5 Year Podcast Anniversary Celebration!

Five years later, the room is louder, the laughs are bigger, and the village is real. We took our microphones into a buzzing anniversary reception at Buckhead Art & Company and let our community speak: caregivers who’ve lost, caregivers who are still in the thick of it, friends who learned how to show up, and pros who stepped in with services, strength, and heart. It wasn’t staged—it was hugs, dance breaks, and testimonies that prove love can outlast timelines and community can carry weight you shouldn’t have to hold alone.

We reflect on how my caregiving story became a global network for Alzheimer’s and dementia support, how humor makes space for hard truths, and how simple acts—an Uber gift card, a lunch invite, a text—can keep burnout at bay. You’ll hear why Zetty's 77th matters to a neurologist’s old clock, how we turned pandemic isolation skills into everyday resilience, and why asking your neighbor, your dentist, or your church for help is not weakness but strategy. From NPR spotlights to cross‑country listeners, this milestone is a reminder that caregivers deserve visibility, fair wages for professional helpers, flexible work, and real community care.

If you’re a caregiver, you’ll find hope and practical ideas. If you love a caregiver, you’ll leave with a playbook for showing up. Stick around for heartfelt supporter messages, gratitude for our behind‑the‑scenes team, and an open invite to join us on Patreon for closer connection and behind‑the‑scenes moments. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs a lift today, and leave a review telling us one small act that made your week lighter. Your story helps another caregiver breathe.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome & Fifth Anniversary Reveal
• 2:24 Supporter Shout‑Outs From the Party
• 7:08 Live From Buckhead: Why We Gather
• 10:54 Dad at 77 and The Power of Village
• 18:33 Proof You Can Build a New Life

Transcript

SPEAKER_11: 1:14

In the event or when that time comes.

SPEAKER_10: 1:17

Parenting up Caregiving Adventures with comedian Jay Smiles. It's the intense journey of unexpectedness, being fully responsible for my mama. For over a decade, I've been chipping away at the unknown, advocating for her, and pushing Alzheimer's awareness on anyone in anything with a heartbeat. Don't be afraid for the jokes. Caregiver newbie, OG, and village members just willing to prop up a caregiver. You are in the right place.

SPEAKER_06: 1:57

Hi, this is good. I hope you enjoy my daughter's podcast. Okay.

SPEAKER_10: 2:07

Today's episode, the fifth anniversary vlog. Today's supporter shout-out came from people who were actually in the building celebrating the fifth anniversary for Parenting Up Podcast. Check them out.

SPEAKER_11: 2:34

Hi, I'm Monica Cost.

SPEAKER_07: 2:36

Hello, I'm Aletha Taylor.

SPEAKER_11: 2:40

One of the things I love about Parenting Up is bringing these tough conversations to the public. A lot of times we don't like to talk about some of the harder things that are happening in our lives, but she's been so bold as to tell her truth, and it's impacting people and helping other people learn how to care for their loved ones.

SPEAKER_07: 3:03

So for me, one thing that I love is that I'm able to share it with so many of my friends. Even before I came to the event, I was like, oh my gosh, I forgot. Your mother has Alzheimer's, and I'm going to an event where my sorority sister's mother is going to be on a podcast. So I'll have to send that to you. And I do that often. So I really appreciate that she's doing that. And then it allows me to kind of have an understanding into what she's going through and also what my other friends are going through. So I'm very appreciative for her podcast.

SPEAKER_05: 3:41

Hi, my name is Julia Demetrius. And what I love about the podcast is she shares so much excellent information. My husband and I both have aging parents, and we're learning a lot of good information about what to expect. Luckily, we still have my parents. They're 80 and 81, but you never know what life brings. And so I love and I value all the advice that I get from Janae from her podcast.

SPEAKER_03: 4:07

I'm Mylyn Smith, and parenting up is really important to me. Growing up, you know, being taken care of by your parents. Now we're in a position where we're responsible for taking care of them, and it's a true honor, it's a blessing, and it's a lot of work. And one of my favorite memories about the Parenting Up podcast is just that Jay provides a space and an environment where you can not take your role so serious. And um you can relax a little bit, you can laugh at some of the hard things that you've gone through, and you find a community of people who have been through some of the same things that you've gone through when you think you're the only one. So thank you for creating this space for all of us. Thank you for the laughter because it's a little bit of humor that we need to get through every day. And just thank you for being you. I appreciate you.

SPEAKER_00: 4:58

Hello, I'm Mark Williams from Dallas, Texas. So I'm a caregiver as well as Janae. Um, both my parents live in Dallas, Texas. I just lost my mother five weeks ago to death, and now I have my dad who has dementia, and uh I'm his caregiver, and I'm super proud of that. You know, I take care of his medicine, I make sure he eats, I make sure he gets to his doctor's appointments. I'm basically his parent and I enjoy it. Uh I wish my mom was still walking the earth. I was here this week to support Jay. I've known Janae for over 25 years, and uh I know she's a caregiver. I've learned everything I know from her, and just to see her with her mom, it's just the most beautiful thing. So, congratulations to Jay and everyone that's working with Jay. Job well done.

SPEAKER_08: 5:45

My name is Erica Watson, and I am one of Janae's assiduous 40 babies. Janae, you have always been such an inspiration and such a guiding light for not just me, but for so many people. And as I went through my own caregiver parenting up journey with my mom, I knew I was in the best hands, just learning from you and watching how you witness and do this work with such joy. And not letting go of yourself in the process of caregiving. So I'm glad that you're taking a moment to celebrate five years of parenting up and just know that your village has got your back five ever.

SPEAKER_01: 6:28

All right, I'm Zach Wright Fisher. I know Jay. Uh, she comes in and sees me at Stretch Lab. I'm a stretch therapist. Uh congratulations on your fifth anniversary here. And Jay, just keep inspiring others, moving forward and changing the world one step at a time.

SPEAKER_10: 6:45

Thank you all so much for taking the time to give us those supporters shout outs in the middle of eating, drinking, and dancing. That was a whole lot to balance. Now, if you want to be the recipient of a supporter shout out, you know what to do. Get to us on YouTube or Facebook. Parenting Up. That's where we are everywhere, baby. Hey family, what's up? It's your girl Jay Smiles. This is a magnificent day. We are in Atlanta in the Buckhead shops. We have a major reception happening at Buckhead Art and Company. Why? We've made it to five years. The Parenting Up Podcast, our global family caregiving community. We are five years old. We big kids on the block now. And today is Daddy's birthday. So we are celebrating five years of growth, of community, of excellence, and Daddy is 77. Neurologist thought he would have been out of here about seven or eight years ago. But through love and commitment and village, we don't know how long we have.

SPEAKER_11: 8:33

Many of us will get the call or unfortunately or unfortunately get the opportunity. Good thing bad, I think who knows. It also gives us an opportunity to love on people in a way that we may not have, had we not had that opportunity. So if you know of a caregiver, please leave this weekend with an extra uh fullness in your heart to tell them thank you, to get send them to lunch, to give them a Uber gift card, to send them some flowers, to let them know that their gift to humanity through the care that they give their loved ones is appreciated about itself. It's Daddy's birthday.

SPEAKER_10: 10:33

Um my mom was diagnosed with two forms of dementia, 13 and a half years ago. The best in a while in this in the country told me three, six years. But when it feels like, no, we're 13. She has a way of letting you know little listeners, and don't do that. Um so being a caregiver has changed my life. It's the reason I'm a comedian. It's the reason there's a podcast. The podcast is now uh on every continent. Um we've been on NPR, NBC, all the both films and selection situations, but the biggest thing is that I wanted to be proof that you can be okay when you're a committed family caregiver. You can't figure out how to have some kind of life. It ain't gonna be the same life. You just gotta make a new life. And there are a lot of us out here who need your continued support of y'all. So everything that you're doing for us, we see it and we thank you. Whether it's a phone call or a text or hey day, let's go out to lunch. Even if I say no, the fact that you asked, bring it in the gallery. To all of the sponsors, they say no. That's what they're saying. To all the sponsors, I can't thank you enough. I wouldn't have been able to do this without you. And umward and lower and better and better and better. We're gonna get a cure for this disease. And then the key time is to pay a fair wage or get a job that finds it to work from home or something. Something, something, something, something. I love y'all. The music is gonna get a little more upbeat, so y'all can dance if you want to, you can drink if you want to. Please do watch the whole video.

SPEAKER_09: 12:36

Some of you will find yourselves in there.

SPEAKER_12: 12:39

I love you all.

SPEAKER_09: 12:40

Thank you for helping me take care of awesome.

SPEAKER_12: 12:48

Well, continue to network and have lymations and food.

SPEAKER_11: 12:53

There is a cutout over there of Zebbie and Jay. Please take a picture with them posted. Hashtag parenting of fifth anniversary.

SPEAKER_02: 13:05

Laura's is that it for her birthday? I'm gonna give it to another. Wait, mommy, look and if it wasn't for Monica, I wouldn't have met Jay, so I wanted to give Monica this. Where'd she go? Oh, so I wanted to give her that, and then we have one more for the host, Jay Smiles, and it's coming in from the back.

SPEAKER_05: 13:27

Thank you.

SPEAKER_02: 13:28

So, yeah, so thank you. I just wanted to say thank you, and thank you, everybody. If anybody has anything to say about the podcast, we have Annalise. Shout out to our video editor, Sam. We love her, and she is going to take testimonials. I know some of you came from far away, so please feel free to go in front of the step and repeat. We would love to get your beautiful faces on camera saying happy anniversary. And you will be on our YouTube page. You will be on the podcast for the fifth anniversary podcast. So uh please be sure to see us, alright?

SPEAKER_03: 14:03

All right, we can get the music.

SPEAKER_10: 14:08

Okay, the last thing I was gonna say after I set Zaddy down, I can see Zaddy about to leave. So anybody who wants to say, hey, Zaddy, just watch me walk out the door. But the person holding the mic is me a haul. My podcast would not be exploding like it is without her and Annalise. The three of us together, while we all have our individual companies, but when we are together, we are what? WP, waste of productions. Because we started when everything was virtual, and our tops were really, really busy-like, and our models were trash. We were like, Wake up! We had this long as they can't see what's going on at the bottom. But uh, we have traveled together, we did um uh our first tour, which was Detroit, but these two ladies right here, they make it look like what I'm doing is easy, it's because they are doing it heavy lifting.

SPEAKER_02: 15:09

All right, muzzle time.

SPEAKER_10: 15:22

Hey, what's up, parenting up family? Guess what? Have you ever wanted to connect with other caregivers? You want to see more behind the scenes footage? Wanna know what me and Zetti are doing? I know you do. All things J Smile are finally ready for you. Even when I go live, uh-huh. Do it now with us on Patreon. Join us in the Patreon community. Catch everything we're doing. Visit patreon.com forward slash J Smiles Studios. Can y'all believe the parenting up podcast community is five years old? Like, where did the time go? I remember when the Holy Spirit bullied me into even starting this podcast, and now we have been on tour. We got a whole podcast production feed. Shout out to Annalise and Mia. And look, Andrew, look at you. But it's amazing when you follow that inner voice that tells you people need this. Please do this for other people. When you put yourself aside and do the great things for other people, then the world starts to open up. It's amazing. So we just had a three-hour party celebrating five years of the fair thing of the podcast, celebrating very 77 years old, and celebrating free and support within the family caregiver community. We have people from California. We have people from California, from New York, from Texas, from Cincinnati, from Chicago, LA, Boston, Philadelphia. Like, isn't that crazy? Like, four or five cities in Texas. I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, are we really moving the needle? Thank y'all for helping me move the needle. Thank y'all for helping me make sure that family caregivers can be seen. Y'all, we had a blast. So much so I parted out of my heels. I don't like taking off my shoes till I get home, but tonight, y'all, they won't me out. They smiled out. The snuggle up. I don't know where to begin. How do you put into words hours of love and joy? That's what just happened. I am standing right in the Buckhead Art Company. It's a gallery in the middle of Buckhead. It means a lot to me. It's extra because one of my Howard University Alpha Chapel School Awards owns it. And it's gorgeous. Okay? The number of people who talked to my mother and loved on her tonight because it was her birthday, I can't even count them. Period. Like Zettie was smiling and hugging and grinning so much, it was like she just turned 16. My greatest takeaway from this is caregivers have a village. Y'all, we really aren't alone. People do see us, they appreciate us, they love us, they're praying for us, and they got our back. Everybody in the building kept talking about how much they do for their loved ones and how much their friends and family assist them. So I think we are starting to make a dip in the world around how people think about Alzheimer's, how people think about dementia, and then how they can in turn support each other. When I first started this podcast, it was a lot more bleak. There was a lot more despair whenever you saw a caregiver or you met one. It was like, I don't know where to go, I don't know what to do, I ain't been on a date, I ain't got my hair comb, I didn't gain 20 pounds. But listen, the pandemic is over. It had us so um cloistered and sequestered that we ended up finding how to live amongst each other in isolation. If you can figure out how to live in isolation, you can damn sure know how to live when outside open back up. The beauty in it is, I can't tell y'all this enough. We aren't alone, caregivers, family caregivers, we aren't alone. Ask that cousin, ask that neighbor, ask that person at your church if they are a chiropractor or a dentist. Maybe they will take care of your loved one and service them for free or half off because they know you're a caregiver. That's the kind of networking that happened here at our reception. People were giving of their services freely and from the heart. All Zaddy's caregivers were here. Her physical therapist came, and it was a good thing he did, though, because y'all, at the end of that 90 minutes, Zaddy was about to pass out. But he is a very, shall we say, strong man. He is Nigerian, and everything you think about Nigerians, he is that, okay? He basically carried Zaddy's ass out to the car, and I was like, praise God, you got him right in time. So we had a ball, we had a party, we were eating, we were drinking. Most importantly, we were acknowledging each other and the world that has been created because family caregivers demand that their LOs be treated properly.