Now please welcome to the stage. Sheila, with Donna Brazile brazile. Oh, hello, everyone. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, we have such a big audience and i would like come up close please. This is filling up and well before i sit down, i to just say how pleased or honored i am to introduce a phenomenal woman Sheila Johnson and is a woman who have blazed so many trails. Shes an entrepreneur. Shes a philanthropist. Shes in the hospitality business. In fact all of my decorating ideas have come from. Oh, right. Because she understands people humanity when. You think of the arts, you should think of Sheila Johnson of course television entertainment. Shes been a producer of documentaries films and now you know she, hosts an amazing film fest in middleburg, virginia. So i am deeply honored that i get a chance to spend some time with sheila. The name of this, i guess in the program books, women of wisdom, that shes wise woman here. And the first African American female billionaire and god knows knows and were going to talk about sheilas life, her journey, because if you havent read her book, you should consider right now. Just go ahead. Say, i got the money. I to read this book. All right. And now i will tell why sheila, first of all, thank you for being who you are thank you for being phenomenal woman. And as you can tell i came with my mardi gras stuff, but i want you to know that you are going to receive what i call the red pump award. Okay. Heres your. Oh, wow, red pump. Thank you. I even know what you were going to wear, but look, this, sheila, you have earned a girl. You have earned it, and youve earned it. I love it because you have been very intentional with your life. Absolutely. The three acts. But i got to start by asking you, who says today is, february 1st. And some of you might not know. Oh, its groundhog day. No, valentines present, no, not mardi gras. Black History Month. Weve got the whole month. So sheila. Is a trailblazer for women, for americans but during this unique where the theme is celebrating black culture black art you been someone who prayed helped to create it to create it to expand it to market it. Sheila what black History Month in terms of today, what does it mean to you . What is black history . A black History Month really puts a spotlight on people of color. Were never celebrated. The other 11 months out of the year. We try, we try. But its a shame that we have to use one month to really on the achievements of black folks. And thats a shame. And its the time where i get called the most viewed speeches to be able to do anything, but its just that one month where i think theres a real focus throughout the entire nation where were able to celebrate our sheroes and our heroes. Thats right. And people of zero zero is, you. This book has so many different layers. And in the book there are three at. So i want to start with the first act right because that was your upbringing that was thats how you found why but it also made your life more complicated in many ways can you tell us about that first act. Yeah. What were going to start with my parents, my father. Every act had issue, i think through all three acts in my life, racism played a strong role. But in the first act was the time when after moving 13 time, because my father was one of eight neurosurgeons of color in the United States and was not allowed to practice in white hospitals and could not practice white patients. So every time he was stationed at a hospital and we had to work the va, then he was moved to another hospital. So i moved 13 times. Now people will, you know, thats really hard on a young child. But when i think it it was an adventure, it built resilience in me. I got to a lot of people across all color boundaries like us. I was able to learn how to assimilate with everyone. So it was really an adventure but the one thing that started and i think by the time we located in maywood, illinois, my father decided suddenly to just leave us and would have to understand. And donna talked about earlier in her in her early discussion about how women back and this was back in the early sixties. Yes. Because my fathers status within the africanamerican community, we were pretty high up on the social ladder right. Suddenly he leaves. That plummets. My mother see, it affects the women all the way down to the bottom. She has no credit cards. She didnt have a bank account. He not pay child support. And it was a time where our family just went into shock. Have a younger brother now. What had happened is time slowly passed by. Once he left, i had to get a job. I was suddenly thrown into adulthood where i had to take all of the family. And i was mopping floors at jcpenney. I tell you, if i lost everything tomorrow, i could go back to mopping floors. You so then anyway, came home, found my mother the floor with a nervous breakdown. And that was the beginning of how i had to start rethinking rebuilding my life. But it was a Pivotal Moment where i realized that i never wanted to find myself in a situation that i found my mother in. Now we talk about that as women, but life is funny because you end up going right back around and finding yourself in the same position. And so what lesson did you learn from your mother being on the floor and you having to her up . But i also want to because i read your book. I read it twice. But you you mention when you called 911i dont know, back the day was 0911. I know what i call back now. Would you call someone an ambulance . All right, i had to call ambulance and i had no idea that the ambulance driver was going to me. I didnt have a penny. Right. And they werent going to take her unless i could pay them. And dad had left your mom . Oh, he was had long gone. But your mom wasnt just a homemaker. She was. Indeed. She was. She was an account. Yes, thats right. She was an accountant. She went back to work. But i also had to help supplement the income. But at that point, she could not work because of her mental state right. And it was just a case i had to call a friend of hers decision would pay the bill to, get my mother to the hospital and thats when i decided that i never, ever want to find myself that position again. And something just hardened in me and was never going to depend on a man whom i to chart my own course in life. So that was that was part of your first act finding your legs learning how to stand right. But how did you develop your wings . Because pretty soon you found your passion or i guess you describe yourself as being a little awkward, not as awkward as your dad but you found your passion. What an instrument. Yes, i was a i picked up the violin at age nine for some from the moment i picked up that instrument, fell in love the way it felt, the way it sounds. And i just remember my father saying, why did you pick the most difficult instrument of all . But i was determined to becoming a good violin. I didnt know whether i could be a great violin was that i was really good. But you got it. You got in college. Although you did not do so well. You s. A. T. Scores. Yeah, let me explain this. This is another layer in the book and this is all part of the racial divide that we have in our country. I was living in a neighborhood, theres still a lot of segregation where we couldnt live in the best of neighborhoods. But i was never the truth about s. A. T. Nobody talked to me about it. I didnt even know really what. An s. A. T. Was. And so i was just to i said, i want to go college. They told me to report on a saturday morning Someplace Nice nearby. And i took this test. I didnt know what i was doing right. I came in with the lowest s. A. T. Scores. You have ever seen in your life because i didnt know what i was doing and. It scared me. When i finally the reality hit that i wasnt going to be able to get in college. These sat scores. Yes. So had happened. My orchestra director, starrett, she said, sheila, ive never seen anything like it, but were going to make this work, get your violin. Were going to come and drive down to champaign, illinois. And you are going to perform for paul roland. Mm. And when i did the audition for him, he says youre in, youre going to get full scholarship to the university of illinois and what got me in the college but it also allowed you to find your own rhythm in your own voice. It did. Because even though everything that we were going through and me having to really take the family and them under my wing, i found a safety net in music, classical music. I loved it. I would listen to it at night and believe it or not, i would go to work, go to school, go to work, get my homework done, get a few hours of sleep and get up at midnight and practice because i was deterred when i was going. I was out for the illinois all state orchestra and also for the chicago youth orchestra. But what happened with the illinois all state . Because you are competing against every talented musician in the state and i won and got the first chair and ill never forget it because this girl came up to me and she said the only reason youre in the first year because youre and she gave me the nword. So i mean these are things that i had to deal and deal with them with grace she never stepped stoop to their level right . That i just proved that i could do it. The violin absolutely. The violin your parents saw this remarkable gift and they did something. I thought that was quite extraordinary. Yeah, they mortgage the house. The mortgage. The second mark randolph, they. Yes, very fine violin. Yeah. I mean, that just and you had this remarkable instrument you could play it and you know there was part in the book i forget what now when call you jelly hips that when i was a cheerleader. Well i just wanna what a jelly hip is because you know is because he is ranting outside my neck a lot of a of padding there. Oh jelly help yall remember that this afternoon when all go out in the rain little jelly that violin. I got to transition you. Youre in college and you meet this guy. Mm hmm. And he was really into i mean, i dont, you know, i dont want to say swept you off. If you want to prove. But he was into you. He followed you. He wanted to be in a little. This is another psychological thing. I was the daughter of a doctor. Okay. All right. He was 1299 children. I think he wanted to have a girlfriend, you know they said, oh, you married up. I so these are the layers of conflicts that you deal with. Okay. See, now see all this now because i had to go through a lot of therapy but it that im light skinned. Oh i know what its like back then. Okay. So these are things if read the book, theres just layers, layers of issues that really are in the culture of our community that men go after certain women for a certain reason. When i look back on it i dont think he ever loved me. I think it was just to be able to do that. Okay. But. Johnson yes. Bob johnson. Man to marry you. He proposed to marry you, although you said you have recollection of the proposal or. But you do have recollection of your wedding day. Wedding day and you have recollection of your graduation because while you completed your courses, earned your degree, you did not attend graduation because he would not let me what i started see was beginning of a lot of abuse i ended up with a narcissist and this was one of the most dangerous of all personal politics. So it was that. Its really interesting because he went on to princeton for graduate school. I stayed back in illinois. He did not ask me to marry him. Then, but i started to date someone else and i remember him coming back. Got so angry that he put his fist through a wall, scared me to death. So there were these red that just started popping up and my mother kept saying, sheila, do not do this. I tell mom i, love him. I think he loves me. That was coming out of being as a child. A child. Well, this is why you these complicated and wrong decisions. All right. So these are the things and see, this is all the stuff i had to work out through therapy. Mm hmm. So its life went on and especially, you know, im on a full scholarship. He wanted me to follow him to princeton, and i said no, you dont say no to a narcissist that i said no. Okay. He says, okay, well, then ill call him. Came back to work for project 500 at illinois and then he decided, you are not going to go to your graduation i waited for you long enough. It broke my mothers heart. So we got married, followed him to princeton. I then got a job in princeton and also taught at Princeton Day School and all up and down route one and junior highs, which are musical talent, i understand. Orchestra director. Yep, yeah. The love of the arts. And i again had to keep a roof over our but here you now with bob johnson and not one year not 550 almost 330 years of your life. Yes. Youre you know, you are struggling to keep bob dreams alive the same time. And thats pressure. But it was your creativity and brilliance that helped with creation of Black Entertainment Television that had never existed in america, that you had to table when it was being drafted and developed. Thats right. So you have to understand, betty was born during the birth of all cable and. It was a case where he was a lobbyist for the National Cable television association, was taking a Senior Citizen up on the hill. And he, the Senior Citizen, needed government approval, money and, so forth and so on. He didnt get it through the proposal in the trash bob picked it up, brought it home. He says, i need you to read this. Im im also now senior put black in there and i just said you know this is a perfect idea look at all the stations that are starting up cnn, mtv came about two years later, nickelodeon all of them, i said, but no one is really addressing the African American voice. And i said, this is an opportunity where, yes, theres ebony magazine, theres jet, but theres no one in the black media, television. And i just that this would be a brilliant idea. We tweaked the proposal. He went to john malone in denver. John malone thought it was the greatest idea and immediately invested in company and continued to put money in the company until we sold it to viacom. John malone of new york right, is that you . No. Denver. Denver, go right more back. Ill have. Yeah. So, betty, i see some heads but i got to to one more story. Okay. We all hold those. Hold that. All right. Put a pencil in it. You. 30 years. How would you describe your relationship . I think thats the only way put it, because its shaped you and somehow you learned what was the lesson and spending 30 years with someone who may not have appreciated you, not only did he not appreciate me, he had no respect for me because whole time that we were building this company and i wanted to keep putting him first because in the africanamerican community, men are held back. And i really him to shine. I put all of his needs first. I was in the back really being the cheerleader there, and he would keep attacking me. He said, you just need to pipe down. You need to be my cheerleader, but i needed to help help shape the vision of what we needed to create. Okay and i didnt want us to lose sight of our end goal. And so is, you know, we went on the air we were only on 2 hours a week. And remember, it was the worst program. And i dont remember petey greene. I was on one of those shows. Okay, helpful. Chainmail it was the worst thing id ever seen, but he was sitting up there and greens and pork chops. I was on one of those, so terrible girl you might have helped me with my tv career. Come on, i play in front center, but im kind of. It was the worst programing. And the reason we were only on for 2 hours a week. We couldnt get advertising. Nobody, none of the advertisers believed in a black channel. We couldnt get proctor and gamble. We couldnt get anybody even the black hair Care Products to do advertising on there. No one would do it. And finally, mcdonalds stepped up to the plate. But the door that open all of a sudden was went in. Were going into two years later, right is when the Video Markets up and. I remember i was on the treadmill and watching michael jackson. Paul mccartney. Yeah. And it was the greatest story. Im unbelievable storytelling through music. Yeah. And i said i would have never thought about this. It was just fabulous. And there was more and more videos that were coming out that we just loved that mtv would not play black program me at all. And this where our door opened and we were able to capture that market. So that was wonderful and thats when the advertisers started to up because we were getting more eyeballs on the channel. Huh. So the other thing that happened about hate to say its about eight or nine months later, the videos that were being aired were coming on the market but they were going downhill. The women were the way they were portraying women in the videos. It was it was close to pornography. And i just could not stand it anymore. And this went on for a while. I complained it and i tried show people within the network that if you turn the volume off, what does it look like . Live pornography . Yeah. And i said, i dont like our young people watching this stuff and thinking thats the way theyre going to behave and going out on the street, doing thats right. Thats right. So what i did is, i created a show called teen summit. Teen summit was a format show. We shot live and it went on noon every saturday. But i was able to interview 25 of the smartest kids in the whole dmv area who wanted to help me craft and collaborate and put this program together. What subject should we talk and it was just amazing. The kids were smart. Paris and we put all of this together. And i mean, we talk about teen dating, we talk about checkerboard dating, we talked about teen pregnancy, we talked about everything in, the world. Those were the main subjects, but we on saturdays, some of the most contrary subjects that kids could not talk to their parents about it was about sex and i remember bringing some parents onto the show and i said, i want you to talk to your parents. Tell them something they dont know, that you dont. And this one girl said, yeah well, im dating this guy and blah, blah, blah, blah and the woman just passed. She passed on the set. So but is just proof that we need really talk to the kids. This is something the kids really wanted to do. Yeah. So it it was so successful that we were wrong for 11 years. So betty became a staple in our cable news diet. We loved it. We hated it because had, you know, it was cutting edge the videos as you mentioned but your second act was your moment in many ways to find your path because when it ended when i said it your relationship it wasnt just your relationship with barb but the was going to be sold and that whole process and you know we didnt say this but i forgot to mention it that beautiful violin t