00:00Cynthia, it is my distinct honor to present you with the 2025 Essence Black Women in Hollywood
00:10Cultural Icon Award.
00:40Oh my goodness, I didn't know I was going to feel this emotional.
01:01This year has been, first of all, thank you Kiki.
01:08Not just for today, not just for here and now, but for the many times you have celebrated,
01:15even when it's meant to be your moment, it's a very selfless thing to do.
01:22And when you did that at the NAACP Awards, that was a particular day, I was just so exhausted
01:28and that really lifted me, so I want to say thank you for that.
01:30It was a really, really meaningful thing to do.
01:37This year has been a deluge of gifts and a rainfall of love, and I've been rendered
01:43speechless by it all, and could stand here and revel in it all, but that's just the least
01:49of it.
01:50And what I have learned was actually meant, I was actually meant to be used for is actually
01:55the crux of the whole thing, not just the gifts.
02:00So I'll start here.
02:03On November the 25th, 2024, three days after Wicked Head graced the cinema screens worldwide,
02:10Essence posted these words, in a world that often tries to define us by its narrow lenses,
02:17you have soared.
02:19Alphabet's journey as a woman seen as different and cast aside for the very thing that makes
02:24her unique speaks to the heart of every black woman who has ever been judged and misunderstood
02:31and yet still learned that her power was her gift all along.
02:36So I thought that I, Cynthia, would speak to your hearts.
02:43I wanted to take this opportunity as more than an opportunity to accept this beautiful
02:48award and honor, and I wanted to use it as a way to affirm you all.
02:56You weren't insane when you were dreaming of being a superhero.
03:01You weren't asking too much when you wanted to be seen for the lead.
03:07When you were little and you believed you could fly, that wasn't a fairy tale.
03:13When you look at the mirror and the thought crosses your mind, if only for a fleeting
03:18moment that you might be in possession of powerful magic, entertain that thought.
03:25Do not dismiss it, nourish it, because it's real.
03:32When you walk into a room and people stare, my darlings, you have an audience now.
03:43Give them what they came for.
03:55Take the space, it's yours for the taking.
03:59You belong there.
04:02I know that some of us in this room are still waiting for the permission to be, to own every
04:09facet of what makes us, us.
04:14Let me be the one to say, be.
04:18Stop hiding.
04:21The thing I have learned in this wonderful moment in my life is that if you do it your
04:25way, no one can take it from you.
04:35We get so afraid of what love we might lose if we choose to simply show up as ourselves,
04:41but the truth is any love you lose because of that was never yours to have in the first
04:45place.
04:50And I personally want love that is true and steadfast and accepting and celebratory and
04:58long-lasting and encouraging and mine.
05:03It's not easy to believe that any dream you have is possible, but if you happen to be
05:08sat listening to a bald-headed black Brit born in South London to a single mum, if you
05:17happen to be sat listening to a 30-something-year-old proud alt-black girl with a gap in her smile,
05:27a wide nose and high cheekbones, then you happen to be listening to a woman whose dreams
05:33materialized in real time before your very eyes.
05:39I got to fly, and now the skies are waiting for you too.
05:53So believe me when I say this last thing.
05:57I hope and pray that those dreams you keep tucked away rise to the surface.
06:04I hope that the dreams you dare to dream really do come true.
06:10It is an honour to share this moment with three exquisite human beings.
06:16Tiana, Ramla, Miss Mala, you are exemplary.
06:23And the world sees something that I don't see.
06:28I see something else.
06:30Ramla, I see the funny, insanely obsessive musical theatre kid in you that nobody knows
06:39exists but I do.
06:42And Tiana, that soft spirit that you don't get to share all the time because you're making
06:49sure that everyone's okay.
06:52The bravery it takes to take on a role like you did in 1001 when you haven't done something
06:59like that before is a big, massive step towards what I'm so excited to see of you.
07:05There's so much more, and Oscar's waiting for you, my sweet.
07:16I kept trying to think about what else I might say, but I really just wanted to be here to
07:21celebrate everyone who's in this room because I know how hard it is to get up in the morning
07:26when you think the world's against you.
07:29And even when the lights are sparkling and the fashion is on and the makeup is done,
07:34there are days when you think, how am I going to do this?
07:39But you do.
07:41And I commend you for it because there are days when no one commends us for it.
07:48And let today be the day that Cynthia Erivo said, you're amazing.
08:01Don't let anyone tell you that you're anything less than that.
08:04And if they do, don't listen.
08:09Not worth your time.
08:11You have so much more to do than listen to that nonsense.
08:16I love you and thank you.
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