Latest / Eating While Broke / ASHLEY VERNER - Scrambled Eggs to Big Breaks
Transcript
- 0:13Speaker 1: Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke.
- 0:16Speaker 1: I'm your host, Colleen Wit and today we have very
- 0:19Speaker 1: special guest actress, writer, filmmaker, director. I didn't want to
- 0:25Speaker 1: add all those titles. I'm sorry. Ashley Versa is in
- 0:28Speaker 1: the building.
- 0:28Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, Hello, how are you doing? I'm good?
- 0:31Speaker 1: How are you good? I'm hungry? Really yeah, okay, even
- 0:34Speaker 1: though I did have like a bagel with lockspread.
- 0:37Speaker 2: You're hungry.
- 0:38Speaker 1: That was earlier. That was earlier.
- 0:40Speaker 2: Okay, that's fair, that's fair.
- 0:41Speaker 1: But yeah, semi hungry. Well, you had virtually one of
- 0:45Speaker 1: the cheapest dishes on the show, so it was very easy.
- 0:48Speaker 1: It was just like walk in, walk out. Why don't
- 0:51Speaker 1: you tell our listeners and our audience what are you
- 0:53Speaker 1: gonna have me eating today?
- 0:54Speaker 2: I'm going to be having you eat some eggs.
- 0:57Speaker 1: Eggs, plain and simple like eggs, salt, and pepper. And
- 1:01Speaker 1: you said olive oil, which you know we're gonna find
- 1:03Speaker 1: out what it's like to eat eggs and olive oil today.
- 1:06Speaker 1: You never did it. I don't think I've ever done it.
- 1:08Speaker 2: Okay, this is good. And the pepper is optional.
- 1:10Speaker 1: The pepper is optional? Sure, okay, she didn't even ask
- 1:13Speaker 1: for Lorry's guys, No start passing judgment eggs, you know what,
- 1:18Speaker 1: Believe it or not, there are some black folks out
- 1:20Speaker 1: there that have never seen regular salt. I truly believe this.
- 1:23Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect for Lorry's, though, so
- 1:25Speaker 2: I'm here for it. Yeah.
- 1:26Speaker 1: Yeah, Well, why don't you get in the kitchen start
- 1:29Speaker 1: cooking these eggs. What kind of eggs are you gonna
- 1:31Speaker 1: make today?
- 1:32Speaker 2: I'm just gonna make scrambled eggs.
- 1:33Speaker 1: Scrambled you can't miss it up?
- 1:35Speaker 2: Good? You can, but you can't.
- 1:38Speaker 1: We don't judge these eggs. Now.
- 1:39Speaker 2: How do you like your eggs?
- 1:40Speaker 1: I like them over medium?
- 1:44Speaker 2: Oh interesting? Okay, But I eat eggs.
- 1:47Speaker 1: Any which hard? No? I I to running sometimes it
- 1:51Speaker 1: depends what if I want a gooy mish a guy.
- 1:53Speaker 1: You know, if we got ash browns, do it running.
- 1:56Speaker 1: You know, if it's just like some sausage and eggs,
- 1:58Speaker 1: do it hard.
- 1:59Speaker 2: You know we're gonna make some eggs. That's gonna be exciting.
- 2:02Speaker 2: Go ahead, little nervous.
- 2:03Speaker 1: This simple dish. So I have a saying, the broker
- 2:06Speaker 1: the dish, the better the story. Oh okay. Now being
- 2:11Speaker 1: an actress, yeah, you know, give us some insight that
- 2:16Speaker 1: I'm sure. I'm sure it can't be.
- 2:17Speaker 2: You got it like it's getting, it's getting. It's the
- 2:19Speaker 2: stress is coming to me now.
- 2:21Speaker 1: Yeah, I just turned it off.
- 2:22Speaker 2: I know, I know later to go off. It needs
- 2:25Speaker 2: to go off. I was like, it's too much stress.
- 2:27Speaker 2: So we're gonna start slow. So we're cracking eggs. I'm
- 2:30Speaker 2: gonna just bang it on the counter, go for it.
- 2:31Speaker 2: Do we need a lesson in that? I don't think so.
- 2:33Speaker 1: No.
- 2:34Speaker 2: I've heard things though. People drop eggs. They drop them
- 2:36Speaker 2: on the counter to crack them perfectly.
- 2:38Speaker 1: Really, Yeah, from like a low height like.
- 2:41Speaker 2: They do that. Let's see and apparently it cracks nice. Really,
- 2:46Speaker 2: it's pretty nice. That's pretty nice.
- 2:47Speaker 1: I just like to do a nice crack, real hard
- 2:49Speaker 1: on the side of the pot of.
- 2:51Speaker 2: The Oh, you just like to It's that feels like
- 2:54Speaker 2: so like an emotional way of picking.
- 2:56Speaker 1: I like it.
- 2:57Speaker 2: You know, we don't have a rag, but I'll just
- 2:59Speaker 2: see a napkin.
- 3:01Speaker 1: Yeah you need a napkin.
- 3:03Speaker 2: Yeah, she's a napkin and white my hands off. So
- 3:04Speaker 2: this is part of the broken aspect, is getting all
- 3:07Speaker 2: the you're hilarious, Yeah, it's it might be breaking.
- 3:12Speaker 1: These eggs are like a dollar in egg.
- 3:16Speaker 2: I'm cooking for eggs. We're cooking all the eggs. It's protein,
- 3:19Speaker 2: it's proteins, fats, that's a whole meal.
- 3:22Speaker 1: Back in the day, actually living on how much How
- 3:24Speaker 1: much was the eggs back in the.
- 3:25Speaker 2: Day, I don't know, but they were super cheap because
- 3:27Speaker 2: I have a fond memory of the giant cart from
- 3:30Speaker 2: Costco of white eggs, white eggs.
- 3:34Speaker 1: Can you tell our listeners that little joke you made
- 3:36Speaker 1: about the brown eggs versus the white?
- 3:38Speaker 2: Oh, I don't know.
- 3:39Speaker 1: I told you it was so funny, she said. She
- 3:43Speaker 1: had said, so like I forbid we eat a white
- 3:45Speaker 1: egg or so something like that. Just so true because
- 3:49Speaker 1: when Moore shopping, I said, there's white eggs and brown
- 3:51Speaker 1: eggs just gonna look like real cheap eggs.
- 3:55Speaker 2: Everybody's freaking out about the eggs. It's getting real like
- 3:58Speaker 2: the soy and the eggs it's corn. You know. I
- 4:01Speaker 2: emailed some farms.
- 4:03Speaker 1: No, you did it, I did.
- 4:05Speaker 2: I emailed some farms because I was really curious about
- 4:07Speaker 2: this because everybody really started freaking out about the eggs.
- 4:09Speaker 2: So I was like, okay, what's up. We want eggs
- 4:12Speaker 2: with no soy with no corn. So I emailed some
- 4:14Speaker 2: farms and the farm said, listen, we do our best,
- 4:17Speaker 2: but it's really impossible to our next to impossible to
- 4:22Speaker 2: grow what we need or not grow I mean their eggs.
- 4:25Speaker 2: I guess they're being birth or whatever whatever, who knows
- 4:28Speaker 2: what that's called. But to get what we need, get
- 4:30Speaker 2: the amount that we need, it's impossible to just feed
- 4:33Speaker 2: them things that don't include any corn or soy. So
- 4:36Speaker 2: they do do some corn and soy substitutions. Yeah, I
- 4:41Speaker 2: emo two farms. They were so nice and they responded
- 4:49Speaker 2: some eggs okay, I thought about it. So there's one
- 4:50Speaker 2: in San Diego, but I was just too far to
- 4:52Speaker 2: drive from LA.
- 4:54Speaker 1: I have a girlfriend that goes online and she purchases
- 4:56Speaker 1: her eggs directly from the farms. And if you thought
- 5:00Speaker 1: seven dollars a carton or ten dollars a car was expensive,
- 5:03Speaker 1: good lord, she's spending like fifteen twenty dollars a carton. Yeah,
- 5:07Speaker 1: she's like, but they real I'm like, you might as
- 5:09Speaker 1: well just get some chickens for that. You know.
- 5:12Speaker 2: It's it's sad because eggs used to be really affordable,
- 5:15Speaker 2: and I think you're just.
- 5:17Speaker 1: Not now what are you gonna do if? Like, well,
- 5:19Speaker 1: I guess hopefully you never have to go back in
- 5:20Speaker 1: time to the eggs. But could you imagine being overoil
- 5:23Speaker 1: broke right now? And then you're like, damn, I don't
- 5:26Speaker 1: know what I'm gonna eat?
- 5:27Speaker 2: Who would you eat for breakfast? What do you do?
- 5:29Speaker 1: What would I do with my daughter? Every day?
- 5:31Speaker 2: What do you do? Cru But what kind of cereal?
- 5:35Speaker 1: The well we buy the expensive on name brand fruity
- 5:38Speaker 1: pebbles and all that, but a good we don't buy
- 5:41Speaker 1: her to knockoffs.
- 5:42Speaker 2: The goods, the good, fun tasting cereal.
- 5:45Speaker 1: When you grow up off the knockoffs, you never ever
- 5:48Speaker 1: ever want to go back. That's fair, you know. So
- 5:52Speaker 1: all right, take me back to what was going on
- 5:54Speaker 1: in this I need to survive on.
- 5:56Speaker 2: Eggs, you know. I don't know. I think I have
- 5:59Speaker 2: just general fun memories of breakfast. I grew up in
- 6:02Speaker 2: a house where my dad used to make breakfast for
- 6:05Speaker 2: us on like Saturday mornings. So he'd make pancakes, apples,
- 6:09Speaker 2: cinnamon like apples, like with cinnamon and sugar, like a whole,
- 6:12Speaker 2: like little compount kind of thing. He would do real apples,
- 6:15Speaker 2: yeahh he like slice them and everything. Yeah, in the morning.
- 6:18Speaker 2: I would just be like, he'd be like.
- 6:20Speaker 1: Yeah, but what do you put them into pancakes?
- 6:22Speaker 2: No, so you put them on top, so like a
- 6:24Speaker 2: whole separate thing. He'd make like the apples and cinnamon
- 6:27Speaker 2: and sugar and make a whole thing. So you have
- 6:28Speaker 2: like pancakes, apples, bacon, and then we'd have eggs.
- 6:31Speaker 1: And you came on this show and presented us with
- 6:34Speaker 1: just eggs. Got it. We had to live the full
- 6:37Speaker 1: broke experience. We couldn't live the daddy experience.
- 6:39Speaker 2: My parents weren't broke, okay, clearly, not clearly.
- 6:44Speaker 1: So you come from a two parent house.
- 6:46Speaker 2: I come from a two parent household where your daddy
- 6:48Speaker 2: makes good breakfast. My daddy is the cook in the house.
- 6:51Speaker 1: Oh he's the cook.
- 6:52Speaker 2: Yeah, he's the cook in the household.
- 6:53Speaker 1: How can we only cooked on the weekends the.
- 6:55Speaker 2: No, No, this is just like our weekend thing. So
- 6:57Speaker 2: Saturday mornings when I was a kid, he would make
- 6:59Speaker 2: like a fool like breakfast, like a full breakfast for us,
- 7:02Speaker 2: and we'd all like go downstairs and have breakfast, and
- 7:04Speaker 2: he'd like call up to us when breakfast was ready,
- 7:06Speaker 2: and then we'd go downstairs.
- 7:07Speaker 1: For breakfast and what was your mama doing during this sleeping?
- 7:11Speaker 2: Mom My mom worked really hard. They both worked really hard,
- 7:13Speaker 2: but she I think they had a really good I
- 7:15Speaker 2: think they had a really good balance in terms of like.
- 7:19Speaker 1: Like there was never a discussion about it, was just
- 7:21Speaker 1: like no.
- 7:22Speaker 2: Because I think, you know, my mom did like a
- 7:23Speaker 2: lot of like the pickups school, the school pickups and
- 7:25Speaker 2: like the after school activities because my dad couldn't do
- 7:28Speaker 2: it because of his job. And so I think like
- 7:30Speaker 2: also like cooking was like a way for him to
- 7:32Speaker 2: express his love for us too. So yeah, that's like
- 7:35Speaker 2: she'd be sleeping, we'd all he'd be like, breakfast is ready,
- 7:37Speaker 2: and we'd all like get up and go downstairs. It's
- 7:39Speaker 2: important you go downstairs right away though.
- 7:41Speaker 1: Yeah that was Anyone who cooks feels that way.
- 7:46Speaker 2: Yeah, dinner's ready, it's ready two minutes arrive.
- 7:50Speaker 1: Alrive, wash the hands, and it comes. Y. I can't
- 7:52Speaker 1: stand when I cook something and someone take thirty minutes
- 7:55Speaker 1: to get up off the couch, Like I just just mad.
- 7:59Speaker 2: Right, Yes I'm saying I'm not okay with it.
- 8:02Speaker 1: So all right, so what's going on during this egg's ear?
- 8:05Speaker 2: Okay, so that's like my beginner of that. And then
- 8:08Speaker 2: I think, honestly, I think probably when I first moved
- 8:13Speaker 2: back to Los Angeles, this is before I decided I
- 8:16Speaker 2: wanted to be an actor. I moved to Los Angeles.
- 8:19Speaker 2: I got a job at Kaiser Permanente, and I didn't
- 8:23Speaker 2: have any money.
- 8:24Speaker 1: What were you doing at Kaiser?
- 8:26Speaker 2: I worked in medical education at Kaiser Permanente on the
- 8:29Speaker 2: Kaiser on sunset, and I had no money, so I
- 8:32Speaker 2: used to buy I used to bit buy the soup
- 8:34Speaker 2: from the cafeteria with bread because it was super cheap,
- 8:37Speaker 2: like the I know it was cafeteria food, but whatever,
- 8:40Speaker 2: it was super cheap and and yeah, I would.
- 8:42Speaker 1: Eat evener even with a day job.
- 8:44Speaker 2: You were still broke, Yeah, I mean I was. I
- 8:47Speaker 2: was like young, and I was like trying to figure
- 8:49Speaker 2: it out, and and I didn't. I mean, I moved here,
- 8:51Speaker 2: so I didn't have money, like you know, when you first,
- 8:53Speaker 2: especially when you first get a job, you don't have
- 8:55Speaker 2: any money, Like you're like, can you please, just like,
- 8:57Speaker 2: can I get advance on the paycheck? Like that would
- 9:01Speaker 2: have been really great to get an advance of the paycheck.
- 9:04Speaker 1: I would love to see you do an actual ask
- 9:07Speaker 1: on that.
- 9:08Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that would have been I mean I did
- 9:09Speaker 2: ask for some things later and they were like maybe
- 9:12Speaker 2: not but and so that's I think that's probably like
- 9:16Speaker 2: when this really happened because I used to I used
- 9:17Speaker 2: to have an ex for breakfast.
- 9:20Speaker 1: And during this stay job, you said you didn't know
- 9:23Speaker 1: you were going to be an access to No.
- 9:24Speaker 2: I did not. I was still trying to figure out
- 9:26Speaker 2: what I wanted to do. I went to college, I did,
- 9:28Speaker 2: I did.
- 9:29Speaker 1: What did you go to college for?
- 9:31Speaker 2: I don't know what I went to college for? But
- 9:33Speaker 2: I did major in psychology. Why I went to college
- 9:40Speaker 2: is the strong There's so many questions, I guess because
- 9:42Speaker 2: you're supposed.
- 9:43Speaker 1: To did you did you complete?
- 9:45Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, I gratus.
- 9:46Speaker 1: Did you do it to make your parents happy?
- 9:49Speaker 2: No? I mean I think I always knew I would
- 9:50Speaker 2: go to college, but I was. I was so I
- 9:52Speaker 2: had been in the arts since from a very young age,
- 9:56Speaker 2: and I'm turn this off and I the artist is
- 10:01Speaker 2: really strange and challenging in a different way, and so
- 10:05Speaker 2: I think it was really hard to figure out where
- 10:07Speaker 2: I was gonna go. I was a musician for a
- 10:09Speaker 2: very long time, so what kind of musician violinist.
- 10:13Speaker 1: You're a violinist.
- 10:15Speaker 2: Yeah, for a really long time.
- 10:17Speaker 1: Damn, I wish I would have done that.
- 10:18Speaker 2: Okay, I think these eggs are done. Okay, are you
- 10:20Speaker 2: having violent?
- 10:21Speaker 1: Yes, I'm judging your eggs.
- 10:23Speaker 2: Eggs.
- 10:24Speaker 1: She cooked them. She was like folding.
- 10:25Speaker 2: You're judging my eggs.
- 10:27Speaker 1: She was folding. I don't know if the inside is
- 10:28Speaker 1: gonna even be cooked.
- 10:30Speaker 2: It's gonna be a little runny. You said you like
- 10:31Speaker 2: it a little creamy.
- 10:32Speaker 1: I've never had you.
- 10:35Speaker 2: We see do you see these? No? You can see
- 10:38Speaker 2: them now.
- 10:40Speaker 1: We judging a cooking. Do you cook now?
- 10:42Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 10:43Speaker 1: Cooking?
- 10:44Speaker 2: Okay, I really can cook.
- 10:46Speaker 1: Okay, we're gonna She didn't put salt or pepper.
- 10:49Speaker 2: No, because you can't taste it if you put it
- 10:50Speaker 2: in that while you're cooking it. So you put it
- 10:52Speaker 2: in afterwards and you can do it on your own.
- 10:55Speaker 2: How very much you like? Eggs are done?
- 10:59Speaker 1: I'm actually did you eat?
- 11:03Speaker 2: I had some turkey? Turkey and a baby bell.
- 11:07Speaker 1: A baby bell.
- 11:08Speaker 2: Yeah, you know me, those little cheese things. Yeah? Oh
- 11:11Speaker 2: my god, are you on an actress type diet? No? No,
- 11:14Speaker 2: I was just like pulling my life together this morning.
- 11:18Speaker 1: All right, let's do a taste test. I added salt
- 11:21Speaker 1: and pepper. She just added salt. Guys, really good action.
- 11:29Speaker 2: Thanks. I'd be okay if you didn't like them. I've
- 11:32Speaker 2: never actually had fluffy eggs like this. You know that's
- 11:35Speaker 2: not this fluffy. I will say, I think butter would
- 11:36Speaker 2: be better because it adds more to the flavor, as
- 11:38Speaker 2: you know, because you cooked with so much butter, which
- 11:40Speaker 2: is amazing. But I do think the technique is the fluffy.
- 11:44Speaker 1: Do you know what's crazy is that I always think
- 11:46Speaker 1: you have to like overcook the eggs. This is pretty good.
- 11:51Speaker 1: I'm actually impressed with your I was judging. I was like,
- 11:54Speaker 1: oh lord, I'm not eating these. Oh one, don't. I'm
- 12:01Speaker 1: in a breakfast at your house. This is the most
- 12:04Speaker 1: fluffiest restaurant style scrambled eggs I've had. Thank you. Yeah.
- 12:09Speaker 2: Oops, that's makes stuck.
- 12:10Speaker 1: Yeah. So okay. So you're at g Eyser, you're working.
- 12:14Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 12:15Speaker 1: Are you doing roommates?
- 12:17Speaker 2: No? So okay, okay. Yes. So I had a friend
- 12:19Speaker 2: of mine who let me live in her living room.
- 12:24Speaker 1: I love LA. When I first moved there, I did
- 12:28Speaker 1: the same thing. I was living in someone's squatting in
- 12:30Speaker 1: the living room.
- 12:30Speaker 2: Yeah, I was living there. She had like a twin
- 12:32Speaker 2: size bed in the living room. Yeah, I got a bed.
- 12:35Speaker 1: I got a bed.
- 12:35Speaker 2: She had a twin saxes bed in living room. And
- 12:37Speaker 2: she let me live there for like a while, Like
- 12:40Speaker 2: she didn't really actually like tell me I had to leave.
- 12:43Speaker 2: But eventually I was in traffic coming home from Hollywood
- 12:47Speaker 2: to Westchester and it was Christmas time and it took
- 12:52Speaker 2: me like two hours to get home, and I was like,
- 12:54Speaker 2: I have to move.
- 12:55Speaker 1: Where in LA?
- 12:56Speaker 2: Did she live Westchester by the airport. It shouldn't have
- 12:59Speaker 2: taken it long, but it was Christmas time, and you know,
- 13:00Speaker 2: especially like at this this is pre pandemic. So like
- 13:04Speaker 2: the traffic was just like remarkable.
- 13:06Speaker 1: Did you drive during the pandemic? Wasn't it nice? So
- 13:09Speaker 1: like so everywhere where'd you go?
- 13:11Speaker 2: I was in New York at first, and then I
- 13:14Speaker 2: was in I lived in New York for a one time,
- 13:16Speaker 2: and then I was in Hollywood, No, no, New York.
- 13:18Speaker 2: I was in New Orleans, and then I was in
- 13:21Speaker 2: South Carolina and then and then La.
- 13:24Speaker 1: All during the pandemic. I know New York. I had
- 13:26Speaker 1: met like people were terrified in New York.
- 13:29Speaker 2: Yeah, it was rough.
- 13:29Speaker 1: They were like, there's dead buddies. It was not. They'd
- 13:34Speaker 1: be like pizza, drop it and drop it by the door,
- 13:36Speaker 1: you know. I like the trackway.
- 13:38Speaker 2: We did the clapping at seven o'clock, like you go
- 13:40Speaker 2: to the window and you clap to feel like, you know,
- 13:42Speaker 2: like community and in unity. It was bad. It was
- 13:46Speaker 2: such a bad time. It was so bad. I had
- 13:49Speaker 2: COVID early on. My husband and I both had COVID
- 13:52Speaker 2: at the beginning. Dang, yeah, it was not people were
- 13:55Speaker 2: being in the afterwards. My friends were like, we we
- 13:58Speaker 2: didn't want to tell you how bad you guys look.
- 14:00Speaker 2: We were deeply concerned. It was hard. It was so hard.
- 14:05Speaker 1: You know what's fucked is that if you got COVID,
- 14:07Speaker 1: you had to live in like quarantine, live.
- 14:09Speaker 2: In a New York SIDS apartment. I didn't know how
- 14:12Speaker 2: small my apartment was until I moved to Los Angeles,
- 14:14Speaker 2: but it was incredibly small. I found myself standing on
- 14:19Speaker 2: like the fake fire escape balcony, like yelling to people.
- 14:22Speaker 2: I didn't know, just to say hi to people. I
- 14:26Speaker 2: just really like I need I'm not an extrovert, but
- 14:29Speaker 2: I really needed some alternate human.
- 14:40Speaker 1: All right. So going back to Kaiser. You're chilling on
- 14:44Speaker 1: this twin match tw twin bed in this living room.
- 14:47Speaker 1: You're working a day job. I'm guessing you're making probably
- 14:50Speaker 1: like ten dollars an hour at this point because you're
- 14:52Speaker 1: struggling still.
- 14:53Speaker 2: No, I made I made pretty good money. I will
- 14:55Speaker 2: say that it wasn't that bad.
- 14:57Speaker 1: What were you spending your money on?
- 14:59Speaker 2: I mean I literally know, Okay, when I was when
- 15:03Speaker 2: I was first on the twin I was like just
- 15:05Speaker 2: like saving money to put money together. So so like
- 15:09Speaker 2: maybe I spent my probably you know, actually I think
- 15:11Speaker 2: I spent a lot of money on food, like ordering out.
- 15:13Speaker 2: I think I ordered out a lot.
- 15:15Speaker 1: And then in addition to your soup.
- 15:17Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that was real. I really ate that soup.
- 15:21Speaker 2: And then maybe six months later, I think, or something
- 15:24Speaker 2: like that is when Christmas came, and then I was like, okay,
- 15:26Speaker 2: I'm going to move, and then I had money to
- 15:29Speaker 2: go and be like okay, great, I'm going to move
- 15:31Speaker 2: into my own apartment. And I think that's when real
- 15:36Speaker 2: struggle entered. I'm trying to remember the timeline. No, I
- 15:44Speaker 2: had a roommate. Oh my god, forgot about that. So
- 15:46Speaker 2: I had a roommate. I went and moved into another
- 15:48Speaker 2: apartment with a roommate. And then that was that was
- 15:52Speaker 2: so strange. But then around that timeframe is when I
- 15:56Speaker 2: was like I wanted to pursue I wanted to become
- 15:58Speaker 2: an actor on that time and what started that, I
- 16:03Speaker 2: was taking classes that you say like extension, and I
- 16:06Speaker 2: was really like interested in communication because I was just
- 16:08Speaker 2: it's such a nightmare when you're trying to figure out
- 16:10Speaker 2: what you want to do and there's a lot of
- 16:12Speaker 2: there's so many outside voices I think, just throughout your
- 16:14Speaker 2: whole life about what you're going to do career wise.
- 16:18Speaker 2: And this woman came in there. I saw her like
- 16:20Speaker 2: a month ago. Actually, this woman came in there who
- 16:23Speaker 2: is an actress, and it was like a mock interview
- 16:25Speaker 2: that they were trying to teach us, and she just
- 16:27Speaker 2: like told a little bit of her story and like
- 16:29Speaker 2: I don't know, the inside of my body just like
- 16:31Speaker 2: caught fire, and I was like, oh my god, I
- 16:34Speaker 2: gotta go talk to her. I have to go talk
- 16:36Speaker 2: to her. So like she left the class and I
- 16:38Speaker 2: like ran after her and I was like, hey, can
- 16:41Speaker 2: you tell me like how to do what you're doing?
- 16:44Speaker 2: Like what do I do? And that was kind of
- 16:47Speaker 2: the real like beginning of like that of me taking
- 16:50Speaker 2: action towards that, and then like the pursuit of acting
- 16:54Speaker 2: is incredibly expensive, so it's like you're taking classes, you
- 16:58Speaker 2: get headshots, and you're just kind of trying to figure
- 16:59Speaker 2: the whole thing out. So I think, like I wasn't
- 17:02Speaker 2: making a lot of money, So yeah, I think that's
- 17:07Speaker 2: kind of where it was going a bit. Eventually. Eventually,
- 17:10Speaker 2: like a lot of my money that was making was
- 17:11Speaker 2: going to like me taking acting classes and that sort
- 17:14Speaker 2: of thing.
- 17:14Speaker 1: And did you tell your family right away that that's
- 17:16Speaker 1: what you were going to pursue.
- 17:18Speaker 2: So I decided that I was going to pursue that,
- 17:21Speaker 2: and then I took I signed up for an intro
- 17:24Speaker 2: to Acting class. I took the class. The last class,
- 17:29Speaker 2: we did that scene from Love and Basketball where it's
- 17:33Speaker 2: Annihilathan and Alfre Witter in the kitchen when she's when
- 17:37Speaker 2: she's an adult, and there was a casting director in
- 17:40Speaker 2: there from CBS who I don't I have no idea
- 17:42Speaker 2: who that man is, but he I did the scene.
- 17:45Speaker 2: We did the scene with my scene partner, and he
- 17:46Speaker 2: was like, she was a seasoned, older black actress and
- 17:49Speaker 2: she was amazing. And he was like, have you acted before?
- 17:51Speaker 2: And I was like no, and he was like, so
- 17:53Speaker 2: it was your first time doing this thing? And I
- 17:55Speaker 2: was like yeah, and he was like okay, and you
- 17:57Speaker 2: like it? And I was like yeah, and he was
- 18:00Speaker 2: like I'm here, aren't I And it was like okay,
- 18:04Speaker 2: keep doing it. Oh, And I was like okay. And
- 18:07Speaker 2: then I left class and I called my mom.
- 18:10Speaker 1: Oh and that's when you told me.
- 18:10Speaker 2: That's when I told my mom, Yeah, okay. Yeah.
- 18:13Speaker 1: So then what does the next year look like for you?
- 18:16Speaker 1: Is it all roses and tulips? No?
- 18:19Speaker 2: I mean, I think because I had a job, I
- 18:21Speaker 2: was a little fortunate in that regard that I didn't
- 18:23Speaker 2: feel I didn't feel like deeply destitute. But I think
- 18:27Speaker 2: it was incredibly challenging because I think my my my
- 18:31Speaker 2: want to pursue acting was something that was always it
- 18:33Speaker 2: was always there my whole life. But then over the
- 18:36Speaker 2: next year it just really I keep saying this, but
- 18:39Speaker 2: it really caught fire. And so I ended up like
- 18:42Speaker 2: taking classes out of conservatory, you know, so then that's
- 18:44Speaker 2: a whole thing, and then you then I started to
- 18:47Speaker 2: meet like other actors and like found myself in this
- 18:50Speaker 2: community where I felt like, oh my god, I belong here,
- 18:53Speaker 2: like I just belong. And I think a lot of
- 18:56Speaker 2: my life I didn't feel like that. And then learning
- 19:00Speaker 2: so much about the craft and just learning to and
- 19:03Speaker 2: then falling in love with it because I think that's
- 19:05Speaker 2: an important part. And then I think once that happened,
- 19:08Speaker 2: it was really hard to have my job. It was
- 19:11Speaker 2: really hard to.
- 19:12Speaker 1: Have my dayta it sounds like you're about to quit.
- 19:14Speaker 2: Yeah, so did you? Well, So what happened was I
- 19:17Speaker 2: got to this place where I met my Actually it's
- 19:20Speaker 2: so crazy, he's like currently my acting coach. Where I
- 19:24Speaker 2: met him and I went to him for some advice
- 19:26Speaker 2: and I was like, you know, I'm really interested in
- 19:28Speaker 2: going to New York and like doing like the full
- 19:30Speaker 2: on conservatory program and like what do you think? And
- 19:33Speaker 2: we had like a conversation about it, and he was like, yeah,
- 19:35Speaker 2: you know, I think I think this is the right
- 19:36Speaker 2: step for you based on X, Y and Z and
- 19:39Speaker 2: knowing me and my work at that moment in time.
- 19:41Speaker 2: And so I like was auditioning lightly, right, So I've
- 19:45Speaker 2: done like these weird little random things and then I
- 19:47Speaker 2: got this audition to do a show Buddy the Buddy
- 19:50Speaker 2: Holly Story, which is kind of like a musical presentation show,
- 19:54Speaker 2: and you needed they needed someone who could act, sing
- 19:57Speaker 2: and dance.
- 20:00Speaker 1: Oh well, I was gonna say, luckily you have that
- 20:03Speaker 1: musician background and play the violin is okay.
- 20:07Speaker 2: So I was like, all right. So I had to
- 20:09Speaker 2: do three tapes for my audition. I think I had
- 20:11Speaker 2: to sing, I had to play the violin, and then
- 20:13Speaker 2: I had to do a scene I think in my audition.
- 20:15Speaker 2: So I sent it in and I, you know, I'm
- 20:17Speaker 2: still working at Kaiser in my cubicle and crying in
- 20:19Speaker 2: the whole way. And then I booked it and it
- 20:22Speaker 2: was I was like, holy shit, that's crazy.
- 20:26Speaker 1: But it was in New York.
- 20:27Speaker 2: It was in Rock Island, Illinois.
- 20:29Speaker 1: Oh yeah, how long would you have to be there?
- 20:32Speaker 2: For a couple of months?
- 20:36Speaker 1: Gosh, I can only imagine how great that feeling was
- 20:39Speaker 1: also probably surrounded by oh, how am I going to
- 20:41Speaker 1: do this?
- 20:41Speaker 2: Right? Yeah? Yeah, oh for sure? And so I was
- 20:44Speaker 2: like okay, And I think I told my mom and
- 20:46Speaker 2: I was like, I'm just going to ask them. She
- 20:49Speaker 2: was like, just ask them if they'll give you like
- 20:50Speaker 2: a leave, like a leave of like a I don't know,
- 20:53Speaker 2: like a leave of asking or something like that, right
- 20:54Speaker 2: when I was like, okay, cool. So at the same
- 20:58Speaker 2: time I'm there, I was also so I interviewed for
- 21:00Speaker 2: this really this job at Kaiser to be the internal
- 21:04Speaker 2: medicine actually just as residency coordinator, which is which is
- 21:08Speaker 2: a big job. It's a big job because it's heavily
- 21:11Speaker 2: regulated in terms of like what you need to make
- 21:14Speaker 2: sure happens, and it's really about like the residence and
- 21:16Speaker 2: then going through their residency program. And I'm sure I
- 21:18Speaker 2: paid more, right, Yes, it paid more money, and it
- 21:20Speaker 2: was a big job. And so I interviewed for the job.
- 21:24Speaker 2: I got the job, and then I also got it
- 21:26Speaker 2: for internal medicine, which was the hardest and the biggest
- 21:28Speaker 2: one to do, and like you know high like you know,
- 21:31Speaker 2: high value or whatever, right, And I.
- 21:33Speaker 1: Got the job before you got the audition.
- 21:36Speaker 2: I think I got the job. It all happened kind
- 21:38Speaker 2: of at the same time. So I got the job,
- 21:42Speaker 2: and so then and I guess so I like booked
- 21:45Speaker 2: it and I got the job, right, And so let's
- 21:46Speaker 2: say like Friday, I got the job and I was like, okay, shit,
- 21:50Speaker 2: I don't know if I can curse you okay. So
- 21:53Speaker 2: I got the job and then I like took the
- 21:55Speaker 2: weekend and then I came to work on Monday, and
- 21:57Speaker 2: then I went to the director and I was like, hey,
- 22:01Speaker 2: I can't take this job.
- 22:03Speaker 1: You can't thought you were going to do a little stall. No.
- 22:05Speaker 2: I was like, I don't. I can't teach this job
- 22:06Speaker 2: because I don't want to do this. I just really
- 22:08Speaker 2: want to be an actor. And so anyway, like I
- 22:11Speaker 2: asked them for a leave and they were like, we'll
- 22:13Speaker 2: think about it, give us a minute, and then I
- 22:16Speaker 2: came to work. This was a little time after I
- 22:18Speaker 2: came to work, and then they were like okay. They
- 22:21Speaker 2: pulled me into a meeting and they were like, listen,
- 22:22Speaker 2: we're not going to give you the leave and I
- 22:24Speaker 2: said okay, and they were like okay, well what are
- 22:26Speaker 2: you going to do? And I was like, oh, this
- 22:28Speaker 2: is my two week notice.
- 22:30Speaker 1: Did you do it like that too?
- 22:31Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 22:34Speaker 1: Oh surprise bitch.
- 22:35Speaker 2: As I'm out, probably I was like, oh, this is
- 22:38Speaker 2: my two weeks.
- 22:39Speaker 1: Not They probably thought they were going to like game
- 22:40Speaker 1: check you and then you gain.
- 22:42Speaker 2: I do think it was a little bit like that.
- 22:43Speaker 2: I think it was a bit much like and now
- 22:45Speaker 2: that I'm remembering more acurate. These things happened over a
- 22:48Speaker 2: period of months, so I so I got like the
- 22:50Speaker 2: job offer was first, and then there was some months
- 22:52Speaker 2: in between that, and then this happened, and so yeah,
- 22:55Speaker 2: I think they really thought that I was going to say, Okay, hey,
- 23:00Speaker 2: I won't go, and I was like, no, no, like
- 23:03Speaker 2: I'm gonna go one hundred percent. Yeah, And that was
- 23:06Speaker 2: really like the kickoff.
- 23:09Speaker 1: I want to know, like, did you you already prepared
- 23:11Speaker 1: for the possibility of walking obviously? Yeah.
- 23:15Speaker 2: I think I was just like was always that person
- 23:18Speaker 2: a bit in a good way.
- 23:22Speaker 1: I love your personality though, like, oh yeah, what's my
- 23:27Speaker 1: I'm out?
- 23:28Speaker 2: Simple?
- 23:29Speaker 1: So you go to New York, well Rochester, Rocky, Illinois.
- 23:33Speaker 1: Sorry sorry no, I So you go over there and
- 23:37Speaker 1: you're doing this and at some point, do you what
- 23:40Speaker 1: are the motions saying to you? I mean, you risked
- 23:42Speaker 1: a lot to be there, and did you pack up
- 23:44Speaker 1: your apartment or you.
- 23:45Speaker 2: Just oh yeah. So I sublet my apartment to this writer,
- 23:48Speaker 2: a TV writer. I sublet my apartment. I sold like
- 23:51Speaker 2: my TV and some of the stuff in it to him,
- 23:53Speaker 2: and then I went to my parents' house for because
- 23:55Speaker 2: it was around Christmas time. I went to my parents'
- 23:57Speaker 2: house around Chrismas time and they I was there. I
- 24:00Speaker 2: did Christmas, and then January like first or something. I
- 24:03Speaker 2: took a plane. They had a ticket, so I took
- 24:05Speaker 2: a plane to Illinois.
- 24:06Speaker 1: And they put you up and everything.
- 24:07Speaker 2: Yeah, they put us up all in the house and
- 24:09Speaker 2: stuff like that.
- 24:09Speaker 1: Oh my goodness.
- 24:10Speaker 2: Yeah. So it was the paid good No, no, but
- 24:13Speaker 2: it was it was fine for what it was like, Yeah,
- 24:15Speaker 2: my you know, my job was being here and just
- 24:17Speaker 2: like doing this show. It was dinner theater. This theater
- 24:21Speaker 2: called I think it's called circa circa twenty one. I
- 24:23Speaker 2: think it's what it's called dinner theater type of thing.
- 24:26Speaker 2: It's just such a really great place to like have
- 24:29Speaker 2: that introduction for me, like someone like me who was like,
- 24:32Speaker 2: I don't know what this is.
- 24:32Speaker 1: But the reason why I ask about the pay and
- 24:34Speaker 1: all that is because you walked away from oh money, yeah,
- 24:38Speaker 1: stability right, oh yeah, and then you close down your apartment. Yes,
- 24:41Speaker 1: so after wraps and top of little pay, what's your
- 24:45Speaker 1: next play?
- 24:46Speaker 2: I took my little four one care I took it.
- 24:51Speaker 1: I'm gambling at all I did. I gambled it all
- 24:55Speaker 1: on this career. I took it k the tour wraps.
- 25:00Speaker 1: Then what I moved to New York? Then you moved
- 25:03Speaker 1: to Oh you up the anti suicide she said. So
- 25:09Speaker 1: she said, Oh if I thought La was hard, because
- 25:12Speaker 1: no disrespect to La, but New York has got to
- 25:14Speaker 1: be ten times harder.
- 25:15Speaker 2: Yeah, it is.
- 25:16Speaker 1: It's fair. Everyone there lives in a cracker box. I
- 25:18Speaker 1: make jokes all the time. You can't really move to
- 25:20Speaker 1: New York broke because like, there's not a lot of
- 25:22Speaker 1: people that are gonna put you up for a long
- 25:23Speaker 1: period of time. No, not in a place that you
- 25:26Speaker 1: could touch the wall.
- 25:27Speaker 2: Yes, so my I have. I had a lot of
- 25:29Speaker 2: family who lived in New York at the time. My
- 25:31Speaker 2: Ti La Grain lived in New York. I did not
- 25:35Speaker 2: even recall meeting her, but my my mom called and
- 25:39Speaker 2: I was like. She was like, you can live your
- 25:41Speaker 2: tea And I was like, okay, great, And so I
- 25:44Speaker 2: talked to her and she was like, okay, this is
- 25:46Speaker 2: what you do when you get in a taxi. You
- 25:48Speaker 2: tell them to go here, don't let them trick you,
- 25:51Speaker 2: and you come here and then you're good. And I
- 25:53Speaker 2: walked in her house with my two giant suitcases, and
- 25:55Speaker 2: she was like, Hi, this is your room.
- 25:58Speaker 1: That's your mom's sister.
- 25:59Speaker 2: No, it's my mom cousin. So my I'm my part
- 26:02Speaker 2: of my family's frum indoors and so a lot of
- 26:04Speaker 2: that part of my family lived and grew up in
- 26:06Speaker 2: New York. So it is my like, my mom's probably
- 26:08Speaker 2: like second or second cousin, I think, or something like that.
- 26:12Speaker 1: Because you said ta, I thought that meant like she's
- 26:14Speaker 1: she's it is she's she's at that point in that
- 26:16Speaker 1: age difference, she's she's my aunt.
- 26:19Speaker 2: Oh good god, yeah, like respect, that's funny.
- 26:22Speaker 1: Yeah, so surprised she's solely solely supportive, like.
- 26:25Speaker 2: She's yeah, she she passed away like during COVID but
- 26:29Speaker 2: she sorry, I'm going to pull myself together.
- 26:31Speaker 1: Go ahead.
- 26:32Speaker 2: But she incredibly supportive, Like I couldn't have done any
- 26:37Speaker 2: of it without her.
- 26:38Speaker 1: Wow, how long did you get to stay with her?
- 26:40Speaker 2: I stayed with her probably for like two years something
- 26:43Speaker 2: like that, around probably around two years. I think that
- 26:45Speaker 2: feels like like a right number. Yeah.
- 26:48Speaker 1: And then during this whole New York trial, you're doing
- 26:52Speaker 1: the conservative.
- 26:52Speaker 2: Ships in the territory. Yeah, I'm doing the like again, Yeah,
- 26:56Speaker 2: I know, I'm fine. Sorry, I don't haven't pulled to
- 26:58Speaker 2: this story.
- 26:59Speaker 1: No. Like, yeah, so during the two years you're you're
- 27:03Speaker 1: pursuing the conservative.
- 27:04Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm in the conservatory program, which is like super rigorous.
- 27:07Speaker 1: Can you explain what that is exactly?
- 27:09Speaker 2: Yeah. So it's like and it's it's it's an alternative
- 27:11Speaker 2: to grad school essentially, and basically, so if you're doing
- 27:14Speaker 2: like the whole shebang, you probably are doing like and
- 27:17Speaker 2: your general like acting class and whatever that method is
- 27:20Speaker 2: that's taught at that conservatory, and then you're doing probably
- 27:22Speaker 2: a movement, voice speech, Shakespeare, probably script analysis, theater history,
- 27:27Speaker 2: film history, those kinds of things. It is. That's why
- 27:30Speaker 2: it's really is like the conservatory word is like really
- 27:33Speaker 2: perfect because it's it's a heavily concentrated thing that you're doing.
- 27:36Speaker 2: It runs just like a school year runs, so you
- 27:38Speaker 2: have like the summers off and then in the summers
- 27:39Speaker 2: if you want to do something you can. Yeah, it's
- 27:42Speaker 2: a lot.
- 27:42Speaker 1: It was hard after going through a conservatory. Do you
- 27:45Speaker 1: look at actors that say, I didn't do acting class
- 27:48Speaker 1: and I just did it a do you look at
- 27:49Speaker 1: them a little different?
- 27:50Speaker 2: No? No, I think I think maybe you could or
- 27:54Speaker 2: I could have right after, but at this point, no, like,
- 27:57Speaker 2: oh my god, this job is so hard. The career
- 28:01Speaker 2: is just so hard. And I think if you find
- 28:02Speaker 2: it however, it comes to you. You know, there's people
- 28:05Speaker 2: who are like who are like, I've never done an
- 28:07Speaker 2: acting class, but it's acting saved my life. Like I
- 28:10Speaker 2: don't have no judgment in any of that.
- 28:12Speaker 1: And then when you watch movies, do you look at
- 28:15Speaker 1: movies differently?
- 28:17Speaker 2: I think that that someone that came with just like
- 28:20Speaker 2: training and you know, being being an actor and then
- 28:24Speaker 2: becoming a filmmaker like that. But I like at them
- 28:26Speaker 2: differently and just in a really fun way. Like so
- 28:30Speaker 2: I think I just like engage a little bit differently,
- 28:32Speaker 2: Like I'm so curious about like like I had.
- 28:34Speaker 1: In my head.
- 28:35Speaker 2: There's like tiny, tiny moments of movies or TV shows
- 28:39Speaker 2: that like sit there because I just think they're phenomenal. Okay,
- 28:43Speaker 2: Like what there's this, Okay, there's this scene in this
- 28:46Speaker 2: show Downton Abbey. There's a scene in the beginning of
- 28:48Speaker 2: the show where one of the this guy is becoming
- 28:52Speaker 2: a butler for this new guy, and the new guy
- 28:54Speaker 2: is very like I don't like any of this, and
- 28:56Speaker 2: they have this back and forth and he the new guy,
- 28:58Speaker 2: says like something like to him like, I don't like,
- 29:01Speaker 2: you know, something like what kind of what kind of
- 29:02Speaker 2: man has a job where he has addressed another man
- 29:04Speaker 2: for a living. And the reaction.
- 29:07Speaker 1: That the butler has is just phenomenal.
- 29:11Speaker 2: Oh my god. I was like, that's just like he
- 29:14Speaker 2: had because he's you can see he's he has he's
- 29:17Speaker 2: holding all of this and he's also like like experiencing
- 29:20Speaker 2: this moment of being oh like you know, demoralized. But
- 29:23Speaker 2: he and it just all shows up in his face.
- 29:25Speaker 2: It's such a beautiful, tiny moment and stuff like that.
- 29:30Speaker 1: Shout out to him. Yeah, a great acting job. Going
- 29:34Speaker 1: back to your story, though, you complete the Conservative Tours,
- 29:37Speaker 1: Conservative Conservatory, Conservatory yeah ship no no, yeah, yeah, yeah,
- 29:44Speaker 1: you complete it. Yes, you kill it within under two
- 29:47Speaker 1: years as a year two years. Yeah, and then you
- 29:50Speaker 1: come back to l A.
- 29:51Speaker 2: No. I stayed in New York and then I was like,
- 29:54Speaker 2: I'm gonna do this, ah, and I just like auditioned
- 29:57Speaker 2: for everything.
- 29:58Speaker 1: But now you said you're you're well, I guess I
- 30:03Speaker 1: don't know the timeline because your auntie you said, pastor
- 30:05Speaker 1: in COVID. Yeah, so did she? So she there must
- 30:09Speaker 1: have been a big gap between when you moved.
- 30:11Speaker 2: There and yeah covid, yes, yes there was.
- 30:14Speaker 1: Okay, So were you staying with her the whole time?
- 30:16Speaker 2: No, I was with her for two years, and then
- 30:18Speaker 2: at the point my apartment, my partner and I moved
- 30:21Speaker 2: in together. And so that that's.
- 30:22Speaker 1: You were like a New Yorker.
- 30:24Speaker 2: No, not a New Yorker. But but he's in New
- 30:28Speaker 2: Yorker at heart?
- 30:29Speaker 1: Where is he from?
- 30:30Speaker 2: A bit all over?
- 30:32Speaker 1: But did you meet in New York?
- 30:33Speaker 2: Oh?
- 30:33Speaker 1: Okay, okay, so y'all move in?
- 30:35Speaker 2: So you fell in love, fell in love, fell in
- 30:37Speaker 2: love in New York.
- 30:38Speaker 1: Yeah, and then you move in together. You complete it
- 30:49Speaker 1: and both y'all are you're still not working a real job?
- 30:53Speaker 2: No? So okay. So throughout the conservatory program, I worked
- 30:56Speaker 2: as a waitress. I was a server.
- 30:58Speaker 1: I think that's the hardest job in the world.
- 31:01Speaker 2: It was so hard. I have so much respect. It
- 31:03Speaker 2: was so hard.
- 31:04Speaker 1: So fast food gets all the respects in my book.
- 31:06Speaker 1: I'm sorry, God, fast food jobs I can do.
- 31:10Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was. I was a cocktail waitress, and
- 31:13Speaker 2: then I was also a server. I worked at like
- 31:15Speaker 2: a hotel lobby, bar, I worked at another lobby bar
- 31:18Speaker 2: I worked at STK Meatpacking, which was crazy. I worked
- 31:22Speaker 2: all at the places all during all this, so I
- 31:24Speaker 2: worked at all these different places. And then towards the
- 31:26Speaker 2: end of my be finishing the conservatory program is when
- 31:29Speaker 2: I went to babysitting. I used to babysit years before.
- 31:33Speaker 2: I loved it. Though I loved it, I never had
- 31:36Speaker 2: a bad day, you know. I just felt like I
- 31:38Speaker 2: never had a day where it ended, and I thought
- 31:40Speaker 2: it was horrible.
- 31:41Speaker 1: Really with babysitting. How old were the kids?
- 31:43Speaker 2: So my preference was like two and up. Okay, the
- 31:46Speaker 2: family I was with the longest, they were four and
- 31:49Speaker 2: I think seven when I started welcome and they were amazing. Okay,
- 31:54Speaker 2: all right, So that's what I did. I mean, not
- 31:56Speaker 2: a lot of money because it's babysitting.
- 31:58Speaker 1: But babysitters, by the way, make good money.
- 32:02Speaker 2: No they do, they do? They do. I mean I
- 32:03Speaker 2: was making I was making not terrible money. But it
- 32:06Speaker 2: was also the beginning of that me read you know,
- 32:09Speaker 2: starting that again. And so I wasn't making bad money,
- 32:12Speaker 2: but it wasn't I wasn't full time, you know. And
- 32:14Speaker 2: but there there are the jobs that are like great
- 32:17Speaker 2: full time benefits and everything, but I wasn't full time.
- 32:19Speaker 2: It was part time babysitter. And that's how that's how live.
- 32:22Speaker 1: And then you're auditioning the whole time.
- 32:24Speaker 2: Yes, and then auditioning the whole time booking like I
- 32:26Speaker 2: was doing, like like off off off Broadway theater, like
- 32:29Speaker 2: so like black Box Theater and that type of stuff,
- 32:31Speaker 2: web series and you know, just the feilt short film,
- 32:33Speaker 2: anything like that you could do, which I learned a
- 32:35Speaker 2: lot of lessons in. Maybe not everything you can do
- 32:38Speaker 2: you should or could do, but yeah, that's what I
- 32:40Speaker 2: was doing.
- 32:41Speaker 1: That was the most intriguing lesson you learned during that era.
- 32:46Speaker 2: Hmmm. I think it was when you when you I
- 32:49Speaker 2: don't know if it's intriguing, but when you finish, when
- 32:51Speaker 2: you finish, school, conservatory, whatever.
- 32:54Speaker 1: Right.
- 32:55Speaker 2: There's a lot of rhetoric of like, you know, audition
- 32:58Speaker 2: for everything, hmm, and to some degree I agree with that,
- 33:03Speaker 2: But I also found myself in situations that were not
- 33:05Speaker 2: healthy and that were dangerous, and so I think maybe
- 33:11Speaker 2: not audition for everything, auditioned maybe for most things, and
- 33:16Speaker 2: you know, stantinto's down while you think that something's out
- 33:20Speaker 2: on line and.
- 33:21Speaker 1: Walk away what's an example of like a situation you
- 33:23Speaker 1: put yourself into that was like unhealthy or not safe. Yeah.
- 33:28Speaker 2: I had I had booked this play and I had
- 33:32Speaker 2: gone to the first rehearsal, which was more of like
- 33:34Speaker 2: just kind of read through type of like vibes, and
- 33:38Speaker 2: I remember that the character I was going to play
- 33:40Speaker 2: was in a very abusive relationship. And I had asked
- 33:43Speaker 2: the director, Hey, so there's some physical violence that happens
- 33:49Speaker 2: to the character in the play. Are we going to
- 33:53Speaker 2: like fight choreo this, you know, and walk through this
- 33:57Speaker 2: and da da da da. And the director was like, no, no,
- 34:01Speaker 2: he's just gonna grab you and pull you across stage.
- 34:03Speaker 2: It's like, okay, sh that seems like a bad plan
- 34:10Speaker 2: and really dangerous like physically and emotionally and mentally and everything.
- 34:15Speaker 2: And that was a show. I was like went home
- 34:17Speaker 2: and I was like I'm out, thank you so much.
- 34:20Speaker 2: You know. I've also like shown up for an audition
- 34:22Speaker 2: and audition in a hallway, which was shocking to me
- 34:26Speaker 2: that I left my job early to audition in a hallway,
- 34:31Speaker 2: So things like that could happen, you know. That's like
- 34:34Speaker 2: these are real stories. So I think that there is
- 34:37Speaker 2: some of like you kind of got to learn the
- 34:40Speaker 2: ropes of like what's what and what is and like,
- 34:42Speaker 2: you know, learn how to read like a breakdown, research
- 34:46Speaker 2: the people, and then sometimes you do all that, but
- 34:48Speaker 2: then you show up and you're like, m this seems
- 34:51Speaker 2: not okay. You know, You're like, oh, I've had friends
- 34:53Speaker 2: show up and the director hits on them and I'm like, no,
- 34:57Speaker 2: that's not okay, it's not okay. So that's a we're
- 35:00Speaker 2: walking away from this situation. Thank you, no, thank you. Yeah,
- 35:03Speaker 2: And that's very hard to do.
- 35:05Speaker 1: I was gonna get it. That's got to be really tough,
- 35:08Speaker 1: very hard to do. You're like, this could be my
- 35:10Speaker 1: first real break.
- 35:11Speaker 2: And you just want to work. You just want to work,
- 35:13Speaker 2: even if you know you want to work, you want
- 35:15Speaker 2: to learn, you want to work, you want to practice.
- 35:17Speaker 2: So yeah, so after.
- 35:22Speaker 1: You work in a pustle and bustle of jobs, I
- 35:24Speaker 1: want to get closer to you and your real big like, well,
- 35:28Speaker 1: I'm quitting these jobs. You do quit the jobs?
- 35:31Speaker 2: Yeah?
- 35:31Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, we're watching you on Netflix. So what's the
- 35:35Speaker 1: big play that kind of like says I can do
- 35:38Speaker 1: the thing?
- 35:40Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I think I was working for Okay,
- 35:42Speaker 2: so we're fast forwarding. Like I was working for a
- 35:45Speaker 2: nonprofit which I have a door and I've still work
- 35:48Speaker 2: with them now. And that's when like things start moving, right,
- 35:52Speaker 2: That's when you I'm like, oh gosh, I think the
- 35:53Speaker 2: ship is like sailing okay, and and it really around
- 35:58Speaker 2: booking Beauty and Black and so. But I didn't quit
- 36:02Speaker 2: right away.
- 36:03Speaker 1: Yeah, I waited shout out to the nonprofit. It's made in.
- 36:07Speaker 2: So I've worked with nating her Image. But the nonprofit
- 36:10Speaker 2: is now known as Education Action and Alliance, and it's
- 36:13Speaker 2: a nonprofit that focuses on supporting LGBT plus youth in
- 36:17Speaker 2: the state of Arizona. And so that is who I
- 36:20Speaker 2: was working with. Now I'm a board member on that nonprofit.
- 36:24Speaker 2: It's just it's exciting. But yeah, so I like it
- 36:27Speaker 2: was like a slow crawl to that and then and
- 36:30Speaker 2: then booking Straw. I think was kind of the moment
- 36:32Speaker 2: where it was like, okay, I think actually and it
- 36:35Speaker 2: was a lot less about like two we know, it's
- 36:37Speaker 2: a lot more about like I actually don't have the
- 36:39Speaker 2: capacity to do all of these things at the level
- 36:42Speaker 2: which they need to be done.
- 36:43Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 36:44Speaker 2: I think that's really kind of what happened for me.
- 36:46Speaker 2: Things came to a head in that way.
- 36:48Speaker 1: Yeah, so when you can you take me through Beauty
- 36:51Speaker 1: and Black, like what the whole feelings vibes calls the
- 36:55Speaker 1: whole big shebang behind that moment.
- 36:58Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it was I just I fondly, fondly
- 37:01Speaker 2: would deeply remember the audition because I just remember me really.
- 37:05Speaker 2: I was like, oh, this scene is the scene is long,
- 37:07Speaker 2: and I want to make sure that like it's it's
- 37:09Speaker 2: active and interesting and keeps people watch, keeps the viewer
- 37:13Speaker 2: watching and trying to like curate just like dynamic choices
- 37:17Speaker 2: throughout the whole scene that keep changing and changing and changing.
- 37:19Speaker 2: So that was really fun. But yeah, I mean I
- 37:22Speaker 2: did that and then my my agents called and they
- 37:25Speaker 2: were like, hey, like, so you booked this, And I
- 37:27Speaker 2: was like, what.
- 37:30Speaker 1: Does that mean?
- 37:31Speaker 2: I think I'm a freezer. The show in Atlanta, okay,
- 37:35Speaker 2: and you at the time in La.
- 37:37Speaker 1: Oh it was in La.
- 37:38Speaker 2: Yeah, it was in La.
- 37:39Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 37:39Speaker 2: I was like, I think I just froze a bit,
- 37:41Speaker 2: like I think frozen like processing cause it's just.
- 37:44Speaker 1: Especially you're still there.
- 37:46Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, I think I Like I told I
- 37:49Speaker 2: told my husband and he was very exciting, and I
- 37:51Speaker 2: was just like because the pressure, you know, of wanting
- 37:54Speaker 2: to just do a good job and that whole thing,
- 37:56Speaker 2: and also just like dynamically like what does it mean
- 37:59Speaker 2: and what is this mean for my career and all
- 38:01Speaker 2: those other things. But then you had to call the
- 38:03Speaker 2: job and be like, well, I kept my job throughout
- 38:07Speaker 2: that whole.
- 38:07Speaker 1: Thing, But did you did you tell them remote?
- 38:09Speaker 2: What was I told them, Well, I was remote already,
- 38:12Speaker 2: I worked remotely, and I just told them like, hey,
- 38:13Speaker 2: this is what's happening in my schedule might be a
- 38:15Speaker 2: little funky. I had an intern at the time I
- 38:17Speaker 2: was doing I did communications, so it's still very like,
- 38:20Speaker 2: you know, a home type thing and just like really
- 38:22Speaker 2: like setting expectations and that sort of thing, and they
- 38:25Speaker 2: knew and it was just so incredibly supported. I've just
- 38:27Speaker 2: been very blessed to be supportive people that I've worked
- 38:29Speaker 2: with or for.
- 38:31Speaker 1: But that's also in testaments to your integrity, right because
- 38:33Speaker 1: they wouldn't have been that way if you didn't have
- 38:35Speaker 1: a lot of integrity in your way.
- 38:36Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess so, yeah, Yeah, So that was it
- 38:39Speaker 2: was just shocking, you know, I was really you don't
- 38:41Speaker 2: know what it's going to be, you know, and this
- 38:44Speaker 2: is like this is like a funny little thing. But
- 38:46Speaker 2: my mom, like years ago, years ago, my mom was like,
- 38:50Speaker 2: I'm going to write a letter to Tyler, Perry and Oprah. Okay,
- 38:53Speaker 2: I'm going to write this letter. And I was like, Mom,
- 38:55Speaker 2: like you need to chill, like this is not how
- 38:57Speaker 2: this business works. And She's like, I'm going to write
- 38:58Speaker 2: a letter and I'm going to send them this let
- 39:00Speaker 2: about you. And I was like, all right, I don't know,
- 39:02Speaker 2: go forth, go forth, like do what you need to do?
- 39:04Speaker 1: Did no?
- 39:05Speaker 2: She did.
- 39:06Speaker 1: They wrote the.
- 39:06Speaker 2: Letter though her my like my aunt wrote the letter,
- 39:09Speaker 2: but they never said it. And so like calling my
- 39:11Speaker 2: mom to tell her that was hilarious.
- 39:15Speaker 1: I love that. Ye, and that's met a part of
- 39:17Speaker 1: manifestation right to some degree.
- 39:19Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean that lady manifested. Give it to her,
- 39:22Speaker 2: She'll give it to God.
- 39:23Speaker 1: Okay, I'm gonna mail my Christmas list to her. So
- 39:27Speaker 1: take me to Straw now.
- 39:28Speaker 2: Yeah. So Straw was like it was like I had
- 39:31Speaker 2: just come off of Beauty and Black, which is really
- 39:32Speaker 2: just just really invigorating experience.
- 39:35Speaker 1: And just like what are the hours?
- 39:36Speaker 2: By the way, long and short Oka mix back mixed
- 39:41Speaker 2: back like eight to twelve hours. Yeah, sometimes I think
- 39:44Speaker 2: it was it could be longer, but not not bad,
- 39:47Speaker 2: not for me. But and then Straw was like a
- 39:51Speaker 2: month afterwards.
- 39:52Speaker 1: I got a call.
- 39:54Speaker 2: From my agent was like, hey, you know, you're an
- 39:57Speaker 2: audition for this and I was like, okay, great, and
- 39:59Speaker 2: it was like it was it was something to do,
- 40:02Speaker 2: I would say, the audition. So I called my one
- 40:04Speaker 2: of my coaches and I was like, yo, like I
- 40:06Speaker 2: need to I need some help one like how to
- 40:08Speaker 2: how to throw myself into this headspace like like high
- 40:12Speaker 2: energy and things like that, and so we kind of
- 40:14Speaker 2: worked on that and then did the audition, and then
- 40:16Speaker 2: and then again the same thing. Just got a call
- 40:18Speaker 2: but it was so fast. It was so fast. And
- 40:21Speaker 2: then I went to Atlanta and I thought I was
- 40:23Speaker 2: going to be there for a while. I was not.
- 40:25Speaker 2: I was like, oh, we're doing this, Like okay, how
- 40:28Speaker 2: long are you there for? For?
- 40:29Speaker 1: How long did it take?
- 40:30Speaker 2: I was there for I think two weeks maybe not
- 40:35Speaker 2: very long at all, and a little bit yeah, a
- 40:39Speaker 2: little bit. Yeah, it's I'm trying to think what I
- 40:41Speaker 2: can't say.
- 40:43Speaker 1: It's gonna drop June six, yeah, yeah.
- 40:46Speaker 2: Yeah, no, it's a story. It's a story about a
- 40:49Speaker 2: how do I say this in a more meaningful way,
- 40:53Speaker 2: It's really a story that's just reflective on how hard
- 40:58Speaker 2: Black women are hit on a day to day basis,
- 41:04Speaker 2: which is really difficult stuff, difficult situations in all avenues
- 41:11Speaker 2: of their lives lives, and and what happens when that
- 41:16Speaker 2: is magnified and really comes to a head. Yeah, it's
- 41:20Speaker 2: it's I would it's a bit sad in a way
- 41:22Speaker 2: because it's a real reality. But that that is what
- 41:26Speaker 2: it's about. It's about seeing how that how that can
- 41:31Speaker 2: function at its worst and its highest, and how that
- 41:35Speaker 2: functionality like affects black women. For me, like being a
- 41:38Speaker 2: black woman living in New York City, you know, it's
- 41:41Speaker 2: interesting like realizing that in a day that I could
- 41:45Speaker 2: have like five interactions that were just like trash because
- 41:49Speaker 2: I was because I am a black woman. So this,
- 41:53Speaker 2: this this film really just like shines like a really
- 41:55Speaker 2: good like light on that and really amplifies it in
- 41:59Speaker 2: an extreme way because it is film and cinema, but
- 42:01Speaker 2: a way that I think is really relevant and understandable
- 42:05Speaker 2: and and a relatable.
- 42:07Speaker 1: And and the in Taraji, she plays a single parent,
- 42:10Speaker 1: right and then everyone else are they single parents? In No,
- 42:15Speaker 1: you get to see everyone getting hit from all different You.
- 42:18Speaker 2: Get to see the results of her being hit like that.
- 42:23Speaker 2: You get to receive the results of what what the
- 42:26Speaker 2: constant like it's you know, just like imagine somebody just
- 42:29Speaker 2: being punched, punch punched, you know every.
- 42:32Speaker 1: Day of my life.
- 42:32Speaker 2: Guys, the ones with lotion, we don't want that dry ship.
- 42:40Speaker 2: Yeah all right, but no, but yeah, that's what it's.
- 42:43Speaker 2: It's her being like, you know, hit in all these
- 42:47Speaker 2: different in all these different areas of her life, all
- 42:50Speaker 2: at the same time. And what that what that can do,
- 42:54Speaker 2: like what that can do to a person, and where
- 42:56Speaker 2: that can lead us?
- 42:57Speaker 1: And this is a Netflix original right now, it's not
- 43:00Speaker 1: is any relation to Tyler Perry.
- 43:02Speaker 2: Yeah it is Tyler Perry.
- 43:03Speaker 1: Sounds like Tayler Perry written all over it.
- 43:05Speaker 2: It's Tyler Perry.
- 43:07Speaker 1: Did you get to work with him up close? And
- 43:09Speaker 1: I did? I did. How was that experience? Oh?
- 43:11Speaker 2: It's so great?
- 43:12Speaker 1: Are you ever going to say anything bad about anybody?
- 43:14Speaker 1: I'm joking. I'm joking, Ashley.
- 43:17Speaker 2: I you know, I I think I've been very blessed,
- 43:21Speaker 2: very Yeah, I think I've had very positive situations. I've
- 43:25Speaker 2: heard lots of things from people about lots of people
- 43:28Speaker 2: or whatever, but I don't know. I I think I've
- 43:31Speaker 2: been really blessed, Like I feel very protected. I feel
- 43:34Speaker 2: like I work when I need to be working. I
- 43:36Speaker 2: feel like I've been forced into states of rest when
- 43:39Speaker 2: I need to rest. And I I've had really good experiences,
- 43:43Speaker 2: like I've I've looked up to Traji forever.
- 43:45Speaker 1: Yeah, she's very strong, forever.
- 43:47Speaker 2: She's she's an incredible actress, like incredible.
- 43:51Speaker 1: And then you get to work with, you know, one
- 43:53Speaker 1: of the godfathers in the industry exactly.
- 43:56Speaker 2: And so I think he came from theater too, yes, yes,
- 43:59Speaker 2: right and so and I think like the two then
- 44:02Speaker 2: they they're so playful, you know, they're very found. I
- 44:05Speaker 2: found him to be very kind person. I think it
- 44:09Speaker 2: was really nice to be on that set because a
- 44:12Speaker 2: lot of I think what you get as an actor,
- 44:15Speaker 2: like obviously, like you're always trying to get to set right,
- 44:17Speaker 2: And I think it's so funny because we're trying to
- 44:19Speaker 2: get somewhere that we've never been, Like I'm just trying
- 44:21Speaker 2: to get there. I don't know if I like it
- 44:23Speaker 2: when I get there, but I'm trying to get there
- 44:24Speaker 2: and I and I end up being on this film
- 44:26Speaker 2: and being on this set with two people who, like
- 44:29Speaker 2: I said, are very playful. But so it's really interesting
- 44:31Speaker 2: to watch like dynamic black people do this work. But
- 44:38Speaker 2: they are they're living in it, you know, they're living
- 44:41Speaker 2: in it. It's today, it is. It's so easy to
- 44:44Speaker 2: feel so precious about the work. And I understand that
- 44:46Speaker 2: because I have that, because there's so much anxiety about
- 44:49Speaker 2: really wanting to give what you've got to give your best.
- 44:52Speaker 2: But to watch her just be so seamless and to like,
- 44:56Speaker 2: like just I looked at her and I'm like, oh,
- 45:00Speaker 2: she's a person, and you know, not that she's not
- 45:02Speaker 2: a person, right, but I'm like, no, no, I think
- 45:07Speaker 2: she's like a normally normal size whatever that happen.
- 45:10Speaker 1: You know sometimes you're in this industry. You see people there.
- 45:13Speaker 2: Yeah, she's like normal size. But just to see like
- 45:16Speaker 2: her like living her life, like doing her job and
- 45:20Speaker 2: then being freaking amazing. Like at one point, I swear
- 45:23Speaker 2: we're shooting something and I was just like staring at
- 45:26Speaker 2: her and I was like, girl, you gotta get back
- 45:28Speaker 2: in the scene in the moment because I just was
- 45:32Speaker 2: like it's just so in awe of her ability and
- 45:35Speaker 2: her capacity, and it was really like it. I just
- 45:37Speaker 2: felt like I walked away feeling like I can't wait
- 45:41Speaker 2: for the for the point in my career and in
- 45:44Speaker 2: my life as an artist when I when I when
- 45:47Speaker 2: I can harness that.
- 45:49Speaker 1: I love that.
- 45:50Speaker 2: It was really nice. Yeah.
- 45:51Speaker 1: Have you seen the then result of straw it?
- 45:54Speaker 2: I don't. I don't. I don't know if what I
- 45:55Speaker 2: saw is the end.
- 45:57Speaker 1: But you do get a like sneak peek it I
- 45:59Speaker 1: had a tiny peak. What are you excited?
- 46:02Speaker 2: I'm very exciting.
- 46:03Speaker 1: Was is it weird watching yourself?
- 46:05Speaker 2: I hate watching myself?
- 46:07Speaker 1: Do you critique yourself?
- 46:10Speaker 2: I try not to. It's so hard, you know because
- 46:12Speaker 2: like you know, as you have to, like in some dereay,
- 46:14Speaker 2: we naturally do because you do an audition. You gotta
- 46:16Speaker 2: watch the tape, wash the tape. Okay, that's the takee Okay,
- 46:19Speaker 2: we'll send that one. You know, but you watch it tape.
- 46:22Speaker 2: You know what happened my hair, you know, like all
- 46:24Speaker 2: these things. So it's hard not to do that. But
- 46:27Speaker 2: but maybe maybe a little bit. But I but I
- 46:30Speaker 2: think in the end, I just in one sense success
- 46:35Speaker 2: to me is like doing your best, and I did
- 46:37Speaker 2: my best, So like I think I try to always
- 46:38Speaker 2: like separate a little bit when I'm like, you know,
- 46:40Speaker 2: I don't know what that is is my best on
- 46:43Speaker 2: that day, in that moment.
- 46:45Speaker 1: So now that you see a lot of success also
- 46:47Speaker 1: in Atlanta, do you feel like there's a part of
- 46:51Speaker 1: you that's gonna move over there?
- 46:53Speaker 2: No?
- 46:54Speaker 1: No, no, she said, no, firm, firm, keeping your feet
- 46:58Speaker 1: in La.
- 46:59Speaker 2: I you know, I don't know. I like to think
- 47:01Speaker 2: of myself as a bit of a vagabond on the inside,
- 47:04Speaker 2: so I like to I do like to move around.
- 47:06Speaker 2: So every time I move somewhere, I don't really decorate
- 47:08Speaker 2: because I think I'm.
- 47:09Speaker 1: Leaving and your husband's with all of this.
- 47:12Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're nice support, We're so together on this.
- 47:15Speaker 2: Yeah we're the vagupond thing. Like I think we're two
- 47:17Speaker 2: piece like in a pot on that. But no, I
- 47:19Speaker 2: mean i'd love to I'd love to, you know, La
- 47:22Speaker 2: is fine. I'd love to live somewhere else. But yeah,
- 47:25Speaker 2: I'm very open. I'm very open, you know. I think
- 47:28Speaker 2: I think that the pandemic also like showed me that that,
- 47:31Speaker 2: like I could live anywhere for a period of time,
- 47:33Speaker 2: you know, I mean, I live in South Carolina. There's
- 47:35Speaker 2: just a strong choice. So my in laws lived there,
- 47:40Speaker 2: my in law's lived there, and it was really nice
- 47:42Speaker 2: to be with family during such a difficult time.
- 47:45Speaker 1: But yeah, okay, all right, well everybody, you can keep
- 47:50Speaker 1: up with Ashley? Where can I keep up with you?
- 47:52Speaker 2: Go ahead? I'm like yeah, oh la, oh no, I'm
- 47:57Speaker 2: just kidding. I'm I'm a little already only on Instagram?
- 48:01Speaker 1: That is?
- 48:02Speaker 2: That? Is it? So at Ashley versure with the v's.
- 48:06Speaker 1: Sure that Ashley version no, no space, nothing, nothing, nothing else.
- 48:10Speaker 1: And then tell us where we can watch Straw and
- 48:12Speaker 1: all the updates on Straw.
- 48:14Speaker 2: Yes, Straw on Netflix.
- 48:17Speaker 1: It'd be great, It'll be great. It's a Tyler Perry production,
- 48:20Speaker 1: it is, yes, And oh, by the way, last question,
- 48:23Speaker 1: but how was his lot? Was it phenomenal?
- 48:27Speaker 2: It's fire for real?
- 48:28Speaker 1: Yeah, it is.
- 48:29Speaker 2: I it is fire. I remember, it's huge. I was
- 48:32Speaker 2: on one side one night and I was like, hey, guys,
- 48:34Speaker 2: I'm just gonna walk back and they're like, no, like
- 48:38Speaker 2: you're you're You're way way away from where you think
- 48:41Speaker 2: you are. It's huge.
- 48:42Speaker 1: And did you get to tour it?
- 48:44Speaker 2: I didn't tour, but I've been around a lot of it.
- 48:46Speaker 2: I don't even know you could tour that. You could
- 48:48Speaker 2: tour it though, you know, it's just pund My thoughts
- 48:52Speaker 2: were like happy to be here possibly, so I was like,
- 48:55Speaker 2: I need nothing with water maybe, but happy to be here. Yeah. Yeah,
- 48:58Speaker 2: it's nice.
- 48:59Speaker 1: I can see I can see you being like that.
- 49:01Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I'm just like, can I just have coffee
- 49:03Speaker 2: and eggs?
- 49:03Speaker 1: Yes? And they don't even have to be brown.
- 49:05Speaker 2: I'll take the white. I'll take a hard boiled. That's
- 49:07Speaker 2: what that was what I wanted.
- 49:09Speaker 1: Wow, I did okay well, staying true to eggs. Thank
- 49:14Speaker 1: you so much for your time. Really appreciated your eggs.
- 49:17Speaker 1: They were really good.
- 49:18Speaker 2: It's too much.
- 49:20Speaker 1: I think it was fine. It was like perfectly fluffy,
- 49:23Speaker 1: like restaurant style. Thanks for tuning in, y'all. Peace out
- 49:27Speaker 1: piece For more eating while broke from iHeartRadio and The
- 49:35Speaker 1: Black Effect, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
- 49:39Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.