- 15 hours ago
Black women executives who have climbed the entertainment corporate ladder all the way to the President, Partner and C-suite levels get candid about their experiences. Get ready to be inspired as our panel of game changers share their blueprint for women looking to shine behind the scenes in the film and television industry.
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00:00Hello, Essence House, Hollywood House, how are you?
00:06So good to be here today.
00:08I'm Karen Horn, Senior Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Warner Brothers Discovery in North America.
00:15I'm so happy to be here.
00:17I want to say to you that one of my favorite things I always say is that my job is not who I am, but who I am is why I do the job I do.
00:26And I think it's so important to remember that and to talk about as we talk about women in this industry.
00:34And so today we're going to meet some of the phenomenal black women executives who are impacting the change that we see in front of and behind the cameras.
00:43We're going to learn about who they are and why they do the jobs they do.
00:47So please join me in first welcoming from Heartbeat Productions CEO Ty Randall.
00:56And next we have Executive Vice President of Specials Music Programming, Music Strategy, and News at BET, Ms. Connie Orlando.
01:09Welcome, ladies.
01:10All right, so we're going to sit down.
01:12I feel like you guys are so far away from me.
01:14Hi.
01:14What's up, Lyle?
01:15It's so good to see you.
01:16So, first of all, when you think about your jobs, we're going to just jump right into it, okay?
01:21And I'm sorry, I'm going to turn around so my backs are not to you all over there all the time.
01:25But when you think about your ladder, the climbing journey that brought you to your current positions,
01:33what are some of the things that you were either glad you did or you wish you would have done when you were first starting that climb?
01:41Well, you know what?
01:43I have – well, I'm happy to be here.
01:46There's a few things.
01:47I have one of each, right?
01:48So I think the thing that I didn't do and I wish I would have done more of is mentorship
01:53and finding mentors to guide me and hear about their journeys and, you know, just to have someone to bounce off of, you know, and inform.
02:03Exactly.
02:03I think mentorship is new, right?
02:04It's not so new, but certainly when I was coming up, I didn't have mentors, people.
02:10I mean, I made people be my mentors, whether they liked it or not.
02:13I was like, you're going to tell me more about what you do.
02:16But, yeah, and even now, you know, what we should really look at is sponsorship because that is different than mentorship.
02:23Exactly.
02:24And I had the mentors that, oh, Tracy Edmonds, oh, Oprah, all the mentors that I couldn't touch,
02:30which were great because you saw journeys, but no personal direction.
02:35How about you, Ty?
02:36I mean, I think the thing that I did that I'm glad I did, I took a lot of chances early in my career and I made a lot of bold moves.
02:44So, you know, I jumped without parachutes before kids, before mortgages and all the responsibilities.
02:50And I think two things, right?
02:51You pick up a lot of lessons along the way, but it also teaches you that you can fly.
02:56It teaches you that you can fall and fly again.
02:58And I think once you have the muscle of failure or the muscle of trouble, you have to figure out how to navigate around that.
03:06Then it gives you the courage and the confidence to know that you're able to handle whatever comes up.
03:11If there was one thing I wouldn't have done as much of early on in my career, I would say I would not have tried to contort myself to the spaces that I was in, right?
03:22I, you know, you observe a lot and it's like, oh, that's the blueprint for leadership or that's the model for success.
03:29And ultimately, anything that I've achieved in life has been when I'm operating out of my core, my center of excellence, which looks a lot different than how someone else might show up.
03:39And I was pretty far along in my career before I got that lesson.
03:44So I've not had the experience that you two have of being able to work for an entertainment company that's founded primarily and operated by black executives.
03:57It's a hard experience to come by.
03:59And I think we could probably spend two days talking about the differences, how we have to show up in different boardrooms or conference rooms.
04:12What would you talk, you know, what would you say as a black woman being, I mean, I could talk about this too, being in more traditional companies who are looking into moving to high level positions.
04:23And also, how is it even navigating in your roles, in your companies, because sometimes it's hard with us, you know what I mean?
04:31Like, I know, you know, I know it could be hard as a black boss, how I treat people in making sure that they show up and making sure that we show up and not embarrass ourselves, if you know what I mean.
04:42So y'all know what I mean by that, right?
04:44So for both of you, Ty, would you want to start?
04:48Sure. You know, like I said, I took some chances and my career was or has been to date much more of a river than a ladder.
04:56So, you know, it's been some meandering and wandering, but purpose driven and ultimately goal driven.
05:02So, you know, I've worked for marketing agencies where we marketed a UK based marketing firm where we marketed everything from missiles to aerospace and defense clients.
05:10I've been with the big foreholding companies in advertising, WPP and Publisys, I worked at Sony, I worked at Facebook, Lionsgate, and that's how I ended up in business with Kevin.
05:21And until I got to a point where not only was I working with Kevin, but when we took the company independent and bought out the majority of our initial investor in Lionsgate, did I have an experience of being in a space where I was completely reflected and surrounded by folks who look like me.
05:39And because the business was moving so fast, I don't know if I absorbed that fully, the comfort and the lack of an external gaze and because there are other hard things that came with that job or with this job.
05:53So I don't know if I understood the switch until we were out raising capital and I became conscious of it because not only was I, you know, a bit insulated by, you know, working for this black owned black led company, but it was also helmed by, you know, one of the most commercially successful entertainers of our time.
06:11So you get a lot of, a good bit of air cover and we went out to the market to raise capital.
06:15We took on a hundred million from a private equity for minority investment as in growth capital.
06:22We merged his two entertainment companies.
06:24This was last year.
06:25And we, I never saw ourselves reflected on the other side and I was leading the capital raise and, you know, all of a sudden, even the entertainment value only got you so far.
06:35And I forgot what it felt like to be questioned.
06:38I would have people telling me things like, you're so articulate about the business.
06:42I'm like, I run in, I run it.
06:45What would I not be?
06:47Or, you know, the passive aggressive moments in diligence.
06:51And so it gave me a different appreciation, but on the same time, being in these roles and interested to hear your experience, you can sometimes feel like everything you do is representative, right?
07:02Everything carries more weight.
07:03You don't get to fail the same way.
07:05You don't get to have the same kind of slip ups.
07:06And as a black woman, it's doubly so, right?
07:09Because these archetypes of strong black women, the all capable, all encompassing leaders, it puts a weight on your back sometimes that if you buy into that, it can be suffocating.
07:20Oh, absolutely.
07:22And, you know, before BET, I ran Hype Williams' Big Dog Films, so another black owned company, but different.
07:30It wasn't as corporate as BET.
07:32And I've had those same experiences where, you know, outside of your circle, your corporate circle, you get questioned differently and you get held like little things.
07:44You get pressed upon a little differently.
07:46And I think, you know, going in early, it was, it kind of just drove that passion that, you know what, I want to do it as much as I can.
07:54I want to sit across from people who look like us.
07:56I want to sit across.
07:58I want to bring our companies up.
08:00I want to bring our directors up.
08:01I want to bring, you know, people that get it, you know?
08:05And I think as black women, I think you always, you know, we deal with so much anyway, whether it's imposter syndrome and that pressure that's put on, you know, your back.
08:15Because you have to succeed.
08:17You feel you have to succeed because if you don't, you're the representative for everyone.
08:22Yes.
08:22I mean, in all things, right?
08:25We always feel that way.
08:26And I have encouraged my team and myself to take that word imposter syndrome, that phrase, out of our, you know, our dialogue, our vocabulary.
08:37Because I think that's what other people try to put on us to make us feel like, you know, that we don't belong there.
08:43We're not supposed to be there.
08:44So if we're there, it's impossible.
08:46Like, it's the thing that has been assigned to us.
08:49And, you know, growing up in an industry and, you know, look, I've had a great career of working, starting my career at ABC Sports my senior year of college.
08:58I kind of felt like I had to change to be in the rooms that I was in all the time.
09:04You know, whether it was in the room with the people from sports, you know, talking about, you know, like, you know, locker, you know, locker room mentality or whether it was working for ABC Entertainment or any of the other companies.
09:16And then what I learned quickly is that my value add is me being my most authentic self coming into those rooms, having a challenging point of view and not being the same.
09:29So, like, even if you, I would say to anyone not growing up in a company that is solely black owned or black run by black executives, still recognize that you are a cultural ad and stop being a cultural fit.
09:43Because that is the value of what we do here.
09:46So, so, Connie, the job market today for nearly every industry is really unpredictable.
09:54We were just talking about that.
09:55People have become more accustomed to switching companies every few years.
10:00But you've been at BET for 15 years and you've held several positions and killed at each and every one of them, may I add.
10:09Do you think that remaining at a company for a long period of time is crucial when the goal is to become a leadership executive?
10:18So, I think there's two ways, right?
10:19So, if I were to be honest, I did not.
10:22When I started at BET, I wasn't like, oh, I'm just going to be here.
10:25I was like, I'm going to be here for two years and I'm going to go on to the next thing.
10:28But I think, you know, being at a company that's just so passionate about empowerment, engaging, entertaining, it just became an ideal.
10:36And I think for my journey, and there were times in that 15 years, I was like, okay, I think it's time to go.
10:42I've done this, but an elevation would come.
10:46And, you know, I'm endlessly curious.
10:48I always want to be challenged and push forward.
10:50So, for me, I think the benefits of staying at a company is, you know, BET is a smaller company.
10:57It's big, but it's small.
10:58But I was able to learn the business in a way that I couldn't.
11:04I was able to create lanes for myself.
11:07And I think as we look at this stuff, it's not only what the business can do for you.
11:11I mean, you can do for the business.
11:13You have to look at these places like, what can the business do for you?
11:16Yes.
11:17It's very important.
11:18And my elevation ahead of programming happened because I had done every genre of programming.
11:26I had been there.
11:27I knew the business of it.
11:28And, you know, where, you know, God blesses you, I had everything.
11:33And I thought that that, you know, so that's a benefit of really getting to know a company.
11:37But if you don't feel you're being challenged, if you don't feel that it's adding to your journey or where you want to go, I would never suggest someone just stay.
11:45You have to really look at the culture at your company.
11:48Is there growth?
11:49Or is there, you know, are you going to be in your position, not even because you're not good.
11:54You can be great, but if there's no headcount and no movement, you can't move.
11:58So you kind of come up with a plan, like, okay, I'm going to get this for three years and I'm going to do that.
12:03But if you see those little opportunities, like, okay, I may have to stay in this position for a little while.
12:08But while I'm here, I'm going to create this initiative.
12:10While I'm here, I'm going to do things.
12:12You've got to be strategic about what you can get from your company, too.
12:17I love that.
12:17And know your worth, right?
12:19Because if you don't know your worth, no one else is going to know it, right?
12:22So that is for sure.
12:24Ty, talk about your heartbeat journey from working with the LOL Network under Lionsgate to becoming the CEO of Kevin Hart's startup company.
12:31Specifically, what are some of the differences in running a startup as a CEO versus what it took to be an executive at a major company?
12:38Yeah, so it's interesting.
12:44I always fashioned myself an entrepreneur before I was in a truly entrepreneurial function.
12:50I always wanted to be, I always took a sort of P&L mindset to whatever I was doing, even from a marketing perspective.
12:58So I always said, how am I tying myself to revenue?
13:00How am I tying myself to business outcomes?
13:02How does what do I do connect to what the company does?
13:06And that's a part of establishing value.
13:08And ultimately, it's a part of, you know, sort of accruing kind of leadership capital, right, in whatever organization.
13:15And I don't mean, but if you are, that has nothing to do with title, right?
13:18That has to do with, like, the impact and the acknowledgement for the impact.
13:23Because there's this whole element of merchandising what you're doing someplace.
13:27You know, when I came to Lionsgate, what was interesting was, you know, it was one of those, it was a personally driven decision because I had come off the heels of a really difficult fertility journey.
13:40And I had conceded that, and I was at Facebook at the time, and I was just unhappy.
13:45Like, you know, Facebook was a great company, and, but my life, I felt like I had kind of, like, hit a wall, right?
13:53You know, I was, I checked all the boxes that I thought I needed to check.
13:56It was, you know, I went to, you know, school, got married, got me a Morehouse man.
14:00We moved to New York together.
14:02We had a cool, you know, apartment in the city.
14:05We both had big jobs.
14:06And then I got to this part, I went to go freeze my eggs, and I found out this was going to be much more difficult.
14:11So two failed rounds of IVF later, and having turned down another job that was a bigger job at Lionsgate, I found myself just wanting to get out of L.A.
14:19And I say that because this was the river, right?
14:21So it wasn't like this, I'm stepping into a big job to run Kevin Hart's company.
14:25It was, I need a change of scenery.
14:27I came to Lionsgate to take a job with their partnership with Kevin and to launch Laugh Out Loud at the time, and I immediately got pregnant without assistance.
14:38Won't he do it?
14:39Won't he do it?
14:41Yes, he did.
14:41Honestly.
14:43And it was one of those everything everywhere, kind of all at once moments.
14:47And so here I was, you know, having a baby, building a business, and I felt supercharged, not by the fact that I was trying to check boxes, but I was reignited about what was possible, right?
14:59And I think what was really great is, and what is very accelerating, and this is when you talk about sponsorship, is what sponsorship looks like.
15:07You know, mentorship is someone telling you how to do the thing, right, and wrapping their arms around you and giving you some guidance.
15:11And sponsorship looks like saying, you know, if you've ever seen Goodfellas, and they say, oh, he's a Goodfella, he's one of us.
15:19It's like saying, oh, no, she's got the spot.
15:21This is her moment.
15:22Take the job.
15:23You don't necessarily, I believe you can do it.
15:24You don't have to over-qualify yourself.
15:26Like, she's with us.
15:27Come on.
15:28And I was really fortunate to, you know, be partnered with Kevin, and I think Jeff Klanigan's on the program later.
15:34And I used to report to Jeff, right?
15:36And at the time, I had a vision about what Laugh Out Loud could look like independent.
15:41And I went to them and said, and I was, by the way, putting major points on the board.
15:45I was driving major revenue for the company and launched, you know, developed the go-to-market strategy.
15:49And that led to us carving out.
15:51And then I came back and said, and actually, I think in concert, these two things could be really powerful, right?
15:56And they said, yeah, you know, we believe in you.
16:00You're our person.
16:00Let's reorganize this company to do so.
16:03Now, all of those things are let's take a bet, right?
16:06Like, let's take the leap.
16:08But what looks like different when you're running a startup is now it was I could make the recommendations.
16:12And now there's so many people whose jobs are in my hands, right?
16:16There's folks whose content is in our hands.
16:18And so, you know, to whom much is given, much is required.
16:22And there's a different level of requirement still when it's us, right?
16:26There's still a different measure of that.
16:28But I could not have better partners to be on the journey with.
16:32And I think that's especially important when you're going to make such big leaps is to be really supportive in this.
16:39That's so great.
16:40It leads us to my next question.
16:42And I also want to let the audience know that I have a few more questions, but then we're going to open it up to Q&A for you guys.
16:50So start thinking about them.
16:52So successful people often talk about how the people you keep around you influence your journey for either the better or the worse.
16:59What role did those closest to you play in supporting you along the way?
17:06Wow, that's a great question.
17:07So I think, too.
17:09So my external support team, I have a great team.
17:13And my friends are amazing.
17:15And I think it's also just to note, it's important to note, that as you network, like, network with your peers, too, because everyone grows.
17:23And those peers, you all become titans of industry.
17:26But my friends were always good, iron sharpens iron, to have somebody to bounce something off that had a different perspective.
17:34It was always good to also have people who aren't yes people, like, and really, like, can check.
17:40Call you out, right?
17:41Will call you out.
17:43So, and that's just, it's just very, it's needed.
17:45I think we all need those moments and those people in our lives that keep us real, keep us authentic, and also just love you and want the best for you.
17:55And I've been very fortunate that, you know, from college to now, it wasn't that long.
18:02No one said it was.
18:04My own, my own, my own.
18:08But, you know, I just think it's just you always have to have people around you that, you know, in your heart just want the best for you and can advise you.
18:17And, like, when you have those hard days, because it's hard, they console you, but they're also like, you know, okay, that's enough.
18:25Let's get back on the horse and keep going.
18:29It's, Ty, you too.
18:31I mean, I will, I'll jump in, but I'd love to hear from you as well because what you said is so true.
18:36I mean, I remember when I was transitioning from another job and it was just not working and I was driving on the freeway and I was talking to a really trusted friend and she's like, what are you doing?
18:49Turn the car around.
18:50Like, she was like, you have to know what your worth is.
18:53And it's like what I said earlier, know what your worth is.
18:55If they don't know what your worth is, then you need to go someplace that does.
18:59And I think each step sometimes is so scary when you think about moving, but when you have the right people around you, sometimes to remind you, like, wait a minute, like, I do have more worth than this.
19:11Or even to remind you, nah, sit down.
19:14You're good where you are, right?
19:15Like, it is good to have both of it.
19:17And, you know, to that point, like, environment is everything and not every plant grows everywhere, right?
19:24It doesn't mean that it's a bad environment.
19:26It just means it's not the most fruitful for you.
19:29When I was leaving a big job, it was difficult because it was, well, no one leaves this place, right?
19:33And it just wasn't the place for me at that time.
19:36It was a great place.
19:37It wasn't, no one, I don't think they had it out for me.
19:39I don't think, it just wasn't the place where my gifts are going to flourish.
19:43And I think that's so important, right?
19:45Go where you're loved.
19:46Go where you're nurtured.
19:47And because that makes all the difference.
19:49And it can be so accelerating once you find your people.
19:52And it's for a season, right?
19:53You stay as long as you're still growing and thriving in that environment.
20:00So do either of you have a mentor?
20:02Like, we talked about that.
20:04But do either of you have a mentor?
20:06And if so, what was the way that was most beneficial for your young career when you're mentoring?
20:13So I didn't have mentors, as we talked about earlier.
20:16But what I learned after being at a company is we talked about mentors.
20:20We talked about sponsorship.
20:21We're just advocates.
20:22So there were people inside the company that I would do informationals with and develop relationships.
20:28Because I think it's important that when there's a lot of meetings I'm not in, there's a lot of times your name comes up in a room that you have somebody there that can advocate for you.
20:39And I learned that that was probably so important in my career journey.
20:43Because I've been in rooms where I see stuff, you know, people taking out of contention just because there's not a voice, you know, based on other things.
20:51So advocates, I have a few now.
20:54Yeah.
20:55People who will say your name, right?
20:57People who will say your name.
20:59So I'm going to ask you one more question before we go to the audience.
21:04Tell us one career-defining moment that you've been most proud of so far, and then I'll tell you mine.
21:10It's hard to pick one.
21:14This is a recent one, though.
21:16I was incredibly proud of our capital raise.
21:20You know, black women are the fast-growing segments of entrepreneurs in this company and the least funded.
21:25And there's still a handful.
21:26I think it's like sub-60 who've raised over a million dollars in capital.
21:30And I asked my team from a PR perspective so I could have the soundbite how many black women have raised $100 million in capital.
21:36And there aren't even studies, right?
21:38There's still black people still make up, you know, 1% of Fortune 500 CEOs.
21:43Women make up 10% of private equity-backed CEOs or private equity-backed companies.
21:48And I can't even find the data on how many black women.
21:52And so, you know, that idea about having the confidence to do hard things, I was incredibly proud of that, but also for the team that we developed that got us there.
22:04And I think for me it was in 2020, right?
22:08The pandemic.
22:09I think, you know, I produced our award shows and programming for BET.
22:14And at that time, we had to rethink how to do it.
22:18So, you know, you take for granted how much you just know how to do something.
22:22And we were asked to really, like, well, how do you do it now when you can't leave your house?
22:27How do you hate?
22:28How do you create shows?
22:29And one of the first things in that April that I produced, like, in three weeks was a telethon, Saving Ourselves.
22:39And it raised $17 million to help people in our communities with COVID.
22:45So I'm very proud of that moment, proud because of what it did in terms of purpose, but also proud in what it challenged me.
22:54Because I remember, like, uh-oh.
22:57So, but it's like, it's great to have those times in your career that you really are like, okay, how do I exercise a different muscle?
23:05How do I turn this on its ear?
23:06How do I think about how to do this next?
23:09Because that's truly what innovation is.
23:11And if you can keep, without it being a global pandemic, challenging yourself to figure those things out, I think you'll go very, very far.
23:21That's a real, and this is a real hard question for me because it's like a mama trying to decide which of her babies she loves the most.
23:28I've had the privilege of creating programs that help underrepresented voices recognize their dreams of working in this industry.
23:38Um, and so I would say for me, having, being able to do that in my career has been the best part of what I do.
23:47It's being able to find people to tell our stories by us, you know?
23:52Um, uh, and if I had to choose one or two, I would probably say it was like a directing program, um, a female forward that I created at NBC or a late night writers program that changed landscape in late night writing.
24:05It brought women and diverse voices there that had never been there before.
24:09And I'm really excited about the work we're doing at Warner Brothers Discovery, one in particular that will be announced in about two weeks.
24:15So stay tuned.
24:16Good.
24:16I'm really, all right.
24:17So let's do some questions.
24:19And what I would ask of you all, because of our time, talk, uh, ask your question specifically to someone and let it be a question and not, um, your, you know what I mean by that.
24:30Let it be a question.
24:30So tell us your name as you come up.
24:33Praise the Lord, Saints.
24:34My name is Meech Justice.
24:37I am a creative executive for TV and film.
24:40My question is for you, Ms. Hai.
24:41I want to first say publicly, thank you, Ms. Connie, because we always see each other and she always acknowledges me every time we work together.
24:46So Ms. Connie, I love you.
24:48Humanity is real.
24:49Okay.
24:49But no, Ms. Hai, I want to know, how do you, how does your organization utilize and manage superstar players?
24:55I feel like this room is full of people who are multi-talented.
24:58How do you utilize your superstars?
25:01On our team, our employees, our team members.
25:03Both.
25:03Both.
25:04Okay.
25:04Um, you know, one, I just generally believe everyone is a superstar, right?
25:09Like, I think that, you know, you just have to find, like I said, what your center of excellence is.
25:14And, you know, I've been in the, I was in this company for, um, I've been with Kevin, I guess, for like six years.
25:19I was promoted four times in six years.
25:22And when I got the CEO role, when I was appointed CEO, and by the way, I was already doing the CEO role when I was appointed.
25:27So that's a whole other topic about how you step into the role first.
25:31But when he and I were talking about it, he said, you know, the one thing you're doing, you're doing all the things.
25:35One thing I ask of you is your, your, um, journey here be the rule and not the exception.
25:40And so to me, that's one of my KPIs, right?
25:44It's like, how am I growing talent?
25:45How am I developing opportunities?
25:47I say to our managers, you know, one of your KPIs is how many people are you promoting?
25:52What, because I want to make sure that we're seeing the full organization that I'm seeing the full, you know, and we have a team that is 75% people of color, 52% women.
26:02And it's really important that there's mobility, right?
26:05Like it's one thing to get in the door, but we, and pay equity is very important.
26:09And so we, I say all that to say, we made it a business imperative from the top down to make sure that we take care of our people so our people can take care of business.
26:18Hi.
26:19Hi.
26:20Hello, everybody.
26:21I'm Tanisha.
26:22My question also was for Ty.
26:24Can you speak to your Women Right Now Fellowship?
26:27And will there be an opportunity in 2023 to apply and how you're using it as a platform to build talent to the writers?
26:34I'm so glad you asked.
26:35I don't know you, but thank you for asking.
26:36Okay, I'll answer this very quickly.
26:38Um, Women Right Now is a comedic screenwriting fellowship and partnership with Sundance Institute founded by myself and Candace Wilson Cherry, our head of film.
26:47Um, it was because, you know, there's always an area for improvement.
26:50I talked about how great the guys are that I work with, but comedy is also a boys club.
26:54So you see something, you say something, and then you do something.
26:57We said we were going to change the narrative right now.
27:00We partner with Sundance Institute.
27:01Every year we take three writers, no barrier to entry.
27:04We are going into cycle three.
27:05Stay tuned for an announcement, right?
27:07It doesn't matter.
27:08You submit an original.
27:09We read every single one of them, an original short.
27:11Go through the process.
27:12We produce three of them.
27:14We put real budget behind them.
27:15To get more visibility, we partner with, um, black actresses who are looking for their first helmet directing, whether it was Bracia Webb, Tika Sumter, Megan Good.
27:24They've all come through and really shot a light on these films.
27:26They've also, they've also got more directing jobs as a result of directing these films.
27:30Um, we exhibit at Sundance every year and all the writers get first looks with heartbeat.
27:35We've got one project that's set up with NBCU.
27:37We just commissioned a feature, um, from the cycle one candidate.
27:40So stay tuned for opportunities to apply women right now.com, right?
27:44W R I T E.
27:45Thanks for whoever that's like, I love that.
27:50I, I am, uh, I am a big pipeline, you know, I believe in the pipeline.
27:54So I, I absolutely love that.
27:55Um, okay.
27:57So finally, what's, um, your motto or word of advice that help you, uh, and help inspire you and consistently takes you along this journey?
28:08You know, I think the best advice and you touched on it earlier was, was to be myself.
28:15I think, you know, with every elevation, it's like, you see everyone before and, you know, I would always go in and like, oh, well, do they expect me to be like this person or that person?
28:26And you gotta let all that go.
28:28Someone's like, they know who you are and you probably got the job because of who you are.
28:35And, um, you can let go of trying to be somebody else.
28:38So that was freeing to me.
28:40That was liberating.
28:41Like the, just be yourself.
28:45Um, I don't know if this is advice I've gotten, but it is advice I give.
28:50Well, the two things, one advice I've gotten, which was tough advice from a deaconess at my church growing up.
28:55She said, sometimes you have to do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.
28:58And in giving all the advice about go where you're loved and whatever, I would be lying if I said there weren't lots of times in my career.
29:04And even now where sometimes you do what you have to do until you can do what you want to do.
29:07Right.
29:08Doesn't mean you take sort of abuse or suffering, but it's just sometimes the road up is tough.
29:13But the other part is the advice that I've been giving a lot recently is you can get there from here.
29:18And here is wherever you are.
29:20And there is wherever you want to be.
29:22Um, I've, like I said, I hit a wall at one point.
29:24It's not the only wall I hit.
29:25It's the one I shared.
29:27And, um, God is good.
29:30Life is, and life is long.
29:31And as long as you're breathing, you can perpetually get unstuck.
29:35Right.
29:35And so, and you're only a series of quality choices and consistent actions between wherever
29:41you are, wherever you want to be.
29:43That's great.
29:44I would just, I would just finally say for me, it's, um, if you're creative, don't ever wait
29:51for someone to give you permission to do your passion because your passion is yours and no
29:58one has the right to say yes or no to that.
30:00And then finally, uh, you know, I would just say, know that you belong.
30:05You have a seat at the room.
30:06There is that we're often told that no, we don't.
30:09And we do, we do belong there.
30:11And, um, uh, your input is, is, uh, really important and needed.
30:16So, um, thank you, Ty.
30:18And thank you, Connie, for joining us.
30:20And thank you everyone for sitting for our panel.
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