00:00It is so important being here tonight because young girls like us, we get to see proper representation of strong black women.
00:17It's so great. Like every year, this is like the one invite that I'm like, please, let me get it.
00:22You know, I keep on being asked, what's it like to be in a room like this? I grew up in rooms like this of beautiful, strong black women upholding and just raising each other up. So this feels amazing.
00:35It's the one time you get to see everyone whose work you love, everyone who you respect, all your friends. It's like a family reunion.
00:41The best thing about it is that I feel nothing but positivity here. I've never felt any competitiveness or any negativity. It's just all love.
00:50I mean, it is a room where women are supporting women, celebrating women, and that's our culture.
00:58Anytime you put this many black women in a room that all have talent and a voice, you're going to see jokes, you're going to see realness, you're going to see tears, and you're going to see excessive flyness.
01:07You know, like I'm just looking around like, yes, yes, yes, yes, you know.
01:12I feel like a plugged up, really. You know what I mean? No, I'm joking.
01:14It's just such an honor. I've come here over the years and just felt so heartened to even be in the room with the incredible women that they assemble each year.
01:22So to be one of the women that's been honored is like, it's surreal to me, truly.
01:25It's like finally, yes, because I've been working hard for years. So I'm so grateful and so thankful.
01:31Look, I mean, for me to be a gay black girl, being honored for a room full of like black people is huge.
01:37We've come a long way, guys.
01:39I like to believe that it's inevitable that we'll continue moving in the right direction.
01:42We are moving in the right direction. We still got a lot of work to do, but I think it's an exciting time.
01:47I think it means that things are literally changing and shifting.
01:50You know, I think this is not just a moment. This is a movement. This is an era, really.
01:54What we're showing the world is that, you know, people want to hear our stories.
01:58This Hollywood is a place that is ever evolving, and each one of us have the ability to cause it to evolve further.
02:03So remembering that power in yourself and coming forward with that sort of self-realization and actualization, to me, I hope, is something I do and something I continue to do, because that, to me, is being a warrior in this industry.
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