Yes, Rudolph is well aware of Pittsburgh’s

George Cheeks, the CBS chief, told Vulture last year the show was born out of crunching numbers: “One of the things that the data made very clear is that daytime soap operas over index with Black women.”“I think there’s kind of a renewed appreciation for the audiences that do still engage in broadcast programing, and a recognition that one of those audiences are Black women, and this was a way to serve that audience,” says Elana Levine, a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor and author of “Her Stories: Daytime Soap Opera and US Television History.”

Victoria Rowell’s “Young and the Restless” character, Drucilla Barber Winters, was introduced in 1990 as “an illiterate thief,” she says. Rowell worked with co-creator and then-head writer, William J. Bell to give the character dimension.Drucilla became a ballet dancer, like Rowell herself, a storyline that showed “it is possible to be in a lower socioeconomic environment and be aspirational.”Victoria Rowell poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Victoria Rowell poses for a portrait on Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)She still receives letters from fans who cite Drucilla as inspiration.

The feeling, Rowell explains is, “Oh my God, I can be a ballet dancer through Drucilla, a pull-up-by-the-bootstraps kind of chick that’s rough around the edges and that can learn how to read and write, perhaps, and meet a Neil Winters and get married and improve her life.”

Rowell says she always understood her role as “so much bigger” than an acting job. She recalls meeting with the then-editor of Soap Opera Digest to advocate for a cover featuring the Black cast members — and it ended up happening.Fisher Aaron Laguna Ipuana tries to turn the boat in Cabo de la Vela, Colombia, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Fisher Aaron Laguna Ipuana tries to turn the boat in Cabo de la Vela, Colombia, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)The Apalanchii use traditional fishing techniques, with nets, hooks and sometimes spearfishing. It is not only a means of sustenance but also a culturally important activity which they say ties them to their ancestors and the land.

“We are really worried about the offshore wind farms,” said fisherman Aaron Laguna Ipuana, 57, during an early morning fishing trip in Cabo de la Vela with his crew. “They’re going to displace us and the sea is everything to us. It sustains us.”Mercado says the government needs to do more to ensure Wayuu people are involved.