My Best SHIFT

S5:E2: Walking Boldly in Your Truth (with Trini Sherman)

• Season 5 • Episode 2

Share episode

What happens when self-awareness becomes the catalyst for transformation? In this episode of My Best Shift, Chantée Christian sits down with Trini Sherman, a certified professional coach and upcoming bestselling author, to explore the profound impact of owning your truth, breaking generational cycles, and stepping boldly into your purpose.

From reclaiming the power of her name to embracing vulnerability in storytelling, Trini shares how self-awareness has shaped her journey and how it can unlock potential for others. We discuss the role of identity, faith, and courage in personal growth, the struggles of navigating major life transitions—including divorce after 28 years of marriage—and the importance of taking intentional steps toward purpose.

Listen now and be inspired to walk boldly in your truth!

Meet Trini Sherman – Purpose Advocate, Coach & Visionary. Trini Sherman is a certified professional coach dedicated to empowering women to align their potential with their purpose. A lifelong advocate for personal transformation, emotional mastery, and legacy-building, she believes that self-awareness is the foundation for true empowerment.

As a contributing author in the upcoming book Awareness Put Me On, Trini shares her powerful story of reclaiming her voice, recognizing her role in her own life experiences, and taking radical ownership of her journey. Through her coaching practice and podcast, she’s on a mission to help others elevate, expand, and embrace the fullness of who they are.

Connect with Trini via YouTube | LinkedIn 

Show your support for the show in the form of a review, rating, like, follow and/or subscribe. It makes a huge difference with the algorithmic overlords!
________________________
INSPIRED ACTIONS/THOUGHTS FOR THIS EPISODE
In what ways are you playing small, and how can you reclaim your power?
How can self-awareness shift the way you approach personal transformation?
________________________
SUPPORT US BY SUPPORTING OUR PARTNER(S)
Buzzsprout – Following this link let's Buzzsprout know we sent you, gets you a $20 Amazon gift card if you sign up for a paid plan, and helps support our show https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1381600.
Headliner – Following this link let’s Headliner know we sent you https://make.headliner.app/referral/info_AwIgqs.
________________________
THE DREAM TEAM -- CREDITS
Audio Engineering: Superb Media (kevinwatkins.nyc@gmail.com)
Music Composition: Hitz Muzic Group, LLC (hitzmuzicgroup@gmail.com)
Photography: Peculiar Images by R.J. Paulk (rj@peculiarimages.us)
Hair: Rob Fooks Hair Salon (rob@robfooks.com)
Custom Artwork: Janae Danielle Consulting and Design (janaedanielleco@gmail.com)

Looking to lead with more intention and authenticity? 

The Conscious Leadership Summit is a one-of-a-kind experience designed to spark transformation.

-Gain powerful insights from thought leaders.
-Connect with a dynamic community of like-minded professionals.
-Go beyond lectures with a curated, interactive experience.

Tickets are moving fast! Secure yours now at ConsciousLeaderSummit.com.

Get your copy of "Awareness Put Me On" Today!

Follow us @MyBestShift_LLC on Instagram.

Chantée Christian:

hey, Trini, how you doing today great.

Trini Sherman:

How are you?

Chantée Christian:

I am doing well.

Trini Sherman:

Thank you for joining me on my podcast you're most welcome, honored to be here with Ms Chantée.

Chantée Christian:

Well, before we get into our conversation, why don't you tell the people a little bit about yourself?

Trini Sherman:

Well, my name is Trina Sherman. A fun fact it's spelled T-R-I-N-I, so if you see it written you might get a little confused. Is it Trini? But it is definitely Trina.

Trini Sherman:

And so I like to say my parents wanted to give me something interesting when I introduced myself to people. So here I am, and it calls about the diversity of myself. You know, is it Trini or is it Trina who's showing up for you right now? But no, in all seriousness, I love the fact that I get to share that, because there was a time when I would just let people who didn't know me well call me Trini or Trini.

Trini Sherman:

And recently I, in less as I've done the internal work of myself and recognizing the importance of my name and using my voice in all areas coming around that that, coming to that awareness, I said you know it's important for me to clarify that, so I like to address it right up front so everyone knows and embrace that uniqueness of myself, and so that's one thing about me that you all may find interesting, and the other is, as a certified professional coach, I'm honored to be here to just share my passion for women to be empowered to live out their calling, their purpose, to make sure that their potential is aligned with their purpose, of purpose where we're all just living out our thing, doing our thing, full of energy, excitement, color, purpose, and, from that vantage point, able to look out around the world and see who are we called to, to impact, to help rise, to support.

Trini Sherman:

And so that's what I'm passionate about Most of all is the elevation of women into their power to create their most amazing life, one step at a time, because we tend to look at the mountain and get distracted or discouraged by the long picture, and it just takes one step at a time.

Chantée Christian:

Okay, I'm like damn, I need to go practice my elevator pitch, because that was great.

Trini Sherman:

That's called progress.

Chantée Christian:

It's so interesting that you mentioned your name and the importance of your name so many different reasons and why. But I remember when I first met you you didn't correct me and then I heard someone else say it. I was like, well, wait, what's your name?

Trini Sherman:

Yeah, you know, as I've gone on this journey of coming into my own and in filling those places, that my power was leaking, many of the different areas that I was leaking power have revealed themselves, and that's one of them. And yeah, so it was me silencing myself in ways, and when you don't use your voice in any way, you're leaking power. So that was an area that I recognized that I'm leaking power, because I'm not telling the truth of that, because it's the explanation and what my people think, or you and just going along with you, know what it is an I and it's phonetically correct, so like, but that's not my name, no matter what it looks like. I'm Trina and I also. It helped in terms of other cultures that are in our country. Um, most especially, I found, with Asian names, that they tend to Americanize their names.

Chantée Christian:

Oh yeah.

Trini Sherman:

That's not their birth name, and so then I've been really watching that and seeing that and then had to turn it back on myself because it's like you're doing the same thing. You're not honoring your name, and your name is important your name and your name is important.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that. I remember as a kid, my dad would say what's your name? And I would say Chantée, and he'd be like what is your name? And I'm like Chantée, it's like what's the most important part of your name? I was like, oh, shantae, latoya, christian, right, and it was like I had to say my whole name because he was teaching me the importance of my name and so where I would fight with people to make sure that they said my name right, because it felt like such a disrespect because of how he and my mother like really instill that your name is really important.

Chantée Christian:

Um, my challenge wasn't necessarily telling people about how to say my name.

Chantée Christian:

My challenge has been how to tell people to spell my name.

Chantée Christian:

And because my name has an ugly on it and for I mean, I grew up in the eighties we didn't have those things on there, and even when I graduated high school, that was not an option on the keyboard and so unless, like they really wanted it to be, which they didn't, and so it wasn't so people would put an apostrophe and I'm like that's not it either, or they just wouldn't put anything at all and I'm like, well, if it's not an option, that's cool. However, if it's an option, I want it and, like you, it took me some time to be like. That's actually actually not my name. My name phonetically requires the E, it's French, like it requires the accent, and so, yeah, I find that to be like really powerful, because I think about that even, like when I think about how you had talked about elevating women and elevating their lives one step at a time. I think part of that is accepting all of who you are and being able to stand firm in that, at least to me.

Trini Sherman:

Absolutely.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah. So I'm curious because there's one thing that you haven't mentioned, and by the time this airs, you would have become a bestselling author to one book that is called Awareness. Put Me On and you talked about awareness and how it got you to this point, and I'm curious what would you say has been one of the most enlightening things that you've found out or that you've realized about yourself throughout this process?

Trini Sherman:

Now, when you say process, are we talking about the process of the book or the process of my?

Chantée Christian:

internal work. I referenced Process of your internal work.

Trini Sherman:

Okay, Well, when you asked that question, what came to mind for me was a point that some of this I share in the book Awareness put me on around the fact that I went through a divorce from a 28-year marriage and one of the pivotal moments in that way, way, way back, is getting to a point where I had to come face to face with the fact that I was a contributor and an owner of my life experiences.

Trini Sherman:

Because as I looked around and saw the different experiences, I was having something clicked and awareness came that says you know what? You're the common denominator in all of your experiences. So there's ownership there and that's one of the major power moves is when you can take ownership, because as long as I was blaming others or looking externally for answers or reasons or excuses for why things weren't showing up the way that I wanted life to experience life, once I took that power back and said, hey, I'm the captain of my ship, I'm actually creating my own life experiences, not that I'm responsible for what other people are doing, yeah, yeah, yeah, and not to negate what the negatives that I was experiencing from the external, but to take my power back and say, if I created this, I can create something different. So once I got that, then I began the work of what about me led me to where I was.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah, I love that. I love that I talk about um, one of my friends, and I talk about it all the time. It's like, well, all this shit is happening, but you're the common denominator. It was like right, and it's like a, literally to me.

Chantée Christian:

I envision holding this mirror up, because I think that people come into our lives in different spaces and phases Right so, but they're in different spaces and phases of us and whether we're able and willing to recognize it in the moment or not, and sometimes we're not even able to right, sometimes it is literally a hindsight situation, but I think that the, the, the magic happens when we realize the part that we played. And then, what right, because the situation is going to come up again. It it could be somebody that's in this exact same you know whether it be a romantic relationship at work and you'd be like I'm surrounded, surrounded by this. What is it? What's wrong with all these people? And it's like, well, let me go, let me go dig a little deeper. Also, I love that. And so, since you brought it up, I'm curious what would you say is something that you would take? You would say is one of your biggest awarenesses that you've taken away from the book writing process?

Trini Sherman:

That I can write a book.

Chantée Christian:

Oh, that part, Say that part.

Trini Sherman:

I've said for many years that there's a book in me and so um writing a chapter in awareness put me on said I did that yeah I could do 12, 15 more of those, if you know. So that was the awareness that, that, that vision, that idea, that function in me became more realistic.

Chantée Christian:

Ooh, I love that. That's like I don't know, like so okay, this is because I know, but I want you to tell the people what your granddaughter, or one of your granddaughters, said to you when she came in to look at your books that are. You all won't see it, but she's sitting behind. Trina is sitting behind this beautiful set of bookshelves with books like literal books on them. Y'all know how I feel about reading real books, but she has real books behind her and your granddaughter came in one day and said what to you about these books?

Trini Sherman:

So, yes, I had just put the bookshelves up, so she hadn't seen them before, and so she walked in and she calls me Mina. So she looked at the books and she said, mina, that's not your book, or those aren't your books, or something to that effect. So I thought she was telling me those weren't my books to put on the shelf, that they didn't belong to me. So I thought she was telling me those weren't my books to put on the shelf, that they didn't belong to me, and I'm like yes, they are my books, alina, and she's like, no, that's not your face on that book.

Trini Sherman:

And it was just like something hit me inside Growing up my grandmother. You saw her say out of the mouth of babes like, yes, children, you know, people can know that reference. And that's what it felt like to me, like oh, my goodness you. You struck and I said you know what, you are right, but one day, yeah, it will be my book. And then connected with you, what a week later.

Chantée Christian:

And yeah, we are, and I think the really cool part about that is that I don't think that there's like coincidences, right. And so when I think about one, how we met constant contact after our initial connection and yet there was something in a moment that pulled both of us to each other about separate things, right. And in the midst of all of that, a message is coming from your granddaughter that you didn't know was going to have a follow-up part to it from me, right. And so when I think about how it all has just literally come together and your chapter, like y'all, I can't wait for y'all to read it, it's so good, she had me crying. I'm like lord have, have mercy, right.

Chantée Christian:

But I think that it's part of that push of the knowing and remembering that you're worthy, Right, and that you're capable and that you have everything that you need in order to be able to do the thing that you've been dreaming about, right. And so, like I feel like it's it's elevating yourself, too, right, and showing people, especially women, who have and are going through one step at a time, what does it look to elevate Right? Cause when I talked to you, I told you my whole purpose in this is to amplify the voices of women and people right, and in order for me to do that, I have to be able to open the door, which meant that I had to go do some stuff to be able to be ready for it. Right To which you are and have been preparing and planning for, and that's the part that I love most about not just your story, but what awareness and the self-work right have been able to do for you. I love that.

Trini Sherman:

Yeah, it's like shining a light. You know, having that light just shine on your life and having something illuminated and then you can't unsee what you see. And once you see what you see, you have two choices to just bury your head and ignore. You know you can ignore it, but you still see it. So it's gonna keep calling you forward, whether you want to or not. Or you can lean into it and begin to move forward with it and it's like you said. You know, as I shared earlier, it's that one step, because I've had a recent experience of that, that I had another dream that I've been looking at for years and years just in the back of my mind, and then, just just this week, how connecting with someone and having an idea and working with my coach and my mastermind about something different, and then, in a moment time, like I see how those things can connect yeah and how.

Trini Sherman:

I'm not right there yet, but I see this step, I see these steps I've been taking. Now it it's illuminating. There's now the belief, awareness, awareness that comes and says, oh, this is really possible. I don't know the timing and I don't know the exact path, but because I've been continuing to take one step, one step, one step, more of the picture opens up, up and what I've struggled in the past is sitting still waiting for full vision and expecting. You know, god, show me the whole picture.

Trini Sherman:

You know, then, I'll believe or then I'll move and it's like, no, you I have. I've had to take steps, I've had to employ courage in the face of the fear, of the unknown, of even sometimes feeling can I do this? Am I worthy? You know who do. I think you know all those thoughts that can come into one's mind as I continue to step into courage. And step into courage Even with the book Awareness Put Me On.

Trini Sherman:

After I said yes. Then it's like what are you doing? Like are you sure about this? And going back through the process. So, even when there's awareness, even when there's a knowing, even when there's elevation and growth, it doesn't mean your humanity disappears and you stop having questions and doubts and fears. It's having the tools and skills to step back, yeah, and reassess and reevaluate and do it as necessary and have that community or support that you can check in with to help hold you accountable. And then people who are further along, because that's, you know me connecting with you was like, okay, you have a podcast, I'm going to start me a video podcast. So what do you have? And you're like, hey, I got this book.

Trini Sherman:

You know it's just in stepping out, because even in that, asking for help, you know being a you know high achiever I get A's in school. I should know how to do everything and I should be able to figure it all out. And even doing the internal work has opened me up to having the confidence, the courage, to ask for support from others and not feeling some level of shame or like I should know how to do this Because, no, you can't know how to do what you don't know how to do. And there are people who've gone before you. So it's that wonderful place of having peers. They were in the same place. We can support each other and others who've gone before you.

Trini Sherman:

So it's that wonderful place of having peers. They were in the same place. We can support each other and others who've gone before. So all of that has just been pivotal in getting me to the place that I would say yes to a chapter in a book and yes to a video podcast and yes to being on a podcast with you, when a year and a half ago, going live for a minute was like the most scariest thing for me to do. So you know, just keep moving.

Chantée Christian:

And that's what I kept hearing. Right, like I kept hearing do it anyway, move anyway. Right, move through the fear. Cause the fear.

Chantée Christian:

I mean, like I love hearing artists, like musical artists, say I still get nervous when I go on stage, right, I'm still anxious about how the people will receive a project, because I'm like, okay, they're human, right, they're human, they're human, and what I heard you explain is humanity, like, we are human and it would be absurd not to say that we wouldn't have doubts or fears or other things. The question is, what do we do with it? Right, and a lot of times we sit back and we say I need to see it all first. Right, and God is like I told you to move, I didn't tell you that I would show. And God is like I told you to move, I didn't tell you that I would show you and reveal everything. I told you to move. And because you haven't moved, you still asking me to show you, right, and so it's like this pull and tug and it's like, but if I move, I don't have what is right and it's something that's all these things, and I'm don't have what is right and it's all these things.

Chantée Christian:

And I am speaking for myself in this fully right it's almost as if you read my chapter, because I talk about that, right, I talk about the internal dialogue that happens, that can be paralyzing at times, right, and I feel like, like and I I say this often Mark Twain had a quote that said um, there are two times in your life that are like the most valuable times in your life when you're born and when you found out why. And then I always add a third part, though, which is when you have the courage to do the thing, because so often we know, we feel it it's all around us and we dodge it like a dodgeball, like nope, get somebody else to do it, it can't be for me, that can't be it.

Chantée Christian:

And when we have the courage to walk in it, it literally changes the game, right, like I think about your granddaughter, won't know what is not, what is like to not have her grandmother be published, right, she won't know what is like for you not to be recorded and out there in the world for people to hear and to value and to to gain the insights that you have to give. That, to me, is what we do when we change generational perspectives, because so often I think that we get caught up on our own awareness, that we forget what happens when we decide to do something different, how it actually impacts the people that are closest to us right.

Trini Sherman:

Funny that that's interesting because yesterday I was talking to my nephews like a son helped raise him and his oldest daughter. Sometimes she would get in her little attitude or get frustrated. She's three and she'd get rigid. So I'd go and I talked to her. I'm like, okay, just take some deep breaths, calm down, take some deep breaths. And so she would relax and get better. So last night they told me that now they call me Mina as well. They said there's a little mini Mina over here, because now she's three and she has a sister that's a year and a half. So when her younger sister was getting upset she went there and said, okay, all right, journey, calm down, take deep breaths, just breathe in and take deep breaths, okay.

Trini Sherman:

And I thought, wow, when you talk about changing, because those little tools of how do you deal when you get stressed, how do you deal with your emotions, how do you? You know that emotional intelligence, emotional management, mastery, however you want to look at it, that your emotions are not taking control of you into, like you said, the next generation just sharing that and I was just, I didn't think of it from that perspective. I was just now, as a grandmother, in that role. It's like I see things differently than I saw them as a mother. You know it was much more rigid, much less aware of the importance of finding one's own way and creating space for that versus you know these, this is the right way, versus what? Their boundaries, of course, um, but also leaving more space. And now, with the grandchildren it's I'm more aware, because of the work I've done, to say, okay, it's important to support them in how to manage your emotions, versus shutting them down.

Chantée Christian:

Yeah.

Trini Sherman:

You know, so that that was interesting yesterday.

Chantée Christian:

No, and I think that had you had the tools that you have now when you were raising your, your girls, it probably would have been different Right Absolutely. But you did what you could with what you had at the time.

Trini Sherman:

Absolutely no judgment, no criticism. Just the awareness of the transition and the growth you know in that, and even with my daughters, even being more open to say here's my story, here's what my experiences have been. So you won't be in your 50s trying to figure this out, Let me share now. So even that, that piece I found to be important.

Chantée Christian:

I think that that's getting all sorts of chills over here, because I think that that's. I'm getting all sorts of chills over here because I think that that's so powerful, especially when we talk about women of color and the secrets that we die with, right. I think about my grandparents, grandmothers, specifically, and I'm just like, why'd you hold on to that so hard, like, and it was because of the judgment, the shame and you know the conversations and all of those things. And I just think about how, historically, we haven't created spaces that feel safe to pass on that type of knowledge that you're passing on to your girls, right, who are grown women, but to your daughters, right, right, and so I think that there's Space For that type of elevation within the family unit.

Trini Sherman:

Absolutely. Yeah, it's important Even, I think, from, I will say even for myself, getting to a point of feeling comfortable sharing even my own story myself. Getting to a point of feeling comfortable sharing even my own story and knowing, in trying to I'll say it this way being the nurturer, being the, the person that take has taken care, you know, of everybody for so long. Getting to the place of choosing self, choosing myself, choosing to honor every part of myself and beginning to recognize that not using my voice and speaking, like I said earlier, is a power leak. Now I get to choose how and when and where and what I share, my choice and where and what I share. Yeah, my choice, different than not speaking, because culturally it's you keep your business at home, you don't share your story, and then it what it leads to is people, us, walking around feeling like we're the only one and that something's wrong with me, specifically because I'm having this experience versus this is an experience, this is something that others experienced in this, and then they made it through. So if you and the other part, I guess, is, if we only share the good, then you only get to see the end of the story, then I have no clue of looking at that story of what do I do when I'm not there, except feel shame because I'm not where you are. You know, that's the piece is I'm not where they are.

Trini Sherman:

And even growing up in the church, some of that, like you know, just do it this way, just have faith, just walk the path, you know. But how, how, how, how and it's important to share the how. How did I do it? What are the tools that I learned along the way? What are the obstacles I faced, what are the challenges? What, like you said, what is the? Is that mindset piece, what's the negative language that I have floating around in my head and you're like, oh, you think that way too. Oh, you had that. That happens to you too. Oh, okay, and so that can be encouraging and uplifting and say, okay, well, if you can do it, then I can do it too and say okay, well, if you can do it, then I can do it too.

Chantée Christian:

Well, if I ever needed confirmation that what I wrote in my chapter was what I was supposed to be writing, I chose to write from a different standpoint than I would typically write, mostly because my higher power wouldn't let me be great and just write what I wanted to write, and when people reviewed it, they weren't used to experiencing that part of me. They weren't used to experiencing that part of me, and so they felt like I was talking down on myself or not being this epitome of light Right when the truth of the matter is. It's the reason why I titled my chapter Cease and Desist the Internal BS. Because it's me. Do I present all of the things that are floating around in this Aquarian head? Absolutely not, not outwardly. There are a few people that get bits and pieces of it, but the truth of the matter is I'm just like everyone else. However, because that's not how I present, people assume that I got all my shit together. I don't ever have doubts. I'm telling y'all this project has been a big ball of doubt, and not because I don't believe in it and not because I don't.

Chantée Christian:

I didn't know that it was what I was supposed to do, but it's because I'd never done it before in this way. I've never been on this side of the house, been on this side of the house, right. I've never had to put this many people in one spot and have us all with one mission for a half a day in a thought process and say go right. And then get it back and be like, oh shit, we're doing it all right, it's happening. And then to be able to look at the manuscript and be like I could not have done this without God's orchestrating every piece and step of the way. But when you talk about faith, right the the how for me it was. I had to literally let go and trust the process. I had to trust that he told me who, what, when and where. All I had to do was go and do it. Well, that's the hardest part, in my opinion. I'm like sending an email no problem. Reaching out no problem. Green light Whoa. What are we supposed to do with the green light?

Trini Sherman:

He said go right.

Chantée Christian:

And I'm saying that because I'm quick to blame social media for the perception that it has on people seeing things picture perfect. But the truth of the matter is, with or without it, we see what people give, and so part of the reason why I don't like to do visual recordings is because I don't want to get made up. I want to look like I look right now, homeless, I mean. I want to be comfortable. And because I have created this persona, I wouldn't say it's a persona, it's the truth. And when I go outside, I get dressed. My family is Southern, that's just what you do sometimes. When you're in the house, you dress too, but it just depends right. But I wouldn't be caught dead on a 45 minute podcast without with my hair not done, with a broken nail with no foundation and that's still work I'm working on. So y'all don't come for me. But with a broken nail with no foundation and that's still work I'm working on. So y'all don't come for me. But when people see me all the way together, they expect something right.

Chantée Christian:

And I'm like there are multiple pieces to me, and part of that is the self-work that I work on too. I'm a work in progress, and so I chose to do exactly what you're talking about in my chapter because I felt like it was time, and I felt like it was time for me to kind of move the veil and push the curtain curtain back. But I also felt like it was time because there were, and are, people who think that I just got to D without having to go through A and some numbers prior to that. Right, I'm, I'm like you, just don't.

Chantée Christian:

There's this perception that we just started and boom, you're there, wow, everything's great, and it's like whoa, mm-mm, mm-mm, you know. And so I love the courage and I love the vulnerability that comes with courage. I told some of the authors that I was going to get a shirt that said dig deeper. I feel like I said that to everyone, and the tricky part for me became when I had to say it to myself. I was reading my chapter and I was like gotta go deeper. And I was like I don't want to go any deeper.

Chantée Christian:

I don't want to, and then I did because I felt like y'all would come after me if y'all read my chapter and I didn't go deeper. Um, but I think that there's so much power in as you were talking about the community right and having that support and having people that have been in various stages of where you're at and where you're trying to go, because without it, how do you learn?

Chantée Christian:

right yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited, like I'm excited. I'm excited about. You know how you feel, like you're on the brink of something. You're unclear and unsure as to what and how it'll look, but you know that it's something. I know that this book it's not just a book, right Like. There isn't a shadow of a doubt in my mind that it is more than that, and I'm excited to watch God do whatever it is he had planned for this and just to be a part of his orchestration.

Chantée Christian:

It's taken me a long time to be able to get to a point where I can accept that I don't know and to accept that he doesn't need my help because I'm helpful At least I like to think so and I know that he doesn't need my help with this and I'm okay with that. And it doesn't mean I haven't been frustrated. It doesn't mean that I don't get in my own feelings and in my own way sometimes about it, but when I really sit still and I'm comfortable with I did exactly what he told me to do. He told me to do it and I did it, and I feel good about that.

Chantée Christian:

I'm excited to set out to do exactly what I wanted to do with the authors, which was give you all a platform to amplify your voices, and what you do with that is solely up to you, right? I was talking to someone before I got on with you and they were planning this like huge event around the book and I was like, yes, I can't wait to come the book. And I was like, yes, I can't wait to come, um. And so I'm like it's those things that I couldn't have planned. I didn't have any insight into any of that, because that's not. It wasn't, it's not my will right right, and so I'm excited for that.

Trini Sherman:

Like it's just, I get so tickled when you're speaking, one of the things I I like to write down the thoughts that come to me, especially when I'm walking and getting these wisdom. My coach calls them wisdom nuggets. I'm sorry, wisdom keys, but anyway, you call them wisdom nuggets.

Chantée Christian:

That's mine, it's one of my wisdom nuggets that's yours, that's mine.

Trini Sherman:

Okay, what I wrote was the power is not in knowing and understanding. Speaking to Trini the power is not in knowing and understanding. It's in the hearing and listening for where the spirit leads wait a Wait a minute, wait a minute, hit us with it one more time.

Trini Sherman:

The power is not in knowing and understanding, it's in the hearing and listening. For where the spirit leads important for me. It just came to me a couple of weeks ago because I really prided myself in knowing and knowledge and understanding, and even as a kid I can remember my parents saying I couldn't do something. I'm like, okay, it's fine, but I just need to understand why you know, or I get to place Okay, I just need to understand, just just help me understand. And that became a struggle in some areas of life, because there's some things you're just never going to understand, the things that I'm just like we're talking about. You're not going to know the whole picture, but it's in when I can hear, creating space to hear, and then listen and move according to what I hear you know, and so that has been calming for me, to be at a place of just listen see what comes and then go with it.

Trini Sherman:

Because all this knowledge can get really, really noisy and confusing, Because it can be so contradictory.

Chantée Christian:

Yes, yes, because what we know, what we fear and what we feel are hardly ever in sync Right, hardly ever fear, and what we feel are hardly ever in sync right hardly ever. And then what we hear, what we know, are hardly ever in sync either.

Trini Sherman:

Yeah, it's that. That. That internal for me is that finding that place, that internal knowing that thing. When you like, when you've practiced enough to listen and you know I used to do some things like parking space, like do I go on this aisle or do I go on that aisle and like testing that, that unction in me.

Trini Sherman:

Um, in the simplest of ways, so when I, you get to the place where there's the, the real decision to me you kind of and was in more in tuned, and then there came a point in my life where things got so crazy I just didn't hear anymore because I just just got way too noisy and then I brought brought myself back out, and so that's exciting for me is to be in the place to be able to hear yeah here again so that I can um release the other stuff and just just trust and walk trust and walk.

Chantée Christian:

What are you hearing right now?

Trini Sherman:

what I'm hearing right now, at a point in time I'm I'm a power player is what I'm hearing right now. What I'm hearing is that I'm really really big, and that's not in comparison to anyone else. It's really I'm really big and it's time for me to recognize the power that God has given me, the platform, the capacity to create change in the world and to settle into that, while at the same time digging deeper, as you say, expanding, elevating and enjoying the ride. Like, just if it's not. That's one line I've finally found, just if it's not. That's one line I've finally found.

Trini Sherman:

Like, if it's not an alignment and it's not feeling good to me, like if it doesn't, if I'm not happy in it, it's not just giddy happy, but getting to that point I know like something's off for me and I do not need to understand why it's off, I just need to know that it's off and let it go. You know, because I've really come to understand also, that just because I have the potential to do something, because I have the capacity, doesn't mean it's my calling, it doesn't mean it's my lane, it doesn't mean it's for me, maybe not at this time. So, even being patient with the timing of things. So, yeah, it just feels like things are just opening up in a way that had not existed before, and I'm at peace with that.

Chantée Christian:

I love this. I love this. It's reminding me of a clip I saw with Red Fox and Muhammad Ali and they're taking like a Q&A. So I assume it's after a show. I'm not 100% sure, but they're doing this Q&A and they're poking fun at each other, right? Sure, but they're doing this Q&A and they're they're poking fun at each other, right? And someone asks is Muhammad Ali a question?

Chantée Christian:

And his response was around him, like being people being intimidated by him when he's in the ring getting ready for a fight. And he said you know, I talk trash for me. It's not about them. I can't go back home knowing that I talked all that trash and lose, he said. And so that's my way of hyping myself up. He said the thing is that people don't understand that what I'm talking about. It has nothing to do with them. And so when they get in the ring, they think that I've talked all this trash to them, when really I'm talking it to myself. He said I go in there to fight me, right? And so when you talk about being big and it not being like in comparison to anyone else, it's like, no, it's in comparison to you.

Trini Sherman:

Right.

Chantée Christian:

Right and being able to say look at what I've done for me in retrospect and in introspect is so much bigger than any sort of comparison.

Trini Sherman:

Right and and and being like I said before, you know, pushing for grades and always wanting excellence and to do well, yeah, and having the capacity to do that, to accomplish that. I'll speak personally. At times I didn't understand the value, you know. Ok, yeah, you got straight, got straight A's okay, that's what you do it's not, but never.

Trini Sherman:

and it's again, it's, and I don't know if there's a woman or it doesn't, but it's that being in that place to say celebrate my own brilliance and being comfortable speaking to that and not having to play small, not choosing to play small because that will sound like you're bragging. You know, men have no problem telling you how great they are, generally, I mean at all Right, you know, and so it's.

Trini Sherman:

I can't. No one could have ever told me that I would be speaking this way, even probably 30 minutes ago. That wasn't the plan, but it's what's come. When you say what's coming up, that's what's coming up. Is the importance of all this greatness that God has placed in me for his purpose is worthy of celebration and expression, and so that's what's coming up. So, yeah, I'm brilliant, I'm amazing. And here's the thing Each individual has that same place that they can land and be. Same place that they can land and be. Period.

Trini Sherman:

Nothing unique about me when I say that it's that's the passion for me, especially for women, is to ignite that fire inside that says, yes, I'm worthy, yes, I'm powerful. And even, like we spoke about the next generation, beginning to speak that to my granddaughter, like, oh, you say this, I say this, I am strong, I am powerful, I am beautiful. You know all those affirmations. We talk about saying affirmations but getting it to a place that it's truth coming out of one's soul, not just an intellectual reverberation of you know, just saying some words, and that takes work and that takes time. Words, and that takes work and that takes time, and I'm all here for it to support other women in doing that work, so that they can believe it, live it, be it, share it.

Chantée Christian:

Yes, this is a perfect time. I told you it would happen for you to. We've talked about a lot and yet not really. What would you like to leave the people with?

Trini Sherman:

I would like to leave the people with my vision, as I said earlier, that I have a vision of women, most especially women, being on a mountaintop of their purpose, where they are alive and happy and free and dancing and full of color and meaning and enjoying life and having the vision for themselves of purposeful movement, how that they can touch others, to rise and elevate, to expand, and that, no matter where you are in your life right now, there's hope, there's purpose, there is meaning and you have potential in that, once you align it with your purpose, you're going to find that life can be an amazing journey.

Trini Sherman:

Even in the midst of the challenges we see, you can have the perspective of life is life and I get to be the most beautiful version of myself in the midst of it. And I just want everybody to everybody, even men I'm not I don't know that I'm necessarily called to that ministry yet, but who knows what's down? But even our men need to know that it's okay to tell the truth about who you are and where you are and what you're experiencing, so that our women or men can come together and have rewarding relationships and empower one another. So I know I said a lot, probably in that, and maybe not a whole lot, but not one point. I just really want people to be empowered to live the life that God has called them to on purpose, with purpose for purpose, in every step of the way.

Chantée Christian:

I love it. I love it. Thank you so much for joining me on my podcast.

Trini Sherman:

Thanks for having me. It's been a blast.