Tyra Grant & Youth Participant, Jordy from Steel City Impact

Count money, man.

Money that gritches.

I'm trying to talk, trying to talk to my beast, but

what's up gang?

Welcome back to another episode of the grind cast.

Get ready.

It's a new day.

And then we got we got a real special group for y'all today

in the grind cast studio.

First and foremost, we got my girl, Jordy over here to my to my left

for y'all that are watching just absolute superstar in the youth

program.

Seventh grade just heard she was on the high on a roll.

Yes.

Miss Tyber Grant told us so we got the Miss Tyber Grant

executive director, still city, impacting the house.

And then we also have y'all can't see her.

Maybe another time you get to see her.

But we have Jordy's mama angel in the house.

And now I see as they say when they say you get it from your mama

now I see where you got that swag that mouthpiece from that

extreme level above way above average in you.

I see starts coming from your mom.

You could read that in the first 60 seconds of of meeting your mom.

So for those of y'all that don't know, we got Miss Tyber

Grant in the house former WMBA player.

She hates when I go through that part.

Former she was the police former police officer in young

sound Ohio.

So if any y'all know youngs that ain't like we're just going to put you

somewhere on a police force and you chilling like young sound Ohio

you're going to get some action coming your way.

Most importantly we got the program director as we said already

the youth program director steel city impact.

Tyber Grant we got one of our top youth program folks in the house

former boss lady or future boss lady in the house current boss lady

in the house Miss Jordy.

And so let's let's start out with you Miss Jordy.

We just we just mentioned that you have coming off a good is

they're a real huh all eight all eight in the third quarter.

Come on girl.

So I'm talking about on a road highest on a road you can get.

Mm hmm.

Okay.

So how long have you been a part of of of steel city?

I've been a part of steel city since last summer.

So about a year now.

Okay coming up on a year and you just stand you just stand out.

What are what are I know some of my favorite things of watching you

in action what would you say from a student's perspective from your perspective

what are some of the things that you like that are going on any of the activities

that are going on was fun was good.

The field trips are the most fun but from a student's perspective.

It's like.

Sorry.

Which field trips which which field trips did you like the most so far?

My favorite field trip had to be the DC Foocher because because I got to explore black history

and black culture and then I got to see a side of Miss Tyra like a little fun side.

Miss Tyra loosened up a little bit okay.

She was having a ball.

Oh I like it.

I like it.

That's funny.

And then I got to create like more of a bond with other people from still city who I

don't really talk to in school and like yeah.

Okay.

And what other things other than the field trips stand out to you that do you think is impactful

to some of the peers or the students or.

Miss Tyra's leadership and like the students who Miss Tyra already has on track like they're

good influences and like good people to hang around.

I'm proud of the culture that you all are in the process of building.

You know nothing's nothing's perfect.

You know the main nothing's perfect.

Sometimes you know I was just talking to Angel and I was saying you know about the family

I have.

I got a eight year old six year old three year old you know sometimes we'll take a picture

together and people like oh man that picture came out so nice it's so beautiful and I'm

like yeah if y'all would have seen about 20 seconds before this it was a complete meltdown.

We was all screaming at each other today.

He was crying.

I'm threatening the three year old.

You know what I mean I'm bribing the six year old.

You know what I mean for like five minutes before the picture so nobody's perfect.

You know what I'm saying but but when I see the culture that y'all are building together

because I say y'all it got to be the players and it got to be the coaches.

You know what I'm saying and so Miss Tyra you had an opportunity to be a player and a

coach before in a high level player but now you're in the position of a coach and you

know as a player that the culture really can only get as good as the players can.

And carry that culture can't just be the coach and so now I'm watching the culture get

built from the students from the perspective of the kids in the program and I'm watching

it start to catch fire to where you know I remember when we first started it would be like

we had a real long way to go.

You know what I'm saying let's just say we had a real long way to go now I walk in we

always got a long way to go but now I walk in and I'm like man it's so many so many of

you that I watch that have so much ability so much talent so respectful there's times

that I'm talking in there we go for 30 45 minutes straight and I'm like man he's seventh

graders eighth graders they're doing a better job than the grown folks I got at the office

you know sometimes so I'm super proud of what you guys are building so speaking of which

you know I know hip-a-laws and all that stuff I know we can't go too deep into everything

but I think just fresh out of you know I just got a recent text message from one of

the people high up and superintendant at Stowe Rocks just thanking us for what we're doing

and specifically shouting you out for a medical emergency you know that took place at the

school I think that happened within the last week right within the last week where you

were able to to help a student that was severely injured yeah and there's kind of no real

practice or preparation you know for that stuff so talk to us about like what that was

like and kind of what happened and that as much as you can you know absolutely absolutely

so it was at the end of school I'm actually was getting ready we're gonna die eggs and

do an Easter egg hunt and everything for kids it was right before break and I'm in the

cafeteria and we get a call over the radio that there is there's blood everywhere you know come

quick we need help you know and at first I didn't really hear everything catch everything I just

heard somebody loud and yelling I'm like oh it's a fight you know and I'm like well they'll

get it but then I now mind you that was the first thing I thought yeah so I remember we were on a

we were on a zoom call meeting with the principal with like yeah like we're all professional in the

call next thing I know there's a alarm goes off people got to step out right there's a blowout

yes right yes it's going on noise definitely not a noise that's what we're working with right at times

yes so okay so you know and that's why naturally I thought this is just normal but the norm that

happens and I'm like okay they'll get it but then when I heard it again and I was actually able to

fully make out what the teacher was saying that's when and I got the location I ran to where it

happened and it was right in the stairwell next to the cafeteria and indeed it was blood everywhere

and at that moment I got to feel and also see you know like the kids saying 4k how people respond

and how I even respond in that type of situation you're seeing a kid you know needing like help

severely like this isn't all I just roll my ankle or you know I got a boo-boo like no like we

we got to help him and then we don't know how bad it really is you know you just know it's bad so

at that point you know I just had to run and I'm like put pressure on it put pressure on it so

like we got to get something so I ran and I got towels and napkins and everything and I ran over

them by that time you know the the teachers got some more teachers were over there and you know

everybody's just watching and you know then the superintendent makes it over there at that time and

she looks at me and she's like are you you with me and at that moment I was like yes like

let's go and we are able to kind of position him up and you know for about 15 minutes with kind

of felt like 30 minutes yeah you know I'm just crouch down behind them and I have my hand with the

you know I was able to get gloves eventually but with the towel and everything just put

pressure on his head and there's you know it's just trying to find where it's at and what's

going on and just trying to be as much assistance as I can be it was scary but at that moment

he was he wasn't like passing out he wasn't throwing up he wasn't giving any crazy signs he was

just definitely went singing pain because you know he fell from he fell a story down you know on

on the steps you know neck head you know and all of that so it was it was crazy we got to keep

praying definitely praying for him I know right now he's still in the recovery phases but I think when

I received the text message you know the thing that stuck out other than you know the things

that you would think of you know crazy that you would jump into action like that dealing with

something like that but just she said she was a real team player you know the main and that's

what we've been aiming to do is our vision you know coming in was like we ain't trying to overshadow

nobody we have no agenda coming into Stowe Rocks we just want to come in to help the kids and make

everybody better in the process you know we just a part of the team it takes everybody it takes

parent it takes the principal takes the coaches it takes you know and we was just sitting here talking

about somebody that we know that was not in the program anymore that you bump into at the school we

care about her you know what I mean we care about everybody not just if you're in the program we want

to it takes a village you know to do the whole deal so speaking of that speaking of the village you

know I think I'm proud of the fact that we've been bragging about we have more than half of our

kids now on the honor roll which when we came in we first got rolling we had one kid on the honor

roll now we got more than half the kids on the honor roll what would you say Jordy is there anything

that you that you see you know I know you have a little bit of an advantage because now I get to

see you got an awesome mother but other than that is there anything that you see in the program

that you think is helping the kids get better grades and better with their education because the

numbers are kind of jumping off the charts what do you see Miss Tara because everybody want to do

just want to do what they can to impress their friends until their parents get involved or Miss

Tara getting involved because Miss Tara gets down like Miss Tara Miss Tara was like

Miss Tara was like a mom like she will she'll like yeah you get it I do get it I do get it yeah

Miss Tara don't play she's like a mom she is she is like a mom and she takes it serious like a mom

and she cares like a mom when they when they say you know blood sweat and tears you know we just

talked about a little bit of the blood you know what I mean I've seen you running around with with

the sweat but there's also behind the scenes some tears you know that I've seen and I've seen tears

of like man I want so much for these kids and then I've seen tears of joy like you share as a parent

you know what I'm saying and so what mother's day coming up man I may not have birthed any yet

out just so but we got we got about 50 or more of them that you're like a mom too you see

here on mother's day is how are you a mom I'm like yeah I'm because you have 52

I know something got about 10 15 I had two of my wedding angel two of my wedding that got eight

a piece okay so 52 I never heard of 52 you know they look at me as the woman like

thank you I do not I do not agree that the good part about this is like do get the give them back

at the end of the day but I still love them all the same but yes it is definitely like I do feel

like I was just talking to the parents today where her and I I said you know I'm the stepmom and she

you know she she loves me and it's awesome and she was like yes so when he gets here because I

was kind of disappointed in the in how a student that's usually one of my great always on

honor old kids kind of slipped down but I understand there's some other you know factors that

when I'm on with that but it was like we're gonna both talk to them together on the phone we're

gonna make sure that he understands like yes this is going on but we still got to make sure that

your grades stay first and it's it's it's a great feeling you know to feel so accepted and to

feel like that but also to be able to build that relationship because you know when we talk about

you know leadership and all of that and you know when I work when I work with you you know with

the life insurance and you know providing benefits you know to everyone one of the things that we

talked about when it came to leadership is not is the first step is governing from that position

of leadership but then as we move forward it is developing level two is that relationship yeah you

got to you got to build those relationships so it's been fun it's been fun doing that speaking

at a relationships is there any relationship that that you see with personal life at home

in the grades like do you do you happen to see that typically if grades are slipping usually it's

more to do with some going on outside then it really is the inside yes it's not more or less

because we the kids that we come just like back in Youngstown like I said McKee's rocks is just

like Youngstown you know there's a lot of trauma there there's a lot of things that children

unfortunately at such a young age have to see have to endure have to overcome and have to just

I just got to get through it you know and helping them navigate that and and allowing them to

keep things first or keep things over here understanding that understanding this but just to navigate

through their emotions and a lot of that happens and things that they're going through at school whether

it's bullying or this or that you know or just you know little spats that they get into you know

even as friends get into it and bigger with one another for sure but sometimes that can you know

take over because when you're a kid like it's hard to don't let your emotions take up no it's hard

sounds good 35 years old

I'm just now understanding how to not allow my emotions to dictate my actions.

So, Jordy mentioned it was cool to see you have some fun.

Loosen up a little bit, drill sergeant up a DC.

Why don't you tell some of the folks we know, but the people listening, a lot of people

listening, they're supporters of Still City.

What are some of the fun trips, field trips, things that we do with the kids?

Yes, we've done so much, it's so much fun that it's great to be able to allow them

to experience different things.

One thing that I don't want to do is to do things that they could do just whenever

they want to.

So, how can I expose them to things outside of their comfort zone, all of that?

So, when we do the open heart surgeries and we go and see that at Alliegane General

Hospital, when we take them horseback riding and they get to learn about that from me, I

was excited that I'm always watching on TikTok, that's my guilty pleasure, don't touch

me.

Everybody got to have an outlet.

Yes, this is so funny, but clipping their hooves, I got to do that.

I'm always watching them clean the hooves and do all of that, whatever so was fun.

Being able to finally do that, I was really excited.

I was shy not to show them how geeked I was.

I was nerdy out as people said in that moment.

But allowing them to see that, going rock climbing, real live rock climbing, not traditional,

like the little green, blue, red, whatever on the wall, but actually really allowing them

to experience that.

Going to the, I even think going to what Carnegie Mellon was fun university because they got

to go through little examples of what it would take for a kid.

Like, well, if a kid has this, this and this, would you accept them into your university

or would you not?

Or would you let them wait?

It may be like in a couple months, you would revisit it again.

So they actually got to go through those scenarios.

Beautiful.

Of that.

And so it puts them in that real life scenario or situation to have to be that person, to

accept or deny or put them away.

So, good experience.

Making a good experience is, I know it's probably minimal, but is there anything, any times

in the last year you remember any funny stories or anything about Miss Tyra, any funny ones

I need to know about?

Over the summer, where it was me and a couple of group of kids and we all had water balloons.

Miss Tyra's idea, she told us to get water balloons.

So we all came up and we threw a water balloon at her because like, yeah, she was in a good

move.

She's fair game.

Okay.

And you got her?

I got her.

All right.

You got her yourself.

Nice.

How'd she take it?

She was laughing.

All right.

I had to run away a little bit.

Of course.

I had a rant too.

Do you, on a serious note, other than the fun stuff, what do you see, if you've looked

at some of your classmates, your peers, folks in the program, have you been able to

see any changes in any of the kids yourself in the program to where they've gotten better?

Definitely.

I've seen some of changes.

Some people who do like stuff outside of school, like other stuff, their in school behavior

is completely different.

Like they care about their grades more.

They don't talk about their teachers, don't do none of that other stuff.

Like they really, they're really starting to care and all this other stuff because of

like, yeah, I've seen multiple people change.

Turn around.

That's awesome.

Beautiful.

Any tips you have, no better setting than do it than just live.

Is there any tips you have for us?

Anything you think we could do to enhance the program or better the program?

Have someone like on the side like how Mr. B Blair was and Miss Shayla, because Miss Tara

did a ton of different stuff.

So somebody who could really watch over the kids and like really talk to them.

More coaches, more staff, right?

More staff, more people.

For someone with good authority who can tell somebody to stop without them like, yeah,

thinking, oh, you're not Miss Tara, none of that.

Yeah, somebody that could check them.

Love them but check them.

I got you.

I got you.

Well, if you need backup, I'll take a day off and come down there.

I'll weapon them a lot.

Yes.

How are they so good?

We just beat them.

No.

What the everything on this one?

No.

If it is all about that relationship building, no, that's what it's all about at the end.

One of my favorite things that we started to do down there, because we want to impact the

whole deal, the whole community, you know, as much as Sto Rocks can get a bad rap because

of the violence and all that.

Man, it's a lot of cool people down there, you know.

And I'm comfortable down there, like you comfortable down there, because of coming from

young stem.

When we've walked out and about people in the community, I've seen people get excited

about the community cleanup days that y'all are doing.

And remember, you even had people from the community start joining in.

So we do community cleanup days where they put on the orange, so nobody runs us over.

And we had the baseball mascot come down.

And we went out and the whole program went out in the community and started to clean

stuff up, clean up the trash, make it, you know, clean up the air.

And we started to have folks from the community, nothing to do with the program, jump in

and say, oh, we love this.

We're going to start doing some of that stuff too.

Talk to us about, you know, how that went and why you think it's important for the kids

to learn how to do stuff like that.

Absolutely.

I think it's a big integral part in a child's life to learn about and understand and appreciate.

And sometimes, even if you don't realize it at that moment, it's just a little bit

of a seed that's planted in you, because that's how it was for me.

When I was in high school, we both went to the same high school, so Ursula in the Catholic

School.

And a part of our religion class for senior year was service.

You had to go out in the community and give back.

And they had a list of things that you could choose from.

So, you know, I did, I volunteered.

I had a soup kitchen.

I went to a nursing home and we did activities with the residents there.

And then I got an opportunity to read to K through 2nd grade.

And that was something that really left impression in my life.

And it kind of catapulted me as far as where I knew I belonged.

And it was all about giving back.

I'm a person that I'm from an acts of service.

That's what makes me feel good to know that I'm able to impact someone's life.

So I said, you know, for me, why is it that it's just a Catholic school is just doing that?

Why is that just there?

I don't hear about any other public schools in our area at that time doing that.

And so I wanted to make sure whatever I was doing that I incorporated that.

Because it's very important for them to see and be able to experience like they didn't

realize that at first.

I don't know how we had just how here is hot.

We picking up trash, you know, whatever.

And then as they start to see the community, look at that people stopping, beeping their

horn.

Thank you.

We appreciate it coming out onto the porch.

We had a guy come out and pray, you know, with our children.

We were actually on the neighborhood watch.

You know, they took pictures and put us up there and say, you know, we and express their

gratitude and for them to experience like this isn't just an activity that we're doing.

Like this actually has, it is meaningful to the community that you live in, you know,

to keep it nice and keep it up.

And when we do those community lunches, but we also have that, we're in the month of April,

we also have that coming up, another community cleanup day.

So that'll be in the next few weeks.

So I'm excited about that.

And I'm sure that it'll be with the same people.

So it'll be with Tri-State.

So hopefully we can get the penguin or whatever to come back out and we do some stuff with

them again.

We could send some people down there too.

From the office.

I, uh, Jordy, what would you say or some things that maybe you've started to grasp or learn

in the program that you think would help you going into, you know, your high school

years or as you grow into young adulthood, what do you think are a couple of things you

could say you grab so far, learn so far from the program?

If you pay now, you can play later or you could play now and pay later either way you're

going to pay.

And that's like just stuck with me for like a little while because like it's the truth.

That makes, that makes me smile because that's something that I beat into Miss Tyra's

head and our people says, I'm hearing you say this.

I'm like, man, praise the Lord that somebody's actually getting it.

You know what I'm saying?

That it's actually traveling down to where I want it to be.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

But that's the truth.

That's the truth right now.

What does that mean to you?

It means right now I'm paying.

I'm paying.

Like I'm paying.

I'm paying.

I'm sorry.

I, I, I was on a rules the year.

Like I'm doing a ton of other stuff, ton of sports.

Paying out and I'll be able to play later with all these opportunities I'm going, I'm

going to get and all this other stuff.

So, amen.

And then the folks that that want to play too much now, they're going to pay later.

They're going to pay later, right?

That's, that's beautiful.

You know how that, have you ever heard the story, Jordy, how she ended up being the executive

director down there?

So she was no slouch.

She was good at her job here in management.

And every time I was sent with Miss Tyra and ask her, I would go over her goals.

You know, we do a goal sheet with some of the managers of their personal life goals and

their business goals.

Every time I started to talk to her about her goals, it always ended up creeping in.

She wanted to do something with kids.

She wanted to work with kids because we have a youth program in Youngstown that we started

not the same name as Still City called Inspiring Mines in Youngstown.

And Miss Tyra used to work with Inspiring Mines in Youngstown.

And so she would always remind me, you know, that eventually her vision is to get back

to doing something with kids or to have something for kids.

And so when the opportunity opened up as much as I didn't want to lose, somebody that

I got a connection with that I believe in that we spent a lot of time coaching to build

up to leadership that has obvious great leadership skills.

Ain't too many people want to just volunteer to lose somebody like that.

But I'm like, man, selfishly, I want to keep her here.

But I know the right thing to do is to ask what she want to get back involved with the

kids because this opened up and I asked her if she left all that to come down there

and really rebuild.

You know, we were there for already a year.

But we really didn't pop off until Miss Tyra got there.

And that's the power of one person.

You know, I think the power, you know, what I try to teach people in business too is,

you know, one Michael Jordan, one LeBron James, one person can start to really make major

change.

Sometimes it takes a lot of people, but really it takes one leader, one person to start

to really spark that and make a change.

And so that's been a blessing, you know, for me to watch and play out because my mission

was to be able to impact people down there and I can't do it from here.

We need somebody on site doing it right there and to watch that play out, Miss Tyra is

awesome to see.

And we're just getting started.

But we need leaders like you to keep taking over.

And so, you know, Jordi, how you first got on my radar was we do the shoes thing every

year.

That's every year we take the kids in Youngstown and Pittsburgh and we take them for Christmas

and me and others, we want to give them as a Christmas gift to all the kids we want to

like to get them shoes.

And I like to beat our own site and I like to beat our own site not for myself to floss

or anything like that.

It remotivates me as to just like you being here here and you say, pay now, play later.

Girl, that's all I need for motivation for the rest of the year.

You know what I'm saying?

Because it could get draining behind the scenes to do the work that it takes to make some

of this stuff happen.

But to see somebody like you getting it, that's the stuff that provides inspiration.

So I go down there to see it on site and catch fire and to be around the kids to motivate

myself.

And when I get down there, we got a camera with us.

And the camera person is taking pictures and taking videos.

And Angel, your daughter just popped right up in front of the camera like this is just

start off the cuff.

Hey, here's what we doing.

We getting these shoes.

We going to these stores.

And I'm like, what?

How does this young lady over here tell me like she got a natural catchy personality, confident

personality that I did not have at your age.

So I'm like, man, imagine somebody that got that.

I didn't have that in seventh grade.

Somebody that got that.

What could we do?

What could we do to help somebody literally skies the limit for not only you, but a lot

of the kids down there that I see that have so much talent, so much talent with blow people's

minds to see the talent that I've witnessed down there of so many of the kids and the

way that the from the FOR to folks down at the FOR, just the community itself.

Everybody, the mayor, my girl, the mayor down there.

Yes, Miss Adrian.

Miss Adrian, you know, just I call her the mayor.

She knows everybody loves everybody.

She just wants good, you know, for the community to connect where you got like-minded people

like that doing stuff together like that, man.

You could start to, you could start to move mountains.

And so Tyra, talk to us a little bit about the impact that you've seen on the kids' grades,

the bag, what we stand for.

You know what I'm saying?

Talk to them about getting in the bag and how you think we've been able to improve that.

And then flow in to telling us what your vision is, what you think is next for the program.

Absolutely.

So, starting off the bag, during the school years, all about who exemplifies what still

city is all about and during the year, it's all about behavior, attendance, and grades.

So that's our big focal point.

Right, so y'all that are slow out there, just be behavior.

Be behavior, attendance, hey.

Angie, it's great.

There we go.

Yes, sorry.

but no, so behavior attendance and grades are what our main focal points are amongst other

things, you know, community with all that other stuff, yes. And it's just being consistent.

Consistent as far as our values, our culture, what I want from them, I'm never wavering

on that when kids come up to me. And sometimes I have to be, this is where my other part

has, because I'm very pili-tent as we know. And you know, I love my mom and my dad

for that, but y'all didn't, y'all missed something. Y'all didn't give me that other part

where I could be like, oh no, that takes a lot out of me to do that, but I really try

and be intentional with that. But they were like, yeah, Miss Tyra, but you know, I got

to be. And I'm like, okay, good, but now, now you know you can get that. Now, let's get

that, you know. And then if you like, what's the expectation levels?

Well, did you got 100% in that class? Did you, how many assignments did you miss? What

can we do? You know, so it was constantly raising the bar for them. I never tell our kids

like what our steel city impact minimum requirement is because then they look at that. Oh, I got

that. Hit the minimum. I'm good. But that's already ingrained in them within the system.

Is that, well, I'm good because passing is a D. No, I want to make sure that I'm constantly

pushing them for higher because when you get out into the real world, like bare minimum,

you know, I don't want to be mediocre. Like that's actually a fear of mine is to die and

be mediocre and didn't live up to the best ability or the best version that got created

me to be. So I'm constantly pushing them for better, be better, be better. Okay. You got

that? What, how do we move forward? Don't be in place. Because as we know, you know, as

you continue as you're successful, can place and see is the, you know, is a killer to

success. So if you, if, so I don't let them do that. Let's, let's go keep going. Let's

keep moving. Um, and sometimes it's exhausting, but I have to be diligent in that. I have

to be intentional. So I think that has, is what has created, um, that culture and that,

that desire for, you know, children like Jordi to continue to want to strive and to say

those things. Like, Hey, I'm on pay now or play later or I'm going to play now and

I'll pay later either way I'm going to pay. So if you understand that concept, then I've

done what I needed to do, you know, and that still got to do more, but at least we got

that part. Um, so I think that's the biggest thing is having that and instilling that in

them. And now we have, you know, over 75% of our kids, you know, meeting still city impact

requirements. We had 33 kids, um, past quarter, um, second quarter of have on a row.

We had eight or nine students have the highest on a row, which is straight A's. Uh, now

this quarter, uh, we dropped down just a little bit, but we have 24 kids, but that's still

more than half, um, because we've dropped down in our numbers. Um, just to make sure to keep

the culture, um, where it needs to be. So we're still over half. Uh, we're at 76% now,

uh, we're last quarter, we're at 75%. So we're still increasing, um, and meeting that we have

about 75% of what of kids meeting the still city impact requirement. Okay. So out of our,

uh, total, um, 75% of 76% are where we need them to be. Uh, but either way, we're still

going to keep them, uh, moving forward. And that's where that's, that's what happens. That's

how we're, that's how we're getting this done. Jordi, give me, give me, uh, you know, if

you could give advice, you know, to somebody your seventh grade moving towards eighth grade,

going on like you acting like you about to be in college, you know what I mean? Already

all grown up acting, which we appreciate in your personality, keep being you, um, the,

other people, other young folks, let's say there's somebody out there, a parent listening,

they go say, Hey, you got to turn this podcast on, listen to this young lady. Give, why

don't you give some advice to younger kids, your age or younger than you that are, that

are growing up and they're in an environment that's pulling them, you know, in one direction,

but they want to do the right thing, but maybe doing the right thing ain't looking cool,

you know, or whatever it is. What advice would you give to, to some of those kids on how

to, you know, get good grades, stay focused, you know, be a leader, get talk to them. Um,

you should hang around people who want the same, like who want the best for you and want

the same, like things for you and like the same things for themselves. Like you can't

keep hanging around the same people that's holding you back or what you're going to be

just like them, holding yourself back and you just need to go for your potential, because

not everybody's down here. You start off all the way up here, you slightly bring yourself

down, but you're meant to thrive and keep going because like everybody has their own potential,

like them people's holding you back from it. So just quit hanging around with them. You

could talk to them here and there, but I feel like you should just drop them because like they're

holding you back from what you can't become. That's huge. All the way into adulthood is birds

of a feather flock together, you know what I mean? So if you want to be ego, you got to,

you got to hang with the egos and don't mean people successful with a certain type of title

or money or anything. Just ego in the way that they, in the way that they act, in the way

that they think, in the way that their heart is. You know what I'm saying? Your mom is an

eagle. Your tire is an eagle. You know what I'm saying? Because what happens is when you get

around egos if you hold your potential up and you are who you're supposed to be, then

egos are recognized as other egos. And good people will be attracted to you naturally because

they'll see it. You know, they say, they say when an eagle is flying in the air at the

highest altitudes, the egos go so high. Other birds really can't even hang with them. They

can't even get up that high. So they say the egos the only way when they're up that high,

they come in contact with another bird is that if it's another eagle. They notice the only

other way that somebody would be up there with them. Another analogy I just saw about the

egos, they said the only bird that dares to like attack an eagle and mess with an eagle

was a crow. And what an eagle does with the crow is instead of fighting with it, the eagle

just goes up so high, just flies up so high to another level that the crow can't even catch

his breath and it just falls off and goes back down to where it was supposed to be. So

stay above all the mess is the message in that. You know what I'm saying? As an eagle,

people going to hate on you for being an eagle. They're going to try to, the crow is going

to come and pick at you for being an eagle. Just keep going to another level. Just keep,

they'll just fall off naturally. Just keep going to another level because you got that, you got

that in you. And we're here to continue to carry you and lift you and elevate you to watch

you be all the things that you're called to be, which is super, super special. You and

you're representative of all our kids right now in Steel City. You know, we just bring them all in

here. There's so many in here that I would that I would like to highlight. And now after meeting

your mom, I'm excited she's coming to the cigar event. I should have had another mic in here,

ready for Angel to come in here and get on because I see where you get your mouthpiece in your

mindset, you know, from as is your mom. And so, you know, there's things that you mention, you

know, another staff, there's things that we would like to do. And so this is a time where as we

close out, I just want to shout out and remind those that are listening, man, we really appreciate

your help. And there's people all around the country that help us make this program happen here

in Pittsburgh for kids like yourself to not only survive, but just thrive and take it up another

notch and take it to another level. We have our annual Steel City cigar, celebrity cigar,

fundraiser coming up April 26th, four four o'clock to 630. We have the James Harrison in the house

in my opinion, one of the greatest Steelers, Pittsburgh Steelers of all time, James Harrison,

I think when it's all said and done it, I don't know how they don't put them in the Hall of Fame. And

then we got the brand new starting tight end for the Steelers, Pat Ferremuth. I don't know if

I'm pronouncing that the right way to last name the right way, but we'll fire Muth. I think it

is. We'll get it. Great dude. Also out of Penn State, Tyra, y'all are going to hit it off. But we

need, we need help. We need your support. And so for all of my friends listening, I'd appreciate if

y'all can come out and support us for a good time. But for those of you to say that you can't make

it. It's not an excuse. Let me tell you why. We got tickets for y'all. Okay. We got raffle tickets.

We're going to be giving away a custom David Allen suit that he provided. And ladies and men,

ladies, they got custom dope suits. Like we've done in the fashion show. Some of our ladies have

gotten in there. They got, they got sweet shit stuff for ladies, shit for ladies, stuff for ladies.

Yep. That's me. That's what I do. I swear once in a while, y'all. And then we're going to be giving

away a getaway to Neymakoland tonight stay at Neymakoland. And so we would appreciate your support

to continue to help the program. And so for the cigar event, you could go ahead and search steel

city impact on event bright. And the link is in the description on Instagram. You could check us out

at steel city impact. And you could also check us out at steelcityimpact.com. And it takes a village.

Okay. And we're going to start out in Pittsburgh. And we're going to try to impact as much of the world

as we can before God takes us home. And even when that happens, we're going to pass it on the folks.

Pass it on the folks like you. So that's the only thing that we ask is anybody that we're able

to touch an impact that when it showed when it showed turn, pay a forward and keep helping others.

So we appreciate you Miss Tyra and everything that you do to impact other people. We appreciate

you, Jordy, for inspiring so many of us and just doing the best that you can with the hand and

the resources that you're dealt, all A's not only with chagrés, but all A's with your personality

and behavior and impact that you have on other people to whom much and give much and to whom much

is given much is required. That's another one you can add to your one-lotters. So you've been given

a lot in the gifts and talents that you got. So now a lot is required out of you because you're a

leader. So you can lead and impact so many other people, your personality is infectious. You can

impact and affect a lot of people. We need you to impact and affect them in a positive way and

be one of our leaders in the program. Let's keep impacting lives together because it takes all of

us together. Okay. Hey y'all, we appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us in the grind cast

studios here and we appreciate your time as always. Thanks for joining us on another episode of

the grind cast. Get ready. It's a new day.