Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Overcoming the Odds: Renowned fitness, health and wellness authority takes you from being a cancer survivor to a life survivor, Holly Cotton.

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Overcoming the Odds: Renowned fitness, health and wellness authority takes you from being a cancer survivor to a life survivor, Holly Cotton. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: If you're about to make a change in your life
0:03
Speaker 1: and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can
0:06
Speaker 1: have because for the first time in your life, you're
0:10
Speaker 1: making a decision that's going to be best for you
0:13
Speaker 1: and not what somebody told you to do. And that's
0:16
Speaker 1: when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
0:20
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Rashan McDonald. Our theme is there's no
0:23
Speaker 1: perfect time to start following your dreams. I recognize that
0:26
Speaker 1: we all have different definitions of success. For you and
0:29
Speaker 1: maybe decide to your hl it's time to stop reading
0:31
Speaker 1: other people's success stories to start living your own. Keep
0:34
Speaker 1: winning well well well, Rashan McDonald. Keep winning. What does
0:40
Speaker 1: that mean? It means that when you think there's not
0:45
Speaker 1: an opportunity for you to be successful, keep winning, keep
0:48
Speaker 1: pushing forward. I have an interesting fact to tell people today.
0:52
Speaker 1: I will tell people never allow age to be an excuse.
0:56
Speaker 1: In twenty twenty four, more than four million people will
1:00
Speaker 1: reach the age of sixty five years of age in
1:03
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four. Now, when the Social Security was established
1:07
Speaker 1: way back in nineteen thirty five, the average age expectancy
1:11
Speaker 1: was sixty three, So in a way. The social security
1:15
Speaker 1: system is broke because people are out living or in
1:19
Speaker 1: nineteen thirty five, they thought they will live beyond sixty
1:24
Speaker 1: three years of age. Four million people reached the age
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Speaker 1: of sixty five and twenty twenty four. And I'm one
1:32
Speaker 1: of them and happy about it. And I will never
1:34
Speaker 1: allow an age or my age to stop me from
1:38
Speaker 1: planning my next business opportunity, planning my next vacation, playing
1:42
Speaker 1: my next house is available for me to buy out there,
1:44
Speaker 1: planning my next car, if is available for me to
1:47
Speaker 1: buy out there, playing my next opportunity, to dream beyond
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Speaker 1: ten years, twenty years, thirty years, forty years. I'm dreaming
1:55
Speaker 1: like that because I will not allow age to be
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Speaker 1: an excuse. I will not allow my age anybody around me,
2:03
Speaker 1: even if you're twenty, don't let nobody tell you what
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Speaker 1: you can't do when you're twenty thirty. Don't let nobody
2:07
Speaker 1: tell you what you can't do because you're thirty, forty fifty.
2:11
Speaker 1: I'm just telling everybody, we've allowed the system to tell
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Speaker 1: us what we're supposed to be doing at a certain age.
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Speaker 1: Throw it out the window. Throw it out the window.
2:20
Speaker 1: It don't work. In twenty twenty four. Moving forward, We've
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Speaker 1: got social media out there. Social media out there, we
2:26
Speaker 1: can promote ourselves and everything. My guest is on the phone.
2:30
Speaker 1: Let me get this show rolling. This is Money Making
2:31
Speaker 1: Conversations Master Class. I'm your weekly host, ra Sean McDonald.
2:35
Speaker 1: The interviews and information that this show provides offer everyone.
2:39
Speaker 1: I said every week it's time to start reading other
2:42
Speaker 1: people's success stories and start living your own. My guest
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Speaker 1: is a wellness expert, registered nurse, best selling author, breast
2:51
Speaker 1: cancer survivor, life coach with a master's degree in nursing.
2:55
Speaker 1: Please welcome the Money Making Conversation Master Class. Holly Cotton.
3:00
Speaker 1: How you doing? My friend? Hey?
3:03
Speaker 2: Hi?
3:04
Speaker 3: Who?
3:04
Speaker 2: That intro made me sound fancy? Thank you?
3:07
Speaker 1: Well, you know, all I can do is tell the truth,
3:10
Speaker 1: and that's the key. You know, I'm not making any
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Speaker 1: of these things up. What exactly when we get started,
3:15
Speaker 1: Miss Cotton? What exactly where are you based at?
3:17
Speaker 2: By the way, I am in Houston, Texas?
3:20
Speaker 1: Oh? Is that where you were born or did you
3:22
Speaker 1: just transplant into the Texas market?
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Speaker 2: No, I transplanted. I'm actually born and raised in home
3:30
Speaker 2: of Louisiana, graduated from high school, went to LSU, lived
3:36
Speaker 2: in DC for a few years and then came to
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Speaker 2: Houston and I've been here ever since.
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Speaker 3: Was it great?
3:42
Speaker 1: Houston? Houston was well, I was born and raised, So
3:44
Speaker 1: you're never here a negative thing about Houston from Rachelle McDonald.
3:47
Speaker 1: I think it's the best restaurants in the world are
3:50
Speaker 1: in Houston, Texas. That's me. I'm a big foodie, so
3:52
Speaker 1: I tell everybody wherever I go, Houston is the place
3:56
Speaker 1: to eat. Now let's get back to you, miss Cotton.
4:00
Speaker 1: Master's degree in nursing.
4:02
Speaker 2: Why Honestly, I needed some money and I knew a
4:08
Speaker 2: trade was the best way to go about that. So
4:14
Speaker 2: I always knew that nurturing and doing that whole thing
4:18
Speaker 2: was kind of where I wanted to go. So I
4:21
Speaker 2: tried all the different paths, all the you know, every
4:23
Speaker 2: time you major in something in college, you're like, ooh
4:26
Speaker 2: I want to do sociology. Oh I want to do this,
4:28
Speaker 2: Oh I want to do that. And so so I
4:32
Speaker 2: got caught up in college and had a baby, and
4:36
Speaker 2: I was like, Okay, I need to get a trade
4:38
Speaker 2: really quick. So I actually started with my associate degree
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Speaker 2: in nursing, and then of course went back and got
4:46
Speaker 2: my You know, my masters or whatever, so that I
4:49
Speaker 2: could do obviously more things in the nursing. But yep,
4:53
Speaker 2: that's how I ended up. Nursing found me. So here
4:57
Speaker 2: I am still well.
4:58
Speaker 1: Because you know, I always ask people, you know, my
5:00
Speaker 1: degrees in mathematics, and mathematics basically fouled me because I
5:04
Speaker 1: went to college for seven years dancing around trying to
5:07
Speaker 1: find some instructors, some instructor that users used to was
5:09
Speaker 1: just gonna give me some easy grades. I never found
5:11
Speaker 1: that instructor, by the way, God never found that instructor.
5:15
Speaker 1: But I was looking for. I was looking for. I
5:16
Speaker 1: was looking for four and a half years. Then somebody said, boy,
5:19
Speaker 1: stop looking at and open that book and start studying.
5:22
Speaker 1: And I graduated two and a half years later in mathematics.
5:25
Speaker 1: And when you get these degrees, you know, uh, it
5:28
Speaker 1: was financial expectation tied to that when you got your
5:31
Speaker 1: master's degree in nursing.
5:34
Speaker 2: Yes, so honestly, when I was in nursing school, because
5:38
Speaker 2: I went the long way, so I did associate nursing,
5:41
Speaker 2: then I did my bachelor's and then I went back
5:43
Speaker 2: and got my masters. So when I was doing my bachelor's,
5:49
Speaker 2: I had the worst professor ever, and I was like,
5:53
Speaker 2: you know what, I want to get my masters so
5:55
Speaker 2: that I can teach because I wanted to give back
5:59
Speaker 2: in some way. So I've always wanted to give back.
6:02
Speaker 2: So I feel that nursing was a way for me
6:05
Speaker 2: to sort of be that different but also have a
6:10
Speaker 2: very lucrative career as well. So that's why I went
6:13
Speaker 2: to my master's and then I started doing all these
6:17
Speaker 2: other things. So I never wanted to go back and
6:19
Speaker 2: get my doctrine in nursing. I was like, Okay, I
6:23
Speaker 2: you know, I've done nursing for my twenty years now,
6:27
Speaker 2: and that's just something that I did. It's not who
6:30
Speaker 2: I am. So that's why I stopped. But I still
6:33
Speaker 2: teach because that's my way of giving back, you know,
6:36
Speaker 2: or whatever. So but yeah, I mean nursing is very
6:40
Speaker 2: I mean, you can make lots of money, and you know,
6:43
Speaker 2: I have the same degree as nurse practitioners. I just
6:47
Speaker 2: didn't want to go into that because I don't want
6:51
Speaker 2: the liability that comes with being a nurse practitioner. And
6:54
Speaker 2: I knew that nursing wasn't always where I was going
6:56
Speaker 2: to be. I didn't know what else I wanted to do.
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Speaker 1: But I just knew that wouldn't have final step in your.
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Speaker 2: Life right exactly.
7:03
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, Ms Cotton. I'm talking to
7:06
Speaker 1: Holly Cotton. She's a best selling author of Media Personality,
7:09
Speaker 1: Life Coach, Go Guru podcast Hope. Just see these additional credits.
7:15
Speaker 1: I didn't read at the top, you know, because you
7:19
Speaker 1: got a lot going on. I'm gonna just tell you
7:20
Speaker 1: that right.
7:20
Speaker 2: Now, I do.
7:21
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, the stereotypes they come with nursing.
7:25
Speaker 1: Because you have a master's degree, because I you know,
7:28
Speaker 1: you know, I have a sister law she's a nurse,
7:30
Speaker 1: very talented nurse in the Houston, Texas market. What stereotypes
7:35
Speaker 1: do you feel that people need to just this is
7:37
Speaker 1: nurses are way more than this or stop thinking this
7:41
Speaker 1: all nurses do. Can you help us out right now,
7:44
Speaker 1: educate us?
7:45
Speaker 2: Yes, for sure, for sure. So nursing. Actually you don't
7:50
Speaker 2: ever have to even touch someone in nursing, and when
7:54
Speaker 2: people see nursing they automatically assume hospital or retirement home
8:01
Speaker 2: or something like that, you know, home health nurse. And honestly,
8:05
Speaker 2: probably in the last I don't know, twelve thirteen years,
8:09
Speaker 2: maybe more than that, I haven't touched anyone in forever,
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Speaker 2: other than I had to do CPR on some people
8:16
Speaker 2: a few times because they were they had coded, But
8:21
Speaker 2: other than that, you know. So I think that's the
8:23
Speaker 2: biggest stereotype people have with nursing. And it's great for
8:27
Speaker 2: new nurses because I do think that new nurses need
8:29
Speaker 2: to go off and work in the hospital or somewhere
8:32
Speaker 2: where they can get hands on care because it is
8:34
Speaker 2: critical thinking. But you know, I mean, I've been in
8:38
Speaker 2: management again, I teach, you know, I'm a college professor,
8:41
Speaker 2: so you know, there's so many other routes. I know,
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Speaker 2: I have a friend that's the nurse, and she's actually
8:47
Speaker 2: in pharmaceutical sales. You know, she's never ever practiced as
8:51
Speaker 2: a nurse, like ever ever, she's never done bedside. So
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Speaker 2: I think that's the biggest stigma a lot of people have,
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Speaker 2: is that they automatically assume they were going to have
8:59
Speaker 2: to go and do shots and I don't like blood
9:02
Speaker 2: or I don't like this, And you know, that's that's
9:05
Speaker 2: so small of a genre of nursing that there is,
9:10
Speaker 2: Like there's so many other things that you can do.
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Speaker 2: You know, I work for a healthcare company. I worked
9:14
Speaker 2: as a director of nursing and management all of these
9:18
Speaker 2: other roles. So that's the biggest thing I would say.
9:21
Speaker 1: You know, now, just get into your lifestyle. You know,
9:23
Speaker 1: because your lifestyle, you know, you're very energetic. You can
9:26
Speaker 1: tell by your voice that you you know you when
9:29
Speaker 1: you have something to say, you're going to say it,
9:31
Speaker 1: say it with energy. Now you embrace a holistic lifestyle. Now,
9:37
Speaker 1: there are a lot of catchphrases out there, and the
9:39
Speaker 1: worst holistic. It seems to be one of those catchphrases
9:42
Speaker 1: that is very popular, especially on social media. Now, what
9:46
Speaker 1: exactly is holistic? And when you tie the word lifestyle too,
9:49
Speaker 1: what exactly is a holistic lifestyle?
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Speaker 2: So a holistic lifestyle is basically when you're talking about body, mind,
9:58
Speaker 2: spirit all in sync. So whatever it is that you believe, whatever,
10:05
Speaker 2: whatever it is that you use to keep your mind
10:07
Speaker 2: at peace, you're talking about, you know, spirituality. Some people
10:11
Speaker 2: do meditation, some people believe in Jesus, some people. You know,
10:15
Speaker 2: whatever it is that you practice, it keeps you grounded.
10:18
Speaker 2: And then you have to talk about your mental health.
10:21
Speaker 2: You have to think about your physical health, you know.
10:24
Speaker 2: And I also say, for me, holistic also includes financial
10:28
Speaker 2: health because even though we're talking about spirituality, I can
10:32
Speaker 2: link spirituality into mental but I believe that the actual
10:36
Speaker 2: triage to have a holistic healthy lifestyle is that your
10:41
Speaker 2: your finances, your mental health, and your physical health are
10:45
Speaker 2: all in sync. Because if your money ain't right, now
10:48
Speaker 2: you can't afford to go to the gym, or now
10:51
Speaker 2: you know, you can't afford to to do pay your bills,
10:53
Speaker 2: so now your mental health is off. Now you may
10:56
Speaker 2: not have somewhere to stay. Now you can't now you know,
10:58
Speaker 2: now your mental health is off because you're stressed out
11:00
Speaker 2: about bills, so you you don't feel like going to
11:03
Speaker 2: the gym. Now you you know, now you're introverted, you
11:05
Speaker 2: don't want to go out, and you can't afford to
11:07
Speaker 2: go anywhere. And then of course physical health comes into
11:10
Speaker 2: that because now you can't, you might be unhealthy. Now
11:13
Speaker 2: you're overweight, you aren't working out. So I feel like
11:16
Speaker 2: if that's that's the triangle for me for holistic But
11:20
Speaker 2: you know, really, instead of financial, most people say it's spirituality,
11:24
Speaker 2: but I say it's financial because if money ain't right,
11:27
Speaker 2: everything is all.
11:29
Speaker 1: I want to agree with you that because I'm telling
11:33
Speaker 1: you so I can pray about money, but I need
11:35
Speaker 1: money and make me feel good about that prayer. Okay,
11:37
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna let you know.
11:41
Speaker 2: You can pray about.
11:41
Speaker 1: It, but that money shows but doing it right. And
11:45
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it in a joking manner because I
11:47
Speaker 1: think that everybody has faith, and if you have a faith,
11:49
Speaker 1: you should hold oad to that. Now it's people.
11:52
Speaker 2: I always say, whatever it is that you believe in,
11:55
Speaker 2: believe and go hard. But I'll tell you this, God's
11:57
Speaker 2: not giving giving you an eye idea, or he's not
12:01
Speaker 2: giving you strength for you not to do the work
12:03
Speaker 2: and come up with the plans, so he's gonna motivate me,
12:06
Speaker 2: or I'm gonna get that spirituality going. But unless I'm
12:09
Speaker 2: the one that's executing it and getting my money right,
12:13
Speaker 2: then I'm gonna still be in the same.
12:14
Speaker 1: Pid, like do we have voice with him money?
12:16
Speaker 2: Right?
12:17
Speaker 1: We're talking to Holly Cotton, Holly Cotton, high Cotton, I
12:21
Speaker 1: would call you High Cotton. Holly Cotton. She is a
12:24
Speaker 1: master's degree in nursing, best selling author breast cancer Survivor.
12:28
Speaker 1: We won't talk about that in the next break because
12:30
Speaker 1: I want to talk about the physicality. But before we
12:32
Speaker 1: go to break, you mentioned something in the whole triage
12:36
Speaker 1: of a holistic lifestyle was mental health. And you know,
12:42
Speaker 1: in the black community, just being am announcing that you're
12:48
Speaker 1: stressing has been a no note, what do you think
12:51
Speaker 1: has been a shift? And social media helped the black
12:53
Speaker 1: community open up more about the issues and concerns or
12:58
Speaker 1: seeking help in regards to therapy and acknowledging that stress
13:02
Speaker 1: does play a world in a black person's life. Can
13:05
Speaker 1: you expound on that, Yes.
13:07
Speaker 2: For sure, I definitely think social media is that and
13:11
Speaker 2: also I think that the resources are there. When you're
13:15
Speaker 2: thinking about ten, fifteen, twenty years ago, everything was the
13:20
Speaker 2: mentality of suck it up, move it on. You know,
13:23
Speaker 2: even me, when I think about growing up, my mom
13:26
Speaker 2: was like, all right, you have a bad day, Okay,
13:28
Speaker 2: so what you're gonna do? Sit around cry about it? Like,
13:31
Speaker 2: mental health was not something that we talked about. So
13:34
Speaker 2: social media is definitely an influence on it because younger
13:38
Speaker 2: people are being able to identify, hey, I'm having some
13:42
Speaker 2: of these these thoughts, or hey I'm having some of
13:45
Speaker 2: these behaviors. I see now that these are warning signs
13:48
Speaker 2: for anxiety or you know, put paranoia or depression or whatever.
13:54
Speaker 2: So they're able to identify it sooner because of the resources.
13:57
Speaker 2: So for me, social media, I feel is basically like
14:03
Speaker 2: one of those airplanes in the sky that where they're
14:06
Speaker 2: writing the words in the sky or the banner behind it.
14:10
Speaker 2: That's what social media does. It's like, hey, let's highlight this. Hey,
14:15
Speaker 2: come see this, come over here, this is something that's
14:18
Speaker 2: going on. And so I think that the way that
14:21
Speaker 2: people are having access to it is what it is
14:25
Speaker 2: that's destigmatizing because it's also making these communities where people
14:29
Speaker 2: are like, oh I feel that way too, Oh I
14:32
Speaker 2: think I'm doing this, and then they have these little
14:34
Speaker 2: sects that they form where they can come together and
14:37
Speaker 2: it's a safe place. So that's more of what I think,
14:41
Speaker 2: rather than social media being the main of you know, like, oh,
14:45
Speaker 2: this is it. This is the biggest thing ever that
14:49
Speaker 2: you know, social media is doing all of this. I
14:51
Speaker 2: think it's just the fact that it's the exposure and
14:53
Speaker 2: then having the resources that we didn't have before.
14:57
Speaker 1: We're talking to Holly Cotton would be right back with
14:59
Speaker 1: more money, ma a conversation and talk about her. She's
15:02
Speaker 1: the best selling authore so I know she has some books.
15:04
Speaker 1: We want to talk about on the other side of
15:06
Speaker 1: the break. But more importantly, I'm a breast cancer I'm
15:09
Speaker 1: not excuse me. I am a cancer styroid cancer survivor.
15:12
Speaker 1: She is a breast cancer survivor, and I know what
15:14
Speaker 1: my experience is. I always like to share it on
15:16
Speaker 1: the air because I had a trigger point in my
15:19
Speaker 1: life when I realized the doctor shared the word cancer
15:24
Speaker 1: and how I reacted to it and I couldn't stop
15:26
Speaker 1: my life. And we're going to hear how she reacted
15:28
Speaker 1: to it when she was told that she had cancer.
15:31
Speaker 1: Right back, this show was still upbeat. We're still flying high.
15:34
Speaker 1: Don't go nowhere. You listen to money Making Conversations Masterclass
15:37
Speaker 1: hosted by Rashad McDonald and I am interviewing Holly Cotton.
15:47
Speaker 3: We'll be right back with more money Making Conversations Masterclass
15:51
Speaker 3: with Rushaan McDonald. Welcome back to the Money Making cos
16:00
Speaker 3: Masterclass hosted by Rashaan McDonald. Money Making Conversations Masterclass continues
16:06
Speaker 3: online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and follow money Making Conversations
16:11
Speaker 3: Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
16:14
Speaker 1: Holly Cotton, she is a weldness expert registered nurser. You
16:18
Speaker 1: know she has a master's degree in nursing. Nursing she's
16:21
Speaker 1: based now and she's Louisiana girl who's now based in Houston, Texas.
16:26
Speaker 1: When you talk about survival, and in twenty fifteen, I
16:31
Speaker 1: a doctor told me I had cancer. And then he
16:34
Speaker 1: said the word treatable, right Rick, But I didn't hear
16:37
Speaker 1: the word treatable. All I heard was cancer and there
16:40
Speaker 1: were five or cancer. Then he told me I had
16:43
Speaker 1: and it was the most shocking and most jarring word
16:48
Speaker 1: I had ever heard in my life. You know, you
16:50
Speaker 1: read about it, you see it on TV, you heard
16:52
Speaker 1: about fundraiser. But when that doctor told me that, I
16:56
Speaker 1: will literally tell anybody, literally retail anybody my life. Did
16:59
Speaker 1: Flo asked before my eyes? I talk about my I
17:02
Speaker 1: talked about my talk about my family. I talked about
17:05
Speaker 1: where I was at my life. I talked about but
17:07
Speaker 1: I will tell you in the end when I when
17:10
Speaker 1: it stopped flashing, I felt good about my life, where
17:14
Speaker 1: I was at in my life. And I think it's
17:16
Speaker 1: really important people hear that because you never know when
17:20
Speaker 1: you get a statement. You never know we're going in
17:21
Speaker 1: that car accident. You never know when that moment might come.
17:25
Speaker 1: You just want to make sure when when you hear
17:27
Speaker 1: the words or you're getting near the end, make sure
17:29
Speaker 1: your life you feel good about it. Make sure you're
17:32
Speaker 1: doing the things you want to do in your life
17:34
Speaker 1: currently and meeting their dreams and expectations that you want now,
17:38
Speaker 1: what other people want, what you want, and getting an
17:41
Speaker 1: out of life now. In your bio pits, Cotton is
17:45
Speaker 1: uh brought to my attention that to your breast cancer survivor,
17:48
Speaker 1: can you tell us about that when you was, when
17:51
Speaker 1: you was exposed to the information and how you dealt
17:53
Speaker 1: with it?
17:55
Speaker 2: For sure? And I've told this story so many times
17:58
Speaker 2: the same as you say, as you boat is called
18:03
Speaker 2: Strong more than Muscles, which is my autobiography about my
18:07
Speaker 2: story about having breast cancer. So it was kind of
18:12
Speaker 2: I've been a nurse, so for me. Twenty twelve October twelfth,
18:16
Speaker 2: twenty twelve celebrated every year as my cancer versary. And
18:21
Speaker 2: that was the day that I found out. A week
18:23
Speaker 2: and a half before that, I felt to lump when
18:25
Speaker 2: I was getting out of the shower, and I immediately
18:28
Speaker 2: knew it was cancer. I just I could tell. I mean,
18:31
Speaker 2: I had been a nurse for you know, hover long.
18:33
Speaker 2: I could tell the way that it felt I'm the
18:35
Speaker 2: location of it, and I was just like, oh my god,
18:38
Speaker 2: now I got cancer. What am I going to You know,
18:41
Speaker 2: I got stuff to do. So that was my thought
18:43
Speaker 2: process and so but it was the same thing. I
18:47
Speaker 2: still wanted them to tell me that it wasn't cancer,
18:50
Speaker 2: even though I knew that or it was. But I
18:52
Speaker 2: got the call and my doctor was like, you have cancer.
18:56
Speaker 2: You know it is. It is cancer. You need to
18:58
Speaker 2: go see the doctor. So like the next I was
19:00
Speaker 2: already in the oncologist. We were already talking about surgery
19:04
Speaker 2: and all of that. And so for me, I always
19:07
Speaker 2: make the comparison that I was the physically. I was
19:11
Speaker 2: physically strongest out of in my entire life. At that moment.
19:16
Speaker 2: I could do pull ups. I was like doing twenty
19:19
Speaker 2: pull ups, which you know for a girl, that's good.
19:21
Speaker 2: I was the push up queen. Like I was doing Insanity,
19:25
Speaker 2: remember when Insanity without and all of the DVDs. So
19:29
Speaker 2: I was doing all of that. So for me, I
19:32
Speaker 2: was the healthiest and the strongest version up until then
19:35
Speaker 2: that I had ever been. So for me to get
19:37
Speaker 2: cancer was I was completely blindsided. I didn't even smoke.
19:41
Speaker 2: I mean I didn't even drink. I've never smoked, So
19:45
Speaker 2: I'm like, why did this happen to me? When I
19:47
Speaker 2: have all these unhealthy family members and friends? Like why
19:50
Speaker 2: is this me? And so, you know, at that point,
19:53
Speaker 2: I was in survival mode and I didn't have time
19:55
Speaker 2: to go back and forth. You know, I had two
19:57
Speaker 2: young kids. I need to figure out what to do.
20:00
Speaker 2: But after I went through all of my surgeries and
20:04
Speaker 2: my treatments and everything, I started I was angry, and
20:08
Speaker 2: I was very upset, and I said, why is this happening?
20:11
Speaker 2: Why did this happen to me? Why am I going
20:13
Speaker 2: through this? And I was angry for a little while
20:16
Speaker 2: because I had lived a great, healthy lifestyle and now
20:19
Speaker 2: I couldn't even put my hair in a ponytail, because
20:23
Speaker 2: I couldn't even extend my arms, I couldn't bend over
20:25
Speaker 2: to shave my legs, and I was very resentful. But
20:29
Speaker 2: then I had the shift where I said why me?
20:33
Speaker 2: Instead of the angry why mean, I was like, why
20:36
Speaker 2: am I still here? And I started becoming a breast
20:39
Speaker 2: cancer advocate. My doctor gave my phone number to other patients,
20:43
Speaker 2: and I was talking to people. They would call me
20:46
Speaker 2: when they just got diagnosed and you know, I would
20:49
Speaker 2: tell them about my stories what to expect, because I
20:52
Speaker 2: didn't have that, you know, there was no one telling
20:54
Speaker 2: me what was going to happen and what to expect.
20:56
Speaker 2: So I told him about the test, I told them
20:58
Speaker 2: about treatment, I told them about this, I told them
21:00
Speaker 2: about that, you know. And so I realized that my
21:03
Speaker 2: why was I was still here to be that person
21:08
Speaker 2: for whoever needed it. And that's why I wrote my
21:10
Speaker 2: first book, because I wanted to share my story. And
21:13
Speaker 2: I mean, my book is still sold all across the world,
21:15
Speaker 2: I mean not to Like two or three months ago,
21:18
Speaker 2: someone from Romania, you know, messaged me that they gave
21:21
Speaker 2: their mom my book. She said she couldn't put it down.
21:24
Speaker 2: She read it in the day. She just got diagnosed
21:26
Speaker 2: with cancer. So that meant a lot to me that
21:29
Speaker 2: my book is still you know, circulating, and it's still
21:33
Speaker 2: that way, but that's my story about the same thing.
21:36
Speaker 2: I was like, this isn't fair, this isn't right, and
21:38
Speaker 2: I was upset. But now I feel that my why
21:42
Speaker 2: because I would have never gone off into this other
21:45
Speaker 2: path that I'm on right now. I would have still
21:48
Speaker 2: been a nurse, still just going to work, still doing
21:51
Speaker 2: whatever but when I wrote that first book, it opened
21:54
Speaker 2: a whole nother path in twenty nineteen, but I have
21:58
Speaker 2: a question.
21:58
Speaker 1: I want to follow up with it because or reading
22:00
Speaker 1: through your value or says that pain will push you,
22:03
Speaker 1: that pain will push you to your purpose, that you
22:06
Speaker 1: can be sexy in a mom that you can be
22:08
Speaker 1: a professional and still follow your entrepreneurial goals. I want
22:11
Speaker 1: to inspire and motivate women to live their dreams and
22:13
Speaker 1: stop settling for just living. I want to stay authentic
22:18
Speaker 1: to my mission of changing the world by empowering others
22:21
Speaker 1: to be their best self and highlighting their triumphs. Do
22:25
Speaker 1: you feel because of your survival that's your purpose now?
22:29
Speaker 2: Oh? For sure? For sure, I feel that when I
22:33
Speaker 2: walk in the room, I want my brand of Hollycotton
22:39
Speaker 2: to be all of that. Someone told me to write
22:42
Speaker 2: down what it is that I want people to see
22:45
Speaker 2: when they look at me, or when people look at
22:48
Speaker 2: my social media or after people have a conversation with me,
22:52
Speaker 2: and that row down And I hear people that say
22:58
Speaker 2: that to me all time, and I'm like, yes, I
23:02
Speaker 2: am where I'm supposed to be, doing what I'm supposed
23:07
Speaker 2: to be doing. Because there is a woman that's watching
23:10
Speaker 2: me right now, that's going through something. It doesn't even
23:13
Speaker 2: have to be cancer. But we gonna rock the bikini.
23:17
Speaker 2: We're gonna show them that we bosses. I'm a mom,
23:20
Speaker 2: I'm gonna pick up and go on a vacation. I'm
23:22
Speaker 2: gonna do whatever. I'm gonna eat me a cheesecake. I
23:25
Speaker 2: just live my life every day that I don't need
23:29
Speaker 2: a vacation from. And that's what I want to show people.
23:32
Speaker 1: Awesome. Now you have some books. I want to definitely
23:35
Speaker 1: get those out. You have a series of books that
23:36
Speaker 1: you just released. You want to talk about those?
23:39
Speaker 2: Yes, I would love to. So I happen to on
23:43
Speaker 2: your magic. And so I wanted to give back because
23:48
Speaker 2: you know, just like you said Rashaan, you go through
23:51
Speaker 2: you start doing these other things no matter where you are,
23:54
Speaker 2: but you still gotta have a sense of purpose on
23:56
Speaker 2: why you're doing it. Right, So for me, I was like, oh,
23:59
Speaker 2: this money shots, this feels good, Okay okay, And then
24:04
Speaker 2: last year I was like, God, I just feel like
24:06
Speaker 2: I lost my sense of purpose because all I'm doing
24:09
Speaker 2: is this other part. So I wanted to come back
24:12
Speaker 2: to give back. So my initiative this year is adolescent
24:15
Speaker 2: mental health because I wanted to go back and give
24:18
Speaker 2: those kids because I wasn't always there for my kids.
24:21
Speaker 2: I know a lot of parents are in provider mode,
24:24
Speaker 2: and we weren't giving kids that offer up with the Freeze,
24:28
Speaker 2: Your Mind, Your Magic, and there's four books in it,
24:31
Speaker 2: and basically it's the scenario on one side, and then
24:35
Speaker 2: it's affirmations on the other side of what it's like
24:38
Speaker 2: to grow up. So it's anywhere from late elementary till
24:42
Speaker 2: high school, and it's different things, different topics, and then
24:45
Speaker 2: it's affirmations and it's teaching kids how to speak life
24:50
Speaker 2: into themselves, how to build mental toughness. And also I
24:54
Speaker 2: wanted to create a way to have dialogue opening between
24:58
Speaker 2: a parent and a child. So you can come in
25:01
Speaker 2: the room and give this to your kid, or your
25:03
Speaker 2: kid can be reading it and they can say something
25:06
Speaker 2: to you, or you can ask them, Hey, are you
25:08
Speaker 2: feeling that way? Do you have body dysmorphia? Are you
25:11
Speaker 2: feeling like you're in a toxic relationship? Are you getting
25:14
Speaker 2: pressured for sex or are you feeling this way? Are
25:17
Speaker 2: you worried about having responsibilities now? Is it? How do
25:20
Speaker 2: you feel about being independent? So it's four series. I
25:24
Speaker 2: mean it's four books in the series, one for girls
25:26
Speaker 2: and boys, one specifically for young men, so it's topics
25:30
Speaker 2: that young men face, and then one for special needing
25:33
Speaker 2: kids because the wording is a little different so that
25:36
Speaker 2: they can retain the information. And then I'll also have
25:39
Speaker 2: one for chronic illness kids diabetic cancer or whatever, so
25:43
Speaker 2: kids at Saint Jude or any type of sickness or whatever,
25:46
Speaker 2: they can also have that to where it talks about
25:48
Speaker 2: disabilities and you know, live in what chronic illnesses and stuff.
25:52
Speaker 2: So there's four books, and also have them all written
25:55
Speaker 2: in espaniol so to reach a broader audience as well,
26:00
Speaker 2: so they actually come in Spanish too.
26:03
Speaker 1: Wow, you have a lot to say, and I'm proud
26:06
Speaker 1: you came on my show to say some of it,
26:08
Speaker 1: because you ain't saying all. I'll just let you know that,
26:10
Speaker 1: Holly Cotton. You know you are high Cotton. Okay, eh,
26:13
Speaker 1: c for sure. But you know I always enjoy interviews
26:18
Speaker 1: here that have a base of honesty tied to it,
26:22
Speaker 1: and your story has a base of honesty. And then
26:26
Speaker 1: you've taken that storyline, that sadness and converted it into
26:31
Speaker 1: a purpose and that purpose is really important, and that's
26:34
Speaker 1: all I wanted people to hear. The big takeaway from
26:37
Speaker 1: this show is that you can get hitting the gut,
26:41
Speaker 1: get hit upside the head with a baseball bat, get
26:44
Speaker 1: pushed down in the mud, but just don't stay down.
26:47
Speaker 1: Just don't let people whoever push you in the back.
26:51
Speaker 1: You ain't got to retaliate. Just understand that you have
26:55
Speaker 1: a force inside of you that can cause other people
26:58
Speaker 1: to change if you for positivity and as what miss
27:02
Speaker 1: Cotton's doing and how can we reach you of social media?
27:05
Speaker 1: Do you have a website? Before we wrap up this call,
27:07
Speaker 1: Miss Cotton, Yes, for.
27:09
Speaker 2: Sure, for sure. And one last thing I wanted to
27:11
Speaker 2: say ver Sean is that when you find that purpose,
27:14
Speaker 2: when you live your life authentically, when you are where
27:17
Speaker 2: you're supposed to be, everything that you do will align
27:21
Speaker 2: with your purpose. The money is going to come you're
27:24
Speaker 2: doing what you're supposed to do, But not only that,
27:26
Speaker 2: but the people that you impact and inspire is priceless.
27:30
Speaker 2: The rones that you get in the networking that comes
27:33
Speaker 2: all of that. The money is great, but having those
27:36
Speaker 2: things are priceless as well, So super easy. I'm Hollycotton
27:41
Speaker 2: dot com Www h O L L Y C O
27:45
Speaker 2: T T O N dot com, Instagram, Hollycotton underscore. Everything
27:49
Speaker 2: is Hollycotton, Hollicotton, Holly Cotton. My new like I said,
27:53
Speaker 2: my new initiative, Your Mind, Yourmagic dot com super easy.
27:57
Speaker 2: You can get my books global distribution anywhere that sales books.
28:01
Speaker 2: You can get Born to Nobles, Amazon obviously the cheaper,
28:03
Speaker 2: or you can come to my website and get it.
28:05
Speaker 2: I have ebook versions as well. I'm looking to network
28:09
Speaker 2: with any type of not politicians, of camps for summertime,
28:14
Speaker 2: of sports foundations, all of that stuff if you're looking.
28:18
Speaker 2: You guys are worrying about getting these kids in football
28:21
Speaker 2: camps and basketball camps and making them physically strong, but
28:24
Speaker 2: we need to focus on them being mentally tough and
28:27
Speaker 2: strong as well. So holler at me.
28:30
Speaker 1: I know we'll holler at you again soon, probably in
28:32
Speaker 1: the summertime. Again, thank you for coming to my show,
28:34
Speaker 1: Holly Cotton. She's a winner, and again my next guest
28:38
Speaker 1: is also winning. Thank you for coming to my show,
28:40
Speaker 1: Holly Cotton. We strong now. Thank you and keep promoting,
28:44
Speaker 1: keep promoting doing your thank you, I know you.
28:48
Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us for this edition of Money
28:51
Speaker 3: Making Conversations Masterclass Money Making Conversations Masterclass with rough Shan
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Speaker 3: McDonald is produced by thirty eight to fifteen Media Incs.
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29:04
Speaker 3: at thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember
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Speaker 3: to lead with your gifts