If you live in the Tri-State area (NY, NJ or CT), Boston or Jacksonville, FL chances are you have heard Deja Vu on your radio giving you the 411 on the entertainment industry and interviewing some of today’s hottest stars. The radio Diva with the honey coated voice can also be heard on the airwaves giving words of encouragement to her fellow sista girlz and shining a light on their achievements.
Divas in the City had the pleasure of sitting down with radio personality, Sista Girlz founder, community service advocate and just all around great diva – Deja Vu. Interviewing Ms. Deja was so much fun and there were plenty of laughs from beginning to end.
Find out how she got her start in the world of radio and what led her to start her own empowerment organization.
Divas in the City: Deja, I know you are normally in the driver’s seat conducting the interviews and asking all the questions, but is it ok if we switch roles today?
Deja Vu: That's fine.
DITC: Ok, cool. So, did you always know that you wanted to be in the media industry?
Deja: I have known that I wanted to be in broadcasting since I was about eight years old. I went through a period around the age of twelve where I wanted to be a surgeon and my mom was like ummm…you might want to stick to broadcasting. I wasn’t really that great at math or science but I was really good at history and English. My mom knew where my talents were and she helped to send me over in that direction. I got my first tape recorder at the age of 8 and I was on a role girl. I was asking questions, conducting interviews, interviewing people at school and getting written up on referrals because I was broadcasting in class. It was crazy.
DITC: I bet it was. I can just picture you conducting interviews in class. I guess it’s safe to say you always knew you wanted to go into radio?
Deja: Well, I started with a radio station, my pretend radio station WXYZ then later on I wanted to do TV but never got into the whole TV thing on a regular basis…so radio it is.
DITC: You broadcast from Power 105.1 in New York City; where else can you be heard?
Deja: I also do something called voice tracking where I am on in Boston as well as Jacksonville, FL. I still do certain imaging and promotion productions for other stations within the Clear Channel family. I am also on Sirius XM.
DITC: Wow, so you can be heard basically anywhere. Tell us a little about your organization Sista Girlz.
Deja: Sista Girlz is a movement to empower, encourage and express our feelings. It’s for women of the African diaspora. It’s more of a movement than an actual group. It’s like a community based family and it’s for empowering women. I have the Sista Girlz site which kind of came out of something I was doing on the air that was called Sista Girlz Tuesdays and that was where we would just big up women on the air for their accomplishments. It was things like, oh girl what are you up to…I got promoted, I’m doing this, I’m going to school, I got a job…you know those kinds of things. From there it kind of morphed into a website, which if you check it right now, (voice lowers to a whisper) may not be updated. However, we are working towards those things we are pressing forward. But really, it’s a passion of mine to help and empower women, especially the women who are just kind of floundering through life. Being in the radio and music industry I have seen a lot of people and even people in my family who are still just kind of there. My desire is to help encourage them and show them a different way, a different path; hey this person is doing that or this person can do this and she had this adversity and she still turned it into an opportunity.
DITC: Recently you did a prom dress drive for teens in foster care. Can you tell us a little about that and what motivated you to start it?
Deja: That was done through NYC children services, Sista Girlz and Flava Unit – that’s my other organization; I have so much going on. I can’t really remember the exact brainstorm I had but I know it wasn’t an original idea to me. People have done prom drives in other cities and I’m sure they have done them in NY as well. It was just something I wanted to be able to do. I thought it was a cool idea and that along with the radio station we could make the dress drive a huge success and really help these girls. The response was so tremendous. I still have dresses here, there and everywhere. Just seeing people come together was amazing. it wasn’t just me, it was NYC children services, you and DITC helped out a lot Gabrielle, my on air co-workers Ed Lover, Free and Lady O. Everybody got behind it people were tweeting about it and it benefited these young ladies in foster care. Next year we hope to actually do it to expand to all teenagers whether you are in foster care or not but if you just need it. With the economy some folks did email me this time and they were like Deja, my mom cant afford to buy me a dress right now is there any way that I can come and maybe get a dress. I gave them dresses too. Looking at that and seeing the response was awesome and you know what, you affect this one person and they can go on and start their own kind of things that can be a blessing to someone else. The same girls who received dresses this year may donate their dresses for the next go round.
DITC: You kind of answered my next question. I was going to ask if this was going to be an annual event.
Deja: Yes, I think that it is. I do plan on doing it next year and I hope to get more corporate sponsors so that I have less out of pocket expenses.
DITC: Yes, yes, yes more corporate sponsors are definitely needed for next year. You mentioned an organization called Flava Unit. Can you talk to us a little bit about that?
Deja: Yes, that’s my youth group. I have had that group since 1996. The group is for teens and our mission is to make a positive change in today’s society through community service activities. I get the kids who are high school age and we go out and do community service activities in the 5 boroughs. I had groups in other cities; there was a St. Louis branch, Richmond, VA branch and a Birmingham branch. Some of my students have gone on to be PhD’s and teachers. A couple of my kids who went away said they started community service programs on their campuses and I think that is so awesome. I love working with the kids, but recently I have been taking on so many things and Flava Unit seems like it has just gotten pushed back. I will tell you this, last week when they did Black in America on CNN and I saw Malaak Compton-Rock doing her thing with the kids, it made me want to recommit to working with my young people. I was really thinking about stopping Flava Unit because it had become a hassle to me in certain areas. Trying to get the kids together was definitely work. Also, working with teenager attitudes and moods and dealing with them not showing up to things was no easy task. Seeing Malaak work and seeing how there is so much work that needs to be done with the young people, it just reinvigorated my zest and my zeal to work with the youth. I’m in the process of trying to rewrite our curriculum to restructure it so we can do more than just the community service projects.
DITC: Ok, so if a high school student is interested in joining, how can they become a part of Flava Unit? Is there a website they can visit?
Deja: We don’t have a website yet, but they can always email me at DejaVu@Power1051.com. That comes straight to me. We do conduct interviews and you don’t need to have a certain grade point average. All you need is a desire to do community service.
DITC: Now, let me ask you since you are so full of positivity and are always encouraging and inspiring women and the young people, who are the some of the people that have inspired you?
Deja: My mother has inspired me. I think everyone says their mom. Its so cliché but my mom really helped lay the ground work for who I am. She was struggling, working and going to school. Her marriage was on the rocks and everything but she persevered. She still tells me the stories about how she would be at the bus stop with holes in her shoes and trying to get an education so that I could have a better life. My mom hung in there and now she is a PhD teaching in schools and I love it. I love the fact that she has instilled in me certain values and qualities like the love of reading and the love of God. I get my biblical sense from my mother and if she had not brought me up that way, where would I go; I wouldn’t have that spiritual groundedness. I really look up to her for that. I also look up to Oprah.
DITC: Everyone looks up to Oprah
Deja: I know right, she is the bomb. She is my God mother and she doesn’t even know it.
DITC: She is my God mother too, we are God sisters.
(At this point high fives are taking place)
Deja: God sisters…holler. Oprah is just dope and I find in this industry you have to look at her and say wow, this woman has come from, again adversity and turned that adversity into opportunity. Its just amazing, she is at billionaire status who would have thought that from back in the day.
DITC: I know, back from a little girl growing up in Chicago to playing Ms. Sophia and now its all about the Oprah effect.
Deja: Okay! She is the bomb. Also, in my career I have a mentor by the name of Doc Winter, he is the senior VP of Urban Programming within Clear Channel and he has helped me and has been like a big brother figure in the industry for me as I have been coming up.
DITC: Ok so mom, Oprah and Doc Winter are all inspiration. Speaking of your mom being an inspiration, I hear that she is running 3 miles a day.
Deja: We are not even going to talk about that. I see somebody has been reading twitter and facebook. My mom, oh my goodness she was like I just got finished doing my 3 miles. She is a teacher and when school is in she will binge a little but in the summer she goes on her health kick and she is hitting the track every morning. I’m like mom, how do you do it? I’m jealous. She is pressing sixty in a little while and she is still doing it.
DITC: That’s inspiration right there. Go ahead momma! Are there any upcoming projects or events from Flava Unit or Sista Girlz?
Deja: I will be recruiting for Flava Unit within the next month, so tell everybody if they have high school aged students (grades 9 – 12 only).
As far as Sista Girlz, one day soon Gabrielle is going to help me to do a Sista Girlz/Divas in the City brunch.
I don’t have any other events coming up right now. I’m just trying to stay focused girl, that’s a task in and of itself. I’m excited though, just being able to see people like yourself who are doing things and other women who are in the industry just making things happen. It keeps me focused when I veer off track, to see who women who are still progressing. Its like she is doing this and she is doing that and I’m like yeah I need to get on it, even if I’m just on it for a month or so. I’m on it
DITC: Your on it strong for that month and that’s all that matters. Then you see somebody else that motivates you and your on it for another month.
Deja: Exactly
DITC: That’s how you do it. Ok, before we go do you have any words of advice for any fellow divas that may want to launch a business or for life in general?
