How Jerri DeVard Broke Barriers in Corporate America

What does it take to lead with confidence, break barriers, and create opportunities for the next generation?

In this inspiring episode of Ask Dr. Sujay, Ambassador Susan Johnson Cook sits down with renowned marketing executive and corporate leader Jerri DeVard, Founder of the Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA). With a career that spans leadership roles at some of the world's most recognized brands and service on multiple corporate boards, Jerri shares her journey from Spelman College graduate to one of the most influential voices in marketing and business leadership.

Together, they explore authentic leadership, corporate success, mentorship, diversity in the boardroom, entrepreneurship, motherhood, faith, and the importance of creating pathways for others to succeed. Jerri also shares powerful insights on building confidence, choosing the right environment to thrive, developing future leaders, and why success is about more than titles and achievements.

Whether you're an entrepreneur, executive, aspiring leader, or someone seeking to make a greater impact, this conversation is filled with wisdom, inspiration, and practical lessons for building a meaningful legacy.

Because true leadership isn't just about opening doors.

It's about making sure others have the confidence to walk through them.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Do you ever wonder how faith fits into leadership or how to lead with both power and purpose? If you're looking for wisdom that bridges culture, confidence, and calling, then this podcast is for you. Here's Global Diplomat, Business Strategist, and Women's Empowerment icon, your host, Ambassador Susan Johnson Cook.

SPEAKER_02 0:29

Welcome to Ask Dr. Sujay. Now, when it comes to global leaders, there's no name better than Jerry DeVard, founder of Becca. Today's discussion will be with her, who has mentored so many young men and women in corporate America, and she's a presence in our community in the East End. And we just celebrate her and we celebrate you today. And thank you for tuning in with us, Dr. Sujay. I'm Dr. Sujay, Ambassador Sujay, and you're welcome to live with Suja. We are so excited to have you with us. We're here on Wednesdays at 5 30 LTV. Want to give a shout out to all the team that makes this possible. But today I am so excited to have my neighbor, someone I've greatly admired, Jerry DeVard. Welcome.

SPEAKER_01 1:18

Thank you. Thank you, Sujay. It's so nice to be here with you.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

So you're the founder of Becca. Tell us what that is and why you founded it.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Oh, I love that question because you know it speaks to things that you never knew were possible that just kind of take over you. So Becca stands for the Black Executive CMO Alliance. And CMO is chief marketing officer.

SPEAKER_02 1:39

So you're known, I saw in one writing that you're known as the Rockstar CMO. Ah, so welcome, Rockstar. Yeah, but tell us what a CMO does and then how you got to again to Becca.

SPEAKER_01 1:50

So chief marketing officers are responsible for, in my view, the top and bottom line growth of the organization. They're responsible for the brand, the reputation, the image, what you think of when you think of a brand. Yes. And what marketers do and what great marketers do is they build preference and consideration. They want you to consider the brand when you're trying to make a choice about what to buy or what to use. And they want to build a preference. They want their brand to be the one that speaks to you. Because in this world of commodities, there's no one brand item company that has a monopoly on anything. So in a sea of choices, marketers want you to choose theirs and they want you to think that their product is better than the others. But what marketers really have to do is make sure that that's real. Okay. Because if you're just selling fluff, it doesn't make sense. And I've been, you know, marketing called upon me early on in my career at Spellman College to be a graduate of Spellman and a proud graduate of Spellman College. I know, I know. We Spellman grads are like, if you're talking to a woman and she says that she went to Spellman, you just kind of give her a hug.

SPEAKER_02 2:54

Yeah, exactly. And applause because everyone has to applause. And then the graduate degree from Clark Atlanta.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Clark Atlanta. I am a double HBCU. And I am strong, stronger for it. Because this whole idea of instilling black excellence, understanding that you were going to potentially be a minority in a majority world, that I had probably gone to colleges that most people had not heard of. Right. But I never took a backseat to anyone else's, you know, education because both of those schools taught me that I was worthy, I was capable, and I was ready.

SPEAKER_02 3:27

Well, I heard you were really an influencer on both campuses, but in the sea of choices, how do you make a brand stand out?

SPEAKER_01 3:35

Well, so that is what distinguishes a good marketer from an okay marketer. Okay. And what it starts with is understanding what it is your customers or consumers want.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:46

What is it they want, and then what is it that you're delivering? You won't be able to deliver all of it, but you've got to know what your secret sauce is. Yes. Which takes me back to your original question, which was what is Becca and why did I start it? And the Black Executive CMO Alliance is made up of, you know, you kindly called me a rock star, but these 33 members are truly rock stars, Sujay. They are at the top of the house in their organizations, big organizations, where they manage hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars on behalf of the corporation to make sure that their brand and their products stay relevant and desirable and compelling. And so I wanted to make sure that more people that looked like me were interviewed, were on main stages, were in the roundup of the best, and that we could come together collectively to make it better for those that would follow us, those young, you know, managers and analysts and not quite officer level yet, where they could see people that look like them so they could understand that they have a chance to be there and they could see it done in different ways.

SPEAKER_03 4:50

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Because I remember when I was growing up, everyone said, Oh, you should be like, you should be more like. And it's like, no, the best thing you can be is your unique self. So we show them how to get to the C-suite, how to be a chief marketing officer, how to work for the CEO, and do it being authentically you. And the way we do it is also sharing mistakes we've made. Yes. Lessons we've learned. Yes.

SPEAKER_02 5:13

Um, and a lot of people don't talk about failing your way to success. There are mistakes, but I say they're lessons, not losses.

SPEAKER_01 5:20

That's very smart.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Because I've learned more from my failure, Sujay, than any success. Exactly. It took me three times. I was a White House fellow under President Clinton. But what people don't know is I tried under Macon, I tried under George the Daddy Bush, but finally when Clinton got in, I knew how to do it. The door was not only open, I had a seat at the table. And I think that's really what you're doing. You're saying the door has been flung open for me. I've been on this trajectory for a long time, but I also want to make sure not only is it open for you, but you get a seat at the table of your choice.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

The only thing I would probably change is the door wasn't opened. I had to kick it open. Okay, right. So I want the the generation that follows me to push on an open door. I love it. Right? I love it. It's no one's gonna open it up and say, Oh, I'm so glad you came. We've been waiting for you. Maybe if you're lucky. But in the case that that doesn't happen, you know, and it's gotta be a little open because if you have to really kick it in, then is that really where you should be? Exactly. If you're recognizing talent and your personality and what you bring to the organization, you want to plant your seed in fertile ground. Yes. You want to go to the places that are gonna recognize, reward, acknowledge, appreciate, value your talent, not just say, okay, we can check the box. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 6:34

So let me ask you this. You know, the Crown Act has passed in several states. Do you think that that's gonna have an impact on this generation, or do you think you still have to go in a certain way for the door, even if the door is half open?

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Well, first of all, I have to give a big up to one of our Becca members, AC at Unilever, and has been on this task for the Crown Act and has really put a lot of heart, sweat, soul, energy, tears, everything into making this happen. And so I'm appreciative of what she's done for women that look like me. I know for a fact it is impacting this generation because when I walk into offices and I see natural hairstyles, you know, I braids, everything, and it being, you know, part of them. Now, what we have to work on, and what I don't know, is that I'm not inside someone's head around what the page one is that comes up about someone when you see them like that. Yes. But that's never been our issue because I say when I walked into a room as a black woman, how you felt about that was secondary to how I felt about myself. I love that. And I wasn't going to, you know, buy into whatever you thought about me other than presenting who I really was. So when black women show up with natural hair and braids, they're showing the confidence to own who they are. Yes. And I think that gives them the freedom to speak about what it is that they know so well.

SPEAKER_02 7:50

I love it. So when we first met, or when I re first remember meeting you, we were at Jack and Jill.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

At all Jack and Jill.

SPEAKER_02 7:56

You were working for Verizon, but there have been so many corporations since then, and then you've been on corporate boards. So many people want the corporate board, but they don't want the sweat equity that goes into it. So if you had said what led to your first board and what did it really take?

SPEAKER_01 8:12

So my first board, and I tell the story, I didn't even know that much about corporate boards as a thing to aspire to or to want to be a part of. I got a call from a headhunter that said, you know, we're recruiting for the Tommy Hill figure board, and we'd like to talk to you about that. And I thought, oh, well, I knew the brand. I thought that'd be very cool. Yeah. And as I went through the interview process, I kind of got more and more excited about the ability to impact a brand that I thought was really, you know, important. They'd gone through kind of a, unfortunately, the brand had been characterized as having said something in the black community that they never said. Yeah. But it took a life of its own. And so coming into that, I was recognizing of what Tommy Hill figure needed to be in the black community, recognizing that. But it was led by Tommy, and I, you know, I was selected to join the board, and I really felt that it was a natural extension of what I was doing as an executive, a marketing executive in the company. And from that, then I think it's that first board that you get on that that opens the doors so people felt, okay, she's got the right operating role. She's got experience that we want, which is marketing and building desire and preference profitably. She's been vetted to be on a board. She understands what it's like to be in the boardroom because board directors give direction, not directives. Management. Management runs the company, and board of directors give advice and guidance around that. Okay. So then I got more calls around what I consider what I'd be interested in joining other boards.

SPEAKER_02 9:46

So does the boardroom still need some diversity?

SPEAKER_01 9:50

Of course. Of course. Absolutely. I mean, is the strides that we're making are still not enough. Okay. And when you look at the numbers, you know, women certainly, the gender, you know, when we talk about the diversity Olympics, certainly white women have won that because there's more representation of white women, but still there the balance of, you know, people of color and blacks in particular. I think the last survey I saw was that we were about maybe three and a half to five percent of all seats.

SPEAKER_02 10:16

Oh my goodness. That is very small. That is very small.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

So, but more and more people are getting calls, and I, when people call me, I say, okay, I'm you know, I'm not interested, but here's someone to call. Yes, yes. So rather than calling me five times, call these five people. Yes. And when I get calls all the time, every week someone calls me about or emails me about an opening for a director, and they're looking for a marketer. And I say, Here are 33 people that you can speak to, and they're all Becca members. And so they are getting calls.

SPEAKER_02 10:47

So is marketing the best trajectory to a board seat, or what other kinds of roles?

SPEAKER_01 10:52

Actually, there are fewer marketers in board seats. I wouldn't say it's the best, but you know, as a marketer, I think marketing is the best profession to be in. Yes. Uh but boards are looking for some, they want financial experience, they want cybersecurity experience, they want um, you know, legal. It depends upon what they're looking for. But more companies are now recognizing that marketing and differentiation and purpose is really important and should be elevated to a board seat with that kind of expertise. So more marketers are joining boards, much like more marketers are becoming CEOs.

SPEAKER_02 11:27

Yes. So I run the Global Black Women's Chamber of Commerce, black women business owners, and more and more I see nonprofit women wanting to own their own businesses. COVID has certainly allowed people to pivot, as they say. But what's the role for the nonprofit woman who wants to go to corporate America?

SPEAKER_01 11:44

So, okay, that's a great question that I'm not qualified to answer. Okay. And I'll tell you why. Okay. Because my whole journey has been through corporate America. Yeah. And not just corporate America, but Fortune 500, Fortune 100. And that's a big So it's my experience. I say that I get paid on the 15th and the 30th, regardless of whether or not the company got paid. Yes. And even when I think about the boards I serve on, Under Armour, Dow, Cars.com, Root, they're all publicly traded, you know, companies. And so if you are a nonprofit leader trying to get on a corporate board or corporate role, just a lot of people. No, corporate role. Corporate role into corporate board. What I think somewhere along the way, I'm hoping that you had some experience outside of nonprofit. Yes. But if you've had nonprofit experience that you think is in a sector of an organization that needs that, then you're ripe for it. Okay. So now I'm talking about what I think versus what I know. Yeah. I believe that if you are running a nonprofit in a sector and there are corporations that are in that same sector, that there are areas that you can provide expertise in that they will need because you've been on the ground at that. Yes. And I would also look at other nonprofit leaders that may serve on boards and say, Exactly. Now how did they okay? So what was their background and how did they get there? Ah, I get it. And I would reach out to them. LinkedIn, you know what? LinkedIn is a beautiful thing. You can reach out to people and say, Hi, you know. Do we share something? We share. I'm interested. Would you have five minutes? If you have five minutes, and they respond. And they respond. And when you see people that have had a similar journey, having been on a nonprofit and going to a corporation, talk to them about how they did that. But I do believe it's about being able to characterize your experience in a way that makes it interesting and compelling for a company. Business school.

SPEAKER_02 13:27

So the young person is graduating from college, do they need it if they want to be a young entrepreneur? Do they need it these days? Or do you say, go out, try your entrepreneurship, and then maybe business school later? I mean, there's money to be made, but what would you suggest?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

I don't think they need business school, but they need to know business.

SPEAKER_02 13:44

Ah.

SPEAKER_01 13:45

So the question becomes, where are you going to learn business? Where are you going to learn, you know, all of what you're going to need to run your business? And is that that you're going to be an intern somewhere? Are you going to shadow someone? Are you going to You're going to have to learn an apprentice. Yeah. Learn the business. And if you've learned that through osmosis or watching or just sheer, just, you know, when I started Becca, I had never run anything my life. I, you know, I had to find out how to file for a 501c3 or a nonprofit. I had to trademark a name. I had to get office space. I had to create bylaws and amendment and build a board and all the things that you have to do and hire people and pay them. And so, you know, if you can learn that somewhere, then that's great. You have to learn it. But you have to learn it. Business school is a great way to do that, but you don't need it to be an entrepreneur. And I don't think you absolutely need an MBA to be successful in marketing. I've always said that I think companies use it as a screening tool. It's like, okay, I don't have to go through a hundred applications. I'll go through these 20 that have an MBA. But I do appreciate my MBA. I learned a lot from my MBA, but I don't think it's as necessary as it used to be. There's so many people that have brilliant ideas. And the tools that you can, you know, the barriers to starting a company now have kind of gone by the wayside. There's so many brands on Instagram that don't have a website, that don't have an office, that don't, but they can sell.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

They can sell, and they have that social media that helps them amplify their message or their platform.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

And people should go for it. If you have a dream to do that, do it now. Don't wait.

SPEAKER_02 15:19

Exactly. Especially young. Go for it. Your time, you know? So we're neighbors in a wonderfully historically African American community. So we've just celebrated a 75th anniversary. Talk to us about now. You've gone to historically black colleges. Talk to us about living in Azure, Sag Harbor, the village of Sag Harbor.

SPEAKER_01 15:39

Well, I first have to thank you for that amazing job that you did, Sujay, on our 75th anniversary. That film that you did interviewing so many of the people that have made our community so special was beautiful. It was touching, and it's something that we'll all live with. And you said how many hours did you spend on that?

SPEAKER_02 15:57

100 in editing, about two summers. Just take my beach time, two summers, but it's going to air on LTV and probably will have air by the time this airs as well.

SPEAKER_01 16:06

Okay, well that will be Must C TV.

SPEAKER_02 16:07

Yeah, thank you a few times. Oh, great. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 16:10

But no, you know, we built our house in Sag Harbor in 2003 after many years of visiting and being other people's guests. Yeah. The first person that invited us out was Susan Taylor.

SPEAKER_03 16:21

Oh my.

SPEAKER_01 16:22

And Susan Taylor invited us. I was, even though I'm a New Yorker born and raised, I lived other places, other countries, came to New York, and we were living in the city, and Susan invited us out, and we were like, wow, this is a beautiful community. This is an African-American, historically African-American community. And I saw so many people that I knew. And I thought, what a beautiful community to raise my children. Because you can live anywhere. Right. But the idea of being around people that I knew and that, you know, we shared this kind of rich heritage and appreciation for you know the people that went before us, the Maud Terries of the world that created this special community. So I love it. And you can walk out your door and be safe and wave. Exactly. Have the birds wake up. Have the birds wake you up. We're on the ocean. It's beautiful. And you know, raising my family and now my grandchild growing up there. I love it. It's just so special. And I was talking to my husband the other day, and I said, you know what? When we were living in New York and coming on the weekends, we didn't take advantage of everything and all the races. And so I said, I feel bad that my kids didn't run in the races when they were little. But my grandson and my grandchildren will definitely be in the races.

SPEAKER_02 17:25

They have to, that's the big deal. The races on Labor Day weekend. Yes. It's a big deal. So let's talk about children and motherhood. And now our children, when we were in Jack and Jill, were children. Right. Now they're adults. So what's it like mothering a mother?

SPEAKER_01 17:41

Well, you know, mothering, because I have two children, my son and my daughter. And but mothering, watching my daughter mother, has been beautiful. She is kind, she is patient. She, our grandson's name is Mavi, which means blue in Turkish. His father is Turkish. Oh wow. Amut and Brooke are loving parents. They talk to Mavi in a way that is soothing, and they talk to him like an adult. They say, Well, Mavi, you're gonna have to put that down, or that's dangerous. And when I grew up, it was like, no. Put it down, put it down, put it down. But they say, No, that's dangerous. And she'll walk him over. You can't do that. You should do that. And he has the patience to sit down and have a book read to him because he's not in front of devices. He has no electronic devices. So you can read him and he points and he talks. He's gonna be too soon. But so it's beautiful to see, and also beautiful to watch how I need to evolve as a grandparent, right? Because I'm now number two. Right. I'm now num number one. And so my only desire is to put forth their desires. And I always say, I want to be that, he calls me Mimi, or I I tell him to call me Mimi. I want to be that Mimi that gets invited back. So I don't have any opinions other than what they want.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

Exactly. You know, my favorite moment in life was my mother standing over me as I became a mother, just to have those three generations. I was just like, this is wonderful. And I have sons now too. So I have two sons. So I have a different experience because they will have wives, hopefully. But I say this I have to learn how to mother and not smother because they're boys, they're men. And so giving them the room to be the men they need to be. So how do you parent differently with your son?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Well, the one thing that you made me think of is my mother is alive at 88 years old. Not just alive, but sharp, witty. Wow. All of they she and my father, who are who was 99, they just drove to Nashville. No, and they still drive, they still travel, they fly, everything. Oh my god. So it's four generations my mother, me, my daughter, and my grandson. Wow. And we all in this, you know, this family are appreciative of what it is the parents want. And so, you know, I I think um with my children, I definitely was a helicopter mom. I had a lot of guilt about being a working mom and and not being there for all of the activities. And so when I was there, I probably did smother. But certainly my children have put me in my place around what's my business and what's their business. They make sure of that. So now I've learned when to step back. I never stop parenting. I'm still giving lessons. I'm still, and my son will sometimes say, I've got this mom. Or my daughter was telling me the other day, well, if you don't want to take, you know, feedback, I was like, no, no, I want to hear. I want to hear because I'm learning now, it's the reverse learning. I'm learning from them. Exactly. And of course, my mom is always filled with wisdom. Every day I talk to her. If I give her, and I talk to her every day, if I give her a situation, she rolls it through and she says, you know what? What I'm thinking is or what I'm feeling is, and she's got this intuition about people and situations. That's just beautiful. So yeah, I knock on wood because I am fortunate and I have an amazing husband. We've been together 38 years. So two beautiful children, a grandchild, my parents, you know, life wonderful friends that I love.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Yeah. So you're like, my countenance is beautiful. So if you had to say A plus B plus C is success, what's your A B? And maybe C.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Sujay, what a great question. I try to ask you. You're doing more than trying, because I've had I've done several interviews, my A, B, and C of what equals success. Well, I think the first thing is knowing that you're worthy of it, right? Wanting to be successful. Because the desire fuels what you get. What do you want? And early on I used to ask for things that I wanted, but then I found the peace to ask God for what I needed. Don't give me what I want, give me what I need. But I felt that I was worthy of being happy and successful. I was worthy of that. I'd say the first thing. The second thing, and and I credit my mom with give instilling me with that confidence and understanding because there are a lot of things that she had to make sure that I did well. I followed that then with having picked the right partner in life. A lot of where you go and what you can do is who's on that journey with you. Yes. You know, and if I had picked someone other than Greg Smith to be my partner, where he'd say he would check me when I was wrong, he'd support me and cheerlead me when I did things that were well. There was no competition. Yes, yes, you know. I could salute and celebrate him, and he could do that with me. We have the same values about the children that we wanted to raise and how we wanted to raise them and making time for that. And so I would say, you know, desire and then the right kind of network and group. And then putting myself in situations where I could flourish, where I could be myself and be valued and respected.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

That's good. And they say, what's good to success if you have no one to share it with? So you have many villages. You have your work village, your Becca village, your family village, Sack Harper Village. So is there another village we don't know about that brings you joy?

SPEAKER_01 22:35

I live in Boca. I live in Boca Ratone, Florida, part of the time too. So that brings me a lot of joy, especially in the winter.

SPEAKER_02 22:41

Oh, I know that's right. I spent last winter in Fort Lauderdale, and I think I'm gonna be a snow bearer. Oh, really? I'm leaning towards it. We'd love to have you. Oh, it's wonderful. Yeah, it's wonderful. You hosted me, you and Greg hosted me when I came to London as the U.S. Ambassador. What were you doing in London at that time?

SPEAKER_01 23:02

So when I was in London, I just moved from Helsinki, Finland. I moved to from New York to Helsinki to be the executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Nokia. Yes. And so Nokia is based in Helsinki, and that was an amazing experience. And after living in Helsinki, then I moved to London. And so that's where I was. And we really, you know, as a New Yorker, you thought that I lived in a very diverse world. Yes. You moved to London and you realize that it's such a rich environment of cultures and languages and customs. And you know, even though we speak the same language, it's very different. Yeah. But I really loved it. And the beauty of London is like it's the center of the universe in terms of traveling to Europe. And so you could get to anywhere in an hour. And we took full advantage. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:48

Well, thank you for the invitation. The night I came was the barrister's dinner. Right, that's right. Yes. Yes. You are good, CJ.

SPEAKER_01 23:55

You are good, Sujay. You don't forget.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

I try not to. But it was just good to see you flourishing. Well, you're a world traveler, so we were honored to have you to have us on one of your stops. Yeah, you know, I'm glad to be back home now. I'm glad that we have Sag Carver. Yes. You know, I had all 199 countries in my portfolio. So they had me on a plane. They were like, where do you live? Or on whatever airline I was flying on. But what an experience, though, right? Quite an experience. And you know, to see the family also enjoy it. Now there was a day you talk about going to the events. I was trying to be a helicopter mom. I flew from China to my son's pin relays. He was a shot put. And you know, you try to do the things you could as a mother, you know, and when he looked up, boys only look up for four seconds. But they see there, I was like, you know, I love being a parent and I love what I'm doing. So what's a highlight for you of your life?

SPEAKER_01 24:42

Just being a grandmother. It is, it is, oh my God, it brings me so much joy. And you know, there are things that I would have done and could have done where I would not have been as present as I am now in his life. And at the time I looked at it as like disappointing, but now I see God's plan. Like if I had done that, I wouldn't be able to be here. They live in the city in Chelsea, so they come and they spend, you know, Thursday through Sunday with me.

SPEAKER_02 25:09

Oh, I just love it.

SPEAKER_01 25:11

And I can go to the city and spend time with them. And if I was doing some of the things that I would have done, I wouldn't have been able to do that. So I'll never get this time back in his life, and I'm enjoying it. I'm so glad. You mentioned God. Does faith play a role in your life? Absolutely. And you know, the thing about it is that I have so many friends that how religion lives either outwardly or inwardly. And I would say I'm more inwardly than outwardly. But what I know is that I have always embraced the fact that God has a plan for me.

SPEAKER_03 25:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:40

That I believe that what he does for me is divine for me.

SPEAKER_03 25:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:44

And that I have to be able to recognize, appreciate, celebrate, and love him as he loves me.

SPEAKER_03 25:51

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 25:51

And so when I think about my parents and my children and my gifts and my blessings, I do thank God for that.

SPEAKER_02 25:59

Wow, what a blessed woman. So SAC Harbor allows me to live my faith inwardly because I'm so outwardly on all the time. So to find a place where I can have just my time with God is wonderful. So the beauty of the ocean, the beauty of the bay is wonderful, and the beauty of wonderful neighbors and friends. So I thank you for being a guest with us. So we didn't get a chance the other night, but can you look right there and say, Happy 75th anniversary Azure? Happy 75th birthday, Azure Est. And happy 75th anniversary Azure. And thank you for sharing with us. And my special guest has been Jerry DeVard, founder of Becca. And we are so glad that you joined us. You can join us Wednesdays. We're also going to be on the website. A shout out to my crew who made this happen, and a shout out to you for sharing this time with us. You can find me at globalblackwomencc.org or you can find me right here. Until the next time, be well. Take care and God bless. It's been an amazing, an amazing show today. Jerry DeVard, founder of Becca. It's been amazing also because you've been with us. And so we thank you so much for all that you do to share with us and tune in each week. Continue to send in your comments to askdrsuj.com and just visit my website, Dr. Sujay Global. That's D-R-S-U-J-A-Y Global.com. Find out what we're up to. We've got exciting things for men and women who are leaders in this world that are making a difference. We want to help take you to your next level of impact and influence. That's what I do. That's who I am. That's my mission. And Ask Dr. Sujay and Soul Fully Sujay are helping to take us farther. So visit us, stay in touch with us, share it. A share is better than a comment, and a comment's better than a like, but we need all three of them. So do that and stay tuned with Ask Dr. Sujay. Until next time, stay well.

SPEAKER_00 27:59

So that's it for today's episode of Ask Dr. Sujay. Head on over to Apple Podcasts iTunes or wherever you subscribe to listen to the show. One lucky listener every single week who posts a review on Apple Podcasts or iTunes will win a chance in the grand prize drawing to win a fifteen thousand dollar private VIP day with Dr. Sujay herself. Be sure to head on over to askdrsujay.com and pick up a free copy of Dr. Suja's gift and join us on the next episode.