The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Katrina Brownlee Tells Her Story Of Survival, Domestic Abuse, Resilience + More

Episode Date: August 12, 2025

Today on The Breakfast Club, Katrina Brownlee Tells Her Story Of Survival, Domestic Abuse, Resilience. Listen For More!YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BreakfastClubPower1051FMSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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My story of survival on both sides of the badge, a memoir. Katrina Brownlee is here. How are you? I'm doing well. How are you? I am blessed black and highly favorite. You have a hell of a story. Where do you want to begin?

Wherever you want to go. The memoir tells the story of you being shot ten times and overcoming the domestic violence. What helped you find the courage to not only write this book, but just to keep fighting for your life? And I guess for your future as well. Oh, gosh. The first thing I'll say it was God, faith, God, therapy, and my children.

That's what kept me fighting. That's all I had. It was nothing else to even look at to say, you know what, I want to fight. Like when you're in survival mode, it's survival. You're out there in the wilderness all by yourself. and you just trying to figure it out as you go along. The tagline of the book is My Story of Survival on Both Sides of the Badge. Talk about just the choice to make that the tagline

because there was one point where you were keeping what you were going through personally, the violence you were experiencing in your work as a police officer separate. So you're speaking in terms of what does the badge on both sides mean? Yes. Oh, badge on both sides. me my life of me being abused. I wasn't just abused in terms of a domestic violence relationship. In the book, it also speaks about how I was a child abuse, child abuse, sexual

abused. So I speak about that and then I speak about the fact of me being a detective, being a police officer. So it's badges on both sides. And your ex-fiance was a seal. Correct. And so he basically used to abuse his power. Correct. Put his hands. on you right flash his badge right and threaten you you know on on speaking out right i was the inmate and he was the correction officer at home that's how it was damn yeah that's pretty tough what was it like for you day to day at work um you know just with everything that you were experiencing being able to then deal with other people's issues and showing up for other people like what was that like mentally for you it was so heavy

for so many years because every day that you go to work you never know that if somebody is going to recognize you or remember your story because a few people did know my story. It did make the news because at the time he was a correction

officer. Right. So my name was Katrina Cook at that time and so it's Brownlee so a lot of people didn't put two and two together and then when my story came out a lot of people people begin to like reach out to me.

So it was just like a real difficult time just to work and especially work in the police department and for with, how can I say it, not for, but you know, work for an organization that had failed me. Right. So I went in with the mindset of that I was going to change this department and I was going to be this good cop. but then when you go in you realize that this is bigger than you you ain't changing this you're going to follow the rules or deal with the consequences I guess that was my

question like just in everything that you had dealt with then deciding to go and be a part of a force it's like it's so much that you can't change but you get there to change it like but you're also still dealing with your own stuff mentally I just maybe my question is why like why did you think that you could break that system down because all the pain that I had went through, everything that I had endured. Like, who was going to save me? They couldn't save me, so I had just tried to save myself.

Got you. When you would call the police and, you know, he would flash his badge and then the officers would leave, did that just make you feel hopeless? Like, how did you think you was going to get out of that situation? To be honest with you, it was going to either be me or him. That's how bad it was getting.

And the only reason what kept me from either killing myself, killing him was my children. Because I was like my kids are going to be motherless. And I guess, you know, Lauren was getting at this, but I guess what I want to ask, how did that betrayal from the police shape your decision to enter law enforcement?

yourself because I'd be mad on yeah I wouldn't want to be no cop because you call it the blue wall of silence we all call it a blue wall of silence but now you another brick on that wall to try to answer your question like I said like for me I needed to be able

to be protected so in order for me to be protected I had to that was one of the ways to be protected like I'm going to go in and I'm going to because if I'm a cop they didn't give him a long sentence so he's coming out so is he going to come out and finish the job but if I'm a cop what is he he not going to do that he's not going to behave that way right and then

my thing was I want to go in and I want to be able to shape I want to clean this place up like I had this mindset because I just believe that I can go in there I can change because I want to change because I could not believe that you would see me with a black eye you would see me with a busted lid and you would just say work it out or you wouldn't even you wouldn't even address me and I'm standing there you don't say anything to me but because he showed his shield he had he had the right to do what he did what's it like because we um hear a lot about like when women are in these situations there's this a pattern of almost feeling like sorry for the person that is abusing you or like just some sort of like save your like you want to save them from like

whatever the consequence may be, because you're trying to figure out like why it's happening or whatever the case may be. I know he had tried to call and reach out to you to have you say he didn't do certain things. Was there ever a moment where you thought like

it would be best for me to just be quiet about this? Oh, absolutely. Because I, because he was a sole provider for a household. So I thought about it. I was like, now he in jail, like, I'm going to take care of myself. So I became homeless. So I thought about it.

But then I just said to myself, no, I'm not doing that. Like, I'm not going to do that. Like, it's going to be, it's whatever at this point. And so, you know, and I speak about it in the book, you know, how his mom had written a letter and signed my name and said that I had shot myself 10 times. What? How difficult is it to have these conversations? I mean, because, you know, when I see your story and, you know, there's certain things I want to ask, I don't want to trigger you.

So how difficult is it to have these conversations? You can ask me whatever. Okay. Yeah. If this is a safe space, you can ask me whatever. Absolutely. Oh, yeah. I mean, just talking about it, I know, you got to relive it because you had to rewrite,

you know, you had to write the book and then, you know, now you ask me, being asked questions, but, you were shot 10 times and you were left for dead while you was five months pregnant. And they said it went on for an hour and a half? I don't know how long it went on, honestly, because I was in an hour of consciences. I don't know. I just, you know, that part was told to me by the ADA, who now is one of my good friends. How did you rebuild your identity after all of this happened?

After being homeless, after, you know, having to break down, after, you know, being shot and left for dead? Like, how did you just rebuild your identity, even become the detective that you became? And you were part of the mayor's security detail as well. I was, yeah. A lot, a lot, a lot of therapy. A lot of therapy and a lot of God.

That is what helped me. And just the will that God had given me to just want to live. And when you get the will to live, then it's that light on the wall right there up in the ceiling and you follow that light and you allow that light to continue to go. And that's your strength and that's your power. And then you get your power back. And so that's what it was for me.

Because that's all I had. Do you truly forgive somebody when they do something that heinous to you? I had to. Because I was angry. I was so bitter. I was bitter. And when you bitter at that level. Look at some tissue, Brandon.

When you bitter at that level. Thank you. If you do not forgive, you become a product of that. And I just did not want to be that. I was broken long enough. And in order for you to get into a situation like that, it had to be a story that happened. We don't wake up and get into these relationships.

so I came from transgenerational trauma and that's how I wind up in a situation where a man shoots me 10 times and abuse me talk a bit about the chapter until we meet again we talk about your mom and you talk about just you know

how everything that you went through made you treat just being able to wake up and live every single day why was it important for you to include that chapter in the book? I did not have a relationship with my mother. So when she died, it was like, I got wrong, like, totally wrong. And I will never know what it feels like to have a mother. So I just felt that it was important to just speak about that.

Because I know that I'm not the only one that's out there. And this book is not just for me. It's for all people that can be able to relate to my story. And I just hope that it inspired people. I hope it can change people life. And I just hope that even for people that are abusers, that they can go get help because abuses, they're broken. And mental health is real.

What was the emotional turning point in the writing process of this book that just made you feel like a little lighter? Because I wasn't able to really tell the story. I wasn't, so it was, this was so, it was like I'm finally getting everything out now. Like it was like, I'm being constipated like for, for so many years. shit out there you go right there there you go right there that part and so that's what i'm telling you that's exactly how i felt and it felt so good and it feels good to be able to now be able to speak my truth and be able to tell the story even i have friends that i have been friends with for so many years that didn't even know my story so you sit out with your girlfriends you hang out with them

you travel with them and they don't even know who you really are and you live in this bubble, this world because you can't really tell because if I would have told and somebody told the police department

they would have fired me because they wouldn't have wanted that stigma when you became an officer did you have more empathy for law enforcement? Like did you realize why they were the way they were? Oh, absolutely. Let me tell you something that people don't know.

The cops, they get abused by the higher upstairs. They get, I'm telling you, they get abused. So if you, that's just like, if you abuse your child, right, a lot of times your child becomes an abuser. So that's what, that's all it is. They don't get treated well. So now if I'm not getting treated well, I'm going to go out here and protect and serve. How am I going to go out there and protect and be kind to people when I'm not even being kind at home?

The police, that's your home, right? You're there to protect and serve. You there to go out there and do your job. But if you're being beat down and you're being told you a loser and you're being told that you ain't right enough summits or you ain't lock enough people up. And then you get in trouble. And if you tell and if you snitch, the consequences. So how can you go out there and really be effective? What about the stuff that you were saying inside?

You talked about like the chocolate team and a vanilla team. Yeah. And in the different neighborhoods they would go to. That's right. And it's, well, I guess you should explain it for people, the difference between the teams. And then I wanted to ask you about you going to your boss and saying, hey, they're doing illegal searches. You need to figure that out. And the boss was like, I'm cool.

yeah the chocolate team with the black team and the vanilla team was the Caucasian team and they went to so like y'all are in different neighborhoods or whatever you decide to you see something that you know it's not right

you decide to go to your higher up your higher up says I'm not disturbing my pension to correct a bad cop right because a lot of times if you would tell it's consequences

it's real it is really real and this is your life you're talking about cops kill their self all the time Who do you think they're killing their self for? He ain't killing their self because they ain't getting enough money or enough love.

They're killing their self because it's real in there. A lot of guilt. And they can't be who they want to be. They can't be their authentic self there. So they've got to be somebody else. And sometimes people can't handle that. Everybody mental health level is different. Yeah, I've been having that conversation a lot lately.

Like, you know, I feel like police officers should have. have uh should have to deal with mental health professionals like literally every every year every week like they should be sitting down with mental health professionals yeah absolutely yeah they they have some hotline called papa but i don't even think that those are those are um people that are actually um equipped to be able to deal with the trauma that police officers face every day that should be you you make sure that it's mandatory training for all these other different things that don't really matter, but why you don't have mandatory mental health training

for your police officers so they can be suited and booted and in a good mental state to go out there to fight and be able to really protect and serve? That's right. So if you want to have a great police department, you've got to have a great police department

and they've got to be able to have integrity. You've got to be able to have police officers be able to just really show up for someone. That's why I didn't want to be a domestic violence officer. I was like, I'm not going there and go to a call, and it's a domestic violence officer, and what I'm going to really do for her or what I'm going to really do for him.

Come on. It ain't, it ain't, the system ain't good to help us like that, especially people that look like us. Do you, even now, I'm sharing your story in the book, you talked about switching units because of like just fear of the things that were happening or whatever? What part are you talking about? You said y'all arrested, I think it was like 145, 147 people.

There was like buses of people and you were saying that like being in narcotics was getting a little like you were fearing for your safety. Oh yeah. Do you feel for your safety now because you're talking about all this stuff? No, absolutely not. I trust God. You know, I believe that he has me on an assignment and whatever it's going to be, it's going to be. I'm telling the truth. I'm telling the truth.

And I am here on whatever platform to be able to speak the truth. And so we got to stop lying to people. We got to stop lying. Like we're not being real with people. Let's stop lying. Let's start telling the truth. And let's start really showing up.

And if we're not showing up, then shut up but as you said people are afraid to tell the truth especially in that system because of fear of retaliation yeah well you know what

sometimes you gotta do what you got to do right sometimes you got to do what you got to do and I still quiet and so now I get to I get to be able to tell the truth so you got to do what you have to do

and be do it with wisdom and knowledge and understanding that's how you do it not saying go out there and be foolish about it but have some wisdom with it I saw in an interview where you said a good cop is somebody with empathy who cares yeah so what is a bad cop somebody who just doesn't have it

just don't care yeah I'm just here I'm here to get I'm just here got my uniform on I got my suit on and I'm here a lot of cops they haven't even I let me tell you something I remember working with a part partner of mine. And we were in the car and he said to me, he said, you know, I never was around black people until I came to this job. Damn. And I was like, what? I said, so how are you going police us if you have never experienced? And he dropped his head. And I took him to my aunt's house.

And I said, I'm going to show you what black family look like Because our story ain't your story And I took him there and I caught my arm on the phone And I said, I'm going to bring this young man to the house And she cooked this fried chicken and made him some real soulful Change his life Let me tell you something, this guy caught me just the other day And he said, thank you for the experience

Wow. So I wonder when you, you become an officer of course there's people who just naturally don't have empathy but i wonder if you can go in with empathy but then lose it oh 100% because you can get right in the mix with them you can get right in it and it ain't hard for you i'm telling you because had i not had my experience it's a great possibility that that would have happened to me wow because you really believe you really believe in this in this family because let me tell you something some of them cops that's all they got is that family and they I'm telling you they live and die I mean I got police they are going in my comments like trying to attack me and I'm like

But y'all know I'm telling the truth. But y'all rather protect that than to protect this. And I don't want people to feel sorry for me. Because I'm not no victim. I've been victimized, but I'm not no victim. So I want to be real clear. And one person said in the comments, oh, what more do you want? You retired a first grade detective.

What do you mean? I've worked hard to be a first grade detective. Ain't nobody give that to me. Have I gotten help along the way? Absolutely. But I worked. I worked in them streets. And I worked in the streets that looked like you and I.

Because I understood that had I not been there, things would have been different for a lot of people. Wow. You spoke about how, you know, you forgave your ex-fiance because you didn't want to have that bitterness in you. Did you also have some, maybe some empathy for him because you know how he became that way, maybe? I have empathy for him because he, a broken man in pieces.

He was never made up of anything, no substance to him as a man. Any man that can put his hands on it, a woman. and you shoot her and you beat her and you murder your child what what does what is what is he made of absolutely nothing you have to have empathy for him what about um for your grandmother like did you ever get to a place where you forgave her or like i know there was something about like her when y'all first like i guess i broke up she knew what was going on she was like you know work it out figure it out with him i never would I was mad at my grandmother because my grandmother was a product of brokenness.

I speak about that in the book. My grandfather left my grandmother for a white woman. Hey guys, it's AZ Fudd. You may know me as a gold medalist. You may know me as an NCAA national champion and recent most outstanding player. You may even know me as a people's princess. But now, you're also going to know me as your favorite host. on my new podcast, Fudd around and find out, I'll give you an inside look at everything

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a production of IHart Women's Sports and partnership with unanimous media. On the IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, everyone, it's Jay Shetty, and on today's episode of On Purpose, I'm joined by four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka. What I was dealing with at the time, feeling ashamed, going against everything an athlete stood for. After I pulled out of the French Open, I flew. Ranked as number one in the world in women's singles.

A four-time Grand Slam tennis champion, Naomi Osaka. We would be constantly on the tennis court, and I would watch other kids go to summer vacation. And I would always think, dang, like, I kind of want to be someone else. What was the feeling like when you won your first grand slam at the US Open? When I was growing up, I had dreams of playing three

My first grand slam final. It felt like a dream came true. I was just reading comments with people saying that I didn't deserve to win. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Sometimes it's hard to remember, but... Going through something like that is a traumatic experience, but it's also not the end of their life. That was my dad, reminding me and so many others who need to hear it, that our trauma is not our shame to carry. and we have big, bold, and beautiful lives to live after what happened to us.

I'm your host and co-president of this organization, Dr. Leah Trey-Tate. On my new podcast, The Unwanted Sorority, we weighed through transformation to peel back healing and reveal what it actually looks like, and sounds like in real time. Each week, I sit down with people who live through harm, carried silence, and are now reshaping the systems that failed us. We're going to talk about the adultification of black girls, mothering as resistance, and the tools we use for healing. The unwanted sorority is a safe space, not a quiet space.

So let's walk in. We're moving towards liberation together. Listen to the unwanted sorority, new episodes every Thursday, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. American history is full of wise people. What women said something like, you know, 99.99% of war is diarrhea, and 1% is... Those founding fathers were gossipy AF, and they love to cut each other down.

I'm Bob Crawford, host of American History Hotline, the show where you send us your questions about American history, and I find the answers, including the nuggets of wisdom our history has to offer. Hamilton pauses, and then he says, the greatest man that ever lived was Julius Caesar. And Jefferson writes in his diary, this proves that Hamilton is for a dictator, based on corruption. My favorite line was what Neil Armstrong said. It would have been harder to fake it than to do it. Listen to American History Hotline on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It was the demise of my family.

My grandmother never recovered. She died from a broken heart. You think abuses need rehabilitation? in a jail time. I think both. I think both. Why are you in there? You shouldn't be able to get your help,

your healing, whatever it is that you need. Because if you put them in prison and you don't do nothing with them, or they come out and be a worse savage than they already was. That's right. That's right.

I was going to ask, how do you deal with your day-to-day now? Because, like, where is he? Like, what is he? I have no idea. I have no idea. Do you still live in fear of him? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

I fear no one but God. You know, the title of your book alludes to the blues, right? And you think of blues, you think of like the music, the music, right? What does blues mean to you? And how does it reflect, you know, your journey from trauma to him? And then came to blues is my life. And then the NYPD life, those are the blues. And then the blues of my life.

My life was blues on top of blues. What color is it now? White. That's right. You feel like you definitely came out on the other side. Oh, let me tell you something. I've never been in a better place. I have finally found peace.

And when you get peace, You will never allow anybody else to disrupt that peace. I'm walking peace. I live for peace. Do you remember the exact moment? Like you felt it like, oh, man, I feel free. I feel peace. When I left City Hall that day and I retired.

Wow. I'm telling you, it was like a light just came off on me. Wow. and the ADA that was on my case at the time she was there at my walkout and we were leaving and she said I've been waiting to send this post do I have your approval to now tell the world what happened to you and I said absolutely and when she pressed sin it was it was there ever a moment of um like when you had to testify in court right or decided to um was there ever a moment for you where you thought you felt that piece that you're talking about but then later on i guess you realize like you're finally here like because i would think maybe that would bring you some sort of closure or peace as well too or no you mean testify with your ex-fiance i never got a chance to testify oh so when you showed up the court they didn't put you on the stand when i showed up in the court and When I showed up in the courtroom, he turned around and saw me

because he thought that he had, like, intimidated me enough that I would not come. Because he was threatening you from jail. Right, to come to court. And when I walked in, and he saw me, he whispered to his attorney, and the next thing I know, they took me back out of the courtroom. And the next thing I knew, like, guilty. Because you came to the, you did, first. you told the DA you was going to disappear right yeah I told her I was

disappearing and then you came later in the trial yeah because she told me that she was gonna hunt me down or something like a dog I can't remember what she told me she had told me she was like that is not you're gonna show and I'm like for what nothing's going to happen to him mm-hmm and everything that I said was going to happen it happens wow and that's and people read the book you will see every single thing. How does a man

shoot someone 10 times kill their child and all you give them is 5 to 15? Tell me how that works. Well, because you're a black woman. Right. Number one. Number two, because he was part of the law enforcement. Yeah, so they was protecting their own. That's right. That part.

So your decision not to want to show up until day Before, it was, that was a decision out of fear, basically. It was, it was fear. And then I was just like, it's nothing going to happen. Like, listen, it is what it is. Right. We're not going to play no more games. I'm tired of showing up.

And y'all not showing out. So am I going to show up today? What's going to happen if I show up today? When y'all show up, what's going to happen? Is something going to change today? damn i'm wondering being that you never told anybody your story and you know when those when you would get calls for those domestic violence cases why did you tell people you weren't you didn't want to be involved in you're an officer because i can't what was i there's nothing yet in the

department that really helped domestic violence victim what what what what am i so why would i do that to somebody else when you were kind of thinking of yourself i might go out here and be a vigilante and end up hurting one of these. Nah, no, I was in like, no, no, I like freedom. I went to, early on in my career, I went to the jail and did the scare program, and I said, oh, no, no way. No, mm-mm. And that was one of the things that I wanted to,

that I felt good about. Because y'all would have fired me if I would have told you. But look, how I went and didn't have no scandals. I did my job. I had integrity. I was respected, and then I left in a clean slate. I did that. And y'all would have said that I couldn't have done that.

And I've had people put in my comments that they was being honest on their interview trying to get on to the police department and told them that they were a victim, and they never heard from the police department. And I got it in my DMs. And I've made sure that I screenshot them. Wow. And my publicist, she can tell you, I, I have, she, she, she know that I'm, that, that, that I'm not lying. And they say, oh, she's lying.

We went to fight her. Have any of the officers that showed up those times when you did reach out to police, come back and been like, we should have done more? I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Anything? Let me tell you. when the story first dropped, anonymous caller caught me.

A lot of anonymous police officers were calling me and saying, you're a hero. I wish that I had the strength to do what you're doing. Thank you for being a voice. But I had one called me and he said, I'm not sure if I'm the officer that responded to you because I worked at the 8-1 at that time. He said, but I want to say to you that I apologize.

if I am. He said, I'm not going to tell you my name. I believe he told me he was either a captain or an inspector at the time that he retired. And he retired and he had moved to Florida. And he said, I just want to tell you that I apologize to you and hung up the phone. Did that do anything for you? I just broke down and tears. Because I said, maybe had you did something, maybe this wouldn't have happened to my life but he never gave me a chance to say anything you know they say everybody got to have a testimony right because if you didn't have that testimony you wouldn't be where you are now but damn you have to go through all of that you have the you have the organization our young ladies of our future which is a non-profit

organization that serves at risk young women and you have can't be silenced an organization working on solutions to the urgent domestic violence crisis what made you want to start both those organizations well young ladies of our future i wanted to start that because i never wanted any young girl young lady to ever have to endure what i have endured so if i could just be able to pour into them and be able to change their lives and make a difference in their life i just wanted to be able to do that so that was the purpose of that um and i teach workshops just about self-esteem, self-awareness, a whole leap of things.

And the can't be silenced piece was because I had to be silenced for so long and now I have a voice and I am the voice for the voiceless and the hope for the hopeless. So that is why. So do you feel like everything happens for a reason? Yeah, I do believe that.

You know, Shalemaine, When I was a little girl, I was in so much pain from what was going on in my life. And I used to, now people call it a journal. I had written, I used to write my diary. And I had lost it when I had gotten older. And I found it through moving. And that was how I was able to just write down so much detail. Because it was so much pain, and I was able to put it all together.

And I said to, I said, as a little girl, I said, I want to be, I want to be an author. I want to be a writer. My grandmother was a librarian. God had to give me a story to be an author. Wow. Ending your story in the book, I turned to the last page and show your in your book. Yeah, I want that to be a surprise. Okay.

Because I thought... Yeah, I wanted to be a surprise. I guess I rephrase a question then. At the end of your book, you choose to end it in a very uplifting, like, silver-lining way of all of this. I just want to say, only Lauren would give away the ending of the book. Because it's so... Come on now. No, because it's so sweet.

You don't get away the whole ending. Well, okay, you're right. But I think for most people, because they hear all of this, and then they're wondering, like, well, what is your personal life? Like, how do you rebuild? Yeah, and I want people to see... Personally in dating from that. And you, go ahead. Yeah, I just, I want people to know that dreams do come true.

And that don't ever give up on your dream. Don't ever give up on yourself. Because, look, what happened for me. And if God can do it for me, he can do it for you. When did you first start truly loving yourself? Oh, gosh. Oh, God, it took so many years. When I met the minister, Louis Farrakhan.

All praise is due to the minister. Absolutely. Before the minister. Oh, God, what, 2010? That's when I started, and he's beginning to pour into me. And it changed my life. Was that when you were able to find, I guess, you know, because they say you can't love anybody else until you love yourself.

So were you able to find healthy love in your life after that? I was able to start to be able to find healthy love in friendships and relationships, right? Because we attract what we are. Right. If you're broken, you got broken home girls. let's keep away. Right? Broken, broken relationships.

It's only until you get healed and made whole. And what is made whole, nothing missing, nothing damage is what's being made whole. Right? That's what that looks like. I just got a few more questions. What have you learned about, what would have been some of your biggest lessons in regards to resilience? The biggest lessons probably is like, you got to fight I don't care what I'm telling

you got to fight you have to really like you got to put on your boxing gloves and like you got to go in there like you the heavy weight world the heavyweight world champion if I'm saying it correctly heavyweight champion in the world

like you got to go into the ring with that mindset that I'm going to come out the winner you cannot go in there if you go in over saying that you're defeated you're going to be defeated and I was just determined like I got to win I have to win so every obstacle I said I'm going to get to the finish line and I got to the finish line I was just going to ask too about the photos in the art on the book just choosing like

like how you chose the photos in the art like the the back photo the opening photos showing both sides of you like how did you know what you wanted to pick image wise to match what the book would be telling because so on point oh that let me tell you that was that taking a lot of meditation because i was i didn't you know because of what's going on with the police i was like oh i don't know if i want to put that on the color you know and i'm just like it's just not a police story this is just not about a police story right this is so much much in it so i'm just like let me put me and let me put the cop and let's work it out like that and then i just sent it to my literary agent and she sent me back some pictures and what do you think and i said let's do this and that's how we that's how we got there and that picture there is probably one of my favorite pictures before on the back of the book You look so innocent I don't see nothing I'm like I'm looking

I'm like I don't even see the pain in your eyes And I was in a lot of pain Yeah When I'm talking about I was at the core pain Putting that shoe on And I had I want to give too much away But I was in a lot of pain

A lot of pain physically and mentally That day And I remember the photographer Saying something to me And I just looked up at him If you could speak to your younger self, you know, the 22-year-old you who survived that unimaginable trauma, what do you wish she knew in that moment? Oh, gosh.

I wish I knew God. I wish I knew what love felt like. I wish that I had. gave myself some grace and had a little bit more patience with myself and wish I could have believed in myself. I mean, I can go on. Like, it's a lot.

It's a lot. What do you hope readers take away from your memoir, especially those who might be navigating their own survival stories right now? I really hope and pray that people really truly will be inspiring. I want people to also be empowered. I want people to be educated. I want people to understand the importance of loving yourself, the importance of getting healed, the importance of your mental health.

And I also want people to even have a different outlook on the police department because all cops are not bad. did not. I just want, yeah, I just want officers to stop ignoring domestic violence cases. Yeah. You survived, like, literally. Like, you got shot 10 times survived. And I'm thinking about it so much because I just came home from, you know, South Carolina, you know, like yesterday.

And I was told a story about a young woman named Angel Caput. And she was 38 years old and she had been calling the police and telling the police, I think it was her ex or somebody was going to kill him. He's going to kill me because he used to beat on her, beat on her. And for whatever reason, they wasn't taking her serious. And this dude came in the house, shot and killed it, like, six days ago. You know, she's no longer here. So it's just like, I don't understand why officers don't take that serious.

If somebody says to you, hey, this person is going to kill me. Why isn't something done immediately? And the thing about it is that, look, this is in a whole never state. This is happening everywhere. It's people from all over the world reaching out to me. for help and I can't help them because there's nothing in place for people that's in these situations and I really wish that the government would step up and do more we need policy we need change because people are literally dying out here and a lot of people don't even call

because they know they're not going to get help and a lot of people stay because where are they going to go. That's right. I know home girls in those situations. That's right. Yes. So I'm just asking whomever.

Congress, somebody. Help. Please. Why is it so hard for that to change, though? Because people, you have, like, you see people dying and not making it out. Why is it so hard to make it where if you call the police,

they can actually do something and that person can just walk back into your house? Because it's not, the system is just not set up to protect it's not and we need change yeah right we need change we go out and we vote for for people that tell us lies stop voting for people that's not helping if they are not doing the work before they get in why are you voting for them we got to stop just being a part of something that's not real they're lying and saying oh i could do this i can get this

done and nothing don't get done and then when they and then when they get in the office they act like they never even had those conversations wow if people want to sign up for your seminars or you know be a part of the young ladies of our future or can't be silence where do they reach miss dot katrina 456 and Katrina Brownlee on Facebook, all my social media platforms. Well, I'm glad that you survived and I'm glad that you're here to tell you a story

because this is going to help somebody. And then came the Blues. My story of survival on both sides of the badge of memoir from Katrina Brownlee is available everywhere now. My last question, one word that describes your journey. One last word to describe my journey. Ah, God, I made it. I made it.

It's Katrina Brownlee. It's the Breakfast Club. Thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Hold on. Every day I wake up. Wake your ass up. The Breakfast Club. You're all finished or y'all's done?

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americans who live and breathe this music we started this podcast to share and discuss our views of musica mexicana whether you like to vibe to pezo pluma los alleges del barranco aril camacho or put ivan cornejo when you get it in fields then this podcast is for you well actually pezo was supposed to be on chinito's album the song with drake was supposed to be with pezzo listen to augustopa on the i heart radio app apple podcast or wherever you get your podcast. It's Black Business Month and Black Tech Green Money is tapping in. I'm Will Lucas spotlighting Black founders, investors, and innovators, building the future, one idea at a time.

Let's talk legacy, tech, and generational wealth. I had the skill and I had the talent. I didn't have the opportunity. Yeah. We all know, right? Genius is evenly distributed. Opportunity is not. To hear this and more on the power of Black Innovation and Ownership, listen to

Black Tech Green Money from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, guys, it's Janae, aka Cheekies from Cheekies and Chill Podcasts. And I'm bringing you an all new mini podcast series called Sincerely Janay. Sure, I'm a singer, author, businesswoman, and podcaster, but at the end of the day, I am human. And that's why I'm sharing my ups and downs with you in real time and on the go. Listen to Jikis and Chill on the IHeart Radio app. Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast.