need to pass email field value into variable

[eluser]Brad K Morse[/eluser]
model function: gets email of $venue_id = id

Code:

function getVenueChairEmail($venue_id) {
  $q = $this->db->select('email')->where('id',$venue_id)->get('venues');
}

Then I want to pass the email into the variable $to, like I am trying to do below

Code:

$to = $this->data_model->getVenueChairEmail($venue_id);

It is not passing anything into $to, tested by printing it out, empty.

I imagine its not as easy as that, any help is appreciated.