00:00Hey, you guys, thank you so, so much.
00:05I am so happy to be here to present my friend Ramala
00:10with the much deserved Visionary Award.
00:14I was just so honored when she texted me, hey, girl,
00:18Carrie can't present me anymore.
00:19Can you?
00:22And so here I am, a proud, humble second choice
00:29to Carrie Washington.
00:34I really love Ramala with all of my heart.
00:39I mean that.
00:40This is going to sound really weird,
00:41but I've been a fan of Ramala since I was 12.
00:45I was in middle school, seventh grade to be exact.
00:48And so I would see Ramala and her beautiful black girlfriends
00:51walking around on campus, and they were always clicked up,
00:55rocking the finest of 90s gear.
00:57I'm talking Guess, Tommy, Nautica, just L.A. black girls.
01:05And they were just so cool to me.
01:07And I imagined that I'd grow up to have a clique of girlfriends
01:11just like them, and maybe I'd even be their friend,
01:14like a 12-year-old kicking it with teenagers.
01:16That would be crazy.
01:19Eventually, my mom took me out of Brentwood because, in her words,
01:23it was too far and too white, and then overcorrected by sending me
01:27to high school in Compton.
01:28But luckily...
01:32Luckily, I was reconnected by chance
01:34to the beautiful black girl, Brentwood clique, about 15 years later.
01:38And I was so excited to be reacquainted with them,
01:41even though they did not know me or even remember me at all.
01:45They welcomed me with open arms.
01:48And as I was trying to break into the industry myself via my web series,
01:52I was so impressed by how Romla was able to climb the ranks
01:55from interning and PA-ing to becoming a writer and producer
01:58on one of the most game-changingly inspirational shows, Scandal.
02:02And now, having created her own game-changing, incredible show,
02:08which is multifaceted, unapologetically black,
02:12she is still every bit as generous with that knowledge and encouragement.
02:16Also proudly rooted in her culture,
02:19her love for and support of black women is undeniable,
02:22and so is her determination to showcase us in our totality.
02:26Congratulations on your award.
02:28It's been a pleasure to watch you win,
02:29and I can't wait to see what other brilliance she'll bless us with
02:33during what I know will be a long reign of a career.
