Episode 30: Breaking Through Fear and Building a Healthy Life | Jade Baptiste | Creator of Jaded Journey
Jade Baptiste radiates positivity the moment she walks into a room. Her YouTube channel, Jaded Journey, is both hilarious and deeply vulnerable as she documents her health and fitness transformation. But Jade’s story isn’t just about weight loss — it’s about courage, consistency, and choosing to live without fear. Working two jobs as a nurse while going back to school, Jade has committed to making her health journey stick, even when family dinners and Southern comfort food test her resolve. She talks about why fear held her back for so long, what shifted this year, and how the support of her growing audience fuels her progress. Her openness is inspiring thousands, but most importantly, it’s reshaped how she sees herself.
“Just one person can make a difference for so many people’s lives and I want that person to be me.”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters
00:00 Meet Jade Baptiste and the start of Jaded Journey
02:34 Declaring a fear-free year
05:10 Life before the commitment to change
07:45 The turning point for health and fitness
10:15 Balancing nursing school and two jobs
12:50 Family, culture, and staying true to goals
15:30 Lessons in consistency and discipline
18:19 The “what if you don’t quit” mindset
21:00 Navigating temptation and social situations
24:20 How YouTube accountability changed everything
27:45 The role of vulnerability in connection
30:15 Building a supportive community online
34:00 One person’s power to inspire
38:20 Advice for starting your own journey
41:00 What powerful means to Jade
Just one person can make a difference for so many people's lives, and I want that one person to be me.
That's Jade Baptise and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast.
Hey guys, I'm your host, Kara Duffy, and this is The Powerful Ladies Podcast where I invite my favorite humans, the awesome, the up to something, and the extraordinary to come and share their story. I hope that you'll be left, entertained, inspired, and moved. To take action towards living your most powerful life.
Jade is incredible. When she walks into a room, you are instantly greeted with a huge, beautiful smile, and she radiates positivity. It's no surprise to me that her YouTube channel jaded journey, which is both hilarious and vulnerable as she shares her life, focusing on her health and fitness progress is blowing up.
She shares with her audience to keep herself accountable, all while going to school and working two jobs as a nurse. On this episode, she shares why her time commitment to health and fitness is sticking, how she stays true to her commitments, while both living in the fried food filled selves and being expected to show up at Haitian family dinners.
Plus the impact your audience has had on her journey, all that and so much more. But first, hey guys. I'm so excited that you are here today to listen to another episode of The Powerful Ladies podcast. It's because of you guys that we are able to exist and survive and make this great content, have these great conversations.
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Well, Jade, I'm so excited to have you on The Powerful Ladies Podcast. I am honored to be on here. Woo. I like that. Um, so I'm excited for you to tell everybody what you're up to. So I'm gonna let yourself, you introduce yourself and talk about what you have been taking on recently.
Well, my name is Jade, and recently I've embarked in a journey of weight loss and self-discovery this year just to figure my life out and try to get healthier as much as I can.
And, um, I started doing it on YouTube and documenting, documenting like everything that I've been doing as far as what I've been eating and, um, the thing, the struggles that I go through. And I feel like everybody goes through these same struggles and so I just document it and people have been responding well to it.
And what is your YouTube channel called?
Jaded Journey.
So much behind that one name, right?
Yes. I feel like the journey is not a straight line. I've messed up so many times before. This is not the first time I've tried to lose weight. This is not the first time that I've tried to get into self-reflection and see what am I doing wrong and why keep repeating the same mistakes.
And that's why it's, it's a jaded journey, so that's why I called it that.
No, I love it. I love that it plays in your name, and I love that it really, I mean, to me it's the most authentic like personal discovery, weight loss description that you could have found. Right? Because yeah, it's, it's definitely not a straight line.
Whatever. Whatever somebody's trying to deal with, with personal growth or development, if it was easy, it wouldn't get you to another place.
Exactly, and I feel like I learned the most from my mistakes. And so when I make them, I have to sit down and really think about what I did wrong. And that's what I do in the videos.
I talk about what I did wrong and I admit to some of the things that I've done wrong. And, um, I use it as sort of a therapy for myself. And I feel like people have responded to it because they haven't sat down and thought about what they're doing wrong in their journey or, um, sit down and think about what can I change to make things better.
What was your life like before you took this on and decided to, to really take this, this journey on for yourself?
Fear played a big role in my life for a very long time. I am, and I still am dealing with it, but I'm usually so scared to do something because I think I can't, or I'm scared to do something because, well, it's not gonna work out and.
It prevented me from doing a lot of things that I wanted to do and I'm tired of it. So I decided to give this year, um, try to make it a bit fear free and try to break through all the things that have, um, gotten me scared and fearful.
What were the things that, that were, you were afraid of?
Well, like, for example, loose skin or that I'm going to give up on my journey 'cause that's what I usually do.
So what's the point of starting now? Or, um, that people are gonna make fun of me or that I just don't believe in myself, so what's the point of starting? And stuff like that has really played a major role in my life and the decisions that I've made. And, um, and I just didn't want it to control me anymore.
Mm-hmm. I, I think it's really interesting. What's happening today in regards to, you know, body positivity and how people feel about their bodies and mm-hmm. Not just shapes and sizes, but colors and gender and like, all of it coming together for people to have space to love who they are, wherever they're at first, and then decide if there's something that they want to change.
Exactly. Um, when it comes to loving who you are, especially in society, we have such a view of how we're supposed to be. Mm-hmm. But we can't appreciate who we are right now. And it, it's hard for people to say, Hey, I love who I am right now, and I wanna make this decision to, not because I wanna look like someone else, but because I wanna feel better and I want to be healthier.
And it takes a while for you to get to that point. And once you get to that point, I feel like everything will start falling into play.
Yeah. It, it, I I think that's a great point you said about doing it for yourself and not to look like somebody else, because I think it's easy for all of us to be like, by a magic wand, I'd look like Beyonce.
Um, but like, that's, that's giving up and like leaving behind so much of what we could all look like if we leaned on, leaned into the best version of ourselves. Exactly. I was just at a body positivity yoga workshop by Adeline Bandu. She was, um, anyway, she's been on the podcast before and she did this amazing exercise that, I won't go into all the details.
I don't wanna blow up her secret sauce, but, um, one of the steps included. Writing down what you are thankful for for each part of your body. And usually you think about like a few parts of your body, but like she literally had everything listed out. Like it took a while to do this part of the exercise.
Like why you love your eyes? Oh wow. And why you love your legs. And I went into the workshop just being excited to hang out with everybody and like not, I didn't put it on as like, I'm sorry I didn't go because I was like, oh, I need some body positivity. I'm like, no, I just wanna like hang out and do a cool workshop.
And like being in a good space with people and doing that exercise, it made me really emotional. Like I didn't realize how much I wasn't saying thank you to my body for what it has allowed me to do up to this point. And even now, like it was wild. Yeah.
Like even
saying things like, yeah, because it,
it does get emotional when you, when you really think about it, like your body does a lot.
You don't know everything that goes into your body keeping you alive and, and allowing you to do certain things every day. And when you really think about it, you're, you're not, most of the time we're thinking about what's wrong and not what is okay and what is great and what works
and what's awesome.
Yeah.
What is your favorite thing about your body? My smile. Ooh. Some charm. Some, some charm working. Jade, you do have
a great
smile.
Oh, thank you. And I feel like usually when I walk into a room and the first thing I do is smile and it's not because, you know, I just think, oh, my smile is so great. It's just because it comes from the heart.
No, it comes from the heart. And. People, you know, gravitate towards me because they say that, you know, your smile is so genuine and, and things like that. And I, and I really do feel like when I walk into a room, the first thing I do is smile, is because I don't know, it shows that inside that I'm, I'm beginning to be okay.
I mean, to be fair, we, oh man, I can't even, I don't even know the number of years that it's been since we've known you and like the whole Duffy clan has known you. Um, but I do remember the first time meeting you and you had a huge smile. And your laugh is infectious. Infectious in infectious. I can't even say words.
I'm, I'm so enamored with you. I can't say words, but No, it's just you, you present such a joy to be around. And I think that portrays on such a. Personality and that smile. So I agree.
I think you should, you Jordan should talk with a smile when you're talking about smiling.
I know, right?
I was in, I was in my, I like your smile makes I was in, that was my hallmark moment, Kara.
No, and I think too, like even the, the parts of our body that we think could be at a different place or it's not our ideal, like to really say thank you to them for like how far they've gotten you. Like yes. Like all that you've, like your body is the only body that's been with you throughout everything and to Exactly.
To think about it. You know, separate from yourself and your identity actually helps a little bit to honor it because when you think it's you, it's easy to get mad at yourself and not say thank you to yourself so often. But when you see it as something separate and something that's taken care of you and that's protected you and keeping, you know, kept you healthy up to this point, and it's taking you on your adventures and it gets you to work every day and, um, like all that stuff, it's like, it's such a different perspective.
It is, it is. So with your, um, your transformational journey that you're sharing on YouTube, have you given your audience specifics about what you wanna be achieving? Like what weight loss or by, by when or like you want to run a marathon? Like have you given out any, any goals that you're sharing with your community?
Absolutely. I've said that I wanted to lose 120 pounds this year. I'm trying to do at least 20 pounds a month, and I've told them that I don't know exactly what weight I wanna end up at because it doesn't, I don't have like a picture in my head, oh, I wanna look like this. Yeah. I just wanna be at a place where I'm healthy and comfortable within my own skin.
And then for a very long time, um, I wasn't, but I'm beginning to be comfortable in my skin at the weight I am now. And I definitely wanna be more healthy. Yep. But being comfortable in your skin doesn't mean that you're gonna be skinny. It just means that you start accepting who you are, how you look, and accepting who, like that your body is yours and it's no one else's and no one else gonna make the changes for you.
And yeah, and just be happy with how life is right now.
Yes. And you, something, something you said triggered a thought I have. And I see a correlation between women trying to own their body and their body positivity and their, how they, you know, loving yourself and self-care and the disconnect with what's happening, um, in the US regarding like women's rights.
Like yeah. When you were talking about like, it's my body, I wanna love it and decide like, what feels good to me. Yes. Like, I totally agree, and instantly in my head it went and unfortunately women in Alabama don't get to make that decision a hundred percent. Like it, like Exactly. It's, I don't, I don't get it.
Like, I don't understand how, if we want people to feel like they're empowered and they're their own warrior and like they are living their best life. We can't have rules in this country that tell you you can only, you're only allowed to choose what you want to do with yourself and your body up to a certain point.
And that is not, that's not fair at all. 'cause I live in Georgia and we have the six weeks law also, and it doesn't make any sense that people are making decisions for what we can do with our own bodies when we're supposed to be the, the, the camping of our own bodies. Yeah.
Yeah. And I, I think it's, it's, uh, so unfortunate that the position of being pro-choice is, um, aligns with being like pro-abortion.
Like it is two different things. It just. If we're gonna be the warriors of our own body, we just should be able to choose what that means for us and our body and our life and the people involved in it. Because a lot of, you know, it's not even about on, on like, uh, like pro-choice, pro-life. It's also about all sorts of other health and medical things.
You know, a lot of re the reason why people get healthy, it's not for them, it's for to be healthy for their family and to be healthy for the people that care about them. Exactly. Um, I just think it's important that, you know, women, it's not about skinny. Right. Skinny's overrated. But yeah, I wanna feel like the most badass warrior possible.
Like, I wanna imagine that I can, you know, do some of the crazy things that Aria Stark can do or Exactly. I wanna be able to do that and so I can't do that if I can't do a pull-up like.
I can't do that if I can't sprint, I can't do that if I can't run a sub seven minute mile. Right. Like if you Yes. If you're gonna be Zena princess Warrior, like you need to be in shape.
Exactly. And I feel that's, that's where it, it came from. Um, I was curling up my stairs at my house and by the time I got to the top step, I was out of breath and I was breathing heavy and I was just like, this is, this is not the life I want because I, I don't wanna go up, you know, 17 steps and so lightheaded and out of breath and it, it didn't feel comfortable at all.
And if that didn't feel comfortable, I wanna be at a place where I am comfortable, where I can do things that, that, that should be easy for me. Mm-hmm.
I, I feel lucky that I'm in California because I feel like there's so much access to like, um, health and fitness and good food choices. And yes, I think that like being on the journey you're on in Georgia, like it occurs to me that it must be 10 times harder than if you were doing it here.
Yes, it is.
What is that really like, like let's tell people what it's like every day to be living in the South and to be trying to be healthy.
There is fried food everywhere. Um, even when you go into the grocery stores. I recently became vegan in the beginning of the year, and even the grocery stores have limited options for you to choose from and.
There's, there's some restaurants that do have it, but they're also far, I I live in the area that's like an hour away from Atlanta, so all the healthier food choices are closer into the city. Yep. And so there's, there's really no options. If I don't cook for myself, there's no options really.
That's so frustrating.
It is. It gets to the point where like, I pass by Burger King or I pass by these other restaurants and I'm just like, you know, it'll be much easier and more convenient if I wasn't trying to eat healthy.
For
sure. And
I always notice that, and I was told this applies to anything that you, you know, your guilty pleasures could be.
Mm-hmm. But there's a series of, of going through. When you're frustrated and upset, you start going into the, into this. I deserve it mentality. Like, I've worked so hard today. I got yelled at at work. Um, you know, shit, hit the fan. I'm having a bad day. I wanna cry. It's okay to stop at Burger King today.
Today, and like, just yes, that, like, separating the, I deserve it from what I do, whether I deserve to skip the gym or I deserve to eat a whole cake by myself or I deserve. And like, it even goes into, um, like I deserve to, um, say yes to the person that I'm not in, in a relationship with who wants to get a drink, right?
It really goes into gray water depending on how far stressed people are. Of like what they think, yeah, they, what, what attention they deserve, whether it's food attention or couch attention or another person's attention. Like what, what practices are you putting in place that when you are stressed out and you're having a bad day, that you don't go down the black hole of like behaviors that you know are bad for yourself.
And that's what I'm actually fighting with now. Um, because before I was telling myself a lot of different things, a lot of different mantras that instead of saying I deserve, you know, to stop by Burger King, I would say I deserve to be healthy. Yep. Because, because the way I personally feel about it is that every situation is temporary.
So when you're upset right now and you're stressed out right now, but give it a a few hours, you won't be as stressed out.
Mm-hmm.
So if you can go through those few hours of saying, I deserve to be healthy, I deserve, you know, to make better choices instead of giving in, you'll be okay. And that's how, that's how I've been dealing with it personally.
But it's still, it's still hard to do because you're so used to giving your, giving in and accepting that, okay, if I mess up, there is always tomorrow. But what if you don't mess up? Yeah. What if you make the decision not to eat the Burger King or not to, um, talk to that person? Because before I used to quit all the time.
Like, I'll start a diet and I'll quit because I'll, I'll say, oh, I deserve to eat this ice cream. Mm-hmm. And then that ice cream turns into a burger, and then that burger turns into pizza, and then all of a sudden, you know, we go by and the diet's already over, but then you think back at it on it. Um, but then you think back on it and you, and you say to yourself, what if I didn't quit?
How far would I, what, how far would I have been at this point? And I feel like if you keep reminding yourself, like, if you don't quit, you'll make it fair. It's all about consistency and it's, and that's the hardest thing. I feel like it's easy to start a diet, it's easy to, um, start losing weight, but it's not easy to be consistent and disciplined.
Yeah. There's a great book called Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink and mm-hmm. So many people. Don't wanna use a calendar. They don't wanna schedule things, they don't wanna meal prep. They don't want a routine because it, it feels like that's where the opposite of freedom. But the reality is that the more that we create the routine of habits that support the life, we wanna have it, we actually have more freedom.
It's like being on a budget. When you are on a budget, you actually have more freedom with your money in the long term. Yes. So for everyone who is, you know where you started from and they're like, I don't even know how to begin. What are the first things that you recommend people do?
Challenge yourself? That's what I did. I did a 21 day challenge. I told myself if I can do it for 21 days, then I can do it for the rest of the year. Um, and that's, that's the first thing I did on my channel. I recorded every single day for 21 days what I ate, the little changes that I made each day. And until I got to the point where I'm like, okay, I can do this.
Because a lot of time you just gotta believe it in yourself just for a little bit, and then all of a sudden you realize that you can make the changes that you, you wanna make and improve certain things in your life that you want to improve.
Was your 21 day challenge, um, in addition to recording every day, also starting your vegan lifestyle?
I, um, no, actually, when I first started, I just said I wasn't going to eat red meat. Okay. Um, and I said, I'm, I'm just going to eat three times a day. I'm gonna write down what I eat. Uh, no. I actually didn't even write down what I ate for the first 21 days. I just said, I'm going to eat. Making healthier choices in my food, and I'm going to walk for 10, 15 minutes a day.
Mm-hmm. And then the next week it started to be, I felt more endurance and I started to walk 20 minutes a day. And then the finally I started doing 30 minutes a day. And it just felt so good to be able to accomplish each step that I wanted to continue. Mm-hmm.
And, and when you first started that first week, like, was your, were you in pain, were you sore when you were walking?
Were you like of course fighting all the breakdowns?
Yes, because I, it was a mental challenge most of all. It physically, I, I was thinking, oh, I can do it, but mentally after you are walking for five minutes, you're like, am I done yet? Like, is this over when it's, when in reality it, it wasn't. It was painful to begin with, but it wasn't as bad as you make it out to be in your head.
Um, I'm not gonna lie, when I first started I was 441 pounds and I was, I was appalled at myself. 'cause I was like, how did I let this get so far? Yeah. And then, then I started walking and I realized, yeah, it, it does feel different when I walk because there is more weight on me and there's more pressure on my knees and it does hurt.
But each day got a little bit better and when it got to the point where I could walk 30 minutes, 45 minutes without feeling the pain, I was like, I don't wanna ever go back to the point where I was hurting. I don't. And so I just continued.
And did, when you did your first 45 minute walk, were you like, I can do anything?
I thought, oh my gosh, I did it. And I was like, I can still go on if I wanted to.
So one of the biggest things that people run up against when they're taking on a lifestyle change is how they fit it into their already full schedule. What did you do to find time to fit the Joaquin in?
I, not to say that I, uh, pressured myself or threatened myself, but there's this one video by Kiara Lache on YouTube that's a three mile walk, and I told myself, if I don't go out there and walk, I have to do that Kiara Lache three mile walk.
And because I record everything, I was like, Aw man, I might as well go on a walk because it's easier to walk than to do exercise in your house. Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, I love walking compared to do like actual weightlifting or or other exercises.
Me too. I mean for, I like it because it becomes a walking meditation.
I can, it does. I'll listen to an audio book or a podcast or music or like I'm even a nerd and I'll bring a small notebook and a pen because I feel like my brain works better when I'm in motion. So I, yeah, I'll have like ideas or remember to do something and I'm like the nerd, like walking and writing at the same time.
I just pretend I'm in a music video. That's
what
you do. That's all I
like. You're snapping
in. Yeah. I've actually caught myself like dancing while I'm listen to the music and I'm like, oh yeah, not home.
But I mean, think about how great that is. If I ran across somebody like in the park, just like snapping and whistling and shaking it, I'd be like, yeah, like I want some of that.
You're
having
fun.
I, it sounds like as much as you were threatening yourself with that one video. I feel like with you recording yourself, that was like holding you accountable. It wasn't necessarily someone holding you accountable, but the fact that you knew that you were recording yourself, that was kind of your like, well, I can't let those who view my videos down.
Like those, those who view my videos, I can't let them down. Do you think? Yeah. Is that the reason that you started the YouTube page?
It definitely was. I'm a person who lacks discipline, and once you know it, you, you look at things differently. 'cause if you know you lack discipline, you put different barriers in place in order for you to keep the promises that you make to yourself.
Because I feel like if you can keep your promises to yourself, that's the first step of, of loving yourself. Amen to
that.
And so when I started recording, I recorded 'cause not to, to be on YouTube, but to. Say here. Um, it's out to the world now. People know now I have to keep the promise to myself, and it, it's worked so well for me and I, I've been loving it so far.
What does surprise you most about the viewers that you've gotten?
Even when I'm being down on myself or I do some self-reflection about the certain mistakes that I've made, or they, they can relate to it and they tell me all the time, like, I go through this all the time, and they're like, you're so inspirational to me because you're, you're, you're like, you're, you're speaking for me.
And I'm just like, wow. Like most of the time I think that these things are only happening to me, but it's not, it's happening to everyone around me.
And do you, do you record just with your iPhone and your laptop and like that's all you have or do you have more equipment involved?
I just have my iPhone. I don't have.
Um, I just have my iPhone and I record on that, and I edit on my iPhone and I just upload on my computer.
So simple, right? To suddenly make an entire empire for yourself.
Yes. Yes.
So where are you at on your journey now, if you started at 4 41, where are you at today?
I am around 3 85. I haven't weighed myself this a month so far.
That's amazing. So you're at about 3 85 and you are up to 45 minutes of walking
up to an hour. Actually, I love walking. Yeah, I do about an hour, but. The other thing too is like, I have a very full schedule. I have two jobs and I go to school full time and I just take any moment of the day that I can to do something active.
And I've, I've given myself that, that great period. Well if, even if I can't walk today, if I'm in class all day or if I'm at work all day, um, do something active, go up the stairs several times or dance. And that's one of the biggest things I sweat the most when I dance because I'm having fun and I'm just going with the beat.
I'm not doing anything, any kind of professional dancing, and I just move my body and that's, that it makes me feel good that I'm actually doing something active.
To, um, Jade, I wanna ask you what your jobs are in a second, but to add to this, um, I have felt the same on like a 21 day challenge to the extent of the host of this podcast.
Uh, Kara uh, did the 22 pushup challenge with me, and I turned it into like, uh, I have to work out 30 days straight Also, like I finished the, the pushup challenge and then went into the 30 day straight, and I was invited. To a pro football game in Cincinnati and I Oh wow. I literally left my seat and I walked around the, the whole football field for like 30, 40 minutes straight.
'cause I was like, well, I have to get my workout in, so we're just gonna, we're just gonna go around. Exactly.
No, but for real, like, I, I think part of the fun, like first of all, I love challenges. I like to do 30 day ones 'cause I just like the whole month to be obsessed with it. But, uh, yes, I love them and I cannot wait to start making them for the Powerful Ladies platform.
It's on my long-term to-do list. Um, but part of the fun for me really is like the game of figuring out how to make it happen. Because when I'm doing a challenge, I don't know if it's the same way for you, but it becomes. The number one thing I'm thinking about, like, yes. It's like, okay, cool. So it's Monday and how, where am I going to fit in my workout?
Or when am I gonna do my pushups or when am I gonna do my meditation? Because it's, it's a game. Like people like games and when you want, no matter what game you're up to, when you start looking at how can I do it every day, you start to get really creative. Like, my favorite way to walk during the day is to take a meeting from a sitting at a conference table or at a desk to make it.
A walking meeting is still at work. It's still all this, but like now I'm also getting somebody else to come along and that the walk goes by so fast when you're talking to somebody. It's crazy.
It does. It does. And I feel like, um, whenever I have somebody walking with me. It finishes it like that, and then I'm just like, oh, well I can, I can continue, I can go for another hour.
Yeah, and it's fun. Like, I think it's so important, like you guys both talked about dancing. If you are working out and moving your body and you're smiling, like it's, it's not only good for your soul and your mental space and your body, but there's something about imprinting the memory of movement being fun.
Yes. Movement equaling happiness, and when you are gritting your teeth, lifting weights, or on your spin bike or whatever is thought of as like super intense, like, get me through this before I die. Movement. When you are having a bad day, that's not necessarily where you wanna put yourself again. Exactly.
It's, it's way more, um, approachable to be like, no, I'm gonna go for a walk with, pick your favorite human because I'm gonna get more than just walking out of it. Or call your favorite human. Yeah. Yeah. You can call someone talk. Yeah.
Yeah. For me, that's how it, this has been so far, like, whenever I'm having a stressful day, I'm just like, I'm gonna go out for a walk.
Like, it, it's, it's, it's, it's made me more relaxed. I have time to think things through and when I can, when I'm done, I'm no longer angry or upset about the day. I'm just like, okay, I'm just relieved that I got to, to go for a walk and I got to relieve some stress by moving my body.
Are you someone who's now keeping, like, sneakers in your car, or are you, is it strictly something that you do, like when you're at home or like before after work?
Um, I've begun to incorporate it. Especially on the weekends at work, because I'm, I'm gone all day. I, I work both jobs on the weekends and so now I have like, gym clothes with me, always in the car. Like, I always have two pairs just in case, you know, I need to pull something out, go for a walk.
What, what are, so I wanna know, what are your two jobs and what are you going to school for?
Um, right now, um, I graduated last year as a LPN, so I have two LPN jobs. What does that mean? Working at, um, a licensed practical nurse. Thank you. Thank you. And then, um, I'm currently in school to be a registered nurse.
Very cool. What has, um, inspired you to become a nurse?
Well, I always love helping people.
It, it, it brings me such joy to be able to help someone. And the other thing too is. Nursing is a, is a diverse field. We can do basically anything in it.
Mm-hmm.
And I, I just like the diversity of it. Like, I, I'm the type of person, I don't like being bored. If I do something, uh, over and over, it gets monotonous and I just, I just don't wanna do it anymore.
But nursing, there's, there's such a variety of different things that you, you're able to do within it. And I don't think I'll ever, ever be bored. Every day is gonna be something different and something new. And that's what I love about it.
And it's a field that we always need more people in. Like, I was really surprised to learn when, um, Rachel came on the podcast about the fact that there's traveling nurses.
Yes. That's my, that's my ultimate goal is to travel and, and do nursing at the same time. 'cause you have to explore different places of the country and you can even go into disaster areas and. Make a difference. Like just one person can make a difference for so many people's lives, and I want that one person to be me,
and that's why we need you to take care of yourself.
So I'm so glad that you have taken this on because we need people like you that are so committed to making a difference to be here and to be able to do it.
Thank you.
Of course. And what are your two jobs that you're doing? So both of them you said are nursing jobs right now?
Yes. Um, one of them is helping with a patient who, who had an accident and is not able to move their body.
Mm-hmm. And the other one is, um, working with patients with mental disabilities and cognitive disabilities.
So with all, with having two jobs, going to school full-time, taking on your YouTube channel, besides walking and eating right, what else are you putting in place to, you know, make sure that you're stress doesn't overwhelm you?
I think the exercises is the best stress reliever for me right now. Yeah. Um, I also journal and I put down my feelings and just so that way I can jot things down and then go back and then reevaluate how I was feeling at that moment.
Mm-hmm. Because
a lot of times we, not to say we forget, but once those feelings subside, we're just like, oh, okay, it's over, but it's not stuff lingers and those stuff that lingers is what usually hurts the most.
So I draw things down, go back and try to reflect it at the end of the day, and then write how it makes me feel now, now that I've gone back and, and, and try to figure things out myself.
One of the other things that people say really impacts, um, their, um, like food and fitness lifestyle is their family is, you know, how did, what did you have to overcome from like family and cultural habits for you to take this journey on?
Well, my family is Haitian and we eat food like rice and heavy starches and um, a lot of meat and stuff like that. And
Haitian food is good.
It's, don't get me wrong, it is, but some of it, or most of it is, is unhealthy. And what I've had to learn to do is try to incorporate healthy eating within my culture.
So for example, we have one dish called legume, which is a bunch of vegetables, but they put meat and oil and all this other stuff in it, and I just took the meat and oil part out of it. And just kept the eggplants and the, the other vegetables that are in it, and it's still good and it still tastes the same without the, the heavy fats and the meats in it.
Um, the other thing I've done is I've begun cooking for myself. Instead of letting my mom cook, instead of eating her cooking, I, I've been cooking for myself because I know what I want to eat and I am, it's, I'm able to better manage the food that I intake, um, because I'm the one who's putting the ingredients together.
Well, what made you go after a, a vegan lifestyle for this challenge versus all the other options that are out there?
Well, um, I had a lot of health scares in the past couple of years. Um, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. Um, I was told that my kidney is functioning at a lower level and my biological father has diabetes and I was pre-diabetic and I was so scared 'cause I was like, oh no.
Like it's getting to the point where these things are not gonna be able to be reversed and I needed to make changes now. Mm-hmm. And I've looked at a lot of different documentaries and one that stuck out to me, um, was, what the hell? Yeah. And it scared me straight. I watched it. I watched it and I was like, oh my gosh, I need to stop eating meat.
And as soon as I stopped eating meat, I started feeling a lot better. Um, I wasn't in pain as, as much as I was. Mm-hmm. Um, because I used to wake up and it took forever for my body to get to a point where it was not very painful. Um, and my, after three or four months, my blood pressure went down. It's gone to back to normal.
I'm no longer pre-diabetic. And I feel like if everything is working the way it's working now, then this is the best lifestyle for me so far.
That's wild. I mean, even as a nurse, have you been surprised by the changes in your health from just changing the food that you eat?
Yes. Yes. Because when you go to school, you learn all these things and when you're like, oh, okay.
Because you hear it all the time, doctors say, oh, you need to eat this, you need to eat that. Um, but veganism for me has been completely different than what I was told, um, because I hear a lot of people say, oh, you don't get protein, you don't get this. But I, I can, I can still get protein and there's still vegan junk food that I can, you know, treat myself with and still be within my diet, and especially the way my health has turned around.
Um, this is like, I don't know, I don't know how to else to explain it by, but this has like been the best decision I've made so far in my weight loss journey.
No, that's so amazing. Um, I know quite a few people that follow a vegan lifestyle or even a modified vegan, like people who are vegan plus eggs and like, that's it.
Yeah. Um, but a lot of them I know have also, like once you, they start down the vegan path, you, you kind of go like anything that's vegan just so you can start changing your habits and then they've gone to um, like cutting out all the extra sugars or cutting out the bad vegan things like the bad carbohydrates.
Yeah. And the bad processed stuff. Where are you at in that cycle? Right now
I am beginning to like cut out all white starch, 'cause I do also have polycystic ovarian syndrome. Or polycystic ovarian disease where the white starch in food causes me to get cysts in my ovaries.
Yep.
And I've been cutting out white starch, like white potatoes, white rice, and that's hard for a Haitian to do is to cut out white rice.
Yeah. And like, um, white bread, like all that, I've been cutting out completely from my diet. So slowly I'm becoming like an al alkaline vegan, and that's where I wanna head towards.
And for people who don't know, what does alkaline vegan mean?
Um, Dr. Sebe, or I don't know if I'm saying his name right, has a, a notion that, um, your body needs to be in an alkaline state instead of an acidic state.
Because when you're acidic, when your body's in an acidic state, um, you have a lot more issues going on with your body. But when you're in an alkaline state, um, it's, it's the most ideal and healthy. Safe for your body to be in. And that's what I, I want to do, um, by the end of the year.
Very cool. Have the people in your life been supportive about what you've been taking on both the YouTube channel and sharing everything plus the diet changes and just, you know, the new you
they have, they see that I'm more happy, um, that I'm happier with, with my life now.
'cause I, I've gone through, um, different forms of depression and, and sadness and, and they see that now that I'm, I'm more full of life and they, they might not, you know, like the vegan portion of it, but they do support me with everything that I'm doing so far.
Good. How many subscribers do you have right now on your YouTube channel?
About 7,100 so far from, from January.
Very cool. And are you advertising it, promoting it or is this all organic growth?
Organic growth. I don't promote anything. I don't have the time.
I hear you. I hear you. Um, as you look at, you know, your future as a nurse and with your new lifestyle and the new habits that you're, um, adopting and getting great results from, do you feel yourself getting to a place where you can't not share what's happening with everyone that you come across?
I can't help myself. Like I was in the store, I was in the store the other day and I was passing by the salmon because I do miss fish sometimes. Mm-hmm. And I was passing by the salmon and then the guy. Uh, behind the counter say, may I help you? I was like, I'm sorry I'm vegan. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't even be here.
I like that your window shopping the fish, um, part of the grocery store like I would for shoes. Mm-hmm.
It's so amazing. Um, so we ask, you know, everyone where they feel they're at on the Powerful Lady Scale. If zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady possible, where do you feel you're at today? And where do you feel you're at in general?
Today I am at an eight because I am doing everything that I can.
But sometime it is a struggle and as long as you can get through those little struggles in life, I feel like you'll definitely be outta 10 at any moment. Um, so I'm headed towards that 10. And I'm just happy right now and content with the way life is
no amazing. I, I am so impressed because people every day have millions of reasons why they can't have the life that they want or why they don't have the life that they want.
And you are set up in like almost every classic excuse and you're like, Uhuh, I'm not dealing with it. Like you're in the south, you are, um, you know, have a family heritage of foods that are delicious but not up for the lifestyle. You're living. You're working two jobs plus going to school full-time, so you have no time.
Your budget's tight. You, you know, it's so easy to go back into regular habits and you're in an environment where healthy eating and lifestyle is not a predominant conversation over, you know, tradition, values and soul food. Yep. Like, I don't, and you had health problems on top of that and you know, you know better 'cause you're a nurse.
Like all of it's there. And like, it just makes me realize that anyone else that's like, I can't lose weight or I don't, I can't change my diet, I'm just gonna be like mm-hmm. And have you met Jade?
And, and like I said from the beginning, fear plays a, a huge part in that. 'cause a lot of people don't know what to expect.
And when you don't know what to expect, you're, you're, you get afraid to do certain things in life and you only have one body and that's the body that you're gonna have for the rest of your life. You could make the changes now or you can pay the consequences later. And I, I refuse to spend the rest of my life in pain and aching and, and feeling uncomfortable and being unhealthy because.
I definitely want, I have goals in life and I, I have to go out there and get them because no one else is gonna help me get them.
And it's like, why? I think a lot of people just don't think that happiness is for them. Like it's not in their cards. And I'm like, no. Like, one of my favorite quotes is, you must get willing, you must be willing to give up the life you had planned to have the life that is waiting for you.
Oh my God. I was just thinking that because that's, that's what happened to me. Um, I had this, a vision in my head that this is where my life is gonna be and this is what's gonna happen. And life just didn't play out that way. And that does it. One, it hurts your ego and your pride, and two, it makes you, it, it can and be, it's a sort of a depression also where you're like, well, I'm not where I'm supposed to be, so I, I can't go on.
You have to be able to be flexible with life because. Life is not what you want it to be all the time.
No. And I think that, you know, life is like, it's waiting for you to come and meet it. Like, come play
the game. Exactly. And I said that before. I'm like, well, I, I feel like I'm waiting for my life to start.
Yeah. But I'm the one behind the wheel, but I'm waiting for it to start. Like it doesn't, at a certain point, it could, that it doesn't make any sense. Like, life is not, I'm not gonna all of a sudden be on the driver's lane and, and I'm already in, you know, living life. No, you're living life right now. Each day that you're saying that you're waiting, waiting, waiting is the day that you're, it's a missed opportunity.
It's a day that you can have spent living life the way you wanted it.
Yeah. It would be like a baby that stays in its crib being like, I'm just waiting to learn how to walk. And you're like, wait, what? No. Like, you have to like crawl first. You have to like roll around. Like there's a lot of steps before you start running.
You don't just like one day like, and now I can walk.
Exactly.
No, I'm, I'm so proud of you and what you're taking on, and like, I hear the joy in your voice right now of, you know, the, you know, being proud of yourself and seeing the changes and just, uh, yeah. I am, I'm so proud of you. What, what are you proud of yourself for right now?
That I didn't give up on myself? Yeah, because I'll, I'll tell you one thing. When I first started school, I didn't have it in my mind that I was gonna graduate. And I think that's what triggered, you know, this acceptance I've began to have about myself. Like, I didn't think I was gonna graduate. I didn't think I was going to achieve it.
I didn just wanted to school because, you know. I'm getting older and I want, I wanna have a degree. So I was like, okay, let me go ahead and go to school. Um, and then, then I got to the point, like even to the, to the last day I was taking the last test, I was like, I don't even know if I'm gonna pass this.
This is gonna be the nail in the coffin. I'm not gonna graduate. And then I passed it, I passed it with the A and I was like, oh my gosh, I did it. You surprised yourself. Exactly. I, I did it. I didn't give up on myself and I did it and I was like, if I can do this, if I can take two years and spend dedicated to one thing I can do, I can do that for anything.
Especially weight loss was something I've been struggling with my entire life.
No, it's, it's, it's so true. I mean, what do you want people who are just about to start their journey to know
that's gonna be hard, but just because it's hard doesn't mean you're not gonna make it through.
If it's not hard, like I wonder sometimes if we feel like it was um, luck or really us working for it.
Yeah. Everything you want in life you have to work for. So this is, weight loss is no different. You have to work every single day. You have to make those little decisions. 'cause those little decisions are going to what completes the day for you. Like in the morning you wake up, you're like, oh, I want to eat this, that, and the third, knowing you should only be eating this or that.
Mm-hmm. And if you can make that decision for each meal, for each moment, they'll say, instead of sitting and watching tv, oh, I'll just get up and dance during the commercial. Just do little things to improve your life. Every day will make big changes in your life in the long run.
Mm-hmm. So one of my favorite movies is League of Their Own.
And they have a great quote in there saying, it's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.
Well, and I think that the, you don't, you build your self confidence not through what's comes easy to you. 'cause you don't even notice those things. You build your self confidence in your self-worth by getting through the stuff.
That's hard. Like, I think there's a big misconception about, you know, everyone should be happy and everything should be easy and you know, whistling Dixie and everything's fine. And you're like, no, no, no, no, no. Like life is like to keep challenging yourself and feel those feelings and meet the people along the way.
And like it's about climbing that next mountain literally. Or you know, figuratively. And that's where the good stuff is. Like, yeah, I want a life that is full and exciting and, you know. You know, shows everyone who like the, the warrior that's in themselves, because otherwise it's like floating on a lazy river.
And that's not, again, it's not you in charge, that's not you taking a direction. It's not, there's all this cool stuff that you're missing by not taking the actions otherwise. Um, exactly. Also at that, um, the Alene workshop, she taught me this thing that I really like and I've been using it because I'm also trying to, um.
Just be smarter with my food choices if nothing else right now. And yeah, there's a thing you can do when you're saying your mantras over and over again, where you use your thumb and first, your pointer finger, and then your middle finger, your index, or your, it's index, middle ring and pinky and like you touch mm-hmm.
When you say them, and each of the foref fingers, not your thumb stands for something. So your pointer finger is, um, wisdom and knowledge. Your middle finger is patience, your ring finger is intuition, and then your pinky is like finding your voice. Oh wow. Okay. And so when you're doing, when you're repeating your mantra, like learning it, like establishing it the first time, you want to like tap or touch the finger, that it makes sense for that into that mantra to be a part of.
So if you wanted to be able to stand up for yourself more, you would use your pinky. And if you want to, um, remember something more, you would put it with your pointer finger. And so we did a mantra similar to what you talked about before I did about like, I love myself, I honor myself, I know the right thing to eat.
Like, I know what healthy is and I kept doing it to my, um, index finger because I want it to be intuitive. I don't wanna have to think about it anymore and just like have my intuition guide me into making smarter choices. So I just kept doing that. Mm-hmm. And then later, the next day, or no, that night we went, I went to the grocery store and I was walking around like touching that finger again.
Like, okay, let's go intuition. Like, you're in charge, you're picking out the groceries today. I think I did pretty good. I actually like left very healthy. So I think it works. So that's my, that's my advice, my mantra advice.
Oh yeah. I'm gonna definitely use that because it, it does, no, honestly, it does get hard to, to keep trying to remind yourself that, hey, you're doing this for a reason.
You're doing this for a reason. Because at a certain point, especially after like I've, I had a few weeks ago, had a very rough, rough day and I was just like. And it was on my, one of my videos where I was like, and I was half, like half crying and half like frustrated. And I was like, and then there's Burger King and KMC right around the corner screaming my name.
And I, and I had to keep telling myself that mantra, like, you know what you're doing? You know, you have to make better choices. You know, this is on the feeling that you're feeling right now is only for a moment. Let it pass. Let it pass. And if you still have that feeling, we'll we'll deal with it then.
Mm-hmm.
And
after that feeling passed, after I kept telling myself that, you know, I still wanna, I was like, I deserve this Burger King, or I deserve this KFC and really, you deserve better. And that mantra I'm gonna definitely steal from you and use because Please do. I feel like it, it will help me.
Well, and, and there's something also about, again, that third person perspective where if I look at my body as not me, but it's like the vehicle, like a separate entity.
Mm-hmm. Like, like you literally need to have the back of your back. Like I need to make sure that, um, like if I'm making bad choices, like I'm being an asshole to my body, like that's not honoring it, that's not respecting it, that's not, um, me living up to my commitments for like, Hey, you better support me to have my best life, but in the meantime, here's a bunch of Oreos.
Like, yeah. That's nonsense when you say it that way. And yeah, I think there's also a lot in like journaling when you realize you're going down the emotional eating rabbit hole because Yeah, if we eat for vitality, it's different than eating for a hug.
Yeah.
At least at first. I think eventually they, they start to cross over because you realize that's the best hug you can give yourself.
But it's hard, it's hard to look at celery and be like, and now I feel warm and fuzzy inside. Like, it's not that same connection,
but you also have to think that this celery is getting you closer to what you want. Yes. And a hug is for a moment, but that goal that will, like, I feel like that's how I see it.
I, I feel like once I get there, I can get to the next step. Mm-hmm. And if you can never get to, to that point, then you're gonna always be stuck in the same spot, in the revolving door of, I want to eat healthy ooh Oreos, I want to eat healthy Oreos. Like, you're always gonna be stuck in that, in that part.
Mm-hmm. Or in that section instead of moving forward. And, um, I definitely wanna move forward. I think I'm ready for it. And I feel like I've been stuck in that revolving door for so long that all I can see is that moving forward.
So what is next for you? What, what are, what's the next step and how can we support you in achieving that next step?
I just wanna continue making videos because I feel like a lot of people can relate and a lot of people are supporting me. And I, I feel so grateful because I did, I didn't start it off for, to have such a great community behind me. I started off 'cause I wanted to be accountable for my actions because I, I do like discipline and it's something that I, I'm continually working on.
Um, and the next step is to make videos and to travel. I definitely wanna travel. That's one of my goals and that's one of the reasons why I wanna lose weight. 'cause I don't wanna go all the way to Europe and then end up not leaving the hotel 'cause I'm tired or because I'm afraid of going outside or I'm afraid of climbing that mountain.
Mm-hmm. I wanna be able to do those things and the only way I can do that is by being healthy.
I love it. I love it. Um, as we're wrapping up, is there anything else that you wanna share with our listeners that you want them to know or that you think is really critical for them to start their own journey?
It is critical because like I said, you only have one body and that's, that's a huge part of you. Um, because it's gonna be the what's gonna help you get to where you are trying to go. Mm-hmm. And you have to take care of it. Just like if you had a child and you're taking care of your child. You want the best for your child.
So you need to have, have that same kind of mentality for your body. You want the best for your body and the only person who can give them that type of love and that type of, um, support is you. And, and it's very important for us to start loving who we are and loving our bodies in order to get where we need to be.
I love it. Any other questions, Jordan, that you have for Jade?
No, I love Jade. I think she's awesome. I've always loved Jade.
Well, thank you. You are. I love you too. You're a complete ray of sunshine. Yeah. So I'm really glad that you're taking some of that light that you admit and turning it back on yourself so that you can glow even brighter.
Well, thank you. It has been such a pleasure to have you on The Powerful Ladies Podcast. I'm so excited for, um, everyone listening that they've gotten to meet you now and can follow you. Um, we're gonna have all the, um, ways to follow you on Instagram and YouTube and everywhere else. Um, and I've been in our show notes, but thank you so much for your time today and for sharing your journey with us.
Hi. Thank you. It was a pleasure being here.
What I got this episode is two things. One, Jade is a badass, and two, life is better with a jade in it. She is so brave to be sharing what most of us find our most shameful journey, and she's sharing it loudly and proudly and with anyone who's willing to follow along on YouTube and the results. Her vulnerability is making her already lovable self, that much more endearing and inspiring to her audience.
I'm left with more energy and optimism about humanity and life in general. Knowing Jade is out there giving 120% to herself. Her work and all the amazing things that she's up to. If Jade can take this on with every reason why it shouldn't be a priority, think about what you and I can be doing in our lives today.
Where can we be more like Jade and take on what really matters to us and to do it like with fun and ease and like just going for it and sharing about it boldly. I know you're all going to wanna connect with Jade, ASAP. So to do that you can obviously go right now and subscribe to her YouTube channel Jaded Journey.
You can follow her on Instagram at Jaded Journey. Follow her on Facebook, Jade Fit Journey, and you can even email her Jade Fit journey@gmail.com. If you'd like to support the work that we're doing here at Powerful Ladies, there's a couple of ways you can do that. Subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast, Stitcher, Google Play, or anywhere you listen to podcasts.
Leave a review on any of these platforms. Share the show with all the powerful ladies and gentlemen in your life. Join our Patreon account. Check out the website, the powerful ladies.com. To hear more inspiring stories. Get practical tools to be your most powerful. Get 15% off your first order in The Powerful Ladies Shop, or donate to the Powerful Ladies one Day of Giving campaign.
And of course, follow us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies for show notes and to get the links to the books, podcasts, and people we talk about. Go to the powerful ladies.com. I'd like to thank our producer, composer, and audio engineer Jordan Duffy. She's one of the first female audio engineers in the podcasting world, if not the first.
And she also happens to be the best. We're very lucky to have her. She's a powerful lady in her own right, in addition to taking over the podcasting world. She's a singer songwriter working on our next album, and she's one of my sisters. So it's amazing to be creating this with her, and I'm so thankful that she finds time in her crazy busy schedule to make this happen.
It's a testament to her belief in what we're creating through Powerful Ladies, and I'm honored that she shares my vision. Thank you all so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. I can't wait for you to hear it. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life.
Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Subscribe to her YouTube Channel /Jaded Journey
Follow her on Instagram @jaded_journey
Follow her on Facebook /Jade FitJourney
Email her at jadefitjourney@gmail.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
