Designer, Teacher, Trendsetter: Meet Sabrina Thompson
MN: Are you still working with Kuu, your networking company?
ST: In the past I would take the attorneys that were going to be on the TV show [“Court TV”] and bridge them with events throughout the country– rather it was a speaking at Yale or Delta Sigma Theta Sorority needed a keynote speaker. Now, I only do it where it’s a couple events a year and these are events that I create versus providing talents. I can set the deadlines and times however I want to and it’s not going to be solely for attorneys. I’m going to make Kuu maybe two, three events a year where it’s interactive. There will be prizes and games; just a break from the normal routine of life, to have fun.
MN: Give us the background on WEEN? Were you ladies talking over drinks and said, ‘let’s do this.’ Or was it brought to you and you joined the board?
ST: Valeisha and I have been best friends for twenty years. We’re both from the same hometown of Wilson, NC. Valeisha originally had the golden idea.
We created a mission statement and our demographic; we invited the women to see who was on board. And when I tell you we invited 20 women and 120 showed up… it was insane! But they were all 120 power players in music, TV and film. We had to move it upstairs on the rooftop of Valeisha’s apartment. And from there we just flourished.
We don’t judge. Everyone has a back story. You don’t know how she became CEO, we just embrace her making it. We as WEEN are here to give you a hands up rather than a handout. As women we’re so much more than what media puts out for us.
MN: What are some of the projects WEEN does?
ST: We surveyed 100 girls about what they want to be when they grow up. It did not go beyond model, actress, and singer. Like really. [Laugh] We might have had a doctor, but on the side she wanted to be a model. [Laugh] Which is fine, you can do that. But they don’t know that there are a thousand people that are around Beyonce to make her who she is. There’s an agent, there’s a makeup artist and we want to be able to give them their full options.
MN: Do you go out and target young girls?
ST: We eventually want to have a WEEN academy in which we would [help girls], during the summer. I think we’re going to partner with girls in five different cities in 2011 and partner with different high schools where they have a place to come a couple of times a month where we pair WEEN members in these cities with the high school. Whether it’s etiquette classes or how to clean up your resume, being fabulous, or saving your allowance.
But we also target women who are 30 and want a career change. We have workshops for that as well.
MN: Coming from the South, what was the most surprising thing about being a woman in the entertainment industry?
ST: You know, you want to be taken seriously. You want to be taken beyond your looks. And you want to have your work speak for itself. You want respect in the most legitimate way possible. If it takes you a little bit longer because you did it the right way, then that’s fine.
As much as I love this industry and how visible and spontaneous it is, it’s known for being such a grimy industry because people don’t play fair. If you’re not cut from that cloth it will really eat away at you as a human being. I’ve seen people come in one way and go out another. I refuse to do that. I’ll get out of it before I become the person that’s not from North Carolina.
