From viral TikTok sensation to published author, join us for an intimate fireside chat with the incredible Reesa Teesa! She's here to spill all the tea on her journey from sharing captivating storytimes online to bringing her deeply personal narrative to the page.
Discover how Reesa's viral "storytime" evolved into her upcoming book, "What the F Do I Do Now." She shares the pivotal moments that took her from social media fame to a major book deal, and what it took to translate her experiences onto paper.
Dive deep into the making of her book, a raw and authentic mirror reflecting her personal growth and lessons learned. Reesa discusses the courage it took to be even more vulnerable than before, owning her past mistakes and embracing her journey. This isn't just about her viral marriage story; it's about self-discovery, resilience, and becoming a better woman.
Get ready for an inspiring conversation as Reesa Teesa opens up about her triumphs, her struggles, and the wisdom gained along the way. This is a must-watch for anyone inspired by authentic storytelling and personal transformation.
#ReesaTeesa #AuthorJourney #ViralToPublished #StorytimeSecrets
Discover how Reesa's viral "storytime" evolved into her upcoming book, "What the F Do I Do Now." She shares the pivotal moments that took her from social media fame to a major book deal, and what it took to translate her experiences onto paper.
Dive deep into the making of her book, a raw and authentic mirror reflecting her personal growth and lessons learned. Reesa discusses the courage it took to be even more vulnerable than before, owning her past mistakes and embracing her journey. This isn't just about her viral marriage story; it's about self-discovery, resilience, and becoming a better woman.
Get ready for an inspiring conversation as Reesa Teesa opens up about her triumphs, her struggles, and the wisdom gained along the way. This is a must-watch for anyone inspired by authentic storytelling and personal transformation.
#ReesaTeesa #AuthorJourney #ViralToPublished #StorytimeSecrets
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NewsTranscript
00:05okay can you guys hear me now all right there's always gonna be a technical difficulty but we're
00:10good we're back how are you guys feeling today first day at ss fest y'all are beating the heat
00:15in the ac well i am so excited to be here with the one the only the beautiful the storyteller
00:22risa tisa hello so how is your essence festival morning been going okay so in all truth my morning
00:33has it started early for hair and makeup thank god um but it's late yeah thank you i learned from
00:41the
00:42last time i was here where i tried to have like a wig in this humidity and that didn't work
00:46so well
00:47so i'm glad i did some braids this year i learned from my lesson but um it's it's so good
00:52to be back
00:53at essence is it really feels good to be back here i love it i love it well today we
00:59are going to talk
01:00about all about your upcoming book so let's get right into it i want to take it a little bit
01:06back
01:07from the beginning because we all know you from the infamous tiktok story and i feel like you kind
01:14of paved the way for all these other story times that we're always seeing um but what was the moment
01:19that you realized that that series had turned into something bigger than just a video honestly
01:26the moment i knew it went viral for a like a crazy amount probably is when you get a phone
01:34call from
01:34good morning america saying can you please come on yeah um and a phone call from tameron hall
01:40but i knew for sure that this was something different than what i was expecting when i signed
01:47with ca yeah that was the moment that it was like okay we're we're on a whole different level than
01:52you know just holding the phone up and telling a story so exactly so what did you have to add
02:00or change to make the story work on the page instead of the camera so the thing i'm gonna tell
02:07the
02:08audience about the book that i wrote the book it is absolutely a mirror that i'm holding up to
02:16myself um the story on tiktok was me telling you guys listen this is what happened to me with my
02:23marriage the book is really explaining how this happened and what i learned from it and that was
02:30not covered in the series because it's so easy for people to say this person did me dirty yeah this
02:37person did this to me it's it's another thing to actually say this was my part in it this is
02:44what
02:44i learned from it and this is how i'm trying to be a better woman versus letting it define who
02:50i am
02:51yeah so that's what the book is is very different than the series it goes way more in depth than
02:56the
02:5650 parts love it and i feel like we probably should have said this in the beginning but can you
03:01share
03:02the title of the book let's start there so the title of my book is called what the f do
03:09i do now
03:11i love it and it comes out august 18th but it's called what the f do i do now because
03:17that is a
03:17question i've been asking myself literally in different parts of my life before i got married
03:23after my divorce after the viral series and the book kind of explains where in different parts of my
03:30life i was asking that question and how i'm answering that question and can you kind of like
03:36walk us through what that process was what process was like from you thinking like you know what maybe
03:43i do want to turn my story into a book and i do want you know these parts that haven't
03:47been shown
03:47on social media to be posted and were there any kind of moments or memories as you were going down
03:53that timeline that kind of felt a lot for you that you were like you know what no like this
03:59needs to
03:59be in it or maybe this doesn't so the thing about the book is that i describe it as very
04:06raw very naked
04:08um it is a book where i'm even more authentic than i was in the 50 parts it is a
04:15book where first of all
04:17if you all watch the 50 parts there are a whole bunch of stories in the book so i promise
04:22you there are
04:23stories in the book but what it really is is an example of me like i said holding a mirror
04:29up
04:29yeah and really owning my shic and and it's hard to do that but i kind of feel like if
04:38people can spend
04:39eight hours with me with a rag on my head i can go ahead and own the fact that this
04:44is the mo i've had
04:45in relationships this is these are the mistakes i've made because a lot of people have asked me
04:50girl you're not dumb so how did you fall for that and that's something that i talk about
04:56very openly in the book yeah it was hard to write some of it because it's hard to be honest
05:02about the
05:02fact that you at times have been a pick me people don't want to admit that but it's true and
05:09so i still
05:11felt like and a friend said to me if you're gonna write the book write the damn book and be
05:15honest
05:16about it and own who you are because who you are as a woman there are things that have made
05:21you the
05:22person that you are so embrace that yeah so even though i cried a lot and i drank a lot
05:27of wine i still
05:28was i still was honest about yeah everything that's in there and i i really love that because sometimes
05:34it really is hard to be vulnerable and i feel like as women and i don't know if it's like
05:42living in this
05:43day and age but we're not allowed to make mistakes because of love especially now we're looked down
05:49upon it's like like you said like you're too smart how could you make this decision and it's like
05:54you never know what someone's doing on the other side um and it what you just said kind of reminds
06:02me
06:02i don't know if you're watching love island right now are you watching love island right now i'm not
06:08gonna lie to you i have yet to see an episode oh my god well to which comes to shove
06:14in love island
06:15right now we're seeing a very interesting dynamic in the villa where we have a guy who is lying to
06:23his connection and the connection is like she's believing it every time and as the audience were
06:28like why are you keep going back to this guy but to her it's like she doesn't know what's going
06:33on
06:33and i feel like sometimes we don't know what's going on and you and sometimes it's like i am gonna
06:39make the dumb decision because all i know is what this person is telling me right um so now that
06:45you've
06:45kind of gotten to this part of like writing the book where do you stand with relationships now
06:52so i'm a work in progress okay what i the relationship that i am working on the relationship
06:58that i choose to be in is the relationship with theresa because i spent so many years trying to
07:05be in a relationship trying to be someone's wife trying to you know be the mother of of children
07:11that i completely lost who i am so i'm making a conscious effort solo you know solo dates solo trips
07:19to really embrace my own company because i do feel like how am i going to be in a relationship
07:25with
07:26someone and i myself am not healthy and in a happy whole place yeah and i'm not there yet um
07:32i believe
07:33i will get there but time is slowly you know i'm just i'm taking my time like i'm not in
07:39a hurry to be
07:40out here dating some claps for that thank you thank you and i i really love it and i think
07:45it's
07:46i think it's also really beautiful to see your growth in it like when you were talking about the
07:52story and just seeing like you know you were sad and you were confused and it's like this just
07:57happened to me and i need an outlet to get it out and like seeing you i think like it's
08:02been two years
08:03since you said it on the stage looking beautiful as ever literally glowing i mean this is truly a
08:09testimony to you so sort of a fun question what is something people online think about you that the book
08:19corrects based on my dms and the comments um people there were a lot of people who really
08:27thought i was desperate and dumb um and and what i want to correct in the book was that
08:33it's not so much that i was dumb i really truly believed in my heart this was my turn yeah
08:40i really
08:41did i really thought you know everything right now on social media at least on minds is about
08:46how taylor swift is getting married and i'm just using this as an example and how it's her turn and
08:52there was a time in 2021 where i thought i met this guy and i thought it was my turn
08:58i thought he was as
08:59into me as i was you know into him and we were going to make this thing work and so
09:04i i just feel
09:06like the book is a is a way for me to just kind of explain listen yes this happened to
09:11me yeah but
09:12there's so much more to me than the eight hours a 50 part series of how you were introduced to
09:19me
09:20and these are the lessons i learned because i really don't want any woman or man to ever have
09:26to go through that and feel like because they went through it they should never talk about it yeah and
09:31they should always be ashamed of it no no like the days of being ashamed because you were in a
09:37relationship
09:38that went bad i feel like need to it's it's time to to open the lid and just and share
09:43your story
09:44wow i i really love that because for me i'm 29 i turned 30 on sunday so you know i'm
10:05about to be
10:08somebody i think it's going somewhere and then the ball always always always drops and it got to a
10:15point where i started to like doubt myself i'm like okay am i not pretty enough am i not like
10:22feminine enough am i not this or am i not that that's when the comparisons start coming and so i
10:28think it's really nice when you just fully just divest in i mean invest in yourself and it's like
10:36getting yourself to a place where it's like no like i i am worthy and i am beautiful and i'm
10:41worthy of love i'm worthy of a relationship and i'm worthy of all these things because i deserve it
10:46and it's i think through your journey it's really going to help women like myself recognize and see
10:53that so i really love that um kind of going back i think i asked this a little bit earlier
10:59but we might
10:59have you know pivoted what was the hardest part of your story to put into words you know even after
11:06telling it to so many people so the hardest part about writing this book was there were certain
11:15things that i needed to address that i needed to open up about number one was suffering a miscarriage
11:22in this series i talked about it very briefly in the book i kind of went more in depth that
11:28is very
11:28difficult and i know that there's a lot of women who have experienced that i recently made a video
11:36where i talked about being childless by circumstances being versus being childless by choice yeah and how
11:42we celebrate women who were like listen i don't want no kids never never did and i celebrate that for
11:47them but there is a group of women where we kind of thought life was going to be different we
11:54thought
11:54we were going to have three to four kids or or maybe even just one or two and it just
11:58didn't work out that
11:59way putting that in the book and being open about this is this is how i felt where i felt
12:06like a failure
12:06as a woman i felt like oh my god my body let me down opening up about when it comes
12:13to becoming a mom
12:15was very difficult opening up about um a relationship i had where i was so just in love you know
12:22and i
12:23talk about previous relationships and admitting i was i just i ignored things i shouldn't have ignored
12:30all because i was in a place of desperation and one of the things that i say in the book
12:37is that
12:37desperation has many different faces yeah desperation is not always loud pick me pick me sometimes it really
12:44is quiet it is a i know he's lying but i'm not gonna say anything because i need him to
12:50help me with
12:50these kids or with these bills or whatever and so desperation it it looks different for different
12:56situations and so again just being honest about the mistakes that i made the pitfalls that i made
13:04and owning it i think that's the part is it's hard to own your stuff when you're in a society
13:11that makes
13:12you feel like as a plus size black woman you lucky if somebody wants you and i refuse to believe
13:19that
13:20period like i refuse period because we the shit i don't know if y'all knew that period i'm just
13:25saying
13:26i love it so i i have an interesting question so throughout our conversations i noticed that you've
13:32been using the term pick me but i don't feel like you were a pick me why do you feel
13:37like you might
13:38have been a pick me because my entire attitude was i want a ring i'm gonna do everything i can
13:46to get a
13:46ring i want i want my last name changed that was my that was my sole focus and when when
13:54that becomes
13:54your sole focus i believe that's where you're you're you're not going to hold yourself or your
14:00partner accountable because again my whole goal was i'm ready i'm i'm investing all this time i'm 35 when this
14:08story happened i felt like my biological clock was going off and i felt like i gotta hurry up yeah
14:15i felt like god was taking too long so i'm gonna help him out and i'm gonna just meet somebody
14:20myself
14:21because he's taking too long like i felt as if my phone call to heaven was on hold and it'll
14:27be
14:27answered in the you know in the order it was received and so because of that attitude that mentality
14:33i let a lot of stuff slide all because i wanted paperwork i wanted a last name change i wanted
14:40a
14:41ring and that's the reason why i say i was i was absolutely acting like a pick me okay i
14:48i can i can
14:49okay i can sort of see i still don't think you were a pick me because i feel like when
14:54we when we have a
14:55discussion of like a pick me or what a pick me is like a pick me to me is is
15:02is women who
15:06degrade themselves for a man whereas with you i don't feel like you were degrading yourself for
15:13that man i feel like that you really thought that no like i'm in love and he's here for me
15:19so like
15:19i don't know i still wouldn't say that you're a pick me i feel like so i think everyone has
15:24different
15:25definitions of a pick me okay i feel like a pick me is when you're doing everything you can to
15:29get
15:30or keep a man touche and and i'm not talking about you're working on your marriage i'm not talking
15:35about that i'm saying you're doing everything you can to be this to be everything perfect for this man
15:42versus being everything perfect for you fair that's that's what i mean by there i could totally understand
15:48that winding down a little bit what is what what do you want someone going through their own version
15:55of this story to take away from your book so the biggest thing that i hope and and i say
16:02this to not
16:03just women but men as well the biggest thing in this book is that i talk about how i had
16:09a dream where
16:10i was going to be married i was going to have the suv the 3.2 kids or 3.5
16:16kids i wasn't
16:17going to have a dog because i'm terrified dog but i was going to have this particular life that i
16:21saw
16:22because why can't a black woman have that particular life that you see so many times you know in hollywood
16:28or whatnot yeah however that's not what happened right and the biggest thing that i want to say
16:35especially to my black sisters out there just because the dream isn't what it's not becoming what
16:44you thought it was we're not giving up on the dream we're just going to edit the dream
16:50you see what i'm saying that's the biggest thing about this book is that i refuse under any
16:55circumstances to give up on love and because i deserve love you deserve love you deserve a partner
17:02that's honest that is that is emotionally healthy right and you we deserve that so i refuse to to
17:10play into the narrative of the dream is over and it's time to move on no we're just going to
17:16edit
17:16we edit the dream we're going to edit and we can always start it over anytime we want exactly
17:21period with new hair love it period let's give a round of applause for risa tisa
17:28and for those who are not following you on social media where can we find you so you can find
17:33me on
17:33instagram and tiktok risa tisa r e e s a t e e s a um and absolutely follow me
17:42i love to talk to
17:44people i love meeting people so after this they told me i'm signing books y'all i actually have an
17:50advanced reader copy of the book so please i want to meet you guys shake hands pose for pictures we're
17:57not gonna let this makeup go to waste before i put on my sweatpants and can we remind the audience
18:02one more time when the what the fuck do i do book comes out what the f do i do
18:09now comes out august
18:1118th you can pre-order it now amazon barnes and noble penguin random house you can pre-order it
18:17everywhere um but august 18th is when the book actually comes out and i want to say because i know
18:24i
18:24get this question a lot yes i am doing the audio book i am going next week to record the
18:31audio book
18:32all right well miss risa it has been a joy and a pleasure talking to you here at the author
18:39stage
18:40thank you so yeah so make sure you guys catch her afterwards thank you thank you guys
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