Cosmic Water
Exploring the history, mythology, and future of the sacred land called San Antonio
Cosmic Water
Shaping Community Engagement in San Antonio's Housing Commission w/ Nikki Johnson
When Nikki Johnson stepped into her role as a housing commissioner in San Antonio, she dove headfirst into uncharted waters Her journey is a beacon of inspiration, demonstrating the sheer determination required to champion community voices, especially when faced with skepticism. Our conversation peels back the layers of Nikki's unwavering commitment to authentic representation, ensuring a diverse range of perspectives are heard. Nikki's story isn't just about governance; it's about the passion-fueled change-makers who dare to redefine the status quo.
The heart of community transformation beats through the efforts of engagement and feedback. Listeners will find solace in the stories of how initial hurdles in reaching out to the most affected individuals helped shape a playbook for how dedication and clear communication can lead to positive, community-driven outcomes. This episode is a testament to the power of persistence, and it's sure to resonate with anyone looking to make a difference within their own community.
As we conclude, Nikki unveils the passion driving her life coaching business. She paints a vision of unity. Nikki Johnson's narrative is not just a tale of professional endeavors; it's an invitation to be part of a larger conversation that shapes our community's narrative.
As the cosmos connects the universe, water connects life. At the Sacred Water Podcast, we're exploring the history, mythology and future of the sacred land known as San Antonio.
Speaker 2:Hey friends, unfortunately we had to cut out the first part of this episode due to crunchy microphone sounds, so I'd like to introduce Nikki Johnson. She is a housing commissioner in the city of San Antonio, which is what we talk about mostly in this episode. She's also an author, motivational speaker and podcaster herself, so be sure to check out the links to her stuff below and enjoy this episode. I wanted to bring up you getting onto the housing commission. I mean, since when, what year did you get on?
Speaker 3:Oh girl, this year number three. Yeah, she had three.
Speaker 2:So it was 2020? Right before COVID, september of 2020.
Speaker 3:Yeah, COVID had already hit. Oh okay, yeah, and at the time just was cheering.
Speaker 2:Yeah, let me just say real quick how I always want to call this out every opportunity I can. When the mayor at one point just removed every single besides you, every single community member from the housing commission and the Saha board, just like, wiped them all out within a month, every single person.
Speaker 3:Well, some of them left. It's like one left because he got married. Oh yeah, it shocked all of us because we knew he was going to get married, but it was like and I'm leaving too. It was that.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I have no idea. Paul, oh, you were. Oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So some people were leaving and some didn't get reappointed. But that was a big shock because none of us were expecting that it was. Maybe he had been married about a month or two, and then it was like, okay, been great guys.
Speaker 2:I'm sick of fighting he's like married life is good.
Speaker 3:I'm going to go enjoy, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, talk to us about the housing commission.
Speaker 3:It was terrifying when Jess called me and she was like I want to tell you something. I don't know how you're going to take it, If you're going to accept it or not, but I think you do amazing work and blah, blah, blah and I would love to nominate you. And I was like I don't want. We had gone before them, we had gone two or three times at this point and presenting the policy yeah.
Speaker 3:We had gone and presented before them two or three times, and one of the experiences we had, when we were preparing to take something really big before the housing commission, we were told they're never going to agree to this. You know what they're talking about. They're never going to accept this. You can't go in saying these things. And when that person left the room and, mind you, we had been working hours with this presentation he left the room and I was so angry that I had a good pep talk with all of us and I say we're going to do exactly you know, I think I said it before he left, that's why he left we're going to do it exactly how we've been working on it. We're going to do exactly how we've been practicing, because the problem is is, if we keep going in doing the same exact thing, we're going to keep having the same results, and these people need this. We need this to happen. And so I think, for me, my mind was made up that the commission was this thing, you know by how that person described it, and I'm thinking I wouldn't fit. I can't be that. I need to make a change. That's exactly what I needed to be. And so when I had my meeting with the mayor about the position. He told me he'd watched all the work that we had been doing and he had watched my passion and he wanted me for that very reason, and that just ignited something in me because they gave me permission to go and be me and not be what someone had told us the commission was.
Speaker 3:And being in there has been amazing because the community constantly contacts me. My phone has to be on, do not disturb, because as they're watching live, they are emailing and texting and, yeah, because they're either excited or they're highly upset and passionate and I make sure I respond to everyone because all their voices are important. It doesn't matter what district we live in. We all live in this city, right? We're all humans on this earth. And so when I go to the meetings, I take everybody with me.
Speaker 3:I'm not there as housing commission or Nikki Johnson, I'm there as community representative and I have to remember what they're struggling with and remember what they're going through as we're in these meetings. And then now we have all of the subcommittee subcommittees that have been created because of the, the needs that are going on in the community, and I sit on almost all of them because I wanted to make sure that the community voice was was represented. That has been life changing for me. You know how, when we were all working together. You're constantly meeting amazing people with amazing stories, but these people are tenacious. These people are the heartbeat of this earth.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:The committees yeah, the people that I get to meet working on the subcommittees. I can we go out into the community?
Speaker 2:Who got chosen Like? Did they really choose community people A lot?
Speaker 3:Yes, the community representation is on the subcommittees. On the ones that I sit on as a commissioner. I get to go through the applications that we have these meetings to vote on who we want to sit and we really look at someone's desire to work in the community or their experience working at it, as well as those who have been working on the professional level, because all the voices together are always important, but meeting the people that are on the professional level, their passion for helping the people in the community, is amazing.
Speaker 2:And I mean the fact that they have you what they are, to really show them how to do it, because a lot of those professional people, it's what they want. They want to help the community, but they don't know how, because they're so stuck inside of that like data driven world kind of you know, and it's so important to have people like you kind of like continuing over and over again. This is who we're here for. Wow, thank you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thank you, maureen. A lot of them have actually said that. Now that you say it, I'm just being reminded. A lot of them have said it because they have policies that they have to follow and those policies are paper-driven. They're data-driven. But when we have these events where we have to go and volunteer, to work in the community or go and inform the community, and they get to hear beyond the paperwork that's what I call it they get to hear beyond the data and literally sit in front of the families that need it. It's so life-changing for all of us. That's where the change happens. Yes, that's where it takes place. Yes, I believe that.
Speaker 2:I was just oh, I had called that ground. I was telling Terry that I always say that when I have meetings with politicians and stuff, it's like I say that I'm like you need to, because they'll come to us, the Sahata. They'll come to our union tenants union and kind of ask us questions, but it's just us, the leaders, and I always have to say it. I'm like look, I'm not here to talk for all of the Sahata.
Speaker 3:If you are really interested.
Speaker 2:You have a community meeting at any building, any public housing building, and that is what's going to give you the grounded knowledge that you need to be able to advocate for our needs. Don't just ask me Don't just look at data? You go to them and that's where the changes really happen.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. That's where solutions are really grounded, solutions are really created. Remember the meetings we used to have where there were almost 50 stakeholders. There were stakeholders from everywhere. We went from having these small, intimate meetings to it was stakeholders from every organization you can probably think of. We even had H-E-B representatives. We had people from the food pantry. It was just so many.
Speaker 3:The good thing about it was we got to hear the parts that we don't know, what happens at the board meetings and with the paperwork and the data and what the federal government has guidelines on. My prayers is that they got to hear the real life experience from the people who needed it. The con to those meetings was sometimes, when you have a lot more of those voices than community-based voices and experiences, those get washed. Their voices get amplified and the others get washed out, and so we may have 20 community members and then 40 some odd, whatever heads or whatever. There were times when people spoke over. Someone would say something very pivotal, very important, but then someone over something would say something is like that would get washed away.
Speaker 3:What I loved about what the three of us did was we would be like, ok, did you hear what they just said? Well, we make notes and we made sure it came up and we would tell the mayor himself or we would talk to whomever. We would have emails and have meetings with council members to make sure that they heard the things that weren't going to get reported back. You know, the things that weren't as important. We make sure that that stayed before everybody because it's important. We don't think because people need help that they're important. There's just a burden sometimes.
Speaker 3:Sometimes they're looked at as lazy because you just don't want to work, when the reality of these stories is some of those people are working, as I said at our symposium, two and three jobs and they're still struggling. But you don't get that because you don't have a conversation with them to know. A data told you one thing, numbers told you one thing. But they can look at you and tell you my children's father needed a place to stay and my kids needed a safe place to go and spend time with their dad. This program helped. He was doing the best he could, but he was struggling, and this is what helped our family. Those are the conversations that they need to hear.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I see a mom holding her baby while she was taking a nap doing a presentation on the policy.
Speaker 3:Or breastfeeding, maureen. Or breastfeeding I will never forget. I love that story or breastfeeding, standing before whomever to speak, but she had to breastfeed her baby because it was that important. If y'all don't know Maureen's podcast, that was her I'm referring to. But go ahead, just put your business out there in the streets, go ahead.
Speaker 4:When nature calls.
Speaker 2:I don't mind, that's actually the number I think I showed you that video. My first time ever testifying in front of a political entity was in Oregon and Brigid was three months old and she had just nursed herself to sleep on my breast and somebody just shoved me up to speak and I was like, ok, whatever.
Speaker 2:I didn't even realize that this baby was on me until I got up and left and I was like, oh my god, I was just talking the whole time while breastfeeding and the leader of the Portland Tendency Union put it on her Facebook and then a news guy got ahold of it and then 20,000 or 200,000 people or something saw me breastfeeding Brigid while speaking to the wing. Yeah, yeah, I mean, I was just in survival mode and then I did it. And I took the fucking kid's breast.
Speaker 3:Right, she's hungry, get over it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I thought what was really interesting about those community meetings. Just as I analyze how to continue doing the best work possible for all of this community engagement stuff, because it's an ever-evolving process.
Speaker 1:Right, right.
Speaker 2:We're always, constantly learning best practices.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Is that there was so many of those? I guess I would say secondary, their importance was of secondary importance because, they are the ones sort of facilitating a lot of these programs that help most impacted community, and so that was just something that was one of my big takeaways from those community meetings that we ultimately got to have Was that as hard as we tried to outreach to have the most impacted people there yeah, it ended up being mostly those secondary level people too, but that there was value in that in itself and especially with just networking like bringing all of those resources together.
Speaker 2:I always find that powerful and ideally to get as many most impacted people there as possible, but it's really, it's just hard.
Speaker 3:It wasn't for naught, though, because we were doing. There were so many things we were doing that wasn't. It hadn't been done before, it had not been done before. We were having focus groups, as they wanted to call them. We didn't want to call them focus groups, but we were having focus groups where we were inviting the community into different locations and literally asking them if you had this, where are the areas that you really could improve? What do you see that there is an issue in? What are some things that you're experiencing in your area, and people would come and talk, but the thing is, after asking and feeling neglected for so long, that's just another meeting, and that was the mindset that people had then, but we kept doing it and we would see increases, we would get the news would come and journalists would come and all of those things.
Speaker 3:Now, when there are events that take place and the community is invited, there are a lot more people that show. The work is spread out, so I don't want you to feel like, as much as we wanted more people, we didn't get as many. The impacted are now starting to show up because they seem OK. It's not just something that you're saying that you're going to do. You actually do care Now anytime. We've started something new with these sub committees.
Speaker 3:Don't think we haven't gotten community members that show up and say, ok, so this is going to be just another gathering. I mean we've had literally, especially when we started the renter solutions subcommittee. There were a lot of people that said, if you're not going to be giving solutions, like what are you here for? That was the mentality even when we were doing it back then. And so now, because of that work and I want you to be so proud of it the amount of turnout, the amount of people that will speak up and fill out surveys Because remember, we were trying to figure out how can we get these people to do surveys to find out where we need to improve and the amount of surveys that get turned in now is so totally different as compared to when we first started out. So now the people are starting to see that there is work being done on their behalf, versus just another meeting, that where no one's going to do anything.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:My brain is so I'm like I hope that they're quality.
Speaker 3:Much as I can have an input, I'm trying to, but uh-huh, no, totally.
Speaker 2:I hear that Terry had said is similar stuff to you that her community engagement in district five has gotten a lot higher and.
Speaker 2:And yeah, it is, and and what we talked about there too, same same exact conversation where I'm so skeptical, right, but, but you know, we just inevitably have these hierarchies that exist Just how it is, and so if we don't have people like you, and if we don't have people like Terry high in those hierarchies, then so much of that gets lost and it just doesn't happen, like it literally just won't happen, unless there's people Like you continuously saying the same things over and over again about how are we getting to the community, until it gets in their heads. That's how you would always see it. I'm like if I just say the same 150 times, they're gonna get it, yeah, and they would. They would start saying it themselves, right and that. And then they go through the process where they're saying it but not actually doing it. So then you have to be like, okay, good, you're getting there, yeah, but let's see it in real life in real action, and then they start doing it and then, oh my gosh, it's like a puppy, like job you did it.
Speaker 1:I can't tell you how like.
Speaker 2:I did that at a saw meeting last week with the girl she. Um, she was actually someone who I've fought with a lot before and she was actually Trying to find solutions to these safety issues, whereas before they're always like, well, we can't do anything, we don't have any money. I can't tell you how many times I've had to come back and be like find the money, have the Conversations. I know there's no money, but if you don't talk about it, then we're never gonna get there.
Speaker 2:And so she at least, like, was listening to these tenants and she was like, well, what if we? And she looked exhausted, but I'm just thinking outside the box if we just put like and she was at least saying things, yeah, and At the end I was like I just want to thank so-and-so for being solution oriented. I can just tell that she's like.
Speaker 2:Well, I got a compliment, but it's me, but I'm like, I mean it like and I felt that way with the mayor too before, where it's like he has all this Crappy work, but it's like when he does it right, I'm like you did it right, like congrats, like really. I know that that's hard at your level to figure out because you're so inundated With all this paperwork and data and reports and deadlines and all that stuff and so as much as I really don't care about them and All of that stuff, but I, I guess I, I do like I am impressed to some extent when they can get it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it is hard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and so I'm. I feel like I'm all over the place right now. That's how I am in my life.
Speaker 3:No, no, I know your passion and and I work with you long enough to know where you're coming from and I get it. I would say I've enjoyed being able to work under the mayor. I've enjoyed the fact that I didn't have to come in and what is the good word for it? He knew, he knew the work that we had done. So when he, when, when he I was in his office and he told me I want you on it to do what you're doing and and I get to see like there's no pushback, it's, this is what we need. It needs to be community Oriented. Like I signed up for some subcommittees, I didn't know what they were talking about, especially one that's very technical, but I said that's the thing. It's all technical and it's technical as it is. There still needs to be a community voice in there. There still has to be, and Sometimes we just forget that the people we consider little or insignificant are the ones that are most important.
Speaker 3:They are the most important because otherwise, why are you doing what you're doing if it's not for the people? Even if you create a restaurant, it's the people you're gonna feed. If you open up a retail store, it's the people you're gonna serve. So why aren't you talking to the people? That's why I missed. This is so our subject with our subject.
Speaker 3:Do y'all remember, like the neighborhood mom and pop restaurants and stores and the places where you went to your neighborhood? Everybody knew you and the people that owned the places knew you. They talked to you. They wanted to know was that sandwich good that we just made? How was it? Because if it's not good, they're gonna go improve because they asked you. They're not gonna assume that is good because you are here. They may be there because this is the only place I can go to, but your food sucks.
Speaker 3:But I can talk to you and tell you I miss that. I miss the community, entrepreneur, relationship and conversation, because they understood the value of Good customer service and rapport. I don't exist if you don't come in here and patron my, my business, and I can't buy if you're not here, familiar with the business, and I can't buy if you're not here for me. So we have to talk. It's the same thing that should happen in politics. It's the same thing that should go on in our cities and states. Why are you in that position if you're not talking to me? You service me, but we don't understand that they we get treated like we should be serving and it should be the other way around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I always say that to people to encourage them to speak up.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:I'm all about public comments, cuz it's your time, I like. I feel like I've said this recently. Maybe it was on one of these episodes where everyone's always like, yeah, it doesn't matter, they don't listen to you anyway. Yeah but I'm like but no, literally they have to. Nothing else is going on in the room except your voice in those three minutes. Yeah so use it.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:What are they? Whether they receive it or not, whatever, who cares? It's your time, own it. Yeah, and that's one of the things I tell them. I'm like they work for you, don't? Be scared, do not be scared walking up to that microphone. They work for you. They have to listen to you. And if they don't, that's on them and they're gonna suffer the consequences of that, of not receiving your input because, you have valid input. Yes, so say it. You have to.
Speaker 3:You have to it makes a difference. Yeah, let me tell y'all something. Maureen is one of the most fearless public commentser. In three minutes, this chicken, this chick, will read you everything that is right and wrong in the world, calling out names, oh my god. And she does it with such fearlessness, but she understands the power of. These are my three minutes. So what did Maxine say? She's gonna reclaim her time and Maureen is gonna get up there and she's gonna speak. And I encourage People all the time. I don't care if you write your comment, you leave a voice message, someone's gonna hear it, somebody's gonna hear it and you worried about. Well, they're not gonna listen. If you don't say it, nobody's gonna listen because we have nothing to hear and we might not be able to respond at the time comments are made, because that's that's the legalities of it. That doesn't mean we're not taking those. That mean we're not listening, because when those meetings are over and we have these other sub meetings where we can talk about it, it's coming up. Believe me, we're discussing it.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. And I've even said to I'm like I don't kid, they're like you. They're not even allowed to respond. I don't, I don't want them to respond, like I don't want to hear your response, like it's probably gonna be BS anyway. So just like, leave it. Let me just say what I have to say and you guys do what you want with yeah.
Speaker 2:And it does. It really does make it dip, not just my vote. Like I've seen it, so many people get up and give that three minutes and it gets repeated, right. They just like it's things that they don't think about. And then I hear them repeat it in other spaces the subcommittees or wherever else um it does it amplifies.
Speaker 4:It really does amplify.
Speaker 2:I think it was on the record a lot of times too, they have to write it down Like I like to record it. Yeah, yeah and kept in the city website. Yup, yeah, yeah, yeah, I think about that sometimes.
Speaker 3:How like you should have a whole episode of all of your public comments, like a montage. That would be so fly. You did a montage of all your your public comments.
Speaker 2:I'm out. Go and find them all. That would be hilarious. I like to think I'm diplomatic to fierce, but diplomatic you are till you get ticked off.
Speaker 3:And if you, if you if you come in fired up child. There were times when I was like, go ahead, maureen, I'll wait, like you got it. Go ahead when yeah, when she's fired, she's fired, but I'm going to tell you her passion or heart's in the right place. You piss many a person off, but you did it because I'd rather piss you off, but I'm going to make sure these people are getting helped, so yeah, I'm willing to take the pride of the anger at community and then everyone else is like the good cop on the back, like I come in
Speaker 3:and freak out, and then everyone else just sounds real.
Speaker 2:Like okay, listen to that.
Speaker 3:There were a couple of times she would say my name is Maureen Galendo. Yeah, I know some of you already know me, like I know we have beef, but yeah, so you should do a montage of your, your public comments.
Speaker 2:I still say that I'm not trying to sound scared, just like they already know who I am.
Speaker 1:So that's how I am.
Speaker 2:Every time, in front of us all, I'm like. You want to know me. It's me again. My favorite three minutes of the month.
Speaker 3:Hello, it's me again. Yeah, I do do that.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love my three. I want to do like a um gosh, how can we do that? Like train people on public comments.
Speaker 3:Just have the meetings, just try them. You know the training is, let it start right now. I don't care if you do, if you speak broken English, if you don't speak, but maybe three words. Well, if you only speak Spanish or whatever your native language is, I don't care if you cannot read. Open your mouth and speak. Let me tell you, I was a part of our sale work group that had to create a policy and we had people show up that were affected by the reason we needed to create that policy, and they would come and speak every single meeting and I would have them reach out to me afterward and some of them was like you know, I know I didn't. I didn't. You know sound right, I know you sounded perfect. I don't need to hear you talking proper, I need to hear you tell the truth, and that's what everyone else needs to hear.
Speaker 3:When it came down to the vote before council, those people came and spoke the very way they spoke and our meetings is how they spoke before council and it got passed because the people heard the truth. So let this be one on one in public speaking. Just get them to tell you truth, just that's all. You don't need anything but your truth, that's it. You don't need to go over it, rehearse it. I mean, if you need to, you need to, but all you need is your truth. And who can tell that better than you?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, whatever it is, it's going to sound good.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I would say this people out. There's been many times where I got up and just sounded ridiculous.
Speaker 3:Or you thought you didn't.
Speaker 2:Everyone always thinks, they do I always say everyone always thinks that they sound ridiculous afterward. I always tell that to people too. I'm like you're going to be done and you're going to think I should have said this. I should have done that. I sounded like this and like it was amazing.
Speaker 3:It was perfect.
Speaker 2:It was exactly how it was meant to be. You have to believe that Absolutely and just keep on doing it and every time you'll get better and better and more confident. And then, when you start seeing your voice make the impact, make that ripple effect, there's just no greater feeling in the world. It was giving me chills when you were talking about those people Going up coming to city council and speaking their truth. That stuff just like it is everything for me, because representative democracy is not the ideal framework for a government.
Speaker 2:It would ideally be a people powered government, but it's what we have, and so if our representatives don't hear you, then they're not going to know, they're literally not going to know.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, we had one she. She showed up in an arm cast Because she had asked management to fix something at her apartment complex repeatedly and they didn't and she ended up falling and breaking her arm. We had people show up with blown up pictures of the mold and how the walls and ceiling had fallen because of leaks above them and you can see she rocking everything in their living room and mold everywhere. Had they not have come even though I was on this? I was selected because of my work, but I said yes because of my passion. I went in with passion. That right there ignited a dynamite in me because no human should ever live like that. But has she not a common shared that I would only go off for what I thought I knew. So they were literally passing around. They made posters and everything. They passed these pictures and posters around so you could see we're not just going to tell you what we're going through. How about we show you proof? Do you know what that did for me, girl?
Speaker 3:I went home and I was studying, taking notes and trying to figure out what is it I could bring to the next meeting. To make sure, because I know we're always being recorded to make sure, even if I just have to say whether everyone else votes or not is it gets said by me. When they went before the council and shared, I was watching online because I couldn't make it in person. That day I was bawling and screaming, I was cheering and clapping because I was so proud of them. It takes a lot to get up and tell someone that you're living in these conditions. That takes a lot of vulnerability and heart. But when the council responded and was saying thank you for sharing your, you can tell it was that public comment section on top of what we ended up creating. I think it was the public comment section beyond what we created. What we created just had to back up the need. But them talking oh my God, that was it.
Speaker 3:So anyone, anyone, please I don't care what city or state you live in show up. Show up at these meetings. Don't just let them make decisions on your life for you. Show up and open your mouth. I don't care if you feel like you made a mistake. I don't know how many times we thought we bombed, but you know, if you feel like you didn't do a good job, you don't know who you are affecting, because I'm going to say this. I'm going to be quiet because it's not my show.
Speaker 3:You think that they're not going to understand because of who they are and what they do. You don't know how they grew up. You may remind them of their grandmother, you may remind them of what they grew up in that they've never discussed with anyone. At our symposium, that woman came up to me. She was one of the ones that cried the entire time I was speaking and after where she came up to say thank you and started crying again and she said you reminded me of what I went through when I was growing up, as if she forgot. As if she forgot. And she said you made me look at people in those situations differently. Mind you, she grew up like that. So somewhere up in there there was a disconnect. When she became an adult, no longer had to struggle, she just remembered. So you never know who your public comment could affect. So yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 4:I encourage everybody go and speak and I imagine, even if you see that reflected in data, to see pictures and the person experiencing it is way different, absolutely, because then you put yourself in, you have that empathy and you put yourself trying to sleep under that moldy cracked ceiling or whatever or your baby's trying to, so that really is effective.
Speaker 3:Because that is going to say woman, so you're going to be put in category as a female. If you're black or Hispanic, it'll put you there. What else was? What would that be able to say?
Speaker 2:We put, we made them put single mom onto the right data.
Speaker 3:Right. So maybe that maybe that, but what else? What else can what I described you with by the broken arm and mold and sheet rocking your living room on the floor? What? How can you put that in data? Yeah, it's going to say statistics of female Hispanic income level below AMI. That's it.
Speaker 2:Head of household.
Speaker 3:Head of household. Yeah, how many children? Maybe that's it. What about the broken arm? What about how long they begged to have something done and couldn't get help? That's not going to be in there. That's why opening your mouth and us representing and us helping and speaking up, that's what they need to hear. Thank you for the numbers, I appreciate that, but thank you for showing up with your broken arm and your baby on your breast.
Speaker 1:Thank you, mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what's making the difference. Thank you, nikki, for doing all of that. I want to ask you about your podcast and I want you to you know. Let us know All about it. Um, two podcasts. Yes you're coaching business and kind of what your goals are there.
Speaker 3:So I actually have a few podcasts, and right now the main ones are the queen's takeover. The queen's takeover podcast airs live every Tuesday at 7 pm Central standard time on facebook and youtube simultaneously. I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:We got you talking all um, my solo podcast.
Speaker 3:Um, I have a new one that starts in november. That's called dearly becoming, and I'm crossing it over Along with my life coaching business because I want to help people become the best version of themselves, and a lot of the times, to become the best version of you, you have to become some things that you've been, some mindsets and some ways and habits. So what I'm going to have is amazing guests on that will share their stories of how they got from where they were to where they are. We're going to have this open and honest conversations, because even if you are becoming the best version of yourself Doesn't mean you don't go through life and life does not life, because sometimes life be life and right things happen. So I'm super excited about that, which I will be recording here in this amazing studio. Thank you more, rean, for that. Um, yeah, so very excited about it and it will be released. It'll start being released late november.
Speaker 3:Um, my life coaching business. So I have been doing life coaching before at a term I was the person that was always trying to coach someone through Difficulties of life, and that passion comes from a lot of what I talked about today. When you go through things and you have the answers to help other people come out of it or go through it. Why not share it's like with you and your, your therapist Um business? I'm sorry, was that supposed to talk about that? Is that okay? Yeah, you know you want to help people get through the complexities of life and help them to overcome, and so that's a joy and passion of mine.
Speaker 3:Um, I help Everyone, and I know you're never supposed to say that you're supposed to niche it down, but I actually do help millennials with transitioning Um. I also help people that are transitioning through Um. Sometimes they're experiencing grief or loss, like they've been married for 40 years, that spouse dies and they don't know how to start the new chapter of life, and so we have those areas of transitioning, along with so many other things, and so I would love to work with anyone who's interested, who's watching. Please get in contact with me and let's have a discovery call and see if we are a great fit for each other.
Speaker 2:But where they find you they can find child everywhere.
Speaker 3:So I will have a youtube channel up very, very soon. I don't know by the time this goes up, but it's called dearly becoming. But you can email me right now at nickyjshinatjimocom. You can find me on instagram at coach nick the overcomer. You can also find me on facebook as nicky johnson Um, my podcast, the queen's takeover podcast. You can find that on youtube and facebook and I hope you can hear me, or it's on the screen right now, but I'll put it on the thank you so much. I can hear you just fine.
Speaker 2:Oh great.
Speaker 3:Okay great so yeah, that's how you can get in contact with me perfect.
Speaker 4:I just keep thinking of my experience with my previous church and how I was trying to get them. It was your idea, but to use their empty parking lot back Um during covid that was covid right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4:To use their empty parking lot, um, for houseless folks living in their cars, yeah, and they rejected that idea like, didn't even like consider it. The pastor was like we don't want to scare our kids and I was just so angry with that. And you know, I ended up leaving the church not too long after that and a whole bunch of other stuff. But um, um, I don't regret that now. I don't regret, you know, stirring, trying to stir the pot because of that, because families?
Speaker 2:I don't know. But yeah that was, I think, um.
Speaker 4:That came up recently it came up Um well at the health symposium. You shared your experience of houselessness and so on and then, when you said that, I was like she could have been one of those families that we could have helped.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean.
Speaker 4:Like, and that wouldn't have scared my kids at all, my kids probably would have played with your kids or something you know, like you know you know, so um, I don't know.
Speaker 3:I just.
Speaker 3:I'm glad you shared that. I have a desire to get a lot of different churches together and train them on how to serve the community, and Part of one of the reasons why I want to do that is because there needs to be education. There could have been a conversation that that pastor had with you to explain his fears and then you in turn explain solutions and together something could have been worked out. Because I can, I can understand you have to look out for your church members, and that's the first thing that came to mind, but that's because you go off the way. You think you know or maybe an experience you may have had or you may have heard about, but what about the thousand other different experiences?
Speaker 3:So what I want to do is bring churches together, really train them on how to serve, on how to Properly do food giveaways, on how to be open and available for Outreach in the community, because they're doing it a certain way, like the city was at one time, and this is the way that you've done it for 25 years. And just because people come and get the food, you think it's working. But what if there's a way to improve it and do it better, where you can really impact and I just give them food but change their lives. I really want to get churches together and train them in that. Like you don't know how bad I want to do it, and that would have been a great example. You know what I mean, because sometimes it just requires educating and teaching people.
Speaker 4:So I'm glad you said that. Now I'm excited to reach out to the church communities because they are so powerful. They're all over the neighborhood they're everywhere, everywhere you know. So they, they are a resource for your community because they're everywhere. Yes so whether you go to church or not, there's a church somewhere in your neighborhood, or several Doing something you're trying to do something trying to do good right, so like. Um, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'm excited. I'm glad you shared that yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, um, uh. I'll just share, I guess to finish off, how much um Nikki's Faith in God has inspired me I know that's like kind of offish to talk about on a podcast, or maybe I don't know.
Speaker 3:No.
Speaker 2:I guess this is.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of yeah, it's not off yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's your podcast, baby. What do you want to?
Speaker 3:talk about Go ahead right.
Speaker 2:I guess maybe I always feel a little bit we are talking about my personal, like you know, beliefs and spirituality and stuff, but that Maybe that's why I feel like that, but that, um, you've always been really inspiring for me to hold that faith and Just um, be, yeah, be out loud about it. And maybe that's why I'm saying this right now, because I was kind of like, should I bring it up?
Speaker 2:No, I shouldn't bring it up, like you know, but it's like because you always are out loud about it and, um, I really just appreciate that. And even, like when we were at the um health symposium and you, like, prayed over your meal, right, that's something that, like, I forget to do. I grew up doing that. Yeah like I often forget, and it's just like reminders for me, and so thank you for that and um, I love that you have to share that faith system with you too.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. This has been great. I am, you know, I'm proud of em of you, but I got to tell you publicly, publicly. I'm so proud of you. My god, every come a long way, but I'm so proud of you. You're an amazing mom, you are an amazing wonder woman and you are such an inspiration. You inspire me all the time. Just the news you gave me before we started, and I'll keep that between us. I'm so inspired by you, so I love you and I appreciate you, and you are just as amazing. It's been a pleasure getting to know you and just hearing your heart today. You're quiet, but you're very powerful.
Speaker 4:You're very, very powerful, my pleasure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I make some incredible friends. Thank you guys so much.
Speaker 3:Why we were all living in the same area.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, let's go hang on that land Just go cool this water.
Speaker 4:For real, Seriously and you know it's so funny Um the resilience of of humans and you know, Because we do. We go up, we go through these up and downs and despite having these, you know, different emotions and lows and ideas. Yeah like I. I got my dba today. I. I, I yeah so like I thank you, so like you know, that's a big deal for me.
Speaker 4:You know, so even yesterday I was having similar feelings, like wanting to give up on things and everything and and then it's like All right, new, new, new dawn, new day.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 4:Gotta keep on keeping on and yeah and not not just that, but having faith, faith in ourselves, yes, which you definitely bring that sort of vibe and inspire me to like, because I can, you know, slip up on that sometime. So so, yeah, so it's, it's been a good day, and so. I'm so grateful that you're here and to share your knowledge and time and space with us.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thank you, maureen, thank you. Y'all are important to me so much today, so I appreciate this.
Speaker 2:I know I wish that we could just like hang out with you and do this every day right.
Speaker 4:I just want to hang out here every day right.
Speaker 2:Right and just talk, because I love these conversations. The realness, um yeah, I'm just really grateful for the authenticity.
Speaker 3:Thank you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, any, any closing thoughts? Anybody?
Speaker 4:Hopefully you can come back I would love to.
Speaker 3:I just want to encourage anybody out there going through something um, keep your head up. Believe me, I understand I. I almost wanted to cancel Everything that could have tried to go wrong with my podcast. That goes up tonight Was going wrong on top of other things and it was just exhausting. But you know what you go through those ebbs and flows. I was in a low. I come here to do this and I'm leaving so inspired, so energetic. I was reminded of why I do what I do, and sometimes those lows come to make you give up, because there's a lot against you that doesn't want to see you succeed, but there's so much more for you that wants to see you make it. So don't give up. Don't. If you have to call a friend to encourage you, do so. Whatever you do, don't you give up. This world needs you. So taking yourself out is not the answer. Giving up is not the answer. You've come way too far. So I just want to encourage you in that, if you are going through that, you keep your head up.
Speaker 2:Thank you, niki. Did you have you added motivational speaker to?
Speaker 1:your yeah, so people can hire you. Yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:Good. So yeah, on your LinkedIn, or girl? I have to redo that LinkedIn. Yeah, I have to redo that thing, but yeah it is linked in the like that professional website, or is it yeah?
Speaker 3:it's this, it was professional. It's a little bit, not now, I don't know, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:What's the thing with the?
Speaker 4:it has all the it's your like social media but like job that's linked in it. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:It's almost like a resume on social media.
Speaker 2:I'm talking about then like on instagram where it's like you click on it or something and it has all of oh, the link tree.
Speaker 3:Link tree, yes, yes, yes. Um, I haven't just put motivational speaker on the link tree, but I think I may do that because I'm in the process of revamping all of it. I stay so busy out in life doing the work that, when it comes to social media, I you know it was a bit neglectful, but I understand. That's where you drum up business and you show people what you do. So I'm really working on getting better. Hence y'all been seeing me mess with my camera. I'm getting some behind the scenes footage, but I'm really working on getting better. But I'm so busy actually doing the work I'm like yeah yeah, we need to like get little clips.
Speaker 2:Yeah, whatever, yes.
Speaker 1:Behind the scenes clips. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But you get so into the work that you forget and like I was supposed to hit this three or four more times with my remote. But we're so into what we're talking about and I'm watching your eyes water up and I'm like forget that it's work to be done and then I go home and like, dang it. I got some clips so I'm working on it. But, yeah, I would love it if you all come and find me on social media.
Speaker 2:Yes, okay, yeah, and we'll have our video up too, so you can Excited screenshots or whatever Clips yeah. Alrighty, all right. Well, that's a wrap y'all. Thank you so much, nikki.
Speaker 3:Yeah, bye everyone. Thank you, I loved it. I loved it.