Reaching, Risking, and Resting with Tai Beauchamp

Transcription

 Jessica Fein

 I'm Jessica fein and this is the I Don't Know How You Do, a podcast where we talk to people whose lives seem unimaginable from the outside and dive into how they're able to do things that look undoable. I'm so glad you're joining me on this journey, and I hope you enjoy the conversation. I'm really excited to introduce you to my guest today, Tai Beauchamp. I met Tai in a pretty unconventional way. We actually met in line for the bathroom in a hotel in California. Now, I'm not really in the habit of talking to people when I'm in line for the bathroom, let alone actually connecting with someone, so much so that I'm in touch with them months later. But there is something about Tai that's so captivating, and our conversation immediately got into a place that was really meaningful. I was blown away when ty told me all the things she does. She's an award winning TV host and producer. She runs something called Morning Mindset with Tai, which we'll talk about in this conversation. And she's a serial entrepreneur focused on connecting and empowering women. Tai is also a co founder of Brown Girl Jane, which is the first and preeminent plant based beauty and wellness collection centering on women of color. And she was also named as one of the 50 most influential people in the multicultural market by Women's Wear Daily. So she was telling me all these things that she did, and I was like, I do not know how you do all of those things. But then the more I got to know about her, I realized there was even more to her story that made her amazing. Before she was an entrepreneur, she worked in the magazine industry, where she made history at 17 magazine as the magazine's first black and youngest beauty and fitness director. She climbed the ranks in the magazine industry so quickly, but decided it wasn't for her. And that's when she left to become an entrepreneur. So maybe what was most surprising to me in our conversation wasn't hearing more about her path, about what got her into and then out of the magazine industry, but the fact that with all of this business and all of the things she's doing, Tai taught me something about rest that I never knew before. So stay tuned and I hope you enjoy the conversation. Welcome. I am so glad we are finally figuring out a way to make this happen.

Tai Beauchamp

I am, too. It's great to see you, and happy 2023. If I can still say that even though we're close to March, huh?

 Jessica fein

Yeah, we are. We met in a very unconventional way, so let's just start with that. We actually met in the line for the ladies room at Shutters in Santa Monica. I can't really say that many people make such an impression like in the line for the ladies room. But we got to talking. You actually looked at me, and you were like, how's your day going? And it wasn't just like, hey, what's up? Whatever. But you just asked me and this, like, maybe you actually cared about the answer. And we started chatting, and we were, of course, as you do in a hotel, saying, are you here for fun, for work? And I said, what work do you do? And you listed, like, 15 things that you do. And I remember saying to you, well, I don't understand how that's possible because you're 25. And you were like, I'm not 25. And I was like, you look 25. But there were so many things that you were telling me that you did, and then you were wearing a sweatshirt that said brown girl Jane, and I asked you what that was. So can you tell us about that?

 Tai Beauchamp

Yeah, we did. And thank you. And I love the memory, right? I love the power of memory and how one little moment leads to another, and then we end up where we are. So thank you for that, and thank you for having me. So, brown girl Jane actually is one of my how many things that you count? I'm trying to be honest. I'm trying to delete from that number just a little bit. But Brown Girl Jane is one of my businesses that I am a proud co founder of, and I believe Malika was there with me. So my business partner was there with me. But it's a beauty and wellness brand where we customize and create incredible scents that are designed to really elevate your mood. So we leverage scent technology. We work with one of the biggest and most respected fragrance houses in the world, and we have developed these scents that are really kind of changing women's lives and helping them to feel incredibly more grounded or centered or elevated. And that's one of my businesses. We sell at nordstrom, bloomingdale's and saxworth avenue right now and also online@browngirljane.com. And that business is three years old, and we have won all of the awards, and we're really looking to continue to innovate in the fragrance space at this time.

Jessica fein

So that's one of your businesses, and it's three years old. Give us a quick rundown.

 Tai Beauchamp

 So, I really only have two businesses technically, in terms of organizations. Brown Girl Jane is a beauty and wellness brand in that I co owned with my co founders, and Malika, my CEO. And I'm the chief brand officer of that business. I do operate in that business in a day to day capacity. And then I have my company, my media company, Thai Life Media, which will turn 17 years old, crazy enough in March. And I started that business as a way to kind of bring elevated brand stories and content to organizations who wanted to connect meaningfully with women. I've always been someone who cared deeply for women. I went to Spellman college. I went to an all girls high school, in Newark, New Jersey. Shout out to you. And I just love seeing us thrive. And so everything that I do really is centered on how do I support the overall wellness of women we produce as well. So I'm actually in pre production right now for something I can't share just yet. I am signed and attached with a major producer and we are developing a prime time show right now. So I'm super excited about that. Again, connected to wellness for women.

Jessica fein

 Are you behind the camera or in front of the camera or both in that?

 
 Tai Beauchamp

 Yeah, both. When I started my career, I was a magazine editor, so it was very much behind the scenes. I loved being behind the scenes. And when I burnt out from what was then magazines was a very cut throat but wonderfully exciting industry. And I burnt out from that space very early after having a very fast paced career track where I accelerated and climbed the ladder rather quickly in a very unorthodox way, especially for a Black woman at that time. And we weren't even saying Black, we were saying African American. So I was the first African American and youngest beauty director in history at 17 magazine when I was 25. And so when I left that, I wanted to take all that I knew around what it means to communicate with women. So I started consulting with brands. As I was consulting with brands, I was asked to be in front of camera as a spokesperson for a couple of these brands. And then that launched a TV career. I've had three television shows, two of which I produced, and I've worked with every Fortune 100 brand you can imagine around content and storytelling before influencers were a thing. So I would consult with them on the back end, and then I had the privilege of being in front of the camera as well.

 Jessica fein

But let's go back for a minute because you mentioned that you were at Spellman. So you're at an HBCU, and then you go into the magazine world and you're at 17 and make history there. But how did it feel to go from Spellman to an industry that is predominantly white? What did that feel like?

 Tai Beauchamp

 Oh, my gosh. Predominantly white. It's very interesting now with the rise of social media especially, and also the knowledge and awareness that this was an industry that you could even want to be in, I didn't have that growing up. I come from a family of educators from newark, New Jersey, and they're wonderful people and I love my family. I did model as a child, so I was exposed to fashion  to some degree. And I grew up very close to New York City, so I was also the kid that was hanging out there. But by no means when I went to Spellman did I think I was going to be a magazine editor. Even as someone who modeled, I didn't even know that that was a job that I could necessarily have or think about. And it was sitting down with my mentor when I was flunking a biology at Spellman and was like, yeah, I don't know if biology is going to work for me because Black girl going to college. It was like teacher, lawyer, or doctor, right? That's what you were going to do? And he said, well, what do you love? And I said, I love writing. I was always a big writer and just enjoyed it, and I love fashion. He's like, Why don't you be a fashion writer? I said, oh, right. And fortunately, he introduced me to a woman who really helped usher me into the magazine industry by the name of Ellen Levine. She was then the editor in chief of Good housekeeping, became the editorial director at Hearst Overall, and also the editorial consultant for Oprah magazine, where I started my career. I had magazine experience all throughout college, so I interned at Good Housekeeping and Harper's bazaar. So I had developed a familiarity kind of with the magazine space before I actually fully went into it. But it was definitely a sense of culture shock coming from Spellman one, not because I grew up outside of North, New Jersey, so I grew up in a diverse area and I have white friends and all of that. It wasn't that as much as it was the fact of realizing that there are so few people that have access and opportunity such as this. And then you start to realize and you drill down on that and you also understand, unfortunately, what that means about our voices being heard and understood. And I will tell you, there were plenty of times when I went into these rooms as and only not to mention one of the youngest and feeling like, do they really get it? And not in a berating way, but do they really understand that being in these environments that are monolithic in many ways or homogeneous in some ways really kind of suggests that there isn't room for other people? And I took up space. I didn't know that that's what I would call it now, but I took up space. I was bold, I was courageous, I was honoring of people, but I was also very intentional about making other people's voices heard because I knew that my voice and my thinking was different.

Jessica fein

 And do you think that that's what contributed to the burnout you ended up feeling in that industry?

 Tai Beauchamp

 For sure, absolutely. I mean, that was a part of it. So I think the taking up space was a part of it. The other part of it was what I like to say is one of my greatest revelations now that I would have never been aware of before, being raised by a single mom, a single young mom and a grandmother. I was only taught to work, and so also the speed and the pace at which I worked, and this was unheard of in magazines at the time. So Beth and Lindsay worked in the fashion department at Oprah, and then I had moved over to the beauty department, and we were like the assistants that would come into the office every morning at 7:30. In magazines, you don't start work until ten, but we were there at 7:30. But we wouldn't leave until, like, nine, and then we would go out and party to an event and then come back or whatever. So, yeah, I mean, it was the notion that I had to work five times harder to be seen and to prove a point. And also, I will say, the recognition and the illumination that came from me later while working at Seventeen, that I will never forget. When a young girl told me that I ultimately changed her life by sending her to a dermatologist. And this was a powerful thing. I mean, we had done a story on four real girls who felt really conscious about their skin, and to give them the opportunity to go to the dermatologist, she was like, you changed my life. And that was beautiful. But I drilled down on that and I thought about the kids that my parents worked with in newark, and I was like, if I could change this girl's life by sending her to the dermatologist, what else could I do that would really have meaning? Especially because I was exhausted of talking about lipstick. That's my truth.

 Jessica fein

Only so many shades of red to discuss.

 Tai Beauchamp

 Like, just line the lips. So all of that, I think, contributed to my burnout and ultimately inspired me to step out on faith. I was exhausted, which I think a lot of us have arrived to or experienced at some point. And now, looking back, I also realize how blessed and fortunate I was to be able to recognize it and not feel the pressure of others to say that I couldn't take the time that I needed.

 Jessica fein

 Yeah, I mean, that's such a good point, because I think you're right. So many people in this time are acknowledging the burnout and acting on it in ways that maybe we haven't for a long time. Did you have a plan when you left? Or did you just say, I'm out of here?

Tai Beauchamp

 No, I had a little bit of a plan. I didn't know what that looked like. I had talked to my mentor, Ray Chambers, and I said to Ray, I was like, look, I really want to do something different. I want to have impact. I want to do something meaningful, and I need a break. And so he said, well, there are some things we're trying to do at his family foundation. And so I was fortunate enough to go consult with his family foundation and then ended up starting a job readiness training program for young people at his high school alma mater in newark. And it was then that I was really starting to become a lot more interested in business, quite frankly, because it wasn't just the creative aspect of producing and building something. And I can see the similarities actually between what I did at the magazine and what I did with what is called now are You Ready for Work? It was producing and now what I do for TV, then it's all a form of like, creating something and building something for nothing, but understanding how the ideas are going to translate, how you're going to create impact, understand your consumer, all of that stuff. So I realized now that it all was very similar, but I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't know what it was looked like. But it was through that work and me developing that program in newark, I was still kind of hanging out. I mean, I was 26, I was still out and about on the scene in New York, and I was also getting asked to consult on jobs related to fashion and beauty. And it was kind of living this interesting dichotomy of a life of being in New York at these events and then hanging out with my students who had very different life experiences and like me, wouldn't have known anything about what those opportunities could be. And that's when I was like, okay, well, maybe I should start formalizing this consultancy. And that's when I applied for an ein number two years later and started my business. And then I developed a plan after I had done all that stuff.

 Jessica fein

 So how were you then going to continue to incorporate the kids from Newark and those like the kids from Newark as you were developing branding for big companies and the beauty company? How are you continuing to stay connected?

 Tai Beauchamp

 That's a really great question. I mean, I ended up consulting with the foundation for eight years, so they remained one of my clients even after I started my business. And that's part of the beauty of what I realize entrepreneurship is and why. I also say then, 17 years ago, people were not talking about entrepreneurship the way that they are now, number one. And number two, it wasn't a thing that women openly aspired to. But when young people come to me now and they're saying, or anyone not just young or younger or more seasoned, come to me and they say they want to start businesses, I'm like, do not quit your job. Don't quit your job. This is not meant to be something where you have to prove you're a boss walking around in diapers. It's more feasible to leverage where you are to get to where you want to go. And so how do you take the resources that you're earning? How do you take the learning that you're gaining wisdom and understanding on and apply that. How do you really kind of ascerTain what your real skill sets and talents are? How do you really kind of drill down on what people want to pay you for to design the business and you have the benefit? I actually wish in some ways that I had stayed in corporate longer. I was only in corporate for four years and then I went back. So when you talk about incorporating the young people from newark, I consulted with the foundation for two years and then I got called to be the editor in chief of vive vixen. And so I negotiated going into the Vibe vixen offices three days a week and continuing my philanthropic work on the other two days a week. And that was really when the business started to take off because now I had a real kind of solid not only revenue stream and income, but really had a flow of understanding what my capacities were, what my capabilities were, and then I started to hire people.

Jessica fein

Okay, but we were saying at the beginning that there was a real courage in being able to admit you were burnt out and being able to take that leap even though you didn't have a plan. And then we're also saying don't be running to quit your job. So which is it?

 Tai Beauchamp

 I think any leap you take should be thoughtful. I did have a set up because I also don't have resources where I know someone was going to pay bills for me. The leap first and foremost comes in your spirit. Like, what is your spirit saying to you? What is your consciousness saying to you? What is Universe God source saying to you about where you need to be? That's the leap. Understanding that and then saying like, look, I am going to do this. I'm a capricorn too, so I'm cerTainly not the person that's just going to be like throw all of it to the wind and just go, that sounds great.

 Jessica fein

 I'm a virgo, so I get it.

 Tai Beauchamp

 I'm like bring it back just a little bit. But I do think listening to yourself and knowing really what you need and what your spirit is saying to you because I think so many of us ignore that and then unfortunately, it's far beyond burnout. Then it's health, then it's a loss of everything or anything at that point. And so once you're hearing it and then sometimes it may be a slow build. Right. I don't advocate for you, say, in an unhealthy work situation or one that is intolerable. I cerTainly wouldn't suggest that. But I also know that we have real life.

Jessica fein

Well, so you're talking about health and what it does to our spirit, especially when we're in this situation that might not be where we ultimately want to be. And you've started Morning Mindset with Thai.

Tai Beauchamp

 You'll have to come on at some point.

Jessica fein

Yes, absolutely. So, okay, "how we begin is half the win." Tell us about that. What does that mean?

Tai Beauchamp

Well, what I've learned and what has worked for me and Morning Mindset with Tai really was just born out of another. So now I'm thinking about it. That burnout happened in about 2004. The burnout that is associated with the creation of Morning Mindset with Thai came right around the pandemic but was kind of like happening in motion and I was just really trying to recenter myself. And so that's the other thing about I'm sure that there are clear definitions of what burnout means versus anxiety versus depression, versus there's obviously a trail or a track to burnout. It doesn't necessarily have to mean that everything falls apart. When I was recognizing that I was in a place of trying to decide what next looked like for me, I had moved from New York to La. I was trying to contemplate and figure out relationships. And my health wasn't great. I was drinking a lot more than I should have been, had put on the extra lbs. And was like, this is not really where I want to be. Trying to figure out whether or not I wanted to continue to do TV. There were all these things happening and I said I have to center myself. So I committed to a different diet. I committed to exercising and hiking every day, which I absolutely love, and I commit it to my spiritual practice. I've always been a person of great spiritual connection and reliance. And I said, I'm going to read every morning this devotion. And then I would just go live sometimes and share the devotion with people and talk about it. And that's how Morning Mindset was born.

Jessica fein

That's amazing. So what happens on those mornings when you wake up and you're just not feeling it? What do you do?

 Tai Beauchamp

 I listen to that. I totally listen to that. I think it's important to rest too. The society just tells us we have to go, go, go. And there are seven forms of rest that are truly dynamic.

Jessica fein

 I've never heard that before. Seven forms of rest? Yeah, I have trouble even finding one form of rest.

Tai Beauchamp

So there is physical rest, there is mental rest, there is spiritual rest, there is emotional rest, there is sensory or environmental rest, there is social rest and there's creative rest, which is so interesting if you think about these seven forms of rest. And if you need to rest something, that means that it's an essential part of the pie.

 Jessica fein

 I love that creativity is considered one of them because that's what inspires me. So I love to think of that as a key piece of the pie.

Tai Beauchamp

And I love this because, you know, social element, sensory or environmental, these are all things that help to make us whole. Physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, social would probably be relational, like relations and social interaction with other people. We need all of that. But everything that we need also needs a break right.

 Jessica fein

I was going to ask that. So when we're resting in one of those seven, does that mean we're attending to it, or does that mean we're saying, okay, I'm going to put that one off on the side. I'm putting that one at rest for now.

 Tai Beauchamp

 I think it can be both. It's both active and passive, right? It could be either one. Rest could be active and passive at the same time. It depends on what you need. So sometimes your body actually needs to do nothing at all. Then other times it needs to be touched. And that could be a form of rest. But the reality is that you have to tend to whatever your needs are in that moment. And what I am in the space of trying to do, as we talked is trying to really create harmony around how much I do of anything so that there is harmony in the collective of how I activate, how I reset it or rest it or how I move in it and what all of that looks like in totality. Because for someone like me, a capricorn, too, and a hardworking woman who has probably if I were to look back at just childhood understanding, there's an association with title and work as a part of success that I still have to pull back. Right?

 Actually, It's why on  morning, mindset I don't say, what do you do? I ask people who they are.

Jessica fein

So when do you feel like all seven of those things are working for you?

 Tai Beauchamp

I felt like that in Bali. I did feel like that in Bali.

Jessica fein

 That's right. You just got back from seven weeks in Bali. What were you doing there?

Tai Beauchamp

Oh, my goodness. I did exactly what Julia Roberts did in that movie Eat, Pray, and Love. I went on a prayer pilgrimage for three days. We visited eight temples throughout Indonesia. We visited eight temples, and there are 11,000 temples in Indonesia. 11 hours. It's like such a big deal because just spiritual connection. So I worked out. I sat and drank my tea slowly. I ate slowly. Everything was in slow motion.

Jessica fein

 It seems to me, even from when we were chatting at the beginning, like something's changed.

 Tai Beauchamp

A lot has changed for me. I'm learning, and I'm still working through the integration part of how I change, how I operate in the things that haven't changed, I've changed. And I don't think some of these other things are going to change, but I am going to have to change how I operate within them.

 Jessica Fein

 I love that. And that's what you can control, right? You can't control what's outside of you. So many people look to you, and with Morning Mindset, with Thai and just with everything you're doing, so many people look to you for inspiration. Who do you look to for inspiration?

Tai Beauchamp

 That's a great question. I do feel inspired in many different ways. I met a little girl while in bali by the name of serena, and she is seven years old. And this little girl has inspired me because she's helping me to realize what really makes my heart feel incredibly open and wide and full. I find inspiration going to the farmers market, and I definitely have friends and people in my network. And I'm fortunate to say that I'm inspired by my best friend, Nadia, my other best friend, Yasmine Mashanda. I'm inspired by my business partner, Malika with Brown Girl Jane. She has three children, recently divorced and is a boss who just keeps going and moving. I think that's the thing. I think we have to look for inspiration wherever we see it and choose to see it. I'm inspired by people who are part of morning minds that would tie one of the morning minds that would tie tribe members. Nicole came to bali. She's still in bali. And I'm hosting a retreat in Bali in July. And Nicole says, I'm going to issue a grant for $5,000 to bring someone come over. I am touched by inspiration constantly.

 Jessica fein

 That's awesome. If you're open to it, you see it, right? Yeah, absolutely.

 Tai Beauchamp

You can't look for it. And if we're constantly looking only at the highest heights for things, we're going to miss the things that are eyeline, chest line, knee height, our toes. I mean, inspiration can really be anywhere.

 Jessica fein

 I love that. And as the mom of a child who spent her life in a wheelchair, I feel like some of the biggest inspiration is when you look down.

 Tai Beauchamp

 It's so interesting. We're in a time and space where we talk about access and we want to create physical access, tangible access, but we don't talk about what it means to have this spiritual and emotional access, which is just the mindset saying that I'm going to be open. I want to see what the possibilities are and that everyone, no matter their geography, their socioeconomics, their race, their gender, their ability, all of those things. Different abilities, all of those things. Right. Because it's not even this ability. It's just different ability. And I don't know, that makes my heart warm. It makes my heart warm to know that. And I'm truly humbled to be an inspiration. My niece inspires me, this little girl who is pushing past some of her own situations and circumstances that she has nothing to do with but seeing a new life for herself.

 Jessica fein

It is interesting, isn't it, how often it's the kids who inspire us.

 Tai Beauchamp

That's why I'm like, I think I might end up having a kid next year by myself if my husband doesn't come along before then.

 Jessica fein

Okay, well, then we'll have to do a whole episode on that for sure. Okay, switching gears with all of these things that you've done, what are you most proud of?

 Tai Beauchamp

I feel really grateful to have had a lot of incredible experiences. I think I'm most proud. Of the fact that I'm still standing, really? Because there are even days sometimes down there people don't talk about what it really takes from you as an entrepreneur, not only spiritually and emotionally, but financially, the investment. I think about what it looks like to build business, but then to scale them, what it means when there isn't always the type of resource there, when you have people on your team who you love and you care about and you want to support in every possible way and their families. I'm proud right now. I'm proud of this very moment to say that I'm 45 and getting clearer.

Jessica fein

love that. How do people find you and how do they find out about the retreat?

Tai Beauchamp

Morningmindsetwithtai.com, and on instagram @taibeau.Okay, well, we'll make sure to put that in the notes. Thank you so much for sharing your story and your light with us.

Tai Beauchamp

Thank you. Thank you for having me.

 Jessica fein

Okay, so you probably have a sense now of why Tai is somebody that I could bond with quickly in the line for the bathroom, and there are a lot of takeaways from our conversation. But the thing that really strikes me is what she taught me about rest, because it never would have occurred to me that there were seven forms of rest or seven parts of us that make up a pie that actually need rest. I love how she talked about rest can be active and passive at the same time. And so when we think about those seven aspects of rest physical, mental, spiritual, emotional, environmental, social, and creative what strikes me is I know that when I have felt like one or two of those areas is compromised, I feel exhausted, even if I'm getting a lot of sleep. So I think figuring out a way to tend to or to at least acknowledge that there are all these different pieces of the pie that need tending, that's my biggest takeaway. I hope you enjoyed the conversation and I hope that you are following me. And please leave me a review if you're enjoying the show that means so much to me and tell your friends about it. Next week is Rare Disease Awareness Day, and I have a really special episode planned where I'm being joined by a panel of people who are just amazing in what they're doing in the rare disease space, in how they're living their lives. They're people I'm proud to call friends and people who inspire me. So I hope you'll tune in for that episode. Thanks for listening.