October 17, 2024 • 27 mins
When she first moved to the United States from Brazil as a teenager, entrepreneur, model, and author Camila Alves McConaughey worked as a house cleaner. She soon rose to fame and launched a stellar modeling career. She’s since become an advocate for healthy eating and launched a lifestyle brand called Women of Today. She joins the show to talk about how she lives with integrity in matters of family, career, and for herself.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hello Sunshine, Hey, besties.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, we're joined by entrepreneur and
founder of Women of Today, Camilla Alvs McConaughey. She's here
to talk all about beauty, parenting, and what it means
to be a McConaughey. It's Thursday, October seventeenth. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
share women stories, to laugh, learn and brighten your day.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
So, Simon, when I.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Was growing up, I was obsessed with MTV's series Diary
and the tagline was always you think you know, but
you have no idea. And that tagline is what I
thought about for our guests today.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, I think that sounds pretty accurate. I mean, talk
about building the life you want from scratch. Camila Alves
McConaughey emigrated to the United States from Brazil at just
fifteen years old.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
When she arrived in the US, she took on any
odd job that she could make money at. She was
waiting tables, she was cleaning houses, all while learning English
mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And then Camilla pursued a modeling career and her big
break came when she landed a billboard in Times Square.
Since then, she's been on the covers of several magazines
and has walked the runway for brands like Valentino and
Carolina Herrera. And yes, maybe you've seen her in an
appearance or two alongside her husband, Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And she's really created a platform that stands for something.
It's called Women of Today, and she says she's really
on a mission. And then on her Instagram you'll see
she's a huge advocate for health and healthy eating and
is just so family first. She's the co author of
this children's book, Just Try One Bite, which made it
onto the New York Times bestseller list.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
We are such big fans of Just Try a One
Bite in our house. You know. I actually have my
mom to thank for this. Danielle.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
She started reading this book to them, and then I
realized that my kids would come home and say all
these new words that I hadn't heard them say before,
like whole foods, and they were talking about eating healthy.
And then I realized that it was Camilla's writing that
is introducing all this new language into their vocabulary and
(02:13):
helping them learn about the power of eating healthy.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
That's really amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
It's not easy to get kids interested in whole foods
or healthy foods, right, that must be quite a book.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, she's cracked the code here. You know what else
I'm really interested in hearing about from Kamila.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
What's that?
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
A few years back, she and her husband, Matthew decided
to move to Texas, which is where Matthew is from.
And I'm really curious to hear how this lifestyle shift
has changed them as a family. And they've just always
seemed so down to earth, so this seems like a
fit for them.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It is not easy to get kids excited about whole
foods or healthy foods, so I think what she's doing
must be really special. And Simone, I have to tell
you everything I know about her is from the Internet
or from Instagram. I don't really know who Camilla really is,
and I'm excited to get to know where with you today.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I can't wait to talk to her as well.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Let's bring her in, Kamila Alvis McConaughey, Welcome to the
bright Side.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Thank you all so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
You know, I looked at your Instagram before we started
and it says woman on a mission.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I'm so curious what that means to you. Why you
wrote that.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
I just think that as women we go to different transitions,
different stages of life. I should really say it's human beings. Really,
that's not only a women thing, it's it's human beings.
We go through different stages of life. I feel like
every stage of our life brings different missions. And for me,
I have this mission that I just want to do better.
(03:44):
I want to do better for myself. I wanted to
do better for my family. I want to do better
for my community. So that's kind of like my when
I say women in a mission, it kind of gives
me excited to kind of accomplish or to follow through
instead of like I must do you know what I mean?
Mission just sounds more fun and exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's the I get to versus I have to framing.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Oh my gosh, I just had a conversation about this.
If that shift is something that has really helped me,
even for the smallest things, the simplest things. Look, we
have three kids, right Like, sometimes I'm in the car
for six hours straight. This is six to seven hours
straight driving from this to the school to that, school
and then come back and then what I've doctor whatever
(04:27):
it is, and my kids. Hence we are in a
unique situation. I understand that not everybody can do that,
and I go, I get to do this. I get
to be in the car with them. I get to
have the ability to drive them. I get to have
a car to take them. I like, all of a sudden,
I'm like, I'm happy, and we're having different conversations instead
(04:49):
of me being stuck in traffic, you know, bitching about
how am I stuck in traffic? Right So, even for
the simple things like that too, when you have a
really big problem, right Like, I had somebody that was
in the hospital and it was like it was a
really bad situation, drop everything and go take care of that.
And why you're there, It's like, well, I get to
(05:11):
be here and care for help care for this person.
Right Like, even that gives you a different energy to
win into situations.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Camilla, you mentioned having this mission or purpose to girge
you through life's transitions. What stage of life are you
in right now? Because I totally relate to, especially as
a woman going through different life stages. Right there's like
the time pre kids, pre husband, where you have your
independence and all you can. You get to be selfish, right,
(05:40):
and then you get married there's another person that you
need to factor into your life. Then you have kids
and there are more responsibilities, and then hopefully we find
our way back to ourselves and find the things that
light us up.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What stage of life would you say that you're in.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
I think that I am on the serving stage of life.
It is not necessarily about all the things that I
want to do. The season right now for me is
to really make sure that the people I love have
everything that they need so they can succeed on their journey.
And it is challenging and beautiful at the same time
(06:17):
because it is a compromise. You sit back and go
but I could have been doing this, so I could
have been doing that, and I say no to this,
I say no to that, And I'm not telling people
that that's what they should do, because everybody has different
definitions of what success is for them. At this stage
of my life, it's more of making sure everybody that
I love has everything they need, because if they're good,
(06:40):
my heart is good, and if my heart is good,
then everything else falls into place. And I'm trusting and
cultivating things slowly, but planting little seeds and cultivating to
where when that stage passes, I don't have to start
all over again, right, Like, I don't have to start
(07:01):
all over again and be lost of like what do
I do now? Because I've had a lot of older
friends and I've had so many conversations with them, and
I have seen some of my friends go through this
stage where they only educated one hundred percent to just
the kids, and then once the kids out of their house,
(07:24):
they don't know what to do. They're fully lost and
trying to figure out to start all over again. That's
really hard.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I really like the name of your lifestyle brand. It's
called Women of Today, and it's devoted to everything from
cooking and health to style, work, family. I'm wondering, what
do you think it means to be a woman in
twenty twenty four? What does it mean to be a
woman of today?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
You know, Look, I'll tell you why I name it
Women of Today. It goes back to the things we
were talking the beginning of the transitions, the different stages
that would go in life. We know that that stage
is going to pass, no stages forever. So this idea
of women of today. Being in every stage that you're
(08:11):
in and every age that you're in, you're going to
have new things that are exciting to learn. And the
most important thing for me what this journey with the
women of today was to be able to learn from
each other and to also have a community that wasn't
just specific one age group or one demograph. My go
(08:31):
from day one was I want young, I want older,
I want middle, I want all you know, all the
I wanted to feel exactly. I wanted to feel very welcoming,
and we have achieved that and it makes me really
really happy, really happy.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
You know, in hearing about who you are today, I
think most people would never know who you were when
you were fifteen and you moved from Brazil to the
United States and spoke very little English and we're cleaning
houses for a living. I'm curious if you think about
those times now at all.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I think about those times almost daily, almost daily. It's
not one time that I drive by the gate of
my house and I said a prayer of gratitude. It
is not one time that I go to supermarket and
I walk out I tell my kids how grateful we
should be that we have the ability to do that.
(09:30):
We talk about it a lot. I have a lot
of stories from that time in my life that I
share a lot with the kids, and that time was
very formative for me. I don't think I would be
the first I am today fighting had that experience in
my life.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Is there a story that sticks out to you, I'd
be really curious to know something that's close to your
heart from that time.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
I actually he was just talking with my eleven year old.
We went to shake check the other day and just
last week, and it were a Garrett French fries and
for and we sat down, just him and I. We
were eating the French fries, and I went, hey, Bud,
you know when mama was this age and she was
working do this and that, you know, I couldn't even
(10:12):
afford to buy the French fries, you know. And he
was like what it was like, Yeah, I couldn't have
afford to buy the French fries. So me and this
older lady who who she was Brazilian and then we
cleaned houses in the same area. We became friends. I said
we would go to the dollar store and I told
her because because you know, when you're from a different country,
(10:34):
especially from South America. I'm really going to say from
South America. The mentality is you work, and you said,
you know, you help your family back home, right, you
kind of become big responsible for the family back home.
And the challenge with that is that you end up
really not doing anything for yourself. So I told this
lady one day, I said, you know what, We're going
(10:54):
to take one dollar a week and we're going to
go to the dollar store together and we're gonna buy
one thing for ourselves. Okay, so just so we can
feel good about the hard work that we put in
this week. So we will go to the dollar store
and buy I don't know it, know, be a hair
clip or a little makeup thing for a dollar. And
(11:17):
it's really good dollar dollar store in Torrance, California. But
I still go back there, believe it or not. I
still go back and I take the kid. We would
do that, and it was a McDonald's just around the
corner from there, and we would then go to the
McDonalds after the dinner time. And I told miss oh
(11:38):
Warder the burger and I say, sometimes we would just
sit there and wait because people will leave their French
fries behind and we'll go and we'll take the fresh side.
That's how we will get the fries. That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
How did you have a vision at that time of
what could be?
Speaker 5 (11:58):
I don't think I had a of what it could be.
I think I had a vision that I wanted to
do something better for me and at that time, right
at that time, for me, it meant to evolve. I
didn't want to be in one place. I didn't want
to be settling too one thing that I came here
(12:19):
to do. And I remember I used to set a prayer.
I used to you know, I believe in the power
of prayer. I'll be driving in the car and listening
to India IRI at those times, just a lot of
you know, inspiring songs, and I would pray. I would say, hey,
you know, if I have a bigger mission here to
keep me here in this country and make this a
(12:41):
home for me, but if I didn't to let me
go back to Brazil. And I want to make this
very clear, I'm not saying that doing that kind of
job is anything bad, is nothing wrong. It's a job
to take a lot of pride in it. But I
always wanted to learn more and get to the next level.
So I went from like cleaning houses to not speaking
(13:03):
the language, working on a Mexican restaurant there was only
the menu was only numbers, because that's all I knew.
I was like, okay, number three, I got it, you know.
Then working in an Italian restaurant, then having to really
learn the language too, you know. Like so those things
kind of was just always in me to try to
continue searching because I just felt like what it was
(13:24):
for me for my journey wasn't a different place.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
We have to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back to our conversation with model, author and entrepreneur
Camila Alves McConaughey, and we're back with Camila Alves McConaughey.
(13:50):
So part of the site talks about beauty around the
world of all kinds. Are there any Brazilian beauty secrets
that you think as Americans need to know?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Look, I think that we do growing up in Brazil,
like taking care of yourself. The self care situation is real.
Like that's not a question, Okay. I remember when my
dad first came to visit and he I picked him
up at the report and he looked at it like
I was striving and he saw my nails and he's like,
what's true with you? Like why, like why is like that?
(14:24):
And I'm like what, like you know because like being
here like that was not even a no. You did
it when you had time, you know or whatever. But
it's like in BRAZILA grew up and it's like every Friday,
every Friday in dependly of your social status and doesn't
matter your social status. You can believing in the favela
and they have a salon that is like, you know,
really inexpensive to get your nails done and your hair
(14:46):
done and you're taking care of yourself, like it is
part of the culture.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I had no idea about this, Camilla. This is wild.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, this is cool.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Yes, you get your nails done, you get your blowout,
you get your wet, you do all your things and
get ready for the weekends. Every like neighborhood you go,
you're gonna find these little doors and it's a little
or the nail ladies come to your house or you
can go to her house. Like this is just it's normal,
it's happening. And also one thing that Brazilians do a
(15:17):
lot is that we do take beauty from the inside out,
so it's not just what are we putting on top,
but what are we eating? What are we drinking? That's
something that it's big in our culture too.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Your daughter, you cloned yourself. She's fourteen and she's you.
How do you talk to her about beauty?
Speaker 5 (15:36):
It's challenging in this day and age that we're living. Yeah,
but I talk a lot about can embracing what God
gave her. I say, the sooner you embrace, like, you're
gonna feel really good about yourself. You're gonna like really
shine because we all have imperfections. It's not a thing
right that's really nice, you know. Like I remember this
(15:58):
is one time when she was younger and she had
a young brown and I did growing up to people
used to make fun of me too, But I waited.
I'm very like slow to change anything, so like I
waited until like just this year and she started to
do her brows when all her friends were doing like
you know, two or three years before. And I remember
(16:19):
she had a little girl who made fun of her
in a really bad way. That really got to her.
And she went and she shaved it without telling me,
without asking, And I remember like she was like she
wouldn't look at me for like a day, and I
didn't want to, like, you know, scold her. I feel
like I didn't see it. And then later that day
(16:40):
I was like, okay, I was like, we need to
talk about this. So we sat down and I asked her,
and you know, she came clean and the first thing
I went I was like, you know, you look like
that because you come from a generation of women behind you,
that me, your grandmother, your great grandmother. The fact that
(17:03):
we come from a different country that you are makes
the fact that you half Brazilian and half American. I'm like,
are you ashamed of me? Are you embarrassed? To me?
She's like no, what are you talking about? I say,
are you embarrassed of how your grandma is and how
she looks? She's like no, And I was like, well,
you have to understand that if you are embarrassed by
(17:25):
these features that you have, you basically saying I don't
appreciate you, like I don't respect or I don't love
what that is. And that just kind of clicked for her.
She's like, no, I love this, and I'm saying so
there we go, like and it became a thing, even
with her hair, because she has curly hair, right, and
she's wanted to straight all the time, and she only
(17:47):
wants to straighten maybe on a special occasion, Like I
don't hear about it anymore. She just like embraced who
she is. And I think the understanding that beauty is
coming from this line of generations coming that's yeah, formed
who you are.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I'm going to back up and admit something very embarrassing
to you, but I sometimes watch motivational YouTube videos in
the morning when I'm getting dressed if I like wake
up on the wrong side of the bed or need
like a pump up. And I have listened to Matthew's
OSCARS speech more than a few times.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Okay, you're not the only one. We get a lot
of people to shut out with us. It's a good one.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
It was such a good one.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But in the middle of it, they cut to you,
and I'll never forget the look that you gave him.
You know, sometimes people like they cut to an audience
member and they look a little disconnected, And when they
cut to you, you guy, like, you looked so connected.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
It was real. I could feel it.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's really beautiful to witness because I think it showcases
a real relationship.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Yeah, make me tr eye know, what do you.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Remember from that moment, if that's making you emotional, what
I remember from that moment?
Speaker 5 (19:00):
You know, it's it's hard to describe what that feeling
is and what that moment was and what that represents.
I was just really happy for Matthew. It was really
happy for him. Matthew did a lot of transitions to
change the course of what he was doing. Our family
(19:22):
went through a lot of transitions. It was a time
there that we just decided were just going to hunker
down and we'll figure out, you know, like we didn't
know its work was going to come or out, and
we took that chance, you know, like we went, that's
what we're gonna do. Fucket, we'll figure out if it
doesn't work, you know kind of thing, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You know.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
We were having kids in between, were removing. It was
a lot of things going on at the same time.
And then that project on itself, it was a that
project didn't even have financing and to write before the movie,
so literally we're all trying to find finance for the movie.
I was making phone calls to find money for the movie,
(20:06):
like you know, and math is losing all this weight,
which was it was a journey to do that, and
we changed our life routine, our kids are, like everything
changed to be able to get to what he needed
to get to create this character and to do the
job that he needed to do. When his name was
called out, it was like, you know, it's his peers
(20:27):
saying like basically saying, hey, we acknowledge what you've done.
And those people know what it takes to get it
done because they're doing it themselves, different versions of it.
So for them to do that to me, it was
just like wow, like he did it. You know, he accomplished.
So I have no words. I just my only regret
(20:49):
is that I sat down. My only regret because I'm
like me and his mom we wanted to stand up,
like to keep like just you know, and I think
we're like felt like, I don't know, like is it
weird if for standing up like you know what I mean,
we're calling attention to us, if we're standing up like
this is not our you know what I mean? And
we sat down, and in hindsight, I'm like, we know
(21:12):
everything that went through for that to get to that moment,
and I wish sort of should stand up and just
stay there, like even honor him even more when the
room else, you know, everybody sat down. And I think
that anybody that is in a relationship, it's really cool
to selfishly be really happy for your partner or they
(21:32):
achieve something, whether you had something to deal with it
or if you didn't. Like you know, like I'm happier
when my husband achieved things. And when I achieved something.
It's not because I don't value what I achieved. It's
just because I'm just so happy for him.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
The family heartbeat.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yes, yes, it's time for another short break. Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
We're back with Camila Alva McConaughey. I do you want
to ask you about this? Camilla?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Uh, My kids love your book that you co authored.
It's called Just Try One Bite. And thanks to you.
My son Keenan, whenever we pray before we eat, he
says thank you God for whole foods, which he learned
from your book. It's brought us so much joy in
our family. What is the one recipe that your family
(22:24):
asks you to make the most?
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Okay? Can I just stay here for a moment. You
guys almost made me cry twice of this situation. Look
it just made me so happy right now by sharing that.
Thank you, because you know, just this book just try
one bite. It was again, it was just a labor
of love of like, hey, this mission of doing better,
(22:48):
I have no idea where it's going to go. This
is ana and the idea of the book came up.
I'm like the kid's book, I have no idea, never
thought about it, and we did it. And I hear
from parents similar stories that you have sare now and
it's just thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Of course you're having.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
A real impact, like you you really are teaching kids
in a fun way how to embrace foods that are
better for us.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
So thank you, yes, thank you, thank you for sharing that. Okay, recipe,
my kids really love this honey chicken that I might.
I can never make enough of it. It's actually the
recipe is on the Women of the website, so if
anybody wants to go check it out. But it is
the honey chicken.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Okay, I'm looking for some meal prep and spos so
I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to rune.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
And the bolonnaise, the bolonaise pastor too. They love that.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Okay, cool, Okay, I am going to ask the question
that Danielle brought up earlier. You and your husband seem
like such thoughtful parents, but also thoughtful partners and human beings.
It just seems like you do everything with intentions. So
if someone were to ask your kids this question, how
you think they would answer it?
Speaker 1 (23:57):
What does it mean to be in ma?
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
What do you think your kids think it means to
be a McConaughey, You.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Got me on that one. I can't answer that question
because that would be a question that you have to
ask my kids. Yeah, but I'll tell you what. It's
a big value that we install in our kids, and
that's a respect respect for everything in life, not just
(24:25):
what you believe in, respect for what others believe in,
respect for other people's experiences, so what they bring to
the table, respect for yourself, respect for elders, respect for
your body. We're big values. We have a lot of
values that we try to teach our kids. And I
(24:47):
think that if a lot of parents stick to remembering
the core values and not worrying as much about being
a best friend, you can still be a best friend
and teach values and know when to say no say yes.
It's okay to be the tough one sometimes they need that.
I was just reading a thing that Drew Barrymore actually wrote.
(25:08):
She wrote on her Instagram, and she said when she
was young, she never heard no. Nobody told her no
when she was young, and as a kid, she needed
that boundary. She needed somebody to be saying to her, no,
you cannot do that. And because she didn't, she pushed
it all the way into a way that wasn't healthy
(25:29):
for her. Right. So it's okay to be tough sometimes
with respect, with kindness, but it's okay to say no.
So we're bigging vatless that I can say we're not perfect.
Nobody's perfect on this and does I come with the manual?
And every kid is different, right, But I tell them
all the time, anytime that you look back in life,
(25:50):
you'll be able to say that we try our best.
We've tried our very best. It was not for lack
of trying, you know what I mean. I was like,
you know, if I feel like I'm trying my best
and I'm doing my best that I can, then I'm okay.
And if things don't work out, then that's a different
thing to deal with. But I can lay my head
and a feeling go I try my best, I do
(26:12):
my best.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Camila, thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Kamila Alvis McConaughey is a model, author, entrepreneur, and founder
of the online community Women of Today.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're popping off with
sister duo and co hosts of the Toast podcast, Jackie
and Claudia Osher. Join the conversation using hashtag the bright
Side and connect with us on social media at Hello
Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright Side Pod on
TikTok oh, and feel free to tag us at Simone
Voice and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
See you tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side.
Hello Sunshine, Hey, besties.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, we're joined by entrepreneur and
founder of Women of Today, Camilla Alvs McConaughey. She's here
to talk all about beauty, parenting, and what it means
to be a McConaughey. It's Thursday, October seventeenth. I'm Simone Boyce.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Danielle Robe and this is the bright Side from
Hello Sunshine, a daily show where we come together to
share women stories, to laugh, learn and brighten your day.
Speaker 4 (00:32):
So, Simon, when I.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Was growing up, I was obsessed with MTV's series Diary
and the tagline was always you think you know, but
you have no idea. And that tagline is what I
thought about for our guests today.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, I think that sounds pretty accurate. I mean, talk
about building the life you want from scratch. Camila Alves
McConaughey emigrated to the United States from Brazil at just
fifteen years old.
Speaker 3 (00:57):
When she arrived in the US, she took on any
odd job that she could make money at. She was
waiting tables, she was cleaning houses, all while learning English
mm hmm.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
And then Camilla pursued a modeling career and her big
break came when she landed a billboard in Times Square.
Since then, she's been on the covers of several magazines
and has walked the runway for brands like Valentino and
Carolina Herrera. And yes, maybe you've seen her in an
appearance or two alongside her husband, Matthew McConaughey.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
And she's really created a platform that stands for something.
It's called Women of Today, and she says she's really
on a mission. And then on her Instagram you'll see
she's a huge advocate for health and healthy eating and
is just so family first. She's the co author of
this children's book, Just Try One Bite, which made it
onto the New York Times bestseller list.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
We are such big fans of Just Try a One
Bite in our house. You know. I actually have my
mom to thank for this. Danielle.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
She started reading this book to them, and then I
realized that my kids would come home and say all
these new words that I hadn't heard them say before,
like whole foods, and they were talking about eating healthy.
And then I realized that it was Camilla's writing that
is introducing all this new language into their vocabulary and
(02:13):
helping them learn about the power of eating healthy.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
That's really amazing.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
It's not easy to get kids interested in whole foods
or healthy foods, right, that must be quite a book.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, she's cracked the code here. You know what else
I'm really interested in hearing about from Kamila.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
What's that?
Speaker 5 (02:31):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:31):
A few years back, she and her husband, Matthew decided
to move to Texas, which is where Matthew is from.
And I'm really curious to hear how this lifestyle shift
has changed them as a family. And they've just always
seemed so down to earth, so this seems like a
fit for them.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It is not easy to get kids excited about whole
foods or healthy foods, so I think what she's doing
must be really special. And Simone, I have to tell
you everything I know about her is from the Internet
or from Instagram. I don't really know who Camilla really is,
and I'm excited to get to know where with you today.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
I can't wait to talk to her as well.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Let's bring her in, Kamila Alvis McConaughey, Welcome to the
bright Side.
Speaker 5 (03:13):
Thank you all so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
You know, I looked at your Instagram before we started
and it says woman on a mission.
Speaker 4 (03:20):
I'm so curious what that means to you. Why you
wrote that.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
I just think that as women we go to different transitions,
different stages of life. I should really say it's human beings. Really,
that's not only a women thing, it's it's human beings.
We go through different stages of life. I feel like
every stage of our life brings different missions. And for me,
I have this mission that I just want to do better.
(03:44):
I want to do better for myself. I wanted to
do better for my family. I want to do better
for my community. So that's kind of like my when
I say women in a mission, it kind of gives
me excited to kind of accomplish or to follow through
instead of like I must do you know what I mean?
Mission just sounds more fun and exciting.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's the I get to versus I have to framing.
Speaker 5 (04:06):
Oh my gosh, I just had a conversation about this.
If that shift is something that has really helped me,
even for the smallest things, the simplest things. Look, we
have three kids, right Like, sometimes I'm in the car
for six hours straight. This is six to seven hours
straight driving from this to the school to that, school
and then come back and then what I've doctor whatever
(04:27):
it is, and my kids. Hence we are in a
unique situation. I understand that not everybody can do that,
and I go, I get to do this. I get
to be in the car with them. I get to
have the ability to drive them. I get to have
a car to take them. I like, all of a sudden,
I'm like, I'm happy, and we're having different conversations instead
(04:49):
of me being stuck in traffic, you know, bitching about
how am I stuck in traffic? Right So, even for
the simple things like that too, when you have a
really big problem, right Like, I had somebody that was
in the hospital and it was like it was a
really bad situation, drop everything and go take care of that.
And why you're there, It's like, well, I get to
(05:11):
be here and care for help care for this person.
Right Like, even that gives you a different energy to
win into situations.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Camilla, you mentioned having this mission or purpose to girge
you through life's transitions. What stage of life are you
in right now? Because I totally relate to, especially as
a woman going through different life stages. Right there's like
the time pre kids, pre husband, where you have your
independence and all you can. You get to be selfish, right,
(05:40):
and then you get married there's another person that you
need to factor into your life. Then you have kids
and there are more responsibilities, and then hopefully we find
our way back to ourselves and find the things that
light us up.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
What stage of life would you say that you're in.
Speaker 5 (05:54):
I think that I am on the serving stage of life.
It is not necessarily about all the things that I
want to do. The season right now for me is
to really make sure that the people I love have
everything that they need so they can succeed on their journey.
And it is challenging and beautiful at the same time
(06:17):
because it is a compromise. You sit back and go
but I could have been doing this, so I could
have been doing that, and I say no to this,
I say no to that, And I'm not telling people
that that's what they should do, because everybody has different
definitions of what success is for them. At this stage
of my life, it's more of making sure everybody that
I love has everything they need, because if they're good,
(06:40):
my heart is good, and if my heart is good,
then everything else falls into place. And I'm trusting and
cultivating things slowly, but planting little seeds and cultivating to
where when that stage passes, I don't have to start
all over again, right, Like, I don't have to start
(07:01):
all over again and be lost of like what do
I do now? Because I've had a lot of older
friends and I've had so many conversations with them, and
I have seen some of my friends go through this
stage where they only educated one hundred percent to just
the kids, and then once the kids out of their house,
(07:24):
they don't know what to do. They're fully lost and
trying to figure out to start all over again. That's
really hard.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
I really like the name of your lifestyle brand. It's
called Women of Today, and it's devoted to everything from
cooking and health to style, work, family. I'm wondering, what
do you think it means to be a woman in
twenty twenty four? What does it mean to be a
woman of today?
Speaker 5 (07:50):
You know, Look, I'll tell you why I name it
Women of Today. It goes back to the things we
were talking the beginning of the transitions, the different stages
that would go in life. We know that that stage
is going to pass, no stages forever. So this idea
of women of today. Being in every stage that you're
(08:11):
in and every age that you're in, you're going to
have new things that are exciting to learn. And the
most important thing for me what this journey with the
women of today was to be able to learn from
each other and to also have a community that wasn't
just specific one age group or one demograph. My go
(08:31):
from day one was I want young, I want older,
I want middle, I want all you know, all the
I wanted to feel exactly. I wanted to feel very welcoming,
and we have achieved that and it makes me really
really happy, really happy.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
You know, in hearing about who you are today, I
think most people would never know who you were when
you were fifteen and you moved from Brazil to the
United States and spoke very little English and we're cleaning
houses for a living. I'm curious if you think about
those times now at all.
Speaker 5 (09:09):
I think about those times almost daily, almost daily. It's
not one time that I drive by the gate of
my house and I said a prayer of gratitude. It
is not one time that I go to supermarket and
I walk out I tell my kids how grateful we
should be that we have the ability to do that.
(09:30):
We talk about it a lot. I have a lot
of stories from that time in my life that I
share a lot with the kids, and that time was
very formative for me. I don't think I would be
the first I am today fighting had that experience in
my life.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Is there a story that sticks out to you, I'd
be really curious to know something that's close to your
heart from that time.
Speaker 5 (09:51):
I actually he was just talking with my eleven year old.
We went to shake check the other day and just
last week, and it were a Garrett French fries and
for and we sat down, just him and I. We
were eating the French fries, and I went, hey, Bud,
you know when mama was this age and she was
working do this and that, you know, I couldn't even
(10:12):
afford to buy the French fries, you know. And he
was like what it was like, Yeah, I couldn't have
afford to buy the French fries. So me and this
older lady who who she was Brazilian and then we
cleaned houses in the same area. We became friends. I said
we would go to the dollar store and I told
her because because you know, when you're from a different country,
(10:34):
especially from South America. I'm really going to say from
South America. The mentality is you work, and you said,
you know, you help your family back home, right, you
kind of become big responsible for the family back home.
And the challenge with that is that you end up
really not doing anything for yourself. So I told this
lady one day, I said, you know what, We're going
(10:54):
to take one dollar a week and we're going to
go to the dollar store together and we're gonna buy
one thing for ourselves. Okay, so just so we can
feel good about the hard work that we put in
this week. So we will go to the dollar store
and buy I don't know it, know, be a hair
clip or a little makeup thing for a dollar. And
(11:17):
it's really good dollar dollar store in Torrance, California. But
I still go back there, believe it or not. I
still go back and I take the kid. We would
do that, and it was a McDonald's just around the
corner from there, and we would then go to the
McDonalds after the dinner time. And I told miss oh
(11:38):
Warder the burger and I say, sometimes we would just
sit there and wait because people will leave their French
fries behind and we'll go and we'll take the fresh side.
That's how we will get the fries. That's amazing.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
How did you have a vision at that time of
what could be?
Speaker 5 (11:58):
I don't think I had a of what it could be.
I think I had a vision that I wanted to
do something better for me and at that time, right
at that time, for me, it meant to evolve. I
didn't want to be in one place. I didn't want
to be settling too one thing that I came here
(12:19):
to do. And I remember I used to set a prayer.
I used to you know, I believe in the power
of prayer. I'll be driving in the car and listening
to India IRI at those times, just a lot of
you know, inspiring songs, and I would pray. I would say, hey,
you know, if I have a bigger mission here to
keep me here in this country and make this a
(12:41):
home for me, but if I didn't to let me
go back to Brazil. And I want to make this
very clear, I'm not saying that doing that kind of
job is anything bad, is nothing wrong. It's a job
to take a lot of pride in it. But I
always wanted to learn more and get to the next level.
So I went from like cleaning houses to not speaking
(13:03):
the language, working on a Mexican restaurant there was only
the menu was only numbers, because that's all I knew.
I was like, okay, number three, I got it, you know.
Then working in an Italian restaurant, then having to really
learn the language too, you know. Like so those things
kind of was just always in me to try to
continue searching because I just felt like what it was
(13:24):
for me for my journey wasn't a different place.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
We have to take a quick break, but we'll be
right back to our conversation with model, author and entrepreneur
Camila Alves McConaughey, and we're back with Camila Alves McConaughey.
(13:50):
So part of the site talks about beauty around the
world of all kinds. Are there any Brazilian beauty secrets
that you think as Americans need to know?
Speaker 5 (14:01):
Look, I think that we do growing up in Brazil,
like taking care of yourself. The self care situation is real.
Like that's not a question, Okay. I remember when my
dad first came to visit and he I picked him
up at the report and he looked at it like
I was striving and he saw my nails and he's like,
what's true with you? Like why, like why is like that?
(14:24):
And I'm like what, like you know because like being
here like that was not even a no. You did
it when you had time, you know or whatever. But
it's like in BRAZILA grew up and it's like every Friday,
every Friday in dependly of your social status and doesn't
matter your social status. You can believing in the favela
and they have a salon that is like, you know,
really inexpensive to get your nails done and your hair
(14:46):
done and you're taking care of yourself, like it is
part of the culture.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I had no idea about this, Camilla. This is wild.
Speaker 4 (14:55):
Yeah, this is cool.
Speaker 5 (14:57):
Yes, you get your nails done, you get your blowout,
you get your wet, you do all your things and
get ready for the weekends. Every like neighborhood you go,
you're gonna find these little doors and it's a little
or the nail ladies come to your house or you
can go to her house. Like this is just it's normal,
it's happening. And also one thing that Brazilians do a
(15:17):
lot is that we do take beauty from the inside out,
so it's not just what are we putting on top,
but what are we eating? What are we drinking? That's
something that it's big in our culture too.
Speaker 3 (15:29):
Your daughter, you cloned yourself. She's fourteen and she's you.
How do you talk to her about beauty?
Speaker 5 (15:36):
It's challenging in this day and age that we're living. Yeah,
but I talk a lot about can embracing what God
gave her. I say, the sooner you embrace, like, you're
gonna feel really good about yourself. You're gonna like really
shine because we all have imperfections. It's not a thing
right that's really nice, you know. Like I remember this
(15:58):
is one time when she was younger and she had
a young brown and I did growing up to people
used to make fun of me too, But I waited.
I'm very like slow to change anything, so like I
waited until like just this year and she started to
do her brows when all her friends were doing like
you know, two or three years before. And I remember
(16:19):
she had a little girl who made fun of her
in a really bad way. That really got to her.
And she went and she shaved it without telling me,
without asking, And I remember like she was like she
wouldn't look at me for like a day, and I
didn't want to, like, you know, scold her. I feel
like I didn't see it. And then later that day
(16:40):
I was like, okay, I was like, we need to
talk about this. So we sat down and I asked her,
and you know, she came clean and the first thing
I went I was like, you know, you look like
that because you come from a generation of women behind you,
that me, your grandmother, your great grandmother. The fact that
(17:03):
we come from a different country that you are makes
the fact that you half Brazilian and half American. I'm like,
are you ashamed of me? Are you embarrassed? To me?
She's like no, what are you talking about? I say,
are you embarrassed of how your grandma is and how
she looks? She's like no, And I was like, well,
you have to understand that if you are embarrassed by
(17:25):
these features that you have, you basically saying I don't
appreciate you, like I don't respect or I don't love
what that is. And that just kind of clicked for her.
She's like, no, I love this, and I'm saying so
there we go, like and it became a thing, even
with her hair, because she has curly hair, right, and
she's wanted to straight all the time, and she only
(17:47):
wants to straighten maybe on a special occasion, Like I
don't hear about it anymore. She just like embraced who
she is. And I think the understanding that beauty is
coming from this line of generations coming that's yeah, formed
who you are.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
I'm going to back up and admit something very embarrassing
to you, but I sometimes watch motivational YouTube videos in
the morning when I'm getting dressed if I like wake
up on the wrong side of the bed or need
like a pump up. And I have listened to Matthew's
OSCARS speech more than a few times.
Speaker 5 (18:22):
Okay, you're not the only one. We get a lot
of people to shut out with us. It's a good one.
Speaker 4 (18:27):
It was such a good one.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
But in the middle of it, they cut to you,
and I'll never forget the look that you gave him.
You know, sometimes people like they cut to an audience
member and they look a little disconnected, And when they
cut to you, you guy, like, you looked so connected.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
It was real. I could feel it.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's really beautiful to witness because I think it showcases
a real relationship.
Speaker 5 (18:52):
Yeah, make me tr eye know, what do you.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
Remember from that moment, if that's making you emotional, what
I remember from that moment?
Speaker 5 (19:00):
You know, it's it's hard to describe what that feeling
is and what that moment was and what that represents.
I was just really happy for Matthew. It was really
happy for him. Matthew did a lot of transitions to
change the course of what he was doing. Our family
(19:22):
went through a lot of transitions. It was a time
there that we just decided were just going to hunker
down and we'll figure out, you know, like we didn't
know its work was going to come or out, and
we took that chance, you know, like we went, that's
what we're gonna do. Fucket, we'll figure out if it
doesn't work, you know kind of thing, let's do it.
Speaker 1 (19:44):
You know.
Speaker 5 (19:44):
We were having kids in between, were removing. It was
a lot of things going on at the same time.
And then that project on itself, it was a that
project didn't even have financing and to write before the movie,
so literally we're all trying to find finance for the movie.
I was making phone calls to find money for the movie,
(20:06):
like you know, and math is losing all this weight,
which was it was a journey to do that, and
we changed our life routine, our kids are, like everything
changed to be able to get to what he needed
to get to create this character and to do the
job that he needed to do. When his name was
called out, it was like, you know, it's his peers
(20:27):
saying like basically saying, hey, we acknowledge what you've done.
And those people know what it takes to get it
done because they're doing it themselves, different versions of it.
So for them to do that to me, it was
just like wow, like he did it. You know, he accomplished.
So I have no words. I just my only regret
(20:49):
is that I sat down. My only regret because I'm
like me and his mom we wanted to stand up,
like to keep like just you know, and I think
we're like felt like, I don't know, like is it
weird if for standing up like you know what I mean,
we're calling attention to us, if we're standing up like
this is not our you know what I mean? And
we sat down, and in hindsight, I'm like, we know
(21:12):
everything that went through for that to get to that moment,
and I wish sort of should stand up and just
stay there, like even honor him even more when the
room else, you know, everybody sat down. And I think
that anybody that is in a relationship, it's really cool
to selfishly be really happy for your partner or they
(21:32):
achieve something, whether you had something to deal with it
or if you didn't. Like you know, like I'm happier
when my husband achieved things. And when I achieved something.
It's not because I don't value what I achieved. It's
just because I'm just so happy for him.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
The family heartbeat.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Yes, yes, it's time for another short break. Stay with us.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
We're back with Camila Alva McConaughey. I do you want
to ask you about this? Camilla?
Speaker 2 (22:04):
Uh, My kids love your book that you co authored.
It's called Just Try One Bite. And thanks to you.
My son Keenan, whenever we pray before we eat, he
says thank you God for whole foods, which he learned
from your book. It's brought us so much joy in
our family. What is the one recipe that your family
(22:24):
asks you to make the most?
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Okay? Can I just stay here for a moment. You
guys almost made me cry twice of this situation. Look
it just made me so happy right now by sharing that.
Thank you, because you know, just this book just try
one bite. It was again, it was just a labor
of love of like, hey, this mission of doing better,
(22:48):
I have no idea where it's going to go. This
is ana and the idea of the book came up.
I'm like the kid's book, I have no idea, never
thought about it, and we did it. And I hear
from parents similar stories that you have sare now and
it's just thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Of course you're having.
Speaker 2 (23:07):
A real impact, like you you really are teaching kids
in a fun way how to embrace foods that are
better for us.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
So thank you, yes, thank you, thank you for sharing that. Okay, recipe,
my kids really love this honey chicken that I might.
I can never make enough of it. It's actually the
recipe is on the Women of the website, so if
anybody wants to go check it out. But it is
the honey chicken.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Okay, I'm looking for some meal prep and spos so
I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to rune.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
And the bolonnaise, the bolonaise pastor too. They love that.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Okay, cool, Okay, I am going to ask the question
that Danielle brought up earlier. You and your husband seem
like such thoughtful parents, but also thoughtful partners and human beings.
It just seems like you do everything with intentions. So
if someone were to ask your kids this question, how
you think they would answer it?
Speaker 1 (23:57):
What does it mean to be in ma?
Speaker 5 (24:00):
Hey?
Speaker 1 (24:01):
What do you think your kids think it means to
be a McConaughey, You.
Speaker 5 (24:05):
Got me on that one. I can't answer that question
because that would be a question that you have to
ask my kids. Yeah, but I'll tell you what. It's
a big value that we install in our kids, and
that's a respect respect for everything in life, not just
(24:25):
what you believe in, respect for what others believe in,
respect for other people's experiences, so what they bring to
the table, respect for yourself, respect for elders, respect for
your body. We're big values. We have a lot of
values that we try to teach our kids. And I
(24:47):
think that if a lot of parents stick to remembering
the core values and not worrying as much about being
a best friend, you can still be a best friend
and teach values and know when to say no say yes.
It's okay to be the tough one sometimes they need that.
I was just reading a thing that Drew Barrymore actually wrote.
(25:08):
She wrote on her Instagram, and she said when she
was young, she never heard no. Nobody told her no
when she was young, and as a kid, she needed
that boundary. She needed somebody to be saying to her, no,
you cannot do that. And because she didn't, she pushed
it all the way into a way that wasn't healthy
(25:29):
for her. Right. So it's okay to be tough sometimes
with respect, with kindness, but it's okay to say no.
So we're bigging vatless that I can say we're not perfect.
Nobody's perfect on this and does I come with the manual?
And every kid is different, right, But I tell them
all the time, anytime that you look back in life,
(25:50):
you'll be able to say that we try our best.
We've tried our very best. It was not for lack
of trying, you know what I mean. I was like,
you know, if I feel like I'm trying my best
and I'm doing my best that I can, then I'm okay.
And if things don't work out, then that's a different
thing to deal with. But I can lay my head
and a feeling go I try my best, I do
(26:12):
my best.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
Camila, thank you so much.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you for having me.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
Kamila Alvis McConaughey is a model, author, entrepreneur, and founder
of the online community Women of Today.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
That's it for today's show. Tomorrow, we're popping off with
sister duo and co hosts of the Toast podcast, Jackie
and Claudia Osher. Join the conversation using hashtag the bright
Side and connect with us on social media at Hello
Sunshine on Instagram and at the bright Side Pod on
TikTok oh, and feel free to tag us at Simone
Voice and at Danielle Robe.
Speaker 3 (26:52):
Listen and follow the bright Side on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
See you tomorrow, folks, Keep looking on the bright side.
Host
Simone Boyce
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