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Why We Have to Stay Hopeful with Activist Marley Dias · QUESTION EVERYTHING

0:04
Speaker 1: Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever,
0:08
Speaker 1: pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests
0:12
Speaker 1: and I have conversations that put a new spin on pretty.
0:17
Speaker 1: This is pretty smart. I'm coming to you a week
0:22
Speaker 1: into being thirty three and from the Bahamas. I went
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Speaker 1: to the Bahamas with my dad, which was so much fun,
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Speaker 1: and we did all the things he likes to do.
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Speaker 1: We played craps, which he taught me how, we played blackjack,
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Speaker 1: We smoked cigars, I had a lot of furs. But
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Speaker 1: it was probably the best way to bring in thirty three.
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Speaker 1: I don't want to get too sappy, but I really
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Speaker 1: value our time together. He's like one of my favorite
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Speaker 1: people to hang out with, so I felt really really
0:53
Speaker 1: lucky to bring in my birthday that way. And on
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Speaker 1: the plane ride there, I watched movie that if you
1:01
Speaker 1: haven't seen, I would really really recommend you watch. It's
1:06
Speaker 1: called Past Lives and it stars Greta Lee, who's become
1:11
Speaker 1: one of my favorite actresses over the last few years.
1:15
Speaker 1: She's in the Morning Show. But basically it's a romantic
1:18
Speaker 1: drama and it follows two childhood friends over the course
1:23
Speaker 1: of twenty four years. While they contemplate the nature of
1:25
Speaker 1: their relationship as they grow apart and live different lives.
1:29
Speaker 1: But really I felt like it was about holding space
1:34
Speaker 1: for people to maybe love other people while you're in
1:37
Speaker 1: a relationship. And is that okay? I think it'll make
1:41
Speaker 1: more sense if you watch the film. But there's one
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Speaker 1: word that I really loved, which means past life in Korean.
1:47
Speaker 1: It's in yon, and that's what they keep talking about
1:50
Speaker 1: in the film. Is are we inyon? Anyways, I'm a
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Speaker 1: sucker for any sort of complicated love story, and it
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Speaker 1: was just a really beautiful film. So if you're interested
2:01
Speaker 1: in that sort of thing, definitely watch it. Okay. On
2:04
Speaker 1: to today's episode. Our guest is the youngest person that
2:10
Speaker 1: I have interviewed on Pretty Smart, and she's used to
2:14
Speaker 1: being the youngest in many rooms. Marley Diaz is an
2:19
Speaker 1: American activist and writer. You may remember seeing her face
2:23
Speaker 1: or hearing her name all over the news. In twenty fifteen,
2:26
Speaker 1: while she was in sixth grade, she launched a campaign
2:29
Speaker 1: called hashtag one thousand Black Girl Books to collect a
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Speaker 1: thousand books with black female protagonists to donate for black
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Speaker 1: girls at other schools and libraries. It went viral, and
2:40
Speaker 1: Marlee was all over news and talk shows, and she
2:44
Speaker 1: officially became an activist at the age of eleven. Well
2:48
Speaker 1: nine years later and she's a college student at Harvard.
2:51
Speaker 1: I do want to note quickly that this episode was
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Speaker 1: actually recorded in November because I was going on an
2:57
Speaker 1: egg freezing journey and I prerecorded a few episodes to
3:00
Speaker 1: make sure that we had enough. But since then, there's
3:03
Speaker 1: been a lot of news around Harvard, and we don't
3:04
Speaker 1: touch on that because this was recorded previously. So anyways,
3:10
Speaker 1: nine years later, Marlee's a college student at Harvard, and
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Speaker 1: her message and mission has remained steadfast to inspire and
3:17
Speaker 1: empower young people to use their voices to make positive
3:20
Speaker 1: changes in their community and the world at large. She
3:24
Speaker 1: uses her voice constantly. She writes for the Harvard Crimson.
3:27
Speaker 1: She contributes to national publications like Rolling Stone. She's spoken
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Speaker 1: at the White Houses, United State of Women alongside Michelle
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Speaker 1: Obama and Oprah Winfrey. Marlee was also honored by Time
3:39
Speaker 1: as one of the twenty five most Influential Teens in
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Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, the same year that her New York Times
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Speaker 1: best selling book came out. Marlee Diaz Gets It Done
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Speaker 1: and so can you. She's interviewed Misty Copeland, Hillary Clinton,
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Speaker 1: Ava DuVernay, and Ava said that Marlee is a beautiful
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Speaker 1: brew of kindness, confidence and curiosity. When I set out
4:00
Speaker 1: to create Pretty Smart, one of the pillars I wrote
4:03
Speaker 1: down was cross generational. I think it's so important that
4:08
Speaker 1: we learn from the women who came before us and
4:12
Speaker 1: listened to understand the women the generation below us. And
4:19
Speaker 1: that was one of the promises that I made to
4:21
Speaker 1: myself when I created the deck for Pretty Smart, and
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Speaker 1: I hadn't really fulfilled it. So I'm excited about today.
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Speaker 1: I think you'll notice in the interview that I'm a
4:30
Speaker 1: little extra curious. I really wanted to know what gen
4:34
Speaker 1: Z was thinking. And I've known about Marley since her
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Speaker 1: twenty fifteen campaign to collect books. But then when we
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Speaker 1: connected a few months ago over Instagram, I looked at
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Speaker 1: her name and I thought, I wonder if she's named
4:46
Speaker 1: after Bob Marley, And it turns out she is, which
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Speaker 1: feels well apropos I've always had this armchair theory that
4:55
Speaker 1: many people live into their names. Bob Marley was just
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Speaker 1: as much an activist as he was a legendary musician.
5:14
Speaker 1: Through his music and public statements. Bob Marley spoke out
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Speaker 1: against oppression, inequality, and injustice. He used his platform to
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Speaker 1: promote unity, love, and understanding among people of different backgrounds.
5:28
Speaker 1: Sounds familiar, doesn't it. I think people feel connected to
5:32
Speaker 1: different types of people. Some are inspired by business leaders,
5:36
Speaker 1: some people are inspired by actors, some people are inspired
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Speaker 1: by creatives. And I think I'm most inspired by hope,
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Speaker 1: hopeful people who put themselves on the line to work
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Speaker 1: for change, social change, and Bob was that and Marlee
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Speaker 1: is definitely living into her name. In honor of this
5:55
Speaker 1: Marley Loved Fest. Today, I'm going to take us out
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Speaker 1: of the conversation with one of my favorite book Marley songs,
6:02
Speaker 1: but without further ado, please meet Marley Diaz. So this
6:10
Speaker 1: is special for me for a few reasons. One is
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Speaker 1: I've been following your career for quite some time since
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Speaker 1: two thousand. I think it was fifteen when you were
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Speaker 1: in sixth grade and you launched a thousand Black Girl
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Speaker 1: Books to collect a thousand books, which we're going to
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Speaker 1: talk about. And also you were named after Bob Marley.
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Speaker 2: Yes to say.
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Speaker 1: So, I actually just got into Bob Marley, his music,
6:37
Speaker 1: but also who he was as a person, I would
6:39
Speaker 1: say in the last three years or so. I love
6:42
Speaker 1: to do deep dives on people's biographies and learn from
6:46
Speaker 1: quote unquote greats, and I have been studying him, so
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Speaker 1: I was really excited to know if your parents also
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Speaker 1: loved him or why they named you after him.
6:58
Speaker 3: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: So I am Jamaican is I'm first generation on my
7:01
Speaker 2: mom's side. She was born and raised and retreat Saint Mary, Jamaica,
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Speaker 2: which is like a super rural area, and she grew
7:07
Speaker 2: up with her cousins and her brothers and actually didn't
7:11
Speaker 2: get to live with her mom, who is living in
7:12
Speaker 2: the US in Canada and working, and was raised by
7:15
Speaker 2: her grandmother in Jamaica. So when it came to my
7:18
Speaker 2: name and having a kid, she wanted to make sure
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Speaker 2: that there was still like I was going to be
7:22
Speaker 2: an American, but she wanted to have some sort of
7:24
Speaker 2: cultural imprint as like that Jamaican stamp on my name.
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Speaker 2: And it's great because when I like go to a
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Speaker 2: Jamaican restaurant or I'm in Jamaica or any basically anywhere,
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Speaker 2: it's always a great way to meet or connect or
7:36
Speaker 2: always know someone. So I'm really happy that they did
7:38
Speaker 2: that because I think it speaks Bob Marley and getting
7:41
Speaker 2: to visit the Bob Marley Museum on some of the
7:43
Speaker 2: trips that I've done with one thousand Black Girl books.
7:46
Speaker 2: I mean, he has a spirit of liberation and a
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Speaker 2: black liberation and of pride for that country, which I'm
7:51
Speaker 2: so proud of. So it is like it was a
7:54
Speaker 2: great idea for my mom's part. I have to get
7:56
Speaker 2: for credit so too.
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Speaker 1: And also his music and his life in many ways
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Speaker 1: was just about unity among people, and that feels very
8:07
Speaker 1: much like your messaging.
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Speaker 2: Also, yeah, I think that a lot of what Bob
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Speaker 2: Marley has stood for for Jamaicans is sort of the
8:15
Speaker 2: understanding that a small people's and people who come from
8:19
Speaker 2: worlds that are often unimaginable to Americans or to other cultures,
8:23
Speaker 2: are still full of that strength and that pride. And
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Speaker 2: my mom is very proud of the fact that Jamaica
8:28
Speaker 2: doesn't have a red, white, or blue and it's one
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Speaker 2: of the only country in the world does have red,
8:32
Speaker 2: white or blue and it's flag, and that we are
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Speaker 2: a small and strong, powerful people that can spread that
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Speaker 2: love and build that unity that you were talking about.
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Speaker 2: So it is super important to me and One Love
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Speaker 2: is a Black girl book that we've gotten to donate
8:44
Speaker 2: a lot by the Marley Family, which is a great book.
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Speaker 1: Speaking of a thousand Black girl books, So you're in
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Speaker 1: sixth grade and you decide to collect a thousand books
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Speaker 1: with black women protagonists, and you want to donate them
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Speaker 1: for black girls at other schools. How does a sixth
9:01
Speaker 1: grader think about this?
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Speaker 2: I think that a sixth grader thinks about this when
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Speaker 2: they have a parent and a network that will support
9:09
Speaker 2: them to dig into these ideas further, So, when it
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Speaker 2: comes to like the beginning of one thousand Black Girl Books,
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Speaker 2: I did not think that I could collect one a
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Speaker 2: thousand books. It was a big goal. It was not
9:18
Speaker 2: something that I felt equipped to do. But I think
9:21
Speaker 2: my mom really sent her the idea that giving back
9:23
Speaker 2: is a practice and it's something that we have to do.
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Speaker 2: And when we notice problems and we investigate those problems
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Speaker 2: and we realize that they impact not just us, but
9:32
Speaker 2: our community at large and our result of things that
9:35
Speaker 2: are that are out of our control so can only
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Speaker 2: be fixed by collectives, by people coming together. It's important
9:41
Speaker 2: to say something and I obviously can express that now
9:44
Speaker 2: sort of with an eighteen year old, like you know vocabulary,
9:47
Speaker 2: but I think at the time the idea is that
9:49
Speaker 2: you know, if you see something, you say something, and
9:51
Speaker 2: if you have the power to do something, you are
9:53
Speaker 2: hurting people in your silence. Because there are so many
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Speaker 2: people in my classroom that have less access to books
9:59
Speaker 2: into these stories than I do. So for me to
10:01
Speaker 2: be silent in this moment is for me to deny
10:04
Speaker 2: them the opportunity to see themselves in these stories, even
10:06
Speaker 2: though you know I may be able to go to
10:08
Speaker 2: Barnes and Noble and pick them up myself. So I
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Speaker 2: think having someone like that who will push a parent
10:13
Speaker 2: who will push you forwards, or a caregiver at any
10:15
Speaker 2: role that can investigate your feelings and understand that children
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Speaker 2: have big feelings that can be turned into beautiful and big,
10:22
Speaker 2: amazing things. And it takes the right questions, it takes
10:24
Speaker 2: the right investment. But my goal is to share that
10:27
Speaker 2: and make those those conversations more accessible to educators and
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Speaker 2: to parents.
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Speaker 1: You know, when I was watching a bunch of interviews
10:34
Speaker 1: that you did early on like CBS this morning, and
10:39
Speaker 1: all these big spots that you were at, and they
10:42
Speaker 1: kept asking you about your confidence, they kept saying like,
10:45
Speaker 1: you're so confident, what is it? And the question kind
10:50
Speaker 1: of annoyed me a little bit.
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Speaker 3: I don't know why.
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Speaker 2: I mean, it's yeah, but I think it's fair. I mean,
10:56
Speaker 2: it's what I do is surprising. I think that it
10:59
Speaker 2: is surprised. But the goal is that my existence and
11:02
Speaker 2: my confidence and whatever makes my work a phenomenon it
11:06
Speaker 2: I want it to be a normal one day. I
11:08
Speaker 2: want it to be that girls feel open and honest
11:11
Speaker 2: and accepting of wanting to create and build these communities
11:14
Speaker 2: and build solutions. So yes, I've had many interviews where
11:17
Speaker 2: I've been like, like they think I'm just so like precocious,
11:20
Speaker 2: or like a phenomenon, or like whatever. But it also
11:23
Speaker 2: is important to hopefully speak to the idea that I
11:26
Speaker 2: can maybe change their perceptions of how kids can talk
11:29
Speaker 2: and think about racism and sexism and all these issues.
11:32
Speaker 2: So it's like good and bad. But I the question,
11:34
Speaker 2: I know what you mean, Like, being the youngest in
11:36
Speaker 2: the room has definitely been a very different perspective I
11:39
Speaker 2: think on the activist world and on the media world.
11:41
Speaker 2: I think I would say, I think that there's a disconnect.
11:43
Speaker 2: So it's like kids identify these problems. But what leads
11:46
Speaker 2: to the sort of insecurity that I think a lot
11:48
Speaker 2: of people put on gen Z is like, oh, you know,
11:51
Speaker 2: they care so much about what other people think. They're
11:53
Speaker 2: so like obsessed with social media. And I agree with
11:56
Speaker 2: that to a certain extent. Social media is addicting. We
11:58
Speaker 2: know that it's affecting our generation more than others. But
12:01
Speaker 2: at the same time, like a lot of that is
12:04
Speaker 2: coming from deeply rooted, like ideologies around race, around sex
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Speaker 2: that are problematic and that are wrong, that exist in
12:12
Speaker 2: like American culture and within our society. So you know,
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Speaker 2: the idea that black black women and girls are louder
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Speaker 2: over sexualized are able to you know, act and work
12:21
Speaker 2: as adults at younger ages than kids of other races
12:23
Speaker 2: and identities. Like these ideas exist and are only accessible
12:27
Speaker 2: to people that have the education in the background to
12:29
Speaker 2: know that they are deep rooted problems. And what I
12:32
Speaker 2: hope to do is to teach parents to show kids
12:36
Speaker 2: that there's an undercurrent to the way that our world exists,
12:38
Speaker 2: and that by you being a beautiful, strong, confident person
12:42
Speaker 2: and whatever your identity might be, you need to know
12:45
Speaker 2: these these myths so that you can act and live
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Speaker 2: in a world where you can upstand and like bust,
12:50
Speaker 2: actively bust these myths, like actively dispel these ideas, because
12:54
Speaker 2: when you don't give kids the words to know what's
12:56
Speaker 2: happening and to understand their history and to understand the world,
12:59
Speaker 2: they'll never have the voice to want to take things further.
13:02
Speaker 2: So I think it's about adults taking and giving that
13:04
Speaker 2: support to help kids get to that next step.
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Speaker 1: Do you find that adults are receptive to your thoughts
13:12
Speaker 1: and opinions.
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Speaker 2: I think that they are receptive to my thoughts and opinions,
13:15
Speaker 2: But I do have this issue that I've talked about
13:19
Speaker 2: as well in social media but maybe years ago, about
13:21
Speaker 2: like respectability politics within that. So I think that a
13:24
Speaker 2: lot of adults are receptive to what I say because
13:28
Speaker 2: I'm super well spoken, and I come to these events
13:31
Speaker 2: very well dressed, very prepared. I'm just I love this,
13:34
Speaker 2: this is what I do, this is my passion, and
13:36
Speaker 2: they can see that. But I think that if my
13:38
Speaker 2: ideas are presented by someone who looks differently or talks
13:42
Speaker 2: differently than me, I think that sometimes adults may not
13:45
Speaker 2: actually be as receptive in practice, And that's what I'm
13:47
Speaker 2: actively trying to sort of dispel in my work is
13:50
Speaker 2: that I want to capture and make sure that like
13:53
Speaker 2: queer black girls and girls of all identities and however
13:56
Speaker 2: someone wants to present and say, hey, I have a problem.
13:58
Speaker 2: I want to organize. I want to build community. It
14:00
Speaker 2: shouldn't matter if you're wearing a blazer or not wearing
14:03
Speaker 2: a blazer, or you know, things of like things like
14:06
Speaker 2: that that oftentimes can be the gatekeeping. Like to think
14:09
Speaker 2: about my success, I have to recognize that I'm thin
14:12
Speaker 2: that I have. I don't have like the coiliest textures
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Speaker 2: of hair that I have like privileges and access within
14:18
Speaker 2: the role that I and the public figure sort of
14:21
Speaker 2: role that I've been able to step into. And I
14:24
Speaker 2: really encourage adults to not think so much about the
14:27
Speaker 2: package with which these ideas are being presented, because that's
14:31
Speaker 2: kind of what we're trying to dispel. It's like we
14:33
Speaker 2: don't want these stereotypes to make you think that this
14:35
Speaker 2: person's idea is good or this person i idea it
14:38
Speaker 2: is not good. So it's a balance. But I try
14:41
Speaker 2: to go through all of it. I give them all
14:43
Speaker 2: the tips, like I keep it very real with I
14:44
Speaker 2: think when I talk about and talk to older generations
14:47
Speaker 2: because it's super important to engage in these these types
14:51
Speaker 2: of dialogues.
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Speaker 1: I want to talk about books with you for a
14:55
Speaker 1: little bit because books changed my life. I know they
14:59
Speaker 1: changed your life. To how did reading touch you? And
15:02
Speaker 1: like do you remember the book that kind of got
15:05
Speaker 1: you hooked?
15:06
Speaker 2: Well? I just remember the experience and the ritual of
15:09
Speaker 2: reading with my parents and being read to every night,
15:12
Speaker 2: and I think about how much that helped me for
15:15
Speaker 2: mental health reasons and the relationship with my family and
15:19
Speaker 2: the words I learned and the stories I had that
15:21
Speaker 2: like all of the books in my childhood, I mean
15:23
Speaker 2: there are some like there's like Please Please, Baby Please
15:27
Speaker 2: by Spike Lee and his Wife. I love that book
15:29
Speaker 2: and I remember my parents reading that book to me.
15:32
Speaker 2: Everyone has and has these like the sort of common
15:35
Speaker 2: themes of what we go through in life, and it's
15:37
Speaker 2: really important to read stories that allow us to appreciate
15:41
Speaker 2: the people and where they come from, and also to
15:43
Speaker 2: learn about and preserve our histories so we can step
15:46
Speaker 2: into and move about our lives with such a with
15:49
Speaker 2: a freedom and a curiosity that I always encourage and
15:52
Speaker 2: I think especially within my generation, because we have access
15:55
Speaker 2: to so much information. We have to be curious, we
15:58
Speaker 2: have to keep reading, we have to keep vetting, and
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Speaker 2: I think that books give you that power and that freedom.
16:03
Speaker 2: So reading with my parents as a kid has sort
16:07
Speaker 2: of just grown into the curiosity. And that's for the
16:11
Speaker 2: world that you need to do this change making work.
16:13
Speaker 2: But it was really like it's just always been such
16:16
Speaker 2: a meditative and important moment for me.
16:20
Speaker 1: Me too, when I feel like I lack inspiration or
16:23
Speaker 1: I'm burnt out, I like to read like another woman's story,
16:28
Speaker 1: another person, like Bob Marley's right, but like particularly women
16:32
Speaker 1: for me, and I get sort of reinvigorated or my
16:35
Speaker 1: creative juices start flowing. Is there a story that you've read,
16:41
Speaker 1: a memoir or biography that kind of plays in your head.
16:47
Speaker 2: That's a really good question. I think one that plays
16:51
Speaker 2: in my head the most, I would say is My
16:53
Speaker 2: Year of Rest and Relaxation by Otessha Mossbag. I love
16:58
Speaker 2: that book. It's not a black girl book, but I
17:00
Speaker 2: think that for me it has touched on like the
17:03
Speaker 2: ideas of being burnt out and how to handle exhaustion
17:06
Speaker 2: and like work culture in the twenty first century, and
17:09
Speaker 2: as I've like stepped into adulthood and really had like
17:13
Speaker 2: I've done well, but I've had a difficult time sort
17:15
Speaker 2: of balancing and like just being an adult. Like it's hard.
17:18
Speaker 2: I mean, it's supposed to be hard for everyone. So
17:21
Speaker 2: having like that story, I always kind of have that
17:23
Speaker 2: story in the back of my mind of like my
17:24
Speaker 2: relationship to work and to exhaustion and to sleep and
17:29
Speaker 2: making sure that I can fuel myself to then be
17:32
Speaker 2: able to help and fuel other people.
17:34
Speaker 1: Your work started with one thousand Black Girl Books, and
17:38
Speaker 1: since then you've written so many pieces in Rolling Stone
17:42
Speaker 1: in l all having to do with your activism. A
17:46
Speaker 1: lot of it is a fight for racial justice. I
17:50
Speaker 1: have a very blunt question for you, for all of
17:54
Speaker 1: the people listening who are not women of color, what
17:59
Speaker 1: do you think we are missing about the black female experience?
18:04
Speaker 1: What do people not get?
18:07
Speaker 2: That is a that's a good question. I think that
18:10
Speaker 2: the fundamental thing that I think might be the challenge
18:13
Speaker 2: and the way we understand black women is that we
18:18
Speaker 2: as a country in the United States do not recognize
18:21
Speaker 2: that the impact that enslavement had, let alone the idea
18:24
Speaker 2: that the entire United States economy and world was built
18:27
Speaker 2: on enslavement, and that Black women were the people who
18:30
Speaker 2: birthed all of those babies in all of those communities
18:34
Speaker 2: and had to be the creators in such a terrible
18:36
Speaker 2: time of oppression, Like they truly built and allowed this
18:40
Speaker 2: world to exist and reached none of the social, political, ethical,
18:45
Speaker 2: or moral benefits of it. And as a country, I
18:48
Speaker 2: do not think we have done enough work to let
18:52
Speaker 2: people fully understand and realize how different the world would
18:57
Speaker 2: be without enslavement. Across the board A severely under educated
19:01
Speaker 2: and that I'm so lucky to be here just in
19:04
Speaker 2: just now getting that education. But there are millions of
19:06
Speaker 2: Americans who are in many ways not blissfully unaware because
19:13
Speaker 2: they're suffering sort of unrelated consequences of what happened in enslavement,
19:17
Speaker 2: of how we've developed these systems. They're being failed by
19:20
Speaker 2: their political offices, and they don't understand that black women
19:24
Speaker 2: were the people that have faced these challenges from the forefront.
19:27
Speaker 2: And once we heal from the bottom up, we will
19:29
Speaker 2: all read the benefits of healing black women's livelihoods because
19:33
Speaker 2: we need to be thankful for them to them for it.
19:36
Speaker 2: And that's something that you know, that is a good question,
19:39
Speaker 2: because I haven't really talked about that much. But I
19:42
Speaker 2: think that that's something that I'm discovering here, is that
19:44
Speaker 2: when we don't think about and recognize and choose to
19:47
Speaker 2: now ban elements of American history, we are losing so
19:52
Speaker 2: much of the personhood, the such little personhood already granted
19:55
Speaker 2: to black women and to black women and girls.
19:58
Speaker 1: I was talking to somebody sort of debating the idea
20:02
Speaker 1: of reparations, and I thought of it like, if it
20:09
Speaker 1: say it was a one on one apology, you and
20:11
Speaker 1: I got into a disagreement or a fight, and we
20:15
Speaker 1: were friends, and you don't ever apologize to me, how
20:22
Speaker 1: are we supposed to move forward? Like, if you don't
20:24
Speaker 1: ever recognize that you did something that hurt me, how
20:27
Speaker 1: are we supposed to move forward?
20:29
Speaker 2: Yeah?
20:30
Speaker 1: And I think about it like that our country has
20:32
Speaker 1: not given a formal apology or recognition, and.
20:37
Speaker 2: I think it's Yeah, I absolutely agree, And I think
20:40
Speaker 2: that it even goes past the idea of apology for me,
20:43
Speaker 2: where like it's not reparations, because I reparations is about
20:49
Speaker 2: America forgiving. It is about America saying that we are sorry.
20:53
Speaker 2: But regardless of that, I think that we have to
20:55
Speaker 2: focus less on the emotional aspect and understand more that
20:59
Speaker 2: historically we have to keep and preserve those records and
21:03
Speaker 2: logs and the stories of those people, because when we
21:06
Speaker 2: choose to get rid of the stories, you can't understand
21:09
Speaker 2: how the black community is getting to such big feelings
21:12
Speaker 2: of feelings of tension with the white community or with
21:16
Speaker 2: white supremacy, or the feelings of these systems, like you know,
21:19
Speaker 2: like when we don't give them the facts, like the
21:21
Speaker 2: facts are not being like people do not like understand
21:25
Speaker 2: the facts. Fundamentally, I don't even think I'm in the
21:27
Speaker 2: place to say that I have the facts. I think
21:28
Speaker 2: that there are maybe less than one percent of this
21:31
Speaker 2: country has had the education to fully understand enslavement's impact
21:35
Speaker 2: and to be able to talk about it. And that
21:37
Speaker 2: is an issue because we are all every day living
21:40
Speaker 2: in the history and walking and existing through the history
21:43
Speaker 2: of this thing. So I completely agree with you that
21:45
Speaker 2: it is about an apology, but it's first about the
21:48
Speaker 2: idea that you should not be able to live comfortably
21:51
Speaker 2: in this country without having free access to the information
21:54
Speaker 2: and sort of being pressured or coerce to educate yourself
21:58
Speaker 2: to learn to know that these are this really happened,
22:01
Speaker 2: and it impacts every part of our life. So let's forgive,
22:06
Speaker 2: and let's not forget at all ever.
22:09
Speaker 1: I want to look something up that I listened to
22:14
Speaker 1: a podcast the other day on real estate, which is
22:18
Speaker 1: rare for me because usually real estate bores me. But
22:22
Speaker 1: it was about race and real estate, which is why
22:23
Speaker 1: I was more interested. And the man that was explaining
22:28
Speaker 1: everything was talking about the effects of slavery on real
22:33
Speaker 1: estate policies in our country today. Economically, socially, there are
22:38
Speaker 1: so many exactions that we still don't really understand. I
22:43
Speaker 1: didn't know until I listened to that podcast, you know exactly.
22:46
Speaker 2: And once we understand how those systems are built, we
22:49
Speaker 2: can then change them. So once we all know, and
22:52
Speaker 2: once we all understand what we don't fundamentally like about
22:55
Speaker 2: the US, whether that's taxes or free health care or education,
22:59
Speaker 2: because there are many things is that people of different
23:01
Speaker 2: political affiliations still agree with and still want for this country.
23:05
Speaker 2: Once we know our history, we can know what we
23:07
Speaker 2: don't want to repeat, and we can fully understand that,
23:10
Speaker 2: and then we can also then be able to pressure
23:13
Speaker 2: and put pressure on people that are open about wanting
23:15
Speaker 2: to repeat these histories. And wanting to bring back the
23:18
Speaker 2: Jim Crow air that we once lived in.
23:23
Speaker 1: It's a new year and that means new opportunities to
23:26
Speaker 1: make connections. But when it comes to dating, it can
23:29
Speaker 1: be tough to put yourself out there and even know
23:32
Speaker 1: where to start. That's why I'm honestly excited to talk
23:35
Speaker 1: about Hinge, the dating app designed to be deleted. I'm starting.
23:40
Speaker 1: I decided this year I'm going to start to date now.
23:43
Speaker 1: I'm usually more of a meet in the wild, not
23:45
Speaker 1: on Wi Fi kind of girl, but it's twenty twenty
23:48
Speaker 1: four and I need to make some changes. My friends
23:50
Speaker 1: told me I did, so I'm signing up for Hinge.
23:54
Speaker 1: It really allows you to go beyond the surface of
23:56
Speaker 1: scrolling left or right on photos, express your personality, and
24:00
Speaker 1: meet people who are on the same page. In the past,
24:03
Speaker 1: I slacked on my profile and I never even wrote prompts.
24:06
Speaker 1: But it's twenty twenty four and I'm promising to be
24:09
Speaker 1: more intentional. I'm going on Hinge and taking the time
24:12
Speaker 1: to invest in my profile. So if you're already on Hinge,
24:15
Speaker 1: you can reinvest in your profile, update those prompts, those
24:18
Speaker 1: photos and dating intentions, and make sure they reflect who
24:22
Speaker 1: you are and what you're looking for this year. It
24:24
Speaker 1: can be as easy as updating your profile to add
24:27
Speaker 1: the Hinge prompt. This year, I really want to blink
24:31
Speaker 1: This year, I really want to get married. Just kidding,
24:33
Speaker 1: don't say that on your dating app. Buy a skincare fridge.
24:37
Speaker 1: Maybe don't say that either, Okay, for real? This year,
24:40
Speaker 1: I really want to do a half marathon, or master
24:43
Speaker 1: the art of cooking, win a pickleball tournament, read twenty
24:46
Speaker 1: five books, create the ultimate playlist for every celebration, explore
24:50
Speaker 1: two new countries, get my yoga certification, or sleep more.
24:54
Speaker 1: Whatever the answer is for you, manifest the dating experience
24:58
Speaker 1: you want this year. Download Hinge and find someone worth
25:03
Speaker 1: deleting the app for. I know you can really vocal
25:08
Speaker 1: about book banning. I also feel very passionate, not just
25:14
Speaker 1: because I'm a book lover, but my family was, my
25:18
Speaker 1: like extended family was in the Holocaust, and there's a
25:21
Speaker 1: huge history of book banning, obviously in Hitler, Germany. So
25:26
Speaker 1: tell me from your perspective, what you why this is
25:30
Speaker 1: so urgent and crucial that we fight this well.
25:34
Speaker 2: I think this issue is first a civil rights issue.
25:37
Speaker 2: It's an issue that I feel like I try to
25:40
Speaker 2: speak on as much as I can, but I still
25:42
Speaker 2: feel very, you know, unprepared, because I'm a part of
25:45
Speaker 2: the generation that is, you know, experiencing it. But in
25:49
Speaker 2: the simplest terms, you don't know what you don't know.
25:53
Speaker 2: So when we limit access, when we don't give kids
25:56
Speaker 2: the opportunities to ask questions, when we don't give them
25:59
Speaker 2: the true of the way that our world exists, they
26:01
Speaker 2: will not be able to first have the hope to
26:05
Speaker 2: look for change and to understand social movements that when
26:08
Speaker 2: we don't talk about black panthers, when we don't talk
26:10
Speaker 2: about gay rights activists, when we don't talk about women's
26:13
Speaker 2: liberation activists. This next generation of change makers that we
26:16
Speaker 2: need in gen Z for climate issues, for so many
26:19
Speaker 2: things happening in the world won't exist if they don't
26:22
Speaker 2: know the people who came before them and have done it.
26:24
Speaker 2: Because there are so many young people right now who
26:27
Speaker 2: are looking out into the world and saying, I can't
26:30
Speaker 2: find any stories in my school about black people that
26:33
Speaker 2: have done great things in this country, about queer people
26:36
Speaker 2: that have done amazing things in this country, about disabled
26:38
Speaker 2: people that have done amazing things in this country, and
26:40
Speaker 2: When we take away those experiences, when we take away
26:43
Speaker 2: the stories of how they've been disenfranchised and actually hurt
26:47
Speaker 2: in this country, we lose so much of the hope
26:50
Speaker 2: that we will. We actually so urgently need to push
26:53
Speaker 2: us forward in these issues that are not even related
26:56
Speaker 2: to what I care about, like the climate and the
26:58
Speaker 2: plant So I speak on bl and education, but I
27:01
Speaker 2: need change makers in all of these areas. I need
27:04
Speaker 2: people to be able to know these histories and to
27:06
Speaker 2: know these stories that we can build coalitions that I'm
27:09
Speaker 2: on a podcast like this with five other people and
27:12
Speaker 2: we're in a collective together where we do and work
27:15
Speaker 2: on these issues intersectionally. That when we erase these histories,
27:18
Speaker 2: we are losing the future generation of leaders that we need,
27:22
Speaker 2: and they also won't be able to serve the adults
27:25
Speaker 2: that will, like the current adults, like people that are
27:28
Speaker 2: You're like, you're the generation above me, my parents, anyone
27:31
Speaker 2: like that. When we don't have access to the histories
27:34
Speaker 2: of what's happened, what happened in older generations, you guys
27:37
Speaker 2: will never be able to trust and understand gen Z
27:40
Speaker 2: because we were miseducated and you were educated differently than us.
27:45
Speaker 2: So we also haven't considered what would happen thirty years
27:48
Speaker 2: from now when all of gen z are, when it's
27:51
Speaker 2: book bands and it's been a book banned world and
27:53
Speaker 2: gen Z's doctors, lawyers, presidents, Congress and they don't know
27:58
Speaker 2: what you're the emuncipace and proclamation should happened. We don't
28:01
Speaker 2: think about the logistical and sort of cultural worldwide impacts
28:06
Speaker 2: that book banning would have. And even though I usually
28:08
Speaker 2: would speak to the racial identities of that and what
28:10
Speaker 2: representation means, I think that on a very simple political basis,
28:16
Speaker 2: do we want millions of uneducated young people who will
28:21
Speaker 2: then never feel trusted by the older generations because they
28:25
Speaker 2: don't know the history to build that better world? I
28:28
Speaker 2: always it's as simple as that.
28:30
Speaker 1: Like books in college don't books and college they don't
28:34
Speaker 1: teach you what to think, They teach you how to think,
28:37
Speaker 1: and so that critical in skill. To lose that is
28:42
Speaker 1: very truly dangerous.
28:44
Speaker 2: Truly dangerous, because if you think the way that people
28:47
Speaker 2: drive and act and talk to you at the DMV
28:50
Speaker 2: is weird now. If you think that people are weird now,
28:52
Speaker 2: like wait until you see an uned fully uneducated world
28:56
Speaker 2: like you are not none of us want that. I
29:00
Speaker 2: think we might right now, but I feel they see
29:02
Speaker 2: we don't want that.
29:03
Speaker 1: The DMP is already weird.
29:05
Speaker 2: Yes we're already bad, but it can't get weirder.
29:10
Speaker 1: Okay, So this is totally like a left field question
29:15
Speaker 1: because it's not about books and it's not about activism.
29:18
Speaker 1: But I value your experiences so much, and you're so
29:23
Speaker 1: you're so great at sharing them in a way that
29:26
Speaker 1: feels digestible. Talk to me about being part of gen Z.
29:32
Speaker 1: I read all these statistics about such unhappiness, such discomfort,
29:39
Speaker 1: highest rates of mental illness. What do you think, millennials, boomers?
29:44
Speaker 1: What do you think we're all not understanding about where
29:48
Speaker 1: you guys are at. What's the discrepancy?
29:51
Speaker 2: I don't know. I think that it's it's really hard
29:53
Speaker 2: to know. But the discrepancy, I think is maybe just
29:55
Speaker 2: that the world has just it's been become so modern
29:58
Speaker 2: so fast. And I think they gen Z agrees with
30:01
Speaker 2: older generations and the idea that things are changing really quickly.
30:04
Speaker 2: Like AI was, Ai is new to me too, Like
30:07
Speaker 2: AI is you know? This is this world that we're
30:09
Speaker 2: living in has changed.
30:10
Speaker 1: Do you feel any of it?
30:12
Speaker 4: Like?
30:12
Speaker 3: Do you do?
30:12
Speaker 2: I what do you like?
30:14
Speaker 1: Do you do you look at social if you're being
30:16
Speaker 1: like really honest, do you look at social media and
30:19
Speaker 1: feel badly?
30:20
Speaker 2: Do you?
30:21
Speaker 1: Yes?
30:21
Speaker 2: I absolutely do. I think that I have yes, So
30:25
Speaker 2: let me let me yeah. The first part of your
30:27
Speaker 2: question is like the unhappiness and speaking to the way
30:30
Speaker 2: that gen Z feels. I definitely experience that, and I
30:33
Speaker 2: should make that very clear because that is something that
30:35
Speaker 2: I struggle with. If I would say my number one
30:38
Speaker 2: like source of where my mental like health sort of
30:41
Speaker 2: stresses come from, I would say it's feeling hopeless, feeling anxious,
30:46
Speaker 2: feeling concerned about the future, of feeling worried. It is
30:49
Speaker 2: something that I get really stressed about. And I watched
30:51
Speaker 2: I actually avoided watching Interstellar for a really long time,
30:54
Speaker 2: and then I watched Interstellar this past winter, and it's
30:57
Speaker 2: still stuck in my head, like the the idea that
31:00
Speaker 2: that movie was made ten years ago talking about the
31:02
Speaker 2: planet and the dangers of the planet, and then you
31:04
Speaker 2: watch it now and it's like, you know, you think
31:06
Speaker 2: more about sort of these issues. So I get super
31:09
Speaker 2: super anxious and already having like anxiety as a condition
31:13
Speaker 2: that I deal with. I think the more educated I've
31:16
Speaker 2: been getting at Harvard about the world and sort of
31:18
Speaker 2: sometimes seeing the bad side of Harvard too. That adds
31:21
Speaker 2: to my anxiety. This is a new place for me.
31:24
Speaker 2: This has been such a different experience than going to
31:26
Speaker 2: a public high school, and I love it, but it's tough. So,
31:30
Speaker 2: like you said, I think that gen Z does experience
31:33
Speaker 2: the statistics goes that information is very real. If those
31:36
Speaker 2: numbers are worse than I think, I would say that
31:39
Speaker 2: they're worse in reality than oftentimes what they're projected to be.
31:43
Speaker 2: But I think that at the bottom of this and
31:46
Speaker 2: the bottom of the issue of mental health in this country,
31:49
Speaker 2: particularly for younger generations, would also benefit older generations and
31:54
Speaker 2: free health care and access to free therapy for sure.
31:56
Speaker 2: But the destigmatization of mental health is a really important thing.
32:01
Speaker 2: But I guess, like in regards to the distort, I
32:04
Speaker 2: know that there's a lot of stigma that older generations
32:07
Speaker 2: hold around conversations around mental health and around a lot
32:09
Speaker 2: of these things that I think can create that sort
32:12
Speaker 2: of disconnect where a lot of gen Z kids don't
32:14
Speaker 2: feel comfortable talking to their parents about things because their
32:18
Speaker 2: parents oftentimes don't have the digital literacy to necessarily understand
32:22
Speaker 2: the implications of how what's happening on their phone is
32:25
Speaker 2: making them feel that they can't sometimes understand how like
32:29
Speaker 2: a group chat would make you cry and lock yourself
32:31
Speaker 2: in your room for a day that's happened to me,
32:33
Speaker 2: Like we're a screenshot or a post or whatever. Like
32:36
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that those things are good things, but
32:38
Speaker 2: they're real feelings. And because there's such generational gaps and
32:42
Speaker 2: sort of the understandings of mental health and the perspectives
32:45
Speaker 2: on them, which is fair and is natural.
32:48
Speaker 1: I have a theory. I think it is a sense
32:52
Speaker 1: of hopelessness. And I think you sort of touched on
32:54
Speaker 1: that by saying like you feel most about the future.
32:57
Speaker 1: I think hope is a really powerful emotion, and I
33:00
Speaker 1: know that when I have been at my saddest moments,
33:03
Speaker 1: the idea, like, for instance, if I'm going through a
33:05
Speaker 1: bad breakup, the only thing that like pulls me out
33:09
Speaker 1: of the sadness is the glimmer of like who I
33:12
Speaker 1: might meet next, Right, It's that sense of hope that
33:15
Speaker 1: something will get better, that your life is always on
33:19
Speaker 1: a forward trajectory. And I think there feels like a
33:22
Speaker 1: lack of hope.
33:24
Speaker 2: It feels like, I agree. I feel like for me
33:27
Speaker 2: sometimes I feel like it is interesting to think about
33:29
Speaker 2: a generation that is now aware of the idea that
33:32
Speaker 2: the world might end or be the planet might be
33:36
Speaker 2: harmed in any way, like I've always I've been thinking
33:39
Speaker 2: about and sort of like fixating on that topic of
33:42
Speaker 2: like how is gen Z different? Because gen Z, I
33:45
Speaker 2: think might be one of the I mean, there's different
33:48
Speaker 2: generations and catastrophic events in every generation, but I don't
33:51
Speaker 2: think there's ever been a generation where kids like as
33:54
Speaker 2: young as five and ten are conceiving of the idea
33:57
Speaker 2: that their planet might not exist. And like, when you
34:00
Speaker 2: don't have that security and that hope, like you're talking about,
34:05
Speaker 2: it's hard to construct the idea of like I want
34:07
Speaker 2: to work towards a family, or I want to work
34:09
Speaker 2: towards this job, or I want to work towards going
34:11
Speaker 2: to this school, or I want to work towards all
34:12
Speaker 2: these things. And gen Z then brings out and creates
34:14
Speaker 2: beautiful projects because they don't want to do those things,
34:17
Speaker 2: but can at the same time feel really hopeless and
34:19
Speaker 2: afraid because it's hard to ama, like it is hard
34:23
Speaker 2: to think about what this world might look like seventy
34:26
Speaker 2: years now, and the fact that I would be living
34:28
Speaker 2: in it and still doing the work that I do
34:30
Speaker 2: because we don't know what's going to happen, but we
34:32
Speaker 2: have to stay hopeful and we have to keep ourselves
34:35
Speaker 2: informed to gain that hope.
34:37
Speaker 1: You were an editor in residence at l and I
34:41
Speaker 1: heard you saying that you wanted to cover the experiences
34:44
Speaker 1: of girls, which I feel very connected too. And this
34:49
Speaker 1: in many ways is like the Summer of Girlhood with
34:52
Speaker 1: Taylor Beyonce, the Barn movie, or like even have you
34:57
Speaker 1: heard of girl Dinner on Tessa. You know, we've all
35:01
Speaker 1: just been talking about girlhood, I think more than we
35:04
Speaker 1: have before. And I started thinking about how we don't
35:10
Speaker 1: really talk about boyhood, and I think it's because society
35:16
Speaker 1: just like lets men continue their childlike behavior and women
35:22
Speaker 1: have to grow out of being a child very quickly.
35:25
Speaker 1: And I wanted to ask you, in particular, because you
35:29
Speaker 1: really did grow out of being a child very quickly,
35:32
Speaker 1: what your relationship is like to like the to girl
35:36
Speaker 1: Marley to your little kid.
35:38
Speaker 3: Wow.
35:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely, I feel like I just feel I
35:44
Speaker 2: feel like maybe six months ago I started to not
35:47
Speaker 2: feel like girl like. It's only I think I as
35:50
Speaker 2: much as I have had to grow up. Yeah, and
35:53
Speaker 2: I do feel very mature, and I get it a lot,
35:55
Speaker 2: so like I know it's real. Like I like to
35:57
Speaker 2: downplay the fact that I might come off as like
36:00
Speaker 2: more independent or more you know, mature, but I definitely do.
36:03
Speaker 2: But inside of me, like I am so goofy and
36:06
Speaker 2: I am so not serious about anything. I do think
36:09
Speaker 2: that I've stepped away from girlhood and because I've been
36:13
Speaker 2: able to develop more emotional control, and that's one thing
36:16
Speaker 2: I've noticed that now, Like I kind of feel more
36:21
Speaker 2: tapped into my purpose at all times, and I feel
36:23
Speaker 2: like I can do things. I'm doing things for myself
36:26
Speaker 2: and because I recognize the value I have within and
36:30
Speaker 2: I don't think I had that as a girl. So
36:32
Speaker 2: when I think about girl Marley as like goofy and
36:35
Speaker 2: awesome as she was, she need to love herself more.
36:38
Speaker 2: And I'm just now getting to the place where I
36:40
Speaker 2: can at least like even say that let alone. I'm
36:43
Speaker 2: not even practicing it perfectly, but practice it at times.
36:46
Speaker 2: So girlhood was like it definitely was very mature and
36:50
Speaker 2: very fast paced compared to other kids. But it's that's
36:53
Speaker 2: my life. You know you only get one life, and
36:55
Speaker 2: I've tried to keep it. I keep it so light,
36:57
Speaker 2: like it's It's one of those things where I think
36:59
Speaker 2: people are genuinely shocked at, like how not it's like
37:03
Speaker 2: nonchalant I can be about things at times.
37:06
Speaker 1: I completely believe it. You did some really great interviews
37:10
Speaker 1: when you did your editor in residence, you and Misty Copeland,
37:14
Speaker 1: Ava DuVernay, Hillary Clinton, which I have to tell you,
37:18
Speaker 1: I'm incredibly envious. She is my I am dying to
37:21
Speaker 1: interview her, so I want to live through you for
37:24
Speaker 1: a second. I don't know if you feel this way.
37:27
Speaker 1: When I interview people, I leave the interview, and part
37:31
Speaker 1: of the reason I love it is I feel like
37:33
Speaker 1: I get to live better through their stories and I
37:36
Speaker 1: kind of take a piece of them with me. I
37:39
Speaker 1: want to know what you took from each of those interviews,
37:41
Speaker 1: if you can. I know it was a little bit ago.
37:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, I think from each of those interviews, I
37:46
Speaker 2: would say my Ava Dubernet interview, I was so scared.
37:50
Speaker 2: That is still one of the scariest, most intimidating things
37:53
Speaker 2: I've ever done, because she, like first I was so young,
37:56
Speaker 2: and she has this beautiful like husky, strong voice, and
38:00
Speaker 2: she's so smart, and I had to actually prepare, Like
38:04
Speaker 2: I just remember like scrolling all my laptop but just
38:07
Speaker 2: trying to figure out everything I could about her. But
38:10
Speaker 2: there were some things I just didn't understand and couldn't
38:12
Speaker 2: get at the time. So I was so nervous. And
38:13
Speaker 2: I was like thirteen or thirteen or twelve or so
38:18
Speaker 2: that was like really hard. And I think what I
38:20
Speaker 2: took away is that like your confidence matters, and your
38:23
Speaker 2: confidence will benefit you because like during and in between
38:26
Speaker 2: takes of the interview, she was definitely pushing me to
38:29
Speaker 2: like be more assertive in what I was saying and
38:32
Speaker 2: to be more like of myself because obviously she had
38:36
Speaker 2: to see videos and like have heard of my work
38:38
Speaker 2: to be interested. And I think that interview she just
38:41
Speaker 2: encouraged me to like be the girl that be the
38:44
Speaker 2: girl that it looked making you like great, you know,
38:46
Speaker 2: like you buy you being yourself that's what makes this special.
38:49
Speaker 2: So just do that. And I asked her great questions.
38:53
Speaker 2: It was a great conversation. It was the hottest day
38:55
Speaker 2: in New Orleans of my whole life.
38:57
Speaker 1: And I would in New Orleans is a different cat exactly.
39:01
Speaker 2: I was like I imagine, see like the energy, you
39:04
Speaker 2: can see how scary it must have been, Like this
39:06
Speaker 2: is such a big moment for me. And the Missy
39:08
Speaker 2: Copeland interview, I would say, I think that I had
39:12
Speaker 2: taken from her story. I had just taken like so
39:15
Speaker 2: much away in strength, because I think that people don't
39:18
Speaker 2: know and many girls and girls of young girls of
39:21
Speaker 2: color know how harsh the dance world is, but I
39:24
Speaker 2: don't think people actually consider how difficult mentally and physically
39:27
Speaker 2: what she's accomplished is. And to do it in a
39:31
Speaker 2: space that is so still not accessible to the community
39:34
Speaker 2: that celebrates you, and to still like do it for
39:37
Speaker 2: why audiences and not always get to make black art.
39:40
Speaker 2: There's a lot there, and there's a lot to talk
39:42
Speaker 2: about in like what it means to be a balerina
39:45
Speaker 2: and a dancer and a performer. And I think our
39:47
Speaker 2: conversation and everything that she's done as an author as
39:50
Speaker 2: well outside of her career has really been a pushing
39:54
Speaker 2: towards a world where we think about how black girls
39:57
Speaker 2: are treated in these spaces. And I respect her her
40:00
Speaker 2: so much for that. And Secretary Clinton, I would say,
40:04
Speaker 2: is someone that I'm still in like good like relationship
40:07
Speaker 2: and communication with She keeps up with me, sends for its,
40:10
Speaker 2: she sends like really sweet notes, and she's a person
40:15
Speaker 2: that there's just what can you not learn from. I mean,
40:18
Speaker 2: I have grown and I'm older now, so I have
40:20
Speaker 2: my own, you know, personal feelings and perspectives about her
40:24
Speaker 2: career and her life, and I, you know, hold my
40:27
Speaker 2: own sort of, I hold my own on how I
40:29
Speaker 2: view history and view the world. But there is something
40:32
Speaker 2: really valuable in having a person who was the first
40:35
Speaker 2: and having conversations with people that are first, because we
40:39
Speaker 2: learn so much from them and learn so much from
40:41
Speaker 2: their stories that She's seen and been in rooms that
40:44
Speaker 2: literally no other person in the history of time has
40:47
Speaker 2: had access to, and there's something very valuable in that
40:51
Speaker 2: for all of us. So, like, I'm so grateful for people,
40:55
Speaker 2: well those people in the conversations I had with those women,
40:57
Speaker 2: but also Maddie Cohn and the team at el who
41:01
Speaker 2: you obviously interviewed Maddie and you know, she's amazing, and
41:03
Speaker 2: I just did a book event with her in Boston
41:06
Speaker 2: last week. Like, people that open the doors for kids
41:09
Speaker 2: and allow kids to be great are doing the work
41:12
Speaker 2: just by allowing me to be in the space with them,
41:14
Speaker 2: and it was I've just learned so much from the
41:16
Speaker 2: people that say yes and the people that open those doors.
41:19
Speaker 1: Okay, I do rapid fire.
41:22
Speaker 2: Okay, I'm nervous.
41:24
Speaker 1: No no, no, no, no, I'm just getting a nervous
41:27
Speaker 1: at all.
41:27
Speaker 2: Okay.
41:28
Speaker 1: Everyone always gets the question they're meant to. So you
41:30
Speaker 1: let me know stop ooh okay, one thing you're trying
41:35
Speaker 1: to or need to let go of shopping shopping.
41:39
Speaker 2: I hain't seen the job. Like I had to think
41:42
Speaker 2: my life more serious. I need to stop shopping online
41:44
Speaker 2: so much.
41:45
Speaker 1: Where do you shop like on Amazon, Like.
41:47
Speaker 2: It's just Amazon. Like with this dorm. It's like anytime
41:50
Speaker 2: you miss something or you're like, oh I need I
41:53
Speaker 2: need batteries, I need hand towels, I need paper towels,
41:56
Speaker 2: I need whatever, it's like, all of a sudden, you
41:58
Speaker 2: got an Amazon package. It's like this big actual delivery during
42:00
Speaker 2: You're so embarrassed. It was me this morning. It's so embarrassing.
42:04
Speaker 2: So I have to stop shopping.
42:06
Speaker 1: And I feel like I don't know what the word
42:09
Speaker 1: is like ecologically, I feel so bad.
42:12
Speaker 2: It's not right. And it's Amazon's fault because they will
42:15
Speaker 2: sometimes like put that It'll be the tiniest little thing
42:18
Speaker 2: in the biggest box you can imagine. But still like stopping,
42:22
Speaker 2: I think I need to. Like consumption just doesn't make
42:24
Speaker 2: you feel good. It doesn't even make you feel all
42:26
Speaker 2: that better.
42:27
Speaker 1: So I have to read Essentialism.
42:29
Speaker 2: No I haven't, I should iky.
42:31
Speaker 1: I'm going to send it to you. Okay, you don't
42:33
Speaker 1: have to read the whole book. You have to read
42:35
Speaker 1: like the first three chapters. Okay, I'll read it. Okay.
42:39
Speaker 1: What is a book that has changed your life, something
42:41
Speaker 1: you think everybody should read.
42:43
Speaker 2: I think everybody should read Read at the Bone by
42:46
Speaker 2: Jacqueline Woodson. That is a book that I recommend a lot.
42:49
Speaker 2: I Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson is a really
42:52
Speaker 2: great story for kids. But I think that Read at
42:54
Speaker 2: the Bone really speaks to issues of like class, race, sexuality, religion,
43:01
Speaker 2: and it's in such authentic and real life scenarios that
43:04
Speaker 2: each of us face. Like she really taps into the
43:08
Speaker 2: core of humanity in such a way that I think
43:12
Speaker 2: it really moved people. Because people are like birth and
43:15
Speaker 2: death and life is just like we are all so
43:18
Speaker 2: affected by what it means to lose and to gain
43:20
Speaker 2: access to what we want in our lives, and she
43:23
Speaker 2: just writes in such a beautiful way, like I could
43:26
Speaker 2: be I could talk about it for way too long.
43:28
Speaker 2: But I also think that the things they carry By
43:31
Speaker 2: Tim O'Brien, it's a book about a soldier in the
43:34
Speaker 2: Vietnam War and like his like the group that he
43:37
Speaker 2: was with and the experiences that they had there. I
43:39
Speaker 2: think is an interesting look into American history, and I
43:44
Speaker 2: think what makes people more curious about history. So it's
43:47
Speaker 2: a book that I would recommend because it's really important
43:50
Speaker 2: to learn about and to think about our world from
43:53
Speaker 2: a perspective that we so often have such limited access to,
43:56
Speaker 2: and to hear stories like that can really move everybody,
43:59
Speaker 2: I feel in such a universal way.
44:01
Speaker 1: What is a phrase that your mom said to you
44:05
Speaker 1: that you will pass on to potentially your future children
44:09
Speaker 1: one day.
44:10
Speaker 2: First one I'd say is have fun. I always I
44:13
Speaker 2: have to says have fun anytime I do anything. She's like,
44:16
Speaker 2: just have like literally just have fun, Like she would
44:18
Speaker 2: say it maybe ten million times a day. But I
44:21
Speaker 2: think the true advice that she gives me that is
44:23
Speaker 2: always stuck with me is to do your best and
44:25
Speaker 2: not worry about being the best because yeah, it's a
44:29
Speaker 2: it's a it's a good one. I actually actually ate
44:32
Speaker 2: that one. I'm not gonna lie. She did it, Yeah
44:34
Speaker 2: she did. She just really tries to not get me
44:37
Speaker 2: wrapped up in competition or in comparison. Comparison is the
44:41
Speaker 2: thief of joys sort of like what's at the basis
44:43
Speaker 2: of that. But you know, she made it for kids
44:45
Speaker 2: and made it for me, So I try to always
44:48
Speaker 2: keep that in my head because I can feel I
44:50
Speaker 2: still feel a lot of like imposter syndrome at times,
44:53
Speaker 2: all as all people you know do every once in
44:55
Speaker 2: a while, and it's just important to realize that it's
44:58
Speaker 2: not about a tide and that you are an asset
45:01
Speaker 2: to others like not not sometimes people need like you.
45:04
Speaker 2: You don't always need, like you don't always need things
45:07
Speaker 2: or need a label to feel good about something. That
45:10
Speaker 2: your existence and should be enough, because we get it's
45:14
Speaker 2: so easy to get wrapped up in so many material things,
45:17
Speaker 2: especially because the world is just so like digital and
45:21
Speaker 2: bye bye by Amazon in your face. Yeah, it's so
45:24
Speaker 2: in your face, like exact world Amazon. Yeah, just like
45:28
Speaker 2: it's so in your face that at times it's just
45:30
Speaker 2: really important to remember that my joy and my individual
45:33
Speaker 2: happiness and my effort is the basis of what makes
45:37
Speaker 2: my life important. Like not anything else, like not like school,
45:41
Speaker 2: not anything like. You are not defined by those things
45:43
Speaker 2: in any way.
45:45
Speaker 1: What is the smartest decision You've ever made?
45:48
Speaker 2: Smartest decision I've ever made. Was anytime I've decided to
45:53
Speaker 2: take a break. Anytime I've decided to just relax and
45:57
Speaker 2: to make sure that I feel good before doing something,
46:01
Speaker 2: that's always the best decision I can make.
46:03
Speaker 1: That's awesome. Thank you Marley, thank you. Hope you enjoyed
46:12
Speaker 1: the episode. And I do have a few favorite Bob
46:17
Speaker 1: Marley songs. So this is hard because I almost played
46:20
Speaker 1: could You Be Loved? But instead I chose no Woman,
46:23
Speaker 1: No Cry, and I'm going to play you the Bob
46:27
Speaker 1: Marley version, but Thames did a cover of it for
46:30
Speaker 1: Black Panther that was really beautiful, So if you liked
46:33
Speaker 1: the song, definitely listen to Thames cover of it as well. Okay,
46:38
Speaker 1: you are so loved and appreciated. Today's a good day.
46:43
Speaker 1: To have a good day. I'll see you next week.
47:00
Speaker 5: No crown, nom man, no woman, no crowd, don't want
47:18
Speaker 5: man dot.
47:21
Speaker 6: Si Si said.
47:23
Speaker 3: I read thember. Where do we used to sit in
47:29
Speaker 3: the government yards in French?
47:32
Speaker 7: Now pabahama love me for prince and they would missle
47:42
Speaker 7: with the good feel We me.
47:47
Speaker 3: Good friends. We now o good friends we lost.
47:54
Speaker 6: Along the way.
47:59
Speaker 8: It's this right future. You can't forget your best sod
48:06
Speaker 8: riyanty I said, and.
48:13
Speaker 3: My love lie love for my duve ride.
48:24
Speaker 8: Dear little dollar, don't said no tears love wa my
48:32
Speaker 8: loved said. I remember when we used to season in
48:43
Speaker 8: the government's yard, been dressed out.
48:48
Speaker 3: And then dodge.
48:49
Speaker 8: It would make the fire life as it was love.
48:55
Speaker 6: Wood burning through the nurse.
49:01
Speaker 3: And we would go only a fora it a bist.
49:08
Speaker 8: Share with you, my dear. It's my only cambriage.
49:20
Speaker 3: I've got to f shown through.
49:22
Speaker 9: But what I'm d everything was gonna be, Everything's gonna be,
49:31
Speaker 9: everything's gonna be all right, Everything's gonna be a ladder, everything's.
49:38
Speaker 3: Gonna be all right.
49:39
Speaker 9: That everything's gonna be, everything gonna be, Everything's.
49:46
Speaker 6: Gonna be all right. No one man, no bride, don't know.
49:55
Speaker 3: What one man as a sister don't then don't you
50:08
Speaker 3: love that?
51:03
Speaker 4: I remember when we used to sit in the government
51:10
Speaker 4: George didn't trench now and then George would make.
51:17
Speaker 3: The buy a line as.
51:19
Speaker 6: It was the food burning through the land.
51:27
Speaker 3: Then we would go on your fort.
51:33
Speaker 1: We t shirt with you.
51:39
Speaker 6: My mid is my only carriage, so that stuff was
51:47
Speaker 6: off for fold.
51:51
Speaker 3: Nor more man friend.
51:58
Speaker 6: From my.
52:03
Speaker 3: Wh she don't shat dot god, my god.
52:18
Speaker 6: Don't shut.
52:21
Speaker 3: No one man by its sister. Don't shut dout me
52:33
Speaker 3: dot man dot