Living The Red Life - Founder of Making Choices, Inc.: The Long-Game Mindset Behind Lasting Success

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Rachelle Brooks Blue, an inspiring leader and founder of Making Choices, Inc., shares her remarkable journey from education to entrepreneurship. Rachelle has dedicated her life to empowering others, turning personal challenges into catalysts for success. She shares her belief in playing the "long game" as a strategy for sustainable success and the importance of adapting to inevitable change. Rachelle's story is a testament to resilience and the power of making brave choices.Rachelle delves into her past, discussing her transition from a career in education to launching a consulting firm that goes beyond empowering women to include supporting children and men. Her father's legacy as an educator and her own experiences as a single mother have significantly influenced her path. Throughout the episode, Rachelle emphasizes the significance of education, personal growth, and spiritual commitment in shaping a fulfilling life. She encourages audiences to embrace challenges, chase their dreams, and remain adaptable in an ever-evolving world.Key Takeaways:Embrace long-term strategies over short-term gains for sustainable success and fulfillment.Personal adversities can be transformed into opportunities for growth and empowerment.Education and continuous learning are critical to personal and professional development.Spirituality and fitness are integral components of a well-rounded and fulfilling life.Adaptability and resilience are essential in navigating life's inevitable changes and challenges.Notable Quotes:"Play the long game, not the short game, because the long game is going to take you further.""Education was big...to choose a profession that had a lot of integrity as a teacher, that was big then.""I'm ready for it. I'm ready for what's to come.""Chase your dreams, because a lot of people don't say that and seriously say it.""As long as you're striving and you're working something, something's going to happen."Connect with Rachelle Brooks Blue:LinkedinEmailConnect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

from working as an educator. I want to school be an educator. But as time presented and the opportunity presented, teaching was something that I didn't want to do. Play the long game. Oh, yeah. Not the short game, because the long game is going to take you further. The short game is, it may be quick,

and you may have some results temporarily, but they're going to soon fade. You'll figure out ways and how to navigate and how to push through. How often are you on South Beach filming an episode about your life. This is what you call a dream. This is something that I would never thought. Something I would never thought, you know,

that I would be that important. Yeah. You know, to share my story. We're sure. So it's definitely a highlight. One thing that I could impart is that. My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast,

and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the Red Life, ditch the blue pill, the Redfield, join me in Wonderland, and change your life. Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, the Women in Power Edition, actually also the Red Life edition. For Insight Success, I can just keep saying brand after brand. I'm Ray Gutierrez. Joining me today is another powerful, amazing woman. Richel Brooks Blue is a Rochelle Brooks Blue. Yes, sir. I love,

I love the cadence there. I've got some notes about you. You are a You transformed personal adversities into a thriving consulting firm, making choices, ink. You're empowering women to make bold career moves and life decisions. That's quite the title. Yes. Well, and it goes beyond just women. So it's eclected. It's within the service delivery scope.

So we have women, children, as well as males, men, women, and children. Amazing. So it reaches beyond the scope of women. Very cool. What can we learn about you in your Woman in Power episode, which you honestly just freshly just filmed? Yes, yes, yes. One thing that I highlighted was the very beginning, the start, as far as how making choices came to have life. It was an idea, concept from working as an educator. I want to school to be an educator. but as time presented and the opportunity presented teaching was something that I didn't want to do

I come from a family of my father was a school teacher so I pattern myself behind him but he was retired about time I was ready to enter into the teaching workforce and at that time the children were not the same because he my dad is 86 years old and he graduated from college back in the early 60s. Wow. So you preface what kids were as far as teaching then,

as far as where they were when I was interested or going into the education realm. It was a stark difference. It's funny because you mentioned stark difference. And the 60s, 70s, just culturally, just what was happening, happening in the world was very different to what's happening today. But there's also some similarities with war on the horizon or not on the horizon. There's always this creepy frequency. But let's circle back to education and how it's evolved. I like the fact that your fundamentals start with your father, your grandfather. My father. Your father. Yeah. So that was

the root. Education was big. You know, because my dad taught English and he taught back. He went to school in the 50s. So you think about an African-American male who, came from a single family home, a mom who, I think elementary education was the furthest that she got. Oh, yeah. And so he had the, he was intuitive enough to take the step further

to graduate from high school and then find its way into a college setting and to actually finish, you know, and to choose a profession that had a lot of integrity as a teacher that was that was big um then and now even though teachers do not have um i don't think they have the the platform that they once did or have the uh they're not empowered as they once were uh years ago i this thing is it's it's um it's kind of murky now just because so many things come into play with technology and things technology is good in in some in some ways but

I think a lot of the traditional concepts to learn to teach children have vanished because they depend so heavily on technology. The classrooms have sort of become babysitting juvenile delinquent areas where there's just a lot of chaos. There is no order. And it is because of just the freedom of being able to grab a phone and being able to search impulsively what you want to learn at that very moment. So the romance, maybe it's not a great, great. word to use, but the romance between the teacher and the professor and the student is long gone. Like that tangle between, I'm the instructor, sit there and learn, put your, and like, get downloaded data. Like, if you look at across the pond in China, the education system there is far different.

It's part of the culture. It's like, it's a way of living. It's like, we're educating you so you can learn how to fish or you can thrive and live. It's not about what you wear, how you wear, how cool you are, or how famous you are in 15 seconds. It's really what's up. here and folks have completely lost that yeah there's no effort no i was saying in my interview about um about women being in power one thing that i could uh in part is that play the long game oh yeah not the short game because the long game is going to take you further the short game is it may be quick um and you may have some results temporarily but they're going to soon fade play the long game because it's going to be it's going to have your highs and lows but

If you play the long game, you're going to get through. You'll get through it. You'll figure out ways and how to navigate and how to push through. For sure. You got to stop playing chess and start playing, you know, start playing checkers and start playing chess. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so old a dodge, you hear that.

Like, I'm playing, you know, I'm playing chess. You're playing checkers. I mean, but you have to put it into play. Oh, yeah. People say it, but then, you know, it's a lot of cliches. We live in a world of, there's a lot of cliches. We live in a world of sound bites. Yeah, it's sound bites.

Yes, we do. Yes, I do. Which is okay, which is a okay. Everyone's got their own way of, like, thriving. Let's talk about your first chest move. Where does that truly begin? Where do you think your Y began? I think just having autonomy, freedom, it has a lot to do with, it's the core of who I am.

And one thing that I cherish is the ability to have freedom, flexibility. Now, in my life, I schedule my schedule around the things that. that are important to me like my family health working out church the founding blocks of who I am it's everything is it's scheduled around those things where did those building blocks start coming into play was it in your youth do you feel like it was always been inside of you or is it just through very recent i just think just within the last 15 years yeah um it's more serious. I think the fact that maturation, being

mature, having emotionally, being emotional, matured maturity has a lot to do with it. You know, everything in its own time, you know. I don't think I was the same person I was 20 years ago, 30 years ago. You know, I just, it's just being mature enough to understand that nothing stays the same.

Change is inevitable. Inevitable. And you have to be willing to change. If you're not, then you're going to be left behind. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Where do you think the maturity comes from, from the soul or just from extra wrinkles in the brain? I just think of experience. Failures.

Sure. Hurt. Just things that you can't fix, things that you have to accept. You know, I think that life in general, things are going to happen. We're going to be faced with adversity. But you just got to know at some time, if you can change it, If you can do something about it, you have to let it run its course. And you have to have maturity to be able to do those things.

For folks that are listening or watching, go, well, it's easy for them to say, look at them. Like, no, like, can you paint us a picture of what, that was that first stroke for you where it was like, I'm making a change. I'm taking, I'm not taking no for an answer. What was that first moment? I think when I got terminated from a job. There you go. I think that, and I went through a divorce. I have a single parent.

So I think, and not coming from. that. So when you have, um, um, um, you come from a family, my parents are still together. They've been married 61 years. Right on. So you think about things that are not common. They're, they're, they're outside of what you're used to. Um, either you're going to rise up or you're going to fall to the wayside. And at that, at that point in my life, it wasn't worth it to me just to let things go because I had a small child. I was trying to figure out how to have two incomes because I was used to having two incomes being married. So I said, well, I'm going to have to figure out how to make this thing happen.

So going back to school, just having a goal as to I want, I don't want to lack. I don't want my son to lack. Even though I come from a two-family household, that was one of my main things is that, is just because my circumstance should not dictate my lifestyle. Oh, absolutely. So let's talk about your day-to-day mission today. What is your current project? What are you working on?

What's getting you out of bed? One thing, live life, life, life. So I love to, I love health. I love fitness. One thing that I embrace is the ability to go work out every day, at least five or six days a week. I'm into, I've elevated my fitness, so I'm into CrossFit, somewhat similar. It has some CrossFit mechanics to it. and church, church is big for me.

Not so much, I've always been attached to church, but to understand God's purpose in my life and how he really regulates and is the authority over my life and to know that and believe that. So along with my family and all the gifts and things that have been bestowed upon me, I think it comes from a high power. And I want to do well in that, and I want to make, I want to make God proud of me, my family

proud of me, my, just overall. And I want to do right by the people that work for me. That's amazing. Let's break this down. So when you're at the gym, what are you receiving? Are you cardio, are you weightlifting? Are you angry in there? Like, what is going on with you psychologically when you're in the gym?

It's a, I feel it's a commitment. I feel driven. I feel goal-oriented. because there's a workout that's before me every day, WOD as far as what's expected. And I don't want to disappoint myself, you know. So I'm going to do what the workout spells out as far as what I have to do. So it's a mix. It's cardio, it's weightlifting, it's Spartan endurance, it's the whole nine.

So it gives us a well-rounded approach. I've been doing CrossFit, an outfit gym for over two years. And Eunice is the owner, and she's wonderful. She's a godsend. I've always had some level of fitness, but this is just something totally different. And I've competed, too. They had like an outfit game, some type of competition. And she encouraged me.

She said, Rochelle, sign up, sign up. And I shied away. And I'm glad I did because I did relatively well. I came a runner up. And I just started doing the I-fit thing. And so I love it. I love my gym friends, my gym family. And you know what's so remarkable is that.

They're going to be watching this and rooting you on. And guess what? And they expect me to be at a gym. Like, you know, when some people, people get used to seeing you, and then if you're not there, they're saying, oh, where are you at? Where have you been? And that makes you feel good because you know what your presence means something. And that matters to every, that's, you know, human touch, human relationships are so important.

You know, even it's, you know, people say to gym, but hey, in my, and the gym family, I mean, they are, they are awesome. Oh, for sure. Yeah, they're awesome. For sure. Now, let's talk about what you're like at church. Or do you sit in the front? Are you in the back? Oh, I'm active.

Oh, my gosh. How active are you? Like, are you standing up at every hand? Like, well, my apostle, Kimberly Nixon. Right on. Chief Apostle, Kimberly Nixon. She's an anoint. She's wonderful.

I love her dearly, infinitely. I used to be kind of just below the radar, but she has really kind of tapped me to do more. Oh, yeah. So I facilitate small group ministry. Sometimes I'm a part of panel discussions. And we have just different roles. And she knows that I'm a kind of.

counselor. She knows I'm a licensed clinician, so she'll tap on me to sometimes kind of support her and the needs, some needs of saints in the church. So I love my church. I love her. I love what she has helped me to develop and grow in developing a more scheduled. It's almost like there's a tap for me. to, I'm responsible. You know, I got to show up. I got to be present. And I thank her for that. Very awesome. So how often

are you on South Beach filming an episode about your life, your journey, and your entrepreneur, powerfulness? This is, oh my God. Never. This is, this is, this is what you call a dream. This is something that I would never thought.

Something I would never thought, you know, that I would be that important. Yeah. You know, to share my story. For sure. So it's definitely a highlight. Who do you hope to empower with your powerfulness? Anybody that it applies to, you know, I don't, there's no bounds. So anybody that could glean anything from it.

So it's, you know, it's limitless, yeah. Right on. Well, I got to ask, where does the blue come from? Okay, so I was married. Okay. So that is the surname that's my, from my marriage. But I kept blue. And sometimes people say, why are you?

It's great. Whatever. But my son is a blue. So one thing that I didn't, I never wanted my son to have to explain. Sometimes kids get so cruel, right? And they're like, why? Your mom asked him, your last name's different than your name. I don't know my son have to explain anything.

So I kept blue for him because he's a blue. What do you think your son's going to say sitting in a red set when he's sitting at home being blue. Oh, my goodness. You know, my son is God's blessing. Right on. To me. I raised my son pretty much by myself. What was the support for my mom,

my dad. And it's been some highs and lows. One thing that I always kind of instilled in my son's education, you know, because it was instilled in me. And he graduated this past year from University of

Maryland East Shore. He's a golfer. So he graduated with a PGA degree, a professional golf management degree. So he's aspiring to, he wants to play golf on a larger scale. One thing that I feel as though God has blessed me, he's, you know, boundlessly is I told my son, I said, chase your dreams. Because a lot of people don't say that and seriously say it, but I believe everybody should have a chance if given, you know, to chase your dreams, chase them. go to the point where you say, well, I tried it. You know what I'm saying? Or it's one thing to have a dream you never try to kind of see if it can evolve or manifest itself.

But I believe in that, chase a dream to kind of see what will come of it. I always say stack up your dreams and chase after one another. Every decade should be at least one main dream and then start climbing. I think I'm on my fourth or fifth one right now. I'm on my fifth ascension. I think it's going pretty well. I think we're doing pretty good here. Right on.

What can we, what's next for you now? What happens the moment you get off that chair and walk out that door? I'm telling you, I don't know. I, um, I'm ready for it. Yeah, right on. I'm ready for it. I'm ready for what's to come, you know. I feel as though that, um, as long as you, you're striving and you're working, something's,

something's going to happen. But you have to make, you have to do something now. You have to, you have to, you have to put it into, into action. You have to, you have to, you have to turn the motor. You have to turn the wheel. and it's not always going to be, you know, it's not always going to be good. And you have to expect failure.

You have to expect hurt in things. But from that, you grow. Everything's not going to always be where you're going to win or evolve or it's not always going to, you know, good times, you know, because what growth comes pain in progress, you have to be realistic that, you know, everything is not going to just come forth. It's going to be some things.

that you're going to, you know, it's going to be some setbacks. But that's okay, as long as you keep going. Yeah, Bruce Lee said it himself, learn how to be water. Just be water. And thus concludes our episode of Living Your Legacy. How can folks find you? I have a website, which you have, you can contact me through the website. Right on.

As well as I have an email as R-C-H-L-L-L-Boo at g-mail.com. That's my direct email address and my office number. Have an actual phone number. Have some folks who can connect you to me. The one in Fayville is 910, 483, 2002. And I could be reached there as well. Thank you so much. This has been great.

Thank you for your time and energy. This is such a great way to wrap up our afternoon. Thus concludes yet another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast for Insight Success. I'm Ray Gutierrez. I'm Rochelle Brooks Blue. You tell him Blue.