The Playbook Podcast
2nd Shift Playbook aims to create a community for professional women who are all focused on addressing inequality and creating a community for them to thrive in their professional environments.
It’s not just women’s empowerment. We are focused on women who are in high stress, high performance roles and working to navigate work-life balance.
The Playbook Podcast
Lauryn Whitney on Embracing Artivism, Navigating Being a Mother to a Black Boy
After years of striving for work-life balance, we've finally cracked the code. In this episode, we celebrate the resilience and determination of women who successfully juggle their professional careers with home responsibilities. Listen in as we hear from influential women like Tia Williams and Michelle Geathers, who share their personal strategies for finding harmony in their lives. Plus, we have a special guest, Lauren Whitney, an actress, writer, and filmmaker, who dives into her viral artivism and the challenges of being a black mother in today's cultural landscape. Get ready to be inspired and empowered as we navigate the complexities of work-life balance and leadership.
In our quest to master work-life balance, we explore the intricate dynamics of leadership and how to navigate various aspects of life while steering a company. Join us as we open up about our own struggles with self-care and the importance of being fully present in life's moments. We discuss the analogy of the "oxygen mask" – prioritizing our well-being to better support others. Whether you're a leader or simply striving for balance, the insights shared in this episode are sure to resonate and provide valuable guidance.
We also delve into the profound influence of AI on the job market and the entertainment industry. As a UX designer and actor, I reflect on the responsibilities that come with crafting technology and the harsh realities of the acting world. We tackle the ethical considerations and potential biases perpetuated by AI, highlighting the need to prioritize humanity over profit-driven automation. Join us as we explore these thought-provoking topics and invite you to share your experiences with us on The Second Shift Playbook's social platforms, as we collectively push towards personal empowerment and societal improvement.
Welcome to Second Shift Playbook, the essential podcast for women navigating the dual demands of professional careers and home responsibilities.
Charlene Green:This show is dedicated to the millions of women who've had to make the tough choice between their careers and caring for their families, and to those who strive daily to balance both In a world where women, especially women of color, in high stress fields like the medical sector and academia, face the daunting challenge of the Second Shift at home.
Allison Mathews:we're here to offer support, guidance and empowerment.
Charlene Green:Our mission is to shine a light on the stories of resilience and determination, to discuss the policies and changes needed to support women fully and to explore how we can all contribute to a more equitable society. Each episode features conversations with trailblazing women like Tia Williams, the bestselling author and beauty editor at Tom Ford.
Allison Mathews:Lily Pantisarpe, an innovative account executive at Disney, pamela Price, a dedicated deputy director of Balm Gilead Incorporated, and Michelle Geathers, the visionary chief diversity officer and head of corporate responsibility at Visa.
Charlene Green:These remarkable women share their journeys, the obstacles they've overcome and their strategies for managing the complex interplay of work and home life Second Shift Playbook isn't just a podcast, it's a movement towards creating a world where women don't have to choose between their careers and their families.
Allison Mathews:As a retired anesthesiologist who has dedicated my career to serving the people of North Carolina through health equity and policy change, I am now committed to advocating for women's empowerment and policies that uplift us all as a PhD in sociology, public health researcher and entrepreneur, I have a deep understanding of stigma and discrimination, emotional intelligence, social psychology and stress management.
Charlene Green:I've dedicated my career to advocating for marginalized communities to access resources and am now committed to advocating for women to become financially independent and fully empowered to navigate life's challenges. Join us as we delve into the realities, the struggles and the victories of working women everywhere. Together, we can redefine what it means to work and live in harmony, supporting one another through the challenges of the Second Shift. Welcome to Second Shift Playbook. Hello everyone, welcome back to the Second Shift Playbook podcast, where we provide professional advice and we talk to professional women about their insights and experiences exceeding in the workplace and achieving work-life balance. We're here today with my podcast co-host, dr Charlene Green.
Allison Mathews:Hi, I'm Dr Charlene Green. I'm so happy to be here today, awesome.
Charlene Green:And we're also here with our guest, lauren Whitney, who is a woman, a black woman, a mother, a black mother to a black boy. She is a prolific actress, she's a writer, she's a filmmaker, a documentarian. She says that she opens her heart to the journey of artivism, art, activism, and has produced some videos that have gone viral, particularly ask yourself that went viral and reached millions of people around the world and was featured on Access Hollywood. She is also a grantee with Wake Forest University. Welcome, lauren.
Allison Mathews:Yes.
Lauryn Whitney:Hello, thank you for having me.
Charlene Green:ladies, we're so happy to have you. So we want to talk first about what's happening kind of in the news and in popular culture. So I don't know, have you seen this new trailer about the book of Clarence?
Lauryn Whitney:Yes, I have. I mean immediately, when I watch the trailer. First off, let's just say there's something really beautiful about seeing a whole bunch of black bodies in robe attire back in Jesus days. That's how it was. It was black bodies, you know what I'm saying, Absolutely. So seeing the brown bodies, that's just beautiful on screen. I'm going to name that number one. Number two immediately watching, I was like, well, what is this about? Right, I'm talking about Jesus and Nazareth. Like what is this story actually about? And I don't really know all the way from the trailer. But I can tell you, in watching the trailer, there's mixed feelings already inside of me, right, as a woman who is walking a faith, as someone who loves Jesus I'm always careful to say as a Christian, because I feel like Christianity has been watered down and it's become something that I don't feel like Jesus intended.
Charlene Green:Well, it's been distorted for oppression.
Lauryn Whitney:Yes, exactly, it's been. Well if, from the beginning of time right, yeah, right, since our black bodies were brought here, it has been distorted for oppression, and that is not what Jesus ever intended for the gospel to be and for those who follow him to be. So, in that sense, that is one of the reasons why I love the trailer. I was like, okay, yeah, let's get back to the basics of what is true, right, and we take the robe off, jesus, so I can see that it's a brown face, can we?
Charlene Green:do that.
Lauryn Whitney:Can I see that he's a black body? Okay, I love it. I think the other thing is it is a social meta commentary of what we're seeing in this world today, of all these individuals who really are trying to put on this facade of being a god of some sort, trying to have some kind of notoriety, wanting to walk in some type of power or possess a power and to be seen. I am assuming the story that is going to be told in Clarence is this desire to have some type of alignment or proximity to Jesus and actually appear to be right. So to put on that clothing, right, to look like a lamb, look like a sheep, but really be a wolf, right. And we are seeing that right now. Yeah, you're seeing that right now, like I don't, so I'll probably be in the theater watching it.
Allison Mathews:Would you also say, is we're in this sphere now in society, where masculinity is taking a turn, for you have to be possibly violent or have to be just not a nice person to be a wonderful man, or well, I would say that toxic male masculinity, which is also a root of white supremacy and white and white patriarchy, right, that has done that.
Lauryn Whitney:Yes, so I don't know if it's just a sign of the times, right? I think the one thing that does disturb me when you bring up that point is when we see black men on screen with a level of violence or desire to be in power that can be corrupt. My question is does that feed a further stereotype?
Allison Mathews:Yes, yes, you hit the nail with the white supremacy and the male toxicity. So you said it much better than I could have said it, so thank you.
Charlene Green:So I feel like also I'm just low key excited to see the movie because I love Laquette Stanfield. I just think he's brilliant and anything that he's in I'm going to see. But this I felt like the trailer was a perfect topic to bring up because of the work that you're doing. You have been doing a lot of work on highlighting the stories of black men, especially dealing with toxic masculinity, exploring their faith, pursuing higher education and also navigating their experiences with incarceration and HIV. So you're the perfect person to ask about that trailer and so wanted to just kind of dive into your experience building out your career and as a professional woman, as a mother, a mother to a black boy. What challenges have you faced as a professional woman?
Lauryn Whitney:Girl. What do we start with that? You know, I think what's interesting is there's a lot of challenges, I think, that I faced. I think the biggest challenge has been my own mind, and I say that to say at some point society or life told me certain things were no longer possible, and so I started to believe those things. And the thing that I've had to fight against is not what now society says, but it's the lies I love myself to believe.
Lauryn Whitney:I'm wearing a bracelet and my son got it for me from Mother's Day. It says boy, mom, but I wear it. And I have all these other bracelets with affirmations that I wear every day and I love them because they remind me of purpose, they remind me what I'm doing, because I just look down and say, yeah, there you go, lauren, be the change, be grateful. It might not work out, so I just kind of read these but boy, mom, I keep by itself. I say that because he's my why. So what catapulted me or shifted my career has been my son and the challenges. As I come up against things or I'm confronted with my own loud voice, which is that kind of that voice inside right that tells us what we can't do what we're not capable of. The time has passed, it's too late. Then I look at him and I'm like, no, the time is now and, yes, I can. So he is my reminder If I'm going to get more technical things that I find have been really difficult.
Lauryn Whitney:As a woman entrepreneur, the biggest thing is access to capital. As a creative, you can't do anything without capital. Some people that we see very successful in this industry. They are able to do certain things, maybe because they were trust fund babies, or maybe because their parents had certain access or relationships that were able to catapult their careers forward. I find for myself, I have to think out the box right.
Lauryn Whitney:So when I started off into Voices Global, I knew that I wanted to be committed to amplifying voices to bring change. I knew that I had some wonderful, god given ideas that were to come into manifestation. I was like, well, how do I do that? Okay, I had a home pocket right. I had one small investor in the beginning who is also a woman of color. She's a Filipino woman and she said you know what? I'm going to give you some money. But she had access to capital and so she was able to sew $10,000 into my work in 2020, just so I could begin to like even buy a camera, you know, or buy some lighting, or pay for an editor to edit together a sizzle for me. So that really began things.
Lauryn Whitney:And then, thinking out of the box, applied for a grant through Wake Forest Faith Coordinating Center, and I didn't know how my work was going to intersect. But what really happened was, is God opened up and said no, your work is so much more expansive than what you're thinking and the way that you can use a creative to bring change, to highlight stories and to tell stories in an impactful way that a lot of people aren't doing right. So that's the biggest thing is, I think, capital, and even now, with the grant, it's great. But I'm like, look y'all, if I'm going to run my own company, martin has to be paid, right, because I have a son and I have a husband and, on that note, my husband's an artist.
Lauryn Whitney:Writers are on strike, actors are on strike, so that means there's no jobs happening right there, right, and so for me, like, where, as I'm working to create a more equitable space for those around me to share their stories, I've got to also create that space that edifies the work that I'm doing in a tangible way, right In a financial way. That's poignant. Bring on the money. Yes, bring on the money.
Allison Mathews:Bring on the money Abundance, yes, and one of the things I can say, just as a physician, is that COVID-19 has laid bare some of the most significant disparities, no matter if it's in healthcare, if it's in jobs, economic world. It's just really interesting to see what that looks like now. And I just want to make one comment about black men that black men only make up less than 1.9% of physicians, and that is really not good, and minorities in general is less than 6%. But we need to really focus on some of the concerns of black men and black boys. And I just want to make one comment real quickly.
Allison Mathews:I have been reading about just the Civil War and basically in the Civil War, 10% of the Union soldiers were enslaved black people, black men and 20% of them died, and so the black men need to be promoted and need to be thanked for saving our country. And then, during reconstruction, some of the most significant equitable bills were passed on reconstruction, when black men because black women couldn't vote at the time passed these wonderful legislation, one of which was public education that not only benefited black people but all people, including poor whites. So I want to make that comment that we need to celebrate black men and let them know their history. So that would be a great documentary one day.
Lauryn Whitney:Well, you know, what I'm going to say to that, charlene, is that we have so the documentary I'm working on, which is Redemption Scholars. We are working on building out our mentorship program and our mentorship program is really forward facing towards black and brown men and the end, and we focus on teaching history by unlearning history, so actually unlearning what we have been taught and then teaching our young boys the truth of who they are right and instilling that and understanding where they, where they've been woven in and where they really stand in history and the points that you just brought up. It's like no, from the beginning of time you have been valuable. Yes, right, you have been valuable. You have the necessity to make this country thrive.
Charlene Green:Yes, Don't get it mistaken.
Lauryn Whitney:They might put targets on your back, yes, but they also know that you are valuable, which is why the prison industrial system is a business. It has become a business because they know that your hands and your feet, that your hands and your feet can do magnificent things, right, but not just in labor, right, like. You are talented, yes, you are strong, and our bodies are strong. We know that, right, we know that slavery tried to tell us that that's what we could be limited to. But you are more than that. Your mind is brilliant. Yes, you might have been a drug dealer on the street, but let me tell you something If you were one of the baddest drug dealers, that means you are one of the baddest entrepreneurs, yes, okay, you have a business mind.
Charlene Green:No, we got street entrepreneurs.
Lauryn Whitney:Look some of them that can run a business better than Bill Gates.
Allison Mathews:Yes, yes.
Lauryn Whitney:Given an opportunity.
Allison Mathews:So the next question is how do you balance your career and personal life? You talked about your husband and your son, and then I know that you travel some. How do you balance that to be the amazing person that you are and to do the equitable work you're trying to do? I don't.
Lauryn Whitney:That's why we're here.
Lauryn Whitney:That's why we're here, yes, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't know that there really is a balance. You know, sometimes I got to pour a lot more into work, sometimes I got to pull back from work and pour a lot more into my son. Sometimes I got to pull back from both of those and say I got to pour into my husband, you know, and I do find that, like, if I fill up in one area, then that area kind of helps me when I need to go fill up into another area. I think the biggest balance of that is remembering to fill up myself Right.
Lauryn Whitney:So the balance I think all the time we say work life balance, but what about, you know, self care, work life balance. You know, that's very important and that's something I'm trying to learn to do and also learning to give myself grace, like I can only show up how I can show up that day. So today, when you know, today I got to go be mommy early, right, I got to pick my son up from school early because he wasn't feeling well. So I said I'm not going to make him wait in carpool, I'm going to pick him up early, absolutely, you know. So that's me showing up and saying well, those emails will get done, when they get done and whatever.
Allison Mathews:But it took me a minute when I was younger it had took me to medical school to understand this when, when you're on a plane and you're like you know you have a baby or you have a small child or you have an elderly person, it says to put your oxygen on first, and then this, the second person or the vulnerable person, that guess what. If you don't do that, you all die, and so that's very important that we remember that you got to, you got to get to put your own oxygen on first. That's good yeah.
Charlene Green:I think it's. I love your answer because I feel like so many. Well, you know, there's a lot of women who is say you know, I stay really organized and that's how I do work life balance, and I think that's a good answer. Right, but there's also a truth in saying I don't have a work life balance. I just I just figure it out and then I like there's, you know, there the balance is really, you know, pushing some things through the forefront and then pushing it back when you, when you have to focus on something else, and in some ways that is a type of balance that you could also have. But so, like, what do you do? You said there's a self care balance that you're also trying to navigate. What do you do? What are some of the things that you do to take care of yourself?
Lauryn Whitney:Well, I'll say, recently, right, I was traveling for a week and a half or about a week and it was really exhausting and the desire to show up again on another trip, at another conference, having to tell myself, maybe no, right, so and not, and. And honestly, you guys, I'm like a kid, I get FOMO. I'm like, oh, what am I going to miss? Like I'm going to meet somebody and they're going to have a million dollars for authentic voices. Well, I got to show up. No, you don't, you need to sit down, like because I'm tired, right and COVID spiking.
Lauryn Whitney:So if you're not well rested, your body can't stay healthy. So you know. So that's one way, and the other way is I like to get my nails done and every once in a while, treat myself to a massage. The biggest hurdle there is not rushing the time Right. So when I'm in the chair, not being like, okay, I got to hurry up because I got, I got so much stuff on my plate, I got to go get done Right. Or I got to hurry up and get back because you know, my son has a soccer game or whatever, but like actually just being in the moment. So the problem isn't so much that I don't want to do things for myself. It's actually enjoying it while I'm doing it.
Allison Mathews:Awesome.
Charlene Green:Yeah, and not trying to check off all the other to do this while you're in yourself care time.
Lauryn Whitney:Right, like going through my phone, like, oh, I need to do that. Let me write out this shopping list no.
Charlene Green:Listen to some music. I know I'm guilty of that. So what are some of the things that you've learned about leadership? Leading your own company, may I'm sure you manage. You know interns and things like that. How have you become? Or what have you learned on how to become a better leader?
Lauryn Whitney:that I don't know a lot. That is the easiest answer that I don't know a lot. I learned from the redemption scholars that the most important thing is to be a constant student of life, so not being afraid to learn from the people around me. I had a young college student who was an intern this summer and I gave her, you know, some tasks to do and then she would say, well, how do you want it done? And I was like I don't actually know how I want it done, and I get that. That would probably make your job a lot easier, but I just would rather you do it how you think might be right and I will accept and receive however you do it. Wow, because I don't really know.
Lauryn Whitney:And honestly, I'm tired of trying to think about everything right now. I'm like business owner, I'm director, I'm producer, I'm producers assistant, I like everything. Right now, it's actually too many hats to wear. So, really, having to get to a place in order to be a better leader, I have to learn how to delegate more, handoff, more. If it gets done in a way that I wouldn't do it, who cares like me to let it go because it got done Right?
Lauryn Whitney:And I think the other thing is is keeping people around me who are smarter than me. My advice, my advising advisory board is all women, and they're grown women and they're women of color, and so being able to ask them for advice and guidance, and from and from people that I really trust, right. I do have to say that sometimes, I think, when we, as black women, specifically gather, there is this notion that we have to come to compete, that there's only one seat, and that's not true. There are many seats, and so I intentionally surround myself with women who are older than me that can instill certain values that they've learned along the way and give me certain knowledge, but also that can give me knowledge and skill set, so that I can then take women of color, specifically black women, and not bring them on as just like interns, but as young mentees that I can pour into them, that I can ask them what are your dreams, what are your goals? How can I help make those happen? How can I manifest the like? How can I be a tool? How can I be a tool and access for you?
Lauryn Whitney:That's you know, my dream is that one day You'll walk into this beautiful office building that says authentic voices, global on top and it's an office building and then there's a back lot that's a whole studio and when you walk on you will see individuals, men, women, non binary people of all different walks and experiences and of color, who are there to support this mission of a BG but also are building out their own visions and dreams at the same time that it's a place that really, oh, like a manifesting dream world.
Lauryn Whitney:You know where people come in and then their, their, their visions are brought into reality. And I wanted to be a space and I say a name people of color right that are running, that are, you know, running the place, that are directors in my company, because I want to see us work together in a way that builds us up and that creates space for each generation underneath to excel and eliminate those grounds of of competition. You know there's other communities that do it very, very well and I don't want me that's a whole nother conversation and podcasts for another day, but I think that we, that is possible, right. There's a reason why Tulsa Black Wall Street worked.
Lauryn Whitney:There's a reason why I think that we supported each other.
Allison Mathews:So you just answered something. My next question was was going to be about you know what in the workplace, what would be the equitable, amazing place for you at authentic voices, global, and you mentioned that you're going to. You're manifesting your dream, dream world, and I wanted to ask what is it that in your space now? They're probably wonderful, skilled, beautiful women like you that are doing the same thing. How can this be different in the future? You mentioned one about investing in businesses like yours and having more capital, and how can you change your game, change your policy, because everything is all about policies and and procedures. What would make things better in the future for increasing capital, increasing your visibility, to get this work done, because that's really, really important.
Lauryn Whitney:I don't know if I know the way to answer this or the correct answer, but it's my answer, so I think it is correct, absolutely Right. So my answer to that question is it goes back to like one belief that I have, and there's a motto that I have at Authentic Voices Global, and it's my voice, my story, my power. I truly believe that we all have a story to tell and I truly believe that every single one of us, our voice, should be heard and that our voices are powerful because they belong to us. Simply that right. And then, when used in the right way, that power can create change, that power can be impactful in some really beautiful ways. So if there was a policy, it would be that, in the world of creating, when it comes to like creative works, whether that be documentaries, whether that be our platform of ABG, epic Giants or our television shows that one day we will be producing, it's that everybody feels like they have a seat at the table, that voices are really heard.
Lauryn Whitney:I think the one thing that really bothers me is this kind of I don't know what you would call it, but this hierarchy and ladder kind of complex that like when you're down here, your voice doesn't matter. But, truth be told, oftentimes we're making work and we're making content for individuals who might not be the CEO of your company, right? I mean, think about it, netflix, right, they're making a lot of their shows. Who's sitting at home and watching it? It might be like families, young families, it might be. You know, the CEOs is what I'm saying aren't necessarily ones that are digesting the content on a daily basis. So it matters to have the people, the users, right at the table, and also that your voice, that young intern's voice, is just as valuable as the CEO, as the founder right, our voices are equal. I think that's really important, and I think that kind of goes back to what I was saying earlier is that I don't know everything. Yes, right, so if we're not willing to hear each other and make space for one another, awesome.
Allison Mathews:Well, my next question is what is some of your favorite books? What is the book that you're reading now that you love? I'm going to mention one book that I have read many times and it's called I don't know if you can see it Dying for a Paycheck. It came out before COVID. It's a guy named Professor Jeffrey Pfeiffer. He's at Stanford. He has done long decades of research. It's a great book and it basically talks about how modern management has harmed employee health and company performance and what can we do about it.
Allison Mathews:I had the opportunity to do email exchanges with him and this is profound and it's going to lead me into maybe you talking about what's going on in California right now with the writer strike and one of the questions that I'm going to say, and then you can have as much time as you want to finish talking about it. I wrote down a few things, and one of which is AI may dominate the industry, change in the models for which content is produced and distributed, and it's making it increasingly difficult for writers to earn a sustainable income. And AI advances in improvement. With AI advancement improvement, how does one place limits on the use in movies and TV scripts? And I wanted to know your thoughts and maybe you're amazing, but I think that's a really profound error that we're in now. We have to figure this out Absolutely.
Lauryn Whitney:You know I think so if you want me to answer about book I don't necessarily have a favorite book I'll tell you a book that I recently read, that I enjoyed and that's what happened to you, and that's about trauma, and I've found myself very much invested in learning and understanding more how trauma manifests in our bodies and also how it has traveled with us from generation to generation, so that I can show up differently for my son and so I can show up differently for myself. Getting into the AI conversation, I think this is a huge conversation. There's so much to unpack and I think, to start off the conversation, where I have to really begin is as a UX designer. So I had the opportunity to get a certificate in UX, which is user experience. User experience design is really designing any product right, from a website to an app, right for the understanding of how a user would use it, right, making it user friendly and making it intuitive for the people that are using it, and with design best practices right. One thing that we learned when I was getting my certificate was about the ethics of what we make, and so, when we talk about AI, one thing that AI does not operate in and was not created with is ethics. You can only have ethics if you're a person, right. So when we look at AI, and as AI gets smarter and as it grows more, it's very, very, very dangerous.
Lauryn Whitney:I've used it for things like hey, I'm trying to do a little research. Hey, chat GB, you know, can you help me if I? But here's the problem it's just regurgitating the most searched things around that topic back to me. So it's it's regurgitating with a bias. So what's dangerous about that is we are actually creating a more bias world by using AI and there's no, there's no intellectual nature to it, right? There's no emotion. There's certain things that I can do research around them. I can say hey, you know, dr Matthews, I want to talk to you about this around. You know, hiv stigma. Well, you're going to share certain information with me, but you're going to share it also with a sensitivity and the way that I might digest it and understand it, where, when we're talking about AI, it's not going to do that.
Lauryn Whitney:So let's relate that now to the entertainment industry. When we're creating stories, it's going to create stories, right, because if it writes a whole script from a bias lens, with a lack of emotional intelligence for individuals and groups of people. That's dangerous. It's really really dangerous. Also, you know, I started off as an actor. My career has not been as such yet where I've necessarily had the huge wins in Hollywood. Those are coming right.
Lauryn Whitney:But I'm gonna tell you something that I have witnessed with those around me when you're really big right, when you become the artist that people see on the big screen, and when you're on TV or you're a series regular on a show, you're really, really valued and they're like, oh my gosh, great and everybody wants to pump you up and everybody wants to be around you. But let me mention, that's only 1% of actors, less than 1%. So you've got a whole other 99% of actors who are in this industry who make just enough, maybe to get their health insurance, maybe just enough. Or they're not making just enough, but they're auditioning daily. Where it's a job, right, it is still. They're still working, but they're not being paid for their work daily. So if we're using AI to fill people, you're taking away jobs and you're saying we don't actually value you all as actors. We value you when your face is really big on the screen, and so much so that we'll just use it over and over again, without ever paying you a dime.
Allison Mathews:So my take on it as well and I'm gonna take it to another industry is you talked about the ethics. You talk about just the more bias world I think about. I won't say the company, but you go into a major store now and they're no tellers. It's all check out by the computer. So AI doesn't care if you have jobs for the future. It doesn't care if a whole 80,000 square foot store has no workers. But we should care, because we, as Americans, should understand that we have value in working and having jobs and we have to sustain and support our families. We're not just here to sustain and support stakeholders and the 1% or the 0.5% people that don't care about humanity. So we've got to work on not supporting businesses that have profit over humanity and that goes back to your business. This is really important. So we all should be watching what's going on in California and around the United States. It's a you and your colleagues.
Lauryn Whitney:Well, and this is the thing, like what you said about that store, I know exactly what store you're talking about. The problem is too is that store for many communities is a store that has employed many people in their community, right, right. And so when you're taking away jobs, right, but yet you have one of those stores on every six blocks or that's the main store that you go to, and nowadays it's not just to go get your toilet paper and paper towels, but you go there for groceries, right. So if you're taking away our jobs, but yet we're having to still put our money into your business, so you're profiting off of us even more, and all it is doing is is the people at the top get richer. And that's like that's when I was talking about. Like every voice matters, like no, why do we just keep making? Look, covid hit and you saw the working class suffer, you saw the middle class suffer and you saw the rich get richer. That does not make any sense.
Allison Mathews:Does not make any sense.
Charlene Green:And less and less women went back into the workforce after COVID.
Allison Mathews:Yes, yeah, and one of the reasons why you know the data is showing that one of the reasons why particularly minority women did not want to go back into the workforce if they had the choice of doing virtually is because of the microaggressions and workplace toxicity that was already there. And if they could work and do their job, and do a better job, virtually, they would rather not deal with the people that are making their lives miserable by just the biasness and the racism. And that includes everybody federal workers, that includes state workers, corporate workers. We all now think we can do a better job at home if that job doesn't require in-person job because of the microaggressions and racism.
Charlene Green:I think also, like you, saw a surge in new businesses, people starting their own businesses and wanting to work for themselves, because it's just like working in the workforce is not what's up.
Allison Mathews:And the way that we call it in medicine well, I guess it's all over the world is the little, tiny micro slits. The tiny micro slits on a daily basis. They just get. It's just daily, and you know, we know how to handle it, but it's very toxic.
Charlene Green:Yeah. So what do we do? How do we deal with toxic workplace?
Allison Mathews:I think we start to self-care. I think we continue to do the amazing things that we're doing, but figure out like for you know, what our podcast is going to be talking about now and in the future is how do we build leadership up with women so that they can make sure they put their oxygen on first and be able to take care of those that love them and be brilliant at what they do and support each other in a village, as well as self-tips such as you know their apps. Now, the Com app helps a lot of people. I've used it once or twice, but a lot of people use the Com apps and meditation apps. You mentioned your faith. You know meditation and going to church helps a lot of people. I know it helps me. Sounds like it may help you. You mentioned massages. You know I am one that has definitely some experience with being and getting massages. That's very helpful. And did you know the massages? The evidence-based data is that it helps you with your not only your stress, but your hypertension and disease states.
Lauryn Whitney:So yeah, oh, I believe that.
Allison Mathews:Yes, and for I'll give you one example my son was born at a low birth rate, less than six pounds. So the doctors and an ENATologist suggested that he get massages. So every day for the first couple of months of his life we gave him massages. They taught you had massage classes, you get taught how to do that and it increases the weight of these low birth rate babies, and so that was that's evidence-based, and so I say that to say can continue to get your massages, make them, put that on your schedule and know that it can help you with your disease states.
Charlene Green:And shout out to our sponsor, massage Envy, who you know who is going to be supporting all those massages that we're about to get.
Allison Mathews:So there you go, there you go, look Envy, yes, burlington, fayetteville, myrtle Beach and Rock Hill.
Lauryn Whitney:All right, all right, I love that.
Lauryn Whitney:You know, I was going to add to that too is I feel like there's this quote by Zorniel Herson and it's something like I'm paraphrasing.
Lauryn Whitney:But it's essentially like, if we stay in the midst of like kind of torture or trauma or pain, right, the people who are doing that to us will say we enjoyed it. I'm not quoting it correctly, but I'm mentioning that quote to say we also have to be able to say no, enough is enough, and walk away, even if that means it's costing us something, because I think the toxicity what we also learned during the pandemic is the toxicity also is costing people their lives Absolutely. You know what I mean, as we've been on here. I'm like, oh my gosh, my shoulder, this whole area gets tight as a rock, right, so much so that it affects the way that I swallow, because my muscles are tight, so I'm having to get massages just so I can try to retrain this muscle. But also that means that there is some toxicity in my body or trauma that has built up, which is toxicity or whatever. I got to get it out.
Allison Mathews:I will give you an amazing tip for that.
Charlene Green:Please, I need it too, because my shoulder hurts.
Allison Mathews:So always keep a tennis ball and a lacrosse ball. Lacrosse ball is much harder A tennis ball with you. So when you had worked like right now in wherever you are you take that tennis ball and you put that area and you go with a flat wall and you can do the rubbing with the ball. It works wonders. Or you get on a mat and you put the ball exactly where you wanted to go and spend a few five minutes doing that. If you really want to open it up after you use a tennis ball, get a lacrosse ball and do that. That is self-care and that is something that you can do Now. You won't be able to get your neck as much, but you definitely will be able to get your traps and your back and you lose.
Lauryn Whitney:It's funny, I have the lacrosse ball and it just hurts, dr Green, it hurts, so sometimes I'm like I don't want to do it, but you told me, so now.
Allison Mathews:I got to do it To a tennis ball and sometimes they have softer balls as well. So go to one of the stores, play it against Sam or Dick's Sporting Goods store. We got to get a talk to Dick's Sporting Goods because we're talking about them and get one of the soft balls. You can get a baseball, like the young girls now use. You know well, in softball they use softballs and use that OK.
Charlene Green:I've seen them like you can go to Target, too, and like get a stress ball or like those yoga balls, and they and they do the same thing. Yeah, awesome, I love it. Thank you for these stress-believing tips that you have given us, Dr Green. So thank you, Lauren, so much for joining our podcast and just giving us so many insights about social justice, about about creating a work-life balance and self-care balance, about. You know all of the things and we're just so incredibly grateful to you and we wish you the best of luck in developing and producing your documentary. Redemption Scholars.
Lauryn Whitney:Thank you.
Charlene Green:So thank you so much for being on the show.
Allison Mathews:Absolutely. I agree, and I was going to say to you that if ever you think of anything policy-wise where you want to do a petition for the wonderful women and men in this area that want to support you know, understanding that the biases of AI and how we needed to make sure that we get equitable in what you're doing, let us help you.
Lauryn Whitney:Thank you so much. It has been a pleasure to be on the show with you guys. Dr Green, you are lovely, I look forward to seeing you more. And Dr Matthews, you are amazing as well. So thank you so much for creating this platform for us to come together as women and convene and share ways in which we can better each other and also impact this world around us. Thank, you.
Charlene Green:Where can people find you on social media and online?
Lauryn Whitney:So you can find me on social media at my handles at Authentic Voices Global. That's across all platforms at Authentic Voices Global. My website is authenticvoicesglobalcom and if you need to get in touch with me, you can get in touch there, or my email is larnwitney, L-A-U-R-Y-N. Whitney, W-H-I-T-N-E-Y at authenticvoicesglobalcom, and I encourage you to go on my website because if anything I said has touched you and you feel inspired and you want to be a part of the change or the movement, please go on my website. There are opportunities for you to donate a tax-deductible donation towards our work. And just remember that every story is powerful and every story that is told has the ability to change the world around us One more time.
Allison Mathews:if you can repeat your website slowly so everybody can hear it.
Lauryn Whitney:And if you're interested in getting in touch with us.
Charlene Green:Please go on my website authenticvoicesglobalcom. Thank you, all right, and so, for people who want to stay in touch with us, you can follow us on the second shift playbook on Facebook, instagram and YouTube, and you can also find us on LinkedIn. Let us know, share your own tips for work-life balance, how to navigate social justice in our careers, how to navigate micro cuts and micro aggressions, and all the things we want to hear from you. Until next time, thank you, thank you.