SPEAKER_02 1:45

The Hill Top Glove Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:48

Welcome back to the Hilltop Glove Podcast. Today we're speaking with Terrence Tuck Tucker, who is dedicated to uplifting youth from underserved communities. Growing up in a challenging environment, Terrence excelled in sports and earned a degree in physical education. He later worked in Washington, D.C. before returning to South Carolina to launch the Tuck TUC project in 2017, which aims to build partnerships to enhance youth support services. His initiative focuses on community engagement through meetings, volunteering, and donations. In addition to his advocacy, Terrence co-owns the Groove, Smoothie, and Juice Bar and enjoys sports. His vision for the Tuck Project fosters collaboration among law enforcement, educators, and local businesses to empower youth. Today we're going to learn about his journey and mission for positive community change. How are you doing today, brother man? I am excellante. Excellent. Yay!

SPEAKER_05 2:45

That's even better. Excellente. That's even better. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 2:47

Is that Spanish?

SPEAKER_05 2:49

Listen, don't judge me. Don't judge me.

SPEAKER_06 2:52

Don't judge me. You know what I'm saying? That's a little bit of a spignol. There we go.

SPEAKER_05 2:58

There we go. Spiciness.

SPEAKER_04 3:00

A little spiciness. Spiciness. But um, as we always like to begin with our with our uh interviews when we talk to folks in the community, um, obviously I always like to tell people this. Our podcast is meant for millennials for us to learn how to adult properly, learn ways to success, learn how processes work, because everybody does not have a guidebook or a handbook on how to make these things go. So we like to talk to people that have made things go. So one of the things we like to ask, what's your background? Where are you from? Do you have siblings? What's your your your raising situation? Or upbringing as people like, because you know, raising, they say we ain't no barn animals. So yeah. Your upbringing. And um, what inspired you growing up? Wow, how much time do we have?

SPEAKER_06 3:47

Man, we have enough 45 minutes to be exact. To kind of condense it all. You said farm animals. Um to kind of condense it all.

SPEAKER_00 3:57

Y'all can't see my face, can you?

SPEAKER_06 4:00

Yeah, they can.

SPEAKER_00 4:01

I am dying over here.

SPEAKER_06 4:03

Nah, but uh to try to condense it all, um, to uh make it kind of um uh brief. Um I am from the biggest city in the world called Columbia, South Carolina. Woo ooh, okay. Okay. You know what I mean? Uh was raised right over there by uh Benedict College. Awesome. Um, right off uh Bonneville Road, went to uh C. Johnson, man. Shout out to Benedict College. Shouts. Um uh went to the We get a lot of support. Yes, but stand up, stand up, man. Um went to uh C. Johnson High School. Okay. Proud alum. Um from there, play football, basketball there, all that stuff. You know what I'm saying? Look it up, look it up. You know what I mean? Google me, Google. Um uh by way of God, man, by by way of mentors, by way of blessings, man, I found myself to be a part of um um um this this uh life life-changing moment that got me enrolled in the best historical black college in America. Y'all know South Carolina State University. That's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_04 5:09

Made that sound real good. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, man. I can tell you. We need it. We can't. No, no, I'm just being honest something. That's what I was about to say. We need it. We need it.

SPEAKER_06 5:17

Just being honest. Um yeah, man, I've been there um and then I uh was uh lucky enough to uh get my bachelor's degree from there, get um to uh uh get my master's degree from there. Oh wow. And then I um got um one, well, by me doing that, um, you know, I became the uh first person in my family to uh graduate from a um from a college.

SPEAKER_04 5:40

How was uh and I just have to ask you here because we don't always get talked about this a lot. How was your your journey in getting a master's degree? It was extremely uh life-changing. That's I want people to know. I want people to know that because it's important um because there are folks out here, they want to go and get those um those secondary degrees, et cetera. But the process of doing it, um, it doesn't matter where you're at, if it's a PWI, H B C U. Yeah. If you could just break down some of what that looked like with you, what you were studying, and what that that reading, that reading and writing look like.

SPEAKER_06 6:14

Yeah, so I got my master's in uh rehabilitation counseling. Okay. Um and I um sorry.

SPEAKER_00 6:23

What is rehabilitation counseling?

SPEAKER_06 6:25

Um working with persons with um, well, you know, um working with persons with uh mental health or developmental disabilities or um let's say um substance abuse, you know. Um it's really uh psych uh, you know, uh driven. Um and um, you know, I um gained a passion for it because my my my mother was in that field for for 35 years. Wow. And I saw that growing up, and I just really was intrigued. She's one of my heroes. Um and I had no idea um when I was graduating from college because I was just so happy just to be walking across the stage. I made it. You know, I uh um God sent an angel to me, man, by the name of Dr. David Staten. And he introduced me to um the opportunity of getting a master's degree because I had no idea what a master's degree was. That's why I asked this question. Yeah, because a lot of us don't know. You told me to go back to school, bro. Yes. It's not happening. Uh-huh. Um, but he's a great salesman.

SPEAKER_02 7:31

He's old cream.

SPEAKER_03 7:33

He sold it.

SPEAKER_06 7:34

Man, and not only that, he became a mentor. And because that was something that I had never been a part of, never seen before. You know what I'm saying? Um, so I, and but I had to to, he was tough on me and fair. Uh-huh. And I had to look like the future that I wanted. Um, so I had to stop, you know, because you know how it is, first you first day of class or first week of class, you come to school with Jordans on, white t-shirts, chains, and all kinds of stuff. You looking like your pad. Yeah. Right. And he, um, him and his wife, man, um Dr. Ha Dr. Bridget Hollis Staten, um, they they uh took a liking to me for uh some strange reason. And then they saw something in me that I didn't see in myself. And they were like, son, if you know, you you you want a future, you had to look like the you know, the uh future that you want. So I had to change how I dress, you know. I started wearing slacks and button down the class and stuff like that, you know, coming to work on coming to class on time, you know what I'm saying, and really paying attention, not trying to cheat, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah. Do it myself. Um, but it was something that was helped me grow as a man. And I really uh learned um um, you know, uh what accountability was um um from an adult aspect. And it was something that um that I would always hold near and dear to my heart because that experience really changed my life. Me getting a master's degree was something that I had never envisioned for myself. Never, never imagined that that would be part of my um uh my future until somebody saw it and um Um somebody spoken in me. And you know, me telling my dad that I'm getting a master's degree, we both like, yeah, right. Stick with the bachelor's. Yeah, that's good. But when it went um when he came down, man, for that graduation, uh God, God bless his so when he came down, my dad that is, when he came down for the uh master's graduation, man, he was probably more happier than I was. So bragging at everybody, hey, my son got a master's degree, you know. So that was a huge moment for me in my life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

So so uh everything you said was just very powerful, and I have like 50 questions, but I'm gonna only ask 15.

SPEAKER_04 10:03

Cut it down, cut it down.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

But um, you uh you were speaking about um a lot of the things that your mentor kind of instilled in you and actually having a mentor. Um so it leads in kind of to the next question as far as um there are so many ways to inspire others. Can you tell us the uh about the many ways you inspire others and how impactful it is to you? So that's part of one question. Part one. So the question that I that I had coming into the interview was I saw that there were uh a guidance, uh there was a guidance counselor or something that told you that you couldn't do you weren't made for college, right? Right. And a lot of times we don't understand how valuable having a person believing in you and selling you the dream can inspire you to lead a different path. So again, going back to the initial questions, uh, do you feel that that is why you are so adamant on inspiring these youth?

SPEAKER_06 11:00

10,000%.

SPEAKER_00 11:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_06 11:02

10,000%.

SPEAKER_00 11:03

And you know.

SPEAKER_06 11:04

Um me sitting, uh me sitting across from this um um young lady at the time um who was my God's counselor um with my mother, my my my goal um was to go to college. Um because I used to see Benedict College all the time. And they used to, you know, um but they used to also help persons from um low-income backgrounds to go to camp for free. Okay. So we were always going to fight, man, basketball camps, man, you know, uh summer camps, you know, uh, you know, uh swimmer lessons, stuff like that. We were always seeing positive people. You know what I'm saying? When I when uh when I went on that campus. And my was like, when you leave there, you like, yo, that's what I want to be. Exactly. And I told my mother that one day, um, um when I was, I think I was going to the uh to the uh ninth grade and I had a conversation with this goddess counselor, and I said, hey, my goal is to um, you know, to um when they go to college. And she looked at me uh with a disappointing look and was like, um, I'm sorry, son, you're not college material.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

But what made her say that? Yeah, what?

SPEAKER_06 12:15

Yeah, like you know, you know, some you know, just my uh my environments, man. You know, we we grew up in um, you know, uh substandard conditions. Uh-huh. And not a lot of people from my neighborhood went to college. Not a lot of their people went to college. We didn't have a ton of people graduating, you know, or doing, you know, um phenomenal things currently. Now, now Cee Johnson, the old Cee Johnson had a lot of pioneers come through that. That's what I was about to say. Yeah, but but that region, well, well, not that region, but that time period. That era. Right. Um, it was just a people just really didn't have, I guess, the uh know-how or um the ability, and we're not shown um how to navigate those troubled waters. Yep. And so we believed what we saw, which was nothing. And there were no brochures, no, no college brochures, whenever you walked into the, you know what I mean? If you went to Benedict College, you were smart. Like you were, you, you were the creme de la creme. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 13:21

Come on up here, acting up, y'all know.

SPEAKER_06 13:22

We didn't have people going to UACE climps and all that. Yeah, come on, stop. You're lying. You're lying. You know what I'm saying? But if you went to like Mills, Tech or something like that, bro, bra bra bro to you, right? And so I thought, okay, well, Benedict is right down the street. You know what I mean? I, you know, that's something that I can do. You know what I mean? Possible. Right. You know what I mean? And she, but she had no idea how that five-minute conversation killed the next five years of my life. Because I lost all, you know, my confidence, my academic confidence. You know what I mean? And I was like, yo, I will. But what was crazy is what was she right? You like, like, what if she's right? You know what I mean? Because, you know, you know, when you're not the best student, yeah, right? Yeah, you start to kind of, you know, you sow those seeds of offense.

SPEAKER_04 14:12

You doubt yourself self-doubt. You doubt yourself.

SPEAKER_06 14:14

So then you become a class clown because you're really hurt, though.

SPEAKER_04 14:17

True.

SPEAKER_05 14:17

That people don't realize that you're a class clown. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 14:21

But you hurt Kevin Hart.

SPEAKER_06 14:22

Right. I mean you couldn't. Wait a second, pain, turn pain, yeah. You could. But I but I transferred that energy, you know, into my sports. So I became real good at basketball and football, you know, and uh track. But I had no idea that you needed grades to go to college. Oh, yeah. You know, nobody told me to take uh the the the SAT. Nobody told me to take the You know what I mean? Like, nobody told me to take this stuff serious until my senior year when it was college just knocking, like, hey, bro, you know, we want to see if you qualify to get in our school. I said qualify to get in. What do you mean qualify to get in your school? Yeah. They say, well, you gotta meet this standard and this requirement and this standard. Yeah. And I was striking out on all of them. Oh, nah, I don't mean it. I don't mean because I just didn't take it serious. You see, I didn't take my academic series. There was no prior foundation. Nah. And see, my parents didn't go to college. Yeah. You see. So they were fine being blue-collar workers. My neighbors didn't go to college. We looked up to the local trash men because they played ball with us whenever they came by the neighborhood. Oh. You see what I'm saying? Makes sense. So my man, you know, he's, you know, you know, you know, whenever you see that big truck, they come out, you know, give you a little money every now and then. You know what I'm saying? Garbage man, and they playing back, they make good sanitation workers making some good money. They make good money. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But they were always positive when it came around. That's dope. So you're looking like, well, you know, that ain't a bad job. You know what I mean? And then a lot of my friends were getting those jobs. You see what I'm saying? So I'm looking like, well, that may be my next step. So we maybe she right. You know what I'm saying? Maybe I'm not cosmaterial because of my environment. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? Yeah. And so I, uh, when I when I graduated, not to actually get off your uh uh your uh topic.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Because I think I got more questions on this one topic. Right.

SPEAKER_06 16:19

But but when I graduated, uh-huh, uh, you know, I went down to um uh to uh Denmark Tech uh and I, you know, I played ball there one year. I got put out because I wasn't going to class. And so I came home and and uh became a janitor for uh school in uh District 5. And I was a janitor for almost uh three, four years. And there was a principal named Dr. Wick there. And uh one day when I was mopping the um mopping the uh gym floor getting ready for one of their big rivalry games, the guy came up to me and said, Hey man, what are you doing here? I told him, well, um, you know, uh well uh well it's my shift. You know, he said, That's what I'm saying. What do you mean what I'm doing here? You know what I mean? He said, No, son, what are you doing here? Like, why are you 22 years old and you're my lead janitor? Like, why aren't you in college somewhere? Because the, you know, there have been teachers wondering why is a guy like him, you know, cleaning toilets and stuff like that. Like, he's you know, and I'm you never know who's watching you. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, the guy I am. You never know who values you when you don't even value yourself. And I'm looking at this man like, what are you trying to do here? You know, and he's trying to pour into me what I don't even think is available. Good point. You know what I mean? And he said, No, son, you are cosmic because here's why, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. He was the first man to ever tell me that I was cosmateral. My dad loved me, but my dad was cool with me working, not going to jail. You see what I'm saying? And I was scared to be better than my dad because my dad was the best man that I ever met in my life.

SPEAKER_04 17:55

So that was the goal that you were.

SPEAKER_06 17:57

Yeah, so as long as he's good with what I got going on, I don't care about nothing else. You know what I'm saying? But I didn't want to be better than him because I didn't think think that that that was possible because my dad was a preacher. Oh a phenomenal man, community man. Right. And I was like, listen. Right. So I'm good with just being average. Yeah. Right. And so, but he spoke something in me that awoken me. And uh was like, hey bro, um, but it challenged me also. And I, you know.

SPEAKER_04 18:28

And I think that's that's one of the things that I think is big for youth and mentorship and just elders speaking to the youth. It's not just telling them stuff to do, but giving them a challenge. Give them a challenge. Because they love challenges. Yeah. It may not seem like it. Oh, they love challenges. Yeah. Give them a challenge and then a reason for completing the task. And don't go get that work done.

SPEAKER_06 18:50

No, no, no. Listen, that was the best challenge that I ever had. You know what I mean? Because he also helped me to uh my my mother's sister uh was uh working at um Sacramento State University during the time and they teamed up to help me get in Sacramento State. Now, don't don't ask me how, because it might have been against the law.

SPEAKER_05 19:10

Hey man, hey, people love people cut. They're coming for people. Cut rewinding record this, okay? All right, just mind. We got another controversy. Mind your business. Mind your business.

SPEAKER_06 19:24

Just mind your business. But they got me in that uh um that um phenomenal school which changed my life. So that's why I started my mentoring program to help young men who were told the exact same thing that I was told, that they're not cosmetic material. I'm not saying that you uh, you know, that you have to go to college, but that mindset of you can't be something because of, you know what I'm saying, uh because of what somebody else thinks. Not true. We try to kill that mindset. Exactly. But that comes by, you know, trying to expose. Exposure is key.

SPEAKER_02 19:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 19:57

You know what I mean? I'm telling you, you gotta have another key vision. So that's what we do, man. So that's so that is the Tuck project that was born that day when I was sitting in my Goddess Council's office. Was that when I come back, when I have an opportunity to actually come back and give back, yeah, that's what I'm gonna do. Help young men cross that bridge.

SPEAKER_04 20:17

Yo, I gotta ask this controversy again.

SPEAKER_03 20:19

You seen that Goddess Council recently? That's what I was gonna ask.

SPEAKER_02 20:22

So you tell you, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 20:24

Let me tell you. So when I put them up, my mother, man. God bless us soul, Gussie Tucker. I love you and I miss you. Okay. My parents died in 2020. My mom died of COVID, and my dad died two weeks later.

SPEAKER_04 20:37

Rest in power.

SPEAKER_06 20:39

And so I um when I graduated from college, my mother was super petty. Extremely one of the pettiest people you ever meet in your life, okay? But she was but she was a proud petty, right? Okay, okay. And she got my uh she um uh she got my diploma and mailed it to the lady. Petty proud.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

You wasn't gonna do what? And mailed it. This is your copy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 21:07

Here's your copy. You feel me? We used to ask her, yo, my why you did that? Yo, like, like, like, yo, you got to stop. You know what I'm saying? But she was so because she saw the pain. Yeah. And she saw the long nights of just working hard, man, back breaking work, you know what I'm saying? Man, I worked for for uh Belt this Belt this Belk Distribution Center, loading trucks for man, shh, man, 15 hour days, you know what I'm saying? National Italian battery, you know what I'm saying, changing oil, changing tires, you know what I'm saying, for a long time, you know what I'm saying, working, uh working uh FedEx man, loading airplanes.

SPEAKER_04 21:46

I like people hearing this because you know that that that journey is not a it's not an easy one.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

Because I mean even the five years that that built you up to this point. So no one can, I don't believe, could break your confidence.

SPEAKER_06 21:59

No, no, no, because I've seen it.

SPEAKER_00 22:02

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06 22:02

You know what I mean? And I know how it tastes. And I never, and I but I know how it feels to not believe it. And I know how it feels when when people put those blinders on you. And they're telling you, no, here's what you're gonna do. And here's your worth, here's your value. Okay, so whatever you believe, kill it. Okay, because here's your worth. And there are so many young men who believe that, who never got the opportunity to uh live out their dreams, and you know, so many young women as well. Don't get me wrong. But there are so many people who are being blinded by these guys' counselors. Not all goddess counselors. There are good ones. Like police officers. Right. Good and bad. There are some good ones. But there are some be quiet. There are some who are really pouring some toxic information into these kids, man.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

And when you say that, that just makes me think that like there should be like some type of stipulation, some type of where you have to go through a mental evaluation before you come in here because the point, or at least the point was for school, right, is to help inspire future leaders, future uh developers, your society. Your society the people who so why are you going into the place where these minds are being cultivated and start breaking them before they are able to build? Now I will say this because I'm always like that person on the double side. It's like, you know, for me and in listening to your story and the journey that you went through, it's like because you went through this, now you have a sense of relatability, right? You're able to empathi empathi. What's the word I'm looking for? Sympathize with others. So sometimes, you know, where they say don't meet people where they are, you can actually meet them where they are and pull them out. So it's like that five years that you went through, you know, was not the end of the story. Right. It was just the beginning. I need you to go through this so when you encounter the next soul that's encountered this, this is what you're meant to do for them because you were there too. And I think a lot of times that I've seen, and this is why I'm so happy that I'm looking at our community and I'm seeing our community come together in this way, because before you would have someone like yourself go through this and then do what? Continue moving forward. Not coming back, not educating, not empathi. Say the word again.

SPEAKER_04 24:28

Not empathize. Empathize. Empathizing. We got you. We got it. We got you.

SPEAKER_00 24:35

So it's like, you know, I I don't know. Because I believe that you've healed.

SPEAKER_04 24:39

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

I feel the healing.

SPEAKER_04 24:41

Yeah, you don't seem like you're bitter.

SPEAKER_00 24:42

And um. I love shout-out to your moms.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Shout out to any person.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

Listen, I would have taken, I would have showed up with a with a banner. You know what I'm saying? With a big old banner. You said my son was sitting there.

SPEAKER_06 24:57

Nah, let me tell you, that was a moment from for uh me and my family. Um there were several gentlemen um um that I graduated with who were also uh first generational um college graduates. And man, we just had a moment prior to that graduation, man. We had a moment, man, to ourselves where we just look back like, yo, yo, bro, we did this. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like we got a journey. We did this, man. And and like it was not easy because my first semester, well, my first year at state, my stipulations, well, well, uh, part of my stipulations, well, I had to work in the cafeteria for free the whole year.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

But did you get food?

SPEAKER_06 25:39

You got food. Hey, I got food. That matter that matters. That matters. That matters. Marilyn Scott, I love you. Okay, Marilyn Scott, man, she was the uh she was the cafeteria director. Marilyn Scott, you know, you know, I love you. And she said, as long as you uh uh come to work on time, you go to tutoring, and uh you go to class, you can eat whenever you want to eat. Oh, wow. And I said they have fried chicken Wednesdays or Thursdays every single day. Oh, this is the state we're talking about. Every single day. And see, the beauty in this, the the the the magnificent part about all of that, yeah, was that during that first um during my first semester, um, they made me stay with my grandmother. Um Vernel Tucker, God rusher. So Vernel Tucker. And it was torture because my grandmother said you gotta be in the house by 8 o'clock. I was about to ask, she had a curfew in college. Now I'm like 24 years old. With a curfew, a freshman, and she's saying, you gotta be in the house by eight o'clock. So my question to my students is always, what are you willing to sacrifice to get what you want? Because I had to sacrifice parties. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Parties, hanging out late, all this stuff. But the silver lining in that was that every night she got a hot meal from me. I'll take that. I'll take that. She had a hot meal. Like she had, man, she had a refrigerator full of food. Wow. And she would be sitting up, man, waiting on the place to go. What'd they have today? But that was a blessing. You see what I'm saying? Um, so but that helped me get through, well, my my my first semester. Yeah. You see what I'm saying? Because just me, me not having those uh distractions. I like that you I was waiting to hear, yep. You know what I'm saying? And me having to be home, me eating when I can, you know what I'm saying? Me eating what I want to eat. It matters. You ain't had to pay for it either.

SPEAKER_01 27:55

You know the cost of eggs.

SPEAKER_06 27:56

Yes.

unknown 27:57

Oh Lord.

SPEAKER_05 27:59

No, it's going up.

SPEAKER_01 28:01

Like $12. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_06 28:03

For 12 eggs. Shout out to Maryland. Shout out to Maryland.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

So I feel like, you know, with everything that you just said, you kind of went into the next question as far as intention. Attention versus intention.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

Yeah. Yep, attention versus intention. So, and this is what I'm saying with the words so are you. The word, the word game messed up. But but no, no, you did jump right into it. You jump right into it. But intention, it refers to specific plan or goal in the future. Intention refers to present moment awareness. Right. And so the question is: can you explain the importance of both aspects as a man and how has your intention to achieve goals changed over the years? So from being in college and attaining those goals and being able to put your attention where it needs to be to get to the intention. Yeah. How has that changed from that time to now?

SPEAKER_06 28:55

You know, we changed year to year, man. That's what we're talking about. I mean, we're all we're always changing. Yeah. And we're we're we're always moving the goalposts. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 29:05

Yeah. The goalpost don't ever stay in there.

SPEAKER_06 29:07

Yeah, I mean, it never stays, right? I mean it never stays there. And you learn as you grow. Like people think that, you know, once you become a certain age, you stop growing and you stop, you know what I mean? Like, Lord knows every year. Something something has to change every single year. And I have um, you know, the uh uh birth of my son um changed me um because now I have to live for somebody else. You know what I mean? And now I make sure that I make time for what's important in my life. And I make time for myself as well because mental health is. How do you do that?

SPEAKER_04 29:39

That's always a how do you how do you make time for yourself and do what it is you need to do to assist and help others? Because I know we're about to ask you about my brother's keeper. Yeah. And then also have a family and your child.

SPEAKER_06 29:53

I think it's about, you know, just like you said, man, um being intentional, you know, carving out space for yourself. You listen, you have to be greedy sometimes, you know what I mean? You gotta be greedy. Yeah. You have to be greedy. Go ahead, raise it. Yeah, raise it. I mean, raise it, raise it.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

When people ask that question, I'll always be like, you went to college, right? So when you went to college, you had to take what, math, English, all of these at in one semester. Yeah. So why do they think like when the and not, you know, not anything to you, but like, why do people feel like you know, you can't do multiple things when you have to do multiple things, like you everyone wears multiple hats. Oh, yeah. Like, and being able to, like you said, intentionally know to handle this and this and this and this. But I always say, go back to college. Like if you were fortunate to go to college or even school, you had probably three tests each week that you had to study for homework. You're in science, English, and math. Math might have something to do with science. But really, you ain't had you ain't had to do CO in math.

SPEAKER_05 31:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:03

You know, or you know, and you might have had to read, but then you had to read a and do and write a paper all in the same week.

SPEAKER_02 31:09

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

So, like, if you if you're able to do that, and I think college is a great way to teach people how to manage that. I just think that a lot of people don't connect that to life.

SPEAKER_04 31:19

Right. Yeah. They separate it. It's like, and I know for a lot of people, once you leave that college environment, it's like those lessons that you learn at that time, they no longer are bought into the real world. Right. Well, I think that microcosm at college is preparing you for the macrocosm of the real world. Oh, no, that's right. I think that's the truth. And the I think the only difference that I see between the two is when you bring a child into the equation. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because a child, and we do have some parents on our game changer. Yes, it's the plays now.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

Yeah, right, right. This ain't breakfast season Wednesday night. No. This is fine time.

SPEAKER_04 31:55

No. Okay, I'm gonna fix it. I ain't got no kids, so I'm gonna stay out of the house. So, so so I know Mike and my brother Skip, they have kids. They have children. Yeah, and I watch these people. Yeah. And I work with mothers. Yeah. I'm gonna tell you what this one lady told me, and then I want you to elaborate on this. This one lady I work with, she told me this. Bless her, she is a mother. Yeah. She had a child. The child decided they want to change an activity you're doing to do another activity. The new activity they want to do costs over $4.50 for them to start the activity, not regarding monthly fees. This child is already in another activity. The mother says, You know what I'll do to help cut the costs is we have to sell the stuff from your other activity so we can move it over here to this cost. The child said, Yeah, that'll be excellent. And when you do that, you'll save money. The child not knowing that there are other costs associated to rat rather than what or unbeknownst to them, what they know about, not realizing mom's not even telling you that. She's just making sure it gets done. Come on. Meanwhile, she's making the stuff from scratch that you need for your other activities. So she's a crafts person, she cooks and bakes. Wow. She goes to work full day, she nurses, and she's doing all this stuff, and she all she asks for is the sleep. Wow. And so when I think about that, I'm like, Lord Jesus, how's she doing this? How's this person doing this? So when I see parents and y'all successful, it really is impactful to me because I understand, all right, y'all are some, y'all doing magic out here. Yeah. Y'all going between, y'all are, y'all are, you literally, Harry Potter, y'all stepping between that little weird track on the substation and following through.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

It's melatonin. It's melatonin, that's what it is. Wait, wait, be quiet. Y'all drugging them, babies? Yeah. Listen, exactly slipping some.

SPEAKER_01 33:38

I feel so bad, but you know, as a babysitter, I was like, my nephew, he was, I said, you know what? Where is this melatonin?

SPEAKER_04 33:46

They used to give us Benadryls. So I'll take the melatonin over the benadry, but just to say that, like, how are you doing that stuff? And and then I do, after we finish, I want you to go into my brother's keeper, but like, how are you balancing that and then making sure also? Because I'm learning this, this is going to my third-year marriage. Also making sure that your spouse is happy if you have a partner. Right. Because you gotta show them love, you gotta make sure you're taking care of them.

SPEAKER_06 34:09

How do you do that, bro? Well, so with me, my so my situation is a tad bit different because my son lives, lives in Georgia. Okay. And so me and his mother, shout out to her. We do a great job co-parenting. That's even harder. Yeah, extremely harder. You have to be mature to up to uh be a co-parent. Yes. After be mature, you have to grow up um in so many different areas. You know what I mean? Um, so but I but you gotta make time to go see your child. Yeah. And spend time with your child. Yes. And so because I have, because Bobby being a mentor, it's harder because you're doing. So now with me working with so many young men who don't have dads, yeah. Yeah, who dads won't even call them, who who may be showing out in class when the teacher thinks that it's them, when really they're mad about their dad. See, that's true. And you don't even know this. You see what I'm saying? But I know it though.

SPEAKER_01 35:10

Women go through that too. Right. You see what I'm saying? I know.

SPEAKER_06 35:12

So I you know what I mean. So um, so I make it my business no matter what I got going on, right? We talked about and and this goes back to making that sacrifice.

SPEAKER_05 35:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 35:21

You got to sacrifice fun for what's important. You know what I mean? And I love to have fun, yeah. Yeah. But I got a little boy up there that that loves Spider-Man. I gotta make sure my little man get his Spider-Man, right? So I go up that, you know what I mean? Spider-Man. And we make time. You know what I mean? And FaceTime has been huge for us. Technology, yeah, right. You know what I mean? Um, but I make sure that I make time for myself as well. And I make time for um my business and just my family. And your mental health, though. Yeah. Just to say. Oh, yeah. You gotta, you know, me, you know, you know, uh going to the gym, going on walks and stuff like that is extremely important as well because you're, you know what I mean, your health is wealth. You know, and you can yeah, you can't help nobody if you need help.

SPEAKER_04 36:08

I had to learn that the hard way sometimes. But but that goes right into the question about talking about helping others, just what you're doing with your project. Um, of course, taking on responsibility to care and protect other young men, it is not publicized enough. Specifically in our community, we have a lot of publicizing of negative behaviors, actions because it might lead to wealth or opportunity. Um, a lot of it is through music and entertainment, but also criminal aspects and et cetera, scammers. Forget them scammers. And um, but the effects of having a role model, a positive role model that is, to hold you accountable is necessary in life for anybody. It doesn't matter your age. And I like that you say it doesn't matter your age, it's always good to have somebody to do that for you. Right. How do you encourage other men to help support the Tuck Project and volunteer their time with the youth? And then also if you could just talk a little bit about the aspects of the program and how you all assist youth.

SPEAKER_06 37:05

I think it's about just, you know, showing um showing the worth. You know what I mean? Yeah. Um, sometimes, you know, um men don't know how valuable they are because they don't, you know, value themselves. Preach. That's why we're dying so early, because we ain't necessarily. Right, you know what I mean? I wish we did. We didn't preach. You know what I'm saying? And I think that sometimes men think that you have to be a millionaire to be a mentor, or you have to own a. It's only about finances. You gotta be just this phenomenal giant to give back and mentor young men. You can be the average Joe Blow, but your life experiences is a gift to somebody who's not been through anything. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And when you hear young men coming up and they're going to, you know, you know, uh go through life experiences that men, you know, um, you know, different men can actually help with. There are some young men that I can't help. But but but you tell them your story, your experience, uh-huh, they may be like, you know what, brother, you who I'm a you know what I mean? Because voices, man, tones, you know, you know, you know, uh different styles, you know, different, you know, uh different uh cadences, you know, different lifestyles, right? Different demeanors. You may you we have young men who are naturally quiet. So they gravitate to quiet men. Good point. You know what I'm saying? And then you have men who are just boast, boasters, you know what I'm saying? Crashing out. Who are you know what I'm saying? Who have a high personality and they you know, you see what I'm saying? You gotta meet them there. Right, you gotta meet them where they are. You have to meet them where they're at. Yeah. Right. So, so um, so it's good when, you know, when I have um men to come talk to my young men, you know, I bring several different, you know, different backgrounds, regular men, you know, um 95 hard-working.

SPEAKER_04 39:14

I like that regular man.

SPEAKER_06 39:15

Regular man, regular man, hardworking man, you know what I'm saying, military, whatever, cop, firefighter, whatever. You work at a plant, whatever you got going on, you can be an accent. You know what I'm saying? And I think that a lot of people don't value themselves. And and and they have a different um, you know, perception of what a mentor is. You know what I'm saying? And I think that all men, men can be mentors, all women can be mentors. We have mentors, we have female mentors mentoring men sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Mentors.

SPEAKER_06 39:49

Mentors. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

Wentors, y'all. Wentors. I like that.

SPEAKER_06 39:55

Um, but but but but you have to meet them where they're at. You have to show them that that you love them, and you have to be consistent because they will not listen if you're not consistent.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

Who say that one more time.

SPEAKER_06 40:07

They will not listen if you're not consistent. Okay, showing because most of them have already been disappointed by a man. Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

Where's the plate?

SPEAKER_06 40:22

You know what I'm saying? So ain't lying. You gotta be consistent. You gotta feed them too. Yeah, you gotta feed them. You gotta feed them jokes. You gotta feed them. You know what I mean? And you gotta expose them. Okay. You know what I mean? And when you're doing all this stuff, when you do get on them, and when you do show some tough discipline, hold them accountable, they listen differently. You know what I mean? They may not want to hear, but they're gonna stand in there and listen because they know that you love them. Versus somebody who ain't show no love, who ain't, you know what I mean, show no intent, who haven't made no sacrifices for them. Back to that. You know what I mean? Yeah, make sense. Yeah, so when you got a young man who don't know what, you know what I'm saying, you know, what he's gonna eat tonight, right? And then you take him to um, you know, uh uh Chick-fil-A, you know, uh Zaxby's. Or are you ready? I'm gonna mess with you. You know Kava. You take him to Kava. Oh, Kava, or something like that, right? Good life, cafe. And the vegan eatery. You see what I'm doing?

SPEAKER_05 41:21

You take him there, you know what I'm saying? I hope they paint.

SPEAKER_06 41:25

Okay, okay. We're working on that, go ahead. Yeah, but but you take them there, yeah, and you let them eat, yeah, and you let them talk. Okay. Or you just sit in silence. Yeah. You know, that right there, you're peeling back that onion. Okay. You know what I mean? And so now when it's a real situation going on, you who they gonna call. And you gotta deliver.

SPEAKER_00 41:50

So I have a question, right? Because, you know, I feel like when you're working with kids and you're working with youth that are, let's say, trauma or living in trauma, or trauma. I can't even think of the word right now.

SPEAKER_04 42:01

Traumatic life expansion. There we go.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

I knew I could turn to you. Um It's like, you know, in wanting to get exposure for your organization, right? You know, social media. We talked about social media a lot. And social media is like this platform where we can bring people from different states, countries, all all over the world, we can connect and bring awareness to certain initiatives. But I think like, you know, the hardest part has been sometimes these kids are be they sometimes feel they already feel used.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

And so when you're trying to push your narrative to show this is what we're doing, you know, how do how do you like like I don't know how to ask you?

SPEAKER_06 42:43

How do you get buy-in?

SPEAKER_00 42:44

The like, not even buy-in, like the balance, right? Because the kids, this man only here because he wanna he wanna record us. I see. You know what I'm saying? Like, he took me to Chick-fil-A and got a camera in my face. Yeah. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_04 42:56

And so it's like How do you make it look like you're not trying to take something out of the chip? Out of it, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:01

Like, hey, look, the more exposure I can get on the things that we're doing and serving, you know, the community or whatever, the more support, financial backing we can uh we can obtain, and the more we can do for others. Right. So it's like, how do you sell that not only kids, yeah, yeah, but but also not uh what's just saying like it's all the work exploit, but not break all the work that you entrust that you build with the kids.

SPEAKER_06 43:31

Time. You can't save all of them, first of all. Be honest, I like that. I like that. You can't. You're not gonna reach all of them either. That's true. So once so once you understand that, then it's easy. You know, if my my mindset was always um, you know, to uh follow my dad's footsteps. My dad would always say that if I can just save one person a day, my job is done. So if I can just save one young man that moment, my job is done. But I have to keep showing up. You got I mean, I mean, you just gotta keep showing up and showing that you care, you know. And we don't always have phones out anyway, you know, because most most most schools, you can't have phones anyway.

SPEAKER_04 44:14

That's true without a without a Vitho without a VPN. Right, you know what I mean? I learned that directly.

SPEAKER_03 44:24

Then they gonna now they're gonna try to hear a way to now stop using the city.

SPEAKER_04 44:29

Yeah. They can't stop no VPN, even China can't stop no VPN.

SPEAKER_03 44:32

I love VPN.

SPEAKER_04 44:33

You know, Wing Wing, shout out to the VPN company.

SPEAKER_06 44:36

Um, but just showing up, man, showing up, you know, doing stuff with them, you know what I'm saying? And, you know, don't be fooled. They like that stuff now. Yeah, they may corny, but they like it. They love TikToking, dancing, you ain't gonna ask that. You ain't gonna ask my nowadays because you might be on their TikTok. That's true. You gotta let them know you need to ask permission before you publish this.

SPEAKER_01 45:01

Did I sign a disclaimer?

SPEAKER_06 45:06

The biggest problem we've had, man, throughout my um, you know, years of mentoring is just the parent buy-in. You know, wow, that's surprising. Parent buy-in. That's surprising. It's it's hard.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

And why? Why do you say that?

SPEAKER_06 45:20

I mean, I just don't have no idea why. Just uh just the the the uh lack of just caring, the um lack of showing up. We'll have parent nights sometimes. Maybe have like two parents show up. What you know and it's I mean, you know what I'm saying? And you know, we we we we we go uh we go to the schools. Um try to meet them where they're at. Meet them where they're at, you know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 45:43

So what type of so are the parents and the the youth that you help, are the parents like I don't know how to ask this without just being bluntly. Be blunt. Are the is this like uh Section 8 housing? It's all over. All over. So because you know, like what I what I have learned in certain instances is that a lot of parents sometimes can't afford programming because, you know, right now eggs is $12. And so most of them are working two to three jobs. So they maybe so they like when we talk about the work-life balance, yeah, yeah, we find that by the time they get off, there's not that much they can do. And a lot of kids tend to be raising themselves through TV or you know or via social media. And so, like, it's just like trying to figure out a way, I don't know, like trying to figure out the way to actually get more parents involved. Because like one of my friends has a homeschool organization, and we have this conversation all the time because you would think some of the parents are stay at home, right? You know, right. How do you get the parents to do more in the organization? Yeah. And uh it's just, I don't know, like, is there like a digital way to connect?

SPEAKER_06 46:49

Well, you know, you know, we've we've we've done Zoom. Okay, you know, Zoom calls, you know, stuff like that. And then you have more participation on Zoom or At times, uh-huh, you know, but it's just some some parents just don't care, man. You know, be honest. It's been like that really.

SPEAKER_03 47:06

I tried, I've tried parents. Yes, it's been like that since 1933. 1933. Yeah, like they used to be. Let me tell you something. Kids used to work 12 hours a day. Let me say this.

SPEAKER_04 47:17

Um, because maybe like work. I mean, we till we got child labor law. This is the stuff he's talking about. This ain't nothing new.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

Well, because actually, the more bodies, the more money come into the household.

SPEAKER_06 47:27

Well, let me say this. Um, um, because I know we're short on time. If you can show up to buy George, then you can show up for your child. Dang, all right, he done kill the argument. That's it.

SPEAKER_04 47:38

All right, so you know. As we wrap it up, I think that's a yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:44

We're running that in the reels. Um, but as we wrapping up, if you can tell us about some things going on with you, and give us your social medias and people know how to get in contact.

SPEAKER_06 47:56

Follow the Tuck Project. Uh, we're on all uh platforms, man. Uh TikTok, uh, we're on Instagram, uh, Twitter, uh, Facebook, you name it, man. Terrence Tuck Tucker or Tuck Project S C. Follow your boy, man. God bless y'all, man. Thank you for the opportunity.

SPEAKER_04 48:12

Certainly. And if they want their children to be able to get into the program.

SPEAKER_06 48:16

Tuckproject uh.org. Tuckproject.org, and um hit me up, um, send me your number. Um, there's a list of questions. You know, you you just follow that and uh we'll reach out to you, most definitely.

SPEAKER_04 48:30

Excellent. Well, for the Hilltop Globe Podcast, this is DJ and what?

SPEAKER_00 48:35

Desiree.

SPEAKER_04 48:39

And our esteemed guest.

SPEAKER_06 48:41

Terrence Tucker. Yes, uh, Terrence Tucker, man. Tuck, what's happening, man? Excellent.

SPEAKER_04 48:45

Well, we appreciate y'all as we always like to tell you, tell us make sure you tell somebody next to them that you love them, that you appreciate them. Until the next time, y'all be peaceful. Peace.