- 2 days ago
Film Description: A sharp, emotionally charged short thriller based on Minda Harts’ best-selling book, starring Kyla Pratt and executive produced by Valeisha Butterfield’s SEED Media. Directed by Vanna James, the film follows Minda, a rising Black professional, as she navigates the politics, systemic barriers, and emotional toll of climbing the corporate ladder. It’s a compelling spotlight on what women of color contend with every day in powerful boardrooms and beyond.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00I'm really interested on the creative side of what it's like working with somebody you've
00:04known for so long. You both have incredibly deep past in corporate, in storytelling, in
00:11tech, in entertainment. There was so much through line here that I was like, okay, how did you two
00:17come together and decide to make this? You go first. Okay, so first, Miata and I were freaking
00:23out all day today wondering if it would be an empty house. True story, because I think
00:30the world will have you believe that, you know, if you tell your story, who will care,
00:37right? Can our stories be commercially viable? Can our stories sell? And so first, I think
00:45we just want to thank you for showing up today because you didn't have to.
00:53I spent the last 25 years in corporate spaces. I worked for President Obama. I worked for
01:00the Grammys as their co-president. I worked for Google. And I remember just sitting with
01:06my best friend, Miata, saying, you know, I want to tell more stories. And I'm not happy.
01:13And everything that I'm doing, you know, feels great. You know, you do all the things we're
01:18taught to do. I'm from the South, you know, from a strong line of black women who said,
01:22you know, you get your education, you get your job, you know, and you just ride it out
01:26into the sunset. And I just wasn't satisfied with that. And so for me, I remember talking
01:32to my friend, Miata, who's been an entrepreneur for so long. And I said, you know, I really want
01:37to tell our story. And I would go into corporate spaces and see our sisters, black women, and,
01:44you know, suited up, doing all the things, you know, making all the big lists and making
01:49the six-figure salaries. And every time we would spend time alone, I would say, how are
01:53you doing? And each would say, I'm not okay. And so that's really where Miata pushed me
01:59off the ledge and said, it's time.
02:02Yeah. She was, I mean, Valisha is brilliant at so many things. She understands corporate.
02:10She came from that world, but she has dangled in so many different industries. And I think
02:16that's where kind of our connection lies in addition to our strong faith. So I told her,
02:23I said, you know, what's the harm? You've done all these amazing things, you know, president
02:27of the Grammys and, you know, working at Google with the Obama administration. This is your
02:33passion. And, you know, these stories are not told if we don't tell them, if we don't tell
02:38them authentically. So it was a hard yes, whatever you need, using and leveraging our relationships
02:4520 years in the industry. We thought, why not use those relationships for ourselves for
02:50once versus the brands and the companies we work with? And this is, I think you should
02:55be here. See, I have a, we own a production company, myself and my sister. And we're always,
03:01we're so, we're anal about aesthetics, et cetera.
03:05Right. Because we're in this way, talking to you and yes, we're in action right now. I love it so
03:10much. I love that so much. I love that so much. Cause I get to, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Um, that was
03:15so good. That was so good. I, oh, I got to experience it. Okay. Um, I want to talk about you
03:22leaving corporate and walking into your entrepreneur journey. You've talked about that you've been in
03:27one for so long. What was your hangup? What were the conversations you had with yourself? What was
03:31your final? Yes. So, you know, you, you plan, you know, but God really has the final say. And so I
03:40remember a couple of years ago, you know, having my exit plan, saving money, you know, just starting
03:46to build a nest egg because I'm also a mom of two young boys and I didn't have the luxury of just like
03:52taking the leap. Um, I also had a lot of fear because I didn't want to let a lot of people down,
03:58um, who were watching, you know, the career that I had built, but most importantly, I was creating jobs
04:05like job creation is a huge part of what I do. And so I also didn't want to stop that path of
04:12creating jobs in an ecosystem that was like global. And so there was a lot of guilt and mixed feelings
04:19around it. And I remember about a year and a half ago, getting ready for work again, big job,
04:25big teams all over the world. And I looked in the mirror at myself and I just, I had to be honest.
04:32It was really that simple. And that day I said, you've saved the money, you've built the capital.
04:38What are you waiting for? Right? There was no other excuse other than fear. And so it was that day
04:44that I decided to start pre-production on the film. I didn't quit. Right? But it's like parallel
04:52pathing, right? They say, you know, have your nine to five and your five to nine. And so I just quietly
04:58started going into pre-production, called Miata and said, you know, you know, let's talk to Kyla Pratt.
05:04I knew Kyla, but Miata had a much better, stronger relationship with her. So she called Kyla one dinner
05:10later. Kyla said, yes. Right. Um, we talked to writers and directors and, you know, it took one
05:17meal. Apparently that's a theme with us sisters, right? A meal, break bread. And then our director
05:22signed on and our writer signed on and I self-funded the film. And that was a hard decision because
05:27thank you. I self-funded it. Um, and it was so hard because as a mom, right? Knowing that you're about
05:36to pivot, you know, should I keep this nest egg here? And I made the sacrifice to self-fund with
05:43funding on the table from outside sources, because I knew our story had to be pure and it had to be
05:49transparent and it had to be authentic. And so it is for that reason that we had no one telling us,
05:55take this out, put that in. It was really our own creative control. And I'm so proud of that because
06:00we still also have full ownership as black women of this story for your first film that what a leap
06:08of faith. I'm look at the manifestation of your leap of faith. And I didn't get the final part of
06:14your question, which is the day we wrapped on set. We have video proof of this is the day I submitted
06:18my resignation letter. So that was the day. So you were doing both the whole time. Yes. How long was
06:24production? We went fast. We were about four months total. Okay. Wait, well, that's because
06:30yeah, you have your background, the merging. Love it. Okay. Love it. My hardest scene to watch was when
06:36her boss, her black boss that I'm sure she admires, respects, sat her down and for me kind of stripped
06:45her a bit, right? Of just her authenticity to tell her to fit in, play the game. What was, have either of
06:53you had that conversation and what was it like? Can you take us back to if you've had that experience?
06:57I would hate to say that I haven't had that experience, but too many. I think we've had too
07:03many of those experiences. And we're here at Essence celebrating sisterhood, celebrating black women.
07:09And we know sometimes some people, some women are not for us, even if they look like us. And it's really
07:17hard to accept. But I think what we've learned is not harping on that and not focusing on that. But
07:23those conversations have happened where you thought that this person was an ally in the system. And the
07:31unfortunate part is a lot of people look at it as there can only be one. And that was one of the
07:38conversations, as you mentioned, that I've had when I was coming up in the industry. We had our young
07:43production company and a woman that I thought would be a mentor. Once she started seeing the
07:51traction that our company was getting from a lot of major brands, she looked at me as opposed to a
07:59mentor, a mentee now as competition. And it was disheartening. Till this day, it kind of cuts deep. And you just
08:09have to understand that she's not, you know, she wasn't our people. And no love lost. We kind of
08:16just I understood what that was. So I don't fault her for it. I just kind of, you know, separated my
08:21ties. Were you ever able to have a conversation about it? No, till this day. And she still reaches
08:28out, still wants to get on the VIP list and still wants to be at the dinner tables, et cetera. But and I
08:35hope one day I can have that conversation. But I thought it was just I don't think she was ready to
08:39receive it. I've definitely had that experience, too, in corporate America. And I normally check it
08:45on the spot and just nip it in the bud. Because when you're in an environment that is so confined,
08:53you almost have to deal with it. There's so many stories. But but there are certainly one I remember in
08:59tech. And, you know, there was a woman that I'd promoted a few times in my career. And then,
09:05you know, I found out that she was saying a lot of things and literally trying to get me out of
09:10there. And right away, I put time on calendar and said, hey, sister chat in the coffee room,
09:16right? Two o'clock today. And she shows up. And by the end of the conversation, she was in tears,
09:22apologizing. But I think it's important to remember. And this is what we try to portray in the story
09:27is that everyone has a story, right? If you look at our sister who was kind of reading her down,
09:33you know, she's feeling the anxiety of, you know, aging and getting older and like wondering what
09:39her fate may be in the career space. She's like, she has to hold on, right? That's that generation
09:43where you hold on until you get to the end and retire, right? So that was her point of view. But
09:50then if you look at Carrie, right, who just came back from maternity leave, right? Could we say,
09:55oh, you know, it's just Carrie doing Karen things? Yes. But it's also there's a story behind the story
10:03for her, too. And then the bro culture, they were completely oblivious to what was going on when
10:09they really knew what was going on. And so I think it's important. And what we try to portray is that,
10:13you know, it's really the environment. It's really the system, right? The systemic nature of racism,
10:19sexism, and bias shows up in the behavior of people, but it's really dismantling the system
10:26that has created that environment so that that behavior exists. And so we hope that, you know,
10:31we could go deeper through storytelling to like start with people, but then make you question and
10:37wonder, but why are they behaving this way? Right? And then in the end, you wonder, you know,
10:42the choice ultimately that Minda makes. Yeah, I love that you said that because there's this moment
10:48where you feel this sympathy or empathy for Carrie in a sense, because she's a human being. And I love
10:55that you give the nuance of these characters because they're, they're people trying to do what people
11:00do when everybody's trying to like take care of themselves and whatever. So I had a lot of reactions
11:06to both characters. And there's a Minda. Everybody's had that experience. I think a lot of us have in the
11:10corporate space. Who do you think is the real villain? Is there a real villain in the story?
11:15Or is everybody just doing what humans do sometimes? Unpopular opinion. I think Minda is,
11:23becomes the villain in her own story. Right? And Minda, real Minda has said this, right? There's a role
11:33that we can play in our own demise. There's a role that we can play in our own pain if we stay too long.
11:40Right? If we endure too long, if we suffer in silence. And so I think, you know, while there's
11:46no true villain, we have to question our role in our own suffering. Right? And sometimes we can't just
11:53quit the job, but we can have new tools to navigate those spaces. And so, you know, to me, it was
11:59fascinating because I know I stayed in a lot of spaces and relationships and just unhealthy dynamics
12:06too long. And then I have to question myself, right? Like, what's really keeping me here? And so I think,
12:11you know, it's layered. But I would say there's no true villain other than, you know, the question you
12:18have to ask yourself when you endure in silence or suffer for too long.
12:25What are some of the tools, please? Because that is a very tough thing. Like you said, sometimes we
12:32can't just quit the job. Sometimes we can't just leave companies. Sometimes we can't confront that
12:36mentor. What are some of those tools that we can use to navigate the space healthier, better,
12:43grabbing community on the way? Is it outside of work? Is it inside of work? You both have had a lot of
12:48experience in different work settings. I think it's a combination. I think it's understanding in the
12:54work environment. At the end of the day, it still is the work environment. So we can't expect for
13:00people to coddle you. I think that understanding work culture, figuring out who are your allies, being
13:08strategic is extremely important. You have to have folks that are in your corner. You have to be
13:13strategic about that. But I think also what is extremely important in work culture is understanding
13:19your mental health and protecting your mental health. I think so many of us, kind of, we move until
13:25we're burnt out and we lash out or we just quit. And I think that understanding that therapy, I was anti-therapy.
13:33I'm seeing it on stage B. So proud of you. I was. Because I think as black women, we sometimes don't
13:41understand that we need therapy. We need that outlet. And I think that that's something that I just
13:48started this year. Because being a black woman in America, being a black woman in corporate
13:53America, being an entrepreneur, you have to understand all those things bleed. They bleed into your personal
13:58life, et cetera. And if you don't understand or learn or figure out the tools to deal with life,
14:04you're going to burn out and it's going to eat you up loud.
14:08Shout out to therapy, y'all. We got to shout out therapy. Because it's not like we make the jokes
14:13online and black people don't do this. But we deserve everything everybody else deserves. Like,
14:19and everybody deserves help. And everybody needs an outlet. And therapy isn't a joke. And
14:23congratulations. That's a huge deal. The fact that you even acknowledge it, talk through it,
14:27I really appreciate hearing that. Shout out to Masa. She loves, she's been trying to get me and
14:32Felicia. See, and community matters. I love that. We are seeing a lot of black women actually exit
14:39corporate right now in, you know, huge numbers. What do you two think is next for black women?
14:45You're probably having a lot of conversations. You're in your own spaces. What do you think is
14:49next for us? Well, well, I think it's a couple of things. So for sure, there's something that
14:55they're calling the great breakup, which is women leaders leaving their corporate roles or leadership
15:00positions at the fastest rate in history. That's currently happening. However, we have to acknowledge
15:08that in the last month alone, 103,000 black women, we lost our jobs, right? So is there certainly a
15:19a dynamic of us exiting corporate America? Sure. But we're also losing our jobs and getting laid off
15:26at a disproportionate rate, right? The job loss or the unemployment rate has actually gone down
15:34while the unemployment rate for black women has gone up, right? And so it begs the question of why.
15:41I mean, we know why, but there's that, right? And then also you talk about pay gaps, right? Pay equity,
15:48right? Understanding that black women are disproportionately affected by the wage gap.
15:52But then also you think about just the balancing of it all, motherhood, the stress, wanting to have a
15:58passion project when we're the fastest growing group of entrepreneurs, yet having the least access
16:03the capital, right? And so when you start to unpack the layers, right, often you'll find that we're
16:12leaving because of burnout or we're getting laid off because there's quite frankly an attack on black
16:19women right now. And so I think it's the power in community, right? If our sisters go out and decide to
16:25create a business who are entrepreneurs, who are founders, support them, support them.
16:30It is so scary to take this leap, especially in this economic environment. And then our sisters
16:37who are still in those corporate spaces, support them, like check on your strong friends, right?
16:43The ones that seem like they've got it all together because they have the job are not okay.
16:48And so I would just say, you know, back to the mental health piece, Miata, you know, we have to
16:53understand that the appearance of all of this, I know it's Essence Fest, a lot of us are really
17:00suffering in silence right now. So like check on your sisters out here because I would guarantee
17:05you that, you know, they may need that hug and they may need that, are you okay too?
17:10And sometimes we have to learn how to listen and not respond in the same moment as we're checking
17:15on our friends because we don't always have those tools just because sometimes we just didn't have
17:19a lot of practice. And so checking on our friends also means being willing to just sit in the
17:24uncomfortable, not trying to coach them immediately to the positive and the exact excitement. Does that
17:29make sense? You know, cause that's tough. That's our thing. We are black joy for real. They didn't
17:33just make it up. That's who we are. So just trying to get us to a space where we're also willing to
17:37sit in the discomfort. That's a part of the human experience. So I want to talk about Kyla Pratt,
17:42who, who is excited to see her on screen. Like that's my girl. That's my girl. Incredible choice,
17:48incredible like way of just seeing her. I mean, her elements, her grace on screen. It just,
17:53it all shouted back at me. I'm like, this is why one-on-one is still on repeat. Anyway,
17:57um, why was she the perfect person to play this role and bring the story to life?
18:02Well, I would say that would, that, that was definitely Felicia. That was all Felicia. She had
18:06that vision. Wow. Where did it come from? What were you thinking about? Did you watch one-on-one the night
18:10before? I just knew. I just knew it was just one of those things. Like I try, like, I hope we all do.
18:18to like protect that inner voice, right? To listen to God's voice. And I protect it at all costs.
18:26Although sometimes it gets foggy. Um, and it was so clearly Kyla. Um, I didn't want to audition.
18:34Um, even, you know, the whole crew that we assembled and the production folks, like everybody just said,
18:39you know, we need to go through, we need to, you know, audition 10 people. Well, what about five?
18:43What about this? And, and, you know, then you start going through kind of the analytics of it all.
18:48Well, who has a bigger following? Who has this? Who's, you know, like recency bias? And I said,
18:54no, it's Kyla. And it was just an executive decision. And thank God she said yes, because
18:59Miata made that call. Um, but, but I couldn't imagine anyone else playing Minda Hearts other than
19:06Kyla Pratt and she killed it.
19:07Yeah. Um, another big theme for me was identity and how our corporate life affects our identity
19:18or our career life, our passion, whatever. And for both of you who have, you've changed careers.
19:24You guys have also both been at several different companies, several different brands. I mean,
19:28you've gone through a lot of different stages of yourselves. How do you confront your identity
19:34as you continue to allow that inner voice to, you know, to lead you, to protect that gut? If it's
19:40time to go, it's time to go. If I want to change, I want to change. If it's time to have that conversation
19:43while still confronting, is this my identity? Am I allowed to do this?
19:48You want me to jump in? Yeah, that's a good one. For me, it's just never too high and never too low.
19:54I just try to fly right in the center, right? Um, you know, there were days when I worked in the
20:00entertainment industry and I was doing all these fabulous things. And then I pivoted and worked for
20:04the Alzheimer's association because I was curious about the disease that my grandmother was suffering
20:09from. Um, I think about the pivot from, you know, running a $300 million budget for a trillion
20:15dollar business and now from $300 million budget to one, right? Because I bet on myself. And so I
20:22think it's really understanding bigger than the title, bigger than the money, bigger than the role,
20:29your mission, right? Your purpose. Why am I here? Like, why are we here? What legacy do I want to leave?
20:36What impact do I want to make? And that I try my best to let that be my North Star, but we all fall
20:45flat, right? Like there are moments for sure when I'm like, dang, why did I leave that job?
20:50Right? Like I was balling last year, right? But, but, but again, it's like, but then you check yourself
20:57and you're like, why am I here? Follow the mission, right? Follow the mission. You're going to get further,
21:03faster when you understand the assignment that God has placed on your life. And so for me,
21:10it's trying to stay anchored in that. Um, because if not, then, you know, I'm going to be ridiculous.
21:17Um, and so, so it's that, but, but what, what I have found in this journey is that every single time
21:23you trust your vision and your purpose, you just go higher every time, every time you might take one
21:30step back and then you propel 10 forward every single time is guaranteed. But when we chase the paper
21:36and the money, it's almost guaranteed to crash and burn if you don't have a bigger purpose attached to
21:42that, that, that financial gain that you may receive. Exactly. I would say definitely your gut.
21:49You have to trust your gut. Your gut is, that's God talking to you every single time. And I think that
21:56what has led me throughout my entire career, you know, we, the company started, I left Dow Jones as a
22:02writer, I was a financial reporter, but it was just too rigid. And I felt it. I felt like I just hated
22:07going to work every day. So I left there, you use my 401k and launched a company. And then the company
22:14first started as a PR firm. But again, I wasn't happy. We didn't really love, we saw where the
22:21industry was going. And my gut was telling me it's time to pivot. We pivoted again, and we pivoted into a
22:27production company. And so I think that once you understand exactly what you're saying, V, your,
22:32your North Star has to be something outside of money, outside of external forces, it has to be
22:39something inside, because you're going to know when it's time. How do people find their North Star?
22:45Because I think sometimes, you know, you think you know what it is, and then it changes, and then you
22:49edit it, but you maybe go to other people to be like, is this what I was still doing? Like, how did you guys
22:54actually find it, refine it, and then trust it? For me, my anchor has always been women. I knew
23:01that probably from seven years old. And so for me, once I started to grow and mature, the same way that
23:09I would create a mission statement for a company, or for a nonprofit organization, I created a mission
23:15statement for my life. And I literally run everything through that filter. And it's to advance women globally,
23:22period. Advance women globally. I put it on my car, I put it on my refrigerator, I put it on my
23:29screensaver, because that's the anchor by which I make decisions now. And so I think for anyone who
23:36may be, you know, wondering, like, what's that thing? You know, ask yourself a few simple questions,
23:42but it's usually, you know, in those quiet moments, what would I do if money was not an option?
23:46Right? If I had the luxury to, you know, have, you know, millions of dollars, or if I hit the lotto,
23:53or, you know, I've received this big inheritance tomorrow, and I never had to work again, what would
23:59I do the next day? And that has always led me, you know, back to, you know, for me, it's, you know, to
24:06empower women, right? So other women can thrive and grow. So for me, it's that. But for you, it could be
24:12anything, right? Like, I think it could be health, it could be innovation, it could be, you know,
24:17solving the biggest problems in the world, it could be, you know, impacting my community, and buying
24:22the block, and scaling that, like, whatever it is, getting really crisp and clear around that mission,
24:29for me, has been so helpful. Because if not, again, you know, I would just kind of skate without a guide.
24:35Yana, anything you want to add? She got it covered. I also want to highlight that together,
24:42you both said that taking a step back to process to take your time is also part of the dance to go
24:4810 steps forward. So I love when you said that, because I just wanted to highlight that. I think
24:52I got the permission to let the audience ask a few questions, which I'm very excited about. So, oh, yay!
24:58Okay, mics are, I don't, oh, there is a mic stand right here, if you want to come and line up.
25:08We got questions. I love this. I'm so excited. Empty room, please. Okay, go ahead. Is this mic on? Okay,
25:16cool. Hi, my name's Christina, I'm from New Orleans. I'm finishing my seventh year in teaching and
25:23education. I teach sixth and seventh grade. And what resonated with me with the film was particularly
25:30the scene where she had somebody go into HR, when she went into HR, that scene hit. And so,
25:41because I've had a similar experience, my question is how, I'm no longer at that school, by the way,
25:48so I'm very happy where I am now. But how do you move past that moment to this day? Anytime someone
25:57mentions that school, I'm always like, man, if they have a class act, I'll be a part of that,
26:03due to like, blah, blah, blah. But I want to let go of that anger towards those people who wrong me.
26:10And I'm finding it so difficult to do it. I am in therapy, but I'm still finding,
26:15I am in therapy, but I'm finding it so difficult to be able to, you know, use my gifts to do my
26:23purpose through that. So when you guys had those moments in your career, how were you able to let
26:29that go to push past it so that you could do what, you know, the gift that God gave you?
26:38Well, I think that it's a good thing that you're in therapy. I think that that's helping,
26:42that's going to help a lot. And also helping to, for you to understand that it wasn't you,
26:49is like what Felicia was talking about. That, that was that person and whatever they were dealing with,
26:54and they projected that onto you. And I think kind of understanding that and really sitting with that
27:01that, um, should help, but I know it's hard. Um, and I'm not sure if you'll ever get to a place
27:10of just being okay with it because it's so traumatic. It was traumatic. Um, and I think we don't talk about
27:15that enough. Um, that trauma doesn't happen and it doesn't look the same for everybody. Um, so I think
27:24that that's the first step is definitely having more conversations like the conversations we're having
27:28now. Um, and maybe it is a situation of you confronting that person like Felicia did.
27:33Yeah. I think Miata's right because what I did, I'll share with you what I did because it did help me
27:39in the moment, but I don't know if it was the best solution to be honest. Um, for me, when I started to
27:45harbor that resentment, right? And, and ask myself like, why can't I let this go? I, I put that energy into
27:55just proving everybody wrong, right? Like I started over performing over delivering, becoming hyper
28:04focused on productivity. Um, and it paid off financially, right? I got all the things,
28:11all the promotions, you know, best employee of the year award, right? Whatever. Right. But
28:17at what expense, right? So, so I would just say Miata's response is probably the best one because we can,
28:27as black women especially, go into hyper performance mode, um, and just become like,
28:35we only value ourselves sometimes based on what we produce, what we create, what we give,
28:41when sometimes we deserve to rest too. Thank you guys. Great question. Go ahead.
28:50Hey ladies. My name is Constance. Um, first I just want to say thank you. Um, this was a phenomenal
28:56experience. This was, I believe the first time that I've ever seen my own experience on the screen.
29:01So thank you for that. I am an IT leader in the cannabis space and I am the only black person on my
29:07team and I'm only one of two women on the team. And so I've been in corporate for over 20 years. Um,
29:13I own so many beige outfits that I could dress myself every day for two months and I would be fine.
29:22In fact, I said, when I came to essence, I was only wearing colors and my hair curled natural. Um,
29:30so thank you for that. Um, one of the things that hurt my feelings in the movie was the boss,
29:35the black boss who gave that message to her. It hurt my feelings because that's the message
29:40that I gave my daughters. And I thought that I was protecting them or giving them an edge up,
29:45especially because it took me years to play the game in order for me to continue to be promoted
29:52and for me to be elevated. And so that was an eye opener for me. One of the questions that I had for
29:57you is I'm looking at her expression as she changed her hair and she's walking in with that beige outfit.
30:02And I know that anger is there towards Carrie, but was there also some code switching? Did she feel
30:08like she let herself down in that moment? Yes. And, and I think we've all done it. And
30:18if you could have been on set for that Constance and seeing like Kyla carried that with her for the
30:25next two days, right on set people, people couldn't break character that couldn't release the character
30:33because of, again, that trauma of having to code switch the trauma and what they call in tech,
30:41especially like the cognitive dissonance of, you know, I can be myself with my girls,
30:46but in front of my sister at work, I don't know if I can trust this. Right. And so I think, you know,
30:52it's one of those things because while we sometimes give our kids, um, and our friends the same advice,
31:00right? Like play the game. Um, we have to be honest though. There are benefits to playing the game.
31:08Right. I know sometimes people are like, don't assimilate. Don't change your hair. Be you. Yes.
31:13Yes. It's okay to make that choice, but we have to also understand and grapple with for every choice
31:20that we make, there is a consequence and we have to be okay with that consequence. There have certainly
31:27been days that I've worn the suit and played the game when I didn't feel like it because I knew I had
31:32to do it right now to get where I needed to be. And then once I got into a position where I had a little
31:37bit more freedom to use my voice and be myself, then I made a different choice. And I think releasing
31:45the shame of that too, right? Sometimes we have to do what we got to do. That's the reality. Bills have
31:51to be paid. But once we are in a position back to the earlier point too, to actually be a better boss
31:59than we've ever seen or experienced before, become a better leader, like set a new standard,
32:04create a new model. So maybe, you know, when we are in a position to make decisions, we can actually
32:10change the game in that environment and make it okay for everyone in our space now to come as they
32:15are. So well said. So I am unfortunately hearing that we have to wrap and I'm hoping that our visionaries
32:25will stay around for a few minutes to maybe answer some of the questions. There's only two more people
32:29in line. So if you guys want to say hello at the end, we rarely get a chance to hear the storytellers
32:34talk about the story. So thank you both so much for joining us, for telling us about your heart
32:39and your intention and your reason for being here. Clearly we were affected. We were moved.
32:44I'm not sure if I should keep applying for this job. Like I'm having a lot of thoughts right now.
32:47Um, so anyway, be, yes, I do want to say one thing. And Miata and I talked about this before we came,
32:55we have still not landed a home for this film. And we have had 13 screenings.
33:01Every single one has had standing room only, just like today. Um, and so if you could just, if anyone in the room
33:10knows of folks, because we do want to keep the ownership of it too. And so we are looking for financing to bring it home.
33:18We're certainly looking for a big platform to land it. We've had a lot of bites. Um, but to really do it
33:23right, we want the right partner. So just be loud about it. If you feel, if you feel good about it,
33:28be loud about it, please on social using the hashtag the memo film so that, you know, those folks will
33:35know that we love it and we want to see it on the screen, please. Thank you. I love that. I love that.
33:41With that said, thank you guys so much for joining us. Have a great rest of your essence experience.
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