Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph has been in the entertainment industry for nearly 50 years and last month she had her biggest audience yet at the Super Bowl.

Last September, her Emmy speech went viral.

Ralph was the first African-American woman to win for best supporting actress in some 35 years for her role as Barbara Howard  in the hit show Abbott Elementary. 

On March 18, Sheryl Lee Ralph visited the historic Billie Holiday Theater in Brooklyn to promote her latest book: Diva 2.0. She was interviewed on stage by Spectrum News NY1 anchor Cheryl Wills to a sell-out crowd.

“Diva 2.0 available wherever it is you get books and I wanted to do something that offered life lessons, as it says, from me for you,” Sheryl says.

Broadway’s original Dreamgirl has learned a lot during the course of her career.

“I kept believing I did not let anybody else’s negativity become my burden. I was able to believe in myself long enough to get me to this point,” she added.

Fans packed the Billie Holiday Theater at Restoration Plaza in Bedford-Stuyvesant, which is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary.  

The 218-seat theater is one of the last cultural institutions in the U.S. dating back to the Black Arts Movement, a cause that’s near and dear to Sheryl Lee Ralph.

“The importance of having your own space to tell your own story authentically in your voice, it is important and I encourage people to donate to the theater, support the theater, bring your art to the theater and, as they’ve been saying, the Billie is back and its back here for you!" Sheryl said.