Joel speaks with Shawanda in Charlotte, NC to discuss her life and how mental health has influenced her relationships with her mother and grandmother and her story of being sexually assaulted by her child’s father and the custody battle she’s currently facing. Some of the main topics discussed include:  

• How mental illness is viewed in the Black community
• Shawanda’s battle with mental illness and how it has affected her family relationships
• Her dream of starting her own trucking logistics business
• Shawanda having to care for her sick mother and sister that was only one year younger than her
• Her romantic relationship with a much older man while Shawanda was a young teenager
• How she ended up reconnecting with her molester and having a child with him
• Her relationship with her father and how she replaces him with older men in her life
• Shawanda’s recent run in with a racist driver
• Her struggles to make friends and connect with people
• How the N-word is used in the Black community and pop culture
• Her custody battle and strained relationship with her grandmother

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