You Don’t Have to Burn Out to Win: Brandi Hudson’s Blueprint for Soul-Aligned Success

Deneen L. Garrett: 00:02 00:53
Hello, everybody, and we're back. And guess what? I am so excited because today's guest is like a homegirl. Like we're almost the same person. We graduated from the same high school. Her family lived on the block. My mom owned a house. And probably if we continue just chit-chatting, we will learn some more similarities about ourselves. But I am excited to have Brandy Hudson with me today. And we are getting into giving up the hustle, which is something that Black women are letting go of right now. So I'm very interested to hear from Brandy how we are to do that. She is a performance coach, a speaker, and a former executive who's built a life and business rooted in strategy, systems, and soul. Brandy, welcome to the show.

Brandi Hudson: 00:53 00:59 Oh my gosh, thank you so much. It's amazing to be here and I'm looking forward to the conversation.

Deneen L. Garrett: 00:59 01:02 Yes, yes, yes. So how are you arriving today?

Brandi Hudson: 01:03 01:28 You know, I am arriving to this part of the conversation, like really so elevated because just in the little prequel that we had, like realizing we went to the same high school and honestly, 96 girls were in my high school graduation class. So it's not a big school. And there weren't a lot of black women who went to the school. So I'm arriving like really happy and elevated and excited for this conversation.

Deneen L. Garrett: 01:29 02:12 Yeah. All right, well, let's get into it because, like I said, you know, we're talking about not grinding. Right. We're talking about giving those things up. So, you know, as far as a theme from high stakes corporate to heart centered entrepreneurship is going to kind of ground our conversation. So you led multi-million dollar teams across major corporations like Pfizer, Medtronic, Boston Scientific, producing top tier results every time. So kudos to you, all right? Black girl doing her thing. What was a turning point that made you say, this isn't sustainable and there has to be a better way?

Brandi Hudson: 02:13 03:07 I love that question because I think for me, um, I was really raised, you know, to believe that having like success in all these areas of my life would ultimately make me pretty happy. And then fast forward, I realized that I had. kind of checked all the boxes that were on my list so far. But I wasn't depressed by any means, but it didn't give me like the level of joy that I thought and honestly, like along the way, there was a lot of friction. And so I really just kind of stepped back and said, like, all of this is amazing. I'm really grateful for those experiences. And I think they taught me a lot, but I also realized that I could take that ability to succeed in all areas of my life and really redirect that energy to being kind of the happiest, most fulfilled version of myself.

Deneen L. Garrett: 03:08 03:52 Yeah, I love that. And you know what it did is it just laid the foundation to where you are today, right? You have to go through that experience. And again, it was a great experience. It's what you wanted. You got it. Now what's next, right? And so you're stepping into that what's next. And so that's awesome. And it's a great time that a lot of us are doing it right now. Like we've, you know, woken up, you know, some things happen to where it's like, look, this is crazy. Let me focus on me. Let me focus on my community. And what is that next for me? So when success starts to feel expensive, especially for us black women, what toll does it take? Like, and how did you reclaim your power in that moment?

Brandi Hudson: 03:53 05:25 Yeah, I think success starts to feel expensive from the perspective of like we are sacrificing our peace, and there is nothing more priceless than our peace and so we are like we're feeling a lot of friction. as we're looking to align with success. And so I, for me, I realized like there was an inflection point where having additional success was no longer really worth, you know, sacrificing my own health and well-being. And then I really wanted to like shift that, right? And what I found, which is what I now share with everyone, is that there's this beautiful ability to like align with all of our high vibration emotions and peace, love, joy. And in doing that, you then are more easily able to have kind of all that success that you were checking off anyway. So it's like, it's a two for one, but it never, ever, ever works in the other, other direction. So you can have lots of money and a marriage and, and, you know, have your health and still not feel happy. But if you're happy, you're most likely going to align with all those other things. And that's the work that we do to help people realize that it only works in one direction and you don't have to sacrifice your own joy for achievements.

Deneen L. Garrett: 05:26 06:36 Yeah, and I had a conversation recently and I've had a couple of these conversations that. Something that I realized myself is that you have to sit down and evaluate the cost, right? Because there is a cost to success, to that life that you're living, right? And it was a person who was looking to go to a different company. They wanted a different job. I think the primary motivator was more money. So we had to talk about that. Like, that's great, but sit down and check the cost, right? Because this individual has had health problems. And the current job has been very flexible. And I said, you need to consider all of that, because you may go somewhere else and maybe more money. But guess what? They're not going to be flexible. So then what? There's that particular cost, right? And just the flexibility, because that's huge. Like he can work remotely. You may not be able to work remotely in a new place. So you need to really get clear about what it is you want. You know, and I tell them what it is you want in that work, what kind of environment, what do you want your day to look like? What do you want to experience? Get clear about that so that you know when it shows up and when it doesn't.

Brandi Hudson: 06:37 07:21 I love that. And I say to people that if you don't have clarity in your brain, then you won't have clarity in your life. So chaos in our brain creates chaos in our life. And the very first place that we create in this lifetime is in our head, right? So we connect kind of like this vision that we have for our future. We connect that with this emotional capacity and this drive and this like unrelenting commitment to it. And then that's when we start to create, that's when we start to manifest. But you're right, most people don't actually have clarity around what they want in this lifetime. If you ask people, they will very easily tell you what they don't want.

Deneen L. Garrett: 07:21 07:22 Exactly, we know that.

Brandi Hudson: 07:22 07:37 We know what we don't want, but very few people have clarity on what they do want, right? And so it's just like taking time to sketch out exactly what I want this to look like, right? And then being unyielding.

Deneen L. Garrett: 07:37 07:37 Yes.

Brandi Hudson: 07:38 08:42 in your pursuit of exactly what you want, but also having grace when you fall short, cause you may not get it the first time, right? Like we have to train our brains to create this inevitable success and we train it with time and we train it with commitment, right? And when we don't get there, we reflect and we're like, okay, why didn't I quite meet the mark? And the more that we do that, the more we create this path where we know that our success is inevitable. And when we do that, right, we decrease all of those dense emotions, right? Like you won't have anxiety if you know that like, I are, there's a version of me that already has this thing that I want and all I'm doing is collapsing the timeline and pulling it in to when I actually experience it in this lifetime. Like that is a very empowering feeling. You don't have any angst about it. But when you're still wondering like, will this happen? How am I gonna make this happen? If it's gonna happen, then that's where we get all the anxiety, right?

Deneen L. Garrett: 08:43 09:51 Absolutely, and so a couple of things around that is the why, get clear about that, right? Now, the how, you don't have to be dead set on that, right? That changes, like you mentioned path. There's more than one path to get to that why. And so when you're aware of that and flexible with that, then things will happen for you. Another thing is what you were just talking about as far as those dimensions, if you will. I had a conversation with Cassandra Jennifer a few weeks ago, and we talked about that because I told her this was earlier in May, March. And I said, I'm supposed to be in Lisbon right now in Portugal. And for whatever reason, I'm not. I chose, you know, I didn't like I want to be there. Travel is the number one way I live a dream lifestyle, but for whatever reason, I'm not there. And so she started talking about, well, think about your other self, right? What is she doing there? How is she enjoying herself and whatever? And to be able to help me to make a decision like, OK, cool, maybe I need to go ahead and get on a plane and head there. Haven't made it yet. It may happen in May, but we're going to get there.

Brandi Hudson: 09:52 11:53 I love that. I love that idea of really envisioning that highest version of yourself, your future self, your other self, whatever you want to call her or him, but really envisioning like, how do they live this dream that you're aspiring to? Like, what are they doing? Right. And then feeling into that. And that actually helps, you know, if your dream is meant for you, right. Because it's going to feel really good if the thing you're thinking you want feels good to that future version of yourself. And absolutely, the number one thing that we can do in this lifetime is realizing what we actually have control over. So we do have control over how we set our mind. We do have control about how we choose to feel all the emotions and try to alchemize them to get back to that other side. But we don't have control over how we get to that why, like you said. I don't know. I live in this house that I really knew was the house that was meant for me. But I just let go of the time. And I always tell a funny story about how my realtor was like, well, you need to call the bank. You need to figure it out. And I was like, it's going to figure itself out. And he was like, what are you talking about, girl? You need to call the bank. And I said, no, because it's meant for me. And he was like, I literally thought I was crazy. But I was like, anything that is meant for me is going to align with me, not with force, not with, you know, like trying to control the outcome, but just being and just being right. And taking action and listening, right? Like, so I take actions as I believe deeply in God, as God tells me how to take the next step, I just do that. I'm not like, Hey God, can you give me the house? And I'd like you to give it to me on this date and in this way. And, you know, from this account, you know, like none of that. And it's actually like very peaceful not to have to figure out all the steps if you really think about it.

Deneen L. Garrett: 11:54 12:33 No, absolutely. And you're right. When we stop fighting or pushing, it comes to us. And I've had several of those moments recently to where as, you know, I was like really like trying to make something happen. And I said, you know what? Forget it. I'm going to go on about my business. It's going to happen if and how it's supposed to. Right. And the more that I'm like fighting to try to bring it to me, I'm keeping something else from away. Yes. Um, and so we need to learn that, um, and then just let it go again. Like you said, something that, you know, is divining for you is for you, unless you get in the way you're the one that would keep yourself from it.

Brandi Hudson: 12:34 12:37 Exactly. We're the only ones keeping ourselves from our only ones.

Deneen L. Garrett: 12:38 12:48 This podcast is to empower black women and women of color. And so when you made that shift, what fears came up and what pulled you forward?

Brandi Hudson: 12:49 15:28 Well, it's a little bit interesting. So I actually was in a place of privilege, I will acknowledge, where I didn't actually work for a little bit. So I took time. I didn't go straight from working in corporate America to having a coaching practice. I actually took time to really work on myself. And I said, like, I wanted to be the best version of me. And that was honestly my only goal. I didn't have an immediate goal to start a business. kind of through that process of working with myself and on myself and aligning with who I'm meant to be in this lifetime, then it came up like, oh, you know, the part of my career that I love the most was like the mentoring and coaching of other, especially Black women, but of all the employees that worked in my organizations, right? And so I then shifted to starting a business. And yes, in those moments, I think so many fears come up, right? Like I am like, okay, I've had this really big successful career. Like how do I translate that into a business? I think I had fears around like, oh, will people think that you went from an executive to a coach, and is that equally as important in the world? So I had a lot of fears, right? Do I know how to do this? My dad had always kind of told me, and I love my dad, he's actually my best friend, but he's like, oh, I think you're just meant to work in an organization and be the leader of other people's companies. Do you think you're really meant to be an entrepreneur? And that kind of was in the back of my head. Am I an entrepreneur? Am I like a corporate woman executive? So I could go on. I had lots of fears that I was like navigating and doing the work, but I think I think what makes me good at what I do is that I have worked through all of these issues at some point. There's very rarely something comes up with a client where I'm like, Oh, I've never done that before. Like I'm right. So not only have I worked with it, but I feel like I've resolved so many of these things and then I can help people. I can hold space in a way. Because I do think there's real value in having a coach who actually has achieved the things that you're looking to achieve, who's actually navigated the things that you're looking to navigate. And that's oftentimes what I bring to people, like this kind of worldly success that many people are looking for, and then also this like peace and alignment that I've also found.

Deneen L. Garrett: 15:29 17:06 No, absolutely. And I love that you did have the privilege, as you mentioned, to take that time, right, to focus on you. Because we don't do that enough. Like we go from one thing to another thing. And sometimes we're doing like 50 things at the same time. So we don't really pause, which is something that I focused on the last couple years is like pause, like take your time with it. You know, like we talked just a moment ago, don't push those things. Don't try to force things, but be an exist and focus on yourself. Get to know you, get to know what it is that you want, your, your why, and what pushes and what motivates you and what drives you. Because for me, when I retired, which today would have been my 25 year anniversary. So show, throw that out. Yeah. And I've been retired for almost three years, but when I retired, it was kind of like, okay, now what, right? And it was constant, like, okay, what am I gonna do? Okay, I'm gonna do this. And oh, yeah, oh, you think I should do this as well? And it was all these things. And then I'm like, I really don't wanna do any of those things, right? But I wasn't taking the time to figure it out. I just was doing, and then it's like, eh, I don't wanna do that, right? Whereas I've bought an LLC or a website or this and that because I'm doing all this prep and then turn around, I don't necessarily, want to do those things. So for those who are watching or listening, if you have the privilege, the opportunity to pause, to take your time, take that time to get to know yourself, get in touch with you before you jump into whatever that next thing is.

Brandi Hudson: 17:07 18:10 I love that. I was texting with a girlfriend the other day and she texted me a quote, and it was about kind of space and like what's in the space and right like what we know is like 99% of even our bodies is actually the space right like we think of it as like being this like substance but there's so much space. And I'm always reminded that God is in that space. That's where we connect with our highest self, with source, with the all that is. And in that connection, in that space, we can hear ourselves, we can hear that voice, and then we can be much more clearly directed to where we're meant to go. So I love that space. And even if you don't have the privilege of not working, I acknowledge that, we all have the ability to take space, whether it be through meditation, through journaling, just like time with and for ourselves, it is a necessity that cannot be viewed as a privilege.

Deneen L. Garrett: 18:11 18:26 Absolutely. So let's kind of get into like mastery over motivation. Okay. So you say your clients don't need motivation, they need mastery. And that's such a powerful distinction. What does mastery actually look like in practice?

Brandi Hudson: 18:26 20:49 Yeah, I talked about it a little bit earlier, but I'd love to go deeper. In reality, mostly the people that I work with are kind of people like you. People who've had these long, successful careers, who've gone to great schools, they've made lots of money, they're able to travel the world. But they still feel like they're on this treadmill. They still feel like they're on a hamster wheel, right? And so mastery is about like, how do I know that my success is inevitable? And so I created a framework that I call the base framework. I call it base because I think it's foundational to living the life of your dreams, right? So the B is about what beliefs do you have, right? Like, do you believe deeply that you can align with all your dreams, right? And we have so many beliefs, like more money, more problems, money doesn't grow on trees. Like, oh, there's not enough black men in the world. There's all these beliefs that we oftentimes say tongue in cheek, but we don't realize that they're actually shaping our reality, right? The A in base is about alignment, right? Like everything has a frequency, right? we want to align with the frequency of what we're seeking, right? So we want to be resonant with that thing. It's just like tuning a piano, right? Like you tune and it only responds, the key only responds to the tuning fork when it's at the right decibel, right? So we want to be really aligned with what we're seeking. We want to know in advance, right? And then the S is self-awareness, right? And the self-awareness goes over all the other letters because it helps you understand, like, do you even have an awareness about your beliefs? Do you understand, like, if you're in or out of alignment with what you're seeking, right? Like, you can't be really sad, worried and unhappy and think that you're going to like align with your best future mate in the world, right? Like those two things don't go together. And then you find someone and you're like, well, he doesn't treat me that well. Well, you weren't really treating yourself that well. And so what you were resonant with is what you showed up with. Right. And so I once had a girlfriend who was like, all these guys are bums. And I was like, I love you to pieces, but you got to ask yourself why you keep attracting the bums because they actually aren't all bums. Right. But that's what you're attracting, because that's what you're resonating with.

Deneen L. Garrett: 20:50 20:50 P.S.

Brandi Hudson: 20:50 22:36 she's married to an amazing man now. But, and then the E is about emotional resilience. So all of us have things that have happened in our lives that at a minimum cause us stress and at a maximum are very traumatic, right? And what we want to do is really re-examine those things. Have we actually navigated them fully? Have we felt the depth of emotions that they cause for us so that we can get to the other side? You cannot get to the other side if you don't deal with it. And have we extracted the wisdom of those moments? anything that happens to us is for us. It may not feel like it at the time, and I'm here to attest to that, but it actually is for us. And so our work is to take the wisdom and leave the dense emotions behind after we process them, and then we can move forward. And so once we have kind of this really strong mindset, right, our beliefs are in the right direction, We have this like high vibration, high frequency, where we're resonant with all that we're seeking in the world. And we've developed this really strong emotional intelligence, then our success becomes inevitable. And that's mastery. And we can take that process and apply it to anything. we can apply it to our health and well-being, we can apply it to our relationships, romantic and platonic, and we can apply it to our career ability to make money, financial abundance. And we just rinse and repeat, right? And those four steps, the third one is kind of the self-awareness of the other three steps, but those steps are gonna allow you to feel as though you can create at a high level in any area of your life, and that, is the most powerful thing we can do in this lifetime.

Deneen L. Garrett: 22:37 22:43 So when you're working with your clients and you're focused on your framework, where do they get stuck the most?

Brandi Hudson: 22:44 24:59 I mean, I really do think everyone is different, but I think early on in our evolutionary process, everybody gets stuck on blaming somebody else for why they are the way they are. And I always say, girl, that might be true, but it's not very helpful. It doesn't matter what your mama did. It doesn't matter what your boss did. It doesn't matter that your husband don't take out the trash. Like all of those things are true and there will always be bad actors in the world. There will always be bad actors. Our work is to create such boundaries that we aren't attracting those bad actors into our lives at a high level, right? So yes, Those things may have happened to you and you might have even done some things yourself that you're blaming yourself for, right? But the work is early on to take radical responsibility. that you're the only one who can change your life and that you're the only one you need to change to change your life, right? Like if you think your mama needs to be different and your husband needs to be different and your kid just need to listen, like you're gonna be stuck in those early change. And honestly, you're not gonna get what you want out of life. I tell people all the time, like, Most people can't change themselves for themselves. So you want them to change themselves for you. And that's probably just like a lost proposition. So I think most people get stuck at the radical responsibility. And then the second thing people get stuck at is just being curious that life can be different. right? So they think, I've exhausted all the ways that my life could be different. And so they are just like, well, I've already done this and I've already done that. And it's like, well, you have to be curious that if you had the answers, your life would be different. So you don't have the answer. So let's explore new ways, right? So I think Tolstoy said, everybody I'm not, I'm going to get it wrong, but he basically said everybody wants change, but they don't want to change. And it's really like about if you want a different outcome, you're going to have to change the inputs and you're the input.

Deneen L. Garrett: 25:00 25:48 Yes. And what we talked about that work on ourselves, where you go back to that, right. It's easier to say, well, if they, right, if they didn't and so on and so forth, because it takes you away from self. Like we have this fear of tapping into ourselves. talking to ourselves, looking at ourselves in a mirror, like we're trying to do everything but focus on ourself. And I think, you know, you mentioned it about giving ourselves grace. We need to give ourselves grace. We need to forgive ourselves for the roles that we've played and continue to play, know that it's okay. And just to really focus on, if you want this different thing, you're gonna have to do something differently to get there. And that's really what it's about. in our power, right? We can do it. We just have to do it. We just have to do it.

Brandi Hudson: 25:49 25:58 And I love that you acknowledge that there can be fear there, right? And that's okay, right? Like we just face our fear one step at a time. Yeah.

Deneen L. Garrett: 25:58 26:03 Yep, yep, yep, yep. All right, so let's get into the pressure, the pivot and the power.

Brandi Hudson: 26:03 26:05 I like it.

Deneen L. Garrett: 26:06 26:14 So you've been the only in the first more times than most. What did you learn about resilience, identity and self-trust navigating those spaces?

Brandi Hudson: 26:15 28:02 Yeah. I love that. You know, I think one thing, there's a couple of things I want to say about this, actually. Like first, I think sometimes I really found maybe like a little too much joy in being the only, like, you're like, oh, I'm the first. It makes you feel very special. It makes you feel very right. You're like, oh, there's only been one person in this role. Or one time I remember I went for the CEO of, I won't name the company, but it was a big company. We had a meeting and he announced that I had gotten this big promotion. And then I go upstairs and I'm late to the meeting with my direct supervisor. And my direct supervisor was like, oh, I promote you and you're late. And then, a peer that I was walking with said, oh, well, it was like she was a unicorn because everyone stopped her walking up to the meeting. And you realize in that space that you feel so special. And then everyone started saying, oh, Brandy's a unicorn. Brandy's a unicorn. And so I realized two things. One, you can't take yourself too seriously. We're forging a path really that so many people deserve to be a part of and you want to just like stay grounded in that belief and then also like we are all more similar than different. Like we take a lot of time focusing on the differences. And I remember the eighth grade version of myself wrote a poem about how similar people are and how much we want to distinguish ourselves. And I think if we spent more time and energy focusing on our similarities, like the world would be just a much better place.

Deneen L. Garrett: 28:02 29:05 Absolutely, and you know just this is a slight pivot, but that's why during the time of when George Floyd was murdered and we were having conversations, there were a lot of differences right, and so my thing was humanize us to share those similarities, because some people if they don't like have Black folks, if they don't spend time with Black folks outside of the workplace, they don't really know how it is. They don't really know the experiences that we have and how something as simple as being cautious as a Black man and wearing a hoodie out in public, you know, how we have to think about those things. So I'm definitely for the more that you know and connect with people, then you can see them differently, and you can connect with them better. And so I'm definitely for that. Get to know folks, right? That's why when I travel, I like to stay, often I like to stay, I say the hood, but people have different thoughts of what they mean by that. I just mean where the folks are, right? Like, where the people are.

Brandi Hudson: 29:05 29:07 I like to- Where all the hotels are.

Deneen L. Garrett: 29:07 29:18 Right, exactly, right? You know, and then to go into the neighborhood and, you know, and connect, right? Get to know those spaces, because it just opens up your world as well.

Brandi Hudson: 29:19 30:02 I agree. I used to say when I would work running these large ERGs, I would always say that the number one way that we can help employees want to hire other employees is just create these relationships, you know, where people have to interact and interface with people that are different than them in any way, shape or form. And you begin to have an appreciation. And we have that because we are forced as Black people to be around people different from us. And so we're always like taking it in. And when we allow people to shift and be in a place where they are perhaps the minority, or at least just on equal footing, we grow so much.

Deneen L. Garrett: 30:03 30:13 Absolutely. So let's talk about joy and rest. How have those become non-negotiables for you and how do you help others shift into that energy?

Brandi Hudson: 30:13 31:35 Yeah, I think that it goes back to what we said about space, right? Like in the space, it is actually, that's where all the answers are, right? And so rest, I equate with that space. So I offer it to people, that through rest, you actually move forward faster. So we want to slow down to speed up. We don't always have to think from this hustle perspective that the more time that we input, the better the output will be. That's just not true. And I think about joy from this perspective of all that you are seeking, 100% of what you're seeking. pulling back the onion and asking yourself why it's because you believe that it will make you happy. And so the more you can do things that act like you know, like align with your joy, the better off you'll be right because that goes back to that a that alignment that frequency, right? and everything in the world, people, money, plants, everything wants to be around joy and happy people. So you become an attractor, you become a super attractor when you are in those high vibration emotions, those like real light feeling emotions, because everything wants to surround them, wants to be surrounded by you.

Deneen L. Garrett: 31:36 32:18 Yeah, and so it's ironic, my previous recording, we talked about joy and rest. We talked a lot about that. And joy is one of the things that I do encourage women to really focus on. Like when I retired, you know, and I decided, well, I do wanna coach around, you know, helping other women live their dream lifestyles, which is something that I had decided that that's how I'm gonna live and I'm living that. And I'm, you know, it wasn't about retire early, it was about, spending more time doing joyful things. It was about getting to know what brings you joy and really tapping into that, you know, until you're able to get to whatever that next thing is. So joy is huge.

Brandi Hudson: 32:20 32:37 I love that. And I think it gets back to that clarity that we talked about earlier, like really understanding like, where do I want to spend my time? Where do I feel like my cup is being full and filled? And where do I feel like it's being depleted and like really differentiating those things and like opting into things that like fill your cup.

Deneen L. Garrett: 32:38 32:56 Yeah. And so this next part, we're going to talk a little bit about filling your cup, if you will. So legacy, philanthropy, and the Rays. So your work with the Rays, Generations of Black Excellence, is so powerful. What inspired it? And what does black philanthropy mean to you?

Brandi Hudson: 32:57 34:28 Yeah, I really think that we are at a shift in our time whereby black people had traditionally done a lot of like grassroots organizing and things like that to impact our community. We're one of the biggest philanthropic communities around and so much as we give like at a high level to our church, to our community and oftentimes to our families more than other people do when we're successful. But I felt like we were at a point where we have accumulated a lot of wealth as Black individuals. And so the Rage Generations of Black Excellence is something, an organization I created at the University of Michigan, my alma mater. And it really is about bringing together Black alums to support Black students, staff, and faculty. Because what we know that even these schools with huge endowments, most of that money is directed to what's important to the giver, right? And so I thought it was important to bring together alums who really wanted to support black students, staff and faculty in a way where they can really align with their dreams, but also where those students especially could see people in the community who would achieve many of the things that they aspire to do. And so for me, giving back is really about, cause I still do believe fundamentally, we all have to change our own lives, but giving back is about helping people see possibility. And that's why I deeply believe in philanthropy.

Deneen L. Garrett: 34:28 34:54 Yeah, you have to see it to be it. I definitely believe that, right? Although there are firsts, right? We've already talked about that, how you've been the first in a lot of situations. So still possible when you have it, but it's easier when you are able to see it. So before we close, two final things. One, what do you want every high achieving black woman listening to know about success and what it should feel like?

Brandi Hudson: 34:55 35:37 Oh yeah, so my definition of success is the peaceful alignment with your inherent potential. And so I think that we all have an inherent potential and it could be, you know, to be the CEO, it could be to be a billionaire, it could be to be, you know, a stay at home mom. Whatever it is, you want to align with that potential peacefully and you want to not be driven by outside influences about what you should do and should be. And to realize, as we stated earlier, that your success really is inevitable as long as we stay out of our own way and we take that inspired action one step at a time towards our dreams.

Deneen L. Garrett: 35:38 35:42 Love it. And so the final question, what's lighting you up right now?

Brandi Hudson: 35:43 36:09 Oh my gosh, really? I am, right after we hang up, I'm gonna talk to my developmental editor for my book. I'm writing a book about how we take our power back and how we combine kind of these spiritual principles with action to really align with the life of our dreams. And that is like really filling my cup right now.

Deneen L. Garrett: 36:10 36:18 I love that. Well, Brandy Hudson, thank you so much for lending your voice to women of color in intimate conversation and enjoy the rest of your day.

Brandi Hudson: 36:18 36:21 You have a wonderful day as well. Thank you so much.

Deneen L. Garrett: 36:21 36:21 Thank you.

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