Miss Cleo had a divine gift and wanted to use it to help people but money and

deception got in the way. Was she the fraud we've been led to believe she is? This is

two-minute black history. What you didn't learn in school. Call me now, now, Miss Cleo's voice sang into America's living rooms through a gummy smile,

Jamaican accent, and a deck of tarot card shuffling between her hands.

She was using her divine gifts to help people in their darkest hours, but nobody kept that same energy

when it was time to protect her.

Miss Cleo's animated no-nonsense psychic infomercials made her a 90s cultural icon.

But behind the scenes, the psychic readers network was playing with her future.

They were busy making $1 billion during hotline callers, while Miss Cleo only saw

pennies of it. When the deception came to light, however, she was pushed into scandalous spotlight,

forced to bear the brunt of their deception. Miss Cleo was actually a spiritual advisor trained by a 30 year old high priestess in Voodoo, so she really did understand spirituality but still the fraudulent

accusations persisted and this took a toll on her

private spiritual practice.

She dropped the Miss Cleo moniker to help clients worldwide

and reclaimed her time and power.

But one thing didn't change.

She still truly felt she had a gift to help others.

Hollywood has made a decades long career out of exploiting our people.

Ms Cleo's story is a cautionary tale to protect our gifts and always lean into our discernment when sharing our talent with anti-Black

institutions looking to capitalize on our gifts. In order to move towards the

future you've got to look to the past.

This has been two-minute black history, a podcast by Push Black.

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