Community Spotlight: The Power of Words — A Conversation on Remembering with Author Netta Fei

What you are about to hear… is the very first Community Spotlight on this podcast—born from a cold DM, shared space on Substack, and instant alignment. This exchange with Netta Fei was not scripted or planned. It unfolded naturally and centers on the power of words: how language carries energy, how it reveals intention, how it builds (or breaks) community—and how remembering is a form of wealth. We also get into legacy: her father’s wisdom, the stories that live in our bones, and why The Book of BURNETT is a timely blueprint for living well, fully, and without regret. This is not a stiff interview. It's a real conversation about truth, discernment, and connection—through writing, through intention, through the communities we build, as well as what becomes possible when people choose to show up authentically in online spaces. But mostly, it's about how we come back to ourselves—through the word.

*This conversation continues beyond the audio. For a deeper reflection on connection, community, and what it means to show up without agenda, read the Community Spotlight on my Substack for the layers that live between the words: WHEN STRANGERS BECOME KIN: A Conversation on Legacy, Truth, and the Power of Words with Netta Fei

Featured Guest: Netta Fei—Writer, Certified Spiritual Coach, and Founder of True Self Society

 📘 The Book of BURNETT: 42 Truths for Living Life Well, Fully, and Without Regret
🌐 Netta Fei — Website
✍🏽 The True Self Society — Substack Community

Key Themes in This Conversation:

• The power of words to create life
• Writing as a tool for remembrance
• Truth, discernment, and authenticity online
• Community and connection as a living exchange
• Unplugging from curated lies 
• Remembrance, legacy, and wisdom
• Creating life with intention

How to Engage After the Conversation:

If this episode resonated with you...

• Drop a comment
• Leave a review
• Share how words are shaping life where you are

And if you pick up Netta’s book, don’t just read it—leave a review where you bought it--especially on Amazon, and say what it did for you. A few honest lines helps indie authors more than people realize.

Communities & Spaces Mentioned:

BlackStack — a collective space for Black creators on SubStack
Founded by Jacquie Verbal

🖤 BlackStack is also where Netta and I first crossed paths, and where our connection began.

Transcript

Alignment And The Spark Of Connection

Momba 0:25

Hello Kings and Queens, it's your girl, Blakk Momba, and this is an impromptu bonus episode - a Community Spotlight. This episode features Netta Fei, author of 42 Truths for Living Life Well, Fully, and without Regret. Let me tell you how fast this came together, because this is how alignment actually moves when it's real. No pitch decks, no long courting, no performative networking. Me and Netta Fei connected through Substack inside the Black Stack community. Shout out to Jacquie Verbal, founder, visionary, and one-woman ecosystem of a community dedicated to Black writers and creators. During productivity hour last week, she caught some of my comments and some things resonated. And it turns out she was in the middle of a book tour. After a little unprofessional professionalism on my end, which anyone knows who knows me knows it's just me being human. We finally connected by phone. And when we did, it was on site. It doesn't take long to recognize light. It doesn't take long to recognize energy. And it definitely doesn't take long to tell when someone isn't just talking, but actually holding truth. Words have been a major theme in my life lately. Language is the first technology. Always have been. And while I had just launched Kings Unchained before being rerouted into documenting the times we're living in, one thing hasn't changed. Words are still the cheat code. When I connected with Netta Fei, the alignment was immediate. I didn't need the full pitch, I didn't need the backstory, or even her book. I just knew I wanted to support. So I said, tell me how. And this, this conversation is how we got here. Because connection is the lifeblood of community. And this episode is exactly that. Real connection, real conversation, real timing, real people showing up for each other because they asked. So without further delay, allow me to introduce Netta Fei. Hello, Netta Fei. How art thou this day?

Netta Fei 2:38

Hello, Blakk Momba. And to all of you guys listening, Blakk Momba's voice welcomes us in like fresh rain.

Momba 2:48

Thank you.

Netta Fei 2:49

I'm so glad to be here. And I'm so I'm so touched by your receptivity, your discernment, your open arms to connection.

Momba 2:59

Thank you so much.

Netta Fei 2:59

It's so important for us now, more than ever.

Momba 3:02

More than ever.

Netta Fei 3:03

That we reconnect and reappreciate community. Like what our elders had, you know, a couple of generations ago, they knew how to do community.

Momba 3:14

Yes.

Netta Fei 3:15

And I appreciate that you and I are in community. And like you said, with Black Stack, it's one of those we circle around with.

Momba 3:22

Right.

Netta Fei 3:23

It's so important to me. It is.

Momba 3:26

Honey, I have been looking forward to this conversation since we first spoke last week. So first let me welcome you to Momba Raw and Unfiltered Podcast.

Netta Fei 3:37

Thank you.

Momba 3:38

I want you to know, Mrs. Netta, that I'm grateful for this connection as well. If you remember, I told you in our first conversation that I don't meet strangers. I meet energy. And yours was familiar. It made agreeing to be a stop on your tour an easy one. And I am honored, so honored that you even considered me. So tell me how you found me and what resonated with you. I think we already know about Substack, but what was it that resonated in that online community when you didn't have anything physical, but just words.

Netta Fei 4:15

Of course, of course. And I appreciate you being a stop on this virtual tour of my book of Burnett. It's important to move around in my circle and make stops. And I think you did kind of share a little bit about how we were on Jacquie's productivity hour.

Momba 4:34

Right.

Netta Fei 4:35

And, you know, it has a chat feature, and we were chatting it up on the side, and you just posted several things that piqued my interest.

Momba 4:46

I text like I talk long-winded.

Netta Fei 4:50

And it, you know, they were quick little things, but they were so straight on, straight in, you know, feeling so much truth about it, but freedom to kind of speak what you thought. So I'm thinking, who is this T dot B dot writing as Blakk Momba? So I did kind of look on your Substack page, and on there I saw some of the information about things that you had written. And I looked at The Exorcism of 'Great' America writing book you had done. And I went and purchased that book, The Cultural Autopsy, on um, yeah, the Kindle on Amazon.

Momba 5:31

Thank you.

Netta Fei 5:32

And I boy, just jumping in that was so fresh.

Momba 5:36

I mean, you've already jumped in, huh? You've read some?

Netta Fei 5:38

Oh, yeah, I jumped in it.

Momba 5:39

Oh wow, thank you, Mrs. Netta Fei.

Netta Fei 5:41

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I appreciate again the straightforwardness of it. It just feels so free that you're just sharing these points, but in a way that's clearly understandable with the message. And like you said, it felt like home.

Momba 5:57

Right.

Netta Fei 5:57

It felt like, oh, this is my person. This is this is one of my people.

Momba 6:01

Vibe. Community.

Netta Fei 6:02

That we have some common unity in our perspectives, you know. And I like that. And I think that's what first piqued my interest, you know, not feeling that we have to agree on everything or everything has to be perfect, but we can share some unity of thought and some intentionality of where we want to go.

Momba 6:22

Right.

Netta Fei 6:22

You know, we want to see people treated well, we want to see people treated fairly and advance and move up and given an opportunity and also help people do some of the things they're trying to do.

Momba 6:35

Exactly.

Netta Fei 6:35

And we can go around these gatekeepers and go around these one percenters who are dictating narratives on their particular way, and they have a lot of the channels and the money to do it, but we don't have to accept that.

Momba 6:49

Right.

Netta Fei 6:49

We can go around those things.

Momba 6:51

Right.

Speaker 6:52

And I think it's important and needful that we have each other to do that with.

Speaker 2 6:56

Yes, ma'am.

Speaker 6:57

We can do that together than alone. So that's what brought me to you. That's what made me reach out to you. And I think when I DM'd you, yeah, it was like a cold DM.

Momba 7:09

Yeah.

Netta Fei 7:10

Like, yeah. I see you, I'm reaching out to you. Let's connect.

Momba 7:16

Right.

Netta Fei 7:16

You know.

Words As Technology And Cheat Codes

Momba 7:16

And once again, I apologize for how long it took me to get in alignment to do that. And I appreciate you sticking in there with me because it's, you know, a lot of people talk a lot of things about what they can do, will do, want to do, but there is no follow-through, if that makes sense. And my daddy always taught me if you could be one minute late, you can be one minute early. But life doesn't always account for, you know, just life. Things happen. So just being able to have empathy is important in connections as well. And while I want to throw another quick acknowledgement to the BlackStack community and how showing up authentically can lead to connections just like this, just by showing up yourself in online spaces, as you said, we want to see. These are the things you listed several things we want to see, but are we seeing that in our physical reality?

Speaker 2 8:10

Are they feeding that in our media? Or is it an outrage economy that they're constantly force feeding us with and doomsday scrolling constantly? People don't connect in the physical anymore, and they don't know how to in the online world, and they don't trust it. They never learned the system or how to operate in it. So everything is faux to them. Everything is a deep fake now. You can't trust none of what you hear and half of what you see. It used to be, but now you can't trust nothing across the board because now your eyes are playing tricks on you. And when you get the government now telling you things you done seen with your own eyes is a lie, girl. You see how it stacks. This is why connection is important. Yeah. This is why your authentic self will be the vibe that attracts your tribe if you show up. So you know what I'm saying? You can't maintain that facade, you can't maintain that personality, and it's draining, and then eventually it is gonna bleed through your work. And that's why I love Substack because once again, we're back to language, we're back to words, and how powerful the word is. On Substack. You are either a reader or a writer, or you are both. You cannot hide from your words, you cannot hide from the words you consume, you cannot hide from the words you share, you cannot hide from the words you read and those that you support with your subscription or your follow. Just looking at that combination of things is enough to give me a general snapshot of who I may be engaging with. Yeah. Because see, now you - this is where discernment comes in.

Netta Fei 9:48

Yes.

Momba 9:49

You need to discern who you are inviting into your online space.

Netta Fei 9:53

Yes.

Momba 9:54

Millions and billions of interactions happening, the entitlement that comes with these online spaces that feel you are entitled to my presence, to my response, to my comment, to my like, to my share. Mrs. Netta, if I do anything, you see how quickly it was for me to connect with you. I haven't even read your book yet. And this is how fast this came together. You don't need to read your book for me to scratch your back for you to scratch mine. It's not about that.

Netta Fei 10:21

No.

Momba 10:21

It's about building community. Point blank period.

Netta Fei 10:25

Point blank period.

Momba 10:27

I can't...I have to... people want what they're not willing or able or refuse to give themselves. And I can't understand that. If you can't show up yourself and give love freely, then what makes you think you're gonna get that in return? It's just not gonna happen. But that's the delusion that we're living under. So another shout out to Jacquie Verbal, the Black Stack community, for creating this collective space for us to come together and feed off that type of energy. Because what we feed off of, we end up pouring back into it.

Netta Fei 10:59

Absolutely.

Momba 11:02

And what's building, connective tissue that connects people like me and you together. And that's what I love about that so much.

Netta Fei 11:08

Absolutely, absolutely. And there's a vibe similar to that on Substack for some reason, maybe because it's as you said, they're writers and readers combination of both, and people are open and want to share their view. So they're open to hearing other people's views. And once you find that connection, you kind of want to stir that up and you want to build on that. I see that happening with other people that I've met on Substack, Margaret Williams and Reverend E, and a lot of other people that are constant connections I have with that happen in a short order. But we do, like you said, recognize and can discern where you're going, whether that's a good fit. And if it is, you know, we're we're open to build on that and to help one another reach their goals. And a lot of those is unplugging from the matrix, unplugging from the things and the voices that aren't authentic or don't want to be held accountable for the words that come out of their mouths.

Momba 12:10

Right. And even still, I know we had talked about that before. Even still, if there is some type of alignment, we can connect with everybody.

Netta Fei 12:17

Right.

Momba 12:18

We can't support everybody. We can't purchase that, we can't just show up all the time 24-7 for all these people that are popping up, and it makes us feel some type of way when we can't. So that's why those vibes, I mean, because hey, we might be in alignment as a community, but the track you take it may not be the track I'm taking. We don't have to connect with everybody. We just need to connect with the right somebody. And those great people are the people that are thinking like you're thinking, doing what you're doing, moving in the direction that you're going, not in a hive mind type of way, but in a general frequency type of way. We're vibing. We got the same morals, values, ethics. We have the same perspectives on our creativity and how we are applying it and leaking it out into the world.

Netta Fei 13:01

Yes.

Momba 13:01

It doesn't mean separate yourself from people who think differently, than you. You need different perspectives. Just because I found community, don't mean I can't find community somewhere else amongst other different people who write different things and from different perspectives.

Bypassing Gatekeepers And Building Together

Netta Fei 13:16

Absolutely. Because we're building our worlds. Even on those platforms or in real life, we're each building our own worlds. We get to decide who comes in and how close they come in. And Yeah. but I'm finding a lot of like-minded people who they understand when hey, I'm taking a break or I'm gonna rest, or I'm not showing up, but I got you.

Momba 13:38

Right.

Netta Fei 13:38

I'm with you, but I'm not coming to that.

Momba 13:41

Exactly. And that means more than anything when you're just a creator online who don't know nobody, and these are the people that support your work, more so your family, your friends, the people you actually see and talk to every day. So, you know, these are definitely important connections, and it's okay, it's okay to explore those connections and not feel some taboo type of narrative associated with it just because it's removed from the physical and it's now gone virtual. This is the world we're in right now. Ya'll gotta get used to it. It is don't know how to navigate these waters, you're always gonna feel like your interactions are shallow, like the world sucks, and it's gonna show you nothing but what you - It's gonna reflect what you see. You're gonna trauma bond with everything that reinforces what you already believe. So if you want different, think outside the box. Show up as yourself, and that's what you have done. You are in the middle of a 14-day virtual book tour, intentional, intimate, real conversation. I'm sure there's multiple formats that you do, but to my understanding, you wanted dialogue about this book. I do, I do. So tell me what the book of Burnett is all about.

Netta Fei 14:50

Yes, yes. I am so happy to share this with you and the listeners. So I recently finished what I call the Book of Burnett. Okay. Um, my dad, Reverend B. S. Jackson, the B is for Burnett, and my clever parents stuck an A on the end of my dad's name and named me Burnett a, which is how I get to Netta from all of that.

Momba 15:15

Okay, so it's short. It's short for Burnetta.

Netta Fei 15:19

My middle name is Fei, so that's why I'm Netta Fei.

Momba 15:22

Netta Fei.

Netta Fei 15:22

And I uh my dad was a special kind of guy and he all into family, community, love, leader, all of those things. And he pastored a church for almost 50 years. He was - grew up in black Christianity. He grew up with the alcoholic father. So at an early age, he kind of took on a role of second man in charge of the house. It probably moved up to first man at the house. So it it was a role he he wore with joy and welcome. So when my two older brothers and I came along, we got to see that in action. Whether he and our mother were going through, you know, financial challenges or whatever, he led our family and then the community and then our neighborhood church, and eventually the church he pastored for almost 50 years into progress. In all of that, he was forever teaching and spitting out his learned lived experience in bites of wisdom, really to anyone who would listen. You know, he would slide a truth across the table like a slice of sweet potato pie. And he loved having conversations and sharing that in hopes to help people live better and to advance their lives and to make good decisions in their lives and to do better than the generations before them did. And he left this realm five years ago, December, a month before his 90th birthday. And since that time, over the period of time, much of what he said has bubbled up in me. And every time I would talk to my brothers, we we get along very nicely and talk a lot. Anytime we would have conversations, something dad said would pop up, would come up, remember, and it's you know, we tested it or we saw it or just like that, or we tell our children this thing, that thing.

Momba 17:27

It's memory carved in bone.

Online Authenticity, Discernment, And Trust

Netta Fei 17:29

Carved in bones. And I started to write them down, just started to collect them, and I would ask them, what's some things you remember? What's some things we remember? And out of the many things he said, I collected not 42 that I started to write about. And he was with me the whole time. And I don't feel like I wrote this. I feel like I stewarded these words on his behalf. Yes. So it's the book of Burnett, 42 Truths for Living Life Well, fully, and without regret. And some people kind of recoil when they hear without regret because they feel like, how can you go through life? How can you be almost 90 years old and live life without regret? And I think it wasn't because he did not make a mistake, it's because he turned those mistakes into a stepping stool to the next level. He was open to learn from that and transmute it into his favor. So about not quite two years before he left this realm, we had a conversation and he just said, I've lived a good life and I have no regrets, and I'm ready to go. And I that never left me. Just I remember it clear as day, him saying that. And it struck me that at this stage of your life, for you to say, I've lived a good life and I have no regret and I'm ready to go. And about two years later, he he left this realm. So this book is him and his energy, his spirit in words that I offer to the world, and like him, to anyone who wants to listen, in hopes that it will help people choose strong paths, choose things that would deliver for them the life they want. Some of the people, like I said, my dad was a big community person, and he met a lot of people, and he was a leader in many ways. He was moderator over about 30 churches for 27 years. He pastored, so he was really active in the community. And one young man came to me one day and said, "I... I... I... so admire your father. I want what your father has, the respect and the honor, and... I want to have that." And and I said, "Well, you know, it's good to want that, but to get those things, to get what my dad has, you have to do what my dad does." And it made him think I could see the thoughts bubbling in his mind because it's one of the truths in the book. Those things don't just happen. They're made to happen.

Momba 20:10

That's right.

Netta Fei 20:11

Yeah. A life of no regret does not just happen, it's made to happen.

Momba 20:16

That's right. And do you know why I love your book already and haven't read it? Is because legacy, you have made it not just his success, you have made it the through line of the book, what wealthy actually means. And it's not success through money, but just success through connection, what you leave behind and what you are in turn helping your father cement is the disconnect that we often have. You can tell somebody, well, hey, if you want to do this, you got to do this, but you don't show them the way. Or what is the in-between? How do you get from there to here? Not just what I have to do, but what it takes to do it. And a lot of people did not have that. A lot of people did not have your father. A lot of people did not have access to the type of community that you had and grew up in that your father helped foster around you and your siblings and your mother, your community.

Netta Fei 21:18

That's true.

Momba 21:19

Tell me what his legacy and what shaping this book with his words standing in for him still, what that means for you.

Netta Fei 21:29

It it means the world for me, and it is a surreal type feeling because it's joy to get it out. But also I appreciate that I so clearly know it's not my words, it's not me. My name is on the front of the book, but nowhere do I put, you know, any bio about me or anything about me because it's really just a channel. I'm just stewarding these words that he, if he were here now, he would still be... spitting them out in physical form, but is coming through me to get on this paper so that people who didn't hear him or didn't know him can still get some of this. And it's not that he was the only one. We know there were other men and women and people now, elders living among us now. I just read a piece about Angela Davis and how she is participating in a lot of the solutionary ideations and brainstorming going on now. How do we respond into the environment in the United States that we find ourselves in now? She's bringing her lived experience and the things that she knows about to mix into the soup with the younger generation and other people who maybe, you know, boots on the ground and everything to come up with solutions. So I know my dad wasn't the only one. But as you said, many people didn't get the information and the connection to living this that we did. So it's just my way of passing it along, and I do that with honor and humility and joy. This is not my first book. My first one was a non-fiction book. A fictionalized account of some of the things I went through based on fictionalized as someone else. This is my first nonfiction book, and they - they're two different animals, they feel totally different. This one feels like I'm being carried. You know.

Momba 23:23

Yeah, it's spiritual. ...We get back to that word, honey. Everything comes back to the word.

Netta Fei 23:28

You're right.

Momba 23:29

Everything.

Netta Fei 23:30

You're right. I feel that. I think the first one was more of a release.

Momba 23:35

Yeah. Creatively.

Netta Fei 23:36

A transformation, a ... a hello to me finding me. And this is me letting my dad come through again. You know, with his voice rising up.

Momba 23:49

Claiming. Claiming what you know as well.

Netta Fei 23:52

And I liken too that in our living and growing up with him, he didn't hide again some of the missteps he made. And one of them, raising a family and everything, you know, he did hit like a financial glitch, but he always turned that into lessons for us. And he would say things about never being, never get broke. Right. Don't borrow from Peter to Pay Paul different things because they came out of his experience. In the information age and the digital digital connection we're in right now, most of the times we don't see people's traverse on their way to success. You know, we just see them successful. They pop up and they're these famous people. And we don't... like you just said earlier, don't make the connection to what had to happen for them to get there.

Momba 24:42

Exactly. It makes it a fantasy.

Netta Fei 24:45

It makes it a fantasy.

Momba 24:46

It gives us something to aspire. You know, we can spend our time spending all day aspiring to be like what they decide we should be. You know, what's trending, what must-haves, the the current fashion, the... even how we dance, how we talk, how we move is determined, and nobody knows how to be comfortable in being an individual, setting themselves apart. And because of that, they get online and they see what I call not curated lives, but curated lies. Because nobody's life is a snapshot of beautiful moments. Even on vacation, there's moments of confusion and frustration, and nobody's taking a picture of that. You know what I'm saying? I mean... it makes it seem like everything is everything. And when you look at it against your life, and your life doesn't stack up to what's being shown, that's where you start to feel less than, to start feel worthless, to start feel like, why can't I? Or I don't know how. And because we've been so programmed in a microwaveable results society, gotta be now fast food, fast service, fast sex, fast love. Everything is fast, fast, fast, fast, fast. We really don't know how to sit still and how to create. We lose the imagination to think ourselves out of a cage that's open. The door is open and we sitting here trying to find a way out.

Netta Fei 26:20

It's open.

Momba 26:22

It is so open.

Netta Fei 26:23

It's open. Yeah, it's open.

Momba 26:25

So tell me why now? Why this conversation book tour on spaces like Momba Raw and Unfiltered? What do you hope readers feel with this work, not just learn?

Boundaries, Honesty, And Finding Your People

Netta Fei 26:37

I hope they feel comfortable doing what you kind of just said. Take a look at yourself and not at what's on this social platform, that social platform, what someone else is doing. You know, feel comfortable examining yourself and using some of the 42 truths, if not all of them, to build a blueprint for how you will live well, for the life you want to live. The things that dad taught us and the things we wrote about, they're part of his legacy and the legacy given out to everyone he may have interacted with on his wisdom. But we can use what's in this book, the things that he said, to walk out with a blueprint for how we want to live the rest of our lives. We can desire anything. We are creative beings, we are spirit having a human experience. We can create anything, but once we put that desire out there, even within ourselves, we do ourselves justice to align our actions to that desire.

Momba 27:39

Yes, ma'am.

Netta Fei 27:40

It's similar to what scripture might say faith without works is dead. You may want it, but if you're doing nothing on a daily basis, even a little bit by little bit to align with it, right? Then there's a disconnection with that desire and your belief in that desire. If you don't believe it enough to take a step toward it. So that's what I'm hoping this book encourages that for people to start examining. Choosing to live truth, choosing to hear truth, choosing to be truth, choosing to live that so that you leave a legacy and get and live the life you want. That's not built on, like you said, curating lies. Yeah. You don't get that from deceiving yourself.

Momba 28:29

Right. Right. Right.

Netta Fei 28:30

So we want to shed falsities.

Momba 28:33

That's true.

Netta Fei 28:33

Like we had said earlier, people who are... we're looking at the pink wall and they're telling us, no, it's black.

Momba 28:40

What you said.

Netta Fei 28:41

Wait, I can see that it's pink.

Momba 28:43

Exactly.

Netta Fei 28:44

We want to shed that.

Momba 28:46

Enough people say it enough, you start calling it black too. And before you know it, you start believing it. You start ... believing your own lie. I mean, what better time for your book than now? Because it's not coming from a spiritual indictment. It's coming from a familial, community, storytelling... something that we used to hold tight to. Elders, we wanted to know, we wanted to hear, we wanted to see what it was like, make it a picture, a movie, they like to say. Issa ... movie. Make it a movie in our mind when someone tells us a story about life, how they grew up, what it was like for them. And you remember, I can remember at least as a little girl hearing things like my grandmother tell me what they use Cris co for on their legs. And I be like in this hot sun. And... girl, all these different types of things that just seem so left field from my reality. That's what we've lost. We've traded reality for not only rose tinted glasses, but for like ah some type of digital amnesia that's taken over our minds. Like we've literally forgotten what it felt like to live in our timeline as children. And then we we superimpose that over another generation, like Generation Alpha, like my little girls who are 12 and 14. They're not gonna line up at all. There's nothing, even though there's nothing new under the sun, it's gonna feel the same. It's just not gonna look the same. So not everything can apply, not everything can work because once you know better, you do better. But as we know, that's not always the case. It's an opportunity to do better, but you have to have the knowledge, the wisdom, the understanding, not even that, because we have all these tools, but we don't have the understanding to use them. We can't even trust a teacher to come in and help us because we're always looking for what's the motive. Okay, now that I've told you, you know, X, Y, and Z before I give you the real key, you gotta pay $599, you know what I'm saying, to get this information. And then we we love to say things like, This is my creative capital, you know, my creative labor, as if that spark wasn't lit by somebody else's fire, something that you seen that, you know, needed to happen or a gap, and you took other things a' la carte from other people that you knew on how to do X, Y, and Z, who helped you learn how to do X, Y, or how... why wouldn't you want to make that creative path easier for somebody else? And that's a rhetorical question because I'm gonna tell you exactly why, because it's competition. We've been designed to be competitive, especially in the Black community, where two people can't do the same things without hating on each other or making it become competitive, you know, because I ain't do it like you do it. It must be subpar when everything ain't for everybody. And what's wrong with having a little variety for everybody to have something to pick and choose from that they like? It may not look like what you like, but it might look like what somebody else likes. And that's okay. That just means it's not for you. That don't mean put it down or slander it or put stumbling blocks in what I call my brothers and sisters' way so that you can be seen and be heard and be at the top. I mean, it's it's pretty lonely up there when you know what I'm saying, by yourself, you know. It's much better in community.

Netta Fei 32:12

Yeah, yeah. And those are the falsities we have to shed. Things like that. Competition is a low vibration thought, and it's rooted in scarcity. That there's not enough to go around. But those are falsities that we have been conditioned in most of the societies we've grown up in, especially in the United States, to think as individuals outside of community and again the scarcity mindset. So, my my biggest aim is to help people, Black people, specifically Black women, especially, reconnect to our true self. A lot of those low vibration thoughts and actions come from a disconnected perspective. You're disconnected from the divine, you're disconnected from community, you're disconnected from who you are for real.

Introducing The Book of BURNETT

Momba 33:08

And it's reinforced in their environment.

Netta Fei 33:10

It's reinforced. Things that we see with the media messages that come down about people who look like us. That there is scarcity, there's not enough to go around. We we're missing this, we're lacking that, all of that. But that is not the truth of who we really or is it true are... nor is it truth about what we have access to. We've just forgotten, we've buried it, we've suppressed all the things that we really are. So my bigger mission is to reconnect that, help us to rediscover our true self, which is a divine led, and to rise higher so that things like competition are no longer an issue.

Momba 33:52

Right. What did you say? Move ...forward.

Netta Fei 33:55

Move Forward.

Momba 33:55

Move forward.

Momba 33:56

And the Book of Burnett is almost like a text for true self-society. That's the community that I have on Substack, and that's the support being for my mission of addressing disconnections and helping guide people back into reconnection. So the Book of Burnett is kind of like our national textbook for True Self Society. Okay. The foundation. The foundation of that to step on.

Netta Fei 34:22

The foundation for that, yeah, it's a starting point.

Momba 34:25

Because you can build truth. Everybody can add those truths to it. Everybody can shape that truth into a word that may create a ripple effect in somebody only they can touch. Because they get to say it, how only they would say it. They get to embody it. The only way their unique self can embody that. And that in itself is a vibration that can attract somebody else who sees that. And just like that young man came to you, I want what you have. I want that level of peace, that level of success, that level of community. How did you get that? Show me, show me, show me. But we already know what's understood don't need to be said. I can show you. I can drop it. But if you don't pick it up and carry it, because we all got to carry our own cross. If you don't carry the rocks to their desperation, if you're not willing to have that short-term sacrifice that blood sweat tears for a long-term gain understanding it's not for a long time, just a short time. If you're not willing to have that mental fortitude, that mental endurance. Not even that, oftentimes people have that and they don't have community and they feel disconnected because it's just them and they the world makes us feel isolated. Like we are the only ones set in this mission and this purpose. Nobody sees us, hears us, value us, and everybody's word equally deserves to be heard. It may not be heard by everybody, it just needs to be heard by that one somebody. That one somebody can take that...you never...you never know... What a word can do for somebody. Just one word. A word. When I think of that, I think of Yolanda when she comes in and that opening, just a word, Lord, just a word from you. You know, the goosebumps I get just thinking about what a word can do. So when people say words are meaningless and words have no power, look at the world being shaped right now. By words. By language. and then use that into how we connect. And then you see what we have. And that in itself is what makes your book for me a timely, timely message, especially for the Black community. With that said, since we're talking about words, and words seem to be the theme, man, divine timing is a beautiful thing. I just don't know what I've just been writing about, just the power of words. That's why I feel so in alignment with you, not even having read your work. Just talking to you is enough to know that we are in alignment. I love it. I love it so much, and I'm so thankful. So tell me, what's one word that's holding meaning for you, Netta Fei, in this season?

Netta Fei 37:08

It will have to be for me truth.

Momba 37:12

Truth.

Netta Fei 37:13

Truth is gonna be the one word. I think it's because I adopted the model for me over the past 10 years to thine own self be true. Because yeah, if I can't stand on what is true for me, then I can't really do anyone else any good. That's my desire on a daily basis. Show me the truth, let me live the truth, let me be truth, let me speak truth.

Momba 37:41

Okay.

Netta Fei 37:42

Starting with with me. And then I can spread that abroad for whoever might want to listen. But also it makes me desire and receptive to a truth from other people.

Momba 37:53

Right, right.

Netta Fei 37:54

Right. I believe there are cosmic truths that are universal for everybody, but your lived experience will give you something that I may not get. And I want to know what that is. And even in our conversations, I've heard you drop little nuggets that your dad would say. Yeah. And it sounds like that truth. And it comes from that. To me, that is our foundation, and truth makes us free. It sets us free. Yeah.

Momba 38:21

Okay. You're gonna love this next one then.

Netta Fei 38:24

Girl, okay.

Momba 38:25

What's one truth? You had to learn the hard way?

Speaker 38:29

Um, I think it is one from my dad that haste makes waste. That was one of his big ones, and it was it was something that I've lived and learned myself.

Momba 38:42

Okay.

Speaker 38:42

When we do things so hurriedly that we can't hear or see, then we waste time and energy and relationships and a whole bunch of things unnecessarily. So that would be it.

Momba 38:57

Things you can't get back.

Netta Fei 38:59

A lot of things you cannot get back.

Momba 39:01

It's a commodity we all have, but we won't get it back. Time. We have no time to waste.

Netta Fei 39:08

Haste makes waste.

Momba 39:10

That's right. That's right. Netta Fei, one truth you're still learning.

Netta Fei 39:16

To be quiet.

Momba 39:20

Mmmm...That's something I need to learn that too.

Netta Fei 39:23

The value of being quiet. And my lovely family, husband, children, everything, they all say, you ask too many questions. I'm thinking, how do you get to know something if you don't ask questions? But I think for them it gets to be too much. So I'm mindful of how much other people might be able to digest. And how much maybe I don't have to know. And it's not for nosiness sake, it's just inquisitive. Maybe I'm journalist trained. And one conversation leads to a question, to a question, to a question. But they're like, okay, that's enough. I can't take it.

Legacy, Elders, And Living A Life Without Regret

Momba 40:08

I think that's probably why you my spirit twin then. And I tell people all the time, that's why I have a podcast. So I can talk as much as I want to. And you can turn me off and I won't know because that ain't gonna stop nothing I got to say if I want to say it. But it's like small talk drains me and for deep thinkers, it's important to surround yourself with people who love language and words and reading. I can't be dating a man that don't read. And if I look back over my relationships and I think of the men who didn't read or who had commentary on how much I read that we wouldn't have even worked out because you... have communication, they say rules the nation. But if you don't know the value of a word, how can I trust your words towards me? You know what I'm saying? Girl, don't give me the preaching. This is about you, Netta.

Netta Fei 41:00

Write that down for your next podcast. Girl. Oh.

Momba 41:09

It just comes from nowhere. That's why connection is important because we build off each other. We build thoughts. It opens doors, it opens creative thinking. Ooh, that word right there is enough to have a podcast about or to write a reflection about just one word, one thought.

Netta Fei 41:26

One thing.

Momba 41:28

Can open a plethora of doors of creativity, just having conversation. And when you are a creative, you just ... it's the inquisitiveness. Like you said, you like to bounce ideas, you like to talk. You... the surface drains me. It drains me because nothing is on the surface that I want to see. I want to go deeper, and I want to be around people that think just as deeper as me. So if anything, it's learning time and place, Mrs. Netta. That's about all and your audience.

Netta Fei 41:55

Maybe that's it. Yeah.

Momba 41:56

But they don't have the capacity to go deep with you and have that same passion for conversation like we used to do back in the day for kids like me in the 80s, where we actually sat at the lunch tables and had philosophical conversations, or we talked about things and we explored consciousness at a height of black consciousness but then the introduction, a crack and then here we go. I mean, everything is connected. Everything, everything.

Netta Fei 42:23

That's the only way science discovers what's already there spiritually. Science is just discovering things that creation already holds because of exploration, because of being inquisitive about something. How does this work? By asking, asking, asking questions after question. It's the only way you get to the root of things, you get to the truth of things, you get to see things. So I tell my family, I'm so glad I have friends. I'm so glad I have friends.

Momba 42:52

Right? Right?

Netta Fei 42:53

I call them and we can talk for hours on whatever.

Momba 42:58

Right?

Netta Fei 42:59

Yeah, solve all the world problems in half a day.

Momba 43:03

Right? And they have just three people coming together, as the Bible will say, in agreement. I mean, how do you think the KKK was birthed... in a in a bar with a few, with a handful of men who had some ideas and a vision about their truth and what they wanted? Why is it that we are not able to do the same? Not because they destroy everything that we put together, but just how mobilizing and organizing, just getting two or three to agree at all is hard to do. We can't even be in the same room without, you know, somebody talking trash about the next one. Look at that girl up there. You know, you you two focused on everything else they told you to focus on instead of the message.

Netta Fei 43:42

Yeah, and it's why the the administration and people who want control over other people convince you not to ask questions, convince you not to question anything, just take my word for it, and that's enough.

Momba 43:54

Right. That's just the way life is. Yeah, you know, what can I do about it? You know, that's the way it's always been. So you know?

Netta Fei 44:02

Nope.

Momba 44:02

Live your life. Get it how you live it. You know, all the wonderful things. That's just the way the cookie crumbles. We we have all kinds of different things that we can put on the end.

Netta Fei 44:11

Yeah. No.

Momba 44:13

What is one truth you wish someone told you earlier? To be my own self, to live my own truth, to know yourself and to live yourself. I, and maybe this I adopted on my own, but I took that yellow brick road very literally of what was laid out before me to walk this and to color inside the lines to meet expectations of the people who came before you and just do that and you're fine. I wish I had known much earlier than I did that I really could do anything I wanted to. I could create the life I wanted early on. Yeah and not have to go in this order, you know, that order. And um I'm happy for a lot of the young, younger people now, people in their 20s and 30s. A lot of them kind of got that idea quickly. Yeah. Yeah they did.

Netta Fei 45:08

My son, he ...he was very musical at an early age, like two years old. I played piano, I played for our church choir, and I did that the nine months that I was carrying him. So perhaps it had an influence on him. But he was very musical.

Momba 45:25

Life starts in the womb, sis.

Netta Fei 45:27

Mm-hmm.

Momba 45:28

Mm-hmm.

Netta Fei 45:29

Very musical. Auditioned to get into elementary school, auditioned to get into a performing arts high school, loved all the musical things, hated the studying, but loved everything else. When he finished high school, my expectation that he would go to the next higher education thing because that was the path I had followed. That was not his desire. So we went back and forth for a little bit and he acquiesced and took a semester at a music school and hated every day. When he came out that semester, he said, I'm not going back. That's not what I want to do. I want to be a music producer, I want to do this. And he had already self-taught himself in high school, had started connecting in the local community of music. That was what he wanted to do. And he's like, I'll do this, even if I have to live on the street. And I'm thinking, you have no idea what that concept is. But he said, This is a wanna do. He said, Do you want this piece of paper or do you want a Grammy? Which one of these things do you want? And you know, I had to let it go. He's like, This is his life, you're doing it. Understand, you know, the decisions you're making and what you might experience through those decisions. But this is his life, it's his to live. And to this day, he's been nominated for six Grammys and have won two. He's got three nominations for 2026. So February 1st, he'll learn if his whether he won win or not.

Momba 46:59

Wow. You should be proud of what you planted. Not just you, but because we plant, lots of people plant, but just to have planted a seed of passion, of knowing, of individuality, and just leaving that door open to explore creatively, because that's what's missing a lot too. Are children's imagination? They're stuck on screen scrolling and Roblox and video games. There's a little room that helps a child actually explore what they have an aptitude for. If we were born to create, what are we teaching our children about creation within themselves? Yeah, we're not teaching them anything.

Netta Fei 47:40

Yes, yes, yeah.

Momba 47:41

Amazing. Ooh.

Netta Fei 47:43

Yeah, about creating. He had to teach me. Yeah. He had to teach me and remind me of that. Someone who was taught to go after certain money, something that made clear money, because the people who loved me saw that as a path toward freedom. Get a good job that can pay you certain money, and that creative aspects of things were foreign. They didn't understand it, didn't trust it.

Momba 48:11

That was the culture. That's all we knew. That's what we were told .

Netta Fei 48:14

That was the culture.

Momba 48:15

And how we were raised.

From Curated Lies To True Lives

Netta Fei 48:16

That was the culture. That's what we were told. And how we were raised. But yeah, that was my thing. Go with the thing that you love, the truth of who you are. Go with the thing that you love, and what you need will come from that. It will follow that. But make sure it's the truth and not, like you said, curating lies and you know, align yourself with it. So if you're going after something that may have cyclical income or whatever, you know, don't tie yourself to a mountain of debt that limits your options. Yes. So I wish I had known earlier in life that I could design those things. Yeah.

Momba 48:59

Mm-hmm. I was gonna ask you one truth you want people to carry with them right now, but it sounds like you just told me.

Netta Fei 49:07

I think so.

Momba 49:08

It sounds like you just told me. I love that because everything you just shared, Netta Fei, points to why this work exists in the first place. Not as a product to be sold, but as legacy to be remembered.

Netta Fei 49:23

To be remembered.

Momba 49:24

So now I want to give you the floor. Tell people what you're building, why it matters right now, and how they can support you if this resonates. Like where to find your book, how people can support you, and and yeah.

Netta Fei 49:38

Thank you. Yes, well, I would greatly love for people to get the book. I have set an intention to get a hundred thousand copies into the hands of readers this year. So every handed reader, every reader will help. It's The Book of BURNETT: 42 Truths for Living Life Well, Fully, and without Regret. You can get it anywhere books are sold, whatever makes you happy. So get it in your hands. You can find me, Netta Fei, thats: -F-E-I, N-E-T-T-A, F-E-I, on Substack on my website, nettafei.com. Reach out to me. I love hearing from people. I love connecting with people. I love collaborations like we're doing now. This just... it just lifts me so high, I can't tell you. Yeah.

Momba 50:31

That's wonderful. And for anybody listening, if you didn't catch that, don't worry. All of Netta Fei's direct links, how to find her, her work, support what she is creating for you, for legacy, for remembrance. All of those things will be in the show notes, and you will be able to click on those links directly. And please do, once you choose to support her work, her book, don't just read it. Come back, leave a review. It don't have to be much. You don't have to be a writer. Just leave an authentic review, a few lines. How did this book make you feel? What was a lesson that you took away? What was something about this that made you want to read this book and why others should read it? That is liquid gold to indie authors like Netta Fei and myself. It's not recognition, it's not promotion, it's letting us know that the work is landing, it's resonating and that it's going where it needs to go. And that's the fuel that helps us to keep producing more work like this. Netta, before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you, truly. Thank you for seeing my light through words in the middle of the echo chamber and for reflecting your words back without agenda. That matters to me more than numbers, more than platforms, more than sales, more than any algorithm ever could. Because this is what building online is supposed to look like in real time. Not extraction, not clout, not noise, but connection that doesn't take, it gives. Collective energy moving in the same direction with the same intention to uplift each other and the communities we come from. I appreciate your time, your energy, your spirit, sis. And just so you know, this isn't a one and done. The door is open. I'd love to have you back for a deeper conversation when the timing is right.

Netta Fei 52:24

Of course, of course.

Momba 52:26

I thank you for trusting me in this space, Mrs. Netta, and I thank you so much for being here with me today.

Netta Fei 52:32

Of course. I thank you too for having me, for sharing your space, for sharing your voice. I appreciate that. And listen, sister, the door swings both ways. You know, whatever we can do to support one another, I am there.

Momba 52:47

I am there with you. Mrs. Netta, thank you so much. I hope you have a blessed day.

Netta Fei 52:53

You too. You too. Appreciate you all.

Blueprinting A Life With Truth And Action

Momba 52:58

Well, Kings and Queens, here we are on the other side. Tell me, how was the ride? Did you catch all the gems dropped in this episode? Do you feel richer than before? I want to name what this conversation really speaks to: the power of connection and the power of showing up as yourself with intention online. Energy is tangible in these spaces. It can be felt, it can be read, and words are often the first place that energy takes shape. My last episode focused on connection. This conversation feels like it's natural follow-up because connection happens through words, through how we speak, how we write, how we name ourselves and our lives. Words carry meaning, they carry memory, and bringing things back to the word is one of the quiet cheat codes back to community. This conversation lives rent-free in my mind palace. I'm so grateful to Netta Fei for showing up, showing out, and showing us exactly what authenticity looks like and feels like in online spaces, and how much wealth lies in showing up with honest purpose. If this exchange moved you, you'll find links in the show notes to Netta's book, her website, and where to follow her work. Her writing merges legacy, lived experience, and practical blueprints, reminders of who we are and the power we still carry. Don't forget to check those show notes. Links are also available to my substack, Digital Disobedience, for a deeper reflection about today's episode. This conversation also marks the first community spotlight on the podcast. It came together through alignment, not planning, and more will come as alignment demands. I also want to take a moment to acknowledge you, the listeners. This podcast is now reaching people in over 31 countries. Brazil has been showing me love lately, right alongside Nigeria, Ukraine, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. That's my words, traveling the globe, and I couldn't be more humbled by that. I want to keep bringing you conversations that matter, and I want to hear from you. Drop a comment, leave a review, or reach out through my Substack or the podcast website. If you feel called to share what you're seeing, hearing, or living, how words are creating life where you are, there's also a guest application available. This is a living conversation. If you want to read more of my work beyond the podcast, the books, the essays, the writing that's been taking shape during this season, you can find all of that linked as well. This past stretch required my pen more than my mic, and I appreciate your patience as that work unfolded. The podcast will be returning full force this spring. Kings Unchained will be reborn, and those conversations centered on Black men will be given the space and light they deserve. Until next time, kings and queens, you know what to do. Be good, be safe, stay healthy, and don't forget, drink your water, purified. Water is life. I love y'all. Peace.