We recently connected with Bradly Grizzard and have shared our conversation below.
Bradly, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
This is such a deep question because it took me a long time to develop my confidence and self-esteem over the years. One of the best decisions I ever made was leaving Ohio and moving to Los Angeles to help pursue and build a company from the ground up with my friend Cyrus Ausar. During that time we spent a lot of time talking about our ups and downs up until this point and what it was like to grow up and deal with issues that affected me. Part of my poor self-confidence was my weight, my views of myself and the value that I brought to the table, and my long-term chronic kidney disease. In 2017, I started my fitness journey, and disciplining the body and mind came with that. I read books, watched improvement YouTube videos, and eventually was about to share things that no longer made me feel shameful.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am the Head Chef at Greatness Cafe, which is a mental health cafe that places the importance of whole foods in the body. I am so excited that I gained knowledge about the process of owning a restaurant and understand the importance of having systems in place and proper plans of attack for prep work and even what it takes to accomplish catering orders for large groups. Greatness Cafe has an initiative to feed kids who are in need or don’t have the money to buy our product and so donations are used to pay for their meals so no kids feel left out or hungry. I eventually want to put out a cookbook, artwork, and a conceptual album to talk about my kidney journey since I was 15 until now at 38.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
One of the qualities that I possess that has helped on my journey is being able to hear advice, absorb it, and then try to search within myself how I can adjust to become a better man. The second impactful quality to my journey is attention to detail and organization. As a former music producer, it was important that sounds and projects were named and put in their specific folders so you could pull that project up at a later date without a problem and those attributes have traveled over to my life and other things I involve myself in. The third would be my willingness to be open about the things have suffered during my long stint with chronic kidney disease and kidney cancer. When I open up and share my journey or my thoughts, I end up reaching people I never thought were following me or watching anything I share. I realized very quickly that people are suffering from things we don’t have a clue about and when we share something to the world and others can relate, then it changes the scope of their playing field alongside our own.
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The biggest obstacle I am facing currently is the return back to kidney dialysis for the 4th time in my lifetime. When you do everything that you can including losing 90lbs in 7 years, changing your diet and your lifestyle, and still end up with kidney failure from your kidney transplant. It makes me question if this life is really for me and how can I maintain this new normal again without losing my mind. I’m trying to resolve this feeling and thought by doing things that I want to do and sometimes that’s not in the interest of the status quo. When you have lived the life I have with dealing with kidney disease since 15 years old, 3 failed kidney transplants, 4th stints on dialysis, kidney cancer, and cornucopias amount of surgeries for 20 years, things are gauged differently to priority. The other thing that I’m trying to do is find live kidney donors so that I have a chance again to live a normal life and that has been a daunting task that requires a certain level of focus, such as getting signed up with multiple kidney transplant centers and starting the process over again with different hospitals and doctors.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BlaqcRain
Image Credits
All images are shot and owned by me, Bradly Grizzard
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
