00:00Whoo! Look at what the universe has done! I want to thank, I want to thank God and
00:17Goddess too. I want to thank the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce for this
00:26great honor. I want to thank Michelle. I remember that first time. I want to
00:37thank everybody that has come out here today.
00:44Thank you. I hear you. I see you, my sorors. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.
01:02And I thank everybody around the world that is watching by stream. I really want to say,
01:14thank you to Loretta. Been a long time, girl. A long time. Thank you. Thank you, Quinta. Thank you.
01:31It's a brand new time. Thank you. Thank you both for lifting me up with your words.
01:39It was a career-changing moment for us, Loretta. And you were very mad at me for that Pepto-Bismol room.
01:48She hardly spoke to me for a week. And Quinta, you bought me into this brand new shining chapter of
02:02of my career. And I thank you as a young woman for reaching back and saying,
02:11I see you, Miss Ralph. Okay, it's just Cheryl now. I see you. Come take this journey with me.
02:25To have both of you here today. That's a real full circle moment. And I thank you both. I can look out here and there's so many people out here that mean so much to me.
02:44Jennifer and Jennifer and I met when we were 19 years old and could not afford to buy a whole slice of pizza from the Howard Johnson that used to be on Broadway.
03:00But we each had our own glass of water.
03:05Victoria, Raul, and I, together in distinguished gentlemen, fast friends and friends to this day.
03:16Jeffrey made the first call when I got left on the side of the road from the musical.
03:23Michael, he called me and said, stop the crying. Get on the boat, the train, the plane, come to Broadway.
03:29You're gonna be on Broadway, girl.
03:36My first agent and my friend for about 45 years until he retired with a big balloon.
03:43Michael is out here, my accountant to this day, who made sure I saved my money and invested well.
03:50I see Wendy Creed, who when I was starring on Broadway and they wouldn't pick a little black girl up for a cab ride home,
04:04Wendy would get out on the corner and hail a cab for me.
04:07And we're still friends to this day.
04:10I gotta thank God, cause all three of my brothers are here and sitting together. Amen.
04:17Stanley, Timmy, and Michael.
04:24But I'm standing here with all of you on this boulevard and I can still feel the determined spirit of that little girl who dared to dream big.
04:36Growing up, I felt my big dreams had to be whispered because that kind of ambition could be mistaken for arrogance.
04:46But my immigrant mother would look me in the eye and say what we always say in Jamaica.
04:53Good, better, best. Never let it rest till your good is better and your better best.
05:00I can still feel the carpet under my feet in our living room in Connecticut where I would dance in front of the mirror using my hairbrush as a microphone with my T-shirt on my head wishing I had Tina Turner's wig.
05:21Oh, the dreams I dared to dream.
05:28But you see me now, I don't look like my journey.
05:34There were days and not so long ago, I couldn't get into the room for the audition.
05:43And now I am literally cemented as part of the Industries Foundation.
05:55When I stood on that winning Emmy stage in 2022 singing,
06:02I am an endangered species.
06:09Those are not just lyrics.
06:12Honey, that is my life's testimony.
06:17Because I have been counted out.
06:20I have been passed over.
06:23I have been told I was too black, too strong, too much.
06:31And yet, here I stand.
06:43So you believe me when I say that this star, it isn't just mine.
06:50It belongs to every performer who made space for me when there seemed to be no space.
