D Carrie (00:01.186)

salutations and shit folks welcome welcome welcome back to another episode of your favorite travel podcast travel and shit where i your host d carrie have an experiential conversation about the nuanced ways that travel intersects with regular life as i like to remind you guys every time i have a guest on this is also available on the youtubes so that you guys can see the beautiful faith joining me hello tanya please introduce yourself

Tonya Nelson Fisher (00:16.887)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (00:28.49)

Hi, my name is Tanya. I go by a lot of things, just Tanya for today. I am a wife, a mother, and I have a career in music. So I love music. I have worked in radio, but now I'm currently in streaming at Tidal. I'm the senior manager of programming there. And I make my own music. I just love life. I love, you know.

D Carrie (00:33.175)

Hahaha

Tonya Nelson Fisher (00:52.605)

looking at the world and finding ways to integrate more music into it. So that's me. That's me.

D Carrie (01:00.146)

And I am so very grateful to have you here. So little back, how I know Tanya, I used to teach dance class, I used to dance. That was a heavy, big part of life, big up to the moms. Didn't have a choice. I like to tell people all the time that I resisted and resented that so early on because I wanted to be a Girl Scout. I wanted to run track, but.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (01:05.705)

Thank you.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (01:17.705)

I'm sorry.

D Carrie (01:29.61)

I danced. But she was right. And as I got older, I actually began to love it. And one of the things that I absolutely loved was watching the recitals come together at the end of the year. You spend so hard. So you spend so much time and hard work working with your babies and to see them, you know, pull it together at the end of the year was always so fulfilling. And so this is like the ultimate recital.

D Carrie (01:57.314)

to see you grow up and to see you have a family of your own, to be an adult, to be a grown ass woman and do grown ass woman things. You, Cherry, Vicky, all of you guys, it is such a joy to watch you guys just flourish. So thank you for joining me here and thank you for being part of one of those full circle moments for me. So.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (02:01.507)

Aww.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (02:14.689)

Hoi!

Tonya Nelson Fisher (02:18.549)

This feels very full circle for me too. It's not just you, like I feel it as well. And so when I was that little girl, I used to look up to you and all the other dancers and the teachers like, wow, they're so cool. Like I wonder what they're doing in their 20 year old life. And I can't wait until I'm that age. It's just like, I love just like seeing you blossom and grow and like really own who you are and you have your podcast, you just traveling. You're like welcoming me to be on your platform. This is full circle for me too.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (02:48.277)

Cause now I feel like one of those cool girls I wanted to be when I was little. Like I'm in the circle now. Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha.

D Carrie (02:53.706)

Yes, you definitely is. You very much so is. So I'm happy to share in communication with you and to share in this, like I'm really excited about this conversation, especially because it is very rare that we as regular peons and people of the world get to tap into people who have a backseat or a behind the scenes working knowledge of the things that we consume.

D Carrie (03:21.002)

So for me, as someone who loves a good road trip, who enjoys just also being by themselves, music for me is also a really important way to, I don't wanna say fill space, but to help me focus. I tend to be able to concentrate more when I've got something going on in the background. I tend to highlight some of the very pivotal moments of my...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (03:21.406)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (03:44.278)

Okay.

D Carrie (03:49.738)

adolescent life to certain soundtracks and certain music. And one of the fun little hobbies, two-part fun hobby, one of the fun hobbies that I used to do before I met my partner was soundtrack, different things in my life where I would just pick a song. Cause I very much so appreciate musical scoring in television shows and movies. And I feel like it's one of those things that

D Carrie (04:14.102)

A lot of people don't really big up enough because I feel like the right fucking music sets the right tone and it allows you to really feel what the writers, the actors, and everybody's pulling together and it encapsulates the entire moment for you. So I enjoy just randomly like, yo, this is the song for this. So one of the games boyfriend and I play when we do our road trips is, what's your song? I don't know if that's the name that we give it for every ride we take, but all right, let's do the song thing. And so what we'll do is choose a song

Tonya Nelson Fisher (04:26.706)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (04:44.054)

will correlate with whatever the prompt is. So it'll be like, all right, first high school relationship. All right, cool. And so then we scroll through whatever, and then, all right, this is the song that matches that. Or it'll be something like, all right, so if you have an event with your walkout song, all right, fine. And then we scroll through and then that's the song. So that'll waste, not waste, but that allows us to like, backwoods or in backcountry, there's absolutely nothing to look at, but trees.

D Carrie (05:12.502)

And when you driving straight up 87, it's a lot of fucking trees. It's a lot of shit and you wanna distract yourselves. So for us, music soundtracks have been a really, really interesting way to pass the time while also marking important parts of our lives. What has your personal story of music been?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (05:27.04)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (05:30.261)

that is, first of all, I love that game. I need to steal that for me and my family. That is such a cool game. Me, I really have been thinking about that recently, like as I get deeper into my career at Tidal, because when I worked in radio, it was a little different than streaming, but yeah, a lot different. But streaming is kind of like the direction of where music is going now. It's kind of a newer concept, and everybody's trying to hop onto it, seeing how...

D Carrie (05:33.767)

Please do!

Tonya Nelson Fisher (06:00.677)

where it will take us pretty much, because now we have AI coming into play. There's a lot going on there. But as I was thinking about programming for some of the campaigns we have going on at work, I'm like, how did I get here? I'm like, how did I get to this job? And like, what is it that made me so in love with just music, all genres, you know? That could just really be ready for any occasion. So there was one.

D Carrie (06:13.547)

I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (06:27.509)

campaign I was working on in particular, it was the HBCU campaign. And I needed some good hip hop from the 80s. And I was like, you know what? I found my dad's old like zip around CD case and I opened it up, cause we still have it. God bless my daddy, he passed in 2014. But like I was looking through the CDs and I got so many good ideas.

D Carrie (06:42.051)

Hehehe

Tonya Nelson Fisher (06:52.549)

on what to put on these different decades playlist that I needed. So some KRS-1, Rock Kim, like EPMB. And these are songs that my dad used to make me sit down in the car, because we were always in the car together driving somewhere here or there. We had the same love language of quality time. And that just became like the same love language of just sharing music. So I really attributed a lot to my dad, like being in the car with him and him putting me onto all of his.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (07:19.857)

memories from college or like, this was the song that make us used to like really go ham at every party. And back then I was like, yeah, okay. Like great dad. I'm like, you're like, okay. It's like atomic dog comes on, he's like, yo, this was the song. And I'm like, okay, are we almost at the restaurant? But you know, those small moments now when I look back and think of him, it's all around music and like those conversations in the car and like what he taught me.

D Carrie (07:27.033)

Right. The idea of your parents partying like.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (07:49.809)

My love for Stevie Wonder, my love for Prince, just my love for really good music came from my daddy. So I always think about that, like how happy he would be if he was here to like see me doing what we do now, doing what I do now, it really came from him. So, yeah.

D Carrie (08:05.134)

That's beautiful. How do you think that appreciation for music colors your lens of how you share it with other people?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (08:15.67)

Well, that appreciation...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (08:21.457)

It does so much. Even you talking about your conversations with your boyfriend, there's something so nostalgic about certain songs, right? That just take you right back to that moment. And so even if you're not a big music lover, a lot of people are lovers of really good memories. So that's how I utilize music, or a lot of campaigns that I do at work.

D Carrie (08:39.274)

Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (08:47.745)

Like I said, a lot of them are crushed genres. So I can't just only stick to R&B. I can't just only stick to like what I'm really a fan of. I have to think of themes. So say I'm working on a women's history month campaign playlist and maybe it's songs of empowerment for women. I have to do my research and I have to go find songs that really match these very specific themes across all genres. So.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (09:14.481)

I think just my appreciation for storytelling, like really good storytelling and how it can connect you to really beautiful moments that have happened in your life. That's what colored my lens on like playlisting but also just sharing music with other people. I just love a good story. And some songs like not only do they have really good lyricism that share the story but they just pull you back to certain times in your life. Like.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (09:40.725)

A lot of times people will look at me and my programming team and other departments and they're like, oh, you guys are, is that even a real job? It's like, you guys are just sitting there picking songs all day. We get a bad rap for having the fun job, but there's a science behind it. We use a lot of data, we use a lot of research, and there's a lot of science that goes into how our brains are so deeply connected to music and how most people, their favorite music is what they listen to.

D Carrie (09:47.563)

Hahaha

Tonya Nelson Fisher (10:09.081)

in their formative years, like what they listen to in high school, like that's some of their favorite music and they'll always go back to it no matter what because it just is so deeply connected to who you like who you were, like who you were growing into and like what shape you informed you. So that's what I that's what I love about music and that's really what makes me appreciate it the most.

D Carrie (10:31.254)

basically started answering my next question and it's what goes into... No, it's perfect. Perfect segue. So what goes into the perfect playlist? Like what is... Because what a time when Yashoda used to make you a playlist. I will never forget one of my exes...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (10:34.566)

Did I? Sorry.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (10:51.841)

Thank you.

D Carrie (10:53.966)

Shout out to him. Wonder where that man is. Good luck to that man because good luck. But it was the sweetest thing. I remember he and I went down and we were walking around. He's actually from New Orleans. And we were, this was when I first started visiting and I'm very excited to go back this month for Essence. This is gonna be my first Essence Fest. I am so fucking excited. Yeah, very excited. But

Tonya Nelson Fisher (10:59.05)

Hehehehe. Hehehehehehe.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (11:16.258)

Okay. Oh, you're gonna love it. You're gonna love it.

D Carrie (11:23.406)

He started dating him when I went to my first Mardi Gras. And we had a really great little weekend and ended up coming back home. And he sent me like this painting he had bought me while we were out there. But in the painting, he also included a mixtape. And he made me a mixtape on a little disc of like all the songs that, cause come on, beginning relationships, like peak time for the sappy, fun, romantic kind of.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (11:51.009)

I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

D Carrie (11:52.298)

nostalgic. We grew up in the 90s. So of course, and then the, what do you call it? The, what's the thing? What would it be called? Like, I guess the, a collage of pictures and ship of us that he made for the, what's it called when you have like the tracklist thing, the tracklist, like the tracklist thing, the background, the tracklist was a collage of pictures and us and it was the cutest fucking thing. And it was a pretty decent playlist. And in high school, we used to kind of battle each other. Like we had

Tonya Nelson Fisher (12:05.106)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (12:10.205)

was... Oh, TracLift, okay. It included a collage.

D Carrie (12:22.338)

What did Lori Beth called herself? DJ Moon Yanka, that was her little name. And so we will all do our little playlist and we all make our little mix tapes on these little CDs. So we had our own little high school, young love, little theories and processes that we would go through to put together our perfect playlist. But as the professional, what goes into a perfect playlist?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (12:25.281)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (12:41.277)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (12:45.465)

It's hard to say it was perfect because it just depends on the perfect, right? But it just depends on you. However, I will say, let me give y'all a few tips for the perfect playlist, especially from like a programming perspective. So like I said, there's a science behind all of these things. So you really want to have a good opener. You want to open very strong, right? So if it's something that's very noticeable, like it gets the party going, you know, you want to have something.

D Carrie (12:50.114)

Of course.

D Carrie (13:13.198)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (13:14.281)

that's a popular, like a hit to keep it strong, right? Like, oh, okay, you came out, you came out hard. And then, now a lot of people don't think of these things, but you wanna make sure that there's a good flow in between the music. So you don't want a really, really slow song going into something super fast. Like, you know, you need to make sure there's a tempo that needs to be, so when I worked in radio, we had this programming tool.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (13:43.869)

and you had to code every single song you put into the system had to be coded. It had to be coded. So you had to have tempo codes on it. You had to write, um, is it a group or is it a solo act? Is it a male or female? You know, you wanted to have all these every song. Can you imagine how many songs in a system? Like if you have that, like millions of songs in our system, every single one had a code on it. And then if it didn't have code, yeah, if it didn't have code then.

D Carrie (14:05.975)

Wow.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (14:09.533)

you know, the little guys like me, when I first started, or the interns have to go in and listen to the song and think, hold up. So, but it's helpful because when you're programming, then the computer will like, the computer will program it for you first, like create the schedule, but then you need a human to go back, like to use their thought process to really massage the logs and really see the science behind it. So you, the tempo codes were important because you didn't want a really slow song going into a very fast song, or a very fast song going into a very slow song.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (14:39.433)

You could put mid-tempo songs in between to kind of be a little buffer, you know? Because it could be a little jarring. If you're really, you into some, you know you're listening to some Isley Brothers and all of a sudden right away we got, you know, just something that just doesn't go, it just messes up the whole mood. Like Shakira, Shakira, Chief Heave, like come over right away after you're like, that wasn't it, that's not what I wanted. So you can.

D Carrie (14:42.578)

Yeah.

D Carrie (14:47.234)

Yeah.

D Carrie (14:56.739)

Okay.

D Carrie (15:03.314)

Yeah. That's like when you fall asleep listening to your music and you ended up having a really good sleep until something comes on and it's just like, oh, okay. I fucked up with that transition. Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (15:11.901)

Yes, it just woke up, you know what I'm saying? The transition just wasn't it. So transitions are really important. And then if it's something that's between amongst friends and you can, you know, the tempos, that's what I really want you to focus on the most. However, professionally, I try to make sure, I mentioned that a lot of songs were coded with male versus female. I wanna make sure we have some gender inclusion in there. I don't wanna have.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (15:38.657)

10 different songs that are very male heavy and then you only have one woman on the playlist. I'm not into that. We wanna make sure it's a good mix. We can have some groups, we can have some male heavy songs and some theme. We wanna show the love all around. And then, yeah, that's what I can think of for now. Like my few tips that I usually use every day when I'm making playlists. Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (16:02.354)

Okay, so you touched on like your early experience in radio. What was your early experience of travel like? What was the basis for how you as an adult view and what travel actually is?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (16:13.95)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (16:16.861)

Okay, so if my dad gave me my love for music, then my mom definitely gave me my love for travel. So she had me on my first plane at six months to go visit my grandma in Barbados. My mom is from Barbados, and the only reason she ever came to America was to be with my dad. But she was always going home a lot. So my love for traveling came from my mom going home with her and like really getting to see her roots.

D Carrie (16:35.669)

Oh.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (16:46.589)

and go into her world, you know, cause she really came into our world. Like she raised me here with my dad and his family, but getting to go into her world and eat the food that she ate, walk the same path, she walked to school in the morning, like hear the accents and just feel the fresh air, like go to the beach and she would cut school to go to with her friends. Like that means so much. So that really developed my love for travel. I would go almost.

D Carrie (17:05.207)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (17:11.985)

If it wasn't every single summer, at least every two years, I was home with my mom in Barbados. And then it's funny, I know you went to Canada recently, but before my mom came to New York, she actually lived in Montreal. So she did. She went from Barbados and then moved to her dad, who lived in Montreal, and my parents actually met each other there at Carnival in Canada. Yes. Yes.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (17:41.557)

So my mom's like a travel bug. Like she was a travel agent for a while. She's working in the travel industry for forever. So that's how my love from travel came. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

D Carrie (17:49.666)

You know that.

D Carrie (17:52.066)

So did you start with, in terms of like, Tanya, individual personal travel, did you start with solo travel? Did you do group travel? What was your kind of separating from familial travel and traveling with your family into, okay, so now I want this for myself. What did that look like for you?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (18:07.037)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (18:11.433)

for myself. Definitely, I would say, my last year of college was when one of my friends, like, I think she was turning 18, and we were like, oh, let's just go to Dominican Republic together. Like, all me and two other people. And actually, it wasn't, no, it was like, it was the beginning of college. I would say college. I went to DC. I went to school in DC. I went to Howard. And so we had a lot of time on our hands on the weekends to take quick road trips to other schools.

D Carrie (18:35.171)

Eww.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (18:41.161)

You know, we went to Morgan State a couple of times. Like we would travel around the DMV. We went to VA Beach weekend. We started taking the road trip, keeping it, you know, in the tri-state area of DC. And then, and we had some really fun times, right? And so I was able to like, see like, okay, traveling with my friends is really fun. Like a lot of times I was traveling with my.

D Carrie (18:51.682)

Right, right.

D Carrie (19:05.106)

Yeah. Ha ha ha.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (19:08.273)

my parents for most of my life. So when I got that taste of freedom, I really saw how fun it was to travel with friends. So, you know, spring break, that was when, spring break is when you went a little bit further outside of the tri-state, go to Miami. You go a little bit further, and then it was during, I think, my sophomore, junior year, we went on the trip to Dominican Republic with a couple of my friends. And my, our parents were so, when I tell you they were so shook, like they were scared. They did not wanna...

D Carrie (19:21.046)

Right, right.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (19:37.889)

They were like, you need to call us as soon as you get there. You need to have like, it's your passport. They were so nervous, but they let us go. And it was a lot of fun. So my stepfather, he worked for Delta. So we used to get like standby flights. I would get a lot of standby flights. And if you know the standby struggle, the standby struggle is so real. It's so real.

D Carrie (19:43.139)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (19:58.638)

I'll tell you a little bit about that afterwards, because then, but go ahead.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (20:00.817)

Okay, okay. It's real, it's real. That trip to the Dominican Republic, we ended up becoming a nightmare. Like to get home, we could not get home. We had to drive. We drove like two hours to the next airport with these group of standby people we met. And they were like, look, we found another flight tomorrow morning, let's all like put our money in and just drive two hours. We found this driver, just come with us. They were American too.

D Carrie (20:09.698)

Oh my god.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (20:29.737)

It sounds very dangerous and crazy, but we did it. We made it. Yes! With the information you have, yeah, we had to do what we had to do. We were in Pusatcana, and I think we drove two hours to one of the major airports with these random people, and we slept overnight on the airport floor. And it was rough, but we made it home. The point is we made it home, but it taught me like...

D Carrie (20:29.934)

Right. Yeah. But yeah, been there. Sometimes you make the best judgment call you can with the information at hand, baby. You gotta do what you gotta do.

D Carrie (20:55.062)

Right.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (20:58.881)

how fun trips with my friends could be and just the memories. Like I'm a type of person, no matter how much of my stuff, as long as it gives me a really good story and it'll create a really great memory, I'm down. Like we can do it at least once. So that's how it started. I've never been on a solo trip. I haven't had a lot of solo time. Like right after Howard, I was knocked up, met my man.

D Carrie (21:09.422)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (21:13.908)

Right?

D Carrie (21:22.787)

I'm sorry.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (21:25.253)

I haven't had any time for solo travel and I feel like if I was like, hey babe, if you'd be like, what you talking about? You know we all coming. So I don't know, a solo trip would ever happen for me, but travel with my friends, I do it as much as I can. And you know, and it's freeing for me. Like I love my family, I love my kids so much, my daughters, but sometimes you just need to reset with your friends. Like last month, last year.

D Carrie (21:30.923)

Right.

D Carrie (21:49.42)

Absolutely.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (21:50.781)

Yeah, last year I was in Mexico, we went to Saloon with me and a couple of my girls. And then I've been a few places since I've had my kids. And it's a nice reset. It's a nice reset to just meet with your friends, have some laughs, enjoy somewhere new that you've never experienced and a new culture that you've never. Like you can just immerse yourself in somewhere completely new. And it just makes you have an appreciation. Me especially, like it makes me have an appreciation for life.

D Carrie (22:06.995)

Absolutely.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (22:17.913)

my world is this big and there are other people in other parts of the world who are experiencing things that I never get to experience and once I once I get to be a part of that it just opens opens up my mind and it just opens up my mind better like it's better for me it's still for me my daughter gets really jealous she's gonna say like you can't take me places we'll get there soon we'll get there soon but right now I'm enjoying you know the little check-ins with my friends

D Carrie (22:37.553)

I mean, we'll get there... soon.

D Carrie (22:47.106)

So before we get into travel with your girls, what is that experience like for, so like you had mentioned travel and the way people in other places like experience themselves and you know, similarities, differences, all that jazz, but what is your experience of music been in your travels? And how does that influence your decisions professionally and then also professionally as an artist yourself?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (23:13.373)

Hmm. So...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (23:18.261)

Immediately I could think of Barbados, like Calypso is very big in Barbados. My husband is Jamaican, I'm right into a Jamaican family. You know, Dancehall's really big. And even if I think about, one of my favorite cities is New Orleans. I love going there. And the sounds of the street and the jazz are like, it's so important for your experience there as well, right? So one thing that I really love about my company, and it's a reason I wanted to be there and join them,

D Carrie (23:40.738)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (23:48.013)

is because they're very culturally aware and sensitive, you know, in comparison to other DSPs, I feel like, well, digital streaming platforms, because everybody knows all the terms. In comparison to other streaming platforms, I just feel as though where I work, we're always thinking about how we can infuse other cultures into every single campaign, or just programming in general, right? So, K-pop is really big right now.

D Carrie (23:59.372)

Hehehehehehe

Tonya Nelson Fisher (24:16.297)

How can we make sure we have a person who's very knowledgeable about the K-pop scene and how we can engraft what they're doing in Korea and making sure it's, making sure we can see it here on our platform, right? Now, Brazilian funk is starting to really bubble up as well. You have artists like Anita, she's becoming a global sensation, a global superstar. How can we make sure that we're tapping into the next big music sound?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (24:46.505)

that might come from another global region and how can we incorporate it in programming. So that's really important to us. And it's important that we have people who don't just travel there, but who like are very aware and have their ears to the streets and are maybe even from the culture if possible and how we can.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (25:11.797)

There's noise, sorry. Like I said, I got a big family in my house. Yeah, I wanted to make sure it wasn't noisy. Yeah, so we're always making sure that we're including every culture possible on our platform. And so I try to do that personally as well. Like my mind is always on. Even if I'm traveling in the train, I live in New York City, like there's sounds all across the city as well. Train performers, even if I'm just traveling to work.

D Carrie (25:13.323)

It's fine.

D Carrie (25:17.23)

Hehehehehehe

D Carrie (25:36.142)

Absolutely, my God. Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (25:40.341)

There's always a sound, there's always something I can be thinking about and how, ooh, I like that. What's that song? Like I'm always writing in my notes, I'm always shazaming stuff.

D Carrie (25:48.258)

Real talk, that's a really good plug for all y'all Showtime niggas out there. Get your old friends that do music and improve your quality and your performance. You understand what I'm saying? Like get like good new music so that y'all showcase your talent on top of showcasing your man's talent. Everybody can come up together. I'm just saying like your man's does a show and y'all is Showtime in the background. Collaborate. I'm just saying it's an idea. If y'all wanna, if y'all gonna get all of our attention on the train, y'all might as well, you know.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (25:57.3)

Hehehe! Air Proofing!

Tonya Nelson Fisher (26:04.913)

You never know! You never know who's listening! Hehehehe Hehehehe Exactly!

D Carrie (26:18.39)

build, work together. That part also, you know what? Even if you're not good, I would love to see y'all working together. That's always one of my things. Even when they're not good, when they are hype, and when I feel like they're giving me their energy, when I feel like I'm getting their best, you're gonna get my money. Like I feel like if y'all just got your boys standing there on the side and they're not even hyping y'all up, what's your squad looking like? I mean, I get it Tuesday.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (26:18.921)

be good. Yeah, exactly.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (26:27.925)

Right.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (26:42.445)

Right, if your squad's not hyping you up, how am I supposed to hype you up? Yeah.

D Carrie (26:45.666)

You see anything? Like just performance quality. But, so I mean, does your job, like, do you get to travel to like kind of taste the different sounds around the world and experience different musical performers, experiences? I feel like that'd be a fun.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (27:03.893)

I think we're integrating more of those experiences soon. So we're kind of a growing company. Recently, I know it is growing. It's growing. Thank you. That's just it. Right, I've tried footwork before. I actually went to SFS for work when I used to work at Series XM. And we would broadcast from Orleans and it was hella fun. We had-

D Carrie (27:13.262)

I want reasons for you to travel for free, baby. Get out there like this is part of work now. I'm just saying it helps us all be better.

D Carrie (27:24.639)

Oh nice!

D Carrie (27:32.69)

Nice. I bet y'all did. Absolutely.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (27:32.957)

best time ever. And it was paper because it was for work. Yeah, it is great. Like we had good food, good music, good times, my good people. It was amazing.

D Carrie (27:42.722)

You have me at paid for. I can always have a good time, but you have me at paid for. That's even a better time.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (27:47.297)

Exactly. That's the best part. That's the best part. So a few of my coworkers, me and me went to Nashville to a music biz conference out there. I wasn't on that one, but you know, I'm praying we're on next year. Because I would love to go to Tennessee, you know, the music history and culture there is so rich and that's where I want to go next. So, you know, it's coming. It's coming soon.

D Carrie (27:54.53)

Hmm.

D Carrie (28:00.267)

Nice, nice.

D Carrie (28:09.278)

trying to tap into that because I'm going for um in July for Beyoncé so I want to tap in with you afterwards and find out what places are on your radar I want to see if I could yeah give me some suggestions for some black-ass shit to do out there because I definitely feel like I've been there so many times

Tonya Nelson Fisher (28:18.231)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (28:23.549)

I got you. I got you.

D Carrie (28:32.086)

And I have yet to, I am searching for that Nashville experience. Like everybody swears that they love Nashville and there's so much there, but I haven't had the opportunity to find that. And sadly, every trip that I've made to Nashville has either had to be child-friendly because my best friend lives out in Kentucky. That's like her next, like the closest major town. So we always go to Nashville when I go see her, but it's just like, we have the kid with us. So it's like.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (28:36.978)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (28:48.637)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (28:56.815)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (28:58.038)

going out and getting some drinks, but it's gotta be family-friendly barbecue or family-friendly, like, you know, that kind of stuff. So I haven't, except for one night I went with boyfriend, it wasn't, I know it's there. I know it's there. I trust that so many people aren't making this up. So I really wanna, you know, I wanna tap into that.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (29:04.488)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (29:15.361)

It's there, it's there, it's definitely there. When you go, then let me know. But I know you said this month you're going to New Orleans, make sure. So I was out there maybe April, I was in New Orleans in April. My friend got engaged and so she met her love of, yes, thank you, I'm gonna tell you something. She met the love of her life in New Orleans, he's a New Orleans native. So he brought us all back to do the proposal there. But she didn't know we were there, so we were like, all right, Saturday night, let's.

D Carrie (29:30.382)

Congratulations.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (29:43.841)

go out. So we were texting him like, you're not gonna be on this side of town, right? So we didn't run into them. But we went to Frenchman Street. Super fun. You have to like tell me when you go, let me know. But it's like a row of different bars and restaurants. So at night it's like it turns into like live music. So everyone you go into is all live music. It's all and it's just that the jazz and like the funk is so good. It's so soulful. And you're hopping in and out.

D Carrie (29:44.811)

Yeah.

D Carrie (30:01.867)

Oh yeah.

D Carrie (30:10.654)

I almost moved out there. Yes, poor a nigga. I'm so glad I did not. My life is so much better because of it. My God. I talk about that often. Yeah, I went out there for a couple of different Mardi Gras. My home girl lives out there. So whenever I would go, I would stay with her. And RIP Dejaune, I would hang out with her boyfriend most of the trips.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (30:12.93)

Did you really?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (30:19.261)

Okay, good, good, good.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (30:27.157)

Oh yes, so you know.

D Carrie (30:34.034)

And so it'd be us riding around the city because she'd be at work. So I would just ride the city with Deja on or just sit in the house and have either her uncles come and cook. I have such a love for New Orleans, but I gotta say that it was extra special. Like the same way you were with someone that's from there being able to see like real nigga shit. Like this is what regular people do. Like we don't go here for the pro boys. This is not, thumb daiquiris is cool, but like the better ones is down up here. We gotta drive 20 extra minutes, but.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (30:40.051)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (30:58.853)

This is the spot.

D Carrie (31:02.746)

is worth the drive kind of thing. But I'm definitely gonna hit you up because I remember Blue Nile. I don't know if it's the same. I don't know if it's different. So my experience of it was from years ago. Like the last time I was there might've been 26, 2019. No, not even 2019, maybe like 2013, yeah. Because I was still living in that apartment. Shit, so actually.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (31:10.881)

Mm hmm.

D Carrie (31:30.562)

maybe like 2010, 2000 and yeah, around that era. So I know a lot of the shit that I was doing then is probably not like, I don't even like, she, she's, she, she's was a strip club. We would always go visit. I don't even know if she, she's is still there anymore. Like, I feel like it's not like shells daiquiris. Like that's where we will always go see Winter and her mom. I don't even know if the shit is still there anymore. So I got to tap in, I got to call Angie back.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (31:41.953)

I'm going to go ahead and close the video.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (31:47.017)

You don't even know if his dad. Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (31:55.015)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (31:59.605)

But anyway, so...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (32:00.189)

But when you go for Essence Fest, it'll be a different crowd too. So then it'll be, you know, it's a different experience. So. So, I'm going to go ahead and get ready to go. I'm going to go ahead and get ready to go.

D Carrie (32:02.886)

Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. And we're getting out there early. So we'll be able to do, cause we're only going to be there Tuesday to Sunday. So we will have enough of the, it'll be essence stuff happening leading up to the weekend, but it'll be nice to just kind of have like a random Tuesday, Wednesday to kind of like just do regular. All right. We'll, we'll get to essence in the music. Give me the foods. Like.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (32:11.681)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (32:28.558)

Where to eat?

D Carrie (32:28.702)

I want to eat in the food before it gets too crowded. I want to eat before it gets too crowded. I want to enjoy walking around before it gets a little too crowded. And like, it's going to be hot. I don't do crowds. I don't do heat. So I'm also, if you have tips for surviving essence for me, like please, cause I'm not a fan of like, um, crowds. And so as much as I love live music, it's always one of those like.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (32:52.031)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (32:53.726)

You just got to suck it up and go, but I try to make it so that I can experience it in smaller pockets and not have to completely be uncomfortable for the entire experience. Um, but back to, um, travel with families, how do you want to impress the love of travel on your girls? What are it? Have you traveled with the girls? Like, have you guys done family trips? What has that been like, or what are you looking forward to? Um,

D Carrie (33:21.75)

Like what experiences and traditions are you looking forward to?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (33:26.589)

Right, so I think I started the same way my mom started me. So, you know, we've already went to Barbados. We've already went to Jamaica because we have to see the family. We have to know that there's life outside of America. Okay, because America has a problem. In the words of Beyonce, America has a problem. And we need you to know that there's a bigger world outside of this place that we call home. So actually last year.

D Carrie (33:39.882)

Yeah, this ain't it. Cause hello.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (33:53.393)

My job allows me, I work from home permanently. So they allow you to work, yeah. They allow you to work up to 45 days internationally as long as you get approval from your lead. So last summer I decided to go to Barbados and we spent two weeks out there with my mom and my grandma and my uncle and we just stayed in the house and my girls just had nothing to do. They were bored and I love that. Like I feel like, figure it out. Use your imagination, have some fun.

D Carrie (34:01.308)

Beautiful

D Carrie (34:03.81)

Beautiful.

D Carrie (34:18.186)

Yeah, figure it out.

D Carrie (34:22.221)

That's it.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (34:23.485)

Let's wake up and go to the beach. We're gonna eat this flying fish. We're gonna, you know, we're gonna just have fun on this green pasture in front of the house and just enjoy it. Like, I feel like kids here always felt plugged in. YouTube devices, like people don't know how to just say hello anymore. You don't know how to look some people in the eye. Like a lot of people compliment me about my oldest daughter, she's seven, going on eight.

D Carrie (34:31.604)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (34:48.949)

like, wow, she really is social. Like she doesn't have to hold a conversation. I'm like, yeah, cause I'm raising her that way. And I attribute like traveling to it as well because six months I had her on her first flight too. And when we go out there, it's not as plugged in. You know, you have to use your social skills to talk to people and you have to try new foods and.

D Carrie (34:53.363)

Right, right.

D Carrie (35:09.463)

Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (35:17.353)

You have to try new things and you really have to use your imagination to have a good time. So that really pays off when we come back home. Because say she's at summer camp, she can come up with a cool game with a stick that she probably learned from her cousin in Barbados. She can show the friends out here. So that's one thing. She's a leader now. Yeah, so I've taken, I'm planning on taking them since we did two years in Barbados, I mean two weeks in Barbados last year. We're going to go visit.

D Carrie (35:33.326)

She's now the innovator. She's a leader now. I love it. Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (35:46.333)

My husband's family, they're staying in Jamaica. We gotta show the spread the love. You gotta spread the love. And he was born and raised in Jamaica. So they get a whole different experience. Mommy's one generation removed, but I still went often. So I know where to go. But Ryan, he can say like, this is the house I grew up in. So that is fun for family travel. And then we did take our oldest after my youngest was born.

D Carrie (36:02.111)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (36:15.657)

She is a lot, okay? We love her, but she is a lot. So I was like, you know what? Let us have just alone time with Riley. She spent five years as an only child. So once she had a little sister, it was a little bit of a hard transition for her. So I took her and my hubby to Mexico as like a Christmas gift two years ago. And we just stayed at all inclusive of the door and had the best time. We just had, we had a really, really good time. So now I'm thinking about.

D Carrie (36:39.582)

Oh, that's beautiful.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (36:44.489)

You know, when I think of like my European vacations I'm planning, I never think about bringing the kids with me. Those are more for like my friends. But I'm thinking maybe this year we can go overseas and try it out. Like Riley has been saying she really wants to go to Paris. So I'm like, let's try it. Let's... Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (36:51.02)

Okay.

D Carrie (36:55.456)

Okay.

D Carrie (36:59.31)

I love that these kids are so aware that there is life outside of just their experience. And also I appreciate that that's one of the things that first, second, just whatever generation you may be, but people that have family that still keep a very close connection to family in other countries.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (37:22.465)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (37:23.754)

I always appreciate, because that's one of the things that I mentioned on the podcast so often is that travel is so much more than vacation. It's the idea that when you leave your hometown or your home state, that you have to do something elaborate or that you have to do something very big and expensive is where I think most people's brains go to when they think travel. They think spring break, they think summer recess and going big and bold, which is fun.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (37:46.8)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (37:50.422)

But a lot of times, travel is just going to see family. Unfortunately, when we lose family, we have to travel sometimes to go be where our family is from, to join other family members. There are so many reasons why people get on a plane. People aren't always getting on a plane because they're going to turn up. A lot of real life happens outside of your regular home. And to your point, where your daughter playing with a stick makes her now being able to entertain herself and bring those kind of games to other kids, I don't.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (37:58.401)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (38:19.227)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (38:19.746)

that it should be missed or lost on people, that children being able to use their imaginations in ways outside of having to have something else prompt, some type of a response and being able to be the prompt, to see what is around you is a very, very tactical and useful skill that I think a lot of kids should have. So kudos on you for giving your kids that opportunity to develop.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (38:44.257)

Thank you.

D Carrie (38:48.162)

that skill of figuring things out. Like not always, cause when we grow, I don't know, well, we're not that far apart, but I know when I grew up, one of the things was, you're not always gonna have this, you're not always gonna have this. It was a lot of critical thinking and you won't have these tools. You're not gonna have a calculator in your pocket. You're not gonna be able to have access to your encyclopedias. Like you're not always gonna be able to look things up. So figure out how to problem solve and entertain yourself. And now, it was wrong.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (39:08.545)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (39:18.262)

But I get that things change. And so it's, you know, up to those of us who have lived the life without ready access at our immediate grasp to kind of impart those types of critical thinking skills and just developmental skills that allow you to kind of just exist in the world a different way. And I feel like people give...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (39:18.781)

Yeah, because you do have access now.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (39:40.296)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (39:40.942)

kids a really short end of the stick by saying they're always attached to this and attached to that, but it's like, but they are so gifted with this technology in ways that we're not because it comes so natural to them because they grew up with it. Whereas with us, we can kind of navigate both worlds, but if you don't give these kids the opportunity or if you don't kind of expose them to opportunities and chances to develop creativity in those ways, they're going to not necessarily be limited, but

D Carrie (40:06.794)

it may take them a little bit longer to get to those alternative ways of using their men. But that's one of the beautiful things about travel. I feel like as an adult, me personally, when I am able to experience and see things that are new to me as a New Yorker, like there are plenty of things as a city girl that sometimes I take for granted, just having immediate access to stuff. So when I travel, I tend to want to tap out of that. I tend to want to be in the middle

Tonya Nelson Fisher (40:11.141)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (40:36.578)

to get someplace as opposed to being in the middle of Playa del Carmen where I'm staying next to a cruise terminal. I was fucking low key miserable at the last vacation we did. It was my first time in Mexico and it wasn't what I was expecting it to be because it felt like I was on fucking Fulton. Like I felt like I was readily accessible. Everywhere I turned, there is something commercial. There was some, like I was in the middle of capitalism. So for me, it just felt like

Tonya Nelson Fisher (40:54.081)

Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe

Tonya Nelson Fisher (41:03.099)

Oh my gosh, yes.

D Carrie (41:05.918)

I live like this. I can appreciate how middle America may want to travel like that. When your life is, I have to drive 20 minutes to get to everything. So having it right here at your disposal, I understand the appeal and the allure, but I feel like removing yourself from that and giving yourself the space to have something different, whatever that different may be, whether it be access or lack of access allows us to tap into.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (41:14.686)

Yep.

D Carrie (41:33.858)

the spaces of us and the layers that we don't necessarily get to as easily remove and kind of sift through at home. And that opens up a lot of opportunity. So for you as an artist yourself, I know you do make music. So how have you kind of used your travels and your experiences in creativity to tap into what you do for your creative pursuits?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (41:48.829)

I do.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (42:00.161)

Good question. I can think of a couple of things. So the first thing I can think of is, you know, we grew up in New York. So like you said, it's very busy. Like at all times it is so busy and it's kind of hard to like hear through all the noise. I mean, we get used to it. It's like background noise at some point. But if you wanna tap into your creativity and you really, like for my music,

D Carrie (42:20.706)

Yep. Yep.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (42:27.653)

when I'm gonna sit down and write, I need to hear clearly from above. Like I need to, I really need to hear, it's not gonna come from me, you know? I'm gonna pray about it and I need to, I need my spirit to be spoken to so I can write down something that is not just for me, but it's gonna impact the listener, right? And I can't know that on myself. Like I need to pray about it and really hear. So I can't do that when there's so much going on, you know?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (42:55.861)

So last summer when I was in Barbados, I would just go to the beach. My phone is not working because the wifi is at my grandma's house. So I'm literally just sitting on the beach and I'm just watching the waves come in and out, in and out. And I don't have that here at home. And if you do go to the beach here, it's just the dirtiest one you've ever seen. It's not gonna inspire you. It's loud. It's still loud. It's still loud.

D Carrie (43:13.33)

It ain't the same. It's absolutely not the same. Everybody's got their radios playing. It's everybody. Yeah, very different.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (43:23.489)

but to sit there and just watch the sunset and like watch the waves go in and out and hear them crash and just realize how small I am in the spec of this huge universe and that everything is working together for me to wake up and go to sleep and have the oxygen I need that I don't ask for. I wake up and it's there, you know, and the everything that I need is provided for me. And I'm just so small. And it's just like.

D Carrie (43:46.818)

Bye.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (43:52.917)

God cares so much to just provide everything and I don't even have to ask for it, it just comes to me. That's what inspires me. And so when I get to go in other areas of the world that aren't as busy, that are just a bit more quiet, then it inspires my lyricism, it inspires my music. And so because I am so busy here at home, I haven't written as much recently, but I do get ideas and concepts when I can just unplug and just appreciate the world around me.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (44:18.093)

And like New York, love it to death. Like I want my girls to be New Yorkers through and through. Cause I feel like it gives you like, this is a different grit in life, you know? It just gives you a certain swag, like a certain, I love it. I love being a New Yorker, but I also love when, that I have another place that I can call home and just go to, to just relax. So that's the first thing. Just the stillness of certain countries.

D Carrie (44:25.822)

Yeah, it does.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (44:44.245)

how it inspires my creativity because it's more quiet. And like I can just tap into that spiritual energy that I need to get something on the paper. And then I can think of a trip last year. So I went to Dubai last year with my friends. Everybody turned 30. Nobody prepares you for the year all your friends turn 30 and everybody wants to take some lavish trip. How much money you're gonna need. Woo.

D Carrie (45:09.847)

Baby, wait till they get grown and plan weddings.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (45:13.081)

Oh Lord, thank God I already have mine. But when everybody does it at once, I know it's gonna be a lot of fun. But we went to that, one of my closest friends, she wanted to go to Dubai last year. I was like, you know what? A few of us went to Mexico. I had a really big party, I spent money on that. But Dubai, like I'm not missing out on that. Like we're not gonna miss out on Dubai. We're gonna go to Dubai. And...

D Carrie (45:32.351)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (45:37.009)

I loved it. I loved it there. It was so like, first of all, everything feels so rich. Like you just feel like, you know, I'm luxurious. You gotta got money. They got money out here. But just talking to the people, like I like people. I wanna try. I wanna like pick your brain a little bit, get to know you. So we meet different Uber drivers. And there was this one guy who was, you know, we're going from one place to the next. Maybe he was taking us to a club or something.

D Carrie (45:46.091)

I'm welcome.

D Carrie (45:53.78)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (46:03.353)

And I was in the front seat. So I was chatty, like, what's your name? Like, where are you from? What's up? Oh, he was, it was interesting. Some people may have been offended by the conversation, right? But not me, like, I really like to see other people's perspective and like their worldview. So he said, he's like, are you Asian? I'm like, no, I'm a black woman, a very proud one actually. He's like, there's no way you're black. I'm like, what's wrong? If I'm wrong with being black, I'm not Asian, I'm black. And then he's like, wow. He's like, wow, okay. And I'm like,

Tonya Nelson Fisher (46:32.985)

um what what what's the problem he's like no there's no problem you're just you have an interesting face i'm just getting to know you and i'm like okay sir so where are you from he said he's from pakistan so i was like oh he said where are you from i said i'm from america i'm from the united states and the man gasped like he almost stopped the car he's like you're from america you live there are you okay i was like

Tonya Nelson Fisher (46:59.997)

He's like, that is such a dangerous place. Aren't you scared living there on a daily basis? Everyone has guns, everyone has this, everyone has that. How do you live there? And I was like, sir, you don't know the things that they've taught me about Pakistan. I can turn the same question and ask you the same exact thing. And he's like, well, Pakistan is lovely and safe. And it really just opened up my eyes. That conversation really opened my eyes. First of all,

D Carrie (47:00.85)

That's with...

Tonya Nelson Fisher (47:28.757)

how we educate ourselves about other parts of the world. Right, that was number one. And number two, just what safety is, like how people view safety and like wellbeing. The fact that we have been taught to believe that this part of the Middle East is probably chaos. And some people are living their best lives there. Like they're having, they wake up every day and they're not.

D Carrie (47:32.822)

Yes.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (47:53.973)

fearful to send their kids to school. And if they are, it's maybe not because of a civilian that's gonna come to the school and shoot it up. Like they're probably fearful for another reason. So it just gives me appreciation for another person's walk of life. And like, and it makes me not feel so proud to be, oh, I have so much freedom where I'm from. Maybe I don't. Like other people in other parts of the world don't see me as a free woman and they don't, they are nervous for me.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (48:22.165)

So it just really opens up my eyes to just how everyone is in their own small bubble and how we all are experiencing something really different. So that inspires my artistry to like, it inspires what I write about, what I think about, what I journal about. Even if it's not music I can write, I write, I try to write as much as I can every week. So that inspires me to just knowing and learning about other people's perspectives.

D Carrie (48:48.834)

Yeah, that perspective change is such a big one. A lot of, it doesn't even have to be like earth shattering, rocket science. A lot of things I feel like that tend to be very impactful tend to be the really simple things. The really, the nuanced little details about everyday life. Something as simple as like how frustrating it is to travel someplace else and not be able to keep your shower water hot.

D Carrie (49:18.422)

long enough. It's just like, all right, yeah, there's hot water here. This is great. But there are two of us. I started to run the shower. Now I'm brushing my teeth. I came outside bullshitted for about three, five minutes. So at home, that's cool. You could run the water for like 10 minutes before you get in, you know, and you still get a piping hot shower, but not, that's not the case everywhere. That's not as, that's not necessarily the norm, something as simple as like, oh, so I can like,

Tonya Nelson Fisher (49:19.498)

Mm-hmm. Ha ha ha.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (49:29.601)

Hehehe

Tonya Nelson Fisher (49:34.55)

bit.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (49:41.103)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (49:48.094)

Y'all just leave your bikes and stuff here. Y'all don't chain them up. Like y'all don't try to bring them inside with you. You just leave everything in there. And it's here when you get back and you're comfortable doing that. Like little things.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (49:53.946)

Yes.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (49:59.857)

Right, right. There was some country I saw people leave their babies outside. Like they leave their strollers and they're sleeping babies outside. They go and enjoy their lunch and come back and their baby is still there. You can't do that. You cannot do that.

D Carrie (50:05.622)

Yeah. Uh-huh.

D Carrie (50:12.47)

No, no. And the notion, the idea of it is so foreign. It's just like, there's some things that you could say, okay, well, maybe in this neighborhood or maybe in like this region, certain things. Like I can see people saying like, not locking their doors, right? Like if you live in like a cul-de-sac in the middle of-

Tonya Nelson Fisher (50:19.196)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (50:32.794)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (50:35.918)

kind of someplace, like I could see someplace in like Virginia or, and I'm just thinking Virginia because like my cousin lives in Virginia and I love her little cul-de-sac. Her little random neighborhood kind of tucked away is so fucking cute. And so in my mind, if you know most all of your neighbors, I could see how you may think, I'm just gonna run to the store, I'll be back, I'm not gonna lock the door. But in certain, like I'm not fucking with that, like my shit's always locked.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (51:01.511)

Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (51:05.438)

You know what I mean? Like if I didn't just unlock the door because I know my dad is pulling around the corner and I ran back upstairs so that I could go finish whatever it is I'm doing. But it's just like, all right, well, the door's unlocked. Just pull up. But it's like, I'm here. You know what I mean? Like little things are just like, I would never consider leaving my car running. Like I would never leave my bag on the seat and then go pay for gas and then come back. You know what I mean? Like,

Tonya Nelson Fisher (51:06.656)

Right, right, right.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (51:21.624)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (51:32.705)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (51:35.766)

But perspective changes. And I can really appreciate how travel allows you that little reminder that the world doesn't just function the way your life happens. Like so much exists outside of us and being that person in the middle of some, even just the little part of your own vacation and these people aren't. Like when I travel and it's like, I try to link with people that I know in the area.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (51:49.065)

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

D Carrie (52:05.238)

And so you could do all the planning in the world, but I'm the one that's on vacation. So randomly, if on Tuesday you, you, your availability shifts from like 130 to now 430, it's like, I'm a roll with it because I have no work today, girl. You did. So you do what makes your life easy, but where can we find your music? Like, where do we find the artistry that has been shaped by your love of music and your love of.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (52:16.914)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (52:20.004)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (52:28.837)

Yes. So all of my music is, I've only had two singles so far, okay. I don't have any other because like I said, I got a lot of open parts. I got a full-time career and a full-time family, but I have dropped two songs in the last year, which I'm very proud of actually. So both of my singles, thank you. Both of my singles are on all platforms. You can look up.

D Carrie (52:47.742)

And I am proud of you also.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (52:55.433)

Tanya, T-O-N-Y-A, West, W-E-S, that was from my, that was my radio name. I'm like, I'm out of radio now, so I kinda wanna do a name change, but I'm still thinking about that. For all of my music, two singles, one is called Look Back, one is called Timeline, you can do both. You can look up both on all platforms. But use Tidal if you can, cause you know, same with Plug. It keeps me paid, using Tidal keeps me paid.

D Carrie (53:05.166)

Mm-hmm. Okay, so.

D Carrie (53:17.518)

Yeah. Do you have like an affiliate link or anything for a title or something? That you get like, okay.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (53:26.261)

Girl, no. No, I don't. I don't. I just get a check by monthly. Well, yeah, that's it. But you know.

D Carrie (53:33.534)

Right? You just on payroll. They like, you don't need nothing else from us. You don't need nothing else. We got you. We got that check and them benefits. Sonia.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (53:40.469)

Exactly. Exactly. Hehehehe Exactly. Benefits like being able to travel across the whole world and Hehehe Exactly Hehehe I'll tell you. I'll tell you. Exactly. Exactly. Hehehe Hehehehe

D Carrie (53:47.754)

Hello, being able to see baby, I got to get my eyes checked and I got a call, I'm good people on it. That number on the back of the card, cause I'm not trying to pay for that out of pocket if I don't have to, cause y'all not gonna make me suffer, dilate my motherfucking eyes. And I gotta pay for that if I don't have to. Cause I remember the one time I did that and I did not know that you at least need glasses or should not drive yourself.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (54:16.351)

Oh, you need a shade. You didn't have the shade.

D Carrie (54:17.958)

I had to drive myself home. When I tell you, I was so terrified. I don't think, like I have blocked out a good portion of that trip. Like I just remember the terror of like, oh no. This is a good, I think I cried. Hello, yes, so am I.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (54:21.408)

No.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (54:34.285)

I'm grateful you made it home.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (54:38.005)

conversation today.

D Carrie (54:39.862)

I think the last thing I remember is starting to cry. It was just like, I can't see. I am driving and I can't see. And I was someplace like in Long Island. So it's not even like I did it out here. So it's just like, you know how you know your route. So it's all right, cool. I know where I'm going. I at least feel that this is the right exit. It was bad. It was bad. Now I know better. But thank you so much for joining me. I am so proud of you.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (54:55.389)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (54:59.169)

comfortable. Of course. Thank you.

D Carrie (55:08.81)

I am so excited to continue to watch you flourish. And I hope that everybody else is excited to join the ride with you. Where can we find you on the socials to keep up with what you're doing?

Tonya Nelson Fisher (55:12.501)

Thank you.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (55:19.013)

Yes, on the socials you can follow me, Tanya T-O-N-Y-A, Sharice, C-H-A-R-I-Double S-E. And yeah, I'm gonna be on the TikTok soon, you know? Once I learn how to do TikTok. It's like when the LJs used to say, the Facebook. Ha ha ha.

D Carrie (55:36.327)

Yeah, girl, I put one video up just to like, hold like as a placeholder for like the traveling shit name thinking, Oh yeah, I'm gonna look, I'm gonna, I'm gonna get back. I'm gonna, I'm gonna, I'm gonna loop back. That was in January.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (55:51.297)

See what I'm saying? Honestly, social media though is starting to give me like hives when I think about it. And I also travel wise, like I feel like people don't just live authentically anymore. A lot of people... ..

D Carrie (56:02.626)

Some people have a good balance. Some people do a good job of being able to make us feel like they're enjoying themselves and present in the moment while still sharing the moment. I haven't found that. So personally, I'd rather just be. And then, and it's so frustrating to realize that I know that I'm going to talk about this on the podcast. So I would like there to be some type of visual component for what it is I'm saying. And I know that part of storytelling where we are now is visual. So it's like,

Tonya Nelson Fisher (56:14.426)

Yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (56:23.442)

Mm-hmm.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (56:26.273)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (56:32.03)

I understand the importance of social media, whereas at the same time, I really hate taking photos of all of my drinks. I really hate taking photos of the food that I'm eating at these really gorgeous restaurants that I'd rather just fucking eat my fucking food at. And it's like... Eh.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (56:38.866)

Right.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (56:44.741)

Enjoy it. I know. I know. I went on a trip once and we were doing like the trapeze and my friend is going across it and she's like, are you getting it? Did you get the picture? Get the video. And I'm like, girl, just enjoy it. Like have fun. Right.

D Carrie (57:00.046)

Hey, talk about it after it, be present in the moment. And I gotta say as a little side note before we go, that's one of the things that I try to make a point of doing is trying to have like a visual photograph from a couple of different trips, like just a moment of gratitude where I am just present and just try to be as descriptive as possible in describing to myself what it is I'm seeing to try to like,

Tonya Nelson Fisher (57:19.019)

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

D Carrie (57:29.842)

emblaz it in my mind. Just like, what is this guy doing? What is the horizon look like? What are the colors that are in front of me? Just like being present and doing the best I can to take that like visual photograph that's just going to be part of like my mental Rolodex. And I feel like that adds another little tear to being present. And I have some very fun moments of some past trips. So yeah.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (57:32.254)

Yes.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (57:45.163)

Thank you.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (57:48.466)

Yes.

D Carrie (57:58.978)

Gus, shout out to those of y'all that are able to engage in that level of storytelling and still be present because I got, he's not finished with me because I don't got that good yet.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (58:03.037)

Yeah, shout out to you all.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (58:08.897)

I had the gift. I know, but I just want to say, I'm grateful to be here with you today. Thank you so much for having me. I am proud of you. I'm very proud of you. And I'm excited for your endeavors to come, the ones you've already had. I'm just grateful to be here with you today and have this conversation. This is great.

D Carrie (58:28.59)

I hope y'all enjoyed our combo. We'll talk to you guys next week. Bye y'all.

Tonya Nelson Fisher (58:34.299)

I'm sorry.