Uploaded and Unfiltered: Conversations about Personal Growth, Mindsets, and Advice with BIPOC Creators for Creators

Redefining Black Narratives Online [Guest: Luna]

• Jermaine Pulliam • Season 1 • Episode 63

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Have you ever wondered how to maintain authenticity while juggling multiple passions and a social media presence? In this episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, we sit down with the incredibly talented Luna Curativa, a gamer, reader, and D&D enthusiast, who turned her cozy pandemic hobby into a thriving content creation journey. Luna shares her inspiring story, from setting up the perfect desk to balancing her diverse interests, all while staying true to herself. Whether you're an aspiring creator or a seasoned pro, her unique approach and insights on authenticity will leave you motivated to embrace your own multifaceted identity.

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Speaker 1:

Welcome. Welcome back to another episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, the podcast in which I, your host Jermaine, interviews another content creator in regards to their journey thus far. Today, as always, I have a special guest. Before I get her on the microphone, we're going to get a bit of information about Luna and then have an awesome conversation. Gamer, part-time content creator and magical cozy girly, Luna Curativa is a versatile voice that aims to show that content doesn't need a niche, it just needs to be authentic. With a host of interests showcased across various social networks, luna is growing as a person and, through her content, hopes to reach an audience of like-minded people.

Speaker 1:

A little cozy, a little chaotic and a lack of consistency. Luna is not trying to be an influencer. She is trying to find a corner of the internet to be herself, and with that, I'd like to introduce my guest for the evening. Everyone a warm welcome. Help me introduce Luna to the podcast. Everyone, warm welcome. Help me introduce Luna to the podcast. Luna, how are you doing today? I'm doing well. Thank you for having me. Hey, no problem at all. I'm glad that we're able to do this, and I'm going to go ahead and spoil it. Luna is also part of my amazing D&D group and talking to her now is like yo, we need to get her on her on a podcast. What are we doing?

Speaker 2:

No, I appreciate that and D&D these last couple of sessions, 39.

Speaker 1:

You know what? You know what? Yeah, yeah, yeah, we got to keep that one to ourselves. That was a magical. I'm sorry for your loss. It had to happen. The dice were not in our favors. Let me go ahead and just jump into it. I need to know what is Luna's origin story when it comes to content creation.

Speaker 2:

Okay. So I sort of stumbled into content creation. I was like I see other people doing this thing, I do these same things. I got a phone. I can record myself doing these things. That I see people you know other people doing this thing, I do these same things. I got a phone, I can record myself doing these things that I see people you know doing on the internet. And it started off just kind of like being bored, wanting something else to do, especially in the middle of, like the big pandemic late 2020, 2021, when we were locked down at home had nothing to do. I didn't want to make bread, you know, I'm like I'm not a, I'm not a baker in that way. I didn't. I didn't get hardcore into the fitness side. I gained the covet 15, right you know what I'm saying, like most people, I gained the covet 15.

Speaker 2:

But I was like you know, what was getting me through at the time was cozy, content and kind of like home life stuff People, you know, cleaning their houses or deep cleaning their fridge, or just a shot of your desk set up with all the fairy lights and the gaming and I was like you know what? This is my vibe Like, I love this. So I started building my setup and then I also, in turn, was like I'm going to document that process. So that's kind of where it began.

Speaker 1:

Okay, that's awesome and I just recently saw your desk set up and I'm envious of it. When I finally move, I am going to do the same thing. Basically, it looks smart.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate that it took me. It's a work in progress, like I can can't say it's done, but it's the most done it's ever been. Right now, you know, three thousand dollars later, like, it's finally starting to look like I want it to look. But I'm constantly researching my niche I would say like, not really my niche, but the niche of, like, cozy gaming and content creation around that space. So I'm constantly seeing new things pop up. This, this is adorable. I want to try this. I want this on my desk, like. So it's an it's kind of like a living organism in that I'm always adding something or taking something away from it, but I really, I just really, really love it Like it's my, it's my home. I'm sitting at my desk right now, my little cup of coffee and my stately cup, and you know what I'm saying and I'm happy.

Speaker 1:

I like that. I like that. I want to touch on something you mentioned, not only in your bio but just right now niches. I feel like us as content creators, we get too hung up on the niche side of things and, to your point, I think, being you like, you come with X, y and Z, like, yeah, I do cozy, yeah, I play video games, yeah, I might show you how to. But that all encompasses what Luna is as a content creator and I think us leaning towards that, the whole being authentic, showing what you're, like, passionate about. I think that is a I don't want to say a quicker way, but I think that is still a viable way to grow an audience.

Speaker 2:

I think I've struggled with content creation because I kept trying to force myself into the idea that I needed a niche. So I thought I would only pop, or I would only do. Well if I was I stuck directly to my desk setup. Like, if I only post my desk and I'm constantly working on my desk and I'm, you know, showcasing that, then that'll be great content. But that's like a fifth, a 15th of what I'm interested in, of what I like, of the content that I follow. I'm also a huge reader. Like my goal is to read 25 books this year. I think I'm at 14. So I'm a little behind, but I love to read and I love music. Like, if you're a close friend of mine, you know that I am a music head. I like battle rap, I like D&D, I write poetry, I love coffee. I love coffee like, like a child, like you know, it's like a food is a one fourth of my diet and my favorite food group.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like, I have so many things that online people have made themselves a niche in. Like you know, there's coffee content creators and cozy content creators and gamer creators, and I've decided that you know what I like all these things and I think I have something unique to say about each of these things, so I will post about those things and the niche is going to be authenticity.

Speaker 1:

Exactly. I 100% love that. Shout out to you for coming across that and your own just search through your content creation journey, because that was one of the things that took me a while to just fall into Cause. If you look at my TikTok now, that shit is all over the place, but it's me, so I'm happy with it.

Speaker 2:

Man, I ended up making a second TikTok that, um, it's called luna's coziest corner.

Speaker 2:

So I have my main tiktok, which is like my name, just like it is, which is whatever like it's just me going out me going on, trips, me doing this, me doing that, and then my coziest corner is specifically like my gaming and reading content, because I kind of near I narrowed it down a little bit but what I've noticed from kind of the experiment of having two is they're both about the same level of successful like people like seeing whatever you're doing and people also like seeing your niche, and I cross promote on both of those pages and that's cool. But you find that there are people who will only like the one thing that you do and there are people who just like you 100 percent and I think being not afraid to lock yourself, being unafraid to be out of a niche, means that you are marketing, not you know you in that niche, but you as a person, and people like just you. And I struggled with that idea that somebody could just like me without my needing to be an expert in whatever thing that I'm talking about.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, exactly Good. Yes, everybody, you hear what she's saying. Take that, learn a lesson and apply it to your own self, cause I'm telling you, once you figure out that, like, it just becomes fun. It's like it's still I'm not going to say it's not stressful, but that's one less thing for you to worry about. You're like no, I'm just, I'm just me. I don't have to figure out what this content looks like, because it's just me.

Speaker 1:

I'm just gonna put it up, so that's dope exactly that, exactly that before we get into current mindset, I, if I just need to know l Curativa, did I say that correctly? Close enough? Alright, you say it correctly and then explain to me and the audience how did you come up with your name?

Speaker 2:

Luna Curativa Is Spanish and it means healing moon, and I chose that name with the help of my then best friend, current boyfriend, ronan OTS. And I was shopping for a new name because there were 17 people named jay in the black twitch community alone and I was lady j marie for all of my years, and shout out to people who remember me from way back then yeah. But I just felt like you know what? I need something different. So I was like tap, you know, tap, mr, on the six on the shoulder and I said I need a new name, like help me, like whatever, whatever.

Speaker 2:

And we were circling through. He was like you should tie it into, like your heritage, and I'm half I'm not half mexican, but I'm mixed with mexican native american blackfoot tribe and then I'm also black. So I was like we can tie in a little bit of my culture, we can tie in a little bit of my history, we, and we can tie in at the time, how I played games, which was I was a healer main in whatever game I was playing right so it's a combination of my heritage, my game style and then, you know, with the help of a friend, luna curativa that is dope.

Speaker 1:

I I'm glad I asked because I had zero idea. I should have known it was spanish, but I just wasn't paying attention. That is dope. I I'm glad I asked because I had zero idea. I should have known it was spanish, but I just wasn't paying attention.

Speaker 1:

That's dope though I appreciate it all right, luna, we're gonna go ahead and roll into our next section, which is current mindset, one of my favorite sections. Okay, I keep saying that for every section, but it's my podcast. I love them all but current mindset. This is where I ask my guests how they feel about their current content as far as their output and where they're, what lane they're in and, if you can, if you have some thoughts to it where do you see yourself in like three to six months as far as your content goes?

Speaker 2:

so I'm kind of in this weird place right now where I'm uninspired, which has a lot more to do with, like my personal life than my content life. I've been, I'm newly in therapy, which is great, and I'm navigating anxiety and I have, like mild anxiety and mild depression. That's what my therapist thinks, at least right now. So I'm currently navigating like my mental health space, which is always kind of hampered, my ability to be consistent. So like when I'm anxious or when I'm depressed or when I'm not feeling it, I have a hard time producing. Like I know some people I get, you know they get sad and they lock into work. Or they get sad and they lock into exercising. I get sad and I rewatch Gilmore Girls for the 57th time, like you know what I'm saying Like I fall completely out of productivity, aside from you know, my nine to five because I need that check Right, but you know. So right now I'm grappling with understanding that my inspiration does not have to come from a place of pain.

Speaker 1:

Mm, hmm.

Speaker 2:

Growing past like that. I need to be healing from something to make anything good, like all of my poetry and all the stuff I used to write, all the content I used to make I would make it surrounding an issue. So we were in the middle of a pandemic. So here's how to be happy when you know the world's on fire and stuff like that. So now we're not, we're not out of it. You know COVID is still COVID-ing right now, but you know the world has kind of returned to its own sense of normalcy. So I'm I'm trying to heal in my anxiety. I'm trying to heal and deal with depression and and try to, from a place of being healthy, make content, because I've always made content as an escape from a negative space. But now that I'm kind of on the other side not on the other side, but I'm kind of healing, getting to a better place I need to find a motivation that isn't pulling me out of a dark place, right.

Speaker 1:

That makes 100 percent sense and I think you said something to hit home for me.

Speaker 1:

When you are in those modes, I guess some people they get depressed or they have something bad happen in life and they lock in on a content.

Speaker 1:

I am not one of those people either, but when I was working, a nine to five had to go to your job, and now that I'm outside of working a full time job like that, working in corporate America, it always is an interest to me how we push ourself, even if we're sick some of us don't have the ability to take off when we're sick or when we are not well mentally we push ourself to, even if we're sick.

Speaker 1:

Some of us don't have the ability to take off when we're sick or when we are not well mentally, we push ourself to go to that job and when it comes to our content, that push is not there and I 100% believe that it could be like we can make that switch because it's all mental, it's all like what are you going towards this content for it? Like you said, this was an outlet for me, but I think there's a space for us to get to a point where, yeah, this is not my job, but I'm treating this as if a paycheck dependent like a paycheck is coming from it, so I'm gonna put some energy into it like that.

Speaker 2:

that's a hard flip to do, but 100 possible that's such a wonderful way to put what the how I feel about it. I don't treat it like a job. I don't treat it like I'm working towards something. I treat it like something I do when I need an outlet or something I do when I got time. But I think I would see so much more success if I treated it like my next meal depends on me doing this, you know, like if I threw myself behind it more. So that's a good. That's a good way to look at it.

Speaker 1:

So that's a great way to look at it. I like it, I like it. And so, from there, consistency, wise that consistency. What do you see Ideally? If you could right now, you'd be like this is my ideal. This is what I want to be in three months.

Speaker 2:

What does that look like for you? I think it does look like more consistency and I think it looks like more versatility, because even being open and authentic, there's still fear around trying new things in a place where I've been established as one thing. So I think it looks like posting more consistently and also I struggle with showing my face in my videos. I'm more of here's the aesthetic, but not so much the person, and I think you see me in pieces of me and whatever. But I think success in the next few months is me being more comfortable showing my face on cam, having more videos where I'm talking. Somebody said on TikTok the other day that if you a yapper, this is your time.

Speaker 1:

And.

Speaker 2:

I'm a yapper, so this is my time you know what I'm saying, like. So I just gotta get comfortable yapping on screen. So I think, like my next step is that like that that'll be success for me in the next few months. If it's like showing a little bit more of my face and talking more in my content, hell yeah, I, I love that I was.

Speaker 1:

I want to say this too you do what you want to do, what you feel like is going to put you forward, but I don't want you to think that you have to show your face to make dope content, because there's this. I forgot her name. She rarely shows her face and when she does, it's like a vent, it's like, oh shit, she showed her face. And I hope you get to the point where it's not anxiety that's stopping you from showing your face, you just like I don't fucking feel like it. When you think about getting on camera and showing your face, there's that weird chest feel and the blood pressure is going up. I hope that doesn't happen. I hope it's just like. You know what I don't feel like being on camera today and that's it.

Speaker 2:

I appreciate that. I hope it's that too, man, that'll be freeing. Like I don't want to be locked down by, you know, whatever mental health thing. I want to be able to express myself and feel comfortable expressing myself wherever I'm at and I think maybe, like as I go through and get more comfortable, hopefully other people who maybe listen to this and then, like, look at my content, see that growth in me and maybe it inspires growth in them.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I'm gonna say this right now, because I'm a cocky motherfucker sometimes, because you know me. That's gonna happen for you. That's it. It's gonna happen. You're gonna get to the point where, oh yeah, I can get on camera whenever I want, and it's not gonna be a thing I appreciate that.

Speaker 1:

That's why I want all are like, like you said, when you get to that point where you're comfortable, that content is going to flow and I want other people to see that and be like, oh shit, they can do it. I can do it because my whole goal I've been saying this for the last I made, so I have a youtube channel radiant reflection my goal is to get black people to get to the point where they are comfortable and we are putting our own content so we can control our narrative, control our perspective, because the way it is right now in the media is fucked. It's all over the place, man, and so if we get enough of us making shit that represents us the way we want to be represented, I think that could be a huge ass shift that you know what, and that's such a great way to think about it, because the narrative that Black people exist in on the internet is is fucking sad.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, like, and it's because we're not telling enough of our own story, I feel like.

Speaker 1:

I mean, there's a ton of us out there.

Speaker 2:

Like don't get me wrong, there's some amazing black content creators on every single level that I follow. Like I specifically make it a point to follow black women in spaces that I frequent. So in the cozy space, in the gaming space, I'm I'm there for seeing black women, black men, do the motherfucking thing, because we can. But like, the more of us that do it, the more reach we'll have and the more we can kind of shift the perspective. But I also don't necessarily feel like any of us owe another group of people our perspective you know what I'm saying?

Speaker 1:

no, I 100 agree that we don't.

Speaker 2:

We don't owe it to nobody to explain who and what and how we are, because black people are not a monolith. That's the reason that so many perspectives and so many black content creators can exist there. It's not a crabs in a barrel situation or only one person makes it out. All of us can be out here making content and it can be completely different, and none of it defines the black experience in its entirety, but we all can showcase a piece of it and that's why everybody's voice is important, so I love that.

Speaker 1:

I love that no, that's a nail in the head, like the more people are doing it, the more perspective is out there. Then that shit just shifts. Like I've been thinking about this for the longest, having these conversations with my wife but, like you said being for me, it was fear of saying some stuff that I usually my content wasn't that. I was just a dude who streams and he's fucking hilarious and has a dope voice. That's who I was for a while and so, like trying to shift from that perspective like yo, you motherfuckers need to start making content. And here's why, like seeing, like I think about this because I'm a parent. When I was younger, there wasn't that many black people on TV and when there were, it was always a stereotype, not always. You had your Family Matters, you had your Cosby show and you had UPN.

Speaker 1:

For better or worse, we had shows like around but like, if you like the thing that really got me. If I sat down it was like, okay, if I was a white kid, never knew any black kid at all, and I watch TV, my perspective of black people would be fucked like.

Speaker 2:

I swear that is a that is a thing to think about, like how crazy.

Speaker 1:

Like so. Some people are in there. They're just yelling out the N word and being real racist, but their only perspective of black people is TV. I'm not saying that gives them a pass, but I'm saying like I no longer interact with those people with like anger. I'm like, oh you, but I'm saying like I no longer interact with those people with like anger. I'm like, oh you, your perspective is fucked. That's not your fault. I'm going to get this thing started so we can actually fix that shit. And then, when I started thinking like that, more other creators I've seen they're starting to say the same thing and I'm like, oh yeah, we all need to link up and just at least take over this space, this online social media space, so we can have those different Black perspectives to make it what we want it to be. I think that's going to be dope.

Speaker 2:

It is genuinely I don't know exactly what the word is, but it's, I don't want to say concerning, because some of it is not the fault of, like you know, kids of other cultures, white kids, or that their worldview is so narrow. But it is amazing to me how narrow some people's worldview is. They have no knowledge of cultures that exist within their country, their city, their school, their life. They're just so sheltered and so kept in a little safe white bubble. And it's very weird to me because I went to college and I saw so many different cultures, learned so much about people from all different walks of life, socioeconomic backgrounds, different cultures, different whatever, and my landscape was so my horizons were just broadened. I just saw so much more and it's amazing to me that there are literally people out there who just have not had that opportunity. Like college, of course, is a is a privileged place to go I had, you know, I got student loans out the ass for it but everybody.

Speaker 2:

You know what I'm saying, but everybody didn't get to go and so everybody doesn't know like there's so much more out there than what you see in your tiny little town or what your parents let you watch on tv. Like, and I I'm guilty of me of meeting ignorance with anger a lot oh yeah like I'm super guilty of that because it's like to me, sometimes it doesn't register like ain't no way you don't know what you're doing.

Speaker 2:

There's no way you don't fucking know what you're doing, but some people really don't and like, yeah, that, that idea, like you know, meeting it not necessarily with anger, but with a little bit the idea that maybe they haven't encountered this. That's a. That's a new idea for me.

Speaker 1:

That is a new idea for me I uh don't like being angry, so I try to find ways to not and trust me. For the longest I I don't want to say I was an angry black guy because I that all this shit was internal. I keep it in but it was starting to eat at me like I saw the repercussions of me not saying shit or me caring about something that I honestly should have been like you know, I don't give a fuck about that like it was like taking the toll on me mentally. It was taking a toll on the family. Like I come home.

Speaker 1:

I remember I would come home and I couldn't talk to anybody for like 10 minutes. I'm like give me 10 minutes of silence, which is like fucked up. I mean it's not fucked up, but I hated that I had to do that. Like I couldn't immediately like embrace the fam and like talk and just chit chat. It was like nope, I have all this bullshit I dealt with at work. I'm a little angry, let me give me 10 minutes. And because I didn't like that, I was like all right, I gotta figure some shit out. Like this ain't working like it's.

Speaker 2:

And I always tell people like black men and black women carry so much in just day-to-day life we have to walk around just carrying shit, bro, like microaggressions oh my god, can I touch your hair just just bullshit, like just dumb shit. But like the idea that not all of it is directed at us in a negative ways, right, like sometimes it is genuine curiosity, sometimes it is just you know, but it's innocent ignorance, like I've just I've known nothing like this. So how could I know that this wasn't OK, like exactly. And then, as you know, some people are going to say, oh, michelle Obama's Internet in the year 2024. How do you not fucking know? But some people just really don't like that. That really just altered my brain chemistry around. All right.

Speaker 1:

Good.

Speaker 1:

That really just altered my brain chemistry around certain things, bro, it really did, because I honestly, that's what my aim is. I just want people to think differently. The word perspective and clarity have been my go-to words for the last two years, because there's so many situations. You just look at it in a different perspective and you're like, oh, all right, well, I'm not pissed now and I understand why this happened, and'm good, it's so clearing. You get that energy, that anger energy. You get that back and you can reflip it to something else. Like a lot of positive shit will come from it. And I'll say this I can't.

Speaker 1:

I feel like I'm rambling, but I think one, one thing that people think I know I did for the longest I struggled with okay, if I'm not angry at the situation, then what am I like? Because, like, if I'm not angry, my old thinking was I don't care, which is not the truth. Like, you can see a situation and not have a negative reaction to it, not be angry to it, you can. What I'm starting to do is look at it in neutral or positive. All right, this happened. What does that mean? If nothing, I can gain from it? I'm like all right, I'm a neutrally judges this situation and move on to the next, because I know if I get angry, these are the three things that could come out X, y and Z. I don't want that, so I'm starting to not every situation, but most situations, if I can catch it before my temper flares up. I'm looking at it that way and it's been like it's allowed me to do this podcast for once a week for the year because I have the energy to do it yeah, when you set down other people's bullshit and just when you just set down like everything, you really get space and like that.

Speaker 2:

That's what I'm doing right now with therapy is like learning to set anxiety and depression down like, and not have to like carry those things around with me all the time. But then on top of that, like walking out into the world and you know know, just existing feels hard sometimes. But if you can like set that expectation that every time you walk out it's going to be hard or it's going to hurt or it's going to whatever, then maybe like I walk out and I have better experiences in my day, like that's a really positive, like beautiful way to look at it. Beautiful way to look at it.

Speaker 1:

Yo, appreciate it. Well, with that, we can go ahead and roll into the next section, which is our lessons learned section. This is where I ask my guests hey, if you learned anything from this content creation, do you care to share it with us? And so the floor is yours, luna. What have you learned from creating content that either you've taken throughout your career or you take it into your real life?

Speaker 2:

There's just so many things I have learned. I think that it's OK that everybody doesn't like your content, because I struggle with continuing when I feel like one person isn't going to enjoy it. Or I struggle with starting knowing that there's somebody out there who's't going to enjoy it, or I struggle with starting knowing that there's somebody out there who's not going to like it just because it's me right like there's somebody out there who's like I don't want to see her content because it's her content.

Speaker 2:

Nothing to do with the quality, nothing to do with the content just because it's you right, and if I let the idea that one person doesn't like me stop me from starting, I will never go anywhere. Facts Like Facts and I've had unfortunate run-ins. Like you know, every person you meet doesn't mesh with you well, but I've been in situations where you know since I was a kid not even just from content, but since I was a kid where somebody don't like you and it makes you feel like you don't want to go there, you don't want to be around, you don't want to put this thing that you're so passionate about in front of somebody who's not going to like it, simply because you're the one who's doing it. So what I've learned from content creation and posting anyway is that they don't like you. They probably don't care Exactly, and the idea of decentering yourself from people's lives has come up so much in making content Cause I feel like, are they going to like this?

Speaker 2:

Is this going to resonate? Is this going to go over? Well, are these people going to this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this? And you start creating your content based on what you think you know people will respond to and yes, that's part of it. But if you are just creating to appease, and not creating because you love it, and not creating because you want to, and not creating because you feel passionate about it. It's not going to matter if you can hear this right now and be like oh okay, that makes sense because, like you said, for me, I've always went to the.

Speaker 1:

I think there's seven billion people on this planet. I don't need all seven billion of those people to like my content. I need a few.

Speaker 2:

I just need a little handful and if I enjoy it, fuck it like somebody's gonna enjoy it I just need a little handful and I think, like I put that in my bio too, like I'm looking for my little handful of people yes, you know like-minded individuals like-minded individuals, who who want to see authenticity on the internet, and like there's a lot of it, it's not like it's completely lacking.

Speaker 2:

I'm not reinventing the wheel, but right my authenticity might speak to somebody who hasn't found that person on the internet for them yet. So I'm hoping that I can be that, and then you know I can't say I don't have anything because, like WrestleSquad, those are like my people, like those are like my gaming family. So I've got my little corner home and so now my content is just kind of looking for more people to spread that idea to exactly.

Speaker 1:

You just broaden your horizon a little bit. Literally, that lesson is one that I would get in the t-shirt. Everybody should come to an understanding of it. But now we're going to jump into words of advice. Luna, who would you give in a piece like starting out, or they've been doing it for a while? Who do you want to give a piece of advice to, even though we've been dropping gems, all podcasts, and what would you say to them?

Speaker 2:

I think I want to give a little advice to somebody who's feeling stuck or, you know, unsure about the content they're posting or maybe unsure of their direction, and I would just say go in the direction of your passion, like, go in the direction of what is exciting you, because that has the best chance of being something you look back on and enjoy. I agree it might not make you go viral Every video not going to be 3 million views, 100 million likes, like every video is not going to do that Right. But if you can scroll your own feed, like, look back through your old videos and think, man, I really love doing that, you are like you're, you're succeeding. Yes, don't don't get, don't get locked too much into the numbers, because we all are guilty of that, because we all are guilty of that. Don't get locked too much in the comment section, because people are on the Internet, are a lot meaner than they. You know, you know what I'm saying. Then they'll ever be to your face.

Speaker 2:

Comment section is full of people who will not stand up and say none of that to your face.

Speaker 1:

At all, not even one part.

Speaker 2:

So I guess, like my, I guess I would sum it all up. My advice is to do what you're passionate about and let your audience find you. Hell yes, because that's what I'm doing exactly.

Speaker 1:

I'm telling you as somebody who starts stop caring what other people think on their tiktok. I just do what's fun to me. I like fidget toys, I like chris. I haven't you know what? I haven't met a crystal video yet. Unfortunately they're all packed up, but when we move, the first video I'm gonna do is like here's my crystal collection. I don't give a fuck.

Speaker 2:

If you don't like it, I'm gonna be there for your crystal collection, because I read tarot cards and I collect tarot decks, so yeah, yeah, we're gonna have to talk then, because I told you that I had a premonition about being on your podcast you did, and I didn't even put two and two together.

Speaker 1:

That is wild. Yeah, everybody out there I this is another I'm giving a piece of advice step outside your comfort zone because I'm gonna be 100% honest. I don't even think I told Ronan this. Like I look at Ronan and I'm like that dude's cool, he's never gonna want to talk to me. Just being honest, like we, I, we, I'm just. I'm just being honest Like we, we are in, like without me, like knowing I know Ronan a little bit better now, but like seeing just like the streams or the content, I was always and it stemmed from me being, oh my God, I just unlocked a core memory.

Speaker 1:

So when I was younger, my pops was in the military and we moved all over the place. We moved to england for three years so I came back with a uh accent which was dope. I enjoyed it, but my cousins fucking made fun of me for it the whole time. And ronan and my cousins like they're the same, like they're big ass dudes, they real laid back, they super chill, super cool, and so I always, when I see those type of dudes, I'm like they're gonna like old school, they're gonna make fun of me or they're not gonna want to hang out with me, and that was my mental was for the longest. I finally got over that, and that's when I reached out to ron. I was like yo, we need to do a podcast. And now we're here six, seven months later, like I didn't realize he lived in charlotte, which is I'm excited for that, because I'm gonna be like, oh, what you doing, let's go.

Speaker 1:

Uh, let's go do some shit yeah but because I stepped outside my comfort zone, which was very tight-knit, like I met him, I met you, I met trips, I met some people that are going to be influential in my life. I'll say like I feel like there are things are going to come out of this group that are going to be influential in my life. I'll say like I feel like there are things that are going to come out of this group that are going to be, if not life changing for us, like life changing for the people who interact with us, because I I got a premonition of just actually talking to trips. They're just things that I've been talking about wanting to do for the longest and he's just saying them articulately, like what I'll have to say do for the longest. And he's just saying them articulately like what I was like oh shit, I've been trying to like piece that together in my head for like two months and you just said the shit off the cuff. That's crazy.

Speaker 2:

So I'm excited, like this is this, is this has been dope no, I love, like I love our dnd group and I like I get that. Like when I, when ronan and I first started like being friends, like when he messaged me on twitter and was like, hey, do you play overwatch, I was like, yes, I'm cracked out on this game actually, like you know what I'm saying and that's yeah, like that's how we started being friends with shout out to overwatch one, you know what I'm saying like, but he does give off that too cool for school vibe, you know, like whatever, but like knowing him, you know, of course, now, like we were already like like ace boom coons for years. So you know, then we made the transition to dating and I learned even more about him and I'm like you're a dork, right, you are a dork, like a bigger dork than I ever thought. You know, with that much muscle could be right, that's what I'm saying. Like, I get it. I get it. Like I thought you know, with that much muscle could be. Like, that's what.

Speaker 1:

I'm saying Like I get it.

Speaker 2:

I get it Like I thought you know, cause I know you like casually, because of Poochie gang and Jedi, yeah, who's also my best friend. Like growing up yeah, we grew up together. So like I never knew you in any like real capacity. But like spending time with you, playing dnd with you, like being on this podcast and talking to you and learning what you're passionate about, like I can see that you, my type of people, you you be doing my type of carrying on and I fuck with that. So like, and trips too. Like trips, mango, everybody who we play with. Like we log on to the internet and play, make believe with each other and there's no, like there's not too much more vulnerability after that. Right, don't get too much more open than that right there.

Speaker 2:

You know what I'm saying. So I, I enjoy that and I, if nothing else, I've learned that we're all a little bit guilty of book bites, cover judgments. You know I'm saying like, ain't no way this person's gonna get along with me, ain't no way you know, whatever, whatever, and and then you fuck, you fuck around and find out like, oh my god, like you, my type of folk, so exactly, I'm really excited to know y'all and to be playing with y'all. And to you know, I'll be in charlotte, like, we'll all be able to kick it like trips not far in atlanta, mangoes in florida. I believe, so, like, I think. So, yeah, so we're all gonna be like the same area. I would love to like link, go to a con, like spend some time with each other, because I really feel like you know, we're growing as friends. We've been playing the same campaign for six, some months exactly hours into this hours into it.

Speaker 2:

I look at my dnd beyond. Hours are my roll. 20 hours I'm like. Hold on like since fucking. When right I did what? Now right, when did this hit two or three hundred hours of?

Speaker 1:

you know tabletop make-believe.

Speaker 2:

So I will give you know, ronan, his flowers for being a too cool for school and b for making black people feel safe in dnd 100, like I don't know if he realized how huge that is, but I'm gonna.

Speaker 1:

Every time I get a chance I'm like, hey man, I appreciate you and thank you for this, because that shit, again it was something that I dreamed of doing, that I didn't. I don't want to say I had the balls to, but I didn't have the the energy or the emotions and be like you know what. Let me step out on this ledge and just see what happens. Ronan went in like he's damn, I still. He's. Hey man, I got another book. I'm like, are you?

Speaker 2:

serious he's got, he's in he's like old man hobby era and I fuck with that the long way because, like you know, like I like the hobby, like we do. It's been fun to do it together. It's been fun to meet new people doing it like. I love dnd and I love like what it allows because I have always been a make-believe, fantastical worlds, magical type of like. I started my bio magical cozy girl like that's really who I am. So dnd allows me to flex in that and it's, it's a gift it really is.

Speaker 1:

That is dope. I, I think uh, a secret that I've been keeping to myself and I'm trying to figure out how to articulate it, but I think that creativity, like the act of being creative, is one thing that allows successful people to be successful. And I'm going to make this as short as possible. Go watch the video on Radiant Reflection on YouTube.

Speaker 1:

But failure when you hear that word at first, everybody's like oh shit, failure. It is always a negative connotation. It's like oh shit, failure. It is always a negative connotation. But when you sit back and look at it, like if you fail and you choose to learn a lesson from that, you can apply that lesson to the next time you do the same event and get better at it. And it just takes one or two. Maybe it takes you a hundred failures, however many it takes, and you're going to get to a point where you have expertly crafted whatever you're trying to do.

Speaker 1:

And if we started looking at failure as an opportunity to either course, correct or pivot to something else, I think it makes that a little easier and the creativity part comes in. Is all right, I got in a car accident. How am I going to make this possible. How is this going to be a positive? How am I going to be creative and flip this to something that's going to actually provide for me, that is sustaining, like my mental health versus me, like freaking out that I got to pay X, y and Z? So creativity and I think D and D are like that's sharpening our creativity skills and I can't wait to see where, where we go from here.

Speaker 2:

I think it's going to be really great. I have a feeling that it's not. I feel like we're not leaving it at the table that we're currently at Like I feel like things are are going to evolve. Like we have too many creative, wonderful people who are super, super excited to be here and super, super interested in D and D as a whole to like not take it to a next level so I'm excited to see what that next level is and, as a whole, to like not take it to a next level.

Speaker 1:

So I'm excited to see what that next level is and I'm like on that journey with y'all, like I'm here. Hey, yes, it's gonna be fun, I can't wait. All right, damn well, with that, let's go ahead and give a call to action. Who or where do you want to send the people to that?

Speaker 2:

check out your content so I'm on everything at luna curativa except for tiktok. I am at luna's coziest corner, you can.

Speaker 1:

I'm most active right now on threads actually um if you happen to think twitter is annoying sometimes, which love twitter, but goddamn you know I'm saying that we need a break from all of that we do.

Speaker 2:

We on threads um, I have a book club on fable called romanticity readers. It's for anybody over 30 who likes to read books. We on their um, instagram, twitter, tiktok, I don't know, just find me, I'd be. I'd be out here doing whatever I post everywhere. I don't have a schedule. I stream on twitch very sporadically but I'll be on there sometimes. You know I'm saying any anywhere. You're comfortable.

Speaker 1:

I'm probably there, being myself all right dope and all her links will be in the show notes for this episode. If you haven't already, go ahead and subscribe to this podcast uploading unfiltered. We do this once a week. Also, go check out my radiant reflection no s radiant reflection channel. It is going to be geared towards mindset mental health issues, specifically for Black creators, because again, once we get to a point where we own our narrative, I think a lot of dope shit can happen for us. So with that, Luna, this has been amazing. I had so much fun. Thank you for doing this.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited to have been here. I'm going to go subscribe to the YouTube.

Speaker 1:

I got you. I got you, everybody else out there. I appreciate y'all listening. We'll do it again next week. Until then, as always, protect your mental, keep creating content and I will see y'all in the next one. Peace.