701. How to Navigate the Entertainment Industry Without Compromising Your Faith

[00:00:00] It's the stories, the journeys, the testimonies. It's the spiritual detox. Welcome back. Welcome back. DJ Focus, Dice Gamble. You tap back into the fix. Your source of faith and fuse hip hop, army and poetry. It's time for our spiritual detox.

[00:00:13] And come on, y'all, you know, you know, some of my favorite series is already playing. Y'all know I'm a huge BMF fan. Shout out to everybody that understands you. Listen, you can still find some good spiritual aspects in some of these great shows.

[00:00:27] So shout out to y'all that ain't too deep. And listen, we joined by a, y'all might know as Peaches, Miss Rama Montacabi is joining us. What's going on, sis? What's going on? How are you? I'm good. I'm good. You know, this BMF series is pretty interesting.

[00:00:45] And shout out to you because I talked to my sister earlier. She's like, well, you know, check out the series, the episode. And then let's let's have something to talk about. Woo, we got some stuff to talk about.

[00:00:58] You listen, I feel like you could have gave me a little bit more disclaimer than that. I think I wanted the shock factor. I didn't want to give up. And even my sister was like, Rama, you couldn't tell me. I'm like, I'm like, wait a minute.

[00:01:19] But you know what? You know, it's a part of acting and I get it. So yeah, we're going to talk about that though. But let's listen first. We got to talk about just everything being met for a minute. This is your second season that you were part of.

[00:01:32] And we'll talk about that, you know, because we know, you know, you know, you know, local part of it. But this is your second season that you're a part of it. Just talk about the whole experience like opening night, you know,

[00:01:41] on the red carpet, talk about the experience of just being on the red carpet for the second time for the second season, third season. But your second year on it, what was that experience like walking that red carpet for the opening? That night was magical.

[00:01:55] I mean, like first of all, I got styled and I had a dress. I feel like I was a little bit more prepared for the questions this year. I was just more seasoned this year versus last year being that last year

[00:02:10] was one of my first years, like on a major carpet like that. So it was beautiful. I had a dress designed by Dan Richards and I just felt like a superwoman. It was beautiful seeing all the cast and just, you know, watching the first episode with everybody.

[00:02:28] It was beautiful. And then Randy Huggins even made an appearance and that was beautiful as well. So it was great. Talk about the cast. What's that experience like working with this all-star cast? Because this is amazing cast and just going in and just, you know,

[00:02:44] going over lines, you know, when you first, you know, looked at it for your lines and just the whole experience of working with the cast, talk a little bit about that. Everybody's so incredible, so professional. And it's like I said before, it's truly like a family bond.

[00:02:58] And, you know, everybody has love for each other. And even despite the scene that I might have been shooting, it was just done so tastefully in my opinion, despite what's happening, you know, I had my limitations on what I was going to wear and things like that.

[00:03:13] And everybody was just so cool and so quick to make me feel comfortable. You know, Ren is awesome. The one who played Henrietta, she's really dope to work with. And she did an amazing job in these first two episodes so far.

[00:03:28] The rest of the cast, all the celebrities and stuff like, you know, if I'm not in the scene with them, then I don't really get to see them or, you know what I mean?

[00:03:37] If we're in the episode together, then we'll run over the lines and all that stuff during the table read. But other than that, it's all new to me. I'm watching it just like the rest of you guys.

[00:03:49] So I'm just as shocked and surprised to see all the other things that are going down. So, yeah, it's been dope. What was that feeling like when the lift was up and you guys could go back to work?

[00:04:00] I know you guys were all for a little bit fighting and, you know, making sure y'all get everything that you guys would just do. I get it. What was that experience like for just like, you know, was it like a relief?

[00:04:10] Was it like, okay, I can go back to work? Absolute relief. But I wasn't prepared for it at all. Like everybody was talking about the strike before it happened. And I didn't really expect it to be the way it was.

[00:04:25] It was a lot more extreme and it affected me way harder than I thought it would, you know, just not being able to work at all, not being able to do anything and then shifting into trying to do commercial acting because commercials were allowed.

[00:04:37] So I tried to tap into that and like there's so much competition out there with that. I'm not a commercial actor. I'm more emotional. I'm not, you know, like, do-do-do-do. You know, so it was something new for me.

[00:04:48] I did it and I got good at it, but it was something new. So it was like throughout that period of time, I had to work on a whole new craft, which is cool. You know, I appreciate it and everything is a learning experience at the same time.

[00:05:00] So thank God it's over. Right. What was your mental health well-being during that period? Because I know I've been on your social media page. I see you hike. Is that like a release for you? Like when you hike and when you work out,

[00:05:15] I know you work out too as well. Like walk us through just that process because I know a lot of actors, they were really like, to your point, really depressed and like these dark places.

[00:05:25] Did that, did you kind of have like a little season of that or did it not affect you in that way? I mean, obviously it's always going to affect you to a certain extent, but I've gone through some pretty severe things throughout these past few years.

[00:05:37] So I mean, this was just something else for me to open up my mind and help me realize like, okay, I love acting. This is my passion. I'm going to do this forever. But we all understand that it might not pay as much as you'd like

[00:05:51] and it might not come as consistently as you'd like it to come. So you have to kind of have something on the back burner. I've always been a hustler. I've always been somebody with multiple streams of income.

[00:06:01] So for me, it was like I have put all my eggs into acting. And I have a real estate license. You know, I'm a licensed real estate agent, but I have taken my license down from, you know, where it was at. So a rodeo realty.

[00:06:18] So it was like, what am I going to do? It just opened my eyes. You know, I kind of just got back into hustler mode. Like let me start doing other things that I can have some revenue for myself in other ways.

[00:06:29] So it was, you know, an eye opener. That's good. So, you know, let's talk about this this this season for you. Those who have not seen we already on episode three, episode two was amazing. Just walk us through when you saw that script and you were like, oh,

[00:06:51] this is this is my role. Okay. What you what you are automatically comfortable with it? Was it something that you had to get like, get into like, you know, mentally get yourself ready to do this scene? Like walk us through this scene because it's pretty, it's pretty heavy.

[00:07:07] I'm beyond switching. Very heavy, very intense. You know, it would have been done differently had I not set my limitations in this, I say to up and coming actors, all women actors, like make sure you set boundaries for yourself and you follow through with it.

[00:07:24] You know, I did do some pretty racy stuff that you normally wouldn't see me do. But being that this is a show the way that it is, like I know what it is. So it's like I came into it knowing.

[00:07:37] But I still, you know, I feel I did it tastefully at the end of the day. Like I said again, Ren was awesome. Zuri our intimacy coordinator, she was dope. So it was like us walking through the choreography of, you know, the whole intimacy scene.

[00:07:57] You know, it was very tastefully done. Listen, until you just said that I didn't even know it was such thing, a position as an intimacy coordinator. That's a very interesting way of putting it. I'm gonna note that. I ain't never heard that before in my life.

[00:08:15] That was a good shout out Zuri, shout out Ren and Ruben, the director for that scene. And that episode it was just, it was awesome. You know, I mean, it was something new for me. It was definitely a little bit.

[00:08:28] I was a little nervous not to lie because you know what I was wearing, but they did want me to be nude. And I said no that I gave them the suggestion of what I wanted to wear.

[00:08:39] And Kia, the costume designer and the wardrobe, head of wardrobe, she, you know, kind of put it all together for me and found it and got me that fit. So shout out to her too. We made it work and we put it together.

[00:08:54] And I still kept, you know, to my, you know, what I'm comfortable with. Right. No, no, I get it. And that's, I think a lot of upcoming actresses needed to hear that from you today

[00:09:09] because to your point, if you do not, you know, have some type of standard or limitation in what you will and what you won't do, you're right. They're going to put, you know, that's their job to push you to the limit. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So where are you?

[00:09:24] Where are you upset though that you got killed off? So talk about that when you saw that. What was that up? Wait, wait, what? Wait, what's happening? Wait, so wait, but they missed, right? They missed me and they didn't hit me.

[00:09:39] So that was a little, you know, very sad and disappointing. And again, I don't write the show and I, it's not, I don't know where it's going. So it's not for me to say, but it's sad that peaches had to go,

[00:09:55] but on to the next bigger and better things and, you know, long live peaches. Right. Long live peaches. Yeah, short live. So, you know, where are you at now? When you talk about, you know, just you, what would you like to do?

[00:10:13] So, you know, we see you seeing you in BMF. We've seen you play Tomb Raider too as well. That was amazing too as well. You're the Lord crafting. What is your ideal role for you that you really want to do that you really like

[00:10:27] really want people to know that no, this is who I am. These are the best roles that I want to play for the next, I don't know, five, 10 years or whatever. I can't really like pinpoint one specific role because I want to show my wide range

[00:10:42] and what I can do and how many different styles and different people that I can become. Because honestly, like that's just something I've been doing like my whole life. So it's like second nature to me and I'm just excited to do more action stuff.

[00:10:57] I'd like doing my own stunts in some ways. So I want to do more action stuff, maybe be like a superhero for real. You know, a lot more emotional stuff. I got that in the next film that I'm doing though.

[00:11:10] I start shooting in April for a film in San Francisco and I'm playing a mother who lost her husband and is going through some stuff with her daughter. So that's going to be more like it's dealing with mental health actually.

[00:11:25] It's actually, I would love to talk more about it when we get more into it and after it's done filming and I can talk about it. But that'll be something. Absolutely. Definitely get into because this being about mental health and things like that

[00:11:36] and spirituality, I think it'd be a good story to talk about. Absolutely. Now you don't have any kids do you? No, no kids. I have four guys and... You say what now? I have four God children and a lot of nieces and nephews. Okay.

[00:11:54] Now the reason I asked that because you just brought up your character that you play a mom on this movie. Was that hard for you to like get into character to... I don't know if you have to do any correction or kind of like raising this child.

[00:12:07] Was that something new for you? Well, I actually played a mom in a to-be film that Chris Stokes directed. It's called that to-be that Eric Jimenez and that was that came out last year. So I played a mother on there before and I love my God children.

[00:12:22] My nieces, my nephews, like they are my heart and my life. So I do feel those characters because if anything was to ever happen to them, like I feel that type of emotion. But from this particular character, I feel like I'm drawing more from my mom's experience

[00:12:42] and what happens for me while I was growing up with her and my her and my dad divorced or separated and my dad was no longer in the house. She was trying to take care of all the bills and it was like one of those things.

[00:12:55] And so for me, like taking on this role, I'm tapping into that. And it's more of like a legacy for my mom. That's good. Any, any, any comedies? Would you like to play in like a romantic comedy or some type of like funny comedy or something?

[00:13:11] Are you in my head because last night I was literally just watching a film and I was like, I want to do a comedy. Like I would love to do a comedy. I feel like I'm funny.

[00:13:20] I got great comedic timing and I just needed to be in the right film. And I would kill it. I'm ready. You're ready for it. All right, before I get you out of here, you know, has there been anything, you know,

[00:13:33] just the last time we talked with your, you know, that God has kind of like showed you, revealed to you and your spiritual growth, just what you walk in life? Like God has God shown you something different over the last course of this last year

[00:13:45] that you didn't know about yourself from a spiritual aspect? A lot. A lot. I feel like I've gotten so much closer to God, even within this last year, not even just because I've been receiving more blessing.

[00:13:59] It's just that even throughout all the blessings, I've gone through a lot of adversity as well. Like things that have come my way, but I have just kept my faith so strong. Like I said every morning I wake up and I say thank you for the day.

[00:14:11] Thank you for my lessons and my blessings. Like guide me throughout my day basically. And I feel like I just, I know that God got me at the end of the day. I don't like to stress about things.

[00:14:24] I don't like to worry about it at the end of the day. Everything's going to be okay. Everything's going to be fine as long as you believe and know that God is already written it and it's already been, your path has already paved, you know?

[00:14:36] You just have to walk in faith. Can we, can we maybe expect you and maybe some faith based fans? Maybe some more inspirational? Is that on your radar? Yes, actually. It's actually a show on Netflix.

[00:14:51] They have been reaching out to me for the past like, I want to say two years now and I auditioned for an apart. I don't know if I'm going to say the name yet just because I'm going to try to keep that under

[00:15:03] wraps until I get the part. But they've been reaching out. They said the directors had me, you know, on his eyes and they just want to find the right part for me. They have a few more seasons left and they want to put me in the right role.

[00:15:16] So I'm waiting for that. So hopefully soon from your mouth, it'll happen. I definitely got to ask you this being a hip hop show. It's a faith based hip hop show, but I definitely got to ask you about hip hop. We celebrated 50 years of hip hop last year.

[00:15:31] How influential is hip hop on you and your life? If you could pick three artists that are alive, any, any, any genre music, what three artists you going to pick? Well, my top three favorite artists, any genre dead or alive would have to be Tupac, Biggie and Aliyah.

[00:15:50] I am in love with music. I've always been, I was that little girl writing all the words down and Dr. Dre's album back in the day trying to keep up with all the songs and all that.

[00:16:02] But I was at the 50 years, the celebration that they had for hip hop. I was there and it was an amazing show. It was incredible. All of the performers just seeing like everyone from like MC light all the way to like

[00:16:18] just every single last person who was there. I can't even name the names because everybody was there, but it was beautiful. And hip hop is, is the culture period. Yeah. Hip hop is the culture.

[00:16:29] Any, any faith, any faith based hip hop artists on your, on your, on your radar. Are you familiar with any Christian hip hop artists or faith based hip hop artists? Or any gospel artists?

[00:16:40] Give me, give me, give me your top three inspirational artists or groups of all time too. Well, I, I'm going to be honest. I can't name them off the top of my head, but I did go to a Christian private school

[00:16:52] for three years when I was in fifth, sixth, seventh grade. So I know all about the music and there is this one guy I had been seeing on Instagram that he's amazing and he does a lot of the hip hop, the

[00:17:10] La Cray maybe La Cray, La Cray or Bizzle. Maybe it's La Cray. I think it's La Cray. He's I love it. I think I started following him too. So that's what's up. That's what's up. All right, Rahm, I appreciate you coming by again.

[00:17:25] Thank you for everything you do. Listen to the people I connect with you, follow you on all your social media platforms. Of course. Thank you for having me. It's such a pleasure speaking to you every time.

[00:17:35] Everybody can find me on all social media platforms at Rahmah June, R-A-M-A-J-O-O-N. Welcome back. Welcome back DJ Focus. Dice Gamble, you tap into the fix your source of faith confused hip hop, army of poetry is time for our spiritual detox.

[00:17:50] And listen, we try to listen bring a lot of just different people on and just talk about faith, talk about business, talk about everything. And listen, this is a boss lady on the day. She been doing it at a high level for a long time.

[00:18:05] She ain't gonna come over here acting all humble. She's gonna come on and tell the truth because I'm telling you, she has been a mover and shaker in a lot of different spaces. Listen, she's a CEO. She's an entrepreneur. She's a radio personality. She's an actress.

[00:18:18] She's a producer. She probably wrote a book too as well. And we're gonna probably get some more deep. Listen, four books, six books. Listen, she's an author. She is a successful, a success story. And that's why I'm grateful to have a conversation with her.

[00:18:33] The one and only Tamera Fair. What's going on sis? Oh my God, that was such a dynamic intro. Sometimes when people talk about things, I'm like, who is that? But thank you. Thank you so much. Listen, I appreciate your humility.

[00:18:46] You know, you've done a lot of things and I know you are humble. But you know, you have, you deserve your roses now. So we're gonna give you roses while you're still living. And talk about everything that you do.

[00:18:59] So first, you know, share a little bit of your faith journey with the people. What's that one thing maybe God has shown you maybe through, you know, your life, maybe in your careers from a spiritual aspect

[00:19:08] that you can share with the people before we talk about everything else you do? So God has always been in my life. I grew up in a religious, I'll say, I don't know, I'll say spiritual household. My grandmother used to go to church.

[00:19:21] I remember at like four years ago, we were watching King of Kings, Lord of Lords. I did it. I'm not gonna die. But then I actually found out the power of the Lord and it just one day hit me. Like, don't just step in, dive in.

[00:19:37] And so that's what I did. And it is nothing but God that has taken me on this journey because as you know, in any journey, it's going to have its ups and downs, because of his, his hills and valleys.

[00:19:47] You just got to be able to stand strong in the wind and that strength comes from God in my faith. And no matter what's going on, I don't care how many valleys I go through.

[00:19:55] I know that if I just keep believing in God, I'm going to get back on a peak. And true to fall, it's always been that way. So my first honor is always to him. What do you think of, you know, what has God shown you through this pandemic?

[00:20:11] I know we've passed it. We're about four years removed from it. But I like the fact that you brought up, you know, your foundation on God and old church. What do you, what do you think the church is now with after the pandemic and everything,

[00:20:26] you know, video and more entertainment driven versus ministry driven? What's your thoughts on that? Well, I actually like the entertainment aspect of church because I think it keeps people engaged. It attracts new people, young people into the church and it keeps their attention.

[00:20:42] I'm a trap gospel lover myself. If I could play trap gospel on the radio every day, all day, I would. But that's because I like R&B and I love the fact that that fusion of R&B and gospel has really taken hold.

[00:20:58] But gospel, I mean, religion today, I think we got some lazy worshipers. Definitely we got some people that are still strong in their faith. But I think it's up to the ones who still have that army strong faith

[00:21:13] to actually hold the hands of the lazy worshipers, to actually bring them into the true meaning of what God can really do for you. I don't think people really understand that when you are at your lowest and you think you have nowhere to go.

[00:21:28] I know I deal with people who are suicidal, have attempted suicide unsuccessfully. But that means you really want to get out of here, right? And really just introduce them to the power of God. And now they're flourishing.

[00:21:41] So that's why I say I think that religion has really, and particularly with the pandemic, has really produced a lot of lazy worshipers. What I mean by that is, you know, the Bible says faith without deeds is dead, right? You got to put the work in.

[00:21:58] It ain't just God's responsibility to do your work. So we got to have that reciprocating balance in work, faith and results. Do you think that's caused by people not really want to look at themself in the mirror and stop their sinful nature? Because we talked about it.

[00:22:18] We had a real talk topic talking about all your sins and remission. And the angle we pushed was, yeah, a lot of people don't want to look themselves in the mirror. A lot of people don't want to eat something to pass you.

[00:22:28] Shout out to your pastors and they're not talking about a lot of the relevant topics that we need to talk about. And the thing that came up was a lot of them are still doing some of these sins.

[00:22:38] So they don't want to even talk about it from the pulpit. So you think, to your point, have we got to a place to where we don't hold ourselves accountable for being transformed by God?

[00:22:49] And I get you might struggle with something, but how long is that struggle before you reached out to somebody? Get help, get in life classes, get back in your word, get back to fasting and praying. What's your thoughts on that just with the spiritual maturity of the church?

[00:23:06] That was an excellent question about is your faith in remission or is your self-observation in remission? The hardest thing that we can do is look at our own faults. It's so much easier to take care of someone else's business because we are afraid to face our own.

[00:23:25] But it's kind of like AA and I'm not an alcoholic, but I have a lot of them in my family and I've gone to Al-Anon with them. And some of the principles of AA is you first got to look at you and see who the corporate is.

[00:23:37] And you got to understand that you are powerless to your addiction. Now, if we could just get addicted to God and be powerless to that addiction, that would be great. But the reason I likened it to AA is because in order to really heal yourself or actually

[00:23:53] find out what the healing of God is, you got to have a regiment like a person who's addicted. You can't miss a meeting. If you feel like you are falling off a backsliding, as they say, you need to get a sponsor.

[00:24:07] That means somebody who's spiritually more ensconced than you so that they can pray you back into where you needed to be or where you were. But nothing, everything is transient. Like there's nothing that's good forever, nothing that's bad forever.

[00:24:21] But you do know that your coping mechanisms are there when you need them, when that bad is too bad for you. And even sometimes when the good is too good for you, you start self doubting, whatever. But that's why you definitely need a coach.

[00:24:35] However that coach looks, it could be your mama, your daddy, your pastor, your friend. Whoever, you got to be able to reach out to somebody that's got some good sound advice. Now don't reach out to a fool because guess what? You're going to get a food device, right?

[00:24:47] Right. But you got to reach out to somebody that you trust that's going to put you back on that straight and narrow. So yeah, I totally agree. No, it's not in remission. Well, I say it is in remission but it's still there. That's good.

[00:25:04] So come on, let's talk about it. Where did all this ambition come from? Like talk us back through some of your, you know, your upbringing, your childhood a little bit. Like when did you know you wanted to be this go-getter entrepreneur?

[00:25:17] Like was that, you know, I knew you grew up in Chicago, right? You from Chicago? I'm from Chicago born and raised, so sort. Well, come on and talk about it. Talk about your upbringing and how you got into being the successful businesswoman that you are today.

[00:25:30] You know, I wasn't supposed to succeed DJ Focus. I was supposed to be pregnant at 16, never go to college if I did, I was supposed to drop out and that's what my mom told me. My own mother said that you're going to be pregnant at 16

[00:25:45] and you're never going to amount to anything. And you know what? God literally, she, he, this was at 10 years old. He said, you don't have to even subscribe to that because that's not my vision for you.

[00:26:00] All you got to do is listen, be still and when I order your steps, step into them. And that's what I did. I left my mom's house at 10 years old. I went to go live with my grandmother for a little while

[00:26:12] and then I went to go live with my aunt who was an entrepreneur, extraordinaire, she had 16 nursing homes. And I say that intentionally so that it's not to be mistaken with nursery schools because that's what I ventured off into.

[00:26:27] And I just watched her, she would take me, I was 17 years old, I found myself in a board meeting with about five or six white men and maybe one woman, which that was my aunt, who was really making deals that you don't even think about like arbitrage.

[00:26:47] I never knew anything about that. And I don't know a lot of black people that still know about arbitrage, offshore investing and offshore lending. And I was like, this is amazing. I want to do something like this.

[00:26:58] But what I really wanted to do was to honor her because she took me in, she didn't have to. She wasn't my biological mother, but she was my biological aunt. And she showed me that success is yours if you have a successful mindset.

[00:27:13] And she would always tell me how worthy I was of receiving blessings and how worthy I was to just be at peace. So after years of coaching, that's why I say you've got to have a coach. It doesn't necessarily have to be somebody professional.

[00:27:28] She wasn't a professional, but she was heartfelt. She was authentic with her message. And I received that message very well. And so I used to tell her to honor you, I have got to do something.

[00:27:42] If I could just be a third of the woman that you are, I will feel like that I have honored you. And thank you for taking me in and showing me that I could be something other than what my mom told me I could be.

[00:27:54] Now, my mom and I now have a great relationship, but it was a struggle on that pathway from childhood to successfulhood if I can put it that way. Because you know, you have those thoughts, those words still creep back into your head,

[00:28:11] especially if it's somebody that you're supposed to trust. Sometimes the people that you're supposed to trust aren't necessarily the ones that you should trust. That's why they always say, and it's a good idea to always keep your trust in him.

[00:28:23] Why do you think, and I'm not saying this is, you know, your mom's plight, but what I heard from you with your relationship earlier on with your mom, the communication was toxic. And like you said, it was in the back of your head.

[00:28:37] So of course, you know, you can either do one or two things like you did. Either you can go and prove her wrong or prove that you can do something or you can live up to what the words that were spoken from your mom say.

[00:28:48] But I hear that all the time in our culture though, I'm being honest with you, when you talk about a lot of the old school parents speaking negative to the kids, why do you think that's not talked about enough?

[00:28:59] Whether it be some of the older parents need to go get therapy or counseling. Why are we not having these discussions more? Why do you think? I think therapy has been a stigma in black culture for decades, centuries maybe, but for certain decades.

[00:29:15] And I think now actually my mom is in therapy now. And that's not why our relationship got repaired. Our relationship got repaired because God said to me, you got to honor your mother and father. I don't care what she did to you. You got to honor her.

[00:29:28] And so it's been a struggle, but I've done it. And I think that to answer your question, I think that that's what they know. That's how they were raised. So traditionally either you reject it all or you accept it all.

[00:29:43] Maybe you hybrid it and if it worked for you in whatever capacity, even with your pain points, then you think that it'll work for your children. But I've noticed with my own child that every generation brings about a new nuance

[00:29:59] that you have to get comfortable with and figure out how can I motivate these children. You look at your Gen Zs or your millennials, totally different people, right? Yes. They are, you got to, they want to be heard. They want to be felt.

[00:30:16] They want you to understand where they're coming from. My daughter told me about the moon being in the seventh house in Jupiter, line of middle, it's Mars. I'm like, I don't want to hear none of that.

[00:30:24] But until I actually understood what she was coming from, we didn't communicate. And then I looked back and I was like, you know what? I don't want to perpetuate that kind of broken relationship with mother and daughter. So I listened. Now we have a very strong bond.

[00:30:40] That's good. Listen, DJ Focus, we got to go to a quick break. Don't touch that dial. I promise you we coming right back with more from Tamara Fair. And we back DJ Focus. She tapped back into the fix in the middle of our spiritual detox with Tamara Fair.

[00:30:51] And she's, she came home preaching now. I didn't think she was going to come home preaching, but she's been sharing some nuggets. So Tamara, come on in. When did you know? So, you know, you started the day cares, right? So you started, you know, do you care?

[00:31:05] How many did you start and how many do you currently do you still currently have them? Oh yeah. So I started one at a time. Okay. I started one and then my good friend and Godfather is minister Farrakhan, minister Lewis Farrakhan.

[00:31:20] I remember him sitting down with me on his house in Damon, on Damon Street in Chicago. And he said to me, what do you want to do? And I said, well, I want to be an OB guy. And he said, why do you want?

[00:31:30] Have you just have you delved into the why as to what you've chosen? I said, yeah, because I want to make a lot of money and I want to deal with kids. He said, well, you know, sometimes money is not everything.

[00:31:40] You got to figure out spiritually what aligns with you. Because professionally, you're going to be doing this for a long time and you're going to have to be comfortable with the choices you make and live with them. Have you ever thought about teaching? I was like, absolutely not.

[00:31:53] I don't want to teach nobody nothing. You know, that's a double negative, right? Right. Universe heard it and the universe said, well, we're going to turn this double negative into a positive.

[00:32:03] And I say this to him often even why I made the choice that I made because when you said it, see, it come across different when the minister says it than when your man said,

[00:32:16] or when your mom says it, minister Farrakhan just has that kind of resonating voice. And I'm not talking about just the pitch of his voice, but the meaning of his voice that makes you sit and think. And so I went to college.

[00:32:32] I went to Fisk University, shout out Fisk HBCU and for undergrad. And my first two years were biology. I wanted to be a doctor and I was pursuing it. And then I went over to my Harry.

[00:32:47] I watched this baby get born and I was like, I'm never doing that every day. So I think that I'm like, I'm going to give me an English degree and see, I'm gonna throw it all up against the wall and see what happens.

[00:33:00] And so when I decided to, when I came back home from Nashville to Chicago, one of my friends, moms was selling her daycare center. And she said to me, you're young. I went into business in my twenties right out of college.

[00:33:15] She said, you're young, you're enthusiastic, you've got a great energy. Kids will love you. I think you should think about buying my business. I was like, buying your business? I don't know how to do that. But let me tell you something.

[00:33:30] I don't care if you don't know how to do it. If you know how to pray, he gonna show you how to do it. And that's what happened. And it was incremental. I paid for it incrementally and you know, it all came to fruition.

[00:33:44] I did everything wrong, DJ Focus, everything. But God said, you know what? You got to do some wrong first in order for me to show you how to do right. And luckily I still have my son. I said, well, I'm gonna go back to school, get a master's,

[00:33:58] open up another daycare center. And this time I'm gonna do it right. And that's where it started. So in total, I have had 10 daycare centers. Now I have four. Wow. What's that one thing that you learned over the years running the daycare about,

[00:34:14] you know, just how to deal with kids? Because to your point, you definitely have to, you know, have great patience. But I do look at it too as well as you have a responsibility and of course, you know, anybody that works for your daycare,

[00:34:28] you know, just making sure we give the kids some care, some good needs too as well. What's something that you found out about just working with kids that you could kind of maybe share with somebody who maybe is struggling in that area?

[00:34:41] Well, see, that's the easy part because that's my gift. And you know, when you get gifts, you're, they don't even seem like it's no effort to it. But in terms of the business side of it,

[00:34:52] like I can organically just zero in, look at a child's eyes and see they're sad or they're happy or they, they're autistic or they have a learning disability. That's just my gift. I don't know, gifts are unexplainable. But in terms of the business aspect of child care,

[00:35:11] I would say that I learned how to, if I had to do it over again, I would have done it right first so that I didn't have to do it over again. You know how when we get our first apartment,

[00:35:20] we want to buy IKEA furniture, nothing, nothing, no, it's version to IKEA, but we want to buy IKEA furniture or the like. Then we got to keep buying it because maybe it broke by the good stuff first. Then you don't have to keep buying it.

[00:35:33] You could actually sell that. So now I'm selling enough and it's for free. It's a zero dollar purchase. Do it right the first time. If you're unsure, get someone a mentor that's going to tell you how to do it right. So that would be my, my biggest nugget.

[00:35:51] Do it right the first time. Buy that, that sturdy, um, unmovable furniture that only a mover could move. And I'm using furniture as a euphemism because that furniture should really be correlated to those lessons. That's good. Yeah. That's good. So how do, how do we get an actor?

[00:36:12] How do we, what was your first role and how did you become the actress that you are now and producer? You know, it's kind of like a maze. You know, have you ever seen Mads Lo with his mice and they run through this maze

[00:36:25] and they hit a wall and then they go this way because I was kind of that way because I wasn't thinking about acting at all. But truthfully I act in the classroom because when you're trying to get the

[00:36:35] attention of young children, you better get some animation to you because you'll lose their attention fast. Organically they just have to get to a long attention span. They come here with short attention spans.

[00:36:46] So the puppeteering, the rolling on the floor, the big eyes, all of that kind of stuff. I didn't know was preparing me for acting because I didn't know I wanted to be an actress. So Apoco Veril Howard called me up one day. She's my store.

[00:37:00] I actually pledged her at Fisk and she said, Tamir, you have to come. Now I'm managing these directors, these movie directors. So I said, well that's good for you, Veril. But at the time, childcare was in the fight of its life and I had become an advocate

[00:37:19] for fighting for childcare. We lost our funding. And we had to go to Springfield and create some bills, make some relationships with these lawmakers because we got to get our funding back. Otherwise, 133,000 kids are going to be out of daycare. Then she said, I need you to come.

[00:37:36] I was like, oh, okay, I'm going to come. I'm going to come. I'm auditioned and she's going to stop talking because if anybody out here knows Apoco Veril Howard, if she gets something fixated on her, she ain't going to let it go. That all. No, no, no.

[00:37:51] She'll call you every four hours. So did you make your reservation? So did you look at the script, that kind of thing? So I was like, okay, I'm going to go. I'm not going to do well. So then she'll leave me alone.

[00:38:03] And to my surprise, I got the part and I actually started liking it. So then I went to school because I'm an educator, right? So I wanted to be educated in whatever field if I'm going to do something, I want to do it. Right?

[00:38:17] So I went to Second City in Chicago and I took acting classes and I graduated from there. And it was fun. It was like, you know, when you're in leadership, like I am in childcare, you have to be the one to tell people what to do.

[00:38:33] But in acting, you got a director, right? And they tell you what to do. And I thought that was a reprieve. So I could go somewhere and just sit back and bring these characters to life. Well, if that's all I had to do, remember some lines. I'm in.

[00:38:46] And so that I really just enjoyed it. Now the producer, how I became a producer is because for however, whatever reason, when I go to a set, I'm very quiet, right? And I'm, I'm agreeable. Whatever you say to me to do, I'm going to do it.

[00:39:03] Somehow somebody found out when she got a couple of nickels, maybe she might want, maybe she might want to produce. And then I found out how the checks were on the producing side as opposed to the actions acting side. And so my business is kicked in. Got you.

[00:39:17] Got you. You want attention. There you go. There you go. So I was, I liked it. I like it. Not I liked ED. I like it because everything that I have done, I still do. That's good. So now come on out. Radio personality inspiration station.

[00:39:36] How did you end up being a radio voice and just being on a radio show? How did that happen? Another thing that I did not plan on. In fact, you know what? I went on radio one time to promote a fifth concert.

[00:39:53] When I tell you DJ, because I was so nervous to get on that radio. I was like this, my cousin Gina, she was on the radio with me and she was flowing.

[00:40:01] I mean, you would have thought she was a hot mix DJ rapper the way she was flowing. And I was like, I had my little cheese. I had my little notes in front of me and I was going, yes, and we're going to

[00:40:11] have this as a, and it was so mundane and boring. But then my friend who's a comedian, he said to Mary, can you go on this radio show with me and you can promote your play?

[00:40:24] I was in a play at the time and he's like, you can promote your play. And I was like, well now I don't want to do that because I'm watching TV and I'm cool. I'm chilling. I don't want to go. He was like, please again, I need you.

[00:40:36] Well, when my friends need me, I show up. So we went and I don't know if you know a lot of comedians, but they're on stage persona is different than they're on air persona. They're very. Absolutely. Um, gregarious personalities when they're on stage.

[00:40:54] But if you put them in any other arena, they're shy. They're, they're very coy. And so I was kind of shocked because I'm thinking, this ain't you on stage. But I think that was why he wanted me to come because, you know, to have a layer of comfort.

[00:41:10] Well, the producers loved us and they asked, could we come every week? And so that's how that got born. And that was a smaller station Crawford broadcasting. Don't get me wrong. Crawford is all over, but it was smaller than I heart.

[00:41:22] And so one of my friends Pam Cordier, she called me up and she was like, Tammy, you've been on, um, you've been on Crawford for a year. Maybe you might want to come over to I heart. It's bigger. It's Nate. I mean, it's worldwide.

[00:41:34] Maybe you might want a bigger platform. So I was like, okay, let me look. Went over there and that's seven years later. That's where we still are. Seven years later to God. Seven years later number of completion. That's good. Good.

[00:41:48] Before I get you out of here, I got to definitely ask you, you know, talk a little bit more about the cast of double cross and just your experience on double cross because that thing was lit. Oh my God, double cross. Let me tell you something.

[00:42:02] When I got to this, I was so excited to get to, that's probably one of my most exciting roles and I know I died immediately, right? But I, the reason why I was so excited about it was because it was, it's a black production, but you couldn't tell.

[00:42:18] You know how you get these in these? No budget, no budget. Yes. Yeah. But you could not tell that. I got to the set. It was a full blown acre studio with all these different rooms that they

[00:42:31] had built out and everything that you see on that set, every frame that you see, every hospital, all the tunnels, they built them and it's all under one roof. And the twists and turns of double cross were so interesting to me because number one, it was children.

[00:42:51] Number two was the issue late hot topic. We got so many missing children. You don't know where they are. You're looking for them all the time and people aren't even realizing that they, you know, you think of your normal old, here's the act murderer,

[00:43:03] was a serial killer, whatever, whatever. People aren't realizing that these kids are being taken and put into the sex trade and they don't, they don't, they don't come back. So I thought it took and shined a light on a very important topic that lawmakers,

[00:43:21] community members, community stakeholders really need to take hold of and see how we can stop the sex traffickers. Now don't get me wrong, the crosses went overboard but it's fiction based on facts. So to see, I mean the cast is beautiful and I'm not talking about just outside,

[00:43:43] the inside, they're just the great people and that storyline was so lit. I love, love, love it. So when I got their makeup, you go to make up hair and makeup, they put that white wig on me because I was one of the wise, right?

[00:43:59] I really wish I could have got to my husband. That was me and a possible husband. Right. But I really wish I could have got to him because I could have stopped all of that alone

[00:44:08] time ago but and also the writers Crystal and how, I mean they are amazing. You think you, you thought of that? Did somebody show you that? No, they actually create these storylines in their mind and then Crystal, she puts it to life and it's just, it's incredible.

[00:44:27] Now I definitely want to plug that we have to, we being the listening and the viewing audience, we have to start writing the all black network because they're talking about taking double cross off and I, yeah. So it looks like numbers, the sixth episode was the last episode.

[00:44:47] So if you remember, the game went off of a network, right? Yes. And then public opinion brought it back on. So I really want to appeal to the public to write the producers, look on Facebook,

[00:45:01] you'll see and you can also look on Viral, Apostle Viral Howard's Facebook page and it'll direct you as to where you can go or maybe not on her page but you'll see

[00:45:11] it on my page where you can go and who you can write in order to voice your opinion about this fantastic production. Listen to me, I got to get you back on. It was definitely a pleasure to have you on.

[00:45:24] Can you tell the people how they can connect with you, follow you on all your social media platforms? Absolutely. Thank you so much for having me too. It's been a my pleasure but definitely go follow me on Tammy T. Fair, that's on

[00:45:35] Instagram and Tamara Fair, T-A-M-E-R-A on Facebook. I'm on everything though. I'm on Snapchat, I'm on TikTok, I'm on X. Now I got about full followers on TikTok because I really pushed that one but I love social media. I would love to connect with you if you like me.

[00:45:53] I promise I will love you back. All right y'all we got to get out of here. We'll be back in the morning, same time, same place. As always remember to stay focused on turning your negative into a positive. Jesus Christ is always the answer.

[00:46:05] Kingdom of Asmr should always be the goal. The picture's in. We out. Peace y'all.