Glitz, Glam, and Community Impact: What's New For The Full Figured Industry Awards

Step into the glimmering world of the Full Figured Industry Awards, where Tawana Blassingame, the founder and force of nature behind the event, joins us to share the sparkle and substance of the latest celebration. As we unpack the 2023 awards, the conversation glides from the heartfelt acceptance speeches to the meticulous process that ensures each nominee is duly recognized. Our own encounter with the nomination system takes center stage, revealing how adjustments in the process have elevated the fairness and prestige of these accolades.

Surprises are the heartbeat of any awards ceremony, and this episode is no different as we peel back the curtain on the nomination journey. Gasp along with us as we recount the moments where unsuspecting winners were showered in glory, and learn how the Full Figured Industry Awards has become a beacon of diversity and inclusion, continuously breaking barriers with categories like Silver Fox. We spotlight the array of ways sponsors can bask in the limelight of this burgeoning event, and playfully muse about the dream partners we envision joining our constellation of supporters.

Finally, we amplify the power of self-nomination, especially when it comes to the impactful Community Service Awards. Tawana demystifies the process, championing the bold move of putting oneself forward, and we outline the critical timelines to keep the awards soaring to new heights. Yet amidst the celebration and empowerment, we take a moment to draw boundaries on respect within our community and a chuckle at the quirky sign-offs that have become our endearing trademark. So plug in and join us for a whirlwind of inspiration, gratitude, and a healthy dose of glam on this episode of Big Sexy Chat!

Vote for your 2024 FFIA Award Choices!
https://www.theffias.com/voting2024

Check out Tawana!
https://www.tawanablassingame.com/

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hi, welcome to Big Sexy Chat. I'm Crystal, I'm Murph. We're just two rad fatties sitting around chewing the fat Twice a month. We'll be chatting about current events hot topics sex, sex toys, fat politics, fat community cannabis, cbd you name it. We're going to talk about it. We are very excited to have you a part of our community. Welcome and enjoy.

Speaker 3: 0:28

On this episode of Big Sexy Chat, Crystal and Murph are joined by the Full Figured Industry Awards' very own, Tawana Blassingame. She dropped by to chat about how the 2023 awards went and update us all about the 2024 fires. So time to roll out the red carpet.

Speaker 1: 0:50

Welcome back to Big Sexy Chat. I'm so excited. I'm here today with my lovely co-host, murph, and we have extra special guest, tawana Blassingame, who is involved and actually the executive producer of the Full Figure Industry Awards, and she's also very involved with Queen Size Magazine. So we're going to learn all about Tawana and all her goodies that she has going on this year. Welcome, tawana.

Speaker 2: 1:12

Thank you, thanks for having me.

Speaker 4: 1:15

Hi, murph. Hi, we're so glad to have you back, tawana.

Speaker 2: 1:19

Thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:20

I'm so excited to be back. The only other person I know who we've had on twice is Tigress. We've had her on two times.

Speaker 2: 1:28

Oh man, then I'm going to have to get on here four times.

Speaker 1: 1:38

So before we went online and started recording, I was reminding Twana that I was the one at least I don't know how, for there are other people but I recommended Tigress last year for the community. Is this community Community service?

Speaker 2: 1:47

People's Choice, community Service yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Once I saw that I was like oh, I know that's Tigress Osborne for sure. Was that your first time meeting Tigress? It was, isn't she wonderful.

Speaker 2: 1:58

She is. She's amazing. I'm mad I didn't get to see her afterwards because she was in New York, I think, for about five days after the awards. But, I think I was asleep for the next five days, oh sure.

Speaker 1: 2:13

Totally understandable. It looked like you guys had a great time. Beautiful photography, beautiful imagery, beautiful everything was so gorgeous, thank, you.

Speaker 2: 2:23

We had a blast. It was amazing. Thank you, we had a blast.

Speaker 4: 2:25

It was amazing, thank you. What would you say was your favorite part from last year?

Speaker 2: 2:32

My favorite part is always the speeches. It's always that response is never going to change. It's always going to be the speeches, the acceptance speeches from everybody. It's just so touching you get to. You get to learn a lot about people in their, their journey, like I know about people because you know people have to submit, have to read bios. But you know, just getting up there and just listening, you know to the to it come out of their mouth is just. I've cried through a lot.

Speaker 1: 3:04

So I will just let our listeners know that we did get nominated last year and it was a big surprise to us. We're so excited because we're so new at this. But we did not win. But we lost to a very worthy opponent I don't know if opponent's the right word, but the Big Gay Pod, that's what they call Big Gay Pod. They won. They're terrific.

Speaker 2: 3:24

I'm so happy that they won first of all, you guys did not lose.

Speaker 1: 3:28

Let's just say that yeah yes, exactly, we're excited to be nominated again this year and uh, congrats thank you, you, you guys, I think you changed up the way this is working this this year the nomination, the voting um the. I think the categories changed maybe a little bit. What can you tell us, what do you want to tell us about that, and why?

Speaker 2: 3:49

did you change it.

Speaker 2: 3:51

So the categories are all still the same. We haven't changed that, but the process itself we have changed. And the reason why we changed it is because what we find, that people nominate other people and they're probably nominated most likely nominated in categories that they don't belong in One because they're probably not qualified. And let me stop saying probably. This is the reason why they are not qualified to be in the categories. We have the guidelines written out for people and so, for an example, if you know the guideline says the criteria says that you know you have to have been working in that particular field for, let's say, three years and you've nominated somebody who's been doing it for one year. They don't qualify to be in that category.

Speaker 2: 4:43

So that's one of the reasons why. And then you know people was just nominating people in all of the categories, like I didn't feel like there was enough time taken to the nomination process, and then you know they're doing whoever they are nominating a disservice, because then they're automatically disqualified. We are not going to for the people who have nominated people in all the categories, from big and tall down to podcast, and the person is a makeup artist. We're not going to sit there and go through to figure out which category that you belong in, because we get hundreds of nominations. So it's not fair. It's not fair to the person that's nominated and it's not fair to us to have to do all that. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 5:32

One thing I just want to interject here. I did notice there's a lot more detail about each of the categories this time. That was very helpful.

Speaker 2: 5:40

Yes, and moving on to the details, in previous years we were doing all of the work. We have a team of people who go through all the nominations and collect all of this data on people. It's a lot of people, so we have asked the nominees to do the work themselves. So there is a list of, depending on the category that you are in let's just say photographer, because I always go to model, so I'm going to use photographer this time. So for photographers, we've asked send us your portfolio that consists of 15 images showing your range. We've asked for them to submit their bio. In previous years we could not find the bio or all of the most important things that they want to be considered for is not really online, so we don't see it. So we have asked the nominees to do the work. You submit to us what you want us to consider. So that's how that process has changed.

Speaker 4: 6:47

Gotcha. That makes sense, I imagine, just like the whole process is just it's a lot, right, you're having to do so much, but then it's like okay, trying to gather all this information, data, like to help supplement the nomination, or the press release, or all those little pieces that builds up to the awards. I'm just thinking of the small amount that we did at FatCon and just like how time consuming that was, and you know.

Speaker 4: 7:20

and so it's like oh, but this is a whole award show like that's going to take on its own, like it's going to grow legs and just get away from me if you don't so that had to be a difficult decision, but I'm sure it's going to save you on the back end of it.

Speaker 2: 7:34

It does, and you know people. There were some people who complained that you know this is a lot of work, and I get it. It's it is a lot and I get it. It is a lot. But imagine us having to do that for hundreds of people in across 14 different categories. It's a lot for us too.

Speaker 2: 7:54

You know what you have done. You should have access to your portfolio, all this stuff and I think, low key. To be honest with you, I wanted to force people to do that as well, because I did it for myself. Someone asked me oh well, can you show me an example? And I was thankful that they did, because what I did was I went and I created this PR folder for myself that had my portfolio. It had my bio. So you know I did it and it is extremely helpful. I have all of my accomplishments. I put you know, all of my media interviews that I've done in there, so when people ask me for it, I have it readily available. This is going to help people in the long run. It's not just about the show.

Speaker 1: 8:44

This is like a resume long run.

Speaker 2: 8:46

So you know, I want to force people to kind of elevate as well.

Speaker 1: 8:50

That's a great. Yeah, I did notice that you and your team talk a lot about your email and your phone number should be on the top and the top corner of every website that you own, Like how do we get in touch with you? Why are you burying that information? Make it easier for us to find. I know that must be very frustrating.

Speaker 2: 9:09

It is. I don't. I'm not really sure why people want to hide. If you have a business and you want people to hire you, how do people find you? Like, how do you have all of these clients and you don't have your email address or your phone number anywhere for people to contact you? I just don't. I don't understand that. And then the private pages. I want to see your work. You don't have a website. Your social media page is private. How does that help you? Forget me, because you know the award show is once a year. How does that help you? And so we just try to remind people that you know this is the proper way to conduct business front facing. These are all the things that you should have.

Speaker 1: 9:55

Yep, it's like always having your resume ready. You just never know. You never know. No, tawana, I'm so curious how many people help you get this done every year, because I saw so many people in all the recordings and all the photos and, like I'm sure, a lot of them are volunteers. Probably some of them are paid. It must be a large team.

Speaker 2: 10:17

That's funny? No, it's not. It's not a lot of us, but from year to year we've all grown together. So I have probably there's eight of us collectively, and that's not including the volunteers. We have core six core volunteers who have come on to help us every year, but we have the blueprint already set. We've learned from year to year what to do and what not to do. Everybody has a corner of this show to produce and we do it. Everybody does what they're supposed to do and at the end of the day, in November, we all come together. Everybody has done their job and you know we can execute.

Speaker 1: 11:09

That's kind of how FatCon was set up, don't you think, murph? They seem to each have their own sections, their own expertise, and then yes yeah, that way. It wasn't in question who's doing this.

Speaker 2: 11:19

Right, Absolutely. And we have calls as well, because everybody knows what each other does, Because you know, God forbid something happens, and you know the first Saturday in November come, regardless of what year it is, and somebody is down or somebody's sick, somebody's in the hospital, whatever the case may be, the day of somebody should be able to step in and say, okay, I know what to do here. So you know, we communicate on a monthly basis to just really talk about what everybody's role is, Just remind people.

Speaker 1: 11:53

That's smart. Yes, Redundancy in every system is so important, so okay. So just to understand where you are at now with this process. So just to understand where you are at now with this process we and others have been nominated. Now you all are taking all of our data and you're going to create something that's going to be the document or the thing that we're going to share with the world and ask our fans and our community to vote for us. Right? That's the next step. Next week, or the week after, maybe?

Speaker 2: 12:25

So voting starts on April 8th. Right now, like you said, we are collecting all of the hundreds of emails from people and just putting all the data together by nominee, and that is going to help our voting committee, not the public, because the public is going to vote on who their favorite is Going forward after we get past the public voting and we get to the committee voting. That is when all of that data is really going to come into play, Because when the voting startings, the voting committee is already at work. So the top four nominees from the public voting will then go before the voting committee and the voting committee ultimately chooses the one winner.

Speaker 1: 13:23

So there's like three or four steps in this process. Is one step more important than the other? Are they weighted? Do they have all the same amount of weight? I don't know what's the right word is, but so they're all.

Speaker 2: 13:38

Each step is equally important. I mean to the nominees. I know the nominees will say that last step is the most important, you know, but you have to help us get to that step. You need to submit what we ask you to submit when we ask you to submit it. And then the voting process. We've gone back and forth with taking out the voting process, but I know that the public wants to have a say in who may go before the voting committee, so we won't take that out, at least not for now. And then come the vote, when the voting committee is time for them to vote on everything. It's like all those things play. It's a step, step by step, step by step. So all of those things are equally important. They all play a important role in getting to whoever the winner is.

Speaker 1: 14:34

It looks like you sell out every year. Is this your fifth year or sixth year? This is year five. Year five because we had that pandemic year and you sell out every time. Right? You sell all the tickets. That's so cool. Five year five because we had that pandemic year and you sell out every time. Right, you sell all the tickets.

Speaker 2: 14:46

That's so every year, thank goodness, um you and we've scaled back. We think about it. The first year we were at um 300 people, um, and then we kept. We kind of scaled back because of, you know, social distancing, and so we went down to 200, 200. And then we're now going back up to. Last year was 225. We're going up to 250 this year, so hopefully we'll get back to the 300 mark.

Speaker 1: 15:19

Do each of the winners get to come up to the podium and give a little talk? Yep.

Speaker 2: 15:26

Each and every one of them have their moment to say thank you and give that emotional speech that makes me cry. Some people get up there because the winners don't know. The only people that know that they are getting an award are the honorees. The nominees are completely caught off guard, so they don't know. And most of the time they get up there and it's like oh my God, I didn't prepare a speech because I didn't think I would win you know, that's what we want you to say, so just be ready, because you never know.

Speaker 1: 15:59

You got to stay ready. Yep, you have to stay ready, yep, you have to. So you have a category. I believe that includes more mature models.

Speaker 2: 16:10

Oh yeah, we have the Silver Fox category.

Speaker 1: 16:13

Like seasoned.

Speaker 2: 16:14

Yes.

Speaker 1: 16:15

I love that.

Speaker 2: 16:16

And the Silver Fox. It's not model-based, and that's one of the things I have to tell people. It's not model-based.

Speaker 4: 16:47

And that's one of the things I have to tell people. It's not model based, it's you are over a certain age. We're just going to say you know, this is your age and like we're going to honor that.

Speaker 1: 16:51

You've been doing your thing for this long and killing it, that's great. So do you. Is there a specific age, or is it just kind of more vague?

Speaker 2: 16:55

For Silver Fox. Yes, it's 50 and over. Okay, awesome, I love it. The good thing about the Silver Fox category is you can fall into more than one category.

Speaker 1: 17:08

Sure, so if you are a model who is 50 and over, you can be nominated in the Silver Fox category. You can also be nominated in the model category Sweet, that's awesome.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Yeah, I'm 56. Okay, we need more representation. Absolutely, Absolutely. We want to make sure that everyone feels included, and I will admit there are a couple of professions that are not included, only because it's not a large variety of them. It's not a lot of them to create a whole category for. So you know, I always say this when I do interviews if you don't feel like you fall into one of the other categories, let's have a conversation and see where you may fall in, or if it's even a category that we can create.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Last year I saw you had a sponsor Lane Bryant was one of your sponsors which seems like a pretty big deal. Will they be sponsoring any kind of sponsorship this year?

Speaker 2: 18:12

You know what I'm trying. We're in conversation, so we'll see Fingers crossed.

Speaker 1: 18:18

I know you're looking for sponsors, so tell people in case we catch the ear of someone really that knows about this stuff or can make a sponsorship. Do you have small packages for people who have lower budgets? Bigger packages for the leading brides of the world? Yep.

Speaker 2: 18:34

So we have what we call the small business package, the Friends of the Fires, and then we have our corporate sponsorships and so if anybody is looking to sponsor what we do, we sit and have a conversation with you to find out. You know, what are your goals and objectives, what are you looking to get out of partnering with the fires? And don't think that you have to be in retail. Whatever it is that you sell, I'm sure the industry can use. So let's just have a conversation. Don't exclude yourself because you feel like you don't make enough money. Don't exclude yourself because you feel like you don't fit in here.

Speaker 2: 19:16

Let's have a conversation and we literally we stopped doing general levels. Once we have a conversation with someone, we put together custom activations and you know these are the tiers for you personally. This is not for everybody, this is just for you, based on our conversation, and then you can tell us where you think that you will fit. And I think that's important because that was my takeaway when having conversations with different brands Everything is not a copy and paste. It can't be, because businesses are different, all the brands are different.

Speaker 1: 20:01

Do you feel like sharing who like your dream sponsors would?

Speaker 2: 20:04

be Sure. I'd be crazy not to put this out in the airways right. I think my dream sponsor would probably be Savage Fenty. If I had to pick another one, I think it would probably be Alter.

Speaker 1: 20:26

That's a good one.

Speaker 2: 20:27

Yeah, you got to think outside of the box you know, I'm telling you, I'm telling you, listen, mercedes-benz is definitely up in my top five. They might be number two my top five.

Speaker 1: 20:47

They might be number two. Hello, why not? Yeah, you know, tigress keeps encouraging us to think bigger. You know cause I'm like Lane Bryant Torrid and she's like, no, no, bigger, bigger, you know, bigger than Nordstrom's and Macy's. The people that own Nordstrom's and Macy's like, oh, tigress, she's very inspirational.

Speaker 2: 20:59

Yes, we have. We I'm not going to mention any names, but we have definitely grabbed the attention of some big names. Cool, that. That kind of scares me, to be honest with you, because I'm like am I ready for that? But you have to be ready.

Speaker 1: 21:20

So you are, you're totally ready.

Speaker 2: 21:23

Let's do it, I have have, you're ready.

Speaker 1: 21:26

Yeah.

Speaker 4: 21:29

That's exciting. You know when. When you do take a big swing, you know you want to have some sort of results in it. It sounds like it's just growing and growing and like at some point it's going to feel like, like you just said, like oh am I ready for that, but Like at some point it's going to feel like, like you just said, like am I ready for that, but you are like it's exciting.

Speaker 2: 21:50

I'm waiting for Tyler Perry to call me that's. I keep saying that. I keep saying I'm waiting for Tyler to call me to pick up the fires, because I think that Terry needs the fires in his studio.

Speaker 1: 21:57

That would be wonderful, amazing. There's somebody else is creating them like a TV or movie. What do you call it? Like a studio in atlanta really any or donald glover? Oh, that was it.

Speaker 4: 22:11

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's right yeah, I think it's from um his show. He's like expanding out and like creating an actual studio now because they film there.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Yeah, wow there's an idea, tawana, I know right, just stay away from Ozempic and Majerno, please, okay that would be my request. Yeah, they already had a zillion dollar commercial from Oprah last week. I think they're going to be okay, although they have a lot of money. True story.

Speaker 2: 22:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think you have to be careful with who you partner with.

Speaker 1: 22:48

Let's just say that, for sure so what's going on with Queen Size Magazine?

Speaker 2: 22:55

We are still going. This is I keep having to look at the year. This is 13 years for us. Yeah, and we are still going. I am actually working on putting out the April 1st issue. I literally have today and tomorrow to do it, because I don't have any other days to do it, but we're still going. We are still getting submissions. If anybody wants to submit to Queens House Magazine, they can always send us an email queenshousemagazine at gmailcom. We put out an issue the first of every month.

Speaker 1: 23:36

We are still dedicated to the plus and biggest toy industry. Still, and you sell ads for that magazine as well, right?

Speaker 2: 23:40

Absolutely. I mean, you got to be crazy for not selling ads, well right, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 23:43

I mean, you got to be crazy for not selling ads. Is it something that small companies or businesses like ours can? Is it possible to get?

Speaker 2: 23:53

accessible for all levels, or just is it bigger? All levels I am. I still consider myself a small business, and so I definitely understand what it's like to be a small business. So I will not be a small business that only cater to larger corporations, hey.

Speaker 1: 24:11

Murph, do you remember that sash? We got at Fat Cut. Oh, here it is.

Speaker 2: 24:15

Oh yeah, I got a sash.

Speaker 1: 24:16

Yeah, this would be a really cool sponsor. No more boring party supplies. Yeah, that says, says oh, down with the thickness. I think, yeah, down with the thickness. Nina lewis, party sash made in the usa by a dope team of boss babes I like that. Yeah, that would be a great partner. It was right, because a lot of, a lot of people are wearing their sashes um all two and a half days and it's kind of cool, especially the last day nice I heard it was really good. It was yeah good really good.

Speaker 1: 24:49

Yeah, it was really empowering a lot of work for us but because we did with there and we did, we interviewed 25 people. I believe is that all right yeah, so, and that is you know. Some of them are probably half an hour long. We won't be able to probably use all of it, but we had some pretty, pretty cool baddies. On that list of people this lady that does burlesque and she's in her seventies.

Speaker 2: 25:11

Oh, my Impressive.

Speaker 1: 25:14

Yeah, pretty impressive. And there's. I'm trying to think what's her name? Bob Bob, world famous Bob, world famous Bob. She was there. Yeah, how do you do you guys always have like a entertainment, like is there always somebody that you see like plays music or sings, or is there that kind of thing at the event?

Speaker 2: 25:36

Oh, there is now we have. This was our first year having entertainment and El Baez actually opened up and she debuted her um her. So I love my body um song yeah it was a huge hit. Everybody loved it that that woman can sing I love her.

Speaker 1: 25:57

I love there's kind of a few now artists out there that are out there with their plus size fat liberation songs. I'm loving it. It's like, but l she's, she really. She really took off last year and I follow her everywhere just want to see her growth and see what's going on with her.

Speaker 2: 26:13

It's pretty, pretty amazing it is one of the things that I've uh with the entertainment um category is there are quite a few entertainers in there that I've actually just learned of from this nomination process and I was like, okay, when lose a draw, honey, I need to connect with these people because they are so talented and I'm like, why can't I find these people only during nominations?

Speaker 4: 26:41

but that's okay, I'll tell you that that was something that when the first nominations came out last year, like and that was the first time I had heard, so it was like, oh, let me go look at this. And so because we were so surprised that we were nominated, and looking through the categories, I found so many people to add to my feeds and to follow and I was just like this is such a great resource, you know, just to have content that's unique and different but all still, you know, in the same kind of community and theme. It was really neat. Yeah, Same here.

Speaker 1: 27:15

Same here. Tawana, I'll make an offer to you that I made to Pucks about FatCon. I am very connected to a lot of people that make romance toys and I'm not sure if you'd want to have a romance toy sponsor or a lubricant sponsor, but I can send them a pitch and it goes out to like 2,900 people and they're a little late. Okay, okay, yeah, okay, cool absolutely honey.

Speaker 2: 27:44

I know a lot of them. People in their um, in their room, get busy no doubt, no doubt.

Speaker 1: 27:53

Okay, cool, then I'll do that too, and I'm gonna do that again this year for pucks as well, because last year I did it, but it was a little too late. It was like I'm sure there's a couple of people that would either give you product or money.

Speaker 2: 28:05

I appreciate that.

Speaker 1: 28:07

Of course, of course. So is there anything else that you really want us to know, or you really want our audience to know about the Fayez and anything that we didn't cover, that you really think we should share?

Speaker 2: 28:20

So let's talk a little bit about the People's Choice Community Service Award, because we haven't announced that yet. So giving you guys, you know the exclusive here. So we are bringing that back again this year and once that comes out, we are really going to need people to nominate some community service leaders. So one of the things about community service, right, A lot of people hold back because they don't want to nominate themselves. Right, With this process this year, even with the nominees, I tell people there is no shame in nominating yourself. We are not going to tell anybody that you nominated yourself, Right, but you, you cannot put your faith in somebody else's hands, Right? So you can't say, damn, I should have been nominated but nobody nominated. Go ahead and nominate yourself, Like there is no shame in that. I promise you we're not going to go around telling people well, you know, she nominated herself. Because whether you nominate yourself or somebody else nominate you, we're still going to contact you and ask you to submit certain things. That so it's okay.

Speaker 1: 29:37

It felt a little weird, but I could see why you guys do that for sure.

Speaker 2: 29:40

Yeah, yeah, because that is some people's complaint, right? Some people are like oh gosh, I don't feel right nominating myself, why not, why not? You want people to think you are great, but you don't want to know that you are great enough to nominate yourself. It's okay, throw your name in the hat.

Speaker 1: 30:00

Good point. So I have three people in mind for the community service award. Can I pick three people in mind for the community service award? Can I pick three people and share those with you, or just one?

Speaker 2: 30:07

You can't tell me who it is, but you can nominate whoever you want and how many people you want. It doesn't matter.

Speaker 1: 30:16

Okay, put them in the hat. Yeah, so how does that get decided? Who's going to be the one that you guys choose? How does that get decided? Who's going?

Speaker 2: 30:23

to be the one that you guys choose. So there is. So it's a two part. We are going to reach out to whoever the the nominee is. I mean ask them listen, can you submit these things to us? That is going much like the nomination process that is going to go to the committee who's going to vet all of this information to say, yep, this person is a perfect fit for this award or no, this person is not a great fit for this award. And it's just that simple. That's how you get in. There is a two-step voting process, just like the nominations public voting and committee voting. Last year we didn't do the public voting only because of timing and there was a delay in people getting us their information, so that kind of took away ate away from the time that we had to do this two steps. So we just had our committee do the voting on that. So you know, when I set deadlines for people to submit things like, I set them for a reason and just adhere to it.

Speaker 1: 31:33

Of course, I just thought of a fourth person.

Speaker 2: 31:36

Oh, good, go see you.

Speaker 1: 31:38

Write those things down. I just did. Well, I've been in this officially since about 2012. And then I had a boutique for a while and I just met so many people. I got to speak at the Body Love Conference. I met an amazing amount of rad fatties and I'm lucky to have a lot of them in my sort of sphere of influence, and so I just keep thinking like, oh, this person, this person, well, like sonja renee taylor hello, I'm gonna write her down too. Yeah, so many, but yeah, anyway, I'm excited for that. That's gonna be. I'm gonna definitely make some nominations. Murph, do you have any other questions for Tawana?

Speaker 4: 32:14

I think, really I'm that are happening and the process, because I think, you know, this is a really great opportunity for our community to be honored and that's no easy feat just to put it on, but also that doesn't happen a lot for our community. And so when we have these amazing events and these incredible programs where you can be celebrated like we got to participate in that and make that happen and talk about it and share it, and so I'm just really grateful that you're doing this work and that you're really being detailed and thorough and really, you know, respective of everyone putting in the time and effort because it's important and I'm just really glad that we get to be a part of that.

Speaker 1: 33:21

Tawana give us the exact dates of the FIAA Awards this year in 2024.

Speaker 2: 33:27

Sure, the show is November 2nd, always the first Saturday in November, Easy to remember. So this year is going to be on November 2nd. Our voting is be ready. To hit the follow button, Cause when I tell you there are a lot of new people I was excited for I was hitting the follow button like crazy. But yeah, our voting process is going to start on April 8th. So, just you know, rally the troops and get them to vote for you so you can make it to the semifinals.

Speaker 1: 34:01

Okay, two questions. When do you start selling tickets to the event for people who want to attend?

Speaker 2: 34:06

That's a good question. So our early bird tickets are going to start early June. We wait until all of the final nominees are announced, sure, and then we open up our ticket sales. So either late May or early June we're going to open up ticket sales. Cool, and it's open to the public. Yes, absolutely, just get your tickets, because we don't sell tickets at the door.

Speaker 1: 34:32

Right, yeah, last question who does your graphics? They're awesome.

Speaker 2: 34:37

Believe it or not, I do.

Speaker 1: 34:38

I had a feeling they always turn out so beautiful I love. I've gone back through your pages and stuff too, from the previous shows. It's like I love it. You're doing it. You're a great graphic artist.

Speaker 2: 34:49

Thank you. You know what I had to learn to be.

Speaker 1: 34:53

Because when I first started right right.

Speaker 2: 34:57

I needed to hold on to that money for some other things, so I had to learn. And I tell you, canva is my best friend, that is my best friend Self-taught.

Speaker 1: 35:07

There you go. Yes, tawana Blastingame where can people find you on all the different socials? Blasting Game yes, where can people find you on all the different socials?

Speaker 2: 35:17

So across all social medias I am Tawana Blasting Game. I use my name Instagram, facebook, linkedin. I'm Tawana Blasting Game, so I'm very easy to find. I even have a website tawanablastinggamecom.

Speaker 4: 35:32

Will you spell that for everybody, Just because I know that sometimes you'll type stuff into Instagram and then it'll like take you to some weird spot because you're putting an E instead of an I or you know that sort of thing, Of course.

Speaker 2: 35:43

Let me take a deep breath, because there's a lot of letters. Okay, so my first name is T-A-W-A-N-A. Last name is B-L-A-S-S-I-N-G-A-M-E. Just how it sounds Blast Sin, game Perfect.

Speaker 1: 35:59

And the Full Figure Industry Awards on Facebook and Instagram right Yep Full.

Speaker 2: 36:03

Figure Industry Awards and Queen's Eyes Magazine the same thing. Yes, I want to be found.

Speaker 1: 36:09

Yes, you can't. Yeah, tawana, you do have your email and phone number at the top of your website, right, you do?

Speaker 2: 36:15

have your email and phone number at the top of your website, right? Yep, I sure do, I sure do Smart when people have that contact page, it's just not enough.

Speaker 3: 36:24

Have the email address there listed there so people can find you.

Speaker 2: 36:28

So I have direct clicks on all of my websites.

Speaker 1: 36:34

I'm easy to find. Thank you, tawana Murph. Do you want to share with our listeners and our community where they can find us and all that fun stuff?

Speaker 4: 36:42

Absolutely yeah. So we are Big Sexy Chat on all the socials and it always helps if you share our content, if you like, if you review, if you subscribe. But really we just want you to have the conversation with other people and say, hey, have you heard about this? And send, uh, send them a link. That really helps uh, kind of get the the juices flowing and our website's easy to remember bigsexychatcom.

Speaker 1: 37:09

oh, and no more penis pics, please, oh yeah oh yeah, wash your feet, if you're gonna. If you're gonna do that, wash your feet, dude gross, yeah well, anyway, sorry to digress, it's hard to go down that rabbit hole because I know you probably get them too.

Speaker 2: 37:28

It's just oh, sometimes you just can't even believe it oh yeah, some of those emails I'll be like why, why?

Speaker 1: 37:36

I mean, maybe if you had something that was really impressive, you know that might be different, but it's never like that. It's never like that. Anyway, thank you to anna, thank you so much and thank you for all the information, and we're so excited that you exist and we're excited to be in the running again this year. Thank you, good luck. Thank you, thank you, talk to you soon. See you later, alligator.

Speaker 4: 37:59

After a while, crocodile.

Speaker 2: 38:00

Take care teddy bear.