Many Blessings. Sonnee Weedn, PhD

L.A. Reed, and Shalamar, to name a few. During this decade, that saw the birth of the music video, there was concern that their recording artists’ themes and concepts portrayed on film (the combinations of imagery with songs) were not impactful enough to compete successfully with well-known white acts. Karolyn convinced Mr. Griffey that she could better present their acts. She went on to produce music videos for all of the Solar Records artists. Her work with Solar resulted in one of their groups, Lakeside, receiving a CEBA award for best video and Shalamar’s, Dead Giveway, which was filmed in London, became an early MTV hit.

      With the rise in her success as a music video producer, Karolyn joined forces with several filmmakers she had employed to direct videos. The team’s independent production company became a powerhouse for music videos, concert films, and commercials. Her clients ranged from Stevie Wonder to Sinbad, from Steele Pulse and Ziggy Marley, to Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach. She produced numerous television commercials, including spots for Cherry Coke, featuring Cameo, and Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign (both CEBA award winners), as well as for the twenty-first anniversary of McDonald’s Big Mac. She produced Stevie Wonder’s concert film, Live at Madison Square Garden, celebrating his twenty-fifth year in show business, and corporate films for Nissan and Peter Ueberroth’s, Rebuild LA.

      Like most successful people, not all of Karolyn’s projects have had the hoped for level of success. For example, the industry considered her debut feature film, Kla$h, a “Jamaican film” and did not recognize it for theatrical distribution in the U.S. It went to DVD distribution and the cable. But, she counts it as a success anyway, in that it brought a great new friend into her life, Jasmine Guy, whom she refers to as “a dear.” Ms. Guy appreciated Karolyn’s person and her skills as a producer. When Tupac Shakur passed away, Jasmine Guy asked her to produce his memorial service in Atlanta. Tupac’s mother, Afeni Shakur, was pleased with the service for her son. Some years later, Jasmine recommended Karolyn to head up Amaru Entertainment, which continued to produce Tupac Shakur’s legacy of artistry.

      The position at Amaru led to Karolyn producing the documentary feature film, Tupac: Resurrection, released by Paramount Pictures for which she received the prestigious Academy Award Nomination. It was a stunning achievement that she says was the culmination of a lot of hard work by a lot of dedicated people.

      Karolyn says that she feels a spiritual connection to Tupac Shakur, though she never met him personally. “I feel hand-picked by him,” she says. Karolyn was also editor of the companion book, Tupac Resurrection 1971–1996 for MTV Books/Atria Books, distributed by Simon & Schuster. In addition she shepherded the production of Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary, written by Jasmine Guy for Atria Books/Simon & Schuster.

      The recipient of numerous honors, Ali has earned the prestigious Lillian Gish Award from Women in Film. She was also selected as the NAACP/Legal Defense Fund’s, AT&T Entrepreneur of the Year.

      Back in 1986, Karolyn joined forces with its Founder/Executive Director Sheila Scott-Wilkinson and became a founding member and board member of Theatre Of Hearts/Youth First. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit that empowers underserved youth and their families through mentoring and instruction in quality, multi-disciplinary fine arts educational workshops has served over 75,000 youth countywide.

      Karolyn seems amazed, herself, at the serendipitous chain of events that have allowed her to fulfill so many of her aspirations. She is clearly as beautiful on the inside as she in on the outside, and exudes kindness, generosity and competence. She has provided inspiration to countless others, not only through her person, but also through the media she has inspired.

      Over the past twenty-five years Karolyn has practiced Buddhism in the Nichren Daishonin tradition. Her chanting practice—“Nam-myo-renge-kyo”—bespeaks a devotion to the universal law of cause and effect through sound. Buddhism aims to prove the true dignity of human life through the individual’s life and his or her actions to help others do the same. It is a means to connect with one’s highest and best self and to manifest that best self in all one’s affairs. This inner journey has fortified her with “preparedness and perseverance,” she says. She emphasizes the need for women to embrace some form of spirituality that grounds them and allows them to love themselves and go forward in the world with confidence.

      Karolyn continues to work in the music and film business that she loves.

Lovie McGee

      “Excellence is the highest form of rebellion.”

      I was shopping in Santa Fe, New Mexico, when I saw a magazine with a picture of Lovie McGee on the cover. She had been named, “Woman of the Year” by the governor of New Mexico, and I picked up the magazine to read about her. I was amazed at all of her accomplishments and especially struck by the fact that she said she certainly liked the financial results of selling an expensive home, but that her real joy came from showing people who never thought they would be able to own a home that they could. She helped them make a long-term plan for home ownership and then followed their progress.

      Lovie was the first woman I interviewed for this book and she was patient with my anxiety and my inexperience. She had some suggestions, which I followed.

      In a meeting with her over a year after that first interview, Lovie instructed me to return to my hotel room and look for the Gideon Bible in the desk drawer. “Look at the passage in Habakkuk, Chapter 2, Verses 2 and 3, then do what it says,” she instructed. Well, I did as I was told. And here is what it said:

      “Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end— it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.”