SPEAKER_00 1:48

Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Hilltop Love Podcast. Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Tiffany J, also known as the Super Dope J, a talented graphic artist, regular artist, author, and entrepreneur. Tiffany J is a soulful artist that overcame depression to embrace her unique journey. From church roots to entrepreneurship, she's a multifaceted talent. And as a solo artist since 2012, her self-esteem movement empowers the youth. Her latest album, Soulbird Sessions Live, hit number eight on iTunes and beyond music, she created Super Beauty and Handsome Hero, which both appeared on BET and Good Morning America and has earned numerous accolades. She's committed to charity work and was recognized as the best artist in 2022 by the Columbia Neighborhood Awards. Columbia declared on November 20th, 2022, Tiffany J. Day, marking her 10 years as a solo artist. I anticipate her ever-evolving creative journey, and we just want to say thank you for being here today with us.

SPEAKER_02 2:55

Thank you so much for the invitation. I'm great. I'm good. I mean, you do so much.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

You know, we gotta make sure you miss it. I'm just a regular person. No lie, I literally like look up to you. People don't notice, I really do, because you do so much.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

Seriously, you are one of the most uh rounded creatives I know. Like you have a lot of different talents if you didn't know. Like if you don't, you know, embody that you have a lot of I mean, I mean, I'm looking up to you, and you have oh great.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

I mean, I appreciate it, but you have you have as many as many you know, creative talent. So I can say that I'm learning like branding from you. Like I've watched how you've grown and branded yourself, okay, and how you help other people brand. So I definitely appreciate that. The creative I appreciate, I appreciate that notation too. Thank you. So tell people a little bit about yourself because some people don't know what all you do, um, where you're from, if you have any siblings.

SPEAKER_02 3:56

Okay, so Tiffany J, no space. I charge people extra when they mess up my name. But uh Tiffany J, uh, my real name is Tiffany. What's what's funny about the no space thing is Jay is actually my middle initial. However, my brand name is Tiffany J, one word. Um, but I'm from Columbia, South Carolina. I'm born and raised. I love living in Columbia. Uh, I graduated from Kenan High School. I am a graduate of Columbia College. I got a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science. I got a master of fine arts and media design. I have a little experience teaching and, you know, about to get back into the classroom. Uh, I have a what I call my full-time business is my graphic design firm, TJ's Elements, which is almost 15 years old. I started that business my senior year from undergrad school. Um, music, however, is my very first love, I would have to say. Um, I always remember music in some form or fashion. I remember my earliest uh rejection moment was because of music. I was five years old and I wanted to join the church choir, but you had to be six, and they told me no. And I remember it to this day. And I wrote about it in my book. But I always love music. Um, and I'm sure we'll get into whatever with the questions. But the reason I really wanted to jump into pursuing music is because I absolutely loved being in church and watching my mom sing every Sunday. It wasn't her singing that necessarily wanted me to, you know, follow in that path, but it was the reaction and the um the flow of people coming to her after service, saying how she touched them. And I always wanted to touch people through the work that I did. So um, other than that, I'm an author. I love the kids, I love mentoring, I love uh just helping people embrace their uniqueness. Um, because after I'd kind of discovered who I was and flew with that, you know, I overcame depression, um, suicide contemplation and attempts. So I'm just all about helping people become uh their individual, unique selves and and just understanding that, you know, they're great and just do them. Yeah, so that's me in a nutshell, I think. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:27

What church? You're from Columbia, what church did you attend growing up?

SPEAKER_02 6:30

Uh First Nazareth Baptist Church. It's uh a fairly large church now. It's on the corner of Gervain Millwood, so in Waverly, um around Benedict and Allen. So that's my home church. I still am a member at First Nazareth, but I'm also a uh music director. I was about to say praise and worship leader, but I just recently got a promotion. So I'm a music director now at New Dimension Church of Northeast.

SPEAKER_00 6:53

So I love it. So let's talk about the super dope chick. Where'd you get that name? Where did that name originate from?

SPEAKER_02 7:02

You know what? I don't know, and I wore my super dope chick shirt today. Yep, um branding. Yeah, I don't know exactly where it came from, but I wrote a song called Super Dope Chick. And it was around the same time I was creating and releasing the Super Beauty brand uh to the masses. And because I wanted people to understand I'm not super beauty, I had to come up with me a little name to kind of go about it. So I wrote the song Super Super Dope Chick, uh, started calling myself that and just it just kind of stuck. So and it's super with an A. So S U P A, everything else is spelled correctly.

SPEAKER_00 7:42

So you basically just like created your own way. Oh yeah. What is that like? Tell us that as a creative, because I know some creatives they're like stuck, they're like, okay, this there's nowhere for me to go, but so for me, I had to start in a place.

SPEAKER_02 7:59

I think sometimes as creatives, we have a lot going on in our brain at one time, and we try to do everything at one time or launch everything at one time. You can't do that. You gotta, I I like to call my businesses and my projects my babies. Um, and if you think of the concept as you're having, you got this infant, you're gonna take care of your infant more than you take care of your teenager per se. You know, you can't leave your infant home alone, whereas you can leave a 13-year-old home alone. So I started building avenues upon avenues after one was already established. So it's easier for me to have several things under my belt because I don't have to take the intimate time with my older projects as I do with my newer things.

SPEAKER_04 8:46

So it looks like you're doing all of this at once, but really you're very strategically staggering.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Right. When you have systems in place, when you um the business can kind of work its own without me paying attention to, you know, it's still flourishing or flowing on while I'm building on something else.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Now, are you a solo one-man show?

SPEAKER_02 9:06

No. So um with some things, it's just me, but I have to acknowledge, and that that's really a misconception about me. Because uh somebody was like, Yeah, Tiffany don't work with nobody. Like with music, I can't do none of my music stuff alone. Right. Like, there's always, if if nothing else, look at my musical journey. It's not just me. Like, I'm a I personally don't like performing with tracks. That's just a me thing. So if I'm always somewhere with a band, I ain't playing the instruments behind me.

SPEAKER_05 9:41

Right.

SPEAKER_02 9:41

You know, I co-produce and I have producers for records. You know, I I can engineer, but I don't mix. Somebody got to mix, somebody got to master. Um, my sister, though, you asked about siblings earlier. My sister is literally my go-to. Like everything that I have, she's always my hands-on person. She's literally your twin. She looked just like you. Really? Yeah, I saw her. You know, people used to Tiffany asked us that when we were young, we're two years apart. My little sister. But um, you know, she'll fuss about because I'm a big procrastinator.

unknown 10:15

Really?

SPEAKER_04 10:16

It's part of the creative thing.

SPEAKER_02 10:17

Huge procrastinator.

SPEAKER_04 10:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

And my sister likes order. She likes all the players. And like if something comes up, Sierra, can you um go? Now I told you to have this stuff in order. Like, just go to the stone. Like, do this for me. You know, we're in the heat of the moment. So um, my sister is literally my go-to, and I have a little cousin Zarya, who has um assisted me with music stuff, uh, working uh vendor tables uh with my super beauty brand. Her and Sierra have been there from the start. My cousin Zarya has always been a part of my beauty or boot camp. Um, I have a mascot performer. That don't be me and Super Beauty. I mean, sometimes it is, but if you see both of us together, how I'm in mascot and I'm next to it. You know what I mean? I got a mascot performer. Like there is a team behind Tiffany J. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:08

Oh man.

SPEAKER_02 11:09

Okay. Yeah, so it ain't it ain't just me. Now I'm a great leader. I will say that I had to learn to accept that I'm a great leader and I'm great with communicating with different styles of people because everybody doesn't understand the same line the same way. Yeah, so I'm I'm great with um leading and making sure everybody understands you know what's going on. Which other sign?

SPEAKER_04 11:35

I knew it was coming. I was about to say you must be about to say either Aries or maybe Taurus, but I knew it was coming.

SPEAKER_02 11:41

I'm Aries. My sister's a Taurus.

SPEAKER_04 11:43

Oh, there you go. And y'all, y'all balance each other. Y'all, y'all like kind of a diode then, eh?

SPEAKER_02 11:48

Yeah, like me, my sister is literally the closest person to me. And um, like I'm not an argumentative person at all. I will argue with my sister all day. True. But you ain't about to argue with my sister. Like it's like that, you know, I'm not gonna argue with nobody else. I probably argue with her the most, but no, we you think you're gonna stand between me and my sister? No, or you think you're gonna go against my sister and not step up. Like people think she's the mean one. She is kind of mean, she's bad. But I got I got that mean streak too. But if it comes down to a fight, I'm gonna fight first. So that's what it is. Just please don't play with it.

SPEAKER_06 12:25

That's right, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Please don't play with. I said I'm from Columbia, Columbia College Drive area to be exact. So y'all know.

SPEAKER_06 12:32

Oh, yeah, I'm gonna play with you, though.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

Just so y'all know. Oh man. So out of all your brands and all the things, different things you do, you said music is your heart and soul. I mean, but what do you like about the graphics and providing that for other people?

SPEAKER_02 12:49

So I feel like I was placed on earth, not for me. Um, it's a lot of desires and wants that I have, and I had to come to an understanding that God placed me here to serve other people. So I feel like with everything that I do, my mission is to create and help people create to become their best selves. So with graphics, um, I I stand tall in it because I self-taught myself. Self-taught myself. I taught myself.

SPEAKER_03 13:20

That's what I was saying.

SPEAKER_02 13:21

Like when I when I started graphics, I was getting a degree in computer science. Oh, right. Like, and the reason I kind of started looking into graphics is because we were learning how to code websites. And I wanted to know how can I make this website visually appealing without using code?

SPEAKER_04 13:37

You know, that's the best devs, is developers that end up having to go into design.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Like, so and then a lot of people think they go together, but they're two totally different things.

SPEAKER_04 13:47

Two different parts of your brain, two different backgrounds, two different, like like even when you go to this, I'm I'm a web guy. This is okay, okay. And when you when you go to a conference, it's two different groups of people. Exactly. Like they might be there, but it's is that and then the project manager's over to the stock. Is that what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 14:02

Right, right, right, right. No, exactly, because I feel like I'm a techie and an arts investor. Like when I was in school, my dream job was to become a math teacher. I absolutely love math.

SPEAKER_03 14:13

Really?

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Absolutely love math.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

When did you find that out?

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Elementary school. Like I took two credits to high school from middle school. Like, my minor was mathematics college. You were math.

SPEAKER_06 14:26

You were math in.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Um I wanted to be a math teacher really bad. I ended up teaching um math at Virginia College for a little bit. But I absolutely love math, but I'm a creative. Like I have both of those brains.

SPEAKER_03 14:37

You hurt me right now.

SPEAKER_00 14:39

That's so weird because I'm a creative and I hate math, but when I'm painting, math is like numbers.

SPEAKER_02 14:44

I'm like, I'm glad you said that because recently I had to go to um Sanders Middle School. The math teacher there is a friend of mine, and she asked me to come talk to her students about how math is used in graphic design. And I said, until you asked me to do this, I didn't realize I use math every day in graphics. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 15:05

So um you're just doing it. Until you try to draw sacred geometries, it is a concept. And then when you're doing it with like a straight edge and a like you don't got that ruler, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:18

You need that math. And then when the stuff ain't in the center, like it's both the end of the planet. So yeah, you need the math.

SPEAKER_03 15:25

Man, that's interesting. Um, man, okay. So obviously, you do a lot. You do very multifaceted.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Everything but dance, just for the record.

SPEAKER_03 15:34

Oh, so you don't dance?

SPEAKER_02 15:35

I I got rhythm, but I don't really do choreography and stuff well.

SPEAKER_03 15:39

Okay. All right, so there's some there's one thing you don't do. You aren't doing choreography. Um so this is the big what what influenced you? To do what? Everything that you do is original. Yeah, like how did you get onto the track of becoming this person that is being honored by the city of Columbia and super dope? Because like it seems like you were Yeah, I didn't even know they did that. Yeah, proclamations.

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, I guess, yeah. Do that.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

We this are your second guest that has uh a day in Columbia.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Oh, really? Yeah. Now I had before I had Tiffany J Day, we actually got Buddies Not Bullies Week. Our second year, we did the Buddies Not Bullies rally at the State House. Okay. So they designated that whole week in me and Superview Designer. So yeah, that would the Tiffany J Day is my second proclamation. Oh but that you know, that one got a little more flavor, Tiffany J Day.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

You know, yours in particular, yeah. Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

But um, I guess with me, because a lot of who I am is me overcoming.

SPEAKER_06 16:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 16:49

So with me falling into depression as a young child, attempting suicide at 12, um, I started learning how to express myself a lot more after that incident. So I was always kind of creative. I played trumpet on band as well. Um, so I was always like a creative musical person, somebody that liked I like style. I don't like to say I like fashion, I like style. Um, I was always different. I saved my report card money for sneakers. Like I was always a sneaker girl. Um but I think I started writing songs when I was 14. And it was my way to express and to heal. So by the time I still write in that way, I'm I'm writing about something to help me heal from something that I think by the time the masses hear it, I'm over it, but I'm helping the masses heal. So I've I've been inspired by just a healing and overcoming journey. But people that I look up to, um I absolutely adore, and I call my mentor Angie Stone. And the reason I look up to her and entitle her as my mentor is because she comes from where I come from.

SPEAKER_05 18:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:02

Um, she's from Columbia, but we both grew up in the same church. So she grew up with my mom. I grew up with her daughter. Um, her daughter went to Kenan too, but we we all have roots at First National Baptist Church. And to see her where she has gone, it gives me an eyesight of where I could go because she comes from the same beginning, same place. Yeah, same beginnings. Um, I love Angie Snow. I love uh music Soul Child. I I love a lot of 70s music, a lot of I like 80s music, but I like a lot of soul and I like substance.

SPEAKER_05 18:40

The college and I love I love storytellers. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:44

Um, so I just grasp inspiration from my surroundings. Like I just want tomorrow to be better than today.

SPEAKER_03 18:52

I think we we have this little thread going on today of service and learning, serving others, and then also learning from the people around you and bringing bringing that past forward. Um and I know you're just talking about some of your musical influences. I just had to ask, so like musically growing up in your home, what type of music was being played?

SPEAKER_02 19:11

I'm glad you asked that question. Um, because like I said, my mom sang in church a lot, yeah, but my mom was a big Motown fan. So she played a lot of Motown. I was literally on Facebook the other day. We were talking about uh in American Dream. That's the Jackson 5 story.

SPEAKER_05 19:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:28

Like I remember when that debuted when I was a child. And um at this time, my parents are divorced. Um, but at this time my parents were still married. We put together me and my sister's twin beds because it was a three-night mini-series. Yeah, remember, yeah. It was either on ABC or CVS, but we pushed our twin beds together and the whole family watched it every night in the room. I remember vividly when that document or mini-series movie came out. Um, but she listened a lot of Motown. My dad, however, is a big funk type person. And my dad had this compilation CD I used to listen to almost every day when I got home from school. And the song Sun is Here by Son. If you don't know it, go look it up. Sun Is Here by Son made me want to be a musician. Oh, you absolutely wanted, made me want to be a musician. So my dad had more of an eclectic taste in music. Yes. My mom had more of a traditional, you know, gospel motown. She's a singer.

SPEAKER_03 20:32

So it makes sense. She's a singer.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

But like some of the stuff that he would listen to was more, I don't want to say more musical, but it just gave me another, it was out of the box of what everybody is listening to. You got the best of both worlds.

SPEAKER_03 20:46

You did. You got, you got, you got to see the you got the good pop balance in music, and then you also got that, I always like to say, you know, I like when people say eclectic and stuff. Weird.

SPEAKER_02 20:59

Yeah, because my experimental used to listen to stuff like Tears for Fear. See what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Like, yeah. And he rise in the car like hitting his finger on the phone. See, I already know it.

SPEAKER_03 21:09

So you're like, Daddy, what you doing, Daddy? But I like that music. He played, play it at one time.

SPEAKER_02 21:13

Yeah, so I I had a good, a good variety mix in the house.

SPEAKER_03 21:17

That's good. And do you think that's something um specifically for creatives? Because I always gotta bring this into it. Our podcasts, of course, are for millennials, trying to learn how to adult, trying to learn how to be better at whatever they do, whatever their craft is, um, uh, whatever their business may be, whatever industry they work in. And I know as a creative, I always like to um when we talk to folks, see if they understand or if they think this is important, to have a varied amount of experiences as a creative. Do you think that is something that helps to build you up to be a stronger creative, to not to have a variety of things in front of you to pull from?

SPEAKER_02 21:54

I do because the saying is art imitates life, right? Oh, and we we we we pull from life. Like the way people connect to art, art has to transcend souls some type of way. In order for people to relate to that, you have to pull from an experience. Like, I don't think art is as authentic as it could be if it's not drawn from some situations. Like when I when I first started writing songs in particular, I could not write a song if I did not experience it or if I did not want to experience it. I struggled with um being skilled enough to come from another place. Now I can just kind of sit down and write a song, but that comes with skill and experience and things like that. But the natural gift came from experience or what you want to be experienced or what you've seen somebody experience. You know what I mean? So I think uh gravitating toward life experience, whether it's your own or not, um, can help create any type of art.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

Man, that's a good point. All right, again, another thread that we're dealing with today. So this is all right, because especially nowadays, um, we always like to talk about the youth and specifically what you do and your influence on the youth, because you are still a youth. Like people don't like always tell me, we ain't old yet. I mean, don't you dare don't you, don't you still?

SPEAKER_02 23:18

I'm gonna rebuttal that. Go ahead. You wanna remember? So at my home church, I was I was hired to teach the young adult choir for our young adult day, right? And sometimes older people in the church, there is a difference between a youth and a young adult.

SPEAKER_04 23:39

I gotcha. Okay. I got you.

SPEAKER_02 23:40

Youth is the 18 and under.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 23:42

Okay. She got up there and said, It's youth day, and what would I? You think you're talking about these grown people up here paying their own bills? I am not a youth. Now I'm still young, but youth, I just feel like that's the miners that don't take care of themselves. Like, don't call me no youth if I don't got the same responsibilities at home as you. Like, give me that respect. And that's just more like church hurt.

SPEAKER_03 24:06

I like how you said that. I like how you said that. Oh man, all right. I'm stealing that from you now. All right. But I'm not sure. No, exactly. You got money and power. Yeah. So, but in the sense of in the music industry, right, they they tend to put the youth as there's a marketing range. Right. That's what I'm referring to, is the marketing range. Um, now most of the youth in that marketing, you're looking from 25 under, right? They always look at people 25 and older, and they say, Well, you're old. You don't know what's going on. You don't know what's hip. You don't know what's happening out here in the streets. You don't know my experience. Y'all know about life. Matter of fact, y'all are doing stuff wrong. You haven't figured it out. Because if you had figured it out yet, y'all would have been so hot that I've been paying attention to you. So you start looking at the age of the songwriters. This is that's where I was coming from. So what I'm asking you is specifically as being somebody who works in the industry and doing all of that work from top to bottom songwriting, instrumentation, etc., do you run into any of those issues of having to um jump over hurdles of communication when it comes to youth who are involved in the industry?

SPEAKER_02 25:08

So um there is a disconnect that I have to agree with. I think even outside of industry, there is just a disconnect with, you know, what's what's crazy to me is that the youth, the 25 and under, look the same age as the 25 and older. So the issue is we all come together. We don't even really know who youth and who ain't. Right. Because like I got some some, I don't even know what to call them peers, but I got a some little friends that's singing and stuff. They're like 10 years older than me, but you wouldn't know us sitting together.

SPEAKER_03 25:46

This is what I was saying.

SPEAKER_02 25:48

So how do you it's like whatever they saying is nonsense because like we all here together, you know what I mean? We wearing the same clothes, we talking the same way. Now we might have a little bit more wisdom, but that's because of life experience. Like when you get here, you'll understand that what you was you saying now ain't really you know all of what it's cutting out to be. But that's with every generation, though. Like when we were younger, I couldn't wait to be grown.

SPEAKER_05 26:15

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 26:16

But now I wish I was I wish I would have been a toy wrestler. I wish I was still going to school. Say it. Like if it's minor and come home, do homework, and that's it.

SPEAKER_03 26:24

You know? Do you think there's a way to and I mean don't mean that go back driving time? Do you not the Mike's like, yeah, sure.

SPEAKER_04 26:32

Yeah. I mean, yeah, yeah, sure, absolutely. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 26:34

Do you think that there's a way so to like I always like to say, I hate cycles because like I want to move forward, right? And and cycles almost imitate that.

SPEAKER_04 26:45

And you just gotta get the, you gotta push that orbit. You gotta push that orbit. It's still a circle, it's just a bigger circle.

SPEAKER_03 26:52

Do you think that there's a way? Um, especially like, because our generation, we have a little bit, we have a little, we have a uh a better understanding of what we're seeing, right? And since we have a better understanding of what we're seeing, do you think there's a way in which we can connect with these? Yes, understand where we come from, and we're gonna push it past that. Meaning, we don't want you to have to think that us as quote unquote elders don't understand you or don't know where you're coming from because like why are we still doing the same thing that was happening in the 60s and the 70s when the two generations were coming together and they're like, Y'all don't understand us, I'm wearing my crazy hair. Like, we shouldn't have to do that anymore. Like it would be it would be reminiscent of us, like it'd be to us for us to look at somebody who's a younger, um, uh a younger artist or a business entrepreneur and be like, nah, I don't like what you're doing, I don't think that rocks. Because we know better than that. We know that the youth have good ideas, we know that they have things that can push forward, right? And specifically you as a because you're a tech maker, right? You you help push things through. And so whatever you say and the things that come out of your mouth, people take it to be serious. That's what I was saying. I had to take myself back for a second when I realized who was sitting down talking with us today. I was like, yeah, yeah, of course. So do you think that there is a way? And if so, do you have any ideas or thoughts about how we could better communicate communicate to our youth um around these subjects?

SPEAKER_02 28:17

Absolutely. So um just to kind of piggyback or revert back to my bio, so I started a girls' boot camp. Um I'm really big on mentorship, and I started this boot camp in 2014. Uh, we celebrated 10 years this year. But it's absolutely a way to connect with them, but our us, we have to prioritize the time to mentor them. And when you become a mentor, you open your mind and your uh your time to hear what they have to say. You can't um say, you know, we know a better way and y'all don't want to listen. You gotta invest the time into just letting them talk and speak and then seeing eye to eye. But we have to prioritize the time to give to them to make you know us move forward. But it's definitely possible. We just have to we have to prioritize and mentor. And a lot, yeah, a lot of us don't want to do that.

SPEAKER_04 29:15

Yeah, and make the space where they can feel comfortable with that, right? Right. You know, that's the other thing is that you just always look at it, oh yeah, y'all, y'all are doing it for real. I'm making this up as I go. Guess what? We all making it up. Yeah, we don't have any.

SPEAKER_02 29:28

Just creating that safe space for them to be like, no, we understand what you're saying, but the time has to be carved out. We can't do this in passing, you can't do it with social media posts. Like, we literally have to carve out time and prioritize mentoring them. Talk about um Super Beauty and Handsome Hero. So, Super Beauty and Handsome Hero, Super Beauty came first. She is uh a character I created, yeah, fictional character who is a self-declared superhero, and she basically uh promotes anti-bullying, self-love, and confidence. And the reason I created her was because I had the boot camp for the girls. And at this time, uh 2017, I had just released my very first book, but it was not a read for those girls. And I was like, I want to um have something I can offer to this group that I'm tapping to. You know what I mean? So I was like, I'm gonna do a children's book series. And with the children's book series, I was like, okay, I need a character. And I knew if I had a children's book, I wanted a mascot. So off top, I knew that I did not have her name initially. Went to sleep, woke up, and I was like, I'm gonna call a super beauty, right? After I named her, um, after me and my mom took turns trying to illustrate her, I actually won. But I uh I illustrated my character. But after, you know, right before her launch, official launch, I was reminded that one of my girls from camp years prior did a school project on me and called me Super Beauty. And I remember she sent me the project and I went in through my email and I found the PDF of her project where she called me Super Beauty and said I had the powers to make people feel good about themselves. And I was like, this is confirmation because I wasn't in the vein of thinking that that she planted a seed in me and wasn't even thinking of it, but I'm glad I realized it before launched because I could give that credit where it was due. So somebody called me that, and I in turn called my character that. So we we launched officially with um our first book, The Mascot, and um we launched the idea of our plush doll. And our plush doll says over 20 phrases that boost self-esteem. So she isn't just a plush doll, she talks. Um currently we are sold out, we are in in production for some more, but handsome hero came later. And handsome hero came because when I was going to schools with Super Beauty, uh, boys was like coming up and getting high fives and hugs, just as much as the girls were. And I was like, I didn't really anticipate that. So because they were attracted to her, I was like, let me do a boy character too. And my dad came up with the name Handsome Hero. He either said, call him homeboy hero or handsome hero. And I went with handsome since we call her beauty.

SPEAKER_03 32:28

Yep, yep, yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:29

We went with handsome hero, and like, in addition to him also promoting self-love, confidence, and uh and anti-bullying, he also promotes uh leadership um and education in boys. So a lot of times I think we as people ignorantly look at children and say, you should be this. Like if you especially boys, if they're tall, they're gonna automatically say you should play ball.

SPEAKER_03 32:57

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

You know what I mean? Why he can't go be a surgeon. Exactly. You know, so handsome hero has more of a um a way to have boys understand that they can love music and bands, they can love sports and science. You know, so that's our kind of lane with him. But we do have handsome hero dolls. We got him in stock. He's he speaks too, but super beauty uh dolls are just sold out. So we just go to schools and events. Uh shouts out to Talina Hall, who has been my mascot performer for Super Beauty since launch. You know, if I'm in her, Super Beauty gonna move a little bit. Y'all gonna be like, go, Super Beauty. But when she in it, it's a whole nother, it's like a professional dance.

SPEAKER_03 33:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:40

You know, like you said, you don't dance. Yeah, I don't dance. I will move. Nah, I do a little shimmy. And I got rhythm, I'll be on meat, but I can't do all the the hip stuff.

SPEAKER_06 33:50

Uh uh.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

I got my I got my yeah, the TikTok. Exactly. And going back to the youth, you try to teach me some TikTok dances at choir rehearsal one time. I was like, no, it's not for me. Um I can't catch up with it. But yeah, that's that's how they they came to life. And um those are like I don't have children currently. Um, I would love children one day, um, but I I like to look at the super beauty incorporated business as my legacy.

SPEAKER_03 34:17

Yeah, no, that's an excellent legacy. I mean, it's something that is necessary. Yeah, seriously.

SPEAKER_02 34:22

So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Talk about your your music transitioning to the music, the soul bird sessions live.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Soul bird sessions live.

SPEAKER_00 34:29

It's a great experience, you guys.

SPEAKER_02 34:31

If you didn't yeah, Tamaya actually worked um with grip on the gym. So uh shouts out to Maya and Grip. Uh it was depth, so that whole day. The whole day, the whole so that particular day, the day we filmed and recorded this album, so it's a live RBL. Yeah, but and and and I did a documentary alongside it. But the day we filmed recorded was the sickest I have ever been in my life. No, literally, you did it anyway? I had to. It was like so I in in January of this year, I um well, I don't know when this is gonna come out. So January 2023, um I launched a crowd planning campaign for this. I had a goal of $20,000. You know what I mean? I need $20,000 to make this happen the way I see it. I raised between uh donors, sponsorships, and grant money, I raised $18,000 and something. Okay. First of all, thank y'all. Thank y'all so much. Um, but because of all of the donations came in, I filmed it at ETV. Um, it's just so many factors. Like, I cannot be the reason this don't go on today. I cannot. It can't be because of me. It cannot be because of me. Like when I tell y'all I was in so much pain, it was so unbearable. I was crying before, like I was there since nine o'clock. All my crew and team, everybody coming in, they don't even know where I'm at. I'm in the dressing room for a good four, five hours crying, vomiting, like I'm gonna tell you. But like I was so, so, so, so, so sick. Um, but it was an amazing experience. And because, like, when you're dealing with ETV or just rescheduling, it's too many factors involved to be like, all right, Tiffany Sick, where can we do this again? Go into this bar. No, and then the day was was uh it was rainy that day. It was rainy and cold. Matter of fact, it was cold, it was May, the end of May, and it was rainy and cold. People still came. Like we started a little bit late, but it it was a phenomenal experience. And like when I look at the documentary and just the video, it's hard for me to even fathom that I got up there and did that whole show. Yeah, like it wasn't two songs, it was 100 songs. A bunch of songs. Well, literally 11 songs because one song for an hour and an hour and 40 minutes. Oh, yeah, because I did a break, I did two different, two different sets. Like we were there, yes, like Jordan's flu game. And then one song, none of my um musicians, singers ever heard in their life, I did it on the spot, and they picked me up during a live recording. No, I was when I was there, I was like, man, this is soulful. I wasn't crying because you're like and my my mission with all of my art is to connect to mental health awareness. So I made sure I did it in May, which is mental health awareness month. Um, a lot of the music I chose to record live, and some of the new music, they all kind of speak to our well-being mentally and emotionally. Um, and then I released it in September, which is Suicide Prevention Month. So I was real intentional about when I was recording and releasing. But the day of the recording, y'all literally, I left the venue after we cleaned up and I went to the hospital. I was in the hospital for four days. Yeah, when I saw that post, I was in the hospital four days. I went to the hospital the same night. She did not look at the city. No, I'm I watched the I was in the hospital the same night for four days. I had an emergency surgery on that Monday, which was Memorial Day. It was supposed to be on Sunday, but nobody was there because of the holiday. Now, I was supposed to have the surgery on Thursday. I found out the week before the recording that I they wanted to give me surgery the week before. Emergency. I went to the emergency room for pain, found out I needed to have my gallbladder removed. Okay. Makes sense. And I was like, I got like this live record next week. Is there anything I can do to postpone? I could not eat anything with fat in it at all that whole time waiting. So I'm starving the whole week. Like the pain kind of, you know, went away for a little bit. But the night of the last rehearsal, which was Thursday, I started having pain again. It just would not go away. So I was like, I'm gonna go to the emergency room, just get some morphine so I can get through rehearsal. Went to the emergency room, they doped me up, went to rehearsal, started feeling bad again. Friday came. Now I did a Friday was May 25th. I did a private screening of the Little Mermaid for my camp girls. Didn't I see the Little Mermaid? I went, but I was asleep the whole time because I could not stomach the pain the day before my live recording. I did not, I still didn't see the movie, but I was there because I had a a movie screening for my girls. I got to show up, you know. So Saturday morning came and I'm like, yo, this is so before the show even started, I was like, I'm going to the hospital after this because I can't take it anymore. You already know. I can't wait till next Thursday for surgery. So when I got admitted that night, um they you know did the emergency surgery, but I couldn't get the surgeon that was supposed to do it because most of their surgeons were out for Memorial Day. So I had to get the surgery early.

SPEAKER_03 40:10

And wow.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Yeah, it's like even for me, like the person it was happening to, it when I look at it, like I get emotional because it's like it was supposed to happen.

SPEAKER_03 40:23

Yeah, obviously.

SPEAKER_02 40:24

You know what I mean? I I have to be in tune enough with God to know when to go and when to not.

SPEAKER_03 40:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

And if I would have been like, we can't do this today, plus on top of that, I had got a grant from South Carolina Arts Commission. And I was in the last, yeah, shouts out to them because I actually got two grants on two different rolling cycles. Um, shouts out to them, but I got the last cycle of the last fiscal year, and the projects had to be done by May 29th.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Yeah, that's happened us before.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

So I was like, even with that, even with renting a venue and having everybody scared, it's like I literally got five musicians, three background singers. Four of those nine people.

SPEAKER_03 41:07

You were dressed up and you had make and you were singing.

SPEAKER_02 41:10

Four of those eight people came from Charlotte. Okay. Dressed my makeup artists came to this, like, we had stuff. I had a production manager, we had stuff like in line, but I was just sick, and I was like, we gonna do this. Oh, yeah. Shouts out to Valencia Goodwin. She painted the show live, and it is a beautiful portrait. Um, shouts out to TJ Mackey, my uh MD and my very good friend. Like, he still, and my my video producer, Marquise Wallace, they were all just like, Yo, we're gonna have a show today. Like, because they knew I was backstage. Like, it was like they trying to see like. I didn't know any of that, and I was on set. And I came out for sound check at like 1:30, and they was like, she out here for sound check. I'm gonna tell, I'm gonna tell y'all how I got it for sound check. Shouts out to Andrea Butler. Okay, Andrea gave me some CBD. Go ahead, CBD. I was having a panic attack, crying back there, and she was like, just put this up under your tongue. Gave me a CBD gummy, I knocked out for 15 minutes straight, woke up and walked out the sound check. No lie. No lie. Ask my cousin Zarya. Ask my cousin Zarya. You work well under pressure. Ask my cousin Zarya.

SPEAKER_03 42:29

I think I know it's no.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

I didn't start hurting bad again until my second to last song, and I had to act by that time. I told my crowd what was going on during intermission. They didn't know, had no clue, sit there the whole time. And I told them, and then a second to the last song, I was like, Y'all need five minutes. I just need to sit down for a second. So that's for me, that shows I was in pain because I only got one more song to go and I need a break.

SPEAKER_04 42:57

Right.

SPEAKER_02 42:58

You know what I mean? I was like, I gotta, I need five minutes to sit down. But no, it was a it was amazing. What I want to say and wrap wrap this little piece up. The album came out September 13th. We premiered the Docu concert as an album release at Spotlight Cinemas as a movie premiere. Um, and when it the debut date, it reached number eight on uh iTunes RB charts the same day as the Diddy Love album. I wish all the stuff came out before that because he wouldn't have took my spot. I'm out of number one.

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Well, he's about to be removed. You good.

SPEAKER_02 43:28

Anyway, he he was number one today because the albums came out the same day. But Soul Bird Sessions Live for me um is more than just music for me. So I anticipate making this a platform. Um, being able to, I want to host it, but being able to feature artists on this type. Mine is kind of like a pilot. Feature artists, songwriters that make music for healing and showcasing their original, you know, music on this type of platform. So I don't know if it could be TV show style, but I really want it modeled after mine. So that's my far go for Ober Sessions Live.

SPEAKER_03 44:05

Man, that sounds really dope. You are phenomenal.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:08

The way you think I'm phenomenally powerful.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

And I think that might have been the first time I said this out loud.

SPEAKER_03 44:12

So good gosh. I'm gonna look at you right now. You're like an alien to me. I don't know what this is. Um I I will say this. Um, we're about to wrap up, but but before we do, I need you to give yourself some shameless plugs. Um we need to know, of course, you were just explaining some of the projects you're working on, but um explain those projects where people can find you, specifically all your business ventures, etc., so that way our audience can make sure that they link up with you.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

Awesome songs. First of all, thank y'all so much for the opportunity. I love chatting with people. Um, and I just think this is just a dope concept and idea. I love the evolution process of it. Um but I am Tiffany J. My website is im TiffanyJ.com. I'm all over social media, everywhere at I am Tiffany J except Instagram. Instagram, I am at superdope chick. And the reason why is because I had an underscore in my Instagram name for years. The girl that has my, I don't know why they're gonna take it from her, but she posts in like six years, only has four posts on this page. Whoa. And I got tired of contradicting myself by telling people don't put no space in my name. I got this underscore in my Instagram handle. So I was like, I'm just changing the super dope chick.

SPEAKER_05 45:26

Smart man.

SPEAKER_02 45:27

Um, so that's the only one that's different. But Tiffany J everywhere, I am Tiffany J everywhere else. Um, for graphics, my business is TJ's Elements. I do media, I do creative directing for videos and all that kind of stuff. Uh Super Beauty Incorporated. We would love to come to your events. We got books, we got puzzles, we got dolls, all kinds of stuff for the kids. I am superbeauty.com. You will find Handsome Hero there as well. But he got a website, I am handsomehero.com. We really build on the I am in my branding because I'm really big on affirmations and affirming. So the I am statements, I use those a lot. Um, other than that, music, Soul Birth Sessions Live, along with my other two albums, Evolving and Epiphany325, my singles, all that stuff, uh, music videos. I got like 13. No, I think I got 14 music videos. I stopped counting. Somewhere around there. Um, all of that's on YouTube, all your digital streaming stores.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

I know it's on title because I'm on the street. Uh it's definitely on title. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 46:28

Um, and title actually has two different artist names for me. They're both Tiffany J, but they don't have them linked. And I think it's because I used to be with Toon Core. And then this last album, I went with uh uh Distro Kid. Okay, that's and I'm thinking they just had different user IDs or something. But anyway, you can find me Tiffany J No Space. Um, go get the music, go watch the documentary. I would love reviews. Um, it's coming to too be soon. Uh uh, we got an IMDB page. So if you like it, go leave a review on that or something. So yeah. Um I think that's about it. Um I'm Google Googleable. Um, so just Google me. You know, you can find out what you need to know. If I'm somewhere where y'all can come, I'll I'll post about it.

SPEAKER_06 47:18

Man. Anything can help support you. Oh, seriously, please.

SPEAKER_02 47:21

Absolutely. And send us your music so we can put it on our playlist. Oh, yeah, yeah. And y'all did that before, and I really, really appreciate it. Um, yeah, that's how back in February when I released my last single, Sweet Love Song, um, which was something I was doing in preparation for the album. I wanted to just kind of put out something new. But y'all did use that song when I'm on y'all playlist, so I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_04 47:39

Yeah, if y'all are not already following our Spotify playlist, that's Spotify playing. Check it out.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

Thanks, thanks, Kid. That Spotify playlist is wild. Y'all gotta get it.

SPEAKER_04 47:48

We try to keep it um off the beaten path a little bit. Yes. You know, it's not what you're getting from everybody else's playlist, but it's it's dope and it's it's indie.

SPEAKER_03 47:56

Yes, it is. It's indie and a good mean no negative with behind that, it's a good indie. Um, but just to wrap up for today, I do want to um shout out Celeb Studio. Um we're we're actually filming today at Celeb Studios. Shout out to Chef Jay and her husband as well. Um, we're we're located at 224 O'Neill Court, uh suite 19 in Columbia, South Carolina, 29223. If you have some events, et cetera, that you want to do, please come by um and make sure that you uh knock on that door, say hello, and introduce yourself to Chef Jay. Um whatever.

SPEAKER_02 48:27

It really is. The setup this set is nice. And can I shout her out too? I love you, Chef J. She was actually one of my uh funders for my crowdfunding campaign. I believe she came to my release and she always has supported me. So I love you very much. Thank you so much for supporting me.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

Excellent. Well, with that being said, this is DJ and what? Maya Mike and our esteemed guest.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Um Tiffany J no Space.

SPEAKER_03 48:52

Excellent. Thank you for joining us today on the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Everybody out there, be safe. Tell somebody next to them that you love them and you appreciate them. Until next time, peace.