EAP 196: Breaking Cycles, Building Community - How Cassaundra Burks Turned Adversity into Assignment

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Kimi Walker here and welcome back to the next episode of the

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Early Accountability Podcast.

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Today we welcome a very special guest.

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We have Cassandra Burks, who is a civil right activist, an entrepreneur,

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the first black female Republican candidate for Georgia House District 64.

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Also a mother and a wife.

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Right, and just multi everything she.

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We doing some of everything of multifaceted right.

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Yes, but very much known for her extensive community service.

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And just giving back in a lot of different dimensions and domains of wellness.

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So Cassandra has a very unique journey, like we said, a wife and a mother, and

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she has dedicated herself to advocating for her community and enhancing

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government transparency and trust.

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So Cassandra, thank you so much for coming to the show.

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Why don't you, first, let's just start off by, tell us how you got where you are now.

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Tell us a little bit more about you.

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I think you have such a phenomenal bio and background and it's now

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tell us a little bit more how you evolved to who you are today.

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Oh, absolutely.

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I grew up rough, right?

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And I know a lot of people like to say I grew up rough, but I fell victim

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to the system, I was at statistic.

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I had a father didn't have a mother, single family home.

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I grew up in the suburbs, so not really rough, but just

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the fam the family structure.

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I became a felon and I was faced with a choice after I became a felon.

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Was I going to get my life together or was I gonna spiral outta control?

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So what I decided to do was get my life together.

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So over 10 years, working on 13, 14 years.

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Of just reevaluate myself daily, right?

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Reevaluating my mind, my goals, my mission, and my purpose, and

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making sure that I'm aligned with the goals of those around me.

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And I center myself around people who are valued in their community,

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who see value in their community.

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And this is what led to my activism, right?

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And so through my activism I got involved in healthcare and wanting to just be that

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piece and that happiness for other people.

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Some people say it could have been, because I didn't have that coming up, and

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so I felt some need in my adulthood to overcompensate for other people's sadness.

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And maybe that is true, but whatever that causes, I find joy in doing it right?

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And it's not unmanageable, so to speak, so I give freely now.

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I volunteer and these are the makings of me.

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That's my story.

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Someone who's come from that mindset of being a victim of

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society, of my environment.

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Because mentally you have to be strong enough to withhold that, right?

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And with so many people suffering mentally at one in three persons from a, from

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some sort of emotional crisis, right?

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And we all have different backgrounds.

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We've all seen things, we could have been out in the store just shopping

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and bam, we've seen something now.

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So we've all experienced things as a community, even COVID

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alone, having to be alone.

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Wear a face mask, those things, these things impact us and we don't

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oftentimes talk about them 'cause we have to be bold and bad people.

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And so I felt victim to those different types of emotions at

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a young age from things that were going on in my environment.

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And I didn't know how to get out of those.

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But I found a way to reach young ladies, right?

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Young ladies who were just like me, 16 younger, and help them

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find meaning in their lives.

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And so when I advocate even in politics, I'm specifically thinking about the

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future of those young people because ultimately this is their, this is going

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to be their world when we are gone.

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And I think about it and especially dealing with afterlife companions

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where, I'm a death doula and I deal with so much death.

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I think about the value of life and how we can't get it back.

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Everything we love, we're gonna lose.

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That's something that we don't think about in the day-to-day basis and going

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on and trying to just relate to everybody in society is the fact that, hey, listen

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we actually are gonna lose all of this.

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And in the big scheme of things, when we're older, when we lose our

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beauty and when our limbs start to give out, we are basic down, we're

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boiled down to who we are, just to who we are or who this person was.

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And so who we are in our character.

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Means the most to me.

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And so that's why I'm able to, deal with so much death and deal

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in politics with so many complaints and so much dissatisfaction and

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still find peace and happiness.

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So that's my journey and that's my story.

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Wow.

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It's a lot.

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This is, this is great.

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Actually, I didn't even know a lot of this.

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Let's start with, I have a couple of different prongs I wanna talk about.

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Here,

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And I do wanna say I, if it's okay with you, I do wanna mention, I

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do wanna mention the fact that, okay, so I'm no longer a felon,

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obviously I have federal clearance.

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But I did what I had to do.

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I wasn't pardoned.

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I waited my years.

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I applied, I was able to show that in my community, I was

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doing what I needed to do.

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I was able to prove education all these different things that I needed

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to prove and in a state where they don't typically give second chances.

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You may see out of the state some pardons and that's presidential, right?

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But you very rarely see instances where there's clemency or not clemency,

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where there's set asides or where there's expungements from this state.

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So I just want to add and throw that in.

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'cause some people may have been you got easy No, I didn't.

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I to the very end, I worked hard and still am, on just daily reaffirming,

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affirming to myself who I am and keeping the mindset of I'm not gonna

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fall victim to my environment again.

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How did you get into politics?

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I was in college and before that I was in politics just doing, field organizing,

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knocking doors for a private entity and making phone calls for an entity and.

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A place called Sandy Springs.

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It's a city in Georgia.

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And I was calling for, I was nonpartisan didn't matter who I was, but I

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dealt with them for several years.

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And then when I went to college, majored in biology I'd met some this

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guy and some other people who were, campaigning outside on grounds.

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They were all connected to T-P-U-S-A, all these different organizations.

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And so I got involved that way and for years, I came in, I've become a chairwoman

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at a college university of West Georgia.

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I become a chairwoman of, I initiate one of the first black programs to the

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Republican party called Campaign Cultured.

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It was for minority.

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It was a minority committee incentive to bring on minority candidates to

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run on the Republican ballot with a central focus of black districts.

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I was one of the.

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First people, the only people in the state of Georgia to do that.

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And since I've stepped down from that seat, they've taken that culture away.

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But that was something that was very rare.

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You don't typically see that out here.

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So I just wanna bask in that, that's how far we've come and that's

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how far we've yet still to go.

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You were so a big thing here on Early Accountability Podcast too.

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We talk a lot about, visibility.

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And whether it's our goals or ambitions, whether you're personally personal,

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excuse me, personal or professional.

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So you are the first black female Republican to run for the

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State House seat in District 64.

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Now, is it true that district is has been described as predominantly democrat?

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Absolutely.

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So it's we're talking about predominantly if, like all capital.

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Predominantly Democrat area.

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And I ran boldly.

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And this is one thing I'm dealing with an organization called

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the Veteran Social Circle.

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I'm sitting on the board with some very great veterans, right?

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Very great veterans and in society we often joke about this, that,

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when they go to where they come back and there's benefits for

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them, but the people like, us like.

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Politicians and people involved in the political realm, there's no

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benefit for the mental wellbeing and things that we have to go through.

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And but yes that's one of the things that I actually, you know endured was

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out here running and I ran strong.

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And I'm telling you, I gave it all I had and we lost.

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This race.

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But I do wanna say that there's some ideals and there's some things within the

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Republican party that definitely needs to change in support of the minority culture.

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There's a lot of calling out of the black communities.

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You guys grow up this, and bringing out the fact that certain federal

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initiatives were created to disrupt the black communities and that they

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succeeded because now the black father is, out of the home and these

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statistics and everything you can't just

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poke at the bear, right?

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So you have to, if we're gonna talk about the issue, then we

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have to bring solutions, otherwise we're just making fun of, right?

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And so I'm one of those Republicans who, I guess you could call me a

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whistleblower because I'm like, these are our minority individuals.

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They're still a part of America society.

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And we think about the debt that we've recruited even today.

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Our younger people, our future generations are the ones that

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are gonna have to pay off.

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The majority of the brunt of this debt.

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So we think about the debt that we are paying off as a minority

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citizens in this country.

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It accrued from mostly the debt that we did not have an input on, we're carrying

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the brunt from a time where we weren't even able to input into the workforce.

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We were just being allowed to work.

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And so these are the things that we have to take in.

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Consideration and I'm well aware of within my bounds, even within the Republican

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party, like we have black Republicans and all of these things, and it's okay to have

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black Republicans in that segregation, we talk about the Democrat party.

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So there's some things that I'm noticing and I don't feel like

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me leaving is the solution.

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I feel like me staying here and working with a team of people who are, who say,

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okay, this is an issue and how can we give these people correct representation?

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That's what I'm interested.

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It in 'cause we can run and keep running and it's gonna be the same fight, when

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my children become adults, or we could stay here and we could fight it out

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and we could get to the bottom of this.

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And that's what I'm interested in doing.

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Wow.

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So a big thing too.

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You have consistency is huge.

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Just in reading about you and just learning more about you, I've seen that

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you have over 10,000 hours of community service and in a span of five years.

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This is all while you are a mother, a wife, home, and

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homeschooling your children.

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Okay, this sounds like superwoman.

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So what routines tell us, tell the audience what routines and strategies

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have helped you or even your personal philosophies have helped you, like

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balance, being able to contribute to the community, but also upholding your

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home and your family structure too.

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I will say my husband is he's a strong force because without him, I don't

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know, he helps me care for the kids.

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His mother, my mother-in-law his brother, my father.

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So there's definitely what I call a support system there, right?

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But then on top of that it's just.

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Eating a balanced meal making sure I get exercise and making sure that I'm

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one of those statistics, so I need to go to bed at a decent hour, right?

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And I need to be at mental peace.

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And so I make sure that I get that on my downtime.

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And that's why when you see me, I'm always smiling, right?

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I'm always.

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Energetic, because I take the time to pour into myself just as

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much as I pour into other people.

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And so that's why, I'm a very Dany P person.

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You might see me with makeup or something like that.

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I take care of myself, but I still understand that my being here,

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my existence is to give back.

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And that's what I feel like, my destiny or my cause or my

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purpose for life is to give back.

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And I believe that's the reason why I was able to go through so much.

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I always say that we live.

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Several lives, right?

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We live the life of a younger adult and then from that period where we could have

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messed up or could have got it right, we have the time of adulthood where we could

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learn from that, get it right, get our finances back in order even after having,

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a messed up credit score or whatever.

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And then we have that period where we get to just admire all the

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work that we've done, and just sit back and think like I did that

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these are, the fruits of my labor.

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And so right now, just being in this era or position that I'm in, self-care,

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self-love mental stability, and I try to pour that into not just myself, but

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my children, my husband, and anyone that I come in contact with, right?

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Because that's what keeps us going.

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Energy.

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Okay.

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So I wanna talk I guess I have a different angle.

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'Cause I think you can provide a lot of insight you've done and accomplished

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so much we talk here a lot on the show about starting new endeavors.

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Doing the goal.

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What is it?

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Learn a new language, lose weight, right?

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Travel more, spend more time with family, things like that.

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You ran, you did political, you ran for a house seat.

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Sometimes we have goals and we try to do things and we may not, the results may

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not be what we want or expect, right?

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I want you to talk to us from accountability standpoint of what you

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learned from running for office and like the biggest takeaways you have

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from that and what you would give the audience who have similar aspirations.

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I will say that knowing yourself when you go into politics is important because

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if you don't know yourself and what you.

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Stand for and what you're willing to stand for.

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It's easy to be manipulated and become a pawn in a bigger game of chess, right?

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So that's number one.

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For me, I think that having those heart to heart conversations, right?

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I was I was more focused during my campaign on trying

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to reach key points, right?

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So I'm fighting for this, and this, versus having those heart to heart conversations.

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I wish I would've had more heart to heart conversations with

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my community members because.

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There, and just the every day on a basis of dealing with organizations, I talk

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to them and we have so much in common.

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I have a daughter with autism special needs.

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I'm a mother, I'm someone who has dealt with postpartum depression and

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has been, so afraid to tell people that it ate me up until I just had to

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get help for it, so I've dealt with the, because my daughter was in the

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nicu, she was born early prematurely.

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And so that was one of the things that I had to deal with, and I had

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to realize that was what I was going through, and I dealt with it more on

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a public scale, with people looking in on me and critiquing my every move.

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But, I was suffering inside.

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So I think that taking care of yourself, no matter what it is, whether it's

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politics or whatever, whether it's spiritually, physically, mentally,

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taking care of yourself has to be the ultimate goal because you cannot pour

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into anyone else what you don't have.

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If your cup is empty, you can't pour into someone else's who's.

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Thirst quench for thirst, and so those are the things that I would just say.

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And then as far as me and what I've learned, I believe that it's to have

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more heart to heart conversations because ultimately, I'm not a policy pusher.

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I'm not here to push policy.

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I'm not here to push agendas.

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I'm here to help.

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In any way that I can because I realize that there are not a lot

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of people who care enough too.

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And if there, and sometimes, especially with the suicide rates going up, if

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there's just at least one to three people in a community per city, per

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district, who just care enough to say, I'm here for what you need, as long

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as you're not taking advantage of me, then the world could really become a

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better place, one nation at a time.

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And I know it sounds corny, but it's true.

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Ultimately.

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Talk to us about how, what brought you into like afterlife, like you said, you're

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a you say you're a doula, so you said it's a, is it considered afterlife, doula, or,

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they, it is called a deaf doctor.

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It's a deaf doctor.

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And another, I guess a more sensitive kind of term of usage derived

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years later with a deaf doula.

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But we're still attaching the name deaf on there.

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I was working in hospice care and I had one of my patients

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pass while holding my hand.

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And it was just one of those things where I said, I was

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with her up until the very end.

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I basically just switched fields, right?

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So aside from working and dealing with the hospice care and these things

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where I still have to deal with the doctor more interpersonally, and

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there's all these different rules and regulations and licensure and stuff

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like that, I could deal in this area as.

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Where I can get more personal, I can be more personal, and there's

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less prohibitions regarding, how I can listen to them or,

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the things that we can discuss.

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So I just like that that, kind of freedom to be able to accompany them

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to the funerals and things like that.

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'cause I felt that's where they needed me the most, if they're

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passing away or something like that.

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So I've poured into afterlife companions, like I said.

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And you asked in the beginning of this interview, which gives you the most,

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I would say afterlife, companions.

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I get $4 and 99 cents per minute for just.

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Just speaking with these persons paper cough or just speaking with

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these persons and helping them, and they're willing to do this because

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they understand that there's people out here who care and who want to be here.

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And then they also understand that yes, it, it takes us away from,

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like you said, our children and our families and things like this.

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I just love it.

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I love it.

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It's something I've grown to enjoy just as well as activism,

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so you do talk a lot about, since you talked about like afterlife,

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companions you speak a lot too about people being too early.

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I really proactive about prepping for the day when we won't be here.

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How do you help teach people who, this may be like a taboo subject or

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people don't want to talk about that.

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How do you like coach families into having those uncomfortable

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conversations about transitioning?

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The good thing about it is from this spectrum, versus dealing in ICU or hospice

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or something like that, where they're hoping, that the family member or loved

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one may come back or get better, right?

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There's that hope.

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And a lot of times it's a false sense of hope.

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A lot of times when people contact me, they already know, what we're in for.

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There's is death, and so that helps break that barrier.

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And so just in intake and gathering bits and pieces of information from

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them, I'm able to spark conversation.

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What's something memorable, from a time that you had with this loved one?

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You know what's that memory?

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Sometimes I may have them draw a photo if they're creative

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or artistic and send it to me.

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Let me see a photo and what we could do virtually or in person given, mile radius.

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And sometimes they'll fly me out.

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But those things help spark that conversation, and a lot of times they're

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willing because see people when they're hurting and they know that people

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care, they're willing to speak more.

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Even the most quietest person, if they, if I know that you care, if they know

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that you care, they're gonna talk.

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When they contact me, they know that I care automatically

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off that it's what I do.

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And a lot of them are referrals, nowadays since I've gone on so long doing this.

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And it's just that conversation is always.

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Readily available and accessible.

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Now, there are times where I feel like a person is being a little bit, apprehensive

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and maybe, afraid and holding back.

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But then as we speak, as they loosen up, as they get to know me

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as a person, no judgment, all love.

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I've gone through what you've gone through.

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I'm probably gonna go through what you've gone through because

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I have a husband, I have children and who knows if I don't pass away

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first, who I'm gonna have to lose.

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So let's be here for each other in this moment.

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How do you feel?

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It's okay to cry.

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And sometimes, and this is what I like about this aspect,

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sometimes I cry with them, right?

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And we cry together.

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And we cry together.

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Not just for, their past loved one but also for who else, may pass away.

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And it's a good feeling.

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It's joyful, right?

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And it leaves us all tingly inside.

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And so the conversation is readily available when they reach out, typically.

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Okay.

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So it's like a different it's a different dimension or kind

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of mindset you would say.

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Absolutely.

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It's more welcoming and inviting and it's less offensive.

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You know what I mean?

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It's less, I'm afraid of you.

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What are you thinking?

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I can't say this.

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No, I said you need to cuss.

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Cuss, let's cuss.

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I had one time where you know, a lady after a funeral, she was hurt.

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She found out, her husband.

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Cheated on her.

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And so we, we did some middle finger she called it therapy.

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I called it yoga, where, I had her put up her middle finger and she just flipped

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flipped, flipped until she felt better.

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She flipped and cried and flipped and cried, and I flipped and

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cried at who I was thinking.

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And we just flipped and cried and we felt.

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And we hugged I told her I love her.

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She told me she loved me and she'll keep in contact, even after that,

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I hadn't heard from her recently.

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I don't wanna initiate the reach out, we don't want to harass

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our customers, but, our clients.

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But yeah, so these are the things that we do, and it ultimately,

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it leaves a sensation of joy.

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But it is different.

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It is a little bit weird to those who have never experienced these feelings

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and just let them go in the moment.

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Just let 'em go.

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And so there's stages to acceptance of the things that are happening to you.

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We go through the denial and all these different things, but imagine being able

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to go through that, so fast and you don't even know you're going through it, and

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then bam, now you're able to just live life and you're living life and you're

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moving on every day, and you don't even know how you're doing it, but you're just.

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Doing it right, and so that's what we provide.

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Awesome.

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You do a lot., I don't know how you keep track of all of it.

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You seem like such a busy person.

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It's it is a lot.

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Now, how do you make time just to pause?

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It's 24 hours in a day.

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So I plan very strategically.

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I don't make myself available during times where, I need to be with my family.

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I have intake, I have people who help me, and so that's

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how I create a balance, right?

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So everything needs to be balanced.

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You could eat the junk, but there needs to be balance.

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You could drink, the pop, but there needs to be balance.

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Typically for most persons, now, if you have health issues, that's different.

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So don't go saying that, Cassandra Burks told you to go and drink, pop

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in, you're diabetic and all that.

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No, I'm not telling you to do that.

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I'm just saying there needs to be balance.

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And so I create that balance and facilitate that for

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myself and for my children.

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When it's time for them to go to bed, they're in bed.

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It's time for me, now to be adult, I could work on bylaws, I could work on helping

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establish these things, and so that's why I'm really effective in those areas.

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Just strategically planning and then also making sure that I get sleep.

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'cause I'm a statistic, I need good sleep.

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Like I said, I need a well-balanced meal and I need healthy relationships.

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I can't do foolishness

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oh, that's great.

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Yeah, I understand that completely.

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Cassandra how can the audience like, find out more about you?

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How can they stay, tuned into your journey and see what you're working on?

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You know what you have going for yourself.

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Okay.

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They can always find me on the veteran social circle Instagram, social

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media, all across the platforms as the veteran Social Circle.

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Cassandra Burks.

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Usually there's a hashtag Cassandra Burks somewhere attached to me, so it

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should bring up my face and my voice.

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If nothing else, you hear my voice and say, oh, that's her.

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It's a little bit different.

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And afterlife Companions afterlifecompanions.org.

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Also with Up Given Village, upgivenvillage.com is another

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great nonprofit based out of Douglasville, Georgia.

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They worked well with disability and children and veterans with

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disabilities and helping, them get acclimated to the weather in

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their own homes and communities.

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Just Google.

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You can Google and find out different cool facts, fun facts about me and

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if you can, DM me and tell me some cool, fun facts about you and leave

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your social media handles because this isn't just a one way streak.

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I'm a big supporter of people, so if you do something cool, you

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got a cool craft, let me know.

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I'll feature you on my pages.

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No, I'm not charging because that's crazy for me.

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I don't mind sharing, so just Google me.

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That's awesome.

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Okay, Cassandra, tell us what are some words that you live by?

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Do you have a daily mantra?

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Yes.

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My daily mantra is just peace in all things.

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I try to find peace even where there's situations where people

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could say, oh, this is really bad.

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I try to find that balance there.

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What's good, what's bad?

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Let's create more good out of this.

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And so that way, this is overall a great experience.

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So that's my mantra.

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Just happiness and peace.

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That's awesome.

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Cassandra, thank you so much for coming to the show and Grace.

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With your presence and just all of your life experiences, your

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wisdom you really are a gift to the community and everybody who you serve.

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Can I interrupt you really quickly?

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of course.

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I feel the same way about you, so I know you're gonna say, hold on.

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I know you're gonna say a lot of great things about me, but I have to please

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for a second, for the people that's listening on my end Ms. Kimi is.

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She's a, like a, an angel almost.

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And I'm not even hyping her up, I'm just telling the truth because she

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does so much for children, right?

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Psychology for children.

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And she gives back so much.

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She's poured into myself, poured into the people that I know and selflessly, right?

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And so I wanna thank you.

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Before, I didn't mean to cut you off, I.

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Value what you have to say, but I just, I love you.

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You're amazing woman.

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You know what I'm saying?

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And we need to big each other up.

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I believe more in our communities in this way.

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I believe if we do this we'll create, this euphoric feeling within

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ourselves and that energy will pass on to the people around us.

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So thank you.

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Thank you for what you do.

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Thank you.

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End up making me cry.

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I appreciate it.

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Thank you so much.

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Those are very sweet words.

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Until next time.