(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai.

Go Unlimited to remove this message.) I was getting picked on for things that I can't change about myself.

It's not about what I'm wearing or how I look.

I got picked on for things that I can't change.

And at that point, it's just like, I could care less.

And at the end of the day, it's like, it's my life.

I'm living it.

You're just a speck on this world.

Like, you can't take life for granted.

You got to live it to the fullest.

At one point in time, going through those health challenges, my parents wanted to do what was best for me.

And I did feel like a girl in a bubble.

I couldn't go and do much.

I stayed home.

At one point in time, I was on hospital homebound school.

So I didn't go to school.

I didn't see friends.

Pretty much just saw my doctors, my mom.

A common thing that like fans or like when I get noticed in public, people be like, oh my God, are you famous?

And I always just respond with, I'm just like a normal girl.

Like, that's just how I think of myself.

It's like, I just think I'm like an ordinary girl.

Like, I weird quirks about myself.

And I just like, honestly, just continuously chase my dreams.

What's good, everybody?

It's your guy, Jojo Simmons, and welcome back to the For Good podcast, where we focus on the good, never the bad, and we're measured by what we do, not what we have.

Before we jump into it, I want to shout out the Instagram community.

We have reached 15,000 followers on Instagram.

Keep rocking with us.

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And if you haven't rocked with us yet, make sure you hit that follow button on Instagram, For Good podcast.

Let's go.

Today's guest is someone who knows what it's like to grow up with the world watching.

Mackenzie Brooke is a dancer, actor, and creator who built a massive following online by sharing her talent, her personality, and her story in a way that's real and relatable.

But behind the numbers and the viral videos, Mackenzie's journey is about something deeper.

She's been performing since she was a kid, growing up in the spotlight while learning who she really is outside of it, something I can definitely relate to.

She's faced challenges, stayed grounded in her purpose, and found ways to use her platform to inspire and uplift others.

From her early days dancing to stepping into acting, music, and storytelling, Mackenzie continues to evolve, not just as a creator, but as a young woman, learning to lead with authenticity and heart.

This conversation is about growth, balance, and what it means to stay true to yourself when everyone's watching.

Mackenzie, welcome to the For Good podcast.

Thank you for coming.

Thank you for having me.

Oh my God.

Can you introduce me every single time I go anywhere?

Of course.

It's like a WWF, right?

You have an intro before you come out and I just read off everything you've done in your life.

No, it sounded so good.

I was like, wow.

Well, all that means is you're hearing what you've been doing, and sometimes we don't take the moment to stop and say, oh, what have all I've done?

And then somebody like me comes along that's done the research and the team done the research and say, okay, we're going to put all that on this cue card so you can hear it because that's what the For Good podcast is about.

It's about uplifting people and uplifting the guests that we have here.

And I think it's safe to say that you may be the youngest guest I've had on here so far, which is cool.

That's cool.

I'm so happy to connect to Gen Z, I guess, at this point.

How are you liking New York?

You're liking New York.

What brings you here to New York?

What you got going on out here?

Well, I love New York because I love Times Square.

I love walking out at three, four in the morning and just experiencing all the lights.

But originally, why I came to New York is because I got brought out here with the United Nations for WIDO, for Women Empowerment.

And I'm super excited to be here for that, to be able to just connect with so many other leaders, especially female leaders, and be able to talk to them and hear everything they've gone through to get from point A to point B in their career.

And just being able to hear and just honestly, it's kind of like crazy because I'm the youngest, you know, with all the other panelists that's happening this week.

And it's definitely crazy, like being 21 and being surrounded by all these amazing women in their fields, for sure.

Yeah, that's dope.

I love it.

I didn't know, man, you special.

You out here doing things that other people just ain't doing.

That's what's up, man.

So what, you know, led you here?

Like what made them invite you?

Is it because you're always out, you know, empowering women?

What made you feel like they had to have you since you are the youngest?

What do you feel like, why they wanted you there?

Well, I do a lot of work with nonprofit organizations, especially like Supergirl Pro, which is a nonprofit for women.

And then I work side by side with the Air Force.

And I go to a lot of different like high schools and colleges kind of just to talk about, you know, being able to uplift kids, that's like something like eat, like, not kids, because I'm the same age as them.

But to be able to uplift people who are younger than me.

Yes, young adults is the great word for it.

And people my age, be able to just talk to them and like realize that you can accomplish so much, even when you're really young.

And I think just being able to put myself into different, I don't want to call them opportunities, because I don't think of them as that, because it's something that I really want to do.

And no matter what, I just, I love those experiences, because I get to learn a lot from them too, and get to hear, you know, what someone else has gone through.

And like, so when it comes to that, I think it's just like all the work I've done when I was from like, when I was young to now, helping out with homeless shelters, it's just, I think people have like, noticed, and it's not something I like, go out and put all over social media, just the work you're putting in.

It's just starting to see it.

Yeah.

And they, that's what's up, man.

I don't like to like go in, like for me, I like to give people, you know, space, especially, you know, working hand in hand with homeless.

I don't like to put all of that on social media.

You don't need to.

I don't need to.

It's who you are.

It's not, you don't always have to exploit it.

You know, sometimes it is good to show people so that they're inspired to do it as well.

But you don't have to do, you don't have to show it every time.

There's been many a times I've helped needy and people in need and I haven't told anybody.

Yeah.

There's no reason to, as long as that's between me, God and the person that helped me, you know, and that's how I look at it.

So I love that.

All right.

So let's get into it.

First of all, once again, happy for you being on here.

I can't wait to talk about all the things that you've been been up to, all the things that you've been through.

And, you know, I think there's a lot of relatable things that you and I could talk about, especially me growing up in the spotlight as well.

So let's get into it.

Mackenzie, your first question is you've been creating and performing since you were young.

And so much of your life has been in the public eye.

When people ask you, what do you do now?

How do you introduce yourself?

I honestly, when people always, I think a common thing that like fans or like when I get noticed in public, people be like, Oh my God, are you famous?

And I always just respond with, I'm just like a normal girl.

Like, that's just how I think of myself is like, I just think I'm like an ordinary girl.

Like I weird quirks about myself.

And I just like, honestly, just continuously chase my dreams.

I love that.

You know, I could relate to that because same here.

Like when people are like, Oh, you're famous.

So if they find out I'm a well -known person, like, Oh, you're famous.

I'm like, I don't really like the name celebrity or the word famous.

I'm like, yes, I'm known in some places, but I'm just like you.

Like when people run into me in the supermarket, like, what are you doing here?

I'm like, what are you doing here?

Food shopping?

That's exactly what I'm doing here.

I'm doing what the normal person does.

So I love that you say like, you don't, you know, how you introduce yourself now is just like, I'm just Mackenzie.

Just this girl, like you may know me from things, but I'm just Mackenzie.

So I love that.

I love that.

So you started building a following on TikTok when you were still a teenager.

Yes.

What do you remember about that moment when everything started to blow up?

Honestly, it was kind of just a very surreal moment for me.

I think especially the first time I got like noticed in public, I'll never forget it.

I don't know it to me, even like nowadays, like I've been doing social media for a few years now.

It's still anytime somebody recognizes me like at like a place like a supermarket or like an airport, it's just like very surreal moment.

And it's still like, it excites me every single time.

What was the first moment that really made you feel like you were starting to blow up though on TikTok?

The first moment, like.

That first aha moment, like, wow, my life's different now.

Cause I can tell you mine.

I love to hear yours.

Um, I will say the first moment where I had like a, oh my God, like my video blew up for something that I like enjoyed doing was I was in the supermarket.

I was at Walmart at three in the morning.

I was at Walmart.

I grew up going to Walmart.

I love Walmart, especially in Florida.

That's where I'm from.

Back in the day it was 24 hours.

I know they had the McDonald's, they had the video games you could play.

Trust me.

I love Walmart.

I'm such a big like Walmart fan and my parents are, especially my mom, she was always taking us to dance classes.

So after we finished dance class, like a prize for me and my brother would be to go to Walmart and just like run around the store and just like be like kids and siblings.

And I remember creating like at the time it, I didn't know it was going to be like a viral video.

I had like a couple like viral videos at the time before that, like doing comedy skits, but comedy wasn't exactly my, it wasn't my passion.

I think I got onto social media because my mom was like, Hey Mackenzie, you should do it.

And she kind of gave me an ultimatum at the time.

Um, when I started, which, you know, that's like a whole other story in itself.

And I just, I think I just started with comedy skits, but I think when I started like bringing out like my personality and things I was already doing, like as like a teenage like kid at the time, which was dancing, um, three in the morning at Walmart, I created a dance video with my brother.

It was like my own dance.

And cause my brother and I were like already choreographing at the time.

I was, I think 15 and a half at the time when I started choreographing.

And then I just made this dance trend and literally blew up overnight.

And the next day I was already getting recognized when like, I was going into like dance studios and like dance conventions.

And I was like, this is weird.

Like this is different, like different than like a good way.

Cause like growing up, like when you're always like at different conventions and competitions, like people always hype you up for like the way you dance.

But like, it wasn't necessarily a thing for people to be like, Oh, I know you because of your online presence or anything like that.

So it was definitely like very, an interesting moment in an interesting transition, but like interesting in a good way, like not a bad way.

Yeah.

I love that.

I love like it turned into something that was natural for you, something authentic and people gravitated towards it.

And then all of a sudden the same places you were walking in were places where people were recognizing you.

That's kind of like the same story I had.

I remember my young age, the mall was the place to go for kids.

And I remember I used to always go to the mall before I was on TV and you know, regular kid.

And then all of a sudden I'm going to the mall and now everybody wants pictures with me and everyone wants an autograph.

And then that was the moment I was like, wait, Oh, I'm somebody.

So I can relate to, to like one day you're this normal kid.

And the next day, like you're just everywhere, right?

Everybody knows who you are.

So you've literally grew up online with millions of people watching as we, as we're discussing and watching your life unfold.

How has that shaped the way you see yourself in your work?

You know, cause like you said before, normal Mackenzie, but like, I'm sure you get on, you get some attention, you get it.

Like how does, how did you now being having this attention shape yourself and in your work?

So I think for me, at least growing up already in the industry, I think a lot of kids, once they go into social media, they have like, they find out the, the perspective as in like, you can't get away with everything or anything anymore.

But I will say, I was kind of always like, not to say I was always a good kid growing up, but I was always very, like my mom was like, you never know.

Like, unfortunately there are bad people in the world and people who have bad intentions.

So my mom just kind of, my mom and my dad always kept me on like the good side of things and always looked out for me and made sure I didn't get in trouble.

Same thing with my brother.

So I think it just more so once I got an online presence that I had the thought process of like, if I do this, you never know who's watching.

And anyone at any point in time will like use that and like try to turn it into like a bad thing.

So I think that's like a thing that a lot of kids end up having that mindset and realizing they just have to be a lot more aware of their surroundings.

But I, I'm very lucky that I did grow up with like, super like overprotective parents to say the least.

But I think overprotective in like a good way.

I love how protective they have been of me.

I love that you, and shout out to your mom.

So I love that you at a young age had that mindset.

I didn't, you know, and I was raised right.

Right.

But my mind wasn't everybody's watching.

Let me watch what I do.

Let me do.

It was like, I just, I was fighting between being normal and being famous.

But I love how you understood your responsibility.

You understood your opportunity.

And I think that's powerful that you just said that.

I think every kid that's coming up on some newfound fame or coming up on some newfound money or anything should pay attention to what you just said.

You're never too young to understand that what's right from wrong.

And you're never too young to understand that you have an opportunity that you could essentially lose if you, if you're not aware.

Yeah.

And your, your sense of awareness at a young age is amazing.

Like, you know, shout out to you for, for, you know, cause you can have a great upbringing and still go against the grain.

Yeah.

So the fact that you didn't go against the grain shows that you were brought up not only the right way, but you were brought up and you, you listened, you understood that it was, it was the truth being told that, you know, so many kids, my daughter doesn't think dad knows it all yet.

Right now.

She's nine years old, but I'm going to, I'm going to show her this interview and say, Hey, cause she says me and my wife, my wife and I are too protective, overly protective.

I did.

Okay.

I did have that mindset when it came to certain topics in my life where I was like, okay, mom and dad, just a little space here, just a little space.

But I, I know I would say my brother and I are different.

I'm the type of person that if you tell me something's not good, I don't need to learn from the experience at all.

I'm just like, sounds like my kids.

Sounds like my little Joey and my meal will be like, okay, if my, I may not always agree, but if my parents say this is what it is, what it is, Joey's like headfirst, I don't care.

You know?

So I get it.

I get the brother sister relationship and how that, how that the second child can be crazy.

Hi mom.

I already know how that one is.

I know, I know exactly how that one goes.

But we love him so much.

He just, sometimes it takes him a little bit extra longer to learn, but I'm always here.

Yeah.

I think, honestly, I think it's a boy thing at that point.

You know, from, from what I see with my kids, my daughter's a little more scared to do certain things.

My son is not scared.

And I mean, not mean as in like, get on a rollercoaster scared, but like, if my dad says this, I'm so afraid, like, oh, like the other day, true story.

We're in a store shopping and she thought that I had left her smoothie cup garbage, like on somewhere and didn't put it in the garbage.

And we got in the car and she was like, dad, we were littering.

Oh my God.

We're going to be in so much trouble.

I'm like, no, I brought it to the garbage can in the front.

But that's the sense of, she's so afraid of getting in trouble or doing the wrong thing.

My son wouldn't even care if we left it there.

My brother definitely has the mindset.

Well, actually, I kind of think we both do where it's like, do it and kind of ask for forgiveness later.

We kind of both have that mindset.

It's just in different types.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, so you and I both know, speaking about our relatability, you and I both know what it's like to grow up in the spotlight and it can be a lot to balance.

How did you learn to separate who you are from what people see on social media?

Because some people will see you and think that's Mackenzie Brooke all the time.

Like when people see me, oh, he's always funny and fun and he has all this energy.

Some days I'm tired.

Some days I'm in who I am.

Right.

So how do you separate that?

I think for me, especially when I first started, it was definitely a learning process for sure.

Especially like I was a teen.

I've been in not in and out of relationships.

I've had only two relationships, but it was definitely hard being on social media and then being with someone.

I think I learned a lot, especially with a relationship that like I wanted to have this mindset of having like the perfect relationship when it was very, very far from perfect.

And I wanted to do that originally because I was like, I don't want anyone to like think this way about me or think this way about who I'm with.

And I just want them to like see smiles and sunshine and all that stuff.

But I realized like towards the other end of the relationship and especially like breaking up with somebody that it's OK to not be OK.

And that's something my mom always had in my head, like it's OK to like cry.

It's OK to feel this way.

I'm always going to be here for you.

But it's definitely a lot when it's when you have such a big online presence and everyone's opinions are involved in no matter what you do, whether you want them to be involved or not.

And most of the time I will say I'm very like thankful to have a very supportive audience and they're always there for me when I'm upset.

But I realized once I like ended relationships that I wanted to show my audience like it's OK to not be OK.

And at the end of the day, they also like felt the same way when it came to what they were going through.

And I was just just exactly.

And I was able to connect a lot more with them.

And that's when I realized that like this is how I'm going to balance it when I'm not feeling OK.

My audience will know that I'm not OK when I'm feeling great.

My audience will know that I'm feeling great because.

It's the same thing, it's like someone's coming up to me in person.

I remember this was right the like day before Halloween and I was in spirit, spirit Halloween.

I remember I was I was in my pajamas.

I was in my pajamas and no makeup on.

I was actually I deal with eczema and that's something I do share online, too.

And it was really, really bad that day.

I had like patches all over my face.

I literally had like a full on like lotion patch just like on two parts of my face that like I was dealing with.

And I remember a like four girls coming up to me at the time and I didn't like at the time they didn't see what I was like looking like, but they heard my voice and they're like, I recognize your voice and like I wanted to come up to you and everything like that.

And just so much so as they were in their pajamas, I was in mine.

And they're like, we had a full on conversation and they were honestly like the sweetest girls I've ever met.

And I think that's like something that I just realized that I wanted to like.

I wanted to be like to show how.

Someone who has a presence, whether it's like a social media influencer or an artist or an actress, actor, celebrity, like we all go through the same things.

And during that point in time, like again, having that full on conversation, we still took pictures.

We still had fun.

And like, you know, I'm human just as much as everybody else.

I love that.

So it's safe to say that it's not much separation.

You're so authentic with your, with your consumer that it's not like you have to separate the known person from the person that's in the house.

Right.

It's like you like being transparent with your people so they can relate to you.

And I love that so that it doesn't have, you don't have to put up any, any, any block or guard.

You know what I mean?

It's just, it's just you all the way.

So I love that.

Was there ever a moment when, when being known felt heavy though?

Like I know you say, you love the love, you love when people come up to you and you're transparent, like, but have you ever had to step back and like protect your peace?

Like from, from, from, from being who you are?

Like, has it ever gotten too heavy for you being a known person?

I would say, especially when I first started social media, the only time where it was like a lot for me was honestly just like when you, I think not everyone like recognizes, like, especially when someone just like either blows up really fast or like doesn't necessarily like expect something to happen.

I think when it comes to anybody, like walking into like a normal place or like an event or a party or I don't know, a store, like you don't necessarily think that like, oh, I'm going to get crowded or surrounded and stuff like that.

And I think at first I was very like, oh my God, like, this is a lot for me.

Like, I'm not ready for this.

Now I'm like totally fine with it.

It doesn't really affect me.

But I think that was like the only time where I was like, not that I needed to step back, but I just needed to like rethink and reprocess of like, yes, this could happen.

And you just have to be aware of your surroundings.

And that's pretty much it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I would say I was on the other end of it of like, things got really heavy for me.

So I took a step back for a few years because I was so, you know, on TV since I was 15.

And I dealt with a lot of like media things, like, like you saying, being aware of what you do and people are watching every move.

I wasn't too aware.

And that's where it got heavy for me when the comments and the people talking and the false narratives and all that.

So that's where it really, it really felt heavy for me as like as a kid growing up, becoming somebody was like dealing with the extras of it.

I never had a problem being a person that people look up to or somebody is inspired by or somebody may want to take.

I love the love.

It makes me feel good.

Right.

I think it makes anybody feel good.

But is the flip side of that where like the people are hating or the people don't love you as much as the people that love you.

So I think those are the moments where it really got heavy for me.

Have you ever had to deal with any hate online?

So I will say for me, I dealt with hate way before starting social media.

I like grew up getting bullied in school.

So I I guess like I have a different perspective of like when there's any sort of hate online, it does not affect me because like I had it done to my face.

I had it done by like people I thought were my friends, whether it was like dance industry or like at school.

And.

It was something I was just constantly dealing with all the time.

So having it done like online by someone who's like not showing their face, you don't see it, you know, like you don't know them, it's like they don't know you.

That's true.

It's it doesn't bother me.

It doesn't affect me.

And I've learned the process that it doesn't matter what other people think.

If you're still loving what you do and you know who you are, like, you know yourself, then who cares?

And at the end of the day, yes, everyone's allowed their own opinions, for sure.

But I could just care less about yours.

Like that's just like that's just like how I've learned to deal with when there's any hate, which I am very blessed and lucky that I haven't really had that negative energy online before, at least by like fans and supporters or people I follow.

Yes, I've had it by like your friends, your so-called friends, who like like to hate on you.

But at the end of the day, if you're my friend and you're being negative towards me, it's a simple thing as me removing you from my life.

And I have no problem doing that.

I love that.

You know, I learned that years into the game of like they don't even know me.

Why am I even getting so riled up over somebody that doesn't know me?

But I think it goes back to what you said.

You know, I didn't deal with that before TV.

You know, I wasn't I wasn't going into school and I wasn't like per se getting bullied.

I was like one of the cooler kids and like everybody liked me and like, you know, I was a class clown and I made everybody laugh.

Whatever I brought to the TV screen was who I was and people liked me for it.

And then I get, you know, I put it on TV and now people are nitpicking at every little thing.

Well, he looks like this and he does this and he and I couldn't deal with it.

So it's so cool to know that like you took real life stuff and was like, well, if this can happen in my real life, that Internet stuff is fake.

You know what I mean?

Because I don't even know those people.

I deal with real people that have tried to hate on me.

Yeah.

And especially like having that done to you, like at your, you know, your middle schools and your elementary schools.

And then like having also done like when you would go to like dance class and stuff like I was getting picked on for things that I can't change about myself.

Yeah.

It's not about what I'm wearing or how I look.

I got things like picked on for things that I can't change.

And at that point, it's just like, yeah, I could care less.

And at the end of the day, it's like it's my life.

I'm living it.

You're just a speck on this world.

Like you are you who you are.

And if you're happy being who you are, who you are, it shouldn't matter to anybody else.

Exactly.

Like I'm going to continue living my dreams.

There's always like that saying where it's like someone could either be in your life for like a chapter.

They could be in your life for the whole entire book.

It was just a chapter.

Who cares?

That was deep.

I like that.

You have to clip that one.

That's a clip right there.

That's a viral clip, Mackenzie.

There you go.

You're taking them viral clips from me.

There you go.

I like that one.

It's just like you could be there for one season or you could be there for like the whole 365 days of the year.

I've always heard that either in your life for a season or for a reason.

You know what I mean?

And that's how you got to kind of look at it.

I want to talk about expectations.

How do you handle people's expectations of you versus how you actually are now, like as an adult and as an artist?

Well, I will say.

I think especially the past like two years of being online.

Exactly who I am online is exactly who I am in person.

Like I'm very like blunt, direct.

I'm from the East Coast.

Like that's all I know how to be.

We're very, we're all very straight up out here.

Like really straight up.

Yes.

So especially like my mom's from New York.

So she she's a whole other level for sure.

But I could tell she's from New York and I felt the New York vibe.

So I think that's just like I don't necessarily have like a lot of people who expect things.

But obviously when it comes to working with like brands and doing partnerships, I'm very lucky to have my mom as my manager.

Yes.

She doesn't exactly like that word.

Momager don't like that word.

She likes to like it's different.

She's I like that.

And then she's a manager.

There you go.

Separated, which is really nice.

Like having her like having that separation, like she's able to play both roles and still do a great job either way.

But for me, if there's any sort of like expectations from like a brand that's expecting this, she handles all the business stuff.

And she's a very straight, honest type of person.

And but I think I can get behind like whatever I'm getting hired for or whoever I'm meeting.

I always say I go above and beyond whatever it is.

So I don't think anyone when they when it comes to meeting me or working with me ever has a bad experience, in my opinion.

I don't have one.

But I don't think anyone ever will have like a bad appearance, a bad opinion or experience because like, I've just like, you're real.

Yeah, I'm very real.

I'm very honest.

I'm going to tell you how I feel if I don't like if there's if you want me to do this and I don't like that or I think something could else be turned to and it could be different.

I'm going to tell you like, well, you want this.

I don't think it's going to go well.

But I think if we do this, it's going to go well.

So at the end of the day, it's however you decide as a brand.

Like, do you want to go with what I say or do you want to go with what you say?

But like, here are the outcomes.

And that's the same way my mom is like when it comes to them, her speaking with like different, you know, people.

So I think at the end of the day, I don't have like expectations.

Yeah.

And I've just like lived the life and where my mom was or my mom has taught me.

She's taught me a lot of things.

I always keep saying my mom was