- 1 week ago
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00:00Behind every amazing black woman is a group chat of equally phenomenal women
00:00:06cheering her on as she climbs.
00:00:08Striving for the top is so much sweeter when you have your girl standing by your side.
00:00:13Because sisterhood is the real magic.
00:00:30I ain't got no money I ain't got those all the guys you hang around
00:00:44It's kind of funny But they always seem to let you down
00:00:52And I get this correct Cause I'll never see you anymore
00:01:00And I need your love, babe, well That's all I'm living for, yeah
00:01:09I'm gonna pressure you, baby But all I ever wanted to do
00:01:17I wanna be your lover
00:01:19I wanna be the only one that makes you come running
00:01:25I wanna be your lover
00:01:28I wanna turn you up, turn you out All that love, make you shout
00:01:34I'm a lover, yeah
00:01:36I wanna be the only one you come for
00:01:42I wanna be your lover
00:01:44I wanna be your mother and your sister too
00:01:50There is no other
00:01:53That can do the things that I'll do to you
00:01:58I wanna be your lover and your sister too
00:02:03I wanna be your mother and your sister too
00:02:06I wanna be your mother and your sister too
00:02:08Ladies and gentlemen,
00:02:37please welcome back to the stage president and CEO of Essence Ventures, Caroline Wanga,
00:02:43and the iconic Beverly Johnson.
00:02:46Hey, hey, hey, I'm so excited.
00:03:06This has been so amazing.
00:03:09I'm Beverly Johnson.
00:03:10No, that's right.
00:03:11I am Beverly Johnson.
00:03:16Coming up now, you guys are in for a treat because we've got a sneak peek of the brand
00:03:23new documentary, Time of Essence, which will be coming to a TV screen near you this summer.
00:03:31Caroline, tell everybody a little bit about the documentary itself, along with what we're
00:03:38about to see in this trailer.
00:03:40Yeah, that's Beverly Johnson.
00:03:47In the words of 21st century philosopher Saucy Santana, walk.
00:03:54If you're wondering where it came from.
00:04:01In the words of 21st century philosopher, Saucy Santana,
00:04:14walk.
00:04:16If you're wondering where it came from,
00:04:22this cultural artifact we call essence belongs to our community.
00:04:28It doesn't have an audience.
00:04:30It has a family.
00:04:33It doesn't inspire.
00:04:36It documents the inspiration we are.
00:04:41It doesn't tell a story.
00:04:44It shares a legacy.
00:04:46It doesn't see you.
00:04:48You're seen in it.
00:04:53And for five decades, on the founding of founders that had a vision
00:04:58for the way that the black woman should see herself,
00:05:01and therefore if she sees herself that way, we see ourselves that way.
00:05:05It has done that.
00:05:09For the record, there's 50 more years coming.
00:05:14Tell a friend.
00:05:19But what we had the opportunity to do in partnership with others who value storytelling
00:05:27is capture what the last 50 years has done.
00:05:34There have been many people to sit at the helm of this thing.
00:05:39But none of us own it.
00:05:42We're simply the custodians of what we're supposed to deliver for the time we're given the mantle.
00:05:47There were many before me.
00:05:51My most immediate processor, Michelle Ebanks, who on her back saved this brand.
00:05:56If you don't believe it, she did.
00:06:00To all the people that came before her, the icons like Susan L. Taylor,
00:06:04and all the rest of us who thought we were her.
00:06:10So I have the privilege of being custodian over this brand now.
00:06:13But you have the privilege of being the story that built a brand.
00:06:18And when this documentary comes out, I need you to act like that.
00:06:22But for now, take a look at the trailer.
00:06:36There was no magazine that spoke to black women about every aspect of our lives.
00:06:42A big, glossy magazine said, hey, you, I'm yours.
00:06:47Putting a girl wet natural.
00:06:48You gonna love me in my natural state or don't love me at all.
00:06:52I would look at Essence for inspiration.
00:06:54It allowed me to dream different kind of dreams.
00:07:22You gonna love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in my natural state or don't love me in
00:07:52To introduce our fourth honoree of the day, we have Hollywood royalty in the building.
00:07:58She's an actress, a producer, a philanthropist, who has given us unforgettable performances
00:08:05in nearly two dozen films and television shows, including Doubt, The Help, Widows, How to Get
00:08:13Away with Murder, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The First Lady, and of course, The Woman King.
00:08:22All I know is from now on, they better say EGOT when they mention her name.
00:08:28Ladies and gentlemen, and Lorenz Tate, Mrs. Biola Davis.
00:08:52This is some love, Gina Prince-Bythewood, to have me put on some heels in the afternoon.
00:09:08For you, Gina.
00:09:14I was trying to think of what I would say about you as an artist and as a woman.
00:09:27And literally, I thought of this little documentary I saw of this tribe in Africa and Madagascar.
00:09:43And the whole tribe goes into the jungle for weeks, months, and they take a younger member
00:09:58into the woods with them, teach them sort of how to become a man, boy to a man.
00:10:07And they look for the most magnificent tree they could find, they could see.
00:10:14But before they find this tree, they share stories of their ancestors.
00:10:18They found the tree, and with their rudimentary tools, they figure out how to chop it down.
00:10:31And tell stories while they're chopping it down.
00:10:34And then once it's chopped down, they figure out how to cut even more of the wood.
00:10:42So they can slowly, but surely, and magnificently, carve a bowl.
00:10:54And with the bowl that they carve, they have symbols of the tribe.
00:10:58And then they take that bowl, they wrap it, they put it on the shoulders of the young boy
00:11:07who is now a man, and he's got a journey for weeks, and rain, and inclement weather, and wild animals
00:11:19for weeks to deliver it to a marketplace where it can be sold so it can feed the tribe.
00:11:28I want that bowl.
00:11:40The artistry is in the process.
00:11:45The artistry, Miss Prince Bythewood, is in your story.
00:11:51The process in which you create that elixir, that art that you put together, that you carve,
00:12:03and you just go through the shit and piss, which is Hollywood.
00:12:10The artistry, Miss Prince Bythewood, to deliver the product to us.
00:12:22And I often think that a lot of times that people feel that the artistry is in the result.
00:12:27It's supposed to be that freaking knife that rips open your heart and you see within that artist
00:12:47and yourself the truth of what it means to live a life.
00:12:53And anyone who's seen Love and Basketball.
00:12:59Where she subverted the narrative of what it means to even be a female lead that's desirable.
00:13:06What it means to be a woman.
00:13:08You had Sanal Lathan as a basketball player who hated makeup.
00:13:19And you have the old guard.
00:13:22And you have the woman king.
00:13:31And let me tell you something.
00:13:33It's like a quote I just read of Michelangelo who said,
00:13:38You know, I just saw an angel in the marble.
00:13:44And I just kept carving to set him free.
00:13:51It's hard to create.
00:13:53It's a weird alchemy of skill, of passion, and enormous bravery.
00:14:07And it's really hard to create when you're a black female.
00:14:12And let me tell you something.
00:14:15Not only is it hard because we understand the obstacles that people put in our path.
00:14:22A lot of times people don't think that movies driven by black female artists will sell.
00:14:31A lot of people don't want to give us a proper budget.
00:14:34A lot of people don't see our talent.
00:14:36And here's what I will say too.
00:14:38In this climate, in this season,
00:14:41we had a lot of obstacles in our path with the woman king.
00:14:46And not just from our white counterparts.
00:14:48From us too, y'all.
00:14:52And this woman here,
00:15:01Miss Gina,
00:15:03Prince Bythewood,
00:15:07sometimes
00:15:07you don't know what is in you until you have to fight.
00:15:12You don't know what's inside of you until someone comes in front of you and tries to take that thing that you live for.
00:15:21It has been the honor of my life to stand beside you, Gina,
00:15:34because I know that you understand that in order to be an artist, you have to be a warrior.
00:15:41That you have to understand, and I know that you do,
00:15:45that when you are born into a world where you do not fit in, you know that you're an artist.
00:15:51You're just a little bit outside of the norm, and you have something in you that you want to get out.
00:16:01And then you answer that call to adventure, and you get your allies, whoever they are, whether they're black or white, y'all.
00:16:12I'm just trying to tell y'all that when we're on this journey, we want to go with you until we can't.
00:16:19And then you go on the journey.
00:16:23You slay dragons, right?
00:16:27And then there's always a time as a black artist, as any artist, but really a black artist,
00:16:32where you feel like this is it.
00:16:35Okay?
00:16:36That they're taking everything away from you.
00:16:38Whether they're not giving you the budget.
00:16:40Whether they're giving you notes about your hair and your makeup.
00:16:43Whether the audience is saying, that's not an image that I want to see, Gina.
00:16:51I don't understand what you're doing.
00:16:52You're not making us look beautiful.
00:16:54We're not winning all the time.
00:16:56Let me, can I just say for, just really tiny.
00:17:04That art is about the mess, y'all.
00:17:09I'll tell you what the art is.
00:17:10The art is when y'all go home, and I know I take off my wig and my shoes, and what's underneath
00:17:17the hair is frightening, by the way.
00:17:20And then I have to take off these lashes.
00:17:23Who I am when you are not seeing me here.
00:17:27That's the art.
00:17:29And Gina, that is the bravery that you have with your art.
00:17:34When you create it, and when you put it on your back in the inclement weather, and you
00:17:40walk for miles and miles to that marketplace, to sell it to people, to feed this.
00:17:47And when someone gets in our way, it's not about slaying dragons anymore.
00:18:00And it's not even about coming face to face with God.
00:18:10It's about coming face to face with yourself.
00:18:13And understanding that this obstacle that is in my path is there, because it's teaching
00:18:23me how bad I want it.
00:18:25And I saw this this year with The Woman King, because let me make it very, very clear in
00:18:35this room.
00:18:38Five months in South Africa, shooting in the jungle.
00:18:42And whatever anyone will say about this movie, it is effective.
00:18:53Okay?
00:18:57And we caught a lot of hell because it's driven by black women.
00:19:05Let me say it again.
00:19:07We caught a lot of hell because it was driven by black women.
00:19:12And so what you need is a warrior spirit with black, female-driven narratives.
00:19:21You need someone with a skill set.
00:19:23You need someone with vision.
00:19:25You need someone with purpose.
00:19:27And you need someone who's going to pick up that proverbial sword.
00:19:33And say, I know this is something you didn't think that you needed, but guess what?
00:19:42You know, sometimes you don't leave something for people.
00:19:51You leave something in people.
00:19:53And with every project that you do, you leave something in people.
00:20:01But when they are removed from it, they have shifted.
00:20:05They are moved.
00:20:07They're shaken.
00:20:09And they've sat with us.
00:20:11And your ability to do that makes you an artist.
00:20:14And here is a look at the career of Gina Prince-Bythewood.
00:20:21For over two decades, director Gina Prince-Bythewood has been telling our stories, placing black women front and center, showing us we matter, that we should be seen and heard.
00:20:37I feel like my journey began when I saw Claudine.
00:20:41I've never forgotten the way I felt watching it and seeing myself reflected for the first time.
00:20:47I felt like I want to give that feeling to other people.
00:20:50But it wasn't until I got to film school that I realized I wanted to be a director.
00:20:54In pursuing the director's chair, Gina looked to other women filmmakers for inspiration.
00:20:59I remember Julie Dash and knowing about her and Ouzon Palsy.
00:21:04Those were the two black women who were doing it at that time.
00:21:07And then Catherine Bigelow.
00:21:09She was just doing big films that women weren't given the opportunity to do.
00:21:14And then Casey Lemons when I saw Yves Bayou and realized we can do movies at that level.
00:21:20That movie really affected me.
00:21:22After finishing film school in 1991, Gina eventually secured a writing gig on her favorite TV show.
00:21:29A Different World.
00:21:31Well, hello.
00:21:33Hi, I'm Charmaine Zaisha Brown.
00:21:36I'm Big John Holtworth.
00:21:38Are you the new head of finance?
00:21:40Stop.
00:21:42I'm a freshman at Hillman College.
00:21:44A freshman.
00:21:44Freshman.
00:21:46More TV credits followed on shows like South Central, Sweet Justice, and Felicity.
00:21:53Making moves in Hollywood, Gina earned Daytime Emmy nominations for writing and directing
00:21:58the CBS School Break special, What About Your Friends, in 1996.
00:22:03Looking to ride the wave of successful black movies in the 90s like Waiting to Exhale, Soul Food,
00:22:09and The Best Man, Gina set her sights on the big screen and made her feature film debut
00:22:14with the coming-of-age love story, Love and Basketball, starring Sanaa Latham and Omar Epps.
00:22:27Outstanding Love and Basketball, baby.
00:22:29The critically acclaimed film earned Gina an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay.
00:22:35And Sanaa Latham, an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actress in a Motion Picture.
00:22:40On her mission to tell black women's stories, Gina teamed up with Latham again, this time
00:22:46with Wesley Snipes for HBO's adaptation of Terry McMillan's popular novel, Disappearing Axe.
00:22:52Gina teamed up with husband Reggie Rockbithewood to produce the 2003 action drama, Biker Boys,
00:22:59directed by Reggie.
00:23:01Gina also directed episodes of popular sitcoms like Girlfriends and Everybody Hates Chris.
00:23:08But bringing black women's stories to the big screen remained Gina's main goal.
00:23:13What has been the hardest fight and why there's so much space between my projects
00:23:17is because of the type of things that I want to tell.
00:23:19And that's centering us, centering black women, telling black stories.
00:23:23Those are absolutely the hardest films to get made.
00:23:26Gina returned her focus to women's stories on the silver screen
00:23:29with her 2008 feature, The Secret Life of Bees,
00:23:33starring Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys, and Dakota Fanning.
00:23:39Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Nate Parker lit up the screen in Gina's next big movie,
00:23:442014's romantic music drama, Beyond the Lights.
00:23:48I want to see us in every single genre.
00:23:51Gina fulfilled her own genre wishes in her next film,
00:23:54The Old Guard, an action thriller starring Kiki Layne opposite Charlize Theron.
00:24:00Then Gina took on an historical epic, The Woman King.
00:24:04Literally five pages in, when you read these women rise up out the grasses,
00:24:15I wanted to be the one that got to shoot that.
00:24:17I wanted to bring black women from all over the diaspora to tell this story.
00:24:22This is about our ancestors.
00:24:23We get to tell this together in the motherland.
00:24:26Like, it was profound to take that collective power.
00:24:28That's what I've taken from, that we have to hold on to that.
00:24:32The Woman King raked in a global box office of over $92 million,
00:24:37making it Gina's most successful film to date.
00:24:40Really grateful to BAFTA for honoring the work.
00:24:42Gina and Viola Davis received BAFTA nominations for the film.
00:24:46Both Gina and Viola Davis went on to win NAACP Image Awards for The Woman King.
00:24:51They want my legacy to be that I told the stories of black women,
00:24:55put us center, amplified us, elevated us, made us proud.
00:25:06Please join me in welcoming 2023 Essence Black Women in Hollywood Award honoree,
00:25:13Gina Prince Bythewood!
00:25:21This is sad.
00:25:44You know, I'm an athlete that I need help up the stairs and two-inch heels.
00:25:47Viola, I know what a big deal it is that you got out of bed to do this for me.
00:25:59But it's like that expression, fill your cup.
00:26:02Like, having Viola speak on your name is like filling in a 10-gallon jug.
00:26:10It's just this thing that I just get a sip on for the rest of my days.
00:26:14So thank you.
00:26:17The historically inaccurate critique online about the Egozi and the Dahomey Kingdom is staggering.
00:26:28And it's fed by the historically inaccurate narratives written by colonizers with an incentive to dehumanize us.
00:26:34So many of us are taught that the tenets of our history are enslavement, victimization, and savagery.
00:26:47Our connection to our true past has been cut off by the root.
00:26:51The famous novelist Achibe wrote, until the lion learns to write, the stories will always glorify the hunter.
00:27:00But the beauty of the woman king is that for the first time, the lionesses got to write their own story.
00:27:07And it was a glorious and profound experience.
00:27:13We told an intimately epic story about us, black women.
00:27:17Our strength, our beauty, our softness, our heroism, our complexity, our pain, our joy, and our mess.
00:27:26We got to show the incredible breadth of our humanity, the power of our sisterhood, and we got to start healing our roots.
00:27:33As I said in the piece, I was very intentional about casting actors from all over our diaspora.
00:27:40African-American, South African, West African, Jamaican, Ugandan, British.
00:27:46We honored our differing cultures and celebrated that we are all black women first.
00:27:57Telling our story of our ancestors in the motherland where we are all from.
00:28:03We need this connective energy now more than ever.
00:28:06We work in an industry that too often does not see the value in our stories, in our characters, in our work.
00:28:14Too often we have to hustle for our worth in rooms where we are the only.
00:28:18And yet still we find a way to be excellent.
00:28:21Look at the work of our incredible honorees today.
00:28:26Look at the work of those around you, next to you.
00:28:29I recently spoke about the deep chasm between black excellence and recognition.
00:28:34There is no chasm here.
00:28:37The extraordinary Lashonda Lynch is in the Woman King because of this room.
00:28:41It was here that she was honored and amplified a couple years ago.
00:28:45And where I heard her speak her truth about who she is and what she wants to put in the world.
00:28:50I said to myself in that moment, I want to work with her.
00:28:53We need this room.
00:28:55We need this energy because we take this feeling out into the industry and the world as our armor.
00:29:02This room must always be a safe space.
00:29:05We cannot afford to ever other each other.
00:29:08We can compete with each other without depleting each other.
00:29:10Doing the Woman King taught me what true power in this industry is.
00:29:23It is telling our stories with each other in the way that we want to tell them.
00:29:27And the beauty of the Woman King is that it shows that centering black women does not mean diminishing black men.
00:29:33My two beautiful sons, Cassius and Toussaint, and our community got to see a strong black king.
00:29:40We got to see men and women fighting together against an evil.
00:29:44I hope that those who felt threatened by the title come to understand this.
00:29:56But it's more important for me to shout out real strong black men who celebrate strong black women and lift them up.
00:30:08Starting with my husband, Reggie Rock.
00:30:13He was the first to see the necessity in me telling the story.
00:30:19Despite the sacrifices that would have to be made, he supported me so deeply.
00:30:23And he pushed for the script to be reflective of my intentions.
00:30:28He pushed me to write the male characters better.
00:30:30And in doing so, we were able to land John Boyega.
00:30:33I saw John's viral speech during the uprising in which he was imploring black men to protect black women.
00:30:43He thought it was going to end his career.
00:30:45It made me want to work with him.
00:30:47John is a leading man, yet he took on the supporting role of the king because he wanted to use his power to help get this film centering black women into the world.
00:30:57And producer Julius Tenen, a.k.a.
00:31:05He was in the six-year fight with Viola and Kathy Schulman and Maria Bello to get this film set up.
00:31:11This was the hardest shoot of so many of our careers.
00:31:14And every day on set, Julius was our biggest cheerleader, encouraging us, exalting us, and seeing the beauty in everything that I shot.
00:31:23I am so grateful to be a two-time honoree at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood.
00:31:36I actually didn't know it was possible, but I embrace it fully.
00:31:42Because it speaks to the necessity of pushing ourselves to always grow as artists, to elevate our work, to fight for our dream projects even when our dreams are bigger than what's expected of us.
00:31:54To never get comfortable.
00:31:56Thank you Essence for being absolute warriors for the film from the very beginning.
00:32:01Thank you to those of you who are evangelists for this film, who took their friends and families, daughters and sons, mothers.
00:32:08You pushed this film to a hundred million global box office and number one on Netflix.
00:32:17And you lifted the lot of us who fought so hard and so long for the vision.
00:32:21Thank you to my extraordinary cast who gave us everything and had my back always.
00:32:26Thank you to so many of you in this room who have supported me and inspired me throughout my career.
00:32:32And to my real life female warriors at the table and table adjacent.
00:32:37Yvette Lee Bowser, who took me under her wing at a different world and taught me about work ethic and believed in me.
00:32:50Tara Lynn Shropshire, who has cut every one of my films and made me better.
00:32:55My incredible reps, Nina Shah and Maha Dakeel.
00:32:59Who protect me and fight for me to get what I want and deserve.
00:33:06My god sister, Alison Curry, who just shows up whenever, whatever.
00:33:11To my very best friends, Mara Brock Akeel and Felicia Henderson.
00:33:18Who check me when I need it, which is very rarely.
00:33:26And lift me always.
00:33:31And to Viola, who trusted me to join her on this extraordinary journey.
00:33:37Who taught me the vulnerabilities of strength.
00:33:40And who let me touch greatness.
00:33:44One more round for Gina Prince-Bythewood.
00:34:03You know, I don't know if you guys noticed, but Love and Basketball was the first movie that I was in as an actor.
00:34:11And one of my favorite memories was on the set.
00:34:19It's my first movie, very nervous.
00:34:21And I was to shoot a love scene with Sanaa Lathan in the car.
00:34:26So naturally I was super nervous.
00:34:29And her then boyfriend was sitting ten feet away on a chair watching us the whole night.
00:34:39It was terrifying.
00:34:42I can't say his name, but it rhymes with Shoma Schlepps.
00:34:48Yeah, it was early days in Hollywood.
00:34:53Nothing quite like it.
00:34:57All right.
00:34:58Here to introduce our final honoree of the day is a writer, producer, Emmy Award winning.
00:35:05That's right.
00:35:07Golden Globe winning.
00:35:10Time Woman of the Year 2022 recipient of the Essence Black Woman in Hollywood Award.
00:35:22What else can I say about her?
00:35:24Yes, she is the executive producer and creator of all of our favorite comedy series Abbott Elementary.
00:35:32Please welcome the amazing Quinta Brunson.
00:35:47Hey, everyone.
00:35:51Hi, everyone.
00:35:52So the quickest story to explain why I'm here instead of the fantastic Lisa Ann Walter.
00:36:00One, I am black.
00:36:02So no, but I was supposed to be out of town actually during this time when I was asked to present for this.
00:36:09And what happened was it was a two day period where I was supposed to be somewhere else.
00:36:14And I found out that I would be missing Essence's Black Woman in Hollywood event.
00:36:20And I said, I can't miss that.
00:36:22This event is very important to me.
00:36:25The first time I came, I was inspired.
00:36:28I wasn't anyone yet.
00:36:31You know how that, whatever, how we look at that.
00:36:34The first time I came.
00:36:35And then the second time I came, I was being honored.
00:36:38And so to go from, you know, just this girl invited to being honored, it was incredible.
00:36:45But the feeling remained the same at the first one as at the second one.
00:36:49I felt recharged when I left here.
00:36:52We go through a crazy award cycle.
00:36:55We go through a crazy year just to come back to this room and feel recharged.
00:37:02And so this year I'm here and the wonderful Cheryl Lee Ralph is being honored.
00:37:08And so I said, I went up to Cheryl, I said, Cheryl, why didn't you ask me to present to you?
00:37:19And she was like, girl, what the, where were you?
00:37:22And I was like, I wasn't, so I realized what happened.
00:37:25I was supposed to be somewhere else.
00:37:26And when I found out what was happening this weekend, I said I need to be here.
00:37:31And I want to talk about Cheryl.
00:37:34So I have this show that I'm creating in the middle of the pandemic.
00:37:40And we don't know anything.
00:37:42We don't know if it's going to be made.
00:37:44We don't know if it's going to see the light of day.
00:37:47We don't know if after it sees the light of day, if it's going to actually see your eyes.
00:37:51We don't know if you're going to like it.
00:37:53We don't know that we're going to wind up winning awards and all that good stuff.
00:37:57So all I have is a script and, you know, a small team to support me.
00:38:03And we're trying to cast the Barbara Howard character.
00:38:06It was the hardest character to cast in my show.
00:38:09We needed someone who embodied grace, who embodied honesty, who embodied strength,
00:38:16someone familiar yet brand new, someone who we trusted, someone who we loved.
00:38:23And we're getting casting sheets.
00:38:26We're seeing people, and I'm being really meticulous.
00:38:29I'm like, it's just not it.
00:38:31And if it's not it, I can't do it.
00:38:33And I felt that way about the whole cast, but Barbara Howard was a pinnacle of the show.
00:38:38And so we get a sheet, and I see that Cheryl Lee Ralph is available.
00:38:43And I said, really?
00:38:47Even though she said to me multiple times that she's had this drought of work,
00:38:52I considered her one of the hardest working people in this industry.
00:38:55I never saw her not working.
00:38:59So I said, we should try to get Cheryl Lee Ralph.
00:39:03We should really try.
00:39:05And my co-producers, two very white nerds, went, oh, man, that's the mom from Moesha.
00:39:12It is.
00:39:13She is the mom from Moesha.
00:39:15She is.
00:39:16The other white nerd goes, oh, man, she was in Sister Act.
00:39:20She was the mom.
00:39:21She was the mom in Sister Act.
00:39:22She was, wasn't she?
00:39:24But to me, I'm saying, but I also need you guys to understand that she is Cheryl Lee Ralph.
00:39:31Which means a lot more to me.
00:39:35So Cheryl met with us, and I talked with her, and I said, Cheryl, I really, I got to meet her via her daughter on a set of a show she was on years prior when I was developing a multicam for CBS.
00:39:47Didn't go, thank God.
00:39:48And I saw, I met Cheryl there, though, while she was filming a multicam.
00:39:53And her daughter, Coco, and I talked, and I was like, I love your mom.
00:39:57The Philly connection was born.
00:39:59We're Philly, Philly people, Philly strong.
00:40:02I knew her son at TN from, you know, throwing the parties and being at the parties of the people.
00:40:07It's true.
00:40:08And I talked to Cheryl, and I said, hey, would you consider this show?
00:40:14And she said, I would.
00:40:17And I was like, here's the crazy part.
00:40:19I'm actually going to, I'm going to need you to read, to read for it.
00:40:23She said, baby, I don't read.
00:40:27Except, I hear you, but the thing is, this is a mockumentary, and I just, I just, even if you could just be like, hey, what's up, Jenny?
00:40:37That would just.
00:40:39And so, I want to talk about this specific moment, because this moment is Cheryl Lee Ralph.
00:40:46And I feel like everybody in the room should embrace what this moment means.
00:40:51Cheryl is a legend.
00:40:53That's right.
00:40:54She is incredible.
00:40:55Cheryl has been in our homes, in our hearts for years.
00:41:00She said in that moment, you know what?
00:41:04Yeah.
00:41:05I'm going to take a moment to come into your vision.
00:41:10You're a young creative.
00:41:11I'm going to collaborate with you.
00:41:13I'm going to read with you.
00:41:16I'm not too big of an actor to come into somebody else's vision, to collaborate, to learn.
00:41:24That moment was defining.
00:41:26We casted Cheryl, clearly.
00:41:29I remember the first day on the pilot, when Cheryl turned to me and said, this is so exciting.
00:41:35This is a new choreography.
00:41:37This is a new way of acting.
00:41:39I'm so excited.
00:41:40I'm having fun.
00:41:41I'm learning.
00:41:42I'm new.
00:41:43I'm bright.
00:41:44I watched her beam even brighter than she already beams.
00:41:49In real time.
00:41:50And Tyler and I, my co-star, watch this woman, who we've not only looked up to, worked with Tyler, honor, love, decide to learn again.
00:42:01Decide to start over.
00:42:06And I thought about the beauty of deciding to learn again.
00:42:13No matter what age we are, no matter how long we've been in this business, it doesn't matter how long we've been doing it.
00:42:19Cheryl taught me to never forget the importance of deciding to learn again.
00:42:26And I just think that's so important for everybody in this industry, in this world, to say, I'm always open to learning.
00:42:35It's what keeps, people are like, why does Cheryl look like she's 25?
00:42:38Because she makes the choice every day to be young, to be childlike, to learn.
00:42:45And that's who she is to me.
00:42:47She holds me down.
00:42:48Sometimes I come and talk to her.
00:42:50And I say Cheryl, our dressing rooms are next to each other.
00:42:53And Cheryl starts in the morning singing.
00:42:56And I can hear her.
00:42:58And I love it.
00:42:59And sometimes I come and talk to her.
00:43:01And I say, Cheryl, here's what's going on today.
00:43:03And she will tell me, Quinta, this is what you were meant to do.
00:43:07I'm proud of you.
00:43:09I'm here by your side.
00:43:10I love you.
00:43:11And I'm honored.
00:43:12And all I can think is, I already have one wonderful mother.
00:43:16And somehow God blessed me with two.
00:43:19Cheryl sends me scriptures sometimes.
00:43:22I don't know if I'm an atheist or not.
00:43:25But I'm not quite sure.
00:43:28It's a lot happening.
00:43:29But Cheryl will send me a Bible scripture.
00:43:32And I'm like, you know what?
00:43:33God is real.
00:43:34He's real.
00:43:37And that's what someone like Cheryl Lee Ralph can do for you.
00:43:41Sometimes my set, my set is wonderful.
00:43:46I'm so proud of my set.
00:43:47I'm so proud of my cast.
00:43:49But sometimes Cheryl walks in in the morning.
00:43:52And when I tell you the morning, I'm talking 6 o'clock in the morning.
00:43:56Everyone comes in at 5.30.
00:43:58And Cheryl walks in and says, good morning.
00:44:01And guess what?
00:44:04It's a good morning.
00:44:06Cheryl decided.
00:44:07And guess what?
00:44:08Now the morning is good.
00:44:09And those are the things that make me believe God is real.
00:44:14And that's important.
00:44:15That's important for me to believe that God is real and present on my set.
00:44:20So I think it's time for us to take a look back at her truly, truly inspiring Hollywood career journey so far.
00:44:29I love you, Cheryl.
00:44:30This is going to be a montage of all the things you've done.
00:44:32It's going to be crazy.
00:44:34Cheryl Lee Ralph has been delighting audiences in film, on TV, and on the stage for over four decades.
00:44:43I'd have to say, as a black woman, in Hollywood, it started with my very first film, Piece of the Action, under the direction of Sidney Poitier.
00:44:51You ready?
00:44:52Yeah.
00:44:53Okay, let's go.
00:44:54It's probably one of the best, best places that any young actor or actress could be to
00:45:01get their real start in an industry that was less than welcoming at the time.
00:45:08Cheryl later appeared on such 70s hit shows as Good Times.
00:45:12JJ, darling.
00:45:14Earn the Jeffersons.
00:45:15Oh, you're already booked for that night.
00:45:17Cancel it.
00:45:18This is more important.
00:45:19Okay, I'll call your wife and tell her you're unable to make it for your anniversary.
00:45:23Call it.
00:45:24But Broadway would present one of the biggest breaks in Cheryl's career when she was cast
00:45:29in a blockbuster musical about a girl group, Dream Girls.
00:45:34May your dream girls be yours.
00:45:38We make you happy.
00:45:40Yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:45:41May your dream girls go into the way it's great.
00:45:46It was like magic and it was great.
00:45:49It was a wonderful experience.
00:45:51Cheryl's magic in Dream Girls earned her a 1982 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical.
00:45:59TV and film roles followed for Cheryl.
00:46:02Singing does not put food on the table.
00:46:07Singing does not pay the bills.
00:46:09Then Cheryl became one of TV's favorite moms on the hit show Moesha, starring singing sensation Brandy.
00:46:16Now that breakfast isn't half bad, it is the bomb.
00:46:21Cheryl returned to Broadway as the star of the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie.
00:46:26And more TV and film roles came her way.
00:46:29Cheryl returned to Broadway in the hit musical Wicked, becoming the first black actress to play the role of Madame Morrible.
00:46:36As she continued to land screen roles, Cheryl also continued her decades-long fight against HIV and AIDS with her nonprofit, The Diva Foundation.
00:46:47We lost so many great young people, artists, talents, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers.
00:46:55I had no idea that 33 years later we'd still be on this.
00:47:00We'd still be talking about this.
00:47:02I want to thank both of you for coming out and supporting what it is I'm doing here around HIV and AIDS.
00:47:13My pleasure Cheryl.
00:47:14We love you.
00:47:15Then Cheryl landed the role that would take her stardom into the stratosphere
00:47:20when Quinta Brunson offered her a role on the sitcom Abbott Elementary.
00:47:25Barbara, what are you doing today?
00:47:26I'm going to a screening of Rocking Horror at my church.
00:47:31They take out all the cursing, all the references to sex and sexuality.
00:47:36It comes in at just under 26 minutes and it is a hoot.
00:47:41Cheryl's performance on the show earned her the biggest honor of her career.
00:47:45And the Emmy goes to Cheryl Lee Brown.
00:47:49I was absolutely, totally, completely in shock.
00:47:55And then finally I heard Quinta say,
00:47:58Cheryl, get up!
00:48:07And I just sang because that was very calming for me.
00:48:11I am an endangered species.
00:48:19Cheryl became the second black actress to take home the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy, with Jack A. Harry being the first back in 1987.
00:48:29Cheryl went on to win a Critics' Choice Award for her work on Abbott Elementary, alongside Golden Globe and NAACP Award nominations.
00:48:38Cheryl Lee Ralph is a bona fide legend of the screen and stage, whose star is shining brighter than ever before.
00:48:44And my people, I want them to look at that screen and say, that's why we love her. That's why there she is.
00:48:58For me, it's important to represent. It means something.
00:49:04I've been in this career a long time, and I know representation means something.
00:49:15That's why we love her.
00:49:25Everyone, please help me welcome, actress, producer, philanthropist and a woman who makes me believe in God, Cheryl Lee Ralph.
00:50:15I am an endangered species, but I sing no victim's song.
00:50:27I'm a woman, black woman.
00:50:32I am an artist, and I know where my voice belongs.
00:50:45I shake my fist, and not my hips, because I know where my voice belongs.
00:50:58I have a joy, I have a happiness, I have a love that I get to share with all of you, just
00:51:15looking at you, and looking at you, and I tell you this all the time, the fight to get all
00:51:28of you here, looking the way you look, celebrating you in the positions that you are doing what
00:51:38you are doing, it was some back-breaking work.
00:51:46It was some spirit-breaking work.
00:51:55It was hard, but generations held on.
00:52:07Rosalind Cash got blackballed from the industry because she dared to wear her natural hair
00:52:14in dreadlocks.
00:52:16Rosalind Cash, you don't remember Rosalind Cash, great actress.
00:52:26Not good, great.
00:52:29Virginia Capers, on Broadway, on TV, in the movies, big black woman who stuck with me from
00:52:41the time I first met her as one of the top ten college women in America, Glamour magazine.
00:52:49I got to meet her, and she looked at me, and she said, that is what the future looks like.
00:52:57She said, you see me, though, they keep sitting big black me on the couch, and I'm much more
00:53:06than that.
00:53:09I see Lizzo today.
00:53:14Huh, yeah.
00:53:17I get to look at my work child every day.
00:53:22And I sit there, and I think, look what the future done wrought.
00:53:36I've been around long enough to have worked with a 12-year-old Lorenz Tate.
00:53:41Oh, yeah.
00:53:52And we are both vampires, because we have not changed.
00:53:57I get to look at Perlina Igbokwe.
00:54:10Yeah, Perlina.
00:54:13Perlina, green-lit the first script I wrote.
00:54:17Yeah, she did.
00:54:18Didn't get made.
00:54:19She left the place, but it's okay.
00:54:22She gave me that green light.
00:54:27I get to look at Channing Dungey.
00:54:34And I'm like, yeah, Channing.
00:54:41And then here comes young Tara.
00:54:45Look what the future has brought.
00:54:58Yeah, I saw Danielle that day, and I just had to let her know, I see you, Danielle.
00:55:06I see you.
00:55:08You and your amazing talent.
00:55:11I see you.
00:55:12So many did not make it.
00:55:20Folks been saying to me all afternoon, why so late?
00:55:25This is not late.
00:55:28This isn't a moment late.
00:55:31This is right on time.
00:55:35Thank you, Richelieu.
00:55:43Thank you, everybody at Essence.
00:55:46Thank you, ABC.
00:55:49Thank you, Dana Walden, talking about the others and the people who love us.
00:55:54We were at the up fronts.
00:56:00Dana Walden walked right up to me, and Dana Walden said,
00:56:04And you know how small, blonde, white women can look at you sometimes.
00:56:10She said,
00:56:27Cheryl Lee Ralph, this is going to be the greatest time of your whole career.
00:56:38Don't dream small, dream big, and ask for exactly what you want.
00:56:49Oh, yeah.
00:56:58Don't think I won't either.
00:57:01So, how fitting it is that I get to end this award season with all of you.
00:57:18Big tings of guan.
00:57:23Big tings of guan.
00:57:23Now, I have a love in me that I haven't gotten all the time to share with my sisters.
00:57:53I'm a lone wolf.
00:57:56I'm an outlier.
00:57:59I'm happy to be black as I am.
00:58:03I'm loving the naps and the curls in my hair.
00:58:08I love my big lips.
00:58:11I love my wide hips.
00:58:14I love everything that makes me black, beautiful, wonderful, talented,
00:58:22empowering, empowering, encouraging, everything about me being black.
00:58:32I love it.
00:58:35I have been too much for some.
00:58:40She's so loud.
00:58:42She's so happy.
00:58:48She's so energetic.
00:58:51She's just so much.
00:58:56Yes, I am.
00:59:00And I have been not enough for some.
00:59:05But guess what?
00:59:06You know who I love?
00:59:08Me.
00:59:14This voice is not a small voice.
00:59:20Sonia Sanchez.
00:59:22This is a large voice coming out of these cities.
00:59:26This is the voice of Tara, Gina, Danielle, Dominique, Natori, Gail, Lena, Tristan, Ryan, Tayona, Daniel, Charles,
00:59:54Charles, Yara, Lorenz, Yvette, Vickie, Maybelline, Sarah.
01:00:07I see you.
01:00:11I love you.
01:00:15A love running over waters, navigating the hallways, out of school, spilling out on the corners of our cities,
01:00:22and no epitaph spill out of their river mouths.
01:00:26This is not a small love that I have for you.
01:00:31It is a large love.
01:00:34It is a passion.
01:00:36A passion for kissing.
01:00:38A passion for learning.
01:00:41A passion for life on its face.
01:00:44This is a love that crowns your feet with my hands.
01:00:52This is a love that nourishes, conceives my children, Etienne and Ivy, and all the other children that are truly mine.
01:01:08This is a love that mends the children, folds them inside our history, where they taste more than just flesh.
01:01:25Where they suck on the bones of the alphabet, and spit out closed vowels.
01:01:41Go home.
01:01:44Look in the mirror.
01:01:47Love what you see.
01:01:49Because if you think you belong in just Hollywood, you wait till the world gets ready for what you have to deliver.
01:02:07Because strong people, like each and every one of you, in front of the camera, behind the camera, wishing to be somewhere in this industry.
01:02:24You heard it before, it ain't easy.
01:02:26And if you're thinking about doing something else, please do something else.
01:02:38But you, all of you, you're so beautiful.
01:02:48You're so wonderful.
01:02:51You're so smart.
01:02:53And in the words, the great Viola Davis, you is smart.
01:03:04You is kind.
01:03:08You is wonderful.
01:03:23One more time for the great icon herself, Cheryl Lee Roth.
01:03:48All right, ladies and gentlemen, it's almost that time.
01:03:57Okay.
01:03:59Before we go, I'm going to bring out somebody one more time who actually just might have outdressed me today.
01:04:08Ladies and gentlemen, let's give it up one more time for Caroline Wanga.
01:04:11Hey, black people, I'm doing the clothes.
01:04:26So if y'all just wait a second, you can leave without having to put your usher finger up.
01:04:32I'm going to start with a personal grievance for all the people that didn't tell me I had my edge control on my head when I opened.
01:04:40I'm mad at all y'all.
01:04:42Now, I'm going to close this out, y'all, if you can give me a few more minutes.
01:04:48Because what I need to do with the few minutes I have is thank the people that created the afternoon that you had that we often forget.
01:04:59And so, as we send you away, having gotten the fuel to go back and be the best black where you came from, first I would like to thank the team that leads Essence Ventures.
01:05:16Will you please stand?
01:05:19Stand.
01:05:21Stand.
01:05:22Stand.
01:05:23Stand.
01:05:24Stand.
01:05:29Stand.
01:05:29Stand.
01:05:44The joy you get makes you think it's easy.
01:05:47Those are the movement makers who have given everything they've got for what you've got today.
01:05:53Next, I would like members of the board of directors, the chairman, and other sundial
01:05:59brand companies like Global Black Economic Forum, new voices, please stand, please stand,
01:06:04including the Dennis family, please stand, please stand, please stand.
01:06:18The team that has been working for over a year to create this, MVD, Corey, Daniel, Sidra,
01:06:27Barclay, where y'all at?
01:06:30The ones who ain't sat down and they ate that sea bass off a production boat, they haven't
01:06:36eaten but they drank all the whiskey, these ones.
01:06:43For most of them, they've been here less than a year and they offered us this.
01:06:57Most importantly, the people who never get thanked, the production crew, the hotel staff,
01:07:06the valet, those are the people that made sure you had everything you needed to be able
01:07:13to enjoy this.
01:07:15To the mayor and the other historic black women that were part of this moment, thank you.
01:07:24To my brother, fly and foolish, we giggle, we laugh, but we fight together.
01:07:35You made this moment, thank you.
01:07:43The revolution shall not be financed unless it is Coke and Coke Zero and Coke Zero Sugar.
01:07:54Y'all need an acronym.
01:07:56The Onyx Collective, Amazon Prime, Amazon Music, Netflix, Smart Water, all of that.
01:08:05We stand and honor the legacy of those that came before us, our ancestors, and we stand
01:08:10as the legacy of those coming after us, watch us.
01:08:13And more importantly, before I close this program, thank you to you because you black, you beautiful,
01:08:18and you get to go home.
01:08:21Thank you so much.
01:08:22Have a good day.
01:08:23Oh, and be at festival over 4th of July weekend.
01:08:28Thank you for joining the 16th annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon.
01:08:33I hope you had a great time.
01:08:35I did.
01:08:37Honorees, please make your way to the stage for a photo-up.
01:08:44Essence team, y'all know what's going down with our group shot.
01:08:46Tish Tradition.
01:08:47Let's go.
01:08:48Thank you for joining the 16th annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon.
01:08:50Thank you for joining the 16th annual Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon.
01:08:51Oh, and I hope you enjoyed it so much.
01:09:01You had a great time.
01:09:02Honorees, please make your way to the stage for a photo-up.
01:09:04Essence team, y'all know what's going down with our group shot.
01:09:05Tish Tradition!
01:09:06Let's go.
Comments