Black Girl, Brown Girl...Squirrel! A Podcast for Neurodivergent Women of Color

S2E2 - From Friendship to Growth: Our Journey Together

• The Squirrels • Season 2 • Episode 2

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Join us as we explore the journey of friendship, self-acceptance, and the behind-the-scenes of podcasting as neurodivergent women of color. We share personal stories, fears, growth, and plans for future episodes, emphasizing authenticity and community support.

CHAPTERS AND TIME STAMPS

00:00 Introduction and Current Life Updates
02:04 The Importance of Support and Right Spaces
03:48 Goals for the Garden and Personal Growth
04:39 Our Friendship's History and Dynamic
06:34 Season One Reflections and Decision-Making Process
10:04 Fears Before Starting the Podcast
15:48 Trust and Commitment in Our Partnership
19:46 Deepening Understanding and Self-Discovery
21:47 Global Reach and Listener Appreciation
23:30 Self-Acceptance and Neurodivergence Journey
29:44 Future Guests and Content Plans
35:03 Season Two and Content Flexibility
42:11 Authenticity and Realness in Our Podcast
45:29 Community Engagement and How to Connect
47:04 Closing Remarks and Next Steps

RESOURCES

ADDitude Magazine: https://www.additudemag.com/

Therapist and Mental Health Resources

CONNECT WITH US

Join our fan page at Fanlist.com/BGBGSquirrel and share your thoughts on this episode, ask questions, or share your story. 

IG: https://www.instagram.com/bgbgsquirrel/

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@bgbgsquirrel

Email: BGBGSquirrel@Gmail.com



RESOURCES

Mental Health Resources

Neurodivergent Resources

CONNECT WITH US

Fan Page: Fanlist.com/BGBGSquirrel 

IG: @BGBGSquirrel

Threads: @BGBGSquirrel

Email: BGBGSquirrel@Gmail.com



Introduction and Current Life Updates

Speaker 4

What are Lex and I up to now? Stay tuned for the next episode of Black Girl, Brown Girl...Squirrel!

Speaker 2

Hey, Squirrel, hey. Hello, Shai.

Speaker 4

How are you? Um, honestly, I'm a little tired right now, but um, I'm good. I've had a busy but good week. So not busy in a bad way, just busying. It's been a busy couple of weeks that I've been involved in some summits and conferences and things like that. So I'm excited about things to come. It's just it's kind of catching up to me. And you can't really slow down when you're an entrepreneur. You kind of, I shouldn't say that because that goes against everything I teach.

Speaker 3

At least you caught yourself.

Speaker 4

I mean, it does in a way, because you do you in a way you can't slow down, but you make room for the slowdown. So I'm in the process of figuring out where I'm going to make that room because I still have at least one other thing I gotta do uh in about a two weeks. And not even two weeks, a week and a half. And then that'll be it for a brief minute. So right now I'm just trying to gauge and I have to prep for that and all of this stuff and re-up my certification, yada yada, yada. Anyway, those are my issues.

Speaker 3

I'm sorry.

Speaker 4

Not a therapy, my bad.

Speaker 3

You have been very busy, but all for good reasons. And I've been actually very happy for you to be busy in these things that are like for your business and helping out with that.

Speaker 4

So thank you. I appreciate that. Because um, you know, like I was telling you, when you finally

The Importance of Support and Right Spaces

Speaker 4

get into the right rooms and the right spaces where you're getting not just the right connections, it's the right support, right? Um, because you can connect with people all day long, but when you make get the right support, it makes all the difference in the world. And that's all any of us are asking for that are entrepreneurs is give us that one, that one chance, that one break. And so things are coming along. Um, but anyway, how are you today?

Speaker 3

I'm feeling pretty good. I slept in today on purpose. I said I ain't got it. I ain't going nowhere until I have to. And then I cleaned up and watered my plants and repotted some plants. Um then I did do some things, but yeah. Nice.

Speaker 4

Yeah, we just got um the new um like little sponges that you put into the for the hydroponic um planters that we have. They're little you have to put the seeds in little sponges, then you put them in these little plastic things, and that's what they grow into. Oh excuse me. And then you take that out and you plant them into the actual flower pot when you're ready to start helping them mature even more. So we finally got those, so I'm getting ready. I'm excited because I have a goal for next year, or for within the year, I should say. So by this time next year, by the time I get ready to turn 53.

Speaker 3

Y'all can't see her, but she did the Kevin Home Alone phase. Yes, I did.

Goals for the Garden and Personal Growth

Speaker 4

Anyhow, then um, so I have some goals that I'm trying, some personal and professional goals. And so one of them is definitely to have a continuous garden of healthy vegetables and things like that for us to pick from. Um, and so I'm we're getting ready to, we have one hydroponic. Um, if you don't know what that is, it's a planter that just runs on water, and so your plants grow in water. You put in a little plant food, and that's what it grows, and it's pretty much organic, like almost 100% organic, and the food tastes so much better. We have a 72-pod one, and then I have a sm much smaller one that's like a nine-pod one. So we're getting ready to start planting some stuff into that. And don't be surprised if I'd be like, hey, you guys need some jalapenos and all that stuff, you know. Um, so yeah. But so yeah,

Our Friendship's History and Dynamic

Speaker 4

today's episode. So let's get into this. I shouldn't say today's this week's episode. So let's get into that. So one of the things we wanted to talk about, we've kind of alluded to it, but we felt like let's really kind of talk about this was the history of our friendship. Because as you know, I'm a uh Gen X, middle, right in the middle, and Lex is the younger end of the millennials. So, you know, talking about our friendship, uh, I'm literally a year older than her mother. Let's just I do not let her or her mother forget that. So I'm old enough to be Lex's mom, and I'm a year older than her mother. So I'm walking around here calling her mama Mama Kim, even though her mom is- I don't know why you're doing that.

Speaker 3

That's your sister.

Speaker 4

Okay, because when you introduced me to her, and it's so funny because the way I'm introduced to somebody is how I refer to them. So you were like, This is my mama Kim. So I called her.

Speaker 3

So you said I should also call her Mama Kim? That's it.

Speaker 4

No, it's how my brain works shut up. So it's Mama Kim. And and then when I found out how old she was, I was like, oh my God, that's the little sister Kim. Her mom is drop dead gorgeous, by the way. No cat. She's very pretty.

Speaker 3

She don't be thinking that she is. I'm like, Mama, you're actually beautiful, but okay.

Speaker 4

She really is. Um, she's got short hair, um, nice salt and pepper. Her skin is as smooth as a baby's bottom, no lie. Um, and I don't say that's because black don't crack, I say that that's because it's really good genetics. Because I've seen some black folks that done crack, so let's just not even but they cracked. Um also what makes her beautiful is because of who she is inside to.

Season One Reflections and Decision-Making Process

Speaker 4

My mom is uh actually an amazing person. So what we wanted to talk about today is our friendship and just kind of start walking you down that path a little bit of how we became friends and all of that. But before we go there, because we'll talk about that in the very next episode. But before we go there, one of the things I thought we should do is talk about season one. And because I remember when I approached you about this, I thought you responded within 24 hours. She was like, No, friend, it took me a week to get back to you to give you the yes.

Speaker 3

And I'm no, you have a well, of course, that's kind of the premise of this show, but you don't have a good memory, friend. So you presented this idea to me and said, What if we did it? And I said, My first inclination is yes, but let me think about some stuff to make sure I'm not overcommitting myself. And then weeks went by. So I had been thinking, I have been doing pros and cons, I had been prabbing and all this stuff thinking about this. Then we arranged to meet at your house to talk about it some more for me to ask some important questions. Uh-huh. So at that point, I only needed answers to certain questions, and then to go get an outside person to be like, Am I missing anything from this stuff? Before I gave you a yes. So you're like, you said yes the next day, and I'm like, girl, no, I said yes the next month.

Speaker 4

I remember what I wanted to remember.

Speaker 3

And that's all the time.

Speaker 4

Actually, it's not all the time just because you have this whole photographic memory think you sh, but I actually used to have a pretty good photographic memory when I was younger. That's wild. Like, honestly, I could tell you, like, I remember in um high school, I was in tenth grade, Mr. Bennett's class. I think it was tenth grade. And he had we had to read the Scarlet Letter, because we were doing a midterm. And I'm not one, despite how verbose I have been told that I am, I'm not one for flowery language when I'm reading a book.

Speaker 3

Oh, when you're reading a book, okay.

Speaker 4

Yeah, when I'm reading books. So if if you tell me the sky is blue, it's blue. Let's move on. If you tell me the grass was green, it's green. Let's move on. And so um Hawthorne uses a lot of flowery language. Can we get to the point? And I know that's really ironic for someone who has ADHD and talks. But anyway, so we had a uh like half of our grade was on this book. I don't even know if I even got past the first page or two because I was like, I literally stayed home. I remember my mom was frying some chicken that day and everything. I stayed home and I read the entire book in one day, 800 and semi-pages in one day. Even my mom was like, Are you okay? I was like, I gotta finish this book. And then when I went to take the test the very next day, I could tell him what chapter, page, paragraph, certain things I was pulling from

Fears Before Starting the Podcast

Speaker 4

was on. I used to have a very photographic memory, and now you're right, my my memory has gone to Ninka Poop. So to an extent. But that could be for various reasons. So yeah, honestly, I think more of it has to do with medication than almost anything else. Like different medications have been on over the years. Um yeah. Anyway, now you know how we got to boom, let's do the show, which I think we talked about in season one. What were some of the fears and concerns you had before we started the show and then once we did start the show?

Speaker 3

Um, I think at first I was like, what if it's bad? And I know that sounds so silly, but I was like, what if we it just is bad? Like, what if we listen to them? I'm like, ooh, this is I listen to a lot of podcasts. Don't ask me how many. I literally don't know. I've tried a bunch over the years, like it's various topics, various people.

Speaker 4

And Jazzy already addicted to podcasts. I've just accepted that for what it is.

Speaker 3

And she she just trying to be like me because she didn't start listening to them until recently. She was like, Why would I say, Why would you not? Um But I I was like, what if it's bad? And then I was like, well, what do I actually have to offer to this topic? Because yes, I have my own lived experiences, but I don't have like it is not my expertise, right? Clinical knowledge, right? There we go.

Speaker 4

But I'm like, oh goddamn. So you're like, my degree ain't in it. It ain't no, it ain't even in the job I do.

Speaker 3

So it's a little bit uncleared, but um, yeah, I was like, I don't, I don't know. How's it gonna go? And then there's like the usual kind of nervousness about you no one likes how their own voice sounds. Your voice could be perfectly fine, but like, oh, I hate my voice. Um, so I was like, oh, I know I don't really like how my voice how's it gonna sound recorded over all these episodes? Ugh. I because I have quit a show because I said this person has an annoying voice. I can do it. Same. And I'm like audiobooks. Oh my gosh, audiobooks for a the read, I ooh, I quit. I'm like, let me go find this book to read because I can't.

Speaker 4

So I'm saying almost always why I have a physical copy because one, I prefer a physical copy, but if I go to listen to an audiobook and it I I listen to the samples before I even buy it, because if I cannot stand the sample, I learn it after I make the mistake of buying some books and then not liking the voice. So now I listen to the samples first. But yeah, I'm like, I I understand. Yeah.

Speaker 3

Um, and then I was like, what if nobody listens to it? And half the stuff I had was just imposter syndrome. We've already discussed this at length. Um, this is just what I've got going on. Um and lo and behold, y'all jokers listening to this show, we've been gone. Like, not that that number's still increasing.

Speaker 4

Thank y'all. Right? I saw that. I was like, wow, we ain't been on the air in like what was it, three months?

Speaker 2

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4

Yeah. So I mean, but that's a good thing, and we appreciate that because yeah, you're right. You don't know your um, it reminded me of when of this conference I was just at, the young lady. Um, she um breaks down like movies and things like that in in TV series, and she breaks them down and like explains them and and she ties it into current pop culture and what's going on in the world and different things like that. It's really cool. At least it's fascinating to me. And she said when she started, she was like, uh, she because she posts on LinkedIn and she was like, I thought I was just talking to myself. And I thought, what if nobody ever follows? Now I looked at her number count, she's like at 2,500 uh followers. Um, that's a decent size, especially on LinkedIn, because you know how hard it is there. And she was like, and then people wouldn't always engage, but they would like might click like or something like that, but they wouldn't always engage with commenting. And she was like, Well, am I just talking to myself? And we were like, girl, keep talking because your audience will find you. I said, I'm number one, because you said you broke down the matrix. I need to go through and read what you wrote when you broke that down because I have my own things about that. Um, and she, her significant other, um, he is a screenwriter. So when they watch TV, he's breaking things down by here's plot point one, plot point two, they're gonna draw this in, here's the arc, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And she is a chemist and some other kind of scientific something, something I can't remember. Um, so she is analytical from the start, you know. So we told her, rest assured, your people are going to find you. Just keep posting and doing what you're doing. And I guarantee you, not two speakers later, somebody was was referring to the X-Men and their speech and talking about Jean Gray and how she unleashed her power, her power was unleashed, and how we in the

Trust and Commitment in Our Partnership

Speaker 4

corporate world, not just women, but in the corporate world, oftentimes our power is hindered by an exavier. Sometimes we get intention, sometimes not. You know, so I was like, mm-hmm, see, there go your point. That's my point. You could be going around training people doing this, and if somebody steals her idea, I am coming for you. But anyway, you know, so she now understands, and I said, I will mentor you on the training part, you just keep doing what you're doing. So there's that. Um, but I felt the same way too. I didn't have any fears with so much as whether or not you and I would work. My fear was whether or not you would want to stick it out. Hmm. Please tell me more about that fear. Because I know that you are a woman of your word. Yet I know that doing this medium, it takes commitment. It takes time. A lot of people don't realize exactly how much time can go into the back of this. You were like, I don't know what goes into doing a podcast. And I was like, well, if I start breaking it down, I'm probably gonna scare her away. But here's some of the things she needs to know. And then eventually you'd be like, no, no, no, no. I want to understand the business side of things. So, what's the finances behind supporting this podcast? Of course, because that's also, you know, you're a numbers person. Um, I want to understand how are we organized? Like, how do we decide our topics? How do we plan out what we're gonna do when all these different things? So you did want to learn those nuances, but my thought was she might get tired of doing this and might get bored after a while and just be like, I'm out. So that was um, it was a fear that I had when I started my first podcast of don't walk away, stay consistent, just keep putting it out there. And it's not always easy to do because like my other podcasts, I kind of do it almost in real time. I don't always plan out my topic. Something might strike me, and I'm like, I'm gonna go ahead and record. There's other times where I'm planned out in my head, like I want to talk about this and this and this. Okay, so now I'm gonna go in and record and do whatever. So my fear wasn't whether or not we would get listeners. My fear was not anything other than will she want to stick this out after a while? Because it can get a little challenging to do. And when you started really taking an interest in the operations and the business side, and then thank goodness you came in and said, Okay, I'm gonna manage this because this is in my wheelhouse. I got this part, and I'm gonna push this off to you if you don't mind. It, you know, it was like, okay, cool. So yeah, now I feel like we have um we've worked through any potential molehills that could have become mountains because of communication. We make it a point to try to communicate with each other and make sure we understand each other. Um, and you have also very much helped me to communicate with our podcast editor because our podcast editor is also on the autism spectrum. And no two people are alike just because they share the same neurodivergence. So there's a dance that has to be done there. There's things that I understand that Alexa's like, what did that mean? And then there's other things where I'm sitting there and she's like, no, shy, that's not no. This is how you need to explain it. And I'm like, oh, well, I thought that's what I said. No, that's not

Deepening Understanding and Self-Discovery

Speaker 4

what you said. My bad. So it ended up working out. Um, and I I always want to give acknowledgement and and to um Peyton. Her name is Peyton Cross of Peyton Cross Productions, um, because um she's growing with us, she's working with us, and it's not always easy. She's juggling two different people, and so there's times where we had to sit down, and you and I had to say, okay, what are our expectations of each other? And as well as of working with her and that kind of a thing. And so now I feel like things are going nicely, and because they're going smoothly, as we come up across other things, we're resolving them more quickly, and the conversation's always been honest and and open. So yeah, it's been great. And I'm glad that you were like, hey, so when we doing season two, and I was like, Oh, great, she wants to come back.

Speaker 2

She wants to come.

Speaker 3

That is so funny. Um, I think some of this might be need to be reserved for another episode that we have planned, but I do think that um some of your fears might be from maybe not knowing me as well as you might know me better now. Yes.

Speaker 4

And that that has been um, so yeah, I we'll have to do that.

Speaker 3

Which is crazy because we were already close. So that's proof you always get to know your people more and more. Exactly. Exactly.

Speaker 4

So yeah, we're gonna reserve that for the next episode because that is planning to explore that. I think it's a beautiful thing. It's like any relationship. Um, you know, I've been married going on 25 years, and I'm still learning things about my husband. And he's he's still learning things about me because he wasn't paying attention from day one, but that's a whole nother story. No, but you you do. And you when you when there's people that you care about, you are paying attention to them and you're learning more. So, and also too, because we're talking about a different side of ourselves that we didn't talk about before. That is very true.

Global Reach and Listener Appreciation

Speaker 3

It's very true.

Speaker 4

So yeah.

Speaker 3

Well fears, but uh how you feel now? I know for myself, I feel like some of the stuff I was worried about, I was like, well, whatever. I'm like, if y'all don't like my voice, you probably dipped out a long time ago. Um I was like, somebody thinks this is good, because we got people. I'm looking at the the list of countries where our downloads are happening. And so the United States is the number one, which makes sense. We are from the United States. Number two, Somalia.

Speaker 1

I know. I'm sorry, I was drinking some water and was holding him up. Really?

Speaker 3

Yeah. We've really got folks all over the place. I mean, I knew we have folks all over the place. Vietnam, Turks and Caicos, Ukraine, Argentina, the Netherlands. Now, was that you when you rolled through the Netherlands? Was that just you downloading the episode through there? No, that was.

Speaker 4

I did not download, I did not even look at our episode in the Netherlands.

Speaker 3

That's wild. Bangladesh, like we are, I didn't even name everybody, and I'm sorry if I missed you, but this list is long. And so I was like, okay, people actually do find this thing interesting. That is really cool.

Speaker 2

Thanks for taking us global. That is fabulous. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. All over the place.

Speaker 4

Um, wait a minute, but they're in the middle of a war in Ukraine and y'all taking the time to listen to us, like, boo, thank you.

Speaker 3

Because, like, like in all seriousness, like for that's what I'm saying.

Speaker 4

Like, for real, for real.

Speaker 3

Thank you. Because, yeah.

Speaker 4

Because that's that's I don't take

Self-Acceptance and Neurodivergence Journey

Speaker 4

that stuff lightly. Like, that's, you know, there's a lot of junk happening around the world right now, and stuff we don't even hear about in the US because of, believe it or not, how they censor our news. So, unless we're watching news channels of other countries, you're not getting news of what's really happening around the world. I'll give you an example. When we were in Indonesia, we were watching the news, even though we don't always understand everything, but even some of the news that was in English, the stuff we learned about in other countries, absolutely amazing. And not all of it was bad. Literally, not all of it's bad. But unlike here in Atlanta, where we're constantly hearing about somebody getting killed, somebody getting shot, somebody this and something that, you we were not hearing that on, they were not reporting that locally over there. And I'm like, this is kind of refreshing. Now, not to say that they didn't report on other things and that other news channels, you know, I'm a big fan of the BBC, despite some of the challenges they face. Um, but you know, they were reporting on other countries around the world. So you at least got to see what was going on, and they made the rest of the world matter. So to know that we've gone global and in a country like Ukraine where we know there's so much unrest right now, I am literally blown away. So thank you very much. May you be safe and well. That's all I can say to that.

Speaker 3

And the same to anybody in any of these places that have something going on that either we have forgotten or that we just don't know about because we just have different access to different news for all these different reasons. So yeah, we appreciate every single one of you who make it a point to listen because you don't have to. There's a lot of content out there. Right. Um something else that I have come to be like, you know what, it's fine. Like I'm always battling perfectionism, and something that I'm always concerned about is getting on here and saying something incorrectly, like giving out wrong information or misspeaking about something. Um, and I've gotten to a point where my all I could do is try my best and just correct if needed. I've already like I remember I was speaking about something, and then the next day I read something, I was like, Oh, I didn't use that correctly. Well, it's gone down, it's out there. Well, I can circle back to that another time. Or even someone else I was communicating with was like, hey, you mentioned this and this organization. Did you know this and this was going on? And I said, I had no clue. Yep. This come this organization went through all this, went through a rebrand. By the time they went through the rebrand, I was just now being like, you know, I think I might be autistic. I'm behind. I didn't even know they had all this going on. And because I'm also chronically offline, a lot of this stuff will come up on social media. I ain't there. I didn't see that. Yes. I had no clue. So I'm like, oh, huh. Okay, look into that. And I remember when I got the information about it, it was not in any way in like a you're wrong, you suck. It was more like a hey, did you notice? And I remember I felt a pit in my stomach because I was like, oh no, I messed up. And then I said, But do you need to feel this way? That's what that therapy be helping. Yep. You still have your reactions to things, but it's how you handle it. And I said, Do you need to feel this way? Is this actually as big as the feeling that you're feeling is telling you that it is? And also, can you just learn from it and talk about it another time? Probably. Okay, then do that. So it's been um, it's almost been like humbling in a way, because I I can't show up perfect here. It's not possible. I'm not perfect. I also don't know everything. So there's gonna be situations that come on like I actually don't know. Or I'll come be like, I think this, or I always thought this, or I always was taught this, and then find out, nah, that's different. That's different now. And I'm not gonna be able to stop that. And it's just kind of it is what it is.

Speaker 4

Yeah, and you know what? Um for me, I think I was okay with that because I guess because I came from the mindset of as we build this community, we're gonna learn and grow together. I'm late diagnosed, I've only been diagnosed two years. I have so much to learn. So much about myself, about our community, reprogramming my brain in the sense of getting rid of ableist talk that was and words that were ingrained in me, and washing my brain away from imposed neurotypical thoughts and feelings and thinking. Um, not that I don't need to be aware of those, but I'm living in my truth. And my truth says that's not that's not how I operate and function and who I am. For me, where I am now, as far as all of that, I don't have a fear that you're gonna back out because we talk a lot and you're in this for the long haul. And I can tell by the way that you talk and what you're thinking, and um even with how you're handling the back-end operations and certain things that you're bringing to my attention, it's like boom, I'm excited about that. I got over folks in my voice a long time ago because, like I said, I had my other podcast, so that doesn't bother me anymore. I was a little concerned because we took some time off. But the other thing that I was reminded of during my first podcast, because I've taken a lot of time off there as well, longer than the time we took off here. But what I learned was if your audience is there, your audience will be there. And if they liked you, they will continue to like you, they will come back, you will find new people. I'm always excited to see where

Future Guests and Content Plans

Speaker 4

we have listeners coming from because I'm fine that the list, like our top three or our top five, changes like almost every week when the numbers pull. So it's really, really interesting. But I'm grateful to know that there are people around the world, women, and might be men listening too, but there are people around the world who feel like we're adding value to them in their lives. They haven't seen us, so they're not judging us by our looks. They're definitely judging by our voice and the content, they're judging by the content. I'm just so grateful that you guys are there. And yeah, I don't have any, I don't have any more fears. I really don't. I would have said that I would have been fearful of seeing how big this can grow, but I'm not fearful of that either. I'm grateful if we're able to bring in whatever number into our community because this is where they feel like they need to be and that we're helpful. And yes, we're gonna make mistakes. We are still learning, we're not experts in our field. We'll talk about that a little bit more later, but you know, we're we're doing this just like you guys are, taking it one step at a time.

Speaker 1

That's all we can do.

Speaker 4

Speaking of that, so we've kind of accepted where we are right now in our journey as podcasters together. What about your personal journey? Where are you right now as far as your self-acceptance? Where are you in your journey? Where do you see yourself possibly diving into next or going to next in your journey?

Speaker 3

Um, I remember it might have been episode like two or three, where I talks about being feeling disconnected from claiming that I'm autistic because I don't have like a formal diagnosis. Um, when I tell you I don't care about that no more, and let me tell you why. Um I have to live my life feeling very autistic every day. Um I have so many other things going on. Like even me like discussing the previous episode about the loss that my family has had. I do not care if you're like, well, actually, you're not autistic. Well, actually, you can get out of my face because I got other stuff I gotta take care of. Go to this, gold sis. And I just I don't I I deal with myself like an autistic person. I tend to myself and my needs like an autistic person. So it doesn't mean that like seeking out formal diagnosis is like not on the table at all for me, but it's not something that I hang on to to feel like I don't, like I haven't earned this title because again, you don't have to earn it. It's a disability. You don't have to earn a disability. That's crazy. Um I just have other things that I have to care about, and caring about what other people think about me in that way is not in my list of priorities. I do not have the capacity for that.

Speaker 4

I just had a funny when you were like, I don't have to earn a disability. And I was like, Yeah, and you don't have to earn a degree or a certificate in your disability. You know what I'm saying? Like we don't have to earn a degree or a certificate to say that we know how to read or we know how to walk or eat or whatever. So why do we have to do that for? So you're absolutely right. But I'm glad that you're at that space now because um that is a big step. Like I said previously, you are one of the most self-aware people that I know. So to know that that was still something that was challenging for you um says a lot. Um, because of the self-awareness you have, I didn't realize that that was something that you were still grappling with, but I'm glad to see that you've come into self-acceptance of that as well. Because no, it doesn't matter if you're self-diagnosed or not. There's many people that are not officially diagnosed. The one thing that I don't particularly feel comfortable with, and I know this is probably gonna ruffle some feathers out there, I don't like people cracking jokes about being neurodivergent. What when they say things like, um, you know, I can't remember, I just might be ADHD or something. Well, we all are. That's when I have an issue. But when you know I'm checking the boxes mentally on a if I had to check a list, I'm checking the boxes on a list. So I know this is what I am working with and this is how I'm going to identify, then check your boxes, boo, and identify and come on into the community and be all right. I'm at a much better place too, as far as my self-acceptance. Um, like I said, from day one, I started telling people I had ADHD. For me, it is still challenging to accept some of the emotions around the decisions that I made with ADHD, with my

Season Two and Content Flexibility

Speaker 4

PDA, with my dyscalkalia, and just recognizing those are legit. This is why, and now you work to overcome those things to understand why I have to have systems in place for things for myself and then also for my business. So I'm working on that. That's part of my growth process over the next year, where I see myself going over the next years, really working on those things and adjusting. So we didn't want to make this a super long episode. We wanted to start with that, but we do want to fill you in on some of the things you can expect this season from us and going forward. Um, first of all, we're excited because we do have some guests lined up to come and be on our show. And they are other neurodivergent women, professionals in the space. There are going to be others that are like us that are just regular old neurodivergent women that's going about living their lives, but how we'll learn more about how they are making an impact either in their industry or how they have also too come into self-acceptance and self-awareness and what we can learn from them as well. And this is one of the other things, too. So if you notice in season one, we kind of started in one place and we kind of went from point A to point Z, just a straight line. And that was because we wanted to make sure that those that were coming into our space would have a foundation if they weren't familiar with neurodivergence, if they weren't familiar with the words that are used in our community, if they weren't familiar with resources, all these different things. We wanted to have that foundation laid. And we'll come back and revisit those and update those and everything. But going forward, we're gonna talk about what we want to talk about when we want to talk about it, y'all.

Speaker 3

That's right. We'll do what we don't.

Speaker 4

So, like we do have a couple of episodes planned out here and there. Other than that, we are going to come to you and we're gonna be straight shooters. Some of our episodes, like like I mentioned previously, will be more refined and we'll have them edited, especially when we have professionals on here, because we want to make sure that when they use this, that they can use it for their professional needs. And you know, we may need to use them for ours. And at other times, they're gonna be raw, unedited, and unfiltered, and just be like, okay, the dog is barking in the background, the garbage truck is going by. Um, it is what it is.

Speaker 3

We got fusion.

Speaker 4

I did a podcast interview with somebody else um not long ago. And when I watched it back, she edited some, it was light edits to it, and I didn't mind, I trusted her. But when I listened back to it, I can hear my nails like clicking on the desktop and and I was like, wow. And it was like the faintest of things, but like you said, my mic was super sensitive, so it was picking up things, and I was like, it is what it is. So you might hear me drinking some water or some vodka. It just is what it is, whatever it is, because that's what we want to do. We want to keep it as real and as authentic as possible. We keep saying that because that's who we are, and we're not gonna change that. Um, some of the plans we have going forward. Wow. What we're gonna talk about some of everything, the resources that have benefited us and helped us. You heard us talk about Dr. A. Unfortunately, we can't have her on the show because of um client doctor confidentiality.

Speaker 3

She's like actively our therapist, so she can't be here.

Speaker 4

Yeah. Well, I graduated from therapy, but no, I'm just kidding. But yeah, she's she's still in the therapist phone book. But we will have professionals come on. Um, we are trying to keep it to other women of color that are professionals because that's our community. That's who we serve. Um, we also want to make sure that the guests that we bring on are also people that serve our community. Let me tell y'all something. This is a fun go ahead. So go ahead. We've had people email us to say that they were representing those that might be interested in coming on our show. Great, love it. Let's talk. So we're looking at um the information. Like sometimes they don't send information, they're just like, hey, um, I've got somebody that might, you know, might be a good fit for your show, blah, blah, blah, blah, and and we'll respond back. Send us their links, let us check them out. What information do we need to know about this person? Some of them they just throw it all in the email. Well, anyway, what had happened was at least two of these inquiries were um, how do I put this delicately? They were women that were not women of color. And so we're looking at like, huh? So then I said, well, maybe they serve our our specific community because there are some that will work and serve our community. Like Dr. A is not a black woman, but she has served our community. So we go and look and start doing research on these people. And when I tell you research, I am looking at their websites, their LinkedIns, I am looking at all their social media. We are like devouring everything that we can find about these people. We have to go far. We didn't even have to go that deep. Because the first click on the first link took us to the land of Mayonasia.

Speaker 3

It was the original whites. It was, yeah, it was and like even their own marketing materials make it very clear to me that I am not your intended audience. Exactly.

Speaker 4

Like you didn't, you might have seen a blotch of color and like all the images, and it was like one. So clearly, this is not the person for our audience. Then we have someone else that wait, and then not only that, because you could tell that they don't listen to the show. Before I get to that person, this this one person sent us a series of links. We go through all the links. Why was all these links her? And then one link didn't even belong to her. It did belong to a black woman, but she wasn't even in our she had nothing to do with anything that we're talking about. But everything else, I was like, clearly, you don't listen.

Speaker 3

And when I tell you this dude hounded us for months, even when you told him in a very professional way that we're a small team and we've got a lot of personal things happening right now, and so your our responses might be delayed, so just give us a moment. And it was like back to back. And I told you, I was just close to emailing old boy, being like, I can't answer your emails because I'm helping to plan a funeral, okay? I'm busy. I hope you feel my tears through this keyboard, okay? Um, I had to stop listening to the case. I was very upset.

Speaker 4

Tell

Authenticity and Realness in Our Podcast

Speaker 4

him life is lifing, and so let's just run down the list of and that that's just a small amount of stuff we were dealing with. Um, and so then one other person emailed us, and they emailed us somebody that was not in our field, did not serve our community. And when I say our community, I'm talking about women with color, and did not serve our community. And it was just like, I'm like, and they were like, they would be an excellent fit for your show. Have you listened to the show?

Speaker 3

They said, we love how you discussed this, this, and this. I'm like, we've never talked about that at all. None of it.

Speaker 4

None of it. It was like saying, we love how you talk about hurricanes, volcanoes, and dinosaurs. We ain't never talked about that. Not at all. So, yeah. So we vet whoever is going to be on this show, and we are going to make sure the people that we have lined up, some of them you will have heard of, some of them you will not, some of them you will wish you had known, and then you will because we will have hooked you up. But we vet the people that are going to be on this show. Now, granted, we can't have anybody on the show, not a single person, not nail one, till we have show bestie jazzy on the show. Our first guest slot has already been given to her. So we we already said no, can't we can't do otherwise. But after that, yes, we are going to have others on the show. We will have professionals, we are going to have everyday Joes. We want you guys to be a part of the show. Um, we want to be able to help tell your stories, get you answers. Um, we want to hear how you're doing if you hear noise. In the background, that's my husband and my dog. So I told you we're keeping it real. This is what's going on. Um, so it's all good. Um, so when we move forward and have guests on the show, we want you to know that's what it is, and we are going to keep a lot of our production just raw. And a lot of that is because, yes, it may irritate some of us, but you know what? We're also dealing with everyday life. So there are going to be times when we may come to you and we are, you know, we have to tell you we're overstimulated right now. And give us a moment as we talk through and kind of breathe our way through and all that kind of stuff. Because some of you are coming to the show overstimulating. There are times where we're gonna come in, like in our first episode of the season, where we're gonna be emotional. There's times when we're gonna come in and we're gonna be giddy and happy. And other times we just gonna be like, what's up, y'all?

Speaker 3

And um, to be very honest and shy, you can keep this in or not. Um, making these episodes sound very clean, that's not free, y'all. That's not free. No. So if we are also just like, hmm, I have other expenses in my life that I have to tend to before that part. Then y'all might have a little background noise. Um, I'm not trying to knock on no microphone, but you know, we're gonna do our best. Yeah, we're not monetizing

Community Engagement and How to Connect

Speaker 3

it. Yeah, realistically speaking, that it's not free to make a show. And if any of you also have a podcast of your own or if you've been listening to them for a while, you know that the people who are participating in the production of the show, it costs money. So just be honest about that too, y'all. This ain't free.

Speaker 4

I mean, and yeah, you know, and honestly, you know, we we went back and forth about having a membership and all of that kind of stuff, and we don't know what the future is gonna hold. And we're not saying we're gonna start doing all that stuff now because quite frankly, neither one of us got the time to set up no membership communities and all of that kind of stuff. We will figure out what we figure out as we go forward. But the reality is that yes, there's a lot of things that go into this. There's a lot of time, energy, and effort, a lot of thought, our physical energy and things like that. So, one of the things that we have learned is we're a good team. We do work well together, and we also have lowered our own expectations for ourselves, so to speak. Not that we're gonna give you a crappy show. I don't mean it like that. But like Lex was just talking about perfectionism. We're not striving for perfectionism, we're trying, we're striving to bring you honest, authentic selves and knowledge and resources you can use. Simple as that. So that is our entire goal. And so we will do that in any way we can. It may be polished and pretty, and at other times it's gonna be like us, like we are in the morning when we get up and you

Closing Remarks and Next Steps

Speaker 4

take that bonnet off and your hair just flies out all over the place, and you'd be like, oh well. But with that being said, I do want to say Lex is laughing at me, but I mean, hashtag facts. Um, but let me say this um before we get ready to wrap up on this episode is that you know, we would love to hear from you truthfully. We want to know what some of your challenges are. How can we help you overcome those? That helps us shape and form who we have on the show, the research that we do, um, to make sure we're not just coming solely from our lens. Remember, I'm ADHD, PDA, dyscakolea, and Lex is autistic. There's a whole range that covers us in the neurodiverse space, not being neurodivergent. So we want to make sure we are talking to each and every one of you and addressing each and every every one of you. If you're raising children, little black and brown girls who are neurodivergent. When I say brown, that also includes our Asian sisters. You know, if you're raising a young girl of color, we also want to hear from you. What can we do to help you? What are some of the things that you've learned? What are some of the challenges you faced? If you are treating women of color, we want to hear from you. If you are a doctor or another professional that can add to the conversation, or if you are a professional or everyday Joe that's wants to add to the conversation, here's some of the things I've learned. We want to talk to you. So don't hesitate to reach out to us. We do not hide how to reach out to us. Y'all know we are on Instagram and threads, BGBG Squirrel. You know that you can reach us through Gmail, BGBG Squirrel at gmail.com. We are on all the platforms all around the world, as you know. So you can like, share, and comment there. You also know that you can reach us on famlist.com forward slash BGBG Squirrel. And you can leave comments there. You can leave voice um uh voicemails there, so audio voicemails. Um, we haven't even set up donations and all of that kind of stuff. No, haven't done it. Maybe one day we will, but right now, all we're interested in is making sure that we're putting out good content that makes you feel good when you listen to us. You feel like you're sitting with your squirrel girlfriends and people that get you.

Speaker 3

I think I've reached the end of my amount of words I have, if I'm so honest. It's all good.

Speaker 4

I'm breaking down. It's all good, and we're gonna keep it real. We often try to film more than one show in a day so we can conserve our own energy and our own mental space. That's the other thing, too. Now you know what goes into the show, you know what our plans are going to be for the upcoming season. We're super excited, and we can't wait to continue to grow with you and to continue sharing with you.

Speaker 2

So, with that being said, I guess it's we'll see you next week, y'all. Bye.

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Lex

Host
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Shai

Host
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Payton

Editor

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