February 4, 2022 • 34 mins
Ed talks with journalist Jacque Reid about her long career in news, changes in the news business, her years at BET and why she’s become a strong advocate for Veganism.
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Speaker 1 (00:21):
Welcome to the latest edition of one hundred The Gordon Podcast.
Today a conversation with award winning journalist Jackie Read. From
local news to CNN's headline news to a popular stin
on v T. She's made a name for herself in
the media. She was also a longtime voice on the
Time Join Our Morning show. Recently, she's become a prominent
(00:46):
voice for veganism and co host of a popular podcast.
Some may remember we worked together for a number of
years at BT, and even though I knew a lot
about her background, I started by asking about something I
didn't know. I knew you were from Georgia, Uh, but
(01:07):
I didn't know what part of Georgia you were from.
So I'm curious share with us what part and what
growing up was like for you. Well, I always like
to say I'm from Decatur, where it's greater. Sure you've
heard that, but to mostly I I say that to
people who know exactly. You know how Atlanta works. You know,
(01:31):
I'm from a suburb of Atlanta, So I mostly I
say I'm from Atlanta. But growing up in that area
in the South, it it prepares you for a world
as a prepares you for the world as a black woman,
as a black person in a very different way. I've
never known anything but a black mayor in Atlanta. Atlanta
has always been a very progressive sitting and you know
(01:54):
that because in the civil rights movement, because of the
historically by colleges and universities that are there. As a child,
I went to spellm in college to take dance and
gymnastics and tap classes and all of those things because
my mother wanted my sister and I to be exposed
to that culture. So as I was sitting there waiting
on my mom to pick me up, I would see
these black women walking on this beautiful campus. So I
(02:17):
was exposed to those types of things. You know. My
mom took me to see Alvin Ailey very young, you know,
as a child, So I was exposed to those types
of things. So you coupled that with going to school
with affluent black people, because there wasn't just as there
are in so many, uh you know, major metropolitan cities,
one black neighborhood in Atlanta, there were several, do you
(02:40):
know what I mean? So you saw that um influence
among black people, You saw the brilliance of black people,
you saw powerful black people. I was exposed to that
all of my life. So you know, as I moved,
because of my career to different cities, you know, there
was an arrogance about me, if you will, just about
because I knew that black people were amazing and special
(03:03):
and we're supposed to be doing the best things at
the highest level. And that was my expectation no matter
where I went. UM. And it was interesting as I
moved throughout the world to see things differently. Um, even
in the New York City where you know, if you're
just talking about the city, and not the outer boroughs
where you know it their pockets of Harlem, you know,
(03:25):
where where it's considered, you know, affluent, but not in
the rest of the city. You go to the Four
Seasons in Atlanta, managers black patrons are black, and you
have the Four Seasons in New York City to this day,
it's all white. There might be black people in the kitchen,
you know what I mean, There might be black patrons
here there. And so I grew up with this very
(03:45):
different experience about what it meant to be black in
this country. Atlanta now reminds me of Detroit when I
grew up in Detroit, and it's exactly what you said.
We had a black mayor, very early on, the city
council was black. We had a lot of black professionals
and also a lot of black middle class people who
weren't quote professionals, but they worked in the factory and
(04:07):
they made just as much as the black professionals. So
there is a sense of if you see success, you
you can believe it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, you see it.
You're exposed to it. You know. You know, you can
be a kid and have fun, but when you go
to the grocery store, when you go to department stores, um,
(04:28):
just as you move around. When you see black people
being successful, and not just extreme examples like a mayor,
but to your point, just everyday working people, the people
that you are are friends with, your parents, being successful,
driving nice cars and living in nice homes, um, vacationing,
you know what I mean, just doing all those things
(04:50):
that all of us were not exposed to at a
young age. I had the privilege to be exposed to
that because I grew up in the Atlanta area. Did
you always want to go to broadcasting, be a journalist
or what do you want to be? Coming up? It
was a toss up between a journalist and a veterinarian.
As a kid, those were the two things that I
(05:12):
was considering. And I was even on my Uh. I
wrote it on the literary magazine in elementary school and
I was on my high school newspaper. UM. But I
also was just I always loved animals, and I ended
up choosing journalism. Um, you know, and no regrets, I
love it. But now I'm able to merge the two worlds. Yeah,
(05:33):
we're gonna get into that and a little bit. I
was gonna ask you was that part of your journey
with with veganism. So we'll get into that and just
a bit, but let me stay with the broadcasting side
of it. So you, like many people, and I didn't
go this route. I was a little different. Um. But
you start your first job Brunswick, Georgia, and then you
travel markets, um, find your way to headline news down
(05:56):
in Atlanta, UM, and then that takes you where I
ran across you uh to be t Give me a
sense of what your journey was to BET and then
we'll get into the b T years. Yeah. It was
interesting because, as you say, I started out in Brunswick, Georgia,
one station market, you know, lived on St. Simon's Island.
(06:18):
That was amazing, and it was a market where it
was a one It was one station and it was
family owned, so we didn't have to you know at
those times. And it's funny that we're back to this
in this in this business where people are shooting their
own content, even in New York City. That was unheard
of years ago, you know, in the big markets. It
was a smaller markets where you were shooting and editing
(06:38):
and doing all of those things. I didn't have to
do that starting out early on, which I was very lucky.
I was in Brunswick for about a year and a
half and then I went to Lexington, Kentucky and worked
there for four years. But I was at the number
one station, and I was lucky to land there because
where you are within the market matters. If you're at
a number one station, that means that station of a
(07:00):
lot of money and a lot of resources. We not
only had a lot of live trucks, we have said
we're the only station in the market that have satellite truck,
which is really important at the time, and we're the
only station that could utilize helicopters in our coverage, and
we were also in the station that had the University
of Kentucky contracts, so all the games were on our station.
So you know, it was it was amazing to be
(07:22):
in that market and work for a station that was
such a juggernaut uh in in the city. Um So
that was a great experience. And so because I got
such great experience at that market, perfecting my live shots,
perfecting all of my reporting and anchoring, I was able
to make a really big jump from Lexington to Houston, Texas,
(07:44):
which was which the top ten market, so it was
a huge jump to make. And um from there, I
went to CNN Headline News in Atlanta. I was able
to go home. Wasn't there long before b ET came
colle and they were like and Gordon personally said, he
wants you to I tell everybody it was such an experience.
(08:09):
I mean, you know, BT had its issues, We had
our issues with that network, but I tell everybody, for
most of us, we did things there we would have
never been able to do anywhere else. We would have
been so far down the rung at any other network,
we wouldn't have even been considered to do the kinds
of things that we did. Give me a sense of
(08:31):
what what the b T years were for you. B
T was a game changer, especially based on how I
grew up in Atlanta. Once I got to be ET,
I was like, Okay, yes, this is how I was
supposed to be. Yes, you know what I mean. We're
supposed to be getting the exclusives. We're supposed to be
at the at the Democratic and you know conventions, we're
(08:52):
supposed to be their front and center. Um, getting these
you know, exclusive opportunities to cover so many things and
court on so many stories. And you know, when I
came to be ET, it was that collaboration with Viacom,
which was such a big deal because you know, we
moved into the CBS buildings, um, and that's where and
so we had those resources in order to do our
(09:14):
news and that was a big deal for us. It
was a game changer for me. It really exposed me
to so much, but it also made me realize that
I didn't just want to do news. It exposed me
to entertainment and lifestyle news. And after B E T,
I transition, But it was b ET, you know, the
red carpets and all that stuff that really opened my
(09:38):
eyes to there being something more because covering news it
looks glamorous, but for some of us, for many of
us who don't talk about it, it can be hard, uh,
covering negative story after negative story, death after death. You know.
As you know, there've been you know, on top of
COVID and and racial unrest in this country, there have
(10:00):
been so many deaths and suicides and things like that
as of late. Because I don't do news, I can
turn it off. I don't have to watch those things.
Um I can. I'll learn just a bit of detail,
you know. I don't want to. I don't want to
be ignorant, but I don't want to have to delve
into those things because that had an impact on me.
(10:20):
So I was happy on me personally and my mental health.
So I was happy to step away from news in
that way and move into entertainment and lifestyle. Yeah, but
V E T was such a game changer to me
and such an eye opener so what this industry could be.
And that's why I am rooting for the Black News
Channel because I really want to see them succeed. It's
(10:42):
to me, it's an extension of what we did, you
know what I mean, It definitely is an extension and
it's an entire network dedicated to that. You know, b
e t they you know, they wanted to do news,
but they didn't really want to do Yeah, you know,
and I tell people for all of the issues there
because people don't realize how costly news is to do.
(11:04):
That was and that was the issue that was part
of the issue for b ET. But to your point,
they were torn, especially after Bob left. And I give
Bob credit. At the end of the day, no matter
what you thought of Bob Johnson's ownership, he understood the
importance of news and he was not going to let
that news department go anywhere. Yeah, we fought him from money,
(11:25):
we but but you know, I give the example when
the million Man March, he just said, don't worry about advertising,
we won't advertise the whole day, and he put it
on because he knew the importance of it. After he left,
you didn't see those kinds of decisions made quite frankly, UM,
let me ask you about what news is today. It
is not the same uh industry that you and I
(11:45):
grew up in. It is not what um It's become
very opinion driven in the like you not that you
don't understand change because change has changed. But do you
do you see it as detrimental? Do you see it
just as it is just a different time? How do
you see it? I do see it as detrimental. I
do think that it's more um entertainment driven. I think
(12:08):
it's two ratings driven. UM. I think it's too I
think too much effort is given into ratings and what
people will watch as opposed to what they need to know.
And I think that's a dangerous thing because news journalism
should be about giving people information that they need, not
(12:29):
about entertaining people. And I know, if you're not entertaining
in some type of way, then are people gonna watch you,
particularly when there's so much competition, especially in the digital space.
But I still think that we still need to stay
true to what the founding principles of journalism are all about,
and that is the facts. That is not a lot
(12:52):
of opinion, um, and it is not not choosing news
that is going to get the most eyes as opposed
as opposed to choosing news and presenting news that people
need to know. Yeah, I struggle with the idea of
not being the old guy get off my lawn, because
I understand that things morph and change. Um, but I
(13:16):
personally don't need to see an hour or two or
three if you watch three shows in a row of
someone giving the opinion their opinion and having guests on.
I mean, you know, we've heard it all, but it
is just a different industry. And I agree with you.
I think there's so many things that don't get told,
don't you know, get looked at fairly. And and news
(13:40):
was never unbiased. We all were biased in a way,
but you fought against them. You fought against your biases. Yeah,
it definitely and you always and I think, particularly when
it comes to covering certain topics, I think it's important
to weigh in surely if it impacts you, you know,
covering the death of George Floyd or or covering that
HB to us, you know, I attended an HBCU so
(14:02):
to talk about how I feel about that. I think
is important. I do think it's important for us to
give some opinion when it lends perspective to the story.
But to your point, I think it does go a
bit too far when it's just this constant's viewing of
opinions around the clock, and not enough time is being
(14:22):
given to the facts and information that people need. I
think there needs to be more of about Jackie. Do
you have a people ask me about this all the time.
Do you have a particular career highlight that you would
point to if you have to put something to say, this,
you know, kind of illustrates my career. This is a
moment that I'd like people to see. Do you have
(14:44):
one of those? Jeez, I really don't know. I have
to think about it. I've gone in so many directions
with my career, um, and you get that, so it's
hard to say. I mean, it could be one particular person,
and I mean, it's hard for me to answer that question.
In my mind. Is I've been asking questions so many
(15:06):
times you think that I would come up with an
answer by now, But I really don't have one. There
are just so many things that have happened that have
been highlights, you know what I mean, in in my career,
just different things that have happened. Um, there's just been
so many it's hard to pinpoint. When we come back.
(15:28):
Jackie talks about the podcast she co hosts with her
play cousin who happens to be one of the biggest
names and cable news and we get into how she's
become one of the best voices or veganism. Jackie Read
(15:53):
is co host of the popular podcast Read This. Read
that the clever name is thanks to her long standing
friendship with MSNBC's Joy Read. No relation, well kind of, yeah,
my play cousin, Joyan, and we have been lucky enough
to have you on the show, and you gotta come back. Um,
(16:14):
we have a lot of fun as as as you
realized when we were in the studio with us back
when we were in the studio. Um, Joanne and I
genuinely are friends. We've been friends four years and it
just started organically while she was the manager managing editor
at the Grio and I was working at an NBC
Lifestong entertainment show, you know, in the same building. We
(16:35):
would see each other in their makeup room, the kicking
in the bathroom and just having a good time. I
was doing an internship program and she took a whole
bunch of my interns at the Grio and put them
to work. So that's kind of like where things the
seed was planted. And then from that we started, you know,
going out to dinner, going to events, just being around
(16:56):
each other so much her daughter, even as my dog
sitter for my dogs. You know, I mean, it just
really morphed into this family thing because she and you've
met her people see Joy and the person on on
the read out now formerly on you know a joy
and in different You know, she's very smart, uh sheicularly
when it comes to politics, but so many things, and
(17:17):
it just doesn't stop there. She's one of the most
brilliant people that I know. But she's also one of
the kindest, sweetest, most considerate people, almost to a fault
in my opinion. I tell her all the time she's
too nice. Uh in my opinion two nice. But she's
really a kind person and a really good friend. And
(17:38):
so we're we're good friends, genuinely, we weren't we At
first we wanted to do a TV show because neither
of us understood podcast. It was like, what are the
podcast you know, the old ladies on aunties, Like, I
don't understand it. So we were gonna do the old
thing and do a TV show and pitch it the
networks and all that kind of stuff. And then I said,
you know what, we should do a podcast. Um, and
(18:01):
she was reluctant. She was like no, we need to
do a TV show nobody's doing. She felt like it
was kind of like beneath. I was like, girl, no,
because this was like five six years ago, and so
it took us about a year and a half uh
to really understand it and get it started. And then
from then on it just has become you know, we
(18:22):
were in the studio, like I said, we started out
its serious in their studio space. UH. And then when
the pandemic happened, we realized that because we were struggling
to try to be in the same place all the time,
I wouldn't be able to do shows. But you know,
for the because of the pandemic, we realized Zoom would
make it possible. So she of course lives in the
DC area, UM and I am in the New York area,
(18:45):
So it worked out perfectly for us to go on Zoom.
And now that has been a game changer for us,
and so just a lot of growth. UM. Since then,
we've learned a lot and there's some you know, big
things we're working on for the future. So we love
this podcast and I have given her when she went
Monday through Friday, I was like, Okay, listen because this
is your get out, leave it alone. I get it.
(19:06):
We're good. If you don't want to do this, now
is the time to to just say I don't want
to do And I've said that to her several times
because she's so incredibly busy, but she as I do.
We love doing this show. It's like therapy for us,
particularly for her that has because she has to do
what I talked about earlier, day in and day out.
(19:26):
She has to just you know, just breathe in all
that hard news and negativity, particularly with the you know,
with the Trump stuff, and so for us to doing
this show, particularly for her, it is just therapeutic, you know.
It's an outlet for her. And we get on there
and we ki ki We talk about some serious stuff,
but we talk about you know, our wigs with the
same wig maker, you know, and all kinds of stuff. Menopause,
(19:49):
we talked. We just have fun and we just talk
about that and topics. It is really like just sitting
down with two girlfriends. And that's what read this fread
that is all about. Let me ask you about um
you mentioned uh HBCUs you are alum of Clark Atlanta.
Um you mentioned internships and and being a mentor to
(20:11):
many young people. What what drove you? There? Were you
one who found as a young journalist people who reached
out to you. Is it paying back? Why do that?
It's it's all of that. You know. When I was
UM an undergraduate at Clark, I found out about this
program that Northwestern University had for UH black undergraduate students,
(20:35):
and I qualified for the program and I spent a
summer in UM in Chicago. UM No, I'm sorry that
that was Northwestern in Washington, d C. We stated at
George Washington University and it was me and a group
of other black students and we had the opportunity to
go and visit newspapers in newsrooms and here from all
(20:59):
these great the list that lived in the DC area,
George Curry being one of the ones who came and
mentored us. So they really poured into us UM during
that we were there for eight weeks and it was
amazing because I mean I never experienced anything like that.
And then the program ended with a two week internship
that they they found for us, and mine was at
(21:20):
a newspaper in UM Prince George County, Maryland, and so
I you know, I had a front page stories as
an intern there. It was a great experience. And so
that was a group of black journalists pouring into me
at that time, and so I wanted to do something
like that for the students at Clark Atlanta University specifically,
(21:42):
because what I noticed when I left Clark and went
to Northwestern for graduate school was because of the money,
right uh, there were so many more resources available to
those students. I mean, I, hey, Clark students, you know,
we'll find a way or make one that's not our
modle for nothing. We'll figure it out. But I wanted
to make sure that the students at at Clark that
(22:05):
walked through the same halls that I did would be
able to be as competitive as possible with everyone else.
So I started mentoring groups of students. Um, you know
my interns. I have a great group of interns right now.
And it's not just you know, hey, i'm working on this,
edit this for me. Hey, I'm working on that. No,
we do workshops, we have guest speakers. It is a
(22:27):
learning environment that I provide for these students, and it's
also exposing them to journalists that can also pour into them,
be references for them. They can expand their contact lists
and hear other perspectives about the industry, not just mine,
and we should know. You kind of said, uh, you know,
I went to Northwestern but uh, Madill, Yeah, the journalism
(22:51):
school at Northwestern is arguably the finest in the nation.
So for you to be there is a feather in
your cap. It didn't just well I went to graduate school.
So cool. But but you're right, because anytime we get somewhere,
you can best believe the person you set next to
(23:11):
are you know, didn't probably work as hard just to
get in the door if they are of another persuasion.
As the old folks used to say, Yeah, uh that
means white folks for you all young people. But Jackie
has loved animals since she was a child. She's become
(23:34):
a strong advocate for the ethical treatment of animals. I
wondered if that love is what drove her to become
such a powerful proponent of veganism. Yeah, it was that.
It was just the realization, I say, becoming a vegan
is like taking the red pill in the matrix and
seeing what is really going on in the food industry
(23:56):
before food ends up on your plate. Most of us
don't want to hear about it. Right, you just don't
but you know that you're eating animals. But I say
that we really have to become more conscious consumers. We
have to know the story of all the products that
we buy, including and especially our food. And once I
(24:19):
took the red pill, if you will, and said, Okay,
let me really take a look at this factory farming
and what is going on in this industry. And it
is ugly. I mean not the suffering of animals alone
is horrific, but also the condition of the meat that
we get. What factory farming, it is capitalism that it's worse.
(24:42):
Factory farming is doing to this planet um and what
it is doing to the health of of the people
who consume these things, particularly black and brown people, because
a lot of these factories are in poor communities. It
ends up, you know, polluting the air, polluting the water.
You know, they did some tests in North Carolina near
(25:04):
some of the pig farms, like miles away from pig farms,
and people there were feces all over their microscopic pig
secs throughout their house houses. So there's that, and then
this food industry like the McDonald's and the chicken places
and all that stuff. You know, those fast food restaurants
that end up in these food deserts where there's no
fresh food right there, only these foods. It's the worst
(25:27):
of the worst of these meat industries, you know what
I mean. You here's the reports of people finding a
chicken head and this or this kind of you know,
it is the worst of the worst. But we don't
pay attention, right, We don't care. We just wanna get
our Popeyes chicken sandwich and fight for it and all
that kind of stuff. Because black people, particularly, I really
want to wake up to what veganism is and why
(25:49):
we should lean into it. People like I sent you
a clip from Angela Davis and Dick Gregory were big vegans.
Dick Gregory started back in nineteen He's way ahead of
the curb, way ahead of he didn't even didn't even
know the term veganism. But there were a lot of
black people think about it back in the day. I
know in Detroit there was there were a couple of
(26:10):
shops and stores where people you know, may have sold
bean pies in since they didn't eat port, they didn't
eat any meat, they were vegans. You know, people talk.
There's the controversial Dr Cbe, who was another person who
promoted veganism and a different kind of help. We have
got to look at what we are eating and what
is happening in the food industry. You know, you may
(26:33):
not like dogs, right, you may not care about them,
but why are dogs more important than cows? Why are
why are horses more important than cows or pigs or
chickens and things like that. It is a it is
a mind game that's happening. And that's why I go
back to the matrix. It's this mind game. You know,
they have these commercials where you know, animals are grass
(26:55):
fed and chickens are walking around. What do they care?
They're about to be murder and what does brass bed really?
You know, they're not happy about it. If you look
at the dairy industry is probably the cruelest head and
I encourage people to just go and take a look.
You know, when cow cows, a lot of us think
that cows just produce milk. No, just like women, just
(27:16):
like humans, they produce milk when they are pregnant, and
we get that milk because once they give birth, their
calves are snatched away from them, never to see them again.
So there's not that bond, and these that milk goes
for human consumption, and the calves, the male calves are
killed for for us to have calf skinness and cast
(27:40):
in skin that or they're killed for veal, and the
female calves are put in bins fed with machine milk
bottles and when they get old enough there artificially inseminated
so that they can have babies. And it is horrific.
And you know, when I was on the Wendy Williams
or recently, the producer, one of the main producers, was like, well,
(28:03):
I want you to talk about why I want to choose,
you know, vegan leather over this or vegan this over that.
And I said, well, it's the animals, and she said,
nobody wants to hear about that. You know, I was
going to ask you that though, Jackie, Um, do you
find that people are lending a greater ear if you will,
because people, particularly back in the day, particularly when for instance,
(28:25):
as you suggested, when Dick Gregory was talking about it, Yeah,
people almost said, yeah, they're a little cookie, let them
have their So are you finding that people are at
least listening a little differently, Yes, they are, particularly because
of the health benefits, particularly because of words like sustainability,
which is a big part of the fashion industry, and
(28:46):
they're moving away from using fur and even leather. Now
many and fashion are using sustainable methods of creating leather, apples,
pineapple leaves, banana leads, all kinds of different things. Um
I featured a shoe company on the Wendy Williams Show
that makes their shoes each pair is made from twenty
(29:06):
plastic bottles that were actually taken from landfills or from
the ocean. Um Loki is the name of that company,
and I love what they're doing because they're all about
a cleaner planet. So in the fashion industry you really
find more of that. And so people are all about
the environment now, you know, it's you know, black people
for a long time thought environmental issues were all of
(29:28):
these white people, you know what I mean, that's for us,
But a lot of environmental activists are actually black people
who are fighting things like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
All of that is environmental. You know, what lead poisoning,
you know, in our inner cities, it's it's all environmental.
And so we have to start paying attention, particularly black
(29:49):
people to what is going on outside of the walls
of our homes and what's affecting the food that we eat,
the water that we drink, and and the planet that
we're on that we're leaving to our kids. It's interesting
because part of what you've been doing, which I think
is ridiculously smart with a nod to TLC, is you
(30:11):
have established vegan sexy cool and it is the idea
of just kind of rethinking, repackaging what veganism is for
people to make it more palatable, isn't Yeah, that was
the whole point. It was so many people hear veganism
or they hear eating vegan and they're like, oh, I
gotta sacrifice, Oh I gotta give up this, and I
(30:32):
gotta give up that, And they feel like we wear
burlap sacks, we're wearing clether everything cheaply. May I don't
want no part of that. I don't want that. Now
all you're eating or salads or nasty tofod and it
is not that at all. There are some of the
finest resorts in the world, you know, have have vegan
food and have vegan you know, vegan home accessories and
(30:55):
things like that. Lennen's and things like that that are
sustainably manu factored. So there's that going on. Some of
the finest restaurants around the world have great vegan cuisine
because people, even in the food industry are realizing the cruelty,
they're realizing the health hazards, and they're realizing that they
don't have to cut back on what can appear aspirational
(31:21):
for people. Right you can have fabulous shoes and fabulous
coats and fabulous you know, clothing and luggage and cars
or even cars that now have vegan leather. BMW has one,
or SADES has one, you know what I mean. There,
there's just everybody's rethinking what it means to have luxury,
(31:42):
and veganism is a big part of of luxury. Now
there's so many wonderful things to choose from. So yeah,
I feel like people are giving it a different kind
of look because before, yes, to your point, back in
the day, vegans were seen as coots. And I still
get that, oh here she come, you know, I get
that a lot still. But you know, once people hear
(32:05):
me out and once they see the vegan sexy, cool
brand and what I'm wearing and what I'm eating and
they hear from me, then they relax. I can't tell
you how many people I've heard from who will leave
a comment and say, you know what, I started my
vegan journey because of you, and you know what, you
were right. It's not bad, it's not hard like that
(32:26):
is the like they always I always say to myself,
I can reach reach one person that will make a
difference to me, and I have done that and then
something Well, I will tell you I appreciate the passion
that you put into it, Jackie. You know a lot
of people started, they push it for a little bit
and either they get tired of it, or they fall
off the wagon, or whatever the case may be. But
(32:46):
you have been true to this and I think smart
in the way that you have um delivered it. Even
you know, old school meat and potato dudes like I
have been for many years, have started to listen to it.
As I said to you, I'm not and you know
some days I do go meatless. I've got friends who go,
you know, same thing, especially you know old black man
(33:06):
like you crazy, you know, But and we need it
more than anybody, with the prostate cancer and all the
things that we have to deal with. You know, um,
but I just I salute you for what you know,
what you've been doing, and I would just say, you know,
keep it up. Some of us will come kicking and screaming,
but we're coming. We're getting closer, I hope. So I'm
(33:27):
here waiting, all right, Jackie read as always, We'll be
looking for your next project. You know how I feel
about your girls. I appreciate you coming on. I feel
the same. Thank you, Gordon. Don't forget to join Jackie
and her play cousin Joy and read on their podcast.
Read This, Read That, listen wherever you get your podcast.
(33:51):
If you want to find out more about veganism and
Jackie's journey as a vegan, check out her YouTube. Chan
one hundred is produced by ed Gordon Media and distributed
by I Heart Media. Carol Johnson Green and Sharie Weldon
are our bookers. Our editor is Lance pet Gerald. Albright
(34:13):
composed and performed our theme. Please join me on Twitter
and Instagram at ed L Gordon and on Facebook at
ed Gordon Media
Welcome to the latest edition of one hundred The Gordon Podcast.
Today a conversation with award winning journalist Jackie Read. From
local news to CNN's headline news to a popular stin
on v T. She's made a name for herself in
the media. She was also a longtime voice on the
Time Join Our Morning show. Recently, she's become a prominent
(00:46):
voice for veganism and co host of a popular podcast.
Some may remember we worked together for a number of
years at BT, and even though I knew a lot
about her background, I started by asking about something I
didn't know. I knew you were from Georgia, Uh, but
(01:07):
I didn't know what part of Georgia you were from.
So I'm curious share with us what part and what
growing up was like for you. Well, I always like
to say I'm from Decatur, where it's greater. Sure you've
heard that, but to mostly I I say that to
people who know exactly. You know how Atlanta works. You know,
(01:31):
I'm from a suburb of Atlanta, So I mostly I
say I'm from Atlanta. But growing up in that area
in the South, it it prepares you for a world
as a prepares you for the world as a black woman,
as a black person in a very different way. I've
never known anything but a black mayor in Atlanta. Atlanta
has always been a very progressive sitting and you know
(01:54):
that because in the civil rights movement, because of the
historically by colleges and universities that are there. As a child,
I went to spellm in college to take dance and
gymnastics and tap classes and all of those things because
my mother wanted my sister and I to be exposed
to that culture. So as I was sitting there waiting
on my mom to pick me up, I would see
these black women walking on this beautiful campus. So I
(02:17):
was exposed to those types of things. You know. My
mom took me to see Alvin Ailey very young, you know,
as a child, So I was exposed to those types
of things. So you coupled that with going to school
with affluent black people, because there wasn't just as there
are in so many, uh you know, major metropolitan cities,
one black neighborhood in Atlanta, there were several, do you
(02:40):
know what I mean? So you saw that um influence
among black people, You saw the brilliance of black people,
you saw powerful black people. I was exposed to that
all of my life. So you know, as I moved,
because of my career to different cities, you know, there
was an arrogance about me, if you will, just about
because I knew that black people were amazing and special
(03:03):
and we're supposed to be doing the best things at
the highest level. And that was my expectation no matter
where I went. UM. And it was interesting as I
moved throughout the world to see things differently. Um, even
in the New York City where you know, if you're
just talking about the city, and not the outer boroughs
where you know it their pockets of Harlem, you know,
(03:25):
where where it's considered, you know, affluent, but not in
the rest of the city. You go to the Four
Seasons in Atlanta, managers black patrons are black, and you
have the Four Seasons in New York City to this day,
it's all white. There might be black people in the kitchen,
you know what I mean, There might be black patrons
here there. And so I grew up with this very
(03:45):
different experience about what it meant to be black in
this country. Atlanta now reminds me of Detroit when I
grew up in Detroit, and it's exactly what you said.
We had a black mayor, very early on, the city
council was black. We had a lot of black professionals
and also a lot of black middle class people who
weren't quote professionals, but they worked in the factory and
(04:07):
they made just as much as the black professionals. So
there is a sense of if you see success, you
you can believe it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, you see it.
You're exposed to it. You know. You know, you can
be a kid and have fun, but when you go
to the grocery store, when you go to department stores, um,
(04:28):
just as you move around. When you see black people
being successful, and not just extreme examples like a mayor,
but to your point, just everyday working people, the people
that you are are friends with, your parents, being successful,
driving nice cars and living in nice homes, um, vacationing,
you know what I mean, just doing all those things
(04:50):
that all of us were not exposed to at a
young age. I had the privilege to be exposed to
that because I grew up in the Atlanta area. Did
you always want to go to broadcasting, be a journalist
or what do you want to be? Coming up? It
was a toss up between a journalist and a veterinarian.
As a kid, those were the two things that I
(05:12):
was considering. And I was even on my Uh. I
wrote it on the literary magazine in elementary school and
I was on my high school newspaper. UM. But I
also was just I always loved animals, and I ended
up choosing journalism. Um, you know, and no regrets, I
love it. But now I'm able to merge the two worlds. Yeah,
(05:33):
we're gonna get into that and a little bit. I
was gonna ask you was that part of your journey
with with veganism. So we'll get into that and just
a bit, but let me stay with the broadcasting side
of it. So you, like many people, and I didn't
go this route. I was a little different. Um. But
you start your first job Brunswick, Georgia, and then you
travel markets, um, find your way to headline news down
(05:56):
in Atlanta, UM, and then that takes you where I
ran across you uh to be t Give me a
sense of what your journey was to BET and then
we'll get into the b T years. Yeah. It was
interesting because, as you say, I started out in Brunswick, Georgia,
one station market, you know, lived on St. Simon's Island.
(06:18):
That was amazing, and it was a market where it
was a one It was one station and it was
family owned, so we didn't have to you know at
those times. And it's funny that we're back to this
in this in this business where people are shooting their
own content, even in New York City. That was unheard
of years ago, you know, in the big markets. It
was a smaller markets where you were shooting and editing
(06:38):
and doing all of those things. I didn't have to
do that starting out early on, which I was very lucky.
I was in Brunswick for about a year and a
half and then I went to Lexington, Kentucky and worked
there for four years. But I was at the number
one station, and I was lucky to land there because
where you are within the market matters. If you're at
a number one station, that means that station of a
(07:00):
lot of money and a lot of resources. We not
only had a lot of live trucks, we have said
we're the only station in the market that have satellite truck,
which is really important at the time, and we're the
only station that could utilize helicopters in our coverage, and
we were also in the station that had the University
of Kentucky contracts, so all the games were on our station.
So you know, it was it was amazing to be
(07:22):
in that market and work for a station that was
such a juggernaut uh in in the city. Um So
that was a great experience. And so because I got
such great experience at that market, perfecting my live shots,
perfecting all of my reporting and anchoring, I was able
to make a really big jump from Lexington to Houston, Texas,
(07:44):
which was which the top ten market, so it was
a huge jump to make. And um from there, I
went to CNN Headline News in Atlanta. I was able
to go home. Wasn't there long before b ET came
colle and they were like and Gordon personally said, he
wants you to I tell everybody it was such an experience.
(08:09):
I mean, you know, BT had its issues, We had
our issues with that network, but I tell everybody, for
most of us, we did things there we would have
never been able to do anywhere else. We would have
been so far down the rung at any other network,
we wouldn't have even been considered to do the kinds
of things that we did. Give me a sense of
(08:31):
what what the b T years were for you. B
T was a game changer, especially based on how I
grew up in Atlanta. Once I got to be ET,
I was like, Okay, yes, this is how I was
supposed to be. Yes, you know what I mean. We're
supposed to be getting the exclusives. We're supposed to be
at the at the Democratic and you know conventions, we're
(08:52):
supposed to be their front and center. Um, getting these
you know, exclusive opportunities to cover so many things and
court on so many stories. And you know, when I
came to be ET, it was that collaboration with Viacom,
which was such a big deal because you know, we
moved into the CBS buildings, um, and that's where and
so we had those resources in order to do our
(09:14):
news and that was a big deal for us. It
was a game changer for me. It really exposed me
to so much, but it also made me realize that
I didn't just want to do news. It exposed me
to entertainment and lifestyle news. And after B E T,
I transition, But it was b ET, you know, the
red carpets and all that stuff that really opened my
(09:38):
eyes to there being something more because covering news it
looks glamorous, but for some of us, for many of
us who don't talk about it, it can be hard, uh,
covering negative story after negative story, death after death. You know.
As you know, there've been you know, on top of
COVID and and racial unrest in this country, there have
(10:00):
been so many deaths and suicides and things like that
as of late. Because I don't do news, I can
turn it off. I don't have to watch those things.
Um I can. I'll learn just a bit of detail,
you know. I don't want to. I don't want to
be ignorant, but I don't want to have to delve
into those things because that had an impact on me.
(10:20):
So I was happy on me personally and my mental health.
So I was happy to step away from news in
that way and move into entertainment and lifestyle. Yeah, but
V E T was such a game changer to me
and such an eye opener so what this industry could be.
And that's why I am rooting for the Black News
Channel because I really want to see them succeed. It's
(10:42):
to me, it's an extension of what we did, you
know what I mean, It definitely is an extension and
it's an entire network dedicated to that. You know, b
e t they you know, they wanted to do news,
but they didn't really want to do Yeah, you know,
and I tell people for all of the issues there
because people don't realize how costly news is to do.
(11:04):
That was and that was the issue that was part
of the issue for b ET. But to your point,
they were torn, especially after Bob left. And I give
Bob credit. At the end of the day, no matter
what you thought of Bob Johnson's ownership, he understood the
importance of news and he was not going to let
that news department go anywhere. Yeah, we fought him from money,
(11:25):
we but but you know, I give the example when
the million Man March, he just said, don't worry about advertising,
we won't advertise the whole day, and he put it
on because he knew the importance of it. After he left,
you didn't see those kinds of decisions made quite frankly, UM,
let me ask you about what news is today. It
is not the same uh industry that you and I
(11:45):
grew up in. It is not what um It's become
very opinion driven in the like you not that you
don't understand change because change has changed. But do you
do you see it as detrimental? Do you see it
just as it is just a different time? How do
you see it? I do see it as detrimental. I
do think that it's more um entertainment driven. I think
(12:08):
it's two ratings driven. UM. I think it's too I
think too much effort is given into ratings and what
people will watch as opposed to what they need to know.
And I think that's a dangerous thing because news journalism
should be about giving people information that they need, not
(12:29):
about entertaining people. And I know, if you're not entertaining
in some type of way, then are people gonna watch you,
particularly when there's so much competition, especially in the digital space.
But I still think that we still need to stay
true to what the founding principles of journalism are all about,
and that is the facts. That is not a lot
(12:52):
of opinion, um, and it is not not choosing news
that is going to get the most eyes as opposed
as opposed to choosing news and presenting news that people
need to know. Yeah, I struggle with the idea of
not being the old guy get off my lawn, because
I understand that things morph and change. Um, but I
(13:16):
personally don't need to see an hour or two or
three if you watch three shows in a row of
someone giving the opinion their opinion and having guests on.
I mean, you know, we've heard it all, but it
is just a different industry. And I agree with you.
I think there's so many things that don't get told,
don't you know, get looked at fairly. And and news
(13:40):
was never unbiased. We all were biased in a way,
but you fought against them. You fought against your biases. Yeah,
it definitely and you always and I think, particularly when
it comes to covering certain topics, I think it's important
to weigh in surely if it impacts you, you know,
covering the death of George Floyd or or covering that
HB to us, you know, I attended an HBCU so
(14:02):
to talk about how I feel about that. I think
is important. I do think it's important for us to
give some opinion when it lends perspective to the story.
But to your point, I think it does go a
bit too far when it's just this constant's viewing of
opinions around the clock, and not enough time is being
(14:22):
given to the facts and information that people need. I
think there needs to be more of about Jackie. Do
you have a people ask me about this all the time.
Do you have a particular career highlight that you would
point to if you have to put something to say, this,
you know, kind of illustrates my career. This is a
moment that I'd like people to see. Do you have
(14:44):
one of those? Jeez, I really don't know. I have
to think about it. I've gone in so many directions
with my career, um, and you get that, so it's
hard to say. I mean, it could be one particular person,
and I mean, it's hard for me to answer that question.
In my mind. Is I've been asking questions so many
(15:06):
times you think that I would come up with an
answer by now, But I really don't have one. There
are just so many things that have happened that have
been highlights, you know what I mean, in in my career,
just different things that have happened. Um, there's just been
so many it's hard to pinpoint. When we come back.
(15:28):
Jackie talks about the podcast she co hosts with her
play cousin who happens to be one of the biggest
names and cable news and we get into how she's
become one of the best voices or veganism. Jackie Read
(15:53):
is co host of the popular podcast Read This. Read
that the clever name is thanks to her long standing
friendship with MSNBC's Joy Read. No relation, well kind of, yeah,
my play cousin, Joyan, and we have been lucky enough
to have you on the show, and you gotta come back. Um,
(16:14):
we have a lot of fun as as as you
realized when we were in the studio with us back
when we were in the studio. Um, Joanne and I
genuinely are friends. We've been friends four years and it
just started organically while she was the manager managing editor
at the Grio and I was working at an NBC
Lifestong entertainment show, you know, in the same building. We
(16:35):
would see each other in their makeup room, the kicking
in the bathroom and just having a good time. I
was doing an internship program and she took a whole
bunch of my interns at the Grio and put them
to work. So that's kind of like where things the
seed was planted. And then from that we started, you know,
going out to dinner, going to events, just being around
(16:56):
each other so much her daughter, even as my dog
sitter for my dogs. You know, I mean, it just
really morphed into this family thing because she and you've
met her people see Joy and the person on on
the read out now formerly on you know a joy
and in different You know, she's very smart, uh sheicularly
when it comes to politics, but so many things, and
(17:17):
it just doesn't stop there. She's one of the most
brilliant people that I know. But she's also one of
the kindest, sweetest, most considerate people, almost to a fault
in my opinion. I tell her all the time she's
too nice. Uh in my opinion two nice. But she's
really a kind person and a really good friend. And
(17:38):
so we're we're good friends, genuinely, we weren't we At
first we wanted to do a TV show because neither
of us understood podcast. It was like, what are the
podcast you know, the old ladies on aunties, Like, I
don't understand it. So we were gonna do the old
thing and do a TV show and pitch it the
networks and all that kind of stuff. And then I said,
you know what, we should do a podcast. Um, and
(18:01):
she was reluctant. She was like no, we need to
do a TV show nobody's doing. She felt like it
was kind of like beneath. I was like, girl, no,
because this was like five six years ago, and so
it took us about a year and a half uh
to really understand it and get it started. And then
from then on it just has become you know, we
(18:22):
were in the studio, like I said, we started out
its serious in their studio space. UH. And then when
the pandemic happened, we realized that because we were struggling
to try to be in the same place all the time,
I wouldn't be able to do shows. But you know,
for the because of the pandemic, we realized Zoom would
make it possible. So she of course lives in the
DC area, UM and I am in the New York area,
(18:45):
So it worked out perfectly for us to go on Zoom.
And now that has been a game changer for us,
and so just a lot of growth. UM. Since then,
we've learned a lot and there's some you know, big
things we're working on for the future. So we love
this podcast and I have given her when she went
Monday through Friday, I was like, Okay, listen because this
is your get out, leave it alone. I get it.
(19:06):
We're good. If you don't want to do this, now
is the time to to just say I don't want
to do And I've said that to her several times
because she's so incredibly busy, but she as I do.
We love doing this show. It's like therapy for us,
particularly for her that has because she has to do
what I talked about earlier, day in and day out.
(19:26):
She has to just you know, just breathe in all
that hard news and negativity, particularly with the you know,
with the Trump stuff, and so for us to doing
this show, particularly for her, it is just therapeutic, you know.
It's an outlet for her. And we get on there
and we ki ki We talk about some serious stuff,
but we talk about you know, our wigs with the
same wig maker, you know, and all kinds of stuff. Menopause,
(19:49):
we talked. We just have fun and we just talk
about that and topics. It is really like just sitting
down with two girlfriends. And that's what read this fread
that is all about. Let me ask you about um
you mentioned uh HBCUs you are alum of Clark Atlanta.
Um you mentioned internships and and being a mentor to
(20:11):
many young people. What what drove you? There? Were you
one who found as a young journalist people who reached
out to you. Is it paying back? Why do that?
It's it's all of that. You know. When I was
UM an undergraduate at Clark, I found out about this
program that Northwestern University had for UH black undergraduate students,
(20:35):
and I qualified for the program and I spent a
summer in UM in Chicago. UM No, I'm sorry that
that was Northwestern in Washington, d C. We stated at
George Washington University and it was me and a group
of other black students and we had the opportunity to
go and visit newspapers in newsrooms and here from all
(20:59):
these great the list that lived in the DC area,
George Curry being one of the ones who came and
mentored us. So they really poured into us UM during
that we were there for eight weeks and it was
amazing because I mean I never experienced anything like that.
And then the program ended with a two week internship
that they they found for us, and mine was at
(21:20):
a newspaper in UM Prince George County, Maryland, and so
I you know, I had a front page stories as
an intern there. It was a great experience. And so
that was a group of black journalists pouring into me
at that time, and so I wanted to do something
like that for the students at Clark Atlanta University specifically,
(21:42):
because what I noticed when I left Clark and went
to Northwestern for graduate school was because of the money,
right uh, there were so many more resources available to
those students. I mean, I, hey, Clark students, you know,
we'll find a way or make one that's not our
modle for nothing. We'll figure it out. But I wanted
to make sure that the students at at Clark that
(22:05):
walked through the same halls that I did would be
able to be as competitive as possible with everyone else.
So I started mentoring groups of students. Um, you know
my interns. I have a great group of interns right now.
And it's not just you know, hey, i'm working on this,
edit this for me. Hey, I'm working on that. No,
we do workshops, we have guest speakers. It is a
(22:27):
learning environment that I provide for these students, and it's
also exposing them to journalists that can also pour into them,
be references for them. They can expand their contact lists
and hear other perspectives about the industry, not just mine,
and we should know. You kind of said, uh, you know,
I went to Northwestern but uh, Madill, Yeah, the journalism
(22:51):
school at Northwestern is arguably the finest in the nation.
So for you to be there is a feather in
your cap. It didn't just well I went to graduate school.
So cool. But but you're right, because anytime we get somewhere,
you can best believe the person you set next to
(23:11):
are you know, didn't probably work as hard just to
get in the door if they are of another persuasion.
As the old folks used to say, Yeah, uh that
means white folks for you all young people. But Jackie
has loved animals since she was a child. She's become
(23:34):
a strong advocate for the ethical treatment of animals. I
wondered if that love is what drove her to become
such a powerful proponent of veganism. Yeah, it was that.
It was just the realization, I say, becoming a vegan
is like taking the red pill in the matrix and
seeing what is really going on in the food industry
(23:56):
before food ends up on your plate. Most of us
don't want to hear about it. Right, you just don't
but you know that you're eating animals. But I say
that we really have to become more conscious consumers. We
have to know the story of all the products that
we buy, including and especially our food. And once I
(24:19):
took the red pill, if you will, and said, Okay,
let me really take a look at this factory farming
and what is going on in this industry. And it
is ugly. I mean not the suffering of animals alone
is horrific, but also the condition of the meat that
we get. What factory farming, it is capitalism that it's worse.
(24:42):
Factory farming is doing to this planet um and what
it is doing to the health of of the people
who consume these things, particularly black and brown people, because
a lot of these factories are in poor communities. It
ends up, you know, polluting the air, polluting the water.
You know, they did some tests in North Carolina near
(25:04):
some of the pig farms, like miles away from pig farms,
and people there were feces all over their microscopic pig
secs throughout their house houses. So there's that, and then
this food industry like the McDonald's and the chicken places
and all that stuff. You know, those fast food restaurants
that end up in these food deserts where there's no
fresh food right there, only these foods. It's the worst
(25:27):
of the worst of these meat industries, you know what
I mean. You here's the reports of people finding a
chicken head and this or this kind of you know,
it is the worst of the worst. But we don't
pay attention, right, We don't care. We just wanna get
our Popeyes chicken sandwich and fight for it and all
that kind of stuff. Because black people, particularly, I really
want to wake up to what veganism is and why
(25:49):
we should lean into it. People like I sent you
a clip from Angela Davis and Dick Gregory were big vegans.
Dick Gregory started back in nineteen He's way ahead of
the curb, way ahead of he didn't even didn't even
know the term veganism. But there were a lot of
black people think about it back in the day. I
know in Detroit there was there were a couple of
(26:10):
shops and stores where people you know, may have sold
bean pies in since they didn't eat port, they didn't
eat any meat, they were vegans. You know, people talk.
There's the controversial Dr Cbe, who was another person who
promoted veganism and a different kind of help. We have
got to look at what we are eating and what
is happening in the food industry. You know, you may
(26:33):
not like dogs, right, you may not care about them,
but why are dogs more important than cows? Why are
why are horses more important than cows or pigs or
chickens and things like that. It is a it is
a mind game that's happening. And that's why I go
back to the matrix. It's this mind game. You know,
they have these commercials where you know, animals are grass
(26:55):
fed and chickens are walking around. What do they care?
They're about to be murder and what does brass bed really?
You know, they're not happy about it. If you look
at the dairy industry is probably the cruelest head and
I encourage people to just go and take a look.
You know, when cow cows, a lot of us think
that cows just produce milk. No, just like women, just
(27:16):
like humans, they produce milk when they are pregnant, and
we get that milk because once they give birth, their
calves are snatched away from them, never to see them again.
So there's not that bond, and these that milk goes
for human consumption, and the calves, the male calves are
killed for for us to have calf skinness and cast
(27:40):
in skin that or they're killed for veal, and the
female calves are put in bins fed with machine milk
bottles and when they get old enough there artificially inseminated
so that they can have babies. And it is horrific.
And you know, when I was on the Wendy Williams
or recently, the producer, one of the main producers, was like, well,
(28:03):
I want you to talk about why I want to choose,
you know, vegan leather over this or vegan this over that.
And I said, well, it's the animals, and she said,
nobody wants to hear about that. You know, I was
going to ask you that though, Jackie, Um, do you
find that people are lending a greater ear if you will,
because people, particularly back in the day, particularly when for instance,
(28:25):
as you suggested, when Dick Gregory was talking about it, Yeah,
people almost said, yeah, they're a little cookie, let them
have their So are you finding that people are at
least listening a little differently, Yes, they are, particularly because
of the health benefits, particularly because of words like sustainability,
which is a big part of the fashion industry, and
(28:46):
they're moving away from using fur and even leather. Now
many and fashion are using sustainable methods of creating leather, apples,
pineapple leaves, banana leads, all kinds of different things. Um
I featured a shoe company on the Wendy Williams Show
that makes their shoes each pair is made from twenty
(29:06):
plastic bottles that were actually taken from landfills or from
the ocean. Um Loki is the name of that company,
and I love what they're doing because they're all about
a cleaner planet. So in the fashion industry you really
find more of that. And so people are all about
the environment now, you know, it's you know, black people
for a long time thought environmental issues were all of
(29:28):
these white people, you know what I mean, that's for us,
But a lot of environmental activists are actually black people
who are fighting things like the water crisis in Flint, Michigan.
All of that is environmental. You know, what lead poisoning,
you know, in our inner cities, it's it's all environmental.
And so we have to start paying attention, particularly black
(29:49):
people to what is going on outside of the walls
of our homes and what's affecting the food that we eat,
the water that we drink, and and the planet that
we're on that we're leaving to our kids. It's interesting
because part of what you've been doing, which I think
is ridiculously smart with a nod to TLC, is you
(30:11):
have established vegan sexy cool and it is the idea
of just kind of rethinking, repackaging what veganism is for
people to make it more palatable, isn't Yeah, that was
the whole point. It was so many people hear veganism
or they hear eating vegan and they're like, oh, I
gotta sacrifice, Oh I gotta give up this, and I
(30:32):
gotta give up that, And they feel like we wear
burlap sacks, we're wearing clether everything cheaply. May I don't
want no part of that. I don't want that. Now
all you're eating or salads or nasty tofod and it
is not that at all. There are some of the
finest resorts in the world, you know, have have vegan
food and have vegan you know, vegan home accessories and
(30:55):
things like that. Lennen's and things like that that are
sustainably manu factored. So there's that going on. Some of
the finest restaurants around the world have great vegan cuisine
because people, even in the food industry are realizing the cruelty,
they're realizing the health hazards, and they're realizing that they
don't have to cut back on what can appear aspirational
(31:21):
for people. Right you can have fabulous shoes and fabulous
coats and fabulous you know, clothing and luggage and cars
or even cars that now have vegan leather. BMW has one,
or SADES has one, you know what I mean. There,
there's just everybody's rethinking what it means to have luxury,
(31:42):
and veganism is a big part of of luxury. Now
there's so many wonderful things to choose from. So yeah,
I feel like people are giving it a different kind
of look because before, yes, to your point, back in
the day, vegans were seen as coots. And I still
get that, oh here she come, you know, I get
that a lot still. But you know, once people hear
(32:05):
me out and once they see the vegan sexy, cool
brand and what I'm wearing and what I'm eating and
they hear from me, then they relax. I can't tell
you how many people I've heard from who will leave
a comment and say, you know what, I started my
vegan journey because of you, and you know what, you
were right. It's not bad, it's not hard like that
(32:26):
is the like they always I always say to myself,
I can reach reach one person that will make a
difference to me, and I have done that and then
something Well, I will tell you I appreciate the passion
that you put into it, Jackie. You know a lot
of people started, they push it for a little bit
and either they get tired of it, or they fall
off the wagon, or whatever the case may be. But
(32:46):
you have been true to this and I think smart
in the way that you have um delivered it. Even
you know, old school meat and potato dudes like I
have been for many years, have started to listen to it.
As I said to you, I'm not and you know
some days I do go meatless. I've got friends who go,
you know, same thing, especially you know old black man
(33:06):
like you crazy, you know, But and we need it
more than anybody, with the prostate cancer and all the
things that we have to deal with. You know, um,
but I just I salute you for what you know,
what you've been doing, and I would just say, you know,
keep it up. Some of us will come kicking and screaming,
but we're coming. We're getting closer, I hope. So I'm
(33:27):
here waiting, all right, Jackie read as always, We'll be
looking for your next project. You know how I feel
about your girls. I appreciate you coming on. I feel
the same. Thank you, Gordon. Don't forget to join Jackie
and her play cousin Joy and read on their podcast.
Read This, Read That, listen wherever you get your podcast.
(33:51):
If you want to find out more about veganism and
Jackie's journey as a vegan, check out her YouTube. Chan
one hundred is produced by ed Gordon Media and distributed
by I Heart Media. Carol Johnson Green and Sharie Weldon
are our bookers. Our editor is Lance pet Gerald. Albright
(34:13):
composed and performed our theme. Please join me on Twitter
and Instagram at ed L Gordon and on Facebook at
ed Gordon Media
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