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.

Transcript

Welcome And Candace’s Backstory

SPEAKER_02 0:10

Thank you 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 YouTube. 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 are you doing, Candace?

SPEAKER_00 0:33

I am doing well and thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

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_00 0:43

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 with 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_01 1:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

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_02 2:21

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 2:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:42

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_00 2:55

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.

SPEAKER_01 3:18

Okay.

Flashbacks, Depression, And Self-Harm

SPEAKER_00 3:19

And um I 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 me and my grandfather, God 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, okay, and relationships and things.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

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_00 5:16

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_02 5:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Yeah.

unknown 5:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

You usually hear uh, you know, certain self-injurious behaviors like that on culturally, we culturally not, yes.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

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.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

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 of all kinds.

SPEAKER_01 7:04

Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

Um, so what inspired the creation of Yeah U2?

Writing As Survival And Service

SPEAKER_00 7:10

Yeah U2 came much later. So Yeah, you two started um three years ago.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

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 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 he read it and 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_02 9:12

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?

unknown 9:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Would you agree that this pain gave vision to your theantropy work?

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 9:32

Okay, okay. Unpack that a little bit for me. And for the people of 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?

Building Yeah U2 As A Connector

SPEAKER_00 9:52

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

SPEAKER_02 10:27

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

SPEAKER_00 10:32

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_01 10:46

Hmm, okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:47

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_02 11:07

Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

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_01 11:45

Good, good, good.

SPEAKER_00 11:46

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

SPEAKER_02 11:52

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_00 12:11

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

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

SPEAKER_01 12:22

Right.

SPEAKER_02 12:22

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 there too. 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_00 12:50

If you tell the truth, yes.

SPEAKER_02 12:52

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

SPEAKER_00 13:00

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

SPEAKER_02 13:03

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

SPEAKER_00 13:08

So my goal is partnering with the big, 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_02 14:09

Yeah, yeah, tell me the truth.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

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.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

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

Trauma Signs In Kids And Parents

SPEAKER_00 14:52

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. Yeah. Um, how they play. 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, 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. Yeah, 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 now I'm gonna go and do whatever, you know. And it's not kind of like, you know, you can't really be like, what's wrong with my kid if your tablet is raising them?

SPEAKER_02 16:28

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. Yes, 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_00 16:56

Raising them.

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

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

SPEAKER_00 17:03

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_02 17:11

Nothing. Three hots in a cot? A tablet. A tablet. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:19

Get my drift?

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yes, ma'am.

SPEAKER_00 17:21

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:22

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_01 17:37

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

SPEAKER_00 17:40

Yeah. Have you seen us with our phones?

SPEAKER_01 17:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

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

unknown 17:58

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 17:58

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_00 18:10

But then it got worse during COVID. Oh, yeah. And that was a test run. I don't want to sound like I got a 10-foot hat on, but I just I just go with what I see.

SPEAKER_02 18:23

Yeah. I mean, you 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.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:33

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 were off. I don't think you lying. Right. I don't think you lying. You you you're making sense. So I understand.

SPEAKER_00 18:46

But I try to be careful what I say. But yeah, I do feel like, I mean, everything, you're and you know, some people, you know, like, oh, this is the matrix. But I do believe in in some things being a simulation.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

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 you 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_01 19:36

Right.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

Um so with all of these heavy things that you carry, what keeps you grounded?

Shame, Help-Seeking, And Men’s Trauma

SPEAKER_00 19:42

My responsibility to the community.

SPEAKER_02 19:47

Um that's like a superhero conversation.

SPEAKER_00 19:49

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.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

Pushing awareness.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:19

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_00 20:36

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_01 20:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:47

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.

SPEAKER_02 21:46

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

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.

SPEAKER_02 22:08

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.

SPEAKER_01 22:27

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:28

Um 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.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 22:42

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 hurts the person, the impressor who pushed it up on them.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

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 situation, finding that the everybody doesn't think the same way. Um to someone, they may not feel like that they did anything wrong.

SPEAKER_01 23:39

Right.

SPEAKER_02 23:39

Um, because hey, that happened to them, which is no longer like an excuse to you. Is that what 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. Right. Is why I can understand why some underlaws do what they do when people show up like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:05

Yes. And and and speaking on that, um, when it comes to men, my father, he passed away, but my father was uh raped. He was sexually abused. Wow. 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.

unknown 24:47

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

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.

SPEAKER_02 25:24

But before that, give people a little bit of information of where they can uh attend your uh female friendly felon.

Reentry Job Fair Details And Healing

SPEAKER_02 25:31

What is it? Make sure I'm saying it correctly.

SPEAKER_00 25:33

The female um felon job fair.

SPEAKER_02 25:35

Is it a date, address, phone number?

SPEAKER_00 25:37

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.

SPEAKER_02 26:21

Okay, and this is targeted uh primarily to women?

SPEAKER_00 26:25

Re-entry.

SPEAKER_02 26:26

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?

SPEAKER_00 26:36

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 give 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?

SPEAKER_02 27:04

Do you need a job?

SPEAKER_00 27:05

Do you need a job?

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Does it matter? A felon-friendly job.

SPEAKER_00 27:09

A felon-friendly job.

SPEAKER_02 27:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

So sometimes I get things like that, but I'm like, baby, if you need a job, just come on down. Okay, you know, but I would let them know your past is not your future. And that, you know, shake that off.

SPEAKER_02 27:32

Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am, yes, ma'am. So shake that off. Well, I'll take that as a form of healing. Gotta heal through that.

SPEAKER_00 27:40

Gotta heal through that, yes.

SPEAKER_02 27:41

So, what does healing look like to you personally?

SPEAKER_00 28:02

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 heal. So um I look at it as healing is coming out of the old, but remembering why the rivering why you did it.

SPEAKER_02 28:46

Yeah. Not not not forgetting, but like living above it.

SPEAKER_00 28:51

Living above it.

SPEAKER_02 28:52

I got you.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

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_02 29:09

You gotta say that one more time. One more time.

SPEAKER_00 29:12

What you're healing from, you cannot give it power.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Gotcha, gotcha. I think that's a heavy thing for people just in general. Yeah. Because sometimes we can be our own worst enemy.

SPEAKER_01 29:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Um, your isolation, how your mind battles with your heart, you know, all of the different things that are human.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

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.

SPEAKER_00 29:44

Above it.

SPEAKER_02 29:45

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?

SPEAKER_00 29:54

Um my Instagram, Candace Nicole Thompson, Y Y Two. Um, yeah, you to dot or G. So it's Y-E-A-H-Y-O-U-T-O-O.

unknown 30:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 30:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:10

And um next week, because we're

How To Support And Build Legacy

SPEAKER_00 30:13

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.

SPEAKER_01 30:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:28

We take prayer too. So if you can't give, keep us in prayer. That we can keep going.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

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.

SPEAKER_01 30:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

Um what inspired just that creation itself of Yeah, U2?

SPEAKER_00 30:53

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.

SPEAKER_02 31:32

We're working on it.

SPEAKER_00 31:33

But yes, um, I think I got very serious about it when I became a mom.

SPEAKER_02 31:42

Okay. So what does the name mean to you? What does the name mean itself? Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:47

Yeah, you too.

SPEAKER_02 31:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:48

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.

SPEAKER_02 32:15

I like that word. Very, very, very much inclusive, okay? All right. So one thing that I want listeners 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.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

Right.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

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, you too. 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.

SPEAKER_00 33:33

Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 33:35

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?

SPEAKER_00 33:52

Keep fighting. Keep fighting, keep fighting. Um, even on your worst days, you might not be standing

Keep Fighting And What’s Next

SPEAKER_00 34:08

where you want to be, but you're still standing. Absolutely, and so that has to account 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.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Make it a paycheck.

SPEAKER_02 34:50

Yeah, okay. What's next for Candace Thompson? And yeah, you too.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

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.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

No ceilings.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

No ceilings.

SPEAKER_02 35:53

Lil' Wayne, no ceilings.

SPEAKER_00 35:55

No ceilings, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

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.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

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.

SPEAKER_01 36:25

Keep me from Ali.