In the latest edition of "Here and Now,” we examine why Black women have the highest percentage of avoidable deaths in the United States. Also ahead, we explore a conference and career fair focused on attracting more people of color to the advertising business; how STEM from Dance is bringing coding skills to younger people; and “How I Will Graduate” is helping teens do just that.
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Here and now, the program featuring the news and interests of the African American community. Here's your host, Sandra Bookman. Coming up, why black women have the highest percentage of avoidable deaths in the U.S., the role access to care plays, and how nurse practitioners are filling the primary care gap. Also ahead, where are all the black people? The conference and career fair focused on attracting more people of color to the advertising industry. How stem from dance is using choreography to convince girls they can code. And how I will graduate is helping teens do just that. Plus, the ninth annual Imagine This Women's International Film Festival. That's all ahead on here and now. Black women in the U.S. have the highest rate of avoidable deaths, are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications and receive the lowest quality of care. According to a new report from the Common Wealth Fund, the study shows that women in America overall have worse access to needed health care compared to women in other high-income countries. Now, one solution for this shortage of access to doctors and care has been the role of nurse practitioners. Here to tell us more is Board-certified nurse practitioner and Doctor of Nursing Practice Peggy Roberts. It's so nice to meet you. Very nice to meet you. Thank you so much for having me. Now, I'll refer to you as Doctor Roberts, thank you. And the reason we wanted to discuss that difference between, I guess, medical doctor and Doctor Roberts, the nurse practitioner, is because we wanted people to understand their options, especially in this day and age where we still can't believe more people aren't having access to care and are afraid to go to the doctors or can't afford to go to a doctor. So talk to us about your decision to take on this role of nurse practitioner and why it's so important to you to be out there sort of on the front lines of really advocating for women's health. So being a nurse practitioner is very, very dear to me and it goes back to the history. Nurse practitioners were founded so that we can create the access and provide for patients to be able to be seen by nurse practitioners and not physicians because there was a shortage. And so we were able to provide care when there was a gap in access of care. So being a nurse practitioner, especially in women's health, I wanted to be part of the solution. I wanted to get in the front lines and be in the community and educate women and treat women and be able to have them feel empowered about their health. And comfortable. And very comfortable. Asking questions or? Asking questions and then also representation. You know it was important for women to feel comfortable to see a provider that looks like them or looks like a family member and to know the cultural differences. So also to know that there are certain conditions that affect one culture and that doesn't affect the other. So it was very important for me to be in the front lines and to be part of the solution and represent women's health not only being a woman but treating women. And when you saw that new study, look if you're living in the U.S. and you're female, there's some issues. If you're black and female and living in the U.S. you got some real problems. Were you surprised by the findings of that study? I mean really on all fronts black women are not doing well when it comes to medical treatment. I was not surprised but it is still very disturbing. You know women's health has been under attack for such a long time. There is an urgent need for a greater focus on women's health. With the inadequate research that is in women's health this study highlights that very very need of what we need to focus on when it comes to women's health. And it comes to black women feeling the brunt of all of these conditions and disparities. This study for me not surprising but it needs to continue happening because we're not moving the pendulum in trying to get more access for women. And now with this study coming out with the preventable deaths and the shorter life expectancy now it's everyone wants to say okay wow this is really really disturbing when we compare it to other high income countries. And what are we going to do about it? I think that's the question how do we move the needle in your estimation? I think we need to provide more access. You know in these countries the difference that we have is they have universal health care. We don't have universal health care in this country. So that becomes a problem. With universal health care women are able to get preventative screening on a regular basis and not having to worry about the health care bill that is coming to their home or they have to worry about because of the lack of health care. 14% of women in this country do not have health insurance thereby they're behind the April when it comes to preventative screenings. So that is first and foremost providing access providing more providers within the community is very important and also educating women regarding knowing their numbers. I think that knowing their numbers whether it be blood pressure whether it's their blood results that can give them a sense of what they need to do in order to extend their life right because a lot of these are preventative deaths and with preventative deaths if we start from a younger age we're able to combat it and really reduce the risk of death later on. Yeah and we talked I mentioned some of those things you know that not being able to pay the fear you can't pay not even having a doctor in a lot of cases a primary doctor and a lot of women talk about especially women of color going to the doctor their symptoms being ignored passed off as something else made to just feel like they don't know what they're talking about or how they feel doesn't matter. Those are all factors that have kept women from going to a physician. Absolutely and I always tell women that it's not in your head. You know you'll go to a provider to discuss your symptoms and you feel like you're being ignored they're being dismissed and that also puts a lack of trust in our health care system thereby delaying care or unaddressing the symptoms and conditions that they have. I always say women you have to advocate for yourself if you feel that you're being dismissed or not being heard go to another provider get a second third fourth opinion but that also creates that barrier where these women are going to the emergency rooms once these symptoms have exacerbated and the emergency room that's not where the preventative screening becomes the preventive screening comes regularly and getting educated and it also deals with having multiple specialties in order to address and making sure that you're living your best health and wellness. So let's talk about your practice trust women's health care. This is your way as you said of being on the front lines of trying to meet women where they are and have them be comfortable with the provider your first office Brooklyn correct and now you're expanding. Correct. So opening up trust women's health care was really to provide a solution to a problem. Black women in this country are three times more likely to die from pregnancy complications and here in New York City are eight times more likely. So I wanted to be part of the solution and create this platform where women have an experience coming in they are also feel that they're heard they're not ignored and we do and we have follow up with the follow up ensuring that they know their numbers they know what their lab numbers mean they know what their blood pressures are which are key components. Also there are a lot of conditions starting from when they're younger that women have that can put them at risk for heart disease it's important for them to know that early on early on from having polycystic ovarian syndrome to having pregnancy complications and then midlife having menopause all of these different phases of life put to at risk for cardiovascular disease which is the leading cause of death in women. So I wanted to create a platform where we can educate and empower women across a life span and with Brooklyn we've done very very well and I felt that it was time to expand to Long Island because there is a health care desert in Long Island with women and having representation again is very very important. I want to ask you a question it's kind of the elephant in the room as we talk about numbers for women of color we're talking black women and Latino women Hispanic women as well. How much of a factor is race in all this? It is a factor because of the implicit bias that comes in the structural racism that comes in so having race as a forefront that leads to not having your symptoms addressed or also there are presentations that can be different based on race let's take something as pain for an example it doesn't matter that whether your pain is a ten out of ten or two out of ten it's still pain and still be treated accordingly so I think that is very important to know that although there are certain conditions that are exacerbated by race but race does play a factor when these symptoms are being addressed. Do you feel like we are making progress you know there was a lot of talk after covid after the pandemic because with the high rate of pre-existing conditions among black people obviously those the community hit really hard so we all saw it you couldn't argue with it and so there was a lot of talk we got to change this we've got to get people in early we're do you see evidence of that movement especially when it comes to women's health? I do see a movement because we're having conversations like we're having today there are more and more conversations but we have a long way to go we need to increase the research within women's health we need to get more frontline providers we need to fix the health care system that we have today that is so broken and where there are lack of access in universal health care for women for all you know not just women but specifically because we're discussing women that we need to get more education because women are the centers of the family and they often neglect themselves so you know addressing these issues is what we need to continue to do but we are still a long way from solving this problem and I want to ask you one last question before I let you go the fact that you are a certified nurse practitioner you know with a doctor in here because a lot of people will say well I want to see a doctor but with the access nurse practitioners have been playing an even more important role and we think it's important to say that you're not getting less quality care if you see a nurse practitioner correct so there has been numerous studies and the data shows that the care is not less than from getting the care from a nurse practitioner we always need our physician partners but we as nurse practitioners are able to diagnose we're able to treat we're able to refer and we're seeing patients in a more holistic way as well so I just want everyone to know that you're not getting less care it's not depending because of the type of insurance you have we are experienced we have the education and expertise to provide efficient care Dr. Peggy Roberts pleasure to talk to you I guess I suggest that we will be speaking with you again and I want to send folks to your website to find out more about your practice and more about what you do yourself trust women's healthcare dot com in Brooklyn yes and in Long Island correct all right thank you so much thank you so much for having me we'll be right back what's new from apple there's the new iPhone 16 pro built for Apple intelligence and it comes with the all-new camera control giving you an easier way to quickly access your camera tools the new Apple watch series 10 has our biggest display and our thinnest design ever and this it's the sound of active noise cancellation now available on one of two new AirPods four models so quiet check out all of the new products and new features at apple.com you can even buy yourself something new see apple.com for product availability updates apple intelligence coming this fall Ryan Reynolds here for mid mobile with the price of just about everything going up during inflation we thought we'd bring our prices down so to help us we brought in a reverse auctioneer which is apparently a thing mid mobile unlimited premium wireless and it gets 30 30 30 30 30 20 20 20 20 50 15 15 15 just 15 bucks a month so give it a try at mid mobile dot com slash switch forty five dollars up from payment equivalent to fifteen dollars per month new customers on first three month plan only taxes and fees extra speeds lower above forty gigabytes detail believe it or not even in 2024 minorities are still underrepresented in the advertising industry according to the american association of advertising agencies black professionals make up just six percent of their workforce the 14th annual one club for creativity's diversity conference and career fair where are all the black people is designed to retained and increase creatives of color here to tell us more is the executive director of the conference and the global head of DEI and strategic partnerships with one club for creativity Adrian Lucas that is some title so nice to meet you thanks for having me here those numbers surprise me I it's just a field where I would think people of color flourish and you do see obviously more people of color in various advertise you know advertising these days but the folks behind the scenes not so much yeah it's true so essentially creativity is rooted in our culture however when it comes to knowing that these careers exist that's where sort of the disjunct lies and it's because in our households you know anecdotally and also the research shows up people are being filled it into careers in education medicine law thing thing happened to me and nothing's wrong with it but there are also lucrative careers in the creative industry that people just don't know exist for them so that's what you guys are trying to do with this conference right absolutely I love the name because it is quite question quite catchy where all the black people yes to the point so the reason why we said that name and this is what I like to say is where are we in commercials where are we behind the camera and where are we in front of the camera where are we in C suite and when I say that people are like I get it and actually this conference his roots all the way in the 90s there was a black creative and he was at a party he looked around and noticed he was the only black person in the room and he just instinctively said we're all the black people and there were two clever advertisers Jimmy Smith and Jeff Goodby who took that moniker and decided to turn it into a series of panels and over time those panels have become this full-blown conference now where we get 850 people in person and and who's generally coming are there people that are all ready in the industry and how do you manage to get the word out to people who may be a good fit for the industry absolutely so we have a mix of people who are aspiring creatives as well as people who are already in the industry and so we reach out to professors reach out to amazing people like yourself to spread the word magazines we social media outreach and the great thing is that this conference is actually free to attend for anybody who's a student or between jobs and very low cost for people who are going for networking purposes but they're already gainfully employed so the whole point is just spreading the word we go to other conferences we just want as many people to know about this event and the advertising industry as possible you know you know I you talk to a lot of young people these days and they you know they see social media as the outlet do you think that that has sort of grabbed some attention about you know away from what might otherwise have been a starting point for a career for some folks no I think social media is helping so for instance I did a post about the conference hey looking for a job in advertising and I started listing all of the 60 companies that were recruiting we have Delta Airlines capital one lots of agencies and people gravitated towards that because of social media and they knew about the conference we're also having people that are creators creating on TikTok and Instagram who are finding their way into advertising but starting as creators and they're getting hired by these advertising agencies to work on campaigns and then matriculating into an actual advertising career so I think social media is actually helping okay you just got to get the word out to more people now yes how long have you been in the advertising field five years oh gosh that's so long that's good but five years yes and what was it about this field that at first attracted you yeah so before this I actually worked in the legal career I'm a licensed attorney and I really liked being in the legal industry especially because I love social justice all things diversity and inclusion and it's very tied in together but I also have a love for creativity I love music I love putting ideas together and so I googled diversity and inclusion and creativity and I found this organization called The One Club and I was like what is The One Club because at the time I really only knew law firms and law schools and I saw that it was a nonprofit it's been around since the 1960s yeah and everything they do is about celebrating the global creative community so award shows they do creative boot camps and panels and workshops and I saw that it was helping people sort of express themselves and that's something that I love to do since I was a little girl whether it was drawing, singing, dancing and I felt like myself and so I gravitated towards this industry because it just makes me so happy and I haven't looked back since yeah I mean it sounds like it's a great fit for you and the role you play your global head of DEI and strategic partnerships so this conference and job fair sounds like it's like right up your alley. Oh absolutely absolutely and this year we have a lot of treats planned for attendees so first the keynote speakers are going to be the Earn Your Leisure podcast host so Rashad Bellal and Troy Millings and they're two men from New York and they decided to have a podcast to help inspire black generational wealth and entrepreneurship but they mix it with pop culture so it's approachable now they have 1.5 million followers and they're rubbing shoulders with some of the top celebrities Steve Harvey the mayor of Atlanta and we're going to have panels about upskilling how do you break into this industry we're going to have one-on-one portfolio reviews where someone up-season professionals going to sit down and look at your work and give you feedback on how you can improve and get a job we have an all-day wellness session and we give free breakfast and free lunch so you have the energy to talk to all these recruiters and land a job and another great thing is the first day is virtual right yes and then the second day is the in-person portion exactly we're talking about what W-A-A-A-T-B-P we're all black people and in September 26 is the virtual part Friday the 27th is the in-person yes it's going to be at Brookfield Place that's 225 Liberty Street downtown yes Manhattan and to register W-A-A-A-T-B-P dot org right yes you can find out about the various panels all the other activities and we also want to send folks to oneclub.org because we really want them to find out what it is that your organization does exactly because we're a nonprofit and everything that we do is about supporting creatives whether they're already in the industry or aspiring to enter the industry and our programs are mostly free our very low cost so it's perfect for someone who thinks they might be interested in advertising but they're not sure so I want them to definitely visit our website and come to our program and before I let you go just explain to folks again why this is important why DEI in advertising in this field is important yeah so there's a spotlight on diversity and inclusion right now we saw how the nation has you know put attention on diversity inclusion especially after George Floyd's murder and the murder of many others and what we're seeing is that black talent for instance in New York City we're less than 8% of you know the advertising industry although we make up 21% of New York City's workforce and that stark disparity is a problem yet as you said earlier we are drivers of culture right so this conference is meant to bridge that gap between our representation in the industry and what we are actually adding to the industry and we want to make sure that there's no to low barrier to entry so come as you are come get a job and come to learn and meet other people yeah everybody deserves a seat at the table everyone every table Adrian Lucas thank you so much for sitting down with us this afternoon thank you for having me our pleasure we'll be right back even though they rule nearly every aspect of our lives these days when it comes to the fields of STEM that's science technology engineering and mathematics women of color are vastly under representing a local nonprofit is working to change that by combining tech with art STEM from dance uses the unique combination of choreography and coding to expose girls to the world of STEM joining us today is the founder of STEM for dance yamalae toussaint so nice to meet you so great to meet you and what just really a different idea what led you to this combination I think you 12 years ago you started this I did and even before that you know when I was a young girl I was just obsessed with dance I was dancing all over the house was always at the dance studio so dance was always something that really meant something special to me and at the same time I was really curious about math and science both my parents had STEM professions my father was a mechanical engineer and I was really inspired by how much he loved to build and fix things so I decided that I wanted to become an engineer so I studied mechanical engineering at MIT and it was an incredible experience very difficult experience and one of the things that stuck with me the most is seeing how often I would be in classes where I would be the only or one of a few black women and I just knew that it didn't have to be that way so I wanted to create something that would solve what I believe to be the issue which was that although as a young girl I believe I could be an engineer most young girls don't think they can do well in math you're not getting that encouragement either exactly they're told that that's something more for boys someone to create something where girls can feel like they belong in STEM and use dance as a way to really attract them to the field yeah and and I guess you know it's that sneak attack almost you get them in there you get them engaged and then curiosity leads you to something else exactly and we've been able to create this experience where not only are they attracted to join us and dance with us but also use dance to help tell a story through technology okay you got it yeah you you and it's a great idea but now you gotta explain to us how how you make that work yes so what the girls do is they make dance performances that incorporate technology so imagine costumes that light up when they dance they're making the circuit and they're learning about electricity and how to program that circuit to light up every time they lift up their leg or whatever the effect is yeah so they're learning about computer science about AI about data and they're doing it through the lens of dance so they experience dancing and making up a dance and learning about coding but really behind the scenes they're starting to see and believe that they can be a programmer and engineer a scientist because they're doing it with us they're combining with dance and we see that they start to grow in confidence really believe start to see themselves and we help them along the way to actually become that engineer a scientist yeah and and so watching them do this just what have you seen and and have you do you have some girls now that they're on that pathway because they got exposed to this with you yes one of the most exciting things to see is the girl who comes in because she loves dance and you know maybe her parents wanted her to do something over the summer so they signed her up for our summer program and you know she came like really excited about the dance part of the day but kind of hesitant about the STEM side of things but as the days go by she started to realize that oh wow like this is actually kind of interesting and she gets more confident right right and we see that transformation happen time and time again I think about one of our students who came to that summer program three summers in a row and and it started with that interest in dance and now she's a junior a rising junior at Georgia Tech studying computer engineering oh and that is that's a pretty good school yes yes and and what still amazes me is that it really took that spark of dance and really meeting her where she was at for her to unlock that potential in STEM yeah did you when you started talking about doing this and combining the two things did you get pushed back to people who like huh absolutely what like what do these two things have to do to one another and I think I often got the reaction that it maybe seemed like I was just trying to like do that gotcha approach is like trying to use anything to get them in yeah but what I had to build and help other people understand is that there is a way that these two things are intertwined yeah when we look at performances by popular artists like Beyonce, Rihanna there's technology all throughout their performances and we just have to sort of help the girls see that as well and just the general public know that there's a world where dance and the arts and STEM can intertwine and obviously you've shown that that it has so how many girls have gone through your program we've had over 4,000 girls go to the program over the years and is there a cost how are you funded so we what's important to us is that cost is not a barrier for a girl to participate so we raise funds from individuals foundations companies who get excited about our mission and who help us subsidize the cost for the girls this is just I'm excited about it and I'm like I can't I don't think I could do this but it is just it's and it's really important because you're talking about the fact that they're seeing no seeing no few other women in the classes with you according to the National Science Foundation 29 percent of people employed in STEM fields are women only 29 percent I should say and black and latina women make up just under 5 percent that's right so are those the girls that you're focusing on those from those communities absolutely and you know we believe that all children deserve a great STEM education but we're laser focused on making sure that our girls of color know they belong have the resources and support that they need and that's why we exist for 12 years is to and what we plan to do going forward is to continue making sure that girls not only in New York City but across the country are able to unlock that potential through dance so you're hoping to broaden to broaden us absolutely currently we have programming in eight cities across the country I just think it's such a great idea and when you said oh I graduated from MIT you had me at that okay stem from dance.org and you can find out there what what you're offering how to sign up and and where all this takes place right exactly yes okay I just think it's just an absolute over the years we've talked so much about the importance of STEM and getting young kids of color involved especially girls your program just sounds ideal and I'm I'm really anxious to see I can't wait to meet some of these students yes and come to a performance you'd be amazed at what you see I'd love to see it thank you so much for sitting down with us yamalae toussaint stem from dance.org thank you thank you we'll be right back 84 percent of New York City students graduated from high school last year 80 percent of black students earned their high school diplomas and one of the organizations that has been on the front lines helping to successfully lower the dropout rate is the I will graduate youth development program and here to tell us more is the co-founder and executive director Tanya Lewis Taylor so nice to meet you again so nice to meet you thank you so much for having us now you started this program in 2006 yes how many students have you really do you believe you've helped got them to stay in school and live up to their potential so I would say we started tracking data maybe about 15 years ago mm-hmm but it's well over five 600,000 students that we have directly impacted with this program over the last going on 18 years now briefly explain to folks how this works so you know my background is in the music entertainment industry and as I was getting into my childbearing years I was looking for a way to stay connected and also do some good in the community and when I found out about the staggering dropout rates back then which was about a 38 graduation rate my husband and I jumped in and we decided to bring this program to schools all throughout New York really teaching young people life skills to manage themselves I mean the schools do a great job at teaching you know science math english but it's those life skills that help them become successful not only in school but in life and that's what we teach our programs are in schools throughout New York City and our goal is to help them develop their unique skills and their uniquenesses so that they can thrive in whatever area that they decide to go in and this is an after-school program we're in day school after school uh Saturday school we do school 24 hours a day around the clock we have virtual programs um and all with this whole goal to nurture young people so that they can find their true potential and be great and is that the key to the to successfully being able to get kid to stay in school to find out what their thing is what speaks to them absolutely that's exactly what it is because we're all different we're all unique and when you find that thing that makes you want to get up in the morning you get up in the morning and you do it and that's really the premise for the I will graduate program and I know arts education is a big part of that absolutely a lot of schools don't even have it anymore absolutely arts and education we're big on college and career readiness programs job readiness programs we use the arts as a way of creative expressions so our goal is for young people to find their voice through the creative expression as well yeah now is it explain this me is it a six-week college and readiness curriculum so I will I will graduate season begins with our back to school which just initiative which is starting and then we have our pledge day which students take a pledge to commit to their education and once they do pledge they they go through a six-week curriculum developed by our organization this year's curriculum is called be great and it's all about again those life skills that they're going to learn that's going to help them accomplish their goals and their dreams and what is that what what is the pledge that they take the I will graduate pledge is the affirmation to themselves to declare that they will do their best bring their a game to the school year and do their best to not only graduate but to be the best version of themselves in every day yeah and do schools have to request you how does that happen how do schools become part of this yes we're in partnership with the city of New York with our mayor's office in partnership with our chancellor's office and so our partners send this out to schools all throughout New York City over 1.2 million students in the New York City school system have access to the I will graduate pledge it's done in their classrooms and assemblies it could be done at home and it's really just a way a symbolic way of students making a declaration to themselves that they will show up and do their best every time yeah and is there cost there's no cost we write our curriculums in house and those curriculums are also sent out to schools throughout New York City and we also have our amazing I will graduate day celebrations which is the culmination of those students taking the six-week program and taking the pledge and that day this year um october 29th at king's theater at king's theater and this year we're back at king's theater because we are also being uh doing an award show that is going to celebrate people in the community that are doing great things for education so we're excited and how much how much influence do you think the kids have on each other you take that pledge along with some someone else you go through this course um I I would have to think that they feed off of the children it's hard to call them children right that they feed off of each other absolutely they do it's really a remarkable thing because it's about building pride it's about building the self-determination inside of yourself I mean we're external we do our part to motivate and educate and inspire students but once a student is inspired from the inside they encourage other students and it becomes a trickle-down effect and that's why the I will graduate program has been so successful because it's young people helping young people and helping to grow and develop into who they were called to be and is there a difference when it comes to uh motivating uh boys as opposed to girls is that a absolutely you know we we have an in addition to the I will graduate program that happens at the top of the school year and through the end of October we run programs throughout the year so as we spoke about arts and education mentoring basketball college hair uh cosmetology we tailor those programs to each rate of each gender so that those students will be inclined to want to participate and grow and learn about the things that interest them okay and after all this time you still love this work I do you know I it's part of my life's journey to be honest with you I've been in youth ministry my entire life since I was 11 and called to teach the children how to sing in the church I've been doing this so it's just part of my DNA to help motivate and inspire young people to be great and how important is it for the parents or the students that are involved in your program for them to also be committed to to to helping them see this through absolutely one of the layers of our program is parent involvement um if uh it's it's very important that the parents undergird the young people's uh dreams and aspirations because by doing that they help push them along and give them the wings that they need to succeed so it's so exciting tonya louis taylor it's always great to sit down with you because you're so enthusiastic thank you want to send people to iwillgraduateprogram.com yes and i will graduate day this year with the theme be great be great is october 29th at king's theater from two to six p.m yes and we ask everyone to come out and join in this celebration thank you so much for all the the work that you've done i appreciate you we love it thank you so much sandra we'll be right back the power and diversity of storytelling is the focus of this year's imagine this women's international film festival take a look this case is about black women everywhere being refused the right to earn is honestly i know it's just hair there is no such thing as just hair three two one one two three water juju spider me young things one with two skin she's spider human equally the ninth annual imagine this women's international film festival will feature 90 innovative films from 20 different countries and joining us today are the festival's co-founders patrice francewa and susie francewa it's so nice to meet you guys thank you so much for having us and you have told me you're not twins your mother daughter mother and daughter yes so whose idea was this originally i would say it was my idea um you know just being around other woman filmmakers hearing their struggles to have their work scene over and over again not getting selected into film festivals i approached her and i said you know i keep hearing this story over and over again i think we should do something about it and create this platform that we can highlight these films and mom just jumped in and said let's go yeah she always had my back so so you did you know a lot of people said well wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute how we're gonna do this you didn't ask that question wow i think we did some research and i did ask her and then i was like i think we can do this yeah let's just do it nine years you've been doing it yes you've been doing it and the objective here really is to give women a platform that you believe that they really had to have before no we've had filmmakers in the past who like at the festival have told us thank you so much for selecting our film because you are the first film festival and we've had emails where they will email us back and they'll say you know what because we were selected at your festival we were able to sit down and pitch our films we were able to get selected at other film festivals people saw that laurel and said oh okay this is a film that we can you know put our money or our back it's almost like that that situation you find yourself in when you first start get into the workplace well you don't have any experience but i can't get experience if i don't get a job exactly exactly so you sort of help them skip that step yeah absolutely why why you're a filmmaker why do you think it's more difficult for women and especially women film female filmmakers of color to find a place i honestly just think it's it's the biases i've had a filmmaker who said you know the director approached us and said if i had known you were a woman i wouldn't have selected this film for the festival and i think people just they see the bipark the women of color the lgbtq i filmmakers and they think it doesn't belong in their programming but for us you know we're here to tell bold stories yeah and stories that might not get told exactly if not told excited by women especially so let's talk about the festival 90 films 90 films that's that that is impressive oh thank you so i'm gonna put you both on the spot here okay any favorites already oh i like freedom hair okay that one's a good one that's yes i saw hair and i was like okay yeah i want to talk about that one so tell me a little bit about that film uh i i i i is it a woman starting her own natural hair business yep yeah in the state of mrs. sippy and she has these obstacles that she has to overcome um and so she has to you know follow lawsuit against the cosmopolitan hospitality thank you um just so that she can start her own business and isn't this based on a true story it is it's based on a true story yeah and it's one of your future films it's one of our feature films also another one and i love this the goat yes yes that's your that's one of my favorites too and i love the um cinematography and also it talks about um the story of i guess it shows you how young girls are still being used um trafficked as well and this is not only in egypt but throughout the world yeah and i thought it was an important topic as well um and also highlights another great thing about your festival it's not just women it is women from all over all over the world getting a chance to tell stories that really need to be told exactly um in addition to you know obviously the feature film category i want you guys to explain this one to me immersive immersive yeah so this is the first time this is our second year doing immersive but um so we're having like a happy hour mixer mm-hmm where we're highlighting these two immersive films projects that are that's a VR and a podcast okay so that's 80,000 steps that's the podcast yes and then young thing yes reimagined on three young things yes you laugh at me laugh at me laugh at me no i love the not to be silly um i just like the idea of it when you immerse it because you're coming at people from different directions is that why why you call it okay so then the VR is the young thing and it tells it um not Nigerian Nigerian folklore story so that's what it's based on so they can put on the headsets and they could sit back and relax and then they can go through the journey all right well and and why was that something why was it important for you to offer this kind of experience i think we wanted to offer something different um allow i know like immersive VR podcast that's becoming a lot you know popular become more popular so we wanted to just offer this experience that our community and our filmmakers can enjoy mm-hmm and then of course you've got a short film and then also a web series yes yeah so you've got everybody covered here we have everything and including video music videos as well yeah you are really trying to get to everybody everything yeah yeah we're trying to provide that platform for everyone yeah and and how many we i said how many films 90 films 20 countries how many filmmakers how many participants are we talking about here oh gosh we usually get about 30 filmmakers and they travel from australia from china they travel from all over yeah they hang out with us for the weekend and and have you you've grown every year every year when we first started we only had 20 films we started at the Wyeth Hotel and the Wyeth Hotel yeah yeah yeah and now like when we were did virtual for the two years that during covid we had about 130 films oh people were yeah yeah really hungry yeah absolutely and but this year it's 90 films over 90 films and we're really excited about it oh look this is near your city so there is a gazillion film festival here um and honestly most of them surprisingly good what you think about oh absolutely your volume do you feel like you're in competition with those or do you feel like you offer something different um or or do you just basically kind of help each other oh man that's a really good question i would say we offer something different i think the perspectives that we have the different world views that we bring that the filmmakers bring we're not afraid to tell these stories and we're very intentional with our programming we make sure that we include women of color people from the lgbtq ia community we make sure we hit all the dots like we're very intentional in our programming yeah you want people to think about that yes absolutely i guess we'll get you stop this kind of idea of other right um you know our stories are really similar oh absolutely almost no matter where you come from that's true so there's a there's a dinner party i think that's part of your am i getting that we have a brunch a brunch yes um that's on a saturday morning that that's just for the filmmakers they come in they hang out and they get to network build community um and engage yeah and it's great to we started it last year right yeah last year was our first time and it was it was amazing okay yeah all right um the the imagine this women's international film festival runs from september 19 through the 22nd yes virtual virtual is through the 29th of September okay and through the 29th and in and when you say virtual that means you can come and see all the films you can see it all through online yup in the 29th and we also have a table read with our screenwriters that's gonna happen virtually so our screenwriters they love it because they get to see their stories come to life during this virtual table read so okay it's really exciting all of the screen mind how does that work so they will you know do their virtual recording and then they send it to us and upload it for our attendees to find them and watch it okay yeah all right that makes sense like oh you're like all of them you know at the same time okay and they appreciate that too because then they feel like they're part of the festival not just the films no i think that's terrific i think that's great i mean it's great for you too for the festival itself the look cinemas at 657 west 57th street right uh and is this males what is that may how am i say this mazel mazel yes documentary center which is at 343 Malcolm x boulevard yes now so is there an imagine this women's film festival dot org yes yes and on the site you'll have a listing of all the films and filmmakers are going to be involved yes all the full lineup passes tickets we do offer free programming all of our workshops um and panels are free and our documentary features are um pay as you want um and that will be at the documentary center okay um honestly it sounds really well thank you thank you my hat off to you thank you so much mother daughter not killing each other no no not yet not yet we try not to give you any ideas yes imagine this women's film festival dot org yes September 19th through the 22nd through the 29th on line yes all right all right what a pleasure it was a pleasure to thank you so much thank you so much best of luck oh thank you we'll see you in year 10 yes apparently yes and that's the next year yes right around the corner i'll still be here you will we'll be right back thank you for joining us on here and now if you missed any portion of today's show you can watch at abc7ny.com or listen to our podcast wherever you subscribe if you'd like to comment or share your story email us at abc7ny.com or follow us on facebook x and instagram i'm Sandra Bookman enjoy the rest of your day so so so
