WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.700
- What is it like being
a Black female chef

2
00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:04.950
in a White-dominated industry?

3
00:00:04.950 --> 00:00:07.200
Are there certain
experiences that you can talk

4
00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:08.580
about that made you feel different?

5
00:00:08.580 --> 00:00:09.896
Oh, I'm gonna talk about it.

6
00:00:09.896 --> 00:00:10.777
I'm gonna talk about it.

7
00:00:10.777 --> 00:00:11.610
(Amira chuckles)

8
00:00:11.610 --> 00:00:13.380
Okay, so first of all,

9
00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.590
being older, being Black
and being a female,

10
00:00:16.590 --> 00:00:18.150
you don't see those producers.

11
00:00:18.150 --> 00:00:19.320
I didn't see those producers

12
00:00:19.320 --> 00:00:21.120
and the producers of the storytellers.

13
00:00:21.120 --> 00:00:22.800
They didn't know how to tell my story.

14
00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:26.621
So, it was up to me to make
sure that my stories were told.

15
00:00:26.621 --> 00:00:29.220
And I'm like, "Why aren't
there any Black producers?"

16
00:00:29.220 --> 00:00:31.530
Because I had to do double duty, right?

17
00:00:31.530 --> 00:00:32.363
So, there's that.

18
00:00:32.363 --> 00:00:33.510
There's my hair.

19
00:00:33.510 --> 00:00:34.710
I had to go through the whole hair thing.

20
00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:35.610
I have hair homework.

21
00:00:35.610 --> 00:00:36.630
Nobody knew how to do my hair.

22
00:00:36.630 --> 00:00:38.220
The first person damaged my hair.

23
00:00:38.220 --> 00:00:39.210
My hair went into shock

24
00:00:39.210 --> 00:00:40.560
and didn't know why it was happening.

25
00:00:40.560 --> 00:00:41.550
Literally.
- Yeah.

26
00:00:41.550 --> 00:00:43.950
- And so, then I had to find that person.

27
00:00:43.950 --> 00:00:46.410
I had to teach them that you
can't just have anybody come in

28
00:00:46.410 --> 00:00:48.660
to do my hair who doesn't
understand Black hair.

29
00:00:48.660 --> 00:00:50.040
I'm not a diva.

30
00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:51.420
I had to talk myself out of that.

31
00:00:51.420 --> 00:00:54.090
I'm like, I just want
somebody to do my hair.

32
00:00:54.090 --> 00:00:54.923
- Right.

33
00:00:54.923 --> 00:00:59.077
- It has taken, honestly, 10
years for people to think,

34
00:00:59.077 --> 00:01:02.700
"Oh, Carla needs special
attention for her hair."

35
00:01:02.700 --> 00:01:04.110
Everybody can't do my hair.

36
00:01:04.110 --> 00:01:07.350
Make-up. The colors not being ashy.

37
00:01:07.350 --> 00:01:08.313
Lighting.

38
00:01:09.300 --> 00:01:11.647
And I have to say, I've been told,

39
00:01:11.647 --> 00:01:13.500
"Oh, your skin is so beautiful.

40
00:01:13.500 --> 00:01:14.730
It's so easy to light you."

41
00:01:14.730 --> 00:01:16.830
No, it's easier to light me
because I'm light-skinned.

42
00:01:16.830 --> 00:01:17.670
Don't get it twisted.

43
00:01:17.670 --> 00:01:19.560
If I was brown-skinned and I'm sitting

44
00:01:19.560 --> 00:01:21.720
next to a White person, the
lighting would be different.

45
00:01:21.720 --> 00:01:24.985
And so, why is it that people
don't understand lighting

46
00:01:24.985 --> 00:01:28.170
when it comes to skin
color, skin tone, right?

47
00:01:28.170 --> 00:01:32.280
And so all of those things, now
I know how to navigate them.

48
00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:33.840
I know what to ask.

49
00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:36.097
I know, sort of walk
into a situation and say,

50
00:01:36.097 --> 00:01:39.278
"What about hair? What about my makeup?"

51
00:01:39.278 --> 00:01:40.890
I don't have to worry about lighting.

52
00:01:40.890 --> 00:01:42.720
But also wardrobe.

53
00:01:42.720 --> 00:01:44.617
A lot of times in production,
they wanna just say,

54
00:01:44.617 --> 00:01:47.310
"Oh, you just, hair, makeup, whatever."

55
00:01:47.310 --> 00:01:50.250
But the thing is how I feel about myself

56
00:01:50.250 --> 00:01:51.960
starts behind the scenes.

57
00:01:51.960 --> 00:01:54.480
How I wanna feel
comfortable and confident,

58
00:01:54.480 --> 00:01:56.580
and like, I can go out and do my job

59
00:01:56.580 --> 00:01:59.430
and be the woman that I know
I am starts with the way

60
00:01:59.430 --> 00:02:00.955
that I'm dressed and feeling comfortable

61
00:02:00.955 --> 00:02:04.860
that I don't look like
a freaking mess, okay?

62
00:02:04.860 --> 00:02:08.790
So, now I own that and I
make sure that I have that.

63
00:02:08.790 --> 00:02:10.473
I have a lot to say.

64
00:02:12.660 --> 00:02:15.407
But when I was younger, I
wouldn't have asked for it.

65
00:02:15.407 --> 00:02:17.357
I didn't wanna be the difficult person.