Ten years ago, mogul and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey opened The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG), a school that would provide a once in a lifetime education and opportunities to South Africa’s most impoverished but intelligent girls. Winfrey said of her decision, “I wanted to help girls who really wanted it. They could see the possibility for themselves, if only. If only they had the means to do it.”
An assistant at “The Oprah Winfrey Show” at the time of the school’s unveiling, producer and co-host of “Nightline on Fusion” Kimberly Brooks was so struck by OWLAG that she penned a stunning letter to Winfrey asking to attend the school’s grand opening. The trip would change Brooks’ life forever, and she would form fast and life-long friendships with many of the OWLAG girls.
A decade later, Brooks caught up with five of these young women as they graduated from college and embarked on new opportunities in their communities. In the astonishing and emotional “O Girls,” OWLAG graduates Bongeka, Thando, Charmain, Debra, and Mpumi speak with Brooks about their life-altering experience at OWLAG, what’s next for them and survivor’s guilt. Recently, I sat down with Kimberly Brooks to discuss that infamous letter that would change her life, bonding with the “O Girls” and what she’s learned from Winfrey, the woman the O Girls refer to as, Mom O.
Aramide Tinubu: Hi Kimberly, how are you?
Kimberly Brooks: I’m good, how are you? How’s it going?
AT: I’m fantastic, thanks! Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with Shadow and Act about your fantastic documentary, “O Girls.”
KB: Oh, of course, thank you for taking the time.
AT: Wonderful. I found it so beautiful that this journey started with a letter that you wrote to Oprah Winfrey a decade ago. Did you ever think that the letter would lead you to where you are now as a producer and connecting with these young women?
KB: I knew I was going to be somewhere, but I definitely didn’t imagine in a million years that this would be the trajectory. I think even sitting right here talking to you; I’m still wrapping my mind around it because it’s just been so incredible how the dots have connected. I wrote that letter really feeling like I was going to get to go to South Africa. There was something inside telling me that I was going to be in Africa. Still, when Oprah said, “yes” and then keeping these bonds with the girls and everything that has happened after, it feels amazing to me how it all happened.
AT: What inspired you to commemorate the ten year anniversary of the girls starting their journey at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG) through many of them finishing college and entering the real world?
KB: I actually didn’t have the idea in mind at all to do this documentary. What happened is one of the girls that I am really close with, who is not in the documentary, unfortunately; she came to visit me in Miami. While she was here on her spring break in 2015, I took her to work with me because she wanted to see where I work and what I do. I introduced her to my boss, and I told him that I knew her from my work at the Academy and that she had become like my little sister. He was really taken by the story and thought it was amazing. After she left, he suggested the idea of doing a special to see where some of the other girls had ended up after they graduated from OWLAG. It just so happened that the girls who had come to the States were getting ready to graduate college. The timing was just perfect.
AT: It’s fantastic timing.
KB: Yes. So it was really his idea, and then I asked many of the girls if it was something that they would be interested in. Then I ended up emailing Oprah and asking her if she thought it was a good idea and she said, “Yes,” again. So then I felt comfortable going forward with the project.
AT: You picked five girls to showcase and highlight in this film. How did you choose which girls to speak with? Was it up to them if they wanted to be included or did you choose specific stories for a reason?
KB: I think it was really a combination of all of those things. They were chosen based on timing, their availability and also because I was trying to do a mix. I really wanted to focus on the girls that were in the US because I thought that was cool to be able to showcase and have access to the girls who were literally about to graduate college from the States. One of the girls, in particular, Bongeka who is in the documentary, her story is unbelievable. The idea that she came from this highly impoverished existence and she goes on to the Academy where when she first arrived; she had never read a book, and now she’s graduated as Salutation of her class at Spelman College, and she’s moved on to Oxford. Her trajectory is probably the best example of what some sort of investment in nurturing potential looks like. Those stories that were right here in the US are ones that I definitely wanted to focus on. All of the girls’ personalities are different, but when it came to Africa, there are so many girls that I keep in contact with. Charmain is one of them, and I just happened to be talking to her, and she had some cool things going on at the time, so I decided to focus on her as well. We only had limited time, so Africa was a bit more difficult. But, the reality is that all of the girls and these five stories give a snapshot.
AT: The film really highlights the gut-wrenching circumstances that the girls come out of and I think it’s so interesting that they were born the year apartheid ended in South Africa. What was that like for you especially because the girls talk about survivor’s guilt quite often? I know Oprah discussed self-care with them, how did you approach it?
KB: That was one of the main conversations that I had with all of them when I was interviewing them, and in interviewing them it wasn’t a prepared list of questions. It was more just casual, open, honest conversation the way you would do with a younger sister or family member just sitting down to catch up. They were very open and honest about their experience. They were also very candid about the process of becoming accepting that they are the ones who have “got out” or have been able to move on to better circumstances. But, they all have in their hearts that they want to return and give back to their communities even to their families. The one thing that Oprah makes clear in the interviews is that when you feel that guilt, you have to push it aside because you can’t help anyone else before you get yourself out of the situation. You have to focus on your own education; you have to focus on taking care of yourself and having your own cup full before you can even think about filling someone else’s cup. It’s definitely been a challenge; it’s difficult for them. I think some of them are still working through that, but I know that they have that in mind. They know that the opportunities that they have and focusing on those opportunities are what is going to allow them to help their families.
AT: I think especially for Black women, self-care is so important because we often don’t take the time to invest in ourselves, we are often focused on taking care of others, so I think that was extremely poignant in the documentary as well.
KB: Yes, and I think in this case it’s not just taking care of yourself or focusing on your education it’s taking care of yourself in every aspect holistically, your mind, your body, your spirit. It’s being aware and paying attention to how you feel, all of those things factor into how you feel, all of those things factor into being successful. Success is not just about a diploma it’s about being a whole person.
AT: I agree. What was it like to reconnect with Oprah again? I thought it was so wonderful that she’s really been a mother to these girls and certainly a mentor to you.
KB: It was amazing. There’s really no words to accurately articulate how grateful I was. She was immediately open to the project and over the years from the time I wrote that letter to now, we’ve stayed connected. For me and her, it was never daily conversations, but it was always an email that I would send each year. I also went back for the first OWLAG class’ graduation, so I’ve stayed connected with her over the decade. But with this, she was immediately open to it and then being able to sit down with her and have this relaxed conversation about all of this and her being so open and candid, it really made me feel good that she trusted me enough to do this project.
AT: That’s awesome! Do you think that “O Girls” will inspire a longer piece about the girls or the academy in general?
KB: Oprah did a documentary when the school first opened called, “Building A Dream.” The second documentary was about the first graduating class when they graduated from high school, and this in some ways feels like the third documentary in the trilogy. I hope that at some point, another documentary is made by someone even if it’s not me that show what they are continuing to do because there are all of these different phases and all of their stories are so incredibly interesting. “O Girls” is just five of the girls and it’s literally just giving a snapshot of what their experiences have been like. So you could pick any other group of girls and get an entirely different story, and all of them are worth telling. I would hope in the future that something is done because they are going on to get their Master’s and they are doing different things in their communities. It would be cool to check on them in like ten years and see if they’ve gone back and how they are changing their country because that was the purpose of the school to begin with.
AT: “O Girls” is such a touching documentary, but what do you hope audiences takes away from the film?
KB: I hope people are inspired by these stories. These are young girls but wherever you are in your life when you are watching girls that have come from the most impossible of circumstances and how they have been able to reshape and change their narratives; it’s empowering. This story is just showing the true power of education and how a single opportunity, or when someone invests in you and nurtures that opportunity, incredible things happen. So I want people just to be inspired that wherever they are in their life they can conquer whatever it is and I think these stories will help do that.
AT: Thank you so much, Kimberly, this is a beautiful documentary, and I’m so excited to share “O Girls” with our readers.
KB: Thank you so much.
“O Girls” premieres Sunday, January 15 at 8pm ET on FUSION.
Watch a preview below:
Aramide A Tinubu has her Master’s in Film Studies from Columbia University. She wrote her thesis on Black Girlhood and Parental Loss in Contemporary Black American Cinema. She’s a Black cinephile, bookworm, blogger, and NYU + Columbia University alum. You can read her blog at: www.chocolategirlinthecity.com or tweet her @midnightrami
