Nurturing Bonds: Joe Lee's Strategies for Raising Strong Daughters

The Fatherhood Insider: A Gateway to Enhanced Paternal Engagement

Dr. Christopher Lewis welcomes fathers to explore the Fatherhood Insider, a hub designed for paternal growth. Emphasizing the importance of active fatherhood, he encourages dads to utilize resources such as course libraries, forums, and expert advice with the singular goal of honing their fathering skills.

Joe Lee's Remarkable Transition: From Monotony to Spontaneity

Guest Joe Lee, a dedicated father, discusses his structured life and the unique activities he enjoys with his daughter. Be it practicing Taekwondo, computer learning sessions, or ice skating adventures, Joe underscores the essence of breaking routine and imbuing life with spontaneous moments.

An Inspirational Journey from an Entrepreneur to Author

Joe Lee shares his motivations for penning 'Ripping Off the Mask From Hustler Entertainer to CEO' and his entrepreneurial evolution. Reflecting on the empowering experiences that guided him to authorship, Joe underlines the process of building a support network and navigating the responsibilities of single fatherhood.

Fatherhood's Complex Layers in Modern Society

As a vigilant single father, Joe addresses the pressing fears and challenges in raising a daughter in today's society. He advocates for attentiveness, support, and open communication as the pillars of a father-daughter relationship. With a fine balance between professional life and parenting duties, Joe strives to provide structure, support, and valuable life insights for his daughter.

A Vision of Fatherhood: Protecting and Teaching the Next Generation

Envisioning his role as a protector and teacher, Joe Lee hopes to instill resilience and strength in his daughter. He emphasizes the value of fathers being present and actively involved—not just in the big moments, but also in the everyday tasks, like doing their daughters' hair. As a 'girl dad,' his commitment to nurturing and mentoring his daughter shines as a beacon for other fathers who listen to 'Dads with Daughters

 

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:05]:
Welcome to dads with daughters. In this show, we spotlight dads, resources, and more to help you be the best dad you can be.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:16]:
Welcome back to the dads with daughters podcast, where we bring you guests to be active participants in your daughter's lives, raising them to be strong independent women. Really excited to have you back again this week. Every week I love being able to sit down, talk to you, help you, and work with you as you go through this journey that you're on in raising your daughters. I know I've been on the same journey. I'm still on that journey. I'll always be on that journey. Once you're a father, you're always a father. And what's so important is that you never give up.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:00:46]:
You keep moving and you keep working at it because there's gonna be times where it's gonna be hard. There's gonna be times where it's gonna go smoothly, but there is always opportunities to learn, to grow and to be even better. So that's what this show is all about. This show is all about helping you to be the best dad that you can be to help you to connect and engage with your daughters. And that's why I love being able to have these conversations with you every week. I also love being able to bring you different dads, different dads that are doing fatherhood in different ways and bringing you people that have, are from every walk of life, fathers, mothers, other individuals with resources that are gonna help you to be that engaged father that you wanna be. This week, we've got another great guest with us. Joe Lee is with us today.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:01:35]:
And Joe is a father of a daughter. He's got a 6 year old daughter at home. We're gonna talk about his journey that he has had thus far with his own daughter, and I'm really excited to have him here. Joe, thanks so much for being here today.

Joe Lee [00:01:48]:
Thank you, Chris. I appreciate being a part of the show and being on here. The way that you guys, have come along, I think I was set at the beginning stages of that when you started the organization and group on Facebook. So it's a pleasure being here and being a dad myself for the last 6 years. I've always helped other folks with their trials and tribulations prior to me becoming a dad. So it was one of the reasons why I joined your group back then.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:02:11]:
So first and foremost, what I love to do is I love turning the clock back in time. So let's go all the way back to that first moment that you found out that you were gonna be a father to a daughter. What was going through your head?

Joe Lee [00:02:20]:
Oh, man. I I said, you know, of all people, why, you know, why do I hit the girl? Right? And but I smiled all the time. I smiled all the time. Like any other father, you wanna have that boy, But, you know, it's been a pleasure, and I see that I've inspired a lot of men when I first started this journey and how I used to talk about her coming into this world.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:02:41]:
So as you think back to the time that you've had with your daughter thus far, I know that when I talk to dads about being a father to a daughter, many people tell me that there's some fear that goes along with it. What's been your biggest fear in raising a daughter in today's society?

Joe Lee [00:02:56]:
So there's a couple things, to be honest with you, Chris. 1, if I think about my life coming out of New Orleans and the fact of even just raising a kid today, I don't think it's scary. I think it's a matter of being afraid. What could possibly happen? And I say that because I've often been asked and had conversations with dads or women, all of the same. And I talk about the days when we used to walk around the neighborhood at 6, 7, 8 years old. We 2, 3, 10, 15 miles away from home. Today, that's the fear factor. You can't do that anymore.

Joe Lee [00:03:26]:
Predators will take your daughter or son out of your backyard and draw daylight. It doesn't even matter. That's one of the biggest things, and I think she's taught me a lot more too just in general about life as I've gotten back, as I've always been into the health and fitness side of the house, playing semi pro football, bodybuilding, etcetera, this late stage in the game for me and and by the way, I'll be 53 next week, Chris, just to share a little bit with you. So I still keep myself healthy. But working with her in Taekwondo has, gotten me back into stretching. It has gotten me close to God because she's in private school, and every week she has homework to read a, a verse from the Bible.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:04:03]:
Now raising kids is never easy. Raising daughters is not always easy as well. What's been the hardest part for you being a father to a daughter?

Joe Lee [00:04:12]:
It's making sure that I'm being attentive. Right? It's making sure that I am supportive, of a female, for 1. I am actively listening, and I'm not just being a dictator because I'm her father, but I'm also fostering open communication. I think it involves setting a positive example that I am empathetic to what she's going through, and I'm finding ways to be resilient to teach her to be resilient. My daughter jumped onto a computer right at the age of 4 months, and she literally crawled over into my lap and was just curious about it. And, you know, she didn't peck on the keyboard. She tried to mimic everything that I was doing, and I'm like, yes. She has that look in her eyes.

Joe Lee [00:04:48]:
So from there, that helped me with being a father to a female and what I have seen in the prior 15 years of women now becoming more evolved in the corporate America side of things. So it only meant sense for me to think about, hey, how do I best guide my daughter? Because she's gonna need more than just being a female. She's gonna need more than just going to school and to be able to survive out here in this world of, corporate America and in life.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:05:19]:
Now you are busy. You have a lot of things going on. You're doing a lot of different things. And you're trying to also be that engaged dad that you wanna be. Talk to me about balance and how you've found balance in the things that you're trying to do professionally, but also in who you want to be personally for your daughter.

Joe Lee [00:05:38]:
Yes. So one thing, I have 2 calendars. I manage calendars. Where most people, years before me, may have missed Christmas or some specific holiday or birthday around a making a business deal, I do my best to manage my schedule around her schedule and not the other way around. So just like I have her in Tae kwon which is generally Mondays Tuesdays and every other weekend, in my business calendar that's lined side by side, I plan my business days around her schedule. And that's been a major, major benefactor to me to make sure that we can get what she needs to get and she can get the time with me. As far as balance wise, yes. And where she is today with her academics in a private school that she's in right now, it's great because she's now being challenged.

Joe Lee [00:06:26]:
The preschool, kindergarten, I was often told, and even her mom was told, your daughter's gonna be something. She's very smart. She's very diligent. And I know with myself, I've been the one that put a lot of that sergeant slaughter, get it done, be detailed because that's how I am in my life. And that has helped me provide that balance with her. So from TaeKwonDo, we come in, we get our structure to study, we get bedtime. I keep her schedule the same as much as possible, but there are times when I do random with her. And then on the weekends, when I have her for longer periods because it's not a school night, yes, that's all broken up.

Joe Lee [00:07:03]:
She gets that play time in. We get regular television time in. She gets 30 to 45 minutes on her tablet of free time when we have to. When we ride in the car, I make games out of her homework. So for instance, her spelling words, I randomly joke around with her and I said, you can't beat me. I can spell better than you can. Right? So we start playing these games in the car when we're riding. So I balance it all out.

Joe Lee [00:07:29]:
And, again, the biggest part is is just being spontaneous sometimes. Yes. I'm very structured. Yes. I'm very attention to detailed 90% of the time, but you have to break up the monotony.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:07:40]:
You definitely have to break up the monotony because at times it it does definitely it definitely can overtake you and you have to be able to be engaged with your daughter. How do you find that you are able to connect best with your daughter and what's been the favorite thing that you and your daughter like to share together?

Joe Lee [00:08:03]:
So I'll answer the second question first. Sharing something together, we do share the taekwondo thing together. We share going to the gym together. She likes go to the playground. But more importantly, when I'm in here doing, exercise in the house, she's right there too, you know, for the average man who can't do push ups on his knuckles. She can do 15 to 20 push ups on her knuckles right now. So that's that's one thing. The second thing is chores.

Joe Lee [00:08:24]:
When I say it's time to clean up, you know, she's happy to do chores. Ever since she was 2, she has been about doing her chores. Even the preschool days at at preschool, she would fix her little cot and she would stand next to it. And the teachers had often told me that. So those are some of the things. But going to the gym and then sometimes we go to the park. Right? She likes to skate too as well. So we'll in the wintertime, we'll go ice skating.

Joe Lee [00:08:48]:
So at least twice, during the year. And if we can make it a 3rd time, we'll go a 3rd time. But more, you know, outside of that, she's a barrel of I wanna learn. She has a bunch of that inside of her, and it's her computer. We sit here on our computer side by side. Some nights, I'm working to try to get contracts done. I've set her up to where she can complete her homework, and we're sitting side by side.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:09:08]:
Now I know that just recently you wrote a new book called ripping off the mask from hustler entertainer to CEO. And I guess first and foremost, talk to me about what made you choose to take the time, the effort to write this book, And what are you hoping that people are taking out of the book itself?

Joe Lee [00:09:30]:
So the main subtitle probably says it all, which is dedicated to succeed against all odds. Born and raised in New Orleans in the early seventies and survived, and I will say survived New Orleans from the 19 eighties to the 19 nineties when I decided to leave in 1991. And all through my life, I have been a hustler. I have had that hustler mentality, which is an enterprising and entrepreneurial mindset and spirit, which is the true definition of what a hustler is. Most people see that term or see that word, and they think from the streets. And while I came from the streets and were born and raised from the streets in New Orleans, which was one of the worst places to live in the 19 nineties. And I left there in 1991. And in 1994, it became the murder capital of the world.

Joe Lee [00:10:17]:
So with that, the inspiration just came from my lifestyle of helping people, seeing roadblocks that I say that there's a problem to this. We've gotta get up. We've gotta be active. You can change your story. You don't have to travel someone else's journey. Right? It's not the destination that inspires people. It's the journey that inspires everyone. So with that, I've always said, as far back as I could see my dark past is how clear I wanna see my future.

Joe Lee [00:10:49]:
So I got up and I did that. I became a chameleon in life to see different things in corporate, see different things in the way that I came up, and I said no more. And I'm gonna take control of my life, and that's what you have to do. And so that inspiration was there a long time ago. And so many people along the way say, you need to write a book that got that were able to know me on a personal level and professional level that just said, hey, man. There's something you need to get out. You need to let this out. And in 2016, one of my employees had recommended me to be nominated to do an interview on this, show called Hatch in the city of Aegean Beach.

Joe Lee [00:11:30]:
And so it was a bunch of business owners, and they were all evolving. And at the time, I said, okay. Alright. I got nominated. And when I start hearing people's stories and I didn't have anything prepared, Chris. I just spoke. And that was the first time that parts of me unlocked that box and got deep into that that several of the people in the room were in tears. And so from there, Chris, I had been thinking about it, and people said, hey.

Joe Lee [00:12:02]:
You need to do it. And I just I held it off for so long. It just just bit my tongue on that because I'd never wanted to I guess I was just feeling that I didn't have to use my past to succeed in life. And many times along the way, people said, Joe, it's not what you're doing. You need to think about that differently. You accomplished a whole lot, and you don't even know it yet. And so another business owner, a female, by the way, she's been in the same industry, IT, cybersecurity field. Just 2 years ago or two and a half years ago, she said, Joe, you need to write your book.

Joe Lee [00:12:33]:
I'm gonna hold you accountable. You're gonna write this book. I've known you for a while now. There's some stuff you need to get out. You need to talk because you can pull people together. You can bridge relationships, but something has driven you because you're constantly working. And so that's where it came from. That was the last straw.

Joe Lee [00:12:50]:
And finally, one day, I just sat down and start writing some stuff. And in here, you know, she'd be like, Joe, I'm gonna pair you with this publisher. And I went back and forth back and forth for about a month or 2, and then finally, I pulled the trigger. And so it took me a year to pull it all together, to be honest with you. Generally, they say you can write a book in about 8, 9, 12 weeks. But it has taken me a year to pull it together, and I finally got it done. And it just went to formatting as of last week.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:13:12]:
Well, congratulations. I know as an author myself, how long it takes. And I would say 8 weeks is pretty quick depending on how long the book is.

Joe Lee [00:13:20]:
Well, depending on how busy you are too. Right? And that's what I said to my publisher. I said, hey, you're missing something here. I own a company. I can't just sit down and write a book.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:13:28]:
Now, one of the chapters in the book is all about being a girl dad and talking about being a father itself. So I've got a couple of questions after looking through what you've been writing there. So as you think back on your pre fatherhood self, what aspects of your life and identity surprised you the most as you embrace the role of father, particularly to a daughter?

Joe Lee [00:13:50]:
So that goes that's gonna roll right into the chapter probably before that. If we step back, I took on many roles in life. Right? I took on many roles. And as this economy and world of life has expanded with women growing in culture and in business, I was in the entertainment business. And so for me to be a girl that, again, friends of mine, old past friends of mine was like, I heard you're a girl dad. I heard you're a hands on girl dad. I heard you're doing hair and doing pedicures of all people. Not you, Joe.

Joe Lee [00:14:24]:
Jolie, girl dad. So, you know, with that, I cannot say that I've ever been disrespectful or physically abused or mentally abused any female that I've ever encountered. Has there been a reaction to something? Yes, possibly. Who knows? But I have never purposely done that. So for me, owning up to the responsibilities and my role as a father, again, it goes back to making sure that I'm giving her what she needs emotionally, being a mentor to her, being a protector, teaching her the ways and means of being a girl as well with the other side of it that comes from her mother, though we're, you know, we're shared households, not in shared households. And so being a dad is really playing that role of an active role model in her life, contributing to her growth, contributing to her development, and her well-being. So just like I can see things on the street when I step out my door every day or have a gauge of a potential accident that might happen if I go right or left. I'm teaching her those things.

Joe Lee [00:15:31]:
I've been teaching her those things. I'm teaching her the things that she is going to need to succeed in any career that she desires her heart to take in in corporate America and in life. So it also involves just fathering and fostering a strong and positive connection with her. So I nurture her, and I have nurtured her to this day.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:15:51]:
Now you just talked about that you are going through fatherhood as a single dad. Could you elaborate a little bit more on the challenges that you faced while navigating single fatherhood, especially during custody battles and how these challenges shaped your overall journey.

Joe Lee [00:16:07]:
With that, that came to me. It's like being a new person to a job you've never done before. And you if somebody's giving you the opportunity and you're just gonna take it head on and you're gonna learn, you're going to gather all the information, you're gonna do some research and things of that nature. I think with my situation, one thing that helped me out, Chris, was I spent 10 years in law. I worked my way up from the mailroom to being a case clerk and research assistant. So it kinda gave me the mentality and mindset to understand And so in the very beginning stages of that, again, I tried to take the proactive role. And me being a father and what I have seen in the past from other fathers and how the system negatively impact them, I took the approach of filing for custody immediately. So I filed for 5050 custody because in my mind and in my heart, I believe in shared custody.

Joe Lee [00:17:07]:
And though many relationships do not work out, you still should be able to garner a relationship between parents that does not affect the child and do what's in the best interest of the child, quote, unquote, how that term is overly unused. So I think we need to do that. Every parent has a shared obligation. Every parent has a monetary obligation, and that's the thing I had to focus on. And so while in the beginning, there were some trials and tribulations where where things were kinda bad. Right? And I just had to know, hey, Jodice, what you need to do to manage yourself. Right? You had to set your boundaries. You had to document what you needed to document.

Joe Lee [00:17:50]:
You need to keep yourself in line. You need to be clear on what you're stating in messages. And so that's how I I navigated my battle or high conflict at times or, you know, this custody battle in general. The second thing is is that the system to me is flawed for two reasons that I'm finding. 1, it's still written on the old principles of 50, 60 years ago, where a lot of it did favor more of the woman. And now we also have the evolution well, I'm not gonna say the evolution of attorneys, but we have a good and fine line of good attorneys and bad attorneys. There are attorneys that will take your money and say that they're gonna do something and don't do what they're gonna say. There are attorneys that will be your advocate.

Joe Lee [00:18:36]:
They are going to speak out in court for you. They are going to work with you, you know? The third thing about the attorneys that I can say is that you're you're gonna go through 1 or 2 or maybe 3, unless you've done enough research that you think you found the right one to support you. Unfortunately, for me, I had to go through 2 or 3 to find the one that I currently have today. And the other part about that is going back to some of my first points was I knew how to represent and present myself to my attorney. There were things that I did in my process to set my attorney up to understand who I am, who I was, and where I'm at today. The information that I gave him had to be clear, concise in order. So I created a template that also mapped back to what is called the 10 factors of child custody. That's in every state.

Joe Lee [00:19:28]:
So my journals and the writing that I gave him and prepared for him mapped to those, factors as well. And that journal was a part of another tool that I utilized is a communication app. There are different versions out there. I have one that I use today, you know, and I sometimes recommend that to dads if they contact me. But I think it's, you know, it's for everyone at the end of the day. And so that those are some of the things that I did to kinda navigate my custody battle. Today, we've been to court maybe several times, but more importantly, the judges have seen the evidence. The judges have said, I'm not changing this order.

Joe Lee [00:20:03]:
The judges have said, we're gonna keep this 5050 in place.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:20:06]:
So how important has it been to build a support network for yourself, especially during those moments of uncertainty and emotional hurdles? And what advice would you say that you have for other single parents facing similar situations?

Joe Lee [00:20:19]:
Yes. So one, to build a network, I involved my daughter with me on things that I could, whether it was social events, whether it was events that was kid friendly, and she was always there from my business world and from my personal world. My friends and colleagues have been there through it all, and some of them are people that I provided advice to or recommendations to or suggestions on a custody matter at times when I before I became a father. So that network was developed pretty quickly, And at the same time, I even still took from all of them because these were people who had been in custody matters or had kids that, you know, are still married, and that provided me advice. So that was one thing. And the other part of it was just making sure that I can provide valuable lessons. I think that's what fathers have to do as well and follow the order. Follow what the order says at the end of the day, and that can go out to everyone.

Joe Lee [00:21:26]:
In my book, I don't just specifically speak about fathers. I speak from a father's perspective because the world knows how things have been, slighted to the other parent. But if I could provide some advice to anyone, it would be to have patience, not be selfishness, and have the ability to prioritize needs over our own at the end of the day. This will instill the deep sense of responsibility. This will encourage the growth. Parenthood, I think, often teaches us resiliency. It's adaptability. It's the importance of fostering and nurturing an environment that's great for growth.

Joe Lee [00:22:06]:
And I keep saying growth because they are at a level when they're so young right now. They will suck up anything that you teach them, anything that you give them. But if you don't give it to them, they will never get there. Then if you don't have a repeatable process, it will not be retained. Repeatable, retain. Repeatable, retain. And we have to continue doing that, and that's one thing I do with my daughter as well. 1 of the fathers in our group reached out and say, hey, Joe.

Joe Lee [00:22:35]:
You know, about the taekwondo. I don't know if you saw that lately, but, a father reached back out to me. I have my daughter in taekwondo, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. What do you do differently? Or or what are you doing with your daughter? And I just laid it right out in very concise format and just say, I'm doing a, b, c, and d. Most importantly, they go to Taekwondo for 30 to 45 minutes. You need to do that again and again and again during the days that you have your child. And it doesn't have to be a long time. On the weekends, me and my daughter probably get in about 2 hours of taekwondo, if not 4, 2 day 2 hours each day on the weekend, and that's broken up.

Joe Lee [00:23:11]:
It's broken up. And, again, I make it fun. The last thing as a piece of advice, I would just say I'm constantly and constantly practicing insights and giving her insights about the complexities of human relationships, the profound impact that one person's action can have on another person's well-being. Overall, being a dad, it's a continuous journey of learning and self discovery. And in most cases, men, you know, they walk away with their backs broken at in the end, but we're still here. We're still surviving because, you know, we have to be that protector.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:49]:
So as you look ahead, what aspirations do you have for your daughter? And how do you envision your role as a father being a guiding force for her life as she grows and pursues her dreams?

Joe Lee [00:24:03]:
And so one thing I do is I constantly encourage her. 2, since the age of 3a half, 4, she has said, I wanna be a doctor. And to this day, she's 6. I've tried to skew that. I've said, hey. You should get into computers. But at most, the fact that she still loves computers, but she still says she wants to be a doctor. I've tried to skew her by saying, why don't you be a dentist? Here, let's take these dentist toys.

Joe Lee [00:24:27]:
Let's play around and just to try to see where her head really is right at this young age. So far, she has been committed to saying she wants to be a doctor. So with that, I foster doctor games, doctor little commercials or YouTube videos from time to time, and we sit and talk about some things on that side of it. I also embrace saying that, hey. You are a winner. No matter what you do or whatever loss you have in life or whatever failure that you endured because you did something and you were not the victor, I say, you have to think that you are a winner. A winner never quits on themselves. And that's what I tell her.

Joe Lee [00:25:06]:
She has been in 3 tournaments thus far. She has won 4 medals in 2 tournaments. And in her last tournament, she didn't win any. And I say, hey. You're standing up there, and I gave her what it looked like. We lost at the end of the day. So she understand, and now she's embraced that at the age of 6 that, hey. I can't win everything.

Joe Lee [00:25:23]:
And when we got home and even in the car, in the journey, I talked to her about, hey, we've gotta work hard at everything we do. Okay? We've gotta be stronger. We just gotta get better. I say, you knew it. You just lost focus a little bit. So those are some of the things that I see for her in her future. And if she wants to be a doctor, I'm gonna support that. If she wants to be a technologist or some cyber engineer, I'm gonna support that.

Joe Lee [00:25:44]:
Doesn't matter what she decides she wants to do. And, you know, more importantly, whatever she decides she wants to identify, I know there's a lot of identifiers out here today. He, she, her, him, that type of thing. So I'm gonna support her, and I'm gonna give her as much guidance as I can about life and what I've learned in coming up and building my road, my journey.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:26:03]:
Now we always finish our interviews with what I like to call our fatherhood 5, where I ask you 5 more questions to delve deeper into you as a dad. Are you ready?

Joe Lee [00:26:11]:
Sure. It sounds like you got a little curve ball here, Chris.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:26:15]:
Now in one word, what is fatherhood?

Joe Lee [00:26:17]:
Resilience.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:26:18]:
When was the time that you finally felt like you succeeded at being a father to a daughter?

Joe Lee [00:26:22]:
When she was in kindergarten.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:26:23]:
Now if I was to talk to your daughter, how would she describe you as a dad?

Joe Lee [00:26:27]:
Oh, wow. That's a good question. That has changed. I've asked her that question a couple of times. She'd probably tell you things about what I do for her or probably tell you things of what I teach her. So, ultimately, she would probably describe me as a teacher if you had to put all those things together because I asked the question and sometimes she says, well, you teach me this, you teach me that, you buy me this, you buy me that. So I think that's what it would be.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:26:55]:
And as you think, let's say, 10, 15 years down the road, how do you want her to describe you then?

Joe Lee [00:27:00]:
The man in her life that taught her how to attack the world just to be strong and live in this world.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:27:08]:
Who inspires you to be a better dad?

Joe Lee [00:27:09]:
You know, one of my uncles that passed, one of my mother's brother had passed in about 2019. I didn't grow up with a father. My father was killed before I was born. And so I had a mother that raised 2 kids that were they're a year apart coming up in New Orleans. My uncle has always been supportive of everything I have done from the time he was summoned by my mother to pull me out of New Orleans. And he stepped into a situation to step kids, never looked back, cherished those kids today who are my cousins. And he's always treated me like a son. And he's tried to guide me.

Joe Lee [00:27:45]:
He didn't shun me for my bad mistakes along the way, and that's inspiring enough to me. So I would say my uncle Roosevelt Lee.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:27:53]:
Now you've given a lot of pieces of advice today, things that you have learned along the way so far in your own parenting journey. As we finish up today, anything about all dads that are out there, what's one piece of advice you'd wanna give to every dad?

Joe Lee [00:28:05]:
I would just say, if you fall, Serena, high conflict custody battle. And even if you're not, be present, be a part of it. Learn how to do the hair, fellas. Go to my YouTube channel. Learn how to do the hair.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:28:19]:
Now if people wanna find out more about the book, more about you, where should they go?

Joe Lee [00:28:24]:
Right now, there's a posting on my Facebook page. You can find me on there, a couple of different ways. You can find me on there by jlgov. That's jl, g as in George, o as in Oscar, v as in Victor. Right now, my personal Facebook page, which is Jolie, Virginia Beach. You could could find me in Virginia Beach. Or thirdly, we are going to be putting out the information in the next couple days of where that would be. Chris, I will definitely send you a link to that as my publisher is you know, we're behind the curve on that right now, and we're trying to release by the end of the month, since we're not gonna make the deadline for my birthday, which is next week.

Joe Lee [00:28:58]:
So those are the two places that you could find information about the book, but the website and everything is being worked on right now.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:29:03]:
Well, Joe, I just wanna say thank you. Thank you for being here today, for sharing your own story, and I wish you all the best.

Joe Lee [00:29:09]:
No, Chris. I appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again. It's been great connecting with you guys. And I'll close with saying, fathers, when you compete out here in the courtroom, outside in the business. And what that I mean by that is just be smart about what you do, be articulate, carry yourself in the best light.

Joe Lee [00:29:37]:
Thank you, Chris.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:29:38]:
If you've enjoyed today's episode of the dads with daughters podcast, we invite you to check out the fatherhood insider. The fatherhood insider is the essential resource for any dad that wants to be the best dad that he can be. We know that no child comes with an instruction manual and most dads are figuring it out as they go along, and the fatherhood insider is full of resources and information that will up your game on fatherhood. Through our extensive course library, interactive forum, step by step roadmaps, and more, you will engage and learn with experts, but more importantly, dads like you. So check it out at fathering together dot org. If you are a father of a daughter and have not yet joined the dads with daughters Facebook community, there's a link in the notes today. Dads with daughters is a program of fathering together. We look forward to having you back for another great guest next week.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:30:30]:
All geared to helping you raise strong and empowered daughters and be the best dad that you can be.

Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:30:36]:
We're all in the same boat, and it's full of tiny screaming passengers. We spend the time, We give the lessons. We make the meals. We buy them presents and bring your a game. Because those kids are growing fast. The time goes by just like a dynamite blast, calling astronauts and firemen, carpenters, and musclemen. Get out and be the world to them. Them. Be the best dad you can be.