Tracy DW with 'Facing Purpose'

February is the month for celebrating Black History in the USA.
In this podcast episode Tracy makes a virtual visit across 'the
Pond' and shares the first part of her very first interview. The
interview was recorded on New Years Day on the 'Facing Purpose
Radio Show' in the US hosted by Elder Lakia Barnett. In this
episode Tracy shares what was the turning point for her in her
educational career, the cause of self-doubt when she debuted as a
podcaster and what is important to her as she balances her role
as a school leader with the many 'hats' that she has to wear.


If you enjoy these podcasts then visit the website
https://storiestobetolled.com for the learning platform and
poetic narratives and join us on our mailing list and receive a
free sample of each of the current story titles.


Two of our poetic narratives relating to this interview are
'Caribbean Rush' and 'Gone with the Wind? - Macmillan's speech
for change'  you can visit their learning journeys on the
website but also purchase your copy by clicking the links below:


Caribbean 'Rush'


Caribbean 'Wind'


At times, small parts of the recording are omitted and so the
full transcript is provided below:


LB: Welcome back to Facing Purpose Radio show,
I’m your host Lakia Barnette!  it’s so great to be back
before you and happy new year to everybody that Is listening
right now. I am excited first of all to be in the land of the
living I have had one heck of a week, you guys! I think the last
show I was fine and then the next time I pump the round, I got
sick you guys! My whole house but Praise be to God I am sitting
here well and I’m back to doing what I love to do and also what
God tells me to do. So I just wanna say ‘happy new year’ to all
of you guys and praying that you’re healthy, well and praying for
your healing if you are not feeling well in your body on this
beautiful Saturday night. This is January 1st CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!
I can’t because 2022 is here. So I’m excited about our guest on
tonight. All the way form the UK. How can you all say we touching
down in the UK like that’s super dobe but anyhow, I am excited
about her, she is an author, a podcaster, she does so many
different things. We like to call this a woman with many, many
hats so without further ado, let’s go ahead and introduce Tracy
Williams! Welcome to Facing Purpose!


TDW: Hi everyone! Hi Lakia, I am so grateful to
be on the show! Thank you for giving me this opportunity, tonight
and you know, it’s the first night of the Year for us so I
thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for me to kick off
2022 with an interview, so thanks for having me.


LB: Yes! and I’m so, listen I love your accent
Tracy, your accent is beautiful. I’ve never been to the UK. I’ve
heard about the UK but I’ve never been there. Would like to go
one day if I can get the nerve to sit on a plane that long ok.
Everybody who knows me knows I’m not a friend of planes at all
but we’re gonna break that this year but I would be excited to
visit that place one day, one day I have to go. So, why don’t you
go ahead and introduce yourself to everybody Tracy?


TDW: I’m Tracy Williams, I write under the pen
name of Tracy DW because, as you said I’m a woman wearing many
hats. I not only write stories for children and I do podcasting
but I’m also a singer songwriter as well and writing songs was
pretty much how I got into writing from a very young age. But
having said that, I’ve always been an avid reader, I’ve always
had a passion for history and it is from those two things that my
stories or my story series called ‘Stories to be tolled’ is
actually born from.


 I have been in education, been working in the British
education system for many years now and I currently work as a
Deputy Head teacher in a school in East London which is the
equivalent of a Vice Principle, I think, in the States. After
having many years of teaching black history month in October
(because we have black history month in October over in the UK),
I just became a bit despondent  with the way that black
history was being conveyed and was being, or not being taught in
schools.


There was a particular focus in black history month on American
history rather than British history so I thought ‘ you know, I’m
gonna do something about this.’ I’ve always had a passion for the
British Empire and Britain’s colonial past and it has been
something that I feel has been a missing link within our
education system, particularly in our British education system
and I just got the idea for writing some stories that I hoped
would inspire children and would inspire people to learn about
the topic in a more imaginative, though provoking and engaging
way.


 So, as I began to do my research I did a timeline and
structured my stories chapters and story titles around that and.
One day in January, actually several year ago back in 2017 I sat
down at my desk and began to write the stories as I began to
write I just felt ‘WOW’ this is a major piece of work and it
really does deserve a platform. Now at the time I hadn’t thought
u of the name ‘stories to be tolled’ it was just a set of stories
but as I began to write it just started from there and I felt it
deserved something more. That’s how I built the website around it
and placed min documentaries and additional learning journeys and
then last, but not least the podcast series came along and it
just opened up a whole new world it gave a different dimension to
the stories.


 I use it to compliment the stories in terms of the research
that didn’t go into the stories. I script them and then turn them
into a podcast series and I just invite listeners to come along
with me on my learning journey. So, the podcasts provide a more
dynamic slant a more dynamic dimension to the stories so here I
am today talking to you I have four stories out at the moment
which are available on the website ‘Caribbean wind,’ Caribbean
Rush,’ ‘Nights at the Round  Table- the Berlin Conference
1884  and ‘Gone with the Wind?’ which I’m having a special
focus right now in January. Not a celebration but like a
commemoration of the famous ‘Wind of Change’ speech  by
Harold Macmillan that was given in Accra Ghana in January
in  1960, so that a little bit about me.


LB: Well, that was an amazing intro, letting
people know just who you are and what amazing things that you do.
So tell me about your podcast. Tell me a little bit about how
that kind of started and what is it about and what is it gearing
towards?


TDW: Well, it was something that I had never
considered before. I think lock down last year, or rather in 2020
I think that was a catalyst for many people to develop some kind
of ambition or aspiration. Whether it be writing a book or doing
something creative because obviously we were all at home for such
a long time. I never considered doing a podcast. If someone had
told me two years ago ‘you know Tracy you’re gonna be doing a
podcast in 2020, you’re gonna begin doing that’ I would have
never believed them but I had so much research that hadn’t made
it in to the stories so I thought ‘well, how can I repurpose all
of this valuable content? It didn’t fit into the stories. what
can I do with it?’ So I thought I’ll create some scripts and I’ll
set up a podcast series and continue my learning journey and
continue to share my learning journey through that.


Also it provides a human element it provides a face, it provides
a voice it provides a speaking platform to the stories and my
format for each episode is quite similar. I refer to the stories
in the content of my episodes. Some of the episodes are not
linked to the stories. Some of the episodes are linked to various
things that are trending. So instance when Barbados became a
republic in October last year I decided, ‘right, I think that’s a
very apt thing to do a podcast focus.’ To be honest, I hadn’t
learnt that much about Barbados because it doesn’t really crop up
anywhere in my stories so the podcasts really work to ‘fill the
gap’ as it were and to bridge the gap between what the stories
leave out and what is either currently going on in the world
relating to the post-colonial era or what’s happened in the past.
So that’s where and how my podcasts fit in to the whole ‘Stories
to be tolled’ movement.


LB: Well. I love how different your podcasts
sound, that you make them link to the book that you’re putting
out and what you’re speaking to and what you believe. I think
that is like super cool to have a podcast like that. So, let me
ask this question; has it always been easy and I know that’s like
‘really Lakia, you ask me has it been easy?’ I think that a lot
of people don’t understand the story behind the voice that you
hear and behind the faces that you see. They didn’t just arrive,
you know, things happen along the way. So you now, do you wanna
elaborate a little bit on a time when you can just remember you
kinda’ felt like you were just like ‘ look I don’t know if I
should continue doing this’ have you ever felt like that?


TDW: Oh yes I have had moments pf self-doubt. I
wouldn’t be human if I didn’t have moments of self-doubt. I mean,
one of the challenges I have isn’t so much doing the podcasts but
it’s fitting it in to everything else. I’m a school leader, I’m
very, very busy and even within my role as a school leader I
juggle hats, several hats within that. I think it’s finding a
balance that works for me as an individual which I am constantly
striving to do to just find the time to put the work in. As you
do podcasting the more and more you do it the key is to be
regular, consistent and purposeful and continue to plan your
workflow so you’re always several steps ahead.


So for instance, I currently have ideas for the next eight
podcasts which are gonna take me up to Easter this year, so
you’re constantly planning topics that you want to look at. I
have friends and family and acquaintances who come to me and ask
me to do special focuses; ‘ Oh Tracy would you consider doing
‘this’ as a focus or would you consider doing ‘that’ as a focus
for a podcast episode.’ You know, I take on board feedback and
ideas that come my way. You know, I’m very open, it does have a
tight format but I’m very fluid and I’m very flexible to anything
that is trending and to anything that people ask me to find out
more about and make a special focus of.


But yes, there have been times when I’ve thought ‘oh my God what
am I doing? What am I doing?’ Sometime we get what we call
‘imposter syndrome.’  ‘There’s lots of people who are far
more learned and far more knowledgeable about this subject than
you why are you doing this? Who is it for? Who is going to
listen?’ Then I realise, when I get feedback from people I feel
really encouraged, I feel really, really motivated, I feel really
purposeful because at the end of the day I’m an educationalist,
Oh I’m a black woman, I have a voice and I can bring my
perspective as an individual as well as an educationalist to that
and some people just can’t do that.


 Also there’s the authenticity, just being myself and just
looking at things and giving my own point of view and just making
it engaging and making it understandable and informative because
that’s what a lot of people tell me. They tell me ‘Oh we love
your podcasts, they’re really informative’ they’re of a high
standard, they really do connect the dots and present a more
global perspective about the world that we live in today and we
can make connections about the past with what is currently going
on today. I think people have really come to appreciate the
podcasts series because it’s helped them to do the same, it’s
helped them to make those connections . It’s for people who are
just like me. You know, you make podcasts for people who are just
like you. Who just want to learn more about a particular topic
and don’t want to come under any particular stress about it.
Although in a good way I take the stress out of the learning
because I put the work in to make certain topics more digestible,
more concise and more cohesive. So yes, it is hard at times but
when I get the feedback, when I look at the numbers on the STATS,
I just know, it’s all worth it… And that’s what helps me to keep
going!!


LB: Absolutely, absolutely! I think everyone
needs that encouragement because some people, we see things, we
have a goal set in mind but sometimes we might not always set
off, you know the way that we want but I love that you use the
word ‘consistency.’ There’s consistency beside everything we do,
behind everything that we do. So we’re gonna take a quick, quick
break Ms Tracy and when we come back, we’re gonna dive in. I
wanna know more about these books because you have a collection
of books but also I wanna know more about your multi-media
platform. We’ll talk about that right after this break.