The Entrepreneur Who’s Changing the Way the Black Community Talks About Breast Cancer

Dorothy: [00:00:00] Black women die 40 percent more often than white women from the same disease. This woman lost her best friend and mother to breast cancer. And in the black community, most folks don’t want to talk about the real issue. She took talking about breasts to the pulpits, a place where it’s usually not welcome.

So here how this woman broke taboos and has given others a chance to live.

Let’s Talk About Your Breast. A different kind of podcast presented to you by The Rose, the Breast Center of Excellence and a Texas treasure. You’re going to hear frank discussion. Discussions about tough topics and you’re gonna learn why knowing about your breast could save your life. Join us as we hear another story and we answer those tough questions that you may have.

So, I’m Dorothy Gibbons. I’m the CEO and [00:01:00] Co-founder of The Rose. And we are here today to talk about your breast. And we’ve got Kim Roxie with us. And Kim has been one of our superstars for a long time. Now, this woman is the founder of Lamik Beauty. She’s a woman’s advocate, a breast cancer screening champion, business model, community leader, volunteer, extraordinary mother.

Uh, host of a Friday night live show and, uh, just an overall nice person. Kim, uh, I first met you in like 2013 at the Sisters Network event. Do you remember that?

Kim: I do. I do. Oh my gosh. It’s been a decade. We’ve been knowing each other almost a decade? Oh my gosh.

Dorothy: We were sitting at the table, we started talking to Chris, and that’s when, uh, we learned about your mother.

Kim: Yes.

Dorothy: So, give us some background on that part of your life and, and why it pushed you in the [00:02:00] direction of being such a, an advocate.

Kim: Yeah. When I met you and Chris, that was at a time when my mom. Um, she had a recurrence. So she had got diagnosed. Um, and I didn’t even know she had got diagnosed. She had got a mammogram through the rose at the time when I met you all.

Um, because that’s how much she kind of kept it to herself and kind of went on that road. Um, but then, oh my goodness, when I saw you all, I was kind of in a, to be honest, I was kind of in a dark place because I was just like. Oh, shucks. It’s come back. You know, like that was my mind frame at the time. And, uh, so from that point, um, me and my mom were like best friends and she wasn’t just my mom, right?

It’s one thing to be just the mom, but it’s another thing for that to be like your soulmate. Um, and so when I met you all, I was sort of in that place. Chris sent me a relationship. A [00:03:00] letter in the mail, a card in the mail and, and, um, cause she had gave me her card at the luncheon and I did not follow up with her.

I had a lot going on in my life at that time. Um, but she sends a card to me and said, you can run, but you can’t hide in the mail. And I was like, Oh my, who is this woman? And I came up to the Rose to meet her. Um, and then that was the beginning of understanding. How much of a pandemic, actually, breast cancer is in the black woman’s life.

Um, and then going back home, talking to my mom and then understanding that the Rose played a part in her diagnosis. Um, that put me. That put me sort of in the game.

Dorothy: Ah, and you’re talking about Chris Noble, our director of business development, uh, who is a dynamite woman all by herself.

Kim: All by herself.

Dorothy: Yes, yes.[00:04:00]

And it wasn’t long after that, uh, that your mother didn’t survive. I know that was another hard time for you. I’ve heard you talk about her as your cheerleader. And I didn’t realize this until lately, didn’t she help you start Lamik?

Kim: Yeah, definitely, definitely. So, you know, even from an early age, I didn’t grow up like playing in makeup, but my mom Religiously, sat at her vanity in her bathroom, put on her makeup to go work at the post office.

Uh, sorting mail. My mom did not have an office job or anything cute to really be showing up to. But she had so much, uh, reverence for her own self. And her own beauty and recognizing it that she would do her makeup every morning. I think that planted a seed early, to be honest, and understanding the role that makeup plays in a woman’s life.

Um, and, um, from there, um, I remember I was in college, I needed a [00:05:00] job, so I started working at a makeup counter. I was a top sales producer and my senior year of college, my manager in my store, she said, you sell the most makeup of anybody in here. You say you don’t know what you’re going to do after college and you don’t have any job offerings.

She’s like, so you should probably try to go open up your own makeup studio back at home since you love Houston so much because I was in Atlanta going to school and I said You think so? And I just remember going home and just praying and like really calling out to God like what am I gonna do? And then I had this vision for this makeup studio that celebrated all Types and all skin tones of beauty.

And I told my mom about it and I told my sisters. And my mom gave me $500. Um, and this is my second semester of my senior year in college. And I started saving up every penny I had. And I saved up $9,500 and that’s how I opened up my makeup store.

Dorothy: [00:06:00] My goodness. Wow, what a story. But now, did you, when you opened it up, you had that intent on it being for every skin color.

And you quickly moved into the, it must be clean.

Kim: Yes.

Dorothy: And tell us more about that.

Kim: Yeah, because, you know, I started to do research around the ingredients inside of makeup. And I met a chemist who had retired from Estee Lauder. And I wanted him to explain to me what was this ingredient? What is this name?

What does this mean? And he did. And on that exploration, um, coming up on the time that my mom found out that she had breast cancer. I was like, what’s causing this? Why, why does she have it? And I started to do a lot of research, and I looked at a lot of studies, um, that showed just different risk factors.

That even the [00:07:00] products we use every day, for our makeup, for our personal care, Could pose a risk for us in relation to cancer and so that got me on this whole tangent on making sure That I was one creating an environment that raised awareness around what we were putting on our skin but as well as what is inside of the makeup that we use every day and so For Lamik, we’re paraben free, we’re talc free, we are cruelty free, um, we’re vegan, um, we just are steady looking up what an ingredient consequence that could happen.

And so I’m just on that path of just making sure that we’re using products that are what we call clean, just meaning non toxic, or either just clean, just meaning, you know, Knowing what it is. Um, if you’re allergic to something, you want to know exactly what that ingredient is. There’s no hiding. We’re just very transparent.

We’re clean [00:08:00] about what we do.

Dorothy: Right, right. And that’s so important. It really is. Now you’ve, you’ve received the Small Business Impact Initiatives Award. Was that, that was like last year? You’ve also received Joe Biden’s Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award. My gosh, you’re not, you’re so young and you’ve already received that.

Kim: I made 40 this year. Dorothy, I’m a grown woman now.

Dorothy: Well, I think you’ve been kind of grown for a long, long time. And I, and I’m fascinated by your story. So you moved into this clean makeup line or created it and had a store in River Oaks and, uh, very popular. And then you decided to close it. Now, how did all that come around?

Kim: You know, Dorothy, you know, as a business owner, as a visionary that you are. Um, and let’s just have a moment to honor that, okay, she is a visionary, um, [00:09:00] and, um, if you haven’t read her book, you should read her book, but anyway, um, but what I will say is that in 2018, I got this vision for more. So I got this vision around the fact that the way that we were.

Um, buying makeup the way that people just across the nation, like here in Houston, yes, I was servicing people here, but I knew that it was so many more women just like the women here in Houston that needed to be serviced and needed an option of Lamik. How do I make that happen? So I remember, uh, I always bring it some kind of way, bring back to church or my faith, right?

I remember being in the back of a church on in 2018 and talking to a woman. And me telling her, I’m going to build the makeup line for 2020. And I closed a very, um, bustling, you know, thriving [00:10:00] makeup store in River Oaks to go pursue. A beauty tech enabled cosmetic brand. Now, shout out to my father who didn’t believe.

I always give him a hard time. But, um, uh, that sounded kind of funny, even to my own customers. I had to write a letter. I had to let them know. I said, but you got to go on this journey with me because we’ve got to create this because this is what’s next. Now, I did not know what was going to happen in 2020.

Dorothy: Talk about visionary. My gosh.

Kim: I just knew that we had to create this brand for 2020. That things were changing. Things were going to happen. And so, um, I went out to Austin, Texas. Got into a tech accelerator out there. Um, Uh, got a venture capital firm, uh, uh, accelerator I was a part of, really start to get some bagging and some support.

Um, and then I [00:11:00] just really revolutionized what Lamik meant. Um, and so we have AI powered quizzes where you can take a quiz and get recommended the right product for you from our website. Um, we have augmented reality where you can virtually try on products. Um, our retailer that we’re in now, Ulta, they have a virtual try on.

That’s the reason why I went with that retailer. So, like, this sort of being able to buy makeup online easier and safely was really important. So, we were due to launch March 2020. We got hit with a pandemic in March of 2020, but I was ready to launch and that’s what started me doing Friday Night Lives. I turned on my camera the first Friday in April of 2020 in my daughter’s bedroom, because her bedroom was probably like the best bedroom, uh, in the side of the house that was the most quiet.

And I went over there for that, but she immediately [00:12:00] interrupted my show. And was like, I’m the co host. She’s four years old. I’m the co host. She was four years old at the time. I’m the co host. And I go, no, Loretta, get out of here. You know, I’m trying to do my show. I’m trying to show women how to do makeup from home because now they got to work on Zoom and all this other stuff.

We need to show them how to do their makeup and show them our makeup line that we, that we have. And she was like, no, she kept coming back in the room. Needless to say, she became my co host, uh, and we’ve been doing that show for two, two years. Since we launched in March 2020, LAMIK 2. 0, um, we are now, um, in Ulta making us the first black owned clean makeup brand to launch into the largest beauty specialty retailer in the country.

Dorothy: Oh my goodness. Congratulations.

Kim: Thank you.

Dorothy: I didn’t realize that.

Kim: Um, so we’re making history and we’re doing exactly. What the vision was set out to do, uh, to make it more accessible for all women to get clean beauty products. Um, yes, it’s about equity in the beauty industry, but it’s also about [00:13:00] our health.

And so that was the reason. So the reason that brought me and had me doing the work in the roles is the same kind of work that I’m doing in beauty. So I would like to say I’m in beauty and health.

Dorothy: You are, definitely. Now let’s stay with that, that thinking about what you did for The Rose.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: Because you were a part of our first, uh, production at the Ensemble.

Kim: Yes.

Dorothy: That was just, talk about something different. The Rose had never done anything like that. And you helped, especially Chris, go into many of the black churches.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: Where, uh, breast, just what, that wasn’t talked about a lot. And, and you opened so many doors. So, a couple things here. What, What is different about the black woman’s, um, attitude, feelings about her breast?

I know you’ve talked about that before. And was that very difficult to really start talking so candidly about breast health?

Kim: Yeah, I think that, you know, [00:14:00] when I think of the black woman, I think of a superhero. I think of carrying the burdens of so many. Um, and a lot of times, Black women just don’t have time to be concerned about themselves.

Because there is so many responsibilities and then it’s like, it goes from that until you get to sometimes, uh, a socioeconomic status where a black woman, uh, may, may not be a, a cost factor or anything like that or a time factor. But then just the conversation around Um, mammograms, or that’s not just like tea time talk, right?

Um, the conversation might be around lifting them up, make sure they look good, that kind of thing, more from a plastic surgery sort of standpoint, and the aesthetics and the cosmetic part of it. Um, you know, openly talk about that, but not so much, you know, [00:15:00] did I feel something? When is the last time I went to the doctor?

Did you have to get a biopsy? Um, Having those type of conversations or when I went I had to end up getting an ultrasound like just going down that path So I think that it’s just like these these two sort of sections that a lot of times it falls in either You know, just don’t even have the time to even think about something like that just because of all of the weight of responsibility that she has but then also if she’s on the other side and Just from a more cosmetic point of view, um, and just openly talking about it that way versus a way of health, um, a way of, um, your experiences, what happened to you sharing that with someone else so they can understand, um, and they can learn from it.

So it’s just, it’s just that that attitude around it. Um, and just, You know, when we went into the churches, funny story, Chris, the first church that Chris spoke [00:16:00] at, um, who’s affectionately known as my mom now, um, is, is actually the church. It was so funny. The first church she spoke at, she didn’t know, but the pastor and first lady of that church, the first lady was my piano teacher growing up.

The first church she went to, New Beginnings Church. When she, when me and her started talking and we started going around to a lot of churches and sometimes we would take different shifts I’d take this side of town. She’d take that side of town, but we had a conversation We ended up back in New, back in New Beginnings And she tells me, oh, this is the first church I went to.

I go, that’s my piano teacher, you know, Miss Davis, Carolyn Davis, and she goes, oh my goodness, and it was just like this full circle moment As if we were meant to be because my piano teacher wasn’t my piano teacher for like one year. She was my piano teacher for a decade. I grew up playing the piano. I was a classical pianist.

She taught me everything I [00:17:00] knew. I played at church and all of that. And so, This woman, to be honest, uh, my piano teacher was like my idol of a person. And so, um, when that happened, I was like, Oh my goodness, this is just so meant to be. How will she end up at the church where my, where my beloved piano teacher is the First Lady?

Dorothy: Right, right. Oh, that’s a wonderful story. Wonderful. Um, so when you, your mother was 62 years old.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: Oh, and she died in

Kim: Uh, October, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, October 2014. Yeah, she’s such a diva, right? Like, gonna bring the awareness to the world. To the world. And also, I always look at lessons and the legacy part for me.

And her even passing in October was sort of the legacy for me and my sisters to keep it, to keep it going. To me, that’s the message I got.

Dorothy: Wow. Wow. And you certainly did. I know [00:18:00] we had, um, Because of all the volunteer effort that you did in the community, we had an extraordinary increase in the number of black women that started coming to the Rose, taking advantage of the mobile coaches, actually getting their screening mammogram.

It was, it was probably one of the most exciting times we’ve, we’ve had. And, and I think it was incredibly important for us to also understand. that this isn’t an easy thing for the black woman to do. I, I think we always know that it’s hard for any woman. But, uh, we had a whole new understanding at that point.

And so many had been diagnosed that really didn’t have a lot of support during that time. Like your mother, she wasn’t going to just tell you right out. You know, and that, that became something that It was really concerning.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: Really concerning to us.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: You’ve gotta be able to talk about it.

Kim: Yeah. Yeah.

Dorothy: It, you need that support. You know, that’s just, that’s the other leg of that [00:19:00] three legged stool. If you don’t have that part in the community

Kim: Mm-Hmm.

Dorothy: and to get you through then doesn’t matter how much treatment, doesn’t matter, anything else you, you’ve gotta have support. So you’ve certainly been a support for a lot of women who have faced this or who are worried about it.

Um. You know, one of the, the things that I think was so interesting to me, did you get pushback when you started all this? Did you, did your, your friends, neighbors, did you ever have anyone say, what are you doing woman?

Kim: You know, to be honest, I’m surprised how many people just accepted me in. I didn’t know.

I wasn’t very public about my relationship with my mom. Like, I never like, you know, social media was still around at the time. I wasn’t very like, Oh, I love my mom. Like, I’m telling you, like, for me, my mom passing away [00:20:00] was basically like my heart being wrenched out of my body. Right? Like, like, just like that type of gut wrenching type of situation.

But I never really expressed that in public. So I was really surprised at how People took me in and immediately would always say “and your mother” and “your mother”, it was almost like they knew, but they really didn’t know. I mean, you know, you know what I mean? So when you say pushback, actually, it was more like a taken in, like, come on, you can come talk about it because for a certain extent, Dorothy, I thought that people would think because I’m not a breast cancer survival or I’m not, I haven’t went through it personally myself, that like, you know, That would hold me back from speaking about it or or that kind of work, but not at all It’s like immediately people were like “and your mother” and I think I have to just say that’s about probably you know about a grace of God because That’s all I needed this work that I’m doing is is my healing you know and it’s really my healing and I and I really [00:21:00] want to just kind of put a pin in that because Grief can be, uh, um, grief can kill more than the actual death or whatever the case might have done.

And so me doing this work is actually healing. So the fact that everybody took me in and allowed me to come in and speak in there. Uh, you know, for pastors and stuff for them to let you speak, uh, at their churches and in their podiums, that’s like a really big deal.

Dorothy: It is a very big deal.

Kim: It’s very sacred. Yeah.

Dorothy: It’s very sacred.

Kim: And a lot of. Mega churches, small churches, storefront churches allowed us to do that. Um, and every time they would say, “and your mother”. And so I just know that it is bigger than me work. Um, I believe when we met, cause Chris always reminds me, October 13, 2013. Um, which is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day.

Which is the same type [00:22:00] of breast cancer my mom has. So, again, you have to look for those signs of confirmation and, and yeah, they accepted me in and I’m just kind of a little surprised that people, that people didn’t give me push back and try to run my credentials. They sort of kind of took the word for it.

And I think to your point around, a lot of people are going through things. They know that their members are going through things in our community. But who will sort of speak up and be the voice and take a chance. And, um, I think that

Dorothy: You’ve certainly done that. And you’ve been a model for so many women to also speak up and talk about it.

I just want to touch a bit on what you said about grief. That was so profound. And saying this work has really helped you deal with that grief. And [00:23:00] Do, do you, I know you must, and I know this is a silly question, but, do you miss your mother still as much as you did back when?

Kim: The, the promise, I feel like my mom gave me a promise, um, when she, in September, she passed away in October, in September, mom, she didn’t, I didn’t believe that she was going to pass away like that.

Um, so quickly, uh, from just sort of it coming back and just sort of figuring out, I just thought we’re going to get over this and, and this. But in September, mom really prepared me for my whole life. So I would say. More than miss her. I feel like we’re working together and I feel like she took a new residence So versus being outside of me.

I feel like she’s inside of me. And so I we sort of live a progressive [00:24:00] relationship. So I think that it was not good enough. I’m sorry I would still be in the closet crying if I believe that I would just have to hold on to the memories But because I live a progressive relationship with my mom, this work that we’re doing, it’s like progressive.

It’s like everything she told me, she said, we got to save the women with small children.

Dorothy: Oh, yes.

Kim: She said. So we got to work on that. She, um, I remember there was a campaign that the angel surviving cancer, our friends over there, they were doing around bras. Mom had already gave me marching orders around bras.

Oh, we got to do something about these bras. She was just. Talking about that, she gave me my marching orders to get married. She was like, you’re getting married Martin Luther King weekend. I was like, and this was in September of 2013. I got married in January 2014. She passed away October 2014. I got married January Martin Luther King weekend 2015.

No [00:25:00] wedding plan or anything. But I had been dating the same person who she knew. And so. I got married. I remember anybody have someone they were taking care of with cancer. I worked the night shift with mom. And so I would be in the bed with her. My dad on one side. She’s in the middle. I’m on the other side.

And I would get up with her in the middle of the night. Sort of like a baby, right? Like her body wrecking with pain. Sometimes you have to go to the restroom like a baby. And I remember her telling me, I’m getting you ready for a baby. I’m getting you ready for a baby and I just like, okay, and in the moment you’re so tending to her.

I’m like, you’re my baby, but she got me ready for life. I got married. I got pregnant immediately. Um, I kept was doing this work my first year with The Rose with 2014 when we did the, we kept going with the work, all of these things. Um, [00:26:00] so I just like to say. For me, I have to live with her and I continue to do this work with her, uh, versus without her.

So I definitely miss those, uh, long back strokes that she would give me because nobody massages like my mother massages, but I don’t miss her presence in my life because we continue to do the work together.

Dorothy: That is beautiful. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: So what would you tell women? What would you tell any woman that you meet or that’s worried about having a mammogram or that could be facing, you know, with, with the prevalence in the black community and the fact that it really is more progressive, you know, that, that’s scary enough, but some people just don’t even want to find it.

So what, what’s your, um, Big message to women.

Kim: Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s, um, [00:27:00] it’s very aggressive, um, in black women and we have to, we have to take ownership of our own health. We all have to be entrepreneurs to talk about me being an entrepreneur, but we all have to be entrepreneurs, owners and CEOs of our health and our lives.

And, um, the sooner you find it, the better, if that’s the case. Um, and I have heard too many stories. From young black women. I was just with a young lady who just turned 30 and found out she had breast cancer at the beginning of the pandemic and she was 28. And she went to her doctor and her doctor said, Oh, she found something at home.

She found a lump. She went to her doctor. Her doctor said, “Oh, it couldn’t be anything. You’re just 28. Come back in two months. And we’ll, and we’ll, and we’ll check.” Well, this young lady was very, she was an entrepreneur. She took ownership, she was very ambitious, and she gave them pushback and said, “No, I feel something.”

They said, “Well, do [00:28:00] you have family history of it?” She said, “No.” “Yeah, come back in two months.” She kept pushing. They said, “Okay, we’ll just give you a mammogram because you’re here.” And she went, got a mammogram, got referred out, got a mammogram that same day. Um, she said, The people came back twice. Um, With her when they caught her back to come to the office.

She said two different doctors came in. She said she knew something was wrong and Come to find out she did have breast cancer stage three. Oh my and just imagine if she would have waited two months.

Dorothy: Yes Our two years, or however long, many young women are told that, yes.

Kim: And so, I would say to anyone, immediately, when my mom, um, passed away that year, I was well below 40, but I started doing my mammograms at the Rose.

And plus, the Rose is like a really nice place to get a mammogram. Um, it’s an experience. So, but I started doing mine, and checking [00:29:00] myself on a regular basis, and even though nobody wants to find anything at all, um, But if, if not, then you sort of don’t stand a chance.

Dorothy: That’s true.

Kim: At least give yourself a chance.

Dorothy: Yes, I love that take ownership of your health. That’s, that’s wonderful.

Kim: Yeah.

Dorothy: Oh, you’ve been such a, a delightful guest. And Roxie, it’s always a joy to be with you. You, you bring such light into the room. Tell me what’s going on with your hair right now. I, I didn’t realize this.

Kim: This cute little head of mine.

Dorothy: Yes, oh, it’s beautiful, beautiful. And for those listeners who, Who obviously can’t see Roxie. She is very bald right this moment.

Kim: Google me.

Dorothy: Yes, Google her. You’ll see great shots. What prompted that?

Kim: Um, so, I actually have a form of alopecia. And, I remember when, um, Chris and I, my partner in good, did our first fundraiser for The Rose at the Ensemble.

[00:30:00] A part of getting people to commit to sponsorship and supporting, Chris and I at a press conference says, she says, I’m gonna dye my hair pink, and I said, and I’m gonna shave my head. And so, uh, we met our goal, and I shaved most of my head. I left a little bit of like a mohawk. And I remember, because at the time my mom was still alive, uh, this was right before she, uh, passed away, because we did it in July of 2014, and she passed that October, but I remember her saying, And at the time, too, her hair had come out and she had said, Oh, you got the cutest little head.

I remember her telling me that. Oh, you got the cutest little head. So that memory is always in my head. So fast forward to 2018, 2019, I’m experiencing hair loss, um, noticing that, you know, the hair just not growing back, you know, putting all kinds of oils on it, all kinds of [00:31:00] different things. Uh, finally, in the beginning of 2020, I go get a I go to a dermatologist, um, and I get a review done, you know, you get your scalp examined and all of that, and I was told that I have two different forms of alopecia, but they both exist up there, so hair loss, right?

And, you know, they can go through so many different treatments, but I had tried a lot of stuff already. I just I was okay. You know, I, I’m so secure in how beautiful I am. To be honest, I’m not looking for approval because I know. Right.

Dorothy: That’s great. Yes. And you are.

Kim: And so, um, thank you. And so I decided that I was going to shave my head.

So I actually shaved my head in an act of self love. Um, in February of 2020, the pandemic happened in March 2020. Um, so I was at home on my bald head, but then I started wearing [00:32:00] wigs sometime and doing all of that. And then, um, when did, when did Will do his favorite? His famous slap. Oh my goodness.

Dorothy: Last year.

Kim: Last year, right?

I got thrown.

Dorothy: Yeah.

Kim: Yeah, I got thrown this January I got thrown back into the media because I had Someone pulled up a picture of me with my bald head when I shaved it back in feel weird 2020 and goes and Saw that I used the word alopecia alopecia had become a household name right because of what happened at the Oscars and even though Choosing that act was horrific for Will to do.

It did make alopecia a household subject.

Dorothy: And it’s very common in black women.

Kim: Yes, it’s very common. Very common. And so, when I got thrown into the media and started getting a lot of interviews about it, Um, I just sort of started wearing my head more. And, because what I realized is, I was on a, [00:33:00] is that people look at me And can discover something about themselves.

I was just on a call with a buyer for a major retailer that we’re getting ready to launch with. So y’all look out, uh, for Lamik Beauty coming soon and a major retailer. Um, and the buyer who I never thought would even pay any attention to what I had going on. She was like, I was listening to your story and I was just thinking about some of the things going on with me.

She was like, I just want to let you know, I went to the dermatologist, I got a biopsy. And I do have alopecia, and she named the kind of alopecia she had. And she said, I would have never known that if you would have shared your story with me.

Dorothy: Oh my gosh.

Kim: And I was like, wow, just showing up.

Dorothy: Just showing up, just sharing your story.

Kim: That’s it.

Dorothy: Being vulnerable at times, for sure. Being brave enough to do that, my goodness. How many stories you have, Kim. Goodness. Alright, one last question. What are your dreams for Loretta? She’s what, first grade [00:34:00] now? Yes, co host of your show.

Kim: You know, I made it through talking about my mom, and then I have to talk about my daughter, and I get a little, um,

Dorothy: Well, I just have to tell everyone, this is one child.

I mean, she, she was born dynamite, ready to go.

Kim: My Loretta.

She’s the other part of the reason why. You know, I don’t, I said earlier that even though my mother, you know, being outside of me, being inside of me, but I must acknowledge she is outside of me because of little Loretta. Loretta is named after my mother, Loretta, and my husband’s mom’s first name, Janelle.

So she’s Loretta Janelle. She’s the legacy of our grandmothers. But she is, um.[00:35:00]

She gives so many people life. She was in a summer camp this past summer, uh, that Chris, her, her grandma, Chris recommended for her. And after the camp was over, the, the, the camp instructors came over to me and our family and just were like, I mean, every last one of them, we just have to let you know, Loretta brings us so much life.

Loretta. It’s just. She does for other people what she does for me. And so that’s my dream for Loretta. Is that Loretta just continue to be Loretta. And Loretta always know that she’s enough. And she, her baby, the baby shower I had for her. Was dedicated, I actually forfeited my baby shower and had a baby shower for six women who were in transition.

A. K. A. homeless at the [00:36:00] time. And I wasn’t worried about anything I would get for Loretta because I knew the promise was that Loretta, everything would be taken care of for Loretta. Loretta is a promise. And a, and a, and a person that showed up to show me hope. Um, and that God did not forget about me. And he did not leave me alone.

And he gave me Loretta.

Dorothy: Oh, Kim.

Kim: So, I’m just so thankful. So my dream for Loretta is just to be Loretta.

Dorothy: That’s beautiful.

Kim: Thank you.

Dorothy: What, what else could we want for our daughters? Just be, be who you are and be enough. Know you’re enough. This has been wonderful having this time to talk with you, Kim. My goodness, thank you so much.

And we’re going to close up now, but as Kim has told us over and over, take ownership of your health, take care of yourself, and don’t be afraid to talk about your breast.

Post-Credits: Thank you for joining us today on Let’s Talk About Your Breasts. [00:37:00] This podcast is produced by Freddie Cruz Creative Works and brought to you by The Rose.

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