Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2: What's up, Sunny d It's Monday, March twenty fifth. I'm
Speaker 2: Simone Boys and.
Speaker 1: I'm Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the very first episode of the bright Side,
Speaker 3: a brand new daily podcast from Hello Sunshine. We're here
Speaker 3: to bring you a daily dose of culture, conversation, and
Speaker 3: inspiration Monday through Friday.
Speaker 2: It's so real, this is happening, Danielle. You know what,
Speaker 2: I've told a few people that I was working on
Speaker 2: this show, and I can't tell you how many people
Speaker 2: were like, we need this right now, We need a
Speaker 2: show like this right now, you.
Speaker 1: Day right, Yes, completely.
Speaker 2: I've always been someone who fights for good news, even
Speaker 2: though I've covered a lot of hard news in my
Speaker 2: career as a journalist for over a decade now, and
Speaker 2: you're often meeting folks when they're at their lowest point
Speaker 2: in their lives, and you're asking for permission to tell
Speaker 2: their stories. But I mean, listen, the work of truth
Speaker 2: tellers is more important than ever before. But we also
Speaker 2: need storyteller who remind us that joy is a superpower,
Speaker 2: that it's a form of resistance, which is why we're
Speaker 2: so excited to bring you this show. Danielle. You're a
Speaker 2: reporter too, and we've actually worked at a few of
Speaker 2: the same places.
Speaker 3: This is such a funny story because I've done hard news,
Speaker 3: I've done entertainment news, and we had the first We
Speaker 3: had the same first job, but not at the same time,
Speaker 3: so we missed each other. But we've had a lot
Speaker 3: of mutual friends who have over the years said, you know,
Speaker 3: you should really meet Simone, or you should meet Danielle.
Speaker 3: I feel like you guys would like each other, and
Speaker 3: we just never did.
Speaker 2: I know. Okay, shout out to Jocelyn. She is one
Speaker 2: of those friends that Danielle is talking about who was
Speaker 2: trying to connect us for the longest time. And then
Speaker 2: we both got selected to be hosts of this show,
Speaker 2: and it was just it feels kismet, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: It does feel kismet.
Speaker 3: And it felt like the universe like if we weren't
Speaker 3: going to make plans because we're both like busy girls,
Speaker 3: if we weren't going to make it happen, the universe
Speaker 3: was So it's kind of cool.
Speaker 2: So you're going to get to see our bright side
Speaker 2: bestie story play out in real time on this show.
Speaker 1: Oh I love that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Okay, I have my cappuccino with a splash of
Speaker 3: almond milk. Ready you have your oat milk ice latte.
Speaker 3: Are you ready to get into it? Let's go So
Speaker 3: you always remember your first your first kiss, your first concert,
Speaker 3: your first pet. It's our first show today, so we
Speaker 3: wanted to bring it in with a conversation worth remembering.
Speaker 3: Our guest today shines so bright, and she's harnessed all
Speaker 3: of that artistry and sparkle and glow to illuminate women's stories.
Speaker 3: From her iconic roles to her powerhouse production work, she's
Speaker 3: dedicated to making things that make girls excited to be women.
Speaker 3: Reese Witherspoon is here with us.
Speaker 2: We could have talked to Reese for hours. We cannot
Speaker 2: wait for you to hear our conversation. But first, Sunny d,
Speaker 2: let's catch up.
Speaker 1: Simm what happened this weekend? I missed you.
Speaker 2: I missed you too. Okay, So, my son turned four
Speaker 2: this weekend. We had a birthday party for him. And
Speaker 2: every time one of my kids has a birthday, I
Speaker 2: just get so sentimental and also I feel myself grieving
Speaker 2: the passage of time. I am coming out of this
Speaker 2: period of motherhood that has been so challenging. Damn, I
Speaker 2: don't want to cry on my first show. Crying on
Speaker 2: first show.
Speaker 1: Wait, this is wild because you don't cry.
Speaker 2: I know I never cry.
Speaker 1: This is good to know your kids make you cry.
Speaker 2: And now everybody's going to think I cry all the
Speaker 2: time because it's our first show and I'm crying. But
Speaker 2: I'm actually not crying yet.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 2: I am coming out of a period of motherhood that
Speaker 2: has been really challenging. My kids are seventeen months apart.
Speaker 2: They're both toddlers, and it's just been really grueling. Lots
Speaker 2: of defiance and pushback and just every day feels like
Speaker 2: this intense struggle. But I feel like the bright side
Speaker 2: has just opened up for me recently, and I feel
Speaker 2: like I'm in this beautiful sweet spot of motherhood where
Speaker 2: I am relishing every moment and savoring every moment and
Speaker 2: grateful for everything. And there's nothing like a birthday a
Speaker 2: milestone to remind you of all the good parts of parenting.
Speaker 1: That was really sweet.
Speaker 3: I'm glad you're celebrating, because it's hard when every day
Speaker 3: feels like a fight.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Planning birthday parties for kids these days, it's kind
Speaker 2: of wild because a lot of people really go overboard. Now,
Speaker 2: I just saw this post online about reminiscing about parties
Speaker 2: from the eighties and nineties, and moms were talking about
Speaker 2: what makes those parties or what made those parties so
Speaker 2: good at the time, and it was so funny to
Speaker 2: see how simple they were. It was like, we had
Speaker 2: a jug of fruit punch, and we ordered some dominoes
Speaker 2: and we had a grand old time.
Speaker 1: I had like a dance party.
Speaker 3: And nowadays I look on social media and there's like
Speaker 3: Brandon Chella and it's.
Speaker 2: Like a huge concert. It's like balloon arches and everything. Right,
Speaker 2: I'm all about simplifying it because you have to reduce
Speaker 2: your stress as the party planner, as the host, because
Speaker 2: if you don't, then you don't get to actually soak
Speaker 2: up the time with your kids. And it's all about
Speaker 2: it's all about the idea of a party rather than
Speaker 2: the human that you're supposed to be celebrating. So I
Speaker 2: really tried to just strip everything down. We had a
Speaker 2: cute little birthday for him. I met a movie theater.
Speaker 2: All his little friends came. This was his first time
Speaker 2: in a big kid movie theater and my son loves movies.
Speaker 1: What'd you guys see Shrek. Oh that's so fun. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that is such a good memory for him.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, even if it's just memory and photos, it's very cute.
Speaker 2: I think he loved it. I think he had a
Speaker 2: great time. Danielle, how was your weekend?
Speaker 3: My weekend was good. I was on an airplane. I
Speaker 3: flew to Atlanta for my very first time. I've been
Speaker 3: into the airport but never outside.
Speaker 2: Get out. You've never been to Atlanta before?
Speaker 1: Never? Wow, and I've always wanted to go.
Speaker 3: I went to interview a real life Disney princess get out, yep.
Speaker 3: I interviewed Hallie Bailey and a bunch of influencers Jackie, Aina,
Speaker 3: Kelly You, Keeley cat Wells.
Speaker 2: This is so cool.
Speaker 1: It was really fun.
Speaker 3: It was for Airy Fest and Airy stopped filtering their
Speaker 3: photos ten years ago, which I love.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and so it was all about being a real girl,
Speaker 1: a real woman.
Speaker 2: Amazing. Did you filter your photos from the event? Thank
Speaker 2: you for asking. So, I'm actually so curious how you
Speaker 2: feel about this. I used to filter photos.
Speaker 1: I loved it.
Speaker 3: It was fun, especially if I wasn't wearing makeup. I'm like,
Speaker 3: this is saves me time. And then I started noticing
Speaker 3: that I didn't like my real face anymore. I would
Speaker 3: like see photos of my real face and not feel good,
Speaker 3: And so I made the choice to stop filtering photos
Speaker 3: because I was like, I want to love my real face,
Speaker 3: but I do believe in beauty autonomy, so whatever works
Speaker 3: for you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't really use photo filters. I think that
Speaker 2: it's kind of jarring for me. I think in the
Speaker 2: same way that you're saying you didn't recognize your own face.
Speaker 2: It just I don't know, it doesn't look like me.
Speaker 2: I will admit, though I don't know if I should
Speaker 2: admit this on the show. We might have to cut
Speaker 2: this out. The one thing that I do to my
Speaker 2: photos is I whiten my teeth.
Speaker 1: If is that a face tune thing.
Speaker 2: It's a face tune thing. Yeah, if my teeth are
Speaker 2: looking really you.
Speaker 1: Have white teeth, and you like have white teeth.
Speaker 2: I'm actually getting them whiten today. I'm kind of obsessed
Speaker 2: with white teeth. But I don't do anything else. I
Speaker 2: don't do the airbrushing or anything. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: if it makes you feel good, do you do you boo?
Speaker 2: All right? We are a podcast that centers joy, so
Speaker 2: what's the state of joy in the world today. Well,
Speaker 2: Gallup recently released it's twenty twenty four World Happiness Report,
Speaker 2: and this year it illuminated some findings on happiness in
Speaker 2: different stages of life. Get this, Danielle, Young Americans are
Speaker 2: actually less happy than older Americans. Yeah, duh, that doesn't
Speaker 2: surprise you.
Speaker 1: Not at all. It's tough out here for young Americans.
Speaker 2: All right, So here are the details. Americans under thirty
Speaker 2: are feeling worse about their lives, but Americans over sixty
Speaker 2: are feeling the opposite. Also, the United States of America
Speaker 2: has fallen out of the top twenty for the first
Speaker 2: time since the World Happiness Report was first published in
Speaker 2: twenty twelve, which is driven by this large drop in
Speaker 2: the well being of Americans under thirty that we've been
Speaker 2: talking about. So that's interesting that you say it's not
Speaker 2: surprising that America under thirty are feeling less than happy.
Speaker 2: I feel like there's a lot to be happy about
Speaker 2: when you're a young person.
Speaker 3: That's a good point. There is a lot to be
Speaker 3: happy about. But I actually have a theory on this.
Speaker 2: Tell me.
Speaker 3: One thing you'll learn is that I have a lot
Speaker 3: of theories. Some founded, some unfounded. I call this the
Speaker 3: discrepancy theory. So there was a Harvard psychologist, There is one.
Speaker 3: There is a Harvard psychologist named Stephen Pinker. He wrote
Speaker 3: this book called Enlightenment Now, and he said that we
Speaker 3: may be inundated with horrific stories of school shootings and
Speaker 3: natural disasters, but studies show that it's actually the best
Speaker 3: time ever to be alive. And so the overwhelming evidence
Speaker 3: is that we're richer, healthier, better fed, better educated, and
Speaker 3: even more humane. Like not to bore you with stats,
Speaker 3: but the global average IQ rises three points every decade.
Speaker 3: Private prejudice is declining, which is great, especially with youth
Speaker 3: growth of education and literacy, which is always a flagship
Speaker 3: of human progress.
Speaker 1: But here's where it gets interesting.
Speaker 3: At the same time, our phone have inundated us with information,
Speaker 3: news about each other, about the state of the world,
Speaker 3: and I think it's too much for the human brain
Speaker 3: to handle, and we're more lonely. We have this like
Speaker 3: high communication low connection feeling, and I think it's the
Speaker 3: discrepancy that's making us depressed.
Speaker 1: We're supposed to be so happy and yet we're not.
Speaker 3: I also think that there's a lot of pressure as
Speaker 3: a young person right now. Like I talk to some
Speaker 3: parents or even kids who are like in high school,
Speaker 3: they feel so much pressure from their parents, from the school,
Speaker 3: from themselves to like get into a great college, and
Speaker 3: it's so much harder now than it used to be.
Speaker 1: Just think, there's like a lot the word is pressure. Really.
Speaker 2: I also think that this points to the fact that
Speaker 2: age brings wisdom and perhaps more contentment.
Speaker 1: Yo, I think you're onto something.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I just think as you get older, like we've
Speaker 2: all heard it, you know, as you get older, you
Speaker 2: have less fs to give about issues in your life,
Speaker 2: and you care less about what people think. And I
Speaker 2: find that that's so true in my life. I actually
Speaker 2: I'm thirty six, so I'm not part of that under
Speaker 2: thirty group anymore. But I actually am happy. I'm very
Speaker 2: happy with my life. I don't consider myself to be
Speaker 2: like miserable, and I hear a lot of people talking
Speaker 2: about being miserable, and I want to be empathetic to that.
Speaker 2: But I also think there's so much to celebrate and
Speaker 2: so much to be happy about. I think we've lost
Speaker 2: sight of the art of contentment and cultivating contentment in
Speaker 2: our lives.
Speaker 3: Because we're always new now next, exactly, I think you
Speaker 3: hit on something with gaining more wisdom, because I actually
Speaker 3: I want to bring the bright side to this. I
Speaker 3: do think that there's an antidote, and it's intergenerational relationships.
Speaker 3: People who are a lot older wide in the aperture
Speaker 3: and show you that you're living in this tiny, narrow
Speaker 3: band of time.
Speaker 1: And so I think to be.
Speaker 3: With people who are in their eighties or seventies shows
Speaker 3: you the breath of what happens in ten, twenty thirty
Speaker 3: years and actually increases our optimism totally.
Speaker 2: I think we have to get off the hedonic treadmill.
Speaker 1: What does that mean?
Speaker 2: The hedonic treadmill is this idea that positive life events
Speaker 2: will greatly impact your happiness level. So like, if I
Speaker 2: just get that job, if I just get into a relationship,
Speaker 2: if I just move to that place, then I'm going
Speaker 2: to finally be happy. I think the joy is in
Speaker 2: the journey, it's not about the destination.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad I get to sit across from you.
Speaker 1: You have such a beautiful vocabulary.
Speaker 2: Thank you. I feel the same about you. Up next,
Speaker 2: Reese Witherspoon takes us back to her early days as
Speaker 2: an entrepreneur, at Hello Sunshine and the moment that her
Speaker 2: work matched up with her life's purpose.
Speaker 1: That's after the break.
Speaker 3: Stay with us, Welcome back to the bright Side. We're
Speaker 3: talking second acts and new beginnings with the One, the Only,
Speaker 3: Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 2: She's an award winning actor and producer. She's a hugely
Speaker 2: successful entrepreneur. She's been called the High Priestess of book publishing,
Speaker 2: and she's an executive producer of this very show.
Speaker 3: Hi Priestess is probably the best title ever. Eight years ago,
Speaker 3: resounded the media company Hello Sunshine with the purpose of
Speaker 3: changing the narrative for women. She set out to put
Speaker 3: women at the front and center of her productions, and
Speaker 3: she's done just that with shows like The Morning Show,
Speaker 3: Daisy Jones and The Six Big Little Lies and so
Speaker 3: many more.
Speaker 2: Reese is here to tell us about what motivated her
Speaker 2: to take charge nearly a decade ago, and what she's
Speaker 2: learned about perseverance, longevity, and joy along the way. Reese Witherspoon,
Speaker 2: Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 4: Hi guys, I'm so happy to be on the podcast,
Speaker 4: the first podcast.
Speaker 1: The very first episode, very first to the bright Side.
Speaker 5: Let's start this party.
Speaker 2: Let's get it started people, let's go ahead, come on,
Speaker 2: what have we been waiting for? Were so grateful to
Speaker 2: be working with you on this project. And since today
Speaker 2: is the very first episode of the bright Side, we
Speaker 2: thought we should talk about the reason why we're all here,
Speaker 2: which is Hello Sunshine, the company that you founded back
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen. But I think to give our bright
Speaker 2: Side besties the full origin story, you got to take
Speaker 2: us back to twenty ten, twenty eleven, because you had
Speaker 2: been acting for about twenty years at that point, and
Speaker 2: you've talked about how the scripts that were coming in
Speaker 2: were just so flat, so how bleak was it to
Speaker 2: be a woman in Hollywood at that time. Reading those scripts.
Speaker 4: I started noticing that there were less and less opportunities
Speaker 4: for women to star in movies. And I started seeing
Speaker 4: that the amount of scripts was drifting and diminishing, and
Speaker 4: they weren't really showing the full spectrum of what women's
Speaker 4: lives were at the time. And I just happened to
Speaker 4: start reading scripts that were just offensive, and I just thought,
Speaker 4: something has got to be better. I remember I read
Speaker 4: this one script that was so so bad and so offensive,
Speaker 4: and it had two female leads kind of fighting over
Speaker 4: the same guy, and the guy was kind of a goofball.
Speaker 5: And though I thought this was so bad and I
Speaker 5: had like all these kind of boob jokes in it
Speaker 5: and things. I was like, that's not funny.
Speaker 4: And I called my agent and they were like, every
Speaker 4: woman in Hollywood wants these two parts. Oh yeah, And
Speaker 4: I thought, this isn't good. This isn't good enough for me,
Speaker 4: and it's not good enough for my colleagues, the other
Speaker 4: women that I'm so close with in our business. But also,
Speaker 4: this is not something I want my daughter to see.
Speaker 4: And that was a big thing for me too. A
Speaker 4: lot of what motivates me in this world is like,
Speaker 4: what is the world I want to have my daughter
Speaker 4: walk through.
Speaker 3: I feel like that's what Hello Sunshine has become like.
Speaker 3: You are doing everything to try and pass the torch,
Speaker 3: and you were working in a system that wasn't working
Speaker 3: for you. I've heard you talk about rewriting the rules,
Speaker 3: which I think is such a beautiful way of phrasing it.
Speaker 3: What did you see exactly in the industry that you
Speaker 3: were like, I need to change this, this has got
Speaker 3: to change.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it wasn't just that the scripts were bad. So
Speaker 4: then if you if you go look at a problem, right,
Speaker 4: you have to go back to the root of what
Speaker 4: why does that problem keep happening?
Speaker 5: So for me, that was like, Okay, now I need
Speaker 5: to do.
Speaker 4: Research, like why are these the best that Hollywood has
Speaker 4: to offer? So I went around to each studio and
Speaker 4: I started to meet with executives and said, you know,
Speaker 4: what are you developing with a female lead? And all
Speaker 4: of the studios except for when they said, we're not
Speaker 4: developing anything.
Speaker 5: So I went, Okay.
Speaker 4: Instead of sitting here and complaining about the problem, because
Speaker 4: that wasn't acceptable, I decided to do something about the
Speaker 4: problem because women, you know, we're always part of the
Speaker 4: solution and you can admire problems, but like, what are
Speaker 4: you doing to change things? So I started thinking, well,
Speaker 4: if I started funding development of female led and female
Speaker 4: written stories, you know, why wouldn't I want to be
Speaker 4: in them? And why would my friends want to do them?
Speaker 4: And I just took a big leap. I put my
Speaker 4: own money into the company. I really didn't know how
Speaker 4: to run a company like this. I did it for
Speaker 4: three years and to a lot of success, but didn't
Speaker 4: make any profit.
Speaker 5: So I had to retool too.
Speaker 4: I had to like figure out a business plan that
Speaker 4: was going to work to make this successful because it
Speaker 4: was my mission to change the landscape for women's storytelling.
Speaker 4: I just I had to learn the bumps in the
Speaker 4: road to become successful at it.
Speaker 2: So you take that leap of courage and faith to
Speaker 2: start this company and start creating women centered films and
Speaker 2: TV shows. But how did you know that all of this,
Speaker 2: that Hello Sunshine, would be possible when so many people
Speaker 2: around you were telling you that it was impossible.
Speaker 4: Well, I always have been a little bit of a contrarian.
Speaker 4: So if somebody was like, something can't be done, I'm.
Speaker 5: Like, oh, really, I'll figure out a way to do it. Yeah,
Speaker 5: here are my earrings.
Speaker 2: Okay, exactly.
Speaker 4: No, I just don't like I don't like no, and
Speaker 4: I don't like that's just how it is, because it
Speaker 4: doesn't have to be the way it is. But it
Speaker 4: does take determination, it takes a lot of time, and
Speaker 4: I couldn't do it by myself. So a big part
Speaker 4: of this was like trying to recruit people towards my
Speaker 4: idea and trying to find the right team to support
Speaker 4: that idea. And that's when I met Sarah Hardin, who's
Speaker 4: our CEO and together. She would take my ideas and
Speaker 4: turn them into a business plan. She'd be like, Okay,
Speaker 4: these are the kind of people we have to hire
Speaker 4: to support that idea, and this is how we're going
Speaker 4: to actually make that happen. But I think you need
Speaker 4: those kinds of different types of personalities in order to
Speaker 4: make a creative business successful.
Speaker 3: I want to hear more about those early days, because
Speaker 3: you said you're not making money at first. What was
Speaker 3: the moment when you thought we really have something here.
Speaker 4: Well, the first three years I was just buying books
Speaker 4: and then turning them into movies and TV shows, so
Speaker 4: that was like gone Girl Wild and then Big Little Life,
Speaker 4: and we were making money, but we're just breaking even.
Speaker 4: So I was able to pay the employees and for
Speaker 4: the space, but I wasn't making a profit. That was
Speaker 4: going to be able to make it so that the
Speaker 4: business made sense. You know, I didn't want to do
Speaker 4: I didn't want to take money from people and then
Speaker 4: not return the money. And then I also I wanted
Speaker 4: to make sure that this was a great idea because
Speaker 4: I knew there was value in storytelling for women. So
Speaker 4: early days were like, I mean, the first office space
Speaker 4: I had had like a leaky air conditioning machine that
Speaker 4: would drip on my desk.
Speaker 2: This is so relatable recently, love it.
Speaker 4: And it was two rooms and the sister was in
Speaker 4: the room room, and I split the two desks in
Speaker 4: one tiny little room and that's where me and my
Speaker 4: executive sat and we had one assistant.
Speaker 5: That was the beginning.
Speaker 2: What did you think would be the hardest part of
Speaker 2: building your own production company and what was the hardest part?
Speaker 2: In reality?
Speaker 4: What I thought was going to be the biggest problem
Speaker 4: was fine material, But that wasn't hard at all. There's
Speaker 4: so many amazing books and there was so many great ideas.
Speaker 4: I think the hardest part was getting funding because you
Speaker 4: had to convince people that the idea was going to
Speaker 4: make the money they you know, people don't want to
Speaker 4: invest money unless they're going to get a multiple on
Speaker 4: their investment. And so I went around to a lot
Speaker 4: of people and had a lot of cross arms and
Speaker 4: closed doors, so just convincing people that the idea is
Speaker 4: valuable and then also that you're going to work hard
Speaker 4: to execute on it. But they you know, there's a
Speaker 4: lot of vetting that was done on me. A lot
Speaker 4: of people called my former people who had hired me
Speaker 4: to do different movies, and I benefited from the fact
Speaker 4: that I'd been super professional for twenty years, so it
Speaker 4: was really a second chapter career for me, and I
Speaker 4: had to really dig in.
Speaker 5: And y'all, I've.
Speaker 4: Never worked so hard in my whole life, just being
Speaker 4: like so tired all the time, because one year, I
Speaker 4: made three television shows in a year, and then I
Speaker 4: was also doing all the executive work behind the scenes
Speaker 4: and doing Resu's book club and doing all the social media,
Speaker 4: and it was a lot, but I was like that
Speaker 4: it was so fun because I was working with like
Speaker 4: minded people and we were all working in one direction.
Speaker 4: And also, I don't know, it's just like my purpose
Speaker 4: in life matched up with my work, you know. And
Speaker 4: I've always had a great job and I love making movies,
Speaker 4: but it was like my purpose came to life, which is,
Speaker 4: you know, centering women in storytelling, and then it was like, oh.
Speaker 5: Then it was just became so fun to go to
Speaker 5: work every day.
Speaker 2: I love talking about purpose because I think it changes
Speaker 2: your life once you really ground down into a purpose
Speaker 2: and also something that's outside of yourself. And I know
Speaker 2: that your grandparents really instilled in you the importance of
Speaker 2: having a sense of purpose from a young age. So
Speaker 2: can you just tell us about that a little bit
Speaker 2: more like, how do you view your purpose during that
Speaker 2: chapter of your career when you were primarily a performer,
Speaker 2: and then how did it shift for you once you
Speaker 2: started this company.
Speaker 4: Purpose is so important. I think we all as human
Speaker 4: beings are trying to figure out the why of our life.
Speaker 4: And even if you've had success as a mom or
Speaker 4: success as a business person, you're always looking for a
Speaker 4: deeper meaning. So for me, it goes back to my
Speaker 4: childhood growing up with my grandma, who was a teacher,
Speaker 4: and she just loved books and was always encouraging me
Speaker 4: to read, taught me to read, and she would do
Speaker 4: all the voices when I was little, and it just
Speaker 4: ignited in me a passion for learning and reading and
Speaker 4: it made stories come to life for me because she
Speaker 4: was so imaginative and such a great teacher.
Speaker 5: And my grandfather was just service service, service. He was
Speaker 5: in the military.
Speaker 4: He was just about the Boys and Girls Club of Nashville,
Speaker 4: and he was always doing something every day to serve
Speaker 4: his community, and it gave him great purpose. He woke
Speaker 4: up every day with this feeling of people need me.
Speaker 4: I am wanted, I am valued, So I'm kind of
Speaker 4: a blend of the two of them. My grandfather was
Speaker 4: super extroverted and my grandmother was very introverted, but they
Speaker 4: raised me because my parents were both working all the
Speaker 4: time in the military, and so I really felt their
Speaker 4: influence as I walked through the world. And I also,
Speaker 4: I think it's important to say too, all of our
Speaker 4: grandmothers walked through the world in a way where they
Speaker 4: didn't have the opportunities we have. They weren't allowed to
Speaker 4: have credit cards, they couldn't have alone on a small business.
Speaker 4: So I think about that every time I've like accomplished
Speaker 4: something or made a big move in business, I always
Speaker 4: think about the women that came before me that I
Speaker 4: am standing on their shoulders, and how lucky we are
Speaker 4: to be in this this time, at this time, on
Speaker 4: this planet, in this place.
Speaker 5: It's really fortunate.
Speaker 3: Well, you're now the biggest producer in the world of
Speaker 3: women's stories. How have you seen the industry change since starting? Hello, Sunshine,
Speaker 3: The business has really changed.
Speaker 4: When I started in twenty eleven, we only had a
Speaker 4: few studios and they were buying really from movies and
Speaker 4: television was a very siloed off business. Since then, with
Speaker 4: the emergence of streaming, there's so many more options, there's
Speaker 4: so many more buyers. You're seeing more female screenwriters, you're
Speaker 4: seeing more female directors.
Speaker 5: Still not enough, but you're seeing a lot more.
Speaker 4: Representation too across you know, women of color, women who
Speaker 4: are differently abled, and I think you're getting better storytelling.
Speaker 4: And also there's this thing too that you could hide from.
Speaker 4: Before there was social media, before there was streaming, they
Speaker 4: would say, well, the audience doesn't like that, and the
Speaker 4: audience was sort of this. We're like, where is the
Speaker 4: audience and who are they? But now you can push
Speaker 4: a button on Instagram or you know, Facebook and find
Speaker 4: out exactly who the audience is. And they do like
Speaker 4: women's storytelling. And if you go on Netflix and you
Speaker 4: go into a meeting with them, I'm like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 4: women are our best customers because they mark it too.
Speaker 4: They'll if they love something, and you know this about
Speaker 4: our girlfriends. It's like, oh my god, have you seen
Speaker 4: this show?
Speaker 5: Have you watched that? Have you tried this lip bomb?
Speaker 5: Have you? They will sell your products for you.
Speaker 4: So if you get a woman who's a fan of something,
Speaker 4: or she understands the purpose behind something and she.
Speaker 5: Gets excited about it. It's so good, it's so great.
Speaker 4: So women are finally coming into their power as consumers,
Speaker 4: as makers, and you know, we hold a lot of
Speaker 4: control and power that we don't even know.
Speaker 2: Reese, you brought up friendships, and I know that your
Speaker 2: friendships are so dear to you and so important to you.
Speaker 2: When I think about my friendships with women, I also
Speaker 2: think about how they've been cheerleaders for me professionally. So
Speaker 2: how have your female friendships impacted the way that you
Speaker 2: show up in the work that you do?
Speaker 4: Oh wow, I mean it's so critical. I don't need
Speaker 4: I couldn't. Yeah, there's times where I couldn't even get
Speaker 4: out of bed and my girlfriends would come over to
Speaker 4: my house, like when I was going through a bad
Speaker 4: break app or it have like a really disappointing day
Speaker 4: as a parent, or day week or you know, divorce,
Speaker 4: or it doesn't matter. My friends, I don't have a lot.
Speaker 4: I'm like quality over quantity.
Speaker 2: But that's the only way to be right, I mean,
Speaker 2: especially as you get older. I think I think.
Speaker 4: So, But I mean everybody has different You see girls
Speaker 4: that have so many friends and I'm like, and they
Speaker 4: manage it somehow, It's just not my personality type.
Speaker 3: Well, you are running an empire, So I mean, I
Speaker 3: am so lucky.
Speaker 4: I have the best friends in the world. They just
Speaker 4: show up for me during hard times and it's mutual.
Speaker 4: I always say to my kids too, to have a
Speaker 4: good friend, you have to be a good friend. I
Speaker 4: also think about it in terms of like a bank account.
Speaker 4: Each friendship is a bank account and it's and you
Speaker 4: need to review every year. Are there more deposits than
Speaker 4: there are withdraws totally or vice versa. There should be
Speaker 4: a balance there, like what are you putting into their
Speaker 4: life and what are they taking?
Speaker 2: Like that we're actually having a friendship coach on an
Speaker 2: upcoming episode, and it was such an eye opening conversation.
Speaker 2: One of the main things that she said that women
Speaker 2: look for in friendships is that reciprocity that you just
Speaker 2: talked about. Is making sure that I'm pouring into you
Speaker 2: you're pouring into me.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 4: And if you're sitting with somebody who's or how about
Speaker 4: these people who call you and talk about their problems
Speaker 4: all the time, but then like someone goes on with
Speaker 4: you and they're nowhere to be found.
Speaker 2: Right now, or no, down with those people. If so,
Speaker 2: don't ask a question about your life. That's a big
Speaker 2: one for me too. If they only talk about themselves
Speaker 2: and don't ask a question about you and what's going
Speaker 2: on with you?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, that's just what's that narcissism?
Speaker 5: That's just I don't even know.
Speaker 4: There's so many different names, we name so many things now,
Speaker 4: but it's just like not okay, how about just that
Speaker 4: not okay person?
Speaker 5: They can't show up for me, like bye, we're done.
Speaker 3: I know that for every win, there's five or ten
Speaker 3: losses that nobody sees.
Speaker 1: Tell me about some the hard stuff.
Speaker 3: Was there a time that sticks out to you where
Speaker 3: something really didn't go as planned?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 4: I mean definitely after Big Little Lies won all these
Speaker 4: awards and it was such a successful show, and then
Speaker 4: going to meet the account and then the account was like,
Speaker 4: you know, you can cover the employee's salaries and you
Speaker 4: can cover the rent, but there's literally nothing left over
Speaker 4: to hire, to grow, to expand.
Speaker 5: And I thought, okay, I worked that hard.
Speaker 4: I identified this material, we did so well, it won
Speaker 4: eight Emmys.
Speaker 5: What is going on?
Speaker 4: And that's when I had to go, Okay, I'm not
Speaker 4: doing this right. I gotta step back from it. Sometimes
Speaker 4: you need to step away and look at things from
Speaker 4: a different perspective.
Speaker 5: And that's when I brought in.
Speaker 4: People to help me build a business plan because I
Speaker 4: didn't go to business school, Like I don't you know
Speaker 4: people say ROI and DTC and ibadah, and I was like, I.
Speaker 2: Don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 4: I don't we're seeing right now like they talk about
Speaker 4: it like you're supposed to know, and I didn't know.
Speaker 4: And Sarah Harden came into my life and was so
Speaker 4: patient with me. And I also think it's important to
Speaker 4: ask questions and not feel stupid. And it's also an
Speaker 4: intimidation factor. If you walk in and you're trying to
Speaker 4: build a business and you're like new, people are trying
Speaker 4: to intimidate you by using a bunch of acronyms that
Speaker 4: you don't understand. So if you have the courage to say,
Speaker 4: I'm so sorry, do you mind explaining exactly what you
Speaker 4: mean by that. Sarah was always so patient with me
Speaker 4: and she helped me learn And it was about like
Speaker 4: a year and a half of going to Sarah Harden's
Speaker 4: business school.
Speaker 1: That's the way more fun than a college campus.
Speaker 3: It was in line with that I think about girls
Speaker 3: trying and failing because I think we let little boys fail,
Speaker 3: which no, are you most thankful for?
Speaker 4: Oh gosh, so many As my friend says, you know,
Speaker 4: rejection is God's protection, and it's so true time you
Speaker 4: feel so devastated. So it was probably a lot of
Speaker 4: times where I was trying to raise money for the
Speaker 4: business and they said no, which was probably you know,
Speaker 4: a lot, but I only needed one yes, and I
Speaker 4: got the one yes, and that started the ball rolling.
Speaker 4: And I'll be forever grateful to those people for taking
Speaker 4: a chance on me. But I looked them in the
Speaker 4: eye and I said, you will not regret it. I
Speaker 4: will give you a return on your investment, or I'll
Speaker 4: just I'll fall over try.
Speaker 5: You won't see me not hustling to make it happen.
Speaker 4: So because everything doesn't always work out perfectly, but you know,
Speaker 4: I know that I will always try my hardest. So
Speaker 4: that was like a big no in my life. That
Speaker 4: affected me and also employees.
Speaker 5: That you've got to have this. You've got to get
Speaker 5: that person or it's not going to work out. Yeah,
Speaker 5: it's Okay.
Speaker 4: If they take another job or you end up not
Speaker 4: working with them, it's okay. It's really you're going to
Speaker 4: do better things, or different things, or something else is
Speaker 4: meant for you.
Speaker 2: Reese, I get really fired up when I talk about
Speaker 2: the intersection of ambition and motherhood. So can we go
Speaker 2: there for just a brief second? Yes, Before Hello Sunshine,
Speaker 2: before the book Club, before all the Emmys. You were
Speaker 2: a mother first. You became a mother at a very
Speaker 2: young age, in your early twenties. How did motherhood at
Speaker 2: such an early age prepare your heart for the work
Speaker 2: that you're doing now.
Speaker 4: It's pivotal the fact that I was a young mom.
Speaker 4: It's such a foundational piece of who I am because
Speaker 4: when I was twenty three years old.
Speaker 5: I had my daughter and.
Speaker 4: I wasn't expecting to be a mom at twenty three.
Speaker 4: It was a decision that I made with my partner
Speaker 4: at the time, and it just changed me so profoundly,
Speaker 4: and I didn't like who I was very much. I
Speaker 4: was looking in the mirror at that point and who
Speaker 4: I had walked through the world as I was super competitive.
Speaker 4: I was an actress for hire at the time, and
Speaker 4: I was trying so hard to get jobs, and I
Speaker 4: had this scarcity mindset that if another girl got the job,
Speaker 4: that's going to be less for me. And I started
Speaker 4: reading so many books. I watched Oprah so much, and
Speaker 4: I started instead of just watching Oprah going Okay, I'm
Speaker 4: gonna read the books that she recommends on self love,
Speaker 4: self help, positivity. And I read so many books, like
Speaker 4: one that was really important for me, with Soul Stories
Speaker 4: by Gary Zukoff. It was all about having integrity as
Speaker 4: a human. And part of that book is about having
Speaker 4: a abundance mindset, not a scarcity mindset, because when you
Speaker 4: live in the fear of scarcity, you believe there isn't
Speaker 4: enough for everyone. But when you live in abundance and
Speaker 4: you go now, there's more for me and there's more
Speaker 4: for her, I am so.
Speaker 5: Happy she got that job.
Speaker 4: I am so happy she is doing well because you
Speaker 4: know what, that's going to create abundance for me, It's
Speaker 4: going to create abundance for other women.
Speaker 5: So that was just one little.
Speaker 4: Mindset shift that happened for me when I was about
Speaker 4: twenty three or twenty four, and that was about me
Speaker 4: trying to change who I was for my daughter, because
Speaker 4: I wanted to be more of an example of someone
Speaker 4: I wanted her to want to be. I wanted her
Speaker 4: to look at me and think, my mom's a role model.
Speaker 4: And I wasn't a role model before that. I wasn't
Speaker 4: demonstrating values that I would want my daughter to model.
Speaker 4: And then I was able once I got that foundation
Speaker 4: under me, and I was like, Okay, my behavior is
Speaker 4: going to be the kind of behavior I want her
Speaker 4: to model. Okay, now that I've got that, I'm going
Speaker 4: to take that into my work world. I'm going to
Speaker 4: have the behavior in my work world that I want
Speaker 4: her to model. And I was like, hold on, if
Speaker 4: I did that, well, maybe I can kick it up
Speaker 4: a notch and do it as a bigger business modeling
Speaker 4: the kind of things I want to see in the world. So,
Speaker 4: really becoming a mom at a young age was everything
Speaker 4: for me because I had enough money, I was financially prepared,
Speaker 4: I had a very stable relationship. I had really good
Speaker 4: parents who are protect you know, protecting me and helping me.
Speaker 4: So I want to say that's not the perfect choice
Speaker 4: for everybody, but it was the right thing for me.
Speaker 2: There's just one thing I want to say about that.
Speaker 2: I think it's so important for young women to hear that,
Speaker 2: because so often we hear that motherhood is going to
Speaker 2: be the death of our career, and it's just it's
Speaker 2: just simply not true. I mean, there are so many
Speaker 2: incredible examples of ambitious lites.
Speaker 4: Yes, I think so too, and I think we worry
Speaker 4: as women's like I'm none enough in my career. But
Speaker 4: I will say with a caveat right, you know, if
Speaker 4: you're in a good place, there's no perfect time about
Speaker 4: having a baby. I also there's no perfect time, like
Speaker 4: what's the day that you want your entire life to change?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 4: Is that like a Tuesday at three o'clock or is
Speaker 4: that like a Saturday at ten am. Your whole life
Speaker 4: is going to change, and it's going to be about
Speaker 4: another human being in the world and raising that human
Speaker 4: to the best of your ability. There's no good time, right,
Speaker 4: but there is timing. That's like, I feel stable in
Speaker 4: my career. I feel stable, I have enough money, I
Speaker 4: have a good supportive network around me, whether there's a
Speaker 4: partner there or not a partner there, there's a network
Speaker 4: of help because you do need a lot of help,
Speaker 4: but it isn't prohibitive. I found it as motivating because
Speaker 4: I wanted my daughter to feel inspired. And also my
Speaker 4: mom worked, so I feel like if your mom worked,
Speaker 4: I don't know, do y' all think that? Because I
Speaker 4: feel like my mom was the example. I was always
Speaker 4: going to be like my mom. And my mom was
Speaker 4: a nurse, and so I watched her go to work
Speaker 4: and then she come home tell me all the stories
Speaker 4: of all the babies she took care of all day,
Speaker 4: and I.
Speaker 5: Was like, Oh, I want to walk, I want to like,
Speaker 5: I want to have a job with purpose.
Speaker 1: Is that what those spaces of joy are for you? Like? Why?
Speaker 3: I feel like the sets you create, the experiences, the
Speaker 3: shows they center around joy.
Speaker 1: Why is that important for you?
Speaker 4: Well, first of all, I think it's important to set
Speaker 4: a tone, Like the way you start things and the
Speaker 4: way that you end things is really important. The sort
Speaker 4: of rituals around work. You come in and you say
Speaker 4: hello to everybody, like Carrie Washington taught me such a
Speaker 4: big lesson on our show Little Fires. Everywhere every morning
Speaker 4: she goes Happy Monday everybody. It just set a tone
Speaker 4: that and I've never seen anybody do that before, but
Speaker 4: it was almost like it reminded me of being in
Speaker 4: school and the teacher said hello to each kid, but
Speaker 4: everybody felt seen and acknowledged or hope everybody had a
Speaker 4: great weekend. Let's have a great week. And then at
Speaker 4: the end of the day, thank you so much everybody
Speaker 4: for a great day. Made such a difference. And as
Speaker 4: a leader, I thought that is such a valuable skill
Speaker 4: that she just shared with all of us. But for me,
Speaker 4: I'm always the person who's like, how can I insert
Speaker 4: a little joy into today? So whether that's like bringing
Speaker 4: cookies that I brought, or telling everybody joke or trying
Speaker 4: to find a way to bring humor into a really
Speaker 4: difficult situation, or light you know, sometimes I just say
Speaker 4: a lightness. Let's bring a lightness into this because all
Speaker 4: is not lost where we're real.
Speaker 5: Smart people, We're going to figure it out. That can
Speaker 5: just really change any work environment.
Speaker 2: Sugar is my form of joy as well, Reese. I
Speaker 2: want to circle back to something that you just said.
Speaker 2: I mean, we've talked a lot about the hard times
Speaker 2: today and how it's not all suns at the top.
Speaker 2: So how do you find the bright side when everything
Speaker 2: is going wrong?
Speaker 4: Well, I take time and space to just breathe, put
Speaker 4: away the phone, I walk outside in nature, or I
Speaker 4: get with my dog, I snunckle my dog, or I
Speaker 4: pet my dog. That's a very relaxing form of therapy
Speaker 4: for me. Or I talk to my girlfriends four hundred
Speaker 4: and sixty seven billion times a day. So I'll say
Speaker 4: I learned on Simon Sinok's podcast that friends only need
Speaker 4: eight minutes eight minutes of your time. So we now
Speaker 4: have a code where I just text eight minutes and
Speaker 4: then find eight minutes somewhere. They'll say, Okay, in two hours,
Speaker 4: I have eight minutes. And you really only need eight
Speaker 4: minutes to process something difficult or challenging. So doing that,
Speaker 4: that's like a little well I stole it from Simon.
Speaker 2: I'm stealing it from you.
Speaker 3: That's okay, But women like to share great things, so
Speaker 3: we just proved it.
Speaker 1: Okay, we have one last question for you.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: That's it. Unless we talk today.
Speaker 2: We could talk forever, Reese, We'll do this again soon, Okay.
Speaker 3: Narrative plays such a huge role in your life. We
Speaker 3: mentioned that Hello, Sunshine's goal or one of them, is
Speaker 3: to change the narrative for women, and I think that
Speaker 3: you've really been a force in telling your own story
Speaker 3: as well. And I used to read your book Whiskey
Speaker 3: in a teacup, and I know that you come from
Speaker 3: a long story and a story of women. Your grandmother
Speaker 3: was a school teacher and she taught you how to read.
Speaker 3: What does it mean to be Dorothy Draper's granddaughter?
Speaker 4: Well, I learned from my grandmother a long time ago
Speaker 4: that women are the heroes of their own stories. And
Speaker 4: I think we all have a story in our lives
Speaker 4: of a woman who's overcome incredible aughts, whether it's your aunt,
Speaker 4: your sister, your grandma, who either overcame a financial or
Speaker 4: personal disaster to make her way in the world or
Speaker 4: become the woman she wanted to be.
Speaker 5: So that is.
Speaker 4: A big, big part of rewriting the narrative women in media,
Speaker 4: because women ultimately save themselves. And I think we all
Speaker 4: grew up with a lot of stories that partners were
Speaker 4: coming to save the day, or romance would make you
Speaker 4: a whole just not true. So it's a really big
Speaker 4: piece of why we pick the books we pick, why
Speaker 4: we make the TV shows we make, the movies we make.
Speaker 5: There's always at the end a woman who saves herself.
Speaker 1: Thank you for your time, Rees.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Rees, thank you.
Speaker 4: Well, I just want to say, you guys, I am
Speaker 4: so excited about this podcast The bright Side. You guys
Speaker 4: are giving people a chance to shine a light on
Speaker 4: their lives, shine a light on a little advice that
Speaker 4: they want to share, and that's what we need, you know.
Speaker 4: Thank you for taking the light and now you're taking
Speaker 4: it with you and you're going to shine it all
Speaker 4: over the world. And it makes me really happy.
Speaker 1: We're really honored. Yeah, that's the word. Thank you for
Speaker 1: sharing it with us.
Speaker 2: Honor privilege. I never imagined that I would get the
Speaker 2: chance to carry this honor and help you a part
Speaker 2: of this legacy. So it's truly an honor.
Speaker 5: Well, thank you. I feel it.
Speaker 4: I feel it off of y'all, and I see the
Speaker 4: joy that you're having with each other.
Speaker 2: We are this is my brightside, Bessie right here. Reese
Speaker 2: Witherspoon is an award winning actor, producer, and the founder
Speaker 2: of Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 3: We'll be back with more after the break. So that
Speaker 3: was a big first interview, the Queen Bee of the Besties.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, Reese, I'm still not over it. She
Speaker 2: is such a personal hero of mine for so many reasons.
Speaker 2: But I'll give you one big one. Through the work
Speaker 2: that she does to honor female authorship, she is reminding
Speaker 2: the world that women contain multitudes and that we need
Speaker 2: to tell our stories, that our stories need to be told.
Speaker 2: I know how it feels to have to hide your multitudes,
Speaker 2: and I'm so grateful that I'm at a place and
Speaker 2: that I'm in this space where I don't feel like
Speaker 2: I have to hide my multitudes anymore. Reath shines a
Speaker 2: light on unseen creatives.
Speaker 3: I think that's probably why so much of the language
Speaker 3: around Hello, Sunshine and the bright Side is about shining
Speaker 3: a light.
Speaker 1: I think that's super intuitive of you.
Speaker 3: I liked when she talked about her early years too,
Speaker 3: because I felt really aligned with it. When I moved
Speaker 3: to La, all I wanted to do was be a
Speaker 3: TV host. I just wanted to interview people, and I
Speaker 3: was so hungry that I was really just kind of
Speaker 3: like self involved, not self involved, but I was trying
Speaker 3: to find success for myself. That I didn't realize that
Speaker 3: you missed the richness of life when it's all about
Speaker 3: what you get instead about what you give, and that
Speaker 3: comes with the abundance mindset. And I did so much
Speaker 3: of the similar work that she was talking about. I
Speaker 3: read so for two years I was reading books and
Speaker 3: listening to podcasts and Oprah and Gary zukop and try
Speaker 3: to find that light.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I think shifting to that idea of what is
Speaker 2: for you won't miss you is something that's been so
Speaker 2: helpful to me. Because have you ever gotten a job
Speaker 2: by being competitive? No, it doesn't exactly work that way.
Speaker 2: I think anytime we're trying to force something into submission,
Speaker 2: that's when we're out of alignment.
Speaker 1: Hmm.
Speaker 3: I think you learn that with experience, though, Like I
Speaker 3: couldn't have told twenty two year old Danielle that, could
Speaker 3: you have?
Speaker 2: I probably would have been so insecure that I wouldn't
Speaker 2: have listened or wouldn't have known how to incorporate that advice.
Speaker 2: I think on the subject of competition, though, I'm curious
Speaker 2: if you agree or disagree, Like competition is not even
Speaker 2: it's not really a thing that goes away, Like you're
Speaker 2: always going to be surrounded by people who are really
Speaker 2: smart or really talented in your field, and I think
Speaker 2: you have to learn how to navigate it and recognize
Speaker 2: that you can gain something from it, that you can
Speaker 2: learn something from the people that you're around, and also
Speaker 2: that you never want to be the smartest person in
Speaker 2: any room, right, You always want to be working with
Speaker 2: people who are challenging you and sharpening you. So yeah,
Speaker 2: my perspective on competition has changed a lot as I've
Speaker 2: gotten older.
Speaker 3: I want to bring up one more thing about what
Speaker 3: Rees said, because she said that the hardest part about
Speaker 3: building Hello Sunshine was finding money that people would not
Speaker 3: invest in her, and I was shocked to hear that.
Speaker 3: I look at her as a person who is just
Speaker 3: so investable, like, you know, like she's a doer. She's
Speaker 3: of course she has integrity. Of Course she's going to
Speaker 3: complete the task. Of course she's going to make it
Speaker 3: like she's going to try with all her might. And
Speaker 3: that's what you want when you're investing in an entrepreneur.
Speaker 3: I just was kind of shocked, were you so?
Speaker 2: I listened to her talk about this in an interview
Speaker 2: with Regina King, and I also was shocked to hear
Speaker 2: her talking about how hard it was to get people
Speaker 2: to believe in her as a producer and to build
Speaker 2: up that credibility. But if you think back to that
Speaker 2: time right before she made Gone Girl and Wild and
Speaker 2: Big little lies. This concept of this multi hyphenate producer,
Speaker 2: performer and a female who was doing that was really
Speaker 2: unheard of at that time. Like, there weren't many women
Speaker 2: who were doing that in the way that she's doing
Speaker 2: it now.
Speaker 1: I just don't think they were taken seriously.
Speaker 2: Right, right, they weren't. Yeah, And so I mean it
Speaker 2: just shows you how much has changed and how much
Speaker 2: Hello Sunshine and Reese have been a part of that change,
Speaker 2: have been drivers of that change. Because imagine if Hollywood
Speaker 2: and the arts community just kept on moving in the
Speaker 2: direction that it was going before, Like we would be
Speaker 2: in a completely different universe right now, lacking all these
Speaker 2: rich stories about women.
Speaker 3: She said something about how like if someone says no,
Speaker 3: that she's like, all right, let me rewrite the rules.
Speaker 2: Yeah, let me.
Speaker 3: I love that energy so much. I think that the
Speaker 3: world is in need of leaders so badly. Social movements
Speaker 3: need leaders, companies need leaders, like we are all looking
Speaker 3: for leadership, and I think she provides that so well.
Speaker 3: I heard something the other day that no means next option.
Speaker 3: I no, and I think she lives by that. She's like, no,
Speaker 3: all right, I'm moving on to the next one. I'll
Speaker 3: figure it out. So I think if I take anything
Speaker 3: from today, it's next option. Go be fired up, go
Speaker 3: into the world and try and give it your all.
Speaker 2: I love that, and I also I love hearing her
Speaker 2: talk about her contrarian spirit and that's something you have. Oh,
Speaker 2: I totally have a contrarian spirit. I definitely relate to that.
Speaker 2: And she's talked a lot about how she was this
Speaker 2: really high spirited, imaginative little girl. And I think it's
Speaker 2: a great reminder for all the parents out there that
Speaker 2: if your child has that strong will that can make
Speaker 2: your life kind of a headache in the early years,
Speaker 2: that is not necessarily a bad thing, that that could
Speaker 2: be the sign of a natural born leader under your roof.
Speaker 3: Before we wrap day one, Simone and I want to
Speaker 3: leave you with a little spark of joy to take
Speaker 3: with you through your day.
Speaker 2: Here's something that stood out to both of us from
Speaker 2: our conversation with Reese. Be the hero of your own
Speaker 2: story today and every day. Well that's it for us today.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow on the show, we have the Goddess of gatherings,
Speaker 2: Pria Parker. She's an expert on how to create meaningful
Speaker 2: get togethers, and she'll help us set an attention for
Speaker 2: this gathering The bright Side.
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Speaker 2: You can find me Simone Voice at Simone Voice.
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Speaker 2: Y See you tomorrow. M