Transforming Lives: Jowan Smith's Mission for Youth

00:00:00 welcome to the Strategic moves podcast I’m  your host kenal and this is the podcast where we dive into issues shap in our community Youth  Empowerment and education and advocacy is what we’re going to talk about today each episode we  Spotlight change makers creating real impact and today’s guest is no exception I’m thrilled  to welcome Jawan Smith a educator advocator author who has worked in Cleveland to transform  the lives of many young people her dedication is helping families and young people succeed is  nothing short of inspiring so if this sound like

00:00:35 something you’ll be interested in what I want  you to do is sit back hit the like button hit the Subscribe button and hit the notification  Bell as well that the next so that you’ll know the next time this program comes out so what  we’re going to do is we’re gonna get right back into this program but before we get started I  want to just do a real quick shout out to our podcast producer none other than DJ true Latif  what’s going on in there brother what’s up what’s up in the back room every day is Aid running all  the controls pushing all mashing all the buttons

00:01:08 making sure we have a smooth ride let’s try to  have one today how about that that’ll be awesome with yeah yeah cuz all this cold boy these last  two days man how did you survive with the zero below temperatures on I believe it was mon Monday  Tuesday and Wednesday stayed in the house easiest way was just stay in the house and that’s all  I did I stayed back I sat back I chilled and I ain’t do much of anything so it worked out pretty  well for me I did as minimal as possible and also kicked off the fireplace had to get that fireplace  going you awesome I’m excited today because I’m

00:01:51 getting back into the mood of podcasting and  we got guests that are going to be coming in here we’re getting things up and going and we’re  working hard to try to build a better program for the people to give good contact and good content  for the masses so that’s what our goal is and so we’re going to try to keep doing this and try to  bring on better guests and keep things going and today’s guest is somebody I’m looking forward  to talking to she’s interesting I try to bring on people who I find interesting and I check out  other podcast and what other people are doing and

00:02:24 then I pick a gym or two out of that and today we  did that so it’s going to be a good conversation man sounds like a good one right let’s jump on  into it our guest today Jan is the founder of two incredible programs get our babies to college 101  which is a program that helps equip parents and young people through the college prep process  and she has another program which is called a thousand ties a life skill incentive for young  people a life skills program for young men focus on building confidence and essential skills she’s  also the author author of seven books I thought it

00:03:02 was just a few but she has seven books she is  the author of U one of them is called Grandma Hattie’s ice cream and awardwinning children  book that’s now being translated into Spanish growing up in Cleveland’s Huff neighborhood jwan  turned her experience into a mission of uplift others today we will Explore her journey her  programs and how she created brighter future for Cleveland’s youth so without further  Ado DJ let’s welcome Jawan Smith to the program Smith how you doing I’m good I’m good  thanks for having thanks for coming on the

00:03:39 program we try to do what we can and I watched you  on a couple other podcasts and out there doing the work so I figured let’s get her in here and let’s  talk to her and let the people knows what you’re up to these days I appreciate the opportunity I  love being able to not only share my story but share the purpose and the mission and hopes of  bringing more people into the work oh excellent let’s jump right into it Jan growing up in the  Huff neighborhoods a community known for strength and resilience how did your early experience shape  your passion for education and advocacy what was

00:04:15 why you get into that what was it like growing up  in Huff my Huff experience was a bit different cuz my mom was a single mom but she was more like  a drill sergeant so really she didn’t play I I didn’t go to third good wreck until I was an adult  she we didn’t go past 93rd we had to be in by a certain time she was the mama screaming out the  windows you know calling everybody to come in so I didn’t really get a lot of in the neighborhood  time I would go school home school home or to the library I spent a lot of time at the library  that was my way to get out and I played a lot

00:04:49 of sports so that was what kept me moving because  my mother was big on education and keeping us out the streets you and you said you play a lot of  sports what sports did you play volleyball was my sport of choice and then I played track just  to stay conditioned during the year okay or ran track rather but volleyball was my Sport and what  high school you went to John hey John hey okay all right so you play sports in school and kind of  did that to get out of out the house a little bit mom I’m going to the library hey you know what  it used to be a time I remember that when I was

00:05:22 growing up I’m going to the library and the walk  to the library was the adventure it wasn’t so when you made it there was one but it was the walk to  the library that was the whole key to that whole story and people just got to understand that’s  what the whole key to I’m going to the library was all about after that did you go to college  so my path was a little different I ended up I went to David and Myers or it was called D College  then yeah it was on yeah and so I had a guidance counselor that was amazing and so one day I was  just talking to him about different things that

00:05:56 I do because I was planning events my best friend  was a DJ Joe boom and he used to do kid parties and so I was helping him with promotion and Street  work I had told my guidance counselor about that type of stuff one day I’m riding and I get a call  and this this is Kim Johnson from 93 FM and I’m like what like why is Kim Johnson calling me and  so what happened was he submitted a resume that I didn’t create he created a resume and submitted it  they had a promotions position open and so I ended

00:06:26 up leaving College because I got this position at  the radio so that kind of took me down the path of promotion and working with different record labels  and traveling so I did that for a long time and then I ended up I was on the road with Yin yangang  Twins and I got sick and so I had to come home and it took them a year to figure out that I had lupus  but I was sick and so once they got me together and got my medicine together I went back to I went  to college at that time so I spent I want to say

00:06:57 nine years just out doing music stuff M before I  actually ended up going back to college you was rolling with the all that story you told me all I  in my mind thinking like she said she was rolling with the I’m thinking about Hey DJ did they make  that song whisper yeah what the whisper came all right all right well that’s yeah that was the that  was the joint too that was the joint the yinyang Twins Whisper song yeah you you was right up there  in the height of when all of that was jumping yes it had I was still with them I think I was  with them I got sick maybe like a year after

00:07:35 Whisper Song and you say it was lupus lupus yeah  and it completely took me all the way down and I’m out here on the road you know how the road is we  living out of suitcases fast you going going and I just I couldn’t function and so I had to come  home and so one doctor we went to they was saying oh she got leukemia my mama like the devil’s a  liar let’s get a second opinion and so we went to three different doctors and I got diagnosed with  hypoglycemia like they was diagnosing me with so many things and then my mom um found a specialist  okay and they finally diagnosed me with lupus but

00:08:10 see was back then lupus wasn’t as as prevent as  it is now was then people had it but people didn’t talk about it it was like it was something like a  shameful and it’s it’s something that your body is attacking itself so is it is I know more women who  get is it a woman’s disease I wouldn’t say that I would it’s definitely more prevalent in people of  color a lot of women get it I think have it they just don’t talk about maybe that’s the what you’re  saying don’t talk about okay wow and how old were

00:08:36 you when you I was 25 when I got diagnosed wow so  how was that Journey that was challenging because I had to so my lupus affects me in a way where it  affects my skin so I burn really bad I can’t do a lot of sun um my eyes are super super sensitive to  the point where I’ve had all kind of inflammations in my eye my left eye after I actually lost my  vision for a minute in my left eye because the inflammation was so bad I didn’t even know you  could get inflammation in your eye wow and then my joints were really bad so it would make it  hard for me to function my skin would hurt so

00:09:12 some days I didn’t even want to put clothes on  so imagine getting up and your whole body hurt I’m not going outside cuz I don’t want to put no  clothes on so it definitely took a minute to get adjusted to the new medicines and being aware  of I can’t sit out in this sun or my skin going on fire or I had to really be mindful of the  environments that I was in now you got better the medication got better now you with it or you  still have to really watch it at some point the sun definitely will take me out I have picnics  and all that you very I’m always with sunglasses

00:09:46 like when I came in you I always have sunglasses  on okay I usually always have a hat okay I wear sunblock I carry umbrellas everywhere I don’t play  with the sun cuz the sun will put me down wow I’m glad you’re doing better yeah I’m I’m doing a lot  better that’s great that’s great who were some of your key influencers when you were growing up that  kind of helped guide you through so my number one person of course would be my mom my grandparents  were off the hook my my grandmother Peggy Jean I

00:10:16 always tell people either I’m having a Peggy  jeene type of day or Charlie Moss so Charlie Moss was my grandfather he was real laidback my  grandmother was a pistol okay and so she would give you the business so that’s where I got my  advocacy from okay she always said everybody got a boss you write a letter so everybody got a boss  so that was her platform of how she lived life and then KY long who worked for cmsd he was one of the  athletic uh directors there um I met him at a time where I was fighting for my children and he just  loved my passion and so he taught me the proper

00:10:50 way to fight when you’re in no setting so he’s  always been someone that I’ve been super close to So when you say fighting for your children what  was that all about just being able to have a voice and use your voice where they actually listen cuz  a lot of times when you’re going especially when you’re fighting for your kids and something bad  has happened or you feel like they weren’t being treated correctly and you leave with passion but  you have to leave with passion and common sense because you go in there screaming and shaking  tables they’re not going to really move for you

00:11:21 but Cal taught me how to use my voice where I can  make effective change and so that’s actually what started my journey in philanthropy interesting  that’s show teaching you advocacy one onone cuz that’s part of it people don’t want to hear  there’s a lot of people with a lot of great causes and a lot of great ideas but the way they come  at people it’s your approach you can shake tables like I love I’ll shake a table in a minute but  I’mma shake it but you’re actually going to hear what I’m saying while I’m shaking it corre and I’m  the type of person where I don’t just fight for

00:11:49 my children I fight for everybody’s children what  inspired you to start get our babies into college 101 so getting our babies to college 101 started  because my daughter was told she had dyslexia and she wanted to go to college but somebody told her  because her dyslexia she was just going to go to work for it she wasn’t going to college really and  so for me it’s who do you think you are and then as I started to you know learn how to help her  get to College one of the people told me that I’m

00:12:17 just a parent and so that was like a trigger like  you can’t tell me what I just without parents you don’t have students without students you don’t  have a school that’s correct and so that means that I have value and so what that led me to do  was I started doing research on how to get my baby to school and then other parents started to see  and they’re like wait the schools aren’t helping us can you help me and so what in turn happened  was the school found out that I was helping parents outside of school time so the school  started to try and bring me in to help hey can you

00:12:48 come talk to the parents about FASA so giving it  a parents perspective okay A friend of mine found out about this pitch competition with Cleveland  Leadership Center called accelerate and so she’s you’re out here doing this and you’re doing it out  of your pocket go pitch this idea and see if it’s really a thing and so I pitched in 2017 and I won  the education category and so Eric Gordon was one of my judges and when I say that next week he had  his people find me and I had a meeting with him

00:13:14 and that next week I had a contract I tell people  my business had a body before it had legs because I was trying to catch up because Eric’s like my  parents need this assistance like we need to be in these buildings teaching them what it looks  like to get ready ready for college and how to prepare and you know how to make the best decision  because a lot of time as parents we have this big vision of what we want for our children but how  many times have we sat down and ask our children what they want this is true and I can credit that  to I did a program for college now and we’ll talk

00:13:49 a little bit about it let’s get into that this why  I say my programs go over we had a I was doing a program for college now they wanted us to do some  recruiting for them and they had two programs they had a one program they wanted us to recruit in the  city of Cleveland to recruit adults telling them they can go back to school and there was resources  to help them go back to get their GED and so on and so forth and then they had another program  that they were doing that was a program they just had certain areas Cleveland Heights was one  of the areas that they wanted us to go there and

00:14:22 knock on doors of students and parents to get more  kids enrolled into the program they their numbers were low in that school believe it or not and  it was like I believe yeah I was shocked cuz all my kids graduated from and all of them went  to college and and but every year as my kids got older they all kept saying the school was changing  it’s changing that it ain’t the same it ain’t the same and but with that I learned from the people  who were going knocking on doors talking to them that the parents that’s who I want to talk about  the parents who were seemed like they were so not

00:14:59 engag engaged in that whole process themselves  having the guides and everything else just one thing we’re going to really talk about how great  that is but since we’re here let’s talk about these parents these parents it was one case where  somebody knocked on the door and they asked the kid kid came to the door and was like oh we wasn’t  going blindly we were going to doors where kids in school filled out the paper said they wanted to  get information about going to college but they were underage and you had to get their parents  consent to do they were sending us to the doors to

00:15:30 knock for the parents to say hey can you sign this  form cuz Little Johnny want to go to college and he just wanted to get you the information and we  knocked on doors there was parents who came to the door was like he don’t want to go to school they  ain’t going to college they it ain’t happening and then one guy came I the one that got us the  most was the one who the son we said he filled out the form he said he wanted to go he called  and he came downstairs and the parent was like you filled out this for me you say you want to go  to college and the kid was like yeah I want to go

00:15:59 he said you really want to go and the the kid  looked at him got intimidated said no I don’t really want to go and he just walked away these  parents so with parents you you getting multiple different situations so you’re getting the  parents that have never went to college you’re getting parents that have may not have graduated  from high school so it’s intimidating then when you’re talking about fast forood now you’re  talking about getting in people business so that’s a major issue and I think that’s why the  schools felt value in what I do because I’m coming

00:16:29 as a parent I’m not coming as a school person  so they might feel a little more comfortable telling me different situations cuz we all know  people got different stuff they doing under the table or they don’t want the government in their  business and then some people just feel like they child won’t do well at college and this could be  a part of not having a discussion have you asked your child what it is they want to do they’re not  having those discussions or they might have never even thought that this was a possibility because  of their financial situation so you’re walking

00:17:00 into so many different things and you’re walking  in blind and then there’s the other side which is where I advocate a lot where parents don’t even  feel like they’re a part of the process so now okay my child a senior I ain’t heard from you in  four years three years they’ve been in your school now hear you come popping up on my door telling  me you can get my kid to college what do you know about my kid what do you know about us you haven’t  tried to include me in the process prior to so why are you here now so now you get that push back  because the parents didn’t feel like they were

00:17:29 part of the process parents don’t feel welcome  but it’s but the kids suffer they do but I think that’s because the relationships are not there the  schools have to learn that it’s a partnership the school won’t sign fast for that’s not your role  your the role of the parent is important so they need to build those relationships freshman year  so this I know we ain’t come on to talk about this but I can’t help it I agree because I’m  disappointed in the parents these days and I’m not here to bash them at all it’s different times  and the times are different and I get and that’s

00:18:05 why I’m really giving it a break this the parents  are not the same parents that I get all of that parents are younger they’re younger they’re  younger and then people are on instant money everything is instant and quick yeah so when you  look at go to four school for four years and then come back out with 20 $30,000 in debt we’re not  doing that MH so that that’s where people could be with it I’m not speaking for all and I don’t  think that it’s parents that don’t care I just think they are they uninformed they don’t know  especially with people of color what we do not

00:18:39 want to acknowledge when we don’t know stuff pride  is an issue being able to come in and say yeah I don’t know I didn’t go to college I didn’t do  a fast for instead of coming in and saying hey can you help me with this so what would make you  different you had challenge you had a daughter who was dyslexic who obviously was going to have some  challenges in going you knew that she wanted to go and she knew heck she had to be just as scared  as anybody else and you also fill in that thing so what was the difference what made you say not  only I’m going to do this but I’m GNA do it for

00:19:08 others I had the conversation with my children I  talked to M what do you want to do what’s the goal because we need to start working in Middle School  to figure out how to put this plan together so we start in middle school and that’s what I teach  people it doesn’t start in ninth grade because if you start a nth grade to me I feel like you’re  behind already because for some reason ninth graders feel like it’s a free year they just just  getting there it’s they freshman they having fun so if you’re counting on ninth grade year most  kids do not do well freshman year and isn’t I’m

00:19:37 mistaken from the fast for test and all of that  when you get ready not the fast for but your test isn’t the ninth grade year is the most important  grade is the 11th grade the most important year I know one of them was to be like the most important  grade out all of you cannot blow that year 11th grade year is the most important year but when  it comes to starting to navigate that proc eth grade is the most important because now  especially in Cleveland they have high schools that are specific to different career Fields  okay so if you can get a jump on that and go to

00:20:09 a school that has manufacturing or a school that  has cosmetology or a school that has a nursing program or STNA program then you can pick a high  school based off of what your field is and go to that and you might decide that’s not even what  you want to do and then you’ll be like a lot of adults that we know that went to school picked  a career did it for a year or two and they’re like this is terrible and now they got to start  all over because people aren’t doing shadowing they’re not doing internships they’re not seeing  what the career actually is they’re going based

00:20:37 off of what other people have said or what they  see on TV so let’s since we on education because we you got a lot to cover here but we gonna  stay on education and we rolling good what about the myth let’s talk about cmsd the myth of  the school itself not I’m not going want to pick on the schools but let’s talk about the enrollment  because that’s the biggest thing right now is that numbers that don’t seem to be in the school  and that kind of thing and the thing that’s surrounding I know cmsd has his issues of growing  and everything but is there any myth out there

00:21:10 that you want to that you can really say you know  what people think this but cmsd is really doing this and this is really good I think it depends  on what specifically you’re looking for see MZ has some great like I said the Independent Schools  the small schools I think that was a good thing you can pick a school that has a specific program  but when you’re looking at different opportunities as a parent you have to make a decision if my  child wants to play football to go to cmsd for opportunity they got to go to G Academy if they  want to play basketball and have opportunities

00:21:46 where you going Glenville or road so you have to  be as a parent you have to make the best decision for your child and so I would say if I had to  say the best thing about cmsd right now is the small schools M having the opportunity to get on  the hand on on on the job training East Tech has the culinary program so if you can get into one  of those programs I would say that’s probably one of the best things that cmsd has to offer  right now that’s excellent excellent and your kids went through cmsd both of mine graduated from  cmsd my daughter came out of tech and my son is a

00:22:19 hornet like me oh okay all right how old are your  kids my daughter is 27 and my son is 23 27 and 2 and let’s talk about your son because I think your  son is probably one of the reasons why you got your other business got going the other business  you got started and that is a thousand ties yes which is a b organization that you put together  tell everybody what a thousand ties is all about so I started a thousand ties after I watched  my son teach himself how to tie tie on YouTube and so it just made me think of all of the other  single parents who might not have had a guy around

00:22:59 or a male influence to be able to teach their son  that skill and then I started to watch my son and his friends and the lack of communication and the  way they communicate and the way they engage with females and I’m just like man it’s so many basic  things like my son knows it because I teach him and then I have a lot of guy cousins and so like  my cousin Antoine he’s like his step in dad and so he’s had that influence so I see it with him  but then I’m looking at his friends and they’re not doing when they are next to to each other  they’re texting instead of talking or when they

00:23:31 go out with a girl they’re not opening doors or  they don’t they don’t have those basic skills and so that led me to want to have a day of community  for them and so what I think with young men I feel like they get overlooked we talk about them  when they do something bad but we’re not creating opportunities to avoid something bad and so  my thought was to have a day and so that was when the Thousand TI event came and so after the  first year like we had such a great success with we did it in partnership with cmsd but then when  they left I got sad because I’m like man we had

00:24:03 them for S hours we might have taught them a few  things but now what so let’s talk about because a thousand TI Why the name a thousand TI I’m it  could have been okay tie day but what made you come up with a thousand ties and tell us what the  event actually was so I had this idea of me and coming together to help the boys learn how to tie  ties and so I was talking to our Grimes and I’m like y’all should help get through the ties with  the kids and he’s no you’re going to do it and I’m like but I’m a woman and so he but you’re a  mom and I’ll support you and so I said okay where

00:24:36 am I going to get these ties from and so I said  maybe if I ask the community to help me collect a thousand ties then like we could use a thousand  ties for a long time and so the first year we actually collected 10,000 ties woo lordy the first  year oh man okay no they should have been 10,000 right I was pushing it because I’m a person I  don’t like asking people and stuff so I’m like I want to be greedy so I’m like maybe if we could  just try to collect a thousand times let ask old ignorant question what was you like when you got  10,000 times I know you where did they come all

00:25:09 to your house and everything at first they were in  my house in my living room stacked up in storage totes and my brother came over one day he said  girl if you don’t get a St unit cuz I’m like wow I want to make sure that we got them cleaned they  were all kind of new time all kind of yeah like I wanted to make sure we was in them correctly and  so I’m like I didn’t want to do storage get this stuff out your Li room so I ended up getting  a storage unit and then NFL Alumni Association reached out to me and so they actually had NFL  players just start sending me boxes and boxes

00:25:47 wow of ties wow and so we went from the smallest  storage unit and went up like three sizes within the first year because we had so many ties what  you do it all them ties we them out every year we give them out we at our I imagine you’re not  asking for any more ties right now oh no we always collecting you still you still collecting  cuz we recycle them out like soon as we get them clean and we go right out we go to people’s events  we’re all summer people can book us and we come out so how you get a tie how do you get one from  us yeah you just called it email us we just took

00:26:19 a box of ties to a a cmsd school last week they  emailed and said they were having something and they needed some ties okay we box them up and drop  them off so people know like they don’t have to do tie collections because we have them so they can  call us I get calls from all over we get ties from all over the country literally people in the ties  all right so let’s talk about the event all right so now I got all these ties I said okay they in my  living room brother convinced me put them in the

00:26:44 storage room now I got to actually do something  with these ties so what did you do so we have our annual event it’s in February and we did it in  February intentionally because it’s black history month so all of our presenters are people of color  the boys have a full day they get workshops they get continental breakfast they get lunch but I  always look at things as a parent so I wanted to make sure I eliminated all barriers so we wanted  to give our moms a day of self-care so we do yoga we have a licensed psychologist and then our  moms have a open forum and so for them it’s

00:27:17 giving them community so other moms that might be  dealing with stuff that you’re dealing with and it’s usually like the Hot Topic like we have to  kick the moms out they have so much fun and then we um also so created we have Finish Line is our  sponsor and so they have a kids room okay so their staff come and they volunteer and they play games  and they have snacks and we get a character so the kids have their own room and then this year our  grinds will be bringing a Fatherhood Initiative so they’ll be doing their fatherhood table talk so  this will be the first year that the fathers have

00:27:47 their own workshops okay and we have last year  we had 40 organizations giving away free stuff free items free information we have basketball  games so it’s just a full day of activity this year the Warrenville band will be kicking us off  so and y’all be at where we’ll be Warrenville he high school you’ll be at War so you done Str for  wings you out that in Cleveland we were doing it in Cleveland and then the pandemic hit and so with  pandemic hit the first year we didn’t do anything we had a resource event so because we couldn’t be  inside we partnered with the East Side school and

00:28:22 the West Side school and we set up tables and all  of our partners that come and set up tables and we just let families driveth through but then the  next year when the world was opening cmsd still wasn’t doing big events okay so uh Mr Jolly was  like come on over it’s Jolly a good dude I love Jolly Jolly good jolly do not play about them  kids he don’t I knew Mr Jolly when he was over at was it Adams I think it was Adams if this gonna  benefit his kids you can come with it wow yes he’s a good dude hey tell me about share us a success  story from the program did you like the impact

00:28:58 one of the students that you did your program  and you said he’s a product of mine this is what I’m going to say so we have one young man he’s  actually an international model now we talked about that’s right yes Julian is a model you can  see him on Time Square he be in the mall I know he was doing Ru 21 he’s had some real really big  contracts I think all last summer he was in Japan he travels the country and he’s a professional  model and for a minute he was on our board so I had him on our board and he’s just been great  he comes to the event every year and the kids

00:29:32 just love to see him and because he famous Big  Time famous ab and what school did he go to he went to East Tech with my daughter oh excellent in  this world with all this technology and everything that’s going on why do you think soft skills like  tying to tie or writing in cursive or all these little bases I think you do etiquette classes with  these gentlemen and everything why is you why you think that’s really important these days because  think they need to be able to stand on their own outside of Technology they need to be able to  represent themsel in the best way especially for

00:30:05 our young men our black and brown boys they need  to be able to be seen and the skills we teach them it gives them confidence it teach them Stress  Management it teaches them how to be the best version of themselves people laugh when I tell  them we do sewing and they’re like you teach boys to sew yes we do because sewing is multi-purpose  we cut on the jazz music they concentrate it gives them it’s a distraction it’s a stress reliever and  it gives them a skill so they’re getting multiple things and the boys usually are better than the  girls with someone it’s really wild because I grew

00:30:40 up and I was the only guy in the house with my  grandmother and I had aunts and they had daughters I was the only guy in the house so I learned how  to sew I learned how to do all of that but I also went to I used to teach us home back we used to  have to remember you us have to se that little and they don’t have any of those classes don’t  have of those they don’t have that we do our stem project our stem chapter and they get to  build robots and so with that they’re learning how to read instructions they’re learning how  to read blueprints they’re learning about tools

00:31:12 they’re getting to use tools so basic stuff  because you’ll be surprised don’t know how to use a screwdriver don’t know how to use a hammer  and just not to say build something but just like you say to be able to everything you get now you  got to put it together so just to be able to do that is is a real really good skill and on the  etiquette side of learning proper etiquette I think is just something that every guy should  learn it’s so funny that I’ve had kids come back and they miss SMI I took a girl on a date  and she was so shocked I put my napkin in my lap

00:31:42 and I’m like see I’m trying to tell you you got  earned a couple points off something as small as putting a napkin in your lap but it’s something  that long term you’ll really need that skill you really need that skill and and it helps you not  even for just that young but you’re going to be in a office set and you going to go out just with  even some of your coworkers and just for them to know okay you really got your stuff together or  you can you got some kind of decency that’s all I’m trying not come on people and our brothers  really needed so I really kudos to you reaching

00:32:17 out in the program still going on now yes we’re  all three Invictus campuses so we work more with the non-traditional students so the students that  are life is happening or as they say life is life and so a lot of them have children they might be  homeless different situations children in school with children 100% wow 100% cuz we work with  girls too I’m acting like I’m shocked but it was like was in school but they’re eager because  life is stuff is happening and they need to know what Sal manella is cuz we do a kitchen safety  class so understanding that understanding how

00:32:49 to fill out paperwork we do handwriting so  they can learn how to write their signature when they’re signing for documents we’ve had kids  come in bring leases because people be trying to do they really be territory trying to get these  kids and sign having them sign up for stuff they know that they can’t afford and so once we build  that trust they come in and they like Auntie look what these people gave me do this make sense and  the goal is to yes to teach them life skills but and to teach them how to Advocate but to create  a form of family because a lot some of them don’t

00:33:20 have family so a lot of them call me auntie and  I I don’t have a problem with that because that means that you trust me and before you make a  major decision maybe you’ll come and ask first before you go sign your life away because a lot  of us have done that we just sign and stuff and that’s you get caught up in a 10year contract for  something you paying for three times over that’s correct so just getting them to understand what  real life actually looks like that’s excellent excellent and like you say if you just want to tie  you just call your organization 100% we always got

00:33:51 ties we come to people’s events you have to book  us three weeks in advance though CU we book up especially in the summer but we come to events  we do tie lessons if you’re ever at an event people walking around with t-shirts with ties on  We There we do both ties no we don’t do both TI oh what just regular teach me how to put my assc  in with my little I put my ass one of my board members he’s a Q and so he’s supposed to be  teaching us how to do that but right now it’s just regular TI yeah B time would be nice now  you see that guy who say I actually had to tie

00:34:26 my bow tie for my wedding and I leared that  from you that would be so awesome let’s keep it moving here you’re not just a community leader  and all of your stuff you’re an author and you so here told me you done wrote seven books now that’s  impressive seven books so go on and lay them out name them all what’s all seven books you done  wrote my top book of course is Grandma has ice cream give me an order what was the first one in  this world my first book is Zari goes to college and that was accident I interviewed Margaret  Bernstein at the author’s Expo some years ago

00:34:58 and so she flipped the interview on me and was  like have you ever wrote a book and I’m like marget I don’t write I do workshops and she’s have  you ever journaled or Tak notes and I’m like when I go on College visits to my do my research for  curriculum I said I took notes I took my grandson and so she gets a book and I’m like it’s not a  book and she it’s a book and I put it together and she actually edited for me so my first book  Is edited by a Grammy winning author wow that’s cute and so zakari goes to college is the first  book and then the second book was Grandma Hattie

00:35:29 so Grandy Grandma Hattie’s ice cream it teaches  numbers and colors using scoops of ice cream and so the first time I released it was just a  regular book and that one was on Amazon’s top 25 twice when it first released wow and then the  next book I did the second in the zakari series so is that what so I gave you Grandma Hattie and  so the second zakari book is zari’s carnival adventure and so I partnered with the a Cleveland  police detective and and so she put safety tips in the book and then the next book I released Grandma  hadie as a coloring book let put this on while she

00:36:06 talking yeah so now it came out as a coloring book  and then the next book I released was Maya and so Maya is a play on Marsha and so she gets out of  the baby gate and it’s all about her day out of the baby gate and then each one of my books in the  back there’s some sort of resource so Grandma had these ice cream there’s a ice cream recipe my  there’s a listing of ways to keep baby safe the zakari books both have resources in the back and  then I have a book called A to Z with me it’s a activity book for kids to learn their alphabet and  to be able to write words out and so that one’s

00:36:41 just available on Amazon and then I just released  Grandma Hattie’s ice cream in Spanish wow oh and then I got a very Moss Christmas I forgot about  that one oh very Moss Christmas yes so My Family’s last name is moss okay and the book is a alphabet  book and it’s everything on Christmas A to Z with my grandparents yeah so how you get inspired to  just do the books what made you say I heard how she told you that and after that you get that but  what made you say because there’s a lot of rams of

00:37:13 books you can get into you can write there people  write love stories and people write so what made you say I’m going to stay in this this this kind  of genre because my grandson didn’t have books with characters of color so he has a lot of books  that was teaching numbers and colors but none of the characters look like him wow and so that’s why  Grandma hadie I was actually working on a whole another book and I kept dreaming about my grandma  hadie and I’m like okay I got it I I’ll write this book you keep coming to me and so I wrote that  book and it just and I wrote that book in 2020

00:37:44 I want to say and I’m still selling huge numbers  on that book yeah Maple just bought about 4,000 books I think wow they buy books every other  year okay and then they put them in their book vending machines for the kids and stuff okay so  that’s that you once you get like into that kind of loop you it’s every time they need books they  going to call they like this as a book for their school and with their that’s awesome and so any  all of your books or just this one you got there Maple has Mara and Grandma hadti and then with  Grandma Hattie we come out and we make ice cream

00:38:17 with the kids so they can book us for we call it  it’s a stem activity because the kids get to do the measurements some people book us and they just  get a kids ice cream but some of them will book us and the kids get to actually make ice cream how  old are these kids when you saying they booking you come what age Ran So I read all the way up to  grade six actually okay the big kids love Grandma hat they say it look like media on the book it  does costume version of media for sure yeah they say it look like M they like it and then my book  readings are very interactive it’s a lot of call

00:38:48 and response in those two books it gets very  loud when we read those books oh that’s that’s very creative and very so you’ve been able  to take that turned that into a foundation and turned it into way of working and means of  employment and Entrepreneurship and author and all of my characters are real people so those  are like Maya that’s my granddaughter so I use real people in real life situations oh Grandma  hat is grandma that’s my grandma that’s grandma you said okay the little girl that’s my cousin  Aubrey okay so I use real characters in the book

00:39:22 Maya Maya is Maya is my granddaughter and then  the little boy in the book zakari is my grandson so all of the characters are real people my goal  is to write a book that features every person in my family to continue with the m Legacy so that’s  my goal so what made you decide to go with this AR Artistry and find and there what made you did they  give you had to pick through I imagine and what made you I’m looking at the theme of you use the  same artist I used the same guy I actually found him on Fiverr and so yeah some people say had  bad experience he’s I had good and bad he’s done

00:40:00 all of my books he’s actually working on a book  for me right now awesome when you find somebody good you get somebody okay yeah so I I and then he  knows the characters so he’s created the original one so if the next book has the same characters it  just makes sense to go with the same person that’s awesome that’s awesome and and how long this  whole journey on the author books and everything the first book of zakari that came out in 2020  so initially I was releasing like two two to three books a year wow and I had had to pull back  cuz I was like whoa that’s a lot so cuz I was and

00:40:32 then I re-released Grandma hadie I re-released it  as a coloring book and now I’m re-releasing it in Spanish my next book will probably be releasing in  the summer the one he’s working on now so that’ll be my two for this year so I’ll be done that’s  awesome you going to do a coloring book which you don’t see a lot of them yeah the coloring book is  out already okay yeah you should do some puzzles what I’m working on is so the pictures if you  look at the pictures the game memory where you flip the cards so the ice creams I’m making it a  memory game okay so that’ll come out in Christmas

00:41:06 at Christmas time that’s what I’m saying you  got it going on DJ you got something for Miss Smith before we let her take us out of here yeah  I wanted to know if you had an idea to to write a book what’s the first steps that you need to  do to you know to make that go into fruition so when it comes to books I’m always tell people  I’m a dream writer so I dream and then I wake up and write so I tell people if it’s something and  it keeps waking you up and you can’t forget it then it’s a book but you have to start writing  you have to write stuff down even if you do like

00:41:49 voice recording take your ideas and put it down  on paper or on a computer and walk away from it for a couple weeks and then walk back and if it  still is warm on your heart then move forward with it cuz sometimes you have an idea and you put it  down and then when you walk away you come back and you like that don’t even make sense I don’t want  to do that like I want to do that right like the book I was working on before Grandma hadie I’ve  never released that book it’s still sitting on my computer cuz I just don’t it didn’t sing to me yet  so if you want to write a book put the ideas down

00:42:24 walk away from it and then come back to it and  if it’s still seem like it’s a thing then move forward but make sure you’re telling the story  that you want to tell like I’ve had people call me like oh write a book about this I don’t know  that I can’t write I I don’t know anything about that that’s not a story for me to write that’s  I was going to ask you have you thought about writing anything other has anything came to you  that you other than like the children thing that you think I might want to write I’m I’m really  playing with the idea of writing young adult

00:42:52 stories I’m I’m playing with that cuz that’s what  I used to read when I was growing up so playing with that idea I’m not sure yet and what’s a young  adult story like a short chapter book okay so I’m playing with the idea I don’t know because that  that just takes a lot more time a lot more time and a lot more Focus yeah praying about it we’ll  see I imagine you work it out you’ve been doing pretty good you thought about animation taking  one of your books and making a short cartoon or short film or make it actually children’s show  or anything like that yes so someone approached

00:43:29 me about the zakari series because I always tell  people he’s like the Curious George but in kid version the first book he went to college the next  visit he went to a carnival and got lost and so I had somebody approach me about making that kind  of a cartoon but then Gracie’s Corner Dro and I was like oh I can’t compete with Gracie oh I think  you’ll be all right you got your own man I said we we’ll see we’ll see if I think that’s a good  idea it speaks to and and the way technology is today that will be very that fiber turn anything  into anything if it’s heavy on your heart and you

00:44:06 desire I know it’ll come and the way technology  is and everybody they all into those shorts so any of that stuff will work and and one thing is  for sure I I will tell this that the parents that are really involved with their kids no matter  what level it is they spend whatever and we do whatever we can for our kids and so if they’re if  you had a a c story of M it was a short film or a short little thing they’ll be sitting there with  their little iPads watching it after they watch their especially if it’s one that’s black because  there’s not many of that out there I’m open to it

00:44:40 like I said I the ideas come and I’ve been riding  this Grandma hatti train for a minute the first book released in 2020 so to still be able to  make the kind of traction that I’m making with districts all over the country like I in Georgia  is now in all of their Library so it’s in all libraries in Ohio but now it’s in the libraries  in Georgia and the book came out in 2020 so you can do a lot with grandma hadie that’s how got  started went to college M went to church but went to jail grandma go just won an international  impact award so I’ll be going to Phoenix in April

00:45:17 to accept that Miss Hat can go hey you know  what’s crazy I call her Miss Hat is because my daughters went to a daycare and it was right  across the street from our house in the lady’s name is Miss Hattie I didn’t know it was so many  Hades until I wrote that book and I get a lot of book orders and people wanted autograph to Hatty  this or Grandma hat and Auntie Hatty I’m like I didn’t know it was so many hatties it’s a lot of  hatties out that’s why that’s why I was thinking about Miss Hattie and she was across the street  from us and all the kids in the neighborhood went

00:45:47 there miss Hattie so listen it was a pleasure  having you on our show see we buzzed right on we stay right on time we did very awesome and  answered all our questions did good there like I said if we close our program I want you to take  a look at this camera this is yours I want you to take your time tell the people what they need to  know but more importantly let them know how they can get in touch about the Thousand ties if they  want to donate if they want to be a part of that let them know where they can get all your books  and how they can get online and where they can

00:46:16 get that stuff from and anything else you take  your time give it to the camera and we going to push that out for you okay one thing that I always  like to tell people is when it comes to our youth you a lot of them are just looking for someone  to see them and I know we’re all busy and we all have life going on but just take a couple minutes  and find a youth and just listen to them they’re humans they’re people and they feel alone in a lot  of situations just a little bit of your time could make the difference in someone’s life be able to  meet them where they are and give back we’re all

00:46:50 busy so just it’s about making that commitment to  pour back into those who we want to see do well and for our annual event is February 8th  registration is open this is an event you don’t want to miss we have judge Michael Ryan that will  be there Micah Dixon is going to be there we have some amazing things lined up and the event is 100%  free we’ll have free everything free food free coats free books free toys just everything is free  so you don’t have to wor about anything catch a uber come on up if you don’t have a ride back let  us know we’ll make sure we get you a uber back so

00:47:27 just make sure you’re in the building we want you  there all of my books are available on my website joans smith.com you can also get them on Amazon  walmart.com target.com Barnes & noble.com so you can get my books anywhere you can check them out  of any library in Ohio but I prefer you purchase a book from me that’ be great excellent so again  we’re going to have all the links to where you can reach and get reach all Miss Jaan um Smith  and we’ll have links to where you can get all of her stuff in the description and our YouTube  link so again we’ll see you next week peace