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Danielle Vasinova: How a Shy Farm Girl Became a Hollywood Star | E103 · In Search Of Excellence

• 0:00
  Danielle Vasinova: I was offered to be a Patriots cheerleader. I made it I got on the squad three our practices, no pay for the practice. I'm not like a real football fan. I actually don't know much about football. But I know how to cheer. Call the woman up. And she's like, okay, come in on a Friday. And then she's like, Okay, do you want the part? And I was like, Yeah, twist my arm. And she said, Okay, go to go to wardrobe. Be back here at 6am Monday, to work just like that. Yeah, they were all that easy, right?
• 0:36
  Randall Kaplan: Welcome to the Search of Excellence where we meet entrepreneurs, CEOs, entertainers, athletes, motivational speakers, and trailblazers of excellence with incredible stories from all walks of life. My name is Randall Kaplan. I'm a serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist and the host of In Search of Excellence, which I started to motivate and inspire us to achieve excellence in all areas of our lives. My guest today is Danielle VAs Sonova. Danielle is an actor, model, producer, entrepreneur, avid equestrian, and drummer, she has been in more than 50 movies and TV shows, and is best known for her colorful action adventure rolls.
• 1:15
  Randall Kaplan: And she has graced the cover of many magazines, including Vogue, and Harper's Bazaar. Danielle, Welcome to In Search of Excellence, thank you for being here.
• 1:22
  Danielle Vasinova: Thank you for having me,
• 1:23
  Randall Kaplan: I always start with our family. And I want to start with your grandmother.
• 1:25
  Randall Kaplan: Going back to the very beginning. Tell us about your grandmother, your mom, your dad, and how they influenced your life. So
• 1:33
  Danielle Vasinova: my grandmother, my whole family is in aviation. And so my grandmother was actually the only artists in my family. I'm checking Native American, and she's my grandmother on my check side. And she you know, she was an actress and a singer and a dancer in Prague. And communism was really bad. And so she escaped in the middle of the night with just a suitcase. And so she was, I don't even think she was 17 years old. And she got bounced around to a bunch of DP camps, like displaced persons camps. And she ended up with this one in Germany. And she met my grandfather there because they formed a trio. And so people would throw like food or clothes or shoes, you know, up on the stage. And so he saw her, and they ended up falling in love. They got a sponsor to come over to New York City.
• 2:25
  Randall Kaplan: She was 17 at the time. Yeah, maybe not even.
• 2:30
  Danielle Vasinova: And so when they got the sponsor to come over to New York City, she went from, you know, acting, singing, dancing to scrubbing toilets, because she spoke no English, but she did it, you know, in the name of freedom. And so without that journey, and you know, hurt taking those steps, I I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing.
• 2:50
  Randall Kaplan: Now, what about your mom and dad?
• 2:53
  Danielle Vasinova: My mom and dad, my mom worked for American Airlines. My dad tested airplane engines for Pratt and Whitney.
• 3:01
  Danielle Vasinova: So completely different, you know, they met there was like a, like this check community in Connecticut. And my father was from six brothers have big family, six brothers and sisters. And so from New York City, they would go up to this lake and Connecticut and my mom actually ended up dating my uncle for a while.
• 3:35
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, you were Yeah, you didn't know what you're getting into.
• 3:39
  Danielle Vasinova: And then they broke up. And then she ended up with my father. And then she moved to Connecticut.
• 3:43
  Danielle Vasinova: And I was born.
• 3:46
  Randall Kaplan: Gotcha. And so let's talk about when you were younger, your dad bought you a pony when you were three years old. Yeah. And you and you love writing. So tell us what it was like to have that pony. How it influenced your life? How many times you fell off the pony? Oh, now what that experience was like, yeah.
• 4:04
  Danielle Vasinova: They called me lead but because I would just like take her down to the end of the the kind of, you know, area where we would ride and then I would just kind of had a crop and I would and then kicker, and she would go shooting off down down the way and I just I would just stick on there like glue.
• 4:22
  Danielle Vasinova: But of course, she was fresh and frisky a bunch of times. And so she bucked me off, you know, from time to time and I would get the wind knocked out of me and just get back up and start again. You know,
• 4:34
  Randall Kaplan: but when you're three are you actually getting on that horse alone as someone holding the horse with me because I got a three year old and I can't imagine I had
• 4:41
  Danielle Vasinova: a run I was three to six. Okay, so like at first when I was you know, learning my dad would just take me around but then I learned pretty quick so
• 4:50
  Randall Kaplan: So you went on your own on the horse when you were six years old riding around? Probably know before that before that. Yeah. And would you ride on your farm where you're taking it?
• 4:57
  Randall Kaplan: Sometimes we see horses on the street on Sunset up in a part Park area.
• 5:04
  Danielle Vasinova: It wasn't like sunset. No, I grew up in a farm on a farm in Connecticut.
• 5:06
  Danielle Vasinova: And yeah, no, it was just just like 100 acres. And so everything was fenced in. And it was beautiful. It was beautiful.
• 5:16
  Danielle Vasinova: But then, you know, she died when I was six years old. And then I started going to the Westbrook honk club. And so I started learning, you know, other different styles of riding. And so it taught me discipline because I'd have to go and feed my horse before school. And I would ride all the time, and I started learning how to train horses and and then breeding later, so it was a journey. So
• 5:42
  Randall Kaplan: as a kid, equestrian was your passion horses were your passion. What else would you like as a kid saying, when we'll start with kind of six through 12? Were you popular? Social?
• 5:54
  Danielle Vasinova: No, God? No, I was like, painfully shy. so shy. I just my horse was my friend and my dogs and my goats and my sheep. And those were my friends. You know? I was afraid to speak up in class. Like I never never, never wanted raise my hand. Yeah, I don't know. I was
• 6:20
  Randall Kaplan: afraid you didn't know the answer. Were you afraid people are gonna make fun of you. You don't want people staring at you?
• 6:25
  Danielle Vasinova: I think all of the above I think I was just I just felt self conscious. I felt awkward. I didn't feel like I had a voice. I don't know.
• 6:35
  Danielle Vasinova: Most
• 6:39
  Randall Kaplan: actors I know actually talked about being shy when they were younger. They were in their own shell. And I find it very interesting. Why?
• 6:45
  Randall Kaplan: Why do you think that is? And what what makes them want to speak in front of hundreds of millions of people. If a film is incredible, or go on live TV? I mean, there's total dichotomy there. I
• 7:00
  Danielle Vasinova: think that there's a certain level of protection with characters.
• 7:02
  Danielle Vasinova: Because I think if you layer that over you, you don't feel like it's you. If that makes sense. Like this is if you if I was to speak to an audience, I'd feel so vulnerable. Today. Even today, even Yeah, that is one of my worst fears of life.
• 7:26
  Randall Kaplan: I just it's so weird to think about you're in front of a camera. We'll talk about my movie experience in a little bit, because I think I shared it with you. But you know, first time I was in a room, there were 40 cameras, there's mics hanging everywhere.
• 7:36
  Randall Kaplan: There's people there. What was that for? It was? Well, let's save the story for another for later Later in the podcast.
• 7:47
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, but it made me very nervous and self conscious. I had never been on a movie set before yet. You do that every day? Or a lot. So how, how can you do that and still be nervous to speak in front of people?
• 8:01
  Danielle Vasinova: I don't know.
• 8:01
  Danielle Vasinova: I think it's creating characters that shield that actors feel like they're protected or they're shielded. I think that's the only way that we can kind of get around it. And it's like a safe expression.
• 8:14
  Randall Kaplan: So at some point, you got into cheerleading you're what I read was A reluctantly. What does that mean? I read I read reluctant cheerleader. So I was dragging you to cheerleading tryouts.
• 8:27
  Danielle Vasinova: You basically yeah. This girl, this girl that I made friends with, like one of my two friends. She's like, she called me Danny. She's like, Danny, come on, we're going to cheerleading tryouts. And I'm like, hell no, I'm not going.
• 8:41
  Danielle Vasinova: She's like, come on, you're going. Okay, fine. We went and I auditioned. And then we waited for like the list, they posted a list on the outside wall. And so we waited for the list to be posted. And I got on it. And she got on it. And then I she got mad at me later on, because I ended up making Captain within two years. And yeah, that kind of helped to break me out of my shell a little bit. Because we had to, you know, learn routines, and we had to go out there in front of everybody and do it so kind of broke the ice for me.
• 9:15
  Randall Kaplan: I think. My daughters were cheerleaders in high school, it was good, true love. And it was one of the best things they've ever done in their life that you're you're a team. Your discipline, you're practicing every day. Yeah. And it is like flyers are they were they they did everything and we did a local high school and it was really flying. Okay, the lightest the lightest member of the team is up on top as usual.
• 9:38
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. And it's dangerous sport.
• 9:38
  Randall Kaplan: I mean, a lot of people don't think so people one of the girls had a concussion in the first week or freshman year could cheer again had has had serious problems. memory wise and you know, you take a bad fall, you're up there 10 feet in the air, and someone doesn't catch you right. It's kind of crazy.
• 10:00
  Danielle Vasinova: That's what happened to me. I had we had two new I was a flyer and we had two new bases. And they go, Okay, well, there was a scope with the schedule. And so the basketball team had the whole core and we were kind of shafted off on the side. Yeah. And so anyway, long story short, so, two new bases, you know, we're on account of one, two, down, up, and then I had to go and do a pike basket toss, yeah, land. So they go one, two, down, up, and then their, their timing was off. And so instead of throwing me straight up, they threw me like backwards into a stack set of bleacher creatures. And I just went and got my back just and then I fell down to the floor.
• 10:44
  Randall Kaplan: And
• 10:45
  Danielle Vasinova: I was like, oh, yeah, how to get rushed to the hospital. I didn't have anything broken but my back's like, never been the same. I don't know how I didn't have anything broken. But I just felt like I couldn't even move. And so yeah, they checked me out. I was I was okay, but it still doesn't feel right. Even to this day.
• 11:05
  Randall Kaplan: My two young daughters seven and three, I'm prejudicing them to become cheerleaders, of course and University of Michigan cheerleading outfits. My wife went to USC so I was competing, which which outfits that they're gonna wear but they love it and they give me give me a lot of shit for it for lack of a better word. I got mommy's I got USC GO, GO Trojans. Let's talk about how great shopping malls can be for us and how weird it is to have strangers come up to a shopping malls and talk to us about the cheerleading competition for Muscular Dystrophy Association. And then what happened from that point on?
• 12:38
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, that's kind of how I got swept up into this wild ride. You know, I, through cheerleading, we got asked to do a competition at a local mall. And so
• 12:49
  Randall Kaplan: we was at your church. The whole squad goes there. Yeah.
• 12:55
  Danielle Vasinova: And so we went and we did this, you know, competition for the MDA. And this Scout came up to me from elite, and she's like, Hey, you know, I like your look. We'd like to set up something for you to come and test down in New York. And so I was like, Okay, well, I gotta talk to my mom, because I don't know, I was probably like, 1314 years old, I was just a puppy. And so we went, and they ended up signing me. And that was cool. Because my grandma, she was in Queens and flushing. And then they were in midtown Manhattan. And so I'd go down there for work, and then stay with my grandma. And it kind of worked out. And that's how I began doing a lot of print editorial commercial work from there. Let's
• 13:38
  Randall Kaplan: let's go back.
• 13:38
  Randall Kaplan: You're in the mall. Okay. The team is 12 or 16. People. Yeah.
• 13:41
  Randall Kaplan: And you're done with the chair and some dude is staring at you basically. Does it girl Oh, okay. So some girl all right.
• 13:50
  Randall Kaplan: Makes makes a lot better, less weird story. So she's, she's less creepy. So she, she sees you? And she say, Danielle, come here, because it's a little weird when there's 12 or 16 people near you? She says,
• 14:06
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, I think Mike I don't know. Weird, right?
• 14:08
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, super weird. But I don't even I think she might have went up and found out who like my coach was okay, coach came up to me. She didn't kind of just go up to me with all the other girls there. I think she was a little more kind of cool incognito.
• 14:26
  Randall Kaplan: But your mom wasn't there. You went home. You told your mom, what happened?
• 14:29
  Randall Kaplan: Did she think it was Whoa, hey, this is a little weird. And then she said weird is weird.
• 14:35
  Danielle Vasinova: So like, if you want to go we can go but you know, we're going together. I'm not sending you alone.
• 14:40
  Randall Kaplan: But did she she probably want to do some research first to make sure that it was it
• 14:45
  Danielle Vasinova: was okay. Of course. 100% Yeah.
• 14:47
  Randall Kaplan: So you get on a plane or you drove to New York because you love or took the train. I think we took the train took the train. Yeah. Are you nervous at this point? Because someone you know,
• 14:57
  Danielle Vasinova: like, I'm very, I was very just open, you know, kind of go with the flow.
• 15:02
  Randall Kaplan: And did you have a goal at that point? In terms of what you what you want it as a model? Did you even think of being a model before this woman?
• 15:08
  Randall Kaplan: No. But hey, nothing.
• 15:11
  Danielle Vasinova: No, never thought about? I didn't even know what I wanted to be. You know, I had no idea what I wanted to be at that point. I probably something with horses.
• 15:21
  Danielle Vasinova: And
• 15:21
  Randall Kaplan: so just walk us through it because I think people would just say okay, well we can fast forward. Yeah. Then you got a bunch of print jobs and your career took off but you're 13 or 14 years old.
• 15:31
  Randall Kaplan: You're walking into in agency.
• 15:34
  Randall Kaplan: I've been in some of the lobbies. I mean, they're beautiful. It's a little intimidating. Even for a man sitting there and just having a meeting. It's intimidating.
• 15:43
  Randall Kaplan: Whoa, this is kind of crazy.
• 15:43
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. It's kind of scary. Yeah, scary. So
• 15:47
  Danielle Vasinova: did you sit these people where am i What's happening to me right?
• 15:51
  Randall Kaplan: Today? Did you sit down on a in a chair and someone's looking at you kind of like I think
• 15:58
  Danielle Vasinova: we I think I was just there with my mom. And they had a bunch of fashion magazines laid out. And I think we were just, you know, hanging out. And then somebody brought me in to another room. And then there was like a bunch of people there in that room. And then they just talked to me, and they just asked if we'd be open to signing and
• 16:19
  Randall Kaplan: did you say how much? Big allowance?
• 16:26
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, exactly. We grew up very poor.
• 16:30
  Danielle Vasinova: So I think she was like, this could maybe help with college a little bit.
• 16:34
  Randall Kaplan: And so was, did you have a goal? And did you at that point to make a certain amount of money and you remember what your first job was?
• 16:41
  Danielle Vasinova: I think it was Macy's was my first job. But no, I had no goal I had, I didn't even know what I was doing. Yeah, I was just like, let's go, let's go have fun. I guess this could be a cool adventure. I don't know. My mom might have had, you know, a goal because she might have been like, Okay, we need X amount to put her through college, but I didn't. So I
• 17:04
  Randall Kaplan: think a lot of people don't know the life of a model. My wife has been a model for a long time. And you go there. And there's a bunch of people taking pictures of you here. You're 13 and 14. It has to be scary, like you said, but are you? Are you kind of posing in front of the camera, they tell? Because they're 13 or 14, you have no idea what you're doing, right? I
• 17:27
  Danielle Vasinova: didn't even know how I didn't even know how to pose or how to move or what to do. And so they kind of they had to show me. So
• 17:36
  Randall Kaplan: you get one job.
• 17:36
  Randall Kaplan: You have a Macy's job. Yep. And then things just started to roll from there. Yeah,
• 17:42
  Danielle Vasinova: well, a lot of jobs I wouldn't get, you know, I would have to sometimes they direct book me sometimes I had to go to casting sometimes I would miss castings because the school. It was a whole, it was a mishmash of things.
• 17:55
  Randall Kaplan: So So for people that don't know, explain how the whole thing works, she got a call from an agent, and then you're on hold, and then you gotta go.
• 18:03
  Danielle Vasinova: Well, it depends. Like if you get a call from your agent, and they've already you've sent your comp card and sent all your materials and they're like, Okay, we want her and you're booked. That's one thing. But if you have to go on audition, then you go your audition. See if they like you, maybe they'll put you on a veil, which is which means like, kind of like a hold. Are you available? And then they'll call you in and hopefully book you.
• 18:27
  Danielle Vasinova: Well, at some I've been taken off of the veil to you know, you're put on a veil, you're waiting, waiting, and then they're like, oh, no, they went in a different direction. Yeah.
• 18:37
  Randall Kaplan: And then you're hosed. Because you didn't get paid for it. You could have taken another job. Thank you.
• 18:41
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, it's an unfair time. Yeah, it's a fair process. But a lot of times you're going for readings, or shoots or whatever.
• 18:49
  Randall Kaplan: And you got to do something silly in front of someone for commercial. It could be, but you got a ton of rejection. Right? I mean, what's your win rate when you're doing that? And then even at a young age, how do you deal with the rejection? I mean, I, my wife goes through this.
• 19:03
  Randall Kaplan: That's
• 19:05
  Danielle Vasinova: probably why I'm still so screwed up. I don't know. I don't even know what the rate is numerically. I mean, it's probably one in 10. If you're lucky. Yeah.
• 19:16
  Randall Kaplan: Right, right. I mean, people see, I mean, you're just on a Vogue cover, which is incredible. gratulations Thank
• 19:22
  Danielle Vasinova: you, but it's a bucket list. Bucket List.
• 19:24
  Danielle Vasinova: Check. Bucket
• 19:25
  Randall Kaplan: List. Check.
• 19:25
  Randall Kaplan: What else is on the bucket list?
• 19:28
  Randall Kaplan: Oh, 5050 Gods top five for for life. Anything.
• 19:35
  Danielle Vasinova: I want to I'm going to Cam this year, so that's gonna be cool. Never been there before Cannes Film Festival never been? Nope. I would love to. Well, there's so many directors I'd love to work with. But I'd love to work with Tarantino. He's in the top of my list Darren Aronofsky before Tarantino once at the Golden Globes, and he asked me, he asked, What's your last name?
• 20:02
  Danielle Vasinova: And so I started to say, and then this woman kind of came in and totally just bulldozed. And I never saw him again.
• 20:13
  Randall Kaplan: I would have told you and giving you some coaching on that one. You know what I would have done what? I would have sent him something to his office the very next day, something outrageous and said it was so great meeting you. I love to have coffee with you. And I bet I bet the response rate would have been 99.99%. Really?
• 20:29
  Randall Kaplan: You know, he's in town. Yeah.
• 20:33
  Randall Kaplan: Right. Yeah. You know, he's going to the office if he's in town, right. He's got a production studio. He's got an office on some lot somewhere.
• 20:38
  Randall Kaplan: And I think you got to, I think gotta hit it right on the spot.
• 20:43
  Danielle Vasinova: What if just some assistant gets it and throws it out?
• 20:46
  Randall Kaplan: I'm not gonna name names right now. Okay, okay. Okay. Okay. I was in Hawaii. My wife knows this story. So I'm not I'm not telling anyone the story. I'm not releasing a secret about some other woman. I was in Hawaii. I don't know, this was 15, actually 18 years ago, roughly, and with my first wife, when there's an actress there with her husband, who I think is attractive, and so we happen to meet each other not not in a weird way, but we had talking from LA. Yeah, you know, I clearly knew what she did, because she's very well known.
• 21:22
  Randall Kaplan: And we had a nice conversation.
• 21:25
  Randall Kaplan: I found her to be very humble. I never really talked to a famous actress before. And it was always like, it was a little like, something like a spark.
• 21:31
  Randall Kaplan: But it was, yeah, it was nothing weird. It just when you look at someone for a little longer, it's a little longer. Yeah. And then I I ran into her again, in Brentwood, and I was divorced at that point. And it was interesting. Actually, no, I ran into her at Soho House. Okay.
• 21:56
  Randall Kaplan: Okay. And she was like, guy, okay, and I didn't know if this how much how much this was at least 10 or 12 years. Oh, later, okay. And I went up to her and I said, Hey, I don't know if you remember we met at Four Seasons and Kona. And this was a long time ago. And you were married to so and so. And she said, I vaguely remember that. And still like, now it was full. I could show my spark. Yeah. And then she showed a spark too, but I didn't know who the guy was.
• 22:22
  Randall Kaplan: Okay. So they were together, though. They were clearly together. But I didn't know if it was a friend. I mean, she's with a guy wasn't holding his hand wasn't all over. It wasn't kissing him. Okay. And so the next day, I messaged her at over a bunch of flowers and roses to the office. I found out I looked at where your production studio was. And I sent over that and I knew she liked the certain kind of chocolates. I had Google that or something. I googled her to find out what you like, Oh, my.
• 22:49
  Randall Kaplan: So I sent all that over. And I figured okay, like, you know, she's going to respond. And then I left a voicemail.
• 22:57
  Danielle Vasinova: And I said you had her number? It's not
• 22:59
  Randall Kaplan: that easy. It's not that hard. I mean, if you want to quit. Yeah, not herself.
• 23:01
  Randall Kaplan: No, no, no. That'd be creepy.
• 23:07
  Randall Kaplan: They're probably always I got it later. But, so I sent this all over to her and that didn't hear from her. Oh my gosh, shit.
• 23:18
  Randall Kaplan: Like, what a loser. I should have done this. It's embarrassing. She didn't get it.
• 23:21
  Randall Kaplan: And it turned out what happened was she had left the next morning for a movie. And the assistant got it and didn't tell her for like, a month later. And when she came back in town, she listened to the voicemails, and she was horrified. She didn't respond. She was really, really nice. She said, I would love to go out with you. But well, I said, Yeah, I'm that call. Of course I did. Why wouldn't I?
• 23:52
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, right. There's nothing.
• 23:52
  Randall Kaplan: There's nothing. It's pretty ballsy. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I mean, why not? Right? If you don't, if you don't get too bad, you know, you're not gonna score. Amen. And so we stay this guy for a long time, and we ended up becoming friends. But again, it's someone high profile. So and I wanted to meet I mean, you do things like that people do respond to it.
• 24:14
  Danielle Vasinova: Okay. I like it. I like have you ever done that? And somebody's just been like, Who is this? Like, like,
• 24:23
  Randall Kaplan: Who is this weirdo? Well, I couldn't I did.
• 24:26
  Randall Kaplan: I did something. Yeah, there's nothing like positive reinforcement and learning from your wins. I mean, I think it's important to learn from your mistakes as well. But when I was also single, and my wife thinks this is creepy, but it worked.
• 24:40
  Randall Kaplan: Dale worked. There was a you know, when you're single, you look on Facebook, and you look at mutual friends. It's a community. Sometimes people set you up, but it's you want a wider net meet me. Yeah, wider net. And that's a good word. And I became friends with this news reporter who I thought was attractive and I'd watch it on the news. I said, that's great.
• 25:01
  Randall Kaplan: So I, I sent over a coffee basket with two mugs to the studio. She was channeled to a reporter and I said, I'd love to drink this in person with you, and have a coffee with you. And she responded and about 45 minutes after we got to the studio. What so yeah, on the caper. Well, the funny thing.
• 25:26
  Randall Kaplan: The funny thing about this, and I don't want to talk about my dates are these crazy stories, that two things happen. Two things happen. The first thing that happened the first thing that happened is date and I nearly died, which is a true story. Yeah, I got I got really sick and we're going to talk about your illness as well and what happened to you but I had something similar. I was very sick. I couldn't get out of bed.
• 25:53
  Randall Kaplan: I mean, I was suffering from through that date. I had myocarditis. And so it's often fatal. And so I went to the hospital, you're having a heart attack, you know, are you and I was afraid of dying. I mean, I was in the hospital for three days. Intensive Care, the youngest person in there by, you know, 3540 years
• 26:15
  Danielle Vasinova: where you're going on a date with this girl, I want
• 26:17
  Randall Kaplan: to date confuse and got sick on the day. I mean, obviously, I was coming down with it, but I, I took her home.
• 26:25
  Randall Kaplan: I don't even know how I drove home. I was so sick. And I didn't get up for really four days. No, I had to call 911. I felt no, not at all. And the crazy thing about this whole thing that was only one date, and we became friends and she became good friends with my wife.
• 26:44
  Danielle Vasinova: Oh, my God.
• 26:44
  Danielle Vasinova: You're still friends? She She?
• 26:47
  Danielle Vasinova: Yes.
• 26:48
  Randall Kaplan: And she apologized five years later, after knowing what had happened.
• 26:52
  Randall Kaplan: For not saying hey, are you okay? Can I bring you something?
• 26:57
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah,
• 27:00
  Danielle Vasinova: I know. Where was she in this whole deal?
• 27:02
  Randall Kaplan: Right? Well, I mean, I did tell her at some point. Hey, I'm not I'm in the hospital. I'm not doing very well at the moment, but
• 27:10
  Danielle Vasinova: and so how are you now? Is it was there a cure for Yeah,
• 27:13
  Randall Kaplan: it's really one and done. So yeah, myocarditis, and you can't get it again. And it's an infection that goes to your heart. No one knows what it's caused from. There's no known cause it could have been a germ
• 27:25
  Danielle Vasinova: star, but it's very not nothing. Random now. It used to be
• 27:29
  Randall Kaplan: very rare. And then COVID happened and it was less rare. And we're gonna talk about your COVID experience, crazy experience, as well. Why you're okay. Yeah, thank you.
• 27:39
  Randall Kaplan: I'm glad I'm okay. Oh, God, I'm still here. But crazy experience. Amazing experience.
• 27:45
  Randall Kaplan: So alright, so we're gonna get to your COVID crazy experience as well.
• 27:52
  Danielle Vasinova: But the moral of this story is that we should be sending these we should be Nike gift best. We
• 27:59
  Randall Kaplan: should be taking advantage, okay, of opportunities that present themselves in real time. So you may quit and Tarantino right, and you're now pissed off because some random person comes and cuts you off. And you're with your Jeep dream director.
• 28:16
  Randall Kaplan: Yes, right. I just want to pounced on it. Because memory.
• 28:20
  Randall Kaplan: He asked for your name. Yeah, right. So that's huge. Yeah.
• 28:25
  Randall Kaplan: Huge. Yeah. And then I would have just hit it the next day.
• 28:32
  Danielle Vasinova: All right, live and learn, live and learn.
• 28:35
  Randall Kaplan: But hey, you're young and have your whole life in front of you. And there's still opportunities to meet them. Exactly. And you know, the right people. So let me ask this, by the way, I find this so interesting. You're an actress.
• 28:48
  Randall Kaplan: You're a great actress. You've been in a ton of stuff. Why not?
• 28:52
  Randall Kaplan: Use your relationships and say I want to meet Quinton?
• 28:56
  Danielle Vasinova: I don't know it hasn't I have not been able to connect the dots? I don't
• 29:00
  Randall Kaplan: knows him. Have you tried?
• 29:04
  Danielle Vasinova: I mean, I've asked like my management and whatnot, but I just nothing has come of it.
• 29:10
  Randall Kaplan: You've asked him to say hey, does anyone you did do you know someone who knows Quinton? I
• 29:15
  Danielle Vasinova: don't? I don't think so. What have you asked? Okay, so I know Lauren's bender. Okay, who used to work at a band apart with Quinton?
• 29:23
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, but they are not. Alright, so that's not I can't it's not appropriate. But I don't know. I don't really run around and ask people. Hey, do you know Clinton? Do you know why, but I feel like
• 29:38
  Randall Kaplan: because I want people on my podcast, right? I reached out to you. Yeah, I reached out to Mark Cuban. Yeah, reach out to the CEO of Goldman Sachs. And they all said yes.
• 29:49
  Randall Kaplan: Right.
• 29:49
  Danielle Vasinova: They're hard to get like, I need a pair.
• 29:51
  Danielle Vasinova: You're gonna.
• 29:53
  Randall Kaplan: They're hard to get. I mean, but why not? You gotta go. You gotta go after doing that. And quitting. We're gonna have a new movie. He's gonna have a premiere. You gotta be there.
• 30:02
  Danielle Vasinova: Okay, well, I am a Jedi in training. So I'm learning from Zen master.
• 30:06
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, so we'll move forward now. So you're modeling for a while. Let's talk about college for a minute. So take us to UConn and the hall.
• 30:13
  Randall Kaplan: I'm doing it. I'm not doing it.
• 30:18
  Randall Kaplan: I need it. I don't need it. And as part of the question is, do you need an education to be an actress or an actor? Now
• 30:26
  Danielle Vasinova: you don't 100% Sometimes you don't even need an education to be you know, some of the most successful entrepreneurs, business people in the world have not even gone to college.
• 30:36
  Danielle Vasinova: So it depends, right? I went to UConn we that was kind of the best. That was the best fit at the time financially for us and yeah, so I just, I was a waitress the whole time. I'm and then if I can do jobs I would do them but being in Connecticut going to New York, it wasn't always the easiest right to get out of class and to go and do these jobs. Yeah, so I was offered to be a Patriots cheerleader. I made it I got on the squad. Alright, and then tell us
• 31:11
  Randall Kaplan: about that.
• 31:11
  Randall Kaplan: You're you're rushing through it, because I think this is also very interesting. I mean, why$100? Yeah, game 100. All day practices. I
• 31:24
  Danielle Vasinova: mean, three hour practices. No pay for the practice. Right. So
• 31:27
  Randall Kaplan: what's the math on that?
• 31:30
  Danielle Vasinova: Was an hour I'm paying them.
• 31:33
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. So why go out for that job. What was it?
• 31:36
  Danielle Vasinova: You make money you make money off like promo stuff, you make money off of calendars, you make money off of appearances, things like that. It's kind of like a I don't know, like a cool factor, I guess.
• 31:47
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, so was it resume building? Or just hey, building?
• 31:52
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah, make connections?
• 31:56
  Randall Kaplan: I don't know.
• 31:56
  Randall Kaplan: Football fan down on the field.
• 31:58
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah,
• 31:59
  Danielle Vasinova: I know. I'm not like a real football fan. I actually don't know much about football. But I know how to cheer.
• 32:05
  Randall Kaplan: So you get the job, but you don't do it. Got
• 32:09
  Danielle Vasinova: the job. But my friends from the restaurant, we're going out to California.
• 32:13
  Randall Kaplan: Right. So tell us about? Tell us about Santa Barbara. Yeah, the difference between Santa Barbara and LA.
• 32:20
  Randall Kaplan: And then why don't think
• 32:21
  Danielle Vasinova: there was one. But when I got here, that's when I found out there's a big difference. Big difference.
• 32:25
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah. So I, my friends, were going out to California and I had always wanted to go to LA because I don't know something clicked in me. And I was like, Okay, I think I'm gonna make a go for film and television. So yeah, so I was like, Screw it.
• 32:41
  Danielle Vasinova: I'm not doing the Patriots. I'm coming with you guys. And so we all just piled in the one car with all our luggage, like 1000 bucks in my pocket. And we just drove across country. And
• 32:55
  Randall Kaplan: then you got to Santa Barbara, did you have an apartment because you slept on a blow up mattress? Yeah,
• 33:00
  Danielle Vasinova: well, one guy bailed out. By the time we got to Vegas, he had already lost all his money. He tapped out. So it was me and the other guy. And we went to Santa Barbara, because that's where he had people. But I had nobody. And I didn't understand that Santa Barbara was quite far from LA even though it's not really that far. distance wise. When you're stuck in traffic. It's like a whole nother world. And my mom working for American Airlines.
• 33:24
  Danielle Vasinova: She said there was these two good looking people that came up and she was at the ticket counter this one day and they were going out to LA and she goes Oh, my daughter, my daughter just left for LA. And so the woman said, Oh, wow, what for? And so my mom told her. And she's like, alright, well here, give her my card. I'm I cast young in the restless. And so my mom called me and she's like, Oh, my God, you'll never guess what happened. And I said, What?
• 33:50
  Danielle Vasinova: Anyway, long story short, she's like, call this woman. And so I called her and I was in Santa Barbara. And she's like, Call me when you get to LA. So I was like, Screw this, like I'm out of here next day drove to LA called the one person that I knew from working in restaurants that was living in Van Nuys. And she's like, Yeah, I have a loft and a blow up mattress you can crash on. So I left Santa Barbara went to LA called the woman up. And she's like, okay, come in on a Friday. And I went in talked to her for like two hours. And then she gave me a set asides to read. I read them what does that mean for people who Oh sighs is like a, like a piece out of a script that they want you to audition with. So it's essentially just like a couple pages or it could be a page or could be eight pages, whatever they choose for you to read for that character for that part. And then she gave me an adjustment which is which means they want you to change something or they just want to see if you can take direction.
• 34:49
  Danielle Vasinova: And so I did the adjustment and then she's like, Okay, do you want the part? And I was like, Yeah, twist my arm. And she said okay, go to go to wardrobe be back here at 6am Monday to work just like that. Yeah, they were all that easy right?
• 35:10
  Randall Kaplan: So but let's go back because you've been in this town long enough now I know that a lot of people not only a map business are completely full of shit, right? So they give you a card call me they never call you back. Yeah, were you thinking oh yeah, she doesn't call me right back Are you well I
• 35:29
  Danielle Vasinova: was ignorance is bliss as they say right. I was very pure. I had not been you know, jaded yet at that point. Right. So I was like, Yeah, great. Let's gonna call it right up. Like it's good. And maybe that energy just kind of came came through, you know, and
• 35:44
  Randall Kaplan: you've never read for a movie before.
• 35:46
  Danielle Vasinova: Nothing.
• 35:47
  Randall Kaplan: Has you ever seen a script before?
• 35:49
  Danielle Vasinova: Nope. All commercials script but that's like Denton difference, not like this, like a proper television script.
• 35:58
  Randall Kaplan: So he's talking about bucket lists, and I want to be in a movie that was in a major motion picture. And I'm friends with this guy named Bruce Bucknall. He is still in the Los Angeles Kings. Okay. He owned a studio. He made his fortune in the coin and stamp business. Bought the Los Angeles Kings. Wow. He was Mr. Los Angeles. I mean, he had a studio, David begelman ran the studio, they produced the biggest movies of their day like war games, and some of these other movies. So Bruce was kind of a man around town. Okay, pre net jets. He owns seven jets, two helicopters. Then he went to prison for fraud. Oh, he bought the Los Angeles Kings brought Wayne Gretzky to Los Angeles.
• 36:40
  Randall Kaplan: Oh, so the city of Los Angeles, the kings were never good. And then suddenly, they're good because Wayne is here and everyone loves Bruce. He goes to prison. I'm friends with some of his old players. And the interesting thing is when people go to prison, a lot of people just say, hey, you know, I'm done. I you know, like, why, but you find out who your friends are when things bad? Yeah, go your way. Bruce kept all of his friends. I mean, Wayne Gretzky would go visit him in prison.
• 37:07
  Randall Kaplan: His former players would in fact, it got so bad that he they moved into Milan, Michigan to a max security facility because he had too many people like magic and Wayne going up to visit him in prison. Wow. And so And my friend said, Oh, you gotta need Bruce when he comes out of prison. And I'm a huge fan.
• 37:25
  Randall Kaplan: hockey fan. I grew up in Detroit Redwings, and I and I love the game. So I'm your Bruce, when it comes out of prison, we become friends. And my wife and I are going to dinner at Tuscana and Brentwood with he and his then girlfriend who got married to she was a paralegal on his case, okay, and I go to the bathroom.
• 37:50
  Randall Kaplan: And he tells me Oh, I said, What are you up to is and I'm doing a movie with Sharon Stone and Justin Timberlake. And I said, Why aren't I in that movie? So I went to the bathroom. And I come back and he said, you have a casting call on Monday. Stop.
• 38:04
  Randall Kaplan: And I said, I like that. I said, Well,
• 38:09
  Danielle Vasinova: I'm just gonna say that to people. That's Ryan, that well, well, that's
• 38:13
  Randall Kaplan: that's I mean, it's sort of like, your way you just said. And so I looked at Lauren, my wife at the time, and she said, Yeah, you know, he did call the casting agent. Yeah, you go in. And so I go in, I'd never read or whatever. I'm some building. And there's all these young kids around with scripts on the cover CIA, William Morris. At the time, there wasn't well, William Morris, and they're all pacing nervously around the room. And I've done well for myself at the time, and I don't really leave my office during the day unless I have to.
• 38:50
  Randall Kaplan: I mean, my team all knows if people could come to my office, that's better for me. And it's said, Okay, I'm gonna go, and they're late. And I'm thinking, gosh, you know, gotta get back to the office. This is crazy. I mean, I kind of want to walk out the door, and I'm about to complain that there were three people before so I'm getting kind of pissed off and they leave and they're finished. The casting agent comes out. We sit down, small, cramped office, there's shit everywhere. And from Detroit. Yeah. Oh, good.
• 39:20
  Randall Kaplan: You know, Bruce? Yeah. Nick Castle fatties walks in. He just come off the notebook. And that was the director. Oh, my alpha dog was the movie. Oh, which is one of the Yeah, he's one of the worst. But yeah, it was one of the worst movies you've ever seen in your life. But I did get a residual check. Last. Wait. So you read for the part. Well, so Nick, Nick comes in. Okay. And he said, Oh, your friend Bruce.
• 39:46
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah, like the wings and kings.
• 39:46
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. He said, You want to be in the movie? Yeah, you're in the movie. I said, just like that.
• 39:51
  Randall Kaplan: Just like he didn't even read you. There was no movie. I have no idea.
• 39:58
  Danielle Vasinova: Why. Why did they even make you show up with the cast?
• 40:02
  Randall Kaplan: I don't know. I thought it was quiet. I didn't see them elbow wherever I loved the movie. And this was supposed to be a big deal. It was his next movie. So the movie was about a middle a a young drug dealer from a well to do family from the valley whose brother had been kidnapped by a rival gang and was murdered.
• 40:23
  Randall Kaplan: Ultimately, Jesse James.
• 40:28
  Randall Kaplan: Hollywood was his name is a story famous one here. And so they said you will be the cop who interviews the mom of the son who's gone missing. Okay, he said just go out to the SAT and drive to the lot here. And it says so I go in and I drive to the lot. You know, I'm a fish out of water and there's a shuttle there shooting a neighborhood and receita Yeah, and There's just a shitload of people around. Yeah. And I go
• 40:56
  Danielle Vasinova: home. What did he give you? You're like,
• 41:00
  Randall Kaplan: I had nothing at the time. You didn't
• 41:02
  Danielle Vasinova: memorize any dialogue. You didn't even memorize it. I
• 41:05
  Randall Kaplan: didn't even see a script of anything. Okay? It's crazy. It's what happened. So I'm saying I'm playing a police officer, okay. And they gave me an you know, went to wardrobe.
• 41:16
  Randall Kaplan: Who are you what you're playing Okay, whatever, they gave me a uniform and a rubber gun. And they said, Whatever you do, don't take the gun out of the holster. Okay. So naked said, Come find me on the on the shoot, come find me. So, you know, the neighborhoods all blocked off with police cars.
• 41:31
  Randall Kaplan: And you know, yeah, that deal.
• 41:31
  Randall Kaplan: And so I look around, and I see Nick, Nick's around, there's 15 people following him, right?
• 41:40
  Randall Kaplan: He's in the neighborhood. He's barking to people or whatever.
• 41:43
  Randall Kaplan: So I go up to him and I said, Hey, Nick. He's kind of pissed.
• 41:50
  Randall Kaplan: Like, I'm, he's talking to people. And I said, Who are you?
• 41:52
  Randall Kaplan: And I said, Oh, Randy Kaplan, Bruce's friend. He said, Oh, okay. So he said, you have a pen and paper. I said, I don't have anything. So he just, he says to nobody pen and paper. Someone gives them a clipboard, a pen and paper. He calls the policeman over here, over and he says, Okay, please, man, what would you say if someone saw me gone missing? You're taking a missing person report. So it gives me a clipboard and a pen.
• 42:20
  Randall Kaplan: He said, Write this down. So I wrote down all the questions.
• 42:25
  Randall Kaplan: And then he says, Okay, so I've got I've got my lines now. Okay.
• 42:28
  Randall Kaplan: Okay. He said, Go on the house and wait there, we're gonna shoot the scene there. So I go there. And all these people are sitting there, you know, they're talking, they're milling about.
• 42:38
  Randall Kaplan: They're sitting on the couch.
• 42:38
  Randall Kaplan: I'm on a love seat. There's a couch next to me. And I'm just sitting there and I don't know what's going on. I mean, there's there's cameras everywhere. I'm nervous. I have no idea what's about to happen. I'm there for maybe 45 minutes. Just talking to the woman next to me. She has a name tag. I forget what her name was. And each of the people have a nametag. So I finally went over the guy who looked like he knew what he was doing.
• 43:01
  Randall Kaplan: And look at his chart and said, Hey, I don't have a nametag. He says you said yet why? He said, Yeah, yeah, you're in the movie.
• 43:08
  Randall Kaplan: And I said, Oh, okay. And I walked back. And I sat down in the love seat. And I still had no idea what he meant. I had no idea who these people were. And so at some point, he said, first team, and then Sharon Stone walks in. And Sharon sits next to me. And I said, Oh, shit.
• 43:32
  Danielle Vasinova: And your first scene ever with Sharon Stone ever.
• 43:35
  Randall Kaplan: And she's in by the way, all I could think about is basic instinct, how much I loved her as a kid. I dreamed about meeting her and maybe some other things, too. But, you know, she's sitting next to me.
• 43:46
  Randall Kaplan: And all I could think about at that moment was what would my boys back in Detroit think right now. They would not believe where I am right now. So Sharon just looked straight ahead. She didn't say hello. She didn't do anything at all. And I'm I mean, I'm even more nervous. Now.
• 44:06
  Randall Kaplan: She's, she's kind of in the zone. I finally said. Excuse me, Sharon, Randy Kaplan. Nice to meet you. And then just stared straight ahead. She's in character, right. So all of a sudden, Nick comes in everyone's settles down and he yells action. Randy, go. I got the clipboard. And I and I said, name, date of birth, social cut, cut, cut, cut cut. I said what was the was the prompt said, wait for her to answer. I said, Oh, okay. The next scene was she started making these weird faces. Like, twitching. And then, you know, tears were kind of coming down her eyes. And I had to wait for it. Again. I wasn't sure what what was happening. And then it was a cut, cut cut as well. Oh, my God, two cuts, everyone has to reset because of me. This is I'm about to get kicked off the set.
• 45:15
  Randall Kaplan: So he finally said, and by the way, there's 40 people there. I mean, you know, it's very embarrassing. And I'm sure everybody's thinking like, what what's what's happening here?
• 45:25
  Randall Kaplan: Like, who the fuck is this guy?
• 45:25
  Randall Kaplan: Because he's clearly shouldn't be here. And so I I settled down. So I did I did one. And then the next thing she said was flying my son What am I doing?
• 45:44
  Randall Kaplan: It's like so I just like, I got blown out of an airplane. It was I was it was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. Whoa. And so I ended up hanging in there. And then next was
• 45:58
  Danielle Vasinova: all improv, right? You had nothing to say. I
• 46:02
  Randall Kaplan: never read the script. The first time I knew anything about the movie really was when I saw the movie. Oh, my God, did you say after that was named David Burns social. But then Nick said to me, like he comes in, he coached like, like you said, again, this all new to me comes whispers in my ear, and I'm wondering Gosh, and he's gonna yell at me. He said, you have the capacity to piss people off. And I look at him. What? I said, Can you piss people off?
• 46:30
  Randall Kaplan: They said, Yeah, I said, I'm pretty good at that, actually, when I want to be and he said, I want you to piss off Sharon Stone, I want you to forget, it's her. I want you to go after her. I want you just to be an asshole calm. And that's when I kind of settled in. Not because I like being an asshole. But because it was it was fun. Yeah, like he was actually coaching me. And then I got into it, then we take a break, right? And there's a kitchen there. And all the people like they all got up, the second team is all in the kitchen, their snacks or whatever. And one of the women said to me, this woman said to me, How long have you been acting before? And I said, this is my first time. She said, Oh, you know, you have an agent? And and I said, No. And she said, How are you here? You know, you have 14 lines? You know, I'd written down 14 questions. And I said, Oh, I my friend is the producer. And that's when it hit me that her face. You know, she said, I moved here from Omaha, Nebraska, to pursue my dream.
• 47:42
  Randall Kaplan: And I'm an extra on this movie, and I'm getting paid $250 for the day, and this is my dream.
• 47:46
  Randall Kaplan: And you don't know how lucky you are severe and have these lines.
• 47:50
  Randall Kaplan: And that's when I hit me. Very lucky. I was very lucky.
• 47:57
  Danielle Vasinova: Yeah. And that doesn't happen a lot. And then they'd have to Taft Hartley you to union. So tell people what that means. Like if you're if you're if that was your first job. And so you're non union.
• 48:06
  Danielle Vasinova: Right. Right. And I don't know, there's there was probably SAG and AFTRA at the time of that movie. Now they're merged. But yeah, so it's basically like, they're basically saying there's nobody else for the job. But you to do this. Yeah. So you're automatically in the union. But like, if you were to go the route of like being a background actor, you have to get three vouchers in order to get eligible. Yeah, it's a whole process. And that can take years. Right. You just got it.
• 48:36
  Randall Kaplan: It costs them money. Money, they have some money. So it's paperwork. But I mean, it's
• 48:42
  Danielle Vasinova: just money.
• 48:42
  Danielle Vasinova: But they say that it's a go, then you're in right. So you got lucky
• 48:47
  Randall Kaplan: that I got lucky. I mean, I hit the bucket list. My, the movie was kind of weird how the movie was cut. So my lines cut. So yes, and now.
• 48:55
  Randall Kaplan: Okay, so at one point on a screen, and I've never seen a movie do this before, but it was kind of three different parts with lines in the middle. So one scene one scene. Yeah, like a triple screen. Okay, you can see me like that. I mean, I record it, I screenshot it, like I, you know, hit pause, pause. And I do have screenshots which I've enhanced with new photography programs that make it look very clear that I'm actually in the movie. And there's Sharon.
• 49:29
  Randall Kaplan: Which, which is cool. So you wouldn't notice me unless I saw you at that. And I said, Okay, stop the movie here. But, but something else crazy happened from that as well, which we had a little toddler at the time.
• 49:41
  Randall Kaplan: And there was a director and preschool class, so we've become very friendly with. And he directed a lot of TV shows, and he had just done a movie with someone who got paid $20 million who wouldn't come out of his trailer. But the stories I hear about, like the high with stuff is just so crazy. Yeah. So he comes over to our house and he's engaged to someone who he met on a movie set who'd done makeup, and they had a kid and the kid was friends. And that's how we become friends. And he's, we're sitting in my living room. And we have, we have a nice home and he knows that I done okay professionally. And he starts he starts to tell me I mean, he finds this story about my movie set is just the craziest thing.
• 50:33
  Randall Kaplan: And he loved it. He said this shit never happens. And he said, I'm writing a script, I'm pitching this thing and I'd like you to be one of the guys in the in this in this show. And I looked at him and I said, I'm very flat. He said, You know, I like your look and he said very complementary, and is that I think you'd be great for this role on the show. And I've never seen a woman yell at a man like that ever in my life because his fiancee had been begging him to get a role in any of his shows or movies. And she, she, I thought her voice was going to split. I thought her Lonex Wood was going to break. And she said, This guy, this guy doesn't even need it. He doesn't want it. But I'm thinking, you know, it's kind of cool. Yeah, never pitched. I mean that he had never got picked up. I mean, the conversation never went any further. But crazy stuff happens. When you're not expecting it right. And or, you know, the right people, or you know, the right people. So let's talk about that for a second
• 51:43
  Danielle Vasinova: movie with Sharon Stone. They did. All right. And
• 51:46
  Randall Kaplan: she's been on my show. She was my second guest.
• 51:48
  Randall Kaplan: No way. Who's your first? Sam Zell, who is a real estate, entrepreneur, icon, philanthropist. And yeah, amazing mentor.
• 52:00
  Danielle Vasinova: Do you know most of these people? Or how do you find this point?
• 52:04
  Randall Kaplan: So Sam Zell had been a mentor to me, for a long time. He was a four 400 guy, and someone had written a piece about me when my tech company went public, and then I'm from Detroit. And Sam's name is all over the University of Michigan, he had donated hundreds of millions of dollars. And I just joined the board there. And the reporter who wrote this profile, which I didn't want to cooperate with, and he said, I'm gonna write it with you or without you. So you cooperate to influence the outcome of the story. It came out and it was very complimentary. And he asked me that day. Do you want to meet Sam Zell? I'm thinking there's no way this reporter know, Sam.
• 52:37
  Randall Kaplan: Yeah. Right. And so he hangs up, call me back. He said, Sam would like to meet you. Sam had this amazing house out of Malibu. And he comes every weekend based in Chicago, and he became a mentor and a good friend of mine. So that was my first guest. And Sam was an icon in the business world. Yeah. I mean, everybody knows him. He's an amazing person. We're friends, I'd never really said hey, we'd do something for me. And we we didn't have that kind of relationship. So I was very nervous. When I call I told him what I want to do. I said, I'm gonna do this podcast. And I was very nervous. He just said, Yeah, I would love to do it. So then I had Sam and I knew I mean, for credibility purposes, that would be great for the business sense. And then Sharon's good friend, price.
• 53:23
  Randall Kaplan: Aruna high price is best friends with Sharon. And so I'd become friends with price. And I told her what I want to do. And Sharon ultimately, you know, I had to get through her team. And her team had canceled a whole bunch of times Sharon didn't know about it any way. And she was very pissed when she found out so yeah, yeah. And I went to dinner with Sharon and price and Sharon, I become very good friends. She's amazing. And then my third guest was Kliff Kingsbury, who's a football coach. And so, at that point, I just used relationships that I had, and ask people, people that I knew or knew, most I knew. And then I build some momentum because I had some very high quality guests, but a lot of them I just were cold emails, Mark Cuban was an email. That's crazy. Yeah. And he wrote back and four minutes mark responds to all of his emails, by the way, not that I want to cause 2000 emails coming into his inbox today. But Mark had been in the technology business and had a competing company with mine. So I did mention that. So I've been I've been lucky.
• 54:38
  Randall Kaplan: Referrals have been great. You tell people about your show. And I was at dinner last night with somebody for for a birthday party. And they said, Hey, what about so and so I'm friends with them? Would you want them on your show? I said I'd love them on my show. Yeah, I have no idea. That yeah, it's so you build just what was the
• 54:58
  Danielle Vasinova: greatest piece of advice your mentor the for your first guest gave gave to you?
• 55:04
  Randall Kaplan: It's okay to stand alone and be different.
• 55:08
  Randall Kaplan: You know, he had, he was a contrarian, and his what I thought was the best line from and he made a career. He said, I didn't understand it. When everybody was going this way. I was the only one going this way.
• 55:23
  Randall Kaplan: Like the voice. And I mean, that's how he talked. He passed away last year, but he had a very gravelly voice. Yeah.
• 55:31
  Danielle Vasinova: Did you always feel like that, like, did you feel like you didn't fit in?
• 55:33
  Danielle Vasinova: It
• 55:36
  Randall Kaplan: wasn't that I fit. I mean, I've made a career out of doing things that no one else has done before. And sometimes you do things and people will criticize you and say, oh, you know, no one's done that before. They mean it as a criticism and I take that as kind compliment. Yeah, so the coaching I do, I say, you know, who does that? And people say no one and I say that's exactly why you should write standout Quentin Tarantino who does that nobody which is exactly why you should wait you will the next time. Okay. Thanks for listening to part one of my amazing conversation with Danielle Vasant ova an actor, producer, entrepreneur, avid equestrian, and model has graced the cover of many magazines including Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Be sure to tune in next week for part two of my awesome conversation with Danielle