Latest / The Breakfast Club / The Devil Wears Prada 2 Breakdown: Media, Power & Finding Yourself in the Chaos

Transcript

The Devil Wears Prada 2 Breakdown: Media, Power & Finding Yourself in the Chaos · The Breakfast Club

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and everybody.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: You know, if you don't lie about that, right Lauren, y'all,
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: what's up.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: It's Laura le Rosa and this is another episode of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: the Latest with Laura l Rosa. This is your DELI
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: dig on all things pop culture and attiment, news and
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: all of the conversations that shake the room.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: Baby.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Now, before we get started, I do have a guest
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to hear with me today. We will be diving into
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: all things journalism, into all things fashion, the fear and
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the fearless pursuit of you know, everything in between the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: media landscape and just being an entrepreneur and a hustler
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: in the space.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: So I called.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I phoned a friend and I was like, hey, girl,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Devil's Proud is I want to talk about it on
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: the podcast, but I want to have a conversation with
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: someone about it, and I want to talk to someone
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: who I know is like in the in the midst
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: of it, you know what I mean. So I have
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: a friend that will be joining me, and I'm gonna
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: let her introduce herself. But low riders, you guys know,
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: we check in behind the scenes of the grind here first,
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: so we'll also get a chance to do that with her.
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: So joining me right now is my sister from another mister,
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: from a very well dressed another mystery I left.
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: Thank you, Leo. I'm so happy to be here. Thank
• 1:19
  Speaker 3: you for having me.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Of course, thank you for joining us.
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: So our podcast community there are nine million plus listeners.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: They are called the low riders because they'd be writing hard.
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, they write her.
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: For us, but you know, introduce yourself to them, give
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: a little bit of your background and you know what
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: you've done where you are now, and then we'll get
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: into the check in.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 1:41
  Speaker 4: So I'm Alexis Bennett Parker. I've been working in media
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: for over ten twelve years now. I've worked historically at
• 1:52
  Speaker 4: mostly legacy magazines. So I come from Vogue, Elle, Cosmo,
• 1:58
  Speaker 4: in Style and now how I am overseeing shopping commerce
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: content at Essence, Refinery twenty nine and the Sundown Media
• 2:09
  Speaker 4: portfolio Group. So I'm excited for today because this is
• 2:13
  Speaker 4: this is my life.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: But I actually and realize so me and Alexis we met.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: I don't even remember what year that was. I want
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: to say it might have been like twenty twelve. Twenty thirteen,
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: somewhere around there. Yeah, yeah, it was somewhere around there.
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: So Cosmopolitan Magazine used to do this fun fashion and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: fun fearless and fashion conference or something like that. It
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: was those words, but I just don't know if I'm
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: putting them in the right order. But they would do
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: this conference and it was basically like you would come.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: You would get to listen to like editors and assistants
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: and all these people from Cosmo magazine talking about working
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: in the industry and you know, just try and figure
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: your way out in life. And I just remember we
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: were in like the holding area in like a lobby,
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: and mind you, guys, I had like found out about
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: it on I think, like Instagram, and this was like
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: early Instagram, Like you, I don't even think you could
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: post videos for real Instagram at that point. But I
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: had found out about it because I was like having
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: this whole little blog that I was doing, and I
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: just knew my life when I was supposed to you
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: had a magazine.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: And I went. I caught the bus from Delaware State University.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: I went.
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: I got there and I just remember seeing these two
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: black girls and I was like, there are the only
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: two people in here that look like me.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna just go talk to them.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: And I walked up and was just like, hey, I
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: don't even remember what I said, but I just remember
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: I walked up.
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: And we've been friends ever since.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: And Alexis has had such an amazing career, Like she
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: says these things so casually, but you know, getting able
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: to see, you know, being able to see you go
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: from you know, someone who wanted to move to New
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: York and figure out all these things to actually moving here.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: I remember you started it was Install, right, yep?
• 3:49
  Speaker 3: I started at InStyle.
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it was Install magazine. And when you were an
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: Install magazine, you were what was your role there?
• 3:56
  Speaker 4: I had several different roles back and forth, kind of
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: like boomerang, but I started off as a fact checker.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: That was my very first role.
• 4:06
  Speaker 4: And basically a fact checker is the person who literally
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: just make sure the magazine doesn't get sued so that right,
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: every sentence makes sense.
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: So yeah, and then and at that time I think
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: I had I did like an internship at Cosmopolitan Magazine
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: for about just a winter break, so maybe like a
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: week or two.
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: But I thought it was so fire.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: I'm like, you're getting to live the dream gird you're
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: working at the magazine, and then you went on from
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: InStyle into other things.
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: But I remember mostly the Internet.
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: Becoming such a big conversation in magazines, just not physical magazines,
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: just not being at the forefront and the Internet being
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: a thing. And I remember Volgue made it such a
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: big deal that they were going to Vogue dot com
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: and leaning more there and like they were trying to
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: do more like hip young stories and the shopping things,
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: and you went there, Yeah, and that was like such
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: a turning point for the magazine for the conversations around magazines.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: But you were there really early, Like you was your
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: team even really big. You're like the only person I
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: knew that worked on that side of things.
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so I was definitely I feel like one of
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: the like earlier people in shopping content, and basically shopping
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: content for a magazine is like it's the one of
• 5:17
  Speaker 4: the newest revenue streams, Whereas in the past magazines have
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: always been about you know, getting advertisers to just you know,
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: buy a page or whatever. Yeah, whereas like the shopping
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: content is more so about taking the stories we're already during,
• 5:31
  Speaker 4: we're already writing about but figuring out Okay, instead of
• 5:33
  Speaker 4: just telling you about this trend, I'm going to tell
• 5:36
  Speaker 4: you how you can shop it, how you can get it,
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: and then we make affiliate revenue from it. So again
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: it's kind of like just this newer way of like
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: trying to keep the lights on because, as you know,
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: like nobody's buying print magazines anymore.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: So.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: But one of the things that I always thought was
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: fire was like when I would like, I might be
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: like visiting New York, or like I know, when my
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: mom was going through all of her like health stuff
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: and I was here and you would invite me to
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: things that we were running to each other at things.
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: I remember people just being so in awe of your work,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and like I remember we were at an event in
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: Norstrum and I just I was like, yo, they are
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: like fanning out and here over you. And I thought
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: that that was so respectable and so far because it
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: wasn't that you were like, you know, on the magazine
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: every day and your face is in the magazine. Your
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: work was actually garnering money at a time where people
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: didn't understand how to make money with their cross section
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: of magazines and products, and you were actually so good
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: at what you were doing, and it was so accurate,
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: and it was so to the point you had found
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: a niche for yourself as a black woman in a
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: space that isn't really as friendly to us as it
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: still should be.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: But you found yourself in this space.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: And you were making money for these brands and not
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: just like small brands, small brands as well. But I
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: mean we were in Norstrum and there were some of
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the heads of Norstrum that found out that you were
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: there and they came down to personally just say thank you.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: That was like pandemic time, like nobody was spending money.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, And that's what I love.
• 7:04
  Speaker 4: I think that's the most rewarding part, is like, not
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: only are you making money for the company you work for,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: but it's these brands, it's these retailers, Like it's this
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: chain effect and it really just helps the fashion industry
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: as a whole. So I love like being able to
• 7:19
  Speaker 4: like use my words to actually turn readers into shoppers.
• 7:23
  Speaker 4: And again, I don't take it lightly, like I take
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: it as an honor because at the end of the day,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: I want people to feel like they can trust me
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: if they read a story about Alexus, Like, I know
• 7:31
  Speaker 4: she's gonna tell me these items are truly the best,
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: and it's not like she's just trying to sell me
• 7:36
  Speaker 4: something that's like subpar.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: So we take it seriously and I love it.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, but I just the reason why I
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: point that out is because I feel, like, you know,
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: I was thinking about this as I was watching The
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: Devil Worst Product Too, which is the review we'll get
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: into here, just about how aligned a lot of the
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: people that I admire in the industry. I admire them
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: because like everything that I think should be happening is
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: what you guys are already doing, Like you know, the
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: ability to like be honest, to tell the truth, to
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: like actually like do the work, but also like be
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: enjoyable and like you know, like all those things. And
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: I remember being in a fashion closet and literally I
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: was so grateful for that job and so grateful for
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: she Ona Tarini, who was the reason that I got
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: that opportunity. But I remember being in there and just
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: being like, this is amazing and this is like the dream.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: But these these people, these women in here.
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: Don't have enough say so for me, and enough like
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: ownership and not that anybody that works in a fashion closet. Now,
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm not knocking anything, but I just really
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: remember feeling like, I don't know, I think I'm a
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: bit too opinionated to be in here. I think I
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: don't believe in a way that this hierarchy is set up.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: They don't make enough money to be, you know, obeying
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: this hierarchy. I just always felt like there was like
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: another way. And then I think about people like you
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: who've made your own way, and I think that that's why.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: You know, I've always been from a distance.
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: I've always admired the things that you've been able to
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: set up for yourself. So I know, you know, in
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: this time when they're getting you know, departments are chopping,
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: digital departments are chopping black writers, and you know, black
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: people meeting no matter where you are, whether its outlet's
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: black or white, or like becoming non existent. You know,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: we do this thing here at the Latest with Laurence Rosa.
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: The podcast called checking In Behind the Scenes to the Grind,
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: And this part of the podcast is really just like
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: how are you? Because I find it where I don't
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: take the time to check in on myself, so I
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: make I built it in the podcast, so I could
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: do it for myself, but when I have guests, I
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: like to check in on them as well too.
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: So how are you, and like, for real, how are
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: you doing.
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: I'm good.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: I cannot complain, like and I'm not. It's not just
• 9:51
  Speaker 4: you know, people say, oh, I'm good just as like
• 9:54
  Speaker 4: a reaction, Like I really genuinely mean that I'm in
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: a great place. I just started this new job two
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: months ago, Like I wrote, six months before I got
• 10:04
  Speaker 4: my offer, I write, I wrote down exactly what I
• 10:07
  Speaker 4: wanted on one line of a piece of paper, and
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: I kept writing it over and over until I got
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: to the end. Six months later, I got exactly what
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: I asked for, Like, I cannot complain.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: So I'm in a great place.
• 10:19
  Speaker 4: I'm feeling good mentally, spiritually, I'm spending time with my
• 10:23
  Speaker 4: family right now in Florida, with my grandma, my mom,
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: and so I just feel like really blessed to be
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: able to one have a job that I love and
• 10:32
  Speaker 4: to also be able to try to like balance it with.
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: Family and personal life.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: And I mean, I don't even like the word balance,
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: because I do feel like the job that I have
• 10:43
  Speaker 4: is like a job that it's a job that.
• 10:45
  Speaker 3: I would be doing even if I didn't.
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: Have the job, Like shopping online is just like fun
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: to me, So I don't even have to think of
• 10:53
  Speaker 4: it as like balancing or anything.
• 10:55
  Speaker 3: But I'm just I'm in a really happy mental state
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: right now, and so I'm grateful for that.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: That's good to know. I am too. I am too.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: It's a I think it's an everyday new experience because
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: like as like work grows, the talent side of it
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: all grows. And as much as I've always wanted to
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: figure out the talent side, once you get in it,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: it's like it's a that balance is a lot of
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: because it's hard work on both ends.
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: Like you're burning yourself on both ends. So you know, me,
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: I burned to the.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: Very very end if I had to to make sure
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: that I'm maintaining you know, work and all the things.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: So learning how not to burn myself too much has
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: been a task, but I think I've gotten a better
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: handle on it within these last like two to three months.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: So very new.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: But yeah, I wanted to say, like I just you
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: mentioned ownership too earlier, Like yes, I feel like you've
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: always been on it and I just have to say, like,
• 11:48
  Speaker 4: how proud I am of you for like seeing that
• 11:51
  Speaker 4: everything you're doing with like brown Girl grinding, like having
• 11:54
  Speaker 4: your own and especially in this day and age where
• 11:57
  Speaker 4: it's like, you know, we see the magazines are instantly shrinking,
• 12:00
  Speaker 4: these companies that are huge legacy companies getting smaller and smaller.
• 12:05
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, like, journalism is not dead,
• 12:08
  Speaker 4: it's still I would I would say it's even more
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: important now now everybody has a microphone, everybody can tweet,
• 12:15
  Speaker 4: everybody can say something, but not everybody is fact checking.
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: Not everybody is actually following up on a source.
• 12:23
  Speaker 4: A lot of people are just reading a headline and
• 12:25
  Speaker 4: making a story out of that without even knowing the facts.
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: So I commend you for everything that you're doing because
• 12:30
  Speaker 4: you are like upholding the journalistic standards and integrity of
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: the industry and you are proof that like it still
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: matters and it's important.
• 12:40
  Speaker 3: So had to say that really quick.
• 12:42
  Speaker 4: I had to thank you giving your flowers appreciated.
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: Well, that actually brings us right on into the latest
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: so let's get into it. So we are here because
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: the Devil Worst Product franchise has dropped a new instultion
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: U Double Worst Product to dropped and it is doing
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: amazingly well in the theaters. Following its opening weekend, it
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: surpassed the Michael Movie for the largest opening of a
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: live action film.
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: It is making money, but.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I'm not surprised that it's making the money it's making.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: You know, you have and Hathaway, MARYL. Street, like the
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: original cast has all returned. That's always a good sign
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for success for you know, a second installment of something.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: So it had everything, all the setup.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: You know that they were going to have the pr budget,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: they were going to have all the things that it needed.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: But I was worried, like, Okay, when we get to it,
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: is the story gonna be good this time around? I
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: saw it today. I know you saw it yesterday. I
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: was very impressed by the movie.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: I loved it.
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, I was so impressed.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: You know, I want to start from the beginning of
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the movie, and I think that this is something that
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: we both can really identify with just the how prevalent
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: and fast the industry is changing, and it's always been changing.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: We literally just talk through the fact that we've lived
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: through various different changes of the industry from blogging to
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: Instagram to Instagram not even having video to you know,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: you honestly anchoring in a big part of the dot
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: com and shit and the shopping space on these coture websites.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: The movie starts out having that conversation in real time,
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and I thought that was I'm like, yes, like I
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: felt like, so y'all sitting here with us right now.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: Yes, I'm so bad. I don't want to Are we
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: gonna do spoilers?
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: I don't want to spoil Yeah, yeah, I don't want
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: to do spoiler alerts, but like, if you're watching this,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: we are going to get a bit into like overall
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: uh like overalls, like vague subjects and feelings from the movie.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: So spoiler alert, spoiler alert, spoiler alert that it may
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: spoil a bit, but don't give out like actual factuals,
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: you know.
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: Okay, I will say that one year I was when
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: I was working at self magazine.
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: I was there, I was on the dot com.
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: I was there when they laid off the entire printing,
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: the entire printing.
• 15:12
  Speaker 3: And that, and then I've seen that happen over and
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: over again. So it's like.
• 15:17
  Speaker 4: I feel like, I mean, obviously, like we like we
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: anyone can see it coming, Like magazines are dying, right,
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: But I'm just so glad that the.
• 15:26
  Speaker 3: Movie touched on that because it's real.
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: And and I will say like again, like I already said,
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: like I think you're doing a great job, like we
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: still need journalists, but at the same time, like the
• 15:41
  Speaker 4: magazine industry and the whole media that that legacy media
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: business model is dead, like it's not profitable. And of
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: course there are still magazines around, but like a lot
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: of them are just spending money and they're not making
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: money and it's more of like an ego thing. But
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: but you're still like, why are so many billionaires trying
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: to buy.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: Media companies now?
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Because they still want to control the narrative and it's important, yes,
• 16:09
  Speaker 4: but it's not so For example, there's rumors that Jeff
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: Bezos might buy Vogue for Lauren Sanchez, and it's like,
• 16:15
  Speaker 4: do you think that he's buying because he thinks it's
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: going to be more profitable than Amazon? No, it's like
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: it's it's just having control of the narrative and being
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: a part being able to control media is still powerful.
• 16:29
  Speaker 4: Why do you think Elon bought Twitter a media It's
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: not because he thought it was going to make more
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: money than Tesla or SpaceX.
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: So it's just the narrative and being able to control it.
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: And I thought, I thought the way that they even
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: had that conversation about you know, the hands that you know,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: media fault falls in, excuse me, the hands that media falls.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: In, and where it.
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: Almost got to versus where it landed, and you know,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: just it made me think a lot about where we
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: are today with like people's intentions behind the purchases of
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: like what we're seeing with like even like some of
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: the mergers that we're seeing, like the whole sky Dance
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: and Paramount and Warner Brothers, and like I'm like, oh
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: my god, this is like the most fashioned, friendly way
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: of saying politically, y'all is something wrong right now?
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: Y'all should wake up? Like I love that.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: I feel like it didn't even feel like an activist movie,
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: but there was so much advocacy in this movie. Like
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Andy is an advocate of like people in human things,
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: and I think in the world today, we all have
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: to be like that because the things that are happening
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: are literally messing up our daily lives as humans, like
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: down to like gas and groceries, and you know, like
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: it's not just like oh my god, I can't afford
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: my favorite Starbucks and magazine anymore. It's like, no, you
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: might can't afford to take your child to daycare. And
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: the same people who are doing that are also about
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: to control the way that people call them out about that,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: and that's scary mm.
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: And it goes back to that's why independent journalism is
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: so important too. A lot of companies are being silenced,
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: and you know, like I think it's so important for
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: people like you to just have a voice and to
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: continue to like do the work that needs to be
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: done and that ownership, so having your own is so important.
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know what's crazy, Like before I like like
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: even though I've always had this like all right, I
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: want to be like this, like you can't get around
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: me this institution and then like people and whatever they
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: come and we work together, I've never really understood, or
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: maybe I just didn't know it was independent media. I
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: always thought about it like owning a business, Like the
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: person who owns the business can kind of maneuver the
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: way that they want to in if you don't owe
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: anybody thing financially, then you kind of can get a
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: bit more safe. So, now, don't get me wrong. I
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: have a corporate job, right, like I work at iHeart
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: still with Breakfast Club. So there are people that like,
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: you know, a job is a job. But at the
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: same time, I think what I love about the Breakfast
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: Club in this phase of my life is I was
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: so blessed to be at a place where even though
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: it's a job, you still are able to be like
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I don't fuck with that, no, like and I've always been.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: I mean, TMZ was that way as well. Like people
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: like to you know, make it this like big dramatic,
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: you know, exit, but TMZ was like that as well.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: I was very much Angela Davis in there, like and
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: to the point where I used to text my black
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: group chats and be like, yo, am I doing too
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: much now? Like you know, because even if they didn't
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: want to hear you, they wouldn't stop you from saying
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: it that they wanted people to interject, They wanted people
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: to So I've always been those those those situations. But
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: I was watching this movie like, I hope that because
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: I I left feeling inspired, I left feeling like I
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: wasn't doing enough, And I'm like, I hope it makes
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: other people feel like that too, Like I don't care
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: where you work.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: If you're there, you're there for a reason.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Like the reason why I mentioned you in that dot
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: com space because when I was with you that day
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: Norse triam and I saw that I'm like, the conversation
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: right now, especially in the pandemic was support everything black,
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: Support everything black, and I was like, this is gonna
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: come and go. The Black Squares is going to be
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: way down the timeline after a few posts. After that,
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: them people kneeling at the Capitol won't get up, and
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: we still need people that are like in the spaces
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: that not even just fighting for everything black, but just
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: fighting for like things that make sense to humans and
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: that we need and that we care about. And having
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: a person like you that is very respected but knowing
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you and knowing your moral integrity as a person, I
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: was like, Okay, this is fire. And that's what like
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: when I think about devil words proud of the second
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: go around, I think we get to see Andy in
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: this space of like she's still searching for that gratification
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: and that like that need to feel like I'm doing
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: something good, which I want to touch on that too,
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: because I feel like I still have that and I've
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: been trying to figure out why. But she's her own
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: person to the point where like she's not backing down
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: off for how morally where she stands.
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: Find that from the first movie.
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: She's so confident in this movie.
• 21:22
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, like you said, not to like a perfection, right,
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: She's still like, you know, it's looking around the office
• 21:30
  Speaker 4: that like what other people are wearing, and she's you know,
• 21:33
  Speaker 4: wondering what she can wear when she goes to the Hamptons.
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: But there's like a quiet confidence in her.
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: And I love how she like leans into like her
• 21:43
  Speaker 4: new role at the magazine. And but again, like it
• 21:47
  Speaker 4: goes back to like that broken business model.
• 21:50
  Speaker 3: The metrics matter.
• 21:51
  Speaker 4: When Meryl Street's character like asked her, like, what were
• 21:54
  Speaker 4: the page views on that story you wrote, it's just like.
• 21:58
  Speaker 3: Like, well, wrote story, but nobody read it.
• 22:01
  Speaker 4: So yeah, like I think you know, in that case,
• 22:05
  Speaker 4: Andy could have like maybe put the story on her
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: social media because again, like as we know, like one
• 22:10
  Speaker 4: real or one TikTok and get way more views than
• 22:12
  Speaker 4: a visit to you know, a website. So I don't
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: know if that was just like a good part of
• 22:20
  Speaker 4: the movie.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: I thought it was just interesting too, though, to see
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: how much she still there was still that satisfact and
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: we won't say exactly what the satisfaction that she was
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: looking for, but there was still that.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Sense of needing and longing for something.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I've recently, like you know, as I get
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: to like certain points in career and just in life,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: and I felt like Andy's at the same place in
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: life as me right now.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know how old she actually is in.
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: This second film, but I find myself sometimes still needing that, like, oh,
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you did a great job. And I thought I was
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: like so unneeding of that, and like you know, in
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: my roof and you know, black women, you can't tell
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: me nothing. And then I started receiving criticisms and I
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: couldn't take it, and I had.
• 23:08
  Speaker 2: To readjust number one.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: How I took it because I need critique to get better,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: but also I had to understand what to filter out,
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: what shouldn't be a critique, like something, what I shouldn't
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: let live on me, because there's so much coming at
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: you at one time, and I just it made me wonder, like,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: why is it the industry we work in as media people,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: as journalists, where we're constantly wanting that like you did
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: good because it's not common or is that just a
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: human thing that they touch on in the movie of
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: just like the feeling of like I don't know, like
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: admiration and you know, like all things good from people
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: that you admire.
• 23:45
  Speaker 3: I think it's a human thing.
• 23:46
  Speaker 4: Like I think that for us specifically, it might be
• 23:49
  Speaker 4: magnified because of our industry, because of the optics and
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: just like the way that it's set up and glamorized.
• 23:58
  Speaker 4: But I do think it's a human thing to like
• 24:00
  Speaker 4: just kind of like sometimes want someone to say.
• 24:02
  Speaker 3: Like, you're doing a great job. But at the same.
• 24:05
  Speaker 4: Time, what I've been personally trying to work on is
• 24:08
  Speaker 4: like being more stoic too, And you know, even when
• 24:11
  Speaker 4: someone like gives me a compliment or if I you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 4: have a certain success or when in my career, like
• 24:18
  Speaker 4: I'm always thinking about, Okay, what's next, how can I
• 24:21
  Speaker 4: do more? How can I you know, compete with myself,
• 24:24
  Speaker 4: and so like keeping this internal scorecard too, so that
• 24:27
  Speaker 4: way I'm like, you know what I said, I was
• 24:29
  Speaker 4: gonna work out this morning, and I worked out this morning,
• 24:32
  Speaker 4: Like just trying to like internally be the person that's
• 24:36
  Speaker 4: patting my own back and not always like looking forward
• 24:39
  Speaker 4: from others because you can't control what others will say.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: And I mean, that's a whole other conversation because I
• 24:45
  Speaker 4: do think when I feel like, when we see our
• 24:49
  Speaker 4: people get to a certain level of success for some reason,
• 24:52
  Speaker 4: it's just like, Okay, now you need to come back
• 24:54
  Speaker 4: down because you're just And.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: That's crazy because in the movie, in the movie and.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Double part of too, I felt like people weren't trying
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: to drag her down, but she herself was always preparing
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: for what if this is all over tomorrow because of
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: the way her industry was going, and I think just
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: because of how many risks she said to take the
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: way she gets to, which I try to talk myself
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: out of feeling every day. And I'm like I thought
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: when I was watching him, I'm like, I thought this
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: was just a black girl thing. We're so few fearm between,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: especially in certain rooms and at certain levels. I'm always like, yo,
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: if I wake up tomorrow, not this is over, what
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: do I have? Don't buy that? Because just in case,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: don't buy this. And she was doing that, Andy was
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: doing that.
• 25:34
  Speaker 4: And then I think, too, it's the sign of the
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: times too, because we are constantly being told we're all
• 25:39
  Speaker 4: going to be replaced by AI, Like that's happening too,
• 25:44
  Speaker 4: So it's just kind of I don't know.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: I think people are, people.
• 25:47
  Speaker 4: Are moving to I think just being like a little
• 25:49
  Speaker 4: bit more conscious that things can be here today, gone tomorrow.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: But it's so hard to like, I feel like when
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: I was really going through my darkest time over this
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: last year, not just in this last year twenty twenty six,
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: but this last like full year, right, the darkest time
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: that I was going through was when I was second
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: guessing myself, second guests in my instinct. And a part
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: of it was like I was receiving so much critique
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: at one time and I was I was letting some
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of it live on me.
• 26:20
  Speaker 2: Then the other part of it was me just preparing
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: to like.
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: Wake up and it all be going and not be
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: able to do it again and not understanding that like
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: regardless of.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: Where you go, you are, who you are, you got
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: it or you don't.
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: And yeah, it's like I feel like Andy's constant battle
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: is that because we saw that in Devil was Proud
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: of one, then we saw in Devil Wors Product two,
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: and I feel like she came out of fast, came
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: out of it faster, and the second movie, but the
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: fight was there again, and I was like, Okay, so
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: no matter new levels and new devils, for.
• 26:54
  Speaker 4: Sure, it's I think it's all as long as we
• 26:57
  Speaker 4: have breath in our body. Especially if you're an ambitious person,
• 27:00
  Speaker 4: I feel like we're always going to be like chasing
• 27:02
  Speaker 4: for something.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: Now talk a bit about and you know, to your discretion,
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: because I know this is your real work life, in
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: real life. When people watch this movie, one of the
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: biggest things, especially you know, for the new kids who
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: are watching it and who are learning who in a
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: Winterur is and it's met galaxies and right now, I
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: feel like because of this movie, even me, because of
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: this movie, I have such a view of like what
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: in a Winterur is probably like because I know that
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: Meryl Streep's character was fashioned after her, What is it
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: really like working within a Winter?
• 27:37
  Speaker 4: I will say I have so much respect for Anna,
• 27:40
  Speaker 4: and I know, like nobody's perfect on this planet, but.
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: I've learned a lot from her from working with her,
• 27:48
  Speaker 3: seeing her.
• 27:49
  Speaker 4: How she works, how she operates. This woman is the
• 27:52
  Speaker 4: best at what she does right, and so I enjoyed
• 27:57
  Speaker 4: it I enjoyed every moment of it. Like when I
• 28:00
  Speaker 4: heard the news that she was gonna step down, like
• 28:02
  Speaker 4: from editor in chief, like that was I was sad,
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: like I'm not gonna lie and I'm so excited that
• 28:09
  Speaker 4: Chloe Mall is now there, who I also got to
• 28:11
  Speaker 4: work with while I was at Vogue.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: But it's inspiring.
• 28:15
  Speaker 4: It makes you want to be better, like wake up
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: every single day and do the best that you can
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: do at any and every job that I've gone to
• 28:23
  Speaker 4: on to afterwards.
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: So I enjoyed it so much.
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: She is she very hands on because when I worked
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: at TMZ and since then, when I talk about TMZ,
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: everybody always wants to ask me about like what my
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: experience was, and what they're directly asking me is what
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: is it like working with Harvey Levin? And I tell people,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: you can say whatever you want about him, but he
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: is one of the most hard working people I've ever met.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: He is involved in every story if he can be.
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: He is at work before we get there, after we leave,
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: working all weekend, like he really lives and breathes this,
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: and we saw that a lot with Merril Troop's character.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: You know, when you live and breathing and some of
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: the things you lose in your real life is in
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: a winter like that as well, where she truly lives
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: and breathes every every article, every word, every pitch that
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: is going out from Vogue.
• 29:10
  Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean she's always the first person in the
• 29:13
  Speaker 4: office there every single day, So she's really like in
• 29:17
  Speaker 4: the in.
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: The work, in the thick of it.
• 29:19
  Speaker 4: But at the same time, I think part of her
• 29:21
  Speaker 4: brilliance is that she also knows what she doesn't know,
• 29:25
  Speaker 4: and so she'll hire the best around her. So, for example,
• 29:30
  Speaker 4: like me and doing editorial commerce content, like Anna's not
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: an e comm expert, she is a magazine expert, and
• 29:38
  Speaker 4: so she hired a very very smart, brilliant team of
• 29:42
  Speaker 4: e commerce writers and like my former manager Lisa Aikan,
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: who is an e combat such a smart brilliant woman.
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: So for us, like when it came to like eCOM stuff,
• 29:54
  Speaker 4: she kind of just was like, y'all do y'all thing,
• 29:56
  Speaker 4: Like y'all got it as long as it looked great
• 29:59
  Speaker 4: and was in conflict with like the.
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: Overall brand a Vogue. No, Like if you didn't hear
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: from her, no news was good news. That meant you
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: were doing well. So yeah, exactly.
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, And I feel I mean even with Breakfast Club too,
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: people always talk to me about Envy Charlemagne, just like
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: but more so I feel like Envy and Charlemagne because
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: me and Jess are both new there and people are
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: always wondering, like what is it like to be around
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: like they've been doing it for so long, and like
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: even now some days I'd be like, I can't believe
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: I'm really at the Breakfast Club. But like I remember
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: early on just like watching them, and it still happens today.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: I just like watch them, like go watch them come
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: in and out of segments and talk breaks and all
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: these things that I'm learning.
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: And they just do it so easily, and I just
• 30:52
  Speaker 2: be like, hello.
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: Like yeah, but it's like, I mean, but these people
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: have really been doing it and doing it very very
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: well for a long time. But I think one of
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the things that I admired a lot about coming to
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: the Breakfast Club's team was, I mean, Harvey definitely hires
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: he one thing he gonna do was put together something
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: higher a team and get it done or keep it
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: internal and figure out and identify who's best for it.
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: But one of the things that happened at Breakfast Club
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: that didn't happen at TMZ. For me was they allowed
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: me to own the own my space a bit more,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: and I think that's why people got to feel like,
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: you know, I feel like my presence was felt on
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: the show because I felt and appreciated that. So, you know,
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: it's not like I didn't appreciate my job at TMZ,
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: But it's different when you feel like you're just a
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: piece of something versus when you're like a part of
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: the real full I'm here and I own my piece
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: of the puzzle growth of something. And I think we
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: saw that with Indyan and Douvile Worst PRODUCTO as well,
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: when you know there were big decisions on the line
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: that needed to be made in you know, Miranda Pressley
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: finally backed off Meryl Streep's character and let her character
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: just be great, like let Andy let a hat the
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: way do what she knew that she could do, you know,
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: and it turned out great for everybody. I don't know
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: if you've had an experience like that or just what
• 32:15
  Speaker 1: you're thinking around was when you saw her coming into
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: her own in that way. But it made me smile
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: because I remember my first time feeling like, oh girl,
• 32:25
  Speaker 1: you're the magic.
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: Yes.
• 32:27
  Speaker 4: Yes, I've definitely had those moments, and it's special. It's
• 32:33
  Speaker 4: really special when someone allows you to thrive and creates
• 32:38
  Speaker 4: an environment.
• 32:38
  Speaker 3: For you to thrive and to just do you do
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: what you're you know how to do bad.
• 32:44
  Speaker 4: So I love that Andy finally had that moment in
• 32:48
  Speaker 4: the in the sequel Me Too.
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: And I thought a part of a real grown up
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: conversation too in the first movie. In the second movie
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: that we saw is like prioritizing life outside of work
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: and what happened in the long run, because being a
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: career driven woman has always been such a hard conversation
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: of like can you.
• 33:07
  Speaker 2: Have it all?
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: And figuring out how to have it all while also
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: balancing a very high pressure, very demanding job. You know,
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: we saw in The Devil Worst Product one how Miranda
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: Presley's character, Meryl Sheep's character she lost a lot because of,
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: you know, certain decisions that she made, and I think
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Andy learned from that. Anne Hathaway learned from that in
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: the first movie, and it paid off well in the
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: second movie by how she handled some of her life
• 33:37
  Speaker 1: decisions outside of work, and that resonated with Me too.
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: Because I think right now, I'm learning that things are
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: only going to grow, you know, God willing, and I'm
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: excited for that. But I am like, I love you
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: said you home with family, and I'm like, ugh. I
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: look back on the time when I was in Delaware
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: with my mom and I'm just for like that year
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: while I was trying to figure everything out, And I
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: cherished that time so much now because I don't have
• 34:00
  Speaker 1: that much time to just be with them and like
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: get the being the crevices of the small things, waking
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: up every morning and the breakfast is you know, and
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: it's difficult once you get moving and shaking trying to
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: like keep that balance.
• 34:13
  Speaker 4: But I think that's why you should cherish every moment
• 34:16
  Speaker 4: that you're in right so, like cherish the grind season
• 34:19
  Speaker 4: that you're in right now. And I think that anything
• 34:23
  Speaker 4: that like every time you say yes to something, you're
• 34:26
  Speaker 4: automatically saying no to something else, and that's okay. Sacrifice
• 34:30
  Speaker 4: is fine. Like this is like sometimes something has to
• 34:33
  Speaker 4: give so that you can have something else. And I
• 34:36
  Speaker 4: don't think it's like there's no right or wrong way.
• 34:39
  Speaker 4: I think what the thing to focus on is like
• 34:42
  Speaker 4: what do you want out of life and going after
• 34:44
  Speaker 4: that wholeheartedly, regardless of what everybody else thinks, what regardless
• 34:48
  Speaker 4: of what everybody else says you should have, Like maybe.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: I don't want like, I don't want balance, maybe I
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: don't want to have kids, like and that's okay, Like
• 34:56
  Speaker 3: because whose life is it? It's mine?
• 34:59
  Speaker 4: So so yeah, I love that they kind of like
• 35:02
  Speaker 4: highlight that in the film as well, Like, you know,
• 35:05
  Speaker 4: if you choose in one thing, sometimes that means saying
• 35:07
  Speaker 4: no to something else.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: So and that's okay in it, but I think when
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: you're in it, it feels like like because I felt
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: guilt a lot.
• 35:15
  Speaker 2: I don't know how you feel.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: But when you're working in like this fast paced media
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: space or if you're just new in building anything, one
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: thing does lack and I always feel guilty about it
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: when it does, Like and I'm still learning how to
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: talk myself through that guilt and that feeling. I don't
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: know if you've got into a place of like, you know,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: when things do lack, how you kind of talk yourself
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: through that.
• 35:37
  Speaker 4: M I think for me, I've definitely I'll admit, been
• 35:43
  Speaker 4: selfish and so even if I do know, I.
• 35:46
  Speaker 2: Love that about you.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: By the way I love. I admire that about you
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: so much. You're gonna leave when it's sudden lead, You're
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: gonna do what you need to do for yourself. I'm
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: not always I'm not fully there yet I've learned.
• 35:56
  Speaker 2: It on very people. Pleasey in this phase of my life.
• 35:59
  Speaker 4: I mean, I've definitely have those days too where I'm
• 36:02
  Speaker 4: like in my head thinking about here, what do people
• 36:04
  Speaker 4: think about me? But like, once I've made up my
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: mind about something, then I'm just kind of like if
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: everybody else, if everything else, like, this is what I want,
• 36:13
  Speaker 4: and this is the decision I'm gonna make. And so
• 36:17
  Speaker 4: I think, like, I think it's just important to be
• 36:19
  Speaker 4: self aware and like for me to even say like
• 36:22
  Speaker 4: I'm selfish, that took me like a long time to
• 36:24
  Speaker 4: get there. And I don't think it's a bad thing
• 36:27
  Speaker 4: to be like full of self, which is like what
• 36:31
  Speaker 4: the word means, because you can't help other people out
• 36:35
  Speaker 4: if you're not like preserving your own peace of mind.
• 36:38
  Speaker 4: And so I've yeah, I've made decisions like I just
• 36:43
  Speaker 4: lived my life based off of Okay, what do I
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: want and I'm in control. If other people don't understand,
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: then that's that's fine. Because they're not living my life.
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: So one of the things that I've always thought about
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: when I watch movies like Double Worst Product or Sex
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: and the City, even Girl Friend, it's like the differences
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: between white women in a space or other's anybody, and
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: then black women in the space. Because for me, it's like, Okay,
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: I want to balance my life because I want, you know,
• 37:11
  Speaker 1: a full life outside of work. But when I think
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: about my my need to always show up, always be
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: the person that can do it, always be the person
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: that stays late. It's not because I love to please people,
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: like I'm very much so like I ain't kissing ass.
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: It's more so like I feel like I'm out of sight,
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: out of mind, like I'm already at a disadvantage because
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: i may be one of only in a space. So
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: let me overachieve because I feel like I have to.
• 37:37
  Speaker 1: And that puts you on a never ending hamster will
• 37:40
  Speaker 1: mm hmm.
• 37:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I've definitely I have been that person all the time.
• 37:45
  Speaker 4: And I mean so many places, like going into like
• 37:48
  Speaker 4: these different magazines where it's like you're the only black girl,
• 37:50
  Speaker 4: or you're going on a pressure with a brand, you're
• 37:52
  Speaker 4: the only black girl.
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: And so yeah, you. Definitely.
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: I mean I don't like dwell on it, like, oh
• 37:59
  Speaker 4: my god, I'm the only but I do think it
• 38:01
  Speaker 4: probably does effect like which I don't think it is
• 38:05
  Speaker 4: a bad thing to go above and beyond like both,
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: but definitely, yeah, trying to be I'm the first one
• 38:11
  Speaker 4: in the office every day and the last.
• 38:12
  Speaker 3: One to leave, like I do those things.
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: And I guess it's more about like I guess I'm
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: asking you, when did you learn to set healthy boundaries
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: within that? Because I had to learn before I left
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: my last job. One of the things I was happy
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: about is I learned the boundary of being like no
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: and no. Yeah, but before that, no was obsolete because
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, it's only me here. I gotta do
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: it or they're gonna find another black girl.
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: No. I think if you try to say yes to everything,
• 38:44
  Speaker 4: which I have been that person and I have done
• 38:46
  Speaker 4: that before, then it gets to a point where like
• 38:49
  Speaker 4: you're not being you're not get turning in your best
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: work on all of those things. Yeah, So like at
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: some point you gotta be like, listen, I'm already working
• 38:59
  Speaker 4: on X, Y and Z. If you want my help
• 39:01
  Speaker 4: with this thing over here, Like I can help, but
• 39:04
  Speaker 4: I'm gonna have to prioritize some things or like which
• 39:07
  Speaker 4: one do you want me to get to first?
• 39:09
  Speaker 3: Like you have to like set those boundaries because at the.
• 39:11
  Speaker 4: End of the day, like you don't want to be
• 39:13
  Speaker 4: trying to do it all and then you're doing it
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: all sloppily, like or you know, you want every every
• 39:18
  Speaker 4: single thing you touch to be its best and to
• 39:21
  Speaker 4: be excellent. So that's how I've learned, like, Okay, I can't.
• 39:26
  Speaker 4: I got something's gotta give. We gotta make decisions.
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: I've learned a hard lesson in that as well to
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: even be on a breakfast club because like now it's
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: like whatever I put out there, girl, it's on me.
• 39:36
  Speaker 2: So it's no cruise control.
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: On days where like I might not be at my best,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: it's like every day I gotta like, you know, sensor
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: and figure it out. In closing, and thank you so
• 39:47
  Speaker 1: much for joining me in this conversation. One of the things,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: like one of my like overall moral.
• 39:53
  Speaker 2: Of the story things that I took away from watching
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: Devil Works prod Of Too, was just it's a journey
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: to find yourself.
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: And when you find yourself, even in times where like
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: you might slip, don't divert from it, because it always
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: garners you the best success, Like Saintento's donald who you
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: are and who you want to become and what it
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: takes to get there, and people will feel that, Like
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: people need Andy's presence just not even her work, but
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: her personality, her smile, her jokes, her gullibleness. At times,
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: it was so refreshing, and her absence was felt when
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: she left, and you could tell because once you know
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: they started rekindling things, you're like, oh, okay, they felt
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: her on a personal level.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: And for me, I'm always.
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: Like, I just want to make sure that when I
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: show up, I'm able to show up as my full
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: self and then doing that, I'm able to Like I'm
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: always taking about like impact, Like how am I How
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: is my presence here impacting someone's life even once I'm gone?
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: So watching her operate in her full space and do
• 40:58
  Speaker 1: the things she did, it's all right, yeah, like girl,
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: like you're doing it, like you're doing what you need
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: to be doing and it's not even nothing for you
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: to think about. You just do it. I don't know
• 41:08
  Speaker 1: if you had like an overall takeaway or anything like
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: that from the movie.
• 41:13
  Speaker 3: But no, I love that.
• 41:15
  Speaker 4: I think especially like when you look at the most
• 41:18
  Speaker 4: successful people in the world, they're all the way they
• 41:21
  Speaker 4: show up to work, they're like one hundred percent honest
• 41:23
  Speaker 4: about their work. And I feel like you can't do
• 41:26
  Speaker 4: your best work if you're not, especially in the industry
• 41:29
  Speaker 4: that's about taste and style, if.
• 41:31
  Speaker 3: You're not honest about it, Like you can't produce the
• 41:34
  Speaker 3: best if you.
• 41:35
  Speaker 4: Kind of lye in and like, oh, we'll let that slide,
• 41:37
  Speaker 4: We'll let them get away with that, or I'm gonna
• 41:39
  Speaker 4: bite my tongue on this.
• 41:40
  Speaker 3: Like you got to show up as yourself.
• 41:43
  Speaker 4: And that's the only way I think that you can
• 41:44
  Speaker 4: put out your best work is if you show up
• 41:46
  Speaker 4: as yourself. And I'm so glad that Andy is like
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: thriving and bringing like this different quirkiness to the office,
• 41:54
  Speaker 4: like and for me it's inspiring because I'm like, Okay,
• 41:57
  Speaker 4: you know, I might not like like certain things about myself,
• 42:00
  Speaker 4: or it might be different than the other everybody else
• 42:03
  Speaker 4: I work with, but like that's who I am and
• 42:06
  Speaker 4: that's why I'm there. Because we don't all need to
• 42:08
  Speaker 4: be homogeneous. We need to all like have a different
• 42:11
  Speaker 4: perspective that we bring to the table. So it's just
• 42:15
  Speaker 4: overall inspiring.
• 42:16
  Speaker 3: Go see the movie if you haven't.
• 42:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, And it was her callback.
• 42:19
  Speaker 1: It was her thing like you I saw want of
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: you know she wrote down is like the you know,
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: how to get into the industry and stay. I feel like,
• 42:26
  Speaker 1: you know, she got into the industry a very traditional
• 42:29
  Speaker 1: way where it's like, no, you really do start off
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: as like I remember being in the fashion clothes and
• 42:34
  Speaker 1: it being like, oh, this ain't just in the movies, child,
• 42:37
  Speaker 1: You really do start from like what the heck? Okay,
• 42:40
  Speaker 1: don't talk to that person, don't do that. Like, but
• 42:42
  Speaker 1: you're learning in the midst of all of that. I
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: think you're learning a lot just about structure and discipline
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: and tough skin. But her call back when she was
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: down and out was the fact that she showed up
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: every day as herself, and she had continued to do
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: that work long after she left there, so when they
• 42:58
  Speaker 1: needed a person, they knew exactly. Like people talk about
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: branding themselves, and I'm always like, yo, if you're a person,
• 43:03
  Speaker 1: you got to curate yourself, just be a person. R
• 43:06
  Speaker 1: cerrated herself naturally by doing her work, and her work
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: got her call back when she needed a dang job exactly.
• 43:13
  Speaker 3: I loved it. It was really inspiring, Yes, it was.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: It was I I yes, like I'm going out tonight
• 43:22
  Speaker 1: for met Gala just to like hit some after parties
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: and I'm about to head home to like wash the
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: carpet and stuff. But it made me even want to
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: do Like it's like I want to get into the
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: shits more. Like I'm doing well, but like you know,
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: I need to find a way a lot more time,
• 43:35
  Speaker 1: Like I just left with all these things on my
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: mind of like brown as your oyster, and you need
• 43:41
  Speaker 1: that reminder sometimes, especially at our big age, like it's
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: easy when you're young and you all you know, googly eye.
• 43:47
  Speaker 4: But yeah, the work continued. There's more to be accomplished.
• 43:53
  Speaker 4: So I'm inspired in every way. We're about to take
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: this to the next level.
• 43:57
  Speaker 2: So yes we are years no cheers with but cheers.
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: All right, y'alls.
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: So this has been another episode of the Latest with
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Laura LaRosa, the podcast and my low writers. I tell you, guys,
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: every single episode, y'all could be anywhere with any old body,
• 44:13
  Speaker 1: but y'all choose to be right here with me every
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: single episode.
• 44:17
  Speaker 2: And I appreciate you guys so much for that. Don't forget.
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: We have the Brown Girl Grinding merch at browngargrinding dot
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: com and for a limited time, if you use BGG
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: love l o v E at checkout, I'm showing y'
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: all some love and giving y'all some money off your products.
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: It's a little surprise, but only if you've watched or
• 44:34
  Speaker 1: listened to this podcast will you know that I'll catch
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: you guys in my next episode.