WEBVTT - Sheila Johnson 0:00:03.480 --> 0:00:06.240 Sheila Johnson is one of the nation's most successful black 0:00:06.320 --> 0:00:10.440 female entrepreneurs. She helped us start Black Entertainment television. Now 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.680 she's an owner of a major hospitality company, Salamander, and 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.360 is also an owner of three major league sports teams. 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.280 She's also an accomplished musician. Had a chance to sit 0:00:19.320 --> 0:00:21.760 down with her recently to talk about her extraordinary career. 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:24.800 So right now, if I understand it correctly, you. 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:30.840 Have been a large developer of a company called BT 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.680 which we'll talk about surely, and that was very successful. 0:00:34.760 --> 0:00:38.320 You now are an author with this book, was the 0:00:38.400 --> 0:00:41.840 best selling book. You also are a philanthropist. You've made 0:00:41.840 --> 0:00:44.320 a large gift to many places, but in Washington, d C. 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:46.760 In the mall. We'll talk about that in a moment. 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:51.279 You also are an accomplished musician, a violinist, and you've 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:55.120 started symphonies in this city and in the Jordan, and 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:57.520 you now are in the hospitality business. 0:00:57.520 --> 0:00:59.320 So what do you do on the seventh day to 0:00:59.400 --> 0:00:59.800 you rest? 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:05.000 Well, more than anything I have to tell you, I 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:08.240 am in the third act of my life, and this 0:01:08.319 --> 0:01:14.440 has been the happiest I've ever been, you know, Okay, so. 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:17.160 And so on the seventh day. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.959 I just don't even rest you are also an owner. 0:01:20.959 --> 0:01:25.560 I should have pointed out of three major sports teams' right, right? 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:29.160 And you're the first. 0:01:28.840 --> 0:01:32.280 Woman, as I understand it, first woman to own three major. 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:35.480 Stake in three major sports teams. Is that right? 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:37.640 Yes? And we'll say African American. 0:01:39.440 --> 0:01:44.199 You were approached by the owner then of the I guess, 0:01:44.240 --> 0:01:49.360 the Washington Wizards and the Washington Caps about maybe buying 0:01:49.360 --> 0:01:52.720 the Washington Mystics, which the female the women's basketball team. 0:01:53.000 --> 0:01:54.200 And what did you say. 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:57.440 Well, first of all, it's a poland. 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:02.040 He did come to me and Susan O'Malley and they said, 0:02:02.200 --> 0:02:04.000 a Polson says, look, I want you to be the 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.760 face of the Washington Mystics. And I said, what do 0:02:06.840 --> 0:02:08.320 you mean to be the face of? He says, I 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:12.080 want you to buy this team. He his health was failing, 0:02:12.960 --> 0:02:15.480 and I I have to tell you, and a lot 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:19.320 of women can understand this, we never get these opportunities. 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:23.400 So that was the first thing that struck me. And 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:28.480 I was flattered. I was really flattered. And I said, well, Abe, 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:31.440 what are the financials on this? And he's handed him 0:02:31.440 --> 0:02:36.080 to me. He says, well, they're not making money, but 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:40.440 I was still intrigued about team ownership. So then I 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.959 called my lawyer, Sandy Ye, and I said, Sandy, I've 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:45.600 just been offered a basketball team. 0:02:45.600 --> 0:02:47.839 He goes, you don't wanna buy a basketball. 0:02:47.280 --> 0:02:52.480 Team, and I said, it's Sandy. If you were offered 0:02:52.520 --> 0:02:55.520 this team, who would you do? And he was quiet, 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.840 and I said, you just answered my question. And so 0:02:58.919 --> 0:03:02.720 I said, I'll be at your all. And I said, 0:03:02.800 --> 0:03:05.400 once you get Ted, leonsis on the phone and we 0:03:06.160 --> 0:03:07.680 talked to him, and I told Ted. 0:03:08.240 --> 0:03:09.040 I asked Ted. 0:03:09.160 --> 0:03:13.000 I said, I've just been offered the Washington Mystics, and 0:03:13.040 --> 0:03:15.720 I know that you want to buy the Wizards and 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:18.560 you already own the Caps, and I said, look, I 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.240 can make you an offer. I said, I would like 0:03:21.280 --> 0:03:24.400 to buy into Lincoln Holdings, which is what it was then, 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:26.880 and I said I'd like to be the first woman 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:29.560 and the first African American. I said, I do not 0:03:29.720 --> 0:03:33.400 think there's any other franchise in the country that can 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:37.120 boasts that opportunity. And he says, well, let me go 0:03:37.160 --> 0:03:39.320 to the other partners and let's see what happens. 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:40.640 And that's what happened. 0:03:40.680 --> 0:03:43.360 So I got it, and I bought into I paid 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:43.880 the money. 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.360 So what happened was you were offered a money losing 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.040 women's basketball team, and you said, I don't want to 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:53.400 just be the face of a money losing basketball team. 0:03:53.400 --> 0:03:55.440 I want to be in the other sports as well. 0:03:55.520 --> 0:03:56.040 Is that right? 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.440 Well, yeah, you know you got to be smart about this. 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:01.920 Okay, a very small You know, there's three teams that 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:04.800 can share losses and profits. 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.680 Now you're an owner of the Washington Caps, the Washington Wizards, 0:04:08.760 --> 0:04:11.880 the Washington Mystics, right, any more sports teams? 0:04:12.920 --> 0:04:14.680 Well, let's see. 0:04:15.200 --> 0:04:17.760 Okay, Now, I don't know where you are now in 0:04:17.800 --> 0:04:19.760 life as a place, and many people would like to 0:04:19.760 --> 0:04:23.200 be Did you start out where the wealthy father and mother? 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.760 And they weren't wealthy, they were middle class. 0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.800 Middle class. So you might describe what happened in your 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:31.440 family growing up. Because you begin your book with a 0:04:31.680 --> 0:04:35.159 relatively sad I would say, situation, you might describe what 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:36.600 happened in that situation. 0:04:36.800 --> 0:04:38.160 Yeah, it's a case. 0:04:38.440 --> 0:04:41.719 And now we're going to go all the way back 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:47.680 to the fifties early sixties, and this is a time 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:51.400 when women had very little leverage and control over their 0:04:51.400 --> 0:04:55.160 own lives. My father was one of eight African American 0:04:55.200 --> 0:05:00.200 neurosurgeons in the country, and that put us in a 0:05:00.320 --> 0:05:05.240 social status up here. He then decided one night he 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:09.240 was just leaving and he just left us cold. And 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:14.120 so my mother suddenly went from here to here in society, 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.200 in the eyes of society. 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.159 Her friends left her. It was going on. 0:05:18.279 --> 0:05:21.760 She literally had a nervous breakdown and I was coming in. 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.400 I was working at JC Penny, and I came in 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:27.640 and we found her on the floor in the kitchen 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:33.280 and convulsions. And that was a time, at sixteen years old, 0:05:33.279 --> 0:05:35.320 that I suddenly had to grow up. I had to 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:36.480 take care of that family. 0:05:36.720 --> 0:05:41.600 You were interested in music, right, and you were an 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:42.920 accomplished violinist. 0:05:43.720 --> 0:05:44.640 What had happened? 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.520 Despite all my father's issues, he did he was a 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.760 great pianist. Okay, I don't know where it came from, 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:55.320 but he could sit down and play anything. And there 0:05:55.360 --> 0:05:57.799 was always music in our household. My mother even played 0:05:57.800 --> 0:06:01.880 the piano. And when we moved to Mayward, Illinois, District 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:05.240 eighty nine said that it was mandatory that would pick 0:06:05.279 --> 0:06:07.240 up a music instrument. And that's when I picked up 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.560 the violin and I just fell in love with this instrument. 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.599 That instrument was the foundation of my life. 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:17.360 It was my sanctuary and I became really good at it. 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:21.640 So you graduated from high school and you went to college. 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.160 Where University of Illinois and Champagne and. 0:06:24.160 --> 0:06:26.239 Were you playing music on the side. 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:27.039 No. 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:33.400 I was in a very middle class community. I didn't 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:38.000 know about SAT preps. I didn't know about a lot 0:06:38.000 --> 0:06:41.560 of things in preparation for colleges that the upper class 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:46.479 white people had. So the problem was is I went 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:49.240 and they said you got to go take an ssat test, 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:51.000 and I'm like, what's an essat test? 0:06:51.080 --> 0:06:52.760 I went once Saturday and took it. 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:57.040 I had the lowest SAT scores you can imagine. And 0:06:57.080 --> 0:07:01.040 when I told my music teacher it high school, I said, 0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:04.640 I don't understand these scores. She says, oh my god, 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:09.039 these are We're really bad. And she said, but don't 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.200 you worry. She says, I want you to go down 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.400 an audition at the University of Illinois and Champagne, which 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.000 I did, and I played in front of Paul Rowland, 0:07:17.280 --> 0:07:21.000 who was also instrumental in bringing Suzuki, along with John Kendall, 0:07:21.440 --> 0:07:25.120 into the country, and he says, I'm taking you into 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:25.880 this university. 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:28.040 I got full scholarship. And it was because of my 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:32.520 musical skills that I got in there. All right. 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:34.840 So you went there and you majored in violin. 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:41.520 I majored in music in performance and music education, okay. 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:44.080 And so you were doing well there, and you expected 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:45.400 to be a professional musician. 0:07:46.240 --> 0:07:49.080 I was, yes, And I played in the Chicago Civic 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:53.200 Symphony and under John Martineau in the Chicago Symphony, and 0:07:53.240 --> 0:07:58.680 then from there moved to the East Coast, and that's 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:02.400 where I settled in this area and started teaching at 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:07.400 Sidwell Friends and put together one of the most magnificent 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:09.120 middle school orchestras. 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:10.880 That orchestra grew. 0:08:10.960 --> 0:08:14.680 I left Sidwell in seventy two, took that orchestra and 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:20.440 bought a house on Brandywine Street, where that orchestra grew 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:22.240 to one hundred and ten students. 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:25.080 And that orchestra was so good. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.720 We played at the old Post Office Pavilion which is 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:32.880 now that was the Trump Hotel, now the Waldorf and 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.760 Queen nor that whole delegation came in and heard that 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.880 orchestra and they went, oh my god. We were invited 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:43.920 to Amman, Jordan to play at the largest cultural festival 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.680 in the Middle East called Drash and from that point 0:08:47.760 --> 0:08:51.560 on we got invited back six or seven times to 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.880 perform over there, and I received the highest honor in 0:08:55.080 --> 0:08:56.760 education from King Hussein. 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:01.920 Okay, yeah, you still play the violin. 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:04.880 I still had my violin. I picked up the cello 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.520 during covid Yo Yoma give you lessons or no. 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:09.640 I wish he would. 0:09:10.120 --> 0:09:11.440 One of the reasons that. 0:09:11.320 --> 0:09:14.760 You became financially successful was a company you helped to build. 0:09:15.040 --> 0:09:17.040 Yes, all Black Entertainment Television. 0:09:17.160 --> 0:09:17.640 That's right. 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:19.720 When did you start that company? 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.280 We started, I can tell you we went on the 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.400 air January twenty fifth, nineteen seventy nine. Before that was 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:29.839 just getting everything in place. I ended up having to 0:09:29.920 --> 0:09:34.320 sell my violin, my precious violin that my parents mortgaged 0:09:34.360 --> 0:09:37.920 the house for to pay the rent on the offices. 0:09:38.000 --> 0:09:41.319 And it was the old American Trial Lawyers Building, which 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:46.000 is now a hotel in Georgetown. But it was just 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:48.640 these sacrifices that you have to make in life. 0:09:49.360 --> 0:09:52.520 So you started this with somebody who met when you 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:53.240 were in college. 0:09:53.520 --> 0:09:59.640 Yeah, So. 0:10:01.080 --> 0:10:04.920 What was the concept behind black Entertainment television? 0:10:04.920 --> 0:10:06.880 What were you trying to do? Why was there need 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:07.520 for bet? 0:10:08.400 --> 0:10:11.760 What you have to understand BT. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.400 Was born during the birth of all cable you know, 0:10:16.600 --> 0:10:17.720 that was saying in. 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:20.760 Bloomberg, you name them. 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:25.640 Everybody started these cable networks, but what they weren't addressing 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:30.080 was the voice of the African American community. And so 0:10:30.200 --> 0:10:34.080 when Bob was working with the National Cable Television Association, 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:36.840 he had to take a senior citizen up to the 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:41.160 hill to try to get government approval and some money 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:44.160 to start a senior citizen channel. They turned him down. 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:49.200 He threw the proposal in the trash. Bob pulled it out, 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.320 we brought it home. He says, you need to look 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:54.640 at this. I'm crossing out senior. 0:10:54.920 --> 0:10:58.360 I write in black, you know. And I said, you know. 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.120 And we made some tweaks, and I said, but how 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:04.160 are we going to get money for this? And then 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:08.480 we realized there's John Alone in Denver, who owned all 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:12.160 the cable stations across the country. Took it to him. 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:14.840 He says, this is the best idea since slice bread. 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:19.520 He immediately wrote a check for five hundred thousand dollars 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:22.520 to get us started. But you know, in the television 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:24.360 business it goes like that. 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:26.880 It was like that in every business. But okay, I know. 0:11:28.480 --> 0:11:32.079 But anyway, he really was our guardian angel all the 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.000 way up to the sale of Viacom. 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:36.080 Okay, we had to pay him back. 0:11:36.760 --> 0:11:39.720 We paid him back every penny that he invested into 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:42.280 beet BT. 0:11:42.720 --> 0:11:45.599 What you and your then husband ran it for a 0:11:45.679 --> 0:11:48.240 roughly twenty years, was it? And then you decided to 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.400 sell it to buy a coom for a very nice price. 0:11:51.440 --> 0:11:53.560 At the time, Well, I didn't know it was going 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:54.200 to go for that. 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.880 I just remember being in Times Square and I saw 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.640 the tick or take thing going around and said BT 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:01.400 was told for three billion dollars. 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.559 And I'm like, oh, this is perfect. Let me call 0:12:03.640 --> 0:12:05.400 my lawyer so I can. 0:12:06.120 --> 0:12:10.360 So you sold it, you split up the proceeds, Yes, 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.840 and later you decided that you would try to spend 0:12:14.840 --> 0:12:17.600 some time in a place called Middleburg, where you had 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.920 bought a house. Middleburg was not the most welcoming place 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:22.400 for African Americans. 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:23.480 Was it. No, not at all. 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:26.560 Where'd the idea come from the build a resort hotel there? 0:12:27.400 --> 0:12:33.520 Well, read the book, But anyway, it was it was 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.520 a town that I fell in love with. First of all, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.559 I had to buy a mark, I mean a gun 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:42.400 shop that had a Confederate flag in the window. 0:12:42.440 --> 0:12:43.960 I wanted to get rid of that, so I bought 0:12:44.000 --> 0:12:46.959 the building right Sandy. 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:52.520 There were some trinks I had to make there to 0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:58.199 make it livable, and I built a performing arts center 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.319 for the Hills School. So there were just some things 0:13:01.320 --> 0:13:03.920 that needed you know, you got to build a foundation there. 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:07.600 And so then a broker came to me and said. 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:11.120 Look, Pamela Harriman has passed away, as you know, and 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.120 this was the last of the estate. So there's three 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.160 hundred and forty acres there, and they said, would you 0:13:16.200 --> 0:13:16.800 be interested. 0:13:18.000 --> 0:13:18.760 I knew the. 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:23.199 Town was financially bankrupt, and I said, I knew if 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:27.800 I could do something as a businesswoman, I needed to 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:31.680 put an economic engine in that place and an anchor. 0:13:32.120 --> 0:13:34.080 So when I went up on the land, I knew 0:13:34.120 --> 0:13:37.160 immediately what I needed to do, and that was to 0:13:37.160 --> 0:13:40.079 build that I was very naive about it. 0:13:40.520 --> 0:13:47.319 I remember having a vision of what I wanted to. 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:49.920 Do, but I also had a party up there to 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.680 introduce my idea and my vision. The next morning I 0:13:54.720 --> 0:13:56.840 went was on my way to Dulles Airport and there 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.160 were signs on both sides of the roads that said 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:03.720 don't be eating Middleburg, and I called my lawyer who 0:14:03.760 --> 0:14:07.160 was sitting here, and I said, you know what, We've 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:10.520 got a problem. And that went on for the next 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.480 ten years. It was the fight of my life. And 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:17.360 I will tell you with everything that I went through, 0:14:17.920 --> 0:14:21.480 it's all with all in the newspapers, everything. But when 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:24.480 the final vote went down, I won by one vote. 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:27.080 One vote was the right to build the hotel. You wanted, 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:31.440 that's right, so you started building it. But then what happened. 0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:32.520 There was accession hit. 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:35.840 I got a call from the bank and they said, 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:38.600 you better them offball this for a while and we'll 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:40.600 give you the green light when its started again. 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.320 But the other thing I want you all to know 0:14:43.680 --> 0:14:44.280 is a woman. 0:14:44.920 --> 0:14:47.200 Even with all of my money that I had at 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:52.960 the time, I could not get a bank loan to 0:14:53.040 --> 0:14:55.480 build it. I had to use my own money to 0:14:55.560 --> 0:14:58.560 build that resort because. 0:14:58.160 --> 0:14:59.640 I had. 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.760 I don't know, I was a woman, and I just 0:15:03.880 --> 0:15:05.360 could not get the bank loan. 0:15:06.360 --> 0:15:08.680 So ultimately, though, you just you went ahead. 0:15:08.760 --> 0:15:12.360 The reception kind of went away, and you decided to 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:13.520 build it with your mobile money. 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.240 Then the bank called and said you can proceed now, okay, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.280 But I still had to use all my own money 0:15:18.440 --> 0:15:19.440 to finish that off. 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:21.800 Okay, so you built it. How many rooms was it initially? 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:22.000 It was? 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:22.320 It up? 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.920 Well, we started with sixty eight and then it grew 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:27.760 and it grew and it grew. So now that was 0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.800 the one one hundred and sixty eight and that's where 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.920 the town put the plug on me. That that's what 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:35.680 I do. However, I was able to get out of 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.600 that to build forty nine homes which are going up now. 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:43.040 And I was able to also broke a deal where 0:15:43.040 --> 0:15:45.640 the town hall. I was able to lease a piece 0:15:45.680 --> 0:15:48.560 of the property to the town. They have a town hall, 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.760 and I have got the police department on my property. 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:57.320 So now, so you decided to build this hotel in Middelburg, 0:15:57.400 --> 0:15:58.760 And why did you call it Salamander? 0:15:59.320 --> 0:16:04.160 Oh, this is a great story. So when I moved 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:07.560 to that area and I decided to buy. 0:16:07.360 --> 0:16:11.160 The farm where I'm living now, there was a guy 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:14.359 by the name of Bill Ildasaker who owned the property. 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:17.520 I kind of knew the name because his brother was 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:20.560 teaching at Princeton or something like that, but he had 0:16:20.600 --> 0:16:24.760 never really lived at the farm, and he had a 0:16:24.960 --> 0:16:27.640 name for the farm called Cottswald or something like that, 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.360 which I did not want, and so I said who 0:16:30.400 --> 0:16:32.000 had the farm before? 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.160 And they said it was Bruce Sunlan. 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.880 I contacted Bruce Sunlan and asked him what was the 0:16:40.960 --> 0:16:43.400 name of his farm before, and he said it was Salamander, 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:46.160 and I said, well, where did that name come from? 0:16:46.680 --> 0:16:49.440 Bruce Sunlan was a fighter pilot that was shot down 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:51.320 over Nazi occupied Belgium. 0:16:52.240 --> 0:16:54.120 His entire unit was captured. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:59.960 He was able to get out across. 0:16:58.000 --> 0:16:59.800 Europe and ended up an. 0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:06.520 Ally territory of France. He fought for briefly for the 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:10.240 French resistance. The US then came to him and said, look, 0:17:10.560 --> 0:17:13.199 we have got to go in and we have to 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.160 rescue the rest of your unit out of the pow camp. 0:17:17.000 --> 0:17:21.440 This is a true story, the story of Hogan's heroes. 0:17:21.680 --> 0:17:22.720 That is Bruce. 0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:26.439 Sundlon, that was where the TV show came from. And 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.440 he says, well, what does salamander mean? And they said, mythically, 0:17:29.520 --> 0:17:32.600 it's the only animal that could walk through fire and 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:39.280 still come out alive, which I loved, but you know, realistically, 0:17:39.280 --> 0:17:42.119 if you cut off its limbs, they regenerate. And it 0:17:42.320 --> 0:17:46.239 just hit at that time a nerve with me and 0:17:46.320 --> 0:17:49.040 I said, I need that brand and I'm going to 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:50.280 brand the Salamander. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.840 So Salamander. Was your original idea was to build a 0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:56.760 luxury resort there. Why did you decide to build more 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:59.960 hotels or by other ones? Was that your original idea 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:01.440 or just to build one or miltmore. 0:18:01.600 --> 0:18:02.600 No, it's just. 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:06.639 That after the success of building the resort in Middleburgh 0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.160 and it just took off. You know, they said, if 0:18:09.160 --> 0:18:12.680 you build it, they'll come. And then after I hired 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:16.600 the most exceptional team I could have put together and 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:20.280 they're still with me. And we were so successful with 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:22.960 the resort out there, we decided to expand. 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:24.560 Now that you're one of. 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.919 The I think wealthiest African American women in the United States, 0:18:27.920 --> 0:18:30.520 I think that's fair to say you don't suffer any 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.480 gender or racial discrimination. 0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:33.960 Is that right? 0:18:34.880 --> 0:18:39.080 I'll come out it continues to go on. It's something 0:18:39.119 --> 0:18:42.320 that I continue to address. I normally address it through 0:18:42.320 --> 0:18:49.080 my company by making sure that I hire diverse minds, people. 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.919 Of color, women of color, men of color. 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:58.560 And when Kwame Alawache lost his restaurant at the Intercontinental 0:18:58.640 --> 0:19:00.919 down of the war, and it was written about in 0:19:00.960 --> 0:19:04.440 the Washington Post, I called him immediately and I said, 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:07.160 I want you to come to Salamander. We have been 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:10.240 together ever since, and we decided to put this family 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:14.119 reunion together to bring chefs of color, both men and women, 0:19:14.840 --> 0:19:18.119 and so may as from all across the country. We 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:21.920 have forty one chefs to come and to really discuss 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:25.040 the issues that are going on in this country. We've 0:19:25.400 --> 0:19:28.399 got to address these issues. And as you know, I 0:19:28.480 --> 0:19:32.679 put fifty kids through the Kennedy School at Harvard, and 0:19:32.720 --> 0:19:37.119 these are young people from underserved communities that I paid 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.400 for the whole education, and they are now so successful. 0:19:40.840 --> 0:19:42.639 But this is something that we have to do. 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:46.960 Okay, let's talk about another sport that you have been 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:47.560 involved with. 0:19:47.880 --> 0:19:49.400 Yes, your daughter, as you. 0:19:49.400 --> 0:19:53.879 Mentioned, was a champion equestrian, which is a very inexpensive sport. 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:59.480 Right, if anyone wants to buy some horses, I've got 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:00.320 a few there. 0:20:00.560 --> 0:20:03.359 One time, your daughter says to you, why don't you 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:05.160 get on a horse and ride. 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:08.400 What happened then, Well, we were out riding one day 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:10.680 and then she was saying, mommy got to learn to 0:20:10.760 --> 0:20:13.920 jump over the logs and everything. So we went back 0:20:13.960 --> 0:20:18.400 into the indoor arena and she was showing me how 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:20.680 to do it, and I don't know whether the horse 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.760 got stung by a bee or what happened. But I 0:20:23.800 --> 0:20:26.760 got bucked off and she kept yelling let go of 0:20:26.800 --> 0:20:29.719 the reins, which I didn't do, and the horse stepped 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:33.200 on this side of my body and I could hear 0:20:33.320 --> 0:20:37.520 crunch all in. My ribs on front and back are broken, 0:20:39.160 --> 0:20:42.639 and I was taken. I was in the hospital for 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:45.920 a couple of weeks. Missed my heart by about an inch. 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:48.400 So you're putting back on a horse since then? 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.560 Never, I would never do it. 0:20:51.600 --> 0:20:55.040 I just laid there on the ground and the horse 0:20:55.119 --> 0:20:57.200 kept nudging me, and I just said, God, if you 0:20:57.320 --> 0:20:59.239 just let me live, I will never get back on 0:20:59.280 --> 0:20:59.800 another horse. 0:21:00.080 --> 0:21:00.199 Then. 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.399 Well, but you have been helping horses in one sense. 0:21:03.720 --> 0:21:07.520 There's a stable on the National Mall, right, That is 0:21:07.560 --> 0:21:10.920 the stable that the park I guess park rangers usual 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:13.960 the US Park US Park Police hues for the horses 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.400