Catherine Hughes UONEK

Founder, Chairperson of the Board & Secretary, URBAN ONE INC

Cathy Hughes Shines at Inaugural Her Legacy Event in Durham

📅 May 04, 2026 FOXY 107.1/104.3 and 2 more 16 MIN 2 VIEWS 25 SEGMENTS · 3 SPEAKERS

The first Her Legacy event in Durham on May 2 brought together inspiration, laughter and hard-earned wisdom as Urban One founder Cathy Hughes joined on-air talents RoyalTea and Mir.I.Am for a candid conversation about purpose, perseverance and legacy.

What Catherine Hughes said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Catherine Hughes, founder and chair of Urban One, spoke at the inaugural Her Legacy event in Durham, North Carolina. She discussed her personal connection to the Triangle area, joking about wanting a North Carolina husband. Hughes reflected on her career, saying she never viewed it as building a legacy but rather as following God's direction. She shared her family history, including her great-great-grandmother's escape from slavery with 11 children, her partnership with Harriet Tubman, and her purchase of two enslaved men's freedom for $1,250 each. Hughes mentioned her grandfather founded Piney Woods School in Mississippi 117 years ago, with 150 students on scholarships. She emphasized her commitment to giving Black America an accurate voice and image, while noting her professional duty as the first woman of color to chair a publicly held corporation is to enhance stockholder investment. She concluded by saying the brand is unapologetically in the Black people business.

Key takeaways

Hughes is the first woman of color to chair a publicly held corporation, Urban One.
Her great-great-grandmother escaped slavery with 11 children and became second in command to Harriet Tubman.
Her grandfather founded Piney Woods School in Mississippi 117 years ago, with 150 students on scholarships.
Hughes said her number one priority is enhancing and advancing stockholder investment.
She believes Black culture is the culture and the brand is unapologetically in the Black people business.

Numbers and commitments

Figure	What it refers to	Type	At
117 years	Piney Woods School has been in operation	metric	2:53
150 kids	Students at Piney Woods School on scholarships	metric	2:53
$2,500	Amount saved by great-great-grandmother from speaking engagements	metric	2:53
$1,250 a piece	Price paid to purchase freedom of two enslaved men	price	2:53
11 children	Number of children her great-great-grandmother brought to freedom	metric	2:53

Chapters

0:00Welcome and love for the Triangle
1:34Career and divine purpose
2:53Family history and Ancestry.com discovery
12:47Not shrinking and purpose
15:19Closing remarks on Black culture

Questions asked in this interview

0:41Well, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you love about this area so much?
1:34At what point did you look at your career and you say, you know what, I'm building something bigger than just my career?
2:31So, how was that even getting into that mindset like to dream this big and how did you actually execute it to make it happen?

Royalty 0:00 ↗

We are back here at the very first Her Legacy in Durham, North Carolina. I am Royalty with Radio 1, I am Mir with Radio 1, and we are joined by someone very special. The woman that made today even possible. None of us would be here if it was not for this entrepreneur, this radio legend, this TV personality, the one and only Miss Kathy Hughes. Keep it going.

Catherine Hughes 0:25 ↗

Enough. I am Kathy Hughes and I am happy to be here. The Triangle is my favorite area in the whole wide world and if Alfred had not been such a dominant voice in my ear, I would have moved here.

Mir 0:40 ↗

Really?

Catherine Hughes 0:41 ↗

Oh, yes.

Mir 0:41 ↗

Well, if you don't mind me asking, what is it that you love about this area so much?

Catherine Hughes 0:46 ↗

I keep saying that if I ever remarry, he's got to be from North Carolina. And I just learned the other day he needs to drive a red pickup truck. Ooh.

Mir 0:56 ↗

Now, my staff, Cali Douglas, over the years has tried to hook me up, but she has been unsuccessful in getting the right one.

Catherine Hughes 1:04 ↗

Not that she does not stop looking. Okay. Because North Carolina men are the best.

Mir 1:12 ↗

I'll take your word for it.

Catherine Hughes 1:15 ↗

And Miss, you know they know how to cook, too.

Mir 1:17 ↗

Oh my goodness. The first thing I said to her, I didn't even ask her how she was doing. I said, 'Your husband didn't cook for me yesterday. He blew up his house.' She said he had to work. I was like, 'That's no excuse. We work and cook, too.'

Catherine Hughes 1:28 ↗

Exactly. Okay. He better get it together. Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

13 more exchanges in this transcript

Cite this transcript

APA, MLA, BibTeX

APA

Hughes, C. (2026, May 4). Cathy Hughes Shines at Inaugural Her Legacy Event in Durham [Interview transcript]. FOXY 107.1/104.3 and 2 more. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/885623/

MLA

Catherine Hughes. "Cathy Hughes Shines at Inaugural Her Legacy Event in Durham." FOXY 107.1/104.3 and 2 more, 4 May. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/885623/.

BibTeX

@misc{hughes2026_885623,
  author       = {Catherine Hughes},
  title        = {Cathy Hughes Shines at Inaugural Her Legacy Event in Durham},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, FOXY 107.1/104.3 and 2 more. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {may},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/885623/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}

▶

Key Quotes (3)

“My great great grandmother was a slave. She was half Cherokee and half African. And she had 11 children in Louisville, Kentucky. And she uh was the slave her whole family to a gentleman who had six sons and one daughter. And she the daughter was the apple of her his eye. And so she inherited the plantation with the slaves. And the first thing she did was say slavery is against God and I can't have”

▶ 4:20

“As you know, I'm the first woman of color to chair a publicly held corporation. So I have to say this for the camera that my number one priority is the enhancement and advancement of stockholder investment. I am here to make stockholders some money.”

▶ 11:37 POLICY

“There's an old African proverb that until the lion learns how to read and write, the story of the hunt will always favor the hunter. And I know how to read and write. So, I have assumed the responsibility for expressing both through pictures and voice through audio the true story of what's going on in black America.”

▶ 12:08

Mentioned in this interview

Ancestry.com: Conducted a project on Hughes' family history, discovering her great-great-grandmother's story

Harriet Tubman: Her great-great-grandmother became second in command to Tubman on the Underground Railroad

Frederick Douglass: Became best friends with her great-great-grandmother and wrote a poem to her

John Glenn: Never mentioned the three Black women who contributed to the space program

Piney Woods School: Boarding school founded by her grandfather in Mississippi, in operation 117 years

Kina: Special guest at the event who Hughes said has a problem with shrinking

Tina: Mentioned in an interview, took until age 70 to find her purpose

More interviews with Catherine Hughes

SHE SLEPT ON THE FLOOR THEN BECAME AN ICONOct 05, 2026 · 30 Plus Years In · 74 min
The Front Page Authority with guest Cathy HughesAug 27, 2026 · The Baltimore Sun · 50 min
Cathy Hughes Talks Key to the City, Urban One Legacy with Don Juan FashoAug 14, 2026 · 100.3 R&B (WOSL-FM) · 9 min
Cathy Hughes on Her Key to the City, Faith & a Powerful Message for Black Women | Urban One FounderJul 30, 2026 · Karen Vaughn · 15 min
Cathy Hughes Recieves Key to DC & Building a Media EmpireJul 23, 2026 · RNB Philly · 13 min
Cathy Hughes Dedicates Key To Washington, D.C. To Urban One EmployeesJul 22, 2026 · Radio One - Baltimore · 9 min

All Catherine Hughes transcripts →

About Catherine Hughes

Cathy Hughes, founder and chairperson of Urban One, received the key to the city of Washington, D.C. from Mayor Muriel Bowser in 2026. In interviews following the honor, Hughes said she was the only woman among six recipients and described the award as belonging to Urban One's employees rather than to herself personally. She credited her staff of approximately 1,200 people with doing the "heavy lifting" and said the key should bear their names as well as hers. Hughes also discussed her company's recent acquisition of K 104 in Dallas, Texas, and noted that Urban One would celebrate 46 years in business in October 2026. In media appearances, Hughes discussed her career trajectory, including early struggles such as sleeping on the floor of her radio station, and offered views on Black ownership in media. She stated that Black-owned media is necessary for telling Black stories and criticized the notion of relying on white-owned outlets to do so. She also commented on succession in Black-owned businesses, saying that Johnson Publishing founder John H. Johnson remained in charge too long before handing over to his daughter. Hughes described her work as a "calling" and "mission," and said her faith has guided her decision to maintain gospel radio stations within Urban One's portfolio.

All Catherine Hughes appearances →