- 12 hours ago
We are sicker, diagnosed later, and dismissed more often, and that's not an accident. Three voices in Black health and wellness sit down to talk about what it really takes to be well, from what we eat to how we listen to our body and ways we can advocate for ourselves in the doctor's office.
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00:04okay i don't know about you but i am super excited for this final panel i mean the name
00:11speaks for itself you know prevent and protect heal from the inside out i don't know about you
00:16but oftentimes when it comes to melanated people that we are sicker diagnosed later
00:24and dismissed far more often than other people and that's not an accident so for this final
00:34conversation at the essence festival of culture 2026 i'm bringing out three powerful voices y'all
00:43i admire all three of these ladies um their voices in black health and wellness and we're all going to
00:49sit down to talk about what it really takes to be well from what we eat to how we listen
00:55to our
00:55bodies to how we advocate for ourselves in the doctor's office or in a hospital so please help
01:01me welcome and i mean i need y'all to really show some love for dr shanta quillette aka shanta
01:10q
01:10davelle tricy piper and t bus y'all they are wonderful please show them some love
01:25don't they look beautiful
01:28okay i'm a huge fan of all three of these ladies you and your son like i was saying in
01:34the back
01:34inspire me so much your sense of humor and your ability to just connect with with us
01:40this is wonderful of course i grew up listening to your music i'm a huge fan and i'm impressed with
01:45how you have been able to have such a a beautiful career and and be a beautiful mom just a
01:52boss
01:52honestly and um goals to say the least thank you tracy we see each other right we were in the
02:00bathroom
02:00like girl you're so pretty she's like you said i'm like girl no you're pretty so i was like it
02:04takes one to know one so y'all please welcome them one more time
02:09now when i um when i was going through my questions i said this panel really is near and dear
02:15to my
02:15heart because i remember about two years ago i was pregnant and i had an ectopic pregnancy
02:23my left fallopian tube ruptured and i had no clue and i was in the hospital just i just remember
02:31crying out for help and asking for help and i was being ignored and i was literally bleeding out
02:37i was literally dying and it wasn't until my mom picked me up and took me to another hospital
02:43and they immediately rushed me back took my vitals did an ultrasound and said oh we taking you right
02:48back to surgery that i was even heard or seen or or um just cared for listened to you know
02:56i just
02:56my heart goes out to just us so i appreciate you ladies lending your voice to advocate and to just
03:05bring more awareness to just black people and and and just mortality you know wellness in our body so
03:14i want you to share each of you and you can jump in if you feel like it share a
03:18time when you didn't
03:18feel heard or seen by a health care provider and what that experience taught you about advocating for
03:26yourself oh i can i can talk about that easily so i was misdiagnosed for about eight years
03:33i've had two strokes and a heart attack and so i was going back and forth to the doctor complaining
03:39about palpitations in my chest shortness of breath and doctors wouldn't listen to me
03:45uh they all blamed it on you know being overweight stress i'm too young uh it's it's disheartening
03:53it's not a good feeling when you know in your heart that something is wrong with you and nobody's
03:59listening and because of that it cost me my career i had to retire from my job uh being misdiagnosed
04:07and
04:07it took a black doctor to actually give me my actual condition but that was after two strokes and a
04:14heart
04:14attack so it was devastating i mean can you imagine two strokes a heart attack later you're still being
04:23misdiagnosed not heard come on like we gotta do better and like she said a black doctor is the one
04:29that had to tell you you do you have something to chime in with yes i actually had four miscarriages
04:35and a topic pregnancy before i was listened to and so i made my issue my classroom so in the
04:44sense of
04:45like how can i advocate for myself because i have a medical background and yet no one was listening to
04:51me because of the color of my skin and like oh you think you know so much and so i
04:56had to learn how to
04:57advocate for myself like that and then even up to recently i found out that i had a blood situation
05:04going on because i worked on at 9 11 again ignored and then i had to come up with no
05:10i think i have
05:11this and can we do these tests can we figure out to find out that yeah you do have a
05:16blood a blood
05:16issue that is you know gonna not going away so you have to really advocate for yourself and push forward
05:28well i was seven years old when a doctor told my mother in front of me at seven which that
05:34should
05:34have never happened um the doctor told me that i would die by the time i was 30 i would
05:39be disabled
05:40my whole life and i would never have children so my mom immediately looked at me and said disregard
05:45everything he said god has the last say so of your life so it just goes to say how doctors
05:51can tell
05:52you something that can convey how you choose to fight for your life or not because some people
05:57don't have you know a strong mom like me or a god-fearing mom like me to show me another
06:03way
06:03you know what i mean so it is so important to learn about your body and your health to advocate
06:09for
06:09yourself and understand that you don't have to do half of the things they even want you to do in
06:14the
06:14hospital like you have the right as a patient to say no i'm not doing that and i don't think
06:21a lot
06:21of people even know that they have that power as a patient wow i mean did y'all hear that
06:27being told
06:28that as a seven-year-old i have a seven-year-old right now and she's just worried about when
06:34the
06:34next time she's getting some chick-fil-a so can you imagine i mean love to your mother you know
06:40and
06:40just look at how beautiful your life and your light is now just that i got chills i don't know
06:46about y'all
06:46but i got chills just when the doctor says no god says yes right and we we have to just
06:51push forward
06:52a lot of times like in this in our in our lives as black women we are just told to
06:57push forward
06:59and my question to you ladies is how do we shift from surviving to truly prioritizing our health
07:07well i think that's a huge issue when it comes to black women because uh we're constantly in survival
07:14mode and we wear exhaustion like it's a badge of honor we're so busy saying that we're superwoman
07:20we're trying to push through that we don't recognize our body when something happens and so what i always
07:26tell women is you need to know when your body is well and when you know when your body is
07:31well
07:31you will automatically know when something is going on so you can advocate just for yourself properly
07:36we will put so much money into our shoes our hair the way we look but we won't go to
07:43the doctor
07:43we'll skip the appointment and i always say lipstick looks better when you're alive
07:49people will tell you i'm amen people will tell you that this is one thing i hear they say you
07:55will rest
07:56i'll rest when i'm dead or i'll sleep when i'm dead let me tell you something when you dead you
08:02die
08:02sleep you're in a conscious state there is a difference between rest and rick and mortis
08:07and so i want every woman to make sure that you prioritize prioritize yourself make sure when you
08:13feel something abnormal you go to the doctor you don't wait i've lost so many beautiful black sisters
08:18just because they said i'm gonna go to the doctor next week next week never came so make sure that
08:25you
08:25advocate for yourself and you also not only hold those doctors accountable we you hold yourself
08:31accountable i was just gonna add to i had to learn that the hard way because when i was touring
08:38i
08:38would mess up every tour so i was always concerned about oh this person is going to be mad at
08:43me or
08:43the other artists are going to be upset instead of thinking if i'm not here this isn't going to matter
08:48anyway because there's nobody going to be lead singing in t.o.c you know what i mean so now
08:53i care
08:54about myself and everybody else can come whenever you know what i mean but um yeah like that is so
09:02true because i learned it the hard way like that just goes to show who you are you're worried about
09:07everybody else except for t-boss you're it it takes you to learn how to really prioritize yourself
09:14wow i mean this superstar is worried about everybody else making everybody else the priority and not
09:22herself unbelievable but for generations they've told black women that we're supposed to be strong
09:27and that being strength is being silent and silence is suffering no strength is asking questions
09:34strength is advocating for ourselves and strength is also listening to our bodies when they start to
09:40whisper to us when we get that headache when we get that bloating when you notice the swelling on your
09:46feet when you get a little constipated you haven't gone to the bathroom in a couple of days
09:49that is your body speaking to you so you we need to get more fluent in the language of our
09:55own bodies
09:55so that we can start advocating for ourself and knowing when it's time to go to the doctor
10:00and say you know what because with every breath that we take we have another opportunity to protect our
10:06essence so ladies i wanted to add i'm sorry i wanted to add on to what she said because what
10:14i learned
10:14is when you're sick and you have something foreign going on your body you forget you know what i mean
10:19by the time you get to the doctor get out a pen and paper and a pad i had a
10:23notebook and i started
10:24writing down questions that i should ask when i get to the doctor writing down the symptoms that i had
10:30when i had it because you're so stressed out and by the time you get there and i noticed that
10:34the doctors
10:34respect you more and listen a little better because some don't listen at all but sometimes if you get
10:40the right one they'll listen when they know you're serious about your health and you're like on on it
10:46you know what i mean so i started writing everything down so i can remember exactly what was going on
10:50with me and so i knew the perfect questions to ask especially when i had a brain tumor because i
10:57i'm used
10:57to dealing with sickle cell but now i got this foreign thing in my head and i don't know what
11:01to do
11:02and i'm stressed out i don't know if i'm gonna live or die i have kids to be here for
11:05so it was crazy
11:06so i think that was one of the hardest times of my life and um i had to write everything
11:12down
11:12because i was forgetting everything i was so nervous and scared i did that with my name actually
11:17so with my name is piper but with my name piper um i did prepare preparation is power yeah i
11:26is for
11:26insist with confidence we're not being difficult we're being responsible p is for for partnership so
11:32the doctors coming with their medical advice and their expertise we're coming with our lived experience
11:39in our body but together we can create a bit better decision and then educate ourselves know your numbers
11:47know your family history know what supplements and medication that you're taking and then our
11:53resources remember you have options so seeking a second opinion does not mean you're being disrespectful
12:00to the doctor it means you're being self-respect for you hello so i use that with my name i
12:05love
12:05that well i say be the bad patient be be the bad patient i don't mean going in the office
12:10kicking
12:10over tables and doing all that stuff but i mean be the bad patient don't take no for an answer
12:15tell the doctor how you feel what you mean and don't be scared to do it because a lot of
12:21times
12:21the doctors will push you off but if you're a little bit more aggressive and say hey i need to
12:26speak
12:26to this person or refer me you find the supervisor and make the doctor listen but be the bad patient
12:33and it is okay because it will it will save your life so then doc what's the one question that
12:38you
12:38would say every black woman here needs to ask their doctor on their next visit well i think the one
12:43of the
12:44the thing with me is i have to put some accountability on myself so like uh tracy said it is
12:51important to
12:52know about your body and know your numbers so when i was going to the doctor all these years i
12:58wasn't
12:58really paying attention to my numbers i i was just looking at it and the doctor i'd be like well
13:03what
13:03does this mean the doctor's like oh well it's not that bad but it really was bad because it was
13:07a
13:08buildup and i was having plaque on my arteries so make sure when you get your blood work you ask
13:13your
13:13doctor what does this mean and what happens if it does go high and why is it if it's high
13:19why isn't it
13:19that bad so just make sure when you get your blood work you ask questions just don't take it uh
13:25for
13:25facebook what is it called face value face value take it for that thank you honey you know i got
13:29perimenopause and sometimes the words don't come out and shout about to get sleepy and all the other
13:35things gotta pee right now too right trying to hold it but yeah so t-buzz this question is for
13:43you
13:43you know you've been able to have such an extraordinary career with while living with sickle cell
13:49um but what has that journey taught you about just the resilience of it all self-advocacy and just
13:56using your voice to raise awareness while also living and what do you tell others that are living
14:00with a chronic illness um when you know better you do better you know what i'm saying i had to
14:10learn
14:10how to take care of myself um i know now that i have a massage therapist on the road with
14:18me i have a
14:18nurse that comes in because i'm a hard stick i have no veins so she'll stick me in my boob
14:23my my foot my
14:24leg wherever she can get it but i do vitamin drips all the time i do holistic remedies um infrared
14:33saunas red light therapy man it's almost like if you go to war you're gonna take the army the air
14:39force and the navy and the marines so i fight with everything i got and i take oxygen before the
14:45show and
14:45after because um when we were on the fan mill tour i went on stage and i came off six
14:52pounds lighter
14:54that's crazy in one show dancing two hours straight you know what i'm saying so six pounds though in one
15:01night that's crazy and i was like i'm gonna die like that because i was only 103 pounds and then
15:07i was 92
15:08pounds real quick you know what i'm saying so i had to really um sit down with myself like i
15:14knew that
15:14i took a job that goes against everything my disease stands for you know they're like you're
15:21crazy you should you you picked this job because you know flying thins your blood is hard you got to
15:26eat right you never eat right on the road this is so many stipulations that you are supposed to
15:34do in order to take care of yourself with sickle cell and my job goes pretty much against
15:40the grain every rule so me learning how to do better with myself and i have to do a lot
15:47i'm not
15:48gonna lie more than the average artist but this is what i want this is what i i chose so
15:52that's what
15:54i'm gonna do to do what i got to do because that's who i am i belong on the stage
15:59you know what i'm saying
15:59so um i was like if i want to live then i'm gonna have to do all these things to
16:05prep but
16:05it's cool the only thing i worry about now is i'm gearing up to uh retire i'm tired of touring
16:13i'm 56
16:14and i have two children thank you and we're going on tour starting in august with uh salt and pepper
16:20yes girl you know i already seen them like tickets in the car for three months and not even just
16:27the
16:27tour i mean your book yeah sick life congratulations to you on that and broadway hello yeah oh yeah we
16:33have a broadway musical guys that open uh june 26th um so it's so proud of a lot going on
16:41but you know
16:42it's a blessing to still be here to be able to even do any of it you know what i'm
16:48saying i just don't
16:49want to wear myself out so where i do retire and then i broke down so i can't be with
16:55my kids so
16:55that's the only thing that that's why i'm gearing up to retire because i owe my kids because my kids
17:00feel like mom you've given your life to the world so now we want you back that's right so i
17:06owe my
17:06children i love that so selfless we appreciate you now tracy i guess you know healing it's not just
17:14physical but what does healing from the inside out look like to you both mentally emotionally and
17:19spiritually uh well when i wrote my book the piper protocol for internal fitness people asked me
17:26what is internal fitness and so we all know about external fitness working out we look out we look
17:32really good on the outside but no one really talks about what your organs look like on the inside
17:37so i'm a massage therapist i'm also an acupuncturist lymphatic therapist but i'm well known as a
17:43colon hydra therapist so my whole thing is about creating the best environment in your body internally
17:49for your organs and your body to heal adapt and thrive so the whole thing is about internal fitness
17:56on making sure that you can do the things that she's talking about making sure that you don't have hypoxia
18:02high oxygen levels knowing the little signs that your body is telling you whispering to you about that
18:09so that you can be ahead so i think i think you could i don't think you could you could
18:14retire right
18:15now but for the family part yeah i i got you you're gonna work on something i love it okay
18:20ladies they're
18:21trying to wrap me up but i got one last question and i want you to tell me in five
18:24words or less one
18:25one thing that you would change about the health care system for black women one thing that you would
18:31change what would it be i would dismantle it i would dismantle it i mean it's it needs some some
18:38heavy heavy work you know black women go through a lot of health health disparities um cardiovascular
18:44disease is the number one killer of human beings and it's killing black women i just lost a friend two
18:50days five days ago wow to heart disease so yeah dismantle it and make sure that our voices are heard
18:56a lot of times we want to be we want to sit at the table we need to be part
19:01of the table hello
19:02all right i think educating us um having a section in the hospital or in the doctors where you can
19:09educate i work with a few doctors which they don't know some of the questions because they don't teach
19:14nutrition in school and they will send their patients to me and i will sit down and i'm like how
19:19do you not know this so my whole thing is about creating more education for people okay what about
19:25you my five words would be start over rebuild and the three are the most important knowledge is power
19:33there's nothing left to say after that best friends make some noise for all three of my amazing ladies
19:40t-boss dr shantay galette devel and tracy piper thank you thank you ladies