Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / Perseverance: Emmy Award-winning Sheryl Lee Ralph talks career and starring on ABC's Abbott Elementary.

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Perseverance: Emmy Award-winning Sheryl Lee Ralph talks career and starring on ABC's Abbott Elementary. · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you're about to make a change in your life
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: and you feel uncomfortable, that's the best feeling you can have.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Because for the first time in your life, you'll make
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  Speaker 2: an a decision that's going to be best for you
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: and not what somebody told you to do. And that's
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: when all bets are off. Welcome to Money Making Conversation Masterclass.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: I'm your host, Rashwan MacDonald.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Our theme is there's no perfect time to start following
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  Speaker 1: your dreams. I recognize that we all have different definitions
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  Speaker 1: of success.
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  Speaker 2: For you and maybe the size of.
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  Speaker 1: Your AHA, It's time to stop reading other people's success
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  Speaker 1: stories to start living your own keep winning. My next
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: guest is a perfect example of leading with her gifts,
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  Speaker 1: understanding the purpose, and accomplishing her dreams because she lives
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  Speaker 1: them every day. Her name is Shirley raft In the
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  Speaker 1: Word winning actress, singer, producer, author, and philanthropist. Sureley's renowned
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  Speaker 1: entertainment career on screen and stage spans over a three
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  Speaker 1: decks aids in the ever changing entertainment landscape. Shirl's career
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  Speaker 1: has spanned a range of comedy, drama, TV, famme and theater.
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  Speaker 1: She's starting currently in a new comedy series, very very
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  Speaker 1: funny comedy series that calls Abbot Elementary airs on ABC.
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  Speaker 2: On Tuesday nights at nine pm.
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  Speaker 1: And also I saw the three episodes on Hulu, so
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  Speaker 1: you can catch on ABC dot Com or Hulu. I
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  Speaker 1: saw m on Hulu all three episodes. Fantastic.
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  Speaker 2: But she plays the.
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  Speaker 1: Character Barbara, a long time and respected Philadelphia Kidneycarten teacher,
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  Speaker 1: and it's amazing.
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  Speaker 2: And very very relatable.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, and while working in front of the camera,
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  Speaker 1: she keeps her life busy. She's also a passionate health
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  Speaker 1: advocate and honored AIDS advocate. She is the founding director
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  Speaker 1: of Diva. Please welcome to Money Making Conversations Masterclass. The incredible,
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  Speaker 1: incredibly accomplished.
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  Speaker 2: Shirley Raff. How you doing, Cheryl?
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  Speaker 3: I'm doing.
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  Speaker 2: What should I say, Miss Rapp? What should I say,
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  Speaker 2: Miss Ralph?
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  Speaker 4: Because you can say goddess.
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  Speaker 1: Because you look like a goddess. You look like a diva.
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  Speaker 1: You have an amazing career. I recently saw this interview
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  Speaker 1: it was on YouTube which we was talking about Sidney Poitier.
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  Speaker 4: You know it's so interesting. Well, first of all, you
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  Speaker 4: gave me you took a few years off of my career,
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  Speaker 4: which I'm sure is a wonderful thing, except for the
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  Speaker 4: fact that it's been close to forty five years.
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  Speaker 3: My very first job.
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  Speaker 4: I was nineteen years old, fresh at college, and Sidney
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  Speaker 4: Quatier gave me my very first job in a film
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  Speaker 4: called A Piece of the Action, which was the last
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  Speaker 4: of a trilogy of.
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  Speaker 3: Films that he did.
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  Speaker 4: Me absolutely and I played a bad young girl, Barbara hanleyper.
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  Speaker 3: It's so funny because Barbara Hanley.
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  Speaker 4: I've been hearing people say that's why Barbara Howard is
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  Speaker 4: such a.
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  Speaker 3: Great teacher, because she was Barbara Hanley.
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  Speaker 4: So I just love the fact that people are able,
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  Speaker 4: you know, through all of these generations, are able to
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  Speaker 4: put it together full circle like that, and that The
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  Speaker 4: start for me was mister Potier, who stayed in touch
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  Speaker 4: with me for most of my career. The last time
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  Speaker 4: I spoke with him, I had just gotten cast in
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  Speaker 4: a series called Instant mom Y.
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  Speaker 2: Tamari right, Tamori.
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  Speaker 4: Right, Yeah, And he was so wonderful and he told
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  Speaker 4: me how proud he was of me and that I
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  Speaker 4: didn't let him down, and it was a great, great conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Well, you know, the interesting thing about your charactercuse. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I've been a sitcom writer and so I've been fortunate
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  Speaker 1: to you know, create lines or saraph and Johnson, who
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: was Sarah.
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  Speaker 4: You know, sarap Phony is one of the greats Sarah
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: is another one of those people who you know, she
• 4:04
  Speaker 4: was one of the creators of Moesha. And from generation
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: to generation people know Sarah from.
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  Speaker 3: The Quad, they know her from you know, so many things,
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  Speaker 3: and right now she's on Queen Sugar.
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  Speaker 4: But there have been so many series that Sarah Finney
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  Speaker 4: has had a major hand in quite.
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  Speaker 1: Literally, well you know you've you've had your hands in
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  Speaker 1: several levels. You know, we can all go back to Dreamgirls,
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  Speaker 1: and I remember what I was doing the Steve. My
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  Speaker 1: first income was Steve Harvey's and me and.
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  Speaker 2: The boys and all we could do. And that was
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  Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety four.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: And all they kept saying, we got to get Shirley
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  Speaker 1: Raff on it because she's the one.
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  Speaker 2: She's the one.
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  Speaker 1: We got to have a messal because he needed a
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  Speaker 1: love interest our first because our first love interest was
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Wendy Rickare Robinson.
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  Speaker 2: He said, yes, he's good, but we gotta.
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  Speaker 1: Get Shirley Raff and I remember it was just a
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  Speaker 1: push in the writer's room and all the executive producers,
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  Speaker 1: all the ABC networks said, she's the.
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  Speaker 2: One, and you've always had that.
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  Speaker 1: She's the one tone from the industry and it comes
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: from not only relationships, but doing the job and being
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  Speaker 1: a professional. And a lot of people misstep that because
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  Speaker 1: of the fact that you can only I think, have
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  Speaker 1: a long career when people have worked with you and
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  Speaker 1: want to work with you again.
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: Talk about longevity and relationships.
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  Speaker 3: I think you just put your voice on it.
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  Speaker 4: Who knows you, who likes you, who wants to work
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  Speaker 4: with you, who wants to work with you again.
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  Speaker 3: I just came back from Philadelphia.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I commute my husband, Senator Hughes of Pennsylvania.
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  Speaker 4: He and I, well, I do the commuting. But we
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  Speaker 4: were laughing because a friend of mine has a new series,
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: Sean McBride. Shy and I did a movie together called
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  Speaker 4: Distinguished Gentleman. Absolutely Murphy, absolutely Yeah, And then Shy and I.
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  Speaker 3: Have you know, on and off, you know, in Touch.
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  Speaker 4: He got his new sitcom and he said, I got
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  Speaker 4: to get Sherry.
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  Speaker 3: Lee Rout and I can't.
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  Speaker 4: I was on the plane and they were like, Shi
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  Speaker 4: has asked me if you do this show with him,
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  Speaker 4: and you know it's small, but I'm just like when
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  Speaker 4: your friends and people call you because they've got to
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  Speaker 4: have you, the least you can say is okay, yes.
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  Speaker 1: Well I never to tell everybody I've been in the
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  Speaker 1: room when they've been demanding and asking for this young lady,
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  Speaker 1: this diva, this goddess. And over the years I've seen her,
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  Speaker 1: you know, and I guess what. She came on the
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  Speaker 1: set and she delivered. But here's the thing about it
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  Speaker 1: is that she delivered with humbleness, professionalism. There's a certain
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  Speaker 1: way you come on because I've been fortunate to be
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  Speaker 1: around a lot of stars, and some stars I don't
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  Speaker 1: want to be around, okay, and some talent that aren't stars,
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  Speaker 1: I don't want to be around. Okay, we don't even
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  Speaker 1: get in that because she knows what I'm talking about,
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  Speaker 1: and so, but the.
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  Speaker 2: Problem that the issue is always delivering.
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  Speaker 1: If because we are working under a stress situation, you know,
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  Speaker 1: we have to deliver.
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  Speaker 2: We're doing lines, we have to make sure the lin
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  Speaker 2: reach right.
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  Speaker 1: You have to write a character, you have to come
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  Speaker 1: in and we're all hoping in praying that this series
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  Speaker 1: gets renewed people watching the series and get the ratings.
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  Speaker 1: There's so many things that go into creating the project.
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  Speaker 1: Then you have to put it out there and see
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  Speaker 1: if the geral public likes it. And then you have
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  Speaker 1: to have a talent like Shirley Raff who wants to
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  Speaker 1: promote it.
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  Speaker 2: See see if she.
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  Speaker 4: Doesn't want to saying you see, that's why you're doing
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  Speaker 4: this show about money making because promotion, promotion, promotion. You
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  Speaker 4: can have the most incredible idea script series out there,
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  Speaker 4: but if nobody knows it's there, it means absolutely nothing.
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  Speaker 4: You know, I shoot two series. I shoot Abviod Elementary,
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  Speaker 4: and I shoot a series called Motherland Fort Salem, which
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  Speaker 4: is an outstanding series on.
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  Speaker 2: The Spree form.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely I don't I got you, I got about you.
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  Speaker 1: I got you, Okay, I got you Because Demetria, she's that's.
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  Speaker 4: Exactly right, and people should see Demetria.
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  Speaker 3: People should see the show.
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  Speaker 4: When you've got a woman like me as the forty fifth,
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  Speaker 4: the forty fifth president of the United States in an
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  Speaker 4: alternative world where the future is truly feminine, they should
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  Speaker 4: see it.
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  Speaker 3: But they don't see it because of a lack of promotion.
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: But abviod Elementary abvid Elementary is pouring the sauce, stated
• 8:29
  Speaker 4: on Nymorrow, you hear me, Oh gosh. When we were
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: shooting this show in secret, people were like, mode up,
• 8:39
  Speaker 4: wait a minute. That that little girl from what Black
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: Lady Sketch show? No, no, no, that little woman from BuzzFeed,
• 8:48
  Speaker 4: the Q Lady that I call her the true Queen Bee.
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  Speaker 3: Oh, we need to know about this. It has been amazing,
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  Speaker 3: It is amazing.
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  Speaker 1: You know, thing't think about it because before the show
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: came on my radar, you know, it hit buzz And
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: then my staff I said we shouldn't have you saw emplementary.
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  Speaker 2: I said, no, I have seen Raell. You got to
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: see it. It's funny. This is funny. This is really
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  Speaker 2: really funny.
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  Speaker 1: And so and then I saw an article on her.
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  Speaker 1: Because I live in two city. I live in Atlanta,
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  Speaker 1: I live in Houston.
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  Speaker 2: I always read the.
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: Houston newspaper and I just saw an article on the
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  Speaker 1: creator and the lead in and I was just reading
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  Speaker 1: about her, and I go okay.
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  Speaker 2: And then they said, oh, you know, Shirley Raft scheduled
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  Speaker 2: to do your show. I go, okay, I gotta watch it, because.
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  Speaker 1: What I don't do Shiryl, I do not interview people
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  Speaker 1: on that, you know, just read your bio and ask
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  Speaker 1: your in their questions.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: I hate that. I hate that.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: So I'm sitting on my sofa yesterday and I saw
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: episode one, I saw episode two, I saw episode three,
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  Speaker 1: and I the principle.
• 9:50
  Speaker 4: James, Now James, I think is a bright talent that
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  Speaker 4: she has not acted before.
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  Speaker 3: This is her a show like this, and she is
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  Speaker 3: killing it.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: Killing it you.
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  Speaker 1: And and here's the thing about it is set in
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: Philadelphia as a kindergarten citty, you know.
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: Like it's a primary.
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: Primary school center and so and so when we say
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: that means that it's a public school, correct, because they are.
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: They're struggling for funds, they're struggling to kids supplies, they're
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: struggling to deliver adequate and correct education to these young kids.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: And and it is a black population of kids to
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the tending school, which is typical for a public school.
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: And her character, Barber is the seasoned teacher.
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: I would say, you always have these shows where you
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: have to have somebody who's extreme, and that's uh, that's
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the white character.
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: She's extreme because you don't know if she.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: Because she has a line and she said, you know,
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: I can make more money on the streets. And you
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: don't know what that means. You go, is that drugs?
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Is that prostitution? What is she talking about?
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: And that's played by Lisa and Walter and is really
• 11:07
  Speaker 4: amazing and wonderful as well.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: And you feel the reality of a character, you feel
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  Speaker 1: the comedic frustration of all these characters that are put together.
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  Speaker 1: And I think that's what it all happens when we
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: talk about this series Abbott Elementary. You do a table read,
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: surel and a table reader to tell everybody's like you know,
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: they bring everybody in the cast, the producers there, sometimes
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: network is there, of course, the person who wrote the
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  Speaker 1: script and other writers and then the cast sits around
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  Speaker 1: the table and they read the script.
• 11:36
  Speaker 2: Okay in seats. That's when you really get a sign
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: a sense.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: So if something's flat or something works, they will expand
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: on it. You add to it all that, We'll fix that,
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: We'll fix that, We'll fix that. How is it that
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: table read? When you set down for this series.
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: The pilot, please don't go anywhere. We'll be right back
• 11:58
  Speaker 5: with more money making conversations now, class, welcome back to
• 12:07
  Speaker 5: the money Making Conversations Masterclass hosted by Rashan MacDonald. Money
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: Making Conversations Masterclass continues online at Moneymakingconversations dot com and
• 12:17
  Speaker 5: follow Money Making Conversations Masterclass on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: I honestly have to tell you that sitting there listening
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: to the show, I really knew that I was onto
• 12:34
  Speaker 4: something very special. When we were doing dream Girls back
• 12:39
  Speaker 4: in the day and we would stand in the wings
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: and listen to Jennifer Holidays sing, I knew we were
• 12:46
  Speaker 4: onto something special. When I met Brandy doing Moesha and
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: this young girl came on in all of her braides
• 12:55
  Speaker 4: and just being herself, I knew we were onto something special.
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  Speaker 4: That table reread with ABD Elementary I was doing.
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  Speaker 3: Yes.
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  Speaker 1: First of all, I felt you were you were two
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: of my teachers in high school. That's that's Lenda Trailer,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: she's my biology teacher, and as Georgia Nelson that she
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: was my math teacher. You know, they were both people
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: who focused me. Who who who allowed me to sit
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: here in this chair today because of those two teachers.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: So I felt your character Barble was very relatable from
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: that step because because I needed that, I needed that
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: person that Okay, you stop, stop all this silliness. This
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: is who you are and that's what your character is,
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: defines this role in there and the beauty of this
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: series and everybody.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: It's kind of like shot like it's a docuseriies.
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: In other words, if it makes it seem like a
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: documentary team is following them around.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: Cool.
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: So you get a lot of action towards the camera
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: and then a lot of did I say that in
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: front of the camera, and so so and so. So
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: that also plays into another a fourth wall and you
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: are the fourth wall that they're talking to. And that
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: really makes for an original concept for us to review
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: this sitcom because I'm pretty sure it's a single camera
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: they're shooting.
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: It's not a multi camera, single camera no, we have.
• 14:26
  Speaker 4: It's amazing because what Quinta has developed here is something.
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: Literally brand new.
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: Okay, well maybe it's not brand new, but it's it's
• 14:39
  Speaker 4: very different because when we're working, we have a whole
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: ballet going on with the cameras.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: They they're never still. They're they're not on you know,
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: not rack and roll.
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: They're sort of scooters with wheels and everything.
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: So they're there. It's almost like a dance right that.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: They're doing each other to make sure that they catch everything.
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: There are some things that they have caught, and I
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: was like, I know they didn't just catch that.
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: You know.
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: And sometimes I see the show and I'm like, oh
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: my god, they're like watching everything. You know. It's it's
• 15:18
  Speaker 4: it's like that, and it's been it's been great to
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: be a part of something brand new. And I say
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: this a lot, but Quina Brunson, when I look at
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: Quinta Brunsen, I feel the way I believe Maya Angelou.
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: Felt when she looked at me.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: Maya Angelou looked at me and said, one day, when
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: I hear you speak ry Lee Ralph, I know it
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: was all worth it. And I felt so, oh my god.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: It just made me feel so good. And now when
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: I look at Quinta and here she is, writing, creating,
• 16:02
  Speaker 4: producing this show, I look at her and I've been
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: through it with this industry, and I feel it was
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: all worth it, and I'm just so proud of her.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, and you should be.
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: You know, her background, her mom was a teacher. The
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: Quinta that's the start the show and the creator, and
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: so that so she's she's she's gaining information from a
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: lifestyle that she grew up around. And then it still
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: goes back to the characters that you know, the whether
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: it's the janitor, whether it's the sub teacher.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: William Stanford janitor, and he is funny because he's always
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: in the room and then he says something crazy and
• 16:41
  Speaker 4: you're like, I forgot he was right there.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Oh he knows y'all.
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: When y'all in the break room, he can say whatever,
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: y'all not listening, I'm going fishing. I'm going fishing. Nobody
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: goes what did he say? But exactly, well, you know that.
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: It's just the fun part about it. I'm speaking to
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: Shirley Ralph Credible. Shirley Ralph I on one show.
• 17:01
  Speaker 6: We all know her history and television stage director author, uh,
• 17:06
  Speaker 6: but this show that she's starting in Abbot Elementary, which
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: airs on ABC on Tuesdays.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: If you miss it, go to ABC dot Com, go
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: to Hulu. I called it on Hulu. It's an amazing
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: show from a docu series style. Because the cameras they
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: they are there. Sometimes they go ooh, I didn't know
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: what the cameras were there. I didn't really mean to
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: say that. You're gonna cut that right, and then so
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: and so. It captures a lifestyle. It's a very modern
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: approach to school. The principal. The school principal, she actually
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: has a green screen studio in her.
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: In her office.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: And so that's why I really loved about it. It felt
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: so modern, but it didn't feel forced. And I think
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: that I think that that's important that people hear that.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Because I had a friend of mine they were saying
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: that they were working on a project, a sitcom project,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: and they said that the executive came back and said, well,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: it feels kind of dated, it feels like a feels
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: like a traditional sitcom. Well, this is not a traditional sitcom.
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: And I'm just gonna let you know that it's a
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: very innovative. It's very it's very modern, it's very sensitive.
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: It also has those dramatic moments which I like in
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: brilliant sitcoms, where you know, we can laugh through the pain,
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: but then we got the message of the pain.
• 18:18
  Speaker 2: Talk about that.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Thank you. You know, it's so interesting.
• 18:23
  Speaker 4: When I first saw the script, I loved the character
• 18:26
  Speaker 4: of the principle and I said to Quin to give
• 18:28
  Speaker 4: me a shot at the principal, and she said, no,
• 18:30
  Speaker 4: absolutely not. We need a queen from missus Howard.
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: And that's you.
• 18:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, and she.
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: Has given me the wonderful task of doing exactly what
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: you just said.
• 18:40
  Speaker 3: I delivered the heart and the message of the show.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: You know, it's really interesting you say that because you know,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: if you you know a slice of my life. And
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I grew up in the hood, and I grew up
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: a six sisters, two brothers, two bedroom shotgun house.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: That was me.
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: So I go through high school and I'm going to
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: tell you it wasn't to college that I actually used
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: a fork knife.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: So when I would eat, and when I eat, my
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: friends would go, why you eat everything with a spoon? Well,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: that's all I had at the house was a spoon,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: and so I would cut my meat with a spoon.
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: I would they go, dude, there's a knife and a
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: frog there. Well, guess what I didn't know. I didn't
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: have it, so guess what I was.
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: I was cool with.
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: It, And then of course I realized, Okay, there are
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: others that you can use. Did you use But that's
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: exactly what you're saying. If you don't know, then you're
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: comfortable with Guess what? It didn't hurt my growth. It
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: didn't stump my growth. It was just something I didn't
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: know was available to me. But it didn't stop me
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: from being successful. And that's what I take away from
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: that line. When I saw that moment, it was just
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: a flashback to my life when I was just in
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: college cutting everything with a spoon. I was eating with
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: a spoon, and when I when I went through the line,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: I just grabbed a spoon and you know, they got
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: a knife and fok over.
• 19:53
  Speaker 2: I go, okay, no, biggie, I'm cool.
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: But wonderful point.
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: The wonderful point to this is that you were raised
• 20:02
  Speaker 4: in a home that made you feel good about what
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: you had. You did not feel less than yes, And
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: I love.
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: The fact that we were able to say that out loud.
• 20:15
  Speaker 4: You should not be made to feel less than because
• 20:19
  Speaker 4: you don't have as much as others. You know, I
• 20:23
  Speaker 4: tell you, I'm a plane ordinary middle class child of
• 20:27
  Speaker 4: the sixties kid, and I always thought I was rich,
• 20:31
  Speaker 4: always thought I was rich.
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: I grew up and.
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: Found out I was rich right now.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: Parents made me feel good about what I had and
• 20:44
  Speaker 4: where I was in life, And just like you, it
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: did not stop me from reaching for my dreams. It
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: did not deter me from being becoming who it was.
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: I am still becoming.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: I want to talk about you being an eight A
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: actor before I close out, because I think it's important.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Part of who you are.
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: I've seen what you've done over the years is you've
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: been front and center, and I think that's important that
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: people know that. You know, you want to you know,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: like I see how recently Betty White passed away and
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: they honored her on one hundredth birthday by because he's
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: an advocate for pets, you know, animals, so and I'm
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: not comparing her activism for AGE to pets. I'm just
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: saying that people are more than what.
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: You see they are.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: They do more behind the scenes, and sometimes just because
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: they are public figures, you're entertained.
• 21:34
  Speaker 2: That's all we care about. That's all we want to know.
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: You've been an activist in age. Talk about why that
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: was so.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: You've been honored the United Nations, You've been honored the Jamaica.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: You know, you have been an international advocate. Talk about
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: why that has been so important to you.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: As an original company member of dream Girls, the musical,
• 21:55
  Speaker 4: the original on Broadway, you know, we lost one third
• 22:00
  Speaker 4: of our company to AIDS, not HIV to AIDS, and
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: nobody said anything about that loss, And somehow it stuck
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: with me and I said, no, we have to do better.
• 22:14
  Speaker 4: We have to acknowledge these talented, amazing, beautiful men that
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: we have lost, and a few women too, but not
• 22:24
  Speaker 4: in our company.
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: But that's how I got involved. And it's so.
• 22:29
  Speaker 4: Hard for me now after everything I learned about the
• 22:34
  Speaker 4: HIV virus. That tell me a lot about human behavior.
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: People are hard headed. Yes, people do not believe the
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: truth even when it is told to them. People enjoy lives.
• 22:49
  Speaker 4: When they say ignorance is not bliss, it is only
• 22:53
  Speaker 4: a saying as a warning.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 22:55
  Speaker 4: When it came to HIV, we knew that condoms were
• 22:59
  Speaker 4: an known barrier to the disease.
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: Could we get people to wear condoms?
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: Could we get women to carry condoms and protect themselves? No,
• 23:09
  Speaker 4: it doesn't feel good, it doesn't fit HIV get tested?
• 23:14
  Speaker 4: Could we get people to get tested? And if they
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: did get tested, they would only go in for their
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: first test and would not come back for their results.
• 23:24
  Speaker 4: People who know or knew that they were positive for
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: HIV back in the day did not tell anybody, And
• 23:33
  Speaker 4: then act like.
• 23:35
  Speaker 3: It's a lie.
• 23:36
  Speaker 4: Yes, HIV did not have to become a black woman
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: in the South burden, but it is. People are hard headed,
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: they don't want to listen to the truth, and they
• 23:48
  Speaker 4: want to make up all kind of stories around these things,
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: talking about why should people why should the government be
• 23:56
  Speaker 4: telling me what to do? Well, here's here's some things
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: that you don't have to do. Please, do not get
• 24:03
  Speaker 4: a driver's license. Get out there and drive without your license.
• 24:07
  Speaker 4: See what happens when they find you driving without a license. Please,
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: if you're in a state where they charge you income tax,
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: don't pay your taxes.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Just don't pay your taxes because when.
• 24:19
  Speaker 4: The IRS finds you, you're going to see what happens
• 24:23
  Speaker 4: when people tell you some of the things that you
• 24:25
  Speaker 4: have to do. And by the way, we vaccinate our
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: children for a lot of diseases so that they can
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: go to school so that other children don't get sick.
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: I suggest you try not vaccinating your child for anything,
• 24:42
  Speaker 4: because that child will not be going to school anywhere.
• 24:46
  Speaker 4: So those are just a few of the things that the.
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: Government tells you you must do. What you're going to do,
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: that's what I need to know.
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: What you're going to do because see, I need you
• 24:55
  Speaker 4: to survive and I need you to fight for our
• 24:58
  Speaker 4: dog on right to vote because if you want to
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: make some money, you need to be able to vote
• 25:03
  Speaker 4: and tell people where to spend the money that they
• 25:05
  Speaker 4: have got for you that you don't know about because
• 25:08
  Speaker 4: you're not part of this, you're not voting.
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: I'm just saying, don't get misstarted. That's my life.
• 25:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I will tell you this.
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: That little porster right there will be clipped and put
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: on my social media because that's the part of it life.
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: That's Shirley Raft.
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: I know that's surely if I've seen that's the part
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: that you're hearing this interview. She's a water win actress, singer, producer, author, philanthropist.
• 25:33
  Speaker 2: She's a goddess. She's a diva. More importantly, on Tuesdays, Hulu.
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: ABC dot Com, watch a very funny series Abbot Elementary.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: It stars in Arizon ABC, but it got so many
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: great outlets that you can see. It's a brilliant comedy
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: set in Philadelphia primary school.
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: You, my friend, are outstanding. You still look amazing.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Thank you for taking the time to Money Made Conversation Masterclass.
• 25:58
  Speaker 2: Shirley Raft I'm your host, Sean McDonald.
• 26:00
  Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you for joining us for this edition
• 26:06
  Speaker 5: of Money Making Conversations Masterclass. Money Making Conversations Masterclass with
• 26:12
  Speaker 5: Rushan McDonald is produced by thirty eight fifteen Media Inc.
• 26:16
  Speaker 5: More information about thirty eight fifteen Media Inc. Is available
• 26:20
  Speaker 5: at thirty eight fifteen media dot com. And always remember
• 26:24
  Speaker 5: to lead with your gifts