Publicist Thomasina Perkins | The Good Word

I'm Tisha Lewis, and this is The Good Word. We love that you're watching. For those joining us for the first time, welcome. And for The Good Word family returning, welcome back to your dose of faith, inspiration, and The Good Word. Joining me this week, a powerhouse publicist from behind the scenes, managing red carpets, representing professional athletes, entertainers, and helping some of the biggest names in sports and Hollywood tell their stories, none other than Thomasina Perkins. Joining us on The Good Word, following a recent life-threatening health crisis and seven-day hospital stay, today she's on the other side of the camera using her voice to encourage others to prioritize their health, donate blood, and much more. Yes. Thank you so much for being here. Well, thank you for having me. I think the first thing I said to you when I saw you before we started taping was, oh my goodness, I'm so happy you're feeling better and you've recovered. Yes. Yes. Yes. And we're actually still in it because literally when I'm done here, I literally have a follow up appointment that I'm going to keep. Wonderful. So, you know, what a journey, though. How does it feel to be on the other side of the camera, to be the interviewee? It's nerve wracking, actually. And I'm laughing because as many times as I am with someone else and I'm telling them, oh, just relax your nerves or relax. I'm seeing that I'm catching myself, moving my hands and all that, that I'm normally chastising my clients for doing. And yeah, so it feels different to be on this side of the of the camera, especially coming out of such a traumatic situation. How did you end up hospitalized? So for me, I was booked and busy. I was booked and busy, as we like to say. and i i just kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off until my body finally said no ma'am no ma'am so i got so scared that i ended up going to the er and when i did uh they basically whisked me away it wasn't even you know no wait no wait it was no wait time which means it's something serious exactly because you know when you go to the emergency room there's usually you're hemming and hawing and you're waiting a minute but no they got me once they did the triage i i was whisked away and the rest is history i mean the the i have to say the er team um i did go to Howard University Hospital and um i had been you know told a couple times oh you need to get out of there but no actually i received the best care ever there from the time i walked into the door to the nurses on i will give a shout out to six west the nurses on six west um from the you know and Howard is a teaching hospital so i had three year medical students and a you know resident a fellow and when i tell you i actually felt better having that because i also knew that they had a well experienced doctor with them so they were taking the time and and let's just let's just be real as an African American our relationship with health care isn't always the best and rightfully so we have had a history of you know experiments I'll say done in our community and so our trust isn't always there and then especially now add the layer that I'm a black woman and you hear all of the, they don't listen to us and they don't, you know, this, well, I didn't experience that. And I was already terrified. Then you also have to add the added piece that I'm an entrepreneur. So as an entrepreneur, the other part I was thinking about is, oh my God, how much is this going to cost me? Right. Right. So, which is another reason. And that's a thought that so many people have. Absolutely. How much is this going to costs absolutely health care disparities along with health care costs are ongoing and continual conversations that are happening exactly across the world across the country especially every ethnicity every ethnicity every social economics you know class we are absolutely still worried about health care costs and then again add that added layer i'm an entrepreneur i'm an entrepreneur and you know i used to say entrepreneurs you know and an emphasis on pull because at the end of the day when you're an entrepreneur everything comes out of your pocket there is no you know matching funds there is no none of that is happening when i'm going to the doctor so i'm counting those pennies so i try to home remedy and you know all this and you know ChatGPT my symptoms away right but funny enough my ChatGPT told me go to the ER wow you know it's serious when your chat says these symptoms that you just gave us go and I said don't ask us don't ask us go right go to some professionals you were in the hospital for seven days yes that's a long time it's a long time what happened leading up to you checking yourself into the hospital so I started experiencing and I will say months ago and yes I will say my children my friends you know even my clients have seen me struggle to walk to breathe to you know and I would always say oh I'm just tired then I started what really got to me was I started having brain fog where I just couldn't concentrate I would sit in front of my computer and I would just stare at it and I blamed it on I just have too many things that I'm juggling I need to just focus on one but I couldn't even do that well lo and behold it's because oxygen wasn't even wasn't getting to my brain because your blood you know carries the oxygen and again I don't know everything so I'm learning you know I'm learning those learning all of that stuff but i when i got there i ended up with a hemoglobin level of five so anybody's got your ChatGPT check that out because it that's beyond dangerously low that's critically low so bottom line the ER person told me ma'am you were a ticking time bomb so if i had kept putting it off i may not have been here today you know my birthday is next week and i may not have been here right exactly what role did your faith play in your recovery and even while you were at the hospital oh it was everything because again what we talked about with regards to you know having fear of you know being in the hospital well as soon as they told me they were giving me blood I'm not a superstitious person however you know I'm thinking you know that saying when we say were going out and you're like who all's going to be there well my thought was whose blood you're giving me right who did this come from where did it come from you know and I wanted to know you know so and then that gave me another piece of anxiety because I'm thinking what are you what are you putting into me because again faith right and I'm thinking what what's being put into me right I need to know what's being put into me and that's a real fear that's a real thing but I also knew that I needed it to live. Because when you start going in and they start telling you, you know, who's your next of kin, who's your, you know, your son, you're already going through, you know, an emergency. And then now you're figuring out, okay, well, my daughter has this and my son has this. And I hope they all know where everything is and all of that, because you just never know what's what's going to happen and anytime and i ended up having to go um under anesthesia because i they i will say when i say they test me from the root of two to two they did they absolutely did and i am still actually finding out exactly what what's caused the severe anemia and the iron deficiency and all of that because we couldn't find it my some of my um my kidneys were fine My heart's fine. Even when they thought they saw something on my heart, thank God it wasn't there. And I'm not going to lie. Did I go into the prayer closet? I mean, I couldn't get out the bed, but I sure was in that bed. Just, you know how we start making deals, right? God, if you bring me through this, if you bring more time, I promise to serve you. I promise. I promise. I said it naturally, right? Exactly. And I said, and I promise. And I also promise that I will get out And I will tell people, please donate blood. Our producer, John, actually was sharing with me that anemia is something that is very prevalent, especially in the black community. Yes, yes. And sometimes it's ignored. Oh, absolutely. As signs and symptoms. Tell us a little bit about what the signs and the symptoms were that led you to the hospital for this low anemia diagnosis. Well, what I'll tell you is one of the things, you ever see those women that walk around, and I won't just say women, but a lot of times you see it's mostly women, who are walking around with that good old Chick-fil-A or Sonic Ice and just walking around chewing ice. Well, there's a whole term for that. I hope I say it correctly. I think it's pica, pica, and it's a sign of low iron, of iron deficiency. and when I tell you I would rather eat ice than food that's how bad it was like I was crunching I'd be on the phone with someone and I'm like I'm so sorry but at one point people just got used to it that were dealing with me all the time because they knew I was coming out by if I went somewhere and I had ice I would rather eat ice than drink water than um you know eat food I was just just ice ice ice ice ice wow and i did not know i just thought it was a habit that i just developed randomly you know over some months and it was just so that's definitely one sign the other sign is tired the fatigue is real i couldn't walk more than five to ten minutes without having to my heart would start racing um and actually what sent me to the hospital was my legs couldn't hold me up so I could um so I could wash dishes you know I was I was up trying to watch and and I and I literally felt like I was going to go down and of course I blamed it on my weight because I know you know I've got some pounds I need to you know shed and so I said oh once I lose weight I'll be fine but again it was everyone kept saying you need to go you're eating you know this ice is too much my kids were everyone was just saying mom you're tired all the time and I was like really downtrodden tired to the point where I would have to just take a nap. And sometimes leading up to this, now that I'm, you know, in hindsight, leading up to this, I'm realizing that I was taking those crash naps, meaning that I was going and going and going to the point of when I finally did lay down, I was gone, heard no phone, no, no alarms. I didn't hear a thing. I would just crash. Wow. Wow. And that is, that's also scary, but I didn't realize that. Oh, I just must've been really tired, but I finally crashed. But then on top of that, there's another flip side. There's also a side where you can't sleep at all. So you have insomnia. So you're just going and going and going. And it's, yeah, it was, it was a whirlwind and all of that had to do with this severe anemia what was going through your mind when you woke up in the hospital day two i suppose that would be, did you check yourself in? Yeah, and then you're staying yes and then you wake up it's day two three four five what was going through your mind i was scared and i and i kept saying is this how i'm gonna go because i didn't have my good wig i at least had a good scarf i was smart enough to put a scarf on, but I, you know, but no, I was, I was, I was terrified because for me, I felt like I've got too much to do. I still have so many things to do. So many things I want to do. And so many things you are doing, actively, currently doing. Yes. And as, and again, going back to as an entrepreneur, you know, yes, I do have team members and thank goodness, you know, I have wonderful clients who not only understood, they prayed for me and i do mean prayed for me um actually one of my clients uh malachi malik who you all met who's going to the emmys this weekend um and uh prayed for me he and his wife you know they were ones that were on my behind because i did a run with them and i was exhausted and they kept saying you need to really get that checked out because we need you around and i kept saying I will I will and they check on me by text have you gone to the doctor yet oh I will I'll make that appointment and I think and finally you had no choice I finally had no choice you had to go I had to go what's your message my message is get your checkups you know don't put it off especially if you feel something anything out of the ordinary you know nothing's too small because that's what they're there for it's called medical practice that's what they're there for just just go just go and then the other is donate blood and i know in our communities uh especially people of color a lot of times we don't you know we have that that relationship we're a little nervous but we need it because not only is it for just this but then think about the rare blood disease sickle sickle cell anemia they need blood and they need our blood so please you know donate blood And then I have one other one that may not be popular, but my birthday is November 3rd. Happy early birthday. Thank you very much. Which also happens to be election day. Yes. So I can't tell people who to vote for. But what I can say is if you have not already early voted, please, please, please get out and vote. And hey, go to on IG at Capitol Public Relations and show me your I voted sticker. I might come up with a gift. I don't know. But I would love that. You've worked with some of the biggest names in the industry. And as much as you pour into them, you've given us some situations, some examples of where your clients are also pouring into you, praying for you. Yes. How else have they poured into you? I mean, there's just so, so many things. I mean, I've got one client who is actually trying to get me to learn yoga and was and literally was was praying for me all the way from overseas. That's about as far as I'll say about that one. And then, you know, my football client, same thing. Miss Titi, you need to you need to get it together. But a lot of them have, you know, put me in rooms that, you know, that just my skill would not have done. Just my skill would not have done. You know, Black Girls Rock. I'm the lead publicist for them. We've just made a huge announcement about going on tour, the BGR Live tour starting in 2027. you know that's amazing, that's amazing, it's amazing because we've been waiting for Black Girls Rock to get back so in some shape form or fashion and this is a big way along with the Black Promoters Collective which is also huge for us and huge for artists you know a female artist it's huge and then also um my other we just launched Bello and Co Records female led female driven again just people that are just constantly pouring back into the communities and giving people opportunities that they wouldn't normally have had so yeah i i'm very very thankful because what's also funny and coincidentally about me even being here so i knew the good word was the right place to share this story because somehow some way i've gotten into faith these films so we have a new one coming out November 21st Out of Darkness too so it's just these things that and and when you think about that Out of Darkness right that's kind of where i was because i was burying my head in the sand saying i'm okay i'll get through this and based on all the projects that you just named i was thinking in my head when you were saying this this is why we need you healthy and we need you here exactly it's not only about what you still have left to do it's about what you're currently doing yes yes and it seems like sometimes prayer and faith can be taboo in Hollywood but not so much anymore no not so much anymore no people are absolutely openly openly praying and and and and giving thanks and showing how much, how grateful they are to the opportunities and the fact that just the fact that God woke us up, you know, and I'm not afraid to say that anymore. God woke me up because he did. He didn't have to. I could have absolutely been in that upper room, which I prefer, but I prefer to be in this room right now because we have so much, we have so much to do and there's just so many people that are you know they need that hope they need the hope so whatever whatever religion whatever faith they have you know whatever higher power that they look to we all look to something you are back you are recovering you are healing thanks to hope and faith and prayer after a seven-day hospital stay that has fueled your message yes about prioritizing our health yes everyone collectively what what is so important about that message i mean the the truth is we want to be here we have things to do right but you can't do it if you're not healthy. What, what, what is, what's the, what's the purpose of being booked and busy if you're not well enough to enjoy it? Right. So true. So that, that's the message. The message is be well enough to enjoy the things you want to do. Everyone that comes in the good word. We always ask this question. This is your first time on the show yes yes we would like to leave the people with some nuggets and gems and all the good things and so i will ask you what is the good word so the good word is believe in yourself believe and trust your body if your body is telling you that you're tired take the nap i literally now have a prescription for a nap my doctor literally wrote if you're tired take a nap take a nap because guess what all those things you're trying to get to they're going to be there and guess what they're even going to be there when you're gone so how about you take care of you do the things you need to do pray pray pray so that you can be here to do it yourself powerful powerful and I like you know what you said is very powerful you said all those things that you want to do need to do would like to do have to do are going to be there if you're gone if something happens to you someone else is going to pick up the mantle and run so you really have to take care of yourself have to take care of yourself self-care is not just going to get our nails and hair done no even though that's even though that's important that's very important self-care is also that's part of appointments and going yes to the doctor yes to make sure that a professional not chat not your chat not your chat not your google not your grandma to make sure the inside what's going on on the inside looks just as beautiful as what is going on on the outside exactly right yes exactly and you said one more thing before we let you go you said that your children kept telling you my children listen listen my son actually said mom you're my you're the only grandmother that my grandchildren know we need you here and my grandkids said the same thing wow so i need to be here we need you here we need you here before we let you go i know that you are booked and busy so tell us what you have coming up so actually i head off to la this week for the daytime emmys um our uh our dc native malachi malik and his team with the Beyond the Gates soap opera is up for a record breaking 15 Emmy nominations for a first first year show that's major again black girls Rock BGR Live is coming up Bella and Cole Records Althea Gibson i didn't even speak about her when you've got a tennis phenom coming up i do many people follow me on social media know that And my daughter, Jordan Inez, just won first place at the USTA Junior Tournament. So we are so proud of her and very happy about that. And so Althea Gibson, this is 2027. We'll be celebrating the 100th anniversary of her birth date and 70th anniversary of her wins at Wimbledon and Australian Open. I love it. So we're doing a lot in the tennis world. So you and Jordan, keep up. We love it. We love it. Well, Thomasina Perkins, thank you so much for joining us on The Good Word. You wear so many different hats. So brave and so courageous to share your story. We appreciate it. We are on demand on Fox Local Sundays at 10 a.m. and also on Fox Soul Wednesdays through Sundays. Check your local listings. I'm Tisha Lewis. Thank you for watching The Good Word. Until next time.