https://traffic.libsyn.com/downsouth/Adena_White_Full_Episode_Audio.mp3 In this engaging conversation, Stacy Reece and Adena White explore the significance of storytelling, cultural identity, and the importance of sharing Black Southern narratives. Adena shares her journey from a small-town upbringing in Arkansas to becoming a storyteller and podcaster, emphasizing the need for authentic representation of Southern voices. They discuss the challenges of code switching, the impact of family heritage, and the importance of encouraging future generations to embrace their roots while exploring the world around them. Takeaways Adena emphasizes the importance of storytelling in sharing Black Southern experiences. The podcast Black Belt Media was born out of a desire to tell underrepresented stories. Cultural identity and heritage play a significant role in shaping personal narratives. Code switching is a common experience for many, reflecting the complexities of identity. The conversation highlights the need for authentic representation in media. Adena encourages young people to explore their identities and not be afraid to branch out. Family and community roots are essential in shaping who we are. The importance of having open conversations about race and identity is emphasized. Adena reflects on her college experience as a first-generation student. The discussion underscores the value of mentorship and guidance for younger generations. Titles The Power of Storytelling Navigating Code Switching Sound Bites "We need to tell those stories." "You have time, don't rush it." "Be true to yourself." Chapters 00:00 Introduction and Connection 02:56 Adena's Background and Family 06:04 Roots and Heritage in Arkansas 09:06 The Birth of Black Belt Media 11:59 Podcast Journey and Challenges 14:55 Cultural Reflections and Racial Reckoning 17:52 The Importance of Storytelling 21:00 Navigating Identity and Code Switching 24:03 Experiences in College and Beyond 27:08 Advice for the Younger Generation 29:59 Hopes for Future Generations Stacy Reece (00:06.304)
Adena White, I am so happy to have you on my podcast. And thank you for making time to see us. I was telling you on the phone the other day how I learned about you. And my husband had been on the podcast called Pull Up a Chair with Leo Cummings, the Thoid. And actually I had discovered him and I said,
Adena White (00:27.321)
Mm -hmm.
Yes.
Stacy Reece (00:35.028)
I have got to get Chuck on Leo's podcast. said, those two will talk each other into little greasy spots. And they did. And then, and the funniest thing is, like, I don't really have a lot of time to listen to podcasts. And so was listening to one and then my podcast player just randomly picked, pull up a chair with you as the guest. And so I thought, okay, I'll just listen to Leo comes to see what he's up to. And, and he started talking about this person and he couldn't remember his name.
Adena White (00:55.417)
Mm -hmm. cool.
Stacy Reece (01:05.044)
And I realized it was my husband, you know, from the previous episode, he goes, you gotta meet this guy. And I'm like, I was going, I was yelling in my car in Atlanta traffic. was going, Chuck Reese, Chuck Reese, you know, and he finally figured it out like five minutes later in the, in, in your conversation. But you know, when I was listening to you talk about what you're doing, I thought she's doing exactly what I'm doing. We need to be friends. And so, and so I thought,
Adena White (01:13.273)
You
Adena White (01:18.18)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (01:27.535)
Yeah.
We do!
Stacy Reece (01:32.416)
what better way to become friends to do a podcast together? So I thought I'm going to get you on here and we've talked a little bit, but I don't know that much about you. I just, I know you, you and I are going to be good friends cause you're good people. And, and, and I want to find out what's going on in Arkansas because, we get a little, you know, like I live right outside of Atlanta. We get a little Atlanta centric, you know, we don't, you sometimes, sometimes it's hard to
Adena White (01:44.869)
Yes.
Adena White (01:58.422)
-huh.
Stacy Reece (02:00.266)
to get out in the South and what you're doing in Arkansas is pretty cool. So I'm gonna start off with my three questions. Who are you? Where are from? And who are your people?
Adena White (02:07.459)
Thank you.
Adena White (02:14.363)
Okay, well who am I? am Adena Wise we discussed. I was born and raised in central Arkansas, still live here. I am a middle child, have two sisters and I've been married for, what is it? should know, 17 years to my husband Matthew and we have a new kindergartner, almost six year old and we now have a miniature poodle that we got a month ago.
Stacy Reece (02:34.849)
Wow.
Adena White (02:44.035)
So, yes, and so what I, I guess another part of who I am, by trade, I work in PR and communications. So I love, I guess I'm a storyteller. So that's kind of what I do for my work that we'll get into, I'm sure. And also what else? yeah, who are my people? Okay, what was the second one? Was that who are my people? what am I?
Stacy Reece (02:44.802)
See
Stacy Reece (02:53.484)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (03:04.226)
Who are your people?
Stacy Reece (03:08.278)
Who are you? Where are from? who... Central Arkansas, right?
Adena White (03:13.475)
Okay, I got those two together. who are my people? Hmm, I think my people are, I like people who are curious, who are thoughtful. And I just named some examples of people. When I think of like, and they're both Southern actually, Brene Brown, I think these are, she's my people. I don't know her, but like just people like her who are thoughtful, authentic, things like that.
Stacy Reece (03:32.138)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Adena White (03:41.295)
You know, by blood, my people have a huge family. My dad's side is pretty scattered because they were in the military, a lot of them. My mom's side is mostly still here in Arkansas. But a huge black southern family. And I already mentioned my family I live with. But yeah, so those are my biological people, but they're also my people people. But just people who fill me up are people who seem to be thoughtful and they think deeply.
Stacy Reece (03:45.364)
Mm
Stacy Reece (03:52.136)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (04:03.455)
-huh.
Adena White (04:11.023)
They're good listeners. think those are the people that really I like to connect with. And I think you're going to my people too. By the end of this, think you're going to be my people. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (04:18.018)
I hope so. So you say you come from a big southern family and I came from, I just had a brother, but there were 10 grandchildren and we all had family. And like, I always felt sort of overwhelmed by my family. there were a lot of really big personalities in my family. And it was just sort of, and I guess that's how I learned how to become a good listener is because they were all like,
Adena White (04:23.855)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (04:35.173)
Mm.
Adena White (04:44.047)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (04:44.802)
you know, they were all vying for attention and I was just trying to stay out of the way. And so, I mean, what was your experience of being in a big family?
Adena White (04:49.348)
Yes.
Adena White (04:54.043)
Yeah, in my household, they were just, you know, me and my two sisters and my parents. So we didn't have that bigness. like my dad, he's one of 11 and my mom is one of 11. So like, I can't even count my first cousins. I have no idea how many first cousins I have. And it's so like, but when we when when we get together, you know, it's always just like there's a song's gonna break out. It's gonna be some singing. You like some kind of gospel singing and stuff. And that's always fun.
Stacy Reece (05:06.58)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (05:21.162)
Yeah
Adena White (05:24.491)
So I think I am pretty introverted, I do like I do like, you know, you know, small gatherings and stuff. But in general, I'm pretty introverted. like, anytime like we can like do some line dances and like sing some gospel songs together, family gatherings, that's always my jam, even though I'm kind of reserved. So, yeah.
Stacy Reece (05:32.544)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (05:40.638)
Mm -hmm. Right. Yeah, I'm introverted too. Yes, like I like, I like people just not all at once. And, and, and, you know, they just kind of wears you out being around all those people, especially like the big personality types. And, you know, so I find it, I find it very troublesome. I can only do large, large gatherings for a short period of time, but we are, my family never did the whole fun line dancing.
Adena White (05:48.667)
That's it.
Adena White (06:04.684)
yeah, yeah.
Stacy Reece (06:09.792)
gospel singing. It was just. It was all just one up in each other and some barbecue, so it was. It's southern. I mean, it's very southern. So is your family been in Arkansas for a long time?
Adena White (06:16.189)
it's always good though. Murphy, he's always good. Yes.
Adena White (06:24.931)
Yes, actually my husband does genealogy research. He can tell you exactly when they came. the county where I grew up in Arkansas, some of my ancestors migrated from, I think, Haywood County, Tennessee. He'll probably correct me if he hears this. But Tennessee is where they came from. But this was probably like, you know, late 1800s. And then I think my dad's side, some of came from Mississippi. I have some folks from South Carolina. But it was probably...
Stacy Reece (06:38.187)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (06:44.343)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (06:48.147)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (06:51.865)
I as far as settling down here was probably like in the 1800s I believe. So pretty long time. Yeah. The roots in those other places. huh.
Stacy Reece (06:55.468)
Yeah! Yeah.
Yeah, that's a really long time. Lots of roots. I mean, there's, there's a lot of people who don't have, you know, that, that kind of sense of place, you know, you know, and it's like, you that that's where you, you know, you, you feel, you know, like Georgia is where I feel myself. My family, you know, my family's we're eighth generation. I'm eighth generation Georgian. You know, it's like my family's been here and I was like, I, I am Georgia.
Adena White (07:07.388)
right, right.
Adena White (07:15.972)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (07:24.256)
you know, and you probably feel the same way, like I am Arkansas. And you know, know, I mean, just like, like there's just no other place like that, especially when you got it like in your DNA, you know, and, and so you have got this, tell me, tell me about this new project that you are not, not new project, but this project you're working on that you are developing.
Adena White (07:24.815)
Yes.
Adena White (07:28.505)
I do, yeah.
Adena White (07:37.561)
Yes.
Adena White (07:49.3)
It's called the company's called black belt media and we produce a podcast.
Stacy Reece (07:52.938)
Mm -hmm. And the cutest it has the cutest logo it is Is a bowl we will it is a cotton ball but it's it's it's the African Hair or afro. Yeah, and so I just think it is genius and and it really it just says you all over it
Adena White (07:56.76)
yes, I have my little cup right here if you can see it. I don't know if you can see it.
Adena White (08:04.367)
huh.
Adena White (08:08.559)
Yes, yes.
Yeah, it was a talented designer I've worked with for years when I first had the idea I went to her and I said First we just drew up a quick logo for something else But then for like when it just gonna be a blog But when we decided to like get more serious making a podcast I said I want an afro and a cotton ball mixed together and she just or bowl house I think I said wrong. Anyway, she she's whipped that up. It was perfect and we
Stacy Reece (08:36.417)
Yeah.
Adena White (08:40.891)
when it's in color, like more like earth tones and stuff. Lots of browns and tans and you know, earth tones. the project, it was 2017 when the idea came about. And the reason why was because as you know, in 2016, we had a big election. And during the election season, I was getting pretty frustrated by the way people would talk about black folks, which every election season you're gonna have something come up. But that one in particular,
Stacy Reece (08:43.564)
Yeah. huh. huh.
Stacy Reece (08:53.751)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (09:06.209)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (09:10.927)
Whenever issues about black people came up, know, the candidate on the right would talk about Chicago. That will always be where he would go to talk about race, Chicago. And after the election, personally, it didn't go the way I wanted, but I was frustrated with people who were supposed to be on my team, you know, who were bad -mouthing the South, you know, talking about the South voted for Donald Trump and, know.
Stacy Reece (09:20.46)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (09:36.441)
Let's throw the whole South away. Just a bunch of backwards people. And that was frustrating because just like all black people don't live in Chicago, the South has black people there. Like actually most black Americans live in the South, the majority of black Americans. So I was getting frustrated because I felt like black Southern stories weren't really being told. Our experiences weren't being told. We weren't part of the narrative about what it means to be black or Southern. So...
Stacy Reece (09:48.279)
Mm
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (09:57.484)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Adena White (10:03.491)
I wanted to tell those stories as someone with a background in storytelling. I wanted to do more to share those stories. So I started off as a writer. You know, I was going to make a blog about it. So I interviewed someone that I met for my job when I used to work for a Chamber of Commerce. She actually worked for a Chamber of Commerce in Tennessee. And in the Chamber where you do a lot of benchmarking trips, so like one Chamber will go to another Chamber, you'll learn from each other. So she and I were paired up as this communications people. And so I began following her.
Stacy Reece (10:12.268)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (10:19.36)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (10:26.107)
huh. huh.
Adena White (10:31.995)
But after the election, she had kind of the same drive I did. She basically started a nonprofit to deal with voter disenfranchisement in Nashville, Tennessee. And so I was inspired by her, like, using the election outcome to kind of do more, kind of like a Stacey Abrams type, but just in Nashville. So anyway, I went to talk to her. So we spoke over the phone, and I was going to write an article about her. And then she was talking. She was like, this is great presentation.
Stacy Reece (10:40.73)
huh.
Stacy Reece (10:48.718)
huh. huh.
Adena White (11:01.977)
She started getting emotional on one part and I was like, man, I really want to convey these feelings that she's having. This will be great audio, but don't talk. I'm introvert. I don't, I don't want to do a podcast. so anyway, kind of put down the back burner and then, my sister Katrina, she's a former TV producer and she also works in PR. she, she was going to help out with the blog and write as needed and stuff. she was all, she was all in. And then I had another friend and Kara Wilkins who also was all in to help with the blog.
Kara and I were having coffee and then I was talking we were just talking about something and she's just very extroverted she was talking about like the cultural relevance of Beyonce and Jay -Z and she gets she just she's fun and she's she just she's a fun person so as we were talking I was like hey you know that black bit idea it's just like yeah and I said I'm thinking this should be a podcast would you be a co -host and then she said yeah I will so then Katrina and I were talking on the phone and we always talk about like
hopes and dreams for our careers and personal development and stuff and she said I'm just a producer looking for show because she kind of even though she didn't miss TV news she kind of missed producing a show and I said by the way black belt is now gonna be a podcast instead of a vlog do you want to help out? She yeah sure and so I told you about the logo how that came together Katrina my sister's husband my brother -in -law is a talented musician I told him I kind of want it like
Stacy Reece (12:20.567)
Good.
Adena White (12:27.515)
lift every voice and sing with some trap music as part of song. So he whipped that up. And then our podcast launched in September of 2019. And so that was a long time between like the initial idea to the launch of the podcast. But like, it was an idea that was brewing and then finally we got it out there and you can stop me whenever you need and I'm gonna keep going for it. So then we released a few episodes in January. I was listening to a different podcast I like called Side hustle.
Stacy Reece (12:48.032)
No, no, no, I love it, yeah.
Stacy Reece (12:55.906)
January of 2020. Okay, right. Okay. All right.
Adena White (12:57.243)
2020 right before COVID. Yes. Okay. So I was, was listening to a podcast I like called side hustle pro and she helps people, you know, start side hustles and you know, she was her side hustle was a podcast and she was talking about how she was upset that Apple didn't mention her in like the best entrepreneurial podcast. And she made a point to say, well, I didn't ask. And I was like, I can ask Apple for stuff. then, so I emailed, I found the email address online.
And I just requested that we be in like the Black History section for Black History Month. And so I forgot about the email. I can't remember if I got a response or not. But one day me and Katrina, my sister and Kara, were meeting on MLK Day actually to talk about the podcast. And then I pulled up my phone to look something up like when our last episode was released. And I saw our logo on the new and noteworthy section. And I kept staring at it. I was like,
Stacy Reece (13:28.994)
Ohhhh.
Adena White (13:53.167)
Why is this here? I couldn't make sense of it. And then I realized, my gosh, we're new noteworthy. Cuz I made them all check their phones to see if it was tripping. it was actually,
Stacy Reece (14:01.804)
We need to ask. know, like southern women are never taught to ask. We're supposed to be awarded. We're supposed to be observed and awarded when it's our time.
Adena White (14:04.727)
yeah, yeah.
That's a good point, yes. Right.
Adena White (14:14.907)
And they gave me beyond what I even thought to ask for. Like I didn't ask to be new and noteworthy. I just wanted to be in the black section, you know. But they, and I think a woman who I connected with, her name maybe, maybe is Stacey too. But she, I think she just probably, think she was a Southerner. So I think she kind of like, it's kind of like what she saw. And then I think she helped elevate it. So that was really cool. And then as you know, the rest of 2020 got a little crazy. Just a little bit. And I'll, I'll.
Stacy Reece (14:21.122)
Yeah!
Stacy Reece (14:32.268)
Mm
Mm
Adena White (14:43.811)
In the summer of that year, we remember George Floyd was murdered and we also had Breonna Taylor was killed and the Mount Aubrey was killed. And so there was, you know, we had that racial reckoning that was going on. So at this time it was on fire. So many ways. Yes. And then so we were on hiatus. We did our season from like September through February and we took a break. then so Apple reached back out that contact I had and she asked,
Stacy Reece (14:48.556)
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Stacy Reece (14:55.308)
The world was on fire.
Adena White (15:11.769)
If y can release any new episodes, would like to do a regional, we like to do the regional perspective about what's going on. And then I say, yes, we already have one we're working on. So we released that episode and Apple elevated us in like different categories, like Juneteenth, Black Culture Matters and all this stuff. And then next thing we know, the Oprah Magazine features us in like, like maybe, I don't know, eight podcasts to make you smarter or to, to fill your, you know, expand your knowledge.
And then Vanity Fair put us on a list of like some top black podcast about black history. So those were like some big national attention that we got less than a year after launch that we didn't expect. And the timing was right. Of course. I mean, I don't want to say right, that's a hard word, but like the timing helped elevate black voices during that time. But also even in January, before everything happened, I think they liked what they heard. Like, like we're doing some people authentic and who they are and where they come from.
Stacy Reece (15:49.29)
Yeah!
Stacy Reece (16:00.448)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (16:07.552)
Mm
Adena White (16:10.873)
just talking, getting behind the mic, you And so that's kind of been our journey so far and we're looking to, we took a little break for a while, about a year and a half, and now I'm trying to get back into it and really hone down on what we're all about, so.
Stacy Reece (16:11.274)
Mm -hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (16:19.585)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (16:23.938)
You know, like I had started at the Welcome Table podcast in I think 2018, 2019, and I'd gotten three or four episodes. I split one into two episodes. So I'd gotten like three, you know, three guests, you know, and, and, that was like, I have a little barn in my backyard where I do all my things. And, and that was, we just had a Yeti microphone.
Adena White (16:31.727)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (16:39.525)
Mm
Stacy Reece (16:48.264)
and across the table and you could hear everybody like knocking, you know, like every creek of the chair and all of that. But it was kind of like all we had at that point. You know, it's like the the technology for doing this just wasn't really there. And then the podcast, I then the pandemic happened. And so sitting across the table from anybody has just gone. And and I just didn't have the ability to reach out to people on
Adena White (16:52.228)
Yes.
Stacy Reece (17:17.878)
over the computer or whatever. That was beyond me at the time. And then, you know, and so I am just now getting back up again. like I did, I'd recorded one episode in January and it took me until June to get it released, you know, and then, yeah, you know, and then, but now that I've gotten it released, you know, I did one with a Jackie Trimble, who's this wonderful poet in Alabama.
Adena White (17:21.081)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (17:35.962)
yeah, another feeling.
Stacy Reece (17:46.966)
You know, I just got that released and then I've done two interviews today. You're one of them. So it's, it's going, you know, but it's just kind of like getting the momentum up to, to do that. It's, it's really hard, especially, you know, I think it's just like, we're just kind of, I think men have an easier, I'm just gonna say, think men, white, I think white men have an easier time getting podcasts. I just, I say that and, you know, it's like getting, you know, just being
Adena White (17:52.464)
awesome.
Adena White (18:11.259)
you
Stacy Reece (18:14.89)
women from the south. just don't think there's a lot of like encouragement for that. You know, it's like, I think we're kind of in like a new sort of genre. Like we are celebrating Southern -ness that is not like full of redneck nonsense, you know.
Adena White (18:17.369)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (18:35.447)
Yep, right. Because we're not used to hearing voices like ours on the airwaves, know, like whether it's country or southern or a black scent or a combination of three. know, sometimes you're not used to hearing that. So I think the more people we have speaking, the more people we encourage to share their own stories and use their own voices, you know.
Stacy Reece (18:39.83)
Yeah, yeah.
Stacy Reece (18:55.786)
And so I'm feeling you on the whole like take a hiatus and like getting it back up and running. And also in the meantime, my husband and I launched our sister company, Salvation South. So it's not like I wasn't busy and I'm sure you were doing all sorts of stuff too. It's just sometimes getting the priority of what's important to you out is out the door. Sometimes I think of Southern women, we're taught
Adena White (19:08.559)
Mm -hmm. yeah, yeah.
Stacy Reece (19:24.31)
to put that as a lower priority. And so we don't push it as hard as we need to push it.
Adena White (19:30.351)
Yeah, right. And, you know, despite the podcast having that success and actually opening doors for me, when it comes to like, you know, people taking notice for consulting projects. And then like, I think it helps me get some visibility in Arkansas just to be like, we trust her to help us with this communication stuff. Even still, it's easy to put it aside because it just feels like it's not important because it's like, I'm just talking. like, this is like storytelling and these conversations are what kind of
Stacy Reece (19:37.932)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (19:42.625)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (19:52.204)
Yeah.
Adena White (20:00.365)
inspire change, mean they're what makes things happen. But we discount that sometimes because it doesn't feel like work, I guess. It doesn't feel important. Yes, right, yes. That's cute, yeah.
Stacy Reece (20:08.514)
And it's yours. mean, it's just like your little hobby. You know, I just feel like it's mine. it's and it's and but it's it's just a cute little podcast. It's a women's it's a women's issues thing. But I think I think part of the reason why I want to do this is I was I say in my intro, I was born in 1965, the same year as the Voting Rights Act, you know. And so I grew up in a very different south than my white ancestors. You know, I'm
Adena White (20:31.557)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (20:37.694)
eighth generation Georgian, all of the bad things that white people did to black people in the South, exhibit A, right? And so I feel like we are, like I was on the other side of that whole civil rights, voting rights law that changed everything, not overnight, but it changed. And I feel like we need to remember
Adena White (20:56.144)
Mm
Adena White (21:00.443)
All right.
Stacy Reece (21:06.722)
or talk to people and record the stories of the people who do remember the before times. Because I think there's sort of, there's this, there's this current sort of daydream or a longing for 1962, you know? And actually I did see, you know, I think part of one of the germ of this idea is like, I was talking to this wealthy, influential old white man and he said, would, and he is, you know, like everything.
Adena White (21:21.626)
-hmm.
Stacy Reece (21:35.138)
going for him and he says, I wish we could go back to 1962. And I was like, why is it 1962? And I was like, that's right. When they couldn't have credit cards, black people knew their place, you know, and everything was great for them. And I feel like we're starting to get like this re -imagination of what it was like in the good old days. And I think it's important that we have these conversations
Adena White (21:46.821)
Hmm.
Adena White (21:59.429)
Yep.
Stacy Reece (22:04.31)
Like you and I don't know that, don't know that South, but I know the stories from that South because I'm older than you. I'm, you know, it's like, I heard people reminisce about those old days and they weren't good for women and black people. And I mean, they were great for white men and the women who love them. And, you know, and so I feel like what it's like getting these stories, keeping these stories while, you know, like making sure that we talk to people who remember.
Adena White (22:06.714)
Right.
Adena White (22:15.545)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (22:22.991)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (22:33.398)
what it was like so that we know not to do it again. it's hard to, for just these ordinary people in Arkansas or Louisiana who have those experiences and remember what it was like, they don't have a platform. And I think you're giving a lot of the women who, or men and women who,
Adena White (22:38.385)
right.
Adena White (22:57.742)
Right.
Stacy Reece (23:03.028)
who have those stories and you know I'm certainly going to be competing for those stories too because I think it's important that we have that dialogue between you know white southerners and black southerners and and everything else because because you know it's like people from outside the south they don't understand us and you know we might fight amongst each other because we're kin you know literally and figuratively but you know but don't don't y 'all don't y 'all come in here and tell us anything because that not
Adena White (23:25.775)
Yeah.
Adena White (23:30.586)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (23:32.598)
We're not gonna have that. And I feel like you have that same sense. Like, we're not gonna do that.
Adena White (23:39.387)
I really do, especially, I think as a progressive, when I hear progressives from, well, as some people call them, blue state liberals, know, talk about places like the South in like negative condescending ways, I'm like, you're kind of doing the same thing that you think we do down here, you know, the looking down on people and all that stuff, because it's very,
Stacy Reece (23:50.71)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (24:03.55)
Mm -hmm, mm -hmm, mm -hmm.
Adena White (24:07.215)
It's very classist. A lot of it is actually racist too, because as we talked about the diversity of the South, the reason why we have so many of these issues with like, that deal with race is because we have a diverse population down here. So people are going to create laws that keep that, you know, that make it harder for, you know, immigrants to vote and for black people to, and redistricting and stuff like that, because we have this diverse population. like, so when people think that, I can never live there, it's like, well,
Stacy Reece (24:10.198)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (24:20.61)
Mm
Adena White (24:35.589)
You'll be living around a bunch of cool people. mean, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, you know, have all types of people who live here. don't, when people act like that, when they question, then when they they can't live there, it's kind of like, well, what are you saying about the rest of us? you know, there's people, there's you moving here in droves. Like it's a good place to be. We just have issues just like everywhere else, you know.
Stacy Reece (24:54.39)
Mm. It's in.
When I was talking to the poet Jackie Trimble who lives in Alabama, you know, she says we talk about racial issues in the south more than other because the other parts of the country they got the same racial issues too when I went up to Pittsburgh to graduate school in the 90s they they used a lot of racial epitaphs and You and they had they had segregated neighborhoods. They they were just segregated by ethnicity, you know, where they choose to live, you know, but
Adena White (25:06.466)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (25:11.141)
They do.
Adena White (25:17.999)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (25:28.418)
You know, one of the things I noticed when I was up in Pittsburgh and this was, I went to Pittsburgh in 1991. So this was a long time ago. I noticed that black people were more equal, but they were more separate. And in the South, they were less equal, but less separate. know, like I, I did not see, I did not see people making friendships across that color line. And
Adena White (25:43.312)
Hmm.
Adena White (25:56.975)
Hell yeah.
Stacy Reece (25:57.598)
or knowing somebody that was black. In the South, I mean, didn't understand the inequality that was part of my relationship with any black person that I met, but I had, know, fond feelings for some black people that I had in my life, and I didn't realize how unequal the relationship was, but I didn't see that in Pittsburgh. there was, you know, so there was a lot of racial divides.
up there too that I think was pretty much unaddressed. And I think here we, you we have, you and I have, you and I are having this conversation right now, you know, and, and we do it in a way that's constructive and, and hopefully forthright.
Adena White (26:42.907)
Yes, what you say reminded me of an article. It was actually published 10 years ago. I'm seeing now, I just Googled it. It's from the Washington Post and it's from 2014 and they said that three quarters of white people don't have any non -white friends. And that's all over the United States. And so it just shows you how segregated our entire.
Nation is you know by a neighborhood and stuff like that and even if it's not intentional You know, probably choose your home because of that reason, you know going to a school That's that way your church or it so becomes to where you don't have any Connections so like it's so I was actually an article from Washington Post back in 2014 that I think code the np code switch podcast kind of brought to my attention, which is which is you don't think that I mean that would be the case in 2014
Stacy Reece (27:18.464)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (27:26.487)
Yeah.
Adena White (27:37.787)
And of course not today, but it is all over the country.
Stacy Reece (27:41.92)
Yeah, yeah, and I...
One of the things that Jackie Trimble said is that we have our own biases. We have our preferences of who we want to be around. And that's just sort of innate. We just don't think about it. And I think it does take a conscious effort to cross any cultural or racial divide. But usually when you do it, you find out great things. There's generally a positive benefit to...
Adena White (28:11.823)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (28:14.86)
to making that step, but I think like our natural, you know, decisions are to be with people who are like us, you know, more like us, and we feel more comfortable that way. And I think that that's, know, and so I think we always have to take that into consideration when we're talking about that sort of stuff. But it's also, you know, like,
When I was growing up, I was thinking that white people and black people were really different. And then when I went to Pittsburgh, I realized we were just different in skin tone because we ate like the same foods, we had the same churches, were really the same. It was leaving the South that made me realize that
Adena White (28:53.872)
Mm
Stacy Reece (29:13.544)
I was not any different from my other Southern sisters and brothers. But it was just, it took leaving the South before I realized how much all of us haven't caught. In the South, there seems to be this big divide, culturally, we do a lot of things that are the same.
Adena White (29:19.661)
Alright.
Adena White (29:39.301)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (29:40.022)
There's not as much difference, I think, as we think there is.
Adena White (29:44.153)
yeah, I think you're right about that for sure.
Stacy Reece (29:47.304)
So, and also, you mentioned code switching and, you know, it's like, so tell me about code switching. What is that?
Adena White (29:56.716)
well the podcast I mentioned was NPR's code switch. That's where I saw that article. it's such a clever name because they get it from the thing that people do when they change their voice sounds or what they talk about around certain groups of people. And so that NPR code switch is a podcast about race and identity. And so it's a neat topic, it's a neat title for that show because they dive into issues of race.
Stacy Reece (29:59.617)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (30:12.288)
Mm -hmm, mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (30:17.174)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Adena White (30:24.751)
for people all over the world. it's pretty, mostly America. It's race in America, but like, yeah, people all over.
Stacy Reece (30:24.908)
Yeah!
Stacy Reece (30:31.234)
Because I had been talking to some people in Appalachia and they were talking about how they code switch. And when I went to Pittsburgh, people thought I was stupid because I had a Southern accent and I would shake people's hand when I was introduced to them. And they were like, I don't know, why are you shaking my hand? And so I learned to code switch. I learned to turn off my Southern -ness in unfamiliar situations. And these Appalachian...
Adena White (30:49.402)
you
Stacy Reece (31:01.398)
writers were talking about how they turn off their Appalachian accent. I feel like the whole, like the South has become trained to do the code switch, you know, and it's not just, you know, it's not just such a, it's not a black thing. It's like everybody is trying not to be perceived as they are because what they are is not good enough. And
Adena White (31:27.045)
Yep. yeah.
Stacy Reece (31:30.242)
And I think that you're coming from a place of fear, of judgment, you know, and I find that code switching is something that you do in order to feel like you can survive. so tell me about your experience with code switching.
Adena White (31:49.629)
yeah.
Adena White (31:57.531)
Hmm, well, the school I went to, was a country school. So I graduated with 32 people in a small rural school district. So there I definitely did. Even though we were all socioeconomically the same, and liked the same stuff, volunteered for the same team, but I felt like...
Stacy Reece (32:05.469)
wow.
Stacy Reece (32:17.504)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Adena White (32:23.311)
I had to tone down my blackness in front of my white school friends more than I did like at home or at church or around family, which I think we all have different versions of ourselves. I remember one guy, it was at a basketball game. He asked me, why do you talk like that? I didn't know what he talking about, but it was, maybe he thought I was trying too hard. Like maybe he noticed the cold switch and he pointed it out. It was a weird question, but it was an offensive.
Stacy Reece (32:25.462)
Yeah. huh. Yeah. huh.
Adena White (32:52.453)
question but I think it was I still wonder was it about the cold switch or about just my natural voice or maybe I was comfortable I don't know what happened but I think about that sometimes but yeah so that was a neat experience and as someone who didn't talk much it was when someone tells you that it makes you want to just clam up a little more and I even remember probably my 10th grade year or so I mean I was coming out my shell a little bit more I was talking more and I was in
Stacy Reece (33:00.032)
huh.
Stacy Reece (33:08.758)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (33:12.351)
Yeah, yeah.
Stacy Reece (33:20.696)
huh.
Adena White (33:21.955)
in a computer class and was talking and then the teacher said, Adina, your voice carries. And that was really a blow too because she didn't say, you know, she didn't say you're too loud. was kind of like, your voice carries and made it sound like, like the sound of it. And that just made me very self -conscious about it. But now I'm like, my sister gave me an idea. Like if I ever wrote a book, that would be the title. And they would talk about, I would like reclaim it to me and like.
Stacy Reece (33:38.572)
Hehehehehe
Stacy Reece (33:45.11)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Adena White (33:48.035)
inspiring people to use your voice for like to tell your story and things like that and and that kind of associated with the work that I do but it was that's something that stuck with me and so it's it's just Those are two examples, but yeah happens all the time and we I think we all do it in a professional setting But when your whole social existence is kind of around that that can be a little exhausting for people You know when they're always having to do that, you know
Stacy Reece (34:14.26)
Yeah, I have a loud, clear voice too. And when somebody tells you your voice carries, sounds like it's made, like it's got mass, you know, it's like it's overwhelming people. And if you're an introvert, you're like, I was like, know, and, but, you know, it's like my, natural voice is just loud, you know, and you can hear it on the other side of the room. And, but it is, that is sort of something that you have to, feel like.
Adena White (34:23.172)
Right.
Adena White (34:26.916)
Right.
Stacy Reece (34:41.436)
could you you know like I think in the south too are also like we're not women are not supposed to draw attention to themselves you know and and I wonder if that teacher would have said your voice carries to a boy you know because boys voices are supposed to carry you know and you know so it was like
Adena White (34:48.303)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (34:53.998)
Right, yeah.
Stacy Reece (35:02.188)
How did you feel? Like, where did you go to college?
Adena White (35:05.787)
It's a state school called Arkansas Tech University in Arkansas. So was about, from where I grew up, it's about a 45 minute drive. And then where I live now is about a, you know, 35 minute drive from where I grew up. So I've been in this little radius, you know, my entire life. So, but the college experience, was, it wasn't, I say it was similar, but like for me coming from the school I came from, where I was one of two black students who graduated in that class of 32,
Stacy Reece (35:08.743)
huh.
Stacy Reece (35:20.78)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Mm
Adena White (35:34.875)
When I went to Arkansas Tech, was like, ooh, there's a lot of black people here. But the black people, no, but not at all, no. So like, it's, so like for me, it was like, okay, we got some black folks here. But then when I got to know the black people there who came from, know, Little Rock, South Arkansas, places where they weren't in the minority that much, they were like, man, there's no black people here. It's like, for them, that 6 % was like...
Stacy Reece (35:38.432)
Is it an HPCU? Was that an HPCU? No, okay.
Adena White (36:01.721)
I mean, that could tell, but like from my lens, I was like, wow, there's more black people here than my cousins. So it's weird how your own background kind of informs that. And as I'm older now, I can see those things, but as a new college student, for me it was just like, man, I can't get them all in one hand. I don't know all their parents. So that was interesting because you kind of see, you start seeing divides based on
Stacy Reece (36:07.915)
Yeah!
Adena White (36:31.553)
know, race and geography, and then you see more of that socioeconomic differences coming in, where it's like, I didn't go to school with any doctors' kids. I mean, I go to school with lawyers' kids. You know, the people whose parents were teachers were kind of like the well -off ones in my case. So it wasn't, so you kind of see those different divides. And when I meet students who were like, I'll ask them if they were freshmen, they're like, yeah, technically I'm a freshman, but because of AP classes I took, I'm actually, have,
Stacy Reece (36:35.381)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (36:39.51)
Yeah? Yeah.
Stacy Reece (36:46.07)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Adena White (37:00.155)
24 hours and I'm like AP classes we have AP classes so it's like and they may I mean maybe they do now at the school I went to but it's just you don't realize how Behind you are and I hate to say it like that way and not in an insulting way like I'm proud of where I came from but then I feel like I had a lot of catching up to do and like it was it was compounded some years later like when it comes to like
Stacy Reece (37:01.207)
Yeah
Stacy Reece (37:12.588)
Yeah. Yeah.
Adena White (37:26.883)
not only just academic knowledge, but like racial knowledge and just like, you know, being a first generation college student on top of being, it was just like, yeah, you just feel behind and then you feel kind of, it affects you, your confidence a little bit.
Stacy Reece (37:29.526)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. yeah. Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (37:41.238)
yeah, you, cause I, you know, I lived right outside of Athens and Athens is sort of like Athens, Georgia is where the university of Georgia is. So it's a, it's a, it's a little pocket of, you know, sophistication in a the hinterlands, you know, and, and I was in a little rural County right outside of Athens and literally boys would drive to school where they're hunting rifles in the back of their, in their gun rack, you know, and so that they could go straight from school to their near Stan. Right. And so
Adena White (37:57.882)
Yep.
Adena White (38:03.845)
Wow.
Adena White (38:07.961)
Right. Convenient. You're right.
Stacy Reece (38:10.434)
Like, so this, yeah, this is convenient. And nobody thought anything about it. I mean, they didn't bring the gun in, I guess, unless they were going to show their shop teacher that, but I mean, gun or whatever. But it was like, nobody ever thought anything about boys bringing guns to school, you know, because they, nothing bad was ever going to happen. And, and so, and I think there were maybe a hundred, 150 students in my class and,
And then I went to the University of Georgia where there was 25, at that time it was 25 ,000 students there. And it was just like, whoosh. And like you, I kind of, we didn't have AP classes or if we, you and, you know, like, and even though I was 20 miles away from Athens, it was like a world away. And I felt like really, I felt like a hick, you know.
Adena White (38:39.353)
Mm -hmm. wow.
Adena White (38:58.169)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (39:02.853)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (39:02.934)
And I was trying not to be a hick around all these sophisticated people, sophisticated people who, doctors, doctors and lawyers, child and children, because my mother was a school teacher and we were sort of like the pillar of the community. I had to behave because my mother was a teacher, because we had an elementary school, middle school and a high school. we were supposed to...
Adena White (39:19.499)
Right here.
Stacy Reece (39:31.272)
uphold the family name. so, you know, I didn't really have any doctors' kids or lawyers' kids, you know. And I mean, they were fine middle -class families, wonderful people, but they just weren't like, you know, I was not running into the children of millionaires.
Adena White (39:33.53)
Yeah.
Adena White (39:52.537)
Yeah, that's like a TV show type thing. I mean, it feels like a TV situation at that age. I didn't know anyone who was a doctor, who were MD. So it was just besides the one I went to, but I didn't know their family. I just didn't have that in my world.
Stacy Reece (40:01.058)
Yeah, right. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (40:06.806)
Yeah, right, right, right. Yeah, and it was, I felt really, you know, like I felt really insecure when I went to college, I went from like being sort of like a big fish in a small pond, you know, I was, know, the child of a teacher. My family was, you know, relatively more affluent than...
the rest of the other kids, you know, I got a new car when I was 16 and I was a majorette. So I was like, I was on top of the food chain, you know, and then when I went to college, I was like way down here, you know, and I felt way down here because I realized I was out of my element and that can be, very, that can, that can be very traumatic, you know, in, in, to a young person, you know, when they,
go through that and it sounds like you kind of had that same sort of traumatic event.
Adena White (41:07.803)
Yes, but in a way, it doesn't make you want to prove yourself though. You have a little chip on your shoulder. So like, I didn't know to call it a chip on my shoulder until the Chamber of Commerce I worked at in Conway, Arkansas. worked there for, that's where I worked with Leo. I worked there for 11 years. And the CEO of that chamber is also from a small town. He went to school at the university and here in Conway, the University of Central Arkansas.
Stacy Reece (41:11.498)
Yeah, I did.
Adena White (41:36.635)
The story of Conway, you have a lot of people like us coming from these small towns, going to school at UCA or Arkansas Tech, which is right down the road, and then selling in Conway. Because for us, that's the big city. It's a city of about 70 ,000 now. And so that's a big city, and you find a good job there and stuff like that. You do start meeting doctors and stuff that you kind of can, that you know. So he always described this like he has a chip on his shoulder, but he...
Stacy Reece (41:42.039)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (41:45.836)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (41:55.169)
Yeah?
Stacy Reece (41:58.615)
Yeah!
Adena White (42:04.013)
He framed it in a way that made me accept a little more than I used to. Like instead of kind of hiding from that or being ashamed, he would be like, that's why I always, I like to compete and I like to show people for now what Conway is all about. And it, for him personally, it was kind of like that my school is just as good as like the University of Arkansas. Like the school I went, so he's kind of, he's always had that chip and he's like, you have a chip on your shoulder too. And I'm like, yeah, I do. But I never saw it like that, but I do. And I think the podcast, it
Stacy Reece (42:17.893)
huh. Mm -hmm.
Adena White (42:32.697)
When I think about it, the pockets I started started with a chip on my shoulder. Like it's telling the stories of Black Southerners because they don't talk about it enough, here's what we're made of. So it's like that chip on your shoulder. Yes. And I think, think at Southerners, I think we all have a chip on our shoulder. Some of us use it to like write lips up our voices and to show that we are inclusive and people could belong here. Others use it to kind of.
Stacy Reece (42:36.662)
Yeah? Yeah?
Let me show you!
Yeah, let's try.
Mm -hmm. Yep.
Adena White (42:56.933)
put other people down and be and build walls. So like you can use that chip on your shoulder for different ways. So yeah.
Stacy Reece (42:58.112)
Yeah. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (43:04.224)
And I think, like, you and I probably both see something that's wrong. It's like, I'm gonna fix this, you know? It's like, I'm gonna get up in there and I'm gonna fix it. And...
Adena White (43:14.659)
Yes, right.
That's funny. Let me get my mic. I'm gonna fix this. That's hilarious.
Stacy Reece (43:22.152)
I don't care what I have to do.
Stacy Reece (43:28.534)
You, you, and you, you come here. And that was, that was really, that was my, my, I was like, I, I heard you and I was like, you come on. I'm going, I'm going to talk to you.
Adena White (43:35.835)
That's right. Let's fix this. Let's talk. Yes. I love it. I love it We should make a podcast called a chip on my shoulder
Stacy Reece (43:43.074)
Exactly, you know, and another thing I wanted to ask you is, like, you were first generation to go to college, right? Is that what you told me?
Adena White (43:53.563)
Yeah, it's kind of my family's so big I can't speak for all the branches but like in my own with my parents and then like most of my aunts and uncles I Some went but most of them did not. Yep Grandparents definitely didn't. Yeah
Stacy Reece (43:57.568)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (44:04.948)
huh, yeah, yeah, And so what was that like for you?
Adena White (44:11.525)
You know at the time you don't think anything about it. Like now I feel like universities are really pushing the first generation student experience. They're making like clubs about it and they're really like naming that. But when I was in college, yeah the two here I've seen like a billboard even about the first generation and so like I feel like they're recognizing it more. But when I was in school I didn't know that name until later probably. But like the way it looked though is that my cousin
Stacy Reece (44:14.305)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (44:19.063)
Mm
Stacy Reece (44:24.02)
Really? huh.
Adena White (44:42.043)
Just like a good Southern family, have double cousins. So like sisters, married brothers. So like my mom and my aunt are sisters and my dad and uncle are brothers. So like they have four kids, we had three. So the seven of us are double cousins. So the first of my double cousins, one of older ones who went to college, she went to college at Arkansas Tech. And so my sister went to Arkansas Tech.
Stacy Reece (44:50.368)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Stacy Reece (44:55.329)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (45:02.209)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (45:05.531)
And I applied to about three schools and I chose Arkansas Tech. And then my cousin below me went there. And then maybe two more different branches. So it's like, think, I don't think we all consciously like we're gonna follow each other, but it made us more comfortable to go there because we knew people there. So I think, Arkansas Tech got a lot of black students from Conway County back between 2004 through 2010 or so.
Stacy Reece (45:05.84)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (45:09.28)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (45:27.863)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (45:32.194)
I think you can mentally see the path, you know, and you cause my parents went to the University of Georgia and I was thinking about like, maybe going somewhere else and they said, no, you're going to go to the University of Georgia. You know, it's like, cause I think it was like, they knew that, you know, like I was not going to go off onto some other school. was going there, you know, and, but, you know, it's like you, like you had family that were, had made the pathway there and like,
Adena White (45:36.144)
Yeah.
Adena White (45:45.543)
Mm -hmm.
right.
Adena White (45:52.879)
Yes.
Stacy Reece (46:00.815)
they know the building that you're supposed to go to to pay the tuition. know, like it's not like an unfamiliar territory.
Adena White (46:03.45)
Right.
Adena White (46:08.443)
Yeah, so I think that's how it looked for me because like, I mean, I didn't plan any college tours. I applied for colleges. I mean, and this is how I don't think my family, weren't, we weren't poor or anything, but I didn't like ask them for money. So like, I remember the University of Arkansas required like a $25 application fee. And I was like, man, I knew, you I didn't want to apply because it had an application fee. And then the other two I applied to didn't, but even I thought it'd more convenient too for my mom. If like me and my sister both went there, like it was kind of like,
Stacy Reece (46:37.334)
Mm -hmm. Yeah, yeah.
Adena White (46:37.881)
I think that was in the back of my mind too. And I enjoyed my experience, but like I didn't know to go to my school counselor and take college tours. I didn't do that. I I tried to go to a big, a timeout for tech event for all incoming students or prospective students, but like I didn't schedule to college tours. I didn't dare apply out of state. I just didn't know. Like it wasn't like people were stopping me. I just, you just don't know what you don't know. And so, because my parents didn't go through it, it's like,
Stacy Reece (46:46.956)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (47:02.486)
Yeah, yeah.
Adena White (47:05.263)
They didn't know what to tell me and I went to a small school so that counselor was probably like, out of my graduating class probably, but you know, not many of us went to like a four year university. Which, you know, now we know more about the trades are just as important as like a four year college degree, but you know, then it's kind of like, they celebrate that a lot from where I come from. But then when you get older, you realize like, people crap on state schools? I had no idea. And we're like, people, you you see all these things, we're like, my school.
Stacy Reece (47:30.934)
Yeah.
Adena White (47:34.38)
you're proud of yourself for doing this and you realize like i'm still like not where people think is good enough you know
Stacy Reece (47:38.784)
I know. Doesn't that break your heart? Cause you're like, think, I've done this thing, you know? And then, and then somebody goes, it was just that, you know? And that just, that just, you know, it's, and I've probably done that to people too, you know? And I feel, and I like, I wish I could go back and tell them if I remember who they were, I'd go back and say, sorry. You know? Cause you know, it's like,
Adena White (47:45.018)
Yes.
Exactly. does. Right.
Stacy Reece (48:03.364)
Yeah, it's... It's what?
Adena White (48:03.439)
Is it the curse of... I was gonna say is it the curse of knowledge, but go ahead, what you were saying. Well, I think you forget about a time you didn't know something. And then actually, Brene Brown has a story about this. was at some fancy party, her husband was a pediatrician and maybe they were at some med school party. And then she was eating this little thing from the appetizer tray. And she was saying something like, these are great, what's this called? And someone said...
Stacy Reece (48:08.664)
What's the curse of knowledge?
Stacy Reece (48:14.86)
Yeah.
Adena White (48:32.867)
Edamame, you know, and she was like, okay, but so anyway, she fell in love with Edamame. She started buying it. She was eating in her office when she became a professor. So it was years later. So she was eating this Edamame. A student comes in. They're like, what are you eating? And I think she was kind of annoyed by this student or something. And she said, Edamame. In the same snobby way it was sold to her. And we do that. We do that. we know how it feels to be talked to that way, but then we turn around and do it to someone else.
Stacy Reece (48:49.122)
Yeah. Hi, Mommy.
Stacy Reece (49:01.506)
Because we think it's going to make us feel good. Yeah, yeah, I know. And I think that's like, think the whole, like a lot of the Southern culture is about who's higher. We're always trying to figure out who's above who. And we hate feeling less than and always want to be the one looking down.
Adena White (49:03.533)
Right, and we forgot what it's like to not know. Yeah.
Adena White (49:16.217)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (49:26.978)
And what we we realize is that it's it's all fueled by the same fear, you know, and like when we when we make our lives about looking down, you know, you you you you never you never come from a place that's secure and confident that that's not confidence. But it took me a long time for because I mean, that was just like what everybody did, you know, like everybody judged each other. And it took me a long time to figure out how.
Adena White (49:31.984)
Yes.
Adena White (49:51.641)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (49:54.988)
how toxic that is and how harmful it is just your daily life. But yeah, but you know, it's like, you know, I used to be really, really snobby and look down on lots, try to look down on lots of people because I felt, you know, I felt less than many times and I never wanted to feel that way again. So I wanted to push other people down. And it's just, it's kind of like, I'm really glad I don't do that anymore. But it is a product.
Adena White (50:11.119)
Yeah, right.
Adena White (50:21.317)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (50:25.096)
It's a product of our culture and that's what we do.
Adena White (50:28.803)
Yeah, it's so easy to do it too. And I think you may not realize it's happening until you reflect. like, was kind of, that happened to me. And I remember not knowing that fact. And then once I learned it, I started getting real snobby about it. You're right. That story, was like, yeah.
Stacy Reece (50:39.586)
It's edamame. And you can put the snarky, you know, in edamame. It's edamame, you know.
Adena White (50:50.413)
Right and the person that to her probably just found out what it was two years before that, you know
Stacy Reece (50:58.082)
Okay, listen, all right, we got I have kept you we I feel like you and I need to talk more because But it's Friday and so let me ask you a couple things What advice would you give your 21 year old self?
Adena White (51:04.823)
We do.
Okay.
Adena White (51:14.235)
that's a good one. That's a question. Trying to think, I was in college. I guess I'll tell her, you have time. You don't have to figure it all out before you're 25 or 30 or even 40. I say even 40 because I'm knocking on the door. So it's like, there's time. You don't have to rush it.
Stacy Reece (51:30.945)
Mm
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (51:42.693)
I guess be yourself. I feel like I was myself, but then there's sometimes I can look back and be like, and wonder if I was or not. And then,
Yeah, I think I guess yes, you have time and like you don't have to have it all figured out you never will and I had to remind myself of that now too because you feel like Sometimes you look back. It's like man. I'm almost 40 and I don't I don't have my dream house yet I'm not driving my big luxury car. It's kind of like you You still have those little nagging things but just kind of like Yeah, yeah your work I mean, I guess a lot of things I would tell her your worth isn't in like
Stacy Reece (52:24.886)
Yeah, I know.
Adena White (52:24.911)
where you grew up or where went to school. mean, you can celebrate that stuff, yeah. And maybe you can separate from it if you need to.
Stacy Reece (52:29.954)
I still have that and I'm 20 years older than you and I'm still I still have that exact same I say that exact same thing to myself you know and we gotta stop you know it's it because you don't take it with you anyway so all right so what would you tell a 21 year old girl now a woman now and living in this day and age is anything different
Adena White (52:42.672)
Yeah.
Adena White (52:46.51)
No.
Adena White (52:53.168)
Hmm.
Yeah Gosh and they have it so much it's so much more complicated for them because they have social media to compare themselves to in some ways they're a little more informed because they don't They don't have to get a psychopedia out to figure something out. They can go on google They can see what their instagram friends are doing But I think just I think for them maybe the same thing be true to yourself because unlike me I didn't have access to certain things or knowledge about certain things. So I didn't know what I didn't know
Stacy Reece (53:01.472)
Yeah. Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (53:12.736)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (53:16.5)
Mm
Yep. Yep. Yeah.
Adena White (53:21.999)
But for them, there's so much information out there. So can easily adapt or try to be like their favorite influencer or, you know, things like that and not be true to themselves. So I think the same thing, be true to yourself, especially without the noise they have. They have a lot more noise to filter through.
Stacy Reece (53:25.015)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (53:41.78)
Yeah, I think these young people are looking at influencers who don't have any more together than they do. They just look like it because it's all curated. know, like you do have more access to information, some of it is just not real, not grounded in reality. And I think, you know, they're having with their young brains having to filter out
Adena White (53:48.911)
Mm -mm.
Adena White (54:02.725)
air.
Stacy Reece (54:11.618)
I mean, because I think what we grew up with had already come through a lot of filters and a lot of doors had to be open for certain information to get to us. And now, whatever is just accessible to everybody. And how do you filter out what's true and what's not? So what are your hopes for your children, your child's children?
Adena White (54:18.693)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (54:32.516)
Hell yeah.
Adena White (54:41.055)
child Yeah, and I have nieces and nephews two nieces I mean no one niece and one nephew too and no way actually more than that I'm sorry. I just kind of my sister's kids. Please forgive me my husband's family But yes, I have a total of five Niblings nieces and nephews and yes so So yeah, I guess my hope for them is that hmm I say don't forget where they came from but they
Stacy Reece (54:42.026)
Okay, what's your hope for your problem?
Stacy Reece (54:52.449)
Ha ha ha!
Stacy Reece (54:59.006)
Niblings. I love that. Yeah.
Stacy Reece (55:10.39)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (55:10.843)
but they also don't be afraid to spread their wings. think going back to my 21 year old self, I think I was a little afraid of that. I was afraid to get too far away. you know, like, I mean, if I had known what HBCU was, I probably would have applied for one. like, or even just like, and I would come home on the weekends and do the minutes as Sunday School Secretary, which, you know, and didn't come home every weekend, but like.
Stacy Reece (55:13.89)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (55:18.764)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm. Yeah.
Adena White (55:38.843)
I didn't leave the nest very well. I stayed at my family church, which I love, but I stayed there a long time because I mean, family is important to me and where I come from is important to me. So I felt like separating from that, would have me lose a piece of myself and you know, it is hard, but then also, yeah, I you can be yourself and be true to who you are and love where you come from, but you also can, can find you, find where you fit to.
Stacy Reece (55:45.558)
Yeah.
Mm
Stacy Reece (55:55.318)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (56:07.233)
Mm -hmm.
Adena White (56:07.321)
So like, yeah, branch out, but then come home if you need to. also like just see, explore, find out about other people, places, all that stuff. I think I'll tell them that, you know, we'll miss you, but like just, yeah, come home, but like just explore too, you know, and and then spread what's good about you everywhere so people can see more Southerners or, know, and just know that we have good people on here, but doesn't mean, and maybe it doesn't mean we're physically leaving.
Stacy Reece (56:19.67)
Yeah? Come home.
Stacy Reece (56:25.047)
Yeah.
Stacy Reece (56:29.248)
Yeah? Yeah?
Adena White (56:36.719)
But like even if it means just reading more and like, you know, reading more books, traveling or moving, whatever it takes, but just get out there. Yeah. thank you.
Stacy Reece (56:39.222)
Mm -hmm.
Stacy Reece (56:43.724)
Yeah, Well, they've got a good role model in you. So, well, I really appreciate you spending your Friday afternoon with me. And I think you and I are on the verge of doing big things. I'm looking forward for us to having our voices carry a long, long way. All right. All right. Thank you. All right. Bye bye.
Adena White (56:58.672)
Yes.
Adena White (57:06.615)
Amen. Yes, it's so great to meet you. Thanks for having me on. Bye.
Stacy Reece (57:18.05)
That was wonderful
