Surviving the Side Hustle

From Filmmaker to Beacon of Resilience: Latasha's Journey of Overcoming Challenges and Inspiring Connection

• Coach Rob • Season 1 • Episode 70

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After an unexpected diagnosis forced her to pause her career, Latasha, a passionate filmmaker dedicated to bridging communication gaps, emerges with renewed purpose and an inspiring story to share. Through her poignant films, like "One Last Goodbye," she shines a light on sensitive topics such as the aftermath of suicide and the need for African-American men to express vulnerability. Despite the challenges she faced, including a massive brain tumor, Latasha's journey is a testament to resilience and the profound impact of storytelling on healing and connection.

Balancing the demands of career and family can be a tightrope walk, often fraught with difficult decisions. Our conversation with Latasha delves into the shared struggles faced by both men and women when navigating these challenges. Highlighting her own experiences, Latasha offers valuable insights on the importance of intentionality and vision in aligning professional aspirations with personal fulfillment. Her empathetic approach encourages listeners to dig deep into their true desires, cutting through societal expectations to discover what genuinely matters to them.

The art of communication is crucial in maintaining harmonious relationships, a topic we explore with Latasha's thoughtful insights. By understanding the varied communication styles that exist within families, she offers guidance on fostering respect and appreciation for these differences. This episode serves as an uplifting reminder of the power of dreaming and staying open to new possibilities. Latasha's story encourages us all to hold onto our visions and embrace the potential for growth and renewal, leaving listeners inspired and hopeful for the future.

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Speaker 1:

what's up? What's up? What's up? Latasha's on today. How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing awesome, rob. How are you?

Speaker 1:

I'm doing great. It's uh, I just finished up a. It's wednesday, now, time of recording, but I feel like I'm just finally getting over the weekend. I had like so many events planned. I was, uh, I got to see nick cannon and while I'm out, and then went to the Giants-Bengals game and then I was also at the Yankees playoff game, so I was busy.

Speaker 2:

That's a bit busy though.

Speaker 1:

Let's dive in with you. How are you doing?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing fantastic. I'm doing really great. I'm in Fort Lauderdale, so we managed to miss all of the storm and the drama of it somewhat. My kids were still out, so we're still we're coming back from it, but we're all good.

Speaker 1:

Good, good, good, good. Love to hear that Glad things are going well down there for you. Would you mind sharing a little bit about your story? How'd you get here?

Speaker 2:

sharing a little bit about, uh, your story. How'd you get here?

Speaker 2:

yeah, so, um, I am a filmmaker, um, and much of my background is based in the arts and in business, um pleasure of working with families and young teens and young adults and really helping families sort of bridge the gaps that often happen when teens, you know, get to a point where they're struggling with communication or, you know, just identity issues. And so my journey has really been about utilizing the arts to find ways to really help others, like, really define their own story, and I've also used it in ways to just be impactful and tell stories that other people you know don't tell, to be sort of be a voice for others, if you will. And so my most recent film was One Last Goodbye, and it was a story that explored the impact that suicide has on loved ones left behind, and that story was motivated and inspired by me losing my own mentor to suicide and of course that's incredibly devastating and you know that's quite a lot to sort of wrap your head around, because she and I were, you know, working together and collaborating very well and and yeah, she passed away during a modeling job who loved her, you know, were very much, you know, distraught by her passing. I couldn't stop thinking about, you know, how much her husband's life had been impacted as well and you know how it's likely he may have would lose his house and you know the way in which his finances would, you know, greatly change and just the fact that he had lost his life partner, you know greatly change and just the fact that he had lost his life partner, you know. And so I just felt like that wasn't a story or issue that we really always lean into as much. You know, when something bad happens, you know we all rally around and then, sort of after the funeral and things like that, the phone calls started to dry up, but that loved one is still sort of left with the aftermath, you know, of what has happened.

Speaker 2:

So I wanted to write a story that sort of explored that what happens, you know, when the calls dry up. And so I took that story and I put it in the African-American space, because it's rare that we get to see African-American men explore their vulnerability with integrity, and so I wanted to be able to demonstrate that and show that. So we did, and we went on to win 22 global awards that year for that one film and it was sort of like it was. It was definitely a catalyst to some very important conversations about mental health and even about men and their the ways that they communicate and ways that the ways in which they communicate that are different, that oftentimes we miss as women, and how to just really dial in to each other and be kinder and more compassionate towards each other, especially during difficult seasons.

Speaker 2:

So I was on a roll, bro, I was enjoying that journey and we were getting tons of phone calls and invitations to sort of explore other stories that I had in the bowl, but then we learned that I had a massive brain tumor, oh yeah, and so because of that, I was required to stop everything, and I had to have what turned into a 12 hour surgery three weeks, and so, because of that, I was required to stop everything.

Speaker 1:

And I had to have what turned into a 12-hour surgery three weeks Over it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so that if you can imagine, it's like if you're going at full speed and then you just hit a wall. That's what it really felt like, because we were. That was the last thing on my mind. I never would have imagined that and when it happened it required you know everything to stop and for us to really really lean in and focus on my health. And the diagnosis was incredibly grim. You know, they thought that it was a possibility that even if I made it through the surgery, that I would have profound cognitive defects. So you're sort of grappling with your mortality as well as all your would and shoulds and coulds and all the things. It was just a very challenging time.

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And I'm just very grateful for, you know, for my husband, my family, my children, who were incredibly supportive and just loving and just very helpful in terms of just helping me sort of put one foot in front of the other and find my way back. And so that's exactly what happened after some time of just being away and recovering I was considered recovered a year after the surgery and I just had some time to just really like catch my breath, if you will, because I was moving very fast, and I was just, you know, just enjoying the thrill of being able to do things that I love, but what I found was that I was also a bit spent.

Speaker 2:

I was also a bit burnt out, and so I took a little bit of extra time to really heal internally in terms of really being able to settle and consider what really should be my best next steps to the marketplace, and so, interestingly enough, life just continued to happen. My children were now in a different season. My oldest is going to high school now, and there's all these different things happening in my life that are requiring me to show up differently right, as well as my husband, and so that's actually why we ended up moving to South Florida. We're living in Maryland at the time, but we all and my all of us, my children too just sort of felt a shift like there, it was time for us to do something different, and so we talked about it constantly, and my son had new goals, and we just decided to lean in and take the leap. So we're rebuilding in South Florida now.

Speaker 2:

And that is what began this new venture that I'm doing called Girlfriend Sliding, which is my opportunity to really love on busy women you know very similar to me, who you know are struggling to try to figure out how to sort of make it all work, if you will. How do I show up for my husband, how do I show up for my kids, how do I do work and, you know, put my hands to do work that I love and that's meaningful and that's fulfilling to me, without sort of like losing myself in the process and make a real impact in my home and in my community. So the programs and the coaching that I do is very much centered around that and we always sort of start with, you know, the vision and that's what has been sort of the. That's been the thing that has really been the cornerstone for us. It's been the core of how we move in my family, which is what are we after you?

Speaker 2:

know, what is it that we want? Because you can have goals and you can, you know, have a to-do list right. But what is it? You know, what is the purpose of all of this? And so for us, you know, it's always been. You know, we feel like we live under an open heaven, like there is no shortage of opportunities for us. You know, we feel like we live under an open heaven, like there is no shortage of opportunities for us, you know. But every opportunity hasn't necessarily served itself to be the best opportunity, whether it meant that it was going to greatly impact our children in ways that we were not OK with, or whether it meant it was going to impact our marriage in a way that we weren't okay with.

Speaker 2:

And so and so making those choices is really interesting, because we often hear about women having to stop and go and deal with you know life and impacting her career. But I feel like men that happens to men too, and I've watched my own husband make some really challenging choices, and because he wanted to choose his family first. So so I think that when you think about, when we think about intentionality and when we think about you know family and how to harmonize the two, the work and the family life, I feel like starting with vision and your priorities is one of the best ways, best places, rather, to start, Because once you have those things dialed in, it really does help you to make those unquote hard choices, you know, and it doesn't necessarily mean that every choice that we've made that we feel honors our vision or honors our mission is an easy choice. You don't even know if it's the right choice.

Speaker 2:

You just feel like this is the best thing that I can think of that we should do.

Speaker 1:

So, natasha, I got to ask you yeah, so for an individual who's who's starting out, and because because the vision is the important part there, what do you, what do you say? Or how do you help an individual who's struggling because they don't know where they want to go or what they want to do? So how do you help them identify the vision if they don't know yet?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that's such a great question because I think, intrinsically, rob, we do know, I think we do that oftentimes we're also battling with the noise, the noise being what other people think we should do, how we think people are going to react to our choice, what social media says, what our friends say.

Speaker 2:

But I think that when we have those moments when we take a walk or when you're in the shower, or you know those quiet moments when you feel like you get your best ideas shout, or you know those quiet moments when you feel like you get your best ideas, I feel like you know. And so when I'm with someone we sort of talk through that and I walk them through an opportunity to sort of push aside all of the things that they think are important and really begin to envision what is it that you really want? And sometimes it takes several questions to answer that because, depending on when I'm asking you this question, you may be so far from thinking in that way that it becomes a very hard question to answer. But I think that if you have enough time, you know where there's no judgment.

Speaker 2:

You know, and I find even with my children and sometimes even my husband and with people who are close to me, it can be hard to verbalize what you really want, because something in you feels like it's not possible or it's like that was back then, that was good for when I was younger, or before this awful thing happened to me, whatever you know.

Speaker 2:

And so it becomes very difficult to verbalize that I want this new thing, verbalize that I want this new thing, I want to see something new in my marriage, I want to see my children have a good relationship, or I want to make more money. I want to make more money, I want a better house, and some people feel like I can't, and so they sort of settle for what they think they can have versus what they really really want. And so my superpower is that I can hear what's not being said, and so I tend to lean in compassionately with those extra questions to sort of pull out of that person what it is that they really really want, and then we sort of build from there.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, I love that. And how did you develop that ability, that superpower that you're talking about? Is that just something that came natural, or is that something you kind of worked on?

Speaker 2:

It's a great question because I honestly, it came, I cultivated it in difficult times myself. So when I had jobs that I hated but I was supported, I was always put in these positions where I had to support the C-suite or people were very, you know, esteemed and doing things in ways that I hadn't really seen before, and so I had to sort of imagine a different way for them, because, even though they were esteemed in one way, they weren't seeing their family and the wife was always upset with him, or the children never, you know, never saw them, saw him at their games. And so then I just sort of had this heart of you know that felt like, if you're a dad, you know, and you're doing these amazing things here, that's great, but your wife and your children also need you, and so I would just utilize, like my you know, operation skills, if you will, to sort of move chess pieces around and, you know, be a gatekeeper a little bit and have people hold you know in terms of walking in and out of the office, because, even though he didn't say I want to spend more time with my wife directly, to be the young girl who's just supporting him outside his office, I sensed that that was something that was important to him, you know. And so, even though he never said, make it so that I can see my wife at five, I took it as my personal responsibility to get him to a point in his calendar where he could leave at five, you know, or before.

Speaker 2:

So I think, and I was always like, very sensitive, I still very much am and I just I care deeply for people and you know, I sense that people want to say something or feel a certain way and just from my sense of compassion, I just ask questions that you know in the produce section. But I'm not, it's a complete stranger. And we're just having a good time, you know, just talking, and you know me usually motivating or, you know, just hearing her out or celebrating. You know her and her cucumbers.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so I got to ask you I hear communication is, uh, I hear it a lot and everything that you're kind of talking about, whether it's listening or talking or or um, even just connecting on different, different ways and different levels, even when someone's not communicating. So you're picking up the messages that they're that they're saying without them even actually saying that. And you said something earlier that I wrote down a little note because I wanted to come back to it. You said something about how. You said something along the lines of different communication types of styles and how some guys communicate differently than women, and I wanted to see if you could kind of dive in a little bit on that, on maybe some different ways that you see guys communicating differently from girls and such like that. Help me out with my girlfriend, is what I'm trying to say.

Speaker 2:

Yes, absolutely, rob, happy to help you.

Speaker 2:

But what I noticed is that, well, first of all, women, we have so many words, you know, we have so much to say and I find that at the end of the day, even though my husband may not be as chatty or talkative as me he does not have as many words as me and he's a talker right.

Speaker 2:

He talks for a living and he talks a lot at home, but nevertheless there are still moments, times, especially at the end of the day, where he just needs a moment and I've come to just respect him and who he is and how he's wired, and I've also learned a lot of that by even watching my boys.

Speaker 2:

So I have watched them and then sort of translated that into also how I deal and communicate with my husband. So what I found with my sons is that when they get in the car they may be like super excited and ready to tell me everything, and they also may be totally mute, so tired and so hungry, and as soon as they get just to the food, they don't even have to have eaten it yet, they're already back to who they were and definitely by the time they eat they're like a totally different person. But when my kids were young, they didn't really understand also how their father was very similar to that, and so he would walk in the door and they would just run to him and say, daddy, can I have B-Bucks? Daddy, can we have this and that?

Speaker 1:

for my video game.

Speaker 2:

And I remember interjecting and saying you know how, when you get in the car and you need a minute and you're not always excited to talk and you're not always ready to just give mommy all the information because you need food or you want to take a shower, well, dad's no different. So let's give dad a moment. And then when dad comes back down, I'm sure he'll be more than happy to give you all the answers that you need. And so that turned into my kids running to their father to say, dad, how was your day? Did you enjoy work today? And because he, you know, just felt that was the sweetest thing ever. He would melt and put everything down and then, of course, want to talk before he goes upstairs to change.

Speaker 2:

But I say that to say that we're all wired differently, and I find that men just need, they need something different, whether it's some time to process, whether it's some time to just sit next to you and hold your hand, watch TV with you and not really say anything, and then all of a sudden, you have all the things to say.

Speaker 2:

But I don't think. I think for women sometimes we make it mean something that you're not ready to talk when we're ready to talk and I think the best thing that we can do is just allow you to be human and allow you to have the room to feel the emotions that we often feel, but that you may feel or process or even demonstrate differently, like we're different creatures. You know, and I think oftentimes women we don't realize it, but we kind of enforce rules on our men that make them more like us, when really you guys are, the way you are is perfect, the way you are, you know way you are is is perfect the way you are, you know like. And I think that the joy in a relationship is when you can really appreciate the differences in your partner and learn to communicate with them. It doesn't mean that you don't grow and try to, but it certainly means that you meet people where they are and you give them the room to be human.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, that's some powerful stuff. Appreciate that. So let me ask what's coming up next for you, any projects or anything specific that you're working on?

Speaker 2:

I'm working on a ton of stuff. I'm working on some podcasts that I'm producing, and I'm also rolling out a brand new membership called Girlfriends Thriving Circle, which I'm super excited about because it really gives me an opportunity to just continue to pour so much into my community of women who want to grow and want to develop their lives holistically. So, for me, I really believe that it's not enough to just have a lot of money in the bank, or it's not enough to just have, you know, a lot of money in the bank, or it's not enough to, you know, just go to the gym all the time. I feel like all of the pieces of our lives really need to harmonize and make sense, and oftentimes those things can conflict. And especially in a woman's life, where she's, you know, doing all the things at home and outside of the home perhaps and she has to, you know, drive her children around and do all the things for them it can be very hard to manage the chaos and the overwhelm.

Speaker 2:

And even, you know, in my journey, my mom was, she was a single mother, and even though I knew my mother loved me and my mother was very present, I knew my mother was tired, I knew she was worn out.

Speaker 2:

I knew that the duties of taking care of her home and me and going to work every day was really wearing on her, and so I sought ways to help.

Speaker 2:

But I was just a kid, so I really love to empower women to again think about the vision, like when you think about your home and how it's run and you know what, what, um, what some of the systems are in your home that really make it effective for you and for your children, for your husband, um, those are things that really get me excited, because I don't think that we always think about the fact that we don't have to do it all.

Speaker 2:

We may have to manage it, most of it or all of it, depending on our situation, but we don't have to do it all, and there are so many budget friendly and interesting and creative ways, even empowering your own children to get involved and be a part of your team, you know, at home, and ensuring that they are raised in a way where they're not entitled and they don't feel like you owe them something, but that they are a part of something really special in your family. They're a part of a bigger mission and vision and legacy and they're excited to be a part of the cause, because even children need a cause, and so for us and our family you know our home is a cause our, you know our affect towards each other, the way we treat each other, is very much important.

Speaker 2:

So I think that I really love the idea of women just feeling empowered and not feeling like they're underneath it all and in their home. It permeates in their relationships and in their community and I really want to see more of that and I really don't want to talk about it. I want to be a part of helping women move the needle in their lives.

Speaker 1:

Oh, I love that. And if anybody is listening, is interested in getting involved, where do they go? How do they get involved with their community?

Speaker 2:

So they can reach out to me at GirlfriendsThrivingcom that's my website or they can contact me on Instagram at Girlfriends Thriving or at LaTosha Kennedy. Either way, and I will happily return any DMs, yeah.

Speaker 1:

There you go, check her out on social media, shoot her a message or just go straight to the website and yeah, I love it. I love everything you're talking about. I'm big into communication, always looking for new ways to kind of learn, to kind of be better at communicating myself, because, as my mentor always says, it's a miscommunication is the baseline. So, anytime trying to minimize that miscommunication will definitely improve. Uh, make things more successful with whatever you're trying to do, um, but let's dash. Before I let you go, I got to ask you if, um, if you were to boil it all down and you were to give one piece of advice to someone out there who's looking to kind of grow and build and become better and bigger, what would your one piece of advice be for them?

Speaker 2:

I think my one piece of advice is to always believe that it's possible, Because I think that we get so wrapped up in other people's lives and comparing ourselves to others and thinking we should be further along than we are, that we get lost in the opportunities that are in front of us right now and we lose out on the ability to really show up fully as ourselves. Today, in all is glory, and with all our flaws, with all the ways that we think about our life right now, it's enough. And I think that if more people saw how powerful they really were, how today you really are living in an answered prayer. You hoped for this moment many times and here you are, you know, and there is more to achieve and there will always be more to achieve, but you want to start from a place of gratitude and you want to start from a place of possibility.

Speaker 2:

What, if should always be, you know, sort of at the front of anything that you do, because it's our imagination that sort of gets lost in our adulthood. But it's in our creativity and it's in our imagination that we have so much vision and that so much of our possibilities are birthed and that we can see those things really happen, which we see so much of it you know as we move from, you know, year to year in our lives, of it you know as we move from, you know, year to year in our lives. So I love, would love, to leave your audience with the idea of really holding on to possibility, to really leaning into vision, to really giving themselves the permission to dream and to imagine what their life could be.

Speaker 1:

Wow, yeah, I love that. Wow, thank you so much, Tasha. I really appreciate you taking the time. I know it's tough to carve out a little bit of time to jump on other people's shows and share a little bit of experiences, so I really appreciate you bringing the value and speaking with the audience today. Thank you, thank you so much.

Speaker 2:

Thank you so much for having me. It was such a pleasure.

Speaker 1:

Of course We'll have to talk again soon. All right, guys, and that's all.