You can accomplish whatever you want to accomplish, and I am especially, uh, biased to young women because we carry a lot of weight, um, or heavy burdens, I should say. Because you're black, you're a woman, and then you tried the rodeo, you know, so don't let anybody tell you what you can or cannot do.

We'll discuss race and how it plays a factor and how we didn't even talk about this topic because we were afraid.

A Black Executive Perspective.

Welcome to a Black Executive Perspective podcast, a safe space where we discuss all matters related to race. Especially raised in corporate America. I'm your host, Tony Tidbit.

And I'm your co host, Chris P. Reed. We want to start off like we most, like we always do, by shouting out our partners at Code M Magazine. Code M Magazine, where their mission is saving the Black family by first saving the Black man. That is Code M Magazine, two M's, dot com. Code M Magazine, dot com.

Exactly. Make sure you check them out. And check out today We have Valeria Howard Cunningham, president and owner of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, the world's only African American touring rodeo led by a black woman. Valeria will discuss the rodeo's challenging beginnings, her decision to continue its legacy, and the impactful team of black women. We're also exploring a significant milestone since her leadership began in 2015 and the community initiatives driven by the Black, excuse me, driven by BPIR Foundation, including educational retreats, wellness programs, and how her team uses rodeo to foster community empowerment. And cultural perseverance, uh, persuasion, preservation.

And before we go into that, I want to dig a little bit further into the person that we'll be engaged with today. So let me just give you a little more information about her. Um, and then she'll be able to color that in with some, some, uh, notes and stories, I'm sure. But Valeria Howard Cunningham is the owner and president of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, the world's only African American touring, uh, traveling rodeo. Additionally, she leads the Bill Pickett Memorial Scholarship Fund. Before dedicating herself fully to the rodeo, she was a senior vice president. A U. S. I. Insurance Corporation, one of the largest insurance brokerage firms in the United States for leaders. Leadership of the rodeo began in 2015 after the passing of her husband, the rodeo's founder moved by the community, the community's dedication to the event. She took on the role to preserve and enhance its legacy under her guidance. The rodeo has reached new heights. It's completely thriving, including the partnerships with prominent rodeo boards, a special event in Las Vegas, and a live broadcast on national TV, including a historic broadcast on Juneteenth Valeria is committed to the transfer to transforming the rodeo into a platform that showcases the resilience. And the talent of black women changing the face of traditionally male dominated sport. She believes in the power of community to drive the organization forward, celebrating the impact and influence of black women and blacks in the rodeo. Valeria Howard Cunningham, welcome to a black executive perspective podcast.

Thank you. I am honored to be with you gentlemen today.

Thank you so much So let's start off by tell us a little bit about where you are currently and where your family is and and uh, What's going on currently?

Well, I am currently in Atlanta, Georgia. Okay. Which is where I live now. I moved from Denver, Colorado, to Atlanta. Okay. After Covid. Okay. Uh, my family is in California. Okay. Uh, my husband, my now husband's family is also in California. Okay. Um, but his brothers and sisters are. Are out here in Georgia and my, uh, family, some of my family is in Columbia, South Carolina. So we felt Atlanta was kind of. You know, close to everybody, we could share each other,

right? Absolutely. I love

it. I love it. I love it. And so Valeria, we're excited. Number one, we're honored for you to be here. I mean, as Chris went through your bio, um, you have accomplished a lot more importantly, you've opened up so many doors in the industry of rodeo, which we're going to dive into. And look, you've been on, um, a lot of publications, you've done a lot of podcasts, Chris talked about the television show. So you're in, you know, people are looking to chat with you. You've chatted on a lot of platforms. So our question is, why did you want to come on a Black Executive Perspective podcast to discuss this topic?

You know, anytime I have an opportunity to share with our community about our journey and why it's important, and mainly to encourage somebody else that's listening, I want to take that opportunity. And so I thank you guys for creating the, um, venue that you've created and allowing me to participate today. Uh, because, you know, I don't get hung up on titles. I get hung up on how we can help each other and lift each other up.

Well I, listen, I love that and if everybody had that type of attitude. There'll be a lot of uplifting going on. Right. That's But you, you have uplifted a lot. So are you ready to talk about it? 'cause we are ready to dive into your story and all the things.

Let's go. I'm always ready to talk.

Alright, let's talk about it.

You know what, I think what we should start is at the beginning and um, that's always the best place to start. Tell us, um, how you. found out about this or how you became, uh, understanding of Bill Pickett and, um, the rodeo as a whole, because from what it sounds like, you didn't grow up in the, the Western kind of, you know, frontier lifestyle, I mean, by your accent and everything else. I mean, it just seems a little different. So it's kind of offsetting. I would love to know the origins of the Bill Pickett invitational rodeo.

Absolutely. It's a kind of funny story. Um, I was actually traveling back from Columbia to Denver, Colorado, uh, when I met, um, the founder of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, Lu Vason and, um, He, we were on an airplane and we were chatting and he asked me about a rodeo and I didn't know what a rodeo was, so I was quite embarrassed about that, um, but anyway, he told me what he was doing, um, we started dating and as we started dating, he invited me to his first rodeo, which was in August. Of 1984 However, I had tickets to michael jackson. Um, so i'm afraid to tell you that michael won out

And

I missed the first real Bill Pickett invitational rodeo however after that, um, I did as we dated more and I started getting uh acclimated To what he was doing You Um, I was exposed to rodeo. Believe me, I had gone back and done the research so I knew what a rodeo was by then. Uh, but I got acclimated and one of the things that stood out to me is that the incredible talent that it takes for these contestants to do what they do. Um, you know, and I was kind of like everybody else. You never saw black cowboys or cowgirls on the television or movie theaters. Um, you didn't read about them in the history books. So, I was quite impressed to see that there were so many black cowboys and cowgirls. And so let me back up just a little bit. Um, Lu Vason, who is the founder, had gone to a rodeo in 1977 in Cheyenne, Wyoming, um, to Cheyenne Frontier Gates, and it is called the Grandfather of Rodeos. And when he went there, he noticed that he did not see anybody that looked like him. So he came back and did his research. Um, he found in his research that there were thousands of black cowboys and cowgirls across the country, but they were not given the opportunity to perform on certain platforms. He met with a lot of different, um, black historians, like Paul Stewart, at the, uh, African American Heritage, um, Rodeo in Denver, Colorado. And just learned everything he could about blacks in the development of the West. Uh, he reached out to other people across the country, stock contractors, black stock contractors, to learn more. And after he, uh, was doing, as he was doing his research, he said, You know what? This story needs to be told. I am going to create an African American Rodeo Association, and I am going to allow that association to educate people, entertain people, and, um, he stu he did that by creating the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. Now, when he started the first rodeo, it was not called Bill Pickett. It was just called the Black Rodeo. And doing his research He learned about who Bill Pickett was, and he reached out to the Pickett family and asked if he could name the rodeo, uh, after Bill Pickett, because the world needed to know who Bill Pickett was. And the family graciously agreed and gave permission, and ever since then, um, the rodeo has been called the Bill Pickett Invitational. So that gives you a little history about how it started,

right? Let me say something that I think may have escaped you and maybe it hasn't but you talked about you learning of a rodeo doing your research and you talked about he Learning going to Cheyenne Wyoming and seeing the rodeo and then doing his research for all of our younger viewers There was no internet. He didn't Google that he had to go read up on that. And it was painstaking for you to come back in 84 and learn about something. It wasn't just, you get on your phone and you type in a word and it gives you everything people's opinions of. You know, this thing is, you really had to, you really liked this man. So, you know, you had to go and do the work.

You had to go to the library.

You had to go to the

libraries, encyclopedias that are 20 years old, right? By the time you get them.

You, you had to do your research and you are absolutely correct. You know, we forget about the old days where things were not at our fingertips You had to work to educate yourself. It did not come easy. You had to talk to people. You had to seek people out. You had to read books. You had to, um, spend time in a life. Um, yeah, that's what it was all about. But we were in that generation About um, maybe educating ourselves about things that we didn't know about and not, and I am very thankful that you couldn't, you didn't have this,

right, right,

push a button and somebody tells you what to do. What you ought to think are what maybe you ought to know, um, and then spending time with the people in the rodeo, learning, hearing their stories, learning what they were about their struggles, um, it just made you appreciate. Uh, these black cowboys and cowgirls and want to tell their stories, want to provide them a platform, uh, like no other platform that they had been provided. Right. And that was one of Lu's, um, main objectives is to create a platform that they had never been on. Now, they did a lot of backyard rodeos. You know, but that's backyard. He wanted them to go into venues and buildings and that they've never been in and open doors for them to, um, progress to the next level of the association. I can tell you at the beginning, we were like a feeder ground. People would come and rodeo with our, um, association, learn. Uh, their skills or, you know, um, just get better at what they're doing. And then they would leave us and go to the white rodeo associations. And that's good. That wasn't a bad thing. That was a great thing because then we're introducing black cowboys and cowgirls to a much larger audience.

Right. Right. You know, it's interesting because, again. When we talk about what your husband started, your, your former husband, um, and you talked about how it's important, um, to have a platform to share the stories that the Cowboys and Cowgirls was going through. I would love for you to share the story of what you guys were going through in terms of the resistance. That you dealt with, because here's the thing now, I've been to Cheyenne, Wyoming, okay, and I, I, I just sit here and think, the courage, that when he said he went to a rodeo in Cheyenne and he didn't see anybody look like him, I'm just amazed that he even went.

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Okay. And then the resistance of trying to start something, that history has erased, right? I don't think a lot of people who were coming to those rodeos knew about the black cowboys and, and people before them and the buffalo soldiers. And then the Mexicans and the Native Americans who actually were the, at the forefront when it came to lassoing and, and all the things that you do from a rodeo standpoint. So now, You're trying to break in to an industry that's a hundred percent white, I would imagine. Okay. And more importantly, you want to elevate the people whose voices are being silenced. Okay. And then to be able to do that, where there's nothing you could look at as a guide. All right. To say, this is the handbook of how to do it. All right. Talk to us a little about, because. The average person dealing with that type of, um, you know, that's how you can also call it insult. You can also say it's insurmountable. Wouldn't want to pick up that, that cross and carry that cross because they had a million reasons why it wouldn't work. So talk a little bit about that resistance that you guys went through in those early days.

Absolutely. And, and, um, I'm glad you brought that up because the journey has not been easy. Um, when Lu and, and you have to know his background to understand it. He was a concert promoter. Um, he put groups together like the Pointer Sisters. He was the manager of Whispers. I mean, he promoted, uh, black, uh, entertainment all across the country. But one thing you, when he said he was going to do something, it was going to happen, irregardless of who said it wasn't going to happen. And, uh, when he made the decision that he was going to create this rodeo association, the first thing you would be surprised at is that the black, his black friends and community, uh, was very negative. They were constantly telling him he was crazy. He was not going to be successful. Nobody was going to attend. Um, you were just, you know, barking up the wrong tree. It was just the constant negative, negative, negative. And he did not let that deter him. Um, he forged ahead. When I talked about the first rodeo in Denver, it was sold out and it got a lot of people's attention. He couldn't get sponsors. For that rodeo because first thing we're talking about 1984, you were doing something for the first time. It's not proven. Nobody's gonna give you any money because they don't know if one person's going to show up or 3000 people are gonna show up.

Right? So

now you are out there just betting on, uh, beyond unknown. After he did that first show, he was able to convince. Um, some sponsors and I'm not going to call anybody's name, um, but some sponsors to support which they did. But let me share this with you because he wanted to sing a black national anthem and have a black American flag in the opening of the rodeo. It caused chaos to the nth degree. And, um, corporate was saying, you can't do that, we're not going to support you. Um, so,Luiu beiLuiu said, take your money and put it where the sun doesn't shine.

I love it.

And, you know what, they, um, acclimate, but

Okay.

In a much less, Um, wait, so you have to, lesson that I learned from that is that everything has to be managed and you have to learn from every experience that you go through. Now he was pissed off, so you take him in, you sit him down and breathe deeply because you can't make this happen. Without their money.

So true. That's

the reality of life.

That's so true. They

control everything and you can't make this happen without their money. So how do we do what we need to do and try to keep everybody happy? We figured it out. Um, and we still had the African American flag, the black flag, because we were not going to compromise on that subject. Um, as things. People began to accept it as they saw a number of people that were supporting the rodeos around the country. He expanded. At one time, Lu was doing 13 rodeos, and I was learning more of the business, and I was I'm that person that will challenge you and anybody else. Um, okay, you're doing all these rodeos because you want everybody in the United States to be exposed. But, some of these shows aren't making any money. You're losing your shirt. And, you've got to evaluate the business aspect of it. And so, finally I was able to get through to him. And he decided, okay, I'm in. What, what do we do? What don't we do? And we were able to create a circuit with support, uh, of the communities. And then with that support of the community, the sponsors continue to support RK9 as new supporters. I tell anybody that asks this question, the journey was not easy. There were times that we got many conversations about, we don't have the money to move forward. So it would have been very easy for us to say, okay, it's done, it's over. But we didn't. We found a way to do it personally, uh, until the rodeo was able to sustain itself.

You come off to me as a very conscientious, level headed, well thought, uh, person. And it seems like you've always been that way. And he was a maverick, like you said, you know. He, he, he was a, he was ahead of his time. Let me say, both of you, both of you, congratulations. And, and, and I appreciate the fact that you guys were, So ahead of your time in this, we're going to do it our way. We're going to make our own path. Um, but as trailblazers, it's interesting that your influence in the business world. Was able to meld into what he was doing as a visionary leader. And you guys work so well together and that's a wonderful thing, but I know that you have cowgirls, you spoke with cowboys and cowgirls earlier. And so you have steer wrestlers and calf ropers and, you know, uh, bulldoggers and things like that. But of the women that you've assembled since you've taken over, um, this, this wonderful panel of, of, uh, intellectuals. That actually lead this charge into the next generation to expose this to communities like he wanted and to carry out his vision. Are any of them cowgirls? Because you're not a cowgirl. You more of a business Maverick kind of mogul type chick.

I mean, that was a fortuitous flight, right? Because you, he met exactly what he needed. Right. Exactly. Right.

Well, you know, I believe that God always put, uh, the right people together at the right time, not at our time, but at the right time. So if I could back up and just share, um, the journey and what I mean by the journey. Is that, uh, Lu became ill and he was not able to travel with the rodeo. So I was kind of the front person for the rodeo and I got to know everybody, the cowgirls, the coordinators in each market. Um, you know, because now I'm pushing the buttons and, and, and, um, listening to what they want to do and. Either saying yes or no. So anyway, um, after Lu passed, I have to tell you, I was like a deer just staring in the headlights. Um, but people from across the country, excuse me, reached out to me many different ways, telephone letters, email, um, just asking me not to let The rodeo go. And it was interesting as I talked to them or read their stories, how much the rodeo meant to them and their families. I mean, some people share it with me that when they came to the rodeo the first time, they were pregnant. And then they brought their kids to the rodeo every year since then, and now their kids were having kids, and they wanted them to, their grandkids, to have the experience, and I'm going, wow, you know, you never, I had never thought about that, but that was, um, it was just very impressive, and going, okay, This rodeo has had an effect on our community. So if I become selfish and say, this wasn't my dream, I'm going, I'm going to let it go. I'm hurting the community. So I decided, okay, what would it look like if I forged ahead? The women. Around me, Margo Wade LeDrew, who is, um, she was the coordinator in Los Angeles, said, I got your back. You're not on this journey by yourself. My daughter in law, Sherry Vasan, in Oakland, California, she's the Oakland coordinator, says, we're with you every step of the way. Um, Cowgirls, Stephanie Haynes, Denise Tyus. Carolyn Carter, they all are like, girl, we got you, don't worry about it. What you don't know, you're going to learn, we got you. And so, you know, at that moment, I felt I can do this, I can do this. And so we forged ahead and since 2015, we have been on an incredible journey. We have been like sisters. We love each other, but we disagree. We've had fallen outs, but at the end of the day, we hugging and making up and we're marching forward. And so I hope that just gives you an answer to your question, because I would not have been able to do this without the encouragement and the support. Of these sisters saying we can do this right now. Don't get me wrong We need the men because I need them out in that arena taking care of things And I need them to also impart knowledge, uh, to me, uh, things that I need to be aware of when I'm talking to stock contractors. And remember all the stock contractors were white stock contract.

Now

talking to a black woman, I can tell you the first year, it was very interesting because they thought I was just another little pretty face. That I didn't know what I was doing and when we when it came down to Negotiating they found out that sister girl Knew what she was talking about and you know what life has progressed um, but not without challenges even when you are trying to negotiate tv buys or radio buys or whatever um People just assume that because you're a black female, you don't know what you're doing.

Right. So you have to

prepare yourself. And to the audience, I would say to young people, You can be anything you want to be, prepare yourself, equip yourself, and the sky is the limit.

Let me ask you this, because you assembled a board of directors, uh, of women that you trusted and that you grew to love and that supported you. But in the idea of, it was still male dominated, it was still white dominated. Correct. Y'all really stacked the deck against yourself being, Predominantly women, first and foremost, let's just keep it real. And then obviously black women, black women, black, unapologetic. Like you said, y'all still, y'all ain't come off the flag. Y'all didn't come off the, the, the

black dudes was dealing with a bunch of stuff. If a husband Dylan, think about black women.

So, so with that being said, and you talked about how the, your people big upping you and taking you under their wings, there's no greater feeling than that when you get that support, when you get that, that envelopment of your folks. But what was the moment where you realized, man, we pulled it off. Like I know there had to be some trepidation in the beginning like no question. I understand you were thinking I can do it. I can do it. But it's different when it actually comes to truition when it actually, you know, turns the corner and when they finally start respecting you, man. So what was that moment where y'all realize? Damn,

we was right. Well, you know, you have to understand the personalities.

Okay.

Um, And I think Margo, understanding her personality, she is, she was trained by Mr. Johnson from, uh, Ebony Publishing Company,

B. P., B. T., B. T., yeah, yeah, yeah,

uh, so, you know, she learned a lot. She was buying, she was selling, she was doing all of that. And just when she and I would have conversations, we would talk about, um, you know, we need this for sponsorship to make this work, to lift it to the next level. I got this. We can make this happen. Give me some time. Let me think about it. We're going to put it together. She put it together. We worked through it. Let's add this. Let's take this away. Let's do this. And she went out and she got the money. I call her the bulldog because one thing she knows how to do is say, okay. And she is committed to this rodeo. Sometimes I think more than me and she owns the responsibility of making sure we have the funds to do what we want to do. She's a creative person. She was, she's a lot by Lu. She's creative. Um, and she finds ways to finance her creativity, if that makes sense. So just knowing that I had that with, in her and she came through and I would say the first year that we were successful in getting larger amounts of money. Okay. I'm like, I didn't have a major celebration, really, it was just, okay, we did this. So if we did this, we can do more. We can keep lifting and moving and creating this rodeo to the level of what we want it to be. And I, to be honest with you, I don't think we ever stopped and celebrated.

Right. Right. We

just, uh, maybe in a, in a quiet moment with each other, we would say great job. Good job. But in the next breath. Okay. What's the next step?

Right.

Because we don't get the opportunity to celebrate like that. You've always got to be 10 steps ahead. And, and I will say this year. Right. Was the first year that we actually celebrated everywhere we went and felt good about it.

That's awesome.

Sold out every show across this country that we, uh, the support we got, um, we celebrated that because we felt what we had created over the last nine years. Got us to this point. And we wanted to share and celebrate with everybody else. So I hope that answer your question I can tell you for me personally I felt very good about this year because I did celebrate it was a hard year. Um, first time a black rodeo added over 200, 000 in prize money and gifts Anywhere in the United States, we did that, um, and I felt good that we were able to do that for the black cowboys and cowgirls, that their journey with us for the last 40 years, they deserved something special.

Right, right. And we

were able to give that.

Well, not only did you give that, and so number one, I want to applaud you and your team for Because in the way you're so elegant and telling the story, um, but at the day, I know it was tough. Okay? And for you, flat out, for you to take over, um, and, and you, and your team come together. And that's great from a, a, a, you know, a dream standpoint. But then the reality, Uh, what you're dealing with over and over again in a space where there's not a lot of people that look like you. Okay. That's tough to do. And I love what you said earlier when you said, Hey, when he passed away, people came and was like, we don't want you to give this up. And what was your response? Your response was, I can't be selfish. If it was any time for you to say I'm done and to be fair, let's be fair. You could have easily, you did a lot. So it wasn't that you were being selfish. It just, it ran its course. But for you to have that stick to it ness, and more importantly, when they continue to give to the community was beautiful. So my question is. Talk about some of the other things outside of the rodeo, like your foundation, college fund, retreats, that you guys still contribute and uplift people, Black people all around the country, right? That's outside of the rodeo.

Well, one of the things that I think we as a people have to remember is that when someone gives something to you, You should always get back and we had been very fortunate, um, that as we continued to rodeo 2015, 2016, 2017, um, 2018, and I'm thinking 2019 was COVID.

2020.

2020. Okay. So 2019. Then we took, uh, two years off

in 2020.

And I'll, I'll share with you about 2021. Um, but then we started back up in 2022 and it's like, we didn't lose a beat. The community was there. They were ready. They were supporting us. So we have always had a nonprofit foundation where we gave scholarship in every city that we went to. We try to identify. Um, a young person who was graduating from high school that was going to college in some, um, profession that could be used with a veterinarian, uh, business, agriculture, whatever, um, that we could give a scholarship to and help. So we did that in 2023, we realized as a result of COVID. That we needed to do more and we changed the name. Our name of our foundation was the Bill Pickett Memorial Scholarship Fund. We were just focused on scholarships, but we knew that we had to do more with our community. So we changed the name legally to the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo Foundation, because while we were doing, we were, um, on time out. We called it. It was our obligation to still feed our communities and want to say, feed them, feed them about our black cowboys and cowgirls. Um, we did virtual rodeos for them. We did videos of, uh, um, the cowboys and cowgirls, even our young people, uh, just educating people about, uh, rodeo. We also educated people about COVID. What you need to do your responsibility to yourself and to others And that opened the door to say, you know what we have such a large audience Our impact can even be larger So with that name change we start focusing on wellness um suicide violence domestic violence Providing people the things that they needed to know Uh, making sure they felt safe, giving them, uh, input, information, how to do what they needed to do. Um, it was important that they saw us as a community resource. In 2023, the latter part of 2023, The USDA awarded us with a Grand, which opened the doors for us to hold workshops with young Americans in every city to educate them about the opportunities that they don't know about that exists in agriculture. And with the USDA, it's like a hidden gem that people hide from us. And so, We're like, okay, we have thousands of people that come to us. I bet you we can get young adults that want to learn more. And guess what? We've been very successful. Um, we've had workshops in every city that we've gone to this year. We did a one week, um, retreat. With 35 students, tell me that that was interesting experience to have 35 young people for a whole week, trying to entertain them, trying to educate them, and just embody them, um, about what's real and we did that. And, um, I'm happy to say we forged. Relationships that not only with them, but with their parents, um, that they're still calling us and we're getting ready to do, uh, two additional workshops here in Atlanta, because the parents and the students were so impressed. They've gotten their friends together now. And they want them to be exposed to that. That's what I mean about giving back to the community. We each have a responsibility to help each other, uplift each other, and educate us about things that we don't know. Everybody is not going to be a LeBron James. Everybody is not going to be, um, an Usher or a Beyonce. That's all I have to say. You know, so we need to create realistic, um, awareness with our young people of things that they might be interested in, career opportunities that exist in those things. And so that's what we're doing. We're all over the place,

creating

new things every day. Um, you know, I'm a 32 year. Breast cancer survived. So I make sure at our finals in, uh, D. C. in September that we are focused on breast cancer. Um, we also focus on prostate cancer. Man, you know how you guys are. You don't like to go to the doctor. You wait until it's too late. So we're, we're trying to do those things that we can. To say to them, we love you, you love us, we love you, let's take this information and do something with it, take care of yourself.

I love it, I love it. You know, I gotta, you know, one of the things I was sitting here as you were saying all these things, um, 1984, when you got on that airplane, you were in the insurance industry. Absolutely. Okay. And, you know, I'm just sitting here just like, wow. And 40 something years later. You've been in the rodeo industry, you've partnered with somebody that was a maverick, and then you became a maverick, and took that legacy to the next level.

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And then to your point, now you're giving back. So if you had to, and I know you say you guys will celebrate as much or whatever the case may be, and this year you were able to celebrate, if you just took a second and look back 40 something years ago, 40 years ago, because it's, you know, 84, 2024, what do you say? What do you take out of that? Because, you know, there's an old saying, um, oh, and this is just something I believe. Is that God takes our weakness and makes it a strength and sometimes where we think our, we want to go, our life is going, he has a curveball and throws a curveball and if you're receptive to it, right, you got to be receptive to it. It takes you places that you never thought of. So can you speak to that a little bit?

I can and I I can tell you personally gives me excitement about the rodeo today is that I would say in 2016 and 17. I can't remember the exact year, but we added some junior events um to the rodeo Junior barrel racing junior breakaway peewee barrel racing Now, we have four to seven year olds competing, and the juniors, they're seven to thirteen. Now, when I see these kids, I, I mean, it just melts your heart, because they are so passionate about what they do, and they never thought about, Oh my God, I'm going to perform them. Are compete in front of thousands of people and they see the crowd standing on their feet cheering them on. Can you imagine being 5 years old or 4 years old or 6 years old or even 9 years old and experiencing that thousands of people up celebrating you and what you're doing. Can you just imagine. The encouragement that that's giving those young people. I get excited about that because what we what we have done is we have created our future champions. They are never going to leave rodeo. Trust me. Um, they are excited. They are out there. They are becoming better at their Events and their skills, and they've formed this little friendship sisterhoods and brotherhoods with each other. And, um, I, I get excited about seeing that because I know every time I see them, I'm seeing the future generation of Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. One day, one or a couple of those little kids are gonna be leading this organization. And that's what I celebrate and I get excited about. You know, I have two young ladies, uh, Kanesha Jackson and Danesha Henderson. I remember when their mothers were competing with them in their bellies. And they have grown up with the rodeo. Each of them have their own kids now. And their kids are those ones that I just talked about, you know, so you, you just see that and you know, Kanisha and Denisha came to me last year and they said, let's, we have this, this idea that we would like to bring to you. And I said, what is it? They said, we want to do a live, um, rodeo talk for the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. With the contestants, before each rodeo, we got to tell them, get them pumped up, get them psyched, and, you know, and they've done it consistently. And they are creative and they take ownership of it. My two flag bearers that carry the American flag and the black national flag. Um, see Paris is 15 and Courtney is 14. They didn't know each other. And so we asked them to do this for us because we didn't have anybody else. If I try to get somebody else to do that now, they, they not having it. That's, that's, they are so proud of that, and what they do, and, um, those are the things that I get excited about. Courtney and Paris didn't know each other, uh, when Paris came to the rodeo, now she's been with the rodeo about five years. Courtney was born in the rodeo, okay? So she's been with us for 14 years, and now Courtney and Paris are best friends. One live in Arkansas, one lives in Hempstead, Texas. Just to see those girls at every rodeo, loving on each other, embracing each other, helping each other with their horses and stuff. They compete against each other, but it's about the love. I mean, you can't buy that anywhere. And so those, that's my celebration.

Over the years, you've cultivated a passion. Um, into something that has become a workshop for animal husbandry for, for black folks, uh, a venue, a sporting venue, a league that you own and manage for black folks. Um, you've been able to, uh, reach different states, different people on different levels. Obviously coming from Illinois, I remember coming to Texas and my brother said, man, it's black folks riding horses and doing all this other stuff down here. And he went to the black rodeo and he was so excited about it and went multiple times. Um, in that. I would just like to congratulate and thank you, not just as a pillar of the community, but Ms. Valeria, you're a pillar of the culture because you're a historian for black folks as well. You're helping us understand where we fit into America, not just black America, but America and the cowboy heritage that we inherited. And this goes on, and as you said, you're passing this on. As a historian would so you wear so many hats and like you said, it's a lot of things going on, but I want to applaud you and thank you and your team for being all of these things that we need at this time in our history, in our place in the world, as we're still trying to make our way. You guys are just undeterred and undaunted and just making it happen. And so we definitely here at a black executive perspective podcast. Want to applaud and salute you guys tremendously. So thank you. Can

I share one thing with you that I left out? Thank you. It's very important. Um, the 2020 cobit 2021 cobit still going on and then i'm sure each of you have heard of the pbr Professional bull riding

bull riding. Yep.

They are a multi million dollar operation um And they approach the bill picket About partnering with them. We did a show with them in Vegas called showdown in Vegas in 2021 at the MGM Grand, no other black Rundio has ever been in the MGM Grand. First thing you couldn't afford it. We went in there, uh, with them in that partnership, it was televised live on national television by CBS. On Juneteenth that year, which was the same year that President Biden made Juneteenth a national holiday. Now you couldn't align the stars any better than that. So I must thank the PBR because that was something elevate the Bill Pickett imitation of rodeo. They were so excited about the partnership on that day. That they gave us, uh, offered us a residency program in Fort Worth, Texas, and we do four shows there each year in partnership with the PBR. We're now entertaining international audiences, uh, this February at our Black History Month celebration there in February. We had nine different countries represented. Um, we are live streamed on Pluto, every rodeo. They do Bill Pickett Marathon on Juneteenth. Every year. I mean, if you just want it rodeo, you can curl up on your couch, get your popcorn, just

chill out

and just chill out for 24 hours, watching the Bill Pickett imitation of rodeo. So I am so thankful to them that they saw value in what we were doing and wanted to partner with us to help us. Elevate. I keep using that word.

You

can't, you can't forget where you came from and you always must struggle to elevate yourself.

So I, I

absolutely wanted to talk about that partnership. And in Denver, Colorado, with the national Western stock show, Uh, in January, we do what is called the MLK, uh, Rodeo, which is live stream on the Cowboy Champ. And, uh, we celebrate Rodeo with Martin Luther King's message of unity and justice. So you can see that we use our platform to deliver a lot of different messages. Uh, throughout the years, we rodeo and have fun,

uh, with people. That is awesome. And so, I would like you to utilize this platform as you have thus far, and give final thoughts. What would be some advice that you would give, because you are a giver, and you guys have been giving for the last 40 something years. What's some advice would you give? a young person like yourself or a young individual like your, your husband in terms of them over starting something that seems insurmountable and then being able to move forward to overcome it.

Wow, that's, um, a loaded, loaded. And I, I kind of touched on this previously. And what I would like to say to young people is just understand, um, that no journey in life is on a tape. And we have to start telling ourselves that, you know, we've been beat down So much, um, by society as a whole, and sometimes just by parents, I, don't get me wrong. Right. They're telling their kids they're nothing, they're never going to amount to anything. You have to have confidence in yourself. You have to decide what journey you want for yourself, and then prepare yourself for that journey. Nobody is giving out anything. Nothing is going to come easy. Right. So you have to prepare yourself. So young people, do the work, do the work, and then know if you do the work, you can accomplish whatever you want to accomplish. And I am especially, uh, biased to young women because we carry a lot of weight, um, or heavy burdens, I should say. Because you're black, you're a woman, and then you tried the rodeo, you know, so don't let anybody tell you what you can or cannot do. I, uh, was communicating with one of our cowgirls. I'm gonna just share this with you very briefly. She started the year and it wasn't going well for and she had a couple bad rodeos and she was so mad at herself, she said. You know, I'm just gonna quit. I said, you can't do that. You can't do that. And I know one of my staff members, cowgirl staff member, spent some time encouraging her, telling her, you need to do this. You need to do that. You need to do this. She listened and she came back. She won the 2024 war. Ladies Breakaway Championship.

Awesome. Awesome. As

a result of that, she just competed in Denver, Colorado at the All Star Rodeo Theater. She didn't win it, but she came in second. I just talked to her yesterday to say, I'm so glad you didn't quit. Now, are you glad? You didn't quit and she all she could say was thank you for the encouragement That's what we have to do for each other.

Yes Yes,

lift each other up not listen to the naysayers not buy into the negative stuff Just know whatever you want to do you can accomplish If you prepare yourself and you invest time and work into it, people sometimes say, I want to do this. Okay. I know I want to do this, but they're not willing to put in the work. Guess what? Nothing's going to happen. You got to put in the work. So that's my message. Have faith. In yourself, have faith in God and just keep moving forward. Don't let fear overtake your faith.

I definitely want to thank you. And, uh, I'm sure on behalf of the audience, thank you for being emblematic of confidence, coordination, and collaboration. Because the one thing that you said over and over again was it wasn't just you, you reached out and you accepted. Assistance and you were embracing the community and you were embracing partnerships and it's not just one person doing it all. And you were able to leverage that by making sure that you tied in with the right folks and you coordinated your thoughts and make sure you understood where you guys were headed. And that's the greatest lesson in all of this, and that actually promotes the culture, right? So that confidence, that coordination, that collaboration promotes the culture and we appreciate you. Thank you so much for sharing the story with us. I'm sure many people learned a lot. I know I did. I know Tony did, and I'm sure our audience would as well. So. We just want to make sure that we thank you specifically in that way as we move, uh, to the end of our episode.

Thank you. You know, I, I, I tell people all the time, um, I can be a tyrant because my belief, if you're going to do anything, do it well. I don't do it at all. And I don't accept excuses. I don't accept, uh, mediocrity. And so I was telling somebody yesterday, you either not, uh, learn to love me or hate me. But that's okay. I'm comfortable with either one of those. Right,

right.

Because if you're not going to perform at the level you need to perform, you don't need to be on my team.

Well, thank you. Well, listen, sounds like my mother. Because that's how my mother brought us up. So I love it. That's the only thing we know. But more importantly, to Chris's point, thank you. Um, and you stay right here because you're going to help us with our call to action. So I think it's now time for Tony's tidbit. So the tidbit is always based on what we talked about today. So today's tidbit is in the rodeo of life Strength and determination are not just the spurs that drive us forward, but also showcase the power of a visionary woman leading the charge in a traditionally male dominated arena. Commitment to lifting others up along the way. And that's what we heard today about Valeria Cunningham. And Bill Pickett rodeo invitation. So we want to thank her for coming on and sharing that power, that strength, that determination, and that faith. Before

we get out of here, we want to make sure that we remind all of you to tune in to our weekly segment, Need to Know With Nsenga. This is a segment where Dr. Nsenga Burton gives the Black Exegetic Perspective podcast, a timely and crucial Overview of topics that mean a lot to our culture, to the world, and to society as a whole. So make sure you don't forget to tune in each week to hear what she has to say because it's powerful, it's passionate, and it's poignant. So make sure that you don't miss that because you will regret it.

Absolutely, absolutely, definitely check her out. And I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Leading the charge, Black women transforming rodeo.

And then at this point in time, as we do, we'd like to invite you all to embrace and incorporate our call to action, which is LESS. L E S S. And the L stands for learn. Educate yourself on racial and cultural nuances. And expand your horizons and expose yourself to things that could make you grow. As Ms. Valeria talked about growth is the goal in order to hand that off to the next generation.

Absolutely. And listen, our goal is to decrease all forms of discrimination. So this is why less is important. So after you learn. Now, the E stands for empathy. Now, you should be more empathetic to your friends and colleagues because now you understand what they've been going through.

And then if I could say, the S is for sharing. Share your insights to enlighten others. I think I talked about that today. And our obligation to lift people up, enlighten them and help them. So share, always share your insights.

Absolutely. Thank you, Valeria. And the final S stands for stop. We want to actively stop discrimination as it walks in our path. So if grandpa says something at the Thanksgiving table that's inappropriate, you say grandpa, we don't believe in that. And you stop it right there. So if everyone can incorporate less L E S S we'll build a more fair and understanding world. And we'll all be able to see the change that we want to see because less will become more.

Want to make sure that you guys continue to tune in, but more importantly, make sure you go to the website, sign up for the newsletter, leave us reviews, give us comments, give us, you know, your take on things that we should be speaking on that we may not be aware of. Make sure that you give feedback on things that you have heard because all of this stuff is expansive. It's so many meat on, it's so much meat on the bone. Even for what Ms. Valeria told us today, this, you know, can't all be encompassed into just an hour. So make sure that you give us that feedback so we know where to guide this in the future. And Tony, where can they reach us?

Follow us on our socials, LinkedIn X, Twitter, excuse me, LinkedIn X, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram at A Black Exec for our fabuLus, beautiful guest, Valeria Cunningham, president owner of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo. We thank her for coming on and sharing her perspective. For my co host with the most crispy read, I'm Tony tidbit. We talked about it. We'd love you. And guess what? We're out

a black executive perspective.