Four Faith-Based Women Team Up to Revolutionize the Modern Talk Show
For the last holiday season of the decade, AT&T partnered with Dream In Black to bring a refreshing and tasteful reality-styled talk show, Chatter, to your television screen.
Real Talk Kim, Monique Idlett Mosley, Dr. DeeDee Freeman and Dr. Jewel Tankard- all inspiring, all successful, all unique, all women are featured on this show for real conversation with conflict and to dynamically change the game in discussing and dealing with real life situations.
Chatter, produced by Releve’ Entertainment premiered on Sunday, December 15, 2019 on TVone.
Known for their work as the creator and Executive Producer of the hit series Preachers of LA, Relevé Entertainment introduced “Chatter” to ring in the holiday spirit. “Chatter” is a talk show that’s a little different, a little unscripted, and a little unorthodox. | The Garner Circle PR
I along with other media outlets, including Sheen Magazine were offered a grand opportunity, led by The Garner Circle PR’s Dr. Nicole Garner Scott, to interview the women prior to the premier of the show.
Before we dive into the meat of this show, here’s a little about each fabulous woman you need to know…
Real Talk Kim
Real Talk Kim is a pastor, best-selling author and human rights activist. (The Garner Circle PR)
I am Real Talk Kim, a social media person. God just favors me. I pastor a church. My Daddy and Momma passed it down to me four years ago. I never in a million years thought I would pastor. I thought I would tear a church up, trying to pastor. LOL But, it’s doing really great. I am an author of four books. My publisher is Charisma, which is shocking within itself, because I was in special Ed my whole life. I know that shocks you DeeDee! LOL I was in Special Ed my whole life. I did not get hooked on phonics and here God is blessing me! I’m a mother of two incredible kids, Morgan Scotland, 25 and Lincoln Presley, 24. I just finished a book called, Shut the Hell Up. I’m an advocate for Rock, Paper, Scissors, which is abuse and sexual battery. I was married to a preacher’s kid for 17 years and just behind the scenes things were not good… toxic. That’s kind of my message. Just loving people back to life and being a hope dealer wherever I go. Just showing people that man… you can lose everything, be working at Bloomingdale’s, six years ago, making $9.50 an hour and get your life right. It doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done in life, God has got redemption plans that’s going to blow your mind! You just need to get up and get well and it’s in us to get well – to get un-bitter, to get un-mad. That’s my message. My favorite hobby on the planet is loving the Hell out of people.
Monique Idlett Mosley
Monique is the ex-wife of super producer Timbaland, a successful tech investor and entrepreneur. (The Garner Circle PR)
I’ve been an entrepreneur for over 20 years. My ex-husband and I, Timberland, we built a music label and publishing company together. We also served as executive producers on the show Empire. I am now the founder of a large tech fund that invests in seed stage for our community of Black Founders and Women of Color. I’m a mother. I am woman of faith and more importantly, I believe in women coming together to change this narrative of what we represent, who we are, and how we use our voice.
Dr. DeeDee Freeman
Dr. DeeDee is a wife and mother with a doctorate in Strategic Leadership. (The Garner Circle PR)
I just graduated from Region University with my Doctorate in Strategic Leadership. I am married to an amazing man, Pastor Michael Freeman. He’s been pasturing in ministry for over 26 years now. So, I’ve been in the people business for a long time. I run an amazing women’s conference, God… Girls where we have 5 to 10 thousand ladies to come out every 2 years. I also am the Founder and Director of The House of Hope, which is a transitional home for battered women and children. We’re in the process of building. We already have the property and already involved in the work. I am a grandmother of 6 and I have 3 children. I am an author. I was nominated for a Grammy on a song, which I cannot sing, nor can I typically write, but God gave me a song that was on an album that is being nominated. And then I’m connected to these amazing women that’s on this call right now.
Dr. Jewel Tankard
Jewel is the wife of Gospel Jazz sensation, Ben Tankard and founder of the Millionairess Club (The Garner Circle PR)
I am married to an amazing man that I am so proud of. We just found out yesterday that he was nominated for another Stella Award, Ben Tankard. We’ve had a successful reality show about our family and basically how we have a blended family, how we blended it together and how we are pretty authentic and transparent about some of the issues that people deal with, just in families period – whether biological or blended. I’m also the CEO and Founder of the Millionaires Club. I started that club several years ago. It’s an online platform where I meet with women from all over the world, in 12 different countries about how to develop short-term and long-term wealth strategies, because I believe women in particularly should start trusting their own financial instincts. I’ve known so many stories of women who’ve been left in bad economic places because they really didn’t understand what was happening with the money. They didn’t want to understand what was happening with the money, but they need to understand what is happening with the money because it literally impacts every area of your life.
While united in the faith-based front, each woman definitely bring something different, saucy and very real to the table. In developing the groundwork for this show, the women wanted to be sure their message of hope and unity among women would be the main focus.
Dr. DeeDee shared that at a recent conference, there was a vibe to bring together a diverse group of women with different voices and perspectives and opinions to mainstream.
As something a bit different than what is seen on other talk or reality shows, each woman shares their thoughts on just how revolutionary Chatter is.
DR. DEEDEE FREEMAN
For me, redefining the talk shows, being women of faith and not being ashamed to talk about our faith, it’s not like ‘giving honor to God, who’s the head of our life…’ and then that’s the end of it. No, we have real relationships with the Father and we genuinely love each other. You’re not going to have the drama, talk show, reality feel. So for me, I think it’s going to change the whole dynamics of it. It’s going to be something that’s refreshing. When you have women who are really about one another, who will have each other’s back and not be there to tear each other down. We’re not interested in destroying relationships but building relationships. A lot of the shows now are – well you have some that may deal with tough topics, but don’t know how really to debate it in love and still honor and respect each other’s perspective. I really believe it’s a God move.
I was talking to Jewel and I think Kanye West is opening up a door for believers, which they have never been able to go in before and the church had become so judgmental of him because he hadn’t done it the church’s way. But now God is doing something unorthodox. He’s taking the believer out of the church, doing it the typical way, and taking them into the world to use their voice.
REAL TALK KIM
I think the one thing the world is so inquisitive about is that the world is everybody’s looking for that one thing. That one thing that’s going to fill the void. That one thing that’s going to bring a transformation. When she said that about Kanye, it just resonated. What’s Chatter going to be that’s different from the other lady talk shows. Everything that comes out of our mouth is hope related. We are talking the worst-case scenarios in life that each one of us has gone through. You can just look at our lives and look at the passion that comes out of us just because we’ve made it through some stuff that would have normally taken people out. You can’t fake that. You can’t go to acting school for it. It’s just something that experience has formulated inside of us. We all are from the inside out, just so transparent. We are dealing hope and if one person can find hope in their situation, I believe this is going to be that show that let’s them see the power of Jesus.
DR. JEWEL TANKARD
I also think the vulnerability. A lot of times people feel like, ‘oh so do I have to be perfect,’ or ‘can I make mistakes.’ I think the biggest thing they will see is that the hope is there. Just a level of authenticity. This is going to be the show that doesn’t just talk about other people. This is going to be the show that talk about the adjustments that I had to make as a mother or the adjustments that I had to make as a wife, or as a businesswoman and I became greater and stronger for it. So people don’t just grow from your strengths, they grow from your weakest moments. They will have an opportunity to dive in and go into areas of vulnerability that maybe traditionally you haven’t really seen.
MONIQUE IDLETT MOSLEY
I believe that Chatter is necessary as women and as women of faith who all have different stories, but we all have a different voice and we also represent a different voice. Bringing in a positive perspective, a collective group of women and changing the narrative of how even people perceive that women communicate and collaborate together was really, really important for us. It’s very different because it is a faith-based group of women, even though we are collectively different, we are all grounded on the solid foundation of faith.
When I think of Chatter and why it was so important to me was, Chatter to me, equals disruption of all of the narratives that people believe they have to tell on talk show format. Taking four ladies of different backgrounds, different experiences, who are all faith-based and making it our accountability to disrupt this narrative of what it looks like when women go through things and are growing and building and becoming more wise. We have to redefine what a rock-star looks like to our people and to women. It’s important for us to show that there can be diversity in faith-based women, however, we can use our voices collectively to discuss real issues, by real women, with real solutions.
When Jewel was asked about the highlights of the series and what viewers will experience, the show is centered around various challenges during the holidays and how to deal with them.
It was a lot of fun and I think it was like what DeeDee said a minute ago, you’ve got like these different perspectives of women. We kind of all have like the same kind of core values, but we definitely have differences of opinions and then we’re also going to be discussing like relevant, real, practical topics that people really deal with. Like all kinds of stuff we’ve dealt with. Like how do you deal with somebody coming to your house for the holiday and that wasn’t invited? Would you have alcohol at your event? A lot of people have alcohol and we kind of discuss why would or why we wouldn’t. I think it was a great conversation because everybody’s perspective is different. If you grew up with an alcoholic then you might be a little bit more prone not to. If you didn’t grow up with that, then you might not see a problem with it so you have an opportunity to flush out a lot of things that people deal with especially during the holiday season.
Keeping in mind that all four women are strong intellectuals all confident in their relationships, businesses, and themselves – you may think oh there has to be some drama somewhere. But, Real Talk Kim holds strong that Chatter is not about drama. Chatter is about four strong women not afraid to be open about their diverse perspectives.
I’ma tell you… I love, love, love. It is so hard to get women who aren’t catty, especially at this level. All of these women have great success. They stand on their own legs. They don’t really need anybody else. They’re really showing you what it’s like to own the world… still be femine. They show us what it’s like to conquer Hell in high-heels. These women are freaking phenomenal. You know they got your back and you feel it! I know Dr. Dee Dee, because I had to speak at her conferences and she is all that! Then I got to meet Jewel and Holly and Monique and mannnn talking about instant connection… instant love! I know if I were to go to jail, they would come bail me out. That is the kind of friendship we have built together. That’s why our show it came together so beautifully. You can feel the energy and that we really like each other. We didn’t have to worry about the flow or if it will come together. So this show is going to show what it’s like behind a tribe that is brilliant, healthy and presidents of each other’s fan club. That’s how we came together. I get to rock like with three amazing human beings! LOL!
In a nutshell, Chatter is considered to be quite unorthodox. Dr. DeeDee even says it’s a “demonstration of His love.”
We are faith-based, we’re going into the secular arena talking about Jesus. It’s like we are a demonstration of His love, His grace and His giving in this Earth. Everybody needs love. Everybody needs hope. Everybody needs some encouragement. We’re going to live our lives to just demonstrate the love of God without being judgmental, without being there to put people down. It’s a little different because it’s not your typical reality type of show. It’s a reality show, but at the same time, it’s a talk show. We can be ourselves and not have all of the drama. It’s a real refreshing from what we’ve been seeing on television.
Being that this is a holiday series, viewers who’ve already seen it, know there is a host of taboo holiday topic discussions including religion, wine, and money and even divorce. There is also a difference in traditions in how each family spends their time during the holidays. While Jewel brings in her Chef, Dr. DeeDee and Monique are down for handling everything from the coordinating to the cooking. On the other hand, Kim realizes her strengths and weaknesses, she sticks to bringing the paper goods. LOL!
Now the conversations are what’s interesting.
DR. DEEDEE FREEMAN
Know your family. One thing that we did not discuss is religion with all of my family. The one thing you would think would have pulled us all together, actually tried to divide and separate us. For the sake of my parents, we don’t talk about those topics because we don’t want them to be stressed out. With my husband’s family, his mom and dad has transitioned. It’s a real sensitive topic. The holidays is the highest time of depression. Whether money, divorce, death, or whatever. Know your family dynamics so that you know what you should be talking about and shouldn’t talk about.
DR. JEWEL TANKARD
I thought it was good. Everybody had a different viewpoint on how they would handle it. I guess it just depends on the person. So if you have someone come over your house for the holidays as a family member, and maybe that family member causes a lot of drama, maybe they were toxic. Maybe you have to turn to them and be like, if I let you in here, are you going to start some mess? I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I want to protect everybody else. It’s almost like a case-by-case situation. Then there might be somebody that you can let in your house and be like you weren’t invited, but there’s some grace there. This person might be dealing with depression – who knows I might be their last hope. I think we discuss those different scenarios because it will be case-by-case. I think it’s hard to just say somebody came to your house uninvited and this is how you’re going to handle it… period. I have to kind of see in my heart.
We talk a lot about vision for the children. Ben and I being people of faith, our children have this misnomer, their like ‘we don’t really feel like you guys have done a good job at sharing with us what kind of challenges you face. Like we don’t really hear it.’ Then Ben and I have to go back and reassess and make sure we let them know that we have real life challenges. There are things that come up against both of us or maybe us individually. But I think there’s this whole other level of vulnerability and transparency that we had not been operating in where our children were concerned when they looked at us. Yeah we’re creating dreams and things like that, but here are some of the challenges that we’ve had to overcome and then there have been times when they have asked questions about ‘how did you guys get this,’ or ‘why did we lose this.’ Then getting into spending habits, expenses, priority – talking to them about setting up your future because we don’t want them to make the same mistakes that we have. Most people are just thinking about making money today. We want to make sure they are setting themselves up. So we try to make that a time, in particularly when we kind of get open about not just our victories, but our challenges, and fears and how we’ve overcome those things.
REAL TALK KIM
One thing we don’t discuss is politics. We make sure we keep it happy and fun.
MONIQUE IDLETT MOSLEY
We do approach the holidays with laughter and fun and love. We also, as a family unit, we take the time to do a lot of reflection, apologies in the areas that we need to. We also try to incorporate as gifts, tools for growth, so that in the year coming our family is moving with intention. We definitely discuss politics. Even when different, we like our family and children to know the importance of that vote and what our ancestors had to do to get it and why it’s so important to exercise it. Of course, with the season that it is now for 2020, we will definitely be having a heavy political conversation.
DR. DEEDEE FREEMAN
We love those kinds of topics where we don’t agree with everything, because we want to demonstrate how to communicate without having a fall-out. It’s no judgement, because at the end of the day we still have to preach Jesus. We’re here to complete one another. We’re not here to compete with one another. Let’s just love each other and see where this goes, because your interpretation may be different from than my interpretation, but that doesn’t mean that we have to fall out. Eat the meat and leave the bones.
DR. JEWEL TANKARD
People can see that at the end of the day, whether you’ve been divorced, whether you’ve never been divorced, whether you drink wine or you don’t, that there’s no judgement and God loves you. Where one person may have a conviction, another may not. You still have to respect that. People are really going to get a lot of healing from the show. God is going to love you right where you are, but it still doesn’t mean that God can’t use you and won’t bless you.
Believe it or not, the ladies don’t just focus on their family this holiday season. The show shares a very special piece on showering a deserving family with loads of love. Monique shares how the family was selected and what occurred.
We are all ladies of purpose and individually we take huge steps toward philanthropic work and making sure that, A) we never forget where we come from; B) that we are not so far removed that we don’t understand what adversity may look like in families. So it was really important that due to it being holiday programming, that we also showcase a beautiful family that went through so many things that we were able to bring some hope and positivity and more importantly, some love. Yes it came through gifts, but the bigger intention of it was to show what love can look like and how we are accountable and responsible for all of our communities, not just our individual lives. It was such an easy thing, because we are women of purpose and we do give back on a daily basis. But to be able to give back to that family – we just fell in love with them. The kids were amazing. The grandmother, the father was amazing. It was just important that we remind people during the holiday season, that it’s not just about getting, but giving.
So now that the ladies have exercised philanthropy and spent time with family, Kim talks about how important it is to unwind and getaway with girlfriends – even during the holiday season.
I think it’s so important it’s the one place, when you have a tribe of girlfriends, where you don’t have to prove nothing. You can walk through this season, you don’t even have to make plans. Just down for whatever. It’s very important to pay attention to your heart… to your insides… are you tired all the time. Make some time for each other during this season. We’re about to walk into 2020 and we’ve got to have our minds right. I think it’s important to know your self and watch out for your strong friends.
When it comes to the significance and relevancy of the show, the ladies chime in…
MONIQUE IDLETT MOSLEY
Chatter is a holiday edition. It’s five short, five minute segments of real conversation of holiday subject. It is important to set up the show from a perspective to where people can relate to it and everyone relates to holidays on all levels. It’s really important to us that Dr. Hollie Carter and Releve’ Entertainment be involved and curate this for us, A) as women and women in color in entertainment, that we are changing and controlling our narrative. It is also important for us being faith-based, to use our voice outside of the church. These short episodes with give insight to us individually and then to us as a collective group, but to the overall narrative of how collaborative efforts look – even when you have different opinions and views. We want the audience to walk away knowing that it’s okay to be different, but there are positive ways to reach a place where we can say in a positive way, we agree to disagree. We can love on each other, but more importantly that we will progress together as a collective group of people. For AT&T to see the importance, not only in being a partner, but to make sure it was partnered with Dream in Black, as our young ladies, young people are looking at so many horrific things that are coming from only one perspective on who we are as women, who we are as people in color, it is important that they see examples of positivity. It is more for media to know that we all have an obligation to get out positive perspectives and positive information and positive fun through digital platforms by positive women.
Truth, I wanted to be apart of this platform to stop apologizing for our truth. We are perfectly flawed. It’s time to stop hiding and address our cultural issues and do it in a loving way.
REAL TALK KIM
I want them to get hope. I want the show to inspire you. Make that baby – that purpose come alive. Hope to dream again.
DR. DEEDEE FREEMAN
To know that we are complete with each other and not competing with each other. Out love in the air, show and demonstrate love to each other, we can be whole.
DR. JEWEL TANKARD
I’m excited to see sisterhood. We may not agree, but we can still love each other. I hope it will inspire women go back and fight for those relationships with women where they just stopped getting along and maybe have a conversation. You don’t have to throw away the whole relationship just because you all didn’t see eye-to-eye on a particular matter.
So there you have it! Chatter, the AT&T Dream In Black holiday series is full of real, emotional, heartfelt, encouragement and hope to slide you right into the new year and decade!
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