OWN’s ‘Heart & Hustle: Houston’ Celebrates The Power Of Vulnerability

Surrounded by Water, a filmmaker’s collective, recently hosted their Surrounded by Stories pop up series a the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, where they screened episode 1 of OWN’s new reality show, Heart & Hustle: Houston.

Creatives and producers gathered for this private screening of the show and listened to a Q+A with the show’s co-executive producer, Jessica Hubert, and TMZ producer and moderator Seleah Simone. The show features six Black women entrepreneurs balancing their business, their friendships, and their marriages while navigating emotional breakthroughs.

Heart & Hustle: Houston features six Black women with reputable businesses in Houston. These women include event planner and businesswoman Chloe Cook, spa owner Lebrina Jackson, and beauty entrepreneur Alaina Slausberry. The women take pride in starting their businesses from the ground up and Jessica credits her ability to land her co-executive producer role to the community she built when she started working in reality television production. She spent time building genuine friendships with the decision makers in the rooms and doing great work for them. She reminded event attendees of the importance of self advocation.

“Closed mouths don’t get fed,” Jessica said. 

Jessica shared that Alaina had the trickiest time sharing her vulnerabilities on screen. She started the show letting the ladies and the audience know that she was having difficulties in her marriage, but also confessed to not telling the whole truth about her situation. Her mom raised her to not look like what she’s going through and keep the details of her life to herself.

“I just put on my mask like I have it all together and power through it, but it doesn’t feel good,” Alaina said on the show.

Jessica said she understands the importance of talking to the women “human to human,” rather than producer to cast member. She made a point to check on Alaina after shooting scenes where she opens up more about her personal story. She reminded Alaina of the power in sharing her story, and even shared things she was struggling with. During a scene with Alaina, LeBrina shared how her husband cheated on her when they were dating. This created a safe space for Alaina to share how she’s still healing through her husband cheating on her during their engagement.

“A lot of the time, you can feel alone because you’re not saying anything,” Jessica said. “You’re not telling your friends. You’re choosing to be alone and not get the advice or shoulder to cry on and lean on.”

Jessica said she sat on the phone with the cast members for as long as two hours to not only learn their personal stories, but also learn the interpersonal stories among the six of them. She took her time to figure out the different areas of entry to bring them on screen. Along with managing the storytelling, Jessica navigated working with one camera crew with two cameras to shoot the show, when reality shows typically have two camera crews with four cameras, long drives traveling between the ladies’ houses, and 12 hour shoot days.

Along with attention paid to learning their stories, OWN seeks cast members who can back up their outward persona. They take their time to vet cast members to make sure their true lives fulfill the needs of the show. Representatives from the network also visited their set throughout their time shooting the show, a difference from other sets Jessica has worked on where network executives usually don’t pay a visit. In the three years it took to get the show off the ground. In that time, Jessica established strong relationships and trust between herself, the cast members, and the network, to craft a show that gets to the heart of Black stories that are relatable to all. 

“You will find yourself in these stories,” Jessica said.