Among the 44,000 participants in the history-making July 21 Win With Black Women Zoom call that raised more than $1.5 million to support Vice President Kamala Harris’ candidacy as the Democratic presidential nominee was writer and producer Janine Sherman Barrois. A member of the organization since it was started by Jotaka Eaddy in August 2020, the Big Cigar showrunner has tracked Harris’ career since attending a fundraiser for the then-San Francisco district attorney’s successful election to California attorney general in 2010. Today, she says the motivating force to help secure this next phase of Harris’ political trajectory is more urgent than ever.
“In entertainment, we write about these post-apocalyptic worlds and how crazy it would be if people tried to overthrow the government — we’re living in that,” Barrois tells The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s no nuance in this. It’s literally: Do you want to go backward, or do you want to believe in the hope and the future of America? And, we don’t want to go backward.”
That sentiment is expected to be bolstered by activations throughout the 2024 Democratic National Convention (DNC) being held in Chicago Aug. 19-22, where Kerry Washington, Mindy Kaling, Tony Goldwyn and Ana Navarro were just announced as the nightly Hollywood hosts.
During the DNC, Win With Black Women will host a Sisterhood Lounge at the McCormick Center in partnership with other Black women-led organizations. Higher Heights For America, Sisters Lead Sisters Vote and the Black Women’s Leadership Collective will host talks with various Black women government leaders like Georgia State Senator Tonya Anderson, Illinois State Representative Sonya Harper and St. Louis Mayor Tishuara Jones. Ahead of the DNC, Danielle Brooks and Andra Day spoke during this past Sunday’s Win With Black Women Zoom call, alongside Slutty Vegan owner Pinky Cole, about what this moment means to them.
“Often we think about people in the entertainment industry as something separate — yes, they have incredible talents, but they are American voters, too,” says Eaddy. “They have families and lives they carry to the ballot box and it’s always important to remember that they, too, are equally a part of this country and participate in this democracy, and it’s great to see them speak publicly and boldly about that.”
Evan Seymour Bain was another participant in the Win With Black Women kickoff call last month. Inspired by the momentum building over the hours-long call, Seymour Bain started texting with friends and colleagues asking if they were in the meeting. Two days later, she decided to create a WhatsApp group to share information and resources specifically among women in the industry. In just three weeks, membership in the Black Women in Entertainment for Kamala (BWIE4Kamala) chat has grown from 10 individuals on day one to over 500 actresses, executives, journalists, content creators and media figures mobilizing around voter letter-writing and other forms of volunteerism, Political Action Committee donations and fundraisers, social media campaigns and now, DNC watch parties. Seymour Bain left her job as a publicist at Apple TV+ to fully dedicate herself to the cause.
“I wanted to create a way in which everyone can be engaged in ways that resonate most with them, from grassroots [efforts] all the way up to writing $50,000-plus checks so that we can all do our part to help ensure that Kamala Harris is the 47th president of the United States of America and that Donald Trump stays the fuck out of the White House,” says Seymour Bain candidly, echoing a similar refrain. “We’re not going back.”
Leading up to the DNC, Seymour Bain has been working with Ashley Jackson, daughter of civil rights activist Reverend Jesse Jackson, who’s in charge of Gen-Z voter initiatives for BWIE4Kamala, on a podcast she’ll be hosting live from the convention. This Wednesday, they’ll also be launching the Bestie Ballot Challenge timed to an appearance Ashley will make on the White Women: Answer The Call Zoom, another offshoot of Win With Black Women that saw some 160,000-plus participants raise more than $8.5 million for the Harris campaign after their kickoff call on July 25.
“Politically, as Black women, we welcome this inspiration that we are creating,” says Eaddy. “We welcome seeing White Women: Answer The Call. We welcome seeing our Latino brothers and sisters, white men, Southeast Asian sisters and brothers, and certainly our Black men.
“A lot of people talk about our call — it came out Sunday, [Win With] Black Men came out the very next day. They’ve got our backs. And I think there’s something to be said about the unity and the collaboration of Black men to be in solidarity and right there behind Black women,” Eaddy adds. “They try to create this narrative that we’re divided, but I think we’re more united than we ever have been.”
Gen-Z and millennial voter participation is an issue that’s particularly important to actress Jenifer Lewis, who’s also been on the Win With Black Women calls as well as #CaregiversForHarris Zoom meetings.
“I have a wonderful connection with the Gen-Zers and the Millennials because they sat on their couches and watched me as the auntie and the mother on all the Black movies [and TV shows], from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to A Different World and now as the Black-ish grandmother,” says Lewis. “They’ve grown up with me, so there’s a bond and a trust. They not only see me, but they can feel that I care.”
This fall, Lewis will travel with BWIE4Kamala to Atlanta for activations at the Historically Black Colleges and Universities of Spelman, Morehouse, Morris Brown and Clark Atlanta University. “I’ll also be going down south to these battleground states to go door-to-door, post flyers on the corner, whatever I can do,” says Lewis noting how surviving a 10-foot fall from a balcony while traveling throughout Africa in 2022 changed her perspective on life. “I was too young in the ‘60s to fight, but what else do I have to do but give back at this point? That’s how I live now.”
Win With Black Women’s grassroots efforts will ramp up after the convention as well, says Eaddy. “After Chicago, we’ll go back to work. We will be making sure that people have the tools that they need to register to vote themselves, and to register others to vote in their community. We’re also looking at partnering with women in the entertainment industry, having them leverage their platforms with digital content, or for them to show up in person when and where they can to lend their support to this collective effort to make sure that everyone knows the importance of getting out to vote in this election. And then also we’ll continue to see many on our Sunday calls,” she says.
Likely among them will be film and television producer Debra Martin Chase, an early supporter of Harris who co-hosted a fundraiser for the then-senator during her first presidential campaign in 2019. She’s currently working on a donor event to support the democratic nominee this go-round.
“We cannot forget this is going to be a very close race,” says Martin Chase. “It’s going to be a long haul to November, and we can never take our foot off the pedal for one instant because this is going to be a fight to the finish.”