LIVE NOW w/ Hollywood & Fashion: Identity, Blackness & Belonging!
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What does it mean to know who you are — and build something true from that knowing? In Hollywood and in Fashion?
Join the discussion now at SoulThursdays.com
SEGMENT A — Elsa Mehary
Identity & Ownership: Stop Waiting for Permission
Elsa Mehary was born in Ethiopia, raised in the States, went to Dartmouth, and spent years as an Art Director inside the most powerful media companies in the world — Time Inc., InStyle, Condé Nast, Hearst. She watched gatekeeping happen in real time. She watched Black men get propped into positions that led to Silicon Valley, then go silent under NDAs.
SEGMENT B — Mason Richards
Becoming: From Guyana to Hollywood
Mason Richards was born in Guyana, raised in Brooklyn, and discovered as a child actor at 12. He performed off-Broadway alongside Lauryn Hill and Donald Faison. He dropped out of high school, took his GED and SAT in the same month, and won a Posse Scholarship to Vanderbilt — where he directed the first-ever all-Black theater production in Vanderbilt history after the theater department offered him the role of a servant.
“I’m on this next chapter, where all the stuff that happened before is setting me up for this next thing.”
Two stories. One night. One question:
What does it cost to lose your identity — and what does it take to find it again?
Join us live this Thursday, May 28th at 8 PM Eastern.
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The conversation is real. Bring your questions — we do live Q&A at the end.
Soul Thursdays airs live every Thursday at 8 PM ET at SoulThursdays.com. Five years. Real community. Real conversations.