Speaker 1: Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly
Speaker 1: conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small
Speaker 1: decisions we can make to become the best possible versions
Speaker 1: of ourselves. I'm your host, doctor joy hard and Bradford,
Speaker 1: a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or
Speaker 1: to find a therapist in your area, visit our website
Speaker 1: at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you
Speaker 1: love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is
Speaker 1: not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with
Speaker 1: a licensed mental health professional.
Speaker 2: Hey, y'all, thanks for tuning in for session three thirty
Speaker 2: six of a Therapy Black Girl's podcast. We'll get right
Speaker 2: into our conversation after a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1: Introducing our new Therapy for Black Girl's holiday gift collection.
Speaker 1: A new ensemble of drinkwaar totes, journals, and sweaters were
Speaker 1: made to remind you of the importance of centering your
Speaker 1: mental health. Purchase your tvg gifts at Therapy for Blackgirls
Speaker 1: dot com slash shop. Happy holidays, y'all, remember to take
Speaker 1: good care and give good gifts.
Speaker 2: Hi everyone, my name is Zaria Taylor and I am
Speaker 2: a sophomore Documentary filmmaking major and philosophy minor attending the
Speaker 2: SPILM in college. You've likely heard my questions, read my
Speaker 2: show notes, and listen to podcast episodes that I've pitched.
Speaker 2: Since the beginning of this summer, I have been the
Speaker 2: TVG podcast production intern. As an intern, I was tasked
Speaker 2: to pitch and produce a TPG podcast episode from start
Speaker 2: to finish. What You're about to hear is a project
Speaker 2: that represents the culmination of everything I've learned from the
Speaker 2: wonderful TBG team during my time as an intern. You're
Speaker 2: in for a treat. Can you think of a time
Speaker 2: when your nerdy interests were healing for you. It could
Speaker 2: be that comfort anime that always bends your spirits up,
Speaker 2: the video game you play when you want to escape
Speaker 2: the world, or that time when you knew you look
Speaker 2: good as hell cosplaying at a convention with your besties.
Speaker 2: To chat with TBG about all things fandom and wellness,
Speaker 2: Doctor Joy is joined today by author, world builder and
Speaker 2: nerdy creator Jackie A. Jackie is a vocal supporter of
Speaker 2: mental health awareness and self care amongst black women, advocating
Speaker 2: for those suffering from depression and social anxiety. In her
Speaker 2: fiction work, she writes about women with the surrealist magical touch.
Speaker 2: Some of the themes that came up in today's conversation
Speaker 2: include how to cultivate a community within fantom spaces, the
Speaker 2: importance of showing up as one's true nerdy self, and
Speaker 2: the ways in which our favorite games and TV shows
Speaker 2: can make talking about mental health issues more accessible. If
Speaker 2: something resonates with you while enjoying today's conversation, please share
Speaker 2: it on social media using hashtag tvg in session, or
Speaker 2: you can join us in the sister Circle talk about
Speaker 2: the episode. You can join us at community dot therapy
Speaker 2: for Blackgirls dot com. Here's our conversation.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining me today, Jackie.
Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited, very excited to chat with you. So
Speaker 1: we are tapping into our black girl nerve bag today
Speaker 1: and I want to hear from you, like, what is
Speaker 1: your earliest memory of nerding out to something? Was there
Speaker 1: a particular movie, a comic? What was your first nerd experience?
Speaker 3: I would definitely say Sailor Moon watching Sailor Moon with
Speaker 3: my older brother and we shared a bunk bed. He
Speaker 3: was super into power Rangers. He was super into like Pokemon,
Speaker 3: Digimon and all of that, and so I would just
Speaker 3: be under my blanket watching along with him and being
Speaker 3: in awe of all the colorful images on the screen,
Speaker 3: the powerful women, the magic I loved it. So yeah,
Speaker 3: that's my earliest memory.
Speaker 1: And any particular character on Sailor Moon.
Speaker 3: Oh, of course, the main girl, Usagi. I definitely relates
Speaker 3: to her because she is a cry baby, but she
Speaker 3: still manages to save the day, and so it's very
Speaker 3: inspiring to me as somebody who has intense social anxiety
Speaker 3: that I can go cry the bathroom and still come
Speaker 3: out and like slay.
Speaker 1: So love it.
Speaker 3: Love it.
Speaker 1: So you mentioned that you're my brother was a fan
Speaker 1: of the genre as well, But was there any particular
Speaker 1: response that you got from your family when you express
Speaker 1: more interest in kind of these nerdier, maybe more fringe things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, not at all. My parents are both Nigerian immigrants,
Speaker 3: so for them everything was new. So me watching my
Speaker 3: weird cartoons, it wasn't anything weird to them because everything
Speaker 3: is new to them. So they've always kind of encouraged
Speaker 3: me to like lean into my interests, which I know
Speaker 3: is different for a lot of first generation Nigerian kids.
Speaker 3: But yeah, my parents have always pretty much been, especially
Speaker 3: my mom, pretty supportive of whatever weird ideas I come
Speaker 3: up with or whatever weird things that I indulge in.
Speaker 1: Nice, So you mentioned Sailor Moon was one of your favorites.
Speaker 1: Are there others that you feel like you really related
Speaker 1: to you especially as a younger person.
Speaker 3: Okay, so I can actually speak to ones I relate
Speaker 3: to now as an adult.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 3: I find more inspiration anime now. When I was a kid,
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, ye, keep you fighting. But now
Speaker 3: I actually just wrote about this in my newsletter. I
Speaker 3: have a newsletter I sent out weekly called Diary of
Speaker 3: a Said Black Girl. We're talking about like healing after
Speaker 3: hustling and everything like that, and I just spoke about
Speaker 3: one piece. It's a show about pirates, and you would think,
Speaker 3: where are you getting inspiration from this show? Right? But
Speaker 3: the main character, Lucy, he's like, I want to be
Speaker 3: the King of Pirates, and he is so inspirational in
Speaker 3: his chasing after his goals and inspiring others to chase
Speaker 3: after their goals too, even when they directly oppose him.
Speaker 3: And so I'm like, that is the kind of person,
Speaker 3: the kind of spirit that I want it embody. It's
Speaker 3: just that person who keeps trying and keeps going even
Speaker 3: after failure or even after people try to hold you back,
Speaker 3: or even after being like ridiculed, which a lot of
Speaker 3: nerds are probably used to. And so i'd say, right now,
Speaker 3: One Piece is inspiring me the most.
Speaker 1: Okay, I love that, And you know, I do feel
Speaker 1: like that is a part of the draw for a
Speaker 1: lot of people in anime, Like it definitely feels like
Speaker 1: they're able to take lessons and apply to their own life,
Speaker 1: or there's something the character is going through and it
Speaker 1: makes them rethink things about their own life. So I
Speaker 1: appreciate you sharing that. For anybody who's looking for new
Speaker 1: things to watch, I'm sure they want to check out
Speaker 1: One Piece. So, Jackie, where are people watching anime? Are
Speaker 1: you watching it like mostly online? Oh?
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, Country Roll, Funimation, Netflix, Hulu, Hbo Max.
Speaker 3: You can pretty much watch anime anywhere now. Back in
Speaker 3: the day, it was only like Tsunami on Cartoon Network
Speaker 3: at a certain time, But now like anime is write
Speaker 3: out our fingertips everywhere? Got it?
Speaker 1: Okay?
Speaker 2: Perfect?
Speaker 1: Perfect? So, in addition to being a fan of all
Speaker 1: of these shows. You are also an author, and so
Speaker 1: you authored the Nigerian manga series Adorned by Chi. So
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear you talk a little bit about
Speaker 1: what inspired you to write, especially in this genre where
Speaker 1: you're not typically seeing a lot of black authors.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So what inspired me was I was constantly seeing
Speaker 3: myself in characters who didn't look like me, which isn't
Speaker 3: a problem because I still identify with characters like Usagi
Speaker 3: can say with Moon or Lufy from one Piece. But
Speaker 3: I just thought like, what is stopping me from making
Speaker 3: characters that look like me and the people I know
Speaker 3: that we can relate to too in a genre that
Speaker 3: we all love. And so that along with wanting to
Speaker 3: explore my own Nigerian heritage, mix it all together.
Speaker 4: That's how I came up with the Burbaichi.
Speaker 3: Even though I've been a writer, not publicly, but like
Speaker 3: I've been a writer since I was a kid, and
Speaker 3: so I was always interested in storytelling. So it was
Speaker 3: like three things I love, which is storytelling, anime and
Speaker 3: manga and my Nigerian culture and representation so I can
Speaker 3: score things. And then also each character was inspired by
Speaker 3: people that I know in my personal life, the main
Speaker 3: character also has social anxiety. You have characters dealing with
Speaker 3: abandonment issues and grief and everything like that. I always
Speaker 3: try to mold in bake in mental health talk and exploration.
Speaker 4: And everything that I do. I didn't even know I was.
Speaker 3: Doing it when I was writing, but now I'm consciously
Speaker 3: aware that this is something that I care about, is
Speaker 3: talking about these issues.
Speaker 1: So I know that you are also in school to
Speaker 1: become a therapist. So with your experience in the mental
Speaker 1: health field, you just talked about like having to write
Speaker 1: characters that experience things like social anxiety and abandonment, can
Speaker 1: you talk a little bit about what that experience is
Speaker 1: like writing from that angle?
Speaker 3: Cathartic, it is kothardic. I enjoy discussing things that I've
Speaker 3: been through, things that people I love to care about
Speaker 3: have been through, and even things that I've learned. And
Speaker 3: I want people to feel seen through the characters that
Speaker 3: I create. But I also want to give people like
Speaker 3: the tools and coping mechanisms to deal with the issues
Speaker 3: at hand too, And so even though my license yet,
Speaker 3: but it's the goal. I try to do what I
Speaker 3: can with what I know through fiction.
Speaker 1: Nice nice. So we've talked to other guests here on
Speaker 1: the podcast about black girls and black women in nerdy spaces,
Speaker 1: and we know that it is not always the most
Speaker 1: hospitable environment for black women and girls. Can you talk
Speaker 1: a little bit about what your experience has been as
Speaker 1: you've been the leader in the field and have hosted events.
Speaker 1: What kinds of experiences have you had and how did
Speaker 1: you find your voice as the black woman in the field.
Speaker 3: So with my experience, luckily, because I cultivated a community
Speaker 3: of like kind, caring and empathetic people, I tend to
Speaker 3: avoid those kind of super toxic vibes, but I see
Speaker 3: that they're there, and I see that people in my
Speaker 3: circles are highly affected by it. There's a lot of misogyny,
Speaker 3: there is a lot of racism. A lot of these
Speaker 3: characters do not look like us. But when we try
Speaker 3: to engage and cosplay and have fun, you have people
Speaker 3: saying you can't do that because you're black, you know,
Speaker 3: and things like that, or you don't really like this
Speaker 3: stuff because you're a woman. And so I've dealt with
Speaker 3: some of the misogyny being a nerdy woman and engaging
Speaker 3: with men in the space. But for the most part,
Speaker 3: I stick to who I call my magical girls, my
Speaker 3: magical girl gang, where we talk about feelings and fiction
Speaker 3: and magic and it's safe over here.
Speaker 1: Can you say a little bit more about how you
Speaker 1: went about creating that community or finding space, is that
Speaker 1: we're more affirming?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I think it has to do with a
Speaker 3: lot of what I personally talk. Like I was saying earlier,
Speaker 3: I talked and write about mental health. I talk and
Speaker 3: write about things like grief and coping and things like that,
Speaker 3: And so when people enter into my space, they already
Speaker 3: know that this is a space where we can talk
Speaker 3: about deeper issues in a safe environment. And so I
Speaker 3: think just kind of like wearing what you're about on
Speaker 3: your chest kind of helps because I find that super
Speaker 3: toxic people find my spaces to be boring because there
Speaker 3: is no room for that over here. And I do
Speaker 3: hope that over time, with more exposure and more like events,
Speaker 3: like there's an event called dream Con that's all about
Speaker 3: black nerds and it's very lit. Everybody loves it. It's
Speaker 3: growing exponentially. I feel like the more we all engage
Speaker 3: with each other, the less the misogyny and the racism
Speaker 3: will exist.
Speaker 4: I hope fingers cross.
Speaker 2: But yeah, more from our conversation after the break.
Speaker 1: So, besides your magical girl gang, can you talk about
Speaker 1: any other communities where black women might be able to
Speaker 1: find spaces that kind of foster that camaraderie.
Speaker 4: Yes.
Speaker 3: So on the gaming side, there is a community called
Speaker 3: Black Girl Gamers, and I know that they are safe
Speaker 3: space for women in gaming. Like I said, dream Con,
Speaker 3: it's hosted by prominent members of anime community. It's a
Speaker 3: collective called RDC, and I know they care a lot
Speaker 3: about creating safe spaces for women. They're men, but they
Speaker 3: see what happens to women. And I know that they've
Speaker 3: been cultivating spaces within their own spaces where women can
Speaker 3: feel safe.
Speaker 4: So those are the two that come to mind.
Speaker 1: So you've talked about how kind of anime and in
Speaker 1: these spaces you found a respite for kind of working
Speaker 1: through some of your own mental health challenges. Can you
Speaker 1: talk a little bit more about how being a part
Speaker 1: of fandoms has cultivated your mental health.
Speaker 3: I think that being able to speak about mental health
Speaker 3: issues through the lens of these characters like Soggi probably
Speaker 3: having anxiety, Lucy dealing with people stumping on his dreams.
Speaker 3: I think that being a nerd kind of provides a
Speaker 3: perfect vessel to talk about these issues, but through these
Speaker 3: characters in a way that's more I guess that just accessible. Yeah, excess,
Speaker 3: thank you, accessible as the morn.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 3: And so I enjoyed talking about issues through the lens
Speaker 3: of my favorite characters, my favorite shows, and I find
Speaker 3: that it opens up other people when I have these
Speaker 3: discussions too, They're like, yeah, yeah, no, I felt that
Speaker 3: way too, Like I've gone through this too.
Speaker 1: Can you give some examples, Jackie, of some of the
Speaker 1: characters and shows that kind of have some of these
Speaker 1: mental health angles.
Speaker 3: Yes, Okay. So there's a show called Watimote and the
Speaker 3: main character has intense social anxiety, like she goes to
Speaker 3: McDonald's and can't even plays an order anxiety. And I
Speaker 3: relate to that so bad, Oh my gosh, because I've
Speaker 3: gone to places where I'm stuttering and stumbling and everything
Speaker 3: over my words, where I'm shaking a sweater and I'm like, ah,
Speaker 3: So to see that in the medium that I enjoy
Speaker 3: and to see it so like obvious. And then also
Speaker 3: I keep circling back to one piece, but it's the
Speaker 3: last thing I watched in One Piece, the main character,
Speaker 3: I'm neuro divergent. Main character is definitely giving neuro divergent
Speaker 3: vibes to me. He has a strong sense of justice,
Speaker 3: he is very open minded to people. He's very very
Speaker 3: laser focused on his goal and that they if he enjoys,
Speaker 3: and so I can relate to that. And then there
Speaker 3: are shows like Wonder Egg Priority that deals with actually
Speaker 3: suicide where every episode the characters battle monsters that represent
Speaker 3: the mental health issues of young women who have committed suicide.
Speaker 3: And so it's like, you think that anime is fun
Speaker 3: and fights and adventure, but there are also shows that
Speaker 3: really dive deep into different issues.
Speaker 1: So, Jackie, have you seen any resources? I'm curious, you know,
Speaker 1: like a show like that, if you just stumble upon
Speaker 1: it and don't necessarily know what the content is, are
Speaker 1: there resources that you've seen that help people to kind
Speaker 1: of process what they're seeing, or you know, help the
Speaker 1: process after they've watched.
Speaker 3: No, that would be great if there was a warning
Speaker 3: or any sort of resources after the showing, But like no,
Speaker 3: I went in there kind of blind and I was like, oh,
Speaker 3: this is very deep. So I would definitely suggest looking
Speaker 3: up the show that you're about to watch, seeing if
Speaker 3: there's any content warnings or trigger warnings before you watch
Speaker 3: the show, because the thing with anime is the show
Speaker 3: will look one way and then you watch it and
Speaker 3: it's totally different that you expected. So I suggest always
Speaker 3: looking up the trigger warnings before you watch any show.
Speaker 1: It all, I'm wondering, Jackie, as you continue with your
Speaker 1: training to become a therapist, have you already thought about
Speaker 1: and I can't imagine that you wouldn't like marry your
Speaker 1: interest in like these nerdier things and anime and that
Speaker 1: kind of thing with clinical practice or you know, talking
Speaker 1: about mental health kinds of topics.
Speaker 3: Yeah, when it comes to talking about mental health topics
Speaker 3: and anime and nerd stuff, I already do that. But
Speaker 3: when it comes to like marrying my professional practice with
Speaker 3: who I am in the nerds space, I've already decided
Speaker 3: to keep it separate because I have a great fear
Speaker 3: of birth of the code of ethics or doing something wrong,
Speaker 3: maybe anxiety, and so I definitely want to keep those
Speaker 3: two things separate. But I do want to take what
Speaker 3: I learned and then reflect it in my nerd content
Speaker 3: as well. So it's like secret but like still share
Speaker 3: with everybody.
Speaker 1: It's interesting to hear you say that because I feel
Speaker 1: like i've seen now. Granted, I think the people I'm
Speaker 1: thinking of are white men, so we know that, you know,
Speaker 1: they can occupy a very different space. But I've definitely
Speaker 1: seen male therapists talk about video games and like they
Speaker 1: use that as a part of their practice, and you know,
Speaker 1: have whole groups around social anxiety and gaming and like
Speaker 1: use the game content to really, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: work through some clinical pieces. So it's interesting to hear
Speaker 1: you say that you're hoping to completely avoid that and
Speaker 1: keep it completely separate.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, yeah, well not completely separate content wise, but
Speaker 3: just like you know how Superman has his secret identity
Speaker 3: and then he works at the Daily Viegle or wherever
Speaker 3: he works. That's how I ought to be. Where I work,
Speaker 3: it's private, but the content things that I learned, I
Speaker 3: will definitely mix it in with the anime and the
Speaker 3: nerd stuff. I just have to find a way to
Speaker 3: do it in a way where I feel like my
Speaker 3: license is safe. Because something I understand the line, and
Speaker 3: I'm sure you've seen it too, is I've seen black
Speaker 3: you know, therapists be like and so I want to
Speaker 3: avoid at all costs.
Speaker 1: Got it, got it, understandable, understandable. So I'm curious, Jackie,
Speaker 1: at the beginning of the pandemic around how many people
Speaker 1: were soothing with Animal Crossing. Can you talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about any games or movies or cartoons or anime
Speaker 1: episodes that have been particularly soothing for you?
Speaker 3: Oh? Yeah, I mean Animal Crossing for sure, it's like
Speaker 3: very relaxing. But there are two things in particular, one
Speaker 3: show episode and one movie that I watch over and
Speaker 3: over again, and so for feelings of burnout and burnout recovery,
Speaker 3: I see just people watch Kiki's Delivery Service. It's a
Speaker 3: Haya Miyazaki movie about a little witch who loses her
Speaker 3: magic and she has to regain it over time, and
Speaker 3: so I relate to her because, as I said earlier
Speaker 3: in the podcast, I had to pump the brakes on
Speaker 3: everything in my life at some point because I was
Speaker 3: losing my magic and dealing with burnout and I'm just
Speaker 3: now getting over it. And so Kiki's Delivery Service is
Speaker 3: one of the movies that I watch to kind of
Speaker 3: inspire me and let me know that it's okay to
Speaker 3: chill and then get back to it. And then I
Speaker 3: don't know if you've heard of the show Recess. It
Speaker 3: was on Disney Channel. Yeah, there's an episode of Recess
Speaker 3: called Nobody Doesn't Like TJ. So TJ is the most
Speaker 3: popular kid in school. Everybody likes TJ. There's nobody who
Speaker 3: doesn't like him except for one kid. And so TJ
Speaker 3: spends the whole episode doing everything he can but this
Speaker 3: one kid. I think he even saves his life low
Speaker 3: key in the end, and he's like, so do you
Speaker 3: like me? You know you like me now, like I
Speaker 3: did all this for you, and the kid's like, no,
Speaker 3: I don't. I just don't like you. And so that episode,
Speaker 3: like when I watch it as a kid, and even
Speaker 3: when I watch it now as an adult, it's inspiring
Speaker 3: because it's like, Okay, you're not always going to be
Speaker 3: like you can't always strive for this like idealistic perfect
Speaker 3: I don't even know how to describe it, Like you
Speaker 3: just won't always be like by everybody, no matter how
Speaker 3: hard you try. And I think a lot of anxiety
Speaker 3: comes from trying to get that sense of perfection and
Speaker 3: everything like that. And so when I watch that show,
Speaker 3: I'm like, Okay, even TJ was disliked, it's okay, and
Speaker 3: sometimes it's nothing you did. Sometimes people just don't like it.
Speaker 3: So those are like my soothing pieces of media.
Speaker 1: I love that. That sounds like a great watch. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have to go try to find that one.
Speaker 3: Yes.
Speaker 2: More from our conversation after the break.
Speaker 1: So what advice would you have for young black girls
Speaker 1: who are interested in nerdy things but may be afraid
Speaker 1: to express this interest.
Speaker 3: I would say that you should nerd out loud, because
Speaker 3: the louder you are about your interests and the things
Speaker 3: that you like, the more you become like a homing
Speaker 3: beacon for other people who think like you and feel
Speaker 3: like you. I'm a black girl, child of immigrants growing
Speaker 3: up in the Middle Kansas, So for me to find
Speaker 3: people who were on the same wavelength as me, I
Speaker 3: thank god for the Internet and I was able to
Speaker 3: share and share and share on the inn, which is
Speaker 3: how I ended up on this podcast too, and find
Speaker 3: like minded people like me. So if you just keep
Speaker 3: being yourself, even in the midst of criticism, even in
Speaker 3: the midst of self doubt, just keep being yourself, and
Speaker 3: the people that you were supposed to vibe with will
Speaker 3: rock with you.
Speaker 1: I love that. Thank you so much for that, Jackie.
Speaker 1: So I love it if you could share, like one
Speaker 1: of your most favorite experiences from like a con that
Speaker 1: you've gone to, are some kind of event that really
Speaker 1: affirmed for you that you were in the right place.
Speaker 4: Definitely dream Con.
Speaker 3: I know I've brought it up like three times now,
Speaker 3: but I went to dream Con last year for the
Speaker 3: first time as a civilian. Like I usually go to
Speaker 3: cons to represent my business and my brand and things
Speaker 3: like that, the last year, because I was in my
Speaker 3: season of rest, I just went for fun and it
Speaker 3: was so fun. I'm not usually one who goes to
Speaker 3: like after con parties or like connecting people after the
Speaker 3: convention that I put myself out there and because of
Speaker 3: things like massage mey and stuff like that, I usually
Speaker 3: avoid certain spaces. But at dream Con, those spaces were
Speaker 3: so safe, so fun, and I just had a great
Speaker 3: time connecting with everybody. So I definitely suggest if you're
Speaker 3: going to go to any convention, go to that one.
Speaker 1: Perfect. So I have a couple of rapid fire questions
Speaker 1: for you that I'd love for you to answer. So
Speaker 1: the first one is, what is an anime that you'd
Speaker 1: recommend to first time watchers.
Speaker 3: Okay, so I would recommend Full Metal Alchemists. I think
Speaker 3: that it is a fun adventure. There's lots of deep themes,
Speaker 3: like anime is just teeming with deep things. Actually, it's
Speaker 3: a short watch. I believe it's around fifty episodes, so
Speaker 3: it won't be overwhelming because I think One Piece is
Speaker 3: at a thousand now. But Full Metal Alchemists I feel
Speaker 3: like girly things like me. Of course, Sailor Moon is
Speaker 3: a great first watch. And then also if you like superheroes,
Speaker 3: a show called Tiger and Bunny.
Speaker 1: So who is the character that you haven't cosplayed as
Speaker 1: that you want to someday?
Speaker 2: Mmm?
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, Sister Knight from Watchmen? Did you watch
Speaker 3: Watchmen with Virgin? I did?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 3: Ever since I saw her costume, I'm like, oh, I
Speaker 3: want to be Sister Knight.
Speaker 4: So that's what we love it.
Speaker 1: What comic book are manga? Have you read more than once?
Speaker 2: Hmmm?
Speaker 3: Let's see. It's snot Girl, So it's not a manga.
Speaker 3: It's a comic book by the same guy I believe
Speaker 3: he did Scott Pilgrim Versus the World. It's about a
Speaker 3: influencer named Lottie. She literally just has a problem with Scott.
Speaker 3: That's why it's called girl. It's very surreal, it's very weird.
Speaker 3: It's even hard to explain the plot, but the vibes
Speaker 3: are immaculate. So I suggest that everybody read It's not Girl.
Speaker 2: All right?
Speaker 1: And what's a game you've played lately that you've really enjoyed.
Speaker 3: I'm definitely a Sims floor girl. I love sims FO.
Speaker 3: I love when you play on PC. You can add
Speaker 3: a bunch of modifications. So give my character social anxiety
Speaker 3: because I just kind of want to live through you
Speaker 3: for the day, or you really do anything. You can
Speaker 3: raise an alien, have a vampire, the husband sims fourth grade.
Speaker 1: So how can people stay connected with you? Jackie? What
Speaker 1: is your website as well as any social media channels
Speaker 1: you'd like to share.
Speaker 3: So people can check out more of me at my
Speaker 3: website jackiea dot com. That's ja c q U E
Speaker 3: A y E dot com. If you're interested in very candid,
Speaker 3: quote unquote diary entries that I send out weekly, you
Speaker 3: can check out my Diary of a Sad Black Woman
Speaker 3: that's JACKIEA dot sulkstack dot com. I've been documenting how
Speaker 3: I've been rebuilding my life, so if you like, come
Speaker 3: on this Starney with me. Check it out. And I
Speaker 3: Jackie a on all social media platforms.
Speaker 1: And we talked about the Adorned by Chia book. But
Speaker 1: you have a couple of other books. Do you want
Speaker 1: to tell people about those books and where they can
Speaker 1: find them?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 3: So I have The Magical Girl's Guide to Life, which
Speaker 3: is actually, like we were discussing, mixing mental health with
Speaker 3: magical girls and saving the day through self care. I
Speaker 3: also have How to Be a Better Adult. That one
Speaker 3: is a very very weird book, admittedly weird book about
Speaker 3: a young neuro divergent black woman who feels like a
Speaker 3: failed adult and then she finds a magical handbook like
Speaker 3: we al wish we had an adult handbook, and she
Speaker 3: follows it to the tea with disastrous results. I actually
Speaker 3: just wrapped up a kickstarter for another book called I
Speaker 3: Lived to Served, which it is a magical mystery, the
Speaker 3: very first romance I've ever written, because usually I'm just
Speaker 3: all about magic and weird themes. But I took a
Speaker 3: stab at Rowe, so that's what I've thought. So fall
Speaker 3: in my repas Fall, So yeah, just check that out.
Speaker 1: When you cosette perfect, We'll be sure to include all
Speaker 1: of that in the show notes. Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for spending some time with us today, Jackie.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 2: Once again. I'm so glad that Jackie was able to
Speaker 2: join me for this conversation to learn more about her
Speaker 2: and the work she is doing. Be sure to visit
Speaker 2: the show notes at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash
Speaker 2: Session three thirty six, And don't forget to text this
Speaker 2: episode to two of your girls right now. If you're
Speaker 2: looking for a therapist in your area, check out our
Speaker 2: therapist directory at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com slash directory.
Speaker 2: And if you want to continue digging into this topic
Speaker 2: or just be in community with other sisters, come on
Speaker 2: over and join us in the Sister Circle. It's our
Speaker 2: cozy corner of the Internet designed just for black women.
Speaker 2: You can join us at community dot Therapy for Black
Speaker 2: Girls dot com. This episode was produced by Frida Lucas,
Speaker 2: Elise Ellis, and myself Zaria Taylor. Editing is by Dennison L. Bradford.
Speaker 2: What's