Season 4 - Episode 8 - Interview with Ms. Moe

"It’s ongoing. You’re constantly working, and you’re constantly building, and striving for excellence, when it comes to whatever you have a passion for. And I have a passion for my YouTube channel. I have a passion for singing. I have a passion for helping people, know what I mean? I really do. That is a passion of mine. And this is what I do. I could be walking down the street, and a regular Joe Schmo, Mary Lou will come up me, not knowing me from a can of paint! And they will pour their heart and soul out to me. And that has happened on numerous occasions. Know what I mean? Especially with people that I do know as well. A lot of people have come to me, and continue to come to me, in confidence, because they can appreciate my advice, or my counsel, or my positive energy, my encouragement, my being able to uplift. That… I don’t know. This is what I’ve been told from people, as well. I encourage. I uplift. I motivate. This is what I do. And some people say, 'Well that’s your ministry!' Okay. Okay. If that… I do believe that as well. I do have a gift."

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Welcome to the Wise Not Withered Podcast! We are in Season 4, Episode 8. This month's guest is Ms. Moe. She is a YouTube creator and personality; you can find her under @LetsTalkWithMoe on YouTube and Instagram, and more recently on YouTube she has leaned more toward reaction videos so it's called Ms. Moe Reacts. I found her on Instagram, and I liked her personality, she seemed very positive and entertaining! She talks about lots of different things: a little bit about her upbringing, the work she does outside of her YouTube channel, her children who are also content creators and business owners, and many things she has learned over her lifetime.

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Cool! All right, so let’s just jump right in. What is your age?

My age is 57!

57, cool. And where did you grow up? And what other places have you called home throughout your life?

I grew up here in Springfield, Massachusetts. That’s where I’m born and raised. And I called New Haven, Connecticut home for a short time. I had my first son, my first child, when I was there. And so that was back in ’82. I had lived there… I would say… A good year. And a few months. And when my son was a few months old, I moved back here.

Okay. What brought you to Connecticut?

(Laughs) At the time… My husband.

Okay. And then you moved back… What brought you back?

Um… For better opportunities. Things weren’t going too well there. Of course, we were still together—we hadn’t gotten married yet. But yeah, better opportunity, hopefully. Just for a better life, a better start. I just had my son, so we were still trying to figure things out.

And what do you do for a living?

So… For an actual living! (Laughs) For an actual living, I work for a community health center here in Springfield, Massachusetts. It’s called the Caring Health Center, and I have been working there… Upcoming on October 6th, it will be 17 years! I’ve been there since ’06, so you do the math! I have worn many hats there, but I work for them. It’s a non-profit, federally funded, FQHC. And you know, I’ve just worn many hats there. Federally qualified health center. I am a medical professional.

Okay. What are some of those hats?

Okay. So here’s the rundown!

Yes!

The rundown is… When I first started there, I was front patient registration. When all the patients came in, I registered them, checked them in. After doing that for two years, I was approached and offered the position of assistant manager. And so I went to our second site—now we have three sites, but then it was only two sites. I went to the second site; I was the assistant manager. And then after that, hit a little bump in the road… After that, I took a break, you know, from managing. And then after the break, I went back to patient registration, and then I went back to being the assistant manager.

And after that, I went to front operations manager. And then… After that! (Laughs) I hit a couple of bumps in the road with my health, for the past I would say two, two and a half years… I had to take some time off—I had to be on medical leave, the year before last and last year. And so… When I came back to work, I was working with the call center. And then shortly after that, I went to pre-registration. So this was the year before last, when I came back to work. I started off in the pre-registration, did that… And then last year, went on medical leave again. Then came back, started in the call center, and after that, went right back into pre-registration. New patient appointments. That’s what I presently do. All around the mulberry bush, right? (Laughs)

Yeah, yeah, that’s indeed many hats! (Laughs) Yeah, how did you get started in that?

Oh. So… Long to the short, I was working for a stop and shop distribution warehouse, many years ago. Then all of a sudden they closed, they went out of business… Laid everybody off. And I’m talking about people who were working there for years. Laid everybody off, gave everybody a severance. I was so conditioned, gotta work, gotta get a job!

Years before, I kept saying I want to go back to school. I want to go back to school to get my GED, because I never graduated. So I got laid off from there, and it was really a tug of war going on, as far as… Okay, it’s the perfect opportunity to do it. I can go back to school, get my GED. I have no problem collecting unemployment, cause that was there for everybody who got laid off. Fine. So after making the decision to go back to school, get my GED, I did that. After taking the test, time was dwindling down, funds was dwindling down, the time I was on the unemployment. It was due to end.

And I ran into an employee—no longer works there—but I ran into an employee who was working there at the time, and I told her that I was looking for work. I ran into her and her husband at the time. And her husband, I went to cosmetology school with!

Oh wow!

Yeah, go figure. So long to the short, she said, “You know what, we’re looking for people. Go and apply, put me down as a reference.” And okay! So it was history from there on. Like I said I started with Caring Health Center in 2006.

Mhm. You mentioned cosmetology school?

Yeah! So… I went to cosmetology school, I graduated, no problem…

What all is that? I’m thinking hair and makeup… Is it more than that? I’m not really sure.

Well, I can tell you when I went—which was many moons ago now! It was hair, it was facials. It was… What do they call it, aesthetician? It was hair, facials, it was nails… But at that time, it was… You could do either hair, beauty stuff, or just nails. So, in the cosmetology part of it, they taught us how to do manicures, and pedicures—certain things you do and do not do with pedicures and manicures. Facials, and hair… We dibbled and dabbled with makeup, but nothing professional. So that’s what we did in cosmetology school.

I went, I graduated, had a lot of fun doing it. I worked part time, at the same time. When I graduated cosmetology school, I worked a little bit in a salon. Maybe two years. I worked in two different salons. It was… Nice, good, and fun. The only thing about, you know, doing hair and in that field, is it’s hard to build up your clientele. At least it was for me. I don’t think, looking back on everything now, I could have done a lot of things differently. But I didn’t know then. You know what I mean?

Yeah.

You have to put forth an effort to build up your clientele any way you can. And I didn’t have that know-how then.

Yeah. That sounds more like… I don’t know, business, advertising? That would be separate from your actual skill set that you’re using in the job, right.

Well yeah, because you know, that is your job. That is your business. You’re in charge of how much you’re building it up, or how much you’re not. And how much money you’re dishing out to rent that space, and to buy products, and all of that… It takes a lot when you’re first starting out.

Yeah, I did wonder. Your hair is beautiful!

(Laughs) Aw, thank you. Thank you so much. I can’t take credit this time.

Oh, no?

No, between my daughter and my stylist… I’m very well taken care of!

Okay! Awesome. Yeah so you mentioned you have a daughter, you have a son. Two kids—are there more?

No, I have three children. I have two sons, and a daughter. My daughter is the youngest. And I have two sons… My oldest son is 41, my middle—my youngest son is 34, and my daughter is 28.

Okay. Can you talk more about raising them, and what you’ve learned through your children? I know that’s probably… You could write a whole book about that, right? (Laughs)

That’s a big thing! Well… I would… First of all, I would say they are the best things that have ever happened to me. My first son, I had him when I was 16. My children are 6 and 7 years apart. And let’s be clear, I didn’t raise them by myself and on my own. I did have a husband. So we raised them together.

Some times were better than other times, as far as raising the children. We weren’t rich. We were poor. Two-income home. But they had everything they needed, you know what I mean? It’s not easy, it’s better with two people than one. You know what I mean? It’s not easy, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wouldn’t change anything. Because if I changed anything about how they came about, how they were raised, I would not be where I am at this moment.

But… How do I put this? I didn’t have any… You know, issues, as far as raising my kids—how they turned out. It wasn’t an easy journey. I was a young mother. And learning as I went along, you know… And just trying to take one day at a time, always trying to make sure they had, you know what I mean? Always put myself on the back burner. Nevermind me, I’ll be okay. I will figure it out. I am grown. But as far as you kids? No. Whatever you guys needed, I would spend my last dime, making sure you guys, you know, had, all the time. I would definitely make sure that their hair was done. (Laughs) Yeah!

Right, yeah!

My boys always had the nice cut! I always made sure my daughter’s hair was always done. With my daughter, that was a struggle, because of the type of hair that she had. But I always made sure that they looked good, that they were clean! Their hair was done, their clothes were clean. They may not have had the name brands that everybody is so hung up on, and all of that… But they always had what they needed! We had good times—we have good times. Everybody’s an adults. Everybody comes to and fro… Yeah. I love my kids! I love my kids.

Yeah, so you said they’re 6 and 7 years apart. What are some things you learned as you became a new mom in those different phases of your life?

Oh, wow… What a question! To make sure… I can be hard and stern, but I’m always fair. I’m always fair. And I always try to make sure that, you know, there were no favorites. I always tried to make sure that all of my kids felt loved, and knew that they were loved, and tried to spend as much time with them as I possibly could, in the formative years… You know, going to games, going to school functions, going to parent-teacher conferences, going to open houses, all of that. That’s very important. I always tried to do that.

When you have kids, you never ever want to look around and wonder, “What happened?” When, or if your kids start acting a certain way, and start talking to you in a certain way, then you wonder, “Where is this coming from?” Or “Who do you think you’re talking to?” Then, they’ll tell you! You know what I mean? It could come out good, or it could come out bad. But it’s very important that you try to do that.

I don’t know, I mean… Those are some of the things I learned along the way. I always wanted to make sure my kids were happy! You know, happy and… I didn’t want them to have to want for anything. Even though we were poor—we didn’t have money like that. We were surviving, you know what I mean? We took one day at a time, one week at a time, one check at a time.

That’s one thing, I always wanted my kids to be happy. I didn’t want them to, you know, like they say, be in grown folks’ business, about the bills, about the money. I never wanted them to worry about that. So… I hope I answered your question!

Yeah! And I guess yeah, speaking of kids, and relationships with kids, what was or is your relationship with your own mom like?

Oh okay. So… My relationship with my mom is much better now than it was before.

Yeah, take us through the evolution!

Oh, God…

As much as you’re comfortable!

(Laughs) So… You know, me and my siblings, we all grew up in church. My mom has been the secretary of our church for over fifty years now.

Oh wow, okay.

We all grew up in church. I am the baby of six siblings. So we all grew up in church and whatnot… I left home at a real early age, hence me having my first child at 16. So when all of that was going on… It was an ordeal, to say the least. Things weren’t… The best, you know. Over the years, things… Got… They were not so good. Let’s just keep it at that. Things were not so good over the years. But things got better with time, you know? Fast forward to now, my relationship with my mom is 100% better than what it used to be.

Now don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying my relationship with my mom, when we did have rocky times… It was never, you know, like the type of cussing and screaming and arguing, slamming doors… Being disrespectful and rude. It was never, ever that. I just want to be clear about that. I never, ever disrespected my mom in that type of way, in that manner.

Now, we are excellent, we’re much closer. We’re in a much better place now.

Nice! Did that happen over time? Or do you remember a turning point?

It happened over time. I can’t give a specific time frame of when it happened. It’s just one of those things that happens organically. You don’t really, like, oh okay, yes, I remember it was right then! No. It just happens! You go through life, you know what I mean? You’re living. So… It just happened.

Okay. Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s see, switching gears a little bit! What are some of your hobbies or leisure activities?

Ooh! (Laughs) So let’s see. Okay! So, I love to sing. I can sing! Not to toot my own horn or anything…

Please, toot your own horn!

I can sing, I love to sing. I’ve been singing ever since I was a little girl. I grew up in church singing. I got my singing ability from my dad, and my mom—collectively. I love to sing! In my spare time, I have done weddings, I have done funerals. Occasions like that. And of course, I have my own YouTube channel.

That was the next question! (Laughs) But yeah, please continue.

I have my own YouTube channel. It started off as being “Let’s Talk With Moe”. That was the beginning of it. That used to be the title of it. But now, it’s Ms. Moe Reacts. (LINK) And I’m on YouTube. And so I’ve been doing YouTube for some years now! That’s like, my main hobby that I do. My main thing that I do in my spare time. As soon as I’m done Monday-Friday working my 8:30-3:30 job, I try to dive into that. On the weekends and anytime I can through the week. That is my outlet, know what I mean? That is my go-to.

So I sing, I have my own YouTube channel. I used to do hair in my spare time, but I don’t really do that anymore, you know? I can do hair, I just don’t. There comes a time… I still love it, but not like that.

Of course, I love to shop!! Who doesn’t like to shop!? And you know, I try to spend time with my kids. As much as I can! They’re all grown. The oldest lives in Atlanta—he’s married. Couple of grandkids… My youngest son and my daughter live with me. My youngest son has a son, and my daughter doesn’t have any children.

That’s really about it. I just really, really love doing my YouTube channel! I really love it.

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Full transcript can be found on wisenotwithered.com!