BIN News Anchor Tyrik Wynn sat down for a one-on-one interview with Dawnn Lewis, best known for her role as Jaleesa Vinson-Taylor on the iconic series A Different World.
Lewis is a GRAMMY, multiple BMI, and NAACP Image Award-winning singer, composer, producer, actress, and activist. She currently stars as Captain Carol Freeman on the hit series Star Trek: Lower Decks and lends her voice to characters on The Simpsons and Futurama.
Listen now!
Lewis is a GRAMMY, multiple BMI, and NAACP Image Award-winning singer, composer, producer, actress, and activist. She currently stars as Captain Carol Freeman on the hit series Star Trek: Lower Decks and lends her voice to characters on The Simpsons and Futurama.
Listen now!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, guys, this's Tyreek went on your home for twenty
four to seven news the Black Information Network. Guys, we
have an amazing guest in the building today. We have
the Don Lewis. She is a Grammy, multiple B and
my NAACP Image Award winning singer, composer, producer, actress, and activist.
She is currently starred as Captain Carol Freeman on the
hit TV series Star Trek Lower Decks and lends her
(00:23):
voice to characters on the Simpsons. She is also the
founder and CEO of a New Day Foundation, nonprofit committed
to empowering underserved youth. You may also remember her as
Jalisa from the iconic series A Different World. Ms. Don,
thank you so much for being here. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
My absolute pleasure and I am fantastic. It's nice to
meet you, Terry.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, yes, yes, it's nice to meet you as well.
So I want to start with this. I remember when
I first got introduced to you. I remember my mom
was just sitting watching this TV show. I was like,
you know, like, what is the show you watching? So
I came down, I sat and then it was a
Different World and that's how I was like, oh wow,
So you know I started watching the show. It's a
pretty cool show. I like it.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you, Thank you. It's been a blessing.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's hard to believe it's been thirty seven years since
we started that whole journey. You know, I've been doing
this just about my entire life, ever since I was
a small child, singing, dancing, acting. I thought I was
going to be recording artists, and then here came this,
you know TV series. I was doing a Broadway show
off broad Broadway shows, and the person who does the
music knew me as a singer songwriter. Okay, so that's
(01:27):
how he approached me to write the theme song. So
I was doing a Broadway tour at the time, so
that's how the casting directors knew me as an actor.
So they both hired me to work on this new series,
and neither one knew that they had hired the same
person until after they had hired me.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So that's how I got to co write the theme
song and co star in the show.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
And it has been a blessing.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
It has changed lives around the world in these last
thirty seven years. And I was the second Jalisa. Jalisa
was actually a created name for a woman named j
Lisa Hazard who is the wife of a dear friend
of mister Cosby's. So I was named after her character.
So there was one, then there was two. Now there
(02:08):
are thousands all around the planet because of that show.
So it's a it's really truly a humbling honor to
be a part of something that has inspired so many,
that has encouraged so many, that has allowed countless people
to see themselves and have a positive image and vision
and aspirations for themselves because of it.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So no, it's an honor.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, I love that, And I like how you gave
the backstory, you know, because not everybody knows those kinds
of stories. Yeah, like how everything came about, and how
you ended up being part of two roll like you know,
got to do multiple things exactly within the show and stuff.
So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I liked that. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So you got a lot of stuff going on, first
of all out here winning awards that that's awesome. Yeah,
amen to that. And then you also got you got
Star Trek. How's that been?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That has been a blessing. That is like a full
circle moment for me because as a kid, we used
to watch that show, the original Star Trek series, and
you're watching people male, female, whatever gender, whatever race, whatever species.
They were, everybody working collaboratively, everybody being excellent, and then
there was this one system Nachelle Nichols.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
It's just to see her there, especially because that was
the sixties. So when you watch the news, you're watching
people of color being hosed, being attacked by dogs, being
strung up, I mean, the vision for people of color
in this country, and not just African Americans, but Asians
and etc. And diddigenous pea peoples watching the realities of
(03:41):
what was going on in the world. And unfortunately it
seems like we're coming full circle with that as well,
with people being emboldened to be negative, to be hateful,
to be violent towards other people, which is not okay.
Star Trek made everything look possible. We can do this together.
We can do this with respect and with excellence, one
(04:02):
for each other, giving credit where credit is due, regardless
of what galaxy you're from, regardless of what culture you're from.
So to see Nachelle Nichols, she was a badass. She
was handling herself, she was rocking with anybody else on
that crew, whatever color, whatever gender, and it was an
inspiration to me to say this is possible. And she
(04:24):
didn't die in the first five minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I was like, see, come on, we got there's a
spot for us. There's a spot for us.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
So being a part of that now and as one
of the first black captains in this Star Trek legacy,
and I'm not sure if I'm the first female black captain,
but I might be. You know, Avery Brooks was the
first male black commander of a Star starship. And to
be a part of that journey and doing it the
(04:54):
way that we're doing it through Star Trek lower decks,
you get to see a more human side people in space,
whereas all the other shows Perticard, Discovery, Next Generation and
Strange New Worlds, everybody's excellent all the time. We are
not excellent all the time. You know, we have good hearts,
We mean well, but you know, we often get things wrong.
(05:15):
But we do it together, and we get it together
and we get what needs to be done done at
the end of course.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, And so this airs every Thursday, right Thursday, okay,
and then coming up on the season finale on the nineteenth.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Day, nineteenth December nineteenth.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Now, I know it's been said that this is going
to be our final, our fifth and final season. However,
we like to say it's our fifth and final season
on Paramount Plus. So there you go, the fandom, the
fandom and the powers that be. You know, we're keeping
positive thoughts that we're gon we're gonna land somewhere else
(05:50):
sooner than later.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So yeah, so check us out every.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Thursday Paramount Plus and we're having a great time. I
have an amazing cast, Tawny knew Some, Jack Quad, Eugene Cordero,
Noel Wells, Jerry O'Connell, Fred tatish Or, Gillian Vigman, and
our creator Mike Mann, who also was one of the
creators of Rick and Morty.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Exactly, so he's got a long leg legacy.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
He's a brilliant, brilliant writer and has created in scenarios
and environments for each of us where you've seen our
characters grow over the years. So myself and Tawny Knwsome
play mother and daughter. And it's interesting because in the show,
I'm the responsible one getting her to be more responsible
and less rebellious and rambunctious, et cetera. But in real life,
(06:39):
I was Beckett, So my poor mama, Like, I'm feeling
my mother's pain now in this role, because I was
definitely the one that was hard to control and just
always had this forward vision and it's like, what do
you mean No, Yeah, you're telling me no, It means
I think.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You should do do this. So that was definitely me growing.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
So talk about the dynamic with you guys on set.
You know what was a typical day like on set.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
On Star Trek Lower Decks. Okay, here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
When we first started with the show, that was the
one time all of us were in the room at
the same time, and that was the one time we
all became aware of what it was we were actually
going to be doing, because until then we had to
sign NDA's there was no indication that it had anything
to do with Star Trek. When I auditioned, my character's
name was Captain McDuck for some nondescript sci fi animation shows.
(07:32):
So we got to the first table read some of
the studio was there, A bunch of Pea people were there,
and we turned over our scripts and we all all
of us almost at the same time.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It was like, oh, Star Trek, what for real, this
is legit.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, So that was the one time all of us
were in the room together. After that, Tawny and I
recorded together once or twice. Myself and Jack recorded together
once or twice, and then I went to New York
to do the Broadway show Tina, the Tina Turner Musical,
so I was recording remotely so and Jack was up
in Canada shooting the boys, and Tani was doing you know, space,
(08:11):
I forget the name of it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I'm sorry, forgive me, Tony sorry, she was doing hers.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
So all of us were in different places and recording,
and then the pandemic hit, so.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Then we couldn't record together. You know what that was like.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
You're in the studio, it's just you and the ghost
producer or recording.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
From your home. And since then we've not been in
the same room.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
So we record all of us individually, but we're so
accustomed to each other other's voices and rhythms that when
you're recording your material, you can actually hear the other
person's voice in your head and know how they're going
to finish your sentence or ad lib and things like that.
So it's been different. So we get together at the
(08:53):
different conventions, So any of the Star Trek conventions if
you're a fan.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And come on out.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
We were just in Chicago, we were in Nashville, we
were in New Jersey, we were in Dallas. Starting next
year we'll be in San Francisco in Vegas. So you
get to see us together and it's kind of a
irreverent when we're all in the same place.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. And I love that you
and I love that you guys are doing this, by
the way, amazing show. You guys are doing such a
great job with it. And I'm pretty sure that you know,
everybody's loving it, you know, and you know and every
and I know you said last season on Paramount Plus,
but you know, I'm pretty sure people are gonna definitely
want more.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Come on yeah, yeah, yeah, So I love that. And
then you also talked about this Tina Turner.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes, Tina, the Tina Turner Musical. It was fantastic. Those
were my roots. I'm from New York City, so I
cut my teeth on the New York stage off Broadway Broadway,
and so I got to play Tina Turner's mom, which
was very special for me because as we learn about
Miss Turner's journey, you learn that, like Beckett and Captain Freeman,
(10:06):
the relationship between she and her mother was very, very troubled,
and it was that way until she passed away. Part
of it being that they were in a home with
domestic violence, and it got to a point where Tina's
mother had to leave and leave Tina behind in order
to save herself, which unfortunately or fortunately depending on how
(10:26):
you see the rest of the journey, created an issue
of abandonment for Tina, and then she ended up finding
herself in an abusive relate relationship for quite some time
and then ultimately freed herself. That was my mom's story.
I was raised in a home with domestic violence and
watching my mom do what she did. She left us
(10:47):
for almost two years before we saw her again, but
she had to save herself in order to come back
and get us. So it's very easy to play a
role like that as a villain, like how could you
have your kids? I could never do that since but
like when you're on the airplane, they tell you to
put your mask on first before you can help anybody else.
(11:07):
You got to save yourself and be in a better place.
As an individual. So my mom was my inspiration. So
she was not a villain by any means. She was
one of my heroes coming up, you know, to watch
her navigate as she did and then come back and
raise me and my three brothers in such a whole
and healthy way and for each of us to go
(11:28):
into our own careers and our own aspirations. It was
important to me to be a part of that on
broad Broadway. So no, we had an amazing company, multiple
Tony nominations, and now that the show is closed on
Broadway is doing incredibly well on tour around the country country.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
That's awesome. Broadway. How is Broadway? I've been to it?
I've been I think I've been to like maybe like
one Broadway showers. Okay, yeah, but like, how is how
was that experience? Being on Broadway?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's more than an eight shows a week is no joke,
And it's eight shows at the highest of energy, whether
it's a musical or a straight drama, three hours of
you creating and convincing everyone sitting in the audience that
you are a real individual so that they are willing
to take this journey with you. If you're doing a musical,
(12:21):
you have the added element of singing and dancing, you know,
song production number after production number, and making it new
and fresh each time you do it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So you spend several months.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
In rehearsals, choreographing, learning songs, learning you know, the dance moves,
learning the scenes and the blocking and the reasons behind
what you're doing, so that everybody's on the same page.
And after months of rehearsal, now you're at the theater.
And for a while you're in the theater rehearsing five
six hours. You take a dinner break, and you come
(12:54):
back and you do a show at eight And depending
on two show days, you have rehearsal in the morning.
Sometimes then you have the matinee, then you have the
evening show. Then you get to go home until the
show gets what they call locked. And those are your days.
And in my twenties I would still hang out all
day or go to a club after the show eleven
(13:16):
o'clock till two o'clock in the morning, get up and
be fresh as a daisy, do my two shows, and
do it all over again. Yeah not anymore, No, no, yes,
I will meet you for a drink or something to eat.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
After the show that I'm going to bed. I get
that I'm going to bed.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I'm gonna get up and go pay some bills, I'm
gonna watch some TV. I'm gonna look at the clock
and go, oh, I guess I should go to the
theater now, And.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, okay, Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good, pretty
good experience. And it's great that you've been fortunate enough
to have these great experiences. And I can tell you've
been very blessing your career.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Thank you. I'm a lot of great great I'm very grateful.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But for all of you out there who are thinking
of doing professional theater, just know it takes a lot
of stamina. It's a lot of hard work. But if
you do it well, you make it look easy. But
it's not easy. But it's very rewarding when you get
to work and be on stage and live because it's
real and you can't get any doovers.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
The show. We've had everything from.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Set pieces fall to people fall off the stage, to
lines getting missed, to people coming out in half costumes
because they cost something happened backstage, and you know, and
so the audience gets their own version of the show
each and every performance, so Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, because that's the thing about live theater and acting
on a TV show on movie. It's like, you know,
you can have those bloopers, but when you and professional,
you got the live audience right there, you see is
what you get.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
That's it. There's no doovers, that's it. Keep it moving.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Or if something happens to an actor, like they're not
feeling well in the first act, the second act, it
could be a completely different person. It's like, wait, wait,
I was just watching this. Okay, all right, I'm just
gonna go with it because that's very real.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
It's very real.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Wow, Well just go to show you what happens. See yeah,
love that. And so let's talk a little bit about
the foundation. You have a New Day Foundation, and so
can you tell us a little bit about the New
Day Foundation and u all's mission.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Okay, Well, the New Day Foundation is a play on
my name, Dawn, a New Day, and we have determined
that it is our opportunity to create a New Day
of opportunity for underserve youth and communities across the country
and abroad. We have some National Internation national programs as well,
so we do programmatic services.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
We also do financial.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Scholarship support, So we have programs for teen boys called
Mentors which stands for Men Capital t rs which men
talking of relevant situations, and Sisters hang Out for teen girls.
All both of them are for thirteen to nineteen year olds.
And then annually we have our Focused and Fit FIT
which stands for Financially and Technology Informed for a different
(15:59):
world conference where we do workshops for high school juniors
and seniors and their parents so that whole family goes
home fed and informed.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
In college freshmen and sophomores, so it's that.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Four year demographic preparing for college and having just arrived
in college, so it's a day long of workshops. We
give out anywhere from six to twelve scholarships of two
thousand dollars each in a brand new laptop to college
enrolled students. So if you're a graduating high school senior,
you show us your GPA, the fact that you got
access upted into college, and where you're going to be going,
(16:33):
because that's where we send the money. All of our
programs are done free of charge, so all of the
fundraising goes to finance those programs. So we provide sometimes
bus transportation to and from the conferences or even the
youth programs. We feed you workshop materials. Everything is included,
(16:54):
and we now have two year round in school programs.
One is HBCU Heroes, where every month any HBCU student
can come into our monthly workshops, our virtual empowerment seminars,
and we support four schools in Long Beach, California, two
middle schools and two high schools with an organization called
(17:16):
Inspiration fifty two. So HBCU Heroes and Inspiration fifty two
are year round school program So that's what we do, and.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It was born.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
It was born out of my journey in public school
growing up where coming from Bedstide, Brooklyn, you don't see
many examples of higher aspiration around you, and you're not
encouraged toward higher aspirations and higher goals. But my teachers
spoke positivity into me. They knew what was going on
(17:48):
at home, they knew part of my journey, and as
a young child, it was often hard to see that
there were other options for me, and then I.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Got bullied a lot.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
So they really spoke into my life to help me
not dwell on what I couldn't do, but look forward
to what I could possibly be So that's what I'm
trying to do now, and I've been doing that for decades,
ever since I graduated from elementary school, go to junior high,
go back and talk to my tea teachers in elementmentary school.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
High school, college. That was my habit.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I would always go go back and speak to the teachers,
speak to the students. So once I got this platform
of celebrity, that's what I wanted to do with it.
So that's why I formally started the New Day Foundation.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I could do that.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, this sounds great, So how can people get involved
with it?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Please check us out online at www dot a New
Day Foundation dot neto.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yes, doing definitely doing great things.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Thank you, thankfully applaud you for that. So all of
our programs are are portable. So, like I said, we
do programs in California, New York, Texas, Chicago, all over
as far away as Ranchi, India, and Guyana, South America,
where my family is from. So where there's a need,
we're willing to go.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, Well, like I said, kudos to
you guys on doing that great work.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, definitely wish it good success.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
I appreciate that the goal is to be sustainable, So
you know, if you want us to come to your community, whatever,
that kind of support is how we're able to do it.
So there's no contribution too small, too large, you know,
one time every month, you know, whatever, whatever, that's what
it takes because that's what the goal is, is to
(19:37):
be sustainable.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And then you also had
I was reading you also had an event with Origin,
and that did I did.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Just a week ago.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Just a week ago, we bought out an AMC theater
and we partnered with a Race Studios, Miss Aviduo Dubna's company,
and we did a private screening of the film Origin
for close one hundred high school students and we sent
the Array Studios has also developed teaching materials to go
along with that movie to help young people understand it
(20:10):
and process what it is they are seeing because it's
some heavy material and challenging material both emotionally, psychologically and
factually historically historically, So it was it was an amazing opportunity.
So the young people, they were studying different aspects of
the research for a few weeks before seeing the movie.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Then we saw the movie.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Then we had to talk back after they saw for
themselves what this was all about. And now they're still
studying the material and we are hopeful that it inspires
them towards solutions. Okay, yeah, we're hopeful that it inspires
them towards solutions, and we're grateful for the partnership and
(20:52):
both array and inspiration. Fifty two it was our schools
that we support in Long Beach that came on up
and some of the questions after afterwards were a little heartbreaking,
but also very enlightening of what those young people came
away with and what they learned. What they thought they knew,
but now they know better, do you know what I mean?
(21:13):
So it was pretty awesome to be able to do
things like that with our youth programs. We've done everything
from taking them to city Hall so they can see
how government works. We've taken them camping. Some of them
had never been out of the city before. Some had
never seen a horse before, much less learn how to
ride a horse.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
You mentioned my animation work, the voiceover work. I do
a lot of it. I'm on like an over a
dozen series. Now.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
We took groups of kids into the recording studio and
taught them how to make their own animation and video
game that's awesome projects. Yeah, So we broke them up
into three groups. One group came with me into the booth.
I taught them how to manipulate their voices to create characters.
Another group went with the engineer, so they learned how
to set and equ the mics and record our performances.
(21:57):
And another group went went with a director to see
how to break down a script and direct us in
the booth and cast us in different roles. And every
hour they they would rotate, so by the end of
the day, everybody got to do everything.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And then you feed.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Them and every we call them experiences, so.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Every experience experience, so we.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Introduce them to different cultural and career opportunities that they
don't have access to, and some of them don't even.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Realize that this is available.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
And we close every experience with what we call a
safe space conversation, so each of those opportunities is only
open to twenty twenty five kids.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So they then get to have.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Real talk, transparent talk about what's going on in their lives.
And invariably, regardless of what one student says, there's someone
else in the circle that has experienced or is experiencing
what they're going through. So now they have an opportunity
for peer to peer mentorship and recognize I'm not in
this by myself. I'm not the only one that's dealing
(23:02):
with this, And you get to be a support, you know,
and develop a village with people that you may never
have met before because they come from all over the city.
We put it out there we're doing this experience. First
twenty that signs up and commits to coming, that's who
gets to go. And so you meet students, you know,
from all different corners from the city, whatever city it
(23:24):
is that we are in. We did a thing with
our young boys on Father's Day. We took about twelve
boys to Top Golf, Okay with their father or guardian.
And a dear friend of mine is a scratch golfer
as his his teenage son, incredible actor author Dendre Whitfield,
and his son is a scratch golfer, so they come
(23:45):
and led the workshop. Andre also has a book out
Man versus a Male versus Man, so he does mentorship
towards man manhood. So after giving them golf fundamentals, we
feed them. Then we sit in and we talk about
it and to see the healing that goes on between
fathers and sons or father and guardian, whoever that inspiring
(24:06):
person is in that young man's life. And there's lots
of tears, there's lots of lots of honesty, there's lots
of transparency, and it's the beginning you see of a
journey of just opening your mindset and your opportunity to
have a better relationship and communication with the with the
male counterpart in your life.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
And it's amazing. So we love doing things like that.
I love it. Thank you. That's thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So each experience is different, each opportunity is different. We've
done everything from from coding to forensics to I mean just.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
All kinds of some real up in here.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, and especially like the thing with the whole voice
thing that you were taking. Yeah, it's some real skills,
thank you, some real stuff that they can take and
possibly turn it in. Like they probably found out something
that maybe they like you said, they didn't know it
was a thing. They find out it was a thing. Oh,
I might be interested in doing this.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
What I learned is nobody wants to be an actor.
They're like, well that's hard. They thought it was easy,
but that's that's it's not.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
It's like this hard.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
So some of them decided they want to be directors
because they like telling pe people what to do. A
lot of people love to be in an engineer and
have actually gone into engineering programs.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Since you know that those experiences.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
A handful of want to be actors and because they
find that they're a lot less inhibited behind a microphone
than when they know somebody's looking at them. So they
let their inhibitions go and their imaginations fly, and some
of the voices and characters that they came up with
it was, it was really great. So each of these experiences,
(25:49):
it's just really really cool.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah cool, Yeah, that's that's some good work.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Not everybody's doing that well, but that's what the fundraising
is for. You know, I I I have to say,
in this journey of this nonprofit five oh one C three,
I have actually become a professional beggar.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Yeah, because you're always asking for funds, Please support, please care,
please give, don't don't donations, because that's how we're able
to do these things and rent out the studio space
and feed all the kids, and give the scholarships and
get to give the support and where they have a
challenge getting there, we can get the buses. We rent
the buses and say please go and get our our
(26:31):
kids so that they can come for this opportunity. So,
uh yeah, it's a it's a whole it's a whole
other reality.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, congrats on all. Like I said, that's that's some
amazing great stuff. And and can you talk about you know,
we talked about your voice acting of course, you know,
uh doing the Broadway, your foundation and stuff. Can you
tell us some other things you might got coming up?
Some other things you got brewing in the future.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Wow, let's see.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Several years ago, I created and sold the TV series
to ABC, So I am in the process of pitching
to get placed an another series that I have created.
We've got some more programs coming up. I'm going to
be at Xavier University. I'm going to be down Louisiana
for Super Bowls.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I'm going to be properly there you go.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
So I'll be participating in some Super Bowl activities as
well as We're going to bring our HBCU Heroes program
down to Xavier. So the New Day Foundation is going
to be there on the campus. We're going to do
some workshops and events there in partnership with HBCU Heroes.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And I will be at All Star Weekend. I will
be there. I love basketball, huge basketball.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Fan, So Dawn will be there as Dawn, but I
will also be there with the New Day Foundation, We're
going to be doing some programs in collaboration with the NBA.
That was another thing that we did this summer. We
took a group of kids, boys and girls to Lakers
headquarters so they could see how an NBA front office
runs and works. We all know what the players do,
(28:05):
but before the players get on court, what goes down
in marketing, in media, in hospitality, in sales and advertising,
in all of that.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So yeah, so they got to be there.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And when we took a tour of the facility, the
HBCU mentors who were there said, we're so glad you
guys came. He's like, why, they said, because we're in
parts of the building we've never been allowed to go
as we took a tour, so we were in the
locker room, we were everywhere, on their practice court. So yeah,
so those things are going to be coming up, and
(28:40):
in February we're going to be hosting our annual fundraising
event now as an entertainer, that's what I know. So
my musicians, singer, spoken word, dancer, film, TV actor friends,
they all come together and they donate their appearance in
this concert event.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
We call it a concert for.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
A cause, the entertainment fan gives Back, which is basically
a rep replication of my annual birthday party in my backyard.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
It was just a jam session.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Everybody comes, no seriously, yeah, and we everybody sings and
et cetera. And so this year we're going to be
doing that again on February twenty eighth.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
So if you're in La.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
You know, buckle up, come on check us out at
the Saban Theater. It's going to be an all star band,
all star lineup of performers and appearances, everything, like I said,
from musicians and singers and actors and olympians are going
to be there. And yeah, so it's going to be
a good time. So I have nothing to do, I'm
(29:39):
not doing anything.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Doing everything everything. Yeah, that's fantastic, And like I said,
congrats on everything you got going on. Very happy for
you and all the endeavors and journeys you and Bargain
all this is great.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I appreciate that, and the different World crew is airing
on as we go visit.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Different schools around the coun country.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Like earlier this year we were here in Atlanta, we
went to Spelman moor House and clark At We did that,
and then not long after that we went to Howard University.
And while we were at Howard we got invited to
the White House and had our own little private sit
down with Vice President Harris, which was amazing, got a
(30:23):
tour of the White House. And then not too long ago,
once the school year started again, we were out at
Bowie Bowie State, and so we've been to a few
different places. So there's more coming up after the holidays.
So you know, if if you hear that we're going
to your college, please come on out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And check us out.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Of course, everybody want to meet you.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
We have.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
A great time and more often than not it's myself
and Jasmine, Guy, Kadeem Hartisan, Daryl Bell, Chrease Summers, Charnelle Brown,
and Glen Terman and every now and then virtually we
get joined by Simbad and Debbie Allen and you know
other past Coharts on a different world, and it's usually
(31:09):
an amazing, amazing time. And again it's very humbling to
see the reception that we get and the impact that
people say that we continue to make on them today,
which is remarkable because vocal watching the show now that
weren't even born in the same decade or decades that.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
We shot the show.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
That was the eighties, and now we're in twenty twenty four,
and the reality is that in thirty seven years, there's
not been one day of one week of one month
of one year that that show has not been on television.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, I know, like y'all are still on the air regularly,
Like my mom had me watching y'all.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yes, thank you, mom. You know.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
So it really is who knew we were just going
to work and we knew that amongst ourselves that we
were doing something that wasn't being done. However, at the time,
we really didn't get much love or support at all,
Like how does an number one, numb number two show
on television never be nominated for an Emmy. We didn't
(32:15):
even get invited to hand a Emmy to somebody else.
But that's because we represented what we represented and the
nation publicly or marketing wise, wasn't interested in promoting that.
But the people who watch the show, the people who
we reflected, and it's not just black people. You don't
(32:35):
get to be numb number one or two on television
by just one group of people watching. You different races,
different age groups, different cultures, different.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Countries, you know, all of that.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
We were speaking about some something that mattered to humanity
and mattered to people, and which is why I think
the show still makes the impact that it makes today.
We were fortunate to be the voices and the faces
because we don't normally get to do that and be that.
So Amen, Praise God that it came through us and
(33:08):
has now affected generations around the world.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's really awesome. It's really humbling, it really is.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
And when I hear people singing the theme song, it
actually makes me really emotional. No, seriously, because when I
wrote that, I was writing my own personal journey because
I was sixteen years old when I graduated from high school,
left New York and went to school down in Miami,
and all I had was what I was taught, half
of which annoyed the hell out of me. When I
was being taught it.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
It's like Okay, all right, I got it. I got it.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
But now you get down to school and you're on
your own. It's like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Now what do I do?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And you find yourself saying, oh, that's what she meant.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
That's what mom meant.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
It was like, oh, okay, all right, I guess she's
not completely dumb. It made sense. And now you find
yourself progressing and succeeding. And yeah, it's definitely a different
world out there, you know, and us one step at
a time. So to hear people singing those lyrics like
it's an anthem or you know, different schools using it
(34:14):
as a theme song for their they recruit they filmed
their own versions of our credits as recruiting.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Tools for their school. You know what I mean. That's
that's awesome. That's remarkable to me.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
That's just rumor, and it makes me really emotional, especially
when you see little kids.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
People teaching little.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Kids to know the words because it empowers them. You know,
I know, my parents love me and I can do
whatever and et cetera.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
That's it's it's beautiful. It really is really grateful. I'm
really grateful.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
That's awesome. Thank you fantastic, Well it was such a
great time. Appreciate you so much for coming in. This
has been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to meet
you and talk talk with you as well.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yeah, and best of luck on everything else you got
going on. And I know you're going to continue to
thrive your career.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
We definitely wish you the best.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen, thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely appreciate you so much for stopping
by the Black Information Network on our heart radio.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I love it come on Black Information.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, yeah, love love love doing interviews like this because
it really just it really highlights the amazing things that
our people are doing.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
So I love that, and it's an apt title Black
Information Yeah Network, No, seriously, because that's I believe that's
how we as a pey people survive and thrive is
by making sure we tell our own stories in our
own way, and we see our own faces, and we
respect and appreciate and embrace us.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
It's us doing us. So it really is my pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Thank you absolutely. Yeah, thanks again, and guys, thank you
all so much for tuning in and listening and watching
on your home for twenty four to seven News, the
Black Information Network, it's your boy Tyrequin. Catch you guys next.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
H
Hey, guys, this's Tyreek went on your home for twenty
four to seven news the Black Information Network. Guys, we
have an amazing guest in the building today. We have
the Don Lewis. She is a Grammy, multiple B and
my NAACP Image Award winning singer, composer, producer, actress, and activist.
She is currently starred as Captain Carol Freeman on the
hit TV series Star Trek Lower Decks and lends her
(00:23):
voice to characters on the Simpsons. She is also the
founder and CEO of a New Day Foundation, nonprofit committed
to empowering underserved youth. You may also remember her as
Jalisa from the iconic series A Different World. Ms. Don,
thank you so much for being here. How are you?
Speaker 2 (00:39):
My absolute pleasure and I am fantastic. It's nice to
meet you, Terry.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Yeah, yes, yes, it's nice to meet you as well.
So I want to start with this. I remember when
I first got introduced to you. I remember my mom
was just sitting watching this TV show. I was like,
you know, like, what is the show you watching? So
I came down, I sat and then it was a
Different World and that's how I was like, oh wow,
So you know I started watching the show. It's a
pretty cool show. I like it.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Thank you, Thank you. It's been a blessing.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's hard to believe it's been thirty seven years since
we started that whole journey. You know, I've been doing
this just about my entire life, ever since I was
a small child, singing, dancing, acting. I thought I was
going to be recording artists, and then here came this,
you know TV series. I was doing a Broadway show
off broad Broadway shows, and the person who does the
music knew me as a singer songwriter. Okay, so that's
(01:27):
how he approached me to write the theme song. So
I was doing a Broadway tour at the time, so
that's how the casting directors knew me as an actor.
So they both hired me to work on this new series,
and neither one knew that they had hired the same
person until after they had hired me.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
So that's how I got to co write the theme
song and co star in the show.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
And it has been a blessing.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
It has changed lives around the world in these last
thirty seven years. And I was the second Jalisa. Jalisa
was actually a created name for a woman named j
Lisa Hazard who is the wife of a dear friend
of mister Cosby's. So I was named after her character.
So there was one, then there was two. Now there
(02:08):
are thousands all around the planet because of that show.
So it's a it's really truly a humbling honor to
be a part of something that has inspired so many,
that has encouraged so many, that has allowed countless people
to see themselves and have a positive image and vision
and aspirations for themselves because of it.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
So no, it's an honor.
Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yeah, I love that, And I like how you gave
the backstory, you know, because not everybody knows those kinds
of stories. Yeah, like how everything came about, and how
you ended up being part of two roll like you know,
got to do multiple things exactly within the show and stuff.
So that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
I liked that. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So you got a lot of stuff going on, first
of all out here winning awards that that's awesome. Yeah,
amen to that. And then you also got you got
Star Trek. How's that been?
Speaker 2 (02:56):
You know what?
Speaker 3 (02:57):
That has been a blessing. That is like a full
circle moment for me because as a kid, we used
to watch that show, the original Star Trek series, and
you're watching people male, female, whatever gender, whatever race, whatever species.
They were, everybody working collaboratively, everybody being excellent, and then
there was this one system Nachelle Nichols.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
It's just to see her there, especially because that was
the sixties. So when you watch the news, you're watching
people of color being hosed, being attacked by dogs, being
strung up, I mean, the vision for people of color
in this country, and not just African Americans, but Asians
and etc. And diddigenous pea peoples watching the realities of
(03:41):
what was going on in the world. And unfortunately it
seems like we're coming full circle with that as well,
with people being emboldened to be negative, to be hateful,
to be violent towards other people, which is not okay.
Star Trek made everything look possible. We can do this together.
We can do this with respect and with excellence, one
(04:02):
for each other, giving credit where credit is due, regardless
of what galaxy you're from, regardless of what culture you're from.
So to see Nachelle Nichols, she was a badass. She
was handling herself, she was rocking with anybody else on
that crew, whatever color, whatever gender, and it was an
inspiration to me to say this is possible. And she
(04:24):
didn't die in the first five minutes.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
I was like, see, come on, we got there's a
spot for us. There's a spot for us.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
So being a part of that now and as one
of the first black captains in this Star Trek legacy,
and I'm not sure if I'm the first female black captain,
but I might be. You know, Avery Brooks was the
first male black commander of a Star starship. And to
be a part of that journey and doing it the
(04:54):
way that we're doing it through Star Trek lower decks,
you get to see a more human side people in space,
whereas all the other shows Perticard, Discovery, Next Generation and
Strange New Worlds, everybody's excellent all the time. We are
not excellent all the time. You know, we have good hearts,
We mean well, but you know, we often get things wrong.
(05:15):
But we do it together, and we get it together
and we get what needs to be done done at
the end of course.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, And so this airs every Thursday, right Thursday, okay,
and then coming up on the season finale on the nineteenth.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
Day, nineteenth December nineteenth.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
Now, I know it's been said that this is going
to be our final, our fifth and final season. However,
we like to say it's our fifth and final season
on Paramount Plus. So there you go, the fandom, the
fandom and the powers that be. You know, we're keeping
positive thoughts that we're gon we're gonna land somewhere else
(05:50):
sooner than later.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
So yeah, so check us out every.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Thursday Paramount Plus and we're having a great time. I
have an amazing cast, Tawny knew Some, Jack Quad, Eugene Cordero,
Noel Wells, Jerry O'Connell, Fred tatish Or, Gillian Vigman, and
our creator Mike Mann, who also was one of the
creators of Rick and Morty.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
Exactly, so he's got a long leg legacy.
Speaker 3 (06:15):
He's a brilliant, brilliant writer and has created in scenarios
and environments for each of us where you've seen our
characters grow over the years. So myself and Tawny Knwsome
play mother and daughter. And it's interesting because in the show,
I'm the responsible one getting her to be more responsible
and less rebellious and rambunctious, et cetera. But in real life,
(06:39):
I was Beckett, So my poor mama, Like, I'm feeling
my mother's pain now in this role, because I was
definitely the one that was hard to control and just
always had this forward vision and it's like, what do
you mean No, Yeah, you're telling me no, It means
I think.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
You should do do this. So that was definitely me growing.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
So talk about the dynamic with you guys on set.
You know what was a typical day like on set.
Speaker 2 (07:05):
On Star Trek Lower Decks. Okay, here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
When we first started with the show, that was the
one time all of us were in the room at
the same time, and that was the one time we
all became aware of what it was we were actually
going to be doing, because until then we had to
sign NDA's there was no indication that it had anything
to do with Star Trek. When I auditioned, my character's
name was Captain McDuck for some nondescript sci fi animation shows.
(07:32):
So we got to the first table read some of
the studio was there, A bunch of Pea people were there,
and we turned over our scripts and we all all
of us almost at the same time.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It was like, oh, Star Trek, what for real, this
is legit.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yeah, So that was the one time all of us
were in the room together. After that, Tawny and I
recorded together once or twice. Myself and Jack recorded together
once or twice, and then I went to New York
to do the Broadway show Tina, the Tina Turner Musical,
so I was recording remotely so and Jack was up
in Canada shooting the boys, and Tani was doing you know, space,
(08:11):
I forget the name of it.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
I'm sorry, forgive me, Tony sorry, she was doing hers.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
So all of us were in different places and recording,
and then the pandemic hit, so.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Then we couldn't record together. You know what that was like.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
You're in the studio, it's just you and the ghost
producer or recording.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
From your home. And since then we've not been in
the same room.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
So we record all of us individually, but we're so
accustomed to each other other's voices and rhythms that when
you're recording your material, you can actually hear the other
person's voice in your head and know how they're going
to finish your sentence or ad lib and things like that.
So it's been different. So we get together at the
(08:53):
different conventions, So any of the Star Trek conventions if
you're a fan.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
And come on out.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
We were just in Chicago, we were in Nashville, we
were in New Jersey, we were in Dallas. Starting next
year we'll be in San Francisco in Vegas. So you
get to see us together and it's kind of a
irreverent when we're all in the same place.
Speaker 1 (09:16):
Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool. And I love that you
and I love that you guys are doing this, by
the way, amazing show. You guys are doing such a
great job with it. And I'm pretty sure that you know,
everybody's loving it, you know, and you know and every
and I know you said last season on Paramount Plus,
but you know, I'm pretty sure people are gonna definitely
want more.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Come on yeah, yeah, yeah, So I love that. And
then you also talked about this Tina Turner.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yes, Tina, the Tina Turner Musical. It was fantastic. Those
were my roots. I'm from New York City, so I
cut my teeth on the New York stage off Broadway Broadway,
and so I got to play Tina Turner's mom, which
was very special for me because as we learn about
Miss Turner's journey, you learn that, like Beckett and Captain Freeman,
(10:06):
the relationship between she and her mother was very, very troubled,
and it was that way until she passed away. Part
of it being that they were in a home with
domestic violence, and it got to a point where Tina's
mother had to leave and leave Tina behind in order
to save herself, which unfortunately or fortunately depending on how
(10:26):
you see the rest of the journey, created an issue
of abandonment for Tina, and then she ended up finding
herself in an abusive relate relationship for quite some time
and then ultimately freed herself. That was my mom's story.
I was raised in a home with domestic violence and
watching my mom do what she did. She left us
(10:47):
for almost two years before we saw her again, but
she had to save herself in order to come back
and get us. So it's very easy to play a
role like that as a villain, like how could you
have your kids? I could never do that since but
like when you're on the airplane, they tell you to
put your mask on first before you can help anybody else.
(11:07):
You got to save yourself and be in a better place.
As an individual. So my mom was my inspiration. So
she was not a villain by any means. She was
one of my heroes coming up, you know, to watch
her navigate as she did and then come back and
raise me and my three brothers in such a whole
and healthy way and for each of us to go
(11:28):
into our own careers and our own aspirations. It was
important to me to be a part of that on
broad Broadway. So no, we had an amazing company, multiple
Tony nominations, and now that the show is closed on
Broadway is doing incredibly well on tour around the country country.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
That's awesome. Broadway. How is Broadway? I've been to it?
I've been I think I've been to like maybe like
one Broadway showers. Okay, yeah, but like, how is how
was that experience? Being on Broadway?
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's more than an eight shows a week is no joke,
And it's eight shows at the highest of energy, whether
it's a musical or a straight drama, three hours of
you creating and convincing everyone sitting in the audience that
you are a real individual so that they are willing
to take this journey with you. If you're doing a musical,
(12:21):
you have the added element of singing and dancing, you know,
song production number after production number, and making it new
and fresh each time you do it.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
So you spend several months.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
In rehearsals, choreographing, learning songs, learning you know, the dance moves,
learning the scenes and the blocking and the reasons behind
what you're doing, so that everybody's on the same page.
And after months of rehearsal, now you're at the theater.
And for a while you're in the theater rehearsing five
six hours. You take a dinner break, and you come
(12:54):
back and you do a show at eight And depending
on two show days, you have rehearsal in the morning.
Sometimes then you have the matinee, then you have the
evening show. Then you get to go home until the
show gets what they call locked. And those are your days.
And in my twenties I would still hang out all
day or go to a club after the show eleven
(13:16):
o'clock till two o'clock in the morning, get up and
be fresh as a daisy, do my two shows, and
do it all over again. Yeah not anymore, No, no, yes,
I will meet you for a drink or something to eat.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
After the show that I'm going to bed. I get
that I'm going to bed.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
I'm gonna get up and go pay some bills, I'm
gonna watch some TV. I'm gonna look at the clock
and go, oh, I guess I should go to the
theater now, And.
Speaker 1 (13:39):
Yeah, okay, Yeah, that sounds like a pretty good, pretty
good experience. And it's great that you've been fortunate enough
to have these great experiences. And I can tell you've
been very blessing your career.
Speaker 2 (13:50):
Thank you. I'm a lot of great great I'm very grateful.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
But for all of you out there who are thinking
of doing professional theater, just know it takes a lot
of stamina. It's a lot of hard work. But if
you do it well, you make it look easy. But
it's not easy. But it's very rewarding when you get
to work and be on stage and live because it's
real and you can't get any doovers.
Speaker 2 (14:12):
The show. We've had everything from.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Set pieces fall to people fall off the stage, to
lines getting missed, to people coming out in half costumes
because they cost something happened backstage, and you know, and
so the audience gets their own version of the show
each and every performance, so Wow.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Yeah, because that's the thing about live theater and acting
on a TV show on movie. It's like, you know,
you can have those bloopers, but when you and professional,
you got the live audience right there, you see is
what you get.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
That's it. There's no doovers, that's it. Keep it moving.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Or if something happens to an actor, like they're not
feeling well in the first act, the second act, it
could be a completely different person. It's like, wait, wait,
I was just watching this. Okay, all right, I'm just
gonna go with it because that's very real.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
It's very real.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Wow, Well just go to show you what happens. See yeah,
love that. And so let's talk a little bit about
the foundation. You have a New Day Foundation, and so
can you tell us a little bit about the New
Day Foundation and u all's mission.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Okay, Well, the New Day Foundation is a play on
my name, Dawn, a New Day, and we have determined
that it is our opportunity to create a New Day
of opportunity for underserve youth and communities across the country
and abroad. We have some National Internation national programs as well,
so we do programmatic services.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
We also do financial.
Speaker 3 (15:36):
Scholarship support, So we have programs for teen boys called
Mentors which stands for Men Capital t rs which men
talking of relevant situations, and Sisters hang Out for teen girls.
All both of them are for thirteen to nineteen year olds.
And then annually we have our Focused and Fit FIT
which stands for Financially and Technology Informed for a different
(15:59):
world conference where we do workshops for high school juniors
and seniors and their parents so that whole family goes
home fed and informed.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
In college freshmen and sophomores, so it's that.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
Four year demographic preparing for college and having just arrived
in college, so it's a day long of workshops. We
give out anywhere from six to twelve scholarships of two
thousand dollars each in a brand new laptop to college
enrolled students. So if you're a graduating high school senior,
you show us your GPA, the fact that you got
access upted into college, and where you're going to be going,
(16:33):
because that's where we send the money. All of our
programs are done free of charge, so all of the
fundraising goes to finance those programs. So we provide sometimes
bus transportation to and from the conferences or even the
youth programs. We feed you workshop materials. Everything is included,
(16:54):
and we now have two year round in school programs.
One is HBCU Heroes, where every month any HBCU student
can come into our monthly workshops, our virtual empowerment seminars,
and we support four schools in Long Beach, California, two
middle schools and two high schools with an organization called
(17:16):
Inspiration fifty two. So HBCU Heroes and Inspiration fifty two
are year round school program So that's what we do, and.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
It was born.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
It was born out of my journey in public school
growing up where coming from Bedstide, Brooklyn, you don't see
many examples of higher aspiration around you, and you're not
encouraged toward higher aspirations and higher goals. But my teachers
spoke positivity into me. They knew what was going on
(17:48):
at home, they knew part of my journey, and as
a young child, it was often hard to see that
there were other options for me, and then I.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
Got bullied a lot.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
So they really spoke into my life to help me
not dwell on what I couldn't do, but look forward
to what I could possibly be So that's what I'm
trying to do now, and I've been doing that for decades,
ever since I graduated from elementary school, go to junior high,
go back and talk to my tea teachers in elementmentary school.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
High school, college. That was my habit.
Speaker 3 (18:22):
I would always go go back and speak to the teachers,
speak to the students. So once I got this platform
of celebrity, that's what I wanted to do with it.
So that's why I formally started the New Day Foundation.
Speaker 2 (18:36):
I could do that.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Yeah, this sounds great, So how can people get involved
with it?
Speaker 3 (18:39):
Please check us out online at www dot a New
Day Foundation dot neto.
Speaker 1 (18:46):
Yes, doing definitely doing great things.
Speaker 3 (18:49):
Thank you, thankfully applaud you for that. So all of
our programs are are portable. So, like I said, we
do programs in California, New York, Texas, Chicago, all over
as far away as Ranchi, India, and Guyana, South America,
where my family is from. So where there's a need,
we're willing to go.
Speaker 1 (19:09):
That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, Well, like I said, kudos to
you guys on doing that great work.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Yeah, definitely wish it good success.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
I appreciate that the goal is to be sustainable, So
you know, if you want us to come to your community, whatever,
that kind of support is how we're able to do it.
So there's no contribution too small, too large, you know,
one time every month, you know, whatever, whatever, that's what
it takes because that's what the goal is, is to
(19:37):
be sustainable.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Yeah, for sure, for sure. And then you also had
I was reading you also had an event with Origin,
and that did I did.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Just a week ago.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
Just a week ago, we bought out an AMC theater
and we partnered with a Race Studios, Miss Aviduo Dubna's company,
and we did a private screening of the film Origin
for close one hundred high school students and we sent
the Array Studios has also developed teaching materials to go
along with that movie to help young people understand it
(20:10):
and process what it is they are seeing because it's
some heavy material and challenging material both emotionally, psychologically and
factually historically historically, So it was it was an amazing opportunity.
So the young people, they were studying different aspects of
the research for a few weeks before seeing the movie.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Then we saw the movie.
Speaker 3 (20:31):
Then we had to talk back after they saw for
themselves what this was all about. And now they're still
studying the material and we are hopeful that it inspires
them towards solutions. Okay, yeah, we're hopeful that it inspires
them towards solutions, and we're grateful for the partnership and
(20:52):
both array and inspiration. Fifty two it was our schools
that we support in Long Beach that came on up
and some of the questions after afterwards were a little heartbreaking,
but also very enlightening of what those young people came
away with and what they learned. What they thought they knew,
but now they know better, do you know what I mean?
(21:13):
So it was pretty awesome to be able to do
things like that with our youth programs. We've done everything
from taking them to city Hall so they can see
how government works. We've taken them camping. Some of them
had never been out of the city before. Some had
never seen a horse before, much less learn how to
ride a horse.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
You mentioned my animation work, the voiceover work. I do
a lot of it. I'm on like an over a
dozen series. Now.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
We took groups of kids into the recording studio and
taught them how to make their own animation and video
game that's awesome projects. Yeah, So we broke them up
into three groups. One group came with me into the booth.
I taught them how to manipulate their voices to create characters.
Another group went with the engineer, so they learned how
to set and equ the mics and record our performances.
(21:57):
And another group went went with a director to see
how to break down a script and direct us in
the booth and cast us in different roles. And every
hour they they would rotate, so by the end of
the day, everybody got to do everything.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
And then you feed.
Speaker 3 (22:12):
Them and every we call them experiences, so.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Every experience experience, so we.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Introduce them to different cultural and career opportunities that they
don't have access to, and some of them don't even.
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Realize that this is available.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
And we close every experience with what we call a
safe space conversation, so each of those opportunities is only
open to twenty twenty five kids.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
So they then get to have.
Speaker 3 (22:40):
Real talk, transparent talk about what's going on in their lives.
And invariably, regardless of what one student says, there's someone
else in the circle that has experienced or is experiencing
what they're going through. So now they have an opportunity
for peer to peer mentorship and recognize I'm not in
this by myself. I'm not the only one that's dealing
(23:02):
with this, And you get to be a support, you know,
and develop a village with people that you may never
have met before because they come from all over the city.
We put it out there we're doing this experience. First
twenty that signs up and commits to coming, that's who
gets to go. And so you meet students, you know,
from all different corners from the city, whatever city it
(23:24):
is that we are in. We did a thing with
our young boys on Father's Day. We took about twelve
boys to Top Golf, Okay with their father or guardian.
And a dear friend of mine is a scratch golfer
as his his teenage son, incredible actor author Dendre Whitfield,
and his son is a scratch golfer, so they come
(23:45):
and led the workshop. Andre also has a book out
Man versus a Male versus Man, so he does mentorship
towards man manhood. So after giving them golf fundamentals, we
feed them. Then we sit in and we talk about
it and to see the healing that goes on between
fathers and sons or father and guardian, whoever that inspiring
(24:06):
person is in that young man's life. And there's lots
of tears, there's lots of lots of honesty, there's lots
of transparency, and it's the beginning you see of a
journey of just opening your mindset and your opportunity to
have a better relationship and communication with the with the
male counterpart in your life.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
And it's amazing. So we love doing things like that.
I love it. Thank you. That's thank you.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So each experience is different, each opportunity is different. We've
done everything from from coding to forensics to I mean just.
Speaker 1 (24:43):
All kinds of some real up in here.
Speaker 2 (24:46):
Yeah, thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, and especially like the thing with the whole voice
thing that you were taking. Yeah, it's some real skills,
thank you, some real stuff that they can take and
possibly turn it in. Like they probably found out something
that maybe they like you said, they didn't know it
was a thing. They find out it was a thing. Oh,
I might be interested in doing this.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
What I learned is nobody wants to be an actor.
They're like, well that's hard. They thought it was easy,
but that's that's it's not.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
It's like this hard.
Speaker 3 (25:14):
So some of them decided they want to be directors
because they like telling pe people what to do. A
lot of people love to be in an engineer and
have actually gone into engineering programs.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Since you know that those experiences.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
A handful of want to be actors and because they
find that they're a lot less inhibited behind a microphone
than when they know somebody's looking at them. So they
let their inhibitions go and their imaginations fly, and some
of the voices and characters that they came up with
it was, it was really great. So each of these experiences,
(25:49):
it's just really really cool.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Yeah cool, Yeah, that's that's some good work.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
Not everybody's doing that well, but that's what the fundraising
is for. You know, I I I have to say,
in this journey of this nonprofit five oh one C three,
I have actually become a professional beggar.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:10):
Yeah, because you're always asking for funds, Please support, please care,
please give, don't don't donations, because that's how we're able
to do these things and rent out the studio space
and feed all the kids, and give the scholarships and
get to give the support and where they have a
challenge getting there, we can get the buses. We rent
the buses and say please go and get our our
(26:31):
kids so that they can come for this opportunity. So,
uh yeah, it's a it's a whole it's a whole
other reality.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
Yeah, congrats on all. Like I said, that's that's some
amazing great stuff. And and can you talk about you know,
we talked about your voice acting of course, you know,
uh doing the Broadway, your foundation and stuff. Can you
tell us some other things you might got coming up?
Some other things you got brewing in the future.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Wow, let's see.
Speaker 3 (27:00):
Several years ago, I created and sold the TV series
to ABC, So I am in the process of pitching
to get placed an another series that I have created.
We've got some more programs coming up. I'm going to
be at Xavier University. I'm going to be down Louisiana
for Super Bowls.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
I'm going to be properly there you go.
Speaker 3 (27:21):
So I'll be participating in some Super Bowl activities as
well as We're going to bring our HBCU Heroes program
down to Xavier. So the New Day Foundation is going
to be there on the campus. We're going to do
some workshops and events there in partnership with HBCU Heroes.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
And I will be at All Star Weekend. I will
be there. I love basketball, huge basketball.
Speaker 3 (27:44):
Fan, So Dawn will be there as Dawn, but I
will also be there with the New Day Foundation, We're
going to be doing some programs in collaboration with the NBA.
That was another thing that we did this summer. We
took a group of kids, boys and girls to Lakers
headquarters so they could see how an NBA front office
runs and works. We all know what the players do,
(28:05):
but before the players get on court, what goes down
in marketing, in media, in hospitality, in sales and advertising,
in all of that.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
So yeah, so they got to be there.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
And when we took a tour of the facility, the
HBCU mentors who were there said, we're so glad you
guys came. He's like, why, they said, because we're in
parts of the building we've never been allowed to go
as we took a tour, so we were in the
locker room, we were everywhere, on their practice court. So yeah,
so those things are going to be coming up, and
(28:40):
in February we're going to be hosting our annual fundraising
event now as an entertainer, that's what I know. So
my musicians, singer, spoken word, dancer, film, TV actor friends,
they all come together and they donate their appearance in
this concert event.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
We call it a concert for.
Speaker 3 (28:58):
A cause, the entertainment fan gives Back, which is basically
a rep replication of my annual birthday party in my backyard.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
It was just a jam session.
Speaker 3 (29:07):
Everybody comes, no seriously, yeah, and we everybody sings and
et cetera. And so this year we're going to be
doing that again on February twenty eighth.
Speaker 2 (29:16):
So if you're in La.
Speaker 3 (29:18):
You know, buckle up, come on check us out at
the Saban Theater. It's going to be an all star band,
all star lineup of performers and appearances, everything, like I said,
from musicians and singers and actors and olympians are going
to be there. And yeah, so it's going to be
a good time. So I have nothing to do, I'm
(29:39):
not doing anything.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Doing everything everything. Yeah, that's fantastic, And like I said,
congrats on everything you got going on. Very happy for
you and all the endeavors and journeys you and Bargain
all this is great.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (29:56):
I appreciate that, and the different World crew is airing
on as we go visit.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
Different schools around the coun country.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Like earlier this year we were here in Atlanta, we
went to Spelman moor House and clark At We did that,
and then not long after that we went to Howard University.
And while we were at Howard we got invited to
the White House and had our own little private sit
down with Vice President Harris, which was amazing, got a
(30:23):
tour of the White House. And then not too long ago,
once the school year started again, we were out at
Bowie Bowie State, and so we've been to a few
different places. So there's more coming up after the holidays.
So you know, if if you hear that we're going
to your college, please come on out.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
And check us out.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
Of course, everybody want to meet you.
Speaker 2 (30:47):
We have.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
A great time and more often than not it's myself
and Jasmine, Guy, Kadeem Hartisan, Daryl Bell, Chrease Summers, Charnelle Brown,
and Glen Terman and every now and then virtually we
get joined by Simbad and Debbie Allen and you know
other past Coharts on a different world, and it's usually
(31:09):
an amazing, amazing time. And again it's very humbling to
see the reception that we get and the impact that
people say that we continue to make on them today,
which is remarkable because vocal watching the show now that
weren't even born in the same decade or decades that.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
We shot the show.
Speaker 3 (31:30):
That was the eighties, and now we're in twenty twenty four,
and the reality is that in thirty seven years, there's
not been one day of one week of one month
of one year that that show has not been on television.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Yeah, I know, like y'all are still on the air regularly,
Like my mom had me watching y'all.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yes, thank you, mom. You know.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
So it really is who knew we were just going
to work and we knew that amongst ourselves that we
were doing something that wasn't being done. However, at the time,
we really didn't get much love or support at all,
Like how does an number one, numb number two show
on television never be nominated for an Emmy. We didn't
(32:15):
even get invited to hand a Emmy to somebody else.
But that's because we represented what we represented and the
nation publicly or marketing wise, wasn't interested in promoting that.
But the people who watch the show, the people who
we reflected, and it's not just black people. You don't
(32:35):
get to be numb number one or two on television
by just one group of people watching. You different races,
different age groups, different cultures, different.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
Countries, you know, all of that.
Speaker 3 (32:47):
We were speaking about some something that mattered to humanity
and mattered to people, and which is why I think
the show still makes the impact that it makes today.
We were fortunate to be the voices and the faces
because we don't normally get to do that and be that.
So Amen, Praise God that it came through us and
(33:08):
has now affected generations around the world.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
It's really awesome. It's really humbling, it really is.
Speaker 3 (33:16):
And when I hear people singing the theme song, it
actually makes me really emotional. No, seriously, because when I
wrote that, I was writing my own personal journey because
I was sixteen years old when I graduated from high school,
left New York and went to school down in Miami,
and all I had was what I was taught, half
of which annoyed the hell out of me. When I
was being taught it.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
It's like Okay, all right, I got it. I got it.
Speaker 3 (33:39):
But now you get down to school and you're on
your own. It's like, oh, okay.
Speaker 2 (33:45):
Now what do I do?
Speaker 3 (33:45):
And you find yourself saying, oh, that's what she meant.
Speaker 2 (33:49):
That's what mom meant.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
It was like, oh, okay, all right, I guess she's
not completely dumb. It made sense. And now you find
yourself progressing and succeeding. And yeah, it's definitely a different
world out there, you know, and us one step at
a time. So to hear people singing those lyrics like
it's an anthem or you know, different schools using it
(34:14):
as a theme song for their they recruit they filmed
their own versions of our credits as recruiting.
Speaker 2 (34:20):
Tools for their school. You know what I mean. That's
that's awesome. That's remarkable to me.
Speaker 3 (34:26):
That's just rumor, and it makes me really emotional, especially
when you see little kids.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
People teaching little.
Speaker 3 (34:31):
Kids to know the words because it empowers them. You know,
I know, my parents love me and I can do
whatever and et cetera.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
That's it's it's beautiful. It really is really grateful. I'm
really grateful.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
That's awesome. Thank you fantastic, Well it was such a
great time. Appreciate you so much for coming in. This
has been fantastic.
Speaker 3 (34:50):
Thank you for inviting me. It's a pleasure to meet
you and talk talk with you as well.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Yeah, and best of luck on everything else you got
going on. And I know you're going to continue to
thrive your career.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Amen.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
We definitely wish you the best.
Speaker 2 (35:02):
Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen, thank you.
Speaker 1 (35:04):
Yeah, yeah, I definitely appreciate you so much for stopping
by the Black Information Network on our heart radio.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I love it come on Black Information.
Speaker 1 (35:12):
Yeah, yeah, love love love doing interviews like this because
it really just it really highlights the amazing things that
our people are doing.
Speaker 3 (35:21):
So I love that, and it's an apt title Black
Information Yeah Network, No, seriously, because that's I believe that's
how we as a pey people survive and thrive is
by making sure we tell our own stories in our
own way, and we see our own faces, and we
respect and appreciate and embrace us.
Speaker 2 (35:45):
It's us doing us. So it really is my pleasure
to be here.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Thank you absolutely. Yeah, thanks again, and guys, thank you
all so much for tuning in and listening and watching
on your home for twenty four to seven News, the
Black Information Network, it's your boy Tyrequin. Catch you guys next.
Speaker 3 (36:00):
H
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