When Life Lifes: A Real-Time Pivot with Oryn Stewart

Deneen L. Garrett (0:00): Introducing America's Workforce Academy built by Meta. Paid training, a job, and a path to America's future because the future is for everyone. Learn more at meta.com/america'sworkforceacademy.live,

Deneen L. Garrett (0:16): the live version of women of color in intimate conversation. I have a question for you. What if the most powerful thing you can bring to your next chapter is exactly what they told you to leave at the door? Today, we are closing out the execution series, Power, Pivot, and Purpose by exploring what it means to lead with your whole self and build a legacy that bridges your deepest wisdom with your professional presence. If you are ready to build your legacy in real time, you are in the right place.

Deneen L. Garrett (0:48): Let's go. Alright. As I said, welcome back to Women of Color Live, the live version of women of color in intimate conversation, a top 20 women's empowerment podcast. We center and empower women of color. We also have a free newsletter built specifically for black women 50, the Dream Lifestyle Collective Weekly Rhythm.

Deneen L. Garrett (1:24): Go to Deneen O'Garratt to get started. So shout out to our production team at the Leon Thomas Group and to today's guest. So today's guest is not Ebony Goodrich. Unfortunately, there was an emergency situation. She was not able to join us.

Deneen L. Garrett (1:41): And so we are doing in a real time pivot with our producer who's been behind the ones and twos since we got started back in March, Orin Stewart. Orin, welcome to the show. And then before you tell us a little bit about yourself, we're closing out the, execution series, Power, Pivot, and Purpose. So, Orin, welcome and tell us a little bit about you.

Unknown Speaker (2:08): Alright. Well, thank you for having me, Deneen. And to, all of your listeners, I am not a woman, but raised by one. Yes. My name is Orin Stewart.

Oryn Stewart (2:16): I'm a, a producer, with the Leon Thomas Group. We've been producing Denis show for a little while now. So Denis, thank you for having me. I'm glad we were able to pivot and me being able to be a stand in for Ebony. So thank you for letting me join you today.

Unknown Speaker (2:29): Let's go

Deneen L. Garrett (2:30): in. Absolutely. Again, we are talking about pivot. That's been one of the three pillars of our conversation in June. And again, we're we're doing it in real life, right?

Deneen L. Garrett (2:41): Things happen. Things happen. Life happens, and you have to be ready to make a move. And we were. We got we got in in a few minutes.

Deneen L. Garrett (2:50): So those who are watching, let us know you're out there. Tap in. Leave a comment. Leave a question. WOC, let us know, or even a dreamer if you're part of the Dream Lifestyle Collective.

Deneen L. Garrett (3:05): So, Orin, my quote open today asked what happens when we bring the parts of ourselves we were told to leave at the door into our leadership. And before we get into that, let's talk about some pivots that you've had to make. Like, who were you before the pivot you're gonna tell us about and what decision led to that particular pivot?

Oryn Stewart (3:27): Sure, no problem. That's a great question. I'll start here by saying this. Definitely had to pivot in the latter five years. My family and I, we relocated from Maryland to Texas.

Oryn Stewart (3:37): And being more on the advocacy, mentoring, and counseling side, doing life skills, life coaching, working with youth in the inner city of Baltimore. When coming here, Texas is a whole lot different from Maryland. So having to figure out how to do some other things, figure out which way, how can I say, how I was going to land, so to speak? But one thing that I was doing before we moved here, as I like to say, I was in front of the camera a little bit more back home, doing some things in the podcast realm space, I'll say. But I moved more to behind the scenes since I've been here.

Oryn Stewart (4:14): A little bit before I came, but a whole lot more now, probably 90% more now. So the biggest pivot was being able to really spend some time learning, sharpening up my skills in things on the editing side, being in this space for maybe a little over a decade now. But I'm very blessed in regards to just being used to having to be resilient, having to figure out how to navigate through change that is inevitable in life. Matter how we want to turn it or twist it, as they say, if you want to make God laugh, tell him you're playing. And so, you know I mean?

Oryn Stewart (4:48): So I've had to, I guess I've made him laugh a whole lot of time, so to speak. Right? So I'm learning more as I get older, as I'm knocking at 50, that my plan really has to take a back seat. And it has for a while, as you will get into a little bit more. I'm a husband of one, father of five, and people can chew on that, on what I meant by the husband of one, but you know what I mean?

Oryn Stewart (5:14): Just navigating through those trenches of marriage and family. And I know we'll talk more about that as well earlier, but really having to figure out how to make sense of what pivoting really means and how to stay present, two feet, 10 toes on moving ahead and not getting discouraged when certain things don't always show up and pan out the way you want them to be, especially within business, from an entrepreneurial standpoint, from freelancing and contractual work for over the past maybe twenty years. It's been something that I've had to be able to be very much at attention to as navigating, especially post COVID, I'll say it that way.

Deneen L. Garrett (5:57): Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, as we both mentioned, we've been riding this thing since, like, March. Yeah. And, you know, having and you know that the focus is is to empower women of color, right, to give up something tangible so that they can make any adjustments that they need in their lives so that they can lead their dream lives.

Deneen L. Garrett (6:16): So in the question I asked about, you know, what did you have or how people want you to leave things at the door, was there something that you left at the door before your pivot, or something that or even something that you were suggested to leave at the door that you didn't because it's just so much a part of you, part of your authenticity?

Oryn Stewart (6:37): Yeah, so I'll say control, funny enough. One thing that I definitely had to leave at the door when we relocated was, I don't know if it's as much to say if the need to be in control, but the need to have understanding along every step of the process of just life. And realizing that, like I mentioned before, our plans have to really take a back seat. There are moments within our lives where we have to be at attention, we have to be present, but there are also times where we have to be able to sit back, right? Do as we used to do as kids and ride in the back seat and keep quiet sometimes, right?

Oryn Stewart (7:13): Who's in the driver's seat? Who's in the driver's seat? So I'll say this much because what I'm here to be in support of you and what your podcast is about, women of color, married to a woman of color, birthed by a woman of color, raising a family of, funny enough to say this, for women of color. It's been a journey. It's been quite interesting to figure out how to, as a kid, as a young man, then into as a man, and as a husband, as a father, how to continuously find my space and my place within that.

Oryn Stewart (7:48): I always like to say it's a lot of estrogen in the room, to have to figure out how to stretch out and let that testosterone live, so to speak. But with that being said, the women empowerment component, the women of color component that has always been present in my life from, like I said, from NIHA, It's been something that it's been quite interesting and watching, right? Having a front row seat at. But now moving into where we are no longer at a place of where we were extremely familiar, right? Being back in Maryland to being in the big state, right?

Oryn Stewart (8:25): Where everything is big in Texas, learning how to redefine ourselves, raising three daughters along with two sons and figuring out ways of helping them position themselves to be present in this world, but also being able to be submissive. As a Christian man and as I like to always say, there's a lot of components within scripture that we have to be very cognizant of that God put purposefully that we like sometimes put to the side and then do our own thing. But then when we bust our heads and bump our heads, so to speak, then we're like, okay, what do I do next? So hopefully that answers your question because sometime I can go into kind of derail a little But that's the thing I would say. The biggest thing I had to leave at the door to come full circle back to your initial question was the components of my life that I may have thought that I needed to be in control of and then become that much more of a student again, especially with the major experience that I had that we all had in my household with COVID when we got here.

Oryn Stewart (9:25): I'll just say this real quick. No issues with it before we moved. None of the seven of us. We get here to Texas. Six out of the seven of us get it.

Unknown Speaker (9:36): Oh, no.

Oryn Stewart (9:37): Yeah. Yeah. Just out of the blue. Two months in. And then it it also really, that monkey jumped on my back and and and really rolled me into a place pause.

Oryn Stewart (9:47): Rolled me into a place of where having to learn how to walk again, Oh, having yeah, no. To be yeah, yeah. My situation was pretty rough. For about four months, I was down for a minute. So when we really talk about pivoting, when we really talk about having to take that back seat, there was a lot that I had to figure out how to do again.

Oryn Stewart (10:09): So I lost all control. I'm in the hospital, I'm home, I'm on oxygen, lost about thirty, forty pounds, looking like a Neanderthal man. So all of this was just outgrown. So I just looked crazy. But I had to learn how to be okay with that.

Oryn Stewart (10:23): I had to learn how to be patient. And then I also had to learn how to fully how can I say this? Depend on my wife, depend on my kids, depend on those that depend on me a lot to be the protector, we'll say, because we live in a day and time where both us as men and women, we both provide. So I'll say even that much more, be a protector of when in a moment of being fully vulnerable, had no idea. Somewhere I knew nothing about, knew no one.

Oryn Stewart (10:54): But that is something that really forced me to have to, how can I say it, take the medicine that I was given by learning what it is that I needed to leave on that end to when I got here, start again type of thing? So it's been a journey. It's been a journey. Yes, ma'am.

Unknown Speaker (11:14): It pivots within pivots, right?

Oryn Stewart (11:16): Woah, woah, trust me. When podcast, the pivot came out, I was like, okay, when will I be a guest? Because meaning to pivot was something that I had to really embody in a way that I never would have envisioned before. But it's been a blessing to be very honest I'm with very grateful for it, even though it was one of the most uncomfortable and most unexpected experiences at all.

Deneen L. Garrett (11:36): So what would you say was like your, was, okay, so yes, you had to give up control, you had to lean fully on another. And so what would be like, what major change happened for What you know, whether it was spiritual, whether like, what was the major thing that you like or even left behind? Like, you know what? X y z really ain't that important. Like, I'm not sweating that thing ever again, or this is what I'm gonna start doing now because God saved me and I got through because we know so many get not.

Oryn Stewart (12:13): Yeah. Great question. I'll just say this much. And I'm going be transparent with the audience. In the areas of where we like to say that we forgive, in the areas of where we like to say that we hold no resentment, right, and that we are just brushing off our shoulders, keeping it moving.

Oryn Stewart (12:33): I had to really become humbled and realize that I hadn't in the way that I thought that I had. And that was one of the biggest things of where I had to realize that it's not worth harboring and holding on to things that really you have no control over. They are fully in the past. And if you're blessed and if you're fortunate to I had no idea of how important oxygen was. About I say it that way?

Oryn Stewart (12:54): You know what I mean? In a real sense, I'm talking about where taking little breaths was like taking big breaths type of thing. So it was a lot of where we hold on to things that we harbor so much in our past lives, so to speak, in those components of our lives of where we compartmentalize and we feel like it has a necessity to remain, those are the things that I've really had to say, you know what? It's time to really set fire to them, burn them, singe them, and let them no longer be a part of me so that I could live in the real sense, but also that I could be present in the way that I'm learning more and more each day that the Lord requires me to be as a husband, as a man and as a father, as a son, as a neighbor. And a lot of the things that we take for granted that we don't pay that much attention to on a daily basis.

Oryn Stewart (13:49): So yeah, I'll say that much. I'll say that much. It's been a big, big, big, big, big life changing altering thing, this move as a whole.

Deneen L. Garrett (14:00): So with the whole singeing and putting fire to it, it's interesting you say that because I was talking with my relationship counselor on Monday, Maya Dizon, who is a she will be a guest

Unknown Speaker (14:11): I

Deneen L. Garrett (14:11): think in August, she had given me homework and part of the homework was to write a letter. It was a situation that had occurred and it rears its head up every now and then. And when I talk about it, I kind of liken it to how when someone cheats on another, and I'm just gonna say when a husband cheats right? Then how

Unknown Speaker (14:36): Like y'all don't.

Deneen L. Garrett (14:39): You know what I'm saying? He does it, becomes knowledge and they're both aware of the situation. So once that happens, he's kind of like gone on about his business, but now she, the wife has to deal with the residual. She has to make the decision to what she does next. So this situation was making me think about how it happened to me and I'm the one that's continued to think about it every now and then.

Deneen L. Garrett (15:10): So anyway, she suggested writing a letter to the person and And we actually did it together. We're on a call, Excuse me. We're on a Zoom, and I wrote the letter during that time. And she said, okay. Now once we're done with our session, I want you to go outside of the house, go away, and you take it up, rip it up, burn it up.

Unknown Speaker (15:32): Yeah. Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (15:33): Well, I did that, right? I did that and I walked away, but I wouldn't wave down the street and I knew Yeah,

Unknown Speaker (15:41): yeah, yeah.

Unknown Speaker (15:41): I mean, what she doing?

Unknown Speaker (15:43): Why

Deneen L. Garrett (15:44): she's out here burning something, whatever? But I did do that. Right? Yeah. And sometimes that's what we have to do.

Deneen L. Garrett (15:50): We have to singe that thing. Have to burn it. We have to let it go so that it doesn't keep coming back and rearing its head and interrupting our lives. Right?

Oryn Stewart (15:59): Yes, ma'am. I'll tell you, I'll follow your lead on that. So also as a counselor, right? If I left that part out earlier, that is literally one of the exercises that I say to my clients from time to time when we move into that space of if it's something, if it's from a relationship, parental hurt, things that we go through that we have no control over. I'll get them to and it's funny that you also said that she said giving you homework.

Oryn Stewart (16:24): That's something that I like to say as well. But I would say to folk, you wanna really write it down and find somewhere, find a safe space where if it's a trash can or if it's somewhere you can go and set fire to it. Now granted, in the literal sense, but also in the spiritual sense, in the mental sense, in the physical sense, in the emotional sense. We have to really realize that there are things that we hold on to that are like weights. And no matter what those things are that we've experienced in our lives, we can learn from them.

Oryn Stewart (16:55): But how beneficial is it to keep a hold of it? And I appreciate you sharing in reference to it in regards from a relationship standpoint. And I'll stay right there where you are in regards to if it's a woman that has experienced, let's just say infidelity, right? We'll say if it's where her spouse or her significant other stepped out, right? Because as I like to say, you all as women are emotional creatures by nature, right?

Oryn Stewart (17:22): So everything is a feeling, right? And we as men, we're very analytical. So sometimes for us, so we view and understand cheating to be different. But just to say right there, when that happens in the experience that that woman has, a part of her has been scarred, right? So within that, she seeks to figure out how to heal and to mend it.

Oryn Stewart (17:45): But a lot more times what she does is, and I use this as an example and as a metaphor, when we fall and if we skin our knee, right, we take that scab, that scab has to be left alone. And what happens is that scab is a protector. It's a protective layer for the skin underneath the heel. But I don't know about you, but when we were kids, we would sometime rip the scab off. And we would wonder why it would take forever for the wound to heal.

Oryn Stewart (18:07): So I noticed it kinda gets a little graphical. What I'm going at with this is this. We have to learn how to sometimes leave well enough alone. Let the process of healing happen. Don't continuously rip the scab off because what can happen is that mark or that particular area of where you've hurt can last longer than it needs to.

Oryn Stewart (18:24): Where if we allow ourselves to let that scab come over top, that protective layer, be as it may, whatever it is, right? Let that time, let that process do what it's meant to do. And then when it begins to fall off naturally on its own, we can then see the skin, meaning we can then see the part of us that was hurt, meaning you all as women, begin to be able to see that part change and not continue to move in and out of the next relationship at work, with children. You get what I'm saying? Because let's be real.

Oryn Stewart (18:57): When we know that when we're scarred and when we're hurt, if we don't heal, we take that everywhere we go. We're the We common denominator everywhere we wanna make it everybody else, but it's not, it's us. So that's why I use that example to say, you have to let the wound heal. Let the scab, even though it's ugly, even though it's hard, even though it's crusty, it gets ashy looking, let it do what it's meant to do. Let it stay where it's meant to stay and let it fall off naturally.

Oryn Stewart (19:22): Meaning, let the process of hurt heal naturally, go through whatever that looks like, whatever that means for you as an individual, then let it fall off. Don't pick it back up, but begin to know what it means to have gone from one side of pain and hurt to the other side of healing and transformation. So I'll just say that.

Deneen L. Garrett (19:41): Oh, that's some good stuff because you are We so right, always picking at it and then wonder why months later it comes back or wonder why we're in that same similar situation, just a different person and whatever. That's some real talk. Let it heal, whatever healing looks like for you. And if you're not there, getting there, get help, right?

Oryn Stewart (20:03): Get help. Woah, that's a whole another. Can we go into that real quick about the power of help? We definitely know within our community, we are And we've grown. We've grown tremendously of being able to move into that space of inviting help, accepting help, acknowledging help.

Oryn Stewart (20:20): But we know for many, many years, I don't know about you, but I'll be transparent. We're quick to say, no, I'm

Unknown Speaker (20:25): good. Right.

Unknown Speaker (20:26): How are you doing? I'm good. All is well. Knowing that on the inside, we are

Unknown Speaker (20:31): broken. Right?

Unknown Speaker (20:33): Exactly. Right? But let's look at it at a time or two where we've ever said to somebody that, you know what? Not doing good today. Hadn't been a good week.

Unknown Speaker (20:42): Yeah. Hadn't been month. Matter of fact, hadn't been a good year. Go a little step further. Man, it hadn't been a good few years.

Oryn Stewart (20:49): Then allowing ourselves to be met right there within whatever the response is that we receive from the person that we felt comfortable to say that to, for them to be able to be present, to receive whatever it is that we have to give. Yeah. And then be willing to give it. Because we do have some people in our lives, it may be one. We don't have to have many, but allow for that person to be willing to receive and help you take off some of the things that it is that you've been carrying.

Oryn Stewart (21:19): And then in turn, help you go through the process of singeing it, burning it, destroying it, taking it to the dump, whatever the case may be, taking it to God in prayer, whatever it is. But really being able to find that we have people in our lives, even if it's one, I'll keep going back to that, that is willing to love us despite how broken we are, to help us get through parts of our lives of what it is that we've been holding on to and not wanting to let go because we think that we are our own protectors. Absolutely. Yes. I'll say that.

Deneen L. Garrett (21:47): You know what? And with that, here's the thing too. Be okay with however they respond.

Unknown Speaker (21:52): Oh, come on.

Deneen L. Garrett (21:53): Right? That's not and that's that's part of why we don't because we're vulnerable. Right? So it's it's double like vulnerability wise.

Unknown Speaker (22:00): Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (22:01): To somebody else in. Right? That's the first part. Right? And then probably what's most harboring or hanging over is how they respond.

Deneen L. Garrett (22:11): We don't stop expecting people to respond the way that we think they should and allow them to respond the way that they do.

Unknown Speaker (22:18): The way that they do.

Deneen L. Garrett (22:19): Yes. The capacity, the level that they're at, because that's where they're coming from, whatever capacity they have. Some people, they can't handle that. They can't handle that you say, Oh my God, I'm having a bad day. Trust me.

Deneen L. Garrett (22:29): Do I do with that? Like, what can I do? You know what I'm saying? So however they respond, be okay with that. That one person may be like, Okay, Gora, well, I'll see you.

Deneen L. Garrett (22:38): Yeah. The other person might like, how can I help? Yeah. The other, you know, another person might be, you know what? Let's go talk about it.

Unknown Speaker (22:45): Indeed. Indeed. And be

Deneen L. Garrett (22:47): okay with it. And then don't like just understand that. They're they're humans as well. They go through things as well. They're living life the way that they're living life.

Deneen L. Garrett (22:57): But just allow them to respond away because what you did, you gave yourself permission to be vulnerable.

Unknown Speaker (23:04): Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (23:05): You gave your yourself permission to allow a person in. However

Unknown Speaker (23:10): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (23:10): You can come in.

Unknown Speaker (23:12): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (23:12): And you also gave them permission to be like, you know what?

Unknown Speaker (23:15): I'm having a bad day too.

Unknown Speaker (23:17): Yeah. Yeah. Hey. Look. Look.

Oryn Stewart (23:18): You look. As I like to say, you may have a moment of playing tennis, meaning being able to bounce back and forth with some things that you all had going on. And before you know it, you walk away from that situation, that that that interaction lighter. Absolutely. So I I love the fact that you said letting people respond the way that they do versus the way that you expect.

Oryn Stewart (23:39): I'll say this as a counselor, that is one of my go tos in everything. And I have to quote your guests last week, because this is where I got this from, as a reminder of something that I do within my own line of work. There has to be no you in advocacy. And I may be turning it a little bit, but if you can remember that last week when Doctor. Bell said, right?

Oryn Stewart (24:03): You have to take the you out of advocacy. We have to understand that when someone is coming to us and sharing with us something or vice versa, when we're coming to someone sharing something, let them receive it and respond exactly how it is that they caught it. Yeah. And I love that you said if it's for From a female standpoint, if she says, like you said, Girl, whatever the case may be, be cool with that. For us as guys, you bring something to a buddy of yours and then he's like, All right, uh-huh.

Oryn Stewart (24:31): You know what I mean? Just be like, cool, whatever, move on. Because if no more than you got it off your chest.

Unknown Speaker (24:36): Absolutely.

Oryn Stewart (24:37): And let that just be that. It's a releasing that happened no matter how it was received.

Deneen L. Garrett (24:43): There's that. So it's multiple parts to it, right? Absolutely. So I wanna kinda like go back how you said how we make plans and got left. So what we talked about before, you and I have conversations afterwards and we've had some of these similar conversations in past episodes, but about faith without works is dead.

Deneen L. Garrett (25:03): Still still, you know, put it to pray.

Unknown Speaker (25:06): Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (25:06): Yeah. And put it to work. Yeah. And then just be and then be ready for what God says is for you. So that's another component of that.

Deneen L. Garrett (25:14): So we have the faith, trust it and believe it, put it out there. And then we have to put in the work to make it happen for ourselves and be okay with how it turns out because it may not turn out exactly the way you thought. Again, when you say to somebody how you're feeling when you're being vulnerable, take off expectations of how you're expecting them to respond.

Oryn Stewart (25:35): Yeah. Yes. Woah, woah. Expectations are one of the biggest downfalls that we have as human beings. When we expect, we set ourselves up for disappointment.

Oryn Stewart (25:47): And to your point with the faith part, clearly, Bible says faith without works is dead. We want to so bad leave the works without dead part off and just say, have faith, have faith, pray about it. But there's a component in it that God says in his word that is a requirement of us to do. And I'm not trying to be preachy. This is just how I talk and who I am at this stage of the game in my life.

Oryn Stewart (26:09): So when we look at what works means, works means just what work says. You gotta do something. Can't just say love. Is a There we go. Like I like to say love is a verb, it's an action word.

Oryn Stewart (26:22): It's not just a word that you say and it sits. So when it comes to having faith, when it comes to needing and seeing and expecting change to happen, once we pray about it and once we are given This is the other part about it that I was literally just talking to my wife about today in regards to a family member of ours, that we have to understand that when we're giving direction, we have to follow it. So any of us out here that are parents, let's think about when it is that we tell our children to do something. What is the first expectation we have of them to do? It's to follow thy direction.

Oryn Stewart (26:51): Is to do it, right? And when they don't do it, we're like, I always say to my kids when they were younger, I didn't drop near one of y'all in your head when you was little. And then secondly, when the nurse came in, handed you to your mother or me and gave a clean bill of health from an ear, you know, the ear, ear, ear tested and all that, you're good, my point. So if you act like you don't hear what I'm saying, I don't comprehend what I'm saying. We have to have a conversation because I'm trying to understand what makes you think that you don't need to follow what I just instructed for you to do.

Oryn Stewart (27:21): So now we put that to God, to us as his creation. It's the same way. If we pray about something, if we're seeking to have faith in something, we have to then understand when he says, then do this, we have to go do it. If it's in the direction opposite of the direction that we were going, we have to become okay with that. Because you were saying something a minute ago, and I'm gonna try to see if I can remember, I have a senior moment ever so often, sometimes we forget that our plan, that's what you said, right?

Oryn Stewart (27:50): If really wanting to make God laugh, tell him your plan. And what we have to realize, we see so much of it out here more now than ever, right? With technology, we're able to peek into people's lives and especially with social media. And I don't even do social media, but I tell folk, everybody wants to post something about what they got going on. Really happens to the Excuse me.

Oryn Stewart (28:09): What really happens to the person that's watching you? Now, not everyone, but what I mean by that is we have some people that are unfortunately discouraged by how so much of people showing in and just putting out for people to view what they're doing, that's having people not understand that's literally not how the real world works. You have to, just like a set of stairs, you have to put one foot in front of the other in order to make it to the top. If you stay at the bottom, and I'll just kind of say this, faith without works is dead. If you stay at the bottom having faith but never put a foot on a step to keep going up, you'll never make it to the top.

Unknown Speaker (28:45): Expecting God to go. You know I mean? So you want we can go in right there for a second.

Deneen L. Garrett (28:48): Yeah. I mean, we're seeing edited versions of things.

Unknown Speaker (28:51): Right? Yeah. Come on now.

Deneen L. Garrett (28:52): Seeing, like, here's the end result. Like, we're not seeing that they did 50 takes. You know what I'm saying? We're not seeing that part. We're just seeing, oh, the beautiful edited piece of

Unknown Speaker (29:00): All the filtering. Right? All of the filtering. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (29:05): So again, for those who are what pivot have you recently made? Drop it in comments, let us know about that. And something else, Well, I'm trying to think, did I wanna bring up something else about what we talked about? Not so much, but like purpose. So let's kinda like pivot, okay?

Deneen L. Garrett (29:26): Because pivot, we're real live pivoting today. Pivot. I love how it happened, right? I mean, we had less than ten minutes to make So this I love that. It's like, you can't tell if I didn't say it.

Unknown Speaker (29:39): And if I was marketing that Ebony was gonna be here, y'all would have

Unknown Speaker (29:44): You never knew.

Deneen L. Garrett (29:46): Yep. Y'all would have thought that this was what was supposed to happen. So let's talk about true authority and fully stepping into your purpose. Are you living your purpose? Like, you living out your purpose?

Deneen L. Garrett (30:00): Do you know what your purpose is, and are you living it?

Oryn Stewart (30:03): Great question. Such a great question. And how can I answer that, Deneen? I'll say this much.

Unknown Speaker (30:11): Let me say this.

Deneen L. Garrett (30:12): Let me of lighten this for you.

Unknown Speaker (30:15): No. No. But I like the weight of it. But keep going, go ahead.

Unknown Speaker (30:17): Yeah, a lot of people don't, they don't

Unknown Speaker (30:19): know A their

Unknown Speaker (30:20): lot of

Deneen L. Garrett (30:20): people don't know their purpose and some of them like you just said, know, I told you to do X, Y, Z and they chose not to, or chose to do ABC instead, right? Some do know the purpose, but they're not living in it. So it's okay if you don't.

Oryn Stewart (30:33): Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I appreciate you. I appreciate the weight of it and I appreciate you wanting to help ease it a little bit, right? I'll say it, I'll speak to it and answer from this angle in the present. I would say what I feel like my purpose is today is to be that much more intentional than I thought I was before to be obedient to the voice of God, to the Holy Spirit.

Oryn Stewart (31:02): And like I said, that's and that's what you heard me say a little while ago. That's where I'm at in my life. Been here for a while, but definitely hear more now from an intentional place. So why I started off by saying that is because the hats that I wear, one is a man, second as a husband, third as a father, in no order. I just said one, two, three.

Oryn Stewart (31:27): Those are roles where they're forever changing. They're forever needing to be redefined. And especially for my wife and I having five kids and then ranging from 14 to 25 and all at different stages of life and also being different people, who I am as a person has to continue to grow and evolve to be who they need me to be along with who it is that I have to be for me to be present in this world that we're living in. So my purpose, I wanna say is more of something in today's time is, and I was saying this actually about a year ago to somebody, is to be more present, to be very honest with you. To be more present wherever it is that I'm at and wherever it is that God has me to be and not try to be so focused on where it was that I've came from and where it is that I'm going.

Oryn Stewart (32:18): So to be more present. If it's whatever it is that I'm doing, so I'll give you an example, like what we talked about earlier. You know, moving from being in front of the camera to to like, being you as a host to being behind the scenes. Right? Being cool with that.

Oryn Stewart (32:30): Being able to realize that that it's allowing me to to be more creative, to be honest with you. And I love being in front of the camera. I love talking. And it's funny that I'm saying that because I'm an introvert, to be honest with you. But I enjoy it in regards to I love to engage in conversation, but it's also something that's amazing about being able to be behind the scenes when it comes to producing and when it comes to editing and where that has become more of what I'm doing now than even my counseling and my youth advocacy and my mentoring that I have been doing for twenty, twenty five years only, right, so to speak.

Oryn Stewart (33:03): So it's now like a juggling that I do both. But the purpose in all of that is being present, making sure that whoever and whatever something is required of me, that I'm able to respond to it in real time and not on autopilot. And I'll kind of spend a quick second in on that. What I mean by that is this. A lot of the roles that we reside in, a lot of the hats that we wear as people, especially more now than ever, we're on autopilot.

Oryn Stewart (33:31): We're not as present as we should be as far as being fathers and mothers, employers, employees, entrepreneurs, whatever it is, we're kind of going through the motion is what I'm getting to versus really saying to ourselves, when somebody asks us a question, when somebody shares something with us, going back to what we said, if when giving something to someone or receiving something, are we responding within mind that they felt like we were somebody that they could share something with? Let's stop what we were doing and be present for them. Real quick, go back to that for ourselves. How much do we not take full advantage of in these temples that we reside in that we have to be better stewards of? That we have to be better carers of and concerned with how it is that this machine runs.

Oryn Stewart (34:22): We take out cars to the shop. Why don't we take these bodies, not just to the doctors, but why don't we sometimes sit it down and find out what is it in need of? So that's why I said for me, presence is so much more important now than ever. And that would be what I would say my purpose is today. Make sure Listen.

Deneen L. Garrett (34:39): I'm with you on that. Right? The present, the pausing. You know what I'm saying? Like, all of that is so important because even for me, like, when I'm when I pray at night, instead of like, you know, down the line, this is what I want and so on and so forth, I'm like, you know what?

Deneen L. Garrett (34:54): Let's just focus on or even in the morning, let's just focus on today.

Unknown Speaker (34:58): Yeah. Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (34:59): You know what I'm saying? Let's just focus on, okay, this is what I'm preying for today. This is what today's focus is. Let's be present talk about today as opposed to, okay, and then tomorrow and then next week and next month and whatever. No, those times will come.

Deneen L. Garrett (35:14): I have something, in my bathroom and it was yesterday was yesterday, and I'm totally quoting it wrong. Yesterday is today, tomorrow is tomorrow, and then today today, is live it. You know what mean? And really what it's it's about, it's like living the now. Live today.

Deneen L. Garrett (35:33): Like, don't be so caught up on what's what you want in the future that you don't appreciate and be present in the current day.

Oryn Stewart (35:42): Speak on it. Let's look at it for real. Right now is all we have. Right now is it? That's it.

Oryn Stewart (35:48): We cannot do anything with what was before. The old saying, the spilled milk can't sop it up, can't put it back in a jar and do anything with it. Right now is all we have. Tomorrow is not promised. We hope and we pray.

Oryn Stewart (35:59): And as many of us will say, God willing, if tomorrow shows up. And I love that you said that right now is all we have. What will we do with today? We plan so much that we forget about being present. And planning and being ambitious, and I won't go into it now, maybe you can have me back on again another time.

Oryn Stewart (36:19): And I would like to speak about really how unfortunate being ambitious really is to the being present. And what I mean by that, what I'm really getting to is that we can become so ambitious to wanna obtain something that let's, don't know

Unknown Speaker (36:37): That's how to not something you

Unknown Speaker (36:39): can do. That's I'm gonna say.

Deneen L. Garrett (36:42): Pushed for us to rest. Yes, there We're we on. Doctor. Conney even talked about we're constantly You sure did. Being on and so on and so forth as opposed No, to and here's the thing, planning is great.

Deneen L. Garrett (36:54): We still wanna plan, but we don't wanna get so caught up in it. You know what I'm saying? Like, here's a shift that I've made, and it's interesting because my, YouTube manager, she messaged me today and she's like, hey. Can you, like, give me your schedule? Because I noticed there was a couple of days when you were not responding.

Unknown Speaker (37:10): Yeah. Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (37:11): Yeah. And I'm like, no. Just a reminder. Yeah. I'm taking Saturdays and Sundays off.

Deneen L. Garrett (37:16): Like me, I'm constantly like, I am a big social media person, so I'm constantly on it, posting, doing this, doing that. Yeah. On and so forth, you know, just constantly. Right? Like, I don't do the time blocks.

Deneen L. Garrett (37:28): Time blocks, I think are very important. Like me, I never did because, oh, I have the time. I can just do it. But I think here's where kind of planning comes in. Put it on your calendar, put it on a schedule, but set that time for that thing.

Unknown Speaker (37:40): You know

Deneen L. Garrett (37:40): what I'm saying? As far as planning goes, set the time. Like, maybe social media. Set that you're only gonna be on social media maybe from ten to eleven and maybe five to six, something like that. Whatever it is, do that so that the other time you can be present in the moment.

Unknown Speaker (37:55): Well Right? And then like

Unknown Speaker (37:57): Well Yes.

Deneen L. Garrett (37:58): Last night I went to an event and I did not pull out my phone. The entire time I was present

Unknown Speaker (38:03): in that

Deneen L. Garrett (38:04): event, I was focused on the conversations that were being had, right? As opposed to multitasking, like also social media and listening to what's going on. No, that's not being present. That's dividing your attention or whatever. And another thing that I had to kind of think about recently is I was one of those ones who So you know they talk about work life balance.

Deneen L. Garrett (38:27): For me, I had work life integration. And because-

Unknown Speaker (38:31): I like that.

Deneen L. Garrett (38:32): I loved what I was doing. I was living my dream job. I was in my dream job. So I was able to integrate my life. Like I didn't need to separate whatever.

Deneen L. Garrett (38:43): I integrated. But now I'm thinking back, I don't regret I wouldn't change that. But now and today, I'm like, I don't know, is the integration Yeah, a good

Unknown Speaker (38:52): yeah, yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (38:53): And for me, because like I just said, I'm on social media all day long. Posting. I'm like, you know, in Claude and saying, okay, what about this? And these ideas, like that's going on all day long. No.

Deneen L. Garrett (39:07): There's a time and a place. So I need to so that's what I mean as far as

Unknown Speaker (39:11): I love it.

Unknown Speaker (39:11): The integration piece. You know what?

Unknown Speaker (39:13): I love I love it.

Unknown Speaker (39:14): To a point.

Unknown Speaker (39:15): I love it. Oh man. And I don't even wanna ditto. I'm a just say ditto that, right? Don't even wanna follow it I want people to be able to sit in and soak all of that up because

Unknown Speaker (39:23): Hey, sit with that.

Oryn Stewart (39:24): Yeah, sit with all of that, really, literally, hold all of that because what you is just everything that we have to be very cognizant of, right? And I'm glad that you brought us back to where we've been speaking about planning and so that nobody misunderstands what we're saying. Yes, you have to plan. Yes, you have to prepare. I mean, the reality of life is without it, you're planning to fail.

Oryn Stewart (39:49): If

Unknown Speaker (39:50): you don't plan

Unknown Speaker (39:51): You're planning to fail. You're to fail, right? Exactly, exactly. So that's where we know that it's important. But what has to happen, and you spoke about it, the resting component, the being present and realizing that there's times of where, here I go again, we'll go back

Unknown Speaker (40:06): to the mountain for

Unknown Speaker (40:07): a minute. Right? We look at the breakdown of how everything got to you, then the seventh day he rested, if we don't rest, we self destruct.

Unknown Speaker (40:15): Yep.

Oryn Stewart (40:16): Right? We burn out. So I'm saying all of that to say that, like I said, I'm not gonna say too much because I want what you said to literally be able to be what folk have to take away, that you have to be very intentional on the things that require planning. I love it. I'm with you.

Oryn Stewart (40:33): Look. I could grab my I'm back to even using a written calendar again along with all of these other calendars because it takes me back to the holding myself accountable where I cannot say, oh, well, I didn't see it or it was a glitch or something, right? If I write it down and I miss it, I have to say, That's on you. So saying all that to say, we're in a great space and great place understanding that planning and preparation are extremely important. Like I said, I'll touch on it later from an ambitious standpoint of where we have to be very careful of how we walk that line, but we wanna stay motivated.

Oryn Stewart (41:13): Right? We wanna stay encouraged and we wanna be inspired to see life from a place of, if you have breath in your lungs, right? If you have the ability to do something, whatever it is, do something. Don't do nothing. Do something.

Unknown Speaker (41:29): Right? So We love that. So on that note, let's go to Frank. All right. I've been doing this work for a while, building credentialing, showing up week after week for women of color, and more recently for black women 50 who deserve a seat at every table in every room.

Deneen L. Garrett (41:47): And I want you to know the rooms are getting bigger. This year, I walked into the Black Enterprise Women of Power Summit as Credential Press. I was accepted as press in the room at the Milligan Institute Global Conference, one of the most prestigious gatherings of global leaders on the planet. I was also honored as a Leadership in action honoree at Career Master. And I finished in the top five in my category in the National Entrepreneur of Impact Competition.

Deneen L. Garrett (42:17): And I'm not waiting for permission to be in the room. I'm building my way into every one of them. And the next phase, already in motion. DreamCon is confirmed, and I'm going with the intention of interviewing my dream podcast guest. Who do you think it is?

Deneen L. Garrett (42:33): Drop it in the comments. And we're still waiting on roots picnic, BET Culture's biggest week, and Essence Festival. Credential Press at the Marquee Cultural Events of twenty twenty six. Bringing those conversations directly back to you across my social channels. And if you're a black woman over 50 who was done settling for the life you thought you were supposed to have, who was ready to dream boldly, decide intentionally, and drive your vision, there's a community built specifically for you.

Deneen L. Garrett (43:02): The Dream Lifestyle Collective, where we don't just talk about the dream, we live it. Alright. So here's how you can be part of what's building. Watch and subscribe on YouTube, where we have new conversations every Thursday. Listen and subscribe to the top 20 women's empowerment podcast, women of color and intimate conversation.

Deneen L. Garrett (43:21): And if you're ready to join our community, come inside the Dream Lifestyle Collective. And if you're a brand and you're ready to be in a room where women of color conversations happen, and more specifically, where black women 50 gather, become a sponsor. The vision is already moving. Catch up to it. Alright.

Deneen L. Garrett (43:43): Welcome back to women of color live. Today, we're pivoting live. Right? We have to do a whole big pivot. As you see on the screen, that's not that is not Ebony Goodrich.

Deneen L. Garrett (43:57): It is actually Orin Stewart who, you know, if you've been listening since the beginning, who's normally behind the scenes and now we got them back out in front of the camera. So I thank you and appreciate you

Unknown Speaker (44:08): so I

Unknown Speaker (44:09): appreciate you having me. Yeah. I tell you I really do.

Deneen L. Garrett (44:11): Okay. So look, I was gonna go ahead and pivot in a total different direction, a direction that we have talked about previously. It actually came out of, when we were, getting ready to go live with, Violet. And I'm gonna still hold that because we'll be back together the end of August. So Oren will be back on screen as planned.

Unknown Speaker (44:34): Yes, we will.

Deneen L. Garrett (44:34): We're gonna talk about some things. We're gonna kind of debrief the whole live starting from March, whatnot, and then having a conversation really about raising kids and the difference of how we're raising or have raised our kids versus how we were raised. So that's coming later in August.

Unknown Speaker (44:54): Yes, yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (44:56): So, you know, we talk about, and this is I'm gonna have to go back and probably for July, remove this as part my questions to ask, I ask about permission. And every single woman has said, you don't need permission, which is part of the mantra, right? You don't wait for permission, you become it. And when you become it, everything rises to meet you, and that's the dream lifestyle standard. So instead, I think I wanna ask, based on everything we've been talking about, we've been talking about pivoting, we've been talking a little bit about purpose, we've been talking about pausing and being present.

Deneen L. Garrett (45:34): In addition to all of that, what do you wanna tell a woman today, so that she can start building her legacy in real time?

Oryn Stewart (45:43): Wow. Really, really, really sit with getting to know who you are as an individual. Don't try to find yourself in someone else. Do not try to say

Deneen L. Garrett (45:57): Hold on. On. Hold on. Ladies, ladies, listen. This is a man talking.

Deneen L. Garrett (46:02): Okay? Yeah. He's he's giving you a a real perspective coming from a man. Yeah. Somebody needed that today.

Unknown Speaker (46:07): So that's that's why he's here.

Oryn Stewart (46:10): Yes. Indeed. Because what can happen and I appreciate you pausing me on that because that is that is important to make sure that they catch that. Because what can happen so much in today's world is we see everyone has such ambition to become the next this, the next that. But where do a lot of those things come from?

Oryn Stewart (46:26): It comes from what our eyes see and a lot of times what our ears hear. But what we don't do enough of and what I would say that I don't see enough women do more now than a generation or two before is sit within who they are and get to know who they are to know what it is that they need to expect from themselves before they expect anything from someone else and see value in who you are. As I like to say, and I'm a keep going, let's really look at who it is and how it is that God created us. And if he created you all to be a helpmate, know that's to be something that is extremely powerful, but it carries so many hats that goes into where in scripture where it talks about a virtuous woman. And if really taking the time to read that, that you all actually carry so much, a lot more than we do a lot of times.

Oryn Stewart (47:12): So when we don't see that as something to be very powerful, right? And to be something that it requires you to really sit still and get to know yourself, do not seek to try to define who you are in your mother or your sibling or somebody you see on the screen. First person came to my mind, Beyonce, whoever it is, right? Like, don't try to find yourself in someone else, find yourself within you know that you were blessed to be able to conquer something. Sometimes the conquering may be internal.

Oryn Stewart (47:44): It could be something that you experienced. Often it is. If we go back to what you were saying earlier, when we were talking about those experiences that happen sometimes in our lives that scar us, the component of winning the war could be a war that's happening on the internal, on the inside. And that's what I would wanna say to all women that are tuning in and that are a part of the dream lifestyle, right, that are a part of the movement that you created, Deneen, is to know that and this is a little cliche, but when we hear the term you are enough, but understand what that means deeper than just the surface of the saying. Know that you are enough of where it is that you need to start, but become something that can morph and develop and become something greater that even you didn't expect that lied within you.

Oryn Stewart (48:32): And then put one foot in front of the other and get to walking. Just stand by.

Deneen L. Garrett (48:36): And I love that because you know what? I'm like, it's us. It's always us. It goes back to us because we you know, things happen to us, how we react, what we do with it, that's on us.

Unknown Speaker (48:48): It's up to us.

Unknown Speaker (48:49): You know

Unknown Speaker (48:49): what I'm saying? And some things we do attract because we keep picking on that stab. We done a lot.

Unknown Speaker (48:54): I see.

Unknown Speaker (48:55): So it came back. You got an infection because you kept messing with it.

Unknown Speaker (48:59): Thank you. Look. Look. You beat me to it. I was gonna ask you.

Oryn Stewart (49:01): Could I I was gonna ask you, could I as I like to call it, play tennis with you real quick. Okay. Man, when we pick the scab, you said infections. I was gonna go a little deeper, but infections, sometimes we we wonder how come insects and flies and stuff migrate If to that you see where I'm going, I'm following with you. I'm playing.

Oryn Stewart (49:19): We're gonna do the metaphor thing here, but we attract things to wounds that never heal. That means the wound no good. So if we don't allow for what it is that we're hurt first resided to heal, then we wonder how come we attract things that are, let's be even more transparent and vulnerable, that are worse than what it was before. And then when the outside is looking and we're feeling like all eyes are on, and I'm saying us, but I'm just representation of what the podcast is, of a lot of times And men as well. So I'm gonna say us, men and women.

Oryn Stewart (49:53): But right now, know we're talking about women. If not allowing the wound to heal properly, what that wound attracts, and I'm going right back to you, so I'm getting right back to you, is infection. And we look at really what an infection is. Poison. It has the body no good.

Oryn Stewart (50:10): So what has to happen is that time needs to sometimes Solitary has to happen, meaning you have to separate yourself sometimes for the healing process to happen for you to get back on your square and get to moving, but not in the direction of where you were going before. If you know clearly it says hurt, pain, whatever it is that know means you no good, pivot and go in the other direction. Just let's just say that. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (50:38): Right? Absolutely. And when you go in that direction again, pause so you can learn Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (50:44): Yeah. What it is that you really want. Right?

Unknown Speaker (50:47): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (50:47): And another thing I wanna throw in there, we we throwing out these Ps, but we need to get back to reading Proverbs 31. Yeah. And that's something that Molly had told me. She gave me this PDF on the Proverbs 31, breaking it down and so on and so forth. And so we get the tools.

Unknown Speaker (51:06): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (51:06): This is what I'm going back to what we were talking about earlier.

Unknown Speaker (51:08): You gonna make me pull it out while you're talking. Keep

Unknown Speaker (51:11): going. Listen. We're given tools, but guess what? We don't always use them.

Unknown Speaker (51:15): Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (51:17): Me. I'm talking about me.

Unknown Speaker (51:18): No. We we we Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (51:20): I looked at it since she gave it to me, and it's probably

Unknown Speaker (51:22): been over a month. Right? Yeah. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna wonder why.

Unknown Speaker (51:26): Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (51:26): Why, girl? Because you ain't do the work.

Oryn Stewart (51:27): Yeah. You ain't do the work. Ain't it crazy how we when when we hear people say do the work, but when it comes to doing the work and this is something that speaks to both us men as men and women. The work component that we shy away from is the part that's gonna require us to change.

Unknown Speaker (51:44): Absolutely.

Oryn Stewart (51:46): And a lot of times we wanna remain the same. But but when then we envy those that when we see change happen, how come it didn't happen for us? So I'm

Unknown Speaker (51:54): I'm grateful that you said it.

Unknown Speaker (51:56): You can't put it to work.

Unknown Speaker (51:58): You can't put it to work because

Unknown Speaker (51:59): you ain't go back and read that.

Unknown Speaker (52:00): Yeah. Ain't go

Unknown Speaker (52:00): back and

Unknown Speaker (52:01): read that. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (52:01): Yeah. Yeah. I like how you said that. Look. She gave you something that had to look.

Unknown Speaker (52:06): You was like, hold on. Message? Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (52:09): Right. Right. Right. No. But it is.

Deneen L. Garrett (52:11): And then it and you're so right. We don't wanna change. You know what I'm saying? Like, we don't we don't wanna put in the work. We just want it to happen.

Unknown Speaker (52:16): We just wanna pray it away. No. That ain't no

Unknown Speaker (52:19): Oh, hold on. You just said something.

Unknown Speaker (52:22): Pray it away.

Unknown Speaker (52:23): That's another p. Pray it away.

Unknown Speaker (52:27): God. No. No.

Oryn Stewart (52:31): Power to pee, right? Okay. We're gonna stay right here. I know my mom went there to you for a second. But the power of prayer, the purpose of where you just went with it was, but we don't wanna put it away.

Oryn Stewart (52:46): We don't wanna really apply what it is that we need to do, but we wanna see change happen. Wow. Man, you just hit me with something.

Deneen L. Garrett (52:54): Yeah. And now to be fair, there's multiple reasons as to why. You know, people would not cut and dry type situations. And a part of it is comfort, right? We're comfortable not.

Unknown Speaker (53:05): That's real.

Deneen L. Garrett (53:05): You know what I'm saying? It's like, like I told her, I'm like, yeah, you know, I would love to be in a relationship, but I'm not necessarily putting in the work for it to happen. You know what I'm

Unknown Speaker (53:17): saying? That's powerful.

Unknown Speaker (53:18): I mean, being real.

Unknown Speaker (53:19): Like, you

Unknown Speaker (53:20): know, I keep saying it like, you know, over time, yeah, I would like that. And then, okay, that's it. That's all I get. I will like it. And it kinda ends there.

Oryn Stewart (53:29): We say it starts and stops right there.

Unknown Speaker (53:31): Yeah. Like, Your transparency

Oryn Stewart (53:35): is what's powerful. And that's something that a lot of times I don't think that we do enough as just people, no matter the race, but just us as people. We're not real with ourselves in recognizing that I'm not ready or I haven't done the work in order to be prepared. We just want for whatever it is that we've expected to happen to happen. And I've seen that let alone this happened in my own life, but I've seen it happen in many of people's lives.

Oryn Stewart (54:01): And I think you mentioned this a little while ago that we repeat the cycle of what it is that we have yet to do anything different in. So what did they say? I think as Einstein said, what insanity is, is continuing to do the same thing, but expecting a different result.

Unknown Speaker (54:15): Right.

Unknown Speaker (54:16): You know? So wow, that was powerful that what you just said though.

Unknown Speaker (54:19): All right. So we're about to shut this down.

Unknown Speaker (54:21): Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I had fun.

Unknown Speaker (54:22): I appreciate you. Let me join you today.

Unknown Speaker (54:23): I have

Unknown Speaker (54:24): too. This

Unknown Speaker (54:24): is so awesome, and it

Unknown Speaker (54:26): fits perfectly. And all these p's we didn't throw out. We didn't

Unknown Speaker (54:29): throw out.

Unknown Speaker (54:30): Pause. We didn't throw out Purchase. Planning. Planning. If if

Unknown Speaker (54:37): it starts with a p and it's positive.

Unknown Speaker (54:39): If positive. Yes, it did. And look. Let let and I think a good one to add as you end is like you said, for even your listeners, Proverbs going to that one that you mentioned. Right?

Unknown Speaker (54:48): The p

Unknown Speaker (54:49): d look. The PDF that you said you had. Yeah. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker (54:52): I know. Know. Alright. So yes. So I wanna thank Orrin Stewart who again is normally behind the scenes, and he is out front with me because we needed to pivot today.

Deneen L. Garrett (55:03): Indeed. And that's how life is. Right? It is. Things will happen.

Deneen L. Garrett (55:07): Be ready. Stay ready so you don't have to get ready. And we

Unknown Speaker (55:09): were ready.

Unknown Speaker (55:10): You know? We made it happen.

Unknown Speaker (55:11): So Look. Look. And I look. I went to brush my hair.

Unknown Speaker (55:13): Didn't get a sense of pain. I'm not sure.

Unknown Speaker (55:15): I'm not tell you how you know he had to go, you know.

Unknown Speaker (55:19): It's all good. It's all

Unknown Speaker (55:20): good. Look.

Unknown Speaker (55:20): Look. Look. To be present. To be present

Unknown Speaker (55:22): for you today. Yes. To be present. So I mean Thank you. Thank you so much for Thank you.

Deneen L. Garrett (55:27): Being behind the scenes Yes. You know, since March and then for you coming on front today because this has been a great conversation. There's so much to be taken out of this conversation. And as you mentioned, you know, yeah, there's things for men too. That's the thing about the podcast.

Deneen L. Garrett (55:43): Yeah. Although the it's intended for women of color, it's intended for black women

Unknown Speaker (55:49): Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett (55:49): Specifically, anybody can benefit, right? There's so much that we talk about that would benefit anyone and men included. There's something to take away.

Oryn Stewart (56:01): Can I touch on that real quick? Because we spend a lot of time post show talking and going over a few things. And I always say to you what I'm about to say to your listeners now, which they don't get a chance to hear me, but they'll hear it now as a plug for this podcast. And not just because I'm a part of it, but because I'm blessed to be able to watch and witness behind the scenes what happens in real time to all men and to anyone that either to the women that tune in to your sons or to your husbands or your significant others, your brothers. This is a podcast that I can honestly say, as Deneen knows, I sometimes have my notepad out.

Oryn Stewart (56:40): I'm taking notes because some of the in a literal sense, right? I'm sharing it with my It's such gems that are dropped. It's such classic, just teachable moments that happen during this podcast that anyone can get something from. And I even wanna say this, even people that aren't of color, because this is something that really, that Deneen, you've created here. So kudos to you of what you created with this platform and this show that is live now, right?

Oryn Stewart (57:08): It's an extension of what you created six years ago. It's continuing to grow. But I just want to appreciate you letting me say this because I felt like listeners need to really know that those of us that are here, a part of your team helping to bring this to the airwaves, as a man, I also see such importance in this podcast, not just for the women, but also for men and also for people outside of just the race that looks like you and me.

Deneen L. Garrett (57:32): Thank you so much. I greatly That appreciate really means a lot. And so again, thank you to the Leon Thomas Group for holding it down every Thursday at 1PM Eastern. And share this with a woman, a man, who needs to be reminded that legacy is what you're building right now. And next week, we kick off our July series, The Presence.

Deneen L. Garrett (57:53): Uh-oh. Okay, Orin. The Presence series is coming up. Command the room, own the narrative, and we're kicking it off with Damara West, trauma responsive therapist, well-being steward, social entrepreneur, motivational speaker, author, and founder. See you next week.

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