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Speaker 1: Sheila Johnson is one of the nation's most successful black

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Speaker 1: female entrepreneurs. She helped us start Black Entertainment television. Now

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Speaker 1: she's an owner of a major hospitality company, Salamander, and

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Speaker 1: is also an owner of three major league sports teams.

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Speaker 1: She's also an accomplished musician. Had a chance to sit

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Speaker 1: down with her recently to talk about her extraordinary career.

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Speaker 2: So right now, if I understand it correctly, you.

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Speaker 1: Have been a large developer of a company called BT

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Speaker 1: which we'll talk about surely, and that was very successful.

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Speaker 1: You now are an author with this book, was the

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Speaker 1: best selling book. You also are a philanthropist. You've made

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Speaker 1: a large gift to many places, but in Washington, d C.

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Speaker 2: In the mall. We'll talk about that in a moment.

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Speaker 1: You also are an accomplished musician, a violinist, and you've

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Speaker 1: started symphonies in this city and in the Jordan, and

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Speaker 1: you now are in the hospitality business.

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Speaker 2: So what do you do on the seventh day to

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Speaker 2: you rest?

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Speaker 3: Well, more than anything I have to tell you, I

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Speaker 3: am in the third act of my life, and this

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Speaker 3: has been the happiest I've ever been, you know, Okay, so.

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Speaker 4: And so on the seventh day.

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Speaker 2: I just don't even rest you are also an owner.

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Speaker 1: I should have pointed out of three major sports teams' right, right?

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Speaker 2: And you're the first.

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Speaker 1: Woman, as I understand it, first woman to own three major.

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Speaker 2: Stake in three major sports teams. Is that right?

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Speaker 4: Yes? And we'll say African American.

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Speaker 1: You were approached by the owner then of the I guess,

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Speaker 1: the Washington Wizards and the Washington Caps about maybe buying

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Speaker 1: the Washington Mystics, which the female the women's basketball team.

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Speaker 2: And what did you say.

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Speaker 4: Well, first of all, it's a poland.

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Speaker 3: He did come to me and Susan O'Malley and they said,

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Speaker 3: a Polson says, look, I want you to be the

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Speaker 3: face of the Washington Mystics. And I said, what do

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Speaker 3: you mean to be the face of? He says, I

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Speaker 3: want you to buy this team. He his health was failing,

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Speaker 3: and I I have to tell you, and a lot

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Speaker 3: of women can understand this, we never get these opportunities.

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Speaker 3: So that was the first thing that struck me. And

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Speaker 3: I was flattered. I was really flattered. And I said, well, Abe,

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Speaker 3: what are the financials on this? And he's handed him

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Speaker 3: to me. He says, well, they're not making money, but

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Speaker 3: I was still intrigued about team ownership. So then I

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Speaker 3: called my lawyer, Sandy Ye, and I said, Sandy, I've

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Speaker 3: just been offered a basketball team.

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Speaker 4: He goes, you don't wanna buy a basketball.

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Speaker 3: Team, and I said, it's Sandy. If you were offered

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Speaker 3: this team, who would you do? And he was quiet,

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Speaker 3: and I said, you just answered my question. And so

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Speaker 3: I said, I'll be at your all. And I said,

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Speaker 3: once you get Ted, leonsis on the phone and we

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Speaker 3: talked to him, and I told Ted.

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Speaker 4: I asked Ted.

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Speaker 3: I said, I've just been offered the Washington Mystics, and

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Speaker 3: I know that you want to buy the Wizards and

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Speaker 3: you already own the Caps, and I said, look, I

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Speaker 3: can make you an offer. I said, I would like

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Speaker 3: to buy into Lincoln Holdings, which is what it was then,

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Speaker 3: and I said I'd like to be the first woman

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Speaker 3: and the first African American. I said, I do not

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Speaker 3: think there's any other franchise in the country that can

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Speaker 3: boasts that opportunity. And he says, well, let me go

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Speaker 3: to the other partners and let's see what happens.

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Speaker 4: And that's what happened.

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Speaker 3: So I got it, and I bought into I paid

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Speaker 3: the money.

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Speaker 1: So what happened was you were offered a money losing

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Speaker 1: women's basketball team, and you said, I don't want to

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Speaker 1: just be the face of a money losing basketball team.

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Speaker 2: I want to be in the other sports as well.

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Speaker 2: Is that right?

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Speaker 4: Well, yeah, you know you got to be smart about this.

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Speaker 3: Okay, a very small You know, there's three teams that

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Speaker 3: can share losses and profits.

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Speaker 1: Now you're an owner of the Washington Caps, the Washington Wizards,

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Speaker 1: the Washington Mystics, right, any more sports teams?

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Speaker 4: Well, let's see.

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Speaker 1: Okay, Now, I don't know where you are now in

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Speaker 1: life as a place, and many people would like to

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Speaker 1: be Did you start out where the wealthy father and mother?

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Speaker 4: And they weren't wealthy, they were middle class.

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Speaker 1: Middle class. So you might describe what happened in your

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Speaker 1: family growing up. Because you begin your book with a

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Speaker 1: relatively sad I would say, situation, you might describe what

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Speaker 1: happened in that situation.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, it's a case.

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Speaker 3: And now we're going to go all the way back

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Speaker 3: to the fifties early sixties, and this is a time

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Speaker 3: when women had very little leverage and control over their

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Speaker 3: own lives. My father was one of eight African American

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Speaker 3: neurosurgeons in the country, and that put us in a

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Speaker 3: social status up here. He then decided one night he

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Speaker 3: was just leaving and he just left us cold. And

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Speaker 3: so my mother suddenly went from here to here in society,

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Speaker 3: in the eyes of society.

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Speaker 4: Her friends left her. It was going on.

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Speaker 3: She literally had a nervous breakdown and I was coming in.

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Speaker 3: I was working at JC Penny, and I came in

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Speaker 3: and we found her on the floor in the kitchen

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Speaker 3: and convulsions. And that was a time, at sixteen years old,

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Speaker 3: that I suddenly had to grow up. I had to

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Speaker 3: take care of that family.

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Speaker 1: You were interested in music, right, and you were an

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Speaker 1: accomplished violinist.

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Speaker 4: What had happened?

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Speaker 3: Despite all my father's issues, he did he was a

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Speaker 3: great pianist. Okay, I don't know where it came from,

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Speaker 3: but he could sit down and play anything. And there

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Speaker 3: was always music in our household. My mother even played

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Speaker 3: the piano. And when we moved to Mayward, Illinois, District

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Speaker 3: eighty nine said that it was mandatory that would pick

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Speaker 3: up a music instrument. And that's when I picked up

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Speaker 3: the violin and I just fell in love with this instrument.

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Speaker 4: That instrument was the foundation of my life.

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Speaker 3: It was my sanctuary and I became really good at it.

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Speaker 1: So you graduated from high school and you went to college.

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Speaker 4: Where University of Illinois and Champagne and.

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Speaker 2: Were you playing music on the side.

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Speaker 4: No.

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Speaker 3: I was in a very middle class community. I didn't

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Speaker 3: know about SAT preps. I didn't know about a lot

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Speaker 3: of things in preparation for colleges that the upper class

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Speaker 3: white people had. So the problem was is I went

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Speaker 3: and they said you got to go take an ssat test,

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Speaker 3: and I'm like, what's an essat test?

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Speaker 4: I went once Saturday and took it.

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Speaker 3: I had the lowest SAT scores you can imagine. And

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Speaker 3: when I told my music teacher it high school, I said,

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Speaker 3: I don't understand these scores. She says, oh my god,

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Speaker 3: these are We're really bad. And she said, but don't

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Speaker 3: you worry. She says, I want you to go down

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Speaker 3: an audition at the University of Illinois and Champagne, which

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Speaker 3: I did, and I played in front of Paul Rowland,

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Speaker 3: who was also instrumental in bringing Suzuki, along with John Kendall,

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Speaker 3: into the country, and he says, I'm taking you into

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Speaker 3: this university.

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Speaker 4: I got full scholarship. And it was because of my

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Speaker 4: musical skills that I got in there. All right.

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Speaker 2: So you went there and you majored in violin.

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Speaker 3: I majored in music in performance and music education, okay.

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Speaker 1: And so you were doing well there, and you expected

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Speaker 1: to be a professional musician.

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Speaker 3: I was, yes, And I played in the Chicago Civic

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Speaker 3: Symphony and under John Martineau in the Chicago Symphony, and

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Speaker 3: then from there moved to the East Coast, and that's

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Speaker 3: where I settled in this area and started teaching at

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Speaker 3: Sidwell Friends and put together one of the most magnificent

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Speaker 3: middle school orchestras.

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Speaker 4: That orchestra grew.

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Speaker 3: I left Sidwell in seventy two, took that orchestra and

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Speaker 3: bought a house on Brandywine Street, where that orchestra grew

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Speaker 3: to one hundred and ten students.

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Speaker 4: And that orchestra was so good.

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Speaker 3: We played at the old Post Office Pavilion which is

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Speaker 3: now that was the Trump Hotel, now the Waldorf and

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Speaker 3: Queen nor that whole delegation came in and heard that

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Speaker 3: orchestra and they went, oh my god. We were invited

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Speaker 3: to Amman, Jordan to play at the largest cultural festival

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Speaker 3: in the Middle East called Drash and from that point

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Speaker 3: on we got invited back six or seven times to

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Speaker 3: perform over there, and I received the highest honor in

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Speaker 3: education from King Hussein.

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Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, you still play the violin.

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Speaker 3: I still had my violin. I picked up the cello

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Speaker 3: during covid Yo Yoma give you lessons or no.

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Speaker 4: I wish he would.

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Speaker 2: One of the reasons that.

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Speaker 1: You became financially successful was a company you helped to build.

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Speaker 2: Yes, all Black Entertainment Television.

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Speaker 4: That's right.

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Speaker 2: When did you start that company?

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Speaker 3: We started, I can tell you we went on the

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Speaker 3: air January twenty fifth, nineteen seventy nine. Before that was

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Speaker 3: just getting everything in place. I ended up having to

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Speaker 3: sell my violin, my precious violin that my parents mortgaged

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Speaker 3: the house for to pay the rent on the offices.

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Speaker 3: And it was the old American Trial Lawyers Building, which

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Speaker 3: is now a hotel in Georgetown. But it was just

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Speaker 3: these sacrifices that you have to make in life.

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Speaker 1: So you started this with somebody who met when you

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Speaker 1: were in college.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, So.

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Speaker 1: What was the concept behind black Entertainment television?

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Speaker 2: What were you trying to do? Why was there need

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Speaker 2: for bet?

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Speaker 4: What you have to understand BT.

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Speaker 3: Was born during the birth of all cable you know,

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Speaker 3: that was saying in.

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Speaker 4: Bloomberg, you name them.

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Speaker 3: Everybody started these cable networks, but what they weren't addressing

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Speaker 3: was the voice of the African American community. And so

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Speaker 3: when Bob was working with the National Cable Television Association,

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Speaker 3: he had to take a senior citizen up to the

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Speaker 3: hill to try to get government approval and some money

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Speaker 3: to start a senior citizen channel. They turned him down.

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Speaker 3: He threw the proposal in the trash. Bob pulled it out,

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Speaker 3: we brought it home. He says, you need to look

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Speaker 3: at this. I'm crossing out senior.

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Speaker 4: I write in black, you know. And I said, you know.

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Speaker 3: And we made some tweaks, and I said, but how

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Speaker 3: are we going to get money for this? And then

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Speaker 3: we realized there's John Alone in Denver, who owned all

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Speaker 3: the cable stations across the country. Took it to him.

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Speaker 3: He says, this is the best idea since slice bread.

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Speaker 3: He immediately wrote a check for five hundred thousand dollars

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Speaker 3: to get us started. But you know, in the television

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Speaker 3: business it goes like that.

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Speaker 2: It was like that in every business. But okay, I know.

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Speaker 3: But anyway, he really was our guardian angel all the

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Speaker 3: way up to the sale of Viacom.

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Speaker 4: Okay, we had to pay him back.

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Speaker 3: We paid him back every penny that he invested into

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Speaker 3: beet BT.

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Speaker 1: What you and your then husband ran it for a

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Speaker 1: roughly twenty years, was it? And then you decided to

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Speaker 1: sell it to buy a coom for a very nice price.

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Speaker 4: At the time, Well, I didn't know it was going

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Speaker 4: to go for that.

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Speaker 3: I just remember being in Times Square and I saw

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Speaker 3: the tick or take thing going around and said BT

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Speaker 3: was told for three billion dollars.

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Speaker 4: And I'm like, oh, this is perfect. Let me call

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Speaker 4: my lawyer so I can.

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Speaker 1: So you sold it, you split up the proceeds, Yes,

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Speaker 1: and later you decided that you would try to spend

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Speaker 1: some time in a place called Middleburg, where you had

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Speaker 1: bought a house. Middleburg was not the most welcoming place

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Speaker 1: for African Americans.

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Speaker 4: Was it. No, not at all.

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Speaker 1: Where'd the idea come from the build a resort hotel there?

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Speaker 3: Well, read the book, But anyway, it was it was

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Speaker 3: a town that I fell in love with. First of all,

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Speaker 3: I had to buy a mark, I mean a gun

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Speaker 3: shop that had a Confederate flag in the window.

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Speaker 4: I wanted to get rid of that, so I bought

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Speaker 4: the building right Sandy.

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Speaker 3: There were some trinks I had to make there to

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Speaker 3: make it livable, and I built a performing arts center

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Speaker 3: for the Hills School. So there were just some things

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Speaker 3: that needed you know, you got to build a foundation there.

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Speaker 4: And so then a broker came to me and said.

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Speaker 3: Look, Pamela Harriman has passed away, as you know, and

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Speaker 3: this was the last of the estate. So there's three

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Speaker 3: hundred and forty acres there, and they said, would you

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Speaker 3: be interested.

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Speaker 4: I knew the.

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Speaker 3: Town was financially bankrupt, and I said, I knew if

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Speaker 3: I could do something as a businesswoman, I needed to

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Speaker 3: put an economic engine in that place and an anchor.

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Speaker 3: So when I went up on the land, I knew

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Speaker 3: immediately what I needed to do, and that was to

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Speaker 3: build that I was very naive about it.

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Speaker 4: I remember having a vision of what I wanted to.

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Speaker 3: Do, but I also had a party up there to

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Speaker 3: introduce my idea and my vision. The next morning I

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Speaker 3: went was on my way to Dulles Airport and there

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Speaker 3: were signs on both sides of the roads that said

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Speaker 3: don't be eating Middleburg, and I called my lawyer who

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Speaker 3: was sitting here, and I said, you know what, We've

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Speaker 3: got a problem. And that went on for the next

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Speaker 3: ten years. It was the fight of my life. And

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Speaker 3: I will tell you with everything that I went through,

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Speaker 3: it's all with all in the newspapers, everything. But when

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Speaker 3: the final vote went down, I won by one vote.

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Speaker 1: One vote was the right to build the hotel. You wanted,

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Speaker 1: that's right, so you started building it. But then what happened.

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Speaker 4: There was accession hit.

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Speaker 3: I got a call from the bank and they said,

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Speaker 3: you better them offball this for a while and we'll

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Speaker 3: give you the green light when its started again.

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Speaker 4: But the other thing I want you all to know

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Speaker 4: is a woman.

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Speaker 3: Even with all of my money that I had at

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Speaker 3: the time, I could not get a bank loan to

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Speaker 3: build it. I had to use my own money to

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Speaker 3: build that resort because.

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Speaker 4: I had.

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Speaker 3: I don't know, I was a woman, and I just

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Speaker 3: could not get the bank loan.

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Speaker 2: So ultimately, though, you just you went ahead.

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Speaker 1: The reception kind of went away, and you decided to

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Speaker 1: build it with your mobile money.

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Speaker 3: Then the bank called and said you can proceed now, okay,

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Speaker 3: But I still had to use all my own money

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Speaker 3: to finish that off.

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Speaker 2: Okay, so you built it. How many rooms was it initially?

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Speaker 4: It was?

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Speaker 2: It up?

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Speaker 3: Well, we started with sixty eight and then it grew

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Speaker 3: and it grew and it grew. So now that was

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Speaker 3: the one one hundred and sixty eight and that's where

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Speaker 3: the town put the plug on me. That that's what

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Speaker 3: I do. However, I was able to get out of

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Speaker 3: that to build forty nine homes which are going up now.

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Speaker 3: And I was able to also broke a deal where

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Speaker 3: the town hall. I was able to lease a piece

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Speaker 3: of the property to the town. They have a town hall,

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Speaker 3: and I have got the police department on my property.

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Speaker 1: So now, so you decided to build this hotel in Middelburg,

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Speaker 1: And why did you call it Salamander?

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Speaker 4: Oh, this is a great story. So when I moved

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Speaker 4: to that area and I decided to buy.

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Speaker 3: The farm where I'm living now, there was a guy

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Speaker 3: by the name of Bill Ildasaker who owned the property.

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Speaker 3: I kind of knew the name because his brother was

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Speaker 3: teaching at Princeton or something like that, but he had

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Speaker 3: never really lived at the farm, and he had a

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Speaker 3: name for the farm called Cottswald or something like that,

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Speaker 3: which I did not want, and so I said who

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Speaker 3: had the farm before?

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Speaker 4: And they said it was Bruce Sunlan.

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Speaker 3: I contacted Bruce Sunlan and asked him what was the

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Speaker 3: name of his farm before, and he said it was Salamander,

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Speaker 3: and I said, well, where did that name come from?

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Speaker 3: Bruce Sunlan was a fighter pilot that was shot down

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Speaker 3: over Nazi occupied Belgium.

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Speaker 4: His entire unit was captured.

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Speaker 3: He was able to get out across.

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Speaker 4: Europe and ended up an.

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Speaker 3: Ally territory of France. He fought for briefly for the

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Speaker 3: French resistance. The US then came to him and said, look,

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Speaker 3: we have got to go in and we have to

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Speaker 3: rescue the rest of your unit out of the pow camp.

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Speaker 3: This is a true story, the story of Hogan's heroes.

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Speaker 4: That is Bruce.

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Speaker 3: Sundlon, that was where the TV show came from. And

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Speaker 3: he says, well, what does salamander mean? And they said, mythically,

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Speaker 3: it's the only animal that could walk through fire and

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Speaker 3: still come out alive, which I loved, but you know, realistically,

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Speaker 3: if you cut off its limbs, they regenerate. And it

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Speaker 3: just hit at that time a nerve with me and

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Speaker 3: I said, I need that brand and I'm going to

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Speaker 3: brand the Salamander.

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Speaker 1: So Salamander. Was your original idea was to build a

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Speaker 1: luxury resort there. Why did you decide to build more

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Speaker 1: hotels or by other ones? Was that your original idea

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Speaker 1: or just to build one or miltmore.

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Speaker 4: No, it's just.

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Speaker 3: That after the success of building the resort in Middleburgh

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Speaker 3: and it just took off. You know, they said, if

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Speaker 3: you build it, they'll come. And then after I hired

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Speaker 3: the most exceptional team I could have put together and

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Speaker 3: they're still with me. And we were so successful with

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Speaker 3: the resort out there, we decided to expand.

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Speaker 2: Now that you're one of.

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Speaker 1: The I think wealthiest African American women in the United States,

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Speaker 1: I think that's fair to say you don't suffer any

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Speaker 1: gender or racial discrimination.

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Speaker 2: Is that right?

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Speaker 3: I'll come out it continues to go on. It's something

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Speaker 3: that I continue to address. I normally address it through

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Speaker 3: my company by making sure that I hire diverse minds, people.

355
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Speaker 4: Of color, women of color, men of color.

356
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Speaker 3: And when Kwame Alawache lost his restaurant at the Intercontinental

357
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Speaker 3: down of the war, and it was written about in

358
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Speaker 3: the Washington Post, I called him immediately and I said,

359
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Speaker 3: I want you to come to Salamander. We have been

360
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Speaker 3: together ever since, and we decided to put this family

361
00:19:10,280 --> 00:19:14,119
Speaker 3: reunion together to bring chefs of color, both men and women,

362
00:19:14,840 --> 00:19:18,119
Speaker 3: and so may as from all across the country. We

363
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Speaker 3: have forty one chefs to come and to really discuss

364
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Speaker 3: the issues that are going on in this country. We've

365
00:19:25,400 --> 00:19:28,399
Speaker 3: got to address these issues. And as you know, I

366
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,679
Speaker 3: put fifty kids through the Kennedy School at Harvard, and

367
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Speaker 3: these are young people from underserved communities that I paid

368
00:19:37,119 --> 00:19:40,400
Speaker 3: for the whole education, and they are now so successful.

369
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Speaker 4: But this is something that we have to do.

370
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Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about another sport that you have been

371
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Speaker 1: involved with.

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Speaker 4: Yes, your daughter, as you.

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Speaker 1: Mentioned, was a champion equestrian, which is a very inexpensive sport.

374
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Speaker 3: Right, if anyone wants to buy some horses, I've got

375
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Speaker 3: a few there.

376
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Speaker 1: One time, your daughter says to you, why don't you

377
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Speaker 1: get on a horse and ride.

378
00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,400
Speaker 3: What happened then, Well, we were out riding one day

379
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Speaker 3: and then she was saying, mommy got to learn to

380
00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,920
Speaker 3: jump over the logs and everything. So we went back

381
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Speaker 3: into the indoor arena and she was showing me how

382
00:20:18,400 --> 00:20:20,680
Speaker 3: to do it, and I don't know whether the horse

383
00:20:20,760 --> 00:20:23,760
Speaker 3: got stung by a bee or what happened. But I

384
00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:26,760
Speaker 3: got bucked off and she kept yelling let go of

385
00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:29,719
Speaker 3: the reins, which I didn't do, and the horse stepped

386
00:20:29,760 --> 00:20:33,200
Speaker 3: on this side of my body and I could hear

387
00:20:33,320 --> 00:20:37,520
Speaker 3: crunch all in. My ribs on front and back are broken,

388
00:20:39,160 --> 00:20:42,639
Speaker 3: and I was taken. I was in the hospital for

389
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Speaker 3: a couple of weeks. Missed my heart by about an inch.

390
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Speaker 2: So you're putting back on a horse since then?

391
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Speaker 4: Never, I would never do it.

392
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Speaker 3: I just laid there on the ground and the horse

393
00:20:55,119 --> 00:20:57,200
Speaker 3: kept nudging me, and I just said, God, if you

394
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Speaker 3: just let me live, I will never get back on

395
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Speaker 3: another horse.

396
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Speaker 2: Then.

397
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Speaker 1: Well, but you have been helping horses in one sense.

398
00:21:03,720 --> 00:21:07,520
Speaker 1: There's a stable on the National Mall, right, That is

399
00:21:07,560 --> 00:21:10,920
Speaker 1: the stable that the park I guess park rangers usual

400
00:21:10,960 --> 00:21:13,960
Speaker 1: the US Park US Park Police hues for the horses

401
00:21:13,960 --> 00:21:16,400
Speaker 1: that they have up and down the mall. So who

402
00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,120
Speaker 1: came to you and said, guess what, we need new

403
00:21:18,119 --> 00:21:19,639
Speaker 1: stables and you should put up the money.

404
00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,000
Speaker 3: No, As you know, I joined the board of the

405
00:21:22,040 --> 00:21:24,919
Speaker 3: trust for the National Mall and they were giving me

406
00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:28,359
Speaker 3: the low down on you and everything that you've put

407
00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:36,479
Speaker 3: into our wonderful front yard, and all of a sudden

408
00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:39,720
Speaker 3: I heard horses in the background, and I said, what's

409
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:41,800
Speaker 3: over there? And they said, well's for the US park

410
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:44,760
Speaker 3: Police horses, aren't I said, well, where are they? I'd

411
00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:46,520
Speaker 3: like to take a look at and they said, you

412
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,520
Speaker 3: really don't need to.

413
00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:49,080
Speaker 4: Look at that.

414
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Speaker 3: And I know Catherine Townsend's here and she's going to

415
00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:54,760
Speaker 3: cut my throat when I say this, but I did

416
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Speaker 3: go over there and I said, you know, this is

417
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Speaker 3: what I want to do. We had the park lea

418
00:22:01,480 --> 00:22:06,840
Speaker 3: in trailers or whatever you call them. It was terrible,

419
00:22:07,520 --> 00:22:12,479
Speaker 3: and the horses were really in unsanitary conditions as far

420
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Speaker 3: as I was concerned of what I'm used to. Catherine,

421
00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,680
Speaker 3: don't get mad at me. But anyway, I just said,

422
00:22:18,800 --> 00:22:20,760
Speaker 3: this is going to be my project and this is

423
00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,040
Speaker 3: what I want to do. So now, if you go

424
00:22:23,160 --> 00:22:25,760
Speaker 3: on to the mall right, I don't know how many

425
00:22:25,840 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 3: hundreds of feet down from the Lincoln Monument, you see

426
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:34,600
Speaker 3: the most incredible stables for these horses, and they're out there.

427
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Speaker 3: One of my horses, Chief is right there.

428
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Speaker 2: Okay.

429
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Speaker 4: So it was my job.

430
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Speaker 3: To raise the I guess was thirty million dollars to

431
00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:49,280
Speaker 3: get that thing up, and we did it and it

432
00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:50,320
Speaker 3: is just amazing.

433
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Speaker 1: Let me ask you what's next for Shielda Johnson. Are

434
00:22:54,040 --> 00:22:55,880
Speaker 1: you going to run for office? You're going to become

435
00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:58,240
Speaker 1: a cabinet officer and ambassador anything.

436
00:23:01,560 --> 00:23:02,080
Speaker 4: I don't know.

437
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:06,040
Speaker 3: I'm just gonna continue to focus on my company and

438
00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:11,040
Speaker 3: try to help encourage so many women and especially young

439
00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:13,880
Speaker 3: women out there, to really find themselves.

440
00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,840
Speaker 4: I want to read something to you, Okay, to the audience.

441
00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 3: Sixteen and a half years ago, it's really now. Seventeen

442
00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:25,720
Speaker 3: had passed since my divorce from Bob, exactly half the

443
00:23:25,760 --> 00:23:26,919
Speaker 3: time we had been together.

444
00:23:27,080 --> 00:23:28,920
Speaker 4: I was finally free.

445
00:23:29,119 --> 00:23:31,119
Speaker 3: If I could go back in time and talk to

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Speaker 3: my younger self, I would tell her this, Trust your instincts.

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Speaker 3: Get to know who you are before you give yourself

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Speaker 3: to someone else. Believe that you can find happiness and

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Speaker 3: that you deserve it. You're going to be Okay.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to hear more of my interviews. You

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Speaker 1: can subscribe and download my podcast on Spotify, Apple, or

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Speaker 1: wherever you listen.