Brooklyn native Lore’l, a radio personality and member of the “Listen to Black Women” ensemble, discusses the power, importance and the overall necessity of the voices of Black women in 2024
I’m so excited to talk to you today. What inspired your decision to be a part of Listen to Black Women this season?
I was super excited to be joining Listen to Black Women. I actually did last season as well and I learned so much and knew that this was a show that needed to be just seen a little in a larger capacity. I’m so glad that we were able to do it this season in front of a studio audience, and to get a lot more people involved, like Ebony K. Williams, Melissa Ford, and Naturi Naughton, to bring more people into the conversation.
We have spaces and a lot of platforms, that it’s always very messy and it doesn’t really add to our way of life, our way of thinking. It’s just like a lot of gossipy things out there and I wanted something real, that was raw, and that spoke our truth and our stories. I just felt like this, the conversations that we’re having on Listen to Black Women are extremely necessary… So once I saw the concept of the show and everything, I was totally sold and knew that I could bring like something a little different to it and that’s what we have been able to do. We’ve been raising conversations and we’ve been getting people to really talk and pay attention to what’s necessary for Black women.
And you know, me being a fairer-skinned Black woman, that’s also a conversation that’s important to us too, and something that we will be visiting next season. But it’s a conversation that we’ve always had or things that Black women go through that we can relate to. Only when we talk about it, sometimes people are like, oh, you’re complaining, this, that, and the third. And it’s like, no, we can talk about our lives, our differences, our similarities without having to be looked at as nagging or complaining. It’s definitely a narrative that needs to be changed, and Listen to Black Women is here to do that. I’m so happy to be a part of the show, and Black.
Well, I definitely appreciate the show. I love the content. I love the fact that it’s not messy. It’s very positive, and it’s very enlightening as far as the broad range of opinions and people from different backgrounds. I love that.
I think it’s something that the culture definitely needs. Yeah. And I love the reaction we get from everyone because everyone is not going to agree. Just because we’re all Black women, it’s not like we all feel the same. No, it’s so many different walks of life and so many, so many different kinds of people we are. And I love that we can sit down and discuss that. I love it.
I love the cast. I love the way you guys engage with each other. Even when you disagree, it’s done in a very respectful way.
Exactly. You don’t have to be disrespectful. That’s the problem. I see a lot of shows where it always has to be very combative, and they start to get nasty and offend each other. That’s unnecessary. This is just something that we need to sit down and understand each other.
Did having a live audience make a difference in the discussions?
Oh, my God, the energy from the audience just did something different. And when I tell you like there were moments when I looked out at the crowd and people were crying when we were crying, people were falling out of their seats laughing. There’s one episode where we open up about our fathers and the impact that they’ve had on our lives. And surprisingly, me—I am pretty tough on the outside—but I actually broke down during that episode, and the tears were flowing. And when I looked out, I felt good because at first you do feel a little weak and exposed. Not only am I telling my innermost personal stories, but then, you know, to be vulnerable and break down around that was a little difficult for me because that’s something that I don’t tend to do. But then when I looked out into the audience and I saw others crying, it just made me feel like I had a support system. It made me feel like I wasn’t the only one. And even if I was, they could relate to me on a note where it actually hit home for them as well.
Now, you just described the atmosphere and the energy experience on this live set. Since it’s Women’s History Month, what are your thoughts on how far women have come?
Oh, my God, it’s so crazy because I even chose the company that I work for because it’s run by a Black woman, and that’s Miss Kathy Hughes. And she has been an inspiration to me, which is so crazy because I never even thought that I would be doing radio and media. I was in music my entire life. And once I started getting more into the podcasting side of things and I learned more about Miss Kathy Hughes and other women like her that have been breaking the doors down for women, Black women especially like me to get in the door, it just made me feel like a great sense of pride. And knowing that I have to keep up with the same… If this is the greatness that I’m working under, I want to be as great as I can be as a woman in this industry. And it’s not easy. We know that. And we’ve really been changing the face of what people think about women in general. It has always been the woman needs to be in the kitchen or taking care of the kids. And it’s like, no, we are bosses. Yes, we are mothers. Yes, we are sisters. Yes, we are daughters. But we are also CEOs. We are presidents. We are vice presidents. We run things. And we are seeing that more and more every day. I think to even see women leading shows back in the day was damn near impossible.
How did you feel about men being a part of season four?
I love that we have the men on the show. I love that you’ll see when Listen to Black Men comes back; I crashed their set as well. I think that it is necessary that we talk to each other. And when it comes to the co-parenting episode, the reason why they were so necessary is obviously a lot of times we’re co-parenting with them. So, to have their opinions aligned with ours means a lot. To be honest, even though women are usually right, sometimes the little 1% of times when we’re not, we need someone to explain what we’re doing wrong so we can see it and do our part to fix things. So having the men be a part of the conversation, allowed them to share things that I didn’t even consider or think about, even when it comes to children… And that’s why it’s necessary we talk to each other instead of at each other.
Why is it so important to listen to Black women, especially in 2024?
Well, if you do look and do the research, the Black women are the ones that are opening the businesses. We are the ones who are going out and voting and making a difference in the world. We always have been doing this, but now we are getting recognition for being the group that is moving things forward and changing the world… And look, either you can pay attention to what we have to say or you can miss it and you’ll be left behind in the dirt… There was a comment I heard from a man who is in media and he talked about this show and I was disgusted because he didn’t even listen, you could tell… Just based off the title and he’s like, oh, no one wants to listen to that. And I’m like, that’s so funny because he’s going to eat those words. That person is Joe Budden. I want to make it clear. I feel like he’s very misogynistic when it comes to women and things like that. But obviously, he is the person that I feel like this show is for the most…
How do you handle race and gender in your work and advocacy?
One thing about me, I’m a proud Black woman and I make that clear all the time. Maybe to the point where people are like, “Okay, Lore’l, you’re Black.” But it’s like, well, what’s the problem? I’m proud of who I am as a Black woman in general, and I will say it as many times, make it clear, and speak up for my people as much as I can whenever. I have a morning show that I do every weekday morning, and I make sure that we’re raising all the issues that have to do with us as Black women, and it’s always, literally. I’m always going to be positively pushing the ball forward for us, no matter what.
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