- 2 hours ago
Category
🦄
CreativityTranscript
00:02what up though detroit we are back for the second season of detroit culture shifters and i'm super
00:08excited for this one you probably have heard her name before because she was nominated very recently
00:13so hopefully you watched the last episode but we're talking to a woman who has cultivated her
00:19life to actually give back to people in so many ways not only has she given back in her day
00:24-to-day
00:24job but she's also written a children's book she's given back to her home country
00:29and her family has some insane roots to the city of detroit we're talking to dr lindsay e archer
00:35hi girl hey no first of all i'm just super impressed by you just in general because i've
00:42followed you for a while and i just think that what you do is amazing so first for people who
00:47don't know who you are who is lindsay without the accolades without the title without anything that
00:53you've done who are you oh i love that question the first thing that i would say to describe myself
00:59i'm an old soul i to my core that's i think it bleeds into everything i do i'm just very
01:05i think
01:06deeply rooted is the word um and it bleeds into my passion for music it bleeds into kind of my
01:13passion
01:13for preserving like history and stories i think i'm one of those kinds of people where i i have i
01:20truly
01:22like cherish the very very simple things the very the things that sometimes we overlook right um and
01:29so i think that that's kind of a reflection of who i am as a person um and kind of
01:34what i what i end up
01:35being passionate about and all the other things it bleeds into the accolades and all those other things
01:39first of all your voice is amazing thank you and also it just gives poise like that's what i've always
01:44seen just through like social media is that you have such a grace and poise about you thank you so
01:50based off of what i've witnessed throughout your social media your family has insane roots here yes
01:58what were you listening to what was the vibe in your household so that people can really like dive into
02:04what your family has done for the community yeah so my parents are both from jamaica born and raised
02:11they both came here did not know each other back home um but they came here kind of within years
02:17of each other um while they were in high school so my mom came here in 79 my dad came
02:23here in 81
02:24and so they both went to high school in detroit um so while they were raised in jamaica they also
02:30a
02:30important part of their upbringing was here too in detroit um and i think they're they didn't know each
02:37other then they didn't know each other until much much later um but i think their respective
02:43upbringings in the city kind of shaped how they not only understood their upbringing in jamaica but
02:49understood how they would raise their kids later on um and i think a lot of that had to kind
02:55of shaped
02:56how much they put into my sister and i when it came to giving back and making sure that we
03:01care about
03:01the community um for my dad his path took him to medicine and so he ended up going to medical
03:07school
03:07was the first in his family to go to high school finish high school college medical school um and
03:13then for my mom the first in her family to go to college um and it's it's it's amazing and
03:20i i think
03:21about it as i get older i reflect more on what they've done with their lives um because i know
03:26where
03:27they came from and i've they were they were great in making sure that i grew up seeing where they
03:31came from so that we would go to jamaica every year um and so i saw you know the home
03:36that my mom
03:36was raised in and how little um her community continues to have but imagining what she didn't
03:42have growing up um and how much she really did lay that groundwork for making sure we understood
03:47you know what our role is and being able to to give that pour back into every community we're in
03:53i love that i love that as you said as you get older i feel like we start reflecting on
03:59what our
03:59parents have done and how that's instilled in us so with having these two i would say two different
04:07cultures because i feel like detroit's one way and jamaica's another way so true so how do you feel
04:13like those cultures have shaped you and your identity and how you move through the world yeah i always love
04:19to tell people i am the intersection of what up though and wagwan yeah because it's just jamaica
04:26and detroit are so different but they're actually so similar in a lot of ways they are i think the
04:32most prideful people come from detroit and from jamaica you will know a detroiter no matter where you
04:37are in the world they will let you know and then a jamaican you will know a jamaican without ever
04:42hearing their accent you will know just by usually when people meet me within the first five ten minutes
04:48they're gonna know i'm jamaican so it's like if you don't see it coming if you don't see the colors
04:53you're gonna know in some way and so i think detroit and jamaica have a lot in common in that
04:57way
04:57and i think just growing up with that pride even you know growing up i i went through a lot
05:03in terms
05:04of like bullying in school and things like that but one thing i always could rely on was how much
05:09pride
05:09i had in my culture being both from detroit and being of jamaican background um it was something i
05:15always just felt so much strength from um and i think both communities as i've been able to kind
05:22of you know being here but also going back to jamaica i've been able to see especially when i
05:26focus on like kids being able to see how similar a lot of our kids are across borders um in
05:33my mom's
05:33community of glengough in jamaica versus here in detroit there's a lot of things that kids in both
05:39communities are are struggling with and dealing with um that you wouldn't expect because you would think
05:44that the cultures and the things they face are so different um and of course there's differences
05:48but there's so much that that they have in common as well oh wow i mean as someone who does
05:54travel a
05:55lot i think that that's one of my favorite parts about really being there like i typically don't like
06:01being the tourist like i like going to where the locals are so that i can see the similarities and
06:07i
06:07think that allows you to be more empathetic to what's going on in the world because like you said
06:12you realize that we have similarities we may come from different places and have different stories
06:18but a lot of the things that we do are very similar so you mentioned that your father was the
06:23first in
06:24his family to go to college and to become a doctor was that what inspired you and your journey or
06:29were
06:30you pulled by the same thing but with different reasons yeah i think it's so for my dad he
06:37he he had his own reason for going into medicine and i think i i honestly think that if i
06:43had not
06:44had him as that physical representation in the home of what a doctor can look like i don't know that
06:50i
06:50would have immediately thought it to be an option right um it was you know i was privileged enough to
06:56have that in my house where i could see that um and where you know it wasn't impossible to me
07:02that a
07:03that i could become a doctor too so i think that was it opened the door in that sense um
07:10but as any
07:11kid does you grow up wanting to be like 10 000 things at once and like you're like yeah i'm
07:15gonna
07:15be everything i'm gonna i'm gonna i'm gonna be a doctor and i'm gonna be an olympic sprinter and i'm
07:20gonna be an archaeologist like those are the things i actually wanted to be growing up um and the one
07:26that stuck was becoming a doctor and i think the thing that drew me like continued to stay with me
07:32on that journey was wanting to help people which i think every doctor will tell you but it's more
07:38than that it's the ways in which you're able to help people so my dad has always said that medicine
07:44is his ministry and i didn't get that until i got to medical school and more so now as a
07:50resident
07:50um where i do feel like if i i really couldn't it's hard it's a tough journey but i truly
07:58couldn't
07:58see myself doing anything else or feeling as fulfilled in the way that i do as a doctor um
08:05because i get to work with families i get to work with kids and not only am i addressing all
08:11their
08:11social needs and their medical needs of course but i really get to i feel like the health of a
08:16community depends on the health of the kids and their families so for me it it became something
08:23where i realized particularly as i was finishing college that i really wanted to work with kids
08:28and i think that drew me even more to knowing that no medicine is the right it's the right path
08:34for me
08:35i love that i love that you you spoke about your father saying that it's your ministry because i think
08:40that one of the things my mom really instilled in me was making sure that even though you know there's
08:45going to be some days where you're not going to want to go to work you still have that love
08:49and
08:49passion and drive for it and i feel like in certain ways this is my ministry being able to
08:55talk to people and build community and platform people like yourself and i think that in a similar
09:01manner it's the same way that you're talking about your medical journey and becoming a doctor and
09:06seeing these kids just like light up when you speak to them and also representation as a whole i
09:13i can only imagine how these kids are like oh my gosh like my doctor looks just like me so
09:19you
09:20probably have already spoke about this but what has been the most like fulfilling part of it is it
09:26having these kids and like seeing the success that you've made or what is it for yourself like what
09:31holds you to this journey so that in those you know hard moments you're still like no this is what
09:38i
09:38need to be doing absolutely that's a good question because residency you see everything and you
09:43rotate through everything right so even though for me i know i want to one day i just want to
09:48work in
09:48the clinic i want to be that community doctor for uh families for kids and their families um but as
09:55a
09:55resident you're rotating through everything so you're rotating through the icu you're rotating
09:59through the emergency room um and there are those moments where sometimes you feel disheartened because
10:05not every space is going to feel like your space right you belong in um but when i'm in the
10:11clinic
10:11i know i'm most happy i'm the happiest and also i know that i feel the most fulfilled and part
10:18of that
10:18is just being able to talk to the kids of course but their families um like being able to talk
10:24to parents
10:25who have questions concerns um being able to identify too when a parent is afraid versus defensive
10:35you know um i think a lot of times defensive about certain topics coming up when it comes to
10:41pediatrics um sometimes can be written off as you know they're just oh they're just defensive they're
10:46anti this they're anti that and sometimes it's just fear and they just need someone to have a
10:51conversation with and i think that's where i found my little pocket of joy because i being a black woman
10:59um but also being in medicine i do i know what that means and i know how that what that
11:05represents
11:06for the community and so when i get the chance to talk to families and kind of dispel some of
11:11you know
11:11their their fears and kind of answer their questions comfort them that means everything to me because
11:16now they're leaving my care they're leaving that exam room more informed yeah um and can make better decisions that
11:24at the end of the day
11:24parents and pediatricians we're on the same page we want kids to be safe we want them they're our
11:30priority and sometimes it's just a matter of as doctors making sure that we're making the information
11:37make sense for our communities because it's all of our health it's it's it's we each deserve agency over
11:44that um so i think that's what kind of grounds me and when i have those moments even despite all
11:51the
11:51difficult things it's having knowing the impact as small as it is um of being able to just make sure
11:58that families feel empowered in that way and i i love that you pointed that out because i think one
12:04of
12:04the biggest reasons why when i moved here i was very adamant on having people of color and having
12:10women doctors for everything was because i've had moments where going into a clinic or going into an
12:17er i don't feel that sense of i don't want to say camaraderie but that sense of safety yeah or
12:23the the
12:24education that's needed because you know going into a doctor is already scary you don't know what's
12:29about to happen or what you're about to go through and having someone like yourself being able to
12:34break it down because i mean i didn't go to medical school so i don't know what's happening
12:38but i want to be informed about what's happening to me and i can only imagine if it's my heart
12:42walking outside of my body i would want to also be educated in that way so i love that you're
12:47very
12:47intentional making sure that people not only the kids but their parents are also educated and informed
12:53and you probably are going to use that as this answer but i'm curious what is something that you've
12:59learned throughout this journey that doesn't necessarily have to do with the the medicinal side of
13:03everything like what has been something that's really been like oh i didn't realize that this
13:08was a part of it or something that you've learned about yourself throughout this journey like what
13:12what's something that's really like dawned on you through this process that is another good question
13:17you're just here with all the great questions thank you as as you should um i think one of the
13:23bigger
13:24things that i i knew going into pediatrics that the social aspect of things that affect kids so like the
13:32you
13:32know a lot of kids um have challenges at home or might have different traumas at home um or even
13:40in the school system all these different things i knew that that was something that i would face going
13:45into pediatrics but i didn't realize just how much of a role a pediatrician plays in that um sometimes
13:52you think that it's you know you're working you're just you know just kind of tell the social worker
13:57about it and really it's you're working as a team you're working with social work but also there's
14:03a lot that as a pediatrician you kind of shoulder on your own and it's up to you to advocate
14:08for um
14:10i think that's probably one of the bigger things but also how resilient kids are um i know a lot
14:16of
14:16people say that and a lot of people say how strong kids are and how much they how easily they
14:20bounce
14:21back but they're in my one year of being in residency i have seen so many stories seen so many
14:28kids
14:29and the things the things that they faced but still have this just essence of just like joy
14:36um or this essence of still having hope is something that has taught me a lot as i keep going
14:43on my own
14:44journey um and i think that was something that i was aware of but i wasn't i wasn't i wasn't
14:52aware
14:52of just how real it was until i saw it for myself um with working with different kids even thinking
14:57of
14:58ourselves as younger kids like the things that we've probably gone through and things that we
15:03probably don't even think about to this day that has been instilled in us i mean i've watched my nieces
15:08and nephews bounce back from moments that i don't even think personally i could have bounced back from
15:13kids are truly resilient and they they learn and absorb so much and i think that a lot of times
15:20when people are like children need to stay in a child's place sometimes they don't get that option
15:24and i think that when you allow yourself to remember that these are just little humans
15:30learning the world like we are it allows you to be a little bit more understanding and sensitive to
15:36what they may also be going through so what do you do when these kids first come into your room
15:42or
15:42come into your presence because i mean they're probably just as nervous as the parents are so
15:48what do you do because i feel like there's probably some people in their medical journey
15:51right now who's in med school trying to figure out how to get to where you are in your residency
15:55so what steps do you take to kind of like break that barrier yeah i think the biggest thing i
16:02think
16:02and it sounds so simple but a smile that is the biggest thing i think um i'll say even when
16:09we're in
16:10clinic there can be a lot going on like you know you can have a lot of different patients and
16:15back
16:15to back to back and you don't may not have time in between to kind of just like breathe before
16:20you go
16:20and see the next um but i think slowing down at least mentally and reminding yourself that when you
16:27knock on that door and you walk in don't bring whatever you just were seeing or whatever you were
16:34handling just a few seconds before don't bring that into the room take a few seconds and mentally
16:41at least knock on that door and go in with this you know with a certain demeanor and for me
16:46it always
16:47starts with a smile and i'm always oh hi i'm dr archer nice to meet you but what is this
16:51so and so and
16:52and it starts off that way just so that it's you know it's scary i remember what it was like
16:57to walk
16:58into my pediatrician's office it was like the hallway of shame like you're just afraid of am
17:03i gonna get shots today am i gonna like what it what's gonna happen today um and i think it
17:09all
17:09starts with that is just a smile and just being pleasant and it's hard because we're also humans
17:15too and you know you're going through things and just life we're humans at the end of the day but
17:21i think
17:21for the kids at least it's helpful to be to bring that joy so they it kind of dispels some
17:28fear um
17:29and if i if they if the kid is not getting shots that day i will let them know from
17:33the very beginning
17:33you're not getting any shots today that way they're not sitting there the whole visit wondering if
17:39they're gonna get a shot today because i remember what that was like exactly exactly like you're going
17:43through that room and it's already so like yeah traumatizing you don't know what's going on you're
17:48hearing beeping sterilization everywhere you're like overwhelmed so i can imagine having that
17:54soothing aura come in and be like no it's everything's fine yep hi yep i'm here for you i think
18:00that's amazing and on top of the fact that you're an amazing medical doctor and you're killing your
18:06residency from what i'm seeing you've also founded a non-profit like girl how do you have the time and
18:12the energy in the day in your month in your year to create a non-profit that not only is
18:20affecting
18:21people here but affecting people in your home country with root strong like how do you what do
18:26you do girl how do you compare mentalize how do you get all of this done it it's hard and
18:30i think i had
18:30to learn how to compartmentalize when i started med school because i thought i could do it all together
18:35all at once and it was going to be great and easy and i learned very quickly with med school
18:39that no you
18:40have to you have to you have to take a take a beat sometimes but i founded root strong actually
18:47fresh
18:47out of high school so it's now 11 years old this year congratulations thank you yeah so i i graduated
18:552015 i started it the summer just before starting college um and i think the big reason why i did
19:03was
19:04a lot of it i always go back to my parents um i'll say my mom in particular she really
19:11raised my sister
19:12and i to like she she raised us to really have a love for reading um when we were growing
19:18up you
19:19know we might go to the store we might go and like like any kid like want to get a
19:24toy or buy this or buy
19:25that you'll point at everything and ask if you can get it just see what will stick and of course
19:30you know
19:31as in typical mom fashion you don't be like no we're not doing that today but a book my mom
19:36would
19:36never turn us down for a book my dad would never turn us down for a book um and i
19:41think a lot of
19:41that came from the fact that for my mom especially she was raised in a very rural area um very
19:46removed
19:47not very removed but a good 45 minute drive from from the capital of jamaica kingston um and so
19:54there weren't any libraries there weren't you know there just wasn't access to books um and so what
20:01books she would get would be from what my grandmother um would be able to bring back from here in
20:07detroit
20:08um would be able to bring back to her um in jamaica so i think for my mom growing up
20:15and then coming to
20:16america and you know becoming an adult and trying to you know get different jobs and things like that she
20:23realized just how much she did not have growing up um and also realized the importance in the the
20:31the you know just how important reading is in anything and so she always raised my sister and i to
20:37know that you know math and science are great they're that's important but if you can't read and write
20:43that is the foundation of everything um and so that was instilled in us at a very young age and
20:49so
20:50as 2015 rolls around um and you know i'm now visiting jamaica every year with my parents but i'm also
20:58seeing that some of the same things and stories i grew up hearing my mom talk about her not having
21:02in her community i'm seeing it um and so i'm going back to glengough in jamaica um and i'm seeing
21:09that
21:09a lot of the kids still don't have access to a library don't have access to books and the closest
21:15one
21:16is still 45 minutes away um and so seeing that and also seeing that reflected here in the city where
21:23a lot of kids don't feel excited about reading and it's understandable school doesn't always make it
21:28exciting um but also knowing that we've had a literacy crisis for a long time that was kind of
21:34what kind of pushed me to want to start an organization that focused specifically on youth literacy
21:41um and so it it started off as a few things we started off you know with hurricane relief drives
21:48and things like that um in 2017 that was one of our first projects and then 2019 we built a
21:56library
21:56two libraries and a computer lab in glengough so we finally brought a library and computer lab to
22:02my mom's community um and that was a community-led project so here in detroit we've done little free
22:10libraries we've done you know getting books out to kids um so it's kind of it's always books are
22:16important to me even now and i credit that all to my mom um but i want kids to also
22:22have that joy for
22:23reading too i love that i think that's why i'm such a big reader and why i'm so passionate when
22:29i see a
22:29kid going to a little library i'm like oh my gosh you guys like reading i love it because your
22:35mom is
22:35very similar to my mom my mom was not down with buying me everything my heart desired but when it
22:40came to a book it was cool i would always have like two to three books in my hand at
22:45all times and i'm
22:45still the same way to this day and i think not only being able to just learn different things because
22:53obviously there's different cultures different experiences and books but also to see that the world is
22:58faster than what you think i mean especially growing up you think that your community your
23:03life is so insular like every this is it and i think reading and getting to open a book up
23:10allows
23:10you to think bigger and dream bigger and see bigger do you think and maybe i'm you can't speak for
23:17your
23:17mother but instead of asking you what's the most fulfilling thing because i can i can imagine that
23:22bringing the library and computer lab was probably a fulfilling moment for you but what do you think
23:29your mom feels like when she's watching her flesh and blood change something that she's grown up and
23:38didn't even realize could possibly even change watching you make these changes and bring something
23:44that wasn't there to her community like have you guys had that conversation like do you know how that
23:50has affected her i've never thought of that actually i've never thought of it in that way
23:55um i really can't imagine what what might be going through her mind i think i think she
24:03i want to believe that in some way she recognizes her own role in all of that and knowing that
24:10okay they
24:11like they they listened they heard me all those stories i would bore them with they thought i thought i
24:17was
24:17boring them with they were listening um and she's been involved every step of the way so i i i
24:24want to
24:24believe that she's proud of that and that she feels that she's done a good i would hope that she
24:31knows
24:31that she's done a good job in in instilling the right things um because i i i wouldn't have that
24:39awareness and i wouldn't have that heart for it if i didn't see her model it first right um and
24:45i
24:45wouldn't i wouldn't be able to see the differences or the similarities between knowing that my
24:51community is not just locally it's also globally um knowing that i'm rooted as much as i'm rooted here
24:57i'm rooted there um and without that story without that heritage without that community i wouldn't be
25:04here i if if she wasn't born and raised in that country community i wouldn't be here if she didn't
25:10have those stories if she didn't have that upbringing um i wouldn't have i don't think i
25:15would have the outlook on life that i do have um and she passed that down to me so i
25:20think that i would
25:22hope that she's proud of herself really because it's all credit to her i wouldn't have that awareness if
25:27it wasn't for her i love that you said that your community isn't local it's globally and i feel like
25:33if
25:33so many more people had that mindset the the world would be in a very very different spot than it
25:39is
25:40what do you see next for root strong is there any way that we can support like is there a
25:48donation link
25:49like what what can the community do for you because you're already pouring into the community and now it
25:53feels like the community needs to give back to you as well so what's next like how can we help
25:58you
25:59create you know the next journey of root strong yeah so for root strong i feel like what we're
26:05working on now is we're still continuing with the um hurricane relief that we that i'm so grateful
26:10that you guys were so kind and just spotlighting um but we're still continuing with that really um
26:17hurricane melissa hit the island last year uh in the fall and the country's coming back it's it's
26:23coming back which is nice um but there's still a lot that needs to be done um and so one
26:29of the big
26:29things that we're planning to do is build another library um and so we're right now trying to find
26:36a community that needs it most um where you know it would be most beneficial um but we want to
26:43create
26:43a standalone library that is accessible to kids there um and filled with all kinds of books that that not
26:50only reflect them but also reflect the world and like you mentioned books truly do open your mind
26:56to world the worlds around you so um making sure that they're stocked with all kinds of books um so
27:02the best way to kind of support root strong one we are always collecting books always i am i'm literally
27:10always the person just if you if you have books in your closet in your basement that you no longer
27:15want
27:16um or if you have kids who no longer read you know books that they had as as little ones
27:21we're always
27:22open to accepting them um and being able to give them to give them new life to to new kids
27:29in different
27:29communities um so you can always donate books um you can always just reach out to us either through email
27:35um which is contact at rootstrong.org um or on our instagram and then in terms of monetary donations our
27:44our
27:44website is a good place to go um if if that's something that people want to do but rootstrong.org
27:50um is is the way to go for that i just love how you have created this this beautiful life
27:58for yourself
27:59but not also but not only for yourself but for the people around you i think like you said your
28:04parents
28:05have raised you and your sister to be whole people to have huge hearts and it's amazing to watch the
28:12progress obviously i'm a outside bystander but watching what you've done and how you move through
28:18the world and how you empower people is truly amazing i mean we just had jaron here and he spoke
28:23nothing but uplifting praise about you so it's just beautiful to see when you truly step out on faith
28:31and truly move in the world with your love and passion what that starts to do for the world so
28:37on top of
28:38the fact that you're an amazing doctor you've got this amazing non-profit now you're writing books
28:44like what can't you do lindsay what the heck so tell me like was it root strong that brought you
28:50to be
28:51like okay well no i think i can write a book now or like what was that process before you
28:56sat down and
28:57wrote fly dr fly yeah so that came from i i'm now that i'm like talking to you about all
29:03of this i'm
29:04realizing root strong in a lot of ways is a tribute to my mom and then fly dr fly is
29:09a lot of in a lot
29:10of ways a tribute to my dad um when i got to college i it was a culture shock in
29:16a lot of ways because
29:16once i started pre-med classes um in order to get into medical school it was it was a it
29:24was a bit of a
29:24shock um and i was maybe one of maybe five black students in a sea of 300 in a lecture
29:32hall right um
29:34and as i would go on from freshman year all the way to senior year you kind of sometimes you
29:39see that
29:39number go down um and it in a lot of ways was isolating um and so i think i remember
29:46kind of
29:47thinking i must have been either a sophomore or junior in college but i remember thinking i really
29:53don't want kids to feel this way i really would love if there was a book that would kind of
29:59show
30:00black and brown kids that this is something that they can do and become and pursue i had that in
30:06the home and if i didn't i don't know that i would be a doctor or maybe i would have
30:11realized that dream
30:12a little bit later on in life um but i thought it was really important for kids to see that
30:18early on
30:18so that by the time they get to high school maybe it's a thought in their mind that they want
30:23to be
30:23a doctor um and maybe they start pursuing that throughout college um so i was an african american
30:29studies major in college and a pre-med student so i combining my two passions i think i remember kind
30:36of on a it was during spring break one year and i just wrote down this story um pulled up
30:43like google
30:44docs or something and just like to write write down wrote down this story and it was loosely based
30:49off of a story that my dad had told me because my dad is a very anecdotal man he loves
30:54to tell a good
30:54story and he will tell you in 1975 this happened and i'm like all right i think i remember what
31:00happens
31:00in 1975. um but he always would tell me the story of how he kind of got drawn to medicine
31:07as a kid in
31:08jamaica and it involved a bird and the national bird of jamaica just so happens to be called the
31:15doctor bird um and it's a hummingbird which is my favorite um and so i kind of combined his story
31:22but
31:23also brought in a bit of the cultural aspect of jamaica with using the doctor bird um to kind of
31:29tell
31:29the story to hopefully inspire kids to dream big most most importantly whether it's to become a doctor or
31:37anything else um but also to know that if this is something you want to do it is possible um
31:44and
31:44you can that dream can start from anywhere even if it's helping an injured bird or something um as
31:50it is in the story so that's where that came from i wrote the draft that was around 2016 and
31:57then it
31:57wasn't until the pandemic so 2020 that i actually sat down and said let me actually put it together
32:05um and it became a book and i published self-published it that year so yeah it's six years
32:10into the world which is crazy to me what can't you do like i'm just i'm truly impressed just by
32:15how you
32:16move and like the fact that you're just like i don't want other people to feel the way that i
32:20feel
32:21so let me do something about it and i think that if more people were just like let me do
32:27something about
32:27it there would be just so much more like empowerment in the world and just allowing
32:34people to have access to things is just so amazing and seeing a lack of it and being like you
32:39know i
32:39don't want this to continue just i don't know shout out to your parents shout out to you like i
32:45don't
32:45know what has been instilled in you but i'm i'm truly floored and impressed so when you put this out
32:53what has been the reception like have you witnessed kids like buying your book and being like oh my god
32:57like how does that feel like i mean it's in the howard family bookstore so it's like right here
33:03accessible and juwan was explaining his story and how that built so the fact that your book and now
33:08hearing your story it just makes sense why you know the the collaboration of the sorts is there but
33:15how do you feel having like a tangible thing out in the world and seeing it like have its own
33:21life
33:21like what are you thinking it even though it's been six years it every time i see a kid like
33:27if a
33:28parent shares a picture with me or i it could be anything really if i just see someone with the
33:34book
33:34um it baby it just surprises me every time nothing nothing ceases to surprise me nowadays like i and i
33:41don't think it ever will stop um i will see kids i've had the book now go to ghana i've
33:49had the book now go to
33:50so so many different states and i remember when i first put the book out i would print out this
33:55like
33:56drawing of the united states and i would color in each state that it would travel to
33:59um and that's how much it meant to me just knowing that the book was going to these places i've
34:05never
34:05been to um and so it it floors me every time and i think juwan's store so the howard family
34:14bookstore was
34:14the first store that just so openly just said yeah let's put it on the shelves and just being so
34:20open
34:20to local authors and so seeing it even there and knowing the story of the bookstore there
34:26um and seeing it even in its development it's i'm just so proud of the bookstore um and of him
34:33but also
34:34just amazed anytime i even see my my book there because i i can i i see i see people
34:41looking at it and
34:42they're like okay then they pick it up and i'm like oh it really is something that people are interested
34:48in um i know a few months ago i learned that the book is in sean paul's house it being
34:56read to his
34:56kids and that blew my mind and and his wife was talking about how she bought it at a store
35:02in jamaica
35:03and so the all it surprises me every single time but it it humbles me every single time it does
35:10not
35:10nothing nothing is like oh i knew that no never never never never i am always floored every single
35:18time that's so incredible i i know that you mentioned like your parents i hope that they're
35:23proud of what they've done but i hope you're proud of yourself and i hope that you have taken time
35:27to
35:28really be like wow everything that like has been in my heart and i've moved forward with it has
35:35come to fruition and things that you didn't even dream of have happened like i truly hope that you
35:41have so much pride within yourself and like so much grace for yourself for things that may not have
35:47come to fruition in the way that you saw like what you have done and who you are inspiring the
35:52rooms
35:52that you have been in without like you actually being in them i really hope that you have sat with
35:57that because the legacy and the impact that you are creating is gonna be unmatched i know it thank you
36:04so much you're welcome and looking forward what impact do you hope happens here or in jamaica or just
36:09globally through not only your work but work in medicine and literacy and advocacy and education like
36:15what do you hope to see in the world yeah i want to see more empathy but not just stopping
36:24there i
36:24really want it to be more than just a feeling i want it to be something that people act on
36:29um because
36:30i think there's a lot in the world right now that we forget our empathy sometimes um and i think
36:38it
36:38the lack of it sometimes informs how we treat each other um and if that if that could be the
36:45basis of
36:45everything and how we kind of lead our lives i think that would change so much um just making
36:51sure that we just just be kind just be kind i have a pin on my like i used to
36:56wear it on my badge but it
36:58says kindness matters just to remind like it's such a simple and cliche thing to say but it's so true
37:04um and i think that if we were to act on it more i think that would change a lot
37:08um but i also kind of
37:10thinking of like just in general um i hope more kids read more books more just more people in
37:16general read more books i think i always tell people that um fiction is probably one of my favorite
37:22genres if not my favorite genre because of the fact that yes i think we lean towards non-fiction and
37:28the
37:28self-help and all these things to teach us about you know how we can better ourselves but i actually
37:34think fiction does that in ways that non-fiction can't in that it allows you to step into the shoes
37:40of someone else whose story is not your own and because of that you're processing the experiences
37:47of that character yeah you're processing the interactions they're having with different with
37:52other characters and it's not something that's your story so you're able to remove yourself from it in
37:57a in a bit of a sense yeah but you're able to explore those different emotions and those different
38:03ideas um just by reading and you can leave the book being completely different at least in a little bit
38:12in a little way than you were starting it um and so going back to empathy i think that more
38:18reading
38:19would help too in just helping us to be more empathetic but then making the conscious effort to act on
38:26it
38:26i love that i and i wholeheartedly agree with what you say um when people mention that fiction
38:33isn't really reading it floors me because i'm like what do you mean granted i don't like this author
38:40but growing up harry potter was my world yeah and i wasn't just there because of you know the fantasy
38:48of
38:48it all watching what harry has to overcome and then seeing little pieces of myself in each character
38:55seeing how he's moved through the world how his empathy is with all of the things that he's gone
39:01through watching incredible teachers teach him and realizing oh my gosh i have teachers that aren't
39:07just my teachers like i have my mom and i have my uncles and i have this random person who
39:12talked to
39:12me at the grocery store like it was i was able to learn these very tough lessons without realizing i
39:20was
39:21learning the tough lessons and especially as a kid i don't want to say tricking kids but that's just
39:27the best word that i can think of but tricking them into learning without realizing that they're
39:32learning is probably one of the best things that my mom did i mean learning my multiplication tables i
39:37learned it to hip-hop music oh nice and like to this day i can spit off multiplication tables because
39:44she taught it to me in a way that it didn't feel like learning and that's why i feel like
39:48with
39:49reading i really hope that people just crack open a book whether it's a comic book whether it's a
39:54newspaper of some sort or whatever mode of reading you need it should be however you can take that
40:03message because i mean there's amazing authors who are writing glorious books with huge messages that you
40:09even realize are happening so i truly agree with what you're saying and speaking of being empathetic
40:16that's the reason why i created this platform and why i wanted to move into something bigger because i
40:22felt as though coming to this city i saw so much heart and so much grit and so much passion
40:27and there
40:28were people that weren't getting acknowledged and recognized for what they do i mean we have amazing
40:33politicians and amazing leaders who are constantly on our televisions on our airways daily but there are
40:39people just like yourself who are moving in this world with beautiful intention that may not get
40:44the same recognition and that's why i created this so now that you are officially a detroit culture
40:50shifter who do you feel like is moving the culture forward whether they're doing something tangible or
40:55something small that you feel as though deserves to be recognized today yeah i wanted to nominate
41:01chanel adams she is a teacher she is an amazing teacher at that she is the founder of a non
41:09-profit
41:09called progressionista which is a non-profit that's focused also on literacy but she's been doing work for
41:19such a long time and it specifically is for young girls so girls between the ages i want to say
41:26between
41:26eight and twelve maybe um but it's a book club and it gets these girls it's it's the most revolutionary
41:33book club
41:34that i think i've ever seen in the sense that she introduces reading to girls in a way that is
41:40exciting
41:41by hosting these book club sessions um that they read a book and it might be on you know a
41:50food truck owner
41:51um a fictional story about a food truck or an owner and what she'll do is she'll actually find a
41:57woman
41:57or someone in the community um who reflects that story and the girls can actually meet them and talk
42:04to them and she puts so much intention into every single session um into the books that she finds she
42:10puts me onto books all the time and i'm like i've would have never guessed i never would have never
42:14known
42:15about that book um but she she i think her being a teacher pours into just how she how she
42:23cares for
42:25the kids in our community um in a way that i i've always believed it deserves more attention um and
42:32she's just so humble about everything she's done she's done it for years and years i want to say
42:36probably more than 12 years at this point um but she's she's phenomenal she's a phenomenal person she's
42:43from the city born and raised um and she's very proud of that um but she's also a friend and
42:48i
42:48i'm really proud of her and i think she deserves her flowers for sure well chanel i'll be talking to
42:53you soon girl but thank you so much for being here let everyone know where to find you where to
42:58find
42:59rootstrong or any other platforms that you want to highlight yes um so you can find me i'm most active
43:04on instagram on instagram instagram and tick tock it's the same username lindsay l-y-n-d-s-a-y
43:10dot
43:11archer um and then rootstrong rootstrong is um r-o-o-t-s-s-t-r-o-n-g and
43:19that's on instagram
43:21but those are kind of the platforms that i'm on and from there you can find all the other things
43:25i'm
43:25interested in my vinyl page all those other stuff because i didn't even highlight the vinyl page but
43:30baby that's how i found you so i know that we have a love similar to that but i just
43:35want to say
43:35thank you for everything that you've done everything that you will continue to do i hope that you know
43:40that you are always welcome to come back here anytime any day any hour i think that you are an
43:45incredible woman shout out to your family for cultivating a true icon in her own right and i
43:52i'm truly impressed and i cannot wait to see what else you do thank you so much i appreciate you
43:57even
43:57just having me here and just all these intentional questions just i appreciate it having the time
Comments