Steppin W/ Unc
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Steppin W/ Unc
It’s Deeper Than Suits… Healing, Purpose & Building Better People | Steve Fortt x Rollmodel
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In this powerful episode of Steppin W/ Unc, Unc Dove is joined by Rollmodel Ty (co-host) and Steve Fortt (partner)—a community leader and founder behind Wardrobe for Adolescents & Youth and Home of Holistic Healing.
This conversation goes deeper than surface-level talk. From mentoring young men and building confidence through professional development, to creating holistic healing drinks from the ground up, Steve shares the real journey behind purpose, discipline, and giving back.
Together, they break down the importance of mental health, what we’re putting into our bodies, and why true growth starts from within. This episode is all about accountability, healing, and elevating the next generation.
If you’re looking for real conversations with real impact—this one is for you.
🎧 Available now on all streaming platforms
What up, what up, what up, what up? It's your boy Young Dub, Stephen Widong Podcast. I'm here tonight. I'm here tonight. Doing in studio live pod. Well, not live, but I'm recording in person. And I got two special guests. Um, two of my guys. And I'm gonna let them introduce themselves and we're gonna get it rolling.
SPEAKER_04Yo, yo. Right here, you got Ty, role model Ty on all platforms. Man, we here. We rocking with Dove, stepping with Onk.
SPEAKER_05Yes, uh. All right, it's your boy Steve. Um, my uh special guest here tonight. Um, a pleasure is all his and mine for me to actually appear uh on the show. So um I'm kind of new to this, so this should be interesting and uh exciting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, first time for sure. Uh I had Ty on back in the day when we did a mental health episode. That was like 21 or 22. That's crazy. Yeah, right after the pandemic. Yeah, yeah, 21-22. Yeah, so I had y'all on, and that's when we was uh at um the loft, which was my favorite place. Shout out to the law. It was fun out there. But um, glad to have y'all here tonight. Um, me and Ty are gonna be working together uh real closely um now until. Yes, sir. We locked in. We got a lot of projects we're rolling out. Uh, me and Steve are gonna be working together. He got a nonprofit. Um, we got this space, so we're gonna be making it happen. He's gonna be doing a podcast as well. Um, so yeah. Uh we're sipping on something nice tonight. Um, some holistic drinks that Steve has made for us. Uh, what did you call this one that you made?
SPEAKER_05Well, this one right here is uh basically a um a virgin blue blue moon. Okay. Belgium white. We kind of uh dressed him up with a little blood orange tincture. You know, blood orange is good for the heart. Definitely, definitely. Uh it's pretty tasty too. What about this one you put in the cup earlier? Oh, yeah, that's um that's like my uh twist on uh uh Caribbean drink. So we use that. Uh what is that called? Tamamarand soda with a few other herbs like um baswellia, cinnamon, macaroot. Um what else we had in there? I can say some ginger. Yeah, we had that ginger in there. I love some ginger and uh a couple other little um a couple other uh additives, you know, herbal additives.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, how you feeling there, Ty? I'm feeling great. I'm feeling blessed. Appreciate the invite. Yeah, appreciate bringing me aboard. You already know. Grateful, man.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Ready to turn up.
SPEAKER_03Um I think it's time now. It's crazy because uh everything happens for a reason. Time and um happened to come up here to help my uncle and Steve with some shit. You know what I'm saying? Steve's like, yo, man, I'm trying to get in with this podcast. And so, sir, I mean, you know, like we learned from them, they learn from us too. So I'm willing to be a helping hand in any way I can. And we just gonna get the ball rolling. Um, we also want to talk mainly. We all we want to start off, we want to talk about the holistic healing drinks that you are uh making, which is um new to me and a lot of people out here too, because there's not that many people, and especially in the city that's doing them. So we're gonna tap into that. We're gonna tap into the event space. I'm gonna tap into some things with you and everything.
SPEAKER_05So that's awesome.
SPEAKER_03Uh, what do you call it?
SPEAKER_05What do I call it? Specific. Yeah. Well, uh, I go by the name of uh well Home of Holistic Healing, um, which is a 501c3 organization um that helps people learn how to use food as medicine. So what other better way to show people how to use food as medicine than to take um a model that they're that they're familiar with, a social model like a lounge or a bar, and then reintroduce them to spirits and and other herbs to that can heal them versus kill them. Right. So this bar is gonna heal you, not kill you. Yeah. There's a lot of killing going on.
SPEAKER_03There's a lot of killing going on. We don't want them more than with the hard liquor, you know, that all of us have put in our bodies, you know what I'm saying? But if you get a mixture of that, and you can heal it at the same time, you can heal with it at the same time, and that changed the game right there. Sir. Where did this vision come from?
SPEAKER_05Um, well, it's twofold. You know, um, like I've I've I've rented this place a lot of times, and people want to make money, and this is a sure way to kind of like shure up this space right here with the alcohol to prevent people from renting and doing illegal things. So when you walk in and you see that this is a healing bar, you're not gonna, you won't probably have the same proclivity to one to sell liquor in this section or just in general in this space, because this is not that type of energy in here. So, I mean, I'm not gonna stop people from um bringing their own bottles for cabarets, but just understanding the mission, my mission is to heal you. That's it. Gotcha.
SPEAKER_04So what came on so what came first? Was it the venue or was it just holistic?
SPEAKER_05All right, so how I how I got into um herbs was uh my grandmother was like um integral in my life. Like I mean, I had my first cup of coffee, told me how to play Othello Uno, how to read. So I noticed a lot of people from her generation and kept ongoing, trusted doctors and trusted medicine. She's very spiritual, but she trusted white coats. And when it was almost too late, she tried to go herbs. So I just picked up where she left off, and that was 99. So I was like young, and I I just wanted to understand what she was trying to do. Because what she was trying to do at the end was a little too late. So I just picked up since 1999 doing this.
SPEAKER_04Okay, so you've been locked in.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. That's what's up, that's what's up. That's how I got into the herbs and uh healing.
SPEAKER_03Why you feel like it's uh important for our community, especially?
SPEAKER_05Okay, like you know, um, African American community has a lot of um uh what we call them um uh unhealthy outli outliers, um like uh what is it, respiratory issues like um obesity, like uh type 2 diabetes, um hypertension, and a lot of it is brought on from food and mood. And when you when you know, so stuff you learn as you go. So when you learn that if you eat in a bad mood, you're killing yourself. You're raising your cortisol. When you eat food, you spiking insulin and you're putting belly fat on the fat around your organs when you're eating in a bad state. Right. So yeah, you know, it's like a lot of tricks to this, but you know, I'm just here to teach people how to use food as medicine. And um that's just my mission in life, man. I thought I had a few other things I wanted to do. Like, you know, I got the clothing mission in the back with the suits, teach people how to dress successfully, but I think that it starts when you wake up, what you're putting in your body. Yeah. You know, so I'll this is like my main thing right here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, definitely, definitely. Um the drinks that you've been making, um, how do they, in lame terms, how do they actually help you?
SPEAKER_05So it how do they help you? So these herbs like these um tinctures behind me, they're saturated with polyphenols and other health benefits that that works for different organs. So how they work is depending on what you need, I can help you kind of um understand certain herbs so it can fix your like yeah, respiratory issues. I can introduce you to respiratory herbs that taste and they gonna taste how they taste, but I'm gonna introduce them to you so you can heal yourself. At the end of the day, it ain't about the taste. So if it's bitter, it's good for your stomach. If it's sweet, it's bad for your stomach. So that's why we do the bitters. That's real. You know? And um, I don't I'm I'm past the taste. It's all about the effect. Yeah, definitely, definitely.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04So that shot that you gave us earlier, if you can explain to the people what was in that and what was the benefits.
SPEAKER_05Okay. So we have um, what do we have in it? We had uh we had some hemp root, we had some CBD, we had some Egyptian blue lotus, and one more thing. But the whole combination of that is to reduce anxiety, um, and to have you calm and just relax a little bit. It's like more brain, more brain herbs. Dang it, he ain't even know.
SPEAKER_04This this is like my second podcast, but I'm I still got the nervousness. So I needed that shot. Yeah, oh yeah, I feel you.
SPEAKER_03Um how hard has it been to start from the ground up? Uh as it relates to this, this is trying this project out, it's not hard.
SPEAKER_05Like when you have passion, man, and desire, like it was hard. It's hard to like get through, and you see like everything else to get to this, but I had an epiphany. So I said, how can I prevent? How can I ensure that when they walk through this door, that I can have something here for them to heal them first? Like when you walk through, I can have something here to kill you and make you feel good for the moment, but when you walk through, so my passion and my epiphany was this still get a drink. It ain't a lot of alcohol, but you you can still get a drink, but you can get healed. Yeah. I mean, I keep I just go back to that word heal, not kill, because we know we pick up a drink, spike in your lip, spiking your insulin. Yeah, depending on what mood you're in, when you go to the bar, go to the bar in a bad mood and have a drink, you you putting it on right here. Yeah, that's right. We all experienced it for sure. So I just want people, if they come in in a bad mood, I can get them some herbs that reduce that bad mood. Yeah. Without the alcohol spiking their insulin.
SPEAKER_04So so far, how has it been for you touching the people? Like, um, like are they just like when you introduce in your product, are they just like, nah, that ain't for me, or are they willing to try it? And how can we get something like this to our people?
SPEAKER_05So for me, I started out like at work. I have some co-workers that usually women that are more so into the herbs, like the sea moss and stuff like that. So I started out with them and they're very receptive. Yeah. Um so they kind of like influence me or just encourage me to do more, you know, um with the herbs, because they're the ones who actually reach out, ask for it, and and um ask questions about it and uh seem to be more so engaged with their um physical health, more so than than you know, African American men. So, you know, it's a good start. You if you teach the woman, I'm pretty sure the woman's gonna show the man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, even with a slower start, um, how do you keep things going? Like what can keeps pushing you?
SPEAKER_05Man, um hope. Hope like before last week, before you know, before you came in, like you said, I just had hope. Yeah. Yeah, hope, man. This happens like this. So, yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_03Organically, yeah. Exactly. Yeah. I feel like when it comes to support, you feel like people have been supporting you the right way with it? Or how you feel about that?
SPEAKER_05How I feel is like right now, this this right here, it's gonna change the game. What people did before, what they didn't do, don't matter right now. I already know what this is gonna do. So if they didn't support me, if people aren't supportive now, I think they it's not about supporting me. It's about me being the catalyst to help them support themselves, to be a healthy version of themselves. So I don't if I only had five people, I told, but right now I'm I'm gonna be touching a lot more people, they're gonna be able to hear it a lot more. Yeah. So I'm all about who want to change their own life because only you could be in your own way. Only you are your worst enemy or the worst version of yourself. So I want you to become the better version of yourself when you come in here. So that's respectable for sure.
SPEAKER_04Do you have a uh most popular drink yet?
SPEAKER_05No, not yet, but um, I like that one we made earlier with the tamaran, uh tamaran. I keep saying it wrong, and I'm supposed to be the herb guy, right? Um so I can pull out. It's called whatever tamaran. So I like that one because it reminds me of an old fashioned the way we mix the herbs together with it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, uh, and I I can agree because I'm stuck on a ginger. Oh, yeah. That's what I really like about it.
SPEAKER_05I put the ginger in there to kind of because that's a warming spice or a warming herb. So it should raise your core temperature.
unknownYou know.
SPEAKER_05As a matter of fact, one of my favorite ones I'm gonna make for us when we get the chance, I'll make us a um a ginger, a ginger, uh, a double ginger bear shot. Okay. We're gonna do strawberry, tincture, ginger. On a ginger bear. I'm looking forward to it. It's gonna warm you up.
SPEAKER_04I'm looking forward to it.
SPEAKER_03What's uh when it comes to like men's health? Um, what's one um habit you think that we need to change as black men?
SPEAKER_05Oh, that's a good question. Um men's health. Our sugar intake, our carb intake. Carbs. With the carbs, if you can't stop eating carbs, uh bread, rice, bread, rice, uh, pasta. What you do is you cook it and put it in the fridge overnight and then reheat it the next day, it becomes starch resistant. It won't spike your sugar, it'll go into your system slower. But when you eat hot carbs, it spikes your sugar. So if anything, if you're not gonna stop, learn how to use what you're eating to your advantage. So yeah, I would say watch the carbs.
SPEAKER_03Do you like uh you go, do you um live with like a strict diet yourself?
SPEAKER_05Um I've been fasting um like uh let's say like at 90%. I mean I say intermittent fasting, like a 16-hour non-eating window since the pandemic. Yeah, so I've been I've been fasting for five years. They said it's you shouldn't do it, but it's very beneficial for me.
SPEAKER_03That's the only one that ever worked for me. Fasting. Intermittent. Yeah. Yeah, I've done it a few times. Yeah, like I'll do it in like spurts, like maybe I'll do it one week, then I'll go back to regular, then I'll do like a two-week joint. You know what I'm saying? I was taking medicine for a while, so they didn't want me to do it then. But after a while, I was like, I'm doing this shit.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, that's beneficial, man. It works.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04I can't I can't say it helped me. I naturally I feel like I naturally intermit fast. Like I don't start eating until about 12, 1 o'clock in the afternoon. Okay. And the bad thing about it, I don't, I get my last meal in around like 8, 9. So you gotta eat out or eight and one day. Yeah. Sorry. But that not eating early for me, I feel like that that's uh my body holding the weight because I can't burn. It don't matter what I'm gonna do. Like I feel like I'm stuck in that 240 to 260 range.
SPEAKER_05Now you could burn it's a secret. So if you're trying to you gotta become fat adapted. Every most people wake up, eat carbs. First thing they put in is a carb. That's the worst thing you can do, especially after a long fast, and you put a carbon in, you super accelerate your sugar. So you want to put protein in first, but what you have to become is fat adapted. So for me, the first thing I wake up when I if I put anything in my body first, it's like some fiber fiber. Like I do like a five different fiber drink in the morning. But then I do my coffee, which is fat, coconut, butter, a little bit of cream. I drink that all day. Won't even won't spike my sugar, keep it will keep me in uh fat burning. And I'm doing that all day. So when you tran you wake up and you reprogram yourself, you have to reprogram yourself with the first thing, which is protein to fat. So now I'm fat adapted. So I I I get my energy off of fat, but when I don't eat, I'm using my carbs. That's how you can burn the fat. That makes sense a little bit. Yeah. Definitely. You gotta become fat adapted.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, I've been working on it. Like um the intermittent fasting was the only thing that ever worked for me because I was doing it and I was working out at the same time. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so I was like, oh shit, I I can actually lose weight. Um, and I always been like up and down in weight, especially these last couple years. Like I ran into some health issues. So when I was like on my worst, I was like losing weight rapidly. So now I gained weight back, so now it's about losing it, but losing it the right way. Because when you do it on the in the sick way, you don't look right, you know, feel right, and just look just look crazy. So then when you gain the weight back, it don't go to all the right places, you know what I'm saying? So that's what I'm working on right now. Because like I had a certain body mass at one point. Then at one point I lost like 80 pounds. It was like drastic, like like two, three months. So I looked crazy. So when it came back, it wasn't because I worked out, like it's like water weight and starting to eat again. It kind of built up on me. So that's where I'm trying to get now. So I've been doing um different um things myself as far as vegetables and drinks and stuff like that as well. Yeah. Every now and then I'll cheat, like I cheated last week. But for the most part, I don't really be going crazy. And I don't have the cravings no more either. So that that helps. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Oh, yeah, that's the other thing, man. Um, most people need to do a um a deworming. Yeah. Straight up. Like, I mean, that's like a whole nother topic. But yeah, if man, they used to deworm all the time. Yeah, yeah, like a hundred years ago, or before right before pharmaceutical, right before they started, you know, they mentioned the pills and drugs, they used to detox all the time. They used to deworm. Deep, you know. Yeah. So that's one thing. I mean, there is that's like uh I got some stuff back here.
SPEAKER_03I got some stuff back here that worked for that too. Yeah. Other day I counted 57 different drinks that you came up with. Yeah, you said it's 57. Yeah. I was like, I was intrigued by the number. I said, God damn. I was busy. Yeah. Bro, a whole list with the color coordinated for everything that it works for and all. I was like, God damn. Yeah, it's color coordinated for each each organ.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. So I got like it all. So when you flip through the pages, you'll know green is for yeah. So you can put your drink together yourself.
SPEAKER_04Okay. And you're gonna have the same colors on the bottles? Yep. That's perfect. That's a nice setup. I like that. I like that.
SPEAKER_03So how I think I asked you, uh I think I asked you off camera, how long did it take you to get everything together?
SPEAKER_05Um December. I had the had the vision in December, and this is everything from December. Uh, after Christmas, December 28th. Did all of this December 28th. So it takes it takes one herb about four to six weeks to mature. And that's 57. So I've been busy.
SPEAKER_03So I'm so definitely busy, man. Anything you also you had on there?
unknownAll right.
SPEAKER_03All right, we want to talk about uh waved wardrobe for adolescent and youth. Okay. Um, which is like kind of when I first met you some years ago. Right. That's one of the first things that I got introduced to from you. You know what I'm saying? I remember you had the business cards. I was on there too. Yeah, so I know about it. Um, showed me the suits and everything. Um, let's talk about that for a little bit. Okay. Um, like how what made you start working with the young fellas?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, um, again, um I was in the military at one point. Came home, had to get a job. Got a job working in the in the corporate industry. But I was a young boy. I would pay$100 for a pair of Tim's, but I was not paying$200 for a suit. I was that young boy, too. You know what I'm saying? I was so how that happened was I started, I had to find a solution to get professional gear. So I started going to thrift stores and then should I keep going? All right. So um yeah you get it. So I started shopping at the thrift stores and then it I just became like intrigued and fascinated and just became um you tried to run this whole pack.
SPEAKER_04What's oh what's going on so yeah uh start start over where you going?
SPEAKER_05I'll get myself I'm gonna make sure you're ready gotcha got it all right sorry about that.
SPEAKER_04So yeah uh first I want you to let me go back. Yeah I want you to double back a little bit. Can you tell me the name of your uh the name of your prophet and what exactly do you do with it okay with the community?
SPEAKER_05So the name of the nonprofit is wardrobe for adolescents and youth. I actually developed it um I was going to work one day and I saw these I saw this kid dead uh and like dead in the winter and he didn't have a winter coat on and I'm driving downtown to my clothing referral program that I actually developed for this nonprofit downtown. So I saw this kid going to school with like a a spring jacket on and dead of the winter and I said I gotta do something. So that's how I developed uh wardrobe for adolescents and youth. So I designed it in mind to help kids get uniforms because uniforms was was popular then it was just came into uh the Philadelphia public schools um policy and I was trying to figure out a way to help disenfranchise parents and at-risk youth with uh clothing resources right even college kids that's going to um on college interviews and in their first jobs job interviews so that's why I kind of developed this clothing referral program but it's for grown men and young men as well was that like the specific moment when you knew that was uh like your purpose um I think this I think this bar behavior my purpose all right cool I mean I I mean I've been yeah since 99 you know I told you you know I lost a lot of relatives man they all they all died almost the same way yeah cancer you know it was like too late and they trying to they're trying to grab for these it's too late yeah you're already 90 yeah and how long you've been doing a nonprofit I think I developed my first one the clothing re the clothing program in 2007 so you're almost 20 in yeah I ain't realize yeah that's that's when we started high school oh wow yeah you tell them my age man um and then I think the home of holistic healing uh two about 17 or 18 when you established this one this one here okay the uh home of holistic healing with this one so you're almost a diamond with this one yeah it's my this my baby right here rolling let me ask uh because you've been doing a nonprofit for a while do you feel like some people use is nonprofit the giving back more for an image or more for an impact I think a lot I I think the uneducated person um try to use it to think they can get they can get grant money like they just think oh I can get a nonprofit and get grant money but if you don't put no work in you're not getting anything I always tell people man passion before profit I like that you know if you have no passion you can't do this work because the money's not here unless you you know you're different and you really passionate about it and you're making connections you know so you you definitely got to put in some work to get this money and um I do believe like a lot of people have big hearts and they want to do something but a lot of people get their nonprofits that don't really understand the work you got put in. So yeah you know a lot of people want to do the right thing some people start but you gotta finish strong man yeah when it comes to like helping uh the youth you know I'm saying what's something that you felt like you needed growing up that you didn't have that you try to you know help get back to them oh man um great question something that I could give male energy I didn't get a lot of that I had to go find it I had to go I had to go like um what they call it like um Easter egg hunting for it had to find it in my uncle for a minute I had to find it in my cousin older cousin dad wasn't around couldn't give me no good information so I think that where I am in this stage of my life I'm able to be able to give back to grown men young men kids so it's good money it's definitely good money had something else on that one side when it comes to the suits man why do the suits matter like is it a confidence thing first impression suits matter because you know when people first see you man it's like um their impressions um people form impressions or or they form opinions of you based on your appearance I had a friend who had like this formula with it but I could tell you it's true so depending on how you look people gonna treat you if you look ignorant they're gonna treat you ignorant yeah if you look at if you look professional it might treat you professional so the suit is just something that kind of supposed to create a neutral atmosphere for you to be able to showcase your professionalism or your skill set. So that's all that suit does is give you a neutral ground people can't judge you they can only assume that you're gonna say something intelligent. So when you put that suit on you should it's almost like you almost get some respect with that suit.
SPEAKER_03So is it like a specific change that you do see when a young man puts that suit on?
SPEAKER_05Oh man well yes adult adult men man I've I've addressed over 10,000 people I work with over 200 nonprofits within the city and the surrounding counties um I've trained over 800 welfare to work women from all of these earn centers around the city it used to be nine now there's five I think or four um yeah I'm just saying like men the transformation is real the one thing that you would notice when you put a suit on a man who's never worn a suit and you if you've been in that back room I like those mirrors yeah because their posture was was straighten up. Yeah and that's like the telltale they'll come in regular then when you put that suit on them and you start you know shaping them or trying to mold that suit on them make them feel good they get they touched out and that that's the whole bag right there like telling you it's just like that I love that feeling first of all you have the confidence just come in them. Yeah I've been dressing men since 2003. Now understand in 2003 that's when the women were wearing the low rider jeans and the thong was hanging out and the men wore their clothes too big. Yeah so I had to go through the process of convincing people to not wear big suits. Oh it's too weird too not whenever it's too big you know how they would sag in suit they're trying to sag the it was a crazy mental man psychops I had to use a lot of psychops on people man get them in to fit to wear a suit that fit them right and then they start wearing their clothes too tight. So I've been through all of the phases with the same suit so it's like a whole mindset you gotta kind of transform people. What's something that people don't understand about uh mentoring the youth or you know other men in general um empathy can't forget you have to because I work I work with adults now so you you can't forget who you are and there's always a thing where you have to give the next person respect all day. I call everybody sir from the door at work you sir mr sir I don't everything is like a sir on it you know Charles sir whatever so I'm always giving respect but did that come from your army you know background military because yeah in the military nobody liked to call the next the the officer sir hated it why's that because you know your place when you I'm not an officer okay I was enlisted okay the guys with the brass you better salute them and say sir to them and that's one thing that us enlisted hated to do just like I hated to do abs. I do abs faithfully because I see the results now hated it so I hated saying sir to people but now I say sir because I know that you everybody needs respect everybody should demand respect so I'm gonna give it to you so I do the cert thing when I hated to do it when I was in the military but I do it now in the civilian world uh how long did you do in the military?
SPEAKER_03It's four four where you on what field were you in Navy Navy okay electrician that's what's up man um how did how did you even how did how did that come about for you the army because I don't think everybody has a different story um I got accepted to a couple of universities okay again uh don't have a father figure nobody can help like my mom worked like how's she gonna be mom and dad and do everything right so I had all these I got accepted to these colleges and that was that it was like you got accepted what's next right nobody could help me so I was like man what's the next best thing because I'm out here doing the wrong thing and I had you know something came to me and was like get out of here yeah and I left no that was a great experience what was the furthest place you went man I've been to Africa Italy Spain and across the United States what was your favorite place Spain Spain okay specific any specific reason man the new beaches there we go like I was I look I was on the beach in my box it's like hold on hold on I'm fitting right in take your shit off let's go I can only imagine man um a few questions like advice to young younger people or to yourself um if you could talk to your youngest self what would you um what would you say don't drink liquor alcohol I might have to I might have to tell my youngest the same thing I'll I'll tell him in a couple years oh man uh what's steps for a young man trying to get his life together what would you say like how would he start the process and you gotta start well but you when you wake up what are you putting in your body I mean that's the first thing first thing with men what are you what are you doing to your body how are you how are you all right so if you if you're eating are you eating in the good mood if you're not you gotta you gotta take that stress and convert it and there's techniques with that um what type of uh self therapies are you doing with yourself what type of um uh what do you call it when you self-assessments if you're not if you're not self-assess I'll give you an example you can work with people and you can work with people for years and you see that one person in their eyes you're like hey man you sick today you ever look at somebody be like are you sick you ain't feeling good today but how many times do people do that to themselves how many people look at themselves in the mirror in the morning not a lot how many people read themselves not a lot see what I'm saying people don't focus on them so I would say I would for men redirect their focus back on you what are you doing every day right how are you improving yourself if you just try to improve yourself every day a little bit increments incremental change is how evolution works so if you want to evolve you got to start with change positive change that's all what does discipline look like in real life oh man sticking to the script you could be disciplined doing the wrong thing if you stick to the script that you discipline to that so you stick to your script you know and um stay true to yourself that's discipline my bad I'm just saying if you ain't staying true to yourself then that's the key right there um you know because when you become a follower as I've seen with many people take them down a dark road um and you can see like when you know people and they don't they being a follower they doing something that you know you know that they're accustomed to doing or you know acting outside of you know how they were brought up and stuff like that it never turns out good you know I'm saying so that's definitely a part of discipline sometimes you can see that they don't they don't even want to do it yeah I don't know what be happening for a help yeah oh change man change like people gotta be willing to change and stick and stick with anything that's gonna be progressive man progressiveness is the best thing regression is no good no so you know good a little um rapid fire for you rapid fire um healthy lifestyle well you probably I know the answer healthy lifestyle or cheat days cheat days okay why because man I mean I'm a cheater man look no no seriously I mean I tell you look I was my happiest when I was out here cheating I don't know what else to tell you now but um no cheat days are good you know I fast like I said I've been fasting since 2021 really and um I lost like 30 pounds but I can still wear the same clothes yeah I swapped it for muscle I feels good you know I'm saying um at my age I'm 50 so looking good brother thank you sir yeah I'm trying I'm trying to stay like this too I don't know how long but um yeah cheat days are good man you can't do nothing one you can't it's hard to do something 100% of the time and you have to create a little keep a little 2080 in balance 20% bad bacteria 80% good it's like the yin and the yang you can't have more than you know too much of one or the other so you know I cheat to have something to work off on the weekends I usually eat what I want on the weekends okay your favorite cheat mouth cheese steak chicken cheesesteak that's that Philly chicken cheesesteak for the one if if like if I was on that that would be mine because I'll go you know what I'm saying and I'll get the I get I get something crazy on my chicken cheesesteaks.
SPEAKER_05Where's your uh your best cheesesteak from right now I like the one up the way man um I like I like Paps. Paps right over there by Old Brook. Yeah Paps doing it you know see and I I am from West so what they got they got the amarosa roll or they got the seeded roll they better have the amarosa that's all I know man that join better I think so chicken john's too don't they toast theirs I don't know I bet I don't know if they toast mine they might they might do a little like my chicken john before yeah they might it's been a while though I used to I'm getting them at var crib sometimes paps I know the name yeah and for the people that's not from Philly what you getting on your cheesesteak oh man look salt pepper ketchup fried onions a little bit of ketchup or just some sweet peppers there it is keep it simple there it is all right a little mustard if it's a cheese if it's if it's chicken and like a little spicy mustard. Yeah I I freak them out with the with the chicken joint I get honey mustard honey mustard oh yeah I ain't never tried that one sometimes I'll uh I'll get pickles on my cheesesteak and sometimes I'll I tried it once by accident and then I was like oh this shit ain't bad then I got it myself they had gave me my joint they messed mine up and put pickles on there I was like oh it ain't that bad I tried it again after that yeah my grandpa put me on the pickles yeah oh oh yeah pickles still I forgot yeah pickles a little bit on my own um let me see gym or mental discipline first gym that was easy right gym is my mental discipline okay I don't look if you ain't you go to the gym with me man you ain't gonna see me I'm I'm I'm off to the next I'm I'm one two I don't I don't stop um hustle or healing healing money or peace peace can't pay for you can't pay for enough peace can't pay for man look look at Iran can't you can't do nothing man people don't want you happy so yeah I'd rather have peace lead or follow man I'm uh uh I'd rather lead all day same all day it's not that I can't follow yeah I don't mind following a good leader yeah exactly if you know what you want if you know what you're doing then yeah that's you know I'm saying we we can talk we can do something um if if you got some more time I kind of want to uh talk about the house of all of this okay yeah uh this would be your newest venue right your newest venture I mean I'm saying as far as the holistic being your first nonprofit being your second but they both I have two 501c3s this is separate from that right I'm just going timeline wise yeah yeah this this will be your newest yes this would be my newest okay so let me know what's going on here what type of events do you plan on hosting outside of your holistic oh man um so what I'm looking my vision is to have this become a private club so my members member supported a member supported club I really want a veterans slash business owner club where my business owners are my board members and committee members and my veterans are my base so I want to care for the veterans this way and with the clothing so and at the same time work with other business minded folks to put product in here you make t-shirts let's go you bake cookies pies let's go you make iced tea I got tea but you can't make no tea in here because I'm the tea man um but we we could find other ways if you make products let's go you remember you can put it here you can sell your stuff here you know we support each other you know that's that's that's that's not a this is not a new idea it's just a a re a remake on an old idea okay so some people called it like Black Wall Street I'm calling it the street for all you know like so and being from West Philly was this just a business opportunity what brought you to this part of Philly people that don't know that's a good that's a good that's a that's great so I worked for an organization I got laid off put myself through college and at the same time I got an opportunity to put this the clothing program in Parkway West High School under um Dr. McClatty principal gave me an opportunity gave me a huge room as big as this room yeah Parkway yeah shout out to Parkway West and unfortunately I just heard they shutting down oh wow yeah I just heard the news them and a couple other schools they was a part of the 17 schools oh wow one of the charter schools so yeah I was there and while I was at Parkway West High School I had an opportunity to work with students to do programs like um we call it like this reward program get uh getting caught in the moment of doing something positive where they were earned these play dollars called Waybucks wardrobe for adolescents and youth that's the acronym so we had play money they would get 1020 30 40 bucks they'll come down and shop in the store so they wasn't really shopping for them they shopped for their parents or grandparents their caregivers so they'll get shirts suits pants and also we had a t-shirt making program there for the kids who were interested and you know and I really enjoyed it touching the kids' lives like that so even in uh also did um uh what we call like teaching kids how to tie tie so I even did like little programs with the boys like that so I mean um Parkway West was was like my um really my starting ground for me to start this on my own. So after I left Parkway West I went to Germantown uh I went to Germantown Avenue and I had a place there. So I was there for like a year or two and I caught a flood. So at around the same time my business partner grandfather owned this place around the same like a year like maybe six months before he he died he's a veteran also so if you look around you see like a lot of veteran stuff because a lot of stuff was here and I happened To be a veteran too. So I had a flood in my other place. And then he passed. And then my business partner's grandmother had this place and was just sitting here. So they were like, You want to come here? Because it was just sitting here. Now I came here with the idea of um like I I can I could just improve on my existing uh nonprofits. So I mean I actually did that. I got here and I never left. So yeah, I left here because I I left I came here because I had a flood at my other location.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_05And it the timing, man, like I really do believe in timing. Yeah. And opportunity. So yeah, that's how I kind of got here.
SPEAKER_03I believe in time and an opportunity too. That's you know why we're here essentially right now. Yeah. Believe it or not, you know, to all the people listening. Um, it's a great opportunity um ahead of us. Um, you know, I've been here for since I've been coming around since about 2014. So I was introduced to the building off the rip, you know what I'm saying? And um, I've seen many of the things that you've been able to do in here, um, and you know, many things that you can do, you know, going forward. So, you know, I'm I'm all for it. Um I mean, he's been here before, you probably don't remember, but like way back in the day, probably like 10 years ago, you know what I'm saying? Back when we was here a lot, you know what I'm saying? I had a lot of you know, people would come through or whatever, so they know about the spot. It just, you know, people ask about it every now and then like, yo, man, what's up with your uncle and Steve's spot? You know what I'm saying? Remember we had to fight John, so we had some things in here that was probably had a birthday party or two. You know what I'm saying? So um, it's always been here. So I'm glad that finally you get to a point where you know we can bring our minds together and you know work together and make it make it go from there.
SPEAKER_04What was the craziest thing you have seen in your event space?
SPEAKER_03Oh man, I didn't see crazy things with damn stuff.
SPEAKER_05Um I seen it all. I mean well, you can live. Yeah. I mean I need to clean you. Oh man, talk to me. What happened? A lot of stuff I ain't supposed to disclose, but okay. Um something craziest.
SPEAKER_04Oh you can tell me, you can he told me about the midget. So if you want to talk about the midget, you can talk about the midget.
SPEAKER_05Oh man. No, I mean, we had some really good parties. I can tell you, um, not really something the wildest thing that I've ever seen. Like I had my cousin had a party here. And I don't know if you know, but you can fit more than 150 people here, but I've never seen this place packed. My cousin had a party, and this place was like totally packed, and it blew my mind. But at his party, he had this leopard thing. It's like a big ass leopard scarf thing. I don't know what I don't know why, but that was wild. On top of it being like 200 people in here, yeah, he had some wild stuff on looking like Rick James.
SPEAKER_03Hold on, what what kind of party was that that night? Because I feel like you was there? Yeah. Yeah. I think I was at the door. It was like a flag join. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I remember that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04That was some time ago, yeah. That was crazy. Renting out the space. Have you ever had to shut down early?
SPEAKER_05Nah, I ain't. No, I never had to shut down. You mean like the cops come or something and shut it down?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, like the the uh people that you was renting it out to went against the rules, guidelines.
SPEAKER_05Oh no, I like I shut them. No, like I had I had like little things in place, you know, to where I don't let stuff get out of hand. If I start seeing something going south, I like I kind of nip it in the bud. But I I I make sure they get their money's worth. Yeah. You get your hours. That's it. Like, I ain't never had to shut anybody party down.
SPEAKER_04So you never had to ban nobody from the establishment?
SPEAKER_05No, you know, the only only thing that I've seen that people try to do and get away with is selling liquor. And that's that's like that's like my pet. That's my I watch that. That's what I'm looking for. So you doing that, I'm behind a bar with you. Like, no, we ain't doing that.
SPEAKER_04And that's crazy to do that because you uh you open BYOB. Like you open it up to people. So why are you trying to make money and you can just come and have a good time? Exactly. I got a funny story.
SPEAKER_03It was here. I was what happened. What the hell was that stripper name? Wait, it was stripper's hair? I can't remember. They seem this shit was like is not what you should do. 2016. I'm trying to tell you. Remember, it was me, you, Jonesy, Leek. It was my birth, it was around my birthday time. You had him in here? Yeah, it was the two Jones, right? Was it the two Jones I used for Mark Bachelor party? I'm not sure, was it? I don't know. Cause look, because I remember, remember we was all in there. Somebody's picking up their ones, too, but I ain't gonna say no names. I know. So it was my around my birthday time. Um, what the hell was her name? Her name was like Dior, her name was like Dior or some shit. So they come in.
SPEAKER_04That was DJ folks. Really? That was DJ Folks. The dark skin one was DJ folks, the light skinned one was her friend.
SPEAKER_03Okay, yeah. So we we we they come through. They're like, where the birthday boy at? Got right to it. Got right to it. Take me right there. So we get in there. I'm like, what's up, y'all? They like, what's up? I'm like, what you mean? They're like, it's your birthday. So I'm thinking they just come in to dance. They thinking they come here so we can do a, you know what I'm saying? I'm like, huh? I'm like, I'm like, let's start talking to numbers. I'm like, how much? They say 150 apiece. I'm like a holler at y'all later. But they had to like leave and come back, they had to get some clothes or something like that. But we had a good time that night. Yes, we did, you know what I'm saying? Um, but I'll never forget that, John, because it was like a setup, John. I'm in the bathroom hemmed up. Like, I'm like, damn, like if that's what we was on, then that's one thing, but I didn't even know. Like, I just you know. You wasn't supposed to know. Yeah, that was crazy, man. Listen, we was we were doing things early, yeah, yeah. I think so. That was 10 about 2016. So it was like an early 20s.
SPEAKER_05I got I got a memory. So we used to play spades in here, and I had these two, I had um, these two girls, they from like the northeast. And they're not and they're not black. And I had one of my friends, Derek Johnson, and his alumni in here, and they they Westchester University, so it was a whole bunch of black people, two white girls, killing everybody in spades. They tried to cheat on them and everything. They was cheating and they couldn't beat them. They played like six games in a row and they couldn't beat them. Right over in that corner. I was like, yo. See, but I played with them, so they always under, they always underbedded one book. And once you understood their strategy, you will always be able to wait one over under. They always bet one off. I hate people like that. Always.
SPEAKER_04So that's their strategy. That sounds like my cousin Larry. If you listening, never playing spiritual team already. That's how Larry get down. Always under one. I be trying to uh you know when some certain people play sandbags, I be trying to play that when I play him.
SPEAKER_05You got to because some people be they be playing, they don't get their hands right.
SPEAKER_03Um, what's something that you would want uh people to take from this episode, Steve?
SPEAKER_05Come and get healed. That's it. Hail yourself.
SPEAKER_04I got one uh start, bench, cut, venue, holistic drinks, nonprofit. Okay, okay. That was a good one.
SPEAKER_05What you got? That's for you.
SPEAKER_03I mean, so you gotta start one, bench one, and cut one.
SPEAKER_05Cut one. Start one, bench one, and cut one. Venue, holistic, and I mean three businesses. I'll get rid of the clothing business. That's the cut.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_05And you said uh who's starting, who benching? Homo holistic is starting. Okay. Okay. If I if I answer that right, I could do it all over.
SPEAKER_03No, you good, we got you. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Along all three journeys, what was your biggest loss?
SPEAKER_05Time.
SPEAKER_03Can't get it back. Oh no, you ain't not gonna lie about the time. Time, time, time. Get everything back. We can get money back. You know what I'm saying? But time, oh man. Tell you not money, I put a lot of hours down here.
SPEAKER_05Put so many hours, man. Sometimes I go home, I just don't. If I don't feel like I'm inspired, then I can't even come down here. So, because when you came through and with Jessica, and you know, she kind of motivated me more to get more to get down here. And then when you came through, I was like, man, I've just been like having more energy. That's what's up, man. So yeah, I put like for all the work you said they got put in, I had to be here. Yeah, and I actually probably lent 30, 40% of my of my own personal energy into it. That's just how I am. If I'm if somebody's in here working, I want to be a part of it. I want to I want to paint a little bit too. I want to screw something in too. Big team player. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I got a little double, kind of triple question. How heavy does this get mentally trying to balance and were there ever a moment where you wanted to just quit everything?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I got a lot going on right now with um other ventures. Um the reason why I don't quit is because one thing that I've been able to do is like I'm a very good saver. So um money-wise, I don't I don't have no need for no money. Um honestly my money's good. Uh the hard part, I think, I mean, to answer your question, because I think I'm buzzed.
SPEAKER_04I think I'm buzz. So the second one was uh, was there ever a moment where you wanted to quit everything? And that was about to be my third. What was the hard was what was the hardest part about running all your businesses?
SPEAKER_05So every time that I feel like I want to quit, someone comes into my life. You see what I'm saying? Like every time, like my uncle, so that's the year. Yeah, the last two years, my uncle was going through a rehab, and he always relapsed on crack. Always, always relapsing. So I was there for him every Saturday for like the last two years, up until about four months ago. We would come here and do something. Just because that's the only time he can like get liberty. So we would come here and do something, I'll pick him up, we'll do something, and I'll take him back two years straight. I I probably paid him like five times to do the same job over, like that bathroom right there. His only texture because he couldn't paint fresh sheet rock walls. He painted that bathroom like six times. I paid him four times.
unknownFuck.
SPEAKER_05But the more importantly, the motivation was I felt like I was giving back to him and helping him since he was there for me as a kid. And his sobriety and him making it to the next level and being here helping get anything done was like meant more to me than just anything. So people do come into your life, you know. So I always look forward to that. When I'm not motivated, I know somebody's gonna come.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely.
SPEAKER_05So, yeah, right now, we're already here. Like I could have had a lot of this stuff done, but people, for some odd reason, seem to fall off, you know, not finish stuff or hold you back, or it's probably not even them. It's probably just timing. But I'm in a place now, I feel motivated, I'm gonna go ahead and get some stuff done tomorrow, whether it's somebody here or not.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_05You know, so I'm gonna go ahead and keep moving. But uh yeah. No, I don't give up, man. I never give up. I never, I never give up. I might get uh a little um discouraged, but bro, I'm a fighter, man. They used to call me Scrappy when I moved to West Philly. Went to school. They used to try to fight me all the time. I'll fight them right back. I was I ain't take no teeth for the fever, cuz. So yeah, I had a nickname out here.
SPEAKER_04Business wise, are you respected or underestimated?
SPEAKER_05I would say underestimated. Okay. Because um the moves I'm about to make next, man, it's just you know, we talk offline. But yeah, the moves I'm about to make, man, like partying is fun. But if I want to get real money, I know what to do. You know, I know how to go write them letters, get that million, yeah, knock that door money. I want that state federal money. Absolutely. You know, so that's where we at with it, man. I can't do this work without the support of the federal government or the state government, the way I want to do it. So yeah, that's next.
SPEAKER_03So we're gonna get in mind too, man. My 5013C, man. That's the next stuff for me as well. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I got a guy to do it. Shout out to uh Dr. Proctor, West Philly's finest. You know, he uh he teaches at Villanova. That's what's up. Yeah, he he will help you structure your 501c3. I mean, this guy's a genius with it. Because you can come up with the idea and you just give him the basics. He's gonna put that thing together for you like he's chat GT. He was chat, he was chat GPT before it was a chat GPT. The human one.
SPEAKER_03The human one. The human. Oh man. Uh definitely, man. I'm thankful for the night, man. Um, some good conversation. Um got a lot of things in line, you know what I'm saying? With Ty, with you. I got my man Feek. Um, so I got like two other people that I'm bringing on board just all together for you know, my um content and all that. So we're gonna all meet and have a little meeting, just chat, you know, talk it, you know what I'm saying, have a few drinks and just you know, get to you know, bring it in because you know I'm definitely like I said, I'm down to help you whatever, whatever uh we're gonna get your podcast right. Um soon to come, you know what I'm saying? We'll be dropping those episodes and everything. Um, but like I said, I'm here for that. Um Todd's gonna be around. Listen, I'm gonna help you put the hand of the right. I'm gonna be I'm right here with it. We can get you right. We're gonna get you your own set audience, you know what I'm saying? We're gonna get all it right. So you don't got nothing to worry about. Um, I'm just glad you was able to come tonight and be comfortable and you know be yourself and talk on camera and everything like that. Because I know first time, you know, it's not always that easy. But you did great, man. You did great. Thank you. Yeah, drop some gems. Um, I love what you're doing, man. Trying to help people or help heal people, I should say. Um, that's what all that's all that matters, man. Giving back. You know, we all give back in our own ways. That's a very respectable way to give back, man, because people need it, young and old.
SPEAKER_05You know what they say about the horse. Yeah. Take him to the river, but you can't make him drink. So this is the river. Facts.
SPEAKER_04For sure.
SPEAKER_05Facts. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04While we uh wrapping everything up, before we do get out of here, I just want um one final time. Let everybody know all the event all of the adventures. What do you do? How can they find you? Where your venue is at, if you're ready to give that location up.
SPEAKER_05Oh yeah. So, you know, we look I'm located, or we're located at 1605 West Rockland Street. Uh, a little bit about me. Um, I work, I work in social work services. I help people in the uh in the veteran community, you know, help them reach 10 when they're at 9 or 8, 7. So that's what I do for a living. Um, I help people. It's just the type of person I am. I've always been this type of person. So I help people in my day job, and I try to help people after work, and I try to help myself. And I I think I help myself by helping others. You know, I kind of like level up when I see other people leveling up around me.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely.
unknownYou know.
SPEAKER_04Are you renting out your venue?
SPEAKER_05Oh, I've rent it out. Well, right now, like I said, I don't really don't have no money issue, but when I when we do build this memberships, the people that will be renting will be members more so than any strangers off the street. I'm not dealing with strangers no more. If you want to be a part of this movement, come on, become a member. Get down with us, you know, um, so you can kind of benefit from this. Yeah. You know.
SPEAKER_04Is the drinks only exclusively towards members? Or can they, or can the public find a way to uh get the drinks from you?
SPEAKER_05Yeah, we're gonna we're gonna do like little uh events, you know, in the future. We're gonna put some things together to introduce these uh, you know, this this healing, these tinctures to the public. Um right now, uh it's only friends and family.
SPEAKER_03Y'all heard the man. Be on the lookout for them pop-ups. Yeah, it's coming. Definitely in the works, man. The weather gets nice, so you never know, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And in any way possible, if it's anybody out here that's willing to help, how can we support this nonprofit?
SPEAKER_05Oh, hold on. You might even want to cut that. But um, you know, I don't have my um my social media's um uh platform up right now or my website at the moment. I'm in the rebuilding stages, but um, if you want to reach me, um, can it reach out through you guys?
SPEAKER_03Y'all can reach out to me on uh Instagram, onkdove underscore um stepping with onk podcast. Um email address is um bigonk at gmail.com. You can do that too.
SPEAKER_04And if you want to reach out to me, Instagram, role model tie, that's R-O-L-L, not R O L E. Role Model Reaction on TikTok, Ty Two Sense on Instagram and TikTok.
SPEAKER_03I'm on TikTok too. Yeah, I mean we yeah, we're gonna get you uh situated though, Steve. Okay. Um whatever you want to, you know, be situated with as far as social media. You don't have to get deep into it, but you want to have it where you just can post flyers or you know what I'm saying, just have your business out there, we can get you right. Okay, okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05Now for events, so so far we're gonna have honorary members until we actually get the board together and we do this thing uh officially. So we're gonna do friends and family, and friends can bring friends. Right. So that's when we do these events, it's gonna be people that care about other people. No, no random people coming in here. We want to make sure that we kind of target the people we care about first. You know, we're gonna bring in the ones we care for, try to get them acclimated, or we're just aware of herbs, and then we're gonna hit everybody else, but we gotta take care of friends and family first.
SPEAKER_04That makes sense. So if y'all are picking up what he's putting down, let us know. Y'all can definitely tag along.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, if you're friends of this show, man, you family and you're a friend, so let's go.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Man, I appreciate y'all for coming through, man. Um, rapping with me, Stephen Word Onk Podcast, man. It was a great one. Um, first time for you, Steve. You did great, man. Like I said, thank you. Thanks for coming up, man. Thanks for giving me the opportunity and give you one too. Uh, Todd, thanks for rocking with me today. Um, gonna get out of here. We don't want to hold them too long. But um, like I said, um, Stepwood Onk Podcast. We're gonna be back um on a weekly basis again, yo. So just stay tuned. What's up? Yes, sir.