REST. REFUSE. RECLAIM.™️ The Blueprint for Boundaries, Wealth & Unapologetic Living

Deneen L. Garrett: 00:02 01:37
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome back to Women of Color, an Intimate Conversation. And today we're doing another group recording. So Elizabeth McCoy, who joined us several episodes ago, she saw that I was doing this recording with Chris Gordon and her ambitious women crew. And she's like, I don't want in on that. I'm like, girl, go ahead and pick your day. Get your crew together and let's do this. And so we're here and we're doing this and we're actually going to build off of her theme and what her business is all about. So we have Elizabeth and her crew and we're going to talk about rest, refuse, reclaim the blueprint for boundaries, wealth and unapologetic living. So basically what we're talking about is how achieving women are breaking free from burnout, financial stress and toxic productivity. This conversation is a blueprint for reclaiming your time, energy, and financial power without guilt. It's about setting boundaries, prioritizing rest, and building wealth on your own terms. So you can live fully, freely, and unapologetically. So I have three guests with me today. So we have Elizabeth, we have Mika, and we have Bridget. And I'm going to go ahead and let each of them tell us one thing about them that they want you to know, so those that are watching or listening, as well as about their mission, and then what inspired them to step into their respective spaces of impact. So each has a different area of impact. So Elizabeth, this is your crew so how about you start us off.

Elizabeth McCoy: 01:38 02:51 All right. So, again, my name is Elizabeth McCoy I'm a licensed mental health therapist and wellness powerhouse, and my mission is to help 10,000 black women rest. And the reason that I've taken this on is because from a clinical perspective, I see the need and how much it hurts us not to properly rest. And of course, I'm on social media just like the rest of us. But social media mental health is not real. And the self-care and things that people talk about on social media frequently are not sufficient. It's a band-aid and we have to do something more. And so in my mission, the 10,000 women will actually learn how to rest. The emphasis is on how to rest and then we'll go on rest. One thing about me is that I'm very much unapologetically black. If it's going against the black community, if there's a protest or something that we need to do, then I have my ears to the streets and I'm doing my part. As you see, I have on my reparations t-shirt today because I got some appearances to go and make around in Houston and just, you know, have a little word with people who look my way.

Deneen L. Garrett: 02:53 03:24 Well, there's that, right? There's that. I mean, that's one way of protesting. There's so many different ways to protest. We were talking earlier, and Bridget probably, she may bring this back up, but we were talking about with our dollars, withholding our dollars. If you're not for us, then OK, we're not spending our money with you. So if you haven't already, make sure you go and look up Elizabeth's episode and check it out and hear those gems that we dropped. So next, we're going to hear from Mika.

Mika Harris: 03:26 04:06 So my name is Anil Mika Harris. I do go by Mika. One thing I want people to know about me and my mission is, first of all, it's very personal. So I took my very own journey of experiencing overgiving, burnout, exhaustion, and I finally learned how to prioritize myself. And so I teach women the importance of giving themselves the permission to set healthy boundaries and embrace it without feeling guilty. And it's not just a material sense. You know, it's not just about luxury lifestyle. It's actual necessity in your life. So.

Deneen L. Garrett: 04:08 04:09 Thank you for that, Bridget.

Bridget Springer: 04:11 04:46 Hey, guys, this is Bridget Springer, the only black owned woman on financial services and wealth management firm here in Houston, Texas. Black women hire me to help them put their financial plans on paper. so they can live the life they want on their terms. My goal for 2025 is to help 1,000 women put their financial plans on paper. Because it's an epidemic, y'all. We got a problem. We don't have your children, and your husband, your booth, and your man. It's not your financial plan. So you need to know where your money's going, how you're going to make it, what do you need to be doing. But it needs to be on paper.

Deneen L. Garrett: 04:47 04:51 And Bridget, it's about wealth and generational wealth, right? Absolutely.

Bridget Springer: 04:52 05:27 you need to understand too that what you're doing today, like what I do today has nothing to do with me. It has to do with I don't have any kids, but I have two nephews and those are my babies. And so what I do is for the next generation, they're looking at us just as we looked at the generations before. So now they're looking up to us to figure this out. And as black women, one thing we need to do is make sure our money is right. You should not be relying on others and waiting on others, what is your financial plan? So absolutely, it's all about generational wealth. It's about you.

Deneen L. Garrett: 05:27 05:35 Sorry, I was going to say, it's also not about, what is it, crowd, GoFundMe, right?

Bridget Springer: 05:35 06:03 Well, no. Look, you pay your cell phone bill, but we don't have no insurance. You have insurance on your cell phone. Everybody has it. If you got an iPhone or Android, you buy that extra money to put that on. So why are we doing a GoFundMe? I read GoFundMe makes, like, I guess in totality in a year's time, people are putting in like a half a million dollars a year just to get GoFundMe to bury someone.

Deneen L. Garrett: 06:05 06:13 Yeah, yeah. Well, we're going to talk a little bit more. So we have Krista who has joined us. Krista, welcome. Hi, I'm so sorry.

Krystal Norman: 06:14 06:16 It was crazy. I don't know what happened.

Deneen L. Garrett: 06:16 06:25 It's okay, it's okay. So what we're doing is just quickly tell, let us know one thing you want the audience to know about you as well as your mission.

Krystal Norman: 06:27 06:57 I want the audience to know that when I cater, it is definitely love on a plate. That is my mission. My mission also incorporates special needs people as well. I used to be a special education teacher for over 16 years, and now moving into the industry of catering, I would love to offer jobs to adults who have special needs and need a place to work that understands their unique abilities and how to meet them where they're at.

Deneen L. Garrett: 06:58 07:03 I love that. I love that. So your inspiration is people with special needs and that's basically from your background.

Krystal Norman: 07:04 07:04 Yes.

Deneen L. Garrett: 07:04 07:24 Okay. All right. So let's go ahead and get into breaking the cycle, redefining success, rest and boundaries. So we're going to start with Mika. Mika, what does it mean to give yourself permission to say no without guilt and How can women identify and break free from silent exhaustion?

Mika Harris: 07:26 08:02 So for me, giving yourself permission without guilt is when you're able to look into a situation and take a minute for yourself and say, how do I feel if I tell this person no, or if I tell them yes. And you give yourself permission when you can unapologetically say, this is not aligned with me and I have to turn you down. So when you master this, you don't get the feeling of feeling guilty because you learn to give yourself grace just as you give others grace.

Deneen L. Garrett: 08:05 08:30 I love that. Know without the guilt, know without feeling like you're, you know, feeling any kind of way other than I'm taking care of myself. I'm giving myself permission to rest and just live life on my terms. Right. Yeah. And so breaking, you know, getting away from the silent exhaustion, how can women identify and break free from that?

Mika Harris: 08:31 09:10 Well, when it comes to constantly running on empty, you've got to, we've gotten so used to being turned on all the time. So we've been conditioned to not be able to sit still. We don't even know what sitting still means. We have in our head, like, we've got to be productive doing something. But sometimes rest just means not going to sleep, but actually being able to sit still and just take some time for yourself and with yourself. It doesn't always mean going out and doing anything. You can just sit still in a quiet room to yourself and just take a minute, take a moment.

Deneen L. Garrett: 09:11 09:25 Yeah. And so Elizabeth, let's just build off of that. Why is Rust revolutionary, especially for us Black women? That was Elizabeth on mute.

Elizabeth McCoy: 09:26 10:13 I'm mute. I am and I'm just talking away because I was ready. Like dropping all kind of gems, right? Yes. So, but yes, rest is absolutely revolutionary because it allows us to reclaim our autonomy, our autonomy of our time, our joy, our peace. It allows us to, um, just be present in ourselves, you know, honor our ancestors and all that they fought for and bringing forth what we are doing for the next generation. And, you know, it's when we rest that we get to collectively decide what's next for our community rather than reacting and responding to what someone else has said or done.

Deneen L. Garrett: 10:15 10:37 Yeah. And so, This podcast is about empowering women of color, right? So the conversation that we're having is for that. It's a way for us to reinforce how we empower ourselves as well as to empower other women. So Elizabeth, how can we begin unlearning toxic productivity and embracing intentional rest?

null: 10:38 10:38 Okay.

Elizabeth McCoy: 10:39 11:35 Well, we have to recognize that in and of itself, productivity is a lie. The way that we think about productivity today is that the more that we do, the more that we'll get. However, the reality is that the more that we're moving, the more that we're probably forgetting about. So when we slow down and we are intentionally resting, we are literally giving our brains time to absorb oxygen and remind us, do the work that it needs to do and remind us of what is most important. So if you've ever seen someone just seem as though they can't get their footing, like they're all over the place, likely they simply are not breathing. And when we breathe, we automatically take a rest. And so resting is going to be how we unlearn the toxic productivity.

Deneen L. Garrett: 11:37 12:10 Yeah, and just releasing all that negativity. As soon as you said breathing, I like went, Who, because like we talked before on your episode and I've talked, you know, on different episodes and just in general, like I love whenever someone posts about breathing because that is my, oh, cue reminder, breathe with intention and on purpose, right? And so when you said it, thank you, because it's a reminder for us to go ahead and pause to breathe. Like we breathe, you know, while we're living, we're breathing, but we're not intentional with it all the time.

Elizabeth McCoy: 12:11 13:28 This is true. And then I had two more ways because, of course, this is not something that we will just do one time. We have to remember that we need to start small. And starting small is, I like to say, start where you are. Start where you're comfortable. Doing those daily habits that Doing those daily habits that will help you just kind of go about your day in a bit more of a relaxed state. We've talked about it on social media, having slow mornings, taking time to actually sip and taste your coffee. is important. Not checking emails until you are in the office is another way to start small. Any of those small tidbits that you're able to reclaim your own time, just like our lovely Maxine, our Congresswoman said, that we need to reclaim our time. And so start small there. And then as you're doing that, it all becomes non-negotiable. You know, when we are taking a rest, what we need to do what's right for us, and we're setting boundaries, it's not negotiable. We don't need other people's approval. We just need our own internal validation.

Deneen L. Garrett: 13:30 13:43 Yeah, and so you mentioned something, reclaim our time. So Bridget, let's reclaim our finances. Financial security is a form of self-care. How can women start prioritizing financial wellness without overwhelm?

Bridget Springer: 13:43 15:02 One, start with forgiving yourself. A lot of times women feel they are the financial mistake. They've made the mistake and so they live in it. So I would say start there for one, forgiving yourself, because it's really more of a mindset when it comes to the money versus transactional. I think a lot of times it's just Oh, I just if I do these things, everything will be fine. But if you're not happy, if you haven't healed from some maybe financial traumas, things that happened in your life growing up, it affects you if you haven't forgiven that spouse or person that who's done you wrong, it affects your money, because then you're overspending. I would say, because I deal with women all the time, check your spending first. That's probably the number one area that women will feel, I deserve it. So I'm just gonna buy, I get mad, I deserve it. You do something to me, I'm gonna go buy some, cause it's gonna make me feel better. And then now it's a trap. So I always say, look at your spending, because that's the number one area that women will start just buying. and just doing things because that instant gratification. So if we could start there and look at how you are spending your money. If Amazon is coming at your door every day, that's a problem. Yeah, that was me.

Deneen L. Garrett: 15:02 15:18 So Amazon is not giving us money. We were talking about protesting and we were talking about how we're protesting with our dollars, right? Not spending. So yeah, definitely. I know when you ride down the block, they like, dang, we miss her. Yeah.

Bridget Springer: 15:19 16:15 Yeah. Well, you're speaking, but that's what it is. Like I have clients, or if you're looking at your Uber Eats bill, like every time you turn around, you know, instead of purchasing your food and preparing it, you're ordering it. Everything is, or I'm getting, it's hair, nails, makeup. It's something that is taking your attention that you feel like I need to purchase and buy. And so I would tell women, start there first. Look at your spending habits. You'll be amazed. And then also look at the triggers. Did something happen that they go back and look at what made me spend this type of money? Or I went to Target. I went to Walmart and I spent $800 in one month because it happened. Yeah. You just not seeing it because you just, Oh, I went here about 50 here, a hundred here, 200 here, you know, and before you know it in a month's time, you spend a lot of money. So let me check your spending first.

Deneen L. Garrett: 16:15 17:32 And that is so key because like me, it was like, you know, I was doing my taxes, maybe a couple of years ago. And I'm like, where did my money, like, what did I spend? I have no idea. I didn't go back and like really check to see what I spent money on, but it was just gone. And I really don't know what I spent it on. I really, really, really don't. So absolutely, and do it often, right? Maybe do it once a month, once a week, however often you need to, but check it. Use tools, whether it's a spreadsheet, whether you purchase a tool or something to use. I have a tool that I use, and I'm so glad that I do because it helps me in my business. But also, I can take the time to look and see, OK, where is my money going? And then it also kind of goes back to what we were talking about with rest and whatnot, because you can also see, those spending their habits, and what are those habits doing? Like you said, when are you spending? What prompted you? What triggered you to go spend in excess? And so rest, pull back, and pay attention to what you're doing and what changes you need to make. So we're talking about mindset shifts. What other financial mindset shifts are essential for long-term empowerment?

Bridget Springer: 17:34 20:33 Probably about a book a week. And probably a coach, probably two, depending on what's going on. Reading gives you a different perspective. Hearing it from someone else. And willing to just open your mind to hear from someone else. Because a lot of times, you won't hear from yourself. You think you know everything, I don't know, I don't need to tell you nothing. But sometimes when you read something, it really is, it opens your mind. And it's what you say to yourself, those affirmations, whatever you speak will happen. Oh, I'm broke. I don't have that. I can't afford that. The things we heard growing up, right? Probably the biggest one I heard was we couldn't afford that. And I'm like, we can't afford anything? Nothing? Like, we can never afford anything? So I was acquitted. I'm like, we just don't have no money? What's going on? What's happening? And she's like, what's happening? Like, we work every day. So I mean, we can't afford nothing. Or you go to the restaurant, like my dad would say, and you're looking on the right side of the menu. So you order according to the right side, meaning you're not ordering according to what you want, you're ordering according to what your budget allows. And so now you don't feel worthy of it, but whatever comes out of this mouth, it's going to happen. Oh, I'm broke. I just can't never have none. That's for somebody else. That's not for me. Whatever you speak. So it's the self-talk. It's that self-talk. Fear will be sitting in your lap some days, but you gonna have to tell fear, you know, I see you over there, but I'm not listening. It's that inner dialogue that you have with yourself that you're saying, look, you're checking you. And then another thing that came up too, if you're not living in your purpose, that's why your money messing up. That's why you having issues because you're not walking and doing what you're supposed to do. Because the moment I look at it and having an employee, because we're business owners, when you have to now be reliable for somebody else and how they pay their bills, it will make you look at things differently. When somebody else that you have to take care of, you will look at your money differently. Because now you have a purpose. You're saying, look, if I go and do all this spending, that's going to take me away from what I need to do. Or if I wanted to make a certain investment, because now you don't have the plan. But that's the mindset. It's that you believing that you can do it. And I always tell you, it's also a proximity. Stop hanging around with broke people. Because broke people going to put more into you and going to give you all they miss and all they bad habits. Right. And that affects your mindset, your proximity of who you're associating with. I'm not saying we all broken, have our issues and problems, but we can't live there. And if that, that will, that will feed on you. Absolutely. So that, that affects your mindset because you will start believing where they going through it. Well, that's going to be me. And you will start just internalizing all of that in your spirit. Right.

Deneen L. Garrett: 20:33 20:51 And that's going to affect this up here. Right, not moving forward with it. So you mentioned purpose. So kind of shifting to Christo, you know, and talking around joy and food and those things. So Christo, how does food serve as a cultural connector and source of joy for you?

Krystal Norman: 20:53 22:05 Well, understanding that our culture is bred in being able to eat the things that we can, or we were given, and the things that we're not. So what are you saying, Crystal? I'm saying that, historically referenced, we were given the scraps, and we made that into delicacy. We made that into inspiration. Chitlins, oxtails, you know, when you look at the jambalayas and things like that, those were things that we made culturally with the little that added flavor to the whole world. Our influence over the whole world is like nothing else that anyone else can ever do. And so just that in alone in itself and understanding that the food that we eat because of the types of food, it brings comfort psychologically. And so we try to have that balance with the salads and with the greens and with the things that we choose to bring in that are more on the healthier side for us. So I think the balance in the cultural reference to both is what brings me joy.

Deneen L. Garrett: 22:05 23:08 Okay. And I like that you mentioned historically, the scraps that we were given and what we've done with that, because that's an example of our resilience. Like we were talking earlier, you know, about different ways of protesting. And we know right now as black women, the 92%, you know, we're resting, right? We're resting, we're not out in the streets. We're being more intentional and savvy with what we're doing and how we protest. Elizabeth has on her shirt. That's a form of protest. We're being very intentional about where we spend our money. Like Bridget mentioned several different stores that we're right now not spending money at. So she was talking about before, but we're not spending money at those stores right now because they're not aligning with us and supporting us and whatnot. And so, you know, we can show them better than we can tell them. We sure can. Yeah, right. So how do you balance passion, business, and self-care in the culinary world?

Krystal Norman: 23:09 26:23 So like Bridget said, my passion is my business. I am working at my purpose. And so those two things, they intertwine for me. The self-care part is a little hard because there is no such thing as balance. If I'm doing one, The other is lacking. The other is not getting the attention that it needs. So if I am in mom mode, my business is lacking or me as a woman, self-care is lacking. If I'm in self-care, the children or the business are not getting the attention that it needs. And so we read this book, The One Thing. And so I try to focus on that one thing, one thing at a time though. And so when I am in that moment of self-care, It is meditation, it's reflection, it is sitting still. Because historically, again, the reference is that we don't sit still. We are the women with the highest rate of heart attacks. And so with that, it means that we take on so much and we hold so much and we handle so much that we need to sit down and sit still. And so for me, because my family does have hypertension and diabetes, I am very aware of the stress that anything causes me. And if it's causing me to not be in alignment with what God has had me doing, can't do it. I gotta step back. And that's self-care for me. The no is a self-care for me. The peace is a self-care for me of understanding that all clients aren't my clients and that's okay. And all money is not good money and that's okay. And because I live in an abundance of God and I'm in alignment with what he wants for my life, what's for me is for me. And so, okay, I didn't get that job because I didn't align, but he has something up the road for me. I just need to be patient and be still. And so that's just where I fall with that. When I'm working in my passion, I try to give that a thousand percent. I try to give everyone that I cater for, cook for the best experience possible, whether that's your food on your plate or your service experience with me or any of my team. I choose, I handpick everyone who is on my team when I do go serve. big weddings, I handpick them. I make sure that from the time you get to me to the time you leave, your experience is a quality and a luxury and a great service because unfortunately in this industry, we don't have a good rep with that, with the service part of it. And me being a black woman and who deserves quality, I expect quality, I'm gonna give you quality. I'm not gonna give you anything that I'm not expecting. I like luxury. So I'm gonna give you a luxury experience. And I feel that's where I fall in the niche for our community is given all black women, all black families, whoever I serve, it doesn't matter, but mostly I serve my black community. You're gonna get a quality experience.

Deneen L. Garrett: 26:25 26:58 Thank you for that. And so, now we're gonna kind of shift and talk more about the link between financial, mental, and physical wellness. So Mika, how can women shift their mindset from surviving to thriving in all areas of their lives? So money, health, and self-care. And Mika, are you on mute? I think she's perfect. Mika? Oh, you think she's frozen?

Krystal Norman: 26:58 26:59 Mm-hmm.

Deneen L. Garrett: 26:59 27:00 Yeah. Oh, no. OK.

Krystal Norman: 27:00 27:01 She's not moving.

Deneen L. Garrett: 27:02 27:07 Yeah, I see. All right, so Elizabeth, you want to jump in on that one?

Elizabeth McCoy: 27:10 27:15 OK, ask the question again, because I knew it was for Mika, so. So right. I didn't have, I didn't get it all.

Deneen L. Garrett: 27:16 27:23 Oh, that's not for me, so OK, Elizabeth. How can women shift their mindset from surviving to thriving in all areas of their life?

Elizabeth McCoy: 27:23 28:26 Money, health, and self-care. Just knowing that it's possible. You know, if we think that we can't, then we can't. And so there is not anything in this world that we cannot have, that is not available to us, that is not accessible. You know, as Black women, we are the most educated, and we are very familiar with people standing in our way and not allowing us to really flourish. But where we are at this present time is that we've always made it. We've always made a way. And so if we made a way with the little things that we have had available, we're coming into abundance now. And we are no longer asking for other people's permission to give us anything to allow us spaces, we're creating those spaces ourselves. But the reason that we are able to do that now is because we are doing away with the limited mindset. And so changing your thinking, to answer the question more directly, intentionally changing your thinking.

Deneen L. Garrett: 28:28 28:32 And so Bridget, can REST be a wealth building strategy?

Bridget Springer: 28:34 29:37 Absolutely. If you are exhausted and a mess, not taking care of your body, your spirit, your mind, that affects you. I work out at least 45 times a week. I am delivered on drinking a gallon of water a day. I am going to do the things to take care of me. And that will build, it really builds the confidence. When I weighed 350 and released 100 pounds on my own, It helped me in all aspects of my life, but it gave me the confidence because I stuck to it. I kept the promise to myself. And then essentially, if you start doing that, it'll show up in your financial life. Because then you'll start being more deliberate. So it had nothing to do with I was overweight. It had to do with I needed to take care of me. And what did that look like? But the weight was the byproduct, that was okay, I shed the weight. And that was a wonderful thing. But as far as taking care of your body, your mind, your spirit, absolutely. If you putting junk in, junk gonna come out.

Krystal Norman: 29:38 29:43 Yeah. Can I jump in with it? Piggyback off of, I'm sorry.

Deneen L. Garrett: 29:45 29:47 Yeah, just real quick, because I want to shift over to Mika.

Krystal Norman: 29:48 30:19 I just wanted to say, yeah, and I think that we need to get away from the stigma that our food is bad. If we make it with quality ingredients, our soul food can be good. My grandparents ate it. They were fine. If we choose how much we gonna eat and eat it in proportion, we gonna be okay. So I just wanted to say like, we can still have us in our culture. but in balance of what you're doing, because we abuse it, just like we abuse finances and everything else.

Deneen L. Garrett: 30:20 30:30 Yeah, absolutely. Thank you for that. So Mika, what is one small yet powerful boundary every woman should set today to reclaim her time, money, and peace?

Mika Harris: 30:30 31:32 Yes, absolutely. So I just wanted to reference what Crystal was saying. She was speaking directly to my heart, soul, every bit of my being, because that's what I stand on. I do wanna just acknowledge that self-care is what the yeses look like for you. So it sounds like what you're doing is exactly what self-care represents for you. So I can lend you on that. I know what it is too. be on the go all the time. So one small step I would say that we can start on today is just taking a minute for yourself and ask yourself, have I tended to myself for today? And if your answer is no, then keep that in mind. And the next time someone asks you to do anything, ask yourself first, are you aligned? with saying yes, or do you feel like you have to do it out of obligation?

Deneen L. Garrett: 31:32 31:47 Okay, I love that. And so, Crystal, you mentioned no when you were talking. And so how can saying no actually open doors to more success and fulfillment?

Krystal Norman: 31:48 34:25 I think that the no is the success and the fulfillment because you saying no automatically opens the universe up, God up. I interchange those things, but God up to bless you with what truly you want and what you desire. God says, write it down and make it plain. And so for me, I had a client and let me say this, I quit my job. I'm out here with God. I'm really leaning on God. Cause I'm leaning on God with my business. My business will be five years old and I stopped teaching. And so I had a client and I'm just giving you an example. And they only wanted me to cater sides for their wedding. And at first she came with this big elaborate menu. And when I gave her my price, she came back to me and was like, no, I just want to quote for this. And I said, no, I said, I offer this package. And if you can't have this package, Then no. Same, I want to say same week, I got another client. I landed a $20,000 deal with this client for the same time and space that I was supposed to cater their wedding. So my no, because I would have been obligated to fulfill my role to something that I knew was not of what I wanted. if it authentically doesn't feel like it aligns, that's God, that's the Holy Spirit saying, I got something better for you because the devil sends distractions. They both walk in with you, both the good spirit and the negative spirit. And I believe wholeheartedly in the Bible and the devil comes to steal, kill and destroy. I needed that $20,000 deal to get me to where I need to be in my business. That $400, $500 Hatering, that one I've never done anything. I would have paid a couple of bills, right? And so it's just listening, stress and headache. Exactly. And I know she knows, knows, knows, no, no shade, no tea as coaches say, but from working in this industry and having higher paying clients, the higher paying clients already know what they want. I don't have no problems with them. They paid me for a service and they let me do it. It's the ones that. are the lower paying clients that I often have my most frustration with, because they want more for less. And unfortunately, in catering, it's just not more for less at this point in time with these groceries and this society we're in.

Deneen L. Garrett: 34:26 34:29 Right. And I just let you know who to focus on, right?

Krystal Norman: 34:29 34:35 Just focus on your- And knowing your clients. Yeah. Knowing your target audience is a best chef's kiss.

Deneen L. Garrett: 34:36 34:52 Absolutely. So that's just a tip for everybody who's listening or watching. So we're down to our last couple of minutes. So I just want each guest to give one word on prioritizing wellness boundaries or joy, starting with Elizabeth. Federal rest, just like a CEO. All right.

Bridget Springer: 34:54 35:01 Bridget. Automation. Automatically pay yourself. Automatically save your money. Automation. Mika.

Mika Harris: 35:03 35:10 Mine is yes, learning how to say yes to yourself, which in return sometimes means no to everybody else. Love it. And Crystal?

Krystal Norman: 35:11 35:28 I say read a book. I say if I can encourage anybody, I would encourage them to read Too Heavy a Yoke. It is by a Black author. It is about Black women and their Black experiences in America. And it is breathtaking and eye-opening. So go read a book.

Deneen L. Garrett: 35:29 35:56 Love that, love that. Well, thank you so much, Elizabeth and crew. I have really enjoyed you all. If any of you want your own time, just reach out to me, email me your availability, and we can schedule to talk a little bit more about what each of you have going on. So I just want to thank you, Elizabeth, Mika, Bridget, and Crystal. Thank you so much for lending your voice on women of color in intimate conversation and enjoy the rest of your day. I appreciate you.

Mika Harris: 35:57 35:57 Thank you.

Deneen L. Garrett: 35:57 35:58 Bye.