As part of the "Black Women in..." series, this prestigious event underscored ESSENCE's commitment to highlighting and applauding the monumental contributions of Black women pioneers.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00That's what black women do for our communities and for our businesses.
00:09They stay in the pocket and make the play.
00:13I had to literally just knock down doors.
00:15I had to literally continue to ask and get my foot in there.
00:17And I started out with angel investing.
00:19And I said, I don't want to break my back and play another 10 years.
00:23Of course, I said this at like, I don't know, 30.
00:25And 10 years later, I was still playing.
00:28And I said to myself, you know what, I don't want to do that
00:30because I want to be able to, you know, live a nice life.
00:33I want to live like Rich.
00:41You know what I'm talking about.
00:43I think sometimes when you are starting a company,
00:45it is honestly one of the...
00:47Winning Wimbledon is a lot easier, let me tell you,
00:50because those girls were a lot easier to beat
00:55than some of these companies to start.
01:00Let me tell you, you have to have endurance.
01:03You have to be so strong to be able to be in starting companies.
01:07And that's what I tell the founders, that you can't just think about it,
01:11you know, as it's going to be a quick win.
01:13You have to really build yourself and to build that character.
01:15I'm truly honored just to be here.
01:17Thank you for having me.
01:18Thank you so, so much.
01:20And thank you all for all the support through the years
01:22because you don't know what it was like
01:24to be out there.
01:26And the only way I could tell Venus was winning
01:29because I would always play after her or vice versa,
01:32could be the silence.
01:34If no one clapped, I know that she won the point.
01:36So I really felt it when you guys say that
01:40you guys were winning with me because it wasn't easy.
01:48I've been fortunate throughout my career to get to do many extraordinary things.
01:51And so I won't kind of run through my resume.
01:54But one of the cool things I did get to do
01:56was be featured in Essence back in 2010.
02:01Oh my goodness, was that a showstopper.
02:03And I had gotten to do so many amazing things,
02:05you know, building stores and doing billion-dollar deals,
02:09all the things.
02:10But when I got the call that I had the opportunity
02:13to be featured in Essence, I was like, damn.
02:18Like, finally something my mama and my daddy and my uncles
02:22and my aunties and my cousins were going to be super excited about.
02:26And oh my goodness, were they.
02:28And there was this over-the-top photo shoot.
02:30I got to go to New York.
02:32But what was amazing as I was reflecting on that moment
02:35was that AC, who got the first award,
02:40and I were standing next to each other
02:43along with Melody Hobson on that spread.
02:46Yeah, yeah, isn't that something?
02:48And it was the business class feature over 14 years ago.
02:51And there we stood together.
02:53And here we stand together again tonight.
02:57When I started in the workplace,
02:59I started at Procter & Gamble where I retired after 25 years.
03:02You know, I was mimicking the suits,
03:05people who didn't look like me,
03:06thinking that that's what you were supposed to do.
03:08And then I had an aha moment a few years into that, say,
03:12realizing that by me mimicking the suits,
03:15it told everyone else they needed the suits to be successful.
03:18Y'all know what I mean by the suits, right?
03:21It was people who did not look like us.
03:24Not usually female, usually male,
03:26and certainly, you know, not of color and not black.
03:30And then I realized that I was selling out
03:33and I was not making my parents proud.
03:35It was not conscious, it was unconscious.
03:37And I made a conscious decision to make a change.
03:40And in that, it started first with the physical change.
03:43I grew out my perm and did the big chop.
03:46And I did that because I wanted to diversify the organization,
03:50but it made a difference for me.
03:52I got a pep to my step,
03:53and that's where my career and impact got unleashed
03:56because who we bring does not need to be filtered.
04:00We can bring our magic to the workplace.
04:02We all have a platform we can choose to make a big difference.
04:05And at Unilever, one of those, and Rich also talked about this,
04:09is leading one of our brands, Dove,
04:12seeing that today people are discriminated against.
04:16We are because of our hair.
04:18It is my privilege to be here with you all
04:21to honor Ingrid Saunders-Jones.
04:25Ingrid Saunders-Jones was a former senior vice president
04:29of Community Connections
04:31and chair of the Coca-Cola Foundation.
04:34She could not be here tonight,
04:36but I am honored once again to accept this award on her behalf
04:41and express her genuine appreciation for this recognition.
04:46Ms. Jones played a critical role in building a lasting legacy
04:51between our company and Essence nearly 30 years ago.
04:56Through the partnership she started,
04:58we have worked together to uplift, empower,
05:02and celebrate the role black women play in our communities.
05:06I am so humbled to accept this award on behalf of Dr. Marion Croak.
05:11I want to tell you a little bit about Marion.
05:13I hope you're as excited as I am about the global impact
05:18that Marion has had to the world and to each of us in this room.
05:23Marion is often referred to as Shuri in the Black Panther,
05:27in the tech industry.
05:29She is the leading developer
05:31behind voice over Internet protocol technology
05:35or voice over IP,
05:37and this is a technology, as Rashida said,
05:40that has revolutionized systems of global communication.
05:44She is the holder of over 200 patents,
05:50and she is incredible.
05:55She is also responsible for the text-to-vote technology
06:01that's used by hit shows like American Idol
06:04to pioneering systems which allow for seamless donations
06:08during humanitarian crises.
06:11Marion's impact is nothing short of inspiring.