Brand Shadow Series Ep 3: Shadow Stories: A Halloween Special!

00;00;00;00 - 00;00;03;16 00;00;03;16 - 00;00;19;19 Shaniqua Hey, everybody. Welcome to From Illumination To Innovation. I'm your host, Shaniqua Brown, and this is the third episode of our Brand Shadow series. Stephanie. Are you there? 00;00;19;21 - 00;00;25;26 Stephanie Hey! 00;00;25;28 - 00;00;43;22 Stephanie I am here. I am your co-host, Stephanie Crain and I am so excited for this episode. As Shaniqua said, it's the third in our Brand Shadow series. And because we're airing this on Halloween. 00;00;43;22 - 00;00;53;10 Stephanie Woo woo be Halloween. We wanted to have some fun and. 00;00;53;13 - 00;00;57;14 Stephanie We wanted to tell some scary stories. 00;00;57;17 - 00;01;00;27 Stephanie That might be based on a little. 00;01;00;27 - 00;01;03;14 Stephanie Bit of truth and fact. 00;01;05;15 - 00;01;22;22 Stephanie You know, might feel like you're gathering around the fireside or, as Shaniqua said, perhaps the Black Mirror. So we're excited to have you join us, and we hope you're as excited for this as we are. 00;01;22;25 - 00;01;51;09 Shaniqua Well, we have to take advantage of, like, two things colliding for us. We had the Brand Shadow series that we're kicking off for October. To celebrate your book launch and release and, with Halloween falling on our app, it like podcast releases. So this was like, serendipitous. So we had to take advantage and the opportunity. You may be wondering what you know, what are our costumes? 00;01;51;09 - 00;02;01;08 Shaniqua And since we were talking about Brand Shadows and corporate toxicity, we wanted to highlight various, ghouls and goblins. 00;02;01;10 - 00;02;04;15 Shaniqua The, corporate. 00;02;04;17 - 00;02;09;12 Shaniqua I wonder if you can guess what we are, but we're obviously going to tell you so. 00;02;09;14 - 00;02;09;27 Shaniqua You know. 00;02;09;27 - 00;02;37;28 Shaniqua The, What is it, fright night? Freeze, Fawn. The Office, Fawn People Pleaser you know, I'm working in a remote home office and typing away, working long hours. Yes, yes, yes, I can do it. What do you need? I got you, 2 afraid to voice my own needs and desires. But I'm getting everything done for everyone. 00;02;38;01 - 00;02;44;23 Shaniqua Slowly. I'm sure over time I will be rude. But today I am the Corporate Fawn 00;02;44;26 - 00;02;53;04 Stephanie And what an amazing, adorable Fawm you are. Great Fawn Crown. 00;02;53;07 - 00;02;54;16 Shaniqua I made myself. 00;02;54;18 - 00;02;55;22 Stephanie A or. 00;02;55;24 - 00;03;03;11 Shaniqua A surrealist ball that I went to. And I took it very seriously, but now it's way. 00;03;03;11 - 00;03;09;24 Stephanie More than handmade crafting and costuming honors. I mean, honestly, for for me. 00;03;09;27 - 00;03;11;01 Shaniqua I have a little. 00;03;11;04 - 00;03;20;27 Shaniqua Black flowers on Overstock in my antlers. You know, really took to the, creativity challenge head on. 00;03;20;29 - 00;03;30;27 Stephanie It's amazing. And I love it. And so for me, I am the Ghost of Toxic Middle Management. 00;03;31;00 - 00;03;31;27 Stephanie We. 00;03;31;29 - 00;03;50;22 Stephanie We are certainly a fading and and and, you know, sort of needs to be a dying breed. Yeah. And, I'm here, you know, to to share some of my horror stories. 00;03;50;24 - 00;03;54;28 Stephanie Haha. Hey. 00;03;55;01 - 00;04;00;06 Shaniqua What about your virtual background? So because I feel like this is like what I would imagine. 00;04;00;06 - 00;04;02;16 Stephanie Is, you know. 00;04;02;16 - 00;04;38;00 Stephanie Again, I, I hope that this background also sort of represents its own dying breed of it. Just just the space of desolation and overwork and just really the lighting in here makes me sad. These fluorescent lights that I, you know, I know it has big windows, but you can see the it's a space of unhappiness. I think that, you know, ultimately for these types of office spaces have become haunted. 00;04;38;02 - 00;04;54;01 Stephanie You know, they have haunted with toxic energy and they, they don't thrive. And they they do. They are, you know, I believe they are fading and and need to. 00;04;54;03 - 00;05;29;03 Shaniqua You know, I remember growing up and, watching, like, horror movies or paranormal paranormal movies that, folks would be concerned about whether or not a home was built on a burial ground. But I, I think now is going to be a concern with this once a commercial, real estate area. Like, if this is what's commercial and people worked here where, oh like ran into the ground and like traded their work, their life for work. 00;05;29;03 - 00;05;33;08 Shaniqua I don't want to, you know, buy their that could be another cancer or. 00;05;33;10 - 00;06;21;11 Stephanie You know, I have a a friend and, you know, professional acquaintance who she is a space cleanser. That's what she specializes in. And she, she's a Feng Shui Master. And really works with spatial energy. And I find it so interesting. It's it's really actually, I would I would say it's like it's actually encouraging the organization and that will hire her to come in and like, on a weekly basis to do energy cleansing, you know, places that have like, high clients all where you have a whole bunch of, you know, sort of unmanaged energy coming, you know, things like that. 00;06;21;11 - 00;06;57;29 Stephanie And it's like she does some incredible work, and I, I really believe that progressive environments, as they start to understand the real energy dynamics that happen with, within culture, right, with, with people like, we're even if we're looking at it through pure science and the ideal that every interaction we're having, we are creating an energetic response. And that reaction, I think that we will see more attention paid to energy as a resource, whatever that looks like. 00;06;58;01 - 00;07;26;00 Stephanie But whether it's cleansing space or whether it's looking energetically at the way workers are being, you know, treated or energetically, what's going into the development of a product is that is the intention behind that product meant for good or is ultimately, is there no intention, or is the intention even possibly harmful? And how does that how does that play out for profit? 00;07;26;01 - 00;07;36;12 Stephanie How does that play out for the sustainability of products and customer experiences and all of those things? I think energy is a piece of that that gets ignored. 00;07;36;14 - 00;08;05;13 Shaniqua I think what you're saying is so fascinating, and I believe that's like part of like our evolution as, like a species as humans, Homo sapiens like. Realizing that there's more beyond the physical, so I am very intrigued by the evolution of corporations looking at the whole human. I mean, I think that's part of it, where we're going. But the energy work sounds fascinating. 00;08;05;16 - 00;08;12;20 Stephanie So I'm curious, you did you did you write stories? 00;08;12;22 - 00;08;21;04 Shaniqua All right. Oh, my gosh, stories. I wrote nightmares. Okay. I am. 00;08;21;07 - 00;08;22;12 Shaniqua So. 00;08;22;12 - 00;09;06;15 Shaniqua Excited about my nightmares. I wrote and, so I think we talked about this earlier, but I, similar to you, like, wrote out my story based on, like, What? Like, what's been happening in current, events around toxic, like toxic toxicity in corporate, and business from the human perspective. I work in HR, so my is more about, what the impacts of like the employee and and also like those a part of the supply chain. 00;09;06;17 - 00;09;25;05 Shaniqua And so I wrote out the stories and wanted to use the help of ChatGPT to make them into something similar, like a Black Mirror story. So, I think so. I love a good dark truth. 00;09;25;07 - 00;09;27;11 Stephanie So beautiful. 00;09;27;13 - 00;09;31;13 Shaniqua What about you? What was your, like, your take on the stories? 00;09;31;15 - 00;09;47;23 Stephanie So, you know, as much as I love Halloween, and as much as I love horror I tend to really, truly live, like, a little more on the, Creepshow, Hocus Pocus side of Halloween. The way. 00;09;49;17 - 00;10;22;02 Stephanie And so, my stories, I think, they're based on actual, real things that are on them in the marketplace. I think they're sort of consumer horror stories, if you will. But my stories have, heroines and that, a little, a little intentional and then also slightly didn't realize it, but, I too used, I created, all of the key elements that I wanted in my story. 00;10;22;02 - 00;11;06;15 Stephanie I created my plot points at the details. I had articles that, had some relative factual details that were pertinent, but, I put everything together and then added some key prompts and asked ChatGPT to really more than anything. And this is my favorite thing to work with ChatGPT on is to create me a short story because I tend to be quite verbose, you know, can write a long story all day long, but, so yeah, my stories, they, they live kind of in that space of consumer horror and, and a little bit of what I was saying earlier about, you know, kind of the intention and the energy that goes into the products 00;11;06;17 - 00;11;10;13 Stephanie that we make and consume in our lives. 00;11;10;15 - 00;11;38;02 Shaniqua ChatGPT is so good at synthesizing. It is I felt like my stories were so long and I wanted to, like, get the main elements from from what I was attempting to say to like, be more succinct. Yeah. I even asked ChatGPT like, how should I, like, tell the story? So that way, like, like the emphasis I should add. 00;11;38;02 - 00;11;41;00 Shaniqua So it could, to my end with our audience. 00;11;41;00 - 00;11;42;12 Stephanie So that's my. 00;11;42;15 - 00;11;45;22 Shaniqua Plan. So thank you. 00;11;45;24 - 00;11;47;26 Stephanie Yeah. A. 00;11;47;28 - 00;11;54;08 Stephanie We use the AI monster in our spooky show. Okay. 00;11;54;10 - 00;11;58;08 Stephanie Which is just to keep the edge. 00;11;58;10 - 00;12;03;11 Shaniqua Let me turn down my light. 00;12;03;13 - 00;12;39;00 Shaniqua Get ready. Stephanie, this one is called The Haunted Convenience. The Haunted Convenience? The Congo is a place of great wealth. Wealth buried deep under the earth, guarded by misery. Lithium, the metal that powers the world's most coveted devices, is mined here. But it's mined not by choice, nor by the willing. The ground is worse by those trapped by circumstances. 00;12;39;02 - 00;13;19;15 Shaniqua Children, men and women, beaten. Enslaved and discarded when they no longer serve a purpose. When you turn on your phone or smartwatch, what do you hear? Maybe a soft chime, maybe nothing at all. Now what if I told you it isn't? Silence. What if every battery, every scream carried a curse disguised as code not written by hackers? But forged from the agony of thousands who died pulling lithium from the earth. 00;13;19;17 - 00;14;00;24 Shaniqua At first, only a few noticed a phone buzz. At 3:33 a.m., waking its owner when they swipe to unlock it. The screen flashed and what they saw was not their home screen. It was a face contorted with terror. The image jerked like a glitch. It showed something worse limbs torn apart, bodies piled in the dirt. Screams erupted from the speaker, so piercing they left the user trembling and clutching their head. 00;14;00;26 - 00;14;32;27 Shaniqua It was a scream of a boy no older than ten, his arms ripped away by machinery. In the Lithium mine. The next morning, the company called it an isolated software malfunction. But it wasn't isolated, not by a long shot. Around the world, the same thing kept happening smart devices, phones, tablets, laptops, projected visions of horror the moment they were powered on. 00;14;32;29 - 00;15;11;04 Shaniqua Some users reported seeing grainy video clips of rapes, executions and beatings all taking place in the heart of the Congo. Others heard sounds so gut wrenching that their devices cracked under the pressure. Shrill wails, frantic whispers, the cries of those being buried alive. Then came the worst part the spirit's restless, relentless began to appear not just on screens, but reflected in windows and darkened monitors. 00;15;11;07 - 00;15;47;22 Shaniqua They stare back at the users faces, twisted with rage, blood staining their skin, silently mouthing the words help us. Terrified people turn off their devices, but the screens wouldn’t go dark instead. The devices, emit a low hum like the grinding of earth and stone, followed by an unrelenting pulse, the same pulse felt in the chest of a worker when the last breath leaves her body no matter what they did. 00;15;47;24 - 00;16;21;15 Shaniqua The devices, would switch back on, forcing the users to witness another nightmare, another child being whipped. another woman being dragged into the jungle. Executives at the top, the ones who benefited the most from the Congo suffering, found themselves trapped in a personal hell, their devices turned on by themselves, broadcasting horrors that no amount of money or lawyers could erase. 00;16;21;17 - 00;17;08;10 Shaniqua They couldn't escape it. G.P.S. routes mapped to the exact locations of mass graves, emails filled with incoherent screaming and phone calls answered by voices sobbing in Lingala and French. The tongues of the dead. But it wasn't just executives. It was everyone. Anyone who bought a phone, an electric car, a smartwatch was now tethered to the anguish. The devices became haunted relics projecting not entertainment, but torment people's master phones burned their laptops, and still, still the pulse followed them. 00;17;08;13 - 00;17;40;04 Shaniqua When they close their eyes, the images remained burned into their retinas. Gaunt faces missing lens and lifeless children abandoned by the side of the minds. In the final days, just before everything spiraled into chaos and IT specialists managed to track down the source, a rogue line of code embedded deep within every battery. The code was never supposed to exist. 00;17;40;07 - 00;18;10;27 Shaniqua It was alive, feeding off of that lithium energy, growing stronger with every phone charge, every device powered on, and it was too late to stop it. Now the pulse is everywhere. Smart devices lie silent, waiting to trap the next victim. No one dares to turn them on. But sometimes late at night, phones flicker to life without warning. A screen lights up in the dark. 00;18;10;29 - 00;18;49;10 Shaniqua And for a moment can you see them? The spirits of the Congo staring back. And if you listen closely, you'll hear it. The hum of a battery followed by a pulse, then a whisper. We’re Still here. So the next time your phone buzzes unexpectedly, ask yourself who's calling? And more importantly, what will happen next. If you answer? 00;18;49;13 - 00;18;57;02 Stephanie Okay, I'm so scared and I don't want to look at the computer any more. 00;18;57;05 - 00;19;11;16 Stephanie That was amazing. And I just want to put a call out for Hollywood producers. Anybody? Netflix. 00;19;11;18 - 00;19;12;09 Stephanie Oh my gosh. 00;19;12;09 - 00;19;14;19 Shaniqua It was so fun writing that one. 00;19;14;21 - 00;19;19;10 Stephanie Amazing. Oh my god. So well done. Oh my gosh. 00;19;19;12 - 00;19;26;29 Shaniqua As you can tell you to scare all of my brothers and cousins. And as the oldest, that was my job to scare them. 00;19;27;01 - 00;19;35;02 Stephanie Okay, again, I'm more of the Creepshow Hocus Pocus focused version of. 00;19;35;04 - 00;19;36;01 Shaniqua Hocus Pocus. 00;19;36;07 - 00;19;37;08 Shaniqua Also. 00;19;37;11 - 00;19;47;28 Shaniqua I could try to call you just like at some effect, but you are a good co-host with having your phone away from you, so that's. 00;19;48;01 - 00;19;53;27 Stephanie Oh, that would have actually been cool. Yeah. No. 00;19;54;00 - 00;19;59;17 Shaniqua Okay. I'm ready. I'm on. And we need to liven up this party. 00;19;59;20 - 00;20;02;04 Stephanie Wow. 00;20;02;07 - 00;20;41;19 Stephanie This story is titled The Steel Shroud. We begin with Jesse Rook, a tech journalist in his early 30s, disillusioned with the superficial tech world but secretly in love with the thrill of its gadgets and innovations. Jesse receives an exclusive invite to test drive the highly anticipated luxury behemoth The Steel Shroud. The newest, most advanced luxe truck from a prominent auto tech giant. 00;20;41;21 - 00;21;22;12 Stephanie It's rumored to be impenetrable, autonomous, and perfect for outdoor enthusiasts with an edge, but Jesse senses something is darker. April 1st, 2024 the online world is buzzing with photos, video clips and stories of the Steel Shroud’s first victims social feeds explode with gruesome images and horror stories from all over the world severed fingers, hands and unthinkably more. Caught in the truck's razor sharp frunk and doors auto punch sensors? 00;21;22;14 - 00;22;07;12 Stephanie They are conspicuously missing. Rumors were spreading that maybe, just maybe, this monstrous vehicle was designed not for its owners, but against them. As Jesse climbs into the Steel Shroud, he immediately feels the hum of its systems almost like a heartbeat and foreboding. A metallic voice on the dashboard greets him, but unlike other car voices, it feels alive. As the dashboard display begins to animate, Jesse's eyes 00;22;07;12 - 00;22;16;11 Stephanie are locked, the readings warp and shift, numbers swelling and shrinking like lungs in a mechanical rhythm. 00;22;16;22 - 00;22;50;02 Stephanie He tries to look away, but he can't. It's too beautiful, then dizzying, then nightmare, pulling him into a strange stupor, the still shroud takes control, accelerating with a jolt. Rain splatters against the windshield, snapping Jesse out of his trance. He reaches for the manual controls, only to find them unresponsive. The rain sizzles across the hood as strange fumes swirl through the vents, pricking Jesse's eyes and skin. 00;22;50;02 - 00;23;08;27 Stephanie Stinging his eyes. Outside, he sees other drivers stiffen their faces contorting in rage, this pounding against their dashboards. An acrid taste fills his mouth as if the air itself became angry, hungry. 00;23;09;00 - 00;23;43;12 Stephanie Desperation mounting, he grabs his playlist, searching frantically. He only has seconds. Finally, music swirls through the speakers Rage Against the Machine’s, Renegades of Funk. He offers a silent prayer to the recent TikTok reel detailing this remedy. Instantly, the air of lightness and the music overtakes the fumes, the madness dissipating from his veins. He grips the wheel tightly, his knuckles white as the truck picks up speed, tearing down the road, the Steel Shroud knew. 00;23;43;15 - 00;24;05;18 Stephanie It overrides his playlist, switching off the song and accelerating faster. Jesse feels like a prisoner as the walls seem to close and sharp edges gleaming, daring him to touch them. Panic sets in and instinctively Jesse begins scream, singing Renegades of Funk. 00;24;05;24 - 00;24;07;02 Stephanie In a In a bid. 00;24;07;02 - 00;24;40;04 Stephanie For sanity, the still shroud howls in response like a living beast in pain. Slowing for just a moment, Jesse's fingers graze a hidden button under the dashboard labeled XS Xray Specs mode. Desperate, he activates it. A visor descends, shielding his eyes from Steel Shroud’s hypnotic dashboard displays with a shudder. The truck's control weakens just as the accelerator slams back into gear, propelling Jesse toward a cliffside embankment. 00;24;40;06 - 00;25;20;24 Stephanie He fights the wheel, but the still shroud is determined to drive him off the edge. Just when all seems lost, he spots a white figure standing by the road, agent Dana Scully, holding a walkie talkie beside her. Detective Olivia Benson is signaling frantically for him to jump with a final burst of adrenaline. Jesse kicks open the door, ignoring the razor sharp edges slicing into his legs, and rolls out just as the steel shroud plummets over the cliff, crashing into the darkness below. 00;25;20;26 - 00;25;58;27 Stephanie I don't understand Jesse whispers. Why are you here? Scully and Benson exchange a glance and Scully responds, we've been tracking bloody appendages all over it led us here. Scully and Benson patch him up. They share a darker truth. These machines, Scully whispers, weren't built to save lives. They're. They're designed to feed. What do you mean? Jesse asks. 00;25;58;27 - 00;26;35;14 Stephanie Horrified. Benson meets his eyes, solemn. You weren't in control. It was. And somewhere someone is watching, tracking every fear, every last heartbeat, feeding the machine. And as Jesse glances down at the edge of the road, he sees white roses blooming through the cracks, their petals stained with fresh blood. 00;26;35;16 - 00;26;49;05 Shaniqua My gosh. Okay. Well, I have a few questions. I'll start with the first one. How much did Jesse pay for his death machine? 00;26;49;07 - 00;26;54;11 Stephanie Remember, he was he was a journalist, so he was invited to test drive it up to. 00;26;54;13 - 00;26;55;23 Shaniqua Oh my gosh. 00;26;55;26 - 00;26;59;09 Stephanie He didn't have to pay. But think of all those who did. 00;26;59;12 - 00;27;00;04 Shaniqua That is. 00;27;00;04 - 00;27;05;05 Shaniqua Wild. Okay. 00;27;05;07 - 00;27;06;19 Shaniqua What was that? 00;27;06;21 - 00;27;12;03 Shaniqua What was the inspiration of breaking in? Like, law and order SVU characters into. 00;27;12;03 - 00;27;15;18 Shaniqua Like you like. 00;27;15;20 - 00;27;17;20 Shaniqua Okay, I think. 00;27;17;22 - 00;27;32;12 Stephanie It was it was Olivia Benson. Okay, as for you, because while it doesn't directly allude to, you know, what all appendages are being severed. It is an SVU situation. Okay, I just want to say that it's an SVU 00;27;32;12 - 00;27;33;25 Stephanie Situation. 00;27;33;28 - 00;27;35;03 Shaniqua Like, oh my God. 00;27;35;07 - 00;27;47;07 Stephanie And and and, and because of the, the bigger other, you have Agent Scully from the X-Files and, you know, the X-Files. I mean. 00;27;47;10 - 00;27;53;21 Stephanie Yeah, we are tracking. We are tracking the X, the very appropriate. 00;27;53;24 - 00;28;07;27 Stephanie So, I mean, it just sort of seem like a fit to me to have, like, Scully and Benson show up, you know, from the X-Files and SVU to, like, be solving this, this rogue, appendage severing situation. 00;28;10;01 - 00;28;14;10 Shaniqua Stephanie that was so. 00;28;14;12 - 00;28;16;11 Shaniqua Oh, my gosh, that poor journalist. 00;28;16;11 - 00;28;28;22 Shaniqua Well, I mean, like, he was either going to die following, like, his death inside the the monster truck or, like a bloody leg. 00;28;28;26 - 00;28;44;17 Stephanie I, I honestly, I think that if they hadn't been there, he was going over the edge and I think he was trying he was trying to figure it out. But you know the inspiration. I'm just seeing Scully right there. 00;28;44;20 - 00;28;45;23 Shaniqua Oh, man. 00;28;45;26 - 00;29;01;29 Shaniqua Well, there's so many, I feel bad for anyone who has lost, an appendage from their vehicle. You know, that's not what you expect. 00;29;02;01 - 00;29;20;15 Stephanie Well, while this was certainly, fiction and it is fiction, it would be remiss to say that it's, you know, certainly fact-based fiction and that at least three key details in that story were based on actual reported facts. 00;29;20;17 - 00;29;36;29 Shaniqua That is bananas. Honestly, you and your story you mentioned, like, feeding the machine. And the machine I would assume is like the vehicle. My next story is about feeding the economic machine. 00;29;37;02 - 00;29;51;27 Stephanie Well, honestly, I was as I was reading mine and I'm like, I could see some parallels even to your first story, which was very much about feeding a different kind of machine. 00;29;52;22 - 00;29;55;23 Stephanie Not the way the code was fed. 00;29;56;25 - 00;30;26;10 Stephanie Our interactions with with our products and tools and such, it was very I definitely could see that parallel and, you know, we have to I think it's a wonderful time to acknowledge, there's some lovely analogies here, you know, as we are consumers, sometimes we are quite zombie consumers. And, you know, to just consume mindlessly is really kind of the definition of a zombie in a particular way. 00;30;26;10 - 00;30;48;16 Stephanie And so when we, you know, it just said these ideals that we had without, by the way, any conversation or collaboration, our assignments were go write 2 scary stories and whatever that meant to each of us. Right. And so I think that our themes are interesting. At least I'm excited to hear your next story. 00;30;48;19 - 00;30;55;06 Shaniqua Well, my next story. It's called Overtime Despair. 00;30;55;08 - 00;30;59;19 Stephanie Oh, God, I've already scared. 00;30;59;21 - 00;31;37;18 Shaniqua Overtime Despair. Okay. Leah wasn't lazy. She works hard. She clocked in at wall merchant logs hours. Second job, cleaning office buildings and even picked up shifts at the gas station on weekends. But no matter how much she worked, the math never added up. Rents climbed higher, groceries became more expensive, and every paycheck evaporate before the month was over. 00;31;37;21 - 00;32;14;05 Shaniqua She wasn't alone. Everyone around her was stuck in the same cycle. Her coworkers talked about their second, even third jobs, but none of them seemed to get ahead. Higher living costs. Every raise every promotion came with new bills, and the assistant programs they relied on were just enough to keep them afloat, but never enough to let them escape. That's why Leanne noticed the pattern. 00;32;14;08 - 00;32;52;04 Shaniqua While merchant encouraged her to take on more hours, yet shifts were always in flux, just enough to keep everyone under full time status so no one could get benefits. Meanwhile, her manager suggested wall merchants associate assistance program to help with rent and groceries. When she checked it, it was just a web of applications for government welfare programs, Medicaid, Snap, housing vouchers all conveniently linked through Wall merchants portal. 00;32;52;06 - 00;33;33;21 Shaniqua The worst part? Even with three jobs, Leanne still qualified for food stamps. She could work 60 hours a week and still be poor enough to need help. The company did not care how many jobs she held The system was built to feed on her poverty. No matter how much she tried to escape. And while merchant profited from every part of it, selling her food with the same benefits meant to keep her alive, all taxpayers quietly filled the gaps her wages couldn't cover. 00;33;33;23 - 00;34;09;28 Shaniqua Every path she took let her right back into the machine. One night, Leanne asked her coworker Dylon if he ever felt the same way. It's like no matter how hard I work, I just go in circles. Dylon laughed bitterly. And that's the whole point. Leanne frowned, confused, Dylon explained it. They don't need to stop us from working more jobs. 00;34;10;01 - 00;35;03;29 Shaniqua They just need to make sure none of them pay enough to matter. The system's rigged so that we never catch up, and the more we work, the more they profit the truth hit Leanne. Like a punch to the gut. Wall merchant didn't just pay low wages, it designed the entire system to ensure people like her stayed depended every dollar she earned, every welfare benefit she applied for, every hour she clocked it all flowed back into the same machine, feeding a network of corporations that survive by keeping their workers poor and making them believe that poverty was their fault, Leanne decided she had to leave wall merchant. 00;35;04;01 - 00;35;38;28 Shaniqua She couldn't keep feeding the machine. She started applying for other jobs higher paying ones, full time with benefits. But every interview ended the same way. Sorry, your employment verification isn't showing up for Wall merchant yet. We can't onboard you until this is cleared up. Her second and third jobs wouldn't offer full time hours either. It's company policy, her manager said. 00;35;39;00 - 00;36;10;02 Shaniqua We all have to manage the labor costs. Everywhere she went, she hit the same invisible wall, trapped between policies designed to keep her underemployed and dependent. when, she tried to quit. wall merchant, officially the manager, smiled sympathetically. I know it feels tough, he said. But Wall Merchant take care of its, 00;36;10;05 - 00;36;50;12 Shaniqua Leanne thought about guilt Dylon He disappeared without a trace. No one remembered him any more. Just another worker lost endless churn of jobs and welfare forms. Maybe he got out, or maybe the machine swallowed him whole. The next morning, Leanne received her paycheck. Direct deposit, as always. But this time her bank app showed two deposits, one from wall merchant, the other labeled simply Federal Assistance Adjustment. 00;36;50;15 - 00;37;26;13 Shaniqua She stared at the screen, realizing the truth. She was part of the system. Now, every choice she thought she had was just another path back to the same place. It didn't matter how hard she worked or where she went. Every hour, every dollar, every job, it all belong to the same shadow. Leanne never spoke about it again. Who would believe her? 00;37;26;16 - 00;38;09;06 Shaniqua The machine was invisible, but it touched everything from food stamps to bank loans, from housing vouchers to credit scores. As long as people believe the lie that poverty was a personal failure, the machine would keep turning. And the worst part? It wasn't just wall merchant It every corporation, every job, every system worked the same way. Each one a cog in a machine that keeps people chasing a dream but never reach. 00;38;09;09 - 00;38;55;16 Shaniqua That one was inspired by, my like. I have a family member that has been caught in a cog such as this that I shared and, I feel that sometimes, like with I get like some roles having like, requirements, for position. But I do think that there's an opportunity where we can train on the job, where I believe we could possibly have more innovation and diversity if we weren't limiting ourselves like the jobs that actually pay a livable wage, or limiting to the same pool of people with the desire to prefer skill set. 00;38;55;18 - 00;39;26;17 Shaniqua But think about my family member, one of my uncles, who is a brilliant man who is a hard worker, really learns a lot on the job, but is limited to just low wage work for their career, backbreaking or wage work. And no matter what he does, how much money he makes, he's caught in the system. And that's where Leanne was born. 00;39;26;20 - 00;40;05;23 Stephanie I think that so many people are going to relate so deeply to that story. Obviously, you know, and and, you know, there were so many. But the way that my, my brain, I'm always looking at parallels and analogies and of course the, the analogy, the matrix machine and just as sort of being inserted as batteries into the system that we're, you know, really feeding and again, there's that feeding aspect, you know, that consumption aspect. 00;40;05;23 - 00;40;36;06 Stephanie I also thought like whenever you would emphasize, you know, every, you know, every day, every hour, every minute. And I would always insert in my mind, you know, every drop of blood, every drop of sweat, every drop. of tear, you know, like, because it just felt like so visceral. And so that physicality of what's happening with all of that energetic exchange and not getting the reward of the fulfillment back, you know, to sort of be regenerative. 00;40;36;06 - 00;40;43;02 Stephanie So it's just a constant outpouring. You could feel exhaustion of Leanne definitely. 00;40;43;04 - 00;41;19;12 Shaniqua She’s working three jobs. She has no personal life. And, it's it's interesting, like, so a few of these companies that I research makes billions of dollars annually. And yet the taxpayers, all of the Americans that pay taxes, are paying for this kind of like these companies to be on. Yeah, we're subsidizing them. And then we're also paying their, their workers, for their like, welfare. 00;41;19;12 - 00;41;31;23 Shaniqua We're all pitching to the pot. So it's like their employees are double paying because they're taxpayers. So they're paying for their company subsidies, and then they're also paying for their own Snap benefits. So they can just get by. 00;41;31;25 - 00;41;36;29 Stephanie And and then we judge the worker and not the company worker. 00;41;37;01 - 00;41;56;04 Shaniqua And I don't know if anyone knows like about like Snap benefits or any government benefits. Like when you're on these benefits, you have to stay within these parameters of low wage. So even if these people want to move up as soon as they do, their benefits are gone. 00;41;56;08 - 00;41;58;14 Stephanie It could go $1 over. 00;41;58;17 - 00;41;59;06 Shaniqua And you. 00;41;59;06 - 00;42;00;20 Stephanie Lose all their methods. 00;42;00;22 - 00;42;27;11 Stephanie And so it, and I also I have a family member that was very much and, and you know, like honestly with like a lot of gratitude, they were able to break out of that system. Finally. But, you know, for 30 or 40 years they were not. Yeah. And and to your point, it's it's hard, it's unsustainable. You know, it does, allow for. 00;42;27;13 - 00;42;39;03 Stephanie For us to sort of honor our society as it ages. It, it just does a lot of damaging things from beginning to end, from beginning to end. 00;42;39;05 - 00;42;42;08 Shaniqua It's really expensive being poor. 00;42;42;10 - 00;42;45;24 Stephanie Yes it is. Yes, it it absolutely is. 00;42;45;26 - 00;43;26;01 Shaniqua So expensive being poor. And that's that's one thing I want to like drive home to our audience is like, I think maybe not enough people may understand, you know, that life. But I hope Leanne touched someone enough to where they're, they're curious and want to, like, show more compassion to our neighbors. Because I believe that we can't, we'll be unable to drive, be in the driver's seat for our own conversations when it comes to our career, our our financial opportunities in this country. 00;43;26;07 - 00;43;35;14 Shaniqua If we're not looking out for those that are less, who have who aren't at advantage, they have the same advantages as we did. 00;43;36;02 - 00;44;02;17 Stephanie I agree, I hope, I hope it spawns for compassion. And I also hope it inspires some more expectation of accountability. Period. Because, you know, this is a known, a known horror story. Well, I have my final story, which is, I might end on a slight up note because it has a heroine. 00;44;02;19 - 00;44;06;19 Stephanie Oh, yeah. 00;44;06;22 - 00;44;07;11 Stephanie Who saves? 00;44;07;11 - 00;44;09;19 Stephanie Who saves a day? Okay. 00;44;09;22 - 00;44;12;16 Stephanie Wonderful. I don't know about the. 00;44;12;16 - 00;44;16;03 Stephanie Day, but she saves a day. 00;44;16;06 - 00;44;18;02 Shaniqua Ooh. I am ready. 00;44;18;08 - 00;44;33;18 Stephanie So this story and we'll say, I think it's inspiration. Will will be relatively clear. But it's called the Phoenix Pocket. 00;44;36;09 - 00;44;43;07 Stephanie And it takes place locally. In the tech driven heart of Austin. 00;44;43;11 - 00;44;45;12 Stephanie Texas. 00;44;45;14 - 00;44;57;22 Stephanie Everyone knew you either had the latest phone model. Are you were a ghost of last year. 00;44;57;25 - 00;44;59;06 Shaniqua It disappeared. You were such a good ghost! 00;44;59;06 - 00;45;34;08 Stephanie I do my best... . Delilah Star, a sharp eyed engineer at the tech firm NeoSurge, was a rising star in their product safety division after series of reports began circulating that Neo Surges newest release, The Cinder Fire 4X, was overheating and rumor had it exploding in people's pockets. Delilah was called in for an emergency analysis. The chaos began on social media. 00;45;34;11 - 00;46;00;18 Stephanie Videos of charred clothes and melted cars filled the internet, posted by horrified users of the cinder fire. 4X these pocket rockets as people started calling them, had turned dangerous in the blink of an eye. The city was on edge, but Neo Surges CEO Dan Boyd downplayed the panic with a confident smirk. Our products are safe, he told the press. 00;46;00;20 - 00;46;40;25 Stephanie This is just a handful of faulty units. Delilah didn't believe him. She'd been working tirelessly to figure out why certain cinder fire four X units were failing. Each failed unit showed different types of battery deformities, which only deepened the mystery. Some batteries swelled, while others had traces of impurities in the separators that could ignite under pressure. The thought of everyday people carrying around ticking time bombs was terrifying, and Delilah unease grew as the reports intensified. 00;46;40;27 - 00;46;49;15 Stephanie And then one night, her phone dinged with an alert, an urgent message from her friend Camille Del. 00;46;49;17 - 00;46;53;02 Stephanie My son fires, burning a hole in my jeans. 00;46;53;05 - 00;47;12;08 Stephanie Delilah raced to Camille's house, but by the time she arrived, the phone was nothing more than a melted slab and Camille was nursing a mild burn on her leg. You're the best engineer I know, Camille said, trying to smile through her frustration and pain. 00;47;12;10 - 00;47;18;18 Stephanie If anyone can fix this mess, it's you. 00;47;18;20 - 00;47;31;19 Stephanie Later that night, as Delilah sat in her dimly lit apartment with scorch mark jeans in front of her, she had an idea what if there was a way to contain. 00;47;31;19 - 00;47;33;11 Stephanie The heat. 00;47;33;13 - 00;48;08;03 Stephanie Before it caused any damage? Inspired, she began sketching designs for small, fire resistant pouches. Her idea was to create a pocket lining that could withstand extreme heat and even minor explosions. She worked all night testing materials and experimenting with ideas until by dawn she had a prototype she called the Phoenix Pocket. Delilah first pitched the Phoenix Pocket to her team at Neo Surge. 00;48;08;06 - 00;48;42;08 Stephanie The marketing department was hesitant, suggesting that marketing fireproof pockets was a terrible look for a phone company trying to downplay a fire hazard. So she went to her friend Maya, a designer with a bold fashion line for women. We could release the Phoenix Pocket in women's jeans first, Delilah suggested. Maya agreed and took it further, launching the Phoenix Pocket Collection with a limited release. 00;48;42;11 - 00;49;15;14 Stephanie The news spread fast. Phoenix pockets became a sensation, with Austin's women leading the trend, showcasing these cutting edge, fireproof jeans. Soon, women felt safer walking the city streets, carrying their potentially dangerous cinder fire for X phones without the fear of burning pockets or worse, social media picked up the trend and Phoenix pockets quickly became the icon of fashion and safety. 00;49;15;16 - 00;49;50;10 Stephanie But the twist came when Delilah discovered that Neo's surge knew about the battery issues all along. Emails leaked from Dan Boyd's office hinted that they'd concealed the fire hazard to avoid the financial blow, a recall would bring. Horrified by the betrayal, Delilah shared her findings with the public, bringing Neo surge to its knees. In the end, the Phoenix pocket saved more than just fabric. 00;49;50;13 - 00;50;24;16 Stephanie It ignited a movement. Women's clothing brands adopted fireproof linings, and soon after, companies did the same for all genders, making safe pockets a universal feature. Delilah's creation turned a terrifying tech failure into a new wave of innovation, proving that sometimes it's the small pockets of safety that can make the biggest impact. 00;50;24;19 - 00;50;32;09 Shaniqua Small pockets of safety can make the biggest impact. That was brilliant, I love that. 00;50;32;11 - 00;50;34;22 Shaniqua Oh my God. 00;50;34;24 - 00;50;41;18 Shaniqua Oh, masterpiece. Okay. 00;50;41;20 - 00;50;43;19 Stephanie Maybe. 00;50;43;21 - 00;50;58;13 Shaniqua The cell phone blowing up like exploding. I remember that figure was in high school or, going to college at that time. What a scary time. Look, your phone could just explode. 00;50;58;15 - 00;51;04;08 Stephanie It was. I mean, I remember seeing, like, a video of somebody, like, at a convenience store and literally. 00;51;04;09 - 00;51;05;00 Stephanie Was like a. 00;51;05;03 - 00;51;07;10 Jet rocket, a fire shooting. 00;51;07;10 - 00;51;07;20 Stephanie Out of the. 00;51;07;20 - 00;51;08;20 Stephanie Pant leg. And I'm. 00;51;08;20 - 00;51;11;01 Stephanie Like. 00;51;11;03 - 00;51;27;12 Shaniqua NC and there we have some similar like, themes or topics that we're discussing. I, in my earlier story, I think, what I was talking about, like the lithium battery and being. 00;51;27;14 - 00;51;28;00 Shaniqua Cursed by. 00;51;28;00 - 00;51;46;29 Shaniqua The miners, perhaps, you know, the miners were like, hey, here's some battery explosion for you. But that was just like an insane that the company like like I wonder, like, what was the testing like, do you have more about, like, the story, like, did they not test that new battery or what happened? 00;51;47;04 - 00;51;57;20 Stephanie You know, it there there were I do and like now you're asking me for details to ask me for details on this. Why should. Like, I read all the articles. 00;51;57;25 - 00;51;58;26 Stephanie They'll be leaked. 00;51;58;28 - 00;52;01;26 Stephanie They'll be leaked. The thing. 00;52;01;28 - 00;52;03;27 Stephanie Yeah. Looking for articles. You know what. 00;52;03;29 - 00;52;44;20 Stephanie It really comes down to in this and I think that this is something that we see in a lot of situations where their products are being rushed to market, whether it is an issue, of, you know, reduction in cost or however we want to look at it, it functionally impacts engineering excellence. And, and, you know, but in both of my stories, engineering excellence and kind of the ideal around engineering a product to truly serve your consumer and and not to actually harm your consumer was sort of what drove me. 00;52;44;20 - 00;53;20;20 Stephanie You know, it's like we're so, you know, pushed to sort of always get the next best thing, the next, you know, whatever cool thing is coming out, whether it's, you know, the new hot vehicle or the, you know, new phone, regardless of what brand it is. And, you know, to your point about your original story, we just sort of accept everything that comes with it and then everything, including its legacy to your story, you know, and and all of that is I mean, we're all participating in that. 00;53;20;22 - 00;54;00;25 Stephanie And when we are accepting all of that stuff that sort of like hidden shadow stuff because, you know, certainly a lot of the things you talked about are definitely, like, unseen in the way that we, marketed to and the way that content and information and products are presented to us. You know, all of that stuff resides in the shadows of those products, but also in the shadows of those products are our extreme desire to, like, always need that next thing and to not literally even care if if it's if it's been tested or produced in a way that it's going to, you know, benefit us or or not harm us. 00;54;00;25 - 00;54;19;21 Stephanie I mean, like the idea that, you know, we could invest in products that are actively harming us is, is is it's it is really horrifying. And it happens in so many different ways. You know, I didn't tell I told tech stories. I didn't tell any food stories, y'all. I didn't actually want to scare you to death. But that's really the truth. 00;54;19;25 - 00;54;31;22 Stephanie You know, it's like these these big corporations, they do have some accountability to the nightmares they cause in our everyday lives. And whether it's as an employee or a consumer, you. 00;54;31;22 - 00;55;07;00 Shaniqua Know, when we talk about, I feel like a lot and the circles I'm in, when I hear sustainability, it's usually, encapsulates fashion and, and essentially holding the consumer responsible for how they engage with fashion. So, you know, like examples like fast fashion, like TEMU, Shein, no longer be like broadcasting a haul and like getting celebrated for, like, all the cool things that you found, the treasures that now you would do that privately. 00;55;07;03 - 00;55;38;20 Shaniqua That makes me think about sustainability in like a broader sense. You mentioned this, that, you know, companies are driven, are push to release new products almost every year and dependent upon the type of company biannually and it's even so it's like why, you know, like how like there's only so much stuff that individual could afford and it's like a new car. 00;55;38;24 - 00;56;01;17 Shaniqua What are we going to do when everyone has had a new car for ten years. Like how how how why is it so important to continue to increase like our consumer base. There's still like a number a number of people on the planet. And then that subset of like people who are interested in your product and then another subset of like who could afford your product. 00;56;01;20 - 00;56;24;09 Shaniqua So then what she taught them then then then wait, and now you're starting to create new products that you're not even, that doesn't align your values, your mission, your vision to reach more people. So it makes me think about sustainability and more like from a corporate like responsibility as well as a consumer. 00;56;24;12 - 00;56;47;08 Stephanie Absolutely. I mean, that's the thing. It's like you're shamed as a consumer, but you're also shamed as not a consumer. We have had leaders of our country tell us to be patriotic and go shopping. And that is a real quote. And I won't quote the leader and I won't quit. But, you know, those are those are things that have those are messages that are sent to us. 00;56;47;10 - 00;57;13;03 Stephanie And so to hold space for the like, in order to be patriotic, in order to be a good citizen, in order to be a good American, in order to be a good whatever, you have to be putting your money into the economy, right? You have to be participating in the economy. But on the flip side, there is sort of the shaming and the dismissal of the consumer. 00;57;13;03 - 00;57;44;16 Stephanie So whether it's being shamed for the choices that you're making, or the consumer is absolutely not being considered based on the mortality ratio of a recall and how much that costs and what a company's willing to spend based on, you know, like just products that don't functionally work or act as advertised. And the consumer is just spending their money and wasting it, and there's no accountable based on. 00;57;44;16 - 00;58;08;04 Stephanie And I'll just bring them up because it's Horror Story Day, my favorite horror story company Boeing okay. For scaring the shit out of us for flying. Okay. Like it's like all of these rides, you know, are all relevant in terms of how consumers engage in the capitalistic process. And so we're both good and evil, and we're both helpless and empowered. 00;58;08;04 - 00;58;16;00 Stephanie That somehow neutralizes all of our power and energy. And really, most of that power resides up here and it's all being driven. 00;58;16;00 - 00;58;45;01 Shaniqua Oh my gosh, like your, I remember getting relaxers as a kid and now there's like, I think I was like, maybe like in of elementary school until, like I was in college and there's like a class action lawsuit against like the robot. So companies and so like imagine if as a consumer, like my family knew like all of the like actually understood because they like, we'll tell you about the side effects or do it. 00;58;45;03 - 00;59;15;16 Shaniqua Joe. You know, use the product like, directly on your scalp, etc., because it could cause these things, but not ever really explaining what it could do to you hormonally. And maybe with our research on what that could do. There's now there's like women of color and specifically black women who have used relaxers are disproportionately more likely to have like beta and fibroids, to have, breast cancer or some other form of cancer. 00;59;15;18 - 00;59;40;14 Shaniqua And they're like, it could be linked to these relaxers. So being responsible as a creator in our bar as an innovator to do that research. And then I makes me question like, should that be part of government's job to ensure that business leaders have access to capital for for their research and development before releasing products to the American consumer, is that a business? 00;59;40;17 - 00;59;58;02 Shaniqua You know, line item for the individual like creator, the inventor. Will that then create more of a bias of who was the creative person to, can afford to it? It is something that we should continue to discuss because it's important. 00;59;58;05 - 01;00;27;07 Stephanie It is. It's an important topic. Wow. Well, this is, I think kind of a cool episode for us. I've enjoyed listening. Well, I've enjoyed your stories. Your story scared the shit out of me and appropriately impacted me. I am definitely going to be, even more thoughtful about something that I was already quite thoughtful about. And I hope that I hope that the audience resonates with that as well. 01;00;27;11 - 01;00;51;29 Shaniqua I hope so, too. And I'm curious about like, if the audience, if you all did like, share your, your stories about, like maybe if you had like a phone glitch, what did you think? Will you now forever be scarred by the, the story I shared? You know, like your smart car has it ever taken over, while and you felt like you were no longer in control? 01;00;52;02 - 01;01;09;01 Shaniqua You feel like you're trapped in an economic cycle that you're trying to release yourself from by. Just seems like it's just happening again and again. Or are you a consumer that has been, you know, wronged or, you know, are you a. 01;01;09;01 - 01;01;11;13 Stephanie Consumer who's being consumed. 01;01;11;15 - 01;01;27;20 Shaniqua Consumer being consumed? Oh my gosh, it's so good. Oh, definitely. These like ending these like one liners just get me every time. Yeah. Just like let us know in the comments. We can't wait to, hear your creepy stories. 01;01;27;20 - 01;01;44;21 Stephanie Absolutely. And so, quickly before we wrap, just a shout out for November. We've got some interesting shows. We've got two separate shows coming up with some great guests Shaniqua, do you want to just say a couple of things about. 01;01;44;24 - 01;02;13;13 Shaniqua Oh, yeah. So we're looking that in November, we're looking at employment in two different fashions. One, our first episode, we'll talk more about trade work. We've noticed in the media and with data that shows that more Gen Z, and adults are transitioning out of corporate into more trades work. So we want to explore that with, a guest that Stephanie helped us see here. 01;02;13;13 - 01;02;45;02 Shaniqua We can't wait to introduce you all to them. And then the second episode is going to be more about, like the latest trend of employment, the fractional work, you know, like everyone's talked about being a fractional consultant, of some function in corporate. So we're looking at, bringing on two guests, building out their fractional, business. So we'll have two sides of the same coin, the trade work and fractional work. 01;02;45;02 - 01;02;52;11 Shaniqua And we're really looking forward to explore those two types of employment to give us all more options when we're exploring. 01;02;52;13 - 01;02;59;14 Stephanie It's going to be fabulous, and I promise it won't be as scary as this October was. 01;03;01;00 - 01;03;03;17 Shaniqua Or should I go, oh my gosh. Yes. Okay. Yeah. 01;03;03;20 - 01;03;08;25 Stephanie Yeah. What if we like. All right, everybody, thanks. 01;03;08;25 - 01;03;15;06 Stephanie So much for listening. And we will see you soon. 01;03;15;09 - 01;03;21;29 Shaniqua So happy Halloween is something where you get. 01;03;22;01 - 01;03;23;07 Stephanie All. 01;03;23;07 - 01;03;33;20 Shaniqua Thanks for listening to our show. Show us your support by following us on your favorite podcast platform Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen. 01;03;33;22 - 01;03;51;11 Stephanie You can also find us on Cast Us at From Illumination to Innovation forecaster.com. If you love our show, share it with your friends and coworkers too. Let's all work together to help businesses vibrate higher.