioritize self and self-care. I just recently took a pause in the way of a two-month social media break. Talk to us about the importance of taking time for ourselves and the power in the pause. So you've already talked about the importance of rest. Talk to us a little bit more about that and pausing.

19:43 21:22- Dr. Denise Y Mose: I think what helps too is making sure that you're around the right people. If you want to have power in the pause, you have to really make sure that that you've got folks around you that really, really care about you. That makes a big difference too. We get stressed out about, you know, this coworker, that coworker, my husband, my wife, this or that, and those things can really be triggering. So something I've done is really, really check my circle. You know, I have some folks who I cut off and folks cut me off. You know? And that has been a great way to pause. Like, whoa, I thought we were cool. Oh, we're not cool anymore. OK. I don't know what happened, but OK. So, you know, as we get older and as we get more seasoned in life, everyone just can't go with you to every level. When I came back from China, some folks I thought were really my friends were not. They were jealous. They were upset. They were, you know, what are you doing? You trying to do your thing. You damn right, I'm talking about, you dog all right, you know. So, and I'm like, wow, I thought, okay, you know, so. I think finding out that you've got some folks around you who really care, not a hundred, three or four, but a good two or three, maybe four people around you that honestly and truly are concerned about your overall wellbeing, your mental health, even if the job that you have is a job that is supporting you or giving you some kind of support. So I would say making sure your friend circle is what it needs to be.

21:23 22:27- Deneen L. Garrett: That's important, especially, you know what, that's definitely important for me now, right at the time of life that I'm in, having that circle, having a few people who I can really depend on. And people have, they play different roles and that's fine, right? Everybody want to play the same role. And when you recognize that, kind of like you said, you know, people have cut you off just as you've cut others off. Right? And that's just it. We just have to recognize the part that the people play in our lives. Absolutely. In this particular season. Absolutely. So I mentioned my sister. So Danielle, so I honor her. So she actually passed in October of 2020. Author and poet. She wrote a book, Dreams Deferred. And so I asked the question, about any dreams deferred moments that you've had?

22:27 25:20- Dr. Denise Y Mose: I wanted this position. Well, I was groomed for this position, a really nice PR, VP position. And in my opinion, it was mine. They said, Doc, this is yours. Come to the interview. That's just the formality. It's yours. Name your price. It's yours. It's yours. It's yours. And I went in for the interview, banged up job. I had on my best Donna Karen. Not I looked good, I looked good. Hair done, face, panty done, this is mine. And three weeks later, I didn't hear anything. And then a week later, well, I'm sorry, a week later, didn't hear anything. Then two weeks, then three weeks. in four weeks, you know, and I'm like, I called my friends saying, Oh, no, it's gonna be okay. It's your future working at the Kings. I'm like, Oh, okay. Okay. You know, this was, this was like my dream job in communications and PR. This was it. Nice salary, you know, enough to have left over. And just, you know, if I want to go to plan, go to Hawaii, I'm done. And so I found out that the person who did the hiring hired her niece and used all the notes I gave in the meeting. So I'm like, wow, because when this person did these ideas and these new, I'm like, that's mine. That, what? Whoa. And the person didn't have a background in communications, did not have a background in teaching, you know, completely out of their field, but you know, but it's, it's who, you know, right. So, and that was the case. So, I'm like, you know, and then when I called my friend, he said, I can't believe it. Denise, I'm so sorry. Denise, I'm so sorry. Because he's someone who I knew and trusted. And if he said that was my job, that was it, you know? And others said, oh my God, please interview. You're who we need. You're who we need. And then I find out a month and a half later, you hired your niece? Wow. She's nowhere near qualified? Okay. And so, um, I called my dad and my dad's like, you know, here's the thing. Um, God works in mysterious ways that was not for you. Uh, maybe there was a need there that you didn't realize, um, um, for somebody else and you keep doing what you're doing and just keep, keep adding pressure. So I said, okay. So that, that really was a punch to the gut because, um, I put, you know, I went in with 10 ideas, Deneen, of ways we could implement and change the PR and just update that organization to be social, media, just everything. And out of my 10 ideas, they used seven.

25:20 25:28- Deneen L. Garrett: Wow. Yep. Yeah. And you know what? So that right there is the reason why people say, don't give too much.

25:29 25:57- Dr. Denise Y Mose: And you know, and guess what? Look, look, you go on today. You're going to learn today. So here I am saying, I'm going to show all my tricks because you guys need me. I can do this. I can do that. I've done this, da, da, da, da. And the whole time, you, you, this was, I set myself up. I can't blame them. I set myself up. So lesson learned that, um, Don't, don't, don't give all your pearls away. Yeah, don't, you know, save.

25:57 26:35- Deneen L. Garrett: So, so I have a pearl in the other 20 you hold A little glimpse of what you can do and or actually by way of what you have done. Yeah. So for those that are listening. you know, share your knowledge, your expertise, but maybe focus on what you've done elsewhere, as opposed to specifically, okay, this is what we can do here. It is definitely a delicate balance, right? So I do like what Ed said as far as, you know, maybe it was a need for somebody else, that person needed it, like that, because my mind went straight to, you know, they didn't deserve you.

26:37 27:25- Dr. Denise Y Mose: And that was my twin. My twin said, they deserve you. Yeah, you know, that was that was, you know, this girl, you know, so I love her because we're, we're each other's cheerleaders, you know, and, but yeah, that that taught me a lot and I and I learned that day also that, you know, God works in mysterious ways. And, you know, we don't know what his plans are. And we have to be okay with adapting to a dream that we wanted, that we thought would be the best thing. And then when the person implemented those things, they didn't do them anywhere near what the vision should have been. So it's like, you know, you take someone's gift and it's not gonna work out for you. It's not your gift. You're borrowing someone's words and it never comes out the right, you know, if you had done it, so.

27:25 27:49- Deneen L. Garrett: Right, absolutely. So, okay. Hey, you know, you can go into the next interview and do the same exact thing, give 20 ideas and it's executed to the way that you would have executed it. Correct. Right. Yeah, yeah. So, um, I empower women of color to live a dream lifestyle. What is the dream lifestyle to you and how do you live a dream life.

27:50 30:52- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Traveling is my jam. I love traveling. I absolutely I grew up traveling my parents always, you know We were all that black family that was a lot of white people, you know And I love now that I see so many black people do it. I just love it. I love it for us. Yes Traveling getting on a plane 35,000 feet. Oh, yeah, that is that is my jam and I My twin sister, when she graduated from Alabama A&M, received an offer from Disney to work to be an animator. Her minor was commercial art and her major was journalism. She couldn't find a job in journalism. So before she graduated, Disney came to our school and said, we need some artists. And so they nominated my twin. She went and she got hired. And that's when they were starting Euro Disney. And this was 1994, 94, 95, 96 in that area. And Danielle went to Paris, France, lived four years, speaks fluent French to this day. When she went to Paris, I went to Paris. That Christmas, I taught fifth grade, but we had two weeks off. So I said, then I'll come during my vacation. So I went to Paris, and then we went to London. We went to Brussels. So those two, I said, oh, we're doing more of this. So while she was over there for four years, she went all over. And so on my breaks, I would go in and travel with her. So ever since, since I was 21, I really traveled. And then early this year, I had my TED Talk in South Africa. And Danielle and I said, you know what? When we turn 50, we want to go home. We want to go see mother, the motherland. And it just so happens that TED Talk was able to facilitate that. They found me through my TED Talk, through my podcast. So we spent 12 days, 12 days, in Cape Town and Johannesburg and all the other places. And it was just an absolute dream. So my dream lifestyle is to identify the places I want to see and go see them and travel and learn. And this has been here, this ruin has been here how long? And I would say travel, just traveling, seeing the world, going to, even if it's Biloxi, Mississippi and going to the beach and golf, If it's, you know, going to North Carolina and Asheville and seeing Biltmore. If it's, you know, Walt Disney World and getting on a roller coaster. If it's, you know, all answers are great. All answers. And now that I have my niece, when I get my assignments, I take her. So spring break last year, we went to San Francisco for a whole week. And then when school was out, we went to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon, the Hoover Dam. So she has just benefited from these cool perks I have to mean, and I take her everywhere. So I was poured into, so now I pour into my niece.

30:52 31:28- Deneen L. Garrett: I love that. And so again, here's another connection. Travel is my number one. That's my number one as far as my dream life. And just like you said, it's not always about going to, you know, another country. Right. About the simple things like for me, it's going to New York to see the Basquiat exhibit that they had like oh yes yes yes on a yacht uh thing you know the black yacht scene you know what i'm saying and it's also you know because i just came back from panama uh way so yeah all all the things with travel

31:30 32:30- Dr. Denise Y Mose: We just came back from Montgomery, Selma, and Troy, and seeing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. Me, my twin, my sister, my brother, we walked that bridge. We took Maddie to Memphis, Tennessee, to the Lorraine Hotel where Dr. King was assassinated. And she saw the video of the black boys with the milkshakes. They wanted a milkshake, and they couldn't because they were black. So she is seeing that. I said, Madison, it wasn't always like this. It wasn't always like this. I didn't grow up with this, but it's important that you see it. But yeah, that was, that was three hours away with the Montgomery and saw the Rosa Parks statue and all about Rosa Parks and what she went through, where they dragged her off the bus, you know, so we got in the car within three hours. So whether it's three hours or 35,000 feet, go see this world.

32:30 32:50- Deneen L. Garrett: Get out there and experience it. So I, I'm going to ask, because I remember you had posted about something on Instagram. And I'm like, oh, well, we definitely have to talk about that. And I don't know if it was last year, the year before, or whenever. It had to be within the last year or two. But Issa, did you ever catch up with Issa to interview Issa Rae?

32:50 33:20- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Issa Rae, no. You know what? It was ABF at the American Black Film Festival in Miami. I go every year. And I hugged her, but I was not able to get her. None of us got her. I mean, I think only two people were able to get her. And it was a stream of press. But I have a picture with her in the background. So, you know, that counts, you know? That counts. Yeah, I was not able to get her. But we got so many others. But yeah, Issa was the host that year. But very, very few people got Issa right. Very few.

33:21 34:38- Deneen L. Garrett: Okay, well at least you got a hug. So, um, I went, I went to Black Enterprise Women, Women of Power in March and so nice in Vegas to, I was on a panel for a podcast festival. And when I saw that he said was going to be there at Black Enterprise I was like oh my god I have to. get there. I have to be at that. And so I was gifted a registration to go. So Issa, she came, she did the lunch. She was on stage. I forget who interviewed her, but the person interviewed her, right? So we went backstage afterwards, you know, thinking we're going to chat with her or whatever. And they were like, yeah, no. Oh, you didn't get her either. Yeah, so I'm like, OK, cool, cool, cool. I'm like, you know what? She's going to exit on the opposite side. So let's go over there. So me and my partner in crime, we went over there. And so as we're walking, now we both probably have our phones in our hands. Here comes the police. Right? And we just know we're about to get pictures. But her PR and her publicist and then someone else, they were all locked in arms. And they were like, oh, no. thought, you know, we have a plane to catch. And I was like, no! Oh, so close, yet still far away. I don't know.

34:41 35:03- Dr. Denise Y Mose: And I love her personality. She's so down to earth. But she now has a crazy platform. She was in Barbie. She was the president in the Barbie movie. So she is doing her thing. And good for her. Because she dreamed of that life. She had it. So hey, I can only give plaudits.

35:04 35:16- Deneen L. Garrett: Oh, for sure. Definitely. She's definitely a game changer. She's able to write her own tickets. You know what I'm saying? She's able to say that, okay, if you want me, this is what it takes, right?

35:16 35:19- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Exactly. She's getting it. She's getting it.

35:20 35:49- Deneen L. Garrett: He's an example for other people that you can do. You can you can do it. Yes, yes, yes. That thing that you want to do. You can do it and it's different ways like you can start. I mean, she, she had three different web series. Yes, she did. Folks learned about her right like she did. Oh, about the first shoe. Yeah. Um, and then when I found out, I'm like, okay, the one with her brother, then I'm like, oh, it was a fart. It was one before that dorm diaries or something. I'm like, oh my God. So she's been at it.

35:49 35:51- Dr. Denise Y Mose: And she's been doing this. She's been doing this.

35:51 36:00- Deneen L. Garrett: Yeah. Right. And made it happen and bringing other people along. And so that's what I applaud her for that. She does bring other people along.

36:00 36:02- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Yes, she does. Yes, she does.

36:02 36:07- Deneen L. Garrett: Yes. So before we wrap, what would you like to leave the guests with the guests?

36:11 37:06- Dr. Denise Y Mose: I would love to leave your guest with, I'm a big fan of vision boards. Anything, anything you want to do, put pen to paper, put it on your mirror, and make sure you look at it every day. It is never too late for what you want to do. It's never too late. It is absolutely never too late, so go for it. you know, the things I'm doing, the things I'm doing are just things that, opportunities I took. So, and I guarantee those folks who listen to our interview and our chat here, someone has said to them, try this, try that. And maybe they were afraid. So I would say going forward, don't be afraid. Just go for it. Push that needle. Push the needle. And also, shameless plug, buy my books on Amazon and my website.

37:07 37:11- Deneen L. Garrett: Yes. And so that we have all your information.

37:11 37:13- Dr. Denise Y Mose: Yes, yes, yes, yes.

37:13 38:34- Deneen L. Garrett: So Dr. Denise Y. Mose, I have greatly appreciated this conversation and our similarities. Yes, me too. This is wonderful. This has been great. Oh, awesome. Thank you so much for being a guest on Women of Color, an intimate conversation for the rest of your week. All right. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Goodbye. Bye. Thank you for listening to today's episode of Women of Color, An Intimate Conversation. Let me know your thoughts. Send me an email at denine at deninelgarrett.com or tweet about it at deninelgarrett. My goal is to impact the lives of millions of women of color. And in order to do so, I need to reach them. And that's where you come in. Please subscribe if you haven't already done so and share the episodes. And again, let me hear from you. I'm your host, Denene L. Garrett. I'm also a women's empowerment speaker and a dream lifestyle coach. Check out my website, DeneneLGarrett.com. And until next time, have a fabulous week.