The Moments That Make Us: Art, Growth, Family and Travel with Tash Haynes
As folks prepare to travel for the holidays, and as 2023 starts to wind down, we wanted to reshare our conversation with the incredible Tash Haynes.
She talks us through how taking the time with those we care about will let us create the memories and moments that are so important this time of year.
Tune in for an incredible conversation around art, travel, and how to take a moment to slow down and appreciate those who you have around you not just over the holidays, but all year long.
Listen Now
Our Host
Ari O’Donovan
Resources:
You can find Tash Haynes online at: www.wisdomandcourage.com and on Instagram @itstashhaynes.
Transcript:
Ari O'Donovan: (00:01)
Are y'all comfortable? We hope wherever you're listening to this you're comfortable. This show is for the Bipo communities in Oregon hosted by a black woman about the amazing work we do every day in this state. So let's build together, connect with our communities, add some laughter and humor even when it's a difficult conversation. Let's boost our voices.
Tash Haynes: (00:25)
You not the same person I was like three weeks ago. You know, we're always, I mean especially if we're seeking growth and we wanna change, like we're always changing and morphine and growing and it's so uncomfortable.
Ari O'Donovan: (00:41)
Welcome back y'all to boosting our voices. As always, I'm your host Ira o' Donovan and I'm Booster Oregon's diversity program manager. Today we have a very special guest, Tosh Hayes. She has many talents. So Tash, tell us a little bit about you.
Tash Haynes: (01:01)
I am a photographer, content creator, a mom of three residing in the Pacific Northwest. My family lives just below Seattle in a small city called Tacoma and that's kind of the long and short. I could probably go on forever with all the things that we do, but mostly we do like content creation.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:18)
That's a lot and we're gonna get into a lot of great stuff during this episode so you'll get a chance to share as much as you want to. So I wanna start with the idea that moments make stories and stories, create two things, community and who we are. So reflecting on your story, what are moments that you think are important for people to know to best understand to Haynes?
Tash Haynes: (01:44)
I think like if I look over the course of the last 41 years and we talk about highlights, I think highlights are kind of like a buzzword right now, right? In social media in the world. I think the highlights of my life would be my birth, my upbringing. I guess more of like how I came into the world and how I existed in my upbringing. And then I have like these moments throughout like obviously like we have like college and things like that, but I have these like moments in my life. Like so I was born to a mother who's developmentally delayed and a father who I did not know. So that's important because I was immediately placed in foster care. So my story is that I grew up and aged out of the foster care system. So that would be like an highlight. I put myself through college as most people do.
Tash Haynes: (02:31)
And then I married someone that I found on MySpace that would be a highlight. This is MySpace. Before there was ever any social media. So 2005 like Facebook is just on the scene. MySpace and Facebook are competing against each other and most people probably don't even know what MySpace is anymore. We got married the day that we got married. I met my mom's maternal family. So that's another highlight. So now my story's kind of coming back together. And then obviously like having my children, those are highlights starting our business, we started our business 15 years ago with no real understanding of what it meant to be entrepreneurs, just like basically jumping off of a bridge and hoping for the best. And it's worked out for us 15 years later. And then along that path I got sick and I got the flu and I almost died and fought for my life for 16 days in the hospital.
Tash Haynes: (03:27)
The flu virus put me into heart failure. And so I spent a good amount of time in the hospital recovering from that. And then post my hospital time I spent a year trying to get my body back on track after that. And then we've got some of the highlights that we've all experienced covid and this pandemic and I gave birth during the pandemic and all those things. So there's these like moments in life that kind of stand out to me and I think that pretty much is like a quick summation of my story and my journey.
Ari O'Donovan: (03:59)
That is a lot of stuff. That's a whole lot of stuff and all of it is really special and unique. Even the more difficult things that you described are really something that I know taught you a lot about yourself and your story. You've shared it with so many people. You've inspired so many people. I learned about you through families fighting flu and you've shared your story with them. You've shared your story with me and I don't want this whole episode to be just you focusing on your journey with flu because you're more than that and we're gonna get into more than that. But I think that that's something that's really important um, to address because a lot of people don't think that flu can actually kill people. It can actually do that
Tash Haynes: (04:48)
100%. And I think a lot of people don't even really understand what the flu is because I know that before I had the flu I didn't. Um, and even though we don't need to spend this episode talking about the flu, I think it is important for the listeners to understand that my whole life is framed by before I got sick and after I got sick. There are very few people in the world who get an opportunity to, I guess for life to pause and for them to stop and to really like come to like the flu. Getting sick for me was a wake up call in my life where I got a chance to kind of look and see like where I was and where I wanted to be and I got to hope for something different. A lot of times when people are sick, they don't get a chance, they don't get a second chance.
Tash Haynes: (05:38)
And for me that was like a turning point in my life where I paused everything, everything in my life stopped and I was like, am I living the kind of life that I wanna live? Am I doing the sorts of things that I wanna do because this is a huge wake up call that life is not actually promised to us. Which we all know, we all understand that. But it was so real for me and I was so young and it was so unexpected that the reality of that became so real and it changed how I saw my life and also it changed how I lived my life. And anybody who knows me and it knew me before then and knows me now will tell you that I'm a completely different person. And getting back to the whole idea around like flu and people not really understanding what flu is, when I got sick I was like, when the doctors were like, you have the flu, I'm like, oh well doesn't everybody get the flu?
Tash Haynes: (06:31)
Like we use the word flu so interchangeably with like a cold or with allergies and so many of the symptoms are so similar, sometimes you, you can't even determine which one is happening to you. And so at the time when I was sick, I was experiencing things like fever, like chills and sweat, like exhaustion. Like I wasn't eating. I hadn't eaten for like 72 hours. Like these are all signs of like something is wrong. But for me I'm just like, well I'm young. I was 34 at the time. I'm an entrepreneur. I had a four year old child. I was working really hard. We don't feel good. It's not a big deal. And when it was brought to light that it was the flu, I'm just like, doesn't everybody get the flu? No, everybody does not get the flu. And most people haven't actually experienced the flu and don't understand like what the symptoms of the flu are or how deadly the flu can be or even how the flu shows up. So those were some of the things that like in that process and in that journey it was like, oh man, like this is not a normal occurrence. This is not a regular thing and the way that I talk about this is so different from what I thought. I don't know if that makes sense
Ari O'Donovan: (07:40)
But No, that makes a lot of sense. Yeah. Yeah. And I've read your story through your blog on your website and we're gonna link to your website too in this episode description. So cuz I want people to read that. That's a, that is a phenomenal story. Um, I've seen the photos too in the blog and it's like, wow, this is a very young woman and I know that experience really made you hug your child so much.
Tash Haynes: (08:07)
Girl, I, I can't even put into words like you always are like I have all this time to do all these things, right? And so going into that whole situation, we had not had any additional children. She was four years old cuz it was like we have all this time, we have all these things. Children was one life insurance was one. I had been feeling like oh you should get life insurance, this is really important. I didn't do it. There were so many things that I had thought that I still had time to do. So when that prompting or that urge came to me, I put it off and then afterwards, after I came out of the hospital and my doctors are like, there's no way that you're gonna be able to get pregnant again. One, because this medicine that we have you on is gonna terminate a pregnancy.
Tash Haynes: (08:49)
And two, we don't think your heart has the capacity to manage or handle a pregnancy. Devastated, you know, just devastated cuz I'm just like, what do you mean life insurance? Try to apply. No one would cover me because I was on this heart medicine, this blood pressure medicine and it takes a year for them to kind of determine. So once I got the flu, I was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. There's a chronic heart failure and there's acute heart failure. Chronic means that this is like you're living with this forever. This is like a life diagnosis. Acute is like this is a one time thing. Perhaps there's a history of like heart problems or you know, this was brought on by this particular illness and your body responded in this way but they can't diagnose it for a year. So I had to live with this congestive heart failure diagnosis for a year before my doctor could say okay this is a acute or this is chronic.
Tash Haynes: (09:49)
And I had to have all of these different like heart echoes and like ultrasounds and heart monitors over the course of the year just to make sure like are you really gonna be a heart patient for the rest of your life or is this, is this a one-time thing? What ended up happening is something about the flu caused my body just to respond in that way where it just, I ended up with myocarditis and pericarditis which is inflammation of the heart and inflammation of the heart lining. And then I also had pneumonia. So that's what happened. And it was a year later that the doctor was like, okay we think this was a fluke and we feel like you know, you've been able to do well over the, the last year so we're gonna give you the opportunity to get, we're gonna say you can get pregnant and we're gonna see what happens.
Tash Haynes: (10:35)
But there still was like so much risk involved in that and my last two pregnancies, my two youngest daughters, those pregnancies, they ended early because my body was tired. Like it was not able to carry all the way to term. Like so these are things that now I have to consider moving forward. And even now I'm two years postpartum, I just turned 41. Like I'm thinking about okay 20 years from now, what is that gonna look like? What decisions can I make today knowing that I have this history that is gonna make my life easier in the future and all because of that flu virus,
Ari O'Donovan: (11:10)
I really hate for you that it had to be that that caused you to have even greater foresight into the future and try to plan and how you're gonna be there for your family, how you're gonna love your family, how you're going to try to get life insurance and all these other things. But I am glad that you are doing that. It's terrible that it had to come from the flu.
Tash Haynes: (11:33)
I know it's crazy. Well and I'm also grateful because I'm the kind of person that's gonna share my story. And so I think what I did in this process and what I've continued to do in this process is like educate people and really like encourage people to take care of themselves and do what they need to do. You know, I just got approved for life insurance, which is awesome. Finally I did end up having two more kids. I mean it was hard work, but they're here and I am like making choices. I'm a sugar head, I love sugar, I love carbs, all the things, but I know what I'm up against. And so I'm like nope, we can't do that. We've gotta cut the red meat and we've gotta move our bodies every day. We can't do the sugar, we can't do the complex carbs because this is our history and we are more prone towards being black and being a woman period is just gonna already already comes with its own risks and problems.
Tash Haynes: (12:24)
But then I do have this history and so it's like I am moving forward, moving ahead with my eyes open and making the decisions that are like deposits into my future. And I feel really thankful to be able to do that, to know and to be able to do that cuz there are people that are not gonna know and they're just living and carrying on life. But like I have young children, I wanna be here for them, I wanna see them grow up. And so I feel like God like gave me a map for like how to move in life because of this situation.
Ari O'Donovan: (12:56)
That's such a powerful experience and I love that you're willing to share your story and talk to people and get people to realize the flu is very serious and to the extent that you can get vaccinated really try to do that. And there's other things you can do to protect yourself because like you said, a lot of people don't really take the flu seriously. Unless you've had it. Unless you've had it and you've had an adverse outcome because of it or something happened to you, chances are you probably are thinking, oh it's not that serious, it's just a little bit more aggressive of a cold and I don't have to worry about it. But nah, you gotta worry about it. And the fact that you educate people and share your story with each person that you do that with, you're improving somebody's life and their quality of life over time.
Tash Haynes: (13:43)
And I, I understand like the, the struggle with vaccination, like I definitely have my own kind of like my own nervousness around it. And I think I was one of those people prior to being sick that was just like, I don't need the flu shot for what? Like why would I need this? I think there's a lot of misconceptions around vaccination. I think it's always really tough, especially like in black communities for us to sign up for anything to go into our bodies because of our history and because of how those things have been used against our communities in the past. So I do understand like the feelings behind not wanting to do it. I will say that I do get the flu shot every year since 2017 because for me it's just not a risk I'm willing to take because I know what can happen.
Tash Haynes: (14:27)
But I also feel like we think that if we get vaccinated that we're not gonna get the flu at all or we're not gonna get whatever it is that we're getting vaccinated against, then that's not the point of vaccination. And I think that's where the education sometimes lacks. Like you may still get the flu but you're not gonna die from the flu. I was fighting for my life, like to the point where we were at blood transplants and we were putting, my name was getting put on the transplant list, like we're talking heart transplant. And so to avoid those kinds of outcomes like that is why you get vaccinated. Not because you're saying like, I'm not gonna get the flu or this thing is not going to happen to me. It's so that if it does happen to you, you're not fighting it alone. And that's the point, you know,
Ari O'Donovan: (15:14)
A lot of people don't know that and at Boast Oregon we really try to do our best to educate people about that too. I try to do my best working with communities of color and bi PC communities so people really understand that it doesn't mean that you won't get the flu just because you get vaccinated but you, you're not going to die from it. You're not going to have these types of really aggressive adverse outcomes that will change your life and that's gotta be worth something. If you really think about it and you think about this could happen to me, this isn't just a problem that that's everybody else's problem, this could never happen to me. If you think about how it could happen to you then that's gotta be enough to get vaccinated and I get it too. We saw that with the Covid 19 pandemic, how bipo communities and the black community, Latinx communities, these communities especially, they are not really, they were not trying to hear
Tash Haynes: (16:07)
None of it.
Ari O'Donovan: (16:07)
Let's get the Covid 19 vaccine. Mm. It's just as fresh. It's new, it's ready, get it down, y'all
Tash Haynes: (16:12)
Go ahead and go first. Y'all go first and let us know how
Ari O'Donovan: (16:14)
Goes you can go, I'll see what happens, let's see what happens. And then maybe . Mm-hmm . So it took a lot of time and education and we've gotten far. But I get that.
Tash Haynes: (16:25)
Well and that's why like podcasts like this and conversations like this are so powerful and so beautiful because trusted voices thought leaders are the ones that help us to kind of step over the edge, right? And so this is a real story. This is not an imagined story. This is truly what happened to me and I'm still dealing with the consequences of it. I still take blood pressure medicine, I still am very much like walking around with a scarlet letter and I'm still very young and very active. But it doesn't matter because once it happens, it happens. And that's the one thing that I really try to like kind of put out there. It's like when you have a heart, something like your heart is your battery. Like no one's trying to hear anything about whatever, you know what I'm saying? It's like once it happens, it happens.
Tash Haynes: (17:12)
It does not erase, it does not go away. I am living with this condition pseudo or ama, whatever for the rest of my life. Whenever I go anywhere I have to put down that I had a heart condition even if I've, and I've never had anything happen since then. It's been almost six years but it's still something that I have to disclose. It's still something that I have to say I have to make people aware of. Even when you go to like the amusement park, like it says that on the sign, like you can get away from it and it's just so wild how something like that can change your life like so quickly and so drastically. I saw my cardiologist actually in April and he was, he's so funny, he's really funny. He's one of the best cardiologists in the state of Washington and he is so smart and so knowledgeable, but he don't, he don't play with me at all and he be checking me and he's just like, I remember in the beginning when I got diagnosed I just did not wanna take the medicine. Like I was just like, no, I'm fine. And he was like, you know, I knew you were young but I didn't know you were stupid too. And I was just like, oh, okay. .
Tash Haynes: (18:21)
No, he was not playing. He was very, very serious. And then when I recently saw him, he was just like, your heart, your heart, it's like a heart of a young girl. He's like, he would never look at my heart and believe that this happened to me because it just is so different. But that doesn't matter still. You know, even so that felt really great and it feels really nice to know that I'm like out of the woods quote unquote. But I don't live in that way because especially when Covid came, it was so terrifying because I'd already been through that before we even had Covid. And so I'm just like, oh my gosh. Like people are not taking this seriously. But like I, I went through this with the flu and we know what the flu is, we don't know what this is and we're being so reckless about it. It's so wild how life can change so quickly and the more informed we are, the better, better we are able to make decisions that are best for ourselves and our families and for our lives. You know? So
Ari O'Donovan: (19:20)
Definitely the more informed that that makes such a difference. And you have a quote that goes, living your best life isn't for later. I think that's so true. And for people that are hoping to do that, how would you suggest they start that process?
Tash Haynes: (19:39)
Okay. I love that you were all over my website .
Ari O'Donovan: (19:42)
I was all over that website. Girl .
Tash Haynes: (19:46)
You know, I think, I think a lot of us, um, we're not really even tuned in to what our best life looks like. I think so many of us are in survival mode and we're just trying to make it day to day that we've never, like, we don't pause enough to even check in with ourselves and go like, what is, what would make me happy? What brings me joy? What inspires me? Um, in 2017 when I got sick, those were questions that I asked myself because I realized that I had been going through the motions. Um, and when I came out of the hospital I couldn't actually walk. I got reactive arthritis and so I couldn't use my hands, I couldn't really use my arms. I, my knees were so bad I couldn't walk outta be carried from room to room. And so I had a lot of time to think and I realized that like I had been kind of in survival mode moving from day to day doing the things that I felt like I should do based on what people had told me, the degrees that I had earned and I wasn't really happy.
Tash Haynes: (20:44)
And so I spent a lot of time like kind of getting to know myself again and figuring out like what are the things that make me happy? Like what are the micro joys? My friend Cindy Siegel just wrote this book called Micro Joys. And micro joys are basically the things that bring you joy no matter what's happening in your life. They're not like based on your mood or how you're feeling, but they're just things that exist that are just joyful just because. So an example of that would be like the flowers that are blooming outside, like they don't care what your mood is or what's happening in your life, they're still gonna bloom, right? Or like, I don't know, the things that just continue to happen like your cat coming over and snuggling you or whatever the case may be. And so I like spent a lot of time thinking about those things that are like static that don't change that make me happy no matter what.
Tash Haynes: (21:32)
And then like what were the things that excited me and that when I was around those things I felt like I was coming alive or I felt like good ideas would come to me or I felt joy or I could laugh for real. And um, I started spending more time with those people and going to those places and doing those things. And so my advice would be, you know, to take a account of your life and the things that make you feel good. Like if you answer the phone for so-and-so and you are dreading that or you feel drained afterwards, maybe don't answer the phone for that person as often anymore. Or if when you know, IRA calls you on the phone, you light up because you know she's about to come with all of this positive energy then get on the phone with her more often. Like it was those kinds of things that I started doing more of and I started eliminating things that I did not wanna do anymore. And I was able to curate a life that I'm living right now that is just like perfect for me.
Ari O'Donovan: (22:33)
I, I just love all that. I love all that so many people don't like you said, ever think about that. It's like there are things that you have going on with your life, whether it's people, whether it's a situation, whether whatever it is that you do not have to have, you don't have to deal with, you don't have to have it be something that stresses you, something that makes you feel a bunch of self-doubt. Something that doesn't give you peace, it doesn't give you any kind of joy. Remove those things and really bring in those things that give you that joy
Tash Haynes: (23:04)
Or at least position yourself, your heart to a place where you know you have a choice. If you wanna deal with the red flags then deal with them. But know that you're choosing to deal with that because there are some people you just can't throw away. There are some situations you can't just let go of but I think you're more empowered to show up to them when you know that you're choosing that for yourself. And I think that changes it. It's like when you're like, you know what, this person takes so much out of me but I love them and I'm gonna choose them. Which means that I can't choose any other mess because this is the only mess that I can deal with with perfect people and perfect situations all the time. But you can be empowered and you can hold your power to choose what you're gonna gonna deal with and what you
Ari O'Donovan: (23:46)
Aren't. That's very true. There is no such thing as a perfect life. Your life is the quality that you make it and if you are making choices to try to make it a better quality experience, that's the number one thing. There's so much power knowing that you have choice in what you do. So, so much.
Tash Haynes: (24:05)
I'm actually in therapy right now because last fall I found my dad, I didn't know he was alive, I didn't know anything about him. So 40 years you know, of being a certain person, whatever. And then bam, I got a father. Um, I'm the oldest of five girls, I have four younger sisters. Like it's just wild. So I was talking to my therapist and she just always is reminding me of choice and how important choice is, especially with my upbringing. Like I grew up in foster care, I didn't have a lot of choices, people were making choices for me. And so she's always pulling me and reminding me that I get to choose. I think that's like so important for all of us. I mean even as I'm raising my kids, I'm like reminding them of choice like you get a choice like this or that or do you wanna do this? Like they need to be empowered to know that they have choices and as many opportunities I can give them to exercise that choice and to reason through those choices is exactly what it means to like raise an adult. To build an adult. You know,
Ari O'Donovan: (25:08)
The earlier on that kids know that the better it will be for them. And I can imagine that finding your dad, that's a lot to unpack. I'm really glad to hear that you're taking the time to talk to a therapist that's so important.
Tash Haynes: (25:21)
Therapy has been like such a gift to myself, one of the best investments I made in myself. And I feel like no matter how good your life is, it's always nice to have someone who just is there to listen to you and two has no skin in the game and you can say whatever you need to say, they'll challenge you and they'll encourage you. Like I just think therapy is like one of the best things that we can do for ourselves. Whether life is good or not, you know?
Ari O'Donovan: (25:49)
Right. 100% agree. Your life doesn't have to be and shambles or anything. Mm-hmm For you to go talk to a therapist. It's something that, it's just nice to have somebody to talk to.
Tash Haynes: (26:00)
Yeah. That's just for you,
Ari O'Donovan: (26:02)
Right? You know it's there for you only.
Tash Haynes: (26:04)
Yeah. Yeah, it's been really special. It's been really nice to have that. So
Ari O'Donovan: (26:09)
And you found all these siblings, that's awesome.
Tash Haynes: (26:11)
Yeah girl. Wow.
Ari O'Donovan: (26:14)
That is so much to happen all at one time. You find out all that information.
Tash Haynes: (26:19)
It's been a journey, we're figuring it out but um, especially for my identity and just just watching my story evolve, right? Cause we think like we have these big highlight moments in our life when we think, oh this is it and then it's like actually no this is just the beginning and here's another one and here's another one. You know, I'm enjoying the journey and just like the growth in the journey and the way that I'm changing and evolving through the journey and all of the things that I'm bringing to the table because of, of what my story has been up to this point,
Ari O'Donovan: (26:52)
Enjoying the journey. So many people focus on like the end result, the end goal. I'm trying to get to this one thing and then that's when my life will be really good. That's when it'll be perfect when I have this thing and it's like it's the journey. You just, the universe will present you with the things that you're ready for when it's the right time. And all you have to do is just be receptive when that time is right.
Tash Haynes: (27:15)
It really is just about you. It's about you and it's about you and what you've learned in your journey through all of it. Like all that stuff is extra but it's like what about you and where are you and what have you taken away from this? I felt like that was like so beautiful and like so hard to like conceptualize that because we're told that it's like about acquiring and it's about connecting and it's about all these things. But really at the end of the day it really just comes down to like where were you in all of that? And I don't know, how did you show up and were you happy? Because what's the point of all of that stuff if you're barely hanging on happy on the outside but falling apart on the inside, you know?
Ari O'Donovan: (28:00)
Right. If you are not gonna be happy and you're not liking the experience of your own life, what is the point? What are you doing? You gotta get to that point where you can find happiness with each step. And if you're at a point too where you feel like I don't really like entirely what's happening right now. I wish I could have more. I wish I could do this thing, I wish I could have more of that. Look back at your life, what have you experienced? What kind of growth have you exhibited? Look at the person you were five years ago, 10 years ago and who you are today. That person is gonna be a lot different from the previous versions of yourself. And all of those versions of yourself are equally important. They're all pieces of you. But look at today's version, what do you like about today's version?
Tash Haynes: (28:53)
That's good. And maybe it's not even more, maybe it's less. I'm seeing, I'm seeing people really go, actually I don't wanna do this anymore. I don't wanna own this anymore. I don't wanna carry this anymore. Um, there's like this mass exodus of like holding onto things and doing so much. You've got like this slow down culture this like we need to chill, we need to move with less, we need to be minimal. I agree with that 100%. Like we are always changing. I'm not the same person I was a month ago. I'm not the same person I was like three weeks ago. You know, we're always, I mean especially if we're seeking growth and we wanna change, like we're always changing and morphing and growing and it's so uncomfortable but it's so good for us. So if you are uncomfortable, you're probably on the right track.
Ari O'Donovan: (29:42)
Yes, I would agree with that 100%. Life is not about being comfortable all the time. It is definitely not. And you have to sometimes when you're fearful to do something or you're fearful to go after something or let go of something, you might be afraid but you gotta still try. I mean I know that you run, I can tosh a portrait photography studio with your husband and you've been doing it for a while now that's a long time. And that was something where you had to say this is what I want. I really, really love this, I love photography. I wanna do this. It might be difficult at first but I believe in me. I believe in me and I believe in the things that I love and I value and I'm gonna go for it. Even if it's difficult for me in the beginning, I'm gonna do it anyway. That's something really, really remarkable. A lot of people are scared to start their own business. real scared. So I am interested in how your styles influence one another and how you both have grown creatively.
Tash Haynes: (30:54)
Okay, this is a great question. Wow. Well first of all, let me say this, it was hard. We had no plan. We didn't know what we were doing and we had no example but we believed so much in what we could bring to the table and how unique we were that we struggled through it together and we were on the same page about the struggle. So even though it was hard, we never gave up on what we were doing and honestly it probably took us about seven years for us to like really see a return on our investment And really it's like in the last two or three years that we have kind of hit the stride. So when you think about 15 years and how much we've had to like show up every day and keep going after it, it's a long time and most people will quit before they ever get to that point.
Tash Haynes: (31:41)
So if you are scared and you wanna be an entrepreneur, I'm letting you know that it is small consistent actions over a long period of time that gets you to a place where you can say I've been in business for 15 years and it also is a lot of mistakes and a lot of failures and still getting back up and doing it again every single day. As far as ake and I are concerned, I actually started shooting first and then I taught him and I was really passionate about high school seniors and families. I have a background in youth development and I did that for 20 years before I became a photographer. So I really love young people, especially young people who came up like me when I started shooting I knew that I would wanna shoot high school seniors cuz it was a way for me to be connected with that community.
Tash Haynes: (32:31)
And then I was really passionate about families because I didn't grow up in a family and I felt like every time I shot families it was my way of almost expressing what I felt a family should look like through imagery And that was really special. It was like telling my story through other people's stories or the story that I hoped to have one day. And in the beginning we did all of it together. He's definitely more of like the technical photographer and he like understands all the things that I don't whereas I'm more of like the creative. And so we partnered really well together over time. We have grown in so many different ways and he's actually a much better photographer than I am now Mostly cause he is just like so committed to it and really, really loves it And he has a really strong uh, following on YouTube where he teaches on photography.
Tash Haynes: (33:25)
So that is like I would say now where the business started with me. He definitely is maintaining it and keeping it going. I think for me I love photos and I love pictures and I love memories and if you go to my website or if you go to my social media, you can see that it's very much like it seeps out of my veins. Storytelling. I think what I was in it for more than anything was the people. I just love the people and what I'm realizing about myself is I look back over the years is like I am a community builder and no matter what I am doing, whether it's social media, whether it's with a camera, whether it's working with young people, I'm gonna build community around everywhere that I am. And so the camera was the tool during that season of life and in a lot of ways it still is.
Tash Haynes: (34:12)
I still shoot, I have a senior this afternoon but I'm definitely way more dedicated to my social media platform and like sharing the things that I'm passionate about, the social justice issues, my experience as a mother, our travel content, those kinds of things, they really light me up. I still use all of the same tools that I have being a professional photographer but just in a much different way now I'm telling my family's story I didn't realize was the goal but I guess ultimately it is. And it was, it was the reason why I started shooting in the first place. And as I'm saying this to you, I'm like realizing that like I got into photography because I didn't grow up with pictures of my family or seeing myself reflected back in any imagery and now like full circle, I'm sharing images of this family that I built with my partner that is everything that I've ever wanted kind of thing.
Tash Haynes: (35:02)
And so we still shoot together like, but it's just different. It's just different now because we're 15 years in. You know I can, Natasha was our first baby and she's 15 and she's like you know, ready to do her own thing. She's just kinda so we're raising up our real babies and our other like business endeavors that more you know, of our attention and she's just kind of coasting because she's put in all her work, you know, she's getting her driver's license, she's figured out what college she's gonna go to. She doesn't need us as much anymore. So I
Ari O'Donovan: (35:35)
Love that. I love the the evolution from the beginning to now and how it started with you and now your husband has a lot of, he does most of the work for it and both of you bring something to the business and it happens like that. It evolves in a way that you might not expect in the beginning but really it was the way that it was supposed to end up.
Tash Haynes: (35:57)
I think so. Like he loves it and he's passionate about it and he's so talented. I don't know that I would ever publicly announce this because it's, I can to and that's what people love. But I see myself stepping away for a couple years and kind of figuring out what I wanna do. Especially my children are young, I have not stepped away but I'm definitely not shooting in the capacity that I used to and I think people like probably could read between the lines and see that. But it's still very much like our presence. My presence is felt in the business and I still like handle a lot of like the businessy things where he's able to kind of be more of the creative and kind of go out and do the work. So it's really fun to watch him. He's built a beautiful community and following around his work, he is super passionate about models and boudoir and he's very, very, very good at it. So it's been really fun to watch him and he's like, I'm gonna shoot until I die and I believe it. He's gonna be like an 80 year old photographer carrying around all this gear on his back and I'm gonna be like, alright well there you go . So
Ari O'Donovan: (36:59)
I love the passion, I love the passion for what you do that he found the passion that he loves and he can continue to it every day. There are so many people that may never find that it's never too late. You can always find it but you have to take the steps to do it for yourself. And
Tash Haynes: (37:19)
It's scary. It's scary. I had a friend actually who just closed her business down while she's getting ready to next month after 15 years and she announced it yesterday. She's a close close friend of mine. She's done all my websites like and I had to kind of pause and go, is this still what I'm supposed to be doing? Am I still aligned with like what I believe is my vision? Am I still aligned with like what I believe God is calling me to do? And I had to spend the last couple days like really asking myself like am I doing this because I still love it or am I doing this because it's the easiest, quickest way to pay the bills? And actually talked to her this morning, I'm like, you really called me to like reflect on what I'm doing and if it's the right thing.
Tash Haynes: (37:59)
And we're just like, we are like we are so much in our bag. Like this is what we're supposed to be doing like content creation, writing, capturing our family traveling. This is, this is our wheelhouse, this is what we're good at and it's easy for us and we find such joy from it. And that is, I feel really lucky that that is the situation that I'm in and never take it for granted. I mean I have a lot of friends that are not creative who go to work and work a nine to five. Whether that's their choice or whether it's just like it's the best way for them. Entrepreneurship is a lot of work and it takes a lot of accountability and all those things and it's not for everyone, but people still have dreams and even if they know their own, like they still are passionate about things And I feel really lucky that what I get to do every day I get to do with my family that my kids also love it. My oldest daughter is like all about being a YouTuber. They just recently got signed to their own management deal and all my kids are in it too. So it's so fun to have this thing that we all enjoy, that we all are in for. You know there's like, we're all on the same page about it. We all do it well, we all understand how it works, we're all, you know what I mean? Like it's just such a blessing. So
Ari O'Donovan: (39:21)
Yeah. Yeah. And you, that's so first of all, congratulations to your kids. That's amazing . And second of all, it's like the photography is really dope but it's just one of the things that you do. I mean you wear so many other hats. So for you to take time and invest energy into some of the other aspects of your life that you share with the rest of the world, that's just more evolution, more shifting of you focusing on another love that you already possess.
Tash Haynes: (39:53)
You know, there's that whole, that term that multi-passionate entrepreneur, you know like this whole like movement around like nicheing, nicheing, nicheing. You have to be an expert in one thing. And I feel like that has like lightened up a bit and people are allowed to have like many gifts cuz we are not monoliths. Like we are not people who are only good at one thing. Like I'm interested in so many things but there's a season for each thing, right? And so I may not be putting all my effort into one thing right now, but it doesn't mean that I don't equally love that thing. So yeah,
Ari O'Donovan: (40:24)
That's really important too to think about because there used to be this view and it's changing that you can only be good at one thing. You can only do one thing really well. Focus on that thing, do the best you can with it. Become like a whole expert in that thing. And it's like you're a great example. We are all multi-talented. Like you can explore these other things. It's not gonna be like, oh just because I'm not investing in this one thing with all of my time doesn't mean that it's gonna be not what I wanted it to. It can still turn out great, you can showcase everything.
Tash Haynes: (41:02)
It's so true. And I just am like, I don't know, I'm a zal so I'm like born in 1982 and I just think like none of us would ever be able to stay in a job for like 40 years or 50 years. Like that just feels like so beyond like my realm of understanding, I just don't know. And so to do anything consistently for a long period of time, one thing feels so boring without it like evolving or pivoting in some way like right,
Ari O'Donovan: (41:33)
Right. I know so many people too that have worked at a place for 35 years, 40 years And my own, my own mother, she had hairstyle salon for over 45 years. It's probably pushing 48 now. But she did a lot of other things too. I mean at one point she had her own little league team, so she had a daycare, it was one of the first black daycares in the state of Oregon. So black owned. So I mean you can do more than one thing. Like let's, it keeps you excited about life, it keeps you excited about life, it keeps you excited about you, you have a family and now you wanna show your family. These are all the great things I'm doing. You can do all these amazing things too. Like what are your gifts? I want you to explore your multiple gifts and let's, let's get you doing that.
Tash Haynes: (42:21)
I agree 100%. What are your gifts Ari?
Ari O'Donovan: (42:25)
. I really love mental health. That is becoming a growing passion of mine. Mm-hmm , I also do drawing and some painting.
Tash Haynes: (42:35)
I love that
Ari O'Donovan: (42:36)
In my spare time. Love electronic music. That is my whole love drawing nature too. I love to just sit outside with a sketchbook and see a hummingbird and just draw it. That brings me peace.
Tash Haynes: (42:48)
What's beautiful about your three passions is that they definitely could exist like singularly, but they also could like come together and build on each other and strengthen each other. You know what I mean? Like so I think that's a beautiful thing too. Like you were talking about, you know, you can do different things and when I step away from photography and I pivot into something else, I see how I can bring the something else into my photography or how my photography can strengthen the other thing. And so while I am not necessarily 100% in with our business right now, um, very much so the skills that I learned from running my business are what are the foundational tools that are helping me to scale into something else.
Ari O'Donovan: (43:36)
Right? Right. And, and you inspire me. I might put some of my artwork on Instagram and stuff. Come on,
Tash Haynes: (43:43)
Stop playing girl. Come
Ari O'Donovan: (43:45)
On. I have so many drawings and iPad drawings too. Like I do all kinds of different media and I'm like, let me think about putting some of these out there for the world to see.
Tash Haynes: (43:54)
Okay, so here's the deal about social media, right? Like so many people are like adverse to social media, which I understand 100%. I understand like the pressure, I understand like the mental health challenges around it, I understand all those things. But I also always wanna bring to the forefront how beautiful it is to be alive during a time like this where you can get on a social media platform and the degrees of separation have now become like almost non-existent. Like you can be seen and access almost anybody in the world, which could be negative, but it's like the opportunity, like the positive positivity around that. I recently was in Puerto Rico a couple weeks ago on um, at a women's travel conference. I didn't know any of the women at the travel conference. But it's so funny because we were doing these like tours and with social media involved, you never actually walk into a place once you like introduce yourself and you say where you're from, the next question is, are you on usually whatever platform it is.
Tash Haynes: (44:56)
Are you on TikTok? Are you on Instagram? And then once you get a chance to like see the person sing, you can like size them up, size 'em up pretty fast and decide like, okay, this person seems really cool, I wanna get to know them. So I go to this conference by myself, but I left that conference after six days with hundreds of friends, right? Because it's just we connect in such a quick, deep way because of the barrier or the wall that social media allows to come down. So you meet me, I tell you who I am, I tell you where I live and then immediately we're exchanging social media. You're like, oh my gosh, your kids are so cute. Oh you were just there. Oh that restaurant I've been wanting to try and there's like this instant connection and it's also one of these places where I have 32,000 followers.
Tash Haynes: (45:45)
There's like very few places in the world where I can step on a stage to 32,000 people. But every single day I wake up and not all 32,000 people are seeing what I have to say or whatever the case may be. But the bottom line is that every day when I wake up, I get to share something that's valuable to me or important to me to 32,000 people that care and wanna hear it. And the impact of that is so wild and amazing. And that means that when there's something going on in Haiti that's important to me, that there's a community that wants to hear and that will rally behind me. Or when we were in the Black Lives Matter thing or when we're talking about, my daughter recently fell out of a window and hit her head and she fractured her skull. This was the day before Mother's Day.
Tash Haynes: (46:34)
And I realized that I could hide it and not say anything or I could share it and save some lives. And I shared that with my following and I had 300 people message me that they bought window stops for their kids. And these are like things that like we don't always recognize, like we can harness our influence in a way that really changes lives. And it's really just the difference of like stepping on the platform and stepping off. And so while people are so intimidated by social media and so annoyed by it, I try really hard to go, wow, how lucky am I that this is a tool that I get to use to build my business, to share the issues or the things that are important to me to encourage someone who may need to hear from me and not even know it yet.
Tash Haynes: (47:22)
You know, we just are so lucky to live at a time like this where we have so many different ways to connect with each other and to share our stories and to inspire one another and to also show each other like a different way of living. Like there are people who I follow who travel and they've gone to places that I may not ever see, but because they do such a great job of documenting it, I get a taste of what it's like. And I do that for other people too, you know? So yeah, I just love, I love social media. I think it's an incredible tool.
Ari O'Donovan: (47:56)
I do too. I love that you could be connected to somebody on the other side of the world and they can see how you live. You can see how they live. And you mentioned traveling and that you were in Puerto Rico. Mm-hmm . I've seen some of those trips where there's solo trips and you go and you meet up with a group and you don't know anybody. Mm-hmm . And then it's like a whole experience if you just welcome it and just be a little brave. Cuz some people might be afraid to travel alone and then you share your story and they're like, oh I feel like I can do that now. Mm-hmm. , I really like that I can go and I can meet a group and and travel and and meet new friends and learn things about a new culture and all kinds of stuff.
Tash Haynes: (48:36)
Yeah, it's, it's so exhilarating and it's so fun. I'm like I need more of this in my life. It doesn't always work out, right? Like it's not gonna work out every time. But I mean if your posture towards it is for it to work out, you know,
Ari O'Donovan: (48:52)
And we've touched on some things but I wanna get into that traveling. Can you share with us why traveling is so important to you and do you have any tips, A couple of tips, one or two tips you share with people?
Tash Haynes: (49:07)
Yeah, so traveling is a core value of our family. It is something that we will not sacrifice ever or compromise on because we see the value of immersive travel on our girls. We see the confidence that's built in them, sensitivity to culture, the awareness of themselves and how big the world is. Way bigger than Tacoma, way bigger than Pacific Northwest. So I feel like travel is like a non-negotiable when it comes to myself, number one, so much to learn and so many things to see still. But especially for my girls raising little black girls, I want them to take up space. And the biggest way that I can show them to do that is by putting them in places where they get to, putting them in places where they get to see me do that and putting them in places where they see others do that. So yeah, travel is a big thing for us. We do a lot of domestic travel and then we do one international trip as a family a year. And so that is something that we always look forward to. And when you say tips, what specifically do you mean? Because there are so many ways we can go with that. So give me, gimme a little bit more,
Ari O'Donovan: (50:16)
You know, just thinking about, cause you inspire me with what we've been talking about, you really inspire me. Could you give any advice for people that are trying to put themselves in a new place? Maybe they've never traveled internationally, maybe they wanna do their first solo trip. Can you give some advice about those type of pathways in
Tash Haynes: (50:38)
Life? Yeah, okay. So I think and and just recently coming off of my trip to Puerto Rico, I just came back last week. I think Puerto Rico would be a great like gateway trip into international travel or solo travel. And the reason why is because it's still a US territory. So you are familiar, you're in a place that feels familiar to our culture. There's still English speaking folks, but it also feels very international because it has its own unique culture, its own unique food. It's very, very different. You're still traveling out of the United States. I was saying like if I were gonna host a conference or a retreat and I wanted it to be international but without like all of the hard work of traveling abroad, I think I would choose Puerto Rico because, or the US Virgin Islands cuz you don't need a passport to get there.
Tash Haynes: (51:26)
There are not, you don't need shots or things like that. Those US territories are really great way to get your feet wet. I think like as Americans, we tend to go to the Hawaiian islands or we go to like Miami because those are like what's familiar. But if you go to some of these other islands, you get a chance to like really experience different cultures. Caribbean culture, the history you get to see the country in a different way. Puerto Rico is one of the oldest colonies and it's still considered a colony because it's not its own country if it's territory. And so you get a chance to kind of see like that colonial influence while also seeing like the African culture and like the indigenous culture. But if I were giving advice to traveling abroad, um, and outside of the United States, I would just say to maybe look for countries where English is one of like the main languages, just because that's always like a great place to start.
Tash Haynes: (52:25)
So like, you know, going to the UK would be great. I've been to Spain, Spaniards are so nice and they kind of flip flop between Spanish and English. Like I think just like doing your research first, this is like a really hard question to answer because there's so many things that go into picking a place to travel to. But I think like Europe is always a really great place to go, um, Western Europe, um, because those places are used to having a lot of American tourists. And so it's like a lot easier to assimilate to the culture. Um, like Italy and you know, uh, England and France and like Spain and Portugal. Um, and also like English speaking countries like Australia and New Zealand are like really great places if you're like getting your feet wet. I also really love Mexico. I mean I think Mexico might be one of my favorite countries and I'm always so sad about the way that the United States portrays Mexico because it's actually a beautiful country.
Tash Haynes: (53:25)
There's so much to see and do. It's so different and diverse. There's so much rich history. The culture is insane. The food is out of this world and especially as black travelers, Mexicans like really respect and value us. My experience has been when I traveled to parts of Mexico, I've just had really great experiences. Traveled to Mexico with just with my family. I've traveled to Mexico with other women and I felt completely safe. And I feel that way about the Caribbean too. I would fully travel to the Caribbean by myself or with women or with my family, with my children and I would feel safe there.
Ari O'Donovan: (54:04)
Those are all phenomenal places and I've never been to any of them. I've been to Zanzibar, Greece and the Maldives a couple times, but I haven't been to any of those places and none of those trips were solo trips. So now I'm thinking about maybe I wanna get on that solo trip thing.
Tash Haynes: (54:22)
I, there's a whole community of women who travel solo. In fact, I was in Puerto Rico for a conference of women travelers and there were 600 women there. These are all women who like travel for a living. And so this is exactly what they do. And I think there's a narrative around anything outside of the United States being like more dangerous than us. But really honestly, if you shine the light the other way, I think more people are afraid of our country than we should be of others, you know? Mm-hmm . So that
Ari O'Donovan: (54:54)
Is so true. I felt so much safer in Zanzibar than I have felt in some parts of the United States.
Tash Haynes: (55:01)
I feel at peace in most countries that I go to, more than I do on my own. I feel like my guards are up all the time. That's just kind of what it is like now living in America, you just never know. Like there's no place that's safe. I don't feel that way. And even in Mexico where you know, there's like the cartel and things like that, you feel protected because they don't play around there. Like the police don't play. It's not that like they're just running around doing whatever everywhere. Like I think that's like the message or the picture that sometimes our country wants to paint. That's just not the reality of these other countries.
Ari O'Donovan: (55:36)
That's so important to hear. And I haven't been to Mexico yet, but I felt that way too. And that's so important to hear from a black woman. That's why I really love that you're sharing your travel adventures and your story because you can hear that type of information from a white person, a white male, and it's just not going to be the same. It's just not gonna be the same thing. You gotta hear it from somebody that has hair like we do and darker skin like we do
Tash Haynes: (56:05)
That exists and lives in the same body because it's different. Right? When we were in Mexico, we drove places like and that's just like we felt so safe. I felt safe with my kids. Everybody was so kind. We spent 12 days in Mexico over Thanksgiving, we were in quiet and we were in Tulum and we were in New Harris and we absolutely loved it. My kids are always asking to go back. I've loved it so much. I went to Haiti in 2020 and you know, Haiti's got its reputation and there are definitely parts that are challenging but like I have friends that go back and forth to cap Haitian several times a month, but we're like level four. Do not go there. It is chaotic. It is crazy. It is wild. It's just so interesting. You know, the stories and stuff that are painted, it's always important to do research but it's also really important to understand the lens in which we get our information and why we get it that way. There's always a story and there's always an underlying reason why things are being painted a certain way. So we have to like break through all of that to like really get to it and to understand what's happening.
Ari O'Donovan: (57:11)
Absolutely. That is such a profound statement right there. Cuz they'll have you the lens through which you, you're viewing something, they'll have you feeling like Haiti, Africa don't go to these places. They're dangerous. The people there are terrible. It's a wartorn everywhere, don't go. Africa was one of the most beautiful places and it was tropical. It was tropical there just as beautiful as, and I've been to the Maldives, it's equally as beautiful as that place. The water is just as clear, the sand is just as beautiful. The people are just as friendly and welcoming and it's just such a great experience. But you'll never see that. You'll never see that on tv. You'll never see that portrayed through the appropriate lens unless you go on your own.
Tash Haynes: (57:58)
It's so true. The United States supports a lot of tourism to the Dominican Republic, but you don't hear any of that in Haiti. And I'm not saying go to Haiti, that's not what I'm saying. Definitely like do your research. But Haiti and Dominican Republics are the same island. They're the same place, you know, essentially. So it's just so interesting just when you start to kind of understand politics and things and and why things are the way they are, you're like, oh wait a minute, let me like dig a little deeper when it comes to this and why, why there's so much emphasis on this thing but not on this thing and who's benefiting from this and who doesn't. And we can see that in so many things, not just travel. So
Ari O'Donovan: (58:41)
Really though, you really gotta do some critical thinking about the stuff you hear and what you see and what you read. And we've talked about your journey through health, family and art, faith, community building and travel. And you shared a lot of really amazing things with me. Is there a moment that made you stop in your tracks because of how amazing it was? Could you pinpoint one moment that you'd like to share with listeners?
Tash Haynes: (59:11)
I've had beautiful moments in my life. There is a time where I felt held and I would say that that was when I was pregnant with my daughter Glory. I became pregnant with her in 2020 and it was at a time where we were like right in the heat of the pandemic. We had been home for a couple months, the George Floyd stuff had happened, Seattle was on fire and it felt like everything in life was crazy And I could always come back to this pregnancy and this baby that was growing inside of me and I just had so much hope and peace and that felt like a season in life that was really so special and sacred because where it felt like it was hard to find joy. She brought so much for me and for my followers who were watching this pregnancy who were like shocked that we're having another girl.
Tash Haynes: (01:00:01)
Like there was just so much joy around this baby. And when she was born and when we shared her name, everybody thought her name would be justice. Um, just to back up, my daughter's names are wisdom, courage, and glory. But because of the time and what was going on in the world, everybody thought that she would be a justice. And it was so funny, like watching people guess what her name would be. We ended up naming her glory and actually naming her after hating her name is Gloria Adore. And when she was born she was full of so much joy. It was like the joy with palpable like, and it was like what was going on on the inside of me, like had come out in this little person and she continued to just bring so much hope and so much joy. So that would be a moment where I stood still because we were all standing still. But I was also able to grab hold of something that reminded me that this was only a season. Like this was only a moment. This was not how it was gonna be forever. And at that time I felt like that's what I needed was like hope. And that's what she represented for me during that season of life.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:01:09)
That's so beautiful And I love all of their names. That's just so great to have that experience with George Floyd at the time and the pandemic was happening at the same time and it's like this is an emotional toll on every black person in this country.
Tash Haynes: (01:01:26)
Yeah, yeah. I mean so much for us but also just in general like all of us suffered through that time, you know, whether we wanna acknowledge it or not. Like we are still recovering from that and still trying to figure out like what all of that meant for us and means for us moving forward. Right? And so it was just with so much joy, like I never thought I would live through a global pandemic. I never thought I would give birth. Like we have lived so much life in like three years time and if you were born in the eighties, you've seen more life than most generations. Like we've lived for five decades, we've lived through so many things, eighties, nineties, the two thousands, the tens, the twenties, like we've seen a lot. So
Ari O'Donovan: (01:02:13)
All of that, that's phenomenal. And it goes back to what I was saying earlier about when you are ready, when the universe knows you're ready for something beautiful, it'll give it to you. And that was a difficult time for you. It was a difficult time for so many people. And that was the time where a special gift came your way.
Tash Haynes: (01:02:33)
It did. And it was beautiful because it was a gift that was for me. But we shared that gift and that's really when my social media platforms grew. That was really when I started to transition from photographer to content creator because I was sharing more of our stories and talking more and sharing more of our experience. And I just watched things kind of grow from there.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:02:54)
And those stories are helping other people to get through their experience with watching the George Floyd video, their experience of the pandemic, both of those things having a compounding effect in people's lives. I love that. That's the power of social media right there. And storytelling that is a big thing because you can, you can put a bunch of content on the internet, but it's how you tell that story that's really gonna be the big part of it. It's, it's what it means to you and how you showcase it to other people. So I want you to take a moment now, Tosh, to speak directly to the people. What does Washington and Oregon for that matter need to hear?
Tash Haynes: (01:03:39)
We're entering, our states are entering this time of year where we finally seeing the sun, we're coming out of winter. Probably like trying to transition through like what has happened over the last couple months and thinking about all the things that we wanna do. And I guess what I would say to Washington and Oregon is like to get out there and to like live and to live out loud and to live fully and to be in the moment and to be present and just to collect all of those memories, all of those adventures, all of those exciting things that we wait all year for this time of year for so that it can sustain you for the next season. Because we are gonna go back into winter, right? And we're gonna go back into those really hard months and you know, the cycle of that.
Tash Haynes: (01:04:31)
And I think when it's time to live and to be out, it's like be out and live and be outside and do your thing. I don't want to let these good days pass me by. I don't want to miss out on what is for me because I don't feel like it or it feels like too much work. It's like no, just do it. Do the extra work. Take the time, be extra, do the difficult thing. If it's gonna make you happy, like go for it. If the three hour drive to Cannon Beach is what is gonna put a smile on your face, take the drive. Like do what you need to do in this season to be happy.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:05:09)
You didn't even need a whole lot of time. That's like the best . You've shared a lot of amazing statements throughout this discussion, but that is one of my favorites. I wish I could just end on that. That is so perfect and beautiful. But I got one more thing. I got one more thing I gotta ask but listeners pay attention to that last part. Keep that one. The only other thing I gotta ask is where can people find you online?
Tash Haynes: (01:05:37)
You can find me anywhere online by searching for it's Tosh Haynes. It's is a part of it. So I tst a s h h a y n e S
Ari O'Donovan: (01:05:51)
Find her, y'all come find me,
Tash Haynes: (01:05:53)
Come find me. Let's, let's, let's get to know each other. Let's hang
Ari O'Donovan: (01:05:57)
So much great content. I'm a finder and connect on social media and make sure you guys do it we'll put information in the links in the description so people can find you in your website cuz it's just chock full of like great stuff
Tash Haynes: (01:06:12)
And I'm getting ready to launch a new one, so.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:06:15)
Oh my God. Yeah. When is that coming out
Tash Haynes: (01:06:18)
Soon?
Ari O'Donovan: (01:06:19)
That's something that people can look forward to. Yes. And I'll be checking if you've got anything that has come out or you want us to, to showcase or advertise something that you've done or you're doing, hit me up on boosting our voices. I'll put it out there.
Tash Haynes: (01:06:34)
I love it. I love it. I actually have a children's, but that's getting ready to drop. It's called Superhero Sister Squad and it's about a wisdom, courage, and glory and their superpowers that are unique to their names and how um, they work together to like save the world. So you guys
Ari O'Donovan: (01:06:51)
Have to look for that too. I love that. I'm gonna be telling people, my friends and everything about that and we'll get that information on social media. Yay. I to know about that one.
Tash Haynes: (01:07:02)
I love it. I love it. Perfect.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:07:04)
That's dope. Thank you Tash. It, I love talking to you. I I come across some really remarkable guests and I have to say, you're one of my favorites.
Tash Haynes: (01:07:14)
Thank you. I'm, I'm humbled by that. Thank you so much and thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for sharing your platform with me. I appreciate
Ari O'Donovan: (01:07:20)
It. Thank you. Thank you for being on the show and I know that, you know, there's gonna be an update episode, come on. So we gotta have that. Let's go. We gotta have that. Duh . Stay posted, stay posted, y'all. We'll have an update episode. Y'all know I wasn't gonna forget
Tash Haynes: (01:07:34)
To do that.
Ari O'Donovan: (01:07:38)
Thanks for listening to this episode, Kane, bringing the community info without the community. Appreciate you showing up. If you wanna reach out, hit us up on ig at boosting our voices or at our website, boost oregon.org. Keep doing great things, keep uplifting one another and we'll do the same. See you next time.