00:00 - My name is Shaheem.
00:01 I am a licensed therapist and social worker.
00:03 First, as someone who grew up with Essence magazines
00:06 on the coffee table, I'm honored to be here.
00:09 Everybody looks so beautiful, by the way.
00:11 But as a licensed therapist and social worker,
00:14 I am, like, who's worked with youth
00:16 and predominantly black women,
00:18 I really just, like, think it's so important
00:21 to bring into the room, like, resources.
00:22 And my question is whether or not Essence
00:25 has thought about or has any initiatives
00:27 to bring resources directly to the youth,
00:30 the sixth episode, to reach across
00:32 to the most vulnerable in our community,
00:34 be it black women or the youth that,
00:37 you know, y'all want to be the future.
00:39 - Where Richie Lou Dennis?
00:41 - I'm sorry?
00:42 - Rich?
00:44 - Where is he?
00:44 Did he dip out?
00:46 (audience laughing)
00:48 That ain't right.
00:49 So I was gonna, oh, there he is.
00:52 Come here, Rich!
00:53 I got a question you need to answer.
00:56 Somebody get Rich a mic, please.
00:57 And the reason I'm gonna have Rich answer this
00:59 is because I'll let him introduce who he is,
01:03 Richie Lou Dennis, but Rich, the question that came in
01:06 from someone here was about what are the resources
01:09 and things that Essence is gonna bring forth
01:11 for the youth and for future generations?
01:14 And I know that a part of the transition of Essence
01:16 going into the ownership of your family,
01:18 that was a big part of what was your goal.
01:20 So if you'll speak to that a little bit.
01:22 You're welcome.
01:25 - I didn't come here to talk today.
01:27 I didn't ask you all that.
01:28 - So first of all,
01:32 congratulations to the entire Essence family.
01:37 This is incredible.
01:38 (audience applauding)
01:41 Especially to Emmett Dennis over there who had the vision
01:46 and who made sure that this actually happened
01:48 in spite of me, so thank you.
01:55 When we think about Essence,
01:59 we think about the 50 years and all that it meant
02:04 to our community and all that it represented.
02:09 But it's not gonna be the same 50 years going forward.
02:15 We live in a very different world, a very different time.
02:19 And it has to now become a place,
02:22 we now talk about it as a platform
02:24 as opposed to a magazine,
02:26 of where everybody can be represented,
02:30 everybody can feel safe,
02:32 and everybody can leverage and drive.
02:37 And in order to do that,
02:39 you've gotta embrace all of our generations,
02:43 and you've gotta invest in all of our generations.
02:46 And that's what we're doing.
02:47 So if you see the way we focus on culture,
02:51 if you see the way that we focus on every generation,
02:54 if you see the opportunities that we build
02:57 across the platform for each generation,
02:59 that every generation has its home,
03:02 has its place, is celebrated,
03:04 that for us is what the future will be.
03:08 We're going from a place of where we are,
03:13 what you saw here was a lot of showing the way.
03:17 We're moving to a place of creating the path.
03:22 Because we're all now driving, right?
03:26 We don't need one individual telling us how to drive,
03:28 or where to go, how to get there,
03:31 we're just clearing the way
03:32 so that it can be a little bit easier to get there.
03:35 So that's how we think about it,
03:38 and we're gonna invest heavily against that,
03:40 and that's what we've been doing.
03:42 It's not easy, but we're gonna do it,
03:43 'cause we deserve to have this type of institution,
03:47 this type of opportunity to have our voices
03:52 and our images be heard and seen
03:57 in the way that we intend them to be heard,
04:00 intend to have them heard and seen,
04:03 and that's what we're gonna keep fighting for.
04:06 So that 50 years from now,
04:08 another audience is, I know I won't be here,
04:12 but another audience is here,
04:14 and they feel the same way as we feel now
04:17 about what we've accomplished the past 50 years.
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