A committed group of advocates are examining at how media has been shaped by anti-Black racism and the damage this has caused. The vision of an initiative called Media 2070 is to radically transform media by building equitable newsrooms by 2070 with reparative policies and interventions. I speak to Collette Watson, Project Director of Media 2070. https://mediareparations.org/
We hosted students this summer through the Work Ready program. I'm delighted to share an interview by student Kylie Minor who interviewed former iHeart Philly intern and successful model Liz Crawley. https://www.lizloveley.com/
First - are your kids ready for the first day of school? I speak to Dr. Tony Watlington, Superintendent School District of Philadelphia and Melanie Harris, Chief of Information Technology for the School District about resources for parents and students getting ready for school. A special emphasis was placed on the Affordable Connectivity Progam (ACP), a federal benefit to help all U.S, households access or keep their internet. Eligible households can receive a discount of $30 dollars a month towards broadband service. A reminder Households with Internet Essentials through PHLConnectED will keep their internet but will receive a monthly bill if they don’t transition to ACP. Families can visit ACP Enrollment Assistant (getacp.org) or call 2-1-1 to schedule an ACP appointment with a Digital Navigator. Back to School Resources: Back-to-School Resources – The School District of Philadelphia (philasd.org)
We hosted students this summer through the Work Ready program. I'm delighted to share an interview by student Kylie Minor who interviewed former iHeart Philly intern and successful model Liz Crawley. https://www.lizloveley.com/
First - are your kids ready for the first day of school? I speak to Dr. Tony Watlington, Superintendent School District of Philadelphia and Melanie Harris, Chief of Information Technology for the School District about resources for parents and students getting ready for school. A special emphasis was placed on the Affordable Connectivity Progam (ACP), a federal benefit to help all U.S, households access or keep their internet. Eligible households can receive a discount of $30 dollars a month towards broadband service. A reminder Households with Internet Essentials through PHLConnectED will keep their internet but will receive a monthly bill if they don’t transition to ACP. Families can visit ACP Enrollment Assistant (getacp.org) or call 2-1-1 to schedule an ACP appointment with a Digital Navigator. Back to School Resources: Back-to-School Resources – The School District of Philadelphia (philasd.org)
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Good morning. You're listening to Insidea show about empowering our community. I'm
Lorraine Ballert Morrow. We hosted studentsthis summer through the Work Ready program.
I'm delighted to share in the interviewby student Kylie Miner, who spoke to
a former Iheartphilly intern and successful model, Liz Crawley. There is a group
of journalists who are looking at howmedia in all its forms has been shaped
(00:21):
by institutional racism and the damage it'scaused. The vision of an initiative called
Media twenty seventy is looking at waysin which reparations could redress these and other
harms by the year twenty seventy.The group's goal is to transform the media
industry by then by building equitable newsrooms. I speak to call it Watson Project,
(00:42):
Director of Media twenty seventy. First, it's that time of year.
People are getting ready for school.It's exciting times and the School District of
Philadelphia is doing so much to helpparents prepare their kids for school. Joining
us, I'm so excited to introducedoctor Tony Watlington's superintended of the School District
of Philadelphia, and Melanie Harris,Chief of Information Technology for the school district,
(01:04):
Doctor Wadlington, such exciting times andalso nerve wracking times for many parents.
What are some of the things theschool district is doing to get parents
and their students ready for school.Well, good morning, it is good
to see you again. Let mejust say that we're excited about the September
launch of the new school year,and so we've been working day and night
to get schools ready and we're preparingfor us all of our scholars to come
(01:27):
back on September five. A coupleof things I want to just highlight is
excited about an attendance campaign call attendto day a Chief tomorrow. We also
have resources for families, including ourback to School checklist. We'll make sure
that work with our parents to makesure that they're young people's chromebooks are charged
up and ready to go. That'sso important because you know, we're in
this age of twenty four seven learningnow, and so learning takes place inside
(01:51):
of and outside of the classroom.And an O Chief Mail Harris will talk
more about that. But we're reallyexcited about this back to School Boys tour
and getting ready for what we knowwill be in all some school year.
Well of course, this is avery digital world that we live in.
Access to the Internet is becoming essentialfor so many aspects of life, including
of course education. So tell usmore about what the school district is doing
(02:12):
to make sure that parents and studentsare able to close that digital divide.
Absolutely, thank you so much forhaving me here today. Obviously one of
my favorite topics. So during thepandemic, we made the decision to go
all in and have our students eachhave their own chrome Book as we call
that a one to one and weobviously are in our fourth year of that
(02:35):
now, so every child has theirown Chromebook and we've already delivered chromebooks to
the schools so that for new students, our kindergarten students or students that are
transitioning to the school District of Philadelphia, a Chromebook will be there waiting for
them on the first day of school. So that's exciting in and of itself.
That's fantastic. And doctor Wadlington,I understand and mel that there is
(02:58):
a government affordability the program that parentsand students can take advantage of. Tell
us more about that, sure,I'd be happy too. So when the
pandemic first started, we realized thatproviding a child with Chromebook laptop is only
one piece of the puzzle. Ourchildren need access to the internet to make
(03:21):
it work. We were fortunate enoughto partner with the city during the pandemic
to start what was called phl Connect, which was an opportunity to get free
internet access to all school district familiesfor their children to either connect through what's
it like, a more traditional hardwirethrough Comcast or if families didn't have a
(03:42):
home that allowed for that, wehanded out hotspots t Mobile and as we
have ended our third school year withPhila connect Ed in place, the city
realized rightly so that they wanted tomake sure that this program was sustainable and
we could continue to make sure thatfamilies had access to free or low cost
internet at home and hence the newprogram, the Affordable Connectivity Program ACP.
(04:11):
And what that allows for is ourfamilies to transition over to this program.
If you good news, if youare a school District of Philadelphia family,
you are automatically eligible for the programbecause we are a free and reduced lunch
district. It is eligible to everysingle family in the school District of Philadelphia.
And if you are comfortable having Internetservices that is lower than thirty dollars
(04:34):
or lower. It's free because itstarts at thirty dollars, they will cover.
If you want a little higher speed, you still get that thirty dollars
credit. It's very exciting. Yeah, and I understand that there's some additional
benefits that you might be able tohave credits towards getting a laptop. You
can have that. Yes, absolutely, they want the laptop and the internet
provider to be the same, soyou can call to one one and they
(04:58):
can help you work out all thosedetails. To one one has been incredibly
helpful during these times over the lastfew years, helping our families get connected
to internet services. And if letme just say, there's two things in
addition to there one. It's soimportant. This internet access can be a
game changer because all of our youngpeople now have access to a chromebook to
the internet for twenty four to sevenlearning. They can learn inside of the
(05:21):
classroom and outside the classroom, andthat's what we're really about, is creating
that joyful learning and so forth.Second, with this access, all of
our parents can sign up for theParent Potal where you can stay current on
your child's attendance, how they're doingwith their grades, and so you don't
have to make a phone call.You can just get on that laptop,
(05:42):
get on that chromebook. Access theparent potal. Student attendance is so important.
Last year, we increase the percentageof our students who are in regular
attendance ninety percent of the month forthe entire school year from fifty seven percent
to sixty percent. This gives usanother tool to keep our parents update it
so we can drive those numbers waynorth of sixty percent. We want to
(06:03):
be well above ninety percent of ourstudents who have regular attendance ninety percent of
the month and for the school year. Doctor Watlington, it feels like this
is the first full school year thatwe are not dealing with all the side
effects of COVID, all the disruptionsthat have occurred over the last couple of
years. And I wonder if youcan kind of look ahead, what are
your intentions, what is your missionin this fresh new year as we move
(06:28):
forward. I know you're working hardto make sure that the kids get to
school, stay in school, areconnected, and get all the resources that
they need in order to succeed.Absolutely, it's a new energy this year.
One example was that of that wasjust yesterday we were able to welcome
some seven hundred teachers and new teachersand counselors to the school district and we
(06:48):
were able to bring them together atHigh School for the Future, High School
of the Future, and spend themorning with them. And it's a little
bit different because last year when Ifirst got here, we had to do
those meetings via zoom. So thisin person opportunity to connect. It's simple
what we want to do this schoolyear. We want to get better,
faster, and to take full advantageof the technology, the resources, the
(07:12):
new faculty that are coming to theschool district. We're excited. Not only
do we want to be the fastestimproving large urban school district, but we
want to do things that will reallymake a difference for all of our young
people. So when they graduate withinfour years, they can go on to
be successful in college or career oftheir choice, and they'll be prepared to
participate in the world's largest economy.That's so important for the nation's largest poor
(07:36):
city. And we want to redoubleour efforts to make sure our children are
safe here in Philadelphia in schools asschools are safe havens for our young people.
So we're excited about what's going tohappen in this school year. Well,
we're excited for you. Certainly.Educational opportunity is all about social justice.
They're tied hand in hand. Mailtell us once again, if people
want more information about that Internet connectivityprogram, that access program, where's the
(08:01):
best way to find out more?Sure so the easiest way is to dial
two one one, but they canalso go to get ACP dot org slash
p h L get ACP dot orgslash p h L. Well, it's
a great opportunity to get low orno cost internet connectivity, absolutely central in
(08:26):
this digital world that we live in. We want to wish you both the
best of luck in this coming schoolyear. We are rooting for you one
percent. Doctor Tony Watlington, Superintendentof the School District of Philadelphia, and
Melanie Harris, chief of Information Technologyfor the school district. Thank you so
much, Thank you always a pleasure, Thank you so much. You're listening
(08:50):
to Insight. Despite some advances,mainstream media is still lacking diversity, inclusion,
and equity. And let me alsoadd access and below. There are
few black owned newspapers, TV andradio stations, and social media outlets.
We've seen the terrible consequences of mediaalgorithms and business practices that contribute to anti
(09:11):
black violence. A growing consortion ofmedia makers and activists are collectively dreaming reparative
policies, interventions, and future capturesin an essay, a work that aims
to radically transform who has the capitalto tell their own stories by twenty seventy,
that's fifty years from now. Joiningus right now is call it Watson
Project, Director of Media twenty seventy, an advocacy project committed to building equitable
(09:35):
newsrooms. Thank you so much forjoining us here today. Thank you for
having me tell us about twenty seventy. What are you all about? How
did you get started? And whyare you doing what you're doing? Absolutely
well, Lorraine. Media twenty seventybegan in the summer of twenty twenty,
which we know was a pivotal turningpoint in our history. And so after
(09:56):
the murder of George Floyd, thoseof us who are employed at an organization
called Free Press, which has beenadvocating for all kinds of media transformation.
Many people know them for the netneutrality fight. For instance, those of
us who are employed there as partof the Black Caucus came together and said
to ourselves, you know, whatis the change that is really needed at
the heart of our media system andour culture in pursuit of a just future.
(10:20):
And the Black Caucus, black employeesat Free Press came together and we
put an essay out called Media twentyseventy. And a lot of people said
to us, why are you waitingfifty years? But it's actually in the
tradition of afrofuturism, where we aredreaming up the future, one that's never
existed, honestly, where there isfull justice and black liberation on this land,
(10:41):
and we are doing the things inthis time to make that possible so
that by twenty seventy it's old hat, we already are fully living in that
justice and multiracial democracy. So ouressay outlined a history of anti black harms
that the media system has committed andinvited folks to dream up media reparations,
(11:01):
and we've been full speed ahead eversince. Fantastic Let's get into a little
bit of the history. Certainly,this country is based on a model of
white supremacy that has inflicted institutions inevery aspect of our society, including the
media, And I wonder if youcan put it a little bit into historical
perspective, tell us more about that. Yeah, well, we know that,
(11:22):
you know, about four hundred yearsago the practice of chattel slavery began
on this soil. But what alot of folks don't know is that around
that same time, the earliest colonialnewspapers were participating. They were publishing ads
for the sale of enslaved people,and often those ads had a line of
(11:43):
text that said inquire of the publisher, meaning that the publisher of those newspapers
served as the broker for those humantrafficking transactions. And this is really the
beginning of the media system as weknow it today. Those early newspapers,
The Boston news Letter, for instance, just one week after its founding,
and it's the oldest daily paper herein America, just one week after its
(12:05):
founding, it published an article sayingthat the Negro and Indian population were much
addicted to lying, stealing, andpurloining, which I think purloining is a
vintage word for some sort of crime, but it just goes to show you
how deeply embedded anti black and antiindigenous ideas are not only in our culture,
but in our media system that shapesour culture and how anti blackness became
(12:28):
a profit model from the very beginning, and so the media system has not
strayed far from those roots. Fromthe early colonial newspapers forward to the nineteen
twenties. The next innovation was radioand television. Our Federal Communications Commission gave
out broadcasting licenses to white men onlyduring the time of Jim Crow. And
(12:50):
so from there we see media giantslike CBS, ABC, NBC who have
built billions in media wealth off ofthat headstart that they were given. The
list goes on and on and on, you know, hiring discrimination against black
journalists, our media system making itincredibly difficult for black people to own different
types of media, the ways thatlocal news and the South propped up segregation
(13:15):
and segregation ideology during the struggle forcivil rights, right on through till now
where we see big tech Facebook,Twitter, or whatever it's called now these
various companies utilizing anti blackness, whetherit be through their algorithms or other practices,
as a part of their profit modeland profiting at a level above even
what we've seen through history, right, And I wonder if we can talk
(13:37):
more about social media and it's impact. We've seen the algorithms having a huge
impact on anti blackness, and perhapsthe most extreme example is Dylan who was
sucked into the dark hole of antiblackness and it certainly led to a terrible
tragedy. And I wonder if wecan talk a bit about how men does
(14:00):
algorithms influence Dylan roof Absolutely, sothe evidence point that we have, you
know, and the victims of theCharleston massacre filed a lawsuit that really shed
light on this. The evidence pointthat we have is that Dylan Rufe was
not necessarily raised in a family thatascribed to white supremacist ideology. And I'm
actually from South Carolina, born andraised just outside of Charleston, and so
(14:24):
you know, obviously there's plenty ofpresence of extremist groups, but in Dylan
Rufe's case, that was not hisfamily environment. But what they did know,
what has been observed is that hespent a lot of time online in
discussion groups and on Facebook, theplatform of the company Meta, And what
algorithms do is they are basically designedto keep us on these websites as long
(14:45):
as possible on Facebook and on Twitter, so that we are served as much
advertising as possible. And the advertisingis how they make their money. And
what they have found is that thesealgorithms modify our behavior, our viewing behavior,
and our rousing behavior so that wewill stay online. And generally the
way that our behavior is modified isthat they serve us content that will create
(15:07):
outrage. So the more extreme,the more polarizing, and the more hateful,
and eventually the more violent the contentis. Those companies have found that
the more money they can make offof our attention on that content, that
content seems to be the most shared, etcetera, etcetera. But here's the
thing. You know, we haveresponsibility for what we view, but Facebook
(15:30):
has perfected the science of pulling usdeeper and deeper into these sort of rabbit
holes of hateful and extremist content,again under the guise of keeping our attentions.
So what can happen is that youcan look at something that's maybe you
know, politically centrist, a littleconservative, and then at the end of
it, you get served a recommendationwe'll watch this, next, view this
(15:52):
article, next, share this withyour friends, and that next piece of
content is just a little bit morepolitically polarizing, and then that next piece
is more, and that next recommendation, until now you're fully into a world
you know that's espousing hatred for otherpeople because of their skin color, or
their religious beliefs or other identities.And it's not just Dylan Roof. We're
seeing so many violent mass shooters whoare posting manifestos online, interacting with each
(16:17):
other's manifestos and content. And we'veeven seen in Me and Mar a genocide.
You know, that has very muchbeen traced back to the spread of
hateful content on Facebook there. Sothis is a global problem, and here
in the States we understand it aspart of a long continuum of media and
new media profiting from anti blackness,you know that spills into real life violence.
(16:38):
Well, let's talk about where wecan go from here. We are
living in very interesting times. Onthe one hand, there's a lot of
platforms and avenues for black folks tobe able to express black stories, so
that's a good thing. On theother hand, mainstream media is still predominantly
not very diverse, and we knowthat people when you have a non diverse
(17:02):
situation, the stories don't get toldbecause we tend to tell the stories that
we're familiar with, you know,and talk to people that we know,
are that we connect with. Andso there has to be obviously several avenues
in order to move forward to achievethe goals of twenty seventy. So I
wonder if you can talk what doesmedia reparations look like and how do we
(17:23):
get there? Yeah? Well,first of all, media reparations is a
process, Lorraine. And oftentimes whenthe word reparations comes up, folks say,
oh, it's a check, youknow, I don't want to pay
a check, or we deserve morethan a check. Sometimes it's what you'll
hear, and many things can betrue at the same time. But reparations
cannot be just a one time payment. Reparations have to be comprehensive, similar
(17:45):
to the way that systemic anti blackdiscrimination has been comprehensive throughout history. So
that's the first thing. So mediareparations we understand as a process as well.
And let me give you one examplefrom history that kind of helps us
to define this for folks. Wemany of us, came into knowledge of
the Tulsa massacre back when HBO airedits series The Watchman We had not known
(18:07):
though, that in nineteen twenty onea black business district called Greenwood was burned
to the ground, thousands of homesand businesses destroyed, thousands of black people
displaced, hundreds murdered, and itwas something that it was a chapter that
was largely unknown in history, andthere are many others like it. Well,
why was it unknown? A coupleof reasons. One, the black
newspapers of Tulsa were destroyed as apart of that massacre, and there are
(18:32):
many from Ida B. Wells Newspaperin Memphis to many others across the country.
There have been many black media outletsand newspapers that have been destroyed as
part of racial violence. So thereare reparations owed in those cases. But
also we have to understand that theTulsa I can't remember the name of the
daily paper there, but the dominantpaper, which was white owned there in
Tulsa in nineteen twenty one, publishedan article on its front page that was
(18:55):
inflammatory and false, accusing a nineteenyear old black teenager of sexual assault.
When the LEACP investigated, it turnedout that he had stumbled in the elevator
and in the process of trying toSteady himself had touched the arm of a
young white woman who was on theelevator with him, and this led to
this massacre. So there's a realconnection between anti black violence throughout history and
(19:17):
not only the things that have beenpublished by dominant white media outlets, but
also by the way that the mediasystem has been dominated by white outlets,
and that is something that has beenstructured by policies of the FCC, the
Federal Communications Commission, as well asCongress. And so we understand media reparations
as the opportunity for corporations, mediaorganizations, as well as our federal government
(19:41):
and philanthropy, which does a lotto fund journalism and our media system,
for those three sectors to engage inprocesses to first investigate their own histories of
harm and then to determine, inpartnership with communities directly affected, what repair
could consist of how do we directlyredress those harms. And we've already seen
examples of this in progress. TheGuardian in the UK is investigating released an
(20:04):
in depth investigation of its history ofparticipation in the cotton trade and slavery in
the UK, and they are nowengaging in journalism scholarships as well as increased
hiring across the Caribbean diaspora. Andthen we've seen papers here in the States
like the Kansas City Star and afew others investigating the La Times is another
one. They're investigating how their coveragehas invisibilized black communities and criminalized black communities
(20:27):
through history, though they have notyet begun the next steps, which we
think are really important, which arethe beginnings of redress and what that looks
like, redistributing power and resources,Lorraine, is what it's all about.
Well, you have created this onehundred page essay that goes into greater depth
about media reparations and what we cando moving forward and how we can start
(20:48):
now and hopefully achieve the goals thatare presented in this essay by twenty seventy.
How do people find out more?Folks can visit us at Media two
zero seven zero dot org. That'sMedia twenty seventy dot org. They can
also follow us on Instagram and Twitteruntil we have better platforms and ways to
(21:10):
connect online. And the handle inboth cases is Media twenty seventy Fantastic call
it Watson Project, Director of Mediatwenty seventy, an advocacy project committed to
building equitable newsrooms. Thank you somuch, Thank you, And now our
(21:33):
interview with one of our work readystudents. Hi, I'm Kylie Minor.
The modeling profession is an artistic andcompetitive field that revolves around people showcasing fashion,
beauty, and lifestyle products through visualrepresentation. Modeling is a challenging,
glamorous world that allows talented people aroundthe world to express themselves creatively and make
(21:55):
a mark in a global fashion landscape. I'm here what the professional model is,
Crawley, tell me about what broughtyou to the modeling industry. It
really just started through college. Itstarted because I needed a job in college,
and it actually got me through allof my years of college into my
master's degree. So that's that's kindof how I got started. So what
(22:17):
is your experience like with modeling sofar? What are the positives and what
are the negatives? Wow, that'sa good question. So I would say
the positives personally for me have beenthe ability to just gain a bit of
confidence. Growing up, you know, I just kind of didn't feel as
confident about my body, or myhair or my face. I think that
(22:38):
was an outlet for me to actuallyjust get a boost of confidence and really
feel accepted in my community and justlike in general, it gave me a
bit of like just a sense ofgratification too, because it's like, you
know, to see myself doing growingand like progressing in it is also another
like kind of boosting confidence. Iwould say another positive has just been the
(23:00):
experience overall. I've gotten to doincredible jobs. In December, I went
to Puerto Rico for the Hyatt andI was able to get an all exclusive,
paid for trip. It was fantastic. Those are not going to always
be those jobs though, So likethat's where the negatives come in for modeling.
I feel like sometimes unless you havelike a group of friends that like
(23:22):
you can talk to about it,it can be very isolating actually because you're
always traveling and you're always trying toyou know, work at the moment's notice.
So friends are going to be likehard to make in this kind of
a job, and it can getlonely. It definitely has gotten lonely for
me a few times. I alsohave to preface this for everybody, if
you are looking into doing modeling,it is not going to be anything glamorous,
(23:45):
Like more times than not, you'renot gonna get the clothes, you're
not gonna get any sort of luxuryitems to take home with you. Sometimes
you do, which is such afun and amazing thing. There's going to
be more times than not where it'sjust like you could be modelings for a
small boutique and they just needed youfor like a half a day and it
was just something very very chill,nothing, you know, glam It's a
(24:07):
benefit and a drawback is that it'salways changing. So like what I am
seeing now for models is especially likeme, is that we're doing something called
UGC, so that's like user generatedcontent just to be able to add a
level of depth to our job.Modeling is changing now because we have Instagram
models and we have all these otherpeople that are claiming to be models.
(24:30):
It's certainly changing from what it hasbeen in the past, where it was
such a very small market of peopleand they were you know, it's it's
the pool is different now. SoI think it's exciting, but it's also
it's stressful because it's like we don'treally know where it's going to go.
So I can say that it's that'sthe double edged sword of it, and
those are pros and cons in ain a nutshell, how do you deal
(24:52):
with the stress and the anxiety.Oh, that's a great question. A
lot of it, honestly has justbeen trying to know and understand that things
are an ebb and flow in anycreative entertainment job or any sort of entertainment
industry. I think we all havekind of understood that there's going to be
an ebb and flow. So you'regonna have your highs where you're booked every
(25:15):
day and you are busy every day, and then there's gonna be lows where
things get quiet. Prime example,the SAG strike. The SAG strike right
now has affected what I've done forsure, because a lot of jobs are
union jobs down to the commercial work. More so for me, I you
know, have gotten into a pointwhere it's like, Okay, I don't
know where the next job is goingto come in. You really have to
have a lot of hope and alot of belief that you are gonna make
(25:38):
it out, and it can bevery stressful. That's where meditation comes in.
I'm, you know, very spiritual, so like I know that you
know there's gonna be highs in life, and there's also going to be a
lot of lows, and in thisindustry, it's gonna be a lot of
that. I think it's like it'sthat times a million in this sort of
industry because you just really never know. So I pray a lot. That's
(26:00):
how I get through it. Andyou know, I always know that on
the other side of things, thereis gonna be high again. I'm gonna
have my high because there's always It'salways been like that for years. It's
been the highs and the lows,So I know that the high is coming
in that low moment. So that'skind of really the mentality that I've been
conditioning myself into for some time.Now, I understand you model for a
(26:22):
hair brand featured at Sophora tell Usmore. Yes, Yes, I did.
Again, it wasn't anything glamorous.I went into this job thinking it
was going to be just a regularjob for a hair company. And I
knew of Olaplex and I've used itin the past, but I didn't really
know the level of popularity it hadactually, So when I did the job,
(26:47):
it was a three or four dayjob. They decided to do my
hair refresh my highlights, and thenthey did video on one day and then
photos on another day. Like Isaid, I thought it was just another
job. I was getting paid.I was happy. And then eventually,
you know, it made it intoSephora, and I was so excited because
I've never like you know, thoughtthat i would see my face in Sephora.
(27:08):
But then it got even more magnifiedbecause it became one of like the
number one hair care products at Sephora. Little did I know that they would
actually like kind of have it inthe front, like in magnified, like
you know, one of the biggestlike photos in Sephora's worldwide, not even
nationwide. I thought that this wasgoing to be something nationwide or like small
(27:29):
on a small level. You reallynever know with jobs how big or small
it can get. So that's whyI always got to like put your best
foot forward. I didn't know itwas going to be that big. And
then I had one friend, she'sIndian. She sent me a photo of
it in the front of a Sephorain India, and I'm like, WHOA.
I did not know that this wasgoing to be like as big as
it got. But I'm I'm happywith it, and I'm glad that it
(27:52):
was, you know, great exposureand I was able to use that for
portfolio and definitely one of the moreprouder moments I've had a myself. If
you can model for any brand,what would that brand be? Wow,
that's such a good question. Imean, recently, I've been seeing a
lot of like for the Love ofLemons. I really think they're such a
cute brand. I don't know ifanybody out there you have heard of them.
(28:15):
Their colors are just so bright.So I would either say for the
Love of Lemons or I would actuallysay Urban Outfitters. Right now, I
do work for Urban Outfitters, butnot in modeling like face modeling for them,
So I would say probably Urban Outfittersor one of their like brands that
they sell. For the Love ofLemons for sure. What if some advice
you could give to the youth whoare thinking about a career modeling. Always
(28:37):
vet anybody that comes up to you, like, be super skeptical about anybody
all the time. I've gotten scammedbefore, I've gotten misled before. There's
a lot of things that you know, if I was just being a little
bit more like skeptical about folks andnot super excited about the opportunity. So
definitely, if people approach you,or if you do have an opportunity,
(29:00):
do investigative research down to its core. Even to this day, my agencies
will send me things and I metmy agencies, So I'm like, you
know, I'm like, listen,I don't know about this client, Like
what do you know about them?Have you worked with them before? And
these are people that, like youknow, have worked in the industry for
years, and I'm asking them questions. So if you're out there and you
(29:21):
don't have an agency or you don'thave any representation, you really need to
work on not only being a greattalent, but also being a good manager
and managing ko has access to youand who has access to your time and
your energy. So I would saythat the people that come to you,
thank you so much, Liz fortaking the time to let me interview you.
(29:41):
Professional model is Crawley, Thank youso much. I'm Kylie Miner.
You can listen to all of today'sinterviews by going to our station website and
typing in Keyword Community. You canalso listen on the iHeartRadio app Keyword Lorraine
with one R follow me on Twitterand Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine
Ballard Morrel and I stand for serviceto our community and media that empowers.
(30:04):
What will you stand for? You'vebeen listening to insight and thank you
Good morning. You're listening to Insidea show about empowering our community. I'm
Lorraine Ballert Morrow. We hosted studentsthis summer through the Work Ready program.
I'm delighted to share in the interviewby student Kylie Miner, who spoke to
a former Iheartphilly intern and successful model, Liz Crawley. There is a group
of journalists who are looking at howmedia in all its forms has been shaped
(00:21):
by institutional racism and the damage it'scaused. The vision of an initiative called
Media twenty seventy is looking at waysin which reparations could redress these and other
harms by the year twenty seventy.The group's goal is to transform the media
industry by then by building equitable newsrooms. I speak to call it Watson Project,
(00:42):
Director of Media twenty seventy. First, it's that time of year.
People are getting ready for school.It's exciting times and the School District of
Philadelphia is doing so much to helpparents prepare their kids for school. Joining
us, I'm so excited to introducedoctor Tony Watlington's superintended of the School District
of Philadelphia, and Melanie Harris,Chief of Information Technology for the school district,
(01:04):
Doctor Wadlington, such exciting times andalso nerve wracking times for many parents.
What are some of the things theschool district is doing to get parents
and their students ready for school.Well, good morning, it is good
to see you again. Let mejust say that we're excited about the September
launch of the new school year,and so we've been working day and night
to get schools ready and we're preparingfor us all of our scholars to come
(01:27):
back on September five. A coupleof things I want to just highlight is
excited about an attendance campaign call attendto day a Chief tomorrow. We also
have resources for families, including ourback to School checklist. We'll make sure
that work with our parents to makesure that they're young people's chromebooks are charged
up and ready to go. That'sso important because you know, we're in
this age of twenty four seven learningnow, and so learning takes place inside
(01:51):
of and outside of the classroom.And an O Chief Mail Harris will talk
more about that. But we're reallyexcited about this back to School Boys tour
and getting ready for what we knowwill be in all some school year.
Well of course, this is avery digital world that we live in.
Access to the Internet is becoming essentialfor so many aspects of life, including
of course education. So tell usmore about what the school district is doing
(02:12):
to make sure that parents and studentsare able to close that digital divide.
Absolutely, thank you so much forhaving me here today. Obviously one of
my favorite topics. So during thepandemic, we made the decision to go
all in and have our students eachhave their own chrome Book as we call
that a one to one and weobviously are in our fourth year of that
(02:35):
now, so every child has theirown Chromebook and we've already delivered chromebooks to
the schools so that for new students, our kindergarten students or students that are
transitioning to the school District of Philadelphia, a Chromebook will be there waiting for
them on the first day of school. So that's exciting in and of itself.
That's fantastic. And doctor Wadlington,I understand and mel that there is
(02:58):
a government affordability the program that parentsand students can take advantage of. Tell
us more about that, sure,I'd be happy too. So when the
pandemic first started, we realized thatproviding a child with Chromebook laptop is only
one piece of the puzzle. Ourchildren need access to the internet to make
(03:21):
it work. We were fortunate enoughto partner with the city during the pandemic
to start what was called phl Connect, which was an opportunity to get free
internet access to all school district familiesfor their children to either connect through what's
it like, a more traditional hardwirethrough Comcast or if families didn't have a
(03:42):
home that allowed for that, wehanded out hotspots t Mobile and as we
have ended our third school year withPhila connect Ed in place, the city
realized rightly so that they wanted tomake sure that this program was sustainable and
we could continue to make sure thatfamilies had access to free or low cost
internet at home and hence the newprogram, the Affordable Connectivity Program ACP.
(04:11):
And what that allows for is ourfamilies to transition over to this program.
If you good news, if youare a school District of Philadelphia family,
you are automatically eligible for the programbecause we are a free and reduced lunch
district. It is eligible to everysingle family in the school District of Philadelphia.
And if you are comfortable having Internetservices that is lower than thirty dollars
(04:34):
or lower. It's free because itstarts at thirty dollars, they will cover.
If you want a little higher speed, you still get that thirty dollars
credit. It's very exciting. Yeah, and I understand that there's some additional
benefits that you might be able tohave credits towards getting a laptop. You
can have that. Yes, absolutely, they want the laptop and the internet
provider to be the same, soyou can call to one one and they
(04:58):
can help you work out all thosedetails. To one one has been incredibly
helpful during these times over the lastfew years, helping our families get connected
to internet services. And if letme just say, there's two things in
addition to there one. It's soimportant. This internet access can be a
game changer because all of our youngpeople now have access to a chromebook to
the internet for twenty four to sevenlearning. They can learn inside of the
(05:21):
classroom and outside the classroom, andthat's what we're really about, is creating
that joyful learning and so forth.Second, with this access, all of
our parents can sign up for theParent Potal where you can stay current on
your child's attendance, how they're doingwith their grades, and so you don't
have to make a phone call.You can just get on that laptop,
(05:42):
get on that chromebook. Access theparent potal. Student attendance is so important.
Last year, we increase the percentageof our students who are in regular
attendance ninety percent of the month forthe entire school year from fifty seven percent
to sixty percent. This gives usanother tool to keep our parents update it
so we can drive those numbers waynorth of sixty percent. We want to
(06:03):
be well above ninety percent of ourstudents who have regular attendance ninety percent of
the month and for the school year. Doctor Watlington, it feels like this
is the first full school year thatwe are not dealing with all the side
effects of COVID, all the disruptionsthat have occurred over the last couple of
years. And I wonder if youcan kind of look ahead, what are
your intentions, what is your missionin this fresh new year as we move
(06:28):
forward. I know you're working hardto make sure that the kids get to
school, stay in school, areconnected, and get all the resources that
they need in order to succeed.Absolutely, it's a new energy this year.
One example was that of that wasjust yesterday we were able to welcome
some seven hundred teachers and new teachersand counselors to the school district and we
(06:48):
were able to bring them together atHigh School for the Future, High School
of the Future, and spend themorning with them. And it's a little
bit different because last year when Ifirst got here, we had to do
those meetings via zoom. So thisin person opportunity to connect. It's simple
what we want to do this schoolyear. We want to get better,
faster, and to take full advantageof the technology, the resources, the
(07:12):
new faculty that are coming to theschool district. We're excited. Not only
do we want to be the fastestimproving large urban school district, but we
want to do things that will reallymake a difference for all of our young
people. So when they graduate withinfour years, they can go on to
be successful in college or career oftheir choice, and they'll be prepared to
participate in the world's largest economy.That's so important for the nation's largest poor
(07:36):
city. And we want to redoubleour efforts to make sure our children are
safe here in Philadelphia in schools asschools are safe havens for our young people.
So we're excited about what's going tohappen in this school year. Well,
we're excited for you. Certainly.Educational opportunity is all about social justice.
They're tied hand in hand. Mailtell us once again, if people
want more information about that Internet connectivityprogram, that access program, where's the
(08:01):
best way to find out more?Sure so the easiest way is to dial
two one one, but they canalso go to get ACP dot org slash
p h L get ACP dot orgslash p h L. Well, it's
a great opportunity to get low orno cost internet connectivity, absolutely central in
(08:26):
this digital world that we live in. We want to wish you both the
best of luck in this coming schoolyear. We are rooting for you one
percent. Doctor Tony Watlington, Superintendentof the School District of Philadelphia, and
Melanie Harris, chief of Information Technologyfor the school district. Thank you so
much, Thank you always a pleasure, Thank you so much. You're listening
(08:50):
to Insight. Despite some advances,mainstream media is still lacking diversity, inclusion,
and equity. And let me alsoadd access and below. There are
few black owned newspapers, TV andradio stations, and social media outlets.
We've seen the terrible consequences of mediaalgorithms and business practices that contribute to anti
(09:11):
black violence. A growing consortion ofmedia makers and activists are collectively dreaming reparative
policies, interventions, and future capturesin an essay, a work that aims
to radically transform who has the capitalto tell their own stories by twenty seventy,
that's fifty years from now. Joiningus right now is call it Watson
Project, Director of Media twenty seventy, an advocacy project committed to building equitable
(09:35):
newsrooms. Thank you so much forjoining us here today. Thank you for
having me tell us about twenty seventy. What are you all about? How
did you get started? And whyare you doing what you're doing? Absolutely
well, Lorraine. Media twenty seventybegan in the summer of twenty twenty,
which we know was a pivotal turningpoint in our history. And so after
(09:56):
the murder of George Floyd, thoseof us who are employed at an organization
called Free Press, which has beenadvocating for all kinds of media transformation.
Many people know them for the netneutrality fight. For instance, those of
us who are employed there as partof the Black Caucus came together and said
to ourselves, you know, whatis the change that is really needed at
the heart of our media system andour culture in pursuit of a just future.
(10:20):
And the Black Caucus, black employeesat Free Press came together and we
put an essay out called Media twentyseventy. And a lot of people said
to us, why are you waitingfifty years? But it's actually in the
tradition of afrofuturism, where we aredreaming up the future, one that's never
existed, honestly, where there isfull justice and black liberation on this land,
(10:41):
and we are doing the things inthis time to make that possible so
that by twenty seventy it's old hat, we already are fully living in that
justice and multiracial democracy. So ouressay outlined a history of anti black harms
that the media system has committed andinvited folks to dream up media reparations,
(11:01):
and we've been full speed ahead eversince. Fantastic Let's get into a little
bit of the history. Certainly,this country is based on a model of
white supremacy that has inflicted institutions inevery aspect of our society, including the
media, And I wonder if youcan put it a little bit into historical
perspective, tell us more about that. Yeah, well, we know that,
(11:22):
you know, about four hundred yearsago the practice of chattel slavery began
on this soil. But what alot of folks don't know is that around
that same time, the earliest colonialnewspapers were participating. They were publishing ads
for the sale of enslaved people,and often those ads had a line of
(11:43):
text that said inquire of the publisher, meaning that the publisher of those newspapers
served as the broker for those humantrafficking transactions. And this is really the
beginning of the media system as weknow it today. Those early newspapers,
The Boston news Letter, for instance, just one week after its founding,
and it's the oldest daily paper herein America, just one week after its
(12:05):
founding, it published an article sayingthat the Negro and Indian population were much
addicted to lying, stealing, andpurloining, which I think purloining is a
vintage word for some sort of crime, but it just goes to show you
how deeply embedded anti black and antiindigenous ideas are not only in our culture,
but in our media system that shapesour culture and how anti blackness became
(12:28):
a profit model from the very beginning, and so the media system has not
strayed far from those roots. Fromthe early colonial newspapers forward to the nineteen
twenties. The next innovation was radioand television. Our Federal Communications Commission gave
out broadcasting licenses to white men onlyduring the time of Jim Crow. And
(12:50):
so from there we see media giantslike CBS, ABC, NBC who have
built billions in media wealth off ofthat headstart that they were given. The
list goes on and on and on, you know, hiring discrimination against black
journalists, our media system making itincredibly difficult for black people to own different
types of media, the ways thatlocal news and the South propped up segregation
(13:15):
and segregation ideology during the struggle forcivil rights, right on through till now
where we see big tech Facebook,Twitter, or whatever it's called now these
various companies utilizing anti blackness, whetherit be through their algorithms or other practices,
as a part of their profit modeland profiting at a level above even
what we've seen through history, right, And I wonder if we can talk
(13:37):
more about social media and it's impact. We've seen the algorithms having a huge
impact on anti blackness, and perhapsthe most extreme example is Dylan who was
sucked into the dark hole of antiblackness and it certainly led to a terrible
tragedy. And I wonder if wecan talk a bit about how men does
(14:00):
algorithms influence Dylan roof Absolutely, sothe evidence point that we have, you
know, and the victims of theCharleston massacre filed a lawsuit that really shed
light on this. The evidence pointthat we have is that Dylan Rufe was
not necessarily raised in a family thatascribed to white supremacist ideology. And I'm
actually from South Carolina, born andraised just outside of Charleston, and so
(14:24):
you know, obviously there's plenty ofpresence of extremist groups, but in Dylan
Rufe's case, that was not hisfamily environment. But what they did know,
what has been observed is that hespent a lot of time online in
discussion groups and on Facebook, theplatform of the company Meta, And what
algorithms do is they are basically designedto keep us on these websites as long
(14:45):
as possible on Facebook and on Twitter, so that we are served as much
advertising as possible. And the advertisingis how they make their money. And
what they have found is that thesealgorithms modify our behavior, our viewing behavior,
and our rousing behavior so that wewill stay online. And generally the
way that our behavior is modified isthat they serve us content that will create
(15:07):
outrage. So the more extreme,the more polarizing, and the more hateful,
and eventually the more violent the contentis. Those companies have found that
the more money they can make offof our attention on that content, that
content seems to be the most shared, etcetera, etcetera. But here's the
thing. You know, we haveresponsibility for what we view, but Facebook
(15:30):
has perfected the science of pulling usdeeper and deeper into these sort of rabbit
holes of hateful and extremist content,again under the guise of keeping our attentions.
So what can happen is that youcan look at something that's maybe you
know, politically centrist, a littleconservative, and then at the end of
it, you get served a recommendationwe'll watch this, next, view this
(15:52):
article, next, share this withyour friends, and that next piece of
content is just a little bit morepolitically polarizing, and then that next piece
is more, and that next recommendation, until now you're fully into a world
you know that's espousing hatred for otherpeople because of their skin color, or
their religious beliefs or other identities.And it's not just Dylan Roof. We're
seeing so many violent mass shooters whoare posting manifestos online, interacting with each
(16:17):
other's manifestos and content. And we'veeven seen in Me and Mar a genocide.
You know, that has very muchbeen traced back to the spread of
hateful content on Facebook there. Sothis is a global problem, and here
in the States we understand it aspart of a long continuum of media and
new media profiting from anti blackness,you know that spills into real life violence.
(16:38):
Well, let's talk about where wecan go from here. We are
living in very interesting times. Onthe one hand, there's a lot of
platforms and avenues for black folks tobe able to express black stories, so
that's a good thing. On theother hand, mainstream media is still predominantly
not very diverse, and we knowthat people when you have a non diverse
(17:02):
situation, the stories don't get toldbecause we tend to tell the stories that
we're familiar with, you know,and talk to people that we know,
are that we connect with. Andso there has to be obviously several avenues
in order to move forward to achievethe goals of twenty seventy. So I
wonder if you can talk what doesmedia reparations look like and how do we
(17:23):
get there? Yeah? Well,first of all, media reparations is a
process, Lorraine. And oftentimes whenthe word reparations comes up, folks say,
oh, it's a check, youknow, I don't want to pay
a check, or we deserve morethan a check. Sometimes it's what you'll
hear, and many things can betrue at the same time. But reparations
cannot be just a one time payment. Reparations have to be comprehensive, similar
(17:45):
to the way that systemic anti blackdiscrimination has been comprehensive throughout history. So
that's the first thing. So mediareparations we understand as a process as well.
And let me give you one examplefrom history that kind of helps us
to define this for folks. Wemany of us, came into knowledge of
the Tulsa massacre back when HBO airedits series The Watchman We had not known
(18:07):
though, that in nineteen twenty onea black business district called Greenwood was burned
to the ground, thousands of homesand businesses destroyed, thousands of black people
displaced, hundreds murdered, and itwas something that it was a chapter that
was largely unknown in history, andthere are many others like it. Well,
why was it unknown? A coupleof reasons. One, the black
newspapers of Tulsa were destroyed as apart of that massacre, and there are
(18:32):
many from Ida B. Wells Newspaperin Memphis to many others across the country.
There have been many black media outletsand newspapers that have been destroyed as
part of racial violence. So thereare reparations owed in those cases. But
also we have to understand that theTulsa I can't remember the name of the
daily paper there, but the dominantpaper, which was white owned there in
Tulsa in nineteen twenty one, publishedan article on its front page that was
(18:55):
inflammatory and false, accusing a nineteenyear old black teenager of sexual assault.
When the LEACP investigated, it turnedout that he had stumbled in the elevator
and in the process of trying toSteady himself had touched the arm of a
young white woman who was on theelevator with him, and this led to
this massacre. So there's a realconnection between anti black violence throughout history and
(19:17):
not only the things that have beenpublished by dominant white media outlets, but
also by the way that the mediasystem has been dominated by white outlets,
and that is something that has beenstructured by policies of the FCC, the
Federal Communications Commission, as well asCongress. And so we understand media reparations
as the opportunity for corporations, mediaorganizations, as well as our federal government
(19:41):
and philanthropy, which does a lotto fund journalism and our media system,
for those three sectors to engage inprocesses to first investigate their own histories of
harm and then to determine, inpartnership with communities directly affected, what repair
could consist of how do we directlyredress those harms. And we've already seen
examples of this in progress. TheGuardian in the UK is investigating released an
(20:04):
in depth investigation of its history ofparticipation in the cotton trade and slavery in
the UK, and they are nowengaging in journalism scholarships as well as increased
hiring across the Caribbean diaspora. Andthen we've seen papers here in the States
like the Kansas City Star and afew others investigating the La Times is another
one. They're investigating how their coveragehas invisibilized black communities and criminalized black communities
(20:27):
through history, though they have notyet begun the next steps, which we
think are really important, which arethe beginnings of redress and what that looks
like, redistributing power and resources,Lorraine, is what it's all about.
Well, you have created this onehundred page essay that goes into greater depth
about media reparations and what we cando moving forward and how we can start
(20:48):
now and hopefully achieve the goals thatare presented in this essay by twenty seventy.
How do people find out more?Folks can visit us at Media two
zero seven zero dot org. That'sMedia twenty seventy dot org. They can
also follow us on Instagram and Twitteruntil we have better platforms and ways to
(21:10):
connect online. And the handle inboth cases is Media twenty seventy Fantastic call
it Watson Project, Director of Mediatwenty seventy, an advocacy project committed to
building equitable newsrooms. Thank you somuch, Thank you, And now our
(21:33):
interview with one of our work readystudents. Hi, I'm Kylie Minor.
The modeling profession is an artistic andcompetitive field that revolves around people showcasing fashion,
beauty, and lifestyle products through visualrepresentation. Modeling is a challenging,
glamorous world that allows talented people aroundthe world to express themselves creatively and make
(21:55):
a mark in a global fashion landscape. I'm here what the professional model is,
Crawley, tell me about what broughtyou to the modeling industry. It
really just started through college. Itstarted because I needed a job in college,
and it actually got me through allof my years of college into my
master's degree. So that's that's kindof how I got started. So what
(22:17):
is your experience like with modeling sofar? What are the positives and what
are the negatives? Wow, that'sa good question. So I would say
the positives personally for me have beenthe ability to just gain a bit of
confidence. Growing up, you know, I just kind of didn't feel as
confident about my body, or myhair or my face. I think that
(22:38):
was an outlet for me to actuallyjust get a boost of confidence and really
feel accepted in my community and justlike in general, it gave me a
bit of like just a sense ofgratification too, because it's like, you
know, to see myself doing growingand like progressing in it is also another
like kind of boosting confidence. Iwould say another positive has just been the
(23:00):
experience overall. I've gotten to doincredible jobs. In December, I went
to Puerto Rico for the Hyatt andI was able to get an all exclusive,
paid for trip. It was fantastic. Those are not going to always
be those jobs though, So likethat's where the negatives come in for modeling.
I feel like sometimes unless you havelike a group of friends that like
(23:22):
you can talk to about it,it can be very isolating actually because you're
always traveling and you're always trying toyou know, work at the moment's notice.
So friends are going to be likehard to make in this kind of
a job, and it can getlonely. It definitely has gotten lonely for
me a few times. I alsohave to preface this for everybody, if
you are looking into doing modeling,it is not going to be anything glamorous,
(23:45):
Like more times than not, you'renot gonna get the clothes, you're
not gonna get any sort of luxuryitems to take home with you. Sometimes
you do, which is such afun and amazing thing. There's going to
be more times than not where it'sjust like you could be modelings for a
small boutique and they just needed youfor like a half a day and it
was just something very very chill,nothing, you know, glam It's a
(24:07):
benefit and a drawback is that it'salways changing. So like what I am
seeing now for models is especially likeme, is that we're doing something called
UGC, so that's like user generatedcontent just to be able to add a
level of depth to our job.Modeling is changing now because we have Instagram
models and we have all these otherpeople that are claiming to be models.
(24:30):
It's certainly changing from what it hasbeen in the past, where it was
such a very small market of peopleand they were you know, it's it's
the pool is different now. SoI think it's exciting, but it's also
it's stressful because it's like we don'treally know where it's going to go.
So I can say that it's that'sthe double edged sword of it, and
those are pros and cons in ain a nutshell, how do you deal
(24:52):
with the stress and the anxiety.Oh, that's a great question. A
lot of it, honestly has justbeen trying to know and understand that things
are an ebb and flow in anycreative entertainment job or any sort of entertainment
industry. I think we all havekind of understood that there's going to be
an ebb and flow. So you'regonna have your highs where you're booked every
(25:15):
day and you are busy every day, and then there's gonna be lows where
things get quiet. Prime example,the SAG strike. The SAG strike right
now has affected what I've done forsure, because a lot of jobs are
union jobs down to the commercial work. More so for me, I you
know, have gotten into a pointwhere it's like, Okay, I don't
know where the next job is goingto come in. You really have to
have a lot of hope and alot of belief that you are gonna make
(25:38):
it out, and it can bevery stressful. That's where meditation comes in.
I'm, you know, very spiritual, so like I know that you
know there's gonna be highs in life, and there's also going to be a
lot of lows, and in thisindustry, it's gonna be a lot of
that. I think it's like it'sthat times a million in this sort of
industry because you just really never know. So I pray a lot. That's
(26:00):
how I get through it. Andyou know, I always know that on
the other side of things, thereis gonna be high again. I'm gonna
have my high because there's always It'salways been like that for years. It's
been the highs and the lows,So I know that the high is coming
in that low moment. So that'skind of really the mentality that I've been
conditioning myself into for some time.Now, I understand you model for a
(26:22):
hair brand featured at Sophora tell Usmore. Yes, Yes, I did.
Again, it wasn't anything glamorous.I went into this job thinking it
was going to be just a regularjob for a hair company. And I
knew of Olaplex and I've used itin the past, but I didn't really
know the level of popularity it hadactually, So when I did the job,
(26:47):
it was a three or four dayjob. They decided to do my
hair refresh my highlights, and thenthey did video on one day and then
photos on another day. Like Isaid, I thought it was just another
job. I was getting paid.I was happy. And then eventually,
you know, it made it intoSephora, and I was so excited because
I've never like you know, thoughtthat i would see my face in Sephora.
(27:08):
But then it got even more magnifiedbecause it became one of like the
number one hair care products at Sephora. Little did I know that they would
actually like kind of have it inthe front, like in magnified, like
you know, one of the biggestlike photos in Sephora's worldwide, not even
nationwide. I thought that this wasgoing to be something nationwide or like small
(27:29):
on a small level. You reallynever know with jobs how big or small
it can get. So that's whyI always got to like put your best
foot forward. I didn't know itwas going to be that big. And
then I had one friend, she'sIndian. She sent me a photo of
it in the front of a Sephorain India, and I'm like, WHOA.
I did not know that this wasgoing to be like as big as
it got. But I'm I'm happywith it, and I'm glad that it
(27:52):
was, you know, great exposureand I was able to use that for
portfolio and definitely one of the moreprouder moments I've had a myself. If
you can model for any brand,what would that brand be? Wow,
that's such a good question. Imean, recently, I've been seeing a
lot of like for the Love ofLemons. I really think they're such a
cute brand. I don't know ifanybody out there you have heard of them.
(28:15):
Their colors are just so bright.So I would either say for the
Love of Lemons or I would actuallysay Urban Outfitters. Right now, I
do work for Urban Outfitters, butnot in modeling like face modeling for them,
So I would say probably Urban Outfittersor one of their like brands that
they sell. For the Love ofLemons for sure. What if some advice
you could give to the youth whoare thinking about a career modeling. Always
(28:37):
vet anybody that comes up to you, like, be super skeptical about anybody
all the time. I've gotten scammedbefore, I've gotten misled before. There's
a lot of things that you know, if I was just being a little
bit more like skeptical about folks andnot super excited about the opportunity. So
definitely, if people approach you,or if you do have an opportunity,
(29:00):
do investigative research down to its core. Even to this day, my agencies
will send me things and I metmy agencies, So I'm like, you
know, I'm like, listen,I don't know about this client, Like
what do you know about them?Have you worked with them before? And
these are people that, like youknow, have worked in the industry for
years, and I'm asking them questions. So if you're out there and you
(29:21):
don't have an agency or you don'thave any representation, you really need to
work on not only being a greattalent, but also being a good manager
and managing ko has access to youand who has access to your time and
your energy. So I would saythat the people that come to you,
thank you so much, Liz fortaking the time to let me interview you.
(29:41):
Professional model is Crawley, Thank youso much. I'm Kylie Miner.
You can listen to all of today'sinterviews by going to our station website and
typing in Keyword Community. You canalso listen on the iHeartRadio app Keyword Lorraine
with one R follow me on Twitterand Instagram at Lorraine Ballard. I'm Lorraine
Ballard Morrel and I stand for serviceto our community and media that empowers.
(30:04):
What will you stand for? You'vebeen listening to insight and thank you
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