Women of Excellence Part 1

Somebody listening right now is downplaying what they’ve survived and what they’ve earned. We’re not doing that today. We sit with a room full of women and talk plainly about education, credentials, and the sacrifice behind every associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and hard-won certification. We also name the thing so many of us were taught to avoid: telling the truth about our success is not bragging. It’s leadership, and it gives the next woman permission to go for more.

Then the conversation turns into testimony. You’ll hear a powerful story of rebuilding after setbacks at school, climbing in government work without a degree, and raising children with serious medical needs while fighting for fair treatment in rooms where gatekeeping is loud. We talk about workplace discrimination, documentation, supportive managers, and why a second medical opinion can change everything, especially for Black women navigating a system that too often dismisses pain and choice. You’ll also hear what happens when heartbreak collides with ambition, and how therapy, faith, and community can hold you up when life gets heavy.

We go there on the hard chapters too: betrayal, divorce, and the long tail of healing; COVID-era burnout and verbal pressure at work; retirement as self-protection; grief after losing a child; adoption and the complicated emotions of meeting a biological parent; and the everyday reality of showing up for kids and grandkids. We close with the hope-filled stuff: reinvention, a Richmond cleaning business, learning on the fly, and building healthy friendships even when trust feels risky.

If this hit home, subscribe, share it with a friend who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find these stories. What part of your story are you finally ready to claim out loud?

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Transcript

Education And Owning Credentials

SPEAKER_03 0:36

And we have all these different topics that we talk about, and I had you know slightly mentioned earlier about I don't know how we got on the topic about education. And so many women here are really educated, and I think it's not bragging when you talk about your credentials and what you have and how you got there. And it's only what it's not about 10 women here. And I believe, if I'm not mistaken, women have at least a master's degree or more. 10. So it would be nice if y'all can kind of like give your testimony and how did you accomplish that, especially like with being some are single parents, some are married with multiple children. I do not have a master's degree, I have an associate's degree. And me too.

SPEAKER_01 1:29

And I was working on my bachelor's, but I think you have a degree.

SPEAKER_03 1:33

Right. But just to get that was a sacrifice. Because Maya, when I went to school, Maya was a baby. And I used to get up early in the morning to um do my homework. But the reason I stopped going to school, I'm one year away from getting my bachelor's, they changed some laws and I ran out of payroll money. They changed the laws when you have a lifetime of pay rent, and I just couldn't afford to continue. And then I started my business and I was making more money doing that. Your business only for yours.

SPEAKER_02 2:10

And the mother of bright children. So can all the ladies in the house that have at least a master's degree or more raise your hand? So we have how many?

SPEAKER_03 2:26

One, two, three, four, five.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Yeah, but listen, you can call me.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

She said, I'm a thousand people.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

Well, uh, at first uh got my bachelor's degree at Old Women University. And then I went on to get my master's degree at Walden University. And I did get a certification in project management.

SPEAKER_02 3:28

That's mine. That's my stuff.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

I'm there.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

PMP is hard. It is hard. Yeah, PNT, and I don't have that. That is hard. Okay, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_03 3:40

Um I think I got a certain I think a certification I know is process management. And I'm currently associate director as of February 2nd, back managing day. Oh congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations.

SPEAKER_02 3:58

Did you get your masters while you were like before you got married or after you got married?

SPEAKER_03 4:08

I was working in managing and thankful to my current or my former manager. She was like, Do you want to make some money in this world? I get paid like the men do to masters.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 4:22

And she allowed me to go to school while working. That's good stuff. And I could do my work at work. That's good. Wow. That's a good manager. You do not know. And you're saying the right thing.

SPEAKER_02 4:34

She supports that. She don't do that. That's right. That's wonderful. That is great.

SPEAKER_03 4:41

I remember when I was working on my PHR, which is the certification for HR, my boss allowed me to leave work almost two hours early so I could get home and take care of things, and then be able to go to my PHR class, which was at the community college. That was good support. Because I, in order to basically prove yourself in the HR field, you gotta have those certificates.

SPEAKER_02 5:07

Yeah, but you know, I don't know if that's the same now, though. I know, like I'm gonna say 10 years ago when I was first given out the door to her, that's all. But before I got out, that's all they saw when you get your PHR. You can get your PHR.

SPEAKER_03 5:23

Anybody else want to share their story?

SPEAKER_02 5:27

Roxanne, Roxanne, Roxanne, Roxanne, Roxanne, we're Roxanne.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Yeah, because Roxanne is the one that did it.

SPEAKER_01 5:44

Come on, baby. You got a story, and it's a beautiful story. And what is it? Women history months? Women's excuse. Women of excellence is in the world.

SPEAKER_03 5:58

Come on now. Roxanne hates talking about herself. I think that's anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

Is there a reason why specifically that you're like, she's talking about yourself? I mean, let me start. You're great. And it took that six like right twenty ourselves. Yes, you're great.

SPEAKER_01 6:22

And you can turn through a whole lot, and God has sustained you, maintained.

SPEAKER_03 6:27

And we want to hear about it, I say. A business owner, but it's okay if you don't.

SPEAKER_02 6:38

Because this is supposed to be a good thing. You tell us too much. You share what you want to share. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:43

Yeah. Oh, definitely share what you want to share. But we as women, we shrink ourselves so much. We do minimize ourselves so much. Why not talk about you? You're amazing. And that smile is good. But that's okay if it's if you tell everybody else I know because you tell me.

Roxanne’s Turning Point And Comeback

SPEAKER_03 7:04

Well, thank you for that. Um it's y'all, you know. You know how people say, you know, um, the world is not full of empathy or compassion or just saying, hey, you know, let me jump in there, let me help you. I've experienced that from my family, from people I've worked with, whatever. But um, got married very young. Well, I guess not young, it was I was 24. Young. Um and and pretty much that was just that was the first guy. First guy was a brilliant boy, got married, um, country boy, and um he had a temper. I knew that he had a temper. Uh, but quiet, and yeah, he was in a living email, um, met on a blind date, and fast forward we got married in 1993. Um we both worked for the state, then he left and we began doing over the road drive a long distance. Um during that time I was back home working. Um got a job with the government at 20. I messed up at school. I had a scholarship going to AT. But I dropped out in my junior year because I messed up and everything. So I came back home and my earnings. Like, you don't get a job with benefits. That's all I'm gonna know, whatever. So I got a job with benefits. Um working with the state, I worked my way up. So I didn't have a degree. I like you, I was like a giveaway from getting. Um, but life started life and married. Um during that time, I had three miscarriages before I had Veronica. I had Veronica when I was 28. That girl was born, a little less than a pound. She spent 221 days in the wiki at MCD. And um, me married to this man who was driving over the road. He didn't care, he wasn't there helping. He was like, I don't like hospitals. I'm out here making money, you just it's your job, stay back there. Whatever. Um did that praying and doing everything and not giving up to bring her home. Brought her home. She was born in March, brought her home just before Thanksgiving that eve. Um, it was a struggle. She came on tubes, machine, everything doing. Um, and I was working full time. I just stayed doing this and going through all that. You know how you're doing the jobs and people stuff. Um when Veronica finally was able to drive on her own, she was close to three. Um, thank God my baby sister, she did do step-up. She was going to Virginia State, she needed some money. So she kept Veronica doing the day and went to school at night for me. Wow. I do owe my baby sister that. Wow. She did that for me. So um I worked hard, I got promotions, and then I got into one job and got stuffed, and I became a hearing officer working with a bunch of um attorneys. And you know how y'all had people to the few up front positions. Well, I had someone tear me down and say that my writing was worse than a fifth grade.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 10:32

Um, and that she was only going to put me on easy cases because I didn't have a degree or a JD like everybody else, my peers. And we're gonna demote you. Oh no! And then I had already worked for the government 15 years.

SPEAKER_00 10:44

No, they ain't evil.

SPEAKER_03 10:47

Very evil. So they um HR said, well, fine, you can give her a demotion and title, but you can't take her money because she earned everything. Um, so I went home that Friday, I cried my eyes out. A man who didn't want to listen. Like said, gotta have faith. I talked to God. He said, you go back in your money, you take the demotion, and you carry your ass fast. I know that's funny. Went to school, registered, I worked full-time. I carried a full-time load by taking care of Veronica. And I found out I was pregnant with Jessica. He said you're gonna keep on going. Then I found out I had to go on bed rest because I had blood clots in my legs. Um, and then Jessica wasn't growing. I said, Lord, what else happened? Give me another baby. Go to a doctor, he said it's best for you to abort that baby. You don't want the trouble, you already got one. And and this is because we're black, and just seeing now how much is putting a voice to the medical profession, never asking us how we feel in the pain, just assume. And this man's name was, I ain't gonna say it on camera, but needless to say, um, I was like, your name does not fit your demeanor. That I do know. Um, so me and my mom we walked out the office and got a second opinion. And that's when I learned about dwarfism. So Jessica was born a dwarf. If um, they preferred to be called a little person, but um, she's beautiful. That he knows Jessica, she's beautiful. And she has more tenacity and spunk than any person I've seen. So dealing with that, going through school in 2010 with everything, carrying two children with special needs, I did manage to get my batch, my associates, and my bachelor's.

SPEAKER_01 12:36

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

I'm going, I'm going on for the gusto, so I kept on and I went until I got my master's. I graduated with that in 2012.

unknown 12:53

That is so incredible.

SPEAKER_03 12:54

Going through all of this and doing everything, the worst thing that hit me was thought it would have been Veronica and Jessica's health me. No, it's find out during all of that, being married to somebody almost 20 years, that they decided during that time instead of helping and pitching that they're gonna have an affair with the Walmart greeter. Oh, you gotta be candy. You can't make yourself up.

SPEAKER_00 13:22

What is it?

SPEAKER_03 13:23

He would always tell me that I wasn't desirable, I wasn't sexy, or I was this. But the Walmart greeter was the Walmart greeter. Lord have mercy. Walmart greeter, and um, she lived in the apartment right behind our house. But that's what convenient. Um she was easy. And she was easy. She the only reason to this day that I found out he was cheating because I was so emergency in taking care of the house and working and the girls that I woke up one Saturday morning.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

The Holy Spirit left it, I had my mom call. She needed some.

SPEAKER_03 14:04

The Holy Spirit left her. So I, of course, get the girls, get the car seats, get in the car. And I went to my car and I'm vigilant now about making sure my vehicles are locked before every night. Uh-huh. I can be upstairs in the middle of the night. I'll jump off seat. I learned that lesson. I know that's right. I got in the car. To my steering wheel tape was a manila envelope. Uh-huh. Saying what? With pictures and a phone and a nasty letter in it, and it just, my whole world blew up. Who did that? The Walmart Reader.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

The freaking Walmart. The Walmart. You gotta call her the Walmart Reader.

SPEAKER_03 14:45

The Walmart Reader? The Walmart Reader. Open your car, the notes said. The notes said, these are the things that I do to your husband because you won't do them at home. To this day, that's that envelope and them, that the thong and them pictures are still in my mom's safety bottle. No man! No ma'am. Learn that. You gotta let that go. That needs to go.

SPEAKER_02 15:16

Can you use it to sue? No.

SPEAKER_03 15:20

No, I mean, no, it's miserable.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

So let me ask you, what did what did you learn? What did you take back from all that you've been through? Oh my god. What did all I teach you though? Oh.

SPEAKER_03 15:36

First of all, I told me I don't need no thing. It didn't bring that much trouble out of me, bro.

SPEAKER_01 15:41

You didn't need that one.

SPEAKER_03 15:42

That one, that one. It has really healing processes. Oh, yeah, she's still healing, yeah. And and that's because that was two over two decades of my life. Have you been to therapy since then?

SPEAKER_02 15:54

Yeah, but that crap needs to be burned, Roger. Yeah, I am. Is it?

SPEAKER_03 16:00

I feel like it's memorized by saving it. Yeah.

Healing After Betrayal And Letting Go

SPEAKER_01 16:04

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SPEAKER_03 16:21

It's your process. Right. Right. And that's just something actually. Yeah, that is your process. But I've been holding on to that for years, but I guess now is the time to let it go. Yeah, because that's not that has nothing to do with you as an individual. Because remember when we was on that dang on boat ride, and the spirit of Norfolk and that dude was in your face. I'm like, you got a nice smile. There are people out there that desire you. He's the broken one. He was a young thing, and we was a young thing.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

You Ross. She was bald. Just win in her face. I'm like, no! On the boat. Yeah, on the boat. Somebody holding one of these.

SPEAKER_01 17:07

You that lets you know through all of that, though, spiritually.

SPEAKER_03 17:10

I mean, it was like my mom, my sister, God first. Um that if I wasn't there for them. A lot of times when we see people with disabilities and things, people think them as the world's throwaway. And I did not want that to happen to them. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

They don't look like that.

SPEAKER_01 17:35

So we scared the part because you said the doctor said to abort the child and not the So what is the business owner? What makes you change your mind?

SPEAKER_03 17:44

And decide that. Because whatever God was gonna give me, I was gonna take. I'd already suffered four miscarriages. Oh and Monica coming being born fighting for her life. She's on the autism spectrum. She has Asperger. And um then to say, okay, God wanted me to have her.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Right.

SPEAKER_03 18:05

So that was the only good that man ever did.

SPEAKER_01 18:08

Yeah. So you carried it through.

SPEAKER_03 18:10

Yeah, I did. Through a six month. I did. And Jessica was full-term, gave birth to her 36 weeks. Um, she was born six pounds. She was only 14 inches long, but just the cutest little bootleg. And just and um and I just said, hey, we gonna we're gonna do it. Um I have been blessed to actually see a lot of this world and not even in the military. Um I believe in learn a lot more than just by being in school, by seeing things in real life. So I have been blessed to take the girls to many several different countries and um different ways and things.

SPEAKER_00 18:58

Expose there.

Burnout At Work And Choosing Retirement

SPEAKER_03 19:01

I I I it could be that I gave him the easy out to cheat, who knows, but can't figure out that because if I was in school at work or doing something with them, or we were on a trip, and he was like, Okay, well I'm back here, I can do whatever I want to do, I should never know. Um and just just doing it, and then after getting my degrees and stuff, and then working and working my way up, um the last six years is actually been miserable. Um, one good blessing is um would y'all believe I have retired? I retired after 35 years or so.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Don't too many people know that because we kept that on you.

SPEAKER_03 19:45

Um uh going through COVID and managing a team of ungrateful people and um couldn't do anything right and trying to hold them up. I never forget, I would not forget. What I've always believed is that um we treat people the way you want to be treated. That's true. I got that from my mom. She was raised with my father for 27 years, and she dealt with his chicken and his abuse and stuff to see me and my brother and sister's proof. And we know that. She sacrificed a lot. And knowing that, I always know I want to treat people the way I want to be treated. So right before it happened, I got on Amazon and I had care package sent to each of my team's homes, saying, hey, we're gonna get through this and everything. Meanwhile, these people are standing in the background, plotting and stuff, you know, she don't need this position or whatever, whatever, whatever. Um, and just the abuse and verbal abuse receiving it from higher-ups. I was just like, I cannot deal with this. I'm gonna come out of this and I'm gonna look at my options. But then I do have diabetes type two. I injured my toe and I broke it, and I did not know how. It had got infected to the point it was almost gangray. Oh my god. Jesus. And while that time I was recuperating, I contacted the federal EOC attorneys and everything trying to see, trying to bring charges. That's not an easy job.

SPEAKER_00 21:24

No.

SPEAKER_03 21:24

Trying to basically, because basically what they said boys there's my word against that. It's red tape. And and I had documentation and everything. I said what I'm not gonna say, you're getting ready, you're gonna have the year. And then I finally have the age to retire. Because when I reached 30, I didn't have the age. So I couldn't even consider it again. Um and uh Jessica was starting to polish, of course, the divorce was final, all of that, and I was like, but I gotta do what I gotta do. So I put my paperwork in it to retire. Um, I did that originally in September um of 2022. But I did get a a promotion at the Department of Aging and Rehabilitation as their assistant director of a state agency. So I pulled the paperwork back and I went to work at dogs. But then the damage had been done emotionally. Wow. If I had that job before everything went down with COVID, I'd still help work at full-time. Right. Um I it was an amazing year when the summer of 23 came around and I was just a little so burnt out. I resubmitted my paperwork. And and the good Lord Gerard said it's gonna be okay. So September 1, I hear was holding happy slow and phones. What happened? September 28th, we found out I was gonna be a grandma. And my baby girl started her sophomore year at Virginia State. We all get caught up. She had bringing her and a boyfriend. And um, Jessica was further along than we thought when um I realized something was going on with her. Took her to the doctor. She was already 17 weeks in a little Khalil. So abortion or any options that she had was already out the window. Oh wow. Right. But they probably wouldn't have done it anyway. Jessica's organs are so small. So with Khalil, he was pushing her organs up further in her. Um, and she only had no kid. So he was like, look at her, and she fell in the doctor's office just crying. I said, Jessica, whatever problems I had went out the window, I had to be there for her and him. So every dollar I had, every bonus I got, I put it to her in that baby. Wow. And yak her through her pregnancy, yeah. She was in and out of the hospital. But Jessica did not stop. Oh, my baby graduates this year.

unknown 24:01

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:04

She graduated. Wow.

SPEAKER_01 24:11

Praise the Lord. I don't know what we do.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Baby, we graduate.

Reinventing Life After Loss

SPEAKER_01 24:25

I gotta get one. I have to. See, I'm telling you. I'm gonna do it.

SPEAKER_03 24:36

Look at the break. Because she was a housewife for a long time. And I don't think she planned to even ever work this week. So you want to tell us your text. You do you thought you would never work, and now I think you have a whole career. I think she didn't want to work. That was sick. She had six kids. Okay. Um, she didn't walk through anything. Okay. She had a house built from the ground up. Come on now. Um, she never drove. Jane drove for an inway chair. I didn't tell you. She's from New York. Who's my move? She's from New York? Bronx. Oh, you from the South. That's a South Bronx same way. Yeah, everywhere. Bronx, Bronx, and um, I was their middle sister, so I had three brothers older, a sister older, me, and then my baby sister. We didn't want for anything. I know they're told everybody we was rich. My father used to say, no, you and your mother, me and my mother, can't make my mother have money. We don't have nothing. You don't have anything. I didn't want for anything, so that's the life that I wanted. Um, it wasn't for everybody, um, but it was for me. Um, when I got married, I didn't work. I didn't have to. He already knew. And when I got married the second time, he knew too. Right. And I'm gonna be home. And the third one, I'm not going to work. I just started working work. I've only been in the workfield maybe like 10 years now.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

Oh, so you ain't really paying into social security.

SPEAKER_00 26:43

All the way there.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

No, I am retired. I can retire. I have five kids. No, you don't. Brian.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Damn, girl. You didn't know what you're saying.

Adoption Truths And Family Crises

SPEAKER_03 27:02

Brian, I have my first 16 going on 17. You were 16. Going on 17. Um, you was like you was a little hot. I was the pastor's daughter. Oh, I'm past the show. We were the worst ones. My mother used to worry about me being out there drinking, and you were doing it. That's not what I was doing. All my girlfriends worse, but I had a boyfriend at the time, so yeah. So I had to do that. So y'all was just getting y'all was just smashing. Yeah, yeah. Um, so yeah, I had a son that was um killed. He was shot when we moved here to Richmond. No, I'm sorry. He was going to the store. Um, and it was so crazy because the night before 19. He's my baby boy. So it was so crazy because I don't know, it's a mother's thing, I guess. I was just thinking about all my kids, and I'm like, what do y'all do? And they was like, no, something like stay in the house. Normally they fuss with me. This day they did. Everybody was in the house. Came in the house, everybody was laughing and joking. It was Friday. And on Fridays, we normally have like a taco night or whatever. So my girlfriend came and she said, I just seen my baby. I said, Who? She said, Matthew. I said, No, you didn't. Matthew in the room. She said, Look at my face, go through all the slow on my face. In the slow through. By the time she said that, I got the phone call that he was shocked. So, yeah. Um it was a hard recovery. I went to um every type of meetings and everything. It took me quite a few years to get it together. Um, that's how one of my marriages ended because the husband I was with at that time, he was like, You gotta get it together because you got other children and you have a husband. I said, Well, I got other children, but I don't have a husband anymore. So if that was the end of that one, you're not gonna tell me. I wouldn't care if I had a hundred credits. That still was my baby. Right. So on. Um I think after that, I think that's when I started like, okay, let me start doing things for myself. Now the kids are older and they're doing their thing and they're having kids and they got their own careers. And so I was in the house just looking crazy. So my first time going out, I just went out. I like to clean and stuff like that. So um I took a part-time job, part-time job cleaning with a company. They liked what I was doing. They made me a supervisor within a year. I was a um manager within two years, it became an ops manager. So I was at the point where, like a lot of my family members with their degrees and stuff, make it more than them. And it was crazy because we laugh about it because when we'd be all going out, my cousins would be talking about their careers and stuff. And I would talk about, well, Matthew started walking today. Um this one is potty train now, you know. And they would be traveling, doing everything now. I travel just as much as them. Um, have just as much as them. And I mean, it's everybody's path is different. I didn't look at mine being a bad one. I love my life, and I wouldn't change it for the world. Absolutely. Um, yeah, um I'm about to be 59 this year. Oh, you look amazing. You don't look like I'm about to be 59, but one thing is that um my mom that raised me was not my biological mom.

SPEAKER_00 30:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 30:45

Um, I was adopted. Um, I met my biological mom, baby, about seven years ago. It was hard. Oh my god, seven, just seven. Everybody was like, Oh, you mean your mom's gonna be a great thing, this and that? No, it was terrible. It wasn't. Um, yeah. Her her life, she blamed her life on me. Yeah. So it was one of those things where um, because of you, I didn't couldn't do this, and I can't do it, and your dad was this, and it wasn't. But she didn't raise it, right? But um, thank God I had a good mom. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord. So we prayed for her. That's right, that's right. Because you did nothing to her. It's her own jelly, her own inner soul. Yeah. Demons. Yeah. And I asked about my dad. She didn't, and then your dad is this, dad, dad, dad, dad. But like I said, I had a good life. Praise the Lord. I was bright a little bit. I must say so. I was kind of spoiled a little bit, so I wouldn't change it for the world. Um, now I'm just enjoying my grandkids. I'm getting ready to go now. Actually, my son was arrested. Uh uh. The oldest son was arrested um at work. He was drunk, got into arguing with um another supervisor. And um, so they said he owed child support, which he don't owe child support. But back in 2022, he did owe, and they had put a capers out on him. So he's in jail for a capers right now. What's a capers? Um, that's when you don't repair the court. So when you don't repair the court, they put papers out on you. So he's sitting in jail right now because the lawyer never made it in to give the paperwork. But they were trying to say he owes all this money. But one thing about he could be drunk, but he always takes care of his kids.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 32:47

Um, I'm actually going out and pick up his daughter. She's getting baptized in the morning.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

That's gonna change the trajectory of everything.

SPEAKER_03 33:00

I actually had um another one of my grandkids, he turned four. Um, he had a birthday party, but I told him, Listen, I definitely want to come here and meet all you ladies and just enjoy myself a little bit. I'm always doing something for the grandkids. When you got all the grandkids, yeah, it's always my kids always say, Ma, you ain't do none of this for us. Um that was the preliminary. Now we know what to do. Yeah, they don't give me problems like y'all did. Y'all, I had to run to the school because you don't want to sit down like you don't want to do this, and you stole my car. They just be like, Mother, right? I love you, mother. Right. So I thank you for making it so nice for me. I'm going to do for news to pick her up for tomorrow. I said, you know, now that my son is locked up, let me be there for the both of us.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

Yeah.

Building A Business And Finding Trust

SPEAKER_01 33:56

Um, excellent. I can never stand shit. She's just sitting there so trying to sit in the middle of the day.

SPEAKER_03 34:04

And we work, we work together. So um, when I started, she showed me everything. Everything. And she knows everything about the business. She's and I do have a own cleaning business too. What's the name of it? Dynamics.

SPEAKER_01 34:28

What what part of Virginia is it in? It's in what? Richmond? Richmond, Virginia. Richmond, Virginia. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 34:35

Everything I've done is here, Richmond. Okay. Um, all my kids was born and raised in New York. All my grandkids was born and raised here. Uh-huh. So I started everything here in Bracement. Okay. Yes, everything. My oldest daughter is the only one that still lives up in New York. She's here this weekend for her nephew's birthday, but um, all the rest of my kids is here. Everything is here. Um I love my job. When I seen Melissa, I was like, and most of it I learned on my own. Because the director that hired me, he wound up leaving right after he hired me. And I had nobody to help me at FBCU. But I figured it out because that's what I wanted to do. So I told Melissa, I said, I don't know what the SSE way is as a neighborhood company, but I'm gonna tell you my way. And it's been working for the last past six years. So um, and we just gravitated real, really, really, really well. Like, and I don't have too many female friends. I think I told you. I say because it's just always something going on. It's always something. We can't never be one. It's always jealousy or this, or I got more than you, or you looking at me this way.