00:00Thank you. Wow. Hi, everybody. I am here because I'm from Jersey.
00:11And Jersey girls never just stay in Jersey, so I had to come represent my fellow Jersey girl,
00:17Perlina Ibokwe. Yes, we are. She's from Montclair, from East Orange, and here we are tonight.
00:30I have had the incredible chance to work with many people throughout my career, many of you even in this
00:38room,
00:39but this woman is exceptional. Her family fled a civil war in Nigeria when she was six,
00:47and now she is one of the most powerful, most effective industry executives. Come on now.
01:01Now she started as an NBC summer associate, and now she is a chairman. Come on now.
01:15The first black woman to head a major TV studio. Come on now.
01:25And that's my Jersey girl, Perlina.
01:31I had the pleasure of working with her on The Equalizer.
01:34And now again on The Voice, which just premiered. You can check it out on NBC and Peacock every Monday.
01:47Go home tonight and watch what happened.
01:52But you can scroll down. Thank you. Thank you.
01:57Keep going a little further. Thank you.
01:59I could not be happier to celebrate this boss of a woman.
02:03She's incredible. I mean, you know her accolades. I don't need to list them. You heard some of them.
02:09But I do want to talk to you about the Perlina I know as a person.
02:13She is unlike any other executive.
02:17In my long career, I don't think anybody got me to say yes as quickly as she did.
02:24My partner, Shaquem, is still scratching his head like, you said yes to what?
02:29She asked me if I wanted to be The Equalizer, and I said yes.
02:34Because it takes an equalizer to know an equalizer.
02:37And that is you, Perlina.
02:40Perlina, she's doing it every day out there for all of us.
02:44She was always reachable.
02:47I could always just pick up the phone and give her a call.
02:50She was always available to talk us through very difficult situations.
02:55Willing to hear new ideas.
02:57Willing to come with brilliant ideas.
02:59Willing to connect us.
03:01Not just her, but her whole team.
03:03Just very inspirational people.
03:06Who were always willing to step up and be in the room and be in the trenches.
03:10She's built that kind of trust.
03:13She's built trust with her talent.
03:15Trust with her producers.
03:17And of course, trust with her executives.
03:19And trust with me.
03:20Because we could just sit on the phone and talk about living single.
03:26And just be human beings.
03:28And in this business that we work in, we face some very, very difficult challenges sometimes.
03:36And it's nice to just get on the phone and talk to another person and feel like you're speaking to
03:42a human on the other line who understands you and you understand them.
03:46They have a family.
03:49They're a mother.
03:50They are a daughter.
03:52They know what it's like to go through changes.
03:55They know what it's like to sing Twinkle Twinkle to their child at night.
04:00Even though 200 people are on the set waiting.
04:03Sorry.
04:06But that's Perlina.
04:07And she manages to look real good doing it.
04:10Look at her.
04:11Look at your girl.
04:13Listen, she's supporting the charity A Better Chance tonight because that group helped her get into a great prep school.
04:22Which inevitably led her to Yale and Columbia and to where she is today.
04:27And she is committed to keep paying it forward and to keep opening doors for others just like she has
04:34done for so many of us in this room, including me.
04:37I have so much respect for this woman.
04:39Please join me in honoring the extraordinary rare pearl, Perlina Bocci.
