My dad always said,
as long as you're
living in the rearview mirror,
you will always crash.
So you can't change the past,
but you can change your future,
you can change where you want to go,
and that's how you should lead.
And when you find something that you love
and you find passion
and you find enjoyment in those things,
nothing else will stop you.
You never know how
your life is going to go,
but you dream big.
We never sought out to have a business.
We really just were two kids
that wanted to make a movie, love film.
We didn't have the support,
we didn't have the mentorship self
taught first generation.
I mean, no one in my family
has ever had a business.
Through the multiple
no's is how we learned
how to do this by ourselves.
And by that we've created our own
financial partner.
We write and direct all of our projects.
We own all of our own IP.
So instead of being
dependent on the system,
we are independent.
Not many people can say that.
To be able to show the audience
that you can do this
and not only in front of the camera,
but behind the camera,
is everything to us.
To build a brand domestically
that has the hundred million dollar
box office is something to be said.
People are paying attention to our work.
I'm creating a legacy
that will live forever.
If we can turn that around
to an international business, to where
we're known all over the world,
now we're talking like,
you know, I can never be satisfied.
I'm like, OK, what's next?
What do we do next?
I have to just keep going
because no one is
going to take care of me.
No one's going to do anything
for me, and I have to believe in myself,
trust in myself.
This industry is a male
dominated business.
You're judged from the time
you walk in the room.
You're always fighting for one
for being a woman, two
for being a black woman.
All the boxes don't get checked
the same way they do with everyone else
and so you got to fight
10 times harder to get the job.
Although I probably have done
all of the work and
more than they have done,
because I've done every position
to get to where I'm at
so I know all the ins and outs.
So if I'm not fighting for myself,
then no one's going to
fight for me, right?
And so my goal is to
get them to understand
and respect my intelligence, my emotions,
my relationships,
my hard work, my dedication.
So they will also fight with me.
There should be no color
lines, no sexist lines
it's straight, "We're a team.
We're building and
we're fighting together."
My approach is just show up, show out,
do your job, and we're all good.
I just come to work.
CLIMB organization is very near
and dear to me because of my upbringing.
Its: Community Learn
Inspire Motivate Build.
And so that's exactly
what I'm trying to do,
is create CLIMBers.
To me, this is why I'm here.
That's my purpose.
It's the work I'm supposed to be doing.
I want to change lives.
So breaking those cycles,
whether it's with the CLIMBers
or with the industry
being bold when you don't want to,
making things uncomfortable
so people will make change
is everything that I embody.