Here's Why You Should Ruin Your Reputation

Ruining your reputation sounds reckless until you realise how many of your choices are being made for an audience that is not even watching. We get honest about the invisible pressure to stay “on brand,” stay likable, stay polished, and stay available, and how that pressure can make you overthink yourself into a smaller life. 

We break down the difference between your professional reputation (protect it) and your personal reputation (stop letting it run your day). From the myth of perfectionism to the trap of being the dependable person everyone leans on, we talk boundaries, bandwidth, and why saying “no” can be an act of self-respect. We also dig into how social media amplifies fear of judgment, why “brand safe” thinking can block blessings, and why you cannot be successful and universally liked. 

Then we share uncommon decisions that changed our lives, like walking away from a corporate job during uncertainty and choosing community college as a smarter, less debt-heavy path. If you have been tiptoeing around what you really want, this conversation will help you choose peace over image and take the risk with a clear mind. Subscribe, share with a friend who needs the push, and leave a review telling us what label you are ready to drop.

Transcript

Welcome And Listener Review

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Hi guys, welcome back to another episode of Elevators Podcast. If you're driving at the gym somewhere and you're just tuned in on audio, I'm Crystal Vega.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

That's right, and I'm Amanda Booze. Thank you so much for tuning in to another episode. We know you guys love it here, and we love you here. Each and every time we drop a new one, we see the amount of people that are watching, we see the amount of people that are clicking play. We can see, we can see the numbers. So we appreciate every single one of you guys, and we really and truly mean that. Our podcast would not be going strong and going this long without you. You guys know some podcasts will be on for a year, six months. And then and then you don't find them anymore. So you guys really are the fuel to keep us going. So we're trying to grow over here on this platform as we've been trying to grow. So the amount of times that you guys share this podcast with somebody, it really means a lot. Speaking of sharing the podcast, I want to share a review from one of our listeners on our show because we love hearing from you. So this one says, My favorite podcast. I absolutely love elevators. Amanda and Crystal are such a powerful duo. Their energy, honesty, and sisterhood shine through every episode. It truly feels like I'm listening to two best friends having real inspiring conversations. This podcast uplifts, empowers, and entertains all at once. Keep soaring, ladies. Yay! Thank you. That was so sweet. Oh my gosh. Thank you so much for that review. And if you guys want to leave us any comments, if you want to say anything, you want to be like, hey, sis, let's talk about this. I love this outfit. Where is this outfit from? Or just whatever you want to say, tap us on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast, and also YouTube, wherever you guys are watching us. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Girl, how you been? Oh, girl, I'm good. Lots of things happening, super busy, you know, travel for work, all the things, but I am very good. How

Life Updates And Skin Care Talk

SPEAKER_00 2:05

are you?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I am doing good. I actually last week I was off the grid. I know you guys have probably not seen me posting in quite some time. Well, really, like a week and some change. But I don't know what possessed me to get a chemical peel, but I got a chemical peel on my skin last week. I do not advise. I do recommend, 10 out of 10 recommend, but I do not advise getting them done in the summertime. But I don't know. I went to my girl who's my esthetician down here, and she's like, oh, do you want to get one? And I'm like, you know what? Absolutely. Love the results. Just hate the time frame. I decided to do it. But yeah, outside of just peeling like a snake last week, I'm okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:47

I'm okay. I've been wanting to try a chemical peel on my face, but I'm so scared. But you know what I do? Really? I want to get rid of my freckles. There's like a lazy.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

You want to get rid of them? Yes. Girl, people are getting makeup tattoos of freckles now. Did you know that? There's like tattooed. People are doing tattoo freckles. There's makeup, there's a tap, there's freckle makeup out there of people who want to put freckles on. I think they're beautiful. I feel like freckles is like a beauty mark, you know? They're cute, but I have a lot, and freckles make you look older, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

They like sit.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

Is it something that you feel like developed over time or have you always had them?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

It's from being under the sun. Ah. Okay. I've never always had, I have like two beauty marks here on my face and like one here somewhere. I don't even know what they are. Um, but I have a lot of freckles from the sun specifically. So I'm like, I can get I could I can get rid of a couple. I'll be fine.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Listen, I'm telling you, try a chemical. If you've never tried a chemical peel before, try it. I've I feel like I'm like, I don't want to say an expert, but I've done multiple, I've done a very aggressive chemical peel and I've very done a very light one. The one I did last week is very light, but it may, if it is due to the sun, it may even be sunspots. You may be able to see if it takes the freckles or the sunspots off your skin, but it's super light. Um, well yeah, I'd say look into that. Or lasers, girl, they have like microderm lasers, all types of things. I feel like we're at that stage now. Um, with our our at our age where our skin is more mature now, so we have to really be like paying so much attention. I'm like, I can't gone are the days where I'm going to Sephora and trying every product. I can't do that anymore. My skin will scream.

SPEAKER_00 4:26

Yeah. So yeah, I agree. But I'm so excited to talk about today's topic because I think it's really gonna make a light bulb go off in a lot of our listeners' brain. And we're gonna be talking about why you should ruin your reputation. And I know that sounds

Why Ruin Your Reputation

SPEAKER_00 4:43

crazy. It's a lot to unpack, and we're gonna unpack it. We can also stay with us. But I'm so excited to talk about this because I think that people don't realize how in chains their reputation has them. So, first and foremost, I want to be very clear when we're talking about ruining your reputation. There's a big difference between your professional reputation and your personal one. And of course, I'm talking about your personal one. Not professional, okay? You want to make sure your professional reputation is intact, but here's why you should ruin your personal reputation. It is holding you back in so many more ways than what you could even imagine. And it's something that I have personally realized myself, and Amanda, you and I have talked about this so much, especially when it comes to our career. We have overthought so much about ourselves. Everything that it has almost made us personality-less and overlooked for things that we very much qualify for. So, and I know you're picking up what I'm putting down. And because of that, I've thought about like what why is it that I feel so like tied to do this or do that? And and it just also in my personal life, it's like, oh, reputation. It's like this idea that other people have of me that I feel like I need to keep up with. Yeah, we're not doing this here.

SPEAKER_01 6:03

If you think about it, who is managing the reputation? Like, who is the manager and the CEO of the reputation? Like, where did this thing where we have like a report card that we need to report to somebody about what what and who we should be and how we should show up in the world? I think reputation, the word is it as it relates to being professional, yes, maintain that. But in your own like light, like who is responsible and who cares? Like, that's really what I want to say. Who really cares? And I love that we're having this conversation because I feel like so many of us get in our own way all the time.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

What do you think is the difference between protecting your reputation and being trapped by it?

SPEAKER_01 6:46

So the difference between protecting your reputation and being trapped by the reputation is first and foremost, you shouldn't do anything that you don't

Protecting Versus Being Trapped

SPEAKER_01 6:55

want anybody else to have a say in, in the sense of like, oh, I don't want to put this out there because um this will give people the wrong idea of me. I think that if the idea that you want people to get of you is what you're putting out there, then you shouldn't care, right? But I think being trapped by that said reputation is when you're allowing it to consume your brain 24-7. No one is, if no one is calling you or and no one is checking you and no one is saying, hey, this is ruining your reputation. If you don't have a PR team or a a team behind you that's like, hey, you shouldn't put that out there because and granted, these people that I'm sure have, these things are like people who have, you know, higher level like celebrities and like people who have people that are managing their whole life. But I feel like if that's not you, then why do you care so much? It if it shouldn't rob you of your joy. Like if your reputation or the things that you put out is trapping you, it's it's the things that you're consistently thinking about that nobody else is thinking about. And I'm sure you've been there where you may have sent a message, you may have done something, and you're in your mind more about it than the people that you think are in their mind about it because no one is saying anything to you. So it's like, why are you putting this level of pressure on yourself when no one really cares?

SPEAKER_00 8:07

Yeah. It's funny because I think maintaining and being trapped are the same thing. I think that if you have to maintain it, then it's not really your reputation. It's a persona you're putting out there and hoping that people pick up. There's no way in hell that I'm ever gonna feel like I need to maintain my character because that's my character. I don't really need to maintain that. That's my moral. And I think your reputation is a reflection of those things. Your reputation is a reflection of how you treat people, it's a reflection of how you move um professionally or or personally. And I think that when you feel like you need to maintain this idea of you, then it's not really who you are. And that's the first problem. It's like, why is it that there's this idea of you out there and now you feel like you need to dictate it? You shouldn't have to, because your reputation should be an actual reflection of who you are. So I feel like if you feel like you need to maintain it, then you are definitely trapped by something that it's not a real reflection of who you are.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Does that make sense? Can I yeah, and can I be honest? And I mean this in the most passionate and the most sincere way, but I do think that sometimes we hold ourselves to a higher standard in other people's minds than they hold us in their mind. I feel like we get so consumed or overconsumed by the things people think of us when those people have their own lives and probably are not even thinking about the things that we're thinking and thinking about. So I think that we really gotta tone it down sometimes. Like we gotta scale back. And nothing should ever take over your mind so much to where you feel like like you're giving people the satisfaction. You know what I mean? It's like, why am I thinking that this person is thinking about these things when they probably nine times out of ten are not?

SPEAKER_00 9:54

Or not. Honestly, nobody cares. Nobody cares.

SPEAKER_01 9:57

No one cares.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

There's so much happening right now in the world that nobody is overthinking said thing the way you are. And that's exactly why you need to not be scared to ruin this reputation that you think you have. So that said, what's one thing, Amanda, about you, or like one label would you say about yourself that people have placed on you that you feel like no longer fits and you are totally okay to ruin?

SPEAKER_01 10:26

You would probably think it's an ideal of like perfectionism, like, oh my God, she's so perfect. Oh my god, like I'm like, girl, I am so far from perfect. And you want, you know, you know what else it is outside of like the idea people have of me. I also think it's the IP, it's the also the idea people don't have of me.

Labels To Let Go Of

SPEAKER_01 10:44

And I'm gonna break down what I mean by that. So my close friends and family and people that I do know, and I'm I'm relating this to like kind of like the internet, they think I'm a comedian. And I'm like, the world doesn't really know that I'm this funny. And I'm not really trying to say that I'm funny, but I'm saying that. Okay, thank you, Crystal. People tell me that. And I'm looking at it, no shade, no tea, but I'm like, there's people that do this for a living on the internet. And I'm like, if I gave y'all just a little smidge, you know what I mean? Just a little bit, maybe I would be in that category too. But I'm like, I just I'm really authentically, truly myself around the people I love and care about the most. And it's not to say I don't love and care about my community online, but I do feel like I could just be free and be myself. But I do feel like sometimes I gotta show you guys like that side of me all the time because I'm I'm hearing it from like all my family and my friends. And I'm like, yo, the internet does not know this side of me. So when you say that, I think that people do sometimes probably have that, you know, stigma of like she's so polished and she's this and she's perfect and she's this. And it's like, girl, I'm clumsy, I'm goofy, I'm trying to make people laugh, I'm annoying to the people I love the most. Like, I'm all these things that the people that people that don't know me that well see. And I think it's that idea that I would want to change is I want people to see that narrative of me too, because I feel like so many of us are so multifaceted that you can't just put me in one box. I'm never gonna be one, a one box, a one-show pony. Like, and I think that if we took a step outside of ourselves and kind of shown the world that, then who cares if you want to start 50 million businesses? Who cares if you don't want to just be in media and you also want to be in acting and you also want to open up a studio and you also want to go travel the world and also wanna do this. Like, who cares? Like, do it. Like, you know what I'm saying? Who cares if you want to be goofy on the internet? Like, if here's the thing there's people making millions of dollars being cringe, and I don't think it's cringe. I think it's people doing what they want to do, and I think it's okay. And if you don't like it, unfollow and stop watching it.

SPEAKER_00 12:47

I think the label that people have put on me that I have outgrown is being dependable. Baby, you cannot depend on me. Don't call you, don't call me for enough thing, okay? Really? And I think where do you think that comes from? Well, I was about to therapy um session. I was about to say, I think that I have found a lot of value in myself over the time, over like years in being helpful to others. And I

Boundaries And Ending Over-Access

SPEAKER_00 13:17

still do. Don't get me wrong. I think that that's like I'm such a villager that'll never not be me. But I think that now I have a little bit more of a boundary when it comes to what people can call me for. Before people will call me for everything, girl. Like the simplest things, everything they need help with, or they expect me to be at this event, that event, all type of things. And now I'm very much so, I'm not going to that. I can't do that for you. Get on the internet as AI. Like outside of those things, of course, we're talking like serious stuff where it's like, yo, yeah, I need you to be a good friend or like a good family member. I'm there. Like, nobody even has to think about that. But in terms of like being the person that people could depend on for the smallest things that might even throw off my routine and the things that are important in my life for you know that day and things that I need to get done done, I am no longer as dependable and accessible as I once was. And I'm okay with that not being a part of my reputation. I'm okay with ruining that because I am no longer that person. And you shouldn't be the same person you were a year ago. However, are my morals, my character still intact? A thousand percent. If you know me, you know, if you know me in real life and and in person, like you know me for sure. Absolutely but I do have to practice very often on saying, yeah, I can't do that, and being more realistic with my own bandwidth and and prioritizing, because also being so dependable doesn't allow you to show up in the places and spaces that you're really needed in. If I'm doing, let me give you an example. If I'm fixing somebody's resume at this age, right? I'm spending time to help somebody fix their resume at this age who is like the same age as me, and I'm wasting my time because there's so many resources on the internet where that person can use and and do it for themselves and pay for a service myself. Yes, I have to stop myself from raising my hand and helping people with little minuscule things like that that I know I can do it 20 minutes, but I'm at a place in my life where I don't even have those 20 minutes. And God forbid somebody calls me and they need me to really help them for something more important, then I want to be available mentally and physically. You get what I'm saying? But if I'm wasting time constantly being dependable for little minuscule things, I'm not gonna be able to show up in the bigger ways that I need to.

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Yeah, and this might be a different podcast episode for a different day, but are those people dependable for you when you need it? That's the other thing. Do do they show up for you when you need them to show up for you? Are they picking up the phone to do the things you need them that you need to be dependent on them for? And I think that when we say these things, we do know that the ideas that people have of us are gonna change. They're gonna make it seem like everything went out the window that you've done for them in the past, but it's like this is who you are currently. So she's never helped me. She's never done anything for me because of the one time that you say no, that's also not your responsibility, and that should never ruin your reputation. Whatever anybody thinks about you when you decide to change who you currently were to who you are right now is not your responsibility to manage for anybody else. It shouldn't care. Funny that you're saying this though. It made me think about something. Have you ever like not accepted like an opportunity or not done something because you felt like it was gonna ruin your reputation?

SPEAKER_00 16:36

Yeah, absolutely. I think that you and I come from an industry that is very polished, and I mean, at least we thought we did, because now our industry doesn't even exist, and it's like oh content creators and influencers stuff all year round, and we're like, wow, we would have never been able to get away with said thing, you know, a couple years ago. Whatever we wanted to do, we

Brand Safety And Blocking Blessings

SPEAKER_00 16:58

wouldn't have to worry about that. But yeah, that's a conversation for another day. However, I think that I at one point was just so focused on like if this brand comes about, am I brand safe or whatever? And I'm like, now I'm like, they don't even know I exist. So why are we worried about these people that don't even know we exist? I think that there have been things that I've been like, yeah, I'm not gonna do that because it's not brand safe, but it's just like girl, then nobody you there's no formula, there's no real formula. There's not whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen, whether it will take this opportunity or you don't take this opportunity. Granted, obviously, I think that I hate to talk in disclosures, but like, you know, y'all listen to me and Amanda, you know the type of people we are. So we're not talking about crazy stuff. You get what I'm saying? Like, we're talking about just casual, different opportunities that we're probably like, oh, I'm not gonna take take that or whatever. Like, no, like nobody told them I'll do a pour. You know, like that's not this type of podcast, that's a different type of podcast, not ours. But we we you know, I hate to talk in disclosures because I feel like it's almost like tiptoeing, but I just for anybody who's new here, like that's not the vibe, that's not this kind of hardy.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Um and if you're into that, that's okay. That's just and that's why I think this beauty is you have a place to get that too.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Right, exactly. But yes, there have been things that I'm like, oh, I'm not gonna do that because I don't want like this to be perceived as blah blah blah. And it's like when you live your life tiptoeing like that, which is why I said I hate disclosures when we talk on this podcast, but because I feel like it's tiptoeing. But when you live your life like that, it's like you could end up blocking your blessings in ways that you are not even realizing because you're scared that such and such is gonna perceive perceive this as something that it's not, or whatever the case may be, as and it's really refreshing and weightlifting when you start being like, I don't care. Because, like we said earlier, nobody's thinking that much about you. Nobody really cares.

SPEAKER_01 18:57

No, nobody, nope, and the brands that want to work with you and the people who want to work with you and the spaces that you need to be in will truly make space for you no matter what. So a lot of the times we found, especially as as media hosts, TV hosts, on your personalities, find ourselves not doing certain things where in actuality the people who get these opportunities and get the positions have brands that we may deem as unsafe, but into a brand size, it's like this is perfect. You know what I mean? So sometimes we sometimes we get in the way of blocking our own blessings all the time by assuming the answer for somebody else before they give it to us.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

Oh, that's a good one. That is a really good one. I also think that it's impossible to s to be successful and universally liked. Nobody has ever done it. And I don't think it's something that anybody should strive to be. I think that the world is filled with so many different people, so many different personalities, and it's important to resonate with people who resonate with you. The brands, the partners, whatever it is. Same for the reputation, things and people and places that resonate with you and your reputation, your morals, and your character and who you are. It's not possible to be universally

Social Media Judgment And Being Liked

SPEAKER_00 20:11

like. Quite frankly, I don't want to be because there are people out there that I do not want to like me because we ain't the same. And I'm okay with that, you know? Um, and that's my opinion. I think that we've seen that with um Emma Greed.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

You made me think of an Elizabeth Taylor quote where it's like um the the well-behaved women rarely make history or something like that. Like, and I I love I love that quote because it is true. Like, you don't get an award for being so good. Like, this is not high school, this is not grade school, this is not, you know, you don't have a teacher, you don't have a report card. Like, you don't get an honorable mention, you don't get a lifetime achievement award for being like a good a good citizen. Granted, like you should do you should be an amazing citizen and not do like criminal things and anything like that, of course. But like if you want to like go off the grid and go off of like, you know, the script a bit, like that's totally fine if that's what you want to do. Like you shouldn't do something because you have the idea of somebody else in mind. It should be what you like, we should really be operating in our own headspace and not in others. Like, I I can't think for somebody else. Like, I can only think for myself.

SPEAKER_00 21:16

Yeah. And I think that social media has really amplified the fear of judgment. And I'm like, it's so odd to me, like experiencing like a fear of judgment at this grown age. Because I'm like, damn, when I was in pre-K and first grade, I feel like the biggest thing was like, who cares what people say? And like that's something we lived by when we were younger, you know, like who cares? And now it's like everybody cares. Like, since when? Why does everybody care about what everyone else is thinking so much? Why does everybody care about this said reputation that they have, whether it's on social media or in computers? Why do you care? It's not your job to explain yourself. It's really not. It's really not. If you ever find yourself having to explain yourself or me. Disreputation or something like that. It's not your job. Especially not to people that are dedicated to misunderstanding you.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

No, that's when you gotta walk away. That's that's when you walk away. Like, there's no reason that you feel like I'm not explaining myself to anybody. Like, I'm and I don't know if it's like a 30s thing. It might be, you know what I mean? It might be a level of maturity. And I wish, so if you were listening and you were in your 20s, or if you in your late, you're in your 18, you're 18, 19, you're in college. I wish I had this skill set growing up when I was younger. Like I wish I had the mentality of not caring. And I feel like I'd be probably even further than where I currently am if I went and had that mentality because I spent so many years just kind of like not ruining my reputation in that sense because I cared so much what people thought. And I feel like if I developed this at a younger age, which I'm praying that our younger listeners are doing, like you will be so much further if you did everything for you and not for the likes and the ideals of other people. And this could be family included. Like it's not even just a work thing, it's not a friend thing, like it could be even family. Like, you don't have to please anybody but yourself because you're living for you. The bills come in your name, they don't come in anybody else's name, they come in my name. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 23:17

So you ate that one up. You ate that one up.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

I wish I could give the bill to somebody else who's thinking for me. Like, I wish I could. Because if I could, then you know what? Tell me what to do. Right. Yo, I am not gonna lie, you ate that one up. I'm sorry. I just it just came. It just came. The bill comes back. But it's true. It's so true. Like, why are we worried about people who are not paying our bills? Like, why do I care what you think? If I want to get on the internet and I want to have a page about, um, I don't know, dog walking. I don't know. I don't know. I don't walk dogs. I don't know. I'm I'm just trying to think of like whatever. If I want to have a page of me just making tea or feel off-brand. No, dog walking. Yeah, something that's off-brand, something that has nothing to do with anything. Like, literally, it's just like if that's what I'm passionate about and that's what I want to do, I'm gonna do it. Period. That's just me. And also, it's just also being able to just say the things you want to say too. And you don't have to apologize for it. You know?

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Okay, I have a question. What's one uncommon decision you made that significantly improved your life?

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Honestly, I think it's like the risk of I want to say quitting my corporate job. So when I was working and especially back then, and you know what's so funny? Me and Crystal did not have this part. By the way, uh, Crystal, I'm gonna take you back. Crystal and I spoke when we were during COVID, and I think you were working at Telemundo, and I was working at an ABC station in Alabama, and

Uncommon Choices That Changed Everything

SPEAKER_01 24:51

I literally was telling Crystal, I'm like, oh my gosh, I'm so grateful for this job because it's during COVID and it was a lot around the time where a lot of our peers didn't have a job at the time. Um, and that job asked me to renew my contract, and I said no. And I said no during an uncertain time because the pandemic was, we didn't know when it was gonna end. You know what I mean? But I was just kind of like leaning on faith and also like I wanted to do different things. I didn't want to be perceived as a new newscaster or a lifestyle TV host. Like I wanted to do different things, and I feel like that could have very well ruined my reputation, you know what I mean? Because I could have left that corporate safe space and fell flat on my face and not have done anything. Speaking of, I think I seen that um that this you also had this similar situation happen to you. But I got a call for a reality show as well. Like I literally got a call for The Bachelor, and I was at my corporate job and I stepped outside to pick up this phone call. And I was like, mm, do I do this? And I was kind of like, mmm, I don't know if it's gonna fall under my reputation um of what it is that I'm trying to perceive. But then when you look at it, things in hindsight, not to say that I was or wasn't gonna do, because honestly, I probably wouldn't have done that show specifically. But um, there are people who are doing exactly what Crystal and I are doing right now in front of you who came off of shows like that. And reputations weren't ruined because of whatever we thought in our mind reality TV was gonna do for them. So I say all that to say do everything you want to do because the time and the clock is not gonna come back. It may not come back, it may not come around twice. You know what I mean? Opportunities may only come once in a lifetime. And if it's something that you really want to do, if you're passionate about doing it, then do it. If you want to quit, quit. You know what I mean? But also put things into perspective. Like make sure that you have the proper protocols and whatever it is that's gonna make you feel safe. Like, don't just do something without really truly thinking about it. At the time, I feel like I what made me quit was I was getting opportunities and hiding my opportunities. Like I would do them on the weekends and was getting, you know, compensated for them. And I was like, oh, well, I don't want to hide anymore. And if God is showing me that I'm gonna still work outside of this, then I don't have to stay here and be miserable either. So that's what I would say. What about you?

SPEAKER_00 27:09

I think going to a community college for two years, coming out of high school, was super like unpopular at the time. Everybody was like going to their four years and signing up for this and signing up for that and deciding to do a two-year instead of a four-year. Just like when I came out of school initially, it impacted my life in a way that I would have never imagined because it did so much for me. Like by the time I went to my four-year, I wasn't as hyped to be out of my mom's house. I was very much like more mature and focused on getting school done and actually getting good grades for the credits that I was paying for out of pocket because I always had to work for what I wanted. And doing a two-year over a four-year, even though I was seeing all my friends, I go to these four-year schools and all this cool stuff that like it looked good on paper, but in retrospect, I would have been in debt so bad because coming out of college, I wasn't making money, right? Like we were making intern money, ten dollars an hour. There was no way that I didn't even get paid back too. It's like there's no way that I would have been able to do a four-year college for four years and not be where I am today. There's no way. There's just no way, like economically, there's no way. I wasn't getting scholarships. I had to pay for every single credit, which means I was working a lot here in the city when I was in my two-year, and I think that unpopular decision really changed the trajectory of where I am like today. Thank goodness I made that decision. I'm so happy I did that because I'm I'm I'm basically out of debt for school. And I would not be able to say that had I gone to a four-year.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

I'm so happy you said that. I'm also a product of that. I went to a two-year in Orlando at the time, I was like the number one community college was Valencia in Orlando. And I knew I wanted to go to UCF, but I wasn't like 100% sure. I don't know if they're still setting up college that same way, but if I honestly think that's the best way to do it. I think that if you come from, you know, not being an amazing test taker, like you get anxiety with standardized tests and you didn't, you know, school didn't pan out the way you wanted it to go. Guidance counselors at high schools, let's be real, are not always the best. Like, so I think that if you have the opportunity to go to a two-year institution before going to university, you have a better horizon because you can literally look at your friends who are in these four-year universities and see like which one's having a better experience. You can test things out. I think it's a smarter way to do that. And also, what I want to say, because you and I are both a product of a product of this as well, where you start is not where you finish. Had I not gone to my two-year community college in Orlando, I wouldn't have met someone at a radio station that gave me an opportunity that then also gave me an opportunity to intern for Viacom in New York. And that's where my career took off. So I feel like you don't like where you are doesn't determine where you're going. And don't ever feel like the opportunities that you may feel like are not as attractive can't get you to where you want to be. Cause they really can. Like if you want to be anywhere in the world, like you don't know what locally you can do that can also take you there. It's just a matter of mindset and like connection and networking, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

Yeah. And coming out of school, coming out of high school was kind of like, oh my God, like you're not going to a four-year. So kind of like how we're talking about the shit. It was a little kind of like a shame to to say, like, oh, I'm gonna do community college instead, because I felt like there was like this reputation of like she's got her stuff together, she's gonna go to a four-year that I had to live up to. And yeah, coming out of school, going into like the big girl world was really a reflection of how you really gotta make decisions for yourself and not based on like what people think you're supposed to do.

SPEAKER_01 31:01

Yeah, I agree, I agree, and this talk of like ruining our reputation makes me think about like reaching a level of of success because we see so many people that are very successful doing non-traditional jobs and are doing it by being authentically 100% themselves, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

And then as we, you know, as we talk about ruining your reputation, obviously don't take what we're saying out of context, y'all. Like you know what we're trying to say, but I want to challenge our listeners to think about a couple things. Like, what's one area of your life where you need to stop protecting your image and start protecting your peace? And I also want you guys to think about how much of your daily decision making is influenced by what other people might think of you and think about those things, write them down, reflect on it, and decide if it's the time to start ruining your reputation because I really want y'all to start fearing

Protect Your Peace And Take Risks

SPEAKER_00 32:04

more being unhappy than you do with what people think of you. Does that make sense? I want y'all to be more scared about being unhappy with yourself in your life than you are with how people think of you and how you fear people are gonna think of you. Don't worry about that.

SPEAKER_01 32:19

That's a fact. Then the biggest nightmare in horror film can be you waking up one day in life and having so much regret because you didn't take the opportunity to take risks and take those chances on the things that you had in your mind. Like, do it. Like if it's something you want to do, just get it done. Like it's not like I think if you we can't live in like a world of what ifs and oh my gosh, like I wish I would have done this and I could have done this and I didn't. Like, that's to me, that's a horror film. Like, that's a horror story. Like, I don't ever want to wake up and feel like that. And if you're waking up and that's how you feel, today you can make the change.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

Yes, do it now. Y'all, if this episode resonated with you or you feel like, you know what, I got a friend that needs to hear this, go ahead and care. Send them the link.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

Yes, send them. Send them the link, sis. Hit like, hit share, hit subscribe, do all the things. But we hope that you ruin your reputation if that's what you want to do. And we support it because you know what? Who cares if that's exactly what you want to do? We say do it. We support you, and we are gonna consistently be elevating while we're ruining our reputation at the same time, all right. Love you guys. Thank you so much for tuning in, and we'll see you next time. Bye.