Tracee Ellis Ross talks Pattern Beauty, advocacy & joy, w/ Samira Nasr | Masters of Scale Summit '24

Speaker 0:00 [upbeat music] [audience cheering]

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:06 Hi, everybody.

Samira Nasr 0:09 Hello.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:09 Look at our, our décor change.

Samira Nasr 0:10 I mean-

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:12 I mean, [laughs] I'm s- I'm so just in love with our color palette.

Samira Nasr 0:16 This is very nice.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:17 It's so autumnal.

Samira Nasr 0:19 This is very nice.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:20 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 0:21 Um, I also wanna add that among all of those hyphens ... First of all, it is a delight to be here. It's so nice to be with you all. [audience cheering] So thank you. Um, you're also an auntie.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:33 I am also an auntie.

Samira Nasr 0:34 You are a sister.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:35 I am a sister.

Samira Nasr 0:36 You are a bestie.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:37 I am a bestie.

Samira Nasr 0:39 Um, and you bring all of the fullness of that to everything that you do, and I just wanted to sort of start with that.

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:44 Um, well, I, I ... Yeah, that's- [laughs]

Samira Nasr 0:47 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 0:47 My auntie-ness is very, very worthy of applause. Um, [laughs] uh, a little bit of background. First of all, Jeff, thank you so much. It's really wonderful to be here. I love this kind of conversation in this world of entrepreneurship and business-building, and also how we make the world a better place. Um, Samira and I, just a little bit of background information, Samira and I have been best friends for 30 years.

Samira Nasr 1:11 Yeah.

Speaker 1:11 [audience cheering]

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:12 Um, [laughs] genuine, genuine best friends, uh, and each other's, uh, barnacles-

Samira Nasr 1:19 Barnacles

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:19 ... as we, as we call it. Um-

Samira Nasr 1:20 Barnacles

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:20 ... so you are getting, uh, the privilege of seeing something that has never been done before. We have never sat on a stage together and had a conversation. Our relationship is a private one. So we will give you-

Samira Nasr 1:31 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:31 We will give you a public version [laughs] of a conversation, but just wanted to orient you in the reality of our connection.

Samira Nasr 1:38 Thank you.

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:38 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 1:38 Thank you for setting us up like that.

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:40 Yeah. [laughs]

Samira Nasr 1:41 Um, and okay, so I wanna start, I wanna jump right in, 'cause we have a lim- limited amount of time. But,

Samira Nasr 1:46 and I wanna start with a quote that I read.

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:48 Mm.

Samira Nasr 1:48 Um, um, and this is you speaking, obviously. You said, "The premise of marketing is often you have a problem, and you need this product in order to fix your problem."

Tracee Ellis Ross 1:59 Mm.

Samira Nasr 2:00 When you're talking about Black people, Black beauty, Black hair, starting with this idea that there's a problem is problematic. So I was thinking a lot about that, and I was thinking about your trajectory. Um, and I ... You launched Pattern in 2029.

Tracee Ellis Ross 2:18 2019.

Samira Nasr 2:18 20- uh, sorry, 2019. Excuse me. Not because you saw our hair as a problem, but because you saw the market as a problem.

Tracee Ellis Ross 2:27 Mm.

Samira Nasr 2:27 Tell us a little bit about your journey-

Tracee Ellis Ross 2:28 Mm

Samira Nasr 2:28 ... and how you got executives to see the value of your proposition.

Tracee Ellis Ross 2:33 Um, so the journey, uh, so my company is called Pattern Beauty. We are a beauty company. At the moment, we are haircare focused. Um, that's where I, I purposefully called the company Pattern Beauty and not Pattern Hair because I had an expansive view of what I might dream of doing beyond hair. Right now we are hair, but just for clarity. Um, the, the journey, uh, came out of my own personal journey, um, my personal relationship with my hair. I could chronicle my journey of self-acceptance through my journey with my hair, but the most important factor there was that I didn't see myself mirrored back culturally, not in the beauty industry, and just not in the world. I definitely was mirrored back within my family, but I wasn't seeing it in the world. And so I came to entrepreneurship and, uh, business-building from a perspective of being a consumer, which was incredibly helpful. I didn't join, uh, or decide to become an entrepreneur because I wanted to make money. I came because I was a consumer who wasn't seeing what I wanted. Um, some of it was that I saw an industry that was based on, and marketing that to me was based on something that never made sense. I'm a shopper.

Samira Nasr 3:43 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 3:44 I'm a consumer of beauty. I'm a consumer of pretty things. I can even go to the market and spend too much money. I'm a girl that can go to the 99 Cent Store and buying something for $100.

Speaker 3:53 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 3:54 So, um, I always looked at it as when I feel good, I want to buy things. And I never understood why marketing was based on this idea that we have to make you feel bad in order to go buy something. I d- I felt it was contrary.

Samira Nasr 4:12 Mm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 4:12 So progress through my journey as I started to build Pattern, it was even more problematic, because in a culture that, um, a culture of beauty and a society and a system that really is not set up for people of color to succeed, let alone be mirrored back and seen as beautiful and as our authentic, uh, and for our authentic beauty to be celebrated, that equation was problematic, but also, um, not smart business. Um, so to my own personal journey with Pattern, um, uh, the beginning for me was, I will tell you what I originally said I wanted to set out to do, and how the language has evolved as I have become a much smarter businessperson. So I started out by saying I wanted to make products that worked.

Samira Nasr 5:05 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 5:06 Um, there were so many products on the shelves, and I was like, "But they don't work for textured hair that wants to wear its hair in the way it grows out of its head." By the way, one of the ways Samira and I met is our hair.

Speaker 5:19 Yeah.

Samira Nasr 5:19 True statement.

Tracee Ellis Ross 5:20 True statement. Like, I literally used to find other people with hair like me and be like, "What products do you use?"

Speaker 5:24 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 5:25 "Have you found anything that works?"

Samira Nasr 5:27 Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 5:27 [laughs] Like, that was sort of how we, we would lean in. And, um, so in the beginning it was just, "I want products that work." I had spent all these years of my life, 10 years, um, from when I had the idea to the company being born, but then all the years before that discovering myself and my own journey around my hair, and I was like, "I just want products that work." And I kept thinking as I was growing up, "Wouldn't it be neat if there were, like, a whole line of products that all worked, like they all worked together-

Samira Nasr 5:55 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 5:56 ... and you wouldn't have to go and, like, buy one from each different company? And wouldn't it be amazing if they also all looked pretty on the counter? And wouldn't it be amazing if the brush didn't break when you use it in your hair? And wouldn't it be neat if you could, like, refill them? Wouldn't it be amazing if, like, when you were in the shower, the conditioner wouldn't slip out of your hands, 'cause you could hold it?" Like, there were all these things-

Samira Nasr 6:15 Yeah

Tracee Ellis Ross 6:15 ... that I was dreaming before I knew that I could be an entrepreneur. And then we got to the point where the other piece of it was around marketing. What it has evolved to is my mission of the brand. I'm trying [laughs] to talk quick. I see that clock moving, 'cause I could talk about this stuff forever. Um- What it evolved to was Pattern Beauty exceeds the needs of the curly, coily, and tight-textured community. Um, I will just unpack that a little bit for you because it's incredibly important to me to explain. I don't believe that hair has a gender or a race. However-

Samira Nasr 6:47 Mm-hmm

Tracee Ellis Ross 6:48 ... um, textured hair, curly, coily, and tight textures, there are specific things that we need that other hair does not. A lot of moisture, clumping, slip, um, uh, m- many things. The difference in hydration and moisture. So the products are specifically designed and built for the effectiveness of curly, coily, and tight-textured hair. However, anyone can use our products. If you are a person who has, needs a lot of hydration, Pattern's for you.

Samira Nasr 7:15 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 7:16 If you... You know what I mean? Like, a- and, and I wanted to be a company-

Samira Nasr 7:19 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 7:19 ... that also, um, serviced this massive community, this vast amount of people, in a way that we were there for you in every moment of your journey. Every day, every moment, we were a company that could support you. We were a brand and products that could support you in that. The other half of it, and the evolution of what I originally called, "I want to create a paradigm shift in how people are marketed to," and specifically how Black people are marketed to, is that we are centered around the celebration of Black beauty. So those two things for me and our mission are inextricably tied in that we make products that are for the curly, coily, and tight-textured community, but our content, our hiring, our, uh, uh, um, our team, and what we make is centered around the celebration of Black beauty. There has been, for eons and in the history of time, I have had to see myself mirrored back not in me. So marketing for products that I use don't have people that look like me, and I feel like anybody can see somebody that does look like Samira and I and other variations of Blackness and also figure out the products, the products that we're making work for them. So we are centered around the celebration of Black beauty, and we make products that exceed the needs of the curly, coily, and tight-textured community. Next question. [laughs]

Samira Nasr 8:41 [laughs]

Speaker 8:43 [cheers]

Samira Nasr 8:48 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 8:49 That brings me to my next question.

Tracee Ellis Ross 8:50 Okay.

Speaker 8:50 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 8:51 Because there's a lot of joy in what you do and your approach, and I would... I'm hoping you can talk to us a little bit about why that is so essential.

Tracee Ellis Ross 9:01 Mm.

Samira Nasr 9:01 And why that is so essential for you to focus Pattern Beauty a- around this idea of joy.

Tracee Ellis Ross 9:07 The first place it starts is my mama. Um, so y'all know me as Tracee Ellis Ross. That's how I was introduced. Um, I was born Tracee Joy Silverstein, um, and my real middle name is Joy, and my mother said that's the way I came out. It is my natural state. Um, I will tell you that the magnitude of joy that I hold in my body is also met with the other end of the spectrum. I have learned to hold both. I'm an actor. I can hold both ends. But my true nature is joy. Um, a quick little cute story. My mom, when I went and became an actor and joined SAG, and I became Tracee Ellis Ross, and I put Ellis in because it's my father's name and I wanted him to have a claim to me when I was up on a screen. Um, he's Robert Ellis Silverstein, so I'm Tracee Ellis Ross, but my mom was like, "Ah, you just threw away the Joy."

Samira Nasr 9:56 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 9:56 And I was like, "No, Mama. I, I, I just-

Speaker 9:57 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 9:58 ... I really wanted, I wanted Dad's name, and it..." And she said, "No, no, Tracee. It's okay. You've embodied it."

Speaker 10:04 Aw.

Tracee Ellis Ross 10:04 So, um, so it is my true state.

Samira Nasr 10:07 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 10:07 It is also, I believe, one of my superpowers. Um, and it is, to me, at the core of everything I do.

Samira Nasr 10:15 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 10:15 And I have a larger mission outside of Pattern. My mission with Pattern is to dispel the myth that, uh, Black haircare is a niche market. My mission as a human being is to join the chorus of people who are making the world safer and more just for everybody to be comfortable in their skin and be who they are.

Speaker 10:32 [applause]

Tracee Ellis Ross 10:36 Um, that being said, at the core of Pattern is, and one of our taglines, [laughs] um, is juicy and joyful. Um, I believe that hair can be juicy and joyful. I believe you can live a juicy and joyful life. I believe you can have juicy and joyful friendships. Um, and I really think that that, to me, is what holds the larger container for, um, marketing that is based on celebrating who we are and not, um, leaning into the problem. There's this thing that people talk about as an entrepreneur as, and as a founder of what is your promise. Um, and to me, the promise is around celebrating and empowering who people are as opposed to shaming them into buying the thing that you want them to buy.

Samira Nasr 11:18 Okay.

Speaker 11:19 [applause]

Samira Nasr 11:19 Yeah. I'll give you that.

Tracee Ellis Ross 11:23 Can I ask you a question now?

Samira Nasr 11:24 Yeah, you can ask me a question.

Tracee Ellis Ross 11:25 Okay.

Samira Nasr 11:25 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 11:31 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 11:31 We can, yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 11:32 Yeah. Okay. So-

Samira Nasr 11:34 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 11:34 [laughs] I have the p- more public version of a job. Um, Samira, as an editor-in-chief, obviously is public, but obviously I'm an actor. So this is not Samira's favorite place, sitting and being asked questions.

Speaker 11:46 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 11:46 But I'm gonna do this anyway. So there's a phrase that I think we've all heard throughout our lives that obviously was written by a man, that behind every great man is a great woman. Um, I'm not gonna lie, it makes me wanna barf. Um-

Speaker 11:59 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 12:01 The question I have really is what does it take and who holds the success of any human?

Samira Nasr 12:08 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 12:09 And I, I wanna bring that up because there is something incredibly special that 30 years of friendship, and I will also say, um, Samira has a beautiful adopted child, little man Lex, who's not so little anymore.

Samira Nasr 12:21 Little man Lex.

Tracee Ellis Ross 12:22 But we are both single women.

Samira Nasr 12:23 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 12:24 Um, and our friendship group is very much, um, what anchors us.

Samira Nasr 12:28 Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 12:28 Samira and I have had the absolute honor and blessing of 30 years of holding each other, holding space for each other, um, being there in the private moments, not the public moments, that allows me to go out and be this huge human that I am out in the world, to do some of the scariest things and them to not feel scary, to, uh, have a sounding board, and to have somebody who can love me when I can't love myself, somebody can see the biggest part of me when I am, feel like the smallest part of me. So my question is- From your point of view-

Samira Nasr 13:02 Yeah

Tracee Ellis Ross 13:02 ... what has our friendship-

Samira Nasr 13:05 Mm-hmm

Tracee Ellis Ross 13:05 ... allowed and made space for in your career? And then I wanna answer it too.

Samira Nasr 13:11 Okay. Well, I, I think you have held space for me and, um, you've held dreams for me that I'd never would've dared to hold for myself. And, and case in point is the, my current job. If you'd told me one day you're gonna be the editor-in-chief, like, of a luxury media brand, I would've been like, "Okay." Um, but it's something you always saw for me, and you would always talk to me about it, and I would always change the subject, 'cause that's what I like to do. And, um, I think our friendship has anchored me. I think you've, um, held space for me to see things that I could not see for myself, and I think ultimately, and I, I imagine that a lot of you feel this way also, these roles are very isolating, and they're lonely. Um, and it's, it's challenging sometimes to be the first to do something or to imagine something that hasn't existed before. And so our friendship has been that safe place where I could go back because there is no blueprint, right? And we could talk through certain things, and like, what do you th- a, a sounding board.

Tracee Ellis Ross 14:19 Yeah.

Samira Nasr 14:20 And there's never shame. There's never like, "You don't know that?" It's sort of like, "Huh, let's figure that out together." Um, and that's what it continues to be for me.

Tracee Ellis Ross 14:28 Yeah. Samira Nasr is the first-

Samira Nasr 14:31 [laughs]

Speaker 14:34 [cheers]

Tracee Ellis Ross 14:35 Samira is the first Black editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar. She's setting a-

Speaker 14:38 [cheers]

Samira Nasr 14:40 Thank you

Tracee Ellis Ross 14:40 ... example of what a fashion magazine can be by expanding the definition of what is cover worthy, whose stories are worthy of being told. Um, I have always, uh, believed that Samira should be an editor-in-chief. I will just quickly say I wrote a letter cold to Anna Wintour. [laughs]

Samira Nasr 14:58 She did.

Speaker 14:58 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 15:00 She did.

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:00 I did. Um, the Glamour magazine editor-in-chief position opened up. We all heard about it publicly, and I got my fingers moving and just randomly sent an email to Anna Wintour and told her that Samira Nasr should be the editor-in-chief of Glamour magazine. [laughs]

Speaker 15:15 [cheers]

Samira Nasr 15:15 I didn't get the job.

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:16 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 15:17 [laughs] But my best friend went on a, like-

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:21 I just-

Samira Nasr 15:21 ... actually wrote a letter. [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:22 Oh, yeah. I full-on wrote a letter.

Samira Nasr 15:24 Unsolicited.

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:24 Unsolicited.

Samira Nasr 15:25 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:25 No one asked me to. I will also tell you that there, it is a lonely job in whatever position you're in. If you're an entrepreneur and you are that person, uh, if you're the editor-in-chief, if you are a CEO, um, ultimately, the decisions come down to you. And I don't mind that. I am okay with that, but there are moments of trepidation, of fear-

Samira Nasr 15:46 Mm-hmm

Tracee Ellis Ross 15:46 ... and who do you go to? You can't always go to your colleagues. They're not the appropriate people to go to. If there are hiring issues, HR issues, whatever those things are that are happening, who do you go to? And I think it's a really important part of business that a lot of people don't talk about. And there were a couple of moments, um, I was so frustrated what was happening marketing, and we ended up, we kept ending up in the same place every Christmas with a campaign that I was not comfortable with. And I was just exasperated with not knowing how to communicate what I wanted, and I called Samira and I was like, "Okay, do you have five minutes?"

Samira Nasr 16:16 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 16:17 She was like, "Yeah." "Okay, listen."

Samira Nasr 16:18 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 16:18 "I need to just walk you through what's happening. I need to walk you through what's going on, and then you can j- just, I, I just, I, can I just say it all? Do you have t- time for me to say it all?" And she said, "Yes." [laughs] And I walked her through. She was like, "Oh, you need a 360 digital meeting." And I was like, "Yes, I do."

Samira Nasr 16:30 [laughs]

Speaker 16:32 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 16:32 "I need a 360 digital meeting."

Speaker 16:35 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 16:36 "Thank you, Samira." Beep, beep, beep, beep.

Samira Nasr 16:38 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 16:38 "Hi. Can we schedule a 360 digital meeting please?" [laughs]

Samira Nasr 16:42 Literally how it works.

Tracee Ellis Ross 16:43 Yeah. And there, you know, there's these places where, um, and part of the thing, entrepreneur, entree, you're, you're learning. I'm new, you know? And one of the things I love is that growth curve, right? I have language and I know things now that I did not know then, and some of it comes from being open to, to knowing I don't know everything. And who do you ask? Who are those people who you trust how they operate in their lives?

Samira Nasr 17:10 Yeah, yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 17:10 You trust the integrity with which they do things. You trust their decision-making process, how they reason things out. And that to me has been a, the biggest learning curve, is making sure that the correct people are around you in order to find those spaces of safety.

Samira Nasr 17:27 I have another question for you.

Tracee Ellis Ross 17:28 Yes.

Samira Nasr 17:29 Okay.

Speaker 17:29 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 17:30 I would like to know, I mean, I'd love to hear this from all of you, but I'm asking her the question.

Speaker 17:34 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 17:34 But I would love for you to all think about this as well. What is the one lesson that you've learned in the last five years that you're glad you didn't know before you embarked on this journey?

Tracee Ellis Ross 17:46 Oh.

Samira Nasr 17:47 Right?

Speaker 17:47 [laughs]

Samira Nasr 17:49 Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 17:51 I never had a doubt of the... Ugh, I think this is the answer that I, okay. I never ha- for the moment, this is the answer. Um, I never had a doubt... Part of being an actor and as I've built Pattern, um, has been knowing that my idea was valid and worthy.

Samira Nasr 18:11 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 18:13 Um, same way you go into an audition. Like, I know I deserve this role. I don't know if I'll get it. Ah, I have now mi- built a multi-million dollar company. I now-

Speaker 18:24 [cheers]

Tracee Ellis Ross 18:24 Thank you. [laughs] Um, we have 11 retail partners. We had seven SKUs. We now have over 57 SKUs. Um, we have three tools that plug into the wall. Um, I have, uh, 49 designated employees, um, and then multiple other shared employees and people we work with. I, I did not know then the stakes that now exist.

Samira Nasr 18:51 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 18:52 Um, and I have to remind myself of those stakes because they are important. There are now other people's livelihoods involved. There are now, um, larger choices on the table, and maintaining the optionality of how do I stay true to my mission of joining a chorus of people trying to make the world a better place, basically, um, and a safer place with more- Resources, with more abundance, with more people accountable to me, with me being responsible for more. And I'm glad I didn't know that then. Um, I've always been comfortable with a high-stakes life.

Samira Nasr 19:31 Mm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 19:31 Um, but those stakes change how decisions are made.

Samira Nasr 19:39 Yep.

Tracee Ellis Ross 19:39 And I th- I don't know that I would have... I don't know. I think, I think I would've been the same person. I think I would've had the same dream. I think I would've gone about the same things. Um, here, [laughs] this is totally personal, but it's totally true. If you had told me at 25 [laughs] that I was not gonna be married at 52 with like four kids, I would've been like [blows air] [laughs]

Samira Nasr 20:02 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:03 And it doesn't matter, right?

Samira Nasr 20:06 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:06 Um, and so it's just a larger example of another thing-

Samira Nasr 20:11 Mm-hmm

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:13 ... of the, the dreams I had as a young girl, number one, I really wish culturally that we would do better at supporting young girls, young children-

Samira Nasr 20:24 Mm-hmm

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:24 ... in dreaming in different ways.

Samira Nasr 20:26 Yep.

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:26 [clapping] Um, so many of the people that are here, so many of the people around you, so many of the people that you're speak- that are speaking, have jobs and have figured out spaces in the world that you're not taught to dream of, right?

Samira Nasr 20:44 Yep.

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:44 So, "I wanna be a fireman or a policeman." Like, what? Um, "I wanna dream of my wedding." What? Like, dream of your life.

Samira Nasr 20:52 Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 20:53 Dream of how you wanna make... What do you wanna contribute? What do you want people to feel when you leave the room? If you're gonna build a company, what do you want people to take away from that other than buying something?

Samira Nasr 21:04 Mm-hmm.

Tracee Ellis Ross 21:04 What experience do you want them to have? What feeling do you want them to get? What do you want them to be validated in knowing about themselves because you did this or you sold them that? And so I think, had I, had I known some of those things, I wonder if I would've been more empowered to have a, an even different kind of boldness. What do you think about for you? Like, is there a jo- wha- what do you think you've learned from where you've been that you wish you had known, or you would've done something different?

Samira Nasr 21:42 I don't know if it's that I would've done anything differently, but I do, and I, this is something I've always held, but I have such a deeper appreciation for, um, so I don't know if it really answers your question, but it's the value of people.

Tracee Ellis Ross 21:55 Mm. [clapping]

Samira Nasr 22:01 Um, and, and I think it comes from a place of being othered.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:04 Mm-hmm.

Samira Nasr 22:04 Right? And, and wanting to create a space of belonging.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:08 Yes.

Samira Nasr 22:08 And I think that, uh, the value of people in, in achieving any kind of meaningful success and having a good day-

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:17 Mm-hmm

Samira Nasr 22:17 ... is that you have to carry that value and, and like respect for people and what they bring to the work. Um, I, I think I've learned a lot about that.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:25 Um, we have 14 seconds.

Samira Nasr 22:27 Oh.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:27 [laughs] I think one of, one of the things that-

Samira Nasr 22:30 [laughs]

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:31 ... I have learned at 52, next week 52, whatever- Whoop ... uh, no, no, no, it's just like at this point I'm like, "Ah."

Samira Nasr 22:37 No, no, we celebrate them.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:38 Ah.

Samira Nasr 22:39 We celebrate them.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:40 [clapping] Woo! I feel like at a certain point you're like, "Ah."

Samira Nasr 22:43 No, no, we celebrate them.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:44 "I'm 50-ish." Um, is that, and I did not know this as a child, the world is run by people.

Samira Nasr 22:52 Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:53 So as a kid it was The White House.

Samira Nasr 22:56 Yeah.

Tracee Ellis Ross 22:56 It was Nike. It was, you know what I mean? It wasn't, The White House wasn't made up of people. But so the learning of that really does change your relationship-

Samira Nasr 23:08 Mm-hmm

Tracee Ellis Ross 23:08 ... to everything you do.

Samira Nasr 23:09 Yep.

Tracee Ellis Ross 23:10 Um, this was fun. [clapping] Woo!

Samira Nasr 23:12 Thank you. I love you.

Tracee Ellis Ross 23:14 I love you.

Samira Nasr 23:15 I love you so much.

Tracee Ellis Ross 23:16 This was so fun.

Samira Nasr 23:17 I have so many more questions. [laughs] Um, thank you all so much.

Tracee Ellis Ross 23:22 Thank you.

Samira Nasr 23:22 What a treat.

Tracee Ellis Ross 23:23 Thank you. [clapping] Woo! [upbeat electronic music]