Speaker 1: The following episode was recorded before the WGA sag Aftra
Speaker 1: strikes of twenty twenty three.
Speaker 2: Okay, everybody, this is a fun episode. My friend Phoebe
Speaker 2: Robinson is here. We met doing a show called I
Speaker 2: Love Dick. It's funny. When we were promoting this show,
Speaker 2: I was going around the country and there were some
Speaker 2: interviewers that I would do in the Heartland, and they
Speaker 2: refused to even say the title of the show, which
Speaker 2: her mom was awesome. They'd make me say it. That
Speaker 2: was the funniest thing. I was also a guest on
Speaker 2: her incredible show Two Dove Queens. We had so much fun.
Speaker 2: We've laughed together so many times, and we'll be laughing today.
Speaker 2: So lean in and get ready to laugh. I'm glad
Speaker 2: you're here. Okay, So I'm here on the podcast with
Speaker 2: Phoebe Robinson. We have a lot of history we do.
Speaker 2: I think people would be surprised that much history we have.
Speaker 3: We met when we did that Amazon show I Loved Dick,
Speaker 3: and I was so intimidated.
Speaker 2: I truly was about saying the title of the show,
Speaker 2: or just in general.
Speaker 4: Be around you. You're a legends.
Speaker 3: I was like, I don't want to say anything. Dumb
Speaker 3: around Kevin Bacon like you wouldn't care. But yeah, and
Speaker 3: then we've just kept in touch. Yeah, you try to
Speaker 3: teach me how to be outdoorsy, and yeah.
Speaker 2: We ended up in a tree in tamscal Park. I mean,
Speaker 2: how does that happen?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: That was from my Comedy Central show Doing the Most,
Speaker 3: And I just had people on to teach me how
Speaker 3: to do stuff to get me outside my comfort zone.
Speaker 3: And I don't think I've become much more outdoorsy.
Speaker 2: It was such a cool idea though. It was really
Speaker 2: fun and you know what, I had such a blast.
Speaker 2: But just to kind of set this up, Yeah, so
Speaker 2: as Phoebe said, you know, it was things to get
Speaker 2: her outside of her comfort zone, and in this case,
Speaker 2: it was wire work pretty much on ropes or i'd
Speaker 2: say rope work, being suspended in the harnesses, walking across
Speaker 2: stuff between trees like maybe twenty feet off the ground
Speaker 2: or something. I mean, yeah, I mean obviously there was safety,
Speaker 2: but it was something that was kind of gnarly. I
Speaker 2: mean it was kind of scary.
Speaker 3: Right, It's scary, but you moved like an avenger, like.
Speaker 4: You were just just climbed up this tree.
Speaker 2: Very old avenger and I was so scared. You were
Speaker 2: genuinely scary.
Speaker 3: I was so scared, Like low, Ki was like, why
Speaker 3: couldn't have been like let's do cooking, like something on
Speaker 3: the ground.
Speaker 2: Ye, spicy food. Yeah.
Speaker 3: And then you remember at the end where we had
Speaker 3: to like jump off that little ledge in a tree
Speaker 3: and that I was like, oh it took me like
Speaker 3: five minutes, and like it took me what like almost
Speaker 3: an hour?
Speaker 4: Yeah, didn't you have like your plans?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I was like, okay, listen, I gotta sometime today,
Speaker 2: I'll tell you what I'm gonna go to dinner, And
Speaker 2: can somebody just let me know if she ever made
Speaker 2: it down out of the tree. But it was, it
Speaker 2: was fun. I had a good time and I did
Speaker 2: two dope queens.
Speaker 4: Yes, that was. That was in l A too, right.
Speaker 4: That was so fun. Yeah, that was.
Speaker 2: It was in La.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: I had this idea that we were talking about Brooklyn earlier.
Speaker 2: I had this idea that it was in Brooklyn.
Speaker 3: I wish, I wish it was. I mean, I love
Speaker 3: Brooklyn so much. But we did it I think downtown LA.
Speaker 2: And it was that was super fun. I mean, and
Speaker 2: you were you know, you were a pioneer of this
Speaker 2: whole really podcasting thing that's taken off absolutely.
Speaker 3: Okay, am I like as good as Rosa Parks, Like
Speaker 3: I'm on her level.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you and Rosa Parks. Yeah, did she have
Speaker 2: a podcast?
Speaker 4: You know what? She didn't try hard?
Speaker 2: No, but you really were. I mean this like that
Speaker 2: kind of format and then also having it with a
Speaker 2: live audience. It's interesting now, how uh they that that
Speaker 2: that's also in its own sense become a next level
Speaker 2: of podcasting, right that that you go and you do
Speaker 2: this live thing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just one of those things where it's like
Speaker 3: anytime you add an audience to it, it just be
Speaker 3: I don't want to see it becomes dangerous. But it's
Speaker 3: sort of like you kind of don't know what's going
Speaker 3: to happen, Like you could say something off the cuff
Speaker 3: that like the audience really likes and it has you
Speaker 3: go down this path. And so it was so fun
Speaker 3: doing the shows, Jessica and I doing them live every
Speaker 3: other week in Brooklyn and La like it was.
Speaker 4: I had the best time.
Speaker 2: It was the coolest. And boy, I gotta tell you,
Speaker 2: I mean I've done a lot of live stuff. I
Speaker 2: started out in the in the theater and playing a band.
Speaker 2: So I've been in front of audience is you know,
Speaker 2: quite a lot, and you know sometimes you get that
Speaker 2: really dialed up energy. And that's what it was watching
Speaker 2: the two of you work that crowd. I mean it
Speaker 2: was it was flying, Okay, it was good.
Speaker 3: How to do this podcast every week so you could
Speaker 3: give me some words of affirmation.
Speaker 2: I can't believe how busy you are with all the
Speaker 2: stuff that you do, I mean a lot. How do
Speaker 2: you how do you do? Do you have like or
Speaker 2: do you use like the iCal and put everything in
Speaker 2: and and have alerts and do all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: I have a color coded calendar, I have a day planner.
Speaker 2: And filots if they stop making file effects when you
Speaker 2: were born and things.
Speaker 3: Well, I find that like when I write it down,
Speaker 3: like I remember it more than just like doing it
Speaker 3: on my computer.
Speaker 4: You do, so I try to keep it.
Speaker 3: I have a g cow that I have a day
Speaker 3: planner that has everything in there, and then you know,
Speaker 3: I just I think it's probably the same with you.
Speaker 3: It's like if you love what you do, even when
Speaker 3: it's hard work, it's kind of like you don't mind
Speaker 3: as much and you're like, yeah, I'll just roll my
Speaker 3: sleeves and dive into that. Whether it's like acting or
Speaker 3: writing books or podcasting, it's like it's all fun to.
Speaker 4: Me ultimately, you know, So you do love it. I
Speaker 4: do love it.
Speaker 3: There are some days where I'm like, especially when I
Speaker 3: do stand up touring, where it's like, I've never been
Speaker 3: a person that's ever loved touring.
Speaker 4: Do you love to tour?
Speaker 2: You know? I liked it when I first started in
Speaker 2: the nineties with our band. There was a kind of
Speaker 2: romance to it. But the bloom is off the roads
Speaker 2: in terms of, like, you know, the actual travel and
Speaker 2: crappy hotels and like, I mean, I'm sure this is
Speaker 2: probably similar and it's a little bit of a rock
Speaker 2: and roll cliche. But I always love the show. It's
Speaker 2: like the rest of the stuff, And even if it's
Speaker 2: not a good show, I still love the show because
Speaker 2: then you go, I had this experience with this crowd,
Speaker 2: this group of people. It's never going to be the same,
Speaker 2: and if it was not as good as it could
Speaker 2: have been, then I'm going to learn and try to
Speaker 2: make it better next time, you know, whatever it happens
Speaker 2: to be. But the rest of it has gotten tiresome.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and I feel like I've gotten older.
Speaker 3: I'm I need to have my routine so I stay centered.
Speaker 3: So it's like I need to wake up at a
Speaker 3: certain time and make sure I like work out and
Speaker 3: eat like the specific breakfast that I want to eat.
Speaker 3: And touring is so much of like you're slepping around forever.
Speaker 3: And I finally got to a place where I'm not
Speaker 3: staying in like really disgusting hotels, which is nice, but
Speaker 3: that really scarred me where it's just like I don't
Speaker 3: want to like like.
Speaker 2: I didn't move around. Is you get a bus.
Speaker 4: N Kevin, I'm not as famous as you.
Speaker 2: Well, no, I don't have as either. No.
Speaker 4: I do flights and some times to train.
Speaker 3: And I remember when I did Edinburgh and twenty nineteen
Speaker 3: and I stayed at this hotel and I was checking
Speaker 3: in and I always just like check the sheets or whatever,
Speaker 3: and I pulled back and there was just massive blood
Speaker 3: stains all over the sheets and they were very unconcerned.
Speaker 3: They were like, well, it's not on the mattress.
Speaker 4: And I was like, it's.
Speaker 2: Been believing all of ye oh my god.
Speaker 4: Wow, So it's not not my favorite WHOA yeah.
Speaker 2: To what hotel, So Phoebe you have so you you
Speaker 2: you you stand up acting, podcasting. I'm interested. You're also
Speaker 2: an author, yeah, and so when you have a book out.
Speaker 2: I've never written a book, but I'm I'm assuming there's
Speaker 2: a lot of promotion that goes around that, right. What
Speaker 2: is it about writing books that? I mean, how many
Speaker 2: books have you written? I've written three, three books, so
Speaker 2: obviously you keep coming back to it. Yeah, and they're great,
Speaker 2: They're fantastic, by the way, I mean, But I but
Speaker 2: what what? What?
Speaker 4: What?
Speaker 2: Why that? Because that seems to me like it would
Speaker 2: take a lot of time and a lot of energy
Speaker 2: both to do but also to promote.
Speaker 3: Yeah, writing of everything I do is the hardest, and
Speaker 3: writing books is the hardest, which is probably why I
Speaker 3: love it because I kind of love challenges where I'm like,
Speaker 3: I don't know this is gonna be good by the end,
Speaker 3: but let's see. But I used to write all the
Speaker 3: time as a kid. I write these short stories and
Speaker 3: I was always a voracious reader. And so for me,
Speaker 3: if I could only do one thing for the rest
Speaker 3: of my life, it would be an author.
Speaker 2: I love would you No.
Speaker 4: I would do it from Brooklyn forever. But yeah.
Speaker 3: I just find that book lovers are just like some
Speaker 3: of my favorite kind of people because you're just dorky
Speaker 3: in a way that they like don't even care. They're like,
Speaker 3: we just love books, and like we don't care, like
Speaker 3: how nerdy.
Speaker 4: This makes us.
Speaker 3: And so when you just share that love with other
Speaker 3: people when you're traveling, like, it's always really fun. So
Speaker 3: the promotional part of it is really great. And so
Speaker 3: I kind of missed it this last time around because
Speaker 3: of the pandemic. When't get to do like a proper
Speaker 3: book tour. So I was a little bit bummed about that.
Speaker 3: But the first the first two books, it was just
Speaker 3: like the best.
Speaker 2: What is a book tour? Like, what do you do?
Speaker 2: You go sign it, go to the mall.
Speaker 3: You do do book signings at different bookstores. I tried
Speaker 3: to do a lot of indie bookstores, and then you know,
Speaker 3: you have like I don't know, two hundred people come out,
Speaker 3: maybe three hundred people, and then you do like a
Speaker 3: Q and A take pictures, and then I always just
Speaker 3: end up buying more books. My apartment is thirty seven
Speaker 3: percent books. Wow, it's a lot of books.
Speaker 2: Okay, I got it, I gotta I'm going to pitch
Speaker 2: you real quick. A game that we just started to play, okay,
Speaker 2: which is really fun where you go up to a
Speaker 2: bookshelf and let's say you got like four or five
Speaker 2: people there, yeah, right, and you pick a book and
Speaker 2: you read what the description of the book is, okay,
Speaker 2: and then everybody writes the first sentence of the book
Speaker 2: what they've imagined the first sentence of the book book,
Speaker 2: and in the mix is also the actual real sentence
Speaker 2: of the book that the person that book picked the book.
Speaker 2: We'll also write that down, put it in a big
Speaker 2: you know, hat, and mix it up, and then you
Speaker 2: just read them out loud, and everybody votes on what
Speaker 2: they think the actual first sentence of the book is. Now,
Speaker 2: it seems like a kind of a silly, dumb thing.
Speaker 2: It's so fun, so fun, because people write the most
Speaker 2: amazing stuff, but you you would just be it's I
Speaker 2: don't know, it's it's really really interesting and sometimes you
Speaker 2: even so if somebody picks yours, you feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: and then if you get the right the right one right,
Speaker 2: you know, anyway.
Speaker 4: That's cool. This is a game you created.
Speaker 2: Did not create a note. We were at someone's house
Speaker 2: and after dinner. They said, you want to play this
Speaker 2: game and there's no winners. You know, I guess you
Speaker 2: could probably score it if you wanted to, But it's
Speaker 2: not really like that. That's just yeah.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like those kind of games because I'm competitive.
Speaker 3: I hate to lose, so sometimes it's not fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well this would be well you if you really
Speaker 2: wanted to turn it into a competition. I guess you
Speaker 2: could maybe if you got points for getting the right
Speaker 2: one or something that. Do you love your name?
Speaker 4: Yes, I really do. I think it's a very pretty name.
Speaker 3: You don't meet a lot of black Phoebe's, so I
Speaker 3: feel I've yet to meet a black Phoebe.
Speaker 4: Actually.
Speaker 2: Do you know why I love your name?
Speaker 4: Why?
Speaker 2: Well, first off, it's just the coolest name. But and
Speaker 2: also I have it by way of comparison because I
Speaker 2: hate my name. I hate everything about it.
Speaker 4: Why what's wrong with Kevin?
Speaker 2: Kevin is an awful name? Kevin is first off, Kevin
Speaker 2: is now being used as a male Karen. I don't
Speaker 2: know if you're aware of that. Okay, so right there.
Speaker 2: It's not great. In England. Sometimes they use it as
Speaker 2: an insult, you know, like he said, Kevin. You know
Speaker 2: meaning like he's just an a hole. I don't mind keV.
Speaker 2: But then you add to it bacon, which is it's
Speaker 2: a breakfast food, you know, involves slaughtering and curing pigs,
Speaker 2: which I love pigs, and you it's a there's a
Speaker 2: lifetime of of you know, insults around your breakfast food name.
Speaker 2: But the thing about this is what I think about
Speaker 2: when I think about Phoebe Robinson. I've got Phoebe Snow.
Speaker 3: Yes, that is Jackie Robinson. My dad named me after Phoebe.
Speaker 2: Okay, really, see, I don't I don't know if you
Speaker 2: told me that.
Speaker 4: I never told you that.
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, that's what goes into my head. Phoebe Snow,
Speaker 2: Jackie Robinson. It's just it's a great it's a great name. Congratulations,
Speaker 2: Thank you.
Speaker 3: There's going to be a great white Kevin out there,
Speaker 3: that's besides you.
Speaker 2: There are no great white Kevins. That's gonna be. Maybe
Speaker 2: that should be. Maybe that should be my book, The
Speaker 2: Great White Captain.
Speaker 4: I will buy that, I will publish that. I would
Speaker 4: do all the things. That's hilarious.
Speaker 2: I want to know how did you come up with
Speaker 2: the name, your company and a book tiny reparations.
Speaker 3: So that actually started as a little bit of a
Speaker 3: joke that Jessica and I had when we had towed
Speaker 3: up Queens, because I would always be like, Okay, listen,
Speaker 3: you and I like we haven't done anything to like
Speaker 3: truly advance black people. So like we're not going to
Speaker 3: get like financial reparations, but we can get like tiny reparations,
Speaker 3: like small things like a free like phone and a
Speaker 3: gift bag or something that's like a tiny reparation.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: And I just thought, with my production.
Speaker 3: Company and my my publishing imprint, like I want to
Speaker 3: use both of those as like platforms for like other
Speaker 3: you know, under like represented voices to have their own platform.
Speaker 3: And so for me, it's like that's my way of
Speaker 3: giving back, Like that's my tiny reparation. Painting Forward.
Speaker 2: It's a great It's a great name because it is
Speaker 2: both provocative, you know, potentially controversial, and also you know,
Speaker 2: knowing you, it kind of has a sense of humor
Speaker 2: around it, you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: You get it, Kevin. If you don't write this damn book,
Speaker 3: I swear to God, should you should write a book?
Speaker 4: Would you ever do it?
Speaker 2: No? I would do Why not? Because I'm not a writer.
Speaker 2: You know, I can't write a three minute song. But
Speaker 2: I can't. I can't write a book.
Speaker 3: We'll talk offline. But a lot of these people are
Speaker 3: writing their own books.
Speaker 2: But yeah, no, okay, I don't know.
Speaker 4: I think you should do.
Speaker 3: I think you're very interesting. I think you're not overexposed,
Speaker 3: so people want to hear what.
Speaker 4: You have to say. You don't think I'm over exposed, No,
Speaker 4: I don't.
Speaker 3: I think you're in that sweet spot of being beloved.
Speaker 3: That's what I think.
Speaker 2: M Yeah, well maybe after they read the book, that's
Speaker 2: going to wane a little once they see that I
Speaker 2: can't write it all. But thank you for that, thank
Speaker 2: you for that vote of confidence. I will I will
Speaker 2: start thinking about it. I mean, I guess my my
Speaker 2: resistance to it is a little bit like, see, your
Speaker 2: books are are different because they are specifically about like
Speaker 2: individual kind of concepts. You're not stopping at age sixty
Speaker 2: five and saying, let me tell you all about my
Speaker 2: glorious life. You know what I mean. It's like it's
Speaker 2: like for me, first off, I don't think it's that interesting. Really,
Speaker 2: I mean, it hasn't been you know, there just hasn't
Speaker 2: been stuff that's that interesting in my life. And I
Speaker 2: also kind of feel like it's a little I don't know,
Speaker 2: it's just not my thing.
Speaker 3: But also money, you know, like you would get a
Speaker 3: lot really Yeah, hang.
Speaker 2: On, hit the cough butt in.
Speaker 4: That sweet case.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tell me about your involvement with Red.
Speaker 3: I'm curious, Okay, I love talking about Red. I could
Speaker 3: talk about it all the time. So growing up, two
Speaker 3: things people who know about me. As a teenager, I
Speaker 3: was obsessed with you too, probably started at age thirteen.
Speaker 4: I know that, Yes, you know that.
Speaker 3: And I would always after school, I would come home
Speaker 3: and watch Oprah like many people do. And you know,
Speaker 3: I always sort of follow like Bono's sort of like
Speaker 3: philanthropic work. And then he was on Oprah talking about Red,
Speaker 3: which he co founded with Bobby Bobby Shriver. And you know,
Speaker 3: first of all, Bono is like just a brilliant, brilliant person,
Speaker 3: biggest heart. I was hoping he's gonna be my husband,
Speaker 3: but he's just like married to like the best person ever.
Speaker 2: So I started watching this great show called.
Speaker 4: Badis his daughter's daughter.
Speaker 2: I didn't know it was his daughter, and somebody somebody
Speaker 2: told me, oh, yeah, that show is banging I love
Speaker 2: that show anyway, go ahead, and she's awesome in it. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if she's listening.
Speaker 3: What this family too talented? That's what I gotta say
Speaker 3: that we gotta bring We got to bring them.
Speaker 4: Down a notch.
Speaker 3: That's what this podcast is really about. No, No, it's okay,
Speaker 3: but yeah. So, you know, I remember Donald talking about
Speaker 3: Red and just sort of like raising all this awareness
Speaker 3: about fighting AIDS in Africa, and you know, of course
Speaker 3: we all remember like the Red Gap T shirts or
Speaker 3: even like now have like the red like iPhone case,
Speaker 3: and it just really I think I've kind of always
Speaker 3: come from a do gooder family, like my brother does
Speaker 3: works at a nonprofit in Ohio called Reading Partners, and
Speaker 3: so I really just resonated with the passion that he
Speaker 3: expressed about Red and sort of like making sure that
Speaker 3: we keep fighting the injustices that are happening, making sure
Speaker 3: that people can get the medicine they need to stay alive.
Speaker 3: And I think one of the things that really stuck
Speaker 3: out to me about Red is that they partner with
Speaker 3: other brands to raise his money, and people can buy
Speaker 3: certain Red theme products so they can feel like they're participating.
Speaker 3: But most I feel what I love about RED is
Speaker 3: that it's not just like okay, like you give this money,
Speaker 3: you like save a life. It's about making sure that
Speaker 3: people have really full, nuanced lives so they can go
Speaker 3: on like have families, be teachers.
Speaker 4: We have like a lot of them become global health workers.
Speaker 3: So if you have someone who's in this fight on
Speaker 3: the ground, like they have all this knowledge that they
Speaker 3: can then help continue this fight. And so for me,
Speaker 3: it just always felt like this is an emergency. And
Speaker 3: I think sometimes people can feel like, Okay, yeah, we've
Speaker 3: talked about or we've heard about it, let's move on,
Speaker 3: and it's like no, no, no, no.
Speaker 4: We have to keep the foot on the gas.
Speaker 3: And I really love that RED is making sure that
Speaker 3: we do not forget how much of an emergency it
Speaker 3: is to fight HIV and AIDS.
Speaker 2: That's amazing. Well, I want to bring on Jennifer Lo Tito,
Speaker 2: who is the president and coo. Oh what a coo
Speaker 2: Chief Operating Officer. Yeah, I've read. One of the things
Speaker 2: we'd like to do on this podcast is we do have,
Speaker 2: you know, famous people who care about things, but we
Speaker 2: also want to highlight the work that the not famous
Speaker 2: people are doing behind the scenes. And on the ground
Speaker 2: because it is important work. So tell me about yourself
Speaker 2: and how you got involved with this.
Speaker 5: Well, first of all, I want to thank you so
Speaker 5: much for having me here. This is a dream come true.
Speaker 5: You guys have known each other, obviously, we've never met.
Speaker 5: I can now say I have one degree of separation
Speaker 5: from Kevin Bacon. I'm sure that's the most annoying thing
Speaker 5: anybody says to you.
Speaker 4: Yes, annoying.
Speaker 2: I mean the podcast is called six Degrees. I mean,
Speaker 2: I can't complain too much.
Speaker 4: Okay, Well, I'll also be the name of his book that.
Speaker 5: Phoebe will be ghostwriting.
Speaker 2: Yes, there you go.
Speaker 4: Oh that'd be great.
Speaker 5: No, I'm a huge podcast fan, so I'm really excited
Speaker 5: to be here today. Uh yeah, I mean I got
Speaker 5: into this. I started my career in advertising, and I
Speaker 5: spent my time from voting everything from an American Express
Speaker 5: card to General Motors Trucks IBM, and I sort of
Speaker 5: felt like, what am I doing small children at the time,
Speaker 5: and I thought to myself, this is just making money
Speaker 5: for the man. And I thought, how do I take
Speaker 5: my skills and use them for something good? And the
Speaker 5: irony is that what Red does is so marketing and
Speaker 5: creative focused. As Phoebe talked about, this is about getting
Speaker 5: the man to make the contribution. So when you walk
Speaker 5: into an Apple phone and you buy a red iPhone
Speaker 5: instead of a black one, it's going to cost exactly
Speaker 5: the same, it's going to work exactly the same. But
Speaker 5: when you choose the red one, that makes Apple give
Speaker 5: the money. I think that's kind of genius. And when
Speaker 5: you think about it, and when.
Speaker 2: Bond, how long has that been going on? By the way, so.
Speaker 5: RED was started about sixteen years ago and I've been
Speaker 5: doing this for about fourteen so it's been a long
Speaker 5: time and it's a very unique model. I think there's
Speaker 5: a lot of things out there, whether it's Newman's own
Speaker 5: or there's a lot that's happening when you think about
Speaker 5: corporate social responsibility, which I hate that name, but what
Speaker 5: RED wants to do is go in and talk to
Speaker 5: the marketing and creative geniuses at these companies. We know
Speaker 5: they're there and we want them to be fighting on
Speaker 5: behalf of the world's port and that's what we're doing.
Speaker 5: So when I left the advertising business and came here,
Speaker 5: I knew I was going to be able to take
Speaker 5: my skills and apply them to having the impact that
Speaker 5: Phoebe just talked about. So for me not only as
Speaker 5: being here today a dream come true. I like to
Speaker 5: think that my job is too.
Speaker 2: How do you think that celebrities such as Phoebe kind
Speaker 2: of fit into this mix? Because I think sometimes it's
Speaker 2: a touchy kind of, you know world. I think a
Speaker 2: lot of times, you know, we take hits for being
Speaker 2: sort of peripherally involved in things and also for using
Speaker 2: this you know, kind of cause based side of your
Speaker 2: life as a way to you know, pump up your
Speaker 2: image in some kind of way. So how how does
Speaker 2: that this is really for both of you? How how
Speaker 2: do you feel about the way that celebrity can interface
Speaker 2: with causes.
Speaker 5: It's tricky and it's gotten harder. I would say all
Speaker 5: celebrities are under a massive microscope, which is a good
Speaker 5: thing and a bad thing. I think Red never wants
Speaker 5: anybody to join because of the celebrity factor. But then
Speaker 5: at the same time, right, you want everybody to have integrity,
Speaker 5: You want everybody to do this because they believe in
Speaker 5: the mission. I think that's a little Pollyanna. I think
Speaker 5: you've got to get you need people like Phoebe and others,
Speaker 5: and we've been blessed at Red to have this, and
Speaker 5: you know it comes from our co founders that have
Speaker 5: helped enable this.
Speaker 4: You need the heat.
Speaker 5: You need the heat that people like Oprah, as Phoebe
Speaker 5: talked about, that they can bring to this issue. Unfortunately,
Speaker 5: we live in a celebrity obsessed culture, so we need
Speaker 5: that to get people to give a hoot. As Phoebe said, also,
Speaker 5: it is people are tired of AIDS, they're tired of
Speaker 5: talking about it. They want it to just be done. Unfortunately,
Speaker 5: it's still a crisis. There's still twelve thousand people dying
Speaker 5: every week of a disease that's preventable and treatable. So
Speaker 5: you know, there's nobody that should be dying in this
Speaker 5: day and age in twenty twenty two, twenty twenty three.
Speaker 5: We know how to stop it, and we know how
Speaker 5: to suppress it enough that you can leave lead along
Speaker 5: healthy life. We need people who can help us tell
Speaker 5: that story, and that's exactly what we're doing today. But
Speaker 5: that's also you know, whether you're George Clooney or your
Speaker 5: you know, Julia Roberts or other people, we have been
Speaker 5: blessed or Oprah Winfrey, other people we have been blessed
Speaker 5: to help get our message out there. After sixteen years,
Speaker 5: you've got to keep doing it. And I think for us,
Speaker 5: what's also really really important is that, unfortunately with AIDS,
Speaker 5: as we saw with COVID, there are marginalized communities that
Speaker 5: are being affected more so than others. So whether you're LGBT,
Speaker 5: whether you're young women and girls, those are people who
Speaker 5: we need to connect with and we need to support,
Speaker 5: and we need to get people to care about and
Speaker 5: that just gets harder and harder. So you need people
Speaker 5: who are invested, and you need brands that are invested.
Speaker 5: I don't want a brand to come to me and
Speaker 5: say I want this is when you know the phone
Speaker 5: call is just going to end. I have this great idea,
Speaker 5: I want to give this much money and will Bono
Speaker 5: come and sing at my party. No, that's that's not strategic.
Speaker 5: That is one off. That's very opportunistic. We need people
Speaker 5: who are invested in this for the long haul.
Speaker 2: It's interesting because that is a very very different ask
Speaker 2: than actually believing in the cause. And yeah, it's it's
Speaker 2: it's it's it's a it's not just quit pro quo.
Speaker 2: You know there is a different There is a different
Speaker 2: approach for sure.
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Speaker 2: What is the focus right now globally and what does
Speaker 2: the actual work on the ground look like.
Speaker 5: So the reason why Red focuses in Sub Saharan Africa
Speaker 5: sub Saharan Africa is because over two thirds of the
Speaker 5: cases of HIV that's where they live. So that is
Speaker 5: where the need is the greatest. It obviously exists here,
Speaker 5: It exists here in New York City, it exists in Washington,
Speaker 5: DC and other places. But really, when you look at
Speaker 5: the problem now where the majority of the cases are.
Speaker 5: So we need to get into those countries on the
Speaker 5: ground in Africa and get people tested if they're positive,
Speaker 5: get them on treatment, and making sure that if they're
Speaker 5: a HIV positive mother, they're on treatment, their baby will
Speaker 5: be born negative. But also if you're on treatment, there
Speaker 5: is almost a triple whammy because you end up being
Speaker 5: healthy and can live a healthy life your partner, your
Speaker 5: viral load is suppressed to the degree that you're not
Speaker 5: passing it on to your partner, and then if you
Speaker 5: have children, they will be born healthy. So we really
Speaker 5: need to get out there. We've got to get people tested.
Speaker 5: We've got to work on programs that are addressing stigma
Speaker 5: issues that are stopping people from getting tested. We also
Speaker 5: have to recognize the impact of COVID. Over the past
Speaker 5: two years, you can see in clinical.
Speaker 2: COVID increase the amount of cases of AIDS or decreased.
Speaker 5: What I would say is it's impacted the progress of
Speaker 5: HIV AIDS because people were not getting tested, if they
Speaker 5: were fearful of going into a clinic because they might
Speaker 5: get COVID while they were there. Sure they need if
Speaker 5: you are jav positive, you have to stay on treatment
Speaker 5: every single day. They maybe weren't going in to get
Speaker 5: their meds, and so for us there has been an impact.
Speaker 5: And also your healthcare system is taxed. We saw this
Speaker 5: in New York City.
Speaker 2: What about the manufacturing of drugs.
Speaker 5: The manufacturing is continuing. We just got to make sure
Speaker 5: that we're getting people to get on the drugs and
Speaker 5: stay on the drugs. You know, Phoebe and I were
Speaker 5: recently in Tanzania, and you see these stories of health
Speaker 5: systems that just are not able to keep track of
Speaker 5: people and you've got to adhere to your treatment and
Speaker 5: that's really critical. So what we're seeing on the ground
Speaker 5: is really great progress that may be stymied by COVID,
Speaker 5: but we know how to do this. We just need
Speaker 5: to keep that foot on the gas and make sure
Speaker 5: we're doing that.
Speaker 2: Peve, tell me about the trip to Tanzania.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I've been lucky enough to go twice.
Speaker 3: I went due to trips to Africa with Red and
Speaker 3: twenty nineteen I did Zambia and then we did Tanzania,
Speaker 3: like very recently, And for me, what was always great
Speaker 3: about it was, yes, you could see, you know, the
Speaker 3: impact is having health wise, but then it's like you
Speaker 3: meet people who get on the drugs and then they
Speaker 3: start their own businesses and so then you can see
Speaker 3: that it's not just about staying alive, but it's about
Speaker 3: having a long, rich life, and so for me that
Speaker 3: was always very powerful, especially seeing women overcome so much
Speaker 3: strifed to now be financially independent, to be up to
Speaker 3: date on all things in terms of their own health
Speaker 3: and passing that information along. And so for me, it's
Speaker 3: always a very enriching experience to go, oh, yeah, that's right,
Speaker 3: Just this one pill radiates out and like it can
Speaker 3: help rebuild a community. And I think that's sometimes when
Speaker 3: Jim was talking about people getting feeling the fatigue of
Speaker 3: talking about AIDS, it's like we have to stay invigorated
Speaker 3: because it's like we don't want these community needs to
Speaker 3: die out. It's not just one person, it's tons of people.
Speaker 3: And so with both trips, I felt like going to
Speaker 3: the hospitals, going to these women led businesses, going to
Speaker 3: these after school programming programs that are teaching young kids
Speaker 3: about sex and sex health. I mean, it's just it's
Speaker 3: like once in a lifetime experience, and I think once
Speaker 3: you go, there's no way you're not going to be
Speaker 3: passionate about it.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you mentioned something and I and you
Speaker 2: mentioned it as well, which is the educational piece of
Speaker 2: it is also like super important. I mean I've heard,
Speaker 2: you know that people have just a complete misunderstanding of
Speaker 2: both about the ways you can get AIDS and whether
Speaker 2: what the what the ramifications are of it. Not to
Speaker 2: mention the stigma of shame. I mean, I would think
Speaker 2: that there has to be a lot of kind of
Speaker 2: training around that.
Speaker 5: But I think when we were in Tanzania, we went
Speaker 5: to this very rural Massi village and we met a
Speaker 5: father there whose daughter was HIV positive, was in a
Speaker 5: terrible marriage. He was supporting the daughter, which is unheard of,
Speaker 5: so the daughter ended up leaving her husband, unheard of
Speaker 5: in the Massi village that we were in, and then
Speaker 5: helping everybody in the village understand, hey, there's a clinic
Speaker 5: down the street, down the road, you need to get tested.
Speaker 5: There is treatment available. You know, in a lot of
Speaker 5: these very rural places, there's herbal medicines or remedies that
Speaker 5: they think about and it's like no, no, no, no, you
Speaker 5: got to get in there. And so what's incredible is
Speaker 5: to go on the ground and see that there is
Speaker 5: these types of small impacts. When you think about a
Speaker 5: tribal leader, a village leader and him talking about I
Speaker 5: want my daughter to be safe. I want her to
Speaker 5: be in school, I want her children to be in school,
Speaker 5: and I want to tell everybody about it. That is
Speaker 5: pretty unheard of, and that's the type of stuff that
Speaker 5: you're not going to see anywhere. And I think you
Speaker 5: know a lot of us we've lived this. We've seen it,
Speaker 5: you know, in the eighties and nineties, and we saw
Speaker 5: the entertainment industry, in the theater industry decimated by this virus.
Speaker 5: We're not seeing that. We see people who are HIV
Speaker 5: positive in their living their lives. But everybody should have
Speaker 5: that opportunity. And that's really what we're focused on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's amazing. Can you tell us what the call
Speaker 2: to action is? I mean, anything specific that people can
Speaker 2: do to reach out and help.
Speaker 5: Absolutely. I think we live in a digital age, so
Speaker 5: it's always about going to red dot org. We are
Speaker 5: always about buying red products. If you walk into an
Speaker 5: Apple store, there are red jeeps. Also, there are red
Speaker 5: fiats if you're in Europe. I don't know if it
Speaker 5: will be heard in Europe, but red jeeps, red ram trucks.
Speaker 5: We've got, like I said, Apple watches, Apple products.
Speaker 2: Does this mean that they've agreed to give a percentage
Speaker 2: of the money sold on that phone or that truck.
Speaker 5: Exactly exactly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I wish there was a Yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean that. Well, I mean this is how we're doing it. Yeah, folks,
Speaker 2: ask ask for your whatever it is in red. Yes,
Speaker 2: red looks great. Red dot org. And you know what
Speaker 2: if if you wanted your phone in a different color,
Speaker 2: just put it in a case.
Speaker 5: Put it in a red case, exactly like Phoebe's got
Speaker 5: right here.
Speaker 4: I have a purple phone inside a red case.
Speaker 5: Well, it should be a red phone inside a red case.
Speaker 5: But we'll work on that.
Speaker 4: When we leave, Phoebe, I've just been kicked out.
Speaker 5: Yeah, exactly, but no, I mean going onto red dot org.
Speaker 5: What's really important for us is people to follow us,
Speaker 5: hear about the latest news, so that when we launch
Speaker 5: new products, they can hear about it and see them
Speaker 5: and buy them. And at the end of the day,
Speaker 5: that's what this is all about. In September, this makes
Speaker 5: me nervous to even say it. In September, when the
Speaker 5: world came together for the Global Fund replenishment, the Global
Speaker 5: Fund being the beneficiary of all our money, we stepped
Speaker 5: up with world leaders. I think we were the fourteenth
Speaker 5: largest pledge amongst other countries, and we pledged one hundred
Speaker 5: and fifty million dollars to be generated over the next years.
Speaker 5: We've already generated seven hundred million, So God helped me.
Speaker 5: We have a lot of work to do, but I
Speaker 5: am thrilled to be working with Phoebe and others who
Speaker 5: are helping us do it.
Speaker 2: That's so great. Well, you know, it's interesting. I mean
Speaker 2: when I think about this, this idea for this podcast.
Speaker 2: You know, Phoebe, you were you two fan and then
Speaker 2: so you were pretty much checking out everything that Bonna
Speaker 2: was doing, including being on Oprah where you heard about
Speaker 2: about red and therefore got involved. So it's it's a
Speaker 2: pretty good example of the way that celebrity, you know,
Speaker 2: actually can have a positive influence. And I mean, if
Speaker 2: it worked for you, you know, I mean, it's I
Speaker 2: think can work for other people too. I think it's
Speaker 2: I think it's really it's really cool and it's really
Speaker 2: impressive about it. We just want before we close out
Speaker 2: to let you guys go, But I want to ask
Speaker 2: you both if you can think of what was the
Speaker 2: what was the moment or was there a moment when
Speaker 2: you decided that doing something outside of just taking care
Speaker 2: of number one. You know, was something that you wanted
Speaker 2: to get involved with? Was it your parents? Was it
Speaker 2: Bono on Oprah? I mean yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean I've been doing comedy since two thousand and eight,
Speaker 3: and you know, when I started working with Red, I
Speaker 3: want to say in twenty seventeen, and I think around
Speaker 3: that time, like two both the Queens was starting to
Speaker 3: pop off, and I was doing some writing stuff, and
Speaker 3: you know, I would get these messages like, oh, I
Speaker 3: listened to the podcast and it helped me and my
Speaker 3: sick mom get through like the holidays or what have you.
Speaker 3: And like you get those messages, you kind of go, oh,
Speaker 3: I have a platform here that it's not just like, yes,
Speaker 3: people listen to laugh and be entertained and forget their problems,
Speaker 3: but it's like people could also potentially listen to what
Speaker 3: I have to say and that could make a positive impact.
Speaker 3: And me already being involved, being obsessed with Red and
Speaker 3: bonoing you too, I was just like, is there any
Speaker 3: way that I can help? I will do whatever, And
Speaker 3: so I really just came knocking on the door and
Speaker 3: I said, what do you need of me?
Speaker 4: Like how can I get involved?
Speaker 3: And it's been in great relationships since, and so I
Speaker 3: feel like, for me, I just am in a place
Speaker 3: where I'm like, I have such a blessed life, such
Speaker 3: a lucky life, and I just want to make sure
Speaker 3: that I'm giving some of that back.
Speaker 4: I don't want to hoard it all, you know.
Speaker 2: And Jen, you mentioned that you were kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: working in corporate America. But before that, was there something
Speaker 2: in your childhood or that that sent you down this path?
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 5: It's interesting because I grew up in Boston and it
Speaker 5: was actually I was raised the opposite. I was raised
Speaker 5: by I don't want to say a concern a family,
Speaker 5: but my family was very much of the pull yourself
Speaker 5: up by your bootstraps. You don't need the government, you
Speaker 5: don't need to take any handouts. You're just going to
Speaker 5: get it done yourself. And so I actually grew up
Speaker 5: with the opposite, and I thought that's the way everybody was.
Speaker 5: And then I met my late husband, and he had
Speaker 5: a mom who had MS and he was living based
Speaker 5: on government support because you know, his father worked in
Speaker 5: a printing factory and they did not have much money
Speaker 5: and his mother needed twenty four seven care. And I
Speaker 5: realized in that moment. This isn't about handouts. This is
Speaker 5: about they have this incredible family and all of them
Speaker 5: came together around his mother, but what they were in
Speaker 5: a tough situation and thank god the government was able
Speaker 5: to help them. And what's interesting is then my parents
Speaker 5: met my husband and his family, and I would say, now,
Speaker 5: my parents are totally diff They completely understand. They loved
Speaker 5: Mike and they loved his family, and you know, they
Speaker 5: were just in a horrible circumstance. That's nobody's fault. And
Speaker 5: so I think that was the moment where I thought
Speaker 5: to myself, what am I doing? And also having kids,
Speaker 5: I think when you are going to leave all day
Speaker 5: and be at a job, you want it to be
Speaker 5: something that you love. But it's also want to be
Speaker 5: something that your kids can look up to you for.
Speaker 5: And for me, Red provided me with that opportunity. They
Speaker 5: know that when I go on a trip to Africa
Speaker 5: and I when they were really young and I was
Speaker 5: doing that, that was hard, but I felt okay about
Speaker 5: it because I saw the impact and I want to hope,
Speaker 5: even though they're cranky teenagers, I do want to hope
Speaker 5: that it made an impact.
Speaker 2: It did it?
Speaker 5: Did I hope.
Speaker 2: So yeah, it did.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I want to say one more thing about RED
Speaker 3: that I really love, if I may course, But I
Speaker 3: think one of the things that really resonated with me
Speaker 3: and maybe want to get involved, is that it's not
Speaker 3: a charity.
Speaker 4: It's not like you says about handouts.
Speaker 3: Is about justice and sort of right sizing everything and
Speaker 3: giving people the opportunity to be educated so then they
Speaker 3: can then stand on their own two feet. And I
Speaker 3: think that, to me is what makes RED so special,
Speaker 3: is that it's not about having people being dependent on Red.
Speaker 3: It's about being like, here's this information, here's this knowledge,
Speaker 3: here's this money, and now you go forth and build
Speaker 3: the communities that you want to build and to empower
Speaker 3: people like that I think is really important is how
Speaker 3: we're going to beat.
Speaker 5: This and just going to take my job and it's
Speaker 5: all good.
Speaker 2: Well, speaking of jobs, when you go to work tomorrow,
Speaker 2: what are.
Speaker 5: You going to do when I go, Well, World Dad's
Speaker 5: Day is on is on Thursday, So I'm going to
Speaker 5: probably do some media and I will talk to our
Speaker 5: partners and make sure they're doing everything that they are
Speaker 5: that they can to get out there and spread the
Speaker 5: word about RED, just as we're doing, and also bringing
Speaker 5: new brands in. We've got to really engage people and
Speaker 5: bring in new audiences and all of that is a
Speaker 5: way to get people to care.
Speaker 2: Soies. Besides, if anyone who actually has a brand is
Speaker 2: listening to this, that's another thing you can do besides
Speaker 2: buying a Red iPhone or Reggie. If you're a brand,
Speaker 2: you can you can get in touch.
Speaker 5: You can write to the brand and say why aren't
Speaker 5: you a Red partner?
Speaker 2: There you go, there you go, And what's up for you? Thieves?
Speaker 2: What's next?
Speaker 3: Oh gosh, my brage is chrismas Christmas?
Speaker 4: Yeah, relaxing.
Speaker 3: I have an idea for a romantic comedy nice, So
Speaker 3: I'm going to write that and then I'm going to
Speaker 3: start back doing toriri and stand up. I haven't toured
Speaker 3: since twenty nineteen because you know, obviously COVID shut everything down.
Speaker 3: Now I'm ready to get back on the road and
Speaker 3: tell smart dick jokes.
Speaker 2: Okay, I like it. Twenty twenty three, twenty twenty three,
Speaker 2: Smart Dick Jokes, Phoebe Robinson, it's the Smart Dick Jokes
Speaker 2: Tour Ladies.
Speaker 4: Yes, there you go, that's the title in a thousand.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Thank you guys so much. This has been really fun.
Speaker 2: Thank you appreciate your being Hey guys. If you want
Speaker 2: to learn more about RED and its current initiatives, or
Speaker 2: if you are a brand that's interested in collaborating with them,
Speaker 2: head to red dot org. You can find a link
Speaker 2: in our show notes, and if you like what you're here,
Speaker 2: make sure you subscribe to the show and tune in
Speaker 2: to the rest of our episodes. You can find six
Speaker 2: Degrees with Kevin Bacon on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 2: or wherever you can get your podcasts. We'll see you
Speaker 2: next time.