Overcoming with Kesha Lenoir-Fairman

Welcome, welcome, welcome, honey bunny. I met Keisha a bunch of months ago and was just in awe over her story. So I'm gonna kind of turn it over to you and give you a few minutes, and then we'll dive into some tips and advice and questions and whatnot. But I think people need to hear it because it's an amazing overcoming and why wait story. Okay, okay. Go for it.

So where do you want me to start?

Well, obviously, you know, this diagnosis, what did that do to you?

For one thing, it, um, I was terrified. I was misdiagnosed for about 2 and a half, 3 years. So I went from doctor to doctor, Western medicine, Eastern medicine, I did acupuncture, I did all of these things, and I was getting the story, you know, you're a woman, you've gained weight, You know, you just kind of need to accept it. Then I had a couple of doctors kind of get really upset with me because once I couldn't find out what was wrong, I went on a journey and a search for myself to find out what was causing me to have the issues that I was having. Right. I was told take birth control. I didn't want to do that. I didn't want to put a band-aid on the problem. So I was working out at a gym, which is one of our sponsors on the show, UFC Gym. And I'm—

You're in Baton Rouge?

Yes. And so I decided I was going to create this show called Why Wait. It kind of happened organically. I was in a store and ran into an old friend and her mom. They greeted me very nice, and then they walked away, and I remembered I wanted to say something to them. So I went around the corner, and they were talking about me so bad. I gained like 100, over 100 pounds in the process. So I went from a marathon runner, former Miss Baton Rouge, to literally I did not know who I was. My skin was a different color. I, again, 100, over 100 pounds. When I had my brain surgery, I weighed 283 pounds. And so I heard them talking and I remember going in my car. I sat in my car for about an hour and just cried and didn't want to leave my house. I already had a struggle with leaving the house because I didn't know what was wrong. I didn't know why my body was attacking me and nobody could give me answers, which is a very scary place to be. And I'm a mom.

Yeah.

And I'm a wife. And so I had to—

the whole time, how old was your child?

My baby daughter was 2, and I have a 24-year-old, she was 22. Okay. And so all of these things happened after I had my last baby, Ryan, a baby girl who was perfectly healthy, you know, once I had her.

Nice.

Yes, yes, but it caused all kinds of issues internally. So after I sat in my car for an hour and kind of cried my eyes out and cussed and called I said bitch a lot. I decided, you know, I want people to understand that there's a problem here. I want people to know why I have this weight. I'm not just sitting eating Twinkies. Something is wrong. So that's when I started the journey to create the show.

Sweet.

I knew that I didn't want it to just be about me and female issues because then we kind of missed the mark. My biggest thing was when I met with men doctors, They typically kind of, not all of them, but I was treated like you're a woman, this is what happens. So I wanted to make sure the show reached all demographics, including men. So I went on a quest to find 5 participants that have medical issues that cause them to have weight problems. Not just lady issues, not just issues as a girl, or a little girl, but even men have medical issues.

Absolutely, absolutely.

So after being diagnosed with PCOS, I went to Pennington Biomedical Center in Baton Rouge. I thought that would be a great place to start because they kind of COVID all things health and wellness when it comes to research. Walked in, funny, because that day that I walked in, the director over the program that was researching PCOS was like, "That is crazy, we just got approved for a grant today," the day that I walked in.

So everything happens for a reason, people.

Yes, yes, yes. So along the way, I learned to pay attention to those signs that let me know I was on the right path, right? Because when you are in your purpose, a lot of times So many things come against you to make you question yourself, but if you pay attention, you get those little signs and signals that say, "Keep going, you're on the right track." And that's exactly what happened.

So, and I think we need to sit with that for just a minute because I think what she just said is really important. A lot of us just rush through life and we ignore these little kind of, I call them God speaking moments. They are. And whether or not you believe in God doesn't matter, but there, you know, there's something within you that you know you're doing the right thing. Or you know you're about to do the wrong thing and call it gut, call it intuition, call it God speaking moments, call it whatever you want, you need to stop, at least pause if you don't want to stop, pause and just pay attention to it and just tell, you know, figure out what it might be telling you and then you can decide from there. I think that's critical, absolutely critical.

Well, that was the biggest part for me because you have to understand I had a baby. I was very unwell. I couldn't fit my clothes. I couldn't fit my shoes. There were days that I would wake up and be so swollen that I really couldn't look in the mirror because I didn't know who I was. So I covered the mirrors eventually. For 2 years, no pictures, no mirrors, no nothing. And so left Pennington that day and went to the gym and was happening to be talking to a friend of mine at the gym and said, you know, I'm producing this show, and she recommended a doctor in Baton Rouge. I had been to all these doctors, went to Dr. Bradley Neek, and he specializes in metabolic issues. So immediately he looked at me and said something is way off and it has absolutely nothing to do with the calories you're taking.

Right, right, right.

Which made me feel like I was—

And who is he with?

He's with Our Lady of the Lake Hospital.

Our Lady of the Lake, just shoutouts here people.

Yes, shoutout.

We have to shoutout to those and honor those that are helping our cultures.

If it were not for Dr. Bradley Neek, I can tell you that I probably still would have been on a search. Oh wow. Yeah, so I go see him, I'm talking to him about the show, so again, those God speaking moments. Had I not been in this position to create the show, I would have never met Dr. Luke, who would have then put me where I needed to be. So I go talk to him and immediately he did a hormone panel, a full panel. The next day, which was kind of odd to me, I went to get my MRI. The following day, I met with Dr. Clinic. Um, sat down with him. In a matter of 5 minutes, I was told, you have a 2.77-centimeter tumor, you have type 2 diabetes, hyperthyroidism, um, we need to check you for Cushing's, we need to check you for adrenal insufficiency, you have sleep apnea, but we have to do a sleep test. So it was like, I literally was just like—

It's amazing you're walking!

So I didn't know—

Overwhelmed.

Very overwhelmed. Very overwhelmed. But he did it in such a way that I was able to kind of process it a little bit, right? Um, made an appointment with the neurosurgeon the next day, sat down with the neurosurgeon. That's when it got really real. Um, he immediately started to explain if I didn't have the surgery immediately, I was gonna go blind. I had never had any issues with my sight, nothing, no headaches, no nothing. The only reason we knew that something was wrong was because I was lactating. So again, listening to your body, right? Stopped I stopped breastfeeding my daughter almost a year earlier.

Earlier.

Wow. So there was no reason for me to be lactating. Yeah. So scheduled the surgery. It was supposed to happen the next month because remember he said I had to have it or I was gonna go blind. Right. Yeah, so then we scheduled the surgery and the next month, the day before my surgery, I got a phone call saying my surgery was canceled. Mentally prepared, the whole nine yards, and then I felt like the rug was It was painful.

So before you get to that milestone, because a lot of people out there struggle with just a small little dose of challenges in their life of which they have to figure out how to push their way through.

Right, right.

So you said that you were very overwhelmed, and who wouldn't be when they're throwing all these symptoms or all these things at you? So what did you do to even get your mind on straight, as you said, in preparation for that? For that surgery. I mean, how did you even do that and take those steps to do that?

Well, it goes back to faith. So, um, I knew that there was no way— I, in my mind, I had decided that there was no way this was going to be the end of my story. So every single day I woke up, I said the same thing: I'm happy, I'm healthy, I'm whole. Or I said, I'm new, I'm renewed. Every day there was something positive, no matter how sad.

Affirmation that you just repeated in your every single day.

Even when I went to my doctor's appointment, before I walked in, I would always say, whatever I learned today will help me figure out what to do tomorrow, right? And that's just kind of how I dealt with it. Don't get me wrong, I was completely stressed out. I mean, I have a baby. I, I was terrified. Again, I had started to tell my husband he couldn't leave the house without waking me up because I was afraid I was going to die in my sleep and my baby would find me. Um, so it was, it was one of those things that I really had to get in another space. It's hard to explain because—

well, would you— can we explain it in such a way? Because the one thing I loved about your brand was not only the kind of the play on words, Why Wait, but also because for, for our community, we really emphasize a lot on the why. If you know why, why you want something and why your purpose is what it is and why you are willing to work so hard and sacrifice and and compromise, if you really know what that core soul-ridden why is, then you're willing to deal with the fears and the insecurities, all the bitches that we talk about. Would you say that your why— wait, that why for you was not only your faith, but your children, your husband, you're just wanting to live and not just kind of throw the towel in.

No, no. I knew that I— I was going to live. And again, those little God whispers, because I was going to film my surgery. I felt like there has to be something out there, or I'm going to create that thing that I needed. Right. Because I was looking everywhere. I watched every show possible. And you couldn't find it. And I couldn't find it. And all I wanted to do was to show someone else that was suffering like I was suffering, it's okay, and this happens, but here's what happens along the way. Yeah. And so I did. I found my why, and Why Wait truly was my why, because those times that I got really down, I would channel it and put it into how can I package this so that I can help someone, right? And that kind of became my purpose, that I felt like I was saved so that I could tell my story, and not just my story, but the story of the other participants that are going to be on the show, so that those people who are out there suffering, maybe there's something that they can identify with that'll It's like, okay, if Keisha was able to do this, I can do it. And you're right.

And not only about being ill. I mean, what I think is very transformative about your story is whether our junk, whether our bitches, whether our stuff is financial or just relationships and being able to connect or just struggling at work and really finding your purpose, you can use Keisha's story to even tap into how you can relate to how she's been willing to push through all of her pain and hurt and fear. Because God, I mean, you know, knock on wood, I've never had to even consider surgery or any ailments, let alone just pile on. Keep piling on, God. You know, you're testing me is what I would have been saying all damn time.

I was calling myself Job at one moment. I was like, okay God, because you mentioned financially, this became a huge financial burden.

Oh, I can imagine.

Because of the insurance. Sure. And I was fortunate enough that God made a way because my surgery was canceled because they said it was pre-existing. And so the day after they canceled my surgery—

God rose insurance.

That's right. And said it was pre-existing, the Affordable Care Act was passed. So Blue Cross Blue Shield actually helped me shout out Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana.

That's good to know because I just got Blue Cross Blue Shield.

Me too!

This is the first time I'm, you know, well actually I used them a while back, but go ahead.

Yes, so the representative from Blue Cross was just so helpful and was like, listen, go back to your rep, there was just a law passed that there are no pre-existing, so I was able to get another policy written that would allow me to have my surgery. So here's where my faith really really stepped in and God really whispered. We rescheduled my surgery for January, so I went through all of Christmas thinking, I'm gonna go blind, this is the day, this is the day that it's gonna happen. Schedule the surgery, day before the surgery, wanna guess what happened?

It got canceled again.

It got canceled again. Mercy!

Mercy!

Yes, yes, and at this point, the hospital that I was dealing with, which I won't say their name, was like, well, if you can bring us $20,000 cash, we'll do the surgery.

Yeah, what's up with that? Yeah, yeah, what's up with that, hospitals?

Yeah, it was, it was horrible because I had to process this whole brain surgery. It wasn't like I was going in because my finger, right, right, right, so that in itself was huge, um, but on top of that, um, it put me in a place where I had to search again, and I kind of sucked it up that day because I have two I have a husband. My mom was, I mean, the look on her face made me want to fight even more. So that's where Facebook, shout out Facebook, I was a part of this group called the Pituitary Network and I contacted them and I mean, I was bawling. I'd been talking to them about the show, so everything leads back to YMYTV. Absolutely. And spoke with the rep there and told her I'm terrified, don't want to have my surgery in Louisiana helped me. She sent me to 3 places in Houston, Texas. I called all 3 of them, all 3 of them told me, "No, we are completely booked, we can't help you." I hung up the phone, ah, mercy, and I just talked to God and I was like, "I don't know what this is about, but you gotta help me." Within an hour, got a call back from Baylor College, shout out Baylor!

We're changing the title of this program to shout out!

That's right! Well, there were so many people that played such an important part.

No, hey, go for it!

And met, I talked with Dr. Yosher, who does, he specializes in pituitary tumors, and we set up a time for me to come within 4 days of me speaking with him. Went to Houston, met with their entire team, and here's one thing that I really want to focus on the show. Do you realize I was gonna have brain surgery and I've never seen that MRI? Never seen it. Didn't even think to ask. I just trusted my doctor.

Right, right, right, right. Well, you would hope that you could trust them, but at the At the same time, you need to have all that information.

Right, and that's what I learned. The doctors there explained to me, I don't care what someone tells you, always ask, always look, because that's the only way you'll know. And I learned a lot, so that helped me kind of mold Why Wait into something that wasn't just about the numbers on the scale, about, you know, this person is unhealthy and this is their journey, but it was about how do I give people tools that they can take away from watching what it is that we're doing and implement those things in their lives.

Sure, sure.

And just asking questions from the inboxes that I get and people sending me emails about, you know, I'm so happy you mentioned PCOS because I asked my doctor this, this, this. Those things are so important. Sometimes we kind of look at our doctors as God.

Right, right. Or our bosses or our teachers or our best friends. And we need to, you know, be responsible to challenge even the the most respected individuals, because it's your life.

It is, ultimately.

It's your life, it's your goal achievement, it's your success or failure, and if you aren't willing to kind of, you know, take ownership of it and accountability for it, then don't be surprised if things don't go the way you want them to.

That's right.

Right?

So, in conclusion to that part of the story, I had my brain surgery there. It an amazing team because, you know, those surgeries are 3 parts. So you have ear, nose, and throat and endocrinologist. And a lot of women have never went to an endocrinologist, but that's who specializes in hormones, right? And the tumor really, it shut down my pituitary gland. So that's why I was gaining the weight and I had the type 2 diabetes and I had PCOS and endometriosis along with those things. Wow. But yeah, so from there I had a very successful surgery. The surgery in Baton Rouge was going to have me in the hospital for 3 days, and they were going to do some things that I don't even want to mention on the show. I go to Houston, and I had my surgery on a Monday. Tuesday evening, I was released.

Wow, that is amazing! From brain surgery!

Yes, but the moral to that story is the day that they canceled it for the second time, just what you said, I felt like Jill. I was like, okay God, what did I do? Right. I mean, you start to question everything about yourself and then I ended up with the best neurosurgeon in the country who operates on pituitary glands and my endocrinologist is well renowned and I felt like God was like, can you chill out a little bit? I'm trying to get you with the best of the best and you've called yourself Joan.

Well, we tend to You know, one thing's faster than it's expected to come, and, you know, we're very impatient for things to be happening, you know, quickly. And you're right, it's kind of like, you know, again, whether you believe in God or not, there is, you know, even the energy— and that's science, people— of the universe proves that, you know, there's pulls and tugs based on the universal energy, and therefore things happen when they're supposed to happen.

Yes.

That doesn't mean you sit on your ass and just expect it to come to you. That's not what "why wait" means, people. It's just the opposite.

That's right.

Just keep taking steps and taking actions, and then it'll all work out.

It always works out. Yeah. Yeah. So Successful surgery, um, and you're healthy. Very healthy, very healthy. Um, the, the other part of that, just, I want your viewers or your listeners to understand that I went home on a Tuesday. Wednesday, my cortisol, which these are all things that we'll cover on the show, but your cortisol is your fight-or-flight hormone. It's the one that wakes you up in the morning. Well, mine was 137 when I had my surgery. The day after, it plummeted to 8. And it's because I have an illness called Cushing's. Now here's what's really important. Had I had my surgery in Baton Rouge, they had never checked me for Cushing's. Had my cortisol level dropped any lower, it would have been dangerously low to the point where I wouldn't be sitting here.

Damn.

So everything happens for— even those things that in your mind you're thinking, why in the world? If you just sit back and listen Yes, and still take your path, right?

And ask all those questions. And, you know, you know, you, you don't know what you don't know, I'll say that. So you, especially when it comes to something medical or something in that respect, you know, you may not know what questions to ask. The one tip that I, I don't know if you've picked up on it, um, everyone, but the one thing that she also said is she had reached out into a Facebook Facebook group and kind of leverage them for support and to ask questions and whatnot. And, and there's Facebook groups for anything, anything that you might be dealing with, struggling with, even just you want more information on because you want to take a new path. And if there isn't a Facebook group out there, or even a Twitter group, but a Facebook group out there, then create one. Create one yourself and don't use it as a reason for not being able to arm yourself with with as much information and as much knowledge and support as you can get. And social media is wonderful for that kind of thing.

Yeah.

So I just wanted to make sure I reiterated that because it was, um, I didn't want it to, to fall on deaf ears. Okay, we're going to take a quick break because I'm like, whoo, because this all leads to her now Purpose with Why Wait and how you can leverage it for yourself and at the same time glean all the tips and advice and direction that she took in regards to pursuing her passion and understanding that you don't want to wait to follow your dreams and achieve what you want. So we're going to talk why wait when we get back from this break. We'll be back in a second. Hello, welcome back everyone. We are talking with Keish Fehrman and it's all about why Wait, why wait to pursue your dreams? Why wait to get the help and the support and the resources you need? Why wait to take care of your health and your fitness? And her journey has been amazing. And if you are just joining us, go back and listen to the first 20 minutes or so, because if you're ever questioning how you are able to push through whatever challenge life kind of brings to you, and we all have them, Her story will give you some glimmer of telling you, a glimmer of hope, anticipation, and just faith that you too can do exactly what she's done, whatever your issue or challenge might be. Alright, so let's talk Why Wait, and I want you to go to whywait.tv, everybody. At the same time, Facebook with her, tweet with her. It's all Why Wait. I love guests that make it easy on us. So all you have to do is Why Wait? Now it's W-E-I-G-H-T, whywait.tv.

That's right.

So check it out. You're going to want to be part of this revolution, as she calls it.

Yes.

All right, so share with us a little bit about Why Wait? and how our listeners can leverage it in what it is that they're facing.

Okay. So Why Wait is not about the numbers on the scale. The most important thing to me was to create a healthy, and I used the word holistic, but I understand that some people are still in, and they go through whatever lifestyle it is. But I want to—

Are you saying they're still woo-woo? They feel it's still too woo-woo? Yes, some people still feel holistic. I'm right in there. I'll admit it, I'm right in there, but that's okay.

Yeah.

You just want to test and tap and move on.

Right, and that's what the show is about. We're going to cover everything from animal to vegan. We're going to have doctors.

From diet, you mean? Diet, nutrition.

Diet. We're going to have— it's mind, body, nourish. So we have doctors on the show. Dr. Meek, who I explained helped me with my diagnosis, he's one of our specialists on the show. But then we also have Katie Green, who's a holistic health practitioner. Physician, and we have Dr. Jaren who talks about kids, and she's a chiropractor, so she will cover things like most people will say, "I go work out and then my joints hurt," or we're going to cover those things.

I'm old like me, I just turned old and I couldn't get out of bed this morning after a couple days of painting my house.

Yeah, so we're going to cover that. We have nutritionists, we have trainers, and and not just a group of trainers. We have UFC Gym, which is where I worked out. It's all about boxing. In my mind, I'm a fighter.

I love boxing.

Yeah, in my mind, I'm a boxer. Yeah, I'm really not. I fight life. I fight the bitches that have happened in life. But we'll have UFC Gym, but then on the flip side of that, we have a local trainer, Saida, who works with Georgia Tech. So we have men, we have women, we are covering absolutely everything that is health, wellness, and fitness, and we are not leaving anything—

mental and physical, mental and that's where the mind-body nourish comes.

Yes, so we have yoga instructors.

We're all—

if you go to www.yweight.tv, you'll join us. We send out monthly newsletters, you'll get recipes, We also have so many other things like a discount club. So Big Peach is one of our sponsors here in Atlanta. If you walk in the door, you get 15% off your purchase just for being a part of Live Weight TV and the revolution. So when I created the show, I literally wanted it to be a place that anyone could go to no matter what your lifestyle, no matter what your religious beliefs, no matter if you woo woo or not. You'd be able to go there and get the tools that you need, and there each individual has a story. So outside of the tools, let's say yours is not hormonal. We have a little girl on the show, her name is Saniyla, she's 11. So we're going to talk about how families are impacted by weight and by issues that cause weight problems. She suffers from panic and anxiety and she's being bullied at school because she's 11 and she weighs 200— whoa. Yeah, and so there's a, there's a lot in there that to me, when we watch those, those other shows about weight loss, it becomes this thing where the person is on display and how much weight did you lose. To me, that's not where it is. It's what do you do to change your lifestyle so that you can change how you feel on the inside, and the weight and all those other things, that'll go away, right? But you have to understand what's happening What I do. That is the key.

Well, I think the key too, and why I just love what you're doing, is that it's that— I'm gonna go back to that why again. I mean, if you ever question, if anybody ever questions why they don't achieve their goals or why they don't, don't, you know, keep the resolutions longer than the typical 4 weeks that people do, it's really because they're not committed. They don't understand their why. Their why has not been defined or discovered because they're giving up easily. And if their why would be important enough and it would be their sole core purpose, then they would stick with it a lot longer. So what I love about what it is that you're doing is the fact that you can give them all the resources in the world from a body perspective, but the mind part of it, it needs to be worked on just as as much as the body part of it. And that's why I love what, you know, the mind-body nourish piece of it. And I also have been meaning to comment since she mentioned it. We talk a lot here on Shedding the Bitch about the fact that those of you or those people that like made her cry and judged her after putting on a pretty face and talking with her and then walked away into the store and started talking about her and she actually overheard that, or that little 11-year-old who is getting bullied at school, please know you're the bully. You're the ones that have the issues that need to get addressed because the Keishas and that young girl is doing something about their challenges, their bitches. But you need to take care of your own. When you make judgments on other people, the problem isn't that other person. It's you have something that you're struggling with, that you're dealing with, that you're needing to confront and shed, as we call it here. Because if you were a confident, empowered, strong, bold individual, male or female, young or old, you would not be placing judgment on anyone. Whether that's in face-to-face or online or anywhere. You would, you would just look at them and want understanding or sympathy, but you would not be beating them up when you don't even know their story.

Well, you know, Bernadette, I think that, that was a part of my journey because I was that person.

Oh, I was too.

And I worked out, and I would have friends that would be like, Keisha, I just can't. And I'd always go, oh, you're just not trying hard enough, right? And it really put me in a place where it humbled me, right? Because I had to accept, you know, Beyoncé came out with the song Pretty Hurts, and I used to put it on repeat, and I had to accept one day, like, gosh, I was that same person that I'm asking people not to be. So again, you know, Why Wait is not just about that. It's about checking yourself too. I had to check myself before I could ever feel my purpose or understand what it was that I was supposed to do.

I absolutely, I mean, that's what Shedding the Bitches came from.

That's right.

It's that I was that bitch who was projecting crap out onto everyone. I would have been that person judging you in a split second. I wouldn't even have given you an opportunity. Really? Oh, I would have been, oh, and not in a secret, like, in my head way. And so I definitely understand that too, and yes, you get very humbled when you realize how hurtful and how cruel people can be to other people. But once you, you know, kind of shed all that junk, those bitches, then you turn it to where you would never want to put that out in the world because it's just so ugly and it just makes you feel like so crappy.

Right. It's this thing called empathy started happening to where every single person I ran into, I wanted to help them.

Yeah, you wanted to help solve their problem, like, how can I help? But with it in an empathetic way, not in a drawling. Yes, like you got a problem, I'm gonna solve it type of way. So let me ask you something. So you started this, the Why Wait, and you're— and I do want to— well, I'm gonna ask you this first actually because we started the conversation. So it's not just Atlanta. No, it's because it's online. Yes, whywait.tv, everyone, whywait.tv. And at the same time, Will your experts and will your topics expand, whether that be reach, meaning, you know, across the country, across the world, or that's different areas of what you're focused on? Where's your kind of vision or growth? What do you see this—

So my vision, of course, is international. And another one of those God whisper moments, I'm producing the show, had my surgery, and then things started going wrong, like they always do. And I met— that's life. That's right. I met an intellectual property attorney that became a really good friend of mine. Never met her, just over the phone. Um, and so throughout the struggles of building the show, um, I had distribution that was going to happen, traditional distribution, and it fell apart. I'm sorry. And it fell apart. And so once that happened, I was like, okay, I give up. And she was like, no, that's not going to happen. We will you'll see why it would happen. So she introduced me to who my partner is now. His name is Laron Walker, and he owns a company called Cypress Technology, and Cypress is everywhere, literally. And so I ended up moving to Atlanta because of that partnership and decided to produce the show here. But we sat down and he said, "Well, Keisha, if you have some really good content and we know that networks want it, why are Why are we giving it away? You keep talking about creating content and people need to understand what they're watching. Why don't we just create our own network? So that's what we did.

Why not? We have nothing better to do.

Nothing better to do. So we actually created a streaming platform. So it's a digital subscription-based platform, almost identical to Netflix. The difference is we will be the health and wellness of that subscription. Subscription-based niche, right, market, I guess you could say. So you will be able to go on to my site, whywait.tv, and you'll be able to— you'll be able to stream the shows. Of course, it's 13 episodes. The first season will be shot between Atlanta and Louisiana.

And when do you plan to do that?

Well, we already— we've already completed several episodes. So we're going to be launching the network on March 25th here in Atlanta.

March 25th, mark your calendars everybody, and we'll be putting this over the next couple months on Shedding the Bitch Facebook page too.

Yes, so we're gonna launch the network, and again, I'm that person that I can't do things the normal way, it's just how I'm built, so I decided to create a fitness expo So, oh nice. Yes, so on March 25th, we will be at the Gathering Spot.

The Gathering Spot here in Atlanta.

Yes.

And it's down in Midtown area for those of you in Atlanta.

That's right.

But if you're in Louisiana or you're in, you know, you can always come in and be part of that as well. And we'll put that information up on, over the next, for the next several weeks.

Yes.

Leading up to the event as well. Thank you. Thank you. We'd be more than happy to.

Yeah, but you'll be able to access the content, you'll be able to access all of the perks from being a part of Y Weight TV through our website. Right. And you can get it on your iPad, your phone, Android, Apple, doesn't matter. We are compatible with all devices.

And what's out there right now that they could be already taking advantage of?

So if you join right now, you'll get a monthly newsletter. We also will have small little workout clips. We did a 3-day cleanse with one of our health coaches. Our health coach is actually in North Carolina, so a lot of our experts don't necessarily have to be here in Atlanta. I'm looking for experts across the country because these issues— weight is the universal language. I don't care who you talk to, what race, what religion, when you say weight, if it's a woman, the first thing she says is, "Oh my God, I'm so fat," or, "Oh my God, I need to gain weight." No matter what the language is, Right, right. Um, so it's not just about, you know, us shooting here in Atlanta. It's, it's also about the reach that I wanted to have and the control of the content. Um, because we did go to a traditional distributor and the first thing they wanted to do was change the entire content.

Oh, of course.

Um, so want to keep that content. And let me say this, Bernadette, we have a platform that we are looking for additional content, documentaries, um, shorts, anything that has to do with health, wellness, fitness, um, individuals who've overcome an obstacle, individuals who are possibly going through something, but you feel— please send it over.

Now when you say health, um, wellness and fitness, food's in there, right? And that's the Nourish part.

That's the Nourish part.

Um, so I just want to make sure I throw that out there as well. Um, because there, you know, there's a lot of great—

yes. That's our biggest focus. Focus of it. I will say throughout my entire journey, I heard that I was, I needed to be gluten-free, I needed to, everything went back to the food that I was eating. And when I did eliminate some things out of my diet, things changed.

So gluten's a real thing?

Gluten is a real thing.

It's not just a manufactured marketing stunt to get everybody to pay higher premium prices?

No, what has happened is there are so many chemicals in our food and our body just does not know how to process those things. And so it does what it's supposed to do, and that's fight things off, and the only way it knows how to fight is to make something go wrong so that you're aware. But that wellness, that piece includes the nourish, and when you go to the site, you'll see move, body, nourish, and we are working with lots of experts. Again, I have a chef in Baton Rouge. He works at a restaurant restaurant called City Pork, and most people were like, shout out City Pork! Oh, they have the best food ever. Chef Ryan actually came here to Atlanta because most people go to restaurants and they automatically assume whatever they see on the menu is what they have to— that's not always the case. Sometimes you can ask.

Oh, I always do. Oh, it drives my friends nuts. I'll always ask for off menu.

Well, no, you have that right. Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. We're going to cover that on the show, but Chef Ryan came. We have a guy on the show named Damon, and Damon suffers from lots of medical issues as well, and so pork and those things are part of the things that make him not healthy, so Chef Ryan came and he gave him lots of different tips and different things to substitute. Instead of using pork, use lamb, or, you know, instead of using margarine, make sure you use butter. We're gonna give you those kind kind of tips, from the smallest little intricate things that you may not think about, right, including how do you recognize if something is GMO. Those things are important. So the show is well-rounded, and again, it's going to help families, from the 11-year-old whose family has committed to be a part of this, to men who are the head of the family, right, who— and De'Mond says this, he's like, when I'm on track, my whole family's on track. When I want a snack, everything goes whack.

Well, Women are the actual head, but keep telling the guys they are. Okay, just keep telling the guys they are.

Well, you know, that's that thing that we have to do to make them feel like it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yes. Alright, we're going to take one last break, but when we come back, we're going to hear some tips and advice from Keesha as to what can you do, whatever the situation is that you're in, how can you, you know, overcome, how can you find your why, and how can you when you stop waiting for it to happen, just, you have to do something about it. So, WhyWait.tv. Alright, we'll be right back. Welcome back everyone, we are talking to Keisha Fairman. Hello. Hello. WhyWait.tv, go and Google it right now and check out what it's all about. Sign up to be part of it. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter, just Why Wait. You'll find it everywhere. Is it Why Wait TV?

It's Why Wait TV.

You'll find her everywhere, so Facebook with her, tweet with her, ask her questions out there regarding whatever it is you might be dealing with, and go back if you haven't listened to the entire program because her story is amazing. And whether or not your challenge or issue is medical, you can glean some insights as to what you could be doing to really just stop— stop not acting on what it is that you need to take care of in your life so you can continue moving forward and achieve your goals and dreams and riches that you deserve. So in the last few minutes that we have, what, what tips, what advice would you give our audience in order for them to kind of not wait and take care of themselves and look after what it is that's most important to them?

Well, the first thing that I would, I would say is understand what's going on with you. A lot of times we tend to be a little hesitant because we don't understand what's happening and it makes it very overwhelming. So take the time and and ask the questions, especially when it comes to your health. Ask the questions, even if it's a hard question. Before you go to a doctor's appointment, write down things that you've been thinking about all day, because what will happen is you'll have all these questions in your head, you get there, and then once they tell you whatever it is they tell you, everything goes away. So you wanna make sure that you're always prepared.

'Cause knowledge is power, right?

Knowledge is power.

I heard a statistic on Good Morning, or not Good Morning America, CBS this morning that said that there's an uptick of like a huge percentage of people not going to the doctors, and they thought it was because of like insurance and whatnot. It was because they didn't want to find out that they were sick. Yes, they didn't want to discover that something's wrong with them. Yes, come on, people.

Yes, yes.

What do you want to do, wake up one day and not wake up? Yeah, I mean, come on. So, okay, I'm sorry, I just had—

no, no, no, I— that's— that is the biggest thing, and it's hard sometimes when you're afraid of the truth.

Right.

And I think that's the key. It's understanding that the truth is gonna be what it is.

It is what it is. Absolutely.

And so the only thing you can do is find the tools, which are the tools that I want to have on WhyWait.TV, so we can help you. Join communities, find other people that you can talk to. That was one of the things I did. I may not have shared everything that was happening with me, but having Why Wait YWAM TV I ended up finding people that were like— absolutely— we're dealing with the same issues.

You don't need to start a TV network in order to get what you need though!

No no no no but just go to YWAM.tv right?

Just go to YWAM.tv but her point too is you know start asking, start talking, start taking care of it and take ownership of finding the resources and the information that you need in order to take control of your own life.

Right, and most importantly when you come against hurdles and struggles and those things that seem like they're there to knock you down, they are not. That is the one thing that I've learned over this entire process, from my move to Atlanta to insurance issues to— some of those things are there to make you think outside of the box, and sometimes it leads you to your next thing that happens to be your purpose. So don't be so easily, um, discouraged when things go wrong. Find something positive in whatever it is you're dealing with, even if it's, "I woke up this morning." Use that to get you to your next hour. A lot of times that's how I went through the day. I got through each hour.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And break it down even further than that if you have to, especially when it comes to like willpower. I literally have to, you know, if I'm driving home and I'm like all of a sudden going, "Ooh, you know Wendy's?" Frosty sounds really good. I need to talk to myself for like the next minute, like consciously talk to myself to go, okay, I'm gonna make a right instead of going to get in that Frosty that I don't need to be eating. Or, you know, I am gonna ask my doctor about this because it is better for me to know, you know, blah blah blah. Well, I want to thank you. This has been awesome, and I knew it was going to be. Oh, you're so welcome, sweetie.

This is so exciting and Shedding the bitch. I think so many people— of course I've been looking and listening, and I think so many people could learn so much from you and your story. I mean, my story is one thing, but the fact that you had a story and you wanted to do something—

oh, they hear all about it. So yeah, I love having experts like you to share yours. And again, we can all relate to the different things that we all deal with, and then that's what we're all trying to do. That's what Keisha is trying to do, that's what I'm trying to do, is to help you relate that you are not alone, you are not on an island all by yourself. Alright, we need to say goodbye to Keisha, but she'll stay here for a couple minutes. Next week is, or yes, next week is Ask Bernadette, so this is your hour to pose your questions, stories, or challenges that you're dealing with in your career, business, and life, and allow me to help you with some specific tips and advice and sometimes tough love in order for you to overcome whatever it is that you are dealing with. And we, you can go to Facebook or Twitter to Shedding the Bitch and start posting them, and I answer them immediately because I don't want you to wait until our Ask Bernadette episode. But then we give you an opportunity to even join us on the program and then dive into them even deeper than you can on a Facebook post or a Twitter post.. So that's next Tuesday, and then we're packed full of guests in February. So go to Shedding the Bitch Radio on BlogTalkRadio, follow the program, and be sure that you're also paying attention to the guests that we have coming up. And you can always go to sheddingthebitch.com and download the episodes that you maybe have missed over the last 5 years, and we've had some awesome, awesome guests. So everyone have a very rich and prosperous week. Thank you, Keisha.

Thank you so much for having me.

And we will talk soon, and I'll post all the information about her upcoming events and the launch of WhyWait.tv so you have that information as well. All right, everybody, have a great week.

Have a great week.