Uploaded and Unfiltered: Real Talk on Healing, Creativity, and Mindset for Black Creators
Creative journeys. Real struggles. Honest growth.
Hosted by Jermaine, Uploaded and Unfiltered is where Black creators talk real about what it takes to create in public—and stay sane doing it. You’ll hear from YouTubers, streamers, podcasters, musicians, and other digital creatives on how they built their platforms, overcame burnout, dealt with self-doubt, and found their voice.
This isn’t fluff or “how I got famous” talk. We dig into the messy middle—impostor syndrome, grief, perfectionism, procrastination, and the pressure to perform.
Every episode is packed with truth and tools to help you:
- Build your creative presence online (without faking it)
- Move through mental blocks that keep you stuck
- Learn from the wins and fails of other Black creators
🎧 This podcast is for you if:
- You’re a BIPOC content creator or want to be
- You’ve got ideas but keep overthinking or procrastinating
- You want honest convos, mindset shifts, and real strategies
New episodes every week. Hit subscribe and join the movement.
Uploaded and Unfiltered: Real Talk on Healing, Creativity, and Mindset for Black Creators
Push Past the Pause w/ Jessica A. Ross
Send me a text! Be part of the show!
It’s been two years of uploads, and we’re marking the moment with a real one. Jessica A. Ross—aka Mrs. JAMGOOD—joins me to talk about what it takes to show up when fear wants you quiet. We get into her improv roots, how content creation became her calling, and what finally pushed her to go live on TikTok. She breaks down how the “Push Past the Pause” challenge helped her get out of her own head—and how you can do the same.
If you’ve been stuck on pause, this one’s for you.
You can follow Jessica's journey here:
https://www.instagram.com/jamgoodliving
https://www.tiktok.com/@mrs..jamgood
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 the journey thus far. Before we get started and I bring my guest on for the evening, I'm going to read a bio so we can get a bit of information and then we'll be ready to have an awesome conversation. Now, before I get started, you know how I usually go off script. I did not realize that my two year anniversary for this podcast just passed, like like a couple days ago. I'm sitting there like just nose to the grindstone, just doing what I need to do, making sure I hit that weekly upload, and two years have passed since I've been doing this. So if I had an air horn right now, this is where I would push it. But yeah, I'll speak more on that later. But yeah, you got to celebrate your little wins that come up, because it's always a fun time and it gives you an excuse to like while out. So I will be doing that later on today. Without further ado, let me get into this bio and then we'll have our guests for the evening. Come on and again we're gonna have a dope ass conversation.
Speaker 1:Jessica A Ross, known as Mrs Jamgood, is a mindset coach, creative director, motivational speaker and happiness activation facilitator who helps purpose-driven leaders reconnect to their joy, confidence and clarity. As the founder of Jamgood Living, she equips individuals and teens with mindset tools, team building activations and personal development experiences rooted in presence and purpose. With a Bachelor of Science in Theater, dance, communication and Marketing from Kennesaw State University, jessica blends movement, performance and leadership to shift perspectives and lives, and leadership to shift perspectives and lives. She's a host of Jam Good News, creator of the Push Past the Pause Challenge and a producer of a five-part documentary series on purpose and presence. A wife, a homeschooling mom, lives the work. She teaches, balancing leadership and family with joy and faith. She helps others push past fear and pause and into the truth that life is so jam good. Holy crap. I just bodied that and went over there.
Speaker 2:Yes, you did Jessica?
Speaker 1:welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today?
Speaker 2:Oh, hello, hello. I'm so blessed and highly favored. It's such a pleasure to be here. Thank you so much, jermaine, for opening up your podcast to me and my story. Hopefully, people are encouraged and inspired by what it is that I have to share. I appreciate you for two years. Whoop, whoop. Yeah, I want to have a happy dance. Can I join in with you please?
Speaker 1:Hey, hold on. Wow, I don't have any music, but I pat myself on the back. I learned that from.
Speaker 2:Somebody.
Speaker 1:That's exactly right, jessica. Again, thank you for doing this. I stumbled across you, like I do most amazing content creators on TikTok and what you were saying at the time I was like, yep, that's exactly what we need to hear the pushing past the fear and pushing into what you're supposed to be doing. So let me ask you how did you get started in content creation and how does that all blend together to what you do now?
Speaker 2:I love that question because it goes back so far. I would say I began content creation before it was a thing on MySpace or social media or AOL. It was a thing on MySpace or social media or AOL. I'm giving away my age. I started content creating when I fell in love with improv. I had a kind of troublesome growing up and it was more dealing with like feeling safe in my own house or my own home or with my own family, but I used improv as a way to control how people saw me. So I would be on stage, I'd be the person that you look at and I'd show you exactly what I want you to see of me. And that was the beginning of what I can see now is my content creation, wanting to be a specific voice in the world.
Speaker 2:How I got to TikTok was the idea that I was on Instagram and everything was happening. I had about 3000 followers there and what I saw was like I wasn't getting paid for being who I was. Yes, I was being found, there were opportunities that were happening, I was getting some checks, but it wasn't directly from posting here's some money. And everybody was like, well, tiktok, tiktok's that space, tiktok's that place. And so I challenged myself to get on a TikTok, to learn this platform and to make some money by doing what I do. Anyways, go live, share what it is that I have and share what it is that I know. And so I got there because I'm ready to say hey world, I have this value. Exchange me money for it, please. Yes.
Speaker 1:That is awesome, and I saw outside of TikTok. You did mention that you have a few things that you have started up. Yes, the Push Pass to Pause Challenge. Can you go into a little bit of detail on what that looked like and how's that going?
Speaker 2:looked like and how's that going, or is it? Has it got you? I definitely will. So the push past the pause challenge was what I actually had to do to go live on TikTok for the first time. I recognized that I was like studying, studying, studying, studying, study, watching, watching, watching, watching, watching, getting this tip, getting that tip, getting this tip, but I wasn't actually making any action or movement.
Speaker 2:On what it is that I said that I was going to be on TikTok for, and so what I realized is I was pausing, I was hesitating, but that mindset was a mindset that was focused on some kind of negative outcome or some kind of negative belief. But if I truly believe that life is so jam good, which is the motto of my company, jam Good Living, which is a health and wellness support company, so hey, I need to support my health and wellness by believing in my own motto, and that's what helps me push past the pause, because what it does is it reminds me of the power that life is so jam good. So, regardless of what I put out, especially if I'm putting out my best, the good that I have, good's going to meet me, of good's going to meet me, and that made me feel like the push past the pause challenge, which was 31 days of literally trying different things, to push me past the hesitation and the thoughts that I may have of how people may think or how it may be received.
Speaker 2:Are people going to like it? Am I going to get any hearts? All the things that can happen? And now I've transitioned the push past the pause challenge into the push continues. It's a mindset and a series that I'm going to show me continuously, using the efforts of act now do it now, creating new habits and systems around, really giving myself my own backing, being my own client. So, yes, that's how it's transitioned and that's where it is now.
Speaker 1:It's awesome 100% agree with the pushing past the pause. There's this period of and I haven't defined it yet, but I and I haven't really given the words but that part of when you think of something that you want to do to the point where you get it, that little pause and that little fear bubble that's in between, I feel like it's always there and anytime I get on the other side I'm like, oh, I could have just believed in I was going to get it and I would have got it, versus putting myself through all that anxiety. I love that.
Speaker 2:I've definitely realized that that's the thing the fact that we over like hype, the what if and not in a way that's actually like helping us. So we basically use our imagination a lot of the times, and especially in this country, for what's the worst that could happen. So our minds are thinking what if this fails? Versus like what if this is like a major success, and not even just like a major success because it's about to change my whole life? But what if? Me doing it, me showing up, is all the success that's needed?
Speaker 2:And that's what the push past the pause challenge taught me I love that this is a perfect segue.
Speaker 1:No, we're going to do it. It's a perfect segue into your confidence and your mindset in regards to the content that you're putting out right now. Like you said, you made the Push Past, the Pause Challenge into continuing. What does that look like for you right now? How does it feel from when you first started and where do you see yourself with this in like, let's say, three months?
Speaker 2:I love that because that's a multi-part question. Where I'm at now with it is very grateful to myself for showing up, because that was 31 days where I showed up and said hey, jessica, you did this challenge, you're going to show up for it and you're going to meet the other side of it. It also gave me an opportunity to extend my team, so I now have a dedicated editor, because your girl is like Ooh, cause there's a lot to do and you know I still be having to do all the things that life requires. So being able to stretch myself and I've been a barter babe, you know what I'm saying I'll do this for you if you do this for me.
Speaker 2:And I'm like at this point it's like, no, I'm going to pay for what I want. The guy his name is Earl, he's from a wonderful company called Moments in Time, with the N and Moments in Time Media, and he gets my visions. I can say, hey, I want things to look like this and he'll go like this, and I'm like, yes, yes.
Speaker 2:What's that? He gets my vibe and what it's given me is a confidence to just pull up my phone and record, because at this point now it's a conversation, the push past, the pause challenge was me literally saying go, you have to go. But now I'm in the motion of going and it's easier to go once you've, like you know, gotten into the habit of, wherever you are, kind of checking in, doing the things that content creation has led me to really giving myself the room to just create, you know, because now I'm not thinking about okay, I have to shoot it this way because I want to edit it this way, I want to shoot it that way because I need this shot. Now, mind you, I get different shots because we're creators and we know we got an establishing shot.
Speaker 1:Exactly.
Speaker 2:We have to have a point of view, we have to have a high angle, like we know these things, because it makes it interesting, not that we have straight talking videos. That works too, and that's a lot of my push pass pause challenge. Hey, everybody today is so being free enough to give my personality in that way and make it okay that that's where it's at. Yes, to document the progression of my systemized business. So I'm a mindset coach, creative director, and a lot of my content is usually just used to say, hey, I exist, I can be helpful. Because I want to be somebody's mindset coach. I want to be some corporation's internal leadership development coordinator and facilitator. I want to take people who are doing big events as groups and then be the person who helps them come down off that high and return back to even level, you know, feeling good about themselves.
Speaker 2:I want to do that. So me creating content and this push continues is really just going to be hey, I'm falling on me. Come with the journey, come on, let's go, because journey is where we're at.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, yo, that is dope. Like I really resonate with the putting yourself out there because you're like, hey, I want to be your mindset coach, I want to help you get through the things that you're stuck with. I'm going to say both. I like I realize I haven't said I'm a mindset coach enough and loudly enough. And of course, that's why you're not seeing the content or the customers or the clients that you are seeking, because you're not speaking out on what you do.
Speaker 1:And that is a good reminder. Even if you're just, if you are a streamer or you make YouTube videos, let it be known. That's how people figure out who you are and get to your content so you can continue to do it and thrive. So thank you for that reminder. I appreciate it. So I'm going to circle back a little bit. We've mentioned it a few times Jam Good Living. I love the name. Can you give the origin story of it, like how did you come up with it? And if you can elaborate a little bit about what you want to do with the business, I think that'd be dope.
Speaker 2:Perfection. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Jam. Good Living is a health and wellness company that started when I realized that my health and wellness was in shambles. I was living in California, which is one of the most beautiful places on earth, and I was still miserable. I had everything that I said, I wanted I had a husband, I had a son, I was on the West Coast. Like all the things. There were things that could be delivered to my door that would be illegal in other states.
Speaker 1:You know what I'm saying and things were going great, you know, but I still was depressed and I didn't have a good self esteem.
Speaker 2:I didn't have a good relationship with self and, honestly, I was looking at a lot of what I didn't have versus what I did. And so I recognized that as a pastor's child, I grew up in the church. My father, gerald McPhail, who is a pastopreneur, the person who, if you see him in person, you're like, oh my gosh, you're your dad. It's a image that I saw where somebody was just so willing to share the goodness that they knew. So he was a pastor because he found the good news in his belief and his faith in Jesus Christ and in God and so he was willing to share it. So same with me. Once I started to see the difference in my mindset and then my life changed, I was like, oh, this is so good. My name originally is Jessica Elena McPhail, and so that's where the jam comes from but also joyous attitude and mindset. So I made it a thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, jam, good Living is me living as best I can, sharing all the good tips that I know and anything that can help your life also be so jam good.
Speaker 2:Now, jam, good Living is trademarked, and I'm excited because I know that it is a movement, it's not just a company. Now, yes, do I do creative direction, meaning I can come into your corporation, help you build processes and procedures that allow for your life to be more easy as the CEO and person running it. Yes, can I come in as a facilitator for a big corporation like Coca-Cola when they're doing their onboarding for new people? Can I help them feel welcome and embedded in the culture? Absolutely, but the idea of Jam Good Living is really just to be a positive part of everybody's inevitable success story, because it's inevitable we're already going to be successful. So, if I can play a part in any way, so that could be inviting you onto my show, bright Lights Live, because now there's a platform to showcase you, the mindset coach and the person who has the show and all this type of stuff. Now I've just been a part of it. I just want to be a part of the goodness that's going around in the world.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 2:Jam. Good Living is a lifestyle, it's a mindset and it's my call to action to make sure that I'm leaving a trail of goodness with me, around me, behind me, and that I'm exemplifying all the characteristics. I have a son. He's eight years old, he's watching me and I can actually hear him say stuff I say you know, and so it's even more a legacy that I want to leave of a human understanding that divine is within and that when they identify with the goodness that they are, only the goodness of this world can come. And it also wraps the idea of anything and everything, and this will be good for me.
Speaker 1:So whether or not.
Speaker 2:I see right now what it is. This will be good for me and I would love to wrap everybody in the world, if I could, with a big old hug and a reminder. I'm glad you said that because I want to be a reminder, because everybody knows all this. We're internally the earth itself, so we know we know, but we need to be reminded, and I would love to be a reminder and a positive part of your success story.
Speaker 1:That is is yes, I again I need sound effects. There's this the clapping one goes here. The air horns are popping off. I got fireworks for some reason, I don't know, that was dope. That, yes, like it's wild. Because when you get, now I'm going to speak from my perspective and you know, let me know if you agree. Perspective, and you know, let me know if you agree. But when you get to this point in life where you realize that, hey, simple, if I think positive, positive, shit's going to happen. But when you get to that point, it makes it a little harder to interact with certain people and for me I'm still learning I'm like, how do I get to the point where I see your stuckness? I just want to help with it, versus it like upsetting me.
Speaker 2:I was going to say I definitely identify with the idea that it can get kind of difficult to deal with other people, because what you realize is you're always having to deal with yourself. What you realize is you're always having to deal with yourself because that's really, and forever will be, the only thing we ever are dealing with Even when we're standing right next to somebody else.
Speaker 2:We're still dealing with ourselves, how we're thinking, how we're moving, how we're understanding it, how we're processing it, how we're perceiving it, what we're assuming of it, what we're identifying that meaning to be is.
Speaker 2:It's all in us, and I would say that as I started to shift my mindset now, mind you, I was molested growing up I had a lot of different things that I went through in life that I had already decided life was going to be good. So I decided I wasn't going to be bitter. I decided I wasn't about to molest anybody else. I decided that I wasn't about to take away love, because what I noticed growing up is like you can either be somebody who adds love to somebody's life or is the experience of love being taken. Those are the only two choices whenever you meet anybody. Now, love could be a strong word, but I mean you just add or take, like you know, like that's. That's only in terms of energy that we can do in exchange with each other. Okay, I want to be someone who adds, so I'm going to deal in love and move in love, and that is a definition that I have had about me since very young.
Speaker 2:The idea that my thoughts now are attached to that assumption. Like I had to like, take it all, make it a thing, like a one thing, a through line, and when I changed my mind it was interesting because I actually had to take on new things. Like I had to become a new person. I became a surf girl out in California.
Speaker 1:I was talking about how to surf.
Speaker 2:I got a little thing over my head, even a little shoes and gloves. I was out there, yeah, I mean because what I realized is like when you're trying to become a new person, but you don't give yourself room to be new it's hard to adapt new thoughts.
Speaker 2:It's so hard to reprogram your mind, but if you give yourself a new kind of personality, a new trait, a new something, your brain is like I'm open to new. So then you can stuff those thoughts in the cracks while you're floating and learning how to be buoyant on the water, how to catch a wave.
Speaker 1:I'm now learning how to catch my own feelings because I'm able to intertwine the newness of self with a new self, to be new with I feel like we should everybody who's listening to this go donate to Jessica, because she just leveled up, like at least four or five of y'all, what the what?
Speaker 2:Damn okay, you can donate a cash app at Jam Good Living.
Speaker 1:You heard it Jam Good Living. Damn okay, donated cash app at jam good living. You heard it jam good living. Oh my goodness, that was uh, that was powerful. Um, this specifically, I didn't even you're breaking my brain here, surfer girl, like hey, that's out of, like out of left field, but because you decided to take on a new personality, your brain is moving in a different way. Different chemicals are moving through your head, so, as you're learning that, you can stick in the stuff that you're learning and it makes it a little easier. That is smart as hell.
Speaker 2:That's how you hack yourself. So I would say, like any person who is looking to develop new habits and I'm talking to myself right now, because your girl needs to get back in into my what I was doing so we need to understand that taking on a new hobby, taking on a new skill, trying a new sport shoot, going a new direction home, brushing your teeth with your other hand you know what I'm saying Like doing stuff in a different order now gives your brain like, oh, I'm new, I have to take in what this is, because it's a seeking thing. So when you start giving it new stuff, it starts to seek. And then, because we're intentional people yes, we are we now intentionally put in the good thoughts.
Speaker 2:One of the things that I do is I literally have an affirmations tape that I listen to every morning, reprogramming my mind, because if I'm listening to all these shows, listening to all these music, the song can come on that I heard 15 years ago. Haven't heard it in five to 10 years. Every word and intonation, I will sing it with them. Same thing about our own brain we will store stuff, but we got to start practicing intentionally what it is. And so, yes, I will send you a picture of me as my surfer girl self, because it's still a thing. I still surf, you know when I okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Because it's a skill Like once you teach yourself like that, I can catch a wave. I will forever be able to catch a wave.
Speaker 1:My daughter. I'm going to tell her. I'm like, hey, listen, we got to get out there and do it, because she wants to go paddle boarding. Is that the one that you stand?
Speaker 2:up on. Yes, that's the one you stand up on.
Speaker 1:This Sunday coming up. I think we're definitely going to do it. I don't know if I'm going to do it, I'll just get in a little paddle boat next to it.
Speaker 2:No, do it too. That's where y'all can have that enjoyable experience and then use this as an opportunity. If there's anything that you've been wanting to correct about your posture of self, about your esteem of who you are, like any of those things, use the balancing of the paddleboard to give yourself the feeling of alignment, because things on water, like I'm telling you like things on water, give you like that moving meditation, that ability to really sink in with the movement of things.
Speaker 2:You finding your balance on that paddleboard, especially every time you have to tell yourself to get back up if you happen to fall, that is going to build the resistance that will last for your whole life, even though it's in your moment on the paddleboard. But it's a thing, because now your brain is actually saying, no, I got to get back up. No, I got to find this balance. I got to. I got to hold myself. No, I got to engage my core, like all the things that actually help you change.
Speaker 2:That could be a part of it.
Speaker 1:All right, you convinced me, I'm going to do it. Yay, I'm going to do it. I hope you and your daughter be so much fun. That's going to be. Yeah, she's going to be like you're doing what I was like yeah, I know we're working on mindset stuff right now, so let's get it done. That is awesome, all right, well, you bodied that. Let's go ahead and move on to lessons learned. Now this is where I ask my guests what lessons have you learned specifically because you started creating content?
Speaker 2:And I feel like you have a great answer to this. So I'm going to give you the floor and let you do what you do. One thing that I've learned from posting on social media is to just show up, because social media gives you the opportunity to stand up on stage in the world. Now, who's in your audience? Who knows? And you don't control it but the idea that you're putting what you have, what you want, what you need to feel, because a lot of times I'm solving my own problems Bright Lights Live, which is a show that I'm doing.
Speaker 2:I created that during the pandemic so that I could have conversations, because it was me, my husband and, at that time, my three-year-old son. You know what I'm saying and that was it. So how do I get conversations and dive into other people's minds? Start an interview show. So a lot of times, let the content that you're creating be a solution for yourself, and then those people who resonate with you or who are right, coming behind you or right with you, will then also be able to experience the solution that you are and that you're providing. So that was the lesson I learned to show up and provide the solution to myself. So I'm coming whole as an additive and somebody who's supporting and being there during the success.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. You said you started the show during the pandemic. Is that still running for you?
Speaker 2:Yes, actually I'm having my first episode of season 11 this coming Thursday, so it's coming full circle, and one of the things that I realized also from content creation is just keep doing Like, let's keep going. I have over 250 episodes of Bright Lights Live available right now on my Instagram, now why isn't?
Speaker 1:that on.
Speaker 2:YouTube. Yet I'm working on it, but it's one of those things just keep going. You never know what's going to hit you never know what's going to lead to an opportunity.
Speaker 2:I, on social media, one day, was like hey, I decided to take my son out of school. Yank, I yanked him out, here's it out, and I literally just told the story. From from that I got flown out to speak at different conferences about educational toys three or four times now, like just because I was like peace to school, phone in hand, just talking to the kid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yes, that's how, like honestly, I think is, the more creative you are in regards to what you want to do in the future, the more easily that shows up Because, like that's so out of left field, but the creativity, like the way that it happened, is a creative part. He's like you know, I'm taking my son out, I'm gonna make a video about it, and that resonated with somebody who had enough pull to be like. You know, I need you to tell this to another 100 people. What, okay, at the time, was your following pretty big, or was it just like a random video that had like nothing to do with your content?
Speaker 2:Or I guess you talk about the family a lot. Yeah, I talk about family now I haven't been super big on. Hey, let me tell you everything about my son. I'm not necessarily like, don't follow me if you're trying to like see my son, like you will occasionally catch him in stories, but that's not what that's about.
Speaker 2:I would say I maybe had like 2000 at that time or about 2000. Cause I had been working on Instagram and stuff like that and literally like, just posted a video. So I have a friend who does parenting, um, like thing, so his name is dad vlog on on IG. So he's a friend who does parenting like thing, so his name is Dad Vlog on on IG. So he's a really cool person.
Speaker 1:I would like to yes.
Speaker 2:But, like literally, was talking to him and I was like, hey, you know I'm thinking about, you know, moving into this space, I'm homeschooling and everything, what should I do? And he's the one who gave me the great idea of just start in the middle of the story and talk and so literally this, this one here which doesn't even have a lot. It's like 1,532, but I've literally gotten paid from it. Ed Choice is the nonprofit organization that flew me out. I went to.
Speaker 2:Austin I went to. Where was it? Dc? What Right? I mean talking about school and school choice and being brave enough to say, hey, this school isn't teaching my son to his ability, only to his age range, and that's not it. That's not enough for me.
Speaker 2:I want my son to have better, do better, and so I did it on my own, but literally it came through content because I talked to a person who has lots of followers, he knows what he's doing, he's done, he's great at storytelling, he puts things together and his is about his family. So if you want to go see his son follow, him.
Speaker 2:You'll see him, his son, his daughter and his wife they're all a part of it. They go to premieres. Like you know, they do stuff, and so I was literally just saying, hey, do you mind helping me with just this idea? He said, yes, do this. Boom, it took off.
Speaker 1:Now did I repeat it.
Speaker 2:No, because that stuff kind of scared me a little because I was like whoa, it worked, it worked, and that's also a part of like the understanding that like, even though I'm a mindset coach and even because, I'm a mindset coach.
Speaker 2:I have to still move my mind from places. I have not solved it all. Now, am I more optimistic than the average person? Absolutely. Will I see the silver lining instantly? Yes, cause I've trained myself, but do I still have things that, like, are somewhat causing me anxiety? Yes, until I breathe you know what I'm saying, causing me to hesitate. Yes, until I say you better buck up, jessica, cause this is the moment you know what I'm saying Push past that pause into that power Like.
Speaker 2:I still am having to do the same work that I help my clients do really working through and getting present in the moment. So you have the power because, like you can't, you don't have power in the past or in the future, but if you stay here, present where your feet are, you have the power to take whatever next step you need to, because you're recognizing where you are. So yes that was a long way of saying yes.
Speaker 1:Yes, no, that's dope. I just want to highlight one more time because I think it's so amazing when things like this happen when you post something that you're just passionate about, it might not get a thousand, like four thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand views, but that is a thing that could get you paid, like a thousand dollar video, then like maybe a hundred comments, like she got to fly around the country and talk about something she was bad from about. What are you waiting for?
Speaker 1:pretty good to share a similar story. Uh, back when I was uh playing a lot of apex legends on pc, I was just doing it because it was fun. Somebody who was watching, who worked at the company, reached out and like it. While that opportunity didn't go ultimately where I wanted it to, I got to get paid to do commentary with like a professional comment, like I wasn't professional, this dude was getting paid to commentate video games and it was like for fun, like it was just like. Let's just see where it goes and maybe we'll do something with it. But knowing that I had the ability or somebody saw it in me that I could do that, sparked a whole nother set of like perspectives in my head. So again, you never know what opportunities are going to come from you just posting what you love doing.
Speaker 2:So please post and I will say, the more you love it and the more it's like like I didn't want anything from that post, like I wasn't connected to this is going to reach a nonprofit call at choice, and then it's going to take me anywhere. Like you know, it wasn't that. It was like hey everybody, and I don't know if you're experiencing this, but this is what I'm going through and this is what I've decided. You want to come with me along the journey. It was like that. It was one of those things. At this point, my son was literally learning addition like one plus one plus one equals two plus we did a multiplication before he even went to school.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So y'all are not there Not to to like side segue too much. But my kids during COVID when COVID was like I think like 2020, we pulled them out and did virtual school and we've been doing virtual school ever since because it the amount of like one on one time that they get from us that they would not get in a public school, like it kind of blows my mind to the point where I'm like I don't know if I can, I'm not, I don't think I'm going to send them back. It's too crazy out there, ed, I'm not going to get into it, but you, you see what they're doing with education right now.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it's it's it draw out from within the wisdom and the knowledge. It's not about that. So we, especially in our community, have to be in charge of the minds of the youth, because at this point, they're not concerned about their minds, they're not even concerned about their bodies, they're like wanting a head count, and so it's our job. And that's kind of why I was like, hey, I just feel this way, and it was that kind of release and allowing social media to be a platform for finding comfort and community.
Speaker 2:That was something else that I think that I've learned and I am utilizing even more on TikTok, because on Instagram I started and I was just doing and I needed some place to put my show and all that type of stuff. It wasn't strategic, there wasn't a method behind it, but on TikTok, I am literally building a community around the idea of self-control. All of the mindset, wellness, everything else goes into the umbrella of self-control, because that's it, and that's the only thing we ever have control of ourselves, how we think, how we move, how we process, how we process anything. That's it. So, yes, that is what I am seeing from social media teaching me about, like how it can be utilized, how it can be supportive, like the social media should be like one of those things that Batman take out his his belt, you know.
Speaker 2:Like it should be like a tool that that helps you do something that allows you to you know, speak your mind, have a place to vent, create new connections and meet new people, like it should be something that is advantageous to your life I love that.
Speaker 1:I love that you just reminded me. I want everyone to get to the point where they feel like they can turn on their camera, say exactly what they want, exactly how they feel, upload and then move on with their life, because, essentially, that's, that's all we're doing and that's all it takes Just post the content.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that move on with your life thing is tough because we have been so results focused as a community, have been so results focused as a community and I think, and what I teach in my comfy on camera class so a lot of times I help people with their confidence and their actual presence on camera because been there, done that, you know. But what I teach them is the idea that the camera is your best friend and it catches the best of you and so when you're in that relationship and when you're talking, just assume that the result is you showing up to talk. If we go past that point, we are now in the world of the uncontrollable, because who knows who's going to like it? Who knows if TikTok's algorithm says this is something to push, who knows? But the idea of you showing up and pressing send, that being the result that we can, that's what we can measure. Did we show up today?
Speaker 1:Yes, we did.
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I feel like we bodied this question already, but I'm going to call it out specifically for those who listen, who are always like just give me, give me the advice. I just want the advice. I got you. What type of advice would you give to whoever you want to give it to? I'm going to leave it open up to you. Who do you want to give advice to, and what would it be?
Speaker 2:So I want to give my advice to human thinkers. Is that you? Yes, I love it.
Speaker 2:And the reason why I want to give advice to thinkers is because I want my advice to be a reminder. You have control of your thinking and that is actually the remote control of your life's experience. Think about it there are tons of news stations, tons of channels, tons, tons of streaming channels right now. That means everything is available at all times, but it's what you tune into, that you experience, that you get a tearjerker from that. You have to take a pause because this is getting real and then play. Your experience is what you tune into and our thoughts are the tuning.
Speaker 2:So when we think something, it's like saying I'm going to watch this channel today or I'm going to think about this thing today, and because it's like a remote control, the channel will just come in response to your control, your thinking, because you control your thinking. That is something that you have full control of. You didn't know. You have permission. You have permission, your control, and since that is the place, just start with thinking good of yourself. When you begin to be able to love you, to think good of you, you'll start noticing the good things around you. Now, mind you, I've had to start from. I am alive today. I am breathing with no pain. My legs do what my brain tell it to do. I got clean clothes, like there are times when I have to go back to the actual basics.
Speaker 2:You know, there's food in my refrigerator that I chose and I like, like, even if it's not like I got flown to da, da, da da. Today because of this video, like you know, any bit of gratitude in you starts to attract something to be grateful for because, again, your thoughts are the control of this life that we get to experience like a TV channel. So my advice take control of your remote control, take control of your thinking and think happy thoughts, because life is so damn good.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sound effects I'm next week, next, next week I'm gonna have a goddamn soundboard.
Speaker 1:Jessica, thank you for that. Words of advice. Once you learn yeah, I agree, once you learn that you have control over what you think and how what you think Informs what you feel and experience through this world, it feels like a cheat code. It feels like a superpower. You get to take over how you experience life and please take heed to those words of advice. Couldn't have said it better myself. Definitely going to listen to it like four or five times over, jessica. We have reached the section of the podcast where I make my guests brag about all the amazing things they're doing. So, if you don't mind, can you shout out what you're doing, where you're doing it and how people can get in contact with you?
Speaker 2:Yes, I would love to toot my own horn. So I have five major offers that I offer which I'm super excited about, and a show that I'm going to also talk about. So one of the offers is actually a self-esteem builder, which is our improv group. I love to have improv. I do it at McPhail Studios. We are working on our new calendar, so please watch out for that. It's coming soon.
Speaker 2:I have an accountability accelerator bootcamp Now. That is eight weeks where we literally talk about self-assurance, self-reliance and making sure that you are on your own team and are accountable to yourself. I also have a comfy on camera course, so I have the free masterclass that you can get the link in my bio. But I also have an eight week deep dive where we literally take who you are and we learn how package this as we build your comfort on camera, which I really love because watching the first introductory videos to the end, everybody grows so much because you just get comfortable in the practice.
Speaker 2:I have a TV show that I'm doing on Instagram. It's called Bright Lights Live with Jessica A Ross. It is a four-part interview series where we literally do an interview. We do a plug. Session like this is now we do an improv game, because improv is life, and then we have a live work session because I believe that we should show the work in process, because a lot of times it's like here's the end result post, but not how do we get there, what are the questions that we asked to get there?
Speaker 2:And I am just super excited and I also do corporate training. So if you happen to work at a company and you have health and wellness days or you have opportunities for activations, I would love to come in your corporate business, help you with your self-esteem as the employee there, create an atmosphere where we play games, have fun and then really center on how we can be resources for each other and give our best to the work. So I'm just excited to be here as a mindset coach, creative director and a person who believes that your success is inevitable. So I just want to be along for the journey. I'm super excited for this opportunity. Thank you again for having this conversation and to all the creators out there, it's okay to be hyphenated, as long as you put all your energy into what you're doing when you're doing it Okay.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, yes. Shout out to all us hyphenated people out there. It's hard to pick what you want to do. You know you gotta, but that's powerful Pick what you do when you're doing it, put you all into it. That's all you need to do, jessica, wait, before we get to that part. I forgot. I got to shout my own podcast out. Yo, you've been listening to, uploaded and Unfiltered Again. We are 105 episodes, 106 episodes straight since we started two years ago. Consistency brings a lot of stuff, but one thing that I did not realize is just a sense of calmness. I know I have a podcast every week to do. I know what needs to go into it and we make it happen and we push it. And now I'm just now starting to look at the numbers, two years later, and I got to say I'm pleasantly surprised. We got some things we need to, we got some decisions to make. That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:OK.
Speaker 1:But, jessica, thank you for doing this. This was super dope. I knew it was going to be awesome. From the very first TikTok that I saw you doing your thing, I was like, oh yeah, we need to have her on the podcast. So thank you for doing this. I appreciate it.
Speaker 2:It's such a pleasure and I'm excited because you're also going to be online, because black creators create.
Speaker 1:Yep, definitely, I would happily do your show, especially improv. I've never done improv, but I've always wanted to. I kind of do it like when I'm live streaming on Twitch We'll see. We'll see how it goes. It can't be that bad right.
Speaker 2:Life is improv, and you're already so great at it.
Speaker 1:You know what that's. True Mindset is how you think about things there. It's how you think about things, as always. Thank y'all for listening. If you know anybody who can get any benefits from conversations like these and more, please send this information to them. Let them know that we're here to help. We want everyone who is amazing at what they do or don't know that they're amazing at what they do, to get the confidence to actually start out, get out there and start posting content. So with that, I appreciate y'all and, as always, protect your mental, keep creating content and I'll see you in the next one. Peace.