Speaker 1: Welcome to Checking In with Michelle Williams, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio and The Black Effect. This is awesome.
Speaker 1: I'm so excited about today. Every week I say I'm excited.
Speaker 1: So listen. Anybody with the mom, sister, female, cousin, niece, daughter, wife, girlfriend, friend,
Speaker 1: that's a girl, boss, lady, grandma, please listen and share.
Speaker 1: I just love how this next guest has found so
Speaker 1: much humor in life to continue on during difficult times.
Speaker 1: She's also used her faith to manifest where she is now,
Speaker 1: to manifest everything that she has now. I just love
Speaker 1: watching her glow. I love watching her glow up and
Speaker 1: how she has not compromised her faith or who she is.
Speaker 1: She is very vocal about her faith, been very vocal
Speaker 1: about her celibacy, and she is just someone that we
Speaker 1: all can look to. To anybody listening, if you feel like,
Speaker 1: do you have to compromise your faith? Absolutely not. Do
Speaker 1: you have to compromise what you stand for? Absolutely not.
Speaker 1: So Yvonne Orgy is checking in with us today. Among
Speaker 1: her mini sterring roles, she has created her iconic character
Speaker 1: Molly on television series Insecure. For what she has been
Speaker 1: nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and three n Double
Speaker 1: A CP Image Awards and countless others. Yeah, this is
Speaker 1: gonna be a great conversation, so go ahead. I need
Speaker 1: you to get your coffee cups, coffee mugs, whatever you
Speaker 1: drink your coffee out of. If you drink coffee, your
Speaker 1: green tea. Water, actually water should have been something said first.
Speaker 1: I think I need to do a checking in water
Speaker 1: challenge because I really could do better with my water intake.
Speaker 1: But y'all pulling up at air, put your earbuds in,
Speaker 1: come on and check in with us on this new episode.
Speaker 1: It's a good one. Are you doing? How you doing?
Speaker 1: I am good? I am good. I have been looking
Speaker 1: forward to this for a long time. And we have
Speaker 1: mutual friends Dr dee De Freeman, Yes, yes, yes, Dr
Speaker 1: Deevy Freeman and her family. There are times where I
Speaker 1: just love going staying at their house and just resting
Speaker 1: and just getting loved on and of course sending them love.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited about you know who we know mutually
Speaker 1: knowing good people. How have you been, girl? Good like?
Speaker 1: I can honestly say really good like. I'm in a
Speaker 1: good place. I enjoy myself. I'm enjoying my journey. I'm
Speaker 1: enjoying the work that I'm doing, and I know how
Speaker 1: to separate my work from my work, and that's been
Speaker 1: a blessing. Wow, you said you know how to separate
Speaker 1: your work from your worth. Unpacked that because a lot
Speaker 1: of people base their identity or their worth on if
Speaker 1: they're working, if they're hot right now, if they're doing good,
Speaker 1: if they're if they made touchdowns this season, or if
Speaker 1: they won an award this season, if they auditioned for
Speaker 1: all the roles and got all the roles. It's like
Speaker 1: we base our worth on that. Unpacked that a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean I think I wasn't dissimilar to that I was.
Speaker 1: I'm a Nigerian woman and girl. We hustle hard, we
Speaker 1: go in the paint. I have NI generally they've already
Speaker 1: last statt it on my arm. So's it's always about achieving, achieving, achieving,
Speaker 1: Like you're only as good as the last thing you did.
Speaker 1: And I'm in a season now, I'm like, yeah, what's flow?
Speaker 1: Like I did all of that, I worked hard, I
Speaker 1: got tired, and now I just want to enjoy, like
Speaker 1: I want to work and then I want to rest.
Speaker 1: And that's okay. Like and in my resting, it doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that like don't nobody want me? No, means that
Speaker 1: I'm choosing me over everybody else, and that is okay.
Speaker 1: And for me it was not. It was hard to
Speaker 1: get here. What are we in October? Yeah, it took
Speaker 1: the last ten months for me to get here because
Speaker 1: what I didn't want this year was to have burnout.
Speaker 1: I was releasing a book. We released books the same
Speaker 1: I think day the same day, definitely to day. I
Speaker 1: was shooting insecure for six months. Do you know what
Speaker 1: that is? To have a book, the press tour for
Speaker 1: a book, and be shooting fourteen hours sometimes six hour days.
Speaker 1: What was so? It was for me, like I told God,
Speaker 1: I said, Hey, when I look back up at this season,
Speaker 1: I want to enjoy it. I don't want to hear
Speaker 1: the end of it and reach a goal but be exhausted.
Speaker 1: So fix it. Absolutely, so good and y'all. Among everything
Speaker 1: that she is this year, she added author on top
Speaker 1: of everything that she has going on. And she is correct.
Speaker 1: May twenty five, this year we both did something awesome.
Speaker 1: We released a book. We released a memoir. Your book
Speaker 1: is called Bamboozled by Jesus how God tricked me into
Speaker 1: the left on and how you've never been ashamed to
Speaker 1: say the name Jesus. So when I saw that was
Speaker 1: the name of your book title, was there some push back?
Speaker 1: Did you say, well, let me just say bamboozled by
Speaker 1: the Creator, you know, bamboozle by me? You know, I
Speaker 1: did my own bamboozlind That was suggested, that was offered,
Speaker 1: and I clearly said no. And so yeah, here we are.
Speaker 1: I stuck with the title that I was given, and
Speaker 1: for better or for worse, it's the title that I have.
Speaker 1: You know, I don't think I anticipated church people kind
Speaker 1: of being like rubbed, being rubbed the wrong way by it,
Speaker 1: because God doesn't bad boost on anybody. God is He
Speaker 1: don't trick nobody. I was like, well, then, I don't
Speaker 1: think his books for you, because you're not ready to
Speaker 1: have a real conversation. He will bamboos all your plans
Speaker 1: that you have for yourself, what you're talking about. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think people like this book is read for
Speaker 1: people who like to have a good time with Jesus.
Speaker 1: You know, I like to have fun and faith. And
Speaker 1: so it's if you are like since the Mary Mary,
Speaker 1: and you just uh, you've been saying all your life
Speaker 1: and the way you and Jesus, it's cool, God does
Speaker 1: everybody likes There's there's everything for everybody. And and this
Speaker 1: is not like a celebrity trying to water them about. No.
Speaker 1: I have a very good relationship with Jesus. But he
Speaker 1: also made me a comedian. And when I thought about
Speaker 1: the kind of book that I wanted to write, it
Speaker 1: was vulnerable, is very authentic, and I'm like, I have
Speaker 1: fun in my real life. I'm not gonna come to
Speaker 1: write a book that is a sky like like like
Speaker 1: you know, university textbook about faith. No, it's gonna parallel
Speaker 1: my life. I'm gonna have DMX references, just like I'm
Speaker 1: gonna have Luke twelve references. You know. So it um
Speaker 1: it flows, and it's I think for everybody. Dude has
Speaker 1: read the book a understand what I was gonna do,
Speaker 1: and they got it. And most of the people have said, like, yo,
Speaker 1: my faith like has been inspired. Like it's like I
Speaker 1: was not doing it all wrong, but like I didn't
Speaker 1: know that I could do it like this. And that's
Speaker 1: the thing. People don't know that they can actually bring
Speaker 1: God into every area of their life, like I'd be
Speaker 1: asking him, like, what are we were in today? You
Speaker 1: know what? I should? You? Right? That color doesn't okay,
Speaker 1: let's do that well, because scripture does say in all
Speaker 1: thy ways. It doesn't say in all the ways that
Speaker 1: you in the ways you compartmentalize, in all thy ways,
Speaker 1: acknowledge God and he directs your path to my Actually,
Speaker 1: my favorite scripture propertis three and six, Like where am
Speaker 1: I going today? What am I supposed to be talking
Speaker 1: about today? Who's supposed to come on my path? And
Speaker 1: you have been so unapologetic about your faith. I don't
Speaker 1: know if that's cliche or if we're tired of people say, oh,
Speaker 1: you're so unapologetic about your faith. It's like, let's normalize
Speaker 1: our faith. Yeah, I didn't know. Like when people asked me,
Speaker 1: how are you able to be in Hollywood and also
Speaker 1: be a Christian? And my answers very simple. I didn't
Speaker 1: know how to choose. I wish somebody told me that
Speaker 1: I was gonna need to choose that again, you don't
Speaker 1: have to choose. I don't have to choose. And it's
Speaker 1: also like you also have to like read the room too,
Speaker 1: like I'm never going on sets, Like do you know him,
Speaker 1: have you met him? And this is like when hold on, No,
Speaker 1: that's that's not that's not you Sure you're not going
Speaker 1: on stage with You're blessed oil never never never, not.
Speaker 1: You're not laying hands on the set of Insecure and
Speaker 1: people falling out speaking in tongues. No, that's not a
Speaker 1: thing that I have done, um and six years and
Speaker 1: you know there's nothing shows over so she put it
Speaker 1: both um. So yeah, I know. I think I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people mistake how people can see God
Speaker 1: in your life. Right, It's not like, oh my God,
Speaker 1: look at me, I'm'm Christian. It's just like no, like
Speaker 1: do you show up on time? Do you love people?
Speaker 1: Do you have a good attitude? You know? Are you
Speaker 1: easy to work with? Like that's how people see the
Speaker 1: God in you? Like so many people have God and
Speaker 1: then they're just like they're just trash individuals. And it's
Speaker 1: like I don't mean I don't want your Jesus, but
Speaker 1: you don't want more. Um it's so for me, it's
Speaker 1: just it's like it's it's lived out. It's lived out.
Speaker 1: Like it's like you can't I don't walk around with
Speaker 1: Nigerian T shirts all the time. But like you know
Speaker 1: who I am absolutely absolutely in your book. You have
Speaker 1: titles to your chapters right like faith it till you
Speaker 1: make it, and fear is food poisoning, but regret is herpies.
Speaker 1: What is the least sin about food poisoning at herpies? Yeah? Okay,
Speaker 1: so let me let me definitely clarify. Um. Also, I
Speaker 1: just want to let you guys go, this book has
Speaker 1: comedy elements. It's so amazing. You know who you find it,
Speaker 1: So you're not offended at anything. I'm not, I personally
Speaker 1: am not offended. So but what that chapter is talking
Speaker 1: about it is like, okay, so their analogy, so I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that like if you have herpies, that's like
Speaker 1: a regretful thing, like they're they are analogies. So fear
Speaker 1: is to food poisoning. Um. And so what that means
Speaker 1: is like when you get food poisoning, it sucks, but
Speaker 1: you know that as soon as you throw it up
Speaker 1: or go to the bathroom, it up and it's gonna
Speaker 1: come out of one hole. As soon as it comes out,
Speaker 1: you're back to being who you are. And that's what
Speaker 1: fear is. Fear, like it keeps you hustled, you're you're
Speaker 1: tied to the bathroom. You're tie You're like you still
Speaker 1: with anxiety. You don't want to do it, You're you're nervous,
Speaker 1: you want to weigh out. Please can please just come
Speaker 1: out which hole? Like I just I wanted out of me?
Speaker 1: And then once you push past it, once you get through,
Speaker 1: once you throw it up and that you know you
Speaker 1: need to do anyway, you get the reward. It's temporary,
Speaker 1: so fear is temporary, like food poisoning. The herpies is
Speaker 1: a permanent disease, so it's regret, So regret is it's perfect,
Speaker 1: like as much as you can be, Like how many
Speaker 1: times have you met people who get to a point
Speaker 1: in their life like man, I wish, I wish I
Speaker 1: would have done that different if they get sticks with
Speaker 1: you can still go on with your life, just like
Speaker 1: you can't but herpes. There's so many medications now, like
Speaker 1: you can live a fulfilled life. Every once in a while,
Speaker 1: though you will get a flare up. Every once in
Speaker 1: a while though you will have a moment just kind
Speaker 1: of like we regret, Like you will see somebody living
Speaker 1: your dream, married to your man, driving your car, just
Speaker 1: you know, decorating your house and you're like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: would have pushed past the food poisoning. I wouldn't need
Speaker 1: to have gotten here. Only I ast the fear. So
Speaker 1: that's what that chapter is really talking about life. Fear
Speaker 1: is food poison. It's temporary regret. Listen, it'll spring back
Speaker 1: up when you least expected. And that home don't. Okay, okay,
Speaker 1: this is so good as far as unpacking the word fear.
Speaker 1: And in order for you to live the life that
Speaker 1: you live, you ven you have to be fearless. I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't think it's fear less. I think I had fear.
Speaker 1: I still have fears. Comedies gets the credit of me
Speaker 1: every time before I get on stage, like oh my god,
Speaker 1: and the day like let's go, okay, yeah, this mean
Speaker 1: what's going y'all? Y'all hear from me, That's what's up.
Speaker 1: But like five seconds before, I'm just like Jesus and
Speaker 1: did be any other way? You know? So fear less
Speaker 1: sounds good, right, Like, no, I have fear. My faith
Speaker 1: is just bigger than it. Wow. Wow. You had people
Speaker 1: like Chris Rock talking about your book and Kerrie Washington,
Speaker 1: and then there was some balance of people of faith.
Speaker 1: Rachel Hollis like, I think that is so cool to
Speaker 1: have that. How did it feel as you're writing the
Speaker 1: book and those people that were approached that say, yeah,
Speaker 1: of course we want to write about Ivan in this
Speaker 1: amazing book. I mean, I'm so grateful to be able
Speaker 1: to encompass so many different spaces. And like I said,
Speaker 1: it's like, there are people that you won't expect who
Speaker 1: are people of faith because so many people of faith
Speaker 1: judge other people like if your faith don't look like this,
Speaker 1: then you're like, then then you don't really love Jesus.
Speaker 1: It's like wait what? Um? And for me, I was
Speaker 1: grateful to have people who have seen me you know
Speaker 1: Chris and seen me as a comedian, carry has seen
Speaker 1: me as an actress, um, And you know who have
Speaker 1: seen me and have seen the fruit in my life
Speaker 1: and know like I have a symbiotic relationship with who
Speaker 1: I say I am and what I do and what
Speaker 1: I project out into the world. The day that I
Speaker 1: don't take me out because what I'm not gonna be
Speaker 1: is a lot. Yeah. So I think that authenticity that
Speaker 1: you know, ability to be a chamillion and the Bible says,
Speaker 1: you know, we gotta be all things all these not
Speaker 1: necess to be all things all people, but like crafty
Speaker 1: as a as a surfing wises the dove that part two, um,
Speaker 1: and so I think it was it was really a
Speaker 1: blessing to have the likes of Carry and Chris, like,
Speaker 1: really sac book, They've seen my life. You know, sanction
Speaker 1: in the book is almos kind of like sanction understanding,
Speaker 1: like your my journey wasn't linear, it wasn't safe at all.
Speaker 1: And to have them see and understand what I was
Speaker 1: trying to do with the book and like really be like, yo,
Speaker 1: you did that and not we appreciate you for that.
Speaker 1: So it was great. What was the best part for
Speaker 1: you writing the book or promoting the book because you're
Speaker 1: a promo journey it seemed fun and on shows like
Speaker 1: Ellen and all the amazing fun late night television shows.
Speaker 1: For you, what was the best part of the journey. Well,
Speaker 1: I I'm a people person. I love people. I'm actually
Speaker 1: saddened that we were still kind of in the middle
Speaker 1: of a shutdown. Wh know you felt that too, like
Speaker 1: you couldn't do the book tours were virtual. Book tours
Speaker 1: were virtual, and I love tangible touching people, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, and so I'm actually going out on tour now,
Speaker 1: Like you know, I have an event at Barnes and Noble.
Speaker 1: I have other book events popping up like all throughout
Speaker 1: before the end of the year. So I'm I'm like,
Speaker 1: giving the book the thing that it deserves. So I
Speaker 1: just I love interfacing with this same here, same here.
Speaker 1: I did a book signing in Houston the other day,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, uhh, like you said, we want to
Speaker 1: give this book what it deserves. As you were writing it,
Speaker 1: was there anything you were like, yeah, this shouldn't go
Speaker 1: in the book. Yeah, I mean I think I put
Speaker 1: a lot in the book that maybe some people weren't aware.
Speaker 1: Um very transparent. It wasn't. I'm not a sealationous person,
Speaker 1: So I wasn't like, Oh, this is gonna be this
Speaker 1: is gonna be the part that's gonna be juicy. Let
Speaker 1: me add this so that I can really double the sales.
Speaker 1: I'm no, it's not like I don't I care about it,
Speaker 1: and so I'm not here. This wasn't an expose a
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm sure there's some things that some
Speaker 1: people read that they were not happy with, but I'm like,
Speaker 1: you're part of my journey, and I had to be honest, right,
Speaker 1: and I'm not trying to make you look bad, but
Speaker 1: this is what happened, and this is how it made me.
Speaker 1: I would impact with my journey and that and there's
Speaker 1: reason for me including it in the book. Well, I
Speaker 1: would tell them you can write your book too. I
Speaker 1: just it's funny when people get ambjiate, like I'm like,
Speaker 1: if you wanted the story to be different, maybe you
Speaker 1: should have done something to maybe. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: don't tell you, but um, you know, but I think
Speaker 1: for me, writing it was definitely a journey, um, because
Speaker 1: I found my voice in the midst. Normally you hope
Speaker 1: hopefully you have your voice before you start writing a book. Um,
Speaker 1: and I was there, and I'm so glad that I
Speaker 1: wrote it myself. Else like you know, you know, obviously
Speaker 1: they're like, you're fizzy. You know you're gonna have someone
Speaker 1: write it, and I just was like, I want to
Speaker 1: write it myself. And as I wrote it, things came
Speaker 1: to me, new ideas, new ways of saying things, like
Speaker 1: I think only I could write this book, not necessarily
Speaker 1: physically right, but like only the way my mind works,
Speaker 1: the way my heart is the way my journey was
Speaker 1: and it was difficult because there were parts like I
Speaker 1: didn't even know that I was like either holding things
Speaker 1: back and um I had an editor I was like,
Speaker 1: can you tell us more about this part of your life?
Speaker 1: And I was like, wow, like that part is like
Speaker 1: not the sexical and they were like yeah, but I
Speaker 1: just like I know you as the hard worker, I
Speaker 1: know you as this, but like I want to know
Speaker 1: you and I was like, and so I think the
Speaker 1: reason why that was missing was I was still on
Speaker 1: the journey of discovering me and so I found it
Speaker 1: while I found me while writing the book. And so
Speaker 1: that's why the book does feel very personally, does feel
Speaker 1: very ish because I was like, oh, hey, here is me,
Speaker 1: and like I'm proud of her and she has come
Speaker 1: a long way and she still has a long way
Speaker 1: to go. It's amazing that you would say she still
Speaker 1: has a long way to go, because some people could
Speaker 1: look at your life and feel like she's made it
Speaker 1: and you have, but you're like, I still have a
Speaker 1: way to go. You know what you want to do,
Speaker 1: and you know the woman that you can be and
Speaker 1: the woman that you aspired to be, and I'm becoming
Speaker 1: a new woman now. Like this book like the reason
Speaker 1: why I wrote it when I did, because I was like, well,
Speaker 1: that's the end of that chapter, and now there's a
Speaker 1: new chapter being birth in my life, and I'm I'm
Speaker 1: doing things differently the next book. I don't say contradict
Speaker 1: this book, because I think this book is for a
Speaker 1: specifically then and for a specific person, and for the
Speaker 1: person that I was. Are there are elements of the
Speaker 1: person that I was in this book that I've since
Speaker 1: been like, Okay, well we don't have to do that anymore.
Speaker 1: And that's okay because life is, you know, we're constantly growing,
Speaker 1: we're constantly evolving, and it's like that actually worked. You
Speaker 1: needed to be that, you needed to do that to
Speaker 1: get you to where you are now. You don't need
Speaker 1: it for the next journey. And it's just like okay, great,
Speaker 1: and like that's hard because you're like, what, this works once,
Speaker 1: and so many people do the thing that worked once
Speaker 1: over and over and over again, hoping that it will
Speaker 1: work again. When God is like, yes, it worked once.
Speaker 1: But when I'm telling you now is that you drop
Speaker 1: that thing and trust me in a new way. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, this is scary. But worth it. How
Speaker 1: is your trust? It's good, Like I mean, I have
Speaker 1: seen him work, so it's easy to I would say
Speaker 1: easy to trust, but it's like I know it's going
Speaker 1: to work again. And one thing I always help people
Speaker 1: with me is check my fruit. Check the fruit. And
Speaker 1: so if I can say that about me, it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: well then yeah, check god fruit. And when you check
Speaker 1: his fruit, I'm like, okay, so yeah, I gotta I
Speaker 1: gotta trust you so for me, for the things that
Speaker 1: I still want and things that I'm still believing for,
Speaker 1: I'm kind of like, oh my gosh, it's gotta be
Speaker 1: so good. Yes, I seeming we love these conversations that
Speaker 1: you're just like you're have it out loud. I just
Speaker 1: think you are absolutely awesome, fun, creative, and I want
Speaker 1: to talk to you about that. You talk about your
Speaker 1: journey from pre med to what you're doing now and
Speaker 1: how it didn't necessarily come easy. And do you feel
Speaker 1: though You're Nigerian background, has it helped spark creativity enrich it? Yeah? Do?
Speaker 1: Your Nigerine is amazing like it is. It helped me
Speaker 1: have the huffle that I needed. It helped me understand
Speaker 1: the vision that I wanted to have and what I
Speaker 1: wanted to create. It gave me kind of like a
Speaker 1: foundation of who I am and you know what I
Speaker 1: want it to saying how I wanted to say it.
Speaker 1: And in this season, I'm actually, you know, when it
Speaker 1: comes to the hustle part, I'm becoming less Nigerian. And
Speaker 1: I say that would have Gonna saw it because even
Speaker 1: being less Nigerian, my less than less Nigerian is still
Speaker 1: like more than the average person. It's like I'm doing
Speaker 1: less and my lesson is like somebody else is the most.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean. But I imagine being full
Speaker 1: throat on Nigeria, You're just like you're you're you're a
Speaker 1: jack rabbit. Calm down. And So I appreciate the perspective
Speaker 1: that comes from my cultures and I try to infuse
Speaker 1: that and most of the things that I do, especially
Speaker 1: things that I'm creating. I definitely infused my two worlds
Speaker 1: in one and I love that perspective that I get.
Speaker 1: While speaking of family, how has it been, how have
Speaker 1: they been receiving this success? Like? What is it? Like? Oh?
Speaker 1: They love it? My mom My mom is the local celebrity, Okay,
Speaker 1: not the international celebrity. She she got recognized in l
Speaker 1: A before I did. I was wait. They were like,
Speaker 1: look out, we saw your mom and we were we
Speaker 1: recognized her with the specially like you saw my mom's
Speaker 1: not me. I was like, okay, cool, cool, cool, Hey
Speaker 1: mine's after you go home, listen, you know what and
Speaker 1: I know my mom. She definitely was not a fan
Speaker 1: of me going into music. Um, we were to go
Speaker 1: to college, get a degree, because you're gonna get a job.
Speaker 1: You gotta get benefits for a one K, retirement, vision, dental,
Speaker 1: all of those things. Because she wanted to make sure
Speaker 1: that her children that we're okay, we have the things
Speaker 1: we need. And it's so good to see. I have
Speaker 1: seen my entire family become supportive and so I feel
Speaker 1: the same for you, and so congratulations on that. Thank you,
Speaker 1: because not even just my family culturally, you know, it's
Speaker 1: like so many Nigerian kids in America are like, I
Speaker 1: want to be a creative and difference like they're blaming you.
Speaker 1: Well now now they're looking to me to be like, hey,
Speaker 1: if you done even on GV saw how on that
Speaker 1: Jimmy Kimo life, she's in Nigerian gel Okay, if you
Speaker 1: want to do this active thing. Maybe if you can
Speaker 1: be like you know, So it's kind of like it's
Speaker 1: a pipeline because the thing, the reality is similar to
Speaker 1: your parents. It's just fear. It's just the fear of
Speaker 1: like will they make it? Will they be okay? Like
Speaker 1: if they failed, as I mean we feel as a parent.
Speaker 1: So it's not like they want to dismantle your dreams
Speaker 1: because they're evil. They're just want to protect you. And
Speaker 1: so now that you succeed, they're just like, oh my gosh, Okay,
Speaker 1: if she can do it, she can create a pipeline
Speaker 1: whereby the next person can do it. And so that's
Speaker 1: that's what my success has actually done for the community
Speaker 1: at large. So I'm grateful because when my mom saw
Speaker 1: Lupizza when the oscar, she called me. I was like, this,
Speaker 1: your friend has one on us. I'm like, I don't
Speaker 1: know the woman. I don't I've never met her at
Speaker 1: that point in my life. I was like, I know,
Speaker 1: but like another African is successful. Okay, continue on, and
Speaker 1: also back in your comedy, as we were talking about comedy,
Speaker 1: you address romance when you share that all is fair
Speaker 1: and love and food, what if any kind of backlash.
Speaker 1: Have you gotten from that moment when you said that
Speaker 1: you were if you were hungry, you would just go
Speaker 1: on a date to get dinner. I mean that was
Speaker 1: that was my best when I was broke. I feel
Speaker 1: like most dudes know when they're on a foodie call,
Speaker 1: they do, and most girls have done foodie calls. They're like,
Speaker 1: that's why everybody was laughing. They were like, oh dang,
Speaker 1: why I want a foodie call right now? This is
Speaker 1: this tonight is my foody call moment. So while you
Speaker 1: calling me out, I'm here for it. Speaking of the
Speaker 1: fooding and traveling, I've just been loving the traveling that
Speaker 1: you're doing. And if you don't mind, I did follow
Speaker 1: your travel agent. Oh hit list, Jonathan, get ready to
Speaker 1: get ready to get ready? You figure out how to
Speaker 1: curate um some travel experiences because sometimes I travel alone
Speaker 1: for work. But I'm like, have I really traveled alone
Speaker 1: to see the world and not wait on a boo
Speaker 1: or not to wait on a group of girlfriends for
Speaker 1: us to go. So when you do travel, do you
Speaker 1: ever feel like I want to share this with somebody? Yeah? Like,
Speaker 1: um so, Jonathan, my travel a did before we book
Speaker 1: a thing, like we're I'm you know, the last trip,
Speaker 1: I said, he said, you want to go, and I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I'm I'm so intecisive about like where I actually want
Speaker 1: to go. I tell him how I want to feel,
Speaker 1: because I said I want to feel romantic, and so
Speaker 1: he was like okay, and I was like, yeah, I
Speaker 1: want to do something on the water and he was
Speaker 1: like Italy. I was like, you know, and then we
Speaker 1: ended up with Tobino and it was like beautiful and
Speaker 1: romantic and sexy. And then I was like, I also
Speaker 1: want an element of culture in there, and I want
Speaker 1: to be on the continent of Africa. Okay, because I
Speaker 1: was gonna ask when you thought of Morocco, what was
Speaker 1: the feeling that you wanted when you went there. I
Speaker 1: was like, I want I wanted beautiful architecture, beautiful people.
Speaker 1: I wanted good food, and I wanted to feel connected
Speaker 1: and and then also like travel wives and makes sense.
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, you know it really here in Morocco.
Speaker 1: Yeah that's just over there, because you know that that
Speaker 1: also played a part, and yeah, you know when I go,
Speaker 1: so we set up in the whole itinerary. So basically
Speaker 1: I'm just like, let me do what I want to do,
Speaker 1: and then I can open it up if people are available,
Speaker 1: because on Moe Grew projects, if people are available, they're willing.
Speaker 1: I'm like, hit up, Jonathan, he don't tell you where
Speaker 1: I'm staying, you know, like he couldn't you like her
Speaker 1: friends a different price um price points. So it's just
Speaker 1: like it is what it is, and it's like, this
Speaker 1: is where we're gonna be at. Some of my friends
Speaker 1: were like, I'll meet you in nearly. I wouldn't be
Speaker 1: staying at your hotel. I'll be close, you know, or
Speaker 1: like I'll join on this part. And it just this
Speaker 1: particular trip, it didn't work out like they did. Nobody
Speaker 1: could come. Everyone has to make something working out. But
Speaker 1: at the end of the day, I was like, if
Speaker 1: nobody comes, I'm gonna have a good time because I
Speaker 1: already created my enery. If somebody comes, great, we'll have
Speaker 1: a good time because I already created my eye. Um.
Speaker 1: And so it was one of the you know when
Speaker 1: you talk about like do you ever feel like you
Speaker 1: have to share things with someone? And yeah, the step
Speaker 1: feeling came up and then it made me stop and say,
Speaker 1: aren't you someone like you're sharing this with yourself. Are
Speaker 1: you Are you in the moment taking it in? Are
Speaker 1: you in the moment wishing somebody else was in the
Speaker 1: moment with you? Oh? Are you that someone? Oh? Come on?
Speaker 1: You know. And it's like I I fall in love
Speaker 1: with me as I do like And it sounds like like, oh,
Speaker 1: what does that mean? Like No, I'm just like I
Speaker 1: I become childlike, like, oh my god, that's so pretty,
Speaker 1: Like look at that? Can we go see the titles?
Speaker 1: Like it's just like it's just like you you get
Speaker 1: whimsical again, Like when as an adult are you able
Speaker 1: to like almost have like childlike joy of just like
Speaker 1: the little things that make you happy. We're so like
Speaker 1: accustomed to be like being the boss and having to
Speaker 1: make big decisions, and it's just like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: can I have a Oh my god, I want a gelatto?
Speaker 1: Wanted they feel good? Okay, I wanna have a gelatto
Speaker 1: and sit and just watch the books go by. Oh god,
Speaker 1: this is so pretty. Why did I get giddy when
Speaker 1: you just you know said that? And it's just like,
Speaker 1: and I think it's the more we give that to
Speaker 1: ourselves when we do get a boot. It's like, my
Speaker 1: favorite thing to do is to get on a boat
Speaker 1: and eat gelatto, and like you have more specifics about yourself.
Speaker 1: When someone says like, you know, what do you do
Speaker 1: for fun? It's not just like oh, you know, I
Speaker 1: just like to travel. Well what does that look like?
Speaker 1: What does that mean? You know? It's like, oh, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm I realized about myself, like I don't like to
Speaker 1: be two books, Like I had to learn Nideraan and
Speaker 1: me that was you know, poor, and now I got
Speaker 1: some stuff. I was always like, you have to make
Speaker 1: the most of everything, like so if you go, you
Speaker 1: have to And I was like, or I can just
Speaker 1: rest in this very expensive hotel and that's also fulfilling.
Speaker 1: I need to get myself permission that that was okay,
Speaker 1: because you know, we think like, oh, you know, you
Speaker 1: can't waste any moment, and it's like, no, this is
Speaker 1: not a waste. It's something to be said for women
Speaker 1: to have that permission to do just that. Yeah, just
Speaker 1: do whatever you want, like and sometimes like I learned
Speaker 1: like it's ok to change my mind because sometimes I'd
Speaker 1: be like, okay, you don't want to go outside and
Speaker 1: just let the sun be on my back, and then
Speaker 1: it's like it's okay, not go inside and watch a
Speaker 1: movie on that week? Okay. And then and then it's like, okay,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to read a book. And it's just
Speaker 1: like it changes, like it's all it's like you all
Speaker 1: about checking in. It's checking in with myself. Like sometimes
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, solf okay, So if you do feel sad,
Speaker 1: what is it you're sad about? Are you sad that
Speaker 1: like you don't know if you ever get married or
Speaker 1: like that? They're just not here now Okay, I'm back
Speaker 1: then okay, really really like okay, cool, do you know
Speaker 1: what kind of love you want? All right, let's let's
Speaker 1: let's walk quack okay, so what if he was here?
Speaker 1: Like where where would you go here to put yourself
Speaker 1: in a new vironment to meet somebody? Okay? Do I joined? Bumble?
Speaker 1: And it's just like you just keep checking in with yourself.
Speaker 1: And then so many, so often we the thing that's
Speaker 1: in our mind, we just kind of like put it
Speaker 1: in subconsciously. It's affecting us, so we might as well
Speaker 1: just like tap into it and be like, hey girl,
Speaker 1: what are you like what are you saying back there?
Speaker 1: Because you keep talking but you're not really saying nothing,
Speaker 1: So like, let me have a conversation with you and
Speaker 1: let's get to the root of this. Let's get to
Speaker 1: the bottom of this. Enjoy ourselves or we can know ourselves.
Speaker 1: And you know, my my sister in love surprised me
Speaker 1: because she was in Nigeria. So she was like, girl,
Speaker 1: it's a for our flight to Morocco. I'm coming and
Speaker 1: so she came for like two days and like that
Speaker 1: was a welcome break. But I already by myself like
Speaker 1: two and a half weeks, and so it was you
Speaker 1: have those moments of like, oh, I got the chair,
Speaker 1: and then you meet new people. I posted there was
Speaker 1: a black woman who owns a guest house in Morocco
Speaker 1: that was like, hey, we have mutual friends. I would
Speaker 1: love to invite you to my guest house to eat dinner.
Speaker 1: And I was like, you're black woman, and you know,
Speaker 1: check with my friends. They're like, she's super cool. Got there.
Speaker 1: There was another black woman visiting from l A and
Speaker 1: then we all just had dinner toga because then you
Speaker 1: made new friends and you're like, oh, this is great.
Speaker 1: I think people confused loneliness and the lamp and alone.
Speaker 1: I think people are afraid to do things alone because
Speaker 1: if in their minds like it's lane, or like, who's
Speaker 1: gonna take my pictures? I remember I was I was
Speaker 1: visiting one of the places and there was a whole
Speaker 1: entire professional photographer that saw my guy taking pictures of me,
Speaker 1: and he had his long lands and he was like,
Speaker 1: can you sit here? I would take this picture of you.
Speaker 1: Looks amazing. I'll send it to you. That was it,
Speaker 1: and then I attacked it. He didn't know me, he
Speaker 1: did not seek anybody's English um, and he was just
Speaker 1: like a dude visiting Morocco and took a picture. So
Speaker 1: you're like, who's taking pictures? Like you'll find people? Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was in Italy and I was like, do you
Speaker 1: mind taking this picture of me with this bridge? Thank you? Yes.
Speaker 1: I think I think maybe one of your captions in
Speaker 1: my have even alluded to something like that. You did
Speaker 1: such a great lesson on what it's like to check
Speaker 1: in with yourself, and you said something that maybe say, okay, God,
Speaker 1: I need you to bamboos or this doubt that I've
Speaker 1: had when you mentioned will you ever get married? I'm
Speaker 1: not saying that that's a long lingering thought of yours
Speaker 1: or mine but sometimes it does cross my mind, like
Speaker 1: am I supposed to be married? Am I enjoying you
Speaker 1: know this time and what I consider freedom? But perfectly
Speaker 1: in marriage that it doesn't mean bondage, that even more
Speaker 1: freedom can happen. So thank you for sharing that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean when it comes to relationships and you know,
Speaker 1: when you talk about trust, that's kind of what I
Speaker 1: was alluding to. It's kind of like, I feel God
Speaker 1: helping me become successful in my career is probably harder
Speaker 1: than God finding me one man out of eight billion
Speaker 1: people on the Earth the planet to connect with. I'm
Speaker 1: just like, I feel like making it from like no
Speaker 1: name performer to number two and cost you on HBO.
Speaker 1: I think that was hard, and I'm like, if he
Speaker 1: can do that, I'm pretty certain he can find me
Speaker 1: somebody who will love it. Oh my gosh. You know,
Speaker 1: I think so many people look at timelines and look
Speaker 1: at Okay, well it hasn't happened by this day, so
Speaker 1: will it ever happen? It's like what if what if
Speaker 1: you're become like I'm not the same person I was,
Speaker 1: and so had I met a man in it probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't work Right now because I'm I'm a newer, upgraded
Speaker 1: version of myself. I love that I turned to my
Speaker 1: old lease and so now the things that I want
Speaker 1: even now are different. And so I think I'm in
Speaker 1: the best space to invite somebody into my life, even
Speaker 1: though I probably was like I want to meet somebody.
Speaker 1: It's like meet yourself first, and then after you meet yourself,
Speaker 1: you can meet your bed and you know, and even
Speaker 1: just in slowing down because it's we say things and
Speaker 1: we don't do things that connect. Right, It's like I
Speaker 1: want somebody when where when you're busy just going going
Speaker 1: owned and I was in my hustling grind zone. Now
Speaker 1: I'm actually like, oh my god, and not slowing down
Speaker 1: to me the man slowing down because I wanted to
Speaker 1: and end the slowing down. That's actually when somebody can
Speaker 1: like run into me. And it's just like and I
Speaker 1: will have time to cultivate somebody running into me. And
Speaker 1: so it's it's something to to look forward to in
Speaker 1: a way that I'm like, oh God, I'm inviting that.
Speaker 1: And now my my energy towards this is not like
Speaker 1: a thirsty like are you the one? Should I look
Speaker 1: for another? It's like, uh, hi, I'm yeah, I'm interested,
Speaker 1: I'm available. Actually, yeah, I can't have lunch on Tuesday. Wow,
Speaker 1: oh come on, this is this is so good, y'all.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy about this conversation because I know she
Speaker 1: is smack dab in the middle of book promo, but
Speaker 1: she is so many other things. And I couldn't finish
Speaker 1: up the conversation without asking you about your fifth and
Speaker 1: final season on the network, in which you said number
Speaker 1: two on the call sheet insecure y'all are gearing up. Well,
Speaker 1: you've already filmed pretty much the final season. And while
Speaker 1: everybody it's sad to see this HBO series go, is
Speaker 1: there any clues that you can give us in the
Speaker 1: season for Molly Wow, Um, you want me to lose
Speaker 1: these HBO checks? No, no, no, you see and see
Speaker 1: there's something that you do sign you when you can
Speaker 1: in d as you do not disclose. But I just
Speaker 1: thought it was just between us two we Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think I see the brand recording button like it is.
Speaker 1: It is, it is, it is, And thank you for y'all.
Speaker 1: She just also let me tell you something you can
Speaker 1: always learn from someone because there's always something to be learned.
Speaker 1: That was a master curving class. But I will say
Speaker 1: we all saw pictures of the tears flowing the hug Xen.
Speaker 1: When you see your favorite show, you think it's supposed
Speaker 1: to just live forever eighty seasons. You know, we want
Speaker 1: to see y'all turn into great grandparents. You know this
Speaker 1: is not the show. Was it hard to be like, no,
Speaker 1: I think we can go. Let's go to seven. Season
Speaker 1: seven is a good number. I think Easter always had
Speaker 1: the number in her head and she wanted to go
Speaker 1: out on her own terms. You know, some sometimes you
Speaker 1: see your favorite shows and you're like, I mean that's
Speaker 1: a good series. Season six was like whatever, but like
Speaker 1: it picks back up. It's like she never wanted a done.
Speaker 1: She was like, we're gonna give the people what we're
Speaker 1: gonna give and then we're gonna move on through other things, right,
Speaker 1: And sometimes you have to, but you have to respect
Speaker 1: a visionary because we selfishly want more. Heck, I'm like,
Speaker 1: can we do a movie? And she's like no, the
Speaker 1: answer is no, And you know it is because for me,
Speaker 1: it's not even because I want more season, because like,
Speaker 1: I enjoyed working with these people, I enjoyed tapping into
Speaker 1: this character. I enjoyed gonna work. And I know that
Speaker 1: I've been told that I'm not gonna speak that into
Speaker 1: my life, but I've been told that nothing like that
Speaker 1: all the time on set, Like everybody doesn't always get along.
Speaker 1: You know, it's not always a family, people just being
Speaker 1: their own trailers just like just called me when it's
Speaker 1: time is just check Yep, that's it. And what I
Speaker 1: don't want to like And I my prayer is that God,
Speaker 1: like I know I may not be able to chase
Speaker 1: the same high, but God, make it good, make me
Speaker 1: have fun like I want to enjoy working. Wow, it
Speaker 1: looks every bit of that. And author, actress, comedian, good friend.
Speaker 1: I'm sure, daughter, you are also a host now, I
Speaker 1: know you can tell us nothing about Insecure, but what
Speaker 1: about other projects such as My Mom, I'm Your Dad
Speaker 1: and Yearly Departed? Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm so people
Speaker 1: don't know that. Before Um, I became Molly, I used
Speaker 1: to host a lot, like in terms of like really
Speaker 1: getting my comedy chops, host home Down, I hosted anything
Speaker 1: with my baby, showers, funerals, commune, name it. I was there,
Speaker 1: Um and that ability to kind of be off the
Speaker 1: cuff and just the ability to improv and and connect
Speaker 1: with audiences like that's something I do very well, and
Speaker 1: so and sometimes you have to like give yourself credits
Speaker 1: for the thing you know how to do very well.
Speaker 1: And that's my that's fun. And so yeah, My Mom
Speaker 1: Your Dad is a reality show where single parents get
Speaker 1: hooked up by their kids or nominated by their kids
Speaker 1: house where they can find a second chance of love.
Speaker 1: And I love love, and so just the opportunity to
Speaker 1: have this kind of microcosm of like oh who who
Speaker 1: and like, you know, are they gonna repeat the same
Speaker 1: mistakes so when they grow whatever whatever. So it's very
Speaker 1: fun and then you really the ardent. I'm excited for
Speaker 1: that to come out. We had a lot of laughs
Speaker 1: on show, so it's me a host of other very
Speaker 1: funny either female comedians or female comedy actresses. Um. And
Speaker 1: it was written by a writing staff of all women.
Speaker 1: It's produced by women. So it was really just like
Speaker 1: I loved it because very rarely do you are you
Speaker 1: able to work on a set where it's like a
Speaker 1: show by black people, written by black people, it's all women,
Speaker 1: written by women, produced by women. It's amazing. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that was a very fun and very unique experience. And
Speaker 1: I can't wait for you, guess to see the in December.
Speaker 1: Well you Von, We just thank you so much for
Speaker 1: taking time. Um, I know you've got a lot going on,
Speaker 1: but I know myself and the listeners here, we just
Speaker 1: thank you for checking in. Thank you for having me.
Speaker 1: This is a good check. Wow. I just felt so
Speaker 1: giddy as we were talking to Ivan. I'm gonna do
Speaker 1: some more solo traveling. Um. Sometimes I get nervous because
Speaker 1: I'm like, is it really safe to be traveling alone?
Speaker 1: But with prayer, I'm just gonna command that the angels
Speaker 1: follow me and protect me everywhere I go. I just
Speaker 1: have been loving watching Evon's Instagram page as far as
Speaker 1: all the places that she's traveled, Like I want to
Speaker 1: go to Morocco, but I want to be booed up
Speaker 1: when I go to Morocco. I want to go to Italy,
Speaker 1: but I want to be booed up when I go
Speaker 1: to Italy. And it's like, girl, don't wait till you
Speaker 1: booed up. Go now if you can go now, y'all
Speaker 1: go somewhere, Go someplace now, as long as it's safe,
Speaker 1: because COVID is still lurking in these streets Okay, I
Speaker 1: don't want to put fear of nobody, but we got
Speaker 1: to be careful. Somebody I know not too long ago
Speaker 1: they got COVID and I'm like dog on it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: COVID is definitely definitely still lurking. Anyway, this episode, y'all,
Speaker 1: I really hope that you were inspired as much as
Speaker 1: I was to keep going, to really walk boldly in
Speaker 1: those dreams. Go after them, go after them. Your dreams
Speaker 1: are waiting for you to say, yes, all right, let's
Speaker 1: do this. I want to hear your experiences and testimonies
Speaker 1: by this time next year. Did you open that business,
Speaker 1: did you go on that audition or did you have
Speaker 1: to do something extremely difficult like um, well, opening up
Speaker 1: a business and doing auditions. That's difficult too. But matters
Speaker 1: of the heart, is there a relationship that you feel
Speaker 1: like you gotta let go of. It's not that they're
Speaker 1: a bad person, the relationship and the person just isn't
Speaker 1: good for you. Maybe there for somebody else. Is there
Speaker 1: a friendship that you probably have to you know, taper
Speaker 1: a little bit as far as how much time you're
Speaker 1: hanging out making the difficult decisions, so that by this
Speaker 1: time next year, you can say, Wow, I had to
Speaker 1: release the weight that's keeping me from running this race,
Speaker 1: from keeping me from winning. Scripture says, lay aside every week,
Speaker 1: that will keep you from running the race. So Van,
Speaker 1: she was just so inspiring for so many of us
Speaker 1: to keep going and really stay laser focused on that goal.
Speaker 1: All Right, once again, thank you all for checking in,
Speaker 1: Thank you for subscribing. We are growing and it's only
Speaker 1: getting better. We're almost at the year anniversary of the
Speaker 1: start of this podcast and I cannot do it without you,
Speaker 1: so thank you. All Right, I'm looking forward to season two.
Speaker 1: I'm speaking that season two of Checking In with Michelle Williams.
Speaker 1: We had some great guests and vonn Orgie, I'm so
Speaker 1: thankful that you were the guests for today. All Right, y'all.
Speaker 1: Checking In with Michelle Williams is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio and The Black Effect. For more podcasts from
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.