April 10, 2024 • 28 mins
Courtney Casgraux owns a beauty brand in LA, had a tumultuous childhood, and is running for Congress.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's seven fifty eight in the morning on a Tuesday.
I'm waking up on the couch actually in my store
Gby Beauty, off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Flew
(00:25):
in last night at midnight from Portland, Oregon, where I
live and am running for Congress. Now that I'm laying here,
I don't know how I was even able to sleep
through all of this. I put a plant in front
of the door to like create some type of booby
(00:48):
trap in case somebody even tried to like open the door.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's like, what's the fern gonna do? You can really,
I don't know how I was able to sleep through this.
I must be really tired. I've put off this cash
before my employees walk in and start wondering what is
going on.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
This is finally a show about a renowned entrepreneur and
beautician running for Congress. Courtney casgro is, the co founder
of Gby Beauty, seeking a seat in the House this year.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
All right, and look up towards me. I'm gonna place
some underipads on your bottom lashes to separate them from
your top flashes, and then you're gonna keep your eyes
closed for the duration of the service. You will hear
tweezers like the selling knives, but it's just them touching
(02:02):
each other. So if you hear that, don't get scared.
Don't think that there's going to be a We're not
going to Benni Hana. Every job I had, I really
would essentially be promoted to manager within like thirty days,
which was really interesting. So I had a lot of
confidence for someone that never graduated and we're just kind
(02:25):
of doing whatever they wanted to do. And began my
business that I own now called Gby. That started with
my business partner, Kendra Stutter, and we wanted to create
a cosmetic line. So we were like, well, I'll be
the best at doing eyelash extensions, and you're going to
(02:46):
do the products, and we're going to create like a
line around that. So I would go drop my son
off at preschool, go to cosmetology school, and pick my
son up, work at this restaurant till like one in
the morning, and then drive to work. It was so crazy,
and learned how to do latch extensions. I'd advertise on
Craigslist just so weird because that's like makes no sense,
(03:09):
like I'll do your lashes. It's really weird, but it worked.
And my first client was Joan Rivers, which is crazy.
I was managed in the salon and it was when
Joan and Melissa had their show and he came in
to do the show and they were like, well, we
need people to do services, and I was like, I'll
(03:30):
do it, and I really I saw how to do it,
but I hadn't done it on that many people. And
the good thing about Joan is that she doesn't know
what she's doing anyways, and like she didn't know what
it was, so anything would have been greatmember. I was
shaking the whole time and I did it and then
never heard anything from her again, but was getting referred clients.
(03:52):
And then in January twenty fifteen, we found our first location,
which was just a room in this building I'm in
now I know we've taken over the building. Years later.
Thank you for calling TVY. How can I help you.
I was born in nineteen eighty two, so I was
raised in Huntingdon Beach, California, until I was fourteen years old,
(04:18):
and that's when I got sent away to boarding school.
My family's very conservative. My parents met in church. I
actually have on my mother's side, twenty three cousins. They
all live in like a four block radius. So my
grandparents were very upper middle class and had properties, so
(04:42):
all their children live in those homes. And then we
all just kind of grew up together in one big clan.
I don't know if that's the right word to reuse.
And my parents got divorced when I was actually three
years old. They weren't married that long. My dad was
your typical you know, I'll come pick you up and
(05:03):
then never show up. But the days that he did
show up were very exciting and impactful and fun because
it was such a departure from what I was living
as a child. I actually I found out when my
dad was gay when I was ten, and I remember
he was in We were in a convertible on the
four or five freeway listening to the B fifty twos,
(05:27):
and I said, are you gay? Looking back, I should
have said this is gay? This is already all gay,
But I said are you gay? And he said would
it matter? Would you still love me if I was?
Would it change anything? And I said no, and then
he said, yes, I'm gay. That's how I found out
my dad was gay. I ended up in boarding school
(05:59):
for bad behavior. So I grew up in a very conservative,
strict home, even though looking back it's very inappropriate, like craziness,
very much like arrested development, where it's just like so absurd,
You're like, this isn't even conservative, this is just absurd.
(06:21):
I got removed from my private school and went to
a public school. Some kid asked me, like, on the
second day of school, do you do drugs? And I
was like, I was just so terrified. I said yes,
And I remember this girl in the bathroom saying, well,
this drug makes you skinny. And my grandma would always
(06:41):
get on me for my weight, so I was like, oh,
I'll take it. I don't have to hear about it anymore. Essentially,
at thirteen, I started doing speed like math, like bad drugs,
and then got kind of just like snapped. By fourteen,
I was on house arrest. Fifteen I was sent to
residential treatment at Vista del Mar up in Los Angeles.
(07:06):
By like fifteen, still I used. My mother got remarried
and they lived in such a toxic environment that I
used to just not to hear the screaming and not
want to be around it. I would just call nine
when one and say I'm going to kill myself, just
so they would take me out of the house. And
it got to the pot where the police knew me
and they would say, your parents are having to fight again,
and I'd say I'm going to kill myself, and like mandatory,
(07:28):
they have to like take you, so they just At
one point, I lived at College Hospital in Coasta, Mesa
for a pretty good time until Orange County Mental Health said, well,
we can't send this girl back home, like she's not suicidal,
but something seriously going on. And then I got sent
(07:49):
to Montana Bailing's Montana and went to residential treatment there,
and then from there they kind of got sick of
me because they didn't know what to classify me as.
They're like, you're very logical, but then you're just defiant.
And at that point I figured out how to like
get drugs in a way of like downers. Like I
(08:10):
knew that if I freaked out, I'd get thorsine and
I wouldn't have to think about anything. So I would
kind of manipulate the system and I would do this
thing where if I didn't want to go to school
for the week, I would You'd there were kids called
run risks where they would like run and like they'd
have to take their shoes because they were going to
run away. I would just walk, so I was the
only person on walk risk and they were like, we
(08:32):
can't control her. She's seventeen. We have to get her
out of here. It's wasting our time. So then they
put me in a place in Aurora, Colorado until I
was eighteen, and that was very different because I was
in a treatment center with girls that were probably more violent,
(08:52):
and all of them I had to learn how to
survive in my own way because I didn't feel safe
at home. I did, I didn't feel safe anywhere. And
then on my eighteenth birthday, I was woken up by
my therapist and Aurora, Colorado and was told I'm taking
you to the airport because your father, whom I don't
(09:12):
speak with now, did anymore, but he was trying to
have me become a ward of the state in Texas
till I was twenty three. And she picked me up
and drove me to the airport and I got on
the plane and I showed up with my parents at
my mom's house and my grandparents. They were not expecting me.
They were like, what are you doing here? And that's
that was the end of that. It's terrible. And then
(09:36):
when I was I turned nineteen and met a boy
to skate park because that's what we did. And in
November of two thousand and one, I found out I
was pregnant with my son. I don't have a high
school diploma. I've never been to junior college. So I
was a person that really knew nothing about life. I'm
(09:58):
a person that never would has a formal education. I
just kind of was. I feel like I was kind
of thrown to the wolves growing up, and then even afterwards,
like no one in my family was like, hey, you
need to have these life skills, you need to have
these things, and I just have to figure it out
on my own. So when I found out I was pregnant,
I look back at that time and it can't even
(10:19):
believe it. I look back and I'm like, WHOA, that's crazy.
Like I didn't know how to do that. I just
figured it out. And now thinking about it, I'm like,
oh my god. If I think if I got pregnant nowadays,
I probably would flip out and be like, oh my god,
I'd be so scared. So I actually feel like I'm
lucky in that way. I was, you know, and my
(10:41):
son and are our best friends. We do everything together.
Whatever my son needs, I'm going to figure it out,
you know.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Like now.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I take him everywhere with me, so you know, he's
twenty one now and people are always like, well, what
does he do? And I'm like, I just feel this
guilt to not. I'm like, he does not. He travels
with me. When I was pregnant, I didn't work. I
(11:13):
was on disability, and then my mother was actually able
to get me disability for while I was in residential
treatment because I was like, I guess emotionally like you
can and when you're like psychologically have issues, you can
get disability. Like for the first like two years, I
didn't really do anything would be a mom. And then
when my son turned three, I started managing this juice
(11:38):
bark at this restaurant called Mother's Market, where like all
the cool kids worked, and it was there I think
I was able to start implementing like my business acumen
in a way where I was like, you know, managing
all these people. I didn't understand that I didn't. I
felt like I had the most logic and I knew
(11:59):
how to run this place and didn't understand how everyone
else was kind of like not able to figure it out.
But I think collectively growing up and seeing my grandpa
run his business and then having to survive and residential
treatment kind of made me a really good personality manager.
So I was able to see things that other people
(12:19):
were not able to see. Okay, let me move this
appointment for you already, we'll see it Thursday. It too,
You're welcome. So these are all the supplies that I
use for applying eyelash extensions, tweezers, removers, tint. I have
(12:43):
over a thousand different lashes that range in length, thickness,
and curl to give the client in each individual look.
So I think that's one thing that we do differently.
So that's why there's so many trays on this table
and then on the drawers underneath. And yeah, so we
(13:04):
work on a lot of celebrities at GBY. The most
cool and complicated was Lebron because he wanted a custom
eighteen carre at gold gem of his logo, but he
wanted it within like forty eight hours, so we had
to figure out a way to find someone downtown to
(13:26):
make it perfectly and they only were able to make
one of one and that amount of time, which you
think they'd be able to make a few. So we
had one and her and I both went. The first
time we did it was on the back lot of
Space Jam. So we both show up and we're like
sitting in the car. It doesn't require two people, but
(13:47):
we were both like, we're not missing this opportunity. We
have to see this for it. And then the thing
is too is that you don't know what his teeth
are going to look like, and you don't know if
it's going to fit, and then you have then it's
so fragile. You have to bend it to the person's tooth.
So you know, if once we got into the trailer
(14:08):
and saw its tooth, I'm like holding this, you know,
miliscopic logo that fits on a tooth that has to
now be bent to like to the curvature of his tooth.
And it was like, if this falls in the trailer,
it's gone, falls in his mouth, it's gone. If it
falls anywhere. It's so tiny. And at one point when
I was doing it, he was leaning away from me
(14:30):
and I just grabbed his face and I said, you
need to quit leaning, and everyone was laughing because they
were like, yeah, she's not afraid of you, and I'm
thinking I'm not. I'm afraid of losing this more than
I am, like I have forgotten who it was. Yeah,
and then we did we did that, and then we
did a crystal on him, and then he requested us
again two to for two other times. The reason we
(14:51):
had to go back to Lebron's because his his diamond
kept on popping off and we didn't know why. But
then I saw him on the and I was in
the airport and anything. He was on the screen, like
on the TV screen in the airport, and I saw
him with his mouth piece in and he was chewing
on his mouthpiece, and I'm like, that's why the gym
keeps on like falling out. So when they email this
again that I fell it, I'm like, tell him to
(15:12):
quit chomping on his mouth guard and they laugh they
were laughing. There was like I could see it from
the television. He's chopping it out of his own mouth.
So right now we are getting to the end of
your service. I'm gonna lash it probably over three hundred
(15:34):
I mean, whatever's on your own natural lashes I'm running
for Congress in Oregon's first district. My platform is lowering
taxes on working families. I'm running as a Democrat. I
do have to say I was always a registered independent,
but to primary I had to claim a party. So
(16:01):
growing up with a gay father, I found myself in
political activist scenarios as a child. First, my father's his
one boyfriend had HIV and my dad being gay would
leave me with friends that were drag queens and just
people in the community. So when my dad would have
(16:21):
to work on the weekends, I would be going with
his friend Sean at the time, and we would be
you know, canvassing and passing out flyers for AIDS Project
Los Angeles and Cole Porter musicals that were gonna, you know,
raise funds for the Gay and Lesbian Center. So I
(16:42):
was always in this world. And I also never could
understand why I would be in this world. And everyone
was so fun and creative and like, I'd have so
much fun, and then I'd go back to Orange County
and be at Calvary Chapel Coasta, Mesa and be told
that the gay and secular people of the world are
(17:02):
going to hell. And I was like whoa, how could
that be? Because you guys seem really mean and these
people seem really happy. So growing up just very confused.
I always say I got the best parts of my
self esteem from drag queens because they looked every different way,
(17:24):
like from physicality to race, and they wad all these
costumes and they could go on stage and make people
laugh and make people feel loved, and it was a
community where they just wanted to be happy. And at
home in Orange County, I was suffering from really bad
self esteem from like the way that I was told
that I looked and I should look like this, and
my grandmother just telling me it wasn't the epitome of
(17:46):
like your blonde Orange County girl. So I also feel
like the gay community has really made me what I
am today in terms of like activism and also my businesses.
So growing up with activism and then living in a
conservative world and then you know, going to treatment centers,
(18:11):
and then coming out and being a single mom, and
then going through the programs of you know, my family
said we're not helping you. So being on welfare, so
go into like, you know, we welfare classes in Santa Ana.
Because when you get benefits. In certain counties, you have
to sit in on classes to prove that you're doing
(18:31):
something through with your day, meeting women in those programs,
being on Wick and just kind of growing up in
like these both polarizing environments. I do think it's time
that I think we're seeing more of this, that someone
of the working class represents the working class and can
(18:54):
speak on the issues that are are affecting people daily
and with real true discernment and can mention and experience
versus like people like you know, Matt Gates or the
incompaned I'm running against. No one really knows too much
about her, you know, working families party, very docile. She
(19:16):
has one of the lowest ratings in terms of international
relations in terms of the Middle East, so I my
detest for her is triggered. And also she's only past
seven pieces of legislation in over a decade. And she
sits on committees that she has no business on, which
is the Elderly Gay Community, which is my seat, and
(19:39):
she sits on the Culture and Arts Committee, which is
definitely my seat. So she needs to get out of
these seats because she's not doing anything for anybody except
for taking lobby money. I believe two months after I
announced my congressional bid, nu with me were leaked on
(20:01):
to Reddit from when I was a dominatrix and I
was looking at photos of me that didn't live on
the internet for years. So we have some theories on
who linked them. But Playboy has now decided to support
me in this and sending out a press release and
(20:24):
helping me kind of turn the narrative into my favor.
And that's who we're jumping on the call with. Hi,
how are you. I'm well. Thank you so much for
meeting with me again. I really appreciate it. We're so
excited to have you, Like I can't even put it
(20:46):
into Where's your story? Is incredible? So many of your
values really aligned with ours. I love that you're using
your platform to bring attention.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
To these sorts of issues that we're in face.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
With, like private content thing lead you know. I think
it's in the.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Fact that you're also speaking at.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Cool. Thank you so much, Tori. I appreciate it. Thank you,
Bye bye. So, I at one point in my life
was a dominate trix and revisited that line of work
(21:32):
during the pandemic because we were shut down and during
twenty twenty we had our twenty nineteen we had to
open a New York locations. So when we're shut down
in New York City, I'm trying, you know, they're still
making us pay rent, so I'm trying to like save
the business. And I was like, well, I'll just you know,
New York is open, I'll just be a dominate trix again.
(21:53):
Like I honestly don't care. I've no qualms with sex work.
At the dungeon I was working at in Midtown Manhattan,
there's a website, and on the website, all the photos
of me were blocked out, like my eyes right, But
there was a two days where the photos of me
were not blocked out. Then I said, you know, maybe
I should block these out. I don't know, maybe my
(22:13):
face shouldn't be on here. And I was only on
the website for two weeks because I'm not good at
my job. And so I announced my candidacy three years later,
and two and a half months into my congressional campaign.
Somehow those photos that once lived online all this, all
(22:36):
of a sudden were being DMed to my congressional account.
And then I had to recall in my head, like
did I send these out to? Anybody? Who would I
have send these out to? And started seeing Reddit threads
in my because I have a lot of press from
like the humanitarian work that I've done in my business,
and if I scrolled down far enough there were red
(22:58):
there were like full Reddit threads, and the reddits threads
would say or and you can actually still look at
them up even though they've been reported and deleted, They're
still there. So I don't know what that even does.
The photos are gone, which is great, but the threads
are like in like forums called like Joe Biden not
my President? One was would you vote for Dominate Trix
(23:20):
in Congress? So the thing the concern became of it
once then like oh I don't care. People know it was,
you know, is all the work that I've done ever
in my life going to now be overshadowed by the
headline that reads dominate Trix runs for Congress with a
photo of me? In twenty nineteen, I ran for business
(23:46):
co chair in Silver Lake and got it. It's like
you get all you rally all the businesses together and
you see what they wants, the needs are, and then
if there's an issue with like you know, a developer
coming in and you kind of like put it on
the docket for the neighborhood council to review. And then
COVID happened, and then silver Lake Council was up for
(24:09):
reelection and someone said, you know, you really should run
in your district. You can run as a stakeholder even
though you don't technically live here, you have a business,
You're a stakeholder. So I ran for region for Representative
and one, and then I sat on the neighborhood council
for about six months and then was asked if I
wanted to co chair silver Lake and re Region four
(24:29):
and I did. But during this time, in these meetings
during COVID, people would, because I was the coach here,
would ask me what we should be doing for COVID,
like prevention, And I'm thinking, how is nobody organized? How again?
How am I the person that is the smartest person
in the room. This is really concerning, and Courtney, should
(24:53):
we do this? Should and the things? Again, logic was
all out the door. We can't be open, but if
you want to try something on, we'll let you. And
I'm just like this is I feel crazy? So I
found myself in another position where it was like, how
is the city business? O just silver like asking me
what they should be doing. I'm not, you know, a
(25:14):
CDC doctor. I don't know. I give you my advice,
but then I'd give my advice and it wouldn't be taken.
So I was like, okay. It made me feel absolutely insane.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
And then.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I was like, if it's this bad here, I wonder
what Congress is like. Call me crazy, Call me crazy,
call me growing up around crazy, Call me someone that
likes to problem solve, Call me a dreamer. I thought, wow,
in that moment, I really thought, if I win Congress,
(25:46):
I can make a change. I hope to carry that
belief in the next throughout my campaign, and again I
think a lot of my I don't know if ignorance
is or whatever, but you know, it's like I'm also
a businesswoman, right so it's like if you guys can't
figure this out, who's running the show. So I was like, whoa.
(26:10):
If this is going on in Congress and I get
elected in I could be really great at this all right,
by I have a good day, good night. Oh, I
am now finishing my day. Finally, seven oh two pm.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
And we are closing up the store. Luckily, I'm tired,
but not so exhausted. I'll be sleeping on the couch
this evening. It's been a very busy day, a very
(26:58):
very busy day.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
But a great one, a really great day. Turn off
the computer. That's not done without a phone call to
see how my son is doing. So we lock up
and make that phone call. I'm just getting home. I
(27:30):
spoke with my son. It's my favorite, it's my favorite
part of the day. No, I'm going to it is
nine twenty one. I'm gonna make myself a late dinner,
but I have some leftover Little Doms. It's an Italian
restaurant in Los Angeles and Las Fela's, and it's so good.
(27:52):
And I've been craving this meatball all day. So I'll
be ye eating and working and watching in these final
hours of my day.
It's seven fifty eight in the morning on a Tuesday.
I'm waking up on the couch actually in my store
Gby Beauty, off Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, California. Flew
(00:25):
in last night at midnight from Portland, Oregon, where I
live and am running for Congress. Now that I'm laying here,
I don't know how I was even able to sleep
through all of this. I put a plant in front
of the door to like create some type of booby
(00:48):
trap in case somebody even tried to like open the door.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It's like, what's the fern gonna do? You can really,
I don't know how I was able to sleep through this.
I must be really tired. I've put off this cash
before my employees walk in and start wondering what is
going on.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
This is finally a show about a renowned entrepreneur and
beautician running for Congress. Courtney casgro is, the co founder
of Gby Beauty, seeking a seat in the House this year.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
All right, and look up towards me. I'm gonna place
some underipads on your bottom lashes to separate them from
your top flashes, and then you're gonna keep your eyes
closed for the duration of the service. You will hear
tweezers like the selling knives, but it's just them touching
(02:02):
each other. So if you hear that, don't get scared.
Don't think that there's going to be a We're not
going to Benni Hana. Every job I had, I really
would essentially be promoted to manager within like thirty days,
which was really interesting. So I had a lot of
confidence for someone that never graduated and we're just kind
(02:25):
of doing whatever they wanted to do. And began my
business that I own now called Gby. That started with
my business partner, Kendra Stutter, and we wanted to create
a cosmetic line. So we were like, well, I'll be
the best at doing eyelash extensions, and you're going to
(02:46):
do the products, and we're going to create like a
line around that. So I would go drop my son
off at preschool, go to cosmetology school, and pick my
son up, work at this restaurant till like one in
the morning, and then drive to work. It was so crazy,
and learned how to do latch extensions. I'd advertise on
Craigslist just so weird because that's like makes no sense,
(03:09):
like I'll do your lashes. It's really weird, but it worked.
And my first client was Joan Rivers, which is crazy.
I was managed in the salon and it was when
Joan and Melissa had their show and he came in
to do the show and they were like, well, we
need people to do services, and I was like, I'll
(03:30):
do it, and I really I saw how to do it,
but I hadn't done it on that many people. And
the good thing about Joan is that she doesn't know
what she's doing anyways, and like she didn't know what
it was, so anything would have been greatmember. I was
shaking the whole time and I did it and then
never heard anything from her again, but was getting referred clients.
(03:52):
And then in January twenty fifteen, we found our first location,
which was just a room in this building I'm in
now I know we've taken over the building. Years later.
Thank you for calling TVY. How can I help you.
I was born in nineteen eighty two, so I was
raised in Huntingdon Beach, California, until I was fourteen years old,
(04:18):
and that's when I got sent away to boarding school.
My family's very conservative. My parents met in church. I
actually have on my mother's side, twenty three cousins. They
all live in like a four block radius. So my
grandparents were very upper middle class and had properties, so
(04:42):
all their children live in those homes. And then we
all just kind of grew up together in one big clan.
I don't know if that's the right word to reuse.
And my parents got divorced when I was actually three
years old. They weren't married that long. My dad was
your typical you know, I'll come pick you up and
(05:03):
then never show up. But the days that he did
show up were very exciting and impactful and fun because
it was such a departure from what I was living
as a child. I actually I found out when my
dad was gay when I was ten, and I remember
he was in We were in a convertible on the
four or five freeway listening to the B fifty twos,
(05:27):
and I said, are you gay? Looking back, I should
have said this is gay? This is already all gay,
But I said are you gay? And he said would
it matter? Would you still love me if I was?
Would it change anything? And I said no, and then
he said, yes, I'm gay. That's how I found out
my dad was gay. I ended up in boarding school
(05:59):
for bad behavior. So I grew up in a very conservative,
strict home, even though looking back it's very inappropriate, like craziness,
very much like arrested development, where it's just like so absurd,
You're like, this isn't even conservative, this is just absurd.
(06:21):
I got removed from my private school and went to
a public school. Some kid asked me, like, on the
second day of school, do you do drugs? And I
was like, I was just so terrified. I said yes,
And I remember this girl in the bathroom saying, well,
this drug makes you skinny. And my grandma would always
(06:41):
get on me for my weight, so I was like, oh,
I'll take it. I don't have to hear about it anymore. Essentially,
at thirteen, I started doing speed like math, like bad drugs,
and then got kind of just like snapped. By fourteen,
I was on house arrest. Fifteen I was sent to
residential treatment at Vista del Mar up in Los Angeles.
(07:06):
By like fifteen, still I used. My mother got remarried
and they lived in such a toxic environment that I
used to just not to hear the screaming and not
want to be around it. I would just call nine
when one and say I'm going to kill myself, just
so they would take me out of the house. And
it got to the pot where the police knew me
and they would say, your parents are having to fight again,
and I'd say I'm going to kill myself, and like mandatory,
(07:28):
they have to like take you, so they just At
one point, I lived at College Hospital in Coasta, Mesa
for a pretty good time until Orange County Mental Health said, well,
we can't send this girl back home, like she's not suicidal,
but something seriously going on. And then I got sent
(07:49):
to Montana Bailing's Montana and went to residential treatment there,
and then from there they kind of got sick of
me because they didn't know what to classify me as.
They're like, you're very logical, but then you're just defiant.
And at that point I figured out how to like
get drugs in a way of like downers. Like I
(08:10):
knew that if I freaked out, I'd get thorsine and
I wouldn't have to think about anything. So I would
kind of manipulate the system and I would do this
thing where if I didn't want to go to school
for the week, I would You'd there were kids called
run risks where they would like run and like they'd
have to take their shoes because they were going to
run away. I would just walk, so I was the
only person on walk risk and they were like, we
(08:32):
can't control her. She's seventeen. We have to get her
out of here. It's wasting our time. So then they
put me in a place in Aurora, Colorado until I
was eighteen, and that was very different because I was
in a treatment center with girls that were probably more violent,
(08:52):
and all of them I had to learn how to
survive in my own way because I didn't feel safe
at home. I did, I didn't feel safe anywhere. And
then on my eighteenth birthday, I was woken up by
my therapist and Aurora, Colorado and was told I'm taking
you to the airport because your father, whom I don't
(09:12):
speak with now, did anymore, but he was trying to
have me become a ward of the state in Texas
till I was twenty three. And she picked me up
and drove me to the airport and I got on
the plane and I showed up with my parents at
my mom's house and my grandparents. They were not expecting me.
They were like, what are you doing here? And that's
that was the end of that. It's terrible. And then
(09:36):
when I was I turned nineteen and met a boy
to skate park because that's what we did. And in
November of two thousand and one, I found out I
was pregnant with my son. I don't have a high
school diploma. I've never been to junior college. So I
was a person that really knew nothing about life. I'm
(09:58):
a person that never would has a formal education. I
just kind of was. I feel like I was kind
of thrown to the wolves growing up, and then even afterwards,
like no one in my family was like, hey, you
need to have these life skills, you need to have
these things, and I just have to figure it out
on my own. So when I found out I was pregnant,
I look back at that time and it can't even
(10:19):
believe it. I look back and I'm like, WHOA, that's crazy.
Like I didn't know how to do that. I just
figured it out. And now thinking about it, I'm like,
oh my god. If I think if I got pregnant nowadays,
I probably would flip out and be like, oh my god,
I'd be so scared. So I actually feel like I'm
lucky in that way. I was, you know, and my
(10:41):
son and are our best friends. We do everything together.
Whatever my son needs, I'm going to figure it out,
you know.
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Like now.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
I take him everywhere with me, so you know, he's
twenty one now and people are always like, well, what
does he do? And I'm like, I just feel this
guilt to not. I'm like, he does not. He travels
with me. When I was pregnant, I didn't work. I
(11:13):
was on disability, and then my mother was actually able
to get me disability for while I was in residential
treatment because I was like, I guess emotionally like you
can and when you're like psychologically have issues, you can
get disability. Like for the first like two years, I
didn't really do anything would be a mom. And then
when my son turned three, I started managing this juice
(11:38):
bark at this restaurant called Mother's Market, where like all
the cool kids worked, and it was there I think
I was able to start implementing like my business acumen
in a way where I was like, you know, managing
all these people. I didn't understand that I didn't. I
felt like I had the most logic and I knew
(11:59):
how to run this place and didn't understand how everyone
else was kind of like not able to figure it out.
But I think collectively growing up and seeing my grandpa
run his business and then having to survive and residential
treatment kind of made me a really good personality manager.
So I was able to see things that other people
(12:19):
were not able to see. Okay, let me move this
appointment for you already, we'll see it Thursday. It too,
You're welcome. So these are all the supplies that I
use for applying eyelash extensions, tweezers, removers, tint. I have
(12:43):
over a thousand different lashes that range in length, thickness,
and curl to give the client in each individual look.
So I think that's one thing that we do differently.
So that's why there's so many trays on this table
and then on the drawers underneath. And yeah, so we
(13:04):
work on a lot of celebrities at GBY. The most
cool and complicated was Lebron because he wanted a custom
eighteen carre at gold gem of his logo, but he
wanted it within like forty eight hours, so we had
to figure out a way to find someone downtown to
(13:26):
make it perfectly and they only were able to make
one of one and that amount of time, which you
think they'd be able to make a few. So we
had one and her and I both went. The first
time we did it was on the back lot of
Space Jam. So we both show up and we're like
sitting in the car. It doesn't require two people, but
(13:47):
we were both like, we're not missing this opportunity. We
have to see this for it. And then the thing
is too is that you don't know what his teeth
are going to look like, and you don't know if
it's going to fit, and then you have then it's
so fragile. You have to bend it to the person's tooth.
So you know, if once we got into the trailer
(14:08):
and saw its tooth, I'm like holding this, you know,
miliscopic logo that fits on a tooth that has to
now be bent to like to the curvature of his tooth.
And it was like, if this falls in the trailer,
it's gone, falls in his mouth, it's gone. If it
falls anywhere. It's so tiny. And at one point when
I was doing it, he was leaning away from me
(14:30):
and I just grabbed his face and I said, you
need to quit leaning, and everyone was laughing because they
were like, yeah, she's not afraid of you, and I'm
thinking I'm not. I'm afraid of losing this more than
I am, like I have forgotten who it was. Yeah,
and then we did we did that, and then we
did a crystal on him, and then he requested us
again two to for two other times. The reason we
(14:51):
had to go back to Lebron's because his his diamond
kept on popping off and we didn't know why. But
then I saw him on the and I was in
the airport and anything. He was on the screen, like
on the TV screen in the airport, and I saw
him with his mouth piece in and he was chewing
on his mouthpiece, and I'm like, that's why the gym
keeps on like falling out. So when they email this
again that I fell it, I'm like, tell him to
(15:12):
quit chomping on his mouth guard and they laugh they
were laughing. There was like I could see it from
the television. He's chopping it out of his own mouth.
So right now we are getting to the end of
your service. I'm gonna lash it probably over three hundred
(15:34):
I mean, whatever's on your own natural lashes I'm running
for Congress in Oregon's first district. My platform is lowering
taxes on working families. I'm running as a Democrat. I
do have to say I was always a registered independent,
but to primary I had to claim a party. So
(16:01):
growing up with a gay father, I found myself in
political activist scenarios as a child. First, my father's his
one boyfriend had HIV and my dad being gay would
leave me with friends that were drag queens and just
people in the community. So when my dad would have
(16:21):
to work on the weekends, I would be going with
his friend Sean at the time, and we would be
you know, canvassing and passing out flyers for AIDS Project
Los Angeles and Cole Porter musicals that were gonna, you know,
raise funds for the Gay and Lesbian Center. So I
(16:42):
was always in this world. And I also never could
understand why I would be in this world. And everyone
was so fun and creative and like, I'd have so
much fun, and then I'd go back to Orange County
and be at Calvary Chapel Coasta, Mesa and be told
that the gay and secular people of the world are
(17:02):
going to hell. And I was like whoa, how could
that be? Because you guys seem really mean and these
people seem really happy. So growing up just very confused.
I always say I got the best parts of my
self esteem from drag queens because they looked every different way,
(17:24):
like from physicality to race, and they wad all these
costumes and they could go on stage and make people
laugh and make people feel loved, and it was a
community where they just wanted to be happy. And at
home in Orange County, I was suffering from really bad
self esteem from like the way that I was told
that I looked and I should look like this, and
my grandmother just telling me it wasn't the epitome of
(17:46):
like your blonde Orange County girl. So I also feel
like the gay community has really made me what I
am today in terms of like activism and also my businesses.
So growing up with activism and then living in a
conservative world and then you know, going to treatment centers,
(18:11):
and then coming out and being a single mom, and
then going through the programs of you know, my family
said we're not helping you. So being on welfare, so
go into like, you know, we welfare classes in Santa Ana.
Because when you get benefits. In certain counties, you have
to sit in on classes to prove that you're doing
(18:31):
something through with your day, meeting women in those programs,
being on Wick and just kind of growing up in
like these both polarizing environments. I do think it's time
that I think we're seeing more of this, that someone
of the working class represents the working class and can
(18:54):
speak on the issues that are are affecting people daily
and with real true discernment and can mention and experience
versus like people like you know, Matt Gates or the
incompaned I'm running against. No one really knows too much
about her, you know, working families party, very docile. She
(19:16):
has one of the lowest ratings in terms of international
relations in terms of the Middle East, so I my
detest for her is triggered. And also she's only past
seven pieces of legislation in over a decade. And she
sits on committees that she has no business on, which
is the Elderly Gay Community, which is my seat, and
(19:39):
she sits on the Culture and Arts Committee, which is
definitely my seat. So she needs to get out of
these seats because she's not doing anything for anybody except
for taking lobby money. I believe two months after I
announced my congressional bid, nu with me were leaked on
(20:01):
to Reddit from when I was a dominatrix and I
was looking at photos of me that didn't live on
the internet for years. So we have some theories on
who linked them. But Playboy has now decided to support
me in this and sending out a press release and
(20:24):
helping me kind of turn the narrative into my favor.
And that's who we're jumping on the call with. Hi,
how are you. I'm well. Thank you so much for
meeting with me again. I really appreciate it. We're so
excited to have you, Like I can't even put it
(20:46):
into Where's your story? Is incredible? So many of your
values really aligned with ours. I love that you're using
your platform to bring attention.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
To these sorts of issues that we're in face.
Speaker 2 (20:58):
With, like private content thing lead you know. I think
it's in the.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Fact that you're also speaking at.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
Cool. Thank you so much, Tori. I appreciate it. Thank you,
Bye bye. So, I at one point in my life
was a dominate trix and revisited that line of work
(21:32):
during the pandemic because we were shut down and during
twenty twenty we had our twenty nineteen we had to
open a New York locations. So when we're shut down
in New York City, I'm trying, you know, they're still
making us pay rent, so I'm trying to like save
the business. And I was like, well, I'll just you know,
New York is open, I'll just be a dominate trix again.
(21:53):
Like I honestly don't care. I've no qualms with sex work.
At the dungeon I was working at in Midtown Manhattan,
there's a website, and on the website, all the photos
of me were blocked out, like my eyes right, But
there was a two days where the photos of me
were not blocked out. Then I said, you know, maybe
I should block these out. I don't know, maybe my
(22:13):
face shouldn't be on here. And I was only on
the website for two weeks because I'm not good at
my job. And so I announced my candidacy three years later,
and two and a half months into my congressional campaign.
Somehow those photos that once lived online all this, all
(22:36):
of a sudden were being DMed to my congressional account.
And then I had to recall in my head, like
did I send these out to? Anybody? Who would I
have send these out to? And started seeing Reddit threads
in my because I have a lot of press from
like the humanitarian work that I've done in my business,
and if I scrolled down far enough there were red
(22:58):
there were like full Reddit threads, and the reddits threads
would say or and you can actually still look at
them up even though they've been reported and deleted, They're
still there. So I don't know what that even does.
The photos are gone, which is great, but the threads
are like in like forums called like Joe Biden not
my President? One was would you vote for Dominate Trix
(23:20):
in Congress? So the thing the concern became of it
once then like oh I don't care. People know it was,
you know, is all the work that I've done ever
in my life going to now be overshadowed by the
headline that reads dominate Trix runs for Congress with a
photo of me? In twenty nineteen, I ran for business
(23:46):
co chair in Silver Lake and got it. It's like
you get all you rally all the businesses together and
you see what they wants, the needs are, and then
if there's an issue with like you know, a developer
coming in and you kind of like put it on
the docket for the neighborhood council to review. And then
COVID happened, and then silver Lake Council was up for
(24:09):
reelection and someone said, you know, you really should run
in your district. You can run as a stakeholder even
though you don't technically live here, you have a business,
You're a stakeholder. So I ran for region for Representative
and one, and then I sat on the neighborhood council
for about six months and then was asked if I
wanted to co chair silver Lake and re Region four
(24:29):
and I did. But during this time, in these meetings
during COVID, people would, because I was the coach here,
would ask me what we should be doing for COVID,
like prevention, And I'm thinking, how is nobody organized? How again?
How am I the person that is the smartest person
in the room. This is really concerning, and Courtney, should
(24:53):
we do this? Should and the things? Again, logic was
all out the door. We can't be open, but if
you want to try something on, we'll let you. And
I'm just like this is I feel crazy? So I
found myself in another position where it was like, how
is the city business? O just silver like asking me
what they should be doing. I'm not, you know, a
(25:14):
CDC doctor. I don't know. I give you my advice,
but then I'd give my advice and it wouldn't be taken.
So I was like, okay. It made me feel absolutely insane.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
And then.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
I was like, if it's this bad here, I wonder
what Congress is like. Call me crazy, Call me crazy,
call me growing up around crazy, Call me someone that
likes to problem solve, Call me a dreamer. I thought, wow,
in that moment, I really thought, if I win Congress,
(25:46):
I can make a change. I hope to carry that
belief in the next throughout my campaign, and again I
think a lot of my I don't know if ignorance
is or whatever, but you know, it's like I'm also
a businesswoman, right so it's like if you guys can't
figure this out, who's running the show. So I was like, whoa.
(26:10):
If this is going on in Congress and I get
elected in I could be really great at this all right,
by I have a good day, good night. Oh, I
am now finishing my day. Finally, seven oh two pm.
Speaker 4 (26:34):
And we are closing up the store. Luckily, I'm tired,
but not so exhausted. I'll be sleeping on the couch
this evening. It's been a very busy day, a very
(26:58):
very busy day.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
But a great one, a really great day. Turn off
the computer. That's not done without a phone call to
see how my son is doing. So we lock up
and make that phone call. I'm just getting home. I
(27:30):
spoke with my son. It's my favorite, it's my favorite
part of the day. No, I'm going to it is
nine twenty one. I'm gonna make myself a late dinner,
but I have some leftover Little Doms. It's an Italian
restaurant in Los Angeles and Las Fela's, and it's so good.
(27:52):
And I've been craving this meatball all day. So I'll
be ye eating and working and watching in these final
hours of my day.
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