From the dancehall to advocating for youth:

Emprezz Mullings hosts new show about healing the young

Sadeke Brooks, Staff Reporter

After hosting 'Magnum Kings and Queens of the Dancehall' for three years, media personality Emprezz Mullings has decided to trek out on her own.

Mullings said her show, Talk Up Yout, came out of her own experiences while travelling to various communities in the island.

"After travelling in and out of the communities of Jamaica, being amongst the youth and speaking one-on-one with them, I realised the need for them to have a platform to express their thoughts, their problems and help them to seek the solutions. These are serious times so we need to address serious issues," she told The Sunday Gleaner, noting that the show will cover all issues affecting the youth such as sexuality, abuse and education.

Talk Up Yout will begin airing on TVJ on Tuesday, January 25 at 6 p.m. The show will also be streamed live on www.televisionjamaica.com. It will run for 13 weeks in its first season.

dialogue

Mullings said the aim of the show is to, "shatter the silence and heal the nation's youth through dialogue. If they tune in and pay attention it will make a world of difference."

While this is a new project, Emprezz is no stranger to youth issues. When she staged Womanbition last year at Starapples, Hope Road, she donated the proceeds from the event to the Universal Negro Improvement Association's (UNIA) nursing programme and Mary's Child.

The UNIA nursing programme is one that trains young women to provide essential services including infant and elderly care, raising awareness of health and environmental issues affecting their communities, as well as facilitating workshops and clinics for traditional diseases afflicting Jamaican communities such as diabetes, cancer and blood pressure-related illnesses. Mary's Child is a home for teenage mothers, which is run by the Mustard Seed Communities.

Mullings continued to make visits to Mary's Child afterwards; speaking to and encouraging the girls.

The long-term plans for Talk Up Yout are not set. Instead, Mullings said it is dependent on how the youths' issues are addressed, and the level of change that is achieved.

"The show is a movement for change. We will keep going until we have addressed openly the issues of the youth," she told The Sunday Gleaner.

With one of her sponsors being the National Baking Company, who saw her vision, she said it was relatively easy to finance. However, she said her main support came from, "the youth sharing their stories and helping to find solutions."

uplifting

As the only host for this show, Mullings said it will be a completely different experience than that of 'Magnum Kings and Queens of the Dancehall', which is a talent show.

"Magnum was entertainment. This is about uplifting the youth and shattering the silence. This is deep. This is serious. This is powerful. This is taking action for the better. This is bigger than just a show," she said.

The show's executive producers are Mullings and Nadia Stanley, who are also owners of Stanley & Empress Productions. She said there are many new projects in the pipeline for their company.