Lisa Lester and Michelle Smith
Recorded
March 25, 2022
Archived
March 25, 2022
54:24 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
ddv001518
Description
One Small Step partners Lisa Lester (48) and Michelle Smith (57) discuss their backgrounds and differences religious and political views, but also find commonality on education, empowering women, and always wanting to respect others and embrace them as they present themselves to be.Subject Log / Time Code
Lisa (L) asks Michelle (M) about all the different places she has lived. M says she's fascinated with people and places, and L says they have that in common.
M asks L when she left New York, and about her career path. L talks about the love and openness of special needs children.
L talks about being a single Mother.
L explains how the 7th Day Adventist Church looked down on single parents. M asks L if she still belongs to that church. L says she's still a Christian but not 7th day Adventist.
M says she has a degree in Biblical Studies. She says her faith is not about rules but but relationship. She discusses being raised in a church where divorce was looked down on and now being divorced.
M asks L about her hair. They discuss Black hair.
M asks L if she prefers Black of African American? They discuss.
M talks about working with all types of people in her career as a real estate broker, but that her calling in to love and respect people. L agrees. She wants to embrace people as they present themselves to be.
M ask L if she is a Democrat or a Republican. She discusses growing up thinking that all Christians were Republican.
L talks about her family being a part of the Great Migration and being taught democratic ideals. She says she identifies as a Democrat but doesn't always agree with the party.
M discusses politics being deeply personal. She talks about being aware of her parents politics. They were Republican because they equated that with a better life for their family; they wanted to move away from working class Democrats.
L discusses growing up being Black and they discrimination her family faced. They were pushed the Democrat agenda because they equated that with equality for all. They were also hyper focused on education. M says her family also pushed education.
L talks about losing her Mother at an early age.
M relates her parents stressing education to her being a workaholic. She discusses her changing relationship to education through her own kids and step-kids.
M talks about wanting to exposing herself to different experiences and choosing how to respond to people.
M asks L about her relationship to her stepmother.
L ask M when she got remarried. M talks about her divorce from her first husband.
L talks about getting out of a toxic relationship, and learning to love herself through therapy. She also says that was confusing as a Christian, since you're not supposed to focus on yourself.
M talks about how she wants to empower young women. M and L discuss wanting to feel so whole themselves, that if they lost a relationship they would grieve, but ultimately be able to stand on their own.
L and M discuss their hopes for the future.
L and M discuss how this conversation has opened their eyes and made them feel.
Participants
- Lisa Lester
- Michelle Smith