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Speaker 1: Hey, ba fam, let's be real for a second, and

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Speaker 1: y'all know I keep it a book. The job market

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Speaker 1: has been brutal, now not brutal trash, especially for women

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Speaker 1: of color. Over three hundred thousand of us have disappeared

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Speaker 1: from the workforce this year alone, and not by choice,

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Speaker 1: but because of layoffs, disappearing DEI programs, and stagnant wages

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Speaker 1: that keep cutting us out of opportunity. Our unemployment rate

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Speaker 1: has jumped to over seven percent, while our pay gap

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Speaker 1: continues to widen. I know all of that sounds dire,

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Speaker 1: but here's what I want y'all to know. You do

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Speaker 1: not have to wait for the system to save you.

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Speaker 1: That's exactly why I created the Mandy money Makers Group

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Speaker 1: coaching community. It is a coaching community that is built

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Speaker 1: for us by us. Inside the community, we're not just

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Speaker 1: talking about how to negotiate or to how to get

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Speaker 1: the job that you want. It's about finding purpose in

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Speaker 1: your career. It's about finding communities and others, feeling seen,

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Speaker 1: feeling heard, and also having a sounding board and a

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Speaker 1: mirror to reflect your own magic, your own sparkle right

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Speaker 1: back to yourself. In this community, you'll get group coaching

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Speaker 1: led by me, but you also get peer to peer

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Speaker 1: accountability with proven tools and resources that can help you

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Speaker 1: do what we have always done since rise. Even when

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Speaker 1: the odds are stacked against us, despite all the challenges,

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Speaker 1: we will rise. If you're interested in joining the Mandy

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Speaker 1: money Makers community and having that support to bolster you

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Speaker 1: and help you tap back into your magic so that

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Speaker 1: you can lead your career with intention and heart and

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Speaker 1: your own intuition, trusting that again, please join us. You

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Speaker 1: can find information in the show notes of today's episodes

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Speaker 1: or go to mandymoney dot com slash community. That's Mandy

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Speaker 1: m A n d I money dot com slash community.

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Speaker 1: I would love to see y'all there. Enrollment is open,

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Speaker 1: so please go check out mandymoney dot com slash community today. Hey,

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Speaker 1: ba fam, how's it going? Welcome back to the show.

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Speaker 1: This is Brown Ambition For those of y'all who are

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Speaker 1: new here. My name is Mandy woodri Off Santos aka

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Speaker 1: Vandy Money. I am your ever grateful, ever present host,

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Speaker 1: and I'm so excited to have you here. Thank you

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Speaker 1: for spending some time with me. Thank you for spending

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Speaker 1: this time with yourself, giving yourself a little bit of

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Speaker 1: time to think about what's happening in the world where

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Speaker 1: you're at with your financial and your professional goals, and

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Speaker 1: being kind enough to invite me in along for the

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Speaker 1: journey with y'all. Today, I've got a special episode for y'all.

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Speaker 1: I'm going to be doing what I'm calling the BA

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Speaker 1: Best of c Suite Edition, taking a look back at

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Speaker 1: a couple of my favorite interviews over the past year.

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Speaker 1: One with the chief marketing officer of one of the

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Speaker 1: biggest publishing houses in the world, Gabrielle Gambrel from Hashet

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Speaker 1: slash Grand Central Publishing. We've also got the CEO of

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Speaker 1: Black Girl's Code, Christina Mancini. This had to definitely was

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Speaker 1: one of my top top top interviews. Both of these

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Speaker 1: women extraordinary, have risen through the ranks to take up

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Speaker 1: space in rare, rare air for women of color, and

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Speaker 1: they are doing it with class and with gusto and

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Speaker 1: a level of energy and inspiration still even advanced as

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Speaker 1: they are in their careers, and I'm excited for y'all.

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Speaker 1: If you've whether you've heard these before or it's your

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Speaker 1: first time catching up on these, you are in for

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Speaker 1: a treat. But before I get there, I wanted to

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Speaker 1: do as I do, which is to give my VA

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Speaker 1: fam a shout out those of y'all who have been

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Speaker 1: engaging with the podcast on YouTube, on Spotify of course,

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Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, the og and just say thank you

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Speaker 1: for taking the time to join the conversation. We had

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Speaker 1: some really funny, really like lots of comments more than

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Speaker 1: usual on some of my res sent videos from last

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Speaker 1: week's episode. If you haven't checked it out, you know

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Speaker 1: what you're waiting for. Do that and come on back.

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Speaker 1: But I want to shout out a couple of YouTubers.

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Speaker 1: My most recent interview was with the author CJ. Farley.

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Speaker 1: He wrote an incredible book that just came out. It's

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Speaker 1: called Who Knows You by Heart. It features a black

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Speaker 1: female protagonist, Octavia, and how she navigates a rapidly changing

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Speaker 1: tech big tech scene and how AI can be as

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Speaker 1: nefarious as we all know, and sort of the implications

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Speaker 1: it has on her career in her life. And one

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Speaker 1: of y'all on YouTube, we'll call it. TJ Smith on

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Speaker 1: YouTube says a while brown am vision clip on my FYP,

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Speaker 1: I scrolled to the next YouTube short and was listening

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Speaker 1: while doing other things, nodding along ingesting the info. Then

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Speaker 1: I heard the sound and instantly hit my BA dance lmao.

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Speaker 1: Looking forward to listening to the full episode. I thank

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Speaker 1: you so much t J. Smith. But also it's really

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Speaker 1: awkward for me to say texting shorthand like out loud,

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Speaker 1: like am I supposed to say laugh in my ass off?

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Speaker 1: Or I'm also say lmao. I don't know. It just

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Speaker 1: sounds awkward. But thank you TJ for commenting, and that's

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Speaker 1: so funny. I'm glad that our shorts are showing up

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Speaker 1: in the YouTube feed. Shout out to my wonderful VA

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Speaker 1: Cameron who helps me upload our content to YouTube. Couldn't

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Speaker 1: do without you. Listener Nick Nick on NYC said, Christopher

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Speaker 1: is a rock star. Thank you for this interview. Now

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Speaker 1: my other clip from my episode from last week, the

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Speaker 1: main show from last Wednesday, I talked about Trump's plan

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Speaker 1: for a fifty year mortgage, and y'all know how I feel.

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Speaker 1: By now y'all know how I feel about it, which

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Speaker 1: is like this is the most hair brained as nine

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Speaker 1: way of trying to quote unquote increase home ownership and

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Speaker 1: affordability in this country. It is such a dumb idea

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Speaker 1: and the Dingo Ady on YouTube said, the only way

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Speaker 1: I'd ever do a fIF your mortgage is if there

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Speaker 1: was a federal law capping the interest rate at something

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Speaker 1: like three percent to avoid this exact scenario, allow people

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Speaker 1: to effectively get into a house, allowing them to pay

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Speaker 1: more when they can, but without letting the bank screw

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Speaker 1: over the consumer. The Dingo Yes, I think that's actually

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Speaker 1: a great idea, Like if that would change everything, if

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Speaker 1: they said there's going to be a cap. However, why

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Speaker 1: would banks agree to that? Banks don't like that. Banks

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Speaker 1: don't banks barely like the fixed rate mortgage product that

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Speaker 1: they already have at just thirty year mortgage. Fixed rates

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Speaker 1: are when you know, you get a mortgage and it's

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Speaker 1: locked in at that rate for the term of the loan.

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Speaker 1: A bank hates that because what's going to happen when

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Speaker 1: interest rates start to go up, like let's say the

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Speaker 1: Fed increases rates down the line, and then you still

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Speaker 1: have a homeowner who's got you'll use your rate as

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Speaker 1: an example, three percent fixed. Now the bank is having

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Speaker 1: to pay because you know, when the rates go up,

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Speaker 1: savers people with money in the banks, we get paid

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Speaker 1: more from the bank. They have to pay us a

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Speaker 1: higher interest rate. Typically those rates go up, so then

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Speaker 1: you have that half of the bank. The bank is

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Speaker 1: paying its savings customers, people with money in the bank,

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Speaker 1: paying them more interest on their deposits. At the same time,

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Speaker 1: they're still getting the same old three percent from their homeowners.

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Speaker 1: They're borrowers, and banks don't like that. They don't like

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Speaker 1: to give more than they get. I don't know, if

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Speaker 1: you're on them. That's kind of how like capitalism work.

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Speaker 1: That's not what they like to do. But I do

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Speaker 1: like this idea, and maybe one day, but I don't

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Speaker 1: think this president, if this comes to me, I don't

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Speaker 1: think it's going to be this administration that would enact that.

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Speaker 1: So but thank you for the comment. And I'm actually

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Speaker 1: terrified about this fifty year mortgage becoming a thing because

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Speaker 1: I hate to say it, but The New York Times

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Speaker 1: did an entire episode this morning actually on the Daily

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Speaker 1: that was all about the fifty year mortgage, and I

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Speaker 1: was like, damn if that's sort of like mainstreaming it

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Speaker 1: at that point. And you know, you can argue as

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Speaker 1: you want about the relevancy and the ethical you know,

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Speaker 1: the coverage the New York Times does and whether we

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Speaker 1: should all, you know, be consuming it. But at the

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Speaker 1: same time, it is that girl when it comes to

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Speaker 1: traditional media right now, So big deal for them to

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Speaker 1: be doing a whole episode on it and legitimizing this

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Speaker 1: idea that he has. I also talked about last week

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Speaker 1: about the Black Friday boycott. I talked about, you know,

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Speaker 1: having those conversations with your family about, you know, how

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Speaker 1: the holidays are going to look and if you don't,

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Speaker 1: if you're not financially in a place where you can

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Speaker 1: show up the way that maybe you have in the past,

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Speaker 1: having those tough conversations and YouTube viewer listener, I'll just

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Speaker 1: call her, uh, I'll call her because her name is

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Speaker 1: a bunch of letters and symbols. User nine CV seven

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Speaker 1: Helping w says, I make beautiful crocheted hats and scarves,

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Speaker 1: so those will be my gifts and I will be

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Speaker 1: dumping the rest of my money into index funds while

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Speaker 1: the stock market is all read buying stock on the

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Speaker 1: cheap to be ready for the opportunities that will come

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Speaker 1: when we have our blue wave, blue heart What do

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Speaker 1: you call that flexing bicep emoji? Yes, okay, I love this.

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Speaker 1: Making crocheted hats and scarves and then dumping the rest

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Speaker 1: of my money into index funds while the market is

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Speaker 1: all read. Yes, we love that. I mean, whether the

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Speaker 1: market is red, black, whatever it is. You know, with

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Speaker 1: the with the guidance of you know, your holistic picture

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Speaker 1: of your financial situation, you know, you know what's going

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Speaker 1: on in y'all's in y'all's finance is better than I do.

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Speaker 1: But I know personally, whenever I have dump money into

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Speaker 1: the stock market, especially when I'm doing it for a

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Speaker 1: long which is how I usually invest, I'm always investing

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Speaker 1: for the long term. Anytime I've tried to invest for

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Speaker 1: the short term, your girl has fallen straight on her ass,

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Speaker 1: as so many of us do. All Right, the research

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Speaker 1: doesn't lie. Long term investors win. So I love that. Yes,

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Speaker 1: investing that for the long term in your case seems

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Speaker 1: to be the best bet and you can let that

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Speaker 1: money grow. Yes, And I'm just gonna cry about thinking

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Speaker 1: about all the toys and legos and party favors that

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Speaker 1: I bought for my kids that will never appreciate in

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Speaker 1: value and in factor at the bottom of drash sheep

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Speaker 1: right now, probably floating in our oceans, when I could

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Speaker 1: have been investing but that's not helpful thinking, isn't. No,

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Speaker 1: it's not. But I'm happy for you. And oh yeah,

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Speaker 1: some comments on my Kayla Andicle video user Amanda URS

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Speaker 1: said love Kayla Nicole and appreciated her apology. This is

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Speaker 1: about Kaylnicle apologizing for those tweets that she should have

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Speaker 1: had cleaned up long before. Amanda R. Says, I love

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Speaker 1: Kayla Nicole and appreciated her apology. But yeah, even as

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Speaker 1: a quote unquote nobody I cleaned up my social media.

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Speaker 1: She ate the Tony Braxton tribute so bad they had

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Speaker 1: to find something on her. Yes, she did, and she

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Speaker 1: should have known better. But since I published you know

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Speaker 1: my take on this whole situation, Kayla n Cole has

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Speaker 1: issued an apology, So I think that that was the

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Speaker 1: right thing to do. And I'm also going to say

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Speaker 1: that I wouldn't have had to do that if you

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Speaker 1: had had the foresight to clean up your socials as

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Speaker 1: we all should, even like miss Amanda says, the nobody's

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Speaker 1: all right. That's gonna wrap up my little comment shout outs.

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Speaker 1: If you have loved to comment, thank you so so much.

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Speaker 1: You can engage with our content on YouTube. You can

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Speaker 1: also leave us a review on Apple Podcasts. We didn't

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Speaker 1: get no new Apple reviews, but I would love to

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Speaker 1: have read them if we did. This is your this

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Speaker 1: is your chance and give me a reason and read

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Speaker 1: some new reviews. In the meantime, let's get into today's show.

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Speaker 1: Today I got a special best of Mashup episode featuring

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Speaker 1: two powerhouse guests who dropped some serious gems when they

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Speaker 1: joined me earlier this year, talking about career pivots, personal finance,

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Speaker 1: and building wealth on your own terms, which is what

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Speaker 1: brad Ambition is all about. First up, I've got Christina Mancini.

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Speaker 1: She is the CEO of Black Girl's Code, who talked

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Speaker 1: about why she left Corporate America as she had a

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Speaker 1: great gig at Salesforce and she left to build her

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Speaker 1: own table, not just a seep, with the whole damn table.

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Speaker 1: And then we're going to catch up with Gabrielle Gambrell,

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Speaker 1: a media executive at hash at Book Group who literally

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Speaker 1: rocked out to Michael Jackson's Human Nature in a job

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Speaker 1: interview and got hired on the spot early in her career.

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Speaker 1: And if you're someone whether you're in the beginning of

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Speaker 1: your career, the messy middle of your career. Like so

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Speaker 1: many of us, I know you're going to be inspired

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Speaker 1: by Gabrielle's grit and determination and just her charisma and

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Speaker 1: ability to keep pushing. It's always inspiring to me. I'm

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Speaker 1: so grateful that these two women said yes when I

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Speaker 1: invited them to the show, and I'm excited for you

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Speaker 1: to get to look back. So, without further ado, let's

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Speaker 1: kick it off with the conversation around why these two

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Speaker 1: women made bold career moves when everyone else thought that

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Speaker 1: they were crazy, and how they figured out why betting

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Speaker 1: on yourself is often the best investment you can make.

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Speaker 1: I want to start there. Can you tell be a

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Speaker 1: fam a little but about your decision to leave corporate

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Speaker 1: You were a big batty in tech at Salesforce and

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Speaker 1: now you're running a nonprofit. So talk to me, talk

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Speaker 1: to us a little bit about that decision and what

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Speaker 1: brought you to Black Girls Code.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I did have a wonderful career. I started my

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Speaker 2: career in media and television. I transitioned into technology. You know.

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Speaker 2: I was at summer camp last week in Atlanta and

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Speaker 2: Representative Kim Schofield was speaking to our girls, and one

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Speaker 2: of the girls asked her why did she get into politics?

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Speaker 2: And she said she wanted to make sure that people

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Speaker 2: without a always had a voice. And I think that

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Speaker 2: that really sums up why I wanted to get into technology.

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Speaker 2: I did not come up through the traditional educator channels

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Speaker 2: for this line of work. I came through corporate and

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Speaker 2: I was in the rooms that I want to get.

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Speaker 3: Our participants into.

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Speaker 2: And so I come with that intention, like what are

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Speaker 2: the things I wish I.

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Speaker 3: Knew then that I know now?

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Speaker 2: And what are the things that I was trying to

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Speaker 2: solve for at one company that I can now solve

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Speaker 2: for at scale?

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Speaker 3: And so that's why I'm here.

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Speaker 2: I want to inspire, educate, and launch these girls into

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Speaker 2: these big jobs at tech so that they can save

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Speaker 2: us all.

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Speaker 3: I believe, if I'm not mistaken, that that is why

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Speaker 3: you started this podcast.

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Speaker 1: It's pretty similar. Yeah, I mean also, I was bored.

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Speaker 1: I was.

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Speaker 4: I was bored.

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Speaker 1: No, not bored as in like I have nothing to do,

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Speaker 1: bored as in surrounded by people who didn't look like

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Speaker 1: me every day. And I was also in media covering

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Speaker 1: personal finance, and I wanted to I wanted to feel

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Speaker 1: the energy, giddiness, the excitement there wasn't a lot of

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Speaker 1: that excitement in like doing it for a cause. Maybe

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Speaker 1: I was a little bit of a bleeding heart at

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Speaker 1: the time. And I met my co host at the time, Tiffany,

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Speaker 1: at a conference, and we had such We were both

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Speaker 1: so equally passionate about doing this work and really closing

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Speaker 1: the racial wealth gap and talking to when of color,

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Speaker 1: and I just didn't get that where I was working

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Speaker 1: at Yahoo Finance at the time. So for me, this

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Speaker 1: was an outlet. It was an outlet and a place

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Speaker 1: to take all my enthusiasm. And at the same time,

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Speaker 1: now it's been ten years and I have chosen to

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Speaker 1: keep doing it again and again. I've left corporate. I

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Speaker 1: left corporate back in twenty twenty one. And definitely my

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Speaker 1: why now is because you know, I was going to

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Speaker 1: ask while you were speaking, I was going to ask

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Speaker 1: you Sometimes there's a bit of a pressure on women

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Speaker 1: of color when we reach these high rankings in corporate America,

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Speaker 1: like stay there, we need you representation, da da da.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, and I did feel that

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Speaker 1: way because when I was in corporate, I wasn't as

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Speaker 1: senior level as you were, but I was making hiring

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Speaker 1: decisions I was hiring. I hired a team of forty

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Speaker 1: and you know, I really wanted to make sure that

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Speaker 1: they were diverse and that little bit of power and responsibility.

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Speaker 1: It took it very seriously and it was a privilege

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Speaker 1: and some power. That being said, I wanted to get

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Speaker 1: your take on that and your answer to anyone who

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Speaker 1: may say, but we need you when corporate.

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Speaker 2: I think that we need a whole bunch of us

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Speaker 2: in corporate. And I was doing this work off the

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Speaker 2: side of my desk for many years.

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Speaker 3: You know, I launched multiple programs.

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Speaker 2: Even when I was in film, and then also when

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Speaker 2: I was at Salesforce. And at Salesforce, I launched our

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Speaker 2: make Change series are leading through Change series, trying to

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Speaker 2: motivate people to think different about using their platform to

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Speaker 2: affect change and instead of just going to work every

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Speaker 2: day and thinking like, oh, I got to tick all

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Speaker 2: these boxes in my playbook, Like what if you thought

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Speaker 2: about how you could use the space and influence you

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Speaker 2: have to affect change. And so there's this incredible pressure

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Speaker 2: when you as you rise through the ranks in corporate,

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Speaker 2: when you get to the spaces where you are, in

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Speaker 2: fact the only one to create space for others, and

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Speaker 2: it is the right type of pressure.

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Speaker 3: But for me, I couldn't get enough people at the table.

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Speaker 2: I wanted to actually encourage us to start building our

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Speaker 2: own tables, and so, yes, I suffered that pressure. It's

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Speaker 2: the pressure of wanting to mentor and sponsor everybody while

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Speaker 2: you still have your regular day job. And I think

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Speaker 2: that's a really interesting conversation in itself around thinking through

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Speaker 2: what is mentorship versus sponsorship. Everybody wants mentorship, but it

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Speaker 2: presents itself in different ways.

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Speaker 3: For me, I'm not super chatty.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to go straight to action items, and so

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Speaker 2: I think I am a better sponsor. But in order

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Speaker 2: to be a good sponsor and find the right sponsors,

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Speaker 2: you need to really think about what your value proposition is,

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Speaker 2: and you know, start thinking about who's your mentor that

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Speaker 2: you have coffee with and you want to have small

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Speaker 2: talk with, and who's your sponsor who's going to be

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Speaker 2: in the room. I used to say, you know, fighting

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Speaker 2: for you in rooms where you're not and now where

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Speaker 2: we are right now, which is an epidemic of no

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Speaker 2: black women in tech, I would say it is fighting

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Speaker 2: to make sure that you yourself are in the room

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Speaker 2: to present your own projects so that you can accelerate

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Speaker 2: your career.

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Speaker 1: Okay, you said, you said so much there. I have

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Speaker 1: a lot of respect for anyone who's clear on what

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Speaker 1: they what they're able to offer. I've read a group

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Speaker 1: coaching community called the Mandy money Makers, and one of

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Speaker 1: my makers last week, she's incredible networking and she'll she'll

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Speaker 1: send an email, but she'll meet up and she'll meet

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Speaker 1: up with people in person and then keep the relationship

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Speaker 1: going via email. And she had said how someone that

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Speaker 1: she was reaching out to or hoping to get some

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Speaker 1: advice on breaking into this new field had posted on

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Speaker 1: LinkedIn this post that was like, we're being inundated by

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Speaker 1: mentorship and advice emails and virtual one on ones and

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Speaker 1: we can't do it all. I hope you guys understand

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Speaker 1: if we don't get back to you, this is why.

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Speaker 1: And part of me as a coach, I'm just like, oh,

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Speaker 1: that's kind of a shame, because you hope people will

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Speaker 1: have the bandwidth. At the same time, I respect a boundary, right,

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Speaker 1: and I think what you're really vocalizing what a lot

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Speaker 1: of the few of us that do make it to

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Speaker 1: the top can feel a bit overwhelmed by the pull

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Speaker 1: back to look back and bring others forward while trying

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Speaker 1: to like survive, survive where we are one of the

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Speaker 1: few only differents, you know, make sure that we our

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Speaker 1: asses don't get let go because our margin of error

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Speaker 1: is like super duper raised or things like.

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Speaker 2: This big magnifying class on you already you can't make any.

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Speaker 3: Mistakes, exactly, it feels, or so it feels.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I just wanted to acknowledge that and just say

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Speaker 1: that that is completely fair. At the same time, you

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Speaker 1: do offer this window of saying, here's what I can do. Yes,

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Speaker 1: I can have a list of batties that I know

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Speaker 1: I can support, you know, and how does someone get

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Speaker 1: on your sponsorship list? How do we can sponsor?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I like how you position that because I feel

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Speaker 2: like I'm curating a massive pipeline of batties at Black

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Speaker 2: Girl's Code, you know. I was at Salesforce. I met

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Speaker 2: incredible leaders there, and when I came over to Black

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Speaker 2: Girl's Code, it was October of twenty twenty three, and

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Speaker 2: I remember being just blown away by the level of

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Speaker 2: talent that I could see in our participants that were

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Speaker 2: in these programs. And that was the to it was

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Speaker 2: actually part of my interview was that I wanted to

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Speaker 2: expand the age range black girls. COVID was already participating

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Speaker 2: in colleges and careers as so much as like how

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Speaker 2: to talk to a recruiter, how to articulate your value proposition,

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Speaker 2: and they're still crushing it and we're still doing it,

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Speaker 2: and we're building out how to show up at more

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Speaker 2: college campuses. But I really wanted to introduce more technical

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Speaker 2: training as well, and I wanted to support our communities

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Speaker 2: beyond college, and that was the workforce development expansion.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's funny because as.

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Speaker 2: You think about women and women of color in corporate

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Speaker 2: you should assume that if someone is making it up

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Speaker 2: through the rings, that they're a total baddie because they

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Speaker 2: are going. But I'm saying that as I say, you know,

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Speaker 2: someone as be like for some newsletter, like what do

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Speaker 2: I wish people would understand or think about or consider?

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Speaker 2: And it is, you know, this sense of as we're

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Speaker 2: talking about this not celebrating resilience.

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Speaker 3: What I would actually love is if.

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Speaker 2: When we talk about women of color that we don't

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Speaker 2: have that adjective celebrated when it's connected with us, right,

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Speaker 2: so strong wouldn't you rather work at a place where

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Speaker 2: you were just celebrated for being innovative, brilliant, creative, but

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Speaker 2: not resilient.

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Speaker 3: Work shouldn't be a battleground.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. I've talked to us before. When I'm talking

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Speaker 1: to usually white men in my space, so podcasting, so

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Speaker 1: this could be like one of my one from my

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Speaker 1: network for example. So these are corporate spaces. I'm a

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Speaker 1: podcast so I all talk to white dudes occasionally and

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Speaker 1: fortunately not always, because I get to do this work

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Speaker 1: and there's usually a there often is a point when

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Speaker 1: they try to connect with me on their struggle story,

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Speaker 1: you know, Like I mean, I could tell you, sure

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Speaker 1: do I have some do I have some challenges, but

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Speaker 1: like I grew up in the suburbs of Atlanta, Like

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Speaker 1: I wasn't starving, I wasn't poor, and like you know

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Speaker 1: all that, and but that does get to be a

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Speaker 1: little bit tiresome that you you feel like people want

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Speaker 1: they want to feel better about themselves for somehow rescuing you,

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Speaker 1: for giving you a chance.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: No, you still would have been in the streets if

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Speaker 1: it weren't promotion.

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Speaker 4: I hate that, man, I hate that so much.

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Speaker 3: I hate especially in tech.

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Speaker 2: It was my biggest back, Like this, this tiresome trope

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Speaker 2: of rags to riches. I did not come from rags.

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Speaker 2: I had a great background and that's my story. And

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Speaker 2: if it's not your story, you don't owe anyone that story.

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Speaker 3: I hate.

434
00:22:39,880 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 2: There's this book What We Build with Power that I love,

435
00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:46,280
Speaker 2: and in it he talks about this concept of feeling

436
00:22:46,359 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 2: the need to sell trauma for access. It starts around

437
00:22:49,560 --> 00:22:52,400
Speaker 2: high school when you're doing your scholarships, Like.

438
00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:57,880
Speaker 1: Yeah, yes, I really struggle with my college essay.

439
00:22:58,320 --> 00:23:01,520
Speaker 3: I was like, I have a good family.

440
00:23:01,760 --> 00:23:06,240
Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell you, but if you don't,

441
00:23:06,640 --> 00:23:13,640
Speaker 2: it's still not their business. I was speaking at Princeton

442
00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,240
Speaker 2: and I had a mom like, we had some Jack

443
00:23:16,280 --> 00:23:18,879
Speaker 2: and Jill students come and listen, and some of our

444
00:23:18,920 --> 00:23:22,480
Speaker 2: BGC community, which always makes me happy, came up from

445
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:24,800
Speaker 2: the city to listen to me speak. And one of

446
00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,880
Speaker 2: the moms of the high school kids said, well, if

447
00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:31,800
Speaker 2: I don't talk about her resilience, how does she differentiate herself?

448
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:37,919
Speaker 1: So her excellence.

449
00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:42,800
Speaker 2: So if we're not taught early how to articulate, it's

450
00:23:42,840 --> 00:23:47,720
Speaker 2: not bragging, not bragging. I know that I'm very intelligent,

451
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,280
Speaker 2: I know that I'm very creative. I know that I

452
00:23:50,280 --> 00:23:54,400
Speaker 2: am a visionary executive, So I don't feel the need

453
00:23:54,480 --> 00:23:58,000
Speaker 2: to humble myself when I'm talking about what my skill

454
00:23:58,080 --> 00:24:00,680
Speaker 2: set is. If you're hiring me, you know why you're

455
00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:03,440
Speaker 2: hiring me. It's not for any of my past. It's

456
00:24:03,480 --> 00:24:06,760
Speaker 2: none of your business, honestly, and so I want our

457
00:24:06,800 --> 00:24:09,080
Speaker 2: girls to learn that it's none of our business.

458
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:13,760
Speaker 3: You choose who deserves to hear your story, not the

459
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:15,520
Speaker 3: other way around. I've seen it.

460
00:24:15,640 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 2: I've been at keynotes where the sad story comes on.

461
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,080
Speaker 2: Someone reaches out to the person who is featured and

462
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:30,639
Speaker 2: they're like, tear, You're so strong, and you get like

463
00:24:30,680 --> 00:24:33,000
Speaker 2: a little check for your charity, and that's it.

464
00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:34,520
Speaker 3: That's not what we're talking about.

465
00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,879
Speaker 2: I'm talking about, how do we set you up for

466
00:24:36,960 --> 00:24:40,320
Speaker 2: success and advance you in your career or set yourself

467
00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:42,879
Speaker 2: up so that you can be an entrepreneur and people

468
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,240
Speaker 2: are buying the things that you create, not.

469
00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:46,920
Speaker 3: Your past, not your trauma.

470
00:24:46,960 --> 00:24:49,159
Speaker 2: That's why I love this work, going back to like

471
00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 2: my first camp that I went to, when I saw

472
00:24:51,520 --> 00:24:56,919
Speaker 2: these little girls coding and making something new, move that

473
00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:01,280
Speaker 2: didn't move before. Watch the light bulb turn on and

474
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:06,760
Speaker 2: the joy. That's what we sell, that's what we talk about.

475
00:25:07,320 --> 00:25:11,120
Speaker 2: That's you know, in this AI moment where everybody's talking

476
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:13,919
Speaker 2: about AI and this great hype cycle, the very things

477
00:25:13,960 --> 00:25:18,399
Speaker 2: that make us different and differentiate us from machines is

478
00:25:18,440 --> 00:25:22,800
Speaker 2: our imagination, our creativity, our critical thinking. Those are the

479
00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:24,800
Speaker 2: things we need to nurture. Those are the things we

480
00:25:24,840 --> 00:25:26,600
Speaker 2: need to talk about, just like everybody else.

481
00:25:27,119 --> 00:25:29,760
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I think too, just seeing the girls see

482
00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:32,159
Speaker 1: each other in that context, like I just imagine I

483
00:25:32,200 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: want to go to one of these camps and.

484
00:25:33,520 --> 00:25:39,600
Speaker 2: Just personally, we just just that the camps in Atlanta,

485
00:25:39,560 --> 00:25:42,560
Speaker 2: and I just was like man, being around each other

486
00:25:42,640 --> 00:25:46,760
Speaker 2: in a safe space. That's we This centers that we're

487
00:25:47,400 --> 00:25:50,920
Speaker 2: building out in Inglewood, California are for that. I think

488
00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:54,000
Speaker 2: what we're missing is a town square. We're missing these

489
00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,359
Speaker 2: third spaces where we can gather and learn together. It

490
00:25:57,400 --> 00:26:00,480
Speaker 2: gives me infinite joy to participate in it. Spend a

491
00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:03,960
Speaker 2: lot of time on the road speaking and meeting with partners,

492
00:26:04,119 --> 00:26:08,159
Speaker 2: but I reserve the right when I feel depleted of

493
00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:13,679
Speaker 2: energy to go spend time with our learners. It is incredible,

494
00:26:13,760 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 2: and you have to come with me to one of them.

495
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 3: I insist.

496
00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:19,919
Speaker 1: I you know, as you're speaking, I'm thinking about the

497
00:26:19,960 --> 00:26:21,840
Speaker 1: way that I look at my children. I have two

498
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:24,760
Speaker 1: little boys, they're five and two, and I look at

499
00:26:24,800 --> 00:26:28,600
Speaker 1: them as a reprieve from all the stuff, Like I'll

500
00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 1: get on the floor build some legos, and it's the

501
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:33,199
Speaker 1: sort of meditation. It's like it takes you out of

502
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:36,080
Speaker 1: this even this morning, you know, And I know you

503
00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:38,040
Speaker 1: must feel this way, or maybe you don't because you've

504
00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:40,600
Speaker 1: been You're much more, you know, so much more wisdom

505
00:26:40,640 --> 00:26:43,800
Speaker 1: and time, you know, in a high but truly, like

506
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,600
Speaker 1: you know, I consider you to you have more experience

507
00:26:46,640 --> 00:26:49,680
Speaker 1: coping with all the things. But some mornings I wake

508
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,119
Speaker 1: up and it's just it's it's suffocating. How many different

509
00:26:53,160 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: feelings and emotions and things to do and like that

510
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:58,320
Speaker 1: are tugging you in all these different directions. And my

511
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:00,919
Speaker 1: kids are at camp in school right now, so I

512
00:27:00,960 --> 00:27:03,320
Speaker 1: don't have them. I can't. I could build a lego

513
00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:05,359
Speaker 1: by myself, I guess, But anyway, I did a little

514
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:08,960
Speaker 1: meditation instead. That having the kids there is so nice,

515
00:27:09,000 --> 00:27:13,320
Speaker 1: and I love that you are staying grounded in the girls.

516
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:15,680
Speaker 1: You know that y'all are working with that so talk

517
00:27:15,720 --> 00:27:17,960
Speaker 1: to me about For those who may not know NBA fan,

518
00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:20,560
Speaker 1: we've heard of Black Girl's Code. We know that you

519
00:27:20,600 --> 00:27:23,880
Speaker 1: know you're on this mission to get a million girls

520
00:27:24,119 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 1: in tech, black girls in Tech by year twenty forty.

521
00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:30,040
Speaker 1: Such a huge, amazing goal. And I know that you're

522
00:27:30,080 --> 00:27:32,920
Speaker 1: planning new things and expansions, but can you break down

523
00:27:32,960 --> 00:27:35,640
Speaker 1: what exactly the structure of Black Girl's Code is today?

524
00:27:35,720 --> 00:27:38,840
Speaker 1: If someone wants to learn more, get their girls involved,

525
00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:41,520
Speaker 1: get themselves involved as a parent, to help you get

526
00:27:41,560 --> 00:27:43,320
Speaker 1: to that million, that million number.

527
00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,240
Speaker 2: It's a great honor to lead this organization. The organization

528
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:52,720
Speaker 2: was founded in twenty and eleven, truly visionary at the time.

529
00:27:52,840 --> 00:27:54,920
Speaker 2: You know, at the time there was not a lot

530
00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:59,040
Speaker 2: of these programs out there, and so when I came

531
00:28:00,119 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty three, my focus was again to launch.

532
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 2: So there's always been this access, inspiration, education, but I

533
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:12,680
Speaker 2: wanted to connect it to results.

534
00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:14,639
Speaker 3: A quick way to get grounded.

535
00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:18,040
Speaker 2: In what we are doing right now is we AREBGC

536
00:28:18,280 --> 00:28:22,200
Speaker 2: dot Org is our website, and parents can sign their

537
00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:26,639
Speaker 2: kids up for upcoming programs. We are in the last

538
00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,160
Speaker 2: quarter of thirteen summer camps that we've been running all

539
00:28:30,200 --> 00:28:32,800
Speaker 2: summer shout out to my BGC team. They have been

540
00:28:32,880 --> 00:28:36,000
Speaker 2: literally nationwide all over the place, including in Puerto Rico.

541
00:28:36,240 --> 00:28:38,680
Speaker 2: We have our summer camp coming up right now next

542
00:28:38,680 --> 00:28:40,760
Speaker 2: week in Los Angeles.

543
00:28:41,280 --> 00:28:43,400
Speaker 1: These like week long, couple weeks long.

544
00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,719
Speaker 2: It depends like they We've been testing different lengths, so

545
00:28:46,760 --> 00:28:49,640
Speaker 2: some are one week, two week, and some are four weeks.

546
00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:51,880
Speaker 2: I think we're landing somewhere around the two week is

547
00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:55,760
Speaker 2: the optimum length, and we stay connected through the year

548
00:28:55,880 --> 00:29:04,840
Speaker 2: with additional pop ups and emerge programming that is again nationwide.

549
00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 2: We have ongoing free YouTube programming with this series called

550
00:29:10,280 --> 00:29:15,920
Speaker 2: Code Along, and the streamer Kilani Jules just won the

551
00:29:16,320 --> 00:29:20,640
Speaker 2: Young Artist Award for Host of a Streaming Series for

552
00:29:20,800 --> 00:29:23,320
Speaker 2: our Code Along Juniors, so we're really proud of her.

553
00:29:24,600 --> 00:29:28,440
Speaker 2: That YouTube series has reached over eight million views and

554
00:29:28,680 --> 00:29:32,680
Speaker 2: it is a great introduction to code if you cannot

555
00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:36,120
Speaker 2: get to one of our live experiences. But we try

556
00:29:36,160 --> 00:29:38,959
Speaker 2: to get around the nation as much as possible to

557
00:29:39,040 --> 00:29:42,600
Speaker 2: inspire and engage with as many potential students and bring

558
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:46,160
Speaker 2: them into the BGC family. We've also been working really

559
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:49,719
Speaker 2: hard to activate our alumni and bring them back into

560
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:52,800
Speaker 2: the full A lot of them are now teachers assistants.

561
00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:55,520
Speaker 2: They've been supporting us in our summer camps and also

562
00:29:55,560 --> 00:29:58,240
Speaker 2: with our virtual programs. So we have quite a bit

563
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:01,440
Speaker 2: going on, but I think we need to do even more.

564
00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:06,360
Speaker 2: The way that there's this mass exodus of people of

565
00:30:06,400 --> 00:30:08,280
Speaker 2: color from tech is really worrisome for me.

566
00:30:10,360 --> 00:30:13,000
Speaker 1: Heyba, fam, we got to take a quick break, pay

567
00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:18,480
Speaker 1: some bills, and we'll be right back. So I want

568
00:30:19,200 --> 00:30:21,800
Speaker 1: you to talk about your career, but I also want

569
00:30:21,840 --> 00:30:25,400
Speaker 1: to talk about your badass origin story. Where did you

570
00:30:25,480 --> 00:30:29,640
Speaker 1: build that confidence and just the way that you approach

571
00:30:29,680 --> 00:30:33,120
Speaker 1: your career, which is so head on, fearless and like

572
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:35,600
Speaker 1: a straight shooter to the point you're going to look

573
00:30:35,640 --> 00:30:37,640
Speaker 1: at opportunities, You're going to do things fast and make

574
00:30:37,720 --> 00:30:38,680
Speaker 1: like big decisions.

575
00:30:38,720 --> 00:30:40,840
Speaker 4: Well, thank you for saying all those kind things. I

576
00:30:40,880 --> 00:30:44,040
Speaker 4: think a huge part of who I am today and

577
00:30:44,080 --> 00:30:46,560
Speaker 4: how I navigate spaces and how I show up has

578
00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:49,440
Speaker 4: to do with the fact that I am from Los Angeles, California,

579
00:30:49,520 --> 00:30:51,640
Speaker 4: and one of the greatest cities in the world, and

580
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 4: growing up in Los Angeles, you see a lot of prosperity.

581
00:30:55,120 --> 00:30:59,000
Speaker 4: I actually come from humble beginnings, but because you're surrounded

582
00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:03,240
Speaker 4: by all the luxurious things, and luxury I always grew

583
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:05,640
Speaker 4: up like, how was that obtainable? If they have it,

584
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:07,360
Speaker 4: that means I can have it too. So how do

585
00:31:07,400 --> 00:31:10,240
Speaker 4: I put myself in the position knowing I don't come

586
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:13,280
Speaker 4: from a lot. I come from a highly educated family.

587
00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:15,880
Speaker 4: I'm a fourth generation college graduate. I don't take that

588
00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,960
Speaker 4: lightly as a black woman. My great grandparents attended HBCUs

589
00:31:20,040 --> 00:31:23,240
Speaker 4: because they couldn't attend elsewhere, and so a lot of

590
00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 4: my ambition comes from being from Los Angeles. And then

591
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,840
Speaker 4: I will say my parents are both pretty much go getters.

592
00:31:29,880 --> 00:31:32,440
Speaker 4: They get things done, they make things happen, as well

593
00:31:32,480 --> 00:31:35,920
Speaker 4: as my godmother who raised me, my late godmother, who

594
00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:39,080
Speaker 4: my daughter is named after. So I look at my grandparents.

595
00:31:39,160 --> 00:31:41,560
Speaker 4: My grandmother Black Women, born nineteen twelve, one of the

596
00:31:41,560 --> 00:31:44,239
Speaker 4: first black women to graduate from Smith College, went on

597
00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:47,920
Speaker 4: to get several degrees from Eastern Michigan University, Howard University.

598
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:51,200
Speaker 4: She met my grandfather Howard University alum. He attended Howard

599
00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,640
Speaker 4: and medical school. So I always looked at them and

600
00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:58,200
Speaker 4: saw their accomplishments, their goals. And my grandfather went to

601
00:31:58,240 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 4: medical school, but yet he was season fashion designer. He

602
00:32:01,600 --> 00:32:04,440
Speaker 4: designed clothes for the Jackson Five and the Supremes and

603
00:32:04,440 --> 00:32:09,200
Speaker 4: Sammy Davis Junior and so many great black musicians. So

604
00:32:09,680 --> 00:32:11,520
Speaker 4: I look at a lot of the things they accomplished,

605
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,240
Speaker 4: and I knew very early on that I could be

606
00:32:14,640 --> 00:32:15,800
Speaker 4: whatever my heart desired.

607
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:18,480
Speaker 1: That's incredible. I didn't know that about your great grandfather.

608
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,280
Speaker 4: Yeah, my great watched the met did that?

609
00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:22,040
Speaker 3: Did he pass that?

610
00:32:22,120 --> 00:32:22,320
Speaker 2: Well?

611
00:32:22,480 --> 00:32:23,920
Speaker 1: I don't know if you ever got to meet him

612
00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:24,840
Speaker 1: great grandfather.

613
00:32:25,120 --> 00:32:28,760
Speaker 4: No, my grandfather, my grandfather, I met your grandfather or yep, yep.

614
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,680
Speaker 4: My dad is the youngest of five kids. So my

615
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:35,120
Speaker 4: grandmother had my dad at fifty five zero. So my

616
00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:38,320
Speaker 4: grandparents are much older. They're no longer, of course, but

617
00:32:39,280 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 4: that was a work that was absolutely positively. They were like, wait, huh,

618
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,680
Speaker 4: come again on what? So my grandmother was born in

619
00:32:46,720 --> 00:32:49,320
Speaker 4: nineteen twelve, my dad's mother, and my grandfather was born

620
00:32:49,320 --> 00:32:52,880
Speaker 4: in nineteen seventeen and Augusta, Georgia, so that Georgia connection,

621
00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:56,200
Speaker 4: and so fashion has always been a huge part of

622
00:32:56,880 --> 00:32:59,680
Speaker 4: my upbringing. My parents used to hold fashion shows for

623
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 4: those in the Los Angeles community. My dad is the

624
00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:05,200
Speaker 4: best dressed guy I've ever seen. He thrust us up

625
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:08,480
Speaker 4: to go to the grocery store, from head to toe accessories.

626
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 4: Like he cares very much about fashion. Every time he

627
00:33:11,360 --> 00:33:13,520
Speaker 4: comes in town from Los Angeles, first thing he does

628
00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:15,160
Speaker 4: is like, let's look at your closet and see.

629
00:33:14,960 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 3: What's going on.

630
00:33:15,760 --> 00:33:18,080
Speaker 4: So all of a Suddings really helped to shape you know,

631
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,040
Speaker 4: who I am and how I show up in the world.

632
00:33:20,240 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 1: Dang, I wish I had a fashion I mean, like,

633
00:33:22,400 --> 00:33:24,960
Speaker 1: I love my parents, but it was giving. We shop

634
00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,960
Speaker 1: at Ross dress for Less. We shot at you know Sears.

635
00:33:28,080 --> 00:33:30,880
Speaker 4: Listen, we shop at Ross. We love Ross. But I'm

636
00:33:30,920 --> 00:33:34,120
Speaker 4: not the most patient person. It's something that I'm working on.

637
00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,520
Speaker 4: It's a room for improvement for me, growth opportunity. But

638
00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:40,640
Speaker 4: my parents will find some jewels and Ross. They go

639
00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:43,720
Speaker 4: to the thrift stores. My cousin had a thrift store

640
00:33:43,760 --> 00:33:46,680
Speaker 4: at one point, so they are very patient shoppers. I

641
00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,440
Speaker 4: love Ross. I wish we had it in New York.

642
00:33:48,600 --> 00:33:50,120
Speaker 4: You know, Marshall's is by our house. I go to

643
00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:52,400
Speaker 4: Marshall's all the time TJ Max, which is super close

644
00:33:52,440 --> 00:33:54,600
Speaker 4: to our house. But I got to work on my

645
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:56,720
Speaker 4: patients while I'm there because I'm like, I don't say

646
00:33:56,720 --> 00:33:57,640
Speaker 4: anything and I just leave.

647
00:33:57,800 --> 00:33:59,720
Speaker 1: But the way that you present yourself. It is something

648
00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:02,560
Speaker 1: that I admire. You will do the color coordinated family

649
00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,120
Speaker 1: photo shoot and I just like I saw you were

650
00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:09,120
Speaker 1: featured in Munamammy. How you say it? Munamomy? They did

651
00:34:09,160 --> 00:34:12,000
Speaker 1: a story when it was Gigi, your daughter's first birthday

652
00:34:12,200 --> 00:34:15,120
Speaker 1: and birthday. Yeah, you got both Jeffreys decked out in

653
00:34:15,160 --> 00:34:18,800
Speaker 1: the pink gotband. Husband is in the pink cable net sweater.

654
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,920
Speaker 4: Yes, yes, yes points.

655
00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:26,839
Speaker 1: How does that presentation factor into your career? How has

656
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 1: it factored into your career? Do you think it's something

657
00:34:29,040 --> 00:34:31,840
Speaker 1: that you use like as armor. Does it help or

658
00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:33,880
Speaker 1: is it just you know, it's just something that you've always,

659
00:34:33,960 --> 00:34:36,120
Speaker 1: based on your childhood, innately cared about.

660
00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:38,840
Speaker 4: That's a great question. I actually had a conversation recently

661
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,080
Speaker 4: with someone so talking a little bit about my career.

662
00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,080
Speaker 4: I interned at WABC Disney ABC on a show that

663
00:34:45,400 --> 00:34:47,799
Speaker 4: was at one point Live A Regis and Kelly, which

664
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,800
Speaker 4: is now Live with Kelly and markham Swellows. And from ABC,

665
00:34:51,080 --> 00:34:53,520
Speaker 4: I went to Paaramott CBS. I was there for seven years,

666
00:34:53,560 --> 00:34:56,160
Speaker 4: then I went over right here at NBC Universal. I

667
00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:59,960
Speaker 4: worked for Comcast NBC and so working in television work

668
00:35:00,120 --> 00:35:03,239
Speaker 4: and broadcasts. You're surrounded by beautiful, theo looking people. You're

669
00:35:03,239 --> 00:35:06,239
Speaker 4: surrounded by best stressed. There's a time where I was

670
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:08,960
Speaker 4: working at NBC and my pockets weren't like that, but

671
00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:11,000
Speaker 4: a lot of people during lunch breaks were going to

672
00:35:11,040 --> 00:35:13,719
Speaker 4: shop on Fifth Avenue and get outfits. So I think

673
00:35:13,880 --> 00:35:17,240
Speaker 4: because I've worked in careers that are kind of fancy,

674
00:35:17,320 --> 00:35:21,000
Speaker 4: if you will, or honestly, and I tell my mentees.

675
00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:23,800
Speaker 4: I teach at Columbia University, I teach at NYU. I

676
00:35:23,920 --> 00:35:26,839
Speaker 4: tell my students, my mentees that in certain industries, how

677
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:30,600
Speaker 4: you show up can dictate your success. In media and entertainment.

678
00:35:30,680 --> 00:35:32,759
Speaker 4: I'm very proud to work in media. I'm very proud

679
00:35:32,800 --> 00:35:35,160
Speaker 4: to work in entertainment. But a lot of it is

680
00:35:35,280 --> 00:35:38,279
Speaker 4: based on visuals, and that's just the fact of the

681
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 4: industry that a lot of people are very judgy or

682
00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:43,640
Speaker 4: it's like, oh, you know that girl who's always dressed

683
00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:45,640
Speaker 4: really nice? Are the one whose face is always done

684
00:35:45,719 --> 00:35:49,239
Speaker 4: and those types of things. So I think my life

685
00:35:49,360 --> 00:35:52,520
Speaker 4: being from Los Angeles, my family as well as my

686
00:35:52,680 --> 00:35:55,719
Speaker 4: career trajectory has impacted kind of how I show up

687
00:35:55,760 --> 00:35:58,360
Speaker 4: and doing the little family photos. My goal is that

688
00:35:58,480 --> 00:36:00,440
Speaker 4: my children look back. My daughter will look back at

689
00:36:00,480 --> 00:36:02,320
Speaker 4: her first birthday and say, oh, look at my family,

690
00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:04,680
Speaker 4: they all dressed in pink, my favorite color for my birthday,

691
00:36:04,960 --> 00:36:08,160
Speaker 4: or just having those really special moments to look back

692
00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:09,640
Speaker 4: to and smile.

693
00:36:09,880 --> 00:36:11,440
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I don't know if you remember, but

694
00:36:11,520 --> 00:36:13,400
Speaker 1: you're the one who sent me the link to like

695
00:36:13,480 --> 00:36:17,640
Speaker 1: this family photographer who was doing baby newborn baby photo shoots. Yeah,

696
00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:20,360
Speaker 1: and that's the only way I ever got like the

697
00:36:20,440 --> 00:36:24,000
Speaker 1: beautiful family photos of like the newborn photos of my boy.

698
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:26,800
Speaker 1: And I wouldn't have even thought to look that person

699
00:36:26,920 --> 00:36:28,920
Speaker 1: up if it weren't for you. So I feel like

700
00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,040
Speaker 1: being in your presence, I am elevating my You're.

701
00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:33,480
Speaker 4: Too kind of, You're too kind of. Those are some

702
00:36:33,560 --> 00:36:35,320
Speaker 4: beautiful photos, though, gorgeous photos.

703
00:36:35,320 --> 00:36:37,799
Speaker 1: Oh it's okay, and I have them forever and yeah,

704
00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,400
Speaker 1: very precious all right. Career, so you are a maven.

705
00:36:41,600 --> 00:36:44,080
Speaker 1: Like if you look up that phrase in the dictionary,

706
00:36:44,120 --> 00:36:46,040
Speaker 1: if it even is in there, I would see your face.

707
00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,040
Speaker 1: And I know that you're in publishing now. But for you,

708
00:36:49,280 --> 00:36:53,239
Speaker 1: like just the communications career, that's always been the focus, right, Yeah,

709
00:36:53,280 --> 00:36:56,719
Speaker 1: can you talk about the early career moves you made

710
00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:59,560
Speaker 1: that felt really instrumental to getting you to where you

711
00:36:59,640 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 1: are now.

712
00:37:00,600 --> 00:37:02,120
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I would take it all the way back

713
00:37:02,160 --> 00:37:04,640
Speaker 4: to high school. Two pivotal things happen in high school.

714
00:37:04,960 --> 00:37:08,360
Speaker 4: I attended Pacific Palisades Charter High School. So my high school,

715
00:37:08,480 --> 00:37:11,359
Speaker 4: we all know what happened in the Palisades area. Gosh, yeah,

716
00:37:11,520 --> 00:37:14,680
Speaker 4: so he was burned it did. But I believe, I'm

717
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:16,759
Speaker 4: on a bunch of alumni boards that there are a

718
00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,799
Speaker 4: lot of individuals in the community. They're working. I think

719
00:37:19,840 --> 00:37:21,880
Speaker 4: we may even be working out of the schools, may

720
00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:23,880
Speaker 4: now be in Santa Monica for the time being, but

721
00:37:24,120 --> 00:37:27,440
Speaker 4: I feel very confident it'll be back before we know it. So,

722
00:37:28,040 --> 00:37:31,040
Speaker 4: while I was at Palisades, I've always liked English, always

723
00:37:31,120 --> 00:37:33,400
Speaker 4: liked writing. There's always that one teacher that has a

724
00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:38,080
Speaker 4: huge impact on you. My English tenth grade honors English teacher,

725
00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:40,680
Speaker 4: mister Dan Zinger, was like, you're a great writer. You've

726
00:37:40,719 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 4: got to get the gap. And I was like, do

727
00:37:42,040 --> 00:37:43,680
Speaker 4: I have to get the gap? And he's like, yeah,

728
00:37:43,719 --> 00:37:45,799
Speaker 4: your pearers appropriately named you. And that kind of stuck

729
00:37:45,880 --> 00:37:48,520
Speaker 4: with me. And so in high school, eleventh grade, I

730
00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:52,160
Speaker 4: became editor in chief of the school newspaper, the tideline.

731
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,239
Speaker 4: My journalism teacher. He was over it. He was about

732
00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:58,120
Speaker 4: to graduate. He's like, listen, you're smart. You're editor in

733
00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:01,400
Speaker 4: chief of the paper. Grade the class. Everyone grades. No

734
00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:03,600
Speaker 4: way a fifteen year old. I was fifteen. I graduate

735
00:38:03,719 --> 00:38:06,000
Speaker 4: high school. I seventeen. I was fifteen and eleventh grade,

736
00:38:06,440 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 4: sixteen or seventeen senior year. A fifteen year old should

737
00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:11,200
Speaker 4: not be responsible for people's grades and how they go

738
00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:14,480
Speaker 4: to college. And I was signing articles, I was grading,

739
00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:16,840
Speaker 4: and I was in the system putting their grades in.

740
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,239
Speaker 4: During that time in high school, I learned that I

741
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 4: loved writing. I love storytelling. I love journalism and media.

742
00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:24,880
Speaker 4: And I also learned I loved teaching. I was in

743
00:38:24,920 --> 00:38:28,720
Speaker 4: front of the classroom and editing stories and signing stories,

744
00:38:28,760 --> 00:38:32,000
Speaker 4: talking about pop culture. And so my undergraduate degree is

745
00:38:32,160 --> 00:38:35,520
Speaker 4: in broadcasting. It's in journalism. And so I actually wanted

746
00:38:35,600 --> 00:38:37,279
Speaker 4: to be on air, and then I realized I'm kind

747
00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:38,360
Speaker 4: of shy, believe.

748
00:38:38,120 --> 00:38:38,400
Speaker 3: It or not.

749
00:38:38,680 --> 00:38:39,880
Speaker 4: And so then I was like, Okay, I'll be a

750
00:38:39,920 --> 00:38:42,360
Speaker 4: TV producer. And so when I was working at ABC,

751
00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,520
Speaker 4: I was working in production. I was working in talent relations,

752
00:38:45,600 --> 00:38:47,600
Speaker 4: working with the stars that are coming on the show.

753
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:51,080
Speaker 4: On ABC's Live Regis and Kelly, and I was helping

754
00:38:51,160 --> 00:38:55,160
Speaker 4: to produce segments and then, being very honest, I graduated

755
00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:58,360
Speaker 4: with honors, had a three point nine GPA, and I

756
00:38:58,520 --> 00:39:01,040
Speaker 4: was making minimum wage because typically when you start in

757
00:39:01,120 --> 00:39:04,279
Speaker 4: television production, you start as a production assistant. And at

758
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:06,480
Speaker 4: that time, in two thousand and seven, I think it

759
00:39:06,560 --> 00:39:09,120
Speaker 4: was like seven dollars an hour, and seven dollars an

760
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:12,680
Speaker 4: hour is not enough to live comfortably in New York City.

761
00:39:12,560 --> 00:39:14,719
Speaker 1: Not at all moving at that time, Like how were

762
00:39:14,760 --> 00:39:15,120
Speaker 1: you making?

763
00:39:15,719 --> 00:39:19,880
Speaker 4: I was sharing, I was renting a room with roommates,

764
00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,360
Speaker 4: so I don't know, I was paying like seven hundred

765
00:39:22,360 --> 00:39:25,120
Speaker 4: dollars a month. I had a car, I had school loans.

766
00:39:25,440 --> 00:39:27,480
Speaker 4: I have my master's, but I graduated with one hundred

767
00:39:27,480 --> 00:39:30,759
Speaker 4: and fifty thousand dollars in school loans. And so in

768
00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,439
Speaker 4: high school. Also, so in high school, I was editor

769
00:39:33,480 --> 00:39:35,919
Speaker 4: in chief of the newspaper. I worked at a law

770
00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,480
Speaker 4: firm filing papers, and I worked at the mall. So

771
00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:40,839
Speaker 4: in high school, I also had three jobs. My entire

772
00:39:40,880 --> 00:39:42,840
Speaker 4: college career had three jobs, and right now I have

773
00:39:42,920 --> 00:39:45,520
Speaker 4: three jobs. So that's like something else too. I'm always

774
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,400
Speaker 4: working all the time, and so anyways, I couldn't afford

775
00:39:48,560 --> 00:39:51,120
Speaker 4: to live. I was struggling. I was babysitting, I was

776
00:39:51,160 --> 00:39:53,320
Speaker 4: a waitress. I was working at a country club in Newroschelle,

777
00:39:53,400 --> 00:39:55,880
Speaker 4: New York, Wika Gail country Club. And I was like,

778
00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:57,879
Speaker 4: I didn't go to college. You graduate with a three

779
00:39:57,880 --> 00:40:00,960
Speaker 4: point nine to be struggling. It's amazing at Disney ABC.

780
00:40:01,160 --> 00:40:02,920
Speaker 4: What a dream. This is your dream that you get

781
00:40:03,000 --> 00:40:05,160
Speaker 4: hired after your internship. But I touched based on one

782
00:40:05,160 --> 00:40:07,560
Speaker 4: of my mentors, and I was very honest and I said,

783
00:40:07,600 --> 00:40:10,520
Speaker 4: I am financially struggling. I only make minimum wage. And

784
00:40:10,640 --> 00:40:13,399
Speaker 4: he said, come over to CBS, come my assistant. You'll

785
00:40:13,440 --> 00:40:15,759
Speaker 4: make thirty thousand dollars a year. And girl, I thought

786
00:40:15,840 --> 00:40:17,560
Speaker 4: thirty thousand. I was like, oh my god, I'm going

787
00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:19,960
Speaker 4: to make thirty thousand dollars and I would have benefit

788
00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 4: something I didn't have working in production. So I made

789
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:28,200
Speaker 4: the pivot from Disney ABC to CBS Corporation. Actually I'm

790
00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:29,240
Speaker 4: a sales assistant.

791
00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:30,000
Speaker 3: A mentor.

792
00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:33,279
Speaker 1: Just to interrupt, which I know I'm gonna need to

793
00:40:33,320 --> 00:40:35,080
Speaker 1: because I know you, I'm gonna you know me. You

794
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,879
Speaker 1: get in there, you got me pause, let's double click

795
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:41,759
Speaker 1: on that. So the mentor because that is pivotal, and

796
00:40:41,840 --> 00:40:43,920
Speaker 1: I hope people are understanding that it was a relationship.

797
00:40:43,960 --> 00:40:47,319
Speaker 1: You're really good at like building these relationships. Yes, where

798
00:40:47,360 --> 00:40:50,160
Speaker 1: did you Where did you meet that mentor? And that's yeah,

799
00:40:50,719 --> 00:40:51,520
Speaker 1: how did that help you?

800
00:40:52,280 --> 00:40:55,879
Speaker 4: Sou senior year of college, Iona University, where I'm happy

801
00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,239
Speaker 4: to serve on the board, Go Gills. Iona had to

802
00:40:58,360 --> 00:41:01,960
Speaker 4: meet a career mentor night and so they had different

803
00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:04,960
Speaker 4: individuals alumni who are working in the industry, and I

804
00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:07,480
Speaker 4: went above and beyond that. I went to my career

805
00:41:07,560 --> 00:41:10,279
Speaker 4: services office and I said, please give me a list

806
00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:13,680
Speaker 4: of every single alumni who work in entertainment, who work

807
00:41:13,719 --> 00:41:16,360
Speaker 4: in television, who work in film, who work in sports,

808
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:19,040
Speaker 4: and it was thousands of people. I emailed each and

809
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:19,720
Speaker 4: every person.

810
00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:24,560
Speaker 1: Aba, fam, We're going to take a quick break, pay

811
00:41:24,680 --> 00:41:26,399
Speaker 1: some bills, and we'll be right back.

812
00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:33,480
Speaker 4: Really yes. And so one of the individuals who I

813
00:41:33,640 --> 00:41:36,239
Speaker 4: emailed was at the career mentor event and he's like,

814
00:41:36,320 --> 00:41:38,320
Speaker 4: let's meet in person. I'm going to actually be on

815
00:41:38,480 --> 00:41:41,360
Speaker 4: campus and so I met him. His name is Martin

816
00:41:41,480 --> 00:41:45,880
Speaker 4: Daily and he's from the Bronx and he was executive

817
00:41:45,960 --> 00:41:49,040
Speaker 4: vice president of network Sales at CBS, and so that's

818
00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 4: who I called, and I was just very honest and said,

819
00:41:51,080 --> 00:41:54,319
Speaker 4: I'm financially struggling. I'm at Disney ABC. He said, come

820
00:41:54,360 --> 00:41:57,040
Speaker 4: over be my assistant, and so I went over as

821
00:41:57,080 --> 00:42:00,680
Speaker 4: a sales assistant. I have no desire to work in sales.

822
00:42:00,840 --> 00:42:04,440
Speaker 4: I don't like numbers. I'm a storyteller. I was literally

823
00:42:04,760 --> 00:42:07,560
Speaker 4: entering numbers and Excel all day long, praying to God

824
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:09,560
Speaker 4: to get me out of it. And so again he

825
00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:11,360
Speaker 4: was my mentor and he was my boss, and he

826
00:42:11,400 --> 00:42:14,480
Speaker 4: said listen. Simultaneously, I was in college getting my masters

827
00:42:14,560 --> 00:42:16,960
Speaker 4: in sports at Entertainment pr because I realized the TV

828
00:42:17,040 --> 00:42:19,360
Speaker 4: production thing isn't going to work out. And it's interesting

829
00:42:19,440 --> 00:42:21,600
Speaker 4: because those I interned with, those who I was a

830
00:42:21,719 --> 00:42:24,880
Speaker 4: production assistant with, they are all executive producers. Now I

831
00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:27,360
Speaker 4: have friends with executive producers at Tamern Hall. I have

832
00:42:27,480 --> 00:42:30,560
Speaker 4: friends who all I worked with executive producers at Conde

833
00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:34,520
Speaker 4: Nass GQ, and so they most of them their parents

834
00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,279
Speaker 4: helped them out financially or they had a little bit

835
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,520
Speaker 4: of a cushion and help to live off of that

836
00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:43,520
Speaker 4: seven dollars an hour, which wasn't the case for me.

837
00:42:43,760 --> 00:42:46,120
Speaker 4: So while I was at CBS. My mentor said, Hey,

838
00:42:46,280 --> 00:42:48,720
Speaker 4: just start meeting people. Tell them you're in grad school.

839
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:52,200
Speaker 4: Start volunteering with different people at CBS. And I'm like,

840
00:42:52,280 --> 00:42:55,640
Speaker 4: what okay, And so my goal was I went on

841
00:42:55,880 --> 00:43:01,280
Speaker 4: a spree of meeting senior executives VPR above SVP EVP,

842
00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:04,160
Speaker 4: and so my goal was each person you meet with,

843
00:43:04,360 --> 00:43:07,320
Speaker 4: impress them, google them, talk about them, talk about the

844
00:43:07,400 --> 00:43:09,680
Speaker 4: career trajectory, how like, oh my gosh, she does these

845
00:43:09,719 --> 00:43:12,279
Speaker 4: amazing things. Tell me about yourself. I learned being from

846
00:43:12,480 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 4: LA that everyone likes talking about themselves. Everyone wants an

847
00:43:15,960 --> 00:43:17,480
Speaker 4: opportunity to feel like a celebrity.

848
00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:19,200
Speaker 1: It was like, you put it on the podcast because

849
00:43:19,200 --> 00:43:21,680
Speaker 1: that's literally what I'm like, Wow, not too much on

850
00:43:21,800 --> 00:43:22,960
Speaker 1: what I do the secret sauce.

851
00:43:23,560 --> 00:43:23,759
Speaker 3: Yeah.

852
00:43:24,000 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 4: Yeah. Everyone likes the opportunity a platform to talk about themselves.

853
00:43:27,719 --> 00:43:29,520
Speaker 4: So when I was at CBS, I went on a

854
00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:32,160
Speaker 4: road show. It was a domino effect. Everyone I met

855
00:43:32,239 --> 00:43:35,520
Speaker 4: with was really impressed. Eventually I met with the EVP

856
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:38,759
Speaker 4: Chief Communications officer at CBS and the head of HR

857
00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:40,680
Speaker 4: who I met with prior said I'm gonna warn you.

858
00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:45,200
Speaker 4: Bill Schwartz has a reputation of being no nonsense. People

859
00:43:45,239 --> 00:43:47,640
Speaker 4: are terrified of him. There's books written about him, even

860
00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,320
Speaker 4: a movie, and so she's like, come correct when you

861
00:43:50,520 --> 00:43:53,040
Speaker 4: meet with him? And I was like, okay, how would

862
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:53,839
Speaker 4: you get a meeting with him?

863
00:43:53,880 --> 00:43:54,440
Speaker 3: You just email this.

864
00:43:54,719 --> 00:43:57,520
Speaker 4: I just kept I kept no, I got a referral.

865
00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,120
Speaker 4: So as I started meeting with VP SVP, EVP, eventually

866
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:05,160
Speaker 4: every person it was a ripple effect. Every person was like, Hey,

867
00:44:05,320 --> 00:44:08,359
Speaker 4: I just met this young lady, got Brielle Simpson at

868
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:11,279
Speaker 4: the time. She's amazing, she's ambitious, she's in graduate school

869
00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:13,400
Speaker 4: to do PR. She's a sales assistant right now. She

870
00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:15,200
Speaker 4: doesn't want to be a sales assistant. Can you just

871
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:17,480
Speaker 4: meet with her? And I only met with these people

872
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:20,279
Speaker 4: for five to ten minutes because very busy people are

873
00:44:20,360 --> 00:44:22,160
Speaker 4: not they don't have a bunch of time. But in

874
00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:24,759
Speaker 4: that ten minutes, I talked about how amazing their career was.

875
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,319
Speaker 4: I kissed up to them a little bit, and then

876
00:44:27,520 --> 00:44:29,839
Speaker 4: they're like, Okay, here's somebody else I want you to meet.

877
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,960
Speaker 4: My goal and attention of every meeting I had was

878
00:44:33,040 --> 00:44:35,160
Speaker 4: for them to introduce me to someone else senior. So

879
00:44:35,280 --> 00:44:39,040
Speaker 4: now I'm just making a network of senior executives within

880
00:44:39,160 --> 00:44:42,160
Speaker 4: the company. Eventually I was referred to speak to the

881
00:44:42,239 --> 00:44:45,759
Speaker 4: head of chard, chief human resources officer, who said, what

882
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:48,400
Speaker 4: do you want to do. You're a sales assistant. I

883
00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:50,880
Speaker 4: was twenty one at the time, because I graduated college

884
00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:54,160
Speaker 4: at twenty years old. I was twenty one and I said,

885
00:44:54,200 --> 00:44:56,279
Speaker 4: I'm in school getting my master's in PR. I want

886
00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:58,360
Speaker 4: to do PR. She said, okay, I'm going to introduce

887
00:44:58,360 --> 00:45:00,160
Speaker 4: you to Gil Schwartz. So the head of hl I

888
00:45:00,239 --> 00:45:03,399
Speaker 4: sent an email to the chief communications officer and said, Hey,

889
00:45:03,480 --> 00:45:06,759
Speaker 4: there's this young lady. She's super ambitious. I want you

890
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:08,960
Speaker 4: to meet her. I know you don't have anything open

891
00:45:09,000 --> 00:45:11,719
Speaker 4: on your team, go be with her. So talk about

892
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,560
Speaker 4: being emotionally intelligent and reading the room. I came in

893
00:45:14,640 --> 00:45:17,960
Speaker 4: my best suit. I was suited and booted, pinstriped suited,

894
00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:20,680
Speaker 4: and I had my portfolio. I had my resume, I

895
00:45:20,719 --> 00:45:23,240
Speaker 4: had writing samples from stuff I worked on in grad school.

896
00:45:23,480 --> 00:45:25,919
Speaker 4: And it was a few days after Michael Jackson died

897
00:45:26,440 --> 00:45:29,880
Speaker 4: and Gil Schwartz he had a lot of guitars in

898
00:45:29,960 --> 00:45:31,759
Speaker 4: his office. So I walked in and I said, Hi,

899
00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,400
Speaker 4: I'm Gabrielle. I'm so excited to meet you, and I

900
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,239
Speaker 4: have my resume here. I know you're so busy. I

901
00:45:37,280 --> 00:45:39,239
Speaker 4: won't take up too much of your time. And he says,

902
00:45:39,280 --> 00:45:42,240
Speaker 4: sit down. He said, do you know Michael Jackson was murdered?

903
00:45:42,480 --> 00:45:44,320
Speaker 4: And it was just a few days later, and I

904
00:45:44,440 --> 00:45:46,480
Speaker 4: was like, I don't think Michael Jackson was murdered. I

905
00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:48,799
Speaker 4: think he died and something. He was like, it's going

906
00:45:48,840 --> 00:45:50,640
Speaker 4: to come out that Michael Jackson was murdered and someone's

907
00:45:50,680 --> 00:45:52,200
Speaker 4: going to go to jailbur and I was like, okay.

908
00:45:52,800 --> 00:45:55,520
Speaker 4: So he picks up his guitar. He starts playing like

909
00:45:55,960 --> 00:45:58,399
Speaker 4: human Nature and then I just started buying it out

910
00:45:58,400 --> 00:46:00,879
Speaker 4: a little bit, trying to hold a note. Guy why

911
00:46:01,040 --> 00:46:04,800
Speaker 4: white guy, Gil Schwartz, Jewish Man Okay? And we're like,

912
00:46:04,880 --> 00:46:07,440
Speaker 4: tell me, it's just young man nature. Why why right?

913
00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:09,719
Speaker 4: And so we're just jamming out and then at the

914
00:46:09,840 --> 00:46:11,400
Speaker 4: end of it, he's like, you want a job, right,

915
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:13,480
Speaker 4: And I was like I would love a job. He's like, okay, done,

916
00:46:13,560 --> 00:46:14,800
Speaker 4: And I said, do you want to look at my resume?

917
00:46:14,880 --> 00:46:16,319
Speaker 4: Do you want to look at my portfolio? He said,

918
00:46:16,440 --> 00:46:18,400
Speaker 4: are you smart? I said yes. He said will you

919
00:46:18,480 --> 00:46:20,359
Speaker 4: work hard? I said yes. He's like, okay, I'll find

920
00:46:20,360 --> 00:46:21,600
Speaker 4: a job. For you. I'll make a job for you.

921
00:46:23,560 --> 00:46:25,680
Speaker 4: And that's how I came to the PR team at

922
00:46:25,719 --> 00:46:27,879
Speaker 4: CBS and I was there for seven years. We've done

923
00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 4: everything from the Super Bowls, the Grammys, two and a

924
00:46:31,040 --> 00:46:33,440
Speaker 4: half men, How I met your mother, sent of interests

925
00:46:33,440 --> 00:46:38,040
Speaker 4: with Tarajip Hitson sixty minutes. So that like being able

926
00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:40,239
Speaker 4: to just read the room and vibe out with this guy.

927
00:46:40,320 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 4: And we later found out that Conrad Burray went to

928
00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:47,080
Speaker 4: jail for murdering Michael Jackson, which at the time, he

929
00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:50,120
Speaker 4: was just yeah, careful.

930
00:46:49,840 --> 00:46:53,600
Speaker 1: Because my like quasi adhd brain undiagnosed, I might go

931
00:46:53,719 --> 00:46:55,399
Speaker 1: down that little that little path.

932
00:46:55,480 --> 00:46:57,400
Speaker 4: But let's just tell that that was the thing, right.

933
00:46:57,560 --> 00:47:00,120
Speaker 1: But Gale or Bill Gail Gil.

934
00:47:00,120 --> 00:47:03,040
Speaker 4: Shorts, he passed away a few years ago. He's actually

935
00:47:03,080 --> 00:47:08,279
Speaker 4: from Westchester. He's from New Rochelle named skill Gil Schwartz. Yeah,

936
00:47:08,520 --> 00:47:10,680
Speaker 4: so a job was creative for me and that's how

937
00:47:10,760 --> 00:47:14,920
Speaker 4: I finally got my pivot into CBS PR team and

938
00:47:15,000 --> 00:47:17,759
Speaker 4: I was there for seven years. And then during that time,

939
00:47:18,000 --> 00:47:20,480
Speaker 4: like just being able to take advantage of opportunities. There

940
00:47:20,560 --> 00:47:23,120
Speaker 4: was a lot of conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion,

941
00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:25,280
Speaker 4: and Gil called me in his office one day. I said, Gabby,

942
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:28,000
Speaker 4: you're black. I said yes. He said, people keep asking

943
00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:30,719
Speaker 4: about diversity and stuff. You care about that, right, I said, yes, Skill,

944
00:47:30,760 --> 00:47:32,759
Speaker 4: I care very much. He said, come up with a

945
00:47:32,840 --> 00:47:36,040
Speaker 4: deiicom strategy and figure it out. Give us some press

946
00:47:36,239 --> 00:47:38,479
Speaker 4: talk about how we care about diversity and talk about

947
00:47:38,520 --> 00:47:41,920
Speaker 4: our diverse staff and our diverse talent. And I was like, okay,

948
00:47:42,239 --> 00:47:45,600
Speaker 4: So I did that. Led Diversity Communications, came up with

949
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 4: a DEI plan, got a ton of pr hits for

950
00:47:48,080 --> 00:47:54,239
Speaker 4: the chief diversity officer who's now by mentor you're retired, right, Oh, yeah,

951
00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:57,319
Speaker 4: so we need to be talking. We must be talking

952
00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:01,399
Speaker 4: two thousand and nine, twenty ten, a long time ago.

953
00:48:02,000 --> 00:48:04,640
Speaker 4: And then that caught the eye of Comcast.

954
00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:07,920
Speaker 1: The same age, because because.

955
00:48:07,719 --> 00:48:10,000
Speaker 4: I graduated college so early, we're the same age. I'm

956
00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,880
Speaker 4: only like a month older than you, I know, But like, how.

957
00:48:13,120 --> 00:48:15,200
Speaker 1: But I was like figuring my shit out in two

958
00:48:15,200 --> 00:48:17,880
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, trying to get a job after college. Meanwhile,

959
00:48:18,000 --> 00:48:21,080
Speaker 1: you're just like in the c suite, you know, chatting

960
00:48:21,160 --> 00:48:23,960
Speaker 1: with the head of comms for a CBS.

961
00:48:24,600 --> 00:48:29,960
Speaker 4: Okay, Gabriel, I tried. I tried, and it worked out,

962
00:48:30,200 --> 00:48:33,399
Speaker 4: and so comcasts. NBC said hey, we need some diversity help.

963
00:48:33,480 --> 00:48:35,880
Speaker 4: Can you come over and lead our diversity comms? So

964
00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:38,280
Speaker 4: then I left, went right there to thirty rock.

965
00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 1: On the network. So you quit?

966
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:41,279
Speaker 4: Yep, yep, I quit?

967
00:48:41,880 --> 00:48:42,840
Speaker 1: Okay, how did that go?

968
00:48:43,640 --> 00:48:45,400
Speaker 4: It was interesting because I went to my boss at

969
00:48:45,440 --> 00:48:47,600
Speaker 4: the time and I said, hey, NBC reached out to me.

970
00:48:47,920 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 4: They slid in my DMS on LinkedIn and they have

971
00:48:51,160 --> 00:48:55,000
Speaker 4: an opportunity to be a director of Diversity Communications dual

972
00:48:55,080 --> 00:48:58,200
Speaker 4: report into their chief of Comms and their chief diversity officer.

973
00:48:58,480 --> 00:49:00,960
Speaker 4: And I think it's a great opportunity at Disney ABC.

974
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:04,320
Speaker 4: I've worked at CBS and now I can work at NBC.

975
00:49:04,760 --> 00:49:07,160
Speaker 4: And I was like twenty six years old at the time,

976
00:49:07,880 --> 00:49:09,719
Speaker 4: and my boss said, don't do it. You're not going

977
00:49:09,800 --> 00:49:11,920
Speaker 4: to like it over there. Stay here. What do we

978
00:49:12,000 --> 00:49:13,960
Speaker 4: need to do to make you stay? And I said,

979
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:15,680
Speaker 4: I don't even think. I think it's more about the

980
00:49:15,800 --> 00:49:18,239
Speaker 4: opportunity to do something different. I've been here for seven

981
00:49:18,360 --> 00:49:20,720
Speaker 4: years and I think I just want to do something different.

982
00:49:21,400 --> 00:49:24,200
Speaker 4: And he said, listen, one day you will have my job.

983
00:49:24,680 --> 00:49:26,319
Speaker 4: Just stay here. It's going to take you twenty years.

984
00:49:26,320 --> 00:49:28,759
Speaker 4: We'll have my job. One day and I was young.

985
00:49:28,840 --> 00:49:30,560
Speaker 4: I was like, I would have wait twenty years, Like

986
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:32,920
Speaker 4: I just would have That's not would've tried to do.

987
00:49:33,600 --> 00:49:36,200
Speaker 4: And so we kept in contact. I left. I went

988
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,400
Speaker 4: over to NBC, which is how I know Chris Nelson.

989
00:49:39,000 --> 00:49:41,920
Speaker 4: Christopher Nelson worked at NBC with me, so that's how

990
00:49:42,000 --> 00:49:44,400
Speaker 4: we met. And then I was there for three years.

991
00:49:44,640 --> 00:49:46,759
Speaker 4: I did some other things after that. After that, I

992
00:49:46,800 --> 00:49:51,440
Speaker 4: went to IPG FCB Global, which is a marketing advertising agency.

993
00:49:51,560 --> 00:49:54,480
Speaker 4: I reported into the Chief of comm Chief marketing Officer.

994
00:49:54,920 --> 00:49:59,200
Speaker 4: It was amazing. I was twenty seven, twenty eight thirty

995
00:49:59,239 --> 00:50:01,920
Speaker 4: by the time I got there, and I was traveling

996
00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:02,760
Speaker 4: the world.

997
00:50:05,280 --> 00:50:07,120
Speaker 1: All right, ba, fam, Can we just take a moment

998
00:50:07,200 --> 00:50:10,120
Speaker 1: to appreciate the brilliance that we just heard. Thank you

999
00:50:10,239 --> 00:50:13,320
Speaker 1: again to Christina and Gabrielle. They really gave us the

1000
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:16,320
Speaker 1: blueprint for paving our own path and not waiting for

1001
00:50:16,480 --> 00:50:19,319
Speaker 1: anyone else's permission, which is the inspiration that I think

1002
00:50:19,360 --> 00:50:21,759
Speaker 1: we really need right now. And if you got nothing

1003
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:23,920
Speaker 1: else from today's episode, I just hope that you heard this.

1004
00:50:24,640 --> 00:50:27,640
Speaker 1: You don't need permission to build your own table, and

1005
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:31,120
Speaker 1: you don't need to sell your struggle to prove you belong.

1006
00:50:31,360 --> 00:50:34,520
Speaker 1: You absolutely can bet on yourself. I don't care what

1007
00:50:34,600 --> 00:50:36,720
Speaker 1: people think about you, whether they think that you're crazy

1008
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:40,359
Speaker 1: or irresponsible, or you know, doing things that don't make

1009
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:43,080
Speaker 1: sense to them. It's none of their business. As Tabatha

1010
00:50:43,120 --> 00:50:46,120
Speaker 1: Brown would say, it's whether you're thinking about a career pivot,

1011
00:50:46,200 --> 00:50:48,919
Speaker 1: you're trying to figure out how to build wealth while

1012
00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:51,960
Speaker 1: actually enjoying your life, or you just need a reminder

1013
00:50:52,040 --> 00:50:54,920
Speaker 1: that your story is yours to tell on your terms.

1014
00:50:55,080 --> 00:50:59,640
Speaker 1: This episode was for you. Be a fam all right.

1015
00:51:00,200 --> 00:51:02,239
Speaker 1: Resonated with you. Please do me a favor, Share it

1016
00:51:02,320 --> 00:51:04,880
Speaker 1: with someone who needs to hear it. Tag Brown Ambition

1017
00:51:05,000 --> 00:51:07,440
Speaker 1: on social media, leave us a review, let us know

1018
00:51:07,520 --> 00:51:10,719
Speaker 1: which moment really hit home for you. I love hearing

1019
00:51:10,760 --> 00:51:14,200
Speaker 1: from you always, Bafam and I have to say happy

1020
00:51:14,280 --> 00:51:16,600
Speaker 1: happy holidays that are coming. Next week's going to be

1021
00:51:17,239 --> 00:51:19,480
Speaker 1: a normal one for Brown Ambition. We're going to be

1022
00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:22,440
Speaker 1: on the air. I'll see you on Friday this Friday

1023
00:51:22,520 --> 00:51:24,560
Speaker 1: for Baq and A. I'll see you Sunday for the

1024
00:51:24,680 --> 00:51:27,280
Speaker 1: Washday wou saw. Next week, I've got a special episode

1025
00:51:27,320 --> 00:51:32,240
Speaker 1: of Brown Ambition Nerd Whallet crossover episode on the Wednesday

1026
00:51:32,280 --> 00:51:34,400
Speaker 1: before Thanksgiving and then we'll have a little bit of

1027
00:51:34,440 --> 00:51:38,800
Speaker 1: a throwback for that following weekend with Baqa and Washday

1028
00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:41,200
Speaker 1: wou Saws. Just trying to be sure that I'm there

1029
00:51:41,280 --> 00:51:44,080
Speaker 1: for y'all through this holiday season. If there's anything that

1030
00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:46,600
Speaker 1: you want to hear or you have questions for the show,

1031
00:51:47,000 --> 00:51:49,000
Speaker 1: don't hesitate to reach out. You can hit me up

1032
00:51:49,040 --> 00:51:52,680
Speaker 1: Brown Ambition Podcast at gmail dot com or find me

1033
00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:56,600
Speaker 1: on ig at Brown Ambition Podcast and just slide into

1034
00:51:56,680 --> 00:51:59,640
Speaker 1: my DMS. I can't wait to hear from y'all. All right,

1035
00:51:59,719 --> 00:52:08,640
Speaker 1: take Fam, bye, Hey, ba Fam. Let's be real for

1036
00:52:08,719 --> 00:52:10,399
Speaker 1: a second, and y'all know I keep it a book.

1037
00:52:10,640 --> 00:52:13,720
Speaker 1: The job market has been brutal, now not brutal trash,

1038
00:52:14,160 --> 00:52:17,600
Speaker 1: especially for women of color. Over three hundred thousand of

1039
00:52:17,680 --> 00:52:20,719
Speaker 1: us have disappeared from the workforce this year alone, and

1040
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:25,920
Speaker 1: not by choice, but because of layoffs, disappearing DEI programs,

1041
00:52:26,120 --> 00:52:29,560
Speaker 1: and stagnant wages that keep cutting us out of opportunity.

1042
00:52:29,719 --> 00:52:33,399
Speaker 1: Our unemployment rate has jumped to over seven percent while

1043
00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:36,000
Speaker 1: our pay gap continues to widen. I know all of

1044
00:52:36,080 --> 00:52:38,239
Speaker 1: that sounds dire, but here's what I want y'all to know.

1045
00:52:38,600 --> 00:52:40,800
Speaker 1: You do not have to wait for the system to

1046
00:52:40,960 --> 00:52:44,399
Speaker 1: save you. That's exactly why I created the Mandy money

1047
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:48,000
Speaker 1: Makers Group coaching community. It is a coaching community that

1048
00:52:48,120 --> 00:52:51,640
Speaker 1: is built for us by us. Inside the community, we're

1049
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:54,160
Speaker 1: not just talking about how to negotiate or to how

1050
00:52:54,200 --> 00:52:56,800
Speaker 1: to get the job that you want. It's about finding

1051
00:52:57,120 --> 00:53:01,040
Speaker 1: purpose in your career. It's about finding community and others,

1052
00:53:01,520 --> 00:53:05,919
Speaker 1: feeling seen, feeling heard, and also having a sounding board

1053
00:53:06,000 --> 00:53:08,879
Speaker 1: and a mirror to reflect your own magic, your own

1054
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:13,000
Speaker 1: sparkle right back to yourself. In this community, you'll get

1055
00:53:13,040 --> 00:53:15,640
Speaker 1: group coaching led by me, but you also get peer

1056
00:53:15,719 --> 00:53:19,480
Speaker 1: to peer accountability with proven tools and resources that can

1057
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:22,760
Speaker 1: help you do what we have always done since rise.

1058
00:53:23,520 --> 00:53:26,520
Speaker 1: Even when the odds are stacked against us, despite all

1059
00:53:26,600 --> 00:53:30,880
Speaker 1: the challenges, we will rise. If you're interested in joining

1060
00:53:30,960 --> 00:53:34,640
Speaker 1: the Mandy money Makers community and having that support to

1061
00:53:34,760 --> 00:53:37,800
Speaker 1: bolster you and help you tap back into your magic

1062
00:53:38,239 --> 00:53:40,520
Speaker 1: so that you can lead your career with intention and

1063
00:53:40,719 --> 00:53:45,840
Speaker 1: heart and your own intuition, trusting that again, please join us.

1064
00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:48,680
Speaker 1: You can find information in the show notes of today's

1065
00:53:48,719 --> 00:53:53,319
Speaker 1: episodes or go to mandymoney dot com slash community. That's

1066
00:53:53,440 --> 00:53:58,839
Speaker 1: Mandy m ndimney dot com slash community. I would love

1067
00:53:58,960 --> 00:54:02,680
Speaker 1: to see y'all there. Enrollment is open, so please go

1068
00:54:02,880 --> 00:54:05,960
Speaker 1: check out mandymoney dot com slash community today