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cover of episode The Revolutionary Power of History w/ Blessin Giraldo

The Revolutionary Power of History w/ Blessin Giraldo

2022/3/23
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Woman Evolve with Sarah Jakes Roberts

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Blessin Giraldo discusses her transition from the documentary to her current life, including her experiences in college and her aspirations.

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There's something about having good things to look forward to. And I must say, being able to connect with you all on a weekly basis is one of those something good on my list. If you've seen the Hulu show Step, then you know looking towards something good in the future is what my co-host Blessing Giraldo is all about. Sis is a multi-hyphenate with a blindingly bright future ahead of her. Let's see what's been going on in her world and what she's looking forward to.

Blessin, how are you? I'm doing pretty good. How are you? I'm doing great. I'm so glad this worked out. Me too. Me too. How have you been?

I've been pretty good. Pretty good. Can't complain. God is good. Where are you? What city are you in? Baltimore. Okay. So you're still in Baltimore? I am. Amazing. Okay. So I have to tell you. So I was home with my girls Friday or Saturday. No, it's Monday. It's President's Day. They were out of school.

And I was just flipping through documentaries to watch and I saw your documentary and we sat down and we watched it and it was so inspiring. So beautiful. My five year old, six year old daughter, Ella was like, mommy, I think we can do that. We could start our own step team. And then so I had to stalk you to see like what happened. Where are you now? What's going on with your world? So thank you for doing this and thank you for letting me stalk you.

Oh, thank you for having me and thank you for stalking me or I wouldn't be here today. Yeah, when I was looking at your page, I couldn't tell if you were still in Baltimore or not. But yeah, it seems like you have a lot of love for your city. I do. I love my city. I like to travel as well, but home is where the heart is.

I love it. When I talk about having power in your history, what is the first memory that comes to mind that makes you think about power in your history, even if that memory doesn't necessarily seem the most powerful?

I would have to say cleaning the house on Sundays with my mom and sisters. Just seeing the dynamic of family and love and self-identity. That was like my first experience. Like my firsthand experience came from family and my mom.

Wow. And I have to tell you, your mom, she seems like such a full presence. And I can see how so it's so funny even looking at you like and it's not like I even know you. Right. I watched your documentary once. I'm like, you look like your mama. I do. I get that a lot. I get that a lot. Can you talk to me about how the roles of the women in your life have helped to shape who you are today and the way that you think and show up in the world?

Oh yeah. Without the women in my life immediately, like my support system, everybody needs support. And without my support,

I probably wouldn't have been able to do it alone. Specifically from like my mom and Miss DoFat and a few of the ladies mentioned in the documentary. It took a entire army to help me finally see, you know, your full potential. And that tends to happen a lot with like different people owning your own power, even discovering your own power.

So my family and my sisters, of course, my sisters and the staff at the school and people that really just

saw something in me that I didn't see in myself, they really helped shape me and was a major support growing up. So you got to lean on the people around you to get to where you're trying to go. You know, I was thinking as you were speaking about how our village plays such an incredible role in being our first interaction with power. And that first interaction in power is generally borrowed

powered, right? We've got, we've borrowed someone's sense of confidence. We've borrowed someone's sense of love and identity until we find our own. I feel like for me, when I look back over my life, there's a lot of power in my history. You know, my parents have shown up in incredible ways to help others. My grandmother, like it dates back for generations. And yet I feel like for me, I went through a season where there was a disconnect where I could see the

power in my history, but I didn't think that it was inside of me. I didn't feel like I was ever empowered by that. Have you ever felt like I see the power that's maybe happening in someone else's life? I see the power that I'm supposed to have, but I haven't quite figured out how to connect it with my identity. Yes, of course. We all have those moments. But in that moment, I just had to look in the mirror, look in the mirror and really figure out, okay,

What am I great at? What do I feel like I'm great at? And identifying your weaknesses and your strengths. Sometimes we may consider a strength or weakness a strength and it could be a weakness. So I would just say really take that time. Look in the mirror. Know that you're great. We aren't created...

to become something great. We're born great. We're born into our blessings. We just have to identify them. We have to see them. So I would say really look in the mirror and know like, I got it going on. You got it going on. And again, borrow. Sometimes greatness is borrowed. So don't be afraid to look around, find some role models, see some people that are doing the things you want to do or heading in the directions you want to go. And again, make a plan, be realistic,

and know that it's a learning process. So take it easy on yourself. What's the greatest lesson that your history's taught you? To be resilient. To be resilient. To know that it's never too late to start over. It's never too late to try again.

And resilience, it builds character. So I feel like I'm like really strong and resilient. So that's something that I lean on and use in my toolbox whenever I need it. I'm like, okay, the punches are coming, but we got to keep it rolling. So, yeah.

I love that resilience. I feel like that's something that a lot of women have leaned into in order to survive and to make it. And I also feel like we're learning to lean into vulnerability at the same time as being resilient. And it's like, on one hand, I need to walk around with a shield so that I can take the punches when they come. But on the other hand, I also have to have

this outlet and this space where I can assess the damage and figure out what's happened to me along the way. And I feel like the power, the true power in our history doesn't come from those moments where we came out beating our chest. I really feel like those moments where

it was hard to sleep at night or we were crying ourselves to sleep at night or we felt confused and surviving those moments have made us the most powerful. What has been one of those moments in your history where you felt like, you know what? I didn't think I was going to make it or I cried myself to sleep every night or I wanted to cry, but I was so out of touch with my emotions. I couldn't cry anymore. And yet here I am and I'm breathing again.

I would have to say when I was a senior in high school, when a lot of my peers were taking that next step or that next leap, and I'm like, it's not happening for me. Like, I don't see it, but I want it. So it was a lot of dark nights. It was a lot of self-reflecting. It was a lot of talking to God, rerouting a new plan. But if you

Stay strong, stay in the game, know that it is a phase and with every storm there will be sun again. So just stay as strong as you possibly can. And again, take that time to reflect and know that it will be over soon. It will be over soon. Like, as you see in the documentary, I had a problem with my GPA, but I continued to focus on the end goal, which was to go to college.

And being though my GPA wasn't as great as everybody else's, it sucked. It hurt. It was dark nights. It was some tears and some crying, maybe some jealousy. And that was something that I had to, again, look in the mirror and self-reflect, be realistic, know what I did and didn't do. And to take that information and self-reflecting to...

create a change, start changing the little things that you can control, which for me was doing the homework, showing up to school, being present, being in the moment. And eventually that helped me get into a program called Open Arts, which was, well, Bridge EDU, which was a low GPA program that helps students segue into a university. And that was just my route. So just making sure that you are in the moment,

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Thank you.

You know, I'm thinking that there must have been a lot of pressure going through your senior year of high school, one, with a documentary crew. I don't care if you have a 4.0, like having someone document that journey and then the pressure of being this first graduating class in which everyone needs to get in college. And then you had the added pressures and disappointments of what was taking place at home. And I,

Have you ever found yourself in the process of kind of like analyzing your journey, really being compassionate towards yourself? Because a lot of times we look back on our history and we're like coaching ourselves or sometimes beating ourselves up. But how many moments have you been able to give yourself compassion for who you were in those moments, your senior year in high school, who

was struggling and handling a lot. Have you been able to find that compassion? Yes, I was able to find that compassion leaning on my sisters because it was a new experience for all of us. We were all in a documentary and being from Baltimore, you don't see movie sets a lot.

So it was a lot of pressure, but we really leaned on each other, acknowledging where we are, what we were trying to create. So it was stressful, but I wanted to be transparent. I wanted people to see my story for what it was and what it is and to maybe see themselves in it and to

eventually, I guess, be inspired because the feedback from the documentary was insane. I was a little nervous at first because it was a lot going on. Like I'm in a documentary. I'm trying to go to college. I'm trying to get my GPA together. But I would just say I leaned on a lot of my peers and my family. And yeah, we got through it. We got through it. So you transition, you have the documentary. Like tell us what happened in between the documentary and where you are now.

Now, so from the documentary, once it closed out, I went to college. We all went back to school. I was a part of a program called Bridge EDU, which was stationed at Coppin State University. I was in the program for about a year and then I transferred into Coppin State and I was there for another year. And then I ended up auditioning on a leap of faith for the NYU Open Arts Program, which is where I wanted to be from the very beginning.

And that leap of faith turned into something. I actually got accepted. And I was there. I was in New York. I was at NYU. I'm doing this program. Everything's amazing. I'm in open arts. I'm taking acting classes, conservatory classes, movement classes, everything you could possibly dream of. And then I auditioned to be an actual Tisch student.

So being that I auditioned and I was a bit nervous, I asked one of my instructors from the open arts program if she could like look over my monologue or maybe like sign off on it. And she said, of course, bless it. I was like waiting for you to see this in yourself. You just have to like trust the process. And when she gave me her like gift of like, I believe in you. I just had all the confidence that I feel like I needed from the beginning. You know, sometimes when you

feel like you're, you want to do something. You just don't know if you can do it. So from there, from there, I got into NYU as a full-time Tish student. And I was at the university for about a year and a half and I was doing amazing. I have like a 3.5 GPA at NYU. Thank you. And then COVID happened. And with COVID happening in New York, in New York being like one of the highest places that, you know, was contagious, I had to go home.

And I was on a medical leave for a while and my sponsorships kind of got a little messed up or flipped around because of finances and stuff. So right now I'm currently just looking for more funding and sponsorships to return back to my academics.

And in the meantime, I've been working. I'm signed to a new modeling agency, Mars Enterprise. And it's all about diversity and inclusion. And I really feel like a part of something. So from there, I've been doing work with like Under Armour, Good American. I've been working with Target a few times. I've been doing some work in the real world. While doing that, I've also done a few projects back at my high school, the Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, where the documentary was shot.

And the step team is still there. It's still up and running. They're still winning competitions, not only in Baltimore now, but nationwide. Wow. So that's amazing. That's been such an incredible path. I wonder, as you've been navigating the success of the documentary, the success of the platform, but also your dreams and goals, like how do you find time to balance like the fact that on one hand, like in many ways you've arrived, like I bet you that like for people

Maybe within your family or people who are just watching you like you are this role model, but you still have hopes and dreams yourself How do you balance the responsibility of arrival while still in pursuit of your life fully blossoming? I believe in god's divine timing like That's just me. That's just what I genuinely believe in. Like I know that whatever's for me is already there

I just have to trust the process, walk the steps and stay true to myself. So I know I'm in like this waiting phase. I'm in a growing phase. I'm constantly learning new things about myself and the industry. So I would just say, you know,

My arrival is on its way to being like wherever God sees me, you know, but as of right now, I'm just doing the things that make me passionate, the things that make me happy and, you know, walk in the steps that I see that I can control as of right now.

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my mom, my mom, and going to church, being raised in the church and just seeing the power that my people had. I just, you know, it's something that is a part of who I am. It's always been a part of who I am and where I come from and what I'm capable of because in God's eyes, you are renewed. And I feel like despite the environment I was born into or the amount of income my parents had or didn't have,

God has me, so I trust in his divine timing. And I know that at the end of the day, he has my back. So if there's something I am passionate about with God's blessing, I can do it. That's so good. I love that. I know that you shared...

about your mom instilling your faith in you and then also some of the dynamics of you all's relationship that were opportunities for growth and perhaps communication and deeper connection. But I love that you've still been able to honor

honor what your mom gave you as it relates to faith while still having compassion to the areas where she needed grace in her own life. And I feel like that's like the complicated nature of being in relationship with people is that sometimes they're going to give you the best of themselves and then sometimes they're going to need grace for themselves. How have you been able to kind of like heal and mend your relationship with your mom? With my mom? Yeah.

I love my mom. I always loved my mom. That was never really the problem. I just had to understand that she could do what she knew, if that makes sense. I can't fault her or blame her for things that maybe she didn't have in her life. I had to value and appreciate the things that she did do in my life, which was showing up when she could.

which was being there when I needed her in the most darkest moments. My mom is always there. So she might not be able to show up on times where I wish she was there always because we know she deals with her own mental illness. My mom suffers from depression, seasonal depression.

So sometimes she's happy, sometimes she's not as happy. But me as her daughter, her as my mom, I know that I just have to take her as she is and love her as a queen as she is. And my mom is a queen. She's very strong. She instilled a lot of like my character skills as far as like being resilient. My mom is very resilient. And yeah, I love my mom. So we're still...

working on things. We're still bonding. We're still growing. But right now, I would say we are in the best chapter that we've probably ever been in. And we're really close. And right now, we're actually about to start a few different small businesses with her, getting more creative. Because my mom is also really creative. It doesn't come from nowhere. My mom is super creative. So...

Yeah, we've been bonding. We've been healing and we're doing pretty good. That's good. Can you see the pieces of your mom and you? Like, do you ever have moments where you're like, man, that's something my mother would do. I'm becoming just like my mother. And does that make you more compassionate? Because, baby, when I look at my history and I can see I see my mother, I see me.

I don't know. I can see how I picked up on her strengths and sometimes how I even picked up on her insecurities and how they show up. It's so funny, kind of. I was talking to my therapist and she was like, do you think that you overcompensate as a mother because you think...

your mother is watching you or you would want your mother's stamp of approval or you're trying to do something that your mother didn't do. And I had to really sit with how our mothers and our relationships with our mothers show up in our identity as a woman. And then we get to choose whether or not we want to keep them. But I feel like some by default, we get them, but it is by choice that we decide whether or not those character traits can stay. Yeah.

Correct. I agree. We all have our own self-identity, even though we come from somewhere and certain things can also be transferred genetically. So it's like, okay, this is where I come from. This is my mom, her genetics and her blood literally makes me who I am. So I would say,

I'm blessed and happy to identify the good things that she passed down to me, like being resilient and being strong minded and being an independent woman. And just like, you know, looking towards the glory rather than like some of the other things, because being a woman is so complicated. We are some of the most important beings in the world. We have so many job titles.

We have so many different things that we have to do being confident being vulnerable being courageous being loving being compassionate The list goes on and on and on but with my mom I would just have to say like I definitely see the things in myself that I see her doing like the other day I said like woo child And it just came out of nowhere like my mom She always says like woo child and like I swear it just came like second nature and i'm just like

is that my mom in me this is definitely my mom and she does this thing where she's like like she'll breathe and like sometimes i see me take the same pause so yeah i definitely see her in me sometimes okay what part of your mother do you want to make like a generational blessing that continues in your life regardless because i think when we talk about our history a lot of times we talk about like generational curses and the curses we want to break

And I know that for you and for me, we probably have a long list of those, but what are those generational blessings, those generational impartations that you want to stay alive that you know started with your mom or is fully alive with your mom? - Passing it on, passing it on, passing on like the love, passing on the leadership, being present in the moment. I would have to say,

Something that I want definitely to live on is the power, the power of creating your own future. My mom never limited me. She never told me that there's a cap on my success. She never did that. She always told me to push the cap, push the limits, reach for the sky, despite what was going on in my own environment. And that's just a message that I want to continue on with the youth.

that comes from similar places like me, like Baltimore, low income communities or places that are typically deemed as being more dangerous. So whatever the case may be, Baltimore is a beautiful place as well. And I just want that to live on in every single last blessing, Corey or Tayla, in whatever city around the world.

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That's so good. I love what you said about pushing the cap. Because even when I look at your story, you were pushing that cap going from the bridge program into the university. You constantly kept pushing that cap. And I think that that is a beautiful message for anyone to understand is that at the end of the day, you got to keep showing up. You got to keep pushing that limit. And you learn more about yourself and what God has placed in you when you push the cap. Like we're not just pushing the cap for the sake of pushing the cap.

We're doing it because I'm trying to uncover all that God has placed on the inside of me. And it can only happen if I remove the limiting beliefs that I have. Do you know, like, what was your greatest limiting belief that you had to push the cap on in order to get breakthrough? I had a point where I thought I was stupid. Me too. Me too. Like, if I could admit that and say that out loud, I had a phase where I thought, you know, maybe I'm not as smart as everybody else.

I don't know if that makes sense to some viewers, but basically what I'm trying to say is, is I had a moment where I was a bit uncomfortable. I felt like, you know, this was this is who I am. I'm not as brilliant as the next person or whatever the case may be. But I realized that this isn't it. I can always do more. Again, this is the cap.

We're never limited. Like there's always more to the story. So I eliminated that thought and said, you know what? I'm not stupid. I'm not dumb. Maybe I'm a little lazy. Maybe I procrastinate a bit more than I should. And I began to pay attention to the things I want to change. And then overall, you start to see things switching up. You start to see better results towards where you're trying to go. Mm.

That is so good. It's so funny. I was having a conversation with someone and she told me, she's like, I just have this feeling that you question your ability to be smart, that you question your ability to be in certain rooms. And one, I'm like, don't put me on blast in front of all these people telling my business conversations.

Because I like could not hide it. But I think people used to tell me all the time that I was smart, but I could not comprehend how someone smart ended up pregnant. Right. Because it's kind of like, how do you get pregnant at 13 if you're smart? Like, you know where babies come from. You still found yourself in this situation. And so I have struggled. I mean, I think even within the last, I'm going to say year and a half with like experience.

Accepting this idea that I can be smart in spite of some of the evidence that would suggest otherwise. And I think part of the reason I was able to do that is come into a place where I didn't judge myself so harshly, where I wasn't so hard on myself that I didn't miss the opportunity to embrace myself.

And in embracing myself, I learned that I wasn't just a dumb girl who got pregnant, that I was an angry girl who was trying to soothe her pain. And in part of soothing her pain, open herself up to anything that would make her feel better. And that resulted in a pregnancy.

And that switch of a narrative has helped me so much as I step into my womanhood, because I don't want to be that little girl who's afraid to be in the rooms with people who speak differently than I am or who are more educated than I am. I dropped out of college.

It was like you had all of these opportunities to do well with your life, and yet you still ended up in a bad marriage. You still ended up waitressing at the strip club. I had this long list of things that I felt like I could have done better, but I've been able to really do the work of...

allowing myself to be an oxymoron where I can be insecure in this one space and confident in another. And I think that allowing myself room to not be so perfect has helped me be a better lover of my own soul. Yes. Yeah. Yes. Some it's perfection. Isn't real. No one's perfect. We have to love ourselves, um,

in every phase, every chapter, love yourself, love ourselves the same way that you felt like. I think it's also called like imposter syndrome. I kind of experienced that as well when I actually stepped foot into the Performer Arts program, but I just knew that it was always space to grow and I belong here. My story and what I bring from my experience is different from their experience, her experience, his experience.

And again, God will never put you in a situation you're not prepared for. So I knew in that moment, let's turn the naysayers down and turn the value up. Like my own voice, you know, the best thing that I got inside. Let's turn that up. Let's turn that up. That's so good. I'll tell you, there is something so...

divinely aligned with who you are. And I think that it stood out to us so immediately when watching even the documentary. And there are so many incredible women who are highlighted from the Academy. But when we were watching you, like my daughters were drawn to you. There was just something about your light. And I do think it has a lot to do with

With you refusing to surrender to the belief that you're not good enough or surrender to the belief that you can't hang in the places where you're called and you just keep showing up. I feel that about you, that you keep showing up, but that showing up for you isn't always easy. And nobody knows about the conversation that takes place in your mind when you show up, but you keep showing up anyway. And I'm telling you that that history of showing up is why you never have to doubt

where your ordered steps will lead you because wherever it takes you, as long as you show up authentically, you're going to feel the blessing connected to that moment that you're in. Thank you. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that. It's true.

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So I want to move on from the hurt of my parents, but I don't know how. I'm my mom's only child. At a young age, I questioned my existence and my purpose in life. I questioned God for dealing me these cards. My mom chose everybody over me, boyfriends, friends, family, and coworkers.

I always came last. I felt like a burden because she was a single mother working two jobs and in school. I wasn't the best in school, so I was always compared to my younger cousins. She used to tell me she wished she could give me to my father, but he doesn't want me. There were days I was left alone and had to reach out to my aunts and grandma to rescue me. I used to have conversations with her and write her letters about how I felt, but nothing ever changed.

As I got older, those conversations turned into arguments. I never had a relationship with her, and now I'm 22 and don't speak to her. Last year, she kicked me out mainly because she chose her boyfriend over me. I was homeless, sleeping in my car and hotel hopping. I had no idea what to do and who was on my side. As for my dad, when I was 10, he chose his girlfriend and her kids over me. I have no relationship or communication with him.

I'm currently in therapy, but a part of me feels like I will never get over the fact I wasn't chosen and it shows in my friendships. I stay where I'm not wanted and try to work on relationships that don't deserve it. I have my Eve moments and I know better, but don't do better. I want to do better. I've started my own dog sitting business, found an apartment and got my dream job. I'm doing great for myself, but this is the only thing I feel like it's hindering my growth.

That's what I want to say. I'm proud of you I'm so proud of you for pushing past that and being where you are right now in this moment But I understand I understand when you're when you have to forgive someone that is supposed to protect you and Love you and be there for you constantly and having to deal with them hurting your feelings on almost a daily basis when they're supposed to be the person that loves you the most and

When they fall short of their love, you're going to have to pour in your cup a little more self-love. Also, you're going to have to meet that self-love with understanding and forgiveness. You're going to have to learn how to forgive your parents for what they did in the past in order for you to move on to your future. In doing so, you're going to heal. You're going to grow as a person.

And where you are in this phase is probably going to start to make a lot more sense as to where you started and the things that you had to do to get to where you're going. And forgiving your parents is going to be one of the first steps because that's how we are allowed to let go of that burden. It's not for them. It's for you and your future self because you have to let go in order to grow. And that will be one of my first immediate things I would say is call your mom, call your dad,

And be prepared that what they might say to you may not be what you want to hear, but it's for you. Again, it's for you and your growth and for you to heal and for you to have that closure. So lead by example. Sometimes you have to lead by example. Don't be afraid to lead by example. And hopefully they'll meet you halfway. And if not, we're fine with that as well. But we did it for us.

I was thinking that idea of being chosen. I know what you mean when you say that they didn't choose me, but I just wonder if we could break it down even further and to really give that word. To say, what does it feel like to feel like someone didn't choose me? Does it mean that they didn't value me? Does it mean that I felt like my presence wasn't...

it didn't add value to the room that I was in. Like, what does it mean to not feel chosen? Because as you embark on this journey of self-love, you want to know exactly where the love needs to go. And a lot of times we say, I want to love myself more, or I want to heal from what happened in my past, but we aren't specific about what happened in those moments. So it sounds like you wanted to feel seen. It sounded like you wanted to feel worthy, that you wanted to feel valuable from the people who are supposed to instill that in you. And they weren't able to do that.

And I think if you look at what you needed, that you'll see that they likely had no one in their life who was doing that for them. And sometimes we want from people what they don't know how to give us because they never received it themselves. If your mother never felt worthy, if she never felt valuable, if she never felt like she was the sun, stars, and the moon, then she can't give you what she never had. That doesn't mean that you don't have access to it. It just means you have to embark on the journey of choosing myself. I'm going to find myself valuable. I'm

going to believe that because God placed me in this earth, that my life adds value wherever I am. And to really, by faith, lay hold of that paradigm shift and allow it to change the way that you show up in the world. And there is something powerful, to Blessing's point, about you

Giving that gift to your mom, even though she wasn't able to give it to you, if there's enough growth and comfort within that relationship for you to show up for her in that way, that's a beautiful way to say, you know what? You couldn't give it to me, but I honor you. I love you. You're worthy. You're valuable. You did a great job with what you had. And you can create generational healing in your family, regardless of the history that you all have had. Those are my two cents. What you think, girl?

Loved it. Blessing, what's next for you? What can we expect for your dreams, for your hopes? How can we pray for you? How can we encourage you in this next season of your life? In this next season of my life, I would just say that I'm still learning. I'm learning more about myself and the industry and exactly where I see myself in it.

But I would just say that you can always pray for guidance. You can always pray for me when it comes to protection, protection and grounding. But I would just say that to support me right now, I am currently still looking for financial support to go back to academics at NYU.

Other than that, I'm still a part of an agency and I'm modeling. You can pay for coverage with that and stand on a divine path. And other than that, I'm still doing community work in Baltimore and I'm looking to expand to other smaller cities. So we can also pray for guidance for God to direct me in the right cities that where I'm supposed to be. So that's just a few things that I'm currently working on.

And Step is also being in the works of being redone by Disney. So that's pretty incredible. So you're going to see the Step story on the big screen again sometime soon. Beautiful. Well, Woman Evolved wants to donate $5,000 towards your academics. So you tell us where to send it and we'll make sure that you have at least more funds in the bucket so that you can continue your education. We believe in you. Thank you so much. I got it.

That means a lot to me. Like that means so much to me. Going back to my academics is one of the first milestones I ever decided to really tackle. And having that chapter being still open is just something that I know that I'm capable of closing it. But it's just like this blessing, this money that you just gave me is going to go towards my schooling. And I just want to say I'm so grateful and thank you for having me on the show.

Oh, well, you got to tell us because I know the delegation, there are going to be other women who listen. They're like, hey, I want to sow into her academics as well. I don't know if you have like a GoFundMe or a Cash App. Like, how can we get you closer to your goal of getting back in school?

Yes, you can cash at me at blessing B. Well, money sign BB Giraldo. You can also email me at blessing CG at gmail.com and you can title it schooling inquiry. And from there, we will talk to me and my agent about our further next steps on what you're interested in covering, because there's a lot of different steps with housing and books and electives. So, yeah.

You can just contact me via email. I'm also on LinkedIn, or you can follow me on Instagram at BlessingGeraldo. Okay, beautiful. Thank you, Blessing. Take care of yourself. Thank you so much. You too. Bye. Bye.

Blessing, your name is perfect because sis, you are a whole blessing. Thanks for chatting with me today and allowing us to dive into your life. Delegation, you can be a blessing too by co-hosting with me or submitting an advice question. Sharing our stories is how we bless each other and do our part to not leave another woman behind. If you want to be a co-host, shoot me an email with a one to two minute video to podcasters

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the real talk. So grab a ladder and learn how to get that new phone on AT&T. AT&T connecting changes everything. Requires trading of Galaxy S, Note, and Z series smartphone. Limited time offer 256 gigabytes for $0. Additional fees, terms, and restrictions apply. See att.com slash Samsung or visit an AT&T store for details. Hello from Wonder Media Network. I'm Jenny Kaplan, host of Womanica, a daily podcast that introduces you to the fascinating lives of women history has forgotten.

Who doesn't love a sports story? The rivalries, the feats of strength and stamina. But these tales go beyond the podium. There's the team table tennis champ, the ice skater who earned a medal and a medical degree, and the sprinter fighting for Aboriginal rights. Listen to Womanica on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.