1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,040 Speaker 1: So let me ask you, when was the first time 2 00:00:03,480 --> 00:00:06,600 Speaker 1: that you heard a Jewel song? I know for me 3 00:00:06,920 --> 00:00:10,520 Speaker 1: it was who Will Save Your Soul? I was just 4 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: knocked out by it. I remember thinking, Wow, this is 5 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:22,680 Speaker 1: a really, really great singer, songwriter and performer at being 6 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:26,279 Speaker 1: a songwriter myself. I'm so excited to be sitting down 7 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:30,440 Speaker 1: today with Jewel and we're going to find out about 8 00:00:30,440 --> 00:00:33,760 Speaker 1: an organization that she's been involved with that's been helping 9 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:38,120 Speaker 1: kids with their physical, emotional, and mental health for over 10 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 1: twenty one years. And I know you're going to be 11 00:00:41,200 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: inspired by this organization but also fascinated by this amazing 12 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: woman and performer. So lean in. I'm really glad you 13 00:00:51,479 --> 00:01:04,839 Speaker 1: heard Jewel. I'm so excited to have you on this podcast, 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:08,480 Speaker 1: so excited to see you. I feel like we've met before. 15 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,000 Speaker 1: I'm not quite sure where, but I can't imagine that 16 00:01:12,040 --> 00:01:13,840 Speaker 1: our paths haven't crossed at some point. 17 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 2: I was thinking the same thing. Somebody was like, have 18 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:18,199 Speaker 2: you met him before? I like, we have to have, 19 00:01:18,319 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 2: but yeah, wells apparently not making a ding in each 20 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:22,319 Speaker 2: other's memory. 21 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:25,880 Speaker 1: So well, that's okay, that's okay. But I could tell 22 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,120 Speaker 1: you that we have this dumb you know thing that 23 00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,800 Speaker 1: we like to start the podcast off, which is this 24 00:01:31,040 --> 00:01:34,000 Speaker 1: silly game, the six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. That that 25 00:01:35,959 --> 00:01:38,800 Speaker 1: so we do the research and figure out how we 26 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 1: are connected in the entertainment universe. And I don't know 27 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:47,119 Speaker 1: if you're aware of this connection. It's not a very 28 00:01:47,240 --> 00:01:49,920 Speaker 1: hard one, but I know you were in Walk Hard, 29 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:55,560 Speaker 1: the Dewey Cock story. Uh. And the fun connection is 30 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: is that Rance Howard, who is Ron's dad. Ron howard 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,080 Speaker 1: dad was in that and he was in Apollo thirteen, 32 00:02:03,280 --> 00:02:07,200 Speaker 1: which I was in. So there's our six degrees connection. 33 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:08,520 Speaker 1: As silly as that is. 34 00:02:08,800 --> 00:02:09,920 Speaker 2: It's profound. 35 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:11,480 Speaker 1: Where are you now? 36 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:14,320 Speaker 2: I live in the Rockies in Colorada? 37 00:02:14,400 --> 00:02:14,680 Speaker 1: Nice? 38 00:02:14,919 --> 00:02:15,799 Speaker 2: Yeah, I love. 39 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,440 Speaker 1: It, fantastic. How long have you lived there? 40 00:02:19,080 --> 00:02:20,920 Speaker 2: Gosh, I've been here maybe ten years. 41 00:02:22,919 --> 00:02:28,280 Speaker 1: Well, you know, I saw you on TV recently and 42 00:02:29,400 --> 00:02:31,840 Speaker 1: I called up our people and said, this is the 43 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:35,880 Speaker 1: perfect person for this podcast, because the idea with this 44 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:41,280 Speaker 1: thing is that you know, you're a multi platinum artist, 45 00:02:41,400 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: you're huge star, celebrity, all these kinds of things, and 46 00:02:45,760 --> 00:02:49,480 Speaker 1: then people find out that in this podcast that there 47 00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: are things that you are super super passionate about that 48 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: we're going to get to and also to introduce somebody 49 00:02:58,160 --> 00:03:01,519 Speaker 1: that you work with and that you and that who 50 00:03:01,639 --> 00:03:05,040 Speaker 1: is an unsung hero doing good work out there on 51 00:03:05,040 --> 00:03:06,840 Speaker 1: the ground, because I think a lot of times people, 52 00:03:07,960 --> 00:03:11,640 Speaker 1: you know, you know, they think that the celebrities or 53 00:03:11,800 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: rock stars whatever are just kind of overpaid buffoons and 54 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:16,799 Speaker 1: don't really give a shit about, you know, anything that's 55 00:03:16,840 --> 00:03:19,840 Speaker 1: going on in the world, and so you are the 56 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:22,960 Speaker 1: opposite of that. So that's why I think you're the 57 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: perfect person to be talking about this. If I can 58 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:31,079 Speaker 1: just geek out a little, you know, your your music 59 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: is just so fantastic and I'm such a fan, and 60 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,400 Speaker 1: I I wonder if I'm sure you've asked been asked 61 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 1: this a million times, but I'd love to if you 62 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:47,200 Speaker 1: don't mind talk just a little bit about the songwriting, 63 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:53,040 Speaker 1: because it's just I fancy myself a songwriter and so 64 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:56,720 Speaker 1: I really am always interested to hear what somebody's process 65 00:03:56,840 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: is around that. 66 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:04,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, I started writing as a way of moving toward 67 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 2: my mom left when I was eight. My dad and 68 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 2: I became a bar act a duet, so we did 69 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 2: five hour sets in bars in Alaska. 70 00:04:14,800 --> 00:04:15,800 Speaker 1: And what kind of music was that. 71 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 2: It was mostly covers, but my dad also was a songwriter, 72 00:04:19,600 --> 00:04:22,360 Speaker 2: so he did originals as well, so it was a mixture. 73 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 2: I sang harmony mostly. I'd been already on stage a lot. 74 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:29,920 Speaker 2: My mom and my dad had shows for tourists. It 75 00:04:30,040 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 2: was a dinner show, so like the the cruise ship 76 00:04:33,080 --> 00:04:35,039 Speaker 2: you know, would come in and Anchorage, Alaska, and they 77 00:04:35,040 --> 00:04:37,360 Speaker 2: would this dinner show would happen, and that was my 78 00:04:38,000 --> 00:04:40,039 Speaker 2: dad and my mom and me. I would get up 79 00:04:40,040 --> 00:04:43,520 Speaker 2: in yodle wow. So then my mom left, my dad 80 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:46,039 Speaker 2: and I became a duet, and I was in a 81 00:04:46,040 --> 00:04:48,320 Speaker 2: lot of pain. You know, divorce was hard. My mom 82 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 2: leaving was hard. My dad started drinking, began being abusive. 83 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:55,720 Speaker 2: So I was obviously in a lot of pain. And 84 00:04:55,720 --> 00:04:57,880 Speaker 2: what I was realizing around me in these bars that 85 00:04:57,960 --> 00:04:59,960 Speaker 2: people were in a lot of pain. And I was 86 00:05:00,120 --> 00:05:02,960 Speaker 2: had this front row seat to watching people handle pain. 87 00:05:03,320 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 2: And there was drugs, there was PCP, there were biker gigs, 88 00:05:06,800 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 2: there were you know, drunken fights, there was rage, there 89 00:05:10,880 --> 00:05:13,840 Speaker 2: was relationships that were volatile, and I saw all these 90 00:05:13,880 --> 00:05:18,000 Speaker 2: ways over the series of many years, and I realized, no, 91 00:05:18,040 --> 00:05:21,520 Speaker 2: but I called it, you can't outrun pain, a real 92 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:23,919 Speaker 2: visuals So I remember it was like there was this original, 93 00:05:24,839 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 2: you know, bit of pain, but instead of making pearls, 94 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:30,039 Speaker 2: everybody around me was just trying to cover it in 95 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,119 Speaker 2: more and more layers of more and more I guess 96 00:05:33,120 --> 00:05:35,200 Speaker 2: now what you would call coping mechanisms. I just saw 97 00:05:35,279 --> 00:05:39,159 Speaker 2: like archaeological and so I realized, like, I have to 98 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,320 Speaker 2: deal with my pain as it comes. And then I 99 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,200 Speaker 2: learned that the buffalo was the only animal that would 100 00:05:45,240 --> 00:05:47,920 Speaker 2: move directly into the heart of the storm because the 101 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 2: quickest way was through. And I just loved that, and 102 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:53,119 Speaker 2: I remember writing that down the quickest way is through, 103 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,679 Speaker 2: and so to move toward my pain instead of trying 104 00:05:56,680 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 2: to avoid it became like a life strategy for me. 105 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:03,200 Speaker 2: Probably when I was ten and writing. I had noticed 106 00:06:03,240 --> 00:06:05,640 Speaker 2: I always had written poems since that was little, and 107 00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 2: I always felt a little bit better even though I 108 00:06:09,040 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 2: was dealing with a lot of pain and uncertainty. Writing 109 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,839 Speaker 2: always made me feel better and it's very therapeutic. 110 00:06:17,120 --> 00:06:21,680 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, well that is I can certainly relate 111 00:06:21,720 --> 00:06:25,600 Speaker 1: to that. I mean, I well, my brother in law 112 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,920 Speaker 1: like to say, something goes wrong, write a song, and 113 00:06:28,960 --> 00:06:32,120 Speaker 1: that is that is a really I'm fascinated. I did 114 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:38,400 Speaker 1: not know that about you and and so is it 115 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: Are you able to make the connection between the specific 116 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: moment or feeling that you're having, whether it be a 117 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,600 Speaker 1: specific I don't know, heartbreak or your dog dies or 118 00:06:51,640 --> 00:06:54,320 Speaker 1: whatever it is, and the song that comes out, or 119 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,840 Speaker 1: is it more a way of just feeling all these 120 00:06:58,880 --> 00:07:01,800 Speaker 1: overwhelming things and that kind of channeling them through somebody 121 00:07:01,839 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: else's story or or a piece of poetry. 122 00:07:07,520 --> 00:07:11,080 Speaker 2: It had always been poetry, and it was usually pretty direct. 123 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:14,840 Speaker 2: The fascinating thing to me that was very comforting when 124 00:07:14,840 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 2: I was young was that when I wrote, there were 125 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,640 Speaker 2: patterns I hadn't noticed I had noticed. I suddenly started 126 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:26,679 Speaker 2: seeing reasons or yeah, just patterns that I hadn't noticed 127 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:28,680 Speaker 2: when I was embroiled in living. It was until I 128 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,320 Speaker 2: wrote about it later that I noticed them. That was 129 00:07:31,400 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 2: very comforting, and it made me really again want to 130 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:36,920 Speaker 2: rely on writing sort of as a tool of getting out. 131 00:07:37,560 --> 00:07:39,480 Speaker 2: I didn't write songs ti much later. I moved out 132 00:07:39,520 --> 00:07:42,080 Speaker 2: at fifteen, which I knew was a very risky thing 133 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:42,360 Speaker 2: to do. 134 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: You were playing then, though you were playing with you 135 00:07:46,000 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: or no, you are playing. 136 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:50,000 Speaker 2: I mean, I didn't play guitar. I didn't write songs. 137 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:52,760 Speaker 2: I only sang lead on one or two songs in 138 00:07:52,800 --> 00:07:55,120 Speaker 2: the five hour set. I was just singing harmony honestly. 139 00:07:55,840 --> 00:07:58,720 Speaker 3: Set By the way, a five hour set of covers, 140 00:07:58,720 --> 00:08:02,320 Speaker 3: Oh my gosh, Wow, that's a lot to hold on through. 141 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 3: That's like, that's like a Bruce Springsteen that showed plus 142 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:06,280 Speaker 3: two hours. 143 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: Wow. 144 00:08:07,440 --> 00:08:09,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, that's just how I was raised. You would, that's 145 00:08:09,480 --> 00:08:11,920 Speaker 2: what you were paid for with these five hour sets. 146 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:14,760 Speaker 2: And so when I moved out, it meant also like 147 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:16,640 Speaker 2: my dad and I weren't going to be doing gigs together. 148 00:08:16,680 --> 00:08:19,280 Speaker 2: I now had to support myself on my own without 149 00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:23,400 Speaker 2: singing with my dad. And I knew statistically kids like 150 00:08:23,440 --> 00:08:25,440 Speaker 2: me end up repeating the cycle, and I didn't want 151 00:08:25,480 --> 00:08:28,080 Speaker 2: to be a statistic And so again I went back 152 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,440 Speaker 2: to writing and reading, sort of as this ladder hopefully 153 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,000 Speaker 2: out looking at the idea of nature versus nurture, and 154 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 2: what if my nurture was so bad, I would never 155 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:40,560 Speaker 2: get to know my nature. We had a rabbit that 156 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 2: thought it was a chicken, and so it would like 157 00:08:42,840 --> 00:08:46,000 Speaker 2: peck at the food and it would waddle. It didn't 158 00:08:46,040 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 2: quite hop normal, and it would lay on the nests 159 00:08:48,400 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 2: and hatch eggs for the hens, and it really scared 160 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 2: me when I moved out of fifteen, be cause I 161 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 2: was like, what if that's me? What if I'm a 162 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 2: bunny raised by chickens and I'll never know I'm a bunny? 163 00:08:57,840 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 2: But how do you know your nature when your nurtures 164 00:09:00,080 --> 00:09:04,040 Speaker 2: so bad? And so I looked at this idea of 165 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,679 Speaker 2: having an emotional inheritance, just like a genetic one, you know, 166 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:12,400 Speaker 2: a genetic inheritance that might predispose me to diabetes. Had 167 00:09:12,400 --> 00:09:15,840 Speaker 2: this emotional inheritance that would just predispose me to like 168 00:09:15,840 --> 00:09:20,360 Speaker 2: abuse or addiction. And could I learn a new emotional language? 169 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 2: And so I just doubled down on writing curiosity observation 170 00:09:25,160 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 2: as instead of climbing up and out, I wanted to 171 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:28,560 Speaker 2: go down and in. 172 00:09:29,559 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: Now were your poems did they feel like songs? Were 173 00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:36,439 Speaker 1: you're hearing melodies in your head? Did you pick up 174 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:39,400 Speaker 1: the guitar as a way to put the melody behind 175 00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:39,880 Speaker 1: the words? 176 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 2: Now, writing poems just felt like medicine, trying to soothe myself. 177 00:09:47,160 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 2: It wasn't until I went away to school. I got 178 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 2: a scholarship to go to a private school in Michigan 179 00:09:51,720 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 2: called Interlock In. You weren't allowed to stay on campus 180 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 2: for the breaks, and I didn't have money to go home, 181 00:09:57,559 --> 00:09:59,599 Speaker 2: and so I decided that I would hitchhike across the 182 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:02,200 Speaker 2: country and that I would make money by street singing. 183 00:10:03,080 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 2: So I got a cheap guitar and I learned a 184 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:09,840 Speaker 2: minor CG and D in that order. I couldn't go 185 00:10:09,840 --> 00:10:12,199 Speaker 2: out of order because I didn't know how. And then 186 00:10:12,440 --> 00:10:15,679 Speaker 2: I grew up improvising. My dad taught me to improvise 187 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:17,360 Speaker 2: in bars, like one of the best ways to have 188 00:10:17,400 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 2: drunks listen was to start singing about the drunks not listening, huh. 189 00:10:21,520 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 2: And so my huge plan was to street sing and 190 00:10:23,679 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 2: just make up lyrics about people as they walked by, 191 00:10:25,960 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 2: because I didn't know how to learn other people's songs 192 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:30,640 Speaker 2: or learn covers, and it was just a lot easier 193 00:10:30,679 --> 00:10:34,319 Speaker 2: to make stuff up. And on that first two week trip, 194 00:10:34,760 --> 00:10:36,680 Speaker 2: I think I was sixteen, That's when I wrote whole 195 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,520 Speaker 2: Save Your Soul. That was my very first song, and 196 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:41,239 Speaker 2: I just was le song. 197 00:10:41,320 --> 00:10:43,520 Speaker 1: Hang on, you're kidding me? 198 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:44,800 Speaker 2: That was it? 199 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,679 Speaker 1: Wow? But how does that I mean? And that's not 200 00:10:48,760 --> 00:10:54,480 Speaker 1: a that's not a super that's a pretty sophisticated melody. 201 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:57,960 Speaker 1: That's not like Mary had a little lamb. Did you 202 00:10:58,080 --> 00:11:00,440 Speaker 1: have the guitar when you wrote that song? I mean, 203 00:11:00,480 --> 00:11:03,480 Speaker 1: where you playing those changes that you knew and just 204 00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:07,079 Speaker 1: around those changes that melody came to you. That really 205 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:07,880 Speaker 1: blows my mind. 206 00:11:08,400 --> 00:11:10,160 Speaker 2: It was very beating. It great because I came from 207 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 2: such a poetic background. It was very wordy, like people 208 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:15,400 Speaker 2: live in their lives for you on TV, they say 209 00:11:15,400 --> 00:11:17,240 Speaker 2: they're better than you and you agree. It was very 210 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:21,040 Speaker 2: like kind of like written spoken word, not so much 211 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:22,559 Speaker 2: of a melody, like people live in the last for 212 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:24,920 Speaker 2: you want to eve it's pretty monotonous. And then I 213 00:11:24,920 --> 00:11:28,160 Speaker 2: couldn't change the chords for a chorus because I didn't 214 00:11:28,200 --> 00:11:29,680 Speaker 2: know how to yet, And so that's where I just 215 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:32,960 Speaker 2: changed the melody to create the chorus. But it wasn't 216 00:11:33,000 --> 00:11:34,760 Speaker 2: off of a chord change. It was just off of 217 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:37,320 Speaker 2: trying to create a different sound melodically to make it 218 00:11:37,360 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 2: sound like a chorus. 219 00:11:38,559 --> 00:11:45,240 Speaker 1: Well, maybe the chorus is, so it's I mean, it 220 00:11:45,320 --> 00:11:49,359 Speaker 1: is a like I said that the chorus is definitely 221 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,920 Speaker 1: is a very strong hook, a very strong melody. I 222 00:11:51,920 --> 00:11:55,400 Speaker 1: mean it's just I don't know that's really that's that 223 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:59,440 Speaker 1: is astounding to me. So you were probably then you 224 00:11:59,480 --> 00:12:01,880 Speaker 1: were what's sixteen or seventeen when you wrote that song? 225 00:12:02,320 --> 00:12:03,079 Speaker 2: Yeah? Sixteen? 226 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:13,600 Speaker 1: Wow? Now do you do you still write on the guitar? 227 00:12:13,800 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: Do you write on the on the piano? Or or 228 00:12:17,080 --> 00:12:19,480 Speaker 1: what's what's the do you do? 229 00:12:19,200 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 2: You do? You? 230 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:21,520 Speaker 1: Are you one of those people that takes an hour 231 00:12:21,600 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 1: every day? It sits there and you know, comes up 232 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 1: with the hooks and or how do you do it? 233 00:12:29,800 --> 00:12:31,920 Speaker 2: So I'm writing now? Is really different for me. When 234 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:35,040 Speaker 2: I was young, it was just oozing out of every poor. 235 00:12:36,240 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 2: When I became a mom, it's very different a single mom, 236 00:12:39,840 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 2: you know. So now you're with your baby, You're up 237 00:12:41,720 --> 00:12:44,520 Speaker 2: at all hours of the night trying to go to bed. 238 00:12:45,160 --> 00:12:48,360 Speaker 2: So that free time, that random free time where you 239 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,679 Speaker 2: might just catch an idea and stay up till three am, 240 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:53,480 Speaker 2: doesn't really happen. And so I had to become more 241 00:12:53,520 --> 00:12:56,920 Speaker 2: craftsman like about it, plan time to sit and write, 242 00:12:57,240 --> 00:12:58,160 Speaker 2: which I didn't mind. 243 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:00,520 Speaker 1: I feel like other people. 244 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'll also write with other people, which is kind 245 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:04,840 Speaker 2: of nice. It's like having a workout partner. 246 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: Let me ask you about that though, Because I have 247 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:12,560 Speaker 1: just I always looked at writing as something that I 248 00:13:12,559 --> 00:13:16,240 Speaker 1: would do alone, or I would maybe do with my brother. 249 00:13:16,559 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: But that was that was part of the sort of 250 00:13:20,640 --> 00:13:23,280 Speaker 1: thing about it to me was that it was personal 251 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: alone and just in the last like it probably I 252 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:30,559 Speaker 1: don't know, five or six years, we started to have 253 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,920 Speaker 1: writing sessions. We were so honored and had so much 254 00:13:34,920 --> 00:13:37,319 Speaker 1: fun and went and wrote with Desmond Child for instance, 255 00:13:37,840 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: and you know, wrote a cool song. And it's if 256 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,480 Speaker 1: you're not used to that. I don't know about you, 257 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:48,079 Speaker 1: but I found that I find it can be very 258 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:53,320 Speaker 1: like socially sort of frightening and you know, kind of awkward, 259 00:13:53,400 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: and you know, you kind of sit down there and 260 00:13:55,000 --> 00:13:58,280 Speaker 1: you go, okay, well, you know, here we are, and 261 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:01,000 Speaker 1: we're going to be sharing something because I find it. 262 00:14:01,280 --> 00:14:05,319 Speaker 1: I find it so personal, you know. And then too, 263 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:10,280 Speaker 1: it's uh, as you said, you know, there's something therapeutic 264 00:14:10,320 --> 00:14:12,199 Speaker 1: about it. To me, it's like going into like a 265 00:14:12,360 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 1: couple's therapy, but you never met the couple before. 266 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:17,560 Speaker 2: You know, I call it sober sex with a stranger. 267 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:19,040 Speaker 2: It's just very awkward. 268 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:20,840 Speaker 4: You're like, okay, let's get baked. 269 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, it's super awkward, and you definitely just have 270 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:28,880 Speaker 2: to go in and suspend judgment of yourself. You just 271 00:14:28,920 --> 00:14:31,800 Speaker 2: have to throw ideas out, and the quicker you can 272 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:34,600 Speaker 2: kind of just get to embracing the awkward, the better it. 273 00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: Is judgment of yourself and also judgment of each other too. 274 00:14:38,000 --> 00:14:40,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's vulnerable, you're going to throw out bad ideas. 275 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:41,280 Speaker 2: I mean, you're going to. 276 00:14:41,320 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: Throw up bad ideas exactly, and and and I have 277 00:14:46,560 --> 00:14:48,520 Speaker 1: found I want to do more of it. But I've 278 00:14:48,560 --> 00:14:54,560 Speaker 1: found that piece of it to be like challenging, but 279 00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,320 Speaker 1: in a good way, because I'm not really used to 280 00:14:58,920 --> 00:15:04,240 Speaker 1: like it. When I'm acting, there is an element where 281 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:06,720 Speaker 1: you know, you have to have the courage to try 282 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:12,000 Speaker 1: stuff and fail. But I also feel that I've spent 283 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: a lot of time thinking about what the performance is 284 00:15:17,080 --> 00:15:18,360 Speaker 1: going to be, what the character is going to be. 285 00:15:18,720 --> 00:15:23,080 Speaker 1: So if it's if right off the bat somebody doesn't 286 00:15:23,160 --> 00:15:25,520 Speaker 1: like it, that's pretty vulnerable. But in the writing thing, 287 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:28,560 Speaker 1: you're just it's so immediate in the way that you're 288 00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:32,000 Speaker 1: throwing things out. I found it to be a great 289 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:33,880 Speaker 1: hurdle to kind of get over in a way. 290 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:37,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, I find co writing to be very different. When 291 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,560 Speaker 2: I'm alone, I won't start with an idea. I'll just 292 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:42,200 Speaker 2: catch a feeling, you know, you start playing guitar and 293 00:15:42,240 --> 00:15:44,960 Speaker 2: you catch a vibe and that evolves and you don't 294 00:15:44,960 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 2: know where it's going, and it's this just discovery process 295 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 2: for co writing, you know, typically you'll come in with 296 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:53,840 Speaker 2: an idea or have an idea, or the co writer 297 00:15:53,920 --> 00:15:56,120 Speaker 2: will have an idea or a hook or a sentence 298 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 2: or a riv I don't find that when I co write, 299 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 2: I get is interesting of stuff. It's usually more commercial. 300 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,520 Speaker 2: And that's a fine line because just because it's more 301 00:16:06,520 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 2: commercial doesn't actually make it very listenable either. So it's 302 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,840 Speaker 2: it's a it's a lot to balance, you know, when 303 00:16:11,840 --> 00:16:14,280 Speaker 2: you're in your own singer songwriter. The thing I love 304 00:16:14,360 --> 00:16:17,160 Speaker 2: is always learn something. They'll put chords together. I'm like, 305 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 2: I wouldn't have thought of that. It's such a cool sound. 306 00:16:19,760 --> 00:16:22,920 Speaker 2: Or just seeing how somebody else's brain works. It always 307 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:23,640 Speaker 2: makes you better. 308 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,000 Speaker 1: Foolish games to me, is such a sad song, Like 309 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 1: I just find that to be I don't know it 310 00:16:31,040 --> 00:16:33,560 Speaker 1: just it's it's one of those songs just makes me 311 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,320 Speaker 1: sad when I when I it's a great song, but 312 00:16:35,960 --> 00:16:38,400 Speaker 1: when I hear it, What do you have a song 313 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,720 Speaker 1: like that? It's like your kind of go to sad song. 314 00:16:43,040 --> 00:16:46,440 Speaker 2: It was Leonard Cohen's The Famous Blue rain Coat for me. Oh, 315 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 2: I had heard it when I was in eighth grade, 316 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 2: and well. 317 00:16:49,960 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: Pretty much anything Leonard Cohen, right, yeah, but that's but 318 00:16:53,760 --> 00:16:56,120 Speaker 1: that one is uh yeah, yeah. 319 00:16:56,000 --> 00:17:00,280 Speaker 2: It's so just tragic and but nostalgic and you can 320 00:17:00,320 --> 00:17:06,480 Speaker 2: tell she loved them. And it's why I wrote Foolish Games. 321 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 2: I was trying to rip off the Famous Blue Raincoat, 322 00:17:09,000 --> 00:17:10,959 Speaker 2: like I wanted to write something that gave you just 323 00:17:10,960 --> 00:17:15,439 Speaker 2: like this intense, like visceral, emotional, but very visual kind 324 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 2: of cinematic quality. 325 00:17:18,880 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 1: So that's interesting. So you do think sometimes in terms 326 00:17:22,720 --> 00:17:28,000 Speaker 1: of visuals and as you said, something cinematic taking people 327 00:17:28,040 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: to a world, taking them to a place, having them 328 00:17:32,400 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 1: kind of disappear in the same way that we do 329 00:17:34,000 --> 00:17:35,440 Speaker 1: when we're trying to create movies. 330 00:17:36,240 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think writing is the lens. It's what you're 331 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 2: going to show out of an entire immense world. It's 332 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:45,959 Speaker 2: like that narrow little scope you're going to show somebody 333 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 2: of just this thing. It could be a huge, busy room, 334 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 2: but then you narrow the camera in on one woman 335 00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 2: just sitting alone there with a fake smile, nodding, and 336 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 2: that's the story. But nobody might have noticed that story 337 00:17:57,160 --> 00:17:59,640 Speaker 2: if you didn't just tilt the camera and zoom into 338 00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:02,240 Speaker 2: her face. And so to me, when I'm writing, whether 339 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:06,560 Speaker 2: it's poetries or fiction or anything, it's yeah, I'm gonna 340 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:08,840 Speaker 2: help push the camera in. And how quickly is it 341 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:10,520 Speaker 2: like bam and it hits you in the face or 342 00:18:10,600 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 2: is it kind of the slow push in and it 343 00:18:13,680 --> 00:18:15,680 Speaker 2: gives you different you know, like it's funny just talking 344 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:18,359 Speaker 2: about it'll give my like hairs, different reactions on my skin. 345 00:18:18,440 --> 00:18:19,919 Speaker 2: But that's what you're trying to do. You're trying to 346 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:25,600 Speaker 2: elicit really intense personal stories, which is done through editing, 347 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:30,600 Speaker 2: limiting information, highlighting information to create yeah, something intense. 348 00:18:31,000 --> 00:18:33,440 Speaker 1: Wow, Wow, that is a really interesting way to look 349 00:18:33,480 --> 00:18:37,200 Speaker 1: at it. Do you look at a lot of movies? 350 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:39,320 Speaker 1: Do you like movies? I mean do you like I mean, 351 00:18:39,359 --> 00:18:42,040 Speaker 1: I know you've got a child now, so it's probably 352 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: less and less time for that. But when you when 353 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: you talk about that, I mean, I think that a 354 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: lot of people films will wash over them, but they 355 00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:56,359 Speaker 1: won't even necessarily be aware of that idea of pushing 356 00:18:56,359 --> 00:18:58,800 Speaker 1: in on something in order to tell the story. And 357 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:03,159 Speaker 1: you know that that's something that many people they know 358 00:19:03,200 --> 00:19:04,880 Speaker 1: how they feel, but they don't know how we get there. 359 00:19:05,080 --> 00:19:07,080 Speaker 1: But obviously you have an eye for that. 360 00:19:08,040 --> 00:19:11,040 Speaker 2: I always loved I didn't grow up watching movies, you know, 361 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:14,600 Speaker 2: in Alaska, we didn't have electricity, we didn't even listen 362 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:17,400 Speaker 2: to much music. But I read a lot, and I 363 00:19:17,440 --> 00:19:19,760 Speaker 2: read a lot of playwrights, and I think that's probably 364 00:19:19,800 --> 00:19:22,600 Speaker 2: what gave me a real innate sense of story. Like 365 00:19:22,640 --> 00:19:26,639 Speaker 2: a lot of Chekhov, a lot of Flattering O'Connor, a 366 00:19:26,680 --> 00:19:28,880 Speaker 2: lot of Steinbeck, and I just think they were naturally 367 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,119 Speaker 2: very cinematic writers. And then poets like Pablo Naruda that 368 00:19:32,160 --> 00:19:35,160 Speaker 2: were so visual you could to practically smell his poetry, 369 00:19:35,160 --> 00:19:38,640 Speaker 2: the salt and the bread and the soil after the rain. 370 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 2: You know, he wrote so viscerally that it made your 371 00:19:42,080 --> 00:19:45,160 Speaker 2: mouth water practically reading his stuff. And I loved that, 372 00:19:45,240 --> 00:19:48,720 Speaker 2: and so they really informed my writing style. Not to mention, 373 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:54,120 Speaker 2: you know, every writer I loved was glorifying very underserved communities. 374 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:56,840 Speaker 2: You know, check off to Steinbeck. We're trying to shine 375 00:19:56,840 --> 00:20:01,160 Speaker 2: a spotlight on you know, tortilla flats or sure migrant workers, 376 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:05,600 Speaker 2: or you know, the mass population of the everyday man 377 00:20:05,640 --> 00:20:09,080 Speaker 2: in Russia. Uh, and so I just that that's why 378 00:20:09,160 --> 00:20:11,200 Speaker 2: I write what I write. I think that's where folk 379 00:20:11,280 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 2: music came from, was from those playwrights that chose to 380 00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:15,280 Speaker 2: write that way. 381 00:20:15,880 --> 00:20:18,720 Speaker 1: You heard it here first, folks. Jewel was a massive 382 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:24,120 Speaker 1: Anton chekhov in. I mean that that I think would 383 00:20:24,160 --> 00:20:27,120 Speaker 1: be Uh. I don't know why that would be surprising, 384 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: but but it's it's it's surprising to me. It's it's 385 00:20:31,560 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: it's it's actually surprising to me because I don't really 386 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:39,960 Speaker 1: think of anybody outside people in the theater of actually 387 00:20:40,240 --> 00:20:43,280 Speaker 1: reading plays, you know what I mean. It's like sometimes 388 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 1: people get you know, forced to study Shakespeare in school 389 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:49,639 Speaker 1: or stuff like that or whatever Steinbeck, Ibsen or you know, 390 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:55,679 Speaker 1: but but to to but your lack of media growing 391 00:20:55,760 --> 00:20:59,639 Speaker 1: up where you grew up, you had to that's so interesting. 392 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: You had to actually read a play and in a 393 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:04,800 Speaker 1: way use the imagination to hear the voices of the 394 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:06,760 Speaker 1: of the characters speaking, right. 395 00:21:07,480 --> 00:21:10,000 Speaker 2: Yeah. And the study of psychology, I think, especially in 396 00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:14,160 Speaker 2: the Russian writers, but the psychology in playwrights I thought 397 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:16,480 Speaker 2: were so clever, right, they were really trying to tell 398 00:21:16,520 --> 00:21:21,280 Speaker 2: you about the psychology of a human and using these 399 00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:27,320 Speaker 2: situations putting these characters in situations to really highlight that psychology. 400 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:29,679 Speaker 2: And to me, that's where like Tennessee Williams are the 401 00:21:29,680 --> 00:21:31,720 Speaker 2: great play rights, that's what they were doing. They were 402 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 2: trying to figure out these squeezes where life would squeeze 403 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:39,960 Speaker 2: a character into these displays that were sometimes horrific but 404 00:21:40,080 --> 00:21:42,400 Speaker 2: so human that it allowed us to kind of explore 405 00:21:42,440 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 2: these darker aspects. And I just I loved. 406 00:21:44,600 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: That as having a child changed your perspective on kind 407 00:21:50,040 --> 00:21:52,920 Speaker 1: of the business side of things. I'm assuming that. I mean, 408 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:57,280 Speaker 1: I don't know, are you touring with the kid at home? 409 00:21:57,680 --> 00:21:59,800 Speaker 2: You know, I was funny about my career. I was 410 00:21:59,840 --> 00:22:02,119 Speaker 2: just covered when I was homeless. But I almost didn't 411 00:22:02,119 --> 00:22:04,879 Speaker 2: sign the record deal because I knew that somebody with 412 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:08,120 Speaker 2: my emotional baggage, God forbid someone like me get famous. 413 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 2: It's you know what every TV movie or movie's ever 414 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 2: been about any musician. I didn't want to be a 415 00:22:13,280 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 2: statistic and so I had to have a plan in 416 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,200 Speaker 2: place that meant that I wouldn't become a statistic And 417 00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 2: for me, that meant like what I called my north 418 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:22,680 Speaker 2: Star decisions. My number one goal was to learn how 419 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:24,520 Speaker 2: to be happy. Was it a learnable skill, was it 420 00:22:24,560 --> 00:22:27,159 Speaker 2: a teachable skill? And I'd have a plan around that, 421 00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:29,440 Speaker 2: How did I know if it was working? Then my 422 00:22:29,520 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 2: number two job was to learn how to be an artist, 423 00:22:31,880 --> 00:22:34,000 Speaker 2: and then under that was my subcategory. I wanted to 424 00:22:34,040 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 2: be an artist more than I wanted to be famous, 425 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 2: So every decision I made on my career was just 426 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:41,520 Speaker 2: very loyal to that. That's why I took two years 427 00:22:41,560 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 2: at the height of my career after hands I quit, 428 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:46,280 Speaker 2: like my label was like, you know, mental health breaks 429 00:22:46,320 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 2: weren't a thing, but I knew I was going to 430 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 2: have a breakdown if I didn't figure out how to 431 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:54,119 Speaker 2: comprehend what my life had turned. And the level of 432 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:56,439 Speaker 2: fame I got was that, you know, you can't go 433 00:22:56,440 --> 00:22:58,960 Speaker 2: to the bathroom without people following you, and it was awful. 434 00:22:59,040 --> 00:23:01,119 Speaker 2: It felt like a prison, And so I had to 435 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:02,800 Speaker 2: give myself permission to be like, what do I want 436 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 2: to do something else? Would I rather be a photographer? 437 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,680 Speaker 2: And then for me realizing I didn't like fame that much, 438 00:23:08,920 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 2: it didn't do it for me. I liked invention, I 439 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 2: liked trying new things, and so just learning to build 440 00:23:14,880 --> 00:23:17,679 Speaker 2: my career for solving for what actually made me happy 441 00:23:17,680 --> 00:23:19,399 Speaker 2: and being willing to let go of the rest. And 442 00:23:19,400 --> 00:23:22,440 Speaker 2: so it meant I always took big breaks. I switched genres, 443 00:23:23,000 --> 00:23:27,119 Speaker 2: you know, always upsetting people, always starting over after my divorce, 444 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:30,680 Speaker 2: taking seven years. It's unheard of, and it's terrible things 445 00:23:30,720 --> 00:23:33,320 Speaker 2: to do for like momentum that the best thing for 446 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:35,119 Speaker 2: me is a human I want my life to be 447 00:23:35,240 --> 00:23:37,359 Speaker 2: my best work of art. I don't want my songs 448 00:23:37,400 --> 00:23:39,040 Speaker 2: to be my best work of art. And that means 449 00:23:39,040 --> 00:23:42,080 Speaker 2: I have to approach mothering artfully. It means I have 450 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,520 Speaker 2: to approach, you know, hopefully all aspects as thoughtfully as 451 00:23:45,560 --> 00:23:48,400 Speaker 2: I can. And a big part of that has been, yeah, 452 00:23:48,560 --> 00:23:50,200 Speaker 2: mothering and taking the time to mother. 453 00:23:51,000 --> 00:23:55,520 Speaker 1: Wow, and you started this inspiring children foundation, but that 454 00:23:55,640 --> 00:24:00,679 Speaker 1: was twenty one years ago, and just tell me the 455 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,920 Speaker 1: genesis of that. I mean that, like, twenty one years 456 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:08,439 Speaker 1: ago is not I don't know how old you are, 457 00:24:08,480 --> 00:24:11,400 Speaker 1: but but I'm guessing that it's not the moment in 458 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: most people's lives where they say, Okay, I've become an 459 00:24:15,800 --> 00:24:21,960 Speaker 1: incredibly successful at my chosen career. Although I understand that 460 00:24:22,040 --> 00:24:24,480 Speaker 1: you were having doubts about it. But now I want 461 00:24:24,480 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: to just give back and do something that's outside of me. 462 00:24:28,880 --> 00:24:30,639 Speaker 1: I mean, what was the inspiration for that? 463 00:24:32,720 --> 00:24:34,919 Speaker 2: When I moved out at fifteen? You know, I just 464 00:24:35,840 --> 00:24:39,399 Speaker 2: it was very depressing to think that what about kids 465 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 2: like me? I don't have access to therapy, I don't 466 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:44,720 Speaker 2: have a support system, like do kids like me get 467 00:24:44,760 --> 00:24:47,639 Speaker 2: to learn how to be happy? And what an equal 468 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 2: opportunist misery is? It doesn't care if you're black or white, 469 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:53,639 Speaker 2: or rich or poor, or famous or homeless. If you 470 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:57,239 Speaker 2: were raised in misery systems, it's perpetual. If you're going 471 00:24:57,320 --> 00:24:59,480 Speaker 2: to learn how not to be miserable, if you're going 472 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:02,439 Speaker 2: to learn how to be happy, that means education, and 473 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 2: education is money in our country. And so I started 474 00:25:06,800 --> 00:25:10,480 Speaker 2: developing these skills that really worked for myself, looking at 475 00:25:10,560 --> 00:25:14,160 Speaker 2: nature versus nurture and habit loops and dilation and contraction, 476 00:25:14,200 --> 00:25:16,879 Speaker 2: all these skills that I just was thinking about and 477 00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:20,320 Speaker 2: teaching myself how to practice things, and I wanted to 478 00:25:20,320 --> 00:25:22,720 Speaker 2: see if they would work for other people like me, 479 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:27,800 Speaker 2: kids without other options. And so we started inspiring children, 480 00:25:27,880 --> 00:25:31,160 Speaker 2: and it turns out it works really well. We don't 481 00:25:31,240 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 2: use psychotherapy, not that I'm against it. I mean, if 482 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:35,680 Speaker 2: you got that and it works for you, I'm so 483 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 2: for it, But what about the people that don't have access. 484 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,439 Speaker 2: There have to be systems that we can offer that work, 485 00:25:42,680 --> 00:25:46,360 Speaker 2: that make real differences in your choice making and then 486 00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:48,639 Speaker 2: your happiness, right is a side effect of choices. You 487 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,640 Speaker 2: can't just be happy. You have to make different choices 488 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,160 Speaker 2: that lead to different outcomes. And so it's a lot 489 00:25:55,200 --> 00:25:57,000 Speaker 2: of fun. It's the most fun I've ever had is 490 00:25:57,040 --> 00:25:58,080 Speaker 2: working with our kids. 491 00:25:58,720 --> 00:26:00,880 Speaker 1: That is amazing. That is amazing. 492 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,679 Speaker 5: If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us 493 00:26:10,680 --> 00:26:13,640 Speaker 5: in supporting six degrees dot org by texting the word 494 00:26:13,720 --> 00:26:17,840 Speaker 5: Bacon to seven zero seven zero seven zero. Your gift 495 00:26:17,840 --> 00:26:21,000 Speaker 5: empowers us to continue to produce programs that highlight the 496 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,399 Speaker 5: incredible work of everyday heroes, well also enabling us to 497 00:26:24,400 --> 00:26:27,359 Speaker 5: provide essential resources to those that need it the most. 498 00:26:27,760 --> 00:26:32,320 Speaker 5: Once again, text b a c N to seven zero 499 00:26:32,640 --> 00:26:36,760 Speaker 5: seven zero seven zero or visit six degrees dot org 500 00:26:36,920 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 5: to learn more. 501 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:43,120 Speaker 1: I want to bring in Ryan Wolfington, who is the 502 00:26:43,160 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 1: president of Inspiring Children. Hey, Ryan, welcome to the show Man. 503 00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,560 Speaker 1: Hey doing Kevin, I'm doing great. I'm doing great. It's 504 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: been really fun for me to be chatting with Jewel 505 00:26:54,640 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: and and you know her story is obviously so inspirational, 506 00:27:00,800 --> 00:27:07,640 Speaker 1: and the fact that she started this in a very 507 00:27:07,760 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: very specific and direct way. How did you two meet 508 00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:17,399 Speaker 1: and how long have you been with this organization? 509 00:27:19,119 --> 00:27:21,960 Speaker 4: So my twin brother worked with Mark Burnett, and I 510 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 4: guess Mark and Jewel. They were at a dinner at 511 00:27:24,800 --> 00:27:27,880 Speaker 4: his home and my twin said, Ryan, you really got 512 00:27:27,880 --> 00:27:30,640 Speaker 4: to meet Jewels. She's your real twin because she still 513 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:32,800 Speaker 4: went to the emotional mental health stuff. I remember this 514 00:27:32,840 --> 00:27:35,199 Speaker 4: is years, you know, a long time ago, but not 515 00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:37,399 Speaker 4: a lot of people were talking about this. So he 516 00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:39,919 Speaker 4: kept saying, you got to collaborate with her. She's really 517 00:27:40,040 --> 00:27:42,840 Speaker 4: doing the same work, really a lot of the same 518 00:27:43,200 --> 00:27:44,959 Speaker 4: healing that I did in my own life. She had 519 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:48,400 Speaker 4: been doing her own life in parallel. And then when 520 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:51,439 Speaker 4: I met her the first time, she sat there and 521 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:55,560 Speaker 4: spoke to a young woman for like three hours. A 522 00:27:55,600 --> 00:27:58,520 Speaker 4: young girl tried to end her life twice, and when 523 00:27:58,560 --> 00:28:00,560 Speaker 4: she was in the hospital she was listening the Jewels 524 00:28:00,560 --> 00:28:04,320 Speaker 4: song Hands on repeat to give her hope. And you know, 525 00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,040 Speaker 4: we're Richard Branson's Island. All these people running around they 526 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:09,160 Speaker 4: want to meet Jewel, and it's a pretty good group 527 00:28:09,200 --> 00:28:11,720 Speaker 4: of people. But Jewel said, I want to sit here 528 00:28:11,720 --> 00:28:16,399 Speaker 4: for three hours with this young girl and help her heal. 529 00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 4: And that's when I knew my twin brother really had 530 00:28:19,480 --> 00:28:21,280 Speaker 4: nailed it. That that's when she loves. 531 00:28:21,080 --> 00:28:25,280 Speaker 1: More than any Wow. Wow. So can you describe to 532 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: me the mission? 533 00:28:27,359 --> 00:28:30,120 Speaker 4: Well, I mean, Jewels probably better at words than I am. 534 00:28:30,760 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 4: I'll let her take a crack to that, but I 535 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,000 Speaker 4: would just say, like, giving young people what I think 536 00:28:35,040 --> 00:28:36,480 Speaker 4: we wish we had we were little. 537 00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:39,920 Speaker 1: And what are the ages? 538 00:28:41,440 --> 00:28:43,040 Speaker 4: You want to get children as young as you can 539 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 4: get them, because the habits get formed early. But our 540 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 4: really robust program is like twelve forever. It's like a 541 00:28:51,280 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 4: forever program. It's not till they graduate high school. It's 542 00:28:54,080 --> 00:28:57,280 Speaker 4: until they graduate colleges, kind of forever. And we have 543 00:28:57,400 --> 00:29:00,480 Speaker 4: children that are first generations thirty five years all now. 544 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,400 Speaker 1: And what about that Jewel, I mean, how would you 545 00:29:04,440 --> 00:29:05,280 Speaker 1: describe the mission? 546 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:12,320 Speaker 2: We wanted to create a holistic healing environment that wasn't 547 00:29:12,360 --> 00:29:15,440 Speaker 2: based on like one hour of psychotherapy, but an entire 548 00:29:16,560 --> 00:29:20,479 Speaker 2: three dimensional model where they were getting educated, where they 549 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:24,400 Speaker 2: were getting exercise, and where they were getting equipped with tools. 550 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:30,840 Speaker 2: There's something I called as a kid philanthropic paradoxical reflux. 551 00:29:31,720 --> 00:29:35,080 Speaker 2: It's this idea that you know, like I lived in 552 00:29:35,080 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 2: the projects and Anchorage for a while and we'd be 553 00:29:37,480 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 2: part of toy drives, right, people would come bring our 554 00:29:40,000 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 2: neighborhood toys, which was so great and we were so appreciative. 555 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:47,160 Speaker 2: But I instantly felt as soon as like the thrill 556 00:29:47,200 --> 00:29:49,720 Speaker 2: of getting the present wore off, I instantly felt really 557 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:53,160 Speaker 2: crappy about myself and it was so intolerable that I 558 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,160 Speaker 2: resented the person who gave me the gift. It sounds 559 00:29:56,160 --> 00:29:58,720 Speaker 2: so terrible, I know, but it's a very real thing 560 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,160 Speaker 2: because of just this kind of psychological reflex of you 561 00:30:03,200 --> 00:30:05,240 Speaker 2: feel so bad about yourself and so you try to 562 00:30:05,240 --> 00:30:09,960 Speaker 2: make yourself feel better by creating this otherness. And so 563 00:30:10,040 --> 00:30:12,120 Speaker 2: with the Foundation, we really wanted to solve for that. 564 00:30:12,200 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 2: So we don't actually give anything. We give skills, period, 565 00:30:15,760 --> 00:30:18,120 Speaker 2: and kids earn their way up into kind of different 566 00:30:18,160 --> 00:30:19,920 Speaker 2: programs within the foundation. 567 00:30:20,280 --> 00:30:22,800 Speaker 1: Building brick and mortar building. 568 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:25,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we're based in Las Vegas. 569 00:30:26,160 --> 00:30:27,960 Speaker 1: Why Las Vegas is just out of curiosity. 570 00:30:28,880 --> 00:30:32,080 Speaker 2: Ryan actually founded the foundation and he was in Las 571 00:30:32,200 --> 00:30:35,160 Speaker 2: Vegas and the very first kid that he started mentoring 572 00:30:35,400 --> 00:30:37,400 Speaker 2: just happened to be there. And then it evolved from 573 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:38,800 Speaker 2: that and. 574 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:42,200 Speaker 1: How do the kids find you or do their parents 575 00:30:42,240 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: find you or where's the how do you build your 576 00:30:48,640 --> 00:30:49,040 Speaker 1: the group? 577 00:30:50,280 --> 00:30:53,800 Speaker 2: Well, it's overwhelming need. Sadly, it's all been through word 578 00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:59,360 Speaker 2: of mouth. So we're a physical program. We focus on tennis, 579 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:05,000 Speaker 2: onrepreneurial skills, and then mental health skills. We have three 580 00:31:05,080 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 2: homes so that if there are kids who aren't safe 581 00:31:07,960 --> 00:31:10,160 Speaker 2: with their family or just can't be with their family 582 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:12,200 Speaker 2: for some reason, they can live with us in a 583 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:16,080 Speaker 2: safe place. Otherwise, we work with kids, you know, they 584 00:31:16,120 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 2: are living at home, and we work with the whole 585 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 2: family system and the kids are they with us about 586 00:31:21,120 --> 00:31:24,480 Speaker 2: six days a week. They do core curriculum maybe a 587 00:31:24,480 --> 00:31:26,000 Speaker 2: couple of days a week, and then all the rest 588 00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:29,480 Speaker 2: is project driven learning, so running the foundation, doing the 589 00:31:29,560 --> 00:31:34,240 Speaker 2: video editing, the photography, running events, running fundraisers. So they 590 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:37,640 Speaker 2: just end up becoming incredibly capable. And then when somebody 591 00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:40,720 Speaker 2: trauma triggers, or when something happens, we're able to deal 592 00:31:40,800 --> 00:31:42,760 Speaker 2: with it right then and there and just a real 593 00:31:42,960 --> 00:31:46,120 Speaker 2: group setting, because it's life that triggers us. You know, 594 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,880 Speaker 2: it's not like Tuesday at two o'clock. It happens while 595 00:31:49,880 --> 00:31:52,720 Speaker 2: you're with your therapist. And so we've found that this 596 00:31:52,880 --> 00:31:56,000 Speaker 2: model of where it's just a living lifestyle change skill 597 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:59,240 Speaker 2: growth based model to be incredibly effective. 598 00:32:00,360 --> 00:32:04,120 Speaker 1: Ryan, let me ask you, have you seen or felt 599 00:32:04,720 --> 00:32:11,560 Speaker 1: that given things like starting with yeah, nine to eleven 600 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:18,120 Speaker 1: school shootings, climate change, a global pandemic, there is a 601 00:32:18,240 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 1: rising need for this kind of work. 602 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:26,719 Speaker 4: Well, I mean twenty one years ago when it first started, 603 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:28,920 Speaker 4: we might have had ten percent of our children might 604 00:32:28,960 --> 00:32:35,640 Speaker 4: suffer with suicide attaps, or maybe thirty percent depression, a 605 00:32:35,680 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 4: lot more with more teenage addiction issues. Now, our last 606 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:42,800 Speaker 4: graduating class three years ago during COVID, half limit either 607 00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 4: attempted to end their life, were seriously harm themselves, and 608 00:32:46,160 --> 00:32:48,600 Speaker 4: one hundred percent of the pad anxiety and a large 609 00:32:48,640 --> 00:32:51,719 Speaker 4: portion of them had some form of depression and some 610 00:32:51,800 --> 00:32:53,760 Speaker 4: issues with the addiction. I think most children are being 611 00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:58,440 Speaker 4: born into addiction to technology, being exposed to stimulation and 612 00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 4: distraction much sure than we were, and so we've watched 613 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:05,840 Speaker 4: it dramatically increase. It was a huge issue long before COVID. 614 00:33:06,840 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 4: I remember Jewel did pressed the first week of COVID 615 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,000 Speaker 4: and she said the silent symptom of COVID is mental health. 616 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:12,960 Speaker 1: Like right. 617 00:33:13,440 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 4: She just said, we knew right away this is gonna 618 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:18,800 Speaker 4: have a real serious impact. And what's interesting about you know, 619 00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 4: you know Jewel's involvement is you know, it's not like 620 00:33:23,440 --> 00:33:28,000 Speaker 4: a typical celebrity that gets involved. I'm talking about fifty 621 00:33:28,040 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 4: to sixty percent of her career is devoted to working 622 00:33:31,240 --> 00:33:32,240 Speaker 4: and helping these children. 623 00:33:32,560 --> 00:33:34,240 Speaker 1: Her taught wow from. 624 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:36,800 Speaker 4: Retreats at her house too. You know, in a few 625 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:38,840 Speaker 4: weeks we'll be taking a bunch of children up to 626 00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 4: stay and spend the holidays with her, over Christmas, to 627 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:46,240 Speaker 4: even just work things. She's devoted her whole business side 628 00:33:46,280 --> 00:33:49,880 Speaker 4: of her life to mental health, and the children sense 629 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 4: that sense of sincere. You know, they can call her 630 00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,280 Speaker 4: up and be like, I'm having an emotional conflict right now. 631 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 4: I know you were homeless, I know you had trouble 632 00:33:58,160 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 4: with your dad. You know, how did you deal with it? 633 00:34:00,120 --> 00:34:02,920 Speaker 4: And the insight that she's able to give is so 634 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 4: unique because of this situation she's been through as a person, 635 00:34:06,400 --> 00:34:08,719 Speaker 4: and children are no no bs like they see not 636 00:34:09,120 --> 00:34:10,959 Speaker 4: They can tell if you're for real or not. Yeah, 637 00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,520 Speaker 4: they do you know something where I may not be 638 00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:15,680 Speaker 4: to get through, she's able to do that. 639 00:34:17,160 --> 00:34:20,440 Speaker 1: Wow. Julee. That is that is really kind of incredible. 640 00:34:20,480 --> 00:34:21,919 Speaker 1: I mean, what is the thing that you're the most 641 00:34:22,000 --> 00:34:25,560 Speaker 1: proud of around around this this organization and the work 642 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:26,000 Speaker 1: that you do. 643 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:31,200 Speaker 2: Just the kids. You know, our numbers are incredible because 644 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:34,120 Speaker 2: of the gauntlet the kids choose to pick up every day. 645 00:34:34,160 --> 00:34:37,000 Speaker 2: You know, when when I see a kid, you know, 646 00:34:37,120 --> 00:34:41,080 Speaker 2: willing to stop being mad at their environment, at their situation, 647 00:34:41,320 --> 00:34:45,600 Speaker 2: at their family, and say, all right, but what am 648 00:34:45,600 --> 00:34:48,799 Speaker 2: I willing to do about it? You know, I'm responsible 649 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:50,680 Speaker 2: for my own happiness. What am I willing to do 650 00:34:50,719 --> 00:34:54,319 Speaker 2: about my choices? They are unstoppable. Like once once a 651 00:34:54,400 --> 00:34:58,000 Speaker 2: kid like hooks onto that concept and it's just fun. 652 00:34:58,040 --> 00:35:00,120 Speaker 2: I mean, we became the number two tennis academy in 653 00:35:00,160 --> 00:35:02,520 Speaker 2: the country. We didn't mean to be number one and 654 00:35:02,600 --> 00:35:06,480 Speaker 2: number three are just tennis academies. They're recruiting tennis players. 655 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:09,799 Speaker 2: We're just helping kids, and we've become the number two 656 00:35:09,880 --> 00:35:12,840 Speaker 2: tennis academy. All of our kids start their own businesses 657 00:35:12,880 --> 00:35:15,200 Speaker 2: and they learn to put that hustle into a really 658 00:35:15,440 --> 00:35:20,279 Speaker 2: great life affirming way into helping them make money and 659 00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:24,080 Speaker 2: most importantly, learning these these skills. Our graduation rates are incredible. 660 00:35:24,080 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 2: But it's all just byproducts of these kids choosing happiness, 661 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 2: and as you know, healings hard, it's very difficult, and 662 00:35:31,480 --> 00:35:34,400 Speaker 2: so I just find it incredibly heroic that these kids 663 00:35:34,440 --> 00:35:35,239 Speaker 2: just keep choosing it. 664 00:35:36,200 --> 00:35:40,600 Speaker 1: And how many kids have cycled through the program? 665 00:35:41,239 --> 00:35:43,560 Speaker 2: Just wondering that. Do you know from the beginning, Ryan. 666 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:47,360 Speaker 4: It's it's thousands in person, but online, you know, Jewel 667 00:35:47,480 --> 00:35:50,160 Speaker 4: helped bring a nationale platform, so it's millions online, but 668 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:55,680 Speaker 4: the leadership program, it's it's thousands in person. You know 669 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,200 Speaker 4: what's interesting is a lot of people this summer we 670 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,799 Speaker 4: took a bunch of the children on her tour, and 671 00:36:00,840 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 4: I'm like, I forgot you're like a freaking unbelievable rock 672 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:08,279 Speaker 4: star because we get to see this other talent that 673 00:36:08,360 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 4: she has to heal a human being. And you know 674 00:36:13,320 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 4: what's more worthy of celebrity somebody that can help a 675 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:19,160 Speaker 4: child go on to want to live again and then 676 00:36:19,239 --> 00:36:21,839 Speaker 4: not only want to live again, but to just love 677 00:36:21,960 --> 00:36:25,920 Speaker 4: life and become their best or the beautiful music. Now, 678 00:36:25,960 --> 00:36:28,160 Speaker 4: luckily we don't get to choose. But the hidden talent 679 00:36:28,239 --> 00:36:30,600 Speaker 4: that I think a lot of people don't know about 680 00:36:30,600 --> 00:36:34,279 Speaker 4: her is as a clinician, as is somebody who can 681 00:36:34,360 --> 00:36:37,760 Speaker 4: heal not only herself but other people. And it's profound. 682 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:43,959 Speaker 1: That is really amazing. That is really amazing. Plus she's 683 00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:50,480 Speaker 1: also has one name, which makes her even cooler. You know, 684 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:54,120 Speaker 1: people who have one name are very very cool. I 685 00:36:54,200 --> 00:37:00,400 Speaker 1: once had the absolute joy of introducing ludicrous to Sting. 686 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,760 Speaker 1: It was it was a great moment in my life. 687 00:37:05,239 --> 00:37:08,440 Speaker 1: Where how can people help out? What's where's the website 688 00:37:08,760 --> 00:37:12,239 Speaker 1: and uh social media handles? I want to I want 689 00:37:12,239 --> 00:37:15,959 Speaker 1: to make sure that anybody listening to this can can 690 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:19,120 Speaker 1: can reach out and and and support the good work 691 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:20,000 Speaker 1: that you guys are doing. 692 00:37:20,719 --> 00:37:24,120 Speaker 2: We're called Inspiring Children, so it would be Inspiring Children 693 00:37:24,200 --> 00:37:28,560 Speaker 2: dot org and we're inspiring children on Instagram. I also 694 00:37:28,600 --> 00:37:31,480 Speaker 2: have a mental health platform of the exercises I've been 695 00:37:31,480 --> 00:37:34,640 Speaker 2: talking about, where we put them on a free mental 696 00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:38,239 Speaker 2: health website. There's very practicable simple skills to kind of 697 00:37:38,600 --> 00:37:42,239 Speaker 2: thanks to you know, uh, just neural wiring, starving old 698 00:37:42,560 --> 00:37:45,600 Speaker 2: neural patterns and building new ones through behavior. And so 699 00:37:45,640 --> 00:37:49,400 Speaker 2: people can find that at Jewelnever Broken dot com and tell. 700 00:37:49,320 --> 00:37:51,600 Speaker 1: Us about what the Not Alone Challenge was. 701 00:37:53,200 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 2: The Not Alone Challenge was an opportunity for us to 702 00:37:58,080 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 2: bring together so many walks of life to talk about 703 00:38:01,400 --> 00:38:05,000 Speaker 2: mental health. So we had celebrities, we had CEOs, we 704 00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:09,279 Speaker 2: had business people, we had athletes all coming together to 705 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:11,560 Speaker 2: talk about the fact that everybody is a brain. So 706 00:38:11,640 --> 00:38:13,680 Speaker 2: at some point or another, people are going to have 707 00:38:13,719 --> 00:38:17,399 Speaker 2: an issue with anxiety or whatever it is, and that, 708 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 2: you know, it's a tragedy that fifty percent of the 709 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:23,759 Speaker 2: people that need mental health tools don't have access to them. 710 00:38:23,840 --> 00:38:27,320 Speaker 2: I find that unacceptable and so the Not Alone Challenge 711 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,680 Speaker 2: was about raising awareness and then raising funds to be 712 00:38:30,719 --> 00:38:34,000 Speaker 2: able to scale proven tools digitally. And so one of 713 00:38:34,000 --> 00:38:36,279 Speaker 2: the first things we've been doing with that is we've 714 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 2: started been you know, scaling up the tools that have 715 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:42,200 Speaker 2: been proven to work in our foundation that are skill based, 716 00:38:43,040 --> 00:38:46,200 Speaker 2: as well as we founded a mental health app in 717 00:38:46,239 --> 00:38:50,560 Speaker 2: the metaverse. It's called Inner World, where we take a 718 00:38:50,560 --> 00:38:53,400 Speaker 2: lot of these skills and created the three dimensional virtual 719 00:38:53,440 --> 00:38:54,400 Speaker 2: reality for healing. 720 00:38:55,040 --> 00:38:58,719 Speaker 4: I'll tell you that Inner World. We showed it to 721 00:38:58,760 --> 00:39:01,120 Speaker 4: some of our children. Jewel was putting it together for 722 00:39:01,160 --> 00:39:03,000 Speaker 4: quite some time, but when she revealed it to them 723 00:39:03,040 --> 00:39:05,320 Speaker 4: with the co founder with the founder of the Uneral, 724 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,239 Speaker 4: they started crying because they're like, geez, I can see 725 00:39:10,280 --> 00:39:12,279 Speaker 4: exactly how that would have helped me when I was 726 00:39:12,320 --> 00:39:14,920 Speaker 4: thirteen or I was fourteen. And it's like almost like 727 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:17,759 Speaker 4: a virtual healing center that people can go into no 728 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,160 Speaker 4: matter where they are. And people have asked Jewels for many, 729 00:39:20,160 --> 00:39:21,799 Speaker 4: many years, how do you scale this? How do you 730 00:39:21,840 --> 00:39:24,360 Speaker 4: get this other places? And it was really cool for 731 00:39:24,400 --> 00:39:26,400 Speaker 4: her to be able to team up with this gentleman 732 00:39:26,440 --> 00:39:29,600 Speaker 4: from Vanderbilt to take the stuff that helped her and 733 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:31,839 Speaker 4: then put in on this metaverse where it feels so real. 734 00:39:33,160 --> 00:39:35,640 Speaker 1: Speaking of which have you have you all ever thought 735 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:39,640 Speaker 1: about expanding to different cities, starting other centers in other 736 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:44,480 Speaker 1: places on the is that the the in the future. 737 00:39:45,360 --> 00:39:49,239 Speaker 4: There's organizations that are now scaling pieces in twenty two 738 00:39:49,320 --> 00:39:52,000 Speaker 4: cities pieces of what we do. And then right now 739 00:39:52,120 --> 00:39:55,280 Speaker 4: the goal is Jewels put this not Lo challenge together 740 00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:59,080 Speaker 4: to raise funds in order to curriculuatize our twenty one 741 00:39:59,160 --> 00:40:01,719 Speaker 4: years and expertise and make you real simple for other 742 00:40:01,840 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 4: organizations to plug play. 743 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:06,520 Speaker 2: Yeah. I think what makes us special is our curriculum 744 00:40:06,760 --> 00:40:09,080 Speaker 2: and the skill based tools, and we want to be 745 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:11,560 Speaker 2: able to start scaling that to other foundations that are 746 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,120 Speaker 2: doing the work or even other work like let's say 747 00:40:14,120 --> 00:40:17,040 Speaker 2: it's an LGBTQ plus community center, and you want to 748 00:40:17,040 --> 00:40:20,399 Speaker 2: be able to have a mental health toolkit. We want 749 00:40:20,440 --> 00:40:22,640 Speaker 2: to be able to have that curricularized, so anybody in 750 00:40:22,680 --> 00:40:25,480 Speaker 2: any foundation can start to get yeah, good results in 751 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:26,120 Speaker 2: mental health. 752 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:30,680 Speaker 1: Well, you know, I just want to say I think 753 00:40:30,719 --> 00:40:33,439 Speaker 1: you should both be very very proud of the work 754 00:40:33,480 --> 00:40:37,759 Speaker 1: that you're doing. It's it's it's a beautiful thing. I 755 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,080 Speaker 1: love hearing all about it, and I'm so grateful that 756 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:43,480 Speaker 1: you were willing to come on and talk about it 757 00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:47,120 Speaker 1: today and take a big chunk out of your day. Julie, 758 00:40:47,120 --> 00:40:49,040 Speaker 1: I know you got to go pick up your kid, 759 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:53,080 Speaker 1: So thank you and thank you Ryan for being here. 760 00:40:53,520 --> 00:40:56,239 Speaker 1: And I've really really enjoyed this. 761 00:40:57,040 --> 00:40:59,040 Speaker 2: Likewise, I've been such a fan of yours and I 762 00:40:59,040 --> 00:41:01,640 Speaker 2: have been loved checking music out, and of course i've 763 00:41:01,640 --> 00:41:03,840 Speaker 2: been a fan of your acting. So it's a treat 764 00:41:03,840 --> 00:41:05,359 Speaker 2: to get to talk to you. And thanks for taking 765 00:41:05,400 --> 00:41:06,040 Speaker 2: the time. 766 00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:13,040 Speaker 1: Hey, guys, thanks for listening. Can you believe that Who 767 00:41:13,040 --> 00:41:16,279 Speaker 1: Will Save Your Soul was the first song that Jewele 768 00:41:16,320 --> 00:41:19,920 Speaker 1: ever wrote? I mean, that's crazy. I was so interested 769 00:41:19,920 --> 00:41:20,319 Speaker 1: to hear that. 770 00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:23,200 Speaker 6: So anyway, if you want to learn more, about the 771 00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:27,799 Speaker 6: Inspiring Children Foundation and all the work great work that 772 00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:31,640 Speaker 6: they are up to. Head to their website Inspiring Children 773 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:34,720 Speaker 6: dot org. You'll find the link in our show notes. 774 00:41:34,960 --> 00:41:37,200 Speaker 1: You can find six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on. 775 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:42,760 Speaker 6: The iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 776 00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:43,920 Speaker 1: See you next time.