Speaker 1: 0:42

Hello and welcome back to the Fit Soul Podcast. I'm so excited you're here and I'm so excited about a conversation I'm having with a new friend of mine, and I'll just go ahead and introduce you Tamela Davis. Welcome to the podcast, my friend.

Speaker 2: 0:58

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Speaker 1: 1:03

Oh, my goodness. So we have a mutual friend, joy Bradford I. I love joy Like love, love, love little sister, I want to be adopted into their family. Love her mother, cousins, the whole nine, like I love them.

Speaker 2: 1:21

And I know he's amazing. Joy's easy to love, right.

Speaker 1: 1:26

Joy's so easy to love. She's a gift. She really is a gift. She really is.

Speaker 2: 1:30

Yeah, I love her so much.

Speaker 1: 1:32

And so you enjoy our friends and we're going to share a lot about your story and who you are. So let me, let me read your bio, just because this is pretty impressive. So, uh, timela Gale Davis is a devoted humanitarian, a certified life coach, still accepting uh clients. You guys looking for a little plug there for you. She's a homeschooling mother of six six six little people little people.

Speaker 1: 2:03

And and listen, we're going to talk about that photo shoot that y'all just had, maybe's not. I'm obsessed with the denim and the baby and all the things. We'll talk about that as well. She's a motivational speaker and the creative force behind the f word blog, which makes me laugh out loud. Tea with tamela's podcast, tamela's tailgate treat food truck and, alongside her husband, nfl player demario davis, she co-founded the devoted dreamers foundation to empower youth and foster leadership. They've been married since 2012, with six children, between nashville and new orleans. Her mission blends faith, authenticity, personal storytelling to uplift others through community faith and hope. Girl, that's exciting. So much there to unpack and all that you do. You are truly amazing. What a gift you are.

Speaker 2: 2:53

So thank you.

Speaker 1: 2:54

Okay. So you grew up in Mississippi, joy's from Mississippi, I live in Mississippi, that's the whole Mississippi connection and anybody from Louisiana? I don't know if you know that or not'm a louisiana girl no yeah, yeah, yeah. So, uh, monroe. Originally my parents lived down in new orleans for many, many years and huge wow and so lots of different um connections here. But you grew up in small town, mississippi, with limited resources mall.

Speaker 2: 3:20

Small town, mississippi. Small town, mississippi, small town, actually, uh-oh, my air pod popped out. Mississippi girl, walnut Grove. We don't have a grocery store or a red light.

Speaker 1: 3:34

Where is Walnut Grove? I don't even know.

Speaker 2: 3:37

Most people don't know where Walnut Grove is Like. You don't go there unless you actually have a reason. Almost everybody there is born and raised Super cute little town. We always say we're a small town with a big heart, and so it's right in between Carthage and Forest, mississippi. I don't know if you've heard of either one of them. You've heard of Forest. So we're just sandwiched right in between Carthage and Forest. We're about an hour outside of Jackson. So for all of our shopping malls you know bigger purchase items we always had to drive to Jackson airport, obviously. So Jackson was like a 10 minute drive. That was actually an hour because we knew, you know, we were going to do anything big. We had to come out to Jackson.

Speaker 1: 4:18

That is awesome. That is awesome, Okay. So how did those early experiences living in small town?

Speaker 2: 4:33

OK, so how did those early experiences living in small town Mississippi shape your heart for young people and prepare you for all of the work that you're doing today? You know, growing up, I think, in a small town in Mississippi at a very young age, there's a lot of like shaping and molding that's actually happening. There aren't a ton of opportunities to go out and, you know, do all the things you would do in like a bigger city, and so there's a lot of intentionality around the rear end. I think there's a lot that you learn, that you're passionate about, there's a lot that you're able to determine about. I always like to say who you want to become and who you don't want to become at the same time. And so as I kind of navigated my journey there, I loved sitting at the feet of the elders. I just always felt like that there was so much wisdom there, there were so many questions that I could ask, there were so many intentional conversations, and from that, mentally, I started to take notes In my heart, I started to prepare myself for all of what I felt was possible, and I didn't want to limit myself to just my small town.

Speaker 2: 5:31

I'm like. You know what I feel, like I can impact my small town, but there is also the opportunity to dream so much bigger. And so from there I began to dream, and when I started to dream I realized that the world was also so much bigger than myself. So I'm like, as I'm dreaming, how do I incorporate other people in that dream? How do I have intentionality around, how I create a lasting impact and legacy and find intentional ways to really be able to serve and to come back and do that, to do that in whatever city the Lord leads me to, to whatever community and people? And so I think that's a lot of what was just kind of like cultivated in me as I grew up in that small town and as I really began to do a self-evaluation in midst of also having a lot of those intentional conversations with my grandmothers and my aunties and them kind of like champion and listening to me. I think that's big, you know, listening to your children and helping direct them down the path that seems the most fruitful for them.

Speaker 1: 6:31

That's so refreshing to hear everything that you just said and it's almost uncommon to me, so I just want to ask another question around that. Your aunties, your grandmother, elders, mentors people poured into you in a small town, and often in a small town, particularly in Mississippi. You'll understand this. If people aren't from Mississippi, I don't know that they fully can understand this. A lot of Mississippians are born and raised. They've never left. All they know.

Speaker 2: 6:59

And a lot of other states are more transient.

Speaker 1: 7:00

People will come in and go in, so there's a little bit of a diversity that's not as prevalent here in Mississippi. Right Right, small town, and when we think of small town we often think we don't think of dreaming big and large. Was it your mentors, your aunts, your grandmother, your, you know, your, your family that helped you to dream bigger and outside the box and outside of small town?

Speaker 2: 7:31

So I think it was a combination of things. So most kids in Mississippi, you know, they're running outside, they're drinking out of the water holes, they're doing all these different things. And I was never big on, you know, being outside. I never really liked being around my peers a ton, for whatever reason. I was just kind of drawn to, you know, sitting at their feet in that wisdom. But then also, you know, there's a lot of TV watching that's taking place in Mississippi as well. When you're like, oh, like, what else do I do? I guess I watch a show. And so in being in the house with a lot of those adults, it led me to watching a lot of shows. You know, now that I think back on, I'm like, oh, I probably shouldn't have been watching Oprah at five, but whatever. And so, as I'm watching a lot of those shows, I'm a person who, like, loves to absorb knowledge, and so I studied those things that were being communicated, studied the things that were that those characters were experiencing. So I think it was a combination of seeing something different on a TV screen, having those conversations and then pairing all of that information that I'd either watched, that I'd heard, and then, you know, people were only able to encourage me as far as their lived experiences would allow. But I think in that, you know, there's the discerning and the wisdom that they give, there's also the encouragement that they give, there's the hesitancy that they give, and then you just have to know how to take it all in and then how to kind of sift through it. And so it was a combination of those things where they were definitely pouring into me with all that they had, all that they had experienced.

Speaker 2: 9:06

But then also I watched a lot of TV and like, even when I watch TV today, it's hard for me to watch idle TV because I'm so strategic and getting involved of what's taking place, what's the history, what's the backstory.

Speaker 2: 9:18

So I become like very investigative into whatever's taking place. I'm super analytical and so I think that helps me too. But in that it really taught me so much and I knew at a very early age I'm like I feel like I'm being called for somewhere bigger than Mississippi. And then at another age in my life I felt like it was New York City, and the funny thing is, you know, we ended up in Jersey right after we got married, and so it was like like I saw that vision so much earlier, not fully of what all we would be doing, but I just see the connectors of like god, planting things and watering them along the years, um, to lead me down whatever path that was that he had so when you say you were dreaming and thinking bigger, watching shows, having the mentors, and you were more expanded, what age like a little girl.

Speaker 1: 10:09

you thought this as a little girl, or was it when you were a little bit older? How did that come about? Especially to have the vision to well move forward, and so answer that, and then we'll move into college and where that, you know what?

Speaker 2: 10:24

I was super, super little, like I can probably I can remember back in my life as far as three. I have like very short memories of like the age three, I would say probably by the time that I was like kindergarten, first grade. I started to plan my life. Now, certain things changed obviously across the years as I began to have more experiences and exposure to certain things, but I started to dream about what my life would look like and it was always so much bigger than where I was and I don't know what that was.

Speaker 2: 10:59

That was like just really birth inside of me, because most of my, my town, like everybody's born and raised there and very few people leave and if they do leave they go to Jackson, you know, and so with that I was just like bursting out of the seams where I'm, like there's something bigger, there's something bigger, and I didn't even always know how to communicate it. But I think, year by year I just started to add certain things, edit certain things. And you know again, the older you get, the more experiences, the more you're able to absorb the information that you're actually taking in from the mentors, the more you're able to absorb what's happening on TV. Some of those things change, but I always like to say that you're never too young or too old to dream and being able to edit whatever that dream is, but not putting limitations on what the dream is.

Speaker 1: 11:52

Yeah, no, that's so good. That's so good. Okay, so tell us a little bit about you and DeMario. How you met and um sounds like it was a good fit for your big dreaming heart. You didn't know that was going to be your story?

Speaker 2: 12:23

Oh my gosh, no, I didn't today to not do that. Actually, leaving that small town in Mississippi, I almost went to college undergrad at Jackson State. In about two weeks before school started I was like I feel like I'm supposed to go somewhere else and I didn't know what that was looking like. And then one of my aunties she was like what other schools are recruiting you? Where there was a small HBCU in Holly Springs, mississippi, called Russ College, and I'm like there's a school called Russ College. I've never been there but it seemed pretty cool, so she knew some people there. We hopped in a car, went there, I got a scholarship on spot and I, two weeks before school started, decided that I was no longer going to go to Jackson State, that I was going to go to Russ. Well, long story short from there, go to Russ. I finished my undergrad degree and there are a couple of relationships that Russ have with transitioning some of their students to graduate school, because we don't have a graduate program, because we're a small college, and so the Ohio State was one of the schools and I'd gotten a scholarship to the Ohio State, had gotten accepted in and was on my path of thinking you know, I'm going to go to the Ohio State and then at some point with talking to different people, with probably a little bit of my own fear and doubt, decided to decline that opportunity.

Speaker 2: 13:38

And I was back in Mississippi for a little bit. I was working at a school, I was going to a teacher certification program at Bell Haven, and then I started to literally get sick to my stomach, feeling like that there was something different that I was supposed to be doing. And I'm like, oh my gosh, like what's happening. And so I would come home from work and I always worked two jobs and I, as I would get ready to turn to the left to go to my job, there was a sign in front of me that would say welcome to Walnut Grove, and I was almost getting nauseous. I'm like, why am I getting nauseous, like I've been here my whole life? But that was just like God kind of disrupting the comfort that I was starting to develop, because I felt like he needed to launch me somewhere else so that he could have his way with his own plan for me. And so from there I started researching different schools that were affiliated with my undergrad, and I had a couple of friends who were at Arkansas State. But there was a theater program where most of the students who left our undergrad program to go to Arkansas State for graduate school were all mass communications major.

Speaker 2: 14:42

I was an English lit major and I'm like you know what, I don't know if this is going to work, like they kind of have this feeder system. I'm going to be stepping outside of the box, like what does this look like? And one of my lines was there and she was like just do it, just come. And I'm like you know what, just do it, Like just come, like you can always go back home. And so December I put in a letter of resignation for my job both of my jobs. I told them that I was going to be moving to Arkansas in January and my parents were like frantic. They're like what? You've never even been to Arkansas. And I'm like I just feel it. I feel like I'm supposed to leave, I feel like I'm supposed to go. It was so funny I just bought myself a graduation gift of a new car and I was quitting my job to go to Arkansas State for grad school.

Speaker 2: 15:28

They're like how are you going to pay for your car and apartment? You don't have a job. I'm like you know what They'll have to pick up the car in Arkansas. At least I'll get there. And so it was just one of those things where I was somewhat rebelling against the system because, you know, a person being super strategic and type A, like I really didn't have a full plan other than I was going to get there and I was going to figure it out. And so I drove my car down to Arkansas, I unpacked and about two weeks later I was like torn. I'm like maybe I shouldn't have done this. Don't have a job, what am I doing? Blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 2: 16:04

And then I meet DeMario.

Speaker 2: 16:06

And I met DeMario in a medieval literature class um that he was not supposed to be in.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Mind you, I'm an English lit major.

Speaker 2: 16:12

He was like a math com um major and he was in his senior year of undergrad and realized that he had a couple of additional liberal arts classes that he needed to take and he had actually signed up for American romanticism or something like that, and the class got dropped because they didn't have enough students, and so with that there was a combined class with grad students and undergrad students and he was in that class, and that's where we met medieval literature class and we were talking one day after class and realized we were both from Mississippi, we both kind of had similar interests, that we'd probably been in the same locations at the same time.

Speaker 2: 16:53

Just kind of talking about different experiences, because remember, I had to go to Jackson for a battle of the band or anything big, and so it was like, oh, I was at that, or I was at that. It was like, oh, we've probably been in the same vicinity at some point and the rest was really history. After that. I mean, we developed a super unique friendship that was super cool and from there we weren't sure if we wanted to date or not, but one thing led to another and here we are.

Speaker 1: 17:20

How many years have y'all been married?

Speaker 2: 17:22

We have been married 13 years.

Speaker 1: 17:26

Oh, ok, great years have y'all been married? We have been married 13 years. Oh, okay, great, that's awesome, all right my husband and I are.

Speaker 2: 17:30

We're celebrating our 13th this year.

Speaker 1: 17:31

Oh, congrats, yeah, thank you, thank you, yeah, um, okay, so you and Demario, I I love that you shared with uh, your, your, how you just dreamed. You dreamed bigger, not a typical Mississippiissippi girl in a small town. God just placed a bigger desire on your heart and you so. Demario is nfl. How long has he been playing with the saints?

Speaker 2: 17:55

so he's been with the saints for eight years.

Speaker 1: 17:58

He's been in the nfl for 14 years now okay, okay, and in the last 13 years, y'all have had six children. Okay, when is this? Okay? I'm seeing on your social media, um, the the most adorable photos I've ever seen in my life. Those, those photos are the little videos, the reels, all this stuff that y'all are doing. How long ago was that? Was that recent?

Speaker 2: 18:27

You know what that was actually a week ago. That was a week ago. We were getting ready. So Demario's already down in New Orleans in training camp and the kids and I were back in Nashville because we spent our off seasons in Nashville and I was like I want to get like some quick photos, like for social media and like some projects that I had coming up, and I'm like like, do I wait? Do I do them in New Orleans? Then we have a photographer that we use out of LA who usually comes in, and my team was like, look, we got a photographer, let's just do him. So we did that photo shoot, probably two hours before we had to leave to go to the airport to fly out to New Orleans.

Speaker 1: 19:07

So probably two hours before we had to leave to go to the airport to fly out to New Orleans. So it was kind of a last minute thing, A little bit of anxiety hearing you did that and you flew. Oh like seriously.

Speaker 2: 19:16

I like it. Oh yeah, we make things happen from time to time and I have an amazing chief of staff who just creates so much magic, and so she found the team. They came out, we did some video content, we did some photos and then we literally had the ubers backing in to pick us up to take all six. It was myself, the six kids, my parents, um, my sister, um, I think it was two other adults yes, two other adults who were coming with us from Nashville and two puppies, and we all loaded the car after that and ran to the airport.

Speaker 1: 19:50

You're amazing. You're amazing and getting to know you and to see how many different places that you're serving, that you're leading, that you're contributing, that you're giving back. You've got so many things going on in just a really busy phase of life in motherhood, and there's a lot of eyes on you and Demario, just with the position that you're in, and there's so much humility and authenticity that you have and you seem so grounded still in the Lord and your kingdom purpose and what you guys are doing and I just I see that. I see you. It's beautiful, it's beautiful to watch. Can you share with us maybe some of the struggles that come along with being in such a spotlight, and is there pressure with that?

Speaker 2: 22:38

Yeah, yes, I mean, you know, thank you for saying all of that just because none of that is easy. So I always like to start there, because I think sometimes people look from the outside inward and they think, because you have a certain amount of resources or you have a certain peer group, that you're around all the time, that it's easy to navigate those things, and it's hard for people to see the challenges that come day after day, where you have to make an active decision of who are you going to be, who are you not going to be, what principles are you going to remain grounded in. And it starts kind of with that foundation. And I think something that was so unique for us was we were both walking on our spiritual journey before you know all of the things that took place with the NFL, and so we had a plan for what we wanted our lives to look like if we had the opportunity to transition into this, and so we really look at it like a mission field. And that's not to say that we didn't make any mistakes, that you know things went according to how we planned it. But the biggest thing is, when you fall, do you get up, do you dust yourself off? Do you continue to try again? And I can recall it was our first year in New York and New York is really a challenging place. To start to be thrown into all of this Just because when you're coming from a small town, we're two Mississippi kids, we're coming from Arkansas, we're being thrown into the limelight and into a big city at the same time. It's like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. And I always love when they say if you can make it here, you can make it in anywhere. And I hold true to that, just because when you look at a place like New York, which is beautiful and has endless opportunities, there's also a lot of pressure.

Speaker 2: 24:37

There's a lot of networking that takes place where you know. When people meet you, the first thing they ask is what do you do? There's a lot of people who are you know. When people meet you, the first thing they ask is what do you do? There's a lot of people who are you know, after something. There's a lot, you know. There's the fashion headquarters, there's all these different things that's competing for you to buy into it and then you take that to having a professional team and then there are all these stereotypes that's associated with being involved in this arena, and so with that, a lot of people feel like they have to transition, they have to compromise who they are in order to fit into whatever those stereotypes or preconceived notions may be, and so you find yourself saying yes to a lot of things that you might not would have.

Speaker 2: 25:19

I think another thing that you see is my theory is, unique opportunities like this kind of make you more of who you already are. So it exposes a lot of that, and so if you're a crappy person, then you're just going to be an even bigger crappy person if you're you know. So that's another thing that I say about a lot of it as well. But I think another thing. I remember being at a game specifically and again it was our first year and I saw multiple things take place where I was like, oh gosh, there's a lot taking place, but I saw someone be mistreated, another wife mistreated another wife. I saw another person.

Speaker 2: 26:02

Like physically mistreating or verbally or verbally, where it's like, whether it's, you know, talking about what somebody is wearing because you're not meeting those standards or you know whatever it was. I call it mistreatment because I'm, like you know, looping it all together. But I saw that take place. I saw a couple be, uh, very rude to a fan. I saw just say a lot of different things within like a two week span, and you know how you talk about and I think I mentioned it earlier where you're dreaming of who you want to become, you also have to stop to be able to identify who do you not want to become. And then there were certain things that I myself had even experienced in that short amount of time, and so from that it then led me to absorbing all of that information and digesting it and being able to have a defining moment where I'd say I will not compromise who I am under any circumstances in order to fit into any room. I will not. And I just went through and before I went to what I would do, I went through all the things that I would not do, and in that I still go back to that because, as you're continuing to climb and things are happening fast, it's hard to not reflect on those, on those moments where it's like you know, I actually kind of want to go this way this time, and so I like to keep that at the forefront of my mind. I remember writing that down of like this is who you will not become, this is what you will not do, because this is your foundation. Your foundation is him. Let's start, he put you here and he can take you away from here.

Speaker 2: 27:40

How are you viewing this opportunity? I view this opportunity as a mission field, and people hear me say this all the time, but I think a lot of times when we think of missionaries, we're always thinking of people who are going into these very unfortunate situations, these impoverished areas and things of that nature, and you're forgetting that there are people who are on very high plan fields who need missionaries to come and be visible and speak into their life, and so I always looked at this like a mission field. I'm like Lord. How do I take this opportunity and honor you through each step of it and then also identify people who I am giving permission to speak into my life so that, at any moment that they see me operating outside of what I say, the founding principles are for not just this arena that I'm in, but for my life, holistically giving them the permission to call me out, so that in that I'm reminded that this is so much bigger than me, and God has placed me here for a mission and a purpose, and it's not mine.

Speaker 2: 28:39

And so he gives me a megaphone, not a microphone, to be able to do this, but in that am I willing to make his name greater than my name, and that's just how I've had to navigate being inside of that space and this space, and it's challenging at times because you have to challenge yourself or, if you make a mistake, you have to be able to go back and apologize and make sure people understand where you stand on certain issues.

Speaker 2: 29:01

But it's also understanding that I cannot compromise or sacrifice my faith, my relationship with God, because that's the most important relationship, that's the most important platform. So all of that is not is not up for grabs, and so when you know what's not up for grabs, it makes you a little bit more grounded, where you're knowing that you have to fight, because the enemy is coming at you every which way and he's not going to turn you loose, and so he always take you farther than you ever intend to go. And so the moment you realize that you're taking a step over the line, you better reevaluate and take a step back. And I have to do that day in and day out. And do I do it perfectly? Absolutely not. But I think that's the importance of having accountability, that's the importance of keeping yourself around mentors, that's the importance of being a lifelong learner and positioning yourself to always be coachable.

Speaker 1: 29:57

Okay, mic drop, mic drop. There's so much gold in what you just said. Y'all you're going to want to rewind. I think on a podcast it doesn't give you a little 15 seconds. You're going to want to scoot that back just a little bit because pick up what she put down. I need to unpack just a little bit of that. There's so much humility in what you said, but I love that you were super clear. I don't know if you know this or not, but in the short time we've even started this podcast, you've said three times who I want to be and who I don't want to be. You're very clear on the person that you're becoming and you're very clear on who you're not becoming. And I think that clarity is that first step. I'm a high performance coach and so that habit of clarity, clarifying over and over and over again focus is crucial.

Speaker 1: 30:49

So we're going where we want to go and being becoming who we want to be.

Speaker 1: 30:54

And it's so easy in your position to get a little bit numb to the things of God and the kingdom purpose and the mission that you're on. He's put you on a pedestal and you want to steward that well clearly, and I love that. You said you surrounded yourself with people who you've given permission to call you out and I have a feeling that they would. They wouldn't be the type to say, oh, I don't want to hurt your feelings or people please, or anything like. They would not. They would not do you the disservice. They want to serve you in that capacity. That was rich girl. I feel like I just had a buffet and it was good.

Speaker 2: 31:33

Oh, thank you. I think that's the biggest part of learning compartmentalization, because, as you're navigating inside of any space that you're in, but you know the higher the call and the more spaces that you're having to go in. So in compartmentalizing I like to call them buckets, and so, because I'm dealing with so many different people, I have to know how to properly bucket those individuals. And so there are some people that I know are going to be yes, people. I can't give them that permission to speak into this, because they're going to tell me what I want to hear and I have to be. I have to take the blinders off to be able to see everything for what it is in that moment and then draft the plan. And then I have to be able to see people who are, who are walking out their own, their own life, walking out their faith in their own life, and from that it's like okay, you see me, you see what I say. My family is a priority, my faith is a priority, making sure that I'm serving my community is a priority. So, if you see that those are things that I am attempting to do and I'm verbalizing, I'm having it, and I had conversations with these people, I sat them down and I said listen, this is what this is what my foundation is built on. This is how I want to live my life. This is how I want to create legacy.

Speaker 2: 32:53

If at any moment that I'm not doing, that, I'm giving you, because I've been around people who have given me permission or not not fully given me permission, and then, when I tried to hold them accountable, they swatted me away, and so that was another defining moment for me to invite other people in where I'm like, if at any. I don't care who you have to bring in. If you need to bring in pastors, if you need to bring in therapists, if you need to have an intervention with me, do that at all costs, because I know in this moment why. I have clarity and my brain is functioning right. This is what I want to stand on and don't give up on me, and the people that I went to with that were people that I trusted, but people who said yes, but then they also gave me examples of how they were going to do that, and I knew that I had bucketed those people right in that moment.

Speaker 1: 33:47

This is so good. This is so good. I just I have a lot of respect for you already, but wow, just to hear this, you know you said when you were a little girl you sat at a lot of elders feet and you can tell it's like you, you have a mantle of wisdom on you and that that was passed down at such a rich, in such a rich way to you to have this fortitude, this virtue, this character for someone that is so young, to start out so young with such a conviction.

Speaker 1: 34:19

That this is who I am and this is what I represent. In fact, let me put up. I call them God rails. You've got like these really strong God rails in your life and you're like I'm not going to ask the yes people. They're not going to you know they're not. They're going to tell me what I want to hear and listen. Most of us that are listening to this have. We don't have the limelight on us like you do, right, but still it's the same principle. There's yes people.

Speaker 1: 34:45

I can ask people to be my accountability partner to hold me accountable, but I know that if I ask a certain ones, they would never actually do that. They don't have it in them to say yeah, girl, let me call you out. Like you need to watch that. Um, just the fact that you, you're, you've got so much discernment inside of you and wisdom, it's just beautiful to see your spiritual gifts so, um, so richly on display in such a big way. It's really exciting actually.

Speaker 2: 35:18

Thank you, thank you All him, not me.

Speaker 1: 35:29

Thank you All him, not me. Okay, I love this that you and I I thought I was the queen of an acronym. I can share this title with you. After going through all of your stuff, I'm like, oh, she's the same, it's good. It's good, I love this. One of your signature programs is built on five T framework, which is time, talent, treasure, temple and testimony. I absolutely love that. Is this what you live by and have taught your children?

Speaker 1: 35:52

this Is this like you and Demario for your relationship, your marriage, your relationship with God and your children, before you even go out into the community.

Speaker 2: 36:03

Absolutely with God and your children before you even go out into the community. Absolutely, I think we had to really sit and understand what was a driving force for us individually and collectively. And then and then, when we worked it out individually, we were able to come together to build it out collectively. That then allowed us to expand that to like our home front first, and then, in being able to define that this is how we desire to create framework for how we live, then it's like, if we're going to be out in the community serving other people, how do we look at this approach and say I think for us it's like one of those things where it's like how do we look at this approach and say I think for us it's like one of those things where it's like how do you create a holistic approach where you see the whole individual and you not just compartment? Like compartmentalization is good, but it's only good when you know when and when not to use it. And in so many different environments we teach people to work on one part of themselves. So it's like, oh, let's just work on this part and let's work on that part, which is good, like, all of the parts need to be worked on. However, we're a whole being, and so if we work on this and not that, then we're kind of doing ourselves a disservice, we're doing a disservice to other people, and so it's like how do you see the whole individual? And with our five T's? You know there are so many other things that we use, but with our five T's we realize that one.

Speaker 2: 37:22

We all have those five things and we are borrows of it because it belongs to God. And so how do we steward those things in a way that's going to be impactful for how we then serve him, serve his people, live our lives, fulfill our purpose and our mission? And so we all have time. How are we going to really steward our time and do it well? Because not only do we have time on a day-to-day basis, we have time for how long we're going to be here on earth. So are we going to fulfill his mission and his purpose for our life? Which means we have to steward the time that we've been given properly and we have to take advantage of the unique opportunity that he's putting in front of us for mission, our talents, we all have talents. How are you putting those things on display? But then also, how do you not use them selfishly? You are a steward of that. It belongs to him. He saw fit to give it to you. So what are you going to do with that? Your body, that's your temple, like? If you don't take care of your body, then you're not going to be able to properly do some of the other things. So how do you honor that? What does that look like? And so from there, you know, we just started to build out our testimony.

Speaker 2: 38:38

We all have a testimony because we grew up in the church. We didn't grow up exercising our faith effectively, and so in that we had a huge encounter with the Lord. What does that testimony look like? And one of the things that I appreciate about our testimonies individually and collectively, because we weren't cookie cutter and there's nothing wrong with people being cookie cutter. I hope my kids are.

Speaker 2: 39:01

I don't want them to be fully cookie cutter, but being able to grasp and understand the bible at such an early age where they're able to learn early how to apply those principles and not just check a box, because there's a difference between religion and relationship.

Speaker 2: 39:15

And so in that we're able to tell our story and time and time again, you're able to see how God had to show up and how he had to intervene.

Speaker 2: 39:23

But it took us a journey before we even had that encounter to say yes, because we were saying yes to religion.

Speaker 2: 39:30

I don't want to say yes to religion. I need to say yes to relationship because in that relationship I'm trying to be more and more like you, which means the moment that I'm not meeting that mark. I need to be convicted, but my conviction needs to lead me to repentance. But how can I repent if I've never been convicted of the very things that are opposite from what God has called me to do? And so I think those are like all the different things that just kind of help us weave together the five Ts's, where it's like this is how we live our life, this is how we're intentional about, how we show up for each other, how we show up in our house, how we show up you know, if we're it's just us and God, how are we showing up? And then how do we create a model where we're able to teach that to other people? How do you focus on the whole being of yourself and not just focus on one thing?

Speaker 1: 40:18

That's right. It's so good, and I love all of. I love exactly everything that you have in there. One of my favorites was to read testimony, and in your bio you talk about being a storyteller, and isn't that our testimony, though, is our story.

Speaker 2: 40:34

Nobody can take that story away from me.

Speaker 1: 40:36

And nobody is it? Revelation 12 by the power, of the power of the blood and the word of testimony. My testimony is my testimony how he healed me, how he saved me, how he delivered me. And I'm not shoving religion on anyone, but I can see from conviction and from that, jesus is my answer. He's the reason why I don't have anxiety anymore. He's the reason why I can walk in my worthiness instead of shame and guilt, is the power of the testimony right.

Speaker 1: 41:08

Oh, yeah, oh yeah, everything about that. I love everything about what you're saying here, girl. It's so good, it's so rich, okay, so let's talk, though let's bring this to you. You guys have devoted dreamers and you've done that. For what? Dusty 2013?

Speaker 2: 41:25

Yes, so since 2013, we've had dreamers and I'm sorry this is just not going to let me be great today, but since 2013, we've had devoted dreamers and we've tried to add to it as the years have progressed. We actually started as a summer camp and we just started to find more and more ways that spoke to us individually and collectively, again to add to the umbrella of what we've done and how we serve and attempt to have less an impact in the communities that we serve.

Speaker 1: 41:57

Yeah, okay. So tell us, if somebody's never heard about Devoted Dreamers, tell us a little bit about what it is, where it is and what you guys do, and maybe how they can get involved if they'd like to.

Speaker 2: 42:07

Absolutely so. The Devoted Dreamers Foundation was kind of founded on a lot of things that we believed heavily in, whether that was education, whether it was community impact, people having an encounter with the Lord, being able to be self-advocates, lifelong learners, be coachable, and so we've developed, like all sorts of programming around a lot of those different initiatives. We started initially in Mississippi and now we do work in both New Orleans and Nashville, tennessee, and our biggest goal is to impact the next generation of leaders. And with that, the next generation of leaders are obviously our youth. But we have to look beyond that where there are young adults who are our next generation of leaders. There are adults who are still trying to figure things out in their lives, that are building their own testimony. That are our next generation of leaders.

Speaker 2: 43:01

And so our next generation of leaders look so different. But how do we empower them and equip them to be able to dream big? And in their dreaming big we always like to tell people like dreaming big isn't enough. You also have to have a devotion inside of you where you're devoting everything to that dream and in that, helping them create a pathway to make their biggest dream a reality. But with that you have to fuel and invest in people because their own lived experience have shaped them one way or another. And some people just need a hand up, they need words of encouragement, they need programming, they need initiatives. So it looks different for each individual, and so, as we continue to assess the communities that we're serving, we're like OK, what does this community need specifically? And then how do we share all parts of what we attempt to do and then add new things at the same time?

Speaker 1: 43:57

parts of what we attempt to do and then add new things at the same time. I just love it. I love the holistic, the integrative approach to helping them fuel the flame inside them, but giving them the tools, the resources, because a dream, a dream without putting in the effort and the time and the energy and skilling up is never going to happen. It's going to sit dormant inside of you.

Speaker 2: 44:18

So I just love.

Speaker 1: 44:18

You guys have put this together. You're building the next generation. Like I'm just listening to you now, it's fanning the flames of my 52 year old dream and self. It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know so I just think this is so good. So where are you guys now with this? Tell us about the camps that you have for the children. Where are they? In what areas are those? Because they're in three different states. Is that right?

Speaker 2: 44:41

Yes, so three different states and people can stay up to date on everything we have going on on our social media, our Devoted Dreamers social media, our personal social media, also our website, devoteddreamersorg. But there are different times of the year that we're doing different initiatives, and there's also also approach where we take it and we customize certain packages or we get come to you, and so it's not like we're just, you know, sitting in one place and waiting for people to come to us. If you see something that we're doing, we're able to come to you. And so we have a summer camp that is at Mission First in Jackson Mississippi. That we do. We also have a spring program in Mississippi and it's geared towards our Pearls for Girls initiative where we're really trying to do a lot of character building, where girls understand that they are fearfully and wonderfully made and that they can really dream and be polished and professional, and you know there are so many things that comes with that. We also do a career beyond sports model because we work with a lot of young athletes. We want them to have exposure around, understanding that there are so many careers around the game and even if you don't make it, as far as we've been able to be fortunate enough to go with the pro football career, you can still be associated with that profession doing something different. So there's sports media training, there's athletic trainers, there's all these different agents, financial advisors so we do a lot around financial literacy and so just creating programs where people are able to have occupational research around what careers keep them close to the game while exploring something that's different than being actually on the field.

Speaker 2: 46:28

We do a lot of initiatives with food pantries to really encourage people to understand that there are so many different food insecurities in so many different places. So how do we do work to provide? We also do another initiative in New Orleans called Dinner with the Davises, where we try to encourage family dining, which is something that we feel like has become obsolete in our culture because everybody's so busy with activities and phones and social media and things of that nature, and so a lot of our unique experiences and conversations that have been guiding principles for our life happened around the dinner table, and so how do we encourage people to get back to the table, to get back to family time, even if it's one night a week, even if it's one meal a day, where you're able to have some intentionality around that. We do a lot of work around innovative education, where we're big on seeing again the whole person, where things should be individualized. So how do we advocate and create curriculums and programs that really see a child, what their strengths are, what their limitations are, and customize something that's going to help them thrive and not just survive?

Speaker 2: 47:34

And so those are a few of the initiatives that we do on a year in, year out basis and it's different times of the year, but if you stay, you know, plugged into our socials, our website, you'll see when those things are happening, what cities they're happening in. But also there's opportunities. If there's something in one of our programs or curriculums that you see that you're interested in, we could bring that to you, to your, your church, to your community center, to the schools. We sometimes go into the public schools and teach some of these initiatives. So, yeah, Incredible.

Speaker 1: 48:04

Incredible. It's so robust that's. It's like this theme of just hearing you talk about all of the things that you do, that you believe, your belief systems, your character. It's robust, it's beautiful. Well done, my friend. I mean, it's just very exciting. So you guys definitely got to check out their website. If you're thinking I want to get involved in that, go to dream devoted dreamersorg, and there's a place where you can get involved. I'm actually going to go myself. I would love to learn more about getting involved Even. Um, I think you've got some things close to my backyard. So I would like to learn more about getting involved Even I think you've got some things close to my backyard.

Speaker 1: 48:39

So I would like to know more about that. You also so? So at the time of this recording, it's football, the F word, all the things and the tailgate. I think we think it might be the 23rd of November and there's a drive and a service project and, again, just this robust approach and integrative, this big approach to hey, we can do this. Well, while we're doing this, let's go ahead and do this. And hey, while y'all are here, go ahead and let's bring this and we can bring Thanksgiving to 50 or 60 or a hundred people. I just love it. I love the way that, um, God made. I love the way God made you. Thank love it.

Speaker 2: 49:17

I love the way that God made you. I love the way God made you Tamela. Thank you, thank you, thank you, god.

Speaker 1: 49:26

Thank you. Good job with you, girl. He did a good job with you, so okay. So, as we're wrapping up here, tell us where we can find you on socials, your socials, also your podcast, I know, I think. I think Katie told me that you might be picking it back up before long, so tell us a little bit more about where we can connect with you all over the interwebs.

Speaker 2: 49:45

Absolutely. So you can connect with me on socials. It's Tamela Gill Davis. I'm on all the things. I'm even on Tik TOK now, which is something I'm still trying to figure out, but I'm on all the socials, tamela Gill Davis. My website is wwwthefwordus. You can go there. You'll find fun blogs, fun recipes. You can even book a life coaching session there. It directs you straight to my calendar. Devoted Dreamers we have all of our socials. Devoted Dreamers Foundation, devoted Dreamers Academy. You can find us there. Email TamelaDavis56 at Gmail. So however you want to reach out, please don't hesitate to reach out. I love it.

Speaker 1: 50:28

You can take a picture there. Okay, yes, definitely connect with Tamela, get involved with all that she's doing. I want to ask you this one final question it's my mission. God put this mission on my heart. I used to be stuck in so much unworthiness and guilt and shame and I just didn't think God would ever want to use somebody like me. So when I say what I'm about to say, it's a miracle that God's called me to walk worthy of my calling Ephesians 4.1,. Empowerfully, use my voice to help others walk worthy Tamal. What I want to ask you is how could you encourage the woman who doesn't know that she's created for purpose, that doesn't know that maybe she's more like me. She's stuck Like you. You've been this dreamer and just kind of catapulted from a young age to a stage and a podium and using your life for God's glory. What would you say to, maybe, the woman that can't even fathom what you've done and she doesn't think that that's for her, that's for people like you? What?

Speaker 2: 51:33

can you?

Speaker 1: 51:34

say to encourage her.

Speaker 2: 51:35

Wow, you know that's a great question, because I think a lot of times we have the tendency to look into other people's lives and we celebrate them and we see them worthy, and the more that we do that, we deem ourselves unworthy. And that happens through all seasons and phases of life. And so, you know, even for people who are where I am, you know where people like to see we still get to super successful places and feel like we're not worthy. And so I don't want anybody to feel like isolated and alone, to feel like at some point I'll never feel like I'm not worthy, because one it's a scheme of the enemy and he knows that that's something that he can do to get you off course. He's going to circle back with it. It may look slightly different, but he's going to keep circling back with it over and over and over again. And so one of the things that really helped me when I went through a season of feeling like I was unworthy, I found scripture. And then, as I found those scriptures, I created words of affirmation because he said I'm worthy. The world doesn't get to tell me whether I'm worthy or not. The world doesn't get to tell me whether my story is valid or not. The world doesn't get to tell me whether my story is worth hearing or not, because God created me and he makes no mistakes, and so when he decided to place me in my mother's womb, he said that I was worthy. He said that I was worthy to be here. He would say that I was worthy to to love him and to honor him and to serve him. He said that he had a purpose and a plan specifically for my life and how he wanted to use me. So what he needs is for you to say yes, for you to affirm yourself and say you know what the enemy and other people are trying to make me feel like I'm unworthy. But I woke up this morning, I can check my pulse and I'm still here, which means I still have breath, which means I still have purpose, which means I still belong to him. So I have to say yes to him and as I say yes to him, I can say yes, I am worthy, and then I can ask him to lead me and to guide me and to show me the way that he desires to use me. That is unique to me, because nobody else gets to do what he has called me to do, because the audience may look different.

Speaker 2: 53:49

Sometimes we look at things and we're like we're not, we're not worthy, because somebody else is doing that. So what? They can't speak to the same people that you can speak to with your story, with your testimony, with the things that you've had to journey through. They're not at the same office that you're at, they're not at the same church you're at, they're not serving the same group of kids you are, and so don't deem yourself more unworthy or more worthy than another person, because we all have a different assignment. Worthy than another person, because we all have a different assignment.

Speaker 2: 54:20

But going back to those words of affirmation, I remember at one point I could barely see how to brush my teeth because I had that many sticky notes on my mirror reminding me of who God said that I was, and to remind myself that I am worthy, even when the noise outside is louder than my own voice telling me that I'm not. And what we have to do is to find a way to fall flat on our knees and our face before the Lord and give that to him. Lord, I feel like I am unworthy, but meet me exactly where I am and help me to see that I am worthy because you said that I was worthy. Cancel out all the noise, lord, that is louder than your voice. Cancel out my voice when it becomes louder than yours, lord. And I think those are things that starts to be guiding principles to get you out of the darkness, to get you into the light, so that you are able to remind yourself of who you are, but, more importantly, whose you are.

Speaker 1: 55:22

That's right, Come on. That's so good, that's so beautiful and in fact I've got an identity statement that just, and I told, I told Katie, I'm going to send you a planner, you know.

Speaker 2: 55:35

I'm writing a planner.

Speaker 1: 55:37

And every single day it asks who is God to you, who do you say and who are you? And it's all about identity. And it's rehearsing it, though, it's practicing it.

Speaker 1: 55:49

It's saying it over and over and over again, because whatever we're rehearsing, we're becoming, and so if I'm talking about stuff all the time, I'm just not good enough, I'm I'll never make it and I'm never, I'll never amount to anything. Yes, you're right, it's true. As a man speaks and so he thinks, the power of words, of life and death over your life, I didn't realize what the death I was speaking over myself. Thoughts, and so many people have thoughts. They're on, they don't even, they're not even conscious of what they're doing and how they're in, who they are becoming. So what she said to all of us is if you got a pulse, there's a purpose.

Speaker 2: 56:31

There's a purpose.

Speaker 1: 56:32

Go and keep that identity working on your. It's your rehearsing your identity. I'll put that link. I've got a free identity statement. Listen, print it out. I keep it in my Bible. I go back to it every day.

Speaker 2: 56:46

I'm like God, I don't want to look like this, but this is me to say that I am yes, and I think that's important, because sometimes we think because we don't think it, we don't think it, we don't believe it, and then it makes us not say it but even sometimes saying things that you don't even believe good things now.

Speaker 2: 57:06

But when you're looking like god, I feel unworthy but I am worthy.

Speaker 2: 57:10

You may not believe it the moment you say it, but if you keep planting it, and you keep planting it over and over again, at some point you're going because you're combating the enemy.

Speaker 2: 57:16

And over again, at some point you're going because you're combating the enemy and what he's trying to pull you, because he wants you to feel like you're not worthy. He doesn't want you to be used by God, because he wants you to be used by him. And so in that you know you don't want to be discipling people to come down that path with you of feeling unworthy, unseen, unwanted, like they don't have a purpose, they don't have a plan, because God put you here. But he gives you a choice too, and so in that choice you have to choose him, and in choosing him you're choosing his way, which means you are so full of purpose and you are so worthy, and the more you say it, even if you don't believe it. Like tell God, god, I don't believe this, but I want to believe it. Help me to believe it. Let him do the work. Let him do the work.

Speaker 1: 58:06

That's right, that's so good. That's so good. Okay, I appreciate your time. You are one busy woman. You're probably about to like do a photo shoot and go back out of town, go over and homeschool the kids all while you're like making cookies or something, all the things, all the things.

Speaker 2: 58:24

I got myself out of snack duty today because I bought donuts on my way home.

Speaker 1: 58:27

So happy children though.

Speaker 2: 58:32

Lots of sugar rushes.

Speaker 1: 58:33

I'll have the condom later, but oh my goodness Well, I appreciate you so much being here. You guys, thank you for listening and would you do us a favor, if you found value in this podcast, would you share it with your friends, maybe even shoot it up to your stories? Tag us both. We'll repost you and share the love. But anyway, tamela, god bless you. So excited to be connected god bless you good things with you, girlfriend. We're supposed to be connected. I just know that.

Speaker 1: 59:04

So yes yes, yes, and you guys go follow her. Go follow, just follow the davises and all of the good stuff that they're doing, and this was such a rich time. So, thank you, my dear friend. All right, you guys have a great week and we'll be back next time. Okay, bye-bye, bye.