Sheer Creativity
Step into the chill vibes of Sheer Creativity, your go-to laid-back podcast about creatives for creatives! Immerse yourself in dynamic conversations, insightful interviews, and performances, all centered around the creative experience. With me, Laraya, as your guide, we'll blend special guests, personal development nuggets, and engaging creative content to inspire and motivate you on your artistic journey.
Sheer Creativity
Black Travel, Relocation, Networking & More with Alieshia's Adventures
We love seeing Black women traveling! Listen to Alieshia from Alieshia's Adventures talk about starting her travel YouTube channel, her experience relocating to Atlanta, balancing the many aspects of her brand, and more!
Watch Alieshia's Adventures on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlieshiasAdventures
Listen to the Millennial Thoughts Podcast on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/millennial-thoughts/id1341002595
SHEER CREATIVITY LINKS
Read Laraya's creative writing on Of Wisdom and Wander
Check out Laraya's website
Order Laraya's poetry collection
What's up everybody? Welcome back to the Sheer Creativity Podcast. The podcast about creatives for creatives. And I have a special guest today. Her name is Alieshia, and she's from Alieshia's Adventures on Instagram and all the good stuff. So how are you, Alieshia?
Alieshia:I'm doing good. How about yourself?
Raya:I'm doing great. I'm glad you're here.
Alieshia:Yes. Thank you. I'm glad you invited me to come on and chat.
Raya:Yeah. So tell us more about you and how you got started with this traveling online.
Alieshia:Yes. I am on YouTube and Instagram as Alieshia's Adventures and Facebook. Facebook is kind of where I started like people be throwing shade on Facebook, but that's kind of where I started.
Raya:Shoot. Facebook is where people really ride for you, honestly.
Alieshia:Yes, it really is. So I actually have been traveling like my whole entire life and when I was in. Undergrad, I studied abroad and I was just like looking to see kind of like who studied abroad and stuff like that. And I came across a couple of people who was like blogging back then, which it was kind of big, but it wasn't kind of big like in the black community per se. Like some people were doing it. But when I was in college, I didn't really see that many people. So I thought to document my travels of me studying abroad would be really, really cool. To inspire other people to study abroad and also to share my story and my love of travel. And that is kind of how I got into it. So I had like a Wix blog and everything like that and then after that while people was like reading them, some people wasn't reading them, then I decided to just like bring it on Instagram cuz that was like the new app where I could document my travel journeys.
Raya:Yeah. And I saw your screenshot of your views on YouTube.
Alieshia:Oh yeah.
Raya:Hundred K.
Alieshia:Yes. Almost 100K. Yes. I need you to go watch my video.
Raya:Period. Clap for you.
Alieshia:Yes. In my first video on YouTube, like besides I guess like the intro or whatever, kind of, it was like me studying abroad. I kind of started YouTube later after my travels, which I'm so sad cuz if I would've started like when I really was studying abroad, I could have more views already, but we ain't gonna worry about the past. But like one of my first shows is like me like traveling or whatever. So then I was like, oh, okay. And I seen all the travel YouTubers and stuff like that. That's really actually what kind of got me even onto YouTube. I don't know, OG people or something like that but if y'all ever follow Shanice. It is Niecy Natural. She was traveling with her boyfriend to like Jamaica or something like that. I'm like what? She doing travel vlogs? Oh, I'm about to do travel vlogs cause I already was traveling.
Raya:So where did you go to study abroad?
Alieshia:I went to Panama and then I went to Trinidad and Tobago.
Raya:Ooh, which one did you enjoy more? Panama or Trinidad?
Alieshia:So I enjoy both of them for two different reasons. Of course, I really enjoy Trinidad and Tobago cuz they speak the language and they look like you. So I was a majority and I was able to speak English.
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:Was able to be a part of a independence event because in Trinidad and Tobago, they became independent in August. Don't quote me on the year, I can't remember the year, but it was around the first couple of weeks. So there was like something where you did like a, a walk from like the Savannah, which is like downtown in the Trinidad port of Spain. It was a long, I tell you, it was a long walk. It was like when they did first Carnival, I was like, whew child. Yes. But they had events, like they had events leading up to that, so they had performances. You would go try like their doubles and stuff like that, which is like a Trinidadian food so I just thought It was fun to be part of a celebration because like we don't really do all that over here. And then, Really before Juneteenth, which is coming out now, it was just like July 4th, and we was like, we wasn't free, so I'm not celebrating, you know, so I thought it was kind of cool to be a part of a celebration of becoming free and like just celebrating excellence, like I got to learn to Tobagian dances. So that was really, really cool. I went to Panama first, and I would say definitely the language barriers was kind of eh, cuz you know, I was still learning Spanish and I didn't talk it every day for me to be like fluent in it. So that was kind of hard. But the people were really nice, really kind. And they party, party, party. One thing about Central America, Caribbean, like they party, they chilling, they lax and they're having fun like our first day we went there, we had a party bus and our professors was on the party bus.
Raya:They said, y'all ain't having fun without us. Hold on.
Alieshia:Ok. Like,
Raya:let's get on the bus.
Alieshia:Yeah. So it was like, what? But it's like you would never really see that in America. Yeah, the professors on there with them, you wouldn't see that there. So the cultural experience was really cool. I got, I gotta see the Panama Canal. Now them classes was long, them classes was three hours was, you see, I ain't talked about that. I ain't talked about the introduction, but also learning about Carnival, being able to play the steel pin, which was like, founded in Trinidad and Tobago. That was really cool. So It was more of like a cultural experience. That's why I really liked Trinidad and Tobago. With Panama, it was definitely cultural, but it was kind of hard cuz like the language barrier.
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:And it was just different. Like I was in a hotel, it was like the, it was just like different living spaces. So like in a hotel with like two other girls or whatever that I really didn't know in Trinidad like I was with my friend. It was just like different experiences. But Panama, we was able to be free walk, go out, you could party in there cuz you know you could drink when you're 18. Oh, okay. So we just had a lot of freedom. So they were both cool experiences. And if you have not studied abroad and you're still in college, I, you know, say everybody should study abroad.
Raya:Yeah. So was your studying abroad experience your first time out of the country?
Alieshia:No, it was not.
Raya:Ooh, what was the first time out of the country? Tell me more.
Alieshia:So, my first time out the country was actually in seventh, like that summer between my seventh grade and my eighth grade year. So long story short, my dad was in the military.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:And he was stationed in Korea. So my first time out the country, I was in Korea. I went in middle school.
Raya:Oh, that's pretty cool. Yeah. I feel like military kids get to see a lot of the world very early on in life.
Alieshia:Yes. Mm-hmm. I think so too. Yes. Some, some more than others. Cause you know, my brothers, they, they got to live in Germany and stuff like that. so, you know,
Raya:Yeah, I have a cousin that was stationed out in Germany for a while and now he's in Arizona where it's hot and I don't, I don't want no parts of that.
Alieshia:But yeah, you could be there. You could be in Japan. Like one of my friends, I actually interviewed her in my pockets. She was born in Japan and then she went back there to teach and stuff like that. So yeah, it kind of gives you like more al outlook on life. And that's kind of also what made me like try to share my life a little bit more with travel. Cause I feel like I studied abroad kind of, it was like for a week in Paris, France, in, mm-hmm. High school. But I was the only black girl, you know? And so I feel like they, they paint this picture like, it's like black people don't travel, you know, black people don't get out, black people don't study abroad. So I really wanted to be able to share and highlight my stories. Like, yes, I do travel. Yes, I do study abroad. And being able to, um, You know, encourage other people to do it. And so I felt like that was really the way to do it and inviting people. So I invited somebody to go with me to the Trinidad trip cause I was like, okay, you never, you never been abroad, so like you should go abroad and study abroad with me. You know? And then when I was in grad school, I actually took students abroad and it was like their first time out the country to Trinidad and Tobago.
Raya:So Wow.
Alieshia:Just being able to like, share those experiences and like having people see new things I took. I didn't like take her like pay for her, you know, but I invited to go to Mexico with me and it was her first time out the country too, and she loved it. She enjoyed it. And now she's like, she wants to go back to Mexico and everything like that too.
Raya:I love that. You reminded me, I watched this, this show on Disney plus, I can't remember what it's called, but it's telling the story of basically how black people traveled during like 1960s, fifties, and basically she was saying the type of thing that you're saying, that it's this myth that black people don't travel but a lot of times it's a safety issue because you don't know where it's safe to go.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm.
Raya:And you find yourself in the sundown town where you don't wanna be at night. And so they made this thing called a green book. They listed out all the places where you could stay, where you could eat, where you could do different things that were safe for black people to do. It's so great to see black people out here traveling, living life like it's golden and just broadening our horizons.
Alieshia:I think I know who you're talking about. I think I know what show you're talking about cuz there was a, there was like a, it was called like a black book before or something like that, but the lady that did the green book, her name was like Martinique Lewis or something like that.
Raya:Yes. Hold on, I have to look it up cuz that's gonna drive me crazy. Hold on.
Alieshia:Yeah, I followed her on Facebook.
Raya:Okay. It's called Black Travel Across America. So if y'all wanna check it out.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm. Some of those still are like, I wouldn't say like relevant, but some of those black books, those travel books are still out cuz when I went to Dallas, they even showed it and they're like, yeah one Monument place I went to, it was kind of like a Y M C A. People would go here because it was safe and it was in the black travel book. So like black people knew that they could go there.
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:It's just really crazy. And sad, like the times that they actually had to like look at a book to be like, I can only go here. I can only go here. And so this is why of course it's still not as safe, but this is why you should be able to, you know, go and see the world because we always didn't have those privileges.
Raya:So, yeah, of course. And it's also like, I think in my case, there's always been that fear of travel, traveling abroad or solo travel because I haven't seen a lot of people that look like me do it. Mm-hmm so platforms like yours, platforms like the lady that does the black travel across America is so beneficial and I think a lot of, like I mentioned, my cousin, he has a daughter and she came down here a couple weeks ago and like her and her mom were on the plane, and these people were like, wow. Like she's so, she's so ready for travels. Like she, she just sits back and she got her little, her little phone and just be chilling. And her mom was like, yeah, she travels all the time. And it's like being able to provide those types of experiences for our kids.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm.
Raya:As well. To make it normal. Yeah. Uhhuh, I was like, she, it's normal to her.
Alieshia:Yeah.
Raya:So it's like if a kid can do it, if a three-year-old, surely I could get on a plane. Yeah. So I also saw that you went on your first solo trip. I would love to know more about that. Where'd you go? What'd you do?
Alieshia:Yes. So funny thing is that I went on my first solo trip, but it was not really supposed to be a solo trip. So it kind of had twists and turns and I just had to like pivot and think about it. And honestly it was kind of really, I. It wasn't scary, but it was kind of scary. And I don't wanna sound like this cuz you know, solo travel really, really gets a buzz. But I also want people to know that there is cons to solo traveling as well. But we won't start there. But in 2018, I believe, or 2019, I can't even remember the year I went to Dallas, but what happened was, like me, I was supposed to go with my cousin, but then last minute she couldn't make it. But I already bought my flight and I already had my Airbnb, so I was like, well, I'm still gonna go. Mm-hmm. But I didn't have a car. And that's the thing that I really feel like messed me up because that's when a lot of, like that human trafficking stuff was going on, they were talking about like, yeah, no Ubers and stuff like that really check your license plate, really? Check this, check that. That just had me on like a frenzy, you know? But luckily, I had a friend that lived out there, so I hung out with her for a couple days. I knew this other lady that was out there, so she kind of like took me around and stuff like that. I did do a couple of things, but it was like more in the daytime but at nighttime I was in the house.
Raya:Oh yeah. Period.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm. So I did a little bit spicy and I did take an Uber, but I was. On my little, I was on that Uber app like, okay, is this the right one? Is this the right one? Like you know, you check that license played out. Yes, yes.
Raya:Be like your name Ralph. Alright.
Alieshia:Okay. This license play, XW Z, whatever. Okay. Boom.
Raya:Hyundai. Okay.
Alieshia:Okay. I was not getting in no car, like I was not, so that's the scary part of solo travel. Now I feel like people really don't talk about it. They're like, you get freedom, you get this, you get that. And not that I felt unsafe, but it was just everything on social media that you see going places and being in an unfamiliar town. That's why I would suggest to get a car. So when I went to Tampa, actually kind of on my solo trip, I rented a car. So, but that was the thing too, was like first budget is really why people don't solo travel cuz it's expensive. But I always think that you should get you a rental car when you are a solo traveling so you can move out and you don't have to wait and have to look, try to get an Uber and you know, it's like late, you can't go nowhere. It's just like all that security, especially as like a woman in general and then like a black woman. Mm-hmm. So, Yeah, that would be my tips, is to get a rental car if you are gonna be solo traveling. But of course, if you're in another country, sometimes you can't get rental cars. But also, I would just say like, stay on the resort.
Raya:Oh yeah. Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:Do group trips. Yeah. Like
Raya:I, I've been wanting to do like a solo trip, but I feel like I gotta know somebody in the vicinity, like
Alieshia:mm-hmm.
Raya:At least somebody gotta be up the road.
Alieshia:Yeah, definitely. Cuz it's, it is kind of scary, but also I would say if you do wanna do a solo trip, so I did do my first, first solo trip to Nashville. That was by myself in a hotel and that was somewhere I could drive to. So I'm gonna say if you wanna do a so trip like that, that could be better. Where it's like a bigger city right next to you where it's just a couple hours so you can kind of feel safe if anything was to happen, you can call your family quick and don't go so far away. Or even trying with like a day trip, like if you could drive an hour somewhere.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:It kinda like a solo trip. It's just like a day trip, but you're doing for the solo. You know, just to build that confidence and build that awareness and kind of like build yourself up to like, you don't have to go. Everybody's, I take a solo trip to Jamaica, like you don't have to go all the way out to the nice country. You don't, you don't have to do that. That's a lot. Customs and people like, just go to the next city over, go to the next state over. Just something in your comfort zone so that you can get familiar with even being by yourself, going somewhere, you know what I'm saying? Like,
Raya:yes. That's the, I be ragging so much on social media on this podcast, but one more thing about it, it's just social media makes you think that everybody is going out to the other side of the world when they solo travel. Mm-hmm. Like sometimes they just be driving up the road and going to explore a new city within their state.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm.
Raya:That they have not looked at yet.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm.
Raya:Or haven't tried this restaurant yet, or something like that. So. It's like the social media paints this false narrative that I have to go buy a ticket to Greece right now. Yeah. It's, you know, you haven't even seen all of Virginia or Georgia or wherever you're at, like
Alieshia:mm-hmm.
Raya:Go up the street.
Alieshia:Small. Yeah. Like start small. Do some day trips. Yeah, you don't have to do too much. And then also if you have a friend in another state over or something like that, I know like some cities like California is a big state, you know? Florida, Texas, you know, so say, you know somebody in a bigger city, so you technically are going solo. But you're going to go meet somebody. That's technically a solo trip. You're gonna go have lunch with somebody. So you are familiar with somebody in that area. You're not gonna go have dinner by yourself, but you're still driving to that area and you can sightsee and do whatever you want until you meet up for dinner with them. You know, just start small.
Raya:Yeah. I love that advice. Mm-hmm. So I'm going to pivot a little bit, okay. And start talking about the Millennial Thoughts podcast. Tell us more about why did you start it and what are your goals for it?
Alieshia:So I started it in 2018, so this year will be my five year anniversary.
Raya:Ooh, congratulations.
Alieshia:Thank you so much. I started it really for it to be a voice for millennials. I graduated undergrad, I went straight to grad school.
Raya:What year did you graduate? I'm sorry.
Alieshia:2017 with my undergrad in 2019 with my master's. Oh, okay.
Raya:I went in to come to undergrad in 2017.
Alieshia:Into undergrad. I'm cracking up. Yes. Ooh. I'm kind of old now. You know, we,
Raya:no, never old. Mm-hmm. We just get wiser and finer with time.
Alieshia:I like that. Yes. But yeah, so I started it because first I was like, social media's a distraction. I need to do my work. Then I started listening to podcasts and it was like these two older ladies, which I don't know if y'all know Getting Grown with Jade and Keia, that's a podcast, but they were like late thirties, so I was like, okay, they have a space where they're talking about different things. Then Black Girl Therapy with Joy Harden or something like that. The therapist.
Raya:I know what you're talking about.
Alieshia:Yeah. Listen to her. And so I was like, okay, they have these spaces for women to talk about like whatever they're going on in life. And I was like, I feel like millennials, we get bad reps because like, they're like, oh, go to school. Go to school, get a job, get a job, go. And it's like, what? Then you like go to grad school. Go and I'm like, I keep, I'm going to the school and this is not what I'm feeling, like this is not what I want to do. So I really started for the voice for millennials and to talk about what goes on in society and how it affects us. Now over the years, it's kind of changed and went different places and stuff so I'm trying to bring it back, but really it's a voice to talk about different things that affect millennials. And then also just talking about different issues in a sense of like, we talked about like politics, we talked about traveling, we talked about starting a business and different things like that. I really feel like it's really important. I already kind of had the YouTube channel and so I know I wanted like to be an interviewer and this could be a great way for me to start my podcast and just get my voice out there to meet people, to talk to people. And then also, just trying to educate and help other people, who else feels like this or who else is going through this? So that's really why I started my podcast. Just to really like be a voice and talk about different topics that I felt like weren't really talked about in school or in your family, but like, kind of like in your friend circles sometimes.
Raya:Yes. That's so beneficial because I don't know how to do many financial things that school should have taught me and mm-hmm. And it's so helpful to hear from like, people who are my age and I don't know if I'm, I really don't wanna call myself Gen Z cuz I'm just not. I'm gonna call myself a millennial. Whether my age lines up with that, I don't care. It's so beneficial to hear from people who already are looking into entrepreneurship, looking into travel, feeling out how you feel about politics. and things like that. Because you have so many like different topics that you cover, how do you balance your creative pursuits with travel and the Millennial Thoughts podcast, working, and just life in general?
Alieshia:Yeah. To piggyback on what you said about them not teaching that to you in high school though, is cuz they don't want you to know, just wanted to add that. They don't want you to know about credit. They don't want you to know about how to create an income for yourself.
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:They don't want you to know all that stuff so they can keep you in careers and so that you can work and then work and work and work and die and then you don't have anything. That's just,
Raya:it's just gatekeeping information.
Alieshia:Yes, yes. They, they always gate keep. But to your next question, it is hard. It is definitely hard. So, as you know, you know that I moved and I, um, moved again and I like did a lot of different things. And so I would say that it is definitely kind of, It's hard to have your hands in multiple pots. And I learned that. And then that's why some of the times, some of my creativity stuff just goes to the wayside. Cause of course I have to have a nine to five to live because of course we gotta pay bills, you know? Mm-hmm. So my creative side never goes away, but now I just put it in buckets and what I can like, manage and stuff like that. So right now I am actually heavily into like writing. That's kind of what I'm focused on. I'm focused on like writing a short film, writing a story, writing a book, you know, so right now I'm like, that's what's in my mode. I'm doing my podcast right now. This is my season eight, and we just did a relocation series, so it started in January and it ends in May, but I started pre-planning for that, like early January, early December and November of last year is when I was doing my interviews, you know?
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:So I get that time back cause I'm not doing interviews, so I kind of do little pockets. I can focus now on my YouTube channel. I have a whole bunch of content on my YouTube channel cause I'm not recording as much anymore. I'm able to put out content. So it's just different pockets. And of course, I mean, I'm not balling, so I don't travel all the time, so that's really why I had to even add something because I'm not traveling like all these girls on TikTok. So traveling is just like an extra thing that I get to do. I try to travel once a month, but always, it doesn't be working like that. And so I would say that I have buckets and I have different times where I'm able to really pour into it. Like I really wanna get back into my blog. I started my blog in 2020 but it's just something that I really can't keep up. So also I just give myself grace cause I know I'm working on other things and I try to really repurpose my content. So on my YouTube channel, I'll put that on my blog. My podcast. I know that some people definitely have been OGs and listening the whole entire time, but some new people, like on my YouTube channel, they might not even know I have a podcast. So, you know, you could start your YouTube channel and put your podcast on there.
Raya:Yeah, see, I've been going back and forth with video.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm.
Raya:And like you, I don't, I don't think I have the the time to like edit video or if I were to just put the audio up there.
Alieshia:Oh yes. That's definitely what I do. Just put the audio up there. I haven't got the video yet. It's just audio. People still listen to it. And that's a whole different audience. Because one thing about podcasting, I will say is hard, is that it goes into iTunes, it goes into your, uh, podcasting platforms, but they either have to know the title or they have to know you. You can search something, but it's not always gonna come up. But that's also why I was strategic on naming my podcast, because when they search something millennial, it's going to come up, you know?
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:But with YouTube, if they put in a question, if they put in something like that, your topic may come up on YouTube and that'll be your podcast. So that's the reason why I'm doing my podcast on my YouTube channel as well, but I just haven't had the time to put it on there. But yes, I would say repurposing too. And then now that TikTok came out with short form content, you can post it on there, you can post clips and stuff on there. Repurposing really does help. I've done it a little bit especially with my TikTok videos, I'm putting them on YouTube and that is really how I'm gaining all these views because the YouTube shorts are doing really, really well. So I would say repurposing is really a good thing that I really have did this year. Um, and then also just having content buckets and hiring help, I would say. So now I have a podcast manager and I had a graphic designer so that I didn't have to put all my hands in the pot, all my hands in all these different pots, I feel like hiring help is really, really great. So that is how I would, you know, say I'm able to do all the things. Wow. I try to do all the things
Raya:Now you giving me ideas? Okay.
Alieshia:Yeah. I hire some people. Sometimes it's, it's just not enough time of the day.
Raya:Yeah. It's, it's really not. And after I get home from work, after five o'clock, Yeah. You think I'm opening Canva? You have lost your mind.
Alieshia:Okay. Yes. Like no, I can't do it. Yeah. And that's another thing too, because if you think about these freelancers and stuff like that, these high hustlers, they do it during the day so they have more time. Yeah. Cause they're doing investor income. And also within that, I will talk a little bit about time management. To kind of get over that, like coming home and being tired and exhausted. You kind of gotta do things when you do it. So if that's you waking up early to do it, I know I work really, really good in the mornings, afternoons, evenings I'm done for.
Raya:Honestly.
Alieshia:But also I sometimes my last job I had an hour lunch break, so half of my lunch break I would eat, and then the other half I would work on content. I would post things, I would create things. So I really like used my time. And then, um, there was downtime at that job. You know, I created flyers. I was doing interviews, I did an interview on my lunch break before, like yeah, you gotta do what you gotta do. You gotta make your time work for you cuz you only have so much time. People say you have all the time, but you really don't have that much time. Yeah. It's like when you think about it, I worked eight to five mm mm-hmm.
Raya:And about eight hours of my life is sleep because I need that. Okay. When I go to work, and that's already 16 hours. It's only eight more hours. I only got time to eat dinner and go to bed.
Alieshia:Like, yeah, ok, yeah. Then they want you to work out. They want you to do this. Do. It's like grocery shop, meal prep, cook like I do not have the time.
Raya:And have a social life. I'm like, y'all, I will. I will see y'all sometime. Y'all gonna have to call me.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm. Okay. Yes. It's just hard.
Raya:And hiring people supports other creatives, so, mm-hmm. I say do it. But you touched on moving and one of your most popular videos on YouTube is talking about relocation and how much you hate Atlanta. So let's talk about it. Why do you have Atlanta?
Alieshia:So, first I wanna say why it's viral is because Facebook. I went viral on Facebook cuz there was this post about Atlanta. And I was like, it's not really what it is. Like, it's not nice. People was like, I love Atlanta, I love Atlanta. I'm okay, that's fine. But it like, got over so many shares, people was commenting. So I put my YouTube link, I'm like, y'all wanna know why I put it in there? And it just started, like, people just started watching and watching and watching and watching it. And then that went into the algorithm on YouTube. So people were like posting, posting, posting, posting, posting. Like it was just going, going, going. Like, my goal was like 5k, now I'm at like 6,300. I wanted to get ooh. So we gonna see how it goes. But if you did not watch that video, you should watch the video about why I hate Atlanta. But most importantly, that video was really a strategic video because I know everybody is moving to Atlanta. I know everybody likes Atlanta. Everybody wants to know about Atlanta. So I did an Atlanta series, which a lot of my other stuff didn't get that many views, but I did an Atlanta apartment hunting tour. I did an Atlanta, like what to do, where to go. So I knew Atlanta was a popping topic and that's why.
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:And when I moved in there, 2020 people was moving, moving, moving. So that's really why I did that video. But I'm not ever going to lie to people. I'm like, oh yeah, I love Atlanta. You know? No I don't. So, so I'm gonna say, well, I hate it. And that's true, and I hate Atlanta, which people say, you shouldn't say that. Well, I would say I hate living in Atlanta. Honestly. I hate living in Atlanta. First of all, it's too expensive. I think you need two income household. Secondly, everybody's moving for opportunities and they're like, it's more money. It's more my opportunities like, but my first job I applied for, one of the first jobs I applied for. She's like, oh, hey, you got an interview? And I'm like, okay, when is it? She's like, oh, I don't know. There's been, there's over 300 applicants, 300 people. It's too many people in there trying to get the same job. So therefore it's not that many opportunities. It's way more people than it is opportunities.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:If you try to networking when you network, they're like, oh, what's your Instagram? What's your Instagram? And they try to follow you on Instagram, and if you don't have many followers, they don't talk to you and stuff like that. It's like, girl, Instagram is fake to me personally. Like it's not fake, but you know, it could be fake, you know? Mm-hmm. And so it's like they worry about that, then it's so expensive to park, they wanna charge you. Then you, when you go out, you gotta get a section, you got a RSVP, like that club called life, it's not in. Everybody wants to say they're doing something, but they be scamming and they be, um, living with no furniture. And I'm not saying that you can't have furniture, but like, don't be on Instagram like, oh, I live in this luxury apartment, and you ain't even got no furniture up in there.
Raya:That's cause it all went to the rent.
Alieshia:All went to the rent. Yeah. And it's like, and this is no shade, all like YouTube or somebody that they're moving, they're making it popular and stuff like that and it's raising the rent and people are coming and people are moving and it's like, it's getting too crazy, but they get all this money, you know? And on the daily, everybody doesn't really get all this money.
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:So it's getting over expensive for what they're even offering. There was literally like square footage rule. I don't really know. It's like 600 to 700 square foot and it, they really was going for like$2,000 for 700 square foot? I think not, no, I'm not doing that. And so, yeah, it's just really over, it is over hyped because of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, which they don't even live in Atlanta. Real Housewives of Atlanta, they don't even live in Atlanta. They just like, they live on the outskirts of it. And yeah, they live on the outskirts of it. Traffic, I wasn't really too mad about, cause I know a lot of people live there, whatever. But it was just like, okay, you go here and then the service is horrible. I'm paying$40. You towing, you, I gotta get valet parking. And then I come and the food is nasty and the service is horrible. Like, no. It's not that southern hospitality. Mm-hmm. So there are just a couple of reasons that I hated living in Atlanta, and I don't live there no more. So,
Raya:Oh, where do you live now?
Alieshia:I actually relocated to, I didn't tell nobody yet, but I guess
Raya:Oh, oh, not me getting the inside scoop. Wait.
Alieshia:Yeah. But it's really not too much. I really moved back home, honestly. I moved back home so I'm based in Kentucky now.
Raya:Okay.
Alieshia:But I do have another that I really want to go to, but I don't know when I'm gonna move there. But yeah, I decided to move back home because one, I. I couldn't even create in Atlanta, like you are so focused on paying bills, I'm trying to get a new job and then you don't really have a community and it's crazy cuz right when I was about to move I was like kind of when I was trying to build my community, but it's like, Is it worth it or not? But you know, you have student loans coming back, rent increasing and your pay is not increasing. It's literally, it was like, I cannot afford to live here and I'm not going to be depressed be like, oh, I live in Atlanta so, but I'm over here struggling and I'm not doing that. Like, I'm not doing that. So I just relocated. I relocated at home where I kind of increased my pay and decreased my expenses. So, It's working for me and I'm able to hire people. I'm able to pull more into my business and I'm able to buy different things to start somewhere because people really be YouTube or stuff like that. They start in their house. You know, it don't really matter where you're going in a sense, for real, what you're doing, as long as the content is good. So I can be in Atlanta all day, but if I can't even make the content, if I can't even get in the mental space to make it, what am I doing there?
Raya:Yeah.
Alieshia:You know, so, and also I figured that it wasn't really great for my profession cause I wanna write. Like TV screenwrite, you know, like TV shows and books and stuff like that. And that's really not really what is good for Atlanta. And this is a tip to creatives. So, when you're looking at where you wanna go to, you gotta kind of know the industry. So I moved to Atlanta cause I was like, oh, okay. I was a content creator. I could do media, I could do this or whatever, but. When people think about media, they always think about Love and Hip Hop and stuff like that. Interviewing celebrities. I don't really care to interview celebrities. I don't really wanna do that. Everybody wants to do that. Everybody wanna ask'em questions? I don't care. Cuz sometimes celebrities aren't even that interesting. You just know them because they acted. And I'm not trying to be rude in a sense. no, there are, There's so many people trying to interview them. It's just like, you're just like a number. You know? I wanna interview people that's making an impact and that's going to help people further along. But also when you think about Atlanta, like people are moving there for film, people are moving there for acting. It's good if you wanna act. It's good if you wanna do film and it can be good for entrepreneurship too, and you can make your own money, you can do that but what they're paying? Georgia's minimum wage? It's like still 7 25, but it's$1,500 rent.
Raya:I don't know how people are surviving.
Alieshia:They're not, if you're an entrepreneur, it's really, really good there, you know? But you gotta think like LA is good for film, is good for tv, New York is good for, you know, modeling and it's good for writing so you gotta kind of know as being a creative. Miami is good for a couple different things, you know you gotta move on where your industry is going so everybody can be like, yeah, Atlanta. Atlanta. But if that's not your lane like within your creativity, then you don't need to go there. That may not be where your creativity is gonna do the best. The creative cities I have seen is LA, that's one of my favorite cities. I feel like it is so creative. Miami is nice too. I don't really think it's as creative, but Atlanta didn't give creative to me. It just gave big town, not even big town, big city, just gave me skyscrapers. It wasn't really creative to me, and it wasn't really like people worked together to create different things, you know? So I would suggest that to creatives if they are looking to move, if they wanna move somewhere, move intentionally on where you want to go for your career. And at first I was all down for Atlanta. I never really wanted to move to Atlanta. I was just down for it cuz a couple other people I know that moved there. There was podcasters, content creators. I was like, oh, okay. I wanna be one. We're in a pandemic. I'm not doing anything else. I'm definitely not getting a job where I'm at now. And I'm also moved for more opportunity because my master's in higher education. There's more colleges out there and everything like that. But how I was just saying that. More colleges, more people, less opportunity. Yeah. So that was a long spiel. I know, but I hope someone
Raya:No, I enjoyed it. Yeah. Like it's, it's so interesting that the cities that people view to have the most opportunities are the most expensive. Like LA you try to get a house out there, you are struggling. Mm-hmm. New York struggling. Mm-hmm. And. It's like, is there like a second best? Like, like if I can't go to New York, where can I go that's cheaper and also has those creative opportunities that I want?
Alieshia:Now I feel like it's kind of getting better cuz they're like, oh, go to Charlotte. Oh go to Dallas. Oh, go to Houston.
Raya:Oh yeah. Charlotte is definitely popping up as one of the go places and plus North Carolina super cheap.
Alieshia:Yeah. But Charlotte is not, but I'm trying to hurry up and go to Raleigh before they try to get too expensive.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:I wanna visit it though, but I'm like, dang, let me hurry up. But you already know, it's just, yeah.
Raya:But I think in this climate we're in, everything is expensive.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm. At this point. Yes. Everything is, it's really crazy. It's really sad. Like where's the hope for us? We can't get no house on our own.
Raya:We can't!
Alieshia:They sold us a dream. That's why you gotta do whatever. Get a job, go to school, get a job, get a nice house. How?
Raya:How are we supposed to do that?
Alieshia:Y'all didn't talk about interest loans and how interest acquires on your loans. No, we just have to learn that one.
Raya:You gotta have the good credit in order to go buy the house and to get good credit, you gotta spend money. See, it's all just a catch 22.
Alieshia:Literally. Okay. So high. But they be like, get a a higher credit score. How?
Raya:Make it make sense?
Alieshia:Okay, you gonna be spending all this money. I ain't got none. The jobs aren't paying. Yeah. So, yeah. That's crazy.
Raya:Yeah but you be out here, you'd be going to a whole different events and everything getting your name out there. So what are some networking tips that you can give creatives that are receiving or want to receive new opportunities?
Alieshia:So first I would say, like you said, going to events. I did download Meetup, and I did go into Facebook again and I used Facebook groups.
Raya:Okay.
Alieshia:And that is kind of how I met people. Instagram is kind of good to meet people too. It's kind of harder to meet people. That's kind of like when you are already out, you meet them or whatever. But I would say Facebook groups, meet up groups are the best ones. And just finding different creative groups and stuff like that throughout those. And then just going to those events. Sometimes Instagram will pop up with different things that are going on depending on where you know, where you're located at. see, cuz when I moved to Atlanta, I knew a couple of people, like I had a job and then I kind of just like talked to my coworkers and different things like that. and then I just started hanging out with them but I would definitely say even going on YouTube, like, because there's a lot like what to do in this city, what to do in that city like there's gonna be so much content about that. now you can go on TikTok, like where to go, what to do.
Raya:Mm-hmm.
Alieshia:But in order to build your community, I would suggest going into the Facebook groups first and seeing what's out there, seeing what's going on and joining, like networking groups. That's how I would say to get your foot out there. Then just going to events and then talking to people.
Raya:What is Meetup? I don't think I've heard of this app before.
Alieshia:Oh, you never heard of Meetup?
Raya:No, I don't think so.
Alieshia:Meetup is like, you could have a meetup group. Like my mentor, he has a meetup group. It's like young professionals in his city and like people, the person has to pay for the meetup group, but everybody else don't have to pay for the meetup group, but they can see it. And there's like, you can post events and they'll give an age range and it does gender. It could do age range, gender, and it could even do race, is what I was trying to say. So if it wants to be like black women writers, you can join that. You know, It'll ask like what your interests are and different things like that and stuff will pop up and it's free.
Raya:I didn't know that was a thing.
Alieshia:Yeah, it, yeah. Call. Yes. You should definitely write that down. That is what I would suggest doing. And then like I said, Facebook events. And then even if you go on, I don't really use Twitter too much, but I know people do use Twitter but you can like hashtag just like a city and just like see what's going on up in that city. Oh. And then also Bumble, but you can do Best Friends app and that's how you can meet people. So you can like, okay, find some girlfriends or whatever you wanna do. Mm-hmm. You could do that way too.
Raya:I tell you, I am learning so much.
Alieshia:Oh yes. I forgot. My friend told me about Bumble. like when I moved, I said, okay, lemme try it. And I actually met this girl and we were like hanging out. That's actually who I took to Mexico with me.
Raya:Okay. Making connections.
Alieshia:Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. So that's what I would suggest doing that.
Raya:All right. Well we are nearing the end of this podcast and it's been a joy having you.
Alieshia:Oh, thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed it. I had so much fun too.
Raya:Yeah. So my final question for you, what excites you about creativity in your own life?
Alieshia:Oh, yes, great question. So I think what excites me about creativity is just doing things that I wanna do, but it seems like things that I want to see and being able to share it. So that's creativity. I'm like, oh my gosh, I wanna go here. I wanna go do this. So being able to go and like travel, for instance, being able to go and just see something like that excites me to be, to be creative, cuz it's like, oh my gosh, I wanna see this. And it's like, I can create it and I can like post it, you know, on social media, something like that. But just not creating for social media in a sense, but it's just like, oh, I can go, I can write something, I can do it. but It's always about like inspiration, like inspiring people. It's about representation and different things like that. So that's my answer.
Raya:I love that answer. Well go ahead and tell the people how they can see you, how they can connect with you.
Alieshia:Yes. Okay. So you can connect with me on Instagram and YouTube at Alieshia's Adventures. It is a L I E S H I A S. Okay. And then if you come on Twitter, you know it's, uh, it's okay over there, but it is Queen Leisha, I think. Yeah. And that's L I E S H I A. TikTok is also Alieshia's Adventures. I'm gonna try and think where else. Oh, if you wanna check out a blog, I do have the travel stuff on there. That's Alieshia's adventures.com. My podcast, Millennial Thoughts podcast. I almost forgot. Yeah. You know?
Raya:Yeah, definitely plugged the podcast.
Alieshia:Yes, it's on Instagram and we are talking about relocating, but we have seasons on money, travel, and everything like that so you can always go back, you know, to listen to the other episodes that'll be really, really great and beneficial. And I'm launching a new product this year, so make sure you stay tuned and follow me so you can, you know. Be the first one to know about the product that I'm launching.
Raya:Ooh, I'm excited about it.
Alieshia:Thank you for letting me come and join. It's been great.
Raya:I hope you all enjoyed this episode of the Sheer Creativity Podcast. I know I enjoyed talking to Alieshia so make sure you guys are following her and also follow Sheer Creativity on Instagram at Sheer Creativity, and y'all I finally came up with a name for the newsletter. Make sure that you're signed up for Thoughts Previously Unwritten, which is a newsletter that I write bimonthly to tell you guys all about whatever's on my mind at the moment. So make sure that you're signed up for that to go to your email, and I will see you guys next week.
