WEBVTT - BONUS: Crushing on Mika Brzezinski 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.760 I'm off my game today. No, you're not. People are 0:00:03.760 --> 0:00:05.600 going to have to start making better content. I think 0:00:05.600 --> 0:00:07.120 we're gonna be talking about this for a long time. 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:10.200 When you program for everyone, you program for no one. 0:00:10.200 --> 0:00:12.280 I think it's a word purpose driven platform. Like we're 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.600 trying to get to substance? How was that? Are you 0:00:15.640 --> 0:00:19.160 happy with that? This is marketing therapy right now? And 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:23.800 it really is? What's up on? Laura Currunti and I'm 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:29.800 Alexa Kristen. Welcome to a special Women Wednesday exclusive interview 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:33.920 featuring the one and only Miss Miko Prasinski. Mika is 0:00:34.120 --> 0:00:38.480 a co host of Morning Joe on MSNBC and really 0:00:38.479 --> 0:00:41.120 started a movement because she had a moment in her 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.960 life and realized that she wanted to have a purpose 0:00:44.040 --> 0:00:47.640 driven career to help other women know their value. Yeah. 0:00:47.680 --> 0:00:50.800 And while Alex, I mean we were originally enamored with 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:53.400 her as a woman in media, I think what we 0:00:53.520 --> 0:00:56.080 found over the course of getting to know Mika and 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.400 her story is actually what's it's beneath the surface or 0:00:59.480 --> 0:01:01.800 behind the esk, or maybe not behind the desk, maybe 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:04.360 on the other side of the desk. Um is that 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:09.080 Mika's experience things that are constant conversations that we have 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:11.560 as professionals, and one that we find a lot of 0:01:11.600 --> 0:01:14.080 our friends having to in terms of knowing their value 0:01:14.080 --> 0:01:18.279 and understanding how they evolve as a brand in the market. Also, 0:01:18.400 --> 0:01:21.200 I think what she says, and you'll hear this really interesting, 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:25.080 is like, well, you have to have more than maybe 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:30.240 just this right this being one thing, um, because you 0:01:30.240 --> 0:01:31.959 don't know what's going to happen, especially in the media 0:01:31.959 --> 0:01:37.919 and marketing space, like technology disrupt, networks change, there's acquisitions 0:01:37.920 --> 0:01:40.600 and mergers happening all the time, and without knowing your 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.400 purpose to your point, you know, you have to understand 0:01:43.800 --> 0:01:46.280 how do you evolve as your own brand. And there's 0:01:46.319 --> 0:01:48.840 so much of this going on, especially in the marketing world, 0:01:49.040 --> 0:01:53.160 where you're starting to see cmos jumping out and branding themselves, um, 0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:56.120 beyond just their business and starting to become influencers and 0:01:56.160 --> 0:01:59.480 movers and shakers that stand for something. And this doesn't 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:01.920 just apply, by the way, to our industry. I think 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:04.840 that what we recognize, whether that's in news, whether that's 0:02:04.880 --> 0:02:10.800 in fine education, finance, Yeah, there's opportunity to find what 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.440 it is that moves you and and reach out and 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:15.360 do it. Right and find the white space. And so 0:02:15.400 --> 0:02:17.519 I think Mika story was one that we wanted to 0:02:17.600 --> 0:02:24.400 drop as a special episode. I hope you enjoy it. Enjoy. 0:02:27.760 --> 0:02:30.239 We are so excited to be in the booth today 0:02:30.280 --> 0:02:34.200 with the one and only Mika Brazinski. Hi, how are 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:37.040 you guys? Doing good? Mica? Everyone? For those of you 0:02:37.080 --> 0:02:39.480 who don't know, and if you don't, well you should, 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:42.560 you should. Mica is the co host of MSNBC's Morning 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:46.079 Joe weekdays six to nine am, and also the founder 0:02:46.120 --> 0:02:48.400 of the Know Your Value movement. Welcome to the show. 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:54.200 Thanks for having me on. My God, I'm excited, We're excited. Nervous. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.240 You made me think? Really, yeah, we made you nervy. Yep, 0:02:57.600 --> 0:03:00.120 that is an honor. Yeah, I always just in it. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:02.079 I'm gonna tell everybody that I was actually going to 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.600 ask you, like you ever get nervous? I get very nervous. 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:08.799 I get nervous during things like this um when it's 0:03:08.919 --> 0:03:12.919 intimate and personal and speaking in front of actual crowds. 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.000 But I love being on TV. I could do that forever. 0:03:15.760 --> 0:03:17.760 I sweat in front of crowds. I get flop sweat 0:03:17.840 --> 0:03:20.360 down my back. But I think, is it more like excitement, 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:24.440 like anxious nervousness. It's a mixture of being nervous and 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:26.560 feeling like everyone's looking at me and I've done something 0:03:26.680 --> 0:03:31.000 dramatically wrong before I even open my mouth. Mixture of 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.480 anxiety to do the right thing and to say the 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.000 right thing and to get it all right, and then 0:03:38.000 --> 0:03:40.560 a mixture of excitement too. Do you talk about that? 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:42.680 And Okay, so we're gonna go into like you're this 0:03:42.760 --> 0:03:46.480 amazing New York Times best selling writer. You have started 0:03:46.560 --> 0:03:50.560 this movement about women knowing their value by growing their value, Yes, 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:53.480 I have. Do you think that men actually get nervous 0:03:53.600 --> 0:03:56.280 the same way women get nervous? Like they don't, And 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:59.640 they have a lot of qualities that we need to emulate, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:06.560 Like they are incredibly they are ridiculously overconfident that they 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:11.880 are um. They lie, They lie like rugs. They don't 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:16.040 even know they're lying. When they're negotiating, they lie unbelievably 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.040 and they have no idea they're doing it. They don't 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:22.320 remember anything, right, they forget everything. And that's an incredible 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:25.839 quality too, that helps them succeed professionally. So it's like 0:04:25.960 --> 0:04:31.200 men the first ephemeral media brand, right, It's also could 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:33.719 feel like couples counseling right now, there's a lot of 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:35.880 indicative of the conversation I had at my dinner table 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:39.760 last night. Anyhow, So your brand, Mika Prasinski brand, we're 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:43.240 really curious to understand coming out of CBS obviously now 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.320 on NBC and growing up in the world of journalism 0:04:47.320 --> 0:04:51.160 now sort of spreading your wings into media company owner 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:53.479 for all intents and purposes. Can you talk to us 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:57.080 a little bit about what that looks like from a 0:04:57.160 --> 0:05:01.520 vision standpoint and where you see no your value going. Yeah, 0:05:01.600 --> 0:05:03.560 when I was in you know, when I was fourteen 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.960 years old, I wanted to be in in a TV 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:08.919 news reporter. So I was very focused from the get go, 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:12.839 and I started working at like the local cable Fairfax 0:05:12.920 --> 0:05:14.919 Cable Access. I did a TV show when I was 0:05:14.960 --> 0:05:19.560 sixteen called Eminem's Mika and Melissa Show, and we looked 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.159 at like teen issues. We made an open drive in 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:24.760 my truck and like it was, you know, the beginning 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:26.920 of you know, someone who was very focused on having 0:05:26.960 --> 0:05:30.680 a career in television. I worked at the networks and 0:05:30.720 --> 0:05:35.159 at local affiliates as interns during summers for free. When 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.720 I was in college. I did a TV show on 0:05:37.760 --> 0:05:41.839 the cable access uh TV channel in North Adams, Massachusetts, 0:05:41.880 --> 0:05:44.440 on the issue of teen pregnancy because at that time 0:05:46.160 --> 0:05:48.839 North Adams had the highest rate of teen pregnancy in 0:05:48.839 --> 0:05:51.919 the country. From then on, I worked my way up, 0:05:52.520 --> 0:05:56.840 had kids, got married, but continued to really drive at 0:05:56.880 --> 0:06:00.680 that career all the way to CBS News and sixteen Minutes, 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.320 and at the height of it, I had two kids. 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:04.839 I was able to bring them to work with me 0:06:04.880 --> 0:06:08.840 at times. I had really successfully navigated conflating in a 0:06:08.920 --> 0:06:12.200 positive way family and work, and I thought I really 0:06:12.200 --> 0:06:15.159 had it down when I was anchoring the Sunday Evening 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.159 News on CBS and one of my kids was under 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:22.200 the desk and quiet, by the way, which was amazing 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:26.400 given the child that she was um And I also 0:06:26.480 --> 0:06:29.320 had a contract to be a contributor to sixty Minutes 0:06:29.360 --> 0:06:32.560 and that was kind of like the plum girl job 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:36.159 of CBS at the time. And a year later, Dan 0:06:36.320 --> 0:06:40.160 Rather was taken down because of memo gade management was 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:44.279 swept out and about six months after that, Katie Kuric 0:06:44.400 --> 0:06:46.599 was hired, and four days later it was called down 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:50.160 to the President's office and I was fired on the spot, um, 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:55.720 and I walked out of there very um heartbroken and 0:06:56.040 --> 0:07:00.800 stunned and shocked. Uh, my idea nity had been just 0:07:00.880 --> 0:07:03.320 swallowed out of me, taken away, sucked out of me, 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:05.760 just just in a in a poof, and a lot 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:09.640 of friends disappeared, which is interesting too. Um. So to 0:07:09.760 --> 0:07:12.240 answer your question about where I go moving forward, I 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.720 did kind of climb back into t VS right at 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.680 the bottom. But I always thought, you know, we get 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:20.320 fired from these jobs. These jobs come and go, ratings 0:07:20.360 --> 0:07:23.800 come and go. Jobs and TV are just not the future. 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:27.480 And I'm gonna be I'm almost forty at the time. 0:07:27.520 --> 0:07:30.840 I'm almost fifty now, and I need to figure out 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.520 what this all, what I can do with this, what 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.920 something good? And that's when I wrote the book Knowing 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:39.880 Your Value a couple of years later, and it really 0:07:40.160 --> 0:07:43.280 kind of exploded in my face. I mean, the book 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.320 was a bestseller. Women were coming up to me from 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:47.880 all over the place saying, I read your book. I 0:07:47.880 --> 0:07:49.680 gotta raise, I read your book, I gotta raise. I 0:07:49.720 --> 0:07:51.679 read your book. I got the leave that I wanted 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.320 to read your book, and I figured out my job 0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.960 and all walks of life. And that's what I realized 0:07:57.160 --> 0:08:00.400 that's what I'm gonna do after TV. That's what I'm 0:08:00.400 --> 0:08:03.320 gonna do. It's not awesome feeling when you finally realize 0:08:03.360 --> 0:08:06.080 you're in control of that destiny. Lax and I have 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.000 had this conversation many times about the impetus for this 0:08:09.040 --> 0:08:12.040 podcast and knowing what you're passionate about and you love 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:15.160 and there's nothing that's good and it's so passionate using 0:08:15.200 --> 0:08:18.360 your voice for it, and it makes it the job 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:22.240 actually more secure because honestly, if I if I if 0:08:22.320 --> 0:08:25.200 my TV job goes away, and boy, I've seen it happen. 0:08:25.240 --> 0:08:28.560 I've seen my TV job go away in the snap. Uh, 0:08:28.640 --> 0:08:31.600 this is what I'm gonna do, and I'm building it now, 0:08:32.160 --> 0:08:35.960 but it would, it would happen regardless of the TV job, 0:08:36.320 --> 0:08:39.400 and it sort of makes everything that I do have 0:08:39.600 --> 0:08:42.800 perspective and I do it better because those TV jobs, 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:44.360 when you know that they could go away at the 0:08:44.520 --> 0:08:47.240 at the click of a switch, you kind of are 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.920 nervous about that and you behave in a nervous way 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:53.280 and you make decisions based on that fear is you're 0:08:53.280 --> 0:08:57.360 writing your own destiny. Yeah, absolutely, so you're doing this 0:08:57.480 --> 0:09:01.120 for yourself, right, But you're also doing it for other women. 0:09:01.640 --> 0:09:04.000 I mean it started as something that was personal. You 0:09:04.040 --> 0:09:08.320 saw you saw this like epiphany moment, right, And then 0:09:08.720 --> 0:09:12.520 the story itself starts with my own journey to learn 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.320 to advocate for myself and how bad I was at 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:17.720 it despite the success I'd had. I think we all are. 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:21.120 I mean, you know, we're all bad at it, and um, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.280 the audience is that I reach when I when I 0:09:23.320 --> 0:09:27.320 do a workshop event know your Value event, I usually 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.080 have a room about five to seven hundred women from 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.640 corporate vice presidents CEOs down to people at the very bottom, 0:09:34.640 --> 0:09:38.240 working in trenches or unemployed, and they all are nodding 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:40.640 their heads about the same lessons we teach and tips 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:44.439 we give and advice that we hand out. Because I 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:48.200 do think this is kind of a very innate issue 0:09:49.080 --> 0:09:52.880 that is going to be something that if women want 0:09:52.920 --> 0:09:55.760 to know their value and they want to communicate it effectively, 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.679 they're going to have to work very hard on it. 0:09:57.960 --> 0:10:01.520 What do you think the future of women in media is. 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:05.160 I mean, it's a really interesting time, and especially news 0:10:05.240 --> 0:10:11.160 journalism on air TV, talent, news anchors, those types of things. 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:13.080 One of the things we're always baffled by when we 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:16.520 walk into many rooms, there's a lot of fabulous women 0:10:16.520 --> 0:10:18.640 that we meet along the way that are some of 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:23.239 the most creative and inspired and passionate women in advertising 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:27.360 marketing media. And we often find that when you start 0:10:27.360 --> 0:10:29.840 getting to the top, especially when it comes to talent 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.000 conversations or it comes to executive decisions, the numbers start 0:10:33.080 --> 0:10:36.520 to thin out. Um very few times do we walk 0:10:36.559 --> 0:10:38.520 into rooms where there's big female executives. I mean the 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.679 chairwoman of and I say chairwoman Lindi Acarino of your 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:46.080 network as someone who, aside from her shoes, she's one 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:48.760 of the most fiercest women I know in the industry. 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.200 But you don't see it as often as you like. 0:10:51.440 --> 0:10:54.600 Right until Alexas point like, where do you see women 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.440 playing a stronger role? Well, I think I see them 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:02.680 as they learn to leverage their value with their with 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:06.439 their words and actions, as opposed to let it being 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.880 leverage for themselves or letting the decisions being made for themselves. 0:11:10.200 --> 0:11:12.480 I think we'll see more more women rise to the top. 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:14.960 But it starts with a voice. It starts with understanding 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.040 what it is that you need. It starts with knowing 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.439 it's okay to ask It starts with knowing that it's 0:11:19.440 --> 0:11:21.080 okay if you don't get it and you have to 0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.120 go somewhere else. Like I think, we personalize a lot 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:27.680 of things, and we take offense to a lot of things, 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.760 and we take inwardly a lot of the problems that 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:33.240 we confront at work. And what I'm trying to do 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:36.640 with the Know your Value UH brand and message and 0:11:36.640 --> 0:11:40.400 an actual playbook and workshops is teach women to understand 0:11:40.400 --> 0:11:42.800 the first thing you can do is start talking to 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:46.079 your employer about all the issues that you're confronting. I mean, 0:11:46.120 --> 0:11:48.679 I just went through UM a workshop that we did 0:11:48.679 --> 0:11:52.079 for Comcast, and we did financial management. We people raising 0:11:52.080 --> 0:11:54.360 their hands talking about the debt they were in talking 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:57.360 about not understanding how to put away money and exactly 0:11:57.640 --> 0:12:00.440 we were answering the most personal financial questions ever and 0:12:00.480 --> 0:12:03.080 we got them to ask which is which was the 0:12:03.120 --> 0:12:06.199 permission that Know your Value gives women. I hate to 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:09.760 call it permission, because no one's holding you back except 0:12:09.760 --> 0:12:13.040 for you, okay, And we need to teach you to 0:12:13.080 --> 0:12:15.599 get up under the lights and negotiate for yourself. And 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:17.560 I say under the lights because at my events I 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:21.600 actually have normal women who really struggle with their value, 0:12:21.880 --> 0:12:25.280 make iPhone videos talking about the value that they bring 0:12:25.280 --> 0:12:27.160 to the table, whether it be at home, at work, 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:29.800 at a part time job, looking for jobs, whatever. Who 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:31.480 are you? What is it that you bring to the table? 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:33.680 Put it into words and put it on an iPhone 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.839 video and send it in by the way, Realize how 0:12:36.880 --> 0:12:40.120 many times you delete that because you're terrible at it? 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.720 And get better. And we pick five finalists and we 0:12:43.800 --> 0:12:46.760 made them even more better and taught them what they're 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:49.679 looking for and asked them what is it the message 0:12:49.720 --> 0:12:51.280 they want to send. What is it that they want 0:12:51.320 --> 0:12:54.000 to get back and return? What is it they're looking for, 0:12:54.080 --> 0:12:56.920 what's their backstory that they can bring to the table 0:12:57.240 --> 0:13:01.160 and off. In many cases, the pictures that we saw 0:13:01.200 --> 0:13:04.080 on stage were completely different than the pictures we saw 0:13:04.120 --> 0:13:06.720 in the iPhone video after really bringing out the essence 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.599 of who that person was and teaching them to communicate 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.080 it effectively, not just with the stories they tell and 0:13:12.080 --> 0:13:14.360 the words they bring to the table, but their voice, 0:13:14.400 --> 0:13:18.000 their posture, what they put on that day, how it feels, 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:22.880 and how they present. And those things are hard. They 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.679 seem simple, they're really hard. You put someone out of 0:13:25.720 --> 0:13:28.520 the lights and you make them compete. And that is 0:13:28.559 --> 0:13:32.640 what a negotiation or an important meeting with your boss 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.160 feels like. You are. Yeah, it's the same raw kind 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:39.080 of oh feeling like oh my god, I guy, I 0:13:39.120 --> 0:13:41.400 can't ask, I can't well, and also like I think 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:42.800 I'm gonna wing it. I'll just go in there and 0:13:42.800 --> 0:13:44.640 I'll ask them for this, this, and this. No, you 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.440 can't do that. You actually need to prepare for this meeting, 0:13:47.800 --> 0:13:50.000 and you need to prepare for every part of it. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.280 You need to prepare for how it's gonna feel, how 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:56.480 awkward it is. How about doing some rolepill playing with someone, 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.079 prepare for every potential What exactly are you are you 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.439 going to say when you make that ask? This is 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.320 going to be the difference between women leaving because they 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.240 don't think they can get what they want and companies 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:13.120 being able to retain great talent because they simply can 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.480 give them what they want, which might be really easy 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.400 at times. Women leaving versus women leading. That is my 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:24.640 new tex very good. That's like I like that for me. 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:26.960 What's really interesting is you said early on, and it 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:28.440 was the question we wanted to ask you, is that 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:31.840 men actually play a really important role in how we 0:14:31.920 --> 0:14:35.440 think of ourselves in emulating them. You said that early on, 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:37.880 and I think that's really important. Like, how have men 0:14:37.960 --> 0:14:41.200 played a role in your career path? How have you learned? 0:14:41.320 --> 0:14:43.480 I know, you know, you're really good friends with Joe. 0:14:43.960 --> 0:14:47.840 He's been hugely supportive, you know. Yeah, he has no 0:14:48.200 --> 0:14:52.040 Actually with the negotiation of my salary. I went back 0:14:52.080 --> 0:14:55.960 to him several times after going in there, and I 0:14:56.000 --> 0:14:58.600 love this story going to what he likes. But yeah, 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.520 I will. But let me back up, and just like 0:15:01.560 --> 0:15:05.080 when this all began and we were actually negotiating our 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:09.200 very first morning Joe contracts. I was such a girl. 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:14.000 And Willie and Joe were men negotiating their contracts. So 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:15.520 I would be like waiting for my phone to ring, 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:16.960 waiting for my phone to ring. Oh my god, Oh 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:18.240 my god, Oh my god. Am I gonna get the job? 0:15:18.400 --> 0:15:20.240 I'm freelance. I'm gonna get the job. I hope. I 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.640 pray to God I'm back. Oh my god, I hope. 0:15:22.760 --> 0:15:26.520 Oh my god, my phone ran. Oh my god, I 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:31.120 pretty deleted it. Oh my god. So and then William 0:15:31.240 --> 0:15:34.520 Joe Joe be like, now on this podcast, is there 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:40.240 what's the FCC rules here on Joe be like, you 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:47.560 know what, go fun yourself, okay, and then Nika doing 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.760 an impression of Joe and then even hang up and 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:54.120 I'd be like, was that her boss? He'd be like, 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.240 but you just said that to And I'm like shaking 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:01.040 for his behavior. What's wrong with that? There's so much 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.120 wrong but that's not even funny. And at the time 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:04.880 I didn't know there's anything wrong with that. I was like, 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.680 really like, what's wrong with Joe? Meanwhile, I'm like, where 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.520 do I signs that? My name right here? Let me 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:14.960 sign it four times for you, and please don't pay 0:16:15.000 --> 0:16:21.400 me enough. I mean, it was unbelievable. I was fully responsible. 0:16:21.520 --> 0:16:25.560 How many years ago was that? Uh nine? How much 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:27.960 have you grown into or you're blessing them around now? 0:16:27.960 --> 0:16:31.960 Because that's how That was the funniest thing about it 0:16:32.000 --> 0:16:35.160 all and kind of sad. And the thing about women 0:16:35.480 --> 0:16:38.560 is I was running the show. I was booking the show. 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:41.960 I was holding the show together. I was the I 0:16:42.080 --> 0:16:44.360 was the glue of the show. I worked as much 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.320 as William Joe more and I did not. But I 0:16:48.400 --> 0:16:50.440 was not able to communicate for myself, and I was 0:16:50.480 --> 0:16:53.280 too scared to take a risk and say you know what, 0:16:53.600 --> 0:16:56.760 go go stick it. I'm not coming unless you guys 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:58.800 pay me. This is a good show. By the way, 0:16:58.840 --> 0:17:02.640 I knew it was a good show. I was becoming like, um, 0:17:02.680 --> 0:17:06.560 a bigger uh you know deal in this business than 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:08.120 I ever have in my life. And I could see 0:17:08.160 --> 0:17:10.840 it happening in real time and I didn't even think 0:17:10.840 --> 0:17:14.520 to leverage it. And you felt it inside grateful to 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:16.919 be there, just amazing. I would I would love to 0:17:16.920 --> 0:17:18.880 ask Joe, what did you feel? I bet grateful? Would 0:17:18.880 --> 0:17:21.399 it be in the top ten choice of trust me? 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:23.320 It was not. He's like, they're lucky to have me, 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:26.240 And I should have thought that too about myself, because 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.760 they were. They had a big problem on their hands 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.840 and our show was fixing it. Why do we one 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:34.000 of the things that I think you're instilling and I 0:17:34.040 --> 0:17:37.280 think a lot of Maybe it's the result of the election, 0:17:37.480 --> 0:17:40.160 Maybe it's part of the women's movement, all this sort 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:43.280 of stuff. Alex and I are always grateful, This is 0:17:43.320 --> 0:17:45.119 the right time to use that word for one another, 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:50.800 and having there's moments when I feel like I'm having 0:17:50.800 --> 0:17:53.080 that kind of day and Alex is like, tell them 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.840 to go funk themselves or she's having that moment, I'm like, 0:17:55.920 --> 0:18:01.840 remember who you are. How do you see today? Post election? 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:05.479 The rise of what we feel is intergenerational. It's not 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:07.440 just about being a mentor, but it's about pulling each 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.800 other together by the bootstraps and saying, get your ship together. 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:13.040 We're in this for the long haul. How do you 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:14.920 see that community? You know? I think that's gonna I 0:18:15.200 --> 0:18:17.360 I witness and I'm writing two books aboutter and I'm 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:20.840 witnessing a sea change about women helping each other and 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.800 pulling together as exactly where it's at. I don't get mentors. 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:26.120 I don't get the mentor thing. People who are your mentors? 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.439 A lot of people mentors. I barely survived myself. Some 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:31.760 of the most successful women, some of the most successful 0:18:31.760 --> 0:18:35.359 women have said that recently, like because there was like 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:36.920 I feel like I don't have time to I mean, 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:38.879 but also I help a lot of people around me, 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:41.760 whoever they are, I help them. I help women wherever 0:18:41.800 --> 0:18:44.360 I can go. But I don't consider myself a mentor. 0:18:44.520 --> 0:18:48.159 I consider myself sharing as much as possible and getting 0:18:48.160 --> 0:18:50.959 it done. I don't I don't get the whole mentor. 0:18:51.000 --> 0:18:53.520 I guess there are mentorships that are valuable, but it 0:18:53.680 --> 0:18:57.480 is never really worked in my world. Pulling together very different. 0:18:57.520 --> 0:19:00.719 I think we see each other's value in a way 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.639 that twenty years ago it was a dynamic that simply 0:19:03.680 --> 0:19:08.119 didn't exist. We were horrible to each other. Um. You know, 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:10.200 I'm almost fifty. I started this when I was in 0:19:10.280 --> 0:19:13.399 my late teens. Let me just tell you it's different 0:19:13.440 --> 0:19:15.800 now than it was back then. We're not nice to 0:19:15.840 --> 0:19:17.679 each other. Back then, and we wanted to be the 0:19:17.680 --> 0:19:20.359 only woman in the room. And now I'm looking in 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.200 a room with people. I'd want to work with you. 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:24.640 I'd want to work with you. I did. I would. 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.239 I would feel I can get I get you get it. 0:19:27.600 --> 0:19:30.080 And I actually had that experience with you and I. 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:33.000 You know, gosh, back when I was starting out, I 0:19:33.080 --> 0:19:35.199 just felt like I had to survive the women around me. 0:19:36.160 --> 0:19:38.600 But anyhow, Mica, shifting gears, I think one of the things. 0:19:38.600 --> 0:19:42.400 And we'll just go into your your news world. Um, 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:46.640 how do you see the democratization of news becoming more important? 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:48.280 You know? You you sit up there every day and 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:50.960 we always admire We talk about this all the time. Damn, 0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:55.720 she's good sitting up there with general Um. But more 0:19:55.800 --> 0:19:59.000 so our question goes into as more and more people 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.720 are rise through the ranks, as these sort of credible 0:20:01.800 --> 0:20:05.320 voices with journalistic integrity coming from different places. I mean, 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:07.119 you said it again, you said it earlier. You're like 0:20:07.200 --> 0:20:10.840 TV who knows what's going to happen, right and planning 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:14.040 for the future, like as this kind of sea of 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.600 change happens where people are reporting live on Facebook and 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:23.120 and they're not necessarily like trained anchors, right, Like, does 0:20:23.160 --> 0:20:27.639 that become confusing? Thing? Does that like what you know? 0:20:28.040 --> 0:20:30.640 That look like? I think it's very messy. I think 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.760 it's very disruptive. And I think that over time, competition 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.560 will bring the right voices to the four and but 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.240 it will look very different, and it should. I mean, 0:20:41.240 --> 0:20:43.399 we're not going to ever go back to three networks 0:20:43.400 --> 0:20:46.080 going on TV at six pm. You know, We're just not. 0:20:46.400 --> 0:20:50.200 It's different. It's everywhere, and it's voice, and it's credibility, 0:20:50.280 --> 0:20:52.840 and it's the story and it's the person who emerges. 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.040 But that person is going to emerge out of places 0:20:55.080 --> 0:20:58.600 you and I don't even know about right now. And um, 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.280 credibility is going to come in different packages. But you 0:21:01.320 --> 0:21:05.359 know what, you can't beat credibility. You can't pretend to 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.399 be credible. You either will build an empire, a media 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:12.080 empire that is, and it will run the ship of media, 0:21:12.640 --> 0:21:15.440 or you know, you'll fall apart and explode and become 0:21:15.480 --> 0:21:19.040 fake news. I do believe that the tenants of journalism 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:24.000