Keep it Positive, Sweetie - The Entertainment Biz- Seasons of Uncertainty w/ Shornell & Manny

Episode Date: October 24, 2023

Season 2 Episode 7 | Everyone knows it takes a village to pull off production. There are so many departments such as glam, costume design, crafty and more who work to bring your favorite shows and movies to life. I'm so grateful for my hairstylist, Shornell and MUA Manny who work with me on set. The pandemic and the SAG-AFTRA strike hit a lot of us in the industry very hard. I invited Shornell and Manny on my couch to talk about how they navigate seasons of uncertainty in the entertainment industry.

Hello and welcome to this episode of Keep It Positive Sweeties. Today we are talking about the entertainment industry and seasons of uncertainty. Right now we are in the middle of a strike and it is affecting not just actors and writers and directors and producers, but it's also affecting our crew members and many families. I brought my hair style, it's Danielle, and my makeup artist, Mani. These two keep me calm on set.

They work with me. I'm very, very particular about everything. We'll get into that a little later, but I thought it was important to get different perspectives on what we're dealing with as it pertains to this strike and I met you many at Greenbar studio when I was a costumeer and a long time ago and

Shurnell we knew each other when I was costume designing and had me at flipdower to the talent side But Coco was head of hair at that point in time, and she said that you were the one that I needed to work with. Yes. For Fatima's hair from there on. Yes, and that was it. She was right. I'm so happy.

She's been stuck with me forever. So she's responsible for my hair style, for the Soul Train Awards, Sister's Anza Tima, and BT Awards this year. Yeah. The Grime Pretty cover shoot, yeah. So, Shaneza's a song for all those hair styles, and Manny is responsible for the beautiful beat

that you're always like, Oh my God, I love the teamas makeup. That's him. I get a lot of my makeup tricks for Manny. In my hair tricks. Me too. And can we get into the makeup you did so good. Thank you. I was going back and forth. I should I get a makeup artist. I have Manny coming

here. I will be for. I will see. But no, I decided to go ahead and take on the challenge. And you know, look at everything that look at everything that you taught me. Aren't you worried? Crystal, you taught me some things too. Because you are really good at applying makeup. I always want you to do tutorials and stuff like that. But I mean, you're just perfect in a lot of different ways. So many different categories.

I tell you. Oh, stop it. The guy that gets her. Make it go, baby. Oh, stop it. The gotta get her! Go, baby! The gotta get her! The gotta get her! I'm the full package for real. Love you.

So, in the soul too, and that's where it's more, you know, the most important is when it exudes from within. Absolutely. And I absolutely love that the most about you. Thank you. Thank you so much. I want to personally thank you both for dealing with me. I know that the way we shoot the schedule we're all exhausted and I am an artist that is very particular about everything. Man, you call me a backseat makeup artist. Backseat makeup artist, very. What are we doing, Man? I mean, it's just a very demanding schedule and you just roll with the punches and we're

just, you know, making you happy. No, y'all do a very good job with it. Do I get on your nerves when I'm like, can you? No, not gonna, I think I've been doing it for a long enough, but it's not, it doesn't get on my nerves, so you just helps me understand what you like. What I'm like, I, so yeah, yeah. It's awesome. And we're making sure now when it comes to my wigs, I'm very particular, it's where I'm like,

I mean, extremely particular. Do you hear me? But I love that, you know, because I am a person that do like to interact with my talent and try to satisfy them in any way possible. So with them communicating with me, what they like, what they want, what they see,

that helps me as a hairstylist so you know, advance my talent and my craft. So I absolutely enjoy working with you because you make me a better stylist. Oh thank you. Yeah. I appreciate you. Well because sometimes as talent if there's something I'm very particular about everything. If you don't have people that you can talk to you and feel clump of saying hey can we fix this a fix that it can like be you know saying as a woman I don't know how to

remain but as women we want to feel like completely ourselves and like what we see in the mirror. Absolutely. And what the camera reflects. And if we can't tell the person, yeah, I don't really like this, and they take some people take it the wrong way, like, I'm trying to tell you how to do your job.

I was like, no, I just, this is, I like, I'm just, I like what I like, you know? So thank you both for letting me be myself on set. Absolutely. And I just love you guys. So thank you both for letting me be my cell phone set. I just love you guys. So I want to know, because I know there's so many people probably watching that would love to be a makeup artist. I'm sitting, breaking into the industry. That would love to be a hair stylist

and breaking into the industry. Manny, just give me some of your bags. So where you're from, you're upbringing, what brought you to this point that made you say, hey, this is what I want to do. Make up is the thing. Yeah. Well, I never thought that film was going to be my goal.

It wasn't a goal per se. I started working for Maccos Minics. I'm from Orlando, Florida, but nobody will hire me in Orlando because back then Mac was quite, it had a prestige that if you work for Mac, you can work anywhere. And it wouldn't hire me. I needed to have some portfolio ready and stuff and it wasn't something I had ready. So when I moved to Atlanta, it just happened

in a whim for me to move to Atlanta. I came and applied here to all the counters and the job kind of found me, that's the story for another time, but I thought I was just going to do retail. And at that time, there is an artist, his and his genome-freeman, he's also in the industry as well. He was working on the MacHunter himself, and he was doing a lot of strip clubs. And to me at that point, that was what I wanted to do. I was like, oh, I want to work with strippers. And I never ended up working with strippers, but two years into the industry, I met Mona Scott Young,

and she gave me my opening, you know, she opened the door for me, and she did say, and I quote, to the people that hired me, she was like, make sure you never goes back to one, nine, two, five. And I never went back to one, nine, two, five. And I did a lot of the seasons from Love of Hip Hop and some of her shows in New York as well. And yeah, my story just kind of went on from there.

And then I went on to Tyler Perry Studios, which was my first film industry job. Scripted. And he was really opening as well, really nice, really kind. And he was so kind, yeah. And my career took off from there. And I've been almost, I think now 10 years, I think, yeah. From me wanting to do strippers, to not working with actors and actors.

Yeah. It's amazing, amazing. Very unplanned. Yes, I love it. And shout out, Monica Scott. I love when people see something in you that say to the people that's working for her and that hired you, make sure he does not go back to a nine to five.

To see that in you is just, it speaks a lot, yeah. It was so, like, something that she did. I don't think she even remembered it, but it changed my career. It made it into a career, that's what we did, you know. I love that, I love that. So now, tell us about you, where you from,

how did you get started and what sparked, was it always here that you wanted to do? I've always had a natural grasp for anything here. I can look at something and I can create it naturally when I was like 10 years old to work with my barbies. Barbie! I used to do my bar Barbie hair and then my mother started asking me, show how you think you could do my hair or my aunt,

so every event, you know, everybody was coming to me. When I was younger, I didn't, I did not say I'm going to be a hair stylist. I didn't imagine that being my career. It kind of just happened. You know, used to work at this bakery in New York when I was very young. And the New York life that I came from, I'm from Brooklyn, New York, born in Guyana, South America,

near Brazil. Wow. OK. So it came here when I was three years old. So, you know, where I was raised was Brooklyn, New York. And so the environment and everyone around me, we didn't see this. Yeah. It wasn't film, and film industry or anything like that.

And it wasn't even here because people thought hair was not lucrative at that time. It was not a so-called amazing criminal to like, but I heard out, everybody wanted to say, I wanna be a doctor, I wanna be a lawyer and all those type of things. So when I did eventually tell my mother that I wanted to pursue or do hair,

I had gotten fired a Lego. Not necessarily fired, but Lego. tell my mother that I wanted to pursue or do here. I had gotten fired at let go. Not necessarily fired, but let go from Amy's spread. I remember them asking me what I'm gonna do next. And I just said I'm gonna move to Atlanta. Wow. Just like that. Just got to move to Atlanta.

I was a single mom. Came to Atlanta. And was a single mom. Came to Atlanta and I said that I was going to do a little culinary thing that never happened. So I called my friend and I asked, I was like, do you know any hair schools that I can go to? I went to the hair school off Candle Road. Yeah. The hair school off Candle Road.

And got my license there and then just pretty much continued doing what I was doing. End up opening up a salon. Wow. Very, very successful business. I worked non-stop from sun up to sundown. And I pretty much kind of, I would say ultimately was burnt out there. So I don't have any desires to go back to the salon.

Eventually started working with, I was referred to Miele from the group 7.0.2. She came here and was looking for a hairstyle that she moved here. And I did her hair. She invited me on a photo shoot with Derek Lanks. Oh, wow. Right?

That was my first time ever doing anything in the industry. Like, I was a hairstylist, and I never thought of this realm of things ever. I didn't have any mentors, anyone that I looked up to. I looked at a magazine or a television show, and I didn't say, oh, I would like to be a hairstylist. I was just a successful business owner, and I did really well in the salon. Once I had that experience, that opened up my eyes and my drive to more.

Yeah. And work less. Work smarter. Okay. I know noticed right. So I did her hair for that one photo shoot, couple hours, went home, got paid for the whole day. And it was just like ding.

What am I doing in this salon? I need to get out this salon. So pretty much that's where I worked. I worked up into, that's where my passion and my drive to get into this industry started. I stayed in contact with Derek on Facebook because Instagram wasn't around then. Yeah.

And he put up a, he put up a notice saying that he wanted to invite a hairstylist to work alongside with him on a magazine shoot. And if you want to do it, just go ahead and submit your information. Spoke two, a million and one of my clients and they were like, go ahead and do it. I'll say, but I don't have really nothing. I don't know. At that time, I didn't know what was editorial, what was this, what was that.

And I went to the interview, not knowing that I was actually going against a whole lot of hairstylists around the world when I got there. So I ended up winning. OK. And Derek just pretty much started working with me on most of his celebrity clients tell and so I would get invited he'll call me his assistants you know would invite me to these shoots and then

from there on literally doors just started opening non-stop and I've never had a manager like god literally I can say he's my agent. I know that's right. That's so good. Wow. Wow. So right now we are in the middle of a strike. Have either of you ever been on strike before

or had the experiences? I have not, but I have plenty of friends have gone through. The last strike that we experienced was in 2008. But I believe it was a writer's strike if I'm not mistaken. I don't think it was, that's what today is happening is basically, it's a historic moment for our industry, just because it's two of the biggest.

Yeah, the writer's answer is crazy. Yeah, so it's, I've never been through one period, but let alone both of this, what's happening right now, it's completely different, not something I've dealt with before. Yeah, I mean either absolutely, what about you, Sharon, have you ever dealt with a skirt?

I've never dealt with a strike before, and it's definitely a moment that's just, it's a learning, definitely a learning process. A learning process. How are you both handling this, many? I know I've talked to my friends who are in the industry. We just saw where people are having to sell their homes. They've opened up food banks for people to come and feed their families. It's like really starting to hit because first it was the writers,

the directors they figured theirs out before they had to go on strike. And now the actors, the screen actors guild is on strike. For me, whenever I have these type of moments, I kind of look at it. Even our cell described as our own pandemic. I think you may have too.

Eva described as that and so did you, Manny. And just like when we when COVID and we were quarantined and had to sit still for a while, I use those moments to figure out how I can restructure things. I'm inspired to like figure out other avenues and revenues of stream. I mean streams of revenue. And also it just gives my creative juices. Well, and how can I come out better on the other side of this? Some people are dealing with depression, some people are dealing with sorts of creativity, some people are just trying to like figure it out or some

people just like we're just gonna ride this thing out. Where are you guys in the middle of all this? I thankfully, I come from a very humble, humble, humble beginning. I am from Mexico, though I consider Orlando my home. That change from coming from a third world country to like the United States at a very young age was already kind of shocking for me and like how you have to change everything, you know,

with a single mother of five kids, she could have easily left us with her father back home. And I learned so much from her, from my mom, and how to be very, I don't wanna say frugal, is the best word to use. So because of this industry, once it became my career knowing how volatile work can be like, you know, one day you can be working for weeks, months, and then you're in a dry spell for, however many months, you know, so

luckily from my beginnings to now, I've learned to be very, to live within my means, you know. Never, you know, try to keep up with the jumps or whatnot. Right, yeah. Just as I don't know when my work is gonna come. It's not true. Yeah, so the only thing that it's affected me has been in networking as much as I'm used to. But like you said,

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And like we talked about before, this is like our own little lockdown going on right now. That little lockdown, it's just a lockdown that we're going through right now. We have to just sit at home and then trying to either finesse something, you know, pivot into something new. That's where I'm finding myself right now. Like, what am I about to do because I don't want to keep relying on this industry for the future, you know, because it may happen again and again and again. Exactly.

And I just want to be ready for it. Luckily, I have the financial down, so it's not affecting me in that way. Thanks God. Exactly. Right now. Exactly. It's going to be really stressful. Yes. I've lived it with my mom, you know, and I've seen what it does to, you know.

And now I'm like, oh, I'm seeing people, friends of mine, colleagues, like they're starting to like have to borrow money or call the banks or sell their homes. So it's scary, but I pray a lot now, just to try to stay centered, because this is just life happening to us. Anything can come our way, but if you're centered, if you are faithful

that something is gonna happen good out of this, then you know, we'll just move forward, like we always do, right? Yeah, that's what we do. I love that. It's affecting me in many ways, but I'm trying to, because of the pandemic was a great training,

or what not to do, or how to go all the way down. Yes. So that's, you know, the one thing I do like about this, and I'm like, you know what, I'm not gonna stress. I'm not gonna go into a deep, depressive hole, like I did during the pandemic. We can talk about that later too, but, yeah, it's pivoting time.

I love that, pivoting time. I love that pivoting time. Yeah, I love that What about you should know how has this strike? Impact that you are affected you Well for me a lot of ways and what you mentioned and manny to also it's just it is a moment of understanding yourself too in the process. Of course, you know, being still and listening to God. I have my moments when I have to be quiet and be away from people to, you know, get my

mind and my thoughts back together in regards to how I'm going to move forward in life. Now I make sure that I'm not entertaining anything in my head that will allow me to go into a negative way of thinking because God has seasons for a reason. Okay? We have summer, fall, spring. All those seasons are there to literally show us naturally how life is supposed to be. You know? So I know this is a season for our industry. It is my first experience, but I'm trying to be glad in it. So when I'm glad in it, I'm going to come out with whatever message or feeling or anything that it's supposed

to teach me, coming out of it, a better person. I love that. And then I'm reaching out to, you know, as many people as I can to encourage us to stick by each other. You know, because the only way we're gonna get through this, because this is to me the whole way of humans and how things sometimes get a little bit uncomfortable with negotiations and people, you know, sometimes being a little bit more greedy and some and those type of things.

You just have to, you know, just stay as healthy in your thought process as possible. Oh, and then reaching out to people to like, let them know this is the time for us to really come together and work with each other. If you have a skill or something that you can help someone grow in this season, so when we get back, when we get back, then we're able to be stronger as a community. You know, this is supposed to try to tear us down, but if we stick together and help each other financially, you know, if you know someone that's not doing well and you are doing well, this is a time where you bless someone. It doesn't even have to be something,

you know, along, you know along speech or anything like that. Just what I'm going to bless this person. And it could be with a skill, it could be with teaching them how to grow their business, giving them knowledge on any way that you can be a blessing. I feel like the way we're going to overcome this and come out stronger and a situation like this not happening as easily happening again is bias. Tomorrow at 9-8-Central on BT, smash hit original drama Tyler Perry's sister's returns. Andy Sabrina and Daniel are all dating again and the competition is well thick.

Meanwhile Gary makes a return too. He just can't stay away. Karen confides in Andy that she's afraid. Her reason why is not what you'd expect. Plus, can's a team of whether the storm is at its custody battle? Tyler Perry's sister is back tomorrow at 9-8-central only on BET. Post and share with hashtag sisters on BET. Well, I'm done with each other and helping each other as much as possible. I love it. I love it. So you kind of answered my next question.

You talked about seasons of stillness. We talked about honing on different things during these times. For me, I'm definitely honing on different passions. I know when COVID came, I was like, I'm gonna come out of this with knowing a different language. You know, I think it was time and I'm dead lasted for like two weeks and I was like, okay. What was it? Spanish. You may do a lingo mad. I was a lingo and I was like, I'm gonna get those alerts saying, we miss you.

Come back and flip. This is a lingo. It is a bully. If you don't do your lesson, yes, I do. I was on it. You should have been. I love it, I love it. Communicate it with her.

What? In Spanish, right? I should have. No, it's funny when I went to Mexico City, Mexico. I actually remembered a little more than I thought. I was able to say things in my friends. She's fluent in Spanish. And she goes, yeah, that's right.

I'm like, oh, I love that. Come on. I'm like, I love that. I love it. I love it. I love it. I love it. I had Tyler on here and I shared with him the first time he asked me, he had about a house or like did I own my home and I was like no I'm renting and I think a lot of people don't understand we work working this industry like you touched

on. We make money and we save it to live and we're not working. So it's hard to really save money like a nice amount, a substantial amount of money when you literally like we work and then we're not working, we're living off of what we saved while we were working and hoping that it lasts until we get the next job. When I was on the cruise side, and that's, I love that I've been actor who's been on the other side.

You know what I'm saying? That's the dead last night. Really? I speak to my mom about this. Because there's a certain way in how Christal operate with people. She's so, it's like, she's so passionate, but she's so precise, she's very particular,

but she is, you can just tell that you came from this time. Very cool. You're 20th. Yes. With the crew members. Yes, because I'll let, like, when I see like a new person who has really worked in our ecosystem because Tyler Perry Studios is totally different than other studios that we work on.

And I'll let them know, hey, tell you this because I've been in your position and I'm not asking you anything I haven't done, you know, but I need you to focus on these things. You're going gonna be okay. And I know going back to just how we live, have you guys been able to rise above the normal like living paycheck to paycheck or is it still like a part of it? Because I know for me, like when I was part of crew it was like hard. And I know just so they can kind of get a better understanding of what we really deal with in this industry. So at the beginning, that was one of my biggest fears. I remember experiencing it during, while I was doing

non-union stuff, like, you know, not scripted it rather. I remember the first show I did, the reality show that I did, I remember when it ended, I was like, okay, I quit my job. What do I do now? And it was that feeling of, you know, that, okay, the anxiousness, you know, it's like a rat race. I'm like, okay, I need to find the next job. And people that were more seasoned in the game were very chill, like, oh yeah, I already got this two, three jobs lined up.

And I'm like, how? Like, I, you know, up and I'm like, how? Like, how did I do that? What do I do? So it was really choking of a moment. And I remember then telling myself, like, I don't want to live like this. And this is going to be my career, which I already didn't even think it was in a path for me. But once I was thrown into it, I was like, how can I,

what do I do? Do I go back to what I know, having a job that pays me every week? Luckily, I stuck by it, and you know, I was doing a lot of freelancing work. Once you learn that work is going to come, it doesn't matter when you want it to come, it's going to come. We're not meant to just always work. So I started dealing more with like go to the gym, fix my house. Do things around that because when the job will come, when I was still not seasoned enough, I'll be like, oh my god, why did I stress for all of this for no reason?

I could have been learning a new language, so learning how to play an instrument. Something fulfilling for me, you know. So I'm no longer in that rat race of paycheck to paycheck. Yeah, thankfully. Thank God, yeah. But, I mean, we did go through a pandemic, and then that left us for so long, you know, with no help, no nothing. And then now we're going through this.

It's like, all right, we can only take so long, you know, with no help, no nothing. And then now we're going through this. It's like, all right, we can only take so much, you know. So I'm thankfully good financially, but yeah, it's a, you have to learn that bad moments don't last forever. Like you said, it's a season, you know. Yeah. So that helps you in getting out of that paycheck to paycheck mentality, you know. Yeah. So that helps you in getting out of that paycheck to paycheck mentality. I love it.

I love it. I've talked about me trying to create multiple streams. Is this been a time where you guys, like, what else am I going to do to break more money in? Baby, when I'm telling you, only fans have been knocking at my door. I'm like, you know what? I'm kidding.

Not ready. I really have. No, but I'm like, it's like, what can I do to make other, listen, it's real. I know how to make other, I don't have the best feet, but I'm like, I can start with you. I just said it, I hate my feet, I said, I don't know somebody, I do like these buttons, I said it. Listen, we got to break into a new, maybe they'll like the back of my knee, somebody have that kind of can't come up.

Oh, listen, you never know. So, you know, so I don't know. I'm just, you know, thinking of ways to make somebody definitely not only fans of the joking, but, um, yeah, I'm definitely thinking like, how can I make some? There's so you can look anywhere in your house. Let me share this, real quick. I just finished a show and there was a, there was roaches because the person was a, the character was a hoarder. So they brought roaches on to set, right? Wait, wait. Yes.

Now mind you, they had wranglers for the roaches and people from the Humane Society for them as well. So when I was, of course, I'm looking at them like bros roaches, but. That's a job. If you're, yes, a roach like, who in the hell thought, you know, like, you know what, I'm gonna put these roaches to work, you know? And then not only was the roaches working. Yeah, now they're actor roaches, you know? You know, but also the Wrangler is getting a check.

Yes, they... The people that are making sure the roaches are being humanely treated, that's a check. And I was like, everywhere you look in our industry, it's a job. When people tell me what are you doing, are you an actor, there's of course, you think of the top job, but in the industry,

there's so much you can do. Sorry, jobs. Same thing, just even if you're not in the industry, you look around your house from the depots in your doors, anything. It anything, you can make money anyway. So, now more than ever, I can't go into the second, you know, pause with making money. Yes. I'm like, how can I make some money?

You can be a roadsh軟. Okay. Baby, gather them, roadsh軟. Gather them, okay. Stop cladding people with roadsh軟. You can get the anger roses, that took me out. Okay. Oh, and how much they took me out. Okay.

Oh, and how much they got paid a day. Okay. That's a good day rate. That's a good day rate. We wrote. Is there anything that you started, like, tapping into to make more money? Well, funny enough, right before the strike hit, I started having, you you know, the desire is to do real estate. Really?

Yeah, so I wanted to start investing in properties, do certain things like that. Now, I'm quite very fresh, very new to this, but that's what I wanted to start. I still have the desire to do that, but of course I have to scale back just right for right now until we get back in. But yeah, I'm going to reach out to people while we have this downtime and connect as much

as possible. And then pretty much anything that I'm doing outside of this this I need my money to work for me. Hello. I'm not trying to work for my money no more. I want my money to work for me. I've put enough labor in my body, traveling, all those type of things. And I still enjoy. I have a passion for this.

So I want to continue to be a hairstylist, but I need my money to work for me. I know that's right. I like that. What did they say on the players club? Make the money, don't let the money make the money. OK. So you have those yet.

OK, perfect. Chanel, you are a mother. So as a mom, how has this strike impacted you in that area? Well, it's given me the opportunity to teach my two kids, beautiful girls that absolutely love and adore so much. Teach them how to preserve, teach them how to get through difficult times because they're going to have moments when they have, you know, they have to cut back on leisure things, the things that, you know, they don't have to do and but scale back, you know. And that's another thing about, you know, this world

showcase so much of, I can do this, I can have fun and not have pullbacks. My daughter, she's on social media, you know, so this gives me the opportunity to actually really show her what real life is. Yes, ooh, that's good. Many, you said that during COVID, you dealt with depression and you've pretty much got that under control in this situation but mental health is something that's very important. How have you during this time been able to really just kind of keep that depression down

where it's not, it hasn't crept in. Come on, Crystal Winfrey. I'm okay. You know, the pandemic was, I like to always, my friends would also test today. It's like, I like to find a silver lining to things. Yeah. My mother told me this, she always has, My friends would also test to this. Like I like to find a silver lining to things. My mother told me this. She always has the, looks at the brighter side of things

and I love that about her. I love that she's my north star in life. And I went really into a dark hole during the pandemic. I think, you know, the toes, it was gonna be two weeks. And then after two weeks, one, two, three, four, five a month. And you know, it went from us being a home, learning from a recondo and Netflix, how to, you know, fold stuff and get rid of stuff, you know. We started organizing our closets,

and eventually we ran out of things to do at home. And then we started picking it into our own trauma, what you call a scabs. Yeah. And that really affected me because not only did depression show up also miss anxiety showed up. And when those two bitches hold hands, they get a hold of you and do a dance on you and I was not myself, like I literally lost myself really badly.

I went back home to be near my family because things got really dark. It made me understand that, okay, this is a mental issue because my mind is telling me things that never in my life, you know, I would have thought of, you know. And it got really scary. I did a lot of therapy. Still going through therapy. That helps a lot. I always recommend people to do therapy. Talk to someone that actually is. It's good to talk to your friends.

It's really good to have your confidence, you know? But a professional really knows how to guide you through those moments. That helped me a lot. Being near my family, people that really loved me and know me from, you know, since I was a child, really, really helped me. That was like a training moment for moments like this. So now I'm not like picking out a scab. I see you at the gym often. I make sure that if one thing I'm gonna do for myself, even in the days, in these past weeks, that I don't want to

get up and do nothing. I just want to stay at home. I'm like, no, don't let that exciting depression kick in again. Go to the gym, do something, just so that, you know, the happy hormones come into your body. So I'm navigating it a little better. I'm being kinder to myself. Again, in my practice, we call it chanting,

but praying is the best way I can say it. I pray a lot. It's keeping me healthy here. So, depression is a journey. It is. It's something that it can, it's hard to explain because everybody experiences that differently. So some days you're up here and then some days you're down. And life is the same way.

Absolutely. So it's always going up and down. So yeah, I think the pandemic, I get there's no silver lining to it because a lot of people suffer it through it. But it was a training moment for today, what we're dealing with in our industry. Absolutely, absolutely good.

I'm glad you had that under control. I'm happy that you are in therapy and being kind to yourself. And I do see you taking the time and just get that many that it's self-care you need. So I'm proud of you. Thank you, thank you. Yeah. In seasons like this, where people can often become hopeless,

how do you remain hopeful? God, period. It depends if I'm having a really emotional day or I'm struggling emotionally, even if I have to pray or say something good to myself every second of the moment, I do it. I don't say like I'm going to wake up praying in the morning and that's going to be it for the rest of the day. As much as I need to cast down the thoughts that I'm not supposed to be thinking and encourage myself and pray to God, that's what helps me.

You've got that love there. What about you, Manny? I've in the free time that I've had. I've donated my love that, what about you, Manny? I've, in the free time that I've had, I've donated my time to shelters. And it helps you realize that things could always be worse. Yes, you know. And the most beautiful thing about those experiences when you donate your time is that,

though you think they're going through the worst, that you imagine yourself in those in their situation and you're like, oh my God, I would hate it, that was me, you know, like what would I do if that was my situation? They're the happiest, the most thankful, the most, you know, lovely people you've ever meet. And it helps you remember that, you know, your life is not that bad,

you can be, there's people in a hospital wishing they had an extra day. There's people that are dealing through, you know, with death wishing they had, you know, another day, you know, with their family member, they love. So that keeps me wholefold to like, you know, okay, you know what, this is just momentarily. Again, we're not meant to just always be working. Working yourself, make yourself happy. Make others around you happy. We work so much in this industry,

we're work more than we're at home. And spend it with your family, you know? Go be with your kids, which are, you know, Nephi's nieces, sisters, you know. No, that's not good. So that's giving me hope for them. I know work is gonna come back again eventually. Hopefully when this corporate greed ends,

we can get back to it. But till then, I'm like, just be happy. Make yourself, enjoy this free time. We have to live. We do. That actually entered my next question with how would you offer someone advice who may be struggling in the season, so you really just answered that. What about you?

How would advice would you give someone? I would definitely say enjoy what you enjoy doing. It doesn't matter what it is. Just do it. I enjoy cooking. I cook. You do. Just do it. I enjoy cooking. I go I cook you know Have a glass of wine at 9 o'clock in the morning if I want to know that's right

I just do me I try to comfort Myself and what makes me happy as much as possible. I enjoy days where I'm walking my daughter to school And I'm making her lunch when she gets home, the house is smelling a certain way, you know? And still in, you know, taking care of me mentally. Like, you know, we don't have, when we are working, we do work very long, string-y with hours. So, enjoying this moment and relaxing and not the struggle with this

is that once I started non-stop, it's all the time. So, when it does slow down mentally, you're kind of like, what's going on? Because your body is used to a circumstances in life. Well when you learn how to slow down and just really enjoy the moment and that's what you're supposed to live for. You're supposed to be living in the moment for the moment and then when you're blessed with more just go ahead and God just like okay let me bless it with some more and you just go with the flow. I love that. I love that. God thank you so much for coming to sit on the couch with me. We are to, of course, know you guys. I feel like we definitely touched on something that are going to help a lot of people. People that we know, people that we may not know.

We're going to get to my favorite part of the show, which is called Positive Outcomes, where they write into us and ask us for advice. So you guys ready to get some good advice? All right. This one says, Dear Crystal, last year was my season of rejection. I received a lot of nose and some gold did not come to fruition. During that time, I took a step back and actually felt the emotions that came with it and actively understood the lessons this season was trying to teach me patience. Because I don't have any and I'm always rushing to accomplish certain goals at a certain

time. Last Christmas I received a lot of opportunities. I was given the opportunity that would change my life if I kept focus and worked hard at it. I had to eventually resign from my job, which paid well. I thought if I applied for a month's leave of absence, I could go see if the opportunity would pay off. And if not, I would still have my job if things go south. But my request for leave of absence was denied, and I was asked with urgency to make a decision whether I'm staying with the company or resigning.

I felt sad, unappreciated for my work and replaceable by my employer based on their response to my request. This basically forced me to make a decision in less than a day. I decided to resign, but I had a bittersweet emotion to the whole situation. I'm afraid of taking a risk like this, but I am more afraid of not betting on myself and chasing my dreams. How do I navigate my feelings of doubt and regret with the decision that I made

and push forward with the opportunity that I was presented with? Wow. I didn't get her name, but first of all, thank you for writing in. I wasn't presented with an opportunity when I decided to leave Capitol Hill. It was more so, God, tugging at me saying, hey, you know there's something bigger and something better for you.

And I did, I left my job, I didn't ask for it, like you didn't ask for a leave at pay leave absence, but I did take a leave of faith. And it is the best decision I ever made, but it was so hard. I had the probably toughest year of my life when I first moved to Atlanta. So to you, I would say, if this is something

that you really believe in, always bet on yourself, and God will make a way, what do you guys think? I feel the same in segue. I believe that I listen to the universe, your angels, your ancestors. However you want to call it, whatever you want to attack into, nothing happens for. attack into, nothing happens for, I mean, everything happens for a reason.

If she's having those feelings, because I've had that feeling too, when I had to like leave my job, that was paying my check every week to go into this field, if it's happening, it's God really telling you, jump. Yes. Like, you know, do it. And even if you have that Dalek, if it goes south, if it goes really, you know, do it. And even if you have that dial, like, if it goes south, if it goes really, really bad, for the first few months, maybe years, don't give up because it was presented to you for a reason. You know, God already has a plan. He already has it all mapped

out for you. Maybe taking you another way in the road and that's why it goes bad. But you're going to get back in it again, you know. I say jump and do it. And always, when you do something, when you lift life with our regret, I always say, I don't wanna be 60, 70, say like, I don't wanna do it. Like I wish I would have done this.

I wish I had my wish up, just do it. Do it and then see what happens. The worst that can happen is what you get another job. You know, like, but at least you try it. And when you come back at it again, you have way more experience at it. Exactly. So just jump.

I love it. I love that. So we do something on the show called what I'm going through and what I'm growing through. And in this season, as we're taking to the strike, I am going through making sure that I don't go into a state of depression because I battle anxiety. I can't get low. I do have moments where I don't want to get out of bed or I just feel like I don't feel like it today, but I had to force myself to get up. I'm going through that and I'm growing through understanding

that there is a season for everything, and this too, shall pass. I'm going to tell you guys what are you going through and what are you growing through? Well, I'm going through definitely a season of understanding who I need around me, who I enjoy around me, and not feeling bad that I have to let some things go, some people go, and not let them go, but just, you know, I just, I'm going through a season of enjoying a space

around me and that surrounds me that's full of light. That can allow the light that's in me to shine brighter. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, I love that. What about you, Mary? I'm going through, so I've recently converted to Buddhism. And it's interesting because growing up Catholic, it's still find myself saying, oh, thank you God, or God,

I think God isn't many things. God, the universe, can be in any religion, God is presented in different forms. So I still speak to God every day, but I'm going through a change of, you know, tapping into different ways of, you know, getting in line with the universe, with God, everything to align myself.

And I'm growing through it because I am learning that I'm being more kind to everything around me. Most importantly, being more kind to myself. So it's a great season for me right now because I just can't wait to see what's going to happen when I get to my 40s. When I get to, if I get blessed to get to my 50s and my 60s, see how much I've grown through then. I've made it all the way here to my 30s. Now I just want to see what's coming for the rest of my life. Yeah, good, good, good.

Good, good. So we do a thing called Keep It Blank Sweetie, where we, the show's called Keep It Piles in Sweetie, but we feel the blanks as it pertains to the episode or something that you can take away from the episode. And from this one, I will say, keep it, patience, sweetie. Keep it patient.

Yeah. What would you guys feel in the body, boy? Keep it hopeful, sweetie. That's okay. Okay. That's okay. Keep it hopeful. I will say, I don't know, just keep it ready.

Get yourself prepared for what's next. That's right, that's right, that's right. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to this episode of Ketepazza Sweetie. If you wanna write into our positive outcomes, listen to a letter, write into Ketepazza Sweetie at gmail.com and that's Sweetie with an i-e. And then you can follow Ketepazza Sweet

on all platforms and you can follow me on all platforms at Love Crystal Renee and that is l-u-v Crystal Renee. Guys tell them where they can find you. Sure now I used to add another L because dang. I just want my, right. But it's S-H-O-R-N-E-L-L. There we go, got it. They made me really happy. You can find me at the pink, and I'm kidding, no.

I'm standing in the valley where the girls been thinking. No, I'm actually taking a break from social media, so you can just find me when you find me boo. I'm just gonna come back. Eventually, but I'm changing all my social media, so Manny DeVilla, the AV, ILA. Hey, go ahead and tap in so when he come back you can stay tap then. Okay. All right, thank you guys so much.

I appreciate it. I hope you guys have a great week and in the meantime you know what to do. Keep it positive, sweetie. Bye guys. you