 Mental health continues to be an area of emphasis for African-Americans nationwide and really for people throughout the world as we deal with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, racial tension in the United States and so many other issues. Here to talk with us today is Taylor Marshall. She's a senior at North Carolina A&T State University and also the founder of Not Just a Smile, a social media campaign and account that's dedicated to providing positive imagery of mental health care and mental health sustainability for people at the collegiate level and beyond. So Ms. Marshall, we appreciate you coming on this morning. Tell us about Not Just a Smile and how it came that you found this to be something that was important for people to hear, particularly in spaces on social media where they're normally interacting with each other and interacting with content. Okay, so I think about my sophomore to junior year of high school, I started feeling like that I was battling with something but I wasn't for certain what it was and I had told my second older sister that I had felt like that I might be suffering with some depression and some anxiety and eventually it came up to my parents. And of course, you know, not having a lot of knowledge on mental health, their first questions were, well, you know, like how do you have depression if you have a home, if we have financial stability, if you have food and clothes nearby, that was their first thought because they felt like, well, mental health can't be an issue if you have the basic needs in life. And shortly after that, after a little bit of talking and just really trying to get them to understand, I started going to therapy. And at that point, my first therapist, she was a white woman. And personally after a while, I didn't really like going to therapy with her. I know like everybody is different when it comes to them choosing their therapist, but for me personally, I felt like there's a level that she couldn't really understand me or because there is a disparity between being a black woman and being a white woman. There's a pretty big difference. And I always felt like there was a level that she couldn't really empathize on. And so around that time too, like I felt like, like as I got to college, like my freshman year, I had like a really bad, like a bad time battling my depression. My freshman year, I was running track at Virginia Union on scholarship. And while I was there, I had a few like issues. Like I had got a really bad concussion because I had an allergic reaction to mold. Like I did see, I hit my head. I had been out for a lot of the season. And then after that, like because I wasn't running, I was getting late and I was just kind of getting like really, really sad. And I just didn't like the school. But like in that time too, like in really like understanding that and deciding to transfer to North Carolina A&T, that made me like feel a little bit better knowing that I could get out of there. But I soon came like to really understand that even though like I have this battle with depression and anxiety, it's not just my battle alone. And so at that point, that's when I said that, you know, I wanted to try to start something, but it took me a really long time to really figure it out, like what I wanted to put it all for so long. Like once, because once I transferred to A&T, I crossed to the gamut chat just to make sure I was incorporated, like just that quick. And then I was the vice president. Then I got elected president. And it's just like, and I was just doing all of these like clubs on campus. I was in the slam poetry clubs. And I was like a tour. Like I was just doing a lot of different things. And I wasn't really necessarily taking a stop and doing a lot of things that I really wanted to do. But you know, with the pandemic, there was a lot of free time. And I said, well, you know what? Maybe it's time for me to actually do something for me more. And that's what, that was my New Year's resolution. I said that I was gonna start doing things for me. Cause I feel like a lot of times, especially with my roles in my clubs, a lot of times I was always like worried about other people and I was making sure everything else was okay, but never just like really like focusing on my heart or really focusing on the fact that I really wanted to start this brand. And this was the perfect time to do it. Well, let's talk about that. So because at the same time where you're coming into your own about taking care of your own mental health and you're doing so many other things that those extracurricular activities that sports ever create, even a temporary, you know, kind of valve loosening or a way to get away from that. How did those things help you? But then you inevitably came back to say, well, there's something more that I can do for myself and for others. Yeah, absolutely. You know, we definitely did help and I realized I realized that once I stopped running track because I had been running track since I was, I don't know, in the fifth grade. So I had been doing it for a long time. So I had always been very busy. Like track is a very busy sport. I mean, as it's any sport, like it keeps you very occupied. And as soon as I stopped, as soon as I transferred to ANC and I stopped running, I found myself in like four different clubs. And yeah, it definitely did help to take my mind off of it, but also wasn't the healthiest thing to do. Like putting yourself in all of these different, these different activities and other breathing and always focusing on work and everybody else. Like it makes it hard for you to really take the time to say, well, am I just doing this so I don't have to think about my own problems? I was so focused on making sure every other problem was okay. Like everybody else's problems and these boards and checking all other people and making sure they were good that I wasn't focusing on myself. Cause I didn't want to, you know, it was easy to kind of just like put it off then to deal with the head first. Take us back to the first post you ever made on not just a smile. You created the account, the first post, but what was the feeling associated with that because you're somebody who had, you know, participated in it and taken advantage of therapy. Think that it would be the kind of content that would encourage others to consider therapy or mental health care. Yeah, that first post definitely, there was a lot of different feelings when I made that post. I know that I was just like, I was definitely really excited for something that I wasn't sure where it was going to take me. I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do but I knew that this is what it was. I always knew that I wanted to start an interview series. I didn't really know what exactly that looked like. I knew that I wanted to be able to reach out to people so they knew that they weren't alone and I wanted to educate people but I wasn't sure exactly how I was going to do that. And like shortly, I had my best friends at school. I asked them, you know, like, would you all want to be a part of my team? And so since then I have had my closest friends working alongside me. I've had my friend, Jasmine, who helps me with really getting to interview questions together. I have my friends, DJ and Sway, who manned the cameras and help with the editing. I have my best friend, Nas, who really helps me finding the people for these interviews for the most part and it works really well. Like they remind my friends before this so it all just flows but they really helped me kind of realize what exactly it is that I want to do with this brand. And because you are a psychology major, do you feel like this is enhancing the opportunities that you'll have post-graduation from A&T trying to get into graduate school pursuing a career in psychology? Yeah, I've definitely been putting this in my grad school statements. I've definitely been talking about it. It's on my CV just because I know for me personally one thing that I've always found is my interest is the way that childhood relationships affect us in adulthood. And I've realized in my interviews with people like I'm really seeing how a lot of people's childhood experiences are affecting them now in college. So that only speaks to say like what's gonna happen when we get older from college and how that comes in formal like more relationships and like maybe starting families in the workplace. Like it's definitely really interesting and I do think that it's gonna help a lot. In the end, not that there will be an end to your initiative because obviously you got a team around you it's having a positive impact. What do you hope on a daily or a weekly or monthly basis? Or what are the things that let you know that it's working? That it's worthwhile and it's having an impact on your friend group, your, you know, the Aggie network, HPC network. How do you know that it's working and what kind of fulfillment do you get from that? I think the first real content that I was really putting on the page were the affirmations. And like I've rebent them like the affirmations that are up on the page now and the way that I post them now we don't look the same as they did before. But, you know, when I was posting when I first started posting them I noticed like a lot of my friends the first to follow them was really just my friends. You know, my friends were reposting them. And then, you know, I kept it up and more and more people kept seeing them and I would like check the insights and I would see that one people are like actually bookmarking them and I remember maybe a month and a half ago I have a friend who does artwork and somebody paid for a commission piece for her and they asked her if she could use some of the affirmations from the not just a smile page in her painting. And so she was contexting them and she asked me if that was okay and of course I said yes. And like that right there like let me know that the affirmations really do mean something to people or like the way that the interviews have been going. The first interview was really like a test run. It was I was interviewing Nas, my friend Nazir. That was the first interview just because we needed you know, we needed to see like how was we gonna work and what we're gonna really do from it. Every single interview I had felt like, you know it was getting better. Like episode first of all, once we got to episode three I was like, okay, you know, I really understand like what's happening. And it was really, it was a really like vulnerable interview. And then we got to episode four and that one was even more vulnerable. Like we're there and there were tears and it was, it was very honest and like that was the most honest interview that we had. And I got a lot of people just saying, you know saying back to me like, you know I really liked the interview I really enjoyed it or the last one that I had posted that I recorded and edited myself with the debunking Miss All Mental Health. Like I felt like a lot of people were saying that the content, like it was quality content but they were really like learning a lot and I've started like getting more older people like, you know, like forties, fifties like that are following the page who are really seeing, like seeing me interviewing younger people. So they like, they really know like it's like it's really, it's really happening. Cause I know like sometimes no mental health hasn't always been talked about amongst African American communities. And I think it's nice, it's nice for them to be able to see it. Or I got a text message when I had first I don't make any hoodies from a friend who said that every time that she was sad she was going to put the hoodie on. And that that's what, like that's what I wanted. That's what like the hoodies are not the most important thing to me but it is something that I did just, just because the affirmations on the seat that say I am light, I'm loving, I'm whole. And just seeing that when I put the hoodie on for myself I know that that does something for me and hoodies themselves are comforting. So that helped me and it was nice to see that she was helping other people too. It's definitely a movement, it's definitely much needed. And we appreciate that a sister at an HBCU is at the forefront of something that can have a positive impact for black folks not just on IG or on social media or on the internet, but in their daily lives. So remind us again, where can we find you on IG? How can we follow you and how can we support you? Okay, so the page on Instagram is at not just a smile. On that page I post affirmations, I post tips, I post interview series on IGTV. However, also if you look in the bio there's a link tree on the page and not just a smile that takes you to the YouTube page it has resources in it. Like really, it's some really good things in there like there's a self care game called you feel like shit and it basically walks you through your day in order to make sure that you've done everything every basic need for you. Like there's just a lot of different resources in there for that. And also too in that link tree is the website for not just a smile, which is not just a smile.com. It's very like, it's very simple in that like the name is always the same across every platform. So not just a smile.com on that page it'll take you directly to the Instagram and it'll take you directly to the YouTube and then there's there's merch in there. Like the hoodies, like I have this one that's in light blue and just because like I know people can't really see it because I'm sitting down. So like these are what the hoodies look like on the back. It has just the regular logo which is a cracked smiley face on the back of the hoodie. With the affirmations on the sleeve that read I am light, I am love, I am whole. And then the hood, the hood printing on it as well. And those are actually on the website as well as stickers that have that smiley face logo too. And right now everything is 40% off with the code 40 in all caps, like those are just different ways too. I mean, I love if people come by hoodies but my main thing is that you're really going onto the page and you're looking at the interview series because that's the most important thing right now. Because the merch is, Mr. Merris, thank you so much for your time today.