Amena Brown:
Hey y'all, this week in our, HER living room, I am talking with vocalist, musical consultant, professional voice coach and founder of Fruition Organized Music, Ametria Dock. This episode, which was recorded in the before times, Ametria and I were actually in the same room for this recording before the pandemic. Ametria shares the tough lessons she learned as a solo artist in the music industry and how those lessons propelled the trajectory of her career. She also shares what she's learned as a business founder and gives a mini masterclass on how to maintain vocal health. So all my speakers and singers out there, make sure you are taking a listen to that. Let's check it out.
Amena Brown:
Everybody, welcome back to another episode of HER with Amena Brown, and I'm Amena Brown, I'm your host here and I'm so excited. First of all, I'm excited because today's interview is an in-person interview and this doesn't happen all the time. Sometimes I'm interviewing people, we're just in different places, but today's guest is here in the studio with me. Recording artist, vocalist, musical consultant, professional voice coach for artists, such as Janelle Monáe, India.Arie, Anthony David, Avery Sunshine, Gramps Morgan and more. Founder of Fruition Organized Music. Let's welcome Ametria Dock to the podcast.
Ametria Dock:
Woo, woo. Hello, hello, hello, hello, hello. I'm so glad to be here with you in person.
Amena Brown:
I know. This has been a few months coming this interview. I have been begging. Y'all, I have been begging Ametria to come on the podcast. I've been begging her to the point that I just emailed her and I was like, "I will crouch in the corner of a tour bus." I was like, "I will come in the 10 minutes between clients, whatever I can do to get this story," just because I really believe that you have such a wealth to offer-
Ametria Dock:
Thank you.
Amena Brown:
... the community of listeners here. So I'm so glad.
Ametria Dock:
You know it. She didn't have to beg me. I love her and I was honored to do this.
Amena Brown:
So we've been knowing of each other or about each other for years, I feel like.
Ametria Dock:
For years, actually.
Amena Brown:
We were kind of running in some of the same circles. I don't know if you knew I was a music journalist for a little while in Atlanta, before my poetry career... I was about to say took off, I'm like, "Did it?"
Ametria Dock:
It did. And you are.
Amena Brown:
Took off?
Ametria Dock:
You're there. So I partly knew you from shows, from covering different shows and being in some green rooms and different things, but we never had an opportunity to talk talk until the last couple of years. So I've been really excited about that. I knew Amena, I knew your work. I knew your voice. My best friend and I, we were at an event and you were speaking and we looked at each other and we were like, "Man, she is so powerful."
Ametria Dock:
We had to take a second listening to your words and how you... I think it was maybe a Black History Month celebration, maybe a women, and the way you described women and the words that you said, I was just like, "What? Who is she? How are you doing what you do?" And it was amazing to watch that. It was inspiring. That's what I'll say. It was inspiring to see you and to have all that Black girl magic. Yeah, yeah. Up there.
Amena Brown:
Woo. We need it.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah, we need it.
Amena Brown:
We need that Black girl magic.
Ametria Dock:
We need it.
Amena Brown:
And I have felt the same because I saw you for a while before I heard you sing. And I saw you sing in a sound check situation and your vocal sounded so good that it upset me. I don't know how else to describe it, but I was like, "I'm very angry about this at this time." And I've also heard you sing some background vocals, right? And in different people's shows, there comes a time where it's, here's the time where the background vocalist sing on their own. And I've been in a situation where I saw that and I was like, "What?"
Amena Brown:
Because some people that sing background, you're like, "We see that. That is where you ought to be. Thank you for using your gifts in the station that is best for the voice that you have. We appreciate that." But some background vocalists, you start to hear them sing and you're like, "Wait a minute, wait, I wasn't prepared." So I appreciate that. I have a lot of opportunities to hear that voice and it does wonders for my soul as well.
Amena Brown:
So I want to jump in to hearing a bit more of your story. And I am a person who grew up in at least, well, I guess I could say in both sides of my family, but in particular, on my dad's side of the family, a lot of musicians and singers and things. And so it's always interesting to me to hear people that have musical talent, where that is coming from. If you remember that being a thing in your family. I don't know that I have musical talent, but I became an artist, I think in part, because I grew up in a space where I was watching my dad play piano by ear and him and my stepmother directing the choir together and some of those things. So was that in your family? Your love for music? Talk about how singing became a thing that you love to do.
Ametria Dock:
How you just described it, is exactly what my family was like. So my father was a pastor. He started out playing piano organ in the church that we grew up in. I'm from Racine, Wisconsin. And so our church was like a family church and my dad had 10 brothers and sisters. All of my dad's brothers and sisters were musical. So some played keys, some played drums, some directed the choir, everybody was in the choir.
Ametria Dock:
So, funny, my grandmother was not much of a singer, but she would sing from time to time. So I don't really know where they got it from, but most of my aunts and uncles, my mom and my dad both were singers. So that was the start of my brother and I learning a lot of gospel songs. Our church, we were very involved in it. I can remember learning my first song, my dad and my mom, both coaching me through that as a little girl, five years old and I'm learning Jesus, You're The Center Of My Joy.
Amena Brown:
Ooh. Oh, come on Richard Smallwood.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. And I mean, from the ad-libs to giving me freedom to find my way through the song. And that was my start and my platform was obviously in church singing in the children's choir. That was my start.
Amena Brown:
Wow. When you were talking about your grandmother, my dad's mom was not a singer that I remember either, but she always wanted all of us to sing whenever we got together. All the cousins, aunts and uncles, everybody. So in a way it was, even though it wasn't her thing or her gift, she was the person corralling all of us to have an experience.
Ametria Dock:
Same.
Amena Brown:
And then as a grownup in a musical family, then it's like, "Okay, who's going to be the tenor?" My aunts are like. "I got tenor." Who's alto and soprano? And working all the parts out, even as a family, right? That was your experience too.
Ametria Dock:
All day. Every Sunday, even when we would get... After church was over, we would all go over to my grandparent's house and it would turn into a concert. All of my cousins and it's 30, 40 of us, in each family, there are the singers or the musicians and so we would all get together and it just turned into a concert. And at every grandparent's house, there is a piano and the drummers, they figure out how to make buckets and turn it to drums.
Ametria Dock:
It was just good times. That was really my start and it was consistent. So that was helpful for me to go on this musical journey for myself and know that consistency is important to be able to be successful in this business. And I saw that every week. It was something that we were doing.
Amena Brown:
So from your family upbringing, from your church roots, you go on to go into a solo career as an artist. So was that something, even as a kid, that you saw for yourself or was it just these doors were opening and now you're like, "I'm here." How did the solo career come out of your family and church roots?
Ametria Dock:
I'm going to be completely honest, I was the little girl that had the dream of becoming an artist. I wasn't that. I think that I was very passionate about music and I wanted to do it in whatever way. I didn't have a specific plan like, "I want to do it like this." I just knew that I wanted to do music. I love creating music. I love writing music. I love collabing. As a kid and in high school, I started the gospel choir at my school. I was very involved in advanced chorus and all these different things.
Ametria Dock:
So being in school, I was always spearheading musical things in my school. And so I remember being in course in our advanced choir and we would have the practice rooms. And so a lot of the lowerclassmen would come in and say, "Can we go in the room and teach us these parts in the song and let's create something." And so I was always kind of putting things together and teaching people. And I loved that. That aspect of music. I wanted to do that too.
Ametria Dock:
So I loved doing solos. I did it all the time as a kid singing in church, I was leading songs. And so the opportunity came for me when a friend from church actually knew of a producer who was looking for an artist. At the time I was 15 getting ready to turn 16 and I was like, "What does that mean?" Be his artist, what would I do? She was like, "You do an album." And I was like, "Oh, okay."
Ametria Dock:
So it wasn't like I was prepping, I was not the girl doing talent shows and star search. I was just doing it in whatever way because I love to do it. And so that when that opportunity came, I talked to my parents and my parents were like, "Okay, do you want to go?" And I was like, "Yeah." Okay. What do I have to do? What does that mean? So going to the studio for the first time, I was 16 by then, we set up the meeting to meet him. And this part of the story is when it's almost like you put your foot on the gas and everything just went. And my life completely changed.
Ametria Dock:
We were on Christmas break and my friend took me to the studio and when I got there, I met the guy at the time, his name was Joe. And Joe was looking for an artist to produce. And he asked me, "Do you write songs?" And I had never written a full song by myself, but I had done some collaborations with other people in school. So he said, "Okay, okay. Well, don't say that you'd never written a song." And I said, "Well, what's getting ready to happen?" And he said, "Well, you're getting ready to meet an executive."
Amena Brown:
What?
Ametria Dock:
And I'm like, "Okay." So at the time this executive was managing 112.
Amena Brown:
Ooh, this story is...
Ametria Dock:
And so 112 comes into the studio.
Amena Brown:
What? I mean, for this era of time, for 112 to walk into the studio is-
Ametria Dock:
Blowing my mind.
Amena Brown:
... like a star is walking into the studio, right?
Ametria Dock:
Oh yeah. I'm completely blown away. I'm like, "Oh my goodness." I wasn't prepared for any of it. And so I'll just say this to start off with my story, everything up to this point in my life right now, everything is never planned. It's always, I'm thrown into a situation and I have to rise to the occasion. So in this situation starting out, it was that. Like, "Okay, I'm thinking I'm going to just meet this guy who was looking for an artist." And it turns into, no you're going to meet someone who has a big part in this industry, who's working with all kinds of artists at the time. And in the '90s that was the list of artists that he collabed and worked with. It was insane.
Ametria Dock:
So I'm like, "Oh God. So what am I supposed to do?" And he said, "Well, you're going to meet him and he's probably going to ask you to sing." So what was happening was I'm meeting this guy who had a connection with this guy who could possibly sign me to a label. So he was looking for an artist to show this guy, "Hey, I've got an artist, female artist, let me let you hear what she sounds like." But Joe had never even heard me sing. So when the moment came for me to sing, Joe was hearing me for the first time. So it was Joe, the executive, 112 standing in front of me.
Amena Brown:
To reflect, you're going into this meeting not knowing that you are also going to be expected to sing there. For all you know, you're going into a conversation, to talk with someone about whatever they're looking for. So this does turn into some audition showcase-type.
Ametria Dock:
Completely. A showcase, that's what it turned into. So I also didn't realize that he was looking for an R&B artist. I'm a kid who's grown up in the church. I don't know what type of music I want to make. So the song that I auditioned with is a gospel song because that's what I know. And so this is a R&B executive who's obviously has 112 on his roster and a host of other artists. And so, one, I'm not prepared for the type of song or the genre of music that I should be prepared for, but all I have is what I know and that's what I give. And so when I finished singing, he goes, "Do you have any songs that you've written?" And so Joe interrupts and says, "Yeah, we have some songs."
Ametria Dock:
And I'm just standing and I'm like, "Okay, wow." Again, I'm 16 years old. After the meeting, he told him, he said, "We'll send over what she's got." So when I said it was go time, it was go time. So immediately after that meeting, we went into the studio, Joe had a studio and we went to record. He said, "You're going to write today." So my adrenaline was going, I was excited because I'm about this music. And so you put me in a situation where I have to rise to the occasion with something that I'm passionate about and I go.
Ametria Dock:
And so I did. They brought another writer in that met us at the studio and we started writing and I wrote a song called, so funny, I Depend On You. And I was talking about God. I recorded it. I never put it on an album or anything like that. But that was the first demo song that I had ever recorded for myself.
Ametria Dock:
We started then setting up times for us to get in the studio and record. And we recorded over 25 songs. Yeah. And that was the beginning of a process of me finding my voice at the time of discovering what I liked musically, sounds that I liked. And really it was the influence of the producers that I was working with. And so, I like that or I like that, but I still didn't have a voice in it. And as I progressed, even in doing my own album, once I got signed and all of that, I'm just skipping over, I still didn't have my voice in that as well. So the process of that at such a young age, being in this industry and not really having an outlet, but just having people saying, "You're going to do this, you're going to do this. This is good. This is good. This is good."
Ametria Dock:
And so I'm going to trust that what you say, because you have Grammys or you have this and you have that. That, okay, well that must be good so let me do that. So yeah, I skipped over a lot, but that was the start of my musical journey and finding my voice and knowing what I like, what I don't like and figuring out if I want to be a performer, figuring out if I want to just create and if I want to teach and it started like that.
Amena Brown:
Okay. So take us to this pivot that happens in your career because you're on track with these influential people to launch this solo career. You get signed, the album gets completed, gets released. So at this point, you're at the point where a lot of artists are wanting to get to, wanting to get to that, "I'm signed, I've got some backing behind me. I've made this music. It's released." What was that like? And then describe for us the transition from, "Well, I didn't know I was going to end up on this recording track as a solo artist." But now that is transitioning to returning to really some of your roots you described from school, this collaboration, vocal coaching, vocal arranging. So give me, how did that pivot happen?
Ametria Dock:
The process of recording my album, being signed, working with the artists that were huge names in the R&B world. So I did a gospel album with all R&B artists that were producing my album. I was learning a lot about the music industry and a lot of that, even at 17, 18, I was going against it. It was just, "I don't know that I like that." I started, when you're a 18-year-old and not in the industry, you're starting to like have a voice like, "Oh, I don't like this. I don't like that." And so I was going against a lot, specifically with my management and the choices that they wanted me to make and the artists they wanted me to work with and the gigs they wanted me to take, I just stopped liking it altogether.
Ametria Dock:
I didn't stop liking making music and doing the music, but I didn't like, I won't say the work, but what was put in front of me to do as an artist, it didn't make sense to me. And so I didn't really know exactly, fully at the time what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn't want to do that. And it's funny because even talking about this, I remember sitting in the studio, I did two songs with Mary J. Blige and I remember her saying, "A lot is going to change as you go on this journey. A lot for you is going to change." And she said it in front of my managers.
Amena Brown:
Ooh. Come on, Mary and speak a word.
Ametria Dock:
At the time because she knew, she said, "A lot will change for you. You will find your voice in this process." She could see it in my eyes, we were in the green room before going into the studio, and funny enough at the time, while we were recording my album, they were filming behind the music for Mary. So there's parts of her behind the music where she's in the studio, vocal producing me and mentoring me because she produced those songs.
Ametria Dock:
She also took time to speak into me like, "Don't just settle for where you are. Things will change. You will find your voice." I felt like she felt me. It was a moment for me, this is exciting, but at the same time there was tension and she could see it and she could see that I was searching. And so the tension was always not being able to completely be myself. Given that opportunity, when you're in the industry and people are paying for things, when in reality you're paying for it all, okay. But that's a whole 'nother story.
Amena Brown:
The word today.
Ametria Dock:
You're paying for it all, you just don't know it fully. Having time to sit down, and I'll talk about this later when it comes down to the business, to really sit down and brainstorm about what you want. I didn't have time to do that. Everything was go. So I said, "Stop. I'm done." I was 19 turning 20, I think, or 20 turning 21. I can't remember because that whole time was just crazy for me. But I basically said, "Stop. I don't want to do this anymore." I was under contract and my managers at the time said, "You can't do that." And I said, "Well, I'm not going to do anything."
Ametria Dock:
And I got a job. I got a job that I didn't want to work at the time. I was doing sales. And "Well, you can't do shows. We'll sue you." And I said, "Okay." Because at that point I said, "I can't do this anymore. This is not what I want to do. You're not going to control me." At this point, I'm an adult I'm living on my own. And I wanted to find my voice. So saying stop was the only way that I saw out and the only way to let this contract run its course and to figure out what I wanted to do. So I stopped doing shows under the banner of Ametria, and I decided that I wanted to figure out what I love about this music, because I felt like it was being taken away from me.
Ametria Dock:
And so I went back to my roots and I went back to teaching and leading worship. And I found joy in that. I found joy in leading and teaching and vocal production going into the studio. So I started taking on some projects, doing vocal production for some artists, a lot of artists. And so that brought me back to this appreciation for creating and really finding my voice and what I love about music. And also being able to just be free in the music because music is the universal language. It connects us all. When you listen to something like it can give you joy.
Ametria Dock:
I wanted to get back to that. There was a time where I didn't want to listen to anything. I just became so jaded with music. And that was because of that process. So once I got into that, I started really writing down, what do I want to do? Do I want to write songs? Do I want to record another album and just go in a different direction? I went back and forth with recording another album, but I knew that I wanted to create, and then tell my story in some way, whether that's helping another person on their journey. And so that's really how that came into play.
Ametria Dock:
Vocal production, going into the studio with an artist is basically coaching them through a song, coaching them through giving ideas and things like that. That is my heart. I love that. And so coaching and helping a person to go beyond what they hear is how my company came into play. My work, it went before even coming up with a business plan. I was already in motion. My voice became loud and I could see myself and I could feel my heart and feel what was like in me.
Ametria Dock:
And so I was able to still sing. I was able to still write and able to still help others, which is something that I love to do. Coaching is probably the number one thing that I love doing. I love being on stage, but I love coming up with ideas and helping somebody to find their voice. I love that. Because my voice was taken away for awhile.
Amena Brown:
Ooh. It's just so many words that you spoke right there that are so powerful. I mean, first of all, the moment of being able to find the freedom and the courage to say stop. And I think that can be really, really tough for a lot of us because we get in whatever kind of treadmill we've gotten on now, of whatever people are telling us is the path we have to take to success. And sometimes we find ourselves doing that, whether it affects our health, whether it affects our creativity or whatever, we just stay on it. But we are really on a treadmill. We're not on a thing that's going someplace.
Amena Brown:
I was at a retreat not too long ago and Dr. Vicki Johnson was there sharing and she said something that was just really as reflected in the story you just told, she said, "Sometimes you have to let it fall apart." And you being able to say, "You know what? No. We're going to stop this." And then the second thing, when you said, "And I went and got a job." I was like, "We need to stop the recording right now. And we're going to have to stop this and do a whole seminar on just that phrase right there." Because when you're an artist or a creative or whatever it is that you're doing, when you've gotten in your mind that this is going to be the trajectory, this is how I'm going to make my money, I'm going to provide for my family, whatever. And having to come to a very practical place of, number one, I've realized, what y'all talking about, I'm not doing. And number two, I'm about to get a job.
Ametria Dock:
Go completely against what is in my heart to do. There was a phrase that he said to me, my manager, he said, "Basically, you can't make it without us."
Amena Brown:
Uh-oh. Uh-oh.
Ametria Dock:
And so that really brought me to a place of, only God is in control of everything that I do. There is no man that can tell me that I can't make it in what God has called me and ordained me to do and be. You will not have that power. You won't. And so whatever it takes for me, not to even prove him wrong, but I had to erase that out of my mind, like, "No." And I just had to get on my knees and come to a place. And so stop was it. Stop, stop. No, we're not doing this anymore. Because, no. I don't care how many ideas that you have or how many connections you have. I am done because that this is not it. And I could see that. And I was clear. And so, yeah, there's another way. And I had to figure that out.
Amena Brown:
And the humility to say, "I'm going to get a job while I figure that out." Those are hard things that I have to say when I'm talking to college students or people who are young on their artist's journey, is to say, yeah, sometimes you need to do the humble thing. You need to work as a janitor or work that customer service job or do whatever it is, wait tables, whatever it is you need to do-
Ametria Dock:
During your process. Yeah.
Amena Brown:
... do that while you're on your journey to figure it out. And all of that is becoming these different pieces and revelations to send you down the path that's really meant for you. So I'm loving this Mimi.
Ametria Dock:
Thank you.
Amena Brown:
Okay. I forgot tell y'all. Ametria, that's her government name. But every now and then people that know her call her Mimi. Don't you walk up if you don't know her. If you don't know her, just walk up and say, Ametria, you need to say the whole thing till she tell you it's okay. So anyhow, I'm loving this whole thing. So you go from signed recording artist, having released this album, having worked with the faves faves in that process.
Ametria Dock:
The '90s. Boyz II Men, Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Jean from [inaudible 00:28:33], my girl, I love her so much. She was super instrumental in coaching me and just encouraging me so much. She was probably the top one out of that process who just spoke life into me. And I owe her to this day, I'm so grateful for her words and the time that I spent with her.
Ametria Dock:
I remember going into the studio and my boys having, and we'll talk about vocal health, but just having all kinds of complications with my boys being really sick. Erin Hall, giving me a hot toddy while I'm in the studio. Just going through the whole process. I'm a kid trying to figure this thing out. I don't know what to do. They've been in the game for a long time. And so that part of the process was helpful because I had firsthand help. I had people really walking me like, "This is what you got to do." And Wanya from Boyz II Men just calming me down in the studio while we're recording and just like, "You got this, you're amazing."
Ametria Dock:
Lalah Hathaway. I mean, I worked with a lot of amazing artists and this is another reason why coaching is giving back because it was given to me in so many different ways on this journey for me, musically, continuing that process on that. And even from being a kid and doing that in school, that feels right. It just feels like this is what God has called you to do, to serve others. I love serving others. I get joy out of that. So that process brought me to a place of finding my voice and finding what brought me joy. Then I'm going to turn the page because then I started to have, I called my company at the time, New Melody Voices. I don't even know where I got the name from, but it was a name.
Ametria Dock:
And I started just coaching different artists in the city around. Some artists would call me in to do background or to come in and do vocal production. And so I was in a flow of that and it was feeling good. And so then I decided, I was in the gospel scene, but working with R&B artists, I was like, "I want to branch out and just, I want to really dig deeper into this music industry and get more into this indie vibe thing going on in the city." Because honestly, I was traveling outside of Atlanta and doing more outside of Atlanta than being really in the musical culture here in Atlanta. So by this time I was about 21, 22, and I started going to Apache Café.
Amena Brown:
I want to thank you for bringing up Apache Café in this conversation.
Ametria Dock:
For sure. Apache has been instrumental in my life.
Amena Brown:
Let me give a little context for my people who are not from Atlanta or haven't lived in Atlanta a long time. Apache Café was just instrumental in the careers of so many artists, particularly certain artists who were at Apache in a certain era of time, in that maybe mid to late '90s into early-
Ametria Dock:
The Ying-Yang years. Yeah.
Amena Brown:
Ying-Yang. So there's a lot of artists that many of you may have heard of that really cut their chops on the Apache stage. So that's an important Atlanta music scene venue to bring up right now. Continue.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. So I started going to Apache and for me it was a different environment for me because I was used to churches. I was used to mega churches and some theater-type places, depending on the type of event we were doing or whatever. But so this was a whole different vibe. So what I decided to do is go in and just observe, instead of, I knew it was an open mic on a Wednesday night and I could just get up there and sing, but for me, I wanted to observe, I want it to feel the energy of the room, hear the songs that were being sang, I just wanted to feel it first because I'm very cautious.
Ametria Dock:
And so I did that for a whole month. I just started going, bringing friends, getting plugged in, but not performing. And so finally, after a month I decided, okay, I had been working on some songs, like, "Okay, what would I sing? What would feel like me in here?" I'm a new me, what would I do?
Amena Brown:
Come on. I'm a new me. Ha. Yes. Yes.
Ametria Dock:
So I can't remember, I feel like I did Lauryn Hill, Killing Me Softly might've been one of the first songs that I sang, which was completely different for me from doing gospel music. So I got up and I did that and the response was really good and the energy was really good. And so when you sing and if people like what you do, then people want to come and talk to you. And so I started to connect with other producers, musicians and all that. And that was really cool.
Ametria Dock:
Fast forward. So I started doing that every week I would go. And I wouldn't sing every week, but it became, the host of the show was when I walked in the door, like, "You have to sing. I'm going to pull you up on the top of the list," or whatever. So it was fun. The live singing started to become like, "I'm back. Oh, I'm here. I'm hearing my voice now." Again, this is a new me, but I like this. I like what this feels like and this is different.
Ametria Dock:
And so one day I was outside getting ready to come in and a producer friend of mine was talking to a young lady and he goes, "Oh, I want you to meet this girl. She's a singer. You guys should meet." Atlanta and Apache and the music scene is all about connecting, networking. And so I think he was just like, "You guys should know each other." He said, "She sings background with India.Arie." And I said, "Oh, I love India.Arie. She's amazing." And so we connected and he asked me once again, "Sing something." He says, "Mimi-
Amena Brown:
Wait. You're not on stage now, you are outside of the venue at this point, just, sing something right now?
Ametria Dock:
Right now.
Amena Brown:
Wow.
Ametria Dock:
"Sing something right now." So I'm like, "Okay." I have now started to learn how to be ye, all so ready at any point, because you never know. So I sing Love by Musiq Soulchild immediately. I don't wait. I just go. And so after I'm done singing, she's like, "Oh my God, you're amazing. Blah, blah, blah. We have to connect." Oh my goodness. So we exchanged numbers. And so the next day she calls me and she says, "Hey, I've got to show, I would love for you to come to the show. I would love for you to meet India. You're amazing. I would just love for you to meet her."
Ametria Dock:
And so I was like, "Oh, that would be cool." I'm just like, "Yeah, sure. I'll come and support you." Because I got a chance to also hear her that night and she's an amazing singer/songwriter. So I went the next day to her show. And when I went to her show, I'm going to give you some backstory, what I didn't know was the whole India.Arie band was there for her show, because they had been rehearsing for a whole week preparing for India.Arie's tour that she was getting ready to go on.
Ametria Dock:
And so the band was there. I didn't know that. India came in and was in a VIP section. I did not meet India that night, but I was there to support the girl that I had met. And so I heard her saying it was amazing. She said, "Oh, India had left." Afterwards she came to support her background singer and then she left. And so I was like, "It's okay. Maybe I'll meet her one day. It's okay. I was just here to support you. I'm glad we starting out a relationship, friendship whatever." And so she was like, "I'll give you a call." So the next day she calls me. I was at a gospel concert. Okay? Kim Burrell. I was at Kim Burrell's concert.
Amena Brown:
Come on. Kim Burrell?
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. One of my faves. Another one who's been instrumental in my life. But I'm at a Kim Burrell concert, I leave the Kim Burrell concert and I have a voicemail and it's the girl saying, "Hey, I would love for you to come over to Crossover Studios. We're rehearsing for the tour and I want you to meet India before we leave." And I was like, "What? Oh my God." So I called her back and she was like, "Come up here. We're ending the rehearsal, but you should come." So by this time, it's 12:00 midnight.
Amena Brown:
Wow.
Ametria Dock:
So I drive over to Crossover Studios. And so when I walk in to Crossover, the entire band is standing in the hallway of Crossover. Have you been at Crossover before?
Amena Brown:
No.
Ametria Dock:
So Crossover Studios is where most artists are preparing for their tours or studio sessions. Basically you go in and you have a full concert in there. That space is a rehearsal space. And so I walk in, the band is there. Back history of what's happening before I come in, they're asking the other background singer begging him to come on tour. But he is getting ready to get married and he can't go.
Ametria Dock:
So they're in rehearsal. They had hired another person to take his spot, but they didn't gel well, but this was their last rehearsal, that night. It was a Sunday night. And so they're standing in the room begging the old background singer who had come just to say hi to everyone, "Come on and just do this last run. It's three months. We can just do it. We'll knock it out." And I walk in. I walk in the door, the girl says, "Hey, Ametria." And India turns around and says, "Sing something."
Amena Brown:
Again with the sing something.
Ametria Dock:
I told you. Just sing. I just start singing. Because when that happens, you don't have time and which is what I coach all my people. You have to be ready. And so I started singing a song and when I finished, no one says a word.
Amena Brown:
What?
Ametria Dock:
She turns around, she doesn't say anything. The music director says, "Come here." It's complete silent.
Amena Brown:
So you don't know what to take from that. You don't know what that means.
Ametria Dock:
I'm like, "What's happening?" He says, "Come here for a second." So he takes me into where they had just finished rehearsing, puts me on the mic and says, "Do you know this song?" And starts playing us one of her songs. I was like, "Yeah, I know it." "Sing it." Boom. I'm singing. "Do you know this song?" Boom. "Sing it." And I'm singing. Mind you, she's in the other room listening to me.
Amena Brown:
You can't even take.
Ametria Dock:
She's in the other room listening to me. So I did three or four songs that he was asking, "Do you know this? Do you know this? Do you know this?" He walks out of the room and he says, "What are you doing tomorrow?" I said, "I have to work and then I'm off at five." And he said, "Can you leave tomorrow?" I'm serious.
Amena Brown:
Because you were still working the job that you had taken?
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. I said, "Yes, I can leave tomorrow." "You're going to get paid this. We'll be back in Atlanta after a week, you can pack for the rest of the tour. We have a show here. So be back here at 10:30 in the morning tomorrow."
Amena Brown:
Ametria Dock. So you is driving home, the windows is down, you screaming out? Okay.
Ametria Dock:
That, I'm like, "What did I just subscribe to? What did I say that I can do?" I quit my job, obviously. The next day I was on a tour bus with India.Arie, Grammy Award winning, India.Arie, going on tour. And so I did not know the show, I just knew her songs. I mean, knowing their songs and knowing the show-
Amena Brown:
Are two different things.
Ametria Dock:
... that's two different languages. My first show, let me just say this, I get on stage and we're singing. We didn't rehearse anything because they don't rehearse in sound check. So I'm flowing based off of what I know of her record in the middle of the show, India turns to the audience and says, "Hey guys, this is my new background singer. And I just want her to sing a little something. Go."
Amena Brown:
For the third time.
Ametria Dock:
Do you hear what I'm saying? And I look at her and I said, "Okay." And I go. Being put in that situation was super eye-opening because I love to create. And so when you say I love to do something, first of all, there's prep that goes into that. And even to this day, I may seem like I can do it on the spot, but trust me, I have been working through all types of scenarios. So in that moment, I went back to my church roots. I know when I could walk in church and someone would say, "Oh, Ametria is here, come on up here and sing this song."
Ametria Dock:
I knew that I had to, right in that moment, you gotta go. It's do or die. So in that moment, that was, "Okay, I know what this feels like. Just go." That was the start of such an amazing journey. I started coaching India because of what she saw in me. And she will say to this day, and she says it, if Mimi can do it, I can do it. I would do things, our range is the same and so when I would hit higher notes and do different things and come up with different ways to do something, when I say, "How do you do what you do? Show me how to do that." And so our coaching sessions became, let me show you how to get from point A to point B. Let me show you how to approach this and do that. And so that's how I kind of started with her. I know that's a lot.
Amena Brown:
I didn't even make any tea for this interview and I feel like I have the tea right now and that's, wow. First of all, it just resonates with me in so many ways, just the power of what you're saying about being prepared for the doors that open, being prepared for the opportunities that come. And sometimes as creatives, as artists, as business people, whatever, we can spend so much time hustling to get to the opportunity that we might not even be ready.
Amena Brown:
I was thinking about all the moments that someone's been like, "Say a poem right now." And it's, "Okay, you got to say the poem right now." I was at unnamed person's house who is a influential celebrity and she invited me to her home. So I went and I'm thinking, I'm there just to kick it, just to chill. And I get there and see some faces that are famous and has talk with oneself about, "You're going to be cool. You're going to be cool. Everything's fine. You're going to be cool." And she walked right up to me and said, "We having a jam session. So I want you to do your poem next with a band," which is not even a thing that I normally do a lot of. But what I'm going to say?
Amena Brown:
I'm going to tell her, "That's not really normally my scene." Nope. You about to think right now about what poems you have that go with that. And just the importance of as a creator being ready, being prepared, and I can be a control freak. I'm working on it y'all. Okay? I'm working on it. God working on me.
Ametria Dock:
The same process.
Amena Brown:
But you can't be prepared for opportunities when you are expecting everything will arrive in this neatly pre-planned package. There you were right at that moment of, I could either get up and go to this job tomorrow, or I could get on this tour bus and have this opportunity. And if you had been like, "Oh guys, I'm going to need two weeks notice." That's was a window, you were only going to have that window that one time.
Ametria Dock:
That one time it was, "Okay, listen, what are you saying, God? Is this the moment? Okay, let's go." I mean, and it was a, "Can you leave tomorrow?" "Yes."
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Thinks about luggage. Thinks I have two outfits. Yes.
Ametria Dock:
Yes. Sure, We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. And I do like to plan things and I'll say this, as I've gotten older because of those impromptu moments, I now kind of know how to plan accordingly. And so I can be my spontaneous self like we talked about, I'm super spontaneous, but everything is kind of planned out. I'm thinking about all the ways in which it can go. So let me do this. Let me do this. Let me do this. Let me practice this. Let me work on this. Let me vibe to this a little bit. Let me vibe to that a little bit. And so I can be free to flow how I need to flow when the opportunity rises. I can go.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Which is part of the preparation.
Ametria Dock:
Yes. Preparation is my number one word. I need self-care, take care of me. Let me do all the things that I need to do to be able to be my spontaneous, flowing, watery self, because I am so watery.
Amena Brown:
I'm here for all of the watery, listen. So talk to me about the things you've learned being a business founder, because as we're hearing the iterations of your story, you have the experience of being an artist. You have the experience of writing, of arranging, of coaching. And it's one thing to do those things and it's another thing to say, "This is going to be a business. This is going to be my business. I'm going to house these services I've been providing in various ways in a business." What are some of the things you learned when you made that transition then into now being a business owner?
Ametria Dock:
Time management. Sitting down and really brainstorming on, because I'm a creative, I'm so, I'll just say, all over the place when it comes down to creating, I can just jump into anything. I had to put on a business hat. And honestly, that was not my strength. It was my least favorite thing to do. Oh, I got to sit down and have structure? Oh, no. But I had to, in order for this to run smoothly.
Ametria Dock:
I had to sit down, I had to have a team of people that are stronger in the structure area that could take my creative self and that structure and blend it together and say, "These are the things." And having a team of people that I could trust and that could help take my ideas and put it down on a website and on paper and say, "These are the things, these are the services that you can offer. This is what you can and can't do." Because I'll do a million things, still I do a million things, but they helped to take care of myself because I will do everything.
Ametria Dock:
And so having these other services that I'm going to offer, and this is what I can't do. And the can't part, that's a whole 'nother episode. But yes, the can't part was very important for me. What I can and cannot do. And so even having a waiting list is hard for me, but that is a thing. It's a thing now, where I am within my company, I can't see everyone. I can't take on every project. I can't do it.
Ametria Dock:
And so being okay with that and being grateful that, wow, waiting list of people that want to get on my calendar. But taking time out for myself is very important for me to do this work, for me to run a business and run it smoothly, I need to. Because the conversations that you're having on a daily basis, seeing the clients and all of their things and taking on all of their things, a lot of times at the end of the day, I'm like, "Whoa, I got to take all of this off."
Ametria Dock:
There's eight different people I'm carrying all of their stuff, and this work, it's heavy sometimes. So just making sure to implement things for myself, to be able to be my best self every day to do this work. And sitting down and having hard conversations, which is very difficult, but I had to be a woman and do it. Okay, again, these are the things that I can do and the things that I can't do.
Ametria Dock:
The time management thing became a huge thing for me because I'm balancing, I'm a wife, I'm a mom, I'm a singer/songwriter, creative, worship leader, teacher, coach, confidant, I'm all these things. And so I had to figure out, okay, me first and then everything else comes after that. Then I can flow in that for everyone else. So yeah, as a business woman, just having some type of structure and having a team of people or someone that you can bounce ideas off of and that's really not going to agree with everything that you want to do. And that's so helpful, because it really helps you to see the bigger picture, because you're in your head. And so saying it out loud and someone saying, "Okay, no."
Amena Brown:
That part. Or someone saying, "That sounds great for next year." Listen.
Ametria Dock:
All the way for next year.
Amena Brown:
For next year. Super great. Not going to do that this year, though. With all this other stuff that you said you got to do. Just the power of you saying, can't. The power of, this what I do, this is what I can't do. That's been a big lesson for me as a businesswoman, is learning what my limitations are and getting comfortable with them. I think in the past I felt like I need to take on all the things and then somehow after I've taken on all those things, I'm just going to find some time in between to take care of myself.
Amena Brown:
And I'll build my limitations around all those things that people are asking of me and then being unhealthy and tired and irritable and all sorts of other sundry, unhealthy habits pulling up in life because of that. And this was the first year that I was like, "Oh, that? No. We're going to stop that. That right there, we're not doing for another two years. I can't do that. This one? No."
Amena Brown:
And it being humbling for me because I like to be a person that can complete the task another person wants me to do. Something like, "Oh, you've come to me and asked me about this. I want to not only do this for you, but I want to get it done for you. I want to make you a priority." Which means I'm whatever number after 100 on this list of things. And just the power of knowing, this is what I do and this stuff over here, I can't do that.
Ametria Dock:
You know what? I'll tell you this, going through what I went through, it made me stop and say... Because you know what I do? Someone's always calling for something and wanting something and I want to, like you said, complete the task. I want to do it for them. I want them to be happy, I want them to shine, I want whatever. But then I had to ask myself, "Well, put on paper. What do you want to do? What projects do you want to take on? What brings you joy?" And so that's something that I'm constantly saying to myself when I'm agreeing to do something. Is this something that brings me joy that brings glory to God and is a part of what his purpose and plan is for my life? Is this what I'm supposed to be doing? Because if it's not, then I'm going to have to say no to that.
Ametria Dock:
And so I didn't hear that back then. I didn't know that to be something that I needed to do. So sitting down and actually putting on paper, whether you journal, whether you, I don't know, get a poster board and write down whatever. Whatever it is that your creative process of seeing your vision for your work, you've got to do that. And that's been helpful for me for Fruition. What is Fruition Organized Music? What does that look like? Why did I name it that? What is the full vision of that? And so sitting down and brainstorming that with the team was, oh, so then when things come, oh that doesn't fit this.
Amena Brown:
Yeah. Does it fit? Yes.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. So that doesn't fit this.
Amena Brown:
You told us the process of you coming to find your own voice. One of the things that I think is so powerful about what you do and why I wanted you to come on the podcast also is because now it's such a huge part of your work, helping other artists find their voice figuratively and also literally in the work that you do. What does that process look like as a vocal coach? How are you helping clients find their voice?
Amena Brown:
I've never worked with a vocal coach, probably should, as a person who be speaking for a living, but I've worked with a writing coach and that was my first experience with coaching. And I was actually a little offended when my publisher was like, "Yeah, and we've included here this money in the budget for you to work with a writing coach." And I was like, "I don't really need a writing coach. I've been writing since I was 12 years old. Nobody needs to coach me on what to do." I was immediately in my feelings with a attitude.
Amena Brown:
But once I started working with her, there were some ways that she pushed me and there were some ways that she questioned me and the choices I had made in the writing, in the things I left out of the story. Not even knowing me and knowing the full story, she would read something and go, "You have left out this. And why did you do that? Talk to me about why you did that. And then after we talk about why you did that, I want you to go back and put back in the part you left out." So that was my first experience with having someone coach me in my craft. And I'm so glad I didn't let my ego and my attitude keep me from what she really had to teach me. So talk us through what some of your process and how you take on working with a client.
Ametria Dock:
So let me say this, being an artist and walking through that process, I feel like prepared me. I feel like I've always been a vocal coach. My dad always called me the encourager. That was always a part of me. So before "Ametria, the artist" came into the picture Ametria, Mimi was that person. So it was natural for me to see the parts of someone and say, "Oh, I see this inside of you and I see that you're afraid to do this. Let me help you bring that out. And I want you to trust me and I'm going to point those things out, but I'm going to help you to come up with a plan to be able to do that which is inside of you, bring that out."
Ametria Dock:
And so that's coaching. If you ask any of my clients, the one thing that they would say when they're seeking out vocal coaching is, "I need someone to build my confidence. There's so many things that I know that I could do, but I don't know how to do them. Or I hear them in my head and I don't... The execution part." And so when you're looking for a vocal coach, it's not because... I mean, there are some people that are looking for a vocal coach to learn technique and how to sing. But a lot of my clients, especially those that are already established artists, which I have a lot of, are looking for someone that they can trust, that they trust vocally to be able to bounce ideas off of and bring out...
Ametria Dock:
So part of it, yes, is I trust Mimi to vocally... She's going to give me more ideas, more than what I hear, because I kind of stay... A lot of artists they stay in a box. This is what the audience loves about me, so I'm going to stay there. But really inside, I want to do this. And so one of my artists specifically Janelle Monáe, I remember one year, I think it was two years ago before this last record came out, at the top of the year we always do a, this is what I want to do for the year.
Ametria Dock:
And so this is where I am right now vocally, I want this record, I want my range, I want to go higher, I want to do some lower things in some of the songs and I want to really cultivate my lower register. And so when I am the fixer, you tell me I want to go high and I want to go low, I come up as a vocal coach with a plan, with vocal exercises that are going to mirror what it is that you're trying to do.
Ametria Dock:
And so specifically for her, this last tour, I ended up being on the whole tour because, one, she trusts me when I'm there to help her to execute what it is that she's trying to do. She's going to say, "Give me my notes. What did I do right? What did I do wrong?" And she knows that I'm going to say, "You could have been a little pitchy here, a little pitchy there." And she trusts me. But ultimately I'm going to show her how to do it the right way. And so they want that.
Ametria Dock:
Same thing with India. It's okay, after every performance, give me my notes. What do I need to do? What do I need to work on? So each album, I'm coming up with a different plan of action for them to execute because they're changing, they're evolving. Their sound, it's changing. And so that is fun for me because it's a part of creating this new sound for this artist. And it's also helping them to go outside of their box.
Ametria Dock:
Because again, you do what you know, and then a lot of times they don't have someone in the beginning stages of their careers, you're open to vibing with people. Once you get to a certain point, you're not having vibe sessions with other artists. So when you have a vocal coach who is an active singer, active artist, who loves that work, it's the best of both worlds, where, okay, I'm going to coach you. I'm going to tell you this is right, this is wrong and then I'm going to give you ideas of how to execute this. And so that's a lot of the work that I do.
Amena Brown:
It's two things that I really loved about that. I think one of them is such a great reminder to us as creatives and as artists, is to have an idea of where you want to go. That if you want to have someone who is a professional coach come alongside you and help push you even further than you might push yourself, you have to have an idea of where you want to go, so that this person can come alongside you and say, "Okay, I see that, where you want to go. Now I know how we get there." I loved that part.
Amena Brown:
And just the humility for all of us, of having to come to this place of going, "Yeah, I get comfortable. I get comfortable. I have a thing. I know I'm doing my thing. I did my thing. It worked, whatever. Or has worked in whatever sundry cities I've been in doing this." It's good for us in our creative process to come back to that place where there's something else we can learn and other places we can stretch ourselves that we never arrive at a place where it's, "I've learned all the things."
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. I've made it. I'm there. We're constantly changing and evolving and growing and you have to be open to criticism. You have to be open to learning something new. And specifically the artists that I work with, I have to say they really inspire me because they pushed the envelope with that. With India going and learning Hebrew and doing a whole album in Israel. Who does that? You're a solo artist who decides, oh, no. I mean, if I say I love music, I love music. And I want to explore different cultures and different things. And so even being a part of that process and watching that, and then going to Turkey and learning, working, just seeing that the sky is the limit and I am open to learning and growing in this thing that we call music.
Ametria Dock:
It never stops. So I enjoy that part. It never gets old. And now at this place, music, it just feels new, because I'm constantly learning and researching and collabing and talking with other creatives. And because again, I'll take on a project and it's, "Oh my goodness, I don't know a lot about this, but you trust me so let's dive into this. Let's figure this thing out." And it's blown my mind from blues to bluegrass. I mean, it's been such a journey working with different types of music styles and different genres and different artists. It's crazy.
Amena Brown:
People ask me questions about vocal health. I don't know why they ask me that because I don't have a lot of answers. And I have been learning in these later years, now performing for, oh gosh, over 20 years of life now. Just how your voice gets tired and the type of water that you should drink. I just learned over the last five years that if your voice, if you feel like you're getting to where it's a little laryngitis a little bit, you're losing your voice, that whispering is not helping you.
Ametria Dock:
Not at all.
Amena Brown:
Can you give just a few tips here for people who are singers, are speakers, are using their voices all the time? I think when we think about athletes, we think of how an athlete trains and what they do to help their muscles recover and all those things. We don't think a lot about that, most of us. You think about it-
Ametria Dock:
Every day.
Amena Brown:
... because you are amazing at this.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. Thank you.
Amena Brown:
We are not thinking about it. We're just using it until it's worn out and tired and doing all sorts of things that aren't helping it. So what are some of those just beginning tips that people can do if they are involved in work that they use their voice a lot. What are things we can do to take care of our voice so that they can do the great work for us? Right? We know so many singers, I think of so many singers, I won't say their names right here, but I think of so many singers, who've been singing a long time, decades and decades.
Amena Brown:
And there are some singers that we listen to now and we're like, "Oh my gosh, how did this singer keep their voice sounding... " I mean, you can tell they're older than they were when they recorded this thing, but keep their voice sounding so good. And some singers go a period of time, even shorter than that, and you're like, "Oh, that voice you have is not the same as the one where you recorded this great record." Tell me some of those things.
Ametria Dock:
So vocal care and vocal health is the number one thing I start out with with my clients. And coming up with a formula for each person is important to me because it never fails, when I get a person and they get in their flow of whether they're working on an album or touring or something, I get the calls and the emails, "Oh my God, my voice is going out. Oh my God, I'm sick and I've got drainage, mucus, blah, blah, blah, blah." So the first thing is obviously and you can Google it a million times and you're going to see sleeping. Okay?
Amena Brown:
Wow. I was not expecting that was the first thing.
Ametria Dock:
Yes, it is. Then rest. Resting your body, laying down, resting, sleeping, not talking, because that's the only time that you're not talking. Laying down and getting physical rest, that you need it. Right? That's the first thing. Number two is going to be staying hydrated. You'll see different artists drinking different kinds of water. I like to drink alkaline, Essentia to be exact. You don't have to do that. I mean, drinking water. I know a lot of artists that don't drink water and choose to do other things like soda, which is just absurd. If you do anything where you're speaking and you're drinking soda, I don't know what to say.
Amena Brown:
That's basically Ametria's a version of booing you. If you're still doing that, you're getting booed. Okay.
Ametria Dock:
Now we can jump into different teas and there are so many different ways, some coaches will say, "Don't do teas that have bags because there are certain chemicals in the bags," and things like that. I like loose tea. I love Echinacea. I love Slippery Elm. And in some whole foods or different places, you can find these herbs that you can make teas out of. And those are great. I like Throat Coat, if we want to be simple.
Ametria Dock:
I love any type of tea that has Echinacea in it. Or that has Slippery Elm, specifically, is good for your voice. I love Manuka Honey. So as a vocalist, you need slip. You have this raspy, my voice is naturally raspy, so I don't eat honey anymore, but I used to. For health reasons, I can't do it, but honey is very good. A spoonful of honey is great or in your tea to take it down. I don't like sugar. No sugar. You want to get that out of your diet. Caffeine-
Amena Brown:
Can be hard.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. It's rough. [crosstalk 01:08:30] It's rough out here.
Amena Brown:
It be hard though.
Ametria Dock:
It's rough. It's rough. But as a vocalist, you shouldn't. Okay? So we're just going to leave it like that. You should be caffeine free. The other thing, so here are my secrets and they're not going to be secrets anymore.
Amena Brown:
I love secrets.
Ametria Dock:
So I do a couple of things. So on tours or prepping for church, or just in general, a steam inhaler is your best friend. And if you don't have one, you need to have one. So you can get it on Amazon-
Amena Brown:
This is not a diffuser. That's not the same [crosstalk 01:09:05]. Thank you.
Ametria Dock:
Not a diffuser. It is a steam inhaler.
Amena Brown:
Not a humidifier.
Ametria Dock:
Not a humidifier. I will show you exactly. But I have one that is called MyPurMist. For a lot of my artists, they have them on the road. So you know when you get in the shower and you have that steam coming, it feels great. It's much like that for your voice. Goes right to it. Steam is amazing for your voice. So if you're speaking a lot, that's one thing that you, 15-minute treatment before you do what you do, 15 minutes after for that care.
Ametria Dock:
So that is one of the main things that we do. And then I'll tell you this, diet and exercise is key. So for speakers, singers, if you are eating foods that are mucus-forming foods, you're in trouble. I tell my pastor all the time, if you're clearing your throat, chances are you had a lot of mucus-forming foods the night before.
Amena Brown:
Can you just discuss real quick what's some examples of some foods that form mucus? Because I feel you about to say some things that's delicious.
Ametria Dock:
Yeah. Well let's just start with, don't eat pizza the night before your performance. Dairy. So seriously, dairy is breads. Honestly, to make it simple, if you have a performance veggies and a protein that is not fried-
Amena Brown:
Mm, because I was good on the protein again and then you said not fried.
Ametria Dock:
No fried foods. So basically a salad with fish or chicken, lean protein and some fruits and vegetables. And even with your fruit, you want to stay within the berries, and bananas can cause mucus if you like that sort of thing. For me in the morning, one of my breakfast things, I do chia seeds with almond milk and I put strawberries, a little bit of cinnamon, which is really good for breaking up mucus.
Ametria Dock:
I stay away from lemon. Lemon breaks mucus up, but lemon is also acidic. So I stay away from the more acidic fruits and I like strawberries, blackberries, blueberries. So I add that to my chia, oatmeal, if you want to call it that, it's just chia seeds and almond milk and some fruit. And it's really great. So yeah, it's helpful. And then again, a veggie and a protein.
Amena Brown:
Y'all, Ametria done got in all up in my situation. I was like, "I need to go downstairs right now. Start eliminating some things." Ooh, y'all, I could talk to Ametria for hours. And literally we did talk for hours even after this recording. For more information about Ametria and Fruition Organized Music, visit fruitionorganizedmusic.com. And of course you can get this link and the other links from our conversation in the show notes and the show notes are amenabrown.com/her with Amena, make sure you check those out. And the transcripts are there also.
Amena Brown:
For this week's edition of Give Her A Crown, I want to shout out Chef Carla Hall, and you may know Carla hall from Top Chef or The Chew or Good Morning America or Food Network, but y'all, I got to meet her in person. Okay, so Matt and I took a little road trip down to Savannah to celebrate my birthday. And while we were down there, we went to this bakery that I loved down there, which is also owned by a wonderful Black woman named Cheryl Day, and the bakery is called Back In The Day Bakery.
Amena Brown:
And I want to tell y'all a little small story that I feel I can share with you here in our living room space. It's a place where we can be honest and have vulnerability. And let me just tell y'all that, we have talked repeatedly here on this podcast that I don't like outside. And my skin likes to share that it doesn't like outside because when I stay in the sun for too long, I get heat rash. So I got heat rash the day before we were leaving Savannah. And the morning we were leaving, we were like, "We're going to stop by Back In The Day Bakery, we're going to go to Graveface Records and then head home."
Amena Brown:
But mind you, my sweet husband is taking one for the team and standing in the sun, in line because Back In The Day Bakery, like a lot of businesses right now, is limiting how many people can be inside of the space at one time. So only five people could be in there at one time. So that meant there was a pretty long line of people waiting to get inside. So Matt agreed to stand in the sun and stand in line. And I was standing way back so that I could stand in the shade. And as I'm standing in the shade, I look up and y'all, I see Carla Hall getting in line to get pastries from Back In The Day Bakery. And I'm like, "I'm pretty sure that's Carla Hall. I'm pretty sure that's her." I go to her Instagram and look at her face and look at this person and I'm like, "I'm pretty sure that's Carla Hall."
Amena Brown:
So then of course, because it literally was Carla Hall, she knows the owner of the bakery. So she gets to skip the line. If I had a bakery, I'd let her skip the line too. And it ended up that because she skipped the line and because of where my husband was already standing in line, when it was our turn to be one of the five, Carla and another friend of hers were still inside of the bakery.
Amena Brown:
And so they stopped to get a picture with the bakery owner, Cheryl and Carla, and y'all, I'm sure that I was basically standing there in a very classic Black auntie pose, hand on the collarbones, just face looking like it's crying, but no tears are there. And I asked her if I could also take a picture with her and y'all, she said yes. And she looked at me and she said, "Well, I'm fully vaxxed." And I was like, "I'm fully vaxxed." And we took our masks off and took a picture together. So you can check that out on my Instagram. My actual picture with Carla Hall.
Amena Brown:
But I want to give her a crown. First of all, thank you, Carla, for being so kind and taking a picture with me and being fully vaxxed as I am fully vaxxed. Also more than that, thank you for paving the way for so many Black women in food and in television. Carla Hall, give her a crown.
Amena Brown:
HER with Amena Brown is produced by Matt Owen for Sol Graffiti Productions, as a part of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and partnership with iHeartRadio. Thanks for listening, and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review the podcast.