- yesterday
The veteran journalist opens up about her MSNBC exit, embracing her authentic self, and why speaking truth is worth the risk.
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00:00It is such a pleasure to be sitting down with you today, and I just want to first start off
00:13by asking you, how are you? How are you feeling both personally and creatively, most importantly?
00:19I am feeling wonderful. Thank you for asking. It has been a really sort of whirlwind couple
00:25of months, as you can imagine, from February to June. It's more than a couple. But I feel
00:32like I'm in such a great place because I'm producing content that I love, that I'm super
00:37proud of. I'm doing a show that I love. And it's been to me the perfect transition from
00:43traditional to this new media. Yeah. And so the Joy Read show, your podcast launched on
00:50June 9th. As you mentioned, it's been a couple of months. Other people would have taken
00:55a break. But why did you feel the need to just kind of hit the ground running and make
01:02sure that you're still in the space and doing it right now, especially when we see what's
01:06happening? I think events kind of dictated how I moved in that moment. I mean, you know,
01:12I lost the MSNBC gig during Black History Month, which was interesting. But there was a lot that
01:16was also happening in February. I mean, this was the beginning of the really aggressive
01:21deportation of people. I mean, people started literally disappearing off of our streets for
01:27writing op-eds that the administration didn't like or seemingly just for being the wrong color
01:32immigrant. As a daughter of immigrants myself, that resonated with me. You also had the joint
01:39session of Congress, which was going to happen, you know, whether I was working at MSNBC or not.
01:45And a bunch of us who were in the activist space and the social media space and all of these
01:50different spaces of Black media writ large decided, listen, we need to get together and have our
01:55people focus on what's important out of that speech if they're not going to watch it on traditional
02:00media. So we did this sort of epic 24-hour broadcast that gave the speech context for Black Americans,
02:08Black folks. And that morphed into this State of the People Power Tour. So I was pulled into that
02:14because Angela Rice, my sister friend, I call my sister boss. And when she says, this is what
02:18we're doing, how we're moving, I'm going to go with her. And then, of course, in between that was
02:22the 60th anniversary, the jubilee of the Selma to Montgomery march. And I had already committed
02:29when I was at MSNBC to be a part of that and to be there to experience and cover it. So,
02:35you know, I guess it's the Gen X in me that rather than do the logical thing that lots of people
02:40were saying I should do, rather than rest, I said, let me just keep moving because this train was
02:44moving and I decided to just ride it. And there are so many things happening, whether you are out
02:49in front of it or not. And being someone who has been so, you know, such a veteran broadcaster
02:55and also really vocal when it comes to a lot of the issues we're seeing take place in this country,
03:00we were like, what's Roy doing next? What's Roy doing next? So we're glad that you continue to keep
03:05moving on the train. You know, as a daughter of immigrants, when we see what's happening right
03:10now in this country with immigration, with people, as you mentioned, literally being pulled off the
03:15streets, we're seeing elected officials who are trying to stand up for immigrants, you know,
03:18being manhandled and, you know, also facing charges of their own for trying to stand up.
03:25Why is it so important that Black people care about immigration issues, right? Sometimes,
03:30you know, we hear that it may not be our fight, quote unquote, but, you know, we have so many
03:35Black immigrants in this country. So why is it important for, you know, Black people to pay
03:41attention to what is happening with immigration? I mean, the reality is, is that Black immigrants
03:46are so deeply integrated into the African American story in our culture. So many of us have cousins
03:54born overseas. Half my cousins were born in Guyana. Half were born in the United States. They're all
04:00African American. Nobody asks where you were born when you're followed around Bloomingdale's,
04:05when you're followed around Macy's, when you're followed around Walmart, when you're being mistreated
04:09by police. Nobody asks. They don't pay attention to your accent or where you were born. And if you
04:14care about African American history, you have to understand how deeply integrated people from that
04:20were born outside the United States or whose families were born outside the United States are in our
04:24history. If you're ignoring immigration, you have to ignore Malcolm X. You have to ignore Marcus Garvey.
04:30You have to ignore Stopely Carmichael, all of whom were Caribbean American, but deeply African American.
04:35And that's what I am. You know, I was born of immigrant parents who are from Africa and from Guyana,
04:40but I'm African American. I experience life as an African American woman. My children are African
04:45American. There is no difference and there's no border between our experiences. So I feel like it's,
04:51it is our fight. Inherently, it's our fight. And even if, let's say you have absolutely no
04:56connections to any Africans or Caribbean people, the president of the United States said on a hot
05:03mic to the president of El Salvador, the place where he's sending people without trial and putting
05:09them in prisons, he said, next, we're going for the homegrowns. I don't know who folks think that he
05:16means by homegrowns, but I promise you they look like us. Hmm. Uh, that, that was a deep one right
05:23there for sure. And so kind of keeping the topic on, you know, the Trump administration, this is
05:30Trump's second term has been in office for just a couple of months, but we are seeing, you know,
05:35swift changes, uh, across so many different spheres. And we saw, you know, uh, just a couple of
05:41days ago, uh, the, the airstrikes in Iran. Um, what is it that we should really be concerned about
05:49right now? Because there's, there's a lot of fear and anxiety. What's going to happen next? Well,
05:54with that move and, you know, and, and what has taken place now, you know, there is a lot of worry
06:00and rightfully so. Yeah. I mean, the difference between Trump 1.0 and Trump 2.0 is Trump 2.0 has a
06:06plan. You know, Donald Trump is just a guy from the apprentice. He used to work where I worked at NBC.
06:10We both used to draw a paycheck from NBC universal. He used to have a W2. Ironically,
06:16it's the only time he actually paid taxes. Apparently is when he was drawing that check
06:19from NBC and they withdrew that tax money from his check. Um, he's an entertainer. He's not a
06:25politician. He has no political experience. He has no actual experience in order to be president.
06:30So when he lucked into the presidency in 2016, because of his celebrity, let's be clear,
06:35he came in and had to rely on traditional sort of support systems within the government,
06:42people who knew government. And even if they only like new government, like Rex Tillerson,
06:46his secretary of state, okay, businessman, but he was an intelligent person that was a person of the
06:50world that kind of figure it out. He had generals, you know, he wanted to surround himself with quote,
06:54unquote, my generals, but they were also there to stop him from, you know, giving in to his worst
07:00impulses. They were what he called the deep state. But what the deep state just is, is experienced
07:06people, people who know what the heck they're doing. Trump 2.0, unhinged and unleashed. He does
07:14not have a single professional around him. And I include Marco Rubio in that because Marco Rubio
07:19is an entrepreneur. He literally will do whatever it takes to be in power. And he doesn't use the
07:26experience he gave in the United States Senate. He could care less, he will do whatever he's told,
07:31even to his own people, Cuban people who he's supposed to side with, he doesn't care if they
07:36get sent back to Cuba, because he thinks it'll accumulate power. So he's surrounded by people
07:40who are sycophants, television hosts, characters that Oprah Winfrey used to, you know, put on her show,
07:47God bless Oprah, but these people that doesn't make them qualified to be, you know, overall healthcare,
07:51RFK Jr., sort of ne'er-do-well itinerant multimillionaires, billionaires, that's who he's
07:57surrounded by. None of whom have the experience to do the jobs they're doing, but he does also have
08:01a plan. And the plan is Project 2025. And what we tried to warn people is that if Trump came back,
08:07he would be coming back with unprofessional people, but with a plan. And my team, you know,
08:13we were on when I was at MSNBC, we went through Project 2025.
08:17At length.
08:17At length. And what you're seeing happen was written in that playbook. And so even though
08:22the people that are running the Trump regime are not professionals, Project 2025 was written
08:29by professionals, professional ideologues, professional extremists, and they're implementing
08:34that plan so quickly because it's written down and all they have to do is open the book
08:39and do the things in it.
08:40Hmm. You are really vocal about, on your social media, especially on Instagram, you are really
08:48vocal about the things that are, you know, taking place across the board in this country.
08:52Many people will be afraid to speak out as vocally and as directly as you do. But what makes you,
08:58um, what is it that keeps you, um, speaking out and not being fearful of, of the administration
09:05and seeing what we're seeing, what we're seeing happen to, you know, members of, um, politicians
09:11and, and, and people who you wouldn't expect to be treated in that way?
09:15I am my mother's daughter. Um, that lady, um, was such an adventurer that in her thirties,
09:20she got on a ship and went off to England by herself, um, got her degree there, came to the
09:26United States by herself, uh, and then helped to bring her family members over. My mom, we used
09:32to do road trips. We'd drive all over the United States. We were trapped with people at our station
09:36wagon. I come from an adventurous mother and a fearless mother, a person who did not have fear.
09:42And so I was raised by her to be like her. And so to me, the worst thing that can happen if you
09:49speak out is what happened to me at MSNBC. You lose your job, you lose your gate, but I also have
09:54the self-confidence and also have the privilege of the education I was able to gain that I know
09:59I can land on my feet. I'm a writer. I can always make a living as a writer. And so I don't fear the
10:05consequences of speaking because I have the confidence and the privilege and the education
10:10and I've accumulated, I think the valuable, the value in my career and what I brought to the table
10:15that there's nothing they can do to me. But the thing that I could fail to do is to use my platform
10:22that I'm blessed to have and not use it to help people. What's the point of having that platform?
10:27You know, Ta-Nehisi Coates and I had this conversation that was like mind-blowing. And we were talking
10:31specifically about Gaza. And that was a conversation we're having. If we're blessed to have these
10:35platforms that are so rare to have, the platform that you have, you know, think about how lucky we are
10:40in the jobs we get to do. What's the point if you can't be a blessing to the world, if you can't speak up
10:46for the people who don't have the ability to speak, who don't have the voice, who don't have the
10:50platform. So I feel like it's my responsibility, you know, and it's something I deeply believe in.
10:55Thank you so much for that. We've seen so many veteran journalists like yourself leave traditional
11:00news media and go more to an independent meeting audiences where they are online, on social media
11:07platforms. What do you think about the exodus that we've seen from traditional media? And what have
11:14you learned, you know, thus far in this new journey that you're on?
11:18Yeah. And the thing that's so interesting is, you know, I used to be a digital editor. And
11:21back in the day when I was a digital editor for local news, the one thing that the mainstream
11:26media folks did not want was anything to be broken online. They were just very much, we were in the
11:31corner, we were to be quiet and repost what they post what they did at 6, 10, and 11. That has changed
11:37completely. Absolutely. There was a time when, you know, our bosses didn't want us on Twitter.
11:41And then all of a sudden, it went from please stay off of Twitter to everyone was on Twitter and
11:45breaking news on social media. And before Twitter went bad, you know, people were using it as a real
11:51source of breaking news. So there's been that, that's a change in like 20 years. And so I think
11:55where we are now, the next phase of that is not only do audiences expect journalists to be on social
12:01media, they, you know, they expect you to not just do your TV show, but also post on social,
12:07post on IG, do something on TikTok. There's a great pressure to do that to the point where if you're
12:13applying for a media job, they're asking about your social media following. So we've come a long
12:17way. And I think it's a good thing. It's created a democratization of media. But I think it's also
12:22created a really great soft landing spot. If you do not any longer fit into the traditional media
12:28model, there are so many places for you to go. Substack has been catching people like a net as
12:34they've been falling out of traditional media. YouTube has been doing the same thing. And so I think
12:40it's great because it gives less power to the corporate media bosses. Because if they don't want
12:47the services of any journalist, not just me, if they decide Terry Moran is too much of a risk,
12:52Trump is going to be too mad at him because he said something mean. Terry Moran can take his
12:57journalistic efforts. And like LeBron said, he's taking his talents to Miami. He took his talents
13:03to Substack. I did the same. I went to Substack and I'm going to YouTube. So I think the reason that
13:08that works now is that audiences today, they want the person that they trust to tell the news.
13:15And they don't particularly care where that person is. If you are a right winger, you like Tucker Carlson,
13:20it doesn't matter to you whether he's at Fox or whether he's on a podcast. You like him. And on the
13:26other side, if you like me, what we're learning and what I think the media sort of infrastructure,
13:33the traditional infrastructure are learning is that there is an audience for each of you know,
13:39for many, if you've developed your following, right? That audience is yours. It's going to
13:43follow you wherever you go. That's right. Yeah. And that's what we've been seeing more and more of
13:47how do you keep up? There's so much happening. We see you post. I feel like I'm like, how is
13:53you posting all the time getting things up commentary? How do you kind of keep up and but also find a
14:00balance, you know, for yourself and for your family? Probably fortunately or unfortunately,
14:04you know, I can't turn it off. Like I'm constantly like, checking to see what is the lunatic doing
14:10today? Like what madness is happening today? And I, I'm right out in the news cycle. But I've been
14:14like that since I was in my sixth grade, you know, I'm a news jockey. So to me, it's not really work.
14:19I'm just going to do it anyway. I'm going to check in anyway. So it's easy for me to sort of
14:23transition and kind of my ADHD behavior means that I post a lot and I keep things up. But that actually
14:27helps grow my platform because people know I'm going to stay on top of it. But in terms of like
14:32where I sort of consume news from, I actually also do get a lot of it online. The great thing about
14:38the current media is a lot of the resources are now online. So CNN exists on TV, but exists online as
14:43well. BBC is on TV, but it's also online. I read a lot of international news because I think stepping
14:49out of the US and seeing what the rest of the world is saying. And the lens in which, you know,
14:54the lens in which the framing is different, the lens was different, that kind of thing as well.
14:59And then the hybrids like The Guardian, I really trust. And I read a lot in The Daily Beast. I'm
15:03sort of getting a, and I like to do a sort of an eclectic variety. You know, I'll even check some
15:08conservative outlets. I'll see what they have to say as well. Because you really can. I think one of
15:13the things that happens in the cable news world is that it is a bit of a bubble. And you're going back
15:18and forth and talking to the aunties that love MSBC, you know, that they're a percentage of the
15:23people that make decisions in this world. They're not all of it. And there are a lot of people outside
15:28that framework that you really need to know what they're thinking and doing. Otherwise, you're going
15:32to be unpleasantly surprised by our politics all the time.
15:35Right. I think you have to have, and like to your point about reading conservative media,
15:39reading other media outlets that, to see different, differing views so that you're not surprised by
15:44those things. And you know what both sides are saying.
15:47Yeah, I think you have to. And I think a lot of people, it raises your blood pressure
15:51to be right in media. But I've been doing that for my whole career. You know, I used to listen to
15:55Rose Limbaugh to see what he had to say. I'm like, I'm curious. I want to know, why do so many people
15:59listen? I'm going to listen, see. And I think if you can take it, if you can tolerate it, if your
16:03mental health will tolerate it, I think you should try to see what the other side is saying. Because
16:08otherwise, they're talking to people who will vote. They're talking to people who will take action and
16:14sometimes violent action to support their side. And if you have no idea, you're going to get
16:20blindsided by it. And I think one of the sort of responsibilities of citizenship is to at least
16:26be somewhat conversant with the broad opinions out there. And some of that opinion is stuff you
16:32won't like. Right. So if you won't like things, you won't agree with. Yeah. Toward the end of your
16:37time at MSNBC, we saw you evolve in terms of the on-air look, the style, all those things. And we love
16:44the hair. We love the color. You, what was it that made you kind of move towards those changes in, um, in
16:52style? Because we know, especially in the broadcast industry, especially for Black women, there's a very, you
16:58know, uniformed kind of look that is unspoken. Um, but you really shied away from that. I think a lot
17:04of people appreciated that. So I just wanted to know, like, when did you make that decision and,
17:09you know, kind of changing those choices for you? It's interesting because, you know, I, like everyone
17:15else had the pixie haircut, you know, and that was the sort of traditional news cut. I've also had the
17:19flip, you know, the news flip. I've had it all. Absolutely. I've tried it all. And, um, when I started
17:25doing, um, my show, my, the first show I had on dayside, um, the read report, um, I had a real
17:32challenge working in the industry with my hair because I never wore wigs or weaves. I usually just
17:37used my hair unless I had braids and every summer I would do braids. But at that time you couldn't
17:40wear braids on TV. Yeah. Right. This is come a long way. Yeah. So I had to pretty much 20, you know,
17:46once I started doing that TV show in 2014, I had to be in my own hair and it was, it was a challenge
17:53because this industry does not prioritize having people who know how to do black hair
17:59and makeup. And so the challenge was hair falling out, you know, hair really being damaged,
18:06spending a lot of money to get my hair repaired. And it was really difficult. Um, and so when I
18:11finally was able to pull together a team by the time I got to my weekend show, AM Joy, I had a team,
18:17um, that I actually hired during the read report and they started doing my hair and makeup and really
18:24sort of getting my look together. So then I started to evolve a little bit. Yeah. I could play a little
18:27because now I was doing weaves. Now I was putting hair in and I could try long hair. I could try
18:31different things. And I was just like, I'm just going to go wild with this. I'm going to have fun
18:34with it. I'm going to try different things. And then when that crown act passed, you could tell me
18:39no, I could wear braids on. Listen, I was like, I'm going to try braids. I'm going to do updos. I'm
18:44going to do all these things. But in all of that hair care and hair health has always been an issue.
18:49And what I got lucky about was I got one, and I think this must've been in 2016. I finally got
18:54booked on meet the press. Okay. So I go to DC once again, now I'm in this sort of whirlwind of
18:59who's going to do my hair. And the, the woman who, um, not the original person who was doing my hair
19:06and she was, she had a challenge during my hair as well. And so they brought in a woman named Coco.
19:10Love her name. Coco did my hair. And I said, Ooh,
19:13she did an excellent job. And she said, listen, if you're ever in DC, just come down and I'll just
19:19do your hair. And I had tried so many different places and was searching to try to find a salon,
19:24honey salon here in Harlem used to do my hair, but I wasn't always there. Wasn't always here.
19:28And so I wound up just going to her whenever I needed my hair done. And she's been my hairdresser
19:33ever since. So I had, eventually I had really one person that was really dealing with my hair care.
19:38And I feel like that was key. And I think for women in our business, you can have lots of great
19:43hairstylists doing your hair. And I had a tremendous team in New York. Um, you know,
19:48shouts out to Janai Scott. It was doing my hair at the time. Shouts out to, um, you know, Giselle
19:53Modeste who was amazing doing my hair. So I had a lot of great stylists, but I had one hairdresser.
19:58Right. And I would literally get on the train and come to DC and make sure that my hair care
20:03was being taken care of by one person. And I would give that advice to especially black women who are
20:09in this business because our hair is more fragile than it looks. Yes. It can stand up, sit down,
20:14get braided, do all kinds of things, but it is fragile. And that constant heat in your hair,
20:19the constant, it can cause a lot of damage. So once I kind of had a routine down, I had a person that
20:23could do my hair. And you felt really comfortable. And I felt comfortable and confident. I tried,
20:27listen, I tried everything. I had wigs, uh, Giselle, I think did my first wig where I had
20:31the curly wig. And when I popped up with the curly wig, it was like, you know, young black girls
20:35with curly hair were like, Oh, we got a curly hair girl. Yeah. I tried that. I did a long weave,
20:40you know, like your beautiful hair. I was like, I need beautiful hair. I need long flowing hair.
20:43So, uh, one of my, uh, actually my makeup artists, uh, Janice created a long, my favorite little long,
20:50beautiful wig that I love in the culture is, um, and then Coco colored it cause Coco is the queen of color.
20:56So I had that wig. And then I said to Coco, I really want to cut all my hair off after I've
21:02tried it all. I've tried braids. I've tried weeds. I've tried everything. I was like, I want to go
21:07back to where I was in the beginning. I used to really hate my hair being short. I hated it when
21:11I was a kid. I hated my short hair and I just wrestled with my hair. My hair was kinky and it
21:15didn't grow and I just didn't love it. But after all of that whirlwind of doing my hair, I realized that
21:21I actually liked myself with short hair and I actually wanted to go back. But not only did I want it short,
21:25I wanted it blonde. I asked her to do this for years and she was like, you're not going to let me do it.
21:31And I was like, yes, I am. Cut it all with you. And every time she would come at me with those shears,
21:36I would be like, you weren't ready. You weren't ready. So this was years of me threatening to do it.
21:42And then finally in 20, what was it? A year ago, finally in 2024, I was like, you know what?
21:48Do it. And she cut it all off. I let her do the big chop. We did the blonde and we've been working
21:54on the blonde, working it to get it the right color. And I finally, I finally did it and I love
21:59it. And it's so much fun. And we love it too. It looks fabulous. And it's weird because when I
22:05first did it, I did it and I didn't do it for, I didn't go on TV. I was like, how are people going
22:09to react to this? Cause I've been everything. I've been weaved. I've been braided. I've been all these
22:14styles, but I've never been this. And so when I first did it, I kept wearing a cute little wig
22:18and, but I didn't. And so it was actually months before I actually revealed that it was already
22:24done. And whenever I would go into the salon to get my color updated, the other people in the salon
22:29would be like, why doesn't she just wear her hair like that on TV? And it took a while for me to have
22:33a, you know, confidence to say, you know, I can, this could be a news look. But I think that's
22:36just speaks to like how we've been conditioned to think that like, this is not going to be
22:40considered professional. I don't know how people are going to react. I
22:43don't think they're going to like it. Yeah. Yeah. And I think we've been so
22:47kind of tormented about our hair as black women and our hair has always been political.
22:52Yeah. I mean, it used to be illegal for black women to walk around with their hair
22:54because our hair has been so controversial. You know, it used to be illegal again for us
22:59to wear braids or not illegal, but people could fire you wearing braids. You had to have,
23:03you know, the flip. Yeah. You had to have the flip or the bob. The bob. One of the two.
23:09And now I, so now I feel the freedom of just being able to like be my little bald,
23:13blonde headed self is like the best feeling in the world. I wake up, my hair is done. How about that?
23:21You're like, I'm laughing all the way to work. I can go.
23:25Listen, it used to be that the worst enemy of my news look was wind.
23:31Between my contact lenses and my hair, I was like, please don't let it be windy. Now I'm like,
23:35let the wind blow. I don't care. It's all good.
23:38Oh my gosh. Thank you for sharing that. That was, I really, really appreciated that. I think
23:43our audience certainly will too, because, you know, like you see the evolution and you're always,
23:48at least I know it. I'm always like, I wonder when she decided to do that and how, you know,
23:53how is it with the news? And we know how. So I really appreciate you sharing that.
23:58It was funny because I did it like, and this was sort of, yeah, it was right after we had done the
24:02culture is. So I went literally from the long hair weave to like a short wig to this. It was
24:08like a dramatic one, two, three. And, you know, and even as long as I've been in the business,
24:12I definitely have the anxiety of how is this going to go across, you know, go over
24:16with an audience, with my audience. And so we think about it all the time.
24:19Yeah. And you're always like, okay, well, if I'm going on vacation, I could do my vacation here,
24:23but then I got to make sure that my hair is back to this before I get back to work, because
24:27you know, you got to have, it has to look a certain way before you get into the office. So
24:31it's literally like doing, it's like mathematics. And I, me and Matt don't get along.
24:37I'm a writer. So I'm a writer. I don't do all this math. And thank you for that. Because I think it
24:42really, especially for so many black women who are still struggling with trying to figure out
24:47how to wear the hair, what's acceptable, what's not quote unquote, it just really kind of gives
24:53that backstory to like, Hey, no matter what position you're in, we still think about it. We still,
24:58we still get anxiety. They're still like, should we be doing this? You know, you are on such a new
25:03journey, but, and there's a lot happening both personally, professionally. What is it that you do
25:10to unwind and to take care of you or take care of joy?
25:15Yeah. So I am, you know, because I'm Gen X, the TV raised me and the TV was my co-parent.
25:20And so I still find joy. I still find joy and comfort in TV. And so I will throw on some Netflix
25:26and I'll watch a series. Um, I'm excited that the Gilded Age has a new season.
25:30A very nice. I am ready, but you know, I'm going to wait. I'm going to let it ride because I'm like,
25:34Just a little something. Me too. I'm that person. It's either all episodes in one weekend or no.
25:39Right. I don't want to wait. I don't want to come back next week. I have been trained to binge. And so
25:44I let it, I let it play out. I just watched The Last of Us. Fantastic. So I, you know,
25:49I get into series and, you know, Jackie Reed, who's my co-host and read this, read that.
25:52She recommends me stuff, pop viewers, which is my friend Chris Witherspoon. You know,
25:57I'll go on pop viewers to see what to do or I'll text Chris, you know? So I have like a little crew
26:01of like entertainment gurus that I go to. Right. That make sure you're in the know.
26:06Make sure I'm in the know because I'll miss a thing. I'll miss a thing. I actually recently
26:09have gotten into South African dramas. They have some incredible series out of South Africa.
26:13Listen, blood and water still has me in a chokehold. Don't get me started. We could
26:18do a whole day and a half hour with blood and water. Listen. In a chokehold. In a chokehold.
26:23My sister's always like, don't you have work tomorrow? Like, yeah. But for right now,
26:29this is the story. So yeah, so TV is one of the things I do. I also love to read. Obviously it's
26:36all I'll read, but now reading is a lot of work because I'm trying to read books that are related
26:39to what I'm doing. Yeah. So I've really gotten into audio books. Like it's a way to quickly get
26:43a book in and get it done. And I would say that. And then also just music. You know, I do find the
26:48soothing thing of just like sitting on my back porch, putting on some great music, having a great
26:53glass of champagne and some rosé and just like trying to chill. I try to bring myself down,
26:59bring myself down with a chill vibe because everything I'm doing is so intense and safe.
27:03Yeah. What's been the most exciting thing about the Joy Read Show thus far? We know
27:08it's just been a few weeks into this new podcast. We're tuning in. What has excited you most about
27:14some of the guests you've had and what the response has been? Well, on the response,
27:18when we got after one week of doing the show, our million stream announcement from YouTube,
27:23they send you this cute little email. They're like, your channel has reached one million streams.
27:28They actually send you like a little award. It's like a Room Raider thing. And they give you like
27:32a thing. And I was like, gosh, we got this thing. So that was so, it just made me feel so good that
27:37it's like, my people are here with you and we're doing the thing. We had some amazing interviews.
27:42We got very lucky that we were able to get the former South African ambassador to the United States
27:47our first week. And he was so interesting. Abraham Russell, he was fantastic. But our opening
27:53interview, I have to say, the opening interview that we landed made me feel so good. And that was Amber
27:58Ruffin. And she was so brilliant. She came to the studio and we call it the basement, like big
28:04tickets. Love it. Oh my gosh. Nostalgia. Nostalgia. And we do, we have a lot of nostalgia in the show,
28:09a lot of little nostalgia references. And that's one. And she was such a great interview. So
28:13interesting. And the interview did so well. So I think that was phenomenal. And then one of the
28:19other things I'm really proud of is I texted my friend Don Lemon, who that's my guy. And I texted Jim
28:24Acosta, who I actually didn't know, you know, personally, because he was at CNN and I was at
28:29MS. And I said to them, look, I asked for Jim's number, got his number. And I was like, would you
28:33guys be interested and open to doing a special coverage with me on June 14th when Donald Trump
28:39has his little birthday military parade? I feel like the three of us should get together and we
28:43should form a super group. We should do coverage together. He both said yes. And that broadcast to me
28:49was like revolutionary. Three broadcasters from two different networks, all of whom have left
28:54corporate media, getting together and doing a three hour live broadcast where we covered the
29:00protested multiple cities. We covered the preamble to the march. We covered the background on the march,
29:07why Trump is doing it. And we gave people the kind of coverage they could have gotten
29:11on traditional media. And we professional, well done, amazing guests, man on the street interviews.
29:18And we did all of that on social media, on YouTube, on Substack. I'm super proud of it.
29:23And it got such a great response and so many people watching it on all our streams.
29:28On all your streams together.
29:29Simul streamed it. And so it was simulcast on the Joy Reid show, the Don Lemon show,
29:33and the Jim Acosta show.
29:34And our Substacks.
29:35Which has such two individual following. So just to have that cross, the cumulative.
29:40And so we got what a network would get cumulatively between all six of those platforms.
29:45I thought that was amazing.
29:46Yeah. And so as you move forward and as we see the Joy Reid show continue,
29:52what are you hoping that people are able to take away from it? Because we've been,
29:55you know, on a journey with you for many, many years now. So what are you hoping people can
29:59take from it week after week?
30:00So week after week, we want you to be informed because you got to know what's going on,
30:04but we don't want you to feel despair. So we want you to have a little bit of joy.
30:07And we also want you to feel empowered that you come away from an hour of watching the Joy Reid
30:12show feeling like, I can argue with my Trumpy uncle. I'm ready to vote. I'm ready to move.
30:17Whatever I need to do, if I want to march, I'm ready to march because I have the information that I need
30:20in order to thrive, even in this environment that we feel today.
30:24Ooh, love that.
30:26This year, Essence turns 55 years old.
30:30As a Black woman in media, what has Essence meant to you?
30:33We know that you were at Black Women in Hollywood earlier this year,
30:36and there was so much love in the room for you. What has Essence been to you?
30:40I grew up as an Essence household. My mom subscribed to Essence magazine,
30:45National Geographic, and I would get ebony at the hair salon. We'd go to get the hair salon,
30:51but we had Essence magazine in my home. So I grew up, and also ebony. We also grew up as an ebony
30:56household, but Essence has been like part of the, you know, it's like part of my life, right?
31:02I grew up with it. And I think for me, Essence has always been reasserting the beauty and value
31:09of Black women and Black girls. As a Black girl, all you saw was Farrah Fawcett and, you know,
31:15white women shampoo commercials, and you didn't see us. But Essence is where we saw us. We could
31:22flip through those pages and see our fashion, our beauty, our stories, our history. We could see
31:27ourselves and our possibilities. And so for me, Essence has literally been a part of the soundtrack
31:32of my life. And it just is to be such an honor to be associated with it in any way. It's actually
31:37kind of surreal too, because it's like, this is a magazine that was literally on your coffee table
31:42all the time that you were growing up. And you always just thought, wow, wouldn't it be cool
31:45to just even, you know, one day be in an Essence magazine, to one day have an article about you,
31:50and to sit here with you, and to be able to talk with Essence. It's really a dream come true.
31:54So I'm just proud. I'm proud that Essence has turned 55. We are both young and fresh. I'll
31:59say that's the, that's the cute age, because that's my age close to as well. And so what
32:03we're going to say is Essence is not in a midlife. It's in fab life. How about that?
32:08Fab life. We love it.
32:11Well, thank you so, so much, Joy. I really appreciate it. This was amazing.
32:15Thank you. Thank you so much.
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