Latest / The Breakfast Club / Grace Under Fire: What Michelle Obama Taught Us About Power

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Grace Under Fire: What Michelle Obama Taught Us About Power · The Breakfast Club

0:02
Speaker 1: I'm a homegrowl that knows a little bit about everything
0:04
Speaker 1: and everybody. You know, if you don't lie about that. Right, Hey, y'all,
0:10
Speaker 1: what's up? Is Lauren len Rosa And this is the
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Speaker 1: Latest with Lauren Lenrosa. This is your daily deal on
0:16
Speaker 1: all things pop culture, entertainment, news, and all of the
0:19
Speaker 1: conversations that shake the room. Baby. Now checking in behind
0:23
Speaker 1: the Scenes of the Grind, which is our segment here
0:25
Speaker 1: at the Latest with Laura l Rosa where I get
0:28
Speaker 1: a chance to really sit down and think about how
0:29
Speaker 1: I'm feeling. And hopefully you guys at home are doing
0:32
Speaker 1: the exact same thing as I am doing it. That
0:35
Speaker 1: is the intention, because a lot of times when you're moving,
0:38
Speaker 1: you're hustling, your grinding, you're trying to figure things out,
0:40
Speaker 1: you solving problems for yourself, your mom, your dad, whoever,
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Speaker 1: you don't ever really take the time you need to
0:46
Speaker 1: just check in, just sit down, check in and see
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Speaker 1: how you're really feeling about some real things. So checking
0:55
Speaker 1: in behind the scenes of the Grind. This connects to
0:59
Speaker 1: the episode a bit. I am feeling very empowered. Now.
1:06
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna hold y'all, I'm not one of them
1:08
Speaker 1: girlies who like it, loves all of the women empowerment brunches,
1:12
Speaker 1: and you know, all the things I think. I think
1:16
Speaker 1: sometimes a lot of that stuff can be very performative.
1:18
Speaker 1: I know people who do it and it's not performative,
1:20
Speaker 1: but I think it can be performative. And I think
1:22
Speaker 1: the performance of it has taken away from the true
1:25
Speaker 1: essence of like, Yo, I'm gonna get together a bunch
1:29
Speaker 1: of dope people to have a bunch of dope conversations
1:33
Speaker 1: because we all be going through things for real, for real,
1:35
Speaker 1: I mean men, women, black, white, yellow, and different. Everybody
1:40
Speaker 1: goes through things. Yes, it is very different as you
1:43
Speaker 1: start to change the color you're not. You know, I've
1:46
Speaker 1: not ever here at the latest with Laura the Roads.
1:48
Speaker 1: We ignore that. But when people get together, I think
1:53
Speaker 1: we can solve so many different issues if we were
1:55
Speaker 1: ever able to sit down and have honest conversations about
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Speaker 1: how things made us feel, what we're experiencing and why.
2:03
Speaker 1: And I think Michelle Obama and what she has been
2:07
Speaker 1: doing in her podcast space. She has her own podcast
2:11
Speaker 1: with her brother Craig called In My Opinion, and what
2:15
Speaker 1: she's been doing in the conversation she's been having over
2:17
Speaker 1: there are just amazing. At first, I'm not gonna lie,
2:21
Speaker 1: I was a bit, like, not skeptical. I mean, it's first, Lady,
2:25
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama, Are you crazy? Right? Like? I knew that
2:28
Speaker 1: whatever she decided to put her mind to after the
2:32
Speaker 1: White House would take off, But I was just a
2:34
Speaker 1: bit nervous I guess that's the better word for her
2:36
Speaker 1: when I saw that she was going to be doing
2:37
Speaker 1: a podcast, because I know in the podcast space, the
2:40
Speaker 1: beauty of it is that you can really, you really
2:42
Speaker 1: can connect with your audience. You can be very real
2:44
Speaker 1: about how you're feeling, what you got going on. You
2:47
Speaker 1: get to cultivate your guests in the conversations, and you
2:50
Speaker 1: could really lean into who you are and expose so
2:53
Speaker 1: much about yourself and learn so much in real time
2:55
Speaker 1: in front of your audience, if you choose to. I've
2:56
Speaker 1: done the right way. Everything about Michelle Obama in the
2:59
Speaker 1: White House, from the time we first met her when
3:03
Speaker 1: Obama was elected back in twenty eighteen to today in
3:07
Speaker 1: twenty twenty six, has been super authentic. Like, nothing about
3:11
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama gives fake girly empowerment branches at all. Okay,
3:15
Speaker 1: not at all, so I think my worry it was
3:17
Speaker 1: more of a protection of like, y'all don't deserve my
3:20
Speaker 1: first lady, not on a regular basis, not her thoughts,
3:23
Speaker 1: not her opinions, because all people are gonna do is
3:25
Speaker 1: ribom Park. But nonetheless she has pressed on and you know,
3:32
Speaker 1: she is tons of episodes and guests from everyone from
3:35
Speaker 1: Taraji p. Hinton to Tracy Ellis Ross. They've had everybody
3:42
Speaker 1: on the podcast, Dwayne Wade and Gabrielle Union, like they
3:45
Speaker 1: go in and out of entertainment, pop culture, sportscat Williams
3:48
Speaker 1: was there recently. Just a ton of people in great conversations.
3:52
Speaker 1: And the biggest thing I think that I've been really
3:56
Speaker 1: inspired by is seeing Michelle Obama, regardless of all the
4:00
Speaker 1: critiques in the headlines and the pushback that have come
4:03
Speaker 1: from her having this platform and opening up about things
4:06
Speaker 1: power through as if she don't even hear the noise.
4:08
Speaker 1: I mean, she was in the White House. She's the
4:11
Speaker 1: first black, first Lady of the United States, so I mean, yeah,
4:16
Speaker 1: she's used the noise right, but I don't know it
4:20
Speaker 1: still just I mean it was inspired in the watch
4:22
Speaker 1: when they were in the White House because they had
4:24
Speaker 1: so much coming at them like Barack Obama's you know,
4:27
Speaker 1: race and identity being questioned, and you know, just the microscope.
4:32
Speaker 1: Seeing the microscope that is on black people in the
4:35
Speaker 1: world day to day be placed on your president and
4:37
Speaker 1: your first lady is like a very different thing to
4:40
Speaker 1: watch because you would think that with great achievement comes
4:45
Speaker 1: great respects. And I think that there was a lot
4:47
Speaker 1: of respect for Obama in the first Lady in the
4:49
Speaker 1: first family, being the first Black first family in the
4:52
Speaker 1: White House by people, but I think it depended on
4:55
Speaker 1: who you were talking to, and that was hard to watch.
4:59
Speaker 1: So she's used to it. But seeing her push through,
5:01
Speaker 1: I'm always like, oh my god, my two mantras I have?
5:05
Speaker 1: I have three? Maybe three that possible? What would Beyonce do?
5:12
Speaker 1: Will Michelle Obama go lower, go high with ri Kabad,
5:15
Speaker 1: cuss you out or pull out the incense and then
5:18
Speaker 1: my final one with Easter Ray even invite you to
5:22
Speaker 1: her Red cup yacht party in the summer. Those are
5:26
Speaker 1: the ways, like, those are the boundaries I put on
5:28
Speaker 1: my life when I'm thinking about certain things at certain times.
5:32
Speaker 1: So it's just been inspiring to see her grow and
5:34
Speaker 1: now she's doing a ton of other platforms, Like you know,
5:37
Speaker 1: she sat down with so many people within this last year,
5:41
Speaker 1: more recently on the Call Her Daddy podcast. So let's
5:45
Speaker 1: get on it into the latest because we got to
5:47
Speaker 1: talk about Michelle Obama and some of the things that
5:49
Speaker 1: she's been able to talk about on this podcast. So
5:54
Speaker 1: in the latest, first up is Michelle Obama sitting down
5:57
Speaker 1: with Alex of Call Her Daddy. And I'm not even
6:02
Speaker 1: gonna lie. I was a bit nervous because I'm like,
6:06
Speaker 1: first of all, Alex Cooper and Call Her Daddy podcast
6:08
Speaker 1: can get it. Like I know it's a very like
6:11
Speaker 1: pro woman feminist movement podcast, but they get into very sexual, intimate,
6:18
Speaker 1: flirtery conversations and I just yeah, that's not what I
6:23
Speaker 1: want anybody to ever try and have with Michelle Obama. Like,
6:26
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. On her own podcast, Michelle Obama,
6:29
Speaker 1: you know, like she gets a little personal, I mean,
6:31
Speaker 1: not like insanely, but she's talked about, you know, the
6:34
Speaker 1: things that she finds Barack Obama, you know, what she
6:37
Speaker 1: finds attractive and what she finds sexy, not even just
6:40
Speaker 1: on her podcast, but you know, just in headlines in
6:42
Speaker 1: different places where she's been and she's been speaking. They
6:45
Speaker 1: their love is very on the forefront, right, but call
6:48
Speaker 1: her daddy kind of gets a little bit crazy sometimes.
6:51
Speaker 1: But in the conversation, as they very the minute they
6:56
Speaker 1: open the conversation, Alex Cooper makes it very plain and simple.
6:59
Speaker 1: You are not going to the gate nol raunchy sex
7:01
Speaker 1: talk when it comes to Michelle Obama. Let's take a listen.
7:04
Speaker 2: When I was preparing for this interview, yes, I realized
7:08
Speaker 2: that there were kind of two ways I could go
7:11
Speaker 2: about it. Option one would be more og call her
7:17
Speaker 2: daddy days, you know, talk some relationships, try to ask
7:22
Speaker 2: you a couple questions about what Zarack.
7:24
Speaker 3: Obama wants to get reports on.
7:26
Speaker 2: But then there's the other side of this show, which
7:30
Speaker 2: is option two, which is hard but important conversations that
7:36
Speaker 2: are relevant to young women and girls all around the world.
7:41
Speaker 2: And so as juicy as option one would be, or.
7:45
Speaker 3: Not or not actually fair, it could have been like
7:48
Speaker 3: that's that.
7:49
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh right, fair, I just thought about it,
7:53
Speaker 2: and like you sitting here today, as one of the
7:57
Speaker 2: most influential and powerful women is the world, it would
8:02
Speaker 2: be too great of an opportunity not to have you
8:05
Speaker 2: impart your wisdom on the next generation who is watching
8:09
Speaker 2: and listening today, So we're going with the option too.
8:11
Speaker 1: Now after this, they didn't get into the real things, Okay,
8:15
Speaker 1: they get on into what is going down lately. So
8:18
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama has always been such a prominent for women
8:21
Speaker 1: and for girls on top of a ton of other
8:24
Speaker 1: things right like education, underserved communities, health, like so many things.
8:30
Speaker 1: But the platform that in the stance that she has
8:35
Speaker 1: had to take when it comes to being a black woman.
8:38
Speaker 1: And I mean, if we're being honest, becoming the national
8:44
Speaker 1: poster child of the least respected person in the world
8:49
Speaker 1: or in America, is the black woman seeing that on
8:52
Speaker 1: a national platform as Michelle Obama gracefully and so fashionably,
8:59
Speaker 1: Oh my god, it pissed me off. Make me think
9:00
Speaker 1: about it. It's so fashionably. Gave these people the time
9:04
Speaker 1: of day as our first lady. And once I gave
9:06
Speaker 1: these people the time of day, I mean, some of
9:08
Speaker 1: y'all did not deserve her at all, from the fashion,
9:12
Speaker 1: to the elegance, to baby the high roads that she
9:15
Speaker 1: deserved to take. I'm so glad that when she was there,
9:18
Speaker 1: we did as much as we could be outside swinging
9:20
Speaker 1: about Michelle Obama and she deserved every cousin coming off
9:23
Speaker 1: the porch. Y'all did not deserve her whatsoever. But they
9:28
Speaker 1: get into that almost instantly. I mean, the platform is that,
9:32
Speaker 1: as we mentioned, but that has just been such a
9:35
Speaker 1: big calling card from Michell Obama, especially because she was
9:37
Speaker 1: so publicly ridiculed. Let's take a listen to Michelle Obama
9:41
Speaker 1: on just what her life was like in the White
9:43
Speaker 1: House and what that dragging publicly all the time felt like,
9:49
Speaker 1: looked like, and what it turned into.
9:52
Speaker 2: You've talked a lot about how we live in a
9:54
Speaker 2: world where a woman's appearance and our bodies are overly
9:58
Speaker 2: scrutinized and objected. What was that experience like for you
10:03
Speaker 2: and how did you navigate it day to day and
10:05
Speaker 2: not let it distract you?
10:07
Speaker 3: You know, when Brock announced, I was hesitant, But once
10:11
Speaker 3: I was on board, I was on board, and I
10:13
Speaker 3: knew that I needed to be out there campaigning and
10:16
Speaker 3: introducing the world, not just to him but to us.
10:20
Speaker 3: We worked hard at the grassroots and understood that we'd
10:23
Speaker 3: have to meet people in their homes and in their communities.
10:27
Speaker 3: But as my popularity rose, I was being covered more.
10:32
Speaker 3: After all, this great conversation and connection. The top of
10:36
Speaker 3: the article would be she was wearing and it got
10:40
Speaker 3: worse as we got better. So I understood it as
10:48
Speaker 3: campaign tactics. Right, what better way to beat a moving
10:52
Speaker 3: engine is to try and slow it down. And so
10:55
Speaker 3: with women, what do we do with women? We'd start
10:59
Speaker 3: sort of talking of their strength and their So then
11:02
Speaker 3: I became I was angry, not passionate. It was a
11:06
Speaker 3: rolling thing, and I attributed it totally to politics, and
11:09
Speaker 3: I didn't write it off to what people really thought,
11:13
Speaker 3: because I had months and months of understanding that the
11:15
Speaker 3: people in those auditoriums and in those school buildings and
11:19
Speaker 3: at those speeches, they understood who I was.
11:23
Speaker 1: Okay, So first of all, let me just say this
11:26
Speaker 1: is what I mean by as nervous as I was
11:30
Speaker 1: for Michelle Obama to step into a freely space and
11:33
Speaker 1: inter media, I am like so inspired by her resilience
11:40
Speaker 1: because even here in this interview, I'm like, so many
11:42
Speaker 1: people are gonna grab this and they gonna ugh twist
11:46
Speaker 1: turn it upside down. They love to say she's still whiny,
11:49
Speaker 1: she plays a victim card or whatever. But what this
11:52
Speaker 1: does for women in spaces who really understand what she
11:56
Speaker 1: is talking about. Baby, It's it's like the feeling of
12:03
Speaker 1: let me okay. The best I can describe, you know,
12:05
Speaker 1: people be like I felt seen. The best way I
12:08
Speaker 1: can describe feeling seen by watching Michelle Obama talk about
12:12
Speaker 1: being a black woman who cared about her hair, her nails,
12:15
Speaker 1: and her outfits while also put a cape on. It
12:17
Speaker 1: went and saved the world and came home and was
12:19
Speaker 1: mommy and wife every day. For a woman, it's like
12:23
Speaker 1: coming home after a twelve hour day and taking off
12:25
Speaker 1: your heels and your bra. For a man, it's like
12:29
Speaker 1: coming home every day after working a twelve hour shift.
12:33
Speaker 1: Dinner is prepared, the kids asleep, and baby girl about
12:37
Speaker 1: to tuck you in to sleep. If you know what
12:38
Speaker 1: I'm saying, You know what I'm saying right, It is
12:40
Speaker 1: such a refreshing, like a like you can breathe a
12:44
Speaker 1: moment to hear her be and she's so honest. Oh
12:48
Speaker 1: my god, when she said she had so much to say,
12:52
Speaker 1: but she wanted to make sure that you know, the
12:54
Speaker 1: clothes and the things that she were wearing didn't take
12:57
Speaker 1: over what she was the messaging and what she wanted
13:01
Speaker 1: to say. It is like the tightrope that you have
13:05
Speaker 1: to walk as a woman, especially as a black woman too,
13:08
Speaker 1: because normally you're like one a few, one of first
13:12
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama in these spaces so or to reach certain heights,
13:19
Speaker 1: and even if you're not the first person to reach
13:20
Speaker 1: that height at like the company you work at, or
13:22
Speaker 1: with an organization or whatever. Maybe even family wise, like
13:26
Speaker 1: I'm first generation When I say that, I have to
13:27
Speaker 1: be clear because a lot of people talk about immigration.
13:29
Speaker 1: Now I'm not. I'm not first like a you know,
13:32
Speaker 1: firstborn in the US in my family, but I'm first generation,
13:35
Speaker 1: Like I'm first generation HBCU graduate in college graduate. I
13:39
Speaker 1: am first generation for a lot of the different like
13:41
Speaker 1: just life success that I'm seeing, So that makes me
13:44
Speaker 1: I'm first generation for a lot of other things, just
13:47
Speaker 1: under those brackets. Every time I mess up something or
13:52
Speaker 1: every time I intend for one thing to happen one way,
13:57
Speaker 1: or there's a you know, you know, like she talked about,
14:01
Speaker 1: like with the clothing, Like you put on an outfit
14:03
Speaker 1: and you're like, Okay, I'm showing up powerful and together
14:05
Speaker 1: and I feel good. But I've you know, I've been
14:09
Speaker 1: on platforms where it's like you do all of that
14:11
Speaker 1: and when you leave, the only thing people were talking
14:12
Speaker 1: about is what they did or did not like about
14:14
Speaker 1: your your clothes, and it's like you missed the whole message.
14:17
Speaker 1: Do you understand that like this opportunity can and will
14:21
Speaker 1: continue and will and has changed the lives of these
14:24
Speaker 1: people that I'm telling you didn't make it the word
14:27
Speaker 1: I made it to and that is all you care about.
14:30
Speaker 1: I care because I have to, like I mean, and honestly,
14:33
Speaker 1: it's nothing wrong with careen just because it's a passion
14:35
Speaker 1: as well. I know for me, like I like to
14:37
Speaker 1: look good. You feel good when you look good. But
14:39
Speaker 1: also I'm into fashion. I love the stories that you
14:42
Speaker 1: could tell through clothing. I love using articles of clothing
14:45
Speaker 1: as my story and like you know, conveying how I'm feeling.
14:48
Speaker 1: I just like showing up looking damn good, period. But
14:51
Speaker 1: also I can't afford to not show up looking good,
14:56
Speaker 1: because the conversation around a black woman when she shows
15:00
Speaker 1: up somewhere hair and not together, clothes not together. I
15:03
Speaker 1: remember they labeled this was some years back during Barack
15:07
Speaker 1: Obama's presidency, but I remember Michelle Obama being labeled one
15:11
Speaker 1: of Barack Obama's baby moms. Let me, look up the
15:15
Speaker 1: guy's name who called her that. Yes, Fox News anchor
15:22
Speaker 1: Ed Hill had to apologize after he referred to Michelle
15:25
Speaker 1: Obama as baby Mama. You know that fist bump photo,
15:29
Speaker 1: like that moment that we always referred to when we
15:32
Speaker 1: couples goals, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama. He referred to that
15:35
Speaker 1: moment as a terrorist fish jab. So not only can
15:39
Speaker 1: she not show up, she can't even fist bumping and
15:42
Speaker 1: love her man, love on her man, right, Like that's
15:44
Speaker 1: just not a thing. But there's just always been so
15:48
Speaker 1: much conversation about Michelle Obama and the clothing that she
15:50
Speaker 1: wears and how she wears. And don't get me wrong,
15:52
Speaker 1: the first lady in the White House had there's always
15:55
Speaker 1: a lot of attention to what they wear, what they do,
15:57
Speaker 1: how they present. Very different conversation. Though when it came
16:01
Speaker 1: to a black woman in the first I don't and
16:04
Speaker 1: when I read Kamala Harris's book one hundred and seven Days,
16:08
Speaker 1: one hundred and four Days, I said both because I
16:10
Speaker 1: don't remember what it is. I think it's one hundred
16:11
Speaker 1: and seven. She talked a lot about how once she
16:15
Speaker 1: got into the White House, just as Vice president. Right,
16:18
Speaker 1: this is the first time that they've ever seen a
16:20
Speaker 1: black woman vice president. Right. How she realized, Oh, this
16:24
Speaker 1: th ain't set up for me. They don't even know
16:27
Speaker 1: what to do with me. They don't know how to
16:28
Speaker 1: talk about me. They don't know how to tend to me,
16:31
Speaker 1: they don't know how to defend me. It was a
16:33
Speaker 1: lot of that. It was everything was criticized. Michelle Obama
16:37
Speaker 1: got it worse. I don't even say got it worse.
16:40
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama got it first. Literally, she got it first.
16:45
Speaker 1: So at that point, you know, a Kamala Harris kind
16:48
Speaker 1: of had like we all knew what to expect when
16:50
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama and Barack Obama were headed into the White House.
16:52
Speaker 1: If you black, you knew like, okay, great that there
16:55
Speaker 1: we need this. But baby, these people were about to
16:57
Speaker 1: make it try and make their lives hell. These people
17:01
Speaker 1: they ain't gonna like it. Kamala Harris kind of, you know,
17:05
Speaker 1: she got a chance to see all of that, and
17:07
Speaker 1: I think at some point you would kind of assume
17:09
Speaker 1: that the White House would kind of prepare for those things,
17:12
Speaker 1: especially on like the press side and the communication side,
17:14
Speaker 1: And Kamala Harris talked a lot about not feeling supported
17:17
Speaker 1: by the White House's team, and you know, even down
17:20
Speaker 1: to Michelle Obama talked about her resume and the fact
17:24
Speaker 1: that no one knew it. They didn't know that she
17:26
Speaker 1: had done all these amazing prestige Ivy League things. She
17:29
Speaker 1: was just Barack Obama's wife, and the first lady in
17:33
Speaker 1: the White House gets that, you know what I'm saying,
17:35
Speaker 1: Like I don't. Honestly, I can't even tell you much
17:37
Speaker 1: about a lot of the first ladies and where they've
17:40
Speaker 1: went to school. Besides Jill Biden because she's from Delaware.
17:43
Speaker 1: I know that, you know, I know her platform, I
17:45
Speaker 1: know all the things. But just historically, I think women
17:47
Speaker 1: in the White House there's always been, depending on who
17:51
Speaker 1: you're talking to, a certain wayed there look at and critiqued.
17:54
Speaker 1: But I don't think people even gave Michelle Obama a chance,
17:57
Speaker 1: at least with Jill. You know, there was conversation about
18:03
Speaker 1: the things she was doing. Michelle Obama's headlines about you know,
18:07
Speaker 1: people calling her let me read it verbatim at ape
18:10
Speaker 1: and heells there was a a West Virginia official who
18:14
Speaker 1: called her ape and heels those headlines were bigger. I
18:17
Speaker 1: need to get that officials name, so we can put
18:19
Speaker 1: them on notice right here, right now. But those headlines
18:21
Speaker 1: were bigger than any of the work that Michelle Obama
18:23
Speaker 1: was actually doing. And she talked about the fact that
18:26
Speaker 1: like no one cared about a resume. Let's take a
18:29
Speaker 1: listen to that. How do you know what to do
18:32
Speaker 1: in this role?
18:33
Speaker 3: And to me it was clear that, oh my god,
18:35
Speaker 3: you you don't. You don't know anything about what I
18:39
Speaker 3: did before I came here. I went to Princeton and Harvard.
18:42
Speaker 3: I mean, I practiced law. I was an assistant to
18:46
Speaker 3: the mayor in Chicago. I ran a nonprofit of five.
18:49
Speaker 1: Oh one c three.
18:52
Speaker 3: I was a vice president for community relations at the
18:56
Speaker 3: University of Chicago Hospitals. That was a dean of students.
18:58
Speaker 3: It was like all that just disappeared in the course
19:02
Speaker 3: of this whole election, and you now see me as
19:06
Speaker 3: just Barack Obama's wife. I shied away from fashion leading
19:11
Speaker 3: the conversation, but I knew I couldn't. I didn't completely
19:15
Speaker 3: control it. So let's lean in.
19:21
Speaker 1: Let's lean in with what we do.
19:23
Speaker 3: Let's make sure that we have a plan and a
19:25
Speaker 3: strategy in place for how fashion.
19:28
Speaker 1: Just like everything we.
19:30
Speaker 3: Did in the White House would have meaning and impact.
19:35
Speaker 1: Now I thought that this was like such a positive
19:37
Speaker 1: spin on it. And if anybody knows me, I'm like
19:41
Speaker 1: everything black, Like if we could do black designers, if
19:44
Speaker 1: we can do you know what I'm saying, Like I
19:45
Speaker 1: always want to try and platform people because I be
19:48
Speaker 1: needing to be platformed, Like I understand what it can
19:51
Speaker 1: do for someone to, you know, lend a tag on
19:53
Speaker 1: Instagram or tell a friend about them, or even if
19:57
Speaker 1: none of that, just pay for the services in a business,
20:00
Speaker 1: whatever you can do right. Michelle Obama talked about how
20:04
Speaker 1: when she was in the White House, because she was
20:06
Speaker 1: getting so much scrutiny because she was getting so much
20:09
Speaker 1: scrutiny for what would wear, she was like, let's be intentional,
20:12
Speaker 1: and that intention honey ate down. Okay. I remember there
20:16
Speaker 1: would religiously be a push for people to cover Michelle
20:20
Speaker 1: Obama's outfits as they do the First Lady. But what
20:23
Speaker 1: was so beautiful about it is when you got to
20:25
Speaker 1: see the outlets and a lot of them didn't even
20:28
Speaker 1: know what was happening. But if you were on our
20:31
Speaker 1: in side of things, you knew exactly what was going on.
20:34
Speaker 1: Like I would see Michelle Obama like pop up and
20:39
Speaker 1: various dresses and I'd be like, oh, that is fire,
20:41
Speaker 1: and I would go researching and be like a designer
20:43
Speaker 1: from Johannesburg, Makai oh, and a lot of times she
20:47
Speaker 1: like make sure, made sure she leaned it on like
20:49
Speaker 1: women designers like that was like a big thing of
20:52
Speaker 1: hers as well too. There's so many different lists of
20:54
Speaker 1: Michelle Obama and black designers, but there's one moment, and
20:59
Speaker 1: I know Sergio Hudson also worked with Kamala Harris as
21:02
Speaker 1: well too, and Lawan Smith shout out to Lawan Smith.
21:06
Speaker 1: She wore Sergio Hudson a few times. But the moment
21:09
Speaker 1: that I remember the most is when Michelle Obama popped
21:12
Speaker 1: out the Joe Biden's inauguration when they were saying goodbye
21:15
Speaker 1: to the White House, and she had on that purple
21:18
Speaker 1: baby and that side part was partner and she popped
21:20
Speaker 1: out with them leather gloves. The girls that get it
21:24
Speaker 1: got it, we knew Sergio Hudson. And what I love
21:28
Speaker 1: about this is is if you're not in the fashion world,
21:32
Speaker 1: it might not be something that you care about, but
21:35
Speaker 1: I'm gonna break it down anyway. When you put on
21:37
Speaker 1: a designer and you're a person like a Michelle Obama,
21:39
Speaker 1: and you have outlets like The Cut, Vogue, Essence, fashion
21:43
Speaker 1: Bomb Daily, all of these places covering, refining you, twenty nine,
21:48
Speaker 1: covering what you're wearing. That puts this designer in such
21:52
Speaker 1: a different conversation and elevates them, like it literally can
21:56
Speaker 1: take a designer from a person who was like just
21:58
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out because of their life a
22:00
Speaker 1: clothes to one of the biggest designers in the world,
22:03
Speaker 1: especially in the couture space. Because Sergio Hudson is a designer,
22:06
Speaker 1: we've talked about him here on the podcast. Shout out
22:08
Speaker 1: to Sergio Hudson. We went to his Fashion Week show
22:12
Speaker 1: last season and not last season, last February, I believe
22:16
Speaker 1: it was, or no, it was September. It was last
22:19
Speaker 1: season September, New York Fashion Week. We went to Sergio
22:22
Speaker 1: Hudson's show, and he is so big on supporting black talent.
22:28
Speaker 1: But he talks a lot about people showing up and
22:31
Speaker 1: supporting each other, and it's because he's had so many
22:33
Speaker 1: people show up and support him, including Michelle Obama. The
22:37
Speaker 1: culture world itself, which he talks a lot about, is
22:40
Speaker 1: not the most friendly, and katuur is like the stuff
22:43
Speaker 1: that is more expensive, harder to get to. It just
22:46
Speaker 1: it's it's it's. It ain't for everybody. It's not the
22:50
Speaker 1: most friendly to black people, people of color in general,
22:53
Speaker 1: black people specifically, especially designers, models, all of that. So
22:56
Speaker 1: when you got the first Lady of the United States
22:59
Speaker 1: wearing your clothes, can't nobody tell you nothing, These other
23:02
Speaker 1: flashion houses can't sit next to you, It does so much.
23:05
Speaker 1: So to hear her talk about taking this moment that
23:07
Speaker 1: was so I know it had to be so hard
23:09
Speaker 1: for her to this day. There's no way she doesn't
23:12
Speaker 1: still deal with just the cause you begin to like
23:15
Speaker 1: start really thinking so much about everything, like, uh, how
23:18
Speaker 1: does this look like you? Like you're so timid about
23:22
Speaker 1: things you would never have been timid about even unconsciously,
23:25
Speaker 1: even with her being as you know, prominent and confident
23:29
Speaker 1: as Michelle Obama is, Like, there's no way that you're not.
23:34
Speaker 1: They used to be on her hair, everything. I'm just
23:39
Speaker 1: happy to hear. I'm happy to hear her talk about
23:42
Speaker 1: this every single time. I don't care how many times
23:44
Speaker 1: she talks about it, and anybody has upset about it.
23:46
Speaker 1: This is not the interview for you. Every single time
23:49
Speaker 1: she talks about it, I'm happy to hear because I
23:50
Speaker 1: think it inspires people in the space, in all different spaces,
23:55
Speaker 1: to just push through. You're good and you're doing something
24:00
Speaker 1: for other people. Like I had read this Essence article.
24:03
Speaker 1: They're the two black women who do Michelle Obama's hair.
24:07
Speaker 1: They talked about they did an article based on, like,
24:11
Speaker 1: you know, meeting the hairstylists behind Michelle Obama, the former
24:15
Speaker 1: First Lady's hair looks and her hairstylace and the Jerry
24:18
Speaker 1: Roadway and yayin dim two ohfey. I'm saying that, right, y'all,
24:22
Speaker 1: don't be disrespected. I get ever right, name wrong, my bad.
24:25
Speaker 1: I tried. But they talked a lot about, you know,
24:28
Speaker 1: just what the recognition meant, because Michelle Obama did a
24:33
Speaker 1: lot to make sure, not even did a lot, she
24:36
Speaker 1: just did what she was supposed to do to make
24:37
Speaker 1: sure these women. People knew that these black women were
24:40
Speaker 1: behind some of the hair styles that we loved, and
24:43
Speaker 1: they talked about how it meant the world to them.
24:46
Speaker 1: Here's a quote from the article. This little black girl
24:48
Speaker 1: inside of me is jumping for joy because representation is
24:53
Speaker 1: representation was always important to her. Seeing someone who looks
24:57
Speaker 1: like you matters. Beauty and identity are deeply connected for
25:00
Speaker 1: all people. I'm proud to be a part of historic
25:02
Speaker 1: body of work that shows how our hair allows us
25:05
Speaker 1: to express ourselves freely. Then they ask, you know, hair
25:09
Speaker 1: is culture, community, and care essence acts. How was working
25:13
Speaker 1: with Michelle Obama deepened your understanding of this? And the
25:17
Speaker 1: women say, our hair is our identity. Helping my clients
25:21
Speaker 1: move confidently through the world is an honor. The significance
25:24
Speaker 1: that comes from how women responds to seeing Michelle and braids, curls, baby.
25:27
Speaker 1: I remember seeing Michelle Obama and braids and I was like,
25:29
Speaker 1: I know, that's why you better slip them baby, edges, curls, blowouts.
25:34
Speaker 1: It just reinforces that they are seeing. And that's what
25:36
Speaker 1: we opened up this episode talking about people be like,
25:39
Speaker 1: oh my god, I feel seen. It's just like you know,
25:41
Speaker 1: sometimes you would be like, I need to go and
25:43
Speaker 1: find myself and it's like, okay, you about like basically,
25:47
Speaker 1: you ain't got nothing figured it out, and you're trying
25:49
Speaker 1: to figure this whole thing out and you're probably about
25:50
Speaker 1: to go do a whole bunch of drugs, and that's
25:52
Speaker 1: fine if that's what you do, but you just need
25:55
Speaker 1: to take that time for yourself and you know, go
25:56
Speaker 1: do what you're gonna do over there. We're not jokingly
25:59
Speaker 1: seeing it when we said about Michelle Obama. It is
26:01
Speaker 1: not the oh my god, I need to gap your
26:03
Speaker 1: feel seen. It is not the oh my god, I
26:04
Speaker 1: feel seen in her. It is the I feel seen,
26:07
Speaker 1: like we really getting down to the shits of like
26:10
Speaker 1: what it is like navigating through the world every single
26:12
Speaker 1: day as a black person. Baby, this family, they are
26:16
Speaker 1: the billboard of it, period and everything that they've had
26:19
Speaker 1: to put up with. And since it's still rising, Okay,
26:23
Speaker 1: let's end this what Michelle Obama talking about when we
26:25
Speaker 1: go high, and then let's talk about when she says
26:28
Speaker 1: sometimes you get a little bit of medium, because honestly,
26:31
Speaker 1: these last couple of days, I feel like I need
26:33
Speaker 1: to go low. I've been too high. I need to
26:34
Speaker 1: go lower so people can leave me to hellon that.
26:37
Speaker 4: When someone is cruel or acts like a bully, you
26:40
Speaker 4: don't stoop to their level.
26:42
Speaker 2: No.
26:42
Speaker 1: Our motto is when they go low, we go high.
26:48
Speaker 3: Here's the thing.
26:49
Speaker 4: Going high is a it's a it's a long term strategy. Yes,
26:54
Speaker 4: you know, because the truth is is that going high
26:56
Speaker 4: is about thinking about trying to really get to the
26:59
Speaker 4: real answer, because a lot of times the low answer
27:03
Speaker 4: is just our immediate instinct.
27:05
Speaker 3: It's just I'm mad and I just want to punch
27:08
Speaker 3: you in the face. But it doesn't solve anything.
27:12
Speaker 4: And if we're all thinking about what the agenda is,
27:15
Speaker 4: which is getting to a place where we live in
27:17
Speaker 4: a country that we're proud to pass on to our kids,
27:21
Speaker 4: going high is the only way we get there. It's
27:26
Speaker 4: our patience, it's our tolerance, it's our belief in honesty
27:30
Speaker 4: and truth. It's our belief in hard work. It's not
27:34
Speaker 4: about getting somebody back. It's not about the immediate clapback.
27:38
Speaker 4: The immediate clapback is just for your own selfish person
27:42
Speaker 4: purpose right there in the moment, and rarely does it
27:45
Speaker 4: solve anything. So I think, yes, we have to be
27:49
Speaker 4: a people that keeps going high. Now, going high, it
27:51
Speaker 4: doesn't mean you don't acknowledge the pain, But how do.
27:55
Speaker 1: You react to y'all for tuning in is Laura Rosa.
27:57
Speaker 1: This is the Latest with Laura Rosa, daily digging all
28:00
Speaker 1: things pop culture, entertainment, news and all of the conversations
28:04
Speaker 1: that shake the room. Now, I tell you, guys, every
28:08
Speaker 1: single episode my Low Riders, y'all could be anywhere with anybody,
28:11
Speaker 1: having these conversations and talking about all of the things.
28:15
Speaker 1: But you guys choose to be right here with me,
28:16
Speaker 1: and I appreciate you guys for that. I'm gonna catch
28:19
Speaker 1: you on to my next episode.