00:00Well, next up, we're so excited to have Paula Patton here, one of our Black Women in Hollywood
00:09honorees. Well, thank you for joining us here today, Paula.
00:12With pleasure. Thank you, Emil.
00:13So how does it feel to be honored by Essence today at the Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon?
00:18I'm honestly overcome and overwhelmed. I've been to this luncheon many times before,
00:23and I always leave feeling so inspired and encouraged and full of love, and everybody does.
00:30It's something that we look forward to every year, and unless you're out of town working, it can't be missed.
00:37It's just incredible what Essence has done for the community as a whole, not just this luncheon,
00:43but Essence is this incredible source that celebrates Black intellect and artists and activists and authors
00:50and scientists and politicians, and to have that as a place to go to find positivity and encouragement
00:59is invaluable, and to even be noticed by Essence is really incredible.
01:08I honestly thought I'd have a lot much more to do and many years to live before I would be recognized
01:15or hope to be recognized, so I'm just very thankful and feel undeserving.
01:22Oh. Well, you are deserving.
01:24I appreciate it.
01:25So what does it feel like to be a Black woman in Hollywood?
01:29Hard.
01:31But I'm ready to face the challenge, you know?
01:34I mean, I think that I'm somebody who works best under the pressure of,
01:38I don't think you can do it, you know?
01:40And yet, it's a challenge.
01:44We've seen so much great strides made, and yet we know there's so much more to be done.
01:50And what I think is incredible about this occasion is that we look back to the past
01:55and we say thank you to all of the women that have forged the way for all of us,
02:00that have made the path wider and broke down barriers so that we can achieve what we have,
02:07and then we must be inspired by that and understand that we have to do the same
02:11for the young generation that's coming behind us,
02:14and that if we keep working for one another, that it's not an individual's, you know, moment.
02:21It's about the moment of the group,
02:23and how can you make the group have greater power, greater impact,
02:29and change the way that we're seen.
02:31And I thank God for the people that have, you know, thought outside the box
02:36and have given me a chance.
02:38And I just hope that we can encourage more people to think outside the box
02:42and realize that African Americans, Latins, Asians, Indians,
02:47we all feel love in the same way.
02:52We all feel pain the same way.
02:54And we act to thrills and action and horror movies and all of this.
02:59And if we could just start making movies that didn't put us in a box so much
03:02and really understand that all of humanity feels the same things,
03:07that's what makes us all connected,
03:09then I think it'll be that much greater.
03:11But I realize that for me, my role is to really,
03:14to make films, I hope, in the future
03:17that will give more actors, black actors and actresses,
03:22a chance to show their talent
03:25and to keep opening that door wider.
03:29And that's my greatest desire,
03:33is to make the climate we live in that much more comfortable
03:38and easier for the next group on their way.
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