The Beauty in You: Podcast

Healing and Hustle: Ernee Pepper's Story of Emotional Recovery and Entrepreneurial Success

• Chi Quita Mack, MSW • Season 1 • Episode 25

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Welcome to "The Beauty in You": Podcast, where today’s episode features the remarkable Ernee Peppers. Join host Chi Quita Mack and Ernee as they delve into Ernee's powerful journey of overcoming childhood abuse and transforming her pain into purpose.

Ernee recalls her early struggles, from a tumultuous home life to discovering solace in school and a passion for performing. Despite setbacks, she ultimately found healing through the Landmark program, which propelled her into a mission of helping others overcome their traumas.

As an entrepreneur, Ernee shares her success selling flavored iced coffee, along with invaluable tips on public speaking, booth setups, and authentic marketing. She emphasizes the importance of personal growth, forgiveness, and breaking the cycle of trauma for future generations.

Tune in to hear Ernee’s inspiring story, practical advice, and the power of storytelling to heal and motivate. Get ready for a dose of inspiration on this episode of "The Beauty in You: Podcast".


To work with Ernee Peppers:

Booksby.erneepeppers.com

Peppersspeaks3mistakes.com

6week.peppersspeak.com 

https://5thannualbosslady.peppersspeak.com

 
To work with Chi Quita Mack:
Take Back Your Life 1-on-1 Coaching — Life Coach - The ChiQuita Mack
To Purchase The Beauty in You Workbook:
https://www.thechiquitamack.com/shop-tcm/p/the-beauty-in-you-a-guide-created-to-help-you-discover-the-best-version-of-you
Chi Quita Mack's Website: https://www.thechiquitamack.com
Chi Quita Mack Shop/ Merchandise: https://www.thechiquitamack.com/shop-tcm
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechiquitamack

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Jacqueline G. [00:00:01]:
Welcome to the Beauty in you podcast, a safe place created for all women to come relax, get inspired, and be constantly reminded that they have not lost the ability to be who they once were. Join us as we dive into the true meaning of rediscovery through inspiring guests and topics such as healing, self love and creating a positive mindset. So sit back, relax and get comfortable as we dive into this week's episode. Here's your host, Chiquita Mack.

Chi Quita Mack [00:00:30]:
Hey y'all, welcome back to our another episode of the Beauty in you podcast. I am so excited, you guys. This episode you're going to love and it's going to be filled with. I think we may go on a little emotional rollercoaster, but it's going to be packed with a lot of energy for sure. Today we have an incredible special guest with us. Someone whose energy and charisma lights up every room she enters. She is not just any event MC. She is a dynamic public speaking strategist in vendor profit coach with a gift for motivating and commanding attention like no other.

Chi Quita Mack [00:01:07]:
With a passion for empowering women entrepreneurs, she has dedicated her career to training women on how to generate impressive profits at every vending event. And here's the kicker, they don't even need to invest in a sales booth. Her unique approach and magnetic presence has made her a sought after figure in the public speaking world. Her sessions are filled with actionable insights, powerful strategies and an infectious enthusiasm that leaves her audience inspired and ready to conquer the world. Welcome to the beauty and you podcast, Ernie Peppers. How are you, mama?

Ernee Peppers [00:01:47]:
I'm excited. And it's nice that when you actually hear who you are, I don't know if it has been done to you, but every time someone like tells and just says and just edifies me, it just makes me boom, like, wow, I wanna meet her.

Chi Quita Mack [00:02:05]:
Yes. Because oftentimes we're going, going, going, going, going, going. We don't take the like 5 seconds to reflect on what we've actually accomplished because we're always trying to get to somebody, Z, Z. Instead of looking back at all the great things we've already done. And you've done so much.

Ernee Peppers [00:02:22]:
Yeah, but come on, girl, let's get into it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:02:24]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:02:25]:
Sound the tea, honey.

Chi Quita Mack [00:02:26]:
Listen. So I have spent hours watching your YouTube and watching your dynamic journey over the past nine years, up until your recent event last month, being an emcee. And all I felt was energy. Like energy, energy. And I love that. I love what you bring to the room, but you already know this is called the beauty in you. So we got to go back a little bit. Roll it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:02:48]:
Roll it back. I want you to start with your rediscovery journey and what led you to be the dynamic woman you are today.

Ernee Peppers [00:02:57]:
Okay, now I'm gonna take y'all back a little bit. Just a little bit. Okay? Give y'all a little bit of a behind the action, because I did not. I ended up this way. I didn't start this way. All right, so since you've already told all the. All the glitz and the glam, let's take it back to the dirt. Okay? So now let's go.

Ernee Peppers [00:03:18]:
I was born August 31, 1966. But when other people are born and when children are born into the world like my children, people are happy to see them. They're happy. They're welcomed. They're like, oh, my God. I was a total oppressor. I was three pounds 6oz. And I'm a low child from my father and my mom.

Ernee Peppers [00:03:43]:
My dad was married when he met my mom and had me. I was born three pounds 6oz and caused chaos. Chaos. Boom, boom. Okay. The arguing, the bickering, the fighting, the this, the debt, breaking up families, putting families back together, doing whatever. And guess what they did to me? Shit me up out of here and send me to Trinidad to be with the rest of my brothers and sisters. Okay? So I became the whole factor in this whole playground of what my life ended up being today.

Ernee Peppers [00:04:17]:
Now fast forward. My mom, I never met my mom. She shipped me off at two years old. So I really didn't know my mom at eight years old, they told me that she passed on, didn't meet my mom. And it's kind of hard to feel anything but someone carrot that carried you birth you, but you didn't know. It's kind of hard. So I had no emotions, but I didn't begin to get emotions until I had my children. Do you know what I mean by that?

Chi Quita Mack [00:04:48]:
I understand, yeah.

Ernee Peppers [00:04:49]:
Because I didn't know what it was I was. Then my dad sent for me from Trinidad to come up, back up here to the states, and now I am face to face with the lady that my mom and her had. A lot of chaos going on. Hello. Of course I paid all the price that my mom, all the bickering, the fighting, I paid the price for all of that. The beatings, the no eatings, the no bathings, the calling names from the whores to the bees. You ain't never gon be ish. You are going to be just like your mom.

Ernee Peppers [00:05:24]:
You're going to be breaking up families. You're going to be a whore. You're going to be just everything that she ever wanted to say to my mom, she said it to me. I held on to that. And when I came up here from Trinidad, I had a tick. Trinidadian accent?

Chi Quita Mack [00:05:42]:
Yeah.

Ernee Peppers [00:05:43]:
Okay. And when you come up here to America, that accent is really. When you're around kids, it's funny to them, it's weird to them. It's different. So I took on a lot of teasings, a lot of joking. I took on that. And again, that too. I held on, okay.

Ernee Peppers [00:06:03]:
And that made me not speak between the chaos that I'm going through at eight, at home and then at school, I became a fighter. I fought. I just fought and fought and fought. I would fight, fight, fight, but I ended up in this lady's class named Miss Taylor. Masiela was the one that used to put on these fabulous plays. It's called the spring concert. I don't know if you guys ever did the spring concert. And it's like, it's party time.

Ernee Peppers [00:06:32]:
Everyone is playing their instruments, they're singing, they're dancing. It's the end of the year. So this is what she did. She ended up doing this amazing play. And boy, oh, boy, this was when I lit up. Oh, my God. I finally, I would like to do that, but I had one problem. I didn't speak.

Ernee Peppers [00:06:55]:
That was a big problem. You can't be in the play if you ain't speaking. Okay. So once I got into her class, I. She. The first time, soon as we get in her class that day, she have everybody say their name. Look, who couldn't say their name. Okay? Then she made me say my name.

Ernee Peppers [00:07:13]:
And then after that, I. That was it for the rest of the day. So I became what we know today as a texter. I invented the texting.

Chi Quita Mack [00:07:22]:
Okay, there you go.

Ernee Peppers [00:07:24]:
Remember when we used to put, do you like me? Yes, no, or maybe. And that. I did that to my teacher. And I asked her, Miss Taylor, can I be in the play? So after that, she calls me in the back and she says, look outside in the hallway. And she said, look, I would love for you to be in the play, but you have to do one thing for me. You have to speak. I just gave up. Well, I guess I'm just not going to speak.

Ernee Peppers [00:07:50]:
I'm just not going to be in your play. But I'm in her class. Everyone that's in her class participates in the play. So she said, I have an idea for you. This is your homework. Assignment. I need for you to go and look at your favorite tv show, and I need for you to act like one of them and do the script with that person. Like, that person don't be you because you don't talk.

Ernee Peppers [00:08:14]:
But I need for you to be the person that you. That you see on tv and come back in the class and do it. At that particular time. We were looking at. Well, little did Miss Taylor knew I couldn't look at tv. I couldn't look at tv until the weekend. So it happened to be. Yes, the weekend.

Ernee Peppers [00:08:33]:
So she gave me a note of. And she. And I gave it to my stepmom, and I told. And it says, for me to do homework and I had to look at tv shows. I ended up. They were looking at Soul train and flip Wilson and Cher. Sunny and Cher. So I picked the person that I thought was hilarious, which was the flip Wilson show.

Ernee Peppers [00:08:53]:
Geraldine. Okay. She was just, you know, she was all that. So I came to class, and I did that. I used to wear my hair in three. So I took the hair out, and, you know, our hair can form into a semi afro. So I became that person. And the class laughed.

Ernee Peppers [00:09:13]:
The teacher smiled, and she said, you can do this. What I did is what I teach today is become an alter ego. Everyone does this. You have your Beyonce's, your. Everyone that performs has an alter ego so that this way, they can perform and be who they would like to see when they're sitting in the seat. Make sense.

Chi Quita Mack [00:09:37]:
Makes perfect sense.

Ernee Peppers [00:09:38]:
So this is what I teach. This is what I became, and this is what I continuously done in order for me to speak, have fun, and just, I guess, what blend. And I started becoming someone that I wanted to be instead of who I was being. I don't know who I was being at home and taking on what it was. So I didn't want to show that, and I became the person I wanted to be without showing that things was going on eruptively at home. And this is who I am.

Chi Quita Mack [00:10:17]:
Wow. That's all you can say after that.

Ernee Peppers [00:10:21]:
Some people don't come out of it. They're wearing it. That's who they are. They live it, and they move on, and they pass it on to their children. Pass it on, pass it on. I didn't want to do that. That was against my religion.

Chi Quita Mack [00:10:34]:
Okay, so what you did, what you did was. It's what I talk about often is breaking the cycle. Like, we're breaking the cycle. Like, we will not. Our kids will not wear our traumas. Right. We go through a lot and we're not going to pass that on. And that is what you did.

Chi Quita Mack [00:10:51]:
I want to go back a little bit because I want to give a shout out to Miss Taylor, right? Because she saw something in you and she gave you a tough assignment, which is I need you to, you want to do this. I need you to show up. But she took the extra time to give you that. But then I want to also give a shout out to you because what an environment. What a crazy environment. And what fear. Like how fearful. Even though it's a homework assignment, to give that note to say, I gotta watch tv.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:21]:
And the thought process of like, what if they say no, even though it's a homework assignment? Or what if I can't show up? So it's kudos for you. Also for like, you know what? It's homework. I gotta do it. I gotta do it.

Ernee Peppers [00:11:34]:
And I knew that they were about education. Okay, no, this one can be done. So you pass it on and boom, it happens. So I was very glad for that. I was very happy for that. That it later on. Now I'm looking back. It definitely molds me into who I am today.

Chi Quita Mack [00:11:54]:
Would you say that your alter ego, wait one. Did she have a name back then?

Ernee Peppers [00:12:00]:
No, I guess I will say my name is Ernestine. Right.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:04]:
Ernestine.

Ernee Peppers [00:12:05]:
And so I guess I created Ernie.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:06]:
Okay.

Ernee Peppers [00:12:08]:
I would say that that's what the difference is, Ernie. Ernie is expulsive. Ernestine is quiet.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:16]:
Yeah, she's quiet.

Ernee Peppers [00:12:18]:
And I'm not. I can be really set back. I could. But no, I don't like that.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:29]:
You're so funny. I like Ernie, honey, we like Ernie.

Ernee Peppers [00:12:33]:
Yeah, everyone enjoys Ernie. I enjoy Ernie, you know, but there is a time where Ernestine shows up.

Chi Quita Mack [00:12:41]:
Oh, yeah.

Ernee Peppers [00:12:42]:
You know, when I am not as. Cause they think that I'm like this all day long. At the house. At the house. No, I'm pretty much Ernestine at the house because this is where you get your chance to do homework, to do your research, to move forward, to be creative. Yes, because that's what I am. I'm creative. So I need that time to be creative until I step out the door and it's like, you step out the door, it's like showtime.

Ernee Peppers [00:13:11]:
It's like that. And I think if a lot of people can be like that and stop holding on to life that you had no control over. I had no control over this. I didn't ask to be here. I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to lose my mom. I didn't ask. I didn't ask for any of it.

Ernee Peppers [00:13:30]:
Right? Would I have liked to have known my mom like any other kid? I have two children. Yes, they love their mom, and I like being a mom and being there, but I didn't have that. And that's when I started missing my mom. You understand that?

Chi Quita Mack [00:13:48]:
Understand completely.

Ernee Peppers [00:13:50]:
Because I really didn't know her. I didn't know. Not really. I didn't know her at all. I started missing her when I had my son. And I found out all this stuff that I missed out on and the loves, the hugs, the being there for you and. And just. I just missed it at that particular time.

Ernee Peppers [00:14:09]:
That's when I felt I miss my mom, and I wish I had my mom to have done this. And I found out that I missed out on a whole lot of stuff. But how are you able to give it if you never receive?

Chi Quita Mack [00:14:24]:
It's hard. It's hard.

Ernee Peppers [00:14:28]:
Like you said, I wanted to break the chain and I didn't want them. I know how hard and difficult it was for me. Now, why would I want to bring that burden onto my children?

Chi Quita Mack [00:14:40]:
Exactly.

Ernee Peppers [00:14:41]:
And I think it's very selfish when a mother, boy, father wants to do that. Or when it happened to me. No, no. You didn't have a choice in the matter. But what you do now, you have a choice now to make that right with your generation. And that's what I decided to do. I'm going to change it. I'm going to make it right.

Ernee Peppers [00:15:02]:
And they're not going to have any inkling of any type of life that I went through. Not saying that I spoiled them and gave them everything because I only gave them what I can afford, what I can give them. I didn't spoil them rotten. I didn't do all that cause I didn't have it to do. But what I did give them is the love. And I respect my children. I gave them that respect. A lot of people don't respect their children because they feel, oh, it's.

Ernee Peppers [00:15:29]:
No, you have to give respect in order to receive respect. That's it. So I changed it. I broke the chain and let's go. Let's go.

Chi Quita Mack [00:15:41]:
It's important. It's important to heal. And a lot of what I do is healing. Right. I talk about the importance of healing because healing is going to get us to our goal. Right.

Ernee Peppers [00:15:51]:
We have.

Chi Quita Mack [00:15:51]:
We have a lot of traumas that we go through. We have a lot that we, we bring onto us, but we have to do that healing part. But motherhood let me talk about that real quick. I was. I was scared to be a mom, absolutely scared to be a mom because of not receiving those things, like, being affectionate with your mom and all those things. Like, me and my mom are close now, but I was, because I did not know, how am I going to give this love that I didn't necessarily get? How am I going to break the chain? Like, what am I going to do that's different? And then the love I felt when I had my son, I was like, oh, okay, all right, this is what that is. And sometimes at first, he loves hugs, and I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Chi Quita Mack [00:16:39]:
Because I wasn't used to that. But they are very affectionate. My kids are very, very affectionate. They are very emotional. They talk about their feelings, and that's what I want. I was like, I have to be the change. I cannot wear the burden of what I went through. And as I got older, I started to realize going back and the memories that I have of my mom is that she was growing up, too.

Chi Quita Mack [00:17:01]:
Like, we were kind of like, she was raising me, but she was. Still had a lot of growing to do herself, and she didn't know what she didn't know. But you don't get there until later in life when you start to look back and be like, oh, okay, I see that now. I see that now. And those triggers that do come up and how to deal with that. I want to ask you, what advice would you give someone who may have gone through those traumatic episodes of abuse in their childhood and those triggers do occur? How do you. What advice would you give them into how they deal with those triggers?

Ernee Peppers [00:17:40]:
Everyone deals with situations and traumas, and anything that you go through, everyone will start off the same, but everyone will end up doing it so different. How I end up doing it is because I ended up being. I had a best friend, and I ended up being around her family. And when I seen that it was possible to have a family of brothers and sisters that can actually love you, I end up being in the family, and they loved me. They were looking out for me. I had to be home at a certain time. They would change their whole Thanksgiving and all those dinners to make it earlier so I can be there. Baby, that's powerful.

Ernee Peppers [00:18:28]:
That's love. And not realizing what my girlfriend's mom, girlfriend mom was doing. Now I see that that was love. She'll come in. We hug. We do. And she would also give me baths because I wasn't allowed to take a bath. But on certain days.

Ernee Peppers [00:18:48]:
So I would come and she would say, give me those clothes. Take those clothes off. She'll put it in the washing machine. She'll do it. Take a shower. You know that. That's love. You know, she didn't come out and say, hey, I love you.

Ernee Peppers [00:19:03]:
But that right there is love. So when you see that there is a possibility that someone else can love you, you now start turning and changing and softening up a little bit and allowing things to just flow. Now, when you end up coming into, we'll say, a relationship, which I've been with my husband since I was 19. I brought a lot of things into the relationship to trauma. I bought it in. I also held a lot back because I didn't want him to see me as son. I wanted him to see me as the girlfriend, not the girlfriend with the lunch. And the more you try to fight it, the more it comes up.

Ernee Peppers [00:19:50]:
So I went on to. When I came to a point where I couldn't hold on and handle it anymore, where I was now being depressed, it was now taking a hold of me. It was being more than what I can handle because I never handled it. If you never handle something that's wrong, you never handle it. It becomes bigger, bigger and bigger. And by the time it got like this, it was unbearable. I can't handle it. Soon I can't do it.

Ernee Peppers [00:20:18]:
And I became depressed and just unhappy. What you like to do? I don't know. You don't know because you're so blocked with what happened. And I held onto it, that it was just. I knew that I liked to do tv. I know, I love the stage. I know, I love these things. Because when I did it, oh, baby, I was totally different person.

Ernee Peppers [00:20:42]:
But then right after you walk off and you go home, you picked it up and it was too much. Too much for me. So I decided to go to this place called landmark. Landmark will never, ever advertise. And what it is, it's a place that I was in a room with 349 people, straight in a room and no one knew each other. When I went to this program, they said, you're gonna be here from nine in the morning till 10:00 at night.

Chi Quita Mack [00:21:18]:
Oh, my God.

Ernee Peppers [00:21:21]:
Yeah. Like, what y'all gonna do to us that you gonna do? You know, they was like, yeah, yeah, yeah. But by 12:00 we kick you out. Come on. So we gonna be doing. They ain't saying nothing. They went on and they. We came the next day.

Ernee Peppers [00:21:38]:
It was a two day. Two day course. Everyone bring your trauma. Bring it as big as you want it. Bring it, bring it, bring it. And we went on, and we're in this room, 350 of us. We were not introduced because we're not there to make friends. That's first and foremost.

Ernee Peppers [00:21:53]:
We're not there too. No, I don't know you. She don't know anyone. Beside, we don't know each other. So the guy in the front, I totally forgot his name, but he starts speaking and he brings you up from when your mom and dad just met. And they end up, you know, making out they have you. And then, woohoo, you're in the stomach and, you know, it's a happy time. And as you come out, you come out, everybody's loving you.

Ernee Peppers [00:22:22]:
And that part, for me, that wasn't good for me. So then it goes on, and now you're one. One wasn't good for me either. Some people, you know, they're laughing, you know, but you're now remembering where you were at that time. I end up two years old. Then he says, now you're three. I started getting happy because now I'm three years old, but I'm a Trinidad. I'm with my aunties, my uncles, all the family.

Ernee Peppers [00:22:49]:
I'm with everyone. And now that's where my happiness is. And it goes through the stages of you learning what's right, what's wrong. You start going to school, you pick up bad habits, and you, you're doing your thing. Mine. And then he goes on through, eight years old. Here was mine, because he's telling that, he's telling the story. What goes on, your transformation in those ages? Eight years old.

Ernee Peppers [00:23:11]:
I'm like, here we go. Here we go. Yeah. Before then, you would hear people scream out, they're crying. And he tells them, leave them alone, don't touch them, go through it. And they're crying and they're screaming. People are actually standing up and they're screaming. And that wasn't my age.

Ernee Peppers [00:23:35]:
I'm good. Everybody have their own age when they spaz out. Mine started when he's like, yeah, now you're eight years old and you're in third grade, and you know, you're getting to be a big person. Not me. My eight years old came that. This is where I went face to face with stepmother.

Chi Quita Mack [00:23:56]:
Yeah.

Ernee Peppers [00:23:57]:
A, I would say a scorned stepmother. Black woman that was. Oh, my God. You decided to take on your, your husband's outside child and still remaindeh in the marriage. I don't know if I salute her, but she went through a lot. Now you have to look at me every day as a reminder of what happened. So you go through it, then you get in the beatings and the touching, and you're just going through it. I even came into having a brother, which was in your heart.

Ernee Peppers [00:24:39]:
His name was Ernest, and, you know, don't touch him. You can't hit him. You can't. I went through it all. My biggest time and my favorite time was when I went to school. And when I was on my way home, I had an allergy problem. But I now know now that was stress. Two blocks away from the house, I would constantly sneeze, sneeze, sneeze.

Ernee Peppers [00:25:04]:
And when I was taken to the doctor, they said, nothing's wrong with you, because I couldn't tell the story about what was going on. I couldn't tell.

Chi Quita Mack [00:25:11]:
Right?

Ernee Peppers [00:25:12]:
But I also knew that I was fighting in school. I was always on punishment, always getting beat. So it's either I'm gonna get beat at home, so I might as well win this fight. Now. You see how that goes, when now is you're gonna beat when you get, you won't get beat if you're right or you're wrong. Oh, I was mean. Oh, I was, I wasn't mean. I was just unhappy with what was going on.

Ernee Peppers [00:25:35]:
So it goes on, and you get there. I think it stopped when I high school. High school is when it stops. All that stuff stopped. And I'm now in a performing school. I'm performing. I'm, I'm doing this. But she still have, she starts seeing that I'm happy, and now how can I get her back? So I will come home and like, look, I'm gonna.

Ernee Peppers [00:25:59]:
And so, and so. And she was like, yeah, yeah, I'm going to. She will even let me go to rehearsal. Yeah, when is the show? Tell her. Oh, it's Monday or whenever. Friday. Wait, good girl. Wait, good rehearsal.

Ernee Peppers [00:26:15]:
Do everything that I had to do, will even buy me the costumes or give money towards the costumes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:21]:
Okay.

Ernee Peppers [00:26:23]:
She said, you ain't going.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:25]:
No way.

Ernee Peppers [00:26:27]:
Go back in the room. You're not going.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:30]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:26:32]:
So I'm the one. I took the lead parts. I took the bigger parts. And what are you going to tell these people? They would call the house, we'd get up, she wouldn't answer the phone.

Chi Quita Mack [00:26:45]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:26:46]:
I had to go to school. What are you going to do now? So you had to make up something or whatever. You have to make up something to, you know. But what? So I did it again. We had another one, same exact thing happened. Why you let me go? Why? So I would get beat by asking questions.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:07]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:27:08]:
Okay. But I got it. Next time, though, I got it. Figured it out. I would tell her the day of the show was rehearsal.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:18]:
Mmm.

Ernee Peppers [00:27:19]:
I got it now. Got it. Then she'll say, and the day of the show, like, I'm going to the show. And she'll say again, you're not going. Okay, got it. Done. It was over. I was going to go to a friend's house, and that was it.

Ernee Peppers [00:27:38]:
She never came to any of the shows. None of them came to the shows. They never supported like that. If my child have a show, I wouldn't care where it's at.

Chi Quita Mack [00:27:44]:
I'm there ongoing.

Ernee Peppers [00:27:45]:
That's the support. All right. But again, that wasn't your mother. That's what you gotta. That's what you have to put in. That's not your mother, girl. That's why. But she never did that to my brother.

Ernee Peppers [00:27:57]:
But my brother wasn't. He wasn't creative like that. He wasn't, you know, she support him with the boy scouts and, you know, certain things like that, but he wasn't creative like me. And so there was no support for Erika. And this is how I ended up finding out how I can, like, trick her into letting me go and perform and still be in what I love to do. And that was it. After high school, I was told I had to leave. Get out.

Ernee Peppers [00:28:30]:
You're done. And I was kicked out after high school, even though it was one of the happiest times of my life. Happiest because I didn't have to deal with it anymore. My godmother. And, you know, which was amazing, and I've been happy, but I still had that thing inside going back to having, you know, being with a boyfriend and, you know, all that. We're living together. Some of the stuff was coming out, and that's when I ended up saying that I can't take it anymore. I'm going to Landmark.

Ernee Peppers [00:29:02]:
Landmark cured us in one weekend. Wow. Whatever anyone was going through one weekend, you are cured. He makes you get on the phone and speak to the person who did it to you, girl.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:18]:
Now, how was that conversation?

Ernee Peppers [00:29:21]:
That conversation, I hadn't talked to her because he said, don't come back in this room until you do that. Oh, my God. For breakfast, I had a bagel, a plain toasted bagel with cheese and bacon and the ginger ale. I still do that till today.

Chi Quita Mack [00:29:40]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:29:42]:
I got on the phone and I said, hi, Ernestine. I said, yes, I want to talk to you. I said, could you sit down, please? She said, I'm sitting down. I said, well, I said, I want to forgive you everything. The beatings, the touching, the name calling, the person. I'm even sorry that my mother did this to you. Wow. I'm sorry.

Ernee Peppers [00:30:14]:
I forgive you. She was like, but I said, this is not your time. And I said, I want you to spend the rest of your life not worrying about me, and I will never contact you again. After that phone call, I went, I had to regurgitate. I regurgitated this big bowl of mucus. I told you I had a bagel, ginger. None of that came up. It was a bowl of mucus that was in that black bag that I threw up.

Ernee Peppers [00:30:56]:
And after that, it was like I was light.

Chi Quita Mack [00:31:03]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:31:05]:
I threw up. That little girl.

Chi Quita Mack [00:31:07]:
You did that stuff that I was.

Ernee Peppers [00:31:09]:
Holding on to, got rid of it. And from that day on, I said that I'm going to help other people get over their traumas. You can do it in one weekend. If you desperately want to get rid of it, hold on to it, but you can get rid of it in two days. Two days. You can do this if you want to get rid of it. And if you want to be a better you. Yes, but some people don't want to be a better you.

Ernee Peppers [00:31:38]:
They want to use it as a clutch. They want to use it to get over. They want to use it to get in front of the line. They want to use it. They want to use it, use it, use it as long as they're able to get over. Because what happened to you in third grade, you had a fight or whatever it may be. If it didn't destroy you physically, take an eye out or arm or something. If it didn't destroy you physically, I think you could work on the mental.

Ernee Peppers [00:32:05]:
Yes, because we're growing every day, minute for minute for minute for minute. We're growing. And if you want to get rid of it, you can get rid of it, but it has to be until you want to get rid of it. Rather than that, you wear it. That's you put your little face on, be ugly and be ugly to other people because that is your choice.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:24]:
Yep, that part. That part. Because we have choices. We have choices. And it's definitely all about being intentional. I talk a lot about being intentional about your actions. Be intentional about your healing. Be intentional about your journey.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:38]:
We are a product of our experiences. Yes. We're supposed to go through that, and we're supposed to take the lesson from it and then decide what we're going to do from it. But life sucks. I'm just. It sucks. That's the truth. It sucks.

Ernee Peppers [00:32:53]:
Life can't always be nice.

Chi Quita Mack [00:32:54]:
There you go.

Ernee Peppers [00:32:56]:
You know, when you meet people that has been given everything and they get into a situation where they have nothing, you can't do anything.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:04]:
Nothing.

Ernee Peppers [00:33:05]:
So don't spoil them. Go on, get your lumps in your bumps so this way, now you'll know how to go through things.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:12]:
Go.

Ernee Peppers [00:33:14]:
Nobody said that, that you were the only one. You're not the only one that's going through it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:19]:
There you go.

Ernee Peppers [00:33:21]:
You ain't. Nobody said that you wasn't going to go through anything when you were birthed. Nobody. And nobody told you that life was going to be easy. You got to go through some, some. Some bumps and bruises. You got to jump off, get on, get back on. It didn't work.

Ernee Peppers [00:33:37]:
Try it again.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:37]:
Try again.

Ernee Peppers [00:33:38]:
Try something again when it's in benefit of them, but when it has something to do with someone else, it can be as nasty as they want it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:33:51]:
Do it for you. Your healing journey is yours, but you have to do it for you. And let's talk about the power of forgiveness, because a lot of times, people ain't trying to forgive. I used to be that person. I ain't forgiving you. I'm not going to forgive you. I'm going to hold on. I know, but then I had to learn to listen, that the forgiveness is more so for myself.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:11]:
Because when I didn't let it go, I did go through depression, massive, massive weight loss, extreme stress and anxiety and all of that stuff that I was holding on because I didn't want to forgive. Because you gonna remember what you did to me because you did this to me. I had to forgive. I had to forgive. And when I did, I felt lighter. I saw the light, the light that everyone. Because I had. I've always had.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:41]:
I will say I've always had a dope support system. I'm not gonna lie. I've always had good people in my corner. It's like, girl, when you get finished, when you. You gonna see that light? And it was me. I mean, I'm a. I take full responsibility. It was whatever.

Chi Quita Mack [00:34:57]:
I ain't never gonna see the light. I can't see the light right now. Cause they did this, this, this to me and did it. And when I did forgive and realize, like, I was hurting myself, my lack of forgiving was hurting chiquita. Like, for real.

Ernee Peppers [00:35:11]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:11]:
And when I decided to be intentional and forgive, I saw that light that everybody was telling me that I was gonna see.

Ernee Peppers [00:35:19]:
I saw that when.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:21]:
When you forget, when you forgive, you're doing it for yourself. That would be my advice to anyone that's going to. That's listening. Is that forgiveness is for yourself. I know. It's like how. No, listen to me. It is for yourself.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:33]:
We carry so much. We carry so much all the time. And like you said, the more you push, push, push, push down. Oh, trust me, it's gonna find a way to pop back up. It's coming up. So you can push all day long, but it's going to come back up.

Ernee Peppers [00:35:51]:
When you least expect.

Chi Quita Mack [00:35:52]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:35:53]:
When you are in the height of your happiness, here it comes. And you don't understand. Why am I not happy? Yes, I'm so. Because you never fix it.

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:07]:
Don't fix.

Ernee Peppers [00:36:08]:
Got bigger and it's now exploding. You've got to handle it while it's small. But we want to hold on to it. Like he was holding it on in your bag, you know, taking it under your pillow. No, it's not cute when you get older in high school. It's not cute when you become an adult and you have children looking at you because, you know, they see things that we don't see, right?

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:32]:
Yes, they do.

Ernee Peppers [00:36:33]:
They see things. They see when you unhappy, when you try to put that smile on. Hey, but they already seen you. That you was down. Yep. So if you don't want to bring that bag into your children's lives, take care of your business.

Chi Quita Mack [00:36:48]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:36:49]:
Or go outside and get happy and then bring it in with you. Go, get out. And that's it. You know, but you've got to take care of you. Forgive and real. You're never going to forget, because I don't. You can't forget.

Chi Quita Mack [00:37:02]:
You can't.

Ernee Peppers [00:37:03]:
You know, they be like, forgive and forget. No, I forget that forgetting part. I can't forget it because this is what will shield me from doing the same thing over or doing it repetitively. That right there. Not forgetting. Like, like, it's like when you touch the stove and it was hot.

Chi Quita Mack [00:37:21]:
Yes. You're like, oh, no, ain't doing that.

Ernee Peppers [00:37:25]:
Exactly. So if you didn't remember that, you'll continuously touch the stove to get the same reaction. You don't want that. Remember it. Remember it. Feel it, get hurt by it, get up and do it again. So this way, now, when you see that stove, you'd be like, you know what? Let me put that glove on. And now go do what you gotta do.

Ernee Peppers [00:37:45]:
You learn how to protect yourself now. And if you like yourself, you'll protect yourself.

Chi Quita Mack [00:37:50]:
Oh, yes. Wow. Ernie, girl. So you've gone through all of that and now you've written a book, right? We're going to talk about one of the books. You wrote many books, by the way, y'all. She wrote a lot of books, but I'm going to talk about just two today. But she has a lot of books. I'm going to link them all.

Chi Quita Mack [00:38:13]:
But she wrote a book called I am not my stepmother's abuse.

Ernee Peppers [00:38:17]:
Yes, yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:38:19]:
Walk me through that, that journey.

Ernee Peppers [00:38:22]:
So what happened? I have a coach. Her name is Tarea Avant. And she pulled a few people together. It was, I think, twelve of us pulled this together. And, well, she put it out there and only twelve received who wanted to tell their story. And basically, it's pretty much who got over the story, who went through it and got over it from Victor to victorious, you know? So that's how it ended up happening. So I'm like, wow, I never told this story before, but I know I went through it because now I can tell. But when you are writing about a trauma that you have through to the side and you have gotten over it, to go through it again, because now you got to dig, you got to move all the fun stuff, move all that stuff out the way and go deep.

Ernee Peppers [00:39:22]:
Go deep to the bone marrow now, because that's how deep it is. Now go to the bone marrow and pull this out. There was some times where I just. I just couldn't answer the question because I seen me as that little girl going through what it is. And I see how sometimes some people, when they go through it, they can't come out of it. I can see how that happens. And they're now reliving it again and they can't come out. And the reason why they can't come out is because they didn't get over it.

Ernee Peppers [00:39:57]:
I got over mine. But I found myself crying, filling up, and just seeing me now as an older person looking at this little girl. I seen her and I was feeling her also. You feel what you're going through. You hear the words, you see your environment. It's like going through a movie. And I know I had to give them the best story of what I can feel. That was the best story of what I can put on paper that was understood from what I was going through.

Ernee Peppers [00:40:37]:
And when I seen this little girl, I found out that. I found out the dreams I used to have. I found out the reason why I really don't wear pajamas. I found out there's a reason why I don't really use washcloth. I don't use washcloths. I use it to wash my face, but I don't use it to wash my body because that was a trauma that happened when I went to take a bath. I can only take a bath on Sundays, and it was during price is right. And when I took the, took the bath, I went to go get a clean towel, and my stepmother came into the bathroom and beat me while I was in the tub.

Ernee Peppers [00:41:27]:
And she said, you don't use anything in here unless it's given to. You're to use that towel. You know, the one that you go to dry your hands. Everybody dry their hands on.

Chi Quita Mack [00:41:38]:
Yeah, that towel.

Ernee Peppers [00:41:40]:
And the towel was dirty, so I'll use the wash law. Dry it out, dry it. And that's how I took a, that's how I dried myself off instead of using a towel. And I had tons of towel today, tons. Until one time, and I would not buy washcloths until my husband asked me one time, he was like, why? You don't buy no washcloths? All these towels. You don't buy washcloths? I don't like washcloths.

Chi Quita Mack [00:42:13]:
Yeah.

Ernee Peppers [00:42:14]:
And I ended up telling him, he was like, look, you're going to have to get over there because I like wash offs. You go out to buy some washcloths. So I started buying the wash off, and I just don't use the washcloth. I use a glove.

Chi Quita Mack [00:42:26]:
Right.

Ernee Peppers [00:42:27]:
But I will not use a washcloth to wash myself with like normal people do. I'm not doing that because that is a trick.

Chi Quita Mack [00:42:35]:
No trigger. Yep.

Ernee Peppers [00:42:36]:
I, so to stay away from the triggers, you know, I wash my face, you know, you got your lashes on. You go around and you put your stuff. I will do that, but I won't use it as to take a bath or anything in it. And because it's, it's triggers. So with the book, it bought up a lot of things that this little eight year old, nine year old, ten year old, twelve year old went to. I even remembered when I got my menstrual, all this stuff came up. You know, those things that went past. These things came up.

Ernee Peppers [00:43:09]:
I remember when I had to do the dishes. The dishes wasn't done clean enough to throw them all back in the sink and call me, you know, you stupid bee. And you, you, you gotta clean this up, right? And, you know, and, and boom, boom, you're getting beat for it. And, you know, all these things. I've seen it at my age now, so those things will never ever go away. But the book ended up servicing and to read everyone's story, you're not the first, you're not the last. And somebody's going through it right now. Right now tell this story and help the other person that's going through it.

Ernee Peppers [00:43:50]:
What good are you went through it, you survived it. And how you going to help others? Put it in a book to let them know that you too can get over it if you hang on. Just don't give up because, you know, a lot of people have given up where they couldn't take it no more. And putting a book like this together, I think Washington, uh, strategic idea and we wanted to take it on a tour, but everyone had their own little lives to go through and we never actually did that. But this right here is twelve authors that came together with their story. And it's like healing yourself all over again because you went through it, now you got to get back to it, go through it again and get over it again. But now you're getting over it as an adult. Yeah, that's the part that I like.

Ernee Peppers [00:44:41]:
I was able to see her, talk to her. I spent some time with her, too, and be like, wow. Like, you're going to be all right, kid. You know you did that. Yes, yes, yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:44:55]:
It's so much power.

Ernee Peppers [00:44:57]:
Yeah.

Chi Quita Mack [00:44:57]:
In telling our story. And I just believe that we go through so much, but we have to use our voice because there's someone listening today that's gone through something similar to us. And they're like, wow, they went through that and look at them now. Look at what they're accomplishing now. They were able to see the light. So we can just touch one person with our story. I'm happy I did one. One person.

Chi Quita Mack [00:45:26]:
I'm good.

Ernee Peppers [00:45:27]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:45:28]:
I did my job because I was embarrassed at first. I'm not gonna lie though. I was embarrassed at first of telling my story.

Ernee Peppers [00:45:36]:
That's why we don't tell it. But when you are considered and you call yourself a grown up. Oh, I'm grown. There's a lot of grown things that grown ups have to handle. And things like this is when you want to step up and be the grown up. And now you're not at fault for what happened when you was eight and not at all. So handle it. Don't worry about how they gonna look at you.

Chi Quita Mack [00:45:58]:
Yep.

Ernee Peppers [00:45:58]:
Because everybody got a story. Everybody got a story.

Chi Quita Mack [00:46:03]:
Yep.

Ernee Peppers [00:46:04]:
So I was fine with it. First you were embarrassed, but you're embarrassed more when you're growing up. Yeah. No one knew. You didn't spell that. You didn't share that. You're embarrassed because you think it's your fault. People gonna look at you different, they're gonna change.

Chi Quita Mack [00:46:17]:
Exactly.

Ernee Peppers [00:46:18]:
Then for some reason, you throw it back in your face like they found out. So you see, so certain things like that, you want to keep that as sacred as possible. But when you become a grown up, open up Pandora's box, please. And whoever needs to be punished and forgive needs to get their punishment and get their spanking because they did something wrong to you.

Chi Quita Mack [00:46:37]:
Absolutely.

Ernee Peppers [00:46:38]:
So, yeah. Tell your story anymore. What we'll do is embrace you.

Chi Quita Mack [00:46:49]:
Embrace?

Ernee Peppers [00:46:50]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:46:51]:
Oh, my goodness. So here we are. Now we are Ernie peppers. Now we are here, we are motivating, we are encouraging, we are teaching women how to make this money without hiding behind this table.

Ernee Peppers [00:47:08]:
Hello.

Chi Quita Mack [00:47:09]:
Using our voice, showing what we got, building relationships. So talk to me about that. Talk to me how you work the magic of lose that vendors table. Let's make some money.

Ernee Peppers [00:47:21]:
Let me tell you, I started off as I did coffee, okay? Someone introduced me to coffee and they said you could make some money behind it. And I was like, that's what's up. Where is that? Because you walk around and you see everybody. This coffee cup, I didn't do that. But they gave. What is this? A quote by Warren Buffett. What you like should be your hobby, but what the world likes should be your business. I took that to heart.

Ernee Peppers [00:47:50]:
I don't like coffee, but the world likes coffee. Let's go get it. So I went in and I got into this coffee company. It was a multi marketing, networking business. And I decided to do something different. Always going to do something different. Okay. I decided, because where I work, people are not interested in having their own business.

Ernee Peppers [00:48:10]:
Okay? They good, where they at? They good. Getting paid. Whatever it was, I wasn't. I wanted a little bit more. So I decided I like flavored coffee. Girl, I conjured up digging, digging, digging, digging, and I found and I created 35 different flavors of iced coffee.

Chi Quita Mack [00:48:29]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:48:30]:
Hello. I did that. I was selling it at the job, making about 1200 a month.

Chi Quita Mack [00:48:37]:
Wow.

Ernee Peppers [00:48:38]:
$5 a cup. You put it in the flavors of the flavors. That was the high selling was the pistachio. When I say I made a pistachio, if you love pistachio, it tastes just like pistachio. It wasn't a little sip and you was like, oh, it's. No, it's pistachio. But that looks cupcake, but a pecan, I would grind the nuts up real fine, put it in the coffee. So when you sip, you like, oh, what's this? You know, put the whipped cream and caramel and stuff all over it, and boom, $5 a cup, baby.

Ernee Peppers [00:49:16]:
Okay. So now I said, I'm going to take this to the bendings. The only one that was selling coffee. I did mine. Pistachio was green. I did red velvet, which was red, and I did the vanilla cupcake, which was the white, and I put them up on high little things. And then when I got there, I will give everyone samples, put it in these little tiny shot glasses, whipped cream, caramel, and a big old stroke. Pass it around.

Ernee Peppers [00:49:44]:
Let's go, let's go, let's go. Oh, I'm over there. Before you knew it, I would sell out of the coffee. Before the event was even done. I was done. I'm like, what am I going to do now? So I decided to take orders, okay? Take orders. And I would deliver it to your home, or you can meet me at my job and you can pick it up. And this is how I did.

Ernee Peppers [00:50:09]:
Then I put it in bottles, baby. The best thing ever. So now what I did that was one cup at a time, I decided. One time I went into this room, into a breakout room. I forgot the guy's name, but it was at circles, circle of sisters in New York. And I went into this breakout room. Before I went into the breakout room, I seen all these banners with his name on it. And I seen, I was like, wow, let me go in one of these rooms.

Ernee Peppers [00:50:37]:
Let me see what that's about. So he's in there. Hundreds of people. They was buying his books, buying his courses. I said, hmm, let me, I have a question, sir. So, as I said, introduce yourself. Hey, I'm Ernie Peppers. I have 35 flavors of iced coffee that I sell.

Ernee Peppers [00:51:05]:
Anyone interested in having samples, you can see me in the back. Now, question. I only did all that so that I can let people know that I was in the room, right? Because I had a hundred, hundred hundreds of ears and eyes on me, and it was like, wow. After that, it's coming to me. Oh, you do coffee? Oh, I love coffee. Oh, my mama like coffee. This one like coffee. This is that.

Ernee Peppers [00:51:29]:
I said, oh, really? You know what? I can deliver it to you. Because they all lived in the area where they can get it. I put it in bottles of that, show them pictures. I say, I can get it to you. So I got the information, called them personally. Girl was making up, making some money.

Chi Quita Mack [00:51:48]:
Love it.

Ernee Peppers [00:51:49]:
I said, boom. This is what I'm going to do. I'm going to start doing breakout rooms. You get everybody in one room, hundreds in one room, and you sell whatever it is that you gonna sell right then and there. Give them something for free. Let me sample it. A coffee. Give them another something for free.

Ernee Peppers [00:52:12]:
When you get the coffee, you can get this. And when you buy the coffee, if you got someone, you can get 50% off your next one. That's how I did it. That's what I teach. And I let them know, because when you're in front of a tape, you've been to these vending shows.

Chi Quita Mack [00:52:29]:
Mm hmm.

Ernee Peppers [00:52:30]:
Girl.

Chi Quita Mack [00:52:30]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:52:31]:
Some of them are on their phone. Some of them are too shy to speak. Some of them are just. What are you doing? What is on this table? This is not a garage sale, okay? Their table look like crap. I even teach them for the ones who don't. I teach them how to public speak. Because you need to know how to public speak. You need to know your product.

Ernee Peppers [00:52:50]:
You need to know your services inside out. Flip it, rub it down. You need to know it inside out. But people don't know that. I show them how to break their product down, how to introduce themselves. Dynamic public speaking strategist Ernie peppers here. And I train women entrepreneurs just like you, and you, too, how to generate 1015, $20,000 every and any event without investing in a sales group. I will teach you how to do it just like that.

Ernee Peppers [00:53:21]:
So this way you are your product.

Chi Quita Mack [00:53:23]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:53:24]:
Bring them in. You teach them. I teach them how to speak. Get away from that. You're going to sell one thing and one thing over. You ain't going to be selling. You won't catch me selling all of my books. I am going to sell just the one book that gets me to the promised land, which is this one.

Chi Quita Mack [00:53:45]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:53:46]:
This is my promise land book.

Chi Quita Mack [00:53:48]:
I'm so happy you hold that up because that's the one I wanted to talk about. So give me the title. What's the title of it?

Ernee Peppers [00:53:55]:
It is called Misses Pepper's Playbook. The seven most fun things to overcoming the fear of speaking publicly.

Chi Quita Mack [00:54:02]:
There we go.

Ernee Peppers [00:54:03]:
So you bring just that because that's all I want to talk about. Because I don't want to sidetrack you with the abuse. I don't want to sidetrack you with the other book that I have, the whole entrepreneur. I don't want to sidetrack you with the nine voices. One mess. I don't want to sidetrack you. I want to focus on one thing and one thing only. So I will now teach you how to get into, how to set up your booth.

Ernee Peppers [00:54:27]:
You have a space for those who don't want to have and go out and speak to these millions of people all at one time. Okay, fine. We're going to show you how you can redesign your booth. Get rid of the tape. That's first and foremost, get rid of the table, because the table is a barrier between you and your money.

Chi Quita Mack [00:54:46]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [00:54:48]:
And they don't understand it. What I've taught them how to do. For those of you who listen, you might as well take this, write it down. Get rid of the table. You're going to get a one stand up table, a full table. I guess that's a high table, two chairs, three chairs, or however you're going to do. Little fancy chairs, and you're going to put it inside. You're going to decorate the table, and you're going to have that one book sitting on your stand, two books, or whatever it may be.

Ernee Peppers [00:55:15]:
And you're going to give them some sparkling apple cider glasses. Get on in here, girl. Let me tell you about my book. Do you like speaking publicly? Do you know anybody that fears it? They. That girl. Oh, I don't like, girl. Here you go. Drink up.

Ernee Peppers [00:55:32]:
Here you go. Let's sit and we talk, because now I'm bringing them in. I'm bringing them away from the audience and the traffic. So now they see what you talking about. People are going to come in. They come in because people are generally. No, people want to know what's going on. And when they find out, they're like, oh, I'm like, oh, girl, hold up.

Ernee Peppers [00:56:01]:
Grab yourself some apple cider. Or those of you who drink a little alcohol, grab yourself a glass of wine. I write with you. Matter of fact, all y'all grab it. Let me talk to y'all in a hole. Thanks for coming in. I'm Ernie Peppers. And then you get started.

Ernee Peppers [00:56:17]:
So now you have them coming in. Everybody got a glass. Everybody's laughing. You throw some jokes around, and, baby, that little booth now becomes your audience. As they're leaving people looking, they're watching. So I'm not just speaking to just for you, I'm speaking to them out there because I can speak real loud. Have this, that. Grab yourself some wine.

Ernee Peppers [00:56:42]:
Don't come out there. Come on in here, girl, and grab yourself a drink. And listen, I, Marie Peppers get up in it, and they love it. They get the book. They get a pen. I give a free, beautiful pen. I give them that a pen. And I give them an ebook that they can download about this event and how to do their event the same exact way.

Ernee Peppers [00:57:04]:
So I have mastered this. If you don't want to speak publicly, you still like the blue thing. If you like it, fine. And then I teach them. Don't put all. I will only have this book sitting there. You will go to some places where they have 2030 of the same book sitting there. Are you giving people your inventory? So I'll go and I'm like, you ain't sell a book, huh? It gets people into your buying system.

Ernee Peppers [00:57:32]:
You didn't buy a book. You. No one bought you a book, did they? Because you got 30 of them on the table.

Chi Quita Mack [00:57:36]:
Yeah.

Ernee Peppers [00:57:37]:
I'm not giving you nothing. I'm giving you one book on the table. That's it. If you want a book, I'm a go in the bank. Here you go.

Chi Quita Mack [00:57:47]:
Yep.

Ernee Peppers [00:57:48]:
You will never know how many books I sold or if I sold any to you. I've already sold out.

Chi Quita Mack [00:57:55]:
There you go.

Ernee Peppers [00:57:56]:
And that's the attitude that you want to bring in. And I take it from there. I teach them how to speak with this course. I teach them how to do that. They hang out with me for six weeks, but it's only six times. Once a week I give them homework. I give them everything. We come back, we talk class, be like for 4 hours, okay.

Ernee Peppers [00:58:14]:
But it'd be like 4 hours because we just talking and chopping it up and we having fun. We laughing. We talking about the experiences. We're doing all that. So this is how I came to get in here. Get out of that table, out of the booth, and get yourself some reals money. And now when you have these people, the ones you can't get to, you already have their email. You already have that.

Ernee Peppers [00:58:37]:
You're sending them something free automatically. Give them something people like. Free gifts.

Chi Quita Mack [00:58:43]:
Oh, yeah. I like to go to Costco's everything for sample. Samples, sample, sample.

Ernee Peppers [00:58:51]:
I'd be like, I sure will. I purposely go over so to shit to say, would you like a sample? I sure will. And sometimes I bought whatever it was. So you get people a sample. You. You get your people, you are selling, not just at the event, even after the event, you're still selling your product because you now have cooked them with an item, with a free gift. And you have their number, you have their email address, and you have them for life. So anytime you go somewhere, they know that Ernie Peppers is coming.

Ernee Peppers [00:59:23]:
And that's how you make the 1015, 20,000 you drop. In any event.

Chi Quita Mack [00:59:29]:
You just dropped so many gems. I will tell you. All right. Now if y'all didn't write none of this down. Go back and rewind and write it down. Because what you just taught was how to build relationship one. How to command a room. Like how to command presence.

Chi Quita Mack [00:59:45]:
Right. I'm coming into room. I'm commanding presence. But then you did something that I'm really. I'm really good at networking and I love talking to people and building relationships. You just built that relationship.

Ernee Peppers [00:59:54]:
Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [00:59:54]:
You just made yourself stand out in a way that they're gonna remember. What was her name? Ernie? Yes. I remember her. Oh, my gosh. She was the one that. Right. You built that relationship with them. You gave them something for free.

Chi Quita Mack [01:00:06]:
You already added them to your email list. Let me tell you. People be sleeping on these email lists. Do not sleep on the email list because you can sell out by just sending one email sometimes. So it's so important to build, command a room, build that relationship. You gave them something. You gave them a little sample. Something that's going to get them coming back.

Chi Quita Mack [01:00:24]:
They're going to read your book. Oh, this was a really great book. Oh. She has a coaching program. Six month coach. You know, let me. Or six months. I'm going to jump onto that.

Ernee Peppers [01:00:32]:
So six weeks.

Chi Quita Mack [01:00:33]:
Six weeks. But you're jumping onto that like you're giving them something to come back to. And that's how y'all do it. Like, if y'all didn't just write that down to at least get started, that's gonna make you come back.

Ernee Peppers [01:00:46]:
Like, that's right.

Chi Quita Mack [01:00:47]:
That's how you do it.

Ernee Peppers [01:00:48]:
Or they can call me. They can email, get on my ear. Don't worry. I'm gonna give them something free. Don't worry about it. I'm giving something free.

Chi Quita Mack [01:00:55]:
I got you. I got you. You built that relationship and you showed them that I got you. Like, I really want you to be successful. I'm going to show you how to do. I'm going to be with you every step of the way. I'm going to give you homework. I'm going to hold you accountable.

Chi Quita Mack [01:01:09]:
Oh, and by the way, here's something else. For free.

Ernee Peppers [01:01:11]:
Yes. And sometimes if you want me to be at the event with you, you got it.

Chi Quita Mack [01:01:16]:
There you go.

Ernee Peppers [01:01:17]:
I help you out and that's it. I hope you bring some folks up in there. Get them folks up in here. Get that room filled, get that booth that you are in that booth. Move that table and get that booth filled and come on. They can do it. They can command their little booth. You can get at least about 20 people up in that booth if you move your table.

Ernee Peppers [01:01:36]:
Move your table. There's a lot of room in there. People don't know how to do this because they're following the other people at the event that's doing the same thing, not succeeding.

Chi Quita Mack [01:01:49]:
There you go.

Ernee Peppers [01:01:50]:
Like I told them, I know I don't blend too well. I don't blend too well. I'm not a blender. You got to stand out and stand for what you are. I went to an event one time. Everybody had the same shirt on. Everybody had yellow, everybody. Table cloth was the same tablecloth.

Ernee Peppers [01:02:08]:
Everybody. I'm like, hello. I said, you know, like, let me ask you a question. Are you on a singing team or something like that? She says, no. I said, so why did you choose to join them in? Because that's what she said. Now, booze, this is your thing. You don't stand out. I say, if it was me, oh, I would have stood out because I would have gotten my own tablecloth, my own banner, my own thing up in here, and I would have bought my own table because I'd have bought my little table.

Ernee Peppers [01:02:37]:
Long table that's round and two chairs. Damn that table. That long table. I'm not doing that. You got to stand out, and people will come to you and say, what you got going on here? Because you look so different. People don't like to stand out, but when you stand out, you get the attention. I teach them to.

Chi Quita Mack [01:02:59]:
You need the attention.

Ernee Peppers [01:03:00]:
You need.

Chi Quita Mack [01:03:01]:
You need it.

Ernee Peppers [01:03:02]:
You got a service. I'm not selling shoes. I'm selling books, or I'm selling hair. Why does my table have to look like hers? Yeah, because she's following the next person sitting next to her. I'm not trying to do that. We ain't doing that. And sometimes, let me tell y'all a little secret. Y'all gonna laugh at this.

Ernee Peppers [01:03:23]:
I went to events, and I'm doing this, and I'm telling you guys this. To not do this at events. Do not do this at events. Do not do it. Because I'm going to tell you what I did. I played devil's advocates. I went to the event, and you know how people say, I'll put your name right here on this piece of paper. Put your name, your email, and your telephone number.

Ernee Peppers [01:03:44]:
I'll wait good until the day is, like, almost done, when they got all their list of people, and I'll take my little phone, and I'll come up to you. And I'll be like, hi, I'm Ernie Peppers. What is it that you're selling? And while she's doing that, I will take a picture of her list. Thank you. And buy nothing because you slipped up. You did that. I just took on all the hard work that you did all day, and I took it. Okay, so now when I'm sending things off, I've added you to my email, added you to my funnel.

Ernee Peppers [01:04:22]:
I'm sending you things. You put your name on so many things that you don't know who you met.

Chi Quita Mack [01:04:26]:
True.

Ernee Peppers [01:04:27]:
So, ladies and gentlemen, do nothing. Do not put. People have people putting their names on a sheet of paper with their plane, their name, number, and email. That is very valuable to a person that has a product. Boys, do not do it. What you do is get, stop being cheap and get yourself a product. That's what you do. Okay, so that's my giveaway.

Chi Quita Mack [01:04:54]:
Listen, you done gave it all. Listen, I'm about to cut y'all better. Y'all better hire her. Y'all playing.

Ernee Peppers [01:05:01]:
Because I ain't playing. I teach her how to get up in there, how to look different, walk different, talk different, dress different, be different, own the room. Command the room.

Chi Quita Mack [01:05:14]:
Command it.

Ernee Peppers [01:05:15]:
Get your coins, baby. Because people like other people that commands the room because they can't do it.

Chi Quita Mack [01:05:23]:
Can't do it. I. I think it's important to a lot of business owners need to understand the importance of just being yourself, too. Like, in everything that you do, you're going to see, there's so much thrown at you in social media, like, buy this and buy that. And you're struggling with this, you're struggling with that. And you can take that information and you can buy that course and do whatever, but still be yourself. Like, don't go out there and try, like, Ernie's going to teach you how to be the best. But you can't be Ernie, but I'm.

Ernee Peppers [01:05:55]:
Going to teach you how to be the best. You.

Chi Quita Mack [01:05:57]:
Right, as you. Your authentic self, because if you go and try to be someone else, you're not going to be successful. So take it, mold it. She's going to teach you all the tools to do it and do it as yourself. And I think a lot, a lot of business owners. I want to be like her. You could be yourself.

Ernee Peppers [01:06:14]:
Do that. Yes.

Chi Quita Mack [01:06:18]:
And you're gonna. And you're gonna be successful. I've had so much fun with you today. You've been amazing. Like, I hope we get to meet one day in person because, yeah, your energy is amazing. And I really, really enjoyed this segment with you today.

Ernee Peppers [01:06:32]:
I loved it, too. God, you had me going out to the bone marrow, girl.

Chi Quita Mack [01:06:36]:
I told you I was gonna put you there. I told you we gotta get there, but I'm gonna bring you back. I'm gonna take you there, but I'm gonna bring you back.

Ernee Peppers [01:06:42]:
And you brought me back, too. You brought me back. Yes, yes, yes, yes. It was so needed.

Chi Quita Mack [01:06:47]:
Oh, man. Can you let the audience know where they can find you?

Ernee Peppers [01:06:52]:
Yes. I don't know if I send you. And I'm going to send. I don't know if I send you all this already.

Chi Quita Mack [01:06:57]:
Yeah, I'm going to link you.

Ernee Peppers [01:06:58]:
Okay. Gotcha. Yep, it is six weeks dot pepperspeaks.com. that's for the six week course and for the books is booksby dot Ernie Peppers. And if you want to get your free gift darlingenhe your free gift is peppers speak three mistakes.com. peppers with the s. Speak three mistakes.com. that's where you get your free gift.

Ernee Peppers [01:07:26]:
I send you your free gift. You're gonna get. I'll probably send you a book, too. Okay? This is where you get started. This is where we start with our conversations. This is where we becomes friends. Okay? Because I love to speak to. I need your birthday where I could send you something for your birthday.

Ernee Peppers [01:07:46]:
What the baby's doing when they birthday, honey, my calendar so I can remember. Okay? Because I'm not too good with remembering, but yes, get your free gift at Pepper speaks three mistakes.com. that's your free. Get your books books. Bye. Dot erniepeppers.com. and come on in here and spend six weeks with your girl and learn how to speak publicly, how to get that. How to grab that bag at these events at six weeks dot erniepeppers.com.

Ernee Peppers [01:08:25]:
yay.

Chi Quita Mack [01:08:27]:
I love it.

Ernee Peppers [01:08:28]:
Like I peppers speaks.com pepperspeaks.com. we got you.

Chi Quita Mack [01:08:31]:
Don't worry about everything will be linked to the show notes. So it's just an easy click for y'all. You don't have to be like, okay, what did she say to me? Everything's gonna be linked right there. You can jump on that. I got you, girl.

Ernee Peppers [01:08:43]:
Yes. Thank you. I love when people say, I got you because when I say it, I'm like, girl, bye. I got you. Don't even worry about it. I got you.

Chi Quita Mack [01:08:49]:
And I mean it to the t. I got you.

Ernee Peppers [01:08:53]:
When you get the book, I'm gonna send you a book, too. Okay, after this. But in the book, I always say, I got you, boo. Don't worry. You know, and I just keep talking and you're in my day when you're in your. When I wrote this book, I'm telling you, girl, look, I'm a little thirsty. I'm a little thirsty. I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna put on jado, you know, some song I was listening to.

Ernee Peppers [01:09:16]:
I tell you, step by step, what I'm doing while I'm writing this book, that's the difference. In this book, okay? I tell you stories, I'll put you in it. Oh, goodness. I tell your stories like crazy, but it's only to build you up for the lesson that you're going to learn through that, you know? But that book I had a lot of fun writing. That was hilarious. Sometimes I'll be laughing before I. But I am going to do a volume two, okay. Because I couldn't put everything in the book, and I've learned so much more since then.

Ernee Peppers [01:09:50]:
So there will be a volume two. It's going to be Pepper's, misses Pepper's playbook, volume two. Okay? So I'm going to do it up.

Chi Quita Mack [01:10:01]:
Y'all better stay tuned. Join her list.

Ernee Peppers [01:10:07]:
Hold on. I want to also.

Chi Quita Mack [01:10:08]:
You got what you got?

Ernee Peppers [01:10:10]:
I have a magazine.

Chi Quita Mack [01:10:13]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [01:10:15]:
Okay. The magazine is for entrepreneurs. And I put you in and you tell me what you do. You get a page. I interview you and you get in here. This right here was my first magazine that I did. And it's all about the entrepreneurs. It's also clothes, what you buy, what you get for your body type.

Ernee Peppers [01:10:40]:
I even tell you stories about your body type, what's best for you, what. And I just get into it how you're supposed to. You don't really need makeup too much. Me, I don't wear that much. But for those of you clean your skin, this, that. A lot of things that we forget. So I bring you back to whatever it is and then I interview you. And I put the interview in the magazine.

Ernee Peppers [01:11:01]:
And you're able to click it digitally. And then you can see your interview, honey. Yes. Yes, baby. Into Baby magazine. This is a. One of my favorites. It's a entertainment magazine.

Ernee Peppers [01:11:19]:
And I think I put everything in it because people don't put everything into the magazine that people need.

Chi Quita Mack [01:11:25]:
Yeah.

Ernee Peppers [01:11:25]:
Especially for entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs want to know who, when, what, where, when. They want to know that, you know. And I'm giving you the entertainment. I'm giving you what other people are doing. I'm giving you stuff. So when you get into this magazine, I need for you to give them some stuff, too. Give me that interview.

Ernee Peppers [01:11:43]:
Let me put that interview on that digital for you. Instead of it just being on the pages. Let them see you talk about the talk and walk the walk. Yes, baby. Oh, I'm going to start that back in 2025.

Chi Quita Mack [01:11:57]:
Let's get it.

Ernee Peppers [01:11:58]:
Who wants in? Come on. Yesbabymagazinehoney.com. yeah. Four s's.

Chi Quita Mack [01:12:07]:
Yes. Yes.

Ernee Peppers [01:12:12]:
And I thought that that was a fun name because everybody says that. Yes. Yes, girl. I had a girlfriend that told me she was like, why would you want that name? I said, yes, honey. That's why I would want the name. Because you didn't want it.

Chi Quita Mack [01:12:29]:
Yep.

Ernee Peppers [01:12:29]:
Hello.

Chi Quita Mack [01:12:30]:
And watch what you do with it.

Ernee Peppers [01:12:32]:
Hello. Yes, honey. So that's it. So people will talk you out of them doing things. Talk you out of you doing things so that they can do it.

Chi Quita Mack [01:12:43]:
Yeah.

Ernee Peppers [01:12:44]:
Everybody can get a slice of this world. I used and I would tell her, I was like, I ain't gonna remind you that this is my world. You just hit it. Okay? And she's like, you always say, yeah, because you're. You're nasty. And instead of you supporting, like I support you, you're always knocking and chiseling me down. But as you're chiseling me down, I'm chiseling up. And you know, that's it.

Ernee Peppers [01:13:08]:
There's a piece of pie for everyone. Everyone can get this money. Everyone does enough people. Because everybody is not going to do what early peppers do. Everyone is not going to do what you do. Cute. Everyone is not going to do it. And hey, everyone is not going to.

Ernee Peppers [01:13:21]:
Can't beat everybody. So be who you can be in your spot. Light.

Chi Quita Mack [01:13:27]:
Yes.

Ernee Peppers [01:13:28]:
And you shine as bright as you want because that's your light. That's your world. That's why I said, this is my world, my little world right here. And you're just in it. You always say that. Yeah, I do.

Chi Quita Mack [01:13:42]:
Absolutely.

Ernee Peppers [01:13:43]:
I had an amazing time. Okay.

Chi Quita Mack [01:13:46]:
I know. This has been awesome. And again, I want to thank you so much for being a part of the BD and you podcast, you guys. Like I said, everything will be linked below. And you know how I do. Until next time, guys.

Jacqueline G. [01:14:00]:
Thank you for joining us on this week's episode of the Beauty in you podcast. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe. Visit us@thechiquitamack.com or join us on Instagram @thechiquitamack for your daily motivation and inspiration. Tell a friend to tell a friend. Until next time.