In the inaugural episode of "Co-Parenting Unlocked," Karamo sits down with Stephanie Brooks, the mother of his son, to discuss their shared history as teen parents and how they have navigated co‑parenting into their 40s. They recount meeting at age 15, the challenges Stephanie faced as a single mother of five children by age 24, and the lack of family and financial support that forced her into survival mode. The conversation explores the stigma surrounding teen pregnancy, the generational cycle of early parenthood, and their mutual desire to break that pattern. Both reflect on the emotional toll of being thrust into adult responsibilities as teenagers, the need for guidance, love, and validation, and how they each bring complementary strengths—Karamo’s structure and Stephanie’s flexibility—to their partnership. Stephanie describes a pivotal mindset shift that led to healing, emphasizing self‑compassion, abandoning comparisons, and making intentional choices. Practical aspects of co‑parenting are also covered, including child‑support processes, communication stability (e.g., consistent phone contact), and financial accountability. Throughout, the hosts convey a tone of candid, supportive dialogue, aiming to provide listeners with relatable insights and advice for navigating co‑parenting after teen parenthood.
Chapters
There was no teen pregnancies on my watch.
None.
Because I made sure to get out the way.
None. Break a cycle, bitch. You better break a cycle. Now what? Do not.
Do not.
Do not.
Do not.
What's up, friends? This is Co-Parenting Unlocked, and I'm here with my son's mother, my baby mama, Stephanie. How you doing?
I'm doing—
So the reason I brought my son's mother here is because I think there's no better person I should talk to or can talk to about co-parenting and then talking about our own experiences. Before we get into how we co-parent, let's talk about how we know each other. So Stephanie and I met when we were 15 years old. She was fly. She looked like a damn supermodel. She was like 5'11", 5'— Yeah, you was like 5'— Yeah, whatever I am now. You were tall.
Yes.
I was this tall and fly as well.
Yes.
But we met because our last names were Brown and Brooks. And so we sat next to each other. But I also think that there was a sort of sincerity in the fact that both of us knew that our home lives might not be the best.
Yeah.
And we felt safe with each other. Would you agree?
I would totally agree with that. Yes. 100%.
And then from there, we started to be each other's support system in every way. Like, I know that you helped me to be more out of my shell because I was a little more rigid. Would you say that?
Yeah.
Because I was very structured. I was very like, Stephanie, we got to get to class on time. We got to do homework. Would you not agree?
I do agree with that.
But you was more like, girl, have some fun.
Yeah. And we did. I would say this, that you did have a balance.
Yeah.
But you always knew how to prioritize. Like, it was always about, we're going to handle business first, and then we're going to, you know, do that fun stuff after.
Yeah. But then I sometimes would take the business side and the bookwork too serious.
You did. Yeah. You did.
And then you'd be like, loosen up.
Like, we'll get that project done. Like, relax.
Yeah, relax. I think that's And it still goes into our relationship today, even though we're now in our 40s. From 15, we still the same, where it's like sometimes I look to you to say, hey, can you calm it down, chill a little bit? Can you like, you know? And you still look to me to say—
Can you help me out with more structure? More structure, yeah. Yeah, because I need it.
Being a teen parent, especially with the fact that I wasn't around for those first years, was difficult.
It was.
It was.
Yeah.
Because in that time as well, during the 10 years that I wasn't there, you had 4 other children.
I did.
And this doesn't matter because I hate when people do this to women, being like, she got different baby daddies. Your baby daddies were all the same. All the same man. It was me and one other guy. But don't you hate that stigma though?
I do. I do.
During that time, you had the 4 other kids. And so you were a single mother raising 5 kids. 5 kids.
Actually, about 24 years old.
24 years old. What was that like?
It felt hard.
Yeah.
It felt— because unlike you, how you get in and we co-parent and you are very much involved, with 5 kids at 24 years old, it was very extremely hard. I think that's kind of like when I went into survival mode, if you will. And it was just all about kids and making sure that we were all right.
Yeah. And then a lot of that, you didn't even have a lot of family support.
No.
It was you on your own.
It was. Yeah, let's talk about it. So again, the comparison between you and he is nothing. So, you know, our story was we were young, we were kids, we were in love. We were in love with our friendship first.
Yes, of course you are.
And we did stuff, and we made us a beautiful little brown baby. But it was an innocence there that I just really love and respect. By the time my second father came into the picture, I was still a teenager. Jason was maybe 8 or 9 months old. And at that point, I feel like, you know what, life for me is not going to be anymore planning for college and planning for, you know, going away and seeing what I'm going to get. I had this all or none type of theory, and I felt like, well, damn, I'm out of the loop now. I've had a kid as a teenager. I'm out of there. So that a lot of that comes from—
a lot of that comes from, like, the people not being around you, being able to support you that you see.
Exactly.
Yeah. For what you had to go through, most people who watch this can relate because, like, the world should have broken you.
Yeah.
Like, it should have broken you. And there's a period that you felt like it did break you.
Very much having Jason at 16, I was still a baby. I was still a kid. I mean, I needed guidance. I needed love. I needed conversations, you know, about accountability and responsibility at that. And it was just life was over. Like, I was encouraged to get a job. I was not encouraged to continue on with whatever dreams I had and visions that I had prior to that. Yeah. I was looked at in a different way and I was met with that type of behavior. Like, you know, you made a choice and now you have to suffer for it. And what I could have used instead, when I looking back at it now, was I could have used more guidance. I was still a kid.
You still a kid.
And I still needed that help. I needed that protection.
That's what fucks me up about parents.
Yeah.
They still a child. Yeah. And I don't understand when parents look at a kid just because they made what seemed like an adult decision.
I know, yeah.
All of a sudden you start treating them like they adults. They're right. For 16 years, 15 years, we still don't know what we're doing.
Hello.
We get to 25, we still don't know what we're doing. We get to 30, we don't know what we're doing.
Barely knowing, yeah.
And then you at 16, and then all of a sudden it's like, well, you made this choice. You're grown now. Yeah, so deal with it, yeah. And it's like a reminder, like, stop that. Support is always supposed to be there as a parent.
Yes, it sure is. And I'm sure that the lack of support kind of led me into— I didn't feel— I don't know, I didn't feel loved.
Yeah.
I didn't feel, again, seen, heard, or like It changed the image in my mind that said, you know what, well, maybe she's right. It's time for me to be grown. I was not ready to be grown. I had made it, you know, we had made a beautiful baby. I don't want to say our baby was a mistake because he's not. He's made in love and conceived in love. We love him. But at the time, I was not ready. And my view of what being grown was, I ain't know nothing about that. I just knew that, okay, it's time to get a job, time to pay bills, and Oh, now an older man wants to talk to me, which he was 24, I was 16.
It's so funny when you go back in time and you think, you wish. You wish.
What my daughter would have brought her. What if he— if my daughter— and I'm going to say this with all due respect and love— there was no teen pregnancies on my watch.
No.
Because I made sure to get her away from it.
No, break the cycle. You better break a cycle. Now what? Now what?
Cannot. Cannot. My daughter was not going to suffer my son.
See, this is what I'm talking about, what's happening. This is why we got— listen. The things that Stephanie has been through, again, I say should have broken her, but she was so conscious even in moments of growth that she was like, I'm not doing this. And so what statistics will tell you is that anyone who's a teen parent will make— their kids will usually be teen parents. My father was a teen parent. My grandfather was a teen parent. And so these things sort of replay themselves. And you were, even in that moment, was like, nah, none of y'all. None of y'all. And not one of them.
Not one.
Not one of them.
Not one of them did.
Not one of them. There was a lot of moments where you felt down, depressed, you know what I mean? Where you had trifling-ass [MASKED] come in your life.
Yep.
We're going to talk about a couple of them later on.
Right. We're going to talk about the ass [MASKED].
Because they talk— that affected our co-parenting journey.
It sure did.
That affected our co-parent journey. Yeah. You had moments where finances weren't right.
Yeah.
Affected our co-parenting journey.
It sure did.
There was moments where there were family members that tried to influence what happened in your life and my life that, again, affected our co-parenting journey. And that also affected both of the ways that we saw the world.
Yeah.
Those moments got you down, but now people can see that you're in a space where you are thriving. You're making your coin. Yes. Your kids are good.
Yes, they are.
You on your baby daddy's show.
Oh my gosh. What? What?
The mother of my two sons, Stephanie Brooks. How do you feel about us as your parents?
Oh, here we go.
This is what we do. This is what we do.
It's feeling so good.
And so what— how did you get to this place? And I know that, listen, growth is a continuation thing. Yeah. But what got you here?
One thing that it took took was changing my mind. Like, I realized that I had thought wrong about who I was, and I had a bad or negative spin on who I was as a person. I compared myself a lot to other people and their successes. And oh, well, such and such has 3 kids, and she's doing this and doing that. And so I said, basically, like you saying, stop the bullshit. There's no comparison in this life. This journey is my own. I have to make the decisions. I have to choose. It's time to start choosing some different. Things. The choices that I was making was leading me back to the same damn place that I did not want to be in. So it took a made mind to say, you know what, enough of this. It's time to heal and really heal for real. Like, let's heal so we can move forward empowered.
And let me tell you, I'm gonna tell you, the other day I knew that Stephanie was serious about this healing growth. Sorry, and it's gonna be a little funny thing. Stephanie, her phone number used to change constantly. Oh God, girl, it's the truth though.
It is, it's the truth.
Your phone number used to change. I had I had set in my phone as Stephanie 2005, '06, '10, November of '18. And I remember all of a sudden the phone number stayed the same.
For a long time. Oh my God, Karamo.
But I know this may seem stupid to somebody else, but that stability—
Yeah.
Which— That you then decided to keep for yourself meant I am on a path now where I am accountable for this bill. I'm accountable for everyone being able to contact me, communicate with me. I'm accountable for my life.
Yes.
And that was a small thing. Somebody else might look at that and think that's stupid. For me, that was big.
Yeah, it was big for me too. I'm the one who was going— listen, the financial struggle was real.
Real.
So, um, 5 kids at 24 years old, um, and then, well, like I told you, the dad not being present. So, um, me thinking about my healing, to be honest with you, The way we was raised was not at the top of my list of priorities. It was like survive. What you talking about? You sad and you need to do this and that and you need, you know, it was pay the bills and you know, so sometimes in doing that, I dropped the ball. I would drop the ball on stability because financially I couldn't afford it. It might be times when—
Hold on, stop that 'cause somebody needs to hear that. I know your daughter didn't use protection, but she still needs your protection. She still needs your attention as well. And I hear you when you're saying you're embarrassed. I'm hearing when you say these things, I gotta be very honest with you. There's a lot of you that I see in myself. And I also understand that feeling of like, I am so overwhelmed trying to work, trying to do every single thing. I'm busting my ass, I'm trying to save every dollar, and I just get frustrated because I used to have this issue with my sons. I used to come home and one day I realized that I don't give them the same patience that I gave the rest of the world. Because somebody is right now is judging somebody in their life.
Yeah.
And they don't realize, they keep saying, why she don't do it? Why he don't do it? What's going on? You could not focus on stability because finances were more important. Right. And people don't get that sometimes.
Hello.
It's so easy to be like, well, why don't you focus on your mental health? Why are you not focusing on this and that? It's like when you're in survival mode—
You don't see it.
You don't see it.
You can't see nothing but we got to survive.
But you're in thriving mode now. Let me tell y'all something. Yes, I am thriving. OK. So now y'all understand why I love Stephanie so much, why I love my son's mother. We have the best relationship in the world. And so this whole series is going to be about us co-parenting, how we deal with stuff, how we healed. I don't know if y'all can tell why I love her, because you can relate to what she's going through. So make sure you unlock all the co-parenting advice with Stephanie and I through this series the entire time. On the next Co-Parenting Unlocked.
I filed child support in an effort to just locate—
So I thought the state had did it when you did it.
No.
You went up there?
Listen, I initiated it, yeah.
I never knew this. You just got something brand new. I always thought that this was the state. I told this story a million times that Stephanie did not come after me. The state came after you.
Let's add this, OK? Because there's more. There's more.
There's more.
OK, OK, OK. Let me land. It's a little turbulent right now. Let me land.
