Latest / Eating While Broke / ARMANI GREER - Frying Faith: A Road Less Traveled

Transcript

ARMANI GREER - Frying Faith: A Road Less Traveled · Eating While Broke

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have very
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: special guest, actress Armani Greer is in the building.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Hello, thanks for having me.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Thank you for coming out.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: Of course, glad to be here.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Yes, and guys, I'm very excited because Armani has somehow,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: even though we're almost 200 episodes in, found a dish
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: that we have not had on the show.
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: What is the dish?
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: We are making catfish sandwiches.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Catfish sandwiches.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Sandwiches. A bit much, but catfish.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: Catfish. When was the last time you ate this?
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: Wow, this must be a real broke dish. She's like,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: don't name it that.
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: I haven't made catfish in a while. However, I want
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: catfish often, but I haven't made it in a while. Typically,
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: I just go get it.
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: Today, you'll be slightly judged, but I'm hoping to learn
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: how to cook catfish because I've never actually cooked that
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: at home, so... Teach us how it's done. Teach us
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: how to know when it's ready and all that. Okay.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Easy peasy. First, I'm going to put on my gloves.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: And then while you put on your gloves, can you
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: walk us through all the ingredients needed for this dish?
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Yes. So we have catfish, of course. Slices of bread. Ketchup.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: But you won't need that to cook. That'll be for
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: if you want ketchup on your sandwich. Hot sauce. Mustard. Oil.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: You can use canola oil, peanut oil, vegetable oil, whatever
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: oil you choose. We have Tony Sacheret. I use no salt.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: We have fish fry, the blue packet, paprika, and then
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: whatever other seasonings you like.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Is there a reason why you went with the blue?
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: I'm just genuinely curious.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: That's just what I use. Habit. Okay. Yeah.
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: I was like, what's the difference between the blues and
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the others?
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: So they have one that is, this one is seasoned
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: fish fry, which is why we have minimal ingredients. Okay.
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: Then they have one that's Cajun fish fry, and I
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: like this one.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's stick with that one.
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: Okay. All right.
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: All right, so what's the first step?
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: First, you clean your catfish. We did that off camera already.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Before we get ready to season our catfish, we're going
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: to put the grease on.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Now, when you do the grease, do you usually do
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: it in that type of- I use a cast iron skillet,
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: but this is fine. Is there a reason why you
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: do cast iron?
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: Cause that's what my mama did.
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: Creatures of habit. That means she was paying attention. Cause
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I'll tell you, if you talk to my mama, she
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: said the second she turned on the stove, we all left.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: The thing is my mom didn't cook a lot. My
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: mom actually didn't cook at all. So she, there were
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: maybe one or two dishes she made. And that's because
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: my mom worked. She was a single parent working. And
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: she said, I don't want to go to work, come
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: home and work again. So we ate out. A lot.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Or we had to fend for ourselves a little bit.
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: On Fridays and Saturdays, fend for yourself.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: That was like a rule?
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: It was an unspoken rule.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: And then how many of there was y'all?
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: So in the house, it was just me and my
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: younger sister.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Younger, but she's only a year and a half.
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, I was going to say, were you like baby?
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: No. And actually, I didn't cook growing up. I didn't
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: start cooking until college. Okay. Yeah. So we ate. I'm
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: from Houston, so Whataburger a lot is the equivalent of
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: In-N-Out here in LA.
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: By the way, guys, her body's in incredible shape, so
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: shout out to- Not because of the catfish, that's for sure.
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: So we are going to turn on the stove first
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and get that nice and warm.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: And hot.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Yes, before we start.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: Now, do you go blazing hot, high when you first
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: do it, or is it warm heat?
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: I go to six, about six, seven. Anything higher than that,
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: you might burn the house down.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So six, seven is a good temperature to get
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: the grease in there or get the fish in there. Okay.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: So first we're going to grab our catfish. Before we
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: do that, we have two bowls here. One of them,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: this is a big bowl. One of them we'll put
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: the fish in. How many fillets do we need?
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: I think there's two or three.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: Okay. That's good.
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there's three.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: Oh, it smells like catfish.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: And I was going to ask you that. So we
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: got these this morning, but it does have a fishy smell.
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: It's supposed to smell like that?
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: If it's fresh, yes. If it's frozen, it'll still smell
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: a little fishy, but yes, it's supposed to smell like that.
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: The vinegar and lime, when you clean it, takes the
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: smell out a little bit.
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Okay. Yes. Because what you don't know is Nick walked
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: up to me off camera and was like, I don't
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: know about those fish, man. They smell very fishy. And
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I got them this morning.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: It's why a lot of people don't eat fish though.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: But when you cook it, the smell and the taste,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: if you cook fish and it still tastes like fish,
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: like how it smells, that's the issue. Yeah. So.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: All right, go ahead. Show us how to cook this.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: So first we're going to get our mustard and our
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: hot sauce. I'm going to take this little. And this
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: is how we base our catfish. Hot sauce.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: Do you like spicy food?
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: No, but I'm rocking however you eat it.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: It won't be spicy. Okay.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: I thought you were just going to put mustard on it.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Mustard too. Mustard snakes. You don't like spicy food?
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: I'm not a huge.
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Oh, you might not like this sandwich.
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: I'm going to like it.
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: It's not going to be spicy, but.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: I'm telling you, I know I'm going to like it.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: Okay, mustard.
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: You didn't put that much hot sauce in there.
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: You don't like spicy food. I can't put that much.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Do you eat it really spicy?
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: I like spicy food. Oh, okay. But it'll cook down,
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: so it won't be spicy.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: I'm not tripping.
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: So the mustard and the hot sauce, we're going to mix, mix.
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: We're also going to season with, we're going to use
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: Tony's paprika, and this is where you get funky and
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: use whatever ingredients you want to. Okay. Garlic powder, onion powder, however,
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: but the seasoning that we're using, it has all, we
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: don't want a double coat. our fish. So paprika really
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: just gives it a little color. The tawnies we're using
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: unsalted because the fish fry is salted.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: Okay. I almost, when I was looking at the ingredients
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: was like, no salt, maybe just go with the salt,
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: but I'm glad I listened.
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: It would have been so salty.
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: You would have been like, you messed up my whole dish.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: It still would have been good. It just would have
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: been salty. Now, again, this is where you get funky paprika.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: What else do you have over here?
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: I have garlic powder and garlic salt.
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: I wouldn't use garlic salt. Let's throw in a little.
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: Do you ever do the onion powder on this too?
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: Yes. Okay. This is what we're using now. Onion powder.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Is it stuck in there? That's okay.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah. That's okay. She know what she doing. Okay. So
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: while you're doing all that. Yes. Just paint me a
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: picture of home life.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Where's your dad?
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: My dad isn't... Both my parents are in Texas. My
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: dad is actually from Chicago. Him and my mom met
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: in college, Texas Southern University. But I'm from Houston. I
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: have four brothers and sisters. I have two sisters and
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: two brothers. But for my mom, it's just me and
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: my younger sister. Okay. Yes. All right.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: And then was your mom single mom, solo mom? Or
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: was she single mom? They split.
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: So my parents... or not have never been, they were together.
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: And then when I was born, that was it. And
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: then my mom, although a single parent, she wasn't married
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: growing up. And then, but we had a lot of
• 7:46
  Speaker 2: help from my grandparents.
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: So my mom was the worker. She would go work.
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: And my grandparents, my grandmother was retired by the time
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: I was four years old. So she kind of took
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: care of us for the most part.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: So now we are still waiting for the grease to
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: get hot. Now, usually what I do, To test the grease,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: this is not recommended. I throw a little water in there. Oh,
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: heck no. Yeah, that's not recommended.
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's do the powder. I draw a little bit
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: of powder. I'll take that seasoning fry and I'll.
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: Just drop it in.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Oh, to see if it sizzles. Moving forward, use that.
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: Gosh, you. Gosh, you, I've never done it that way.
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: Or yeah, just take the paprika and just see if
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: it sizzles.
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: We're not ready yet. We still have this. Now we
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: have to season it.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Okay. That's hilarious.
• 8:30
  Speaker 2: So now we're taking the fish fry. You want me
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: to open it? Yes, please. Thank you.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it the old school way. No,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: he's saying no, but I'm going to be honest. That's
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: the only way we're going to do it.
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, wait. Oh, wait. Look at you.
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: Look at that. I know he didn't. These new claps.
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Can we retire the new claps, please? This is, do
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: you like these?
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: I do it. It's what's trending. It's what's in.
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I feel like this is the clap version of text messaging.
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying?
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Could you imagine you're watching the NBA finals and they
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: go like this? In the crowd?
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Is it clapping? They're all like, oh, look at LeBron.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: That's actually a quiet game, a boring game. So now
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: we're taking the fish from the mustard and hot sauce
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: into the fish fries. If you smell it, you can
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: tell it's seasoned. It's salty. Oh, yeah. Yeah.
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: That's why you don't want it salty.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: Now, have you done this only with catfish? Have you
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: tried any other fish with this?
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: Only catfish. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: And you're putting all of them in there.
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Not even one at a time.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: Why are we going to do one at a time?
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: I don't know. Now, some people, instead of using another dish,
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: they take it and put it in a Ziploc, shake
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: it up. Oh, okay. That's a good way.
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you're growing up at home.
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: You do well in high school. Is this where acting or.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: So I started acting at seven years old. I was
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: very energetic, and my mom was like, we're going to
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: have to put you in a program... during the summer.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: So that's how I started. I started at the Ensemble
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: Theater in Texas. It's a very reputable theater in Houston.
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: Started there. And then once I got to high school,
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: took classes. Okay. took classes, and when I graduated, we
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: did all the competitions, UIL, all of that. I won
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: best actress, all of these things. And then it was
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: time for me to go to college.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Back up a second. So you're seven years old. She
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: sees that you're full of energy, or is she seeing
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: you say, man, I would love to be this person
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: on TV?
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: Both. So I was very active. My mom is a
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: Southern woman. and she believes a Idle Mind is the
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: devil's playground. So we had things to do. We were
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: not broke. We were a very middle-class working family, or
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: my mom was working. And we took dance classes, piano lessons,
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: voice lessons, all of these things.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: So she invested in y'all.
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. And she very much so believed in cultivating and
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: nurturing whatever talents we had. My sister, although she did
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: the programs with me for a while, She wants to
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: be an architect. My mom put her in architectural school.
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: So she's not an architect, but she cultivated whatever we
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: wanted to do at the time. So now in high school,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I'm winning awards and all of these things. And now
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: it's time for me to go to college. And my
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: mom is, you have to go to school for something
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: that's going to make money.
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: Dang, mama.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: What the heck was that? You don't invest in, did
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: you speak back to her? Did you say you don't
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: invest in this?
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: No, you don't do that in the song. You don't
• 11:40
  Speaker 2: do that in the black household. You just say, okay.
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: And so I- She didn't tell you before high school? No.
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: After?
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: When I graduated. Actually, I wanted to go. I had
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of options, meaning a lot of things I
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: wanted to do. I wanted to go to LA, straight
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: out of high school. Everyone in my family is educators.
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: That was not an option for me. So she was like, no,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: you're going to school. So then I said, okay, I
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: want to go to Alabama State.
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: Okay. You were a good student, obviously.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: I was a great student. Okay. I got in a
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: lot of trouble just because most smart kids, they're bored.
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: So I wanted to go to Alabama State. I had
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: a full ride anywhere in Texas. So my mom said no.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: Talk that stuff.
• 12:22
  Speaker 2: So my mom said no. You're going in Texas. So
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: I end up going to San Francisco State.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: Damn, your mama starts laying down the smack now.
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: Mama's like, look, we don't have to get you in debt.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: We don't have to do all of the... No, you're
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: going in Texas. Okay. So I'm trying to make sure
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: this grease is hot. Now, what do you do?
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: I do a little bit of powder. I don't know
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: about paprika, but.
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: This. Okay, this right here. Okay, let's see what happens.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: Do a little fairy dust.
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: I don't know about this.
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: This story getting good. I like your mama.
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: My mama don't play.
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: So... So you start going to school in Texas. Now,
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: did you tell her that you wanted to go to L.A.?
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I did. You didn't try to get someone to write
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: a scholarship deal? No.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Now, what does that tell you? I'm putting some seeds
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: in there.
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: It got a little bit of sizzle.
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to wait. We're going to wait.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Maybe you got to turn that heat up.
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: Turn it up a little bit. Okay.
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: Maybe 67 ain't doing it. See that little fizzle?
• 13:14
  Speaker 2: See, when you throw the water in there, it's going
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: to pop. You want to hear pop. Yeah.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Maybe you're afraid to put your fingertips near the pot.
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: So my mom was like, you're going anywhere in Texas.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: So I go to Sam Houston State University. Wasn't the
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: best option, but my mom was like, I'm glad you're
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: going there. It was an hour away from home. And
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: when I say it wasn't the best option, I should
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: have went to HBCU. That's what I should have done.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Why do you say that?
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: I feel like black students should go to HBCU.
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Okay. Yeah.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Did you see? Network resources.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: Okay. I was going to say, was there a different
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: level of treatment you saw?
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: I personally feel like you should be around people that
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: look like you.
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: 100%.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: But I went to my high school, my middle school,
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: my elementary school, they were all black. So it was
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: a good balance for me. But went to Sam Houston State.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: When I went to college, I left the creative brain
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: in high school. My mom was like, you're going to college. Damn.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: To school to make money, I said, okay. So I
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: went to school for HR and business.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: So far fetched from- Yeah, creativity. I actually, fun fact,
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: in high school, I also, I wanted to be a pilot.
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: So I graduated high school with nine hours, with, I
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: was only nine hours away from being a pilot. And
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: then I was like, I don't want to do this.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: My mom was livid. Yeah.
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, but what made you say
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: you don't want to do that?
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to do it.
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Was it boring?
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: You're like a driver, but in the sky, right?
• 14:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, but you don't have to drive. You don't have
• 14:51
  Speaker 2: to do anything as a pilot. You have to pay attention. Yeah,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: you push the buttons and stuff. Yes, but you don't
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: have to actually be active. So I was like, this
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: is really boring. That's crazy. So I was nine hours away.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: At the time, I would have been the youngest black
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: female pilot.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: Girl, I don't know. You should have known. I would
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: have been mad if I was your mama.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I know. When I tell that story, everybody is, are
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: you okay?
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: I would have been mad if I was your mama,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: for real. I would have probably Michael Jackson'd you across
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: the nine hours.
• 15:17
  Speaker 2: I think the only reason I got away with that
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: is because of the school that I went to. It
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: was the magnet program, so it was free of charge.
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: My mom didn't put money into that. So I think
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: that's the only reason I got away with it. Okay.
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: So you're in college. You're doing your thing in business
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: at HR. My guess is you start to discover that
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: you're not really about that life.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: No, I graduated. I graduated with a degree in HR
• 15:41
  Speaker 2: and business. And then I went into the workforce. I
• 15:45
  Speaker 2: worked in HR.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: In Texas?
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: Yes. And my theater coach from high school called and said,
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: I want you to come do this play. And I said,
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: I haven't touched a stage since I left you. She
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: was like, I'm not worried about that.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Your theater coach in high school? Correct. She was like
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: your high school teacher?
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: She randomly calls you? Yes. After, this is four years later?
• 16:10
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. Okay.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So then, okay.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: Yes. And says, I have a role I want you
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: to play. I said, I haven't, I haven't touched the
• 16:18
  Speaker 2: stage since I left you. And she said, I'm not
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: worried about that. So I get on the stage, do it.
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: My mom, now my mom has seen all of my performances,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: but this particular performance, for whatever reason, afterwards, she says,
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: this is what you should be doing.
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: Mama!
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: Listen, you can't tell a black mama nothing, okay?
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: Yo, I'm going to make all these clips for you
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: so you can.
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: Just send it to her. So I think the grease
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: is hot now. Okay, okay. I ain't going to lie, though.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: I'm happy that your mama said it because I think
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: she means so much to you. That is the one
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: line you probably just needed.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: Now, I will say, I think we all have what
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: ifs and shoulda, coulda, wouldas. I always say if I
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: went to L.A. straight out of high school, I probably
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: would be much further in my career. I don't. I
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: think the journey that I took is the journey that
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: I needed. Absolutely.
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: So I am.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: I think there was a point where I was like, mama,
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: you don't know, you don't know. I'm so happy with
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: the route that I've taken. Yeah, and L.A.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: 's pretty brutal, too, because, like, sometimes... I think that
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: if you're very young and you move to LA, you
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: could get Molly walked, especially being a female, as pretty
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: as you are. Because sometimes just dealing with the industry
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: shadow will make you just be like, it's not worth it.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: I've seen people that can sing like Mariah be like,
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: you know what, I'm done because I don't want to
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: deal with these producers or whatever.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: I think if I would have, I don't think it
• 17:43
  Speaker 2: was appropriate for me. There we go.
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: There we go.
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: There we go.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Now are you going to switch to powder versus water?
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, I will. It's safer. Thank you. It's safer.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: So, okay, so your mom says this, but I'm curious,
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: when you're doing the play, how are you feeling internally
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: about doing this work?
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: I feel good. I only walked away because my mom
• 18:04
  Speaker 2: said I needed to make money. And I think that
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: was just a fear of parents. They want you to
• 18:08
  Speaker 2: be able to support yourself. As I'm doing the play
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: or gearing up for the play, I know that this
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: is exactly where I'm supposed to be. I knew this
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: in high school.
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: And was the play free?
• 18:17
  Speaker 2: Free as in?
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Like you didn't get paid to do it?
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: I didn't get paid, no.
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: So you're doing this on top of working? Yes. You're
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: working like a job and then getting off and doing this? Correct.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: And then while you're at work, are you telling people
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: around you like, hey, I'm doing this play?
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: Okay. No. So I kept work like, once I got
• 18:32
  Speaker 2: back into theater education, I kept work life separate just because.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: Did you deal with any naysayers? Like what the heck
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: are you doing?
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: No.
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: Okay, cool.
• 18:44
  Speaker 2: So we're putting the catfish in the grease, guys.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I ain't gonna lie, like I'm really excited.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: About this catfish?
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: About the catfish. Your story too. Your story too. All right,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: so continue with, okay, so your mom approaches you off
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: stage or says, oh, my bad.
• 19:01
  Speaker 2: This is what you should be doing.
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: My bad, maybe I overstepped.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: Now, at this time, I'm working. I can't put a
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: timeline on it, but at some point, I say, I
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: want to do this full-time, and I quit my job.
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, back up before that. You're making money.
• 19:16
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: You're living on your own? Correct. And you decide, mid-work,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: do you have savings?
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: No. No. I have savings, but not enough to support
• 19:25
  Speaker 2: myself for years.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: Why? I'm just curious. Did your day job hinder how
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: much you could do?
• 19:31
  Speaker 2: So I wanted, at the time, I wanted to act
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: and model. And I am a very all-in type person.
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: So I said, I don't want anything distracting me and
• 19:40
  Speaker 2: taking me away from acting and modeling. Okay.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: Now you're kind of short.
• 19:46
  Speaker 2: I am.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: You're like 5'4, 5'5? 5'3. Yeah. No way.
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: Everybody guesses 5'5.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Okay. Because I thought you were my height. Yeah. Okay. So...
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: You decided to get into modeling and you're still not
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: hearing no say. I get your face card, girl. I
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: get the face card. The face card is face carding.
• 20:03
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Okay.
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: I get the face card, but are you hearing naysayers
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: from the 5'3 side? Yes.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: The modeling. Yes. One, because I am 5'3, but also
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: now this wasn't a thing in Texas. I'm going to
• 20:17
  Speaker 2: fast forward a little bit. We'll go back. In LA,
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: when I started modeling, I'm considered a little thick, but
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: in Texas, I'm not thick. In Texas. In Texas, I'm
• 20:27
  Speaker 2: a little petite.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: You are very petite, but you say in Texas, you'd
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: probably be considered very non-thick, right?
• 20:34
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 20:35
  Speaker 2: In Texas, they call it bread fed. So in LA,
• 20:39
  Speaker 2: it's like you got a little meat on your body.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: You went back to Texas, look guys, I got my
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: thick card. They was like, if you don't get your
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: ass out of here.
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: No, ma'am. Yeah, so I did have naysayers from both
• 20:50
  Speaker 2: Houston and I.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: That's crazy they said you were thick, but even for
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: print modeling, you were considered thick. Okay.
• 20:55
  Speaker 2: So- So we'll get back to LA. But in Houston,
• 20:59
  Speaker 2: everybody supported my acting.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: And modeling.
• 21:02
  Speaker 2: Okay. Acting. Acting. So what I did was I ended
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: up doing beauty only and modeling. Face card.
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: Face card.
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: I ended up doing beauty. And so that was like, okay,
• 21:11
  Speaker 2: I can get into this.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: How are you booking these? Are you calling or?
• 21:15
  Speaker 2: I am freelancing at the time. So I'm just, hey, calling,
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: people calling me. I put myself out there. Instagram was
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: still hot. hot still at the time. So I'm just
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: by word of mouth resources and things like that.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, you hustling. This is before or after you quit?
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: This is after I quit.
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: Where was the mom conversation when you decided to jump
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: off the bridge?
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: So at this time I'm grown. It still has an
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: opinion as black mamas do, but I'm grown. There's nothing
• 21:40
  Speaker 2: you can tell me. This is what I'm doing. I
• 21:42
  Speaker 2: did what you wanted me to do. I went to school.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: I graduated, got a degree. I made some money. Now
• 21:47
  Speaker 2: it's time for me to do what I wanted to do.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Are you also throwing in her face? Remember when I
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: got off stage on that play? Okay.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: That probably wouldn't have went over well. Absolutely not. Okay.
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: Okay. I'm sorry. All right. So you decide to jump
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: off the bridge.
• 22:02
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: Go full time.
• 22:03
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: No savings. How are you surviving? Catfish?
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: So the little bit of service I had, I took
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: out my retirement.
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: Okay, got it.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: So that helped me. Now, before I moved to.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: LA- How many years are you working at this point?
• 22:17
  Speaker 2: I was going to say, it's two years between the
• 22:19
  Speaker 2: time I quit my job and moved to LA. It's
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: two years.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: Oh, you didn't just quit your job. You decided to
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: move to a very expensive city.
• 22:28
  Speaker 2: But before I moved, it's two years. It's a two-year
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: gap between quitting and moving to LA. So I quit
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: my job, was still in Houston for two years.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Just hustling?
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: Hustling. And between modeling- Now, plays do pay in Houston. Okay.
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: They just weren't paying enough to survive. Correct. So that's,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: so then my lease was up in Houston and my apartment,
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: the leasing office at my apartments at the time were like,
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: we need to know what you're going to do. You
• 22:54
  Speaker 2: have two days to make a decision. So I said,
• 22:58
  Speaker 2: Hey mom, I'm moving to LA. I know.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Your mama.
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: My mama is stressed dealing with me.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: I know. Okay, so you moved to L.A. with what?
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: Nothing.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: Oh, your mama.
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: And my dad was like, Mom, Armani, don't you want... Ooh,
• 23:14
  Speaker 2: that's good and brown.
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: Okay, where's Papa Doo's? Let's see what he's saying.
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: My dad was like, you don't want to save any money.
• 23:20
  Speaker 2: My dad is very practical when it comes to money
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: and finance. He's like, you don't want to save up.
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: And I was like, no, if I don't go now,
• 23:27
  Speaker 2: I'm not going. I'm going to change my mind. I'm
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: not going.
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Okay, I like that.
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: And.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: And those type of decisions, every decision you're making almost
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: has to be a radical because if any bit of
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: logic steps in, it's going to be like, bitch, you crazy.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: So I like that you're going.
• 23:44
  Speaker 2: Even without the time, it's still bitch, you crazy. Yeah.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Who is cosigning this? You got a best friend
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in your ear?
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: I'm a very spiritual person. So once I hear, once
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: I make a decision, I hear God say, girl, go ahead.
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: I'm Okay.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: But also, I know my talent. I know my ability.
• 24:03
  Speaker 2: And I know that everybody in LA thinks they're talented.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: But I know what I'm working with.
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: But at this point, you've been two years on your
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: own hustling.
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: Correct.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: And at this point, you're handling financial literacy very well.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: So it's like, I got that.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Yes. And so I tell my mom, my dad is like,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: maybe you should do this, do that, save some money.
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: And my mom tells my dad... We either going to
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: support her or when either way she going.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: Come on mama Dukes.
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: So we go. I packed up my car.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Did you say we go?
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: My mom comes with me. No, she doesn't move here. Okay.
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: So we, okay.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: Sorry. This story getting so good. Bread.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: Put your pizza bread on.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Oh, this bread got hard quick. It did.
• 24:51
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 24:52
  Speaker 2: Two? I just want one. You want a sandwich?
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it the way you do it.
• 24:55
  Speaker 2: Wait, before we do that.
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Why are you interrupting your own story?
• 24:58
  Speaker 2: I'm sorry. All right.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: So wait, mom packs up, jumps in the car, and
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: drives across. Sorry, keep going. We get in the car.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: Try a new boat. Sorry. Pressure.
• 25:06
  Speaker 2: We get in the car, and I pack up anything
• 25:09
  Speaker 2: that can fit in the car. Mostly my closet. Okay.
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: That's it. And can I have a- A what? This?
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: Yes. The plate?
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: Yes. Let's not. Yeah, get rid of that bread. So
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: we pack up the car. At the time, I had
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: a boyfriend- I told him I'm going to LA. We
• 25:24
  Speaker 2: got to break up. I said, you're not my husband.
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: So let's just end this. Yo, I love your swagger.
• 25:34
  Speaker 2: You're a 10, 10, 10, 10, 10. Okay.
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: You hear that women out there? She was focused on
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: the vision.
• 25:41
  Speaker 2: The vision.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: I love that you had a boyfriend. You didn't compromise
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: not one second.
• 25:45
  Speaker 2: And I think that was a lesson learned because I
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: went to college with a boyfriend. I went to college
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: and I was like, ah, I probably shouldn't have had
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: a boyfriend coming to college. That was like the, you're
• 25:54
  Speaker 2: not going to do this mistake again.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: That was that. Okay. So we pack up the car,
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: head to.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: Are you turning off this hot grease?
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: As soon as I take it out, you can't just leave.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going to stay out of your kitchen.
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: Okay, thank you. And before I turn it off, I've
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: got to make sure I don't want to put it back.
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: You know how they say hard pride?
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: Listen, I've never done this. You are taking the lead,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: but your story is hella good.
• 26:17
  Speaker 2: We pack up. Now, my mom, the way she proposed
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: to me coming with me, she says, I'm going to
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: go with you so we can help you drive. We'll
• 26:26
  Speaker 2: take turns so we can get there. My mama didn't
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: drive a lick.
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: I was about to say, I love your mama.
• 26:31
  Speaker 2: She didn't drive a leak.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: Why you had to throw her under the bus on
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: that one?
• 26:34
  Speaker 2: Who just had it? She didn't. Okay, we can turn
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: that off.
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: Okay. She didn't drive a leak. Was she lecturing you
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: the whole time?
• 26:41
  Speaker 2: No, she, I cried everything. She was just there supporting.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: You were crying? Yeah.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: Why? I cried because she was crying. So maybe she
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: wasn't an emotional support. She was the... She was the trigger.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: So y'all crying 3,000 miles?
• 26:53
  Speaker 2: Yeah. No, not the whole time. Or not 3,000, but yeah.
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: We're crying and, or she's crying, I'm crying, then we're
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: having a good time listening to music.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: These are snot cries?
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: My mom, not me. I was just like, okay, let's
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: wrap this up. So now how do you want, sorry,
• 27:07
  Speaker 2: we're going to get back to this. How do you
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: want your sandwich? Do you want two pieces of bread?
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it however you do it.
• 27:12
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: I'm mirroring you.
• 27:13
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: This looks amazing.
• 27:15
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: I'm glad I learned how to cook this. See, it's easy.
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Super easy.
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: Catfish is so easy. Fry anything. Catfish, chicken, pork chop,
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: it's easy.
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: It's easy. Brittany, you better stop making that face. Jerry,
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: we got some. If it's good, I'm going to let
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: you know. I'm going to also.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: Let you know. Okay. You don't like spicy, so that's it.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: I'm going to do it how you do it.
• 27:34
  Speaker 2: How are they going to be dry? That's how I
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: eat it. You want ketchup, mustard?
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: I don't do all of it.
• 27:40
  Speaker 2: I'll take the ketchup.
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: Okay. I do it like.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Yes, we don't do it. What do you eat it
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: with a fork and a knife?
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: No, you take the bread and you fold it up.
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: This is a broke meal.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: Oh, good. Oh, wait.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: I want to try the seasoning before I put ketchup
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: on it. I hate that. When you cook for somebody
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: and they just pull out salt and pepper, you be like,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: you didn't even try it, bro.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: It's okay. It's okay. It's crunch.
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: You hear that crunch? Hold up now. She may know
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: what she's doing.
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: Just a little bit.
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: Ooh, Jer, you gonna like this.
• 28:16
  Speaker 2: Catfish is so easy and so quick. You know how
• 28:18
  Speaker 2: quick that was? All right, so you and mama crying
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: and driving. In the car, get here and- Oh, I
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: can taste the saltiness too. Yeah, so imagine the season, yeah.
• 28:28
  Speaker 2: So you don't eat catfish, Brayden. Crazy.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Ain't nobody worried about you.
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: So we get here and at the time I have
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: a cousin that lives here. And so my mom stays
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: with me the first three weeks. I love when people
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: eat my food.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: Catfish catfishing. Yo, this is good.
• 28:48
  Speaker 2: Love that.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: It's too hot.
• 28:51
  Speaker 2: It is hot. That's why I'm just sitting here right now.
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: Mom's just sitting here. Girl. Listen.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: You hear that crunch? We should be in the car
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: doing a little TikTok video. Do you hear the crunch?
• 29:04
  Speaker 2: Woo.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Okay, guys. She could cook.
• 29:07
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. So we get here and my
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: cousin lives here at the time and my mom stays
• 29:14
  Speaker 2: with me for three weeks. We're at my cousin's house.
• 29:15
  Speaker 2: She helps me find an apartment. My mom actually pays
• 29:19
  Speaker 2: the deposit and I'm broke.
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: Was this a surprise that she did it for you
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: or did she tell you in advance?
• 29:24
  Speaker 2: I know my mama. She wasn't going to, she didn't
• 29:27
  Speaker 2: tell me she was going to do it, but I
• 29:28
  Speaker 2: knew she was going to do it.
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: I like your mama. I like her.
• 29:30
  Speaker 2: It's my biggest support. We find an apartment. Once I'm
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: in my apartment for two days, she leaves.
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: And.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: Are you getting emotional? No. Okay. Your eyes look local.
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: No. So yeah, that's how we got to LA. Okay.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: So you get here. Yeah. Your mama leaves. Yeah. Now
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: it's you, your apartment. Is it a studio apartment?
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: It's a studio.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: Did she even leave you a cat or a dog
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: or a bird?
• 29:51
  Speaker 2: No, it's just me and my studio.
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: Are you on the floor?
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I'm on an air mattress. Oh, your mama. It's
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: a nice studio though. Okay. $ 2, 000 for a studio. It's crazy. Listen,
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: LA is not a joke.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: Damn.
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: LA is not a joke. So I have nothing but
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: an air mattress and pots and pans because I'm going
• 30:10
  Speaker 2: to cook. Okay. If I don't do anything else, I'm
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: going to cook. Okay. Yes.
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: Okay. So you're in the air mattress apartment and you
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: pull out your laptop. What are we going to do?
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: What's the first thing you start doing? Because now you're
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: not even going to college where you can make new friends.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: You probably don't, I'm guessing, outside of this cousin.
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: So here's the part where you thought I was crazy
• 30:27
  Speaker 2: before this where I really get crazy. Okay.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: I like crazy.
• 30:30
  Speaker 2: My mom is, okay, we're going to find you a job.
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: And I'm saying all the things to appease her and
• 30:34
  Speaker 2: pacify her.
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm like, what?
• 30:36
  Speaker 2: Because I just don't want to hear my mama's mouth.
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: Got it. I knew I wasn't getting a job. Plan
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: A is the only plan.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: You the scariest child in the world, boy. I tell
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: you right now.
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: Plan A is wrong.
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: Imagine your baby move all the way to LA. Talk
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: about she ain't got a job. Okay. I know why
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: you did that. Because your mom wouldn't.
• 30:51
  Speaker 2: Okay. Go on. So I don't have a job. I'm
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: in this apartment or in this studio. I'm in the
• 30:58
  Speaker 2: studio for about five months figuring it out. When I
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: said I was broke, I didn't have enough money. to
• 31:06
  Speaker 2: pay rent, but I had enough money. I had enough
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: hustle to figure it out. Now, LA is a different
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: type of hustle. So I'm doing small freelancing modeling jobs.
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: I have a friend who's a model and she's like,
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: come with me to this and this, that, and the other.
• 31:16
  Speaker 2: After about five months, the pandemic happens.
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Oh, thank God.
• 31:21
  Speaker 2: Thank God. For the brokies. For the brokies, thank God. Yes,
• 31:23
  Speaker 2: for the brokenness, thank God. But also, what?
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: No, it's definitely messed up. But I'll say, if you
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: was a poor person, there was.
• 31:30
  Speaker 2: No greater time to be broke.
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: Yes. Especially with your financial literacy. I know you was
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: like not, you know what I'm saying? How did you
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: make rent for five months? You were hustling. You weren't
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: asking your mama for help.
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: I didn't say I was making rent.
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: Oh, you're hilarious.
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: I just was in there.
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: You was coasting that almost eviction trade.
• 31:51
  Speaker 2: Yes. I was just was in there.
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: Oh my God.
• 31:54
  Speaker 2: But I was like, I'm not getting a job. I didn't,
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: I said, I'm not. I kept telling myself I did
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: not come to LA to get a job. I did
• 31:59
  Speaker 2: not come to LA to work. A regular job. I
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: came here for this and this only. And I didn't
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: want anything to take me away from the vision.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: And you're praying ridiculously at this point.
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: Now, are you battling yourself?
• 32:15
  Speaker 2: God, what are we doing? You told me to come here.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: I wanted to come here, but you co-signed this. What
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: are we doing? Pandemic saved me. Now, my mom at
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: the time, she was like.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: She know you ain't got no job? Or are you lying?
• 32:28
  Speaker 2: No, she knows I don't have a job. She knows.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: But I'm telling her, I'm looking, I'm looking, I'm looking.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: Was not looking. I was looking, but I wasn't.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Did she think your rent was paid?
• 32:39
  Speaker 2: No, because I would. Now, there were some months I'm like, mom,
• 32:41
  Speaker 2: I need.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: You to help me out.
• 32:43
  Speaker 2: So she would help me out. But it's like, OK, Armani,
• 32:47
  Speaker 2: you're grown.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: Now, what I didn't say is at the time. So
• 32:50
  Speaker 2: the only person I knew when I moved here is
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: my cousin. My cousin, before we went on lockdown, the
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: day before we went on lockdown, she goes, I'm going
• 32:55
  Speaker 2: back to Texas. We can already be in an apocalypse.
• 32:59
  Speaker 2: I'm going home. I don't have time for this. So
• 33:02
  Speaker 2: I thugged out the pandemic alone. Alone.
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: And... You didn't shack up with a safe?
• 33:11
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: Had to ask.
• 33:12
  Speaker 2: No, I had a couple friends here and there, but
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: nobody that.
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:15
  Speaker 2: They actors, too. They broke.
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 33:18
  Speaker 2: Trying to figure it out, too. So my mom said, Armani,
• 33:21
  Speaker 2: you can come home. I love that you love it.
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: I love that you love it.
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: The inside's tender and juicy.
• 33:26
  Speaker 2: For all y'all. All right, go on. And how long
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: was the fish on?
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: I was about to ask you, how you know when
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: it's cooked?
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: So it starts to float. Fish, chicken, it starts to
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: float in the grease.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: It starts to float, okay.
• 33:37
  Speaker 2: Yeah. So my mom is like, you can come home.
• 33:42
  Speaker 1: Don't do it!
• 33:43
  Speaker 2: I said, Mom, I'm not coming home. I said, if
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: I go home, I'm not coming back. Not that it
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: took so much to get here, but it took a
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: radical amount of faith to get here. I don't know
• 33:54
  Speaker 2: that I'm going to be able to do that again.
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: So I stuck it out. I stuck it out.
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: So now your mom's praying every day.
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: My mom is praying. My mom is like, girl, are
• 34:06
  Speaker 2: you okay?
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: Yeah. So you stay, you thug it out through the pandemic.
• 34:09
  Speaker 2: And my grandparents at the time are like, I don't
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: understand why you want to go struggle in LA. Now,
• 34:16
  Speaker 2: to Southern black grandparents, a good job is you get
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: a paycheck every other week. You got the weekends off
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: and holidays off. So they're like, you had a good job.
• 34:25
  Speaker 2: I don't understand why you want to go to LA
• 34:26
  Speaker 2: to struggle. It's not for you to understand. It's for me.
• 34:30
  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm in LA and I tell my mom
• 34:34
  Speaker 2: I'm not going home. Now we were on lockdown, but,
• 34:39
  Speaker 2: and we were really on lockdown. I get a movie offer.
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: But it's, have you seen Malcolm and Marie?
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: And you're still doing everything?
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: Freelance. You heard that?
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: All right, go on.
• 34:50
  Speaker 2: Yes. I don't know. I think this guy just found
• 34:52
  Speaker 2: me on Instagram. And at the time I would post monologues.
• 34:58
  Speaker 2: We don't have nothing else. So I'll post monologues on
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Instagram and a guy found one of my monologues and he's,
• 35:03
  Speaker 2: have you seen Malcolm and Marie?
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: No.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: With Zendaya? No. Okay. So the movie is, it's two,
• 35:11
  Speaker 2: it's just them two in the entire movie and they're arguing.
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: And that is the reflection of the movie that the
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: guy's offering me. It's just me and another guy. Cause
• 35:19
  Speaker 2: we're in COVID. We're not really supposed to be working
• 35:20
  Speaker 2: at the time. I'm not sad yet. So it's cool.
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: So I do it on this project. There is a,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: let me back up. When I'm in L.A. I have
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: to back up. Sorry. I get to L.A. I have
• 35:33
  Speaker 2: a friend from college who owns an agency. Okay. So
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: I did book McDonald's. A McDonald's Super Bowl commercial.
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: That's a big deal, ain't it?
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: It's a big deal, but people think I got paid
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: way more than I did. Okay. Because it's a commercial
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: and it's McDonald's. But Super Bowl commercials typically only play
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: for the Super Bowl.
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 35:52
  Speaker 2: So I got a check, but.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Hey, it was still something to celebrate.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: It helped a little bit. Okay.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: So I.
• 35:59
  Speaker 2: Before I booked this movie with just me and the guy,
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: I dropped my agency.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: Okay. So now you're back to freelance.
• 36:06
  Speaker 2: Now I'm back to freelance. And still not SAG, but
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: back to freelance. And I do the film and there
• 36:10
  Speaker 2: was an acting coach on the film assigned to me
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: and the guy. Or me and the other actor. And
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: she asked me, hey, are you signed? I said, I
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: just let go of my agency. She said, I have
• 36:21
  Speaker 2: somebody that I think, excuse me, would be perfect for you.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: A manager. Okay.
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 36:26
  Speaker 2: She gives me his information. Before I can email him,
• 36:29
  Speaker 2: and I want to say within a 48-hour period, he
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: emails me.
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: That's the type of manager I want.
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: When I tell you he was so excited, this is
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: the manager I still have, Brayden. This is weak. I
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: still have him.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say Brayden.
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: No, no. I love my manager. Okay, okay. And I
• 36:46
  Speaker 2: think it's important for me, anyway. Everybody's story is different.
• 36:49
  Speaker 2: It's important for me to have somebody that wants me
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: a part of their roster. So I sign with him, and...
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: At this time, pandemic has been lifted. You know, the
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: lockdown has been lifted and we're able to do auditions again.
• 37:04
  Speaker 2: Now they're self-tape auditions, but I book a film called
• 37:07
  Speaker 2: Waterboys within four months of signing with my manager. Okay.
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: And your family's starting to see momentum?
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: Absolutely not. Okay. No. Sorry. They think I'm out here playing.
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: They think this is a hobby.
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: You got to have thick skin to get through all this.
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: You have to have thick skin to deal with my family. Okay. Okay?
• 37:24
  Speaker 2: So they really are like, girl, what are you doing?
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: You calling us asking for money every other week. So
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: I book Waterboys and I go to Atlanta and I
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: film for a month. Okay. Between the unemployment and I
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: was kind of like, okay, doing a little something, not
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: enough to go splurge.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: But this is enough to give you confirmation that you're
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: on the right path.
• 37:48
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes. And all of my entire team has been
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: given to me through references and resources. And so I'm
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: with my manager and I booked this film in Atlanta,
• 37:59
  Speaker 2: go back, and now I'm auditioning. I auditioned for P-Valley.
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: I'm on a veil. Do you know what a veil is?
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: A veil means it's between you and maybe three other
• 38:07
  Speaker 2: people at this time. I've done the audition, the callback,
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: the director session, all of these things. I'm on a
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: veil and I'm like, okay, this is life changing. A
• 38:16
  Speaker 2: series regular is life changing. I don't get it. So
• 38:20
  Speaker 2: now we're broke again. People don't realize how... No matter
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: how much money you make, that money doesn't last forever.
• 38:30
  Speaker 2: Even if you make, I'm just throwing out a number, $ 40, 000.
• 38:32
  Speaker 2: How long do you think that lasts? Especially when you
• 38:35
  Speaker 2: have back pay bills. I got to back pay rent.
• 38:38
  Speaker 2: I got to do all these things. And then eventually
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: momentum just starts. There's a strike.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: The infamous writer's strike. You done survived a pandemic and
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: a writer's strike.
• 38:49
  Speaker 2: So although I've been here seven years, I tell people,
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: let's say five.
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: Because we did the strike in a pandemic. Okay. No,
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: you got to count them terrible milestones. But now, I
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: ain't going to tease everybody, but I'm going to semi-tease.
• 39:04
  Speaker 1: If you see the body of work that's coming right now,
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: the amount of perseverance and stuff you had to go through,
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: the reason why I kept highlighting who's in your corner,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: like at least whispering sweet nothings, and how many people
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: are wishing, girl, you're tripping, and how you're kind of
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: battling that with the ebbs and flows of, Hopefully I
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: get this role. This could save my life.
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: I think there's a good balance of inner talk, inner monologues.
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: And again, I told you I'm a very spiritual person.
• 39:37
  Speaker 2: So me and God are constantly in communication. I'm constantly just, okay,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: what's next? I have great discernment. And then my mom
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: and dad, even if they don't understand what I'm doing,
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: They are very supportive. They are so supportive. My sisters,
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: my brothers, best friend, they're all supportive. Even if the
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: undertone is girl.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: They be like, just in case, there's applications on this side.
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: Even now, my mom is, are you still auditioning? Yes, mom.
• 40:09
  Speaker 2: I am.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: She still asking that? Yes. Okay, I guess it's time
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: for us to do the Kanye thing, right? Can we
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: promote what's happening now? Sure.
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: Am I promoting or are you promoting?
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: You're promoting it.
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: September 9th.
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: Wait, wait. You know what? Back up. Tell us how
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: it arrived.
• 40:23
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: Set the tone.
• 40:25
  Speaker 2: I get an audition. This is an exclusive. Nobody knows this.
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: This is the first time I've said it. I get
• 40:30
  Speaker 2: the audition. I get an audition for this film.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: I do it. My manager typically watches my auditions and
• 40:38
  Speaker 2: he's like, oh, you killed that. Not to toot my
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: own horn, I kill most of my auditions. Toot, toot.
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: Is this my camera? I kill most of my auditions. Oh, yeah. Mm-hmm.
• 40:46
  Speaker 2: I do it. He's bragging and doing all the things.
• 40:50
  Speaker 2: And there's a thing called a breakdown. The breakdown tells
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: you the different characters they're auditioning for. This particular character.
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: I do it.
• 41:00
  Speaker 2: My manager, I'm sending it in. It's so great. But
• 41:03
  Speaker 2: I look at the breakdown and I say, send me
• 41:06
  Speaker 2: the audition for this character.
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, because this one's a.
• 41:09
  Speaker 2: And so he says... Oh, I think you did really
• 41:13
  Speaker 2: good on this one.
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: Man, I'm Kanye West.
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: And I said, I did, but send the audition for
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: this one.
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: I like that.
• 41:21
  Speaker 2: He goes and talks with casting. It was a little
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: bit of, I don't know, pushback. Long story short, they
• 41:27
  Speaker 2: send the audition.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: They send which one?
• 41:29
  Speaker 2: The one that I asked for.
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: Nice.
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: They send the sides and the script for the one
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: I auditioned for. Do it. And I said, I told
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: my manager, I said, I think that's the one.
• 41:41
  Speaker 1: Does that mean you don't send the original?
• 41:42
  Speaker 2: No, we sent both of them.
• 41:43
  Speaker 1: Oh, okay.
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: But I just had a feeling about that first audition.
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: I did great, but that doesn't mean just because you
• 41:48
  Speaker 2: did great, you're going to book it. So I said,
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: send the second one. He sent it. Now, at the time,
• 41:52
  Speaker 2: I don't know. He sends them, but when you do
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: an audition, you don't hear anything until either an article
• 41:58
  Speaker 2: comes out that somebody booked it or you... are pinned
• 42:02
  Speaker 2: or unavailable or whatever. So you just do this stuff
• 42:05
  Speaker 2: and you have to forget about it.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Now, what are you doing in this? Because I'm one
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: of those people that'll be like, don't get your hopes up.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: But I'm secretly getting my hopes up. Don't get your
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: hopes up. And I'm secretly, you're fine.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: I actually didn't get my hopes up. One, because I've
• 42:16
  Speaker 2: auditioned for this director. Before, before I spill the tea.
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: I've auditioned for him before. So I'm like, we've been
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: down this road. We've auditioned, got a call back and
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: been very close. And I think that's just part of
• 42:27
  Speaker 2: the job.
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: So you've already been very close. Yes.
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: So you, you like at this point, you, you make
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: a good stride.
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: Absolutely.
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: But you're still not like doing the please Jesus to
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: let me have it.
• 42:38
  Speaker 2: Okay. I'm not saying that I never do that, but.
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: What's for you is for you.
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: I thought you were going to say, I had a
• 42:45
  Speaker 1: feeling you were that person. That's what's for you is
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: for you.
• 42:48
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. So send the audition in. We don't hear anything.
• 42:52
  Speaker 2: And then my manager at the time, I'm in New York.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: I think I just was there just because my manager
• 42:57
  Speaker 2: was like, Hey, are you in New York? Or Hey,
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: are you in LA? I'm like, I mean, my new,
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: my manager is in New York. So he was like, Oh,
• 43:02
  Speaker 2: you're in New York. Okay, cool. Let's meet up and
• 43:04
  Speaker 2: let's have lunch.
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: I said, okay.
• 43:06
  Speaker 2: I'm not thinking anything of it.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Oh, I like your manager already.
• 43:09
  Speaker 2: So we meet up, have lunch, and he was like,
• 43:11
  Speaker 2: how do you feel like you did on that audition?
• 43:13
  Speaker 2: I was like, oh, I did good, but I do
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: good on a lot of them. It doesn't mean anything, yada, yada, yada.
• 43:19
  Speaker 2: And he was like, he's asking all these questions. I'm like,
• 43:22
  Speaker 2: I am so oblivious.
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: How are you so oblivious?
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: I am so oblivious.
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: You done did a million auditions?
• 43:28
  Speaker 2: Because I've done so many auditions.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: I'm so oblivious. I can't believe you was this oblivious.
• 43:32
  Speaker 1: You didn't see a twinkle in his eye?
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: No.
• 43:34
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 43:35
  Speaker 2: And so... He finally says, you're going to Italy. I said, wait,
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: I booked it? He was like, yeah. And I probably
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: screamed in the restaurant. Or like a really quiet scream,
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: but I screamed in the restaurant. And so, yeah, that's
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: how this product came about. I like your manager for
• 43:55
  Speaker 2: playing it like that. So did he time it where
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: he knew you were coming? No, at this time... So
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: last year I was in New York more than I
• 44:05
  Speaker 2: was in LA. So I think he just figured she's
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: probably in New York. I just was in New York
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: at the time.
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: I wish he would have caught it on camera or
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: something though.
• 44:12
  Speaker 2: He did. There's a video, yeah.
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Can we get it?
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: If I can find it. I think it's long though.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: I think it's a long video.
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: Just the part where you shriek.
• 44:19
  Speaker 2: Okay. I'll ask him for it.
• 44:21
  Speaker 1: It would be cool just to see it. Honestly, we
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: rode this whole train.
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: Now, I see the... He props the phone up. I
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: see the phone, but I'm still oblivious. Oh, that's hilarious.
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: I'm thinking.
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: Because he's always in his phone. He's always... So, I'm
• 44:31
  Speaker 2: just oblivious. He's hilarious.
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: So, all right. Now, let's announce. What's he doing?
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: September 9th on Netflix. Why Did I Get Married Again?
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: This is the third installment of the franchise, Why Did
• 44:44
  Speaker 2: I Get Married? And I play Jasmine, the daughter.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: Of the beloved.
• 44:50
  Speaker 2: couple.
• 44:50
  Speaker 1: You already know which couple it is.
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: Marcus and Angela.
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: Yep.
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: Tasha.
• 44:54
  Speaker 1: Yes, Tasha Smith and Michael J.
• 44:56
  Speaker 2: White.
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: Everybody loves when they see them two on camera, okay?
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: If you watch the series, when I read that you
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: got that role, I said, oh, that's a big role.
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: It's still a surreal moment, just because this franchise means
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: a lot to the culture. People love Marcus and Angela.
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: People love Why Did I Get Married? They hate Mike,
• 45:18
  Speaker 2: Richard T. Jones, because he sent Angela up the hill.
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: People love this franchise. So I am still like, I
• 45:25
  Speaker 2: am really a part of something big.
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: So you are. For all us listening, you know what
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: we thinking about. We thinking about that call to mama
• 45:36
  Speaker 1: and grandma. This is another funny story. Tell me you
• 45:40
  Speaker 1: probably put a phone on them.
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: I didn't tell them. What?
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Okay.
• 45:44
  Speaker 2: So let me give you the rundown. I'm telling you,
• 45:46
  Speaker 2: people are like, Armani, what goes on in your head?
• 45:49
  Speaker 2: So my mom is a very supportive.
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: And because she's very supportive, she is also very... My
• 45:57
  Speaker 2: mom like to brag. She is. I did that.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: I would definitely.
• 46:00
  Speaker 2: My mom is. I did that. That is my mama.
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I would do.
• 46:04
  Speaker 2: So I didn't tell her. She thought I... So we
• 46:06
  Speaker 2: shot the film in Italy. She thought I was going
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: to Italy on vacation.
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: Why would you be on vacation if you technically... Up
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: and down acting.
• 46:15
  Speaker 2: She thought I was on vacation. Okay. But she also
• 46:17
  Speaker 2: knew I was going to New York a lot. She
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: didn't know why. She just was like, okay, you're going
• 46:20
  Speaker 2: to New York a lot. Okay, maybe you got a
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: little bit of money because you're going to go to Italy.
• 46:24
  Speaker 1: Okay.
• 46:24
  Speaker 2: So I didn't tell her. And the reason I didn't
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: tell her is because I didn't want her to post
• 46:28
  Speaker 2: it prematurely on Facebook. That is my mom.
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: Oh, you feel like you couldn't control that.
• 46:32
  Speaker 2: Yeah, no. I can say don't tell anybody. My mama
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: is a proud parent. You hang up the phone and
• 46:38
  Speaker 2: 10 people are calling. Yes, my mama is a proud parent.
• 46:41
  Speaker 2: So I didn't tell anyone. I mean, in Italy, she
• 46:43
  Speaker 2: still doesn't know. When are you telling? When the article drops. Armani!
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: I know.
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Did you tell your dad? No. Oh, good, because that
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: would have been really bad. So, did you tell your siblings?
• 46:55
  Speaker 2: I told my grandmother.
• 46:58
  Speaker 1: When? Before Italy?
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: Before. I told my grandmother, probably headed to the airport
• 47:04
  Speaker 2: to go to Italy.
• 47:05
  Speaker 1: You don't think your grandma snitched?
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: Bless you. Thank you. No. She may have told my dad.
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: Is it your mom?
• 47:13
  Speaker 2: It's my granny. My dad's mom.
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: Armani, I'm sorry, baby. We was riding with you until then, but.
• 47:24
  Speaker 2: My mom would have... This is what I did not
• 47:26
  Speaker 2: want to happen. My mom puts it on Facebook.
• 47:27
  Speaker 1: But you wouldn't have told her don't under any circumstances.
• 47:29
  Speaker 2: My mom is a very proud parent. And I love
• 47:31
  Speaker 2: that about my mom. She is a very proud parent.
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: I didn't want it to be on Facebook and then
• 47:36
  Speaker 2: Tyler calls me and, okay.
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: You done messed it up.
• 47:38
  Speaker 2: You done messed up. You are out of a job.
• 47:40
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I ain't going to lie. I wouldn't have ruined it.
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: But it's bittersweet. But knowing your guy's whole story, it
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: makes sense. But of course, I wanted to hear what
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: was her reaction. Oh, she was so happy.
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: So this is now my mom, my grandparents, and everybody
• 47:55
  Speaker 2: back home are like, okay, maybe you're doing something. Maybe.
• 47:58
  Speaker 2: Maybe you're doing something.
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: But you have a whole body of work. It's not
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: just the Tyler Perry movie that's coming out. You have
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: a bunch of other stuff that's coming.
• 48:06
  Speaker 2: I don't know if I can talk about them.
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: She gonna be on the big screen everywhere. Just everywhere
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: you look, she gonna be on the big screen. So
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: she got a lot coming.
• 48:13
  Speaker 2: It's coming.
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: But were you taping all that stuff before Italy?
• 48:16
  Speaker 2: Some stuff is before. Some stuff is after.
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: Do they know about that stuff?
• 48:19
  Speaker 2: They know about that stuff.
• 48:20
  Speaker 1: Yes. Okay.
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: So my mom is very, she's corporate America. She doesn't
• 48:26
  Speaker 2: understand the industry. She's learning a little bit more as
• 48:29
  Speaker 2: I'm going through these things. But so if I tell
• 48:32
  Speaker 2: her I booked this, she doesn't understand it's not coming
• 48:35
  Speaker 2: out for another year. She doesn't understand. So I kind
• 48:37
  Speaker 2: of tell her what needs to be told because if not,
• 48:41
  Speaker 2: what's going on with, did you hear about, I can't,
• 48:45
  Speaker 2: I can't deal with it.
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: I'm thankful that you pursued your dreams. no matter what
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the exterior was looking like. I think it takes a
• 48:55
  Speaker 1: lot of just not just tenacity. I think it's honestly
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: a group, definitely spiritual effort to stay the path and
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: keep going forward. I know you look like you're 15
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: or 21 or something like that, very young. But I
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: will say this, based on this resume, this is definitely
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: the beginning of a long, huge career. And when you
• 49:16
  Speaker 1: were on set with Taraji and everybody else, was there one...
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: one piece of thing that maybe you picked up from them?
• 49:24
  Speaker 2: Oh, there's so many. Which one do I want to share?
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: The thing that I noticed the most is that no
• 49:31
  Speaker 2: matter how big they are in their careers, they were
• 49:35
  Speaker 2: still hungry. And I think there's a point where sometimes
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: people can get settled and get comfortable. And I saw
• 49:42
  Speaker 2: them fighting for their characters. I saw them advocate for
• 49:46
  Speaker 2: their characters. And I saw them be professionals in this space.
• 49:52
  Speaker 2: But they didn't have to be just because of who
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: they are. There were still moments where we're all laughing
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: and joking, but it's easy once you get to a
• 50:02
  Speaker 2: certain point to just say, I'm going to show up.
• 50:05
  Speaker 2: however I shall look.
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I got my check. I'm curious, what does
• 50:08
  Speaker 1: it mean to fight for your character, though?
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: So there are certain moments where maybe your character is
• 50:14
  Speaker 2: doing something that you may not agree with in the script.
• 50:16
  Speaker 2: And I just remember moments where I'm watching Jill Scott
• 50:19
  Speaker 2: or Tasha Smith, and they're like, I think we should
• 50:22
  Speaker 2: talk to, they're talking to Tyler, like, I think we
• 50:24
  Speaker 2: should tweak this a little bit. And there are moments
• 50:26
  Speaker 2: where Tyler's like, okay, yeah, let's. And then there's moments
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: where Tyler's like, no, this is what's in the script.
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: It's his, you know, it's his baby, his script, so.
• 50:35
  Speaker 2: I saw them fight for their characters and really, it
• 50:39
  Speaker 2: was a great experience. Yep.
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: One of many.
• 50:44
  Speaker 2: Yes. Of many. All right.
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: Did you even eat your catfish? I'm trying. Okay. I
• 50:48
  Speaker 1: just want to thank you for cooking for us. I
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: officially know how to make really good catfish. 10 out
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: of 10. I'm going to eat this all. Jared, I'm
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: excited for you. Brayden's a hater, but we are having
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: a great dish.
• 50:59
  Speaker 2: Yes, I'm so glad.
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: And I look forward to see it September 9th. September 9th,
• 51:04
  Speaker 1: I will be tuning in, and I will be rooting
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: for you, cheering you on. So honored to be able
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: to hang out with you. I think you told your
• 51:11
  Speaker 1: story in such a beautiful, elegant, edgiest seat. Cliff Hanging,
• 51:16
  Speaker 1: so thank you so much for your time.
• 51:17
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: And where can everyone keep up with you?
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: Instagram. That's it. Armani Greer. Armani with two extra I's.
• 51:24
  Speaker 2: So A-R-M-A-N-I-I-I Greer. G-R-E-E-R. Okay. Perfect. Peace out.