“We approach Black history as we approach ourselves,” Draper explained. “We do that naturally, with a lens of authenticity, but also with nuances from lived experiences that might help us understand things a little better or dig a little deeper.”
From there, Byrd said she booked talent for a few smaller awards before landing at the BET Awards. “I’ve been on 25-years of BET,” she said. And Byrd acknowledged that she would not have been able to do it without the support of a good team.
Byer chuckled at poking a little fun at the West Coast, and she is naturally funny. But when it comes to doing comedy professionally, Byer does have a process. “The way I write jokes is I either come up with a premise or punchline, and then I talk on stage to see what happens,” she said.
Darin Jones is a Century City based senior business manager with Gelfand Rennert and Feldman, LLC. Jones has 17 years of experience in accounting, and he specializes in entertainment business management. With an extensive background in city government, banking, and real estate, Jones was driven to entertainment business management out of concern for how Black entertainers incorrectly manage their wealth. “I saw how celebrities mismanaged their funds – particularly minority entertainers,” said Jones. “I wanted get out there and help them manage their finances, their investments, managing their books – managing their lifestyles.” Jones likened what he does to being
Johnson continued, “I saw that Spoon was doing a documentary on Coolio. I reached out to Spoon and said, ‘Listen, now you know there’s no way you can have a documentary about Coolio and not include me.”’
In true Lawrence style, he remarked on the chatter about his supposed stroke, followed by him spritely side-leaping across the stage, and then he said, “Does that look like I had a stroke?” From there, he uproariously enthralled the audience.
La Faye Baker is an iconic stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and producer. She is also a humanitarian whose charitable endeavors focus on empowering women.
Dr. Veronica Appleton is a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) expert.
Amongst many stage productions, and film and television adaptations of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Iwuji said playwright Martin Crimp’s translation of the piece is different because it is “sexy, hilarious, and modern.”
Washington said only God and his faith helped him to overcome those challenging times, and he strives to continue to uplift his name by attaching himself to provocative projects like “God’s Not Dead: In God We Trust.”
Dawn Patton, a resident of View Park, is the founder of Try MY T, a brand of gourmet, fresh-brewed iced tea that she created in the unincorporated neighborhood of Los Angeles.
“When you understand what love is – it embodies all three of those components,” said Williams. “You put it all together – you’ve got to be crazy. When you find real love – love that never runs dry – love that lives – it’ll drive you crazy.”
Benet said labels sign deals because they initially believe in what the artists brings to them creatively, but then a team is brought in to change who the artist is organically. “Our whole approach at JBR is to be aware that the artist is the captain of that artist’s career,” said Benet.
He continued, “I enjoy working with them so much, and Fin is such a fun character. He’s got so much going on in his head, and he has to deal with Paige and Edwin at the same time as he’s dealing with himself. He’s got the craziest parental dynamic ever.”
“The aspect of building a house is building a home for kids and queer people who would consider themselves misfits,” said Mizrahi. “They surrounded themselves together and they built a social network, and that became a house.”