From Addiction to Empowerment: How Jennifer Barbee is Giving Second Chances

In this powerful episode of the Bella Grace Podcast, we’re diving deep into the inspiring story of Jennifer Barbee, a woman who transformed her life after 14 years of addiction. From battling meth addiction and facing 23 arrests to becoming the owner of TMS, a thriving call center that gives second chances to individuals with felonies or addiction struggles, Jennifer’s journey is nothing short of remarkable.

We discuss her challenges, her path to recovery, and her commitment to helping others rebuild their lives by providing jobs and support for those seeking a fresh start. Tune in as we explore how Jennifer’s unwavering faith, determination, and heart for service are making a lasting impact in her community.

🎧 Listen to learn how one person’s transformation can become a beacon of hope for many.

 #BellaGracePodcast, #AddictionRecovery, #SecondChances, #FaithAndFreedom, #BreakingFree, #SobrietyJourney, #HighAchieverRecovery, #LifeAfterAddiction, #InspiringStories, #TransformationJourney, #OvercomingAddiction, #CommunityImpact, #GivingBack, #HopeAndHealing, #MindsetShift, #RecoverySupport, #CallCenterWithPurpose, #LifeChange, #EmpowermentThroughGrace, #RebuildYourLife, #TMSCallCenter, #CleanAndSober, #RedemptionStory, #SoberLiving, #AddictionSupport, #SuccessThroughRecovery, #FreedomMindset, #RiseAbove 

Chapters

• 0:00 Jennifer's Journey from Addiction to Recovery
• 2:43 Rock Bottom and Finding Hope
• 6:06 Building a Career After Felony Convictions
• 16:06 Creating Second Chances at TMS
• 24:09 Relapse, Recovery and the Daily Struggle
• 31:51 Parenting After Addiction
• 38:11 Supporting Others Through Recovery
• 43:22 Final Thoughts and Words of Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hello and welcome to another episode of the Bella Grace podcast, where we are helping high achievers break free from mindsets, behaviors and addictions that are holding them back from reaching their true potential. And today we're doing that by sharing a story of a friend of mine from back in the day we have not spoken in so many years. Her name is Jennifer Barbie. She is 51 years young. She was born in Tampa, florida, and moved to Texas shortly after that. She is the proud mother of two adult sons and a 13-year-old son.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Her journey includes experimenting with drugs at the age of 20, and she soon found herself trapped in the grip of addiction for many years. So so, so, so deeply lost that she once wanted to give up on life. However, Jennifer's story took a remarkable turn and she has now been clean for 14 years, free from meth and all other drugs and substances. Today, jennifer is the owner of TMS, a thriving call center that not only provides exceptional services, but also offers second chances to individuals who are struggling with addiction or have felony convictions. Regardless of their past, jennifer believes that everyone deserves the opportunity to rebuild their lives. Tms currently employs 50 people and specializes in providing health insurance for those under 64, along with group and life, leads to agents across the United States.

Speaker 1: 1:57

What makes TMS truly remarkable is that it goes beyond just generating leads. It serves as a beacon of hope for those seeking a fresh start. Jennifer's dedication to helping others transform their lives mirrors her own journey, making TMS not just a community but a second chance to thrive. I'm so excited that you're here. Good, okay, so I am so excited that you're here, I am so proud of you, and so why don't you start by telling us a little bit about your journey and how you got to where you are today?

Speaker 2: 2:43

Okay, I am like you said. I started just recreational drugs when I was about 20. I would do, you know, like eggs, you know those kinds of things, acid shrooms. And then I moved to Lubbock. And when I moved to Lubbock and I that's when I started doing meth I don't think I'd ever even heard of it, didn't know what it was, didn't even know it existed. So I started doing meth and I really feel like my life just flew by. Twelve years later, I was a junkie, I was shooting up, I had track marks all over my arms and 12 years later I'd been to jail 23 times.

Speaker 1: 3:27

So, I.

Speaker 2: 3:29

The last day I was arrested the 23rd time I was in motel six. They kicked the door in and I remember when they arrested me that I was looking down at my arms and I was counting how many track marks I had on my arms and I was just. I was like thinking how did I get here? How did this become my life? Because I truly never believed it could be. I never thought I could get addicted to anything and I I just didn't feel like I would ever be. You know one of those stories. So I go to jail and during that time I found out I was pregnant and I already had two adult sons and you know, by this time I never saw him. They lived with their dad because I was such a mess.

Speaker 2: 4:12

During addiction you give up everything, you lose all your morals, you all you're thinking about is staying ahead of the police or you know selling dope, and you and you know going to jail and getting out and all that kind of stuff that just consumes your life. So when I was in jail the 23rd time and I found out I was pregnant, I was like, oh God, I don't want a kid, I don't. You know, I don't want another kid. I don't want to go through this. I'm going to resent this child and I don't want him. I remember that's exactly what I thought. So I got out, probably one month before he was born, and I thought I'm just going to stay clean long enough to give birth and, you know, give him up and then I'll start using again, because that's how you think. And the day he was born, I remember I just felt like God passed through me. I felt like he went right through me and I thought, oh, my God, maybe I can do it. I saw his little you know curls and his you know his little screams and cries and I thought, god, this is amazing, maybe I can do it. So I just started focusing on okay, you are, you know, I'd only been at that point. I think I'd been clean like six months because I was in jail. Not because I wanted to, but because I was in jail.

Speaker 2: 5:36

So I then try to get a job and nobody would hire me. I had three felonies and three misdemeanors and no one's going to give you a chance. I would even go to interviews and say, look, I'm doing good, I'm clean. I know I have a bunch of felonies, but I'm doing what I'm supposed to Just give me a chance. No one would. I went to McDonald's, wouldn't even give me an interview. I tried so many places and I was so discouraged and that just makes you want to start using again. Because I had $36,000 in child support to pay. I was stressed on getting a job. I didn't know how I was going to support this baby, you know. So I just was, I felt lost.

Speaker 2: 6:18

So anyway, I met probation like a counseling session and I remember some girl was like there's this call center that'll give felons a shot. And I'm like, oh my gosh where. So she gives me the address and at this point I literally have had no job for so long that I'm having to go and do goodwill, and for free, just to stay out of jail, because you know it was part of my probation if I didn't get a job so I'd go do what goodwill for like eight hours free. It was miserable. And so I go to the call center and I get a job and I'm just ecstatic. You know, literally not even making that much money, but you know like you know $8 an hour or something, $7.25. So I just started making it my new passion. I would come in every day, I would come early, I would stay late. I just worked hard.

Speaker 2: 7:14

So finally the boss says you know the man that owns the company, chris Wilson. He says, well, do you want to start answering the phones? And I'm like, yes, anything you know, because at this time I'm a telemarketer. So I start answering the phones. And then he would say, well, jennifer, do you know Excel? You know, and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. And I would say, yes, you know, fake it till you make it. If you're going to get ahead, you're going to have to. So I'd go home and I'd Google. You know, like how to do Excel or how to do Word. You know stuff like that. And then he one day he says well, my wife and I want to go to Hawaii for a few weeks. Can you do payroll if I teach you how to do it in QuickBooks? I'm like, yeah, absolutely, because I was so scared I was going to screw up payroll. So I do payroll.

Speaker 2: 8:07

And it just got to where he would add more and more stuff, you know, and I sort of just became his assistant. You know anything he needed. If he went out of town, I'd come in and dust his office. I just did anything that needed to be done and I didn't care what it took If I had to stay late, if I had to come in on a weekend, I didn't care, I was going to do it. So after 10 years he decides he's going to sell the company and I was able to buy it and I became the owner of TMS. So now we've been in business. You know I've owned the company two and a half years, but he had owned it since 1999. So we've been in business 25 years now. So literally we just started training and going over. You know all the things I need to do when I became a business owner so probably for about two years, we trained on everything and no one really even knew, you know, that I was about to take over. So it was pretty amazing.

Speaker 2: 8:55

Once I did take over, I thought I'm just going to make it my mission to give others a second chance. So if anybody, like myself, you know, is struggling to find a job or has you know they're a felon or they're just getting out of prison and no one's going to give them a chance, I decided to make it my mission that I would. So we've actually gone on, you know, like the, you know the News Center in Lubbock, and they published the story and it was amazing how many people called us once that story went out. You know people were calling and saying, oh my gosh, my kid's in prison Like you're giving me hope, or my kid's on the run, or my sister's struggling with addiction and maybe she can get clean. You know. So it's just amazing how many people reached out to us and crying and everything else, because it gave them hope, because addiction is every single day in so many people's lives. And it was just amazing. And so I just, I don't know, I just became so passionate about it Because now I've been clean 14 years and it is hard, it's the hardest thing I've ever had to do.

Speaker 2: 9:59

I always say to, when you're struggling with addiction, once you've reached halt, which is hungry, angry, lonely and tired, you'll get clean. And you still don't even know how to get out of it. I remember it was Thanksgiving right before I got clean and I had no electricity, I had no car, I was cold and I was so hungry. I don't even know if I knew it was Thanksgiving. I don't think I was so hungry. I don't even know if I knew it was Thanksgiving. I didn't really, I don't think. I had minutes on my phone and I remember thinking, if I can just get a few dollars, I can go to the dollar menu at McDonald's. And I couldn't even find a few dollars and it's sad that it got that bad, but that's how it was. And I was there. I was, I had reached my halt, but I didn't know how to get out of it.

Speaker 2: 10:45

So I feel like God brought me a child, you know, and that's he became my new obsession. He says all the time why are you so obsessed with me? And I'm like you're welcome, you know. Finally I know how to be a good mother. Finally I can have money saved and be responsible, come to work every day. So I don't know, that's my story, but it's just pretty amazing now. So we always say we're the number one leads in the nation for the call center TMS, and it's true. I mean now we're actually the only call center that does telemarketed leads anywhere in the United States for health under 64 and life in groups. So it's amazing too that not only are we pulling these leads but we also are helping people stay clean. People in halfway houses come straight to us. We go to prison, job fairs, we don't care. We don't care what anyone's done, we just want to help them try to stay clean and have a job along the way, yeah that's.

Speaker 1: 11:44

It's amazing, it is truly amazing what you're doing and you were talking about all these things and it brings up so much for myself because we were in that life together. We kind of ran in the same crowd and a lot of what you shared brings up emotions and feelings that I hadn't like thought about in a long time. You have 14 years sober. I have 20 years sober from meth. I have five years sober from alcohol and alcohol was never like meth was. For me, Meth was an all encompassing. It took over everything, Like you said, like it just takes over, and I think when it's not, it doesn't have to be meth. Whatever your drug of choice is, when it can be gamblers gambling addiction there's.

Speaker 2: 12:43

There's so many addictions. It doesn't even have to be drugs, but if it's an addiction for that person, they have to. For example, my assistant. She has smoked cigarettes for 40 years. That was the hardest thing in the world for her to. You know she struggles, you know breathing and stuff because she smoked so long and so one day I'm like she's coughing and she can't breathe very well and I'm'm like let's buy you the gum. And now she says that's her clean date off cigarettes. But that was her addiction was cigarettes. So it can be anything.

Speaker 1: 13:13

Yeah, it can be anything and it can pull you down so far. And you were talking about how, when you got your job, you were making like seven bucks an hour and you were so thankful for that job, like you poured everything that you had into it. And I just think of all the other people out there who are at the beginning of their journey with recovery. And if you are like us because I'm like you, I have felonies and several misdemeanors and we have risen above right. We have found a way and I think it's so important what you're doing and for us to continue to share our stories to show other people that there is a way out and that there is light at the end of the tunnel.

Speaker 1: 14:16

I was making $2.15 an hour as a truck stop waitress my first job out of jail waitress my first job out of jail, because it was the only job that I could find that would hire me. With a criminal history. I probably still looked like a junkie, like I still, because, like you, I got sober in jail. It wasn't. It wasn't a like a choice, it was hey, you got arrested and you're stuck here for a few months, so you got no choice but to get sober, and I know that's the story for a lot of people and I think it's important to I do feel like a lot of people end up relapsing and going right back to that life because they have so many obstacles.

Speaker 2: 15:03

The world, the world, has created these obstacles. They can't get an apartment, they can't vote, they can't. You know, like it's just a lot of obstacles you have to overcome to get to be normal in society and it's sort of not fair. If we get clean, we should have more. You know, they should work with us more, but they don't. You know, like now it's not a big deal because I've been clean 14 years and I don't feel like it affects me as much, but at the beginning I couldn't. You know, it's hard to find a place to live, it's, you know, no one wants to give you a chance.

Speaker 1: 15:35

Yeah. So what are some things that you would tell someone who is freshly clean, freshly in that mindset of like, okay, I'm gonna stay sober this time, this time is the last time I'm going to stay sober this time and they're facing those obstacles.

Speaker 2: 15:53

I would say for one thing, get a job, because for me that's what helped Getting a job, even though and I didn't even make much at the beginning because I owed so much on child support I owed $36,000. So even if I was making eight or $9 an hour, half of my paycheck for you know, 3740 hours went to the child support, and it was hard, you know. And finally my dad and my brother, they were like oh, okay, you're gonna get clean, so we'll help you. And they would send me money and I would put all of it toward the child support and I paid that child support off in two years. So that was, you know, that was really nice because finally my family was giving me a chance and believing in me again.

Speaker 2: 16:32

But I would say for these, you know, people that are straight out of prison or they have a felony and they're trying to overcome these obstacles, be honest with people. If you try to hide it, they're not going to give you a chance. If they find out I was honest and still not everyone's going to give you a chance, but I think I would much rather somebody be honest with me about it than to try to hide it. You know, say I'm doing everything I'm supposed to. You know, give me a chance, I'll do great, because to me, my employees, they work harder than anyone. I have 50 employees and I feel like they're so loyal to me, they're so good to me and they work their butts off out there because they don't have as many options as other people. And I've set it up too with TMS to where you're not just stuck at a certain base pay, they get bonuses according to their production, so that really it makes it more fun for them. We put them in teams. They do contests, you know, but I would say for people struggling too, for, like us in Lubbock, we have so many connections.

Speaker 2: 17:32

Now, you know, if some of my employees are doing good and they're looking for housing, we have landlords that'll take them. They don't care what they've done. If I put in a good word, then they'll. You know, they'll go ahead and give them a chance or give them, you know, a house or an apartment. We work with all these halfway houses and we also work with, like federal dismiss, which they can call anytime they want. They can come up here and make sure you know my employee is doing what they're supposed to and, believe it or not, they're out of prison and they're out of jail and they're excited to get to, you know, be back in the free world and do what they're supposed to. I mean, yeah, they wear ankle monitors and all that kind of stuff, but for the most part they'll do what they're supposed to because they're getting a chance again. So it's nice to hear at the call center, where almost every single person here is in recovery. So it's like we all get it. We understand how hard it is.

Speaker 1: 18:26

Yeah, and that's beautiful, because community is such a huge part of recovery. Yeah, I always tell my clients I'm like you can't. It is really hard to get and stay sober alone. Yes, because we were unhealthy. We were sick, we were addicted in community, especially if it's a drug like meth, I feel like too it helps that I'm an addict and I get how hard it is and what a struggle it is.

Speaker 2: 18:58

I have employees come in every day. You know I'm struggling. I'm thinking about using. If you've never used, you're never going to get it. You're never going to understand. Why are they struggling? Just don't do it. It's that simple. It's not that simple, it's.

Speaker 2: 19:14

You have to retrain your way of thinking. You have to recondition every aspect of your life, not to hang around the same friends, not to do the same things you did. You know before, because you will think about it. They have a hard day, they think about it, and there's so many new drugs now that I have to be on top of my game. You know I've had to learn all about Suboxone because you know that's such a big deal lately. You know so. And then another thing too is I feel like people think oh, I'm clean off meth, let me take some pain pills for the surgery or something. You get addicted to, something new you know Like for you. It sounds like you got off meth and then you later drink alcohol. You know that became a new addiction for you somewhere, or you probably wouldn't have a clean date off alcohol.

Speaker 1: 19:59

Yeah, yeah, and. And so I'd been clean for what? 15 years. And I always tell people like I used to drink socially after I got sober off meth Like it was never. It was never a crutch for me, right. Like I was like, okay, well, I'll have a beer with family here or I'll have a margarita with family there, whatever. It was never a big deal. But I started really struggling in life and I'm educated in this. I have a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in addiction. Like this is what I do for a living. And I, in about January of 2020, when the pandemic I was working for a global company, so I one of my clients was in China, in Wuhan, actually and so we were getting like information about how COVID was taking off and how things were starting to shut down. My job was super stressful. My husband and I would have a glass of wine at night. Like it started very innocently Simple, simple, very simple.

Speaker 2: 21:14

That's how all addictions start. You just don't think it's going to be a big deal and then somewhere it happens, it just clicks.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Yeah, my stepson died, and that was what sent me over the edge. It went from a glass of wine while we watch TV to suddenly we're drinking two bottles between the two of us, or three bottles between the two of us, every single night, and it was like that grief triggered me into my old behavior patterns of using a substance to cope with something that felt too heavy and that lasted from March until August. And in August I was like, what am I doing? I am not going down this path again. I'm done drinking and so now I just don't drink at all. So I'm like, yeah, I think it's important to help, especially baby people like baby recovering addicts. Like you know, they're very new to understand that, because when I first got sober, I didn't necessarily have anybody telling me that you should stay sober from everything, and it been so far. So you know, so far removed from myself 15 years prior, that it didn't even like dawn on me, yeah, that this could become an issue I like we're addicts and we have to be.

Speaker 2: 22:49

Like pain pills. Oh my gosh, I feel like I'm so cautious, even if I were to have a surgery. I've had a surgery, you know, many years ago, and I only took four pain pills because I was scared. I know I'll become addicted to it. I don't even have any doubts about it. So you have to just be more cautious about all that kind of stuff than right. You know people that have never been addicted to stuff.

Speaker 1: 23:10

Yeah, yeah, do you do? Um, I'm sure you do, but do you have like ongoing support for your employees as they're going through their recovery journey?

Speaker 2: 23:22

I feel like we are their support. You know the staffers and all of us. You know, anytime they're struggling, it's an open door. They can come in here and say, look, you know, or I'm on this and I'm trying to not be, you know it. They can tell me anything they want and you know I'll try to work with them, even if they say, look, I relapsed this weekend, you know, and I'm like you cannot, don't, don't sit and dwell about it. You've got to just pick yourself back up and get clean again. Yeah, I know it's hard. Yeah, you've been clean five years and you relapsapse. But don't fall back into it and wait just another two or three years and then have to pull yourself back out, cause it's it would be hard. You know every. It doesn't matter if they relapse, you can get back. You know. Get back to being sober right away.

Speaker 1: 24:06

Yeah, yeah, and I think that has the potential to hang people up. I always tell people I probably relapsed 200 times before it actually stuck, and that's okay. The all that matters is that I kept going and I feel like that's.

Speaker 2: 24:27

That's what happens to. They get down on themselves like, oh, I relapsed and I know where, you know they just fall back into it. Don't do that, just pick yourself. It doesn't matter, pick yourself right back up and start again. You know like you can't, you can't dwell on it. But I think when people aren't ready, you know it's part of it you know they have to hit that hungry, angry, lonely and tired before they're ready to give up. When I see the mug shots here in Lubbock, I see people and when I see possession of a gram, I think God, they're gonna have to get arrested probably 20 times, get a few felonies. They have to go hit rock bottom before they're ready to stop. And it's sad but that's how it works. Hardly ever, I think, do people just get in trouble once and say, okay, I'm ready to stop, because it doesn't work that way. It's so powerful that I mean they're going to go through so much before they finally give in. Usually it's 10, 15 years of using and they've lost everything along the way.

Speaker 1: 25:27

Yeah, yeah. And I think too you mentioned how he asked if he you know how he knew how to use Excel. You were like fake it till you, make it, fake it till you. I laughed because fake it till you, make it was my mantra when I was first During recovery yes.

Speaker 2: 25:45

Yes, I agree. Another thing I was going to tell you is I still have relapse dreams. It's that powerful and I will wake up and be like oh my God, oh my God, you know, and I'm like so mad at myself and I'm like wait, I didn't even go out last night, I didn't do anything. It's but it'll upset you. It feels like it really happened. Or I'll have a dream like the cops running in and I'm throwing everything in the toilet, or I'm running, you know, because we're getting raided.

Speaker 2: 26:09

That's such a sad life that I lived, but I did it, you know. And now I still have dreams. You know, they're not as frequent, but I still have them. And I wake up and I feel guilty all day and I'm like stop, you know, I never even go out anymore. You know I, my life's totally different. I will literally Google everything, like, oh, if I took an allergy pill three hours ago, can I? You know, I'm just silly about everything I take now, and then I just would take anything. Oh, yeah, give me that pill. But now there's so many things too we've got to be aware of, like my kid. I tell him yesterday one pill can kill. Don't take any pills, you know, because they're fentanyl and it's scary when you think about that. Never existed when I did drugs, thank goodness, or I'm sure I would have taken it because I never put thought into anything then.

Speaker 1: 26:56

I know I literally just had this conversation with my daughter and her friend because we went to an EDM show and, yeah, and we've been taking her to festivals since she was like 12, 13 years old because we wanted to expose her. She loves live music, she loves dancing, so we wanted to make sure that she knew how to stay hydrated that's good Knew how to navigate those sorts of situations on her own, like knowing where the information tent is, knowing where the food stuff is, like how to read a festival map and be safe and be safe, be self-aware enough to know that there are pickpockets, that there are people like just paying attention to your surroundings. So we've literally been training her to leave our house since she was itty bitty. How old is she? She's 18.

Speaker 1: 27:56

She'll be going to college in August and so she's like she and I've been really open and honest with her about my own journey with drugs and, like her and all of her friends follow me on Instagram. They listen to my podcast. Like you know, we're just very open about my journey. That's how I am with Cameron too.

Speaker 2: 28:19

He says how many times would you have gone to jail, probably, if you hadn't gotten pregnant with me and I was like I would have probably been dead by now. You know, and I feel like letting him know that too. Well, you know, I don't want him to make the same mistakes as I do. I don't want him to be able, you know, not be able to get a job later in life, and that's all it takes is trying drugs one time and you could be there.

Speaker 1: 28:41

So I feel like the more we dwell it into their head, you know, they'll know sorry, my dog started barking, but yes, and I tell her and her friends all the time I'm like when we were partying, we, when I was going to the clubs and doing club drugs and all that, like we did have a rule like you don't take drugs from anybody that you didn't come with, just a stupid rule, but it is the rule. I didn't even have that rule.

Speaker 2: 29:12

I was like oh, a pill yeah.

Speaker 1: 29:20

See, we were very protective of each other, like we were very protective. But I tell her now, I'm like you can't even like share a joint with somebody at a festival because it might be laced with fentanyl. Yeah, and it is a scary world and it breaks my heart because I feel like we didn't have it easy. We were using, I think, during the height of meth that was a huge time period for meth and right now I feel like it is fentanyl and it's so scary because, yes, we probably killed our bodies with the substances that, like, we probably did some severe damage to our internal organs, but we weren't going to die from one hit, like some of the kids could. Now with fentanyl, like it, one, one pill kills, like you were saying, and so do you. Do you feel like? You see, is your, like your employee base, the people that come to you, are they on the younger spectrum or the older spectrum, or is it all over? I would say the older spectrum or is it all over? I?

Speaker 2: 30:32

would say the older spectrum. But I would also say there's some days I, I go, I talk about drugs so much with my employees because there's so much happening and I think, oh god, am I thinking about using? And it freaks me out and I literally it happens occasionally I mean it happens more than I, you know, I care to admit sometimes. So I have to literally go home and pray. You know just, I'm grateful to sometimes, so I have to literally go home and pray. You know just, I'm grateful to be sober. God is the only reason that I am sober because he literally, you know, I couldn't do it without him. And I have to go home and pray and then go to sleep because I don't want to think about it. And I wake up and I'm fine, I'm absolutely fine. But there's some days I think about it because I'm literally counseling people not to use. I think about it because I'm literally counseling people not to use.

Speaker 2: 31:17

Or why did you use? Or, you know, why are you selling this? You know there's so many things that could occur and sometimes it wears me out a little bit. Yeah, I would say, a lot of the people, a lot of employees, are from halfway houses, so they live together. You know, and I don't know, I feel like that they have a lot of support with each other. So they bring a van of people that live in these halfway houses that come here, and even Brad, the guy that drives the van he's, you know, we used to run in the same circle, so he's been clean like 16 years. So we all just pull together and I feel like as a unit and try to help each other stay clean and safe. And when someone does relapse and they go back out on the streets, it's heartbreaking. You know it happens a lot and it's hard because but I get so mad it's their decision, only they can say no. We can't say no for them. Only they can want it. We can't want it for them.

Speaker 1: 32:11

Yeah, you were talking about the calls that you get from that you have gotten from people after the story aired and it's moms, sisters, everybody like wanting people, yeah, and I don't know if you can hear my dog barking. My dog, okay good, she thinks nobody is allowed to walk by the house. But anyway, you were saying that you got an influx of calls from loved ones who wanted their loved one to get sober. I feel like there's hope, and something that I always share is we can't drag anyone across the finish line. It has to be because they want it, right, yeah?

Speaker 2: 32:55

And the day after we ran our story, we got up to like 67 employees, which was a lot it wore me out.

Speaker 2: 33:02

I would say 50 is a good number for us, but yeah, we got to 67. But even like some man stopped by and tears in his eyes, you know, thank you for doing that story. I mean it looked like something out of a movie. So many people called, my cell phone was ringing, the office phone was ringing, everything was ringing, because so many people were like I saw your story and it touched me. You know, maybe my kid who's on the run, maybe that you know, could you, would you be willing to give him a job if we find him? Yes, absolutely, you know. It just was amazing how many people it touched and if it gave him hope, that's all that matters, you know, because I remember I needed hope.

Speaker 2: 33:38

I couldn't figure out how to get out of it and I really, at that point I was ready to die. I was tired of trying because it wasn't happening. And I'm like you. I would get clean for three or four days and then I'd go right back into it, because your body just needs it. You don't know how to be without it.

Speaker 2: 34:10

Yeah, so what are some things that you would say to someone who is stuck in that relapse cycle like you, wants to give up, but it hardly ever happens. I would say you're going to definitely have to check yourself into some type of rehab, then they'll help you. You know, even when I went into rehab I was going to be there three months and I was like rushing because I wanted to get out. You need to actually work the process. You know I'm not, I don't go to AA and all that. I just had to get out and realize I can't be friends with the same people. I can't hang out with people that are using anymore. I don't ever take those chances. If I even know that someone's relapsed or they mess around with a dabble in it, I won't go around them because I can't take those chances.

Speaker 2: 34:52

And that was hard, you know. But for me I really feel like if they're going to get clean, they have to go to some type of rehab to help them stay clean and learn how to do life without drugs. You're going to have to learn to recondition everything about your way of thinking. This is silly, but when I first got clean I thought I'm never going to want to clean like my house or my office or anything, because that's what I would do when I get high is clean. That's what I love doing, and it took many, many months before I was like, oh okay, I can, I'll get up and try to clean. It doesn't really seem fun anymore, you know. But now I love cleaning Like it's. It's my fun little thing, you know, and it makes me feel good. But it took a lot of reconditioning my mind to make myself want to start cleaning my house again or organize my room or rearrange or something, so you can do it. It just it's all about reconditioning your way of thinking.

Speaker 1: 35:47

Yeah, and yeah, you touched on this but when you get sober, you are literally the age mentally that you were when you started using. Yes, and giving yourself some grace for that, like understanding that you might be behind the curve, behind the ball, but compared to your peers other people, your age, but you had a setback, you know, when your peers, friends, were out, going to college or starting their careers or furthering themselves in whatever way, you were stunted for however many years it was that you were using and you're not going to get sober and immediately be caught up with everybody else and where they are in life. And so it does take giving yourself grace and saying I am okay because I'm sober and I am working towards where I want to be in life, but really understanding that it sucks.

Speaker 2: 37:01

I feel like you have to stop being so hard on yourself once you finally get clean, because for me, I was working on my thesis for my bachelor's and then I got my first felony. I had gone to school four years and I was like, oh, who cares? Now it's not going to happen and I dropped out of school. And you know there's times I do regret that. But now I own the company and, you know, doing really good today. But it was hard because there were so many times I was so mad at myself.

Speaker 2: 37:26

But I tell my kid all the time don't make those mistakes. You don't want to not be able to get the degree you want or, you know, be able to live where you want. You know, have a good credit score. There's so many things you don't think about until you get clean. My credit score was like four, something I couldn't get approved for, anything you know and now it's 800. And I'm like, oh my gosh, this is amazing. But I don't even think I knew what a credit score meant then. You know I was such a mess. So I do feel like you know that's important to to not be so hard on yourself when you get clean. There's going to be so many things. You've got to start fresh and just you're right, give yourself grace. There's times I really feel like I'm 40, but it's because I lost 12 years of my life to doing drugs, so yeah, yeah Well, it'll keep you feeling young for longer.

Speaker 1: 38:16

I'm smarter now. That's what matters. That is that is what matters. That is that is what matters. And so I think what you're doing is you're really giving hope, and you you're, you are a light in Lubbock, and I think I read somewhere where you're wanting to expand beyond Lubbock. Is that right? I don't know.

Speaker 2: 38:38

We have a lot of employees, plus anyone I hire can work from home. It's more getting them trained and all that kind of stuff. But recently we were in an International Business Times. So that was pretty neat because that's a story that's digital online. It's 55 million viewers a a month and it's globally and in four languages. So when they reached out to me from London and wanted me to do the story, I was like oh gosh, you know, I'm not sure if I should. And then, after doing it, and then they wrote the article, it was so amazing and I cried the whole time.

Speaker 2: 39:14

The man was reading the article to me because it's powerful. You know, it's everywhere, it's not just in the United States. There's drugs everywhere and it affects in every family in some way or another eventually. So it is amazing and I feel like there's not many times I can talk about my recovery and not cry, because it's powerful and I'm just glad to be out alive and turning it into a success. Now, you know my kid says all the time do you wish you had never done drugs? I do wish I'd never done them, but I feel like it did make me who I am and now I can. You know I've got the call center and I can help others that I know they're struggling and how hard it can be, because it just gives them hope, a little bit of hope, and they need it yeah yeah, wow, very powerful, very powerful, and I think that's really important.

Speaker 1: 40:08

you said do do you regret doing drugs like it has shaped us into who we are today. If I showed past Teresa and Jennifer a picture of us doing this right now, I never would have believed it, never.

Speaker 2: 40:29

I agree. But also too, I feel like because of our past, maybe we can save our kids from going never going, down that path. You know like I feel like I'm very strict on my kid when it comes to this kind of stuff because I just don't want him to. You know, I don't. I didn't know what a felony was when I was 13, but my kid does, because we go over it all the time. You know, like the things he shouldn't shouldn't do, because I don't want him to make the same mistakes I did. This was, this was a really hard life, especially for many years when I first got clean. I don't want him to ever have to go through that. So I feel like, because of our paths, we'll be more protective of our children and you know, hope, you know in hopes they never go through this.

Speaker 1: 41:09

Yeah, yes, exactly, and I think what you're doing is going to make such a huge impact Like what you do for your kid, the way that you are educating your son, the way that I'm educating my daughter. You are creating that space and making that possible for all of the people who work at your call center.

Speaker 2: 41:40

It also just accepts them, because another thing thing too is people aren't accepting of it. They're not accepting if you have a felony or if you've had a drug history. They don't trust you, you know, and that's just the hard facts of it. For me I don't care and I I call, like one of my employees the other day. I call him in my office, you know, and he goes into the story. I'm like tell me your story. He goes right into you know the horrible things that he's done. I don't care because at least he's honest with me.

Speaker 2: 42:09

You know, we think differently when we're clean. Anyway, he says all the time he says I give him the credit card to go buy something for the company. He's like oh, you wouldn't want to give me this credit card if I was using. That's true, everyone's so different when they're using it's not even the same person. So it's just amazing to get to see all of my employees. I feel like I love every one of them. It's amazing to get to see how good they're doing because they're clean and sober, watching them get a car, their apartment, getting their kids back. There's so much damage we've done over the years when we do drugs that when they finally get clean and sober, getting to have money in your savings account. It's just an amazing feeling.

Speaker 1: 42:52

Yeah, it really is. It really is. So I wanna ask you to leave the listeners with a few little tidbits. What would you say to someone who is still in active recovery? What would you say to someone who is freshly starting their recovery journey? And what would you say to someone who is a seasoned recovery, seasoned in recovery?

Speaker 2: 43:22

I feel like support. That's the main thing. You have to change all your friends and find friends like we have in the call center. We're all in recovery together and it's like we're one big family and we're going to help each other. My floor supervisor, kristen she's one of my favorite people too. She's quick to call people out. I think they're using, I think they've relapsed, and we call them in here like, look, have you? Half the time they say no and I'm like you could have caught me with a pipe in my hand. I would have said it wasn't mine. I don't believe you because of your actions.

Speaker 2: 43:56

So it's important you need to sometimes have people around you that care, that are going to call you out on it and help you figure out this. This is going to be once you get clean. It'll be the best decision you've ever made, but it's also going to be the hardest thing you've ever done Absolutely the hardest. And a lot of people do give up or they do OD along the way, and it's sad. You just need people that understand what you're going through and that have gone through it and can help you stay strong.

Speaker 2: 44:25

You know it is literally one day at a time, because I remember thinking, oh my gosh, I had $36,000 on child support. I can't find a job. I barely can afford to support this kid. I don't know what to do. But I just started focusing today. Ok, today, just go out and try to find a job. Don't think about that child support. Don't think about all the other things that are you know bills that are piling up or you don't have money for diapers. Just focus on today. Then the next day would come. Focus on today, but go ahead in your mind, think about what you're going to do today, what's on your schedule. So when they say it's one day at a time, it literally is. If you think about what, all the obstacles you're about to have to overcome because you get clean, it's going to make you relapse again because it's a hard.

Speaker 1: 45:08

Yeah, yeah. And I know, when I was very, very, very freshly sober, I had to take it literally hour by hour. I couldn't even think of the entire day. I had to take it hour by hour because the chances of me making it through this hour without using because I lived in the trailer park where I also used- oh gosh.

Speaker 1: 45:33

Yeah, so literally like down the street around the corner. Around this corner were people that I used with people that I could buy from, like it was everywhere. So even going to the mailbox was hard, like, because normally I'd go check the mail and then go around the corner and go hang out and party and use all day, all right.

Speaker 2: 45:55

So my employees too, you just have to get through today. Don't use today. That's all you need to think about. Don't use and go to sleep early. When you get home, if you're struggling, go to sleep. It doesn't matter. When you're sleeping, you're not going to think about it. Wake up and focus on the next day. Don't use the next day.

Speaker 2: 46:12

So it's literally one day at a time, but I would say, like you said, finding the best support you know, because that's going to be the hardest. You can't go back to your old ways of hanging out with different people or you're going to have. For me, the hardest part was not having friends anymore, not having 50 people at my house at all times. I literally had to not have any friends for a while and focus on me, get clean and sober and focus on my child and my job, and that's where I became so obsessed with it. Find a new addiction, a healthy one. Working out. There's a healthy addiction Watching Netflix. It's fine. That could be a new addiction, it doesn't matter. As I just said, coffee. Coffee's my new addiction sometimes, you know, but it's still, it's okay, it's a healthy one. You've got to replace that addiction with something new For me. I did start working out a lot and I didn't really want to, but that's a new addiction right there.

Speaker 1: 47:05

Yeah, yeah, for me, mine was church. I started going to church religiously, like every time the doors were open, I was there, see there's an yeah, you just have to replace it with a new addiction.

Speaker 2: 47:17

That's healthy. Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1: 47:20

I love that. Okay, well, got anything else for us, any last little tidbits or anything?

Speaker 2: 47:27

No, thank you for having me on your podcast today. It's my first podcast and I loved it.

Speaker 1: 47:32

Yes, yay, I'm so glad and I truly, truly think what you're doing is amazing, and I think there is no better place than Lubbock for you to be. I think Lubbock really needs an awakening and a beacon of hope, and I think that's what you're providing. So thank you for being on. Thank you, you, too.