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Speaker 1: Loka Tora Radio is a radiophonic novella.

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Speaker 2: Which is just a very extra way of saying a podcast.

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Speaker 1: I'm diosa m.

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Speaker 2: And I am Mala.

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Speaker 1: Munos Lokatra Radio is yr Brima's favorite podcast, hosted by

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Speaker 1: us Mala and Viosa.

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Speaker 2: We're two ig friends turned podcast partners, breaking down pop culture, feminism,

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Speaker 2: sexual wellness, and offering fresh takes on trending topics through

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Speaker 2: nuanced interviews with up and coming LATINX creatives.

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Speaker 1: Known as Las Lokatas, Las Mammis of Myth and Bullshit

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Speaker 1: and Las Borgas Prosas. We were podcasting independently since twenty sixteen,

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Speaker 1: but joined iHeartMedia's Microtura network in twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 2: This year, we're continuing to share stories from the LATINX community.

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Speaker 2: Bartodo el mundo.

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Speaker 1: Welcome to season eight.

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Speaker 2: Are you listening?

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Speaker 1: Olao la loka Morees. Welcome to season eight of Loka

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Speaker 1: Tora Radio. I'm Viosa and I am Mala. You're tuning

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Speaker 1: in to Capitolo one sixty four stro.

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Speaker 2: Over the years, while we've been podcasting, we've created a

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Speaker 2: multitude of segments and in show series to diversify the

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Speaker 2: type of episodes that we produce and share with you.

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Speaker 1: For example, we've done Latinas and Politics, one of our

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Speaker 1: favorite series, log Epistemologies, Goddess Worship, fem defense, and so

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Speaker 1: on and so on.

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Speaker 2: This season, season eight of Loka Tora Radio, we are

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Speaker 2: bringing you a brand new series called Me, My Mental

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Speaker 2: Health and I.

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Speaker 1: For the next few weeks, you'll be hearing from licensed therapists, artists,

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Speaker 1: and creators about mental health and the rise of social

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Speaker 1: media usage.

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Speaker 2: As many of our listeners or Loka morees may already know,

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Speaker 2: we've been podcasting since twenty sixteen, and we are very

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Speaker 2: very very much online, sometimes a little too online.

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Speaker 1: Sometimes two online totally and we're like self proclaimed sad

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Speaker 1: girls Chionas and Ohona's everything. The world is overwhelming, and

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Speaker 1: obviously we have a lot of feelings, a.

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Speaker 2: Lot of feelings. They are just spilling over and busting

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Speaker 2: out the seams. And it doesn't always help that we

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Speaker 2: spend so much time on social media, not just for fun,

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Speaker 2: but also for work. It's kind of become an inextricable

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Speaker 2: part of what we do as podcast producers and hosts.

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Speaker 2: We've noticed while online that we're not the only sad

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Speaker 2: girls looking to social media for community connection, resources and

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Speaker 2: ultimately escape.

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Speaker 1: Back in twenty sixteen, we both had nonprofit jobs that

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Speaker 1: really intense work led us to create a passion project

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Speaker 1: now known as locatora Radio.

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Speaker 2: When we first started, I was working as a rape

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Speaker 2: crisis counselor and then later as a sex educator.

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Speaker 1: And I was working as a community organizer, and then

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Speaker 1: I moved on to residential care services.

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Speaker 2: And just like many other millennials and also Gen Zers,

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Speaker 2: social media has been in the background of our lives

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Speaker 2: even when we were kids, from aim in middle school,

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Speaker 2: to MySpace, then Facebook and Twitter in high school, and

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Speaker 2: eventually IG and TikTok in college and into our adulthoods Now.

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Speaker 1: After many years of being online and in many ways

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Speaker 1: growing up with social media handles, we've noticed a thing

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Speaker 1: or two.

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Speaker 2: Yes, we've noticed some things are just a little bit off,

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Speaker 2: and we don't think we're the only ones raising an eyebrow.

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Speaker 2: And obviously we're not the first people to talk about

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Speaker 2: mental health online. A lot of people have talked about

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Speaker 2: mental health online, including us.

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Speaker 1: But over the course of the pandemic, we noticed something

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Speaker 1: changed and we have some questions.

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Speaker 2: Just how accurate. Is is the viral mental health content

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Speaker 2: that we see online and what seems to be driving

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Speaker 2: the mental health boom on social media? We want to

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Speaker 2: know what motivates and informs the creators that make and

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Speaker 2: share mental health content and.

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Speaker 1: How do young people like us and younger separate the

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Speaker 1: real from the clickbait.

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Speaker 2: Today, on the very first episode of our new series Me,

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Speaker 2: My Mental Health and I, we are super excited to

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Speaker 2: be welcoming to look at our radio. Danny Fernandez, actress, host, TV, writer,

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Speaker 2: and if you're on Twitter, a pretty infamous tweeter tweets

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Speaker 2: out a lot of positive affirmations, but she also tweets

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Speaker 2: out a lot about her own personal history and struggles

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Speaker 2: with mental health with trauma, how she copes, and how

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Speaker 2: she channels it into her art. Danny Fernandez hot off

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Speaker 2: the front lines of the Writer's strike, like really showing

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Speaker 2: up and making your voice heard, making your voice known

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Speaker 2: not only online in TV, in film. But you're picketing. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: And I want to ask you about the Writer's Strike,

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Speaker 2: about your experiences on the frontline, why you're striking, but

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Speaker 2: also the way that people have responded to you online

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Speaker 2: when you've shared about it, when you've talked about it.

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Speaker 3: The writer's strike, just general information. We're asking for less

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Speaker 3: than two percent of profits. I think a lot of

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Speaker 3: people might not realize that. I think a lot of

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Speaker 3: people in our industry do. A lot of people outside

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Speaker 3: of our industry don't understand that we are not asking

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Speaker 3: for profits that aren't there. We're not asking for profits

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Speaker 3: that we didn't make. We're asking for profits that exist,

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Speaker 3: and we're asking for less than two percent. That is

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Speaker 3: essentially the equivalent to what one or two of these

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Speaker 3: billionaires are making, or multimillionaires are making per studio, So

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Speaker 3: what they make in a year, we're asking for literally

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Speaker 3: all of us. Before we hopped onto record, I was

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Speaker 3: just talking about how triggering it has been for some

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Speaker 3: other people. You know, there have been stories of us

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Speaker 3: almost getting run over. I almost got ran over at

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Speaker 3: Universal Studios. There's a video of it. I was interviewed

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Speaker 3: about it. We had very infamously people that were almost

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Speaker 3: run over by a producer in Atlanta. And I think

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Speaker 3: it's because these folks. One, it's wild to me to

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Speaker 3: side with billionaires. That's crazy. You yourself are not a billionaire.

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Speaker 3: That's insane to me. But secondly, I think they see

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Speaker 3: us banding together to ask for our worth. We are tired.

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Speaker 3: We're tired of these situations. We're tired of being exploited.

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Speaker 3: Alex O'Keefe, he you know, very famously is a writer

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Speaker 3: of The Bear, talked about how his bank account was

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Speaker 3: negative when he won the WJA Award for writing The Bear.

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Speaker 3: He couldn't even afford a tux. So, you know, I

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Speaker 3: would really like for queer people, people of color like

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Speaker 3: I want us to not just struggle to survive. I

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Speaker 3: want us to thrive. And so we're asking for the

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Speaker 3: for a foundation that would allow us to live here

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Speaker 3: and not just so we're not even really able to survive.

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Speaker 3: But I think it's triggering for people to see us

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Speaker 3: banding together and asking for our worth because they wish

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Speaker 3: that they could do that, so instead they take it

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Speaker 3: out on us as opposed to banding together to create

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Speaker 3: their own union.

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Speaker 2: I first came across you and your work before the

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Speaker 2: Writers Strike. On Twitter. You go viral all the time

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Speaker 2: for a lot of accident, whether it's personately on accident,

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Speaker 2: but consistently and organically, and whether it's a thirst trap

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Speaker 2: or an affirmation. You also tweet out a lot about

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Speaker 2: your journey with mental health, with trauma, and the way

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Speaker 2: that you channel all of those things into your work.

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Speaker 2: I remember at one time you tweeting about a pilot

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Speaker 2: that you sold called to one Percent Happy. So I'm

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Speaker 2: really curious about the internet mental health and how it

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Speaker 2: shows up in your work.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. Well, the reason why I tweet tweet I didn't

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Speaker 3: used to tweet affirmations and those all come from my heart.

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Speaker 3: Those will come from my healing. I used to be

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Speaker 3: very cynical, and I feel a lot of comedy, you know,

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Speaker 3: we came up through comedy, is very cynical, and that

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Speaker 3: was just not helpful to me anymore. I am a

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Speaker 3: suicide survivor. I've been pretty vocal about that, and hope,

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Speaker 3: to me is a skill. It's something that takes practice

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Speaker 3: and takes work. So I think sometimes when people see

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Speaker 3: me tweeting motivational things, they're like, Wow, it's so easy

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Speaker 3: for you, and I'm like, this is years and years

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Speaker 3: and years of pulling myself up a lot of times

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Speaker 3: on my own, pulling myself up because being nihilistic is

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Speaker 3: not helpful. Being nihilistic is not helpful to my community,

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Speaker 3: it's not helpful to me, and so I look for

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Speaker 3: ways to have hope in times of crisis, and that

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Speaker 3: was what one percent, one percent happy. I sold it,

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Speaker 3: unfortunately or fortunately right before the pandemic to HBO Max.

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Speaker 3: It was great. It was you know, I was starring

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Speaker 3: in it. It was a pilot. I wrote about my life.

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Speaker 3: It was a girl who survives a suicide attempt. And

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Speaker 3: then is like, now, literally, now what that was my plan?

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Speaker 3: A I'm still alive, I hate life. Should I hang

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Speaker 3: in there? And so I was curious. I was curious

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Speaker 3: about that answer. Why should she hang in there? How

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Speaker 3: can she hang in there? It didn't survive the pandemic.

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Speaker 3: It got dropped the first year of the pandemic, and

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Speaker 3: as we know, HBO Max torpedoed into a billion different things.

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Speaker 3: And so I have other shows that are in development,

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Speaker 3: but it's been really difficult, you know, speaking of the

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Speaker 3: writer's strike, you were like, why are we striking? I've

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Speaker 3: written now on three one hour dramas that just either

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Speaker 3: don't exist or I've been removed as a writer or

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Speaker 3: as a mini room and I don't get credit, and

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Speaker 3: I feel I have nothing to show for all those years.

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Speaker 3: And so you you know, y'all have been following my career.

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Speaker 3: You're like, no, I know, she's a great writer. She's

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Speaker 3: so busy, she's so successful. But if you google me,

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Speaker 3: it's like, well, where is all that stuff? My pilot

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Speaker 3: doesn't exist. The three shows I wrote on have not aired.

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Speaker 3: If they will ever air, Maybe they will, but they're

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Speaker 3: at the formerly mentioned network that has been dropping a

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Speaker 3: lot of stuff, and that's very difficult. I'm trying to

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Speaker 3: surrender to divine timing. I'm trying to surrender to when

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Speaker 3: it hit, it'll hit. And I feel like a lot

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Speaker 3: of us, a lot of people of color, feel like

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Speaker 3: we're a pressure cooker. You know. It's like you're just

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Speaker 3: when is my time? I'm getting better and better and better.

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Speaker 3: And we always talk about having to be twice as

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Speaker 3: good or three times as good, And now I feel like, truly,

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Speaker 3: if I were to sell my first ever pilot, that's

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Speaker 3: how good it was, like where And I still am

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Speaker 3: dealing with so many obstacles to it being seen and

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Speaker 3: it being seen as worthy of even being on screen.

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Speaker 3: That's so difficult.

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Speaker 2: It's a tough subject matter that you wrote about in

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Speaker 2: an even tougher industry, right, and there's I mean, really

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Speaker 2: something to be said about the amount of suicide. I mean,

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Speaker 2: Jack Knight, Rescue pe Night, comedian also TV writer, very

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Speaker 2: tragically and unexpectedly passed, and I think it's believed that

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Speaker 2: he did commit suicide. How do creatives in this industry

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Speaker 2: keep their chin up and keep pushing forward when there

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Speaker 2: are so many obstacles in place?

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Speaker 3: We talk about community, but I really feel like that

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Speaker 3: is probably what keeps me going, is people that will

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Speaker 3: be there for me, whether I'm shining or not, whether

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Speaker 3: I'm successful or not, whether I'm famous or not. I mean,

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Speaker 3: those people are really what we go through the trenches together.

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Speaker 3: And I think a lot of people want to reach

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Speaker 3: up and like, oh, but I just want to be

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Speaker 3: friends with Jordan Peel, who's great. I love Jordan.

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Speaker 2: He follows me.

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Speaker 3: He's great. He's followed me for years. I have no

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Speaker 3: idea why, because he just deals with my anime memes constantly.

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Speaker 3: But it's like, oh, I want to just be friends

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Speaker 3: with Ava Dubernie. She'll put me on, and it's like, no,

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Speaker 3: your friends actually put you on. Jordan's friends put him on.

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Speaker 3: They showed up for him when he was in the

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Speaker 3: trenches before he made it my friends that are there

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Speaker 3: for me, that hold me and carry me, and I

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Speaker 3: hope that I'm doing the same for them. But I

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Speaker 3: also want to say I kind of took some of

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Speaker 3: this matter into my own hands. I've made my own

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Speaker 3: short film.

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Speaker 2: Yes you did in the Static Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Wrote it, starred in it, submitted to these festivals. It's

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Speaker 3: now gotten into four different festivals. It premiered at La

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Speaker 3: leaf I'm going to Essence FESTUS weekend in New Orleans.

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Speaker 3: It got into the Me show, so like, I was

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Speaker 3: tired of waiting for people to think that I'm worthy

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Speaker 3: to be a star, and I just decided to make

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Speaker 3: something myself, and I'm glad that it's resonating with people.

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Speaker 3: Yes You're a short film in the Static Get premiered

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Speaker 3: at La Leif recently and it was sold out, A

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Speaker 3: sold out crowd, sold out room. What was the reception

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Speaker 3: like to in the Static? It's so funny because I

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Speaker 3: can never get away from my comedy background. I love comedy,

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Speaker 3: and you know some of the people that I like,

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Speaker 3: Jordan Peele Like, he obviously has comedy in his horror

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Speaker 3: Danny McBride, who wrote the latest Halloween's Like, he also

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Speaker 3: puts horror comedy in his horror, and I think comedy

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Speaker 3: and horror go so well together. So there's a lot

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Speaker 3: of comedic elements of it that I don't think i'll

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Speaker 3: I think everything I make is gonna have comedy. That

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Speaker 3: was great to hear everyone laughing. But also I had

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Speaker 3: one of the executives at CBS Casting reach out to

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Speaker 3: me and was like, who is this girl, and was

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Speaker 3: like wanting to meet with me? And I'm like, I've

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Speaker 3: been here. I've been an actress. I've been here for

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Speaker 3: almost a decade. I listened to y'all's last episode or

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Speaker 3: one of your previous episodes where you talked about, you

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Speaker 3: know that trope of it taking ten years to be

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Speaker 3: an overnight success, and I've been here for almost ten years.

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Speaker 3: So I wanted to make something where I was like, look,

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Speaker 3: I can do comedy, I can do horror, I can

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Speaker 3: do drama. I can write my own shit. And I

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Speaker 3: did that, but it I don't know, I just I

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Speaker 3: guess I was tired of I feel like they always

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Speaker 3: want a more famous version of me. I feel like

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Speaker 3: I'm auditioning, but they always want the girl who's the

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Speaker 3: more famous version of me. In our community, and I'm

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Speaker 3: so tired of that, you know, I want them to

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Speaker 3: give us more opportunities to break through as opposed to

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Speaker 3: like the five of us that get all of the roles.

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Speaker 3: I would love for a hundred of us to be

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Speaker 3: working to have that representation.

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Speaker 1: One thousand percent. Yeah. Yeah. I want to ask you

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Speaker 1: about creating your own short film and just in general

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Speaker 1: creating really meaningful and personal art media specifically about mental illness,

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Speaker 1: and like any advice you have for folks that are

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Speaker 1: trying to do the same they're trying to write their

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Speaker 1: own opportunities. Like what advice do you have to create

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Speaker 1: meaningful and personal art? It speaks to such a large

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Speaker 1: topic that affects tons of people.

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Speaker 3: I would say the first thing is reading a lot

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Speaker 3: of scripts. I taught myself how to write. I did

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Speaker 3: not go to school for this, and now, like I've said,

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Speaker 3: I've written on three different Warner Brothers dramas. I obviously

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Speaker 3: wrote and sold my own show. I have another show

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Speaker 3: that's currently in development and that I wrote and made

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Speaker 3: my own short So you can teach yourself how to write.

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Speaker 3: Don't let that hold you back and feel like you're

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Speaker 3: waiting for someone to give you that opportunity. But another

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Speaker 3: thing is, don't feel like you have to be so

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Speaker 3: hard on your trauma. You know, I included elements of

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Speaker 3: my trauma in the Static. It's about a woman who's gaslet,

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Speaker 3: which I had dealt with. It's a woman who kind

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Speaker 3: of spirals into paranoia, But the entire thing wasn't necessarily

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Speaker 3: about her trauma, And so I think you can have

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Speaker 3: flares of it here and there, but I definitely don't

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Speaker 3: want on our community specifically to feel that they have

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Speaker 3: to be it always has to be rooted in trauma.

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Speaker 2: No matter what.

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Speaker 3: If you've dealt with trauma, it's gonna come forward in

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Speaker 3: your work. It just will. So even if you set

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Speaker 3: a space sci fi, you know, thriller, you'll probably have

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Speaker 3: elements of that. So don't think it has to necessarily

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Speaker 3: be about that. But just allow yourself the risks. You know,

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Speaker 3: when I watch something like Succession, I'm like, are we

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Speaker 3: allowed to make these types of risks and make a

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Speaker 3: show that's chaotic, that has unlikable characters, that is wild

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Speaker 3: and problematic? And are we allowed to make this? Are

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Speaker 3: we always having to uphold how great our community is.

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Speaker 3: It's like that's awesome, But like, when are we allowed

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Speaker 3: to play in a way that these other shows do

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Speaker 3: and clearly win a ton of awards. When are we

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Speaker 3: allowed to have the problematic wild character, the risk taking character,

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Speaker 3: those super rich, you know, fucked up character. I just

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Speaker 3: don't see us getting to play as much. Los of Spookies,

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Speaker 3: I want to say, is great, Like they just were

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Speaker 3: so weird, and I'm like, so much of what I

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Speaker 3: want to make is just weird. Just let us make weird,

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Speaker 3: you know stuff, So we're seeing more of that. I

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Speaker 3: would love for that door to just be totally flung open.

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Speaker 2: I agree completely. Yeah, I mean, most recently the most

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Speaker 2: ridiculous uproar against the Oye. I know, the trailer that

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Speaker 2: came out and you know, with Flaming Hot. Of course,

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Speaker 2: there's been some negativity around that film, and I'm just

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Speaker 2: thinking back, like, I don't think I've ever seen white

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Speaker 2: people protest Trailer Park Boys. Your Succession. White people are like,

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Speaker 2: oh a jackass white person, great, let's watch five season.

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Speaker 3: They don't think it represents Like Succession didn't have to

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Speaker 3: represent all white people. Everything we make has to represent

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Speaker 3: all of us, and it's tiring as a creator. And

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Speaker 3: if you are trying to join us in creative If

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Speaker 3: you eventually want your own TV show or film or whatever,

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Speaker 3: you have to stop asking that of us, because it's impossible.

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Speaker 3: I can only tell my own experience. I hope that

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Speaker 3: you find it resonates with you in some way. I

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Speaker 3: think my short film has resonated with even it being

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Speaker 3: at essence right shows that it which is largely black,

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Speaker 3: female led, which our producer was Camille Corbette. Yes, she's

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Speaker 3: my co star in it Love Me so she's great,

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Speaker 3: and then Robert Butler, the third is the one who

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Speaker 3: directed it. So I'm glad that it's resonating. That frustrates

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Speaker 3: me that that we're not allowed to kind of just play.

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Speaker 3: That we have to uphold all of us.

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Speaker 2: You know, agreed, it can be very limiting, and it's

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Speaker 2: kind of a trap, you know, I think for the

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Speaker 2: creative and then also for the audience. I'm wondering too,

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Speaker 2: when you are sharing online not only about the strike

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Speaker 2: or your work or mental health, but also thirst traps.

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Speaker 2: I mean, really, the three sixty of you, what tends

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Speaker 2: to be the response is that overwhelmingly positive?

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Speaker 4: Is it?

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Speaker 2: Do you get a lot of negativity on the internet?

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Speaker 3: It's kind of fifty to fifty. I've moved my life

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Speaker 3: in a way where I now try to focus more

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Speaker 3: on the positivity, so I don't see the negativity as much.

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Speaker 3: It still catches me off guard sometimes. I definitely dealt

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Speaker 3: with it a lot more when I was in the

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Speaker 3: nerd hosting world, and that was really difficult. Anything that

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Speaker 3: anybody could use to tear me apart. They did my face,

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Speaker 3: my body, my jaw, my chin. I have a very

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Speaker 3: strong jaw, which I now love. I see people getting

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Speaker 3: fillers in their face to have my jaw. But I

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Speaker 3: was just talking to Urice Wanzer about this that there

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Speaker 3: were a lot of in cells that would call me

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Speaker 3: a man, say my face was mainly say like get

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Speaker 3: her out of like all of this stuff on the comments,

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Speaker 3: and I just wasn't used to it, and I would

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Speaker 3: weep and cry, and I honestly looked up getting jaw surgery,

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Speaker 3: and I'm so glad I didn't, but I almost did

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Speaker 3: that because I was younger and I was dealing with

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Speaker 3: so many negative comments that I just couldn't take it anymore.

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Speaker 3: And I was like, you know, you start to think,

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Speaker 3: if everybody feels this way about my face, maybe it's true,

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Speaker 3: and I'm so glad that I didn't touch my face.

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Speaker 3: And I think for people looking at me now, they're like,

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Speaker 3: you're so beautiful. How could you.

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Speaker 2: Think that you are so beautiful?

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Speaker 1: Oh, it's stunning.

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Speaker 3: And another thing I explained to Reese and I were

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Speaker 3: talking about, and you know, I was like, you know,

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Speaker 3: who has a strong jaw? Heroes and villains. Heroes and

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Speaker 3: villains have really strong jaws, and so, you know, I

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Speaker 3: think when people see how much I love myself, which

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Speaker 3: again suicide survivor, so it took me a long time

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Speaker 3: to get here. I also used to have an eating disorder,

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Speaker 3: and so it took me a really long time to

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Speaker 3: get here. And I think when people see how much

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Speaker 3: I'm willing to love myself, it's triggering to them and

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Speaker 3: they just kind of want to take me down a peg,

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Speaker 3: as opposed to realizing how how hard it was for

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Speaker 3: me to get here.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes me think of Judy Garland and Lil Kim,

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Speaker 2: you know, and supremely talented women in different eras, in

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Speaker 2: different art forms, but just beyond the pale, and receiving

386
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Speaker 2: such such abusive treatment from those around them because of

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Speaker 2: their appearance and persevering and making art anyways, And it

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Speaker 2: also makes me sad because it's like, have we improved,

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Speaker 2: have we gotten better? Have we learned nothing from these women?

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Speaker 2: Right from the Brittany's it's I don't know. I guess.

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Speaker 2: I guess these are probably women that you've also seen

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Speaker 2: and studied and admired. Who do you look to, I

393
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Speaker 2: guess as examples or heroes or role models in this industry.

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Speaker 3: Quinta Brunson. Quinta Brunson is like my north star. Ariana

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Speaker 3: Duvoyes is another person, and I just hold on to

396
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Speaker 3: them so like when I'm down, actually wrote I wrote

397
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Speaker 3: Ariana that she was my north star, and she followed me,

398
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Speaker 3: and you know, having an Afro Latina queer who's just

399
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Speaker 3: slaying and like taking over the industry and just proudly

400
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Speaker 3: and now she's, you know, starring in a Disney film,

401
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Speaker 3: being gay and being in love. It's just what they

402
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Speaker 3: show me is that good things happen to good people.

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Speaker 3: And I hold on to that because another thing that

404
00:21:14,880 --> 00:21:17,359
Speaker 3: you might have noticed in following me for these years

405
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Speaker 3: is I've dealt with a lot of shitty men in

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Speaker 3: this industry. Some of them I've outed publicly, much to

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Speaker 3: my detriment. Some of them I've outed privately. You know,

408
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Speaker 3: mo Ryan just had that book burn it down, exposing

409
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Speaker 3: even more abusers in our industry. And there's just so

410
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Speaker 3: many of them, and so many that haven't even been

411
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Speaker 3: outed yet, And a lot of people will kind of

412
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Speaker 3: be like, well, why don't you name them? And it's like,

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Speaker 3: I don't think you understand how lawsuits work, And I

414
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Speaker 3: think a lot of times it's not necessarily the public's business.

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Speaker 3: It's not one. It's not always my place. It's another

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Speaker 3: woman's story. A lot of the times. It's not always

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Speaker 3: I have spoken about my own stuff, but a lot

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Speaker 3: of times it's another woman's story, and it's if she's

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Speaker 3: in the middle of a lawsuit, if she's in the

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Speaker 3: all of taking care of it. I can guarantee you

421
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Speaker 3: it's almost always been reported behind the scenes to the

422
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Speaker 3: right people, and it comes out when it needs to

423
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Speaker 3: or in a last ditch effort. But I see a

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Speaker 3: lot of times people say name names, or why why

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Speaker 3: aren't you name me names? You're not helpful, And I

426
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Speaker 3: want you to know how detrimental that is for women,

427
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Speaker 3: because I've watched them name names, And I've watched you

428
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Speaker 3: guys come up with excuses why you still defend these

429
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Speaker 3: men because they're your favorite star. If you ask to

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Speaker 3: name names, be ready for it to be someone that

431
00:22:30,160 --> 00:22:32,119
Speaker 3: you love or stop asking.

432
00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:36,000
Speaker 2: Right and the potential for being like you said, sued

433
00:22:36,520 --> 00:22:41,160
Speaker 2: for stocks real women stoped her ass. The people making

434
00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:43,400
Speaker 2: these demands are not going to show up and pay

435
00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:45,680
Speaker 2: your legal fees. They're not going to show up and

436
00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:47,639
Speaker 2: protect you, and they're not going to show up and

437
00:22:47,720 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 2: ensure that you're going to be okay and you're going

438
00:22:49,359 --> 00:22:50,000
Speaker 2: to have a career.

439
00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:55,240
Speaker 3: Yeah. So basically I hold on to good people. Good

440
00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 3: people like Quinta, Good people like Ariana. You know, they're

441
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:00,800
Speaker 3: kind of my north stars of just like look it,

442
00:23:01,400 --> 00:23:03,960
Speaker 3: when things pop, they pop, And you know, Quinta is

443
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,919
Speaker 3: a great She's something that I'm holding on to right

444
00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:08,720
Speaker 3: now with the fact that several of my shows haven't

445
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:13,240
Speaker 3: moved forward because she had two or three pilots before Abbot.

446
00:23:13,840 --> 00:23:17,199
Speaker 3: So she had shot a pilot with CBS that didn't go.

447
00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:19,800
Speaker 3: She also was in a pilot at the CW that

448
00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:23,240
Speaker 3: didn't go, and then she had Abbot, and so she

449
00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,320
Speaker 3: was a pressure cooker right of talent. Well, she was

450
00:23:26,359 --> 00:23:27,960
Speaker 3: also in a Black Lady sketch show, but now she

451
00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:29,760
Speaker 3: had a show that she had created on her own,

452
00:23:29,840 --> 00:23:31,600
Speaker 3: and so I kind of see her as a pressure

453
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:34,439
Speaker 3: cooker situation. She's got better and better every year and

454
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:37,560
Speaker 3: was undeniable until it was her divine timing that she

455
00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,080
Speaker 3: popped and now hopefully doors open for her much easier

456
00:23:41,119 --> 00:23:42,760
Speaker 3: than what she had to deal with the first decade

457
00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:45,280
Speaker 3: of her career. But she's That's definitely what I mean

458
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,320
Speaker 3: about in North Star is somebody who you can look

459
00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:51,280
Speaker 3: to as like, this person has a similar track as me,

460
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:54,720
Speaker 3: has dealt with rejection the same as I have. They're

461
00:23:54,760 --> 00:23:57,680
Speaker 3: a good person and in the end it worked out

462
00:23:57,680 --> 00:23:59,280
Speaker 3: for them.

463
00:23:59,040 --> 00:24:03,200
Speaker 2: And continue to write, continuing to perform and make work

464
00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 2: even if the last thing didn't pop. Keep going.

465
00:24:06,280 --> 00:24:10,760
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So those are That's why I'm hopeful. That's

466
00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:12,800
Speaker 3: why I have to be hopeful, And I hope if

467
00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,720
Speaker 3: anyone sees my affirmations, you know, they understand where it's

468
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:21,240
Speaker 3: coming from. It's coming from a place of necessity. I've

469
00:24:21,240 --> 00:24:23,200
Speaker 3: had people write me that like, how do you always

470
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:24,560
Speaker 3: know what to say? Or how do you know I

471
00:24:24,600 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 3: need to hear this right when I needed to hear it.

472
00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:31,440
Speaker 3: And it's like, because I needed to hear this, I

473
00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,800
Speaker 3: needed to hang in, I needed that reminder.

474
00:24:34,080 --> 00:24:38,000
Speaker 1: I wanted to ask you specifically about Twitter and your

475
00:24:38,080 --> 00:24:41,040
Speaker 1: affirmations and the mental health content you decide to put

476
00:24:41,040 --> 00:24:44,080
Speaker 1: out there, and like, how do you navigate that as

477
00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,560
Speaker 1: a creator and an Internet user amidst the era of

478
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:51,760
Speaker 1: misinformation and like people self diagnosing? Also, do you think

479
00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:54,200
Speaker 1: about those things when you're like posting.

480
00:24:54,560 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 3: Yeah, the wildest thing to me is like someone could

481
00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:00,560
Speaker 3: make up a rumor about you and it just could

482
00:25:00,600 --> 00:25:03,600
Speaker 3: spread like wildfire. And especially if you're not really on

483
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 3: Twitter TikTok or whatever to like defend yourself, or you've

484
00:25:06,520 --> 00:25:08,439
Speaker 3: removed yourself and you're like I just don't feel like

485
00:25:08,640 --> 00:25:11,320
Speaker 3: having an account or getting on there. I did have

486
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,320
Speaker 3: something similar like that happened to me. I remember when

487
00:25:14,359 --> 00:25:16,840
Speaker 3: I sold my show one night during the height of

488
00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:20,200
Speaker 3: the pandemic. I completely spiraled. I don't know what happened

489
00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,399
Speaker 3: in my head. I also have OCD clinical OCD, so

490
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,800
Speaker 3: I have obsessive intrusive thoughts. They're not fun. They it's

491
00:25:26,840 --> 00:25:29,320
Speaker 3: like a broken record that plays again and again and

492
00:25:29,359 --> 00:25:33,840
Speaker 3: again and again. And Rommy Yusef I remember reached out

493
00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 3: to me. I've known him for years, and he was like,

494
00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,440
Speaker 3: you have to get off there, which if you notice,

495
00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:41,040
Speaker 3: if you go to his Twitter, he's not really on there.

496
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,639
Speaker 3: It says, I think, like nobody runs this account, but

497
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:47,359
Speaker 3: I don't think it's you know, Quinta has talked repeatedly

498
00:25:47,440 --> 00:25:52,160
Speaker 3: about not really being on there because nobody can really

499
00:25:52,359 --> 00:25:56,479
Speaker 3: understand what it's like until they're in your shoes. You

500
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:59,520
Speaker 3: can think you know what it's like to make a

501
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,119
Speaker 3: TV show that has to represent such a huge portion

502
00:26:02,200 --> 00:26:05,280
Speaker 3: of your community, but you don't really know until you're

503
00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:09,080
Speaker 3: there everything that they're dealing with, and one little slip

504
00:26:09,119 --> 00:26:11,639
Speaker 3: up seems like the worst thing in the world. I

505
00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:16,000
Speaker 3: remember when people were writing her to include school shootings

506
00:26:16,119 --> 00:26:18,600
Speaker 3: in the episodes, and we're like, let's not do that.

507
00:26:19,160 --> 00:26:22,080
Speaker 3: Why can't they just have a safe place of peace

508
00:26:22,200 --> 00:26:26,000
Speaker 3: and joy and seeing black children just getting to, you know,

509
00:26:26,040 --> 00:26:28,560
Speaker 3: be themselves in a school where they feel protected. Why

510
00:26:28,840 --> 00:26:31,520
Speaker 3: you know, that's not her place, it's not her responsibility.

511
00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:34,560
Speaker 3: But I remember she had a very graceful response of like,

512
00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,720
Speaker 3: this is how badly people need this addressed. Is that

513
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,000
Speaker 3: they're asking someone that has a show on ABC to

514
00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,560
Speaker 3: do it as opposed to their congressmen. I remember somebody tweeted,

515
00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:46,560
Speaker 3: You're worried about the wrong abbot, and I love that.

516
00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:49,879
Speaker 3: I think sometimes there's too much noise, you know. I Twitter.

517
00:26:50,000 --> 00:26:51,879
Speaker 3: I use to build up my platform, I build up

518
00:26:51,880 --> 00:26:53,920
Speaker 3: my following, I build up my fan base, and now

519
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 3: it's done its job and so now I'm on there

520
00:26:56,040 --> 00:26:58,399
Speaker 3: less and less. I don't even have it on my phone.

521
00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:00,479
Speaker 3: A lot of times I feel bad. I don't get

522
00:27:00,480 --> 00:27:02,119
Speaker 3: back to people for like a week or so. But

523
00:27:02,280 --> 00:27:06,720
Speaker 3: I just can't have everybody's opinions, especially their opinions about

524
00:27:06,760 --> 00:27:09,320
Speaker 3: me constantly flying at me.

525
00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:10,000
Speaker 4: Yeah.

526
00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,400
Speaker 2: There was a time where we talk about this all

527
00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:14,680
Speaker 2: the time. Yeah, there was a time where the only

528
00:27:14,760 --> 00:27:16,880
Speaker 2: way you could get in touch with your fave celeb

529
00:27:17,119 --> 00:27:20,880
Speaker 2: is by writing them some fan mail and maybe it'll

530
00:27:20,960 --> 00:27:23,760
Speaker 2: end up on a pile somewhere, you know. But now

531
00:27:23,880 --> 00:27:28,639
Speaker 2: people have this direct line to creatives and to celebrities,

532
00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 2: to a list celebrities even And I'm curious, like, have

533
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:35,560
Speaker 2: there been benefits for you having that kind of direct

534
00:27:35,600 --> 00:27:38,439
Speaker 2: contact with your audience? But have there I mean, also,

535
00:27:38,640 --> 00:27:39,880
Speaker 2: what have the drawbacks been?

536
00:27:40,119 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 3: Yeah? I mean I was a Disney character because of that,

537
00:27:43,840 --> 00:27:47,120
Speaker 3: because Rich Moore, Phil Johnston, they follow me and they

538
00:27:47,119 --> 00:27:49,919
Speaker 3: were directing Reckitt Ralph. They made Reckitt Ralph, or at

539
00:27:50,000 --> 00:27:53,120
Speaker 3: least Rich did and Ralph breaks the Internet. They literally

540
00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:56,399
Speaker 3: hit me up because they wanted host from the internet.

541
00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,439
Speaker 3: They wanted real life gamers, real life YouTubers, and so

542
00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:00,880
Speaker 3: they hit me up up and asked if I wanted

543
00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:04,399
Speaker 3: to be animated, and I was like yes, And so

544
00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:06,760
Speaker 3: for the rest of my life, I am a Disney character.

545
00:28:06,800 --> 00:28:09,399
Speaker 3: That's literally like, hey, I'm Danny Fernandez, you know, and

546
00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:12,239
Speaker 3: I have it framed in my living room and like

547
00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:15,480
Speaker 3: that would not have come without Twitter. Some of the

548
00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 3: showrunners that follow me, Like I said, Jordan Peel following me,

549
00:28:18,680 --> 00:28:21,760
Speaker 3: finding me, and he found me because one of his

550
00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:25,399
Speaker 3: head writers actually had tweeted and said, if you're a

551
00:28:25,400 --> 00:28:27,919
Speaker 3: fan of comedy, you have to follow Danny Fernandez. And

552
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:30,280
Speaker 3: then I saw him he followed me. And so it's

553
00:28:30,280 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 3: stuff like that where it's like they never would have

554
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,760
Speaker 3: found me. But the drawbacks are just I'm so sensitive,

555
00:28:36,080 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 3: I'm so I'm a person, I'm so sensitive, and the

556
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:42,720
Speaker 3: comments are just it just takes one or two comments

557
00:28:42,760 --> 00:28:47,520
Speaker 3: to really dig into me, and I think the thing

558
00:28:47,560 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 3: I've been doing now is just like, this is a

559
00:28:49,600 --> 00:28:53,680
Speaker 3: deeply unhealed, unhappy person. It's very easy now that I've

560
00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,560
Speaker 3: done so much therapy to see how unhappy a lot

561
00:28:56,600 --> 00:28:59,080
Speaker 3: of people are, because happy people don't write you stuff

562
00:28:59,120 --> 00:28:59,400
Speaker 3: like that.

563
00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,680
Speaker 2: I think what I've loved too about you is I

564
00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:03,560
Speaker 2: feel like a lot of your stuff is very much

565
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:07,400
Speaker 2: it's about your relationship to yourself. Yeah, so much of

566
00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:11,120
Speaker 2: your work is you talking to Danny and about Danny.

567
00:29:11,440 --> 00:29:14,840
Speaker 3: I mean, she's all I got, you know, She's all

568
00:29:14,840 --> 00:29:17,280
Speaker 3: I got. Sometimes I just feel like I've done so

569
00:29:17,440 --> 00:29:20,520
Speaker 3: much self work. I will do anything to get better.

570
00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:23,960
Speaker 3: And I was doing that, like just finding anything that

571
00:29:24,000 --> 00:29:27,440
Speaker 3: I could to try to heal myself. So again, if

572
00:29:27,440 --> 00:29:30,200
Speaker 3: you see me posting positive things, no, it comes from

573
00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:34,240
Speaker 3: a place of deep, deep trauma and healing.

574
00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:37,720
Speaker 1: I think people project, right, They think like, oh, you're

575
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 1: at this point where you're about positive affirmations and maybe

576
00:29:42,200 --> 00:29:44,760
Speaker 1: they're not there in their journey and so they can't

577
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:48,400
Speaker 1: even read what you're saying and taking it yeah, and

578
00:29:48,760 --> 00:29:51,200
Speaker 1: thinking about how much work it took for you to

579
00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,560
Speaker 1: even be at that place to say positive affirmations. To

580
00:29:54,640 --> 00:29:55,840
Speaker 1: yourself and to the Internet.

581
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:59,880
Speaker 3: But that's also one percent of what I get. Ninety

582
00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,760
Speaker 3: nine percent are people who found me because of that

583
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 3: same reason, because they are survivors. They're trauma survivors, their

584
00:30:07,560 --> 00:30:11,960
Speaker 3: abuse survivors, their suicide survivors, and it helps them. I've

585
00:30:12,000 --> 00:30:15,959
Speaker 3: had people even Sorr, I'm gonna get emotional. I've had

586
00:30:16,000 --> 00:30:18,760
Speaker 3: people even at the picket. I had an older Latina

587
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:20,960
Speaker 3: that came up to me and was like, your posts

588
00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,880
Speaker 3: like saved me, and she like held me, and I

589
00:30:23,960 --> 00:30:28,160
Speaker 3: just like I got into tears because I was like, oh, sorry,

590
00:30:28,240 --> 00:30:30,320
Speaker 3: you forget You're kind of like tweeting out in a

591
00:30:30,320 --> 00:30:32,280
Speaker 3: bubble and I forget that people are actually seeing this

592
00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 3: and it helped her. It helped her, someone who's wiser

593
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:37,880
Speaker 3: and older than me, and we follow each other now

594
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,520
Speaker 3: and I'm happy, but I was just like so grateful

595
00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:42,280
Speaker 3: that she came up and found me and said that

596
00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:44,520
Speaker 3: it had helped her. And there's so many of her.

597
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:46,760
Speaker 3: There's so many people who have pulled me aside and

598
00:30:46,760 --> 00:30:49,360
Speaker 3: been like this really helped me get through my day

599
00:30:49,440 --> 00:30:51,760
Speaker 3: or I didn't think I would make it. Sometimes you

600
00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,280
Speaker 3: just need a sign to hold to hold on and

601
00:30:55,480 --> 00:30:57,760
Speaker 3: a lot of times other women have been that sign

602
00:30:57,840 --> 00:30:59,800
Speaker 3: for me, so I'm glad that I can be that

603
00:31:00,520 --> 00:31:01,240
Speaker 3: for other people.

604
00:31:01,680 --> 00:31:04,120
Speaker 2: Thank you for sharing that. I think we can't even

605
00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:09,320
Speaker 2: comprehend sometimes how far the work is capable of going.

606
00:31:09,640 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for joining us today. Thanks been

607
00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:12,400
Speaker 1: a pleasure.

608
00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:15,280
Speaker 2: And where can folks follow you? Danny Fernandez.

609
00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,280
Speaker 3: I'm at miss Danny Fernandez. It's ms d A n

610
00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:20,520
Speaker 3: I F E r n A N d Z on

611
00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:24,480
Speaker 3: Twitter and Instagram. I did get TikTok and I've been

612
00:31:24,520 --> 00:31:26,800
Speaker 3: trying to post more there.

613
00:31:26,840 --> 00:31:29,760
Speaker 2: I'm I'm at.

614
00:31:29,680 --> 00:31:33,480
Speaker 3: I am Danny Fernandez. There's there's so many Danny Fernandez's, y'all.

615
00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:36,719
Speaker 3: It's the most common game. My friend sent me this

616
00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:40,120
Speaker 3: other girl who is on TikTok. She has more followers

617
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,160
Speaker 3: than she's Also, there's a lot of Danny Fernandez. I

618
00:31:43,160 --> 00:31:44,680
Speaker 3: I think we should all just team.

619
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:46,600
Speaker 2: Up and a mega Danny.

620
00:31:46,760 --> 00:31:49,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a Danny Fernandez that male, but he's a

621
00:31:49,520 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 3: writer on I Carly and I would get tagged sometimes

622
00:31:52,080 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 3: about that. I refuse to see us as competition. I

623
00:31:55,120 --> 00:31:58,520
Speaker 3: will see us all as one big optimist prime.

624
00:31:58,640 --> 00:32:01,480
Speaker 1: Thank you Danny Fernandez for sharing about her mental health.

625
00:32:01,520 --> 00:32:05,240
Speaker 1: Journey being online and being a creative in this industry.

626
00:32:05,600 --> 00:32:08,120
Speaker 2: If you enjoyed this episode, and even if you didn't,

627
00:32:08,320 --> 00:32:11,360
Speaker 2: share this with everyone you know, your primas, your mom,

628
00:32:11,520 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 2: your cousins, your co workers, Leave us a comment, leave

629
00:32:14,760 --> 00:32:17,160
Speaker 2: us a review, Visit our website and leave us a

630
00:32:17,200 --> 00:32:20,440
Speaker 2: speak pipe voice message. It just might get played on

631
00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:22,440
Speaker 2: a future episode of lok at our radio.

632
00:32:22,880 --> 00:32:26,640
Speaker 1: Subscribe to our newsletter at lokotraradio dot com and we

633
00:32:26,680 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: will catch you next time.

634
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:34,880
Speaker 2: Bessitos Lokata Radio, a radio fani novela is executive produced

635
00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:37,840
Speaker 2: and hosted by Me Mala Munjos and viosa.

636
00:32:37,360 --> 00:32:40,360
Speaker 1: Fem story editing by Me diosa.

637
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:41,560
Speaker 2: Audio editing by Stephanie Franco.

638
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,080
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639
00:32:44,120 --> 00:32:44,640
Speaker 1: your support.

640
00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:59,760
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641
00:33:00,440 --> 00:33:02,600
Speaker 2: Hosted by Mala Munyas.

642
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643
00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:48,040
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644
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