For over 25 years, there was no Black daytime soap opera on television. Sheila Ducksworth decided that was going to change.

In this episode of NAACP+ Inside the Industry, host Ariana Drummond sits down with Sheila Ducksworth — president of the CBS Studios NAACP venture, executive producer of Beyond the Gates, and influential architect in Black television — for a conversation about what it actually took to bring the first Black-led daytime soap opera in over 25 years from a childhood dream to network television. Sheila gets into:

→ How a conversation at her 5th college reunion changed the entire trajectory of her career — and led her to buy a one-way ticket to Los Angeles

→ What her father told her in the early 90s about work that she had never heard before and never forgot

→ How she spent three and a half years getting Beyond the Gates greenlit before a single camera rolled

→ The two-month sprint to build 27 sets from scratch — and how she snuck into country clubs in the DMV to get the look exactly right

→ Why she called her key team members years before they had a green light and asked them to trust her

→ What makes Beyond the Gates different from every other soap opera in the history of the genre

→ The cotillion episode, the HBCU storyline, and why cultural specificity is central to the show's mission

→ The Young and the Restless crossover that drew 1.8 million viewers — and what's coming next

→ What an executive producer actually does — and why the successful ones know how to do everything

→ What she wants television historians to write about Beyond the Gates 100 years from now → Her message to the Black girl watching right now who thinks her dream might be too big

This episode is for every creative who has been sitting on a dream for decades and wondering if it's finally time.

️ Host: Ariana Drummond, NAACP Director of Talent & Media Relations

Guest: Sheila Ducksworth — Executive Producer, Beyond the Gates; President, CBS Studios NAACP Venture; Soul Food, Will Packer Media

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• (00:00:00) - Opening: Do Something You'd Do Even If You Weren't Getting Paid
• (00:00:35) - Welcome & Introduction
• (00:02:24) - What 10-Year-Old Sheila Would Think About the Life She Built
• (00:03:30) - From Yale and Banking to Hollywood: The Origin Story
• (00:06:24) - Working Every Side of the Industry and What Each Side Taught Her
• (00:08:37) - What Owning Her Own Production Company Taught Her About Leading With Intention
• (00:11:16) - What an Executive Producer Actually Does — The Full Breakdown
• (00:12:43) - The CBS Studios NAACP Venture and the Conversation That Started Everything
• (00:14:54) - Three and a Half Years to a Green Light: The Beyond the Gates Origin Story
• (00:18:02) - Building the Show: The Team She Called Before Anyone Had Permission
• (00:23:03) - The Country Club Set and the DMV Research Trip Nobody Knew About
• (00:26:48) - Why Cultural Specificity Is Central to the Mission of the Show
• (00:29:35) - The Cotillion Episode, the HBCU Storyline & Modernizing Black Tradition
• (00:33:46) - The Young and the Restless Crossover,1.8 Million Viewers & What's Coming Next
• (00:37:19) - What Having a Black Woman at the Helm Changes About What Makes It to Screen
• (00:39:27) - Advice for Anyone Who Wants to Become a TV Producer Right Now
• (00:43:17) - Legacy: What She Wants Historians to Write About Beyond the Gates in 100 Years
• (00:44:46) - Her Message to the Black Girl Watching Right Now
• (00:47:37) - Inside Your Industry Bag (Game)