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00:00how you all doing today how we doing how we doing how we doing how we doing how we doing
00:07how we doing i'm saying it's the black joy for me always no is that the hashtag um thank you
00:14all for having me i'm excited to be here with smart water as we talk about wellness and
00:20connectivity and sisterhood and all the amazing things i am taibo champ i am a producer tv host
00:28uh entrepreneur co-founder of brown girl jane co-founder no founder of thai life media and
00:34founder of morning mindset with thai and wellness is my jam not only is wellness my jam but sisterhood
00:41and connectivity is my jam i'm honored to say that i actually worked for essence many many years ago
00:46don't do the math but some time ago so it's always great to be here in the house celebrating essence
00:53fest here in new orleans how many people do we have here from nola nobody nobody here from nola
00:59all right i see you nola i see you nola um we're gonna have an interesting conversation with my
01:06sister angela simmons as we talk about the importance of wellness and sisterhood and if it
01:11weren't for my girls uh how we wouldn't be able to stand so i want to thank the great people over at
01:18smart water for having us um i want to acknowledge all of you for being here and i want to invite to
01:23the stage none other than the mompreneur founder businesswoman philanthropist woman of evolution and
01:33i just love that we've seen her grow up none other than the incredible hailing from new york city
01:40angela simmons angela
01:42looking gorgeous
01:46i need these waves sis i need these waves hi
01:52yeah pop right here grab that mic wait a minute wait a minute i i kind of i kind of wish we had a
01:59shoe cam though i'm just saying i kind of wish we had a shoe cam because you're giving it and i love
02:04these stars thank you okay you got tiny feet no they're not that small it's like a nine oh okay
02:11well they look like they look like this small because i got a size 11 i don't i mean everything
02:15looks small to me that's the thing everything looks small to me so angela let's talk about what
02:20you've been up to i mean i think like i said it's so incredible to think about the fact that we've
02:25actually witnessed you grow up you know from a young person into this incredible entrepreneur
02:32um mom all the things and you know that's been an incredible evolution what are you up to today
02:40and how are you doing how is your spirit oh man so first off i'm mom so like i love that you say
02:47that that's who you are first yeah because before anything else i feel like once i had a son like
02:52my life completely changed like i'm all about him and his happiness obviously mine is important as
02:57well so when you ask me how i am i'm like i'm always checking in with self am i happy is this what i
03:02want to do but i'm also checking in to make sure my son is good so just taking care of myself um i'm
03:07working on some really cool exciting new projects i can't quite say what it is but i just moved to um
03:13atlanta georgia and so i'm dropping a project there really soon that i'm super excited about um i also
03:19have a skincare line simmons beauty so i'm expanding that and i'm doing some things in that area and
03:24obviously a lot in television kind of like naturally born into it with that i think um the idea of being
03:30naturally born into something but also being born into something and choosing because one of the
03:35things that i love about what you said about self-care even as you honor the fact that being a mom is your
03:41priority that you have to check in with self the reality is that we're born into a lot of things right
03:47yeah but we can choose how we show up um you know being born into the family you're in but making the
03:53active choice to show up the way when were those seeds planted when when did you come to kind of
03:59like this is who angela is before the baby definitely um and then this is how i want to show up in the
04:06world in the world um you know what you know what i think is cool is my parents like they both come
04:11from two different walks of life so my dad is a rapper and a reverend and my mom's a school teacher
04:16so i kind of always got to be around the best of both worlds and my parents always supported
04:20whatever it is that i wanted to do so like by nine i knew i wanted to be in fashion right i went to
04:25school for it i pursued it and then obviously there was angela as she grows right then i was on tv and
04:30i'm like okay that's just tv what else you know so i obviously still pursued fashion my sister and i did
04:35a sneaker line and here i am now right mother and a whole evolution and the new companies i'm dropping
04:42which i'm i really wish i could say something because i'm so excited about them you hear that i'm about to
04:48get the tea that's what's about to happen we about to get the tea because she's she's ready
04:52okay leet okay is it a fashion line is it a well i'm just gonna say this i'm a vegan so me too yes
05:01most of the time see that's that health and wellness you said she said sometimes wait let's
05:05tap in what do you mean no no for real for real angela i've been a practicing vegan and plant-based
05:11wellness before years that's amazing and then and then i'll be honest and this is the other thing
05:15that i had to learn just recently i lost a lot of weight because of stress and my nutritionist said
05:22that i needed different types of protein so only for the last three weeks have i been eating meat but
05:26i'm going back to being vegan how did you feel like being well so so that's so because i think and
05:32this is the other thing about wellness that i've learned it's different for everyone yes it is
05:36everybody's body is completely different everyone's body is different and like what speaks to you and
05:41so wellness for me both as an entrepreneur and like listening to my body i don't feel great
05:48digesting meat and i'm still like not on cheese and milk and stuff like i'm just not into that
05:54creates mucus got it you you already know but it it has helped me feel better and i think um but i'm
06:01going to talk about you how did sorry i know look you see you see this is what happens it was an easy
06:06segway i was like wait a minute so so okay so i'm excited about this because i think the idea of
06:12talking about plant-based wellness for us as black people you know what i mean like that's a whole
06:17different thing so it really is it's a whole different thing what ignited your interest in kind
06:24of the dietary kind of portion of wellness for you so there was two parts um one of them my uncle when i
06:31was really young i probably was like 12 he came over and he's been vegan and he shows me this video
06:36of like is this russell yes okay i i knew that russell's been you already know like i've been
06:41vegan for like 25 000 years right right so he comes over i'm like 12 he shows me this video of like
06:45these animals and i'm like they're being abused and i'm watching them like in cages and i was like
06:50i'm done with meat in my head at 12 right at 12 but i didn't do that right i was like okay i'm in a
06:55household they cook meat i wouldn't eat pancakes for the rest of my life like i was like this is not
06:59gonna work so then i finally made the transition when i moved to la california taught me a lot about
07:04wellness and i kind of like i lived there for seven years so i learned a lot about wellness i got on
07:09my fitness stuff and i decided i'm not eating meat anymore and so i was vegetarian for like
07:14whoo over 14 15 years i don't even know i've lost count and like for the past year i decided
07:19no more eggs that was the only thing keeping me from being vegan and then i decided i was done
07:23so that's kind of my transition i learned really early about it but then i didn't really
07:27understand it it was more about an emotion when i was 12 versus like learning about okay what is
07:33meat doing to me and like you said everyone's body is different so i knew i felt better after doing it
07:38and i love it like i wouldn't i can't i just can't go back i was pregnant and i was still a vegetarian
07:42the whole time through like i thought i'm gonna get pregnant i'm probably gonna want meat and i didn't
07:47i stayed i stayed the course i worked out i ate well like i i did it i i and i i love the fact that
07:53we're talking about the importance of what it feels like to us so tell me how do you define
07:59wellness if you had to take the term wellness and break it down for me not in a paragraph give me a
08:05sentence how would you define wellness for you what does that look like or feel like for you like
08:11for me wellness is knowing that my spirit is elevated my body is connected to my spirit i feel
08:18connected in my body and it's also that the people around me feel good yeah i i would say it's an
08:25overall feeling right like like you said like i'm listening to you but it's about my being how am i
08:30really doing you know what i mean what you eat is gonna affect how you feel what you do daily is
08:36gonna affect what's going on in your life so it all just ties back to what are you doing what are
08:39your daily habits and for myself like if things are like off i know i'm doing something wrong what is
08:46am i not praying enough am i not meditating enough am i eating the wrong stuff am i have i been going
08:51too crazy this last month and just been out too much and doing you know let me bring it back let
08:55me reset you know i think it's it's really important to hit the reset button and know when to do it
08:59like it's all about balance and that's what i would say i've learned the key to balance like i'm not gonna
09:04deprive myself of like what i feel is fun because i like food i'm not gonna say i don't like food i'm not
09:09gonna sit up here and be like i'm only eating like salads you know i'm saying but like i'm strict when it
09:13comes to certain things particularly my spirit you know i feel like the spirit is super important to
09:17feed so when it comes to that and i feel like something's off there you got to fix that you
09:21got to figure out what is it a lot of times it's going to go back to your daily habits and you have
09:26to see what it is you're doing who are you around and what's affecting you you know everything you said
09:32plus some because you know i also feel you know no pun intended but it's like about like the seed that
09:38you water like what seeds are you watering and that idea of resetting and checking it with ourselves
09:45it was like even like as i changed my diet recently it was like what is really speaking to me and what
09:50do i really need or don't need um how do you kind of like with this wellness practice and obviously
09:57you talked about being a mom um we know that you're an entrepreneur doing all the businesses dropping
10:03one that has something to do with you know plant-based wellness just y'all i'm just saying
10:08something it's coming y'all could tease that right quick but don't say too much um but like
10:14how do you you know continue to plant these seeds in your son about wellness what does wellness look
10:20like for you as a mom oh i'm all over him with it okay you know what i mean like i'm big
10:23how old is he now he's five already yes isn't that crazy i have a five-year-old i'm like gosh
10:29kindergarten come in in september so he actually did kindergarten already they like skipped him
10:34when he got to atlanta and so now i'm having him do something called pre-first because i just felt
10:38like you know i don't want to put him in first yet yeah but he's like he's he's he's just doing so
10:44well that is so incredible but when it comes to wellness and in my household like i teach him
10:48about herbal things things that heal him what everything is i even teach him about food and i give
10:54him the choice honestly i can't say my son's a vegan right like he's a young growing boy
10:58he's eating chicken he eats turkey and then i don't let the rest kind of happen i'm kind of like
11:02okay but i want him to make those choices but i also let him know what each thing is doing and he's
11:07like smart enough to retain it because he'll go mommy i don't want to eat eat eggs for the month i'll be
11:12like what who are you you know what i mean like what are you talking about you're like when i was your
11:16age i was like right scrambled every every morning and that's what that is you know but i teach him
11:20about it you know to the point where he knows what sea moss is he knows what these things are that helps
11:24heal his body he knows when he's in school hey you can't have these things because they create
11:28mucus in your body like i teach him these things so that he can understand it and digest it but also
11:33make decisions on his own because i think about when he finally leaves the nest i want you to have
11:38this in the back of your head and i want you to make your right decisions but i also want you to
11:41make the decisions so i lay it all out for him and obviously if you're in a household that's vegan
11:45and i have all of these options for him he's going to choose what he wants to choose but normally he
11:50chooses pretty well you know he wakes up he's like he wants his herbal tea he's he's doing all that stuff
11:54i i think it's so incredible and i you know we we talked about this a little bit by the way angela
12:01and i did a movement a walk this morning so we did a smart walk did we girl in the heat it was
12:07incredible but we kicked off this morning with a walk with smart water just kind of like honoring
12:12and paying homage to you know new orleans culture we second line down the street that was so fun i don't
12:19know how i'm doing my new orleans accent but we second line down the street okay we did that and
12:25the idea of movement and this idea of wellness and shifting and so i love this thought around how
12:32you're planting seeds again and your baby boy to understand what wellness looks like for him when
12:38did the light bulb moment outside of going plant-based but when was there a light bulb moment for you
12:44around the need to kind of lead an active wellness life now i understand that your your uncle russell
12:51also has been very advanced i think in forward forward thinking around like wellness but when
12:58did that light bulb moment go off for you it was in la for me like i was like you know i came from
13:03fast-paced new york i was eating whatever doing whatever but i decided i was like i don't really like
13:08my weight and this was like you know i'm 20 whatever it was so it's a little bit of baby weight you
13:12know i didn't like it and i was like i'm gonna change it and i'm gonna change it by going to
13:15the gym twice a day so i'm on it five to seven days a week twice a day every day every day and
13:20then that came with changing my diet right so i'm learning from my trainer and my trainer's like
13:24these are the things that are going to be best for your body so i'm just on chicken i'm on turkey
13:28i'm doing brown rice i shifted everything and at that point i was like okay i like how i feel i like
13:33how you know my body's coming in and after that honestly i never really went back like i'll dabble in
13:37little junk food here and there but for the most part like i learned then and that's why i said la
13:42taught me a lot about wellness and the outdoor working out and the meditation hiking all of that
13:48stuff is like super important and it plays a really large like role when it comes to wellness so it's
13:53interesting that we did this movement i when i moved to la five years ago from new york and i started
13:59hiking so i i have something i have a weekly a monthly hike called morning mindset with tide the hike
14:04and experience and i have like 90 women who literally fly in from around the country so
14:09and it changes and so i i just want to impress upon us as black women in this space you know
14:16sometimes the impetus is not how we look on like how we look on the outside that drives us to do
14:22something different and i think that that's powerful you know but also recognizing that the two
14:29go together right so like how you feel on the inside really also shows up it shows up on the
14:37outside you start doing things like something's different yes i'm loving myself you know what i
14:42mean like different this is this is self-love this is self-love so let's talk about some of your
14:47self-love practices what does self-love and wellness look like for you today you know i've learned so much
14:53throughout the years and i you know i talked about this actually just did a really cool um campaign with
14:57matt swim confidence campaign and like i struggled before la with my weight and my confidence and how
15:03i felt about my body and so like now and what i've learned from like life coaches and actually going
15:09through therapy is loving myself where i'm at presently you know what i mean like we may all have a goal
15:15you may want your body to look like this but this is where you're at right now but have you ever just
15:19embraced where you're at at that moment you know what i mean like your body wasn't where you were
15:23before hello hello i mean so so give your body that credit but it's about loving yourself wanting
15:29it and being in it and for me i learned a really cool thing when i was going through my therapy and
15:33my life coach a cool thing that you guys can do like at home like is get a scent like oil and for 30
15:40days right you smell this oil and you hug yourself when's the last time y'all hugged yourselves i did it
15:45this morning you know what i mean like you really got to get into it and for me like that helped me like
15:49i was like okay by the end of those 30 days i was like i love myself but i didn't realize that i was
15:53neglecting myself that much you know like for years and years and years you just go we get up and we go
15:58you know what i mean everyone else you're looking for someone else tell you i love you no what about
16:01yourself you know and so for me that was what i did like that and and i'm currently in a great space
16:06actually i love myself but yeah okay so now i gotta take i gotta turn it over to all of us what i need us
16:13to do i did this earlier this morning um but i want us all i literally did it this morning i want
16:18us all yes stand up in your seat we're gonna do this right quick let's do it we're gonna stand up
16:23really quickly this is the wellness house we're here with smart water we're gonna deposit some seeds
16:28i want us all to no no no you ain't gonna hold hands cue just open your arms super wide as wide as
16:33you can don't kick the person or fling your arms open and hit the person next to you but and now i want
16:39you to pull your arms together and hug yourself really tight oh and mean it and say to yourself i
16:46love me i am well i am whole i am powerful i am dynamic i am beautiful oh i love that i need girl
17:01that is so good y'all can sit down but i wanted y'all to get active in that because i think to your point
17:06sometimes the action is what dictates the feeling yes right and so sometimes we got to be mindful
17:13as we're looking outside of ourselves for other people to act with us or act for us there you go
17:19or act to us okay that we could do that our dog on ourselves should have been doing it should have
17:24been easy got your arms wake up hug yourself so here's the thing angela has just reminded us
17:30the importance of hugging and loving ourselves before we get off this stage i want to ask you
17:37um you know we're here with smart water obviously it's all about watering the seeds who waters you
17:43who waters you outside of baby boy who are the people around you that waters you because i think
17:50tribe is so important tribes are very important and for me um i find that well i have a really amazing
17:57tribe i can't say i don't um two of them are in the audience right there them two right there the
18:02hair who that who that my my hairstylist who has to put up with me slash friend slash family
18:07kalila who has to deal with me on a day-to-day basis um there's so many amazing beautiful individuals
18:12around me that water me um and it's it's it's something that you need you know what i mean like
18:18you have to have your your tribe it doesn't have to be extremely large but you need people around
18:23you that are going to uplift you because everyone's going to have their moments you know you could do
18:27all the prayers you could do all the meditations but everyone's going to have their days where like
18:29i just don't want to do this today you know what i mean but they remind you of who you are they
18:34remind you of why you're here they remind you of your assignment because sometimes you get lost
18:38and you forget your own assignment like what am i doing here you know what i mean but the people
18:42who've been around you the longest can remind you of why you're here what you're doing and put that
18:47battery back in your back you know what i mean maybe you needed the 24 hours just to kind of hear it
18:51because we just go go go go go we need that yes self-love is great but sometimes you do need it
18:55from your people your family the people who love you so that's what i would say about that i love that
19:02you're so intentional about honoring honoring your your tribe and also understanding that we all have
19:07an assignment so first what i want to say to all of you your assignment is to plug the backpack into
19:13yourself as much as you can and then edit the people around you to support that battery pack in your
19:20back so that way you are planting the seeds for yourself but they're watering it that's the other
19:25thing so i want to shout out my team i see renee i see sinclair i see shirley i see si because y'all
19:31water my backpack and y'all keep me watered and fertile and soiled and all of the things and so i'm grateful
19:38for you and then i want to challenge you all that while you're here at essence fest here at nola in nola
19:44to connect with someone new because you never know who that new tribe person might be yes network
19:49sometimes you know we stand ourselves off but also recognize that the person next to you
19:54might be depending on your wellness and they can also support your journey to wellness so true is
19:59there anything else you want to add angela simmons no i'm just happy to be here you are incredible i'm
20:05so proud of you when is when is the launch coming when like oh no i can't get bored but it's coming too
20:11look so here's what i need everyone to do follow angela simmons on instagram at angela simmons right
20:18that's right right that's right yes yes angela simmons at angela simmons at angela simmons follow
20:25me at taibo t-a-i-b-e-a-u we want to thank smart water um and enjoy the rest of essence thank you all so much
20:32thank you guys
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