Beverley rocks!

A dynamo in true form, Beverly Bond has blazed trails in the music, entertainment and social entrepreneurship industries. Her body of work has made her one of the most celebrated DJs and social innovators of our time.

A true music connoisseur, Bond’s passion for music and her uncanny ability to read the crowd has solidified her as a force to be reckoned with in the DJ world. Over the last decade, the former Wilhelmina model has brought her versatile talents to myriad celebrity clients including Prince, Alicia Keys, Sarah Jessica Parker, Erykah Badu, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Derrick Jeter, Jessica and Jerry Seinfeld, Jay Z, Martha Stewart and others.

In 2006, she founded BLACK GIRLS ROCK!, a youth empowerment mentoring organization. Bond simultaneously created the annual BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Awards to celebrate the accomplishments of exceptional women of color who have made outstanding contributions in their careers and stand as inspirational and positive role models in the community.

In 2010, Bond first partnered with BET to air BLACK GIRLS ROCK! on network television. The Awards show went on to receive an NAACP Image Award for outstanding Variety Series or Special.

Bond’s work as a businesswoman, mentor, philanthropist and community leader has earned her a number of prestigious recognitions. EBONY magazine listed Bond on its Power 100 list for five consecutive years. She was also recognized by Ebony as one of the “Most Influential Blacks in America” and one of ESSENCE magazine’s “40 Fierce and Fabulous Women Who are Changing the World.”

Bond spoke with the Banner about this year’s BLACK GIRLS ROCK! Awards, which is set to aired on BET on Sunday, April 5th. Among the many luminaries who appeared on the show was First Lady Michelle Obama.

Kam Williams: I’ll be mixing my questions in with some sent in by readers. You just taped the BLACK GIRLS ROCK! awards show last night. Are you still on a high from the event?

Beverly Bond: Oh my gosh! I’m still taking it in and trying to process it all.

KW: What was your strongest or most surprising impression of First Lady Michelle Obama?

BB: I think I always knew this about her, although I’d never met her in person until now, but she’s so authentic and genuine. And she’s so sincere and committed to making a difference in the lives of others. She’s a real humanitarian.

KW: How did you come to pick this year’s honorees: director Ava DuVernay, actresses Jada Pinkett Smith and Cicely Tyson, singer Erykah Badu, CARE CEO Dr. Helene D. Gayle and middle school principal Nadia Lopez?

BB: Well, there’s never a shortage of incredible black women who have made major contributions each year. So, we’re constantly monitoring what’s happening in “black girls’ world,” so to speak, and we’re aware that there’s always an abundance of worthy individuals to choose from. It’s a matter of each person’s accomplishments and how current they are. Part of the process has to do with production, and part of it just comes down to who is available and how things fall in place based on the time period you’re looking at. So, yes, there’s a process, but the truth is there are so many amazing black women who have contributed to society who don’t always get a chance to shine. Our mission is to make sure we acknowledge them on our stages.

KW: How difficult was the process to create BLACK GIRLS ROCK! and make it into a social force?

BB: I founded it in 2006, and it was an instant success. I was so driven and so passionate about the necessity of this message that I worked 24 hours a day to make it happen. But it doesn’t feel difficult when it’s your mission and your vision. It’s been a lot of work, but I knew that many people would be into it. Honestly, by 2007, we had the media’s attention already, BET, VH-1 and others, so I knew it was going to be televised. If you believe in something enough, you’re going to make it work. And to me, this was so important because it was about the message to the girls, especially the young girls.

KW: How were you able to sell the idea to BET, given its history of often appealing to the lowest common denominator, as reflected in reality-TV shows and misogynistic music videos?

BB: It wasn’t difficult, because BET obviously needed something like this. It was almost a perfect storm, because we came along at a time when BET was trying to change that image and that message.

KW: How do you respond to the Twitter trend #WhiteGirlsRock which claimed that BLACK GIRLS ROCK! is racist?

BB: I think that when you tune into Black Entertainment Television and you are complaining about black people lifting up black women and celebrating their wonderful accomplishments, your racism is showing all over your face. Did they call in when the images were less than stellar? It is fascinating to me how there’s an uproar whenever it comes to black people celebrating themselves. So, I pay them no attention, although I did respond once by writing a little article making the point that just because we say that black girls rock doesn’t mean that you don’t rock, too. But I wonder whether this was really just an attempt to punish us for having the audacity to celebrate ourselves. Everyone’s so used to putting us at the bottom of the barrel that they feel entitled to find our simply saying “We rock!” offensive. I don’t give it too much attention, because it’s really silly, but it does show the privilege and the racism that exists in some circles.

KW: What do you want viewers to take away from BLACK GIRLS ROCK!?

BB: BLACK GIRLS ROCK! really focuses on helping to raise the bar for our kids, because we’ve got to change our culture and make black excellence important again. Literacy should not be a problem for us in 2015. The education gap continues to widen for black kids, and that’s telling. So, we have to figure out how to help our kids to survive and thrive and become trailblazers themselves.

KW: What types of programs do you have at the BLACK GIRLS ROCK! summer camp?

BB: We have a very strong arts education program, plus media literacy, coding, robotics, college prep, empowerment circles, financial literacy and cultural immersion. They start every morning with African dance or yoga, and end their day with Brazilian capoeira, with all that other material in between. It’s a very well-rounded and intensive, two-week experience.

KW: What motivated you to make the move from modeling to music DJ?

BB: I never really left modeling. When I became a DJ, that career took over. I just evolved.

KW: African-Americans were able to gain victories 50 to 60 years ago during the Civil Rights Movement, such as the marches in Selma and the successful bus boycott in Montgomery, Alabama. Do you think that this type of activism is still possible today?

BB: Yes, but we have to do it in many different ways. I think Black Girls Rock is revolutionary. And there are other ways to achieve changes in this technological age. For instance, without Twitter, there probably wouldn’t have been such an outcry about Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and so many others. But it’s important to use our voices to speak out and make a difference since, if we don’t do it, no one’s going to do it for us.