going from the traditional media era today show features the black women in the media from a black woman's perspective our discussion will highlight how media has changed over the years and it's only fitting to acknowledge that fifty years ago dr martin luther king jr delivered his i have a dream speech and washington so we're going to dedicate this show to dr king all right nikita you the only one and only male on this panel today and i want to ask you a question how do you feel about women in media i think it was brought it is a situation that has toned out a lot of things and it is part of the opportunities for women to be the main focus i think that women have taken to a whole new level so i would agree with the change that occurred ok today's guest we're winning talk show host a producer media coach a published author and a claim contributor to community empowerment through her media work she did her undergraduate work at harvard university and a grad student at u c berkeley school of journalism before graduating cum laude from harvard she studied in spain she was recognized as a two thousand and thirteen treblinka award from the national coalition of one hundred black women san francisco she won the whole time media award to signature silicon valley as best informational talk show in two thousand and eleven to create a best series producer award for bay area vista and a host of other awards one h took she's interviewed people celebrities and major people such as president obama robert redford dr cornel west jerry interesting when i first went to journalism school but thing that was most important to me was being able to shape the content behind the scenes so at first i wasn't thinking about being on camera but after working in television for a little while as a producer and then seeing how media was changing i realized there wasn't any more security necessarily behind the scenes than on camera and i felt like part of the calling was also to be on camera i'd done a radio talk show when i was in high school and i it was really part of the dream too so opportunity that you thought we'd be leaving the barrier to work in a major network t v station you know what i did at different times i actually once was talking with people on a group in atlanta georgia and at the time family crisis my mother was ill and in atlanta i was talking with people at c n n about possibly working there as it turned out opportunities with maine to open here and i wound up moving her out but i call myself a bay area semi native because although i didn't grow up here i really love it and there's black women in media let's move on to shonda scott and she created total concepts three sixty that's a consulting firm and two thousand and six which provides services to organization needing public relations and management support and in two thousand and two she was appointed to president obama's oh actually that was two thousand and twelve twelve she was appointed which is what i thought was a great honor just to be a part of that but she was a point that to president obama's platform committee she's recognized as one of the year by the national women's organization and she serves on the white house council for women and girls in addition to her civic work she is the executive producer and host of the top show spotlight which shonda scott in oakland california welcome shan film production i like the behind the scenes part that's just my passion initially i was i'm a business person just by nature and so my family was in business for years my great grandfather was in business and i'm in business to some a business owner first but i'm always i'm always had this passion for creativity just from you know loving the act the her and acting from the from the high school drama plays and that ella bit but when i  had a fascination for the news media but i've always wanted to tell the stories in a different way not like the traditional way so it first i came of this idea was to pull talk of public affairs and we did this show in a friends of mine who are you know high officials we all came together to do this show but it was a passion so the production so when i had the opportunity to do some public relations work for the school district part of what they wanted was to do a talk show a t v show and so i was like oh that's perfect so it was a perfect element with my business background and then my passion came together for that opportunity and from that we're on a second seven season and from there now actually produced the show as a community benefit to the district local school district but it's broader than just opened we talk about  stories in the bay area and we talk about people doing like i had a chance to interview ambassador andrew young and had an opportunity to talk about the civil rights movement of him walking with dr king and how that's impacting our youth in some of those stories because my family actually always expose us to that type of history and i think it's so important for us to do the same for the next generation because that's how we learn and that's how we can embrace who we are so mine came through passion so i was you know i always had an interest in politics i'm a business and political science major but the passion was always in the film and the media part of it so i wasn't the one necessarily wanted to be in front of the camera exactly and that's the same with me i was thrown into television  were i was selling t v advertising you know i'm like you know i want to make a little money how can i do that so i started selling my commercials and so after that i was able to begin the commercial write the commercial and then sell it as well and then next thing recent graduate which i think is also my idea to have her in the forefront from the bay area and attended college at california state university northridge in southern california received her disagree in journalism with the it says in broadcasting in may of two thousand and thirteen her goal is to become a sports reporter specially specifically basketball while she loves researching information to share with the public then is very excited about her future plans as a sports reporter hitting me because school just started on my name it's like everyone's talking about oh i'm in class and i'm here on my i'm at work and i'm mike so it's really isn't my even though my degree came in the mail and everything but is is just now about this and we were saying because he was saying what first he didn't like the idea of women sportscasters ok i'd say that earlier but only because he thought women didn't know anything about do you know anything about sports so i know a lot about basketball and that's why i was saying basketball but i am interested in learning about other sports i'm trying to learn more about football luckily football season is coming up and  china see about you know soccer i know that the world cup will be next year so hockey and i just want to it want to get a broad spectrum of all sports so because one of my ultimate goals is to go to the olympics and cover in two thousand and sixteen and cover some of the sports there and i just want to know everything about all types of sports ok and you're here to learn a little bit more about how to get in the business and yes and maybe some guidance and we'll talk about that in a little while but what i wanted to do is talk to the panel about their own content and programming and how much control do you have over that and how do you feel that it's important as opposed to be and on maybe mainstream media who maybe hand hands you you know the report for the day and you have to report it you don't know whether it's true or not you didn't do any research and you produce  your show you have more control so let's start to shonda what do you think about having you know the male condom for me that's that's the most important part for me that's why i do like the behind the scenes and being the producer parkas i like having the ability to have the freedom to tell the stories that you want to tell that's that's my passion in what we do in any of the areas or because we all spy boat brother i also have a production company it were doing actually in the mainstream media but we're telling our stories and that's the same thing with what we do in spotlight it's the telling of positive stories in the stories the way we want to tell it and i understand people that work in mainstream media sometimes that's a limitation i have a number of friends that are producers fo major networks and they have these stories that they want to tail and they can't tell and i just was at a conference with soledad o'brien and she was saying it's so freeing now that she owns her own content and now she can tell the stories that she could've told when she worked for that big network and it's and i just see her just take it off but you know i told her she's going to do better than she's ever done before because now she has the freedom and the creativity to do until the stories that people really want to hear everybody told me all the time that we like to hear the positive stories so i don't know where this misconception is that people are i mean there is some fascination with the negative could you just want to know and be aware but you're not that fascinate it were every day you have to be inundated with just negative stories that's not our experience and that's not what we tail so since i'm an open native is my passion in my community contribution to give back until the positive story because a lot of things that happened people didn't even know bill russell the first m b a most winning m b a athlete i mean i think he's athlete of all scores and then the first african american head coach of the n b a team came from oakland west with you know where most of the violence is happening but they people many people even though they do equate it with the oakland tech and you know there's so many stories that are working for n b c at the time in the bureau we used to talk about the different stories and fighting for stories and having done that as a reporter it's always been important to me to have that input as a producer even when i was doing  v i was also writing the content and one of the reasons that i chose journalism school instead of going into international law was because i realized that law follows society in many ways but journalism has an opportunity to show and highlight those stories and i wanted those positive stories especially of african american but if i could americans but people who are disenfranchised and don't have a voice many times and so i agree with john about being able to do my own content and make a decision about that is so critically important just a show on the one hundred black men of the bay area community school and being able to highlight these incredible young men who are young scholars and having people see that is of importance but being able to tell so many different stories is what i enjoy as an executive producer so i didn't come from the business model and that way i had been working more in traditional media and learning that part of it has has been a will but it's such a blessing to be able to hear someone share something and say i see a story there i think that what citizen journalism has done is it's made it more accessible in many ways but it's important to also continue to have that balance people trust you when even if you're saying we're talking about this part of the story and we also invited people to share this view because that says we're able to have dialogue about all of it but we come from that perspective that there are positive stories that spirit ultimately triumphs and the people who have faith for that and work together are the people who are really the majority in the world not those stories that are always the flash or leading the news and you know and that's what i appreciate about having your own content and be able to produce your own shows is because of the high life some of the naked do here in the bay area in oakland and some of the other areas so to produce something on the positive side i think this is so wonderful and i was just thinking about danny you know as a sports reporter do you think that you'll be able to or which you would like to be able to write some of your stories or pick and choose some of th events that are out there how do you feel about that yeah definitely i know that you know some just starting off i would need to at least you know get some type of foundation saw that i can go and be successful in that but i think that been able to tell stories about people who come from a same place of things to do to face on but i want to pose a question as well as journalism school and you guys thoughts do you believe it still exists or need to exist i think so i think there's value in it i wouldn't discourage anyone who has a passion for sharing stories if they can't go but i know learning about the law in journalism as well as having stories and even having experiences where in journalism school i had to confront professors who said well we don't want you to do this particular story it's too easy for you and say well no that's that's not just because it's coming from this community perspective and you have a perception that if i do stories about people who don't look like me it's harder is fallacious the story is important but all of the training that you get will serve you so well in terms of balance in terms of tenacity in terms of just strategy and i think that there are advantages to it but you know absolutely i think education in any form is important and you can go high and go you can't go wrong with that so i i believe and i'm liberal in some sense but i'm very traditional in the other so i have that kind of balance so traditional journalism i'm always fascinated with the gone to journalism school and that was their passion i'm just more my perspective is more broad and i followed just my heart and my passion so i could be in politics in a room one day and out of the community meeting with you know community people and next day i could be you know a red carpet film screening one day and then you know at church with my with my family and community the next so i'm just that i'm the collective like that of aquarian so that's kind of where i am but i am i the writing law school journalism all that is just fascinating to me and it would be awful if we got to a point where now social media and all the taxing and all the other things we do to spellcheck people don't continue on higher education i mean that would be you know a travesty you definitely give us a solid foundation i think especially best bets which are interested in and i think that might have answered your question because dan and i were talking and she was wondering you know should i go in you know and she kind of pastors and she's like oh and get a master's degree continue so was that something that yeah it was it was something that i was you know a little confused about because you know coming out here pioneer jobs and it's like oh you need ten years and i'm like ten years experience and and all of this and i'm like well you will where do i start you know i have to start somewhere to get to that ten years so i think that you two made some really good valid points because i know that i have come from a solid background but i guess i'm wondering if i should try and get my foot in a door now or you know should i start looking into grad school we actually can do both but one of the first shows i did when i was in grad school was that katie oh wow there are opportunities so it might take a little more work and this is something you probably learned in school also that there will be people who will say why did you come paying out more and you find that when you have a passion and you actually have a mission and a destiny and in hauling that it might mean that if you are in grad school but you're also doing a show at some times you'll have extra hours where you're doing that work but you can find ways of doing both so i encourage you just like you know sports is your passion to listen to your heart and you will find ways of bringing those things together i'm also an aquarian here like i have a background in theater as well and i wondered how am i going to bring all of these things together but there's something that we see about understanding in talking with people too that ultimately does i what people were doing and there was so much that was done and so now it's important to understand that you can possibly do both but really tune into your heart and what's true for you may decide to work for a little while and then get the training in journalism these days there are opportunities to do a little bit online a little bit hands on and really just put it together in a way that works for your life and i always say go do that so my son has to assume if you're going to do anything do what you would do for free you know sometimes you have to do things for free i mean i had to do things in business and sometimes we're doing things just as a contribution and voluntary and you never know where that water you know it's so that's what i always do everything so if you can't follow your passion and do it for free then don't do it but i got your passion and that makes sense especially telling your children that you know when i went back to school i started back to my bachelor's then i went out to my master's and now i'm in my dr program because i felt like i at the master's degree just wasn't enough anymore but i'm continuing to do the things that i want to do and then far as media is concerned you know i'm going to be working with schools and bring in restored justice and schools so with this platform now i'm able to now tell more people about it some of the awesome things that the people who are behind the scenes what restorative justice are joyous and oakland california i think you may have heard a little bit about that so anyway the media is a platform where you can do a lot of things but at the same time it's occasion as you're doing these things you know just like she said if you can't do it for free then you know then you can also get your education while you're doing that while you're working and that's going to lead into the next question that we have for you our panel today is where do you think the future media is going i mean we have the social networks and we have a lot of things and where is the future and we're talking about tradition to try to more contemporary well i think where he is going is really we are empowered voices and voices of integrity will ring these days with so much reality t v in people fear o feeling that they have to share everything there's been somewhat of a pull back to to say what do we want to do to still communicate from that place of authenticity but then to share in a way that is actually shaping something for while everybody was saying oh you can just do a video put it on you tube and it's fine but you know just like you have the experts here in the studio when you have that dedication and that expertise what you produce is a better product people respond to that differently so i think that there's been an adjustment just like advertisers have said because of social media now people are telling us instead of us pushing things at them in that same way people are saying i have an authentic message and i can tell that with integrity i can tell it with balance i can tell it with passion and i can gather other people who are like minded to share those stories so that's where i think it's going and i think it's important for especially young people coming up to me decisions about who you who you want to be known as a doesn't mean that you're not authentic but everything doesn't have to be shared everything doesn't have to be known in the way that people are doing it now because there are still standards that are great value absolutely in the face your comments actually made me think of when the first time i bit m either but each it seems like it is but i just feel the internet has opened up everything to be more global so i'm traveling to africa and they don't have running water areas but they have a cell phone it is just to let people just  leapfrog into another another century where they were behind before and it made it where everybody has a common ground so they could have a business there it may not have running water but they actually couldn't do business and transactions just because how the media has opened i mean the internet has opened up the world and that's where i think the media is going because now you before if you didn't work in traditional networks the four or five that there were at the time that was it you didn't have any content you didn't have any voice now the cable networks have opened up a whole new world where now our shows can be seen on nontraditional nontraditional networks and get more visibility than you can on the station that shows it at a certain time one time and that's it that's all a writer by nature so i still have to longhand write everything and then type it that's just my process if i don't do it that way i just feel like i'm missing something as i write poems that way everything mommy mommy must yeah i don't use no pairs anymore we do use the i pad where you put your no army i think that there should be ways where people who are just now getting out of college i know that there are like apprenticeships where you know people are just graduating can go ahead and work in you know it's a paper you get real world world experiences i also but i also think that internships or you know different networks or even different little places can open up doors for people like myself so that i can go and i can work and i you know work for free and get that experience that i need and put it on my resume so then if somebody is looking at it and they'll say well hey look she has this she has this on her resume let's go see what she's about because if you only have like two internships you know you have other people who have four to five internships on  resume and they're pulling the old ones so and then another thing that's really hard is once you get out of college is hard to enter because you need the college credit so if there are programs or anything that's open like that just so we can get that get another level internship as part of their curriculum so for four years we participated it had interns and they work with us over the summer and stay with the one she's about to graduate next year we like to believe you're about to graduate from high school it's like i watched her evolve and grow up so definitely that also i've hired people from that have just graduated from college and even got so into social media so i like surround myself with the younger generation cause that's how you can stay ahead of the you know on what's going