Georgia Fort, host of the Midwest Emmy award-winning TV news program “Here’s the Truth,” sat down with Carbon Sound’s host Sanni and talked about the need to tell stories that represent an authentic Black experience, unresolved tension of Black and Brown people being accepted in media spaces, and a whole lot more.

Sanni Brown 

I have a very special guest in the studio today. This person gave me my first foot in the door in radio, and so this is very, very special for me, okay. We have a two-time Midwest Emmy award-winning journalist — independent journalist at that — founder of BLCK Press, host and — I love this — executive producer of the weekly TV news program “Here's the Truth,” and you only got a couple episodes left in the third season so we want to make sure we tune in. And her work exposes injustice and amplifies community voices. And I remember talking to her about this project, about who she's become, and I just have chills, ladies and gentlemen, welcome the Georgia Fort into the Carbon Sound studio.

Georgia Fort 

Thank you, Sanni. Thank you so much. Oh my god, I'm so proud of you. This is beautiful. Look at you.

Sanni Brown 

Thank you. Thank you. I'm tryna be like you girl! No, it's cool because we met in radio. I remember when you left, and I was like "oh my god Georgia gone" (crying voice). And you left and you went towards — you did a little bit of radio, but then you went towards TV. How did you get into media in the first place?

Georgia Fort 

Well, I stumbled into being on the radio by way of wanting to own my own radio station. And so I went to college for business, I wrote my very first business plan directed toward owning an urban focused radio station in this market and quickly realized, as you know, a 19, 20-year-old single mom at the time, that it wasn't a smart business plan, that transmitters and boards and all of these things were going to be extremely expensive, and that with Sirius XM, and podcasting on the incline, it was gonna be a huge challenge to try to recoup all of those expenses, you know? And so I was like, this isn't a good business plan. But in the pursuit of learning about what it would take, I stumbled upon having community conversations on air. And I just fell in love with being able to amplify stories and amplify voices. And at that time, when we worked at KMOJ, I mean, you're sitting in a room essentially listening to music talk stuff all day. And you get paid to do it. And so for a young person in college, it was just extremely fun. And the organization that I worked for to begin with was one that really embraced where I was at in terms of being a young parent, and I had the flexibility to bring my child to work with me when I needed. And so all things considered, it was just, you know, where I needed to be in that moment. And that's really how I got into it, but it was by way of wanting to own my own station.

Georgia Fort 

I think for me, that's why I saw so much of myself in you, you know? And I'm so proud of what you've accomplished and knowing we came from similar backgrounds and had to overcome similar obstacles. And here we are, you know? But really, it boils down to the power and the effectiveness of just giving someone a chance, and believing in them, creating space for them to be able to gain that experience — because once you do the thing over and over and you fail 1,000 times, you learn and grow, and that's how you're able to evolve and continue pursuing, you know, more opportunities. But a lot of times, especially in this market, I feel like people who look like us, women who look like us, single moms, Black single moms, don't necessarily always get that chance.

Sanni Brown 

Right, right. I want to talk about what you said in the interview when you called me in, and I was trying to intern. I remember you were like, how's it — (laughs) I remember you was like, "so how's it been job searching?"  Just so softly (laughs). And I was like, "oh, well, I mean, it's going." And then you were like, "what are the radio stations saying to you?" And I remember, I remember saying, "well, I'm Black. And I'm a woman, and they're looking for white males." And I remember you saying, "yeah, that's kind of been my experience." And I remember having other conversations about that. And so I guess my next question is, when did you start putting that into your work? When did it shift from I'm pursuing a career to now I want to put all this stuff into — all of these experiences of being given a chance, being a single mom that doesn't have a voice, being a Black woman that doesn't — when did it shift? When did you go from I want to do this to I really want to do this? To where it was more heavy and more content —?

Georgia Fort 

I think after George Floyd, if I'm being honest. But it's interesting hearing your perspective of that time period and our exchanges because — why? Why did my dream get deferred? Right? Why wasn't it a reality for me to own my own radio station at that time? Well, I mean, let's look at the statistics: Black women in terms of having access to venture capital, is less than 1%. So when I think about who I was and who I wanted to be at that period in my life — yeah, I had dreams. But those dreams continuously got dumbed down and dwindled down, to be modified to what was actually possible in this market. What was actually possible for me, given my economic status. What was possible for me in terms of the access I had to capital, right? And so when I think about who I was, yeah, I went in there with every intent to want to own my own radio station, but I didn't see that as a viable pathway forward. But when you think about, like you said it, in your experience, "well, they're giving those jobs to white men." Well, yeah, they're also giving the venture capital to white men in Silicon Valley. So, it's interesting to be at this stage where, wow, we've come so far. And it's incredible, we've achieved so much, and we've made a huge impact — yet and still if we're being honest about the young women we were and what we truly wanted, a lot of those dreams were deferred or modified based on the constraints of the society we live in. It's a Minnesota thing, it's also an America thing, but we saw that bubble over, after George Floyd was murdered. And I think for me, that's why that was the turning point, in terms of molding all of those experiences into a mission and a purpose and a direction to actually change this ecosystem.

Sanni Brown 

I remember seeing you around George Floyd, I remember looking at your work, I remember checking out your website, and you being there — but I'm really interested in your shift. Because I felt like you were the entertainment person.

Georgia Fort 

Oh yeah, I surely was. So that shift changed when I transitioned from radio to news. And so I think as a young person, I was really enamored by celebrity, and gossip, and entertainment, and Wendy Williams, and, you know, was really highly influenced, by those things. And as I got older, and matured, and my daughter got older, and matured, I really wanted to make sure I was setting an example for her that I could truly be proud of. And, you know, it's fun and games to sit and talk about celebrities, and it's juicy, but I mean when you think about the reality that you are bashing someone — a real person.

Sanni Brown 

Right! Right. A real human person, yeah.

Georgia Fort 

That you never even met, and you're getting this information second and third hand — it just got real for me. And I'm like, "I don't want to do that anymore. I don't want to be that person." And so looking at what was happening now at that time, I was working in Columbus, Georgia, and then doing some work in Atlanta, and then doing some modeling and stuff like that nationally. But making the transition for my day job, from full time radio to full time news, was really fueled by wanting to continue to facilitate conversations, but conversations that had more substance.

Sanni Brown 

Were you scared? To shift into something that was lighthearted — you know, you can go anywhere on the surface in here — to wow, you're talking about stuff that's happening right around you. It's connected to people that you grew up with. Was there an element of fear or were you like "nah, this is it"?

Georgia Fort 

I think for me, talking about harder issues came natural for me just because of my proximity to pain and struggle. Having lost a child at the age of 19, having grown up with little access to resources, having a brother who's serving a life sentence, my proximity to heavy issues — like I have proximity to so many real-life experiences, that it actually made it easier for me to connect with people and make them feel comfortable and make them not feel judged. And to be able to offer empathy from a very authentic place, right? But in terms of was I scared, you know, I wasn't scared of the content and substance of the conversations, but I didn't go to school to study that trade. And so I was self-taught, I had been working in broadcasting at that point, almost seven years. I had also been working part time at a public access TV station — a lot of people didn't know that. They saw me on the radio and didn't know I was doing a second shift as soon as I got done.

Sanni Brown 

You was hustlin'.

Georgia Fort 

Always. 

Sanni Brown 

(Laughs) I love it Georgia, I love it!

Georgia Fort 

And so what made me nervous was, "can I actually do this? Can I actually make this transition from hip-hop radio to news?" It was an absolute faith walk. Like, God humbled me for 30 days leading in, I didn't have housing, I didn't have transportation — I actually had a car but I lost the key to my car. But that's how I knew it was a time of transition. Sometimes we have to look up and see the signs, right? Like my lease was up, my daughter's school year was ending, she was coming back to Minnesota for the summer. And so I knew I was done with radio; I was convicted. I could not talk on the mic anymore. But I was like, "before I move back home, I'm going to try to transition to news." And so I moved all my stuff in storage, brought her back here, came back, I said "I'm here for two weeks, if I can find a job, I'll stay. If somebody will give me a job in news, I'll stay." But I had been building those relationships, I had been volunteering, doing a segment on the news every Friday, showing up killing it, going above and beyond. I had a column in the newspaper, I had that part-time job at the public access TV station. So I was doing all of these things to try to prepare for that transition, but then when it happens, it was a transition. It was a transitional period in my life that humbled me and really made me get clear about my why. And my why was never about the vanity of being on the five o'clock news. It was clear to me, how come I was always the person who ended up stumbling across the stories of moms who had just lost their child? Right? And it's like, this ain't about a interview or the news, this is about actually being able to speak to a woman, as a woman who's lost a child. To just try to encourage them that while you may not see any glimpse of getting on the other side of this grief, there is hope, and to hold on. And so for me, it was just really humbling, you know? And I just felt like I went from a place of being convicted and not being in my purpose to being exactly where God called me to be.

Sanni Brown 

Wow I love your story. You are independent media, you are not connected to any big news media, and it's working. You're winning awards. The people are saying it — it's not just you sat up there, no one — I don't get like, you're a plant. I can tell by the response that the community needs this. Like, what do you say about that? That everything is just — it seems like it just works?

Georgia Fort 

Honestly it's a faith walk, Sanni. You know, when you really look — and like when I talk about that 30 day transition period, and having everything stripped away, and it just being really humbling, right? Then let's fast forward a little bit. Let's talk about what happened when I came home. I'm from here, I grew up in St. Paul. I've lived in every single neighborhood because my family didn't own a home, like many Black people in this state, you know? And to come home, and to not have my gift affirmed, was the most heartbreaking experience. And because I've had to hustle, and because I've had to overcome and push forward and be resilient — sure, like I just want to Duluth. I found a job, went to Duluth, got married, had a baby — like this, this should be my happily ever after, right? And then to not get maternity leave — legally, I was not eligible for maternity leave. Now, employers and cities and states can offer a higher floor, meaning a city can mandate that after six months an employer has to give you leave or an employer can say "hey, this is a benefit that we offer. And it's better than FMLA." But the federal floor for medical, for maternity leave is that you have to work for a company for 12 months, and I gave birth 11 months and two weeks into my contract. But also the timing was very ironic. So two weeks before I was terminated, my last big story that aired was a sit down with the chief of police. I was interviewing him in context of the Philando Castile incident that happened, the Jeronimo Yanez verdict had just come out. And so localizing that for the Duluth community and speaking to the chief of police about what his priority was for building better relationships with the Black community in Duluth — to come to find out that he's a direct descendant of Irene Tusken, the woman who incited the triple lynching back in 1920.

Sanni Brown 

Oh my goodness.

Georgia Fort 

And so for the very first time, he actually sat down on camera, and he talks about his family's proximity to this lynching. 

Sanni Brown 

So that story aired?

Georgia Fort 

That airs and two weeks later I'm terminated. But not for doing the story, because I'm not eligible for maternity leave. Which is like — to try to process that as a pregnant woman, in real time, and so now you think I've moved to a city for a job, now I don't have a job, I'm nine months pregnant. How am I gonna move out this apartment? Who's gonna hire me after just having a baby? Why am I being fired in the first place? Like I was engaging in these conversations that everybody’s just like, "well, what do you want?" I'm like, "I just want maternity leave. I just want to go, have my baby, take a couple of weeks off, and come back to work." You know? And so it was like, fine. And again, we have to pay attention to the different signs, right? And so for me, I had had all of these experiences of what it means to walk by faith. And so I tapped into this confidence, this optimism — "it's gonna be fine. It's gonna work out. It's cool. I didn't really want to be in Duluth anyway, I'm just going to take this as a sign. Let me fast track to come back home. I'm gonna come down here, I'm gonna find me a job." And I had been networking, I had been serving on boards, I had been meeting a lot of people who worked in local newsrooms, and by this point, I'm 10 years in my broadcasting career. And I had two Emmy nominations. I had one from coverage I did in Georgia, and then I got one for the 10, 11 months I had worked in Duluth. So I'm like, at this point, somebody's got to give me a job, doing the thing I love, doing the thing that I'm great at. No. I interviewed at every station —

Sanni Brown 

Girl don't get me started!

Georgia Fort 

And no one would give me a job.

Sanni Brown 

That is my story, Georgia! (laughs)

Georgia Fort 

And so I went and I worked all these odd jobs, and I was miserable. I would literally cry on my way to work. And I found a job with a Black-owned company that was...okay. It was like, okay, at least I'm kind of doing things making a difference, and it's a Black-owned company, and so I can be myself at least — and I still I have a great relationship with that woman who gave me a job because that helped me, it was a stepping stone, you know? And then I worked for a media startup, which was a white-led company, and this was right before George Floyd. And so then when George Floyd happens, I'm working for a white-led new media company that did not want to tell George Floyd's story. And I kind of lost it. Our office is less than a mile away from an international story, and we can't think of a way to cover it? That's true to who we are? What kind of media company are we? And so then it when it when it actually blew up — meaning like, after the precinct was set on fire, then it was like, "oh, my God, we have to do this." And it's like, hold up, but you didn't even know his name two days ago. There is still this unresolved tension in this market, around Black and Brown people being accepted in media spaces, and our brilliance and what we bring to the table being seen as valuable, being seen as an asset, because we could have been ahead of it. We could have been the ones to break the story. That could have really transformed that company. What is that company doing today? You know? And so there was this continuous weeks of tension around how to tell that story, and I ended up getting fired. And that's when I started my company — in August, so two months after George Floyd. I had no business plan, I had no clients. I just said, "I'm committed to doing three stories a week." Because I knew — like you got to think when I worked in news, my job was multimedia journalist — fancy word for a reporter with their own camera. So every single day, I had to go out, schedule my interview, bring the camera, film it, go to the next one, get all the B roll, try to come up with the script in my head while I'm driving, because I only got three hours left before we go to air, go to the station, get my script approved, while they're approving the script let me try to get a bite to eat real quick, editing my story, all the video all the audio, tracking it once it's approved, then after all of that, then I got to upload it in the system, make sure all the lower thirds are correct, pack up my live gear, drive to wherever my live shot is, try to do my makeup in 60 seconds, light my shot, frame it up, call into the producer make sure I have good audio and that I'm in focus and then be live precisely at five because if it's 5:01 you will be fired.

Georgia Fort

So when I got terminated from my position here after George Floyd, I was like "oh I could do three stories easy." But it wasn't even about the money. My husband owns his own business, I said babe, "I'm gonna tap into your business, bring some extra revenue through your business, and not even worry about how to make money on telling these stories and just tell them." And then before I knew it, through a subscription model,  through one time contributions, through grants, we were able to actually build a media company that could thrive independently. But it really just started from seeing the need to tell the stories from a journalistic lens that represents an authentic Black experience.

Sanni Brown 

Anybody that's interested in TV and radio, and you're a young person, I really encourage you to really — I studied Georgia, because I was an intern and she inspired me — but you study her because you are getting — when you study Georgia, you're getting like, and I won't say the full picture, but you're at least getting I feel like a well, visual picture of who you said you were going to be all those years ago. And if you're a young person that has an idea, you got some dream, and you're really passionate about it, and you're like, how am I — because it looks like it's this big mountain. It just like it's this big mountain when you first start out. And if you want some inspiration, you have a local, independent media company, and a local independent media journalist, that can give you inspiration of how you can get this thing done and the pivot has — I'm hearing in your story — the pivot was really big for you.

Georgia Fort 

Oh yeah.

Sanni Brown 

Yeah. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Georgia Fort 

No thank you, Sanni. I'm so proud of you.

Sanni Brown 

I am proud of you too!

Georgia Fort 

And thank you for seeing and valuing the work that we're doing, and for the platform that you're creating here for artists. And to have conversations like this that we're not having in other places.

Sanni Brown 

Alright, y'all I ain't got no show left today, because that's the whole show (both laugh). So y'all want to check out this interview be sure to visit carbonsound.fm. One more time, thank you, Georgia.

Georgia Fort 

Thank you Sanni!

Sanni Brown 

This is The Message, Carbon Sound Music for Life.