Chandi Rae

“Empowerment is the ability to find your strength in your weakest moments. I have been empowered through the pain I've overcome in my life. The power I possessed was revealed when I chose to make a mental shift. Empowerment starts with knowing who you are from the inside out.” www: chandirae.com

Chandi Rae is a native of Indianapolis, Indiana and a self-made entrepreneur with two decades in the beauty industry as a managing cosmetologist.

She accredits her innovative trailblazing nature to her experience as an "Army Brat" where she lived amongst diverse cultures in Europe.

Chandi's passion for personal development has taken root as she is inspiring others to tell their story and live the life of their dreams through her companies Edge Luxe Image Consulting LLC, Vanish Board™ Workshop, Image Is Inside Out™ Women's Empowerment, virtual coaching, and A Grown Conversation™ Talk Show.

Her mission is to change negative self-perceptions!

Love; the greatest feeling- loss of love; the worst feeling.

Dawn Montgomery; the widow of the Legendary Producer “Moe Beats”; Mr. Moses Montgomery, and Malika Austin the widow of one half of the Legendary “Funkenstyne” and “Darkhorse” Production duo “Stephano”; Mr. Mike Austin know the feeling of loss.

Both women lost their husbands to cancer. So, what happens when you lose the love of your life? How do you keep the musc playing and find the strength to keep going? These women share their stories of love and loss for the first time publicly

Tell us about your love story.

Dawn Montgomery: Moe and I were actually good friends before we ever dated. We first crossed each other’s paths when I was managing a local artist, and we discussed the music business. We always liked to say that Hip Hop brought us together. I called him my best friend before I ever called him my boyfriend, fiancé, or husband. We had both been through a lot on the romantic side of things and swore we didn’t want a relationship, but God knew better. We basically could not resist getting closer, and then crossing that friendship line. It took for me to have a health crisis for us to finally admit how serious we were.

Malika Austin: Wow! Where do I began?

From the first time we saw each other it was a love story. He was my everything and I was his!! God blessed us with each other because he knew we were ready for love. I asked God for him, and my promise was that I would take care of him no matter what; for better or worse and I did exactly that.

Tell us about the proposal & wedding.

DM: Well, the first time Moe asked me to marry him was completely spur of the moment. He didn’t get down on one knee, he didn’t have a ring yet, but it was on his heart so he told me that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with me and asked if I wanted the same. We were actually at the Cedar Point water park in the lazy river of all places. We were so relaxed and happy, and out of his mouth it came. It was probably a year later before we decided to go ring shopping. We decided to get him an engagement ring as well. It has faith inscribed inside it, and I haven’t taken if off of my necklace since the day in ICU that they had to take it off of him. It will always be a symbol of our love and faith, and when I’m at my worst I hold on to it.

We chose to get married in the same church as my grandparents on Moe’s parents wedding day. We loved and admired their marriages so much. The wedding was beautiful, if I do say so myself.

MA: Mike and I picked out my ring together, so there was no surprise. He said I had to wait until the right time for him to propose. We didn't have a wedding we just went down to the City County Building and got married. It was so funny because I got really nervous and he said “Why are you nervous? I’m not going anywhere I’m right here with you for life”. On March 11, 2011, I married my best friend… Thee Michael Angelo Austin.

How did you learn that something was wrong ?

DM: It started with what we thought was a severe toothache. Even the dentist thought it was an abscess. After the fourth round of antibiotics, the dentist was out of options and sent us to the emergency room. There, we got the shock of our life. They did a CT scan that indicated that it was a tumor in his jaw. We were devastated. We saw an ENT doctor the next day, and she said that she did not believe it was cancer because of how rapidly it had developed. She referred us to the James Cancer Hospital at OSU for what she believed would be an extensive surgery to remove a benign rapidly-growing tumor. So up to OSU we went, where we received the bad news. Squamous cell carcinoma, or head and neck cancer. Still, the prognosis was hopeful. The doctor scheduled us for surgery and ordered a PET scan. When we received the PET scan results, the entire outlook changed. Moe had numerous spots of cancer on his lungs. It was then that the doctor told us that Moe’s cancer was “incurable”. Incurable is a nice way of saying fatal.

MA: I knew something wasn't right while we were living in Georgia and he kept hurting his foot, it seemed at the time, without even moving it. He also had dramatic weight loss. He would be laid up in the bed for weeks at a time, and he just kept saying “It might be Gout don’t worry about it”. He said he “would be fine just needed to rest”. So, when we went to Detroit to take care of some business concerning my father after he passed away November 2015, I just started noticing that he wasn't walking like he used to, it got to the point that my baby stopped being able to walk due to the excruciating pain he was in.

Tell us about the feelings and emotions and how you dealt with them.

DM: We were completely devastated. We absolutely could not accept that cancer was going to take Moe’s life. We instantly decided to fight it in every way we could. Moe asked for the strongest treatment possible, as soon as possible. He literally said, “Bring it on, I’m ready to fight”! So we started three different types of chemotherapy simultaneously the next week. Moe and I had always been extremely close and supportive of each other, but this made us closer. Nothing was left unspoken. It was a horrible time, but our love provided comfort for us both. We relied on our faith in God and our faith in each other. We prayed together, daily and often. I researched cases in which patients beat so-called “incurable” cancer. We went to Cleveland Clinic for a second opinion. We got on lists for clinical trials. We both started on a specialized “anti-cancer” diet of all whole foods, full of cancer-fighting fruits and vegetables. We found so much joy in preparing those meals together. “Made with love,” as Moe would put it. We never gave up hope or faith in God.

MA: The first emotion was sadness and wondering how was I going to handle it. I just tried to keep him as comfortable as I could. When the doctors came in the room and told us that he had stage 4 colon and liver cancer we grabbed hands, I looked at him and he looked at me and I told him “no matter what I’m with you baby until the end”, he looked at me and started crying while we were holding hands, and said, “I just don’t want ya’ll to forget about me”. I said, “baby how on earth can I forget about my best friend in the whole wide world?” We cried, and so did the doctors that were in the room.