WEBVTT - Telling Our Stories 0:00:11.800 --> 0:00:14.400 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to woka F Daily with 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:19.200 Meet your Girl Danielle Moody, prerecorded from the Brooklyn Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:22.919 I'm really excited about this week of content with really strong, 0:00:23.120 --> 0:00:28.080 powerful women from all walks of life and through different industries. 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:31.200 Today's conversation is with Carrie Twig, who is one of 0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:35.720 the co founders of the black owned, women owned production 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:40.400 company called Culture House. Carrie started her career in politics 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.600 and in policy and ended her political career with the 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:48.919 Obamas as a special assistant to the President and then 0:00:48.960 --> 0:00:52.559 the director of Public Engagement for the Vice President. And 0:00:52.640 --> 0:00:54.960 during her time in the conversation that we have, she 0:00:55.080 --> 0:00:58.400 talked about the importance of storytelling and the importance of 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.360 marginalized community telling their own stories and being in control 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.840 of every part of production, from the writing of the story, 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.959 to the producing of the story to the filming of 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:14.360 the story. Culture House is really unique in Hollywood as 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:17.600 it is one of the very few production houses that 0:01:17.680 --> 0:01:22.520 are very intentional about having seventy five percent the bare 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.720 minimum in their mind, seventy five percent of the people 0:01:25.720 --> 0:01:28.480 that are involved in the company, that are working with 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.000 the company be women and be women of color. And 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.360 I think that that is really important because we understand 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:40.039 how important these days story is. I bitch and moan 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.399 every single week about the Democrats and their inability to 0:01:44.600 --> 0:01:48.440 message right, and all messaging is is telling a compelling 0:01:48.480 --> 0:01:51.880 story over and over and over again so that people 0:01:52.000 --> 0:01:55.240 latch onto it, and they find different ways right to 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.559 latch onto those stories. But if you don't tell them right, 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.080 and you allow the other person and to just dictate 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:05.040 the narrative, then guess what, you end up completely out 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.000 of the story, as we have seen right throughout the 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:11.400 course of American history. So what's really exciting about this 0:02:11.440 --> 0:02:15.800 conversation for me is that Carrie, like myself, made a 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.840 pivot from politics and policy and into the media and 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.840 entertainment landscape. And I think that it's also really important 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.000 to have conversations with folks that are doing something that 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.119 is bold right, which is the fact that, guess what, right, 0:02:31.280 --> 0:02:36.480 women women of color are still very underrepresented in Hollywood 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.680 in production in front of the camera as in behind 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:43.440 the camera. And so Carrie will talk about a couple 0:02:43.480 --> 0:02:47.360 of amazing productions that are coming up, things that we 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:51.520 are going to want to save on Hulu on Amazon 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:55.600 Prime that are stories about black women, right, hair Tales 0:02:55.800 --> 0:02:57.840 is going to be a story that guess who the 0:02:57.880 --> 0:03:02.600 executive producer powerhouses are behind that, Oprah Winfrey and Tracy 0:03:02.680 --> 0:03:08.239 Ellis Ross right, And the story hair Tales is about 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.200 the connection that black women have with their hair, how 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:15.440 our hair has been politicized, right, what it means to 0:03:15.480 --> 0:03:18.400 be natural, what it means to go through these process 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:22.800 and regardless of where you find yourself throughout the diaspora 0:03:22.919 --> 0:03:27.200 of black people, black women's hair, black hair is something 0:03:27.240 --> 0:03:31.000 that is incredibly important. And so to talk to Carrie 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:33.960 about this story and how it came to be and 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.280 when we are all going to lay eyes on it 0:03:36.360 --> 0:03:40.280 is really something to look forward to. Because here's the 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.640 thing too, folks, is that I am tired, as I 0:03:43.680 --> 0:03:46.760 know that you are, of having conversations about the doom 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:49.840 and gloom, having conversations about, you know, the end of 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:52.839 the world and how it is fastly approaching. So it's 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:57.160 really fun to be able to take a pivot from 0:03:57.440 --> 0:04:00.400 the doom and gloom and look at what good is 0:04:00.440 --> 0:04:03.480 actually coming out into the world, what is being poured 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:08.000 into it. And there are so many good stories about 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:12.440 people of color, people from marginalized communities, people whose stories 0:04:12.760 --> 0:04:16.560 have been underrepresented. So I really hope that you enjoy 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:22.480 this convo with Carrie and check out Culture House at 0:04:22.600 --> 0:04:26.839 Culture dot House, which is also a production company and 0:04:27.120 --> 0:04:32.960 a cultural consultancy. Right, so very interesting the work that 0:04:33.000 --> 0:04:35.279 they are all doing and the fact that many of 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:38.400 you have probably seen some of the work that has 0:04:38.480 --> 0:04:41.800 been produced. So I am super excited to bring this 0:04:41.960 --> 0:04:47.840 in depth conversation about how we fill ourselves up. The 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.360 world is depleting us in ways that I don't think 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:55.520 we ever we ever thought. We find ourselves sitting in 0:04:55.520 --> 0:04:57.960 front of the television, sitting in front of our phone, 0:04:58.000 --> 0:05:02.400 sitting in front of our laptops, and just having negativity 0:05:02.920 --> 0:05:06.200 be deposited onto us. So what does it mean to 0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:09.840 actually be in this space that is really dark and 0:05:09.920 --> 0:05:13.160 think about the art and the music and the movies 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.120 and the films that can be created during this time 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:19.520 and the importance of them being created during this time. 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.080 So I'm excited for this conversation. Let me know in 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.640 the comment section what you think about it, and I 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:34.000 look forward to reading your comments. Folks. I am very 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.080 excited to welcome to Okay Effort Daily for the very 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.880 first time, the founding partner and head of development at 0:05:41.000 --> 0:05:47.000 Culture House, Carrie Twig, I want you to tell folks 0:05:47.120 --> 0:05:52.599 about your amazing company. And you know why, particularly now, 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.440 we have seen so many and I guess it's not 0:05:56.520 --> 0:05:58.960 really so many when you look at the swath of 0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:04.200 white production companies and films and television that is made. 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.120 But over the last I would say ten years or so, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:12.960 there's been a concerted effort by people of color BIPOC 0:06:13.040 --> 0:06:16.800 folks to own and operate their own production houses, to 0:06:16.880 --> 0:06:19.360 be the ones that are green lighting. So can you 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.719 tell us a bit about Culture House and how this 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.720 vision came to be? Absolutely so. I mean you bring 0:06:26.839 --> 0:06:29.920 up a really good point around the just broader ecosystem 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:33.400 that Culture House exists in. There has been a real 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:37.920 movement and a lot of momentum behind people of color, 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:43.880 BIPOC folks, queer folks starting their own production companies because 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:46.640 we need to get involved in the process further down 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:51.400 the supply chain right and have a voice in a perspective, 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:56.840 be present in all aspects of the content creation. And 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:00.520 that's really important and so that's a huge piece of 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:03.280 why we organize our company the way that we did. 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:06.640 We're black, brown women owned production company, two other partners, 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:11.040 and our work really focuses at the intersection of pop 0:07:11.080 --> 0:07:15.080 culture and politics, and we run production services. So a 0:07:15.080 --> 0:07:18.920 lot of production companies, even if they're organized from a 0:07:18.960 --> 0:07:22.440 financial or legal perspective as a production company, don't actually 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:26.360 then carry the overhead required to create an actual production. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:29.960 They will then end up having to subcontract to another 0:07:30.000 --> 0:07:32.800 company in order to run the budgets, to carry the insurance, 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.840 to run the editing and the post process, to do 0:07:35.920 --> 0:07:40.120 the development, so on and so forth. And so then 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:42.880 a lot of those companies that can and do have 0:07:42.920 --> 0:07:48.120 the wherewithal to have the overhead and to have those resources, 0:07:48.200 --> 0:07:51.560 or the legacy companies predominantly owned by men, predominantly white. 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.080 And so we made a choice to run those production 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.160 services ourselves because there wasn't a company like ours that 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.240 shared our perspective, that share aired our point of view, 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:05.720 that was able to do the entire provide the entire 0:08:05.760 --> 0:08:10.040 supply chain of content. And that was a major choice 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:12.520 that we made. That made it harder as a business. 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:15.400 It's a harder, more complex business to run, to set 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:19.200 up to sustain, but it was important from a kind 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:23.360 of political point of view for all of us. I'm 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:27.360 the new bee in the film in TV world. My company, 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:31.880 you know, um my partners are long time filmmakers. Ray 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.240 Rachel Genre, She's been in the doc world for you know, 0:08:35.320 --> 0:08:37.760 twenty years, went to Tish, went to film school, did 0:08:37.840 --> 0:08:42.079 the whole thing. Nicole Glevski, She's she ran a m 0:08:42.920 --> 0:08:46.600 she ran a film festival. She's produced everything you can 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.439 imagine from you know, big budget features to indie features, 0:08:50.480 --> 0:08:53.600 to scripted to nonscripted to doc kind of and everything 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:56.280 in between. And I sort of wandered out of DC 0:08:56.559 --> 0:09:00.680 five years ago trying to figure out how things got 0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:07.000 on TV. Thankfully, we all kind of met and bonded, 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:09.400 and I was really able to They were at an 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:13.200 inflection point in their career. They'd been running a production 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:16.600 company for several years with a different partner, and they 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:19.079 were winding that company down and really trying to think 0:09:19.120 --> 0:09:21.679 about what was next when we all met. So our 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:24.480 timing was really good that I sort of brought in 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:28.200 my perspective and we were able together to craft a 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:32.720 vision that ultimately became Culture House. I love this, and 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:34.520 I love the fact that you just said that you 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:36.880 wandered your way out of DC because I did the 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:40.120 same in twenty sixteen. It was like the Obamas are leaving, 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.400 and so I am leaving as well, Like I am 0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.880 packing up my life and heading to New York. You know, 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:52.080 I have said often when I started out in media, 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:57.280 which was during the fight for marriage equality, and you know, 0:09:57.520 --> 0:10:00.120 it was when I had decided that policy wasn't the 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:04.520 only thing that drives change, that it is also media, right, 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:08.800 And when I talked about media initially, it was essentially 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:12.560 around how mainstream media and cable news would reflect back 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.880 out us the issues that need to be paid attention to, 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.880 or who is important, who do we invoke empathy about, 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:22.720 and what have you? For you making this, making the 0:10:22.960 --> 0:10:28.280 transition from the Obama White House into entertainment, did you 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.160 see it as as as an opportunity to kind of 0:10:32.240 --> 0:10:36.920 expand where you were in this big, major place of change, 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:43.280 to find a different avenue to tell different stories. Yeah, 0:10:43.320 --> 0:10:45.640 I mean to me, I do the same work I did. 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:48.320 I just have different tactics and I do it in 0:10:48.320 --> 0:10:51.600 a different industry. But from my experience, and I obviously 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:53.680 can't speak to the experience of other people in the 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:56.040 White House, but it's not a coincidence to me that 0:10:56.160 --> 0:10:59.120 so many people left the Obama era, including the Obama's 0:10:59.440 --> 0:11:03.400 and went storytelling. I think that there was a shared 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:08.000 experience around like why is this so difficult? Like why 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:12.000 can't we in setting aside the Senate, setting aside the racism, 0:11:12.040 --> 0:11:16.640 there is also just a fundamental reality that whether it's healthcare, 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:22.880 whether it's economic policy, whether it was environmental policy, the 0:11:22.960 --> 0:11:27.680 political or the legislative and policy vision was too far 0:11:27.760 --> 0:11:31.439 ahead of where the culture of the nation actually was. 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:35.440 And the reality is that these ideas, the idea of 0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:37.680 what your society can be, has to exist in the 0:11:37.720 --> 0:11:42.280 imagination of citizens first, and then you can build policy 0:11:42.280 --> 0:11:45.000 and then you can build legislation around it. And the 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:50.040 way that you sort of accept people's imagination is through 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.040 the stories, the stories that we would tell, the stories 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:57.280 that we repeat, the stories we share, the stories were 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.560 exposed to and so to me it was sort of going. 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:03.120 It was the same work of I'm someone who's animated 0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:05.040 to change society, and I have been since I was 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.200 a very young person. It has animated basically every choice 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:13.480 I have ever made, and so to me, it's about 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:17.200 doing that work, but slightly earlier in the process before 0:12:17.240 --> 0:12:19.120 you get to the place where you're trying to build 0:12:19.120 --> 0:12:22.640 a legislative agenda or policy agenda around it. It's moving 0:12:22.720 --> 0:12:25.319 up a little bit and doing the cultural the kind 0:12:25.360 --> 0:12:30.720 of scaffolding, the cultural scaffolding that allows for a allows 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:35.480 for the political or governmental vision to be articulated that 0:12:36.120 --> 0:12:39.880 I believe in, there needs to be a value set 0:12:40.000 --> 0:12:44.000 in order in place before the government that I would 0:12:44.040 --> 0:12:49.080 like to see can actually make good on that visions. 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:50.960 You know, I think that one of the reasons why 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:52.959 we're kind of in the place that we are, both 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:56.520 politically and culturally, because we've lost sight of having any 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.800 type of shared vision and shared identity. And I think 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:03.199 that that there, to me, has always been the opportunity 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.960 for culture, for pop culture to be able to decrease 0:13:08.040 --> 0:13:12.760 that gap, right that like the idea that stories that 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:17.120 are about or center black people, queer people are ones 0:13:17.160 --> 0:13:20.480 that are said that, well, you know, that's for this 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:24.680 particular group, Like they're not. It's not a shared it's 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.600 not a shared story of like the American story. Like 0:13:27.600 --> 0:13:30.760 we're having these conversations right now and seeing this pushback, 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:34.240 do you think that it's like, how do you aside 0:13:34.280 --> 0:13:38.400 from folks like yourself who have created their own entity 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:42.160 in culture house. What advice do you have for people 0:13:42.240 --> 0:13:46.800 that are trying to maneuver and expand the spaces that 0:13:46.880 --> 0:13:50.640 are inherently white, that are inherently male, but they're trying 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:59.199 to take up space. That's interesting. I mean, I guess 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:01.320 part of me takes issue with the found with the 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:04.760 even the idea that there are spaces that are inherently 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:09.960 male or inherently white. I think they are populated by 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.360 white men, but doesn't mean they're inherently for them. And 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:15.320 we can get into the kind of social design and 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:18.640 the fact that our economy is all sorts of workplaces 0:14:18.640 --> 0:14:23.240 were designed in the image of and to facilitate white maleness. 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:27.080 I'm not disagreeing with that, but I do think that 0:14:28.920 --> 0:14:30.680 we have One of the things that we have to 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:36.040 constantly remember is that adversarialness is also energy draining. It's 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.120 your second work, right if you are thinking about, like, Okay, 0:14:39.160 --> 0:14:42.880 how do I infiltrate this space you are in order 0:14:42.920 --> 0:14:46.000 to do X, you just gave yourself two jobs and 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:49.040 everyone else who's in that space only has one. And 0:14:49.120 --> 0:14:52.160 so for me, it's sort of like, is that how 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:56.760 I want to expend my energy, or can I just 0:14:57.160 --> 0:15:01.240 do things? Can I build something that feels right to me, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:04.440 that makes sense to me, do it my way, eliminate 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:06.840 as much if I as much as I can around 0:15:06.840 --> 0:15:08.920 the infiltration. And there's people who are good at that, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.360 there's people who enjoy that. I personally am not one 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:14.200 of them anymore. I have my little moments when you're 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.600 like fix it from the inside, But generally speaking, I'm 0:15:17.600 --> 0:15:20.720 just like girl mine, got no more time for this, 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:22.920 Like I'm just going to build the thing I want 0:15:22.960 --> 0:15:26.800 to build and make it so dope that it's kind 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.520 of it's its own undeniable force. And if you guys 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:31.560 don't want, I don't go where I'm not invited. I 0:15:31.600 --> 0:15:36.000 wouldn't go to someone's party in why would I do that? 0:15:36.040 --> 0:15:38.600 Why would I be in someone's house when I was 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.680 not I am not welcome there? And so I just 0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:47.040 I try to reduce the amount of time and energy 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.840 I spend banging against a door that does not want 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:54.160 to go, and use all of that energy to find 0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:59.120 the places which exist, Like there's there's places exist where 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:02.520 you will be welcome, you'll be celebrated, where people actually 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:07.120 want you there and value your opinion. As opposed to 0:16:07.160 --> 0:16:10.760 getting stuck on the like it has to be this company, 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:13.920 or it has to be this outlet or this distributor, 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:17.040 and I have to tell this story. It's like, Okay, 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.480 maybe that's true for some people. I try not to 0:16:19.480 --> 0:16:22.120 get too attached to what something looks like from the 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.920 outside and just really focus on like my personal feelings 0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.480 and experience of when I'm interacting with someone, and if 0:16:29.480 --> 0:16:32.320 it doesn't feel good, then I'm not going to go 0:16:32.400 --> 0:16:34.160 there or be there. I don't know. I just don't 0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:37.680 subject myself to it because time is precious and energy 0:16:37.760 --> 0:16:39.440 is precious, and I don't want to do twice as 0:16:39.480 --> 0:16:43.960 much as twice as much work as everybody else. I mean, 0:16:44.040 --> 0:16:46.520 I know that's right, because I mean there has been 0:16:46.960 --> 0:16:51.360 so much conversation in the past two years, particularly through COVID, 0:16:51.880 --> 0:16:56.760 around black women, black people reclaiming rest and reclaiming the 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:59.400 fact that you know, you've hired me for this one thing. 0:16:59.440 --> 0:17:02.720 But often times, what regardless of what industry it is, 0:17:02.960 --> 0:17:06.600 you're doing multiple jobs, um, and you're and you're being 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:08.680 you're being set up in a way where to your 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.040 earlier point, there isn't scaffolding, There isn't you know, there 0:17:12.160 --> 0:17:15.280 isn't a net that is created for your success, knowing 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:19.640 that oftentimes if you're coming in um into different spaces. 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:22.159 I know, for me, in politics and in you know, 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:24.920 in a variety of places, I was the only black 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.000 face in the room, the only black queer face in 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:28.800 the room, which means that now I have to talk 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.600 to you about white supremacy, and I have to talk 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:34.679 to you about homophobia and transphobia, and I have to 0:17:34.680 --> 0:17:37.439 talk to you about like all of these different things. 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:39.920 And then I have to do my job, um, which 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:44.560 has found me working for myself many for the past 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:49.480 several years for that particular reason. Um. You know, in 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:54.520 within within culture House you say that seventy five percent 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:58.560 um of the folks in front of and behind the 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:03.200 camera are black, Codigenous people of color and women identified. 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:07.959 Why was that number important to you? And do you 0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:12.639 think that you know because again other companies, production places, 0:18:13.080 --> 0:18:15.760 cable news, all of these things say it's so hard, 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.000 we don't know where to look, we have no idea 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:20.880 where to find these talented people of color, and yet 0:18:21.080 --> 0:18:24.240 you manage to create a company with seventy five percent 0:18:24.440 --> 0:18:26.920 and make that your number. So how did you come 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:31.440 to that Yeah, how did you come to that distinction? Yeah, well, 0:18:31.440 --> 0:18:34.359 we have twenty six people on staff, and twenty five 0:18:34.400 --> 0:18:36.959 of them are women, and I think twenty of them 0:18:36.960 --> 0:18:39.640 are women of color. So we do the same thing 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:41.800 everyone else does. We have a job, we have roles 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.920 to hire, We access our network because of who we are, 0:18:45.280 --> 0:18:49.800 our networks look a particular way. And so that is 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:55.639 so the idea that like it's some great challenge to 0:18:55.840 --> 0:19:00.440 hire people of color is completely laughable. But have all 0:19:00.440 --> 0:19:03.840 of these people who have lived a particular way and 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:08.520 have just not interacted socially, not interacted sort of in 0:19:08.600 --> 0:19:11.480 any meaningful way with people of color, and then they're 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.400 scrambling to try and fill and they don't. They're not 0:19:14.440 --> 0:19:18.000 even one person removed. They're like seven or eight. Like 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.639 there's people who are trying to then hire and diverse 0:19:20.760 --> 0:19:22.680 by sets who like wouldn't have a person of color 0:19:22.720 --> 0:19:26.880 at their wedding, who have gone to je damn yeah, 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:29.640 or like I wouldn't know who to call to invite 0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:33.840 to a dinner party, like I have no one let alone. 0:19:34.119 --> 0:19:39.080 And that's that's that's their fundamental failure. And so for us, 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:44.320 this idea of like seventy five percent it's like, at 0:19:44.440 --> 0:19:48.000 least and it's not even a sweat, is what would 0:19:48.000 --> 0:19:53.680 happen organically? Like, it's not even a thing. It's not aspirational. 0:19:54.520 --> 0:20:00.439 M And So I was on some like inner street 0:20:00.600 --> 0:20:04.879 panel conversation about this, and someone was talking about some 0:20:04.960 --> 0:20:10.440 TV commercial that they shot in Las Vegas, Nevada. Were like, well, 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.879 you know it was Nevada, so it was super hard 0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:15.399 to like get a diverse crew in a diverse set. 0:20:16.000 --> 0:20:19.679 And I was like, I'm pretty sure. Correct me if 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:23.159 I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure Nevada is, if not 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.200 majority non white, very close to it. So what are 0:20:27.240 --> 0:20:31.040 you saying to me? How is that possible? How is 0:20:31.320 --> 0:20:35.840 the one of the countries entertainment capitals of the world. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:37.959 What are you telling me you can't find someone in 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.160 Vegas that isn't white, that knows how to use lights? 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:48.560 How lazy? I screw you that they are there. Y'all 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.120 just don't know any y'all just just say you don't 0:20:51.160 --> 0:20:54.160 know any brown folks, right, you don't know any black folks. 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.800 You don't know any you don't know any. So that's 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:00.200 what the problem is. It's not that we don't exist, 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:05.080 is that y'all? Right, so right, yeah, I mean it's 0:21:05.359 --> 0:21:08.640 the supply chain, and it's like, listen, the supply chain 0:21:08.720 --> 0:21:11.439 is real because human beings act like human beings and 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:14.239 call people to work with, call people that they know, 0:21:14.359 --> 0:21:16.760 and call people that they like, and give the same 0:21:16.800 --> 0:21:20.280 people opportunity over and over and over again because getting 0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:22.720 to know new people's hard and it feels risky and 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:24.720 blah blah blah, Like we do the same thing, we 0:21:24.800 --> 0:21:27.720 call the same directors, we call the same people. They 0:21:27.800 --> 0:21:31.640 just happen to all the black, brown, queer women something 0:21:32.080 --> 0:21:36.280 you know. Um, But people don't do these interventions in 0:21:36.320 --> 0:21:39.680 their own personal lives, right They're forty five stumbling around 0:21:39.720 --> 0:21:42.200 trying to make their first black friend. And then yeah, 0:21:42.520 --> 0:21:46.119 y'all act like it's us that are in, Like you 0:21:46.200 --> 0:21:48.960 just haven't seen us your whole life. Yeah, it's it's 0:21:49.160 --> 0:21:52.040 it's it's about I mean, in all honesty, it is 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:55.760 about self interrogation, right, like it is about the asking 0:21:55.800 --> 0:21:58.680 yourself why and why am I only caring about this 0:21:58.880 --> 0:22:01.400 to your point at forty five? And I didn't care 0:22:01.400 --> 0:22:04.359 about it at twenty, right, Like I didn't care about 0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:07.080 it as I was growing my career to make sure 0:22:07.200 --> 0:22:12.560 that there's not only a diversity in race, in gender, identity, 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.640 and orientation, but that there is a diversity in thought. 0:22:15.720 --> 0:22:17.760 Where am I getting people from? How am I? How 0:22:17.760 --> 0:22:21.320 am I storytelling and creating richness? If everybody looks the 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:23.960 same as me and it's from the same place. Um, 0:22:24.000 --> 0:22:26.080 and I think that that like, But that is about 0:22:26.119 --> 0:22:29.159 self interrogation. It is about saying that, hey, maybe I 0:22:29.200 --> 0:22:31.119 didn't grow up in this space, So what do I 0:22:31.160 --> 0:22:33.360 need to do in order to be better, in order 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:38.840 to be more nimble? Um, you have a new production 0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:41.800 that is going to be coming out released June twenty 0:22:41.840 --> 0:22:44.760 twenty two. Um, which gives us all something to look 0:22:44.760 --> 0:22:49.680 forward to and something for me to look forward to. Um, 0:22:50.000 --> 0:22:53.760 I'll hit that timeline. But we're going Okay, okay, okay, 0:22:53.960 --> 0:22:57.280 you don't you have a new production. Okay, you have 0:22:57.280 --> 0:23:00.879 a new production in the works in the world. Okay, 0:23:01.160 --> 0:23:07.080 actually set today, Okay, hiding in a back room, all right, 0:23:07.560 --> 0:23:15.080 So hair Tales. You have powerhouse executive producers Oprah and 0:23:15.320 --> 0:23:19.120 Tracy Ellis Ross that are behind the hair Tales which 0:23:19.160 --> 0:23:23.040 will be on Hulu and tell us about this, tell 0:23:23.119 --> 0:23:28.000 us about the rich stories and about black women and 0:23:28.200 --> 0:23:31.520 their identity and connection with their hair and how this 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:36.000 came about. Yeah, I mean, it's such a beautiful project. 0:23:36.040 --> 0:23:40.359 It's created by a woman named Michaela Angela Davis, and 0:23:40.520 --> 0:23:44.320 she has been working in sort of the cultural academic 0:23:44.440 --> 0:23:48.639 hairspace for a really long time. Tracy coming on as 0:23:48.640 --> 0:23:51.000 an executive producer and a host of the show, which 0:23:51.080 --> 0:23:56.520 is also really exciting. Dovetailed really perfectly with her launching 0:23:56.680 --> 0:24:01.000 pattern and pattern yeah, you know, but also these are 0:24:01.040 --> 0:24:04.560 women who trace their their journey of self acceptance through 0:24:05.040 --> 0:24:09.120 their journey with their hair. Right, their hair represented became 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.960 a sort of prism for how they interacted with the world, 0:24:13.000 --> 0:24:17.439 how they were seeing, how they saw themselves, how they 0:24:17.480 --> 0:24:20.280 would nurture themselves, how they were taken care of by 0:24:20.280 --> 0:24:24.240 the people who raised them, and so there's so much 0:24:24.280 --> 0:24:27.040 Our hair really becomes this portal and this lens through 0:24:27.040 --> 0:24:30.160 which we can tell so much about who we are. 0:24:30.760 --> 0:24:33.360 You know, in my life, my dad braided my hair 0:24:33.359 --> 0:24:37.520 every morning, and he had five little sisters, and so 0:24:37.560 --> 0:24:41.160 he'd been braiding hair in some former fashion for forty 0:24:41.200 --> 0:24:44.840 five years between having five little sisters and then two daughters. 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:48.240 And when he when I asked him, I think I 0:24:48.280 --> 0:24:50.520 was like twelve, for my twelfth birthday, asked if I 0:24:50.560 --> 0:24:52.600