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00:00The guests who were impacted by the wildfires
00:03that devastated the city of Los Angeles,
00:05including the historically black Altadena.
00:10To show their support for relief efforts
00:11tied to the wildfires,
00:12Essence and the WOMEN WITH BLACK WOMEN organization
00:15have teamed up with GoFundMe
00:17to do their part in giving back.
00:19Here to share more about those efforts,
00:20please welcome to the stage an absolute powerhouse,
00:25the founder of WOMEN WITH BLACK WOMEN.
00:27Her name is Joteka Eadie.
00:30WOMEN WITH BLACK WOMEN
00:34Joteka Eadie
00:39Well, good afternoon,
00:42and thank you, Aldis, for that very warm introduction.
00:46You know, it's always good to be in the room with the 92%.
00:50Y'all look good.
00:52As I look around this room, I am inspired.
00:55I'm inspired by all of the beautiful,
00:58bold, black women in Hollywood.
01:01Give yourselves a round of applause.
01:04I'm inspired by the power, but most importantly,
01:08the resilience in this room.
01:10And as I speak, we find ourselves in a tumultuous times.
01:16Our rights threaten, myths and disinformation runs rampant,
01:22our voices silence,
01:25and our communities have literally been destroyed.
01:28But as always, we know what we must do.
01:36And in this moment, like the rich legacy
01:40upon which we all stand,
01:43we will do what black women have always done,
01:47and that is be our sister's keeper,
01:50preserving our families, our children, our communities,
01:54and standing in the gap for each other,
01:57for what we know is that resilience is not just surviving,
02:02it's rebuilding, and it will take all of us.
02:06That is why Win With Black Women
02:09is proud to collaborate with Essence
02:11on the Win With Black Women Essence Wildfire Relief Fund
02:16to directly, yes, to directly benefit and support families,
02:21including those that have been deeply, deeply impacted,
02:27and the deep Hollywood community
02:29that resides in the Altadena community.
02:32The fund, it will directly support three nonprofits,
02:36the Front Ridge Center, Neighborhood Servants, and our own,
02:41all whom are working tirelessly to put the money
02:45and the dollars directly into the hands
02:48of those who need it most,
02:50the families who have lost so much,
02:53and we encourage you to give today.
02:56But far greater than any dollar amount
03:00is our long-term commitment, day after day,
03:05week after week, and month after month,
03:08to stand with our brothers and sisters,
03:10and might I say, we cannot fly in today, fly out tomorrow.
03:14This has to be a long-term commitment,
03:17and in doing so, we make a commitment
03:20to those like Ms. Juanita West-Tillman, my good soror,
03:25a beloved grandmother who has been recognized
03:28for more than 25 years of service to her community,
03:32who served as secretary of the Pasadena branch
03:35of the NAACP, who lost her home in the fire.
03:39Yet she stands a steadfast, unbroken pillar
03:43of her community.
03:45It is a commitment to Ms. Nikki High,
03:48an Altadena resident of 47 years,
03:52and the owner of Octavia's Bookshelf,
03:55the only black-owned bookstore in the local community,
03:58who packed up all that she had and donated her books
04:02to people who had lost so much,
04:04and turned her store into a place to gather,
04:07collect donations, and now a healing place from trauma.
04:13It is a commitment to brothers like Zaire Calvin,
04:18a high school football coach whose family has lived
04:21in Altadena for three decades of generations,
04:25a family that was shattered by the loss
04:28of his sister, Evelyn McClendon,
04:31and yet he continues to call on his community
04:34to stand together.
04:36All of them have joined us today.
04:39I hope you would stand.
04:41They, yes, they are the face of resilience.
04:49That is the face of resilience.
04:52And together, we will put forth a commitment,
04:57a commitment not only to rebuild the structures
05:01of Altadena, but also to rebuild the rich wealth
05:05and the rich culture that resided there.
05:08Because a commitment that we will have today
05:11to make sure that they come back stronger,
05:14richer, and better than ever before.
05:18And this is what I'll say as I close.
05:20We will not allow our communities, our culture,
05:26and our generational wealth to simply disappear.
05:31And we will not allow it to be extinguished.
05:34Erasure in our long lineage has never been an option,
05:40and it will and can never be an option.
05:43And I've said this before,
05:45and I will say this to all of you in this room.
05:48Coretta Scott King said that freedom is won and lost
05:51in every generation.
05:53And in this moment, we are called upon
05:57to stand in the gap, in freedom, in this moment.
06:02And I hope that when you wake up every day
06:04that you will look in the mirror and ask yourself,
06:06who am I, what am I willing to do?
06:08And when you look in that mirror,
06:10what you will see is that from our hope,
06:13our resilience will carry us forward.
06:15And as always, from unseen struggles
06:19to the scene of triumph, black women,
06:22we remain the architects of hope.