00:00Hi Essence family this is Yolanda Sanguini reporting live from the pink carpet of the
00:082013 Black Girls Rock honoring Queen Latifah, Patti LaBelle, Mara Brockakil and lots more.
00:15Check it out. To see all these incredible black girls who rock in the room in their own ways and
00:21the fact that younger generations get a chance to see you know how how they rock their own style
00:29or their beliefs you know what I mean the things that they're doing in their
00:33community their ways of starting something new I think it's it's necessary it's really important.
00:37It's a great moment for black women in general that's the reason I host this show every year it's
00:41really exciting and this year is extra special because there's going to be a
00:46special little moment of reunion for the cast of Girlfriends as we honor our show
00:50creator and the woman that put us on the map and it's it's a special night and then
00:54Patti LaBelle, Queen Latifah, Mary Rae Edelman, I mean Missy Copeland, Missy Copeland I mean just amazing.
01:01Well for me I represented this brand from the very very beginning not only having been given the
01:07opportunity to do the theme song for it and I thank Beverly Byrne for having me be a
01:11part of this thing from it not having the platform that it does today it's just
01:15excelled and elevated to a whole new level so I'm just thankful that I was there from
01:19from day one through to now. I look at someone like Queen Latifah who is a rap
01:25hip-hop legend but then she turns around and does a jazz album you can't tell me
01:33nothing she's a television host all these things that I aspire to do she's doing
01:40it so I know it can be done she just doesn't let anybody tell her no so
01:45that's what I'm about you're not gonna tell me no and if you tell me no I'm gonna go
01:48somebody else that's gonna tell me yes. To be honest every year it's important
01:52for me because it's important to show women that we support each other and
01:55especially young women and empower them because in this day and age it's so much
01:59about hate and tearing the next person down and I even watch my young nieces
02:03you know talking about their peers in a way that they probably shouldn't so it's
02:07great to show women we need to empower each other and support and even at this
02:10level of where we're at we still need each other and we need to support each other.
02:14Tell me about the other honorees what makes them to you stand out?
02:17Come on they're fierce they're powerful you know I mean they have no limits to
02:22who they are you know they go for it they go for it they always elevate to the
02:27highest of highest so I'm excited to be here girl.
02:31It's beautiful to be honored and recognized by the very women that I find to
02:36be my muse. I love writing about women and our complicated our beautiful
02:42complexity I call it and to be recognized for my work is a part of my belief that
02:49we all need the human spirit always needs validation it starts from the day
02:52we're born and for somebody to see not only the hard work that I have done I
02:59represent a lot of people there's a lot of people that work hard and so to have
03:04that recognition it feels good. For me it means that we have an opportunity to
03:09highlight some pretty incredible women who are doing amazing things some of
03:13them are bold-faced names some of them are women whose names you never heard of
03:17who are doing great things in their community and all I hope to inspire young
03:21women who look like them so that we all know that yeah black girls rock and they
03:25always have frankly and now we get to highlight the fact that they do.
03:28It certainly speaks to the truth of who we are and that and says that we are on
03:33course what we were sent here to do and so not only to rock and rock for
03:37ourselves but to inspire future generations that this is the truth about
03:41black women yeah despite what you see and read and hear yeah this is who we
03:46really are and we're here to shape the world.
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