Dynasty journey to DUYA

Watch Dynasty full episode on his experience growing up and her story to DUYA!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

How's it going? Good, good. Long time no see, bro.

SPEAKER_04 0:03

All right, y'all. Welcome to another episode. Today we have Dynasty Taylor. She's actually one of my mentors, my sister, and just somebody who I've been learning for so much. And my former boss, too. And the reason why I wanted to bring Dynasty here today is because I feel like I learned a lot from you, Dynasty. And I feel like for you to be such a young person, young black woman who had your business at 23 and to be so successful, where you were able to plant seed and not only make change in your community and for young students, she does tutoring service, but also hire people like me where I get to learn professionalism, empowerment, and so many things, right? And you've always been so authentic and create such a beautiful work culture that I'm to this day still inspired by and benefited a lot. And I would say, you know, my time working for Dynasty as a tutor also made me become more of an adult and learn more about responsibilities. Yeah. But um, so a little bit about Dynasty. First and foremost, she created this thing called Doya, which is Dynasty United Youth Association. It's pretty much a pipeline that brings kids in underserved community to higher education, college, and things like that. But not only that, within Doya, they also teach entrepreneurship skills, social skills, emotional regulation skills, and education. It's a very holistic approach. Dynasty is a testimony herself, and we'll hear more in this story, you know. And she won so many awards, recognized by LA Times, New York Times, whatever major city have written anything they've written about her. She got a congressional award. I think the last one was a presidential award. She had graduated from C Sun and then got her master in uh social work at USC. Thank you. That was a great introduction, Bo. I see you got wings too. We can start eating too. Yeah, I want to try one. What are they called? Uh Korean fried chicken and it's cowbi. Gowi? Cowby? Gowi? Cowby? Gaubi, okay. You picked it.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Yeah, I didn't know how to pronounce it though. It just looked good from the way it's called Kalbi, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Okay. It's it's spelled with a G. Try it. Okay. I was I was surprised you picked that one. You mind if you push it over here? You thought I was gonna pick some hot stuff? No. I mean, I you know, because I've just been having honey garlic every single episode. Really? Yeah, cuz I like to try different things. That's what people pick, you know? So everybody just been going like safe.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Yeah. I like to try different things just to see how it tastes.

SPEAKER_04 2:33

I'm gonna try to get it.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

Yeah, that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 2:36

It got a nice little crunch to it too. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's pretty good. Where did you say you get this from?

SPEAKER_04 2:46

It's called barbecue chicken. Oh, okay. Over here. But they got franchise. But it's like Korean fried chicken too. Like, you know, so you like it? Like it has different brands and stuff.

SPEAKER_02 3:01

How do you like it? Got a nice little kick to it. I'm just eating it right now. I like it, I always like it.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

I like shooting these episodes because I get to just come and eat chicken.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

It's crazy how many people actually like chicken though, right?

SPEAKER_04 3:26

It's so universal. Oh yeah. It might be the most universal meat. Chicken and eggs. Because it's easiest, you know? It's not too intense. No. The animal is small enough.

SPEAKER_00 3:39

Unless you don't eat meat, then it's so different. Some people still have their preferences.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

But yeah, so let's start from the top. Dynasty, you know, talk to us a little bit about how you grew up.

SPEAKER_00 3:50

So I grew up in LA. I'm an LA native, born and raised, but I grew up in Baldwin Village. And in that community, there was this place called the Jungles. It's properly known from a lot of different types of movies, but I would try to reference Training Day with Denzel Washington. Because everybody kind of knows the jungles from that movie. And also that new movie with um Kiki Palmer and Sciza. Oh, yeah. It was filmed in the area I grew up in. Oh, the jungles. So yeah, that's a new movie that people can reference from. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, one of them days. So I grew up there. And what I can say is that even though it was considered the hood or impoverty, I would say that it was a place where I had a sense of belonging. Both of my parents grew up there. Um, so everybody kind of knew who I was before I knew who they were, type of thing. Uh, there was a lot of single-parent households there. A lot of our fathers, of course, was in prison or not around or um dead, unfortunately. So the community was really about us just being hopeful that we were there and kind of coming together through gatherings such as our birthday parties, you know, community barbecues, um, holidays, that was a big thing. The ice cream trucks, fruit trucks, uh, having friends that, you know, you see and live next door to, but you also went to school with. So we kind of all watched each other grew up. You knew who each other's parents were. So it was a very close-knitted community. Um, it's just that as you get older, you know, the peer pressure from the surrounding areas of the community, you start to catch on, you know, you start to see uh what's really going on, you know, after you get the past the age of like 12 or 13 when you get the opportunity to walk to school. And that's when I kind of knew that, okay, we grew up in a nice community, but this community a little different. You know, it was it was a lot of exposure just to the gang life, um, prostitution, drugs. I would say drugs was a big thing back then. Um, that was affecting a lot of our families and communities. And so, you know, even though it gave us some sense of culture, it taught you a lot about loyalty, and it gave me a sense of belonging, like I I was uh like I was uh cared for in this world, it still was something that mentally impacted a lot of us that kind of kept us caged in a sense. But it was an environment that created the foundation for just community in general and being able to truly be yourself in an environment where you don't have to be nobody else. You don't have to dress up, you don't have to look a certain way, you just gotta be yourself, and people accepted you with that. And that's the best way to grow up to me in childhood.

SPEAKER_03 6:51

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

Um, so yeah, that's that's kind of like where I grew up. I'm really proud of where I grew up, and I'm proud of the people I grew up around, even if all the circumstances didn't end up the right way. Uh it was it was a great, you know, childhood experience.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Do you want to tell us like some of the stories, maybe some of the highlights or some of the things and the moments where you're like, oh, okay, this is a little different.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Yeah, I just think like if you think about just the Baldwin Hills Mall, that was the place everybody would go when you were young, and you had your little boyfriends or girlfriends, and you you get the opportunity to get away on the weekends and stuff like that when you were out of school, that was pretty cool. We also were known for uh Jim Gillian Park. That's where all the like the sports went down, the recreations, the games, um, all of the uh the picnics, the birthday parties, the community events. So that was really cool. And then you had Rancho, Sienta Park down the street, and that's where the pool was. So when the summer came, night swimming, you know, we used to love that because you know, you to hang out with your friends, go to the pool, and that was down the street from Dorsey High School. So that was always a thing for us. And you know, just local like 7-Elevens, uh Louisiana chicken, you know, places where you'll eat. The Magic Johnson Theater right now is called, I think, Raves Cinemas, but we had the Magic Johnson Theater back then associated with the Baldwin Hills Mall. Um, so that was kind of like our upbringing. You know, we we we used to get on the dash for 25 cents just to go from one street to the other. So I would say it was really just us with probably like two, three dollars in our pocket for our allowance for the day. Uh, and we kind of thrived and made games and activities and hung out with each other. Back then we didn't have social media. So when you hang out with your friends, you was hanging out with your friends. You know, it was very much commun uh we were communicating, socializing, cracking jokes, play fighting, the whole situation. So that's why I would say it was like a really good childhood. You know, I don't know how it would have been with social media, you know, but then it wasn't taking pictures and doing those things. You just showed up and you had fun, and that's how it was.

SPEAKER_04 9:08

And you know, I feel like I remember you telling me that you were very community-oriented since you were young. Like, what were some like community you were involved in? Was you involved in like church sports, like extracurricular activities? Like what were some things that you, you know?

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yeah. I think um the part that everybody kind of knows about is in my building, there's about eight units on each side. So it's about 16 units, I would say. And in every unit there was like a family of uh five or more. So I was raised with my grandparents, and we used to have the staircase in the building, and that is where I would have all the kids in the building come together and I would teach them how to read and write. But it wasn't as easy as people thought because some of the kids didn't want to learn or listen. And I was really bossy. I I noticed I was really, really bossy as a kid.

SPEAKER_04 10:02

How old were you and what inspired what made you wanted to teach kids how to read and write? I was eight years old.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

I do not know. I always wanna like to play school.

SPEAKER_03 10:11

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

My room was built like a classroom. It had bookshelves, it had books about a lot of self-help books. Um how to, how to get an A, you know, how to do better in English. And so that captivated me. Um, I was reading books, like chapter books like Charlotte Charlotte's Web by like seven, six years old, like reading chapters to my grandfather. Um, and so when everybody used to want to play house as a kid or play uh, you know, uh, what is that tag and things like that? I always wanted to play school. That was what I like to do. And so I think I just took that from my room into my building. And some students, some some some students, it used to say students, some kids gravitated towards it because they felt like it was like we were playing. But when I would get serious and they would get something wrong, then they didn't really like that.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

You were bossy?

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Yeah, I was really bossy. When I really think about it, I was really bossy. I had a, and it was crazy because I used to have a little cart and I used to bring out my little whiteboard, my um, my chalk, and my papers and pencils, but I was serious about school. I was serious about my classroom. And I think that the seriousness scared people away. They was realizing, like, oh, she's not playing. Like, this is what she likes to do. And so it started there. And then it was like, okay, how can I add some fun to it? So then I started hosting community events in in the building. So I would uh kind of seek the talent in the building from like seeing what people like to do, and I created talent shows in the building. Yeah, yeah. I was I think I was an entrepreneur before I even knew it. So I had dancers and and basketball players, like people who used to just like to do magic tricks, and we were kids between the ages of like eight to 12 years old. And um, they used to say, Well, how are we gonna get the money to do it? So I used to uh as growing as kids. Yeah, I I man, I man, my little self was running things. And so what I used to do is knock on people's doors and tell people about what we were doing and ask for money, ask for donations. Oh what? Yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, I was asking for donations since I was a kid. Um, so you know, um, when I look back at that, when I needed resources or needed help, I looked at things, I looked for resources and people around me. I never felt like I had to go outside of where it was. So when I was like, okay, we need money, let's go knock on everybody's door and ask for money. And I think we had um our biggest talent show, we raised about $200 and something dollars for the uh for one of those times. And that's a lot, yeah. And as a kid, yeah. I had my grandma go to Ralph's to get all the stuff that I needed for the food and everything. I was serious about with Rather Fit with school putting together the show. And I used to have people had the chairs out, and it was a really like a community event. I used to come up with the dance moves and the costumes and what to wear. So I used to be like, you I used to tell my friends, like, you have black in the house, okay, wear a black shirt. And then if you got blue jeans, wear blue jeans. And so that was me. I was uh very resourceful. And um, everything that we used was through the things that we had in the house to the personalities that we had, along with reaching out to people to ask for support so that we can add to what we don't have. Right. You know? And so that was an interesting thing about how I started with community.

SPEAKER_04 13:55

That's cool. And it it it goes back to what you said in the beginning, too, where you felt like you could be very authentic and it was already a communal's place. So you just kind of like calm on from there.

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Yeah, I wasn't scared to knock on doors. People knew, you know, we all kind of knew each other, so it was no reason to be scared, but it it was different. When I think about it now, I was like, well, I was bold, you know. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:19

What happened after that, you know, like after, you know, eight to twelve, like how's that your middle school?

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Middle school was the most challenging because everything that your parents try to hide, you can see. Even if they try to. You know, back then a parent can kind of disappear and we wouldn't know what was going on, or they can say things and do things and you really wouldn't understand the meaning to it. But in middle school, that is when um I kind of I started to understand that my father wasn't coming home from prison. They kind of made it seem like he was on vacation or he was going to be somewhere for a while and come back. I started to kind of notice that. Um I started to notice how how frequently my mom was going in and out of prison. And I started to notice because of what I've seen at the schools. I started to see people get dropped off by their parents. When parent conference came, I started to see two adults. I started to catch on, like, oh, I'm the person walking up with my grandparents. I'm not walking up with my parents. And you know, usually when you're speaking to adults or enrolling the school, they always say, Who is the mother or father of Dynasty Taylor? And when I would hear, oh, I'm the grandmother or I'm the guardian, I'm like, back then I didn't really pay attention to it, but now I'm like, oh, this is this kind of it was kind of different. And it affected me a lot because that's when I became rebellious. Um, but education was that place where was a sense of home and community that I didn't know yet. Because middle school was more just about trying to be liked, trying to be accepted, trying to fit in, you know, trying to be popular, being around your friends. My focus wasn't education, but education was always there for me. So I excelled in school, but there were times that my behavior and my anger or my circumstances would impact it to where uh I started to receive bad grades or calls home or suspension or just running away. And then that kind of trickled down to high school, that same, those same type of habits, behaviors, friendships that I was engaged in. And that's when I started to really engage in the streets more, hanging out with different types of crowds and associating myself with people that kind of had similar stories like me, where our parents wasn't around or they didn't care about what we did. And um, you know, I went through a few things from uh going to juvenile hall, but not for a long-term sentence or anything like that. But I went there about twice. Um, getting expelled from the school district from LAUSD, um, starting to fight a lot, uh, just a lot of different things. But what was interesting, even from when I was on probation, that the adults in the schools or my probation officer was always the people that were mentors to me. I don't know what it was. You know, I don't know who was watching over me or what was called to me based on what people would see, because I'm still a kid, you know, I'm a teenager. So people would always say, Donnesty, why are you doing this when you can be doing this? Like, look at your re- when you do do well and you do take education seriously, they noticed that I out outperformed a lot of people. But at that age in time, that wasn't my North Star. That wasn't what I cared about, you know? And so I continue to go through different phases in life that kind of had me confused as if I was gonna go down the same path as my parents or if I was gonna try to do better.

SPEAKER_03 17:52

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

And I decided to keep going down the path that my parents were going down, and I liked that path until I started going getting in trouble. It was like, oh, that's not fun. I didn't like the consequences of uh of the type of stuff I was engaged in. I didn't like the consequences. I didn't like going to jail, I didn't like getting handcuffed, I didn't like, you know, looking at jail time. That wasn't my thing, you know. Um, so from that lifestyle, you know, I got into a bad car accident where I almost killed me and a friend of mine. That was like my wake up call. Uh, another wake-up call was getting accepted to Cal State Northridge straight from Dorsey High School and having uh a mentor fill out the application for me, and I wasn't really interested, but came home one day and had a few college acceptance letters on the table at the same time of still having one foot in the street and one foot in going to Cal State Northridge, and after that uh accident while I was in college that I had, I know it almost killed myself and somebody else behind uh my negligence, you know, that was a wake-up call. And that's when I just decided to take education seriously. And I started to not hang out with the people I was hanging out with. I just changed my environments and I changed the people.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

Right.

SPEAKER_00 19:15

And I started hanging out with people that was going to school, that was going to study halls, that was doing things positive. I forced myself to because obviously I was too weak to do it on my own. So I had to get around people. And because that wasn't around my family, I was the first, first graduate and um first graduate twice for my bachelor's and my master's over two, three generations in my family. So when it was time to look for the best person around to see what to be like or as a role model, it wasn't around me. So I had to step out of my household and also out of my community to to see that. And Cal State Northridge was the the place that allowed me to do that and grow.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

Right. I want to ask you one thing, like during that transition period, like was that like lash back from you know, from like the people you was around? Like, oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:11

Oh yeah, you know, it it was a lot, you know. Um uh I lost my middle school sweetheart, you know, because we were we were supposed to be game banging and living a certain life, and I I chose to go a different route, so I lost that friendship. Um, I lost friends to where they kind of felt like, who do you think you are, type of mentality. Um, my my my own mother, you know, was uh not really supportive of what I wanted to do. Um, my cousins, they were supportive in a way because I was still trying to figure it out. So as long as I would pull up and chill with them, they were cool. But when it got to a point where I didn't have time, they would question what was a priority to me. Uh and success was scary because it appeared that the more that I got involved, um, you know, because education brings opportunities for economic mobility. So that means that I'm getting internships, I'm starting to make more money than my parents, you know. I I'm I'm I'm on I'm on this bike and I'm I'm moving and I'm passing people up. And people made me feel guilty and uncomfortable about that. So I just will stay away from them people, right? I don't care who it was, family, friends. I just started to stay away. And I would thought that, okay, maybe I'm I'm I'm getting on y'all nerves, so maybe if I stay away, then y'all will feel better. But even being quiet and staying away and focusing made them even matter. So it was like I had to make a choice. And to me, it was like as if I stay here with y'all and be in the same position, and what am I supposed to do with that? Or I'm looking at the people that I'm around and I I want to live better, I want to do better, you know. No, I don't want to be in jail. I don't want to just be, you know, smoking weed, drinking my whole life. I I don't want to live like that for the rest of my life. You know, so I had the opportunity, which was amazing, to see the friends and family that wasn't really supporting what I was doing. But when I I would look at their lifestyle and their decisions. And I would look at the lifestyle decisions of the people that was at school with me. And the ones that was at school, their decisions and outcomes was way better to me than what I seen. And I was like, not judging my family or friends, but it was like, what y'all talking about not making no sense.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

You know, it seemed like if I keep listening to y'all, I'm gonna be right here. And then now that I'm an adult, a lot of them are still there.

SPEAKER_03 22:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 22:45

You know what I mean? So I think too, I'm I don't think I think as people grow, for any youth or adult that's has that's struggling with that transition, when you come from cultures or families that have not been exposed to what you've been exposed to, you learn to forgive them later. Because if they never got an opportun, never been in the situation you've been in, how would they ever see what you see? And then you start to get this vision and you try to get everybody to see the vision, but everybody's not gonna see that because that vision was built for you, you know. So that is how I dealt with it. It it wasn't easy, you know, trying to trying to sometimes I'll feel sad about it. I'll make me feel like, dang, should I just quit what I'm doing? But the noise and the positivity in the with school and work was so positive that when I would go to these people, these mentors, and tell them like what I was going through, they'll say, keep going here.

SPEAKER_03 23:46

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Keep going here. And I just listened to those voices because it started to make more sense. What makes you keep going with that? What makes me keep going in those moments of doubt? It's just when you grew when you grow up in a community I grew up in, along with the type of parents I had, I just wanted the first goal, was just to not be like them. I was so resentful with my parents. You know, my mom was 15 when she conceived me, my father was 16 um when he conceived me. They were kids, and I didn't really understand that. So just imagine, like on my mom, it was like as soon as I started to do better than her, she was just upset with me all the time, like saying real mean things to me, uh making me feel very low about myself. And then I had a father who was in prison who had wisdom, but it was like, bro, you're not out here. So you get you not really out here. So I don't know how you expect for me to apply this knowledge, you know? And so um I had a lot of pain built up. It's like, okay, I I try to go to school, I try to do right, people don't like that. My mama, I'm thinking that me staying out of trouble or doing the right thing would make her proud, but it seemed like it made her more proud when I was doing what she used to be doing. Um, so I feel like everything and everybody was against me trying to be better. And it I man, coming from all of that, it education was like an escape. So that the the to get over the doubt was like, do I want to go back to living like that? You know, and thinking about the type of stuff my mom would say to me that was belittling and looking at my dad doing so much time, he did 26 years in prison. It was like, it was scary to look back. So it was only right to look forward. You know, and because I was by myself, um, because I wasn't the only child, but I was the only child for 13 years. So since uh I was by myself during those foundational years, I had to learn how to protect myself. I had to learn how to speak up for myself. I had to learn um how to get out this poverty mentality uh with the way I was thinking, the way I was moving, and how and how I looked at life. And I I fought for that. You know, I fought to just be better. That was really what it was. I got tired of that. When you come home and people putting you down or making you feel uncomfortable about who you are, you like, man, I can't wait till I get 19 or 18 to move up out of here, or I can't wait to get my own car. I can't wait to get my own job. You know, it was always trying to do something to get away from what I where I was at. So making money and having my job at Denny's or Sizzlers took me away from having to be around family and friends that made me feel uncomfortable. The same thing with school. It took me away from all of that energy. So it wasn't about any alkales at that point. It was just about not being around that and being around something that filled me up, that, that, that, that, that meant something. You know, sometimes I think our youth, you don't know what households or type of households they come from.

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Right.

SPEAKER_00 27:04

We think everybody comes from a loving household, but just be and even people who got two parents, you don't you don't know what they go through at home, you know, or when you choose a different path or you have a different mind or idea about something. And um, you know, when you have to go against what everybody expects you to do, you you get uh, I think they call it ostracized or something like that. And um it's it's not a good feeling. So I wasn't gonna let them hold me back. And I seen too many examples of what that looked like to be held back, and I didn't like that, so that's what it was about.

SPEAKER_02 27:46

Nah, yeah. Deep, huh? Deep. I know.

SPEAKER_04 27:51

And I heard this story before too. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you know, that's why I feel like every time I look at you, I'm just like, alright, she she an example. I'm like, if dynasty could do it, I could do, I could do some of that, you know? Yeah, yeah. And I feel like that's how it's so powerful for you to be in the position you are, you know? And even like, you know, all the times that you gave me those advice, right? Like, all right, keep going. Like, you know, it being a challenging thing, like stop hanging out with these type of people. Because when I met you, I also was transitioning from a lifestyle and a mentality.

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Right, right. And that's cool though. And it's cool. And see, that's the question I always get asked, but like, how did you, you know, how did you keep going? And and I tell people, it's a lonely road when you choose it. Because now it's peaceful. You know, you're nobody really calling your phone like that. Yeah. People not hitting you up to go to certain functions no more. It's scary a little bit. It's like, wait a minute, especially when you're young, you like, nah, this, this is this is kind of boring, it's kind of quiet. I don't like this. But it just depends on what your vision is. You know, when you got a vision that's bestowed upon you, you feel it in you. You know, you know. So when you start asking those questions about like, how can I do better? That means you already in the right place because something is pulling you to let you know it's time to close that.

SPEAKER_03 29:10

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 29:10

So I just look at it like that. When someone comes to me and they start asking those questions, I'm like, okay, that means you're trying to get somewhere. Because we all go through that place where you don't act. Remember those times we don't ask those questions? Yeah. Because you outside.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Just chilling. Right. Until you hit the consequences. And I'm like, man, I can't keep living like this. Bro, my health is bad, mental health is bad. I'm going through all types of unnecessary drama.

SPEAKER_00 29:35

Right. You know, DMs going up, there's a lot going on, you know? And and but we all have to go through that. So I think that when you have friends or younger people who start to come to you and ask some questions, that's because they're trying to get to a better place and they don't know how to get there. So it's like they gotta go through that to get there. And then when they get there, it's like, okay, even though you may still have one foot out of one foot in, you in a good place because that's what life does, that's what nature does, that's what the universe does. It calls us, you know. But sometimes people don't want to put change those habits in order to open the new doors. They want to take the old habits and use the old keys with the new door. You can't, it doesn't work like that, you know. Because I'm like that.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

I'm like, man, I want to do everything I used to do, but have money and stability and peace, and it contradicts it, you know, and I keep getting in trouble and like falling back.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

Yeah, I I was there with you for three years. I know. I I seen it. I said, okay, he's a little hard-headed, but he'll figure it out. And you figured it out.

unknown 30:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:37

And it's like, you know what's crazy? It's like, how do you have? I think fate plays a role. Like, you gotta tell me about that too. Because for me, I know I'll I'll call, I'll talk to you, I'll call my other mentor too, and I'm just like, man, this is boring. I ain't doing shit with my life, you know? I'm like, what happened to all the like, all the litness, all the shorties, all like I'm just walking looking at trees, like, what am I doing with my life? You know, every day I wake up and I just put my head down. You know, I don't know, I'm not even fresh no more, you know? Right, right. But like, because sometimes you don't, I didn't see the vision. Right. I I just didn't have an option. Yeah. You know, I just like, I just didn't have an option but to do that. But like, how do you see the vision and have faith? You know, like what's what's your perspective? Because my perspective was like, at least I had y'all, right? That I'm like, okay, these are people who I feel like overcome things that, and I don't think it's a comparison, but overcome things that I don't know how they overcame it, but they overcame it. And I had things I need to overcome. So let me at least go talk to these folks who I feel like at least understood me, you know, because I used to come and confide in you, you know? Yeah. Because I think even like for me, like growing up with a different like family dynamic and feeling alone and needing to like, you know, like um put myself in a situation that I haven't seen or my family haven't been, and people doubting me too, not because of like ill intention, but just because of their personal doubts too, you know?

SPEAKER_00 32:07

Correct, correct. Um, I think that's where me and you connected the most was because we both knew how I feel to be alone. You know, you was coming away from was it Thailand? Thailand. Thailand, you your family was left, most of your family was in Thailand. And remember you said you came out here and you were with um your un and uncle. Un and uncle, right? And I think it was like your little cousin. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so you didn't really have those type of role models or people around. Your parents wasn't around.

SPEAKER_03 32:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 32:34

That's pretty lonely, right? But then you are, is are you Asian, right? Yeah. Okay, Asian. I'm black and we had the same situation. My parents were not in Thailand. Right, right. They were not around just like you. And I didn't have the siblings around me either, just like you. And I didn't have people within my household that showed the prosperity that I needed to see, just like you, right? So that's where we connected a lot. And I think what I was trying to teach you was that like faith has levels, but also faith is unseen. You have to be able to believe in something so much that it's gonna come true. You don't know, it's not a matter in life about if it's gonna happen, it's about when it's gonna happen. That's what faith to me is all about, right? I didn't know what God was. Well, I learned what God was because I kept getting in situations that I could have been in the same situation as my mother and father. Right. And when he would send people that were um not kin of me to support me and pick me up, I'm like, oh, he this was a form of angels. They were humans here, right? But these are people I didn't even know that was pouring into me and helping me out and wanting to see better in me. So he she he showed me through my faith that your kin doesn't always have to be the people that you come from, your blood. It's people in community, that's why you where you found community, right? Where that will support you. You know what I mean? Everybody's not gonna have the mom-dad experience. Everybody's not gonna have that. So what do you have, especially when you think about foster kids? Right, right. You know, it's kind of hard to create a family and community when you don't have that, you know. So you don't even see that, but you don't have to worry about it because when you believe and when you growing up, it's like, you know, God looks over you. You know what I mean? He knows what we don't know, he knows our heart, you know. But when we actually start to get that spiritual connection and we do know his power and know who he is, you have to tap into that and you have to trust that. Right and and life will throw things at you, and you gotta remember who's in charge. And you gotta remember who got you this far. And you gotta remember the times when you didn't even get yourself this far, but somebody did. You know, to that's where the faith is, faith comes in at, you know. Um just to see where I am now. I'm a statistic, I'm a statistic. You're a statistic from our stories, people wouldn't think that we are, you know, how do we get where we are now, right? And how do we keep going? It's just that we have faith. We had little, little testimonies and accolades that's shown us that it's possible. So when you start to get a taste of, oh, if I do good or if I, you know, if I treat people right, if I'm kind, you know, just little things like that, characteristics, if I have integrity, all of those things that you put into the world, uh, that's that's an energy. And if it's positive, it always comes back positive. You know what I mean? But if you're putting out negativity in the world and you doing negative things, it you can't spiritually connect to anything. Right. That energy just doesn't attract with that. You know, so even just being kind to your elders, being kind to yourself, being kind to others, you know, treating people with respect, you know, having some form of integrity, being authentic to who you are, those simple qualities, that's a that's a sense of energy that you're putting out to people that attracts other people like you, you know? And so I say that to say that, you know, having faith is is is also an energy as well. It comes with certain behaviors, attitudes. You know, when you don't have faith in nothing, what do you do? You don't care about nobody, you stump on everybody, you're willing to do whatever you gotta do to get the agenda taken care of. That's that survival mentality. That's the that's the thing that's hard about survival because when you're in survival, all you care about is putting food on the table, putting a roof over your head, and closing your back so you don't care about who you hurting, how you hurting them, because all you do is caring about how just to get by. But when you get to a thriving mindset, you know, and you start having faith in what you're able to do, that that energy puts you in a space where all things are possible. You know, there is good people in this world. I can be a better person. You know, I don't have to keep living like this. You know, um I gotta keep struggling, you know? So it I think it's it's it's definitely a mindset, but even if I you and I have faith now, it's still gonna be times we're gonna get tested. Right. And it's gonna show you a different level of faith.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

You know what I mean? So that's how I look at it.

SPEAKER_04 37:06

Nah, that's beautiful. I don't think people talk about that. About that it's hard to when you got out of survival because you gotta be a whole new person, and now like, you know, life kind of flips on you. Yeah. And I just experienced this, like, I mean, I've experienced it, and like I think this year it's a more like, oh wow, looking back, you know, from when I met you till now, I'm like, I can't believe this shit happened. You know, like I can't believe I'm no longer tripping, you know, and like just like thugging it out and just like finessing everything. Yeah, you were a real finesser. Why you say that?

SPEAKER_00 37:42

Just you that was just your energy. Like when you, you know, you were finesser, definitely an opportunist, you know what I mean? Everything that was moving around you, you was trying to figure out how to make it work, you know. Even if, you know, I don't I think even if the police pulled you over, you was gonna finesse your way out that ticket. That's just who you, you know, that that was just a survival mindset. You coming from Thailand, you coming into LA. You know, LA is definitely known for, you know, a lot of things. So I think it was just a lifestyle and people you were around. You know, you got to fake it till you make it, you know, type of thing. So I've seen a lot of that in you, but I think that's part of just growing up and figuring it out. Survival mentality is always gonna be in me, even if I'm thriving and I'm making millions of dollars, it's still within your DNA because I come from a family of survivors. Right. So it's not like um that survivor mentality still doesn't show up. It shows up the most when I'm triggered by my trauma. That's when my survivor mentality comes up. When I feel like somebody is uh uh in my way or trying to take something that's mine or says something to me that hurts me, I can get into that mentality. Uh I can tap back into that quickly just from being triggered, right? Right. Um, the thriving mindset is what I live in every day because what I'm surrounded by.

SPEAKER_04 39:08

Now, and you intentionally put yourself there.

SPEAKER_00 39:12

Well, it's more than intention now. I'm there. I live in it now, you know. Um, like me, you know, me and my family to be, we live in Playa del Rey because I wanted my child to grow up in a different community instead of coming from the hospital to the hood. I wanted my baby to come from the hospital to a better area.

SPEAKER_04 39:32

You always lived there or you just moved there recently?

SPEAKER_00 39:35

Um, I was living in Inglewood before Playa del Rey, but you know, down the street was the hood from where I was at in Inglewood, and I wanted, you know, nature. I wanted green trees. I wanted him to be able to walk to the store. I wanted him to be able to have friends to come see him and feel safe. You know, I wanted to be able to invite people over and feel safe. So looking for safety in an environment was uh important uh, you know, to me. Um, you know, four or five miles from my house is my the office, the headquarters for Doya.

SPEAKER_03 40:08

Right, right, right.

SPEAKER_00 40:09

That's in a nice environment. You know, it is. It's a cultural shock from where I live. It's a cultural shock in the office. You know, the office is really nice, great people. So from the time that I wake up to the time I'm going to sleep, that's what I'm around. I'm around safe environments, uh, good people, different types of uh people, different people coming from different walks of life that do other positive things. So I I thrive in that every day. That's my spirit. You know what I mean? Um, so that's that's that's that. You know, I'm I'm in the lifestyle that I created for so many years. So that's why I would say that I'm um it's more of a mindset of every day because my environment, everything around me is thriving, you know, from the birds, the trees, you know, from even the car I pull up in to the friends that I have to the happy hours I go to, to the people I connect with, you know, everybody around me is in is doing amazing things. So that's just a thriving spirit. But um, I can tap into survival if I need to. No, I can't. I've seen it.

SPEAKER_04 41:15

I'm gonna tell a story. So when I used to work for Dynasty, um Which is the best job? Uh, you know, I still tell people to this day. I really enjoy it. I think it taught me a lot about life.

SPEAKER_01 41:24

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 41:25

And it's very meaningful. I remember I lost a keyfall, remember? And then one day he was just like, boom, you can't be a liability, you know. I was like, I build this up and you're not gonna fuck it up. And I was like, damn, I forgot Dynasty is an overly gangster about this, you know? And I was like, no, I'm sorry, Dynasty. I'm not gonna fuck up your empire, you know? At that point, I'm like, damn. So I seen it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 41:55

Yeah, it's it's it's in me. That's why I would never deny it. Once it's in you, it's in you. We just mask it well, you know? Yeah. But you'll tap into it when you need to. Yeah. When it's certain certain causes of life, you'll tap into it when you need to. Because some people will bring you there, you know. You had brought me there at that point in time. I was like, come on, Bo. You getting me in more and getting me in trouble, man. Let's go back to your story in the room. I was basically about 18 years old, graduated from Dorsey High School. Uh, I received a call from my grandmother telling me I had some mail at the house. Uh, I was currently with some friends at that time. We was high rolling in the streets, you know. So I was like, hey, y'all, you know, I'm about to pull up over at grandma's house real quick to get this meal. They like, all right, so uh, you know, at that time I had a Saturn, um, an old Saturn. It was a four-door, but it was a stick shift. So I'm driving us to my grandmother's house. We four four deep in the car, all women, all young girls at that time. And um, they telling me to hurry up because we had other plants, you know. So uh I basically pull up at my grandmother's house, I put my hazard lights on, and I go upstairs to see what was going on. And uh I had about four um envelopes on the table, and they were big bright orange envelopes. And uh it was from four different universities.

SPEAKER_03 43:20

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

And um, you know, I I remember that I I wasn't too receptive to it at that time because I didn't really understand it. You know, you know how some kids that really write letters to college and can't wait till those letters come in. I had forgot they was coming.

SPEAKER_04 43:40

You didn't even know you applied.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

I didn't even, I forgot we even applied. I was just like, okay. So I got the letters and my, you know, they like open up the letters, I open up the letters, and I see the different universities. I got a sector to C Sun, Dominguez, Cali Pomona, Cali Pomona, and I forgot the other fourth uh school.

unknown 43:59

I got

SPEAKER_00 44:00

I accepted uh to those schools and I had to make a decision by deadline, and I chose Northridge. And so uh back then, Northridge. Yeah, Northridge and Dominguez, I heard had the most black people, even though if it was like a Dalmatian of us, uh a dot of us there, uh uh that was like the the HBCUs back in the day that's like, oh, if you go to Dominguez or you go to Cal State Northridge, you're gonna see black people. And I wanted to go somewhere where black people was, of course. So um I chose Cal State Northridge. And um at Cal State Northridge, like I said, I made some mistakes. So I would say out of the five years I attended there, I would say the last three was way more meaningful where I can tell you that I was I was really doing good. Like I was doing study halls, I was attending seminars, I was getting straight A's and B's in my classes. Um I was engaging a lot in Northridge in terms of like going to Pangamall, going out to eat with friends. You know, I had a little boyfriend and all that out there. So that was pretty cool, you know. And it was when I graduated from um from Northridge, is when I had to start making some real life decisions. Because when when you graduate, everybody's conversation is where are you going after you graduate?