IAM227- Podcast Hosts Creates Community to Steer Conversations and Educate People

Once upon a time, there was a young Jamaican American girl from Manhattan who traveled all the way to University Park, Pennsylvania to meet the love of her life (a native Hollis, Queens resident). Where does the story go from here? Currently, the book is still being written. For the thirteen plus years shared together, they have each accomplished quite a bit for a couple in their thirties.

A licensed attorney by trade, Natasha held various stints in the corporate world prior to making a foray into fashion and writing. Having been a victim of bullying as a child growing up, Natasha learned to seek out fashion as a source of strength early on and actively uses it as a personal means of empowerment; because of her own experiences with bullying and her strong desire to help others within the plus size community, Natasha started Dressing Room 8 to provide a web-based resource where women can gain personal and professional empowerment through her fashion and lifestyle focused blog, consultation, and coaching services. Dressing Room 8 helps women how to think with clarity, dress with confidence, and live with purpose.

Kahlil Nurse is an Electrical Engineer who wears many different hats (just like his wife). He is the Tech Guru for too many people to mention (which his friends and family can totally attest to). He has been the technical support for Dressing Room 8 and Sistas On Fire. As a fan of cars, technology, and finance, he embraces opportunities to learn, grow, and enjoy his hobbies to the fullest.

In September 2017, they decided to share their marriage and thoughts to media with their exciting new podcast WokeNFree where they talk about relationships, education, religion, politics, music, history, fashion, diversity in the media, entertainment, empowerment matters, life hacks, technology, cultural disparities in the world, and everything in between. You can listen to a new WokeNFree episode every Wednesday for #WokeNFreeWednesday.

• CEO Hack: Journalling, saying thank you every morning and affirming to myself
• CEO Nugget: (1) It's okay to be different (2) Have the hunger and determination
• CEO Defined: Someone who is in charge of an organization, sees the future and is willing to bear risks

Website: https://wokenfree.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wokenfree/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wokenfree/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Rkn2iFPbWGiPH58PHvwnA/featured
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WokeNFree

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Transcription:

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Intro 0:02

Do you want to learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales and grow your business from successful entrepreneurs, startups, and CEOs without listening to a long, long, long interview? If so, you've come to the right place. Gresham Harkless values your time and is ready to share with you precisely the information you're in search of. This is the I AM CEO Podcast.

Gresham Harkless 0:27

Hello, hello, hello. This is Gresham from the I AM CEO Podcast and I have a very special guest on the show today. Natasha Nurse, the co-Host and co-Producer of the WokeNFree Podcast. Natasha, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Natasha Nurse 0:38

Thank you so much. What a great honor.

Gresham Harkless 0:39

Honor is all ours and I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. And what I wanted to do was just read a little bit more about you so everybody can hear about all the awesome things that you're doing. Once upon a time, there was a young Jamaican American girl from Manhattan who traveled all the way to University Park, Pennsylvania to meet the love of her life (a native Hollis, Queens resident) Kahlil Nurse.

A licensed attorney by trade, Natasha held various stints in the corporate world prior to making a foray into fashion and writing. Having been a victim of bullying as a child growing up, Natasha learned to seek out fashion as a source of strength early on and actively uses it as a personal means of empowerment; because of her own experience with bullying and her strong desire to help others within the plus size community, Natasha started Dressing Room 8 to provide a web-based resource where women can gain personal and professional empowerment.

Kahlil Nurse, her husband is an Electrical Engineer who wears many different hats just like his wife, he is the tech guru for too many people to mention, which his friends and family can totally attest to as well. And in September 2017, they decided to share their marriage and thoughts with the media with their exciting new podcast WokeNFree where they talk about relationships, education, religion, politics, music, history, fashion, diversity in the media, entertainment, empowerment matters, life hacks, technology, culture, disparities in the world and everything in between. Natasha, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Natasha Nurse 2:02

Absolutely.

Gresham Harkless 2:03

Awesome. Let's do it. So the first question I had was to hear a little bit more about what I call your CEO story. And what led you guys to start your podcasting business?

Natasha Nurse 2:11

Yeah, so for us, it really all comes down to just kind of being open to something different and unique and embodying just the inherentness of who we are. So as you mentioned, in my bio, thank you for sharing that, again, I started entrepreneurship as an alternative to my law career that I set out on doing and everything kind of went all crazy in a way with the economy.

And also just never maybe finding the right footing for myself. And I kind of got to a point of like enough is enough, and turn the gears and turn the car on a whole different road of entrepreneurship. And really, from that, that bread my kind of running towards media. And we found that podcasting was going to be a really cool avenue for us to be able to share our thoughts and to create a community in a way that I wasn't already creating in my other endeavors because dresses made are primarily just for women and women empowerment. But you know, I have thoughts and beliefs and help that I can offer on all fronts, not just for women and women empowerment matters.

So WokeNFree is a beautiful kind of Mosh-Tosh of talking about us, as entrepreneurs as a couple us as young black people in America, and also talking about things that are happening. And it's kind of like if you were to, like record the conversation of a millennial couple, you know, in the United States, you know, what are they talking about behind closed doors, and instead of keeping it quiet, we want to bring it to the forefront, because we want people to know that like love is real, it exists. I know that the media would have you think differently, but it exists. We're going on a hook, gosh, what 16 years strong now.

And it'll be six years of marriage and April. So you know, there's that and then also just like, let's be educated me and Kahlil we are both very frustrated with some of the conversations we're seeing and hearing where people are just spouting off at the top of their heads. And they're not even educating people, right? How can you talk about something without providing proper context? So we wanted to fill that gap that's definitely missing in media. And I hope that people are enjoying it and very entertained and educated each and every time that they tune in.

Gresham Harkless 4:23

No, that's awesome. That's awesome. And I wanted I know, you touched on a little bit. Can you tell us a little bit more about what we can hear on the podcast? And also what do you feel kind of distinguishes you and makes that podcast unique?

Natasha Nurse 4:33

Yeah, absolutely. That's a great question. So for us, we really wanted to have a podcast that wasn't just like in one arena of just like lifestyle or education, but we want to hit on definitely pop culture topics and we've hit on pop culture, we've hit on history, like the history of our favorite foods, which was like a really funny episode, but like people were like, Oh, I love that right? Because if you think about it, why do you love mac and cheese? Like why do you love Glock? Like, do you even know where Glock comes from? Right like things like that we have hit on religion we are definitely talking about race and racism and cut. As I said, we'll be hitting colorism. We talk about marriage, relationships, friendship, and sexuality, we did a recent episode on sex fetishes, which was really entertaining and interesting to learn.

And what else do we hit? I mean, it's everything from technology to like how we live, how can we live better some of our beliefs that we have to like reverse engineer, things like that. And, just like, also, we want to welcome the audience to submit topics as well. So people can go on the website on wokenfree.com. And they can submit things that are burning on their chest or things that they're struggling with. And that way we can incorporate that into the show as well.

Gresham Harkless 5:48

Yeah, that's awesome. And again, you know, just speaking to this day and age, when you're able to kind of create anything and create any opportunity. And like, you know, they way back in the day talk about things like the printing press, and how that opened up opportunities. Now, this is kind of like the golden age, so to speak, where you are able to create podcasts, create videos, or even able to, as you mentioned, go to the website and interact with the actual person that created the podcast, you want to listen to and decide of certain topics that you want to know about. So I think this isn't really a phenomenal time.

Natasha Nurse 6:15

Thank you. Yeah. And then also from a unique perspective, I would say, I don't think there's a podcast out there that's from a female and male perspective on such a diverse range of topics, right? Because I think I've seen like, couple podcasts before, but they're talking about like love specifically, or, you know, maybe there have a certain niche thing that they love. But there are so many other things to talk about as well. Right? Politics is huge. Let's talk about history. Let's talk about what it's like to be black in America, what is it like to deal with being a professional and wanting to do something different, because we both are professionals.

I'm a lawyer, he's an engineer. But we're doing things in media, we're doing things you know. So giving people also that kind of the freedom to understand that like, you don't just have to be one person in this life. And you can also consume more than just one type of content and be into more than one type of music, right? Just be yourself as diverse and authentic and beautiful as that is just you.

Gresham Harkless 7:14

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Well, what I wanted to do is switch gears a little bit and ask you for what I call a CEO hack. And this might be an Apple book or a habit that you have, but it's something that makes you more effective and efficient.

Natasha Nurse 7:24

Oh, yes. Okay. I love that. So the Virgo in me is very excited that you asked me this question because I'm all about organization and efficiency and structure. That's like my gospel. So for me, I would say waking up and just like following one of my greatest idols, Oprah, she wakes up and says, Thank you for The first thing out of her mouth, so I try. Listen if overdoing it I think we all need to be doing. Going, it's over. That's nuts. I similarly wake up and I say thank you. And I actually I'm a big proponent of journaling. For me.

I think journaling is a really great way to implement my time I think too many people live their lives saying oh, you know, I don't have time for me that's bullshit. Like no offense, like cut the crap laid you have you have five minutes and you can in those five minutes, and then another thing I would do is just mantras right like so if I'm ever feeling low or anything like that just writing stuff down on my like, I have like a to-do list that I do every day and like you're a bad, right like or you know, you're phenomenal.

You're beautiful like just affirming to myself because I think again, too many people are looking for affirmation outside right? Did they like it that I get enough clicks that I do you like you? Do you? Do you enjoy what you're doing right? You have to affirm yourself. There's no you know, white horse Savior coming for you. You've got to save yourself, you've got to make yourself feel amazing. You cannot expect anyone else to do that. That is an inside job each and every day.

Gresham Harkless 8:54

Now I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO nugget. And this is a word of wisdom or piece of advice. Or if you can happen to a time machine. What would you tell your younger business self?

Natasha Nurse 9:02

Oh, wow, really great. So I would twofold. I guess I would tell my younger self, that it's okay to be different. I think so many times that some of the issues I have with content, whether it's TV shows or movies is that we're constantly watching and consuming content about how people need to fit in how like if you're different. That's something that you're going to be ostracized about and you should feel bad about. It's not about fitting in and being the same because no one is the same. Every single person is different. Even twins. Yes, you might share the same genetics, but not everything is the same. So I think I would have told myself because I growing up I didn't necessarily have a lot of friends or feel like I was super supported in my life.

This is why like I was just super grateful and so excited to meet Kahlil. But you know, I would have told her Hey, like You're fabulous. And what makes you different is what makes you cool and it doesn't matter. If no one gets that it doesn't matter why people want to judge or assess you for that you don't you're not required to explain your life to others. When you're not required to justify why you are who you are, live your life and it doesn't matter what other people think about you, it's not your business.

So I would tell her that I probably would go at 10 Maybe and tell her that. And then a nugget, I would say is probably one of the best things that I have that makes me successful and keeps me going every day is just like that hunger, that determination. I think, as a coach and consultant for just a roommate, or even some of the work I'm doing with woken free, I'm constantly having to affirm to people the idea that like, I don't know, or I couldn't figure it out is complete nonsense. Life is too short for you to sit in ignorance.

And for you to sit in the I don't know, stage, if you don't know something, and you need it. To start a business write a book to move forward with a project, you have got to be hungry enough for your dreams and your goals, right? Similarly, someone could say to you if you don't believe in yourself, no one else can. I really want to echo the idea that like, it's not okay to just say I don't know, right? Because that's not how you build empires. That's not how you become famous, right? Like people.

Oh, I just don't know how to, you know, imagine if Beyonce was when she was younger, like, Oh, I just don't know how to hit that note. Just skip it. Like, come on, man. Get it together, get it together, right? The Jamaican in me is like come on, you know, like rough and tough. Yes, it's rough on tough. But you must keep moving on. You must keep pushing, keep pushing, right?

And so I just encourage everyone to every time they want to say to themselves or out loud, or others, I don't know, slap yourself like not hard, because we don't want self-harm. But we've got to get it together. And like now, if I don't know something, a million other people have the exact same question. So where did they go? Do they go and post their question on Reddit? Did they Google it? Did they help it? What the hell did they do to find the answer and keep it moving? That I don't know doesn't do anything for you, other than keep you exactly where you are.

Gresham Harkless 11:56

Now, I want to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. And we're hoping to have different quote unquote, CEOs on the show. So Natasha, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Natasha Nurse 12:05

Ooh, a CEO is a person who is definitely you know, in charge of an organization, a corporation, a business, a CEO is someone who's willing to bear a lot of risk. Because as the front person, as a public leader of an organization, when the organization succeeds, you know, maybe people are like a job. But when it fails, or when there are hiccups, they definitely are looking your way like, Hey, what's up, Susie? Hey, John, what's good, right? So you have to be willing to selflessly kind of be the front person, whether it's something you're working on is succeeding or not succeeding.

Also, I would say a CEO is someone who is hopefully going to be capable and competent, of running the organization, but then also seeing into the future, right, like we're not fears or at least most people aren't. But you still have to figure out like, whatever you're in the business of right now, what are you going to be doing in the next 18 months, 36 months, right? Like you have to be in the business now in the business of the future. So I would say that the CEO is also a person who's going to be a visionary, someone who's going to take an organization, take a corporation and take it as far and as big as they can. And also a CEO is also going to think about it, I think the person needs to be a compassionate person and think about how the business can also do social good.

And because I'm seeing a lot of that now, with even new business organizations like be it I think benefit corporation where people are in the business of running whatever they're doing, but then also like having kind of a nonprofit arm or kind of a social good mission, where yeah, we're we manufacture X. But we also make sure that like 5% of the profits go to you know, like, so making sure that you're thinking about your ecological and environmental impact, and then also the impact among people, right? Because what's the value of having a corporation that has sleeves, right, like, you have to make sure that people are getting paid appropriately, and that people feel worthy and worthwhile. Because, again, we're here for a minute, we all have a responsibility to make this world a better place in the short time that we're here, whether that's through your organization, whether that's through relationships, community work, or whatever. But we all have that role and have that responsibility, whether we accept it or not. It's a personal decision, but it's there.

So I think a CEO is not going to forget that like, Yeah, I'm running this organization, and this organization has to have its own kind of legs and walk in the thoughts, but I can help guide it in the right direction, essentially.

Gresham Harkless 14:30

Absolutely, absolutely. That makes perfect sense. And I definitely would echo that. So Natasha, I truly appreciate you for taking some time out. What I want to do is pass you the mic so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and our listeners know and then how they can find out about the podcast and get a hold of you and Kahlil.

Natasha Nurse 14:45

Perfect Yeah. So again, thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to share our story and I really would want people to come to wokenfree.com. And tune in you know, subscribe via email, and follow along in the conversation, but more importantly, join the conversation. This is not just a conversation between him and me, but it's with the world, right? And you all can have conversations with each other, we can all learn from each other.

And more importantly, we can really appreciate other people's voices, other people's points of view. So that's what I encourage and if you aren't necessarily a fan of podcasts, but you're open again to try and give us a shot, because I think most people who come on and just listen, because we're like, we're very honest, right? It's literally if you were to walk into our house, you would hear him and I having the same conversation as we do on the podcasts. We try to keep it real. As you mentioned, he's Hollis, Queens, I'm Manhattan. So I'm not. I'm not queen. But I think most people definitely see a lot of really interesting behavior in New York. We're both New York products of this great state. So that's what I would say.

And I would say again, how to access us wokenfree.com best way you can get all of our social media handles Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube @wokenfree again, please if you want to collaborate if you want to share a tip for an upcoming episode if you want to be a guest on the show, wokenfree.com you can hit us up on our contact us page.

Gresham Harkless 16:13

Awesome, awesome, awesome. Will have those links in the show notes. So, Natasha, I appreciate you so much again for you and everything that you're doing and I hope you have a phenomenal rest of the day.

Natasha Nurse 16:21

Thank you you too.

Intro 16:22
Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co

I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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