Triumphant Through Tragedy with Candace Thompson

Trauma does not always announce itself the day it happens. Sometimes it waits, then shows up as flashbacks, isolation, anxiety, depression, and choices that scare you like self-harm urges. Candace Thompson joins us to talk candidly about what that delayed impact looked like in her life, how growing up in a church environment shaped what she felt she could say out loud, and why silence can make pain spread into every corner of your relationships. 

We also get practical about what helped. Candace shares how writing, poetry, and spoken word became the outlet that saved her life, then turned into a way to recognize other people living with the same hidden wounds. That path eventually led to yeahyoutoo.org, her community-focused work built around one clear idea: connection. We talk about being a “personal GPS” for people who need food, clothing, advocacy, workshops, and most of all a bridge to the right resources when the system feels confusing or exhausting. 

You’ll hear warning signs adults often miss in kids, why drawings and play can reveal what words won’t, and a real conversation about tablets, phones, and addiction-level dependence that can quietly raise a child while parents burn out. Candace also shares reentry support, including a felon friendly job fair for women reentry with employers, mock interviews, and resource tables, plus what “healing” means to her: living above what happened without giving it power. 

If you got something from this, subscribe, share this with someone who needs support or a second chance, and leave a review so more people can find the resources and hope they’ve been missing.

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Transcript

Warm Up And Mic Check

SPEAKER_01 2:04

Once we get going, I will be I'll be okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

For sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

My hair okay?

SPEAKER_00 2:09

Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_01 2:12

I look okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

Okay. What about me? I'm straight down.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

You good good. You look good. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Alright, so we're gonna start. Like, so all of this can be edited. All of this can be edited.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

All right.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Um I want this to be very organic. I want it to be very smooth. Bring your mic as close as you can, though I do have uh pretty good, you know, eight here to pick up pretty good sound, but the closer the better.

SPEAKER_01 2:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 2:44

Um I'll make sure I turn mine into that's good, like right here. Perfect. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

And I'll close the door just so need to be out the way or anything.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

Uh yeah, yeah, you can I know you don't sit your purse on the floor as a woman, but you can sit it right over there on the table.

SPEAKER_02 3:14

All right, that gives me a good starting spot. I'll leave my phone out.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yes, ma'am. Yep. Sitting right there. All right. Let me know how when you are ready.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

And we can we can take it slow from from now. Okay.

unknown 4:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Yes. Take it slow.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

All right.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

I'm nervous.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Nervous?

SPEAKER_01 4:13

Oh, yeah. That's a good thing though. It's a I don't think it's just uh, you know, I I care about what I do.

SPEAKER_00 4:20

Understood, understood. Likewise, so we'll we'll start slow and just follow my lead.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:27

Um Thank everybody for tuning in to Permission to Speak Freely Podcast. I am your host, Chief Ali, also known as the highest. I have a beautiful guest in the studio with me today by the name of Candace Thompson. She is the CEO and owner of Yeah U2. She can be able to tell you a little bit more about her business, what she does, dealing with family trauma, and things of that nature. So please give a warm welcome to my guest, Candace Thompson. How you doing, Candace?

SPEAKER_01 4:52

I am doing well and thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

That's good. Thank you. Thank you. So tell me a little bit about yourself and tell the people a little bit about yourself and who you are.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Um, well, that's a long I have no idea where to start. Um I grew up here in Cleveland, um, went to uh Catholic school, uh, was a church girl, PK. Um, and then I noticed that life for me um it took a turn. It um with anxiety and depression, and I hid that from a lot of people. Um, and the more I hid it though, the more I was seeing that I wasn't the only one dealing with this.

SPEAKER_02 5:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

Which is what um I was I had this mindset that, well, I don't think I can be helped, but I can help other people. And that's how it began. And my first uh organization ever, I was what 19. And um it was called One More Day, and that's how I started it. But I've been in mental health. Um I've worked in mental health my my whole life, really. Um and I get satisfaction, and I get I'm happy working with other people and working in the community. So that's a little bit of my story, and that's how I built Yeo.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Okay. That is very, very interesting. Um, one of the things that you mentioned that I want to kind of, you know, touch on a little bit is um, you know, you had dealt with and acknowledged you had anxiety, depression, which are, you know, human emotions um that most people, all of us have some real estate in. Uh, but I want you to kind of unpack that a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Uh, for me and for the audience of what was that turning point that made you acknowledge or something that happened to say, hey, I'm sad, I'm depressed, I'm whatever you are, insert adjective.

SPEAKER_01 7:14

I I didn't. I thought I was okay. I had friends, I had lots of friends. I was, I wouldn't say I was like, you know, an it girl, but I was, you know, I I had friends, I had everything I wanted, and I think, and I was the only child for 11 years.

Trauma Flashbacks And Turning Point

SPEAKER_02 7:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 7:38

And um I had no reason really to be sad until I began to have flashbacks of uh some trauma that happened to me when I was a little girl. So it didn't happen until I was about 13 when I started having these flashbacks. But it happened to me between the ages of two and four. And so that's when I started being like, okay, something's going on, the dreams, the um withdrawing from my friends. Um, and then later on, um, I knew something was wrong when I had the urge to um self-harm. That is when it all took a turning point from there. So you got a PK who has to, as the first family in the church, where it's like who can I tell this to? And my um me and my grandfather, I rest his soul, um were very close. And I could talk to him, he would pray for me, but I couldn't explain it, what I was going through. I I just didn't know. I I I couldn't explain it, and it began to um spill over in other areas of my life.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:15

And relationships and things.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Wow. Uh that's very interesting. Um, how did that impact you? Like the your traumatic experience that seemed to, you know, showed up when it wanted to. How did that impact you mentally, and how did that impact you emotionally?

SPEAKER_01 9:35

It impacted me emotionally a lot because I had a lot of questions. Because it was like, don't ask, don't tell almost of what happened to me. And then I demanded answers. So um it impacted me mentally because I I was like, oh, I'm crazy. I this I mean, these are things I hear about or see movies about. You know, you don't. I always thought self-harm was kind of, I hate to say it, but a white girl thing.

SPEAKER_00 10:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Yeah.

unknown 10:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:13

You usually hear uh, you know, certain self-indurous behaviors like that on culturally.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

We culturally not, yes. Yeah, but now it just is I see a lot of it in our culture. I think it was happening, I think that um the anorexia, the bulimia, the things that we didn't really hear in our culture, um, was in fact happening to one of my close friends. Um, but it just didn't come out that way. We didn't think of it that, you know, we didn't know.

Writing That Saved Her Life

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah, yeah. Um very interesting on this information. And thank you for having the strength to even, you know, share. It takes a lot, a different courage to be able to have that conversation, be able to speak about, you know, filling in the blanks of what potentially happened and how it affected you. And as you mentioned, you know, vaguely it affected your uh relationships of, and I'm assuming of all kinds. Oh, yes. Um, so what inspired the creation of Yeah U2?

SPEAKER_01 11:30

Yeah, you two came much later. So Yeah, you two started um three years ago.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Um, what saved my life was writing, um, poetry. I did a lot of spoken word. I wrote three self-published books when I was 19 and 20. Um, and it was that's how I found out people were actually going through the same thing um when they read um it was a fictionalized autobiography. So I did a lot of metaphors, a lot of things that and I had um his name, I I shouldn't know his name, but he's he read it, he was like, if you gonna say it, say it. Because like I said, the church um I was hurt by the church um by members of the church and so um it it ch it's different now but I did go through a spell of um I didn't want anything to do with it. Um but um I would say writing is what saved my life, and then once people were reading it and I found out they weren't you know they were going through the same thing, then I came up with One More Day, which is my very first organization. And then once I saw these patterns of the systems that we have and or lack thereof, that's what made me create, and my pain uh helped me create, yeah, you too.

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Okay, all right. So I my I will assume myself and the listeners that this pain, would you identify with that as, you know, this trauma as like a pain that you carry? Yeah, would you agree that this pain gave vision to your theantropy work?

SPEAKER_01 13:50

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

Okay, okay. Unpack that a little bit for me. And for the people of what does, yeah, you make sure I say that.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Yeah, you too. That's okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

I'll be thinking about uh Issa Ray.

unknown 14:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

Yeah, we got y'all. That's what I think about. Okay. Um but so what what pain you think gave birth to this vision? Like what overall pain that made you say, hey, uh nobody else can, this can never happen to her. What happened to make you come up with the name Yeah U2?

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Isolation. The isolation and Yeah, you too shows how inclusive it is. I it's you too. It's uh whoever you are, wherever you've been, uh you too can get out, you too can uh fight this spiritual warfare, you too can make it. So that's where Yeah U2 came from.

SPEAKER_00 15:01

Okay. So uh tell me what exactly does Yeah U2 provide.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

We're a connector. So what since we are new, what we're doing is we're connecting, we're putting people in, we're teaching a man to fish.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Hmm, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

Okay. So I didn't want to be just, yes, we um feed the hungry, we give clothes, we do things, but say, like, you know, on May 29th, I'm doing a a female felon job fair. I'm putting you in the room. You do the rest.

SPEAKER_00 15:41

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

You see what I mean? We want to have as many resources as possible so that because there's a disconnect, and we want to be that bridge that connects that gap. People don't know where the resources are, or they try one and it's not working out, so they don't try anymore. So our job is to make sure that people know where these resources are, and so like I say, um, we want you to find resources and we want the resources to find you.

SPEAKER_02 16:19

Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_01 16:20

So that's that's our biggest thing. But we also educate and do workshops as well.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

I I I think that it's a beautiful, beautiful thing. Um as being a person who does mental health and donating to the community, we've done bookback drives, we've done uh other community events where we're doing truck and treat, where people just come in and um doing candy and things of that nature.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:45

I truly believe that in my own theantropy work, there are a ton of resources out there, but it's not enough participation.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

So it's a beautiful thing that you are able to push this information out, you're constantly showing and being like that beacon and letting them know hey, we we we we got you. We can be here to. Yes, we can assist you with these things, we can connect you with these things, but you have to do the work, yes, ma'am. And as a person who is a counselor to staff and to other people and who uh goes to therapy myself, it only works if you tell the truth.

SPEAKER_01 17:24

If you tell the truth, yes.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

Okay, you you can't be chasing the ghosts, no, no. So what population does your company serve?

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Everybody, everybody, that's why it's called Yeah, you too.

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Okay, men, women, children, men, women, children, yes, you name it.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

So my goal is partnering with the big, the the mid-sized, the small, the grassroots, like all the nonprofits, all the ones that, you know, that's that's what I'm trying to do is to connect and partner so that I can be a GPS for someone. I can say, what are your barriers? Okay, you're hungry. All right. Why are you hungry? Do you need a job? All right, let me get you to employment GPS with goodwill. Let me get you uh case management, which we'll be doing very shortly, hopefully next year. Um then it's okay, what are the barriers? So we want to know where where are the barriers? Like you said, tell me the truth.

SPEAKER_00 18:43

Yeah, yeah, tell me the truth.

SPEAKER_01 18:45

Are you on drugs? Are you, you know, we deal with um is it trauma? Is it drugs? Is it, you know, what is it? Um and sometimes it takes longer um to find out because they don't want to be judged, they don't want to be. And that's where my story comes in, where it's like, yo, you know, I'm pretty sure I've if I haven't been through what you're going through, I I'm it's pretty close.

Trauma Signs And Tablet Dependence

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah, okay. So speaking of that, uh, what are some trauma signs that people may overlook in like women and children?

SPEAKER_01 19:29

Hmm, they come in so many different things. I would say in children, look at what your children create when they draw. That's a big one. You can tell what is going on in your child's mind through what they create.

SPEAKER_02 19:50

Yeah. Um, how they play.

SPEAKER_01 19:54

Um, I would say not necessarily just if they're just bad at school, you know, and it's like, oh, I keep having to go up to the school. There's a reason, you know, behind that. So some things, um also, what are they mirroring? The parents. You know, um, I would say some signs for the parents, are they engaged? They may be there, but are they engaged? And a lot of parents are very tired.

unknown 20:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:33

They're very tired, they're very jaded, they are clueless a lot of times, and um they want to isolate. Get them a tab get a kid a tablet, and I'm gonna go and do whatever. You know? And it's uh kind of like, you know, you can't really be like, what's wrong with my kid if your ta the tablet is raising them?

SPEAKER_00 21:05

Understood. And you see that a lot in today's, you know, society. Um, that the tablet is there for stimulation for the parent while they're able to kind of do you know other things.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 21:19

Understandable, but I don't agree with it fully. You know what I'm saying? Like I know it's temporary, it's supposed to, you know, be a filler for why you're doing other responsible things, but But when it's all day, yeah, yeah. When you're as you mentioned, it's raising.

SPEAKER_01 21:33

Raising them.

SPEAKER_00 21:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

So just have a question about that. Uh, what do you think the system is failing vulnerable families with stuff like that?

SPEAKER_01 21:46

If you I don't know if you're familiar with if you know anybody in prison, what's what did they give them?

SPEAKER_00 21:55

Nothing. Three hots in a cot?

SPEAKER_02 21:57

A tablet. A tablet. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:03

Get my drift?

SPEAKER_00 22:04

Yes, ma'am. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:06

Yeah. It's it's programmed to be addictive. It's programmed to give you what they want you to watch. Have you seen videos when you take a tablet away from a child?

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:23

Yeah. Have you seen us with our phones?

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

When we can't find it. Have you seen it? Yeah. Yeah. So the system, I don't think it's as much as a failure as it is a program. It's programmed.

SPEAKER_00 22:41

Okay. So when you say program, meaning that it's it's all it was already written to have particularly this effect, this experiment that we were creating get put in this tablet.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

I think it got worse during COVID. Oh, yeah. And that was a test run. I don't want to sound like I got a tinfold hat on, but I just I just go with what I see.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Yeah. I mean, you you you you you sound a little conspiracy theorist. However, I am one myself if I can if if you can make the dots connect. Right. You can make the dots connect where it makes sense. Mm-hmm. That I understand. I won't say, hey, I believe you, but I'm like, I don't think you're off. I don't think you lying. Right. I don't think you lying. You you you making sense.

SPEAKER_01 23:28

So I under I try to be careful what I say, but yeah, I do.

SPEAKER_00 23:34

feel like I mean everything you're in you know some people you know like oh this is the matrix but I do believe in in some things being a simulation I agree I do agree I do agree so we started off pretty hard pretty strong pretty deep um thank you for letting us know you know a lot about you about your organization so just want to get some you know more information just about you um generally so myself and the listeners and the viewers can be able to just know Candace do you seem like a very not seem you are a very strong woman taking on uh all of this pressure I'll say all of this stress to be able to help and assist others so it seemed like they wouldn't fall into circumstances such as yourself.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

So with all of these heavy things that you carry what keeps you grounded my responsibility to the community that's like a superhero kind of yeah right I like that though my respon I have a responsibility I think that I went through this for a reason and um I think it would be selfish if I did not help I think it would be selfish if I didn't try to raise up other people so yeah pushing awareness. Yes okay I like that I like that um what message would you give to somebody that is looking for resources and looking for help but they're they're afraid or they're scared or you know what what what advice would you give to them?

SPEAKER_01 25:22

What advice would I give to one to someone who's afraid so don't give up the first time it doesn't work out.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

Okay.

Asking For Help Without Shame

SPEAKER_00 25:33

Um you have to make these systems and everything work for you it's not a cookie cutter um but you need more than one resource so you know don't if you need food don't turn down clothes don't turn down you know I I would say you know look at all things all resources um make sure you advocate for yourself I would say if you need someone to advocate for you we do that but advocate for yourself that you're not just another number that you're not just oh just another person oh you need government assistance oh you're this you're that don't let anybody tell you your story absolutely um you know I think a lot of times people are ashamed they don't want to it's not even that they just don't want to seem like everybody else with the same problem and I think they get ashamed but don't be ashamed you need help yeah yeah so let's un let's unpack that a little bit the um not be ashamed to ask for help um or to I guess I'll speak for a place for a man making yourself vulnerable to be able to speak about what has possibly happened to you men go through things as well people go through things as well and I think that sometimes in the world and in different cultures and communities it's almost unheard of that things happen to men. Yes that they're abused that they're molested that they're taken advantage of all of these different things that you will feel or think that were uh just uh woman bound that these only happen to women like no it men are butt broken you know they're humiliated they're emasculated in all kinds of different ways to try to take their spirit you know try to knock the light out of them and yeah when men still rise to that occasion it it it it it hurts the person the impressor who pushed it up on them yes and because it didn't work so just just giving you know that information as a man who's been through my own things and situations and who's finding um the truth in therapy finding the sit the situation finding that the everybody doesn't think the same way um to someone they may not feel like they they did anything wrong right um because hey that happened to them which is no longer like an excuse to use oh it happened to me no that's not an excuse to habitually keep pushing BS right you know knowing that you are diagnosing you didn't like it or what's happening to you but you choose to push it on to somebody else no is why I can understand why some underlaws do what they do when people show up like that.

Job Fair For Women Reentry

What Healing Looks Like

SPEAKER_01 29:08

Yes and and and speaking of on on that um when it comes to men my father he passed away but my father was uh raped he was sexually abused um by his stepfather and it every chance he got he had to try to he he was labeled a womanizer but he had to prove his manhood every chance he got and it it backfired on him he ended up not um he didn't make it he he committed suicide and um so I saw that early on but I didn't know why he was so broken I didn't know why he was so absent um and you know I I didn't understand really until it was too late. But um we don't just we support men you know I I'm doing a female felon job fair but I'm doing one for the men in July. But before that give people a little bit of information of where they can uh attend your uh female friendly felon was it make sure I'm saying it correctly the female um felon job fair is it a date address phone number yes it is so it's May the 29th it is at the Midtown Collaboration Center 1974 East 66th Street and it's from one to four um we will have um employers there for jobs um so interviewing on the spot we'll also have mock interviews dress for success will be there if you don't have anything to wear we help you and um we will have like a bag of uh clothing that you can take with you refreshments um and resource tables so that's what we will have okay and this is targeted uh primarily to women re-entry re-entry okay so what advice would you give to say a young mother who's re-entering into the world who's you know maybe scythingly struggling right now would this be like a good place for her to come? Absolutely it would be a very good place for her to come to because these are employers who are giving you a second chance so specifically these employers are and they're not like oh let me get you a girly job like no we got everything from Edwin's to construction to you know what I'm saying so um I sometimes I get uh questions like well what kind of job's gonna be there do you need one do you need a job do you need a job does it matter a felon friendly job a felon friendly job okay so sometimes I get things like that but I'm like baby if you need a job just come on down you know but I would let them know your past is not your future and that you know shake that off yes ma'am yes ma'am yes ma'am so shake that off we all take that as a form of healing gotta heal through that heal through that yes so what does healing look like to you personally healing I don't feel like healing is is tricky it's you become new but not necessarily losing that part of you that made you who you are you kinda have to remember what why you healed so um I look at it as healing is coming out of the old but remembering why you did it yeah not not not forgetting but like living above it. Living above it. I got you because that made you because the reason why you're healing in the first place is because of this thing. And it's not I think healing is a big part of not giving what happened to you power.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

You gotta say that one more time one more time what you're healing from you cannot give it power. Gotcha gotcha I think that's a heavy thing for people just in general because sometimes we can be our own worst enemy yes um your isolation how your mind battles with your heart you know all of the different things that are human yeah the human experience yeah but learning like you know you don't get rid of the the problem because or the situation that happened it seems that you're learning and become stronger to live above it. Above it okay all right so I do got a few more questions um if someone wanted to support your mission or or help you where would they find you?

How To Find And Support Yeah U2

SPEAKER_01 34:41

My Instagram Candace Nicole Thomson Y2 um yeah you to dot or g so it's y-e-a-h y o u t o dot or g okay and um next week because we're redoing our site um you'll be able to donate on the site we also take non-perishables and clothing not just monetary donations and I put on IG we also take prayer yeah yeah we take prayer too so if you can't give keep us in prayer that we can keep going.

Keep Fighting And What’s Next

SPEAKER_00 35:21

Yes ma'am yes ma'am so I do have just a few more questions to uh get the listeners to know more about yeah you too okay um what inspired just that creation itself of yeah you too I became a mom um and I was thinking about legacy and my son is seven now and he's he knows how to do a PowerPoint and I'm doing yeah you two kids and he wants to be over that so he's like mommy you got another podcast I was like yeah I do he's like you're gonna be famous you're gonna be on TV I was like I don't know about that we're working on it we work on it we're working on it we're working on it we're working on it but yes um I think I got very serious about it when I became a mom okay so what does the name mean to you or what does the name mean itself yeah you say yeah you too yeah so um some people that we were talking about who are ashamed who have stigma who um whatever the case may be it's like come on yeah you too you you you you need something come on yeah you too you a veteran come on you was a victim of domestic violence rape come on yeah you too you know it's inclusive I like that word very very very much inclusive okay all right so one thing that I want listeners to to know about you just from our interaction is that um you can feel your passion you can feel that you are serious about what it is you do that you want to make a change that you are doing things um from your point of view of hey this yeah you too it happened to me too yeah I don't want it to happen to you so I want to be able to give what I did not have right okay so with what and I think that's a beautiful beautiful thing listeners that's a beautiful beautiful thing uh I'm here with Candace Thompson owner and CEO of Yeah U2 she's here today permission to speak freely podcast blessing us with her information and just her trauma information that she's given about resources that she helps with families her community just a beautiful beautiful beautiful thing that you don't really see too much and wanted to invite her on the show so that we can be able to boost up her morale boost up uh her followers be able to boost up her blessings be able to boost up all the resources that she needs and all the connections that she's able to bring um and being collaborative being very inclusive with our connection both being mental health yes okay um so if if there's something you would love the listeners to be able to take from today's episode which will be you know a lot we talked about yeah okay a lot we talked about just in this in this first you know first session what is something you would love for the listeners to take with them keep fighting keep fighting keep fighting um even on your worst days you might not be standing where you want to be but you're still standing and so that has to count for something don't stop fighting don't stop dreaming stop shortchanging yourself and I would say the past is the past there's nothing you can do about it but you can get stronger from it you can make money from it yeah absolutely make it a paycheck so what's next for Candace Thompson make sure I say I don't know what's next for Candace Thompson and yeah you too so um the donor piece um I'm looking to do some really cool fundraisers um I also want to be able to um build Medicaid so that I can continue um doing um educating and building um with children and and educating so just being more visible and just growing in in every way um that's that's the future and um I can I can see it being huge I don't want it I I don't have any limits on it. No ceilings. No ceilings Lil Wayne no ceilings that's right okay I got you so I greatly appreciate you coming on the show today being able to tell your side of the story of things be able to express to people what it is that you are what it is that you do what it is that you represent and where people can find you. Yes so thank you for tuning in to another episode of Permission to speak freely podcast I am your host Chief Ali. I am Candace Thompson and you have the permission to speak freely freely all right I think that's that's good for today. I would love to do a part two where I really unpack. Okay and we really I wanted to try to still focus on the business but I wanted people to I wanted to icebreak and let people know you. So you through the gate just letting them know like hey this is who I am raw ah I'm here was perfect and it segued right into everything else everything else and I'll just take a little bit from what you said add it into the next question um but it was a beautiful experience. You told your story efficiently thank you for being a guest as well like I said I would love to most definitely collaborate. I would love to donate I would love to be a part of your female friendly felon okay I'm I'm tongue twistering this of my but I would love to be a part of that um even if I came to just donate watch motivate speak um give give that you know that feedback to the to to those ladies and um you know just be a part that is like so dope.

SPEAKER_01 42:27

So yes you can um I want to collaborate um we in mental health so we there I mean there's so many things we can do.

Grief, Growth, And Poetry Afterward

SPEAKER_00 42:38

Yeah yeah yeah as we are um and I'd love to do a part two yes ma'am for sure for sure for sure it can be back here live in the studio it can be social media um so even with this um we got the show done now but cameras are still rolling I would love to take one of the cameras or you look into this camera right here and you do your hi my name is Candace Thompson I am from yeah youtube.org and put your your promo right in there and then I'll do mine right after you okay all right hi my name is Candace Thompson and I am the CEO and founder of yeah you two dot or g look us up if you need resources if you need advocacy if you need just you don't know where to go let us know and we'll help you get there. We are personal GPS all right cool I have the beautiful Candace Thompson here with me today on permission to speak freely podcast stay tuned for our episode coming to YouTube soon all right um any other questions concerns thoughts before I chop all of this up no this was it was very seamless it was it was like it was such a great vibe thank you thank you it's been a while since I've done it um I was and I'll show you through our facility but I've I've been working restructuring things right um I had a um I had a uh which I would well I was grieving real bad lost my uncle who was like my father to me and I had just found my dad's side of the family I've never met my dad but to meet my dad's side of the family and to find out he passed away in 2013 that I was grieving my father and my uncle just being able to have that right closure with him like oh wow Pop's gone you know so I had to sit with it I had to sit with it I was wounded real bad so I kind of gave up um things that were exciting to me podcasting was a thing that I really liked business wasn't really going the way that it should because I wasn't but that pain is making you a beast though yeah yeah it the the pain made the so we still record I'm gonna get my thing real quick right no my me having to identify exactly what my pain was and what what caused me to be in pain made me more strategic. Right okay it made me walk each thing down okay made me walk the down let me handle this okay I got this issue with this person because this person did this to me let me work on getting stronger with this let me do my push ups with them right okay let me do my emotional push ups right so which makes me understand people who have been victims of things makes me understand when they can go back to their uh violator you go back to that That oppressing type of person to them, their abuser, and say, Hey, I'm not that person that I used to be, or I'm not what that was. You can't pull that shit this time.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Right, right.

SPEAKER_00 46:00

Try it now.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Try it now.

SPEAKER_00 46:02

You know what I'm saying? Compared to that scared little boy or little girl, that innocence that was taking a ride. Right. Whatever may have been that this person was using leverage to be able to take advantage. I understand where people go and take their power back. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 46:18

So sometimes you have to.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So understanding that, like with myself, I had to, I had to grow and I had to heal and I had to be, I had to rightfully take my place. Right. Okay. I know what it is that I needed to do, but I was, as I kept saying, I kept giving my shine away to other people. And God was like, hey, no, bro.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

That's your That's your gift. That's your oil.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

That's your win. You don't have to share it with nobody. That's your oil. You know, so but you know, that's my little testimony. Thank you for listening to my my Ken talk.

SPEAKER_01 46:50

Yeah. Welcome to your poetry meeting.

SPEAKER_00 46:53

Yes, but I most definitely do art as well, do spoken word. Yeah, I do still. I write poetry.

SPEAKER_02 47:00

That was a it still is a release.

SPEAKER_00 47:03

Sometimes I just might say little fancy lines, little little clever things that I'll write down or I put on social media. Right. But that was always a release. A release. It was always a release. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 47:15

Pen and paper is it saved my life.

SPEAKER_00 47:18

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 47:19

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 47:20

Well, I appreciate your time, but I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_01 47:24

What's that? It's 6.17 already. So we only did what 30 minutes?

SPEAKER_00 47:29

I think you say 30, 45. Yeah, we say 45, but I actually feel like we started really, really getting into uh the juice.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

Yeah, me, I came in, I came in on it. It didn't take too long to get me to Yeah, I'm fresh out the gate.

SPEAKER_00 47:50

Like you was you was you was perfect, having you Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 47:54

I was like, I hope I was around.