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LifestyleTranscript
00:00When I think of a changemaker, I think somebody who has the vision to see a problem, but also
00:09vision to see the solution.
00:11I feel so grateful to be a parade changemaker.
00:18Every changemaker that we've spoken to so far, we always go back to childhood.
00:22Talk to me about that young Elaine.
00:23Gosh, where do I even begin?
00:25When I think about little Elaine, I remember being in the bathtub and I would just pretend
00:29to be doing an interview, like Oprah.
00:32It would just be me by myself playing both roles.
00:35And it's so interesting to see the way that my career unfolded and all of the little miracles
00:42along the way that opened doors for me to be able to live out that dream that I had as
00:46a little girl.
00:47I do tend to believe that that little Elaine who was having those interviews, those Oprah
00:52style interviews, that is the same Elaine who's here now.
00:56It really is.
00:57I remember in college being like, somehow at every party, there would be like one person
01:02who would find me or I guess I would attract them and we'd be in the corner holding hands.
01:07Yes.
01:08And I'd be like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm, tell me everything.
01:10And it would just be like this heart-to-heart, like confessional.
01:13Yeah.
01:14That is just how I've always been.
01:15It's who I am at work.
01:16It's who I am in my relationships.
01:18I love asking questions.
01:20I'm super curious.
01:22And I think I've always been someone who just also like to root for the underdog.
01:26We need to make space for people who are different.
01:28Yes.
01:29We need to make sure that they feel safe and included and seen.
01:32And I think that's something that I've carried into my career.
01:35You know, at Teen Vogue, I felt like this is an opportunity for me to create space for
01:39other people who may not otherwise have had inroads here.
01:42What you've been able to bring, too, has been so important and has kind of really changed
01:46the game in a way.
01:47And I wanted to really ask you, there also is grappling.
01:50There's a sort of pressure of when you maybe are the first in a lot of spaces, in underrepresented
01:55spaces.
01:56In a lot of spaces that I know from my upbringing growing up too, my dad's black, my mom's white,
02:00it was super similar.
02:01However, I look exactly like you.
02:02Yeah.
02:03So you're my sister.
02:04Yeah.
02:05You're literally my brother.
02:06I don't know why I told you that, right?
02:07Because we grew up together.
02:08This might be the first time that we are not the only ones in the room.
02:11Yes.
02:12Like, you know what I mean?
02:13We look literally exactly like each other.
02:14Yes.
02:15This was how it's always how it is.
02:16Yeah.
02:17This is how it's supposed to be.
02:18Exactly.
02:19I love this so much.
02:20It's so real.
02:21I mean, first of all, I love looking into your face because literally I see kin.
02:23I see family.
02:24I see somebody who makes me feel safe.
02:27I feel like we probably have a lot in common.
02:29And that's comforting to my nervous system because I think you and I both have spent most
02:34of our career in spaces where that's not the case.
02:38I remember being at this like turning point in my career where I was given this big job
02:44opportunity that I knew I had earned.
02:46But I remember seeing my name in the headline for the first time and seeing my race in the
02:51headline.
02:52That I had made history as the first black woman to and and it kind of contextualized
02:58and added a weightiness to the opportunity.
03:01What am I going to do with that?
03:02I can't just come in here and act like the next person.
03:05I have to bring my own shoes.
03:07I have to fill those out.
03:08I have to learn how to tell stories only I can tell.
03:12And like the things that resonate with me, I want to express those things and I want
03:16other people to feel safe.
03:17So like I truly feel like that was a turning point in my career completely.
03:22And it informed kind of all of the work from there on.
03:26Look at what was waiting for you.
03:28I mean, you had Project Runway, which is amazing.
03:30Of course, you got to go to the talk too.
03:33And that is absolutely doing a disservice to themselves and their children, our future.
03:39So talk to me about these other projects, too, that you got to explore.
03:42I actually left to write my book.
03:44I knew that was like the thing I needed to do.
03:46You know, I had spent all of my career telling other people's stories and it was really time
03:51to tell mine.
03:52While I was writing more than enough, Project Runway came along and it became this incredible
03:57part of my life that I had so much fun with.
04:00And Carly was one of my friends from the fashion industry and she was joining the show.
04:06Brandon was a friend.
04:07We just all kind of like held hands and jumped in.
04:09And then I got pregnant.
04:10Yeah.
04:11And that was also not planned.
04:14Yeah.
04:15That's one of those things that just kind of happened.
04:16I think it's so beautiful to even just think about like all those steps that got you to
04:20where you are.
04:21And I think the way that it feels like motherhood is such an amazing, exciting part of your journey
04:26now.
04:27My motherhood journey has only expanded my life and really enriched my career in ways
04:35I never saw coming.
04:37Sometimes there's certain issues or causes in the world that you can't connect to until
04:43you are dropped into first person experience with it.
04:48And that's sort of what precipitated or what caused me to create Birth Fund.
04:53I started Birth Fund in April 2024 while I was pregnant with my second baby as a way to
05:02call attention to something that we do not talk about enough on behalf of all of the mothers
05:08who have needlessly lost their lives during and after childbirth because of the brokenness
05:14in the maternal health system.
05:17These deaths are largely preventable.
05:20I think that there's this foregone conclusion that birth is scary.
05:23It's a gamble.
05:24It's a risk.
05:25And you can lose your life.
05:26In 2025, we have the technology and the resources to do better and to keep these women alive.
05:34I just remember thinking, like, what can I do to stand in the gap for at least one family?
05:40I can cover the cost of care for midwifery for at least one family.
05:44Now, I know people who can do that and some, and now what if we came together?
05:49Let's create a fund so that this is one pathway to create safer births for families who want
05:56and need it, and it kind of turned into this organization.
06:02I mean, Serena Williams, she's one of our founding family funders.
06:05She shared her story with the world.
06:06It helped open my eyes.
06:07It helped open so many people's eyes to this issue.
06:10We have to step up and put our money and our resources and our energy and our time where
06:15our values are, and this is where I've chose to invest mine.
06:20It's unfortunate now, though, that we are seeing such pushback right now with a lot of the little
06:28steps that felt like we were able to take then.
06:31So what do you think for the future?
06:32What are your biggest hopes?
06:33I think the answers, the solutions, the safety, the healing is going to come from the community,
06:43recognizing our power, recognizing what happens when we come together, when we rally.
06:48You have to choose where you can make an impact.
06:51If we each just invested in one solution to one problem that we feel called to resolve,
06:58we would find the community that will help us do it, and we could actually make a difference
07:03and hopefully solve some of these generational issues in our lifetime.