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00:00Hello, I'm Bevy Smith, TV radio host, author, actress, and all-around gal about town.
00:14Speaking of being about town, I'm about to assemble my girlfriends for a day of beauté,
00:20wellness, and overall fabulosity.
00:23I've got Crystal.
00:27Hi, I'm Crystal.
00:29I am head of creative and co-founder of A Very Good Job, which is a creative agency
00:33that I co-founded with my partner.
00:35I'm also mom to an 11-month-old, and I'm so, so excited to be here today.
00:40I've got the baby of the bunch, Whitney.
00:42Hi, I'm Whitney Johnson.
00:44I work in sales at Essence, and I have a new title, which is mom to a 4-month-old.
00:49I am so excited to meet up with the ladies today.
00:52And of course, Ronika.
00:53My name is Ronika Alexander, and I'm the U.S. Medical Director for Health Equity for Vaccines
00:57and Antivirals at Pfizer.
00:59I feel wonderful about getting together with my girls today.
01:02We have so little time to just relax and enjoy each other and learn from each other.
01:07I'm really excited about it.
01:15I am so happy to be here with all of you lovely young ladies.
01:18Thanks for taking the time.
01:19Thanks for having us.
01:20Thanks for connecting us all.
01:21Of course.
01:22You know I love to connect her dots.
01:24I love to connect my good duties and everything.
01:27Yes.
01:28And making us take the time.
01:29Yes.
01:30Yes.
01:31Speaking of that, Ronika, what have you been up to?
01:32How have you been?
01:33I have been okay.
01:34I have been okay.
01:35I have been traveling to and fro, and I am exhausted.
01:38So, this break is well needed.
01:40Yeah.
01:41Well needed.
01:42What you been so busy doing?
01:43So many things.
01:44I've been on stage, presenting, just spreading the good news about health equity.
01:49So, just everything I can do to really just make sure we have vaccine equity.
01:53So, that is not an easy job.
01:55It's good work.
01:56So, glad to take a break, but I'm going to keep at it.
01:58Yeah, the good work.
01:59Yes.
02:00Speaking of the good work, Whitney, you've been up to your armpits and baby magic.
02:05Yes.
02:06Congratulations, my love.
02:08Thank you so much.
02:09That means so much.
02:10It's new.
02:11It's exciting.
02:12It's challenging at the same time.
02:14But, you know, it's a new chapter for me, and motherhood is something that I've always wanted to embark on, and it's happening.
02:22Yeah.
02:23And last, but certainly not least, my girl, Crystal.
02:25I know you have been so busy, and it really means a lot to me that you, like, took the time out to let me pamper you.
02:32Anything for you.
02:33You don't have to pay for it.
02:34So, I guess that's why you came.
02:35Oh, yes.
02:36Yeah, even better.
02:37Even better.
02:38Even better, right?
02:39Yes.
02:40Crystal, what have you been working on lately?
02:41A little bit of everything.
02:43So, events, activations, PR mailers, some fashion stuff, some red carpet commentary, and also, you know, my 11-month-old Big Jack.
02:54I've been taking care of him.
02:55He has me over the ropes right now.
02:57He's learning how to walk, so he's on the move.
02:59I can't just leave him where I left him.
03:00Yeah.
03:01Now I've got to be right up on him.
03:02So, it's nice to just sit in this chair, have a little chit-chat with my girls.
03:06Yes.
03:07It's very needed.
03:09I'm really excited about being here, and I know that everyone is so busy.
03:12So, thank you for taking out the time.
03:14So, how are you taking care of yourself?
03:16Dating vigorously.
03:18Okay.
03:19Period, period.
03:20Napping.
03:21All right.
03:22And saying no a lot to things I don't have to go to.
03:25You know, really, I'm really good at setting boundaries anyway, but now with my work schedule just being so busy, I don't have time for a lot of shenanigans and nonsense.
03:36I know, that's right.
03:37I'm trying to take care of my personal life as well as my professional life.
03:40There we go.
03:41So, that's the two-pronged space that I'm in right now.
03:44Listen, I know we're in a bunch of different places in our career and our personal lives.
03:49I want to hear from y'all.
03:51How are you balancing everything, all the things that are happening, including, you know, the world is, a lot's going on in the world.
03:58So, tell me about that.
03:59I'm going to say I'm in a space right now where I'm thinking about what is it that I want to leave in this world?
04:04What's the legacy that I want to leave?
04:06I'm focused on that, and there's a lot of noise out there.
04:10So, one of the things I've done is restarted my yoga journey.
04:14So, just taking some time, just 40 minutes each day just to reflect and meditate and try to move these bones, trying to get my pigeon fold together.
04:24Still working on it.
04:25Got a little, some inches to go, but definitely pulling things in like meditation and just taking some time to, like, push out those things that don't matter and focus on the things that really do
04:34and things that I want to accomplish for myself.
04:36Bepi, I was going to ask you, when you're traveling so much, you know, it's easier to find balance when you're at home with your things and your places that you like to go,
04:45but how do you do that when you're in a new place that you maybe haven't been in a while or never been before?
04:50You know, I find that it's really easy for me to relax when I'm not home.
04:55I tend to, well, you know, my entire life is set up in such a way that I only do what pleases me.
05:02So, that makes balance a lot easier than it does when you're doing things that you have to do.
05:07Yeah.
05:08But that means that whenever I travel, especially if I travel for work, I'm usually doing something that I really enjoy.
05:14Like, I'm in a place that's really incredible.
05:17You know, the nature of my work is that it's sexy and fabulous and all the things.
05:22So, I get to be in sexy and fabulous places.
05:25So, it ain't too hard to be up in, you know, in a sweet, you know, overlooking ocean and finding balance, you know.
05:32And then even like when I'm home, the way I find balance is I'm really very, very diligent about making sure that I see my family.
05:40That's balance for me.
05:42It's like, you know, just kind of taking it down a notch, being at home, being with the folks.
05:47And when I travel, it's really a great getaway.
05:50I really use every single trip I take as an opportunity to just decompress.
05:56When I reflect upon all of my friends and the various ages and everything, I'm like, it really does get greater later.
06:02And we just have to kind of make sure that we understand that every single chapter of our lives is worth something.
06:10And it's of value.
06:12We need to be literally actively pursuing our passions.
06:16That's a word.
06:17Right.
06:18That is a word.
06:19And in pursuing your passions, you're taking care of your body.
06:22You know, you're not waiting.
06:23I know a lot of people, especially, you know, a couple generations, oh, you know, I'll wait until I'm 50 and I'll start doing this thing.
06:30Or I'll wait until I retire for a yoga practice.
06:33Yes.
06:34You know what I mean?
06:35It's like if you just, you know, kick the tires now, the car can run for, you know, years and years and years.
06:42So that's why I'm starting to really prioritize my health and my wellness as a practice every single day.
06:48OK, ladies, I want to know how are we taking care of our physical health?
06:52You know, a lot of people have different things that they do.
06:55You know, I'm trying to learn.
06:57Let me know the tips and the tricks and everything else.
07:02Naps are quite literally the best thing that has ever happened to me.
07:07I have been a napper long before I was a parent.
07:10I've been napping like this since I was 18 years old in the dorms at Howard University.
07:14One thing about me, I'm going to sleep.
07:16I've never felt like when I woke up from a nap that it was a bad decision, you know.
07:20And it really does, you know, re-energize me in addition to like other things I do.
07:24I'm trying to eat healthier.
07:25My son gets the best of the best organic this.
07:28And I'm like, you know what?
07:30Why am I only buying that for him?
07:31I don't have to be eating like that.
07:33I deserve a little organic chicken.
07:34You know what I mean?
07:35So I'm starting to incorporate a lot more healthier food choices into my daily physical wellness practice.
07:41Naps are very necessary.
07:43It's mandatory.
07:44And you don't even need a lot.
07:46You can do 15 minutes and it will change your day.
07:49Absolutely.
07:50Just lay it down, you know.
07:52But you've got to make sure that you're taking good care of yourself.
07:55I'm like, I cannot afford to get sick because the Dolls got a lot of travel plans.
08:00Yes.
08:01No one wants to be sick in a beautiful hotel suite looking at the ocean.
08:05I want to be in the ocean.
08:06Okay.
08:07You know.
08:08And you're right.
08:09The weather is changing and the viruses are virusing.
08:12So, I mean, it's really, really, I want you all to consider staying up to date on your vaccines.
08:17I know.
08:18I've been thinking about it.
08:19And I do have a question since you brought that up.
08:21And I'm asking for a friend.
08:22All right.
08:23So between me and you, when I said I was asking the question for a friend, the friend was me.
08:28Okay.
08:29I love that.
08:30Asking for a friend.
08:31So is it recommended that pregnant women, or should I say black pregnant women, get vaccinated?
08:38There are vaccines that are recommended during pregnancy.
08:41But it's really important to talk to your health care team about what vaccines are best for you and your baby.
08:46Some of those vaccines for moms are to protect mom.
08:49And some for mom are to protect the baby.
08:52And so this is important to talk through this with your health care team.
08:55I think about vaccines the same way I think about putting my seatbelt on, locking my door before I go to bed at night.
09:01Yeah.
09:02Can things happen?
09:03Sure, maybe.
09:04But I'm putting an extra layer of protection.
09:07I'm helping protect myself.
09:08You know what I mean?
09:09Helping protect my family.
09:10So if there are vaccines available to me that I know can help protect me and my family, especially because we do like to gather so much,
09:18I'm going to talk to my health care team.
09:21If it works for myself or my son or my wife or even my older parents, we're going to make it happen.
09:29I've been thinking too, because I'm not up to date with COVID.
09:34And then, of course, there's the flu shot as well.
09:37So I was wondering, like, can I just do both shots but on the same day?
09:43Absolutely.
09:44You can do both the COVID-19 vaccine as well as the flu vaccine on the same day at the same visit.
09:51Always talk to your health care team.
09:53Again, it's that time of year.
09:55So make sure you're doing the best that you can to help protect yourself.
09:58You know, at my baby's pediatrician, they do a clinic.
10:02They're like, let's get everybody in.
10:04You go, you go, you go, you go.
10:05And then they also do it for the parents.
10:07They'll have a practitioner there who supports adult patients.
10:12And they're like, baby gets it, so baby can cry for a quick second.
10:16Mom, dad, whoever, partner, you can get your vaccine as well.
10:20I love that.
10:21One-stop shopping.
10:22One-stop shop.
10:23That's the name of the game for everybody.
10:25That's how we maintain that balance, right?
10:27There we go.
10:28And you take a nap after you're done.
10:29All of this is so important for us because you've heard this before, and I almost hate to tout numbers,
10:35but folks who are Black have really been disproportionately affected by vaccine-preventable diseases.
10:41And please know that there is nothing about being Black that makes you more susceptible.
10:47I mean, we've been in our skin all of our lives.
10:51Racism is real, and structural racism is real.
10:54It's a part of the system.
10:55And so these are things that have really made it harder for us to get quality care.
11:01So we have our part.
11:02You make your plan.
11:04We do our own investigations and talk to our health care providers and make sure we get our information from trusted sources.
11:11But it's also—
11:12Can we stop down on that, trusted sources?
11:15Yes, yes.
11:16That means you can't take advice from Cousin Pookie.
11:19Not Cousin Pookie.
11:20Because they've been to a hospital.
11:22Unless Cousin Pookie is a physician.
11:26Yeah, exactly.
11:27But if not, I wouldn't go with Cousin Pookie.
11:30There's the CDC website that has information about vaccination during pregnancy.
11:35They have information about different vaccine-preventable diseases.
11:38So that's a great place to go when you do your research on your own.
11:41But definitely, one more time, I'm going to say it.
11:43Talk to your care team about that because it's critical.
11:46In looking at you, we have someone who looks like us who can talk to us about these things.
11:50That is incredibly important to me in thinking about the people that I have in my health care team.
11:56And just if I want to ask a question or if I see you and I see you talking about something that's so crucial to everyone, but specifically in our community.
12:07And so it's just the work that you do is so vital because of the skin you're in and obviously the big brain you have.
12:15But it is so wonderful to be able to have this conversation with a black woman.
12:20I definitely, definitely appreciate that.
12:23And I just want to empower black women just like me and black women around the world to be able to have these conversations as well.
12:29To advocate and have agency.
12:31We have to advocate for ourselves, right?
12:32That's right.
12:33We have to advocate for our own health.
12:34Because we have power.
12:35Yes, we do.
12:36Yeah, we do.
12:37Yes, indeed.
12:38Have any of you ever kind of felt like you haven't been listened to or had times when you had to advocate for yourself or for your health or for your family's health?
12:44Oh, yeah.
12:45I mean, especially as a black, queer, pregnant person, you know, going into spaces and so being told that maybe what I was feeling wasn't what I was feeling.
12:56And so when it was time for me to pick my OB, I was out in the streets like, where is a black woman?
13:04You know, because I knew that the black maternal mortality rate is so incredibly high in this country and mostly preventable.
13:14And a lot of it is because of, you know, medical apartheid and all these other, you know, things.
13:20And so finding a black healthcare professional to deliver my baby and to keep me safe was of paramount importance.
13:27There's no reason that any black baby should be without their mother if it can be preventable.
13:33And so, you know, advocating for myself is always top priority.
13:37I have a coterie of black female doctors.
13:40Cardiologists, gynecologists, dermatologists, all the ologists.
13:44All the ologists.
13:45All the ologists, baby.
13:47And it really does, it takes so much pressure off of you because, as you mentioned, systemic racism in medicine is a real thing.
13:57And what I found is that I was kind of being kind of patronized before, you know, and I was not necessarily being heard.
14:08And now that I have my coterie of chocolate wonder women that take care of me, it's just made a world of difference.
14:17Wow. I'm so glad to hear that because there is underrepresentation of black people, black physicians and certainly black women, you know, across all those areas.
14:26So excited to hear that. I think we got maybe two new doctors that just came into the world.
14:32I think that's going to be seeing faces like ours, you know, doing that work.
14:37You know, it's really it's it's so important. Yeah, I'll be honest.
14:41One thing that was heavy on my mind when I became pregnant was maternal health.
14:47You know, I suffer from a heart condition.
14:49So all of the advocacy that I could do for myself and my child, it was important to me.
14:55And just knowing that you have a trusted team, as you mentioned, care team that really is sharing the same concerns as you is important.
15:03And, you know, you think about so many things while you're expecting a child, you're preparing your home, you're preparing your body.
15:11Your body is changing, you know, like just rapidly.
15:15And you're dealing with so many emotions and mental health as well.
15:20So, yeah, I've been, you know, been through that.
15:24But it's important, as you mentioned, to just advocate for yourself.
15:28Yeah. I mean, it goes the same with, you know, vaccines. It's like we have seen in history.
15:35You know, we think about Henrietta Lacks and the HeLa code that still lives on today, which is so incredibly important.
15:44But she wasn't able to consent to this very vital work.
15:48And so really making sure that we're talking to our family members and explaining to them and showing them faces like your own.
15:57There are black folks in this space who want other black folks to be as healthy as they can be and as protected as they can be.
16:05And a big way to do that is through vaccines. It's like wearing your seatbelt, locking your door at night.
16:11It's just one extra layer of protection that can keep you a bit healthier.
16:15Nothing's 100 percent, but we can we can really do what we can do to keep ourselves healthy.
16:23Yeah, exactly. One thing I can say about today, you are our chief health officers in your family.
16:30So I can't wait to see how you exercise that role, because I know you'll continue to take care of those ones that you love.
16:36And, you know, all the folks around you, those you know and don't know.
16:40I love that you've deemed us that, but we also have to be making sure that we're taking good care of ourselves.
16:46So before we wrap, I need to know what's one thing that you're going to do this month that's just for you, solely for you.
16:54And I want you all to say it aloud so that we hold each other accountable.
16:58So there's no slacking on this, OK?
17:01So Chris, I'm going to go with you first.
17:03I already know because I got it booked just last week. I'm taking a solo staycation.
17:08No wife, no baby, no dogs, no responsibility.
17:12I love that.
17:13I'm getting a hotel for the night. I'm going to order in. I'm going to watch trashy TV. I'm going to bedrock.
17:18I'm ready. I'm ready.
17:20That's great.
17:21That's my one thing for this month.
17:22OK.
17:23All right.
17:25I'll give you all the tips and tricks.
17:28Whitney, what do you got on your list?
17:30You know, I feel like I could never go wrong with a good massage.
17:34You breathe, you just, you know, just kind of remove the stress, the worry.
17:41So I'm going to commit to that.
17:43OK, Renika.
17:45Mine may not sound fun to other people, but I am going to take some time to immerse myself in some reading.
17:52And not if some of it will be, you know, maybe some fiction, but most of it just to help continue to learn so I can help continue to serve the community.
18:02I'm always pulling between like working and, you know, lots of other things.
18:06But I'm going to take some time to really kind of dig into what's happening now and thinking about what's happening out in the world and in our community, looking at the literature.
18:14And that brings me joy. That brings me joy.
18:16So I'm going to really prioritize doing that without being unfocused.
18:21Well, ladies, I'm going to go back to Zumba.
18:26I love to dance. Movement makes me happy.
18:29And like a nap to me, movement, when you move your body, you can never, ever, ever be like, well, that was a bad idea.
18:36Yes. One of the best things about getting together is that we hold each other accountable.
18:40We have a good time, but we also set intentions.
18:43And please believe we're going to make sure that we all hold true to the promises that we made to not only ourselves, but to each other.
18:51Oh, my gosh. You know what we need now? Some champagne, ladies.
18:56Thank you, Rachel. Right on time.
19:00Oh, wonderful. Thank you.
19:02Oh, and this rosé. Oh, yes.
19:04And you already know I love y'all.
19:07And I just want to see us flourishing and healthy and happy for many more years to come.
19:12Many cheers to that. To us.
19:16You can find and schedule respiratory vaccinations by going to vaxassist.com.