Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Rushion interviews Director Tonya Lewis Lee about Black Maternal mortality addressed in her documentary, Aftershock!

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Rushion interviews Director Tonya Lewis Lee about Black Maternal mortality addressed in her documentary, Aftershock! · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to my show Money Making Conversation master Class. I'm
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: your host with Sean McDonald. I recognized that we all
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: have different definitions of success. For you and may be
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the size of your paycheck. Mine is inspiring people to
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: develop their plan to reach their dreams. It's time to
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: stop reading other people's success stories and start writing your own.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: You can only exceed expectations by believing in yourself. People
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: always talk about their purpose or gifts. If you have
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: a gift, lead with your gifts and don't let your friends, family,
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: or co workers stop you from planning or living your dreams.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: My guests is Tanya Lewis Lee in Indie Wire featured
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Tania on their twenty twenty two Rising Female Filmmakers to Watch.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: She's a producer, film director, writer, entrepreneur, and women's health advocate,
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  Speaker 1: delivery meaningful content that resonates with marginalized communities for over
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  Speaker 1: twenty years on the heels of our influential children's book.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: The US Department of Health partner with Tanya as the
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  Speaker 1: spokesperson for their A Healthy Baby Begins with You Infant
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Mortality Award. In this campaign from two thousand seven to
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Tanya is on the Show Today discussed her new doctumentary
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  Speaker 1: following the deaths of two young women due to childbirth complications,
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  Speaker 1: to breathe families, galvanized activists, birth workers, and physicians to
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  Speaker 1: recom with one of the most pressing American crisis today,
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  Speaker 1: the US maternal health crisis. Lee co directed co produced
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  Speaker 1: After Shock, which after Shock Excuse me, which examines the
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  Speaker 1: U S fraternity mortality crisis. It currently is Aaron on Hulu.
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Please welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass. The wonderful Tanya
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  Speaker 1: Lewis Lee. How you doing. I'm good, ra Sean, thank
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  Speaker 1: you so much for that wonderful introduction, and I'm happy
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: to be here in conversation with you about the film.
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  Speaker 1: We know. I want the reason I hopefully I did
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  Speaker 1: you justice in your intro, because to do a documentary
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: like this, there has to be some history, has to
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: be a person who just didn't have a good idea,
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  Speaker 1: came across a good story and and and may this
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  Speaker 1: amazing documentary and by at least giving this background, and
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  Speaker 1: it'll let them know that a lot of emotion, a
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  Speaker 1: lot of history, a lot of experience went into creating Aftershock.
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  Speaker 1: Talk tell us about how you got involved with this project. Yeah. Then,
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  Speaker 1: like I said, I really did appreciate your introduction because
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: you know, it was because of my children's book, Please Baby,
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  Speaker 1: Please UH that the U s Department of Healthing Human
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Services reached out to me and asked me to be
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: a spokesperson where they're infant mortality awareness raising campaign, A
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  Speaker 1: Healthy Baby Begins with You. And it was through that
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  Speaker 1: campaign that I was able to travel the country and
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  Speaker 1: learn first of all about in mortality. I didn't realize
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  Speaker 1: the US at the time when I first started had
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  Speaker 1: an issue within the mortality the United States. I didn't
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  Speaker 1: realize that black babies, like black mothers, are dying at
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  Speaker 1: three to four times the rate of white babies in
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  Speaker 1: this country. UM, and I didn't know about about so
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know about the disparity so UM. Through my travel,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I had the opportunity to meet and talk with lots
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  Speaker 1: of women UM and inevitably a woman would tell me
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  Speaker 1: a story about a friend of sister, cousin, somebody who
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  Speaker 1: had passed away from childbirth complications. So it had been
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  Speaker 1: something that I had been thinking about for a while
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  Speaker 1: because I was hearing it firsthand from the community. UH.
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  Speaker 1: And then back in two thousand seventeen, two thousand eighteen
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  Speaker 1: of the New York Times Republica started reporting on the
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  Speaker 1: issue of maternal mortality here in this country, and it
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  Speaker 1: seemed like that then was the time to really go
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  Speaker 1: out there and and make this film to raise the
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  Speaker 1: awareness so that we can do things to bring the
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  Speaker 1: make for better outcomes. Well, let's let's talk about that,
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: making the fan, producing it, getting the concept in place,
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  Speaker 1: because this is a personal project from a standpoint, is
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  Speaker 1: about African Americans. It's about them being at the high
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  Speaker 1: end of the mortality rate. It's also some history. It
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  Speaker 1: tells you. This is a documentary and informs it educates you,
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  Speaker 1: especially in in how would you when you presented this
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  Speaker 1: project and start producing it. Were there any pushback or
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  Speaker 1: people didn't understand exactly the message you was trying to
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  Speaker 1: deliver with aftershock? Um. You know, it's interesting. I do
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  Speaker 1: think that when we first started working on the film, UM,
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  Speaker 1: not so much pushed back, but I think that people
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  Speaker 1: did were like, what is this really about? How are
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  Speaker 1: you really going to tell the story because it is
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  Speaker 1: such a huge systemic issue. Um. And I think initially
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: some people thought it, well, it's about black women's help.
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  Speaker 1: So it shouldn't cost so much. Your budgets too high,
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: bring it down. And we really felt like the story
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: needed to be told in a way through people's lived experience. Uh,
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: not as a survey film just people talking to camera,
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: although we do have a couple of experts, and we
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: felt that the film deserved to be told the right way,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and so it would cost what it would cost to
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  Speaker 1: make it, and we stuck to stuck to our guns
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  Speaker 1: and made the film that we wanted to make. Well,
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: you know, what people don't take in perspective is that
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: when you're dealing with emotions, they can't be action. Okay,
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: it has to be captured. It has to be it
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: has to be authentic, it has to be there for
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  Speaker 1: the moment. So sometimes hours, sometime days put into perspective
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  Speaker 1: to gather those moments because this is an emotionally charged
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  Speaker 1: documentary because it involves death. And and that's which leads
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  Speaker 1: to the title after shock, you know, because of the
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  Speaker 1: fact that, um, you know you always hear this, uh
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  Speaker 1: when children die before their parents. They said, no, no
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  Speaker 1: parent wants to bury their child. The goal is for
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the child to outlive the parents. And this situation is
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  Speaker 1: about relationships. How did you encounter the individuals that you
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  Speaker 1: are featuring in your documentary. Yeah, it was really something else.
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  Speaker 1: Shamani gives and passed away in October nine and in December,
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  Speaker 1: her mother and her partner other Shawnnie Gibson and her
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  Speaker 1: partner Amari Maynard, decided to have an event that they
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  Speaker 1: called Aftershock, which was essentially a celebration of Shamani's life,
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  Speaker 1: but at the same time they wanted to have a
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  Speaker 1: conversation with the community, so um they put out an
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  Speaker 1: invitation on social media that we saw. We reached out
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  Speaker 1: to Shawnny and to Amari and asked if we could film,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, it was really wonderful that they allowed
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: us to come in and film because they wanted the
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  Speaker 1: word to get out about not just what happened to Shamani,
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  Speaker 1: but about the birthing outcomes in the black community. And
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  Speaker 1: uh Amari with someone who is someone who when he
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  Speaker 1: hears of a father who has been left behind because
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: his partner has passed away from childbirth complications, he reaches
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  Speaker 1: out to them and says, hey, brother, I got you.
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  Speaker 1: I'm here to support you. And he did that for
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  Speaker 1: Bruce McIntyre when Amber Rose Isaac passed away in April,
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  Speaker 1: and he reached out to him just to offer support,
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  Speaker 1: told him about the film. And then and then Bruce,
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  Speaker 1: you know, joined with us, and so uh and for
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the same reason because a week after Amber passed away,
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  Speaker 1: Bruce had a press conference because he wanted to be
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: in conversation with community. He wanted to demand accountability for
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  Speaker 1: Amber's death, but he also wanted to have the conversation.
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  Speaker 1: And so we were very fortunate that we were able
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  Speaker 1: to catch up with shawnny Omari and Bruce so that
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  Speaker 1: we could tell the story because they wanted to tell
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: the story. Yeah, just talking to my audience. You know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: I love talking to talented people like uh Tonia lewis Lee.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: You know, she said, we've reached out to them and
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: now they allowed us to come in. You better have
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: a name you can google. You better have a reputation,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you better have a brand, you have our awareness that
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: you just don't call somebody at a very dark emotional
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  Speaker 1: moment in life and said, we want to come in
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  Speaker 1: and videotape without a reputation that they know you have,
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: you have their that you have their their their their
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  Speaker 1: good will at heart. This is the two I said
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  Speaker 1: to the top rising filmmaker to watch by Indy Wire.
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: And that reputation that you've developed over the year, it's
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  Speaker 1: part of your brand. Allows you to get in the
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: door and use your name to be able to not
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: only push back on the money, which I was really
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: taken it back. We said, well, this black man, man,
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: why is it so high? You know? And then we
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: get that. We get that a lot because I've been
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: in the television business for a long time. When I
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: was Steve Harvey was over to w B and the
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: w B sitcoms with cheaper produced even though it was
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: on the same platform as a white sitcom. So the
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: dollar wealth gap they talked about in the world is
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: also entertainment too, by the way, if y'all don't know that,
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: and so you have to deal with those issues and
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: you're able to overcome it. Is it the relationships? Is
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: it being able to have the resume that you have
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: the experience to be able to counter the conversation that
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: allows you to be successful in this really polarized in
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  Speaker 1: the tame at business that we call you know, supposed
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: to be equidly equal. Yeah, I think that it is true.
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: I mean having having a reputation, having a you know,
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: a track record if you will, uh, certainly does help.
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: And stacking the deck as you go, right. Um, Don
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  Speaker 1: Porter is also an amazing documentary filmmaker who's an executive
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  Speaker 1: producer on our film After Shock. Uh. And so having
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  Speaker 1: her there, Um, you know, you're right. Shawnny, Omary and
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  Speaker 1: Bruce were very aware of myself and my work and
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: so and they trusted me. You know, we Shawnie and
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  Speaker 1: Omari from Brooklyn. Uh, you know, we are Brooklyn people.
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  Speaker 1: They know my husband is, you know, represent the Republic
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: of Brooklyn all the time. So there is that comfort.
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  Speaker 1: And I'll tell you I felt a real responsibility uh
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  Speaker 1: to make sure that we honored Shamani and Amber and
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  Speaker 1: represented the family in a way that is authentic and
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: true to the spirit of who they are. We'll be
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: right back with more Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Now let's return to Money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rashan McDonald.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: It's really interesting when I got an opportunity, when the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: interview came to me, came across my dastins riche you
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: got an interview, you got an interviewer, and I go, Okay,
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: what's what's she doing? What's you're talking about? And then
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: when they when they when they sent me the log
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: line on the doctor bunary. I have six sisters, okay
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: and uh, and so I come from a family, big family,
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: nine kids. Both my parents are staying at home with
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: us for Inner City and so uh, I'm very much
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: aware of a sudden loss of life. So I know that.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: You know, sometimes you have to be honest with your
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: audience and let them know that this is not just
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: a story to me, it's a personal journey. The emotional laws,
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: the suttiness, the shock, the anger, the confort that you
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: don't care about, you know, because the conference can't change
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: what has happened, um the future that you were planning
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: that's cut off, you know, the plans that it's just
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: so many emotions unless you've personally been there. And I
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: was personally engaged with the two men who are are
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: prominently featured in your documentary. Because I was shocked and
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: still shocked. I still think, I still reminisce I still
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: do to what else? And so all these things you
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: have to take into perspective doing this. You have to
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: be a level of sensitivity that this is beyond just
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: recording a story. This is a journey that they guess
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: what we will never forget. I would never turn my
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: back onto what else. I would never forget those moments
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: of moments. But it's something that you, through through brilliant
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: hands and experience, have allowed me to take that journey
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: again in and I thought I would never do that
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: again telling you, well, well, I do hope that in
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: watching their journey Amori Maynard and Bruce McIntyre, that there
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: is comfort in that because you are not alone. And
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I think that there are a lot of men. And
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: one of the things that I think is really exciting
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: to come out of the film because of Bruce and
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Amory is that black men and men in general are
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: talking about paternal mental health, right. I think you know,
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: often when a woman has a child, we think of
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: maternal health is just just being about a woman, But
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: it is about a man too, because it still takes
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: two to make a baby, and men um go through
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the process as well. And then when there's a loss,
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: they're the ones left behind, as as in our case,
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: to raise the children on their own. Uh and and
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: they need support and and they have learned that Bruce
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: and Amory how to support one another, how to support
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: other fathers, and to really engage in this conversation of
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: what does it mean to be a man to to
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: have lost in this way? And um, I think it's
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: a really great opportunity for us to have that conversation,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: get men talking more, being more vulnerable with their feelings
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: with each other so that they too can heal. And
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: it's important. And like I said, um, when when I
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: look at what you're doing and what you're presenting, and
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: you know we're talking to Tanya Lewis Lee. A documentary
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: which is airing currently on huluis called Aftershock. What idea
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: realizes that you always hear that term it's a miracle
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: to have a healthy baby. When something like this happens
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: to you, you realize that it's absolutely the truth. It
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: is a miracle to go through the birth process. I'm
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: talking about their mom. It's a miracle for the baby
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: to come healthy, out healthy. You know, every day after
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: that baby is born, you you're touching them, you making
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: sure they're breathing you, you you, It's just it's just
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: a journey. Need making sure they sit up right, to
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: make sure they when they lean to the left, lean
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: to the left. All those journeys and all those stories
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: are being told in your documentary because it's over a seris.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: It's not just a six month period of years as
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: you see the growth and has shown in footage when
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: you're putting the piece in all this together, what is
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: your thought process, Tanya and Tana and making sure that
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: we understand the journey, the pain, and potential results of
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: what you're trying to accomplish with this documentary. Yeah, it
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: was really important for us to tell the story of
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: the US paternal mortality crisis through the people who have lost.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: At the same time, we wanted to balance that with
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: solutions because this is not something that we can't fix.
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: We did not want the film to be just sad
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: and tell you a problem and then leave you with
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: like now what um and so we really and we
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: also wanted to give you contact X of how we
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: got here. So we talk a little bit about history.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: We UM. We balance out with experts who explain to
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: us how we got here, what, what are the problems?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: And um, how do we fix it? I also have
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: to say that shawnny Amari and Bruce are activists. So
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: they did, they did lose their family member, but they
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: also became very activated and they are inspirational and that
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: they turn their pain into power, as a Maria says
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: in the film, and are really trying to make it better,
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: not just for their family, but for for all of
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: us so that we can have better outcomes. So it
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: was really important with the film to balance sort of
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: the the the hard truth with what can be positive,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the positive potential outcomes that we can have, and a
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: showcase that there are a lot of people on the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: ground doing this work. There are reproductive rights, reproductive justice rights,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: reproductive rights people out there doing the work, is doing
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: the work every day, getting very little shine, very little
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: money for the for the fact of all of us.
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: You know what would would would angers me and it's
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: a positive. Well I say positive is that you know,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: their loss, forced to become an expert, forced to become
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: an expert, and that's not right. And that's what shined
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the most out of this documentary is that the whole
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: documentary is about is not right. It should not be happening.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: And these two men, in this entire family of experts
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: and galvanized too for a greater cause are here because
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: people the system failed them. The system failed them and
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: so many ways it failed them. And some of it's
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: tied to because any lead project, they're gonna lead projects,
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: gonna educate you, by the way, and then they they
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: went into the educational book and I've gained knowledge. When
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: you realize that, you know, c sections make money. They
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: do the hospital. They that's the big payer. We're gonna
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: do a C section. It's gonna make us some money.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: And then but I really really got into a portion
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: of the documentary we will talk about midwives, and that
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: really you know, I actually played that back. You know,
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: I went, this is really because you know, I don't
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: think I know it all. But when I see if
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: my minor's sociology black history, uh was my was my
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: minor in college, got my little straight age. And when
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: I get information that delves into this area, I go,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: you got to be kidding me. But when you hear
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: the truth, how stunned were you or were you aware
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: when you started doing this research and reading about the midwives? Yeah,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: the midwives situation is when you really think about it,
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: it is so crazy. The United States the only developed
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: nation that does not have midwives integrated into women's health.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: And and that is based on a racist premise because
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: black midwives were were those that that took care of
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: everyone giving birth back in the day, not just black women,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: but white women too. But when modern medicine came in,
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: they took the economy of birthing out of the hands
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: of black women, put it into the hands of doctors,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: white doctors, and and and trying to push us all
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: to go into hospitals so that they could have the economy,
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: and then launched a campaign against midwives, telling us that
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: they're dirty, their witches, they're dangerous. That still exists today. Uh,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: and it is, it is. It is not good for us,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: it's it's killing us. And so I was. I was
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: actually really surprised by that and really grateful to Helena Grant,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: who is the midwife in the film, who is an
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: amazing historian, azing amazing Helena Grant. We could have had
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: an entire film with just a camera on Helena telling
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: us so much. There was so much we couldn't put
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: into the film that she educated us on. We'll be
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: right back with more money making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: Now let's return to money Making Conversations Masterclass with Rushan McDonald.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: You know, we always talk about, you know, this critical
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: theory that runs around and people don't want to give
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: you the facts about life in history. And this is
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: one of those great moments when I hear about people
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: trying to deny actual history. This is something that happened,
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: is something that's because it happened, That means it's happening today.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: That means that people have been outlawed and participating who
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: cared about the process instead of being hired to do
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: the process, which is a big difference. And you guys
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: make that distinction in Aftershock talk about that. Yeah, I mean, look,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: I think that again with midwives, they were there, they
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: are still there. I mean, the idea is to educate
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: you about your body. Right, A midwife is there from
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: before you get pregnant to while you're pregnant postpartum. A
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: lot most of these deaths happened postpartum, and midwives are
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: there to watch you, educate your about your body and
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: really empower you so that your body can do what
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: you needed to do um. The thing about uh uh
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: guide to cologists and obstetrictions is that they're they're really surgeons,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: and so they're really looking for a problem. You know,
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: they're and they're ready to operate. And again I just
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: want to say C sections are really important. Thank god
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: we have them, because they are necessary in the right situation.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: But what has happened in this country, as you mentioned,
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: is that it's become about money. It's to come about
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: the economics. So we find ourselves sort of rushed and
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: pushed into unnecessary c sections, which are major surgery, which
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: will cause which can cause problems later down the line.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Um Tanya Lewis Lee m My wife had a beautiful daughter, okay,
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: And when the opportunity presented itself, they said, Mr McDonald,
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: would you like to be in the room where your
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: wife delivers? I said no, I said, I wait outside.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: Please let me know when that beautiful child is born.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: And I come in with all the drama, all the trauma,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: all that is gone, ladies, said Jessifer. And after shot,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: I was shocked because I got to see you the
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: actual delivery of a child. Now I say that, I
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: don't know if I should say thank you for allowing
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: me to see that, because I wasn't traumatized like I
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: thought I would be. But the fact that you were
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: able to I wouldn't say the word convince a couple
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: to allow that to be filmed, but it will talk
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: about that whole process that because that was amazing. Yeah. Again, again,
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: we were so lucky to find an amazing couple. We
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: didn't have to convince them at um. You know, Felicia
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: and Paul Ellis they you know, Felicia was pregnant and Tulsa, Oklahoma, Um,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: there was a duela service there. The Tulsa Birth Equity
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: Initiative reached out to her and said we can we
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: can get you a dula if you'd like, and and
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: she said yes, And that's how we met Felicia. Felicia
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: wanted to share her experience because, as she says in
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: the film, being a black woman, uh, pregnant black woman
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: is like being a black man at a traffic stop.
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: You have to pay attention to every step of the way.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: So she was really willing to allow us to go
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: on the journey with her. And again, as she says
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: in the film, she's thinking she's just gonna have give
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: birth a regular way, you know, with a doctor and
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: at a hospital. But then towards the end of her pregnancy.
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: She's like, wait a minute, maybe there's another way, and
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: allowed us to go with her and find the birthing
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: center and the midwives that would attend with her at
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: her birth, and her husband attended with her. I'm glad
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: we got you to see the traumatizing. Now if we
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: ever were like ship, now we have you. You took
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: it ball down the road. I thought I wouldn't go
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: to see again every way in my life. But I
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: want to thank you. I want to thank you. I
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: want to thank you because of who you are, because
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: you people trusted you. You're telling a very powerful story,
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: very needed story after Shock, which is currently airing on Hulu.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: It examines the U as a maternal mortality crisis, and
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: always when you hear the word crisis, somehow it just
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: falls heavily on the black and brown community. And we
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: talked about that and it must be talked and it
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: will continue to be talked. And I just I know
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: we're about to wrap up. I would tell you something
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: about me personally, For somehow, my life has been interesting.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: When I was a senior in high school, way back
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: in the eighteen seventy six, I was I did a
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: report my senior class report was about morphine babies, babies
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: who were born addicted to drugs. So I've always had
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: this journey, this this knowledge to make it right within
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: the black community and to know and then then to
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: go from seventy six to see your documentary in two
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: all think I said as wow, Wow, that's a blessing.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: That's a blessing to know that I met a person
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: who has the same values I have. I didn't continue
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: down that lane, but you brought me back, and you
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: brought me back with a slap upside of the head, said, boy,
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: get back in that saddle. When you will, you will,
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: you would hit it down the right track. I will
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: promote this for you. I would tell people about it
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: as much as I can possibly tell about social media
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: and my newsletters and everything. Fantastic project. Congratulations to Hulu
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: for allowing you to have this documentary over I know
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: a lot of over there on ex collection. They're great people.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: And again, thank you for coming to on Money Making
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Conversation masterclass. Thank you so much for the conversation with
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: Sean about a pleasure. Thank you and if you want
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: to see this video or here, please go to Money
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Making Conversation dot com. I'm with Sean McDonald. I am
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: your host,