Ep. 11: The Million Dollar Baby, with Shayna Robinson-Owens
Host Brandon Chastang talks with Philly teenager Shayna Robinson-Owens, who received over One Million Dollars in scholarships from 25 Colleges and Universities. Brandon and Shayna talk about growing up in Philadelphia, the public school system, and how she plans to help others.
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Transcript:
Brandon Chastang: A Self Inventory report is the type of psychological tests in which a person fills out a survey about personal interests, values, symptoms, behaviors, and traits. Self Inventories are different from tests and that there is no objective, correct answer. Self-inventory is the podcast where we investigate the issues of society that don't seem to have any correct answer.
Brandon Chastang blends together history lessons, current events, and talks with people of all backgrounds to provide us as a society with a Self Inventory in order to move forward. We need to look at where we've been and where we are now. It's time for Self Inventory.
You're now listening to Self Inventory. I'm your host, Brandon Chastang [00:01:00] AKA B McFly and yes okay, B McFly stands for being motivated comes from loving yourself. Listen, you got to love yourself, man. If you love yourself, you become more motivated. I want to introduce a special guest and when I say this young woman is a special guest, she's a special guest. Shayna Robinson-Owens. Everybody give a warm welcome to Shayna.
Now I'm hearing that they call you the million dollar baby. Now, when I first heard that a million that all I'm thinking about is little 1 million dollar baby, please save the baby. Why are they calling you the million dollar baby?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:01:46] Um, because I have over a million dollars in scholarships.
Brandon Chastang: [00:01:49] Woah, wait a minute. Say that again.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:01:53] Over a million dollars.
Brandon Chastang: [00:01:55] That's not under, okay. Not a [00:02:00] billion. We talking about over a million dollars worth of scholarships. I see you got a bunch of schools back here. This stuff like that. So how many schools, uh, you know, say you'll listen, we want you to come to our school.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:02:15] Um, right now I think it's like 25.
Brandon Chastang: [00:02:20] 25 is a beautiful option and on the right of Shayna, we have her aunt Christine. How are you?
Aunt Christine: [00:02:28] I'm good, how're you?
Brandon Chastang: [00:02:29] I'm all right. I'm all right. So how did it all start? Like, let's start from, let's start from high school with ninth grade, or how does your high school work? Is it seventh through 12th?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:02:46] Yeah it's seven through twelve.
Brandon Chastang: [00:02:47] It's seventh through 12th. Yeah. So seventh grade, for those who don't know your seventh grade test scores and the grades on what the high school look at, right? Yeah. [00:03:00] What was your grade point average, if you can remember from seventh up until 12th?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:03:07] I don't know. I didn't start looking at my GPA into last year so i dont know.
Brandon Chastang: [00:03:15] Wow, typical kids is doing what they gotta do it all, you know, was that you were doing the right thing. A lot of studying.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:03:28] Eh.
Brandon Chastang: [00:03:29] Okay. So. Did you take your SATs?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:03:33] No.
Brandon Chastang: [00:03:34] Now how does that work?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:03:36] Um, well, they were actually optional this year, so taking them was really an option. It did boost like for the scholarships and they boost it, but yeah, it was optional this year due to COVID.
Brandon Chastang: [00:03:52] We live in a time where we live in Philadelphia. And Philadelphia is a rough city, [00:04:00] a very, very rough city. And, um, how did you, how do you block everything that's going on in your neighborhood and you just focus and just like have tunnel vision. What's what goes to your brain? So become a million dollar baby. What's going through your brain. Like, yo, listen, I'm him make this work. And I want to stay focused.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:04:27] I want to get out of the city
Brandon Chastang: [00:04:28] Want to get out of the city?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:04:29] Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:04:30] Yeah. You know, she's very shy too. I just want y'all to know that and that's okay. Because she wasn't shy about getting over a million dollars worth of scholarship. So I'm cool with that. You want to get out the city and like, what is it that you want to do? Do you know what it is that, you know, what profession are you looking at?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:04:51] Oh, yes. I want to be a therapist.
Brandon Chastang: [00:04:53] The therapist. Yeah. Wow. A lot of us need a lot of us [00:05:00] need therapy. A lot of us are afraid of therapy. What made you become one to say, I want to become a therapist? Like what?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:05:08] Well therapist helped me out a lot and then like due to COVID, mental health within teens is very bad right now. So like, I hear a lot of my friends talk about how they want therapy and how they're just not motivated. So I was like, I want to be, I want to help. I want to make it up.
Brandon Chastang: [00:05:29] It's amazing how you took this pandemic and you made you like your whole goal is to make something out of it. A lot of people see pain in a swimming, like they know sometimes pain don't make people stronger. As a young teen, you know, you studied hard, you got good grades, a million dollars worth of scholarship, over a million dollars worth of scholarships and the [00:06:00] one profession that a lot of us need in our community is therapy.
I want y'all to understand that's amazing. Okay. I want y'all to know that therapy is not only needed because of the pandemic and a lot of our routines because of pandemic, right. Therapy is needed in our community based on the things that we've been through. So many people, we, we are in an area where a lot of kids are being shot. 15, uh, last week about three kids. 15 years old. What do you think about that?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:06:42] It's scary. Like, I hear gunshots all the time around here and it's times where like, I deleted citizens app because it's just too much. It gives me notifications. And it was times where like they were at Kingsessing and I know my brother be down there and if I [00:07:00] call him and he don't answer me, then I get scared so it was like.
Aunt Christine: [00:07:05] And then Camp was a part of my baby cousin. I didn't mean to say his name, but he was a part of those, the kids that got shot last week at Meyers, he was grazed.
Brandon Chastang: [00:07:14] Wow. So, so how many people he said he was great when someone died
Aunt Christine: [00:07:18] yeah, the other one of the young men
Brandon Chastang: [00:07:21] Meyers is not far from here at all.
Aunt Christine: [00:07:25] Nope.
Brandon Chastang: [00:07:26] I look at, I look at, you know, kids like you and I say you know, some people say wars is rough. The structure of your aunt. She's a great help to you.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:07:41] Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:07:43] What do you, what's the what's the, as a, as a parent and a guardian with some of the things that you do to keep your, your niece and your daughter on the right path.
Aunt Christine: [00:07:58] I grew up with my mother and my [00:08:00] father and my grandmother. Um, one thing that I've, I've never had to worry about was what was going on outside of me. They always just told me you take care of school, we'll take care of the rest and that wasn't even, um, you know, predominantly pushed in my face, but it was the environment that I knew that I had.
So that's the same environment that I provide for Shanya and for my daughter, Carmella. Y'all only have one job. Go to school, I'll take care of the rest. You don't have to worry about bills or cooking or going to work, or, you know, they got chores of course, but you know, It's really my responsibility to take care of them, to make sure that their education is paramount so the less they have to worry about the more they can focus on school.
Brandon Chastang: [00:08:52] I definitely agree to that. I feel like as a parent myself, I feel like we put a lot of responsibilities, [00:09:00] our culture put a lot of responsibilities on children. You know, I need you to watch the baby. I need you to wash the baby. I need you to feed the baby. I need you to cook for the baby, right.
That can go both ways psychologically. It can make a child want a child, or it can make a child say I hate everybody and I want to just get away. So I agree with you. Um, Still teaching them responsibilities, you know, learning about life skills because it's life after the subculture, inside the house. When you leave the house, are there any peer pressures out there?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:09:44] Oh, of course. A lot.
Brandon Chastang: [00:09:45] I'm talking about, no, I'm talking about more so close to you. Like friends and you know, people that you go to school with and stuff like that.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:09:54] Oh no, they cool peeps
[00:10:00] Brandon Chastang: [00:10:01] They cool peeps, man. Now, what are your teachers saying?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:10:06] Um, they're like asking me every day. Like I just got into, got accepted to one of the schools and like, they're asking me to do I know which one I'm going to? Like keeping up with me so.
Brandon Chastang: [00:10:17] I know this is just the biggest decision ever.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:10:20] It is like.
Brandon Chastang: [00:10:21] Is it a lot of anxiety? Is a lot of what I would do is it, people say, don't go to this school?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:10:26] Yes, aboslutely.
Aunt Christine: [00:10:30] Penn state, right?
Brandon Chastang: [00:10:35] Because auntie went to penn state.
Aunt Christine: [00:10:39] Shout out to Penn state.
Brandon Chastang: [00:10:41] I have to respect that though. Don't tell me you went somewhere down South. You had to go to the main campus. That's awesome. Yeah, I, um, [00:11:00] I know, I know that's a big, big, big deal for you. Did you get close to a pick yet?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:11:09] Sorta, sorta little, something like that.
Brandon Chastang: [00:11:13] So out of all of these colleges, that's about 25 of them. Did you now, how many do you have is like, yo, I'm looking at one, two and three.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:11:32] I'm not going to give it away, but like Moravian, Xavier and Chestnut Hill
Brandon Chastang: [00:11:40] Shout out to Chestnut Hill. That's not too far from here.
Aunt Christine: [00:11:43] And we went and toured a couple of weeks ago. We really liked it.
Brandon Chastang: [00:11:47] Well, I'm going to tell you how it is when this interview dropped out and if it's not too late, I doubt if it's too late. Yeah, y'all better step y'all game up, y'all better step them game, yo listen, we got another check for you.
[00:12:00] Aunt Christine: [00:11:57] Absolutley.
Brandon Chastang: [00:12:00] Money talks. You are already the negotiator of what's going on in your life, you know, because after this it's like, you already prepared for it the the jobs now, you know, on the, why you talking about, nah, listen, I had 25 scholarships. I am going after the big bucks here. After you graduate from college, don;t try to hit me with that. I need that. Now, man. I, you know, um, have, did you ever, did they, did she ever attend a public school? Um,
Aunt Christine: [00:12:30] yeah.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:12:30] I only attended public schools.
Brandon Chastang: [00:12:32] That's a public school that you went to?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:12:33] Yes. Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:12:35] Now I want everybody to understand that. Public schools, you know, in Philadelphia, I used to teach at a public school.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:12:46] We know the challenges.
Brandon Chastang: [00:12:49] And the one challenge is it's about 420 teachers absent a day in the public school system.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:12:58] Yeah. They never [00:13:00] come to school ever.
Aunt Christine: [00:13:01] Zero nurses are there.
Brandon Chastang: [00:13:02] Zero. I'm talking about kids are being pushed to the next grade level based off of attendance. The state of Pennsylvania is providing the state prison 43 to $49,000 a year per prisoner. It will only provide the public school system six to $9,000 per public school students. So you are totally come beating the odds of what's going on here.
Aunt Christine: [00:13:41] By like eight, nine times.
Brandon Chastang: [00:13:46] I mean, they're building, they built prisons based off a third grade test scores. If you look at Pennsylvania, I think Pennsylvania has about the fifth, most prisons or [00:14:00] third, most prisons in America. You have, how old are you?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:14:04] I'm 17.
Brandon Chastang: [00:14:04] Yeah. So yeah. I'm gonna tell you this right now. Over a million dollars worth of scholarships, graduating with honors options, right, no children, you have totally beat the odds.
Aunt Christine: [00:14:22] Absolutely.
Brandon Chastang: [00:14:24] I need for our viewers and our listeners to understand that this is not it's normal, but it's not normal. Because we have so many things going on in city of Philadelphia and the inner black city communities and, and our fathers are not here to protect. So I definitely, they just commend you for your strength and your courage though. And I know you, listen, you've been getting so many interviews. How are the [00:15:00] interviews?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:15:01] I don't get better with them.
Brandon Chastang: [00:15:04] I don't remember when we, I don't remember when we did our peace and prosperity tour in February and I just had to sneak in little I'm like I'm gonna get her to talk. I'm going to get her to say something.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:15:16] and I was like Oh my gosh.
Brandon Chastang: [00:15:17] Yup. Got you. You said you, you said you don't get better with them. I want you to learn how to embrace them though, because even as a therapist, right. You have to see yourself as the top therapist. So as the top therapist, you're going to have to speak.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:15:35] No.
Aunt Christine: [00:15:36] You mightt be so good to the point where you want, they might want you to do seminars. You might host symposiums, like, you know. You had to, first of all, we know you the best you proved it. You, you, over a million. So we know that's not going to decrease. We know that's not going to dwindle down. You only can go up from here.
Brandon Chastang: [00:15:57] I, I, um, [00:16:00] Do you, your own practice do you have with you? You want your own practice? Now, you know, you said you want to move out of the city of Philadelphia, but the city of Philadelphia is nine times out of ten and they need you. Do you, do you want to come back or you out?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:16:17] I'll come back.
Brandon Chastang: [00:16:18] So it was no it's as of right now, we not building nothing right here in Philadelphia.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:16:24] No not right now.
Brandon Chastang: [00:16:26] I understand the one thing that I can say about her, she's an active listener. You don't want to talk to him and that's what therapists, that's what, that's what they are. Active listeners taking down notes. Okay. W w and then they tell you what needs to be done. So you're definitely great at that. Do you have, are you the top person than your school, the top student in the school?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:16:47] I don't think so. I don't know.
Brandon Chastang: [00:16:49] So some more. Yeah. So what is your school rank? It's a public school. What does it rank? Do you know in Philadelphia?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:16:58] It might be the third school. I'm not [00:17:00] sure
Aunt Christine: [00:17:01] either two or three. I think it's the third school.
Brandon Chastang: [00:17:06] They tested you when you was in seventh.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:17:08] Well, in seventh it was a little different because I was actually going to Comegys. And then, um, my mom was talking to like the counselors and then they was recommending her schools because I actually wasn't like doing, like, I was doing my work at Comegys, but it was more so that I was being the teacher at Comegys.
Oh, wow. Yeah. So then she like applied me to high schools that I didn't even like know of. So like came seventh grade, like I went to Comegys and it was like that I don't go there. And I was
Brandon Chastang: [00:17:41] like, is that like a rough school?
Aunt Christine: [00:17:45] Yeah, yeah. Comegys has decreased over the, I went to Comegys as a young child.
Brandon Chastang: [00:17:50] Where's it located?
Aunt Christine: [00:17:50] Um, 51st and Kingsessing.
Brandon Chastang: [00:17:54] Oh right there.
Aunt Christine: [00:17:56] That's Comegys. [00:18:00] Comegys. Definitely. We had decreased in academics over the years. Cause when I was there, when I was small, it was a pretty good school. We talking over what 20 years ago. So, you know, but when she went there, it wasn't, you know, it was, it was mediocre. Now, it's it's not good.
Brandon Chastang: [00:18:24] And what was your challenges going there?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:18:28] Um, my teacher wasn't there for like four months.
Brandon Chastang: [00:18:33] So, did you, did you learn something like if, as far as you can remember? Because I know as a teacher, right a lot of people give up on students and it's like one of those things, if you're not used to us, teaching us, then you not going to understand us.
Yeah. I knew how to, yo [00:19:00] listen, young bool. As a teacher, some teachers that don't come from the inner city, they go by the book. Excuse me. Can you please sit down please? You can go, come here real quick. Let me talk to you.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:19:13] Talk their language.
Brandon Chastang: [00:19:14] I'm from where you from. Sit down before I have to do something to you and guess what? Nah, man, he loved me. I'm about to sit down wherever. If I see that in the, at the Philadelphia school district. No, you talk like that to them, right? No, you can possibly get fired. No, I am saving them. Yeah.
Aunt Christine: [00:19:34] And they parents love it
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:19:36] They do.
Brandon Chastang: [00:19:37] So Right. So did you, was it a lot of men at the school, Black men?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:19:42] Um, not really. Not that I can remember.
Brandon Chastang: [00:19:46] And that's another thing that we're missing because when there's more Black men in the inner city schools, our students excel.
Aunt Christine: [00:19:55] Yeah. Yeah. Somebody that looks like them.
Brandon Chastang: [00:19:57] Not a lot of men so there wasn't a [00:20:00] lot of fights?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:20:01] Yeah. I like the year I was there, like after my print, no, after like my teacher like stopped coming for like, I think she got sick or something. I don't know. She stopped coming for like three months. Like between that time, I don't know if we got a new principal or something, something happened.
And then they, like, we painted like this little hallway in the, um, and like the students. And they did just put all this stuff in the hallway, like wrote all over the walls and like, it was stuff about the principal and she walked through the hallway and she just started bawling, bawling her eyes out.
Aunt Christine: [00:20:36] That's horrible.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:20:37] They was putting all the stuff about her mom, all this stuff
Aunt Christine: [00:20:40] That's not nice.
Brandon Chastang: [00:20:42] And for you to go through. So not only I want, I want the students that's watching. I want, you know, young children that are young adults that are watching and even the adults. Like you've been through a lot and certain things that we will, we don't have to [00:21:00] talk about because you already stated that you had to get therapy.
This is, you're a blessing. You are a true blessing to us. Because the first thing that we are taught is use our hands as men and become a nurse as a woman. That's it. So I, I really hope that when you do come back to Philadelphia, you could save the people that were just like you, because we're gonna need you.
And, you know, like you, your generation is one of the greatest generations ever. And I'm about to tell you why, because we had to interact with each other. You guys had to actually be on the computer and figuring it out while mom, or auntie is at work or some, something like that. That takes a lot of discipline.
Give me the opportunity to go to school by [00:22:00] myself and then clean upstairs. What? I'm playing video games. Yeah. I'm over there. I'll be there. Yeah. Nah. So like, and, and also for you to go through the living where you live in that in it's a rough area. Like we said, man, we lost a lot of teenage children. So we definitely, definitely need you because they understand you more than they understand me because you are their peers.
Yeah. Um, so I want to say this. What do you, what do you suggest with the Philadelphia school district? Because I'm big on education. What do you, is there anything that you want to let them know? Just say, you're listening if you change this, maybe things will be better.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:22:48] Well, like with my school, I feel like it's a great school because like, we can make our classes. Like if we, like, if we find a teacher and enough students that are interested in the class, we [00:23:00] can make the class.
Aunt Christine: [00:23:01] So giving them an example of one school, one class that y'all made.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:23:04] Um, forensics. We only had it for one year because the teacher I think, left or something like. Like, they just traveled here for like a year or something. So they were here, we made forensics and they enjoyed it.
Brandon Chastang: [00:23:21] And the w was it hands on a little or was it like, you know, just like studying or just like a little bit of both.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:23:28] A little bit of both.
Brandon Chastang: [00:23:29] Oh, So what you're saying with, with, with C, cause again, your school is one of the top public schools in Philadelphia. So what you're saying is if they can put that in all the schools. That the children make up a class that they're interested in, that's a great idea. And, and of course it has to make sense, but just allowing these kids to, you know, because technology right.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:23:54] Hands on with their education, because most of these classes we're taking, we don't qactually need and won't use after [00:24:00] we leave.
Brandon Chastang: [00:24:02] I, I think we got to stop thinking about the back in the day and just advance with, with technology with the generation and still teach them. So I hope for the viewers and the listeners, I hope y'all take that advice.
Um, now this is called Self Inventory and I'm going to ask you this too. Okay. Self-inventory is, for me before, you know, I came home from rehab being three years clean, had to do a self-inventory on myself, had to reconstruct myself. I had to do things and fix things that I didn't even like about myself. And I'm like, wow. Right. What will be your self inventory?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:24:52] Um I dont know.
Brandon Chastang: [00:24:59] Well, we'll [00:25:00] listen. Think about it because you know, we are, we all can use, we all can be better and get better, and that's not pressure on you as a 17 year old young woman. Is just to say, you know, when I get to this point, I have to do better. What about speaking to the cameras?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:25:25] Yeah cause they like.
Brandon Chastang: [00:25:28] That's your self inventory. You see how we learn from each other? That's just self inventory because you, you want to have a million of these. Yeah. You only, it's just going to build up over and over again. So, yes getting prepared to speak in front of the camera, in front of everybody. Are you a good friend?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:25:49] Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:25:49] You are, alright. Are you a good sister slash cousin? Yes.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:25:57] Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:25:57] Alright cool. And a good [00:26:00] daughter slash niece?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:26:01] Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:26:01] Cool. Cool. Cool mom, Christine. Yeah. What is your self-inventory?
Aunt Christine: [00:26:10] My self inventory can include trying to move with the times with the kids. Like, um, my family were very traditional, very old school. Um, look at her face. I think that, uh, not to say that I haven't moved with the times, but just being a little bit more relaxed um, with them, but it's hard in this time, you know.
Just letting go, letting their hair down and letting them go out side, without worry, letting them listen to certain types of music or stay up past a certain hour. You know, these kids, they still have a bed time, you know. I still Kinda keep them on a schedule. I send them the bed. I don't know if they go.
But I know that they're in their rooms. I know that they're safe. They [00:27:00] have their phone, their tablet, their TV, whatever that the kids, you know. So I think that, um, I can try to lessen, uh, be a little bit more lenient. I'm not strict, but just moving a little bit more with the times with them as, as far as getting into their lingo and stuff cause even sometimes certain things they'll say to me I dont know and I'll be like don't talk like that I'm not ready for it. And not that it's disrespectful for them to say because it's not but it's street lingo.
Brandon Chastang: [00:27:29] It just comes out. It's not yeah. My son calls me, bro. My eleven year old.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:27:31] Bro is a neutral thing.
Brandon Chastang: [00:27:34] They, look we'll be talking about basketball, he be like bro, stop it bro. And I had the catch it because if I would have said bro
Aunt Christine: [00:27:43] to my parents. you already know.
Brandon Chastang: [00:27:48] Who are you talking to? And I'm like, bro, BAP.
Aunt Christine: [00:27:51] So this small things like that because my mom checked me once when I was younger and not that it was something, a disrespectful term, whatever I said, but she [00:28:00] was just, don't play yourself. Get yourself together.
Brandon Chastang: [00:28:02] And, you know what, and I, I get it from the, those pigs and my grandmother raised me. So, you know, my grandmother raised me. So we got a lot in common in that department. And I am the only, I'm the first child to graduate from college out of my great grandparents tree,
Aunt Christine: [00:28:23] Awesome.
Brandon Chastang: [00:28:24] Great Grandparents. So they had seven kids and then they seven kids, the, I think three of them or four of them had children. Yeah. And my grandmother had me. I mean, my mother had me at a young age, 14, so I take pride in, you know, coming from us in the city community like you and actually saying, wow, I'm the first graduate out of my great-grandparents tree.
That's amazing. So we definitely have to keep up with the times and don't take it [00:29:00] personal, because like you said, when they're not, they're not bad, yeah.
Aunt Christine: [00:29:03] I know they don't mean any harm, you know they good kids. It's just conversatin.
Brandon Chastang: [00:29:08] Yeah. And it's conversation. It's just a part of it. And I think that they know how to turn it on and turn it off, you know? And, and, and that's the good thing, man to all parents. We gotta make sure we keep up with the times of these children because times have changed. Yeah. When you get to college, you're going to be around people.
You're going to be around white people, Black people, Spanish people, Asian people, you know, like how. Did that make you nervous?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:29:41] People make me nervous.
Brandon Chastang: [00:29:46] People make me nervous.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:29:49] People make me nervous.
Aunt Christine: [00:29:50] How she gonna be a therapist if people make her nervous?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:29:51] I can do one-on-one but like, it was so many people and I'd be like, uhh.
Brandon Chastang: [00:29:56] Well, you go into some big colleges, you got [00:30:00] accepted to some big colleges. Wow. Now, which college, which college has the best program?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:30:08] Um, I did research. I have a papers on it, but I don't remember.
Brandon Chastang: [00:30:14] No, no, no, no, no, no. I understand. I understand. Cause I know, I know that's another thing that you want to put in perspective as well. So how many people have interviewed you since you became the million dollar baby?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:30:27] A lot. Uh, Yeah, Christie.
Christie. Uh, we have Fox Fox, ABC.
Aunt Christine: [00:30:44] And channel three. Um, the Fastweb parents
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:30:52] Oh yeah Fastweb.
Aunt Christine: [00:30:54] Um, We had KWHYY on Monday, I would [00:31:00] say about 10. Wow. I would say about ten.
Brandon Chastang: [00:31:02] I caught you on the shade room.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:31:05] Oh you did.
Brandon Chastang: [00:31:10] With all of the colleges surrounding, how does that make you feel?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:31:15] I was like, Oh my God. Cause I didn't know, like, I didn't know what it was going to post. I didn't know nothing. Like my cousin sent me send it to me like right after they posted, like, it was like 45 seconds and they posted my cousins, sent it to me and I'm like, ah its me.
Brandon Chastang: [00:31:29] Yo, you didn't get a little, like you didn't get a little, okay. I'm on here. I'm you know, it's me.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:31:38] Oh. And then, then I started getting all these likes. and then all these people started following me and all this stuff on my story. It was like 21,000 people watching my story.
Brandon Chastang: [00:31:49] Wow.
Aunt Christine: [00:31:51] Nothing phases her.
Brandon Chastang: [00:31:53] You know what I like about her. You know what I like about you? I like your style and you keep the culture. [00:32:00] A lot of people feel like, well, I had to look nerdy to actually excel in school and I tell people. You can be, there's nothing wrong with keeping your culture. I, I, when I, when I used to teach, I used to come to work like this. I would probably wear this hoodie, a pair of jeans and come to work, looking just like this, just to let them know like, yo, listen, it's okay.
This is what, this is our culture. This is how we dress. This is how we talk. You can still be educated. Right? So I like that. You know and I'm, and not to say that if you wouldn't look in different, I would, you know Feel some type of way, but I definitely just like the fact that, you know, you chill, you know, you, you know, you don't let everything, you know, get you all up hype.
Oh my God. Look at me. Look at me. But, well, like you're real humble, but I tell people, man, you wasn't humble when you were studying. You wasn't humble when he was doing that. [00:33:00] You was going hard. You was hungry man.
Like, no, I'm get there. No, that's good, man. I know I asked you about your self inventory. Is there anything else that you want to say to the public? What about the kids? What about your peers? What do you wanna say to them?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:33:22] Procrastination is your number one downfall. I'm telling you, y'all love to procrastinate. Y'all wait till the last minute to do everything like right now, grades are closing on Monday for us and I'm looking at people's story. They're like, Oh, I gotta do this, this, this I'm like it's Friday.
Brandon Chastang: [00:33:38] Right? You sitting back chilling.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:33:40] It's Friday. Don't y'all have, don't y'all want a free weekend. How did y'all not get all this done already?
Brandon Chastang: [00:33:46] Wow. I mean, you heard it from the million dollar baby. Not me. This is from your peers, do not procrastinate. Right? What are you procrastinating for? Get it done [00:34:00] and my son, I hope you listening.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:34:01] I hope you listening.
Brandon Chastang: [00:34:02] I hope you listening. Get it done so you can have a free weekend. What in the world.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:34:15] Yeah.
Brandon Chastang: [00:34:15] Woah just go hard. So it's time for you to relax. You can relax. You can have your me-time.
Aunt Christine: [00:34:20] Yep. One thing I was grateful about Shanya about her work ethic is, you know, sometimes we see this a lot in our community and with our peers, we do, we sometimes we all fall short of the when we procrasinate and we've seen it with our friends.
Right. So one thing that really, it kind of bothered me last year was that a lot of people, you know, they didn't oh wait. Or we didn't know that the pandemic was going to happen. So we have those students that fall out in the beginning of the school year, like, Oh, it's only September. Right. I haven't really had to worry about my grades.
Come January, I'll get on the ball. I'll do this. I'll do that. But then January came, February came March came, we got shut [00:35:00] down. So you don't have that time to build those grades back up that you didn't do so well with in September. I always stay on the girl is about doing your work, doing it on time. You do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do.
Brandon Chastang: [00:35:12] Do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do.
Aunt Christine: [00:35:15] You won't have a problem when it comes to time for it to be timed in or lessons to be made or anything like that is already done.
Brandon Chastang: [00:35:23] Know, nobody wants to be around a person who constantly make excuses on why they keep losing.
Aunt Christine: [00:35:28] Absolutely.
Brandon Chastang: [00:35:29] And you know, so, so like artsy say you do what you gotta do so you can
Aunt Christine: [00:35:35] absolutely. That's my motto. So I always stayed on the girl with about checking out. I got the class, um, Um, what is it? The classroom, uh, on my phone.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:35:47] I can't wait to delete that app.
Aunt Christine: [00:35:52] My daughter signed, come to my phone and I'll be like, what did you see this? You have this, do you have that? Do make sure you do this. Make sure their grades come, Oh, I see [00:36:00] you got an a on this. That'd be, you got a 95 on that. Keep up the good work, you know? I'm glad that she wasn't that type of student that said, okay, well, I'm going to wait because 11th grade what she, when she was in last year, it's a crucial year.
It's a very crucial year for those colleges because that's what they're looking for. So I'm glad that she stayed the course and was able to focus that whole year, you know, amongst the pandemic coming a little bit later. You know, but I'm just glad that she was able to stay the course and have that good work ethic.
And I, and you know, I pride my kids in that because you never want to wait till the last minute. Yes. We fall short. We things come up. We never know what can happen, but if you can help it definitely, definitely, definitely stay the course and do your work on time so that you can do what you want to do later on. Do what you have to do to do, so you can do what you want to do.
Brandon Chastang: [00:36:54] How important is, uh, family support.
Aunt Christine: [00:36:58] Oh, that's very important.
[00:37:00] Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:36:59] Yeah. It's very much needed. Like when you don't have family support, it's like, well, what am I doing this for? Like, that's how a lot of kids look at it. They feel like they just going to, first of all, a lot of kids don't even want to finish high school cause they don't have support a support system at home. So they want to drop out like right now and they could be an end it a great year and they only got a few more weeks. Making it like they'll don't feel like it.
Aunt Christine: [00:37:24] So they come from a pretty big family. Um, my mother is one of 14 and so, and my mother she's the youngest girl. She's 13 or 14. Um, so my family, we have a huge family, very huge family. So everybody as far as Shanya and her brother's concerned, Shamar, I mean, my whole family has helped with these kids at some point in time, you know? So the support is always there. She knows if she doesn't have me, she can call my mom.
She can call whoever in this family, you know? Okay. Shanya. Okay. We got you. What it is [00:38:00] that she needs. Family been coming over. Family been calling, texting. You know, so that the support system is, is good.
Brandon Chastang: [00:38:07] I always tell people it's the difference between support and a support system. Support can come and go but the support system is the one that stays.
I, you know, I'm a true believer in that as well, to help children get to the next level, challenging the child to get to the, like, what is it that you really, really want to do? Yeah. Did I ask you, when did you want to become a therapist?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:38:36] Um no.
This year.
Brandon Chastang: [00:38:38] This year? Oh, that was it something else that you wanted to do prior to?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:38:45] Yeah, um a lawyer or I'm a forensic investigator.
Brandon Chastang: [00:38:51] Wow. Wow. You the million dollar baby. I mean, you could have did whatever. [00:39:00] Let's talk happy, Million dollar baby. Nah. Um, that's that's that's dope though. That's that's real dope. Man that's A lot of reading, a lot of studying, you know, that forensics is a lot of math.
Yeah. You know, but, um, either way you can do what you want to do. When you first got your scholarship, wasn't like a domino effect or was it like, um, you know, once a one scholarship came, anything, no scholarships just coming or how, how was that?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:39:30] Um, well, first of all, FASFA, I don't know what was going on with it when I first started like trying to do it. So. When I first got my first acceptance, I don't think it had like a scholarship for me. I think it just said that I was accepted because FASFA was not working.
Brandon Chastang: [00:39:48] FAFSA was on turtle time.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:39:50] Yeah.
Aunt Christine: [00:39:50] It's so different from when we did it. Like, it's so different. Oh my God.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:39:57] Like it was messing up. I think like [00:40:00] it put me like I'm 15 or something and im not 15. And it wasn't letting me like add any schools, because one was saying I'm 17 and one thing was saying I'm 15 and it was just like a lot, so, no. Okay. Well, like once I figured it out and got it together. They just started coming in.
Brandon Chastang: [00:40:20] Pouring it. Yeah, no, there was an email or was it, they sent through mail?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:40:24] Some of them are email and someone in are mail.
Brandon Chastang: [00:40:29] God damn.
Aunt Christine: [00:40:30] Just got an email this morning.
Brandon Chastang: [00:40:32] Yep. It, where are we going now? So when you do this announcement, how was this announcement going to be presented? Like, is this going to be like, yo, everybody meet me at the big.
Yeah.
Aunt Christine: [00:40:47] I'ma tell you where we gonna have it. I actually posted today thr reveal because everybody, everybody wants to come. So you already know I want [00:41:00] you there and your other folks or whatever. So it's gonna be a big thing. News is coming out. It's going to be a big thing.
Brandon Chastang: [00:41:10] I know you have this, you're going to have to say something and you know I would do.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:41:16] I'll say something if you're there.
Aunt Christine: [00:41:19] Awesome.
Brandon Chastang: [00:41:19] Alright. I'm gonna be there.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:41:20] Okay.
Brandon Chastang: [00:41:20] I'm going to be right next to you. Can I be next to you?
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:41:27] Yes.
Brandon Chastang: [00:41:27] That's what's up. I feel, I feel emotional. That was nice, man. I feel really emotional right now, man. Um, Shamar, that's my guy.
Um, he went to the school that were I was teaching he was in my class, so, you know, um, then I became the Dean. It was like, you're better off just being the Dean of the school. And, um, that's how that worked, man. And, you [00:42:00] know, he has a bright future as well. And then he was always very respectful. That's the one thing that I can really really say he's super respectful.
Even when you had some kids, when they were wrong, they still want to act like they're right. When he's wrong, it's like, ah, I got you OG. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm going to go ahead and whatever. I just want to just say like, um, I'm proud of you.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:42:25] Thank You.
Brandon Chastang: [00:42:26] I'm proud of you. Um, the, this takes courage. This takes heart. It takes strength, patience. I mean, all the words I can possibly think of to be in this position and mom slash aunt gotta keep slash auntie. I just want to say that. Thank you. No, you know, because like for you to be so cool, calm and collected, you know, I probably, you probably got that other [00:43:00] side that we don't need to see.
Aunt Christine: [00:43:00] Nah Im cool
Brandon Chastang: [00:43:04] But at the end of the day for you to step up. Yeah. You know, like, and that's what it's all about at the end of the day, stepping up, we're not doing no complaining. We not doing no. We want to figure this thing out as a family and we want to make the best out of this.
Aunt Christine: [00:43:21] That's what these kids need. As long as they know that they have somebody under them, over them, on top of them and for them. They're going to do good. They're gonna do, You're going to see results. Don't let up. I never let up on these kids. I never, even Shamar, never let up on them.
And they going to get through. My family, like I said, we strong, man. There's nobody in my family that's never been presented with being supported, with following their dreams, making sure that they're doing exactly what they need to do. So it's a blessing. It's a blessing, you know.
[00:44:00] Brandon Chastang: [00:44:01] Listen, congratulations. I'm super excited about this interview and I just want to thank you both.
Aunt Christine: [00:44:11] I'm so excited. You really do good at getting answers out of Shayna.
Brandon Chastang: [00:44:14] I do.
Shayna Robinson-Owens: [00:44:15] I mean.
Aunt Christine: [00:44:16] You really do tonight is really, like you said, she's really laid back. She's really just, you know, she's just herself. I always say if somebody wants to lock somebody up and Shayna has the story, you're gonna be like yes, no i dont know.
Like she's a good candidate for it, but you really do good pulling those answers out of her and making her talk because it's been a few interviews. I'm like, sure you have the right. You got to elaborate a little bit more. And she's like, oh yeah or oh no.
Brandon Chastang: [00:44:49] Well, that's the thing. Then we had to help each other, man. Each one teach one, it takes a village to raise. And that's what it's all about then. Thanks for listening to Self Inventory, the million dollar [00:45:00] baby, Christine, and yes, me, B McFly, the top motivator in the world and your sober messenger.
Lets go.
Brandon Chastang: [00:46:01] Self-inventory is a podcast produced by Brandon Chastang and Studio D Podcast Production. You can listen anywhere you get your podcasts. If you'd like to support the show, please subscribe, leave a review and tell everyone you know about Self Inventory.