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00:00:00how do we revere the doers and the dreamers how do we held the brave the bold and the heroic
00:00:20we celebrate their power their passion their dreams by joining them because when we dream
00:00:30in black we dream as one ain't no party like an essence best party
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00:30:14kidding
00:30:15my mom's not here
00:30:16and welcome back everybody I hope you enjoyed the set the music has been
00:30:20wonderful as is the panel that will be coming out very shortly they are a vibe you will see in just a minute I know you've heard a lot of talk about the great resignation which I've kind of been a bit of a part I stepped away from my full time job a couple years ago still sorting it out and I think a lot of us are but there's also a question when you walk away from a job what is the next step what am I going to actually do so here
00:30:50you
00:30:55my
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00:31:18Thank you Rochelle. Happy Friday, y'all. I said happy Friday, y'all. All right. Okay,
00:31:37so listen, it's such an honor to be here. For so many of us, we have been reading and supporting
00:31:45essence throughout the years. So being on this stage feels like our little black girl sells again
00:31:51as a dream come true. And I'm just so thankful to be given the space to lead this important and very
00:31:59timely conversation. So listen, earlier this year, before Beyonce was talking about our new
00:32:05salvations, I wrote about what many folks have called the great resonation. I shared a bit about
00:32:12my personal story. And for folks who know me, you know that I always tell people that I didn't just
00:32:17take a leap of faith. I took a leap and black women caught me. So since launching my business over a
00:32:25year ago, you know, I've come to the realization that I'm fine and I will be fine. And I also wrote
00:32:31about the fact that many black women have simply just been pushed out of their jobs or careers,
00:32:37while others like me and some of these other ladies just peaced out. So the latter I refer to
00:32:45as the great emancipation. So as black women, we're often seen as radical. And let me tell y'all,
00:32:54we're remarkable. America has rarely reckoned with anything. I don't know what they're reckoning
00:32:59with right now, honestly. But we're expected to show up all the time and save this country that never
00:33:05saves us. So for me, I'm really ready for us to save ourselves. So we have got to begin to move beyond
00:33:13just surviving here. We have got to thrive. So I'm excited to sit with these five incredible visionaries
00:33:21today. Though our paths are very different, we are all different black women. What we have in common
00:33:27is that we're founders and we're leaders who've each made the choice, let me say the choice, America,
00:33:36to walk away and walk toward our freedom. So let me bring out our first lady. She's an MSNBC contributor.
00:33:46She's a soon-to-be, I'm calling it, best-selling author and the founder of Advancing Health Equity,
00:33:53Dr. Uche Blackstock. Yeah. All right. Let's do this. Okay. Now y'all know this lady. Please welcome.
00:34:11She is a force, a force to be reckoned with. The co-founder of Black Voters Matter and the founder
00:34:20of Southern Black Girls and Women's Consortium, Ms. LaTosha Brown. Y'all give it up for LaTosha
00:34:28on the front lines. Yeah. All right. All right. Okay. Best-selling author, founder of the memo.
00:34:42Our next panelist knows that toxic work environments are not the place to be for black women.
00:34:48Please welcome Minda Hartz. Yes. Woo! Woo! Yes. The memo. Yes. Joining us next, she's the founder
00:35:05of Buy From a Black Woman, a nonprofit organization that empowers, educates, and inspires black female
00:35:12entrepreneurs. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Nikki Porche.
00:35:23Yes. Buy From a Black Woman.
00:35:28And finally, I'm so proud of her. We have a founder, attorney, and business and legal affairs advisor
00:35:36who believes that entrepreneurship is the path to freedom. Please welcome John A. Williams.
00:35:49All right. Ladies, y'all ready? Yes. Absolutely. All right. Let's do this. So look, for so many of us,
00:35:56we decided to take the leap long before we actually took the leap. Can you all each tell me a bit about
00:36:04sort of when you actually decided to take the leap? Uche? Sure. I'd love to go first. So first of all,
00:36:12thank you so much for having me here and thank you for being here in community with us.
00:36:16So for me, my decision to take the leap was the culmination of a lot of little moments, moments of
00:36:23disrespect, humiliation, feeling undervalued, but also moments of success and feeling like
00:36:31I should be treated better. And then I had conversations with people close to me, girlfriends,
00:36:38my late mother's spirit, who I could hear her talking to me, pulling me close to her saying,
00:36:44you don't need to accept this. You deserve better. And so really, it was those conversations with the
00:36:51people close to me and the culmination of all those moments, some painful and some successful,
00:36:56that pushed me to take that next leap. You know, mine was a little bit different. Actually,
00:37:03I was working for an organization that I was doing the work that I love to do. And I couldn't justify
00:37:09in my mind, I was like, well, I got a steady salary. I'm doing pretty good. I get to do
00:37:16in many ways what I want to do. But I was working at this organization, quite frankly, one day was really
00:37:21interested. I realized that I was fundraising for the organization, but I was raising my own salary.
00:37:27I was like, wait, wait, wait. So why am I raising my own salary to work for somebody else? If I can do
00:37:33that, I can raise my own salary for myself and my own vision. And so in this process, I'll be honest,
00:37:39there, I was at an event, I knew a year earlier, that the spirit just told me my time was up, right?
00:37:45Not that anything, because sometimes we wait until something goes wrong. And so spirit had told me
00:37:50earlier, my time was up and I was at sleep one night and something said, you got to write the
00:37:55resignation. I was actually on a business trip. You got to write your resignation letter right now.
00:37:59And I was like, okay, okay, I'll do it. And I started writing it. I finished it. I went to bed.
00:38:04Spirit was like, get up, send it now. And I sent it. And I cannot tell you, I felt like, you all ever
00:38:10seen the whiz? Then the whiz, a brand new day, brand new day. When they're coming out of their skin,
00:38:16that's exactly how I felt. I felt like I was going into another space. So it was a,
00:38:20it was a moment that I had to literally be accountable to the vision that God gave me.
00:38:25Amen. All right. Happy to be here with you all. Thank you for joining us. You could be anywhere
00:38:31in this convention center and you're here with us. So thank you so much.
00:38:35My situation was, I had been in corporate America at the time for about 12, 13 years,
00:38:40and I was struggling. I was at my worst. And I'll never forget it because I was in my car
00:38:46and I was, I, I was crying because I had just felt like I had done everything that dominant culture
00:38:53had expected me to do. I code switched to death. I wore my hair the straightest, you know, I just
00:38:58modified my name so that they would feel comfortable. And I just felt like I never had that humanity,
00:39:03that dignity, the respect that my other colleagues were getting in the workplace. Yes, I was making good
00:39:07salary, right? But it, at that point, it wasn't enough, but I wasn't in a position to be able to quit
00:39:13at that time. And that pained me. And I sat in my car that day, lashes on the ground, you know,
00:39:19just in a deep, deep cry. And I turn on the radio and Whitney Houston's Where Do Broken Hearts Go?
00:39:24comes on the radio. And I thought, God, you have a funny sense of humor. And I thought, where do the
00:39:31broken hearts of women of color go when we can't take the workplace anymore? And it was in that moment
00:39:36that I made the leap in my mind, that I would recenter what work meant and find the courage
00:39:42to leave. And that's what it takes, courage, the ability to do something that frightens one.
00:39:47It took a few years before I left and actually took the leap. But in my mind, I said, as Audre Lorde
00:39:53said, beware of feeling you're not good enough to deserve it. And I knew I deserved something better.
00:39:58Yes, yes. For me, I set off on faith and students, right? I was like, I'm going to do it,
00:40:02but I'm going to save my money before I do it. I was a school teacher and it was when I started
00:40:07taking days off and I didn't hear I didn't get paid. And I was like, oh, you have no more days
00:40:10left. You're not going to get paid for the day, but I'm making more not being here. So,
00:40:14and then when the kids were like, Ms. Porche, you're always off on Thursdays. I'm like, um,
00:40:18it's time for me to go for real. So I worked the last school year. I stacked, I stacked,
00:40:22I stacked, and I just didn't go back. Um, I just didn't go back. That's true. Period.
00:40:32Oh my goodness. Um, thank you all for being here. I am so grateful that you're all here
00:40:38listening to us. So thank you so much. Um, my situation happened on Valentine's Day.
00:40:44Those who know me, I'm very much, um, a big proponent of Valentine's Day. It's one of my
00:40:49favorite holidays. And I was, um, I was actually, um, an entertainment litigation attorney and I was
00:40:55working at a firm and I, um, the partner was requiring that I had to stay late. And it was
00:41:04like, I think it was like eight or nine o'clock and we were still working on a deposition.
00:41:09And I just looked over at him and I'm like, this is my Valentine's date. I don't even like him.
00:41:16And, um, and we were sitting there and it just, it just occurred to me. I'm like, you know what,
00:41:21I want to have control over my time. I want to have control over the kind of clients that I take.
00:41:25I want to have, um, the ability to move forward in the ways that I want to and in the direction that
00:41:31I feel is right for me. And I didn't feel like I could actually do that working in someone else's
00:41:36firm. And so when I decided to leave, I received other offers from other firms and it just kind of
00:41:43struck me that, wow, I'm receiving all of these offers to go to these other people's firms to build
00:41:48their business. They must see something in me. Why don't I see that in myself? And so from that moment
00:41:54on, I decided to start my own firm. So, yeah.
00:41:56Can I just add, there was something that Minda said that really resonated with me that, you know,
00:42:03a lot of it is being courageous and sometimes taking that leap, sometimes it's scary.
00:42:09And I think it's human instinct to run from something that is scary. But just because something
00:42:15is scary doesn't mean it's where you should be or where you should go. So we need to reframe,
00:42:20reframe what scary means and reframe what courageous means. Because sometimes, you know,
00:42:25taking that leap is really the best thing that we can do for ourselves. But we don't realize it.
00:42:31So we really have to dig deep inside of ourselves and take that leap. And really, I call it a leap
00:42:37of faith in yourself. No one else but yourself.
00:42:40I want to add really fast to that about courage because it takes courage, y'all, to do this thing.
00:42:46It takes a lot of courage. And when I sat in the car that day and I thought about courage,
00:42:51I thought about all the black women that came before me, that I was a beneficiary of their
00:42:55courage. I'm able to do the things, we're able to do the things because people came before us that
00:43:00were courageous. And I sat in my car and I asked myself, Minda, who's going to be a beneficiary
00:43:05of your courage? That's right. And I asked each of you to consider that for yourself. Who,
00:43:09rather you stay in the marketplace or you leave it, who's going to be a beneficiary of your courage? And
00:43:13I didn't have an answer for that that day, but it manifested in a bestselling book about when we're
00:43:18the color of your courage. That's right. I love it. I love it. Buy from a black woman, y'all.
00:43:23You know, you know, there's one thing that I want to, that I heard from, I think from all of us,
00:43:28there's an issue around timing as well. And sometimes we actually beat ourselves up saying,
00:43:34oh, I stayed too long or I did not recognizing that sometimes you got things, you gotta, you gotta
00:43:40marinate a little bit, right? You gotta get your mind right. If you're gonna jump out here, listen,
00:43:45jumping ain't for you if you ain't for the weak of heart. Let me say that, right? And so you,
00:43:50we don't, if there's some, if there's a sister out there or brother that's listening and you are
00:43:55considering this, that there is something around timing, but timing is not what you think it is.
00:43:59Timing isn't that everything is lined up and you know, and you got the answers. I didn't know what I
00:44:04was going to do, but timing is when there's something in you that says it's enough. It is complete.
00:44:10What I have been doing. It is complete. It is time for me to move to the next level.
00:44:14I'm going to trust you. God's spirit, the trust account, whatever it is, right? But it's something
00:44:20around being able to tap into that natural timing and your spirit knows when it is, if you're able
00:44:25to listen to it. Yeah. It's really about the divine timing, really. I mean, we all have our idea of like
00:44:31when we should take leaps or when we should move forward. But in all actuality, you should be looking at
00:44:35like, when is the divine timing happening? It's like for you, it happened in that moment
00:44:40where you were waking up in the middle of the night going, I need to send my resignation letter.
00:44:44Like we, we don't necessarily have control over exactly when that moment happens, but when you
00:44:49get that inkling, then it's time to go. And sometimes we do stay longer than we should,
00:44:55because we're not necessarily trusting ourselves or thinking like, oh, you know, but I have to have
00:44:59this lined up or I have to have this amount of money and I have to have X, Y, Z. But sometimes
00:45:04you'll miss an opportunity because of that fear. And at the end of the day, like a good,
00:45:09our good patron Saint Beyonce said, she said, listen, sometimes when I'm scared,
00:45:14that means I want it bad. I want it bad enough. And in that, I think that it's the moment that you
00:45:19should take. For sure. And look, folks will do all kinds of things to get you to stay,
00:45:25your salary. They raise your salary. Girl, let me give you a raise. Let me give you a promotion.
00:45:30Let me, and here's the thing. This is why it's so important. We're on the wealth and power stage,
00:45:34because wealth and power to black women is beyond money in our pockets. Wealth is about the ability
00:45:41to divine, to find that divine time, design our own success in our lives. And so, Uche, I think you
00:45:49know this very clearly. Yeah. And to make, and to make our own choices. And I also wanted to say,
00:45:54you know, on that issue of time, no time is wasted. So, you know, like you often say,
00:45:59you have regrets that you stayed so long, but what did you learn during that time? What are the
00:46:04valuable lessons that you learned that you're never going to repeat? Right? So no time is ever wasted.
00:46:09So never beat yourself up about that. Yeah. I just want to add, make sure you're listening also.
00:46:15Like we're talking about time, but you have to listen. You have to listen to your voice, listen to the
00:46:18powers from the universe also. And when you stayed too long to your point, things are going to start
00:46:23falling apart. I know for me, I knew it was time for me to go, right? And I didn't listen. And when
00:46:28I didn't, everything else was just like, okay, now I'm getting written up, or now I'm being insubordinate
00:46:33at work, or this happened, that happened, because I stayed past my time. I was not listening to what I
00:46:38was supposed to be doing. So you get those type of things. And when you say things are going wrong,
00:46:42I'm wondering, am I listening? Am I doing what I'm supposed to be doing? Yes. Yes. So true. So I
00:46:48want to talk about the who for a minute. So I think we mentioned, Minda, you mentioned the ancestors
00:46:54and all the folks who came before us. I want to talk about the folks that believed in you long before
00:47:00you knew it. Mine was my husband, who's in the audience somewhere. Okay. Hey, Calvin.
00:47:05So small, so small story. So he purchased me an iPad for my birthday, right before I walked away.
00:47:15And it was the smallest gesture, but it was the biggest thing that mattered to me because it was
00:47:19an investment in my firm. And he made the first investment in my firm. So I want to talk about
00:47:24the who, who were the folks that believed in each of you before you made that leap, or even once you
00:47:30made that leap. You know, one of the people is actually in the audience, Chancey, London,
00:47:35where are you trying to say, listen, you know, I, she's a bit, she was a business owner. And we
00:47:41would talk about other things, but she's my girlfriend and my sister. And she would get on
00:47:45the phone. It was like, look, Tasha, she was like, just bring it. Like, you know, you supposed to be
00:47:48gone, right? Like it is time and it's time for you to do something else. And sometimes you need that
00:47:53person that's in your corner to actually push you. I will say my issue wasn't, and I think we have to
00:47:59think about this when you're going to make that kind of leap. I don't think it's about running what you're
00:48:04running from. I think it has to be driven about what you're running to, what you're running towards.
00:48:09So you can't just like leave out of, I'm just tired of those folks. I think it really has to be
00:48:14a combination of what's really driving you is I'm moving towards my vision. Whatever this vision
00:48:20God has given me, I might not even know what it looks like, right? I might not even know what the
00:48:24business really is supposed to do, but I know that I'm supposed to do this body of work. And I know I
00:48:29have these gifts and what I know for sure is that my gifts will make room for me. And so if you stand
00:48:34in that, that your gifts will make room for you, how can you fail? Because the people you've been
00:48:39working for, been working with, have been exploiting and using your gift. How can you utilize that gift
00:48:45that it opens up a space for you and many, many others around you? So it's my girlfriends.
00:48:50Yes. Oh, I love that. Amen. Can we get an amen out there though? That was hitting. Amen.
00:48:57Um, I agree with that. I'm going to say, um, my, my mom who, who my mom and my grandmother are here,
00:49:02but my mom, she prayed for me during the time period. So when I thought about leaving
00:49:09and it took a little bit of time, having somebody you could go to who believes in you,
00:49:13right? That makes a difference because let's be honest, we might share our dreams or our aspirations
00:49:18to leave. And then we tell some of the people who love us the most and they try to discourage us,
00:49:22not because they don't want you to make it, but because they just don't see the vision,
00:49:26right? And so protect your vision. Our success is not a solo sport. We don't sit up here alone.
00:49:32There are people who are invested from my mother to my grandmother, to if Melanie Parker's here,
00:49:37the diversity officer at Google, people who see you before you even see yourself. And I needed those
00:49:42people for me. And, you know, I'll just say that on expiration dates, Latasha, that, that hit my soul.
00:49:47I have it written in my notes that I wrote years ago. There's no expiration on God's plan for you,
00:49:53Minda. You just have to activate it. And so I want to let you know, brother, you're sitting in the
00:49:57workplace, you want to leave, whatever, whatever the time is, there's no expiration on what God has for
00:50:04you. Period. For me, it's always been black women. Whether black women, I don't know, black women,
00:50:12I do know, black women who came before me, black women who are looking towards me. It's always been
00:50:16black women who have built me up, encouraged me, and allowed me to make room for my gifts and
00:50:21talents and to be a valuable resource to other black women. So black women are, they gas me up.
00:50:27They're my gas station. I know that. That's right, Jeanne. I would say that there were three strong
00:50:37forces that were, that were supporting me. One of them was, was my ancestors. I felt very,
00:50:42very supported by my ancestors. I felt very encouraged by them. And I also was thinking of
00:50:48our sister and ancestors who actually were entrepreneurs before us. We have so many,
00:50:55we have a long history of entrepreneurship all the way back through the transatlantic slave trade. So
00:51:00all of these entrepreneurs who I was thinking of that, when I had the moment to take my leap,
00:51:07were people who actually were using, utilizing their businesses to buy their freedom and the
00:51:13freedom for their families. And so for me, that kept me grounded in what it is that I wanted to do.
00:51:18And then also my coworkers, because all of my coworkers, they all knew that I was going to be
00:51:24leaving my job. And when I told them what my last day was, they all bought me a cake and they all put
00:51:30their money together and put it in a $100 bill and put it in a frame and said, this is your first
00:51:36investment in your business. And I was just like, you know what I mean? Like people you wouldn't even
00:51:42expect are watching you, you know, and they're watching your moves. And so for me, that was super
00:51:47encouraging to know that I was going in the right direction. And I'm super grateful for that moment
00:51:51and all the moments that came after that were supportive.
00:51:53That's right. That's right.
00:51:55So, so I mentioned my mother a little bit earlier, but I'm going to try not to cry, but I lost
00:52:00my mother when I was 19 years old. She, she was born in Brooklyn, New York in poverty,
00:52:07single mom. She had five siblings who's, you know, struggled with her. And my mom had to jump over so
00:52:12many barriers, first person in her family to go to college. She got into medical school with the
00:52:18encouragement of a, of a chemistry professor. And she did things that she never thought she could do.
00:52:24And we know when I lost her at 19, I thought my world was over.
00:52:28My cheerleader, she was no longer there, but she is always with me. And so when I was going through
00:52:36the most difficult time in my job, people looked at me and they thought I was so successful. They
00:52:40thought I was happy. I had all these titles. I made a good salary. I was at an academic medical center,
00:52:47which is in medicine. It's like the pinnacle of success, quote unquote. Um, but it wasn't,
00:52:51I was so unhappy. I was losing weight. I couldn't sleep. And, um, you know, I always heard my mother's
00:52:57voice and I thought about how much she, how hard she worked for us, my twin sister and me to give
00:53:02us opportunities that she never had. And so, you know, I heard her voice saying, you don't have to
00:53:08put up with this. You can do anything. Sky's the limit. And she's always, always with me.
00:53:13So whenever I doubt myself, you know, I have conversations with her because I know she's with me.
00:53:18Our people never leave us. That's right. Our people never leave us. Like they might change
00:53:22form, but they're always with us. So your mother's been with you this entire time. She's here on the
00:53:27stage. She's real proud. Let me tell you, the ancestors are doing this. So what you feeling behind
00:53:36us right now? Like they're here. They're here. They're always here. Listen, I can relate. I lost my
00:53:41father. My father, I was a dad's girl. I lost my father when I was 23, right? My father was a force too,
00:53:47right? Growing up in Baltimore City, like a lot of firsts, right? So, you know, we have big shoes to
00:53:53fill, but they're always with us. Your mother is here, girl. All of us. There's one piece around,
00:54:02let's be honest, when you're making a big move, there are people around you sometimes in the effort
00:54:06to protect you will tell you not to do it. I have family members who love me, who are saying, girl,
00:54:12you better keep that job, right? You know, they're there. And so we have to be honest that there are folks
00:54:16around us, and then there's some folks who, some haters. They don't want, they don't want, they stuck,
00:54:21so they want you to be stuck, right? But you have to recognize there is always one person, even when
00:54:27I am doubting myself, there's somebody out there that is rooting for me. Like even if I had to make
00:54:33them an imaginary character up in, like there's somebody that is, and the way that I see it, God and I are
00:54:40a majority. So about my life, it's me and God. Everybody else, like, like, like that ain't,
00:54:45that ain't got nothing to handle your business, right? But I think we also have to recognize that
00:54:49there's always somebody rooting for us. And the thing about that, like my mother was a hater when
00:54:55I said, I'm not doing this thing, like biggest hater, like, I know you a hater, but she's out there on
00:54:58the booth now, right? And she was hate, she was hate. I mean, I don't know if she's on the stage,
00:55:03like listening, but she was. But the thing was, she was hating because she was in a place of unknown.
00:55:09She wasn't sure it was going to work and she wasn't sure it was going to be a real thing.
00:55:13So she thought she was protecting me by being a hater, but it was because she was scared for me.
00:55:18You get what I'm saying? So like, sometimes people hate or they're not, they are protecting you or
00:55:22telling you not to do it because they've never seen it done before. They don't know that it's possible.
00:55:26They never even dreamt something like that. Like, how dare you think that you can do this when I was
00:55:30taught, go to college, work until I retire, get my pension. Why do you think you can do something
00:55:35different? That's not possible. And then when you do it, then they're like, oh, I had no idea I can
00:55:40dream those dreams. I didn't know that was possible for black women, let alone, you know, women at all
00:55:45in this generation. So, you know, but now my mom's not a hater. She's on the booth. So she's listening.
00:55:50She's one of my biggest cheerleaders now. You know, I just wanted to, I totally agree with that. And I
00:55:55think as we're talking about when you share that you're going to leave and those sorts of things,
00:55:59the main thing is understanding that when we tell other people about it, they're often
00:56:03operating in survival mode. So when we've been conditioned to only survive, that's the only
00:56:09tools we have to use. So we're redefining success by thriving. And that's why we deserve that. But
00:56:15we're role modeling what that could potentially look like. But again, even if you don't resign,
00:56:20what does courage look like for you in the situation that you're in? So maybe you're not able to leave
00:56:26tonight. You're not able to leave tomorrow, but give yourself permission to have the conversation
00:56:30with the manager, have permission to have it with the colleague that's driving you crazy. Like we get
00:56:35to have these small acts of courage to get us to this place. And so, you know, just be, be careful to
00:56:41protect your dreams. And don't, you know, we love our, you know, families. Sometimes you don't get it. I
00:56:47was an entrepreneur for about four years before I told some of my family members that I had been doing
00:56:51something else because I knew that some people just didn't understand. And, but I know it's not
00:56:56because they didn't want me to be successful. It's because they understood more thriving, but we're
00:57:01shifting the narrative to, to our survival to thrive. And that's what we're here to do. And that's
00:57:06what freedom is. We all want to be free. I love that. I love that because I also think about the whole
00:57:13protecting your dream thing, because sometimes when we're doubtful and we're nervous about our dream,
00:57:18we actually will tell other people that we know internally that they're not going to support us
00:57:23to substantiate that belief that we can do it, that little piece of us that's afraid. And what you
00:57:28really should do is protect it because there are people that you know are going to be doubtful. There
00:57:34are people that you know that are maybe, that might insert a little bit more of that into the situation
00:57:40when you might be feeling a little wobbly yourself about the, the leap or the move. So in my opinion,
00:57:46I feel like, you know, you should just hold on to it, hold it close, share it with the people
00:57:51that you know are going to be that supportive guide. And if you encounter people who are not
00:57:57supportive to you, then you also go and talk to the people that are so that you have a balance
00:58:01between those energies and between that, like that, um, those voices, because it will start to make
00:58:08you feel like you can't do it, you know, and it'll start to reinforce that belief and that fear,
00:58:13as opposed to moving forward with the direction of like feeling good and positive about the move
00:58:18that you're going to make. Yeah, I agree. Although when I told my father that I was leaving my job
00:58:23to start my own company, he said, wait, what are you going to do? And this is a man who had said for
00:58:29years, over 40 years had told me, oh, you got to work for yourself. You got to work for yourself.
00:58:33But when it was time for me to say, okay, I'm not going to work for myself. He's like, what?
00:58:37What? Um, and, and I was so disappointed. I was hurt. I was sad, but I realized he was also very
00:58:44scared for me. Um, and now three years later, he told me, I'm very, very proud of you. I don't think
00:58:50it was that he doubted me. I just think that he was scared. And I think also he had never done that
00:58:55for himself. That's right. So, you know, I think also he had some scarcity mindset and I had shifted
00:59:01from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset, where I realized that there were so many
00:59:07opportunities open to me that I never thought there were. And so I needed him to make that shift
00:59:13too. He hasn't yet. He's proud. So I'm happy with that. I just want to say with that, protecting the
00:59:19dream, like I'm the total opposite of that. I'm telling everybody my dream because it's my dream.
00:59:23You can't do my dream. I can tell you, you can't do it. And if you are a hater or you feel like I can't
00:59:28do it now, for me, it's all about accountability is about, okay, I'm going to work hard because
00:59:32you don't believe in this. And I'm going to show you that it's possible because I know once you see
00:59:36I'm doing this, whatever you're dreaming that you're scared of, you're like, well, you know what,
00:59:40Nikki did that and I think that she can do it and I can do what I want to do too. So for me,
00:59:44that's how I do it. Yeah. Y'all we're building a movement, right? Each of us is, has a role in building
00:59:50that movement and pushing everybody. And so, you know, I also want to talk about our brilliance for a second.
00:59:55So can we talk about how like, you know, we are the culture, we move the culture, folks steal from us,
01:00:02want to be us, but don't really want to be us, you know? So like, what, what about our black brilliance?
01:00:07Like, why is it important, you know, to, to own our ideas, our visions, our legacies? What does that
01:00:13mean to you all? You know, I, I'll start, I'll just start saying we also have to get out of this
01:00:21Western individualism mindset. Who I am and how I show up in the world is not just about me working.
01:00:27It's literally, I'm trying to operate on how can I make the greatest impact, not just for myself,
01:00:34but for my community. Black folks are hurting right now. So I want to be a vessel to relieve the pain.
01:00:41I want to get resources to my people on the ground. I want to build institutions that love black people,
01:00:47that actually we don't have to try to fight to get at the table. We building our own beautiful table,
01:00:52right? And so part of this is really wasn't about how I can get another check. For me, it is, I think
01:00:57that's part of the trap that we've gotten into, right? I think part of it is how can I literally help
01:01:03facilitate black liberation by creating organizations, by doing things that are actually going to empower,
01:01:09not even just myself, but others around me. And so part of the work for me wasn't just about a check.
01:01:15As I said, my check was okay, right? But it really was around how can I move in a space
01:01:21that literally at the end of the day, I'm helping my community get closer to looking at what freedom
01:01:26is and black liberation. I just want to say, I'm trying not to fangirl. Dr. Brown, like I,
01:01:31when I saw that, I was like, I've seen you. I know your work. So I'm trying not to fangirl up here,
01:01:36but you all see why, right? But I say black women are living examples, right? So people want to be black
01:01:43women. They want to steal from black women. They want to copy black women because black women really
01:01:47are the blueprint. We're doing it all. So we must protect ourselves. We must have these type of
01:01:52spaces where we're working with each other and not against each other to make sure that we're still
01:01:56building communities. We're still empowering each other and just keep doing the work that we're
01:02:00doing and showing up as ourselves. We had a brief conversation backstage and I'm not going to share,
01:02:05but I was like, you get to make your own rules. Like you're living your life the way that you want to live it.
01:02:10So don't feel like you have to look a certain way, be a certain way, talk a certain way, act a certain
01:02:14way. You are the blueprint. So if you're saying, this is how I'm going to be, this is how I'm going
01:02:19to show up. That's all you gotta do. Like, and just say that there's no question mark. There's no comma.
01:02:24This is how I'm going to be. This is how I'm going to show up because I am the blueprint and I know that
01:02:27you want to look at me and be me. So this is who I am. Yeah, I think so much of the work that we do,
01:02:34as has been shared, is purpose driven work. I know when I started my organization,
01:02:39it really was to save black lives. It was to work with healthcare organizations to reduce racism in
01:02:45healthcare. And so every client I have, every conversation I have, I'm thinking about our
01:02:52community because no one else is. They're basically letting us die. They're letting black mothers die,
01:02:58black babies die. And we can't have that. And but what I've realized is that with my organization,
01:03:05I'm growing a family, growing a community, and we can't do it without each other.
01:03:09Absolutely. And the work that all of us are doing is for the culture, for the ecosystem. We didn't
01:03:15leave because we wanted to be on TV or do these things. We left because we wanted freedom, not just
01:03:21for ourselves, but for the family, for the family. I didn't like being a black woman in the workplace,
01:03:26how we were treated. So I said, you know what? I want to make the workplace better than I found it.
01:03:30That's why I write the memo. That's why I write right within. That's why I write,
01:03:34you are more than magic, because we need to be reminded that we are the table.
01:03:38You asked about brilliance. We are the table. And once you understand that you are the table,
01:03:43then you move so differently and you can bring people with you. And so I think our brilliance
01:03:47is we are the table. That's right.
01:03:50I think honestly, black women are the biggest creative force on this planet. So it's so
01:03:58important for us to look at what it is that we're doing and understand that we have value,
01:04:02and our work and our ideas have value. And because of that, we need to actually move forward with
01:04:07protecting those things that we create and allowing people to be able to enjoy them and things like
01:04:13that. But we do need to have a sense of ownership. I think that what has happened in our community,
01:04:19oftentimes, is that we've been told for so long that nothing belongs to us that we start thinking
01:04:24it. Like nothing belongs to you, not even your own body. So essentially, when you're looking at it
01:04:30from that perspective, then you don't start to, you don't realize that you have such beautiful ideas
01:04:36that are meant to be shared, but also are meant to be owned by you. And so as an attorney, I'm always
01:04:42looking at this because I work specifically with intellectual property. And so for so many years,
01:04:47I would say for the first like eight or nine years until Instagram came along,
01:04:51I was like screaming into a black hole all the time saying, protect your ideas, you know, register
01:04:57and people were just like, girl, I just want to create. I just want to create. And I'm like, yes,
01:05:01you want to create, but you also want to own what it is that you create. You also want to have a stamp
01:05:06on this world based on the legacy that you build through your own creations. And by doing that,
01:05:12you are actually leaving us all better than we were when we got here. That's right.
01:05:17All right, y'all. So I know we could be here all day
01:05:22and all night. So I'm gonna do a two-parter last question. And if you all could tell folks where
01:05:28they can find you, how you can link up. So I'm unapologetic comms.com. We have a special landing
01:05:35page that's up right now. Three of these ladies are part of the firm. We're very proud of them.
01:05:41And also at Takira WD on Twitter. And my last question is what advice, what gems would you drop
01:05:49to your younger self? The little black girl growing up, what advice would you give to her? And then how
01:05:57do you reclaim your joy? Oh, that's a lot. Okay. So I would so quickly, I would say, I would tell my
01:06:04younger self that not only will you be okay, you're going to be more than okay. And to never put limits
01:06:12on what you think you can do, even though the world puts limits on us. So I would have never thought
01:06:18that I would be a medical contributor on the news. I would have never thought that I would have a book
01:06:22deal and be a soon-to-be author. I would never think that I'd be able to do all the things for my
01:06:26community that I'm able to do. So never put limits on yourself. And then what do I do for joy? I try to
01:06:32take small moments during the day, especially with my children and just, you know, enjoy nature, enjoy
01:06:38life, just slow down a little bit. And you can find me on Instagram and Twitter at Uche BlackstockMD.
01:06:47This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.
01:06:56I think if I were to tell myself, just be the light, just be you. Stop trying to be everything
01:07:02everybody else wants you to be, the world wants you to be. God made you uniquely you. You are the
01:07:06only you that will ever be that has ever been. And so if that was a word, I would say it was to just
01:07:11be me. What brings me joy? I'm glad you asked. Black girl joy right here, the work. Southern black girls,
01:07:19it is the work. It's the work of really being able to see my vision manifest, really be able to see
01:07:25black girls get supported and organizations get resources and our people take their power and stand
01:07:31in that. Listen, it ain't nothing like witnessing some black liberation. So that is what makes me happy.
01:07:37To stay in contact with me, I have two organizations, blackvotersmatterfund.org
01:07:42or southernblackgirls.org. You can follow me on Twitter, Miss LaTosha Brown, on all the social
01:07:48media. So that's how you can find me.
01:07:49Yes. First of all, I just want to thank Takira and the Unapologetic team because
01:07:53y'all are, in essence, thank you so much. What brings me joy, I'll start with that, is my family.
01:08:00Being able to bring my mother and my grandmother. My grandmother grew up in New
01:08:03Orleans during Jim Crow. To bring her back to New Orleans to experience it differently,
01:08:07that is ultimate joy. And so for me to be able to do that, three generations, we're here together,
01:08:12and that's joy for me. Telling my little Minda self, I would say that you belong in every room you
01:08:18enter, but not every room deserves to have you. Yes. Yes. Yes. And you can find me on all social
01:08:24platforms at Minda Hearts. Thank you. What brings me joy is knowing that I'm using my gifts and talents
01:08:30and resources to change the world. Like I'm making a difference. I would tell my little self that
01:08:34you're going through all these things so that when you're able to be a resource for people who are
01:08:39going through all these things, you know what it looks like on the other side. So it's going to be
01:08:43okay. You're going to make it. You can find me at Buy From A Black Woman. We have a booth inside
01:08:48the convention center as well. The community is showing up. Buy From A Black Woman on all platforms,
01:08:53and then a black woman's website and a black woman on Instagram as well. I would say what I would tell
01:09:01my younger self is you are whole. You are complete. There's nothing to fix. There's nothing to change
01:09:07and to keep on going with your dreams ultimately. And how I reclaim my joy is literally spending time
01:09:15with other black women. Like black women are my love. Black women are my joy. I enjoy being around them,
01:09:22being lifted by them, supporting them, loving them, hugging them, dancing with them, kiki-ing.
01:09:27That's just, that's my joy. That's my main joy. And you can find me at all platforms,
01:09:32all social platforms at JWilliamsESQ, or you can visit my website at jawilliamslaw.com.
01:09:39Thank you ladies. And I just want to leave y'all with this and just say next time somebody tells you
01:09:45about the great resignation, remember there's a great emancipation too for black women.
01:09:50Thank you so much founders. I'm so proud to call you founders. Thank you. Give it up everybody. Thank you.
01:10:04The Essence Festival of Culture presented by Coca-Cola is bringing the heat with experiences you
01:10:09love, including Essence Beauty Carnival and Essence Wellness House. We've got something for everyone.
01:10:15Meet and greets, shopping, panels, workshops, performances, and more. It's the black joy from me.
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