Merry Christmas for Friends Message

Deneen L. Garrett: 00:02 19:43 Hello, hello, hello, and happy Christmas Eve, Merry Christmas Eve, and Merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, happy holidays, happy new year, all the happy's and all the merry's to you all. I'm Deneen L. Garrett, the creator and host of this podcast, Women of Color : An Intimate Conversation. I decided to tap in to share my voice especially after seeing my Spotify wrapped and seeing that my most popular episode was a solo episode. For those of you who have been listening to me for a while, especially those who followed my coaching journey, my podcast coaching journey, which started over a year ago, I shared how I have no problem with interviewing people, having guests on, moderating panels, those things. But speaking solo was something that was me tapping into my vulnerability to do so. And so I challenged myself. I published several solo episodes. Again, I was chronicling my journey with my podcast, Coach. And so, um, I did take some time off over the summer. I took some time off from podcasting. I took a couple of months off from social media, and then I started back recording with guests in September. Um, and enjoyed that have some remarkable, um, episodes out there. So make sure that you're checking those out. Um, and, um, again, um, definitely a planned on doing some more solo episodes, um, specifically talking about my, um, about how to live a dream lifestyle and specifically around my, um, how to live a dream lifestyle coaching, um, program, which is still coming. Um, so definitely look out for that, but I wanted to go ahead and just break up. Um, uh, so after I published all of my guest episodes, I started doing relaunches and I started with, or, or, and I actually didn't start with this, but one of my relaunches was of my favorite podcaster. Um, and her and my other two favorites, um, and at the time, um, I have recorded them. They've been guests and that's been awesome, but I wanted to, you know, go ahead and kind of start back as to who, um, encouraged me. Inspired me to go ahead and launch my podcast. Uh, if you listen to my very first episode and I mentioned this numerous times, but You know, I committed to doing one episode a month and I ended up doing one a week for like two and a half years. But also when I was deciding whether or not to or when to, I listened to my favorites just to get that motivation and encouragement. And then, you know, the rest is history. I went ahead and I just Niked it and launched the podcast. And so here we are. Oh, my God. So that was in April of 2020. And now we are going into 2024. Ooh, yes. And so again, thank you for those who have been here since day one, close to day one. Those who are just new, I appreciate you as well. But again, I wanted to just jump in, let you hear from me and kind of talk about the RAP and things that I learned from my analytics. Part of my coaching journey was tapping into SEO, search engine optimization, and actually that popular episode, the number one episode, most popular episode actually was one specifically talking about SEO and search engine optimization. At any rate, I wanted to mention you know, several episodes that I want you all to, you know, check out. And reason being is because they do represent my top international audiences. So the rap from Spotify gave great information again, and let me know which one, which was my most popular episode and let me know which was my most popular audience, which I knew I had been, you know, watching that all along, you know, paying attention to that. Of course, the U.S., no doubt, no diggity, no doubt. Um, as far as international, according to Spotify is Germany. So shout out to Sabine Depert. She is a past colleague. She and I used to work at the same company. She's still there. I retired. And she's kind of been there from day one. And so I know that a lot of my listeners in Germany are as a result of her sharing. She's been a supporter. She was on my pod-iversity, my first pod-iversity. I did a call. I had several people on that and she checked in. And I don't know, it was either early morning for her or late night because she is in Germany. I'm in Detroit. So, you know, there's at least six hours difference in time. her out and thanking her, so grateful for her. And then as far as just overall from my podcast hosts, I do use Libsyn. And according to Libsyn, number one is India. Number two is Nigeria. And they actually have number three as Spain and then four as Germany. Like I said, I'm shouting Germany out because that is the number one on Spotify. And so I wanted to make sure that I, you know, listed Germany because again, I know where you know some of those listeners came from and I wanted to shout out a specific person so. you know, looking at the information that came with the wrap, you know, Spotify is like, okay, now what do you do? We've wrapped for the year, now what do you do with that information? And so that's what I'm tapping into. I'm still on a podcast journey, right? Our journeys and lives are continuous, right? As they should be. And so I'm learning, I'm constantly learning and then applying. So the recommendation was to connect with your audiences. And so I want to mention some podcast episodes that represent the countries that, again, are my top audiences. And then I also want to ask you, if you are a woman of color in any of those countries and would love to be a guest, please reach out to me, Deneen@DeneenLGarrett.com. I would love to have you on. If any of my listeners has someone in mind that they want to recommend, feel free to do so. So my episodes in India or with guests that have an Indian experience, either they're from India, they have familial ties to India. So Finding Your Voice, Empowering Women of Color to Save Themselves with Poonam Pushar. And Be Bold, Be Uma with Rita Kakati Shah. And I grouped those two together because they were recommendations to someone who speaks my name in rooms that I'm not in. And that is Jennifer Witter. I'm so appreciative of her. She's constantly reaching out and sharing her clients with me. And I so appreciate her for doing that. And then we have, Turmeric in Ayurveda, unlocking the healing power of ancient medicine with Dr. Shivani Gupta. And I really enjoyed that call and talking with her. And as a result, pretty much everything that I season, I'm seasoning with turmeric. So turmeric, ginger, and garlic powder are my staples and their health benefits. And when you listen to the episode, you'll learn about those health benefits. Plus, Dr. Shivani, she is offering 15% to our women of color listeners for anyone who's ordering any of the things, her products that she sells. So that's awesome. But yeah, so make sure you're checking those, episodes out. And then I did have one person who is in Spain, and that is Bianca Smith. Her episode is Military Spouse, how Bianca Smith leans into this life. And so I enjoyed speaking with her. She's from the US. She's lived all around. Again, she's a military spouse, so her family moves around. So those are episodes that are either the persons are from, live there, have familial ties with the countries that are in my top audiences. And so thanking my listeners in those countries, and just all of my listeners, right? I appreciate you all. You know, for those that like to compete, come on now, let's go ahead and compete. and see who can be number one and definitely in the top three. Right now, overall, it is India, it is Nigeria, and it is Spain. Germany is close. And then on Spotify, number one international is Germany. So let's see what the rest of 2023 brings and let's hit 2024 off running. Let's see, some other things about me. I'm just so excited about the rest of this year and looking forward to 2024. Some amazing things have happened. Some amazing things are in the works. As a mom, I am very proud to say that my son graduated from college in December. So shout out to John Mckell Garrett. I am so proud of him. I love him so much. And so onward and upward, you know, to the next part of your journey, my brilliant young man. Much love, much love from mom. But I'm just so excited for life, just to continue living my dream life. As you all know, travel is number one for me. And what's creeping up too, it's making its head art, Black art in particular. So I may have mentioned before how I collect Black art. And I'm getting deeper into it. have, you know, meet with folks, fellow collectors every week, get to see new work from artists every week as well. Enjoying what I'm learning, being more intentional about what I buy, and educating my son along the way because he's going to inherit my art. So teaching him about, you know, or just making him aware in a way, in an effort to build generational wealth, to build wealth period, and then for it to be generational, right? And so for my things to pass on to him and then to pass on to his kids and so on and so forth, so keep that circulating. And so, you know, again, with my, the way that I live a dream life is number one is travel. And then number two is immersing myself in Black art, reading books that my fellow collectors who have been doing this thing for a while and their collection is massive, right? It's enormous and have huge names, well-known names, Tanner, Jacob Lawrence, Romare Bearden, In other names right and again like I said i'm learning and then, of course, a lot of younger emerging artists as well, and being in what i'm loving is to be part of their journey as their new you know whether they're graduating college. with their art degrees or if they're self-taught, just being a part of their journey, being able to support them and being able to introduce other people to this world. And that's what I'm doing now. I actually bought four pieces to gift. So at least two of those persons who will receive the art, they will become collectors, right? They will be collectors once they receive their gifts and they're in high school. So they're cousins of mine. One is a ninth grader. His brother is a 12th grader. And so I'm starting them off with original arts from an up and coming artist who is making his name. He's making rounds. He's out there. Jonathan Kimball is his name. He's a Detroiter and he is a graduate of CCS. I think that's for Center for Creative Studies. And again, just enjoying his journey. And Jonathan, when he does this, when he's in the galleries and he's part of shows, he's selling out. So a good person to definitely start collecting and sharing collections with my family. So you'll hear more from me on the podcast as I talk about arts and this journey, because it's exciting for me. Again, it's another way that I'm living my dream lifestyle. And it's one that, has opened, has welcomed me. And it's such a beautiful journey because I knew that, you know, I knew a year or two ago that there was more to this for me. And so that more is happening now. And again, I will share with you all because that's what I do on my journey. That's what this podcast is about. It's about elevating the voices of women of color and empowering them, us, me, to live a dream lifestyle and to live that now. And so sharing with you You know, my journey is my way of encouraging you to follow your dreams, encourage you to take the time to, to figure out, learn what you really want in life and to go for it. Right. And given a platform offering this platform for you to share your story. Cause you know, the women that, you know, I'm talking to, that's what we talk about. We talk about, you know, what it is that they're doing. We talk about their dream lives and. and just for examples for our listeners, right? And their stories, while I speak to women of color, Black women in particular, especially, their lives are examples for anyone, right? Anyone can do the things that they're doing and be encouraged by what it is that they're doing. And so that's the beauty of it. It's just that this platform is specifically for us, for our voices, right? Let's see other exciting things. I was recently named a top 100 global best women by Hornsers. And the amazing thing with that is I posted about it, and I post how, you know, when you're operating your excellence, these type of things happen. Like, I didn't know them. I didn't know anything about Hornsers. The CEO had reached out. on LinkedIn, I hadn't even seen the message, and then her executive assistant followed up. And so now we have a relationship. And so here's the thing, they're in Europe, they're overseas, right? And so again, when you're operating in your excellence, you attract and manifest things, you attract and manifest, you know, people that you don't even know, you know, who they know you, right? And that's another thing, I tell my son all the time, absolutely it's who you know, but most importantly, it's who knows you. So take advantage of platforms that you have, social media in particular, LinkedIn especially, and share your journey, share your expertise because people are always watching. And then earlier in the summer, I think I had shared this when I did my solo episode coming back, back in September, I did share how someone reached out, again, nobody I knew, and my name was being spoken in rooms that I was not in, and they recommended me to do a video for TV One, so Thank You Black Women. It's the campaign that they were running, and it was for Pride Month, so they knew about the work that I was doing, that I had done, due to uplift and advocate for LGBTQ+, women of color in particular. And again, that's how this podcast started. It was a panel that I had created for LGBTQ plus women of color and allies. And then, like I say, from panel to podcast, this is my journey. It's now a podcast and it's a podcast for women of color in general. So just some things I wanted to share. And again, you know, wish you all a Merry Christmas, happy Kwanzaa, happy holidays in general, and definitely happy New Year's. And continue listening, watching on YouTube as well, and share, support, subscribe, all the things, right? All the things. If any of what I'm saying, anything that you've heard me say in previous episodes or even my guests, if any of it resonates with you, let's let more people in. Let's share it with more people. Let's get it out there. Let me see those numbers. Let me see those analytics. Let me see what country is actually who's going to be the next number one. Right now, India is holding its own, right? And let's see who's going to take over, who's going to be the next number one for my audience, my listeners. and all the things. So thank you. Enjoy your family. I'm planning on shutting it down on social media for a while. And that's why I'm throwing out there that Happy New Year, because I'm not sure if I will be back on social media before 2024 rolls in. So I want to get it out there just in case. But definitely love on your family. Self-care. Do things that you love. Spend this time. to think about what it is you want for your life, how you want your dream life to be, and then put in the work to make it happen. I love you, and I thank you, and ta-da! Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy.