Staff Picks: Inspiring Women on 'Ellen'

So yesterday was the last day of my $100,000 Game of Games tournament that we had here on the show, and there was one player who did not want to win, but I would like to meet her again. Take a look at this. Jay-z and Beyonce recently dropped a music video called Family Feud. What show coined the phrase, "Survey says." Family Feud. That's right. You're the first one up. Let's see if you're lucky enough to get it on the first one. Make it rain. What app tells you to get a date just by swiping righ

t? Tinder. Tinder. Yes, yes, tinder. Make it rain. Oh, Joyce, come on down. [APPLAUSE] Oh, Joyce. I shouldn't say this, but I really was pulling for you. I didn't know any of you, and you were answering all the questions, and I was really-- because I thought that's not fair, if she gets wet the entire time, and then someone else wins. I know. And sure enough, that's what happened. And I was happy for the other woman, too. But. So was I. Yeah. I know a lovely group, it was just amazing. But of co

urse I wanted to win. Yes, of course. I heard you studied for it. How do you study for something like this? What did you-- what did you do? I watched hours and hours of your YouTube show on all the games, and I could have sworn you were going to talk about the Golden Globes, so I recorded the Golden Globes, I watched it live, and I watched it on my phone in the parking lot before we got here. Oh my God. I'm going to do this today. You worked so hard. And what I love about you is, I know your sto

ry a little bit, and your whole life is about giving back. Explain to people what you do. I work for this amazing charity. It's called Chemo Buddies and we give bags to patients going through cancer. And if you don't know anyone that's going through cancer, you're not sure what you're going to go through when you're going through your treatment. So we're just here to help you make your treatment comfortable. We're not looking for a cure, we're just trying to make you comfortable. We'll listen to

your problems, or just hold your hand while you're going through treatment. And you're doing that because you know a little bit about cancer. Explain. No, my husband is a five year cancer survivor. [APPLAUSE] But unfortunately, four months after me and my husband got married my dad was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer, and he died 10 weeks later. So it's just something that's dear to my heart, and then unfortunately cancer is a big part of our family. Right. And you're just having a tou

gh-- sorry about this, but I just-- that's why you're so amazing, because you, you're a giver. Thank you. You inspire me, Ellen. It's like every day me and my son watch you, and you just make me want to get off my butt and do something. So that's what I've been doing. You're so sweet. And so tell everybody your living situation, and your mom. Oh God, so right now we had a major flood in our house a month ago. So we are in a hotel, but it could be worse. You were just-- your house almost burned.

So how can I be upset about that? I have a roof over my head. And with my mom, she's a 74-year-old woman that worked her butt off, did everything for her four kids, and she's got advanced stage Alzheimer's. So for me, I had to make some decisions that were very hard. And I feel like a failure as a daughter sometimes because how do you choose paying for her medical treatment, or paying her mortgage? And I had to choose paying for her medical treatment. So. Listen, there's no way you're a horrible

anything, much less a horrible daughter. You're an amazing human being. I mean, you're incredible. I'm trying, I'm trying. Yeah, well, you don't have to, you are. You are. And then you're looking to adopt, is that what I heard? You're looking to adopt? Yeah, we adopted our little boy three years ago. His name is Jaden, and he's the best gift that ever happened to me. And seven weeks ago we got a call that his sibling, his sister is born, and they wanted to know if she can come to our home and b

e part of our family. And if you ever have an opportunity, please look into your county and adopt through foster care. It's the best thing you can ever do. Yeah, I agree. I agree. All right. So first of all, you know my birthday is coming up, right? January 26, and so. This is the 15th. Yes, really? How about that. Martin Luther King. So I want you to be in my audience for my birthday show, because I want to fill my audience with people that do good things. OK. Thank you. So you're going to come

back for that. Also our friends at Shutterfly want you to create positive memories with your family, so they are going to give you a check for $25,000. Oh my God! [APPLAUSE] Oh my God! No! Yeah. Thank you! Yep. And I just love you so much, I want to match that. I want to give you $25,000 as well. No, Ellen! Yeah, I love you. You're amazing. We'll be right back. After hearing about Kobe Bryant's death just nine days ago, our next guest shared a powerful and uplifting message with an unlikely aud

ience. Look at her. It wasn't an easy day, but just know that we're here with you. And know that you have your life. So there's someone you haven't spoken to today. Call them. If there's someone you haven't reached out to in a while, call them. Don't text. Texting, no, no, no. We got to pick the phone up. And if someone lives nearby, and you haven't seen them, reach out to them. Go to the house. Knock on the door, because they need to hear from you more than ever. We might have lost something gr

eat, a legend, but remember the spirit is still with us always. And remember you have your life. So I'm here to line you up. We got goodbyes going one more time. [APPLAUSE] You got to give it up! Yeah! From Queens, New York, please welcome Courtney Milnor. Hi. How are you doing? I am great. How are you doing? Oh, I'm feeling extra special. Hello. I'm glad you're here. Can I pause? Yeah. I have to take this moment in, because you are a true inspiration, and this is a dream come true to be here. H

ello! Thank you so much for having me. Oh, my pleasure. Thank you. Hello. Thank you so much. I just think you're awesome. I saw you actually on the CBS morning show. I saw that first. Then tWitch told me he saw you, and tWitch was actually, he was on that flight. Yeah. Yeah, I was. How cool is that? tWitch. It was, it was. It was one of those times, and honestly I'm so glad that you're here, because I gave you a hug before I got on the flight. We didn't even know each other like that, but like w

hat you did was so special, because as you know, like that day was really devastating. And it kind of leaves you in this place where you're kind of questioning a lot, right? And your mind is going all these different places, but your heart and your bold energy just it spoke through. It's exactly what we needed to hear before we got on that flight. Thank you. I couldn't like, yeah. Yeah, Courtney. I mean I'm sure you've heard from other people when you do things like that, but it must feel so goo

d that to know you have an impact on people, especially when they're getting on a plane. No matter what day it is, but especially that day. It felt as though, as soon as I found out, a coworker told me while I was working another flight. So it felt like one by one the lights in the world were going out, and I just had to bring the positivity. So I took 15 minutes, I said it's time to shine now. Because they need me. LA needs me, the people need me, and it's time to spread that light, and give th

e love. And that's-- I'm so grateful to be able to do it. That's what we should all remember. I mean, unfortunately sometimes it takes a tragedy like that to make us all remember that we better start shining our lights on other people, and loving other people. Because it's very necessary. But you spread positivity. You dance. So what happens? Where do you? Where do you where do you go and dance in the airport? So as we know, traveling is very stressful. Yes. So once you get through TSA, we know

it's the hardest part, we love you TSA. But it's the hardest part, so as soon as you go downstairs, duty free, there's a DJ playing right there. And I start dancing. You feel the vibes, you feel the love, and I actually do that on my off time. So that's not on my shift. I work my entire shift, I clock out. Oh, hello, there's me dancing. Work it. Yeah. Hello, somebody. So that's the one way to, aside from music is dancing, is that universal language of love. They feel it, we feel it, and a lot of

times we don't speak the same language. But when we're dancing, it's one. Yep. That's what dancing does, right? That's one. All right, well. Hello. You've inspired us, and there is a fund that has been set up by Kobe's foundation to help the families lost in that horrible accident. The fund is called Mamba on Three. Our friends at Shutterfly want to donate $25,000 in your name. All right? What? For more information on how you can donate to Mamba on Three, go to our website. More with Courtney w

hen we come back. So Courtney, I will ask you a question. I don't know if you know the answer, but you have so much-- some people just are born with a lot of positivity. Some people find it later in life. Have you always had this positivity, or where does this come from? So the greatest inspiration to me is my grandmother, Consuelo Milner. And it's taken a pause. She's 92 years old. I take care of her to this day. She still-- that's my grandma. And it's powerful because she was the first African

-American woman to be an engineer in the Navy yard in New York, in the Brooklyn Navy yard. And at the time back then, she didn't have a voice. She wasn't allowed to have a voice. And I am her voice. I am the light, I am the love. She has passed the torch and now I'm spreading it. I'm spreading it. Yes, you are. You're doing it. All right, well. Look! My friends at Shutterfly know you're a single mom, they take care of-- you take care of your teenage son, you take care of your grandmother. So the

y're also giving you a check for $25,000. [APPLAUSE] Keep spreading the light. Oh. I want to thank Julia Louis-Dreyfus. See you tomorrow. Be kind to one another. Bye. One of the best parts of my job is getting to meet people who are changing the world. At only 24 years old our next guest is doing just that. Ashlyn is an occupational therapist who chose to work with special needs students in one of the most impoverished school districts in the county. Her dream is to give her students the best ch

ance for a bright future. Please welcome Ashlyn and her husband Brett. So this is a surprise to you. You were backstage you, thought you were here for something else, and then, what, 10 minutes ago they said you're on the show? Yes, we thought that we were coming to sit in the audience with everybody else. Yeah. And so all of a sudden you're on the show. Yes, it's crazy. Well, because you're 24 years old, and you're doing something absolutely amazing. I mean, this is-- it's so important to hear

stories like this. OK? So what do you do at the school, exactly? I'm an occupational therapist in the school system. So basically what I do is work with different special needs kids. It can vary from profound to just minor disabilities, and I just try and put a smile on their face, and teach them as much as I can. And this is, tell me about that county. Brantley County is one of the highest poverty levels in the state, as well as probably in the nation. There are so many kids qualify for free an

d reduced lunch that they've actually just made the whole entire county like have free and reduced lunch. Wow. There are people that pack lunches, and send them home with the kids every weekend during the summer. There are buses that go around, and make sure that these kids get fed. Because otherwise. They might not. They would not. Right. And so you don't live in Brantley. You actually travel to work there. Yes. We live about 30 miles away. About 30 minutes. 30 minutes. So you could have worked

anywhere. You could have done anything, and you chose to travel to this area to help. Yes, well, Brantley county, I mean the people are amazing. I know that I could have worked anywhere, and probably gotten a better salary. But I mean, these kids make it so worthwhile. And what is the best part? What is the best part and what's the most challenging part? OK, the best part of my job would have to be helping these kids and putting a smile on their face, knowing that, like, I'm helping. Making a d

ifference. That is the most amazing thing. The hardest part would have to be taking the job home with me. Because these kids, you know Brett and I are just so blessed to have a family to go home to, a support system. A roof over our head, our dogs. Food on our table and things like that. Your dogs are adorable, by the way. I saw the picture of your dogs. We're obsessed. Obsessed. Yeah. So. They're my babies! I mean, how ridiculous, that little one with the little folded over ears like that. They

're both rescues, so they're mixed. So and this is in Georgia. OK. So the Brantley school district is-- you're doing so much for the actual district itself. Not only are you working there, tell everyone what you do every year. Well, every time I get the opportunity, I like give at least 10% of my salary back to the kids. So if that means buying new equipment that I can work with each of them on, or Brent knows, like, every holiday or anything that comes. Making brownies and cookies. That's my fa

vorite part. So I always sneak them when she's not looking. So I make sure that they all have-- and to make them feel special, is my biggest thing. Because I never want them to think that they don't have somebody that cares about. Well, first of all, at 24 years old to have that-- to know that it feels better to give and help somebody at 24, when most people are thinking about themselves, is number one, is amazing that you do that. And then to take 10% of your income, which is already reduced be

cause you choose to work at that school, is really incredible. And you're trying to get technology into the schools and explain why. There is just such a high need. You go into the schools and they probably have-- they don't have enough computers for each of the kids, let alone like an iPad per school. So you can tell that they just don't have what they need. I love working on the iPad, I bring my iPad every single day, because some of these kids need-- with the communication, the speech devices

, and different things like that, they need that. And it's important, you know. Yeah. Just some school systems have better opportunities and kids have more access to things like that. And just giving them access to it, and on an equal playing field. Well, especially these kids, because like you said, they need the voice activated. They sometimes-- that's the only way to communicate. Oh, yeah. All right, so we wanted to give something to the school. Andy Zenor has a basket that will be. Oh! All r

ight, so what I want to do. You hold that. [APPLAUSE] I want you to do me a favor. Start over here, and if you'll just swipe that. The other way. All right, so now Shutterfly wants to give you $10,000 for the school district. See what happens if you swipe that one? That's another $10,000. Swipe this one. Another $10,000. Another $10,000. Shutterfly want to give you $50,000. Thank you. You are welcome! Thank you so much, Ellen. You are welcome. Thank you. We'll be back. Last week the polar vortex

caused some of the coldest temperatures in us history making the city of Chicago colder than Antarctica. Our next guest used money out of her own pocket to buy hotel rooms for more than 100 homeless people in her community. She did it with no expectation of anything in return, and that is the type of person I want to meet. From Chicago, Illinois, please welcome Candice Payne. Candice, you're just amazing. You're awesome. OK, you live in Chicago. And how cold was it, actually, when you started t

his idea? It was negative. On Tuesday it was -20 already. And Wednesday we were looking at -50. So. Wow. So you planned on staying in, and then what happened? What changed your mind? Because this is just brilliant what you did. So I called my office and told my assistants, look, don't come in tomorrow. It's going to be too cold, because I'm not coming in. And you know, this is just going to be a regular workday in the house. I get to watch TV, and then I started thinking, like, what about the pe

ople who lives outside? Who don't have a home to go to? And it was a no brainer. I picked up the phone. In my mind I'm like, OK, I can go and charge 20 hotel rooms on my American Express. And as I get to calling around, no one wanted them. It wasn't good for business. None of the hotels wanted homeless people in? They were not, no. No. One motel actually, when I called, the Amber Inn, the manager picked up and said, absolutely. Whatever you need, whatever you want. The Amber Inn Motel. Good for

you, Amber Inn Motel! [APPLAUSE] All right, so how many rooms did they have? I asked her how many she had available, and I think-- I don't remember the number that she had. But I know I secured 30 of them. And then after I got off the phone with her, I'm thinking like, OK, now how do I get these people to this room? I got one truck. So I went to social media, and I posted, hey, I just secured 30 rooms. 30 hotel rooms for the homeless, and I'll pay you if you have a truck or van to come help me t

ransport them. That post went viral. It was absolutely amazing. That's amazing. OK, so now it seems like you needed more rooms. So then what happened? Yeah, so with that particular post, it also got people to coming in pitching in, helping to purchase rooms. So initially I started off with 30 rooms, and it was only going to be one night. By the time that we looked up, we were able to secure five nights, and 72 rooms. We helped over 122, was 122 people. [APPLAUSE] And describe some of the people

that were homeless. You said there were pregnant woman or pregnant women? We had all types of people. We had pregnant women, we had children, we had disabled people, we had people who just got out of the hospital from having surgery and was on-- just going to try and live on the street. It was really overwhelming. You know, we've got to do something about the problem of the homeless, because I know you have a relationship that your boyfriend was, is that right? Yeah. Homeless. He was homeless. A

nd the misconception about homeless people is they think that they're lazy, or they just don't want a job. And truth be told, a lot of people are one paycheck away from their same situation. Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, I think now more than ever, with the weather the way it is, all the disasters, people losing their homes in fires, there's a lot of reasons, like you said. They're one paycheck away. So we have to do something about this homeless situation and help them. And the fact that you did th

is is just out of the kindness of your heart. So and I know that you went to Walmart for a lot of supplies to help them out. Walmart heard about this and they want to give you a check for $25,000 to thank you. [APPLAUSE] Oh my God. More with Candace after this. We'll be back. We're back with the incredible Candace Payne. OK, what is next for you? Now what are you going to do? So, two years ago I started a non-for-profit that it's called Action for Calls. I didn't do anything with it, because I d

idn't know what I wanted to do. Feeding homeless, or buying hotels, I can do that out of pocket. I didn't know what I was doing with it. I now found my new purpose, and I'm in real estate. So I can use my passion for real estate to help house the homeless. So I'm buying multi-units, and I'm rehabbing them, I'm buying distressed multi-units, rehabbing them, and I'm going to get-- I'm going to house homeless. And hopefully others will jump on the bandwagon and help. I bet they will. I mean that's

a great idea. And especially being in real estate, you know what's available, and you can get things for a good price, and rehab them, and well, I decided during the break, I made a phone call, and I called Walmart and I asked them to give you another $25,000, because I-- [APPLAUSE] Oh my God! So now you have $50,000. Oh my God, thank you so much. Thank you so much. Help out Candace Payne, go to our website. I want to thank Elizabeth Banks. I'll see you tomorrow. Be kind to one another. Bye-bye.

Every once in a while we come across someone so special we have to introduce you to them. Our next guest is not just helping out her community, she is actually rebuilding it house by house. Take a look at her. They call me Mama Shu, and I'm sitting up here on this corner, in this house, building a village. Avalon Village is, it's a place where we're restoring things that we deserve to have. So a lot of what you see is basically a grief turned into joy. This is what grief looked like. Because yo

u never really think that your kid is going to die. My son Jacoby and Chinyelu, which is my older son, they were crossing the street, they were holding hands and being watched across the street. So a car came speeding, just knocked my baby boy out of Chin's hand, and he actually died of one of the streetlights. The days were very tough at first, but day by day, it just started to feel better. My work and building and doing and my community work, they're actually healing. Those are the things tha

t actually saved me. Highland Park was a very, very desirable place to live. The '80s is when I think things started to kind of take a turn. Even before Jacoby was born, I looked at this space, and I was like, wow, there's a whole block that doesn't have anything on it. We can help bring it back. I would actually see colors, and I would see action. I saw the whole thing all played out. I was wishing to be on this block, actually in this house where I am right now. Six months after he got killed

and became available, got it, and just started placing everything like, you know we're going to put a homework house here, we're going to have a cafe down in the abandoned gas station down the street. Every block is going to be back beautiful again, that's my wish. And that's what we're working towards. This right here is part of Jacoby Rock Park. We have a lot of events in this park, school supply giveaways. I've married people in this park. So it's a really, really cool community space, family

space. Jacoby gives me courage, and he just keeps me going. A lot of things that we do are around children, it's because of him. The homework house is the very first most important addition to the village. This right here, this is the homework house. Here is where we'll feed the kids after school, computer lab, laundry room, and a big old giant learning kitchen. They're going to cook for themselves when they come home from school. I was going to make sure that the kids had clean clothes, that t

hey would be-- that they would eat, and this is a place where I wanted them to be happy and safe too. That's what I want to create for them. People think that things are so big and so unreachable. What we're showing is that you can really, really do this. I'm not an urban planner, or I just must have a good imagination or something is going on. Somebody had to do it, you know? And so it's cool. So I did. From Highland Park, Michigan, please welcome Mama Shu. I love you so much. Oh my god, I love

you too! You. We girls, yeah, girls, I'm-- can I touch you? Yes, touch me. Look at you. Yeah. It's Ellen. Yes. Damn. Mama. Mama Shu, you are amazing. Thank you. How much land have you bought? OK, so far we got 11 pieces of land. We've cleaned up the whole block, landscaped it. We've got shipping containers for women businesses, and also we're working on a homework house, working on getting it completed. Right, so like you said, some people would look at this and go, it's too big to take on. And

they're just living the same way you're living, in that neighborhood, going this is a mess. Yes. But what gave you the courage to take this on? Well, one of the things, where we live at Highland Park, HP! I had to get that out. OK, I'm done. So one of the things is that we deserve to have a quality living environment. And how did you find the money? What did you do? What was the first thing you did to find the money? Begged. Yeah? Girl, I begged my friends, we sold food. I used my own check mon

ey. Oh my goodness, we did everything. Yeah, what you're doing is amazing. I mean, what you're doing is so incredible. My partner, Kris Birch and I have a prefab home company called Cocoon Nine, and the homes are delivered-- I don't know if you know what prefab homes are, but they're amazing. And they're delivered fully assembled, and they're on site, they have high quality finishes, the homes are energy efficient. They can be used for residential or office or retail spaces. I talked to Kris tod

ay, and we want to give you a home worth about $100,000 to put on-- Woo! [CHEERING] Oh my god, one of them! Ain't that gorgeous? Oh my god! We'll be right back! [APPLAUSE] [MUSIC PLAYING]