Speaker 1: What's up.
Speaker 2: It's way up with Angela Yee and special guests joining us,
Speaker 2: and you're all over.
Speaker 3: The TVs right now.
Speaker 2: I mean the final season of The Shy, which everybody
Speaker 2: has been celebrating the run that that show had and
Speaker 2: the impact that it had. And then you're also starring
Speaker 2: on Zatima with quite the storyline this season.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
Speaker 3: So you look healthy.
Speaker 2: I should be just thinking about Connie from watching you
Speaker 2: on Zatima. Just such a really powerful storyline that you
Speaker 2: have on that show. First we met you as Zach's
Speaker 2: ex girlfriend, but now we know there's a secret that
Speaker 2: you've been hiding from everybody. So can we talk about
Speaker 2: that and what that was like for you?
Speaker 1: We can definitely talk about that. I think that me
Speaker 1: coming on the first season. My first season was actually
Speaker 1: the second season, so I come on, She's like this funny,
Speaker 1: brash girl, and there's already funny girls on the show,
Speaker 1: so it's like, well, maybe that's not what she should do.
Speaker 1: So they introduced this whole idea of me having cancer.
Speaker 1: And as I'm reading, because we get the scripts like
Speaker 1: relatively close to when we shoot, I'm in my girlfriend's room.
Speaker 1: And when I say room, her hospital room and she
Speaker 1: just found out that she had stage two or three
Speaker 1: colon cancer. And at that time she was working for
Speaker 1: b Et. So imagine, I'm on a be Et show.
Speaker 1: This is happening. All of these things are just happening.
Speaker 1: So I go we shoot that scene. So the scene
Speaker 1: that everybody really sees is the one where I'm crying
Speaker 1: telling Tony about me having cancer and I'm like, look
Speaker 1: out for my kids. That was a one take.
Speaker 3: Wow. Yeah, I dropped.
Speaker 1: In because it's like I understood what was happening. I
Speaker 1: have a friend, a very close friend, and she's going
Speaker 1: through that, and like we're having those uncomfortable conversations of
Speaker 1: like look after my son, like look after and I'm single,
Speaker 1: I don't have any kids, so it's like, okay, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. Like it's not an easy conversation.
Speaker 1: And I think that after it aired, I got so
Speaker 1: many messages of people like that happened to my mother,
Speaker 1: that happened to me and my sister. I just think
Speaker 1: that we need to bring more awareness to breast cancer
Speaker 1: in the black and brown communities, in all communities, but
Speaker 1: especially for women that might not know.
Speaker 2: And one thing. Another scene that I found to be powerful.
Speaker 2: There was another woman while you were in the hospital
Speaker 2: and you were telling her that.
Speaker 3: You really didn't want to tell anybody.
Speaker 2: You had only told one person because you're just trying
Speaker 2: to handle things on your own. And I think for
Speaker 2: a lot of people who are going through that, it's
Speaker 2: a secret they don't want people to know. And in
Speaker 2: a way, it is your right to do that, but
Speaker 2: I want to I want to explore what you learned
Speaker 2: from doing that scene. Playing the character of Connie who
Speaker 2: finds out she's going through chemo, she has cancer. You're
Speaker 2: trying to handle it on your own, and a lot.
Speaker 3: Of things happen. You got to watch the show if
Speaker 3: you having to have to watch lots of things.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but just.
Speaker 2: Making people reflect and think about, you know, when you're
Speaker 2: going through something and not telling anybody and kind of
Speaker 2: carrying that yourself, what that means for other people.
Speaker 1: So this is the thing when when we keep it
Speaker 1: all to ourselves, no one can help us. And I
Speaker 1: think that as women so much were like, no I
Speaker 1: can I can do it. I got it by myself. No,
Speaker 1: we don't. We need help, And it's okay to say
Speaker 1: I need help. It's okay to tell your village that
Speaker 1: you need help because we stand for everyone else, so
Speaker 1: we got to stand for ourselves too, and people have
Speaker 1: to support us. So I feel like it was really
Speaker 1: important for that scene to be in there so people
Speaker 1: can really understand that you need help as much as it's.
Speaker 3: People to help you.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the thing, because imagine how upset you
Speaker 2: would be to know that somebody's been dealing with something
Speaker 2: and you would have loved to be there for them,
Speaker 2: and you can't.
Speaker 1: After that happens, you can't get that time back. There's
Speaker 1: nothing you can do.
Speaker 3: Like, why didn't you let me know?
Speaker 2: I would because I think we also take for granted
Speaker 2: that we try to do things that our own and
Speaker 2: I think that's a black women, strong black women thing
Speaker 2: that we do where I just don't want to tell
Speaker 2: anybody I can handle it myself. I'm superwoman. I'm juggling
Speaker 2: these things. I feel like, out of anybody, we're the
Speaker 2: ones that are always feeling.
Speaker 1: Like and we're taught that.
Speaker 3: If I taught that, you gotta hold it down right.
Speaker 1: I look at my mother, I look at my grandmother,
Speaker 1: a very strong woman. I love them, but at the
Speaker 1: same time. I don't want that. I don't want everything
Speaker 1: to be on me right. I really know how to
Speaker 1: treat myself. I know how to relax, Like I have
Speaker 1: a class when I'm in LA when I take yoga
Speaker 1: on Sunday, like just things for me that I need
Speaker 1: to pour back into myself. If we don't do that,
Speaker 1: then you're gonna burn yourself out, and then who can
Speaker 1: you really help if you're burnt out? And this job,
Speaker 1: this line of work that you're in is not easy either,
Speaker 1: No it is not. But it's like you have to
Speaker 1: do things for yourself. You have to take care of yourself.
Speaker 1: Sometimes I look at people, I'm like, I'm not drinking
Speaker 1: liquor every night. I'm not you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: I'm not smoking. I'm just taking care of myself. And
Speaker 1: that's something that that came over time. And that's the
Speaker 1: only way I feel like I could really pour into
Speaker 1: you is if i'm my best.
Speaker 3: You're a pescatarian too, correct.
Speaker 1: So like sometimes because I know somebody's gonna try and
Speaker 1: be like what I saw you but in Atlanta never,
Speaker 1: Oh that was that was shady? Okay, I did I did?
Speaker 2: That was back up because I feel like at one
Speaker 2: point you had a squatter. Come on, Angela, got more
Speaker 2: about this Atlanta squatter story, because baby, that is a fair.
Speaker 1: Yes it was. So. I had bought my first condo
Speaker 1: in Atlanta, East Atlanta, and I've rented it because I
Speaker 1: wasn't like, I don't really want to like live there,
Speaker 1: so I hit it. I'm still living in Laka, but
Speaker 1: I'm in Atlanta shooting. We're shooting season maybe four or three.
Speaker 1: She stopped paying the rent. She stopped answering my calls.
Speaker 3: Happened to me.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I'm going like I'm going to because you
Speaker 1: have to get a sheriff to come and put them out.
Speaker 1: It was it was basically an AIRBNBI furnished it. I'm
Speaker 1: still looking for her because she owe me money. I'm
Speaker 1: still still money. Yeah, so the sheriff comes, I'm taping
Speaker 1: it on my phone. I put it on my Instagram
Speaker 1: because I didn't want that to happen to anybody else, right,
Speaker 1: But now the studio I had to work that day,
Speaker 1: so I had to kick her out and beat her
Speaker 1: work by five period. They Yeah, let me ask you
Speaker 1: what so she just thought she could just Sometimes I
Speaker 1: feel like when people think they know what you do,
Speaker 1: or like, oh I saw you on TV. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: still need my money, right, I mean rent?
Speaker 2: Like And the other thing is that I think you
Speaker 2: if if you're doing you can communicate, like if you
Speaker 2: had fallen on some hard times. Look, I had a
Speaker 2: condo that I rented out and the woman's husband died
Speaker 2: in a freak accident. And she told me, and I said, look,
Speaker 2: that was awful, Like, let me give you a break.
Speaker 3: I lowered the rent. I didn't make her pay for it.
Speaker 2: I gave her back her deposit because you just communicate,
Speaker 2: I mean her, I mean, that's tragic, and I know,
Speaker 2: and she didn't pay the you know, and I just
Speaker 2: felt she was like, you know, I can't really afford
Speaker 2: this on my own, and I don't want to move
Speaker 2: at this moment because this just happened. And I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: you know, because that's awful, Like you want to be.
Speaker 3: You want to be sens communicate, don't be like I'm
Speaker 3: not paying.
Speaker 1: So she wasn't paying, so we found out, or I
Speaker 1: found out when the sheriffs came. She was doing only
Speaker 1: fans in my house, so she had money, and she
Speaker 1: gets into it.
Speaker 3: Everybody who do only fans ain't got money.
Speaker 1: Lets listen enough to subscribe to listen? I probably, but
Speaker 1: she did not pay. She didn't pay for a year.
Speaker 2: That's wild and so and it's hard to get that money,
Speaker 2: Like it's hard to get somebody to pay, you know,
Speaker 2: with the year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so I had to just eat that and I
Speaker 1: was like, never again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but better things come along, that's right, you know.
Speaker 1: But I will never no condos, no town homes ever.
Speaker 1: I will never do that because the hua still want
Speaker 1: they money.
Speaker 3: Yeah you still pay. Yeah, okay, so never for that.
Speaker 1: Atlanta like, y'all cool, but nah, like like I'm good.
Speaker 1: I don't want to.
Speaker 2: One experience make it feel like it's all it has.
Speaker 3: It has, But I like.
Speaker 1: I like Atlanta, but I like like when I'm there
Speaker 1: for work or for a short period of.
Speaker 3: Time, eat and the grill. Shout out to Melissa.
Speaker 1: I'm Melissa, we love you. Yeah, I really want I'd like.
Speaker 1: I like it there, but being single, no children, I
Speaker 1: don't think it's the place for me.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, I heard that's tough in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we know why I did that.
Speaker 2: Single by choice or yes, sorry, I just want to
Speaker 2: make sure not on the.
Speaker 3: Apps and nothing.
Speaker 1: I mean, I have been, but I'm not on Have
Speaker 1: you ever had a good match on an app? For sure?
Speaker 1: For sure hit the jets right like, But that was
Speaker 1: I feel like that was a little while ago. It
Speaker 1: was the days of Raya always on Riyoso. Everybody Rya
Speaker 1: right now, I'm not, but but y'all are. But I
Speaker 1: just that's when Rya was like having the club in
Speaker 1: your pocket. It was the greatest best thing. But not anymore,
Speaker 1: but just before and after you were Pepper in the
Speaker 1: It was before. It was before and then after. I
Speaker 1: was like, let me yeah, but it was. I really
Speaker 1: liked the app. It was international.
Speaker 3: So did you say any white guys on air?
Speaker 1: I did not.
Speaker 3: Okay, I don't think.
Speaker 1: I don't think the white guys be really interested.
Speaker 3: In Somebody told me that that on Raya.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah yeah, I mean that's the main source, are
Speaker 1: the white guys. But I don't think white guys really
Speaker 1: checked for me. I don't think so.
Speaker 3: Well after this man you said you know.
Speaker 2: But so I want to ask you about because Sultin
Speaker 2: Pepa was one of my favorite groups ever, right and
Speaker 2: so watching that story and seeing you play Peppa, I
Speaker 2: gotta ask you what that experience was it?
Speaker 3: Like, were you fans of Salwn Pepper before that?
Speaker 1: What did you learn?
Speaker 3: Like that's fascinating to.
Speaker 1: Me, So Salmn Pepa. That experience like completely changed the
Speaker 1: like the direction of my career. I had a great
Speaker 1: co star, Gigi Townsend, she played song. We had such
Speaker 1: a great chemistry. We shot up in Toronto. It was amazing.
Speaker 1: Now I have an older sister, so I wasn't as well,
Speaker 1: like knowing certain music, but we had to get into
Speaker 1: the music. Mario van Peebles, he was the director nice.
Speaker 1: So it was like a dream come true. Now I'm
Speaker 1: gonna share something with you that people don't know. So
Speaker 1: I'm close with Withodi McLean, who played Bobby Brown. So
Speaker 1: I was on set during new audition and the writer
Speaker 1: at Duel, Hey I do. He wrote a new edition
Speaker 1: and Salt and Pepper, And I remember being on set like, Yo,
Speaker 1: that's so dope. You get right? You can you can
Speaker 1: rap you singing, you acting? I would love to do that.
Speaker 1: And literally three years.
Speaker 2: Later, Wow, yeah, that's Sometimes you got to put it
Speaker 2: out there.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you gotta, but you gotta put out what you want.
Speaker 1: You can't put out like, oh I'm not booking. I'm
Speaker 1: at this, that's right.
Speaker 2: It's the way that you approach things and how you
Speaker 2: manifest things exactly.
Speaker 1: But you're positive you can't because if you're like, yo,
Speaker 1: I'm broke, all the universe here is is I'm broke,
Speaker 1: So it just sends you more brokeness But you have
Speaker 1: to almost be crazy, Like I say it all the time.
Speaker 1: I say it to my mom. She's sick of it
Speaker 1: now because I'm like, I'm rich. She's like you, I'm like,
Speaker 1: I'm giving.
Speaker 3: It is giving rich, But I just.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I feel like it's so
Speaker 1: important to put out what you want people to know
Speaker 1: about you. At the same time, I'm not a fan
Speaker 1: of like showing the world or showing Instagram what I'm
Speaker 1: doing every five minutes, So I think it's like you
Speaker 1: better learn like something in the middle.
Speaker 3: I think you know what it is.
Speaker 2: It's in real life doing what you need to do,
Speaker 2: and when it's completed, then you can then you can
Speaker 2: share it with you then you can share.
Speaker 1: But I think premature, like, don't premature share something because
Speaker 1: sometimes not everybody wants what you want for yourself.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you're right about that. I know there's definitely. I
Speaker 2: think as you're getting more and more successful, people are
Speaker 2: you know, they love you when you down, but when
Speaker 2: you get up they want to drag it down.
Speaker 1: And then that's a fact. But like even I don't
Speaker 1: even want to think about that part. I just want
Speaker 1: to think like when I meet people or when I
Speaker 1: see somebody, I don't have negative encounters, Like people really
Speaker 1: show love. So I really focused on that. I don't
Speaker 1: focus on like I don't be like, oh the haters,
Speaker 1: like everybody's people say.
Speaker 2: I've never heard anybody say anything bad about you. People
Speaker 2: are like, she's so cool, You're gonna have so much
Speaker 2: bend talking to her.
Speaker 1: See, I just feel like I'm honest and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: like just tell you how I really feel.
Speaker 3: Okay, well, let's have an honest moment.
Speaker 1: Let's have one.
Speaker 2: So Connie's character right on, Zatima, is it wild to
Speaker 2: be staying at your ex's house with his new pregnant woman?
Speaker 2: You do in real life? Could you see yourself being
Speaker 2: with a man pregnant?
Speaker 3: Right, and then saying you ex could come stay on
Speaker 3: the couch.
Speaker 1: I mean, she got to have her own bedroom. She
Speaker 1: has to have like an in law suite.
Speaker 2: But like they eventually got her. You know, I would
Speaker 2: have done that for the beginning. I would have said, Okay, listen,
Speaker 2: because how do you feel about somebody your dating being
Speaker 2: really close with their ex.
Speaker 1: Let me tell you something. We got to have a
Speaker 1: talk about that, Like we have to because not everybody
Speaker 1: is over their ex and not to be insecure. But
Speaker 1: at the same time, it's like, I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're doing. So if I don't know and I don't
Speaker 1: know that person your ex, You're nah, it's not gonna
Speaker 1: be no sleepovers. It's not there's no moving in.
Speaker 3: What have your passed? Like, what is the most serious
Speaker 3: relationship you've ever had?
Speaker 1: Oh? I really haven't been in that many relationships.
Speaker 2: But what is it one that you would say this
Speaker 2: was the most serious? Like how long did that last?
Speaker 3: Last?
Speaker 1: A few years? He was an actor, Okay, we met
Speaker 1: at work, Okay, you're waiting something together, Okay, we were
Speaker 1: pasting okay. But then after the experience, I was like, ye'ah,
Speaker 1: never do that again.
Speaker 3: Like date someone you are working with or date another
Speaker 3: actor like both.
Speaker 1: At the time, I was like, I don't never want
Speaker 1: an actor and I never want somebody I've worked.
Speaker 3: With why because it's hard.
Speaker 1: And it's like you really gotta be as secure as
Speaker 1: you can be because like that guy, he was very
Speaker 1: friendly and at that time, I'm young. I'm like young,
Speaker 1: so like, you know, you can't be like I'm a
Speaker 1: smack her. I'm tired, and you can't smack everybody, so
Speaker 1: can I just felt like it was a good relationship.
Speaker 1: I learned a lot from him, and then after that,
Speaker 1: I just I took a break, had an end.
Speaker 3: What'd you do?
Speaker 1: Not me? But I think that for him, his career
Speaker 1: was number one. Okay, I wasn't number one, which is
Speaker 1: fine because once you know that about somebody, then you
Speaker 1: can move forward with like what you.
Speaker 3: Plan to do is your career number one?
Speaker 1: It is?
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean, but you need somebody that is
Speaker 2: going to be supportive of what you're doing and understand
Speaker 2: and want to like push you forward. Sometimes that is
Speaker 2: another actor though you know, I don't know.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it is another actor, like like we got to
Speaker 1: see I don't know, but what I but what I
Speaker 1: do know is that it's got to be peaceful, it's
Speaker 1: got to be healthy. We got to be on the
Speaker 1: same page, and like that page is I don't think
Speaker 1: I want to post him. I don't think I want
Speaker 1: to share the relationship with people. I don't think I
Speaker 1: want to do that at all. I think I want
Speaker 1: to wait, like let's get married.
Speaker 2: Like pop out married and let's pop out married. But
Speaker 2: like Taylor Brooks one day, she just had a wedding.
Speaker 1: Yeah, like, what's up y'all coming? I don't, I don't think,
Speaker 1: you know, I don't. I don't think that I want
Speaker 1: to share that because I think people have opinion and
Speaker 1: that affects the relationships. So I don't. I don't want
Speaker 1: to do it.
Speaker 3: Would you google him? What you mean like if you
Speaker 3: know the first day?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, oh yeah, I'm safe. Yeah, I'm definitely googling.
Speaker 1: I'm definitely taking a picture of the license sending it
Speaker 1: to my homegirl like where I'm still very much so
Speaker 1: doing that. But like right now, I think, I like,
Speaker 1: stop seeing American guys.
Speaker 3: American country? Are we on?
Speaker 1: I mean I was open. I mean they were overseas.
Speaker 3: But like overseas where I need a country or London?
Speaker 1: Okayis right? You know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Like Okay, the blokes, Yeah, it was just.
Speaker 1: It was different because the American guys were not like all,
Speaker 1: let me out here roam and just be single this long, like, oh,
Speaker 1: let me take my show on the road. So I
Speaker 1: took to like Nigeria too. Maybe I've been to Ghana. Okay, Ghana,
Speaker 1: went to Ghana?
Speaker 3: How was that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, it wasn't really feeling me. I don't believe this
Speaker 1: and everything.
Speaker 2: How do you know someone's like I don't even understand
Speaker 2: what that means because I can't fathom you being out
Speaker 2: there and you're single, dumb and nobody's feeling you.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 1: So I went for Ditsy December, so I go.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 1: We had just wrapped the season of Zatima. So I
Speaker 1: fly from Atlanta to a cry, which is Ghana, and
Speaker 1: I just didn't feel the love, you know how Like
Speaker 1: everyone's like when you get to Africa, you're gonna cry
Speaker 1: and you're gonna feel and I was like it's gonna come.
Speaker 1: It didn't come, and then I was like out and about.
Speaker 1: I just felt like nobody was.
Speaker 3: Really feeling me, Like maybe you're intimidating.
Speaker 1: I don't want to hear that, Like you don't think
Speaker 1: that no, cause I feel like I'm too down to
Speaker 1: earth and cool for someone to be intimidated. Like, if
Speaker 1: you're intimidated, I don't think you're a person.
Speaker 2: I'm thinking, Dan, I sent you this post because when
Speaker 2: I see stuff like certain things online, you know how
Speaker 2: people be putting up all these like we call it
Speaker 2: gurus of the ground. Yes, everybody got their own little
Speaker 2: expertise and something else.
Speaker 3: I want to because one guy, one woman did this post.
Speaker 3: I want to see what you think about this. Hold on,
Speaker 3: let me pull it up, all right, she said, hold on.
Speaker 2: Basically, she was saying she was a red flag to
Speaker 2: a guy because he said she was too friendly. She
Speaker 2: knew everybody on the block and she said hi to everybody.
Speaker 2: And he was like, that's too much for me. Somebody
Speaker 2: that a woman thats too friendly and he felt like
Speaker 2: she was too accessible.
Speaker 1: Okay, I get that, but you do I was like, what, No,
Speaker 1: I get it, because sometimes there is something when you
Speaker 1: know everybody, it's like, well, how do you know everybody? Like?
Speaker 1: How do you know them? Let's be like, let's be clear.
Speaker 1: For what if you're in entertainment, you do know a
Speaker 1: lot of people, but how we're gonna speak to you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: but how do you know them? Is it like? Homegirl?
Speaker 1: Are like, no, we used to mess around. No, granted,
Speaker 1: like it's been times like gonna You're gonna fall for
Speaker 1: somebody in your work. That's normal. So I don't I
Speaker 1: think he's insecure or maybe you should find somebody like
Speaker 1: closer to what you do.
Speaker 3: She was like, I didn't know that was a red flag.
Speaker 1: It shouldn't be not at all.
Speaker 3: Oh, here it is, I said.
Speaker 2: I texted my exody after he has ghosted me for
Speaker 2: over a year, and he finally told me the reason
Speaker 2: he did that. I never knew this could be a
Speaker 2: red flag, though, and he said, the thing is, you
Speaker 2: know almost everyone in the neighborhood. The first time I
Speaker 2: followed you to your house, you were relating with everyone
Speaker 2: in the area. If I'm not exaggerating, you greeted about
Speaker 2: fifteen people from the junction to your house, and I'm
Speaker 2: not comfortable with that. It's given a vibe like you
Speaker 2: are too accessible. I want me a woman that frowns
Speaker 2: all over the city.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean I frowned a lot, But I do
Speaker 1: I have like a like I feel like I.
Speaker 3: Have bitch face.
Speaker 1: I have Ain't nobody approached you in a crowd, No, no, No,
Speaker 1: it's like.
Speaker 3: You're frowning all over the city.
Speaker 1: No, if you see me in the gym, I'm smiling.
Speaker 1: If you see me after yoga, I'm smiling. If you
Speaker 1: see me at the grove, like I have a because
Speaker 1: like I'm pleasant. But I feel like I left LA.
Speaker 1: Let me be honest. I left LA and I left
Speaker 1: LA because I felt like I had outgrown La. La
Speaker 1: is like Peter Pan. So once you're over twenty five,
Speaker 1: y like old ass, like hold on. So I left,
Speaker 1: I came back. I'm looking for a place in New
Speaker 1: York because we love that. Yeah, I have my real
Speaker 1: estate license, I do, but I really, but this is
Speaker 1: the thing I want, like a furnished rental.
Speaker 3: Okay, that's easy short term.
Speaker 1: Because I don't know if I'm gonna be. I don't
Speaker 1: know where I'm gonna be. I came to up someplace back.
Speaker 2: Overseas, London, Paris, anywhere. Literally, when did people first start
Speaker 2: recognizing you? Do you remember from from your work?
Speaker 1: I mean, let's take it back. I used to be
Speaker 1: on Vine back in the day, like super back in
Speaker 1: the day. So from that I felt like people would
Speaker 1: be like, are.
Speaker 3: You girl from Bye created a lot of stuff?
Speaker 1: Yo, it did, So that was like the first time
Speaker 1: I somebody would ask and then I think I had
Speaker 1: I have my own show on Bounce and Bounce. It
Speaker 1: was like m m hey Bentley, Hey, everybody had bounced,
Speaker 1: but it was yeah, it was maas small, so maybe
Speaker 1: one person would say something. But once Connie got into
Speaker 1: that second third season, like, that's when it got real.
Speaker 1: If I'm in Atlanta, always gonna happen?
Speaker 3: Do you enjoy having rules but you're not glamorous?
Speaker 1: Of course, I like I love it because then it
Speaker 1: just feels more grounded, more real than like you're super
Speaker 1: glam You're like, that's not real. We just talked about
Speaker 1: we both like sweatpants. So if I like sweatpants, like
Speaker 1: I could play a character like that, or I can
Speaker 1: play something that is glamorous, but it doesn't have to
Speaker 1: be exactly who I am, because if it's who I am,
Speaker 1: then I'm not acting right.
Speaker 2: So, although some people say it's hard to act as
Speaker 2: something that you really relate to, I've heard that.
Speaker 1: I don't know. I don't know if I agree with that.
Speaker 1: I feel like, if you're playing something that you're familiar with,
Speaker 1: where's the stretch? Like I like to see actors really
Speaker 1: push themselves to a limit and play something different. So
Speaker 1: sometimes if it's too comfortable, like you start to give
Speaker 1: the same performance.
Speaker 3: Right right, you know.
Speaker 1: So, I mean there's plenty of actors that people like
Speaker 1: to give the same performance. I'm just not a fan
Speaker 1: of it.
Speaker 2: Where were you when you found out you got a
Speaker 2: role in the final season of The Shy.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. I was back by that time. I
Speaker 1: was here in New York and I remember the call
Speaker 1: because my manager at the time was like, Hey, I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you. I'm like, okay, I'm like,
Speaker 1: what's up. Because I hadn't worked in like a year?
Speaker 3: Wow? Really yeah, well.
Speaker 1: Maybe maybe nine months, but it felt like a year.
Speaker 1: And thank you lean Away. She gave me an opportunity
Speaker 1: and I went on the show. I'm playing Jordan, and
Speaker 1: it was just a great experience to be on a
Speaker 1: show that has so much like legendary people on it
Speaker 1: storyline and now it's the last season. So I was
Speaker 1: really grateful, and I'm just you know, you look for
Speaker 1: opportunities like that. I remember one day I talked to
Speaker 1: Wendy Roquel Robinson and she I've watched her for years,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, it's to be around
Speaker 1: people that can pour into you, and even if they
Speaker 1: can't pour, if I just listened, I should be able
Speaker 1: to pick something up.
Speaker 2: So yeah, that was That's an amazing part of history.
Speaker 2: You know, the shot had such a great run. I
Speaker 2: was talking about that earlier eight seasons crazy. Yeah, phenomenal.
Speaker 2: And you're also an ambassador for the American Cancer Society,
Speaker 2: and I know that work in particular is important and
Speaker 2: close to your heart, like we were discussing earlier.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think that because I had a friend that
Speaker 1: was dealing with the colon cancer, I was able to
Speaker 1: become an abassador Because I'm telling you the outpour of
Speaker 1: people saying I watched this and I cried and my
Speaker 1: mother went through it. I just felt like I have
Speaker 1: to do something. I have to have a cause my
Speaker 1: grandfather passed away from colon cancer, so it's not too
Speaker 1: far from me.
Speaker 2: There is nobody I think that doesn't know somebody who
Speaker 2: has had cancer. Like seriously, it's it's insane to me
Speaker 2: that this is something that is so prevalent.
Speaker 1: And there's still when you think about Chadwick Boseman, like
Speaker 1: do you remember I remember that timeline of how quick
Speaker 1: it happened, and I think that if we really pour
Speaker 1: into like but it's the food that we eat. It's
Speaker 1: it's a lot of factors. But you have to be
Speaker 1: educated because if you don't know, yeah, if you don't
Speaker 1: know products that we use and when we think about
Speaker 1: like our hair products, is a lot of different things.
Speaker 1: But if you just like, so, let's be honest. When
Speaker 1: you go overseas, the food.
Speaker 3: Is very Oh it's fresh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's certain things that we have here they would
Speaker 2: never overseas. It's illegal, right, but here we are in
Speaker 2: the corner store.
Speaker 1: Yeah. But even if you go get like, let's say,
Speaker 1: an orange soda here was like orange neon over there,
Speaker 1: it's like yellow and it's a smaller portion. It's just
Speaker 1: it's just better. Like I had pizza, not even in Italy,
Speaker 1: but I've had pizza in Italy amazing. Okay, come on,
Speaker 1: that's a flex I mean light, but but yeah, but
Speaker 1: I had some pizza in London and I was like,
Speaker 1: it felt like God kissed the tomato and put it
Speaker 1: in the ground. It was literally the best pizza. So
Speaker 1: when I came back here to had.
Speaker 3: Like things taste artificial.
Speaker 1: It's hard and I'm like, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I was born and raised on pizza. Hello, Like I
Speaker 1: was born in Jersey, like, raised on pizza in the
Speaker 1: comeback and be like, yeah, I don't want that pisa
Speaker 1: no more.
Speaker 2: Listen, I'm you know, I'm from New York, so give
Speaker 2: me that greasy but I also know that, yes, you
Speaker 2: can't have that every day.
Speaker 1: Not every not every day day. But like, give me
Speaker 1: my jerk, give me my right rights, give me my cabbage.
Speaker 3: But I saw you were in Jamaica too, celebrating.
Speaker 1: Yes, I'm always celebrating, like like I'm always a girl,
Speaker 1: was always celebrating, Like I just was in Turks. I
Speaker 1: went to Turks by myself. You did, but but but
Speaker 1: to be honest, then I flew one of my friends.
Speaker 3: Like a guy. Dang, that could be trafficking.
Speaker 1: I know no there was right, I sound bad nomall boy,
Speaker 1: but like because sometimes people can't get the time off
Speaker 1: from work and you're like you want to go someplace
Speaker 1: and they.
Speaker 2: Like, yeah, oh my gosh, that's so funny. So one
Speaker 2: of my best friends in high school, we went to
Speaker 2: Bermuda for her birthday.
Speaker 3: We put it in our group chat, like who wants
Speaker 3: to go?
Speaker 2: Thinking like all our friends, was gonna at least three
Speaker 2: or four people. It ended up being just mere right
Speaker 2: because no one else came.
Speaker 1: Nobody can go or nobody like you, I can get
Speaker 1: the time off for the kids.
Speaker 3: Here's is expensive to.
Speaker 1: Turks super expensive?
Speaker 3: Babe is pricey? Baby? Did you go to the tiki
Speaker 3: bar and Noah's ark all of that?
Speaker 1: I went to know what's arc? It was raining, so
Speaker 1: I was like, no, it's not, but I went. I got.
Speaker 1: I went there, you know, like at the same time,
Speaker 1: I understand people go there, but I really wanted to
Speaker 1: relax and I really.
Speaker 3: Wanted to vacation. Is you like, I gotta like be
Speaker 3: out and about all the time for work. I was
Speaker 3: trying to open.
Speaker 1: Up a bank account there. I wasn't really worried, Like
Speaker 1: I wasn't worried about the other things. Let me give
Speaker 1: my bank account. But I just, you know, like I
Speaker 1: had fun, and I've been a lot of places in
Speaker 1: the world. I'm really really blessed to be able to travel.
Speaker 1: Been to Ballei, Costa Rica.
Speaker 3: That's where he went on his honeymoon.
Speaker 1: Ye.
Speaker 3: People always said you gotta go. He got. He had
Speaker 3: Bali belly though.
Speaker 1: Oh I heard it at Yeah, I didn't have it,
Speaker 1: thank god, but I was doing I was doing yoga there.
Speaker 1: I did yoga there. You can only drink bottle water.
Speaker 1: I mean, but that's like everywhere you want to do that.
Speaker 1: So but I've been so many places. I went to
Speaker 1: Dubai by myself.
Speaker 3: I can't believe you travel alone.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like, who am I waiting for? I don't know.
Speaker 3: It's not even just that, I just I don't know.
Speaker 2: I feel like I've never traveled anywhere by myself, except
Speaker 2: if it's like for work to go to like Orlando
Speaker 2: or something. You know, but no, you got it, like
Speaker 2: the first time I take you alone. The first time
Speaker 2: I did it, I went to Bali and I went
Speaker 2: to like a yoga retreat so I can like get
Speaker 2: it at peace and one with myself. And I did
Speaker 2: that and after that because that was the first time,
Speaker 2: and my mom was like, are you sure, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I could go anywhere now, and I can make a
Speaker 2: friend anywhere I go.
Speaker 1: I always meet people.
Speaker 3: Have you done ayahuasca or anything like that.
Speaker 1: I haven't done ayahuasca, but I did do something called buffo,
Speaker 1: which is like it's not ayahuasca, but you know it's
Speaker 1: it's along the lines. It's a much shorter time, okay,
Speaker 1: like ayahuasca is like hour all day. Yeah, and before
Speaker 1: was like I did that in Toulon, Okay, and it
Speaker 1: was I had a great experience.
Speaker 3: Did you go there alone?
Speaker 1: I did?
Speaker 3: Okay. I like that. I admire that.
Speaker 2: And I don't know if I you know, but but
Speaker 2: I admire that you can have, you know, the bravery
Speaker 2: to do that.
Speaker 3: And I think it is.
Speaker 2: I tried to go on a trip by myself once.
Speaker 2: It was only to Miami, and then next thing I know,
Speaker 2: my friends are like, I'm coming, I'm crashing in your roller.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I don't think I would travel by myself in
Speaker 1: the continent is who us? I don't think I would
Speaker 1: do that. I want to be overseas, Okay.
Speaker 3: Have you ever felt unsafe?
Speaker 1: No, not at all. I was. I was in Colombia.
Speaker 1: I was learning to read Spanish and my mom was like, yo, lady,
Speaker 1: they might take you. I'm like, I'm safe. My mother
Speaker 1: is I'm like, who's gonna take it?
Speaker 3: Take you?
Speaker 1: The minner of this, Who's gonna get me? So I
Speaker 1: just remember being there and I always feel safe. I
Speaker 1: might not feel safe here like even driving here. I
Speaker 1: drove here, a car didn't come get me. Thanks guys,
Speaker 1: you drove here and you paid to park. I did
Speaker 1: do a go fundme from my parking, like in New
Speaker 1: York is crazy, No, it's it's crazy. But you also
Speaker 1: have to understand I've been in LA for so long,
Speaker 1: so I'm always good.
Speaker 3: From Jersey, it's no thing to drive to New York.
Speaker 1: Yeah, but still, like, I don't really want to do it.
Speaker 1: But let me tell you, I'm going to turn on
Speaker 1: the red light and then I'm just gonna be like.
Speaker 3: I'm saying, I'm from Jersey.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: New York is like the only place you can turn
Speaker 3: right on rest.
Speaker 1: It's crazy.
Speaker 2: I'm turning and in some places you could turn left
Speaker 2: from a one way to a one way, which was
Speaker 2: shocking to me.
Speaker 3: Listen, learn all the different rules.
Speaker 1: But that's the thing. I have my car here, so
Speaker 1: I want to drive. I'm not ready. I can't get
Speaker 1: on the train. It's hard, and I don't want to.
Speaker 1: I just don't want to be around people. I don't
Speaker 1: like how people smell, so like, I don't like people's breath.
Speaker 1: So once I get like, I just think me being
Speaker 1: in the car is the best thing.
Speaker 3: So I can't wait to see who you end up with.
Speaker 1: Me too, me too. You better be strong, be strong,
Speaker 1: I don't know, hopefully somebody, hopefully soon because I'm ready
Speaker 1: to be a mom.
Speaker 3: Oh okay, I love that. All right, Well, we just
Speaker 3: put that in the atmosphere.
Speaker 2: I feel like once you put things out there like
Speaker 2: it comes, you gotta.
Speaker 3: Speak it comes. Now.
Speaker 2: I do have to ask you lastly, do you have
Speaker 2: anything else that you're working on that we should know about,
Speaker 2: because I want to make sure you know.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's been a tremendous year.
Speaker 1: For you, it has. Thank you. I'm so blessed to
Speaker 1: be able to say that as an actor. To be
Speaker 1: on two shows at the same time. It's like unheard
Speaker 1: of big shows. Yeah, so I know that. I think
Speaker 1: the team was coming back, so I'm excited. We already
Speaker 1: did season five, so that has the hair so supposedly
Speaker 1: season six, but auditioning and just like trying not to
Speaker 1: get depressed because you go from being so busy to
Speaker 1: nothing right.
Speaker 3: It has its ups and down.
Speaker 1: It has its ups and down. So like just making
Speaker 1: sure that I, like, I feel good and you know,
Speaker 1: if I don't all go to Turks.
Speaker 3: Now you can come with us to Saint Martin.
Speaker 2: I'm reading us very genially, I'm ready naturally an rhythm.
Speaker 2: And lastly, do you have a Tyler Perry story? Everybody
Speaker 2: who comes up here has an amazing Tyler Perry story.
Speaker 2: And clearly, like you've been casting on the show for
Speaker 2: seasons and seasons and seasons. What's your Tyler Perry oh story?
Speaker 1: Okay, so this is like my first season and I've
Speaker 1: never seen him in person ever, and he was directing
Speaker 1: the scene and you know, everybody like they know him.
Speaker 1: I don't know him though, and I'm about to do
Speaker 1: my scene and I'm very quiet. I'm like trying to
Speaker 1: do it. And he was like, I saw you're saying
Speaker 1: it was good, Kayla. I was like, Layla. He was
Speaker 1: like Jayla, Leyla.
Speaker 3: I just was like that's yeah.
Speaker 1: But he was like he's mad tall, he's like sixty five,
Speaker 1: and I just I didn't I didn't know, but I
Speaker 1: was nervous, but I was just so grateful and it's
Speaker 1: been a really good experience me being there.
Speaker 3: They shoot different, yeah that's what everyone says.
Speaker 1: They shoot fast, so it's like you have to know
Speaker 1: and and me coming in like I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: know it was that fast. Like on a good day
Speaker 1: we could shoot between eighty and one hundred pages.
Speaker 3: That's a movie, let me tell you. That is one.
Speaker 2: Everybody says that, but I guess you weren't prepared so
Speaker 2: you actually had to do it.
Speaker 1: No. I wasn't prepare because normally, like you'll be like, oh,
Speaker 1: we're going to block the scene and then we'll come
Speaker 1: back after lunch. They was like, come back, what we are?
Speaker 1: I said, I don't know the singing. I don't know
Speaker 1: this because how I thought I was going to be
Speaker 1: able to go to lunch and learn it right and
Speaker 1: then come back I mean with it's a lot. So
Speaker 1: I've really got the hang of it. It has I've
Speaker 1: gotten better as an actor because you don't have multiple
Speaker 1: takes and you better get it right and you better
Speaker 1: know what you're talking about. So I think that that's
Speaker 1: sharpened my skills like one hundred percent. So I'm grateful.
Speaker 2: You've also earlier said that you were talking about writing
Speaker 2: as well. Is that something you're doing I did?
Speaker 1: I did. I wrote my own project based on something
Speaker 1: that I was experienced, which was like dating a guy
Speaker 1: from overseas. So I wrote that, and I'm thinking it
Speaker 1: should be a vertical.
Speaker 3: Okay, yeah, I cannot wait to see this there. I
Speaker 3: think it should have gave up on the US, and
Speaker 3: there's a reason why.
Speaker 1: I mean, y'all let me be single before one hundred years.
Speaker 1: So that's that's why I gave up. Y'all gave up
Speaker 1: for me. So I just I mean, we'll see, but
Speaker 1: I'm always open to an American guy.
Speaker 3: Okay, right there we go.
Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate you for coming through, Leila. You gotta
Speaker 2: come do lip service at least one day.
Speaker 1: I'm ready, because are we gonna be able to talk nasty?
Speaker 1: Very yes?
Speaker 3: Book me now, Leila Odim.
Speaker 2: You can watch her as Connie on Zatima. You could
Speaker 2: see her as Jordan right now on the shot. Flash
Speaker 2: back to some of her earlier work. You know, you
Speaker 2: gotta go back and watch that Salt and Peppa again, please,
Speaker 2: you know, classic classic, Okay, and she's single. Just putting
Speaker 2: that out there, so we're manifesting. All right, that's way up.
Speaker 3: Thank you,