Speaker 1: I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to What's
Speaker 1: Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a show
Speaker 1: about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and personal journeys. Together,
Speaker 1: we'll hear from gold medalists, best selling authors, and leaders
Speaker 1: of the world's most iconic brands. Listen every Thursday or
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Speaker 1: Zuri Adele is best known for her betrayal of series
Speaker 1: regular Molika on the award winning TV series Good Trouble,
Speaker 1: Now in its fifth season, tell us a little bit
Speaker 1: about where your story began. You know, it really starts
Speaker 1: with just being raised and brought into the world by
Speaker 1: parents who are artists themselves and who just really were
Speaker 1: steeped in the liberation of people of African descent, and
Speaker 1: just being in that household where there was like this
Speaker 1: additional curriculum of like learning about our power and our
Speaker 1: our knowledge, and having this free space to perform, like
Speaker 1: being around my mom and drum circles and my dad
Speaker 1: being a performance poet, and just having a lot of
Speaker 1: nurturing to really express myself. And I always wanted to
Speaker 1: take a stand and where education was also really important,
Speaker 1: and I can tell that has fully informed like me
Speaker 1: becoming this self proclaimed storyteller grio who I feel like
Speaker 1: I am, and I'm really grateful to be able to
Speaker 1: embody and share stories through my voice and body. That
Speaker 1: leads to that type of liberation work, that abolition work.
Speaker 1: So that's the whole gist of it, where like it's
Speaker 1: this combination of like community and expression through performance art
Speaker 1: with this intention of collective liberation, and that's like, that's
Speaker 1: the womb I was brought up in. When you were
Speaker 1: a young girl, did you think you would grow up
Speaker 1: and be a storyteller? I knew I was going to
Speaker 1: express with my voice and with my body. I didn't
Speaker 1: know what that was, but I wasn't blessed with the
Speaker 1: singing talent, so it's just kind of but no, you know,
Speaker 1: what it really was is that I wanted to be everything.
Speaker 1: Like I would watch something on TV or go to
Speaker 1: a play and I was like, I want to be
Speaker 1: a princess. Oh, I want to be a doctor. I
Speaker 1: want to be a lawyer. Oh maybe I want to
Speaker 1: do all of these things, and sort of the fomo
Speaker 1: of it all lead me to want to portray all
Speaker 1: of like learn all of these life perspectives and portray
Speaker 1: them on screen or on stage. Like maybe that's a
Speaker 1: noncommittal version of me too, because it's like, oh, I
Speaker 1: don't have to take it home, but for three yeah,
Speaker 1: I can do some research. I can learn about this perspective.
Speaker 1: I can be you for three months. Yeah, all of that.
Speaker 1: If you ever feel though, like I wish I had
Speaker 1: pursued a career in law or a career in politics
Speaker 1: or anything else, or are you always satisfied with where
Speaker 1: you landed, I'm really satisfied and excited about where I ended,
Speaker 1: and I am without any regrets. I am really excited
Speaker 1: to keep learning more so now that, like, at first,
Speaker 1: a lot of my acting was in like self expression
Speaker 1: and storytelling was in the former theater and the stage
Speaker 1: and the live audience experience. And now that I'm having
Speaker 1: a lot of experience on the camera and television, I'm
Speaker 1: craving to learn even more about filmmaking and directing and
Speaker 1: producing because I'm like, this machine is phenomenal, and I
Speaker 1: want to know more and more about like and it,
Speaker 1: and it has such a large reach, like motion picture
Speaker 1: is such a tool for like socio economic change and
Speaker 1: it reaches, it can reach so far so quickly that
Speaker 1: I want to learn more now about the behind the
Speaker 1: scenes work of how that happens. So no regrets, but
Speaker 1: I am like, oh, now I now I want to
Speaker 1: learn more how to produce, and now I want to
Speaker 1: shadow a few directors and learn that, and I want
Speaker 1: to learn how like the money moves to make all
Speaker 1: these things happen. So yeah, we just spoke with amazing
Speaker 1: and it's amazing to hear nine year old talk about
Speaker 1: her career in the present tense. So I'll give you
Speaker 1: a little bit of grace here, but like, what do
Speaker 1: you think your career will look like when you're seventy
Speaker 1: When I'm seventy five, I will be I will for
Speaker 1: sure be letting my voice and body to tell as
Speaker 1: many stories through that seventy five year young body that
Speaker 1: can be told, and I'll be producing and directing content
Speaker 1: that feels like it's liberating, uplifting, all in all the
Speaker 1: ways that I wanted to. I'll be Boston around, you know,
Speaker 1: to be out of the and hopefully it'll be like
Speaker 1: on Good Trouble, Like I have this dream that Good
Speaker 1: Trouble is going to be like the Gray's anatomy vibe.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, let me get my Debbie Allen on
Speaker 1: and you know, be this producer on there and and
Speaker 1: bring these new generations into the show. So, like I
Speaker 1: pray when I'm seventy five, there's something going on there
Speaker 1: or at least something that's like an extension of that
Speaker 1: type of storytelling where we're focused on activism and abolition.
Speaker 1: And my daughter, who is a young activist, she and
Speaker 1: I watch your show together. We love it. What would
Speaker 1: you say to a teenager growing up today, given the
Speaker 1: possibilities and also sort of the angst that has gone
Speaker 1: into a world in which everyone is so aware, HyperWare
Speaker 1: has access to so much information. I would say, trust yourself,
Speaker 1: trust your instincts, trust your inner voice. Like we've learned
Speaker 1: so much through that generation that we can uproot any
Speaker 1: system that is harmful, and we can take action in
Speaker 1: really creative and new ways we can reach people and
Speaker 1: really unconventional ways with our work and our content. And
Speaker 1: so I would just continue to tell that generation like,
Speaker 1: thank you, and trust your instincts, trust your self awareness,
Speaker 1: Like keep following that yellow brick road of your voice. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you're a storyteller, if you could put your career
Speaker 1: story into three words, what would they be? Undaunted by
Speaker 1: the fight? I know it was for I know still
Speaker 1: I rise. I love it. That's amazing. So you wake
Speaker 1: up every morning, and what do you do first? What's
Speaker 1: your routine? As best as I can, I read a
Speaker 1: morning devotional and like a daily devotional, sort of get
Speaker 1: my head in the game and meditate and then right now,
Speaker 1: I have two puppies, so I'll take them outside, do
Speaker 1: a little snuggles and um. Always I usually do like
Speaker 1: a martial arts training in the morning if I can,
Speaker 1: or I'll just meditate and go to work if I
Speaker 1: have like an early call time, but something where like
Speaker 1: definitely a practice of sorts where I'm like grounding and
Speaker 1: hearing from the source about how we're gonna stay you know,
Speaker 1: present for the day. How do you find a way
Speaker 1: to stay connected to the source, the universe, God, whatever
Speaker 1: we call it in a really noisy world. I go,
Speaker 1: I start with my body, like I do a body scan.
Speaker 1: I make sure I can feel, you know, the air
Speaker 1: hit my skin, a seat beneath me, my feet in
Speaker 1: the ground. It could be on the subway, it could
Speaker 1: be anywhere. But just like start with where the body
Speaker 1: is and where the breath is. And that helped me really,
Speaker 1: like we all just took a breath right now. That
Speaker 1: just helps me get present. It's so interesting. Someone said
Speaker 1: this to me the other day because I've always thought
Speaker 1: of myself as the world's worst meditator, saeb. My brain
Speaker 1: is always going. But that's like the practice it is,
Speaker 1: sit there and let it flow, let the tabs be open.
Speaker 1: If someone explain to me that, truly, in the whole world,
Speaker 1: your breath is the only thing that has to live
Speaker 1: in the present. Oh, that's why we focus on That's
Speaker 1: good even I like that baby's gallery of time spelling
Speaker 1: being cross where that's yeah, that is a meditation. You're
Speaker 1: getting your breath. Yeah, you're strategizing. Yeah, you're having quality
Speaker 1: time with yourself. You're unplugged and plugged in. No, that's good.
Speaker 1: That's how you get your brains. Yeah, yeah, you're wu woo.
Speaker 1: Don't try to hide it out. OK. So how did
Speaker 1: you land your role on Good Trouble? Oh? So I
Speaker 1: it was this audition process. So you know how Good
Speaker 1: Trouble is the spinoff of the Fosters. So I had
Speaker 1: audition for a role on the season finale of The
Speaker 1: Fosters a couple of times, and I was excited about
Speaker 1: it and didn't end up booking it. And then I,
Speaker 1: you know, a few months later, had this audition for
Speaker 1: this untitled Foster spinoff I think it's what they called,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh God, it booked that just
Speaker 1: in case there was overlap, and um yeah. There were
Speaker 1: four rounds think four or five rounds of auditions, and
Speaker 1: everyone in the audition room was like looked so different.
Speaker 1: You know, everyone was a black woman. It had like
Speaker 1: a different you know, body type or energy or um.
Speaker 1: There were just so many different forms of self expression.
Speaker 1: And I loved how inclusive the character description of Molika was.
Speaker 1: And I'm just so grateful I was in for all
Speaker 1: the divine reasons. I guess like we were that character
Speaker 1: and I were soul made. And I just kept coming
Speaker 1: back for round after round with the producers and the
Speaker 1: network and each actor, like as we narrowed it down
Speaker 1: to like the final three, each one was so talented
Speaker 1: that we were like cheering each other on. We were like,
Speaker 1: if it's because we were all so different, we just
Speaker 1: all have really different like temperaments. It was like, Okay, well,
Speaker 1: if that's Molika, then that's Molika, like and it's me
Speaker 1: that it was just like, oh, at this point, it's
Speaker 1: not about talent. So it really also developed like this
Speaker 1: really cool sense of like sisterhood and yeah, but it
Speaker 1: was keep the other two I do. Well, there's one
Speaker 1: of them was already a friend of mine, which was
Speaker 1: really amazing, and yeah, she's doing so great, she's her
Speaker 1: career is incredible. So yeah, we keep in touch. Audition. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so in particular for TV, you know, you received the script. Besides,
Speaker 1: sometimes you receive also the script of like the rest
Speaker 1: of the episode or or the rest of the film,
Speaker 1: and you may get less than twenty four hours, maybe
Speaker 1: you get forty eight hours to prepare it. It could
Speaker 1: be sometimes it's like a couple of pages, but sometimes
Speaker 1: it's usually like ten pages, and just prepare it and
Speaker 1: study as much as you can and film it with
Speaker 1: a friend like Sean who helps me with my auditions
Speaker 1: all the time and makes them so great and stretches
Speaker 1: me and pushes me, and it's helped me find the
Speaker 1: joy and the playfulness and like working with friends and
Speaker 1: just trying not to see it as like okay, let's
Speaker 1: put this job as much as like, oh, we get
Speaker 1: to workshop and play with this thing today, and well
Speaker 1: that's right now because it's on tape because of COVID.
Speaker 1: But before we used to go into the audition room
Speaker 1: and audition for the casting directors and eat them. And
Speaker 1: I do kind of like now being able to do
Speaker 1: it from home and do it a few times and
Speaker 1: choose my favorite one. But everyone has like a different
Speaker 1: you know, preference on that, and then there are other
Speaker 1: rounds where it's like, you know, if they want to
Speaker 1: move forward, then then we go in and read with
Speaker 1: the casting, you know, with the either the casting directors
Speaker 1: and or the producers and the writers. And now I've
Speaker 1: been on the other side of that a little bit
Speaker 1: more playing Melika, like where other characters will do a
Speaker 1: chemistry read with me to like come into my story.
Speaker 1: And I've learned that's helped me so much because I've learned, like, oh,
Speaker 1: everyone is so talented, like this is the reasons that
Speaker 1: like someone will be cast have nothing to do with
Speaker 1: by the time it gets to like the final three,
Speaker 1: you know, it just hasn't it doesn't have any it's
Speaker 1: never personal um and that's helped me. The personalized like
Speaker 1: the outcomes of my auditions and just used to have fun.
Speaker 1: And now a quick break, you've succeeded in a career
Speaker 1: that most don't. Yeah, why do you think that is?
Speaker 1: I'm still learning the answer to that, And thank you
Speaker 1: for saying I've succeeded, because I don't think I see
Speaker 1: it that way. I feel successful, but it's like I
Speaker 1: feel like I'm at the beginning of so many things
Speaker 1: and still audition and not booking them, and you know,
Speaker 1: all the things like good Trouble is like probably the
Speaker 1: most recent audition I booked and I was five years ago.
Speaker 1: And um, I do think that it's because everything is
Speaker 1: in divine order. I know you don't want to hear it.
Speaker 1: I know, I really think yeah. But I also think
Speaker 1: it's about the energy that we bring into a room.
Speaker 1: I think, like, how president you bring the best energy?
Speaker 1: And by the way, for everyone listening your outfit, I'm
Speaker 1: kind of like Gaga over and I don't like, yeah
Speaker 1: like that, so tell me about it and so describe it.
Speaker 1: I'll describe it to our listeners. But it's silk and
Speaker 1: it's matching, and is it one jumpsuit or is it
Speaker 1: it's a two piece? But you know make um oh
Speaker 1: for it's this West African company so amazing, Oh f
Speaker 1: you you are e it is gorgeous. Yeah, yeah, they
Speaker 1: do really great like high Ways two piece, which I
Speaker 1: love a set. I love it anyway. So in terms
Speaker 1: of your own personal life, what are you doing on
Speaker 1: the weekends or with friends or do you date? Tell
Speaker 1: us about your your romance. Oh juicy, I'm spicy. Well, listen.
Speaker 1: Our schedule is just so my work schedule is. So
Speaker 1: I'm still learning, I think, because that's that's more of
Speaker 1: an excuse than a reason. But I am still learning
Speaker 1: how to balance like the ever constantly, ever changing demands
Speaker 1: of my work schedule with a personal life. So I date.
Speaker 1: I also just started working with a matchmaker and that's
Speaker 1: been Yeah, that's been fun. So I was like, I'm
Speaker 1: trying to I'm working on delegating everything. So I'm now
Speaker 1: I'm delegating like we've had other guests. Great. Yeah, that's
Speaker 1: been a fun ride because it's also just taught me
Speaker 1: what I like and like what I'm attracted to and
Speaker 1: then how I like to be treated. And it's also
Speaker 1: really held me accountable to be honest about like if
Speaker 1: I'm feeling a second date or if I'm not, and
Speaker 1: just to be clear and unapologetic about what I what
Speaker 1: I like, which I love your question about like well
Speaker 1: why is it that you are successful, because it's like damn,
Speaker 1: I want to be humble. But also I think there
Speaker 1: is something strong about saying like it is important the
Speaker 1: energy that we bring into a space and like how
Speaker 1: present we can be and how people feel when we leave.
Speaker 1: Do they feel, you know, drained or do they feel
Speaker 1: filled up? And I like to honor that, like I
Speaker 1: do my best work to fill myself up so that
Speaker 1: I can fill people up when I'm in the rooms.
Speaker 1: And I do think that that has an impact on
Speaker 1: my career. And I think you can be incredibly humble
Speaker 1: and share about your success and other people see it
Speaker 1: because yeah, what we don't need right right? Girls? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it's women especially, it's so important, Like Amy
Speaker 1: and I love to talk about women and money, like, yeah,
Speaker 1: we want to make a lot of money. And people
Speaker 1: are always like you just said that men never cover
Speaker 1: their mouths, Like what, so talk to us about money
Speaker 1: and your thoughts on money, where you time therapy? Okay,
Speaker 1: we're really okay, hold me accountable? Yeah, money, my relationship
Speaker 1: with money is growing because I went so like when
Speaker 1: I first booked Good Trouble, I was on food stamps.
Speaker 1: I was just you know, I was making minimum wage,
Speaker 1: working part time at a yoga studio and auditioning you
Speaker 1: know at night and by the day, working out a
Speaker 1: yoga studio by night. And because I had not booked
Speaker 1: like guest Stars or other sort of like less consistent parts,
Speaker 1: I went from what felt like zero to a hundred
Speaker 1: when I both the series regular contract on Good Trouble.
Speaker 1: So there's a lot of like personal finance, like financial
Speaker 1: literacy that I needed to learn in sort of a
Speaker 1: crash course, and it's been imperative to have people around
Speaker 1: me who I trust, who can guide me through that.
Speaker 1: I learned a lot about saving, a lot about taxes,
Speaker 1: a lot about like whatever we negotiate for ourselves is
Speaker 1: really like like we'll really take home half of that
Speaker 1: um by the time we you know, pay out our taxes,
Speaker 1: pay out our teams, all of that. To keep those
Speaker 1: things in mind and to invest. And I'm still in
Speaker 1: a crash course, but my relationship with money has really
Speaker 1: stretched me lately to remember that there is no lack
Speaker 1: like you know, it's always like, well, is this the
Speaker 1: last season or are we gonna have more? Should I
Speaker 1: save up? Am I not gonna work for a couple
Speaker 1: of years? And so it's had me have a little
Speaker 1: bit of like a scarcity mindset sometimes, like I don't
Speaker 1: ever want to go back to where I was again.
Speaker 1: It is a free mindset. I mean that's a thing
Speaker 1: that yeah, the corporate salary on that journey. And then
Speaker 1: it's also like I like nice things, and because my
Speaker 1: schedule is the way it is now, I need to
Speaker 1: delegate a lot of things, and so that costs even
Speaker 1: more money, but it helps me show up so full
Speaker 1: at work. And then when I show up full at work,
Speaker 1: I make more money because I booked more jobs and okay,
Speaker 1: now I got to delegate more. So it has taught
Speaker 1: me that there is this cycle that comes right back
Speaker 1: to me. You were in my therapy session. Yeah, my
Speaker 1: purpose is gonna be very happy. She asked me that question.
Speaker 1: There's no sh would do like a quick speed round.
Speaker 1: What book are you reading? Speak up by tune day,
Speaker 1: Oh your name? What is your favorite beverage? Charl with
Speaker 1: oat milk and a little goving. Where are you taking
Speaker 1: your next Vacation Barbados, Who leaves you star struck? Oh
Speaker 1: we all star struck, but I do leave me starstruckank you?
Speaker 1: Thank you so Amy. Good Trouble was one of the
Speaker 1: shows that Ellen and I watched together, and she just
Speaker 1: goes gaga oversary. She thinks she's the disknees and I
Speaker 1: understand why. She's incredibly charismatic and thoughtful and really smart,
Speaker 1: very smart, and she's definitely one of those people you
Speaker 1: meet and you and meetly want to be friends and
Speaker 1: hang out and want her to succeed because she's one
Speaker 1: of those really rare individuals that seems super kind and
Speaker 1: ambitious and interesting, like it's a mix you don't see
Speaker 1: a lot. Well. I love the fact that she's an activist.
Speaker 1: You get the sense that she's not going to take
Speaker 1: on a role where she doesn't believe in the ethos
Speaker 1: of the show. And I think that that also is
Speaker 1: rare in Hollywood. When it's so hard. I mean, you
Speaker 1: heard her story, it's just so hard to make it.
Speaker 1: And I found her story really inspiring and it made
Speaker 1: you think, like, if you're out there and you've gone
Speaker 1: all these rejections, all it takes is one right one yes.
Speaker 1: Whether you're in business, whether you're in theater. It's just
Speaker 1: one yes that can change your life absolutely, and so
Speaker 1: the point is to keep going until you hear the yes.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy.
Speaker 1: We would appreciate it if you leave her view wherever
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Speaker 1: to our producer Stacy Parra and our male perspective Blue
Speaker 1: Burns