Stepping Up As A Leader, During Hard Times - George Floyd Tragedy w/Val Nichols & Black Lives Matter

Hey guys, Val Nichols here, and I am coming live here today to talk to you guys about something super important and something that has been really pressing on my heart lately, and that is the current state of affairs in our nation and in our world. Um, you know, I'm gonna be honest with you guys, it was really hard for me to know what to say during this time, you know, as a woman, as a white woman in America. It's hard to know what to say right now that could really contribute to the conversation. And you know, I didn't want to come forward and sound insensitive toward people, and I didn't want to sound like I was talking about something I didn't know about. So I really wanted to come forward and come on here and just talk to you guys about it because you know, it's it's obvious that our nation is very divided right now. It's obvious that there's a lot of pain. And there's a lot of stuff happening in the world. And, you know, for the past 3 days, I've been in this space where I've been hurting. You know, it's been really painful to watch what's happening in our nation. It's been really painful to know that even though I don't understand, you know, I don't understand racism. I don't understand how in 2020 we can still be in this place. where we are still, um, as if anybody's different. You know, Mandisa has a gorgeous song, a beautiful song where she says that, you know, we all bleed the same. And I don't understand how we can take a look at someone's skin color in today's society and somehow think that it's, it's different than our own. You know, as if we are not just the same human beings inside with the same fears and the same things. So as a white woman living in America, It's been hard for me to know exactly what to say. So I wanted to step forward here today. I just wanted to come in here and pop in and be live and talk to you guys about this because I think that there's other people out there like me who are like, you know, I want to help, I want to support, but how do I talk about something that I really honestly don't even know the depth of? I don't even begin to understand and I don't know what to say. And maybe, you know, you're in that place where you're in fear. And you guys, I'm gonna be honest with you, all day yesterday— I don't know why it hit me the way it did yesterday, but all day yesterday I was just— I couldn't stop crying. I couldn't stop crying because I just kept thinking about how, you know, how can we be doing this as a nation? You know, we went from— we went from having this like common enemy that we couldn't see. common enemy, that we were all like, America strong, this and that, and we were rallying together and we were united in, in getting through the coronavirus. And now we've become a nation that is divided and a nation that is destroying its own cities. And, you know, I have a client this morning that— thank you so much. I'm sorry, I would say hi, but Facebook isn't telling me who's popping on. It just showed me a reaction. So I love you. I see you. And I hope this conversation definitely, um, like helps, you know, because the last thing I want to do is cause harm to an already sensitive subject, to an already, um, a subject that leaves people like me who are white— I'm a white woman in America— and it's hard to know what to say because I definitely, I don't want to pretend like I know, you know. I don't want to pretend like I know. It's almost like talking to someone who's lost their child, like I wouldn't know What to say? I wouldn't know the pain they're going through. All I know is I can sit with them in compassion, and so I just want to extend my my olive branch of compassion toward everyone in the world who is affected during this time because you know it's I was in tears yesterday. I couldn't stop crying about just how much I see people out there protesting who are peaceful. I see people out there protesting who are not peaceful. I see businesses who barely got by through the coronavirus and now they're being looted and now they are having to start over and they have nothing. I was talking to a client earlier this morning who's down in LA and she just barely got through this time. She just barely got through the COVID-19 crisis, opened her doors back up, walked in this morning to her windows being bashed out and every single thing that she had gone just like that, you guys. And I'm not here to debate one way or another if, you know, I think that we all know that racism is wrong and we all know that we get to take a stand against this and that this is a conversation that isn't new. We all know that at the core of each one of us, we are human beings and this is life's— we are talking about human Beings, you know if you're white, if you're black, if you're Caucasian, if you're mixed, if you're if you don't even know what you are, like that we all all people matter. And the fact that anywhere in the world we could be pretending as if anybody was different, anybody a human being's life is different, just breaks my heart, you guys. So I just wanted to come forward because you know I've not been silent. I've definitely been speaking to a lot of people. Helping my clients get through this time because there's a lot of unknown. There's a lot of thinking that the world was going to go back to a certain place of normalcy and then surprise, it's not. There's a lot of, just a lot of things going on in the world and entrepreneurs are needing to really shift their message again and shift how they're doing things. And we have been faced with a whole new, if you have a brick-and-mortar, like you're faced with a whole new thing. And you know, I have a client who has, she's white but she She has a son who is an African American, like half African American, and you know the fear that she must have every single night putting her head on her pillow. Like I, I'm not a mom. I can't understand that. I'm not a person of color, so I can't understand what is going on. And I just want to let you guys know that you know my heart just breaks. My heart is literally breaking right now for each and every single person out there who is affected by any of this. The coronavirus, like, the riots, the, the racism. If you are affected, my heart is with you. And I want to let you know, even though I may not understand completely what you're going through, and I wouldn't want you to even hear that, that like I'm pretending to understand because I don't. I don't understand. I have not walked a mile in your shoes. I have not, you know, gone to places and had to be in fear. Yes, I'm a woman who has had to walk in parking lots with my keys between my fingers, which, you know, a lot of people don't understand. Men might not understand that. And, you know, like, so me walking a mile in your shoes could really just— it could just change my life. It could change my world. And, you know, even if I don't understand completely, I want to let each and every single person out there know That I am here with you. I have compassion with you, and that deep down each and every single one of us hurts during this time. That each and every single one of us hurts, and you know, like I just don't even know. You know, as a leader, it's it's so sometimes it's hard to step forward during a time like this. Sometimes it's hard because we don't know what to say. We don't know how to fix this. There's nothing that can fix this. And what I think that this is doing is that it's bringing to light a conversation that needed to happen a long time ago. It's bringing to light things in the world that aren't working. You know, division doesn't work. Racism doesn't work. Pitting people against each other doesn't work. Us looking at other human beings as anything else besides a jewel and a treasure and something that God himself created doesn't work. So I just want to let everyone who's watching this know that I'm taking a stand. I'm taking a stand for human beings. I'm taking a stand for humanity. And you know, it's a time where right now in my business, like, I get to pause. And I get to reach out to people and ask them if they're okay on a human level, because I don't think it's right at any level for us to look at another human being and feel any differently toward them than we would to anyone else. And just because, um, this like epidermis that is growing on my, my bones, that's growing on my body, is any different I just, I don't understand how we can look at anyone else and think that because it, it just doesn't make sense that in 2020, after we've been facing a global crisis where we have literally been all afraid for our lives, we've been fearing, you know, viruses, and we've been to the point where like it's almost like we fear each other, and now we are looking at other human beings as if they're the enemy, and that's not That's not how we're called to live. So, oh, Nunu, thank you so much. So you guys, again, like, it's been really hard for me as, as a white woman living in America to, um, step forward this time and say anything because I haven't known. I don't know what to say. And, you know, for me as a leader to come forward and say that is really— it's, it's hard, you know. But it's, it is, it's hard, you know. It's hard to know what to say when it's not I don't know. I haven't walked a mile in your shoes. But I just want to say that, you know, as a leader, as a woman, as someone here who's a human being among other human beings, like, I'm here. I feel compassion for every single person right now in the nation because this is a scary time. It's a scary time in the world. And, you know, I just want to call us all forward to take a stand for humanity, to take a stand for the fact that we are all human beings. And that we each one of us has a mission in this world, and I don't think it's anybody else's business to step in and say you're wrong. I don't believe that any time in this world making anyone wrong has ever made us right. So I love you guys. I'm here for you. I genuinely just want to know how you guys are doing. So I just wanted to pop in here and check in because I've been. Not necessarily pulling back in my leadership, but I've been a little bit silent here on social media because I didn't want to contribute to anything, and I didn't want to sound insensitive or sound like I know what's best for somebody because I don't, you know, I don't know. And I just want to tell you guys that I love you and that we're all in this together. And, you know, I think right now us standing in solidarity together Is the most important thing to remember that at the end of the day, we are the same. There's nothing different between you and me. There might be different titles. There might be different role like whatever. You know, there might be different genders. There might be different nationalities. There might be different countries. There might be different states. There might be different beliefs. There might be different whatever. But you know, at the end of the day, we're all the same. We're human beings here having a spiritual experience. We are human beings here on Earth to fulfill whatever mission. We were here to be do, and you know what? We all hurt just the same. So I see you. I love you. I'm here for you. And please be safe, you guys. Just be safe and know that you are loved, and know that you are so valuable. You are so valuable, and nobody has the right. To make you feel less than, because we are all on equal plane. We are all human beings sent here for a specific reason, and we get to decide what that is. So I love you guys. I will definitely be on here a lot more talking and sharing and just being here sharing this experience with you. So I love you guys so much. Thank you for watching. Bye.