WEBVTT - Finally! A Show About a Beauty Mogul and Congressional Candidate 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:07.000 It's seven fifty eight in the morning on a Tuesday. 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:15.280 I'm waking up on the couch actually in my store 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:24.959 Gby Beauty, off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Flew 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:31.600 in last night at midnight from Portland, Oregon, where I 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:38.120 live and am running for Congress. Now that I'm laying here, 0:00:38.159 --> 0:00:39.960 I don't know how I was even able to sleep 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:44.120 through all of this. I put a plant in front 0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.519 of the door to like create some type of booby 0:00:48.600 --> 0:00:52.040 trap in case somebody even tried to like open the door. 0:00:54.680 --> 0:01:05.440 It's like, what's the fern gonna do? You can really, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:07.160 I don't know how I was able to sleep through this. 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.080 I must be really tired. I've put off this cash 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:14.319 before my employees walk in and start wondering what is 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:14.760 going on. 0:01:19.640 --> 0:01:22.560 This is finally a show about a renowned entrepreneur and 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.520 beautician running for Congress. Courtney casgro is, the co founder 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:29.640 of Gby Beauty, seeking a seat in the House this year. 0:01:41.280 --> 0:01:43.200 All right, and look up towards me. I'm gonna place 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:46.320 some underipads on your bottom lashes to separate them from 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:51.080 your top flashes, and then you're gonna keep your eyes 0:01:51.200 --> 0:01:56.240 closed for the duration of the service. You will hear 0:01:56.400 --> 0:02:02.040 tweezers like the selling knives, but it's just them touching 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:04.960 each other. So if you hear that, don't get scared. 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:07.800 Don't think that there's going to be a We're not 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:13.440 going to Benni Hana. Every job I had, I really 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:17.120 would essentially be promoted to manager within like thirty days, 0:02:17.240 --> 0:02:20.000 which was really interesting. So I had a lot of 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:25.040 confidence for someone that never graduated and we're just kind 0:02:25.040 --> 0:02:29.000 of doing whatever they wanted to do. And began my 0:02:29.080 --> 0:02:35.160 business that I own now called Gby. That started with 0:02:36.360 --> 0:02:40.480 my business partner, Kendra Stutter, and we wanted to create 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:44.320 a cosmetic line. So we were like, well, I'll be 0:02:44.360 --> 0:02:46.600 the best at doing eyelash extensions, and you're going to 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.960 do the products, and we're going to create like a 0:02:50.000 --> 0:02:52.720 line around that. So I would go drop my son 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:54.880 off at preschool, go to cosmetology school, and pick my 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:57.920 son up, work at this restaurant till like one in 0:02:57.960 --> 0:03:00.799 the morning, and then drive to work. It was so crazy, 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:06.000 and learned how to do latch extensions. I'd advertise on 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.680 Craigslist just so weird because that's like makes no sense, 0:03:09.880 --> 0:03:13.560 like I'll do your lashes. It's really weird, but it worked. 0:03:13.720 --> 0:03:17.440 And my first client was Joan Rivers, which is crazy. 0:03:18.400 --> 0:03:20.359 I was managed in the salon and it was when 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:23.639 Joan and Melissa had their show and he came in 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.359 to do the show and they were like, well, we 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:30.160 need people to do services, and I was like, I'll 0:03:30.160 --> 0:03:34.040 do it, and I really I saw how to do it, 0:03:34.560 --> 0:03:36.720 but I hadn't done it on that many people. And 0:03:36.760 --> 0:03:39.720 the good thing about Joan is that she doesn't know 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:41.640 what she's doing anyways, and like she didn't know what 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:44.480 it was, so anything would have been greatmember. I was 0:03:44.520 --> 0:03:47.880 shaking the whole time and I did it and then 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.920 never heard anything from her again, but was getting referred clients. 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:56.960 And then in January twenty fifteen, we found our first location, 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:00.440 which was just a room in this building I'm in 0:04:00.480 --> 0:04:03.080 now I know we've taken over the building. Years later. 0:04:05.280 --> 0:04:06.960 Thank you for calling TVY. How can I help you. 0:04:09.360 --> 0:04:12.160 I was born in nineteen eighty two, so I was 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:17.880 raised in Huntingdon Beach, California, until I was fourteen years old, 0:04:18.640 --> 0:04:22.240 and that's when I got sent away to boarding school. 0:04:23.000 --> 0:04:26.760 My family's very conservative. My parents met in church. I 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:31.360 actually have on my mother's side, twenty three cousins. They 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:36.359 all live in like a four block radius. So my 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:41.960 grandparents were very upper middle class and had properties, so 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.560 all their children live in those homes. And then we 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.840 all just kind of grew up together in one big clan. 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:50.760 I don't know if that's the right word to reuse. 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:57.000 And my parents got divorced when I was actually three 0:04:57.040 --> 0:04:59.919 years old. They weren't married that long. My dad was 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:03.880 your typical you know, I'll come pick you up and 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:06.640 then never show up. But the days that he did 0:05:06.720 --> 0:05:12.119 show up were very exciting and impactful and fun because 0:05:12.160 --> 0:05:15.039 it was such a departure from what I was living 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.000 as a child. I actually I found out when my 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:21.280 dad was gay when I was ten, and I remember 0:05:21.400 --> 0:05:23.159 he was in We were in a convertible on the 0:05:23.160 --> 0:05:27.040 four or five freeway listening to the B fifty twos, 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:32.040 and I said, are you gay? Looking back, I should 0:05:32.040 --> 0:05:34.080 have said this is gay? This is already all gay, 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:38.520 But I said are you gay? And he said would 0:05:38.520 --> 0:05:41.240 it matter? Would you still love me if I was? 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.360 Would it change anything? And I said no, and then 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.920 he said, yes, I'm gay. That's how I found out 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:58.000 my dad was gay. I ended up in boarding school 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:06.440 for bad behavior. So I grew up in a very conservative, 0:06:06.760 --> 0:06:13.039 strict home, even though looking back it's very inappropriate, like craziness, 0:06:13.279 --> 0:06:17.760 very much like arrested development, where it's just like so absurd, 0:06:17.800 --> 0:06:20.600 You're like, this isn't even conservative, this is just absurd. 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.240 I got removed from my private school and went to 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:28.200 a public school. Some kid asked me, like, on the 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.200 second day of school, do you do drugs? And I 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:33.720 was like, I was just so terrified. I said yes, 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:39.200 And I remember this girl in the bathroom saying, well, 0:06:39.240 --> 0:06:41.440 this drug makes you skinny. And my grandma would always 0:06:41.480 --> 0:06:43.440 get on me for my weight, so I was like, oh, 0:06:43.520 --> 0:06:46.919 I'll take it. I don't have to hear about it anymore. Essentially, 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:52.640 at thirteen, I started doing speed like math, like bad drugs, 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.920 and then got kind of just like snapped. By fourteen, 0:06:56.960 --> 0:07:01.279 I was on house arrest. Fifteen I was sent to 0:07:01.360 --> 0:07:05.160 residential treatment at Vista del Mar up in Los Angeles. 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.240 By like fifteen, still I used. My mother got remarried 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:14.240 and they lived in such a toxic environment that I 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:16.680 used to just not to hear the screaming and not 0:07:16.680 --> 0:07:18.200 want to be around it. I would just call nine 0:07:18.200 --> 0:07:19.800 when one and say I'm going to kill myself, just 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:21.440 so they would take me out of the house. And 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:22.880 it got to the pot where the police knew me 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:25.000 and they would say, your parents are having to fight again, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:28.040 and I'd say I'm going to kill myself, and like mandatory, 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:30.640 they have to like take you, so they just At 0:07:30.640 --> 0:07:33.440 one point, I lived at College Hospital in Coasta, Mesa 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:40.480 for a pretty good time until Orange County Mental Health said, well, 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:44.080 we can't send this girl back home, like she's not suicidal, 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:48.640 but something seriously going on. And then I got sent 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:55.000 to Montana Bailing's Montana and went to residential treatment there, 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:58.680 and then from there they kind of got sick of 0:07:58.720 --> 0:08:01.480 me because they didn't know what to classify me as. 0:08:01.560 --> 0:08:04.160 They're like, you're very logical, but then you're just defiant. 0:08:05.080 --> 0:08:07.120 And at that point I figured out how to like 0:08:07.480 --> 0:08:10.040 get drugs in a way of like downers. Like I 0:08:10.080 --> 0:08:11.880 knew that if I freaked out, I'd get thorsine and 0:08:11.880 --> 0:08:14.080 I wouldn't have to think about anything. So I would 0:08:14.120 --> 0:08:17.040 kind of manipulate the system and I would do this 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:19.160 thing where if I didn't want to go to school 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.880 for the week, I would You'd there were kids called 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.440 run risks where they would like run and like they'd 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:26.600 have to take their shoes because they were going to 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:29.080 run away. I would just walk, so I was the 0:08:29.080 --> 0:08:32.160 only person on walk risk and they were like, we 0:08:32.200 --> 0:08:36.320 can't control her. She's seventeen. We have to get her 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:37.920 out of here. It's wasting our time. So then they 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:40.440 put me in a place in Aurora, Colorado until I 0:08:40.480 --> 0:08:46.320 was eighteen, and that was very different because I was 0:08:46.320 --> 0:08:51.360 in a treatment center with girls that were probably more violent, 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:53.840 and all of them I had to learn how to 0:08:53.880 --> 0:08:56.560 survive in my own way because I didn't feel safe 0:08:56.559 --> 0:08:59.199 at home. I did, I didn't feel safe anywhere. And 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:04.120 then on my eighteenth birthday, I was woken up by 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.520 my therapist and Aurora, Colorado and was told I'm taking 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:12.880 you to the airport because your father, whom I don't 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.640 speak with now, did anymore, but he was trying to 0:09:16.800 --> 0:09:18.840 have me become a ward of the state in Texas 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.520 till I was twenty three. And she picked me up 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:24.240 and drove me to the airport and I got on 0:09:24.280 --> 0:09:26.200 the plane and I showed up with my parents at 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.560 my mom's house and my grandparents. They were not expecting me. 0:09:28.600 --> 0:09:31.720 They were like, what are you doing here? And that's 0:09:32.200 --> 0:09:35.960 that was the end of that. It's terrible. And then 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:41.280 when I was I turned nineteen and met a boy 0:09:41.360 --> 0:09:45.640 to skate park because that's what we did. And in 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:48.360 November of two thousand and one, I found out I 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.280 was pregnant with my son. I don't have a high 0:09:51.280 --> 0:09:55.719 school diploma. I've never been to junior college. So I 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:58.360 was a person that really knew nothing about life. I'm 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.040 a person that never would has a formal education. I 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:05.719 just kind of was. I feel like I was kind 0:10:05.720 --> 0:10:07.920 of thrown to the wolves growing up, and then even afterwards, 0:10:07.920 --> 0:10:10.920 like no one in my family was like, hey, you 0:10:10.960 --> 0:10:12.840 need to have these life skills, you need to have 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.439 these things, and I just have to figure it out 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:17.800 on my own. So when I found out I was pregnant, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:19.880 I look back at that time and it can't even 0:10:19.920 --> 0:10:23.440 believe it. I look back and I'm like, WHOA, that's crazy. 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.320 Like I didn't know how to do that. I just 0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:29.120 figured it out. And now thinking about it, I'm like, 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:31.160 oh my god. If I think if I got pregnant nowadays, 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.320 I probably would flip out and be like, oh my god, 0:10:35.120 --> 0:10:39.320 I'd be so scared. So I actually feel like I'm 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.400 lucky in that way. I was, you know, and my 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:45.040 son and are our best friends. We do everything together. 0:10:45.600 --> 0:10:48.880 Whatever my son needs, I'm going to figure it out, 0:10:49.040 --> 0:10:49.240 you know. 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.040 Like now. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:56.439 I take him everywhere with me, so you know, he's 0:10:56.480 --> 0:10:58.400 twenty one now and people are always like, well, what 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.000 does he do? And I'm like, I just feel this 0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.199 guilt to not. I'm like, he does not. He travels 0:11:04.240 --> 0:11:13.720 with me. When I was pregnant, I didn't work. I 0:11:13.720 --> 0:11:16.640 was on disability, and then my mother was actually able 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.840 to get me disability for while I was in residential 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.040 treatment because I was like, I guess emotionally like you 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:26.520 can and when you're like psychologically have issues, you can 0:11:26.520 --> 0:11:29.600 get disability. Like for the first like two years, I 0:11:29.640 --> 0:11:32.559 didn't really do anything would be a mom. And then 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:38.720 when my son turned three, I started managing this juice 0:11:38.800 --> 0:11:41.720 bark at this restaurant called Mother's Market, where like all 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:45.320 the cool kids worked, and it was there I think 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:50.360 I was able to start implementing like my business acumen 0:11:50.920 --> 0:11:54.000 in a way where I was like, you know, managing 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.080 all these people. I didn't understand that I didn't. I 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.720 felt like I had the most logic and I knew 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:02.440 how to run this place and didn't understand how everyone 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:05.040 else was kind of like not able to figure it out. 0:12:05.080 --> 0:12:08.240 But I think collectively growing up and seeing my grandpa 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:13.760 run his business and then having to survive and residential 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.720 treatment kind of made me a really good personality manager. 0:12:17.160 --> 0:12:19.880 So I was able to see things that other people 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:26.280 were not able to see. Okay, let me move this 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:31.679 appointment for you already, we'll see it Thursday. It too, 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.840 You're welcome. So these are all the supplies that I 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:43.640 use for applying eyelash extensions, tweezers, removers, tint. I have 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:46.800 over a thousand different lashes that range in length, thickness, 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:51.760 and curl to give the client in each individual look. 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:55.120 So I think that's one thing that we do differently. 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.800 So that's why there's so many trays on this table 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:04.840 and then on the drawers underneath. And yeah, so we 0:13:04.920 --> 0:13:09.520 work on a lot of celebrities at GBY. The most 0:13:09.800 --> 0:13:15.520 cool and complicated was Lebron because he wanted a custom 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:18.840 eighteen carre at gold gem of his logo, but he 0:13:18.920 --> 0:13:21.120 wanted it within like forty eight hours, so we had 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:26.240 to figure out a way to find someone downtown to 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:30.760 make it perfectly and they only were able to make 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:32.880 one of one and that amount of time, which you 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:35.800 think they'd be able to make a few. So we 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:39.520 had one and her and I both went. The first 0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:41.760 time we did it was on the back lot of 0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.880 Space Jam. So we both show up and we're like 0:13:44.920 --> 0:13:47.080 sitting in the car. It doesn't require two people, but 0:13:47.120 --> 0:13:48.960 we were both like, we're not missing this opportunity. We 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:52.360 have to see this for it. And then the thing 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:55.440 is too is that you don't know what his teeth 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.000 are going to look like, and you don't know if 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.520 it's going to fit, and then you have then it's 0:13:59.559 --> 0:14:04.280 so fragile. You have to bend it to the person's tooth. 0:14:04.920 --> 0:14:08.280 So you know, if once we got into the trailer 0:14:08.320 --> 0:14:11.160 and saw its tooth, I'm like holding this, you know, 0:14:12.320 --> 0:14:15.840 miliscopic logo that fits on a tooth that has to 0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:18.600 now be bent to like to the curvature of his tooth. 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:20.080 And it was like, if this falls in the trailer, 0:14:20.120 --> 0:14:22.960 it's gone, falls in his mouth, it's gone. If it 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:27.800 falls anywhere. It's so tiny. And at one point when 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.160 I was doing it, he was leaning away from me 0:14:30.200 --> 0:14:31.440 and I just grabbed his face and I said, you 0:14:31.480 --> 0:14:35.360 need to quit leaning, and everyone was laughing because they 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:37.080 were like, yeah, she's not afraid of you, and I'm 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.880 thinking I'm not. I'm afraid of losing this more than 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:42.840 I am, like I have forgotten who it was. Yeah, 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:44.280 and then we did we did that, and then we 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:48.200 did a crystal on him, and then he requested us 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.880 again two to for two other times. The reason we 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:54.440 had to go back to Lebron's because his his diamond 0:14:54.520 --> 0:14:57.000 kept on popping off and we didn't know why. But 0:14:57.040 --> 0:14:59.000 then I saw him on the and I was in 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:01.560 the airport and anything. He was on the screen, like 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:03.120 on the TV screen in the airport, and I saw 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:05.640 him with his mouth piece in and he was chewing 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.080 on his mouthpiece, and I'm like, that's why the gym 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:11.360 keeps on like falling out. So when they email this 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:12.480 again that I fell it, I'm like, tell him to 0:15:12.520 --> 0:15:14.440 quit chomping on his mouth guard and they laugh they 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.600 were laughing. There was like I could see it from 0:15:16.640 --> 0:15:20.000 the television. He's chopping it out of his own mouth. 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.160 So right now we are getting to the end of 0:15:24.200 --> 0:15:34.440 your service. I'm gonna lash it probably over three hundred 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:39.320 I mean, whatever's on your own natural lashes I'm running 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:44.960 for Congress in Oregon's first district. My platform is lowering 0:15:45.000 --> 0:15:47.720 taxes on working families. I'm running as a Democrat. I 0:15:47.720 --> 0:15:52.480 do have to say I was always a registered independent, 0:15:53.360 --> 0:16:00.040 but to primary I had to claim a party. So 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:05.480 growing up with a gay father, I found myself in 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:11.040 political activist scenarios as a child. First, my father's his 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:16.600 one boyfriend had HIV and my dad being gay would 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.560 leave me with friends that were drag queens and just 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:21.600 people in the community. So when my dad would have 0:16:21.640 --> 0:16:25.280 to work on the weekends, I would be going with 0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:28.000 his friend Sean at the time, and we would be 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:31.680 you know, canvassing and passing out flyers for AIDS Project 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:37.200 Los Angeles and Cole Porter musicals that were gonna, you know, 0:16:37.280 --> 0:16:41.920 raise funds for the Gay and Lesbian Center. So I 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.440 was always in this world. And I also never could 0:16:45.520 --> 0:16:48.920 understand why I would be in this world. And everyone 0:16:49.000 --> 0:16:50.800 was so fun and creative and like, I'd have so 0:16:50.920 --> 0:16:54.680 much fun, and then I'd go back to Orange County 0:16:55.280 --> 0:16:58.880 and be at Calvary Chapel Coasta, Mesa and be told 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:02.440 that the gay and secular people of the world are 0:17:02.440 --> 0:17:06.000 going to hell. And I was like whoa, how could 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:09.080 that be? Because you guys seem really mean and these 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:16.159 people seem really happy. So growing up just very confused. 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:19.240 I always say I got the best parts of my 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:24.560 self esteem from drag queens because they looked every different way, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.600 like from physicality to race, and they wad all these 0:17:28.640 --> 0:17:31.160 costumes and they could go on stage and make people 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.000 laugh and make people feel loved, and it was a 0:17:33.000 --> 0:17:38.280 community where they just wanted to be happy. And at 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.119 home in Orange County, I was suffering from really bad 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:41.920 self esteem from like the way that I was told 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:43.359 that I looked and I should look like this, and 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.840 my grandmother just telling me it wasn't the epitome of 0:17:46.920 --> 0:17:52.760 like your blonde Orange County girl. So I also feel 0:17:52.800 --> 0:17:54.600 like the gay community has really made me what I 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:58.960 am today in terms of like activism and also my businesses. 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:05.040 So growing up with activism and then living in a 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:10.639 conservative world and then you know, going to treatment centers, 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.480 and then coming out and being a single mom, and 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.880 then going through the programs of you know, my family 0:18:17.920 --> 0:18:20.719 said we're not helping you. So being on welfare, so 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:24.560 go into like, you know, we welfare classes in Santa Ana. 0:18:24.640 --> 0:18:30.159 Because when you get benefits. In certain counties, you have 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:31.920 to sit in on classes to prove that you're doing 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:36.440 something through with your day, meeting women in those programs, 0:18:37.480 --> 0:18:41.119 being on Wick and just kind of growing up in 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:45.600 like these both polarizing environments. I do think it's time 0:18:45.680 --> 0:18:49.760 that I think we're seeing more of this, that someone 0:18:49.840 --> 0:18:54.119 of the working class represents the working class and can 0:18:54.160 --> 0:18:56.919 speak on the issues that are are affecting people daily 0:18:57.040 --> 0:19:01.480 and with real true discernment and can mention and experience 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.960 versus like people like you know, Matt Gates or the 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.119 incompaned I'm running against. No one really knows too much 0:19:10.160 --> 0:19:16.399 about her, you know, working families party, very docile. She 0:19:16.560 --> 0:19:19.320 has one of the lowest ratings in terms of international 0:19:19.320 --> 0:19:23.080 relations in terms of the Middle East, so I my 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:28.439 detest for her is triggered. And also she's only past 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:32.560 seven pieces of legislation in over a decade. And she 0:19:32.560 --> 0:19:34.760 sits on committees that she has no business on, which 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:39.760 is the Elderly Gay Community, which is my seat, and 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:42.199 she sits on the Culture and Arts Committee, which is 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:44.480 definitely my seat. So she needs to get out of 0:19:44.520 --> 0:19:48.080 these seats because she's not doing anything for anybody except 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:56.359 for taking lobby money. I believe two months after I 0:19:56.400 --> 0:20:01.320 announced my congressional bid, nu with me were leaked on 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:05.920 to Reddit from when I was a dominatrix and I 0:20:06.000 --> 0:20:09.439 was looking at photos of me that didn't live on 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:14.000 the internet for years. So we have some theories on 0:20:14.040 --> 0:20:20.280 who linked them. But Playboy has now decided to support 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:24.080 me in this and sending out a press release and 0:20:24.320 --> 0:20:27.800 helping me kind of turn the narrative into my favor. 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:34.920 And that's who we're jumping on the call with. Hi, 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:40.359 how are you. I'm well. Thank you so much for 0:20:40.600 --> 0:20:44.119 meeting with me again. I really appreciate it. We're so 0:20:44.160 --> 0:20:46.879 excited to have you, Like I can't even put it 0:20:46.880 --> 0:20:50.399 into Where's your story? Is incredible? So many of your 0:20:50.480 --> 0:20:53.560 values really aligned with ours. I love that you're using 0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.840 your platform to bring attention. 0:20:56.920 --> 0:20:59.080 To these sorts of issues that we're in face. 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:03.360 With, like private content thing lead you know. I think 0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:04.360 it's in the. 0:21:04.280 --> 0:21:05.720 Fact that you're also speaking at. 0:21:11.560 --> 0:21:16.600 Cool. Thank you so much, Tori. I appreciate it. Thank you, 0:21:17.920 --> 0:21:28.000 Bye bye. So, I at one point in my life 0:21:28.119 --> 0:21:32.320 was a dominate trix and revisited that line of work 0:21:32.400 --> 0:21:36.639 during the pandemic because we were shut down and during 0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:40.080 twenty twenty we had our twenty nineteen we had to 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:42.680 open a New York locations. So when we're shut down 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:45.840 in New York City, I'm trying, you know, they're still 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.480 making us pay rent, so I'm trying to like save 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:50.679 the business. And I was like, well, I'll just you know, 0:21:50.760 --> 0:21:53.280 New York is open, I'll just be a dominate trix again. 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:55.840 Like I honestly don't care. I've no qualms with sex work. 0:21:56.280 --> 0:21:59.520 At the dungeon I was working at in Midtown Manhattan, 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:03.880 there's a website, and on the website, all the photos 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.439 of me were blocked out, like my eyes right, But 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:09.399 there was a two days where the photos of me 0:22:09.480 --> 0:22:11.000 were not blocked out. Then I said, you know, maybe 0:22:11.000 --> 0:22:13.440 I should block these out. I don't know, maybe my 0:22:13.520 --> 0:22:16.359 face shouldn't be on here. And I was only on 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:20.399 the website for two weeks because I'm not good at 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:28.240 my job. And so I announced my candidacy three years later, 0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.280 and two and a half months into my congressional campaign. 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.760 Somehow those photos that once lived online all this, all 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.760 of a sudden were being DMed to my congressional account. 0:22:40.840 --> 0:22:43.119 And then I had to recall in my head, like 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:45.720 did I send these out to? Anybody? Who would I 0:22:45.720 --> 0:22:51.440 have send these out to? And started seeing Reddit threads 0:22:51.880 --> 0:22:53.640 in my because I have a lot of press from 0:22:53.640 --> 0:22:55.640 like the humanitarian work that I've done in my business, 0:22:56.240 --> 0:22:58.720 and if I scrolled down far enough there were red 0:22:58.800 --> 0:23:01.080 there were like full Reddit threads, and the reddits threads 0:23:01.080 --> 0:23:03.760 would say or and you can actually still look at 0:23:03.760 --> 0:23:05.760 them up even though they've been reported and deleted, They're 0:23:05.760 --> 0:23:07.359 still there. So I don't know what that even does. 0:23:08.520 --> 0:23:12.600 The photos are gone, which is great, but the threads 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:15.720 are like in like forums called like Joe Biden not 0:23:15.800 --> 0:23:20.560 my President? One was would you vote for Dominate Trix 0:23:20.760 --> 0:23:24.959 in Congress? So the thing the concern became of it 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:27.040 once then like oh I don't care. People know it was, 0:23:27.440 --> 0:23:31.040 you know, is all the work that I've done ever 0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:35.359 in my life going to now be overshadowed by the 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:38.480 headline that reads dominate Trix runs for Congress with a 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:46.320 photo of me? In twenty nineteen, I ran for business 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:50.199 co chair in Silver Lake and got it. It's like 0:23:50.800 --> 0:23:54.040 you get all you rally all the businesses together and 0:23:54.359 --> 0:23:56.600 you see what they wants, the needs are, and then 0:23:56.640 --> 0:23:59.360 if there's an issue with like you know, a developer 0:23:59.400 --> 0:24:01.159 coming in and you kind of like put it on 0:24:01.200 --> 0:24:04.680 the docket for the neighborhood council to review. And then 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:09.000 COVID happened, and then silver Lake Council was up for 0:24:09.040 --> 0:24:11.640 reelection and someone said, you know, you really should run 0:24:11.640 --> 0:24:13.680 in your district. You can run as a stakeholder even 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:15.680 though you don't technically live here, you have a business, 0:24:15.680 --> 0:24:18.840 You're a stakeholder. So I ran for region for Representative 0:24:19.040 --> 0:24:22.240 and one, and then I sat on the neighborhood council 0:24:22.480 --> 0:24:24.520 for about six months and then was asked if I 0:24:24.560 --> 0:24:29.119 wanted to co chair silver Lake and re Region four 0:24:29.560 --> 0:24:33.760 and I did. But during this time, in these meetings 0:24:34.040 --> 0:24:37.920 during COVID, people would, because I was the coach here, 0:24:37.960 --> 0:24:41.760 would ask me what we should be doing for COVID, 0:24:42.240 --> 0:24:47.480 like prevention, And I'm thinking, how is nobody organized? How again? 0:24:47.640 --> 0:24:49.520 How am I the person that is the smartest person 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:53.480 in the room. This is really concerning, and Courtney, should 0:24:53.480 --> 0:24:56.280 we do this? Should and the things? Again, logic was 0:24:56.320 --> 0:25:00.520