>> My goal is to be the guy that I needed when I was like 14 or 15.

So I try to make music and include, like, little messages that I really wanted to tell myself.

And hopefully, like, you know they stick with, like, the next generation.

>> The Whitney Reynolds Show is supported by Sciton, because results matter.

Leigh Marcus with @properties, sold on helping our community and closing homes.

O'Connor Law Firm, when it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

Children's Learning Place, excellence in early childhood education since 1998.

Happy To Meat You, Prime, fresh, fast.

Theraderm Clinical Skincare, committed to developing skincare products designed to restore skin health and promote natural beauty.

Special thanks to Kevin Kelly with Jameson Sotheby International Realty My Buddy's Chicago Love Your Melon Brendon Studzinski at State Farm Fresh Dental Ella's Bubbles UFC Wrigleyville The Cryo Bar Bark Busters Leah Chavie Skincare Deluxe Cleaning Service STI Moving and Storage and by other sponsors.

(upbeat music) Investigating the chapters behind storytellers and discovering their why behind their words.

We're flipping the script on narrators.

(upbeat music) You're watching the Whitney Reynolds Show.

(upbeat rap music) Storytelling in the form of rap; that's where we begin with Femdot, whose lines are loaded with real life.

He's the son to Nigerian immigrants, a college grad that has always rapped to his own beat.

He's performed at Lolla, prepared for finals in green rooms, and his story continues to come out through songs.

Let's welcome him out.

Welcome to the show!

>> Thank you, thank you for having me.

>> So I am super pumped, because I have not had a rapper on our set before.

And tell us what being a rapper means to you.

>> It's everything, I think.

It allows me to tell people's stories in a, like, authentic way, and myself's as well.

Like, I can tell my story, I can tell the story of people around me, and people can, like, really digest and listen and take away something, and like get a different perspective, but also feel good, you know?

So it's like, it's cool to be able to, like, have that power to do that.

>> Do you consider yourself being a rapper that's kind of changing the way rappers are viewed?

>> I would think so.

I would think that I try to look at rappers or even just myself as like a rapper, is just part of who I am rather than being like my full fledged identity.

Trying to just show that like people can be multi-dimensional, you know what I mean?

And I just happened to rap really good, you know?

>> Well, and speaking of rapping really good, when you were little, you actually thought you had an interesting voice.

How did you start owning that voice and creating who you are?

>> I think just so much repetition.

Like, you know, when I was younger, I was like uh I don't know if I really sound like someone on the radio or something like that, but as I've gotten older and just hearing my voice so much and kind of looking at it more as an instrument rather than like, just a part of me, it's also like a part of this song or something.

So I'm looking at my voice more as an instrument that I need to like, you know, practice with and use and learn how to, you know, ins and out of, it's like made me feel like, oh no I got a rap voice now.

(laughing) >> So let's go back to the lyrics and how you are storytelling.

You are a first-generation, your parents came over and did that go into some of your song and songwriting?

>> Oh yeah, for sure.

It's a lot of like small, like little quirks that you will know if you're like first generation or specifically if you're Nigerian and even just like a lot of my stories in general of like getting out the house or whatever I got going on is like completely because of the environment that I grew up in.

So it, it, it, it, it finds its way.

>> Yeah.

I was gonna say, give us some examples of that, 'cause I love that you say it's like, because of, you hear, if you were a first-generation you might hear it in your lyrics and I've been listening to a lot of your songs prepping for this interview.

So what was I maybe hearing the first generation from?

>> So you'll def, just like, it would be little words that I would slide in, that are, like, Yoruba words.

There'll be, just like, situations, like typically, like a lot of first generations, we all relate on how, like, structured how our parents are.

Like, we can't get out like we want to, we have to sneak out or something or, you know, I'm grown now, statutes of limitation are up, but just like little, little quirks like that, or just like, for some reason, a lot of us tend to drive the same type of cars or like, you know, like the way the household is kinda set up.

So I would like add elements of those into the, into the stories.

Like, I had a project called "94 Camry Music" that's about a 1994 Camry.

And for some reason, every Nigerian I know has driven that Camry.

So it's like, everyone's like, oh, I, I can relate to that a hundred percent.

>> With the lyrics, we also with rappers have seen some that have gone through some really tough stuff.

Did that ever scare you about becoming, like stepping into this industry?

>> Yeah, um kinda.

Like you kind of think like, man that's a lot going on, but also like I'm not even looking at rap from an industry standpoint.

Like I think that's probably what helped me is like, I feel like if you come into the industry wanting to be like, you know, this larger than life artist, or you wanna, like I just like making music, you know, I just genuinely enjoy for myself, like before anything else.

So I think that allows me to kind of detach myself a lot of times from industry things cuz it can get super stressful or super annoying or like super hurtful, like it's a lot that goes into it.

>> Have you written some about that?

>> Oh yeah, like music, music is the most therapeutic thing for me.

So it's, it's probably, it's a lot of, a lot of times I get my breakthroughs through writing about it.

Like maybe I wouldn't even know I'm feeling this way about something, you know, but writing it down will then like bring it to the forefront and then also me hearing it back in my voice.

It's like, Oh, okay, I was really going through this, you know?

>> Doing a show on storytellers, when we were forming this, I thought how amazing would it be to have a songwriter?

And then with you being a rapper and bringing these lyrics to life... With the current stuff that we've been going through as a nation, is that forming some of your inspiration for what's coming up?

>> Oh, I mean, yeah, It's, it's, it's weaved in, I mean a lot of these topics have been weaved in through my music for awhile.

So yeah, it's, it's always something that's a constant, that's going on just in terms of brutality, if you talk in terms of like racial tension, like all of these things, because these are also my everyday life, you know?

So it's like, it's not really hard to include what's going on in the world now because like I've been dealing with this for, you know, since I can remember, so.

>> Do you, when you create something like that, do you create it to make change?

>> I mean more or less it's just created to get my thoughts out and just to, like, allow other people to know that, you know this happens to anybody, you know, not just someone... cuz there are people who look at me in a different light than I look at myself and it's important to show them, like yeah, like you, how you think is how I think too, or, or what's going on with you also happens no matter what status or whatever you think someone has.

>> Right.

And going back to when you were little, you knew you wanted to be this rapper.

So with this next generation, are you creating stuff that you're going to be proud of for them to play out loud and say out loud?

>> Yeah I'm trying to, my goal is to be the guy that I needed when I was like 14 or 15.

So I try to make music and include like little messages that I really wanted to tell myself.

And hopefully like, you know, they stick with like the next generation, so.

>> Give our viewers an example of some of that.

>> I mean, I talk a lot about, just, like I ran through a lot of money when I was young.

I, um, not "a lot of money", but I mean a lot of money to be the ages or whatever, or just a lot of decisions that I would make when I'm like I didn't do what I, what I wanted to do, or I didn't take the risks I wanted to take, or I took a risk that I probably shouldn't have taken.

And, but I, what I would do is reflect from that and be like, aight, like I can never tell you what not to do, but I can tell you what I did, how it went, and allow you to make your own decision.

>> And that comes out in some of your lyrics.

>> Oh yeah, yeah, for sure.

>> I love that.

And helping the next generation is nothing you, is nothing new to you because you do that with your scholarship fund.

That's one of the things I think is really amazing about you is you've kind of learned how to like juggle this all.

What is your secret component?

Because you went to school for?

>> Biology.

>> Biology, and you still love that.

>> Yeah, I do.

>> Do we hear any science raps?

>> Uh, (laughing) no, not really, it'd be like maybe a subtle word or two here and there, but not, no... >> No bunsen burners come out?

>> yeah, it's not no crazy, but you never know though, bunsen burner, actually I could weave that... >> I'll be listening for it in your next album.

>> Yeah yeah, I might keep that, you know, on retainer.

>> But the next generation, you were all about that.

So tell us about what you're doing with the scholarship fund.

>> Yeah.

So we have Delacreme Scholars, which is, it started as a scholarship, became a nonprofit that literally just to help Black and Brown students with their tuition or anything else they have going on.

So we give out the scholarship in the middle of the year cuz that's when the funds run out, that's when you have holes in your account and things of that sort, and you're trying to schedule classes, and you know, a couple hundred dollars can maybe get that hold off and you can schedule.

So it really, we started it maybe a couple months after I graduated college.

Cuz I wanted to do it for a very long time.

So for me, it's like, if you, I'm not going to force anyone to go to school, like I can't, people have other ways and things of that sort, but if you want to go to school and you don't have the option to do so because you can't afford to, that's not your fault.

So how can we help to try to keep people where they want to be?

>> That is amazing.

So you're telling stories through your songs, and in real life helping people write theirs.

So, pretty amazing.

Thank you so much for coming on today.

>> Oh no, thank you for having me.

>> One way for stories to be told is spoken.

And our next guest took it up a level.

The American story.

What does that look like to you?

Well, for Chris Register, he wanted perspective.

So he hopped on his bike and chatted his way through the homeland.

>> I feel like I didn't really know that much about my own country.

I traveled, you know, a decent amount and I did value getting to know folks that are different than me, and different viewpoints.

But even with that value, I still didn't see much of it.

I still lived in a little bit of a bubble.

>> He set the path, divided the US into eight regional blocks, toured 2000 miles, six weeks at a time, and rode a total of 355 days, 16,000 miles and conducted 375 interviews.

The stories that came from the different states ranged in religion, ages, ethnicities, genders, and races.

>> And I was biking, and it was kind of a boring day, and I saw a restaurant called The Tipsy Turtle.

I just pulled in, I didn't know I was on any kind of reservation.

And the owner Alan came out and started talking to me, and he was kind of this jovial older gentleman with white hair and you know, kind of a soft build, and he started talking to me and I didn't realize he was Native American.

And he told me that, he was, he had grown up in the fifties, basically barefoot and running around this river, the Mississippi River I believe it was, and hunting for turtles and didn't have electricity.

And by the time he was in his late twenties, he was running a nuclear power plant.

And that's, you know, to me, that's one of the quintessential American stories, if there ever is one.

And he talked about the benefits of growing up poor, he said something like, you know, I've been poor and I've been rich and they both have their advantages.

>> When he first started, he wasn't sure if people would want to be public about their truths.

However, as he kept pedaling, people kept talking.

>> Because people were so proud.

I've been interviewed an unlawful immigrant woman in Utah, and I just told her, I said I'm not going to put your picture, your name in the book.

And she said, no, I want my picture of my hand in the book.

I've been here for 20 years and I want my story to be heard.

>> And just when he thought he started the quest to learn all about America, he actually had a discovery of his own.

>> My big takeaway though after talking to so many people, is that I'm just, you know, I'm just one in like 360 million voices.

And so to the extent I can understand, I think first to the extent that I can understand that my America, my experience of it is gonna be different than so many other folks.

It's just that idea, I think is the most important thing, one of the most important notions we can have in our mind as we go through, go through the world and think about how our country is working, again writ large.

>> And hundreds of voices later, he discovered despite all of our differences, we still have something in common.

Our country.

>> We're the co-creators of We the Wee, which is a traveling play on a scale that's mini.

We bring it to living rooms, hospitals, and children's homes, and perform for small audiences, some young, some grown.

It's for you if you like stories that move fast.

It's for you if you ever told stories with toys in your past.

The show is for grownups, who are wee at heart, and for students who like stories that make them think smart.

It's a play about how we spend our time and tell our story, who's stories we ignore, and who's we give glory.

>> And from the big screen to miniature figurines, let's meet our next storyteller.

Welcome to the show.

>> Thank you for having me.

So we've been talking about storytellers, and we just saw a wee little bit about what you do.

Tell us about it.

>> So my sister and I have always dreamed of collaborating together on a show or a play of some kind, we both grew up performing.

And we, a couple years ago, had the idea to perform a show in people's homes.

And we weren't really interested in performing a show on a couch.

So we were trying to think of like how could we bring a really magical world into someone's home?

And we grew up playing with little miniature toys like Happy Meals and such our whole lives.

And so we were like, what if we did a show with them?

Because then if you shrink the scale, you could do just as many spectacle things as you wanted in someone's home.

And so, we had this idea to make a miniature play and that's what we did.

>> What is the messaging behind it?

Because, you know, you are telling something bigger and this is Storyteller.

So what is the story you're telling with these?

>> Yeah, it's sort of a modern day fable about how we use our time and what it means to narrate our lives, which is something that we're all doing way more of with social media, and what that does to kind of how we, what we value.

I think it came out of conversations that we'd been having with a lot of our friends and talking about sort of the amount of time that we spend on our phones and on social media and the, the way that we portray our lives on social media too.

And so I think that sort of just kind of got into the story.

>> Well, and it's also a way to take on a big plot line and make it relatable through these miniature figurines.

You're kind of tackling some big issues, but yet doing it with dolls, which is brilliant.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

So that is the fun part of it.

>> Well, thank you so much for coming on.

>> Thanks for having me.

It's so good to be here.

>> Today's story got us thinking about our own life stories, and how will it be told We wanted to know, are you consciously writing yours?

>> I work with a lot of actors and creative people, and I actually worked in developing their stories and drawing it out of them.

And all I do is really ask questions.

And I say pile that all together, and then sort, let's sort it out, let's sort the pile out.

Cause I think sometimes people think this is my story, and when you really start putting it together, the story is something completely different.

>> You said being conscious of writing your story, and just being present with every single day, the choices that you're making and what you're doing, that will help build your story and when you look back on your life, you can be happy about it.

>> I graduated with a film degree and I've definitely learned that in these times that not only learning how to tell your story, but who you're telling your story to and where you're telling your story is just as important.

>> Whitney: Our next storyteller opens up about her difficult past and how it led her to a new business.

Jess, tell us about when you were a kid, you know we've been reading through your book and talking about being bullied.

What were some of the things that happened?

>> Well, I'll never forget sixth grade, there was a huge assembly and there was a speaker.

I don't remember what she was talking about, but there were probably hundreds of us in the assembly hall, and she took questions at the end.

And I raised my hand.

I was in sixth grade.

I was probably 10 years old and I had really curly hair, okay.

My mom, God bless her soul, she would brush.

So what happens when you brush a curl?

It frizzes out, right.

So that's how I went to school every day.

And I, 10 years old.

I didn't even realize, wasn't even conscious of that, that looked funny.

And I raised my hand to answer a question, I'm going to get emotional just thinking about this, and she said in front of hundreds of hundreds of kids, yes the girl in the middle with the fluffy hair.

And everyone laughed.

>> Whitney: It's crazy how some of these things stick with us, right?

>> Yeah it's wild, I was not expecting this.

And every day I was made fun of for my hair, but that level of bullying was traumatic and it had it still, it still haunts me clearly.

I mean, it stays, stays with you that stuff.

And I took that into my young adult life as a as a young woman in a, in a lot of serious ways.

You know, I definitely played out my trauma unconsciously in my, I dated abusive men, I, you know, made a lot of poor mistakes when it came to friends 'cause I, I had blind spots.

I, I wanted so badly, and I still think I do, to be loved and to be liked, don't we all, to be approved of.

And so that's a shadow side, and we make decisions sometimes from our blind spots, from our shadow sides, they're unconscious.

And then we, we get hurt again.

And then we see the light, and we make a better decision next time.

>> Whitney: All of a sudden those emotions just come back out, and I want to know how you stepped in to owning your story and saying, yeah, this is part of me but now I want to take this with me to be the person I'm becoming.

>> I think, you know, once I realized the power of sharing my story, becoming honest and transparent, you know whether that was in small communities of girlfriends or in new sisterhoods or on stage at certain public events, whether it was a panel or a podcast, the resonance that people feel when you're vulnerable, and you're honest about what you've been through, not only are you more relatable, yes, but it can be healing because you have this common experience.

And as soon as I felt safe in trusting that there were other people out in the world that had similar stories, you know, we've all been through some level of trauma.

There's such a spectrum, but we've all been through something.

And when you are willing to open up about it, the level of connection that you can create in your life, it's, it's part of the healing process.

>> Whitney: She is now an entrepreneur who runs a seven-figure company that based her whole business on the concept that she just spoke about.

Owning your journey, even the tough parts, and making that part of the bigger story.

Her secret to success came from the struggle.

And now she is sharing that story not only with her clients, but also with the world.

>> So tell us, what are we going to find, some juicy parts of your story?

>> My favorite parts of the book to be frank are the the preface and the afterword.

So the book, the book is sort of bookended by a particular day in my life where I was absolutely at one of my rock bottom moments.

And I had to drive north to my parents' house to ask them to help me pay my phone bill, 'cause I was that broke.

And the shame and the self-loathing and the fear that that moment was, and what I realized that day.

And then the afterword is my drive back to the city, and the decision that I made, I just got the chills, and the decision that I made to stop being a victim to my own life, and to remember that I had value regardless of what was in my bank account, that I had worth.

>> A real life story turned movie.

Now let's take a look at the actress that helped bring it to life.

>> Yeah.

I play, a play, a woman, Leslie Bacardi, who is in a way a real life hero.

She had a sort of fairy tale life.

She was working as an air hostess and she met her husband on one of the flights who happened to be an heir to, you know, the Bacardi family basically.

And she, so her life changed significantly when she married this amazing man, but even within the marriage they had, you know, some very serious challenges and she was kind of the foundational rock in their relationship, very strong woman, a very charismatic woman.

And in real life, she, she really is an inspiring person.

So to meet her was something quite, quite lovely.

And she was on set when we were shooting, so both Aden and I were playing these two real people who were on set, watching us do it.

So it was kind of surreal and you know, very fun for all of us.

And you know, if we had any questions of course, they were available to, to answer.

>> Whitney: Radha Mitchell plays a lead role in the movie "2 Hearts", a movie that tells a real life story.

A story that was lived once, and continues to teach lessons.

>> And to me, the wisdom of the story is very much about trusting life.

Just trusting the purpose of life, even when you're in the challenging moments that don't make sense.

You know, I guess the one that we're in now collectively, that eventually there is a kind of a greater purpose to things.

And you really just have to trust that.

>> The unique thing we found with each guest is how their personal story actually impacts their gift.

What will your story say about you?

And how are you writing it?

Remember, your story matters.

The Whitney Reynolds show is supported by Sciont, because results matter Leigh Marcus with @properties, sold on helping our community and closing homes.

O'Connor Law Firm, when it comes to your injuries, we take it personally.

Children's Learning Place excellence in early childhood education, since 1998 Happy to Meat You, prime, fresh, fast.

Theraderm Clinical Skincare, committed to developing skincare products, designed to restore skin health and promote natural beauty.

Special thanks to Kevin Kelly, with Jameson Sotheby's International Realty.

My Buddy's Chicago Love Your Melon Brendon Studzinski at State Farm Fresh Dental Ella's Bubbles UFC Wrigleyville The Cryo Bar Bark Busters Leah Chavie Skincare Deluxe Cleaning Service STI Moving and Storage And by other sponsors.

Go beyond the interview with Whitney Reynolds and her 52 week guide of inspiration.

The book goes deeper into the topics you see on the Whitney Reynolds Show.

To get your copy for $12.95 plus shipping and handling, go to whitneyreynolds.com/store and use code PBS.

For more information on today's program, visit whitneyreynolds.com or follow us on social media, on Twitter @WhitneyReynolds Our mommy!