The Welcome Table: Desha Dauchan

In this episode of “The Welcome Table,” literary journalism students Sydney Charles and Tatum Larsen interview Desha Dauchan, assistant professor of teaching in the Department of Film and Media Studies.

Sydney Charles (0:10–0:14): Hi everyone. Welcome back to another episode of :The Welcome Table” with Sydney.

Tatum Larsen (0:14–0:15): And Tatum.

Charles (0:15–0:27): Today we’re speaking with Professor Desha Dauchan. Professor Dauchan is an assistant professor of teaching film and media studies, as well-seasoned film director with many credits and accolades to her name. How are you doing today?

Desha Dauchan (0:28–0:29): I’m good. How are you?

Charles (0:29–0:32): Great, doing great. Thank you for joining us.

Dauchan (0:32–0:35): No problem. Thanks for having me.

Larsen (0:35–1:17): Of course, yeah. So before we jump into the interview, we usually like to do a little show and tell to get the audience a little warmed up and also to let them into our lives a little bit more. So this week it’s my turn; I’ll go first. Very thematic. We voted yesterday, so I brought the jacket that I voted in. You can see the sticker, proof of the fact that we did our civic duty. Obviously this is important because this is probably one of the most important elections of our lives. Very high stakes. That’s all I got to say about that.

Charles (1:17–1:22): I love that. I really like that item this week. Very thematic.

Larsen (1:22–1:25): Also, this jacket is very cozy.

Dauchan (1:26–4:45): I heard that. Yeah, absolutely. I also voted I don’t have my sticker anymore. It was sitting in the office somewhere. But I also voted and I voted with my 18 year old son. So, that was nice to kind of have that experience with him. And, you know, we went in our N-95 masks and did the whole thing in person, which was really important to me, and I can report that it went really smoothly. I feel grateful that I live in California and that I live in Los Angeles County. So it was was quite simple and it was a lot of people there. Everybody was there: Black, brown, white, everybody. That felt good.

So, am I supposed to share my item now? It’s so weird because we’re like in this COVID time, so I’m sure other adults and professors can probably relate to this. There’s a lot of home projects happening where people are reorganizing, cleaning out things. So I’m in my garage that probably has 20 years worth of attention. So, you’re going through every box to see what you can get rid of. And so in my purging process, I located this production notebook from when I was a grad student at UCLA. And so, a production notebook is when you’re making a film and you put your script in there. Also, your cast list, your crew list and all your ideas, storyboards, script analysis and notes. I found this image and I can’t remember the name of this artist, which I feel really bad about sharing this work without remembering the name of the artist. But you can see it’s like from a notebook, right? Then I have all my handwriting on the bottom where it talks about what I thought about the image and how it was an inspiration to me. So I’ll just read it because obviously it’s like an assignment and I talked about the lensing.

I said, “This is interesting to me because light seems to be coming from a couple of different places; from behind her and a splash in front, giving highlights on the cheeks. The lighting; the light is falling on the block. The purple saturation conveys mood. She’s pensive. It’s also kind of regal, purple-gold queen-like. She sits on a pedestal throne. Compositionally, the corner of the block centers us. It pulls us in. Then that implies that it’s all about her.” And then I go on to talk about other things about where I think the lens was and what kind of lens and the textures and all that. But I was like, “Wow, you were deep when you were 23.” But it’s also cool to see, like, where you began and to see what still rings true for you after a long journey. So that’s my object today.

Larsen (4:45–4:46): That was beautiful.

Charles (4:46–4:55): That was beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. That’s so funny. Like you are deep when you’re twenty.

Larsen (4:55–5:00): That is so cool. I was certainly not that deep when I was twenty.

Charles (5:00–5:18): I did want to talk. Let’s get a deeper diver into you. Our first question would be: What got you started in the film industry? Did you have a particular film, director or actor that piqued your interest? Who inspired you to pursue your directorial and professional career?

Dauchan (5:18–8:37): For me, I always like to say this and everyone doesn’t love this, I fell in love with film, so it’s kind of two periods. It’s like when you’re growing up as a child and you see the first thing that kind of sparked your interest. The first thing that really sparked my interest as a kid was “The Color Purple.” And it was a Steven Spielberg film. And the reason why I think, it was the first time that I had been to the movies and I was really young when that came out. I probably shouldn’t have been there because I think it was original was a rated R movie. I was really young when that movie came out.

But to see Ms. Sealy on the big screen and to see those characters. I hadn’t seen a Black casted movie before. I’d seen that one on the big screen. And then I went on to go to the library and get the Alice Walker book and then read. I was being drawn in by this whole idea that we can tell our stories on the screen and not even really knowing that. You just feel pulled to it.

It was poetic and lyrical and beautiful. And the relationship between the sisters, I think drew me in. And then, you grow up in the ’80s and you grow up on Spike Lee. That there’s a personality and a Black man making films. And so I think that’s what kind of started this idea that we can make a film.

Then when I was at Howard University — I had done things creatively before. I used to sing, I used to dance, I tried to write plays, I tried to do various things — but I took a class in film and fell in love with it; being able to sit with a group and say, I have an idea, this is what I want to see. Back then, we were still shooting film. So you would shoot this project and you had a vision in your mind. I remember one of the guys in my group who ended up being a really great friend after that. He was a graphic designer so he could literally sketch the things that I was saying I wanted to see. We were doing storyboards before we knew what storyboards were. Yeah, I want to see this and I want to see her eye. I want to see the Washington Monument. I want to see the water. I want to. And then you go out with this eight millimeter camera and you shoot film. And then you got to put it in the lab, so it’s not like the video where you’re seeing what it’s going to look like, you’re imagining it and kind of peering through the viewfinder.

But to see that actual project come to life and to see it kind of like twinkle on the screen in the dark and it be what I saw in my mind, I just fell in love. And that kind of that pulled me in for sure. And then I was influenced by a whole bunch of other great filmmakers from Haile Gerima, who was a mentor of mine at Howard University, and seeing “Sankofa.” Seeing “Daughters of the Dust” in high school and not knowing what to make of it because you can’t quite digest it to come in UCLA and having Kasi Lemmons’ “Eve’s Bayou” playing right in Westwood. So, yes, a lot of inspiration.

Charles (8:39–8:51): Thank you for sharing that. That’s so insightful. I can hear your passion and I’m starting to imagine it as you speak about it. As you speak about yourself coming to that realization.

Larsen (8:52–9:44): The way that you break it down is even very cinematic. And I think that’s a testament to how deep you are into your passions and how you see it. That’s amazing. And that’s a that’s a skill. To take somebody through your thoughts and how you see something. That’s so cool.

So you briefly talked about Howard University and we know that you studied film and television there. Then you went to UCLA and you got your M.F.A. in production and direction. So we wanted to know what was it like observing the difference of the filmmaking process from going to a historically Black college to a college where there’s a low percentage of Black students? What was that like?

Dauchan (9:44–13:30): Incredibly different. I mean, first of all, I’m a Californian and people always assume when I say I’m from the Bay Area, they’re like, “Oh, you grew up in Oakland.” I didn’t grow up in Oakland. I didn’t grow up in a Black neighborhood.

So me going to UCLA was comfortable, but having had the HBCU journey prior to that was life-changing and life-shaping in a lot of ways and thinking about time period specifically, I think coming out of kids who are growing up in the ’80s and becoming teenagers of the ’90s, we were drawn to HBCU’s because of Spike Lee’s “School Daze,” because of a “Different World,” because of Rodney King, because of so many things pulling us to have this Black experience. So then you get there and you’re studying film and media there and everything is from a Black perspective. And so all of our voices matter. We’re all Black, we’re all making film. We’re all and it’s all different.

Everyone’s doing something that doesn’t even really resemble the industry per se. You have someone who’s doing comedy and someone who’s doing something lyrical or poetic. And we’re being influenced by African American professors and West African professors. So you’re really being, you’re being encouraged to develop your own voice and then also to look at media as political, that it means something and that you don’t just make something and put it out there for the sake of doing it. It doesn’t mean everyone was wanting to do that, but you’re at least being challenged with that. Then when you come to a UCLA where you’re one of two Black students selected in that class for that year. I think there was maybe like twenty-one of us. Then there were two Black students out of that directing class. It’s interesting though because I always say they were casting. Back then, we didn’t have reality shows. I was like, oh, this is like the cast of the Real World because you can have the gay guy, the gay girl, the Black guy, the Black girl, the Asian guy, that’s how we were. And it was beautiful. And we loved each other and it was great.

But I will say this and I can get this now, looking back, I felt so ready to take it on because I went to Howard. If ever you meet people from Howard, they will constantly say over and over, “I went to Howard.” There is something about Howard in particular that people are really proud Bisons. And so because I went to Howard, I was just prepared to take it on. I think I’d already had a sense of where I was headed and what my voice was that I had a great time at UCLA because I wasn’t really hungering for attention or support, I was able to navigate it with easy but I also had some good Black professors when I was at UCLA. I realize now in retrospect that those professors were usually lecturers and they had been lobbied for by movements of students who wanted to make sure that we had representation on the faculty before. It’s interesting but I feel like they partner well together, at least for me.

Larsen (13:30–13:44): So, having that experience at Howard definitely prepared you for maybe not seeing yourself represented in the M.F.A. program because you had that like the home base starting out.

Dauchan (13:44–14:48): I did. I think it shapes even the way you approach it, because I was coming from a very community-minded way of making films when I got on campus. It’s like everyone is here; you just have to find someone. So the first film I made or one of the first I made, I was like, oh, well, there’s this Black art space in Los Angeles called Dynamo’s Village. I’m going to go over there and I’ll talk to them and see if they’ll let me shoot there. Or the second piece I made, I was like, I think I want like a West African drummer and I want dancers and I’m going to go to the class on campus, I’m going to meet the teacher, and then talk to the teacher and the teacher is going to be in my film. And now she’s the actress and the dancers are going to be extras. So you know how to build community or even where am I going to live? I’m going to go to Lamar Park because that’s where the community is. So Howard instilled in me a very community minded sense that I was able to navigate at UCLA. And there was a tradition of that at UCLA before we were there that had maybe passed away but that I was aware of it.

Charles (14:49–15:02): So we touched briefly on the first film. So we want to know a little bit more about that. So what was it about? When did you start making it? How was that process like for you? We just want to know about it.

Dauchan (15:03–19:14): OK, so first, because I had yet to make a feature length film. So when I’m talking about films, usually those films were student projects, right? They were short films and I had made some at Howard before I came to UCLA. Let me try to think about it. I’m just I’m trying to think about what’s the best one. My thesis film, we’ll talk about that film, that project and what that experience was like. That experience was interesting because it kind of bridged the UCLA/Howard thing for me, because I knew that I wanted a different landscape than Los Angeles. So I wrote the piece to shoot in Washington, D.C. And so me and a few just a couple of UCLA friends flew to D.C. to shoot the project. And so one of my best friends who was still in Washington, D.C. and went through the film program, was there and she produced it in D.C. And then I also had a friend who was a cinematographer who was at AFI. And so and we’d shot something together here in Los Angeles. and he also went to Howard, wo we went back to shoot it. So again, it was about engage in community. The film was called “Whispers.” It was about a man who has an experience where he questions whether or not he is losing his sanity or if he’s having an experience with demons. And so it’s about him waking up one morning and taking the subway and seeing his dead girlfriend. And in that moment of chasing her, trying to reach her, he steps through several different kind of dimensions of guilt and things that he felt like he put in place to create, to cause her death. And then he wakes up inside of a bank and he’s in the middle of an armed robbery that somehow he’s responsible for. And then he realizes is that all of the faces that he’s seen along the way were setting him up, right? They were all in the bank, right? And so then at the end of that moment, he’s inside of a cop car and he looks out the window and he sees the little boy he was playing with on the train. And he has black eyes and that’s the end, right? And it was called “Whispers.” And so we shot that in D.C. and we shot that in the Metro, which has an interesting design to the tunnels and it kind of has this green cast. We shot that in D.C. and again, we engaged both my UCLA friends. We pulled on community there. And so that film went great. And then I came back to Los Angeles with that film and oh, I should mention that I was pregnant when I was shooting. I was like four months pregnant. I had just gotten married maybe a year or two before. So I think I was like twenty six or so and I was four months pregnant on that shoot. And nobody knew because you’re four months and you’re young and nobody knows. But I knew and I know was exhausted and tired.

Then I flew back to Los Angeles with the film and then I spent time with an editor kind of crafting it and working and building it to what I wanted it to be. And that was a great place. I mean, it was a gift. I just felt like I was, with the short films I had made before, I was able to build a team around it that really helped me make the vision come true. And then we were fortunate. We were able to get into film festivals. We went to Sundance, among others, the American Black Film Festival. It did well, I’m really proud of that project.

Charles (19:14–19:19): Especially when you’re pregnant. Wow. My goodness. How much hard work that must have been.

Larsen (19:19–19:23): That sounds exhausting, but also I want to see that movie.

Charles (19:23–19:26): Yes. I want to see it. I’m interested now.

Larsen (19:26–19:35): I’m really into horror and we’re still like we’re at like, you know, I feel like spooky season carries on into early November.

Charles (19:35–20:02): We love spooky season. I also want to talk about some other challenges during the project besides obviously being pregnant. This is so interesting. Do you think you can describe some observable challenges that you had that were exacerbated by any anti-Blackness that permeates within the film industry? Is that something you can speak on?

Dauchan (20:04–23:06): The anti-Blackness creeps in when you start stepping outside of that independent community filmmaking model. Like as long as you’re in that mindset, you’ll seek out the mentors, the collaborators that you want, and because you’re funding it yourself or you’ve got a grant. I definitely look back now and realize, “Oh, I didn’t get as much money as maybe some other students got in their grant.” But I also remember not being fazed by it. I remember some people got $30,000 grants and I think maybe I got like 10 or something like that. And it was like, “Alright it’s merit-based; it’s a meritocracy.” I didn’t get it. But because I was so scrappy in the community, I was like, “I’ll figure out 10; I will rock 10. It’s fine.” But it’s when you get out in the industry that I think it becomes challenging, you know what I mean? And that’s where you feel the anti-Blackness.

For example, that film got me meetings, it got me the relationships I built along the way, it got me representation. And so they’re like, write a script. And I’m like, great, I’m going to write a script. It’s going to be similar to this and this guy is going to be a character in the film. But the lead is going to be a Black woman and she’s going to be the attorney that’s trying to get him off. But then she realizes that she has clairvoyant abilities and everyone’s interested in that. But then the first thing they’ll say is great, who’s the white man in the film? But, I felt something like an awareness that would exist. I felt ready; I already had a character that could be that. You get what I mean? Like, I was already like, well, that’s fine, because I know that the priest that’s actually a demon and he is a great character. So there’s ways to navigate it. But I think the overarching issue was just that the window feels so very narrow, or at least it did at that time because its a very different industry now. I would say it’s still probably too narrow. But in terms of is there an opportunity to make this film about this Black woman with this experience? This is pre-“Get Out.” This is pre-Black horror, Black-spooky moment. It just felt like it was very narrow and the opportunities felt there weren’t very many. So that’s where I feel like the anti-Blackness plays out. But I also feel like we’re just very aware of that as we were trying to move through it. So you can’t take the “no’s.” There’s “no’s” anyways, it’s already a hard industry, but on top of that, you know, just that many opportunities.

Larsen (23:06–23:42): Just having to consciously maneuver, knowing that you have to pander to these played out tropes in order for people to think that your film is watchable. I can see how that could be frustrating. But, you know, a lot of people who are quite successful, unfortunately, they had to stick it out and play to those pandering roles until they can make like a “Get Out” or like make a film that doesn’t play into stereotypes or the typical audience that people tend to you know, I guess screen.

Dauchan (23:42–24:50): I think it’s evolving, too. I feel hopeful. I mean, they’re doing a “Candy Man.” There’s so much now. There’s so much happening that’s really exciting. It feels like a good time. I don’t think it’s all gone away. I do think people still need to be really independent-minded in terms of showing and proving. I think technology has changed that. When I was coming through, there couldn’t be an “Insecure” because there couldn’t have been an “Awkward Black Girl” to make “Insecure” because there was no YouTube to make the awkward Black girl to make her insecure. So things are changing and there are more people getting opportunities. The door feels like it’s widening a bit. But anti-Blackness is deep and I don’t think it will disappear overnight. So it’s just something we’re always perpetually pushing against. I think it’s just important to stay strong and to have a vision and to continue to make work, whether it’s in an industry or outside the industry.

Charles (24:50–25:04): Beautifully said. Also, so after you received your M.F.A. and you came to UCI. How did that end up happening? Like you becoming a professor here?

Dauchan (25:04–27:19): Yeah, so I think I always thought I would teach at some point because I feel like the artist and the voices and you know like my elders, that I valued so much like the Toni Morrison’s and the Maya Angelou’s and the Haile Gerima’s, they were professors because they had such unique voices.

I always thought it would be when I was older and stately. But then, the industry goes up and down. And so then you’re doing various little things to make money. Maybe you write a script and make some money. I felt like I should probably start teaching, so I think I started teaching really fairly early like just a class. Like I’ll just teach a class, and before you know it, you’re picking up a class and another class and another class and you’re building a craft. You’re building a skill and a career. And so yeah, that just kind of happened earlier than I anticipated. And then an actual classmate of mine at UCLA was a professor and asked would you like to teach a summer course? And I was like, sure. And so that’s kind of how I got on UCI’s radar. I taught a summer course and then it just opened up. UCI was unique in that it would open opportunities for me to create classes, which was something I wasn’t doing in other places. “What would you what would you want to teach?” I’m like, “Well, acting and directing for camera.” “That’d be great. Write it up. What yould you like to teach.” “Media and activism.” “That’ll be great. Write it up.” So it was a place where I could create curriculum and course material and just give me a lot of autonomy. And so that’s how I came to UCI and then I’ve been here now full time since 2015.

Larsen (27:19–27:36): Yeah. Nice. That’s awesome. And then kind of playing into one of the classes that you created which we think is so cool. What do you think the link is between media and activism? Like why did you feel the need to make that class?

Dauchan (27:38–31:08): It’s interesting because that’s the one class that I can’t seem to get it, like I feel like everything else caught on like wildfire, like acting and directing for camera and screenwriting courses or TV writing. TV is really popular right now. And so I understand why people are attracted to that. But media and activism, at least one of the reasons I wanted to bring that class is because I really wanted to make that connection for students to have like this sense of literacy, understanding that media actually can create movements, document movements. It can be effective in that way, it can move people, it can change things, impact people.

I do think the seeds of that for me come from my Howard experience, understanding that it’s always impacting people and moving people in one direction or the other. So that’s one of the reasons I created that class, I think that class is now morphing into something else. Like I’m going to be teaching a class this later this year in the spring called “L.A. Rebellion and Ethos and Legacy,” where we talk about the L.A. rebellion filmmakers. We look at that movement. When we say L.A. rebellion, we’re talking about the group of filmmakers that came through UCLA in the late ’70s, up until the ’80s. It was like late ’60s and then kind of on through the ’80s. That would be Charles Burnett, who made “Killer of Sheep,” Haile Gerima, who made “Sankofa,” and Julie Dash, who made “The Daughters of the Dust,” and Barbara McCullers and so on and so forth, and really kind of looking at their work, but then looking at what it means to be a community-minded filmmaker making films about particular communities that don’t necessarily have stories centered around them — working class communities, working class Black communities, Gullah communities, slave rebellions and Sankofa.

To make these films and then with an independent model and independent voice. And then what is the legacy? Who are those filmmakers that are continuing to do that work? Whether it be like a Grace Lee who made the film “American Revolutionary,” or if we’re looking at Damani Baker, who made a film called “House on Coco Road,” where he dives into the archives and talks about his mother being a Panther and then moving to Grenada to be a part of that movement revolution. Or even to “A Love Song for Latasha” by Sophia Nahli, we’re exploring, we’re going into the archives. We’re exploring the Latasha Harlins story and really hearing from her sister and best friend and getting back into that story.

So I’ll be back later this year and then students will be encouraged to then make their own, to make a short film that engages community in a community-minded model and thinking about how they may want to kind of impact the world with that. So I think this just knowing that that media is important and powerful and I think that’s what motivates that.

Larsen (31:08-31:12): And it goes back to this idea of community that was cultivated with your Howard experience. So it’s awesome that you’re carrying that on and paying that forward to future filmmakers.

Dauchan (31:12–31:23): I hope so.

Larsen (31:23-31:27): Yeah, of course you are.

Charles (31:27–31:51): I definitely think so. I’m sad that I’m a senior because, you know, all these videos we’ve been making with “The Welcome Table,” we’ve just talked to so many inspiring professors and individuals. I’m like, “Dang it. I need more time in my schedule to take some of these classes.” But I’m just appreciative to be talking to you and everybody else, all the other individuals as well.

Dauchan (31:51–31:58): Thank you for creating this forum to support people in. So this is great, thank you.

Larsen (31:59–32:03): Yeah, I agree with Sydney. If we had one more year, if we were going to be super seniors I would take your class.

Charles (32:03–32:18): Another question that we did have was so you’ve won so many awards. You’ve won the Tribeca All Access Award, UCLA Director’s Spotlight Award, and so many. What’s some advice you could give young filmmakers?

Dauchan (32:18–33:36): Advice I would give filmmakers, cause I know when we hear the awards and the list of awards cause that’s what we’re trained to do is to recognize and I’ve heard this a number of times from other mentors of mine, especially if you’re thinking about the industry, is that you cannot be afraid of the “no’s” and the losses. I put all my W’s in the bio, but you don’t put all the L’s. You don’t put on the L’s that you took along the way. And so, it requires fortitude. It requires the ability to get up and do it again and to try again and to be brave when you’re facing the “no’s.”

In honesty, I’ve had brave times and not so brave times. Times where I’m like, “Uh uh. I don’t feel like it.” Times when I say I don’t want to, it’s too much. I still have scripts on my shelf, things that I’m writing, things that I want to get done, that I know that I wouldn’t need to face off with some “no’s” to get out there and share my work and gather the support I need to get them made. So, keep going. Face the “no’s.”

Larsen (33:36–33:55): That’s a great overarching advice. But I think for filmmakers in particular, considering how difficult the industry is, as we discussed, that’s especially pertinent. You just hang on, hang on to the back of the car, I guess.

Dauchan (33:55-34:01): Stay strong. Drive that car.

Larsen (41:01–34:14): Yes, exactly. So do you have any other future projects that are on their way to coming into fruition? Do you have any future hopes for your professional or personal life?

Dauchan (34:15–36:08): I’m heavy writing right now, and so you know, I’m not ready to talk exactly about exactly what I’m working on, but I am developing a feature film that I really hope to bring into fruition, whether independently or or some larger format. I’m also writing television, so I have a couple of pieces. The one that I’m working on right now, I could talk a little bit about that one. It’s called “Whose World Is This?” And I’m really excited about it. It’s a half hour piece. It takes place in the ’90s at Howard between the Rodney King verdict and the O.J. Simpson verdict. And it’s really kind of like the rise of the golden age of hip hop and how this young group of people are coming of age in that moment and kind of how these things are shaping them. So it’s a bit of a it’s a bit of a dramedy. And so I’m really excited about that. That’s kind of what’s fresh on my fingers right now. I love period work. And so I anticipate there’ll be quite a few more periods that I will explore. I enjoy the research of that. Being a professor, when you kind of have to really think about like what were the 90s as a period and how was this impacting young people? In another period I’m looking at is the ’80s and how crack cocaine impacted families, not just the snow fall way. But like how were families and communities rocked and shifted in that space of time? So that’s kind of some of the things that are on the tip of my tongue right now.

Larsen (36:09–36:17): That’s amazing. We look out for that within the next couple of years. Yes. And if you need extras.

Charles (36:17–36:41): I love that, that subject matter. How young people are affected by certain historical events, especially with the Rodney King and also today, right? George Floyd protest movements like us, just us as young people were obviously affected by that. And that is carried into our own work, our own line. So, yeah, I’m excited for that for that project.

Dauchan (36:41–38:05): And it’s so crazy, you guys, because I was thinking of this last year, I was like, I’m going to do this thing and it’s going to be about and then as all of these events started to happen, I was like, “Oh my God, I have to write. I have to write, have to write it.” It’s like we’re doing it all over again. I feel like I felt that for a long time, just as you’re looking at really from Trayvon to now, and having to talk to my son who was growing up. And we have to go see “Fruitvale Station” and we have to talk about these things. And one after the other, after the other has constantly had me reflecting on Rodney King and how it was 1992 when that verdict came out and I was graduating from high school and that’s the whole launch to the HBCU and that whole experience. When you’re living it, you don’t see it. But when you’re looking back you’re like, “Oh this and then this. And then this. And then the rise of hip hop and then oh my goodness. And then Nas. And then the Wutang Clan.” And like all these things are happening simultaneously. And it means something, and then you’re wondering how it impacts those people. The stories upon stories in there. And you guys are, we’re going to have stories at this time too. I hope that I live long enough to look back and tell this one.

Charles (38:08–38:17): Well, thank you so much for coming on the show. We really, really appreciated this conversation, having you. You’re so warm, so friendly. And so thank you so much for coming.

Dauchan (38:17–38:27): Thanks for having me, ladies. Thank you, guys. And good luck with this platform. I love it and wish you guys the best.

Larsen (38:27–38:35): Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Good luck with you, too. Not aht you need it; you’re amazing already

Dauchan (38:35-38:36): Alright, bye bye.

Larsen (38:40–38:52): All right, guys, thank you so much for watching this episode of “The Welcome Table.” We had such a great time talking to Desha. She was awesome. But yeah, in the meantime, this has been Tatum

Charles (38:52–38:53): And Sydney.

Larsen (38:53–38:54): And we will catch you guys next time.

Watch all episodes of “The Welcome Table with Sydney and Tatum” here.