1 00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: On this week's episode of Cultivating her Space. 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:08,680 Speaker 2: I just think we have way too much talent, we 3 00:00:08,760 --> 00:00:11,319 Speaker 2: have way too much smarts, we have way too much 4 00:00:11,320 --> 00:00:15,160 Speaker 2: ability to shut it down. Now, there may be some obstacles, 5 00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:18,240 Speaker 2: but that's who we are as the people. These hard times, 6 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:20,280 Speaker 2: just let us find our strength. 7 00:00:22,560 --> 00:00:25,880 Speaker 3: Hey lady, have you ever felt like the world just 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 3: doesn't get you? Well, we do. 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:34,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Cultivating her Space, the podcast dedicated to uplifting 10 00:00:34,560 --> 00:00:36,159 Speaker 1: and empowering women like you. 11 00:00:37,320 --> 00:00:43,200 Speaker 3: We're your hosts, doctor Dominique Brussard and educator and psychologists. 12 00:00:42,159 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: And Terry Lomax, a techie and transformational speaker. 13 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:50,680 Speaker 3: Join us every week for authentic conversations about everything from 14 00:00:50,800 --> 00:00:55,520 Speaker 3: fibroids to fake friends as we create space for black 15 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:59,080 Speaker 3: women to just be. 16 00:00:59,080 --> 00:01:01,120 Speaker 1: Before we dive in, make sure you hit that follow 17 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: button and leave us a quick five star review. Lady, 18 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,040 Speaker 1: we are black founded and black owned, and your support 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:09,240 Speaker 1: will help us reach even more women like you. 20 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,880 Speaker 3: Now, let's get into this week's episode of Cultivating her Space. 21 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:20,360 Speaker 1: If you're feeling stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure of your next steps, 22 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:24,319 Speaker 1: this is for you. Hey, lady, is Tea here and 23 00:01:24,360 --> 00:01:26,320 Speaker 1: I just want to invite you to my free goal 24 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:29,200 Speaker 1: map like a pro coaching workshop, where I'll share the 25 00:01:29,240 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: five proven steps to get unstuck and achieve your goals. 26 00:01:33,280 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: Whether you're feeling overwhelmed by all your ideas, juggling scattered ideas, 27 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 1: or maybe you just need confidence to start, this workshop 28 00:01:41,280 --> 00:01:44,399 Speaker 1: will give you the clarity, tools and the motivation to 29 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:48,080 Speaker 1: take back control. Reserve your spot for free by visiting 30 00:01:48,160 --> 00:01:52,320 Speaker 1: her spacepodcast dot com and clicking on the goal map 31 00:01:52,400 --> 00:01:55,280 Speaker 1: like a pro webinar link. Lady, don't miss this chance 32 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: to build a roadmap that fits your life and set 33 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:01,320 Speaker 1: you up for success. I hope to see you there, Lady. 34 00:02:01,400 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: We have a very special conversation for you today, so 35 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 1: we're just going to jump right on in to the 36 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,840 Speaker 1: bio and then get into this conversation. Alilia Bundles is 37 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: an Emmy winning journalist, author, and historian, best known for 38 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: her biographies of her trail blazing ancestors, Madame C. J. 39 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,600 Speaker 1: Walker and Aliliah Walker. She is the great great granddaughter 40 00:02:22,639 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 1: of Madame Walker, America's first self made female millionaire, and 41 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:32,480 Speaker 1: the great granddaughter of Harlem Renaissance icon Aliliah Walker. A 42 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:36,400 Speaker 1: graduate of Harvard College and the Columbia University Graduate School 43 00:02:36,400 --> 00:02:39,720 Speaker 1: of Journalism. Bundles is the founder of the Madame Walker 44 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:43,800 Speaker 1: Family Archives and the author of On her Own Ground, 45 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,400 Speaker 1: adapted into Netflix's Self Made, and of course, the newly 46 00:02:48,440 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: released Joy Goddess, Aliliah Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. Through 47 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: her work, Alilia Bundles preserves and elevates the legacy of 48 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: black women's excellence, entrepreneurship, and cultural impact. As a speaker 49 00:03:02,360 --> 00:03:07,079 Speaker 1: in MC, she has appeared at universities, corporations, and book festivals, 50 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:14,360 Speaker 1: as well as on ABC, CBS, MSNBC, NBC, NPR, PBS, 51 00:03:14,400 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: and BBC. She has served as an advisor for numerous documentaries, 52 00:03:19,080 --> 00:03:24,200 Speaker 1: museum exhibits, biographies, scholarly papers, and history texts. Now, as 53 00:03:24,200 --> 00:03:26,440 Speaker 1: you can imagine, there is so much more that we 54 00:03:26,480 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: could say about Alia Bundles and her incredible resume, and 55 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,920 Speaker 1: guess what it could easily feel an entire episode of 56 00:03:32,960 --> 00:03:35,360 Speaker 1: its own. Okay, so we're just gonna welcome her to 57 00:03:35,400 --> 00:03:37,720 Speaker 1: the show. Welcome to the show, Alia Bundles. We're so 58 00:03:37,760 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: happy to have you here. 59 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,320 Speaker 2: So delighted to be with you this evening. 60 00:03:42,640 --> 00:03:46,760 Speaker 3: Well, we are ready to jump into this conversation. And 61 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:49,240 Speaker 3: so our quote of the day is going to sound 62 00:03:49,280 --> 00:03:54,160 Speaker 3: familiar to you because these are your words from your book, 63 00:03:55,280 --> 00:04:02,760 Speaker 3: and it speaks it's about your great grandmother. It is 64 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 3: time she assumes her place, with all her complexity and 65 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:11,760 Speaker 3: dimensions among the pantheon of Harlem Renaissance icons. I'm going 66 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,440 Speaker 3: to read that quote again for the folks in the 67 00:04:14,520 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 3: back who might not have caught it. It is time 68 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:24,479 Speaker 3: she assumes her place, with all her complexity and dimensions 69 00:04:25,120 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 3: among the pantheon of Harlem Renaissance icons. MS. Bundles. When 70 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 3: you hear your words spoken back to you, tell us 71 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,600 Speaker 3: what comes up for you, because I have my own 72 00:04:39,720 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 3: ideas of this, But what comes up for you when 73 00:04:43,600 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 3: you hear your. 74 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:48,720 Speaker 2: Words, Well, you know that particular sentence. You know, every sentence, 75 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 2: as you know, in a book, is intentional. And after 76 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,039 Speaker 2: you write and write the reugh drafts, and then the 77 00:04:55,120 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 2: rewrite and the editing and the good help from your editors, 78 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:01,640 Speaker 2: and then you find a have the words that are 79 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: there on the page and the final book and that sentence. 80 00:05:05,120 --> 00:05:07,400 Speaker 2: I mean, it's so interesting to me that you chose 81 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 2: that sentence because it is my quest for almost twenty 82 00:05:12,640 --> 00:05:15,679 Speaker 2: years of working on this book since my other book 83 00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 2: on her Own Ground came out. I knew Alilia Walker 84 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:23,800 Speaker 2: needed her own story, and I knew how misunderstood and 85 00:05:23,839 --> 00:05:28,280 Speaker 2: sometimes misrepresented she had been. And so this is my 86 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:31,760 Speaker 2: I don't know love letter to her and love letter 87 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,159 Speaker 2: to people who want to know about the Harlem Renaissance. 88 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 2: So yes, that sentence really does embody my intention. 89 00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:44,839 Speaker 3: Oh I am just oh, I'm so excited about this conversation. Okay, 90 00:05:44,880 --> 00:05:46,000 Speaker 3: go ahead, Terry, go ahead. 91 00:05:46,600 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: No, I'm with you, all with you. I guess maybe 92 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:51,160 Speaker 1: there's so many different directions we can go and when 93 00:05:51,200 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: it comes to this conversation, so I'm wondering, let's maybe 94 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 1: start with your origin story. How did you become the 95 00:05:56,520 --> 00:06:00,320 Speaker 1: incredible Alilia Bundles we see today, and then we'll circle 96 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,920 Speaker 1: back around and cross off anything we didn't cover. 97 00:06:04,040 --> 00:06:06,000 Speaker 2: You know, when you start with the origin story, I mean, 98 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:10,520 Speaker 2: my parents were amazing and really encouraged me, and I 99 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:13,839 Speaker 2: grew up in a black village in a sense of 100 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 2: a black suburb of Indianapolis. Both most of the fathers 101 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,880 Speaker 2: in the neighborhood had been veterans of World War Two 102 00:06:22,160 --> 00:06:26,000 Speaker 2: and the Korean War. Most of the mothers worked, many 103 00:06:26,040 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 2: were school teachers, and our neighborhood included you know, doctors, lawyers, architects, 104 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:36,240 Speaker 2: business people, plumbers, carpenters, a wide range of people. But 105 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 2: we were a small black neighborhood surrounded by a white 106 00:06:41,800 --> 00:06:44,960 Speaker 2: suburban neighborhood. The schools that I went to were always 107 00:06:45,000 --> 00:06:50,800 Speaker 2: predominantly white, but that very strong aspirations with the parents 108 00:06:50,839 --> 00:06:54,120 Speaker 2: that we were to do, you know, be good students. 109 00:06:54,200 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 2: I had that village that really nurtured me, and so 110 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,279 Speaker 2: that when I went to school and I was a 111 00:07:00,279 --> 00:07:03,760 Speaker 2: good student, I also had teachers who, you know, who 112 00:07:03,800 --> 00:07:07,000 Speaker 2: pushed me, who encouraged me. But I always came back 113 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:10,440 Speaker 2: to that village of high aspirations and love. 114 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 1: Then can we also talk a little bit about your career, 115 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:17,000 Speaker 1: just to give people. I know I talked about a 116 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,400 Speaker 1: little bit in the bio, but I know in one 117 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: of your interviews you mentioned like this wasn't necessarily your 118 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:23,280 Speaker 1: life's work. You had your own career and other things. 119 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:24,520 Speaker 1: Can you talk a little bit about that, and then 120 00:07:24,560 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: we'll dive into other questions. 121 00:07:26,560 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 2: So one of the things that as a little girl, 122 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,559 Speaker 2: I really got the writing bug got me. I wrote 123 00:07:32,560 --> 00:07:35,360 Speaker 2: a short story when I was eight years old and 124 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,360 Speaker 2: one of my mother's friends, who was a school teacher 125 00:07:37,400 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 2: who was working on her master's paper and was doing 126 00:07:39,840 --> 00:07:43,160 Speaker 2: IQ tests with kids in the neighborhood, liked the story 127 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,760 Speaker 2: that I wrote and she sent it to a children's magazine. So, 128 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 2: you know, at eight years old, I was published and 129 00:07:49,120 --> 00:07:51,480 Speaker 2: that was that was a big deal before the Internet, 130 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,640 Speaker 2: when your words this didn't get out there. So I 131 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:57,880 Speaker 2: just really embraced this idea of being a writer. I 132 00:07:57,920 --> 00:07:59,880 Speaker 2: could not carry a tune, so I was not going 133 00:07:59,880 --> 00:08:02,960 Speaker 2: to be the lead and the school play. But I 134 00:08:03,040 --> 00:08:05,520 Speaker 2: love to write, and that led to working for the 135 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,920 Speaker 2: school newspaper and you know, and then to my career 136 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,320 Speaker 2: in network television news. And I was a producer with 137 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,960 Speaker 2: NBC News and ABC News about half and half with 138 00:08:16,040 --> 00:08:20,080 Speaker 2: both places over thirty years and really enjoyed it. It 139 00:08:20,200 --> 00:08:23,280 Speaker 2: was between nineteen seventy six and two thousand and six 140 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 2: when news was news. That's really different now though I'm 141 00:08:30,400 --> 00:08:33,200 Speaker 2: still a news junkie. I'm still I still pay a 142 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:35,720 Speaker 2: lot of attention to journalism and read, you know, have 143 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:39,960 Speaker 2: way too many subseac subscriptions and read a lot of 144 00:08:40,040 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 2: things to stay informed. But yes, it really started because 145 00:08:43,320 --> 00:08:46,800 Speaker 2: I loved to write, and in junior high school was 146 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,080 Speaker 2: had a school newspaper advisor who had really high expectations. 147 00:08:51,120 --> 00:08:54,640 Speaker 2: So our junior high school newspaper, which I edited in 148 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:57,880 Speaker 2: ninth grade, won national award. So I was you know, 149 00:08:57,920 --> 00:09:00,160 Speaker 2: I really thought I was a journalist from a or 150 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:03,000 Speaker 2: a young age. 151 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: Wow. 152 00:09:04,640 --> 00:09:08,400 Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, so many more questions. Okay, We're going to 153 00:09:08,440 --> 00:09:11,160 Speaker 3: try and stay focused here. So but so what I 154 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 3: want to do is kind of circle back. And you know, 155 00:09:16,320 --> 00:09:20,600 Speaker 3: acknowledge that you come from a storied and history making 156 00:09:20,679 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 3: lineage and that often truly comes with a lot of 157 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:35,239 Speaker 3: pressure and certain expectations. Right, Like you veered into journalism. 158 00:09:37,240 --> 00:09:41,360 Speaker 3: Your lineage is in a different direction, right, And so 159 00:09:42,880 --> 00:09:49,200 Speaker 3: how have you navigated or did you even experience certain 160 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:55,480 Speaker 3: expectations and pressure based on your your lineage? 161 00:09:55,800 --> 00:09:59,920 Speaker 2: You know, my mother was so wise, I really think 162 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 2: for this. My mother went to went to Howard University, 163 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 2: graduated in nineteen forty nine, and everybody knew she was 164 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 2: Madam Walker's great granddaughter, and she majored in business and 165 00:10:13,320 --> 00:10:16,439 Speaker 2: chemistry because she knew that she was going to work 166 00:10:16,440 --> 00:10:19,440 Speaker 2: for the family business, which she did, and which she 167 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 2: did beautifully. But she wanted me to be able to 168 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:26,439 Speaker 2: chart my own path. My father had gone to Indiana 169 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:30,719 Speaker 2: University and majored in journalism in the nineteen forties after 170 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:34,360 Speaker 2: he had come back from the war. But as even 171 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:37,240 Speaker 2: though he was we think the first, you know, one 172 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:40,120 Speaker 2: of the first black graduates in journalism at Indiana University, 173 00:10:40,160 --> 00:10:43,640 Speaker 2: when he graduated, he could not get a job on 174 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:48,000 Speaker 2: the editorial side of the newspapers in Indianapolis and instead 175 00:10:48,160 --> 00:10:51,600 Speaker 2: managed the paper delivery boys. And then he charted a 176 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 2: path into business and also worked in haircare. My mother 177 00:10:55,600 --> 00:10:59,040 Speaker 2: was vice president of the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing 178 00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,520 Speaker 2: Company when I was growing up. But that was what 179 00:11:01,559 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 2: they did. But they wanted me to follow my passion, 180 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:07,679 Speaker 2: and my passion was writing. Both of them were very 181 00:11:07,720 --> 00:11:11,720 Speaker 2: good writers, and so I never had that pressure to 182 00:11:11,920 --> 00:11:15,240 Speaker 2: follow in their path. That they really encouraged me. And 183 00:11:15,280 --> 00:11:18,240 Speaker 2: of course the irony is that you know, now after 184 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,200 Speaker 2: my career news the story that I tell every day 185 00:11:22,840 --> 00:11:25,480 Speaker 2: is Madame Walker's story, and I think I would not 186 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:29,960 Speaker 2: have been as excited and passionate about telling the story 187 00:11:30,000 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 2: if I had been forced to do that. And I 188 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:37,360 Speaker 2: do think that one of the things in writing joy 189 00:11:37,440 --> 00:11:43,240 Speaker 2: goddess and really developing that relationship and that dynamic between 190 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:46,080 Speaker 2: Madame Walker and Allia Walker and then also with my 191 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:50,440 Speaker 2: grandmother May is that you can't people do put expectations 192 00:11:51,000 --> 00:11:55,080 Speaker 2: on their children. And so I'm again fortunate to have 193 00:11:55,160 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 2: a wise mother who let me follow my own passion. 194 00:11:58,920 --> 00:12:02,280 Speaker 2: But it can back fire if you, you know, really 195 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 2: try to push somebody in a direction that doesn't really 196 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 2: fit their soul. 197 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:10,760 Speaker 1: That's so amazing that your parents were so supportive and wise, 198 00:12:10,960 --> 00:12:13,760 Speaker 1: and you talked a bit about them being part of 199 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 1: the or your mother at least being a part of 200 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 1: the family business, and your dad being a hair care 201 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,240 Speaker 1: I have a question that I've always wanted to ask 202 00:12:19,280 --> 00:12:21,440 Speaker 1: someone like you, And so I think about where you 203 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,160 Speaker 1: come from, write a lineage of visionary women who didn't 204 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: just build something powerful, they built something lasting, right, And 205 00:12:27,559 --> 00:12:29,680 Speaker 1: so I think about Madam C. J. Walker who laid 206 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:33,080 Speaker 1: the foundation, Aliah Walker who carried it forward with the 207 00:12:33,120 --> 00:12:36,679 Speaker 1: cultural impact, and then you are now bringing it all 208 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: together preserving it decades later. Right. So It's one thing 209 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: to start something, but sustaining it takes a whole different 210 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:48,640 Speaker 1: level of commitment, creativity and care. What do you think 211 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:52,199 Speaker 1: it takes to sustain a legacy and not just start it. 212 00:12:52,360 --> 00:12:53,959 Speaker 1: Because part of me is wondering, like, did you all 213 00:12:54,000 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: have a family talk at the house and you were like, Okay, 214 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:58,600 Speaker 1: Aliah Bundle, She's going to do this part of the business. 215 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:00,680 Speaker 1: Like how do you keep that going in a family, 216 00:13:00,720 --> 00:13:04,080 Speaker 1: And how can younger generations they connected to that and 217 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:06,760 Speaker 1: not be weighed down by the roots or just forget 218 00:13:06,760 --> 00:13:08,760 Speaker 1: it completely. You know. 219 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,960 Speaker 2: It's it's when I think about that there was not 220 00:13:13,320 --> 00:13:17,000 Speaker 2: intention and purpose early on. You know, sometimes things just 221 00:13:17,080 --> 00:13:20,680 Speaker 2: present themselves because I was really, you know, just happy 222 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 2: to be going along my little journalism path. But when 223 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 2: I was in graduate school in journalism at Columbia in 224 00:13:29,840 --> 00:13:34,960 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five, my advisor on the faculty, Phyllis Garland, 225 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:37,040 Speaker 2: was the only black woman on the faculty. And this 226 00:13:37,240 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 2: was an era when there were lots of the first 227 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:46,080 Speaker 2: black professor, the only black professor, women's rights, reproductive rights, 228 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:50,520 Speaker 2: civil rights bills, the doors were opening up for women. 229 00:13:50,640 --> 00:13:54,080 Speaker 2: I ended up going to work at NBC News because 230 00:13:54,559 --> 00:13:57,520 Speaker 2: women at Newsweek and at some of the local stations 231 00:13:57,520 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 2: had sued their employers because young women in television would 232 00:14:02,240 --> 00:14:06,400 Speaker 2: be hired as secretaries and researchers, and ten years later 233 00:14:06,440 --> 00:14:08,400 Speaker 2: they'd have the same jobs, and young men would be 234 00:14:08,480 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 2: hired as desk assistants and associate producers, and ten years 235 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 2: later they would be senior producers and executive producers. So 236 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 2: that that door was opening up. But I did not 237 00:14:19,400 --> 00:14:24,080 Speaker 2: really see myself doing anything that was related to the 238 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:28,560 Speaker 2: Walker family. But Phil Garland, when I met with her 239 00:14:28,600 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 2: to talk about my master's paper, she listened to my 240 00:14:32,560 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 2: cliched and boring topics and at the end of the 241 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:39,880 Speaker 2: conversation she said, your name is Alilia. Do you have 242 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 2: any connection to Madam Walker and Alilia Walker? And I said, yeah, 243 00:14:44,800 --> 00:14:46,920 Speaker 2: that's my family, and she said that's what you're going 244 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:51,520 Speaker 2: to write about. So it was really Phil giving me this, 245 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,160 Speaker 2: validating this for me at a time when there were 246 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:59,280 Speaker 2: very few books being published by or about African Americans, 247 00:14:59,320 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 2: not that they weren't being written, but they weren't being published. 248 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:06,080 Speaker 2: So I had that push from somebody else outside my 249 00:15:06,160 --> 00:15:07,800 Speaker 2: family who validated this for me. 250 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 3: Wow. Wow, So you were writing about your family from 251 00:15:15,320 --> 00:15:16,160 Speaker 3: early on. 252 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:18,840 Speaker 2: Right, Well? Yeah, And the really the first you know, 253 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 2: report that I did was about Alilia Walker when I 254 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 2: was a senior in high school, and you know, I 255 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:29,000 Speaker 2: wasn't learning any black history had you know, I had 256 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:32,240 Speaker 2: a great public school education in the suburbs of Indianapolis, 257 00:15:32,280 --> 00:15:36,440 Speaker 2: but no black history. You know, there was like none 258 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:42,000 Speaker 2: of that. And somehow we persuaded the administration to let 259 00:15:42,080 --> 00:15:45,480 Speaker 2: us have a black humanities course my senior year. Now 260 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,440 Speaker 2: this is Martin Luther King was assassinated in April of 261 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:51,440 Speaker 2: nineteen sixty eight. I was elected vice president of student 262 00:15:51,480 --> 00:15:54,880 Speaker 2: council in this predominantly white school that same day. And 263 00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 2: then the next year there was a lot of backlash, 264 00:15:58,240 --> 00:16:00,720 Speaker 2: but with a group of friends, you know, both white 265 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 2: and black friends, we persuaded the administration to let us 266 00:16:03,440 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 2: have this black humanities class that a teacher was willing 267 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:11,560 Speaker 2: to teach. And for that class, I wrote my paper 268 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:15,240 Speaker 2: about Allia Walker in the Harlem Renaissance, so I was 269 00:16:15,280 --> 00:16:17,760 Speaker 2: really more interested in her. Madam Walker was way too 270 00:16:17,760 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 2: complicated for me at that point. She was a businesswoman. 271 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:23,920 Speaker 2: People thought she invented the hot comb. I had a 272 00:16:24,640 --> 00:16:28,120 Speaker 2: big afro that year. I was not really feeling Madame 273 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:31,160 Speaker 2: Walker at that stage. Later I learned she did not 274 00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:33,240 Speaker 2: invent the hot comb. That she was, you know, so 275 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:36,760 Speaker 2: much more than that. But at the time, Alilia Walker 276 00:16:36,880 --> 00:16:40,920 Speaker 2: just absolutely fascinated me. We had almost the same birthday. 277 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 2: Obviously I had the same name, and in our house 278 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:47,640 Speaker 2: we had books that had belonged to Alilia Walker that 279 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 2: had been in the Dark Tower. So my mother pulled 280 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:55,800 Speaker 2: those books out and you know, helped me with my paper. Wow, 281 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 2: no more than fifty years ago. 282 00:16:58,440 --> 00:17:02,880 Speaker 3: Wow, there we are today and you're releasing joy Goddess. 283 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:08,480 Speaker 3: And so I think the thing for me, as working 284 00:17:08,520 --> 00:17:12,359 Speaker 3: in academia, one of the things that's always important to 285 00:17:12,440 --> 00:17:17,719 Speaker 3: me are when doing research are the sources. And you 286 00:17:18,280 --> 00:17:24,679 Speaker 3: have access to primary sources you throughout your career, you know, 287 00:17:24,720 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 3: and you talk about it in the book of being 288 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:34,280 Speaker 3: able to interview people who knew your family, multiple members 289 00:17:34,320 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 3: of your family, right, and having access to important pieces 290 00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:46,880 Speaker 3: of family history. And so when you think about how 291 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:52,880 Speaker 3: stories are told, how history gets passed down in the narratives, 292 00:17:53,440 --> 00:17:56,160 Speaker 3: like the narrative that you corrected for us, right, that 293 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:00,880 Speaker 3: your great great grandmother did not invent the hot right, 294 00:18:01,640 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 3: but that is a but that is a story that 295 00:18:03,880 --> 00:18:06,880 Speaker 3: has passed down. I know lots of black folks who 296 00:18:06,880 --> 00:18:07,720 Speaker 3: will repeat that. 297 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:09,560 Speaker 1: Right. 298 00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:12,680 Speaker 2: My mission in life is just to end. 299 00:18:13,560 --> 00:18:17,840 Speaker 3: Yes, yes, and so and so, tell us that that's 300 00:18:17,920 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 3: part of your mission. Tell us what it was like 301 00:18:21,080 --> 00:18:26,680 Speaker 3: to now be here writing Joy Goddess, and the importance 302 00:18:26,800 --> 00:18:30,919 Speaker 3: of telling an accurate narrative. You know. 303 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:34,960 Speaker 2: This was the more I learned about both Madam Walker 304 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:39,120 Speaker 2: and Alilia Walker, the more I learned that the sort 305 00:18:39,119 --> 00:18:42,639 Speaker 2: of you know, paragraph worth of information that most people 306 00:18:42,760 --> 00:18:46,360 Speaker 2: might know was about eighty percent inaccurate. 307 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:47,080 Speaker 1: You know. 308 00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 2: But I think that it's true with a lot of 309 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 2: our historical figures, which is why we're in this moment 310 00:18:52,960 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 2: right now, when it's so important that we make sure 311 00:18:56,080 --> 00:18:58,880 Speaker 2: that our stories are being told. So it's really up 312 00:18:58,920 --> 00:19:03,240 Speaker 2: to us to tell these stories. But I, in writing 313 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:05,480 Speaker 2: about Madam Walker, I kind of had to come to 314 00:19:05,640 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 2: terms with who she really was. And I was not 315 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:11,800 Speaker 2: really as I say, I was not really feeling her 316 00:19:12,280 --> 00:19:15,359 Speaker 2: because of what people thought about her. And then I 317 00:19:15,440 --> 00:19:20,640 Speaker 2: read do Voice's obituary about her in the Crisis magazine. 318 00:19:20,680 --> 00:19:23,160 Speaker 2: I was in college. I was writing a term paper 319 00:19:23,200 --> 00:19:26,400 Speaker 2: and I was in the stacks of Widener Library at Harvard, 320 00:19:26,760 --> 00:19:29,719 Speaker 2: and there were original issues of the Crisis and I 321 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:33,760 Speaker 2: stumbled upon this oh bit. In August of nineteen nineteen 322 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:36,320 Speaker 2: a few months after she died, and d Boys, who 323 00:19:36,400 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 2: was my intellectual hero at that time, had great things 324 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:42,320 Speaker 2: to say about her, and I said, wow, you know, 325 00:19:42,600 --> 00:19:45,719 Speaker 2: this gives me an opportunity to rethink that. And then 326 00:19:45,760 --> 00:19:48,120 Speaker 2: it took me a little while, you know, in graduate 327 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:51,959 Speaker 2: school to actually do that. But finding the voices of 328 00:19:52,040 --> 00:19:56,399 Speaker 2: their contemporaries has really helped me tell the story. And 329 00:19:56,440 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 2: I think as women, Black women, but as women, they 330 00:20:02,400 --> 00:20:06,239 Speaker 2: have been diminished, as have many other women. You know. 331 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,000 Speaker 2: We know, for instance, I to b Wells Barnett, she's 332 00:20:09,119 --> 00:20:14,560 Speaker 2: now getting her due. Her daughter, you know, finished her 333 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:19,600 Speaker 2: memoir so that the crusade for justice, and that was 334 00:20:19,640 --> 00:20:22,159 Speaker 2: an example for me, like you have to take hold 335 00:20:22,359 --> 00:20:26,040 Speaker 2: of your story. We know that Madame Walker had kind 336 00:20:26,040 --> 00:20:30,640 Speaker 2: of been reduced to the hot comb essentially, but through 337 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:33,480 Speaker 2: my research, I discovered she was a political activist, she 338 00:20:33,560 --> 00:20:36,760 Speaker 2: was a philanthropist. She provided jobs for thousands of women. 339 00:20:37,240 --> 00:20:39,680 Speaker 2: Not only did she you know, doing the hair care 340 00:20:39,720 --> 00:20:43,320 Speaker 2: products was important because it gave women a solution to 341 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,840 Speaker 2: baldness and scalp infections that were so rampant during a 342 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:51,119 Speaker 2: time when most Americans didn't have indoor plumbing or electricity. 343 00:20:51,760 --> 00:20:54,600 Speaker 2: But in some ways. For me, I realized that was 344 00:20:54,640 --> 00:20:57,000 Speaker 2: a means to an end, that she had created an 345 00:20:57,119 --> 00:20:59,760 Speaker 2: army of women who were economically independent and who were 346 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 2: politically active. So I had to reframe the narrative of 347 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,960 Speaker 2: her that came from, as you know, from primary sources, 348 00:21:08,000 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 2: from reading her letters, from reading papers from other people 349 00:21:11,480 --> 00:21:14,680 Speaker 2: in manuscript collections, from reading the Black press. Thank god 350 00:21:14,720 --> 00:21:18,600 Speaker 2: for the black newspapers, because our stories would be, you know, 351 00:21:18,640 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 2: without texture if we didn't have that. With Alilia Walker, 352 00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:26,040 Speaker 2: I had to kind of rewind because a couple of 353 00:21:26,920 --> 00:21:31,639 Speaker 2: Harlem Renaissance historians whose work I generally respect, had reduced 354 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 2: her to saying, oh, she's spent the Harlem Renaissance playing bridge, 355 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,679 Speaker 2: that she really didn't, you know, make much of a contribution. 356 00:21:40,280 --> 00:21:42,199 Speaker 2: And I think some of that was just you know, 357 00:21:42,200 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 2: I mean sexism, like we can read, you know, women 358 00:21:45,040 --> 00:21:47,439 Speaker 2: aren't playing a role. You know, she did like to 359 00:21:47,440 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 2: play bridge, and she liked to play poker, and you know, 360 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,800 Speaker 2: she liked to have fun. But she also helped raise 361 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,400 Speaker 2: money for an ambulance for soldiers in World War One. 362 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:00,600 Speaker 2: She helped to raise money to build a the Center 363 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 2: for Children in Harlem, and she created this amazing space 364 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:10,159 Speaker 2: where artists and writers and musicians and actors were comfortable 365 00:22:10,200 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 2: at the Dark Tower. So I wanted to create dimension 366 00:22:14,640 --> 00:22:18,320 Speaker 2: for these women who had been kind of caricatured. And 367 00:22:18,359 --> 00:22:21,480 Speaker 2: I think that's true for a lot of women in 368 00:22:21,520 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 2: the Harlem Renaissance. In the centennial of the Harlem Renaissance, 369 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:27,359 Speaker 2: we're starting to get more of those stories. 370 00:22:29,320 --> 00:22:31,720 Speaker 1: I think that is such a beautiful reminder for us to, 371 00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:33,680 Speaker 1: like you said, we have to take hold of our stories, 372 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 1: like we need to be telling our stories so that 373 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:37,680 Speaker 1: we can leave that legacy. I think that's so powerful. 374 00:22:38,040 --> 00:22:40,919 Speaker 1: And one thing you wrote about in one of your 375 00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 1: writings is how writing a biography can feel like a 376 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:48,199 Speaker 1: form of temporary insanity, the immersion that it takes. And 377 00:22:48,240 --> 00:22:51,480 Speaker 1: so how did writing joy God is, how did it 378 00:22:51,600 --> 00:22:52,200 Speaker 1: change you? 379 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:59,720 Speaker 2: My house is a mess. You know, it's going to 380 00:22:59,760 --> 00:23:03,320 Speaker 2: take a year to organize things because I just you know, 381 00:23:03,480 --> 00:23:07,560 Speaker 2: research after research and files and all of those things, 382 00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,400 Speaker 2: so that it just it takes a lot. And there 383 00:23:10,520 --> 00:23:13,719 Speaker 2: are I mean, it changed me to know that I 384 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:19,560 Speaker 2: really could still write, you know, some prose that sometimes 385 00:23:19,680 --> 00:23:24,359 Speaker 2: rises to a nice level. You know, you don't it's 386 00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 2: other people who have reviewed it or blurbed it have 387 00:23:27,160 --> 00:23:30,160 Speaker 2: been very complimentary, but you know, I mean as a writer. 388 00:23:30,520 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 2: I don't know about you all, but there's always an 389 00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,240 Speaker 2: insecurity when you're you know, when you put your words 390 00:23:36,280 --> 00:23:38,719 Speaker 2: on paper and somebody else has to read them and 391 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 2: are they gonna like it? And you know, I know, 392 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 2: I'm judgie whenever. You know, So you hope, you hope 393 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,520 Speaker 2: for the best. So I feel a real sense of 394 00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:52,440 Speaker 2: accomplishment that I'm telling a story that I really wanted 395 00:23:52,480 --> 00:23:54,720 Speaker 2: to tell, that I want people to know, and I'm 396 00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:59,000 Speaker 2: feeling good about the feedback that I'm giving. You know, 397 00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:02,600 Speaker 2: I guess how it's change me. I really persevere because 398 00:24:02,640 --> 00:24:05,800 Speaker 2: I've been working on this for a really really long time. 399 00:24:06,119 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 2: There I have friends who are like, yeah, well she's 400 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 2: still working on that book. She is she ever going 401 00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 2: to be finished? And so the you know, the perseverance 402 00:24:15,119 --> 00:24:17,679 Speaker 2: sort of proving to myself that I could, that I 403 00:24:17,680 --> 00:24:21,199 Speaker 2: could get it done has been has been important and 404 00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,239 Speaker 2: I think and now, you know, I'm just hoping that 405 00:24:23,359 --> 00:24:25,200 Speaker 2: now I'm going to be able to have some fun. 406 00:24:26,160 --> 00:24:35,639 Speaker 3: Yes, yes you should, Yes, definitely, And so on this podcast, 407 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 3: we often talk about the mother daughter relationship and so 408 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:45,600 Speaker 3: what can you tell us about the dynamics in your 409 00:24:45,720 --> 00:24:53,040 Speaker 3: own family between mother, daughter, granddaughter, grandmother, Like, what what 410 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,600 Speaker 3: were the dynamics between the women and your family? 411 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:58,560 Speaker 2: So I'm so this will be a two part answer, 412 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:00,680 Speaker 2: So we'll start with me and my and then we'll 413 00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:04,480 Speaker 2: talk about the other dynamic. You know, as I said, 414 00:25:04,480 --> 00:25:07,240 Speaker 2: my mom was just great. But my mother died when 415 00:25:07,440 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 2: I was in graduate school, you know, after when Phil 416 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 2: Garland gave me the charge to write this book. My 417 00:25:14,400 --> 00:25:17,680 Speaker 2: mom was had lung cancer. And when I went back 418 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,119 Speaker 2: to Indianapolis from New York at Christmas, she was in 419 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:23,480 Speaker 2: the hospital and was terminal. But you know, my twenty 420 00:25:23,480 --> 00:25:26,560 Speaker 2: three year old self couldn't you know, proccess that at 421 00:25:26,560 --> 00:25:30,639 Speaker 2: that moment. But I was telling her about writing this 422 00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:33,359 Speaker 2: and she was very encouraging, and I think she'd always 423 00:25:33,480 --> 00:25:36,440 Speaker 2: wanted me to write this but wasn't gonna pressure me. 424 00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:38,639 Speaker 2: But I you know, I said to her, she was 425 00:25:38,680 --> 00:25:41,440 Speaker 2: in her hospital bed and I said, you know, mommy, 426 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,360 Speaker 2: I'm you know, I'm finding out essentially, Madame Walker's not perfect. 427 00:25:44,400 --> 00:25:47,560 Speaker 2: You know, there's some divorces or there's you know what, 428 00:25:47,720 --> 00:25:50,840 Speaker 2: you know, what do I do about those kinds of things? 429 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:54,720 Speaker 2: And she set up in the hospital bed and she said, 430 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:57,639 Speaker 2: tell the truth, baby, It's all right to tell the truth. 431 00:25:58,680 --> 00:26:01,880 Speaker 2: And that was one of the last conversations we had. 432 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:04,040 Speaker 2: And it was really such a gift to me not 433 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 2: to have to, you know, feel like I had to 434 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,240 Speaker 2: hide secrets so that I couldn't tell what was really 435 00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:13,280 Speaker 2: going on. And that allowed me to tell Madam Walker's 436 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:16,400 Speaker 2: story in full with you know, both her the obstacles 437 00:26:16,440 --> 00:26:18,320 Speaker 2: and the ups and downs and the flaws and the 438 00:26:19,040 --> 00:26:21,760 Speaker 2: triumphs and that. So I was really grateful for that. 439 00:26:21,840 --> 00:26:26,080 Speaker 2: But I also think that she had felt some you know, 440 00:26:26,119 --> 00:26:28,800 Speaker 2: some things that she had to keep to herself. Her 441 00:26:28,800 --> 00:26:32,080 Speaker 2: parents were divorced, and you know what, and then she's 442 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,760 Speaker 2: born in nineteen twenty eight, so that you know, nineteen thirties, 443 00:26:34,840 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 2: nineteen forties, that's a real stigma. And I think she 444 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 2: felt that and so she, you know, she said, dealt 445 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,480 Speaker 2: with it, but she didn't want me to feel that 446 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,159 Speaker 2: I had to have secrets now. So so that's so 447 00:26:48,280 --> 00:26:50,720 Speaker 2: I feel really fortunate, you know, and just wish she 448 00:26:50,760 --> 00:26:54,239 Speaker 2: had lived long enough to to see this. But I 449 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:56,320 Speaker 2: think about her almost every day, I mean, you know, 450 00:26:56,520 --> 00:27:00,159 Speaker 2: just the lessons and the good feelings and good thought 451 00:27:00,240 --> 00:27:03,920 Speaker 2: and the encouragement that I know she gave me as 452 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:08,080 Speaker 2: I really examined the other generations of women in my 453 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:12,719 Speaker 2: family in this maternal line. You know, Madam Walker was driven. 454 00:27:13,280 --> 00:27:17,920 Speaker 2: She was motivated, I think initially by wanting to make 455 00:27:17,960 --> 00:27:22,520 Speaker 2: her daughter's life better. But they were living in deep poverty. 456 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:26,920 Speaker 2: And Alilia Walker was a teenager really in her twenties 457 00:27:26,960 --> 00:27:29,480 Speaker 2: when her mother began to be successful in business. So 458 00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:33,040 Speaker 2: she had her own ideas. But at that time, there 459 00:27:33,040 --> 00:27:35,720 Speaker 2: were like not a lot of options, you know for 460 00:27:35,880 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 2: black women. The schoolteacher, maybe seamstress, maybe you know, cater 461 00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 2: or maybe, but it was she had to go into 462 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 2: the family business. And Madam Walker was pretty controlling, even 463 00:27:47,600 --> 00:27:51,040 Speaker 2: though as one of their secretaries, when I asked her 464 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,639 Speaker 2: what their relationship was like, she said fire and ice, 465 00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:56,720 Speaker 2: and she kind of looked up and reflected, and she said, 466 00:27:56,760 --> 00:28:00,000 Speaker 2: fire and ice. They loved each other dearly, and they 467 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:03,720 Speaker 2: sometimes fought fiercely, so they had a you know, I 468 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,480 Speaker 2: don't know what we would probably call a bit of 469 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 2: a codependent relationship that they were. They always came back 470 00:28:09,880 --> 00:28:12,879 Speaker 2: together and they had this mutual love of music and 471 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 2: culture and theater that they bonded over, but matt Alia 472 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,320 Speaker 2: made some choices that her mother didn't like in terms 473 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,560 Speaker 2: of the men in her life and in terms of 474 00:28:22,560 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 2: how she ran the New York office. And so there 475 00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 2: was a, you know, a tense dynamic. But I have 476 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 2: this last letter that Madam Walker wrote to Alila so 477 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 2: early nineteen nineteen. They were, you know, sort of at 478 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 2: odds with each other over the business and how Alia 479 00:28:42,480 --> 00:28:45,440 Speaker 2: was running things, and the fact that Alia wanted to 480 00:28:45,440 --> 00:28:47,920 Speaker 2: marry somebody that Madam did not want her to marry. 481 00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 2: And she had two boyfriends, both doctors, both handsome, one 482 00:28:53,840 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 2: was a good guy, one was a bad boy, and yeah, 483 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 2: you know, no, you know, and so they were kind 484 00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 2: of bad odds. Madam was very nervous about the bad boy. 485 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 2: So the compromise was that Alilia and my grandmother May 486 00:29:11,960 --> 00:29:14,680 Speaker 2: would go to South America to try to develop the 487 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:19,000 Speaker 2: business overseas while she got this out of her system. 488 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:24,560 Speaker 2: And while Alilia was away, Madam became very ill, and 489 00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,520 Speaker 2: so Alilia wrote her a letter from South America and said, 490 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:33,480 Speaker 2: I have decided to marry James Arthur Kennedy, the good guy, 491 00:29:34,840 --> 00:29:38,480 Speaker 2: and not Wiley, the bad boy. And in this last 492 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:41,400 Speaker 2: letter that I have. Madam Walker wrote to her and said, 493 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:45,840 Speaker 2: my dear baby, I am so glad that you have 494 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:49,920 Speaker 2: decided to marry Kennedy and not Wiley. I never thought 495 00:29:50,000 --> 00:29:54,720 Speaker 2: Wiley would make you happy, but I think Kennedy will so. 496 00:29:54,840 --> 00:29:57,880 Speaker 2: Madam then dies about five or six days after she 497 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:02,920 Speaker 2: writes this letter, believing that Olilia is marrying wildly. Now 498 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 2: should I not tell the end of the story, I 499 00:30:04,800 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 2: would just let people read the book. 500 00:30:07,440 --> 00:30:11,400 Speaker 3: Got to read the book toe and. 501 00:30:10,800 --> 00:30:13,640 Speaker 2: I mean that she wants her daughter to be happy. 502 00:30:13,680 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 2: That that is how she dies, believing that her daughter 503 00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:18,840 Speaker 2: is going to be happy. 504 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:21,240 Speaker 1: Yeah, soul, you. 505 00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 2: Know, things ensue and you would it And it has 506 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:31,400 Speaker 2: more twists and turns than you might imagine it does. 507 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:34,480 Speaker 1: And I feel like it's like a movie. It's very cinematic. 508 00:30:34,520 --> 00:30:36,280 Speaker 1: When you're reading it, you can kind of visualize all 509 00:30:36,320 --> 00:30:38,520 Speaker 1: the components. But another thing that came up for me 510 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: is I was reading is I was so surpris I 511 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:44,200 Speaker 1: was surprised to be reminded of like how there were 512 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: many black people who were doing well back then because 513 00:30:46,520 --> 00:30:48,680 Speaker 1: of the stories that we often hear. But seeing that 514 00:30:48,760 --> 00:30:51,280 Speaker 1: she had speaking engagements around the world and she's in 515 00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:54,000 Speaker 1: the Hamptons, and I'm just like, they're living this amazing 516 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:58,560 Speaker 1: life and they're wealthy and abundant, and it also humanized them. 517 00:30:58,640 --> 00:31:01,120 Speaker 1: I love that you listen to your mom when she said, like, 518 00:31:01,160 --> 00:31:03,360 Speaker 1: it's okay to tell the truth. That is so powerful. 519 00:31:03,640 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: It's okay to tell the truth. And I think that 520 00:31:07,200 --> 00:31:10,000 Speaker 1: reading that and seeing the complexity of who they were 521 00:31:10,080 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 1: as human beings, it also kind of makes them more 522 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:16,240 Speaker 1: approachable in a way, like, these are these incredible legends 523 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: and heroes, but they're also so approachable and they're complex 524 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:21,840 Speaker 1: people just like us. Right, And so I think about 525 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:28,320 Speaker 1: Madam Walker's business acumen and then Alleland Walker's cultural influence. 526 00:31:29,040 --> 00:31:32,160 Speaker 1: You've witnessed empires being built, right, and so what would 527 00:31:32,200 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: you say empire means to you beyond just the business aspect. 528 00:31:38,960 --> 00:31:42,560 Speaker 2: You know, it is having some intention about what you do, 529 00:31:42,640 --> 00:31:49,240 Speaker 2: but it is bringing in other people, empowering other people. 530 00:31:50,480 --> 00:31:54,840 Speaker 2: That for me, is what the key to this is 531 00:31:54,880 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 2: for Madam Walker, that she wanted to empower other women. 532 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 2: She wanted to help other women become economically independent. And 533 00:32:03,400 --> 00:32:05,960 Speaker 2: I think that's why that's one of the reasons that 534 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 2: her story endures Because there are still people who come 535 00:32:09,440 --> 00:32:12,520 Speaker 2: up to me who say, my mother, my great aunt, 536 00:32:12,680 --> 00:32:16,959 Speaker 2: my grandmother has a diploma from the Walker Beauty School. 537 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,000 Speaker 2: Somebody just sent me a piece of memorabilia, a letter 538 00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:26,600 Speaker 2: that the Madam Walker Club in Montgomery, Alabama had written 539 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 2: a letter to the governor of Alabama in nineteen thirty 540 00:32:30,720 --> 00:32:35,040 Speaker 2: three telling them that they needed to free the Scottsboro Boys. 541 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:41,520 Speaker 2: So that sense of political activism was something that Madam seeded, 542 00:32:41,680 --> 00:32:44,520 Speaker 2: and that she had a convention in nineteen seventeen and 543 00:32:44,600 --> 00:32:47,280 Speaker 2: she told the women, I want you to understand that 544 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:50,360 Speaker 2: as Walker agents, your first duty is to humanity. I 545 00:32:50,400 --> 00:32:52,400 Speaker 2: want others to look at us and realize that we 546 00:32:52,520 --> 00:32:56,960 Speaker 2: care not just about ourselves but about others. And that 547 00:32:57,040 --> 00:33:02,040 Speaker 2: political activism where they a telegram to President Woodrow Wilson 548 00:33:02,080 --> 00:33:04,600 Speaker 2: at the end of the convention urging him to support 549 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:07,760 Speaker 2: legislation to make lynching a federal crime. And we know, 550 00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:10,800 Speaker 2: you know Wilson was not going to do that. It 551 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:13,960 Speaker 2: was another one hundred years before Biden signed that bill. 552 00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 2: But those Seeds that were planning helped that the women 553 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 2: who were beauticians, who had their own businesses, helped to 554 00:33:21,360 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 2: pay for the buses that took people to the March 555 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,960 Speaker 2: on Washington in nineteen sixty three. So for me, that's 556 00:33:27,080 --> 00:33:30,479 Speaker 2: the legacy that continued through and now it's you know, 557 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:33,800 Speaker 2: the Barbie Doll and Madame Walker, Barbidall, it's the little 558 00:33:33,800 --> 00:33:38,320 Speaker 2: girls who do their you know, their black wax museum 559 00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:41,360 Speaker 2: pieces in kindergarten who are Madame Walker. So I think 560 00:33:41,400 --> 00:33:45,320 Speaker 2: it is that sense of you know, encouraging others. For 561 00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:48,600 Speaker 2: Alilia Walker, it's you know, it's a very different kind 562 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:53,280 Speaker 2: of legacy and that I have had to kind of excavate. 563 00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,560 Speaker 2: And I think that there's been the seeds of that 564 00:33:55,640 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 2: where people have mentioned her in the Harlem Renaissance, like 565 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,200 Speaker 2: they know something was there, but they didn't have the details, 566 00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,000 Speaker 2: and now I'm hoping they'll have the details. But by 567 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:11,080 Speaker 2: creating a space where people came together, where it was interracial, 568 00:34:11,640 --> 00:34:15,080 Speaker 2: where her queer and straight friends felt comfortable, where her 569 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:19,120 Speaker 2: international friends felt comfortable, were uptown and downtown people came together. 570 00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:22,480 Speaker 2: That was really rare at the time, and she was 571 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:24,440 Speaker 2: one of the few people who had the homes and 572 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:28,120 Speaker 2: the money, you know, the places to allow that to happen. 573 00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:32,200 Speaker 2: And her charisma, as one friend said, brought people together 574 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:34,560 Speaker 2: who otherwise would never have been in the same room. 575 00:34:35,000 --> 00:34:38,239 Speaker 2: And sometimes people discount that, they think that's trivia that 576 00:34:38,719 --> 00:34:42,080 Speaker 2: you know, being a host is trivial, but it was 577 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:46,520 Speaker 2: being a convener. And I think that spirit is what 578 00:34:46,600 --> 00:34:48,359 Speaker 2: her legacy is. And I you know, and I think 579 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:50,960 Speaker 2: we see it now. You know, we we have remained 580 00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:54,960 Speaker 2: in a renaissance. You know, Black folks are every generation something, 581 00:34:55,640 --> 00:34:58,800 Speaker 2: we're creating something new. There's a new thread, a new theme, 582 00:34:58,960 --> 00:35:01,759 Speaker 2: and I'm just seeing it all over the place with 583 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:04,520 Speaker 2: a great exhibits that are art exhibits that are in 584 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:08,160 Speaker 2: the museums in New York. I just saw something a friend, 585 00:35:08,440 --> 00:35:13,160 Speaker 2: Melissa Bradley, who's a venture capital person, has created something 586 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,840 Speaker 2: new called Black Joy Martha's Vineyard where she's got She 587 00:35:16,960 --> 00:35:20,120 Speaker 2: and her wife have a restaurant that they're getting ready 588 00:35:20,160 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 2: to open, and they're creating a retreat for black women. 589 00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:26,719 Speaker 2: So you need to interview them. But I mean, I'm 590 00:35:26,760 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 2: just seeing like we we now are kind of three 591 00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:33,840 Speaker 2: generations after the Civil Rights Movement, I mean, after the 592 00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:37,440 Speaker 2: Civil Rights Act, after Brown versus Board of Education. I'm 593 00:35:37,480 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 2: that generation that benefited from that, grew up with that, 594 00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:46,279 Speaker 2: and now you know, they're the children and grandchildren of 595 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,640 Speaker 2: the of those of us who were that generation. And 596 00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:53,600 Speaker 2: we've had a lot. We've benefited a lot from you know, 597 00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:56,919 Speaker 2: what was called affirmative action. We've benefited a lot from 598 00:35:56,920 --> 00:36:00,319 Speaker 2: the doors that were opened. We have used all of 599 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,279 Speaker 2: those advantages that we were given. And now we know 600 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,520 Speaker 2: that door is being shut. They're trying to shut that door. 601 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,880 Speaker 2: But I just think we have way too much talent, 602 00:36:11,440 --> 00:36:13,920 Speaker 2: we have way too much smarts, we have way too 603 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:17,840 Speaker 2: much ability to shut it down. Now, there may be 604 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,640 Speaker 2: some obstacles, but you know, that's who we are as people. 605 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,840 Speaker 2: As a people, we you know, these hard times, just 606 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:27,120 Speaker 2: let us find our strength. 607 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:35,520 Speaker 3: Wow, I'm hearing, I'm feeling, you know, the embodiment of 608 00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:39,279 Speaker 3: your great grandmother coming through in your words. And you 609 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,919 Speaker 3: know you mentioned the term black joy, and we talk 610 00:36:44,000 --> 00:36:49,480 Speaker 3: about this now as a having cultivating black joy is 611 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 3: a way to kind of resist all of the negativity 612 00:36:55,360 --> 00:36:59,239 Speaker 3: that and creating space for us to thrive in the 613 00:36:59,320 --> 00:37:04,719 Speaker 3: current political landscape that we live in. And you know, 614 00:37:04,840 --> 00:37:09,040 Speaker 3: making this connection that this is one hundred years after 615 00:37:09,440 --> 00:37:15,280 Speaker 3: the Harlem Renaissance, which was all about culture and joy, 616 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 3: and your great grandmother was actually Langston Hughes called her 617 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:26,920 Speaker 3: the joy Goddess, and so what can you say about 618 00:37:27,520 --> 00:37:31,440 Speaker 3: what that was like for her to be that person 619 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:38,839 Speaker 3: who cultivated, curated these spaces of joy in a time 620 00:37:38,960 --> 00:37:42,760 Speaker 3: period when black folks weren't supposed to be joyous. 621 00:37:42,640 --> 00:37:46,440 Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, Well, you know, and I think it's important 622 00:37:46,440 --> 00:37:50,440 Speaker 2: for us to remember that the Harlem Renaissance was this 623 00:37:50,520 --> 00:37:53,359 Speaker 2: moment where people with migration was happening and people were 624 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,560 Speaker 2: flocking to cities, and so Chicago had its own version 625 00:37:56,600 --> 00:38:00,719 Speaker 2: of the Renaissance, even La but Harlem was just all 626 00:38:00,760 --> 00:38:04,080 Speaker 2: of the pieces were coming together. But a lot of 627 00:38:04,160 --> 00:38:09,439 Speaker 2: that migration came out of people escaping lynching. It came 628 00:38:09,480 --> 00:38:12,359 Speaker 2: out of people not wanting to be sharecroppers anymore. It 629 00:38:12,440 --> 00:38:16,320 Speaker 2: came after World War One. It came in the midst 630 00:38:16,480 --> 00:38:21,080 Speaker 2: of Woodrow Wilson, one of the most racist presidents ever, 631 00:38:21,600 --> 00:38:25,880 Speaker 2: who resegregated, who segregated federal offices when they had not 632 00:38:26,040 --> 00:38:29,960 Speaker 2: been segregated before, who was a fan of the film 633 00:38:30,200 --> 00:38:33,320 Speaker 2: Birth of a Nation, who was not going to speak 634 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:37,360 Speaker 2: out about lynching. So the Harlem Renaissance in some ways 635 00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,120 Speaker 2: was a resistance, this creation of music and literature in 636 00:38:42,239 --> 00:38:47,120 Speaker 2: theater that so we were. Our response to that repression 637 00:38:47,239 --> 00:38:51,840 Speaker 2: and oppression was to come together and create our own 638 00:38:52,120 --> 00:38:57,560 Speaker 2: cultural output. And a younger generation like Langston Hughes and 639 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,160 Speaker 2: Wally Thurman and others like you know, we're going to 640 00:39:01,239 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 2: set things on fire. And I think we're seeing that 641 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 2: and people may not even be conscious of that at 642 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:12,080 Speaker 2: the moment that they're creating. Like people are just you know, 643 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:17,680 Speaker 2: creating because you got to create. It's the innate impulse 644 00:39:17,760 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 2: to do that. And people may not be thinking of 645 00:39:20,080 --> 00:39:23,880 Speaker 2: I'm part of a larger, you know, network of creation, 646 00:39:24,239 --> 00:39:26,759 Speaker 2: or there's some legacy that I'm creating. It's that I've 647 00:39:26,800 --> 00:39:30,160 Speaker 2: got to express myself. And I think that's what we're 648 00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:31,040 Speaker 2: seeing now. 649 00:39:33,320 --> 00:39:35,719 Speaker 1: So true. And it must be so amazing for you 650 00:39:35,800 --> 00:39:40,400 Speaker 1: to just witness so much, so much change within your lifetime. 651 00:39:41,000 --> 00:39:43,640 Speaker 1: And Domini, we want to ask you a couple of 652 00:39:43,680 --> 00:39:46,720 Speaker 1: questions about you to learn more about you and your legacy. 653 00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:49,080 Speaker 1: We've talked a bit about your you know, the ancestors, 654 00:39:49,080 --> 00:39:50,800 Speaker 1: and so one of the things I want to circle 655 00:39:50,840 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: back to is you mentioned that now that your book 656 00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:55,560 Speaker 1: is written, you're going to get your house cleaned, and 657 00:39:55,600 --> 00:39:59,000 Speaker 1: then you mentioned fun. What does fun look like for you? 658 00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:01,920 Speaker 1: In this season of your life or what would you 659 00:40:01,960 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 1: what would you like it to look like? 660 00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:07,600 Speaker 2: You know, fun is really spending time with my friends, 661 00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:09,839 Speaker 2: because when you're writing a book, you are you know, 662 00:40:10,000 --> 00:40:12,840 Speaker 2: it's solitary, and there are just a lot of things 663 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:14,680 Speaker 2: that I haven't been able to do, and you know, 664 00:40:14,719 --> 00:40:17,040 Speaker 2: like you want to stay in extra day and you know, 665 00:40:17,120 --> 00:40:19,839 Speaker 2: and really be a good friend. I have a lot 666 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:23,400 Speaker 2: of unread books that I want to read. Most of 667 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:25,520 Speaker 2: the ones behind me I've read because this is my 668 00:40:25,760 --> 00:40:28,720 Speaker 2: research for the book. And there's a lot of traveling 669 00:40:28,800 --> 00:40:30,920 Speaker 2: that I want to do. I have not done as 670 00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,200 Speaker 2: much international traveling, you know. I think now it's a 671 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 2: little tricky, you know, being an American traveling abroad, and 672 00:40:38,320 --> 00:40:41,600 Speaker 2: so you know, I may have to be closer to 673 00:40:41,640 --> 00:40:44,400 Speaker 2: home and put some of those things on hold. But 674 00:40:44,480 --> 00:40:48,439 Speaker 2: that's you know, friends, reading books that I haven't had 675 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,880 Speaker 2: time to read, and traveling, you know, maybe going to 676 00:40:51,960 --> 00:40:54,279 Speaker 2: more movies like I saw Centers Read, you know, but 677 00:40:54,320 --> 00:40:57,960 Speaker 2: there's my spring of movies that I haven't seen that 678 00:40:58,040 --> 00:41:00,399 Speaker 2: I've put off, so that you know, just having time 679 00:41:00,440 --> 00:41:03,799 Speaker 2: to do that to fill myself. Been going to a 680 00:41:03,800 --> 00:41:06,120 Speaker 2: lot of museum exhibits, there's so much. I went to 681 00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:09,480 Speaker 2: see the Elizabeth Catlet exhibit in d C, the Amy 682 00:41:09,520 --> 00:41:13,319 Speaker 2: Sheryld exhibit in New York. You know, I'm filling my 683 00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:15,680 Speaker 2: soul right now, and I think that's part of the 684 00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:19,319 Speaker 2: survival that we have to do. And everybody is not 685 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:21,719 Speaker 2: able to do that, but for those of us who 686 00:41:21,840 --> 00:41:24,400 Speaker 2: have that, you know, the ability to do that, we 687 00:41:24,480 --> 00:41:27,359 Speaker 2: need to keep ourselves as strong as possible so that 688 00:41:27,400 --> 00:41:29,799 Speaker 2: we can help others. 689 00:41:30,320 --> 00:41:36,680 Speaker 3: Ooh, I love that. And so as you think about 690 00:41:37,200 --> 00:41:43,480 Speaker 3: what you want your legacy to be, what comes up. 691 00:41:43,360 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 2: For you, Well, I want to that my family stories 692 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:54,760 Speaker 2: encourage other people to tell their family stories, because everybody's 693 00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:58,680 Speaker 2: family has amazing people. I happen to have these two 694 00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:01,879 Speaker 2: sort of larger than life famous people, but there are 695 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:06,799 Speaker 2: also other family members whose lives really fascinate me that 696 00:42:06,880 --> 00:42:10,280 Speaker 2: I want to You know, I'm not writing another book 697 00:42:10,440 --> 00:42:13,799 Speaker 2: like this because this these books, these books that I write, 698 00:42:13,840 --> 00:42:16,800 Speaker 2: take a long time because it's original research and it's 699 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:20,480 Speaker 2: you know, verifying checking, blah blah blah. But I can 700 00:42:20,640 --> 00:42:23,839 Speaker 2: tell their stories in other forms, and so I want 701 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:27,360 Speaker 2: to be able to tell these other family members stories 702 00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:29,560 Speaker 2: to encourage people to tell there, so that I think 703 00:42:29,600 --> 00:42:34,319 Speaker 2: that's important. Another thing that I that's really important to me, 704 00:42:34,360 --> 00:42:39,400 Speaker 2: and I'm doing a commencement speech in a couple of weeks, 705 00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:44,520 Speaker 2: and the message that I usually try to give includes 706 00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 2: this to really do things, not only for the money. 707 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:50,600 Speaker 2: I mean, I know that's you know, people got to 708 00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:52,279 Speaker 2: make money, they got to pay off their loans and 709 00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:54,680 Speaker 2: all of that. But one of the ways that I 710 00:42:54,719 --> 00:42:57,479 Speaker 2: had one of the things that has sustained me through 711 00:42:58,680 --> 00:43:01,839 Speaker 2: the through the thirty years career network television news, which 712 00:43:01,880 --> 00:43:06,799 Speaker 2: mostly was great and you know, great colleagues, great mentors, 713 00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:12,279 Speaker 2: fulfilling professional endeavors. All of those things were good. But 714 00:43:13,360 --> 00:43:15,920 Speaker 2: like everybody else, I ran up against, you know, some 715 00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:18,759 Speaker 2: bosses who weren't really my fan and who I wasn't 716 00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:23,440 Speaker 2: there fan either, at times when I was ready to quit. 717 00:43:24,080 --> 00:43:27,839 Speaker 2: But I there were two things that sustained me. One 718 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,800 Speaker 2: is that I always tried to have enough money saved 719 00:43:32,960 --> 00:43:37,040 Speaker 2: so if I needed to quit that day, I could 720 00:43:37,080 --> 00:43:40,920 Speaker 2: survive for a while. So there was that, and I 721 00:43:40,960 --> 00:43:44,400 Speaker 2: never did quit that day, but there was but I 722 00:43:44,480 --> 00:43:47,680 Speaker 2: had a plan. And the other thing is that there 723 00:43:47,719 --> 00:43:51,200 Speaker 2: were a few times when I hit a wall with 724 00:43:51,280 --> 00:43:54,319 Speaker 2: a boss or with a situation where things weren't moving 725 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:58,120 Speaker 2: or I was very frustrated, but I got very involved 726 00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:02,080 Speaker 2: in alumni activities at both my college and my graduate school, 727 00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:06,520 Speaker 2: and that allowed me to continue to develop some leadership ability. 728 00:44:07,360 --> 00:44:10,399 Speaker 2: And so while I wasn't why I might have been, 729 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:14,160 Speaker 2: you know, frustrated at work, I was being fulfilled in 730 00:44:14,200 --> 00:44:20,359 Speaker 2: another way. And that volunteer work, unpaid, led to a 731 00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:23,279 Speaker 2: lot of leadership roles, so that I became chairman of 732 00:44:23,400 --> 00:44:27,280 Speaker 2: the board of the National Archives Foundation, and I became 733 00:44:27,400 --> 00:44:30,919 Speaker 2: vice chair of Columbia's boarder trustees. And I've you know, now, 734 00:44:30,960 --> 00:44:34,120 Speaker 2: I've like I've had my time in lead in those 735 00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:37,719 Speaker 2: really those leadership roles. Now I'm not I don't really 736 00:44:37,800 --> 00:44:40,640 Speaker 2: want to be the first person who gets the call now, 737 00:44:41,320 --> 00:44:45,319 Speaker 2: but I can. I'm happy to be, you know, the advisor, 738 00:44:45,360 --> 00:44:47,200 Speaker 2: the sounding board, that kind of thing. But so I 739 00:44:47,239 --> 00:44:49,799 Speaker 2: think there's a season for each of those things. But 740 00:44:51,120 --> 00:44:54,040 Speaker 2: that's that's what is important to me, That the legacy 741 00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:57,840 Speaker 2: of encouraging other people to tell their family stories, but 742 00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:03,319 Speaker 2: also developing leadership rolls and really volunteering in ways that 743 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:06,640 Speaker 2: you know you benefit from but you're also giving something back. 744 00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:10,600 Speaker 1: That's a great wisdom and advice. Thank you so much 745 00:45:10,640 --> 00:45:13,239 Speaker 1: for that. And miss Bundles, we don't want to get 746 00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:15,720 Speaker 1: off in your business. But you did mention I believe 747 00:45:15,760 --> 00:45:18,240 Speaker 1: your age in another interview and I was blown away 748 00:45:18,640 --> 00:45:22,440 Speaker 1: because you look amazing. Your hair is gorgeous, your skin 749 00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,759 Speaker 1: is glowing. Can you just give us some can you 750 00:45:25,760 --> 00:45:28,120 Speaker 1: give us some tips? What would you say you've learned 751 00:45:28,120 --> 00:45:31,480 Speaker 1: about taking care of yourself and your body and mind 752 00:45:32,000 --> 00:45:33,920 Speaker 1: over the years, and if you want to get as 753 00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:36,640 Speaker 1: detailed as possible, well our listeners and we'll be taking 754 00:45:36,680 --> 00:45:37,359 Speaker 1: notes over here. 755 00:45:38,800 --> 00:45:41,479 Speaker 2: Yeah, besides the tummy tuck that I want, but I'm 756 00:45:41,520 --> 00:45:42,560 Speaker 2: not gonna get. 757 00:45:43,880 --> 00:45:44,680 Speaker 1: Nothing wrong with that. 758 00:45:45,040 --> 00:45:48,040 Speaker 2: You know, listen, there's a thing you know that after 759 00:45:48,080 --> 00:45:51,960 Speaker 2: a point, you know, my mother was really the person 760 00:45:52,040 --> 00:45:55,920 Speaker 2: who taught me about skin care. And I remember she 761 00:45:56,000 --> 00:45:58,239 Speaker 2: bought a steamer and we would you know, steam our 762 00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:00,920 Speaker 2: faces or you could do that over this. So but 763 00:46:01,120 --> 00:46:04,600 Speaker 2: she when her parents divorced, she for a while she 764 00:46:04,760 --> 00:46:08,680 Speaker 2: lived with her father and his aunts, so her great aunts, 765 00:46:08,680 --> 00:46:12,719 Speaker 2: who were both you know, maiden aunts, unmarried women, and 766 00:46:13,239 --> 00:46:15,640 Speaker 2: she said, you know, nobody really taught me how to 767 00:46:15,680 --> 00:46:17,200 Speaker 2: take care of my skin, and I want to make 768 00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:19,239 Speaker 2: sure that I'm going to teach you. So that was 769 00:46:19,719 --> 00:46:22,840 Speaker 2: a key from her. I exercise. I go to the 770 00:46:22,880 --> 00:46:27,040 Speaker 2: gym almost every day. I started taking pilates a few 771 00:46:27,080 --> 00:46:30,600 Speaker 2: months ago. I love it. I'm on the Reformer. I 772 00:46:30,680 --> 00:46:34,520 Speaker 2: do a yoga class on Sundays, so I am you know, 773 00:46:34,600 --> 00:46:39,880 Speaker 2: I'm trying to keep my body together and that helps 774 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:43,800 Speaker 2: my mental state. I'm kind of an insomniac, so I 775 00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:47,160 Speaker 2: sleep with the earbuds and a meditation tape because that's 776 00:46:47,280 --> 00:46:50,239 Speaker 2: the way that I can go to sleep, and you know, 777 00:46:50,440 --> 00:46:53,680 Speaker 2: I do my chakras and think about that. So you know, 778 00:46:54,000 --> 00:46:57,720 Speaker 2: those are the things that helped me. I was talking 779 00:46:57,719 --> 00:47:00,480 Speaker 2: to somebody the other day who I don't really know well, 780 00:47:00,640 --> 00:47:04,400 Speaker 2: and you know, she we had run into each other 781 00:47:04,480 --> 00:47:06,120 Speaker 2: at something, and she called me and she said, do 782 00:47:06,239 --> 00:47:08,360 Speaker 2: you know you have time to go to coffee? And 783 00:47:08,400 --> 00:47:09,680 Speaker 2: you know, that's the kind of thing you want to 784 00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:13,120 Speaker 2: say yes to people, but I'm like right now, I'm 785 00:47:13,160 --> 00:47:14,920 Speaker 2: just like right now, I'm just trying to get through 786 00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:17,400 Speaker 2: the to do list. So no, you know, I'm sorry, 787 00:47:17,440 --> 00:47:20,920 Speaker 2: I can't. I can't do that. And she said something 788 00:47:20,920 --> 00:47:23,160 Speaker 2: to me, Well, you know, I tell my students that 789 00:47:23,200 --> 00:47:25,160 Speaker 2: they need to make sure they take time to breathe, 790 00:47:25,160 --> 00:47:27,160 Speaker 2: and I'm like, I am taking time to breathe. 791 00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:27,799 Speaker 1: Believe me. 792 00:47:28,320 --> 00:47:31,920 Speaker 2: I am doing yoga, I am doing pilates, I am 793 00:47:32,000 --> 00:47:34,279 Speaker 2: taking time to breathe. But I still have all this 794 00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:35,640 Speaker 2: other stuff that I have to do. 795 00:47:38,120 --> 00:47:45,040 Speaker 3: Wow, thank you, Thank you for reinforcing this notion of 796 00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:50,319 Speaker 3: like taking care of yourself amidst all the things that 797 00:47:50,760 --> 00:47:54,720 Speaker 3: we have going on. And I don't have a steamer 798 00:47:54,760 --> 00:47:56,759 Speaker 3: at home right now, but you're making me think about 799 00:47:56,760 --> 00:48:02,400 Speaker 3: going to put my face over that stove. I preserve this, 800 00:48:02,880 --> 00:48:04,400 Speaker 3: preserve my youthful skin. 801 00:48:06,080 --> 00:48:08,239 Speaker 2: Well, you know, and I will say I for for 802 00:48:08,320 --> 00:48:10,600 Speaker 2: a while, I don't know, maybe for a decade or so. 803 00:48:11,680 --> 00:48:15,400 Speaker 2: I went I got a facial every month, and it 804 00:48:15,719 --> 00:48:18,560 Speaker 2: was not because my skin was in bad shape, but 805 00:48:18,640 --> 00:48:22,880 Speaker 2: I just loved the pampering. And I think that's, you know, 806 00:48:22,960 --> 00:48:25,560 Speaker 2: that's very important. And I'm you know, and I have 807 00:48:25,600 --> 00:48:29,080 Speaker 2: to show so here see my nails. This is the 808 00:48:29,120 --> 00:48:31,680 Speaker 2: first time I've had gail nails. 809 00:48:33,520 --> 00:48:35,120 Speaker 1: What do you think about it? 810 00:48:35,520 --> 00:48:38,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's interesting, but I have kind of my nails 811 00:48:38,160 --> 00:48:40,279 Speaker 2: are not great. My natural nails are not great. But 812 00:48:40,360 --> 00:48:42,800 Speaker 2: I I know that I'm going to be signing books, 813 00:48:43,400 --> 00:48:46,120 Speaker 2: and I was doing a little video, a little promotional 814 00:48:46,239 --> 00:48:48,560 Speaker 2: video for the publisher, and I was gonna I was 815 00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:52,000 Speaker 2: handling some of the Walker memorabilia, and I'm like, I 816 00:48:52,040 --> 00:48:56,000 Speaker 2: can't really be a camera and have monthly nails. So 817 00:48:56,040 --> 00:48:58,720 Speaker 2: that is that's kind of now a new another little 818 00:48:58,760 --> 00:49:01,279 Speaker 2: thing I've added. So it's let me see, let me 819 00:49:01,280 --> 00:49:02,759 Speaker 2: see your nails, let me see, let me see. I 820 00:49:02,840 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 2: know you all have nice nail see. I knew you 821 00:49:05,719 --> 00:49:08,799 Speaker 2: did so I so this is new, this is new 822 00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:11,640 Speaker 2: for me. These are actually too long. And so when 823 00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,279 Speaker 2: I get you know, when I get them redone in 824 00:49:14,320 --> 00:49:16,680 Speaker 2: another week or so, it's going to be a little shorter. 825 00:49:16,760 --> 00:49:20,560 Speaker 2: But I I was in New York and doing an event, 826 00:49:20,840 --> 00:49:23,560 Speaker 2: and I knew I wanted to get my nails done. 827 00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:26,360 Speaker 2: And so there was a sister who had like really fancy, 828 00:49:26,760 --> 00:49:30,879 Speaker 2: you know, hand painted all marbled nails, and she said, well, 829 00:49:30,880 --> 00:49:33,239 Speaker 2: I will, I will check out some nail salons for 830 00:49:33,320 --> 00:49:35,239 Speaker 2: you and pick one for you. So I went to 831 00:49:35,280 --> 00:49:37,040 Speaker 2: a nail salon at one hundred and twenty fifth and 832 00:49:37,200 --> 00:49:41,640 Speaker 2: Madison got there at ten o'clock, wasn't open yet. And 833 00:49:41,640 --> 00:49:44,120 Speaker 2: then this van drives up at a bunch of people 834 00:49:44,160 --> 00:49:46,200 Speaker 2: get out of the van. I'm like, oh, this is 835 00:49:46,640 --> 00:49:50,440 Speaker 2: kind and all of the you know, but they and 836 00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:53,640 Speaker 2: all of the nail technicians were men, and so that 837 00:49:53,840 --> 00:49:56,319 Speaker 2: was unusual. And so you know, I was trying to 838 00:49:56,320 --> 00:49:58,960 Speaker 2: communicate with the young man and he was not He 839 00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:01,600 Speaker 2: didn't really speak a lot of it English, and I obviously 840 00:50:01,600 --> 00:50:04,200 Speaker 2: do not speak Korean. So we were trying to communicate. 841 00:50:04,760 --> 00:50:09,239 Speaker 2: And I had picked almond, the almond shape, so that's 842 00:50:09,280 --> 00:50:11,479 Speaker 2: because that's what looked nice. I thought that looked nice. 843 00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:13,640 Speaker 2: So he's doing this and I'm like, my nails are 844 00:50:13,680 --> 00:50:15,959 Speaker 2: out to here, and I'm like, you know, I'm saying 845 00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:19,520 Speaker 2: that too long too, and he's like, not almond, not almend. 846 00:50:19,640 --> 00:50:23,560 Speaker 2: I'm like, I don't care, it's too long. So he 847 00:50:23,719 --> 00:50:26,520 Speaker 2: cut them back, but they're still too long. But I 848 00:50:26,560 --> 00:50:28,520 Speaker 2: didn't have you know, I didn't have the ability to 849 00:50:28,560 --> 00:50:31,840 Speaker 2: really communicate well with him. So now I'm you know, 850 00:50:31,840 --> 00:50:34,640 Speaker 2: there's a nail salt next to my pilates studios. So 851 00:50:35,719 --> 00:50:37,239 Speaker 2: I went in there the other day and they're gonna 852 00:50:37,239 --> 00:50:37,799 Speaker 2: hook me up. 853 00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:40,920 Speaker 1: I thought, how that is too And then know the 854 00:50:41,040 --> 00:50:42,640 Speaker 1: too long You're just like, oh gosh, I gotta get 855 00:50:42,680 --> 00:50:44,040 Speaker 1: that's why my mind is so short now, so we 856 00:50:44,320 --> 00:50:44,920 Speaker 1: totally get it. 857 00:50:44,960 --> 00:50:47,080 Speaker 2: But this can have such step up. 858 00:50:47,800 --> 00:50:50,480 Speaker 1: Exactly why are you doing household stuff like I need 859 00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:52,160 Speaker 1: to hire someone to do everything about when they had 860 00:50:52,160 --> 00:50:55,279 Speaker 1: the long nails. But this was such an amazing conversation. 861 00:50:55,400 --> 00:50:57,120 Speaker 1: Thank you so much for the work that you do. 862 00:50:57,200 --> 00:50:59,319 Speaker 1: Thank you for what you've done, and we definitely want 863 00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:01,520 Speaker 1: to make sure that people can go get their copy 864 00:51:01,560 --> 00:51:04,640 Speaker 1: of the book. So please just let folks know how 865 00:51:04,640 --> 00:51:06,440 Speaker 1: they can support. If there are any next steps you 866 00:51:06,480 --> 00:51:08,040 Speaker 1: want them to take, we'd love for you to share 867 00:51:08,080 --> 00:51:09,600 Speaker 1: that now because this was so amazing. 868 00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:13,400 Speaker 2: Thank you and what a great conversation. I am so 869 00:51:13,560 --> 00:51:16,239 Speaker 2: happy to meet you all. You know the things that 870 00:51:16,280 --> 00:51:20,080 Speaker 2: people can do. Follow me on social It's at Alilia 871 00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:24,120 Speaker 2: Bundles a l E l I A Bundles and I'm 872 00:51:24,160 --> 00:51:27,040 Speaker 2: on all those spaces, though my TikTok game is not 873 00:51:27,160 --> 00:51:31,800 Speaker 2: so great yet, but a lot on Instagram and blue 874 00:51:31,840 --> 00:51:36,120 Speaker 2: Sky and threads, so that's and Facebook, so I'm there. 875 00:51:36,600 --> 00:51:39,120 Speaker 2: Just pre order the book if you go to my 876 00:51:39,280 --> 00:51:42,960 Speaker 2: website at Alilia bundles dot com there's a link, but 877 00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:45,960 Speaker 2: also on my social there are links for preordering, but 878 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:50,520 Speaker 2: preordering is really bookshop dot Org, Turtulla, Amazon, your local 879 00:51:50,560 --> 00:51:53,480 Speaker 2: you know, wherever you buy books online or in a 880 00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:57,040 Speaker 2: store and ask to order it. That makes a huge difference. 881 00:51:57,560 --> 00:52:00,920 Speaker 2: The preorders do come to my eve events that the 882 00:52:01,360 --> 00:52:04,440 Speaker 2: calendar is posted on my social I'm in New York, Boston, 883 00:52:05,080 --> 00:52:09,800 Speaker 2: d C, Philadelphia, Martha's Vineyard on July thirtieth, if anybody 884 00:52:09,840 --> 00:52:12,680 Speaker 2: is there, and then I'm you know, I'm looking for 885 00:52:12,760 --> 00:52:18,080 Speaker 2: other opportunities. I think Miami, La Atlanta, Chicago. So you know, 886 00:52:18,239 --> 00:52:20,279 Speaker 2: if you want to invite me or your bookstore wets 887 00:52:20,360 --> 00:52:21,920 Speaker 2: to invite me, please do. 888 00:52:23,080 --> 00:52:24,080 Speaker 1: Thank you so much. 889 00:52:26,239 --> 00:52:29,080 Speaker 3: Hey lady, it's doctor dom here from the Cultivating her 890 00:52:29,120 --> 00:52:33,120 Speaker 3: Space podcast. Are you currently a resident of the state 891 00:52:33,160 --> 00:52:38,600 Speaker 3: of California and contemplating starting your therapy journey? Well, if so, 892 00:52:39,360 --> 00:52:43,640 Speaker 3: please reach out to me at doctor Dominique Brusard dot com. 893 00:52:44,080 --> 00:52:48,920 Speaker 3: That's D R D O M I N I q 894 00:52:49,239 --> 00:52:53,400 Speaker 3: U E B R O U S S A r 895 00:52:53,560 --> 00:52:58,680 Speaker 3: D dot com to schedule a free fifteen minute consultation. 896 00:52:59,239 --> 00:53:03,760 Speaker 3: I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for tuning 897 00:53:03,840 --> 00:53:08,120 Speaker 3: into Cultivating her Space. Remember that while this podcast is 898 00:53:08,200 --> 00:53:13,000 Speaker 3: all about healing, empowerment, and resilience. It's not a substitute 899 00:53:13,000 --> 00:53:17,040 Speaker 3: for therapy. If you or someone you know need support, 900 00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:21,800 Speaker 3: check out resources like Therapy for Black Girls or Psychology Today. 901 00:53:22,680 --> 00:53:25,680 Speaker 3: If you love today's episode, do us a favor and 902 00:53:25,719 --> 00:53:29,000 Speaker 3: share it with a friend who needs some inspiration, or 903 00:53:29,640 --> 00:53:33,040 Speaker 3: leave us a quick five star review. Your support means 904 00:53:33,080 --> 00:53:36,160 Speaker 3: the world to us and helps keep this space thriving. 905 00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:41,600 Speaker 1: And before we meet again, repeat after me. My actions 906 00:53:41,680 --> 00:53:48,920 Speaker 1: are aligned with purpose leading to continuous transformation. Chep Thriving 907 00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:52,759 Speaker 1: Lady and tune in next Friday for more inspiration from 908 00:53:52,840 --> 00:53:56,520 Speaker 1: cultivating her Space. In the meantime, be sure to connect 909 00:53:56,520 --> 00:54:05,040 Speaker 1: with us on Instagram at her Space Podcast