Anthony Brooks

Juliana had no money to do it.

Her friends, they all thought she was crazy.

Even her parents wondered why a Harvard-trained lawyer would want to pursue this pipe dream.

But she was determined and literally started History Makers with a laptop on her kitchen table.

Fast forward to today, History Makers has recorded thousands of interviews of lots of prominent Black artists, athletes, and public figures.

So here's a brief excerpt that I want to play from my story about History Makers.

The nonprofit has collected masses of documents and recorded thousands of video interviews with the famous and not-so-famous, from black athletes like Ernie Banks.

To Black artists like poet Maya Angelou.

To Black politicians, including a young state senator from Illinois, recorded in 2001.

So Ayesha, seven years after that was recorded, Obama was elected president.

And over the past 24 years, Juliana Richardson has raised close to $40 million and recorded something like 4,000 interviews, all of which are now available through the Library of Congress.

and through many colleges and universities across the country.

And so, as she told me, it took a while, but Historymakers became her third act.

I think so.

I think a lot richer.

And another thing I like about Juliana's story is how she pushed through that classic midlife crisis.

You know, some of the people who study this concept of middle essence say we shouldn't think about these periods as crises, right?

It can be difficult, tumultuous, but it can be a gateway to self-discovery and really find yourself and contribute in a big way to the world as well.

We'll be right back.

No, it's a totally fair point, Ayesha.