Uploaded and Unfiltered: Conversations about Personal Growth, Mindsets, and Advice with BIPOC Creators for Creators
The vision of this podcast is to provide a space for BIPOC creators to share their stories from their creative journeys. Host Jermaine explores the creative journeys of BIPOC YouTubers, streamers, podcasters, musicians, and more. Uncover their triumphs, the lessons learned from failures, and the inspiring personal growth that fuels their passion.
This isn't just about entertainment. We'll delve deep into the creator economy from a BIPOC perspective, giving you the tools you need to launch your own creative career. Feeling like a fraud? Struggling with perfectionism? You're not alone. Uploaded: Unfiltered tackles the head trash that holds creators back.
This podcast is for YOU if you're ready to:
- Unleash your creativity and build your online presence.
- Learn from the experiences of successful BIPOC creators.
- Shatter self-doubt and conquer the roadblocks holding you back.
Hit subscribe and join the journey!
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@uploadedandunfiltered?sub_confirmation=1
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uploaded_and_unfiltered/
Tiktok(motivation): https://www.tiktok.com/@radiantreflection
Tiktok(variety): https://www.tiktok.com/@kryptinite
Website: http://www.uploadedandunfiltered.com/
Podcast: https://upun.buzzsprout.com
Uploaded and Unfiltered: Conversations about Personal Growth, Mindsets, and Advice with BIPOC Creators for Creators
Empowering Black Creators: The Power of Thought
Send me a text! Be part of the show!
Your brain was designed for survival, not success—a simple truth with profound implications for creators everywhere. As I reveal in this deeply personal episode, most of us operate with mental programming we never consciously chose. These default settings keep us trapped in fear, self-doubt, and overthinking, especially for Black creators already navigating systems not designed for our success.
What would change if you understood that your thoughts drive your feelings, your feelings drive your actions, and your actions create your results? This powerful formula explains why choosing what you think—rather than letting old programming run the show—fundamentally changes everything you're capable of achieving. When your mind operates on survival mode, creativity suffers. Perfectionism, procrastination, and people-pleasing aren't character flaws; they're symptoms of a brain working against your highest goals.
The freedom to choose your thoughts is the ultimate form of protest against limiting systems. For Black creators especially, who face additional layers of scrutiny and historically narrow representations of success, mental liberation becomes the foundation for everything else. By controlling what occupies your mind, you control who you become. This isn't about toxic positivity or ignoring challenges—it's about making your mind work for you rather than against you. Freedom feels different from fear—calmer, lighter, more energized—and moves you toward what matters instead of keeping you stuck. Ready to transform how you think and create? Let's get to work on choosing the thoughts that will build your real future.
Welcome, welcome back to another episode of Uploaded and Unfiltered, a podcast in which I, your host, jermaine, interviews another content creator in regards to their journey thus far. Along with interviews, I like to drop gems of knowledge that I've learned over the years to help us black creators on our content creation journeys, so we can make that journey that much more easier and enjoyable. Today, I'm going to talk about why I started my coaching business and why it's so important that you choose what you think instead of living it up to chance. For most of us, we're running on old hardware settings, old settings and I'll get into what those settings are as we go forward Fear settings, survival settings and for Black creators, especially Black creators, the world already tries to make us second guess ourselves, already tries to make us think we're not worthy. So being able to choose what we think and why we think it is vital. If you don't choose what you think on purpose, then you're letting everything, your past, your pain, your doubts drive the car. That's what happens when we are not choosing our thoughts. I started my business because I got tired of seeing amazing people be stuck, not because they were talented, not because they were lazy. It's because nobody showed them how to change their mind, not showed them that you don't have to grind all the time, it doesn't have to be a chore, it doesn't have to be hard, choosing what you think is real power. It's not about ignoring the hard stuff. It's about making your mind work for you, not against you. So, with that being said, if you haven't already, go ahead and subscribe to the podcast, we're about to get into some deep, deep information.
Speaker 1:I've been wanting to talk about this for a while and I've been dragging my feet. Reason being, I don't know. I have no reason that I can think of. That has stopped me from doing it, because now I'm just in the mindset is if you don't talk about it, nobody's going to talk about it. So here we are. This is why I started my business and I'm going to start off with.
Speaker 1:I believe that the default way that we think is broken, the way our brain was built, was for survival, not success. It reacts to minor stresses in life, like it's life or death, and that small piece of information fundamentally changed how I look at my life and any problems that arise, because that's just the way it is. Our brain was made for survival. It was made to be quick. If you don't interrupt that survival mechanism, then you're going to be stuck in stuff like fear and avoidance and overthinking and people pleasing, because your brain is working on a different set of rules than you are even aware of.
Speaker 1:Another reason why I started my coaching business is because unchosen thoughts create unchosen results. So if your mind are running on old programs, and those programs are things like self-doubt, fear, shame, all of these programs that we were inevitably taught through social media, through the things we watched as children, through the ways that our parents raised us, even if they didn't know they were doing something quote unquote, wrong, that is the programming that we've been rocking with. If our mind are stuck in those old programs, then your actions might match that without you realizing it, meaning, if you are always thinking in a negative state of mind, then negative things will start to propagate in your life. The more focus you put on something that is the things that you're going to notice in life and those are the things that are going to present themselves in your life. And, if I'm being quite honest, this is probably the number one reason why I started the coaching business.
Speaker 1:But our people deserve better. Black creators live under extra layers of pressure and pain and scrutiny that is not ours to carry the way that the news portrays us, the way that movies portray us and, don't get me wrong, that's getting better, with more of us having control over our identity in these projects. But growing up, and for the majority, it's not like that. We don't have control over how we are presented on screen, for that's all that we are. That's all that some people think that they're capable of. If that's all you see, if the perception of life is all you see is that you can only get so far if you're not an athlete or a drug dealer, if that's all you see in life and nobody else is saying anything otherwise. That's your perception of life, that's what you're going to rock with, that's how you're going to move through life.
Speaker 1:Thinking that is the only way that you can get ahead in life, that's the only way you can become comfortable, get a family and have an abundance of money is by becoming a rapper or a drug dealer or a sports athlete. So we're always told that we need to grind harder. But never, not even my parents, nobody, told me that I can think differently, to actually be free, thinking what's in your mind what you hold dear to your heart, whatever your mind is processing. That's how. That's where freedom comes from. Now, you might not have financial freedom at first, but the freedom of the mind is the biggest freedom that I think a person can have, is the biggest freedom that I think a person can have. Also, I started the coaching business because people don't realize they have choice when it comes to what they think, and for me, freedom comes from choosing, being able to tell your brain what you want and why you want it, and to tell your brain that, hey, this is not a situation where I need to be anxious. I'm actually excited because this might be the next chapter of my life being able to tell your brain that is how. The real way, how we actually survive and thrive, is by rewiring our brains. My coaching business is somewhat of a protest to the systems that have been set up to keep people down, to keep black people in their place, to keep them from thriving, to keep them from prospering.
Speaker 1:I have this book right here and if you're watching the video you'll be able to see. It is the black history book and there's so many things in here that just blew my mind, and there's so many things in here that just blew my mind, things that we did not learn in school Because, of course, if we would have learned about it, that would have changed our perspective of our plight in the world. That would change the perspective of what we are capable of. One thing, and you should look it up Black Wall Street. How that became to be a thing and what they did to that place to get rid of it. It's not a fear that I have in my mind, it's just something that I keep note of. That that is the level that they're willing to go to to keep us down. They're willing to burn down everything that we worked for and kill whoever stands in the way in order for that status that they want us to be at to stick, and that shit is crazy. So, yeah, for me, this is my little protest.
Speaker 1:I think me helping people think clearly will equal free people and equal new futures for us to dive. So that's why I started the business, because too many of us are stuck in thinking that wasn't even ours to begin with, and if you don't start choosing what you think on purpose, you're leaving your life up to whatever old programming is running it. So let's talk about why that setup isn't something that you can afford anymore, why you must choose what you think and not leave it up to choice. And my first point in rewiring, or getting you to think differently about choosing what you think, is autopilot. Thinking equals survival mode. Your mind is built to react fast, not smart. I'll say that again Our mind is built to react fast, not smart. So if we're left on autopilot, our brain is going to pick fear, anger or shame every time it feels a little bit of uncomfortable. So if we leave our brain in autopilot, those are the things that are going to go towards force. Why? Because our brain is set to move fast and its default mode is to keep us alive.
Speaker 1:Survival mode Fear, anger and shame, noticing no things. The faster you notice them, the more likely you are to survive, and that's why our brain boom without any hesitation. Autopilot is equal to survival. In survival mode, you can create new things Because of the system that our brain goes into once we move into survival mode. Creativity does not live in that land, it does not live in that system. It only repeats the past. It only repeats from the information that it has and goes off of that. So you stay in the same loops, the same fears, the same delays, the same self-sabotage, because you are still in that survival mode. Another reason why choosing what you think is vital is because choosing what you think is choosing who you become.
Speaker 1:I need to write this down and do a little graphic of it, or maybe put it on a t-shirt, but but here's the formula our thoughts drive our feelings. Okay, so whatever we are thinking about is what is going to come. It's going to inform how we feel. Our feelings drive our action, and you can think about any example of anytime. There's something that you do not want to do, that you actively hate. Are you taking that action? Probably not, but how we feel does drive the actions that we take. So if we are feeling sad and depressed, then we're probably going to call off of work, or if we are hungry, then the next action is, of course, getting food. So that is why our feelings drive our action. So, in turn, if you pick your thoughts, you pick your future. If you are picking what you're thinking at any given moment, you are fundamentally changing the course of your life. Because now, let's say, you don't want to deal with any anger issues. So you aren't going to pick things that make you angry or you're not going to pick anger as an emotion to react to your thoughts. Because of that, your actions will become different.
Speaker 1:I know y'all are hearing me now. If this doesn't make any sense, definitely stay tuned, because I will be dropping this down as many times as I can until as many people as possible change the way that they're thinking, change the way that they're moving through life, because it's one of the easiest, most challenging fixes that doesn't cost money. Unless you want it to. You come see me and we can have a conversation about it. But it's something that, even if you just hear the perspective of what I'm talking about, that's enough to get your brain moving, to get your brain churning ideas. I don't know if you play video games, but most of you do but every once in a while you get into a game that either is very challenging and you get stuck on a boss, and that boss sits with you, sleep day and night until you beat it. It's just stuck in your brain.
Speaker 1:I feel like these concepts are the same way. I'm going to keep mentioning them, I keep bringing them up, I keep saying them in passing conversations. So when you hear it it's going to get stuck in your brain and then you're going to start noticing things in the world and you're like, oh, is this what Jermaine was talking about? Is this what Jermaine was talking about? And it took me, sadly, a very long time to realize. If I don't talk about the stuff, you can't change people's minds. If people don't hear about the perspective, they can't have the perspective. Our perspective and our consciousness is what runs our entire life. Whatever our perspective is on something, that's how we feel. That feeling turns into action. The way we think about something turns into say it with me feelings, and then that feelings turns into action. So, therefore, controlling what you think is vital if you want to grow and become the person that you are supposed to be. All right, I feel like I'm preaching.
Speaker 1:Last but not least, freedom feels better than fear. I'll say this again Freedom feels better than fear. I don't know if there's people out there who like feeling angry, who like feeling anxious, who enjoy feeling nervous, who enjoy feeling cringy when they show up in social spaces. I do not like any of those feelings, so I am choosing not to feel like that and it's that easy. Of course, there are certain things that are tied to what it means to be in public, what it means to succeed, and some of those things are wrongful teachings that we were taught and it has been passed down from us from who knows where that is based in bullshit things that I cannot wait to knock down.
Speaker 1:For people, freedom feels different, feels calmer, lighter, more energized. It makes you move toward what matters. It doesn't keep you from the things that you want to do. That's what fear is. Fear keeps you in that procrastination. Fear keeps you from making that video that you know you need to make. Fear keeps you in that state of you. Know what? I need one more run. I need to make this perfect. This title is not where it's supposed to be. The color is off. My audio is jacked up. I need to fix this.
Speaker 1:I promise you, once you get past those feelings of feeling cringy, once you get past those feelings of people judging you or going to analyze every piece of content that you make, then you are free to make the content that you want. Then you are free to be consistent, because consistency comes from you putting out content on a consistent basis and if you're worried about people analyzing and talking shit to you and telling you you don't know what you're talking about. You are stopping yourself from being consistent and, at the end of the day, it doesn't fucking matter what people think about your content who do not engage with it positively I'll say that again. If they're engaging with it in a negative light, that's on them. You don't have to engage with that and that's not any telling or that's not any sign of what your content is. You got to keep that in mind. You determine what your content is, you determine the meaning behind your content, and then the people who rock with that, who align with that, will find you. I promise you it happens all the time. All right, I think that's it for today.
Speaker 1:I felt like I again I preached a lot there, but this is something that has been heavy on my heart, that I've been wanting to talk about for a while. But choosing what we think is very necessary. I hope this hits you where you needed it and I hope this opened up a new lane of thinking for your brain to mull over, go over different scenarios and just again think differently. Ain't nothing wrong with thinking differently, because at the end of the day, nobody gets to think your thoughts but you. Nobody gets to go into your brain and have the same thoughts as you but you, because you are experiencing them.
Speaker 1:I highly suggest that you pick what you're thinking about. It's way more enjoyable like that, I promise you. Every time you choose what you think, instead of letting old fear or doubt do it for you, you move closer to your real life, your real voice, your real power. If this helped you, share with someone who needs to hear it, and if you're ready to get real about choosing what you think, hit me up. Let's get to work. Other than that, y'all know what to do. Go ahead and leave me a comment, share this with one of your closest content creator friends and, as always, protect your mental, keep creating content and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.