Hi Heather, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Okay, it’s always a humbling experience when I talk about the start of Heather Raquel and HUSH. In 2014 I lost two of the most important men in my life at that time, my father and my godfather who passed 30 days apart from one another and also got a divorce, lost my job and everything else. All of that lead to me having a nervous breakdown and doing a lot of souls searching trying to figure who I was and what I wanted out of my life. I ended up going back to the first business that I started in 2007, called Giving Life Foundation. I wanted to do something for other people so I started researching different shelters for children and came across Johnathan’s Children’s Shelter. I met with them and had an event called “Ties and Tiaras” this was for the teen girls that were there at the shelter.
I wanted to show them that there were people out there who honestly cared about them and just wanted to show love. I’ve always had a heart for people, even when I was hurting. Well, that event led to a few people reaching out to me from North Carolina and New York. A guy asked to interview me on his show and after that, we began to converse from time to time. One day he called me up telling me he was in search of a new internet show and I just threw out an idea to him. He called me back the next day and asked me would I be interested in having my own show and I told him I would think about it. A friend was over that day and I ran the idea by him and we talked until I came up with a name for the show.
So February 5, 2015, I started HUSH Lounge on my couch with Kola Wita K and Cyfa Fix. I called it HUSH because I wanted us to be able to talk about everything, even those taboo subjects you aren’t supposed to talk about in church. I was still fighting through all the hurt that I was going through and I knew that if I needed an outlet, others did too. I knew that HUSH would be the voice for the voiceless and I still stand on that. That is why it is HUSH Lounge the Voice for the Voiceless. Today we are still all that and more. I, along with some really amazing people, are growing and reaching people in other areas. I’m a wife and a mother now so my fight is geared with my husband and son in mind. I have to pray for both of them every time they leave the house without me or even when we are all together. HUSH has always been about US black entrepreneurs, artists, politicians, activists, actors, and all things Black. Now my focus is empowering our people to depend on ourselves and do what we have to do. No one can help us if we can’t help ourselves and that’s where HUSH steps in, we are the Voice for the Voiceless.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No, it hasn’t. The struggle a lot of the time was me blocking my own path. Sometimes fear would step in and cause me to want to quit other times, I felt I wasn’t good enough. Oh, and I can’t forget about the fact that everyone has a podcast now. Yeah, that really made me stop doing HUSH for about a year. BUT, when you are called to do great things no matter how much you run, you will always come back to what you are supposed to be doing.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a Navy veteran and when I got out, I went to school for Business Administration. I love the fact that I am a Navy Vet because my shipmates and I have a special bond and that bond is the reason why I use HUSH to help other vets. I started my first business in 2007 because I wanted to help veterans, ex-cons, and people in my community and from that, I was able to create HUSH Lounge Media. There are a lot of Black veteran-owned businesses that don’t even know about so many of the resources that we have as veterans in Texas and in 2020 I made it my business to share those resources with the Black Veteran community in DFW. HUSH also supports smalls businesses and we do Black Friday every Friday to support Black Businesses. Small businesses are what fuel our community and if we don’t support then we fail. My specialty is pushing people to be their greatest, even if it means I’m in the background pushing them. Over the last 5 years, HUSH has been able to be apart of some amazing community events. We got a chance to host our very first Turkey giveaway back in 2016, Then last year my husband and I along with a few others were able to provide dinners for 10 families. Not only that HUSH has been providing a platform for organizations, entrepreneurs, musicians, entertainers, and politicians for the last 5 years. We have gotten a chance to spread light and love all over the world by just caring for the people in our communities.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Humbleness, I can’t stress that enough. I know I am Great, but that does not mean I am greater than anyone else. Every opportunity that I have been afforded is because of grace and favor. I am also a giver. How can you expect to do great things and not be a giver? Selfishness doesn’t get you blessings. Love is the last thing that’s important to my success. Now I can’t say I love everybody (God is still working on me with that), but I do have a lot of love to give to people. Because I have a spirit of love and light, it draws people to me, good and bad.
Contact Info:
- Email: info@hushloungeonair.com
- Website: www.hushloungemedia.com
- Instagram: theheatherraquel
- Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/hushloungepodcast/
Image Credits
Krystal Hills Courtland Brown Chris Brazille Terrence Lacy
