Speaker 1: I feel the more capable of dealing with life if
Speaker 1: it's thrown at me. I feel a lot more at peace.
Speaker 1: I feel the mean to choose joy.
Speaker 2: Welcome to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk with
Speaker 2: women who dared to pivot out of one career and
Speaker 2: into something new and explore how their personal lives impacted
Speaker 2: these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman.
Speaker 1: Hi.
Speaker 2: Everyone, I apologize if my voice is a little scratchy.
Speaker 2: I hosted my two daughters third and fifth birthday party
Speaker 2: over the weekend and I am left physically drained. But
Speaker 2: I'm very excited to bring you this week's episode with
Speaker 2: Prianca Chopra Jonas. She has been a dream guest of
Speaker 2: mine since forever. Her pivot from Bollywood to Hollywood at
Speaker 2: the height of her career has always intrigued me, but
Speaker 2: in truth, I thought her other ventures, like in the
Speaker 2: restaurant industry, hair care products, philanthropy, and investments might be
Speaker 2: the focus of our discussion. Though she does own the
Speaker 2: restaurant Sona in New York City and have her hair
Speaker 2: care line called Anomaly, her pivot into Hollywood was ultimately
Speaker 2: what shaped and defined the new trajectory of her career.
Speaker 2: During our conversation, Prianca dives into what it means to
Speaker 2: be a new mom and how her definition of success
Speaker 2: has changed over the years.
Speaker 3: Enjoy I'm Priyanka and I'm an actor by profession, but
Speaker 3: I enjoy doing a lot of things at the same time.
Speaker 2: Which identity do you feel like you're the strongest in
Speaker 2: at any moment.
Speaker 1: I feel like I know my craft as an actor
Speaker 1: the most. But I think I'm a homebody, like I
Speaker 1: love family, friends, being at home always since I was
Speaker 1: a kid, being that person like looking for adventure. But
Speaker 1: I think I identify most as an actor.
Speaker 2: So if we go back to little pre growing up,
Speaker 2: what did you think you wanted to be when you
Speaker 2: grew up.
Speaker 1: I had amazing examples with my parents, with my aunts
Speaker 1: and uncles. Everyone was very academic, you know, doctors, engineers,
Speaker 1: but everyone went to work. There was a consistency around
Speaker 1: the fact that people could work and then you come
Speaker 1: back home and everyone has dinner together. There was a
Speaker 1: normality around it. So I just wanted to be something
Speaker 1: different every year. Some days I was just like, I
Speaker 1: don't want to do anything when I grow up. I
Speaker 1: want to be an adult because in your brain you
Speaker 1: think that adults really can do nothing right. And then
Speaker 1: there were days I wanted to be like an astrophysicist,
Speaker 1: So I had my days. I think I hadn't finished
Speaker 1: figuring out what and who I wanted to be when
Speaker 1: I fell upon my vocation, you know, yeah, and then
Speaker 1: became my job.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, you moved back and forth or into the US
Speaker 2: and kind of around the US a lot when you
Speaker 2: were young. How do you think that that impacted your
Speaker 2: perception of what it meant to be like grown up
Speaker 2: or how you were going to be a grown up?
Speaker 1: Coming to the US when I was thirteen definitely defined
Speaker 1: me in a big way because my mom went back
Speaker 1: home and she went to India, and I was living
Speaker 1: with my aunt and uncle, who were highly strict and
Speaker 1: conservative because obviously I was somebody else's teenager that was
Speaker 1: living with them, and I wasn't an easy kid. I
Speaker 1: didn't make it very easy on them. But I think
Speaker 1: I already thought I was an adult because now I
Speaker 1: was living without my parents, and I had moved continents,
Speaker 1: and I thought that I had done so much that
Speaker 1: other kids my age hadn't done. So I used to
Speaker 1: write letters to my friends from America and being like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, make up stuff, like I went to the
Speaker 1: mall and it was just so fun. I really thought
Speaker 1: I was a grown up for my whole teenage years.
Speaker 2: Was it sort of a shock to move back to
Speaker 2: India with your parents and you're like, oh, yeah, my
Speaker 2: parents again.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a shock because mine was really unique
Speaker 1: as a story because I lived with my aunt and uncle,
Speaker 1: my mom's sister, and my cousins in you know, Boston,
Speaker 1: New York. I was for like a good three four years,
Speaker 1: so I was like twelve thirteen, and then I was sixteen,
Speaker 1: and then suddenly I go back to a small town
Speaker 1: in India, and my parents were so happy that I
Speaker 1: was back. But I went like, you know, a flat
Speaker 1: chested twelve year old, and I came back home American
Speaker 1: hormones and all like a curvy sixteen year old. And
Speaker 1: my dad, I think was intimidated by me. I think
Speaker 1: he was just like, I don't know what to do
Speaker 1: with this, you know, girl child woman that I had
Speaker 1: in my home. So he had to really grapple with that.
Speaker 1: And I, you know, had come back from this. I
Speaker 1: was very confident. I liked attention I loved boys. At
Speaker 1: this time, I had just figure out that I was
Speaker 1: a girl and had crushes, and so suddenly I felt
Speaker 1: really grown up compared to the other sixteen year olds
Speaker 1: in Burreley, which is a small town in India, where
Speaker 1: they used to listen to my stories that like as
Speaker 1: if there were adventures from across the like almost like
Speaker 1: a pirate. I felt like I could I could tell
Speaker 1: anyone any story and there would be like an arrested
Speaker 1: audience listening to me. It was really was. It was fun.
Speaker 2: Sounds actually really fun. So did you feel like going
Speaker 2: into pageants felt like kind of natural then, because it
Speaker 2: was around that time that you started right, You're so.
Speaker 1: Right, I think in my vain teenage mind, you know.
Speaker 1: And I was really popular in my small town because
Speaker 1: of the fact that I'd come back from the States,
Speaker 1: and I used to behave like I was twenty two
Speaker 1: even though I was sixteen with everyone, you know, the
Speaker 1: younger girls in my school Army school would take autographs
Speaker 1: from me and get me to sign their books and stuff.
Speaker 1: And I was really feeling myself. Honestly, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: more independent than any of these roles. They don't know
Speaker 1: what it is to be a woman, and I take
Speaker 1: these like soft focused small shots. So when I got
Speaker 1: this phone call from Miss India, can you imagine my
Speaker 1: like narcissistic self at sixteen, was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: they've probably heard about me.
Speaker 2: In fact, it was actually her younger brother who submitted
Speaker 2: her for the Miss India pageant after a sibling fight
Speaker 2: over who would get the bedroom. He checked with their
Speaker 2: mom that Brianca would have to move away if accepted,
Speaker 2: and after confirming she would be out of the room,
Speaker 2: he sent in an application. Okay, so you see this
Speaker 2: ad in this matter.
Speaker 1: Ten year old Sid sees this ad and he tells
Speaker 1: my mom she'll have to move to Mumbai, right if
Speaker 1: she wins this thing. Aca I didn't send my pictures
Speaker 1: and stuff in for the pageant, and my mom and
Speaker 1: my brother sentlers. My mother was sen years old. They
Speaker 1: sent those pictures in from Miss India. Miss Indians was
Speaker 1: very popular in India at that time. And you know
Speaker 1: I've got a phone call for semi finals Miss India.
Speaker 1: I think she might be the popular either India or
Speaker 1: tasty Indian Missus. Of course. Polanka Chapra, very beautiful.
Speaker 2: Lighty, eighteen years old, and she's a woman that loves sunts,
Speaker 2: anouncing and no Indian fight.
Speaker 1: And go school. Our next summer finalists, Miss India Popular.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this pred to kick off the new millennium. Prianca
Speaker 2: won Miss World in two thousand. The win launched her
Speaker 2: into the spotlight and that confidence she had as a
Speaker 2: teenager began to pay off. But I mean, you had
Speaker 2: such success at it so quickly. Did it feel like
Speaker 2: confirmation for you? Or did it feel scary a.
Speaker 1: Little bit of bows? I realized like my nature. And
Speaker 1: I was talking about this to my mom yesterday, So
Speaker 1: it's really interesting that you're asking me that today. I
Speaker 1: believe it. I was talking to her about consistent traits
Speaker 1: that I've had since I was My mom's on tour
Speaker 1: with me, so because she's with the baby when I
Speaker 1: do press. My husband's on tour as well. So we
Speaker 1: were talking last night about consistent things that I do,
Speaker 1: which I have done since I was young. So you know,
Speaker 1: like when I was three, I had this toy which
Speaker 1: you know, if you hit it, it comes back. In India,
Speaker 1: it was called to hit Me, So you hit it
Speaker 1: and it just rolls back at you, and you hit
Speaker 1: it and means to roll back at you, and somebody
Speaker 1: gave it to me. My mom said, when I was
Speaker 1: really like two or three, I hit it really hard
Speaker 1: and it came back and smacked me, and I fell down,
Speaker 1: and I got really scared of it. But the choice
Speaker 1: I made when I was scared was I went back
Speaker 1: and hit it and took the air out of it,
Speaker 1: so then it could never hit me back, versus being
Speaker 1: afraid of it for the rest of my life. So
Speaker 1: I'm not want to run from a fight, like I'm
Speaker 1: not one to run from a challenge or something that
Speaker 1: scares me. And I think that's what happened at seventeen,
Speaker 1: Like I didn't know the terrain I was in. I'd
Speaker 1: never modeled before. I didn't have the experience of the
Speaker 1: movie industry or the glamour industry or entertainment at all.
Speaker 1: I'm thrown into this whole new world. My parents didn't
Speaker 1: know it. They were both academic in a small town,
Speaker 1: middle class family and here we are in big bad Mumbai,
Speaker 1: and you know, there's It was just a whole change.
Speaker 1: And I think the same circumstances, it was like, Okay,
Speaker 1: let me figure out how to kill it, Like, how
Speaker 1: am I going to be the one that wins this.
Speaker 1: How am I going to be the one that fines
Speaker 1: my nature's solution? Oriented I'm very like I can figure
Speaker 1: out the steps to get towards my goal. At that time,
Speaker 1: it was just instinctual, and my instinct just told me,
Speaker 1: I've got to learn, I've got to observe, I've got
Speaker 1: to see where I am and survive and in I
Speaker 1: think that discipline. My career has always been that. I
Speaker 1: never went to acting school. I learned on the job.
Speaker 1: I was on movies. I observed my pole stars, my directors.
Speaker 1: I figured out I learned the technical side of cinema
Speaker 1: and filmmaking because I didn't know anything, so I kind
Speaker 1: of had to figure it out.
Speaker 2: Brand new to the industry, she had to either sink
Speaker 2: or swim, So she dove in head first, learning everything
Speaker 2: and everyone she could in the entertainment industry in India.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've had multiple situations in my life where just
Speaker 1: you've got to just pivot and figure it out. And
Speaker 1: this first case that I'm talking about was being thrown
Speaker 1: into the deep end of pageants and I've never done that.
Speaker 1: I've never modeled. I didn't know what it was like
Speaker 1: to wear a gown or a sorry. I remember one
Speaker 1: of the supermodels of the time, her name was Madelsafre.
Speaker 1: She had told me, you know, you have to and walk.
Speaker 1: Another one was Nionica at that time, Indian supermodel. You
Speaker 1: have to kick the heel for the inside of a
Speaker 1: gown or a starry or if anything is floor length,
Speaker 1: you kick the inside of it. So by the time
Speaker 1: it comes back, your second step is taken. You'll never
Speaker 1: trip and you look like a model. And so those
Speaker 1: little like hips that I observed that I ask and
Speaker 1: befriended people, and you know that just kind of you
Speaker 1: have to pivot and you have to survive human beings
Speaker 1: inherently with survivors, and we have it inside of us.
Speaker 1: We just have to have confidence and treat ourselves with
Speaker 1: the faith that you can handle it. I think it
Speaker 1: is a very scary thing to be able to pivot
Speaker 1: into something that you don't know and that you're not
Speaker 1: familiar with, that you don't have an understanding of. I
Speaker 1: made a career out of it, so I used to
Speaker 1: beat myself up about it all the time when I
Speaker 1: had failures or if I didn't know something, you know,
Speaker 1: I compared myself to people who had way more experience
Speaker 1: than me. I wanted to run before I could walk,
Speaker 1: and you can't do that. You kind of when you pivot.
Speaker 1: You can't run when you pivot. You have to just
Speaker 1: take a breath, take a second, take baby steps, take
Speaker 1: one step at a time, find your balance and then run.
Speaker 2: She took off running. She made her on screen debut
Speaker 2: in two thousand and two and Bollywood debut in two
Speaker 2: thousand and three. From then on, she did multiple movies
Speaker 2: a year, becoming one of the most famous Bollywood actresses.
Speaker 2: I'm so curious to know how your idea of success evolved. Like,
Speaker 2: you know, when you were starting out in Bollywood, I
Speaker 2: mean you did like four to five movies a year.
Speaker 2: It was you did crazy volume of movies, Like was it?
Speaker 1: I was greedy. I didn't want anyone else to get them.
Speaker 1: That's true, man, Like you know, you're the flavor of
Speaker 1: a season, and if you're the season's happening, you kind
Speaker 1: of like got a cash in on it. So at
Speaker 1: the beginning, success to me was having a next job, Like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, I have my next shop. Okay, I
Speaker 1: can breathe for another three months. Now, where am I
Speaker 1: going to go? To next and like, who am I meeting?
Speaker 1: Who's interested in me? What's my how do I keep
Speaker 1: myself relevant? And that was success to me. And then
Speaker 1: like a couple of years into being good at my
Speaker 1: job now and people casting me in really interesting, complex roles,
Speaker 1: winning accolades, I kind of found stability a little bit
Speaker 1: and confidence in the fact that yeah I could. I
Speaker 1: was going to keep getting work because you know, people
Speaker 1: do like watching me in movies and the movies would
Speaker 1: do well. And then I decided to move to America
Speaker 1: started all over again.
Speaker 2: It was a big risk. A few actors had moved
Speaker 2: from Bollywood to Hollywood at the time, and all of
Speaker 2: her relationships were in India, so pivoting to Hollywood meant
Speaker 2: starting from scratch. But after a few years of getting
Speaker 2: passed up for the dynamic roles she was looking for,
Speaker 2: it was time to move on. She decided to follow
Speaker 2: opportunity and when into the music industry as her path
Speaker 2: to break into the American market.
Speaker 1: And that was early thirties. I was like, oh gosh, now,
Speaker 1: what has success to me? I wanted to be able
Speaker 1: to not it was a big risk. You know, I
Speaker 1: had a relatively relevant career in India and I was
Speaker 1: compelled to pivot and come to the States. And I
Speaker 1: was doing music at that time, but again something I
Speaker 1: had never done before. So I was like, okay, thrown
Speaker 1: into the deep end, working with like well, I am Pharrell,
Speaker 1: read one these amazing producers. I was like, I just
Speaker 1: got to figure it out. So I took classes, I learned,
Speaker 1: and I just when the music came out, I felt
Speaker 1: a little manufactured, but I very quickly was like, I
Speaker 1: think I should go back to my day job, something
Speaker 1: that I have a little bit more control about and
Speaker 1: I know. And I started seeking work in America as
Speaker 1: an actor. So I'm seeking work in America. People really
Speaker 1: don't know me, and there was a stereotype around Bollywood
Speaker 1: actors and kind of felt like, will she be able
Speaker 1: to do mainstream work. I played so many different kinds
Speaker 1: of roles, worked in many many different genres, worked with
Speaker 1: incredible filmmakers. I want to be able to do that here.
Speaker 1: I want to be able to work in international cinema.
Speaker 1: I want to be able to work in different languages
Speaker 1: in different industries, and I want to push myself. That
Speaker 1: kind of took a little bit of breaking down ceilings
Speaker 1: doing auditions, pivoting from what people thought I was capable of.
Speaker 1: And I think then success was to get a job
Speaker 1: where you know, I was a lead.
Speaker 2: So like everyone else, she auditioned a change from roles
Speaker 2: she had just been offered from the time she had
Speaker 2: won Miss World. She eventually landed the lead role in
Speaker 2: a primetime TV show, ABC's new thriller drama Quantico.
Speaker 1: My name is Alex Parrish. Protecting our country had always
Speaker 1: been my dream. I want to go. They say it's
Speaker 1: the toughest boot camp, grad school all rolled into one.
Speaker 2: Now, let's see if you can do that.
Speaker 1: And So success and my relationship with success and what
Speaker 1: it means has been different at different times, as it
Speaker 1: is with everyone as your life and career changes. I
Speaker 1: also do enjoy evolving as a human being and as
Speaker 1: an artist, and I want to find like what the
Speaker 1: next step is, what the next goal is. So I
Speaker 1: just turned forty that last year as well, and I
Speaker 1: feel like in this new decade of my life, I
Speaker 1: kind of want to push myself as an artist and
Speaker 1: see in this part of the world in America be
Speaker 1: able to work with the diversity of characters that I
Speaker 1: enjoyed in my work in Bollywood.
Speaker 2: Brianca has an impressive roster of roles in movies in
Speaker 2: Bollywood and has now established herself as a force with
Speaker 2: her work in Hollywood. Just this spring, she has released
Speaker 2: two major productions, her show Citadel on Amazon Prime and
Speaker 2: her movie Love Again, which is out in theaters now.
Speaker 2: To have to films slash shows coming out that are
Speaker 2: so different when you play such different characters, what was
Speaker 2: that like for you personally? Did they film in blocks
Speaker 2: that you could just finish one and go to the next,
Speaker 2: or did you have to go back and forth between
Speaker 2: I am.
Speaker 1: So lucky that this was filmed in blocks. Both of
Speaker 1: them were. I shot Love Again twenty twenty like November,
Speaker 1: November and December. We finished in two months, and then
Speaker 1: January twenty twenty one I started Citadel and we finished
Speaker 1: next year. I think June was a year and a
Speaker 1: half of filming.
Speaker 2: So your new show Citadel, which is out on Amazon
Speaker 2: right now, is a type of show that has never
Speaker 2: been done before, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: There's never been anything like this, not on film or
Speaker 1: on TV. Where multiple installments around the world are being
Speaker 1: created by local filmmakers, writers and top talent of industries.
Speaker 1: The biggest industries in the world which are like India,
Speaker 1: Italy and Hollywood right, So to have filmmakers and writers
Speaker 1: and talent from all three of them and storytelling that
Speaker 1: are interconnected is just a mammoth amazing ambition and is
Speaker 1: so I think cool too, and has such amazing foresight.
Speaker 1: If you think about where the global industry is actually
Speaker 1: heading to. With streamers, people are not consuming entertainment just
Speaker 1: made in their own countries or their own language anymore.
Speaker 1: As someone who worked in Hindi language entertainment, to be
Speaker 1: able to see viewers consuming all kinds of languages. It's
Speaker 1: all about storytelling and the authenticity of the characters, and
Speaker 1: it's so joyous to me. So I think the foresight
Speaker 1: of Citadel is very cool and it's foreshadowing towards how
Speaker 1: storytelling will be.
Speaker 2: Do you see that as potentially your next I don't
Speaker 2: want to call it pivot, but like bridging between the
Speaker 2: Bollywood and Hollywood world, like to be in both versions.
Speaker 1: Definitely, Definitely, that's like something that is I've always wanted
Speaker 1: to do it, But I intend to do another Indian
Speaker 1: movie next year with actually two of my active friends.
Speaker 1: One is called Aliabat and another one's called Kacriina CAF.
Speaker 1: They're amazing actresses and really successful superstars in India. So
Speaker 1: the three of us decided we're going to do a
Speaker 1: road trip movie together. So hopefully we do that next year.
Speaker 1: But yes, the idea is there are very few actors
Speaker 1: that have enjoyed the ability to work seamlessly between two
Speaker 1: industries or two countries. You know, sama Hia did it
Speaker 1: for a bit, Penelope Cruise has done it. The Filler
Speaker 1: ended it with Italian movies. A Shwar I did it
Speaker 1: with Indian movies back in the day. I don't take
Speaker 1: that opportunity for granted. I want to definitely be able
Speaker 1: to as long as people enjoy watching me. I want
Speaker 1: to be able to work in both industries as much
Speaker 1: as I can.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I just have to also ask you about
Speaker 2: the fact that you did a lot of your own
Speaker 2: stunts for Nadia, right.
Speaker 1: So I come from the background of action movies. I
Speaker 1: have done a few in my bodywould work as well.
Speaker 1: And like this is fifteen years ago or so. When
Speaker 1: I was first doing little action in my movies, like
Speaker 1: I didn't even have like proper body double. I used
Speaker 1: to have like a little man in a wig that
Speaker 1: was dressed in my clothes with shaved arms and legs.
Speaker 1: Who would do the stunts, you know, and that's evolved
Speaker 1: so much in cinema. So I really learned how to
Speaker 1: horne my craft, trust my body, do my stunts safely
Speaker 1: because I had to do a lot of it myself.
Speaker 1: And so, you know, the directors really wanted the actors'
Speaker 1: faces as much as we could in the stunt scenes
Speaker 1: because our characters are not superheroes. They're real human beings.
Speaker 1: They bleed, they get hurt, they die, so they wanted
Speaker 1: the gravity of that of the viewer to see that.
Speaker 1: So I'm not someone who does it because I get
Speaker 1: a kick out or a thrill out of it.
Speaker 4: I would love to wrap early and go home, but
Speaker 4: it required a lot of training, a year and a
Speaker 4: half of working and with the stunt team and consistently
Speaker 4: preparing your body was like an athlete, consistently for a
Speaker 4: year and a half preparing your body for you know,
Speaker 4: being battered and thrown around and do that stuff.
Speaker 1: I cannot tell you how excited it was the day wrapped.
Speaker 1: I ate so much for the next.
Speaker 2: Two months as you're talking and I'm seeing your tattoo.
Speaker 2: I'm wondering how significant are your tattoos.
Speaker 1: All my tattoos are very special, and all of them
Speaker 1: have a meaning. I have my dog's paws on my ankle,
Speaker 1: a little one, a medium one, or a large one.
Speaker 1: I have a German shepherd, a husky and a chuaa.
Speaker 1: So then I have this is my dad's handwriting, says
Speaker 1: Daddy's little girl. He's on me a little girl. And
Speaker 1: I got this my first tattoo a year before he passed.
Speaker 1: And this is it's a chat. I don't know if
Speaker 1: you can see it, but it's a box and a
Speaker 1: check on this side, which my husband has on his
Speaker 1: arms as well, just because you know, I checked all
Speaker 1: his boxes. That's how he proposed. Oh my god, he
Speaker 1: said that. So that became our thing. So we commemorated
Speaker 1: it by getting cattooes together. That's great. And then I
Speaker 1: have the world on my arm because I feel like
Speaker 1: I belonged to the world. I love traveling, you know,
Speaker 1: travel has been my best teacher. And when I put
Speaker 1: my arm down in india's right next to my heart.
Speaker 2: Oh my god, that's amazing. So who do you feel
Speaker 2: like is your I don't know your mentors, your support network.
Speaker 2: Like as you go through these pivots, now, have you
Speaker 2: started to see trends?
Speaker 1: Yeah? I am so grateful for my mom and my nanny.
Speaker 1: Like every single day, I you know, before I leave
Speaker 1: for work, I say thank you so much because you're here.
Speaker 1: I am able to go and do my work without
Speaker 1: thinking about it. I just think that people we get
Speaker 1: so caught up nowadays. It's so much easier for us
Speaker 1: to write on social media than it is to actually
Speaker 1: have him an interaction and tell someone that they're doing
Speaker 1: a good job or that you know it was that
Speaker 1: you appreciate them. So in the same way and in
Speaker 1: the same vein, I think, you know, go up to
Speaker 1: people you look up to and admire and and you know,
Speaker 1: be nice and ask the questions because if you're not
Speaker 1: going to do it for yourself, honestly, no one's out
Speaker 1: there to do it for you totally.
Speaker 2: So who have you done it to?
Speaker 1: Everyone? So many people I work with, I mean, and
Speaker 1: I've done that with filmmaker friends of mine. I've told
Speaker 1: Joe if we do a season two, I'd love to
Speaker 1: like assist him, which I love to sit down and
Speaker 1: writer writers' rooms. I just listen when writers are ideating.
Speaker 1: So it doesn't have to be it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be someone that you know you're in awe of. You
Speaker 1: could it could be someone's work ethic that you admired,
Speaker 1: could be someone's mind that you admired, could be some
Speaker 1: one who works with you and makes your life easier. Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe I'm in this phase in my life,
Speaker 1: but I just enjoy human human connection. I'm really enjoying
Speaker 1: human connection and just enjoying working and creating relationships with
Speaker 1: the people that I'm working with. It was something that
Speaker 1: I didn't invest in very much when I was running
Speaker 1: in my career. It was running at such a speed
Speaker 1: I would like forget names. I would just come do
Speaker 1: my job and run and do the next thing. But
Speaker 1: in this new phase in my life, I like working
Speaker 1: with people that I genuinely like that I want to
Speaker 1: go grab a meal after with that. You know that
Speaker 1: our families can hang out and you know, go for
Speaker 1: a movie together. Like it's investing in human beings and
Speaker 1: I'm really about in this phase of my life. I
Speaker 1: think like I think my thirties or in my mid
Speaker 1: thirties or early thirties is when I started creating deeper
Speaker 1: meaning in relationships, friendships, relationships, my family. I tried not
Speaker 1: to take people for granted, whether it was people doing
Speaker 1: their jobs, whether it was people in my family. I
Speaker 1: became aware of that and a lot more than that
Speaker 1: happened to you. Yeah, in your thirties.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I do feel like. I feel like my twenties
Speaker 2: were about figuring out, like who am I? What you know?
Speaker 2: Who am I to the world? How does the world
Speaker 2: perceive me? And my thirties were kind of about honing it,
Speaker 2: like I had figured it out. Of course it's broke,
Speaker 2: but you know, I figured like I am a political professional,
Speaker 2: I am a lawyer, like I am a professional person.
Speaker 2: I'm a person who takes close relationships seriously. And then
Speaker 2: I started having kids, and that's when it kind of
Speaker 2: got tested, and so I feel like it was testing it.
Speaker 2: And then I feel like the minute I turned forty.
Speaker 2: I turned forty this year. I feel like the minute
Speaker 2: I turned forty, I almost felt free.
Speaker 1: Yeah, maybe that's what it is. Like, I'm feeling the
Speaker 1: most free I have felt in my life. I fail,
Speaker 1: the more capable of dealing with life if it's thrown
Speaker 1: at me. I feel a lot more at peace. I
Speaker 1: feel the need to choose joy. I don't care as
Speaker 1: much about people that actually don't matter in my life.
Speaker 1: I care about my job. I care about how I
Speaker 1: perform and how I deliver when I'm providing a service,
Speaker 1: which my job is, whether that's on a movie with
Speaker 1: a brand, you know, anything. I like to be. I
Speaker 1: want to walk into my room with a professional ethic
Speaker 1: and I want people to say she was great at
Speaker 1: her job and you know, delivered as we expected. That's
Speaker 1: really important to me. But besides that and my very
Speaker 1: inner circle, which is a few friends, family, I don't
Speaker 1: give a shit, you know, Like not that I would like.
Speaker 1: I want to walk around like being you know, I
Speaker 1: don't care about people. That's not what I mean. Like,
Speaker 1: I'm not looking for validation. I'm looking for like really
Speaker 1: tangible few things. I'm looking for joyful moments. I'm looking
Speaker 1: for career achievements. I'm looking for time with my family
Speaker 1: and my dogs and my friends. I am looking for
Speaker 1: the next milestone I want to achieve. Like it's just
Speaker 1: become really simple my priorities and personally, I want to
Speaker 1: see who I will be as a mom, Like what
Speaker 1: does who I am like as that I've always been
Speaker 1: a single, independent woman, and then I figured out what
Speaker 1: it was like to be a patner, and so I'm
Speaker 1: really curious to meet that version of me. I'm pretty
Speaker 1: sure who you were before your kids and who you
Speaker 1: are after was different, right, Yeah, And I've already felt
Speaker 1: that I'm just so different than what I was before.
Speaker 1: My daughter.
Speaker 2: Brianka and her husband Nick welcomed their daughter last year
Speaker 2: via surrogate. Her daughter spent her first hundred days in
Speaker 2: the Nick you, but after coming home just before Mother's
Speaker 2: Day last year, they become inseparable.
Speaker 1: And just seeing her happy is the greatest joy in
Speaker 1: my life. Now she's like my honing signal. Now it's
Speaker 1: like I when she giggles and she's curious and she's
Speaker 1: I love. She's such fun company. She's the funniest personality.
Speaker 1: Like I love traveling with her. Were everywhere together right
Speaker 1: now she's not in school, so and my mom is
Speaker 1: kind enough to kind of travel with me. I feel
Speaker 1: like I've just changed. Right. Everything is about wrapping work
Speaker 1: and going home and you know, making sure I make
Speaker 1: bath time and story time, and it's like that's my
Speaker 1: day revolved. Everything else gets revolved around her schedule.
Speaker 2: Well, actors have notoriously long hours and rigid schedules. Do
Speaker 2: you feel like that's part of your approach now? You know,
Speaker 2: if we're thinking about this intersection of the personal and
Speaker 2: the professional decision making, like is that part of your
Speaker 2: approach with Roles now to say, you know, I have
Speaker 2: to be able to make it home for bad time.
Speaker 1: You know, if somebody wants to work with you, and
Speaker 1: I think I've reached that point, then like they make
Speaker 1: it work and I make it work. Like I remember
Speaker 1: my daughter and just come back home from the NIKU
Speaker 1: after one hundred days and I had to do some
Speaker 1: additional photography in Atlanta for a doll and Amazon Studios
Speaker 1: and Russo Brothers made it conducive where I could fly
Speaker 1: back and forth from set every weekend to see her.
Speaker 1: And I used to fly back Friday and go back Monday,
Speaker 1: and my husband would cover the weekdays, and you know,
Speaker 1: you just kind of make it work and she comes
Speaker 1: to set. You know, it was like I don't go
Speaker 1: anywhere where my baby, my dogs and my parents are
Speaker 1: not allowed.
Speaker 2: Something that I really think about a lot. It's like
Speaker 2: this is like a this is the thesis that I
Speaker 2: needed for this show? Is that is this dark moment
Speaker 2: that I'm in gonna propel me into something different and
Speaker 2: better that I hadn't expected and I couldn't have gotten
Speaker 2: had I not been in this moment. Do you think
Speaker 2: there is one moment, or maybe many moments when you
Speaker 2: felt like, oh, I don't know how I'm going to
Speaker 2: get myself out of this, and now in retrospect you
Speaker 2: look back and you're like, yeah, that really set me
Speaker 2: up for the success I have now.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that there are so many moments in
Speaker 1: my life where I've just been like it's like quicksand
Speaker 1: there is no out. You're just going in deeper and
Speaker 1: darker and deeper. Also, let's be honest. You know, sadness
Speaker 1: or leaning into being morose is seductive. When you're sad,
Speaker 1: you kind of kind of it's easier to just like
Speaker 1: lay in bed for twenty two hours. It takes work
Speaker 1: to choose yourself. It takes work to talk to someone
Speaker 1: for therapy, and you know, it's hard for a lot
Speaker 1: of people, and it was hard for me, Like there
Speaker 1: have been phases lasting years for me where I just
Speaker 1: could not shake off the feeling and I didn't know
Speaker 1: if how I would see the next day. I think
Speaker 1: you have to remind yourself how much joy and joy gives,
Speaker 1: because we forget that. I think what has helped me
Speaker 1: tangibly honestly is thinking about People say you don't think
Speaker 1: happy thoughts, but it really is. Think about what are
Speaker 1: the good things in your life? Is it that other
Speaker 1: somebody else may not have an all that is a
Speaker 1: privilege to you that you're so lucky to have. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and suddenly you're just like I can I can get
Speaker 1: up and have a coffee. Yeah, take that one step
Speaker 1: and then you take another step.
Speaker 2: Do you think you'll pivot again?
Speaker 1: I think so. I think change is the most constant
Speaker 1: thing in life. I think being prepared to pivot is
Speaker 1: a lot easier than trying to pivot. When you're not
Speaker 1: prepared for it, your life is going to throw a
Speaker 1: lot at you. Just pivot. Yeah, don't have to explain,
Speaker 1: Just do it. Figure out, whatever your version of it,
Speaker 1: how you survive. We know how to pivot. That's literally
Speaker 1: the one thing we do well as humans. Have to
Speaker 1: have confidence.
Speaker 2: I love that so much, Franka, Thank you so much
Speaker 2: for joining us. It's been such such a great conversation.
Speaker 2: I really loved having you.
Speaker 1: I love talking to you too, Love to your kids. Okay,
Speaker 1: bye bye everyone, Bye.
Speaker 2: Priyanka Chopra Jonas lives between life in New York and
Speaker 2: filming locations with her husband Nick Jonas and their daughter,
Speaker 2: and of course her mom and their dogs go everywhere
Speaker 2: they go. If you haven't seen Citadel, you absolutely need
Speaker 2: to go watch it on Amazon. It's everything a spy
Speaker 2: show should be. And don't miss her new movie Love Again,
Speaker 2: out now in theaters featuring new music by Selene Dion.
Speaker 2: To learn more about Prianca, you can join the other
Speaker 2: eighty seven million people who follow her on Instagram at
Speaker 2: Prianka Chopra. Thanks for listening to this episode of she Pivots,
Speaker 2: where I talk with women about how their experiences and
Speaker 2: significant personal events led to their pivot and eventually their success.
Speaker 2: Be sure to follow us on Instagram at she pivots
Speaker 2: the podcast and leave a rating and comment if you
Speaker 2: enjoyed this episode to help others learn about it. A
Speaker 2: special thank you to our partner Marie Claire and the
Speaker 2: team that made this episode possible. Talk to you next week.
Speaker 2: She Pivots is hosted by me Emily Tish Sussman, produced
Speaker 2: by Emily eda Veloshik, with sound editing and mixing from
Speaker 2: Nina Pollok and research and planning from Christine Dickinson and
Speaker 2: Hannah Cousins.
Speaker 1: I endorse Chea Pivots.