Today we have with us Haley Leone, an educator,
creative, and podcast host. People run into me
and be like, oh my god, the podcast. They always
say like they really love what we do and being
consistent is inspirational to them. With a St.
Martin -born mother and a Belizean -born father,
pursuing her passion for education, she moved
to the Netherlands. I think I struggled a lot
with seeing my value as a person. When I just
came up here, it was more so trying to find my
worth. She's making an impact in the classroom
while continuing to embrace her creative side.
I've seen it now manifest into ways now where
students are running through on the streets in
Den Haag and they're like nurses now. Or they
started their own businesses and they remember
certain conversations. they had with me oh we
gotta get into some of that yes people welcome
to the sunside kingdom show here today welcome
welcome welcome that's a really good description
oh nice yeah how are you I'm good. I feel like
the start of the year, usually when I start the
year, I'm in such a like a, I don't know, not
a place of worry or just a place of like, I wouldn't
say loss, but just trying to figure out where
the year is going to head. Yeah. And this year
I started with so much like knowing what I want
to do. Oh, nice. So it's like, I just feel like
at peace in a way. So in general, I'm good. Nice,
nice, nice. You? You're switching these podcast
hosts. I'm not accustomed to being a guest. I'm
asking the question. But I'm good. I'm good.
I'm feeling good. Actually, that's also a part
in thanks to you guys, because you guys definitely
started the year off in a bang. And I was very
grateful and happy to be part of that. January
10th moment, a few days before my 40th birthday.
It definitely set the tone and the energy for
me. starting off the year so i really love that
the year five and and that's actually coming
out in a vlog the vlog might be out by the time
this episode is out but anyways you documented
the night yes yes yes yes i could give you a
preview later please i want to see it yeah all
right so Tell us a bit more from your perspective,
who are you today? And what has been some of
your biggest accomplishments over the last two,
three years? Sometimes when I think, well, that's
a good question, but sometimes when I think about
it, I think I have... started to become the person
i always dreamt of becoming nice i don't think
i have a actual way of describing like okay i'm
this person specifically but i always knew one
of my biggest passions and purpose was to just
be a person for the people and not necessarily
i guess in a way like you want to accomplish
things on a personal level but i feel like for
me it was always about doing something for others
yeah and i always wanted to be a teacher so i
think that's part of my purpose like teaching
and to me people always talk i know when we started
the study one of my teachers was like you i don't
want to be a teacher because you love the subject
or because you want to be a teacher so like i
like english but it's not really Why ideal? Yeah,
yeah, yeah. You know? But I feel like, to me,
it's more so the, like, we call it pedagogy.
So, like, the pedagogy of everything. So, like,
the connection with the students, having those
conversations and help them, like, becoming the
person they're supposed to become. I think, like,
that's one of my purposes. And I've seen it now
manifest into ways now where, like, students
are coming, like, running through on the streets
in Den Haag and they're, like, nurses now. Oh,
wow. Or, like, they started their own businesses.
and they remember certain conversations that
they had with me. So I feel like on one level,
that's part of who I am. Just always an educator
and a teacher of life. And that manifests in
its way of also the podcast. So to me, when we
started the podcast, it was just to kind of bridge
the gap between who we were and who we wanted
to be, but also have those conversations on camera
for our generation. Because there's a lot of
podcasts out there, but I think the representation
of seeing people who think or who come from the
same background is always missing for me personally.
And just to be that inspiration, I guess, for
others and also to myself, because I think when
I look in the mirror, I still want to be the
person that, you know, I'm proud of and that
I continue to be. who i want or set the level
to be so i would say that's who the person i
am now and i think in the past few years so teaching
the podcast and also joining um i said you said
sale assist earlier i felt like i started the
podcast but i wanted to do something that was
more hands -on on the ground on the island because
if people ain't familiar with sale assist they
were doing a lot because during the pandemic
they started like this whole online movement
for the people up here yeah because they did
a lot of live shows, basically, but literally
on live. Oh, on Instagram live. Where they connected
a lot of creatives and artists so the people
had something to watch and do during the lockdown.
During the pandemic, yeah. And then that manifested
into so much content and bridging our culture
and sharing it with the world. And I just wanted
to also be more hands -on in that way. So that's
why I joined them. So yeah, I'd say I'm a true
Samartiner too. So that's who I am. So then for
those, for the few out there that might not have
heard of Bite the Bullet podcast, could you dive
into exactly what it is, why you guys started
it? Okay. So elaborate on that a bit more. Sorry
for the interruption, but... please like comment
and subscribe it helps the channel out so much
so we can get this content out to more people
that definitely need inspiration motivation and
that mindset shift to elevate them to the best
versions of themselves thank you checking in
checking out from the sunny side of the kingdom
bless so bite the bullet is basically a podcast
with me and my co -host jojo renee and um we
kind of wanted to have a podcast where um we
talked about everything so and especially the
things that we deal with as young adults whether
that is um Mental health, your social life, dating,
just everything, pop culture, music, everything
that goes on into the world. And have the conversations
also with women and men that sometimes we don't,
are a bit taboo, but also sometimes we just don't
have. For some reason, the two are in a heterosexual
world. They just don't align or see each other's
perspective a lot of the time. So that was also
one of our biggest goals. um but then also i
think it's so funny when we started i don't think
we expected our niche to be caribbean it kind
of just happened yeah i realized that that's
what people were taking away of it taken away
from it the most that they were connecting with
us just based on the fact that we were from the
islands but we also set it off just to be as
individuals at this age i guess yeah yeah yeah
and but we touch into everything basically and
it kind of manifested now into us starting our
own business having our own studio and um So
those are actually some of the accomplishments.
Yeah, I guess. It's so funny. Jodi was tinging
for this. Not that I don't tap myself on the
back, but it's like, how to put it? I know I
achieve things, but it's not, I don't know. It's
not your forefront focus. Yeah. It's not because
it is a part of who I am. But to me, the biggest
thing is like just how I show up in the world.
And the impact that you could create for others.
Exactly. And of course, on an internal level,
there's things I want to achieve and I'm proud
of. Because actually, yeah, you didn't tap in
on, let's say, the metrics that others would
normally choose. Like, okay, we started a business.
We opened our own studio. etc but you gave the
examples of running into the students that are
now nurses yeah um so so maybe let's tap into
from your perspective then how Have you ran into
anyone where the podcast has impacted them in
a certain way that you could share? For sure.
I think the funny thing is, like, I know my friends
personally and my brother, like, they're the
people that messaged me firsthand to just discuss
things that we're talking about. But then even
on the streets of, especially the Hague, that's
where I live, just... People run into me and
be like, oh, my God, the podcast. And the biggest
thing for them is like they always say like they
really love what we're doing, but also specifically
the fact that they have a voice of the people.
Yeah. For them, it's just really what matters
the most. And I think from people from the outside
looking in, I think a lot of people are just
proud that. people from the islands, the small
islands, St. Martin and Sabre, just as an inspiration,
being consistent in what we're doing is inspirational
to them. But a lot of the topics sometimes is
like, damn, like, yeah. Like, they thought about
it, but also hearing it into words, that is what
does it for them. I think that's, in general,
like, the biggest things I've heard over the
past few years with the podcast. Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah. Yeah. So that deserves a little tap on
the shoulder. I know. I need to start doing it
more. But yeah. But it's part of your personality
and you shouldn't change who you are for anything.
Because I think about it like not that I'm not
business minded or whatever, because my mind
is always constantly going. But I guess that's
just not. I don't know. It's not at the forefront.
Yeah. Yeah. And that's fine. So how. Because
you mentioned purpose now a couple times. And
you mentioned earlier that you feel that the
season that you're in now, you're really starting
to blossom into the person that you always believed
you could be. So how deeply do you feel currently
connected to purpose in your current career and
outside ventures? Connected in what way? Um,
so let's say you're, how, how do you feel that
you're living out your purpose? So funny enough,
when I was, because I journal sometimes too,
and I was looking back at a lot of different,
like, where I was when I started my study, where
I was when I was struggling with my study, because
that's something a lot of us face when we come
up to this country, and just simple things and
what I wanted to achieve. Because before I started
the podcast, I think the first thing I started
was my YouTube channel, Doing Makeup. and even
when i started that i wasn't necessarily because
of makeup it was because i saw a lack of representation
of women that looked like me and just in at the
time i lived cloning and so it was even hard
to find makeup for my skin color and etc so i
watched back a couple of videos the other day
and i realized like everything i started from
back then was always to send a message and to
really um Be an inspiration to others that I
often didn't always have growing up. So be the
inspiration for others, which technically is
the inspiration for yourself that you wish you
had. As a younger adult or just even as a teenager
sometimes. And I feel like back to everything
I do now, whether that's a podcast or teaching,
I realize that I am doing it. You know, it's
just sometimes I need to sit in it and realize
that. But I feel like I'm already doing it without
realizing sometimes. And it's definitely me walking
in line of my purpose and I feel connected to
it. But I think sometimes, and I know some people
might relate in a sense of like, you do stuff
sometimes, like what I say, but you don't sit
and... like notice all the steps of you that
you've taken up until this point yeah so that's
on unless you actually pause and take time to
reflect on all what has happened what has transpired
and how it has affected you and how it has transformed
you into let's say, the next level. Yeah, exactly.
But it's only moments sometimes like when I sit
back and read things or just look back. Even,
you know, iPhone does really do us dirty and
show memories from like, they show pictures from
2018. Why are they doing us dirty? I don't know.
Okay, so maybe that's a generational disconnect
now. So why is the iPhone doing us dirty with
that? You don't have the widget that shows like
a random. But I wouldn't say doing us dirty.
Okay, not doing us. dirty but i'm like showing
me where i was back then okay i guess maybe it's
not dirty so what what well let's tap into that
okay because you say it it would the iphone is
doing us dirty and it shows me back in 2018 But
why would you feel that way? So you weren't in
the best place in 2018? Definitely not. Okay.
In a sense of, I definitely struggled because
I was one of those, you say, long studiators.
Like, it took me eight years to get my diploma.
At the time, so this was before COVID. At the
time, I was living in Diemen -Zuid. So you moved
to Amsterdam as well? Yes, I moved from Groningen
to Diemen -Zuid and then to Den Haag. Yeah. and
i was in a place of like basically i've speaking
up speaking about now like i knew what i wanted
to be doing but i didn't have the resources to
start and also i was yeah because we come up
here to study and then sometimes you have this
moment of like is this really what i want to
do because i know you know i know like i like
teaching but i know outside of that there's always
going to be other things that i want to tap into
yeah other things that you're interested in yeah
so it's like do i follow one path and realizing
i guess over the years i realized you could follow
multiple paths true so i guess i was in that
phase of just trying to figure it out but then
also on a personal level like if i was in a right
relationship that was draining me so it was a
it was a lot of things at the time um that was
dealing with so it's not that way i said do me
dirty and realizing that like yeah so the iphone
was just reminding you of a period in your life
that was pretty intense and difficult so that's
why you're like hey you're doing me dirty by
reminding me of that but but but when we five
years into the future and the iphone is reminding
you at this time you this time period you might
go oh yeah consider it doing me dirty yeah that's
true yeah or snapchat memories but yeah but i
guess in a way i shouldn't read it like that
it's not doing me dirty it's just actually reminding
me of like where i came from what the journey
was actually so yeah yeah so you were going through
the motions and and and feeling that this version
of you you know that there's that there's a version
of you with higher potential you can start to
see that version of you. You can start to feel
that version of you, but you're not living that
version of you. And that can be very, very difficult.
It is, yeah. So what steps did you take or what
did you need to change in order to start to tap
into? that potential version of you and then
become the version of you that you are today.
Because if we look back, it's been almost seven
years. So there's quite some life that happened.
It's so funny because a lot of people know we
were having conversations before here about the
years. And as you were speaking, I was just there
reflecting on where I was because we basically
have the same number. But I think, honestly,
going back to the conversation, maybe it might
sound cliche, but talking to... people that i
knew always saw that in me so for me that's my
mother and definitely my brother those are like
the two pillars in my life that um always bring
me back to reality yeah of who i am i think at
that moment i didn't have that in me but then
having those conversations with them of realizing
like maybe there's certain like environments
you need to take yourself out of to um Really
do what you're supposed to be doing. Yeah. And
my mother's a very, like, say how she say it,
straight to the point, down to earth type of
woman. So she would just have those conversations
with me. And I think realizing, like, okay, you
know, and sometimes we don't want to hear what
they have to say. Yeah, yeah. But I've always
been a person where, like, I hear it, I listen,
I listen a lot. And I go back home and I, like,
sit in it. Okay. And it took a lot of self -reflection.
And it was hard. I'm not going to lie. It was
hard of like having to pick yourself up and just
basically exit out to certain things and be real
with yourself. Yeah. Because I think not I was
living in delusion, but like definitely not being
honest with myself that a lot of the things I
was doing or choosing for myself wasn't beneficial
to me. Yeah. And until I had Duda is when I started
noticing the changes of actively getting up every
day to do the opposite of what I was doing before.
And I think as I was doing that, eventually I
just started to love the feeling and realizing
like, okay, now I'm starting to feel like this
is who I'm supposed to be and this is what I'm
supposed to be doing. And I just continued channeling
that energy from there on forward. So if we...
Jump back to 2018. So by when do you feel that
you kind of cut some of those ties and moved
on? It took a while. I would say COVID, but also
COVID. Like a lot of people talk about COVID
was a hard time, but it was also such a, it was
a time that a lot of us needed. Yeah. Because
when you're home sitting down with yourself for
hours, you realize like, okay, because you don't
know where the world heading right now. So it's
like, I realized like, So it took 2018 to 2020,
you could basically say, because 2020 is when
I really shifted. I really started because I
also started other podcasts before when I was
a Dutch podcast with this other friend. And even
in that situation, it was like I was ready to
work. And I was like, OK, like I've spent so
many years now wasting time and energy. I was
so ready to work. And I guess, unfortunately,
the situation wasn't in that space because everyone.
not to go there but like i so they weren't really
ready to work at the same pace you were ready
to work so you needed to find your energetic
partner exactly and um i guess even in that moment
that was also a moment of realizing like instead
of sticking in it like i exited immediately yeah
yeah and that was serving me gone exactly and
then that's when i realized okay like i i'm starting
to um Basically, like, what was the saying? You
could have a certain way of being and habits,
but then it's like when you're faced with actually
having to practice what you preach in certain
situations, I realized, okay, cool. I was ready.
Because I was out, some people look at it. I
remember having a conversation with one of my
friends from Celeste. She was like, you could
sit there and really try, but ultimately sometimes
people don't realize how exiting a situation
is actually the best thing you could do. Oh,
yes. For yourself. And don't look at it as something.
bad but look at it as like you actually set in
the boundaries and learn what you want yeah and
that was like the and and the crazy thing about
that is the more that you practice it is the
more that you realize that um sometimes you have
to exit certain situations that is taking up
a certain amount of energy because and and In
some ways, they might say energy is infinite,
but around each person, there's also a finite
amount of energy. Yeah. And if there's things
that are not serving you that are taking up.
energy that means that things that can be serving
you can't yeah be in that place exactly so you
need to actually move that away to in order to
free up that space to then allow the things that
can actually serve you to flow but i find it
sometimes so hard especially when some of us
grow up with that mentality of like yeah but
use your people and like we focus a lot on community
and sometimes you have that loyalty of like just
because It's people you don't want to, I guess,
call it not negative energy or whatever. You
try to give things like grace or whatever. But
then it's like being real with yourself, realizing,
yeah, but that comes sometimes with an expiration
date. Yeah, exactly. Reasons and seasons. Reasons
and seasons. Exactly. Yeah. Awesome. All right.
So let's tap back into growing up. So you were
born on St. Martin to a St. Martin mom and Belizean
dad. Yeah. How was that like? So you have one
sibling? No. So my father had two sons and they
still live on Belize. Okay. They came to live
with us a couple of years when I was younger.
And then with me, my... I guess in the household,
my mother had me, my brother and me. I'm the
youngest of four, basically. So I'm the only
girl. The baby. I'm the baby and the only girl
out of four. But for my mother, she has two kids.
for me it was interesting because on the island
i only had my mother's family but they're huge
yeah and they are in its own also very big inspiration
um but then i had my father but belizean also
has this caribbean culture so it's not like it
was that different but their norms could be different
in the way of like how they run a household okay
so i guess that was the biggest difference is
that anything you could tap into uh i don't mind
i don't know everybody will be happy but um i
guess more traditional okay in a sense and my
mother's a very as i say like opinionated outspoken
person and i remember a lot of the times i clashed
yeah yeah going up and um but at the same time
i think that also shaped like me and how i wanted
to show up in the world yeah of um knowing that
i have a voice and not letting anybody silence
down But at the same time, it was lit because
I also had family in America because my father's
side, they all moved away from Belize, you know
what I mean? So we went on vacation in the summers.
It would be Miami, sorry, New York, California.
Oh, nice. All over. So I always got to leave
and be with that side of the family. So then
you got exposed to quite... yeah because going
on vacation is one thing but going on vacation
with family is that that they are sort of embedded
into the into the society yeah gives you a whole
lot of experience it does but also the switch
of like seeing my father speak because i don't
know why i guess if you grew up with a parent
with an accent i didn't see I guess growing up,
I didn't think it was an accent. I just thought
that's how my father spoke. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then I see him around his brothers and sisters
and it's like this big switch to the Belizean
accent. It was always so funny to me. So then
the accent like cranked up a couple notches.
Yeah. It was interesting. Yeah. But yeah, I love
the culture too because it's very linked to...
Because they have the... the Mayan culture very
nearby in Belize. Yeah, yeah. Also Mexico is
right there. So that was like the influence for
a lot of the cuisine as well. But then also linked
to Jamaica because apparently like a lot of the
slaves they had in Jamaica was also like in between
the two Belize and Jamaica. Yeah. So, yeah, it's
just a whole other history outside of the Samaritan
one. But you've been to Belize as well? Yeah,
we went, I think in my lifetime I went three
times. Okay. um beautiful place but it's so beautiful
and big also but just also it is a third world
country yeah so um we didn't go off soon yeah
very interesting but you know it like you've
heard of it well i i definitely heard of it because
um uh I've been a hip hop head since basically
my teens. I mean, as a kid growing up, you would
listen to the popular songs, so you know them.
Yeah. But when I was 13, I, at that point, well,
just before I turned 14, I moved to Dominica
because my mom's family is from Dominica. I had
a similar experience maybe a bit later in my
life because her family, also many of them moved
away from Dominica and living in the States.
So by the time that I started traveling to the
States, I started meeting a lot of my family
that were in New York, in New Jersey, in Philadelphia.
going and being with them that are integrated
into society, then you get like a true, authentic
New York experience. Exactly. What up, cuz? Nah,
there's the police there. Exactly. Oh, I love
it. Yeah. But also just realizing how worlds
apart, you know, where we are, even though it's
like we're playing right away. Yeah. And that
they're like, how they grew up was so different,
even though you family. So that was also cool
to me. in a way but then my core family growing
up was yeah the holidays on the island so then
that was also different yeah well they're known
for being um uh successful and in in a lot of
key positions and uh and very much uh education
and uh thing oriented yeah for sure but i think
also like what i always remember growing up is
like feeling like this um yeah but they but they
also come from one of the other islands a few
generations basically i guess you could say we
petitioned okay because my grandmother was a
petition and um my grandfather's mother was a
petition and then also linked to marigot so it's
like friend side and same kids So then it was
like three generations back that moved to St.
Martin? It depends which side of the family you're
talking about. I don't know the whole history.
Yeah, the holidays themselves are petitioned.
Appropriately, they spell it differently. I think
they say holiday. Like holiday. Like holiday,
like with an A? Mm -hmm. Okay. And then I guess
by the time it came to St. Martin, they changed
it last name to Holiday. But then essentially
it's St. Kitts. And then, of course, that was
my grandfather's mother's side, but then his
father was L .B. Scott. Oh, okay. So that is
then like core St. Martin. Yeah, that is the
core St. Martin side. Yeah. Yeah. But that's,
I think if you dive into everyone's history,
It's, yeah, the West Indies is all mixed up.
Link is all, yeah. All connected somehow. Or
they just never really was rooted into one island.
Yeah. Because even like my Belizean side, we
had a family tree moment, we're a family union.
And my aunt realized that her mother's family
came from a boat from Barbados. So you got Beijing
in you too? Basically, yeah. Wow. So it's like
all over. And then my brother did the DNA test.
They could link the 23andMe. They could link
some of our relatives to like Jamaica, but back
to, I think, back then with the slaves being
transported. So it's like, yeah, you're never
really from one island. Yeah, yeah. You're a
Caribbean person, West Indian. Basically, yeah.
So with that being said. How would you say that
your Caribbean roots has influenced your career
trajectory and even the way that you operate
within your careers today? Because I think you
have two simultaneous tracks going right now.
I think that's rooted in everything I do. I think
going back to the point of, I think, yeah, my
family was always successful, but I think...
what i wanted to say earlier is a big thing growing
up in our family is like i guess loyalty to your
culture and your island and community and making
sure you give back yeah because my mother was
also an educator but on the side i always saw
her being in organizations that was big on whether
that's helping the education on the island the
youth on the island or just organizing events
for our lectures for the people to kind of better
themselves um so that's kind of i guess where
that stemmed from for me in a sense of like everything
i do going to always be for people which is why
i think that's who i am yeah um and i think also
why I am the teacher I am in a way because for
me it's also about making sure, fostering, like
even within the classes that they realize that
they're not, because the generation now is so
individualistic, but realizing that they're part
of a world and a society and that's basically...
And a bigger community. A bigger community. And
I think that's the message I put out there. And
then even back to the podcast, when we realized
it became such a Caribbean thing. um it would
be really wanted it because i was at the phase
of not knowing if i wanted to stay here around
when we started yeah and um jody was set on staying
here but she always wanted to give back from
him yeah and i think even her saying that um
made me also realize that what we're doing is
also giving back to the island even though we're
not physically there And then we kind of just
continue fostering and seeing how we could do
that moving forward. Because I definitely know
you guys have listeners on the island as well.
Yeah. And that's also something that you would
want to continue to grow and inspire. i yeah
but you don't really i think i was telling you
that because i went in 2023 like three times
i think i went kind of all summer and christmas
and then the people stopping oh that was the
year that you was really homesick and ready to
go three times but that's also the year because
that's the thing i don't know if everybody have
this but when i go back that's the moment i'm
like i do want to be here and then um yeah because
i was there so much but also but I saw a lot
of my friends go back and seeing them succeed
at going back. Because I think sometimes we have
this idea that going back would be setting ourselves
back. And I saw them actually drive in, even
to this day. It gave me another perspective of
realizing that it might not be a bad thing to
go back. And I guess that's where I was in that
time. yeah mentally but um back to the question
of how my caribbean uh was um helped shaped who
i am today i think that's just who i am i can't
hide my accent even within the classroom too
like I don't speak like this, but they hear it.
And I'm trying to also... So how do you speak
in the classroom? I have my American accent that
I speak. Give us a little preview. But you're
hearing the accent still? No, I basically speak
like... I don't like to call it proper, but I
basically speak more clear. Yeah, you articulate
more. I articulate more and I use my... It's
happened to the American side of me and I speak
like this. Oh, nice. Yeah, but yeah. Highlighted.
that the Caribbean is part of English culture
and language and um yeah moving forward though
I do kind of in my personal life I know I am
a creative so I really want to like tap into
um I think I have so much ideas in my head of
like just helping creating a network of Caribbean
businesses. So we call kind of tribe. So that's
always in my mind is and now that we have the
studio, a big thing is that we also want to kind
of look into like helping with advertising. So,
yeah, but I would definitely always want to.
That's where I am mentally start with like the
people around us and our community. Yeah, and
kind of put us on the map. So if we tap back
again into, let's say, growing up, going through
your teens, going through your early 20s, where
you're at right now in the current stage, are
there any significant mentors that you had that...
whether they were in your life directly or even
persons that you started to follow online because
you needed answers and they their content was
sort of providing those answers could you tap
into some of those mentors yeah i think when
people hear the word mentor you think that's
there's actively actively someone you go to for
advice all the time and there was that so back
to my mother and my brother or i think a big
thing is like my friends even though um Some
people might think that you wouldn't go to advice
for your friends. But I had a lot of friends
that they're in different fields, whether that's
like cancer research or administration or accounting,
having friends that helped me navigate life.
But I have a lot of online people I went to.
And that was the YouTube world, though, because
I'm very much into looking up. For me, it was
about representation. I'll help you with the
tongue twister. Representation. So back then
you had people like Jackie Aina, but I was more
the makeup world. I think if I have to be honest,
I think I struggled a lot with seeing my value
as a person. So in that stage of my life, when
I just came up here, it was more so trying to
find my worth and looking for... I guess looking
at people that was doing it. So that I also felt
like I could do it. And that was more sort of
mentorship to me. Because I didn't have actual
conversations with them. But seeing them achieve
certain things. But why you think that was? That
was because you were in Groningen. That was pretty
far away from everyone. So the physical interactions
was a lot less. For sure. And I think I didn't
realize. Like on the island you experienced it
too. Because I said I danced. We didn't get into
that later. We can get into it now. Yeah, I dance.
I'm going to be very honest. I dance at motions
dance. And I was having conversations with a
couple women now that also danced with me back
then. And we talked about how that was such a
toxic environment. In the sense of like, whether
it was just blatant racism or colorism or just
also the dance culture itself. of like having
to present yourself in a certain way or have
a certain type of body and like always constantly
like questioning if you like even simple things
of okay maybe today i dance well enough to be
in front and always trying to i guess you never
feel like you're great or good enough and then
how long did you dance 11 years wow i think i
started at three and then i stopped at 14. so
then so then uh Okay, so that really got embedded
in you. That was embedded in me. And I think
that manifested in a lot of my life of constantly
worrying or wondering if I was good enough. Because
that was a big part of my life. So I think once
I realized that I wasn't... seeing the value
in myself i guess a lot of the things i was choosing
to watch subconsciously was what was helping
me find out and that was the biggest mentorship
to me and um so it was it was sort of like a
re -education yeah because they educated that
young kid up until what you said 14 yeah um some
very horrible education i mean i love dancing
you know the part that i love Because I love
being in a space where you have each other and
stuff like that. But there was a side to it that
was also, I would say, as for such a young, for
a lot of young women that are young teenagers,
that's a time in your life where you want to
fit in. You're struggling with puberty. So that
shaped who I was definitely at that time. And
I could imagine for a lot of other people. But
as for actual also people I would go to advice,
like my mother. Yeah. She's, I've been saying
it over and over again, but like, I know I realize
it's also a privilege. Mom, you did a good job.
She did a good job, but I realize it's also a
privilege. It's also a privilege because not
everyone has those type of relationships with
their mom. No, that you could go to for anything.
Yeah. And give solid advice that wants the best
for you. But also just show up and actually give
the help sometimes when you need it. And that's
also in itself a privilege. And how was the advice,
the mentorship, let's say in the early days of
starting the podcast journey? Because this is
technically the third podcast for you then. This
is the second. The second. Yeah. So Say Less
Sis wasn't really a podcast. It started as a
podcast, but when I joined on, it became more
of like an online thing for the community. Okay.
And just us creating content. My mother was,
she's, I guess going back to the thing, because
she's always, I don't want to say realistic,
because she would always be like, okay, she always
wants me to go for what I want to do. And she
saw, funny enough, she saw the value in us, what
we was doing. From early? From early on. So,
like, even when we went in summer 2023, she helped
me get in contact with a lot of radio stations
to make sure we could have promote the podcast.
And she's always been that type of mother to,
like, it comes across as, like. we call that
micromanaging. I can do this, I can do this,
I can do this, I can do this. But then it helps
you because it's like, you know, you have somebody
that actually helps or sees the vision that believes
in you, basically. um but also being realistic
of like okay but financially is this a good decision
right now in your life and um always asking the
questions that i ask myself like okay like but
if you stay in holland like how long do you think
like just how asking the questions i really had
to ask myself of like okay if i'm struggling
with not knowing if i want to be here realistically
for real like is this what i want to be doing
and um Because I had the situation where the
other podcast didn't work. And at the time, Jodi
was a new friend. She was like, okay, do you
see this being a dynamic right now? Oh, because
you guys only in recent years linked up. Yeah,
I knew her, but I was mostly friends with her
older sister. Her sister is around my age. And
so she was around as like the little sister.
But then I also just noticed like how... much
she was also inspiration to me and as now like
she's also a mentor in a way of like i love how
her mind works um so at the time when we started
having more conversations too i was like no mommy
like this is somebody like i actually like i
can tell because once with me like my intuition
is like is is there and i can really tell i told
like i i just noticed like that was somebody
who was serious about what you were doing in
life back to the question of my mother being
my mentor she was just asking me questions that
always kept me like um i guess down to earth
and realistic but funny enough also my brother
um but my brother is a mentor in a sense of like
he hates when i say this but to me he's just
like such an amazing human being and how he like
shows up in the world like he's how much older
is he he's three years older okay but we like
to stay like we're three years apart as twins
yeah like we connected in that way um so he helped
me navigate life itself i think from a creative
standpoint or like a what i was doing financially
or whatever that would be my mother but as of
like The choices I was making within my life,
that was always my brother. Yeah, so he really
was big bro. Yeah, he is really to this day.
He's also like one of my biggest podcast fans
too. So he watches everything and we like talk
about it. But even back to like our upbringing
and certain things that we dealt growing up,
we could stay speaking on the phone for like
hours. And just I think having those conversations
was kind of like therapy for each other. Yeah.
and making me realize certain habits I had without
them from. And also him being realistic with
me as to like getting out of those situations
I was speaking about. So I would say those are
my two active biggest mentors. That's beautiful.
Yeah. Having your mom and your brother. My brother,
yeah. And I would say right now, like in the
podcast world, like I have... Mentors in a sense
of like, they're like who I aspire to be. It's
like these two young women from London, they
received podcasts. I think the past five, six
years, I've started watching their podcast, just
everything they've been doing. Yeah. Rather than,
specifically for Black British culture, I watch
what they do. And that kind of... actually i
think watching that podcast is what really inspired
me to want to tap into podcasting yeah because
i saw so much of like how necessary it was for
their space and that's kind of what i had that
i do that was the seed for the plant of like
we need that for our space yeah yeah and so moving
forward i realize a lot of the things that they
do or we do sometimes is like so aligned And
I've gotten to meet one of them. And so having
the conversation with her, we were having the
conversation of like, sometimes when you come
from the diaspora, because she's Nigerian, and
you don't feel like there's a place in the world
that feels like home necessarily. It's like home
is wherever you are. That was most of what the
conversation was, but also just about like...
feeling back to the conversation i feel like
you're worth doing whatever you want to do though
whatever that is i would say those two women
are also big mentors for me right now okay yeah
yeah i was interested when i saw the question
and i was like what would you do but i don't
know if i'd like to ask you that what like a
mentor for you or a mentor for me Wow. But you
never get asked the question? Well, no, no one
ever asked me the question because I'm hosting.
Yeah, but still, because when we saw, when you
gave the presentation by the St. Martins, the
event, it was November 30th. And you went through
the slides of everything that you were doing.
I was just wondering if like, especially my generation
or the younger generation, I know. The OGs. I
know they know of you, but then to see all that
you have done and accomplished, I also find that
in itself, like, inspirational to see that someone
from the island is doing it on this level. So
then I wonder, like, who inspired you? Who inspired
me? For me, I feel that's a very loaded question.
But let me try and go through some of it. In
the very early days, actually recently I had
this conversation. So I grew up born on St. Martin.
I just keep repeating this because I need to
give it that context. Born on St. Martin, we
left and we moved here to the Netherlands. And
at the time when we moved to the Netherlands,
it was my mom, me, and my six sisters. And actually,
I think, yeah, shortly after one of my nieces
as well. So my eldest niece was born. And at
that time, things weren't too stable in the family
situation because the parents got divorced. And
that in itself. had certain dynamics and certain
struggles up up up until a particular age then
we move back and every so i'm i'm number six
in the line of seven okay So there were others
that were then way older and started their careers.
And I'm still in school and everyone is sort
of going through the motions. So maybe by the
time I'm a teenager, then I have an older sister
that's around your age now. So she's going through
a different dynamic. And then every now and then
you have some of those sibling conversations.
So each one of them might have played a particular
role at a different moment in time. Also, my
mom has always been pretty much an inspiration
for her kind heart. Like she's one of the kindest
people I know, even though her mouth could be
fire when she's ready. When you need that, yeah.
But she's a very loving and caring person. She's
always been the type of mom that's the mom for
the neighborhood. So multiple people would claim
her as mom as well. And then when I went through
the whole music era, I started to look externally
for the persons I look up to. And so then I started
to look at all of the biggest names in the game.
At some point, I was very much into Nas. So also
with the Nas and Jay -Z beef, I was like F -Jay
-Z too. You pick a side. I picked a side hard
because I was Nas. I was Mobb Deep. I was basically
Queens. Okay. But then years later, when sort
of the businessman in me started to emerge more,
I started to respect. Jay -Z's movements and
stuff and started to get a bigger love for Jay
-Z, right? I mean, today with all the stuff that's
going on, I'm not really sure. I'm not really
trying to decipher what they did or how they
did it or whatever. I'm just going back to the
time, like, you know, early 2000s, late 90s and
what that time was like. So looking to the biggest
ones in the game was inspiration in the sense
that, okay, they did it in their context where
they're from. And whatever I'm going to do, I
have to do it in my way, in my context where
I'm from. And Eminem was also one of the people
that I listened to very, very much. So I grew
up in that era of hip hop where... if what you
were saying on the mic was not real and representing
who you are and your truth, don't come around
here. So like everything in me was based on writing
the truth. Even some of the songs that I would
look back now and be like, maybe I shouldn't
have. Write that. Well, writing it is okay, but
maybe recording it and putting it out is a different
story. But that was my truth at the time. So
that actually translated in my whole business
trajectory as well, that everything I do had
to be based in solid truth. And if... if you
have to sort of lie cheat and deceive to make
whatever moves then it's not worth it because
that means that also a part of you is going to
be dying with each one of those yeah but it's
also inauthentic to who you are exactly exactly
and that was also part it played a role in me
putting music on pause, which eventually turned
to music being stopped in my life. Because some
of the experiences that I had being in New York,
at some point I was in Virgin Records office
talking to an A &R that was involved in signing
Rihanna. So there were definitely some interesting
moments. And in those moments you choose whether
or not signing the piece of paper makes the most
sense. I didn't get the record deal handed to
me, but some other stuff. But in the paperwork,
there was also a lot of things that might be
affecting me up till today. Today, if you had
signed. That would probably be taking money out
of my pocket till today. And if we zoom out and
we look now at all the stories that come out,
you see that there's a lot and plenty of artists
that basically said that they got completely
screwed with those first things that they signed.
So how were you aware at the time to not, like,
what made you not? Well, one of the key things
was... I was always taught you don't sign something
you don't understand. Okay, yeah. So no matter
if they show you golden towers and they say sign
right here, it's yours. I'm like, no. I need
to first understand what's in here. And everything
was happening so fast at the moment. So I said,
well, I need this digitally before I can sign.
And they were kind of hesitant. Eventually, I
got it. I sent it back home. So two of my sisters.
I contacted a lawyer and had them go through
it. And then within a couple hours or a day later
or something, I got the phone call. Well, in
my family, they call me Junior. Junior, do not
sign. Don't even say why, just go. Because I
think at the time when they called me, I was
in a studio where actually... uh cassidy was
recording his album my drink and my two -step
yeah that album that was being recorded in that
studio at that time because as i was coming out
of my session he was going in to his and and
a lot of people might think like but you crazy
like you was you was right there and and you
and you didn't but there were different things
in me that kind of felt throughout the process
because my intuition is also very strong yeah
throughout the process i was like This doesn't
feel right. But at the same time, I'm here. And
then when I got that phone call and telling me
don't, I was like, okay, let me see how I can
not sign and then still make certain steps here.
And it just kind of life happened. And yeah.
Yeah, it's funny because you're speaking on a
lot of people from the music industry that kind
of you saw as a mentor. And like one of my favorite
artists is J. Cole. And people asked me recently,
I think within the past year as to why. And I
never really sat down to think about the why.
But he recently released like a 10 part podcast
series where he like dive into like. him as a
young adult going into New York and that whole
space between figuring out he was an artist and
a rapper and getting the deal with Jay -Z and
all he did. And I realized a lot of what you're
saying now is also why I resonated with him because
he was always, if you listen to his music, it
was always about like... who am i and what do
i want yeah and not selling your soul because
he really dived into a lot of things he saw at
the time and he was just like no but i wasn't
going to be me yeah and i i don't know i guess
it just resonated with me as a young adult i
guess as to just being him authentically himself
and him telling it in a story form in with music
yeah i think that's always what stood out to
me I guess. But then I hear these stories and
then you actually got to see that it was actually
being presented to you. And it makes me think
like, yeah, that's why. So it's very important
to know who you are. Who you are. Yeah. At that
early in life. Yeah. So that's why it's also
so key to have the right amount of nurturing
around you with the right messaging to. And also
to give you enough space and room for you to
discover. Yeah. Because you could also have people
around you that are giving you the messaging
and they want you to follow the messaging exactly
in the way that they instructed you to follow
the messaging. And that's not right. You should
give that in. It's more like, I can't remember
where I saw this, but. Now that I have kids and
also seen many kids sort of got raised over my
lifespan, it's definitely true that in the early
stage, they're completely fragile and they need
to be very well taken care of, right? They need
to be protected. So I think that's like ages
zero to about four or five. Then from like four
to about, what is it, 10, 11? they say you need
to instill structure and discipline and order
and the core values, right? That's really instilled
in those ages. And then from like 11 onwards
to about 18, 19, that's when they're transitioning
into teenagers. And the teenager doesn't need
you to give them instructions, but they need
coaching. right so they're out there playing
the game you can't play the game for them yeah
because when when they're out there with the
other 15 16 year old that's telling them hey
pop this pill you're gonna feel good they needed
to have the coaching from before to tell them
hey leave that alone yeah you're right yeah um
and then they need to make the decisions in the
game yeah i guess it goes back to the scene of
like you could It's better to teach a man how
to fish than to give him the actual fish. Exactly.
Yeah. And then there was this other saying where
it's basically designed in our DNA that we, as
teenagers, break away from the family structure.
And that was if we go back, because we live in
this type of way in society for just 100, 200
years. And if we're going back centuries, then
in many different parts of the world, it would
be like these little smaller tribes, smaller
communities. And in order for... The community
is not to continue to mix or blend or incest
within the community. It's designed in the DNA
that you want to break away from your parents
and go out into the world. So now the man would
go out and have to venture out into some other
tribe to find his wife and then return after
a certain amount of years. So even like as teenagers,
you go through that moment where you don't want
to listen to what your parents have to say. but
maybe a trusted family member or friend of the
family could say the exact same thing your parents
are saying and you listen to it, right? So that's
why they say it takes a village, it takes a community.
I even forgot what the original question was
that we got on this topic. You've been having
a mentor, basically. nobody here but then there's
not about you but then i think about like you
know having to raise kids in like the difference
between the caribbean and like europe because
i know like a couple of parents i speak to whether
that's my friends or my age mates um who feel
like the difference in raising their kids up
here is not that they didn't feel like they don't
feel like they have a community but they feel
they have more of a community in the caribbean
yeah It's like even one of my colleagues moved
back to Curacao because of that. And then I,
yeah, it's one of my, not worries, but it's one
of those things I wonder how different would
life be if I were to start a family here. But
you're also a father here. So I don't know how
that is for you. So I have an interesting perspective
because as a kid, I had both experiences. Yeah,
true. As a kid, I had certain struggles with
having both experiences. But as an adult, I look
back and think, wow, that was an immense amount
of life lessons compacted into those early years.
Because I always felt like a more grown... adult
even at 18 like at least the type of conversations
i would have the type of insights i i at 18 i
sometimes had deep conversations with 35 year
olds uh and and and they'd be like how the hell
is he 18 but that's because all of the life experience
that was compacted into those early years and
at the end of the day everything is a choice
like you there's a certain amount of community
that you can build here as well. But it's not
going to be the same as back home. Back home,
it'll probably be a lot more family involved
in the community aspect. But here, it's the friends,
the acquaintances, the chosen family. And in
the chosen family dynamic, there's still a lot
that you can do. Because if I look at my kids
today, So when we were here between, that was
age 4 to 11 for me, I never went on vacation
to the islands. Only when we moved back is when
I experienced the islands. My kids have been...
What is it? Seven, eight times. They're seven
years old. They've been seven, eight times between
like my wife is from Aruba. I'm from St. Martin.
So they've been to Aruba and St. Martin multiple
times. They hopped over to Anguilla with what
we have today with the internet, with FaceTime.
They talk to my mom multiple times a week. So
usually sometimes when I pick them up from school,
I call her on FaceTime, hand them the phone,
and they're having a whole conversation. So then
the moments when she comes here, the relationship
just continues. The moments when we go there,
it continues. So I do feel like there are ways
to have that connection, but it's just a different
form. But you would need to have at least a very
basic friend community around you up here to
really... have a bit of that i think yeah if
you don't have that it makes it hard to then
consider your surroundings the actual community
and i think sometimes up here depending on where
you live or your situation people feel like we're
all in our own little bubble in holland um whereas
the bubble burst in the island because you don't
have the Because I remember growing up, I would
wake up and like uncles and aunts are already
in the house. Yeah, yeah. Here I was like, you
need to tell me when you come. Exactly. It's
a different situation, I guess. Yeah. But yeah,
I guess a chosen family would always be also
a community. It depends how you look at it or
you value as a person. But I value both. I feel
like the friends I have is also a big blessing
that a lot of friends I have now I know since.
I was zero. Or even from high school to that
point, I know they would always be my community.
So I think even if I stay here at home, I'm going
to have a village. It depends if they stay. That's
the biggest question. So if we tap back now to
the high school time, or maybe towards the end
of high school, 18 -year -old Haiti. Who was
she? Who was she? No. What advice would you give
18 -year -old Haiti based on the Haiti of today?
Back to the intuition of actually listening to
it. Funny enough, we got an episode yesterday
about intuition, and I don't think we teach children
enough about what it is and the difference between
the thoughts in your brain. versus the feeling
in your gut and i'm an overthinker so i think
a lot of times i felt things but because my mind
was it would question a lot of things or i really
sit down i'm a very I don't know if you noticed,
but I think a lot. I don't know sometimes if
it comes out what I'm thinking. But I observe
and I think a lot and I really go through all
aspects or pockets of a possible situation or
question in my head to the point where then at
that point, intuition ain't even part of the
conversation because I just more so looking at
all the different ways or possibilities of outcomes.
And I think at 18, back again too, I knew I wanted
to achieve and do so much things. But I think
at that time I was so young, I was focused on
different things that I just didn't tap into
that gut feeling of knowing what I wanted to
do. Yeah. Yeah. And I was very impressionable
in a sense of easily influenced. I'm not going
to lie. So it's back to listening to my gut.
Yeah, sticking to doing what you want to do and
not listening to those outside voices so much
because I did that a lot at 18. But at 18, I
also failed high school five. Funny enough, when
I was 17, once again, I got feeling. I told my
mom I wasn't ready to come to Holland. But back
to that, yeah, you just got to do it. But she
was like, no, you can still go, but end up failing.
I don't know if it was on purpose. I think back
and I'm like, I just think I wasn't ready. I
didn't have the discipline. I didn't have the,
yeah, I guess discipline. And I also was, I knew
the step of coming here was going to require
a lot. And actually tapping into that, like in
general, I don't think. Most people, most kids
aren't ready at such a young age. And definitely
if your intuition is telling you you're not ready,
parents, listen to that. It's okay if they go
a year or two later and they feel that they're
ready because they'll also be. more ready to
take on the challenges and and perhaps not have
to uh get knocked down a couple times really
hard before they get back up etc i mean that
in itself also has its own own lessons etc but
um but i've noticed the difference of um Because
I could have come when I was 17, but then I failed
and I came at 18. And I probably wasn't ready,
but I knew at this point I didn't have a choice.
So I was more prepared mentally to do it. But
I remember I came up at the time with a friend
who had already graduated two years before and
stayed and worked on the island. And how she
approached life up here was already so different
to me because she already had spent two years
outside of high school working on the island.
more independent more structure exactly and i
think sometimes we on the island we think as
soon as you finish high school you gotta move
away get an education but i think ultimately
it's about giving your child the tools to be
able to, like, become an adult. Coach. And, yeah,
back to the coaching. As good as they is, they
can't go out to win the championship without
the team yet. No, no. They still got to learn
all the fundamentals. Exactly. But, like, yeah,
I think, I know we sometimes think there's a
specific way to do it, but it goes back to. Everyone
is different. Yeah. And, like. listening to your
child more and I guess yeah giving them the the
actual choice of listening to themselves because
I realized also even when my students they're
so aware yeah they're so aware even sometimes
like how they perceive me I'm like wow like they
see me four hours a week but they already have
an idea of who I am as a person yeah oh like
one of my students was like I was like, you're
so dry as a person. I was like, that's funny
because that's what my friends say a lot of the
time. But it was just like, but it's not in a
bad way. It was just like, like it just, how
she perceive it is that like a lot of things
don't bother you and they love it because they
have other teachers who's like, they're screaming
and they're getting on and they're like, sometimes
they feel like, i actually just listening to
them yeah and it's not that i upset or anything
and it might come across as like nonchalant in
a way yeah and i'm like wow the fact that you
seeing this at 12 13 and you can already put
it into words so then imagine a 17 18 year old
who already had those thoughts from that age
it's like i don't i think we should trust them
more yeah at that age so if they're saying they
need a bit more time to figure it out Give them
the time. Coach them in that time. Yeah, coaching
versus being a dictator, I guess. Yeah, awesome.
Yeah. So, I think we can wrap up. Yeah? Yeah.
That was a really good conversation. Thank you
very, very much for coming through. Thank you
for having me. All the way to Aintje. Well, I
didn't say it, but I probably said it. But I
also want to thank you guys again for having
me on your show. That was a pretty amazing experience,
like being in the room with all the community
up here and that whole vibe. So I definitely
had lots of fun and positive energy being there
with you guys and experiencing that. and definitely
meeting you guys in these recent times and now
us being able to have this conversation and go
more in -depth. I also love and appreciate that
a lot. Thank you for having me. I think you should
still come on an actual episode where we could
sit down for almost two hours and our viewers
get to see you differently than the live show.
Yeah. Because I feel like having the conversations
we've been having, I feel like you have a lot
of insight from a perspective that a lot of people
need to see in our community. Yeah. But you call
this Eintje? Eindhoven is Eintje. Eindhoven is
Eintje. It was dubbed by that by the rappers
of like 2007 era. The Kemppies and Fresco and
all of them. Okay, I didn't know that. That's
like Groningen have Gron. I did not know that.
Yeah, but G -R -U -N -A. That's funny. But I
was going to ask you because it's like for me,
funny enough, like when we have a podcast and
a guest and we just talk general conversations,
I think now we started our Patreon where we go
in depth as to who we are. So I was wondering
like how you perceive it like now that we did
an entire video. We could talk about this outside
the podcast. What was your idea? Was it what
you thought of who I was as a person? I always
ask those questions. How do people perceive me?
How would you summarize it? Or what have you
taken away? What have I taken away? Well, the
interesting... The things for me that were like
brand new nuggets is your dad being from Belize
and then having that Belize family and then connected
to the States and having all of that exposure.
I know you mentioned about your family before
on the podcast, before I knew who the family
was, but then based on the description, when
I found out who the family was, I was like, oh
yeah, that makes perfect sense. And also, I can't
remember where it was in the story now, but when
we sort of tapped into coming out of that dark
place. Oh, yeah. And what it took to come out
of that dark place and sort of the transition
and also like taking a bit longer over school.
I also took seven years, started in wanting.
And at the time when I left, I knew that I wasn't,
it's not that I wasn't, I was ready to leave
the island. Yeah. But I didn't know what I wanted
to study. I just wanted to make music. I actually
didn't even want to study. But based on my family
background, that was also a no -go option. No,
exactly. You see? Yeah. So actually it was my
youngest sister that found my first study. Because
she is way more structured and focused and goes
by the rules. And I usually look at the rules
and say, these rules serve me? No? Okay, forget
these rules. And then you go your own way. And
I go my own way. So she came and she was investigating
which study she was going to do a year before
we were coming up. Wow, yeah. And she paid her
own ticket. come up here to do that so that's
the type of dedication at like 16 yeah okay uh
and then she found this thing that was information
technology and was like hey look this is an option
for you i was like okay whatever i i still trying
to see if i can get to the states that didn't
work out so i was like okay well i guess i'll
go do that yeah um we didn't have no kind of
connection with technology or well i had connection
with technology like you could see it even today
i love technology but But also being a creative,
being a coder, a coder is very binary. It's the
ones and zeros. Everything is absolute. Like
you either set it up in this way and then it
works or it doesn't. Now my profession is a designer,
which I switched to along the way, where I still
have a connection to code and structure. But
then I can creatively create this new canvas.
And then once I figure out what this new creation
is, I can give it to the coders to make it absolute
work. So then kind of being the bridge there.
But see, we're getting completely sidetracked
again. Yeah, no. I don't know if you want to
finish. But the reason I ask is because I realize
if I really think on who I am as a person, it's
really to share my story in a way to make people
know that they're not alone. Because whether
I was in the wrong relationship or it took a
long while to finish study or I really didn't
know what I was doing and it took me a while
to figure out what to do. My biggest thing is
I hope people take away that it's not this beautiful
process. Yeah, it's messy. It's so messy. But
it's still beautiful in all its mess. Yeah, that's
true. It's not easy, I guess, is the word. But
my biggest takeaway would be that all of that,
because I've seen a couple episodes of you guys,
and from everything I've seen, I do see that
person. So that is the same person that's sitting
here right now. It's just that I've gotten more
details to understand. Let's say if you have
the clear plat, the coloring, you get to fill
in more of the vacuous. Yeah. More of the sections.
But you see, when you grow up, like, multilingual,
like, I'm stuckus. Yeah, stuckus. Fuckus. I get
what you mean. Yeah. Yeah. So it makes the picture
more whole that you have an even better understanding
of why you are who you are. Yeah, I get that.
So that would be, that I would say would be the
biggest takeaway from today. Well, thank you.
Thank you. Any final words for the peoples at
home? I guess I don't know if it will be in the
description. You can follow me on Haiti Leone,
but also more so the podcast right now. We're
pushing that this year. Bite the Bullet Pod on
Instagram, but you can subscribe on YouTube on
Bite the Bullet Podcast and also on Patreon.
Oh, yeah. And this year, you guys are stepping
up a lot more stuff with the Patreon, with the
merchandise. Yeah, we have merch now with the
hoodies, back to the small school. Also, something
else, mugs. But also, the thing with the studio
is really not just for us. It's also going to
be a way of giving back to the community, especially
just creatives, so that we can have a space.
in Den Haag. That's not as expensive because
renting rooms or just studios is so expensive.
To give people the chance to tap into the creativity,
because I think if I had a space like that at
that time, where people that I trusted or looked
like me, it would have been easier to, I don't
know, tap into it earlier. So I hope that helps
for people looking. Awesome. Thank you very,
very much. Thank you so much. And I'm looking
forward to us continue having amazing conversations
in the future. We will. Thank you. Thank you.
All right, peoples at home. Thanks for tuning
in. You can like, hopefully you liked already.
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think thank you very much signing out bless