Throughout the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture on the stage of our inaugural In His Zone Men’s Experience, television and radio personality Big Tigger and actors Lamman Rucker, Kofi Siriboe, and Michael Ealy sat all the way down to discuss the state of Hollywood and what keeps them energized and excited to maintain entering into a world that usually tries to maintain them in a narrowly-defined box.

Take a look at the ways these men are keeping joy and excitement at the middle of their lives.

Kofi Siriboe
“The probabilities are what keep this ‘Queen Sugar’ star excited, specifically branching out on his own. “To maintain it easy, I really need to see what this independent thing is about,” he said. “You may play the sport and go the simple route but, then it’s like, how do you develop your personal system outside of the system?”

Michael Ealy
“My son’s first superhero was Black Panther. I didn’t have that growing up. So what’s exciting to me is that if we’re gonna look as much as superheroes, at the very least allow them to be Black or people of color,” he said. “And at the identical time, let’s start redefining what a superhero looks like because there’s superheroes at home every single day, so I’m excited in regards to the way forward for where we’re going.”

Lamman Rucker
“Right here,” he said, gesturing to the attentive audience. “Us. Ya’ll. My people. Listen, I didn’t ask to be Black; I just got lucky. So that is what it’s all about. This is the reason ESSENCE is such an incredible tradition for us. This s a family reunion. It’s all of that. It’s a celebration and an acknowledgment of us. I really like the indisputable fact that it’s a celebration of culture, since it’s really all about different layers that make up who and what we’re. So that is what excites me. Having the ability to do that with you, for you, and the very best is yet to come back.”

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