they say I’m not the average black girl
cuz I’m so well-spoken poised full of
etiquette a white man’s token you know I
remember my ex’s mother telling me I
didn’t know how it was going to react
when he brought home a black girl but I
like you because you you talk so white
well when didn’t be talking right equate
to me talking white see they say I’m not
the average black girl no no no not the
average black girl cuz the pigment in my
skin is just a shade lighter than that
black girl over there
you know the black girl over there the
black girl with the nappy hair the black
girls whose elbows can’t skip a days
without lotion whose hearts and heads
are filled up with self hate and bottled
up emotion the cocoa brown girls who
have to face society every day and be
tough cuz no matter how good they
straighten their hair their good is
still not good enough
Oh Bucky for me see I don’t fall in that
category so they say I’m not the average
black girl because I speak with so much
class and I don’t have too much but just
enough ass and not too much but just
enough his ass you know just a little
bit of attitude
cuz you don’t want to come off as one of
those average black girls and come off
as rude you know popping their gum and
shaking their necks yeah cuz those black
girls get like no respect but see
luckily for me see I get a pass because
the melanin and my skin matches that
brown paper bag and my father brother a
men that I date pants don’t sag and when
I speak my tongue pronounces every
syllable in the combed part down the
middle of my hair is naturally visible
oh oh it must be a weed but she must be
mixed cuz we all know the average black
growing got that good
or when I walk into a room full of white
men they all stare it must be the long
length of my uh Navarrete black girl
hair see they say I’m not the average
black girl because I corrected the
professor when he used the word
conversate converse the word is converse
and in case you didn’t get the memo
there are now eight not nine planets in
the universe when you watching the
numbers on your stocks move up and down
remember Oklahoma in a small town one of
the first wall streets was a black Wall
Street that got mysteriously burned down
well they say I’m not the average black
girl let’s flip the script and rewind
this and repaint the lines that had
been blurred over time because the
average black girl that I know the
average black girl that I know where he
gypped
like hotshot and meter critics who are
ruling dynasties and whole armies of men
excuse me I West who I set fire with
this palm of my pen cuz I am tired the
average black girl that I know
may 19 trips through the Underground
Railroad to free the slaves stack on
segregated buses refused to get up and
pave new waves see the average black
girl that I know
she had the courage that surpassed her
every fear and fought for justice
inequality year after year so as I
construct these words pardon me as I
shed a tear because I’m not half the
black girl she was I am not half the
black girl she was see there’s one minor
clause see she was out there fighting
breaking and changing law so I bowed
down to my black queen standing in the
merit of her work and that’s America
Society continuously throws these
supercilious words unto me I say no I’m
not the average black girl I can only
my name is Ernestine Johnson Morrison
and I want to talk to you about building
your crown and when I say crown I mean
confidence resilience optimism willpower
and setting non-negotiables and notice
how I said building your crown and not
wearing your crown because a lot of the
times these days were throwing this word
king and queen and crown around row
lightly not knowing it’s not something
you just put on you don’t wake up and
just you just confident you don’t wake
up and you’re just resilient you don’t
wake up and you just think
optimistically you don’t just wake up
and you just have this undying willpower
you don’t just wake up and know to set
clear non-negotiables and set standards
and boundaries of people it is something
that you have to work at something that
you have to build something that comes
along the journey you have to go through
some stuff anybody in here ever been
through some stuff I stand here today as
a child from Los Angeles California that
was born with cracking my system to a
drug addict mother I stand here today as
a woman who was molested from the age of
7 to 17 and when I think about the word
confidence I looked it up and it says to
be ashore in the belief of something
that you know to be true and a lot of
the times we don’t walk around here
confident because we don’t really
believe in the things that we know to be
true we don’t use our past and our tools
and our journey to help us build that
sea to build that confidence but being
molested from the age of 7 to 17 it
built my confidence no man can ever Tim
make me do something I don’t want to do
nobody can ever make me do anything I
don’t want to do because I’ve used what
I’ve been through and helped me build
that sea and it’s important to build the
sea first on your crown because if you
ever notice when someone walks in the
room they’re walking in with good
posture and their shoulders back in
their head up you’re drawn to that
person because that person is confident
and that is a skill and that is a gift
that we all are attracted to when we
talk about our resilient to be bended
stretched or broken but to be able to
bounce back
anybody ever been bended stretched or
broken and been able to bounce back that
is resilient
I remember being 7 years old and I was
so hungry and even at seven years old I
knew the difference of team sober mommy
and hi mommy and I know there was this
one point my mom was in the bathroom
getting high and I was so hungry seven
years old living in Panorama City around
a bunch of Spanish gangs and I said you
know what I’m not gonna let whatever
she’s got going on stopped me from
eating so I put on my rollerblades I
scraped up ninety nine pennies because
back then the Big Mac was 99 cents I
scraped up 99 pennies put him in my coat
pocket got on my roller blades and
rollerbladed to McDonald’s seven o’clock
at night as a seven-year-old in Panorama
City California that’s being resilient
being stretched being bended being
broken be a butt but still able to go in
and get the goal I was hungry I had to
eat I had to make sure I was the only
person who could feed myself at the time
and that’s the importance of being
resilient because you’re gonna go
through some stuff in life you’re gonna
be bended in like you’re gonna be
stretched in life and you may be broken
in life but when you keep the resilience
you can still get to the goal and we
talk about optimism though Oh thinking
optimistically I remember working retail
I worked the retail for Neiman Marcus
for five for a high-end retail company
different companies for five years and I
was delivering a package to a client and
I’m going to this big fancy high-rise
and meeting this million dollar client
he’s got all this money around him of
these cars and it was ballet and I’m
going up just this girl working retail
with this package in my hand and I’m
walking through this hotel lobby as my
client was staying at the top in the
penthouse
and I kid you not within 10 seconds
somebody ran into me and the lobby and
said hey do you know you’re one second
away from being a millionaire do you
know you’re one instance away from all
your dreams coming true he said one
email one phone call one instance one
meeting when a person that can change
your entire life and as I was sitting
there with these packages all the
expensive shoes
that I was gonna take up to the pin
house that one thought changed my mind
like wow this isn’t this situations not
forever me delivering these packages and
working retail and opening fitting rooms
and cash registers it’s not forever so
when you think optimistically it changed
my mind it changed my whole mindset it
changed the way I thought like okay I’m
delivering packages right now but this
is not gonna be forever I have to think
optimistically and know that in just
three years after that conversation I
quit that job and started my own
personal shopping company where I had
multiple millionaires coming to me
asking me for things started my own
company at the age of twenty four years
old working with over three dozen NFL
athletes and entertainers we’re gonna
move on to the W willpower
a lot of the times we don’t accomplish
our goals because we become lazy and we
don’t have the willpower and the
willpower is an undying burning
sensation to get it done and we become
lazy you cannot tell me I’m not gonna
achieve my goals I moved here from Las
Vegas with $3,000 in a hope and a dream
I’m an actress I said I want to be an
actor and a little birdie told me seven
years ago that this is where the acting
is going to be Georgia is where the
acting industry is moving that’s where
you want to be and I said I don’t know
what I’m gonna have to do to get there
but I’m gonna get there working my
retail job saving up my checks ask the
girlfriend can I live with her for two
months rent-free I’ll cook I’ll clean
I’ll do dishes I’ll babysit I’ll do
anything that I need to do I had an
undying burning sensation to get to
Atlanta to get to Georgia so I can do
with what it is that I said I want us to
do which is acting scraped up my change
moved here with $3,000 I moved here on a
Monday on Tuesday the very next day I
was an acting class because I also
believe in preparation a lot of times we
say we want something and instead of
asking for what we want we should always
ask to be prepared for it and study
prepare yourself for what it is that you
say you want so I got an acting class
because I wanted to be prepared so when
I meet a director when I meet a producer
when I walk into the casting offices
when I walk into the audition I’m
prepared I’m ready that’s what the
classes I read the books I studied the
greats I read the plays I went to
Broadway
I know my craft and that is willpower
having an undying burning sensation to
get it done whatever it is in your life
that you say you want to do prepare for
it and vision boards are great but
nothing works unless you do like Maya
Angelou says we can write stuck on
vision boards all day you can make a
list all day and have post-its and
sticky notes all around your house but
if you’re not working for it if you’re
not preparing yourself if you’re not
reading the books if you’re not taking
the classes if you’re not training if
you’re not studying the people in your
industry studying the people in your
field you’re not working for it you’re
just asking for it if you don’t have the
willpower yet non-negotiables it’s
probably the most important part of your
crown cuz you can be confident you can
be resilient you can think
optimistically you can have an undying
willpower but if you don’t set
non-negotiables if you don’t set
boundaries with people and with yourself
then you’re not building the crown
effectively I remember this is a small
story of my husband when we first met
and I don’t even think we were dating
yet I think we may have went to a
business dinner and he dropped me off at
my house and he just drove off and I
called him and I said hey don’t ever
drive off unless you see me walk into my
door and it’s something so small and
nuance so small cuz you have to teach
people how to treat you you drop me off
somewhere you make sure I get in safe
that’s my non-negotiable
I come from a mother who was on drugs I
don’t do drugs it’s non-negotiable of me
I don’t that’s not my thing I don’t hang
around people who do drugs I remember I
was dating the guy we weren’t even
dating I went on a date with this guy
and he tried to kiss me
and I noticed when he kissed me he put
something in my mouth from his mouth to
mine item don’t know what is this in my
mouth and it was a pill and I
immediately spit it out and this is a I
was kind of young and this guy was going
on a date with he was pretty popular and
I’m just like you know I could have just
went along with it so I can be cool and
be this guy’s no that’s a non-negotiable
for me I don’t do drugs I don’t do drugs
I don’t hang around people who don’t
best not my thing and you have to set
those boundaries with people you don’t
that those boundaries you just the crown
is going down the confidence the
resilience the optimism the willpower
that’s all going downhill if you don’t
set boundaries with people and I say all
that to say build your crown what it is
that you’ve been through what it is that
hurt you caused you pain caused you
trauma use it and apply it to each
acronym how is this situation making me
confident ask yourself how is this
situation I’m going through making me
resilient how is this situation I’m
going through going to help me think
optimistically how was this situation
I’m going through gonna give me undying
willpower how is this situation I’m
going through gonna help me set clear
non-negotiables for the next time I’m in
this situation build your crown I opened
with that poem because that poem changed
my life it was the first time I started
building my crown it was the first time
I felt confident enough in myself and my
gifts to go out there and spew those
words for millions of people on national
television that home opened the gates
for me it opened the doors for me and it
opened the door for me to continue to
build my crown and I challenge you guys
today to continue to build yours thank
you
[Applause] you
cuz I’m so well-spoken poised full of
etiquette a white man’s token you know I
remember my ex’s mother telling me I
didn’t know how it was going to react
when he brought home a black girl but I
like you because you you talk so white
well when didn’t be talking right equate
to me talking white see they say I’m not
the average black girl no no no not the
average black girl cuz the pigment in my
skin is just a shade lighter than that
black girl over there
you know the black girl over there the
black girl with the nappy hair the black
girls whose elbows can’t skip a days
without lotion whose hearts and heads
are filled up with self hate and bottled
up emotion the cocoa brown girls who
have to face society every day and be
tough cuz no matter how good they
straighten their hair their good is
still not good enough
Oh Bucky for me see I don’t fall in that
category so they say I’m not the average
black girl because I speak with so much
class and I don’t have too much but just
enough ass and not too much but just
enough his ass you know just a little
bit of attitude
cuz you don’t want to come off as one of
those average black girls and come off
as rude you know popping their gum and
shaking their necks yeah cuz those black
girls get like no respect but see
luckily for me see I get a pass because
the melanin and my skin matches that
brown paper bag and my father brother a
men that I date pants don’t sag and when
I speak my tongue pronounces every
syllable in the combed part down the
middle of my hair is naturally visible
oh oh it must be a weed but she must be
mixed cuz we all know the average black
growing got that good
or when I walk into a room full of white
men they all stare it must be the long
length of my uh Navarrete black girl
hair see they say I’m not the average
black girl because I corrected the
professor when he used the word
conversate converse the word is converse
and in case you didn’t get the memo
there are now eight not nine planets in
the universe when you watching the
numbers on your stocks move up and down
remember Oklahoma in a small town one of
the first wall streets was a black Wall
Street that got mysteriously burned down
well they say I’m not the average black
girl let’s flip the script and rewind
this and repaint the lines that had
been blurred over time because the
average black girl that I know the
average black girl that I know where he
gypped
like hotshot and meter critics who are
ruling dynasties and whole armies of men
excuse me I West who I set fire with
this palm of my pen cuz I am tired the
average black girl that I know
may 19 trips through the Underground
Railroad to free the slaves stack on
segregated buses refused to get up and
pave new waves see the average black
girl that I know
she had the courage that surpassed her
every fear and fought for justice
inequality year after year so as I
construct these words pardon me as I
shed a tear because I’m not half the
black girl she was I am not half the
black girl she was see there’s one minor
clause see she was out there fighting
breaking and changing law so I bowed
down to my black queen standing in the
merit of her work and that’s America
Society continuously throws these
supercilious words unto me I say no I’m
not the average black girl I can only
my name is Ernestine Johnson Morrison
and I want to talk to you about building
your crown and when I say crown I mean
confidence resilience optimism willpower
and setting non-negotiables and notice
how I said building your crown and not
wearing your crown because a lot of the
times these days were throwing this word
king and queen and crown around row
lightly not knowing it’s not something
you just put on you don’t wake up and
just you just confident you don’t wake
up and you’re just resilient you don’t
wake up and you just think
optimistically you don’t just wake up
and you just have this undying willpower
you don’t just wake up and know to set
clear non-negotiables and set standards
and boundaries of people it is something
that you have to work at something that
you have to build something that comes
along the journey you have to go through
some stuff anybody in here ever been
through some stuff I stand here today as
a child from Los Angeles California that
was born with cracking my system to a
drug addict mother I stand here today as
a woman who was molested from the age of
7 to 17 and when I think about the word
confidence I looked it up and it says to
be ashore in the belief of something
that you know to be true and a lot of
the times we don’t walk around here
confident because we don’t really
believe in the things that we know to be
true we don’t use our past and our tools
and our journey to help us build that
sea to build that confidence but being
molested from the age of 7 to 17 it
built my confidence no man can ever Tim
make me do something I don’t want to do
nobody can ever make me do anything I
don’t want to do because I’ve used what
I’ve been through and helped me build
that sea and it’s important to build the
sea first on your crown because if you
ever notice when someone walks in the
room they’re walking in with good
posture and their shoulders back in
their head up you’re drawn to that
person because that person is confident
and that is a skill and that is a gift
that we all are attracted to when we
talk about our resilient to be bended
stretched or broken but to be able to
bounce back
anybody ever been bended stretched or
broken and been able to bounce back that
is resilient
I remember being 7 years old and I was
so hungry and even at seven years old I
knew the difference of team sober mommy
and hi mommy and I know there was this
one point my mom was in the bathroom
getting high and I was so hungry seven
years old living in Panorama City around
a bunch of Spanish gangs and I said you
know what I’m not gonna let whatever
she’s got going on stopped me from
eating so I put on my rollerblades I
scraped up ninety nine pennies because
back then the Big Mac was 99 cents I
scraped up 99 pennies put him in my coat
pocket got on my roller blades and
rollerbladed to McDonald’s seven o’clock
at night as a seven-year-old in Panorama
City California that’s being resilient
being stretched being bended being
broken be a butt but still able to go in
and get the goal I was hungry I had to
eat I had to make sure I was the only
person who could feed myself at the time
and that’s the importance of being
resilient because you’re gonna go
through some stuff in life you’re gonna
be bended in like you’re gonna be
stretched in life and you may be broken
in life but when you keep the resilience
you can still get to the goal and we
talk about optimism though Oh thinking
optimistically I remember working retail
I worked the retail for Neiman Marcus
for five for a high-end retail company
different companies for five years and I
was delivering a package to a client and
I’m going to this big fancy high-rise
and meeting this million dollar client
he’s got all this money around him of
these cars and it was ballet and I’m
going up just this girl working retail
with this package in my hand and I’m
walking through this hotel lobby as my
client was staying at the top in the
penthouse
and I kid you not within 10 seconds
somebody ran into me and the lobby and
said hey do you know you’re one second
away from being a millionaire do you
know you’re one instance away from all
your dreams coming true he said one
email one phone call one instance one
meeting when a person that can change
your entire life and as I was sitting
there with these packages all the
expensive shoes
that I was gonna take up to the pin
house that one thought changed my mind
like wow this isn’t this situations not
forever me delivering these packages and
working retail and opening fitting rooms
and cash registers it’s not forever so
when you think optimistically it changed
my mind it changed my whole mindset it
changed the way I thought like okay I’m
delivering packages right now but this
is not gonna be forever I have to think
optimistically and know that in just
three years after that conversation I
quit that job and started my own
personal shopping company where I had
multiple millionaires coming to me
asking me for things started my own
company at the age of twenty four years
old working with over three dozen NFL
athletes and entertainers we’re gonna
move on to the W willpower
a lot of the times we don’t accomplish
our goals because we become lazy and we
don’t have the willpower and the
willpower is an undying burning
sensation to get it done and we become
lazy you cannot tell me I’m not gonna
achieve my goals I moved here from Las
Vegas with $3,000 in a hope and a dream
I’m an actress I said I want to be an
actor and a little birdie told me seven
years ago that this is where the acting
is going to be Georgia is where the
acting industry is moving that’s where
you want to be and I said I don’t know
what I’m gonna have to do to get there
but I’m gonna get there working my
retail job saving up my checks ask the
girlfriend can I live with her for two
months rent-free I’ll cook I’ll clean
I’ll do dishes I’ll babysit I’ll do
anything that I need to do I had an
undying burning sensation to get to
Atlanta to get to Georgia so I can do
with what it is that I said I want us to
do which is acting scraped up my change
moved here with $3,000 I moved here on a
Monday on Tuesday the very next day I
was an acting class because I also
believe in preparation a lot of times we
say we want something and instead of
asking for what we want we should always
ask to be prepared for it and study
prepare yourself for what it is that you
say you want so I got an acting class
because I wanted to be prepared so when
I meet a director when I meet a producer
when I walk into the casting offices
when I walk into the audition I’m
prepared I’m ready that’s what the
classes I read the books I studied the
greats I read the plays I went to
Broadway
I know my craft and that is willpower
having an undying burning sensation to
get it done whatever it is in your life
that you say you want to do prepare for
it and vision boards are great but
nothing works unless you do like Maya
Angelou says we can write stuck on
vision boards all day you can make a
list all day and have post-its and
sticky notes all around your house but
if you’re not working for it if you’re
not preparing yourself if you’re not
reading the books if you’re not taking
the classes if you’re not training if
you’re not studying the people in your
industry studying the people in your
field you’re not working for it you’re
just asking for it if you don’t have the
willpower yet non-negotiables it’s
probably the most important part of your
crown cuz you can be confident you can
be resilient you can think
optimistically you can have an undying
willpower but if you don’t set
non-negotiables if you don’t set
boundaries with people and with yourself
then you’re not building the crown
effectively I remember this is a small
story of my husband when we first met
and I don’t even think we were dating
yet I think we may have went to a
business dinner and he dropped me off at
my house and he just drove off and I
called him and I said hey don’t ever
drive off unless you see me walk into my
door and it’s something so small and
nuance so small cuz you have to teach
people how to treat you you drop me off
somewhere you make sure I get in safe
that’s my non-negotiable
I come from a mother who was on drugs I
don’t do drugs it’s non-negotiable of me
I don’t that’s not my thing I don’t hang
around people who do drugs I remember I
was dating the guy we weren’t even
dating I went on a date with this guy
and he tried to kiss me
and I noticed when he kissed me he put
something in my mouth from his mouth to
mine item don’t know what is this in my
mouth and it was a pill and I
immediately spit it out and this is a I
was kind of young and this guy was going
on a date with he was pretty popular and
I’m just like you know I could have just
went along with it so I can be cool and
be this guy’s no that’s a non-negotiable
for me I don’t do drugs I don’t do drugs
I don’t hang around people who don’t
best not my thing and you have to set
those boundaries with people you don’t
that those boundaries you just the crown
is going down the confidence the
resilience the optimism the willpower
that’s all going downhill if you don’t
set boundaries with people and I say all
that to say build your crown what it is
that you’ve been through what it is that
hurt you caused you pain caused you
trauma use it and apply it to each
acronym how is this situation making me
confident ask yourself how is this
situation I’m going through making me
resilient how is this situation I’m
going through going to help me think
optimistically how was this situation
I’m going through gonna give me undying
willpower how is this situation I’m
going through gonna help me set clear
non-negotiables for the next time I’m in
this situation build your crown I opened
with that poem because that poem changed
my life it was the first time I started
building my crown it was the first time
I felt confident enough in myself and my
gifts to go out there and spew those
words for millions of people on national
television that home opened the gates
for me it opened the doors for me and it
opened the door for me to continue to
build my crown and I challenge you guys
today to continue to build yours thank
you
[Applause] you
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