WEBVTT - Work in Progress: Bellamy Young 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:15.560 Hi, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress, Friends 0:00:15.600 --> 0:00:20.120 Whipsmarty's fellow lovers of excellent television. We are joined today 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:24.079 by a woman who I just adore, look up to, 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:27.880 and who I can't wait to have in front of 0:00:27.880 --> 0:00:29.920 me for a whole hour so I can pepper her 0:00:29.920 --> 0:00:34.200 with questions. Today's guest is Bellamy Young, who you probably 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:37.360 love as I do from her role playing Melody Mellie 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:42.640 Grant in ABC's hit series Scandal. Yes, she won the 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.360 Critics Choice Award. Yes, she's gone on to star on 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:49.080 other series. Yes, she is a singing and acting legend, 0:00:49.120 --> 0:00:54.120 a theater baby, and a brilliant, brilliant, heart forward woman 0:00:54.200 --> 0:00:58.520 who is an author and now a podcast host. She's 0:00:58.640 --> 0:01:03.240 also just one of the loveliest people I have ever met, 0:01:03.760 --> 0:01:05.720 and I can't wait to sit with her today and 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.920 talk about how she balances all these things, her career, 0:01:09.280 --> 0:01:13.280 her fascination in the world, and her work as an 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:18.480 ambassador with Care. Care is the world's leading humanitarian organization 0:01:18.560 --> 0:01:22.520 that is dedicated to saving lives and defeating poverty around 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.200 the world. And the work that Bellamy has done with Care, 0:01:26.680 --> 0:01:29.839 the women that she's met, the change she has seen 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.399 made in conversations from Honduras to Jordan, to Nepal, to Tanzania, 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:38.120 to Ukraine to Vietnam to name a few, inspired her 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:41.480 to make sure the stories that touched her in her 0:01:41.520 --> 0:01:44.720 work could touch the rest of us. So, in partnership 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:48.760 with Care, she has launched an incredible new limited podcast 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:52.720 series called she Leads with Care, and she will take 0:01:52.760 --> 0:01:56.320 all of us around the world to have inspiring conversations 0:01:56.760 --> 0:02:00.760 with women leaders that are changing this planet for the better. 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:04.120 I am absolutely thrilled that she's here, and I can't 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.560 wait to ask her about all of her favorite shows 0:02:07.040 --> 0:02:09.440 and about the life saving work that she gets to 0:02:09.560 --> 0:02:23.600 champion every day. Let's hear from Bellamy Young. How are you? 0:02:24.760 --> 0:02:25.920 I'm so good? How are you? 0:02:26.560 --> 0:02:29.000 I'm great. I'm so excited you're here. 0:02:29.560 --> 0:02:31.520 I'm so happy to be here. Thanks so much. 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.520 Well, I have so many questions for you. I mean, 0:02:34.680 --> 0:02:38.120 first and foremost, I suppose I should say, my president, 0:02:38.200 --> 0:02:43.920 welcome to the podcast. What I would give Bellamy? 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:45.959 I have to laugh because we can't cry. 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:50.280 Yeah, what I would give? It would be so nice. 0:02:50.880 --> 0:02:53.760 But I guess we persist. 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:56.920 We persist, That's all we can do. 0:02:57.440 --> 0:03:00.200 I have like I said a million questions for you 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:02.320 about what you're up to and your work and all 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:04.680 these things. But before we dive into any of that, 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:09.480 I love to kind of go back to catch up, 0:03:10.360 --> 0:03:12.720 and I want to know about who you were as 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.520 a kid, because there's so much I know about your life, 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:21.720 your career, your advocacy, your activism, your collegiate career. But 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.880 I wonder if if we could kind of bend space 0:03:25.960 --> 0:03:30.240 time and we could hang out with Bellamy at nine 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:34.760 while we had this chat, would you see do you 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:38.000 think you'd see yourself who you are today in her? 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:41.600 Oh it's such a beautiful question, isn't it, Because we 0:03:42.400 --> 0:03:46.000 I mean, when you do work on yourself, you try 0:03:46.000 --> 0:03:49.680 and bring back little pieces of you that you've strayed 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.600 from over the years. And so that's definitely been a 0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:59.040 question I have asked myself before. I don't think when 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:02.880 I was nine in nineteen hundred and seventy nine there 0:04:02.880 --> 0:04:05.680 would have been any idea that I could have conceived 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:10.040 of any part of this life. Like, I'm such a 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.240 twentieth century human, so just the twenty first centuriness of 0:04:13.320 --> 0:04:19.800 it all is continually outside my scope. But I also 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.120 I do think I thought that freedoms and that sort 0:04:24.160 --> 0:04:27.640 of thing were inextricably a course that moved forward. So 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:29.640 I think I took that for granted as a nine 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:34.760 year old. I loved to saying when I was nine, 0:04:34.920 --> 0:04:38.080 but I don't think I could have dreamed to have 0:04:38.120 --> 0:04:41.200 a career where I got to do what I loved 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:50.640 for a living like that didn't seem feasible or practical. Yeah, 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:56.000 nine year old Amy, she was honey doing some pageants. 0:04:56.320 --> 0:05:01.479 Because that's what happened, North Carolina, North Carol. I was adopted. 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:03.120 I was in foster care for a little while, and 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:07.720 my adopted family thought they found out about my biological 0:05:07.760 --> 0:05:10.120 family and so tried to give me opportunities sort of 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:12.039 based on this one little sheet of paper, like a 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.560 paragraph on my quote unquote mom and two lines on 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:20.120 my biological dad. I have met them, now, my wonder 0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:24.760 biological parents had the opportunity to meet them. And turns 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:27.400 out none of that stuff we thought was true true 0:05:27.480 --> 0:05:31.320 at all. So where are they thought that, Oh, her 0:05:31.440 --> 0:05:33.920 biological mother is a singer, so we better give her 0:05:33.920 --> 0:05:36.719 opportunities to sing. And I've met her and she's like 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:41.720 hmm no, or you know, like so a lot of 0:05:41.760 --> 0:05:44.400 the path of my life was predicated on a mistake. 0:05:45.440 --> 0:05:50.280 But you can also call it fate or luck or grace, 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:56.120 because I deeply love where I am in my life, 0:05:56.160 --> 0:05:59.440 and I have fought to be able to say that sentence. 0:06:00.440 --> 0:06:05.080 But I stand firmly planted, two feet rooted into the 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:09.719 ground with gratitude for, like I say, being able to 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:13.559 get to do what I love, and by the grace 0:06:13.600 --> 0:06:17.760 of that sometimes being able to help anybody who needs it. 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:23.240 That's so special. And I think it's really interesting. You know. 0:06:23.279 --> 0:06:26.359 You said two things that kind of light up for me, 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.359 that when you work on yourself, you get to collect 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.559 pieces of yourself, and you said that you've fought really 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:39.880 hard to like your life so much. I think there's 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:43.320 something really interesting, and this is something I'm kind of 0:06:43.320 --> 0:06:48.600 noodling on in my own journey right now. I wonder 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:50.760 why it is so many of us who do the 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:54.599 jobs we do, who entertain who want to bring books 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:59.800 to life, who want to create these sort of vessels 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.400 or the human experience that might create some empathy or 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:08.440 some catharsis, or make someone feel seen or represented. It's 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:11.320 not lost on me that we all are healing while 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.840 we do this. Do you think we get into this 0:07:16.040 --> 0:07:20.680 because we've got stuff we're running away from until we're 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.800 ready to face it, Or do you think we face 0:07:23.960 --> 0:07:27.960 what life gives to us because we have to love 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:30.640 our characters, and maybe through loving them we learn how 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:31.800 to love ourselves better. 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.040 I think it's yes, and I think it's all of 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:38.280 the things, you know. I think, first of all, I 0:07:38.360 --> 0:07:42.800 deeply believe souls come in with a mission and there's 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:53.080 a heartbreaking, breathtaking randomness for where that soul lands, gender, geography, socioeconomics, 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:54.760 you know, like because all the souls they come in 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:59.360 with the same hopes and dreams and wants, but very 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:06.960 particular path in mind. And I think ours, those of 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.440 us that are drawn into this work and I mean 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:13.640 this and the largest umbrella, come in on a path 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:20.080 of empathy. And sometimes we apply that empathy last to ourselves. 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.640 You know. We lead with the curiosity. We often are 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:27.040 people pleasers, so we try to understand so that we 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.880 can excuse things that we see around us or things 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:32.040 that are happening in a room or in the world. 0:08:33.600 --> 0:08:38.080 But I do think that the conscious work can begin 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:41.480 when we take a pause and apply that empathy to 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:45.800 our own experience life path so that we can get 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:51.560 sort of clear of the dust storm that is our pain. 0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:55.280 You know, we kind of like rain down a little 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:58.400 love on that so it settles to the ground, and 0:08:58.440 --> 0:09:03.719 then our vision is cleared. Then we can really cleanly 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:09.920 use that empathy and curiosity to assess what we see 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.440 around us again in the room or in the world, 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:18.199 and assess our part in it, because we don't. You know, 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:22.280 we can't care in everything it's not ours. Is not 0:09:22.320 --> 0:09:25.000 a role for you know, every day, in every situation. 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:27.600 But we're here for a reason and we can help 0:09:27.600 --> 0:09:31.600 what we can help. And engaging in the world with 0:09:32.000 --> 0:09:36.280 love and curiosity and a full heart. I feel like, 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.800 you know, nobody gets out alive. If we can leave 0:09:39.840 --> 0:09:42.080 this place a little bit better than we found it, 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.079 then I think that's the measure of success. 0:09:46.720 --> 0:09:51.040 I love that it interests me because you've got such 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:58.200 passion about your calling and about humanity at large. That's 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:03.200 so clear, And yet you went to school for a 0:10:03.280 --> 0:10:08.280 completely different course of education and took a hard left, which, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:12.079 by the way, was my journey. So I'm just absolutely 0:10:12.120 --> 0:10:16.160 geeked on how you figured it out. I thought I 0:10:16.280 --> 0:10:19.240 was going to be a heart surgeon. I wanted to 0:10:19.240 --> 0:10:20.600 be a cardiothoracic surgeon. 0:10:21.200 --> 0:10:24.200 WHOA wait, were there people in your family that are 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.800 surgeons or what to you know? Like little Sophia? How 0:10:26.800 --> 0:10:28.600 did little Sophia be like, no, no, I want to 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:29.559 cut on hearts. 0:10:29.800 --> 0:10:33.240 I don't know. I think for me, I always loved science. 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:40.120 I'm a naturally kind of nurturing person, and I really 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:43.320 like to fix things. That's something I've definitely had to 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.880 work on. You know, not everybody wants things to be 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.400 fixed all the time. Sometimes people just need to vent. 0:10:50.559 --> 0:10:55.320 So I've I've learned to say to my loved ones, 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:56.680 do you want to be heard? Or do you want 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:59.400 my help? And then I kind of know how to 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:04.160 be when they're going through something. That's how I stopped 0:11:04.200 --> 0:11:06.520 myself from trying to fix. But I think that natural 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.560 inclination just I don't know. I don't know if it 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:12.440 was watching medical shows, I don't know what it was. 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:15.120 I just thought that's what I wanted to do. And 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:18.000 then I sort of got, you know, knocked over the 0:11:18.040 --> 0:11:22.800 head with the beautiful reality that a play was a 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.640 book come to life, and I thought, I actually think 0:11:26.720 --> 0:11:28.680 this is what I want to do. Literature is my 0:11:28.800 --> 0:11:32.720 favorite thing. I think I'm going to go to school 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:34.800 for theater. And when I told my parents that my 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.160 senior year in high school, you can imagine how well 0:11:37.200 --> 0:11:41.200 that transition went. But here we are. And when I 0:11:41.240 --> 0:11:44.120 was reading about your story, I was like, wait a second, 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:49.560 wait a second. You were going so hard into science 0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:55.280 and then also pivoted into theater and literature, and how 0:11:55.760 --> 0:11:57.199 how for you? How? 0:11:57.960 --> 0:12:02.640 Oh well, first, let me say, like, you're still doing 0:12:02.840 --> 0:12:06.520 your dream on like in metaphor, You're still like healing 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:09.760 hearts in your work and in your life and in 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:15.400 your creative endeavors. So I think I think it's I 0:12:15.440 --> 0:12:20.600 think you stayed true to the impulse, if not the exact, 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:25.920 you know, non metaphorical implementation of that. So you do 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:29.040 a good job, little tiny Sophia. You did right. You 0:12:29.120 --> 0:12:35.680 chose right. And I loved science always. It was where 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:40.560 I felt the most awe and grace. You know, it 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:46.679 felt what some people feel about organized religion. I and 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.760 I love like. I grew up going to Catholic school. 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:51.679 I was raised Methodists like that. Religion was part of 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:57.080 my life growing up as a child, but I always 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:02.440 saw the human hand in it and that gave me misgivings. 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:12.520 And with science, I felt that overwhelming smallness and the 0:13:13.160 --> 0:13:19.200 interconnectedness and the wonder and it just pulled me, just 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:23.240 my whole heart, mind, body, everything was pulled there. And 0:13:23.440 --> 0:13:26.720 you know I was I was doing okay studying, figured 0:13:26.760 --> 0:13:30.280 a couple things out in North Carolina, and got to college. 0:13:30.520 --> 0:13:35.400 And you know, we're not all, not all of us. 0:13:35.960 --> 0:13:38.480 There's not alignment between what we dream and what we 0:13:38.520 --> 0:13:42.240 can do. Some things just have to become interests and 0:13:42.360 --> 0:13:46.040 passions and loves. So I was not that great at 0:13:46.120 --> 0:13:50.000 physics on the international level, and I had to quickly pivot. 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:55.839 And my mom was an English teacher, still like bless 0:13:55.880 --> 0:13:59.040 her she died in Christmas the twenty twenty three, but 0:13:59.320 --> 0:14:02.800 still one of the best teachers I ever had. Mentally unstable, 0:14:03.080 --> 0:14:07.120 but like the most beautiful mind I've ever come in 0:14:07.160 --> 0:14:10.240 contact with. And so it was a really easy pivot 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.360 to be like, oh, I'll do English because I get that, 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:16.240 Like she taught me to write, and yeah, I could 0:14:16.280 --> 0:14:18.280 do all I could interpret, like do all that, and 0:14:19.040 --> 0:14:22.560 I thought, oh, I'll do a double major and maybe 0:14:22.800 --> 0:14:25.520 somebody who'll confuse it for thinking. I went to drama 0:14:25.560 --> 0:14:29.000 school so it was a bit of a con and 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:30.200 a bit of a dodge. 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:34.400 I that was what happened, And where does the singing 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:35.120 fit into that. 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:38.640 Well, I wouldn't have my first dad, my adopted dad 0:14:38.640 --> 0:14:42.600 had just died before I went to college, and I 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.320 wouldn't have gone so far away. I don't think if 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:52.280 Yale hadn't had this like amazing a cappella scene, which 0:14:52.320 --> 0:14:54.400 I loved so much. And I thought, Oh, if I 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.000 can get in that school, I can sing and I 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.960 can get a good education, and she can't. My mom 0:15:00.200 --> 0:15:02.520 can't say I shouldn't go because they meet one hundred 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.360 percent of demonstrated financial need. And my mom, like I say, 0:15:05.360 --> 0:15:07.040 it was just a high school English teacher, and so 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:11.680 not just was a high school English teacher. That is 0:15:11.720 --> 0:15:14.160 a field of people who are not financially rewarded for 0:15:14.200 --> 0:15:17.400 the impact they have on the world. So I applied 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:20.800 early admission, got deferred. I'm Southern, so I thought they 0:15:20.800 --> 0:15:23.040 were just being polite and that they wouldn't tell me 0:15:23.120 --> 0:15:25.040 later that I was not invited to come to school 0:15:25.040 --> 0:15:29.760 with them. No, I filled out like twelve more applications 0:15:29.760 --> 0:15:32.800 over Christmas, resubmitted my application, and bless their hearts. 0:15:32.840 --> 0:15:35.280 They let me in, but I felt like they were 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:36.600 giving you a bless your heart. 0:15:37.080 --> 0:15:40.960 I did that, honey, aren't you sweet? I know, bless 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:41.480 your heart? 0:15:41.680 --> 0:15:45.200 You are just you are just lovely. I'm so cute 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:51.080 you aplied, Oh my god. And now for our sponsors, 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:59.520 I would imagine just you know, based on what you're sharing, 0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:03.200 it's so clear how much you loved your mom and 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:08.320 I'm so sorry, you know, for her passing. And when 0:16:08.360 --> 0:16:11.160 we heal, we have to be really honest about what 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.280 we come from. And you know, you talk about her 0:16:14.400 --> 0:16:20.920 instability and the all the sort of good old college 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:24.200 tries that she gave. Love that wasn't always good for her. 0:16:25.360 --> 0:16:30.640 Was was being able to get far enough away to 0:16:31.640 --> 0:16:33.800 you know, not go home to do your laundry or 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:36.560 not have a surprise visit, you know, from a parent 0:16:36.600 --> 0:16:41.000 to the dorms. Did that also give you a respite 0:16:41.040 --> 0:16:46.960 to kind of find yourself and your own independent strength 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:51.320 from what was being modeled for you at home, you know, 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:53.800 both the amazing and the dedicated and the heart. 0:16:54.840 --> 0:16:59.720 I love that you're being gracious enough to use the 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:03.960 past tense because that was a lifelong situation. I mean, 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.439 I la wasn't far enough, you know, like I it was, 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:12.320 because when you're a heart and your mind and your 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:17.000 mental health, they're intertwined like that. Physical distance is sort 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.879 of ancillary. You know, it's great they can't walk in 0:17:19.920 --> 0:17:22.480 your room in the moment of any day. It's great 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:24.680 they can't be up in your physical business all the time. 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.240 But you know, there were still decades of time where 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:31.320 I spent you know, three hours a day on the 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:33.320 phone with her and told her everything that I did, 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:35.679 and you know, there was there. It was a long, 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:46.240 long road of healing and I won't say clear like division, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:49.720 but it took a lot of work. My very first 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.320 therapist when I got to LA was like, Okay, you're 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:55.040 going home for Christmas, so I just want to give 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:59.320 you the opportunity to while you're there, put on your 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.080 lab coat, just in your mind, little white coat that 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:04.520 you can just observe. And that was sort of the 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.480 first little bit of little bit of distance. Like you said, 0:18:08.480 --> 0:18:10.320 it's so beautifully do you need me to little listen 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.600 or do you need me to fix this? Like that's 0:18:13.040 --> 0:18:17.080 just knowing there's a little separation, that there's all love 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:20.360 and we're holding it all with love. But there's choice 0:18:20.560 --> 0:18:24.919 in that cushion, that buffer zone, there is choice. And 0:18:25.000 --> 0:18:32.600 so that began many many decades of loving work, seeing 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:34.679 both of us for who we really really were. And 0:18:34.720 --> 0:18:38.040 now that she's gone, that was the part of the 0:18:38.080 --> 0:18:43.560 healing too. Is not forgetting any of it, because it 0:18:43.720 --> 0:18:48.800 all just like everything in the world, it all informs 0:18:49.440 --> 0:18:52.720 who we are and what we do, what we choose 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.720 for our lives, for ourselves every moment of every day. 0:18:56.200 --> 0:19:01.480 And if we are ignoring things or you know, deciding 0:19:01.520 --> 0:19:04.600 that that's not factoring in, it's all factoring in. It, 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.240 all filters in it, all factors in. And so the 0:19:07.280 --> 0:19:10.359 most loving thing to do is to be present enough 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:17.000 to notice and decide with intention and yeah, which is presence. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:20.879 That's what that's what. That's that that wound up being 0:19:22.560 --> 0:19:25.679 that softness because I for so many years tried to 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:29.240 like I'm gonna be good at this, or I did 0:19:29.320 --> 0:19:32.720 this right, or you know, all the silly stuff that's forced. 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.719 And when you realize that the softness of presence is 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.960 the true source of power, seat of power, and from 0:19:41.000 --> 0:19:43.760 that all decisions can flow, and decisions that you're far 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:46.719 prouder of. So that's that was that journey. 0:19:47.359 --> 0:19:51.280 Yeah, that's so beautiful. I think soft power is something 0:19:51.320 --> 0:19:56.320 that's really been underestimated. And you know, it's not lost 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.639 on me that we're at a moment in the world 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:02.720 where I think there's a lot of shock, you know, 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:05.080 not just in our country but around the globe at 0:20:05.119 --> 0:20:08.800 seeing the US kind of rip up all of its 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:12.919 pledges to its like softest and best kinds of power, 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.240 you know, the things that won the Cold War, the 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:20.320 things that have led to better global health outcomes, and 0:20:22.080 --> 0:20:25.040 the kind of thirty thousand foot view, you know, the 0:20:25.400 --> 0:20:28.600 space station view. Maybe if we're talking about the whole world, 0:20:31.200 --> 0:20:34.919 it's not lost on me that we see that in 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:38.000 kind of every level of society and what works and 0:20:38.040 --> 0:20:42.200 what doesn't. And when you talk about how you've had 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:45.479 to carry this sort of you know, more whole version 0:20:45.480 --> 0:20:48.760 of yourself throughout your life and through all your work, 0:20:48.840 --> 0:20:52.120 and you know, out in LA and back back now 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:57.199 on the East Coast, I've experienced a version of a 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:02.560 soft power. And it's something you know, your your lab 0:21:02.600 --> 0:21:05.480 coat analogy. I'm like, oh, yeah, I do that. Sometimes 0:21:05.840 --> 0:21:09.919 the stand back and observe isn't something I think I 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:12.800 felt as confident to do as a younger person, I 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:14.639 was so scared that people would think I didn't know 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:17.679 what I was doing if I didn't have input or 0:21:17.720 --> 0:21:20.879 a way to help. And now I'm very happy to 0:21:21.000 --> 0:21:24.320 just sit and listen. And I have observed the most 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:31.439 beautiful soft power in the Shonda Rhimes world. Ow oow that, 0:21:31.960 --> 0:21:34.960 Oh my god. And of course everybody wants us to 0:21:34.960 --> 0:21:36.760 talk about scandal, and I want to ask you six 0:21:36.840 --> 0:21:38.840 hundred and forty seven questions about it because I loved 0:21:38.880 --> 0:21:39.280 it so much. 0:21:39.280 --> 0:21:42.000 I have six hundred and forty eight answers, thank god. 0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:45.800 But it's dawning on me as i'm listening to you 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:50.439 talk that some of what I've seen in the Gray's 0:21:50.440 --> 0:21:54.760 Anatomy world, watching her, watching Ellen, watching Kim Ray, for 0:21:55.040 --> 0:22:00.879 watching all these people what She's built are these spaces 0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:06.760 where people are excellent. But it's not like a bullied demand. 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:10.240 It's a you can be this, and if you come 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:13.600 in here, this is the level we play at. It's 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:19.920 like an elite sport and it's kind and it's tender, 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.600 and people have real honor and gratitude about their jobs. 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:27.200 And I don't know, I don't think it's an accident 0:22:27.240 --> 0:22:32.040 that we're having this conversation in this moment, because now 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:36.960 you've obviously got the perspective on what cultural phenomenon the 0:22:37.000 --> 0:22:39.240 show was, how valuable it was to all of us, 0:22:39.280 --> 0:22:41.359 how it got us through the first two years of 0:22:42.240 --> 0:22:47.040 the current president's first term. Did you have any clue 0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:52.000 how different it was when you read the pilot script 0:22:52.080 --> 0:22:54.200 or could you just not even have imagined it yet? 0:22:55.040 --> 0:22:56.879 Well, you know, they didn't let me read the script. 0:22:56.880 --> 0:22:58.840 I was just I'm just in for a recurring I 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:02.280 had no pilot, Sophia. I'm so lucky. I fell ass 0:23:02.359 --> 0:23:06.760 backwards into that dream and I am so lucky. I mean, 0:23:06.800 --> 0:23:10.240 it's you know, it changed my life utterly, utterly. There's 0:23:10.280 --> 0:23:13.679 no Quali fire to that. It changed my life, full stop, period, 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:20.000 deep gasp of gratitude. So no, I don't I don't 0:23:20.040 --> 0:23:23.000 think I was given the script. I read it when 0:23:23.040 --> 0:23:24.359 I got a part of time that I went and 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:27.840 did it, and but I can tell you it was 0:23:27.880 --> 0:23:30.080 and the you know, the pilot's always one thing. But 0:23:30.119 --> 0:23:33.280 when we came back and did those first seven and 0:23:33.320 --> 0:23:35.040 I was just supposed to be there for three, so 0:23:35.119 --> 0:23:39.840 I was like, right, but it was instantly different, and 0:23:39.880 --> 0:23:43.760 I've I'm lucky enough to have, you know, been a 0:23:43.800 --> 0:23:47.160 guest star on a thousand things, and so you as 0:23:47.160 --> 0:23:49.840 a guest star, you really see it all because nobody's 0:23:50.240 --> 0:23:55.159 behaving well around you. You really see the truth. No 0:23:55.160 --> 0:23:57.040 one cares what you think, so they don't care enough 0:23:57.080 --> 0:24:00.679 to hide anything. So I was like, oh, man, so 0:24:00.720 --> 0:24:04.480 I've been on a thousand sets and I got to 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:08.240 Scandal and it was just instantly different. It was just 0:24:08.280 --> 0:24:10.760 instantly different, and over the course of the seven years, 0:24:10.840 --> 0:24:15.119 only grew in that regard. And you said something that 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:21.240 it made me realize. It was we were all seen. 0:24:22.040 --> 0:24:25.040 So we were hired to do what was inside us 0:24:25.040 --> 0:24:28.600 and that we could share, and then we were supported 0:24:29.160 --> 0:24:31.520 in every way so that we could give that. Not 0:24:31.600 --> 0:24:35.040 in the coddled actors get everything, you know, like what 0:24:35.119 --> 0:24:37.240 kind of algae do you want in your smoothie? Kind 0:24:37.240 --> 0:24:39.639 of good no, But in a oh you want to 0:24:39.680 --> 0:24:43.119 have a baby, great, let me, you don't have to 0:24:43.119 --> 0:24:45.760 stop work. Let's figure out how to do this. And 0:24:45.800 --> 0:24:47.439 now's the time to do this because you also have 0:24:47.520 --> 0:24:50.960 a paycheck. So this is wonderful. Where when Katie got 0:24:50.960 --> 0:24:52.840 to have a baby on the show, Carrie had a 0:24:52.880 --> 0:24:56.639 couple like and we would Iola could bring her kids 0:24:56.640 --> 0:24:58.840 to work. You know, we made a whole space for 0:24:58.880 --> 0:25:01.280 the kids to play in event. But we you know, 0:25:01.840 --> 0:25:05.560 no problem, let's incorporate little breaks. I think we called 0:25:05.560 --> 0:25:10.359 it hummingbird when people would have to would need to 0:25:10.400 --> 0:25:15.639 go breastfeed. I mean, this is care that is not 0:25:16.320 --> 0:25:20.159 regular on a set and also doesn't take much effort 0:25:20.359 --> 0:25:24.480 and yields. You know, you still have your seventeen hour 0:25:24.600 --> 0:25:29.480 workdays and they're still wearing stiletto's high as my eyeballs 0:25:29.600 --> 0:25:32.080 and remembering all their lines and doing their perfect work 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:36.520 and also being a mother, and it was just lovely. Also, 0:25:36.640 --> 0:25:44.120 I do remember wow, when someone lady wanted to do 0:25:44.800 --> 0:25:51.640 what was having a first go at intimate moment and 0:25:52.680 --> 0:25:58.479 we're a little uncomfortable with the notion, and Shanda immediate 0:25:58.600 --> 0:26:01.560 was like, listen, I need you guys to kiss in 0:26:01.600 --> 0:26:04.480 the scene, but if you're more comfortable kissing in a parka, 0:26:04.520 --> 0:26:07.040 I'll put you outside like I'll do like however you 0:26:07.080 --> 0:26:10.159 want it. I just need the emotional connection. I'm not 0:26:10.200 --> 0:26:13.480 here to exploit you now. Meanwhile, I realized that Tony 0:26:13.520 --> 0:26:15.280 and Scott had to take their shirt off all the time, 0:26:15.680 --> 0:26:21.720 So I realized I realized there's a balance, but listen, listen. 0:26:22.680 --> 0:26:26.680 But no, it was always and Carrie also must be 0:26:27.160 --> 0:26:32.520 credited with being an incredible, thoughtful, indefatigable number one. I 0:26:32.520 --> 0:26:37.919 mean the first year that we did press together. I 0:26:37.920 --> 0:26:43.719 remember she was somewhere maybe in Italy doing django press 0:26:43.760 --> 0:26:47.000 at that point, and Carrie and Darby and I were 0:26:47.000 --> 0:26:49.240 going to some someone who knows one of the early 0:26:49.840 --> 0:26:51.920 our times on the carpet, and you know, she knew 0:26:51.920 --> 0:26:54.040 we didn't know much about doing anything on the carpet. 0:26:54.760 --> 0:26:57.520 You get a text from Carrie like, what do you need? 0:26:57.600 --> 0:26:59.640 Do you know? You know this is how you stand? 0:27:00.080 --> 0:27:02.639 Do you have stylists? Like? I mean, we were just 0:27:04.000 --> 0:27:07.520 really held in love in that whole show, and we 0:27:08.040 --> 0:27:10.119 everybody met it with love, a bunch of theater kids, 0:27:10.160 --> 0:27:12.320 just grateful to have the jobs and showing up for 0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:15.359 each other. And it steel that way like with still 0:27:15.480 --> 0:27:16.040 my family. 0:27:16.640 --> 0:27:19.720 Yeah, and now a word from our sponsors that I 0:27:19.760 --> 0:27:28.800 really enjoy and I think you will too. It's so sweet. 0:27:28.920 --> 0:27:31.760 Whenever I get to see you all together, it just 0:27:31.800 --> 0:27:37.360 brings me so much joy because you you made something enormous, 0:27:37.920 --> 0:27:40.680 but you also you make it in this little world 0:27:40.760 --> 0:27:42.800 and as much as all of us who watched it 0:27:42.960 --> 0:27:45.960 got to enjoy it, nobody was on that ride but 0:27:46.080 --> 0:27:50.800 you all. And there's just something priceless about that. I 0:27:50.800 --> 0:27:54.159 feel the same way with you know, all my castmates 0:27:54.200 --> 0:27:57.080 from my first show from One Tree Hill, Like we 0:27:57.200 --> 0:28:00.280 show up for each other and it it gave me 0:28:00.400 --> 0:28:03.359 the sort of familial experience I'd never had, because you know, 0:28:03.920 --> 0:28:06.480 especially when you start at twenty, like we were babies. 0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:12.280 We were all stupid and you know, adorable, but we 0:28:12.320 --> 0:28:15.239 didn't know you know, our ass from our elbow, And 0:28:15.280 --> 0:28:18.520 it's like when you go through those things together. I 0:28:18.600 --> 0:28:21.879 finally remember saying to a girlfriend of mine, I was like, Oh, 0:28:22.000 --> 0:28:25.320 I get now why my friends with siblings can be 0:28:25.400 --> 0:28:28.840 in a knockdown, drag out family fight for a week 0:28:29.680 --> 0:28:32.320 with their siblings, but if somebody on the playground talks 0:28:32.480 --> 0:28:35.399 about their siblings, they're going to get laid out. And 0:28:35.440 --> 0:28:39.720 it's like, oh, I get it. There's a It is 0:28:39.760 --> 0:28:43.160 a really kind of priceless dynamic. And I think, what 0:28:43.280 --> 0:28:46.480 a cool thing for you all to have been able 0:28:46.520 --> 0:28:49.280 to do that, and also probably to have been able 0:28:49.320 --> 0:28:52.080 to do it like a little more from your adulthood. 0:28:52.080 --> 0:28:53.840 You probably had even more fun than we did. 0:28:54.160 --> 0:28:56.800 Oh yeah, no, that's the other thing. We were all 0:28:56.840 --> 0:29:00.680 old people already like when we started, so there was 0:29:00.760 --> 0:29:05.719 no like everybody had a burgeoning at least sense of self. 0:29:05.840 --> 0:29:08.880 So there was less acting out and confusion, and you know, 0:29:10.120 --> 0:29:14.120 because La is such a headspinner, much less success. So 0:29:15.880 --> 0:29:17.800 we were all pretty grounded about all of that. And 0:29:17.840 --> 0:29:20.840 if we were, Carrie instantly grounded, you know, like she 0:29:21.000 --> 0:29:23.520 was like, I remember we were season five. They wanted 0:29:23.560 --> 0:29:26.920 us to do Good Morning America to launch the season, 0:29:26.960 --> 0:29:28.880 and we were like, eh, that means we have to 0:29:28.880 --> 0:29:32.000 be in here and makeup at one thirty AM. And 0:29:32.040 --> 0:29:33.960 Carrie's like, well, I'm going to be here. I think 0:29:33.960 --> 0:29:37.200 it's amazing They're gonna promote us season five of a show. 0:29:37.280 --> 0:29:39.280 I mean, that's really special. And we were all like, 0:29:40.640 --> 0:29:43.440 she's right, she's right, right, She's. 0:29:43.560 --> 0:29:47.960 Like, mom's right, Mom's right. She does She's got such 0:29:48.000 --> 0:29:53.640 a beautiful she has such a spirit of leadership. Everything 0:29:53.720 --> 0:29:57.240 she does. I just absolutely adore her. 0:29:57.480 --> 0:30:02.160 The level of thoughtfulness, it's a little boggling, it really is. 0:30:02.240 --> 0:30:05.560 And how hard she works to make this world a 0:30:05.560 --> 0:30:10.120 better place, you know, through her work, through activism, everything That's. 0:30:10.040 --> 0:30:13.800 What's really interesting is that's how she and I are friends. 0:30:13.440 --> 0:30:16.440 I know from you know, the same persons, be much 0:30:16.480 --> 0:30:20.720 the same wonderful person here making things better just like 0:30:21.040 --> 0:30:24.479 everything in your mind, body, soul, to like be of 0:30:24.560 --> 0:30:25.640 service and love. 0:30:26.560 --> 0:30:29.400 It's been really special to have her sort of you know, 0:30:29.520 --> 0:30:34.680 in my group of political peers, if you will, to 0:30:34.800 --> 0:30:38.560 have somebody who likewise I know, is up at two 0:30:38.560 --> 0:30:41.320 in the morning reading you know, the report on maternal 0:30:41.320 --> 0:30:45.600 wellness and will listen to me, you know, yam or 0:30:45.680 --> 0:30:51.120 about it. It's it's so I think special and I've 0:30:51.120 --> 0:30:53.600 thought a lot about it for all of you. Because 0:30:54.680 --> 0:30:59.960 the world of Scandal was amazing, you guys, as actor 0:31:00.160 --> 0:31:03.800 is the chemistry between people, the writing, I mean, that 0:31:04.720 --> 0:31:10.600 work was amazing and culturally to begin that show when 0:31:10.880 --> 0:31:14.800 when Barack Obama was the president, to take us into 0:31:14.840 --> 0:31:20.120 the first two years of Trump's first term, it's such 0:31:20.160 --> 0:31:26.160 a cultural phenomenon, not just an entertainment phenomenon. Do you 0:31:26.320 --> 0:31:32.200 think now, looking back, do you think we needed to 0:31:32.280 --> 0:31:36.440 be in the time of Obama for Scandal to be possible? 0:31:37.440 --> 0:31:40.959 And do you think it helped people care maybe a 0:31:40.960 --> 0:31:44.440 little bit more about politics because I don't know if 0:31:45.520 --> 0:31:49.360 I don't know as a viewer, if the Resistance would 0:31:49.400 --> 0:31:53.400 have spoken the language so well, so fast had y'all 0:31:53.400 --> 0:31:54.240 not been on the air. 0:31:54.920 --> 0:31:56.920 Oh I hope Seana hears you say that. 0:31:57.760 --> 0:31:58.240 I do. 0:31:58.480 --> 0:32:01.840 I think that would. I think she'd be really grateful 0:32:01.960 --> 0:32:04.040 that you held that thought in your heart, even for 0:32:04.080 --> 0:32:09.920 a moment. You know what she's always told us because 0:32:09.920 --> 0:32:13.240 I can't speak to her, you know, process or intentions, 0:32:13.360 --> 0:32:14.920 But what she's always told us is how much she 0:32:14.960 --> 0:32:16.560 loved the West Wing and how much she always wanted 0:32:16.560 --> 0:32:19.720 to write her West Wing And you're right, come on 0:32:20.240 --> 0:32:25.160 and and that you know, her enduring commitment is that 0:32:25.680 --> 0:32:30.360 television looked like the world. Yes, so this was she 0:32:30.400 --> 0:32:35.520 met Judy Smith, who Scandal is based on, and she thought, oh, 0:32:35.600 --> 0:32:39.120 that's not in and she just all of a sudden 0:32:39.600 --> 0:32:41.880 could see She was like, this is my DC story. 0:32:42.160 --> 0:32:44.760 But that's also why it was. She knew it had 0:32:44.800 --> 0:32:47.840 an ending spot. And I do think we squeaked out 0:32:47.840 --> 0:32:54.560 one extra year because of real life circumstances. I don't 0:32:54.560 --> 0:32:57.880 think Mellie would have been president. I think, oh, Jeff, 0:32:58.120 --> 0:33:02.520 I think Jeff was supposed to have I think Jeff 0:33:02.600 --> 0:33:05.719 was supposed to have you know, he won, and then 0:33:05.760 --> 0:33:08.080 we shot him or soon I can't even remember. I'm 0:33:08.080 --> 0:33:11.440 not even sure, but I know I wasn't and then 0:33:11.480 --> 0:33:14.800 I was. And I do think that was I think 0:33:14.840 --> 0:33:18.280 she had some things to say from the mouth of 0:33:18.320 --> 0:33:21.920 a female president because she had been writing on Hillary's 0:33:21.920 --> 0:33:25.960 campaign and so I just think she was ready to 0:33:25.960 --> 0:33:28.640 write some speeches that she did not have the opportunity 0:33:28.680 --> 0:33:31.840 to write, and so maybe imported herself the right opportunity 0:33:31.880 --> 0:33:33.400 to share some of those ideas. 0:33:33.760 --> 0:33:36.600 I love that, gosh, because I was going to ask, 0:33:38.000 --> 0:33:40.280 when you're doing something so special with people you love 0:33:40.360 --> 0:33:41.800 so much, you don't want it to end. 0:33:41.960 --> 0:33:44.360 So we didn't want it to end. 0:33:45.320 --> 0:33:47.320 Yeah, that's what I was going to ask, Like, did 0:33:47.360 --> 0:33:50.120 you feel ready to move on? But maybe if I 0:33:50.120 --> 0:33:53.960 guess never, but also if you got an extra year, Yeah, 0:33:54.000 --> 0:33:55.120 that must feel so great. 0:33:55.560 --> 0:33:58.240 I think so. And I like, I say, you'll see 0:33:58.240 --> 0:33:59.760 shot it one day and you'll ask her the truth 0:33:59.800 --> 0:34:02.840 of it. But I think that was everybody's feeling. And 0:34:03.240 --> 0:34:05.920 I know Josh was like, please, my kid is still 0:34:05.920 --> 0:34:09.759 in college, you know, just a couple more years and 0:34:09.800 --> 0:34:14.640 we would have stayed together forever. And also we knew 0:34:14.680 --> 0:34:17.799 she was right to finish where she knew she wanted 0:34:17.840 --> 0:34:20.920 to finish. You know, it's we've all also been on 0:34:21.000 --> 0:34:24.800 shows that are still going past maybe where they should 0:34:24.800 --> 0:34:28.920 have landed. And I want everybody to have jobs. God knows. 0:34:29.480 --> 0:34:31.680 And also it does feel a little more like work 0:34:31.719 --> 0:34:33.840 when you're in that phase. So it never fell in 0:34:34.200 --> 0:34:37.000 one day. One day on our set never felt like work. 0:34:37.040 --> 0:34:40.520 It always felt like joy and curiosity and there was 0:34:40.560 --> 0:34:43.160 a story to tell and we were lucky to be 0:34:43.200 --> 0:34:44.160 there telling it together. 0:34:44.920 --> 0:34:47.720 You guys all had such great language, and that's something 0:34:47.760 --> 0:34:49.600 I think is true of the West Wing as well. 0:34:49.800 --> 0:34:53.600 Like Aaron Sorkin writes the hell out of a Scene, 0:34:53.840 --> 0:34:57.279 Shonda Rhymes writes the hell out of a scene. Did 0:34:57.280 --> 0:35:02.239 it take getting used to the kind of cadence and 0:35:02.760 --> 0:35:06.120 the politics of it all? Or do you feel like 0:35:06.160 --> 0:35:09.440 you really just found yourself in all of that dialogue 0:35:09.440 --> 0:35:12.840 and in all of that verbage? Really? 0:35:13.440 --> 0:35:16.520 No, we all like scandal paste was a real thing, 0:35:16.600 --> 0:35:19.120 and we drill, drill, drilled. Like I say, we're like 0:35:19.160 --> 0:35:21.560 theater babies, so we're having to run lines and like 0:35:22.080 --> 0:35:24.520 just you just get it till it's so in your 0:35:24.719 --> 0:35:27.879 marrow that you can, you know, a walk and talk 0:35:28.000 --> 0:35:30.319 is like impossible, but like walk down those halls and 0:35:30.440 --> 0:35:35.279 hit it hard, speeding like Tabasco style, and then like 0:35:35.640 --> 0:35:38.760 you know, not mess up the steady cam guy. It took. 0:35:39.040 --> 0:35:42.680 It was quite intentional, and I think they found it. 0:35:43.200 --> 0:35:45.120 I can't speak to that. Katie Lows will be able 0:35:45.120 --> 0:35:46.600 to speak to that. I feel like they found it 0:35:46.600 --> 0:35:51.320 in Katie's audition really just because Katie's a natural fast talker, 0:35:51.719 --> 0:35:55.080 and it just it was always great writing, but with 0:35:55.200 --> 0:36:00.359 the speed, it just lived, it just sang and and 0:36:00.440 --> 0:36:02.400 are you know it was so hard for guest stars. 0:36:02.440 --> 0:36:05.000 It's so hard to step into that and meet that pace. 0:36:05.320 --> 0:36:08.760 And I always, you know, we were a loving embrace 0:36:09.000 --> 0:36:13.120 for anyone that joined us, but the pace was a 0:36:13.160 --> 0:36:16.200 bit of a sissaphi and hurdle that we loved it. 0:36:16.280 --> 0:36:18.359 And having Shonda in my brain, I mean, I am 0:36:18.400 --> 0:36:23.080 a lord, I am a bear of I am self 0:36:23.120 --> 0:36:28.719 doubting little bear constantly, and having Shanda's sort of Shanda's 0:36:28.719 --> 0:36:31.760 idea of Mellie like my way or the Highway seventeen 0:36:31.800 --> 0:36:37.240 hours a day, five days a week, was personally radically transformative. 0:36:37.440 --> 0:36:40.640 Just the act as f of it all. Oh yeah, 0:36:40.880 --> 0:36:43.640 some people live in this life a whole different way 0:36:43.640 --> 0:36:44.400 than I am, you know. 0:36:44.840 --> 0:36:46.000 Yeah, and then she. 0:36:46.040 --> 0:36:48.799 Give us these little perfect one act plays like me 0:36:48.880 --> 0:36:51.480 and Tony and Jeffy are just Oh, it was just 0:36:51.560 --> 0:36:55.280 the most satisfying creative experience my stars. 0:36:55.400 --> 0:36:59.400 I mean, you know, it's just so cool. It's so cool. 0:37:00.920 --> 0:37:03.520 If you had the chance to do some sort of 0:37:03.560 --> 0:37:06.160 a reunion, like a reboot or a movie or something, 0:37:06.160 --> 0:37:07.560 would you just jump. 0:37:07.920 --> 0:37:10.680 We'd all get on a plane tonight. I thought there's 0:37:10.719 --> 0:37:12.799 nobody that would be like, I don't know. I mean, 0:37:12.840 --> 0:37:14.759 we'd have to carry's busy, we'd have to work around 0:37:14.760 --> 0:37:18.399 our schedule. But I think she'd do it too. Yeah, 0:37:18.480 --> 0:37:21.399 there's so much love and yeah, yeah in an. 0:37:21.320 --> 0:37:25.640 Instant, Oh, I love that so much. Now, when right 0:37:25.640 --> 0:37:28.520 around when the show was ending, you started working with 0:37:28.640 --> 0:37:30.680 care right that was all twenty eighteen? 0:37:31.120 --> 0:37:33.759 Yeah, yeah, I started in twenty eighteen exactly. 0:37:34.280 --> 0:37:37.560 And was that an organization you met through the political 0:37:37.719 --> 0:37:41.279 world kind of overlap of scandal or did that happen 0:37:41.360 --> 0:37:42.760 in a completely different way. 0:37:43.360 --> 0:37:46.240 My dear friend Renee Jones that I know through Uta 0:37:46.600 --> 0:37:51.000 is who drew them into my life and me into theirs. 0:37:51.480 --> 0:37:54.759 And I was so grateful because of course we all 0:37:54.840 --> 0:37:58.479 know care care is the care package. You know, it's 0:37:58.560 --> 0:38:01.439 eighty years old because right after the Second World War, 0:38:02.320 --> 0:38:06.719 humans in America realized that humans in Europe might need 0:38:06.760 --> 0:38:09.360 things because they've been bombed and gone through a war 0:38:09.520 --> 0:38:13.720 and or impoverished and in need, and so they would 0:38:13.719 --> 0:38:16.040 make these care packages and send them to Europe and 0:38:16.080 --> 0:38:19.160 it made such an impact and everybody, you've gotten a 0:38:19.160 --> 0:38:22.000 care package right in your life or send them, and 0:38:22.120 --> 0:38:27.040 you know how loved you feel. And from that this 0:38:27.280 --> 0:38:31.800 incredible organization group from that little acorn, and there's still 0:38:31.920 --> 0:38:39.080 that bespoke, thoughtful intentional organization. They go into local areas 0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:42.640 and they ask what the need is, and then they 0:38:43.280 --> 0:38:46.919 hire from the local area. They hire folks and help 0:38:47.000 --> 0:38:51.600 create infrastructure that allows those folks to create lasting, transformational, 0:38:51.680 --> 0:38:55.520 intergenerational change for themselves. And cares Gooal is like teach 0:38:55.520 --> 0:38:57.680 a man to fish. We don't want to be there forever, 0:38:57.840 --> 0:38:59.000 and we don't want you know, we aren't just like 0:38:59.040 --> 0:39:02.279 giving you aid in a way that we think you need. 0:39:02.440 --> 0:39:07.719 It's very thoughtful, intentional, local based, and they plan for 0:39:07.760 --> 0:39:11.560 their own obsolescence so that change can continue to happen 0:39:11.840 --> 0:39:15.040 and I loved that they you know, they have the 0:39:15.320 --> 0:39:19.600 data right like the Sun says, if you lift up 0:39:19.640 --> 0:39:22.640 women and girls, they bring their families and their communities 0:39:22.680 --> 0:39:26.080 with them. So that's how they focus their work is 0:39:26.120 --> 0:39:28.359 in partnership with women and girls, giving them, you know, 0:39:28.960 --> 0:39:32.480 safe spaces to learn and to get healthcare and to 0:39:33.000 --> 0:39:39.960 have market access. And it's just been transformational, truly transformational, 0:39:40.040 --> 0:39:44.319 but still born out of that just humans knowing that 0:39:44.360 --> 0:39:46.680 we're all connected, wanting to help other humans. 0:39:47.600 --> 0:39:49.680 It changes everything, It. 0:39:49.840 --> 0:39:53.520 Surely does, like the tiniest thing, the tiniest thing I 0:39:53.520 --> 0:39:56.720 think about. Actually, the episodes just came out today. Lillian 0:39:56.760 --> 0:39:58.799 who works in the Care Office of Tantania. She's the 0:39:58.800 --> 0:40:01.320 only care officer we talked to. We should talk to 0:40:01.400 --> 0:40:05.000 care program participants, but she was saying she's done over 0:40:05.040 --> 0:40:09.319 seven hundred Village Savings and Loans vslas and helped over 0:40:09.400 --> 0:40:12.000 ten thousand people changed their lives. So she told this 0:40:12.080 --> 0:40:15.000 story about going into this village and saying, you know, 0:40:15.000 --> 0:40:16.640 what do you need what would help you the most? 0:40:16.640 --> 0:40:18.160 And they're like, well, this or that and the other 0:40:18.200 --> 0:40:20.840 thing that they're like. She was like, no, no, you 0:40:21.200 --> 0:40:23.439 what do you need? What do you need? In your life, 0:40:23.440 --> 0:40:26.600 that would make your life better. And the women thought 0:40:26.719 --> 0:40:29.000 and they said, oh, well, it'd be so good if 0:40:29.000 --> 0:40:31.880 we didn't have to take our kids to the fields 0:40:31.880 --> 0:40:34.680 with us to harvest, because it's like very hard to 0:40:34.719 --> 0:40:37.319 manage our children and get the crops. And she said, 0:40:37.320 --> 0:40:41.280 oh great, so let's make a daycare. And the village 0:40:41.360 --> 0:40:45.200 Vsla made a daycare and started with just twenty one 0:40:45.560 --> 0:40:49.200 kids from the people who were doing the harvesting. And 0:40:49.680 --> 0:40:52.760 this year, this is maybe four years later, and they're 0:40:52.800 --> 0:40:55.400 doing a brick and mortar school for ninety three students 0:40:55.400 --> 0:40:58.000 and it's transformed everything. Of course, it's also return on 0:40:58.040 --> 0:41:02.200 the investment of the women's money, of course, but it 0:41:02.280 --> 0:41:05.960 allows them just to breathe a little, to go to 0:41:06.000 --> 0:41:08.160 work and do well at their job, and their kids 0:41:08.200 --> 0:41:13.000 have a good meal and have some education and transformational 0:41:13.080 --> 0:41:16.200 change that just takes somebody saying what do you need? 0:41:16.440 --> 0:41:17.200 How can I help? 0:41:17.880 --> 0:41:30.880 And now a word from our wonderful sponsors. You're talking 0:41:30.920 --> 0:41:34.520 about my exact favorite kind of thing, which is when 0:41:34.560 --> 0:41:38.080 the math and the morals meet, because so many people 0:41:38.160 --> 0:41:40.960 think that you can do well or you can do 0:41:41.040 --> 0:41:43.640 good for the world, and that is like a complete lie. 0:41:44.640 --> 0:41:46.920 Usually set in motion by the powers that be who 0:41:46.960 --> 0:41:49.759 want to hoard wealth and not share with people, and 0:41:50.480 --> 0:41:54.560 programs like the ones you're talking about. When you invest 0:41:54.680 --> 0:42:00.000 in a community that some might call underdeveloped or whatever 0:42:00.040 --> 0:42:03.560 you're adjective, sometimes all people need is a jumpstart. It's 0:42:03.560 --> 0:42:07.040 not that different to certain states in our country getting 0:42:07.239 --> 0:42:10.840 huge economic boosters with the infrastructure build that President Biden 0:42:10.880 --> 0:42:14.200 and Vice President Harris passed. When you get an infrastructure 0:42:14.239 --> 0:42:20.160 project and you're going to reinforce and upgrade every bridge 0:42:20.560 --> 0:42:24.240 in a community like I don't know, Pittsburgh famous for bridges, 0:42:25.200 --> 0:42:28.440 not only does that make your roads safer, but everybody 0:42:28.480 --> 0:42:34.319 in town who works construction, steel car rentals trucking you 0:42:34.920 --> 0:42:36.879 down the line to the sandwich shops at the ends 0:42:36.920 --> 0:42:41.000 of the bridges. Everybody's making more money. And so sometimes 0:42:41.040 --> 0:42:44.440 all you need is you need the wind in the 0:42:44.480 --> 0:42:47.000 pinwheel to get it going, and then it keeps going. 0:42:47.239 --> 0:42:51.040 And so it's why I think organizations like care are 0:42:51.080 --> 0:42:55.160 so special because exactly what you said, they're not coming 0:42:55.200 --> 0:42:58.040 in saying we're here to help and we know what's best, 0:42:58.120 --> 0:42:59.719 and now we're going to build an office here and 0:42:59.760 --> 0:43:02.440 work going to have employees. They're saying we're going to 0:43:02.480 --> 0:43:07.640 come help you get started, and the pinwheels yours and 0:43:07.680 --> 0:43:12.000 that's the way we heal. I think, not just neighborhoods 0:43:12.040 --> 0:43:16.000 and municipalities, but the planet. And it's why I think 0:43:16.040 --> 0:43:19.640 it's so cool that you're using your platform not just 0:43:19.680 --> 0:43:22.919 to work with them, but this story you're talking about 0:43:22.960 --> 0:43:25.320 when you said the episode for our friends at home. 0:43:26.880 --> 0:43:30.960 Bellamy launched a podcast called she Leads with Care, and 0:43:31.000 --> 0:43:37.360 it's so inspiring to hear these stories of these incredible 0:43:39.120 --> 0:43:43.880 you know, volunteers, helpers, organizers. I've listened to some of 0:43:43.920 --> 0:43:46.600 this and gon, oh, that's a really good thing to 0:43:46.719 --> 0:43:50.640 take to our local food bank or I want to 0:43:50.680 --> 0:43:52.520 send this to three of my friends who really care 0:43:52.560 --> 0:43:56.000 about maternal wellness and have them listen to this because 0:43:56.040 --> 0:43:59.040 it feels relevant to what we're working on, you know, 0:43:59.120 --> 0:44:03.440 with mom that are fire victims in LA and like 0:44:04.400 --> 0:44:08.440 it's it's such a lovely place to sit and be inspired. 0:44:08.520 --> 0:44:11.880 So thank you for doing this, not just because the 0:44:11.880 --> 0:44:15.239 world needs it, but like selfishly, I really needed it. 0:44:16.160 --> 0:44:17.839 I've been so sad and stressed out. 0:44:18.000 --> 0:44:20.400 No, that's why I did it. It came during COVID. 0:44:20.440 --> 0:44:23.759 I was so alone and depressed and feeling so unconnected 0:44:23.800 --> 0:44:25.640 to the world, and I kept looking for stories of 0:44:25.640 --> 0:44:28.280 hope and connection, and I kept coming back to these 0:44:28.400 --> 0:44:33.600 care stories. Yes, I I thought, oh, if I need this, 0:44:34.920 --> 0:44:37.320 why are we not sharing these women's stories with the world. 0:44:37.360 --> 0:44:39.520 And it's not mine to tell you got to let 0:44:39.600 --> 0:44:42.560 them tell their story, you know, I mean, it's there's 0:44:42.920 --> 0:44:45.759 no substitute for a lived experience. And I don't never 0:44:45.760 --> 0:44:47.840 want to put words in anybody's mouth. So we just 0:44:47.880 --> 0:44:51.120 set up, set out to try and and it turned 0:44:51.120 --> 0:44:53.319 to be you know, we're novices. You're so good at this, 0:44:53.400 --> 0:44:56.000 but we were. We had a long learning curve with 0:44:56.840 --> 0:45:00.560 doing a podcast in multiple languages all around the world, 0:45:00.719 --> 0:45:04.120 shipping by you know, getting women to you know, four 0:45:04.160 --> 0:45:06.600 hours where there where there might be Wi Fi and 0:45:06.640 --> 0:45:11.920 from really rural locations, and translating and you know, doing voiceover. 0:45:12.320 --> 0:45:14.319 You know that's appropriate to the region and to the 0:45:14.360 --> 0:45:18.800 woman because you want her life, her life force to stay. 0:45:19.120 --> 0:45:22.319 But it just meant everything to me. And this year 0:45:22.480 --> 0:45:25.920 was an especially hard year. Last year in particular, and 0:45:27.280 --> 0:45:29.759 in so many ways personally and in the world. And 0:45:29.880 --> 0:45:31.920 every time I would sit down to have a conversation, 0:45:32.080 --> 0:45:34.640 I would I would cry like more time I was 0:45:34.719 --> 0:45:39.320 during the conversation, just out of gratitude and awe and 0:45:39.640 --> 0:45:45.000 the humble enormity of first of all, again going back 0:45:45.000 --> 0:45:47.359 to the twentieth twenty first century living. That I can 0:45:47.400 --> 0:45:51.400 have a conversation with somebody in Nepal and you know, 0:45:51.600 --> 0:45:54.640 ask them about to tell me about their lived experience 0:45:54.719 --> 0:45:59.439 is a miracle. It's magical. It's so cool. And then 0:45:59.520 --> 0:46:02.920 to like learn about all these things and to be 0:46:03.040 --> 0:46:07.239 reminded also of the grace and gifts that we have. 0:46:07.400 --> 0:46:10.440 I particularly think about village savings and loans. Like you're saying, 0:46:10.480 --> 0:46:14.080 we still in the world so many places women don't 0:46:14.080 --> 0:46:19.560 have access to financial freedom. I know in America it 0:46:19.600 --> 0:46:22.160 was what nineteen seventy four when women could get a 0:46:22.200 --> 0:46:24.000 bank account, and there is in my lifetime. I was 0:46:24.000 --> 0:46:26.440 born in nineteen hundred and seventy. I spent since my 0:46:26.480 --> 0:46:28.200 lifetime that a woman could get alone and could get 0:46:28.200 --> 0:46:29.920 a bank account and that kind of thing in America. 0:46:30.280 --> 0:46:32.920 So that still doesn't happen in the rest of the world. 0:46:33.120 --> 0:46:37.720 So allowing people not even investing in people, allowing women 0:46:37.760 --> 0:46:42.040 to invest in themselves so much. 0:46:42.320 --> 0:46:44.279 I know it was nineteen seventy four, I believe was 0:46:44.360 --> 0:46:50.480 a bank account, and then I can't recall. I'm going 0:46:50.560 --> 0:46:53.520 to look and I'll follow up with you. It was 0:46:53.520 --> 0:46:56.560 like nineteen eighty three or nineteen eighty eight for a business. 0:46:56.239 --> 0:46:59.680 Loan, business loan. You're right, that's true. 0:47:00.120 --> 0:47:04.319 What what? And to your point, you know, we use 0:47:04.400 --> 0:47:08.319 that data that ninety percent reinvestment around the world. It's 0:47:08.320 --> 0:47:12.920 a it's a stat that we use, you know, in 0:47:13.040 --> 0:47:17.479 philanthropy and social change to talk about building a better 0:47:17.520 --> 0:47:20.600 global economy. And it's often ascribed to, you know, the 0:47:20.760 --> 0:47:24.920 developing world. Whatever that you know means depending on who's 0:47:24.960 --> 0:47:30.640 using the term. And women reinvest ninety percent of what 0:47:30.719 --> 0:47:32.680 you invest in them into their children and into their 0:47:32.719 --> 0:47:36.320 community and into their families. And with men, they invest 0:47:36.400 --> 0:47:44.640 ninety percent in themselves. So the ROI on us is major. 0:47:44.760 --> 0:47:48.560 And now when you look at America, women are the 0:47:48.760 --> 0:47:52.480 single largest creators of small businesses in the country and 0:47:52.880 --> 0:47:56.240 among women, yes, among women women of color or leading. 0:47:57.520 --> 0:48:00.279 And so the way I think about it when I 0:48:00.280 --> 0:48:02.840 put on you know, my financial hat, my investor hat, 0:48:03.480 --> 0:48:06.800 is if fifty one percent of the population has historically 0:48:06.840 --> 0:48:11.479 been under resourced, we've been underserved yep, which means we're 0:48:11.520 --> 0:48:14.040 missing out on profits. Fifty one percent of the population 0:48:14.080 --> 0:48:17.840 could be generating. And if women of color in particular 0:48:18.360 --> 0:48:22.319 have experienced so much more withholding, they get underfunded at 0:48:22.320 --> 0:48:24.680 so much a greater rate than even you or I 0:48:24.719 --> 0:48:29.640 would imagine how much unmade profit is sitting in those 0:48:29.719 --> 0:48:35.319 sectors of our country. So I get really excited when 0:48:35.360 --> 0:48:39.280 we start to be able to prove these metrics because 0:48:39.360 --> 0:48:42.760 all it means is that everybody does. 0:48:42.600 --> 0:48:48.920 Better, everybody wins these And it's not wins, it's it's opportunities, 0:48:49.040 --> 0:48:51.960 it's cultural growth, it's social change, it's. 0:48:51.880 --> 0:48:55.879 The GDP of a country. Yeah, it's all of it. 0:48:56.160 --> 0:48:58.240 And it goes back to what we were talking about 0:48:58.280 --> 0:49:03.319 about sets. What you guys, what you can identify and 0:49:03.400 --> 0:49:07.080 name that you had on the set of Scandal because 0:49:07.120 --> 0:49:11.000 women were in seats of power, benefited the men also. 0:49:11.880 --> 0:49:14.880 And I will never forget one of the most impactful 0:49:14.960 --> 0:49:17.440 days of my whole career full circle moment, playing a 0:49:17.440 --> 0:49:19.719 cardiothoracic surgeon on a TV show. 0:49:20.080 --> 0:49:21.799 My mom was like, she finally did it. 0:49:24.200 --> 0:49:29.440 My wonderful head of props lovely man named Jordan, local 0:49:29.440 --> 0:49:32.200 Toronto guy, one of my favorite humans I've ever worked with. 0:49:32.960 --> 0:49:34.760 Sidled up to me one day and I'd been meeting 0:49:34.760 --> 0:49:36.919 with our camera department to go over something, and he said, 0:49:36.920 --> 0:49:40.920 you know, I really love coming to work here. And 0:49:40.960 --> 0:49:43.640 I was like, Jordan. I was like, dude, we love you. 0:49:43.719 --> 0:49:46.680 And he goes, he goes, I love you, man. And 0:49:46.760 --> 0:49:49.000 I always feel really special when my guy friends call me. 0:49:49.080 --> 0:49:49.239 Man. 0:49:49.280 --> 0:49:52.279 I'm like, I made it in and he goes, yeah, 0:49:52.360 --> 0:49:54.120 he goes, I love you, man. He goes, But it's 0:49:54.120 --> 0:49:57.200 bigger than that. He said, you and Katie, because our 0:49:57.239 --> 0:49:59.560 showrunner was a wonderful woman named Katie Wesh. She said, 0:50:00.560 --> 0:50:04.080 you've made this place so nice and it's really nice 0:50:04.080 --> 0:50:06.879 for me too, And like, I'm a single white guy 0:50:06.880 --> 0:50:10.200 with inexpendable income and I'm having a nicer time than 0:50:10.239 --> 0:50:15.319 I normally do. And I was like, that's it, Like 0:50:15.480 --> 0:50:22.319 that's it. Everybody's happier because somebody thought about childcare. Everybody's 0:50:22.360 --> 0:50:26.560 doing better because somebody thought about lived experiences of everyone 0:50:26.600 --> 0:50:29.200 in the room, so everyone's quality of life got better. 0:50:31.000 --> 0:50:33.319 I think about you think on the first trip I 0:50:33.360 --> 0:50:35.600 went for a care I went to Rwanda in twenty 0:50:35.680 --> 0:50:38.040 nineteen and I met this woman named Bridget who was 0:50:38.040 --> 0:50:42.200 a VSLA participant. She'd saved up just like well we 0:50:42.280 --> 0:50:44.879 think of as pennies from what her husband would give 0:50:44.920 --> 0:50:47.840 her to get groceries or to get soap or whatever. 0:50:48.160 --> 0:50:50.000 And it took about a year to save up enough 0:50:50.040 --> 0:50:54.000 to invest in herself and join a VSLA, and another 0:50:54.080 --> 0:50:57.359 year till it came time for them to invest in her. 0:50:57.760 --> 0:51:00.280 And they're like, what's your dream? You know what, what 0:51:00.360 --> 0:51:01.920 do you need to take out of the fund? And 0:51:01.960 --> 0:51:04.560 she wanted five chickens and they got She got the 0:51:04.560 --> 0:51:07.759 five chickens and you know, paid back her investment and 0:51:07.800 --> 0:51:09.960 all that sort of thing. I met her almost six 0:51:10.080 --> 0:51:13.359 years later. Honey, she had a thousand chickens, She had 0:51:13.480 --> 0:51:17.520 two farms. She employed three men that she gave the community. 0:51:17.640 --> 0:51:19.360 She got eight hundred and fifty eggs a day. So 0:51:19.440 --> 0:51:22.080 the nutrition in the community, which had usually subsisted on 0:51:22.120 --> 0:51:26.200 cassava and cassava based products, God had soared through the room. 0:51:26.680 --> 0:51:29.480 But what one of the things that made her happiest 0:51:29.680 --> 0:51:32.200 is that her marriage was better. It was so much 0:51:32.400 --> 0:51:35.520 happier and kinder in her house because there was equality, 0:51:36.000 --> 0:51:42.040 less fear less status. And I just think about that 0:51:42.080 --> 0:51:45.320 when we're all allowed to participate with our whole heart. 0:51:46.200 --> 0:51:48.399 We're all allowed to give all that we have to give. 0:51:49.320 --> 0:51:54.920 Then everything calms down, yeah, and everything is everything can 0:51:54.960 --> 0:51:56.280 reach its highest potential. 0:51:56.640 --> 0:51:59.279 Well, and what that is is it's the opposite of scarcity. 0:52:00.960 --> 0:52:04.319 And whether there's scarcity or not, scarcity mindset even, that's it. 0:52:04.719 --> 0:52:08.000 But this idea that you know, pre nineteen seventy four, 0:52:08.120 --> 0:52:10.719 god forbid, you had a bank account, what are you 0:52:10.800 --> 0:52:12.839 going to do with it? You're not looking to use 0:52:12.880 --> 0:52:16.480 it as a bully club. You just want to build something. 0:52:16.880 --> 0:52:20.560 And so I think the US and them thing is 0:52:20.600 --> 0:52:23.799 so toxic because what it actually does is it just 0:52:23.840 --> 0:52:26.880 puts everyone in the scarcity mindset. It puts everyone in 0:52:27.000 --> 0:52:32.640 the competitive experience in their own house, like your friend Bridget. 0:52:32.680 --> 0:52:36.960 And then you flip it. Everybody grows, Everybody does better. 0:52:37.760 --> 0:52:41.520 Incomes get bigger and more stable, education gets bigger and 0:52:41.560 --> 0:52:45.800 more stable, nutrition in community gets bigger, expanded, more stable, 0:52:46.520 --> 0:52:50.520 and everybody's just doing better. And her husband didn't lose 0:52:50.520 --> 0:52:55.400 anything because she succeeded. They both won. Yeah, you know, 0:52:55.440 --> 0:52:59.120 the two of them, the one plus one became three, yeah, 0:52:59.280 --> 0:53:02.080 instead of one and one fighting over one. 0:53:02.280 --> 0:53:03.360 And I think that. 0:53:03.280 --> 0:53:07.239 Is that's a universal story, and that's part of why 0:53:07.280 --> 0:53:11.080 I think your your podcast, like everybody you're interviewing around 0:53:11.120 --> 0:53:14.000 the world, is in a unique place with a unique experience, 0:53:14.360 --> 0:53:18.920 but the core of the story is so universal. And 0:53:19.680 --> 0:53:23.719 when I'm you know, sitting here pouring over the articles 0:53:23.719 --> 0:53:26.480 and panicking about you know, what's going to happen to 0:53:27.719 --> 0:53:29.640 all the kids that are about to lose access to 0:53:29.719 --> 0:53:35.000 education with no Department of ED, Podcasts like yours are 0:53:35.480 --> 0:53:38.479 really fortifying for me. So thank you so much. 0:53:39.239 --> 0:53:41.680 It did land at an unexpected time. We were worried 0:53:41.719 --> 0:53:45.000 no one would be interested in these stories. Now they're everything, 0:53:45.120 --> 0:53:47.319 because you need to know what it means to help 0:53:47.360 --> 0:53:50.719 one another, what it means to care, what's possible when 0:53:50.760 --> 0:53:51.160 we care? 0:53:51.280 --> 0:53:55.000 Just let yeah, And I think to be reminded that 0:53:56.320 --> 0:53:59.759 you can build against all odds, and so no matter 0:53:59.800 --> 0:54:04.759 what is taken a part here, we have us and 0:54:04.760 --> 0:54:08.799 that I think is so meaningful. Does it ever overwhelm 0:54:08.840 --> 0:54:13.200 you or does it feel more exciting that so much 0:54:13.200 --> 0:54:21.680 of this platform that you've built is so clearly positive. 0:54:21.800 --> 0:54:24.799 Is it weird to think like I was a kid 0:54:24.800 --> 0:54:28.480 who grew up and wanted to sing and maybe study science, 0:54:28.600 --> 0:54:31.279 and now I'm like, out here is this you know, 0:54:31.920 --> 0:54:37.680 positive influence for social change and activism and advocacy. Is 0:54:37.719 --> 0:54:39.879 it crazy a little bit? Or does it just feel right? 0:54:40.600 --> 0:54:42.960 I don't know. I guess I haven't stepped back and 0:54:43.000 --> 0:54:44.640 look at it now. I'm like, oh no, I don't know. 0:54:45.800 --> 0:54:52.240 I think when I engage in socials it is often 0:54:52.239 --> 0:54:54.480 with trepidation because I'm always afraid of going to see 0:54:54.480 --> 0:54:57.759 something that crushes me. 0:54:58.360 --> 0:54:59.600 Because people are so mean. 0:55:00.120 --> 0:55:04.239 Yeah, yeah, it's really like it. It takes Yeah, it 0:55:04.280 --> 0:55:07.520 takes a lot. I have. I have fear around it, 0:55:07.680 --> 0:55:09.759 so I never want to be a part of contributing 0:55:09.800 --> 0:55:12.640 to anyone else's fear. I want if somebody notices something 0:55:12.680 --> 0:55:14.800 that I have in my heart and want to share, 0:55:15.280 --> 0:55:18.000 I want them to feel like they got hugged afterwards. 0:55:18.000 --> 0:55:20.719 I want them to feel a little bit better about themselves. 0:55:20.760 --> 0:55:23.720 I want them maybe to remember that that's that joy 0:55:23.760 --> 0:55:25.799 is in them too. Oh yeah, I had a day 0:55:25.880 --> 0:55:28.520 like that too, or you know, like to see themselves 0:55:28.520 --> 0:55:31.719 reflected and to see a space for safety and love. 0:55:31.840 --> 0:55:34.840 I really really, that's all I want. That's what I 0:55:34.880 --> 0:55:38.640 want to share. And also I'll say in these times 0:55:38.680 --> 0:55:41.120 where I get scared and hopeless and start to feel 0:55:41.120 --> 0:55:46.440 disconnected again. Like in COVID. The only tonic is to 0:55:46.640 --> 0:55:49.080 know that people are doing the work, and that if 0:55:49.080 --> 0:55:51.319 we all did just you know, if we all just 0:55:51.400 --> 0:55:53.839 made a few choices in our day that connected us, 0:55:54.600 --> 0:55:56.200 if we were all just a little bit of service, 0:55:56.239 --> 0:55:57.960 or if we all just raised up a little bit 0:55:57.960 --> 0:56:03.839 of positivity, the reget like that butterfly effect, those ripples. Oooh, 0:56:04.320 --> 0:56:07.759 I mean that's been nothing could stop us with that 0:56:07.880 --> 0:56:12.359 intentional love and that sort of the fuel and the 0:56:12.400 --> 0:56:18.600 engine of that progress. Goodness, inclusion, help, just helping each other. 0:56:18.640 --> 0:56:21.759 We're all gonna need help, we all are, and we're 0:56:21.760 --> 0:56:23.320 all going to be in a position to give help. 0:56:23.400 --> 0:56:27.440 And so if we just stay present and open enough 0:56:27.719 --> 0:56:31.560 to see where we are on the seesaw and tune 0:56:31.600 --> 0:56:34.520 in and engage in life. I think I spent a 0:56:34.520 --> 0:56:37.800 lot of time hiding in my life, and so now 0:56:38.520 --> 0:56:42.440 I just always want to be the loving act for 0:56:42.560 --> 0:56:47.439 myself is to engage with all the positivity I can, 0:56:47.600 --> 0:56:50.600 because we are also capable of making good change in 0:56:50.640 --> 0:56:52.839 this world if we feel safe enough to do so. 0:56:54.280 --> 0:56:57.960 I love that when you think about all of this, 0:56:58.360 --> 0:57:02.520 you know how all these elements and passions and beliefs 0:57:03.560 --> 0:57:06.840 kind of add up into the work you do. And really, 0:57:06.840 --> 0:57:09.880 I think into the person you are in the world 0:57:11.040 --> 0:57:14.439 and you look kind of out at the horizon line, 0:57:14.480 --> 0:57:18.240 whatever is ad for you for us? Is there something 0:57:18.280 --> 0:57:21.560 that pops up that you go that's my work in 0:57:21.640 --> 0:57:27.320 progress or is it kind of continuing to figure out 0:57:27.320 --> 0:57:29.280 how to hold the whole thing? 0:57:31.920 --> 0:57:37.520 I think my work in progress is showing up, honestly. 0:57:39.120 --> 0:57:46.880 I yeah, like getting through the stuff from my childhood, 0:57:47.640 --> 0:57:51.600 getting through the people, pleasing, getting through the may I 0:57:51.640 --> 0:57:54.680 add very happy years of spending all my time pretending 0:57:54.720 --> 0:57:57.400 to be someone else, which was you know, on screen 0:57:57.520 --> 0:58:02.760 and off and then you know, COVID happened, the industry changed, 0:58:02.800 --> 0:58:09.520 like there's been some years of nowhere to hide, and 0:58:10.120 --> 0:58:17.160 lots happened in my personal life during that time. And mhm, 0:58:18.880 --> 0:58:26.280 through the work on myself and by being scrupulous about 0:58:26.600 --> 0:58:31.880 who I surround myself with, I just try and what 0:58:31.960 --> 0:58:34.560 I surround what I feel my day with. Right, Like 0:58:34.640 --> 0:58:36.439 I love to work hard. I love to work hard. 0:58:36.440 --> 0:58:38.400 It makes me really happy, it makes me feel engaged. 0:58:38.440 --> 0:58:41.080 I really love to work hard. But you have to 0:58:41.160 --> 0:58:43.680 like be sure that you're we have such a little 0:58:43.680 --> 0:58:45.840 time on this planet, and so you have to really 0:58:45.920 --> 0:58:48.439 be sure you're not chasing your tail, right, that what 0:58:48.480 --> 0:58:52.280 you're doing is in alignment with your heart, and you 0:58:52.320 --> 0:58:55.120 know with your why your soul came on this planet, 0:58:55.160 --> 0:58:58.439 whatever its mission might have been. Yeah, so you find 0:58:58.480 --> 0:59:00.800 those people that are safe to share your heart with 0:59:00.960 --> 0:59:06.760 than your truth. And this year has just afforded me 0:59:07.160 --> 0:59:12.120 the opportunity to decide whether or not to share that 0:59:13.400 --> 0:59:16.000 more broadly, Like I wrote a little article about my 0:59:16.040 --> 0:59:19.720 mom and all she went through and did the podcast 0:59:19.880 --> 0:59:25.200 and Hani wrote why a sci fi like the first 0:59:25.240 --> 0:59:27.360 novel on a trilogy with my dear friend Fay. We're 0:59:27.400 --> 0:59:31.960 gonna put it out dream Oh my god, we had 0:59:32.200 --> 0:59:34.640 so much fun. Speel oh my, we just had the 0:59:34.640 --> 0:59:37.760 best time. So the Ethery and Code Book one, the 0:59:37.840 --> 0:59:41.200 Spark look for it. But so it's been really fun 0:59:41.360 --> 0:59:47.760 to uh just yeah, just meet each moment in a 0:59:47.840 --> 0:59:51.360 much more honest way. And that's still that will still 0:59:51.400 --> 0:59:53.720 make me stutter sometimes. I used to really stutter when 0:59:53.760 --> 0:59:57.760 I was being honest because it was just too scary. 0:59:58.040 --> 1:00:00.840 Is how like singing helped? Because singing is such an 1:00:00.840 --> 1:00:06.480 honest gift you give either yourself or if someone might 1:00:06.480 --> 1:00:08.760 be listening. But it helps get you on your breath 1:00:08.800 --> 1:00:12.040 and in your body. And that I still stutter if 1:00:12.080 --> 1:00:14.960 i'm That's how I can tell I'm not in a 1:00:14.960 --> 1:00:18.240 safe situation. Yes, it's when I when I am giving 1:00:18.280 --> 1:00:21.600 my truth and it starts to flutter me, I think, Ohney, 1:00:22.000 --> 1:00:25.240 maybe it's throttled down, throttle down. Maybe this is in 1:00:25.320 --> 1:00:27.880 the place or the time, But so yeah, I think 1:00:28.080 --> 1:00:31.320 I think showing up honestly in my life is my 1:00:31.640 --> 1:00:34.320 uh is my continued work in progress, and who knows 1:00:34.360 --> 1:00:36.240 where that'll go? Who knows? 1:00:37.280 --> 1:00:43.800 That's beautiful, I think, especially when the sort of gift 1:00:43.800 --> 1:00:48.080 in the curse of this beautiful job is that you 1:00:48.160 --> 1:00:52.960 get so good at performing and you're also always expected 1:00:52.960 --> 1:00:58.800 to be on and being a human in the world 1:00:59.400 --> 1:01:01.560 and wanting to go be in the world, wanting to 1:01:01.600 --> 1:01:05.840 go walk through Manhattan means you probably have to perform 1:01:05.920 --> 1:01:09.040 for people even on your day off, and it can 1:01:09.080 --> 1:01:14.960 be so hard to learn how to just be yourself 1:01:15.000 --> 1:01:21.280 when you're not on. And I think you know when 1:01:21.320 --> 1:01:23.600 you said at the top of the hour, you were 1:01:23.640 --> 1:01:27.160 talking about how it's a lifelong journey. You know, the 1:01:27.640 --> 1:01:30.760 distance and the healing and the reclaiming all those parts 1:01:30.760 --> 1:01:34.880 of yourself. That's one of the things I'm trying to 1:01:34.920 --> 1:01:37.439 reclaim is like, who am I when I'm not trying 1:01:37.440 --> 1:01:42.400 to make someone else's day? Because that's such a gift. 1:01:42.760 --> 1:01:44.600 But it's also a gift I have to give away 1:01:44.680 --> 1:01:50.680 every time and when was the last time I gave 1:01:50.720 --> 1:01:53.680 it to me? And I'm working on it. 1:01:54.080 --> 1:01:59.560 Baby steps, baby steps and often awareness, right, that'll elan 1:01:59.600 --> 1:02:02.360 on edge awareness, successions action, right. 1:02:02.560 --> 1:02:07.000 Yep, that's it. Oh my goodness, You're just such a joy. 1:02:07.120 --> 1:02:09.600 Thank you for this. I'm like, I want to talk 1:02:09.640 --> 1:02:11.640 about a thousand more things with you, but not on 1:02:11.680 --> 1:02:13.680 a recording and over a bottle of wine. 1:02:13.840 --> 1:02:15.880 I like it. I'll take the tequila. But we're in. 1:02:16.040 --> 1:02:19.680 We're in great, I'm coming over. We're not far. I 1:02:19.840 --> 1:02:20.200 like it.