Life Updates: Reflection and Change

Welcome to my Blogger With a Twist—a podcast about lifestyle, self-improvement, and personal stories.

In this episode, I go over my latest life updates. That includes how I almost got scammed out of money, working with different brands as a social media content creator, what I did for my birthday weekend, and more.

Besides that, I also give my latest update about the podcast-
regarding me starting over so I can get better at being more consistent.  

That said, grab your snacks, and let's get this episode started.

Also do not forget to use my code "BLOGINPHILLY20" or my link to get a special discount on your Javy Coffee order. Check my linktree link to see more!

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 0:52 Start Of Episode
• 2:31 Life Updates
• 27:12 Change With Podcast
• 27:52 Ending

Transcript

00:08
Hey guys, my name is Brooke, your fellow podcaster, entrepreneur, and creative artist from the East Coast. And welcome to my podcast blogger with a twist. So on my podcast, I'll mainly be talking about lifestyle topics, I might do some rants or story times. But basically whatever comes to mind that is the gist of this podcast. So if you guys find that interesting, and you want to know more.

00:37
then subscribe, share my podcast with your friends and family. And last but not least, sit back, relax, grab your favorite snack or food. And let's get this episode popping.

00:52
Hey, you guys, and welcome back to a new episode. And hopefully you guys out there are doing good and also long time no see. So I know that I have not been that consistent with my podcast. And I really want to apologize about that because I really do enjoy podcasting. But it's just I am a horrible procrastinator. And I don't know, I really need to get

01:21
that quality about myself in check because I feel like that is probably one of my biggest downfalls is my procrastination. And that is one of my resolutions for next year is to really be more consistent with the things that I like to do. So anyway, um I also want to say happy November, even though November is almost over, and we're about to head into December.

01:50
And also happy Thanksgiving, you guys. So I know that Thanksgiving is this week as well. So hopefully you guys will be eating some delicious turkey or whatever you're having this holiday season. And so basically for today's episode, I wanted to come on and talk to you guys about the latest update change with the podcast.

02:17
as well as update you guys on what your girl has been up to in these past couple of weeks. So that being said, grab your favorite snack and let's get this episode started. So I will definitely say that in these past couple of weeks, I have had some highs and some lows, but definitely more highs. But I guess I'll start off with something crazy that happened. Well, not really crazy, but

02:47
Your girl almost got scammed. So what happened is that a couple of weeks ago, I had posted a Instagram reel on my page of me doing an unboxing video of a PR package that I got from Good Molecules like months ago. And so in the description of the video, I tagged Ulta beauty because you can also get the products at Ulta beauty as well.

03:16
So maybe about 20 minutes or 30 minutes after I uploaded that video, I got an email from this woman. I think she said her name was Judith and she claimed to be the manager of the PR department for Ulta beauty. And she basically was offering me a paid partnership with the company.

03:42
which entailed that I would get a PR package every month containing 10 products of my choosing and that I would have to sign a contract and that I could get paid up to $2,000 either after every post or on a monthly basis. And there was also a registration fee and also inside the email.

04:08
was a link to  Ulta beauty's authentic Instagram page, which I had already been following. So I didn't really take the time to do the research because I was so excited, especially being a small content creator, because honestly, I only maybe at that time I had about one thousand five hundred something followers. And I guess for me, I thought.

04:37
I don't have a lot of followers, but they want to work with me. And even though I don't really do makeup, there are some hair products that I get from Ulta Beauty, like certain brands that I can only get there like Curl Smith and Innersense. I create hold gel, which is the bomb.com. But yeah, so I was full of excitement. And of course, I called my boyfriend. I called some of my friends.

05:07
I think I made a post on one of my social media accounts because I was so happy and I started thinking I've finally arrived, you know, I can start working for myself and I can really make a career out of being a full time content creator. Another thing in the email that the lady said is that I could either sign my contract after I get the products or before.

05:36
I did send my I sent the email over to my boyfriend so he could forward it to his mom because she's like good. She's good with that type of stuff. And basically she advised me to tell them that I would sign the contract after I got the products because in case I get the product and it's damaged if I already signed a contract is kind of a lose lose situation. So I did take her advice.

06:05
And fast forward a couple days later. And the last email that I sent to this woman, I sent her my full name, my boyfriend's address, because I figured that until I get my own P.O. box, I would just use my boyfriend's address. And then I also sent the products that I wanted.

06:35
And, you know, after I sent the email about a week and a half went by and I did not hear anything back from her. I was emailing her trying to figure out what is going on. Because at this point, I started to get kind of suspicious because on one end, I felt like, why are you not telling me anything? You know, if there is a delay, I would like to know.

07:00
But at the same time, I thought, you know, you know, Ulta is a big company. They're probably busy. Maybe I'm over exaggerating. And so I decided to email to well send a message to Ulta Beauty on their Instagram page. And I was kind of surprised they even contacted me back. And so I told them what happened. I sent them the email address that I had been talking to.

07:29
And they basically told me that the email address was not associated with the company and that if it was at the end of the email, it would have said, I think at @ultabeauty.com versus at @gmail.com. And they basically advised me to stop all communications with that particular person. Now, mind you, prior to Ulta Beauty, telling me that I had not had any communication

07:58
with this so-called woman named Judith. I thought that I was going to get the email with my profile link and yada, yada, yada, but I will say that maybe because I did not pay the registration fee or maybe because I chose to sign the contract after I got the products,

08:26
That's probably why they maybe stopped contacting me. And of course, you guys, you know, after the whole thing with Ulta, a part of me did feel sad and stupid because it's kind of like Brooke, how could you be so naive? It's just all of these things I feel like I could have done. But I think I was so caught up in the excitement and the opportunity to become a full time content creator. Everything just kind of went out the window.

08:55
Now, I will say that in spite of all of this, something that one of my friends told me is that at least I did not send them any money. Because when I think about it in that perspective, I feel like if I had of sent this person any money, it would have been way more of a hassle to try to get it back. And I feel like if I had to try to contact Ulta Beauty,

09:21
with that line about, oh, well, I sent them this amount of dollars. Can I get it back? They I don't think they would have been able to get my money back. So I definitely learned a lesson all of this. And it is that you have to do your research, especially if you are a content creator. You have to be careful when people email you. You have to make sure that the email that you are corresponding with is legit and is actually from the company.

09:50
So definitely lesson learned, but I didn't really lose anything. Like I said, I did not send this person any money. It's just I wish I had been a little bit smarter and not been so eager to tell my friends and stuff because your girl really was excited. I was just, uh, but yeah, lesson learned and it is what it is. But you guys on the flip side of that.

10:18
I actually am working with another brand and their name is Javy Coffee. And basically they sell coffee. And I'm not going to lie to you guys. When I got the email from Javy offering me a gifted collaboration in which they would send me a package of their protein coffee powder, I was a little apprehensive because I'm not really a coffee drinker.

10:45
And for me, even when I worked at Starbucks, I never had the coffee because I did not like the taste of it. And it really kind of, for me, all stemmed from when I was about, I want to say like 13 or 14 years old, and I had Dunkin' Donuts. And that was my first time having coffee. No shade to Dunkin' Donuts because I do rock with their breakfast. But it just wasn't good to me. And so for a long time,

11:14
I just assumed that I am not a coffee person. And so getting this email from Javy, I was kind of like in my head thinking, what do I do? I wanna do the collaboration because, you know, sometimes when you get older, your taste buds do change.  But at the same time, what if I don't like the coffee? And you know, I gotta find ways to incorporate this in my lifestyle, especially someone that is not a coffee drinker.

11:43
But I decided to agree to the partnership collaboration because you know, I'm creative and I can always find a way to make something work. And I am so happy that I agreed to do the collaboration because I really enjoy the coffee and I really like the fact that it has zero sugar and each scoop of powder is 10 grams of protein. And I believe it also has

12:11
prebiotics or pre probiotics. I think I'm saying the word right. And so, yeah, you guys, I really like the coffee. I like the product and I'm so surprised. So if you guys want to get your hands on Javy, check the description below for my Linktree link, which is a link that I use to help combine all my links into one place. So you can find a link to my blog, my Etsy shop, my online Redbubble shop,

12:40
JavyCoffee, if I did not already say that, and other brands that I am working with right now. And I'll also leave my discount code in the description, which is "BLOGINPHILLY20". And if you guys want to see like a visual of how I actually have been using Javy Coffee in my like my lifestyle, I guess you can say I have two videos up right now. I have one which was kind of like an unboxing video.

13:10
And I made like an iced vanilla coffee kind of thingy with vanilla syrup and whipped cream and cookies on top. Then the second video I uploaded last week, I guess you could say an oat milk iced frappe with white chocolate sauce. And I did that one to give you guys options for people that cannot have like regular dairy. I have to say that one, I kinda liked a little bit better.

13:38
than the first one I made with the vanilla syrup. And for me, when it comes to non-dairy milks, I prefer oat milk. And then second would be almond milk. As far as like, soy milk and coconut milk, they're not really my top choices. And um yeah, hopefully you guys like the content on Instagram. And definitely, I feel like, even if you're not like a huge coffee drinker, I definitely,

14:08
think you can find ways to customize this coffee to your liking. And that was one of my biggest things was that when I decided to do this collaboration, I wanted to find a way to make this appealing to people that don't drink coffee and people that do drink coffee. And I feel like I did a pretty good job, you know, as far as the other brands that I am working with right now, I have Best Buy.

14:34
So if you're looking for electronics or computers or whatever, Bluehost, which is a web hosting service to help you host your blog or website online. And I personally use them for my own blog and I really like them. I've been with them for a few years. So you can also find that link in my link tree, restaurants.com, which is a website that you can use.

15:02
to find restaurants in your area and get a discounted price or find different deals and offers. And you can also use restaurant.com if you're traveling, because I know sometimes if you're traveling, this website can definitely come in handy and help you save a couple of dollars if you're on a budget when you're traveling. I know it's another brand that's like Home Decor and then Amazon.

15:32
Yeah, definitely just check out my link tree. If you guys want to see the brands that I am working with right now. Also, besides the brands that I am working with right now, I also did go to an event that I got invited to a couple of weeks ago. Back on November 3rd. No, actually, I went to the pre event on October 27th. I think that was a Thursday. I got invited to that, and then I end up going to the event on Sunday.

16:01
November 3rd, and I couldn't stay super long because I actually had work that day. But the Flannel Fest event was really cute, and it was really nice to see different black businesses coming together and showcasing their works and their craft. And the music was really good and everybody was so nice, and it was such an amazing time. My boyfriend ended up coming with me because when I went to the pre-event,

16:29
They gave me an extra ticket, so I had two tickets, one for myself. The other one was for my boyfriend or whoever else I invited to come with me. So at the event, I didn't really buy a lot of stuff because I had to go to work that day. So I couldn't even stay the full time at the event. But also my boyfriend, you know, kind of stopped me because there was a lot of stuff that I wanted to buy. But at the same time, I had to kind of be reasonable. Like I ain't trying to go broke.

16:58
OK, like I got to keep some of my monies. OK, so I did end up getting these two tumblers that have like really cute designs from this lady. I got like an oatmeal raisin cookie and strawberry crumble cake from this other lady. I don't think I really bought a lot of stuff. I definitely got a lot of business cards because I definitely want to support these businesses in the future. As far as my boyfriend, he did get a.

17:27
Hot Chocolate because he loves Hot Chocolate. He also got a hoodie from this young kid that sells custom hoodies. And it was really cool to see his story and stuff like that.  I'm trying to think what else did he buy? I think my boyfriend also bought something like a book from this author that was also at the event. Overall, you guys, it was really fun. It was cute. And it's just so nice when I see my community come together and.

17:55
really doing something positive. And then I want to say about a week after that, it was my birthday, which was on November the 9th. So yes, your girl turned 34 years old. Yes, Team Scorpio. And so for my birthday this year, I really wanted to kind of keep it low key, nothing too crazy, very chill.

18:20
And I think that's because when I was in my 20s, I partied, went to the club, you know, got free drinks. But now that I'm in my 30s, I just enjoy the comfort of relaxing and not, you know, doing too much stuff. So for my birthday, my boyfriend booked us a hotel weekend at the Warwick Hotel in Center City here in Philly around Rittenhouse House. And if you guys want to see.

18:47
My little video from the hotel is up on my Instagram page. I took a little video of the lobby area and my room. And the lobby area is like really nice. The architectural structure is really nice, but we did have like a little bump in the road. So my boyfriend booked the hotel from Friday to Sunday because my birthday was actually on Saturday. So Friday evening,

19:13
I ended up meeting my boyfriend at the hotel because that day I had, I think I had work and then I had to go get my hair done. So a lot of running around. And so when I met up with my boyfriend at the hotel, he was outside and he came to greet me and I was like, oh my gosh, this is so sweet. And so once I got to the hotel, we went inside, went up to the room. And funny enough, you guys, my boyfriend was able to upgrade our room for free because what happened is that

19:43
When my boyfriend was in line on Friday checking in, I guess he overheard another customer in front of him talking about it was their birthday and the lady upgraded their room. So when my boyfriend was next in line, I forgot the conversation word for word, but basically my boyfriend was able to upgrade our room to a suite for my birthday for free, which was cool. But then this is where, um

20:12
had like a little bump in the road, okay? Once we got inside the hotel room, we decided to go get some food. And I felt like, you know, we don't have to spend a lot of money because my birthday really isn't till Saturday. So we decided to take an Uber over to Jim's Steaks because Jim's Steaks is one of my favorite places to get cheese steaks in Philly, like in like Center City, South Street. So we go get the cheese steaks in the Uber, and then we take an Uber back to the hotel.

20:42
So we get back inside the room, sit in there in our little suite. And we have like a little area in the suite with like a couch, nice TV. So we sitting there eating the cheese steaks and out the corner of my eye, you guys, I see like this mouse, and you know, and you know, OK, I wasn't expecting I was not expecting Ratatouille to join us on our meal. So now I'm telling my boyfriend, like, babe, I just saw a mouse. Like he literally like the mouse literally looked at me for a second. Like, what's up?

21:11
and then decided to scurry over like underneath the bed. Now I'm thinking to myself, how can I sleep tonight knowing that Ratatouille is somewhere in this room? And tell me why about five, 10 minutes later, the mouse runs back from underneath the bed and goes back to where he came from, which it was like this type of heater or conditioner. You know how you go into hotel rooms and they have like this heater or conditioner inside the room. That's where he came from.

21:40
Now, I didn't see the mouse go back inside the heater because I wasn't paying attention, but my boyfriend did. So after that second time, I'm thinking to myself, okay, Ratatouille. You done stayed your visit too long. You gotta find another location. Go to another room because you're not invited to my birthday weekend. So we go downstairs me and my boyfriend to the front desk. We told the guy what happened. We wasn't like super loud because

22:09
And, you know, a part of me, I didn't want to like give up the room because the fact that I got an upgraded room for free. So I didn't want to give that up at the same time. Just like I can't be comfortable knowing that Ratatouille is just having a party all up in my room. You know what I'm saying? So the uh..  I guess you could say the manager, he was like really chill about it. And basically, he let me have anything inside the gift shop.

22:36
Like me and my boyfriend, he was like, you guys can take anything. Like, I'm just like, really? OK. I got like this mug that says Jawn, and you guys will actually see that in my first video I did with the Javy product because I actually made the first video at the hotel and I used that exact cup. I know my boyfriend got like a bottle of liquor. He got like a bottle of soda. But I will definitely say the manager was super nice understanding

23:06
I was just surprised when he was like, oh, you guys can just have anything out the gift shop. Like, I'm just like, oh, OK, this really is my birthday weekend. Hey, go Brooke, go Brooke. It's your birthday. It's your birthday. So, yeah, that was the fiasco with the hotel. I mean, overall, besides Rattatouille's  umm impromptu visit. OK, I had a really good birthday weekend. It was just what I wanted. It was relaxing. And I just had a good time.

23:36
Also, my boyfriend got me a whole cake from Tiffany's. Strawberry shortcake, which is one of my favorite flavors. You'll also find that on my Instagram page in my photos. But I'm trying to think what else have I been up to since trying to think. So I told you guys about my birthday, about the whole thing with Javy, me working with other brands. Uh, as far as the job is concerned, so.

24:04
As most you guys know, they have listened to my episodes. You guys know that I work at a gas station, specifically Exxon, and it is 24 hours. And so I have to say that since working at the gas station, I've started to not like it as much. And some parts of me does miss working at Starbucks, but I don't miss my manager at Starbucks, she just wasn't a nice person and we really did not see eye to eye.

24:33
But anyway, the gas station, I just feel like one, I do not like that I have to work overnight because when I first started working for the company, I didn't think I would have to work overnight. But one of the guys that work overnight end up getting fired because he got caught taking counterfeit twenty dollar bills, which I'm just saying to myself, how do you let five twenty dollar bills slip through the crack? Like, are you serious? I just.

25:03
don't like working overnight. I'd rather be asleep instead of having to deal with people and their BS. And then on top of that, the guys that be trying to talk to me, I swear like, sometimes they be getting on my nerves. Like I had this one guy last week, at first he was trying to guess my ethnicity because my hair is straightened right now. And every once in a while I get my hair straightened, but normally I wear curly. I did hear him say Dominican.

25:32
I'm pretty sure he said it like another race or ethnicity, but I didn't pick up on the other ones. But I was just like, huh? He was like, is that all your hair? I'm just like, yes, I just straightened it. And then he had the nerve to say, Oh, I guess your boyfriend hasn't sweated it out. And then at one point he told me, Oh, I need to stop messing with these little boys. I need a real man. And to me, I feel like even if I did not have a boyfriend,

25:59
That is a huge turn off for me. Like, don't tell me what I need and don't need. Okay. You not my man. So like, excuse yourself. You with your ugly behind grille and you're droopy behind pants. Like that's one thing about guys I don't like. And not every guy does this. I do not like it when guys have their pants like slacking or drooping so low. You can see the color of their boxers. Like, why don't you just wear a belt properly? Like what is going on? You too old for this.

26:29
But anyway, I guess maybe I might do another episode where I talk to you guys about what has been happening at my job. Maybe I'll call it the gas station Chronicles. I don't know, but I definitely have been applying looking for other jobs because I don't think I want to stay at this gas station that long. And I've already had to curse out a couple of people because my thing is this.

26:56
You're not going to come at me sideways and expect something in an exchange. That's my whole thing. Like I had one guy call me to the B word. I had to get him together because who you talking to? But yes, I just feel like working at this gas station is kind of getting me out my character because I like to be happy, chill. I don't want to always be trying to curse somebody out or get somebody together. Like y'all too old for this. OK.

27:22
And then um the last thing I want to say about the podcast is that I hate to say this, you guys, I really do, because I feel like I've already done this like twice, but I will be starting over with the podcast. I'm going to be deleting all my episodes because, like I said, I think in the beginning, I just really have not been that consistent. And I want to really get back to being consistent. And I just want like a fresh start, a clean plate.

27:50
I may bring back some of those episode topics that I did. I don't know yet. Sorry, you guys. And for you guys that did download those episodes, thank you so much. But other than that, you guys, I think that is all of my updates. And I know this episode is a little bit longer than usual because I normally try to keep my episodes like the 15 minute mark and maybe even under that mark. But.

28:19
I felt like I had a lot to talk about in this episode since I have not been here like 99 years. So if you guys enjoyed this episode, definitely like the podcast, share it. If you have any questions or anything, all my information is in the description. And like I said earlier, definitely check out my link tree link in the description to check out all of my links and all the brands that I am working with.

28:45
And thank you guys again for being loyal listeners. And I will talk to you guys in my next episode. Peace.