 to us. It's time for change and it's up to us and a very special guest today we have Shava Grant and Danielle Thomas Ross. Welcome ladies to Sister Power. Thank you, thank you. Shava, talk a little bit about yourself. I want you ladies to just give us what is a day like in the day of Danielle and Shava. We'll start my days are always very interesting. I plan weddings and events clearly that climate of the world has changed so we're definitely pivoting in our strategies and the way that we are doing things over here on this side of the world but I absolutely love what I do but a day in the life is basically well it's different every day but for the most part I am just communicating with people following up with people and all that fun stuff so I actually started doing event planning I worked for a larger corporation and I did a wedding for the first time and really fell in love with it and then started my company shortly after that. I've been doing it now for about seven years where we are doing mostly weddings and then I have a couple of other different companies that are all all within the kind of wedding and event realm so that is me in a nutshell. What is the name of your organization? Vita Chic weddings and events and then I also have a membership site that is called the curated wedding that is you know kind of within the scope or the umbrella of Vita Chic but it is specifically for brides and people that don't necessarily want to hire a wedding planner full-time but still need some help and some guidance and need some one-on-ones and things like that so yeah so I kind of have two main companies underneath my umbrella and kind of work work through those two in the in that arena. Danielle tell Sister Farm viewers about you. I'm Danielle the instigate her and I provoke and cite and encourage you to pay yourself now and in the future by implementing a strategy and starting now you can make sure that you and your family are fully taken care of and that is how I show up in the world right now. I am a registered rep and agent with New York Life and so I focus on connecting with people in my community to help them figure out how to navigate those hard questions how to plan for the future how to make sure that they're paying themselves now and taking care of their their families when it comes time. That's wonderful well you know we're in the midst of a pandemic and lessons from the pandemic I want to chat about that briefly and admit heightened racial tensions and the outbreak of a deadly disease and I think right now is up to two hundred and sixteen thousand people have died in the US from the this deadly disease. Good leadership is taking on a new meaning. How is the racial tension and coronavirus affected your business? Shabba I'll start with you. In the wedding business we've definitely had to pivot that is for sure. Hawaii has been and until today since March the 20th until today we have been completely shut down in terms of actually doing physical on-site in-person weddings. So it has it's definitely harder for the demographic that I am in for a lot of different reasons but I'm I'm in a couple of different boxes. I'm first time a woman I'm also a black woman I'm also a military spouse so a lot of those pieces make it very difficult for me when it comes to funding when it comes to people taking me seriously and taking my business seriously when they just see me for who I am. You see on paper it's a whole different story but but me approaching things and seeing me for who I am it's a little it can be a little bit trying. So what we've done in my business is of course everything is going digital but for my specific situation it was it was really I really had to think outside of the box a little bit to figure out okay now how am I going to make this work but actually all of the the things that people would consider my things that make my life a little bit more difficult have strengthened me and made me able to kind of take this on and because that you always have to see things outside of the box. When no one really takes you seriously for you know face value you always have to figure out like okay how am I gonna do this by myself and so for me I know that there are a lot of other event planners and things like that on Island that literally after three weeks were like we're not going to be able to do this anymore because they've never encountered any sort of setbacks or or roadblocks or anything like that and for us it was like okay let's sit down let's figure out what we need to do restructure the team okay who can do things digitally who is good with social let's really amp up our social media let's really amp up what we're doing like let's fill out other other platforms that we haven't had time to look at before and so it was really a time for us to just sit it down and say okay what projects did we say we're gonna do what other digital platforms can we really you know push and and take to the next level and it's really done we've actually surprisingly the projects and all the things that we put into place have actually set us up for triple what we did last year for 2021 so it's you know blessing in disguise it gave us the time and the push the little extra push to be able to think outside the box a little bit and and actually push our company to the next level all right Daniel you know what has changed in your business what organization do you work for you say to an agent I'm a representative for a registered representative for New York life so I'm insurance agent and I help people create strategies for their care now and in the future right so how do you take care of that planning that needs to happen to make sure that you retire or that you're taking care of in case you come up with a chronic illness or how to create your own pension right it's all possible we have to just have to have the strategy and know how to put everything in place and so prior to COVID I started with New York life recently I've in March I went full-time so it was right at the time when everything else was shutting down and things were changing and business wise it's been incredible I focus on the black community I reach out to people every day all day long I have these amazing conversations that lead to realizations of how we're under leveraged how we're under prepared for the future and so it's really rewarding because prior to coming in with New York life I was just business coaching and mindset coaching so the instigate her was what my overall business was and I was showing up in a way specifically to help entrepreneurs and business owners have a strategy that takes them to the next level and a lot of that for business owners and entrepreneurs it turns out to be an emotional like roller coaster right how to how to rise to the occasion get past your fears and work through everything that it takes to actually have the business become what you want and so I was showing up at that capacity and so it to me it was a natural pivot because once you once you grow that business how are you making sure that you're taking care of yourself so you can get off of the ride that you've created right so many of us go into it and we go into the grind and the hustle and the day-to-day but we don't take the time to think of and figure out one day I want to step back one day I want to sit down one day I want to just enjoy the future of my labor and so this partnership has helped me be able to put that in place for my community for my loved ones for the people that I care about wow that sounds wonderful well we're 19 days out from the election so let's talk about the importance of voting we can talk about that how are you getting ready for election day ladies how are you getting ready oh we'll let Danielle start okay getting ready it's interesting I've already voted I already cast my vote um and getting ready looks like me continuing to have the conversations with people who are close to me I feel like there's this age range between after high school and young adults where they're they're in the streets protesting but very few of them had registered I actually shown up to vote actually shown up to vote they had never voted before you know I even have people who were um in my life and in my age range that had never went out to vote right like even some celebrities have stood up and said okay I've never voted I'm gonna do it this time right so making sure that I'm having that to me the preparation is like get out there and do the right thing that if you want to see change it means that we have to make the right choices to make change happen all right how are you getting ready to vote I yeah I sent my uh I sent my ballot in already as well I wanted to make sure that if anything was going to get double counted it was mine I'm just kidding that's not funny at all um no I I actually so I am trying to have more conversations with people I feel that it in the past when I have done things you know putting it up on Facebook and making it this big I voted and all that it has not really impacted people as much as when I actually have a conversation with someone and try to and and just casually let them know oh you know in your state you can do it you know and just just doing that the more casual approach um has seemed to to be more impactful than standing up with the sign and saying oh well I voted already you know um so that is what I am doing over on my side because I just feel like that the the warm touch and they uh the just more casual approach is better with with the people that I end up touching so that is what I'm doing but yes I I already voted as well I even it's funny because you know when she was talking about people that are even you know our age and things like that not voting my my husband does not has never voted ever and he's voting um this year might be because I'm forcing him to I live with him and I you know I can force him to do that but um but I I really do feel strongly that we do have another group of people that that has never done it before or doesn't never saw the importance of it I do feel like we have people that are going to show up I really appreciate it I know Michelle Obama started her um her campaign of let's let's be a squad you know the voting squad and I think that is a magnificent idea because that it went when it comes down to it that is what's really going to make some the impact and actually you know persuade people that it is very important and that you know that they should get out there and do it is having someone else I mean even just the the gentle reminder of like hey you want to ride with me we're going to go but you know those type of things just making it a social thing that where it doesn't seem like this big daunting thing for people especially when they haven't done it before right it just seems like this this big daunting thing that they don't really understand and just kind of make making it important but also something that's really easy to do and just more casual um I just I really love the fact that she decided to do that because I do think that's going to make a big difference too in our in our turnout especially in our community you know um and so yeah I'm super happy about that but if you think that that is going to be the biggest way to impact people to actually get out there and do it and not just you know say they're going to or throw their stickers up there or put it on social media that actually showing up to do it absolutely I forever first lady Michelle Obama and she's making a big impact for people to get out there and vote yeah it's important that we get out there and vote and you know our democratic vice presidential nominee senator Harris is on the cover of L magazine I saw that. I'm so happy about that that's amazing isn't that most fabulous she's on the cover of L magazine and she's in a broad interview and she's talking and spanning about racial inequality and her upbringing what else do you know that you admire about senator Harris Danielle I was just listening to her speak this morning um and she was addressing the senate about um yeah they were they were in session for electing the next for putting in place the next judge and so just her poise and her grace and her clarity in addressing what she felt like should be different at this time she felt like they should be in session at this time to talk about COVID to talk about the needs of the American people to talk about the financial issues that we are facing so I admire her the way she showed up this morning for that yeah with Stacey Abrams is an American politician lawyer voting right activist and former Georgia a gubernatorial candidate and she has a new book out that I can't wait to read that's coming out you know I don't know next year or sometime while justice sleeps so Shava what is it about some of the characteristics of Stacey Abrams that you admire oh I love her straightforwardness um she is not scared she's not scared I mean I I I admire her straightforwardness and the fact that she really is not afraid to put things out there no matter what time it is no matter what the climate is no matter what is happening if she has something to say she's going to say it and the the timing of this book is just epic um so yeah I'm interested to see how that all plays out because I when does it come out is it coming out this I think it was made it's supposed to come out in May oh isn't it oh I thought it was coming out sooner okay what we'll look for I think it I think they might have pushed it pushed it up actually it's coming it's coming out a little bit sooner than I believe but um I yeah she's amazing yeah she is young ladies with new queens when you see the future and you know when you see the future goodness you know I've been leaning into this time specifically in the sense that it's given us all this alone time and the opportunity to push up and lean into these spaces that we may have shied away from that are causing that are calling for us to to change within ourselves in ways right that the way the world has shifted with the way that we communicate with one another the way we engage the way we have to spend this type of alone time right that it's really called for us to go within and I think that that is that's huge that I've also witnessed people coming to realizations of who they are and what's important to them and and how they want to show up and how they want to move in the world and who they who they're called to be at this time in a way that wasn't present for them because they didn't have the opportunity to shut down and hear it and experience it for themselves so I see this as being a prolific shift a paradigm shift in the world right on so many levels in the spaces that we can grow into for who we are in the world personally and who we are in the world as a people oh I like that so Shava what message that is important to you right now you're on that stage we want to get people out to vote what message is important to you at this moment oh my goodness um wow that is a that is an interesting question definitely at this moment um I don't think that people understand the value of voting I still think that that's something that that we need to have more discussions about as opposed to or versus having these more combative they're not you can't even really call them conversations so I think just being just actually just above that probably is having conversations um whether it be about race whether it be about voting with their you know whatever the case is I feel like right now is such a especially with the rise of social media and it just being so much easier actually having conversations with people is going to be the only way that anything gets accomplished because we just spend so much time talking at each other just throwing our opinion out there blanketing you know this is what I feel and then kind of ignoring you know the actual dialogue that should be happening after that so I would say whether no matter what it is I mean I have friends that are definitely on the other side of the political line um as me and we are now taking the time to have more of these conversations um so that we can understand and really really understand not just say yeah I hear you or or hear enough to say that you think that it's not right but really hearing why they do feel like that and why they are you know voting or doing things the way that they're doing or feeling that about another person or race the way that they feel um because it's all deep rooted and a lot of it's learned a lot of it is you know passed down I know that my whole lifetime before the last you know 10 years I just automatically saw myself as a republican when it came down to it when I actually did have conversations with people and and start to look at things and start to do things for myself I was like I am not a republican at all I just that was something that was just kind of passed down but I had never actually had conversations with people enough to really be able to form that opinion for myself so I think that's the overlying kind of message is just be human enough to have a conversation with someone more than just telling them something or throwing your ideas out there and and listening enough to tell them that you're opposing whatever that it you know the other side of the thought is great well Danielle uh becoming better stories of our time energy and money and how they are all one in the same elaborate about that tell us about that they it they just so are we don't give it enough um recognition yeah Shava's like like just a smile on your face like because it's something to me it's something for me that is under talked about and under realized right that our time and the way we spend our time and how it affects our money that we have is huge because if we don't recognize that the less time we put towards focusing on how to create a strategy for ourselves right out even outside of our business let's just say within our home just just call it with what we do as far as the budget just what we choose to spend our money on that that has a huge impact on what we have later right so the difference of of just taking the time to sit down and look at it overall right and then the energy that we put into it the words that we say the thoughts that we think that a lot of times i've sat down with business owners and they're making good money but they're constantly saying i'm broke i'm like why why are you saying that why are you putting your energy into that right and so energetically what you put into the world what you say to yourself about yourself right that results in the money that you're able to make to generate to keep to grow and once we become more connected and and realize that for ourselves then it'll change it'll change dynamically it's changed wow you know there was a collage out there on social media and i want to bring that up and it's about why we should vote for the people who are unable to vote and they have the pictures of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and Ahmad Arbery what were so touching to me inshallah what i would like to ask you what does supporting each other look like in real time um i definitely think that the the um place that you're located uh dictates what support looks like um i i have lived all over the world i'm a military spouse i was a military brat my dad's in the army um and i've seen the climate shift from place to place where we have lived and um the most important piece to show support is is to to voice you know in injustice and if there are injustices you need to voice what you see is wrong that's the most important thing but i do think that in every uh in all of these little micro pockets of culture and things like that it definitely shows its face in a different way it needs to be addressed in a different way um because in some places it you know be just kind of getting out there and say hey this is what's going on and we need to change this does something but in other places like the south and you know it that does not do anything but um but kind of light a fire underneath the other you know the opposing sides um behind so it really i do think that it does really matter where you are because everything is situational but i think having a voice and making sure that you voice it in you know whichever way is appropriate for where you are um is really important um i really i mean i i'm gonna say conversations and talking and speaking and communicating with people over and over and over again because i don't feel like people understand the power of just of just giving that energy to someone in a very real authentic way that they can that they can absorb it absorb the positive you know the positivity of you just really being a human on the same level with them um and that is is literally the only thing that's going to change anything no matter if we're different political sides or anything like that you you know whatever your feelings are being able to actually have a conversation with someone to where you feel like it's human to human is the is the only way we're going to be able to make any sort of difference yeah that that that our voice can change the world that's for sure and daniel you sent me a nice quote today or something um i think that i want you to speak about you said how how we continue to rise not as an act of endurance but an act of defiance explain that i think that's that's black people period right that that just kind of sums up the essence of who we are and how we've shown up in the world that and and and um five-point period black indigenous people of color that um are continuous to to rise to occasions rise in positions rise in spite of right continue to move forward continue to smile continue to have joy continue to to greet one another with love right that all of that it can be an act of defiance not necessarily endurance but defying what is the overall tone of what we have to go through on a day-to-day basis right and finding and finding um yeah those pockets of joy in life regardless well i can't believe we're going to have to do another in closing ladies just give us a minute each what can we do where we are right now what can we do where we are i think everyone knows what i'm going to say but um i'm going to try to rephrase it so that i sound like i'm coming up with something profound in me but i do believe that the thing that we can do to be most impactful is well one vote right that's vote everybody vote if you haven't voted yet vote so um but but having those conversations just on on a person to person level having those conversations i feel like that's going to be the most impactful thing so i'll ask you danielle i'll come up with something more profound but it's going to be the thing that's very important that's very important that is very important i agree both so danielle where what can we do where we are in one minute or less show up as our whole selves all the time i feel like that is exactly what we need to do love it and all in all the spaces show up as the fullness of who we are in the world the fullness of who we are in ourselves and own that and and be fully expressed in each and every moment i love it before we leave did you want to say something right quick shava no no i'm good i'm just saying i love it i love danielle's energy she's so great so great but i want us to leave and let's show the viewers what's important let's put on our mask there we have it we have our mask on and we are asking each individual love yourself and each other and wear those masks and as in closing first of all i want to thank you shava grant and i want to thank you danielle for appearing on sister power thank you so much but i was reading this and i'm going to close with this from essence magazine and this is what coca-cola is saying together we must share hope demand justice admit we can do more stand as one right wrongs listen and create a better future in racism and together we will ladies thank you so much i'm sharing thomas yarbrough and sharing thank you for tuning into sister power aloha