Mane Up Memphis Podcast
Mane Up Memphis Podcast serves up practical therapy insights, financial-empowerment tips, and inspiring Memphis stories—straight from the nonprofit that says “wrap-around support or bust.” Hosted by LMSW & CFSW Joey Laswell. New episodes every Tuesday.
Mane Up Memphis Podcast
Episode 3 - Rebuilding Memphis from the Inside Out: Mane Up Memphis
Send us a message at info@maneupmemphis.org
What happens when someone falls through the cracks of our systems? When traditional pathways fail, where do people turn? Racheal Chantel faced these questions head-on and decided to build a solution from the ground up.
In this powerful conversation, Racheal shares her remarkable journey from commercial construction management to founding Mane Up Memphis, a revolutionary approach to mental health support. After returning to Memphis and experiencing the pandemic's forced pause, Rachel began noticing how intentionally designed gaps in our systems keep vulnerable people trapped. "People falling through a gap is a system that's built intentional," she explains. "That's how you keep the rich rich and the poor poor, and it's very expensive to be poor."
Through graduate studies in urban planning and public administration, Racheal discovered what she calls "the cheat code to the matrix" – understanding how these systems function but fail to serve everyone. This knowledge became both a burden and a catalyst. When traditional therapy helped her process these realizations, she understood that mental health access was the missing link for many trapped in cycles of struggle.
What makes Mane Up Memphis different is its approach to mental health as infrastructure rather than just another service. Instead of waiting years for policy changes, Racheal built something to help those who need support right now. Whether it's domestic violence victims who fall between law enforcement and family court jurisdictions or individuals without resources for therapy, Mane Up Memphis creates immediate pathways to safety and healing.
The name itself carries deep cultural significance, drawing from Memphis's unique local language and community spirit. "I wanted to make sure that the culture wasn't lost," Racheal shares. This grassroots authenticity has helped the organization's rapid growth and acceptance across Memphis.
Ready to be part of something transformative? Visit maneupmemphis.org to learn more about volunteering, attending workshops, or supporting this vital work. As we say at Mane Up Memphis: leave the baggage, keep the change.
#ManeUpMemphis
Welcome to the Mane Up Memphis podcast, where we celebrate the grit, heart and hope that make the 901 shine. Each week, we sit down with changemakers, youth and families to talk real mental health wins, money moves and life skills breakthroughs All the tools we use at Mane Up Memphis to uplift, equip and empower people to build stronger, more resilient lives. Whether you're 14 or 40, a parent, mentor or ally, this is your spot for stories that heal and strategies that work. So grab a sweet tea, get comfy and let's step into growth together, because here at Mane Memphis you leave the baggage, keep the change.
Joey Laswell:Hey everybody, welcome to Mane Memphis podcast. My name is Joey Laswell. I'm a licensed therapist and certified financial social worker, proud to be a member of this team and part of this podcast, and I'm very proud to also introduce the Wizard of Oz behind the scenes the one well, in front of the scenes too, but this is Miss Rachel Chantel. Everybody, hi, everybody, hi, everybody, hey, hey, all right, so this is not your first podcast experience, so I already know a lot of your backstory. But you know, since this is a new show, new podcast, why don't you give us, like your elevator pitch? Tell us a little bit about your history, how you got to this point, and then we can get into what your vision is for the future.
Racheal Chantel:So, mcc, everybody, I'm Rachel Chantel. I really don't know where to start in my story. I guess we could start, let's say, when I moved back to Memphis, right? So I went to schooling at Middle Tennessee State University, mtsu, graduated from there with a commercial construction management degree, moved down to Dallas for a few years it was further away from my family. I really didn't like it. I think I was just too young. I moved down there around like 24, 25. But I needed to do that because that's where I really started to learn that I love the family structure, I love my family. Everybody was here in Memphis and I was in Nashville, right, and you could just up and run that highway a few hours. Don't think anything about it. But Dallas from Memphis is like what, 12 hours in a car and now people aren't able to come a few days. They got to actually take off work and be there like a week to actually, you know, make it worth that that trip. And so, um, I just learned I didn't like. I was really just homesick and had an opportunity with my job at the time to move me, uh, back to memphis, because we had picked up a contract with FedEx at the time. So came on back and this was like mid-2019. The contract fell through because we couldn't find enough workers to work there. But by that time I was already living home six months and 15-20 minutes drive to see your family. I was not ready to move because they wanted to move me back to Texas, into the Houston area, 15-20 minute drive to see your family. I was not ready to move, because they wanted to move me back to Texas into, like, uh, the Houston area, right, oh, wow and um, I didn't go. I can't remember, hold on, let me think. Yeah. So I told them I was like, hey, I'm gonna go ahead and like quit, basically I had enough hours to hold me over for like two, two I think and then I had my short-term leave, so they held me over for a few more months.
Racheal Chantel:Looking for jobs, at the time I was in a very big niche, right, and so I did mechanical estimating for piping for water facilitation plants For a lack of people who don't know that those are like where you flush your toilet and water has to get cleaned again to get reused. They had these big, specific. Yeah, it was the piping that I would estimate. Joey, you could walk through it Like, even if your arms is span all the way out. We used to have these poles where we have to go through to make sure it was actually truly round and yeah, so everything has a real big niche down there. Um, no one like being on the plant after taco tuesday. I could say that, no, coming back from a city like this in memphis, there wasn't really a job for that. People would tell me on my own interviews are like hey, you're really smart and we don't really have a job and I'm like estimating is estimating me like hey, I don't understand.
Racheal Chantel:But the city didn't have like true estimators for construction to like people here will hold like two or three hats on one pay. So that was very new for me because I left Memphis at 18 and then I lived in Nashville and Chattanooga, so cities that was much bigger and, like I said, this is not a short story how we got here today.
Joey Laswell:No, we got plenty of time.
Racheal Chantel:This is your dance, so let's hear the whole story, but yeah, so I ended up getting a job here with one of the universities in the area in their planning department, and that's where you can say the seed was set, the mustard seed was set, and I didn't really know it at the time, but now we're into like, let's say, like August of 2019 or somewhere in there. In the summer I interviewed. It took like three or four months for the university to to. It's not fast coming from a city like dallas to here. That was a major shift change and getting things done and yada yada. Memphis is not fast on those things, right, but anyways, started there with them. It my job didn't really start until about November, which we were going right into the holidays. So the universities anywhere you know they're about to shut down because they're going into their breaks Came back in like January of 2020.
Racheal Chantel:That was the year. That was the year, man, from January to March 26th, exactly. I remember the day that they sent us to be working from home. Right, it was my first time actually on the campus and everything. And so then the pandemic started, all right, well, now you just get to sit at home with your family members, right, and this would be the first time in life that we all just probably sit in and talk to each other and really learned about each other. And I was really on this health. Um, I was like a gym rep still am a gym rep, but I was on it really tough back then and I would get my parents out, I'll get my parents out, I would get my uncle out, my nieces, I would really get them out and moving. And, boy, we had a time 2020 was a time and taking cat naps throughout the day together. You just really for me. I just started really cherishing the family structure even more and more. Again, another plant.
Joey Laswell:Another seed planted.
Racheal Chantel:So now schooling starts up. Another seed planet. So now schooling starts up. And I was now I have my master's in city urban, city, regional city, urban and planning, so sorry, with a local government management certificate. Um, they're not under the same, so that programming was a little different, because you can have so many different sectors you can go into for city planning. Some people can have a niche or focus on traffic, another person can have it on green spaces, another person can have it on infrastructures.
Racheal Chantel:My niche in that whole thing was community involvement. So my niche in that whole thing was community involvement, because normally community involvement is the last piece that comes to the table when they're doing city planning. They have the private sector there, they have the city administration there. They'll have, like, maybe a university or something of that nature, like nonprofits. But no one was truly speaking up for the community. Um, and that really sucked, because the community are the normal ones, it's the first or the last, uh, people to use these spaces that's being created, but they're not even having a voice or being able to be represented at the table. I was just like that really sucks a lot. So throughout that I found my route into public administration, public health. So that's where the local government management certificate came in.
Racheal Chantel:But at the same time, I was still wanting to learn about city planning, because my background is construction. So I knew everything passed. When the city approves her plans to get done and you break grounding If anybody knows what that means it's just starting an actual project and moving it forward to building new construction. But everything before that I didn't know and I wanted to learn about this. So that's how my degree was set up, so I learned everything before that my degree was set up, so I learned everything before that.
Racheal Chantel:Okay, well, everything before becomes more of local government and having to learn how policies and laws and regulations and zonings and there's just so many pieces that are just not common knowledge. And it wasn't coming to me either. I think I'm a pretty smart gal, but at that time it was just like, just like well, what the heck is this? And so now they don't teach you this in school, because if you knew when people say that people have power, only if they knew what that truly means, because it is true, like it's so true, which is why I think it's intentionally done that the community does not have a voice at these tables, because if it did, we would run a lot more better things. Okay.
Racheal Chantel:So, going through schooling, I'm learning about how these different infrastructures well, these different businesses run together. I'm talking about the health care, education, finances, family structures and so many other things too right, how they're built, how they work together and then how people fall through the gaps. People falling through a gap is a system that's built intentional. That's how you keep the rich rich and the poor poor, and it's very expensive to be poor. I don't think people understand that enough.
Racheal Chantel:You know what I mean. Yeah, like, and for someone like me, who can who, who grew up right, I was a kid in school that could sit with the the gots, sit with the gays, sit with the jocks, sit with the arts, sit with the band geeks and get along with anybody and be vocal if you wanted at those tables, and so the best way I can say it was like I'm a kid of the misfit, right. I grew up in a majority white neighborhood and I was always the minority in the class, where I was always the only black person in the classroom. So I grew up with either being too ghetto for the whites or I was too bougie for the blacks. So I spent a lot of time with me Fami. So for the people who actually wanted to see Rachel, for Rachel will walk me into their world and I will learn so much. I will learn so many different things and I appreciate it now being an adult, because I can really enjoy when I go to different cities or, first off, they even want to go to different cities, right, and just really be able to enjoy those things. It's because I know how my roots were created, because of that right.
Racheal Chantel:So, sitting in these classrooms really learning all of that and just knowing how my history was, it put a burden on my heart. It just really did, because no one understands. You know, joy, looking at you and looking at me, people are already going to assume they know our stories. They freaking don't know. Don't, nobody know anybody's story about. Looking at you and looking at me, people are already going to assume they know our stories. They freaking don't know. Don't, nobody know anybody's story about looking at somebody. But society will tell you that that, yeah, I'm going to put you in this box and that's where you're going to have to stay. And going through these, going through schooling and learning that in his classes is like, oh, this is intentional, like I feel like I learned the cheat code to the matrix, like I truly felt like I was learning it, and so the more that I got into it, the more I wanted to just learn how to break apart these boxes that they put us in, because, like I say, I know so many people who are in that box and they want to get out, but they don't have the support system to help them get out and it's like, wow, you don't like. You just don't know what you don't know. You just don't you know.
Racheal Chantel:And so this weighed really heavily on my, on my mind, on my mental, and I was, I was going crazy, because I'm a person who is very outspoken and, with that being said, if I something, I'll say something. If I see someone bullying somebody, we're just being, and bully is like a very vague word, right, I don't want you to think I was like a kid or anything, but you can still bully as an adult. I don't like people targeting and messing with someone because they feel like they're stronger in any sense of form, because that's not right and and I've always been like that. And so, going through this and learning how these systems are set up, I became almost hopeless and I hate feeling like I can't help, like I just I cannot, and I don't ever want someone else to feel what I feel. And it was just very heavy on me and my best friend and you'll meet her one day too Leah, she's in the field, she's in social work, and I am ripping one on the phone with her constantly, like going through it, like going through it, and she was like you need to go to therapy, you have got to talk to somebody and I'm like no therapy ain't going to help me with this man. This is america is escapistic. Like I am waking up from the matrix right now. Like so much information. I'm like I gotta tell people, people gotta know this. Like they gotta know they know how to play the game. Like I am going in and she's like you have got to go to there.
Racheal Chantel:I was like, okay, see, but she'll tell you. As smart as I am, I can barely hang up a freaking picture on the wall and it'd be even man. Simple task, not my friend, but build you an airplane. I got you, I got you, you know. So I sent her my, my um insurance card. She found me a therapist, everything set it up. I had to give her 120% credit for that and I'm still with the same therapist right now and started with her and just going through and that was a whole experience within itself. I guess that'll be another podcast for another day how that happened for me, right? But one thing that she said to me it was several sessions in. She said, well, me, it was several sessions in. She said, well, if you feel like this, just do something about it. Like, if you're a person who takes action, take action. I'm like you're right, I should take action. Like what do you think about this, you know? So I started in my head and she was like you know a lot of people, you have connections. Put it again I'm like you're eating right now, ma'am, like I really need to. So I end up putting together and right, you know, you, you got these great connections and so I'm also. This is probably another podcast episode one day.
Racheal Chantel:I believe in collecting favors, not using them, just collect them. Just always help people. They be like oh, I owe you one. Yeah, I may cash it in one day, maybe, maybe not. I just collect them. Always have people in debt to you and never be in the debt to others you know, um.
Racheal Chantel:So I was like, okay, I started playing this idea in my head. I'm like, okay, what can people, how can I touch a mass amount of people and make a great uh impact to at least get them thinking, get them thinking for themselves, cause these systems do not encourage you to think for yourself, they encourage you to know what to think and how to think. You know, schooling is truly set up to have you have an employee mind, not an employer mind. Um, so again, research and reading.
Racheal Chantel:And I remember just reading one portion of a of a book and it talked about mental health and I was like, oh my gosh, that's the common denominator with so much of this stuff is mental health. And so I'm reading some more. And then it clicked and I'm like, had I not had insurance and a little bit of money in the EAP program, I would never be able to afford this type of luxury, like I would never. So then that's how we brought in the financial education portion of it in my head. But I wasn't planning on doing anything with it at the time, but it did click in my brain and so I have this little kitty and she just she wants to be seen so bad, say hello, say hi so much.
Joey Laswell:Oh, my goodness.
Racheal Chantel:Will you let Mama leave please? Okay, now I'm doing really good. It's only been 17 minutes. Hopefully people want to listen to this interesting story, right? Yes, it's a great story and so I'm like all right, I started calling my rich friends, I started calling my contractors and things, because if anybody talks to me longer than 10 minutes, they're like all right, ray, she doesn't ask for a lot, number one, she'll give you a lot, number two.
Racheal Chantel:So I'm calling them and I'm like, hey, I want to put this event together. I want to put mental health professionals this is how green I was. I was like I want to put mental health professionals in front of the community for people to to benefit the way that I am benefiting from it right now. And so again, I'm telling lee and she was like hunter, called therapist, psychiatrist like she starts giving me the. I'm like, yeah, all of that stuff. So it's like I want to do all those things. Like you know, again, my background is construction man, so it's very hands-on. And I'm like, all right. So I'm calling these people and they're like, yeah, sure, I'll help you, I'll help you. I'm like, okay, what's next after that? But, um, you know, end up being this great guy who throws events in the city.
Racheal Chantel:And I can't stress enough to people that it takes partnerships to get anything done. Like you have got to have real community. Like you can't just want to be anybody who believes in being that they're self-made. You are lying to yourself. It takes partnerships, it takes support, it takes friendships, it takes time, it takes patience. It takes a lot of these things, right? Must I remind you, between the time, that I'm coming up with this idea and actually executing it. It was three years. It took three years. So it wasn't like I came up with this idea in January and then I just did it in May. No, it took three years, you know.
Racheal Chantel:Yeah, that's dedication, you know. But it wasn't like in my head I planned everything out and then I just left it and I just let it sit, because at the time I wasn't anybody in the city, we were just coming out of the pandemic, I just moved home. I didn't really have connections like that. I had people that I knew who were powerful. But for people to want to put their name on you I'm still struggling with that right now, you know. But I'm starting to understand that the more influence that we build in this mission, in this purpose, in this business right, but at the time I was just like man, why can't we just do it this way? Because, again, you be quick, it's like a microwave. You ask for something from somebody, they'll do it, but at the time, shucks, no.
Racheal Chantel:So there's a guy on Instagram goes by gary v. Some people may know, I know, you say you know. He said back then the best way to get people to buy into you is to is attention. That's the new currency, it's attention. You've got to get attention on you and your likability for it. I'm like, okay, but how the heck do you do that? You know.
Racheal Chantel:So that's how I started my podcast and at the time in that year it was called Her Advice for Rachel Chantel and Friends and we would talk about how to build your own support system without actually having others and how to believe within yourself. And we'll talk about timeless information. I just literally took it down about a year ago because it was conflicting with what Mane of memphis was growing into, and people can only accept so much because they're used to having you inside of a box but for, like me, to list outside of and I'm like I can do this and I can do that. That confuses people, so it's just like spoon feed them, man, and I'm like, all right, I really don't know how I'm going to build this attention, but the best way to do it is just to try to get out there. And the podcast was doing great. It was doing really good and people were really enjoying. It, had a great female audience on it and so that was building some stuff up. And then I had two of my closest friends my cousin, one of my girls on it. She ended, so that was building some stuff up. And then I had two of my closest friends my cousin, one of my girls on it. She ended up going to school for being a lawyer and then my cousin was an entrepreneur in life. We just could not match it anymore. And I told him. I said, okay, we had one comment that came up because I was going to try to keep it going on my own and people were like, yeah, this is great information, but I really listened to people who are actually doing it versus talking about it. I'm like, oh, yeah, you're right, I should do the things I'm talking about. You know I should. So we shut that down podcast and started going up.
Racheal Chantel:And by that time, you know, um, there was a large audience influencer page for made up. I mean, I made them if it's lower for Memphis coming up in general in the city and they were wanting to do this podcast and they needed a female uh, female co host. And so I'm like, yeah, sure I'll do it, cause they found me from bus route. That's where they found me from. I'm like, yeah, absolutely. And I was like this is my opportunity, because at that time I probably had like maybe like 5,000 followers on my Instagram and I knew that I was listening to Gary V. So I was like I always been a strategist. I encourage people to be a strategist and have a plan and just work your plan. I'm like okay, how do I use this opportunity? Because it's only going to be this is someone else's platform, it's not mine. But if I want to step onto your platform, how can I grow my own platform? Because that's something I can control.
Racheal Chantel:So I was already thinking about it and so when we started doing the podcast, the audience that will tune into us because we'll do a live off of Instagram, they will love me. They will love me. People were enjoying it. And that's when I was like okay, this is good, this is good. Things were starting to go good and I ended up picking up like maybe like 5,000 followers from it. I mean it was doing great. And so now I'm like oh snap, social media, it's where the attention is coming from. This is what Gary Vee was saying. So now it's clicking in my head.
Racheal Chantel:So then I started doing this whole Instagram, social media, influencer stuff and it was doing great and I could not figure out how to pick up trends. I could not figure out the formula of getting organic content to go, until the individual for that platform had said hey, there's businesses in Memphis that want to invite us out and you know we should start doing it. So I was like, okay, so now we're starting to go to these places and I'm starting to record and I said, oh, this is a niche, because small businesses don't get this type of free advertisement. So I started making that advertisement for that platform and I'll always say, you know, make sure the credit comes back to me, because that platform wasn't doing organic content they will always do reposting content but it was such a good niche and it was like above its time for Memphis that there wasn't any other social media platform or page that was highlighting Memphis in a positive manner. So, honestly, it was the first one to do it. I don't know what's going on now, but it was the first in 2020, like 2021, 2022, all right.
Racheal Chantel:So from there, um, again, this is not I'm trying to get it out, but it's gonna be great. It's gonna be great. So, um, from there, we started going out and places were inviting us out more and more because they wanted their content to be, to be on the page. So we would go, but there was only one person who could actually make the content me, because that was my idea. So now these businesses were reaching out to me directly wanting theirs, you know, from a experience kind of view. I think they call it user generated content, ugc, I can't remember now. That was like a whole thing at the time and I'm like, oh snap, this is great.
Racheal Chantel:So now TikTok was TikTok-ing really well and there will be trends that will pop up on TikTok that haven't made it over to Instagram yet. And now I'm watching the algorithm because I'm on this platform. I'm like if I can make organic content for this platform which was like at 100,000 people, so it was a bigger platform than myself then I could do it for myself. I just have to figure out how to make that happen. So now I'm like people were talking about how Twitter and X or whatever, no, twitter and Instagram, how things will pop up on Twitter before it comes to Instagram. So people like oh, blah, blah, blah, blah. But I was never a person on Twitter and I'm like I'd never do that.
Racheal Chantel:So TikTok was starting to do its thing and I'm like shucks, and there was a trend that said um, one girl said you know, I'm from what was it? She was like you know, I'm from, um, atlanta, or something. It was like you know, I'm from wherever it is trend that went crazy on TikTok. And now I'm like no one's done it on Instagram and no one's done it for memphis yet. So I made my and I just did it. Right, I just did it on the way. I was actually on the way to a flea market in jackson, tennessee, and I did it in the car and I was like you know from memphis, um, because we're a country, not a city, don't ask me twice. You know I'm from memphis when we're playing space. You know I'm from Memphis when we're playing space. You know I'm from Memphis when and I'm just hitting everything and, joey, that video went viral. That's what did it for me.
Racheal Chantel:I was shocked when I went on my Instagram. Oh, I made two. I made two viral videos. That was the one when I went back on my Instagram and I had like 100,000 likes on this one video. I'm like, oh, I ended up getting like 8,000 followers in like 45 minutes. It was great. So that was that one, great. And then the next one that came out was, you know, those videos where it'll be a person who comes or had an outfit and they like slap their hands or something, and it blends into the next one. So I did that one with you. Ever heard of the show Basketball Wives?
Joey Laswell:Yeah, I've heard of it.
Racheal Chantel:Okay. So Evelyn did this crazy thing, and I'm talking about from like 2013. We were like kids back then. Anyways, I made a video like that and that was my second viral. So now I have some attention. I'm like okay again, that's going great and I have a niece and that's a whole nother story. And so there was this opportunity for this, this pageant, and so it was the Miss Black pageant or whatever. So I did it and I won. Wasn't expecting to win, but I won. So I was Miss Black, tennessee for 2024. All right, cool. Now the city of Memphis knows who I am. I am, I have this clap. I got this 15 minutes of fame. What do I do with it? What did I?
Racheal Chantel:do with it like what do you, what do you do with this? And it's like, okay, this is the opportunity, this is the shot. I'm on the phone, my uncle, and I'm telling him like this is this is it. And he was like he was like now that you got this platform, he said you should go back to your idea, your therapy idea. I forgot all about it. I said what are you talking about? The idea that you wanted to put the therapy, the mental health people, in the community? I said, oh, snap, this is the time.
Racheal Chantel:So this was literally this was the conversation was in december, like I think december 31st somewhere around there, up 2023, because I was the the queen for 2024. So, starting in january yeah, that's exactly what I got crowned december 16th of 2023 for 2024 and from that crowning I was invited to all the aristocrats of Memphis Christmas parties, new Year's parties, and between that, that's when my uncle said something, so I started going to. I started going to town. I was, hey, I want to do this, this event in May, for mental health, and I'm selling it. And people are like okay, because I was the the pageant queen of Tennessee, and pageant queens are known for non-profit work that it made sense, but I didn't know that I was doing pageant queen of Tennessee, and pageant queens are known for nonprofit work. That it made sense, but I didn't know that I was doing something to make my niece happy, which is another story for another day. But that's how God works. You know what I'm saying.
Joey Laswell:So here we are.
Racheal Chantel:I go back. I asked these rich people. They put it on. They take on a monetary burden and we put psychiatrists, counselors and mental health professionals in front of the community. And at the time I had the police sergeant who was over the crisis-intense team, the CIT team for the city of Memphis, and I had a college friend who survived the massive shooting of the Waffle House shooting in 2018 in Nashville, tennessee. Come speak just because of the gun violence. Once they got done, talking about that and because this is recorded, you never know who's watching. Right.
Racheal Chantel:When you are calling 911, you can request certain type of training police officers or professionals to show up to a scene, and Joey has military background. So if I'm lying or denying, fix it. You know you can say that when you call 911 and you say, hey, there's a person out here acting crazy, don't say that, because now you're sending them into a situation where they have to be on guard because they don't know what they're going into and it's easy for them to be prepared for everything than not to be prepared. And now they got to get got because they got first and you're setting it up for disaster First. When you call 911 and you're looking at someone, you can say, well, I think they're having a mental health issue. Maybe you can send someone out that has mental health training. That is what this officer was talking about. For the state of Tennessee and you know we're called the volunteer state because we have the most volunteers that go into our first responding system of military branches or just in general from here. That's how we got the name of volunteers. So he really talked about and he did such a phenomenal job of setting the tone.
Racheal Chantel:And then she came in and she just talked about how gun violence is after a shooting. Right, we only talk about it in that moment, but what happens after it? She was shot several times and the type of bullets that imploded into her body ricocheted. So they were hunting bullets, so once they hit their impact they literally ricocheted inside her body to tear it up. Now, looking, looking at her, you cannot tell. But it again goes back to looking at somebody. Does not tell you their story and that's what we have got to get away from. And honestly, just so everybody can understand the weight of what she was talking about, she's a bigger girl and her best friend's life was taken out of this situation that she put herself in front of her friend because she thought since she was bigger, she can take more hits. So you can't just look at someone and think you know their story Absolutely Now.
Racheal Chantel:After that, everybody went into these workshops. The first workshop was the foundations of mental health what it is, how to address it, how to take care of it, because it's different from physical health, stigmas, misconceptions. Behind it it's just a lot of outdated, fake information or just things to tear people away from it. Again, it's intentional. And then the last one was coping mechanisms. Right, because we're human, you're going to get triggered. You're going to get triggered, you're going to get upset, but you don't have to act on it. So how do you get to de-escalate and walk yourself back to who you want to be?
Racheal Chantel:So we talked about that and it rotated and it did so well that it kind of just rippled through the community. And so people were calling me and must I say, of course the name was made up Memphis, be kind to your heart, be kind to your mind. That's how the whole name came. Anyways, afterwards people were calling me and asking me to show up and do these different types of speaking engagements on mental health, and I was, and I went from being a mental health advocate to being a professional and we just had to stop there, restructure. And now here we are today ted talk is done wow, that's a journey, that's a.
Joey Laswell:That's an amazing journey, um, and and that's why I wanted you to really get into the details, because the more people will understand what you've, your, your process and everything that you've sacrificed all the time, like you said, three years and then you still had to work, and you're still working today to keep this mission going. Expand it like, really get your name out there and get the, the mission of Mane at memphis, out out to the world. So, yeah, I mean that's awesome. Once again, I'm still amazed. And then we haven't even talked about you are now pursuing your doctorate. In what are you pursuing your doctorate in?
Racheal Chantel:In philosophy, in specialization, in governance and policy, right. Okay, wow, in philosophy and specialization, and governance and policy, right. And so the best way to put it is there's so many gaps now, and I'm going to say this one is intentional because it's not but everyone cannot cover everything. Excuse me, every service cannot cover every need is what I'm trying to say.
Joey Laswell:Right.
Racheal Chantel:And so say, joey, that, um, no, we're not gonna put that on you because you are married. All right, so let's just say SpongeBob and Sandy are in a relationship and they're married and, uh, gary, gary is their child, right? All right, squidward is SpongeBob's brother and, excuse me, squidward is Sandy's brother. Let's put it like that, because now Sandy and Squidward are family. Gary is a child of Sandy and SpongeBob. Are you with me? Yes, okay, yes, okay.
Racheal Chantel:There is a domestic violence that happens where spongebob has became mentally ill and wants to do damage, um, to sandy and I'm trying to make sure I stay censored, so wherever you upload this to it doesn't come down so, um, do physical harm to sandy. Sandy is telling squirt work about this. Squirt work is going to the police department and telling them what's going on in that house. The police are going to tell them there's nothing they can do about it because they're married and that is a family. That's a family court issue. So unless spongebob does something, that is a criminal issue, then the police department cannot step in, okay? Well, one day sp SpongeBob gets his hand on a water gun and decides to have a water fight with Sandy and Gary's in the room and Sandy gets hit with the water several different times and now she has to go to the hospital because she's been drowned. Now Sandy and Squidward are going to the police and telling them what's going on. The police department still cannot step in. They can now issue a restraining order, but this is still a family, domestic issue, because they are married. This is not a criminal issue. Okay, issue. Okay.
Racheal Chantel:Well, spongebob decided that that water fight did not end the way that he wanted it to end. So now he waits the amount of time that he needs to for that restraining order to evolve To not evolve To end I can't think of the word right now. Not evolve To end I can't think of the word right now but for it to end. Restraining orders only have a certain duration of time. So let's just say that restraining order is only good for two years.
Racheal Chantel:But SpongeBob has a lot of patience and a lot of time because this is his family. So in his head, I'm going to get you, sandy, I'm going to get you one way or another. I'm going to get you one way or another. I'm going to wait because I'm going to have a great time thinking about it. All right, cool. Well, now Sandy is trying to figure out how to move out, but too terrified, because SpongeBob keeps telling her that he's going to have a water fight. Again and again and again. You do anything that I don't like. We're about to have a water fight, so you might as well stay in this house, and if you don't, then I'm going after Squidward and I'm going to have a water fight with him too.
Racheal Chantel:Again, police department cannot do anything because these are just, they're not criminal acts Threatening somebody and acting on it. They can't do anything about it unless they act on it. So I can tell you I want to have a water fight, I'm going to have a water fight with you, but if I don't act on it, then there's nothing you can say about it Because I can just say freedom of speech, all right. Well, the day has came. Those two years are up, that 24 months. We are in the 25th month. Alright, spongebob decides to come home, shoot up Sandy. Sandy loses her life.
Racheal Chantel:Now Squibber goes and talks to the court and tells the court I've been telling you for the last four years, I've been telling you these things. Two things can happen. You can sue the police department now for criminal and just, uh, endangerment, for our, our adjustment. That's what it is Criminal adjustment. Or you can, or they could have took it to family court, but family court would have never did anything because they're married and so in the state of Tennessee, sandy is seen as sponge boss property, so the court would not get involved. A lot of states have laws like that, where women are are property of their husbands, so they have no rights, all right. So now that we got the story out of the way, there's a lot of gaps there, because if there was some type of system like gap insurance right to cover her, where they could have stepped in for those two years and these are real stories what could have changed? What could have evolved right there? What could have changed? What could have evolved right there?
Racheal Chantel:Now I'm not saying that Mane of Memphis is going to lobby, because to me that's a waste of time for what our mission is and purpose Lobbying with the state to change their laws and policies. It takes years. People need help right now. They need help right now. There's enough people in their homes that are not safe. They have nowhere to go. They have no one, are not safe, they have nowhere to go, they have no one to talk to, they have no support system. The people that are supposed to be their support system are the Mane ones that's causing them harm. Where do those people go? So that is the mission of Mane Memphis is to help those individuals, and so what I am doing is dedicated my education structure to is understanding how these systems are created and how to just enough bend them and create our own system with what already exists. Are you still there? You look like you froze.
Joey Laswell:Oh, no, I'm sorry.
Racheal Chantel:Okay, I can hear you, so we're not looking to break the change, the cycle. There's enough people doing all those great things.
Joey Laswell:Can you still hear me?
Racheal Chantel:Yeah, okay, there's enough people wanting to break the chains, break the cycle. Do all that Great Fantastic. Somebody else can take that on. Change break the cycle. Do all that Great Fantastic. Somebody else can take that on. But for those who need help right now, those who are looking for ways to get out, that is where we're coming in, and so, through my schooling, what I want to learn how to do is build that within the government and be a where the government funding can invest in this infrastructure and not be something that is seen as a service, but an infrastructure, because everyone is going to the right, because there's no option to go to the left, so what happens when there's the option to go to the left?
Joey Laswell:Yeah, absolutely Well. So if somebody's listening in, they live in Memphis and they want to get involved with Mane Up Memphis because it's a nonprofit, you do accept volunteers or maybe a mental health professional. What would you recommend they do to kind of get involved?
Racheal Chantel:to kind of get involved. Absolutely, you guys can visit our website at madeupmemphisorg. You can give us a call at 290-7226. The great thing about how I'm intentionally setting and building this company is for it to have flexibility. Right Again, we live outside of the box. So if you're thinking that you can do several different things, well, let's see if you can. If you can do several different things, well, let's see if you can. If you can't, then just do one thing. But the thing is that you're doing something.
Joey Laswell:Absolutely, and you're doing a lot. Just to clarify, you're wearing many hats, um and uh. You're the. The company is growing. Um, got some big things on the horizon. What are, what are, some of the biggest things that you've got in the next weeks and months ahead?
Racheal Chantel:So of course, we're always doing these funding opportunities, but we are looking to partner with other traditional systems to come in and again be a support system. Right, like you had a headache, advil, right? So you go to another major, established company, then we'll have our services within there so you can have that opportunity with us. So we're just doing a lot of different partnerships and making new friends and building our infrastructure and keep going. It's the beginning of a very interesting way where we're ahead of our time To make behavioral health a infrastructure, not a service. It's something new. I mean, jeff Bezos started in his garage and it started in my mama's living room. So hey, here we go.
Joey Laswell:There you go, there you go, I love it. I love it. Well, we barely scratched the surface, but this is the man Up Memphis podcast and we're going to talk at length on all the different things that we've got going on. I actually have at least one therapist who's interested, one of our teammates, uh, james he's, he's interested in maybe being a guest and we can talk about either men's mental health, which is relevant because we're we're hosting a work, a couple of workshops, on uh saturday. So, uh, yeah, if you're interested, the heart and soul, uh, men's collective I believe it's called Men's Mental Health Collective at the AgriCenter, 21st of June, from 8.30 to 2 o'clock.
Racheal Chantel:yes, and yeah, so facilitators or the host of that is Baptist Memorial Hospital, as well as Shelby County.
Joey Laswell:Commissioner's Office yeah, and then there's some celebrities yes, there is mr and mrs.
Racheal Chantel:Uh, michael white, elise neal she's from memphis, um. And then there is da vinci, who's known for his role on all of american and 50 cents uh, up and no, not up and coming um one of his most anticipated shows, bmf. He's a mental health advocate too. So they've done a very well job of trying to touch every demographic.
Joey Laswell:Yeah, and just to clarify, Mane Up Memphis. You know the mission is not just for men, even though it's Mane Up. You know the mission is not just for men, even though it's Mane Up. You know, like we want to clarify that this is it's. It's it's gender neutral. You know we want to help everybody and you know, give us a little idea of what what Mane Up means to you and and what. You know why you chose that name.
Racheal Chantel:So you know, Memphis is its own country, not a city. We don't stand on that. We have and I say that because Memphis name is dropped in the most songs, no matter what the genre is Right. Everybody knows what Memphis, tennessee, is.
Racheal Chantel:There may be, other Memphis's in the county, I mean in the country. But when you hear Memphis you automatically think Memphis, tennessee. With that being said, we have our own lingo here, just like we have our own dancing, our own culture. There's jooking, there's jiving, there's checking. There's so many different things that, no matter what you look like, where you're from, if you live in Shelby County, everything I just said you are known about, you know about it. I don't care where you're from, you know what I'm talking about.
Racheal Chantel:So there's certain words that can be a filler. How people say um or like in this County, may, junt and probably a whole bunch of others not coming to my mind right now are filler words, and by that I mean it can be a place, person or thing, it can be anything. It can be a noun, adjective verb. Those two words are very intentional in this county. So when you say, how did you choose that word at first? I wanted it to be something where people knew it was for our county, for the city, by the city, that it was very grass-rooted here in the county, because we in this country, this city, we do not like outsiders trying to come in and tell us how to be better people, we, we don't like it.
Joey Laswell:You can't tell me that you know yeah yeah.
Racheal Chantel:So I wanted to make sure that the culture wasn't lost. And I know when people hear the word culture, they think black. No, I meant the culture of this county, the history of this county, because if you go to a Memphis Tiger game, a Memphis Grizzly game, if you're on Beale Street, if you're at Overton Square Park, if you are anywhere, if you're even in at the Shelby Farms Park Riverside, everybody from every side of the freaking county is there. Everybody from every side of the freaking county is there, from Collierville to Bartlett, to Arlington, to Lakeland, to downtown, to East Memphis, to Germantown, cordova, all of them People are there and they are rocking. And what are they saying? Whoop, that trick Having a good time.
Racheal Chantel:I don't care, they are having a great time. They don't care that you live in the projects and you're going home to a gated community. If y'all are sitting next to each other in those seats in that FedEx farm, you are ruining on your city at the end of the day. And guess what? It can be an old white person and it can be a young Asian person in that room. And I guarantee you, when they're having a good time and they were born and raised in this county John and Mayna coming and they were born and raised in this county. Jump a man to coming out their mouth Simple.
Joey Laswell:It's the culture.
Racheal Chantel:So, with that being said, how can you bring people together to feel like we're building one and carrying this thing together? Well, I told you I'm a gym rat. So one of the things that we say in the gym is don't be a itch. You know what I'm saying? Man not see, man up, man up, don't be an ish. So one day I was sitting, I was trying to figure out how to be creative in the name and, of course, social media content, everything on the back side it just popped up. I was like man, I'm Memphis. And I was on the phone with my uncle and I said man, I'm Memphis because I drew it out, and he said, oh, that's catchy right.
Racheal Chantel:I said, oh, they're not going to rock with that, that's not. I said that's not proper enough, it's not. You know what I'm saying? It's not professional. He was like and that's what makes it you, because you're the only person that can really break through and have that be acceptable. And here we are what? Two, almost, yeah, almost three years later. I know everybody says Mane I'm not saying it, but for Mane to hit the Mane street, Mane, for it to be on the news the way it is, for people to start dropping it. I know Mane of Memphis was the person to make that word professionally acceptable. I know it was. I see it, I've been told that and I'm happy about it because that's our influence and that's just the beginning.
Joey Laswell:Man well, is this the same uncle giving you? He's giving you some gems, some great. Yeah, we need to have him on the show and pick his brain, because he sounds like he's a visionary. He knows, he knows.
Racheal Chantel:He is my familiar before I got this cat. He definitely keeps me going. It's the same one. If you have not met him, oh, you'll meet him Saturday. Oh, nice, awesome he's the very first employee of Mane of Memphis.
Joey Laswell:Well, I'm glad, I'm glad I'm honored to be like because, yeah, I just hear I've heard him twice now and he's been spot on both times, so that's amazing.
Racheal Chantel:He's very spiritual.
Joey Laswell:Yeah, Okay. Well, let's see We've got. Like I said, we still barely scratched the surface, but I think we've covered a good amount. And is there anything on the horizon that you want to highlight to the audience and just kind of like they can be expecting or anticipating?
Racheal Chantel:Absolutely. You can expect great things from us. You can expect a community to get belonging from us family. You can expect to just be you, to be encouraged to be you, to be empowered to be you with Made Up Memphis. So if you want to get involved you don't know how to get involved or what to do then just come over here, because it's a place of opportunity where a mustard seed is going to actually be able to be prospered. You know it's not a of opportunity where a mustard seed is going to actually be able to be prospered. It's not a place to where you feel you have to pretend to put on a mask. There's enough places out there. You got to go do that too. I have to still do that. I don't like doing that Okay.
Racheal Chantel:So over here you just get to be you. If you like to last smile, join the Avengers man. We're excited to have you over here. If this would be the last time that you keep up with us, don't remember anything else from Joe, and I just remember this be kind of respectful, it's not hard that's it.
Joey Laswell:That's the bare minimum right there. We need more and more of that in today's world. So I think that's a great place to kind of pause and reflect and, you know, just say thank you to all the people who have helped build Mane Up Memphis up to this point, and we appreciate you guys and hopefully we'll get more and more people as we get bigger and get more traction. You know, hopefully it's going to keep going, it's going to keep building and I'm excited to be just a small cog in the wheel, but I'm just ready, you know. So if anyone wants to be on the show, on the podcast, you know you can reach out to me, send me a DM or reach out to Rachel and we'll make it happen.
Joey Laswell:I would like to really feature, you know, all kinds of Memphis, memphis natives, people who are, you know, power players in the, in the community and, you know, just kind of ask, pick their brain and talk to them. So we're open casting for podcast guests and maybe even some musicians. It would be cool. I've already reached out to a Memphis-based band that I really like called the Narrows. So if you're listening, I already DM'd you guys, so I would love to have you guys on the show just to kind of highlight some local Memphis artists. But all right, well, any last parting words for this episode, rachel.
Racheal Chantel:No, I just want to say that Joey came to me with an idea for a podcast and here we are, so that's how Made in Memphis works.
Joey Laswell:There you go. Yes, absolutely, and we're building the Avengers every day, as we've said. So this team is going to get bigger and stronger and awesome. So, yeah, just really excited for the future. And thank you, rachel, for everything that you've done so far and continue to do and will do in the future, because I know this is really just getting started for you. I mean, you're at the beginning of an amazing journey, so I'm just really happy to be a part of it, and you know you guys can join us too. So go to madeupmemphisorg, follow us on our socials, check out the podcast, share it with people. As we say at Made Up Memphis leave the change. Oh wait, I messed it up. I messed it up, all right. Leave the baggage.
Joey Laswell:Keep the change keep the change oh okay, yeah, we're working on that, but that's gonna be our sign off is leave the baggage, keep the change alright well, thank you guys, everybody, we'll see you guys on the next episode and you know, be kind to each other all right.
Joey Laswell:Well, that's a wrap for today's episode of the Mane up memphis podcast. Remember, real change starts when you show up, break cycles and walk into something greater. If you felt inspired, do me three quick favors subscribe and leave a note or a five-star review. Do me three quick favors Subscribe and leave a note or a five-star review so that more people can find us. Share this episode with someone who might need a lift and get involved. Volunteer, refer a youth or donate at madeupmemphisorg. Follow us on our socials at Made Up Memphis for behind-the-scenes goodness and send your questions or success stories to us and they might make it on air until next time. Here at made up memphis. Leave the baggage, keep the change.