Tiffany Haddish is a lot of things— an actress, comedian, your homegirl, etc. And when she met Oprah, she was "us."
This week, Tiffany Haddish stopped by The Ellen Show, and things went from 0 to "Oprah" real quick. While Ellen was casually asking the Girls Trip actress about her past encounters with the mogul, Haddish revealed she met Oprah once, when she was as an extra on the set of a movie Winfrey was producing.
According to the 39-year-old comedian, her on-set humor with castmates caught Oprah's attention, prompting Winfrey to encourage Haddish to keep in touch, via letters:
"Back in the day, when I was a professional extra — because I didn't just come out of nowhere, I been in this business a minute — I did this movie called, 'Their Eyes are Watching God," and I was an extra, and it was a movie that Oprah was producing, and she had walked by and I was making all the extras laugh and stuff and I was telling jokes and she was like, 'You're a very funny young lady,' and I was like (imitates nervous laughter).
"[Then Oprah] was like, 'What's your name?' And I was like, "My name is Tiffany Haddish, and I'm a standup comedian,' and she was like, 'Keep me updated on your career. Write me, let me know what you got going on. I love comedy.'
"So I would write her and I never got any replies. I think because there was a lot of misspellings or something because I wasn't a good reader at the that time, so I definitely wasn't a good writer. But I'm better now. But she never wrote back."
What happened next was straight out of a movie. In true Ellen Degeneres fashion, the host surprised an unsuspecting Haddish, and brought out Winfrey:
Ellen: "Let's ask her why she didn't write back. Oprah, why didn't you write back?"
Oprah: "I didn't write back because —"
Of course this led to a wave of emotions, tears, and Tiffany completely fan-girling while basking in Oprah's ambience! After an exchange of "I love you's," Oprah admitted that she lost Tiffany's letter:
Tiffany: But I sent you like six!
Oprah: Everybody on my team knows... never send a letter to me. I'll tell you who to send them to. But how are you doing?
Tiffany: I'm so happy. I'm good. There is so much opportunity in the world. When I woke up today, I just knew it was going to be magical. I knew it, I looked at myself and said, "Girl, today is going to be a magical day. And it is!"
And magic it was.
We can't imagine all the "360" feels Haddish had at that very moment in her life and career. To have met Oprah on the set of her movie as an extra 12 years ago, to now sharing a stage with her. From be extra to being on Ellen. #RealLifeGoals
And it looks like Oprah's magic kept spreading. Not long after the show, Haddish announced that she will be hosting the 2018 MTV Movie and TV Awards, making her the first Black woman to ever host the show. Congrats!
Watch the beautiful moment between the comedian and the media mogul unfold in the video below.
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While an evolution is a natural progression that happens as businesses grow, a rebrand is a total change. Lola tells xoNecole, "A total rebrand is necessary when a business’s current reputation/what it’s known for is at odds with the business’s vision or direction.
"For example, if you’ve fundamentally changed what your product is and does, it’s likely that your brand is out of alignment with the business. Or, if you find your company is developing a reputation that doesn’t serve it, it might be time to pump the brakes and figure out what needs to change.
She continues, "Sometimes you’ll see companies (especially startups) announce a name change that comes with updated messaging, visuals, etc. That usually means their vision has changed or expanded, and their previous branding was too narrow/couldn’t encompass everything they planned to do."
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The Brand Doula was born in 2019, and its focus is on putting "the experiences, goals, and needs of women of color founders first," as well as brands with "culture-shifting missions."
According to Lola, culture-shifting is "the act of influencing dominant behavior, beliefs, or experiences in a community or group (ideally, for the better)."
"At The Brand Doula, we work with companies and leaders that set out to challenge the status quo in their industries and communities. They’re here to make an impact that sends ripples across the market," she says.
"We help the problem solvers of the world — the ones who aren't satisfied with 'this is how it's always been' and instead ask 'how could this be better?' Our clients build for impact, reimagining tools, systems, and ways of living to move cultures forward."
The Brand Doula has worked with many brands, including Too Collective, to assist with their collaboration with Selena Gomez's Rare Beauty and Balanced Black Girl for a "refresh," aka rebrand. For businesses looking to rebrand, Lola shares four essential steps.
1. Do an audit of your current brand experience — what’s still relevant and what needs to change? Reflect on why you’re doing the rebrand in the first place and what success would look like after relaunching.
2. Tackle the overall strategy first — before you start redesigning logos and websites, align on a new vision for your brand. How do you want your company to be positioned moving forward? Has your audience changed at all? Will your company have a fresh personality and voice?
3. Bring your audience along the journey — there’s no need to move in secret. Inviting your current audience into the journey can actually help them feel more connected to and invested in your story, enough to stick around as changes are being made.
4. Keep business moving — one of my biggest pet peeves is when companies take down their websites as soon as they have the idea to rebrand, then have a Coming Soon page up for months! You lose a lot of momentum and interest by doing that. If you’re still in business and generating income, continue to operate while you work on your rebrand behind the scenes. You don’t want to cut existing customers off out of the blue, and you also don’t want so much downtime that folks forget your business exists or start looking for other solutions.
While determining whether the rebrand was successful may take a few months, Lola says a clear sign that it is unsuccessful is negative feedback from your target audience. "Customers are typically more vocal about what they don’t like more than what they do like," she says.
But some good signs to look out for are improvements in engagement with your marketing, positive reviews, press and increase in retention, and overall feeling aligned with the new branding.
For more information about Lola and The Brand Doula, visit her website, thebranddoula.com.
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