Reclaiming The Narrative.

Policy shapes pay packets, childcare, heating bills, and even how we move around our cities. We break down Rachel Reeves’ Autumn Budget without jargon, showing how frozen thresholds create fiscal drag, why dividend and property tax hikes shift the balance toward taxing wealth, and how ISA changes nudge under 65s into risk. We look at the upside too, scrapping the two child cap, targeted help on energy bills, a rare freeze on rail fares, and what the new EV per‑mile charge means for the future of funding our roads and the reality of going electric.

Power is shifting in entertainment as well. With Paramount Skydance launching a hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery and outbidding Netflix, we explore what consolidation means for the streaming wars, catalogue control, and your monthly subscriptions. Culture isn’t only created; it’s distributed, priced, and fenced off, and those decisions ripple through what stories get made and who gets to see them.

Safety and dignity are non negotiable. We spotlight the British Transport Police’s silent text service 61016 so you can discreetly report harassment on the Tube, and we talk candidly about luxury retail bias versus glossy representation, even as A$AP Rocky fronts Chanel. In the workplace, we share a tactical playbook for handling an aggressive senior colleague: set boundaries, document meticulously, build public advocates, and use policy to protect yourself. We also preview a practical series on starting a UK business the right way trademarks, bookkeeping, HMRC timelines and celebrate Sister Scribble’s sell out momentum and what it takes to scale a young brand with intention.

If this conversation helps you see your money, career, and safety with clearer eyes, follow the show, share it with a friend, and leave a review telling us the moment that hit home most. Your feedback keeps this community sharp and growing.

Referenced Podcast Episode:

The New skills Economy

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4jdXWn8DpFgiER9nVVILa2?si=bgRbofTVTTO7572fUajLmw

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Music (Intro and Outro) Written and created by Nomadic Star

Stationary Company: Sistah Scribble

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• Website: www.sistahscribble.com
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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome Back And Topics Preview
• 4:59 Paramount’s Hostile Bid For Warner Bros
• 7:34 Why Media Mergers Matter To Consumers
• 7:54 Setting Up The Autumn Budget Deep Dive
• 9:10 Tax Burden, Threshold Freezes, Fiscal Drag
• 12:05 Wealth Taxes, ISA Changes, Pensions Squeeze
• 15:01 Two-Child Cap Scrapped And Welfare Shifts
• 18:00 Cost Of Living: Energy, Rail, Fuel
• 20:04 EV Road Pricing And Transport Policy
• 22:13 Public Services, Spending Rules, Politics
• 24:17 Motability Reforms And Luxury Car Limits
• 28:38 Diddy: The Reckoning And Missing Voices
• 33:59 Silent Text Service 61016 On The Tube
• 38:15 Chanel, Luxury Retail, And Bias
• 44:24 Trump’s Moves And Black History Erasure
• 52:02 Work Politics: Handling A Senior Bully
• 1:03:08 Strategy At The Work Dinner
• 1:14:30 Turning Evidence Into Protection
• 1:20:47 New TikTok Series: Start A Business
• 1:27:04 Sister Scribble Launch And Growth
• 1:31:20 Dilemma Update: ADHD Disclosure Plan
• 1:43:20 Closing Gratitude And Socials

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:00

Hey everyone, how are we all doing? Welcome back to the Toy Talks podcast. And in this episode, we're going to be talking all things Rachel Reeves Autumn Budget, what it means to us, the everyday people, the impact, and what we should be considering as a future impact of this autumn budget. We're also going to be discussing the Sean Combs The Reckoning Netflix documentary, executively produced by 50 Cent. Paramount launches a hostile$108 billion bid for Warner Brothers, and surprisingly, it seems to be a Paramount versus Netflix bidding war. The Trump administration's war against black history and the silent tech service that has been launched on the UK tubes and the British Transports Police launching a service that safeguards us, as specifically, I would say for women as well as men, but I want to talk all things like safety on UK transport, especially at night, as we see a rise in attacks and assaults against women. Senator Bernice Monreno in the US, his legislation to remove dual citizenship, Candy Burroughs versus Todd Tucker. Get into it. ASAP Rocky becomes the new face of Chanel. We have a dilemma this episode, and I'll be speaking about business, accounting, actually launching and starting a business. Let's get into it. Hey everyone. Honestly, between launching a stationary brand and all the other hats that I wear, I just could not um provide a podcast last week. I just couldn't do it. And you know me, if I'm not bringing 110%, I'm not even gonna do it. Like for me, the podcast means so much. And every time I hear the intro music and the outro, um, which was written, created, mixed, mastered by a nomadic star, I'm just like, oh, it just I'm so happy. Like, I just don't follow trends. I know a lot of podcasts have intros and outros, but for a long time I would have quotes. I just didn't feel like I needed an intro and outro. I felt like it wasn't the right time. And it got to a point where I was like, okay, I've established this podcast, it's been solidified, people refer to it, it's a global, a globally listened to podcast. And I got to that point where I felt like I'd earned the right to have a theme song. Does that make sense? Um, but every time I hear it, I never get bored of it, and I just love it so much, honestly. It just really reflects what the podcast is, what we do here, and the safe space that we've created. I just want to say that because I never take for granted the impact this podcast has. And that's why for me, like I'm always investing in upgrading in sound, in mics, laptop software, you name it. Um, and there's so much more to come for the Toy Talks brand. And I continue as much as I can to just pour into this brand using my experiences, the lessons learned, sharing my successes, how I got there, and giving the blueprint because honestly, this podcast is for women, and I send to black women because our experiences are uniquely different, but I'm so happy that women, irrespective of race or ethnicity, feel connected to this podcast. For me, the black experience is so unique, so I lead with that, but I also get the messages and the DMs and the emails of people who are not black, but are able to connect, especially when it comes to kind of relating to um black females around them or you know, managers who are in a position of influence to be able to uplift black women in maybe less um you know, less um senior positions who are not even just junior but middle managers as well. Like I love that, and it makes me so happy that I'm able to provide a body of knowledge. Um, see, I just really wanted to say that because without you guys, this would not be possible for me to do. And I've never spent not one pound on marketing because I truly believe in the marketing of our community, and you all are my marketers. So thank you so much. Now you know I'm interested in all these things, like all these like business-related stuff really interest me. So I'm hoping that if it doesn't interest you, then it's just a piece of knowledge you didn't have before you listen to the podcast episode. So, as mentioned in the opener, Paramount has launched a hostile$108 billion bid for Warner Brothers, surpassing Netflix offer. In a dramatic escalation of the battle for one of Hollywood's biggest studios, Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Brothers. Discovery valuing the company at an estimated$104.4 billion. The proposal delivered as an all-cash offer of$30 per share, marks one of the largest and boldest acquisition attempts in entertainment history. The move places Paramount squarely in competition with Netflix, which recently made a separate bid valued at roughly$90 billion. Paramount's offer comes in nearly at$18 billion higher, signalling a determination to outmaneuver its streaming rival and dramatically reshape the media landscape. If successful, the acquisition could merge two storied Hollywood brands and consolidate major franchises under one corporate roof. Um, I'm actually gonna stay abreast of that. Um, and I just find it so interesting that you have massive like media entertainment houses bidding for Warner Brothers, and Warner Brothers has been operating for years. Um, and you can just imagine kind of merging with a Paramount or a Netflix, what type of a powerhouse that creates, especially in the entertainment and media industry. But what I'm also interested interested in is how whoever they whatever bid they choose to go for, how such a collaboration kind of bolsters that entertainment market. Like, what are we gonna get as people who pay into these entertainment industries? We are the consumers, so for me, I just find it really interesting. Um, the story is reported by black millionaires underscore. And I'm gonna definitely keep you guys updated because I find stuff like that interesting. My husband will tell you that's my nerdy side, but I love all things kind of like tech, business related, things that I feel like impact us every day. Um, and there's always lessons to be learned as well, like even just about value, like Warner Brothers, irrespective of how long they've been operating in the entertainment industry, there's still a value that's placed on it. Um, as an entertainment house, they they have house produced, spent money, and invested in so much and have been a big stakeholder within the entertainment industry, so yeah, I find things like that really, really interesting. But talking about things that I find really interesting, I have been preparing us for Rachel Reeves' Autumn Budget. This came out last week, and to be honest with you, I'm not the thing is I'm not a bandwagon jumper. So just because something is like full throttle at the forefront of like all the media outlets, I'm less likely to talk about things at its height because I do want to do my own research, I do want to understand like impact, I do want to be able to come here and kind of break things down in bite-sized pieces. I had somebody recently say to me that one thing they love about my podcast is I tie everything back to the world of work, but I always speak about things that impact us in the world of work and in life, because effectively our world of work is intertwined into the way we live. So it's only natural that I would then talk about things that impact us, like the UK Rachel Reeves budget, about all the other things that seem quite ancillary to the world of work. Because for me, talking about the world of work in silo is is it's giving you half of the picture. In fact, it's not even giving you half, it's giving you about 20% of the whole entire picture that actually affects us as we live our lives. So I'm really glad that um, you know, people are receiving like the style in which I deliver the podcast, because that to me is really, really important. So I've done all this research, I've hopefully broken it down into in into chunks that you will understand because this is how I understand things, me in my neurodivergent, um, dyslexic mind. So here goes. So let's talk about Rachel Reeves's budget, the so-called winter budget, officially the 2025 autumn budget delivered on the 26th of November 2025. This let this is Labour's second full budget in government, and it's a big one. Reeves' headline message is fair taxes, strong public services, and a stable economy. But she's also asking the country to pay a lot more tax to get there. Surprise, surprise. According to the official watchdog, the Office for Budget Responsibility, the tax changes in this budget will raise around$26 billion a year by 2029-2030, taking the overall tax burden to about 38% of GDP, the highest on record. At the same time, Reeves is increasing welfare and investing spending, and she argues this is about protecting public services, cutting child poverty, and stabilizing the public finances. Let me break this down into like key bits that I feel like you probably need to know that will affect us, right? Stealth tax on income, the threshold freeze is extended. The biggest single money raiser is something you don't see on your pay slip straight away. Income tax and national insurance thresholds are frozen for an extra three years out to 2030-2031. Now that's quite disappointing given that um, you know, like that the tax allowance and things like that. That's not moved. And to know that income tax and national insurance thresholds have frozen, I think it's quite disingenuous for her to not kind of talk about like our tax allowance in terms of I think it's like 12,500. That hasn't moved, so it's to be assumed that remains frozen because no one has actually said why it's remained frozen and not increased in line with inflation. As wages go up with inflation, more of your income, more of my income, more of our income is dragged into tax and into higher bans, what people call fiscal drag. The Commons Library estimates this freeze alone raises about£23 billion by 2030-2031. So working people like you and I aren't seeing headline tax rates go up, but more of what we earn will be taxed. A clear tilt towards taxing wealth and assets. Rachel Reeves is also going after wealth and investment income. So a new mansion tax style property levy or council tax surcharge on homes worth over£2 million in England from April 2028. Tax on dividends, savings, and property income goes up by 2%. Um, 2% points across the bands over the next few years. Cash ISA reform. So from April 2027, if you're under 65, you're only allowed£12,000 a year in a cash ISA instead of£20,000 a year. The remaining£8,000 has to go into stocks and shares or other investments through the overall£20,000 ISA limit. Um that stays the same. Over£65s, keep the full£20,000 cash allowance. Do you know what's crazy? If you're over£65, you either have begun retirement, are retired, or are about to go into retirement. So how are you then gonna save£20,000 a year into your ISA if you're already, if you haven't already retired? I don't get that. Because it just doesn't make sense to me. I don't actually understand that. I don't I just don't answer anyway. These are the questions that I that happen in my head. So as I go through this, I'm gonna be saying questions that these are things that you need to think about because when there is an opportunity to vote a new government in, you need to understand the impact of a lot of these budget reforms and how they actually affect us. And as we go between the conservatives and Labour, nothing gets better. But what set tends to be very clear is how aligned conservatives and Labour are when it comes to budgets, and the people that are on the receiving end of their decision making that makes no sense is us, the working people that pay into the system. Um, one can say, okay, right, you know, they're trying to encourage people to, you know, um invest in stocks and shares, but unless you give people the education, how are they gonna do that? And giving people the education is not just the young people in the education system or Gen Zs or whichever generation is very under like very clear about stocks and shares. There is a whole generation, and I'm um from the millennial era, who have no clue about stocks and shares. I'm gonna be really honest. The only reason I am clued up about stocks and shares is because I have a husband that works in finance, he works for like a really big um international financial institution. So there's no way that I could get away with not understanding like the financial mechanics of stocks and shares, but that is a privilege as well. Like as much as it's a blessing, I recognise the privilege, but there are people who have like I know someone who has no financial acumen whatsoever when it comes to stocks and shares. And whilst there is AI, sometimes people just need you to sit down and help them to understand the basics so they know what to put in Chat GPT so they can get the output that will benefit them. Anyway, let's continue. Um, so overall, when we talk about the like the finances and things like that, the message is if you have wealth in property investments or big cash savings, you're going to pay more or be nudged into riskier investments. Um, so big social policy shifts. So the two-child benefit cap is going to be scrapped. One of the most controversial welfare policies of the last decade, the two-child limit on means tested benefits is being scrapped from April 2026. So the two-child benefit tax being scrapped. Um, ministers say that this will lift around 450,000 children out of um poverty. And the Office for Budget Responsibility says welfare spending will be about 16 billion pounds higher by 2029-2030, largely because of reversing earlier cuts and removing this cap. It's funded partly by the tax rises and partly by a tougher stance on fraud and error, including new HMRC compliance measures and a whistleblower reward scheme for reporting large-scale tax frauds. For many low-income and larger families, this is the single biggest positive change in the budget. Now, for somebody who is a high considered high tax earner, just paying tax, I don't even think of whether it's high tax earner or not, but I just removal of the two-child benefit cat. Now I'm just wondering, is the impact that inadvertently you can't stop people having kids, and people you know have different reasons for having children, but I can't help but think how irresponsible it is to have more children than you can actually financially look after. Like I don't understand because you've removed the benefit cap and you're saying, okay, it is to basically remove a certain like 450,000 children out of child poverty. Right. But we're paying for it. Do you understand? Like, where are the government reserves that can pay for that? So I'm basically gonna be paying for Becky's seven children and with five baby fathers, and only one of them baby fathers is working. So that means if the others are on social welfare, I'm one of those taxpayers that are gonna be paying for her six kids and the baby father and her. That's crazy to me. Now I'm all for um protecting children from child poverty. I'm all for that. But I feel like the government needs to take more responsibility and stop pushing that responsibility on the taxpayer. Personally, that that's my view. I digress. Um, the cost of living help. So energy bills, rail and fuel. Rachel Weeze is trying to soften the blow of higher taxes with some visible help on bills. Um, from April 2026,£150 will be knocked off the average annual energy bill, mainly by removing green levies from bills and funding them from general taxation. Instead, all regulated rail fares in England are frozen for a year. So from March 2026, the first full um rail fare freeze in 30 years. Thank God for that, because I can't even justify the increase in the in transportation costs. When it's winter, everything pack up. The train lines ain't the snow, the wind, the the the pollution, the train ain't functioning. Transport system in the UK is shit anyway, on a good day. But God forbid it's too hot or too cold in the UK. You're fucked, but you're still paying the higher taxes. Um sorry, you're still paying the higher fees or rates on transportation anyway. But the point is nobody has no money, so they have to freeze it. And the train's always late, there's always a problem, there's always a delay. Dickheads. Sorry, but that's just how I feel. Um, so fuel duty stays frozen until at least September 2026, with a gradual changes after that. The Bank of England and the Office of Budget Responsibility estimate um that this package will cut inflation by about 0.4 to 0.5% um points in 2026. Now let's talk about pensions and savings. On pensions and savings, there's a mix of protections and new limits. So the state pension continues under the triple lock, so it will keep rising by inflation earnings or 2.5%, whichever is highest. From April 2029, the national insurance break on pension salary sacrifice will be capped. Only the first£2,000 of salary sacrifice contributions per employee will be national insurance free. Above that, um employees and employer national insurance will be due. So all those higher tax earners, me included, were fucked. I don't know any other way to say it. So they'll tell you, Oh, you make a salary sacrifice. Keep it on under 100k. There's a certain amount you earn, and that salary sacrifice makes no difference. You can't keep sacrificing to the point. Like, if you're on 150k, like how much are you really gonna sacrifice 51,000 pounds of what you earn so to be under 100k? I think that's the maths. That's bloody crazy, isn't it? But the point is, it's no longer like tax efficient and financially viable to sacrifice over£2,000 in salary sacrifice, you're gonna be taxed. And bear in mind, when you are of taxable age and you're earning your pension, you're gonna be taxed again. So we're double fucked. That's what that is. Talk about triple lot, double fucked. So together with the threshold freeze and the higher savings taxes, um, these particular squeeze this particularly squeezes middle earners who've been using pensions and ISERs to save aggressively. So transport and drivers, EV tax is coming. So from April 2028, a per mile tax on electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles comes in. So around three pence per mile for full EVs and um 1.5p for plug-in hybrids, which will raise about£1.4 billion once fully up and running. So basically, when they were like, Oh my god, get an electric car, um, you don't have to pay this, you don't have to pay that, they lured you into a false sense of security and boom, they're gonna tax. So all you hybrid electric car vehicles and you're paying there to get your your outlets outside your house so you can, you know, um get your get your because do you know how many friends of mine went electric purely because they thought it was cost sufficient? And I'm not gonna lie, me and Kay were very tempted because we where we live, we were gonna get um the, you know, where you I can't even think, I can't talk, but we were gonna get um, you know where you can get the thing where you can basically charge your car from your house, whatever that is, we were gonna get that fitted in because we were like, okay, we're gonna get an electric car, then we're thinking of getting a Tesla, then Elon Musk, just that, then Elon Musk, and then we're like, ah, fuck a Tesla. And then we're like, okay, we're gonna get an electric vehicle, and then slowly but surely the government showed their asses and basically said, be it petrol or electric or even hybrid, we are going to fucking tax you and we're going to increase everything you thought that you didn't have to pay. You're gonna pay it and it's gonna be increased. So let me ask you a question. Why now does it become viable to have an electrical hybrid car? And don't tell me about the environment because all you Thumbberg thumpers, I don't give a shit about what you tell me about the environment. Not because I don't care about it, but because you're forcing me to take responsibility and bear the cost when the government are not meeting what they promised. Do they ever? So, why then does it become my burden to protect the environment when the government are not giving me the financial freedom to be able to protect the environment by going electric and then benefiting from that financially? Now, some people will say, Well, an electrical hybrid vehicle is not as expensive to run as a petrol vehicle. Listen, I like the word convenience. I ain't got time every five seconds, every time I drive my car around the block, I've got to now plug it in like my flipping iPhone. And God knows, please, somebody with an electric vehicle, let me know. Do these electric vehicles work like the iPhone? So as time goes on, they start depleting, you know, and you've got to change the battery so you can get a longer life out of it. Because if it does, fuck that for real. Moving on. Fuel duty, as I previously mentioned, stays frozen from now, but will gradually move back towards more normal levels after 2026. This is the start of shifting how we pay for roads as fuel duty disappears with the move to electric.

SPEAKER_00: 24:16

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 24:17

Public services and investments. So Rachel Reeves has protected and slightly increased investment spending, um, especially on the Warm Homes plan, now nearly£15 billion for insulation and low-carbon heating over five years. The NHS and health funding for 250 new neighborhood health centres and more appointments, building on what the government says is the biggest fall off in waiting lists in 15 years. So let's wait and see. Extra money for the warm home discount and support targeted at low-income households. At the same time, to hit her fiscal rules, Rachel Reeves is planning very tight spending after 2028, with some departments seeing little or no real terms in growth. So the politics and the row around it politically, the budget is being branded as by Labour, fair taxes for strong services, asking the broad middle of the country to contribute a little bit more. Um, but opponents on the right say that a winter budget that hits workers and savers, with critics pointing to record high tax levels and pressure on middle earners around the 40 to 50k mark, 1,000 pounds a year of earners, they say are the ones that being hit with high taxes. Um, there's also an ongoing treasury leak scandal. So basically, before the announcement of the actual budget, everything's being leaked. So, for example, oh, there's gonna be an increase in income tax that was floated around to get the pulse of the nation, and then there then Rachel Reeves was like, oh no, no, no, that's not what's gonna happen. But the point is, how did it get leaked? So, as part of the whole leaking scandal, and there were other things that were leaked about the budget that later was confirmed as being in the budget, and there was really tight rules around kind of announcing what the budget is before Rachel Reeves has actually gone to parliament and addressed it and announced it in a more formal setting. So, because of all the leaks of key policies which were briefed out before the budget, and even the Office of Budget Responsibility forecast appeared online early, prompting a formal inquiry as to how that came to be. So, I guess to summarize, the core of Rachel Review's winter budget is higher long-term taxes, especially on wealth, savings, and higher earners, a big shift on child poverty and benefits for the two children capped scrapped, and some short-term cost of living help on energy and transport, all sold as the price of stabilising the public finances and fixing public services. Um I don't know, like I don't know how I feel. I just know that we're all fucked. But there is actually one um announcement that she made as part of this winter budget that I do want to touch on a little bit. Um, and it's about what's changed with disability cars and motability and luxury cars. So in the budget, in the budget, Rachel Reeves announced that there's reforms to the motability scheme and that the scheme that lets disabled people use their motability benefit to lease a car. So there are two main bits in relation to this. So, firstly, luxury and premium brands removed from the scheme. So motability has taken premium brands like BMW, Mercedes, Aldi, Lexus, and Alpha Romeo off the price list, along with all coupes and convertibles. The justification from the Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is that the scheme should fund essential practical mobility, not luxury cars, and that this will help around save around£1 billion a year and push motability towards more UK-built cars. So, from a practical standpoint, if you're on Mobility, you won't be able to choose those top-end brands anymore, even if you're willing to put in a big chunk of your own money in as an advanced payment. And I think that this is brilliant, and I'll tell you why. I had a friend whose father was disabled, and basically she got like state of the line BMW spec'd out, terrated. I never see a dad in that car not one time. I never see I think she took him on a couple of appointments, medical appointments, but that car for all intents and purposes was her. Now, listen, I'm not hating on your hustle girl, but I'm the taxpayer, and many of us are the taxpayer paying into the system so that you can get a luxury car. I don't really, to be fair, I don't actually care like the choices you make in in terms of motability, but I do care when I, as one of those taxpayers, is paying into a scheme that you're actually misusing and benefiting from, while some of us are with our humble cars just trying to figure out how we're gonna upgrade, what we're gonna upgrade to, and what our pockets will stretch to because we're too busy funding your extravagant motability lifestyle that actually benefits you and not the disabled parent in your home that needs to be um needs to have a car that will take them to their appointments. I think the push towards more um British car manufacturers is because they're cheaper. So, like your Fords and your Vauxhall Astras are cheaper. And what they're saying is, why would you want a luxury car if the car is essential for you to be able to be mobile or for whatever, you know, whatever you want to use it for, then you can still get to A to B in a more humble car. And I I actually I dig that, I dig that. Sorry about the noise, my baby monitor's on. I'm solo parenting this evening, my husband's at his work Christmas dinner, but yeah, so that's how I feel about that. Anyway, I hope that I've broken this down for you. And you know, in order for me to kind of really like break it down, I did have to go into a bit of detail because now when they talk about the winter budget, hopefully you're gonna understand it a little bit more and you're gonna take the bits that you feel that either affect you or that you're particularly interested in. But I think it's always important for us to know what's happening around us. Do you know what I mean? Like that a lot of people get their education from Mail Online or Shade Barrow. And whilst I have my own opinion about that, I feel like if you are given the ability to vote, there needs to be education. I can't believe people just vote because you're a British citizen. Do you know how mad that is? But there's no education. You've got people voting that has never seen a textbook in their life, every teeth missing, every plaque in their mouth, but they can't even educate themselves on basic things, and I think it's a government responsibility. I think it's in China. I think it's in China. I stand to be corrected, but I know it's in Asia. I definitely think it's China. Basically, they're now saying that you have to um, in order to post things on social media that are like educational or you're speaking on like societal issues, you need to have at least a master's degree. And what they're basically trying to do is you can't just come and talk shit without education because too many people are doing that, and then what you're doing is you're pushing misinformation through ignorance, and that is motherfucking crazy. You've got people in comment sections talking shit just because they have the ability to have access to the internet and they've downloaded an app. Do you know how crazy that is? I'm sorry, you know, it's not enough that you've done a course and master's. I think it's you have to go a bit deeper. They need to do qualifying educational studies. So if you've studied, I don't know, what is some I don't know history? No, no, no, not even history, graphics at master's level. Whilst that is great for whatever your ambition is, is a graphics master's or degree enough of a qualifier to talk about societal issues? And I would say no. Just because of what they're studying, it's not giving you like understanding of political things. Do you know what I mean? And I do think that I mean the UK will never do it because freedom of speech and one thing about this country, it protects it, it protects uneducated people as much as possible. But I definitely think there needs to be qualifiers to be able to talk about certain things, and it's exhausting, to be honest, reading the lack of education that people and when I say the lack of people think, I went to uni. What did you learn? What did you learn at uni? Don't come here and say, Oh, it's not about uni if you're if you get uni, it doesn't mean you have common sense. Shut up your stinking mouth and your bomber ass. Shut your mouth and say the truth. You studied a course that you didn't learn anything from, and now you want what you want to do is cover all our eyes to make us believe that education isn't that important. Well, it is, it really is, especially when you're talking on things that not only do you not understand but sound stupid coming from you because you really haven't done the research and thought about it. Sorry, but that's how I feel. The Didi documentary. Sean Combs the Reckoning. I think everybody's caught up on the fact that it was executively produced by 50 Cent. And what I love about 50 Cent is he is a marketing genius, he's an amazing filmmaker, and I've spoken about 50 Cent on this podcast many, many a times. Um, I have like top five books of all time, and one of them is a 50 Cent book. And 50 Cent has two books, and there's one in particular, I just think is honestly, it shaped my approach to business, if I'm completely honest. He is a business mogul, a business genius. So this bandwagon, everyone's jumping on now for 50 Cent. To really understand him is to really read that book. And I'll put a link to the book in the show notes. Hopefully, I'll remember to do it, but I will. I think, and I've always said that 50 Cent is amazing. Um, I've watched Power, I've watched Um Raising Canaan, I've watched a little bit of it, I couldn't get into it. Um, I've watched Power Book, all the Power Books, and I just think he's amazing as a producer, as an actor, as a businessman, just understanding the inner mechanics of the way he thinks. Um he does do things that are slightly out of pocket or misaligned to kind of what he talks about in his book, but it's him basically reminding us that he's a human being. Um but I've always said like this this thing between and I shouldn't say thing, but this whole him and P. Diddy, it's runs deeper than Diddy offering to buy him clothes, which is being pushed um by one of the radio stations after an interview with 50 Cent a few years ago. I think this speaks more to Rest in Peace, Chris Lighty. And 50 Cent speaks so highly of Chris Lighty. In fact, he said he wouldn't be who he is in business in life if it wasn't for Chris Lighty. Um and I kind of don't like I'm not gonna get into all of it. Do your do your Googles, do your research. Um, but Chris Lighty, um, Rest in Peace took his own life, and it's never sat well with a lot of people in the music industry, and never sat well with 50 Cent. And um it is alleged that he met the same demise as a result of his relationship with Kim Porter. Whilst Kim Porter didn't take her own life, she died of pneumonia, which no one understands because I think she was in her 40s, it just never made sense. I think in the same breath, Chris Lighty's um death never made sense to 50 Cent. And it's really it really has to be said that death death, murder, and imprisonment always follows P. Diddy, but he is never at the other end of that. Do you know what I mean? And I d I kind of give like a really brief overview of um The Reckoning. Um but there was a few things that I felt were missing, and when I say missing, I don't know if it's deliberate, but things weren't I just felt like the documentary weren't complete. It was in four episodes, but there was so much that was just left out that I felt like was so critical to that documentary. So for example, Shine. Now, Shine has gone on to say that he did it, he was asked to do the documentary and chose not to. But Shine, why didn't you want to? Because you you've been doing your own documentary for the last how many years now, and you've been talking about Diddy. So for me, why don't you just take yourself to the documentary and do to have that conversation? They did touch on Shine very very lightly, but I feel like Shine could have given another kind of dimension to Diddy, um, and really he's his experience of Diddy would have brought to life a lot of the themes and things that were discussed on the documentary. Um, Mace, Mace is a critical, impactful part of Bad Boy. Like, I was a massive Mace fan, by the way. Like, massive. Like, I just I adored Mace. I thought he was amazing. His transformation from musician to podcaster and businessman is in is one for the books. But what sits behind that was an artist that was so influential, um, was so impactful to Bad Boy. He was yet another artist that was never paid. He he got he has said this with his own mouth and he witnessed a lot, but yet Mace was not a part of that documentary. Now, maybe he didn't want to be, but I feel like if he didn't want to be, they should have told us because it's looking like they never asked. Um, but Mace has always been very, very careful to kind of say what he needs to say and say enough without kind of making it the forefront of kind of his evolution. Do you know what I mean? But Mace is massive. Now, they never took spoke about one of his baby mothers, which is Sarah Patton, and she he had a baby with Sarah Patton. Sarah Patton is Tupac's ex-girlfriend, by the way. There's pictures, go and do your Googles. It feels like P Diddy likes the women of rappers who are massive, and he just feels like, in order to kind of be like touch who they are in terms of their celebrity status, their impact, then he needs to go for their women. It's giving let me not say it now, because we all know a particular artist who likes people's baby moms. What about Stevie J? Stevie J is huge, he was a producer, songwriter, performer as well, and uh Diddy's friend, which he probably never would have spoken because of that. But tell us then, what about Fawnsworth Bentley? Hmm. Fawnsworth Bentley became part of the identity of P. Diddy when he was Puff Daddy. So the fact that he was not part of this documentary has never spoken.

SPEAKER_00: 39:48

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02: 39:49

There's a lot to say. Loon, Mario Wynans, Usher, Justin Bieber, Laura Ann Gibson, who was Um a choreographer, a massive choreographer making the bands, but just a choreographer in general. That was never n n that was never spoken. In fact, they didn't even go into any detail about Kim Porter's death. So I don't know whether that there's a grand jury investigation, so they can't really talk about it. But all these names I've um I've mentioned, I'm gonna I'm gonna tell them say them again. Shine, Mace, Sarah Patton, Fonsworth Bentley, Stevie J, Mario Wynans, Loon, Usher, Justin Bieber, Laura Ann Gibson, Kim Porter. They they just did not speak about that. And to be honest, there's another four four or five episodes as part of each of those names. So yeah, let's just watch this space. Um, no sin will go unpunished, and karma never forgets an address. So did he do it? He definitely did. So if you didn't know, you can get Wi-Fi on the train. Now, not every line has access to Wi-Fi, but most of the lines, and I think as the years are progressing, they're better in the lines and the ability to access Wi-Fi on the underground here in the UK. But I definitely think it's really important that we talk about very briefly kind of the increase of numbers of harassment and violence against women, and we have to also remember like the transport system and vulnerability vulnerabilities that sit in and amongst us as women. And as part of that, I know that there's a campaign to have women only, women and children only carriages, um, which I will definitely be signing the petition. And if I find it online, I definitely will link it in the show notes. Um, but that being said, there is a silent text service um on the tube if you're feeling unsafe or you're being harassed, something's happening and you need help. So the silent text service is 61016, and you text that number and you basically say what is happening, you can send videos and things like that, but when you say what's happening, you can also say, Oh, I'm on the district line and I'm approaching um Edgeware Road station, or I'm on the Victoria Line and we're approaching Warren Street now. And you know, you can write this down. So the reason they call it a silent text service is obviously you're not using your voice to speak um to alert anyone to what you're doing, that you're able to text, and British transport police will receive it, may reply, but in any case, it alerts them to something happening on the train, and hopefully, by the time your train pulls into that station, um, British Transport Police should already be there or be alerted and be able to make the appropriate decisions in terms of kind of how to tackle that situation. And um, it's called the silent text service, and the text number is 61016. Save it in your phone because I'm definitely saving it in mine. And when I saw it, I was like, this is brilliant, this is this is what we need as a service, and British Transport Police will respond through the service. So I think it's really important that we spread awareness about this service. Um, I've been assaulted on the train before a few years ago, actually. I was in my 20s, and I remember, you know, it was that during that time when people will press up against you on a packed train and you think, Oh, because it's a pack train, but why am I feeling your hardness against my leg? And it wasn't until I got home I realised I've just been assaulted. Do you know what I mean? Because there was actually no reason for him to press up against me like that. Um, and I've never felt more violated on a train on the train than I did that day. So I'm very aware of who's standing near me, how close they're standing. I shouldn't be able to feel any of your body parts on me, actually. And if I am, I we I will pull the leave, I'll text the the the silent tech service, I'ma do something. Um, there is no excuse for any type of assault on any anywhere, um, and definitely not on the transport service. And as women, especially like as we travel, we should feel free. Um, and unfortunately, it's not always the case, be it during the day or at night. But I think having a tech service like this enables you to at least have access to the authorities to be able to address the situation um and get the culprit or culprit as it's happening. So it's 61016. So, as I mentioned, um ASAP Rocky is a new face of Chanel. Now, I think it's great, I think it's always important to ensure that we are in the forefront of fashion, and I think just as a community, black people we are big spenders, so it doesn't surprise me um that uh ASAP Rocky is the face of Chanel, but Chanel as a brand, I feel like they're quite problematic, and I I'll tell you why they love the money, but in my experience, I don't I feel like as a black woman, uh I like luxury things. I feel like most of us do, but I definitely feel as a black woman I get treated differently when I go into some of these luxury stores, not all of them. My worst experience was actually in Chanel. I'd gone into Chanel, I wanted to get a bag and a purse, so I'd gone in there and literally they ignored me. The lookup they gave me was like I can't afford it, I was just window shopping, and I was like, okay, maybe it's just me, maybe I'm being paranoid because when I go into these shops, I don't dress especially nice just so that they know I'm a serious customer, I'm gonna dress how I feel comfortable. I used to do stuff like that, you know, or dress up because I was going into a particular store because I wanted to be treated a particular way. Fuck that. Because our non-black counterparts don't think like that. So I'm like, nah, my money is good whether I'm in trainers' hills or flats. So I remember, and it was the Chanel on is it Bond Street? I think it's on Bond Street. Is it Bond Street or Newborn Street, whatever? It's fucking there. I don't know no no, it's not New Bond Street, it is the Chanel in Selfridges. Yes, it was in Selfridge'cause I was inside Chanel and Selfridges. My experience in there was horrible. They're arrogant, they're rude, disrespectful. And in my head, I'm like, you do realize that if we don't spend money here, you guys will your concession will not be open for very long. So I feel like Chanel Cartier, Cartier on Newborn Street, I cannot stand. I prefer the Cartier and Selfridges. I feel like Selfridges in general has a different vibe to New Bond Street, but there's certain stores within Selfridges that are inherently problematic. And for me, it's Chanel. I just don't. I walked out, I didn't buy a thing. I didn't because I was like, and I don't actually do I own anything, Chanel and Mira. I don't. I think from that experience, I was like, I'm not actually spending my money in Chanel, dickheads, Louis Vuitton or New Bond Street, they're a bit like that as well. And then when they went in my profile, suddenly the attitude was different, and it's annoying because it's like you do realize that some people come in and they're not sure if they want to spend in there. An experience, a good experience is enough for someone to spend money, even if they hadn't intended spend money that day. But a good customer, and I just feel like these a lot of these high-end brands, they don't understand basic customer service because they're they're living off the reputation and the um not legacy, but they're living off the brand name. Do you understand? So for them, it's like we need no introduction. Yes, she fucking well do. Because you're walking around with your crossbody because you work in Chanel, bear in mind you've got a uniform allowance. So if we talk about who can afford what here, it's probably the customer walking in the door, and you need them to just to be able to get your bonuses and stuff. It just doesn't make sense. I think my one of my best designer luxury brand experiences was in YSL Issa Laurent, inside Selfages. I had the best experience ever, and I gone in there, I wanted to get a particular tote bag, it was a very expensive. I think is it one of my most expensive bags? It may be, but the customer service was just so good. So I wanted to get the bag, but if I didn't get it that day, I wouldn't have been upset. But the customer service was so good. I did buy the bag, and I was just the way I was treated like a human being with dignity. But I think a lot of these brands they now rec realize the power of the black pounds. And I say the power of the black pounds, the power of the black dollar. They realise how much we spend as a community of black people, so now they're realizing right, we're gonna have to put this person on the face of it now, this influential black person, because you you want our money. It's weird, isn't it? You want our money, but you don't want our faces in your store. And it does make me think about consumerism and you know, is it worth me buying these bros? But I like what I like, I just like what I like, I really do. I'm not into fake things, I don't care if your leather bag is made in the same factory as Dior, it's not Dior, if it's not made by Dior. Oh, and I don't even have an issue with people wearing fake things, it's when they're trying to push it as a real item or trying to elevate it because it's made in the same factory as another brand. That's when I have a problem with it. I really I can't I cannot do it, honestly. But yeah, I like what I like, but I will not be buying anything from from Chanel. But congratulations to ASAP Rocky. There is this Chanel wallet I really really want, but nah, can't be doing it since you want to treat me like shit in Chanel and Selfridges. I will take my shit money and I will spend it somewhere else, like YSL, like Gucci, Fendi, or Prada. Thank you. Donald Trump. He's probably the most problematic politician in the world. And he's the leader of the biggest, most influential, most impactful country in the world. The free world. There's nothing free about this world. So Donald Trump has removed Martin Luther King Day and Juneteenth as holidays that include free entrance to national parks, replaced with free entry days with his own birthday instead. Oh, this man. So you can no longer enter national parks for free on Martin Luther King Day or Juneteenth. The Trump administration has removed Martin Luther King's Day and Juneteenth as holidays that include free entrance to national parks, adding the president's birthday instead. Can you see why why I say that Trump is waging war against black history? He removes government funding um in terms of um anything that kind of celebrates and elevates black history, he's threatening to remove government funding from this whole DEI is his ability. So DEI funding basically he's removed it, is his waging war against black history and him perpetuating racism um and not allowing black history to be what it is, it's the history of black people. Now, when you try to erase or erode black history, I then have a couple of questions. Are you a racist? What is it that you're trying to hide about your history that impacts black history? Are we like race, like the slave trade, colonization, the continuous abuse of African natural resources? What is it? And these times now I'm saying this if leg touch America now, they will now ask for every social media so they can see if you said anything that they don't like. This Trump administration is really problematic because the agenda it's pushing, and I understand Trump and his legacy, but the agenda he's pushing as part of his legacy is the erasure of black history. And you know, I was reading something the other day, and I was this is something a lot of black people in America don't know about their history, so they'll say they're black um black Americans or af was it was what's the what what do they categorize Afro-American or Af af whatever it is they say, but actually don't know their lineage, which is quite sad. I think DZG, the streamer, basically said that one thing about black people in the UK, they know their lineage, whereas in America they don't always do like a lot of my friends, they know their lineage. A lot of my friends are Nigerian and gun gun in in America, but I think those who are indigenous to America, like born and raised or their family, they don't actually know like their history of who they are because ultimately it is by virtue of the slave trade. Um, and I think that's really sad, but then I think it's fully perpetuated by people like the Trump um Donald Trump and the Trump administration trying to const consciously erase black history, it's really dangerous to the black identity in America, to be honest. Um, and the reason I'm saying this is because unless we know our history and where we come from, how are we gonna know where we're going to? And I always talk about our American cousins because as I always say, what happens in the States will always find its way here in the UK. So I will always be talking, reporting, discussing things that happen in America. Forearmed is forewarned is forearmed. Um, and we need to be armed with knowledge, and we need to be able to identify what is happening when things like this start, and then put our foot down by saying to the government, this isn't no, you know, the you we need to be able to collectively understand how erasure and erosure happens in terms of history. Now, in the UK, they'll stick all our African artifacts in a museum and make you pay to for the for the view and pleasure, but that in its in a way is an erasure of black history because if you put it into your museums and say you own it, then what you're doing is you're actually ignoring how it got into your museums. Where is that history? Nowhere in the history books. Um the Benin artifacts in a lot of the British museum, like the museums here in the UK, British Museum being one of them. How did the UK and I always say this? So you've got the Benin Ar artifacts or just anything from Africa, and now it is in the UK, it's in London. But the originate the countries that these artifacts originated from, so they didn't lend it to you. So how did you get it then? England. That's the history you you want to erase. That's what you don't want to talk about, but you are happy to lend it back to the country that it was pillaged from. Do you know how fucking crazy that is? That is madness. Absolute madness. But when we talk about history, when we talk about kind of understanding our history, so understand how ownership happened um during colonization, during the invasion of Africa. These are the things that you need to know, and these are the things we have to teach our children so they know before they start thinking that the things in the museum it was by mutual agreement. Because even if it was, a lot of uh the African countries now are asking for them things back, and they're getting told no, or the hill to climb to get it. It's it's just kind of wild, or they want to charge you for a deposit, it that's madness. So I recently told you all that there is a bully in my workplace, and he's actually a really, really senior director. And as podcast episodes go on, I'll be giving you like tidbits. I'm waiting for things to like really happen, and then I'll be able to come and say, these are the lessons learned, this is the situation. So, um, and I'm gonna ask on TikTok as well this question when you're having a conversation, a professional conversation, you're discussing work, albeit with a colleague or a very senior manager director, and they're swearing. For me, that is not professional. There is no reason why you should be swearing. Because the question asks, are you swearing at the situation at hand that we're talking about? Or are you swearing at me? Because that swearing becomes so violently aggressive that I feel like it is targeted towards me. It feels like a couple of slaps. And I find myself in that situation with said colleague who is a very senior director. And I don't swear at work. I'm very professional in my articulation, in my conversations, in my exchange of information. I don't need to swear at work. Obviously, on the podcast, we're just letting loose safe space, we just kick him back and we're just chatting in it. But that's the difference between a professional environment like the world of work and outside of work. So, my last conversation, he interrogated me. He was aggressive, he started swearing, he was diabolical. His behavior on that call was so diabolical, I had to take a beat. And one of the great things about working remotely, especially when you're having these meetings with no camera on, your facial expressions can't be seen, number one. But there's a there is a power in being hybrid or remote in that you're having these calls and you're in your own safe environment. In the in the actual workplace, it is never safe. So you know that you're there is a heightened scrutiny on your reaction, even your non-verbal communication, right? So I'm on this call and I'm quiet, and what I'm doing is I'm taking notes. This man's burn folder is so large, I've had to ask my workplace for extra storage, and I'm telling you right now, you see that that guy, that director, he keeps walking the walk of the path that he's going to, and I promise you, it'll be the last path he walks in this organization because I'll have his job. Because you just don't operate like that in this day and age with the evolution of work, um, the evolution of legislation and the understanding of how we navigate the world of work, he cannot operate like that, and I'm not allowing him to, but what I am giving him is opportunity to continue to dig his hole. Because once he digs his hole, I'm gonna nudge him in the hole. Yep, and then I would all that mud, I'm gonna throw it back in inside that hole. So um that say that call happened on like a Wednesday or Tuesday, then we had a um, so there's a couple of workplace events that are happening, but the one that I actually went to was more to do with my particular program. And my program is quite global, but the ones those of us in the UK, we had a dinner, and there is like a bigger one that's happening today, but I'm not going. Um, partly because Kay had his work dinner, but personally, I was gonna go to one or the other. I kind of was not gonna go to both. I don't do Christmas parties already, I don't like all that shit. However, this was a Christmas dinner, kind of similar, but the fact is, it's still a dinner, it's still Quite a kind of organized, you know what I mean? It's a bit more, a bit more professional than you would expect a Christmas party to be. I mean, both you're still at work, but you get what I mean, yeah. So I went to this work dinner. I was like an hour and a half late, I had issues with the train, I'm neurodivergent, like how I manage my time. It's very sporadic. I'm trying my best, okay? So I get there late, having like gone to the place, trying to find them, found them, and I was sitting towards the end of the table, right? So I was towards the end of the table, there was an empty chair right next to me. So as I walked in, I said hello to everybody, everyone's like, Oh my god, Toy, it's so nice to see you. Because again, I only speak to my cousin, I need to speak to them. I'm not one of these people that just call them for the sake of it. I'm just not that person, I'm very professional, I'm very approachable at the same time, and I'd like to think that I'm nice until I'm not, you know. So said hello to everybody, everyone was so happy to see me, and everyone's like fuss in. Oh Toya, you have to order something to eat, you know, everyone was cool, and then um one of our senior directors who I absolutely adore, he came to my end of the table. He's like, Toya, so nice to see you. It's just so nice that everyone in my team that I work with are really lovely because they're really professional, everybody does a good job, they're high performers, so it's just nice. Now, this piece of shit who is so disrespectful is the bully of the program. We need to come up with a name. What name did I name him before? I need to see what do I call him before? Because I I call him so many names in my head, but honestly, the profanities I have in my head and how I talk about him. Oh, Arnold, that's what we called him, isn't it? Arnold, yeah, definitely. I know why I said called him Arnold. Anyway, Arnold. So Arnold then, so after he sees, I watch him. So the other thing is as well, with Arnold, I really wanted to observe him around other people because bear in mind, he doesn't even work, like he works outside of the UK. So our team, like our global team in delivery, we're from all over the world. So this was also an opportunity for information gathering. And I'm not gonna sit here and lie to you. Part of the reason why I attended this Christmas dinner is because I knew he was gonna be there. I had an inkling he was gonna be there. So I was like, this is gonna form part of information gathering because I need to understand like what how does he get to that point where he loses such control that he becomes so disrespectful in conversations, he goes from zero to a hundred and forgets himself in such an unprofessional way that it's gonna lead him to lose his job. Like, how do we get there? And I know some of you are thinking, but Toya, and I'm telling you, I have been so good at navigating the world of work because I understand the psychology of the environment I'm working in. And and while some of you will say, Oh, it's exhausting, it's too, it's long, if you're if you're in an organization and like you plan on being there a long time, or you're already a long time in, you need to be invested in your strategy. That's what I'm gonna tell y'all, and I'm telling you right now, the the the workplace, like the world of work, like the industry is bad at the moment. Like it's cold out there, it's giving Antarctic, it's giving Narnia, it's giving uh not Lords of the Rings, something of thrones, Game of Thrones, like like the economy ain't great. Do you understand? Like the roles that you're seeing at the moment, few and far between, or they're not paying very well. So if you're gonna sustain your situation, I need to know how I'm sustaining it. So I went there, fact-finding basically, right? Long story short. So I get there, and obviously I'm talking to everyone, but I'm watching Arnold watch people's reaction towards me. Now, some of these people who are reacting to me, I've never seen them a day in my life. We've probably just had calls or I've been on emails or we've had team calls. Some of these team calls don't even have our camera on, and I think it's testament to how I'm able to build relationships without actually seeing people in person. And I think being neurodivergent speaks to that a lot because not being not working in a in an office for long periods of time works for me. I can't lie, it really helps me to be successful as a neurodivergent woman, and I go in as and when I need to, or there's a client meeting, or some there's an escalation I need to be in. I'm quite happy to go in, but I'm not in Monday to Friday. It just doesn't work for me, it doesn't work for my lifestyle, it doesn't work for my neurodivergent self, right? So, anyway, I say all this to say a lot of people I work with, I've never met, so you can imagine now the reaction when people see me because you've built up rapport and relationships with people, right? So Arnold is observing this, and I'm watching Arnold from the corner of my eye observe this, right? And honestly, God, you know they say the camera adds a few pounds. Honey, it's not just on the camera, honey, in life, honey, he was looking like podgy figures. Anyway, I do not judge, I'm just giving you my view. So he gets up from where he was sitting on the other end of the table and he comes and sits beside me. And then I thought, I can ignore him, but I'm gonna acknowledge him, but I'm gonna make him uncomfortable. And I'm gonna make him uncomfortable by not actually saying anything outside of acknowledging him, because that's all he's worth. You don't get to treat me in a non-professional way on a call and think that you can come and sit next to me and have a big boy conversation. You must be fucking mad. So that comes and sits beside me and he goes to one of my colleagues, Oh, I've never met Toy in person before. Then my colleague was like, Well, there she is, and I'm like, Here I am, and then I make a comment because on the call that I had with him that wasn't very pleasant, he was like, Oh, I've made him late that he's gotta go, and made him late because he needs to get um the train into London for this dinner, by the way. So as this, as he's sitting there, I'm just everyone's ignoring him, everyone's just talking to me, and we're all having conversations, we talk about so many different things that we talk about, like NHS, we'll talk about our favourite suite, our favourite dessert, you know, keep it light, you know. And when we talk about the NHS, it's more about oh, you know, private healthcare versus NHS, you know, those type of light conversations because we don't talk politics at work, we don't talk religion at work, and we definitely don't talk about personal things that we know that are personal to us that will have us judged. Do you understand? We don't do them things whether at work or at a Christmas party, anyway. So then I said to him, I turned over to him and I was like, Oh, Arnold, um, I see you arrived here on time, so I surely didn't make you late. And he looked like a cherry tomato, because he got the point I was making. So after about five minutes, he realizes he's not being acknowledged. He gets up and goes back to his his chair, and I said to myself, Alright, I'm gonna make you feel so uncomfortable by saying nothing to you, and that's exactly what I did, and then everybody just kept coming down to my end of the table, people I've never even spoken to. One guy goes, Oh my god, your trainers look so amazing. I'm into trainers. We just started talking very comfortable, like, very like nice. And Arnold just looked like a dickhead because he tried to get involved, couldn't get involved. You see, you've got to choose which side of the fence you're gonna stand in. If you're gonna be an arsehole, you need to be an arsehole forever. You can't be a part-time arsehole, and I think he was actually taken aback by actually how well respected I am, to the extent that halfway through the dinner, um, one of the directors who I really like, he says, and the client was there, like we had a representation representative from the client side. So the client was there and says, he said to the client, Oh Toy, we were talking about you earlier. I was like, Oh god, what was you saying? He was like, No, we were saying that with XYZ, you're just amazing. You are the commercial contract conscious conscience of the entire program. Like for us, like we don't know how we would get here contractually without you, and actually, you're like the like a great sounding board, but more importantly, you know how to de-risk things commercially and contractually in a way that honestly I've never seen on any program. And I've been working for this organization for over 20 years, and honestly, it was like the most oh, do you know what it was just the most nicest compliment? But it was the type of compliment that he wanted everyone to hear. You see, that's the type of marketing I like. You understand? I don't like this backstage marketing that has no impact. So as he's saying this, I'm looking around the table and everyone's nodding their heads, and I that went into the feedback folder, honey. That's gonna make its way into my cool um my workplace objectives and achievements. You don't seem to understand. At work, I stay on the clock, honey. Call it a Christmas dinner. I'm on the clock, honey, and I'm making notes. I was in my I was on the train on the way back in my notes. I was in my notes, yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't play with me, don't play with me and my career, don't play with me. So everyone's nodding, and I'm watching Arnold, and he just looks so uncomfortable. He doesn't even know where to put himself because he saw me, he sees me as less than even though I'm senior in my role, I'm not senior enough for him to give me the respect that he would give somebody on his level or above. And one thing with me is this I demand respect. I demand it, and when I say demand, because I give it, so I don't demand it in isolation, but if I give respect, I demand it back. I can't give you respect for you to give me disrespect. But what Arnold doesn't realise is I have his card firmly understood. The way he spoke to me on that call, the way he was disrespectful, I hardly said a word. But what I did say to him on the call is I'm just gonna be clear to you that this tone, no, we're not doing this tone today because oh, it's not my tone, I'm not taking out on you, I'm just expressing myself. I said, Well, if you need to express yourself, maybe you should do that with one of the directors or your boss. But this way of expression doesn't work for me, and that was the only thing I said on the call. And he still didn't land the plane of the point he was trying to make, he just kept digging and digging and digging and digging. And one thing I'm gonna tell you, I've worked for the likes of PWC and Goldman Sachs, I've seen the worst of the worst, to be honest. This guy is like a lightweight feather, however, in comparison, whether he's a lightweight feather or not, I have an expectation of how I expect to be treated at work. And even though, as black women, we should shoulder a lot, it doesn't mean that there's a measure of what we're gonna shoulder so people get away with shit. Not on my watch. We are not your abuse board, we're not your um firing board where you just feel like you could just treat us anyhow you want to because you're having a bad day. I actually don't care about your bad day. How about that? I don't care if you're going for a divorce, I don't care if your data cat died of a fur ball, I don't care if your car tyres got slashed, I don't care if you lost your 50,000 pound watch, I don't care if you're I don't care. I don't because you don't care about the black women's lived experience, you don't care about our lived experience, and that is fine, but what you're not gonna do is not care and then disrespect me at the same time. You've got to be fucking crazy. And let me tell you something. My rap sheet speaks for itself. And when I say my rap sheet, I'm not new to this, I grew to this, honey. I did not get here by accident, it's through sheer hard work, experience, and learning. I stay a student of life. People talk about oh too, you're so confident. I didn't enter the world of work confident. I entered the world of work, a bright-eyed chick. I was bright-eyed, I thought, oh, I've studied law, balance, and that's bullshit. I've been baptized into this workplace, navigating. I've worked with some disgusting people. I have been disrespected so bad in a way that people just would not outside of work, you could never. But I've also dealt with those people. No one at work gets away with anything with me. Impossible. You may think you get away with it today, on Monday, 1st of January. I'm telling you, by October, 1st of October, you're gonna you're going to take responsibility for what you did in January and all the things in between. I don't play that. You're gonna learn to respect me. We are not a punch bag for your insecurities. Absolutely fucking not. And I feel like we need to get to that space. I feel like there's a whole generation of us, especially the millennials, we're still we still deal with the residue of how our parents saw the world of work, that that whole grateful mentality. Um, but we're also the the informed generation where we recognize that we don't have to take that shit. But a lot of us are preconditioned into staying frozen and stuck in fear. I do not operate, I don't operate in fear, I operate in discernment, grace, and the ancestors. That's how I operate. Try me if you want to. So Arnold will keep, and you know me, when I start my own and I do a formal grievance complaint, I will attach the policy, and then there will be a chronological chronology of all the things I am making a complaint about. I promise you, by the time he finished reading it, he will shit himself, he will wet himself, and still in the shit and the piss, he will still have to deal with it. I'm telling you, I'm one of those people. I don't just send an email to HR. Absolutely no. I will see see the problem. He'll Arnold will be CC'd. You know I do that. Yeah, because I want them to know the allegations. There's no point HR saying, somebody said you need to know it's motherfucking me. You need to see the evidence, you need to see what you did in HD. Yes, I'm one of those people. I like transparency. So it will be HR, it'll be your manager, it'll be you, it'll be me, it'll be my manager, and we'll all go to HR. Yep. And when HR starts, I will make sure I cry. Black women, we need to learn to cry when we're talking to HR because they seem to think that we have this masculine energy that prohibits us from emotion. We can still have alpha female energy and cry. Our white or non-black sisters, especially white sisters. Let me tell you something about the white sisters, they got them crying tears on lock. If you don't want to learn, I like learning when they're ready to cry. You know, EastEnders, I'm telling you, has been a good source of dramatic um acting. If you don't know how to act, go and watch East Enders. And it's not even an act. If you feel sad, just because when we feel sad we don't cry, doesn't mean we're not sad. But we have to learn to be sad and be sad outwardly so they can see. And when you start crying, you just be because that's how you feel inside, like you're catching your breath. Because do you think when I came off that call to Arnold in the weed, do you not feel think I felt sad and upset? But sad and upset requires me to still move. When I stand still, when we're all talking about it, I will learn to cry. It's the truth because feeling sad shouldn't just be an emotion. I feel I need to show you how I feel inside by outwardly crying. We need to learn to cry. Black women, we need to learn to cry. EastEnders, Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Brookside, they taught us early how to use weaponize our emotions, and our white sisters, non-black sisters, they are doing it well, well, well. It's us that we feel like we're champions. All of us want to feel, as black women, that we are above emotion. And whilst we operate emotionless when we need to, when we're confronted with HR, we also need to cry. You know, you can be aggressive and cry, aggressive in defending yourself through professional means and learn to cry to show emotion that backs up and supports your professional stance. Yes, I said it. Yeah, I did. I don't care. Me, I'm crazy, you know. That's why I don't like these people starting with me. Leave me the fuck alone. Leave me in every situation that I have shared here on the podcast, they came to look for my trouble. I've never looked for anyone's trouble because I know that once I start, once I start, the person you'll have to leave to just take a break from me. Stop fucking with us. Stop it. I don't know whether they see black women as a challenge, it's a challenge you're gonna lose, motherfucker. So before we move on to our dilemma, and actually it's an update to an existing dilemma, by the way, and the original dilemma I'm gonna put in the show notes the link. Um, but she's provided an update and is asking for additional help and support, so we're gonna give that to her. But before we move on to that, I want to briefly talk about a series that I'm planning to do on TikTok in 2026. Now, I'm not sitting here calling myself a business mogul, maybe a business mogul in the making, but I read a lot, I research a lot, I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I do the do. I have launched now two businesses, and I understand the mechanics of how businesses work here in the UK, but I've become all too familiar with hearing oh my god, somebody has um trademarked my logo, or oh my god, somebody has done this, and the recent one with Adiola, and she had Kumi skin, and then she found that somebody had trademarked skin, I think it's QB, had trademarked it, and basically then she had to write an opposition, all of this, all of this, and she basically said, Listen, had I known I would have done XYZ, I didn't know this. And one thing I love about Adiola, she's very clear about her vulnerability, and I I really commend her for being vulnerable in her honesty, because it it also seeks to teach. But I think a lot of people do a lot of bravado, and I and I don't mean Adiola, I don't think she does at all, but I outside of that, I do think there's a lot of people that do bravado. People like to say they have business, but they don't have a business. You have a skeleton of a business, but you don't actually have a business in the UK sense of a business. Um, there's like four, there's a couple of businesses I'm following at the moment, right? So four of them randomly I chose, and I thought, let me just look them up. And when I say look them up, I was like, let me see if they're trademarked. None of them are trademarked. None of them are trademarked, neither the name or their logo is trademarked. So let me tell you, a bad mind person will now go and trademark your thing. And you won't know now until you get what the US would call a cease and desist, or you then try to trademark is too late. I will never come out with an idea that I haven't trademarked. Are you fucking for real? Absolutely fucking not. But then I think people think that trademarking is a higher clip um mountain to climb than it actually is, by the way. Um, I think people don't understand what trademarking is in terms of the name andor a logo. Um, and sometimes you don't need a logo to be able to trademark a name. I think people don't know these things. Um, I recently, and I think I shared this, I recently sacked, fired, got rid of my accountant because I'm paying£750 for filing and they're not doing It properly and I couldn't justify the money I'm paying them. I'm not getting the tax advice. I'm not understanding how to be tax efficient from them. I'm not getting what I'm paying for. So I decided I'm gonna do my own taxes. Now I ran into a massive issue recently, which has, by the grace of God, been resolved, is being resolved. And I'm gonna come on and I just want to be honest about what the issue was, how I've resolved it, and how it became an issue. Because whether you have an accountant or not, I think one thing that Rachel Reeves has shown us when she had her issue with paying um and I think it's like the landlord tax to have tenants or whatever with Southern counts, I can't remember now. But you try you trust a subject matter expert to do their job. But the responsibility lies with you, and it's the same as a director. You could have an accountant to do the accounts, but ultimately you, as the company director, are responsible for ensuring that your accounts are filed, you've signed off on them, all of that. If they're wrong, the accounts are wrong, it still falls on you. So whilst you may subcontract out the accounts to an accountant, you still have a responsibility as a director of the company because your accountant is not a director of the company. In fact, you are just subcontracting part of um your legal obligations, you're subcontracting the action of it, but you still need to own it. So I think what I want to talk about is how to start a business and it's really basic terms, the things that you should be looking out for. How to actually file basic accounts, because I feel like when you have a small business, you don't actually need an accountant, you need a good bookkeeping system. That's what you really need. But then you also need to know why what you need to file and when, how you file, and if your bookkeeping system is good enough, it will give you like a tax timeline. Um, and I want to talk about all of that. And I'm talking about it as a lay person, not as a lay person who's a business owner. I'm not talking as a business mogul, and I'm gonna tell people this I'm trying to get to that status, but in order to get there, there's a journey that I'm going on. Hey, come, come learn from me, come learn from my mistakes. This is what I learned today. Um, because a lot of you will talk about AI, but you don't know how to use it properly, and I feel like if you use AI as an assistant, the foundation of the knowledge needs to be with you so you know that whatever AI is spitting out is actually accurate. So, what I'm gonna give you all is the foundational knowledge of being a business owner and what that actually entails from conception right through to the journey of taxing companies, house, HMRC, trademark, all of that. And and um, I've got a friend who's in business and she said, Toyota, I would love something like that, you know. And even if it's like a TikTok exercise just to make sure you've done these things, I'm willing to share it. But like one thing with me, you can't say, is that I gatekeep knowledge, absolutely not. I will come and give you the knowledge here because I feel like knowledge is power, and I feel powerful when I know, and I feel even more powerful when I'm sharing what I know, and people are not falling into the same kind of pitfalls that I fell into or that I nearly did or that I avoided. So I'm thinking of doing that series on TikTok from January. So I wanna I want you to tell me what you think. Does it work? You know, is it something that you want? Leave a comment and let me know, or maybe there's something you want me to cover, let me know. Um, so I'll run the series for like maybe six weeks initially or ten weeks initially, see how it goes down. Um, obviously, it relates to UK. I don't know how things operate in America, but what I will say is knowledge is power. So maybe you take the knowledge from the UK side and verify how you do it in America, in Australia, I don't know. The conceptual points will still be the same. Maybe just the legislation that sits behind it is different. And I talk about America a lot because our American cousins, and in a past life, I was an American, I know it. Um, but that's what I'm planning to do. Um, so it's like a 10-week guide about starting a business, what it looks like, what what are the things that you should be focused on outside of the parameters of the business you do? It affects everybody in business. So things like paying your taxes, things like companies house, things like confirmation statements, that's no one cares how much money you made unless you're actually legally doing certain things that you're supposed to do. It's agnostic to how much your your company makes. So, yeah, that's something I'm working on. So let me know what your thoughts are. Um, because I've just learned so much, and also it keeps me um it enables me to like police myself as well. Do you know what I mean? Like the other day, I wrote key dates of all the things I need to do for my business and I can't even find it. But then the challenge is I need to now go back and find the key dates again because I and then I need to put it in my phone, but where else can I put it to give me those alerts? So in my bookkeeping system and bookkeeping software, I don't know outside of like the tax filing dates, is there other dates that I can put in? I'm gonna actually ask them, I'm gonna call them up, I'm gonna ask them. Actually, I think my bookkeeping software company needs to sponsor me. I'm putting it out there and I'm manifesting it. They need to sponsor me because I looked at other software like QuickBook and all them things, don't work for me at all for what I need. I need something neurodivergent friendly, I'm dyslexic, I need something that's easy, quick, understandable. Um anyway, that's coming. I just wanted to announce it here. Talk about business, Sister Scribble, my stationery company. Um, sold out literally within five hours of launching, unprecedented. I did a restock. I don't restock anything on anything I've ever done. Um, and sister scribbles always limited edition pieces, and I was like, yep, not restocking, and overwhelming demand for a restock. So I end up restocking and I sold out again today, and I just feel so grateful to each and every one of you that fully understand the brand and walking in that creativity, and um, I'm dispatching the restock orders Wednesday and Thursday this week and then kind of like taking a break until the new year. Um and it I say a break, but in reality, I'm creating the next um drop, which is February, March 2026, and it's a lot of work. It is a lot of work because I'm designing, I'm creating, I'm doing the samples, I'm thinking, I'm forward planning for the product pipeline. I'm already thinking the product pipeline for next year, like all the things I need to do. I'm organising my thoughts, I'm doing my business plan as well. Like I've done it already, but I just need to organize it in a way that I could like if I was presenting to somebody, I could do it. Do you know what I mean? So I've got it all down on paper, I just need to organise it, and my business plan from pipeline, direction, things that I want to achieve, things I think will continuously elevate the brand. There's a lot that goes into building a brand, especially if you're being intentional about being a successful brand. Um, there is a like a couple of surprises next year as well that I'm manifesting. Keep you guys updated on the podcast. But there's a lot coming um on Sister Scribble, and of course, for Toyota Talks as well. And I'm one person, I said to Kay, I don't need an assistant, I need two of me. I need two of me, honestly. I really do because I'd have one of me, career, and one of my brands, and then the other me, the other my my one of my other brands, and all the admin, all the accounts, finance stuff. All do you know what I mean? And yeah, and then also as well, like working with micro influencers. I like micro influencers, I prefer them just because I feel like there's a bit more humility with a micro influencer in terms of them really taking. I'm not saying people who are influencers don't take pride, I'm not saying that, but with micro influencers, they just feel a bit more of a they're just something different. Um, but would I work with a micro influencer? Yeah, I would, but I'm really um clear about which micro influencers I'd work with. Um, but it's about whether they want to work with me, maybe they might not want to. But also, as well, I understand as well they might not want to until the brand is shoved in their faces through social media. They're like, oh, okay. So it's almost like you've got to legitimize your business as well. There's that element to things, anyway. Let's move on. So I received a dilemma in the mailbox, and it's a continuation of a um dilemma um that was in a podcast episode called The Skills Economy. So I'm gonna put that link in the show notes. Now, the initial dilemma we got is this young lady worked for investment banking company, she'd been there for about three years, and when she joined the team, she was promised progression, a pay rise, typical nine to five with occasional late days. Um, she was required to be in the office five days a week, but she found balance in the gym and things like that. Um fast forward today, um, she's had a marginal pay increase, nothing to the extent in which she was initially promised. Um, she will not be promoted this year. She's basically doing the job of two people, working late hours. Um, and basically, you know, she was diagnosed with inattentive ADHD. Um, and she talks about not seeing her friends, not having energy, making mistakes at work, trying to hire someone. Basically, her workplace is working against her. So I will put the link, like I said, to the initial dilemma. But she's she's written again, and I am going to reply to her to let her know I'm recording. And she said, Um, dilemma, why I'm considering leaving my job. And I think that was initial title to the initial dilemma, but she's um emailed again. So here goes. Thank you. I really appreciate your advice. I wanted to share a brief update and add some further context. I previously disclosed around five months into my role that I have ADHD to a senior member of my team. She isn't in HR, but she's responsible for managing um associates and she gives a list of things, but obviously her anonymity needs to be protected, and indirectly overseeing coverage and workload. Following my year-end review a few days ago, I was informed that my workload will remain unchanged and that I will continue working with the sales representative whose behaviour towards me has been bullying and demeaning. I'm based in London and she is based in Amsterdam. Her behaviour has been difficult to manage, to the point where colleagues from the Amsterdam office have privately contacted me to check if I'm okay. In truth, I probably cry or I'm close to tears at least once a week nowadays. The next step would be to formally inform HR about my ADHD, and I would really appreciate any guidance that you have when you have the time. I'm also unsure whether it's worth raising the other person's behaviour. Yes, it is. Um, while workload is the primary issue, I feel that everything I outlined in my previous email, along with what I've shared here, is compounding and becoming overwhelming. As I write this on Sunday evening, I feel very heavy and genuinely wish the weekend would last a little longer. On a more positive note, I applied for a new role and progressed to the first round of interviews. However, I've also been experiencing an unexpected sense of guilt, almost like survivor's guilt, wondering why I'm struggling when others seem to be coping. I have a podcast episode that I'm doing a treatment for about survivor's guilt, because it's a common theme in a lot of emails I get, and I just want to unpack something. So, first of all, let me get to what you want guidance for. So, one one thing I will say to you is I understand why you disclosed to this woman, but I I knew nothing was going to change when you disclosed to her because it's not been formalised. You see, when you formalise something, what kicks in is an organization's um uh uh responsibility and um their obligation to I can't even think, but it's their duty of care, that's what it is, the duty of care to you. Now, one can say, well, when you inform a manager of something, doesn't the duty of care kick in there then? And I would say yes, it does. But when we're looking to enforce things, especially as women and even more so as black women, we need an audit trail. Because these people will know their responsibility, that will they'll avoid it as much as possible, especially when their responsibility doesn't enable them to control you the way they would want to. So if I was you, what I would do is, sis, you're gonna have to be radical for Christ. Like I say radical for Christ, but you might not be religious. But what I mean by that is you're gonna have to be radical for yourself. You're going to have to be radical for yourself. If there is anything that I hope that you've gotten from this podcast, is how to be radical for yourself. Because nobody is gonna save you but you. No one's gonna have your back other than you. And more importantly, as a black woman, we understand how the world of work operates against black women in an oppressive nature because of the intersectionality of race and gender. I would write an email to HR and I would copy said woman in the email. And I will say, let's call this woman Jackie. Um, dear HR, I'd recently informed Jackie on so-and-so date that I have been diagnosed as having neurodivergence and being neurodivergent, and this is a protected act under the Disability Act. Um I can't remember. I've spoken about this from a legislative perspective in a podcast episode. I'll see if I can find it, but you need to reference the legislation. I do have to point out that I recognise um the organization's duty of care towards me. Now I have disclosed. But I do want to inform you that this is not a new disclosure, it's a new formal disclosure in writing. But I had told Jackie about this previously. I hope that you will understand how difficult it has been as a woman and as a black woman to disclose such vulnerabilities, especially in um a workplace, especially working in a um uh uh a busy environment um and an environment that has caused me to work many, many late nights. However, as a direct result of the impact of my role, my continuously increasing workload, which is exacerbating my neurodivergence, I need to make this disclosure because I'm going to need additional support and protections as I do my job. Please, can you share with me the policy that underpins and protects people who make disclosures such as this? And I would like to understand collectively the support that will be given to me that will enable me to do my job and deliver it successfully. I am slightly disappointed with the lack of support I've received thus far, but I'm making a formal disclosure in the hope that this is now a positive step in ensuring that I'm able to be not only successful in my role, but I'm able to do my role in a healthy environment. You need to say it like that. The reason you need to say it like that is because you need to light her ass up a little bit without lighting her ass up. And when you send this to HR, I would copy in this woman. I would, you've got to be radical for yourself. You make the decision, but if you want to or not, but I feel like the only way you're going to curb this woman's behavior is by confronting it in a formal way where she cannot pretend to not know. Because the question's going to be is when she says, Oh, she didn't know this, this, that, and that, the question you would then ask is, okay, when I made this disclosure, what did you do with that information? You see how you do it. There has to be a strategy and there's stages to this, right? Um, so that's the guidance I would give you. I would say that would be a starting point. And I think once you've done that, email me and let me know the response, and then I can guide you through this process. Because ultimately, what you actually really want is reduced workload, additional support, and a trajectory to understand where you're going. But actually, because you are being basically because you are working your finger to the bone, you're making mistakes. And it's not just attributed to being neurodivergent, you're making these mistakes because you're tired, you're overworked, you're stressed. I know that feeling, that sinking feeling Sunday at 6 p.m. And it is horrific. It is horrible, it is soul destroying. So you're looking for liberation. So until you get a new job, which I'm sure you will, you need to find liberation in your current situation. This email will act as a breathing space to give you the opportunity to breathe. Now, if they aren't come back to you and ask you what you want, you need to be clear. You need to work nine to five, you can work late sometimes, but not all of the time. And your health must be a priority as you get the support for uh for your neurodivergence. Do you understand? Listen, you see one thing about this country, they will sing, sing, sing, sing, sing about fairness, but there are policies that protect you, and there is definitely legislation, so it's about how you use it to strategically get what you want. And I'm praying for you for this new role, but this survivor's guilt, I think I need to deal with it in a separate episode, but let me just say something you feel survivor's guilt, but sis, you're not surviving in the way you say, you are being crushed from a self-esteem perspective, and you are being labored, and you are physically and mentally crumbling. So this surviving is adrenaline. So when you say you have survivor's guilt, those words are a paradox because somebody who survives and feels guilty for surviving, sis, what is the alternative? You don't owe these people anything. You've made a disclosure to somebody who could literally take away some of this stress, and she's chosen not to. Do you think she has managers' guilt? Because I t I kid you not, she doesn't. You need to get to the point, and I understand because your self esteem is probably on the floor, but you have to remember who you are and your worth. You work for one of the biggest companies in your industry, honey. You work hard. I can only imagine the sacrifice you have gone through to get that job, to be in it. But if you continue to break down and feel stressed and you're making these mistakes, honey that survival will be on a shoestring. You have to reclaim your power through this situation. And part of it is this formal disclosure. You need to do it ASAP. In fact, if you want me to review what you're about to send, I am prepared to do it. As long as you email me and like cap in caps in the subject line, so I know it's you. But you need to make that disclosure ASAP. You cannot walk into 2026 without formalizing in the way I've advised you. You can't. 2026 has to be a new story, my love. And that new story could be with a new job, but if that new story is in this job, it needs to be a new chapter altogether. I'm hoping that helps you. I've kept it brief and succinct to not overload you, to not confuse you. I'm here. Um, I also know how it feels. I made a disclosure to my boss, and I made that disclosure because you know, we'll we'll talk about why I made that disclosure. I think I kind of touched on a previous episode, but I will formalise that disclosure as and when required. Because strategy, honey. I know what the hell I'm doing, how I'm navigating work. But it is disappointing when you make that disclosure, and actually, the person you're making the disclosure to doesn't actually know their responsibility as a line manager or someone senior that can actually impact your workload, and you've got to remind them that just because you don't know doesn't mean there's no law that protects me. So that's the advice I'm gonna give. I hope it works. Please reach out to me if you need me to review this email that you're about to send. But sis, let's make a promise. We are walking into 2026 with a new chapter. And whilst this survival, you know what this survival guilt is? It's imposter syndrome, it's you feeling like that's when your self-esteem and your self-worth is being eroded. That's what that is. And I'm telling you, sis, if there is any guilt you feel, it's not survivor's guilt. The fact that you are surviving is the mercy of the ancestors, but you can't operate from survival because this will scar you in your career, it will have an impact. So, what we're trying to do is mitigate that impact. I hope this helps. Um, and I will send you an email to let you know that I've addressed your question and I've addressed your um follow-up dilemma in this episode. Right, I'm gonna leave it there. There was a couple of things I wanted to talk about, like Todd um what's his name now? Todd Tucker and Candy Burrows. I wanted to talk about that, but I don't have time. Um, and I wanted to talk about Bouncer as well, who I think is brilliant, by the way. I think Bouncer is fantastic, but maybe we'll leave that for the next episode of the Toy Talks podcast next week. But um, I've enjoyed delivering this episode. I hope you have enjoyed receiving it, you've learned something from it. Please share. Share with your friendship groups, share with whoever you feel like could benefit from the podcast, share in your group chats, follow me on social media. My personal social media handle is Toya underscorewashington. Of course, we have the Toy Talks Instagram page, Toya underscore talks. I'm on TikTok, Toya Washington, all one words, and of course, my stationary brand, Sister Scribble, S-I-S-T-A-H, S C R I B B L E dot com. And um on Instagram at Sister Scribble as well. So make sure you follow. Um, make sure you share, make sure you subscribe to the podcast and any podcast platform that you listen to the podcast on. Thank you for listening. I really appreciate you all, and I'll see you next week for a brand new episode of the Toy Talks podcast.

SPEAKER_01: 1:44:02

Just real talk, that's the board group walk. Black woman, how watching shine, freaking various redesign times on top number speed, oh every f we know just the five in the drive in the walk. Oh, we close door, toy and ox, okay, oxygen, okay, ox, black wings, that's what's still going.