Melissa Williams of Tyler Perry’s “Ruthless” and Fay Moore of “Complicated: Atlanta” are actresses and Clark Atlanta Univerity alumnae who first met after being cast for the same role in a college show.
After collaborating instead of competing, their sisterhood blossomed over the years into an unbreakable bond.
Williams and Moore discussed what they learned from CAU and why sisterhood is important.
What did Clark Atlanta University teach you?
Melissa Williams: I feel like that motto is what we both can relate to because our Clark Atlanta motto is “Find a way or make one.” I think that for both Fay and I there have been so many moments in life where we had to do that. There was no choice. The plight for Black women or Black people, in general, is to find a way or make one. We have ancestors [who] laid the path before us, but we can’t go back, look, and call them up or look in a book because they don’t tell us and want us to know the things that we have done. I think it’s important for HBCUs to be a thing because we feel connected on a deeper level.
Fay Moore: They encouraged spirituality, especially going to Clark Atlanta University. You had the AUC. [You have] Morehouse, Morehouse School of Medicine, Spelman, and Morris Brown just got their accreditation back. So baby, come on back to the AUC. Also the Theological Seminary school. We have this thing when you come in as a freshman, they call it the Olive Branch orientation. All the HBCUs, we come together, and we pray together.
Why should women embrace sisterhood?
FM: It’s important to have women outside of your home and your day-to-day that text you, call you saying, “Hey sis, just checking in, how you doing?” Life happens and life just keeps going, and it’s nice whenever we get together. I always know that [when] I’m about to see Melissa, I’m about to have a good time, I’m about to laugh, I’m going to feel refreshed when I leave here. It’s always important for women to have women friends, just to be supportive of each other in a genuine authentic way, and not be competitive with each other.
MW: Just more love in the world. At the end of the day, we are all sisters or brothers, and we are all connected in some way shape or form. Let’s just make our lifetime and time here on this Earth a pleasant one and not add to the drama that we all already individually experience. So sisterhood, brotherhood, and all of those hoods, I’m here for it.
