[Music] no I did not I thought that I was going to be a teacher I won the missfire prevention contest another long story and uh so when I went back to the station to pick up my prize some guy said would you like to hear your voice on tape I said sure and I started reading this copy on tape they called everybody in the building said hear this kid read I was 16 they hired me in radio so I was in radio at 16 and so I started getting calls about um my freshman year to
come into television I had never thought about it and still was living at home and couldn't figure out how I would manage those I had biology at 1:00 and so I I I couldn't figure out how I would be able to manage my schedule and I was hired in television not knowing anything about it MH um having in mind Barbara Walters but thinking oh okay I can do that uh not knowing how to write or film or anything and I think it was because it was the it was the times and I literally had somebody
who was willing to work with me that I that I managed to to find my way but I had to find my way because the reporting never really fit me and what I found is I wasn't so good at the writing part but if I was just standing up and talk talking about what had just happened it was really good so I started in 19 working in television became an anchor immediately afterwards my father still had an 11:00 curfew can you believe such a thing that I am I am the 10:00 anchor in Nashville Tennessee
I am the woman on the newscast reading the news and my father would say be home by 11: and I'd say hey the news is on at 10 he goes and it's off at 10:30 so be home by 11: so I I had a very St very strict father so anyway I I could feel inside myself that reporting was not the right thing for me even though I was happy to have the job right I got an offer to go to Atlanta I was making $10,000 a year in 1971 but still in college so I
was thinking I was doing pretty good I got an offer to go to Atlanta for 40,00 000 which I thought it's over I'm going to make $40,000 and my boss at the time said to me you do not know what you don't know and you need to stay here until you can learn to write better until you uh can perfect your craft as as a journalist and so I I he said and we can't give you 40 but we can't give you 12 so so I stayed and you know the reason why I stayed is
cuz I could feel inside myself that even though the 40 was alluring at the time that he was absolutely right so to make a long story short because I'd be here all day just talking about how it all came about I started listening to what felt like the truth for me a couple of years later I moved to Baltimore I could feel that as a reporter and by this time 22 I'm making 22,000 I met my best friend Gail there who said oh my God can you imagine if you're 30 and you're making 30,000 and
then you're 40 and then it's 40,000 um we actually had that conversation in the bathroom so this is I started to feel that reporting wasn't for me but I had my father I had my friends everybody was saying oh my God you're you're an anchor woman you're on TV I mean you can't give up that job and when I was by the time I was making 25 my father goes well you just hit the jackpot you're not going to make no more money than that that's just it so I was torn between what the world
was saying to me and what I felt to be the truth for myself it felt like an unnatural act for me reporting although I knew that to a lot of people it was glamorous and I started to just inside myself think what what what do I really want to do what I really want to do and I will say this knowing what you don't want to do is the best possible place to be if you don't know what to do because knowing what you don't want to do leads you to figure out what is it
you you really do want to do got demoted they wanted to fire me but I was I was under contract for and they didn't want to give up the 25,000 so they were trying to keep me on to the end of the year so they put me on this talk this is the way life Works they put me on a talk show to try to avoid having to pay me the contract out and the moment I sat on the talk show interviewing the Carell ice cream man and his multiple flavors I knew that I had
found home for myself so um if I were to put it in business terms it it or or to leave you with the message the the truth is I have from the very beginning listened to my instinct all of my best decisions in life have come because because I was attuned to what really felt like the next right move for me so when I got the call to come to Chicago after you know starting with a with a co-anchor and and working in talk for several years I knew that it was the right thing to
do and I knew that if I even if I didn't succeed cuz at the time there was a there was a guy named Phil Donahue who was the king of talk and and was on in Chicago and every single person except my best friend Gail said you're going to fail every single person when I left my bosses by this time thought I was terrific and said you're going to you're you're you're walking into at land mile you're going to fail you're going to fail Chicago's a racist City you're black you're not going to make it
everything to to keep me saying they he then offered me a car and an apartment and all this stuff and I said no if I fail then I will find out what is the next thing for me what is the next true thing for me felt like this is now the move I need to make and I was not one of those people you know all of my um the people who worked with me in news they would have their tapes and they'd have their stories and they'd have you know uh resumés ready I didn't
have any of that cuz I knew that the time would come where I would where what I needed would show up for me okay and when that showed up I was ready because my definition of luck is preparation meeting the moment of opportunity right and I was prep prepared to be able to step into that that that that world of talk in a way that I I knew I could do it usually the only black person in the room never really concerned me because I I don't look at people through color I didn't get to
be where I am by and Who I Am by looking at uh the color of people's skin there's a wonderful phrase by Maya Angelou from a poem that she wrote called uh to our grandmothers that she says when I come as one but I stand as 10,000 so when I walk into a room and particularly before I have something really challenging to do or I'm going to be in a circumstance where I feel I'm going to be you know up against um some difficulties I will literally sit and I will call on that 10,000 I
will call on that the ancestors I will call on those people who've come before me I will call on the women who forged a path that I might be able to sit in the room with all of those white men call on that because I know that my being where I am and first of all being who I am and where I am didn't come just out of myself that I come from a Heritage and so I own that and I step into that room not just as myself but I bring all of that that
that that energy with me so it has never been an issue for me except when I was I think 23 still working in U working in Baltimore mhm I gone to my boss and said uh that the guy who was working with me co co uh my co-host on the people are talking show was making more money than I and we were we were co-hosts so I went to my boss and I said this is in 1970 so I was older than 23 it was 197 7980 and I said I I just would like to
you know how intimidating that is to go to the Boston in the first place but I'm going to go and I'm going to stand up for myself and I said Richard's making more money than I am and I I and I don't think that's fair because we're doing the same job we sit in the same show we did the same and my general manager said why why should you make as much money as he and I said cuz we're doing the same job and he said um but he has children do you have children and
I said no he said well he has to pay for college educations he has he owns his own home do you own your home I said no he said he has uh a mortgage to pay he has insurance he has a do you have that no so tell me why you why do you need the same amount of money and I said thank you for your time and I left I left I didn't complain about it I didn't file a a suit about it I knew that in that moment it was time for me to
go and that I started the process for myself of preparing myself for you will not be here long you are not going to be able to get what you need I had a boss at the time uh who was African-American and had just been uh for the first time made an assistant news director and was drunk with power drunk with power and felt it his I think I don't know I think he woke up in the morning thinking of things he could do to harass me I decided not to file a suit against it cuz
I knew at the time I would lose right that no good would come of it that I would be blackballed in television that it would turn into a major thing and I knew I didn't have long to stay there I had a vision for what the future was even though I couldn't place exactly where my future would be I knew uh who held the future cuz I am really Guided by a force that's bigger than myself I know that my being here on the planet is not just of my [Music] own would be step up
and into yourself because this is the truth there is no real doing in the world without being first for me being your presence your connection to yourself and that which is greater than yourself is far more important than what you do but also is the thing that fuels what you do now I happen to know for sure that every human being comes comes called and that the calling goes beyond um the definition of what your job is that there is innate there is an innate Supreme dream moment of Destiny for everybody and everybody has that
and you cannot um fulfill it unless you have a level of self-awareness to be connected to what is the inner voice or the Instinct I call it your emotional GPS system uh that allows you to make the best decisions for yourself and every decision that has profited me has come from me listening to that inner voice first and every every time I've gotten into a situation where I was in trouble it's because I didn't listen to it I overrode that voice that instinct with my own with my own head my own thinking I tried to
rationalize it I tried to tell myself but you know okay you're going to make a lot of money oh no and so I am I sit here uh you know profitable Successful by all the definitions of the world but what really really really resonates deeply with me is that I live a fantastic life my inner life is really intact my I live from the inside out and so everything that I have I have because I let it be fueled by who I am and what I realize my contributions to the planet could be and what
my real contribution is it looks like I'm I was a talk show host it looks like you know I'm in the movies it looks like you know I have a network but my real contribution the reason why I'm here is to help connect people to themselves and the higher ideas of Consciousness I'm here to help raise Consciousness so my television platform was to help raise Consciousness at the beginning I didn't realize that I thought oh my God I got a show and it wasn't until um I was interviewing the klex clan one day and can
you imagine all the great lessons come from things that are that are sometimes challenging I was interviewing kuku's Clan and I thought as an African-American oh I'm going to get them I'm going to show for every Jewish person for every person who's been uh discriminated against and during the commercial break I saw the clan exchanging uh signals and looks at each other and then something inside that instinct I thought I am doing nobody any good they are loving this they are using me I think I'm doing an interview they are using me I did not
know it at the time I brought them on actually those same guys back in uh for my last year and they told me that they used that show for their recruitment I could feel that happening and I made a decision uh after that show I'll never do anything like that again I'll never let my platform be used and I will not be used and at the time in the '90s early '90s everybody was doing confrontational television and I thought I was above The Fray cuz cuz I'm not like Jer Springer I don't do that so
in my egoic delusion I thought because I am not that bad I'm really not bad but I was doing confrontational television I thought I was exposing men with affairs we happened to have a guy on who was talking about um how he'd had an affair with his wife and he was crazy enough to come on with his wife and his girlfriend people ask me why do people do that it's because nobody ever asked them so you say would you come on with your wife and your girlfriend he goes sure so he comes on with the
wife and the girlfriend this is a life-changing moment for me the clan and this moment the wife is there he's in the center and the girlfriend and he tells his wife he announces we were live television at the time and he announced that to to to the world and to his wife that his girlfriend was pregnant and I did you see your face your mouth's open right there I did exactly that I went my God and you could hear the gasp in the audience and the thing and I literally really it still makes my eyes
water to think about I looked at her face and I felt her humiliation I felt her shame I felt it and I said never again I will get out of Television if I have to do this and I went and I had a meeting with the producers cuz I just had the clan before now I got the adulterers here and uh some uplifting show I must say uh and I said to the producers we are going to change we're going to turn this around and I no longer going to be used by television I am
going to use television what a concept I'm going to use television I said you know let's think about what we want to say to the world and how we want to use this as a platform to speak to the world how do we want to see the world change how do we want to impact the world and then let all of our shows really be focused and centered around that I then said to the producers exactly what I said to you backstage do not bring me a show unless you have fully thought out what is
your intention for doing it because if there is if if if there's a religion or a mantra or law that I live by I live by the third law of motion in physics uh which is for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction that is my religion I know that what I'm thinking and therefore going to act on is going to come back to me in this in a in in a circular motion just like gravity like what goes up comes down and so what also propels the action is the intention so I don't
do anything without being fully clear about why I intend to do it because the intention is going to determine the reaction the result or the consequence in every circumstance I don't care what it is so I said to my producers come to me with your intention at whatever it is whatever shows you're proposing whatever ideas you're proposing and then I will decide based upon the intention do I really want to do that is this how we want to use this platform and that really is the secret to why we were number one all those years
is because it was an intention fueled intention based coming out of purposeful [Music] programming when I was hiring people for my company uh when people would come in I'd say tell me what is your spiritual ual practice and literally would throw people well well I'm not religious or I said I didn't ask you about your religion I asked you what your spiritual practice what do you do to take care of yourself what do you do to keep yourself centered everything is fueled that comes from me really wanting to be a better person on Earth but
at the core the core of of what really matters that we are the same and you know how I know that cuz all of us are seeking the same thing and each pursue based upon what you believe your talents are what your skills are maybe your gifts are but you're seeking the same thing everybody wants to fulfill the highest truest expression of yourself as a human being that's what you're looking for the highest truest expression of yourself as a human being and because I understand that I understand that if you're working in a bakery and
that's where you want to be and that may be the that may be what you always wanted to do is to bake pies for people or bake cakes for people or to offer your gift then then that's that's for you and there's no difference between you and me except that's how that's your platform that's your show every day I do a show on Sundays which you can stream live called super so Sunday where I literally talk to thought leaders from around the world ask the questions in life that really matter to get people thinking about
what really matters in their lives and the responses that I get from people just regarding that show let me know that I'm I'm on the right track I'm moving in the right direction but the real question is who are you and what do you want to do with it and how are you going to use who you are when you align your personality with what your soul came to and everybody has it align your personality with your purpose and and nobody can touch you and you wake up every day and you are fired up you
just just like oh my God another day it's so great because everybody has a purpose so your whole thing is to figure out what that is your real job is to figure out why you're really here and then get about the business of doing that okay that's [Music] it the truth is you don't have anything to give that you don't have so so you have to keep your own self full that's your job I say to the my girls all of the time that your real work is to figure out where your power base is
and to work on the alignment of your personality your gifts that you have to give with the real reason why you're here that's that's enough number one thing you have to do is to work on yourself and to fill yourself up and keep your cup full keep yourself full now I used to be afraid of that I used to be afraid particularly from people who say oh she she's so full of herself she's so full herself and now I embrace it I I I consider it a compliment that I am full of myself because you
only when you're full I'm full I'm overflowing my cup runneth over I have so much I have so much to offer and so much to give and I am not afraid of honoring myself you know it's miraculous when you think about it first of all for me my father and mother never married they had sex one time underneath an oak tree because she was wearing a poodle skirt in 1953 and my dad to this day says I want to know what's under that skirt that's what I want know he wanted to know what was under
the skirt they didn't really have a relationship she wanted one but you know he went under the skirt and then that was it and one time under the oak tree bam that's why I know my life is bigger than that my life has to be bigger as yours is bigger than a moment than a poodle skirt it's much bigger the design the the the reason why I'm here is much bigger than oh I think I want to see what's under there so the ability to to to to take care of that to honor that to
honor yourself and that which is greater than yourself that which create was the reason for your being here that that that there's no selflessness in that cuz only through that do you have the ability to offer yourself your whole self your full expression of who you are to the rest of the world well to know that you're just being here you're just being here however that sperm bam hit that egg however that occurred for you that your being here is such a miraculous thing and that your real job is to honor that is to honor
that and the sooner you figure that out oh wow wow I'm one of the lucky ones I got to be here so how do you continue to prepare yourself to to to to live out the highest fullest truest expression of yourself as a human being I just want to end with this there are no mistakes there really aren't any cuz you have a supreme Destiny when you're in your little mind in your little personality mind where you're not centered where you really don't know who you are that you come from something greater and bigger and
that we really all are the same when you don't know that you get all FL flustered you get stressed all the time wanting something to be what it isn't there is a Supreme moment of Destiny calling on your life your job is to feel that to hear that to know that and sometimes when you're not listening you get taken off track you get in the wrong marriage the wrong relationship you take the wrong job yeah but it's all leading to the same path there are no wrong paths there are none there's no such thing as
failure really cuz failure is just that thing trying to move you in another Direction so you get as much from your losses as you do from your victories cuz the losses are there to wake you up so when you understand that you don't allow yourself to be completely thrown by a grade or by a circumstance because your life is bigger than any one experience I always ask people on Super Soul Sunday to tell me what would you say to your younger self every person says in one form or another I would have said relax relax
it's going to be okay it really is going to be okay because even if you're on a d detour right now and and that's how you know when you're not at ease with yourself when you're feeling like that is the cue that you need to be moving in another Direction don't let yourself get all thrown off contined to be thrown off course when you're feeling off of course that's the key how do I turn around um the way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself what is the next right move not think
about oh I got all of this to what is the next right move and then from that space make the next right move and the next right move and not to be overwhelmed by it because you know your life is bigger than that one moment you know you're not defined by what somebody says is a failure for you because failure is just there to point you in a different direction and that's all the time I got right now yeah thank [Applause] you
