Watch Carla Vernon's Full Toast at TIME's Latino Leaders Event

TIME

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Transcript

00:00 It's absolutely breathtaking to be in the company

00:03 of this remarkable, accomplished group of honorees.

00:06 So thank you very much.

00:08 My mother is here with me tonight.

00:13 (audience applauding)

00:16 She's a NASA hidden figure.

00:18 She'll be so mad that I made this about her

00:21 and an icon in her own right.

00:23 So hi, mom.

00:24 (audience applauding)

00:26 All right.

00:27 So let's kick this off with a little hip hop

00:30 'cause my mama said knock you out.

00:32 (audience cheering)

00:34 Allow me to reintroduce myself.

00:37 It was 1984, I was 14.

00:42 My look was giving Lisa Bonet in her Cosby Show era.

00:47 And I was out with my two besties,

00:51 Jennifer and Marisa at the Fresh Fest,

00:55 the greatest hip hop concert tour of all time

00:59 as far as 1984 was concerned.

01:02 You may know that hip hop is celebrating

01:05 its 50th birthday this year.

01:08 (audience cheering)

01:09 So back then, hip hop was just a baby and so was I.

01:14 There we were, three 14-year-old girls

01:18 in our graffiti-covered jeans

01:20 and our carefully cut up sweatshirts

01:23 looking like three street tough extras

01:26 from the 1983 gritty fashion blockbuster Flashdance.

01:31 (audience cheering)

01:34 We were literally coming of age

01:37 at the same time that hip hop was transforming

01:41 music and language and culture.

01:44 At The Honest Company,

01:47 we are transforming what it looks like

01:51 in corporate America and we're rewriting the rules.

01:55 We're rewriting what it looks like

01:57 and sounds like to be a CEO or a leader of any kind.

02:01 Because growing up in the era of hip hop

02:05 gave us permission to throw off the old rules

02:09 and the old confines of tradition.

02:12 So for the next generation of game changers,

02:18 I think we can all get a little wisdom

02:21 and swagger from hip hop.

02:23 So in the words of hip hop's next generation of prophets,

02:28 can I kick it?

02:30 (audience cheering)

02:33 Thank you.

02:34 So in the immortal words of Public Enemy,

02:40 the rebels of hip hop's golden era,

02:43 don't believe the hype.

02:45 People will come in your path.

02:47 They try to get you to believe a version of the truth,

02:52 regardless of what reality really is.

02:56 And they will especially try to get you

02:58 to believe a version of yourself,

03:01 despite what you actually know.

03:03 Don't believe the hype.

03:06 Always remind yourself, you are wonderful.

03:11 You are magnificent.

03:12 And more than that, surround yourselves

03:15 with people who will make you know that.

03:18 And then lastly, we need you to make sure

03:24 you sprinkle a little bit of your own

03:27 unique magic on things, okay?

03:31 It's important that you sometimes do something

03:34 where no one knows what it means, but it's provocative.

03:39 (audience laughing)

03:43 Hip hop told us that disruption is key.

03:48 And we need you to put your own unique spark on things

03:54 to drive transformation and to drive innovation.

03:58 So from the gospel according to Missy,

04:02 (audience laughing)

04:03 for my next generation of game changers,

04:06 I want you to work it, put your thing down,

04:10 thing down, flip it, and reverse it.

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