Ep. 59 - Lift Your Voice with Stephanie James

Transcript

00:03

Welcome to the Push Or Pivot Podcast, a podcast that inspires you to trust yourself in the crossroads of life. I'm your host, Thea Charles. As a life coach, I know that when you put fear aside and trust yourself, you'll know when to push through adversity, and when to stop, reassess, and pivot.

00:26

I believe magic happens whenever a push or pivot story is shared. And that magic is exactly what you'll find here.

00:41

On this episode, I spoke with Stephanie Michelle James, who goes by just a vessel. Stephanie is a poet, vocalist, speaker, and also a digital nomad who has traveled to 38 states and 38 countries. She spends one to two months in each country sharing her gifts around the world. Her goal is to encourage her peers to step outside of their comfort zone.

01:08

Stephanie, I am so excited to have you on the  Push Or Pivot. I've been like diving through your website and listening to your music. And I'm just really excited for this. So without much further ado, welcome. Thank you. I'm excited to be here. I appreciate you having me, as well. And thank you for looking at the website. And in general, I'm glad you enjoyed what you saw. Oh, thanks.

01:33

Definitely, definitely. Everyone's got to check it out. You have an amazing voice. But instead of me gushing on you, I would love for you to tell us a little bit about yourself. Yeah, absolutely. I'm originally from Colorado Springs. People always say, oh, there's by people in Colorado, like, No, I'm the only one.

01:53

I'm actually I mean, there's a really big like army base there. In the Air Force academies. They're one of the Olympic Training Centers is there. So there's like a little bit more diversity than we get credit for. But yeah, I'm originally from Colorado Springs grew up there. And I was playing basketball. That was my first love. So I played basketball. throughout high school, I'm in my high school's Hall of Fame for basketball. And then I got a basketball scholarship to Hampton University. So I went to Hansen for four years and played there, and really fell in love with the East Coast. And just the DMV area. I mean, Hampton Roads is not the DMV, but it's close. Right? So I got to kind of a taste of the diversity that the east coast offers. And then after school, I got an internship with the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. And that kind of started my travel bug, so to speak. Yeah. So I mean, when your first trip out is Beijing, like China, it's another world, I just made me want to see more and explore more and like appreciate other cultures and just really took me outside of my comfort zone early on. So I was with NBC Universal, doing an internship for about a month in China, and then came back and I started working for a fortune 50 company for eight years, was on the fast track and moving up and they said, you know, you have to, they had to promote me every like, year and a half, they had to move me move me along. And I just got to a point like, I went to Italy, I went to Greece. And then I just started having this, like insatiable desire to travel and see more of the world. So I started to look up ways that I could do that. And yeah, and that that kind of came to a point where I had to make a decision, right being with an organization for eight years, and really growing, growing that organization loving that organization. But that also, you know, when do you honor what you also want for yourself personally, as well in trying to make those to meet? So that's kind of like where that all starts. But yeah, so I was initially just basketball and then fortune 50 and starting my travels. And that's kind of what led me to where I am where I am today. I worked at the bank as an intern for a little while, and we couldn't sit down. We couldn't sit down and it was like, not super busy. So you're just standing around all day. And so I started to write, because that was only thing I could do. You couldn't read, you couldn't sit down. You couldn't do a lot of things while you're waiting for customers to come. And so I started to write, as I was writing, I was like, Oh, this is not bad. Like this stuff I'm writing is pretty good. And my sister was like, Oh, you know, when you read it out loud. It sounds really great as well. And so coming over to the east coast, fast forward. Yeah. poetry was a very big staple out here and not even just writing poetry but spoken word and the art of it and the performance of it. And so I really got into around like 2013 I really got heavy into the spoken word scene and sharing my gifts through the medium of poetry. So between poetry travel

05:00

That's kind of like where my life has started to go in that direction. And I love it. And I've been in that direction since. That's awesome. That's awesome. And just like, the whole evolution of going on that first trip and how everything kind of opened up from there, right? That's cool. I've been to Japan, not China, but. And I just, I just thought it was amazing. I was really young. When I went, I was an exchange student. And it was just like, Whoa, well, you know, he's want to see everything. Um, I guess what prompted you to start? I know, you said that you were at the bank, and you didn't have anything else to do. But like, was writing always like a thing for you? Like, where did it come from? Not really. So as I was younger, I used to sing and one of my best friend's dad was actually like, kind of high up like he worked for the city of Colorado Springs, which was really fun, because we were in a dance team. So he would put me on stage early on to like sing, and I do beatboxing. And so I was on stage early. But it wasn't until I started working at the bank that I started dabbling in writing, and just realizing that I was pretty good at it. And like people liked what they were hearing. So yeah, that's where it really started. And then as you know, like the first thing that you write, if I go back and read my first poem, now I'm like, Oh, that was awful. But the more you do it, the more you enjoy it, the more it develops, and you grow in that space. So yeah, I really enjoyed writing and then seeing the growth in your writing, right? Because you, you honestly, you write about where you are. And you begin by get, there's that quote, like people don't see the world, how it is people see the world through the lens in which they're looking at it. So you can only really write about where you are, or try to empathize and get inside of somebody else's headspace or mind space. But yeah, so I've seen the evolution of my writing with the evolution of myself in that, yeah, like it makes more sense. So what kind of things she write about. So it's really inspirational poetry is really spiritual poetry. So like, I like to motivate. I have my most most recent pieces when I open for common this year, which was made for me, and it was for the MLK Day. So it was really like a Black Lives Matter like legacy poem, talking about our ancestors and the sacrifices that they've made for us to be where we are. So more like an empowerment piece. I have some women empowerment pieces, and then just a lot about fighting for what you want, and being who you are, and just encouraging people. So most of my work is encouraging and motivational pieces for sure. Yeah. And your writing is incredible. I did listen, when I first heard of you, I listened to your poem that you opened for common, and it was just really incredible. Thank you. Gosh, what would you tell someone who is thinking about writing? Ooh, I'm so it's so funny. So I wanted to I used to want to be a motivational speaker, I still kind of do like that might be in my in my future. But there was a motivational speaker. And I'm like, the person that goes home like after church, I don't wait around, like talk to the pastor. After speech. I don't wait around to speak to the speaker. But this particular Speaker I really did want to hear more from. And so I'm saying all this to get to your to your question. Yeah. So I waited around, and I spoke to her and I was like, you know, what do I do? What do I have to do to like, start motivational speaking or like, be where you are. And I literally waited for like an hour to speak to her. And she said, just start. And I was so annoyed. I was like, Oh, that's awful.

08:33

But as like now I actually would say the same to someone. And I agree. Like it's just about starting and prioritizing something that's important to you. That's essential. So if you want to start writing, like write one page every day, one or two pages, even if it's awful, right, even if it's complete rubbish, like, write it down. And as your as the day's progress. As the time progresses, as you're practicing it more, you're going to become better at it. So if you want to be a writer, if that's something that you aspire to do, like just get started, right, even if you don't know what that looks like, even if you're not doing it the perfect way right away, like just get started. Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of like that, that quote that you don't need to know where the top of the staircase goes. You just take the first step. Exactly. Yeah.

09:27

Have you been inspired by the story shared on the  Push Or Pivot Podcast, but feeling a little stuck at your own Crossroads? If only there were a guide to get unstuck. Well, I've made one just for you. six steps to help you recognize what is keeping you stuck and push you out of your rut. You can access it for free on my website. Thea Renell.com. Slash rut. That's th e a r e n e l

10:00

dot com slash ru T.

10:11

Yeah. So where do you perform now? Oh gosh, well, you know, 2020 has been all virtual. I've been super grateful though, because I've had the opportunity. I mean, this, like, I open for comment in January. So that was kind of before everything was starting to shut down. But then the other events that I've done for my church, like for Easter, like Resurrection Sunday, and then, most recently, I did like a birthday party, a surprise virtual birthday party for somebody. Some, I'm just grateful that we have technology, you know, we're still able to, I'm still able to do what I love and get paid to do what I love, virtually. And that's been that's been huge for me this year. In the past, I actually had a business, I don't have it any longer, but I still kind of dabble in it. But I used to help artists to travel internationally go. I was I've been to 38 countries. And most of the countries I've been to I've been able to perform in. And people always like, how are you doing this? Like how, how do you make those connections? How do you have that conversation?

11:14

To get that started to perform in Italy? What does that look like? Right? What are my first steps? And so I had this an organization that would help artists travel International. So I helped a London artists do like 25 shows in the states and over nine different cities. Right. And so I say that to say I've performed everywhere, right? From all the places that I've been, and that was like a big deal. For me. That was one of my goals, like, Okay, I'm in Croatia for X amount of time, where can I perform? Where can I share my work, and to be received so warmly?

11:46

From non English speakers, like I've had people by my albums that don't even speak English, because they like the delivery, right? So being able to perform in different venues, it's humbling one, because you don't know how you're going to be received in ooda. Why? Or Bulgaria? Right? It's also really exciting. And it's fun. So yeah, I used to perform everywhere that I was primarily in open mics, or, you know, I've done Notting Hill Carnival in London, you know, so some big stages, some smaller stages, but I always say like two or 2000, you got to give it your all, regardless of who's in the room. Right? So yeah, I've enjoyed that. And I miss it a lot. But this year has been more in the virtual face, which is fine to

12:30

just amazing what your voice can do. Right? Like, just to be able to reach people, even if they don't even speak the same language that you can get a feeling just from hearing someone is really, it's really awesome. And, and even like using that throughout. Now, now that we're so much as of everything is virtually been fine. Like with this podcast, it's just amazing. How many more people I feel like I've been able to reach just in the comfort of my living room. No, it's just like, it's an incredible thing when you think about it.

13:03

I Stephanie, what else should we know? Yeah, for sure. I think too, like for anybody that's interested in moving abroad, you know, or wanting to chase that dream that they're looking for, like, that's, it's really just taking that leap, you know, I want it Frito Lay to be more progressive in the sense when I was working there and like allowed me to work remote, but it just wasn't in the cards at the time. They're pretty much on that wave now, but this was maybe 2016 when I was looking to transition.

13:36

And it's really about taking that leap, I wouldn't advise anyone not to have another job lined up when they leave like I did. But I thought I would get one like very soon. So it took me about two months, once I left the organization to find another job that I wanted to do. And my goal was to work remotely. As long as I had Wi Fi you can work anywhere in the world, right? That's what's about the power of technology right now. So went to Ecuador was in LA like looking for work. And then you know, just applying for a bunch of different jobs. Another thing I would tell like your listeners is that there's so many opportunities to work remotely. Like sometimes people think that if you're not in tech, or now I work for a tech company now. So that's like,

14:20

wrong, but however, it's like on the sales side. So I've been working remotely for three and a half years primarily in sales.

14:28

having conversations with people like you can do marketing, you can learn UX UI and like, don't be afraid to learn something new, right? Because sometimes we get so stuck in the comfort of what we already know and what we've always done. And we're scared to take that leap of faith, right? It's like if you really want this lifestyle, or you really want to do something like this. It's almost working backwards. Like this is what I want, what are the steps that I have to do or the things that I have, like the steps that I have to take to get there. And I feel like that leap of faith

15:00

changed my life. Right? Because otherwise I would have been on the fast track going, Yeah, on a national platform and organization, but not really honoring what I wanted for myself, which was traveling, I wanted to work and travel at the same time. And I don't regret it at all, I was told when I left that I was ruining my career that my peers, were going to pass me up, that I was making a huge mistake. Of course, mom is, you know, be careful, I don't know where you're going be safe, you know, which is fair and respected and appreciate it. But sometimes you just have to do what's necessary for you. And what you know, and my mom came to Thailand to visit me and my sister was in Ecuador, and Argentina, and I had 16 visitors throughout the 2017. I was in 18 countries, and 16 people came and enjoy different countries alongside me. And so it's almost like people will feel like it's impossible. And until this done, like once you do it, they're like, Oh, that is cool that you're doing like they're scared. So they kind of put that projection on you. Yeah, what I would say is that if you if you have a dream, if you have something if you want to move abroad, like it's all about researching. Now I tell people to take a leap, but also make sure that that leap is calculated, right? How far down is it? Is the water deep enough that you're not going to hit rock bottom? When you go like, yes, take that jump, but also make sure that it's a calculated jump, and that you're planning for what's ahead. But jump nonetheless. Yeah, once you know those things. And what you're saying about other people projecting is just what you're talking about at the beginning. But you can only see things through your own lens. Mm hmm. And the person that can see you the best is yourself. Exactly. And so but once you're doing it, it's almost like you're, you're giving people permission to do it as well, you're showing people that it can be done. Maybe you were the first one or you were one one of the ones to get started before it was a popular thing. Now everybody is experiencing working from home, like I don't like the pandemic, I don't like that there has been deaths and that there has been pain for a lot of people. But I do think that something good that's come from it is it's shown so many people that you can be successful in a virtual realm. A lot of companies and organizations that were very opposed and saying that the productivity would drop are realizing that, oh, we're saving money on office supplies and not having to pay mileage. And we are seeing more productivity because people are at home. And there's no reason for them to sign off sometimes. So people are working more in this virtual round. And so I think what it's done for the digital nomad community is going to be unparalleled moving forward. So many of my friends that never worked remote before, don't want to go back to the office, or want a hybrid type of role when they do return so that they can work from home sometimes and have that work life balance. So I think what it's done for the digital nomad community is going to be massive, like moving forward, it's changed the world, in that in that sense. So that's exciting to me. I've kind of been on that wave for three years. But it's nice that like the world to catch up and realize that you can be in Morocco and still do your work. It's okay. Yeah, yeah, that that is so true. And just kind of like, taking care of yourself as a whole, rather than just this is I need to do this for my job is also what I need to do for me, right? That's the thing that I love the most about working from home is if I need to sleep a little extra, man, cuz I'm not ready for that dream, you know? So it's just, um, it's just really, really great. Thank you. There's so many great gems that you've brought up. If you could give someone a piece of advice, would it be?

18:48

Oh, man, if I could give some advice, what would it be? I would say,

18:53

I was listening to this podcast about essentialism. They said something so important. And they're like, start every day or every week, asking yourself what you need to do, to feel fulfilled for that week. And that's what I would encourage everyone to do. Because I feel like sometimes we we say yes, to a lot of things to seem busy, to feel productive. And yeah, you might check off 2040 things that you've gotten done for the day. But all of us have had a day where we get every single thing done that we wanted to accomplish, and we still feel like something is missing. We still feel like we didn't do anything that day. And that's because we didn't accomplish the big important things that we really want it to get done for ourselves. So I would say start every day every week with the question of what can I do today for myself for this day to feel accomplished for this day to feel like I've fulfilled my purpose, or I've made a step toward my goal. And I think that we say yes, sometimes to too many things, and we've got so many things going

20:00

On, instead of saying no to those things that aren't important, and yes to the very few things that are going to make us feel more fulfilled, to make us feel like we are reaching our purpose in our calling more in life. So that's what I would say is to like what really dig in to what's important to you in the why the why behind the what, right, this is what you want to do. But why do you want to do that? Why is that important? And I think when we step back, like they say, the most successful people in the world, they spend at least an hour, every day thinking.

20:33

And so you know, some of us, we kind of just go through our day, and we let the day run us, I got this email, I've got this. I'm working on this. I'm working on that. We haven't really sat down and thought about what's important to me. What do I want my life to be? If I if tomorrow, tomorrow's not promised? And we say that so cliche, but it's really not. So if I died today, tomorrow, what would I have left? on? What stones would I have left on turn that I really wanted to do that I really wanted to see through? See, I would just beg that the audience kind of ask themselves that question and honor the answers. Definitely. I think it's funny because you said you you'd like to become a motivational speaker.

21:14

You are a motivational speaker.

21:17

I love that. I think that's funny that you say that. Because even within that, I feel that people don't give themselves enough credit. We don't give ourselves enough credit, right? Like I was, I want to be an international artist, when I am writing is not on the audience is as big of audiences I may have won all the time. Or, yeah, maybe I want to get to Australia and haven't been to that that space yet. But, um, I think it's just important to

21:49

we don't give ourselves enough credit, right? Everybody's their worst critic, everybody is not everybody. But a lot of us are very, like tough on ourselves, you know, it's like, but you want to look forward, you want to always grow and develop and evolve. But also, look at how far you've come celebrate how far you've come appreciate how far you've come? Maybe you don't have the following you want maybe to have the audience that you want just yet, but like, are you doing the work? Are you doing what you love? Are you honoring? When you said you want it to do for yourself, right? It's like, Oh, I want to be international artists. And like what you are, you know, I want to be a CEO, where you are maybe your company doesn't have it, like it's not where you want it to be, or the bottom line isn't looking like how you want it to look. But you are you are those things. And so it's like owning that and speaking prosperity. I'm in spaces that you don't see them yet, but manifesting that still like I am doing this, right? Like it's not at the level I want, I still want to level up, I want to grow, I want to increase, you know, my platform and all that but but still honoring what you have done so far. And I think it's funny, because everybody was saying that 2020 is the year of perfect vision. There's going to be the year of clarity. And everybody obviously, we all have the means and the craziness of 2020 and awful for so many people, but I actually do still believe that it is a year of perfect vision. It was it wasn't in the way that that we anticipated. But it has made people sit back and sit still. It's a what is important. Wow, these are things that I took for granted, going to the movies, going to out going out to eat, hugging our elder, you know, community, being able to go and sit with them, and learn from them. And you don't know why you take it for granted until it's gone. That you know, nobody could have told me a year ago that I couldn't go anywhere I wanted to go whenever I wanted to go there. Nobody could have told me that my little blue passport. My little blue passport that was so strong, would be blacklisted in this year.

23:56

But I'm so grateful that you guys yes, I do want to go to more countries. I want to see more and do more. But I am so grateful that I have been in 38 countries that I have been paragliding and skydiving and scuba diving and all of the things because life can change in a moment in an instant. And it really this year has really made you sit back and say one Wow. Hmm, what's going to happen next, so much so many uncertainties. But to thank you, thank you that I'm healthy. Thank you. My family is okay. Thank you for my job. Thank you for creating platforms for me to still continue to work.

24:34

It's it is a year of perfect vision. Because I think it's put a lot of things in perspective for many of us of what's important and what's really not in the grand scheme of things, you know. Yeah, that's a great reflection on the year. It has been eye opening. Mm hmm. Everything. Yeah, yeah. Ah, how can people learn more about you? Yeah, for sure.

25:00

I would love to connect with your audience to connect with me on Instagram, or on all those social media platforms, it's just a vessel. So JUSTAVSS e l 22

25:14

on all the social media, and then my website is just the vessel poetry.com. And there it has all like I did travel vlogs. So from 38 countries, I have a vlog, I have my GoPro with me all at all times.

25:29

So you like want a glimpse into different countries or like I always got the place that I was staying. So you can see how I'm living in like, even just, you know, these are very fresh in my mind from 2017. But maybe in 2030, Lord willing, I will look back and say, Oh, yeah, I remember that. Or like I did it for myself, and I shared it with the world is really hard look at it. But I have traveled logs from everywhere that I've been on the website. And then all of my poems are there. And I had the opportunity to do some international videos. So I did one my first poem international poem was, it's called shaken. And I filmed it in caminito, in Buenos Aires in Argentina. And it's like a very colorful town. And basically, the story behind it is the town didn't have enough money to pay for paint for painting the city. And so they just use paint whenever they got it. Like whatever was left over, they used it for the city. So the city is so colorful, and it's all different colors, like a house might be blue, purple, orange, green, red, all over. It's just different colors, because they use leftover paint to paint the city. So it's really cool.

26:41

Yeah, so shaking was filmed. They come in eat, though. And then

26:45

what kind of God was filmed in Budapest. And that was really cool. Because I wanted to get the, the atmosphere of Budapest like they they're a country that is very small. And I don't know, people have tried to take it over, many, many times. So there's bullet holes like that they've left in their buildings, which are in the video, there's a really sad story about a lesser community being pushed off of the side wall into the river. And so there's a place there's on the done a river and their shoes are there. And there's like a memorial of their shoes like engraved in embedded into the floor

27:31

to memorize like, how do you call it Memorial Memorial? There you go and realize those lives that were lost during that time. So it's just it's there's a lot of history in Budapest, and I wanted to capture that and I my videographer me, she is from there. She's native Hungarian, and we become really good friends. We I'm actually speaking to her probably tomorrow since we have a call set up.

27:58

But it was cool to like engage, you know, with different people and to create these videos. So what kind of God is filmed in Budapest and then the last one is hidden heart and that was filmed in Vietnam in Hoshi Minh city. And if you've never been to Vietnam, like it's insane,

28:14

like it's it's absolutely sensory overload. Like you go out there and everything you see you smell you hear it's like happening to you all at the same time. There are 7 million scooters, just to give you an idea of like how it is there's no like traffic rules or anything. There's just everybody just going crazy everywhere, whichever way. And so I captured that as well. In hitting heart, you can really see the chaos. But it's organized chaos in there, see. And so it was fun. It was fun to film different projects in different countries.

28:49

I enjoyed that. All of that's on the website. So if anybody's interested in like checking that out, it's just a vessel poetry calm, and just the vessel 22 on social media. Awesome. And that will definitely be in the show notes and everyone can find you easily. Stephanie, thank you again, so much for being on. Thank you for sharing. And this has just been a pleasure. Oh, thank you so much for having me. I really, really appreciate it. I've enjoyed speaking with you.

29:15

That was a great conversation with Stephanie. I was struck by how she found her voice and decided to use it to inspire others by simply sharing her experiences. Outside of the podcast, she told me that her mantra is, if I inspire you, you are my inspiration. What is the nugget of inspiration that you are taking away from her story? And how can you inspire others by sharing yours?

29:48

Thank you for listening to the push or pivot podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, hit the subscribe button. And please leave us a review to learn more about the show and to access

30:00

The show notes, visit our website, push or pivot.com. I'd also love to hear from you. Share your thoughts and takeaways with me on Instagram at pusher pivot.

30:13

Thank you for listening, and join me next time on the push or pivot podcast.