Doechii Is Now a Grammy Winner — Just Five Years Ago, She Was Fired From her Job

Life knocks everyone down from time to time. While we can feel limited by our biggest challenges, we are not defined by them, as rapper Doechii has reminded the world.

No one wants to lose a job, especially if you're struggling to get on your feet. Jaylah Ji'mya Hickmon, known to fans as Doechii, experienced exactly that in 2020.

At just 22 and getting started in life, losing your job has the potential to be devastating. But Doechii didn't let it define her, and she didn't let it stop her. Just five years after losing her job and starting from scratch, Doechii won a historic Grammy award.

Now that she's a holder of one of the most coveted awards in the music industry, a video from 2020 showing Doechii talking about losing her job has resurfaced. Here's a look back at the video, and how far she's come.

When losing a job, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and hopeless. Some people drift, lost without a direction and hoping for a new opportunity. Some people get to work immediately, trying to find another job. And some people, like Doechii, double down and take the chance to reach for something higher.

In the 2020 video, Doechii starts simply by saying, "So I got fired today." While chowing down on some chips, she clarifies, "I don't give a f--k, to be honest."

She then muses, "I think tomorrow, I'm going to go to a whole bunch of studios, and ask if they have any internships open."

Doechii continues, "Studios, record label companies; I'm just going to go in and ask. Who gives a f--k? I have nothing to lose."

As it turns out, she had everything to gain. Where some people might see hopelessness, Doechii chose to see an opportunity to start over and chase a dream.

The 2025 Grammys were memorable for a variety of reasons. But not least of which because Doechii became just the third woman to win Best Rap Album, elevating her to the heights of legendary rappers like Lauryn Hill (1997) and Cardi B (2019).

It's a remarkable achievement in what has traditionally been a male-dominated genre.

In her speech, an emotionally overcome Doechii shared, "This category was introduced in 1989, and two women have won," she started, then corrected herself, saying, "Three women have won: Lauryn Hill, Cardi B, and Doechii."

She shared that, in the pursuit of this album, she dedicated herself to sobriety and felt she was promised by God that she would be shown "just how good it can get." Doechii also had inspiring words for other Black artists, telling young women that they are "Exactly who you need to be, to be right where you are."

It was a touching moment that shows a full-circle experience for the rapper, who was unemployed and starting over just five years ago.

Doechii's story is an inspiration and reminder that you might sometimes be down, but you're only out when you give up.