Okay, so maybe I’m over exaggerating just a tad bit by my headline- but I don’t really care because your girl is in a book. Not just any book at that- but A New York Times Bestseller! That means that the book was so good that nearly half the world purchased a copy. Heck, they might have even purchased two. So that’s about sixteen hundred thousand bazillion times two…That’s a whole lot! Either way, the book was a hit! This book that I’m describing is none other than Black Privilege: Opportunity Comes To Those Who Create It written by one of my biggest supporters and mentors, Radio-Personality Charlamagne Tha God. But before I get into the actual text, let me first start off by telling you how I found out that I was mentioned in the first place.
One of my good friends [I’ll leave her name anonymous for her privacy], who I’ve had the pleasure of meeting during my internship days at Power 105.1 FM, recently began working for one of the biggest publishing companies in the country. So of course she has the opportunity to work with some of the greatest authors of all time and oversee their campaigns. This one in particular was Charlamagne’s. One day, while sitting on the couch in my living room working on building this site- something that I found myself doing practically everyday for the past 6 months- I received a text from my good friend that went a little something like this: Either way, I was sure that it wasn’t good. In my response to my friend, I wrote:
Friend: Girl👀
Me: Hey girl hey!
Friend: So I just got an early copy of Charlamagne’s book and he put you in it
Me: Omg really?👀 👀 You lie! What did I do??
Friend: I’ll send you a picture. He said “a Haitian girl named Sasha…”
“Haitian girl named Sasha?” What did I do that was so Haitian that he had to write about it? At this point, I thought that either one of two things were mentioned:
- That time I told The Morning Show that I had the biggest crush on Waka Flocka Flame and they ended up telling him when he came in for his interview- I have a thing for thug passions, what can I say?
- Or that embarrassing time when The Breakfast Club put me on air because I didn’t know who rapper Ma$e was- In my defense, my mom was a strict Haitian when it came to listening to “gansta wap” or “hippen hop” music (as she would call it).
Either way, I was sure that it wasn’t good. I anxiously watched as the iMessage typing dots appeared at the bottom of my screen (I lowkey despise those things). And then there it was in plain text.
“One of my all-time favorites was a Haitian girl named Sasha who used to intern with us at Power.”
“Could there have been another another intern named Sasha that I didn’t know about,” I said to myself as I looked over my shoulders. Now that I think about it, why did I look over my shoulders knowing good and well there was no one else in the room with me? So many questions. Anyway, the answer was no, there wasn’t. I was the only intern named Sasha. There was no doubt that he was talking about me. Something then came over my eyes, fogging up my vision- I was crying. And I’m not talking about the one tear rolling down the side of your cheek type of cry either, but that ugly cry. That cry you give when you just got your behind torn by your mother after getting a bad grade in school. That snot down the nose, stutter huff type of ugly cry- we all know what a stutter huff is. I continued reading:
…Sasha’s job was supposed be helping us answer phones, but she took it upon herself to start writing out questions for me whenever we had an interview. Not only did she come up with thoughtful and insightful questions, but she also managed to write them in a voice that sounded exactly like my own.”
Stutter huffs and snotty nose.
He was right, I did do that. I didn’t just answer those phones- I ANSWERED THOSE PHONES! Alright, Sasha you have to pull yourself together. This is big! You’ve got to call your mom and tell her that you have to get ready to go on tour with Charlamagne. He can’t just go on tour without you. WE are going on tour. Charlamagne, Wax (his bodyguard and brother from another mother), me and mom. No, wait my mom can’t come, that would just be doing too much. I mean I don’t really know what our itinerary will consist of but I’m sure there will probably be a lot of press stops, not to mention book signings- because I’d obviously have to sign my name as well, right beneath Charlamagne’s signature. That’s a lot of walking, though. Momma’s feet get tired when she has to walk around for long periods of time.“Maybe just Facetime her or use WhatsApp?” Yea, that’s it. I’ll WhatsApp video chat with her. Haitians love What’s App. “Wait. I’m getting too ahead of myself,” I thought. I wasn’t the real star, Charlamagne was.As Cardi B would probably say, I was just a “regular, degular, shmegular girl” who was featured in a book. A very good book. A New York Times Bestseller book. Need me to run the numbers again? However, whether I was able to go on tour or not, wasn’t the important thing to take away from this. Yes, I felt truly humbled by the fact of even being mentioned, but I also needed this reminder of why I started in the first place, especially during this rebranding season. 
You see, I never took my role as an intern lightly. I made sure to not only complete the work that was required of me, but to also work my hardest to stand out and help out in areas that I felt were blind spots. It was because I treated my unpaid internship as I would any paid opportunity, that I was able to open myself up to the many opportunities that preceded my internship; one of them being my biggest opportunity as a writer on Charlamagne’s late-night talk show on MTV2 Charlamagne and Friends. I’ve had many opportunities that came after that, but it was that role in particular that gave me the inspiration to begin building my own platform. I’m honest enough to admit that through my process of rebranding, I sort of lost track of who I was and my reason for starting on this journey in the first place. I just wanted to create dope content. So to Charlamagne, I say thank you so reminding me of why I started in the first place and for re-fueling my drive. To you all, I say, no matter what opportunity comes your way, whether it be paid or unpaid, give it your all. There is no such thing as a small opportunity because you just never know where it might lead you. You might end up creating your own lane, or working for your dream company, or you might even end up getting a feature in a book. A great book. A New York Times Bestseller.
