Speaker 1: I had the weirdest experience.
Speaker 2: We were at south By Southwest and so we were
Speaker 2: running around with you know, all different groups of friends
Speaker 2: and filmmakers. It was an amazing time, by the way,
Speaker 2: It's just a wonderful festival. And one of our friends
Speaker 2: who lives in Alaska was had was like, oh, let's
Speaker 2: meet up for dinner, and we met. We met her
Speaker 2: for dinner, and there was another woman there who was
Speaker 2: like her old friend from high school who happened to
Speaker 2: be in town. So we hadn't met her, and I
Speaker 2: I showed up late, but I was all dressed up
Speaker 2: because we were going to a premiere and so I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, hey, nice to meet you, Stephanie. Hey
Speaker 2: you round rider. And then we sit down and then
Speaker 2: we proceed to, you know, order sushi talk. We're like
Speaker 2: thirty five forty five minutes into our meal, we get
Speaker 2: into a really the conversation I've been having a few
Speaker 2: times lately, which is probably would be good pre show chatter.
Speaker 2: The other time, like this whole conversation about whether you
Speaker 2: hear a voice in your head while you read or
Speaker 2: it's like called like IRV, like internal narrative I know. Anyway,
Speaker 2: so we're having that conversation, and and me and this woman,
Speaker 2: Stephanie are the two people at the table who do
Speaker 2: hear voices in our head like while reading and so
Speaker 2: like Alex and our friend Ashley is.
Speaker 1: Like, what are you guys talking about? We're going and
Speaker 1: so like stephan and I are like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: and she's looking at me.
Speaker 2: She goes, yeah, you're right or strong, and I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: oh my god.
Speaker 1: It was like in the middle of the same In
Speaker 1: the middle.
Speaker 2: I'm like, oh, did your internal narrative voice just come out?
Speaker 2: Like what what do you But she's like, oh my god,
Speaker 2: I would have dressed better. My god, Ashley, why didn't
Speaker 2: you tell me?
Speaker 1: I'm like, this is the weirdest moments.
Speaker 2: It took you this like we're in a like we're
Speaker 2: having dinner, like we're splitting sushi like what.
Speaker 1: It was such and then she like couldn't get over it.
Speaker 2: And then it was just you know, we were just
Speaker 2: teasing her mercilessly, but it was so it was so funny.
Speaker 2: It was like right, like you know that like the
Speaker 2: reality of a person being in front of you versus
Speaker 2: somebody that you grew.
Speaker 1: Up with or like had teen back.
Speaker 2: It was like it had nothing to do with like
Speaker 2: looks or it was just like it took her that
Speaker 2: long and then she was like genuinely flustered and like
Speaker 2: kind of fangirl and it was like like none of this,
Speaker 2: Like she's like, I know, and I knew that, actually
Speaker 2: knew you too.
Speaker 1: I should have put this together. You're wearing a boy
Speaker 1: meets World t shirt? Was I thinking?
Speaker 2: But that must happen so many times, you know where
Speaker 2: it's like it's such a delayed realization.
Speaker 1: And people just don't say it out loud or you.
Speaker 3: Know, how often did you get recognized while you were
Speaker 3: there all the time since I shaved?
Speaker 2: Since I shaved, I'm like, you know, and like Alex
Speaker 2: is so piss because she wants me to grow the
Speaker 2: beard back, and I'm.
Speaker 1: Like, no, I kind of this is great.
Speaker 2: We'll getting into every party anywhere you need a table,
Speaker 2: like everyone's like coming up. Like I was like, I'm
Speaker 2: kind of liking being famous for the first time in
Speaker 2: my life. Don't take this away from me. Like God,
Speaker 2: so much podcast now it's like so many It's.
Speaker 3: Just so funny because I just went home, I'm airports cars.
Speaker 3: What I've just crowds and crowds of people out to dinner.
Speaker 3: Not a single time you got a shave.
Speaker 1: Man, I don't think that would do it either.
Speaker 4: Would you try it? Would you try it?
Speaker 3: Sure?
Speaker 2: I don't care if you shaved and grew your hair
Speaker 2: down to your shoulders like Peak will erra hair.
Speaker 5: I mean, I think we could get Peak will back.
Speaker 5: It's just it's getting pretty long.
Speaker 1: Pretty longing.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you could get Peak will back.
Speaker 3: I don't know Peak, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean I kind of like the gray and the
Speaker 1: beard is the thing.
Speaker 5: I like the gray and your beard too, and I
Speaker 5: like your beard. I'm just saying this is a social experiment.
Speaker 3: Just to see if I get recognized, because I do
Speaker 3: not get wrecking.
Speaker 2: And I think I was lying only leave your house
Speaker 2: to walk your neighborhood, So.
Speaker 1: That's not true. I'm out all the time. I was
Speaker 1: just traveling for the tour.
Speaker 5: I mean we I was with him. I traveled with
Speaker 5: him everywhere last year.
Speaker 1: Recognized.
Speaker 4: No, he does not at all.
Speaker 1: It's so strange to me where it's like.
Speaker 4: I think, will you shave for our first live show?
Speaker 4: Maybe for the live shows.
Speaker 1: You get a tattoo.
Speaker 4: I'll think about it. I'll think about it.
Speaker 1: I'll think about it.
Speaker 4: Here's the biggest problem.
Speaker 5: Here's the biggest problem for me with the tattoo, guys,
Speaker 5: because I have been thinking about it.
Speaker 1: Where am I going to butt it your neck?
Speaker 4: That's like, yeah, yeah, drop, I like tear.
Speaker 1: Drops, but with with globes, with glo globe globe.
Speaker 3: How many laughs we've killed It's like how many times
Speaker 3: you killed it on stage?
Speaker 1: Just boom? Then I don't need Yeah, I don't know
Speaker 1: where i'd get it either.
Speaker 4: I don't know. I don't know right already knows his spot.
Speaker 1: I think to you where you know, Well, I.
Speaker 2: Have the inside of my arm, so I would probably
Speaker 2: just do the other inside of my own But.
Speaker 5: It would depend on what it is, because like you
Speaker 5: kind of want something, yeah, like you have to figure
Speaker 5: out what the shape.
Speaker 1: It would work pretty perfectly.
Speaker 4: I know, I know, I don't know where I would
Speaker 4: put mine, Like maybe I.
Speaker 5: Don't want it to be in a spot that like
Speaker 5: people can see all the time.
Speaker 4: So yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 1: I'm doing my left nipple.
Speaker 4: You won't ever be shirtless, you've already said.
Speaker 5: But I mean, your whole goal is to is to
Speaker 5: be so ripped that you are walking around shirtless all
Speaker 5: the time.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, exact well, that's yeah, that's the plan.
Speaker 3: I watched a movie last night where it's an awful movie,
Speaker 3: but the lead character he's just got an eight pack
Speaker 3: and there's times he's literally one point on an airplane,
Speaker 3: no shirt on, and I'm like, yep, that's a that's
Speaker 3: percent correct.
Speaker 5: I just I just saw a really good play. I
Speaker 5: went and saw forty four the musical, the Barack Obama
Speaker 5: Musical that's playing in Culver City right now.
Speaker 1: And is it.
Speaker 3: About Barack Obama or starring Barack Obama, because those are two.
Speaker 5: It's about Barack Obama. It's about his presidency. It's so
Speaker 5: freaking good. I'm actually going again. But two of the performers,
Speaker 5: all of the performers are beautiful, and but two of
Speaker 5: them are in the kind of shape that make you go.
Speaker 4: Gosh, So what is the full routine?
Speaker 1: Like it?
Speaker 5: This very clearly requires a level of dedication that's just
Speaker 5: like wow, this is really it's truly like your body's
Speaker 5: a work of art. And while I was watching the play,
Speaker 5: I was like, you know what, yes, I do want that.
Speaker 5: I'm willing to do it, and then literally I woke
Speaker 5: up in the morning and was.
Speaker 4: Like, but I do also have to have dessert after breakfast.
Speaker 5: And I'm realizing I just don't have that.
Speaker 4: I don't have it.
Speaker 3: It's it's un I mean when you're talking about like
Speaker 3: the Ryan Reynolds shredded on camera, stuff like that, the
Speaker 3: Channing Tatum and stuff, it's super unhealthy.
Speaker 4: Well, yes, I also don't know that all of that's natural.
Speaker 5: The people that I'm t talking about it was not
Speaker 5: an unnatural it's just truly I think they probably eat
Speaker 5: a lot of protein, very little carbs, and they eat
Speaker 5: a lot of vegetables. They drink a lot of water,
Speaker 5: and they are regularly in the gym.
Speaker 2: That's part of being a stage actor for that, you know,
Speaker 2: it's like part of the They have the at night
Speaker 2: and they probably spend most of.
Speaker 5: Their their dancers, so they're also dancing, and it's part
Speaker 5: of like their body is an instrument in ways that
Speaker 5: mine will never be.
Speaker 3: Well, mine's an instrument too, It's just a tuba.
Speaker 1: So you know, you need a good brass section to
Speaker 1: Danielle take on the truck. I'm as what I am.
Speaker 1: I'm a timpany drum. Yeah, so it's just the way
Speaker 1: it works.
Speaker 4: Welcome to Upon Mets World.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Offishal, I'm Right or Strong, and I'm Wilfordell.
Speaker 5: Over the seven seasons of Boy Meets World, we had
Speaker 5: some pretty interesting guest stars, from Nancy Kerrigan to Jim Abbott,
Speaker 5: to Vader to Tom Bosley, who played himself but was
Speaker 5: also kind of mister Cunningham but was also involved in
Speaker 5: the FBI's campaign against Russian espionage. Anyway, we never went
Speaker 5: the easy route when it came to stunt casting. It's
Speaker 5: actually one of the more endearing aspects of the show.
Speaker 5: We weren't your typical family sitcom, so we didn't cast
Speaker 5: your typical cameos, and this week's guest might be the
Speaker 5: coolest example. Once dubbed the Petite Picasso at just twelve
Speaker 5: years old, this child prodigy changed the landscape of art
Speaker 5: in the nineties. She escaped communist Romania as a baby
Speaker 5: and settled in California, where by the age of two
Speaker 5: she was creating original drawings with pen and ink, then
Speaker 5: at five watercolors. At seven, she graduated to oil and acrylics,
Speaker 5: and at eight she had her very first solo show,
Speaker 5: and then she never looked back. She was a phenomenon,
Speaker 5: appearing on Oprah and The Rosi O'Donnell Show while traveling
Speaker 5: the world to display her pieces the new toast of
Speaker 5: the art scene.
Speaker 4: Before she was.
Speaker 5: A teenager, she had already sold millions of dollars in work,
Speaker 5: far outliving any naysayers calling her a gimmick with celebrity
Speaker 5: collectors like Alec Baldwin, Calvin Klein, Leah Ioka, and Little Richard.
Speaker 5: And somehow, for some reason, she still took time out
Speaker 5: of her busy schedule at nineteen ninety eight to spend
Speaker 5: a week on the Boy Meets World set to play
Speaker 5: herself as a major character in the season six episode
Speaker 5: better than your average Corey, And I'm gonna tell you
Speaker 5: she was a natural. She can't just be good at
Speaker 5: one thing, apparently, stay in your lane already McArts in.
Speaker 5: When we started this podcast, we hope to bring back
Speaker 5: some people we didn't expect to reunite with, and this
Speaker 5: week we have done it. Welcome to Pod meets World,
Speaker 5: the most cultured guest star we've ever had. Sorry, Robin Leach,
Speaker 5: It's al Lexandra and Nikita.
Speaker 6: Good morning, Oh my gosh, hi, hi wow. This is awesome.
Speaker 4: Just a few co workers reuniting thirty years later.
Speaker 6: Unbelievable, right, oh man, hi hi hi wow.
Speaker 4: Oh my gosh. Well, thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 5: We obviously want to dig deep into your appearance on
Speaker 5: Boy Meets World and how you had the goal to
Speaker 5: not only be a child prodigy but also a very
Speaker 5: good actor. But before we jump into that, I want
Speaker 5: to get a little into toddler art. My son is five,
Speaker 5: and his art is alarming, alarmingly bad. I look at
Speaker 5: you when I ask this, Why is he so bad
Speaker 5: at art?
Speaker 6: Well, you know, it's it's so funny. I also, I
Speaker 6: have a nine year old and a three year old,
Speaker 6: and everyone is always like, oh my gosh, are they talented?
Speaker 6: Are they talent? Like I don't think so, no, really
Speaker 6: not really, like I don't know. I want to be
Speaker 6: nice mom, but also like it's kind of crappy, so
Speaker 6: like I don't know, you know. But and it's so
Speaker 6: funny because my daughter is always complained. She's like, I fuck,
Speaker 6: like I am I not supposed to be good at this?
Speaker 6: Because you're good at this. I was like, I don't
Speaker 6: think that that this works like, yeah, it's not, but
Speaker 6: you know what it is. I think, more than anything,
Speaker 6: the idea that they're doing something, especially now, you know,
Speaker 6: like when we were kids, doing things with our hands
Speaker 6: was sort of what we just there's the only thing
Speaker 6: we could do because we didn't have iPads and we
Speaker 6: didn't have all these other distractions and you know, preoccupations
Speaker 6: and interest and whatnot. So I think it's less about
Speaker 6: how what the quality of his work is and much
Speaker 6: more about the fact that he's like sitting down and
Speaker 6: mixing colors and using his hands and getting dirty, And
Speaker 6: I think that's you have to find the glory in
Speaker 6: it that way, and then like, you know, maybe one
Speaker 6: day he will get better.
Speaker 5: You never Yes, yes, he's also better at certain types
Speaker 5: of art. When I give him a canvas and paint,
Speaker 5: I'm actually very impressed. When he takes a pencil and
Speaker 5: he tries to draw anything, it's like barely.
Speaker 4: I mean even then, I'm like, al, so, why are
Speaker 4: they so small? So small? There's a whole page here,
Speaker 4: why is everything so small?
Speaker 6: Well, I'm always looking for a studio assistant, so you
Speaker 6: never know.
Speaker 4: Okay, great, Please keep him in mind.
Speaker 5: When did your parents start to realize like, oh, what
Speaker 5: she's doing is not typical.
Speaker 6: It's funny because you have two answers to this question.
Speaker 6: If you ask my mom, you get one answer. If
Speaker 6: you ask my dad to get another answer. My dad
Speaker 6: was like, she's quiet, she's out of trouble. There's not
Speaker 6: a bunch of kids in our apartment. I don't care
Speaker 6: what she does. You know that was kind of like
Speaker 6: the the energy surrounding that at that point. And then
Speaker 6: you had my mom. I'm you know, an immigrant. I
Speaker 6: came here when I was two years old. I didn't
Speaker 6: speak English, so I was really in kindergarten. You had
Speaker 6: my mom that took the you know, really like sentimental
Speaker 6: emotional concern, like, oh my gosh, she's going to be
Speaker 6: a weirdo route because all she does is sit here
Speaker 6: in color and she doesn't have any friends, and no
Speaker 6: one comes into the house. Meanwhile, no one's coming to
Speaker 6: the house because my dad made it very clear no
Speaker 6: one should come. You know, my parents were working crazy hours.
Speaker 6: This was back in the nineties. You know, my mom
Speaker 6: and dad came here. We have a wild story. We
Speaker 6: reunited when I was only two years old. My dad
Speaker 6: left when my mom was six months pregnant with me
Speaker 6: by the way, like no way for him to like
Speaker 6: slip into her DMS and be like love you baby, right,
Speaker 6: I was like no back in the day, and they
Speaker 6: just left on this like agreement of like hope and
Speaker 6: love and respect and admiration and I'll like catch you
Speaker 6: with the states basically.
Speaker 4: You know, and so, oh my gosh, a.
Speaker 6: Wild, wild story. Just that in and of itself is
Speaker 6: amazing and one of the proudest things that I'm a
Speaker 6: part of. But I think, you know, you had once
Speaker 6: once we were here and settled and they're working, and
Speaker 6: I had a babysitter and all these things. It was
Speaker 6: very nerve wracking for my mom to see that I
Speaker 6: was so absorbed because it wasn't going back to you
Speaker 6: talking about your son. It wasn't that they didn't look
Speaker 6: at what I was making and going wow, she's so talented,
Speaker 6: like look at the skill set, look at her use
Speaker 6: of color. It was more of like, wow, there's nothing
Speaker 6: else that interests her. She's obsessed.
Speaker 4: Yeah, concern, concern, truly.
Speaker 6: And and you know, at one point they had taken
Speaker 6: away I was like loving coloring books. They'd taken away
Speaker 6: my coloring books and then, you know, they give me
Speaker 6: plain sheets of paper, and I, having only known a
Speaker 6: coloring book, I kind of made my own. I'd like
Speaker 6: staple ten sheets together and draw an outline with a
Speaker 6: sharpie and then color those in. And so I think
Speaker 6: they only got wind of this being more than just
Speaker 6: a hobby or whatever, you know, when my third grade
Speaker 6: teacher called them into like a parent teacher a meeting
Speaker 6: and kind of like, okay, let's talk about the bag
Speaker 6: that during free time all she does is draw.
Speaker 4: And my mom's like, I know, widhood, we're very concerned.
Speaker 6: My dad's like, isn't it good? You know, she doesn't
Speaker 6: like boys, she draws, like this is a win win,
Speaker 6: you know, And so they at that point I think
Speaker 6: I had they made a very grave mistake. They took
Speaker 6: me to an art store and asked, like probably you
Speaker 6: know a college kid who was smoking a lot of pots,
Speaker 6: like what should she do next? Because she paints and
Speaker 6: watercolors all the time and coloring books. And he's like,
Speaker 6: I don't know oil paints. So I started painting with
Speaker 6: oil paints by the time I was like seven eight,
Speaker 6: which is not recommended, by the way, or a seven
Speaker 6: or eight year old and I had accumulated as like,
Speaker 6: I don't know fifty sixty seventy canvas is at this point,
Speaker 6: and my third grade teacher in this in this meeting,
Speaker 6: you know, my mom's like, yeah, I don't know, it's
Speaker 6: all she wants to do. And we're at work all
Speaker 6: day and my grandma had moved here to raise me
Speaker 6: at that point, and you know, my mom is telling
Speaker 6: me all she does is want to paint, and we
Speaker 6: make sure she does her homework first and don't worry,
Speaker 6: you know, yeah. And he's like, okay, well, you know
Speaker 6: what else And she's like, why did you come over
Speaker 6: and see? So I was like the kid these third
Speaker 6: grade teacher came to her house very strange, and you know,
Speaker 6: at this point, I had kind of monopolized the space
Speaker 6: that we were living. We lived in a townhouse at
Speaker 6: the time, and my parents had moved all the furniture
Speaker 6: to the middle of the living room to make room
Speaker 6: to make room for me to paint on the outside
Speaker 6: of the couches, which is so crazy, right, And he
Speaker 6: came and he saw all this, and he said, oh,
Speaker 6: we should have a like an exhibit for her at
Speaker 6: the library. And I had no idea what that meant
Speaker 6: I was like cool party cupcakes, like let's do it,
Speaker 6: you know. And I had my first exhibition when I
Speaker 6: was eight years old at the public library and Whittier,
Speaker 6: which is where I lived at the time, and we
Speaker 6: hung like sixty seventy canvases on the wall, and that
Speaker 6: was basically I mean, I think it was that moment
Speaker 6: that sort of solidified to my parents that like, and
Speaker 6: even then, honestly, I think it took more than that,
Speaker 6: but you know, they realized like, Okay, this is a
Speaker 6: great way to keep her. And I think, you know,
Speaker 6: having little kids, you realize how valuable it is to
Speaker 6: keep them interested and excited and curious and exploring constantly.
Speaker 6: And I think given their insane work schedule and sort
Speaker 6: of that disconnect that we were offering inevitably because they're
Speaker 6: working all day long, they're happy to know that I
Speaker 6: had something that kind of centered me, ground me that
Speaker 6: they still had like rains over and away, but was
Speaker 6: truly my own thing. So I think it's probably around then,
Speaker 6: like when I was like, you know, ten years old,
Speaker 6: when they're.
Speaker 1: They were they appreciators of art.
Speaker 2: I mean, could did they know like the quality of
Speaker 2: the work or were they just like, oh, it's not
Speaker 2: oh really, okay.
Speaker 6: Definitely not.
Speaker 1: So then I'm advising you.
Speaker 2: They weren't like saying, hey, look at this great painting
Speaker 2: by Picasso, look at this and like any of that.
Speaker 2: It was just you kind of free, free reign.
Speaker 6: Well, so I had seen my first Picasso in person.
Speaker 6: The LA Museum of Art was hosting this insane retrospective
Speaker 6: and it was April Fool's Day, nineteen ninety four, and
Speaker 6: that my parents, my parents took me to that exhibition
Speaker 6: the first time. That was the first time that I
Speaker 6: had like a physical encounter with his work. I mean,
Speaker 6: anything that I was exposed to was whatever the public
Speaker 6: school system was offering at the time, which was a
Speaker 6: lot more than it is now. But that's another conversation
Speaker 6: for another day. But you know, they it was limited because, yeah,
Speaker 6: they didn't have sort of the lifestyle of like going
Speaker 6: to museums and going to galleries and like those are
Speaker 6: things that I try to do with my kids now.
Speaker 6: But no, again, I think it was the sort of
Speaker 6: relentless obsession that I had with it that was the most.
Speaker 6: Like my mom at one point tried to get me
Speaker 6: to like tap dance instead of draw. You know, it's
Speaker 6: like I'm tap dance, like this is so weird, you know,
Speaker 6: like anything just like show us that you're not weird.
Speaker 6: You know, it was sort of falling, you know. Yes,
Speaker 6: it turned out that I was just so deeply like
Speaker 6: I loved it. I loved colors. I loved how you
Speaker 6: could mix one color with another color to get another color.
Speaker 6: I love that I could say things without like confrontation
Speaker 6: of having to say them. There's all these elements, especially
Speaker 6: at really such a formative age when life is just
Speaker 6: weird and awkward as it is. You know that I
Speaker 6: had this other language where there was no judgment, There
Speaker 6: was no It was just like me and my thoughts
Speaker 6: and whatever I wanted to say. And do you know,
Speaker 6: later on, once I started traveling and getting a lot
Speaker 6: of exposure, judgment was abundant, but you know, I still
Speaker 6: tried to keep my private experience of like making things
Speaker 6: as non judgmental and as fun and as honest and
Speaker 6: as open. And it was like a diary. It was
Speaker 6: literally a visual diary for me growing up. And might
Speaker 6: go to the zoo and I'd come home and I'd
Speaker 6: paint a painting about going to the zoom. You know,
Speaker 6: so no, I mean, I don't think in the moment.
Speaker 6: I think retrospectively. I could look back and be like, wow,
Speaker 6: all everyone did is make stick figures and lollipop trees
Speaker 6: and rainbows, and like I made weird faces with three eyes,
Speaker 6: and you know, I think so in that sense, I don't.
Speaker 6: I had a heart, you know what it is. My
Speaker 6: parents did a really good job of not making me
Speaker 6: feel ostracized, you know. And I also had an incredibly
Speaker 6: open relationship, particularly with my mom at that age, where
Speaker 6: you know, I'd come home and tell her about any
Speaker 6: bullying episode. I'd come home and tell her about someone
Speaker 6: teasing me. You know, I had very ethnic lunches growing up,
Speaker 6: being Romanian. You know, there's a lot of reasons that
Speaker 6: I wasn't the most popular kid. And so because I
Speaker 6: had that rapport with my mom, especially both my parents,
Speaker 6: but especially my mom, like I think it helped sort
Speaker 6: of keep a very so I was like even keeled
Speaker 6: and levelheaded for the most part. So I never even
Speaker 6: if I was really good. I was just like, this
Speaker 6: is what I like to do. And that said, I
Speaker 6: didn't figure that out until later that I had a
Speaker 6: skill set that I was just maybe naturally born with that.
Speaker 6: I cultivated the older I got, and the more that
Speaker 6: I you know, made art wow.
Speaker 5: And so how then do you make the jump from
Speaker 5: the wittier public Life Library exhibition into like the blue
Speaker 5: chip art scene. What's what happens after that first exhibition?
Speaker 6: So that first exhibition led to a lot of you know,
Speaker 6: the world is so different now, right Like back then,
Speaker 6: it's like being in the local newspaper was like all
Speaker 6: the jam, you know, and like doing the local news
Speaker 6: things that five PM turn it onto. It's like now
Speaker 6: it's like how many sixtok views does it have? How many?
Speaker 6: It's a completely different sense of uh, sensationalism and you know,
Speaker 6: viewership and audience and all that. You guys know that
Speaker 6: better than I do. But I think I garnered a
Speaker 6: lot of this like local kind of hype and excitement
Speaker 6: and enthusiasm. And the story itself was pretty novel and
Speaker 6: that you know, here's this little short, blonde girl in
Speaker 6: pig Sail. We watched that episode.
Speaker 5: We talked about how much they tried to make you
Speaker 5: look so young, and you look like a contemporary of Ben.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, well she's also just you had so much poise.
Speaker 4: So much present.
Speaker 1: You just yeah, you're.
Speaker 2: You're you had like an adult, like very mature presence,
Speaker 2: you know, just naturally or maybe because of your experiences
Speaker 2: leading up to that, but yeah, you definitely.
Speaker 1: Like they were they were working hard.
Speaker 3: It was especially next to Lindsay Ridgeway, who's like a
Speaker 3: foot and a half tall at the time, right, it
Speaker 3: was like, wait, wait, they're the same age.
Speaker 1: How is that possible?
Speaker 6: It is so funny. I like, I had such a wow.
Speaker 6: It was really awesome watching all that. But you know,
Speaker 6: I I I ended up having a few of these
Speaker 6: local shows if you will. Like after the library, there
Speaker 6: was this really cool hipster guy that owned the bookstore
Speaker 6: slash gallery slash coffee shop. He's like, let's hang some
Speaker 6: paintings on the wall, you know. Okay, Like again, my parents.
Speaker 6: You have to understand, my parents are working these crazy shifts,
Speaker 6: like baarently making ends meet. They're trying to support a
Speaker 6: very expensive habit at this point because I'm wanting canvases
Speaker 6: and paintb I mean, I don't know when the last
Speaker 6: time you guys went to an art stories but it
Speaker 6: is no joke. Yeah, you know, And so my mom
Speaker 6: she loves to tell this story of like she's like
Speaker 6: I always ask her, like can you like dilute the pain,
Speaker 6: like just like make the two blast for like a
Speaker 6: week instead of a day, Like is that possible? It's
Speaker 6: like no, this is what I feel, mom. I have
Speaker 6: to use all of the twenty five dollars deal.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So, and so you know, they they try to do
Speaker 6: their best to do supporting this and and you know
Speaker 6: our lives and all the other things in between, and
Speaker 6: so you know, when they had this opportunity, the guy's
Speaker 6: like okay, sure. My dad's like okay, sure, Like let's
Speaker 6: give you this many paintings. We price them out of
Speaker 6: a couple hundred bucks each. He had an event and
Speaker 6: like the entire like everything on the wall sold, you know.
Speaker 6: And I think that's when everyone's like, wait.
Speaker 5: What, wait, hold on a minute, is there a chance
Speaker 5: to make money at this right?
Speaker 6: Because you know, the incentive and the impetus behind that
Speaker 6: first exhibition had nothing to do with commercialization or giving
Speaker 6: me the platform to be a famous artist. Or it
Speaker 6: was sheer like there's a lot of crap in our
Speaker 6: house and we would love to put it somewhere else
Speaker 6: so I can like vacuum like my Mom's like, you know,
Speaker 6: rationale behind it. And at that first show, in fact,
Speaker 6: there was a gentleman who came up to me to
Speaker 6: buy a painting and I was like offended. I was
Speaker 6: like what, no, these are mine. We can't buy this,
Speaker 6: you know're like no way. And then he went to
Speaker 6: my dad and I was like, look, I can't convince her.
Speaker 6: You got to go back and talk to her. And
Speaker 6: so he came back with this whole like pitch. It
Speaker 6: was because it was April Mother's Day was coming up.
Speaker 6: You know, I need to get a gift from my
Speaker 6: mom calling you're so nice. I'm all right, fifty bucks.
Speaker 6: So I sold this like tidy eight by Ted. It
Speaker 6: was my first painting I ever sold for fifty dollars.
Speaker 6: And you know again like yes, fifty dollars, Dad was
Speaker 6: more than fifty dollars is today for sure. But still
Speaker 6: it wasn't this. It didn't open up this idea that Okay,
Speaker 6: here we're gonna we're gonna kill it, We're gonna crush it,
Speaker 6: like let's go, you know. And so this this next
Speaker 6: series of shows that I had that also started creating
Speaker 6: and galvanizing a lot of attention and a lot of publicity.
Speaker 6: You know, it was like really just this wild domino
Speaker 6: effect because in life it is so I've found, at
Speaker 6: least in my experience. You know, everyone's always like waiting
Speaker 6: for things or working towards things, but sometimes things just happen,
Speaker 6: like a ton of bricks falls on your head, and
Speaker 6: it just happens. And it could be in an email
Speaker 6: today or back then a phone call, or someone knocking
Speaker 6: on our door or whatever it was. And so I
Speaker 6: had a few of these coffeehouse exhibitions, and a collector
Speaker 6: of an artist that was represented by a publishing company
Speaker 6: that I ended up by signing with saw my work
Speaker 6: and went to like the head of the art publishing
Speaker 6: company and says, you know, you have to see this
Speaker 6: little girl. She's amazing. This guy's like I work with
Speaker 6: artists on their way out, like literally on their way out,
Speaker 6: you know, who have an entire lifetime of work to
Speaker 6: support their petig and their history and all these things.
Speaker 6: And like she's nine, like no things, like she's going
Speaker 6: to be a teenager and she's gonna like you have
Speaker 6: no idea what this is. It's a fluke, it's a
Speaker 6: flash on the pan. It's you know, the whole thing,
Speaker 6: and and and this man was like, you know, he
Speaker 6: kept persisting. He's like, look, I'm one of your biggest buyers,
Speaker 6: Like I just want you to just just give her,
Speaker 6: give her a chance, come, you know, come to her
Speaker 6: studio or whatever. At that point, I think he had
Speaker 6: bought something from the from the coffee shop gallery place
Speaker 6: met me, had come to the studios something like this.
Speaker 6: And so I think, you know, when when when they
Speaker 6: walked into my parents had converted our girl at the time,
Speaker 6: we were living in Norwalk, and they converted our garage
Speaker 6: into a studio, and you know, when he walked into
Speaker 6: the garage and saw these like really large scale canvas,
Speaker 6: you know, the the dichotomy between this little, you know,
Speaker 6: girl and these big pieces was like very impressive and
Speaker 6: it added so much to the sensatialism of the story
Speaker 6: and and and all of that. And so he walks
Speaker 6: in and it's kind of like, oh wow. And then
Speaker 6: I start, you know, articulating my thoughts on the work,
Speaker 6: and I think that the work, you know, the sort
Speaker 6: of impressive scale of everything, my ability to communicate as
Speaker 6: well as I was able to communicate at that age naturally,
Speaker 6: for whatever reason, maybe because My mom made me read
Speaker 6: all day long, all the time, which I hated her
Speaker 6: for that, and there's I mean, I thank her for
Speaker 6: forcing that on me more than anything in the world.
Speaker 6: But she made me keep a vocabulary journal.
Speaker 1: Wow, by the.
Speaker 6: Way, I still keep one. But she would make me
Speaker 6: keep a vocabulary journal of words that I had, like
Speaker 6: didn't know, and it was all it was what caused this.
Speaker 6: It's really funny because like, now I have my own
Speaker 6: kids that I'm trying to find ways to like you know,
Speaker 6: burden them with consequence so they learn lessons or whatever.
Speaker 6: Is very different time that we're living in that doesn't
Speaker 6: work as effectively as it did for us. But you know,
Speaker 6: I had asked her one too many times what the
Speaker 6: word negotiate meant, and she was pissed. She was like okay,
Speaker 6: She's like, okay, you know you're not paying any attention
Speaker 6: to any of this. So we're going to start a
Speaker 6: vocabulary journal. And at the end of the month, when
Speaker 6: you prove to me that you not only know all
Speaker 6: those words fully and holy and immercivelly like, I need
Speaker 6: to see you, I need to hear you. I have
Speaker 6: my old list. I need to hear you use them
Speaker 6: in conversation with us. This this, this, like, we'll take
Speaker 6: you to SeaWorld. I was like, oh, sick, like right,
Speaker 6: let's go.
Speaker 3: But I don't you know, it's just I think so
Speaker 3: she was literally negotiating with you about the word negotiating.
Speaker 6: Hands down, hands that works. But it's really funny because
Speaker 6: there was all of these things I think coupled that
Speaker 6: you know, created for a great, you know, pr story
Speaker 6: at the very least, right, and so everyone around, and
Speaker 6: most were much older white men, were like, all right,
Speaker 6: this looks good. You know, she can hold a conversation,
Speaker 6: she can talk about the work, she's poised, she's all
Speaker 6: these things. Talented people like the work. They resonate with
Speaker 6: the story and the the you know, authenticity, the family story.
Speaker 6: Is this true American team.
Speaker 3: I was like a banger, like, you got it all one,
Speaker 3: you're cicking all the boxes, ticking all the boxes, definitely yep.
Speaker 6: And and so I think that that created this excitement.
Speaker 6: And I mean fast forward. I was ten years old,
Speaker 6: and you know, after lengthy conversations and my parents explaining
Speaker 6: to me, you know, at this point, they I already
Speaker 6: lined out what the requirement of production would be, what
Speaker 6: kind of tours we're looking at. I mean, I was
Speaker 6: in fourth fifth grade. This would have meant that I'd
Speaker 6: be missing, you know, majority of my school year traveling.
Speaker 6: Big big sacrifice, big responsibility, big commitment, you know. And
Speaker 6: so I agreed. I was excited. I was like, let's go,
Speaker 6: and I signed my first deal. Uh, my father on
Speaker 6: my behalf, my parents on my behalf. But I there
Speaker 6: was there too, inside of a cozy little booth of sizzler, yes,
Speaker 6: and all.
Speaker 4: The dreams come true.
Speaker 6: Shrimps slid YEA lived like why could I just eat
Speaker 6: all that and not diemorrow?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 6: And and so that's basically, you know, in a very
Speaker 6: abbreviated way, the dynamic and the unfolding of this whole story.
Speaker 5: Well, the art world, much like Hollywood, isn't necessarily known
Speaker 5: for its kind and caring inhabitants. There's obviously sharks and
Speaker 5: con men everywhere. How are you, as a child navigating
Speaker 5: this and how is your family navigating that world as well?
Speaker 6: You know, That's the thing. I was never faced with
Speaker 6: that side of it and that reality, and I think
Speaker 6: my parents worked very tirelessly to protect me from that
Speaker 6: great whether it was you know, conversationally, whether it was
Speaker 6: building one hundred LLCs around my brand, whether it was
Speaker 6: doing whatever they needed to do to just really keep
Speaker 6: me me and my autonomy separate of the mess that
Speaker 6: you know inevitably was going to occur. It's almost as
Speaker 6: if they had a crystal ball. There was a lot
Speaker 6: of things that went wrong, a lot of greedy people involved,
Speaker 6: and I was always held steadfast in this, in this cocoon,
Speaker 6: you know, and not left unaware so that I could
Speaker 6: be taken advantage of. But really, just like we got you.
Speaker 6: You keep making stuff if you love it, you keep
Speaker 6: doing it. When you stop loving it, tell us we're
Speaker 6: here to like see you out and save you, you know.
Speaker 6: And so I think that that is entirely a testament
Speaker 6: to their parenting, to their They're also like they're a
Speaker 6: wherewithal like my dad. It's so funny because I just
Speaker 6: moved studios recently. My studio has been in my parents'
Speaker 6: house for the last thirty years. By the way, I'm
Speaker 6: this year is thirty years since I signed that first contract,
Speaker 6: which is crazy woice. Oh, but I just moved studios
Speaker 6: and I was coming across, you know, in my attempt
Speaker 6: to clean, which I'm terrible at doing I came across
Speaker 6: all of these like cool fines, and I was like,
Speaker 6: you know, all these like amazing discoveries and memories and
Speaker 6: just kind of you know, it's it's it's seeing. It's
Speaker 6: just it's like this real, weird nostalgia that I experience
Speaker 6: and this amazing, fulfilling like story that I've created for
Speaker 6: myself with my parents, because of my parents, because of
Speaker 6: my grandma's sacrifice. My grandma moved here when I was
Speaker 6: four years old, leaving her sixteen year old son, my uncle,
Speaker 6: and my grandpa to whom she was still very married,
Speaker 6: to raise me because my parents were working all like,
Speaker 6: this is so much of a bigger story. And while
Speaker 6: you know, yes I was hard working and disciplined and
Speaker 6: responsible and had dignity, talented, thank you, all of those things,
Speaker 6: it was it's such a team effort, that's the reality,
Speaker 6: you know. And so I think I can't answer that
Speaker 6: question without recognizing them. They can't answer it without recognizing me,
Speaker 6: you know. So it's sort of this dance that we've
Speaker 6: just kind of danced for the last thirty years together.
Speaker 5: Well, it's a very similar story to what we talk
Speaker 5: about with what we do as well, and with every
Speaker 5: child actor we have interviewed, it is impossible to say
Speaker 5: to give the credit or to explain how one person's
Speaker 5: life happens without also explaining all of the different people
Speaker 5: and decisions and choices that were made in order to
Speaker 5: get you there.
Speaker 4: So that is a perfect segue.
Speaker 5: Into how do you end up on our Boy Meets
Speaker 5: World set?
Speaker 4: Were you twelve or thirteen?
Speaker 6: I think I was thirteen?
Speaker 5: Okay, how does it come to you that they want
Speaker 5: you to have a starring guest role on Boy Meets World?
Speaker 4: Had you ever heard of the show?
Speaker 6: Yes? I did, of course I had very limited time,
Speaker 6: so it was a part of like, you know, my
Speaker 6: my daily curriculum, if you will, or weekly curriculum. But
Speaker 6: I that's that's actually I have to like really dig
Speaker 6: dig to answer that, because there's sort of this like
Speaker 6: weird sequence of interest that people kind of expected me
Speaker 6: to naturally have because I was now suddenly in the
Speaker 6: public eye. So it's like, oh, she's good on TV,
Speaker 6: she should act like, you know, she's cute, she should
Speaker 6: we should address her? Oh we should, you know. Whatever
Speaker 6: was And so I think I personally didn't take that
Speaker 6: initiative to try to delve into an entirely different space
Speaker 6: because again, I was so deeply consumed by by making
Speaker 6: art and that's all I cared about. But I ended
Speaker 6: up like, yeah, there was a lot of people around
Speaker 6: me at the time, and you know, people were always
Speaker 6: saying like, she should act, she should act, she should model,
Speaker 6: she should do this, she should That's like I can't
Speaker 6: even get my kids from like one basketball practice to another.
Speaker 6: Like I don't know how my parents had jobs. I
Speaker 6: had did all this. So at one point or another,
Speaker 6: I ended up by getting signed with with wm ME
Speaker 6: and I had an agent, and I did the whole thing,
Speaker 6: and I was going to auditions like I like had
Speaker 6: really fun experiences and it was great. But I'm simultaneously
Speaker 6: not even juggling but really like like nurturing this whole
Speaker 6: other career that's full force, full fledge taken off. So
Speaker 6: I think it was a hard balance. But when this
Speaker 6: came up, it only made sense because it was also
Speaker 6: an opportunity to fit into a storyline of like normal
Speaker 6: kid life, right because my life and my story had
Speaker 6: taken on such a different like you know, paradigm, in
Speaker 6: such a different space, and it was like I think.
Speaker 6: I also, for me, it was important to remember that
Speaker 6: I'm not so strange and that I'm not so different,
Speaker 6: and that there was you know, I still had a
Speaker 6: pool to to want to connect to things that made
Speaker 6: sense for my age, you know, And are you kidding me?
Speaker 6: I mean, I can't tell you guys how many people
Speaker 6: reach out to me on an absolute regular basis, like
Speaker 6: I am a really good like Embellisher. And this is
Speaker 6: literally being said in full transparency and honesty, like constantly going,
Speaker 6: oh my gosh, I saw you on this episode of
Speaker 6: I loved it, or like it just up again or whatever.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: When I told our daughter, I didn't even know she knew.
Speaker 6: She knew I think what Girl Meets World was first,
Speaker 6: and then and then when I told her, she said,
Speaker 6: what you just told me? No, like she was like
Speaker 6: everything else I did in life didn't mask. I told
Speaker 6: you about that I was on an episode of Boys World.
Speaker 6: And then it's like, oh, you're.
Speaker 5: Cool, Oh my gosh, but wait, so you have an agent,
Speaker 5: you're with W and me and you are auditioning, but
Speaker 5: you don't audition for Boy Meets World like this, this
Speaker 5: was written for you.
Speaker 1: No, you should have seen who they were going to
Speaker 1: cast a player.
Speaker 4: She had an audition to be.
Speaker 5: So do you remember, Like we know that Michael Jacobs
Speaker 5: is a huge art fan, We're assuming Michael had been
Speaker 5: paying attention.
Speaker 4: To your career.
Speaker 5: Do you remember getting the phone call or your agent's
Speaker 5: getting the phone call with the ask like Michael Jacobs
Speaker 5: would like you to be on an episode of Boy
Speaker 5: Meets World.
Speaker 4: Do you remember finding out?
Speaker 6: I do. I do remember. I do remember, and I
Speaker 6: was just so excited to get to do something different
Speaker 6: like that's you know, I think the thing that makes
Speaker 6: me love art making an expression and self expression in
Speaker 6: journal as much as I love it is that there's
Speaker 6: never a promise, there's never a guarantee, there's never like
Speaker 6: a foreseeable trajectory, like the journey can always take you
Speaker 6: to all these different places. And so whenever I was
Speaker 6: given an opportunity to do something outside of my comfort
Speaker 6: zone or outside of what I normally, you know, formally did,
Speaker 6: I was very excited. As a child especially, and as
Speaker 6: a child that was like, you know, living the crazy
Speaker 6: worldwood life that I was living. But I do remember,
Speaker 6: of course, how can I not? And I was like,
Speaker 6: all right, let's go, let's do this, and I don't
Speaker 6: think I understood the scope of I don't know that
Speaker 6: I understood at the moment, like this whole episode is
Speaker 6: going to revolve around me and I the story about
Speaker 6: you know, finding yourself and appreciating your history. And it's
Speaker 6: just it's such a in looking back and then living
Speaker 6: this life that I've lived. Since then I realized, like
Speaker 6: it still tracks like that entire the entire messaging of
Speaker 6: that episode still tracks and stay is so true to
Speaker 6: who I work so hard to be and who I'm
Speaker 6: hoping to you know, also raise in my children, and
Speaker 6: this like it just and that's the thing. It's like, no,
Speaker 6: like what kind of programming does that anymore for like teenagers?
Speaker 1: Like right, nothing, that doesn't exist anymore. It doesn't.
Speaker 3: It's one of the things we talk about all the
Speaker 3: time is for some reason, somewhere, someone decided on some
Speaker 3: level at the networks that kids are totally different now
Speaker 3: and wouldn' appreciate stuff like this anymore. And I just
Speaker 3: think that's one hundred percent wrong. So yeah, this stuff
Speaker 3: like this just doesn't really exist. Disney Channel a little bit,
Speaker 3: we'll kind of touch on this, but the kind of
Speaker 3: in between young Disney channel and you know old NBC.
Speaker 3: There's kind of nothing anymore, and it's just this this
Speaker 3: this wasteland.
Speaker 4: Unfortunately, well you know what it was.
Speaker 6: It's just there was this there was this perfect marriage
Speaker 6: of all the things that you know, made being young cool,
Speaker 6: but then all the things that parents didn't want their
Speaker 6: children to sort of lose in the face of that
Speaker 6: effort of being cool, you know. So it's like there's like,
Speaker 6: you know, because listen, I'm raised by very traditional people,
Speaker 6: and so like I'm forty or I'll be forty this year,
Speaker 6: and my dad, if I'm watching a sex scene with him,
Speaker 6: he will still cover my eyes like that.
Speaker 1: You guys have children, I know what this is about.
Speaker 6: Yeah. So, like even I remember, like you know, like
Speaker 6: the little like you know, the the peck on the
Speaker 6: lips between the pangan corey and like stuff like that
Speaker 6: that was still a little like taboo for my age
Speaker 6: at least and for what I was allowed to be
Speaker 6: exposed to. But that's what brought in an audience to
Speaker 6: be like, Okay, this is relatable, this is real stuff.
Speaker 6: And then you still had that wholesomeness. You still had
Speaker 6: that entire like vibe that I think, you know, it's
Speaker 6: so sad to see it kind of like dissipate or be.
Speaker 6: There's got to be a way to like reignite that
Speaker 6: and bring that back. And I mean, you guys should
Speaker 6: just resurrect that whole concept on your own. I'm here
Speaker 6: to support you all the way.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 5: So you said this was something that had to be
Speaker 5: fit into your very busy schedule.
Speaker 4: Do you remember were you there all week?
Speaker 5: Did you attend the table read straight through to tape
Speaker 5: night or were you there only for a couple of days.
Speaker 5: What are your memories about the work week?
Speaker 6: I I, yeah, any of that. I do remember craft service.
Speaker 5: Okay, when you're a kid, everybody remembers crass.
Speaker 4: Tell us about your memories of craft.
Speaker 6: That's all I cared about. There was snacks and food
Speaker 6: galore and sweets and just there was no no and
Speaker 6: like I was not allowed to like drink soda. I
Speaker 6: don't know what my dad thought was in Coca cola,
Speaker 6: but like I was not allowed to drink it, and
Speaker 6: so I was like having soda. I was like, let's
Speaker 6: do this, like.
Speaker 4: You where it's at.
Speaker 1: Do you remember giving us our scripts?
Speaker 6: I don't. I don't.
Speaker 3: So you did you gave us each a script, which
Speaker 3: I still have mine somewhere with a nice like the
Speaker 3: only script I kept from drew something for each of
Speaker 3: us signature.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's really cool.
Speaker 3: You drew us each other like our own personal little picture,
Speaker 3: and then you wrote something really nice on all our scripts.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was really sweet.
Speaker 6: Oh that's awesome thing.
Speaker 5: Do you have any memory of the tape night where
Speaker 5: you at a live studio audience keeping?
Speaker 4: Okay, I do that.
Speaker 6: I remember that. I remember because I think I was
Speaker 6: so overwhelmed with emotion. I like, weirdly, I've always loved
Speaker 6: public speaking, Like I got this like weird high from it.
Speaker 6: I've enjoyed it. I remember I was I had to
Speaker 6: give a like acceptance speech at the Lincoln Center in
Speaker 6: New York. I don't know. I was like also twelve thirteen,
Speaker 6: fourteen around there, and I was so nervous up until
Speaker 6: I got on there and I was like, oh, I'm
Speaker 6: going my speech and like running through my ideas and
Speaker 6: how I was gonna flow through it all. And I
Speaker 6: was like sweating, sweating, sweating, and then I got up there.
Speaker 6: So I remember being so incredibly nervous because I was like,
Speaker 6: what if they don't clap and what and and I
Speaker 6: don't know who it was, but I remember someone told me,
Speaker 6: like we're giving them cues like don't worry, like they
Speaker 6: know they know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no way.
Speaker 3: Michael Jacobs used to always tell us, don't worry if
Speaker 3: they don't like your joke. I have a machine that
Speaker 3: thinks you're hysterical. So it's like, okay, all right, that's
Speaker 3: good to know.
Speaker 4: Were both of your parents at tape night?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 4: Did did your grandmother come? Do you remember who was there?
Speaker 6: If my grandma came, My parents definitely came. My parents
Speaker 6: came over, but probably probably Mama came to. I have
Speaker 6: to look, you know, and going and having doing this move.
Speaker 6: I'm coming across like phot things that have just been
Speaker 6: shelved for so long, and I'm finding so many sweet
Speaker 6: memories and I'm gonna go like, once I go through everything,
Speaker 6: I'm gonna find I tried to see if I could
Speaker 6: find anything, but there's like a whole nother attic at
Speaker 6: my old studio that I'm too scared to go into.
Speaker 6: There's just you know, I'm working on digitizing all of that,
Speaker 6: so I'm gonna it'll all come back to me, you know,
Speaker 6: I get like a flash and a picture. I mean,
Speaker 6: that's the thing. I think. The chaos of my life
Speaker 6: was so overwhelming that it almost worked as this double
Speaker 6: edged sword. Like it, you know, gave me all these
Speaker 6: wonderful memories and experiences, but a lot of those memories
Speaker 6: were kind of blurred because I was just like on
Speaker 6: autopilot a lot of the time. You know, Like once
Speaker 6: I was in high school, I only attended school twice
Speaker 6: a week because I was on like red eyes every
Speaker 6: single week, going for shows and different events. And I
Speaker 6: kind of carried that through, you know. Once I was
Speaker 6: at UCLA, I was able to model my schedule more
Speaker 6: to my my liking. But same thing. And I think
Speaker 6: when are in like just that repetitive cycle of doing,
Speaker 6: you know, well, the production of the art wasn't the
Speaker 6: same the experience of promoting the art and myself and
Speaker 6: all of that. It was a very well oiled machine,
Speaker 6: you know, and I was just like, I think that
Speaker 6: in many ways kind of like surprised a lot of
Speaker 6: these memories because I was just trying to like get
Speaker 6: through it, just get through it, you know.
Speaker 3: So not to go back too far, but you mentioned
Speaker 3: something really interesting when we first started talking, and then
Speaker 3: I'm curious, as you're now moving studios and you're finding
Speaker 3: this old stuff. You said, this essentially in your life
Speaker 3: is a visual diary. So when you find something, a
Speaker 3: piece you haven't seen in a while, do you instantly
Speaker 3: go back to what made just like you're reading a
Speaker 3: diary page, like you're right back to what made you
Speaker 3: pay that pit?
Speaker 6: Wow? Yes, that's a great question. But it functions precisely
Speaker 6: as a portal. It is so bizarre. It literally I
Speaker 6: look at piece, I enter it, and it's as if
Speaker 6: I'm like having this like I don't even know, this
Speaker 6: like psychedelic experience going back in time. It's the most
Speaker 6: bizarre thing because particularly with a very very early work
Speaker 6: before you know, life gets lifey and you get jaded
Speaker 6: and things happened, particular with that early work. I mean,
Speaker 6: it becomes this like visceral back into the past experience,
Speaker 6: you know, like where I'm I can feel that feeling,
Speaker 6: I can feel the sentiment. I can often like I
Speaker 6: have smells that I associate with certain pieces. It's very strange,
Speaker 6: and I mean, listen, I can't make that claim for
Speaker 6: every single work, because I am very productive and prolific
Speaker 6: and I make a lot of things sometimes for the
Speaker 6: sake of just exercising my hand. It's not always you know,
Speaker 6: this deep profound meaning or whatnot, but there are certain pieces,
Speaker 6: a lot of them that do that for me. And
Speaker 6: I think, so long as I have that connection with
Speaker 6: the work, I think I'm okay. I you know, during
Speaker 6: a very exhausting time of my life, I think I've
Speaker 6: lost that a little bit, which is really sad. Creative,
Speaker 6: you know, you don't want to lose that connection with
Speaker 6: what why you're making, what what you're making, you know,
Speaker 6: just do it for the sake of, oh whatever, because
Speaker 6: I have to fill up you know, requirements or whatnot.
Speaker 6: But no, that's that's it's It's so interesting. I wonder.
Speaker 6: I don't know if it's that way for every artist
Speaker 6: or every every person or like performers, like it does
Speaker 6: that happens you guys? I mean of course, right, because
Speaker 6: you have days you remember certain things that you were
Speaker 6: going through that day, or like maybe something terrible happened
Speaker 6: in your personal life, but you still had to show
Speaker 6: up on set, right.
Speaker 3: Like yeah, yeah, I think you're kind of in a
Speaker 3: rarefied air though, especially you, because there's you're not going
Speaker 3: to have a lot of artists, especially visual artists, who's
Speaker 3: you know, career goes back to the time when they're six.
Speaker 1: And seven years old.
Speaker 3: So yeah, I think you're you're you're probably be in
Speaker 3: a very that'd be a very very boring reunion of
Speaker 3: artists who started at seven. I'm guessing there's it's yeah,
Speaker 3: you're not going to be filling a hiat.
Speaker 2: But I think for like when we've been doing this rewatch,
Speaker 2: it's happened to all of us at some point or
Speaker 2: another word. Because we don't we won't remember the episode,
Speaker 2: we won't remember like what happens next, but then suddenly
Speaker 2: we'll kind of remember the feeling in our body of
Speaker 2: like being there, and like that's happened to all of
Speaker 2: us at one point or another. And like sometimes it's
Speaker 2: about what's happening behind the scenes, like I'm like, I'm
Speaker 2: not I'm uncomfortable, Like it's making my skin crawl or something.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh right, that was a bad day
Speaker 1: on set.
Speaker 2: It is a little bit of like, you know, but
Speaker 2: it's not as conscious, you know, because we weren't the
Speaker 2: ones always creating there. You know, our bodies were there,
Speaker 2: our voices were there. You're talking about having put so
Speaker 2: much mental exercise into why this thing exists.
Speaker 1: You know a lot of times we didn't know why
Speaker 1: it existed.
Speaker 2: We were just kind of thrust out onto stage and
Speaker 2: like go, yeah, so yeah, it's a little different.
Speaker 5: Okay, So after you do Boy Meets World, do you
Speaker 5: do you do any other acting? Have you ever thought
Speaker 5: about canntinuing to act or acting again?
Speaker 6: It's so funny. I did a bunch of different auditions.
Speaker 6: I remember I audition for Princess Leah. I did. I
Speaker 6: did like a bunch, like a bunch of bunch of
Speaker 6: bunch and it's just like it was very, very hard
Speaker 6: to stay committed. That in and of itself is its
Speaker 6: own job. You know. Like it's so funny because my
Speaker 6: dad's like, my our daughter loves theater. She's you know,
Speaker 6: loves loves and she's very theatrical and so it suits her.
Speaker 6: But you know, my dad's like, you should get her
Speaker 6: into auditions, and you I was like, yeah, who's going
Speaker 6: to drive her. It's going to drive her, Like I'm
Speaker 6: going to uber her to auditions at nine? Like what,
Speaker 6: like we can't you know, He's like, but I think
Speaker 6: there was just so much going on, and our cops
Speaker 6: were all so full, and the travel schedule was so demanding,
Speaker 6: and it just wasn't a sustainable thing to I couldn't
Speaker 6: nurture my studio time' an honor my studio time holy
Speaker 6: and do something else. I think that was kind of
Speaker 6: the issue, my interest and the fun that I had
Speaker 6: doing it, And you know, I think I probably could
Speaker 6: have ended up being not bad at it if I
Speaker 6: if I continued, was there for sure, But it's you know,
Speaker 6: it's kind of like picking and choosing. I you know,
Speaker 6: it wasn't it was impossible to do both at the
Speaker 6: same time.
Speaker 4: At least, yes, I totally understand that.
Speaker 5: My mom jokes because I used to say I was
Speaker 5: a gymnast before I was an actor, and my mom
Speaker 5: was like, no, Danielle, you were just in gymnastics. You
Speaker 5: you took gymnastics. But I could not do them both
Speaker 5: because I couldn't commit to gymnastics class and also regularly
Speaker 5: be at auditions. So we all had to make a
Speaker 5: choice totally sacrifices.
Speaker 6: I mean, listen, you guys were kids too. It's no joke,
Speaker 6: like it's you know, you you choose, and if you're
Speaker 6: lucky enough to have the guidance and support of wonderful people, parents, managers, agents,
Speaker 6: whatever it is, then that's your extra bless But like
Speaker 6: it's not, you know, I look back, I'm like, dang,
Speaker 6: I can't imagine my daughter having the schedule that I had, Like,
Speaker 6: I mean, I'm telling you, we can't study for twenty
Speaker 6: vocabulary words in five days. Like, I don't know, right, right?
Speaker 6: I know?
Speaker 3: Well, wait, so you've you've talked about kind of different
Speaker 3: times you've gone through in your life and with starting young,
Speaker 3: did you ever burn out? Was there ever a time
Speaker 3: where you were like, I'm done, I don't ever want
Speaker 3: to touch a paintbrush again.
Speaker 6: Hmmm? So I never had that resentment towards the craft,
Speaker 6: so to speak. I think my resentment was towards the
Speaker 6: lack of understanding from the people that I was working
Speaker 6: with at one point in my life. And it's not
Speaker 6: that I'm blaming other people, right, I think it's the
Speaker 6: expectation that began surrounding me. I think the fact that
Speaker 6: I showed up for so many years in a certain
Speaker 6: way that you know, if I wanted to like reel
Speaker 6: it back a bit, it was like WHOA, don't need
Speaker 6: twenty red paintings or whatever, you know. And I think
Speaker 6: it was and that's just I think becoming an adult
Speaker 6: and growing up and recognizing that you know, people are
Speaker 6: trying to control you, and that you do have your
Speaker 6: own identity and you have to work on that.
Speaker 5: And so.
Speaker 6: The burnout for me was not between me and the
Speaker 6: act of art making. The burnout was I can't keep
Speaker 6: up with the demand of the work, which is a
Speaker 6: beautiful problem, and it was a great problem, but it
Speaker 6: was impacting the quality of the work, and it was
Speaker 6: making me feel like I wasn't excited anymore about going
Speaker 6: to share the stuff that I was making. And in
Speaker 6: that moment, I knew that I was hitting some kind
Speaker 6: of like a wall or a block or whatever you
Speaker 6: want to call it. Because I thrive. I love being
Speaker 6: able to take the workout and talk about it like
Speaker 6: that's the artist I am, that's the artist. Maybe it's
Speaker 6: because it's how I was trained to be or told
Speaker 6: to be. It doesn't matter. I love doing that. You
Speaker 6: have a lot of artists contemporaries of mine, that literally
Speaker 6: don't even show up to their own openings, you know,
Speaker 6: or like the work must speak for itself. I'm like cool, bro,
Speaker 6: that's great, but like also like not everyone has this
Speaker 6: ability like you. I've always made an effort to try
Speaker 6: to get people to be cool with art, right because
Speaker 6: I as a child, I think I could speak for
Speaker 6: all of us probably, like the only exposure to art
Speaker 6: that you would have is like when you were forced
Speaker 6: to write a report and you had to go to
Speaker 6: the museum that one time in your life, yep. And
Speaker 6: then when you like stuck your nose too close to
Speaker 6: a canvas, like there'd be a security guard swatting your
Speaker 6: face out of the way because oh my god. You know.
Speaker 6: So there's just this like elitism that's always associated with art.
Speaker 6: There's always just like you're not smart enough, you're not
Speaker 6: rich enough, you're not And I hated that. I hated
Speaker 6: it because for me, it felt like such a primal
Speaker 6: need to connect with the emotions attached to a painting
Speaker 6: or a sculpture, Like I wanted to, like you go
Speaker 6: up to a canvas and smell it, and I want
Speaker 6: to go up to a bronze piece and touch it,
Speaker 6: and you know, And so that's how I'm like obsessed
Speaker 6: with public art and I think it's so important, like
Speaker 6: within like, you know, the the life of any community.
Speaker 6: I think that you know, I just it's it's, it's
Speaker 6: it's really it's been a there's certain things that have
Speaker 6: taken a greater level of importance for me now that
Speaker 6: like I've kind of gotten out of like the chaos,
Speaker 6: and I've been able to sort of create my own design,
Speaker 6: if you will, for what I like, you know, I'm
Speaker 6: still having my shows a couple of times a year
Speaker 6: with galleries that I want to work with. I'm constantly
Speaker 6: in my studio the best I can be, but then
Speaker 6: I'm also surrendering a bit of that time so that
Speaker 6: I can be with my kids, so that i can
Speaker 6: do other projects that I'm working on, you know, delving
Speaker 6: into different spaces, and I think it's just kind of
Speaker 6: it's ebbs and flows. It's never like you just there's
Speaker 6: not really like a certain mole that you that you fit. Like,
Speaker 6: I just had this like runoff kind of cycle that
Speaker 6: I was obligated and I felt very responsible to so
Speaker 6: many people to maintain, you know, from my family, you know,
Speaker 6: at one point, over twenty employees to like, you know,
Speaker 6: it's no joke, Like I'd come home from school at
Speaker 6: three pm. I had a guy whose sole job was
Speaker 6: to bring reproductions of my pieces, so like lithographs, and
Speaker 6: I would sit for like two hours and sign after school,
Speaker 6: and sometimes depending on edition releases, I would sit and
Speaker 6: sign before school at like five to like seven in
Speaker 6: the morning when I left. You know, like these are
Speaker 6: weird expectations and not like it wasn't this like bohemian
Speaker 6: artists experience that, like one day I will live on
Speaker 6: a goat farm and it's gonna happen. But until then, right, yeah,
Speaker 6: you like I didn't get that like whole, like on
Speaker 6: the beach in Tahiti and I'm just painting and then
Speaker 6: there's like someone coming to take my paintings and the
Speaker 6: nifely go to New York. Like this is the whole thing,
Speaker 6: you know. And I think that I wanted to always
Speaker 6: because it was born of true, real passion and it
Speaker 6: wasn't born of my parents capitalizing or exploiting or you
Speaker 6: know whatever. I think I always had that as a
Speaker 6: foundation and that's what kept me so deeply connected even
Speaker 6: when I felt like exhausted, you know.
Speaker 3: And I'm curious from an artist's standpoint, because you said that
Speaker 3: your studio had been in your parents' house for like
Speaker 3: thirty years. Have you noticed that the art has changed
Speaker 3: now that the location has changed?
Speaker 6: Great question. So my studio was outside of the physical home.
Speaker 6: But yeah, so what began happening again happening is, you know,
Speaker 6: boundaries get blurred and everyone gets real cozy and excited.
Speaker 6: And you know, when before I had children, I was
Speaker 6: able to like come in with a more kind of
Speaker 6: clear schedule, like I'm in the studio for eight hours
Speaker 6: today or I'm painting all night and sleeping till two
Speaker 6: pm tomorrow because I can, you know, And when I
Speaker 6: had that sort of approach to the work process, it
Speaker 6: was less impacted by everyone else, if that makes sense,
Speaker 6: you know, like it just now because I am at
Speaker 6: the Mercy, I'm an underpaid employee.
Speaker 3: To my.
Speaker 6: And I basically just have to do everything you know,
Speaker 6: for want to and have to, but do a lot
Speaker 6: of things that take me away from my studio. I
Speaker 6: find like windows of time now, so it's like, you know,
Speaker 6: three four hour block or you know, my husband is
Speaker 6: a wonderful co parent and so he's very supportive and
Speaker 6: sometimes I'm like I need to be in the studio
Speaker 6: before I lose my mind, like I'm not cooking dinner.
Speaker 6: For the next three days, no one talked to me
Speaker 6: unless the house is trumbling, like, please do not call
Speaker 6: me two times in a row, I will go nuts,
Speaker 6: like everything's okay, you've got this. I have to go.
Speaker 6: I have to go. I have to go, you know.
Speaker 6: And so it's it's it began happening where I was, like,
Speaker 6: you know, coming in, I had this like sacred period
Speaker 6: of two, three, four or five hours. Sometimes I'd make things.
Speaker 6: Sometimes I would just sit there because sometimes you can't
Speaker 6: just turn it on a button and start painting. And
Speaker 6: then you know, my dad would come home early and
Speaker 6: he'd be like, I bought a bottle of wine. I'm like, god,
Speaker 6: it's two thirty PM. Like I have three hours in
Speaker 6: here before I have to go, do you know second
Speaker 6: grade math? Like I can't like no, and also like
Speaker 6: please leave, like leave, I love you, but like I
Speaker 6: want to be in here by myself. So you know,
Speaker 6: it's it's that wasn't the the the urge for the move.
Speaker 6: The move just had to happen. It was a natural
Speaker 6: like and and but I realize now that there are
Speaker 6: certain things that just the experience in my studio was
Speaker 6: no longer just mine with my work, which is what
Speaker 6: I love most about it and why I held so
Speaker 6: steadfast to it and the most egotistical, selfish way. I mean,
Speaker 6: I think that is the greatest part of any part
Speaker 6: of the art experience for any artist. And there's something
Speaker 6: about us that loves this solitude and loves this time
Speaker 6: with your own thoughts and with your own feelings. And
Speaker 6: you know, when there's constant people intercepting that with the
Speaker 6: purest of intention, it's really messing up the flow, especially
Speaker 6: when the flow is limited now and it's not you know,
Speaker 6: me staying up from midnight to six am, like you know,
Speaker 6: I'm I'm I'm working on crunch time here and I
Speaker 6: want to try to see what I can do and
Speaker 6: like so in that sense, it's been really beautiful for
Speaker 6: me to kind of like I'm in and out at
Speaker 6: any time. I don't feel bad if like the dog
Speaker 6: barks because I went through the side gate at one
Speaker 6: in the morning, I don't There's like all these things
Speaker 6: that they weren't even problems or impediments, But now I
Speaker 6: can look back and be like those were subconsciously kind
Speaker 6: of affecting the way that I was connecting with with
Speaker 6: this process of making my art, and so you know,
Speaker 6: it's I think the work. I don't know if it's
Speaker 6: necessarily different, but I'm surely living it in a different way,
Speaker 6: so it must it must be in some capacity, because yeah,
Speaker 6: it must be.
Speaker 5: Well, the theater of your high school, Lutheran High of
Speaker 5: Orange County, is now named after you. I'm just wondering
Speaker 5: if we could possibly say that it's because of your
Speaker 5: work on Boy Meets World?
Speaker 1: Are we are welcome?
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 6: Honestly, you should all be up there with me.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 6: It's so crazy because I received such deep support from
Speaker 6: my alma mater. They like off the bat, were like,
Speaker 6: let's go. As long as you can keep a certain GPA,
Speaker 6: We're with you.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 6: Again, I was only attending school two times a week.
Speaker 6: I remember my parents approaching a lot of the like
Speaker 6: LA high schools, and you know, I think at that
Speaker 6: point there's such a flux of child actors. They're like, no, right,
Speaker 6: so we're not dealing with this, no, you know, and
Speaker 6: and and the good and the bad that that comes
Speaker 6: with with with all of that, and so I couldn't
Speaker 6: go to I ended up going to school in Orange
Speaker 6: County because they were basically the only ones who were
Speaker 6: willing to take this ryde with me. And you know,
Speaker 6: I think I always returned back to this like real
Speaker 6: appreciation and like whatever the reason is that they chose
Speaker 6: to say es is irrelevant, because it was the right
Speaker 6: thing and the right time for me. You know, It's
Speaker 6: what I needed. I needed another brick added to you know,
Speaker 6: this this this this house of my life and experience
Speaker 6: that we were building that I was lacking and I
Speaker 6: needed that extra like cushion and guidance and support, and
Speaker 6: we got you. And you can do this also, and
Speaker 6: you know you have certain responsibility for your grades, but
Speaker 6: if you cover that, like we're happy to like take
Speaker 6: the rind with you, you know. And so it was
Speaker 6: again a lot of these these these realizations have come
Speaker 6: only well after the fact. You know, I was obviously
Speaker 6: deeply grateful for them and all of that, But only
Speaker 6: now years later can I understand like that was also
Speaker 6: a big commitment for them, and truly a big risk.
Speaker 6: I mean, I was a teenager. They didn't know if
Speaker 6: I was going to go off the rails at any point,
Speaker 6: I mean, why not, you know, and so huge liability
Speaker 6: and they still did it, and so I'm so grateful
Speaker 6: for them. I think they they understood that sense of
Speaker 6: gratitude and respect and it was mutually a mutual sentiment
Speaker 6: that we shared. And so you know, they decided to
Speaker 6: build this beautiful performing arts center that's you know, really
Speaker 6: become like kind of this important staple in the community there,
Speaker 6: Like they do amazing production. I was just there a
Speaker 6: couple of months ago, like two months ago, and I saw,
Speaker 6: you know, this entire theater and arts programming that they're running,
Speaker 6: like I was in the ap art class, like working
Speaker 6: with someone with the kids, and like it's just I'm
Speaker 6: you know, really proud to be associated and affiliated with
Speaker 6: anybody who recognizes how important the arts still are. And
Speaker 6: you know, like even in the face of all of
Speaker 6: the surge of social media and technology and all the things,
Speaker 6: like you still need your designers and you still need
Speaker 6: your creative eyes and like, don't tell me AI, like
Speaker 6: I don't want to hear it, Like yeah, use it
Speaker 6: for efficiency, no problem, Like I'm all about it. By
Speaker 6: the way, I needed cliff notes of book that's being
Speaker 6: read in the fourth grain. I was like, I'm not
Speaker 6: reading for your hundred pages right now. Absolutely not. Could
Speaker 6: you please tell me? I literally it's as if I
Speaker 6: just discovered chapter GPT by the way, in the last
Speaker 6: two weeks and I got caught red handed, and my
Speaker 6: daughter's like, can you download on my iPad?
Speaker 1: I was like, no, no, no, not.
Speaker 6: Money to.
Speaker 1: Bypass reading. You have to do it.
Speaker 6: But you know, it's it's so it's so funny because
Speaker 6: I I want, I still really believe. I believe that
Speaker 6: it's not a lost cause. I believe that there's you know,
Speaker 6: we have to honor that, you know, that part of
Speaker 6: the brain. And it's not about your skill set. It's
Speaker 6: not about how good you are, how trained you are.
Speaker 6: I think this need to just find something where you
Speaker 6: could be your us to you and your truest you
Speaker 6: and just like whatever that is, dancing, kicking around a
Speaker 6: soccer ball, I don't care, you know, but it's like
Speaker 6: really reconnecting with that impulse to self express. And you know,
Speaker 6: I obviously sustained the visual arts for very obvious reasons,
Speaker 6: but I think it comes down to anything that is
Speaker 6: able to generate this space to pause, yeah and maybe
Speaker 6: say something thoughtfully and not just because it's clickbait and
Speaker 6: quick and fast and you know, it's like, so yeah.
Speaker 5: Alexandra, thank you so much for being here with us.
Speaker 5: Thank you for being a part of the legacy of
Speaker 5: Boy Meets World. It's really been so wonderful to have you.
Speaker 5: You are infinitely more fascinating than I ever. I mean
Speaker 5: you were you were fascinating on paper, but talking to you,
Speaker 5: getting to know you a little bit better, you're even
Speaker 5: more interesting and fascinating than you appear on paper.
Speaker 4: So thank you.
Speaker 5: Thank you for bringing that to us and sharing it
Speaker 5: with us. And honestly, it's a little intimidating when you
Speaker 5: think about how great you were coming into what we
Speaker 5: did and doing it so effortlessly, and yet none of
Speaker 5: us could step into what you do and do even
Speaker 5: a fraction of what you can do.
Speaker 1: Grow We're irrationally angry.
Speaker 6: Thank you. Thank you guys for being a part of
Speaker 6: one of the most meaningful memories in my in my life.
Speaker 6: I'm so grateful, and thanks for giving me street cred
Speaker 6: with all the kids these days.
Speaker 5: I really thank you. It's been such a joy to
Speaker 5: see you and thank you so much.
Speaker 6: Emotional thank you.
Speaker 3: Are you. Are you doing any any shows around here
Speaker 3: that we can come and say hi and see your
Speaker 3: work and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 6: My studio is open to you guys anytime. But yeah,
Speaker 6: I am I'm having I'm doing a show on park Sity,
Speaker 6: I'm doing a few things outside of the state. I
Speaker 6: just did an event at the end of the year
Speaker 6: this year sort of announcing that I'm moving into the
Speaker 6: home space. So I'm going to create like functional part Basically, Oh,
Speaker 6: I can actually show you this. Here is my handy
Speaker 6: dandy candle holder.
Speaker 4: This, this is going to be one of the pieces.
Speaker 6: This is gonna be one of the pieces.
Speaker 1: Also cool, so I'm.
Speaker 6: Taking you know. The thing is like with thirty years
Speaker 6: of IP, I could literally sit and never make anything again,
Speaker 6: which is obviously not gonna happen. But we realize we
Speaker 6: have all this incredible these assets of images that like
Speaker 6: also like, if you bring in and create the right team,
Speaker 6: it doesn't have to be stuff that I'm sitting there
Speaker 6: dissecting all day long. Like, if we work collaboratively with
Speaker 6: people who can see things through a different lens, it
Speaker 6: just makes sense to bring the work into a much
Speaker 6: more like tangible situation. And like, you know, a lot
Speaker 6: of my collectors like great obviously they can afford the paintings,
Speaker 6: but their walls are filled up, so they're like, what's next.
Speaker 6: And then there's a lot of people who like don't
Speaker 6: have the ability, Like I collect art, but half the
Speaker 6: things I want to buy are well outside my means,
Speaker 6: you know, And so I would love to create an
Speaker 6: entire like landscape of work that is functional, that's you know, beautiful,
Speaker 6: that's representative of who I am, and that people can
Speaker 6: actually afford to buy. So that's where we're apps.
Speaker 1: That's awesome.
Speaker 6: I have that, But until I will see you guys.
Speaker 4: Until then, where can people find you?
Speaker 1: Also?
Speaker 5: Yeah, we will come visit for sure, but where can
Speaker 5: people find you?
Speaker 4: What is your Instagram? Where can people see what you're doing?
Speaker 6: My Instagram is alex underscore Nikita. I love Instagram. I
Speaker 6: don't know how to use any other social assets, okay,
Speaker 6: and that's the only place. And I'm very sharing on
Speaker 6: there sometimes to sharing, I get phone calls a couple
Speaker 6: times a day, going close friends only please, so you know,
Speaker 6: But that's the best place, and I actually, for me,
Speaker 6: it's been a wonderful platform. Like I know everyone has
Speaker 6: love hate relationship with these things, but I've mentained such
Speaker 6: a nice like it's given me the chance to say
Speaker 6: the things when I don't, you know, necessarily have been
Speaker 6: all figured out in the studio, and I use it
Speaker 6: all the time.
Speaker 5: Well, we will find you there, and I hope our
Speaker 5: listeners find you there as well. Thank you again, so much,
Speaker 5: so great to see you. We will be in touch
Speaker 5: to make plans to come visit.
Speaker 6: Thank you so much. I can't wait. Thank you, Thank
Speaker 6: you guys. This is it's so great.
Speaker 1: Oh wow, my gosh, we're going to that studio.
Speaker 4: Were to that studio.
Speaker 3: I didn't even want to get into it, but I
Speaker 3: was so drawn to the piece that she was sitting
Speaker 3: in front.
Speaker 1: Of the colors of that and the horse. Oh man,
Speaker 1: it just looked amazing. Yeah, looked amazing.
Speaker 2: What a life.
Speaker 1: That's so cool, man, It's just cool.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's so you know, what's you know, what's really
Speaker 2: cool about it to me is how much she clearly
Speaker 2: is an artist because of process, not.
Speaker 6: End result, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like I feel like a lot of like even when
Speaker 2: I think about the things that I've always wanted to do,
Speaker 2: like be an actor, be a writer, Half the time
Speaker 2: I hate the process being on set, but I hate auditioning.
Speaker 2: I hate going.
Speaker 1: I hated all the all the work, which but you
Speaker 1: have to you.
Speaker 2: Have to love all the process, right And with writing,
Speaker 2: like I've you know, very only recently come to this
Speaker 2: realization like all my life, I've been writing as if
Speaker 2: I'm going to someday not have to write.
Speaker 1: Again, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Like, Oh, I'm going to write the thing that's going
Speaker 2: to be big enough to that, And I'm like, wait
Speaker 2: to what all I'm gonna want to do is keep writing,
Speaker 2: so stop being like enjoyed the process. And she seems
Speaker 2: like from the get go it was like this meditative
Speaker 2: like self like it was like loving herself, you know,
Speaker 2: it was like part of like I'm just going to
Speaker 2: do this because this is how I am becoming who
Speaker 2: I am going.
Speaker 4: To be, and it was therapeutic for her.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it was like it's like part of her being
Speaker 2: that she's just going to take the hours every day
Speaker 2: to do and like that's so cool and I think
Speaker 2: that's reflected in the work, right, and that's why it's good.
Speaker 5: Even when she said and then sometimes I would just
Speaker 5: sit there because you can't just flip the switch and
Speaker 5: be like if I I you know, listening to her
Speaker 5: talk about being a mom and her limited hours of things,
Speaker 5: and I think, yeah, you know those times where it's like, Okay,
Speaker 5: I've got a prep for the show I'm directing next week,
Speaker 5: and I've got an hour and a half and I've
Speaker 5: got to read the script and I've got to break
Speaker 5: it down. And it's like if I then had to
Speaker 5: sit there and couldn't do the thing, I would be like,
Speaker 5: oh my gosh. And yet for her, like you said,
Speaker 5: it's so much of it is just like that's the
Speaker 5: process and that's what I'm doing today, and that's okay.
Speaker 5: The Yeah, that grace and acceptance of it of it
Speaker 5: all is, and that she loves it.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, also truly once once again a through line we
Speaker 3: keep seeing supportive parents. Yeah, completely supportive parents that are
Speaker 3: not throwing you in any business They're not doing for
Speaker 3: any other reason than whenever you hear as any sort
Speaker 3: of young entertainer artist, whenever you hear do it to
Speaker 3: listen no longer fun and then find something else.
Speaker 1: It just takes such a weight off of everything. And yeah,
Speaker 1: it's great to hear that.
Speaker 5: Also, the trust they placed in her to say, you know,
Speaker 5: like when she made that decision that she was going
Speaker 5: to go on tour with her work, and she was
Speaker 5: like many many conversations and them really explaining to me
Speaker 5: what it was going to require. Yeah, it's like you
Speaker 5: know when you when you have you have to trust
Speaker 5: that your kids are actually understanding and they how can you?
Speaker 5: How can you truly understand until you've been in the shoes,
Speaker 5: But you have to go, Okay, I've prepped you.
Speaker 4: You want this.
Speaker 5: Of course, if you chan in your mind will back out,
Speaker 5: but like, this is a big decision and they trusted her.
Speaker 5: It's it's yeah, really great. Well, thank you all for
Speaker 5: joining us for this episode of Podmeets World. As always,
Speaker 5: you can follow us on Instagram pod meets World Show.
Speaker 5: You can send us your emails podmeets World Show at
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Speaker 1: We love you all, pod dismissed.
Speaker 2: Podmeets World is an iHeart podcast producer hosted by Danielle Fischel, Wilfridell,
Speaker 2: and Ryder Strong. Executive producers Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman,
Speaker 2: Executive in charge of production, Danielle Romo, producer and editor,
Speaker 2: Tarasubasch producer, Maddie Moore engineer and Boy Meets World Superman
Speaker 2: Easton All. Our theme song is by Kyle Morton of Typhoon.
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