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Essence Virtual Events
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00:00Family, please give a warm welcome to Takira Winfield-Dixon and a fantastic panel.
00:13Thank you, Rochelle. Happy Friday, y'all.
00:21I said happy Friday, y'all.
00:23All right. Okay, so listen, it's such an honor to be here. For so many of us, we have been reading and supporting Essence throughout the years.
00:37So being on this stage feels like our little black girl sells again as a dream come true.
00:43And I'm just so thankful to be given the space to lead this important and very timely conversation.
00:50So listen, earlier this year, before Beyonce was talking about our new salvations, I wrote about what many folks have called the great resonation.
01:01I shared a bit about my personal story.
01:03And for folks who know me, you know that I always tell people that I didn't just take a leap of faith.
01:09I took a leap and black women caught me.
01:11So since launching my business over a year ago, you know, I've come to the realization that I'm fine and I will be fine.
01:20And I also wrote about the fact that many black women have simply just been pushed out of their jobs or careers,
01:27while others like me and some of these other ladies just peaced out.
01:33So the latter I refer to as the great emancipation.
01:38So as black women, we're often seen as radical.
01:43And let me tell y'all, we're remarkable.
01:46America has rarely reckoned with anything.
01:49I don't know what they're reckoning with right now, honestly.
01:51But we're expected to show up all the time and save this country that never saves us.
01:57So for me, I'm really ready for us to save ourselves.
02:00So we have got to begin to move beyond just surviving here.
02:05We have got to thrive.
02:06So I'm excited to sit with these five incredible visionaries today, though our paths are very different.
02:14We are all different black women.
02:16What we have in common is that we're founders and we're leaders who've each made the choice.
02:23Let me say the choice, America, to walk away and walk toward our freedom.
02:29So let me bring out our first lady.
02:33She's an MSNBC contributor.
02:36She's a soon-to-be, I'm calling it, best-selling author and the founder of Advancing Health Equity,
02:44Dr. Uche Blackstock.
02:48Yes.
02:49All right.
02:55Let's do this.
02:57Okay.
02:57Now, y'all know this lady.
03:00Please welcome.
03:02She is a force, a force to be reckoned with.
03:05The co-founder of Black Voters Matter and the founder of Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium,
03:13Ms. LaTosha Brown.
03:16Y'all give it up for LaTosha on the front lines.
03:20All right, all right.
03:27Okay.
03:28Best-selling author, founder of the memo, our next panelist knows that toxic work environments are not the place to be for black women.
03:39Please welcome Minda Hartz.
03:42Yes.
03:42Woo!
03:44Woo!
03:47Yes.
03:48Yes, the memo.
03:49Yes.
03:50Joining us next, she's the founder of Buy From a Black Woman, a non-profit organization that empowers, educates, and inspires black female entrepreneurs.
04:04Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Nikki Porche.
04:13Yes, Buy From a Black Woman.
04:17And finally, I'm so proud of you.
04:19I'm so proud of her.
04:21We have a founder, attorney, and business and legal affairs advisor who believes that entrepreneurship is the path to freedom.
04:30Please welcome Jeanne Williams.
04:39All right.
04:40Ladies, y'all ready?
04:41Yes, absolutely.
04:42All right, let's do this.
04:44So look, for so many of us, we decided to take the leap long before we actually took the leap.
04:51Can you all each tell me a bit about sort of when you actually decided to take the leap?
04:57Uche?
04:58Sure.
04:59Sure.
05:00I'd love to go first.
05:01So first of all, thank you so much for having me here and thank you for being here in community with us.
05:06So for me, my decision to take the leap was the culmination of a lot of little moments, moments of disrespect, humiliation, feeling undervalued, but also moments of success and feeling like I should be treated better.
05:22And then I had conversations with people close to me, girlfriends, my late mother's spirit, who I could hear her talking to me, pulling me close to her saying, you don't need to accept this.
05:36You deserve better.
05:37And so really, it was those conversations with the people close to me and the culmination of all those moments, some painful and some successful, that pushed me to take that next leap.
05:50You know, mine was a little bit different.
05:53Actually, I was working for an organization that I was doing the work that I love to do.
05:58And I couldn't justify, in my mind, I was like, well, I got a steady salary.
06:02I'm doing pretty good.
06:04I get to do, in many ways, what I want to do.
06:08But I was working at this organization.
06:10Quite frankly, one day, it was really interesting.
06:12I realized that I was fundraising for the organization, but I was raising my own salary.
06:17I was like, wait, wait, wait.
06:18So why am I raising my own salary to work for somebody else?
06:22If I can do that, I can raise my own salary for myself and my own vision.
06:27And so in this process, I'll be honest, I was at an event.
06:30I knew a year earlier that Spirit just told me my time was up, right?
06:36Not that anything, because sometimes we wait until something goes wrong.
06:39And so Spirit had told me earlier my time was up, and I was at sleep one night, and something said, you got to write the resignation.
06:45I was actually on a business trip.
06:47You got to write your resignation letter right now.
06:49And I was like, okay, okay, I'll do it.
06:51And I started writing it.
06:52I finished it.
06:53I went to bed.
06:54Spirit was like, get up.
06:55Send it now.
06:56And I cannot tell you, I felt like, have you all ever seen The Wiz?
07:01Then The Wiz, a brand new day.
07:03Brand new day.
07:04When they're coming out of their skin, that's exactly how I felt.
07:07I felt like I was going into another space.
07:09So it was a moment that I had to literally be accountable to the vision that God gave me.
07:15Amen.
07:16All right.
07:18Happy to be here with you all.
07:19Thank you for joining us.
07:20You could be anywhere in this convention center, and you're here with us.
07:23So thank you so much.
07:24My situation was I had been in corporate America at the time for about 12, 13 years, and I was struggling.
07:31I was at my worst, and I'll never forget it because I was in my car, and I was crying because I had just felt like I had done everything that dominant culture had expected me to do.
07:45I code switched to death.
07:46I wore my hair the straightest.
07:48You know, I modified my name so that they would feel comfortable.
07:50And I just felt like I never had that humanity, that dignity, the respect that my other colleagues were getting in the workplace.
07:57Yes, I was making good salary, right?
07:59But at that point, it wasn't enough.
08:00But I wasn't in a position to be able to quit at that time.
08:04And that pained me.
08:05And I sat in my car that day, lashes on the ground, you know, just in a deep, deep cry.
08:11And I turned on the radio, and Whitney Houston's Where Do Broken Hearts Go comes on the radio.
08:16And I thought, God, you have a funny sense of humor.
08:19And I thought, where do the broken hearts of women of color go when we can't take the workplace anymore?
08:25And it was in that moment that I made the leap in my mind that I would recenter what work meant and find the courage to leave.
08:33And that's what it takes, courage, the ability to do something that frightens one.
08:37It took a few years before I left and actually took the leap.
08:40But in my mind, I said, as Audre Lorde said, beware of feeling you're not good enough to deserve it.
08:46And I knew I deserved something better.
08:48Yes, yes.
08:49For me, I stepped off on faith and secrets, right?
08:51I was like, I'm going to do it, but I'm going to save my money before I do it.
08:54I was a school teacher, and it was when I started taking days off, and I didn't hear I didn't get paid.
08:59And I was like, oh, you have no more days left.
09:01You're not going to get paid for the day, but I'm making more not being here.
09:04And then when the kids were like, Ms. Porche, you're always off on Thursdays.
09:07And I'm like, oh, it's time for me to go for real.
09:09So I worked the last school year.
09:12I stacked, I stacked, I stacked, and I just didn't go back.
09:16I just didn't go back.
09:18That's true.
09:20Period.
09:22Oh, my goodness.
09:23Thank you all for being here.
09:25I am so grateful that you're all here listening to us.
09:29So thank you so much.
09:31My situation happened on Valentine's Day.
09:34Those who know me, I'm very much a big proponent of Valentine's Day.
09:39It's one of my favorite holidays.
09:40And I was actually an entertainment litigation attorney, and I was working at a firm.
09:47And the partner was requiring that I had to stay late.
09:54And it was like, I think it was like 8 or 9 o'clock, and we were still working on a deposition.
09:59And I just looked over at him, and I'm like, this is my Valentine's date?
10:03I don't even like him.
10:06And we were sitting there, and it just occurred to me.
10:11I'm like, you know what?
10:11I want to have control over my time.
10:13I want to have control over the kind of clients that I take.
10:16I want to have the ability to move forward in the ways that I want to and in the direction
10:21that I feel is right for me.
10:23And I didn't feel like I could actually do that working in someone else's firm.
10:26And so when I decided to leave, I received other offers from other firms.
10:32And it just kind of struck me that, wow, I'm receiving all of these offers to go to these
10:37other people's firms to build their business.
10:39They must see something in me.
10:40Why don't I see that in myself?
10:42And so from that moment on, I decided to start my own firm.
10:46So, yeah.
10:49Can I just add, there was something that Minda said that really resonated with me,
10:53that, you know, a lot of it is being courageous.
10:55And sometimes taking that leap, sometimes it's scary.
11:00And I think it's human instinct to run from something that is scary.
11:04But just because something is scary doesn't mean it's where you should be or where you should go.
11:08So we need to reframe what scary means and reframe what courageous means.
11:14Because sometimes, you know, taking that leap is really the best thing that we can do for ourselves.
11:19But we don't realize it.
11:21So we really have to dig deep inside of ourselves and take that leap.
11:26And really, I call it a leap of faith in yourself.
11:29No one else but yourself.
11:31I want to add really fast to that about courage.
11:33Because it takes courage, y'all, to do this thing.
11:36It takes a lot of courage.
11:37And when I sat in the car that day and I thought about courage,
11:41I thought about all the black women that came before me, that I was a beneficiary of their courage.
11:46I'm able to do the things.
11:48We're able to do the things because people came before us that were courageous.
11:51And I sat in my car and I asked myself, Minda, who's going to be a beneficiary of your courage?
11:56And I ask each of you to consider that for yourself.
11:59Rather you stay in the marketplace or you leave it, who's going to be a beneficiary of your courage?
12:03And I didn't have an answer for that that day, but it manifested in a best-selling book about when we're the color of our lives.
12:09That's right.
12:09Yes.
12:10I love it.
12:11I love it.
12:11Buy from a black woman, y'all.
12:13You know, there's one thing that I heard from, I think, from all of us.
12:18There's an issue around timing as well.
12:20And sometimes we actually beat ourselves up saying, oh, I stayed too long or I did not recognizing that.
12:29Sometimes you got things, you got to, you got to marinate a little bit, right?
12:32You got to get your mind right.
12:33If you're going to jump out here, listen, jumping ain't for you if you ain't for the weak of heart.
12:38Let me say that.
12:39And so if there's a sister out there or brother that's listening and you are considering this, that there is something around timing, but timing is not what you think it is.
12:50Timing isn't that everything is lined up and you know and you got the answers.
12:54I didn't know what I was going to do.
12:55But timing is when there's something in you that says it's enough.
12:59It is complete.
13:00What I have been doing, it is complete.
13:02It is time for me to move to the next level.
13:04I'm going to trust you, God's spirit, the trust account, whatever it is, right?
13:10But it's something around being able to tap into that natural timing and your spirit knows when it is if you're able to listen to it.
13:17It's really about the divine timing, really.
13:19I mean, we all have our idea of like when we should take leaps or when we should move forward.
13:23But in all actuality, you should be looking at like when is the divine timing happening?
13:28It's like for you, it happened in that moment where you were waking up in the middle of the night going,
13:33and I need to send my resignation letter.
13:35Like we don't necessarily have control over exactly when that moment happens.
13:39But when you get that inkling, then it's time to go.
13:43And sometimes we do stay longer than we should because we're not necessarily trusting ourselves or thinking like,
13:48oh, you know, but I have to have this lined up or I have to have this amount of money or I have to have X, Y, Z.
13:53But sometimes you'll miss an opportunity because of that fear.
13:57And at the end of the day, like our good patron saint Beyonce said, she said, listen, sometimes when I'm scared, that means I want it bad.
14:05I want it bad enough.
14:07And in that, I think that it's the moment that you should take.
14:10For sure.
14:11And look, folks will do all kinds of things to get you to stay, your salary, their raise your salary.
14:17Girl, let me give you a raise.
14:19Let me give you a promotion.
14:20And here's the thing.
14:21This is why it's so important we're on the wealth and power stage because wealth and power to black women is beyond money in our pockets.
14:30Wealth is about the ability to divine, to find that divine time, design our own success and our lives.
14:37And so, Uche, I think you know this very clearly.
14:40Yeah, and to make our own choices.
14:42And I also wanted to say, you know, on that issue of time, no time is wasted.
14:46So, you know, like you often say you have regrets that you stayed so long, but what did you learn during that time?
14:53What are the valuable lessons that you learned that you're never going to repeat, right?
14:58So no time is ever wasted.
14:59So never beat yourself up about that.
15:02I just want to add, make sure you're listening also.
15:05Like we're talking about time, but you have to listen.
15:07You have to listen to your voice, listen to the powers from the universe also.
15:11And when you stay too long, to your point, things are going to start falling apart.
15:14I know for me, I knew it was time for me to go, right?
15:17And I didn't listen.
15:18And when I didn't, everything else was just like, okay, now I'm getting written up.
15:22Or now I'm being insubordinate at work.
15:24Or this happened, that happened, because I stayed past my time.
15:27I was not listening to what I was supposed to be doing.
15:30So you get those type of things.
15:31And when you say things are going wrong, wondering, am I listening?
15:34Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing?
15:36Yes, yes.
15:38So true.
15:38So I want to talk about the who for a minute.
15:42So I think we mentioned, Minda, you mentioned the ancestors and all the folks who came before us.
15:47I want to talk about the folks that believed in you long before you knew it.
15:51Mine was my husband, who's in the audience somewhere.
15:54Okay, so...
15:55Hey, Calvin.
15:57So small story.
15:59So he purchased me an iPad for my birthday right before I walked away.
16:05And it was the smallest gesture, but it was the biggest thing that mattered to me, because it was an investment in my firm.
16:11And he made the first investment in my firm.
16:14So I want to talk about the who.
16:15Who were the folks that believed in each of you before you made that leap, or even once you made that leap?
16:22You know, one of the people is actually in the audience.
16:24Chancey Lundy.
16:25Where are you, Chancey?
16:27Listen.
16:28You know, she's a business owner, and we would talk about our other things, but she's my girlfriend and my sister.
16:34And she would get on the phone and was like, look, Tasha, she was like, just bring it like, you know you're supposed to be gone.
16:39Like, it is time, and it's time for you to do something else.
16:42And sometimes you need that person that's in your corner to actually push you.
16:47I will say, my issue wasn't, and I think we have to think about this, when you're going to make that kind of leap, I don't think it's about running, what you're running from.
16:56I think it has to be driven about what you're running to, what you're running towards.
16:59So you can't just, like, leave out of, I'm just tired of those folks.
17:03I think it really has to be a combination of what's really driving you, is I'm moving towards my vision.
17:09Whatever this vision God has given me, I might not even know what it looks like, right?
17:13I might not even know what the business really is supposed to do, but I know that I'm supposed to do this body of work.
17:18And I know I have these gifts, and what I know for sure is that my gifts will make room for me.
17:23And so if you stand in that, that your gifts will make room for you, how can you fail?
17:28Because the people you've been working for, been working with, have been exploiting and using your gift.
17:34How can you utilize that gift that it opens up a space for you and many, many others around you?
17:39So it's my girlfriends.
17:41Oh, I love that.
17:42Amen.
17:43Can we get an amen out there?
17:44That was hitting me.
17:45Amen.
17:47I agree with that.
17:48I'm going to say my mom, who my mom and my grandmother are here, but my mom, she prayed for me during the time period.
17:57So when I thought about leaving, and it took a little bit of time, having somebody you could go to who believes in you, right?
18:03That makes a difference because let's be honest, we might share our dreams or our aspirations to leave, and then we tell some of the people who love us the most, and they try to discourage us.
18:12Not because they don't want you to make it, but because they just don't see the vision, right?
18:17And so protect your vision.
18:18Our success is not a solo sport.
18:21We don't sit up here alone.
18:22There are people who are invested from my mother to my grandmother to, if Melanie Parker is here, the diversity officer at Google, people who see you before you even see yourself.
18:31And I needed those people for me.
18:33And, you know, I'll just say that on expiration dates, LaTosha, that hit my soul.
18:38I have it written in my notes that I wrote years ago.
18:41There's no expiration on God's plan for you, Minda.
18:44You just have to activate it.
18:46And so I want to let you know, whether you're sitting in the workplace, you want to leave, whatever, whatever the time is, there's no expiration on what God has for you.
18:54That's right.
18:55Period.
18:55Say that.
18:56Say that.
18:58For me, it's always been black women.
19:00Whether black women I don't know, black women I do know, black women who came before me, black women who are looking towards me.
19:06It's always been black women who have built me up, encouraged me, and allowed me to make room for my gifts and talents and to be a valuable resource to other black women.
19:15And so black women are, they gas me up.
19:17They're my gas station.
19:19I know that.
19:21That's right.
19:22Jeanne.
19:22I would say that there were three strong forces that were supporting me.
19:30One of them was my ancestors.
19:32I felt very, very supported by my ancestors.
19:34I felt very encouraged by them.
19:37And I also was thinking of our sister and ancestors who actually were entrepreneurs before us.
19:44We have so many, we have a long history of entrepreneurship all the way back through the transatlantic slave trade.
19:50So all of these entrepreneurs who I was thinking of that when I had the moment to take my leap were people who actually were utilizing their businesses to buy their freedom and the freedom for their families.
20:04And so for me, that kept me grounded in what it is that I wanted to do.
20:08And then also my coworkers, because all of my coworkers, they all knew that I was going to be leaving my job.
20:16And when I told them what my last day was, they all bought me a cake and they all put their money together and put it in a hundred dollar bill and put it in a frame and said, this is your first investment in your business.
20:27And I was just like, you know what I mean?
20:30Like people you wouldn't even expect are watching you, you know, and they're watching your moves.
20:35And so for me, that was super encouraging to know that I was going in the right direction.
20:39And I'm super grateful for that moment and all the moments that came after that were supportive.
20:43So I mentioned my mother a little bit earlier, but I'm going to try not to cry, but I lost my mother when I was 19 years old.
20:53She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in poverty, single mom.
20:58She had five siblings who struggled with her.
21:01And my mom had to jump over so many barriers, first person in her family to go to college.
21:05She got into medical school with the encouragement of a chemistry professor, and she did things that she never thought she could do.
21:14And, you know, when I lost her at 19, I thought my world was over.
21:19My cheerleader, she was no longer there, but she is always with me.
21:24And so when I was going through the most difficult time in my job, people looked at me and they thought I was so successful.
21:30They thought I was happy.
21:31I had all these titles, I made a good salary, I was at an academic medical center, which is, in medicine, it's like the pinnacle of success, quote-unquote.
21:41But it wasn't.
21:42I was so unhappy, I was losing weight, I couldn't sleep.
21:45And, you know, I always heard my mother's voice, and I thought about how much she, how hard she worked for us, my twin sister and me, to give us opportunities that she never had.
21:55And so, you know, I heard her voice saying, you don't have to put up with this, you can do anything, sky's the limit.
22:01And she's always, always with me.
22:03So whenever I doubt myself, you know, I have conversations with her, because I know she's with me.
22:08Our people never leave us.
22:10That's right.
22:11Our people never leave us.
22:12Like, they might change form, but they're always with us.
22:14So your mother's been with you this entire time.
22:17She's here right now.
22:17She's here on the stage.
22:18She's real proud.
22:20Let me tell you.
22:22The ancestors are doing this.
22:24So don't you feel them behind us right now?
22:28Like, they're here.
22:29They're here.
22:30They're always here.
22:30Listen, I can relate.
22:31I lost my father.
22:32I was a dad's girl.
22:33I lost my father when I was 23.
22:36Right?
22:36My father was a force, too, right?
22:38Growing up in Baltimore City, like, a lot of firsts, right?
22:41So, you know, we have big shoes to fill, but they're always with us.
22:45Your mother is here, girl.
22:47All of us.
22:49There's one piece around, let's be honest.
22:53When you're making a big move, there are people around you,
22:55sometimes in their effort to protect you, will tell you not to do it.
22:59I have family members who love me, who are saying,
23:02girl, you better keep that job, right?
23:04You know, and so we have to be honest that there are folks around us.
23:07And then there are some folks who, some haters.
23:10They don't want, they stuck, so they want you to be stuck, right?
23:13But you have to recognize there is always one person.
23:17Even when I am doubting myself, there's somebody out there that is rooting for me.
23:22Like, even if I had to make them an imaginary character up in,
23:25like, there's somebody that is, and the way that I see it, God and I are a majority.
23:31So, about my life, it's me and God.
23:33Everybody else, like, that ain't got nothing to handle your business, right?
23:38But I think we also have to recognize that there's always somebody rooting for us.
23:41And the thing about that, like, my mother was a hater when I said I'm not doing this.
23:46Like, biggest hater.
23:47Like, hell no, you a hater.
23:48But she's out there on the booth now, right?
23:50And she was, she was, I mean, I don't know if she's on the stage, like, listening, but she was.
23:55But the thing was, she was hating because she was in a place of unknown.
23:59She wasn't sure it was going to work, and she wasn't sure it was going to be a real thing.
24:03So she thought she was protecting me by being a hater, but it was because she was scared for me.
24:08You get what I'm saying?
24:09And so, like, sometimes people hate or they're not, they are protecting you or telling you not to do it
24:13because they've never seen it done before.
24:15Right.
24:15They don't know that it's possible.
24:16They never even dreamt something like that.
24:18Like, how dare you think that you can do this when I was taught, go to college, work until I retire, get my pension.
24:24Why do you think you can do something different that's not possible?
24:27And then when you do it, then they're like, oh, I had no idea I can dream those dreams.
24:32I didn't know that was possible for black women, let alone, you know, women at all in this generation.
24:36So, you know, but now my mom's not a hater.
24:38She's on the boob.
24:39So she's listening.
24:41She's one of my biggest cheerleaders now.
24:42You know, I just wanted to, I totally agree with that.
24:45And I think as we're talking about when you share that you're going to leave and those sorts of things,
24:48the main thing is understanding that when we tell other people about it, they're often operating in survival mode.
24:56So when we've been conditioned to only survive, that's the only tools we have to use.
25:01So we're redefining success by thriving.
25:04And that's why we deserve that.
25:05But we're role modeling what that could potentially look like.
25:08But again, even if you don't resign, what does courage look like for you in the situation that you're in?
25:14So maybe you're not able to leave tonight.
25:17You're not able to leave tomorrow.
25:18But give yourself permission to have the conversation with the manager.
25:22Have permission to have it with the colleague that's driving you crazy.
25:25Like we get to have these small acts of courage to get us to this place.
25:28And so, you know, just be careful to protect your dreams and don't, you know, we love our families.
25:36Sometimes you don't get it.
25:37I was an entrepreneur for about four years before I told some of my family members that I had been doing something else
25:42because I knew that some people just didn't understand.
25:45But I know it's not because they didn't want me to be successful.
25:48It's because they understood more thriving.
25:51But we're shifting the narrative to our survival to thrive.
25:55And that's what we're here to do.
25:56And that's what freedom is.
25:58We all want to be free.
25:59Say it again.
26:00I love that.
26:00I love that because I also think about the whole protecting your dream thing because sometimes when we're doubtful and we're nervous about our dream,
26:08when we actually will tell other people that we know internally that they're not going to support us to substantiate that belief that we can't do it, that little piece of us that's afraid.
26:17And what you really should do is protect it because there are people that you know are going to be doubtful.
26:24There are people that you know that might insert a little bit more of that into the situation when you might be feeling a little wobbly yourself about the leap or the move.
26:34So, in my opinion, I feel like, you know, you should just hold on to it, hold it close, share it with the people that you know are going to be that supportive guide.
26:44And if you encounter people who are not supportive to you, then you also go and talk to the people that are so that you have a balance between those energies and between that, like, those voices.
26:55Because it will start to make you feel like you can't do it, you know, and it'll start to reinforce that belief and that fear as opposed to moving forward with the direction of, like, feeling good and positive about the move that you're going to make.
27:09Yeah, I agree.
27:10Although, when I told my father that I was leaving my job to start my own company, he said, wait, what are you going to do?
27:17And this is a man who had said for years, over 40 years, had told me, oh, you got to work for yourself.
27:22You got to work for yourself.
27:23But when it was time for me to say, okay, I'm not going to work for myself, he's like, what?
27:29And I was so disappointed.
27:31I was hurt.
27:32I was sad.
27:32But I realized he was also very scared for me.
27:36And now, three years later, he told me, I'm very, very proud of you.
27:40I don't think it was that he doubted me.
27:42I just think that he was scared.
27:44And I think also he had never done that for himself.
27:46That's right.
27:47So, you know, I think also he had some scarcity mindset.
27:50And I had shifted from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, where I realized that there were so many opportunities open to me that I never thought there were.
28:01And so I needed him to make that shift, too.
28:04He hasn't yet.
28:05He's proud.
28:05So I'm happy with that.
28:06I just want to say, with that, protecting the dream, like, I'm the total opposite of that.
28:11I'm telling everybody my dream because it's my dream.
28:13You can't do my dream.
28:14I can tell you.
28:15You can't do it.
28:16And if you are a hater or you feel like I can't do it, now, for me, it's all about accountability.
28:21It's about, okay, I'm going to work hard because you don't believe in this.
28:24And I'm going to show you that it's possible.
28:25Because I know once you see I'm doing this, whatever you're dreaming that you're scared of, you're going to, like, well, you know what?
28:30Nikki did that.
28:31And I think that she can do it.
28:32Then I can do what I want to do, too.
28:34So for me, that's how I do it.
28:35Yeah, y'all, we're building a movement, right?
28:38Each of us has a role in building that movement and pushing everybody.
28:42And so, you know, I also want to talk about our brilliance for a second.
28:46So can we talk about how, like, you know, we are the culture.
28:49We move the culture.
28:51Folks steal from us, want to be us, but don't really want to be us.
28:54You know, so, like, what about our black brilliance?
28:57Like, why is it important, you know, to own our ideas, our visions, our legacies?
29:03What does that mean to you all?
29:06You know, I'll just start saying we also have to get out of this Western individualism mindset.
29:14Who I am and how I show up in the world is not just about me.
29:17It's literally I'm trying to operate on how can I make the greatest impact, not just for myself, but for my community.
29:25Black folks are hurting right now.
29:27So I want to be a vessel to relieve the pain.
29:31I want to give resources to my people on the ground.
29:34I want to build institutions that love black people, that actually we don't have to try to fight to get at the table.
29:40We're building our own beautiful table, right?
29:42And so part of this is really wasn't about how I can get another check.
29:46For me, it is, I think that's part of the trap that we've gotten into, right?
29:50I think part of it is how can I literally help facilitate black liberation by creating organizations,
29:57by doing things that are actually going to empower not even just myself, but others around me.
30:02And so part of the work for me wasn't just about a check.
30:05As I said, my check was okay, right?
30:07But it really was around how can I move in a space that literally at the end of the day,
30:12I'm helping my community get closer to looking at what freedom is and black liberation.
30:18I just want to say I'm trying not to fangirl.
30:20Dr. Brown, like I, when I saw that, I was like, I've seen you.
30:23I know your work.
30:24So I'm trying not to fangirl up here, but you all see why, right?
30:29But I say black women are limited examples, right?
30:31So people want to be black women.
30:33They want to steal from black women.
30:35They want to copy black women because black women really are the blueprint.
30:38We're doing it all.
30:40So we must protect ourselves.
30:41We must have these type of spaces where we're working with each other and not against each other
30:45to make sure that we're still building communities.
30:46We're still empowering each other and just keep doing the work that we're doing
30:51and showing up as ourselves.
30:52We had a brief conversation backstage, and I'm not going to share it,
30:55but I was like, you get to make your own rules.
30:57Like you're living your life the way that you want to live it.
31:00So don't feel like you have to look a certain way, be a certain way, talk a certain way,
31:04act a certain way.
31:05You are the blueprint.
31:06So if you're saying this is how I'm going to be, this is how I'm going to show up,
31:10that's all you got to do.
31:11Like, and just say that.
31:12There's no question mark.
31:13There's no comma.
31:14This is how I'm going to be.
31:15This is how I'm going to show up because I am the blueprint,
31:17and I know that you want to look at me and be me, so this is who I am.
31:22Yeah, I think so much of the work that we do, as has been shared, is purpose-driven work.
31:27I know when I started my organization, it really was to save black lives.
31:31It was to work with health care organizations to reduce racism in health care.
31:36And so every client I have, every conversation I have, I'm thinking about our community
31:43because no one else is.
31:45They're basically letting us die.
31:47They're letting black mothers die, black babies die, and we can't have that.
31:52But what I've realized is that with my organization, I'm growing a family,
31:57growing a community, and we can't do it without each other.
31:59Absolutely.
32:01And the work that all of us are doing is for the culture, for the ecosystem.
32:05We didn't leave because we wanted to be on TV or do these things.
32:09We left because we wanted freedom, not just for ourselves, but for the family, for the family.
32:14I didn't like being a black woman in the workplace how we were treated.
32:17So I said, you know what?
32:18I want to make the workplace better than I found it.
32:20That's why I write the memo.
32:22That's why I write Right Within.
32:23That's why I write You Are More Than Magic,
32:25because we need to be reminded that we are the table.
32:28You asked about brilliance.
32:30We are the table.
32:31And once you understand that you are the table, then you move so differently,
32:34and you can bring people with you.
32:36And so I think our brilliance is we are the table.
32:39That's right.
32:40I think, honestly, like we're the most, black women are the biggest creative force on this planet.
32:47So it's so important for us to look at what it is that we're doing
32:51and understand that we have value and our work and our ideas have value.
32:55And because of that, we need to actually move forward with protecting those things that we create
33:00and allowing people to be able to enjoy them and things like that.
33:04But we do need to have a sense of ownership.
33:06I think that what has happened in our community oftentimes is that we've been told for so long
33:12that nothing belongs to us that we start thinking it.
33:15Like, nothing belongs to you, not even your own body.
33:17So essentially, when you're looking at it from that perspective,
33:22then you don't start to, you don't realize that you have such beautiful ideas that are meant to be shared
33:27but also are meant to be owned by you.
33:30And so as an attorney, I'm always looking at this because I work specifically with intellectual property.
33:36And so for so many years, I would say for the first, like, eight or nine years,
33:39until Instagram came along, I was, like, screaming into a black hole all the time,
33:44saying, protect your ideas, you know, register your...
33:47And people were just like, girl, I just want to create.
33:50I just want to create.
33:51And I'm like, yes, you want to create, but you also want to own what it is that you create.
33:54You also want to have a stamp on this world based on the legacy that you build through your own creations.
34:01And by doing that, you are actually leaving us all better than we were when we got here.
34:07That's right.
34:08All right, y'all.
34:09So I know we could be here all day and all night.
34:13So I'm going to do a two-parter last question.
34:16And if you all could tell folks where they can find you, how you can link up.
34:21So I'm unapologeticcoms.com.
34:24We have a special landing page that's up right now.
34:27Three of these ladies are part of the firm.
34:29We're very proud of them.
34:31And also at Takira WD on Twitter.
34:35And my last question is what advice, what gems would you drop to your younger self?
34:41The little black girl growing up, what advice would you give to her?
34:47And then how do you reclaim your joy?
34:51That's a lot.
34:52Okay, so quickly I would say I would tell my younger self that not only will you be okay, you're going to be more than okay.
35:00And to never put limits on what you think you can do, even though the world puts limits on us.
35:07So I would have never thought that I would be a medical contributor on the news.
35:11I would have never thought that I would have a book deal and be a soon-to-be author.
35:14I would never think that I'd be able to do all the things for my community that I'm able to do.
35:18So never put limits on yourself.
35:20And then what do I do for joy?
35:22I try to take small moments during the day, especially with my children, and just, you know, enjoy nature, enjoy life.
35:28Just slow down a little bit.
35:30And you can find me on Instagram and Twitter at UcheBlackstockMD.
35:37This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine.
35:42Let it shine.
35:43Let it shine.
35:45Let it shine.
35:46I think if I were to tell myself, just be the light.
35:49Just be you.
35:50Stop trying to be everything everybody else wants you to be, the world wants you to be.
35:54God made you uniquely you.
35:56You are the only you that will ever be that has ever been.
35:59And so if that was a word, I would say it was to just be me.
36:02What brings me joy?
36:03I'm glad you asked.
36:04Black Girl Joy, right here, the work.
36:07Southern Black Girls, it is the work.
36:11It's the work of really being able to see my vision manifest, really be able to see black girls get supported and organizations get resources.
36:19And our people take their power and stand in that.
36:22Listen, it ain't nothing like witnessing some black liberation.
36:25So that is what makes me happy.
36:27To stay in contact with me, I have two organizations, BlackVotersMatterFund.org or SouthernBlackGirls.org.
36:34You can follow me on Twitter, Miss LaTosha Brown, on all the social media.
36:38So that's how you can find me.
36:40Yes.
36:41First of all, I just want to thank Takira and the Unapologetic team because y'all are in essence.
36:46Thank you so much.
36:47What brings me joy, I'll start with that, is my family.
36:50Being able to bring my mother and my grandmother.
36:52My grandmother grew up in New Orleans during Jim Crow.
36:54To bring her back to New Orleans, to experience it differently, that is ultimate joy.
36:59And so for me, to be able to do that, three generations, we're here together, and that's joy for me.
37:04Telling my little Minda self, I would say that you belong in every room you enter, but not every room deserves to have you.
37:11Yes.
37:11Yes.
37:12Yes.
37:13And you can find me on all social platforms at Minda Hearts.
37:17What brings me joy is knowing that I'm using my gifts and talents and resources to change the world.
37:22Like I'm making a difference.
37:23I would tell my little self that you're going through all these things so that when you're able to be a resource for people who are going through all these things,
37:30you know what it looks like on the other side.
37:32So it's going to be okay.
37:34You're going to make it.
37:35You can find me at Buy From a Black Woman.
37:37We have a booth inside the convention center as well.
37:40The community is showing up.
37:42Buy From a Black Woman on all platforms and then a black woman's website, a black woman on Instagram as well.
37:47I would say what I would tell my younger self is you are whole, you are complete, there's nothing to fix, there's nothing to change, and to keep on going with your dreams ultimately.
38:01And how I reclaim my joy is literally spending time with other black women.
38:07Like black women are my love, black women are my joy.
38:10I enjoy being around them, being lifted by them, supporting them, loving them, hugging them, dancing with them, kiki-ing.
38:17That's just, that's my joy.
38:19That's my main joy.
38:19And you can find me at all platforms, all social platforms at jwilliamsesq, or you can visit my website at jawilliamslaw.com.
38:29Thank you, ladies.
38:30And I just want to leave y'all with this and just say next time somebody tells you about the great resignation, remember there's a great emancipation, too, for black women.
38:40Thank you so much, founders.
38:42I'm so proud to call you founders.
38:45Give it up, everybody.
38:49The Essence Festival of Culture presented by Coca-Cola is bringing the heat with experiences you love, including Essence Beauty Carnival and Essence Wellness House.
39:03We've got something for everyone.
39:05Meet and greets, shopping, panels, workshops, performances, and more.
39:10It's the black joy from me.
39:12Get your tickets.
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