Speaker 1: Hello Sunshine, Hey besties.
Speaker 2: Today on the bright Side, we're joined by the one,
Speaker 2: the only, Mikayla J Rodriguez. She's here to talk about
Speaker 2: her trailblazing career, from her Golden Globe winning role in
Speaker 2: Pose to her more recent performance in the Apple TV
Speaker 2: comedy series Lute, and now MICHAELA. Jay is coming out
Speaker 2: with a debut album next month. It's Tuesday, August thirteenth.
Speaker 2: I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 3: I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Speaker 3: Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
Speaker 3: share women's stories, to laugh, learn and brighten your day. Okay, Simone,
Speaker 3: I'm gonna take us back for a second. Let me
Speaker 3: set the scene for you, New York City, nineteen eighty seven.
Speaker 4: Okay, the ball scene. Yes, it's giving glitter vogue hands.
Speaker 3: I'm talking about the show Pose and our guest today,
Speaker 3: Mikayla Jay was a star of that show.
Speaker 4: I even say the breakout star. It was so fun
Speaker 4: to watch.
Speaker 3: It gave us fishnets and drama and Donna summer music,
Speaker 3: and it also gave us heartfelt and real and an
Speaker 3: inside look into the experiences of the LGBTQ community at
Speaker 3: that time.
Speaker 2: You couldn't help but fall in love with each and
Speaker 2: every one of those characters. Yes, they were so lovable.
Speaker 3: So the show also really highlighted the experiences of queer
Speaker 3: and trans people of color. There's a writer from The
Speaker 3: Guardian that wrote something about the show Pose that I
Speaker 3: think covers it better than I could.
Speaker 1: They wrote, the story is achingly.
Speaker 3: Now and as old as the Hollywood Hills, and I
Speaker 3: think that's part of what people loved about it. It
Speaker 3: gave us a look into a time period that we
Speaker 3: hadn't seen depict it on TV before in a narrative way.
Speaker 3: It was the height of the AIDS epidemic. This show
Speaker 3: was also completely universal. It was a guide for living life,
Speaker 3: for encouraging people to stand up for themselves, uplifting each other,
Speaker 3: and to pose proudly in their purpose. You know, sometimes
Speaker 3: the right TV series comes along at the moment that
Speaker 3: we need it, and that was Pose.
Speaker 2: Well. We see so much trans struggle, pain, heartbreak, and
Speaker 2: Pose did not shy away from that. It was so
Speaker 2: honest about that. But it was really heartening to see
Speaker 2: the joy on full display on the ballroom floor and
Speaker 2: to see the bridges that this community has built.
Speaker 3: Yeah, You're right because with any minority group, we don't
Speaker 3: often see the joy, we see the struggle.
Speaker 4: That's such a good point.
Speaker 3: And I think that word community is the word I
Speaker 3: think of when I think of that show, because the
Speaker 3: show was centered around chosen family, chosen community, which is
Speaker 3: such a buzzword in the LGBTQ community because there's still
Speaker 3: so many people whose birth families don't embrace them. So
Speaker 3: the show debuted in twenty eighteen and it ran until
Speaker 3: twenty twenty one. But here's the thing, we're still talking
Speaker 3: about it.
Speaker 1: It had such a.
Speaker 3: Lasting impact on people, and Mikayla Jay's role as Blanca
Speaker 3: Evangelista launched her into the spotlight. That performance actually earned
Speaker 3: Mikayla Jay her first Emmy nomination and Golden Globe. It
Speaker 3: made her the first transactress to win the award.
Speaker 2: Truly iconic, and since then, Mikayla Jay has taken Hollywood
Speaker 2: by storms. She's starred in an American horror story and
Speaker 2: Loot alongside Maya Rudolph, and now she's making some music, y'all.
Speaker 2: Her debut album, titled thirty three, is out next month
Speaker 2: on September twenty sixth, and it explores themes of resilience
Speaker 2: and self discovery through the eyes of a very sexy
Speaker 2: avatar named Mikayla J three three f seven. So with
Speaker 2: this concept album, Mikayla Jay said she wanted to create
Speaker 2: a quote deeply flawed but resilient hero that young people
Speaker 2: can look up to.
Speaker 3: And even though this may be a new venture, Mikayla
Speaker 3: Jay knows music. She attended the Berkeley College of Music
Speaker 3: in Boston and soon after got her start in an
Speaker 3: off Broadway production of Rent, which we love.
Speaker 2: Yeah, she actually fell in love with music first and
Speaker 2: then acting came second.
Speaker 1: She really did us at all.
Speaker 4: Mikayla Jay. Welcome to the bright Side.
Speaker 1: Yes, welcome. What's that? What's that? What's up?
Speaker 2: You know what?
Speaker 4: We actually have to rewind.
Speaker 3: I have to do that again because our guest today
Speaker 3: requires a different introduction. Oh okay, and the category is
Speaker 3: oare somebody had to do it.
Speaker 1: Somebody had to do it. I'll take that. I'll take it. Respect.
Speaker 4: Thank you for not shaving me for the corny intro.
Speaker 5: I had to No, that's home right there, Yes, no
Speaker 5: puns intended, No puns intended. I just realized I said home,
Speaker 5: and that s pose home this is needed. We're never
Speaker 5: mad at that.
Speaker 3: Well. I wanted to talk to you about your home
Speaker 3: because I found out last night that you were from.
Speaker 4: Newark, New Jersey.
Speaker 3: Bricksy Loot American horror story pose one of my favorites.
Speaker 3: You're so Hollywood. Now are you still a Jersey girl
Speaker 3: or you? Have you gone full blown Hollywood?
Speaker 5: Oh no, She's going to be Jersey all day every day.
Speaker 1: You just you want people to take it out of
Speaker 1: me at all.
Speaker 2: Okay, Mikayla, So you recently turned thirty three. You're also
Speaker 2: out with your debut album, also titled thirty three. It
Speaker 2: seems like you are commemorating this big milestone with this year.
Speaker 2: What does this year mean to you?
Speaker 1: It means a lot to me.
Speaker 5: I mean, there's so much that has happened within this
Speaker 5: year as far as growth when it comes to me
Speaker 5: as a person, realizing, rectifying, changing, this year has been
Speaker 5: very prolific for me, and I thought it was only
Speaker 5: right to come out with a body of work, a
Speaker 5: project of work that will really showcase what I've gone through,
Speaker 5: the stories that I can create, how creative I am,
Speaker 5: and how people can really get an understanding of me.
Speaker 5: And I thought the best way to do it was
Speaker 5: through music. So I think that's like the best kind
Speaker 5: of like layout I can give.
Speaker 2: Which song do you think best represents the growth that
Speaker 2: you've experienced why?
Speaker 5: It is basically a song about asking why am I
Speaker 5: treated the way as I'm treated as a trans person
Speaker 5: of color in the world of America and even when
Speaker 5: I and I'm sure any woman in the world could
Speaker 5: understand this because women go through this all the time.
Speaker 5: But like that song, I asked all the questions of why,
Speaker 5: like why am I placed here when I could be
Speaker 5: placed here? And my sisters as well? Why are they
Speaker 5: placed here when I could be or we could be
Speaker 5: placed here? Why are we treated the ways that we're treated?
Speaker 5: Why are we deemed other than a human?
Speaker 3: Why?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 1: Why? Why?
Speaker 5: Why is no one doing the work to lay down
Speaker 5: the foundation for us to feel comfortable in the being
Speaker 5: spaces that we need to be in.
Speaker 1: Why?
Speaker 5: And I think that was the growth that I had
Speaker 5: is you should always ask questions, never be afraid to
Speaker 5: ask questions, and also never be said that you don't
Speaker 5: get an answer, that might be your true answer right
Speaker 5: there when they're silent. So that was the main song
Speaker 5: that really spoke to me, and all of them are
Speaker 5: close to my heart.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm biased naturally.
Speaker 2: As you were talking about that, I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: I know why, because she was clearly called to do
Speaker 2: something great and to have a voice and to encourage
Speaker 2: other people to have a voice. Did you, in this
Speaker 2: process of like self discovery producing this album, did you
Speaker 2: come up with an answer to those big whys?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I think the answer for me was I wasn't being
Speaker 5: loud enough, So I guess I just got to be
Speaker 5: a little bit louder. I mean I and I say
Speaker 5: enough because I was being loud but just not enough.
Speaker 5: So I guess it's time to be a little bit louder.
Speaker 5: And I guess music can be turned up. The volume
Speaker 5: can be turned up, So I guess that's the loudest
Speaker 5: we can get is through music.
Speaker 3: This album is a celebration of your artistic expression. Yeah,
Speaker 3: and it's a concept album, it is what does that mean?
Speaker 5: So the concept album meaning like there is a story
Speaker 5: to the whole premise of why the album's coming out
Speaker 5: and who this person is. And Mikayla Jay is me
Speaker 5: present day. Mikayla Jay is the girl you're talking to
Speaker 5: right now. But like the Model thirty three of seven,
Speaker 5: she's just another hybrid form in a total different world
Speaker 5: than me who's trying to relate to the present day.
Speaker 5: She's the future, you know, So like that was the
Speaker 5: whole concept I wanted to help you people. I feel
Speaker 5: as an artist, there's this entity or this bionic being
Speaker 5: who's trying to let the president day Mion Kayla Jay
Speaker 5: know that there is something much bigger than what all
Speaker 5: of you really understand, and the only way she can
Speaker 5: do it is through her passion, which is art and music.
Speaker 5: And we all, a lot of us have the gifts
Speaker 5: and the tenacity just stand out and show up and
Speaker 5: speak through our gifts what we feel could be the
Speaker 5: bigger answer. And I think that's what this character is
Speaker 5: and who she is. And I don't know what she's
Speaker 5: going through on the other end, seems like a lot,
Speaker 5: and I don't know how I can relate to her.
Speaker 5: But all I'm doing is conveying her message through this
Speaker 5: piece of work and this body of work. I mean,
Speaker 5: when they look at her, they're going to see present
Speaker 5: day Mikaela Jay, obviously, but what they don't understand is
Speaker 5: that totally different person, totally different person from who I am.
Speaker 3: When I sit here with you present, Mikayla, you have
Speaker 3: such a bright spirit. That's the first thing I realized
Speaker 3: when you walk through the door. How does past, Michayla
Speaker 3: play into present? Who were you as a kid in Newark,
Speaker 3: New Jersey?
Speaker 5: I was a rambunctious stand out, took no mess, always
Speaker 5: had a mouth.
Speaker 1: My mouth got me in trouble a lot.
Speaker 5: I got to learn from my mama, Yeah, no mess,
Speaker 5: Like my mom had to always be like girl, you
Speaker 5: can't always just like react. And I'm glad I've grown
Speaker 5: not to react. But I think that was the strength
Speaker 5: that I had when I was younger, for people just
Speaker 5: to not play with me like I just never ever
Speaker 5: had the time for that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 5: And I think that's what made me grow into a mature, smarter,
Speaker 5: intelligent human being now as an adult, as a trans
Speaker 5: grown ass woman, you know what I mean. But when
Speaker 5: I was younger, I was fun. I was even more
Speaker 5: energetic than I am now. A child jumping off a wall,
Speaker 5: just jumping off a beds, jumping in the pools, all
Speaker 5: things everything.
Speaker 2: Okay, I think everyone's sitting at the table, we all
Speaker 2: know that names have power.
Speaker 1: And over the course of your career.
Speaker 2: We'd known you by many names, Yes, m J, Rodriguez,
Speaker 2: Angel and Rent Blanca and post yes, and now you
Speaker 2: are going by your full name, Mikayla J. And it
Speaker 2: seems like you're in this period of expansion in your
Speaker 2: life personally. So what does this expansion of your name represent.
Speaker 5: It gives people more of a personal aspect of me
Speaker 5: versus just the minimal aspect of me.
Speaker 1: MJ was my nickname for so long.
Speaker 5: And even though everybody knew me as MICHAELA Antonio J Rodriguez,
Speaker 5: MJ was what stuck. But I felt like that was
Speaker 5: just the nickname that everyone knew and it wouldn't separate
Speaker 5: me or set me apart. And then there was a
Speaker 5: resurgence when I wanted to re enter the music rum
Speaker 5: and reestablish myself and not tell myself to a name
Speaker 5: that people would probably associate with my acting or with
Speaker 5: anything else. I wanted to completely wash the slate clean
Speaker 5: and show people who I was as an artist and
Speaker 5: as a music artist. So that's why Mikaela JA was
Speaker 5: so prominent. And I didn't want to put Antonia up
Speaker 5: in there, and I didn't want Rodriguez to be there either.
Speaker 5: You know, I love my Latin. You know, people so
Speaker 5: like we always going to show up, but I wanted
Speaker 5: there to be a name that stood out and also
Speaker 5: to honor me in my initials. You know, so now
Speaker 5: people know what the initials spell out. M spells Mikayla
Speaker 5: and Jay. I mean, sound it out, it's Jae. But
Speaker 5: you know, I wanted people to see who I was
Speaker 5: as an artist and separate those two.
Speaker 1: This is a big reinvention for you. It's huge.
Speaker 5: It's huge, and like I said, I mean it's a
Speaker 5: big reinvention for President Day. Mikayla Jay, future model thirty
Speaker 5: three or seven, total different story.
Speaker 4: She's gonna thank you though hopefully.
Speaker 5: You know, if I do it right, If I don't
Speaker 5: do it right, then that means I'm not doing her
Speaker 5: mission right.
Speaker 1: I gotta do her mission right.
Speaker 3: We have to take a quick break when we come back. Artist,
Speaker 3: actress and Golden Globe winner Mikayla Ja talks pose and
Speaker 3: showing up on the screen and stage as her full self.
Speaker 4: Stay with us.
Speaker 1: We're back with Mikayla j.
Speaker 3: So, Mikayla, I have to tell you as an interviewer,
Speaker 3: as a host. As a journalist, I really.
Speaker 4: Try not to fan out. Ooh okay, and I have
Speaker 4: to fan out.
Speaker 1: To break my role.
Speaker 4: I am a pose super fan.
Speaker 3: I fell in love with you in that show, and
Speaker 3: I know I wasn't alone. It launched your career into
Speaker 3: a different stratosphere. I remember interviewing you on the red
Speaker 3: carpet at the Emmys, and everybody, all the journalists in
Speaker 3: line in that carpet were so excited for you for
Speaker 3: Billy Porter, like it meant so much to so many people.
Speaker 4: So I want to rewind for a second.
Speaker 3: Because the show's executive produced by Reese Witherspoon. She was
Speaker 3: our first interview and she talked about how one of
Speaker 3: the reasons she created Hello Sunshine was she saw all
Speaker 3: these roles for women that felt so diminishing, and I
Speaker 3: think any minority group growing up in the time that
Speaker 3: we did. I'm also thirty three, yes, felt that. And
Speaker 3: so I want to understand what was the audition landscape
Speaker 3: like for you, Like, were there any roles that you
Speaker 3: could actually audition for and feel like your full self? No?
Speaker 5: Oh, there weren't any roles that I could audition for.
Speaker 5: But I feel like there were people in the industry
Speaker 5: who saw me crazy enough, and I was blessed enough
Speaker 5: to get the roles that were representative of who I was.
Speaker 5: And I think some of them clocked it when I
Speaker 5: did Angel and Rent and mind You, like Angel is
Speaker 5: a drag queen. But I think when people saw me,
Speaker 5: they didn't see a drag queen. And that was what
Speaker 5: my whole premise of playing Angel in that time was, Like,
Speaker 5: I never saw Angel as a drag queen, whereas some
Speaker 5: actors who played Angel, they're like, no, honey, she gets
Speaker 5: out of the dragon. She's a man in the day.
Speaker 5: But like from my interpretation of Rent, Angel was not
Speaker 5: that Angel was a complete trans woman who obviously didn't
Speaker 5: have the necessary means to get all of the things
Speaker 5: that she needed, but she was living fully as who
Speaker 5: she was and that's why she would go on the
Speaker 5: streets and play drums.
Speaker 2: I'm a huge Rent heead, let me just say, And
Speaker 2: I always saw Angel as a trans woman too.
Speaker 1: You feel me, yes, like in my head too.
Speaker 5: And I mean it's debatable, trust me, Like people will
Speaker 5: say no, oh, and it's fine, that's what artist is.
Speaker 1: It's supposed to be subjective.
Speaker 5: But when I went into the role That means I
Speaker 5: had space to create a character that represented myself. And
Speaker 5: I didn't know I was subconsciously doing this. But when
Speaker 5: people would come to the show and I got opportunities
Speaker 5: my first debut on Airs Shacky, they saw me and
Speaker 5: they were like, we want you to play this character.
Speaker 5: How do you feel? And I was just like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 5: she represents me completely and they were like, okay, we
Speaker 5: get it. And it was easy. But as far as
Speaker 5: auditioning for roles, no, it was there was I don't
Speaker 5: think there was an opportunity for any trans woman at
Speaker 5: that time.
Speaker 3: It's unbelievable when I think back, like pre Liver and
Speaker 3: Cox and Orange is the New Black, and it just
Speaker 3: representation was so different.
Speaker 1: I mean, I feel like it could be better.
Speaker 4: It could be way better.
Speaker 5: I think it could be much better. I feel like,
Speaker 5: you know, there's a limitation on trans human beings. We've
Speaker 5: been under fire politically, and I think there's a narrative
Speaker 5: that's been spun around us which makes a lot of
Speaker 5: people feel uncomfortable around us, and a lot of people
Speaker 5: lump some the things that they've learned off of social
Speaker 5: media with how all trans women are supposed to act.
Speaker 1: When that's just not the truth.
Speaker 5: It's made it in these past couple of years a
Speaker 5: bit hard for us to strive because of what politically
Speaker 5: has been done to us. And I do believe it's
Speaker 5: because of what Pose has done. We made such a
Speaker 5: big impact, Thank you to Ryan Murphy. We made such
Speaker 5: a big impact as a group of trans women. It
Speaker 5: kind of ruffled things up and people wanted to put
Speaker 5: us in our place. And this is where we're at.
Speaker 4: Now, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 5: Like to tell us that we're not capable of being successful,
Speaker 5: that we're not capable of succeeding in being smart and intelligent. No,
Speaker 5: we are just supposed to be. You know how that
Speaker 5: old terminology goes, You're a child, so stay in your
Speaker 5: place or sit at the child's table. That's what it
Speaker 5: feels like. But in reality that ain't happening. Like it's
Speaker 5: just not happening. I don't see that happening on my watch,
Speaker 5: and I don't want to happen if for any of
Speaker 5: my other sisters or any other women in general.
Speaker 2: My favorite kind of art is always art that immerses
Speaker 2: us in a subculture that was previously cloaked in mystery
Speaker 2: or previously fell off limits, and that's what POS did
Speaker 2: for so many people. It's inspired by the queer ballroom
Speaker 2: seeing in New York in the eighties and early nineties,
Speaker 2: and the characters are so round and you just couldn't
Speaker 2: help but fall in love with them instantly and fall
Speaker 2: in love with the connections and the chosen families that
Speaker 2: everyone found. What has ballroom given you?
Speaker 5: A sense of self? Ballroom has definitely given me a
Speaker 5: sense of self. My mother instilled that in me, obviously
Speaker 5: through the trace of what a mom could give. And
Speaker 5: then after you grow up, you're like, I need to
Speaker 5: find people who are around me who understand me. And
Speaker 5: you know, I mean though my mother understands me completely
Speaker 5: and loves me, that's my mother. I don't have friends
Speaker 5: or peers to really help me grow in that space.
Speaker 5: I want to ventureround and see what the environment's going
Speaker 5: to give me. Now, mostly walking down the streets of
Speaker 5: New York City. You know, the environment and what it's
Speaker 5: going to give you is going to be straight up,
Speaker 5: real and honest, and that's what I wanted.
Speaker 1: So I found the ballroom scene, and I found.
Speaker 5: It through my high school and it was through my
Speaker 5: house father where everything sprawled out and I was going
Speaker 5: back and forth. I didn't stay that long but four
Speaker 5: years of all of my high school years, and then
Speaker 5: went to college and kind of focused on my true passion,
Speaker 5: which was the arts. But well, while I was in
Speaker 5: high school, that was where I thrived and growing and
Speaker 5: learning about my queer community. And high school was full
Speaker 5: of queer people, so it was amazing.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Okay, as I was watching Pose, I couldn't help
Speaker 2: but wonder, how are your millennial hips and knees doing?
Speaker 1: Fantastic?
Speaker 2: Okay, fantastic. The category is orthopetic surgery.
Speaker 5: Yo, No for real, though, Like, can I just tell
Speaker 5: you though I have not felt I'm so glad we
Speaker 5: can talk about these things at our wonderful middle age.
Speaker 3: Life.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're right, I got like four years. We do.
Speaker 5: But like I'm always trying to wonder. I'm like, well,
Speaker 5: I feel young, we look young as hell, like, but.
Speaker 1: What like what is this? And it's all about how
Speaker 1: you feel? It's sued. It's the third it's.
Speaker 5: A third thank you, thank you. I'm gonna take that
Speaker 5: and I'm stealing it. Thank you for my thirty third year.
Speaker 5: I feel like I've been in this really clear space
Speaker 5: of like Oh, I'm mature, I'm grown.
Speaker 1: I can make decisions on my own. But I can
Speaker 1: also be a little bit fruitful.
Speaker 5: And young and like cheeky if I wanted to, maybe,
Speaker 5: mm hmm maybe.
Speaker 1: But for real, do you hear the knees cracking.
Speaker 2: Like I do?
Speaker 1: Because ever never? I'm sorry, what is the secret diet?
Speaker 5: And try to take a walk ever so often when
Speaker 5: you can, so you can stress those legs out. I
Speaker 5: work out to work out because your body's on point
Speaker 5: that whole thing.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 2: That's so sweet. But my knees be cracking, y'all. They
Speaker 2: be releasing the crack. Yes, releasing the cracking. Yes, they're
Speaker 2: releasing the cracking.
Speaker 1: And another one.
Speaker 5: Because when something does pop crackling, snap, I'm going to
Speaker 5: say it's releasing the cracking.
Speaker 1: Thank you.
Speaker 4: I'm taking took no mess, oh, no mess.
Speaker 1: Okay, got you.
Speaker 2: I'm gonna I'm gonna take something for both of y'all
Speaker 2: before this is over.
Speaker 1: Just watch out. Okay, okay, we're gonna drop. Listen, we
Speaker 1: dropping diamonds. Honey.
Speaker 3: When I see the scenes in Pose, I see love
Speaker 3: and self confidence and joy and so much courage, and
Speaker 3: behind the scenes, I'm wondering what was your courageous moment,
Speaker 3: if you could point to one.
Speaker 5: I think the moment I realized courage was when I
Speaker 5: was able to actually pronounce the word courage. And I'm
Speaker 5: being very like metaphorical in that space, but I knew
Speaker 5: who I was, I knew what I was sent here
Speaker 5: to do when I came out, and when I was
Speaker 5: able to know that, I think that to change the world,
Speaker 5: no matter what or how way I do it, I'm
Speaker 5: going to continue to do it. I was just saying
Speaker 5: earlier today. Beyonce said it her documentary. She was like,
Speaker 5: they realized that, oh, this bitch won't give up. And
Speaker 5: I'm just letting y'all know I'm not a bitch that
Speaker 5: gives up. I'm capricorn. So you understand, you come into
Speaker 5: a space as a person of color, and the only
Speaker 5: eye is to exceed and excel higher because there's no
Speaker 5: a latch for you in this world that we know
Speaker 5: as America. It's showing all over now. It's prevalent now,
Speaker 5: whereas years ago it wasn't. So now that I know
Speaker 5: and I'm aware, I have the tools to say, oh, well,
Speaker 5: I'm going to continue. You say you're going to stop
Speaker 5: my rights. Oh child, Okay, Well, I'm still going to
Speaker 5: keep being me and I'm still going to keep influencing
Speaker 5: other people out here just because you have your thoughts
Speaker 5: about how we are supposed to move through the world.
Speaker 1: You don't own my body.
Speaker 5: And as I realize you don't own my body, you
Speaker 5: don't own anyone else's body. So like, that's been my
Speaker 5: whole trajectory now, and I think the courage, when it
Speaker 5: was fully etched over my whole body, was my mother. Like,
Speaker 5: I don't need anything else from nobody else. And I'm sorry, y'all,
Speaker 5: but I don't need anything else because my mama has
Speaker 5: to littifight at all. So anyone who says anything about
Speaker 5: me about when I'm not what I can't, I don't
Speaker 5: give it down because my mama.
Speaker 1: Already lit about it. She put me on this earth.
Speaker 5: I know what I know. I know a woman, and henceforth.
Speaker 3: For everybody listening and not watching, yes, she just did
Speaker 3: a full body movement.
Speaker 1: I'm here. I'm here. I'm here because a mama orgery boom.
Speaker 2: Okay, we need to take a quick break when we
Speaker 2: come back. Artists and actor Mikayla Jay reflects on her
Speaker 2: historic when at the Golden Globes, stay.
Speaker 4: With us, We're back with Mikayla Ja.
Speaker 2: I don't know if it was directly from your mom
Speaker 2: or inspired by someone or something else, but I felt
Speaker 2: you channeling that nurturing energy as Blanca.
Speaker 5: Yes, for sure, all of that, most of that love
Speaker 5: and nurturing that I had received, I definitely brought that
Speaker 5: to Blanca because the world.
Speaker 1: Needed to see that.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and they needed to see it from a trans
Speaker 5: woman of colors perspective too, because they're a trans women
Speaker 5: of color. When there are mothers out there that can't
Speaker 5: take care of their children, who bore their children but
Speaker 5: won't share any capacity with there's always a gay man
Speaker 5: or trans woman taking that baby in and doing their
Speaker 5: best to raise them to be the best they can
Speaker 5: be because they know.
Speaker 1: What it's like to be different.
Speaker 5: You know what I try to encourage more is more
Speaker 5: trans women and bio women need to get together and
Speaker 5: raise these kids together so they can be strong.
Speaker 2: Well, you have protected the light of so many of
Speaker 2: your fans and viewers and just so many people in
Speaker 2: the queer community, and that specifically calls to mind that
Speaker 2: moment when you want a golden Globe for your performance
Speaker 2: in posts the first time a transgender person has ever
Speaker 2: won in the Leading Actress and a Drama category, and
Speaker 2: you had such a moving acceptance speech, and we have
Speaker 2: a clip of it.
Speaker 5: This is for the LGBTQAI, black, Latina, Asian, the many
Speaker 5: multi beautiful calls.
Speaker 1: Of the rainbow around the freaking world. This is for
Speaker 1: y'all own little MJ.
Speaker 2: Yeah, when you say little MJ, what do you think?
Speaker 2: Are you thinking about the growth and the maturity that's
Speaker 2: happened since then?
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 3: I am.
Speaker 5: I still haven't put it up out of the case,
Speaker 5: but it's in the case on top of the just
Speaker 5: so I know you got to open that thing up
Speaker 5: and put it up at some point. But looking back
Speaker 5: at that, I'm just like wow, Like I can't even
Speaker 5: believe the HFPA like really saw me or took the
Speaker 5: time to notice me to award me a Golden Globe.
Speaker 5: That year was very different from me and very new
Speaker 5: to me. I was in a very vulnerable place when
Speaker 5: it came to the Emmys and Awards season because I
Speaker 5: knew what the stakes were like and what was stacked
Speaker 5: against me. I knew that if I were a natural
Speaker 5: born female, that there would be much more of an
Speaker 5: alloction for me. And I realized that since I was
Speaker 5: not that that it was going to be much harder
Speaker 5: for me. And on top of that, being of color,
Speaker 5: it's going to make it hardest. So when the Golden
Speaker 5: Globe happened, I was like, what did you guys see?
Speaker 5: What was worth getting this? Because right now I'm feeling
Speaker 5: like I'm at oh wits end. I've been in the
Speaker 5: industry for so long and working hard to get to
Speaker 5: where I'm at, And what did you guys see and
Speaker 5: mean that these other places didn't? And I realized a
Speaker 5: couple of weeks afterwards, when I sat down and really
Speaker 5: took time to think about it, to tell myself, like, one,
Speaker 5: you won this because you deserve it and you want
Speaker 5: it on merit.
Speaker 1: They saw you for who you are.
Speaker 3: When Simone talked about the award, you got this big
Speaker 3: smile on your face, like almost like a childish grin,
Speaker 3: and it was so genuine.
Speaker 1: What was that?
Speaker 5: It was the initial like giddiness and feeling of that
Speaker 5: I made it, Like I finally made it.
Speaker 1: All the people who said are you sure?
Speaker 5: I Michaela like when you go into this world and
Speaker 5: when you make your big reveal or when you go
Speaker 5: into your transition, are you sure people are going to
Speaker 5: accept you?
Speaker 1: Like, do you think this is the route?
Speaker 5: And I was like, route child, If this was a route,
Speaker 5: it's a long one and it's been ever since number one,
Speaker 5: route number one, all the way until thirty three.
Speaker 1: But I never thought of it as a route.
Speaker 5: But when I heard those things, I heard the nervousness,
Speaker 5: the scaredness, the worry of if I was going to succeed.
Speaker 5: And these were from peers, friends of mine. And this
Speaker 5: was in what twenty eleven, so a lot of trans
Speaker 5: women weren't being in the forefront or being centered. When
Speaker 5: I heard those things, I was just like, I got
Speaker 5: to turn that around. I can't sit here and listen
Speaker 5: to what people have in their heads of how I'm
Speaker 5: going to succeed, like you have to know it for yourself.
Speaker 5: And that's how it changed around.
Speaker 4: So we talked a lot about pose. We have to
Speaker 4: talk about loot.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we can definitely talk about that.
Speaker 3: Congratulations on the renewal for season three.
Speaker 4: I love season one and two.
Speaker 3: I was interested to read that when you were cast
Speaker 3: on that show, you were given the choice to have
Speaker 3: your character Sophia be either cisgender or transgender, and you
Speaker 3: decided that you wanted her to be gender ambiguous, I
Speaker 3: shouldn't even say her, then, right.
Speaker 5: You can say her, because that's how she's climbing up
Speaker 5: the ladder, that's how she's moving. My main goal was
Speaker 5: to show the world that it doesn't take just a
Speaker 5: biological woman or a trans woman to make it anywhere,
Speaker 5: Like as a woman in general, you can make it anywhere.
Speaker 5: And I didn't want the title of me being trans yeah,
Speaker 5: to lose it to the minds of people that's interesting.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I didn't want them to see me as trans and
Speaker 5: then lose their interest because I was a trans woman
Speaker 5: in a high position a coo and them thinking she's
Speaker 5: not qualified to have that job because a lot of
Speaker 5: trans women don't have that job. No matter what, if
Speaker 5: she's trans or if she's not, she can be in
Speaker 5: this position. And we should always make it an open
Speaker 5: playing field when it comes to women being in a
Speaker 5: high position like this. I think young girls need to
Speaker 5: see women no matter what walk of life, succeed and
Speaker 5: be in positions that are powerful so that they can
Speaker 5: know they can reach and obtain it, because if they
Speaker 5: don't see that, then they're not going to feel that.
Speaker 5: And I knew the impact that I made on Pose
Speaker 5: that they were going to be people who knew I
Speaker 5: was trans already. So I was like, well, we don't
Speaker 5: need the world to know that I'm trans on a
Speaker 5: show like this. Instead, we need to just be educative
Speaker 5: and showing how women can be bosses and not only one,
Speaker 5: but two two and two different walks of life and personal,
Speaker 5: you know in the personal and two different walks of
Speaker 5: life in the show, but like juxtaposition to rich and
Speaker 5: someone who had to work to get to where they
Speaker 5: had to get to have color that that part as well.
Speaker 5: Come on here, we're having deep conversation America.
Speaker 4: I need to be dumb for a second.
Speaker 1: And is this weird block where she can't say the
Speaker 1: word dumb so she has to spell it off as
Speaker 1: I can't. Yes, I feel like I don't know bad
Speaker 1: saying it? So do you m b second? Bear with me?
Speaker 1: Do you take no? I don't at all your characters.
Speaker 1: I'm kidding, I'm dunk imagine that was funny.
Speaker 3: Do you take anything from set from these characters? Like
Speaker 3: do you have a fabulous dress or something?
Speaker 5: I still have Okay, I have two things from Poe's.
Speaker 5: I tried to take some things from Lou. I'm sorry, y'all.
Speaker 5: I couldn't do it.
Speaker 1: I had to respect y'all.
Speaker 4: It's because the show is still going.
Speaker 5: Yeah, They're like, here you have this, Machael, and I'm like,
Speaker 5: thank you so much. I've been trying to take this
Speaker 5: for so long, and I really appreciate that Jack gave no.
Speaker 1: But I did it the right way. I didn't klepto it.
Speaker 3: You know. Well, I see sex in the city and
Speaker 3: like they're wearing the most beautiful bags. I'm like, please
Speaker 3: tell me that Sarah Jessica Parker has keep the sequined
Speaker 3: purple Sundy bag that was stolen from season four.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I will say, Mother Carrie, she's probably
Speaker 5: made so much money on that.
Speaker 1: Damn sure. She didn't have to take none, So you
Speaker 1: share the wealth, that's what you're saying.
Speaker 5: You're right, I did take I did take the banner
Speaker 5: the Evangelisa Vander.
Speaker 1: I didn't take it. They gave it to me. At
Speaker 1: the end of the show.
Speaker 5: It was Janet and Stephen Canals and I remember Janet
Speaker 5: just flagging it out and just being like, girl, you
Speaker 5: wanted it, so it's yours and Steven.
Speaker 1: I think it was Steven who did that.
Speaker 5: And Janet pulled behind her back, uh Blanca's mother's cookbook.
Speaker 5: So I still have those two things. And for loot
Speaker 5: nothing yet, but I'm steal something.
Speaker 1: It's called loot. You gotta you know, you gotta loot something, right.
Speaker 1: Thank you for that.
Speaker 5: By the way, I didn't make that something. Thank you
Speaker 5: because I didn't make that correlation. When you said it salute,
Speaker 5: I had a dumb moment.
Speaker 1: Okay, you're hired, You're our third bright side. It was like,
Speaker 1: this is like it's no you get you like get us.
Speaker 1: You get our language, you get the vernacular, the energy.
Speaker 1: It's sickening. We're gonna have to talk to some of
Speaker 1: the people exactly, okay, okay.
Speaker 4: Except for you seem pretty busy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I am running around like a chicken with her
Speaker 5: hair cut off. But time is always fluctuant.
Speaker 3: You're fucking good doing it. Thank you, Michayla. Thank you
Speaker 3: so much for joining us on the bright side. You
Speaker 3: sprinkled your sunshine on us.
Speaker 1: I told you I was always going to give you
Speaker 1: that good ju ju.
Speaker 3: Mikayla Jay is an artist actor and Golden Globe winner.
Speaker 3: Her debut album thirty three is out September twenty sixth.
Speaker 4: We can't wait to hear it.
Speaker 1: That's it for today's show.
Speaker 2: Tomorrow, Doctor Ellen Langer joins US for Wellness Wednesday to
Speaker 2: talk about the power of mindfulness.
Speaker 3: Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 3: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: I'm Simone Boye. You can find me at Simone Boice
Speaker 2: on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 4: Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's ro Ba.
Speaker 1: Y See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.