IAM525- Storyteller Brings Laughter To The DMV and Her Audience

Stephanie Toussaint, also known as Gangsta Spice, is a Haitian-American, Jersey girl, IT specialist, podcaster, and third-year evening law school student focusing on Data Privacy and Communications Law.

In July 2017, Stephanie, created, hosted, produced, and released Storytime with Steph, using her personal experiences to bring laughter and joy to the DMV and all her listeners. She always keeps it real while leaving you in tears, she takes storytelling and comedy to the next level. She has performed at St. Arnold’s and the Hyatt Regency and has a few more shows lined up… after finals.

• CEO Hack: YouTube
• CEO Nugget: Letting fear motivate you, do it scared
• CEO Defined: Being creative, fearless, and doing things despite the different opinions

Instagram: @GangstaSpice and @StorytimewithSteph

YouTube: https://youtu.be/lcB1jN3sON8
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/storytimewithsteph/

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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 0:29

Hello, this is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Stephanie Toussaint of Storytime with Steph. Stephanie, it's awesome to have you on the show.

Stephanie Toussaint 0:38

Thanks for having me. Good to be here.

Gresham Harkless 0:41

Yeah, super excited to have you on, and what I wanted to do is just read a little bit more about Steph so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. Stephanie also known as Gangsta Spice, is a Haitian-American, Jersey girl, IT specialist, podcaster, and third-year evening law school student focusing on Data Privacy and Communications Law.

In July 2017, Stephanie, created, hosted, produced, and released Storytime with Steph, using her personal experiences to bring laughter and joy to the DMV and all her listeners. She always keeps it real while leaving you in tears, she takes storytelling and comedy to the next level. She has performed at St. Arnold’s and the Hyatt Regency and has a few more shows lined up after finals. Stephanie, are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO community?

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Stephanie Toussaint 1:25

Yes, I am.

Gresham Harkless 1:26

Awesome. Let's do it. So I wanted to kick everything off and hear a little bit more about your CEO story. What led you to start your podcast, your business, and all the awesome stuff you're working on?

Stephanie Toussaint 1:35

Okay, so it all started, probably three years after graduating from undergrad, I graduated from American University, and I got a job right away doing IT at a law firm. So I thought I was sad, law school was in the back of my mind. I was just like I was burned out after undergrad because undergrad was. I was working, saving and just dealing with all different types of people. I was finding myself in like very different situations like very fucked up situations for real for real. Then I would just go on Snapchat and just vent about it to my friends and I'd have them dying. Because it's like, okay, like this doesn't really happen in real life.

But it happened to me, like do you guys kill? Then a lot of people were just Yo, I want to be able to send this to my friends. But my snap was like, private. So I'm just like, let me expand this audience. Let me put out a few episodes, and see if it's well received because I've been cracking myself up for all my life, but only a few people know that I'm funny. So let me just see and let me throw it out there. If it's well received, I'll just keep it going. In 2017 I dropped my first episode for season 2018 second season and then my third season 2019 was well received and I was just Like, y'all fuck it would be so how we keep bugging back?

Gresham Harkless 3:06

Nice. Well, I definitely love that just because you have people that obviously sound like he tested everything, just to make sure that everybody else found the same humor. Well, I've been on the opposite end, where I always think that I'm funny. I've been around myself forever. I say stuff and sometimes it doesn't get there received, well received as much so I decided not to start my comedy tour or anything like that.

Stephanie Toussaint 3:25

I mean, it might just be the delivery. Are you talking to the wrong people?

Gresham Harkless 3:29

That's true. I love the positivity. I know you talked a little bit about so I want to hear a little bit more about your podcasts. Tell me a little bit more about things you're talking about everything we could find on the show.

Stephanie Toussaint 3:41

Every season I always talk about my dating life. Like how tragic that is. My friendships because like girls, like we always say niggas ain't shit. But bitches ain't shit either. Okay and like making friends here in the DMV area is so interesting. So I always talk about dating and friendships. I throw in topics about like, maybe school, like I had a racist situation happen in my school. So I talked about that. Let's see, what else do I talk about? It's just like anything that's like, very relevant to me at that point.

For the next episode or the next season's coming through, I'm going to talk about my venture to stand-up because I started stand-up just two months ago. So I'm going to talk about that we're going to talk about like, this dating, I'm actually talking to people and just like talking about my first dates and failed dates.

Gresham Harkless 4:39

Yeah, that makes so much sense. It's kind of it's cool that we have at our disposal, we have this platform where we can always tell our stories and talk about everything that we're doing our experiences, as you talked about, and a lot of times I guess years before you would just only be able to tell your story to your friends and talk with them about it. But now we have mediums we have podcasts, we have blogs, and all this opportunity to talk about what's going on and talk about our journey and document that as well.

Stephanie Toussaint 5:06

Yeah, and then I also have like, gangsta spice quotes. So Gangsta Spice is my Instagram handle, but like I just internalized that it's from the Spice Girls. Like, I don't know if you remember that. If I were a Spice Girl, like, I would be getting subspace, like, I would complete the whole group. The gangster spice quotes are really just like motivational quotes. Most of my episodes are me talking shit about it. But like it like ends off with something motivational, something productive, something that will get you going and get you excited for the next episode.

Gresham Harkless 5:41

Nice. I definitely appreciate that. So it was like a motivational quote about the episode that kind of draws you into the next one too.

Stephanie Toussaint 5:48

Exactly yeah.

Gresham Harkless 5:49

Okay. Awesome and are you planning on doing anything with the Gangsta Spice? Are you trying to brand that out? Or is there just something you kind of tested?

Stephanie Toussaint 5:57

Stay tuned. You guys have to stay tuned.

Gresham Harkless 5:58

Okay? Yeah. Next episode. I love that. Yeah, definitely here, like the concept there because there's always an opportunity, we all go through difficult times. I think that's the beauty of comedy and of course, I've talked about mediums here, but you get the opportunity to put your own spin on it and find laughter because I feel like everybody can kind of get around people that can laugh. If you can laugh about things. Even if they're fresh any time sometimes it makes it a little bit better.

Stephanie Toussaint 6:24

Definitely.

Gresham Harkless 6:25

Awesome. I wanted to ask you now for what I call your secret sauce, and this could be for you or your podcast, but what do you feel kind of sets you apart and makes you unique?

Stephanie Toussaint 6:34

I think just my experiences set me the most apart because I'm in law school. I've done IT for six years now. I'm a Jersey girl in DC, there are plenty of Jersey girls here. I think it's just a difference. Every time out there someone like, Oh, you're not from DC. Where are you from? I'm just like, what do you mean, he's like, You got to hit like, the DC swagger is different and you don't get that I was just like, um, and then just like tying it all together. Just being authentic, being fearless about just like my stories. I'm not afraid to tell you what it is, what it looks like, and what it should have been.

Gresham Harkless 7:13

That makes sense. Where do you think that comes from? A lot of that fearlessness.

Stephanie Toussaint 7:17

My parents. The Haitian so I'm a Haitian American, my parents were born and raised in Haiti, came through in the US, what, not that much. Then they allow, they worked so hard to make sure that me my sister, and my brother, finish college and did the damn thing. We're all just doing something different in our own industries. It just talks, like, the fact that they work so hard, allows for me and my siblings to work very hard. We just have a really strong work ethic and it's just like, you're not like, no one's going to try to play me and downplay whatever I'm doing. Because I know that, everything I'm doing, I'm putting 120 200% into it, because like, that's what my parents taught me to do.

Gresham Harkless 8:07

Yeah, it's so funny that you mentioned that. A lot of times, especially, when you get, I always think about work ethic and things like that. Where do you get that from? A lot of times we do get it from the people around us, usually our parents and our family. So a lot of times, if you see, especially parents or family members that sacrifice for you to get opportunities, you want to have that same work ethic and that mentality. A lot of things, obviously are under are not under our control, but one of the things you can't control is your work ethic and the time you put in. So if you put that 200% in, you don't guarantee yourself success, but you you increase the likelihood of it happening.

Stephanie Toussaint 8:43

Definitely. I also think they did so much with so much less and we were born here, raised here like we have the experiences, we can network and talk to all these other people and make things happen that they couldn't even do like with the new age of technology like we really have no excuse.

Gresham Harkless 9:04

Yeah, everything's at our fingertips. So yeah exactly. A lot of times we do have these opportunities, but that it goes back to what I say a lot, too, is a lot of times people say yet self-made or so whatever. I have respect, and I understand that concept. But I feel like we're always standing on the shoulders of other people, whether it be our ancestors, or whatever. Exactly. So a lot of times we will lose sight of that and yes you do work your butt off, you do make things happen. But at the same time, it's not like you are the first person here on this earth. So a lot of times you can look back on other people.

Stephanie Toussaint 9:40

Yeah.

Gresham Harkless 9:41

Yeah, that makes so much sense. I wanted to switch gears a little bit and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app or book or a habit that you have, but I wanted to ask you Steph or Gangsta Spice, whatever or whoever wants to answer first what makes you more effective and efficient.

Stephanie Toussaint 9:57

YouTube? It's so simple. But YouTube is the reason, YouTube taught me how to produce a podcast. So that's where it all started off. You can really learn anything on YouTube, everything on YouTube.

Gresham Harkless 10:14

Awesome. Now I wanted to ask you for what I call your CEO nugget. So that is a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. Or if you could happen to be a time machine, what would you tell your younger business self?

Stephanie Toussaint 10:27

I'm always about like, being fearless. That is like, a facade for real. I just think that I'm always scared whenever I like a drop episode whenever I get on stage. I feel like if you just let that fear motivate you, and just do it scared. If your palms are sweaty, make sure you have some pants, some just wear black so that you can just wipe that off. But yeah, just do it scared.

Gresham Harkless 10:57

Yeah, no, I love that and it's filled with fear and do it anyway. I'm glad you talked about that about the facade. Let me ask you this, do you feel like I feel like you want to have those positive vibes that are positive, I'm going to do this and not ignore the fear, but face the fear. But I think that there's always a balance because you want to not be so concerned about the fear that you can't go up on stage like you've been able to do. But you also don't want to lie and say that fear doesn't exist because you understand that other people are listening, but you also have to deal with it. How do you balance those things?

Stephanie Toussaint 11:28

I just feel I spend a lot of time being scared in the beginning, but then let that motivate me to write, and then let that motivate me to prepare and practice, I over-rehearse. I have no everything like the back of my hand, just in case I blank out and then I'm just like, oh, wait, no, but you remember, just it's natural. It's like muscle memory. I think that you just let that fear motivate you. You can't really help the sweatiness so just wear extra deodorant, take a shower, and wear the black pants.

Gresham Harkless 12:11

That makes so much sense. I'm glad you broke that down. Because I think a lot of times we don't we don't hear that we don't see that. Like a lot of times you see us we'll see you on stage and we don't see all the behind-the-scenes, the work and the time that you put in, the different scenarios you went through like, Okay, if I do slip up here, then I'm going to say this, but we don't see all that stuff. All we see is you up on stage. I think that's for you. For anybody that we see as successful. We don't see those behind-the-scenes things.

Stephanie Toussaint 12:37

Yeah, the behind-the-scenes is rough.

Gresham Harkless 12:42

Exactly, yeah. But it's all part of the process. I appreciate you for sharing that with us. 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 this show. So Stephanie, what does being a CEO mean to you?

Stephanie Toussaint 12:58

Being a CEO means being fearlessly creative, executing without anybody's opinion, and not letting others' opinions affect what you're doing. You still gotta execute, you still have to be creative, and just do your thing fearlessly.

Gresham Harkless 13:16

Absolutely, yeah. Because I think so many times, we people, again we all have our fears. Sometimes when you let your fears manage you, manage your output, your execution, whether you do something or not do it.

Stephanie Toussaint 13:33

It delays the process some time. Do it and even if it's not perfect, perfection is not even a real thing, either. So, just do it.

Gresham Harkless 13:47

Absolutely and it's funny, because a lot of times you see somebody what they've done, whether it be a book or stand up or comedy, or whatever it is, and you see them on the stage, but you don't really realize that maybe they didn't do exactly what they wanted to do.

Stephanie Toussaint 14:02

They had a whole set and like fading even there.

Gresham Harkless 14:06

Exactly what you'd never know. But it goes back to that perfection idea. We have to make sure that things are perfect, but in reality, you just go up there and you just continue to take action. Imperfect Action replaces everything and that helps you to get success, not perfection itself.

Stephanie Toussaint 14:20

Yeah, exactly.

Gresham Harkless 14:22

Awesome. Well, I truly appreciate that and appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do was pass you the mic so to speak, just so that everybody can find out how they can get ahold of you and hear if there's anything additional you want to let our readers and listeners know.

Stephanie Toussaint 14:35

Okay, so stay tuned for the newest episode and newest season of Storytime with Steph happening on New Year's Day, January 1, 2020. My first episode of season four. You can find that on SoundCloud, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and anywhere where you stream podcasts. I will be doing my third Stand Up Show in the DMV area. Stay tuned for that, because it's not officially out. I do have a few more shows lined up. So just stay tuned for all of that. Follow me on Instagram @gangstaspice spelled how I just said it Gangsta Spice, and you can also follow me @Storytimewithsteph, which is the official Instagram for Storytime.

Gresham Harkless 15:19

Awesome. I definitely appreciate that and you're gonna make announcements on your Instagram, about the different events. Okay, so we will make sure to have those links in the show notes as well so that everybody can follow up with you. Definitely appreciate you Steph for taking some time out. Appreciate all the things you're doing.

Stephanie Toussaint 15:39

This was such a great time.

Gresham Harkless 15:41

Yeah, definitely. You got me going. I gotta make sure I gotta run through a brick wall. Live fearlessly, as you say.

Stephanie Toussaint 15:47

Okay, you got to. It sounds like you've already been doing that.

Gresham Harkless 15:50

Hey, you gotta practice it every day. It's like washing they say. Probation is like washing yourself and you do it every day, but I appreciate you and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

Outro 16:02

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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