Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I am on the phone with my bff, Alicia Lewis, and let me tell you about my friend Leisha Lewis. How you doing, first of all?
[00:00:08] Speaker B: Absolutely wonderful.
That's good.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: I've known her for decades, literally, as a student at Specs Howard when I was a young girl myself, teaching at Specs Howard School. And, Leisha, you've gone on to do so many tremendous things, including your mental health, military career, and so much more. But right now, you're doing something so out of the box for you.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:00:35] Speaker A: You are representing Van Buren Township as Ms. Van Buren Township, and you're going on to compete in what is called Miss Michigan Corporate America. Lisha, tell me a little bit about that.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: So Ms. Michigan Corporate America. You know, I had not heard of Miss Michigan Corporate America. Right. And I was contacted by the president by messenger, and she said that she'd seen my photo and was intrigued by it, and she was wondering if I would be interested in competing.
And so she asked me to go to the website and just read up about it.
So I did that, and I prayed about it because it's totally just like you mentioned, out of my norm.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Being in a competition like this is not something I would have thought of to do on my own, but I honestly felt that this was the Lord leading me and giving me a platform for my movement.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: And that's how I got involved in it. But when I contacted her back, you know, because my platform is so sensitive, I asked her if we could meet first and I would present it to her. And so I did that. And she. She was so funny. She said, you know, I never choose a contestant by their photo ever. And, you know, if for anybody who has dated online, they probably know exactly what she's talking about, because your photo could look one way and you walk in and you're another person. Yeah.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: For real.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: So she. So she said when we met and when I walked in, she just said, oh, thank you.
I think I made the right decision.
The right decision. And so I presented my platform to her, and she loved it. But she needed me to write an executive summary for the higher ups in Ms. Corporate America because of the sensitivity of my platform.
[00:02:37] Speaker A: So your platform is repurposing, renewing, and making the N word. Something that people will say with pride. We're not going to say it on the air, but what is the name of your platform so that we all can understand this?
[00:02:57] Speaker B: So the business is called Extraordinary Black Race, but the acronym for what we're trying to get the dictionaries to replace is Naturally intelligent, gifted, generous, extraordinary race.
That's the word that we want the dictionaries to replace because it's rooted in dignity and pride.
[00:03:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:22] Speaker B: And that's what we need. We're more than what they have in the dictionary right now, which is, you know, derogatory word used towards black people. Well, we're better than that.
[00:03:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we are. I absolutely loved it when you presented it to me. I mean, literally years ago.
[00:03:37] Speaker B: Yeah. In 2020.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. And, you know, you to be able to develop this and now bring it to another platform that is so unknown to you is amazing. And they have a way for us to actually be involved with this, to either witness you at the pageant, which is on Saturday, or they can help you with the audience choice award too.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: Yes, they can. I have the website address here. They can go to my socials. They can just look up Lisa Johnson Lewis, or they can go to the Ms. Corporate America Michigan Facebook page and vote.
But the address, that's a lot.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: So what I've been doing on my flyers and my posts, I just tell people, text me.
Just text me and I'll send you the link directly.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Ah, yeah.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: You can't go to my social media pages.
Just text me at 734-604-5882 and I will send you the link directly.
[00:04:40] Speaker A: Absolutely. And we're gonna put it on the website as well so that people can just go and click. And you have such a powerful testimony and story that, you know, both of us have witnessed over the last few years. And I'm just so happy for you and I'm just so proud of my friend because.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Oh, I appreciate you.
[00:05:02] Speaker A: You just don't know, go through in the background. But then, you know, to see you doing this, like doing videos and in the gym and helping people and you out there, I'm like, this, my girl,
[00:05:17] Speaker B: she's out there.
[00:05:20] Speaker A: Well, again, I'm gonna put everything on the website at randymiles Online and I
[00:05:27] Speaker B: have a QR code for you as well. Okay. I have a QR code that they can scan and just go straight to my voting.
[00:05:33] Speaker A: And we could do that at randymiles Online. And sure that we get all that information, everybody, because I want people to participate, see who you are, and make sure that down the line we're going to see that word changed in the dictionary.
[00:05:48] Speaker B: Absolutely. And with everyone's help, we can do that. And just so you know, Bean, and I know people are laughing, why she called her Bean.
[00:05:55] Speaker A: Nobody else but you and the boys.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: But Bean is a name that I had given her over 20 years ago and I've been calling her that ever since and she answers to it religiously. But but I will definitely send you that QR code and I want you to let your listeners know that they can vote from anywhere in the world.
[00:06:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. We're gonna get all that on the website. And Lisha, thank you so much. I'm so excited for Saturday. I don't know what to do.
[00:06:26] Speaker B: Thank you. I am so grateful for this. And can I give a shout out to my sister Queens right quick?
[00:06:31] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:06:32] Speaker B: Okay. I wanna give a shout out to Michelle, Ms. Ann Arbor, to Natty B. Ms. Detroit, to Lavay Southfield and Ashley, Ms. Lansing and to our President and CEO Dr. Chanel de Guzeman and our current Queen Dr. Angela Mack and our wonderful ambassador Rose Davis.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: All right. Thank you so much, Leisha. I'll talk to you soon.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Okay, thank you.
