I AM Radio: The Remix with Lisa Cunningham

This week, we sit down with Lisa Cunningham, Director of the I AM Docuseries, Professional Storyteller and Digital Content Creator, Activist, and Founder of Take What You Need.

In 30-ish minutes, Lisa shares her story of pivoting - or in her words the REMIX 🎶 - from her successful career in the entertainment industry, directing and producing music videos with the stars, to becoming a digital content and creative director dedicated to advocacy work within health, LGBTQ+ and DEI initiatives.

We laugh about how we all met speaking 🎤 on a panel at Sundance in Utah when we all live just miles apart in Atlanta, GA. And we discuss, how that meeting eventually led us to pitch the I AM Series to Lisa. And with all her superpowers and experience in tow, she excitedly said "yes" and joined as a Director.

Our conversation ends with IMPACT and HOPE. ✨

We touch on Lisa's recent personal project, Take What You Need.  *This is retail therapy in its truest form!* The online brand sport wellness wearables in which your purchase is an investment in a lifestyle that focuses on your well-being and uplifting others. AND speaking uplifting others, Lisa makes a compelling argument for why EVERYONE should come along on the journey of making, watching, and sharing the I AM Docuseries. 🎥

Press play to listen to The Remix with Lisa Cunningham.

Follow along with Lisa:

Lisa Cunningham's Website

Shop: Take What You Need

Support: Black Women's Health Imperative

This is an IT ALL Media Production. If you like what you hear, follow along at ITALLMedia.co and @itallmedia on Instagram and TikTok.

We are a women-centered media company rewriting the narrative on modern womanhood through story and collaboration.

We're glad you're here.

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to I Am Radio. I'm your cohost, Kacie Lett Gordon. And I'm your other- one might say better- half, Katie Louise Mullins. We are the creators of the beloved FIA Podcast and the women behind IT ALL Media. Join us every Thursday for your weekly dose of I AM Radio. We'll be joined by fellow creatives, experts, organizers, powerful women in media, and our favorite of all, real women as we chronicle, our journey as two first time entrepreneurs turned filmmakers. With that, cue the dancing hot dogs and concession ads. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. We are back for another episode of I Am Radio. Katie and I are so thrilled that we get to bring along our collaborators because while Katie, I love sitting and talking to you, people have heard our stories, baby. We got, we got to bring in some other folks. So today we are joined by one of our directors from the I Am docuseries, Lisa Cunningham. Welcome. To I am radio. Hello, ladies and world. I'm just thrilled to be here because anytime I get to see you all, it's a good day. Ditto. Ditto. Lisa, we have been following your work. I think we were introduced to it through Ciera Thompson. I know as she was working on take note, I know you were an advisor. You work with Emily Best with seed and spark. So we had come to know your work, but we hadn't had the chance to actually meet you until despite. both of us being in Atlanta, literally down the street from each other, going all the way across the country to park city. So we were on the same panel at Sundance at the seed and spark innovators house. And in hearing you tell your story, your presence. And I love the fact that our topic was failure as creative fuel. Like that really takes the pressure. Off of things. I always laugh because I never thought that we would be the first call when it was like, Hey, we need some experts on failure and I was like, perfect, great, good to be known for that. Where do I sign? Let's go. So here's Lisa sitting right next to us on this. It was such a, I don't know, it just seems so full circle ish to talk about failures as it related to all of our, our lives and how we're still standing, we're still thriving. And so all of these catchphrases that everybody's using, you know. Fail forward and things like that. I, I think that they still actually have some, some real meaning for people like us, because I think that is the only way we've gotten through it all, right. Is that we chose not to give up. We chose to say, fuck it all. And in my case I chose to remix everything, so yeah, failure is a big part of this journey. Remix. I love that. Yeah, I want to hear about your remix. So you started your career. I mean, you're an incredible storyteller and have been doing this throughout your career in a lot of facets, but you started your career in music. And so much of your work now, while I'm sure music still has a large part, because I feel like if that's part of your soul, it's part of your soul. But so much of your work now sits in activism space and telling stories to create change. Talk about that transition and where your career started versus the work you do now. And maybe we sprinkle in a little failure moments along the way, because, you know, why not? So imagine this kid from Atlanta, Georgia, in the heyday of kind of this, like, Urban, exciting music industry, hip hop meets R& B, you know, names like Jermaine Dupri, LaFace Records, all of that stuff. Atlanta was like this melting pot. I mean it was such an exciting time. And I was a young person, in my late teens, early twenties. And I got introduced to this world of music videos and back then, we all know music videos were like whole movies. All right. we had music video budgets that were the budget of like, my first documentary, you know, and those were small budgets, you know? And I think that. Through those projects, those mini movies, those, I mean, I got so many reps. I lost count is over like 1500 music videos. Can you believe that? That's insanity. I mean, working with everybody from a Gladys Knight to a. To, Missy Elliott, to, to, one of my favorites, Rascal Flatts, yes. I didn't see that coming as we were on the hip hop R& B train. That's what I'm saying. It took me in a lot of different ways. And I just think that. While I enjoyed all those years, right? Family that was always rooted in a lot of different things. You know, mom was a housewife, but she was an activist. She was constantly doing all of these things on the back end. From being, at the local Y to, to being a part of things like metro fair housing, where in the sixties, she would take me and pretend with another man that she was married to this man. And they would try to see if they could rent or buy homes. In certain areas and, this is what I grew up seeing. And so that stuff was always in me. God, the money and the sizzle of the entertainment industry took me away for so many years. And so when I returned to my roots. I, I always joke and say it's like the prodigal son slash daughter, return home. And I'm so glad I did. I really am so glad that, as you get to a certain age, I'm 54 now I'm 54. And when you get to a certain age about, I don't know when it actually happened, it might've been about six or seven years ago where I literally was like Moses going to the mountain. I'm like, wait a minute, what does this all mean? How can I make sense of what is my legacy going to be? And when I realized that I didn't have to stop being a storyteller, right. And I could tell these stories for good, holy crap, that's it. It literally changed everything. And I call it the remix because I came from the entertainment industry. And I had so much fear, there was so much fear of how do I transition? How do I walk into a room with non profit folks, corporate folks, different people that have been in activism for all of these years? Are they going to snub me? And when I decided, and this is the thing for people to understand, is that when I decided that I was good enough to be in that space, When I decided to accept myself for who I am in all versions of myself, right? With this masculine presenting woman, there was an incident. I won't call it an incident. It was an experience that I had. It was so powerful and life changing for me. It was like one of my first gigs where I got to work with one of our heritage black newspapers in Atlanta was celebrating 40 years, or 50 years of, of, being black. A newspaper and they tasked me with doing a video to celebrate and, there was going to be a gala with the mayor at it and, and I said, Oh, my God, I don't want to go to this gala because I had never dressed up it with with more masculine presenting. Like with a suit on, a tux, I had never done that. I was terrified. I sat in my car. Didn't want to get out the car. I'm the lead video. I didn't want to get out the car because I was terrified. I get to the door. They had already played my video. People had literally been moved to tears by my storytelling, right? And I said to myself as I was walking through, I was loosening up a bit because people had found out, Oh, you know, and the husband of the, editor of the newspaper came up to me, older gentlemen, and he said, first of all, I want to know, how do you identify what, so that was bizarre coming from a man that was probably 60 something. I said, I'm she, her, and so he said, well, girlfriend, you did your thing with that video. That moment single handedly, I think it, it took something away from me. I will never forget it. It gets, I get chills thinking about it, because I showed up and I've been showing up every day since then, knowing that I am enough. I can show up authentically as myself and I am here to help people tell their stories and so that we can have all of this change. So, so that was kind of like the first portion of how this thing all started. And then I got into, you know, all of the work after that, but that was it. You got to accept yourself first. in order to be, I think, to take yourself to that next. And that was the remix for me. I had to understand that, you know, in a remix of a song, right? You may have to speed things up, you may have to slow them down, and you also may have to collaborate with others that you haven't collaborated with before. There's something there. So we just, A couple episodes back, we're speaking with Ciera Thompson and, Ciera's one of the producers on I Am docuseries. We've collaborated with her. I think you have too. And we were talking about this experience when we were at Sundance where she had written the script, but it hadn't been like wildly accepted. There was some rejection. There was some criticism. But when we showed up in that environment, similar to how you showed up in, in that, impact environment, she was bold enough to call herself what she was, which was a writer and a filmmaker. She didn't say, I'm trying to figure it out. She didn't play it small. She said what she was. And even if she said it and maybe on the inside felt like, holy shit, am I all of those things? But then the way that the environment around her accepted that as truth. And so for you to come in similarly, you might've said, are they going to reject me? I have fear, but I'm going to call myself what I am. I'm a great storyteller and I have something to say in these spaces and I'm going to bring all of these experiences. And I think that's what Katie and I over the past, you know, call it. really year because we're coming up on a year since the concept of the series came to us is that we started initially, caveating all our intros with, we've not been here before or, you know, and then we finally said, and I think it was people like you, it was people like Ky, it was people that said like, no, you are that. And being able to. Reflect that back. And now you watch the difference in that. And that's just like anyone that's listening. It's like, if you want to be something, start calling yourself what you are, because there's so much power in that. And it's not, if I wrote about this more, it's not fake it till you make it. It's instead like, I'm going to bet on myself. And it will be mirrored back. And just because you're moving into something that might feel new, quote unquote, to you, you have all of your experience from everything that you've been doing, and that carries with you. so you might not know the vocabulary of this new industry, but it doesn't mean that you don't understand it. And, Lisa, just to build on what Kacie said. people seeing us like within our community, I know when we sat on that panel at, Sundance, you said to us afterward, you two are a dynamic duo. And I think hearing that from someone who's so experienced that we respect so much was. So empowering in that moment. And then again, when I know we, we spoke to you to pitch the docu series, and I loved your reaction where you're like, I'm so much more interested now that I'm learning what this is all about. This really resonates with my ethos and who I am. And you read our treatment and you're like, you all are filmmakers. And I think hearing that from you just gave us. The courage to start calling ourselves what we are. I think through this experience, we've made ourselves small sometimes, and then we've learned and will continue to learn. But it's, it's definitely a journey of stepping into your power and calling upon all of those resources, but not just that, your community. I love this, um, Ava DuVernay has a masterclass. And in her master class, she's talking about making her movie origin that, I suggest everyone go see, but she was talking about her director style and how everybody thinks she's this brilliant director. And of course, I believe she is, but that she surrounds herself with people. So once you dip into that space, look at what you've done, you've corralled folks like me. Like Ky Dickens, like Ciera, you're corralling yourself with folks who do know, right? And so you're able to be great at what you're great at. And then we're able to bring out, the different aspects that you all may not be a seasoned to know. and so Ava was talking about this moment where the choreographer for a scene where she was reenacting this moment from, Nazi Germany. And it was so powerful. And the choreographer who was kind of. helping with this dance scene, he suggested the camera angle for this scene based on and she actually listened and you know, that's what being, a great storyteller for me is it is first of all, walking in honesty, and, and, and, and the way that you all, Showed up with us and, with all of your ideas for the series, you all are making sure that we are hearing from certain voices, that we're hearing from. Everyone's voice that needs to be, a part of this conversation. And then, like I said, on the back end, you're making sure that this thing is just going to be pure magic so I'm just looking so forward to that. We are too. We are too. I think that, you know, there's something that we also, and I think this is true. I feel this in like the creative space. As we've started to get into more film, but there also has to be just the creative, energetic alignment. And that's something that we've started to just pay attention to so much of like, you meet people whose resumes are, Incredible, right? Make you stop. But then, and you want to, to Katie's point earlier, make yourself small or say, Oh, okay. They, they know better, but we've paid attention a lot to energetically, how do we feel leaving those interactions? And how does the other person feel? Do they feel bigger and bolder? Do they feel more in their power? Are they trying to lift us up? Are they trying to make us small? And we've seen all of those things. We've started to learn and trust our intuition and the energy around these creative collaborators because you're in the freaking trenches. Like this is not sitting up on the top that comes eventually, but it. In the building like you're in the shit of it. So you need people that make you feel safe and good and secure enough to say when it's good or bad or hard or you want to quit and so that's something as well that I love what you were saying about Ava DuVernay because I think that there's something that comes with it doesn't all have to be me. But I'm also going to trust how I energetically feel. I think too, Kacie, one of the things that we walked away from Sundance with after connecting with a creative community for the first time, Atlanta's creative community is a little bit underground in a lot of ways, and it's a very tech heavy community here, And so we took away this pitch don't prove. and when we pitched our idea or talked to people, we were looking for people who were both interesting and interested in what we had to say. And I feel like even in friendships sometimes, if you feel like you're having to prove yourself in whatever capacity and speaking your truth out loud, and then you're, I mean, you can tell, you can feel, you start to get uncomfortable when you're like, Oh, but it's this. And it's also this. And if you have to. So I'm gonna, I'm gonna explain it that deeply then you are not energetically or creatively connecting on the level that you need to be to, have the support to move forward. And I think Kacie and I have recognized that and in speaking with you Lisa of the first time it was an immediate like you knew you understood this it resonated with you and you were like yes I know this story I am this story, this is my story. I can step in and, and make this the reality that you guys want it to be. And I think, again, reminding ourselves that if we find ourselves proving instead of just pitching, it ain't it. I want to talk about some of the activism work you do, because I know a lot of it is with impact organizations, nonprofits, but you also do a lot in the corporate space. And we were talking before I hit. Play. I spent 10 years in corporate innovation and every company out there wants to put on their headline. We're an innovative company that believes in diversity. And I find those two words to be some of the most bastardized in corporate America because they are saying it for the accolade, but the doing of the work is actually so freaking hard. And so being able to bring storytelling into a world, whether it's corporate or, I think impact gets it more, but how you've transitioned all of your skill sets from the entertainment space, which really values story, right? They get it. You're talking to people who are speaking the same language, but taking it into spaces that, right. They want to know the PNL. They want to know the bottom line. And a lot of times, these things have reverberations over time and there's consistency built in. And so I would love to hear about specifically the lanes you play in around your storytelling and activism work. and how you get some of these stuck in their ways, terrified to do the wrong thing, terrified to learn in public, organizations to go on that journey with you. What's interesting is that when I moved into the branded content space, which is what you're talking about, what we end up able to do. Is that if you're on the commercial side, right, you're selling their product. And so that's totally different. You, you, you have to, boy, do you have to consider so many other things over in the commercial space land? However, when you go to the branded content land, the companies that I like to deal with. Our companies, you know, who understand they're not the teller of that story. So when they bring us in, they typically will bring in a multicultural agency that is, you know, a lot of times led by a person of color or a woman, whatever the case, the scenario is. for the target audience for that, and then they are, I won't say hands off, you know, so that I, I would be lying if I keep it real, but what they do allow for, is they allow for you to tell, I remember this project I did with, Rashaan Ali here locally, with McDonald's and it was for HBCUs and she was kind of telling her HBCU and if you don't know what HBCU is, it's a historically black woman. College or university. Right. And so she was telling her authentic story. and why it mattered to her that she went to an HBCU. Well, McDonald's can't do anything with that. They can't tamper with Rashad story. We could take a couple of things out. But it's, it's, it's her story. And so that's why I love being in that space so much because rarely do I ever walk away and go, Oh boy, you know, they really twisted that up, because they typically don't. I directed a spot for Ford Bronco with four, outdoor black women's wellness organization. And they were all so bad ass and we're out there hiking and biking and yes, the Broncos fort came along for the ride. There are stories about how they started their organizations, why they started, why they wanted black women to get out there into the outdoors and to think that at someone else's expense. Cause I want to tell that story, right? Yes. So, but at Ford's expense, I get to tell that story. So that's why for me, it's been a, it's been a great marriage. it really quite frankly is, and I get, all of the reasons why other people think that it's selling out and it's this, but for me, I never forget seeing Lena Waithe on the screen accepting an Emmy, I cried real tears like I knew that woman because I couldn't imagine at 54 her 30 something, but on that screen as a queer lesbian, whatever she identifies as. And I just sobbed like a baby because representation truly does matter. And her stories have been amazing that she's been able to tell as she keeps elevating. Yeah. I mean, there's, there's so much opportunity, in making sure that folks are seen. And so any, if a corporation is going to give me money to make sure that my community is still seen and then we haven't even gotten into the piece where they help us to, tackle health disparities and things like that, which is my real jam. Oh my gosh. Feel like I'm literally saving people's lives when I'm working with a Mary J. Blige to tell women about breast cancer, when I'm working with Ciara to talk about cervical health. Come on. It's a win win. Yes, they were all funded by a big, medical company. But I'll take it if it's saving some people's lives. There's something there, Katie and I have been talking about this a lot, there are two women that are close to us, entrepreneurs, and there's a book, Who Not How, and they've been really giving us that mantra of like, when it comes to doing something. You don't need to worry about the how you need to think about who can help you get there. And what I love of what you said, because so often in the creative community, your point there's, oh, you sold out, but you're bigger. Why is I want to create change on the biggest stages available. And so if it's Ford or an artist that is going to give me that and they're going to provide the mechanism, the dollars, because this is the world we live in, right? Like we live in a capitalistic society where you need dollars in order to get eyeballs. I'm going to do that. I'm going to bring my gifts to the circles that already exist. And I'm going to allow my, my bigger why to come to life in whatever way that means there's something I find really freeing when you can get to that place, and that's why I always joke with people. I'm always like, well, you got to have Malcolms and you got to have Martins so I get it. I'm, you know, I'm probably the Martin in this situation. And, so that's what I build on because I can't, what was that phrase he said? You know, he leads with love or something because hate is just too, too heavy for him to carry every day. So I can't carry around all of that. I have buddies that are activists that wake up every morning angry as hell. And I get that. And I know why they are. And I hold. space for them, but that's just not the space I live in. And we can all meet together and we're all working towards some common goals. Yeah. I do want to give shameless and thrilling plug to your. Personal new venture of take what you need because you mentioned your work, especially around black women's health and this idea. You said you launched it on your birthday. You said like gift to myself. I'm going to do something. I want to tell our audiences about how you're branching into another element of storytelling and impact through this new venture. You know, it's so crazy. I thought of this. this concept, and my, partner was like, Oh my God, that's so radical. And I said, why would, why is that? Health is my birthright. When I said that to her, she, she was like, Whoa, that seems radical. And the fact that that seems radical is sad to me. That's sad that somebody may even take objection to me saying I deserve joy, happiness, peace and health. I deserve that is that is a part of what each of us inherently should have. And I think that Because of all of the things at play from corporations and what have you, they have manipulated our environment to take our focus off of our health. Right. And so I want to just reclaim my health. it's just that simple. And so all of the platform is kind of mind, body and soul. And how can I help people through getting folks together? Let's talk about these issues. Let's do some storytelling. let's film these things. So sometimes they're small, intimate dinners, And sometimes they're large gatherings. I'm getting ready to do a big one with AARP about caring for our aging loved ones. Hello. Nobody gets, it's like menopause. I'm dealing with our, our, our senior elders. Nobody gave us a book. Nobody, everybody, you probably have what to expect when expecting. Okay. There's a million books on that, but nobody told us about our parents getting older. I want us to just age better, to be healthier. There's this concept of lifespan, which we're all aware of. That's basically how long do we live on this earth? And then there's health span. If mama started to be sick at 65 and she, she left here at 80. And those 15 years were, were not so great. Well, what was her health span like? And is that what we really want for ourselves? So that's my mission. I'm preaching that gospel to anybody who will listen. I appreciate your storytelling about that. We actually met, Kamili Wilson, who is from Menopause Made Modern, but she works for AARP. And, she really, like, had this quote that kind of stopped me in my tracks, and it's, we can't manage what we can't talk about. And yeah, all around healthcare, truly, and all of these issues that you're talking about that we have no education around and most of our healthcare OBGYNs weren't even, you know, trained in menopause. And so, just these major issues that are coming up. No, that's a huge fact. Anyway, I think it's something like sub 30 percent actually get menopause of obese, get menopause training and residency, but yet a hundred percent of women that live their entire lives or individuals that have cycles live their entire lives will experience. So that in itself feels a little alarming, whereas a much smaller percentage will actually procreate or leverage their reproductive system to give life. So that what, what, what does that tell us about our systems that we only value women From a standpoint of procreation. Exactly. You're done. Okay, we're good. We're going to talk about that on the docuseries. Yes, we are. And that's why I loved it so much because when you all came to me with that amazing deck, breaking down all of those amazing episodes. And I want everybody to know this came from these women. they just masterfully conceived of a show that I want to watch, that I want to experience just as a, as a person. So that's why I got, I was like, Oh, if I can help direct this thing that I would want to watch, sign me up. But all of these subject matters, from, you know, our reproductive rights. to money, all of these different, these subject matters, we got to talk about more. We got to, you know, just be honest with ourselves. And to your point, and something that's not episodically called out, but it underpins every single aspect of these episodes is health. Because to your point, it is a birthright. And when we, you know, everything from mental, spiritual, physical wellbeing, and something that I really. love about your approach to activism and creating change. And I think Katie and I share a similar ethos is how do you do it sustainably? How do you do it in a way that I can continue to show up every day and bring my gifts to the table? And to your point, we need those individuals that get angry, that get upset, that take action, that channel into those feelings because they're so rightful. I personally have had to work on what are those sustainable practices and just as you're talking about from a health perspective, when I think about how do I, how do I sustainably create change? It's what are the practices that I need in place in order to be well there? And that to me will underpin the entire series. It will make you feel riled up and pissed off, but it will also make you feel, It's okay to show up with what you have each day and continue to chip forward because we need a collective showing up, not one individual going to an extreme as the only mechanism for change. Absolutely. Absolutely. I saw this thing that said. If you gave 40 percent today, you gave 100%. That blew my mind. Because that's so true. We have to give ourselves the grace to show up however we can. And so I'm thinking about this docuseries and I'm thinking about that ripple effect, right? And how we're going to make such a huge impact with the ripple effect to action. I speak for, I think both of us, Katie, when I say I am so grateful that you are in our lives. I'm so grateful that we had to go to Park City to find you despite you being down the street. And I'm so grateful that you continue to show up every day and walk with us. Thank you. You all can call me anytime. Careful what you wish for. That's another wrap on I am radio. Lisa, we are so thrilled you were here with us this week. Lisa Cunningham, she is not only one of our directors for the I am docu series, but an incredible storyteller content creator. We're going to drop all her links as well as take what you need because, it's a place where you can take what you need.