August 20, 2024 • 26 mins
Earlier this year, world champion boxer and actor Kali Reis made history by becoming one of the first Indigenous actresses to be nominated for an Emmy for her role as Evangeline Navarro in HBO’s “True Detective: Night Country.” Kali joins the Bright Side to discuss her journey from athlete to actor, telling stories that matter and how she’s using her platform to be a mouthpiece for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls movement.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Hey fam, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, we're joined by women's boxing
World champion, Emmy nominated actress and writer Kaylee Mcquinninogg Reese.
Can the mindset of a champion carry from the ring
to the screen?
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We'll find out. It's Tuesday, August twentieth.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Danielle Robe and I'm Simone Boyce and this is
the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where
we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn and
brighten your day. Okay, y'all, Today's guest is a barrier
breaker and a history maker. During her career as a
professional boxer, Kaylee ko mcquinnanoggu Reese earned six world titles
(00:43):
and was the first Indigenous woman fighter to become a
world champion. Most recently, Reese made history by becoming one
of the first Afro Indigenous actors to be nominated for
an Emmy for her supporting role in the HBO series
True Detective Night Country.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
If you haven't watched the season of the show, Reese,
who stars alongside Jodi Foster, plays the role of Evangeline Navarro.
She's a state trooper investigating a cold case and the
disappearance of a group of Arctic scientists. What I loved
about this season is that it immersed us in a
culture and a subculture that we don't often get to see,
and the way that they brought it to life on
(01:19):
the screen was just so rich and dynamic and layered.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, and we're used to the leads in that show
being men. This season it was women, So it was
cool to watch. And Kaylee's a woman of many talents.
She's one of those people that just will not be stopped.
She and her five siblings were raised by their mother
in East Providence, Rhode Island. At just thirteen years old,
she found refuge from a tumultuous adolescence in the boxing ring.
(01:46):
She went on to win nineteen fights during her career,
five by knockout, and in twenty eighteen, she made history
when she participated in HBO's first ever women's televised fight.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
And even though Reese has already earned an Emmy nom,
she's actually relatively new to Hollywood, which is so surprising.
I mean, before True Detective Reese had only appeared in
two films before she was cast for the show, and
the HBO series marked her entry into TV.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Acting, and in.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Real life, she's an active supporter of the Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Movement, which combats the widespread
issue of violence against Indigenous people. So her advocacy in
the Native community led her to co write and act
in the twenty twenty one film Catch the Fair One,
which told the story of a boxer searching for her
missing younger sister. That performance, which was her acting debut,
(02:35):
earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So after the break, Kaylee Reese tells us how she
went from boxing champion to Emmy nominated actor and how
she's bringing her activism to the screen and beyond.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Stay with us, Kaylee become to the bright side.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Thank you very much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
We're so happy to have you.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, we've been looking forward to this for a minute.
Kayleie mquinnanogue Reese, correct, good job, Thank you. Will you
tell us the meaning of your Native American name?
Speaker 6 (03:13):
So, my Native American name it means many feathers and
many talents, and I got it given to me by
my mother.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, how do you just so naturally embody that like
you are?
Speaker 6 (03:23):
That My mom's very special, So she must have known
I was just destined for this journey.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I had no idea what she would have gave me
a heads up, right, But it's all good. It's it's
all blessings.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Indigenous traditions and stories are so deep and there's so
much resilience in them. A lot of times, is there
a specific teaching or story that you grew up with
that your mom told you that sticks out to you.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
The stories of how strong and how our society and
how our people are so matriarchal, and how our women
are so sacred, and where the strength and the backbone
of our people. That's something that she my grandmother, great grandmother,
and all the women and all the aunties aunties and
all the moms and mama bears I had around, they
(04:08):
really instilled in me of how strong we are and
where the strength of our people comes from. And even
the men in the tribe and our people were always
constant reminders. But my mom, even without saying words, was
just you know where we come from. You know we
come from where. Anawan's people, which was masasi Osumikin, was
a great leader of the Wapamog people.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And he had a war chief named Anaalon.
Speaker 6 (04:30):
He used to say autash, which needs means stand strong
to our people, and that's where we come from, a
warrior of people.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
I had to actually tattooed on my back autash.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
So it's just kind of like a constant reminder of
how we have to just always stand strong.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
You know where you come from. I do know where
I come from. I'm so proud of it.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
To what my question is is where are you going?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Because that many feathers, many talents could take you a
lot of places. Yes, you just got an Emmy nomination
for True Detective Night Country.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Congratulations.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Yes it is huge, And it's just that's a good
question where I'm going because I have no idea, but
I know that I'll be prepared for it. So whatever
I get put in front of me, whatever blessings I
get with other opportunities I get.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I'm a workhorse.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
I know I got I have the capability to do it,
and if I think I don't.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
I'll figure it out, man, I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So I will say I have a question about the
Emmy nomination because I think awards mean different things to
different people. We've talked to some people on the show
that were like it was validation some people said, I
don't really care. It's just something to hang on my wall.
What does it mean to you.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
You know, just to be nominated, especially in this such
a special time for Indigenous storytellers and creators and just
Indigenous people and whole. I don't think about it as
a me thing. It's more like a wee thing, and
it's just, you know, to be nominated for an Emmy
alongside Gladstone as well. She's also Indigenous, but I I
(06:00):
just said this, like, we are both Indigenous, from two
totally different areas to totally different tribes nations. She has
a different story than I do, but we are there together,
and she blew the hinges off the doors getting nominated
for an Oscar. We're in a golden globe and we're
holding it open, so we're bringing everybody in. And then
to be kind of checking a few different boxes as well,
because I'm not just Indigenous, I'm kepe verning as well.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I'm from New England and I'm from Island.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
I'm from you know, seaconk Wapanoog from the first Contact people.
So that's like a couple of boxes to be checked.
Being mixed black Indigenous, you know, that's just so many
things to talk about that I'm in a position to
talk about with such confidence. I mean, that'd be go
to win. But I'm not just to be here, to
be able to you know, be in these conversations and
then I'm just excited for what this could.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Lead to for the collective kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
This role though, playing a detective, an Afro Indigenous detective,
this is this is a really personal role for you,
not just because of your own heritage, but also because
of some of the experiences that you've had with police.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Yes, it is. It was a very weird experience.
Speaker 6 (07:03):
So back in twenty twelve, I got badly assaulted by
a Providence police officer doing my job. So I had
bad PTSD from it. I went through a really dark
time in my life with it. It was right after
a bad motorcycle accident, so I had a really bad experience.
You know, use derogatory language towards me, racist, sexist, all
the above. So I had to do a lot of
(07:25):
work getting myself out of that. So to put on
a police officer uniform, to have to play that and
then be an indigenous black indigenous mix, it was definitely
a visceral kind of a cathartic type of thing, but
I knew it needed to be done because there are
a lot of especially women police officers and Native police
officers that have to live that every day.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's really interesting that just the act itself of putting
on the uniform brings up conversations and complex emotions for
people in your community.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
It was very, very rad I even had a couple
of conversations with some of the other Indigenous women on set,
and they already they kind of gave me that look like, yeah, how.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Do you feel.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
I'm like, I don't really know right now, like, but
I know. It actually gave me a really good character work.
I built a whole backstory for the Navarro and the
reason why she even got into the military and then
made the decision to be a police officer was a
It was a kind of a two part answer necessity
and because she is kind of good at that type
of thing, So it gave me kind of a it
was a real feeling for my character too, of like
(08:24):
I gotta put this uniform on, man, like one of
those things that But the uniform doesn't make Navarro. It's
just something she reals very well, and she commands respect
and authority, but she doesn't command it in a disrespectful
I'm better than you way. It's like, listen, I'm trying
to do the best I can for us, you know
what I mean, her, her sister, for her in our
community that she doesn't really know if she's accepted by.
(08:45):
There's a lot of Navarro soul layers. It's a a
never running onion of layers of Navarro layers.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
You're a world champion boxer. I'm sort of struck by
the fact that this encounter with this police officer put
you into such a tail spin, like it's so upsetting
to hear did you press charges?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I actually did.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
We come to find out he was an older police
officer and he had been assaulting just regular patron since
the year I was born, oh since eighty six. Because
there was quite a few people, a lot of women,
who came forward and said he did some things that
he wasn't supposed to put hands on people, was using
excessive force, and every time they went forward with trying
(09:27):
to press charges, they'd get threatened by his colleagues and
they'd get scared into not pressing charges. That happened to me.
Hence the reason why I went into a hole. I
was like a full blown alcoholic moved away from home
because after that happened to me, his colleagues would like
follow me from work and follow me car I was
getting harassed and so I was a little nervous, but
(09:47):
I'm a fighter at heart, so I was like, he's
not going to punk me out of pressing charges.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
So I just followed through.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
And then he had a book of all these different
names of people that he assaulted, and we went forward,
got fired and I actually got a whole thank you
from the city of Providen.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
It's like, thank you for following through. We got rid
of them. Kind of a thing.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
And I hope you watch True Detective. This is a
big few to you. I look better in the uniform
than you do.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Elly.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That takes real strength, mental and physical toughness.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
It was a doozy, but it's just another story that
no matter how far down you think you are, it's
not You don't got to stay there.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
There's something that you said about boxing that I want
to ask you about. You described it as your ceremony
and your prayer.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 6 (10:34):
So, as you know an indigenous person and just kind
of how I grew up. Everybody has their medicine. I mean,
your medicine could be you the best fry cooker at
Burger King, and you just you get a certain type
of energy. Energy doesn't have any prejudice, doesn't have a
certain language.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
It speaks.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
It speaks to everybody in a certain way. So if
you when you do something, whatever you love to do,
whether it's put your hair up in the morment, it
just gives you that really good high energy, high vibration,
that's your medicine. Fighting again, is always been in my blood,
and it wasn't the act of the violence. It was
the art of it and the fact that okay, I
can get better at this. There's a skill you have
(11:08):
to have here. It's not just anger. You actually have
to be really grounded and calm to fight. The more
angry you are, you can't you get clouded. So more
and more I found kind of like this solace in
boxing found me at a time where I really needed it.
I found it was my medicine. And then you know,
fast forward to when I went professional, and then I
really want to try to find my purpose in it,
(11:28):
making the decision and making my culture part of my entrances.
I just knew how powerful and how proud I was.
Whenever I hate the pow wow drum, I'm like, all right, well,
you know, I can come out to biggie or something,
but what means something to me? This is really important
to me. That's when I started coming out with dancers
and drummers. I came here at California a few times
and I asked, first of all his protocol, like tribal area,
(11:50):
thank you for having me in your territory. Who he
is here that wants to be part of this with
me to sing their song to represent I don't tell
them what to sing, like you're gonna sing fancy shawl
dance and I want to push ups and all this
other stuff. It was like, listen, this is a ceremony.
I'm fighting for my people, so to be able to
do that, have our dance be displayed not as a spectacle,
(12:11):
but as proud as people we are. And that's what
I mean about my ceremony, my prayer, and just the
energy and the intention I put behind fighting again.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Yes I want to get the win, Yes I want
to get the belts.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
That's great, but the representation I have as this platform is.
You know, people see me as an athlete. There's not
a lot of native athletes out There's not a lot
of capabrity athletes out there, a mixed person at such
as myself. So that is my prayer to have representation,
have those children and I have those people, even older
people that like, wow, oh my god, she's on TV.
She looks like me, she's from where we're from. That's
(12:46):
what I mean about our prayer. There's hope, there's ceremony
in it, and we you know, we have a meeting
behind everything, and that's just my strength and I'm good
at something. Why not bring positive attention to it.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
We have to take another quick break, but we'll be
right back with Kaylee Reese.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And we're back with Kaylee Reese. So you're a world
champion boxer. Tell me what happens next. How do you
get into acting?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
By the grace of the creator, I have no idea, Like, honestly,
you know.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
How I even got into it was the director writer
of the first movie I did call Catch the Fair One,
splitting my DM on Instagram. Honestly, I've always meant interested
in acting. It's never been something that I'm.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Like I'm going to grow up and be in Hollywood
and me an actor brock.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
But you know, my mom and grandmother us to put
me in a little plays and I had this little character.
Used to do it for my mother when she came
home from work.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
But what was the character?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Her name is Mary and she smoked a peck and
every day of Dylan and gather a little duncan down't's
cool feet?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Now?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
I used to like dress up in her hot clothes
like and she used to. I still do it now.
Her name is me How old were you?
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And I had to be like I don't know, seven
or eight.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
I always love people watching and I would just like
there's a come farms is like as a Rhode Island
like a gas station, and like can you go to
companies and get me ladge dunking in the Pakistani Like
like I just used to watch these people around the
neighborhood and just like you know, just imitate.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
But it's it's my mom's do marry do marry? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (14:18):
This this director reached out to me the point of
my life where I was. Boxing has always been an
outlet for me. It's it's taken a lot, but it's
given me a lot. I've missed birthdays, holidays, my mom's wedding,
but I was in New Zealand fighting for a world title, you.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
It's given me a lot, but I've traveled the world
and it's actually led me into acting. But he caught
me a time where I was really vulnerable and I
was in a weird spot because we had just lost
one of my brothers to brain cancer, and it was
a spot where boxing was our thing.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
He was my biggest fan.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
I brought him to the gym after he was in
remission to get his motor skills back.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
How was our thing? So it was just not doing
it for me and I was just trying to find
a way to grieve.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
And he kind and I was like for whatever reason,
I'm like, all right, boxing didn't have a longevity and
I need to do something. I always have a plan
a through z and you know, I'll figure it out
kind of a thing. But acting just kept poking at
me like I don't know where to start, Like what
do you do? Like auditions had no idea, but this
meant for me, it'll find me. A week later, he
inboxed me on Instagram, like I'm like, who's this creep?
But he's just like, you know, I'm so and so
(15:15):
you've ever thought about acting? And I'm like, yeah, I've
thought about it. But he's like, I have this script.
He's a direct he did check out yet a feature film.
He's a TV director, really successful. He just got to
know me, and I was like, you know, in a
weird place. He just came to the house. We did
a couple of interviews. I read a script. Never read
a script. I'm like, oh, this is cool. I've never
acted in my life, but I understand the art of storytelling.
(15:39):
What happened was I read the script, became interviewed me,
and I was like, well, dude, I'm training for a fight,
so you can interview me. But I go O the
jemas far and he came with me and he like
whatever he saw, He's like, I see something. And from
there he asked me to help him write this story.
And then I'm like, I got ideas and I'll give
you all the experiences that I've had from based around
(16:00):
missing murder indigenous women. But that's when he started incorporating
my real life into this story.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I want to give everyone a little context that role
you're talking about was a boxer in the film Catch
the Fair One, and you play an Indigenous woman who's
searching for her missing sister, which is fictional, but as
you said, you brought some of your real life experiences
to it.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
Yeah, And as far as the acting goes, he we
would like practice different scenes.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
He had a friend of his that was an actor.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
We just did some bouncing off back and forth and
he would give me all his knowledge he knew about acting,
and then I was like, okay, so, but he kept saying,
you got it, k you got you got the you
got the sauce. I'm like, way sauce sweets ausa. I'm like,
what do you mean. He's like, you got something. I'm
like okay. And I knew from him saying that sometimes
you only need that one person see something.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
You might not understand it. But he said.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
I was like, well, if you believe it, and I
see that look in your face and all right, So
I don't want to let you down.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
So I'm just gonna go hard.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
I'll do my best, And that's really how I got
into acting, and from there I got nominated for Best
Actress Since at the Spirit Indie Spirit Awards for that
is a huge deal, which is a huge on my
first and it was the intention behind it was just
let's tell this story the right way.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I mean, the most recent data I could find was
from twenty sixteen and it said that in the US
about six thousand Indigenous women and girls were reported missing
or murdered, but only one hundred and sixteen of those
cases were logged by the US Department of Justices federal database,
only one hundred and sixteen. And those stats are probably
much lower than the reality because so many cases go unreported.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah, that's reported.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
To talk about the reported part first, you know, I've heard,
not experienced, but I heard because I've sat down with
a lot of survivors, a lot of families of these victims,
and sometimes they have to be strategic on do we
even report that she's missing, because number one, the authorities
will say, well, she's probably just drunk somewhere.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Well, she's probably just ran away victim blaming.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
Yeah, or sometimes it may be that the true, but
why are they running away or she we were just
reporter as white, because a reporter as Native, they're not
going to look for her. And then it becomes a
thing of jurisdiction. If it's a sovereignation whose jurisdiction doesn't
fall under is it federal, is its state?
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Is it tribal?
Speaker 6 (18:12):
Those types of really really complicated things, and then logged wise,
whose job is it who handles these special missing cases
of Native people, especially when it's a Native girl who's
registered to a sovereign nation, a federally recognized tribe.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
That gets really complicated.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
And then you get to the kind of elephant in
the room their native and no one cares, you know
what I mean, no one really cares about them because
first of all, the average person thinks that Native American
people Indigenous people are like ex thinks like we're dinosaurs
and that we all live in tepees, which is insanity,
or we all live on reservations and everybody's a drunk
and we go to the casinos. That's getting better, But
when it comes to the reporting in these stats, there's
(18:51):
a lot of organizations, grass through organizations that have to
take it into their own hands because there's nobody looking
for their loved ones.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, it's really sad.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
There's a label that that Native people are expendable and
that we are in the past and that we don't
matter kind of a thing. I think that has a
lot to do with it. And then when we have
that context, it trickles down to the people, to the kids. Oh,
we don't matter, nobody's going to look for us, so
we need to run away. And there's so many things
that going to what I can think about why hence
(19:21):
the reason why when we made this film, Well, I
gave him the information I had. I said, this is real.
This is the reality of this. There's no happy there's
very few happy endings. It's an epidemic that's been happening
that needs to stop and something needs to be implemented.
And that's why I'm so loud about it because I'm
trying to make it a big deal, because it is
a big effing deal, Like we need to highlight this
and the fact that there's not databases, there's things being
(19:43):
implemented now because of things like hashtag and iw missing
and more Indigenous women that had to happen.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
I wish we didn't have to have that happen.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yeah, it's just an epidemic that is an unexplainable.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Sad, very frustrating problem that we have here.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
And I think, you know, it has a lot to
do with the invisibility of Native people as a whole.
It's just really something that needs to change, and it
is changing.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Do you feel empowered by the work that you're doing, though,
because you really are at the intersection of art and
activism through the stories that you're telling on screen.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
I do.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
And it's funny because I don't really I call myself
an activist. A lot of people call me that, and
I'm like, okay, I can see that, But I know activists,
and I know the grassroots people that are boots on
the ground, working tirelessly, working with families directly, you know,
having these organizations.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I'm more of a mouthpiece.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
I believe that it's very empowering that I do get
to speak about things like this that people don't normally
hear about that. News channels don't necessarily want to dive
into that. Podcasts don't want that. Film doesn't really want
to dive into. Now it's like a oh, okay, great,
I want to tell stories that matter like Marvel's great,
But you know when Marvel did echo something like that
(20:48):
the highlight Indigenous stories.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
I do feel really empowered.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
I feel very, very blessed to be in the position
I am because I represent so much and the fact
that I'm in something that everybody watches movies, everybody loves
to be entertain But if there's a I'll say, I
call my Dave Chappelle way of kind of like learning
them in with some comedy, learning men with music or entertainment,
and then dropping some knowledge on some real and real
heavy stuff that maybe we're not so fun to talk about,
(21:12):
right initially, like, I feel really empowered and really blessed
to be able to do that.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, you mentioned comedy. I actually hear that you want
to do comedy.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
I do. What kind of comedy are we talking?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
What do you got thinking on?
Speaker 6 (21:23):
I mean, you know Native people of Funny's House stories.
I would love to do something with with like a
native comedy. There's so there's so much out there right now.
It's but like plays, there's this there's a lot of
we're funny people.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
You're right, those are really untapped stories, Like we haven't
heard those stories.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
You know, it's funny in Indian country.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
There's all kinds of movies and shows and comedians that
are hilarious, but it's not mainstream. We have humor to
get us through all the bullshit that we've been through. Like,
we love to laugh, we love to tell stories. There's
and there's so many stories like I can make a
movie about one night out a cup, like I swear
I could. Yeah, So those types of stories of life experience.
(22:05):
I would love to do something like that. The things
that we laugh about amongst ourselves, those types of stories
that I'm like, no, this is funny. The fact that
Reservation Dogs highlighted the movie Willow, and I was obsessed
with Willow my entire life as a kid. It's like,
oh my god, I feel seen like those types of things,
It's like awesome. I would love to.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Have you had conversations with people about pursuing comedy, because
I feel like one thing that happens in Hollywood is
like people start to know you for doing one sort
of thing, and then you've got to like really be
intentional about pivoting and have you started having those conversations.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
Every chance I get that, people ask me, like, because
clearly I do darkness and death and really intense.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Dreams, so much more than that. I know you can
do so much more than that.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
So I know what I could do. And obviously the
physicality of being like an action hero. It's great and
I know I got that down. So I do have
those conversations frequently. So I'm like, oh, no, I want
to do comedy, like dude, I want to do like
action of core like drama of course, but yeah, I
do have every chance I get, like sitting down at
take away tet. So, guys, I wanted to like a
(23:06):
k action comedy.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
You'd be so good in that. That would be awesome.
Mix it all yes, mix it all up.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Okay, have a really serious final question.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Okay, what was tough for boxing Jessica Kamara or the
arctic conditions you were in filming True Detective.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
Boxing Jessica Kamara. Man, that's we are friends and congratulations therea.
She just won the WBA in term defeating mey CHOI.
But I will say I'm not taking anything away from Jessica,
but I was in a really health pit in twenty
twenty two, so fighting her not to mention.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
She's a fierce.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Fighter anyway, and I knew that going in. I'm like,
we friends, holdie, but we gotta put it on the line.
So I knew it was gonna be a great fight.
But the fact that my health was in the toilet.
That was I had to dig down to the depths
of hell and onother dimension to get through that fight.
Like I'm sitting on the stool and I had literally
nothing left, and I'm watching the roundcod girl go by
and she's holding up round four.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
I'm like, oh shit.
Speaker 6 (24:02):
Oh god, how am I gonna do this? Like that
was tough, but that's the one thing I was willing
to die. And I'm not kidding, I was willing to die.
I'm like, well, if this is how I go, I'm
gonna go out swinging kind of a thing. But I
was like, I'm not gonna stop until I can't swing anymore.
And that's what that was.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
That was hard. I can't believe you have to fight
your friends. This is something I never thought about.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I never thought about the fact that you might be
in the ring with the Psychologically that is such a
head trip.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
But it was cool because I know she's bringing and
I'm like, I know she's she can, she can hit hard,
she's skilled, she listened, she's in condition.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
But I want that. I don't want to fight the
person I can beat. I want to fight the person
people think they're gonna beat me.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
See, that's the opposite of most boxer's mentality though, because
they just want to run up there.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
No, I don't need Instagram files. I'm a stupid pad
work again. Oh my god, I got this pretty thing on.
It's funny because until I had my manager and promoted,
I was fighting in the same short, same taped up
shoes like I'm like, yo, just put the.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Gloves on, ring the bell. I don't care like just
I just want to fight kind of a thing.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
So that's how you can tell it difference between a
fighter now it's fights. Fighting box sounds a little different
now as you can tell it different. You can't teach heart.
You know. I'm not the most skilled fighter, but I
got heart, I got dog, I got warrior, and I'll
figure it out. There's a lot of fighters out there
now that if things aren't going their way in the
ring and then that things aren't perfect, you can mentally
(25:19):
see them break down. I won't name any fighters, well,
you can see people, men and women, fighters breakdown when
things are all flashy and not the sunglass, the pretty thist,
the pretty that you can tell a difference.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Hayley, thank you for bringing that fighting spirit to the
bright side. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Haylee Reese was the first Indigenous woman fighter to become
a World champion and was the first Afro Indigenous actor
to be nominated for an Emmy.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
That's it for today's show.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Tomorrow, it's time for another Wellness Wednesday. We're joined by
gastar entrologist doctor Robin Hutkan to talk gut health, antibiotics
and probiotics. Listen and follow the bright Side on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
You can find me at Simone Boice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r O
b A. Y.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.
Hey fam, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright Side, we're joined by women's boxing
World champion, Emmy nominated actress and writer Kaylee Mcquinninogg Reese.
Can the mindset of a champion carry from the ring
to the screen?
Speaker 1 (00:17):
We'll find out. It's Tuesday, August twentieth.
Speaker 3 (00:20):
I'm Danielle Robe and I'm Simone Boyce and this is
the bright Side from Hello Sunshine, a daily show where
we come together to share women's stories, laugh, learn and
brighten your day. Okay, y'all, Today's guest is a barrier
breaker and a history maker. During her career as a
professional boxer, Kaylee ko mcquinnanoggu Reese earned six world titles
(00:43):
and was the first Indigenous woman fighter to become a
world champion. Most recently, Reese made history by becoming one
of the first Afro Indigenous actors to be nominated for
an Emmy for her supporting role in the HBO series
True Detective Night Country.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
Now.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
If you haven't watched the season of the show, Reese,
who stars alongside Jodi Foster, plays the role of Evangeline Navarro.
She's a state trooper investigating a cold case and the
disappearance of a group of Arctic scientists. What I loved
about this season is that it immersed us in a
culture and a subculture that we don't often get to see,
and the way that they brought it to life on
(01:19):
the screen was just so rich and dynamic and layered.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Yeah, and we're used to the leads in that show
being men. This season it was women, So it was
cool to watch. And Kaylee's a woman of many talents.
She's one of those people that just will not be stopped.
She and her five siblings were raised by their mother
in East Providence, Rhode Island. At just thirteen years old,
she found refuge from a tumultuous adolescence in the boxing ring.
(01:46):
She went on to win nineteen fights during her career,
five by knockout, and in twenty eighteen, she made history
when she participated in HBO's first ever women's televised fight.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
And even though Reese has already earned an Emmy nom,
she's actually relatively new to Hollywood, which is so surprising.
I mean, before True Detective Reese had only appeared in
two films before she was cast for the show, and
the HBO series marked her entry into TV.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Acting, and in.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Real life, she's an active supporter of the Missing and
Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Movement, which combats the widespread
issue of violence against Indigenous people. So her advocacy in
the Native community led her to co write and act
in the twenty twenty one film Catch the Fair One,
which told the story of a boxer searching for her
missing younger sister. That performance, which was her acting debut,
(02:35):
earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
So after the break, Kaylee Reese tells us how she
went from boxing champion to Emmy nominated actor and how
she's bringing her activism to the screen and beyond.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Stay with us, Kaylee become to the bright side.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Thank you very much, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
We're so happy to have you.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Yeah, we've been looking forward to this for a minute.
Kayleie mquinnanogue Reese, correct, good job, Thank you. Will you
tell us the meaning of your Native American name?
Speaker 6 (03:13):
So, my Native American name it means many feathers and
many talents, and I got it given to me by
my mother.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Well, how do you just so naturally embody that like
you are?
Speaker 6 (03:23):
That My mom's very special, So she must have known
I was just destined for this journey.
Speaker 4 (03:27):
I had no idea what she would have gave me
a heads up, right, But it's all good. It's it's
all blessings.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Indigenous traditions and stories are so deep and there's so
much resilience in them. A lot of times, is there
a specific teaching or story that you grew up with
that your mom told you that sticks out to you.
Speaker 6 (03:46):
The stories of how strong and how our society and
how our people are so matriarchal, and how our women
are so sacred, and where the strength and the backbone
of our people. That's something that she my grandmother, great grandmother,
and all the women and all the aunties aunties and
all the moms and mama bears I had around, they
(04:08):
really instilled in me of how strong we are and
where the strength of our people comes from. And even
the men in the tribe and our people were always
constant reminders. But my mom, even without saying words, was
just you know where we come from. You know we
come from where. Anawan's people, which was masasi Osumikin, was
a great leader of the Wapamog people.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
And he had a war chief named Anaalon.
Speaker 6 (04:30):
He used to say autash, which needs means stand strong
to our people, and that's where we come from, a
warrior of people.
Speaker 4 (04:36):
I had to actually tattooed on my back autash.
Speaker 6 (04:38):
So it's just kind of like a constant reminder of
how we have to just always stand strong.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
You know where you come from. I do know where
I come from. I'm so proud of it.
Speaker 1 (04:46):
To what my question is is where are you going?
Speaker 2 (04:49):
Because that many feathers, many talents could take you a
lot of places. Yes, you just got an Emmy nomination
for True Detective Night Country.
Speaker 4 (04:58):
Congratulations.
Speaker 6 (05:00):
Yes it is huge, And it's just that's a good
question where I'm going because I have no idea, but
I know that I'll be prepared for it. So whatever
I get put in front of me, whatever blessings I
get with other opportunities I get.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
I'm a workhorse.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
I know I got I have the capability to do it,
and if I think I don't.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
I'll figure it out, man, I'll figure it out.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
So I will say I have a question about the
Emmy nomination because I think awards mean different things to
different people. We've talked to some people on the show
that were like it was validation some people said, I
don't really care. It's just something to hang on my wall.
What does it mean to you.
Speaker 6 (05:38):
You know, just to be nominated, especially in this such
a special time for Indigenous storytellers and creators and just
Indigenous people and whole. I don't think about it as
a me thing. It's more like a wee thing, and
it's just, you know, to be nominated for an Emmy
alongside Gladstone as well. She's also Indigenous, but I I
(06:00):
just said this, like, we are both Indigenous, from two
totally different areas to totally different tribes nations. She has
a different story than I do, but we are there together,
and she blew the hinges off the doors getting nominated
for an Oscar. We're in a golden globe and we're
holding it open, so we're bringing everybody in. And then
to be kind of checking a few different boxes as well,
because I'm not just Indigenous, I'm kepe verning as well.
Speaker 4 (06:22):
I'm from New England and I'm from Island.
Speaker 6 (06:24):
I'm from you know, seaconk Wapanoog from the first Contact people.
So that's like a couple of boxes to be checked.
Being mixed black Indigenous, you know, that's just so many
things to talk about that I'm in a position to
talk about with such confidence. I mean, that'd be go
to win. But I'm not just to be here, to
be able to you know, be in these conversations and
then I'm just excited for what this could.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
Lead to for the collective kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
This role though, playing a detective, an Afro Indigenous detective,
this is this is a really personal role for you,
not just because of your own heritage, but also because
of some of the experiences that you've had with police.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Yes, it is. It was a very weird experience.
Speaker 6 (07:03):
So back in twenty twelve, I got badly assaulted by
a Providence police officer doing my job. So I had
bad PTSD from it. I went through a really dark
time in my life with it. It was right after
a bad motorcycle accident, so I had a really bad experience.
You know, use derogatory language towards me, racist, sexist, all
the above. So I had to do a lot of
(07:25):
work getting myself out of that. So to put on
a police officer uniform, to have to play that and
then be an indigenous black indigenous mix, it was definitely
a visceral kind of a cathartic type of thing, but
I knew it needed to be done because there are
a lot of especially women police officers and Native police
officers that have to live that every day.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
It's really interesting that just the act itself of putting
on the uniform brings up conversations and complex emotions for
people in your community.
Speaker 6 (07:57):
It was very, very rad I even had a couple
of conversations with some of the other Indigenous women on set,
and they already they kind of gave me that look like, yeah, how.
Speaker 4 (08:03):
Do you feel.
Speaker 6 (08:04):
I'm like, I don't really know right now, like, but
I know. It actually gave me a really good character work.
I built a whole backstory for the Navarro and the
reason why she even got into the military and then
made the decision to be a police officer was a
It was a kind of a two part answer necessity
and because she is kind of good at that type
of thing, So it gave me kind of a it
was a real feeling for my character too, of like
(08:24):
I gotta put this uniform on, man, like one of
those things that But the uniform doesn't make Navarro. It's
just something she reals very well, and she commands respect
and authority, but she doesn't command it in a disrespectful
I'm better than you way. It's like, listen, I'm trying
to do the best I can for us, you know
what I mean, her, her sister, for her in our
community that she doesn't really know if she's accepted by.
(08:45):
There's a lot of Navarro soul layers. It's a a
never running onion of layers of Navarro layers.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
You're a world champion boxer. I'm sort of struck by
the fact that this encounter with this police officer put
you into such a tail spin, like it's so upsetting
to hear did you press charges?
Speaker 4 (09:05):
I actually did.
Speaker 6 (09:06):
We come to find out he was an older police
officer and he had been assaulting just regular patron since
the year I was born, oh since eighty six. Because
there was quite a few people, a lot of women,
who came forward and said he did some things that
he wasn't supposed to put hands on people, was using
excessive force, and every time they went forward with trying
(09:27):
to press charges, they'd get threatened by his colleagues and
they'd get scared into not pressing charges. That happened to me.
Hence the reason why I went into a hole. I
was like a full blown alcoholic moved away from home
because after that happened to me, his colleagues would like
follow me from work and follow me car I was
getting harassed and so I was a little nervous, but
(09:47):
I'm a fighter at heart, so I was like, he's
not going to punk me out of pressing charges.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
So I just followed through.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
And then he had a book of all these different
names of people that he assaulted, and we went forward,
got fired and I actually got a whole thank you
from the city of Providen.
Speaker 4 (10:03):
It's like, thank you for following through. We got rid
of them. Kind of a thing.
Speaker 6 (10:06):
And I hope you watch True Detective. This is a
big few to you. I look better in the uniform
than you do.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
Elly.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
That takes real strength, mental and physical toughness.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Yeah it was.
Speaker 6 (10:18):
It was a doozy, but it's just another story that
no matter how far down you think you are, it's
not You don't got to stay there.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
There's something that you said about boxing that I want
to ask you about. You described it as your ceremony
and your prayer.
Speaker 4 (10:32):
What do you mean by that?
Speaker 6 (10:34):
So, as you know an indigenous person and just kind
of how I grew up. Everybody has their medicine. I mean,
your medicine could be you the best fry cooker at
Burger King, and you just you get a certain type
of energy. Energy doesn't have any prejudice, doesn't have a
certain language.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
It speaks.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
It speaks to everybody in a certain way. So if
you when you do something, whatever you love to do,
whether it's put your hair up in the morment, it
just gives you that really good high energy, high vibration,
that's your medicine. Fighting again, is always been in my blood,
and it wasn't the act of the violence. It was
the art of it and the fact that okay, I
can get better at this. There's a skill you have
(11:08):
to have here. It's not just anger. You actually have
to be really grounded and calm to fight. The more
angry you are, you can't you get clouded. So more
and more I found kind of like this solace in
boxing found me at a time where I really needed it.
I found it was my medicine. And then you know,
fast forward to when I went professional, and then I
really want to try to find my purpose in it,
(11:28):
making the decision and making my culture part of my entrances.
I just knew how powerful and how proud I was.
Whenever I hate the pow wow drum, I'm like, all right, well,
you know, I can come out to biggie or something,
but what means something to me? This is really important
to me. That's when I started coming out with dancers
and drummers. I came here at California a few times
and I asked, first of all his protocol, like tribal area,
(11:50):
thank you for having me in your territory. Who he
is here that wants to be part of this with
me to sing their song to represent I don't tell
them what to sing, like you're gonna sing fancy shawl
dance and I want to push ups and all this
other stuff. It was like, listen, this is a ceremony.
I'm fighting for my people, so to be able to
do that, have our dance be displayed not as a spectacle,
(12:11):
but as proud as people we are. And that's what
I mean about my ceremony, my prayer, and just the
energy and the intention I put behind fighting again.
Speaker 4 (12:20):
Yes I want to get the win, Yes I want
to get the belts.
Speaker 6 (12:23):
That's great, but the representation I have as this platform is.
You know, people see me as an athlete. There's not
a lot of native athletes out There's not a lot
of capabrity athletes out there, a mixed person at such
as myself. So that is my prayer to have representation,
have those children and I have those people, even older
people that like, wow, oh my god, she's on TV.
She looks like me, she's from where we're from. That's
(12:46):
what I mean about our prayer. There's hope, there's ceremony
in it, and we you know, we have a meeting
behind everything, and that's just my strength and I'm good
at something. Why not bring positive attention to it.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
We have to take another quick break, but we'll be
right back with Kaylee Reese.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
And we're back with Kaylee Reese. So you're a world
champion boxer. Tell me what happens next. How do you
get into acting?
Speaker 4 (13:14):
By the grace of the creator, I have no idea, Like, honestly,
you know.
Speaker 6 (13:19):
How I even got into it was the director writer
of the first movie I did call Catch the Fair One,
splitting my DM on Instagram. Honestly, I've always meant interested
in acting. It's never been something that I'm.
Speaker 4 (13:30):
Like I'm going to grow up and be in Hollywood
and me an actor brock.
Speaker 6 (13:33):
But you know, my mom and grandmother us to put
me in a little plays and I had this little character.
Used to do it for my mother when she came
home from work.
Speaker 4 (13:38):
But what was the character?
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Her name is Mary and she smoked a peck and
every day of Dylan and gather a little duncan down't's
cool feet?
Speaker 3 (13:47):
Now?
Speaker 6 (13:47):
I used to like dress up in her hot clothes
like and she used to. I still do it now.
Her name is me How old were you?
Speaker 4 (13:53):
And I had to be like I don't know, seven
or eight.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
I always love people watching and I would just like
there's a come farms is like as a Rhode Island
like a gas station, and like can you go to
companies and get me ladge dunking in the Pakistani Like
like I just used to watch these people around the
neighborhood and just like you know, just imitate.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
But it's it's my mom's do marry do marry? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (14:18):
This this director reached out to me the point of
my life where I was. Boxing has always been an
outlet for me. It's it's taken a lot, but it's
given me a lot. I've missed birthdays, holidays, my mom's wedding,
but I was in New Zealand fighting for a world title, you.
Speaker 5 (14:29):
Know what I mean.
Speaker 6 (14:30):
It's given me a lot, but I've traveled the world
and it's actually led me into acting. But he caught
me a time where I was really vulnerable and I
was in a weird spot because we had just lost
one of my brothers to brain cancer, and it was
a spot where boxing was our thing.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
He was my biggest fan.
Speaker 6 (14:46):
I brought him to the gym after he was in
remission to get his motor skills back.
Speaker 4 (14:49):
How was our thing? So it was just not doing
it for me and I was just trying to find
a way to grieve.
Speaker 6 (14:54):
And he kind and I was like for whatever reason,
I'm like, all right, boxing didn't have a longevity and
I need to do something. I always have a plan
a through z and you know, I'll figure it out
kind of a thing. But acting just kept poking at
me like I don't know where to start, Like what
do you do? Like auditions had no idea, but this
meant for me, it'll find me. A week later, he
inboxed me on Instagram, like I'm like, who's this creep?
But he's just like, you know, I'm so and so
(15:15):
you've ever thought about acting? And I'm like, yeah, I've
thought about it. But he's like, I have this script.
He's a direct he did check out yet a feature film.
He's a TV director, really successful. He just got to
know me, and I was like, you know, in a
weird place. He just came to the house. We did
a couple of interviews. I read a script. Never read
a script. I'm like, oh, this is cool. I've never
acted in my life, but I understand the art of storytelling.
(15:39):
What happened was I read the script, became interviewed me,
and I was like, well, dude, I'm training for a fight,
so you can interview me. But I go O the
jemas far and he came with me and he like
whatever he saw, He's like, I see something. And from
there he asked me to help him write this story.
And then I'm like, I got ideas and I'll give
you all the experiences that I've had from based around
(16:00):
missing murder indigenous women. But that's when he started incorporating
my real life into this story.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
I want to give everyone a little context that role
you're talking about was a boxer in the film Catch
the Fair One, and you play an Indigenous woman who's
searching for her missing sister, which is fictional, but as
you said, you brought some of your real life experiences
to it.
Speaker 6 (16:19):
Yeah, And as far as the acting goes, he we
would like practice different scenes.
Speaker 4 (16:25):
He had a friend of his that was an actor.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
We just did some bouncing off back and forth and
he would give me all his knowledge he knew about acting,
and then I was like, okay, so, but he kept saying,
you got it, k you got you got the you
got the sauce. I'm like, way sauce sweets ausa. I'm like,
what do you mean. He's like, you got something. I'm
like okay. And I knew from him saying that sometimes
you only need that one person see something.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
You might not understand it. But he said.
Speaker 6 (16:50):
I was like, well, if you believe it, and I
see that look in your face and all right, So
I don't want to let you down.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
So I'm just gonna go hard.
Speaker 6 (16:56):
I'll do my best, And that's really how I got
into acting, and from there I got nominated for Best
Actress Since at the Spirit Indie Spirit Awards for that
is a huge deal, which is a huge on my
first and it was the intention behind it was just
let's tell this story the right way.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
I mean, the most recent data I could find was
from twenty sixteen and it said that in the US
about six thousand Indigenous women and girls were reported missing
or murdered, but only one hundred and sixteen of those
cases were logged by the US Department of Justices federal database,
only one hundred and sixteen. And those stats are probably
much lower than the reality because so many cases go unreported.
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Yeah, that's reported.
Speaker 6 (17:33):
To talk about the reported part first, you know, I've heard,
not experienced, but I heard because I've sat down with
a lot of survivors, a lot of families of these victims,
and sometimes they have to be strategic on do we
even report that she's missing, because number one, the authorities
will say, well, she's probably just drunk somewhere.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
Well, she's probably just ran away victim blaming.
Speaker 6 (17:54):
Yeah, or sometimes it may be that the true, but
why are they running away or she we were just
reporter as white, because a reporter as Native, they're not
going to look for her. And then it becomes a
thing of jurisdiction. If it's a sovereignation whose jurisdiction doesn't
fall under is it federal, is its state?
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Is it tribal?
Speaker 6 (18:12):
Those types of really really complicated things, and then logged wise,
whose job is it who handles these special missing cases
of Native people, especially when it's a Native girl who's
registered to a sovereign nation, a federally recognized tribe.
Speaker 4 (18:26):
That gets really complicated.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
And then you get to the kind of elephant in
the room their native and no one cares, you know
what I mean, no one really cares about them because
first of all, the average person thinks that Native American
people Indigenous people are like ex thinks like we're dinosaurs
and that we all live in tepees, which is insanity,
or we all live on reservations and everybody's a drunk
and we go to the casinos. That's getting better, But
when it comes to the reporting in these stats, there's
(18:51):
a lot of organizations, grass through organizations that have to
take it into their own hands because there's nobody looking
for their loved ones.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Yeah, it's really sad.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
There's a label that that Native people are expendable and
that we are in the past and that we don't
matter kind of a thing. I think that has a
lot to do with it. And then when we have
that context, it trickles down to the people, to the kids. Oh,
we don't matter, nobody's going to look for us, so
we need to run away. And there's so many things
that going to what I can think about why hence
(19:21):
the reason why when we made this film, Well, I
gave him the information I had. I said, this is real.
This is the reality of this. There's no happy there's
very few happy endings. It's an epidemic that's been happening
that needs to stop and something needs to be implemented.
And that's why I'm so loud about it because I'm
trying to make it a big deal, because it is
a big effing deal, Like we need to highlight this
and the fact that there's not databases, there's things being
(19:43):
implemented now because of things like hashtag and iw missing
and more Indigenous women that had to happen.
Speaker 4 (19:48):
I wish we didn't have to have that happen.
Speaker 6 (19:50):
Yeah, it's just an epidemic that is an unexplainable.
Speaker 4 (19:54):
Sad, very frustrating problem that we have here.
Speaker 6 (19:58):
And I think, you know, it has a lot to
do with the invisibility of Native people as a whole.
It's just really something that needs to change, and it
is changing.
Speaker 3 (20:06):
Do you feel empowered by the work that you're doing, though,
because you really are at the intersection of art and
activism through the stories that you're telling on screen.
Speaker 4 (20:13):
I do.
Speaker 6 (20:13):
And it's funny because I don't really I call myself
an activist. A lot of people call me that, and
I'm like, okay, I can see that, But I know activists,
and I know the grassroots people that are boots on
the ground, working tirelessly, working with families directly, you know,
having these organizations.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I'm more of a mouthpiece.
Speaker 6 (20:28):
I believe that it's very empowering that I do get
to speak about things like this that people don't normally
hear about that. News channels don't necessarily want to dive
into that. Podcasts don't want that. Film doesn't really want
to dive into. Now it's like a oh, okay, great,
I want to tell stories that matter like Marvel's great,
But you know when Marvel did echo something like that
(20:48):
the highlight Indigenous stories.
Speaker 4 (20:50):
I do feel really empowered.
Speaker 6 (20:52):
I feel very, very blessed to be in the position
I am because I represent so much and the fact
that I'm in something that everybody watches movies, everybody loves
to be entertain But if there's a I'll say, I
call my Dave Chappelle way of kind of like learning
them in with some comedy, learning men with music or entertainment,
and then dropping some knowledge on some real and real
heavy stuff that maybe we're not so fun to talk about,
(21:12):
right initially, like, I feel really empowered and really blessed
to be able to do that.
Speaker 3 (21:16):
Well, you mentioned comedy. I actually hear that you want
to do comedy.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
I do. What kind of comedy are we talking?
Speaker 3 (21:22):
What do you got thinking on?
Speaker 6 (21:23):
I mean, you know Native people of Funny's House stories.
I would love to do something with with like a
native comedy. There's so there's so much out there right now.
It's but like plays, there's this there's a lot of
we're funny people.
Speaker 2 (21:38):
You're right, those are really untapped stories, Like we haven't
heard those stories.
Speaker 4 (21:42):
You know, it's funny in Indian country.
Speaker 6 (21:44):
There's all kinds of movies and shows and comedians that
are hilarious, but it's not mainstream. We have humor to
get us through all the bullshit that we've been through. Like,
we love to laugh, we love to tell stories. There's
and there's so many stories like I can make a
movie about one night out a cup, like I swear
I could. Yeah, So those types of stories of life experience.
(22:05):
I would love to do something like that. The things
that we laugh about amongst ourselves, those types of stories
that I'm like, no, this is funny. The fact that
Reservation Dogs highlighted the movie Willow, and I was obsessed
with Willow my entire life as a kid. It's like,
oh my god, I feel seen like those types of things,
It's like awesome. I would love to.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
Have you had conversations with people about pursuing comedy, because
I feel like one thing that happens in Hollywood is
like people start to know you for doing one sort
of thing, and then you've got to like really be
intentional about pivoting and have you started having those conversations.
Speaker 6 (22:38):
Every chance I get that, people ask me, like, because
clearly I do darkness and death and really intense.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Dreams, so much more than that. I know you can
do so much more than that.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
So I know what I could do. And obviously the
physicality of being like an action hero. It's great and
I know I got that down. So I do have
those conversations frequently. So I'm like, oh, no, I want
to do comedy, like dude, I want to do like
action of core like drama of course, but yeah, I
do have every chance I get, like sitting down at
take away tet. So, guys, I wanted to like a
(23:06):
k action comedy.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
You'd be so good in that. That would be awesome.
Mix it all yes, mix it all up.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Okay, have a really serious final question.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Okay, what was tough for boxing Jessica Kamara or the
arctic conditions you were in filming True Detective.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
Boxing Jessica Kamara. Man, that's we are friends and congratulations therea.
She just won the WBA in term defeating mey CHOI.
But I will say I'm not taking anything away from Jessica,
but I was in a really health pit in twenty
twenty two, so fighting her not to mention.
Speaker 4 (23:40):
She's a fierce.
Speaker 6 (23:41):
Fighter anyway, and I knew that going in. I'm like,
we friends, holdie, but we gotta put it on the line.
So I knew it was gonna be a great fight.
But the fact that my health was in the toilet.
That was I had to dig down to the depths
of hell and onother dimension to get through that fight.
Like I'm sitting on the stool and I had literally
nothing left, and I'm watching the roundcod girl go by
and she's holding up round four.
Speaker 4 (23:59):
I'm like, oh shit.
Speaker 6 (24:02):
Oh god, how am I gonna do this? Like that
was tough, but that's the one thing I was willing
to die. And I'm not kidding, I was willing to die.
I'm like, well, if this is how I go, I'm
gonna go out swinging kind of a thing. But I
was like, I'm not gonna stop until I can't swing anymore.
And that's what that was.
Speaker 4 (24:16):
That was hard. I can't believe you have to fight
your friends. This is something I never thought about.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I never thought about the fact that you might be
in the ring with the Psychologically that is such a
head trip.
Speaker 4 (24:26):
But it was cool because I know she's bringing and
I'm like, I know she's she can, she can hit hard,
she's skilled, she listened, she's in condition.
Speaker 6 (24:34):
But I want that. I don't want to fight the
person I can beat. I want to fight the person
people think they're gonna beat me.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (24:39):
See, that's the opposite of most boxer's mentality though, because
they just want to run up there.
Speaker 6 (24:44):
No, I don't need Instagram files. I'm a stupid pad
work again. Oh my god, I got this pretty thing on.
It's funny because until I had my manager and promoted,
I was fighting in the same short, same taped up
shoes like I'm like, yo, just put the.
Speaker 4 (24:55):
Gloves on, ring the bell. I don't care like just
I just want to fight kind of a thing.
Speaker 6 (24:58):
So that's how you can tell it difference between a
fighter now it's fights. Fighting box sounds a little different
now as you can tell it different. You can't teach heart.
You know. I'm not the most skilled fighter, but I
got heart, I got dog, I got warrior, and I'll
figure it out. There's a lot of fighters out there
now that if things aren't going their way in the
ring and then that things aren't perfect, you can mentally
(25:19):
see them break down. I won't name any fighters, well,
you can see people, men and women, fighters breakdown when
things are all flashy and not the sunglass, the pretty thist,
the pretty that you can tell a difference.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
Hayley, thank you for bringing that fighting spirit to the
bright side. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
Haylee Reese was the first Indigenous woman fighter to become
a World champion and was the first Afro Indigenous actor
to be nominated for an Emmy.
Speaker 1 (25:49):
That's it for today's show.
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Tomorrow, it's time for another Wellness Wednesday. We're joined by
gastar entrologist doctor Robin Hutkan to talk gut health, antibiotics
and probiotics. Listen and follow the bright Side on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
I'm Simone Boye.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
You can find me at Simone Boice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok. That's r O
b A. Y.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
See you tomorrow, folks. Keep looking on the bright side.
Hosts And Creators
Simone Boyce
Danielle Robay
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