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Aging Like a Fine Wine - The Terrah Bennett Smith Interview
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Apr 9, 2024
This week on Aging Like a Fine Wine, Caren spends time with the multi-talented Terrah Bennett Smith. From humble beginnings in the Bronx to conquering Broadway, television, and the music industry, Terrah's journey is a testament to resilience and relentless pursuit of her passions. Hear her inspiring story of overcoming obstacles and carving her own path in the entertainment industry. Tune in to gain insights on aging with grace, pursuing your dreams, and rewriting your life's script. #Broadway #terrahbennettsmith #Pursueyourdreams Click https://www.uncorked.online/napa-guide for your complimentary copy of The Ultimate Napa Travel Guide Subscribe to our Spotify Channel: https://spoti.fi/3oXWCL3 Get up to the minute updates, subscribe to our Instagram Broadcast channel: https://ig.me/j/AbZEH4_JmF1rPkDA/ Check out some of our favorite products: https://www.amazon.com/shop/carenglasser Listen to the Life Uncorked Playlist: https://spoti.fi/3JXij4K
View Video Transcript
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[Music]
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I'm Karen Glasser here and welcome to
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life uncored today's segment is all
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about aging like a fine wine and who
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better to have on the show is Tara
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Bennett Smith the producer director
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actress writer and
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Mom and she likes to say she's living
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her bigger better Bolder better self
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every day say that 10 times fast welcome
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to the show Sarah you're welcome thank
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you thank you for having me bigger B
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bigger better bigger B Bolder better and
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if you get it and you say it and that
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that's good I'm glad you said that
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because it helped to remind me to say I
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haven't said it in a while well there
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you go I think of that when I think of
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you uh because it's a great it's a great
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tagline so let's just start from the
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beginning back when Tara you back then
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how did what's your journey like to get
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to where you are right now it doesn't
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have to be a whole to-do but tell us the
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short version of your journey well the
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short version I grew up in New York um
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my mother uh in what's considered the
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South Bronx not when I was growing up it
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was just the Bronx and then it became
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the South Bronx but I'm told now it's
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being gentrified so now it's
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SoBro uh but anyway so I grew up in what
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they call SoBro now and um in the
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projects and my mother was a single
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parent for most of when my parents got
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divorced I don't remember how old I was
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but in order to keep us nice and busy
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and off the streets she kept us involved
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in the Performing Arts so we start I
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started dancing at the age of five in LC
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Andrews dance school and then went on to
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do theater musical theater and vice
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versa and that kind of was my bug I I've
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never been a I never really enjoyed
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School the way they teach and I probably
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because if back then I'm I'm might have
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been diagnosed with a learning
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challenge uh but no one you know back
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then you weren't diagnosing you just
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couldn't focus you know basically is
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what we were dealt with right so I
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always knew that I love the Arts and I
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would find any way to perform whether
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putting on my own little talent shows on
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on on the balcony we had a Terrace on
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each floor in the building where I grew
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up and I would do shows and you buy
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tickets and all my friends would be in
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it so that was kind of my beginning but
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I didn't realize how it was it was
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nurturing and and it was nurturing
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and and teaching and grooming me to
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become a producer director I just knew I
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wanted to perform but I didn't know that
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me putting on my own shows producing
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them getting the talent getting the
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tickets was basically producing right so
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I started doing that and then over the
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years um you know kind of got sick of
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doing musical theater because that's
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most ofly what I was getting in New York
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and then I moved I got my first two
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commercials and I got my first Broadway
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show in my teens wow and then I started
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a record label in my teens and got a an
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opportunity to tour Europe because I
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wanted to sing so I said well if I
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nobody's gonna give me a record deal I
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started wow with my godfather and a
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friend of mine we started a record label
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so that's kind of the backstory then I
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moved out to LA and got a real record
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deal with RCA records with another with
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a girl group and started doing more
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television which I was excited about the
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very first thing that I booked was a
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pilot a spin-off for The Facts of Life
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uh Natalie's character was moving to New
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York it was going to be called Big Apple
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blues and I was going to be one of her
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roommates with David Spade and Richard
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greo and I forgot the other young ladyes
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name so we were all roommates in the
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city it didn't get picked up but it was
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a nice experience so my very first thing
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that I booked out here was a television
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pilot ah which taught me a lot about the
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fact that I can have those things you
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know that I could have a record deal and
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I'm capable of doing this and capable of
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doing that even though somewhere in the
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back of my mind when you grow up in
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poverty or you grow up with lack or you
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know you lose your mother very early
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which I did at the age of 16 I lost
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basically was parentless um I had aunts
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who took over but didn't have you know a
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parent um so with that said there's a
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lot of ying and yang that goes on inside
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of myself you know that's the pull and
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pull push and pull so outside of that I
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started um doing television uh in front
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of the camera and someone asked me to
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direct something
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and I just did it for the fun of it and
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found out years later which adds in to
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where I'm what I'm doing now that I
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ended up being a director and a producer
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I think part of one of the reasons is I
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like the freedom of doing things the way
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I like to do them you know I'm not very
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good at a job that I don't like tried
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I've tried a few of them and um yeah you
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would fire me with what's interesting
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Tara is that you you create what you
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want to do you you actually create those
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entities those those uh
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opportunities maybe when nobody else
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might give you that opportunity and so
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you have spent your career at least it
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would appear creating those
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opportunities not just for you but for
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other people as well very much so and
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and with that comes a lot of headache
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just to be honest it's not always the
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easiest Road right but it's a road that
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fits who I am better than me sitting
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around waiting so so what would you say
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is driving you right now what drives me
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is
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basically that there are no other
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options you know if I don't do it what I
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love then what happens you know I'm kind
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of here until we are no longer here
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until we make our transition if you're
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not trying to push forward and finding
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new ways to to to live your life and be
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creative and go after the things you
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want then what is part what is the point
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of this journey that we're doing right
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right
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yeah so I guess that's what drives me is
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the fact that I just won't take no for
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an answer and it may not appear to work
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one way uh so i' look for another way to
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get around it I don't like anybody to
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put a brick wall up in front of me even
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though I may want to cry that particular
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day because there's a brick wall in
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front of me you know I I'll cry and then
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I figure how to kick the wall down how
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to kick the wall how to kick the wall
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down it's just a desire that as long as
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we're here we have an opportunity to as
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long as we're here we can move we have
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sane mind we're physically able to get
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up and move about right we have a duty
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to ourselves to honor us as individuals
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because you know I have friends of mine
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who who are younger than me who are
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struggling physically with health issues
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that you know I know that if they would
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give their limb to be able to get back
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up and walk the way they used to walk
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and not be going to the doctor every day
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or not be trying to figure out right you
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know I would just love to be able to do
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my craft or do my art and when you don't
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have that
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opportunity um things look different and
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I don't want things to look different
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because I I let it slly or I didn't give
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it my best I think it's so important
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what you're saying I I mean truly and it
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is very inspiring and the next I was
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going to say what inspiration can you
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give to someone who was starting uh
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something new maybe in this chapter in
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life and you're kind of already saying
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it is don't stop yeah you know um this
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is my this year 2023 was the year I
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became a
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senior official senior as they say high
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five Tera okay five and um you know
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seniors when when we were told about
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them they did not look like us to me you
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know I mean maybe I'm wrong but I don't
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remember them you're not wrong you're
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not wrong like this right I don't
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remember you know too many that I knew
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could just go you know hike for a five
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hours to work out lift weights you know
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take classes you know I don't remember
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that so I think for me for you whatever
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age it's like until you're dead you're
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not dead agree until they come to get
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you you have an opportunity
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to to reinvent yourself right now I'm
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the
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CCO Chief content officer of a new
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company called inani I've never been in
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the C Club because I straight away from
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jobs but this particular Adventure spoke
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to me because I get to do everything I
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love to do right
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plus plus be a CCO being charged with
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the way I love so that's something new
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for you very new this all happen
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this that is for you what's next and
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what's next is the opportunity to travel
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and be on and and to employ myself in
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any of the fields that I love and then
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to be of service I'm opening up
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hopefully soon in
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2024 A Creative Arts Center I'm starting
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small with a venture with a friend of
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mine I have that going I have anani
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going and
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um I'm exhausted I'm exhausted listening
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to you those are the those are the
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things I I'd love to have a creative art
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center that a place that I used to go to
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when I was young you know that helped me
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to hone and hone my crafts and my craft
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and um just you know have a camaraderie
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with other likeminded artists so yeah so
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for those of you and I know it's a lot
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of you out there would like to stay
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connected to Tara you can go visit her
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website at reclaim haven.com what are
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they going to find there Tera they're
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gonna find a lot of things that uh where
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I have workshops and things for women
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especially for women who want to
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redesign I do a thing called redesigning
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your blue blueprint and rewriting your
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script so you know you can do it at any
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age so that's what you're G to find
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there plus some things on you know what
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I do in my workshops and and a little
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bit more about me and they can find you
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on Facebook at tab Bennett Smith and
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they can also find you on Instagram atth
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Terra Bennet Smith any last thoughts you
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would like to share with our audience
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just my quote that I say on a regular
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basis you woke up this morning
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everything else is
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profit yes I want to thank everyone for
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joining us today we know you have a
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choice go out and give someone an
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awesome day and terara thank you again
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and we'll see everyone next time bye-bye
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[Music]
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everyone
#Acting & Theater
#Broadway & Musical Theater
#Self-Help & Motivational