Karen Horne on Power, Pay, and Mothering Hollywood From the Inside
Guest: Karen Horne
Titles: Talent Development & Inclusion Leader; Former SVP, Enterprise Inclusion (WarnerMedia); Former Executive (NBC Entertainment/Universal Television; Disney; Nickelodeon)
Episode Theme: What real access looks like in Hollywood—and why “diversity promises” don’t matter without power, hiring, and accountability.
Why this matters right now: Post-2020 backlash, layoffs, and rollbacks have hit Black women first, again. Karen breaks down how the industry performs equity while keeping decision-making and greenlight power out of reach.
Karen Horne has been building careers from the inside of Hollywood long before the industry learned the language for it. Not as a mascot. Not as a “moment.” As infrastructure. In this conversation, she maps the gap between what studios say they value and what the numbers prove—and she’s clear about what has to change if Black women and Black gender-expansive creatives are going to move from “invited” to empowered.
What we talk about
How early access and opportunity shaped her leadership path (00:03:03)
What the 2020 inclusion promises were—and how quickly they disappeared (00:14:17)
Why Hollywood’s “liberal” image doesn’t translate to real equity (00:16:00)
Being restructured out during industry shifts—and what that revealed (00:17:11)
Why studio writing programs are more competitive than Ivy League schools (00:25:04)
Why you’ll want to listen
Language for naming the pattern: Black women as the canary in the coal mine (00:15:18)
A reality check on why “programs” aren’t the same as hiring and greenlight power (00:23:33)
Practical money talk: salary truth, consulting rates, and charging what your expertise costs (00:28:29)
A craft gem for writers: “a hat on a hat” and how to stop over-writing the joke (00:33:12)
A permission slip to put yourself first, especially when you’ve been carrying everyone else (00:37:37)
About the guest
Karen Horne is a nationally respected leader in talent development and industry inclusion whose work has helped shape pipelines for writers, directors, and executives across film and television. She has held senior roles at WarnerMedia and NBC Entertainment/Universal Television, with prior leadership at Disney and Nickelodeon. Today, she consults and coaches across the industry while continuing her community impact through nonprofit and board leadership.
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Introduction
Fanshen Cox [00:00:00]: Welcome back to the SistaBrunch Podcast. And this is our season seven. We are building the largest archive anywhere of the stories of Black women and Black gender expansive people who are thriving, killing it, doing it all in the entertainment industry. We're so excited for today's guest. She is a nationally respected leader in talent development and industry inclusion whose work has shaped the careers of countless emerging storytellers.
This is the thing is like, we never get to talk about all the influence that you’ve had in the industry, but we might be naming some names today. As Senior Vice President of Enterprise Inclusion at WarnerMedia, and previously at NBC Entertainment, Universal Television, Disney, and Nickelodeon, she has built and led some of Hollywood’s most influential programs designed to elevate underrepresented creators across film and TV.
Sista Brunch family, please join me in welcoming a visionary architect of equity in entertainment, my dear friend, Karen Horne.
Karen Horne [00:00:29]: Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to talk to you today.
Fanshen Cox [00:00:33]: We are so excited. This has been years in the making. I think I met you—I always like to just share these—like, it was when I first entered into the industry, in like 2016, 2017, at ABFF. And I remember, I think it was Kelly Edwards who told me about you. And, and, and you were in one of the suites. You know how you, like, get a suite at the hotel. And, and you just had all of these adoring fans around you. And I thought, how can I get—move my way into there?
And this is, this is why we do Sister Brunch, because I think the world should know about you and your influence, Karen, truly. Yeah. And you don't talk about it a lot.
Karen Horne [00:01:21]: I think I have just been really blessed to be in a position where—where I was able to have that influence. You can want to do a lot of things, but you have to be in a place where people give you access. One of the things I've always said, talent and access plus opportunity equals success. So I was very lucky and fortunate to be in places where I could provide opportunity for people and help them succeed.
Karen’s Journey Into Television
Fanshen Cox [00:01:51]: Okay, how did you get that? Right? Agreed. But, but take us back to as far back as you want. Sure.
Karen Horne [00:01:59]: I mean, I—I mean, I'd love to kind of tell the story. I wanted to work in television and broadcasting since I can remember. Like, I have an older sister who studied— in our high school we had a television station—and she came home one day and had to look at television, a show, to see how many cameras there were. And, and that's when I kind of recognized that television is more than what we see. There's people behind the scenes.
I've always been a news junkie, and I wanted to be Barbara Walters growing up and studied broadcasting in college. In my senior year, I got a job working at ABC in New York. And I actually got to meet Barbara Walters, who was really gracious and said, like, you're the reason why I continue to do this. Keep at it.
But then I stood back and I looked at the line of people waiting to meet Barbara Walters and the line of people waiting to meet her boss. And I was like, who is he and what does he do? Because she's Barbara Walters and more people want to meet him than her. And that's when I learned about the offices that I've had the privilege of sitting in for throughout most of my career. So.
Fanshen Cox [00:03:03]: And I'm sorry, where were you born?
Karen Horne [00:03:05]: New Jersey. I'm a Jersey girl.
Fanshen Cox [00:03:08]: We have Effie Brown on this season, also from New Jersey. I don't know if you knew that, but for both of you to have, you know. And of course New York is right there, but we're in LA, right? So to have made that trek from there.
Karen Horne [00:03:22]: I'll tell you how I got there. So I was working at ABC, got a job working at ABC Sports. And I—
Fanshen Cox [00:03:30]: And out of college, out of undergrad.
Karen Horne [00:03:31]: Senior year of college I did. I finished my senior year while working at ABC.
Fanshen Cox [00:03:35]: And what did you study?
Karen Horne [00:03:36]: I studied broadcasting.
Fanshen Cox [00:03:37]: Okay, you studied broadcasting undergrad. And where?
Karen Horne [00:03:40]: At Montclair State University, which is the number one state university in New Jersey. It is a much better school now than it was when I went there. I actually serve on their board for their School of Communications Arts and, you know, television. But it's a fantastic school for broadcasting and television.
And that's where I knew I wanted to do, and that's where I could afford to go to. And that's where I went, but got a job working at ABC Sports. And because I had to do our competitive information reports, I would come in really, really early in the morning to do those reports because I sucked at typing. And I knew, like, I wasn't good at that. But I wanted to get it out of the way before the day began.
And the only other person who came in that early in the morning was the person who was vice president of our department. And so when his desk—desk—became open, he asked me to come work for him. He's like, I know you can't type, but you're really good with people, and that's what I need on my desk.
So I did. And he was a rising star at the company and in the industry. And he was promoted and kept bringing me along as his—with his promotions. And he eventually was asked to move to Los Angeles to be president of ABC Entertainment. And he moved me from New York to Los Angeles with him. And that person's Bob Iger, who is—
Fanshen Cox [00:04:52]: Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I did not know this about your story.
Karen Horne [00:05:00]: Yeah, that's how I started my career. I don't often tell it. I don't often say it because—
Fanshen Cox [00:05:05]: Which again, though, see, this is why we do this, because this is part of—first of all, I would like for him to say your name out loud.
Karen Horne [00:05:13]: Yeah, I would too. Yes.
Fanshen Cox [00:05:15]: Right. And the folks that really have been behind the scenes helping someone like Bob Iger go from where he was to where he is now—this is what's missing. This is why we do this, because everybody should know who you are.
Karen Horne [00:05:31]: Yeah. I mean, I'd love to say that I'm responsible for Bob Iger's success. I mean, I listen, I always said to him, like, all the good things happened when I worked for you. So, like, uh, just saying.
But what's important there is that Bob is recognized as one of the best leaders. He wrote a book on leadership, and that's how I learned how to be a leader. And that's one of the things I pride myself most on—how I not only lead my teams, the people who work with me and under me, but also the people that I support.
Like, so if I'm in a writing program, I'm doing a writing program. How I lead those writers is really important to me, and how I treat them is really important to me. And I think a lot of that I got to learn working under Bob for like eight or nine years. So yeah.
Finding Her Path in Talent Development
Fanshen Cox [00:06:14]: Yeah. Okay, amazing. So, and, and, and now let's transition some into—because you, you ended up in that impact space, which is really, again, you've changed the industry in ways that folks don't even realize because of the ways that you nurtured emerging storytellers. So how did you end up in that space?
Karen Horne [00:06:36]: So when I left, Bob got promoted and moved back to New York to be head of all of ABC. And I—my boyfriend moved out with me. We were married. He was working at Warner Brothers. And I was like, I'm going to stay in Los Angeles and not move back.
And I always used to joke that my first name was Karen, my last name was in Bob Iger's office. And so I knew that I had to fly the nest in order to make it on my own. When I left ABC, I got a job working for an organization called the Black Flag Filmmaker Foundation. Different from ABFF, it was run by Warrington Hudlin. And it was an organization that was created to help promote Black filmmakers.
And I think it was there that really kind of—I found my love for finding new talent and nurturing them. During that time, I got pregnant with my first kid, and I sold a series to HBO that I produced. It was an adult animated series based on a comic book called Spawn. We won three Emmys.
Fanshen Cox [00:07:36]: I know Spawn! Wait, okay, how come that's not on bio? And also—okay, okay—you did Spawn.
Karen Horne [00:07:42]: I did, yeah. Yeah, as a producer. A producer.
Fanshen Cox [00:07:46]: As a producer—you pitched, you sold it.
Karen Horne [00:07:48]: Yeah. I mean, Andy, my husband, found it, and he was a big comic book fan. And so he found it. But that wasn't under contract with Warner Brothers. So we fostered this relationship with Todd McFarlane, the guy who created it. And Todd was like, let's sell it. And so I sold it to HBO and produced it. Yeah.
But so I was going to be a stay-at-home mom slash producer with my first kid. And then Disney called me and asked me if I would—and this was before Bob—Disney called me and asked me if I would be interested in talking to them about running their writing and directing efforts there. And that's when I first started doing the Disney Writer Fellowship program, which is now the ABC Fellowship program, and their directing program.
I was part of that creative team for Disney ABC, which is now ABC Studios. So I did that and then got pregnant with my second child. And I knew I couldn't run what was that department then at Disney and be a mom to two kids, which was more important to me.
So Nickelodeon had been pursuing me about helping them start writing and talent development programs there. So I left Disney and went to Nickelodeon because they were allowing me to do it as a quote-unquote consultant, consultant. But I did everything there. But it gave me the opportunity to be at home with my kids a little bit more.
Fanshen Cox [00:09:07]: Love it.
Karen Horne [00:09:07]: And so I did that.
Motherhood & Leadership
Fanshen Cox [00:09:09]: Okay. Yeah, let’s—because now, I mean, even just with your first child. We’ve had this question before, and no one on our producing team has been able to answer this question. And we didn’t dig in with other guests before about being a mom and—
Karen Horne [00:09:24]: Doing—being a Black mom too, by the way. That’s a little different.
Fanshen Cox [00:09:28]: A lot different. Right. Being a Black woman, period. A Black mom, raising kids and doing all of this. How did you do it?
Karen Horne [00:09:36]: I mean, I see—and I point at the Black mom because we don’t grow up with having nannies and other people take care of our children.
Fanshen Cox [00:09:42]: Right.
Karen Horne [00:09:43]: So I took care of my kids, you know. And I didn’t—you know, listen, I had a great partner, and I did have babysitters and stuff, but I didn’t have a nanny. You know, like, I had to make sure that someone was picking up my kid, you know. So I, I, I—you know, how I did it is just I did, like, I grew up having to do what you needed to do to get done, to get what you need to get done. And I did it, you know, and I did it. And I often say—and I believe this—is that being a mother made me a better executive, and being an executive made me a better mom. It made me a better mom because I didn’t have time to be a helicopter mom. Like, you know, I was like, “Y’all, let’s figure this out.” Yeah. You know, my mom, who was a single parent, said to me, “I can’t read your mind. Tell me what’s on it,” and, you know, let’s get stuff done. And then being a mom helped me be a better executive because I didn’t sweat the small stuff. Like, when you see a kid who’s, like, you know, broken an arm or something like that, you figure out how to do it, and you don’t—you just don’t sweat small stuff. And, and oftentimes you have to treat your colleagues like kids. And I was able to do so, so—and get what we need to be done.
Fanshen Cox [00:10:47]: Let’s talk about that. Right, right. So you were kind of—and again, I mean, that goes back to the Black mom thing—is like, a lot of us end up being a bit of a mammy in this industry, but if that to the places we want to go. And somebody does have to be the mom. Right? Like, somebody has to make the hard decisions often.
Karen Horne [00:11:05]: And what I do really calls—like, when you’re creating avenues and path roads for people to, to do. And I say, like, when you want to be a writer, actor, or director, it’s not just a job for you. It’s your dream. Right. It’s not just a job. So having the opportunity to kind of nurture that, it’s like being a mom to those. I mean, I used to walk around with my writers following me behind like a mama duckling and my little ducklings following me.
Fanshen Cox [00:11:31]: That was ABFF. I just saw—I was like, oh my goodness, I gotta get in line with all, you know, adoring fans.
Karen Horne [00:11:38]: And I think, you know, it’s part of my astrological sign, if you will. It’s part of me being a mom and a nurturer at heart.
Fanshen Cox [00:11:44]: And yeah, so we’ve—okay, so we’ve got one big name already who’s lucky to be named with you at the same time: Karen Horne and Bob Iger. Are you able to name any, any other folks that you—whose careers you were part of developing there?
Karen Horne [00:12:01]: Listen, I’ve been in this game for a minute, so there are a lot. And I love them equally. And if I forget some of them, I’m going to feel bad about it. But, like, Saladin Patterson was one of my first writers at Disney, and I flew him out from Alabama, and he’d never been to California before. And I showed him around our Disney lot. And then, in my car, I had a sticker for Warner Brothers because my Andy—my husband at the time—was working at Warner Brothers. And so I drove him around the Warner Brothers lot and moved him here. And whenever we see—whenever I see him now and he’s with his kids, who are adults, he’s like, “If it wasn’t for her, you wouldn’t be here.” Like, he says that in front of that. And so, so, so Saladin is one of the writers that I’m like—he was one of my first. But there are other writers like Felicia Henderson now, who’s doing the revival of A Different World.
Fanshen Cox [00:12:57]: Henderson is going to be on the—is a guest on the podcast.
Karen Horne [00:13:00]: She was in my NBC—my NBC writing program. Then Britney—Britney—Matt, who did Harlem, was in my NBC writing program. Ketoshimitsu, who is a showrunner, creator. Kirk Moore. I—the list just goes. I mean, I can’t—I’m forgetting people.
Fanshen Cox [00:13:18]: No, this is good.
Karen Horne [00:13:20]: There’s actors like Emayatzy Corinealdi, who was in my scenes showcase, who’s on Reasonable Doubt. I can’t—like, I’m gonna forget a lot of them. But directors—there are directors out who are doing fantastic things. It’s great.
Join Us on Patreon
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Karen Horne [00:27:19]: Hi, I’m Karen Horne, and you are listening to the Sista Brunch podcast.
Let’s Talk About Finances
Fanshen Cox [00:27:25]: So we like to talk about financials, whatever you’re comfortable with—whether that is salary when you were working for these… for these studios, whether that’s budget for the programs, or whether that’s what—how you’re doing and what you’re doing now to kind of survive and pay all the bills. Whatever you’re comfortable with.
Karen Horne [00:27:48]: Yeah, sure. You know, when I was at NBC, I—when I left NBC, I was senior vice president of a department there. And I found out when I left, or I found out when a colleague of mine who worked in alternative—a white guy who was vice president—he made over a hundred thousand dollars more per year than I did as a senior vice president running a department. So at NBC, when I left NBC, the salary—listen, like, it depends on where you’re listening to this from. You know, in California, the salary was okay, but it wasn’t great. When I went to WarnerMedia, the salary was really good, and I was really happy there.
Fanshen Cox [00:28:30]: You say six figures for sure? High six figures—are you comfortable with—
Karen Horne [00:28:36]: It was six figures at NBC. Okay. It was, you know, in the high twos at NBC. Okay with that. But at WarnerMedia, with bonus and everything, it was well into more than half a million there. So that was really lovely. And bonus time—like when Discovery acquired us—I got three bonuses that year. I was like, let’s go on vacation. Like, it was—or luckily, what I did was, let’s put this in my savings, because that’s how I’m helping to survive right now.
So right now, like, I—you know, for me now as a coaching consultant, I will tell you, and this is interesting: I am right now working with a production company, and the president of the company knows—like, who asked me to come in and coach and consult with them. I gave her what my rate was, and I found my rate by, like, dividing what my salary was per hour, like with bonus—per hour. Yes. And she said to me, “You’re not charging enough,” because she said there are people who don’t know this industry who are charging a lot more than you. And I think, like, I was new to this game, so I didn’t understand what I should charge. Now that I’m in it, I understand more. And I think it was also not recognizing my worth, because now that I’m working with—
Fanshen Cox [00:29:58]: Like, no—how can Karen Horne not be able to recognize her worth? That says everything about this industry. Okay. Wow.
Karen Horne [00:30:08]: Yeah, I mean, because all what I did is I charged my salary—my, like, the hourly—but I didn’t take into consideration all the work that—who I am—
Fanshen Cox [00:30:17]: The expenses. Yes.
Karen Horne [00:30:18]: Put in before I step in that hour. Yeah. Before—after I step in the hour. The research I do to make sure that I’m diagnosing what’s going on with you and figuring out how to help you with that. Like, all the work that being who I am as a person. I will tell you, I applied for a job once, and they said, “We want a type B personality.” And I was like, “What the hell is a type B personality? And why would someone want that?” You know, like—
Fanshen Cox [00:30:44]: Yes, yes.
Karen Horne [00:30:45]: And—and then I recognized that I am a type A. I knew that. Right. But I do run my teams more on a type B, which is kind of like—I, like, I don’t expect them to come to the level I am, but I—you know, but I—so—
Fanshen Cox [00:31:00]: But you model it for them. They do. Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Karen Horne [00:31:05]: But yeah. So now—listen, I miss that corporate salary. I miss it.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:12]: I mean, I didn’t have a corporate one, but I—yes, I do.
Karen Horne [00:31:15]: I do miss it. You know, but I am doing the things that I love, including serving—serving on the California Film Commission, which I am honored to be able to be a part of that in any way, shape, or form. So, yeah, I do miss it.
Fanshen Cox [00:31:33]: I’ve heard our good friend Kelly Edwards—and we’ll cut this out if she doesn’t give permission—but she’s talking starting at a thousand dollars an hour.
Karen Horne [00:31:42]: Well, yes, I would—I haven’t done that. I mean—
Fanshen Cox [00:31:45]: Okay, can we—can we—are we planting that seed? That you’re worth more than that?
Karen Horne [00:31:48]: Yes, you are planting that seed. Well, more than—so I started coaching with this organization called 3CG Ventures, and it was run by David White, who—when I left NBC, he was the head of SAG. And he tried to get me to come over then, and I was like, “I don’t think I want to work for a union. I want to make more money. Warner Brothers is paying me a lot more than that.” But he said—he actually is now the interim lead of the NFL Players Association—but before that, he said to me, “Don’t walk into a room for less than $500 an hour.”
Fanshen Cox [00:32:19]: There you go. There you go.
Karen Horne [00:32:20]: And I wasn’t there. Like, they’re here. I know.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:23]: And—but—and it’s the same. It’s like I’m like, wait, really? But yes. So we’re here to tell you 100% yes. At least.
Karen Horne [00:32:31]: Yeah. I mean, listen—I—yeah, okay. I mean—
Fanshen Cox [00:32:34]: All right.
Karen Horne [00:32:35]: Yeah.
Fanshen Cox [00:32:35]: Okay, good.
Karen Horne [00:32:35]: I mean, I know I’m worth it. I know I’m worth it. I just have to—
Fanshen Cox [00:32:39]: Yeah, you have to get there. Yep. It’s a mindset shift.
Karen Horne [00:32:41]: Honestly, if people want me, then that’s what they get.
Let’s Talk Tech
Fanshen Cox [00:32:44]: Exactly. Exactly. And at least if we start there—I mean, we have to start there instead of starting at that lower number, and then—and then, you know, they’re not going to give you that number. First number. Yeah. All right, so we’re going to get to our “Let’s Talk Tech” segment. So this is where we ask our guests to tell us a term, a phrase, a piece of technology that you use that, if someone who doesn’t do what you do in the industry hears that word, they don’t know what it is.
Karen Horne [00:33:12]: So it’s a phrase, and I—I use this with writers a lot. And I will say what it is, and I’ll tell you why I chose it, because the phrase is “a hat on a hat.”
Fanshen Cox [00:33:24]: A hat on a hat.
Karen Horne [00:33:27]: And I use it with writers. And a lot of comedy writers often tell a joke on top of another joke, and it doesn’t make the first joke any funnier or doesn’t help their story. So a hat on a hat—like, why would you put another hat on top of a hat? It doesn’t really matter. It doesn’t make it better. Right. It’s just adding to something that’s already there.
And I used it because—I chose it because I wrote a piece on LinkedIn about it, and I had a picture. A friend asked me about, like, what’s my favorite phrase for writers? And I had a picture of me being silly, putting on, like, five—you know, like, I had a pile of hats on top of my head. And I put that picture on LinkedIn, and I said that life sometimes feels like it’s a hat on a hat right now. Right? Like, it just seems like it’s one thing on top of another on top of another thing, and it doesn’t—and it’s not making—none of those things are making us feel better or do better. But we know that there is—you know, like, just when you get to the right point in a story and you see it works, we just have to keep going and work with it. So I would say “hat on a hat” is my phrase that I use a lot and that I think is relevant in more ways than just for writing.
Fanshen Cox [00:34:42]: Okay, we’re gonna get to our—I promise we’re gonna get to our signature question. But this is making—I—I never put it together in my head about you, Karen Horne, that, of course, if you can teach people how to write, you are a badass writer. And what I’m hoping for you is that maybe we get to see some writing.
Karen Horne [00:35:06]: It’s—it’s funny you say that. I even—people always ask me, like, when are you going to write? And I think the best writers write because they can’t not write. The best writers write because they have these stories living in their head. I used to talk about, like, Stephen King, who is a great horror writer, and I was like, who would this guy be if he didn’t have the opportunity to put these stories that live in his head on paper? Right. Like, I would be afraid of that man. Right. I’m not—you know, I have so much in my head. I don’t know, you know, if I ever feel like I need to put them down on paper. I do write. I journal a lot. I do oftentimes write things on, you know, LinkedIn or something that I feel might help other people.
Fanshen Cox [00:35:51]: Viral posts on LinkedIn.
Karen Horne [00:35:54]: You know, like they may help other people a little bit because people are going through a lot now, and we all are, me included. And so—so when I, you know, when I feel like that, I do that. I have a great idea in my head for a—a guilty pleasure that I’m now putting out into the world. I read a lot. But when I was reading—when I was at NBC and I had to read scripts on top of scripts and Warner Brothers scripts—like, you know, in this industry, you have to read a lot over the summer, I would just, like, have to try to find, like, mindless reading. And we were doing Fifty Shades of Grey, the movie, and so the—my feature executives are like, “Have you read the books?” I’m like, “I want to read that stuff,” you know. And they were like, “Read it.” And so I did. And so my guilty pleasure now is reading those romance novels and that stuff like that. And I have a great idea for one.
Fanshen Cox [00:36:43]: Listen, I’m gonna plant a seed then in that case, for real, because we—we are talking this season a lot about verticals, about micro-dramas, and those do really well with this kind of content. So I’m just saying, you’ve been the mama. Yeah. You have nurtured so many people in this industry. What if you give yourself the chance to go ahead and write? I’ll just leave it at that. Okay.
Karen Horne [00:37:08]: Yes. Okay.
Signature Sister Brunch Question
Fanshen Cox [00:37:09]: Our signature—and you know, I’ll be calling you and nudging you now.
Karen Horne [00:37:12]: Exactly.
Fanshen Cox [00:37:13]: Our signature SistaBrunch question. So you and your younger self are sitting down to a sister brunch.
Karen Horne [00:37:20]: Is she able to drink yet?
Fanshen Cox [00:37:21]: She is, yep. You can make her—you can make her 21 and older if you would like. Not that you’re not much older than that. I mean, you’re 21.
Karen Horne [00:37:27]: Ish.
Fanshen Cox [00:37:29]: So what are you both drinking? What are you both eating? And then what do you tell her?
Karen Horne [00:37:37]: So we’re drinking—since it’s brunch—we’re drinking Prosecco with a little elderflower—elderflower liqueur in it—and some lime or grapefruit in it. And we are eating something savory. I’m more of a savory brunch person. But then we’re sharing an amazing pancake, you know, just to top it off—a good sweet at the end of it. And what—what will I say to her? I would say to her, believe. Believe in yourself. Believe that you have earned the right to be here. Believe that you are worthy of the things that people say about you. And stop—don’t—don’t not put yourself first. That’s what I would say to her.
Fanshen Cox [00:38:37]: Thank you.
Karen Horne [00:38:37]: And I hope she tells me that too, because I think, you know, why.
Closing
Fanshen Cox [00:38:41]: I was about to look in your eyes and say, Karen Horne, sister, believe in yourself. You have given so much to so many other people. You have, really.
Karen Horne [00:38:53]: Is this a part where you’re like Barbara Walters and you make me cry? Stop that.
Fanshen Cox [00:38:59]: You have done so much. You have mama’d the industry. You have delivered and birthed so many people. It is your time.
Karen Horne [00:39:10]: Well, I—I will tell you that it really—if, like, I feel like if I left this industry today—like, when I left Warner Brothers, I love—I don’t know if you guys remember, there was a fire on set and someone put, like, this thing—Karen Horne burning it down—when she—like, I, like, I—I had the honor of getting to hear people’s feelings about the work I’ve done in this industry when I left Warner Brothers. And that’s almost like having your eulogy, you know, like, while you’re still giving your flowers, while you’re still alive. And—and—and really, really heartwarming for me. So I—I do believe that if I left this industry today, I will have made an impact on it, and that not a lot of people can say that in any industry—that they single—they specifically have made an impact. And I—and I—I feel that it was—it’s been my honor to do that. It’s been my—I’ve been blessed to be able to do that.
Fanshen Cox [00:40:07]: Thank you.
Karen Horne [00:40:08]: Thank you for having me. Thank you, Fanshen. I love you.
Fanshen Cox [00:40:11]: I love you.
Karen Horne [00:40:13]: Thank you.
Fanshen Cox [00:40:14]: You’re so awesome.
Karen Horne [00:40:15]: Yay.
Fanshen Cox [00:40:19]: SistaBrunch is brought to you by TruJulo Productions. Our show creators are Anya Adams, Christabel Nsiah-Buadi, and me, Fanshen Cox. Our season seven producers are Tasha Rogers and Samantha K. Henderson. Our associate professional producers are Charlie T. Savage and Ashanti Groves. Sista Brunch is recorded on the unceded territory of the Tongva and the Chumash people in Los Angeles, and specifically in Hollywood at You Podcaster Studios, a Black-owned studio right in the heart of Hollywood. We are so grateful for your support, for joining our community on Patreon at patreon.com/sistabrunch or donating at givebutter.com/sistabrunch. Thank you so much for joining us, and we will see you next week.