President & CEO of ESSENCE Ventures talks 30th ESSENCE Festival + Top 8 Covers & More

Episode Transcript

(00:09):
All right, Caroline, come throughone God, President and CEO of Essence
Ventures, including Essence Magazine, givethem a little van of white to release
our cover today. The headliner onthis year's festival cover is the City of
New Orleans. Yeah. I lovethat, Lord New Orleans. So excited

(00:33):
about our boo New Orleans. WhoThis festival would not be possible without somebody
pulled these for me. I thinkthis is so cool. These are the
top eight Essence covers of all time. Okay, have you seen this list?
Let's go through it. Okay,well, well we have this one,
the chocolate wait men of Hollywood BoxOffice Chocolates. Yes, what's the

(00:58):
only answer I have? Okay too, just yes, love that, just
yes? Okay were you there forthat? No? That would have been
this one. Queen Wood be Goldberg. Okay, so this one I had
the opportunity to spend some time.It will be this year. This was
nineteen ninety seven. By the way, that woman is omnipresent, and the

(01:21):
depth of her talent and the spectrumof her existence is unfathomable as an egot,
as a person, and I rememberI met her this year at an
event where we were both getting honored, and my acceptance speech was about how
grateful I am to have been seen, because once people see you, you
know what you're supposed to do inthe world. But some people don't get

(01:42):
seen un till later. And Iremember I said that up there, and
I sat down next to her andshe held my hand and she said,
I see you. And did youcry ugly? Like, don't know,
that's not versus tears type ugly,But she didn't have to do that.
She held my hand and she saidI see you. That woman and her

(02:05):
sensibilities in her just awareness created alife moment for me. And so yes,
that's a gorgeous cover. But she'sshe's such a wonderful person who spends
her time trying to make sure thateverybody else knows how wonderful they are.
That's a beautiful story. This isnineteen ninety seven Young Badu. First of

(02:27):
all, the ad of Neo Soul. I remember I was in I was
in my senior year high school andeverybody was like, have you heard Eric
Abadu? I'm like, who isthis? And so I remember we were
sitting about stopping Minneapolis and there wasa Sam Goodie right behind it, and
I went in there with my highschool friends and we split buying one CD
of Baduism, and that moment solidifiedto love with neo soul. For me,

(02:52):
that was delivered by one of thegodmothers of neo soul, and the
way that she showed up will neverbe forgot for me nor in black music
culture. You know her and acouple of others really at the advent of
neo soul, and I'm grateful forwho she is and I love her now
even more because she will tell youwhat's on your mind for your good and
I love her for that. I'mgonna take you to September two thousand.

(03:15):
Yes, elect we elect weck.So So here's what's pointing about that cover,
right, She's from me Stafrica,saw am I She's great. I'm
from Kenya and my transition to theUS was filled with experiences where because I
had an accent and other things,I spent time trying to make myself small
so that I could survive. Iremember seeing that cover and I didn't even

(03:38):
know her name at the time.What I did know she was est African.
What I did know she was darklike me. And what I did
know is essence told me that wasbeauty, and it started this very different
pivot in my life around defining beautyfor myself. That and Sister Alect changed
my confidence. And I'm so gratefulthat she's been successful. But I'm also

(04:00):
grateful that Essence told us about her, because for me, I walked a
little different after that cover, andI'm sure many other women did too.
Now I'm gonna take you back.I'm still back into time, little time
machine. Here in nineteen eighty Decembernineteen eighty, Queen Diana Ross. This

(04:21):
is Tracy's mama. Never heard aname so hard to define. If I
said to you, what is DianaRoss? What does she do? What
are you going to tell me thatshe sings? That's not enough. No,
that she acts, that's not enough. Does she changed the whiz for
us? That's not enough. Ihave never seen a person so powerful that
you cannot find enough for that.She's birth Tracy. Look look at it

(04:44):
like it's blowing it away. Andthat woman is just as vibrant and potent
today as she was. Oh mygod, I was at the concert when
she's when Diana Ross saying happy birthday, test and her vocals are still tight
like want to be a Diana Rosstype to Jenarian right, and I want
to get to that space because thewoman is an icon, an emblem of

(05:06):
black girlness that I admire. She'sI listened to The Boss at least,
yes, at least once a week. She changed In twenty twenty four.
I listened to it again. Ilistened to the Boss to the single,
maybe not the whole album, butthe single single once a week. Yes,
ma'am, this is nineteen seventy.Explain this cover. What do you

(05:26):
know about this cover? I'm tryingto recall the details of it, but
I mean to you that what's theyear? A game? It's nineteen seventy.
January nineteen says telling your child aboutrace. This is an issue about
race. So here's here's what's reallyimportant to understand. That was Essence's first
decade because this is a model.Yes, that was what month was at
This was January nineteen seventy. Sohere's what's interesting to know. If and

(05:47):
again, if you want more detail, you can go to the documentary.
Essence didn't start out putting celebrities onthe cover. So when you ask me
who is that, it's a model? Right, for most of Essences first
ten to fifteen years, the peoplethat were on the cover of the magazine
were people, and Essence was alsoin the midst of not just sharing with
black women how they are inspirations.Essence was telling the stories that people weren't

(06:12):
telling Black women right, and soyou will see in that first two decades
you will see things like that aboutrace and motherhood. You'll see a cover
that had a black woman who hadage. You will see a mother and
her daughter. Like people forget thatEssence started out as the funnel for what
we should know to be our bestin the world. The celebrity piece came,

(06:32):
but that's not where it started.That was until about twenty years in.
This is what we did. Andpart of why that is so iconic
because we're doing it again with peopleyou don't know their name, but you
look at how everything just came fullcircle. Come on, okay, last
two, Yes, ma'am, he'sgonna be good. These are I'm assuming
while you're there. I mean,we'll see what the d is. We'll
see, Okay, this is theday, December twenty twenty, Zendeya is

(06:57):
gotten. That was probably the firstone that I was Therefore beginning to end
right just from a timing perspective,but it also was a really important season
in the way that we wanted tocreatively understand where Essence was at the time.
The folks that were leading that effortintentionally wanted that sort of positioning and
that sort of aesthetic look to demonstratesomething that Essence had sometimes been slow to

(07:23):
do in the past, which is, get with what's happening right now,
don't be the lagger. And sothat Zendaya cover was a very important loud
moment on the fact that this fiftyyear legacy and going nowhere and we here
for fifty more. There's our mascot. So she represents the future. She
represented innovation, She represented the blackgirl that all the black girls before her

(07:45):
fought for. She represented living inthe obligatory privilege of respecting the people that
came. I often tell people youwere handed off of baton by the people
that came before you, you havedone a discredit to the entire higher universe.
If it's still in the same placewhen you leave, I don't care
if you're scared, you're not goingto hand off a world that didn't go

(08:07):
forward with the baton you had becausesomebody did it for you. And I
think this Zendaya moment and the wayshe just represents herself is an example of
all the people before her that havebeen in those scenes. And Zendia is
so audacious and humble, but whatshe represents is what you do when you
get the baton to make sure youhand it off further ahead. I am
in love with Zendia. We gaveher a Black Woman in Hollywood award like

(08:30):
after that, there were a coupleother interactions. She's hilarious too. My
favorite moment was Zendia's when we didBlack Women in Hollywood. This was the
hybrid virtual because of the vid covid. I remember we were watching her talk
to Storm Read and it was justan organic woman and they were sitting on
our mocked up you know, redcarpet and covid and I remember Storm saying

(08:50):
to Zendia, you were the firstperson that saw me, and she said,
because of you, I didn't quitthat day. Storm was in tears,
but Zendea was in tears, andwhat she said to her was,
I never knew I had that impacton you. You had two women realizing
their power in the moment and Zendayajust continues to demonstrate greatness with humility.

(09:16):
That's beautiful right in a way thatI just I want to be her like
her when I when she grows upand when I grow up too. Okay,
and then our final. These aretop eight today essence covers. I
think this is our final. Thisgotta be the group shot. No,
okay, this is twenty twenty onein the day, January twenty twenty one
jan feb These are, by theway, these are eight, but in

(09:39):
no orders. This is not necessarilyso don't tell me. I think so
that is we did niss Nash andher and her wife. We also had
had a Rihanna and Lorna Simpson.Peace are either one of those those?
No, I'm still wrong. There'sthe Rihanna Lorna Simpson. I knew it
so here, so let me tellyou what's so dope about that. So,
as with all all businesses, wehad to do some relationship prepare with

(10:03):
Rihanna based on something something happened beforewe had been playing with there. I
mean, I was at the tailend of trying to help us get her
back, but as a part ofwhat had been a two year journey,
right to rebuild relationship at the pointthat the Essence team had committed. What
was beautiful was to watch Rihanna sayshe wanted Lorna like we executed it,

(10:26):
but once she decided to do it, it was important to her to select
what she wanted it to look like. And the reason I'm hYP first of
all that got an award because we'vealso never done that conceptual of a cover,
right, But when we secured Rihannaand her desire was to bring an
iconic, probably undernon black female artistwho does this beautiful conceptional art along with

(10:54):
her. And then if you lookat the inside of that edition and see
the additional photos they did, Simpsonis a legendary artist. But Rihanna used
her agency and her esthetics showcase totell the community about a woman that does
really dope things with art and Rihannacan do whatever she wants. And again,

(11:15):
if we talk about the behaviors ofthe new Black woman, it's that
kind of stuff. I ain't goingif you ain't going, and if I
get in, you're coming with me. And I think it was such a
subtle demonstration and authentic to Leanna ofwhen black women bring other black women in
the room with them what happens,and I will always honor her for that.
I mean, you body this topeight, I have some new If

(11:41):
not you, then who? Youknow what that's right? End on that
hashtag? If not you, thenwho? Yes? But it's us And
so what I often tell people,and I would say this to the audience,
and I would say to anybody whohas an affinity for this brand over
its last fifty years, you arethe sixth episode, which means the next
episode is going to be based onwhat we're all doing right now. What

(12:03):
are you doing? Because you gotfive decades to compete with, what are
you doing? And if you arenot doing something that is helping black women
take their throne as the CEOs ofhome, culture and community, what I
would offer is there is no neutralson. There's a quote that I use

(12:24):
all the time that I will useto describe my point, which is this
The work to continue to help peopleunderstand how powerful the black woman is is
an all in, full contact,participatory endeavor. Everybody plays a role,
not the same role, with therole the best position and impact, but
the choice not to play a roleplays a role. Opt out if you
want to the consequences on you.CEOs of home, culture and community are

(12:46):
taking their seat. It is yourjob to make sure they're successful. You
are good, Carolyn, I aminspired. I'm an essence beneficiary. They
taught me, we have something foryou today. We do a segment.
It's called in my Bag, myBag, and it says my bag's going
to be in her bags. Acouple of things in here we wanted to

(13:09):
go through. Yeah, let's doit. And then you tell me what
it brings up for you. Okay, okay, one at a time.
Y'all come from my career, like, so, here's what what does this
bring up for you? You knowwhat it brings up for me. I

(13:30):
had a daughter at the age ofseventeen, and people started to renegotiate my
potential without my permission, and Ispent a good chunk of my adult life
at least two decades in defiance,unhealthy defiance, and in isolation, just
to prove that we weren't going tobe a statistic. The consequence of that

(13:52):
is I lost Caroline. And whenI started to refine Caroline, I was
thirty six years old, first timein my life had lived alone, ended
a relationship. Daughter was a collegeand I didn't know who. I didn't
have a hobby, I have anything. I started working at Target as an
intern in the distribution in Tyler,Texas, which ended up being the HBCU

(14:13):
I went to to get my degreebecause people weren't going to keep promoting me,
and I took it. I wasnever going to corporate America. I
did it to be a corporate droneand pay for this child to go to
college. Since I was not todo it. I had a fifteen year
career at Target, intern to chiefDiversity, Culture and Inclusion Officer. I
was reborn there. I also workedat Target. What'd you do? I

(14:33):
was at the Target store me too? Doing this right? That was a
good seasonal job during Christmas? NoI was. I was, I want
to say, like fresh out ofhigh school. Like perfect job. Yeah,
yeah, that's what I was doingat Target. Okay, blue lipstick
yup that Because when I started wearinglike tool on a Tuesday and a day

(14:56):
sequin to work and furry rests tothe board meeting, I started this process
of when I realized I wasn't gonnalove my job, the more stuff I
did, I just kept taking itup a notch and I think blue listick
was like phase three and I waslike nobody saying nothing, and you got
away and you were alistic was liberating. Not everybody could wear a blue lips
a blue lip, and you knowwhat, that is totally true. But

(15:16):
I didn't even care. I wasjust trying to prove a point that I
think I can work here be anexecutive. And I was I was thinking
about putting on a blue lip forour interview today and I was stopped in
my tracks by Ivy and Brittany.What is this this HBCU proud? So
I told you I went to school. I was working on profit sector.

(15:37):
They were telling me I was ata peak and I wouldn't get promoted if
I didn't have a degree. Itold my I'm gonna be no smarter if
I went to get a degree.Both my parents are PhDs. They wouldn't
listen to me. So I was. I did all kinds of programs.
It didn't work, and I neededto go to school so I could continue
to earn more money. And Iwas in nonprofit and so I was working
with the NAACP in Minneapolis and foundout about a HBCU and Tyler Texas that
had a single parent program, andit wasn't free, but they advanced to

(15:58):
take your kids the school. Yourchild could eat the cafeteria with you without
any extra cost, you didn't haveto have a roommate. All of the
things that made it hard to goto school is a single parent were resolved.
And it just represents what makes HBCUsdifferent without that decision that I didn't
have anything to do with but foundout about. Caroline can't work at Target
because I didn't have a degree,and then she doesn't become all the other

(16:22):
things she's supposed to be in theworld. And so while this says HBC
you proud, I would say HBC, you saved my life and I'm loyal
for the rest of my life.If you ain't gone to HBC, you
should get another degree just so youcan go. Do you have this panel
ready or is this a new pen? I don't, but I'm put it
on like a little hat, orperform and put on a shirt. No,
no, no, that would beokay. What is okay? I

(16:44):
don't know. We won't find out. Yeah, okay, this is this
seventeen represents an agent which I stoppedliving because I became a mom, and
it was the beginning of two decadesof spending every day trying not to be
noticed because being noticed brought pain,and not until I was thirty six did

(17:11):
that start to be resolved because itwas an arrested development. And I was
sitting at a conference that they forcedme to go to that I want to
go to, and the facilitator wastalking about something, and for some odd
reason, my tears got real disrespectfuland started to come out, and I
was like, not right now,and they didn't listen. So I stepped
outside and the facilitator followed me,and I was like, I'm not gonna
talk to you about my feelings tome alone, but he didn't. And

(17:33):
what came out of that was anexercise that has helped me progress out of
a seventeen year old mindset, whichis I realized at thirty six years old
that everybody else saw a thirty sixyear old black female fortune fifty corporate C
suite leader, and I saw aseventeen year old that failed. And so
he gave me a really simple assignmentto fix that. He said, you're
thirty six chronologically, but seventeen psychologically. Every time something good happened, and

(17:57):
you don't have to check with anybody, get to decide you need to celebrate
a psychological birthday and that exercise.I'm not quite aligned yet, but I'm
almost explained to me how this goes. Saved my life, But tell me
how it goes. It's supercilo.So case anybody wants to try this at
home, you can try it.But I'm not certified, so it's him

(18:18):
to talk anyway. But here's whatwas happening, right. I was thirty
six years old at the top ofa fortune fifty one hundred billion dollar,
four hundred thousand employee organization. That'ssomething very few people get too, regardless
of your life circumstance. But Iwas living every day at seventeen year old
disappointed. So while people saw thisblack woman that was an historic role at

(18:41):
the top of a corporation, Ilooked up and it wasn't LinkedIn at the
time, but those other versions ofthat. I looked up the girl I
went to high school with that toldme I was not as smart as her.
Every day to see if I hada better job. And I'm thirty
six years old at the top ofTarget looking up some girl to see if
she has a better job than me, because psychologically, god, I'm still
seventeen. But we live in thesearrested developments and we don't address them.

(19:03):
Now, I didn't know that atthe time I'm giving you what happened,
so part of my living small didn'teven recognize what had happened. That's why
I say my defiance was unhealthy,because it was literally propelling me. But
because I was so angry and defiant, I didn't even see where I was.
I was still seventeen. And sowhen we were in this development program,

(19:25):
the reason I got emotional is becauseyou know, they do those anonymous
surveys with people at your job andthen they let you see and I'd be
like, that's Margaret, and youbetter say that my face next those Oh,
so we're telling that today you ain'tgot it right, like I was
in one of those anonymous feedback employers. See the anoloments fee. This is
a program like a leadership development programthat you get nominated to right so high

(19:47):
potential people in corporate America, Likethey send you out to these other places
that make millions of dollars trying tomake you better. Short story, and
part of what comes with being nominated. Those is all the people you work
with are since surveys asking questions aboutyou, so that then when you get
there, you're given the results ofthose surveys, what your strengths, what
you're not, and then they givepeople the opportunity to write free comments.
So I remember on that day andwe were looking at one of those evaluations

(20:08):
and it was the written comments,and every time I saw a comment,
I was like, that's Linda's asWhy did I see it tomorrow? That
right? Because I'm it's anonymized,but I'm like, oh, y'all got
couraged, you put it together.You I'm in that mode of like,
let me get I'm gonna go toher office, right, So that was
the mode that I was in,and somehow psychologically it also became really emotional
even though I was angry, andso that's why I said, like my

(20:30):
trays, my tears started to betrayme. And so I'm supposed to be
angry at Linda and like tear drop. I'm like, ah, we geez,
what we're doing right now? Thisain't the crying moment. We pissed
at Linda. And so because Icouldn't stop myself from crying. I got
up and left the room. Thefacilitators there are trained to talk to you
about your feelings, whether you wantto or not. So the facilitator noticed

(20:51):
that in a moment we were supposedto be doing an activity, I left
the room, and it's their jobto check on. So when he came
out, I was just like this, like I'm like, go back here,
because we got to go because Ilive, you know what I'm saying.
And so when he came out,we put a tough girl head on.
I was like, I'm in themiddle of roasting somebody right now,
right, And so when I cameout, he just saw me like trying
to stop myself from crying. Andso I literally remember I was like this,

(21:11):
and I looked down and I waslike, I'm not talking about my
feelings. I got to throw upor I was just like, go away.
I know what you're about to doand I'm not interested. Right like,
you're about to start to ask mewhy I'm crying. I don't know,
ask me why right like I wasrejecting it. And of course,
because facilitators are disrespectful like that,he didn't leave. So he sat me
down and I don't remember all thethings we talked about, but I do
remember the most poignant thing he pointedout to me, and I remember the

(21:33):
way he said it. He said, Caroline, do you know how people
see you? He goes, Doyou understand the zero point two five six
percent of the population that will neverget to where you are, regardless of
who they are. White privilege doesn'tmatter. Do you understand you are at
an assent that most people never seein their life. And I remember looking
at him, and I remember saying, yeah, but I could have been

(21:56):
further along because I could not justaccept something, and so I kept fighting
him on this narrative. So,because you know, they get trained to
do this psychological stuff, he said, well he sounds he sounds so annoying.
His name is George Houston, andI love him, but I hate
him too, you know that,he said. I cannot convince you to
see something you don't see, hesaid, but I want to give you

(22:18):
something you can do that may helpyou eventually see what we see because you
don't see the fact that you areof a very few group of people.
And so he said, in myassessment, because we've been telling our stories
all week, he said, Ihave heard you talk about a seventeen year
old mom more than I've heard youtalk about being a thirty six year old
C suite leader to Fortune twenty fivecompany. He goes, I know where

(22:41):
your energy is, he said,but what I hope is that you understand
that like that seventeen year old hasyou captive. And he said, I
understand why, But that thirty sixyear old is waiting for you to catch
up because your attention is split andyou're doing well, imagine what happens when

(23:02):
they sync up. And so hesaid, your chronological agent is out of
your concern. I know, Ihate him right. Your chronological age is
gonna keep doing what it's doing.I just don't want it to leave you
behind. And so he said,we got to do something about your seventeen
year old mine. And he said, I'm not going to give you some
big assignment. He says, I'mgonna give you something really simple, because
he said, with you, youjust don't like to celebrate nothing. You

(23:23):
just always angry about some stuff.He said, So your assignment is very
simple. Anytime you like something thathas happened in your life and you get
to decide what that thing is.I want you to have a psychological birthday
and get one year older. Hesaid, go buy a cupcake at the
store if you need to. Isaw you should. But what happened was

(23:44):
what ended up being soon there afterwas my daughter graduating from NYU with an
engineering degree. It was like sixmonths later. You celebrated, and I
remember sitting there with my family.You were eighteen now, yep. But
I started to hum happy but myniece was sitting on my lap, and
I started to like just hum happybirthday, like it just happened, right.

(24:04):
So I was like, h right, because I'm having this moment in
my mind. We're sitting in themiddle humming happy birthday to you myself.
We're sitting at the NYU graduation withJustin Trudeau, the President of Canada speaking.
But I, because I was giventhis permission, this was the first
moment, as I remember, soI start humming happy Birthday. My niece
was in my lap. Ioh.She's eighty one two, but she was

(24:26):
only five at the time, andshe starts singing the lyrics. She heard
me humming, and she starts toput the words to happy Birthday. So
she I didn't stop. She's thinking, you know we have our own little
party together. And she looked upat me. She goes, I did
know not to date with your birthday, and ever since then, iaby whatever

(24:48):
happens. I if when something greathappens, I get to turn a year
older, good for you. Sohow old are you now? I would
if I were to be Fullet well, so far the law forty six?
Right, So chronologically I'm ten yearsolder than I was when I started.
Okay, so you've had ten celebratorymoments. Well, see, that's the

(25:08):
assumption, is that I've always foundsomething. I would tell you psychologically because
I'm not going to try to makeit seem like the exercise is easier than
it is. Right, Just becauseI've had ten years when I had this
moment doesn't mean I've had ten birthdays. I'm not quite SYNCD yet, right,
the gap is not as big asit used to be. But I'm
not going to pretend that it's sinked, right, And that's just part of
living in our truth and so beautifulexercise. I mean, I would probably

(25:33):
tell you I'm probably about to turnforty psychologically, and I think this job
at essence and having a mission tiedto black fuel some of that. I
think identification of my purpose and howI help people in the world has presented
more opportunities to celebrate birthdays. Ido not punish myself for not having them

(25:55):
aligned yet. I just believe thateventually they will, even if it's the
day that I'll leave the earth beautiful. But I practiced the self compassion to
just let it happen naturally. Andsometimes there's cake, sometimes there's cognac,
and both matter. But it hasbeen one of the most poignant moments in
my life. So that's what seventeen. That's a beautiful I don't know is

(26:18):
there more in there. I don'tany care y'all did more, but you
can talk about Uh. I'm gonnatell you this one real quick. This
was not gonna be hard. Thisis the poem from Sister my angew Most
people have heard this quote. Ihad the opportunity to interview Oprah Winfree last
year at the festival in a seriesI do call Chief to Chief, and
I was in the middle of ameltdown day. I have a theory around
five fails a day, and untilyou get to six, it's not a

(26:41):
bad day, right, which helpsme live with failure, and this was
a seventy two failed day, andit was like eleven am. I was
in tears. Twenty five things hadgone wrong. We got a whole festival,
and the Vice presis over there,Oprah over there, Copor was over
here, and I'm over here,like I can't get my makeup artists back
here. It was just a toughday. And I went to go say
hello to Oprah and her and herproper too, because you know, about
ten minutes to be going out todo the Chief to Chief where we just

(27:03):
interview people black women and help otherblack women see the chief in themselves.
And so I went over and youknow, she does quiet time before she
goes out, so do I.So it's like a little bit earlier than
normal. So I walked into herspace and she goes. So she greeted
me, and she goes, yousound like Maya, ma who right?

(27:26):
Like I'm because this is Oprah,I'm thinking maybe Maya is like her assistant
or something. She goes, Imiss my sister Mentor, And the resonance
of your voice reminds me of Maya. Overwhelmed tears, yep. But then

(27:47):
we come out for Chief to Chiefand she says it again to make her
point. And so when I tellyou all about my risk of development,
it usually does not receive the complimentthe first time. It's a little stubborn,
but the fact that she intuitively understandshe needed to repeat it told me
what I need to set is mynorth star for the way that I want
to live in the world. Iwill never be Maya, but I'm gonna

(28:10):
be Caroline. And Oprah wasn't gonnalet me let that go. So that's
what that means, was that abirthday wasn't. It wasn't. It could
be later on, but it hasto be. This is where your birth
populist happens. Your birthday stat youlike, it takes a lot for you
to have a birthday like. Yourmeasure of success a happy moment is really
high. That's a very observation becauseit's true. Right. Remember I told

(28:36):
you the guy said, you justdon't like nothing, right, So that's
why he gave me a really simpleexercise. But for it to work to
me, I had to have deliberationto decide. You know, I'm like
a baby you Brittany over there,who works me no the same way,
because I'm you couldn't. And Iknow why you're like this, because you
see something over there and you're desperatelytrying to lift something up, and so

(28:56):
all the we don't have time forthe or the you're so frustrated on what's
stopping you from getting that that youdon't Five great things happened on the way
there, but you are they're likeyou have blinders on to you're going over
there. I'll tell you what madeit as but then you're staying seventeen years
old. It's not good. Butthen so I'm going to tell you what

(29:18):
has made it a little bit easierfor me, Meaning I don't accept it
all the time, I might doit every fourth time when I found out
my purpose in the world and realizethat it's a purpose I delivered that nobody
else can deliver, and so ifI don't, the world goes without.
And then functioned in the admitigated gallof believing the future that other people may

(29:40):
not yet be able to see,and then understood how the voice of descent
simply tells me where my armor isweak, so I can have the right
protection in place when they shoot.Is what has made it a little bit
easier for me. To find placesto celebrate because now the magnetic pull is

(30:00):
my purpose. That's what thought represents, is that the final thing you should
pay for in our bad I well, just you today, but in life
everybody gets a bad well played.Look forward to seeing folks at the festival.

(30:23):
You are fully inspiring. Thank you, Thank you for that. Thank
you, and thanks for giving thesafe space for us to be who we
are, because I think it mattersto those that came before us. It
wasn't always safe to give this informationbecause you needed to protect it, because
it was different times. They earnedus the ability to do this, and
my hope is that the next generationdoesn't even ever know there was a time

(30:45):
when you couldn't. And thank youfor being great journey with me. I
appreciate you on time. I acceptthat compl I accept them amaturement, of course,