Meghan Markle uses her podcast to challenge the gender stereotypes that hold women back Archetypes. Markle discusses mother a lot on the show. The Duchess discussed in a recent episode how she hopes to be a mom who raises independent children.
The episode featured a discussion between the duchess and motherhood. “To ‘B’ or Not to ‘B’?”The podcast features Markle discussing the word bitch, along with Mellody Hobson (CEO of Ariel Investments) and Mellody, chairwoman at Starbucks. The discussion about the labels that hold women back is the center of this podcast.
Braces Teach Hobson Self-Sufficiency
As Markle welcomes Hobson to the show, we’re quickly introduced to the executive’s childhood story. The chairwoman is the youngest child of six, and was raised by one mother in Chicago. However, the executive’s mother was very unique.
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“She gave me the hard truths of life with so much love and support,”Hobson was then recalled. “But she never wanted me to go through life not being prepared for all that would come. So she taught me what to expect as a Black woman and a Black person, and I really do appreciate that aspect of her—I call it ‘brutal pragmatism,’ but with so much love.”
The chairwoman was actually self-sufficient because of her mother. She pursued her dreams even at a young age. What was Hobson’s one desire in sixth grade? Straighter teeth.
“I asked all of my friends who their orthodontist was and called and made an appointment because I had a fang, you know, one of those teeth that sticks up top,”It was the executive. “It was so awful. I knew I couldn’t go through life like that.”
When the orthodontist told Hobson that braces would cost $2,500, she told the orthodontist that she didn’t have that much money. “He gave me a payment plan,”Hobson was recall. “He gave me a little booklet. And then I went home and told my mom and explained the whole thing to her. And I went back and got braces.”
‘I’ve Really Got To Up My Game With Our Kids’
Meghan Markle laughed when she heard the story. Impressed with how savvy Hobson was as a sixth grader, the duchess realized she needs to step up her parenting game with her two children—Archie, 3, and Lilibet, 1. “I have to rethink my parenting style!” Markle admitted. “Because if that’s what yields you, then I’ve really got to up my game with our kids being self-sufficient.”
“What’s so great about the orthodontist story, specifically, is that if you look at that training that you’re getting by default at 12 or 11 years old, to know that you’re asking for what you need and figuring out a way to get it. And it’s working!”Meghan made a comment. “But as you get older, when you’re not this 11 or 12 year old, and you’re growing into a woman—that that same understanding of knowing what you want, asking for what you need—that can sometimes be thrown back in your face, like, as though you’re being ‘difficult’ or something. Pushy.”