 Good evening everyone I am Diamond Rawlinson a junior education major in your Miss Elizabeth City State University 2021-2022. Tonight I will serve as your emcee. I'm extremely honored to bring you greetings on behalf of Elizabeth City State University's Community Connections Performance and Lecture Series. We would like to thank our sponsors First Citizens Bank, Microsoft, National Endowment for the Arts, Duke Energy Foundation, Trustee Phyllis Bossamworth and contributions from our own ECSU students for making this event possible. It's homecoming. If there are any alumni in the audience will you please stand. Thank you. The Community Connections Performance and Lecture Series mission is to produce cultural experiences which can be enjoyed by students, faculty and staff as well as a community at large. This evening we will continue our 2021-2022 series with actress and television personality Claudia Jordan and the general manager and head of programming for Fox Soul James DeBose. Tonight we will have a conversation with the TV industry game changers as we discuss the business of entertainment, the importance of brand and who decides which parts of our story will be told. I would like to welcome our streaming audience joining us tonight on the ECSU YouTube channel. Be sure to stay tuned in and present until the end to engage in a dialogue with our guest. Please welcome to the stage Gabrielle Rogers who will introduce our guests and serve as moderator for the evening. Well good evening. We're having a little technical difficulties but you can watch the screen for a little brief video. What do you get when you mix a former housewife of Atlanta, actress, activist and TV and radio personality with the man with the plan, general manager and head of programming of Fox Soul. Well you get on and off the screen a conversation with TV industry game changers. Join us on Thursday October 21st at 7 30 p.m. at the Mickey Alburnum Fine Arts Center. I've worked in TV and radio but at this point in my life I'm really enjoying being a radio personality where it's about what I'm saying because I've been judged for years about what I look like and to just like let that go it's very liberating. When I see black and brown women in unscripted roles on screen I feel as though I have a seat at the table. I have an opportunity to express myself. Like Claudia Jordan, she shows on Fox Soul that gives black women the opportunity to come in and talk about all the things that they sometimes don't get a chance to talk about with their friends, they're scared to talk about with their friends and she gives them the opportunity to just speak on it. Fox Soul. A new live and interactive streaming channel dedicated to the African-American viewer. A tiniest session like this would better prepare me for a lifestyle of television and media production by being able to see how people like Claudia Jordan and James DeVos got to where they are today. A lot of the time we see the glitz, we see the glam, we see the product, but we don't get a chance to see how they got to where they are. It takes hard work, it takes dedication, it takes drive and perseverance. As a senior interdisciplinary studies major concentrating in digital media and communications, I am also the radio host of Soul Cafe or WRVS 89.9. I cannot tell you how elated I am to be introducing our guests tonight and to serve as your moderator. In the video clip, my classmate Courtney talked about the importance of on-screen representation. Tonight I get to sit in the unconventional living room of two game changers who not only represent us on screen but sit at the table talking, table making the decisions about that representation. Let's get to know our guest a little bit better. Mr. James DeVos is the general manager and head of programming at Fox Soul. James DeVos is an innovative visionary and thought leader known for producing culture shaping content and sharing the voices and live experiences of black people around the globe. DeVos built his entire career with this focus on four fundamental pillars which are to expire, educate, uplift and entertain black audiences. He experienced a rapid rise through the ranks and currently serves as the general manager ahead of programming of Fox Soul, a new live and interactive streaming channel dedicated to African American viewers. Fox Soul is available on YouTube, Samsung TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Tubi, Zumo, iOS, Android, Apple TV, Fox Soul.TV, Twitch, caffeine, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. DeVos has built an impressive catalog of assets known for garnering record-breaking television network numbers. He executive produced the syndicated entertainment show, dish network, e-networks, Wags Atlanta, as well as the hit projects under his DeVos entertainment banner, such as Kevin Hart's One Mike Sand, Keisha Cole, The Way It Is, Monica Still Standing, Tiny and Toya, Toya of Family Affair, Trey Song's My Moment, the Michael Vick Project, Hell Date at Comic View, among others. DeVos has also started to take his innate storytelling and creative ability to the theater and currently has films in development with grindstone entertainment Lionsgate. Let's get to know a little bit more about Ms. Claudia Jordan. Ms. Claudia Jordan is an American talk show host, actress, model, businesswoman and reality television and radio personality. She is known for appearing as a model on the U.S. version of Deal or No Deal and The Price is Right. And for competing on seasons two and six of Celebrity Apprentice, Jordan appeared on the Bravo Reality television series, The Real Housewives of Atlanta for its seventh season. She has worked as a journalist at the Providence American newspaper and in production at the Boston Television Station. It was a co-host on the nationally syndicated Ricky Smiley Morning Show. This experience landed Claudia to have her own show on Fox Soul out loud with Claudia Jordan. Due to this success of the show, she was able to branch out and start another show where she is currently the lead host or a Cocktails of Queens alongside co-host Lisa Rae McCoy, Vivica A Fox and Salita Johnson, which is also on Fox Soul. Tonight, we're going to have a conversation as if we were at home because it's homecoming. Vikings, help me welcome to the stage James DeBose and Claudia Jordan. Hello, everybody. Hi. We're excited to be here tonight. We're excited to have you. Good evening to both of you. So let's get right into it. Home, it's homecoming. We care at Elizabeth City State University. And so we've been celebrating what it means to be at home and what it means to come home. Tell us where you're from and tell us where that place that you call home has shaped and defined you as a person. I'm from the smallest state in the country. I'm from Rhode Island and people say they got black people in Rhode Island. A few of us. Yes. So I'm from Rhode Island, but it was, you know, it's up north. It's cold. You really had to be a hustler to kind of get out of there. You know what I mean? So to me, I enjoy going home. It reminds me of my roots and kind of keeps me grounded. Nobody's impressed with this Hollywood stuff when I go home. They're not, you know, so I actually enjoy that. I feel like it kind of keeps me in check, you know? So I enjoy going home. I enjoy being reminded of where I came from. That's great. I'm from Greensboro, North Carolina, which I love being home. But going home for me is very important because that's where really my day ones, if you will, still live, still are my family. It's a little different from being in Hollywood. So I can think of back and know is that it's genuine love, regardless of what I'm doing or what I'm not doing. So that's what home represents for me. Going home could definitely be a humble experience. So James, from your bio, we know that you have been more behind the scenes as you move through your career. Was that your ultimate goal or did your path take an unexpected turn? No, I've always wanted to be behind the scenes. I'm not blessed like Claudia to be in front of the camera at all. I just I'd always wanted to tell stories, but quite quite honestly, always wanted to try to control my own narrative. And a lot of times you can't do that unless you're behind the scenes, being able to make the decisions. Wow. And from your bio, we also read that you are the head of programming of Fox soul. So can you tell us a little bit more about what Fox soul is and how it came to be? And so for everyone that Fox soul is what they call the OTT, culture cable, as long as you have internet or something you can watch as we're on, like they mentioned, YouTube TV, a lot of the places. So it's digitally go watch on your mobile phones anywhere you are. But we started this process in March of 2019, when the idea first came and I was creating it with some other people flying back and forth. I was at Atlanta at the time. And we were pitching it back and forth all the way up to Lachlan Murdoch, who's the chairman of Fox family got a green lit in September of 2019 and beta launched October and officially launched January of last year. So January of next year will be our two year anniversary. The purpose of Fox soul was I felt like there's a lot of other places that give you black content, right? But we didn't really have a voice, meaning the viewer or the community. And I really wanted to live interactive or you could interact with people like Claudia on a daily basis, get real time feedback. And I want the place that we could be unapologetically black, we don't have to water down the things that we're going to be saying, we didn't have to be on broadcast television will be censored, if you will. And I wanted to build a safe place that we could talk about things that we normally only discuss in the privacy of our homes. So Fox soul that essence is looking for whatever you would discuss in your own homes male female black, as long as it's authentically black, it's what you will find on Fox soul. Wow, that's a that's a great platform. I'm gonna interject. So first of all, we don't want to be all stiff tonight. So I want y'all to enjoy this and get into this. And if you want to woo woo and all that, let's do it. But I want to give this brother props. When he's very humble. So I'm going to be the mouthpiece tonight about this. So Fox soul started in 2019. Right? That's when you launched 2019. And when I got on board, I think there was 200,000 views 200,000 views. So this black man head of this network. Now, the number is close to 80 million views. And that is something to be celebrated. So I feel like we need to start doing more of giving each other flowers when they're around and while they're doing it because it's not easy. And there was a lot of challenges. We talk about this, you know, people that didn't want to be involved in the beginning, when it was just a streaming network or no one knew about it. But now that it's, you know, it's getting some momentum. The phone is ringing more. Right. That's how Hollywood works. Okay, I just want to definitely make that clear. Just give Ms. Props like 80 million views. I spoke to some of the students earlier. There's other streaming platforms that tried to do the same thing. Quibi quibi is that what that was dreamworks put money up for that almost $2 billion. And just to know like, we can do anything we want, like people, we really can. We have the spag. We have the creativity. We have the ingenuity. That's why everyone's copying us a lot of times. Okay. So we don't have the budget of dreamworks. And we're about to be in our into our third season. They were done after six months, not to hate on them. It's just to compare and to show you all like anything is possible. You know, you link up with like minded people, you support each other. You have a good team. And it's a great place, a space to be in where everyone that you go to work looks like you. And you can go to your supervisor, your boss, and they understand the nuances and the things that you're asking about or talking about. So I just want you to keep that in mind, like, you know, we got to link up more and work more together. Yes, I definitely agree. You can clap. See, we should have had an open bar. It would have been more tougher. No, okay. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. You're fine. So we know you, Claudia, from your work as an actress on unscripted TV, that work television and streaming channels. But however, you started as a journalist. So when did you decide that your path was going in another direction and you had another calling in your life? So I spoke again earlier to some students and I said, in high school, I had a teacher that was pretty racist. And she made it very clear. And she said a lot of foul things. And she motive like, I take negatives and just turn them into positive a lot because a lot of you know, you get a lot of bricks stone at you. And my senior project was I can write whatever I wanted to so I wrote about racism and it was all shade to her. It was all smoke to her. It really was. And she gave me an F and said I was terrible. I was not a good writer or whatever. So I went to college, it was going to be a biology major. When I got there, I'm like, let me go check out the school newspaper. I just was just curious because I was told I wasn't good at like, well, let me try to do the thing that they said I'm not good at. And then I went and visited the school radio station. And then that changed my life. It literally changed my life. So I just encourage everybody to be open, not even if you just not not in communication only, but in everything in your life just be open because the thing you think you may want to end up doing, it may not be where you're going to end up. So just that one day of me saying let me just go just inquire, it just it just woke up something inside of me. And I like became this advocate for the truth and, you know, investigative reporting and finding out the real. And that was y'all weren't even born when that was happening. That was a 91 92. So here we are like, like 30 years, like 30 years later. And so yeah, but it was just one day that just changed it all. Wow. So you could clap. So we know you were in television, but you did have the background in journalism. How did you rebrand yourself going from Fox soul to old housewives of Atlanta? Well, when you do reality television, you're gonna have half the people gonna love you and half people gonna hate you. You know, like it was really good in some instances because like you got like as many things I did before that, that's the thing that most people will know me from even though I had a long resume before that. Most people like they don't know or didn't care or whatever. So when you get off reality television, you do have to try to rebrand yourself. So I got on a radio show first, and and then did another another show and then I ended up at Fox soul. But I'm just just trying to show people that you're more than just one notes. I think it's easy to judge each other. Now, social media, you see someone dressed a certain way, you just put them in that box that there's that and that's it. But I'm always about, okay, I'm gonna show you something else. There's more to it than just that. So when I first came to Elizabeth City, I was a communications major. But it has been phased out for digital media. And we've already talked a little bit about how one thing doesn't define you. So James, can you tell us a little bit about all the critical roles that make up the business side of the entertainment industry? Well, it's so many, right? So it's not it's not really one path you have to do. So I don't like that to say that many roles. The key is obviously you have someone like myself, you have someone like Claudia, you have a lot of brains and smarts to go behind the scenes. You don't ever see we can go on for days for the type of positions they are. But in terms of making it up, what I will say to be successful is, it's just remember that greatness is never one man show. And you need a team, you need a team that has the same vision, the same values and the same beliefs that you do. And when you find a lack of success, if you will, not only entertainment business, but I believe in life, it's because either we're trying to do it on our own, or with this lawyer to the people that have been loyal to us, or we're not on the same page and what we're trying to do. And we're thinking we're going to figure it out in some form of fashion. But the roles would take care of itself. And I believe I quote, the day you wake up and look in the mirror and see a title on your forehead, you've lost your way. So you have to be committed to the purpose of the mission, not the title, not the roles, not whatever else that you may want to do individually. And that's again, going back to Fox. So yes, I sit in the seat, I sit in and I'm able to make decisions for the network. But I'm not here without people like Claudia. I'm not here without a lot of people that are behind the scenes that work with me. And no one works for me. No one works at the network at all. We all work for ourselves and we all work together. So I just want to be clear. I don't like to answer the question regarding positions, because there are multiple positions, right? But if you have all those positions working in different direction and on a different path, you're going to have failure. That's great. But how do those options in the business industry change for people of color, black people like you? So explain, I want to make sure that I want to make sure I answer that correctly. So in the business industry, how do jobs or roles that go on in the business change for people who look like me based off of color or, you know, create or anything right. So I think we've all experienced this in life. If you don't have someone at the top that looks like you, they're not looking for you because they don't know you. They don't know anything about you. They don't know your journey. They don't know your story. So normally it changes or it's more difficult, I shall say, because we don't have relationships. You walk in the room and it's normally people that don't look like you at all. So it changes the fact that you have to be a little better. You have to present yourself a little better. You have to be a little smarter in their eyes. And then you still may not get the position. You still may not get, even though you know you're well deserving of it. So it's not going to change, as a matter of fact, until more people like myself that's humbly or in positions that can say yes and that can say no and no longer have to go mommy may I or daddy may I do this or that. I can actually make decisions for people of color on my own when I happen to ask anyone. And that's when change starts to happen at that level. I would encourage us to, it sucks that this is the case, that we have to be twice as good all constantly. And it is exhausting. And guess what? It's probably, like he said, it's not going to change for a while. So just dig in and just know I got to be twice as good. It's not fair. It's not right. And it shouldn't be that way. But we're not there yet until we get more execs at the top until we get more decision makers. So I used to have an attitude about it or have a chip on my shoulder like why I got to be twice as good. Why can't I be like this girl right here? Like that is mediocre, getting better opportunities. But that's the way it is. So when you accept that, it gets a lot easier to be like, all right, it is what it is. And I'll go ahead and stand up and I'll take that challenge head on and I'll do it. You know, then when you get in there, it is your responsibility, I think, to bring others up with you that look like you. We have to, we got to get out of that mentality of I made it, I'm good. No, you didn't really make it until you help some other people that look like you in two positions. And that's something we got to do better at, like all of us, not just an entertainment, you know, like we got to get out of that mentality, like it's just me, me, me, or, you know, there's not enough for all of us. There's a lot of money and food at the table, you know. So I want to pivot back a little bit when we were talking about before you got to where you are now. So you could, from where you are right now, tell your person, tell yourself back then, what would you encourage yourself back then now, what you already have to win through? I mean, for me, quite honestly, it's easy to say that. So, you know, 20, they say on the side it's 2020. But I've had more losses than wins. I've had more bad decisions made than good ones. But even though it's difficult at the time, quite honestly, it all prepared me for this moment. I'm not really sure I could handle all the responsibility that comes with sitting in the chair I sit in right now. If I didn't fail a lot, if I didn't make a lot of mistakes along the way, thinking that I knew more than I knew, or taking the risk that I thought I would take. So I would just honestly tell my younger self to do exactly what I did. Because there's always a bigger picture and I just encourage anyone that's listening. It's the sooner you fail, the better you'll be. The sooner you make mistakes, the better you'll be. Because that's really where you really learn and grow, not success. You know, so honestly, for me when I was doing the Keisha Coles and all those shows that I did, it wasn't success was the worst thing that could have happened to me at the time. I wasn't prepared for it. And as the word says, a blessing given too soon is not a blessing at all. So understand that you're going to make mistakes and you never going to get there. Right. So only thing I would say to myself is stay the course and do everything that I did before, because God will bring you to where you're supposed to be eventually. Let's see. What would I tell my younger self? Stay out the casinos. Now, I would probably say to not wait. You know, I feel like a lot of times in in a lot of areas of life, we say, as soon as I lose this way, I'm going to be happy. I'm going to find the man. As soon as I do this, I'm going to travel. As soon as I do this, like we're deferring our happiness when we can just do it right now. And if 2020 didn't teach us anything, it should have taught us that like tomorrow is definitely not promised. I feel like I would have been further along had I lived that early on in life and thinking I doubted myself too much. I thought I wasn't good enough. I'm not that I can't do this. And I think I could have been further along had I just taken the fear out of it and not second guess myself. I think a lot of times we, you know, we think we're not enough when we are enough. So yeah, you're enough. We're enough. So like the year, past year and a half COVID has shifted our world. And I know it's definitely shifted the industry. Can you elaborate a little bit? Tell us a little bit more about how it's affected you personally and how it's affected the industry overall? Why I had COVID last year. And when the when the first hit actually we were in studio I was traveling but I live in Dallas and the studio was in LA. So we were just getting in our groove like I was traveling back and forth every week from Dallas to LA doing the show. The show was growing. And then COVID hit. I lost a huge deal with VH one they just stopped. I was like the host of other reunions of 11 hip hop. And that shut down the entire industry shut down. But it was good for streaming. And during that time, Fox all blew up during the during the pandemic because people went through Netflix and everything else. And there was nothing else to watch. And guess what we were the hot kid the new kid on the block. So it was like a blessing and a curse, I would say. As far as personally, I lost a family member. I had it. It felt very isolated being home and just being away from friends and family didn't see my mom for like a year and a half. Definitely again, taught me to kind of put things in perspective as far as like not waiting, going for it, knowing your worth, putting yourself, not always first, but just higher up there on the rank. You know, I feel like a lot of black women, especially we are super women, we try to save everybody else before we save ourselves. And then we wonder why we tired, got an attitude, we tired. I'm sick of that Cape. You know, and so, you know, a little bit more self care, I think we need to do, you know, like we've had the weight of the world on our backs for a long time. So it's bittersweet. Like I said, there was some positive things. There was some negative things. I found out who was really my friends, my family, my people, you know, definitely did y'all find out who you really rock with during COVID? And what was important, right? Like seriously? And it's not over. So, you know, still take notes of your people who checked in on you and who didn't and all that. But it was definitely a blessing for the network, though. We created more shows, introduced more shows. I don't know, would it go up like 4,000% 40? 4700% we grew doing COVID, which was definitely a blessing. That's a that's a flex 4700% millions of views. Absolutely. So so so so we get raises, right? We just raise your profile. How was it for you for did you have COVID? Yeah, I got COVID for a while. But you know, the two things personally, it was, it forced you like all of us to really know if we like ourselves, you're isolated, you can't be around anyone, you have to dig in. And you don't realize how much you depend on the energy of other people being around them every day. And when you have to not just look in the mirror for other things to get in dress, it puts it makes you realize, do I love me? Do I know me? Do I like me? Who am I? Do I want to be so I had to answer all those questions personally because I had started the greatest challenge of my life, which was foxhole. So January 2013 that imagine in March is over. We had to shut down for two weeks. It forced you to think really quickly. But to Claudia's point, we thought, you know what we're in the studio in LA, all the guests that we have have to be in LA to come on the shows. This gave us an opportunity to expand our footprint. We could get guests from all over the country because of the zoom technology and so forth. So in the middle of that, it started to grow as Claudia mentioned, of course, 4700%. It was huge, which was a blessing. And then as I was getting the opportunity to actually learn and grow myself to learn about leadership, got opportunity to read a lot, learn about managing. And then learn about people who really say they love you. But they love you as long as they're above you. If that makes sense. And when you're giving them stuff and money, and it just, you know, it just so it brought a lot of things about a lot of people made you for me personally be able to look at a lot of things. But as, as a manager and as a leader and as a father and so forth, I started to enjoy things that I missed. So I don't go in the hustle and bustle 24 hours, seven days a week anymore. You know what I mean? I take time to do the things that are most important. And it's not the chair I sit in, quite honestly. Thank you. That was very insightful and open. But let's keep going. So as students, we we are learning who we are. This is a time of self reflection and trying to figure out who we are. So when you are behind closed doors with no cameras rolling, it's just you. What is the conversation you have with each other or colleagues about what you sacrifice to build wealth and stability? That was a good question. Say it again one more time, please. I'm going to go first. So when you are behind closed doors with no cameras rolling, let's break it down when I'm behind my closed doors. When it's just you, just me. Say she's our head between each other or your colleague. Oh, we don't live together. This is my boss. OK, it kind of sounded like that. I'm going to blog's enough. No, thank you, ma'am. I don't even know where he lives. I'm just going to don't do that. What would you say about when I'm in the house with him? I'm not in the house with him ever. I guess someone he gets. OK, go ahead. Each other, not together in the house or colleagues about what you have sacrificed for stability and wealth to build stability. OK, sacrifice for stability and wealth. I think most people that are even somewhat successful, you probably sacrifice a lot of family time. I never had kids. That's definitely a sacrifice. And at the time I was just on go, go, go, go, go, go. And there was never it never seemed like the right time to OK, I'm going to have to sit down and take two, three years off to do this properly. And it didn't really bother me. But now I'm at the end zeroed. So like, you know, you have to reflect back like was it worth it, you know? So that's why I have a lot of integrity about what I do. And it's very valuable to me because I know if I'm going to sacrifice a lot of this family time or and not seeing nieces and nephews at graduations and missing track meets and all that family time because they're all in other parts of the country, then damn it, this better be worth it. And I better do feel good about what I do when I at the end of the day. So there's a lot of sacrifices and it's not fair that a lot of times with women you have to kind of a lot of times pick is going to be career or that family life. And it's an in kudos to the women that could pull off both. I think it's extremely hard. But yeah, that was definitely a sacrifice, sometimes friendships when you're in entertainment or sports. You're you have to pick up and leave sometimes with a week's notice and say goodbye to everyone. And that can be a very lonely existence. There was a time I was on the airplane like every two or three days going somewhere else. So it's hard to have relationships like that. It's hard to have, you know, be a good a good friend to your friends. So yeah, there's a lot of sacrifices in there. So it's not for everybody. I think people see the finished products. They see in the red carpet, they see the fun, the glitz. They think it's just but there's a lot of sacrifices where I mean, I remember being on a Greyhound bus three times a week from Providence to New York, going to model agencies getting rejected every single week for like like a long time. You know, and that's when you're tested when things are rough like that. Do you really want this? Do you really want it? Do you really want it where you're going to be uncomfortable and you still want to do it? Or do you only want it when it's easy? I meet people all the time and say, I want to do what you do. And I go, what do you want to do? I want to be famous. You just want the famous part because you can be famous right now by going online and being a meme or doing something silly online. But do you want to do you love the grind? You love talking to people. Do you like getting no sleep? Do you like being rich and then poor in the same year? It's that kind of stuff. And before people get into this business and really think they want to do it, you got to really know that you love communicating. You love talking to people because it's not for the the faint of heart. It's really not. But when you get there, it's pretty cool. For me, just the conversations, I would say is the pandemic really taught. I think all of us, but especially me a lot, that I never ever want to again want to have one source of income. Because if that breaks down, you are in trouble. And I think it taught us that. Right. So it's what do you continue to do what you love, but also build multiple revenue streams with that? The second part of that is you think about money a lot because you lose a lot of money in the pandemic. You see a lot of people losing jobs, houses, homes, a lot of things. And so it made me go just that much harder, honestly, to make money, but not for the second money. It's for the freedom that come with money, the freedom to be to help people and I need to help them when they really need help. The freedom to be able to say, don't you stretch yourself? I got this for you until you can get back on your feet. Those are my two main things that even to this day, that's all I'm focused on, different revenue streams and making money so I can have the freedom to do what I want to do and not see so many people struggle ever again. So we talked a little bit earlier about the entertainment industry and I had a question. So when it comes down to sitting at the table with, you know, the big ups and, you know, who's comes to the table? Who's in the room to make those decisions behind the scenes that we don't see? We just see the finished product. But what happens in those rooms? What are the conversations that happen in those rooms? You're looking at us. We're in the rooms right now. We're at the table. Black people are at the table right now. No, that's that's that's you're looking at it. That's what we're doing. So the decision is, honestly, is do we do this for our people? A lot of times people want to be on TV and they want to sit at the table and they want to pitch your shows, but it's for vanity reasons, quite honestly. And we're building this thing truly for the culture. If you don't entertain, educate and inspire us, if that's something you're pitching to me and it only has an entertainment factor to it, it doesn't matter. But also for me, you know, like Claudia, you speak for herself, sitting at the table is trying to build other me. I can't do this forever. I don't want to do this forever. If I'm not lifting as I climb, I'm doing everybody at this service with myself, started with myself first. So that's the conversation at the table. Now, the other table that you may be speaking about when I have to go there by myself and it's 10 people at the table that don't look like me, don't understand me, don't know my journey or my story. And I'm pitching them on our culture. I don't compromise on that. You're not going to tell me what it's like to be black. You're not going to tell me what it feels like to be black and you're not going to tell me what I should do because I'm black. So the smartest thing I can ever do at the table in those conversations come up is get up and leave because no is a strong word if you stand on your principles. And that's what you should do as a culture. Can I ask him a question? Is it hard because I've been feeling bad for you and I know you have to go into those other tables, the tables that I'm not invited to, but the tables you're invited to. And you have to go in those rooms with those old white men that, that, you know, that control. They're all family and all that. Is it do you ever get frustrated like this is almost impossible? Does it feel like that sometimes? Because you're a young black man going in there with these with these established. I mean, they're all a click, right? And you're kind of you're breaking into that that that club. So how is that for you? Let me be careful. No, you be want to like choke somebody else. You know, you know, the one thing, Claudia, honestly, I always, first of all, I never change me. I go in exchange or go in. That's myself, no matter what seat I sit in. That's the first most important thing. And what you realize at those tables, quite honestly, if you really believe in what you're doing, you believe in what you're telling them, eventually they'll start to believe as well. They don't want to say no quite a bit. They do want to say no. Let me be clear. They their job is to say no. Because they're saying no out of things that they don't know about. They don't know us. They don't know the culture. They don't know anything. So at the end of the day is is a profitable for them. So you have to understand your purpose of going into the room with them. And what their purpose is to come out of the room and their purpose is to make money. And if you can make money, they'll do anything you want to. We just have to realize that we control this culture, period. We make what's hot. Hot. What we say goes, be it fashion, music, anything. If we say it's hot and we get behind it. It's hot. Now you see everybody want to cater to the black culture, the black music, the hip hop music or what have you. So when I go to sit at those tables, yes, it's frustrating because I have to explain myself a lot more than I would if it was all of us sitting at the table. But that's part of my blessing of being at that table. Because when I walk out that room, whether they admit it or not, they're forced to have a better understanding of who we are as a people. Well, thank you so much for answering my questions. But now we're going to open up to the audience so they can be able to ask you some questions also. Great. You had a question. Anybody got a question? You had a question. Do you need a microphone over there? Are you good? We probably need to have a microphone. Testing, testing. OK, so my question is for the both of you. So as African American individuals, I know that it has been challenging for you guys to achieve the successes that y'all have managed to achieve. So without making this into a therapy session, how do you guys? How do you guys manage to maintain your your confidence? What if you gained it? What if you lost it? How do you guys manage to keep or gain your confidence throughout your journeys with where y'all are now? Because what you guys mentioned earlier about, you know, just having self doubt in everything, I struggled with that, especially I had an emotional breakdown earlier about my own future. So just how do you guys manage to just keep your confidence or gain it if you ever lost it for both of you? Thank you for being real that you even claim that because I think people are just so fake nowadays and won't even say I'm having a problem right now. So that's like the first step, even saying that. You know what I'm saying? I feel like with social media, it's curious. It's it's it's set up that we only put our wins out there and we put where we're looking good and feeling snatched and the skin is popping in the hair and everything. First of all, no one's like that 24 seven and it's OK. And I think black folks, especially we have every right to feel stress and to have self doubt and to have some issues going on with what we have to face on the daily just going outside. So allow yourself to have that. And yes, we have been successful, but there has been both of us have had great loss, had it lost it all, had it lost it all, had it again. For me, I hit rock bottom three times. And when I say rock bottom, I don't mean Hollywood rock bottom like I can't buy the new push. I have to get the old portion. No, I mean real rock bottom where I had houses and all that kind of stuff to go in from that to $80 in the bank and being famous at the time and having to pretend at red carpet events that I had it going on when really I'm like, I hope there's not an addiction notice on my door when I get home. So I get it. I'm not coming from a place of I don't get it. I get it. Right. What I say about, you know, especially as being a black woman, I'll just extend that to black men as well. We try to always put a brave face like everything's fine. And the minute I stop doing that and let people help me that cared about me, things change. And we pray we're so good to pray for things. And then someone might show up to help you and we turn it down because of pride. Sometimes those people's prayers that you ask for, those, you know, those angels, those blessings, they come into you in the form of a friend. So now you might not even know that sometimes for me it was as simple as me letting a friend hug me and comfort me when I was rock bottom and depressed. Because I've been there, suicidal, depressed. I didn't want to be here anymore. I lost everything. And I was embarrassed, you know. So I think we got to do a better job at being open to allowing people just to help us. And that might be letting someone pray for you. That might be letting someone hug you. That might be like letting go of that pride of I need no help. No, I do need help. And it's OK to say that. I'm so glad that people have been very open, especially like Charlamagne, who we both work with, who, you know, talks about mental health. And I feel like it's getting to a place now where we can start saying it out loud and not being embarrassed about it. And no one should ever be embarrassed to say, I'm having some problems right now. Or I need help. Or I need to go see somebody. Because life is hard enough. You get beat down a lot. And it is impossible to maintain that confidence. And we both been there. James has been very vocal about it as well. About, you know, just feeling just like I don't want to be here anymore. So whoever your tribe is, your friends, I say letting go of that pride of I can't share that I'm down and out and ignoring the fake images on social media, because that is not real. It's not real. And just really being OK with not being OK and getting that help that you need, whether it's a pick me up from a friend or just going to talk to somebody. It is OK. And I want, are we OK with asking for help now? Are we getting there? Are y'all feeling me on this? Because I feel like we put on a brave face, but we don't have to, you know? Yeah, I'm also working on that myself. And I'm not going to lie. There's been days where I've fallen short a lot. And I have autism. I'm in the spectrum. And I've also had and I also suffered from generalized anxiety disorder from my father. So just me being here right now is already just I'm shaking right now, because you know, it's like, oh my gosh, like, I don't know if people are judging me. But, you know, thank you. Thank y'all. But, you know, it it's really encouraging to hear that from you. What about you, Jane? I get I'm first of all beautiful well said. I don't want to add to what she said. That was great. But I do want to add this is she mentioned it early as well. Sometimes our happiness or our confidence, you mentioned word of confidence a lot. It's tied to our identity of what we identify with. Either our circle, our friends, they control our emotions to tell us when we're worthy or when we're not worthy. And the moment that you truly learn that stripped down with nothing, you're just as worthy as someone with a million dollars in the bank, just as you walk. When you can understand that and truly believe all the things that you just discussed, you're still just as worthy as anybody else in this world. And don't let no one else tell you or identify you with anything other than that. And the moment you can let that go. Your confidence and never leave you again because it's already in you. And don't ever forget that. Thank you. You got on stage in front of a room full of people. Do you know them with the biggest fear of most people, what they say it is? Public speaking. So for someone who's saying they're lacking confidence, you just did what 95% of both people would never want to do. So you started already. You good. And just one last question for the both of you. As both of you are well aware of, we know that with all of the adversities that's constantly thrown at us as African-Americans, there is truth that there is a disconnection within our own community where we are constantly hurting each other. We're tearing each other apart where the first community or the first ethnicity to judge other people at the drop of a hat over anything. So I'm pretty sure that you guys have had maybe a few experiences within that on your own journey and correct me if I'm wrong. But you know, how do you guys, I guess, overcome or what would you say to people watching at home? Like, how do you overcome those moments when your own people basically do you dirty, you know, or hold you back from your own success and whatnot? If you have, it happens every day, you're not going to change that, first of all. But I'll just say it's a tough thing to learn. But there's a book that I love to read. It's called The Four Agreements if you've been impeccable with your word. Don't take anything personal. Don't assume into your best. I'm telling you, if you really follow those rules, anything someone does, you don't take it personal because it's not about you anyway. It's about them. All they're doing is showing the reflection of what their life is like. But you start to take on that energy. So I had to learn as well that that's really not about me and don't take it personally. It's tough to do. But that's the main thing in this world. We think everything is about us and it really is. It's just a reflection of what they do. When you are happy, they say hurt people hurt people. But if you're truly happy with your life, you won't even talk about people. You won't hate on people. You ain't got time to hate on people, but you're too busy loving your life. So understand that. Well, James, you're a little more evolved than I am. I'm not there yet. I'm a work in progress. I'm trying. I'm trying to not clap back every time someone comes on my Instagram page being mean to me. But I will say it does hurt a lot more when it comes to more people. Because I'm like, damn. Like, we all know the kind of struggles that we have to deal with on a daily basis. And I will say some of my worst media and press has been from black blogs. And I hate it, but if I quit and just write everybody off, they win. So I don't. So when I make it, I really put an effort into when I meet people, they're going to be like, you're nothing like the person that I read about over here. You're not what they said you are. And eventually, enough people will see that. So what I would say is, I mean, what James said, hurt people don't. I mean, happy people don't go around doing that to people. You know what I mean? Like, I used to think that the people that would criticize me were doing better than me, were prettier than me, had it go more going on than me, was popping. And then I would go to the Instagram page. And then I felt better. No, that's shady. Going in there and just being like, just as I thought. Right. Again, when you're on a good mood and you're happy and love or whatever it is, you want everyone else to be happy too. You want everyone to feel that. So I mean, again, I'm a work in progress. I would listen to James instead of what I have to say. Appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you both. Good job. How y'all doing? Hi. So my question is for Mr. James. So my question is, in what ways did you live as you climb throughout your career? It's a good question. Well, I think my somebody asked me, I didn't interview the other day and someone asked me what I wanted in my life. My answer was I wanted to be looked at like a tree with many branches. And that branch represents somebody that I've had that small hand and better in their lives and a lot of the family. So I think the best way I can answer that is there are people that I can look to that say thank you to me. First of all, I praise you to the God that I'm in a position to have my blessings, be a blessing to other people. But the fact that giving people opportunities that they resonate may not say they're deserving of or giving people chances to even communicate with me on social media. I don't really respond to people in my position. A lot of times don't respond. I make a habit of just responding because it may be that one respond to change your life. So I can never say how I've lifted as I climb. But anything I do, I don't just think about myself anymore. So that's that's the best thing I can tell you right now. Thank you, sir. Miss Claudia, I want for you. So what challenges did you face throughout your career and how did you overcome that? I was really insecure. And I still battle with it a little bit. I just act like I'm out, but really insecure. So I had a hard time accepting positive feedback. I didn't think I was good enough a lot of times. I don't know. It just was just a lot of self doubt. And then I entered the one business that tears you down the most. You know what I mean? So that was definitely a challenge. I was a model for a long time and I didn't want to speak out loud. So I was talking early about I think when you're afraid of something in your life or you think something will something scares you, that is the thing you should go try to do the most. Go try to overcome it. And then you kind of feel a little bit more invincible. So like, yeah, definitely just a lot of self doubt. I remember just I didn't have the most supportive family. It was like 50-50. Some were supportive and some weren't. I remember telling one of my relatives when I was little that I wanted to be a scientist. And she's like, you ain't going to be a scientist. You're going to work at McDonald's like the rest of your cousins. And I was like, why would you say that to a 10-year-old kid because you're so impressionable. And I really felt that way for a long time. So when people would say, you're great or you're this, I was like, you talking to me? Like I really was hard for me to receive that. So what I would do with a lot of people here could probably relate to if someone gave me a compliment. I'd be like, I would just find a way to like not accept it. No, no, no. If they say, oh, you look good. Oh, but I need to lose weight or I wouldn't accept it. And I had to learn to just say, thank you. And that was a challenge in itself. But I just feel like I know I'm not alone with that. But, you know, it's like something I don't know why we do that. So ladies and gentlemen, when you get a compliment, don't don't tell them why they shouldn't think that of you. Just say thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you. And I appreciate y'all as well. Thank you. See. A question for Mr. James. What is going through your mind? I should go on to a table full of people who don't look like you. And how do you prepare for that? I think God is amazing. First and foremost, it's not you can prepare for it again. When you're going as yourself, you're authentic self. You're not trying to put on the air for anyone. And you don't really have to think about it. If you know what you're going in for, you're going in as yourself. It's like me talking to you. They didn't ask any scandalous questions. It's amazing. So polite down here in the south. I love it. The floor is still open. If you would like to still ask some questions. Yeah, don't be shy. Anybody else? She got a question. He got a question. We like doing this. This was this was really good. This is our first time doing this together. And and you're the first university we've we've visited. And we appreciate y'all. Elizabeth City State University. We'll never forget y'all. You're the first ones to bring us out here. So thank you. How y'all doing? I just had a question. So how do you separate who you need to be like when you're out in public and doing those sort of events and being out of Hollywood from who you really are? Oh, I don't separate at all. It's too hard to fake that. You get caught slipping and you'll look like a fraud. So you just have to keep the same energy wherever you go, keep the same energy. And and and people will say, oh, you're just like you are on television. And instead of being like the turn off and the turn on and turn off, we've seen those people, right? They code switch or they one way around these people and another way around the other. That's not how can you keep that up? So I mean, I try to be a little more polished on TV. But for the most part, I'm the same person, you know, in all scenarios. Said again, I want to make sure I heard what you said. So just how do you separate who you need to be like when you're out of public? So whenever you're doing Hollywood sort of events, whenever you're in those kind of meetings, how do you separate who you need to be in there from who you need to be at home with your family or just I went around yourself? There is no separation. I was just telling the young man that was up before. I walk in the room as myself, no matter what room I walk in. Either you have to decide if you like me or not. But I'm not going to change because I still got to look at myself in the mirror. I never want to die thousand deaths. I just want to die one time. Do you feel like it's more pressure to just be yourself? Do you feel like it's more pressure to just be yourself? It may be pressure for them to whoever can't accept it because I'm probably more than what they thought of. Right. It's not pressure for myself to be me. It's easy to be me. Good ass. Hey, it's a good ass. Thank you. You got some colors on. You should know that already. So I just want to ask because you all you all talked about insecurity and being insecure, you know, fighting that I just want to know, have you ever gone to a place where you chose to go like anything, any situation and you felt like you still didn't kind of belong there at all? OK, so have you ever like chosen to go to something or do something or be involved in something because you thought it'll lift yourself up or it'll do something positive to you or anything else? But once you got there, did you ever feel like an outcast? Did you feel as if it wasn't what you expected it to be? So yeah, this is again my my truth is I started DuBose Entertainment in 2005 by 2009 at everything that I ever thought of. All the money you can think of, all the shows you can think of, every material thing you can think of. And I was absolutely miserable to the point that I was ready to literally die. So success, what I thought it was had nothing made me feel worse than when I was completely broken. Again, when I go through those struggles and I tell when I say that story is God knows the truth. It is learning myself that if I'm half nothing, I'm worthy. So I no longer go to a place again without being myself. I no longer have expectations of what anything will bring me. I have expectation what I bring to something, what I bring in the room. When I walk in the room, I'm bringing something that that room doesn't have. And when I leave that room, you're going to realize I left without me having to say a word. So nothing else can make me feel no kind of way but myself. So it happens. And it happened to me in a grand way that most people would have been living the life of their life or traveled private jets. Anything you could think of, I had. And I used to literally go in my office every day and cry. I used to go home to my kids. My kids say, what's wrong, Daddy? Because I was miserable with every material thing that you could think of. So focus on yourself first and foremost. And then you'll appreciate everything else around you more so than the other way around. Going to Hollywood. I'm from a place where people are normal and people say what they mean and mean what they say. And it's not a bunch of weirdos trying to snatch my soul. I honestly felt like that. I went to Hollywood. I called my mother after like three months of being in Hollywood. And I was like, Mom, I feel like there's a bunch of evil spirits here trying to get my soul. She's like, what are you talking about? I'm like, it's hard to explain. Do you know what I'm talking about? Like, I never been around people that were willing to just do anything for the smallest part on a music video. Like, I got there and I felt like such an outsider. And I had, you know, packed up my bags from Rhode Island to Hollywood. I moved in with $500 to my name and to get there and feel like, did I make a mistake? And then to see that how people were getting down when honestly, like, people were really literally selling their souls to have a small part in one little project that you never will even remember. And I thought, if this is what it takes to make it, I don't belong here. There was a movie back in the day. I think it was Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Yeah, I might be too young for that. But like, everybody had gotten the bug and they were all zombies and there was just, like, one person left at the end that was normal. And I felt like that in Hollywood. So, yeah, when you're not going along with the get down, it can feel very, very, very isolating. And what you got to do is, well, I just found, like, a few like-minded people. And it was hard, though, because, like, you got to go through a bunch of people that you thought were real and they really weren't. But when you find them, just value them and keep them close so they keep you in check and you don't go over to the dark side. Because it's real out here. I know it sounds crazy, like I'm talking about The Walking Dead, but it really felt like that, though. You know what I mean? Because we're in an industry that people leave their friends, their families, their loved ones, pack up and leave their entire life just to get a piece of some shine. And I just saw, like, I just saw the ugly side of humanity when I went to Hollywood. But I also found the beautiful side when I did find a few loyal, good people out there. And I just made sure to keep them close. Like, I value those relationships. So, yeah, it definitely, definitely happens where you feel like I'm a total outsider here. Yeah, and I'll just add to that. Wherever you feel like that, tell your story. You never know who you can touch by telling a story. A lot of us think we shouldn't say it or we should keep it to ourselves. Not only is it killing you, but it could potentially kill somebody else that needs to hear a word from you as well. So don't be, you see how transparent we are here. And because that is what got us up here by finally recognizing the man able to tell our story. So make sure you continue to tell your story as well so you don't feel like that ever. All right, thank you. Protect your real ones. I wanted to ask you guys, what's your most memorable moment throughout your career that gave you a boost to wanna strive further? This one's kind of like bittersweet because the person involved, I don't rock with them anymore. So I started my career in Rhode Island when I ran for Miss Teen Rhode Island and I won. And there was only one black girl in like 46 years that ever won. And then I won Miss Rhode Island, went to Miss USA. So I started my journey really for real in the pageant world. So pageants kind of held a special place in my heart, like, you know, the whole pageant thing. Like, that's how I got started. And then everything came full circle in 2009. I used to be, I'm not friends with him no more. I gotta say this, I used to be friends with Donald Trump until he went crazy when he ran for office. And so I got hired to host the pageant that he owned, the Miss Universe pageant. So to start off in the smallest state in the country, you know, in pageants and then getting to host the international, like the Super Bowl of pageants with like a half billion people worldwide, that was like, I never thought in my wildest dreams that that would ever happen. So that was like a pretty cool experience. And yeah, that was a pretty good one. Y'all, I did mention that I don't fool him no more, right? I just want to be, I want y'all leaving thinking she a Trump supporter, I'm not a Trump supporter. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. I have many, honestly, but I guess one of the most memorable moments, I received a letter in the mail from a celebrity that I worked with. Just simply wrote, James, I just wanted to let you know I thank you and I love you for changing my life. So that let me know we did our jobs. Who was it? Not gonna tell you. Give us a hand, what's the rhyme with? Isha, Oya, come on, don't y'all want to know? I do. You can't let the people down. We flew all the way over here, James. Come on, then I'll put us up in a hotel and everything. They're associated to Little Wayne, I'll say that. Let me say it. Yeah, I want some more celebrity gossip stories. The floor show is party. What tea do y'all want? So James, y'all, you work with everybody. You don't give shows to everybody. I said you gave shows to a lot of people. Who was the nicest celebrity you ever met that you're like, wow, the world. Everybody I ever worked with was a friend. Oh my God, he lying. Do y'all believe that? Who was the worst celebrity I've worked with? Everybody I've worked with was a friend. I'm trying to get y'all the tea, y'all. What happened? Wait, wait, wait. Where's the camera that's streaming? Where's the camera that's streaming? Can you cover the lens and the microphone for a few minutes? Claudia, who's the worst boyfriend you ever had? We have no filter and you know I'm so tempted to answer because I really, and then I'm gonna be in the blog tomorrow. Okay. Claudia, who's the worst boyfriend you ever had? I'ma tell y'all, I'ma tell y'all because I'ma give y'all hints. He's not that famous though. He's not that famous. He was on another. Who's the worst famous boyfriend you ever had? He was on another reality show with someone pretending to be her boyfriend but he really wasn't her boyfriend and he lied about his age because he wanted to be a rapper at 40 something years old and he had no bars. A quick little Google search. Y'all know who I'm talking about. And he had no car. Okay. We supposed to be positive, y'all. You making me go back in. See, James? They like tea. Have y'all seen the show TGIF on Foxall? Anyone see that show? Have you seen it? So that's Friday night on Foxall. It's my soul, Funky Dineva and Al Reynolds and it's called TGIF and that show is we deliver all the tea on that show. So please watch that Wednesdays and Fridays and then Cocktails of Queens on Monday with Vivica Fox, Lisa Rice, Selena Johnson and myself. Anyone check out that show yet? Has anyone seen that show? I would like to add. Sorry, I don't know if it's the time but I just wanna ask you. First of all, thank you to Kevin and the whole staff here, everyone here at Elizabeth City State University. For having us, it's an honor. We're very gracious and honored to be here so thank you very much for us informals. Very, very, very good. Second thing is please, wherever you can find Foxall, we will not survive without our people. That's key to sincerely to support and if there's something that you don't like or you want to see more of, that's the place that we're live and interactive so you can tell us we need you to survive. We're not dependent on anyone outside of our culture to survive so I'm asking you guys to please support. The last thing is, it just started today. I will announce we are doing a contest only for HBCU students across the country for our show, the Foxall Screening Room which is hosted by Vivica A. Fox. And you can go on foxall.tv, click on the HBCU tab and get all the information. But there's a contest for short films if you do a one minute video, you can be as creative as you wanna be within that one minute video and tell us if you're in communication or whatever and you wanna do a short film, tell us what short film you were doing why. And the contest closed on February 1st, 2022 and the winner will get $5,000 to produce that short film and then you will get to come on Foxall Screening Room and be interviewed by Vivica A. Fox and you will have your short film aired on Foxall. And that's just a part of us doing what we're doing. Do we have any aspiring filmmakers in the house? Any filmmakers in the house? Oh, we got a couple. Okay, so you all will be downloading the Foxall app very soon and going and applying so you can get that $5,000. I would love for the winner to come from this school because this is the first school that we've come to speak to. Don't let me down. I need the winner to come from the school. You have a question? We can't hear you, you gotta go to the mic. I heard him say, are you hiring? You better shoot your shot, he right here. I mean, you know, I have a job, this is my university sub, but this is for the students that are out here that are from a smaller university. We don't really get those opportunities from bigger universities. So are you guys hiring? If so, how do you apply? How do you get in contact for? So first of all, we're always hiring. We're always hiring and internships, whatever. We, Foxall wants to be the place for HBCU students to come and realize you don't have to go through the traditional outlets and try to get into all the other traditional places that it is for us by us truly. And again, we won't survive without us. First and foremost, right? I also want you to remember, I just said the only tab that's on foxall.tv says HBCU Contest, not another university, not anywhere else. So we're open to business. If you want to apply, you can send a, I don't know the exact email, so I don't want anyone to write it down. But you know what? DM me and I'll respond to you. That's where you can do it directly. Everybody that wants a job on Foxall, go ahead and DM James DuBose. And also we may respond. I will respond. I will respond. Oh yeah, so, and then the last, I'm sorry, I know I said three things. The fourth thing is before COVID happened, I had traveled around the different HBCUs because the one thing that's very important to me and all of us at Foxall is we wanted to have on Saturdays a HBCU block where three to four hours of programming are fulfilled by nothing but HBCU content. And again, I don't know another network, another outlet that is saying HBCU students, you can have four hours of your own time on a major network that people can see your work. So again, if there's content you have, hopefully we'll get, a lot of schools are already so excited about it. But as Claudia said, this is the first one we've come back to since the pandemic. I know the TV department and station is, we're gonna help get that up and run it again. And we want this to be the first one we do right now. You all have a great facility. I would love to see some content produced out of that facility that we can rock with, that we can put out there on the HBCU block and support at Foxall. We truly are a network that is for us by us and it not just says it and talks about it, but it's actually about it for real for real. So I really want y'all to take that opportunity and pitch stuff. Go ahead and DM James Dubose and pitch stuff and pitch program ideas to him, right? No, seriously, but you actually have the person here that can green light stuff. So I encourage you to take advantage of that if you are creative and you have ideas. Go ahead and shoot your shot. Yeah, purr, yeah, big purr. Big purr. Well, thank you so much for joining us this evening. It was very informative. And do you would like to drop your social media handles? I know you say you want us to DM you. Can we get your Instagram? Twitter, Twitter. I'm at Dubose official. I'm not on anything else. So if you see anything else out there, that's not me. Only I have one social media thing, Instagram, at Dubose official. I'm at Claudia Jordan on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook and I definitely respond and I'm very interactive hands-on. So just shout, you know, if you mention that we met here and you have any questions, whatever I could do to help you out. I would love to see more people that look like us in the communication field. If we don't tell our stories, somebody else will and they may not be as accurate as we will. You hear me? So we need to be telling our stories. So we need more of us in that creative space as writers, producers, behind the scenes, directors, all that. Accountants to help Claudia account her money. So you don't have to be in the communication field at all. The point is anything you want to do, hopefully we can figure out how to help you get there. I'm gonna need an accountant for the big raise that I'm about to get out to this. So I will need, yes, James? The shade. No, but this was a lot of fun. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for joining us. Yes. Nellie was never my boyfriend. Oh. Y'all. All right, thank you so much. They don't put me with so many people I just took pictures with. But they would just ask me like the real story, so much better than the lies they'd be trying to put. I'm just leaving it at that. But it wasn't Nellie. He was never my... Who? Who? Y'all missed your chance. You missed your chance. I didn't hear what you said. I will be in the lobby taking pictures if anybody want to take a picture. We can talk. Or whatever. Are we taking pictures up here or something? No? Oh. Okay. Yes, we'll do it. A few pictures. So that is a great segue because this has been a picture perfect day. So can you all please give a round of applause to Dr. Nicole Lewis? I am the Assistant Vice Chancellor and Dean of Students here at ECSU. On behalf of Elizabeth City State University and the Community Connections Committee, we want to thank you along with our sponsors for tonight, today, and all of the ways that you have brought excellence, gift, and magic to our campus during Homecoming. It is our hope for students and for you all that you will return and join us for upcoming Community Connection event. Please understand that at the end of Homecoming weekend because we would not even attempt to send something to you in the next 48 hours. You will get a brief survey if you have come tonight to talk to us about your experience here, what you've learned, the tea that you are carrying away so that we know how to bring even more powerful and as equally gifted and magical experiences to you here on our campus. I would like to thank you again and understand that this is just the beginning. We are outside, outside. I am gonna bring to the stage for closing and instructions for the next part of Thursday evening, our Miss ECSU, Diamond Rollinsen. Students, when you exit the building, you will be giving your ticket to attend midnight breakfast. Please make sure that you have your Homecoming wristband in midnight breakfast ticket. You will need both of those to gain entrance into the event. Continue to stay safe. Thank you and have a good night. Viking pride. Viking pride. Viking pride. Viking pride. Thank you.