Speaker 1: This episode contains references to suicide and other sensitive topics.
Speaker 1: Please listen with care and take care. If you or
Speaker 1: someone you know is struggling, call eight hundred two seven
Speaker 1: three eight two fifty five the National Suicide Hotline, or
Speaker 1: call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Hotline
Speaker 1: at one eight hundred sixty six ' two help. That's
Speaker 1: one eight hundred sixty six to two help.
Speaker 2: Welcome to She Pivots. I'm Amelia Hartford.
Speaker 1: Welcome to She Pivots, the podcast where we talk with
Speaker 1: women who dared to pivot out of one career and
Speaker 1: into something new and explore how their personal lives impacted
Speaker 1: these decisions. I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. Today I'm
Speaker 1: joined by Amelia Hartford, actress best known for her role
Speaker 1: in Grand Turismo, YouTuber and record breaking car builder and
Speaker 1: driver Impressive. We're releasing Amelia's episode today in honor of
Speaker 1: Mental Health Awareness Month because, in addition to her impressive career,
Speaker 1: Amelia is a dedicated advocate for mental health. She sits
Speaker 1: on the board of Alive and Well and has been
Speaker 1: outspoken about her own experiences and struggles from the time
Speaker 1: she was young Amelia always knew she wanted to be
Speaker 1: an actress, and although her childhood was far from perfect,
Speaker 1: life took a turn when she tragically lost her father
Speaker 1: at just fifteen. Her life changed in a day and
Speaker 1: she was forced to grow up quickly. That's when cars
Speaker 1: came into her life and it became her path to healing.
Speaker 1: At the time, she had no idea that one day
Speaker 1: she would make it a career and bring her back
Speaker 1: to her longtime dream of acting. What I love about
Speaker 1: Amelia's story is that her pivot was born out of
Speaker 1: healing and brought her to places and of opportunities she
Speaker 1: couldn't even imagine. With one point five million YouTube subscribers,
Speaker 1: a blockbuster movie, and multiple world records under her belt,
Speaker 1: Amelia has remained grounded throughout it all. I hope you
Speaker 1: enjoyed this episode as much as I did.
Speaker 2: My name is Amelia Hartford. I am an actress, an entrepreneur.
Speaker 2: I build a drive race cars, and I'm also on
Speaker 2: the board of a nonprofit organization called Alive and Well, so.
Speaker 1: We're going to go back. We're going to go back
Speaker 1: to your childhood. Where were you born? I was born.
Speaker 2: I actually just found out that I was born in Upland, California.
Speaker 2: I lived in Westlake Village when I was younger, and
Speaker 2: I found out I was born in Upland because that's
Speaker 2: in San Bernardino, and my IMDb page says I was
Speaker 2: born in San Bordadino, and I was like, oh, that's
Speaker 2: not that's not right. I wasn't born in San Berdandino.
Speaker 2: And we reached out to IMDb and they're like, well, no,
Speaker 2: we actually pulled your records and you are, in fact,
Speaker 2: like born in was like, whoa, that's news. But I
Speaker 2: was born in Upland, California, And yeah, I grew up
Speaker 2: in Westlake Village area, which for those who don't know
Speaker 2: where that is, it's about an hour northwest ish of
Speaker 2: Los Angeles. So I lived close enough to be near LA,
Speaker 2: but far enough to where, you know, as a kid,
Speaker 2: we never really made the drive to Los Angeles. My
Speaker 2: dad was an aspiring producer and writer, so I always
Speaker 2: knew him as writing scripts, trying to produce and make
Speaker 2: stuff happen. But I also never felt like we were
Speaker 2: in the business because all I saw was the work
Speaker 2: he did at home. There was maybe one or two
Speaker 2: times as a kid, I want to set to kind
Speaker 2: of see that whole experience because I always wanted to act,
Speaker 2: so my dad thought it'd be cool to bring me
Speaker 2: to set a couple times and get to I think
Speaker 2: his intention was to talk me out of it to
Speaker 2: be a lawyer.
Speaker 1: So you always wanted to be an actors? What turns
Speaker 1: it on for you?
Speaker 2: I always wanted to be an actress, and more so
Speaker 2: because you don't remember, at least I don't remember a
Speaker 2: lot when I was younger. So my mom's actually the
Speaker 2: one who would always tell me, like, ever since you
Speaker 2: could talk, it's the only thing you ever wanted to do.
Speaker 2: And I know it sounds silly, and I feel like
Speaker 2: you hear a lot of people say this, but as
Speaker 2: a kid, you just love playing pretend. And then I
Speaker 2: think I just never really grew out of the love
Speaker 2: of wanting to explore these other I guess ways of
Speaker 2: life and these characters, and it's just something that, like,
Speaker 2: I really love to do. And when I was younger,
Speaker 2: I didn't fully understand it to the way I do today,
Speaker 2: but it was just fun. There was a career where
Speaker 2: I got to continue to play, and that's what I
Speaker 2: wanted to do.
Speaker 1: Despite growing up in an idyllic community. Amelia's childhood was
Speaker 1: far from perfect. Her upbringing was riddled with conflict and
Speaker 1: pain that would influence her for years to come.
Speaker 2: So I make it sound like my upbringing was really sweet,
Speaker 2: from Westlake Village, a suburban community, and my dad taking
Speaker 2: me to sets and all that. But I don't know
Speaker 2: if I've talked too much about it. I feel like
Speaker 2: as I'm getting older, I'm getting a little more vocal
Speaker 2: with it. My dad had addiction issues growing up, and
Speaker 2: he unfortunately also suffered a lot of mental health issues,
Speaker 2: and in return, I hate he was abusive and it
Speaker 2: was both physical and mental. But it was definitely a
Speaker 2: hard upbringing. And my mom was a stay at home mom,
Speaker 2: and it got worse as we got older.
Speaker 1: As things got worse at home, they moved Amelia from
Speaker 1: school to school as she struggled to cope with it all.
Speaker 2: Because things at home had gotten so bad that I
Speaker 2: wasn't trying in school. So I think I was just
Speaker 2: going through such a hard time that I just stopped
Speaker 2: caring in school because I was like, what's the point
Speaker 2: I want to act? No one can tell me why
Speaker 2: I need to know math. I don't care. I just
Speaker 2: need to get through this point where I can either
Speaker 2: emancipate myself or move out.
Speaker 1: Then, when Amelia was a junior, the unimaginable happened.
Speaker 2: But it was at that third year in high school
Speaker 2: and my dad actually took his own life. He shot
Speaker 2: himself in the head. And I was the only one
Speaker 2: home with him that week when it had happened. And
Speaker 2: that was definitely a huge shake up in my life
Speaker 2: because although there was a abuse to the family, substance
Speaker 2: abuse to himself, he was still my dad and I
Speaker 2: still looked up to him. Even though it's kind of
Speaker 2: crazy to be like, oh, you looked up to that,
Speaker 2: But at the end of the day, he was my dad.
Speaker 2: It's not always negative, like you can cry and laugh.
Speaker 1: At the same time, the loss of her father reverberated
Speaker 1: throughout her life. Her mother was now alone with two
Speaker 1: kids and little to no work experience, So her mom
Speaker 1: made the decision to go back to school and move
Speaker 1: Amelia and her siblings closer to her family in the Midwest,
Speaker 1: something that wasn't easy for Amelia.
Speaker 2: We now have to uproot and move to Indiana because
Speaker 2: she wants to be closer to a family who were
Speaker 2: in Illinois. She couldn't afford the cost of living and
Speaker 2: decided to go back to school. And I had to
Speaker 2: grow up very quickly because there was no one who
Speaker 2: was going to take care of me. I didn't have,
Speaker 2: like I guess, I just always thought I had that
Speaker 2: safety in my back pocket of there being my dad,
Speaker 2: of like, oh, how do I save my money? How
Speaker 2: do I buy my first car? Like the things that
Speaker 2: I just, I guess, without really thinking, assumed I'd be
Speaker 2: able to lean on him for And that's when I
Speaker 2: had to grow up a little and realize that if
Speaker 2: the thing's gonna if I'm gonna learn anything in this life,
Speaker 2: ornything's gonna happen. I don't want to say I'm on
Speaker 2: my own, because you know, I grew to have peers,
Speaker 2: and obviously my mom was there, but it was I
Speaker 2: wanted to take care of my mom. I wanted to
Speaker 2: be the person who could kind of take care of
Speaker 2: myself also, And that's kind of what shifted for me.
Speaker 2: And I didn't understand at the time why she would
Speaker 2: want to move. And I was kind of at this
Speaker 2: rebellious age of just kind of being mad at the
Speaker 2: world over everything. As I've grown older. My mom's my hero.
Speaker 2: The fact that she went through that and handled the
Speaker 2: way she did and is still here today after I
Speaker 2: mean they were still married up until he took his life.
Speaker 2: She might not have the nicest things to say about him,
Speaker 2: but her going through that was the role model that
Speaker 2: I had in my life, whether I realized it or not.
Speaker 1: At this point, a Million felt trapped, trapped by her family,
Speaker 1: by the move by life, and she saw cars as
Speaker 1: the way to freedom. Here's a clip of her talking
Speaker 1: about it on the broad Ideas podcast with Rachel Bilson
Speaker 1: and Olivia Allen.
Speaker 3: All Right, I need a car. I need that sense
Speaker 3: of freedom and escape and I need to get out.
Speaker 3: What car do I buy myself?
Speaker 2: But before moving to Indiana again, one of the big
Speaker 2: decisions in my life is what car was going to
Speaker 2: buy myself. I went on the internet. The Internet told
Speaker 2: me I needed something real drive, a stick shift, and
Speaker 2: bigger than a four cylinder. And I bought this Infinity
Speaker 2: G thirty five for my first car. It was a
Speaker 2: manual six cylinder where will drive fun little JDM twudor
Speaker 2: and it was bright green. It was super flashy looking
Speaker 2: and I loved it. And that's the car. I drove
Speaker 2: from California to Indiana, and while I was out there,
Speaker 2: I had one of my friends in the passenger seat
Speaker 2: of my car and we're out of light in Bloomington, Indiana,
Speaker 2: and this old Crownvic like they're what the old cop
Speaker 2: cars were pulled up next to us at the light,
Speaker 2: and my friend yells out the window, don't you love
Speaker 2: my friend's car? And I was like, Jessica, you're being
Speaker 2: so embarrassing right now. But his name's Deo, and Dao
Speaker 2: was like, I do, Actually, you should consider coming to
Speaker 2: one of our car meets, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: that sounds fun. So he hands out the window like
Speaker 2: a little time and an address of war to show
Speaker 2: up to, and it happened to be like a couple
Speaker 2: days later. My friend didn't come with me, And in hindsight,
Speaker 2: I'm like, why is this sixteen year old girl showing
Speaker 2: up to this parking garage in the middle of the
Speaker 2: night in Indiana to go meet this random guy and whatever?
Speaker 2: Like I don't in hindsight, I'm like, what the fuck? Sorry,
Speaker 2: language was I thinking? But I ended up going and
Speaker 2: I think I was just like I didn't have that
Speaker 2: thought of like what if, and I don't think I've
Speaker 2: ever really had that what's planned B or stuff like
Speaker 2: that just went. But that's where I met B Crew
Speaker 2: B for Bloomington and then Crew. And that's also where
Speaker 2: I met Booch, who is still one of my closest
Speaker 2: friends to this day. He became my first mentor. I'm
Speaker 2: actually one of the groomsmen at his wedding this year.
Speaker 1: That's amazing.
Speaker 2: And the guys kind of became my found family and
Speaker 2: they pulled me out of this really dark time and
Speaker 2: you know, instead of partying on the weekends, which don't
Speaker 2: get me wrong, there was a fair share of they
Speaker 2: really helped pull me out of that and I began
Speaker 2: upgrading turbos and swapping engines and just kind of working
Speaker 2: on cars, which was everything I needed at that time.
Speaker 1: Without realizing it, Amelia's love for cars became her lifeline
Speaker 1: as she slowly healed from the loss of her father.
Speaker 2: It was fun, it was a great distraction, and they
Speaker 2: kind of opened me up to a world where I
Speaker 2: could take something, tear it apart, and make it better
Speaker 2: or faster than what it was previously. And I had
Speaker 2: always done that in my life, like when I had
Speaker 2: an Xbox. When I was little, I would get the
Speaker 2: Red Ring of Death and I would tear it apart,
Speaker 2: and you're supposed to stack it with pennies, and I'd
Speaker 2: put it all back together. And I just liked the
Speaker 2: element of taking things apart, seeing how they worked and
Speaker 2: doing that. So when I got introduced to that for cars,
Speaker 2: it everything just clicked at that point. And it was
Speaker 2: also great because I feel like I've had a found
Speaker 2: family now wherever I travel, there's a car community somewhere everywhere.
Speaker 1: Still, while her love for cars grew, her dream of
Speaker 1: being an actress always played in the back of her mind.
Speaker 1: When we come back, Amelia talks about revisiting her longtime
Speaker 1: dream of being an actress. Now back to the show.
Speaker 2: I started getting this feeling of like my time years up,
Speaker 2: like I'm ready to go back and chase this dream.
Speaker 2: I actually couldn't turn on the television without feeling guilty
Speaker 2: that I wasn't pursuing the one, like literally the one
Speaker 2: thing I wanted to do in life. It's funny because
Speaker 2: I like tried auditioning for the school play and I
Speaker 2: didn't get in, and I was trying to actually apply
Speaker 2: to like acting colleges like I tried applying to USC.
Speaker 2: There was a Wellington, which was a school in New
Speaker 2: Zealand that had a big focus on I was going
Speaker 2: to try to I listen. I didn't have the money
Speaker 2: to do it. I was just applying to see what
Speaker 2: would happen and then figure it out from there. I also,
Speaker 2: from going through everything I had went through, I felt
Speaker 2: that I wasn't going to get what I needed from
Speaker 2: a typical education because everything I went through I had,
Speaker 2: I was like doing firsthand to learn. So something in
Speaker 2: my gut was like, you need to just move back
Speaker 2: to Los Angeles and just try to get work. And
Speaker 2: I packed my little two door Japanese car I had
Speaker 2: had another one at that point, whatever I could fit
Speaker 2: in it, drove cross country and started this crazy adventure.
Speaker 2: At that point, what.
Speaker 1: Did you do when you showed up in LA? You're like,
Speaker 1: all right, I'm in the city limits, Like where did
Speaker 1: you go?
Speaker 2: So I felt like I didn't even know La because
Speaker 2: I didn't spend time here as a kid. I got
Speaker 2: this little apartment in North Hollywood, But like.
Speaker 1: How did you find the first apartment? Like where did
Speaker 1: you literally go when you when you showed up Craigslist,
Speaker 1: of course.
Speaker 2: I and I still use like I still like I
Speaker 2: buy cars off Craigslist today, Like I did everything on Craigslist,
Speaker 2: and all my furniture was there from there too. So
Speaker 2: I had previously come out to like kind of apartment,
Speaker 2: and then I went on Craigslist. I tried to find
Speaker 2: not only as I tried to find the most affordable apartment,
Speaker 2: I also had to go see to make sure that
Speaker 2: my car could make it up the driveway because I
Speaker 2: drove a really low car that had no air conditioning,
Speaker 2: was extremely loud, and I, you know, I realized after
Speaker 2: a couple of years of being here, going to auditions
Speaker 2: where I had sweat all down the back of my shirt,
Speaker 2: my makeup was runny, my hair was frizzy, I'm like, okay,
Speaker 2: and I'd break down sometimes I'm like, all right, I
Speaker 2: need a reliable car for transportation that has air conditioning.
Speaker 1: You're like, this might not be helping me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I found. I ended up finding this place
Speaker 2: that I then signed a lease. It was rent controlled,
Speaker 2: which was super helpful for me at the time, and
Speaker 2: I moved in.
Speaker 1: What kind of jobs did you work when you got.
Speaker 2: To La Everything was food and service so I worked
Speaker 2: as I started as a bus and then I went
Speaker 2: as a host, and then I started waiting tables, and
Speaker 2: I did food and service for six years before starting YouTube.
Speaker 1: So you kept up with the cars the whole time.
Speaker 1: Tell us a little bit about like did you keep
Speaker 1: it up? Like what did the car piece look like
Speaker 1: for you?
Speaker 2: So I was continue to work in my car. I
Speaker 2: had to keep it running in order to get to work,
Speaker 2: and I couldn't afford to take it to shops, and
Speaker 2: the couple shops I hadn't taken it too, I felt
Speaker 2: like I was always taking either overpaying or I'd get
Speaker 2: my car back and there'd be a new issue that
Speaker 2: wasn't there before, and the math wasn't mathing. So I
Speaker 2: was like, in order to like, I just need to
Speaker 2: keep doing it myself because I can at least trust that.
Speaker 2: And it was also just fun. And so when I
Speaker 2: wasn't working at a restaurant, I was at Samuel French
Speaker 2: reading every play I could. I'd bought the agent and
Speaker 2: manage your books, and I put together a little package
Speaker 2: and cold mailed everyone. I thought it could be a
Speaker 2: right fit to work together, and I was signing up
Speaker 2: on casting director workshops, and I would print little headshot
Speaker 2: cards and mail them the casting directors, and I did
Speaker 2: everything I could on that front. And then when I
Speaker 2: wasn't doing that, I was tinkering with my car.
Speaker 1: So the car tinkering ended up kind of being out
Speaker 1: of necessity, but keep done some serious builds. Was that
Speaker 1: during that period when it was when you were doing
Speaker 1: the builds?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it was more just tinkering out of
Speaker 2: necessity and just upkeep and routine maintenance and necessary upgrades.
Speaker 2: And I after six years of mind you, it took
Speaker 2: me nine years of being in LA before I got
Speaker 2: my first opportunity in acting, after six years of working
Speaker 2: in a restaurant. It was actually my mom who was like, honey,
Speaker 2: you're always working on your cars. Have you ever thought
Speaker 2: about filming it and putting it on YouTube? And I
Speaker 2: remember so clear as like YouTube, please, Mom, What do
Speaker 2: you know about YouTube? Moms are always right though, And
Speaker 2: around the same time there was Vice Media. They were
Speaker 2: putting together to help launch Michelin tires new PS four
Speaker 2: US tire, which it's funny at a lot of you
Speaker 2: listening might actually have that tire on your car, and
Speaker 2: they wanted more women representation at this event because the
Speaker 2: space is very male dominated and I had no followers
Speaker 2: on my Instagram, but I think I was doing I
Speaker 2: had a subrou at one point because I thought, well,
Speaker 2: this will be more reliable than my other car, which
Speaker 2: they're not, and I was I posted a photo like
Speaker 2: doing breaks or something on my Subaru and someone Advice
Speaker 2: had seen this post on Instagram thought we should reach out.
Speaker 2: And I remember I was one of the restaurants I
Speaker 2: was working out where I was like, oh, Vice Media
Speaker 2: just reached out to me. This was like right around
Speaker 2: the same time my mom was pressing me to do YouTube.
Speaker 2: They want me to come just meet them and Michelin
Speaker 2: and be a part of this event for the new
Speaker 2: tire and I was so proud. I went to my
Speaker 2: boss and he was so stoked for me. He's like, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2: I was like, I need to take three days off.
Speaker 2: He's like, you can do this, go do it. And
Speaker 2: I like went and I saw these guys screaming at
Speaker 2: a camera and I was like, this is YouTube. If
Speaker 2: they could do it, I can do it. And these
Speaker 2: guys are have I still talk to them today. They
Speaker 2: were hugely helpful to where my career is today, and
Speaker 2: they were so supportive because they also wanted to help,
Speaker 2: like they wanted to see other women in the space
Speaker 2: as well, so they were like, this is the camera
Speaker 2: you want to get, and you want to put this
Speaker 2: little fuzzy thing on. It was a G seven X
Speaker 2: for those who knows cameras, and they're like, you should
Speaker 2: put this little fuzzy thing on the mic for wind noise,
Speaker 2: and this is the editing software we recommend you use,
Speaker 2: and blah blah blah. And they kind of gave me
Speaker 2: the foundation for what I needed and they're like, if
Speaker 2: you have any questions, like, we're happy to be here
Speaker 2: to help guide you. Obviously they're not going to do
Speaker 2: the work for me. Nobody is. But if I needed
Speaker 2: a little bit of advice here or there, they were
Speaker 2: there for me. And when I got back, I am
Speaker 2: not exaggerating when I say the story. I spent every
Speaker 2: single penny in my bank account to buy a G
Speaker 2: seven X and I bought it off Craigslist and I
Speaker 2: met this guy at a random gas station and if
Speaker 2: I remember correctly, it didn't even come with a battery.
Speaker 2: So then I had to go save money to go
Speaker 2: buy a battery for this camera and then go get
Speaker 2: like SD cards and my first video, which I was
Speaker 2: intimidated to do, but I also did plenty of research
Speaker 2: to see what performed, what did well on YouTube, what
Speaker 2: space and category was I putting myself in with the
Speaker 2: cars that I'd be making content with, and what kind
Speaker 2: of objective or through line should there be. So my
Speaker 2: first video was walking around my Nissan two forty SX,
Speaker 2: which was the car that I drove from Indiana to California.
Speaker 2: And my idea was, and what I had voiced to
Speaker 2: my non existent audience at the time, was I'm this
Speaker 2: is my car. And I just did ten minutes walking
Speaker 2: around the car, showing it, talking about it all the
Speaker 2: things that needed to get done. And I set a goal,
Speaker 2: and my goal was I'm going to rebuild this car
Speaker 2: because I'd been sitting for a long time and learn
Speaker 2: how to drift in one month.
Speaker 3: Hi guys, I'm Amelia miss Amelia on Instagram, and welcome
Speaker 3: to my first blog. I've decided to start blogging the
Speaker 3: build of my two forty that I've had for five
Speaker 3: years now. Okay, guys, so as you can see those.
Speaker 2: Car, it's a lot of work, but I'm excited for it.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be fun.
Speaker 3: There's a lot to do, but yeah, bye bye.
Speaker 2: And the first video did half a million views and
Speaker 2: I wasn't expecting it. I uploaded the video I want
Speaker 2: snowboarding in the mountains and I had no service, and
Speaker 2: as I was coming down the mountain, I'm like looking
Speaker 2: at him, like, oh my god, it's done. You know,
Speaker 2: first it was ten thousand views, then it's done twenty,
Speaker 2: that's done, one hundred, and I'm like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: like this is like, this is crazy. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: well I have to keep doing it, Like I can't
Speaker 2: just not do it now. This this is it. So
Speaker 2: ever since then, i'd been doing three videos a week
Speaker 2: for the last seven years, really six years the last
Speaker 2: year after booking Grand Turismo. I'm always going to continue
Speaker 2: to do YouTube, but I've tailored it back to one
Speaker 2: video a week so I can also have a good
Speaker 2: light work life balance, because I want to do this forever.
Speaker 2: And I see a lot of other creators get burnt
Speaker 2: out because of how taxing this job can be on
Speaker 2: your mental and your physical. So I'm like, let me
Speaker 2: get ahead of it, let me tailor it down. So
Speaker 2: I can have longevity because I don't, like, I have
Speaker 2: such an incredible audience that I feel like they're my friends,
Speaker 2: and I feel like I can't just not call my
Speaker 2: friends anymore, you know.
Speaker 1: So I want to hear what your intention was when
Speaker 1: you say that you were very intentional about like what
Speaker 1: the through line was, what the content was, how it
Speaker 1: was positioning, like how you thought it about it going
Speaker 1: in as you started it, and then it did it evolve?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So my initial through line was I'm going to
Speaker 2: build this car and learn how to drift in one month.
Speaker 2: It was a tangible goal that I could try to
Speaker 2: achieve and it was something that the audience could understand.
Speaker 2: What's the purpose. And it's funny because, like, again, I
Speaker 2: had no money. I was on food stamps three different times,
Speaker 2: and I put out this video and I'm just like,
Speaker 2: I feel like I just lied to everyone, because how
Speaker 2: the fuck am I going to afford parts? I can't
Speaker 2: even change my oil without getting threatened to viction in
Speaker 2: my parking garage. And through the first video, I had
Speaker 2: one person reach out who became a friend, who then
Speaker 2: reached connected me to another person who it kind of
Speaker 2: snowballed into some person like people letting me borrow their
Speaker 2: tools and some people selling me parts for cheap because
Speaker 2: they could let them go. And it just like, I
Speaker 2: love the car community because they were so willing to
Speaker 2: help at a time just to wanting to see a
Speaker 2: fellow audi enthusiastic person succeed with their goal. So everyone
Speaker 2: was hugely supportive. And it was crazy because people say,
Speaker 2: leap in the net will appear, and that was like
Speaker 2: the first time that I really saw that happen. And
Speaker 2: then slowly I started making money on the videos I
Speaker 2: was posting, and don't get me wrong, they didn't all
Speaker 2: do half a mil. That was just the first one.
Speaker 2: Then when I started posting again, then they were doing
Speaker 2: like twenty thousand, forty thousand, and then everything just kind
Speaker 2: of evolved from there and grew larger than what I
Speaker 2: could have ever imagined.
Speaker 1: Then you became very accomplished in cars and as a
Speaker 1: creator in YouTube, and then you came I'd say, back
Speaker 1: to acting, because I guess, did you ever really leave it?
Speaker 1: Liked was there ever a point where you're like, you
Speaker 1: know what, this YouTube thing is really working out for me?
Speaker 1: Or you were or you were always trying to get
Speaker 1: back to.
Speaker 2: Acting I've always wanted to do acting. I couldn't afford
Speaker 2: to do acting class at a certain point because I
Speaker 2: was just trying to pay my rent, and I just
Speaker 2: I felt so guilty because I really am so I'm
Speaker 2: such a believer and if you have a dream, go
Speaker 2: after it, and I just felt so guilty that I
Speaker 2: wasn't going after it. That I do think sometimes you
Speaker 2: need to step aside to reassess, build, and plan in
Speaker 2: order to go back to doing something. Otherwise it's like,
Speaker 2: if you do what's that saying? The definition of insanity
Speaker 2: is doing the same thing every day and expecting different results.
Speaker 2: So being able to step aside and create this family
Speaker 2: also business on YouTube, it gave me, and I say
Speaker 2: financial freedom lightly, but it gave me the freedom to
Speaker 2: afford food on my table, pay my rent, and afford
Speaker 2: acting class. And I wasn't desperate to book a job.
Speaker 2: I got to actually enjoy the process and make unique
Speaker 2: choices in character work. And yeah, I also saw when
Speaker 2: I was a big part of the decision of starting
Speaker 2: to YouTube too, was when I was waiting tables. The
Speaker 2: joke is, oh, you're an actor, what restaurant do you
Speaker 2: work at? And I saw other servers that I worked
Speaker 2: with lose acting jobs to people who had a following
Speaker 2: on social media, and it was still such a new
Speaker 2: thing at the time. So I felt like, well, if
Speaker 2: I could do what I love, which is building cars,
Speaker 2: and I can also build a following, maybe just maybe
Speaker 2: that can help me. At the same time, what was
Speaker 2: the first acting job that you got. So the first
Speaker 2: acting job that I got was this And I say
Speaker 2: I call them little that's because what everyone calls them,
Speaker 2: the producer, the director, all of them. It was this
Speaker 2: little Christmas movie. It was California Christmas City Lights. So
Speaker 2: it was their sequel to California Christmas, which was the
Speaker 2: first movie during COVID to finish production, and it went
Speaker 2: on Netflix and number one in the world for like
Speaker 2: eight weeks or something like that. So I ended up
Speaker 2: getting a really sweet opportunity to be in the second one,
Speaker 2: and I had a few lines in there. And then
Speaker 2: that team kind of became a family in a way
Speaker 2: as well, the ESX family, and they do these smaller
Speaker 2: budget Christmas movies and they've helped me to get some
Speaker 2: more on set experience. I had met the owner of
Speaker 2: the production company Ali through a former manager of mine,
Speaker 2: because Ali, he and I have similar stories. I know
Speaker 2: he'd be okay with me sharing this. But I lost
Speaker 2: my dad at fifteen. He lost his mom at fifteen,
Speaker 2: and he ended up going to the automotive world in
Speaker 2: the same trajectory that I did. And it's funny because
Speaker 2: I had at one point held the record for the
Speaker 2: world's fastest new generation corvette, but he did for super
Speaker 2: and we didn't know one another, and he went from
Speaker 2: racing for subru to producing movies about cars to then
Speaker 2: doing these feel good Christmas movies. Allie's become like a
Speaker 2: father to me. I'm very grateful that he was introduced
Speaker 2: to me and is in my life. But from there
Speaker 2: is how I got Grand Turismo. I had done like
Speaker 2: a little Netflix thing back in the day called Fastest Car.
Speaker 2: And it's funny because I actually like everyone's like, why
Speaker 2: are you doing this? Like because I was losing money.
Speaker 2: I didn't get paid for it. Everyone thinks, how I
Speaker 2: must have made a lot of money. I was just like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: I'll do it if I can do like this fun
Speaker 2: race and maybe get a Netflix credit, which could be cool.
Speaker 2: But I was more stoked about the fact that they
Speaker 2: were going to give me x amount of money to
Speaker 2: put a roll cage in my car because in order
Speaker 2: to race, for them to get insurance, mic or had
Speaker 2: to be safe and I couldn't afford it. So I
Speaker 2: was like, well, they're going to pay for it and
Speaker 2: I get to race, Like why not. I had really
Speaker 2: enjoyed the show previously. They allow you just to like
Speaker 2: share your story and hopefully inspire others, and then you
Speaker 2: get to race a four wide drag race, which is
Speaker 2: kind of how I got into drag racing. Because my
Speaker 2: little Nissan two forty SX, I decided for this Fastest
Speaker 2: Car show, I would convert my drift car into a
Speaker 2: drag car, and that's what I did, and I loved it,
Speaker 2: and then that's kind of how I became obsessed with
Speaker 2: drag racing. But I did the show. They flew boots
Speaker 2: out from Indiana, which is super sweet, and one of
Speaker 2: the producers on Grand Turismo had seen that episode. He
Speaker 2: was also a fan of the show started following me
Speaker 2: on Instagram. I didn't know this, and when I was
Speaker 2: posting about the carpet premier stuff for the ESX productions
Speaker 2: I was a part of, he saw that, oh she's acting.
Speaker 2: We actually have a role in this movie. We should
Speaker 2: have her audition for casting. I guess loved me and
Speaker 2: the rest of this history.
Speaker 1: What kind of impact did that have on your trajectory?
Speaker 1: It's such a huge, huge thing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so easy to feel hopeless at times, and
Speaker 2: especially in this industry. Like a week before, I was like,
Speaker 2: when they say it takes ten years to be an
Speaker 2: overnight success, it took me ten years to like, I
Speaker 2: felt like, really just start. But that job gave me
Speaker 2: so much hope, and I don't I keep talking about
Speaker 2: how I meet these incredible people along my life, and
Speaker 2: it sounds cheesy, but I am grateful, and I think
Speaker 2: that's something that I can always rely on myself to
Speaker 2: be as grateful because I believe there is good in everyone,
Speaker 2: and I do think people want to see others succeed,
Speaker 2: and yeah, I've I think I've also been through enough
Speaker 2: to see so much negativity that I'd rather just have
Speaker 2: that outlook on life of being surrounded by great people.
Speaker 1: Amelia's positive outlook on life has not always come. She's
Speaker 1: been open about her struggles with mental health, depression, and anxiety.
Speaker 1: When we come back, Amelia talks about how she found
Speaker 1: help amidst her struggles. Now back to the show. So
Speaker 1: you've spoken openly about how you've struggled with mental health,
Speaker 1: with depression and anxiety. How has that manifested itself for you?
Speaker 2: I feel like dealing with it is literally what I
Speaker 2: did for so long. It took me a very, very,
Speaker 2: very long time to find a therapist. So spent a
Speaker 2: lot of time trying to find a good therapist. I'm
Speaker 2: very big on working out. I think working out every
Speaker 2: day or even just taking a thirty minute walk outside,
Speaker 2: getting some sunlight's very important. Taking your multi vitamins as
Speaker 2: you know, cheesy as that sounds, and getting good proper
Speaker 2: sleep and all that, and surrounding yourself with good people
Speaker 2: and all that. It's all easier said than done, but
Speaker 2: super important to do. And also just proper education in
Speaker 2: learning about you know, you take care of your physical health,
Speaker 2: how do you take care of your mental health?
Speaker 1: I should continue to educate herself. Amelia has made it
Speaker 1: a point to educate her audience alongside her becoming a
Speaker 1: staunch mental health advocate.
Speaker 3: Just spread love, spread kindness, be kind Know that everyone
Speaker 3: is fighting a battle that.
Speaker 2: You know nothing about. If you guys, don't have peers
Speaker 2: or family that you can reach out to, or just
Speaker 2: need someone to call. There is an emergency hotline that
Speaker 2: you can talk to someone. It's really sad when people
Speaker 2: believe or at that mental state where they feel suicide
Speaker 2: is their only option. And I promise you that it
Speaker 2: is not. There is a lot at the end of
Speaker 2: the tunnel. Things will get better and there are people
Speaker 2: here for you. And that's kind of how I found
Speaker 2: Alive and Well because that's the non profit that I'm
Speaker 2: on the board of, because their through line was we'd
Speaker 2: rather put a fence around a cliff than an ambulance
Speaker 2: or rehearsed at the bottom. And how they've done that
Speaker 2: was really through education and starting with trying to educate
Speaker 2: young adults with proper mental health care. And we in
Speaker 2: Atlanta work with various schools and therapists to help educate
Speaker 2: and also to help subsidize, So we're working on subsidizing
Speaker 2: the cost of mental health care. I'd like to try
Speaker 2: to find a way where we can eventually make it
Speaker 2: cost free for people and so much more so. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I found them trying to learn and educate myself and
Speaker 2: that's been great.
Speaker 1: Is there anything in particular where at the time you
Speaker 1: felt like was really like a low point or a setback,
Speaker 1: but now in retrospect you see it as having really
Speaker 1: launched you to where you are now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean quite frankly, my dad's death. I know
Speaker 2: I wouldn't be where I am today. I know I
Speaker 2: wouldn't be as grounded or as hard working. It sounds
Speaker 2: so fucked up to say this, because I wish my
Speaker 2: dad were still here today, but it was probably one
Speaker 2: of the best things to happen to me and my family.
Speaker 2: Keep in mind the abuse and the struggles that we
Speaker 2: went through and what he was struggling with as well.
Speaker 2: Is weird as it sounds. That changed my life for
Speaker 2: the better and it has made me who I am today,
Speaker 2: and I am weirdly grateful for that.
Speaker 1: Well, thank you so much for being on with us
Speaker 1: and being such an open book.
Speaker 2: Oh thank you. I really do appreciate you having me on.
Speaker 1: Amelia is continuing to advocate for more mental health resources
Speaker 1: and care, all while breaking world records as a car
Speaker 1: builder and driver, not forget her career as an actress.
Speaker 1: To stay up to date on everything Amelia is up
Speaker 1: to follow her on Instagram at miss Amelia You can
Speaker 1: also find a list of mental health resources on our website,
Speaker 1: she Pivots the Podcast under our causes page. Thanks for
Speaker 1: listening to this episode of she Pivots. If you've made
Speaker 1: it this far, you're a true pivoter, so thanks for
Speaker 1: being part of this community. I hope you enjoyed this episode,
Speaker 1: and if you did leave us a rating, please be nice.
Speaker 1: Tell your friends about us. To learn more about our guests,
Speaker 1: follow us on Instagram at she pivots the Podcast, or
Speaker 1: sign up for our newsletter where you can get exclusive
Speaker 1: behind the scenes content, or on our website, she Pivots
Speaker 1: the Podcast Talk to You next Week. Special thanks to
Speaker 1: the she Pivots team, Executive producer Emily Edavlosk, Associate producer
Speaker 1: and social media connoisseur Hannah Cousins, Research director Christine Dickinson,
Speaker 1: Events and Logistics coordinator, Madeleine snow vic An, audio editor
Speaker 1: and mixer Nina pollock I endorse Te Pivots