And we have some of our members who are going to tell us all about what is what the black sorority is about and also how they contribute to the communities but um i’m going to start by just telling you a little bit about cestra now for those that may not
Know session now is an international women’s organization it is um the goal of cestra now is to create a sisterhood of women worldwide where we uh work together and utilize our individual uh unique skills talents and abilities to lift each other up financially physically in all aspects of life
And um we’re continuing to grow and we look forward to everyone growing with us and getting to know each and every one of you so i’m going to start by um introducing annette who will introduce our guest hello ladies um it is my pleasure to come here and to
Host this as cestra now um you know that we had a historic moment of having our first woman vice president our first african-american vice president of the united states and we were all celebrating and but more so i just love to see the the sororities right the the the the joy
And the celebration is even taken to another level and so i thought that it’ll be very appropriate for us to honor your organizations today and to highlight your organizations so that we can um educate people to see what it is that you have to offer you know i personally i went to stony
Brook and i had a lot of friends who pledged and i thought that i would do delta yeah you know i went to college i’m gonna pledge delta and you know it didn’t work out that way but i have some really good friends and and in in all of the sororities and and
You know my sister leslie’s here she’s sigma gamma rho um i have sauda who’s you know my girl from law school and and lorraine from stony brook as well and and cordelia so i’m going to allow these these illustrious women to introduce themselves as we get started and we’re going to
Start with the with aka which that was educated was founded first so the correct spout is first so the correct order usually when you’re when you’re presenting a panel would be from i was educating on that correct that’s why i assumed when i asked the question but i wanted to be
Greetings my name is sauda johnson mcneil and i am a member of alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated as of next year i will actually be a silver star um i was initiated into the sorority in uh spring 1997 at the university of southern california i was i grew up in brooklyn new york
And i went to law school with miss annette and miss stephanie so that is how we know each other i am now transitioning out of law and i own a film production company and it is specifically dedicated to creating films with self-love messaging about black women
By black women so i thank you for having me here today and yes and i would like to add that um sauda gives a series a wonderful series of um of different speakers about self-empowerment and i’ve been i’ve had the pleasure of attending and it’s really she’s doing an amazing
Job and i encourage everyone out there to join her her uh her facebook page because she’s giving a lot of golden nuggets out there for free so um thank you i want to add that as well you you must join her facebook page you mention you’re missing out
Especially as a black woman if you don’t join ron ash check her out on instagram and facebook and um we’re looking forward to seeing her films and i think she even um is she’s doing focus groups right uh sayuda where she’s looking for that great story which i’m sure we all
Have every one of us has a story so you never know maybe you’ll be in one of her next movies i still have to talk to her about that but go ahead thank you i appreciate that the name of my company i apologize is ron ash
I named it after my father so it’s r o n a s h l l c and it’s everything black women melanin all of that we we sell i celebrate us um on the self-love platform and it’s undeniably black women thank you and i just want to encourage our next uh
You know cordelia what’s going to be next i encourage you to please promote your services whatever it is that you’re doing that is what we’re about the networking that’s the heart of it and it seems like the women are afraid or hesitant to do it but that’s what we
Created it for so please do you know please do promote what it is that you that you share thank you good evening everyone my name is cordelia anthony and i’m a member of delta sigma theta sorority incorporated i was initiated at stony brook university’s high delta chapter in uh spring 1995 it seems
Like yesterday but it wasn’t um i am an educator i teach high school living environment science um at farmingdale high school and i’ve been there for over 20 years as well i am also the president of the farmingdale federation of teachers which is our local teachers
Union there and a member of the new york state united teachers executive board so i keep busy with education and unionism a lot besides my uh local chapter which is a suffolk county alumni chapter out here in long island new york welcome yeah thank you now we have lorraine hi everybody hey
It’s so good to be here amongst my sisters i’m feeling the empowerment it’s exactly what i needed for the ending of my wednesday my name is lorraine richardson mcrae and um i am currently in suffolk county not going to stay here for the rest of my life though i started out at stony
Brook and that’s where i know so many of your faces from um i’m a member of zeta phi beta sorority incorporated and i have been a member since 1997 feels like yesterday i have to say like cordelia it doesn’t feel like the time passes until you look back you know
Over your life and you’re like wow i really come far uh well i became a teacher and well i’m a mom i’m a very proud mother my daughter is 24. she lives in maryland um my son is 21 leah and leo if anybody knows you know exactly why their names is leah leo
Let’s not go into it that’s a whole nother panel um and i’m a teacher i’ve been teaching for oh this is my 23rd year and um i teach english as a second language and i’m also english certified so now i do both i do enl and i do um es eono and ela
Classes at billboard middle school and i’ve been there for my full 23 years and i’m a member of i can’t even tell you how many different organizations here in suffolk county but i am all about uh community and activism and that’s really the heart of my sorority as well
Service scholarship um sisterhood of course and then find a womanhood so in a lot of my work i do make my main heart has been parliamentary procedure robert’s rules of order so i’ve been a parliamentarian um for about 25 years now 25 years studying parliamentary procedure and now working on getting my
Certifications in that but i need to finish the dissertation first that would be nice if i could do that um and i i worked with national association of parliamentarians um state of black long island naacp all kinds of different organizations um but my own part is to
Really launch after i’m finished with my dissertation really launch my educational resource group nyusi educational resource group to further parliamentary procedure workshops and supporting organizations in that vein and also to do workshops on implicit bias and cultural responsiveness training for teachers and also for other organizations like police departments um
Fire departments and so forth so that’s the community work that i’d like to do once i transition and retire because i have the energy and the heart for it so here i go welcome lorraine and and we hope that you can squeeze in a little time for session out as well
Give us a little a little couple you know couple maybe half an hour in yeah okay welcome and last but certainly not least we have leslie faulkner who’s from sigma gamma row hey everyone uh i am the my name is leslie faulkner i am the baby sorority of the of the group um
I’m very happy to be here it’s not very much that i participate in these kind of functions but um sorority is very near and dear to my heart um i this past december i hit my 25 year mark with the organization i came in in fall of 1995 um in the
Alpha pie chapter in which is the metropolitan chapter in new york i’m currently the role advisor for the graduate chapter which is the robot group is um our affiliate group that we have that’s geared for young ladies from 12 to 17 i am their advisor so we
Do you know we are teaching them the way of the sorority and of sisterhood um by profession i am a recruiter corporate recruiter i have been in corporate banking for the last 20 something years currently i am at deutsche bank as a campus uh recruiter slash program manager
Um so dealing with um early early um careers so interns and and graduates coming out from you know getting out from their first year um our big focus is definitely the um diversity and inclusion so working with the hbcus to getting those black talents into these corporate positions
Um as well as the latinx community so we are that’s a big drive for me this year on a personal note i am an avid traveler um and i feel that i have a lot to give to the young women and hopefully i will be able to use this
Platform to share the knowledge that i’m also getting to pass on to anyone who’s interested anyone who knows of um any um black and latinos that are looking to get into banking please feel free to reach out there opportunities thank you welcome leslie and so um to
Start off in that this is a question i’m going to throw out you can whoever wants to answer can answer um we we are in black history month and we’re celebrating black history month and it is my understanding that the reason why we have black sororities and fraternities
In the first place is because there was a need so would one of you like to just give a brief history of of black sororities and and fraternities just brief i mean i can’t i can’t speak to all i would only be able to speak to alpha kappa alpha
Um in terms of our history and you and essentially as you said for us yes we were founded in 1908 and at that time um at you know at howard there was a need and we did not actually start off as the community service organization that we have now morphed into
So it was really just more about us really supporting each other right and and just based on what we were going through in that country at that time and then as we began became in my opinion more progressive in terms of what what we needed to also see what was happening
In from a global in terms of creating a global footprint we then started incorporating at very many many years ago of course um are our community service in terms of helping um specifically of course black women but just in general um our people and so that is the history of
Starting and then of course the growth that we have made and working with other divine organizations as well and as for death student theta sorority incorporated we were also found at howard university so you know at that time as as usual as mentioned women were struggling to get their own identity and
Of course black women were trying to do more empowering things um for delta sigma theta one of our first acts was actually participating in the women’s suffrage march and even at that point they didn’t want us walking with the white women they wanted a special area for us
Um but you know that was our first public act and most of the organizations as you’ll hear uh focus on public service and trying to be involved in not you know community activity community service making sure that we’re looking out for the african-american community we we have members that are not african-american um
But we definitely focus most of our programmatic thrust on trying to improve the black um experience in this country as well thank you that’s that’s interesting that you have non-black members um do you find any kind of uh any kind of challenges because of that or any kind of clashes
Not usually i mean the women that would choose to be initiated into a predominantly black um college you know usually or alumni organization understand that what the focus of our organization is community service so they know that the programs that are set will focus on people in the african diaspora and
You know trying to improve our economic health our physical mental health trying to get politically involved and you know just at the end of the day being a sisterhood basically of black college-educated women so they know even you know our latinx members our caucasian members we have members from east asia
You know and i’m sure some of the other organizations do as well so um they they are fully aware of what they’re joining when when they choose to become initiated thank you i’ll take it i was gonna speak for zeta if that’s okay is that okay okay so
So i just love the story about the lover’s stroll at howard university we had the members of phi beta sigma fraternity um taking his stroll with our illustrious founder arizona cleaver stunning and the idea he brought to her um alien links and taylor brought to her was um
The idea of founding a sister sorority to fighting a signal fraternity so after he brought that thought to her um the wheels got moving turning i won’t go through the whole story but five college ed um co-eds started zeta phi beta sorority incorporated at howard university just like aka and delta they actually
Did a minor hall that’s the shirt that i’m wearing they had their um coming out ceremony and i believe akas and deltas also were there to to bring in and welcome zetas to um to our to the campus and to the world um and for zeta i think one of the
The most important things for us has been service um since i became a member it’s always community conscious action oriented we have something called get engaged where we are in involved with social action social justice and it’s been um something that’s been ongoing since the inception of the organization we also have z-hope
Satan’s helping other people excel and that’s for international women women men and young women and also for our auxiliary organizations our auxiliary groups as well so zeta has always been in the forefront of social action social change justice and has always encouraged its members to be socially minded
Conscious and action-only in those areas thank you um leslie did you did you want to say something so um sigma gamma rho is you know not only the youngest but we are the only sovereignty that wasn’t founded at howard [Laughter] um we were and so there really was a need um we
We joined the scene in november 12th of 1922 so two years after the luxury laters but quite some years after the deltas and the um the akas and we were founded at butler university in indianapolis so there definitely was a need for representations um it started out for helping black women
And our organization was founded by seven school teachers so our focus a lot is on education and giving and leadership um to this day just like the other ones we also have um members outside of the black and the african-american population we do have our white sisters and latinx sisters and even asians
And you know we’re all about inclusivity and yes it started out for a need for um representation amongst the african-american women in indianapolis but we’ve grown we have we have chapters all over in canada as well as the bermuda so we have definitely extended our sisterhood um way beyond the u.s borders
Wow that’s a you know shame on me for assuming that you guys had like i know you each start were founded in different ways but i thought it was like a lump together one person could just tell uh what the history of sororities are so thank you that’s very
Enlightening and and interesting um so i’m gonna i’m gonna try to shake it up again because i don’t want you guys to feel that you have to go in the order so i’m gonna ask then before you do that can i just interrupt with a question from the live
Okay because it goes to more about uh the sororities and how they how you get involved so uh judealia one of our sisters from st lucia asked how can a person join a sorority anyone can ask i don’t know if it’s the same across the board
Right and my question was kind of like how do you join a sorority on campus because it starts at the campus right and i guess i’d be interested to know if you have to be affiliated with campus to join julie and i are like shaking our heads like well yeah
Um so it’s different uh depending on where you are and depending on if there are um chapters where you’re located so it isn’t always um intake uh membership intake on a collegiate campus there are alumni or graduate chapters as well that are based at least in our organization by
Areas so we have um over 900 chapters around the world saudi arabia germany jamaica bahamas you know they’re u.s virgin islands so you also can be initiated through those organizations um in in that way as well so it’s not just you know a collegiate base even though
We were all founded on college campuses we do a lot more once we get out of colleges you know some of our uh the organizations that are just at college once they leave college there’s no more organizations for them to do but we work internationally to continue our community service work
And you would reach out you know do some research look up the organization try to find out information about uh if there is a chapter on on a college campus or if there’s a city-wide chapter or if there is a local uh chapter like in your state
County or you know even city-wide alumni chapter as well to find out you know if they are having membership intake and try to check out the program see if you are you know definitely aligned with that group before you make a decision okay thank you would would anyone else
Like to add to that i would say the first thing that someone needs to do if they’re interested in any of our organizations xavier phi beta has already always prided itself on do your research first thing first go to the internet we have way too much information online for anybody
To say i don’t know i’m not sure if you’re not sure google it that’s what i tell my kids in school google it let google lead you a little bit and then if you have anybody in your your area or in your neighborhood or in your in your organizations or in
Any of your affiliations ask them questions um i want to say that all of our organizations especially as we mature and we get more seasoned we are so much more open to to talking about you know joining and being a member sometimes on the collegiate level
It could get a little you know sticky people don’t want to tell anybody what they’re interested in but you know when you’re interested in something and it’s in your heart and it’s what you want to do you have to kind of put yourself out there a little bit
You’re going to have to you know put out your feelers you’re going to have to let somebody know that you’re interested um and i want to say zegna phi beta was the first to have um chapters in africa we have chapters and we just um reactivated our chapter in liberia and
We have a chapter in ghana so just like the other organizations we have germany we have um south korea i’m not south korea i’m sorry germany we have um god where else united arab emirates they’re they’re all everywhere all over the place um so there’s chapters and there’s graduate
Chapters for all of our organizations but first thing to do is google it go to the websites and you will get so much more information um and you’ll be able to actually call each and every one of our national offices and get somebody on the line and get information there’s email addresses
There as well you’re just gonna have to put you know put that that hook out to get that information if you’re really interested so stephanie there’s still hope for us we can still join we can still join it doesn’t matter the age doesn’t matter okay okay um so i have a question and
I’m i’m gonna put it out for whoever wants to grab it go back to your your college self pre sorority um you know if you could talk to that person what would you tell her that person you know pre-sorority what would you tell her or or if you could reflect on
How you were then as opposed to how you are today you know what what would you say i would love to yes i would love to take that because as we have um shared you know my platform right now is everything self-love for uh black women
And so since that is the agenda that i’m pushing i would love to share the fact that i would tell myself my college self to love myself because at that time i did not i thought i did because you know i’m like oh and this is pre-aka so you know despite
The stereotypes right it didn’t matter i always thought i was you know fine and all this other stuff but that was very surface level you know what i mean and when it came to my dating men and what i allowed in my life toxic relationships toxic friendships i was in very sticky
Situations that uh like sometimes i’m like oh i’m so happy i still was able to get in law school type of sticky situations right um so for me i would say that really and this is to anyone who’s still in that college age really work on everything you need to do
To just truly love yourself unconditionally and give yourself space to understand that you are human you’re you’re in you’re in this society as black women so already we are just dealing with all the different isms that we have to experience and who’s going to love us more than us
No one we have to love ourselves we have to understand that you know it’s just a journey so that that’s what i would tell myself is to love myself and i the other thing i would add for me is i set a lot of high i believe high unreasonable standards when i was
18 19 20 you know i just had all the and i’m not saying that goals are unrealistic what i’m saying is that be reasonable give yourself grace right so at 20 you know yes you would love to possibly be the next oprah by the time you’re
Maybe 30 but you know maybe if that doesn’t happen give yourself grace to say that’s okay right set small goals for yourself accomplish those and just keep climbing because everything you do it’s awesome it is okay and um and just love yourself unconditionally so that’s what i would say wow that was very
Inspirational i’m glad the young sisters that are gonna they’re gonna hear this i hope that you listen to that and take it to heart and do it you know do it now don’t wait till you get knocked you know good good the knocks of life
Try to do that now thank you very much for that um unless somebody else wanted to add something um i have another i have a question okay from someone watching okay um anyone can answer why were different sororities started on the same campus and why didn’t aspiring sorors join the one already started
It’s kind of like because each one each one is different we have a different flavor for each one of our organizations there is something about that organization i actually was going to talk about this um and actually we do have a chat in korea it’s one of the military chapters i’m sorry
But i digress um we when you’re about to when you want to join an organization like a net set i wanted to be a delta it was something about delta that drew her to it and i wanted to say right now make it very clear we did not join these organizations
Because of the colors blue and white is not my favorite color it has absolutely and y’all could tell me if i’m right or wrong but it has absolutely nothing to do with the color scheme it had to do with the women that you were involved with
It had to do with the feeling that you got from that organization in its inception our organizations are very much the same we all have scholarship we all are collegiate we all have graduated from college and have pursued higher education um we all have sisterhood we all have um service embedded into our
Organizations as it has grown um we’re all into different uh either advocacy or community service but there’s something about that organization that drew you to it and and in my particular situation it was the camaraderie it was the acceptance before i even became a zeta it was that those women saw something in
Me and they chose me before i even chose them and they showed a certain kind of care and love that spoke to my heart and spoke into me so there’s nothing wrong or nothing nothing was wrong with aka there was nothing wrong with delta there was nothing wrong with
With um sigma gamma morel nothing at all but it was just something that caused that heart string to be pulled and caused me to go in that direction um and to be a member of the organization i’m gonna and i’m going to say definitely is you know we talked about doing your research
And i have to say that you know i have family members that are akas and belong to alpha phi alpha so you know i got that immediate pressure you know when it was time to go to college so for going into college honestly all i knew was pink and green
You know because that was what was instilled in me you know when you go to school this is what you’re going to do that’s what you’re going to do um but i also but i did my research i went to all the meetings i went to all the informational um
Sessions and although i went there thinking i was going to walk out in pink and green um i ended up in blue and yellow um and that is because again like my my zeta sister said it was just the comfort you know i went and they were so i
Didn’t have to i didn’t feel i had to to show anything because i wasn’t going to be a legacy i wasn’t going to be there it was almost there was absolutely no pressure whatsoever um but the real thing is is that i did my history i made a choice for myself
I didn’t choose based on um a family member or the pressures that are in you know that come with joining you know one of these organizations i have nieces that came through our affiliate program and they’re like oh are you going to push them through
If they want if they want to choose a different sistership that’s fine by me it’s all about what is right for you and what feels right for you when you make the decision to join one of the lustrous organizations yeah you know you’ve you guys comment as well
Just that you know i’m not sure if the person was asking about the different the three of us that were founded at howard university why you know did we find were they founded when there was already an african-american organization to join well you know hbcus is a lot of people on
Those campuses and at the time i’m sure there were different um alignments and goals and what one organization was doing another organization had a different mindset or a different um plan for what they wanted the strength and the core of their organization to be so um just to answer that part of the
Question you know yes there are organizations available like um mentioned but the uh the founders wanted to do something different at the time so they had their own focuses and joined that way and like everyone else said here when you’re on a campus as well you feel a kinship with the with the
Organization you want to join and so you see something special in the women maybe in that chapter at that school or in that community organization you know um alumni chapter and that’s what draws you there as well you see say she’s dynamic i want to be like her you know there
There uh is something unique and and special about that and so you you kind of are drawn to that as well you um you ladies are just dispelling some myths that we have because for many of us our point of references are our black films and so
Um um i would have thought that there’s a lot of pressure for for legacy a lot of pressure for you know you see the moms that are pressuring their charters to to join their uh to join their organization and um and another thing um uh that you’re that
You’re sharing here and you know it’s funny because in preparation for this i i sent some sample questions to the girl to the ladies to the women to my girls i told it to the women and so it was like first of all we do not go against each other
She was like get that clear you know so that’s another thing you would think a stereotype is that there’s cattiness among the groups um so you know can i talk about the can i talk about the legacy part a little bit i just gotta give y’all a story y’all gonna love this
Oh my baby girl went to george mason lorraine yeah she froze oh no in the meantime with somebody else well yeah i don’t have a story per se as miss lorraine might have but i do want to say that that’s not to say that there is not press diversity
It depends on the person because you know for example some people like for example if they have a daughter um no different than anything else that someone might do they you know depending on how involved you are in your sorority and your relationship with your daughter
It for some women it can be very hurtful if their if their daughter chooses to join an organization different and i know some young women who had decided not to join an organization because they were so close to their mom but they just didn’t necessarily want to be in a sorority
That was different than her so it really it really is i would i would be lying if i said at least in my experience and and i don’t have a daughter yet but i mean i’m that’s something that’s on my agenda right now and i i have to tell you who
I would i would definitely especially if i feel like i’m a great mom like i want her to like look up to me no different than if someone wanted to follow what their mentor was doing i would want her to join my sorority and be and do that with me so
You know that’s not to say there’s not pressure but i think at the end of the day women you know when you’re in college you just decide as um sister leslie said you just decide to be that individual and step out on what you want to do
And then you just have to know your family dynamic and what comes with that right so yeah but i’m sorry i i know you were sister lorraine yeah that’s okay these things we’re in zoom land so what can we do you wouldn’t be able to stop me if we was a real person
But you know zooland i got it you know so anyway my daughter got to her senior year and i’m thinking it’s not gonna happen but i’m saying i’m keeping it to myself and then deltas is after her and i’m like just biting my lip i’m not saying i’m
Trying to be cool on it and she finally said well mom yeah i think before she could get the words out of her mouth i was on the phone i was texting i was with the state director i was contacting chapters thank god i just have to say that moment
Is just you it there is no other feeling like it in the world when you see your child choose what you chose because of your influence on her life and i you know i i heard you at the last part when you said your mentor anybody whose life you’re you’re
Touching these young women that i’ve seen go through you know middle school and high school when they come back and they say oh miss mcrae i joined zeta because i remember you had zeta on your desk and i just there is no other feeling in the world and even if they join another
Organization i still feel like i gave them a good a good role model a good image i projected something finer that they wanted to aspire to so that’s that’s just now i’m just waiting on my son you guys are giving me goosebumps over here they give me all these kind of deals
And i love you know we’re incestual now it’s about a sisterhood and and um so it’s really good it’s good to know that these are you know those are uni the ideas of unity it’s universal right it’s universal no matter what race you are no matter what um culture you come from and
That any any organization that is going to further the the sisterhood i’m saying i’m you know i applaud you i and i think it’s wonderful um and and it’s nice to know that there’s life after college in your sororities some sometimes it seems like it’s even more you’re doing doing more after college
So we are at about 5 43 and so i’m going to try to have to cut out some of the questions but um one question that i have is um if you could just tell us quickly some notable members some you know some notable members of your organizations
I’m just going to say that’s it i’m done i have cracked it i love it i i mean dustin with theta has a lot of honorary members uh you know everybody from and members who are initiated as well but you know shirley chisholm barbara jordan you know yeah like i mean everybody from
You know political figures uh uh cicely tyson just passed like there’s so many in every field you can find a delta doing work you know whether it’s you know senators we have um actors and actresses but that there’s a plethora um if you think of you know black
Uh history of women who are or members of the sigma theater dr debbie shabazz i mean it just and the list goes on and on but look it up i saw someone put that in the chat there is a list of notable deltas um everywhere anywhere you can look them up um
We have our vice president um kamala felicia rashad maya angelou um i mean again uh my one of my favorites tony morrison um so yes the list goes on as well for uh sora jamison um so yes the list goes on as well for us as
Well yes and and i also know that because you guys have more history as well so so the the people that we look up to in history um they’re they they you your organizations were the ones that were around at the time so that’s to be well noted to be fair um so
Yes thank you did you want to add something leslie okay so um the last thing i would like to know is i want to know about um how the how in your in your in your adult life and your in your professional lives um how you interact with each other if
At all like you you know do you do the things that you do that you that you uh get together and do coalition type of stuff or co-sponsorships and and i just want to know like how how the greek black greek community if that’s the right term
How did you feel when when kamala harris became our you know our vice president i just i just want to know you know briefly and we’ll we’ll end with that and then if we’ll take whatever if there’s any other questions so that we can we like to end in a timely manner but
I just want to get that one out there like whoever would like to answer that i’ll start just because um it’s great like i’m the only child i don’t have any biological brothers or sisters this has been an experience of my lifetime like you talked about your
Younger self when i was at stony brook as an only child and of course you have friends and of course you have cousins and of course but being in a sisterhood is something different it really really is and the amount of sisters that i have um gained over the years it’s been a
Blessing to my life literally um so when when you kind of look at it that way there is a kinship amongst all the organizations there are you know we have definitely on the national panhellenic council we work together on on a lot of things we have programs that we we do
Together certain organizations that we all contribute to and support um and so there is a kinship among all the organizations and you’re happy you’re happy to see them succeeding as well so i was happy i was wearing my chucks and pearls the day i’m saying yes you know we were all in
Support of of this person who we know has uh come through an organization and is representing not just for you know black women but representing um black greek-led organizations and as well she was representing you know for for people that come from all of the uh historically black colleges and
Universities as well so it was like a triple quadruple win that you know we had to to all show our support for yes yes okay so thank you ladies um i’m going to open up uh the floor if there’s any questions um anything in the chat stephanie that where
I don’t have anyone i see some i see some members uh that have joined some of your your sisters so would any of you like to add something um until anyone in the chat if they want to put in their questions in the chat please um please do link
I put a link in the chat for notable zetas of course including story neil hurston estevol biblica a fox you know so there’s a list in there if anybody wants to see um i i have a question um anyone can answer so um it looks as if there are certain
You know like annette said how we learn about sororities or what i know about sororities personally it’s from what i see on tv right and um i have a friend or two but i never really asked the question so i i just want to know um could you be denied
You know like i mean what are the chances that um like if so how why why would you be denied let’s just say i’m going to school and i’m like oh i want to i want to be us aurora can i just be flat out denied
Um even if i’m i’m black like so i guess it’s one of the requirements and so what what would the fact that i don’t have any rhythm you know would that be like like i was telling us we were joking before we went live and i was like
Oh i can’t do that jerusalem dance like and that’s daughter you know what i mean and i could never be a cheerleader because like in in high school um because i can’t get it together you know what i mean like i can’t get that routine together
So with so is it really like you have to have a certain because to me the way i look at it like those are the those were always the cool girls you know what i mean and even though you guys don’t have the cattiness you you told us that that’s not true
But would you deny someone like just because like they’re nerdy or they don’t have it or they’re not cool enough to be part of our tell us the truth this is a good question for individuals like to speak you know individually one on behalf of our organizations and then
Like i don’t even to answer that question i wouldn’t even want to speak for the sorority per se i would say i came through undergraduate at usc and at the time i was president of the chapter so what i looked for in terms of who were interested in joining
Through um through our through iota beta um i we we were huge on grades like that was so to answer your question yes there are requirements and our even per chapter like our grade which your gpa was very different than what the sorority so the sorority could have
Um a base as far as what your grade has to be to come through undergraduate but then each chapter can have their own kind of requirement so to answer that question in for in our chapter yes you had to have high scholastics you had to have community service
You know you you had to have we looked at everything in terms of how you presented yourself in the community how what you were doing in the community what your grades were at least when i was was president you know and i was uh you know i came from a
Revolutionary background so i was probably much more um than with the i guess the stereotypical if you heard some of the stereotypes about i guess whatever aka supposed to be um everyone thought i would go a different way however you know speaking to again what everyone said i was attracted to my sorority
Based on some of the women on the campus who were awesome and i’m like oh they’re so nice i want to be with them right but the point of story is yes there are requirements um i can’t speak to any other uh really chapter other than the chapter
That i came through it was based on grades it was based on community service how well-rounded you were and we looked at all of that in in terms of deciding and then of course when you see in on television a lot of that is illegal so the the other ways to enter
The the um to join the organization at least ours you know is is is no longer is null and void right so um and we came in the 90s so that’s a whole different conversation that we won’t have on soon but you know as of now
Um it is those are the standards that we look for i just like to dispel the myth as well so we did not join because we love the colors and we did not join because we could step or stroll it has so little to do with that that is
Such a minuscule part of our organizations and what we stand for and what we represent to the greater public and to our own selves we have amazing sisters in all of these organizations that can stroll and step they hold behind off i am not one of them
But i am a very proud illustrious member of the organization and i bring so much to the table and it’s not the colors and it’s not the stepping um to to add to what my sister uh uh already said scholarship of course but your reputation so a young lady’s reputation on a college
Campus can um can prohibit her from being a member of an organization she has got to represent herself in the best light possible she cannot have a revolving door in her on her bedroom she cannot you know be wearing you know all kinds of lascivious clothes
All over the place um that’s not to say that she can’t have her own personal style and taste but she has got to represent it in the best way possible um so that that’s something on an undergraduate level but as a graduate member um and on all the levels actually you go
Through observation um so we’re looking at all the different facets of your life and if you’re someone who likes to argue and fight and start things on campus and rumors and you’re always into something yeah no we don’t want we don’t want that i mean we already have our
We’re already a whole group of women trying to figure things out together you already know that there’s issues involved in that we don’t need somebody who is going to we know is a known troublemaker who wants to be a part of our organization because they’re just going to bring
Drama we don’t need to bring drama it’s like bringing santa beach thank you so much for dispelling those myths i’m sure people have the questions but they’re not asking so i ask for everyone thank you guys for clearing that up so i do still have a chance and you know
You know um someone did say that somebody pointed in the chat i saw that you cannot switch organizations you have to plug it in that you cannot if you have if you’re part of an organization i guess i guess an undergrad chapter you can’t switch to go somewhere else
In a graduate chapter very interesting yeah that’s that’s uh all of our organizations and figures this is a lifetime commitment you know when you uh decide that you are going to commit yourselves to one of our organizations you are making a lifetime commitment and so even if
Um you know your life gets busy and you’re not actively involved in a graduate or alumni chapter um you’re you’re still a member of the organization you know and you you can be a financial member and continue to work through a local chapter um you may be you know maybe what we can
Say like a member at large because maybe you’re not in an area anymore where there is a chapter that’s working but there’s still things that you’re allowed to participate in and you’ve made a way for you to switch or be a part of something else so
Yes good good thank you so much thank you so much and um and so this was this was great and you know we we just want to thank i want to thank cordelia well let me go in order i want to thank cordelia lorraine and leslie we are so grateful
That you’ve taken a part of your time because um the we we recognize that these black sororities and fraternities are an intense integral part of our community at the larger black community and so um this was very enlightening and interesting and and um and it’s so good to know that there’s life beyond
Canvas right and that you’re in many ways you’re giving lifelong contributions and the world is a better place and richer because of of your contributions and so thank you so much and what we what we’re going to push right now is right we want you to be able to help us
As our our our sisterhood right so you can teach us some of those things that that can help us so that can help us to grow at that sisterhood and and foster that kind of commitment and that you know being vested into uh being um being very committed to doing something beyond yourself
Doing something to help you know living a life of service so thank you so much and i want to add that um as you can see the fact that we we asked all of you to participate i hope you understand that that is what central now is about we’re not in competition
With any woman any other organization we are all about uniting women of all cultures of all backgrounds and lifting you up right so it’s we want to make it clear that we’re not in competition with anyone we want to lift each and every one of you up and we want to thank you
For your contributions to the world we just want to there are plenty of women in the world right we just want to do our part so that’s why sister now is being started so that we can be inclusive of all women okay and uh so i just want to thank you all
Too for please just thank you for joining us we really appreciate you giving us this time you don’t know how much goodness um wait wait wait wait we have one last question it’s really quick um it was asked in the in on facebook live a while ago um
What is there like an age limit to join a sorority i i can’t speak for everybody but no um you know there have been members whose mothers then became members later on in life you know uh you uh we don’t have an age limit as to when you can become
Members as long as you’re qualified and you’re interested in membership and you have the high moral character that was mentioned before and you’re willing to commit yourself to um public service and kind of exemplify the ideals of the the sisterhood you you’re welcome and for us at least on my campus when i
Did a graduate chapter there there you have to have of course graduated college and have that um have a degree but there’s no age per se but for undergrad we didn’t let freshmen had to have at least finished that and that came that’s different per
Per campus by the way but at least on our campus we wanted you to have at least finished that freshman um that freshman year i think for most colleges it’s probably the same um freshmen the first semester freshmen are not allowed to join any organizations i believe after second semester freshmen
You can’t join an undergraduate chapter if you have graduated from the school but zeta phi beta sorority has no age limit on anyone becoming a member thank you and as we’re about to we’re approaching um women’s history month we have lots of things in store for you so please contribute comment inspire
Share promote your your initiatives you know your personal uh your personal initiatives because that’s what uh cestra now is about thank you and good night ladies good night thank you thank you yeah good night good night good night thank you at this point all right everyone on facebook live have a good night
We’re going to end facebook live now right yeah we’re not live anymore i ended it already okay angie that was great thank you yeah welcome yeah you have to teach me how to do that dance i just felt like going to a party after
I saw it i was like then she was like i was like oh man i’m gonna get to the club now i didn’t know you could dance like that it’s just us three now hello i didn’t know you could dance like that i added did you have a problem
I think we have a problem somebody said my sora looks tore up talking about leslie who said that somebody came on during the thing and said whoa my sorrow looks tore up somebody did it um they spoke they were not on mute oh my god i didn’t hear it i don’t think
Everyone heard it how did they know who they were how did would you know who they were because we put thesaurus names and the and uh they probably come on looking for this sora anyway i mean that’s just nasty why would someone do that that’s what we don’t do and we we need
To solidify our rules as well you know that’s something we have to work on i hope she didn’t i hope she didn’t hear it i didn’t hear anything i didn’t i heard either because she might have when somebody just comes in it takes a while for you to be able to mute them
Yeah she can’t she jumped on and she said whoa my sword looks tall looks tore up well how would we know she they were talking about her because she’s the one that looked tore up well why are you saying how do you know that they were referring to her i don’t think so
Well i didn’t catch it that was my impression i’m like what did she she didn’t even care who knows that’s just that’s just disrespectful that doesn’t even deserve anybody’s anyone’s attention well just reach out to leslie and thank her and hopefully you know she didn’t hear
Anything or no you know hopefully no one was offended that’s crazy but i think it went very very well i’m just thinking about going back and checking right it’s it’s recorded it’s the live and do is it something maybe we should take it off you recorded it and and fix that and
Then put it back on stop recording
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