May 5, 2026 • 44 mins
This week on The Latest with Loren LoRosa, Loren is joined by media powerhouse Alexis Bennett Parker for a real, unfiltered conversation about The Devil Wears Prada 2—and how closely it mirrors the reality of today’s media industry.
From the fall of legacy magazines to the rise of digital dominance, they break down the film’s biggest themes: power, ownership, relevance, and what it really takes to survive in an ever-changing industry. The conversation goes deeper than the movie, touching on career pressure, being “the only one in the room,” balancing ambition with real life, and the constant search for purpose and validation.
They also get personal—talking about burnout, boundaries, chasing success, and the importance of showing up as your full, authentic self.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything
and everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You know, if you don't lie about that, right Lauren, y'all,
what's up.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's Laura le Rosa and this is another episode of
the Latest with Laura l Rosa. This is your DELI
dig on all things pop culture and attiment, news and
all of the conversations that shake the room.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Now, before we get started, I do have a guest
to hear with me today. We will be diving into
all things journalism, into all things fashion, the fear and
the fearless pursuit of you know, everything in between the
media landscape and just being an entrepreneur and a hustler
in the space.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So I called.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I phoned a friend and I was like, hey, girl,
Devil's Proud is I want to talk about it on
the podcast, but I want to have a conversation with
someone about it, and I want to talk to someone
who I know is like in the in the midst
of it, you know what I mean. So I have
a friend that will be joining me, and I'm gonna
let her introduce herself. But low riders, you guys know,
(01:03):
we check in behind the scenes of the grind here first,
so we'll also get a chance to do that with her.
So joining me right now is my sister from another mister,
from a very well dressed another mystery I left.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Thank you, Leo. I'm so happy to be here. Thank
you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Of course, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So our podcast community there are nine million plus listeners.
They are called the low riders because they'd be writing hard.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Okay, they write her.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
For us, but you know, introduce yourself to them, give
a little bit of your background and you know what
you've done where you are now, and then we'll get
into the check in.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
So I'm Alexis Bennett Parker. I've been working in media
for over ten twelve years now. I've worked historically at
mostly legacy magazines. So I come from Vogue, Elle, Cosmo,
in Style and now how I am overseeing shopping commerce
(02:03):
content at Essence, Refinery twenty nine and the Sundown Media
portfolio Group. So I'm excited for today because this is
this is my life.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But I actually and realize so me and Alexis we met.
I don't even remember what year that was. I want
to say it might have been like twenty twelve. Twenty thirteen,
somewhere around there. Yeah, yeah, it was somewhere around there.
So Cosmopolitan Magazine used to do this fun fashion and
fun fearless and fashion conference or something like that. It
(02:34):
was those words, but I just don't know if I'm
putting them in the right order. But they would do
this conference and it was basically like you would come.
You would get to listen to like editors and assistants
and all these people from Cosmo magazine talking about working
in the industry and you know, just try and figure
your way out in life. And I just remember we
were in like the holding area in like a lobby,
and mind you, guys, I had like found out about
(02:55):
it on I think, like Instagram, and this was like
early Instagram, Like you, I don't even think you could
post videos for real Instagram at that point. But I
had found out about it because I was like having
this whole little blog that I was doing, and I
just knew my life when I was supposed to you
had a magazine.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And I went. I caught the bus from Delaware State University.
I went.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I got there and I just remember seeing these two
black girls and I was like, there are the only
two people in here that look like me.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I'm gonna just go talk to them.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And I walked up and was just like, hey, I
don't even remember what I said, but I just remember
I walked up.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And we've been friends ever since.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And Alexis has had such an amazing career, Like she
says these things so casually, but you know, getting able
to see, you know, being able to see you go
from you know, someone who wanted to move to New
York and figure out all these things to actually moving here.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I remember you started it was Install, right, yep?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I started at InStyle.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, it was Install magazine. And when you were an
Install magazine, you were what was your role there?
Speaker 4 (03:56):
I had several different roles back and forth, kind of
like boomerang, but I started off as a fact checker.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That was my very first role.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And basically a fact checker is the person who literally
just make sure the magazine doesn't get sued so that right,
every sentence makes sense.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So yeah, and then and at that time I think
I had I did like an internship at Cosmopolitan Magazine
for about just a winter break, so maybe like a
week or two.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But I thought it was so fire.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I'm like, you're getting to live the dream gird you're
working at the magazine, and then you went on from
InStyle into other things.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
But I remember mostly the Internet.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Becoming such a big conversation in magazines, just not physical magazines,
just not being at the forefront and the Internet being
a thing. And I remember Volgue made it such a
big deal that they were going to Vogue dot com
and leaning more there and like they were trying to
do more like hip young stories and the shopping things,
and you went there, Yeah, and that was like such
(04:58):
a turning point for the magazine for the conversations around magazines.
But you were there really early, Like you was your
team even really big. You're like the only person I
knew that worked on that side of things.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Yeah, so I was definitely I feel like one of
the like earlier people in shopping content, and basically shopping
content for a magazine is like it's the one of
the newest revenue streams, Whereas in the past magazines have
always been about you know, getting advertisers to just you know,
buy a page or whatever. Yeah, whereas like the shopping
content is more so about taking the stories we're already during,
(05:31):
we're already writing about but figuring out Okay, instead of
just telling you about this trend, I'm going to tell
you how you can shop it, how you can get it,
and then we make affiliate revenue from it. So again
it's kind of like just this newer way of like
trying to keep the lights on because, as you know,
like nobody's buying print magazines anymore.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
So.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But one of the things that I always thought was
fire was like when I would like, I might be
like visiting New York, or like I know, when my
mom was going through all of her like health stuff
and I was here and you would invite me to
things that we were running to each other at things.
I remember people just being so in awe of your work,
and like I remember we were at an event in
Norstrum and I just I was like, yo, they are
(06:13):
like fanning out and here over you. And I thought
that that was so respectable and so far because it
wasn't that you were like, you know, on the magazine
every day and your face is in the magazine. Your
work was actually garnering money at a time where people
didn't understand how to make money with their cross section
of magazines and products, and you were actually so good
(06:35):
at what you were doing, and it was so accurate,
and it was so to the point you had found
a niche for yourself as a black woman in a
space that isn't really as friendly to us as it
still should be.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
But you found yourself in this space.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And you were making money for these brands and not
just like small brands, small brands as well. But I
mean we were in Norstrum and there were some of
the heads of Norstrum that found out that you were
there and they came down to personally just say thank you.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That was like pandemic time, like nobody was spending money.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah. Yeah, And that's what I love.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
I think that's the most rewarding part, is like, not
only are you making money for the company you work for,
but it's these brands, it's these retailers, Like it's this
chain effect and it really just helps the fashion industry
as a whole. So I love like being able to
like use my words to actually turn readers into shoppers.
And again, I don't take it lightly, like I take
(07:25):
it as an honor because at the end of the day,
I want people to feel like they can trust me
if they read a story about Alexus, Like, I know
she's gonna tell me these items are truly the best,
and it's not like she's just trying to sell me
something that's like subpar.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So we take it seriously and I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean, but I just the reason why I
point that out is because I feel, like, you know,
I was thinking about this as I was watching The
Devil Worst Product Too, which is the review we'll get
into here, just about how aligned a lot of the
people that I admire in the industry. I admire them
because like everything that I think should be happening is
what you guys are already doing, Like you know, the
(08:03):
ability to like be honest, to tell the truth, to
like actually like do the work, but also like be
enjoyable and like you know, like all those things. And
I remember being in a fashion closet and literally I
was so grateful for that job and so grateful for
she Ona Tarini, who was the reason that I got
that opportunity. But I remember being in there and just
(08:24):
being like, this is amazing and this is like the dream.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
But these these people, these women in here.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Don't have enough say so for me, and enough like
ownership and not that anybody that works in a fashion closet. Now,
you know, I'm not knocking anything, but I just really
remember feeling like, I don't know, I think I'm a
bit too opinionated to be in here. I think I
don't believe in a way that this hierarchy is set up.
They don't make enough money to be, you know, obeying
(08:52):
this hierarchy. I just always felt like there was like
another way. And then I think about people like you
who've made your own way, and I think that that's why.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
You know, I've always been from a distance.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I've always admired the things that you've been able to
set up for yourself. So I know, you know, in
this time when they're getting you know, departments are chopping,
digital departments are chopping black writers, and you know, black
people meeting no matter where you are, whether its outlet's
black or white, or like becoming non existent. You know,
we do this thing here at the Latest with Laurence Rosa.
(09:22):
The podcast called checking In Behind the Scenes to the Grind,
And this part of the podcast is really just like
how are you? Because I find it where I don't
take the time to check in on myself, so I
make I built it in the podcast, so I could
do it for myself, but when I have guests, I
like to check in on them as well too.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So how are you, and like, for real, how are
you doing.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I cannot complain, like and I'm not. It's not just
you know, people say, oh, I'm good just as like
a reaction, Like I really genuinely mean that I'm in
a great place. I just started this new job two
months ago, Like I wrote, six months before I got
my offer, I write, I wrote down exactly what I
wanted on one line of a piece of paper, and
(10:10):
I kept writing it over and over until I got
to the end. Six months later, I got exactly what
I asked for, Like, I cannot complain.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
So I'm in a great place.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
I'm feeling good mentally, spiritually, I'm spending time with my
family right now in Florida, with my grandma, my mom,
and so I just feel like really blessed to be
able to one have a job that I love and
to also be able to try to like balance it with.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Family and personal life.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
And I mean, I don't even like the word balance,
because I do feel like the job that I have
is like a job that it's a job that.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I would be doing even if I didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Have the job, Like shopping online is just like fun
to me, So I don't even have to think of
it as like balancing or anything.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
But I'm just I'm in a really happy mental state
right now, and so I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
That's good to know. I am too. I am too.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
It's a I think it's an everyday new experience because
like as like work grows, the talent side of it
all grows. And as much as I've always wanted to
figure out the talent side, once you get in it,
it's like it's a that balance is a lot of
because it's hard work on both ends.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Like you're burning yourself on both ends. So you know, me,
I burned to the.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Very very end if I had to to make sure
that I'm maintaining you know, work and all the things.
So learning how not to burn myself too much has
been a task, but I think I've gotten a better
handle on it within these last like two to three months.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
So very new.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
But yeah, I wanted to say, like I just you
mentioned ownership too earlier, Like yes, I feel like you've
always been on it and I just have to say, like,
how proud I am of you for like seeing that
everything you're doing with like brown Girl grinding, like having
your own and especially in this day and age where
it's like, you know, we see the magazines are instantly shrinking,
(12:00):
these companies that are huge legacy companies getting smaller and smaller.
But at the same time, like, journalism is not dead,
it's still I would I would say it's even more
important now now everybody has a microphone, everybody can tweet,
everybody can say something, but not everybody is fact checking.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Not everybody is actually following up on a source.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
A lot of people are just reading a headline and
making a story out of that without even knowing the facts.
So I commend you for everything that you're doing because
you are like upholding the journalistic standards and integrity of
the industry and you are proof that like it still
matters and it's important.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
So had to say that really quick.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I had to thank you giving your flowers appreciated.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, that actually brings us right on into the latest
so let's get into it. So we are here because
the Devil Worst Product franchise has dropped a new instultion
U Double Worst Product to dropped and it is doing
amazingly well in the theaters. Following its opening weekend, it
surpassed the Michael Movie for the largest opening of a
(13:10):
live action film.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
It is making money, but.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I'm not surprised that it's making the money it's making.
You know, you have and Hathaway, MARYL. Street, like the
original cast has all returned. That's always a good sign
for success for you know, a second installment of something.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
So it had everything, all the setup.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
You know that they were going to have the pr budget,
they were going to have all the things that it needed.
But I was worried, like, Okay, when we get to it,
is the story gonna be good this time around? I
saw it today. I know you saw it yesterday. I
was very impressed by the movie.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yes, I was so impressed.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
You know, I want to start from the beginning of
the movie, and I think that this is something that
we both can really identify with just the how prevalent
and fast the industry is changing, and it's always been changing.
We literally just talk through the fact that we've lived
through various different changes of the industry from blogging to
Instagram to Instagram not even having video to you know,
(14:13):
you honestly anchoring in a big part of the dot
com and shit and the shopping space on these coture websites.
The movie starts out having that conversation in real time,
and I thought that was I'm like, yes, like I
felt like, so y'all sitting here with us right now.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yes, I'm so bad. I don't want to Are we
gonna do spoilers?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't want to spoil Yeah, yeah, I don't want
to do spoiler alerts, but like, if you're watching this,
we are going to get a bit into like overall
uh like overalls, like vague subjects and feelings from the movie.
So spoiler alert, spoiler alert, spoiler alert that it may
spoil a bit, but don't give out like actual factuals,
(14:54):
you know.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Okay, I will say that one year I was when
I was working at self magazine.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I was there, I was on the dot com.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I was there when they laid off the entire printing,
the entire printing.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
And that, and then I've seen that happen over and
over again. So it's like.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I feel like, I mean, obviously, like we like we
anyone can see it coming, Like magazines are dying, right,
But I'm just so glad that the.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Movie touched on that because it's real.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
And and I will say like again, like I already said,
like I think you're doing a great job, like we
still need journalists, but at the same time, like the
magazine industry and the whole media that that legacy media
business model is dead, like it's not profitable. And of
course there are still magazines around, but like a lot
(15:53):
of them are just spending money and they're not making
money and it's more of like an ego thing. But
but you're still like, why are so many billionaires trying
to buy.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Media companies now?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Because they still want to control the narrative and it's important, yes,
but it's not so For example, there's rumors that Jeff
Bezos might buy Vogue for Lauren Sanchez, and it's like,
do you think that he's buying because he thinks it's
going to be more profitable than Amazon? No, it's like
it's it's just having control of the narrative and being
a part being able to control media is still powerful.
(16:29):
Why do you think Elon bought Twitter a media It's
not because he thought it was going to make more
money than Tesla or SpaceX.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So it's just the narrative and being able to control it.
And I thought, I thought the way that they even
had that conversation about you know, the hands that you know,
media fault falls in, excuse me, the hands that media falls.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
In, and where it.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Almost got to versus where it landed, and you know,
just it made me think a lot about where we
are today with like people's intentions behind the purchases of
like what we're seeing with like even like some of
the mergers that we're seeing, like the whole sky Dance
and Paramount and Warner Brothers, and like I'm like, oh
(17:12):
my god, this is like the most fashioned, friendly way
of saying politically, y'all is something wrong right now?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Y'all should wake up? Like I love that.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I feel like it didn't even feel like an activist movie,
but there was so much advocacy in this movie. Like
Andy is an advocate of like people in human things,
and I think in the world today, we all have
to be like that because the things that are happening
are literally messing up our daily lives as humans, like
(17:43):
down to like gas and groceries, and you know, like
it's not just like oh my god, I can't afford
my favorite Starbucks and magazine anymore. It's like, no, you
might can't afford to take your child to daycare. And
the same people who are doing that are also about
to control the way that people call them out about that,
and that's scary mm.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
And it goes back to that's why independent journalism is
so important too. A lot of companies are being silenced,
and you know, like I think it's so important for
people like you to just have a voice and to
continue to like do the work that needs to be
done and that ownership, so having your own is so important.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, you know what's crazy, Like before I like like
even though I've always had this like all right, I
want to be like this, like you can't get around
me this institution and then like people and whatever they
come and we work together, I've never really understood, or
maybe I just didn't know it was independent media. I
(18:50):
always thought about it like owning a business, Like the
person who owns the business can kind of maneuver the
way that they want to in if you don't owe
anybody thing financially, then you kind of can get a
bit more safe. So, now, don't get me wrong. I
have a corporate job, right, like I work at iHeart
still with Breakfast Club. So there are people that like,
(19:11):
you know, a job is a job. But at the
same time, I think what I love about the Breakfast
Club in this phase of my life is I was
so blessed to be at a place where even though
it's a job, you still are able to be like
I don't fuck with that, no, like and I've always been.
I mean, TMZ was that way as well. Like people
(19:34):
like to you know, make it this like big dramatic,
you know, exit, but TMZ was like that as well.
I was very much Angela Davis in there, like and
to the point where I used to text my black
group chats and be like, yo, am I doing too
much now? Like you know, because even if they didn't
want to hear you, they wouldn't stop you from saying
it that they wanted people to interject, They wanted people
to So I've always been those those those situations. But
(19:56):
I was watching this movie like, I hope that because
I I left feeling inspired, I left feeling like I
wasn't doing enough, And I'm like, I hope it makes
other people feel like that too, Like I don't care
where you work.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
If you're there, you're there for a reason.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Like the reason why I mentioned you in that dot
com space because when I was with you that day
Norse triam and I saw that I'm like, the conversation
right now, especially in the pandemic was support everything black,
Support everything black, and I was like, this is gonna
come and go. The Black Squares is going to be
way down the timeline after a few posts. After that,
them people kneeling at the Capitol won't get up, and
(20:32):
we still need people that are like in the spaces
that not even just fighting for everything black, but just
fighting for like things that make sense to humans and
that we need and that we care about. And having
a person like you that is very respected but knowing
you and knowing your moral integrity as a person, I
was like, Okay, this is fire. And that's what like
when I think about devil words proud of the second
(20:54):
go around, I think we get to see Andy in
this space of like she's still searching for that gratification
and that like that need to feel like I'm doing
something good, which I want to touch on that too,
because I feel like I still have that and I've
been trying to figure out why. But she's her own
person to the point where like she's not backing down
off for how morally where she stands.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Find that from the first movie.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
She's so confident in this movie.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Yeah, I mean, like you said, not to like a perfection, right,
She's still like, you know, it's looking around the office
that like what other people are wearing, and she's you know,
wondering what she can wear when she goes to the Hamptons.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
But there's like a quiet confidence in her.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
And I love how she like leans into like her
new role at the magazine. And but again, like it
goes back to like that broken business model.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
The metrics matter.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
When Meryl Street's character like asked her, like, what were
the page views on that story you wrote, it's just like.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Like, well, wrote story, but nobody read it.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
So yeah, like I think you know, in that case,
Andy could have like maybe put the story on her
social media because again, like as we know, like one
real or one TikTok and get way more views than
a visit to you know, a website. So I don't
know if that was just like a good part of
the movie.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I thought it was just interesting too, though, to see
how much she still there was still that satisfact and
we won't say exactly what the satisfaction that she was
looking for, but there was still that.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Sense of needing and longing for something.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, And I've recently, like you know, as I get
to like certain points in career and just in life,
and I felt like Andy's at the same place in
life as me right now.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I don't know how old she actually is in.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
This second film, but I find myself sometimes still needing that, like, oh,
you did a great job. And I thought I was
like so unneeding of that, and like you know, in
my roof and you know, black women, you can't tell
me nothing. And then I started receiving criticisms and I
couldn't take it, and I had.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
To readjust number one.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
How I took it because I need critique to get better,
but also I had to understand what to filter out,
what shouldn't be a critique, like something, what I shouldn't
let live on me, because there's so much coming at
you at one time, and I just it made me wonder, like,
why is it the industry we work in as media people,
as journalists, where we're constantly wanting that like you did
(23:30):
good because it's not common or is that just a
human thing that they touch on in the movie of
just like the feeling of like I don't know, like
admiration and you know, like all things good from people
that you admire.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I think it's a human thing.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Like I think that for us specifically, it might be
magnified because of our industry, because of the optics and
just like the way that it's set up and glamorized.
But I do think it's a human thing to like
just kind of like sometimes want someone to say.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Like, you're doing a great job. But at the same.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Time, what I've been personally trying to work on is
like being more stoic too, And you know, even when
someone like gives me a compliment or if I you know,
have a certain success or when in my career, like
I'm always thinking about, Okay, what's next, how can I
do more? How can I you know, compete with myself,
and so like keeping this internal scorecard too, so that
(24:27):
way I'm like, you know what I said, I was
gonna work out this morning, and I worked out this morning,
Like just trying to like internally be the person that's
patting my own back and not always like looking forward
from others because you can't control what others will say.
And I mean, that's a whole other conversation because I
do think when I feel like, when we see our
(24:49):
people get to a certain level of success for some reason,
it's just like, Okay, now you need to come back
down because you're just And.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
That's crazy because in the movie, in the movie and.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Double part of too, I felt like people weren't trying
to drag her down, but she herself was always preparing
for what if this is all over tomorrow because of
the way her industry was going, and I think just
because of how many risks she said to take the
way she gets to, which I try to talk myself
out of feeling every day. And I'm like I thought
when I was watching him, I'm like, I thought this
was just a black girl thing. We're so few fearm between,
(25:23):
especially in certain rooms and at certain levels. I'm always like, yo,
if I wake up tomorrow, not this is over, what
do I have? Don't buy that? Because just in case,
don't buy this. And she was doing that, Andy was
doing that.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
And then I think, too, it's the sign of the
times too, because we are constantly being told we're all
going to be replaced by AI, Like that's happening too,
So it's just kind of I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
I think people are, people.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Are moving to I think just being like a little
bit more conscious that things can be here today, gone tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
But it's so hard to like, I feel like when
I was really going through my darkest time over this
last year, not just in this last year twenty twenty six,
but this last like full year, right, the darkest time
that I was going through was when I was second
guessing myself, second guests in my instinct. And a part
of it was like I was receiving so much critique
(26:15):
at one time and I was I was letting some
of it live on me.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Then the other part of it was me just preparing
to like.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Wake up and it all be going and not be
able to do it again and not understanding that like
regardless of.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Where you go, you are, who you are, you got
it or you don't.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And yeah, it's like I feel like Andy's constant battle
is that because we saw that in Devil was Proud
of one, then we saw in Devil Wors Product two,
and I feel like she came out of fast, came
out of it faster, and the second movie, but the
fight was there again, and I was like, Okay, so
no matter new levels and new devils, for.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Sure, it's I think it's all as long as we
have breath in our body. Especially if you're an ambitious person,
I feel like we're always going to be like chasing
for something.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Now talk a bit about and you know, to your discretion,
because I know this is your real work life, in
real life. When people watch this movie, one of the
biggest things, especially you know, for the new kids who
are watching it and who are learning who in a
Winterur is and it's met galaxies and right now, I
feel like because of this movie, even me, because of
this movie, I have such a view of like what
(27:26):
in a Winterur is probably like because I know that
Meryl Streep's character was fashioned after her, What is it
really like working within a Winter?
Speaker 4 (27:37):
I will say I have so much respect for Anna,
and I know, like nobody's perfect on this planet, but.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I've learned a lot from her from working with her,
seeing her.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
How she works, how she operates. This woman is the
best at what she does right, and so I enjoyed
it I enjoyed every moment of it. Like when I
heard the news that she was gonna step down, like
from editor in chief, like that was I was sad,
like I'm not gonna lie and I'm so excited that
Chloe Mall is now there, who I also got to
(28:11):
work with while I was at Vogue.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
But it's inspiring.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
It makes you want to be better, like wake up
every single day and do the best that you can
do at any and every job that I've gone to
on to afterwards.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
So I enjoyed it so much.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
She is she very hands on because when I worked
at TMZ and since then, when I talk about TMZ,
everybody always wants to ask me about like what my
experience was, and what they're directly asking me is what
is it like working with Harvey Levin? And I tell people,
you can say whatever you want about him, but he
is one of the most hard working people I've ever met.
He is involved in every story if he can be.
(28:48):
He is at work before we get there, after we leave,
working all weekend, like he really lives and breathes this,
and we saw that a lot with Merril Troop's character.
You know, when you live and breathing and some of
the things you lose in your real life is in
a winter like that as well, where she truly lives
and breathes every every article, every word, every pitch that
(29:09):
is going out from Vogue.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Yeah, I mean she's always the first person in the
office there every single day, So she's really like in
the in.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
The work, in the thick of it.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
But at the same time, I think part of her
brilliance is that she also knows what she doesn't know,
and so she'll hire the best around her. So, for example,
like me and doing editorial commerce content, like Anna's not
an e comm expert, she is a magazine expert, and
so she hired a very very smart, brilliant team of
(29:42):
e commerce writers and like my former manager Lisa Aikan,
who is an e combat such a smart brilliant woman.
So for us, like when it came to like eCOM stuff,
she kind of just was like, y'all do y'all thing,
Like y'all got it as long as it looked great
and was in conflict with like the.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Overall brand a Vogue. No, Like if you didn't hear
from her, no news was good news. That meant you
were doing well. So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Yeah, And I feel I mean even with Breakfast Club too,
people always talk to me about Envy Charlemagne, just like
but more so I feel like Envy and Charlemagne because
me and Jess are both new there and people are
always wondering, like what is it like to be around
like they've been doing it for so long, and like
(30:33):
even now some days I'd be like, I can't believe
I'm really at the Breakfast Club. But like I remember
early on just like watching them, and it still happens today.
I just like watch them, like go watch them come
in and out of segments and talk breaks and all
these things that I'm learning.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
And they just do it so easily, and I just
be like, hello.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Like yeah, but it's like, I mean, but these people
have really been doing it and doing it very very
well for a long time. But I think one of
the things that I admired a lot about coming to
the Breakfast Club's team was, I mean, Harvey definitely hires
he one thing he gonna do was put together something
higher a team and get it done or keep it
internal and figure out and identify who's best for it.
(31:16):
But one of the things that happened at Breakfast Club
that didn't happen at TMZ. For me was they allowed
me to own the own my space a bit more,
and I think that's why people got to feel like,
you know, I feel like my presence was felt on
the show because I felt and appreciated that. So, you know,
(31:37):
it's not like I didn't appreciate my job at TMZ,
But it's different when you feel like you're just a
piece of something versus when you're like a part of
the real full I'm here and I own my piece
of the puzzle growth of something. And I think we
saw that with Indyan and Douvile Worst PRODUCTO as well,
when you know there were big decisions on the line
that needed to be made in you know, Miranda Pressley
(31:59):
finally backed off Meryl Streep's character and let her character
just be great, like let Andy let a hat the
way do what she knew that she could do, you know,
and it turned out great for everybody. I don't know
if you've had an experience like that or just what
you're thinking around was when you saw her coming into
her own in that way. But it made me smile
(32:21):
because I remember my first time feeling like, oh girl,
you're the magic.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Yes, I've definitely had those moments, and it's special. It's
really special when someone allows you to thrive and creates
an environment.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
For you to thrive and to just do you do
what you're you know how to do bad.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
So I love that Andy finally had that moment in
the in the sequel Me Too.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And I thought a part of a real grown up
conversation too in the first movie. In the second movie
that we saw is like prioritizing life outside of work
and what happened in the long run, because being a
career driven woman has always been such a hard conversation
of like can you.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Have it all?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
And figuring out how to have it all while also
balancing a very high pressure, very demanding job. You know,
we saw in The Devil Worst Product one how Miranda
Presley's character, Meryl Sheep's character she lost a lot because of,
you know, certain decisions that she made, and I think
(33:29):
Andy learned from that. Anne Hathaway learned from that in
the first movie, and it paid off well in the
second movie by how she handled some of her life
decisions outside of work, and that resonated with Me too.
Because I think right now, I'm learning that things are
only going to grow, you know, God willing, and I'm
excited for that. But I am like, I love you
(33:49):
said you home with family, and I'm like, ugh. I
look back on the time when I was in Delaware
with my mom and I'm just for like that year
while I was trying to figure everything out, And I
cherished that time so much now because I don't have
that much time to just be with them and like
get the being the crevices of the small things, waking
up every morning and the breakfast is you know, and
it's difficult once you get moving and shaking trying to
(34:11):
like keep that balance.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
But I think that's why you should cherish every moment
that you're in right so, like cherish the grind season
that you're in right now. And I think that anything
that like every time you say yes to something, you're
automatically saying no to something else, and that's okay. Sacrifice
is fine. Like this is like sometimes something has to
(34:33):
give so that you can have something else. And I
don't think it's like there's no right or wrong way.
I think what the thing to focus on is like
what do you want out of life and going after
that wholeheartedly, regardless of what everybody else thinks, what regardless
of what everybody else says you should have, Like maybe.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
I don't want like, I don't want balance, maybe I
don't want to have kids, like and that's okay, Like
because whose life is it? It's mine?
Speaker 4 (34:59):
So so yeah, I love that they kind of like
highlight that in the film as well, Like, you know,
if you choose in one thing, sometimes that means saying
no to something else.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
So and that's okay in it, but I think when
you're in it, it feels like like because I felt
guilt a lot.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I don't know how you feel.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
But when you're working in like this fast paced media
space or if you're just new in building anything, one
thing does lack and I always feel guilty about it
when it does, Like and I'm still learning how to
talk myself through that guilt and that feeling. I don't
know if you've got into a place of like, you know,
when things do lack, how you kind of talk yourself
through that.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
M I think for me, I've definitely I'll admit, been
selfish and so even if I do know, I.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Love that about you.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
By the way I love. I admire that about you
so much. You're gonna leave when it's sudden lead, You're
gonna do what you need to do for yourself. I'm
not always I'm not fully there yet I've learned.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
It on very people. Pleasey in this phase of my life.
Speaker 4 (35:59):
I mean, I've definitely have those days too where I'm
like in my head thinking about here, what do people
think about me? But like, once I've made up my
mind about something, then I'm just kind of like if
everybody else, if everything else, like, this is what I want,
and this is the decision I'm gonna make. And so
I think, like, I think it's just important to be
(36:19):
self aware and like for me to even say like
I'm selfish, that took me like a long time to
get there. And I don't think it's a bad thing
to be like full of self, which is like what
the word means, because you can't help other people out
if you're not like preserving your own peace of mind.
And so I've yeah, I've made decisions like I just
(36:43):
lived my life based off of Okay, what do I
want and I'm in control. If other people don't understand,
then that's that's fine. Because they're not living my life.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
So one of the things that I've always thought about
when I watch movies like Double Worst Product or Sex
and the City, even Girl Friend, it's like the differences
between white women in a space or other's anybody, and
then black women in the space. Because for me, it's like, Okay,
I want to balance my life because I want, you know,
a full life outside of work. But when I think
(37:14):
about my my need to always show up, always be
the person that can do it, always be the person
that stays late. It's not because I love to please people,
like I'm very much so like I ain't kissing ass.
It's more so like I feel like I'm out of sight,
out of mind, like I'm already at a disadvantage because
i may be one of only in a space. So
(37:35):
let me overachieve because I feel like I have to.
And that puts you on a never ending hamster will
mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Yeah, I've definitely I have been that person all the time.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
And I mean so many places, like going into like
these different magazines where it's like you're the only black girl,
or you're going on a pressure with a brand, you're
the only black girl.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And so yeah, you. Definitely.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
I mean I don't like dwell on it, like, oh
my god, I'm the only but I do think it
probably does effect like which I don't think it is
a bad thing to go above and beyond like both,
but definitely, yeah, trying to be I'm the first one
in the office every day and the last.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
One to leave, like I do those things.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
And I guess it's more about like I guess I'm
asking you, when did you learn to set healthy boundaries
within that? Because I had to learn before I left
my last job. One of the things I was happy
about is I learned the boundary of being like no
and no. Yeah, but before that, no was obsolete because
(38:35):
I'm like, oh, it's only me here. I gotta do
it or they're gonna find another black girl.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
No. I think if you try to say yes to everything,
which I have been that person and I have done
that before, then it gets to a point where like
you're not being you're not get turning in your best
work on all of those things. Yeah, So like at
some point you gotta be like, listen, I'm already working
on X, Y and Z. If you want my help
(39:01):
with this thing over here, Like I can help, but
I'm gonna have to prioritize some things or like which
one do you want me to get to first?
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Like you have to like set those boundaries because at the.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
End of the day, like you don't want to be
trying to do it all and then you're doing it
all sloppily, like or you know, you want every every
single thing you touch to be its best and to
be excellent. So that's how I've learned, like, Okay, I can't.
I got something's gotta give. We gotta make decisions.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I've learned a hard lesson in that as well to
even be on a breakfast club because like now it's
like whatever I put out there, girl, it's on me.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
So it's no cruise control.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
On days where like I might not be at my best,
it's like every day I gotta like, you know, sensor
and figure it out. In closing, and thank you so
much for joining me in this conversation. One of the things,
like one of my like overall moral.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Of the story things that I took away from watching
Devil Works prod Of Too, was just it's a journey
to find yourself.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
And when you find yourself, even in times where like
you might slip, don't divert from it, because it always
garners you the best success, Like Saintento's donald who you
are and who you want to become and what it
takes to get there, and people will feel that, Like
people need Andy's presence just not even her work, but
her personality, her smile, her jokes, her gullibleness. At times,
(40:27):
it was so refreshing, and her absence was felt when
she left, and you could tell because once you know
they started rekindling things, you're like, oh, okay, they felt
her on a personal level.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
And for me, I'm always.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Like, I just want to make sure that when I
show up, I'm able to show up as my full
self and then doing that, I'm able to Like I'm
always taking about like impact, Like how am I How
is my presence here impacting someone's life even once I'm gone?
So watching her operate in her full space and do
the things she did, it's all right, yeah, like girl,
like you're doing it, like you're doing what you need
(41:05):
to be doing and it's not even nothing for you
to think about. You just do it. I don't know
if you had like an overall takeaway or anything like
that from the movie.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
But no, I love that.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
I think especially like when you look at the most
successful people in the world, they're all the way they
show up to work, they're like one hundred percent honest
about their work. And I feel like you can't do
your best work if you're not, especially in the industry
that's about taste and style, if.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
You're not honest about it, Like you can't produce the
best if you.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
Kind of lye in and like, oh, we'll let that slide,
We'll let them get away with that, or I'm gonna
bite my tongue on this.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Like you got to show up as yourself.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
And that's the only way I think that you can
put out your best work is if you show up
as yourself. And I'm so glad that Andy is like
thriving and bringing like this different quirkiness to the office,
like and for me it's inspiring because I'm like, Okay,
you know, I might not like like certain things about myself,
or it might be different than the other everybody else
(42:03):
I work with, but like that's who I am and
that's why I'm there. Because we don't all need to
be homogeneous. We need to all like have a different
perspective that we bring to the table. So it's just
overall inspiring.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Go see the movie if you haven't.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yes, And it was her callback.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
It was her thing like you I saw want of
you know she wrote down is like the you know,
how to get into the industry and stay. I feel like,
you know, she got into the industry a very traditional
way where it's like, no, you really do start off
as like I remember being in the fashion clothes and
it being like, oh, this ain't just in the movies, child,
You really do start from like what the heck? Okay,
(42:40):
don't talk to that person, don't do that. Like, but
you're learning in the midst of all of that. I
think you're learning a lot just about structure and discipline
and tough skin. But her call back when she was
down and out was the fact that she showed up
every day as herself, and she had continued to do
that work long after she left there, so when they
needed a person, they knew exactly. Like people talk about
(43:01):
branding themselves, and I'm always like, yo, if you're a person,
you got to curate yourself, just be a person. R
cerrated herself naturally by doing her work, and her work
got her call back when she needed a dang job exactly.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
I loved it. It was really inspiring, Yes, it was.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
It was I I yes, like I'm going out tonight
for met Gala just to like hit some after parties
and I'm about to head home to like wash the
carpet and stuff. But it made me even want to
do Like it's like I want to get into the
shits more. Like I'm doing well, but like you know,
I need to find a way a lot more time,
Like I just left with all these things on my
(43:37):
mind of like brown as your oyster, and you need
that reminder sometimes, especially at our big age, like it's
easy when you're young and you all you know, googly eye.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
But yeah, the work continued. There's more to be accomplished.
So I'm inspired in every way. We're about to take
this to the next level.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
So yes we are years no cheers with but cheers.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
All right, y'alls.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
So this has been another episode of the Latest with
Laura LaRosa, the podcast and my low writers. I tell you, guys,
every single episode, y'all could be anywhere with any old body,
but y'all choose to be right here with me every
single episode.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
And I appreciate you guys so much for that. Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
We have the Brown Girl Grinding merch at browngargrinding dot
com and for a limited time, if you use BGG
love l o v E at checkout, I'm showing y'
all some love and giving y'all some money off your products.
It's a little surprise, but only if you've watched or
listened to this podcast will you know that I'll catch
you guys in my next episode.
I'm a homegirl that knows a little bit about everything
and everybody.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
You know, if you don't lie about that, right Lauren, y'all,
what's up.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
It's Laura le Rosa and this is another episode of
the Latest with Laura l Rosa. This is your DELI
dig on all things pop culture and attiment, news and
all of the conversations that shake the room.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
Baby.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Now, before we get started, I do have a guest
to hear with me today. We will be diving into
all things journalism, into all things fashion, the fear and
the fearless pursuit of you know, everything in between the
media landscape and just being an entrepreneur and a hustler
in the space.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
So I called.
Speaker 1 (00:42):
I phoned a friend and I was like, hey, girl,
Devil's Proud is I want to talk about it on
the podcast, but I want to have a conversation with
someone about it, and I want to talk to someone
who I know is like in the in the midst
of it, you know what I mean. So I have
a friend that will be joining me, and I'm gonna
let her introduce herself. But low riders, you guys know,
(01:03):
we check in behind the scenes of the grind here first,
so we'll also get a chance to do that with her.
So joining me right now is my sister from another mister,
from a very well dressed another mystery I left.
Speaker 3 (01:16):
Thank you, Leo. I'm so happy to be here. Thank
you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
Of course, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
So our podcast community there are nine million plus listeners.
They are called the low riders because they'd be writing hard.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Okay, they write her.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
For us, but you know, introduce yourself to them, give
a little bit of your background and you know what
you've done where you are now, and then we'll get
into the check in.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
So I'm Alexis Bennett Parker. I've been working in media
for over ten twelve years now. I've worked historically at
mostly legacy magazines. So I come from Vogue, Elle, Cosmo,
in Style and now how I am overseeing shopping commerce
(02:03):
content at Essence, Refinery twenty nine and the Sundown Media
portfolio Group. So I'm excited for today because this is
this is my life.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
But I actually and realize so me and Alexis we met.
I don't even remember what year that was. I want
to say it might have been like twenty twelve. Twenty thirteen,
somewhere around there. Yeah, yeah, it was somewhere around there.
So Cosmopolitan Magazine used to do this fun fashion and
fun fearless and fashion conference or something like that. It
(02:34):
was those words, but I just don't know if I'm
putting them in the right order. But they would do
this conference and it was basically like you would come.
You would get to listen to like editors and assistants
and all these people from Cosmo magazine talking about working
in the industry and you know, just try and figure
your way out in life. And I just remember we
were in like the holding area in like a lobby,
and mind you, guys, I had like found out about
(02:55):
it on I think, like Instagram, and this was like
early Instagram, Like you, I don't even think you could
post videos for real Instagram at that point. But I
had found out about it because I was like having
this whole little blog that I was doing, and I
just knew my life when I was supposed to you
had a magazine.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
And I went. I caught the bus from Delaware State University.
I went.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
I got there and I just remember seeing these two
black girls and I was like, there are the only
two people in here that look like me.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I'm gonna just go talk to them.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
And I walked up and was just like, hey, I
don't even remember what I said, but I just remember
I walked up.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
And we've been friends ever since.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
And Alexis has had such an amazing career, Like she
says these things so casually, but you know, getting able
to see, you know, being able to see you go
from you know, someone who wanted to move to New
York and figure out all these things to actually moving here.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
I remember you started it was Install, right, yep?
Speaker 3 (03:49):
I started at InStyle.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Yeah, it was Install magazine. And when you were an
Install magazine, you were what was your role there?
Speaker 4 (03:56):
I had several different roles back and forth, kind of
like boomerang, but I started off as a fact checker.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
That was my very first role.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
And basically a fact checker is the person who literally
just make sure the magazine doesn't get sued so that right,
every sentence makes sense.
Speaker 1 (04:14):
So yeah, and then and at that time I think
I had I did like an internship at Cosmopolitan Magazine
for about just a winter break, so maybe like a
week or two.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
But I thought it was so fire.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
I'm like, you're getting to live the dream gird you're
working at the magazine, and then you went on from
InStyle into other things.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
But I remember mostly the Internet.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Becoming such a big conversation in magazines, just not physical magazines,
just not being at the forefront and the Internet being
a thing. And I remember Volgue made it such a
big deal that they were going to Vogue dot com
and leaning more there and like they were trying to
do more like hip young stories and the shopping things,
and you went there, Yeah, and that was like such
(04:58):
a turning point for the magazine for the conversations around magazines.
But you were there really early, Like you was your
team even really big. You're like the only person I
knew that worked on that side of things.
Speaker 4 (05:08):
Yeah, so I was definitely I feel like one of
the like earlier people in shopping content, and basically shopping
content for a magazine is like it's the one of
the newest revenue streams, Whereas in the past magazines have
always been about you know, getting advertisers to just you know,
buy a page or whatever. Yeah, whereas like the shopping
content is more so about taking the stories we're already during,
(05:31):
we're already writing about but figuring out Okay, instead of
just telling you about this trend, I'm going to tell
you how you can shop it, how you can get it,
and then we make affiliate revenue from it. So again
it's kind of like just this newer way of like
trying to keep the lights on because, as you know,
like nobody's buying print magazines anymore.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
So.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
But one of the things that I always thought was
fire was like when I would like, I might be
like visiting New York, or like I know, when my
mom was going through all of her like health stuff
and I was here and you would invite me to
things that we were running to each other at things.
I remember people just being so in awe of your work,
and like I remember we were at an event in
Norstrum and I just I was like, yo, they are
(06:13):
like fanning out and here over you. And I thought
that that was so respectable and so far because it
wasn't that you were like, you know, on the magazine
every day and your face is in the magazine. Your
work was actually garnering money at a time where people
didn't understand how to make money with their cross section
of magazines and products, and you were actually so good
(06:35):
at what you were doing, and it was so accurate,
and it was so to the point you had found
a niche for yourself as a black woman in a
space that isn't really as friendly to us as it
still should be.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
But you found yourself in this space.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And you were making money for these brands and not
just like small brands, small brands as well. But I
mean we were in Norstrum and there were some of
the heads of Norstrum that found out that you were
there and they came down to personally just say thank you.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
That was like pandemic time, like nobody was spending money.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
Yeah. Yeah, And that's what I love.
Speaker 4 (07:04):
I think that's the most rewarding part, is like, not
only are you making money for the company you work for,
but it's these brands, it's these retailers, Like it's this
chain effect and it really just helps the fashion industry
as a whole. So I love like being able to
like use my words to actually turn readers into shoppers.
And again, I don't take it lightly, like I take
(07:25):
it as an honor because at the end of the day,
I want people to feel like they can trust me
if they read a story about Alexus, Like, I know
she's gonna tell me these items are truly the best,
and it's not like she's just trying to sell me
something that's like subpar.
Speaker 3 (07:38):
So we take it seriously and I love it.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
Yeah, I mean, but I just the reason why I
point that out is because I feel, like, you know,
I was thinking about this as I was watching The
Devil Worst Product Too, which is the review we'll get
into here, just about how aligned a lot of the
people that I admire in the industry. I admire them
because like everything that I think should be happening is
what you guys are already doing, Like you know, the
(08:03):
ability to like be honest, to tell the truth, to
like actually like do the work, but also like be
enjoyable and like you know, like all those things. And
I remember being in a fashion closet and literally I
was so grateful for that job and so grateful for
she Ona Tarini, who was the reason that I got
that opportunity. But I remember being in there and just
(08:24):
being like, this is amazing and this is like the dream.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
But these these people, these women in here.
Speaker 1 (08:32):
Don't have enough say so for me, and enough like
ownership and not that anybody that works in a fashion closet. Now,
you know, I'm not knocking anything, but I just really
remember feeling like, I don't know, I think I'm a
bit too opinionated to be in here. I think I
don't believe in a way that this hierarchy is set up.
They don't make enough money to be, you know, obeying
(08:52):
this hierarchy. I just always felt like there was like
another way. And then I think about people like you
who've made your own way, and I think that that's why.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
You know, I've always been from a distance.
Speaker 1 (09:02):
I've always admired the things that you've been able to
set up for yourself. So I know, you know, in
this time when they're getting you know, departments are chopping,
digital departments are chopping black writers, and you know, black
people meeting no matter where you are, whether its outlet's
black or white, or like becoming non existent. You know,
we do this thing here at the Latest with Laurence Rosa.
(09:22):
The podcast called checking In Behind the Scenes to the Grind,
And this part of the podcast is really just like
how are you? Because I find it where I don't
take the time to check in on myself, so I
make I built it in the podcast, so I could
do it for myself, but when I have guests, I
like to check in on them as well too.
Speaker 2 (09:41):
So how are you, and like, for real, how are
you doing.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
I cannot complain, like and I'm not. It's not just
you know, people say, oh, I'm good just as like
a reaction, Like I really genuinely mean that I'm in
a great place. I just started this new job two
months ago, Like I wrote, six months before I got
my offer, I write, I wrote down exactly what I
wanted on one line of a piece of paper, and
(10:10):
I kept writing it over and over until I got
to the end. Six months later, I got exactly what
I asked for, Like, I cannot complain.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
So I'm in a great place.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
I'm feeling good mentally, spiritually, I'm spending time with my
family right now in Florida, with my grandma, my mom,
and so I just feel like really blessed to be
able to one have a job that I love and
to also be able to try to like balance it with.
Speaker 3 (10:37):
Family and personal life.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
And I mean, I don't even like the word balance,
because I do feel like the job that I have
is like a job that it's a job that.
Speaker 3 (10:45):
I would be doing even if I didn't.
Speaker 4 (10:47):
Have the job, Like shopping online is just like fun
to me, So I don't even have to think of
it as like balancing or anything.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
But I'm just I'm in a really happy mental state
right now, and so I'm grateful for that.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
That's good to know. I am too. I am too.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
It's a I think it's an everyday new experience because
like as like work grows, the talent side of it
all grows. And as much as I've always wanted to
figure out the talent side, once you get in it,
it's like it's a that balance is a lot of
because it's hard work on both ends.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Like you're burning yourself on both ends. So you know, me,
I burned to the.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Very very end if I had to to make sure
that I'm maintaining you know, work and all the things.
So learning how not to burn myself too much has
been a task, but I think I've gotten a better
handle on it within these last like two to three months.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
So very new.
Speaker 4 (11:38):
But yeah, I wanted to say, like I just you
mentioned ownership too earlier, Like yes, I feel like you've
always been on it and I just have to say, like,
how proud I am of you for like seeing that
everything you're doing with like brown Girl grinding, like having
your own and especially in this day and age where
it's like, you know, we see the magazines are instantly shrinking,
(12:00):
these companies that are huge legacy companies getting smaller and smaller.
But at the same time, like, journalism is not dead,
it's still I would I would say it's even more
important now now everybody has a microphone, everybody can tweet,
everybody can say something, but not everybody is fact checking.
Speaker 3 (12:19):
Not everybody is actually following up on a source.
Speaker 4 (12:23):
A lot of people are just reading a headline and
making a story out of that without even knowing the facts.
So I commend you for everything that you're doing because
you are like upholding the journalistic standards and integrity of
the industry and you are proof that like it still
matters and it's important.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
So had to say that really quick.
Speaker 4 (12:42):
I had to thank you giving your flowers appreciated.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Well, that actually brings us right on into the latest
so let's get into it. So we are here because
the Devil Worst Product franchise has dropped a new instultion
U Double Worst Product to dropped and it is doing
amazingly well in the theaters. Following its opening weekend, it
surpassed the Michael Movie for the largest opening of a
(13:10):
live action film.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
It is making money, but.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
I'm not surprised that it's making the money it's making.
You know, you have and Hathaway, MARYL. Street, like the
original cast has all returned. That's always a good sign
for success for you know, a second installment of something.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
So it had everything, all the setup.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
You know that they were going to have the pr budget,
they were going to have all the things that it needed.
But I was worried, like, Okay, when we get to it,
is the story gonna be good this time around? I
saw it today. I know you saw it yesterday. I
was very impressed by the movie.
Speaker 3 (13:46):
I loved it.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Yes, I was so impressed.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
You know, I want to start from the beginning of
the movie, and I think that this is something that
we both can really identify with just the how prevalent
and fast the industry is changing, and it's always been changing.
We literally just talk through the fact that we've lived
through various different changes of the industry from blogging to
Instagram to Instagram not even having video to you know,
(14:13):
you honestly anchoring in a big part of the dot
com and shit and the shopping space on these coture websites.
The movie starts out having that conversation in real time,
and I thought that was I'm like, yes, like I
felt like, so y'all sitting here with us right now.
Speaker 3 (14:28):
Yes, I'm so bad. I don't want to Are we
gonna do spoilers?
Speaker 1 (14:33):
I don't want to spoil Yeah, yeah, I don't want
to do spoiler alerts, but like, if you're watching this,
we are going to get a bit into like overall
uh like overalls, like vague subjects and feelings from the movie.
So spoiler alert, spoiler alert, spoiler alert that it may
spoil a bit, but don't give out like actual factuals,
(14:54):
you know.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Okay, I will say that one year I was when
I was working at self magazine.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
I was there, I was on the dot com.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
I was there when they laid off the entire printing,
the entire printing.
Speaker 3 (15:12):
And that, and then I've seen that happen over and
over again. So it's like.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
I feel like, I mean, obviously, like we like we
anyone can see it coming, Like magazines are dying, right,
But I'm just so glad that the.
Speaker 3 (15:26):
Movie touched on that because it's real.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
And and I will say like again, like I already said,
like I think you're doing a great job, like we
still need journalists, but at the same time, like the
magazine industry and the whole media that that legacy media
business model is dead, like it's not profitable. And of
course there are still magazines around, but like a lot
(15:53):
of them are just spending money and they're not making
money and it's more of like an ego thing. But
but you're still like, why are so many billionaires trying
to buy.
Speaker 3 (16:03):
Media companies now?
Speaker 4 (16:05):
Because they still want to control the narrative and it's important, yes,
but it's not so For example, there's rumors that Jeff
Bezos might buy Vogue for Lauren Sanchez, and it's like,
do you think that he's buying because he thinks it's
going to be more profitable than Amazon? No, it's like
it's it's just having control of the narrative and being
a part being able to control media is still powerful.
(16:29):
Why do you think Elon bought Twitter a media It's
not because he thought it was going to make more
money than Tesla or SpaceX.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
So it's just the narrative and being able to control it.
And I thought, I thought the way that they even
had that conversation about you know, the hands that you know,
media fault falls in, excuse me, the hands that media falls.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
In, and where it.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
Almost got to versus where it landed, and you know,
just it made me think a lot about where we
are today with like people's intentions behind the purchases of
like what we're seeing with like even like some of
the mergers that we're seeing, like the whole sky Dance
and Paramount and Warner Brothers, and like I'm like, oh
(17:12):
my god, this is like the most fashioned, friendly way
of saying politically, y'all is something wrong right now?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Y'all should wake up? Like I love that.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I feel like it didn't even feel like an activist movie,
but there was so much advocacy in this movie. Like
Andy is an advocate of like people in human things,
and I think in the world today, we all have
to be like that because the things that are happening
are literally messing up our daily lives as humans, like
(17:43):
down to like gas and groceries, and you know, like
it's not just like oh my god, I can't afford
my favorite Starbucks and magazine anymore. It's like, no, you
might can't afford to take your child to daycare. And
the same people who are doing that are also about
to control the way that people call them out about that,
and that's scary mm.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
And it goes back to that's why independent journalism is
so important too. A lot of companies are being silenced,
and you know, like I think it's so important for
people like you to just have a voice and to
continue to like do the work that needs to be
done and that ownership, so having your own is so important.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, you know what's crazy, Like before I like like
even though I've always had this like all right, I
want to be like this, like you can't get around
me this institution and then like people and whatever they
come and we work together, I've never really understood, or
maybe I just didn't know it was independent media. I
(18:50):
always thought about it like owning a business, Like the
person who owns the business can kind of maneuver the
way that they want to in if you don't owe
anybody thing financially, then you kind of can get a
bit more safe. So, now, don't get me wrong. I
have a corporate job, right, like I work at iHeart
still with Breakfast Club. So there are people that like,
(19:11):
you know, a job is a job. But at the
same time, I think what I love about the Breakfast
Club in this phase of my life is I was
so blessed to be at a place where even though
it's a job, you still are able to be like
I don't fuck with that, no, like and I've always been.
I mean, TMZ was that way as well. Like people
(19:34):
like to you know, make it this like big dramatic,
you know, exit, but TMZ was like that as well.
I was very much Angela Davis in there, like and
to the point where I used to text my black
group chats and be like, yo, am I doing too
much now? Like you know, because even if they didn't
want to hear you, they wouldn't stop you from saying
it that they wanted people to interject, They wanted people
to So I've always been those those those situations. But
(19:56):
I was watching this movie like, I hope that because
I I left feeling inspired, I left feeling like I
wasn't doing enough, And I'm like, I hope it makes
other people feel like that too, Like I don't care
where you work.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
If you're there, you're there for a reason.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
Like the reason why I mentioned you in that dot
com space because when I was with you that day
Norse triam and I saw that I'm like, the conversation
right now, especially in the pandemic was support everything black,
Support everything black, and I was like, this is gonna
come and go. The Black Squares is going to be
way down the timeline after a few posts. After that,
them people kneeling at the Capitol won't get up, and
(20:32):
we still need people that are like in the spaces
that not even just fighting for everything black, but just
fighting for like things that make sense to humans and
that we need and that we care about. And having
a person like you that is very respected but knowing
you and knowing your moral integrity as a person, I
was like, Okay, this is fire. And that's what like
when I think about devil words proud of the second
(20:54):
go around, I think we get to see Andy in
this space of like she's still searching for that gratification
and that like that need to feel like I'm doing
something good, which I want to touch on that too,
because I feel like I still have that and I've
been trying to figure out why. But she's her own
person to the point where like she's not backing down
off for how morally where she stands.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
Find that from the first movie.
Speaker 3 (21:20):
She's so confident in this movie.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Yeah, I mean, like you said, not to like a perfection, right,
She's still like, you know, it's looking around the office
that like what other people are wearing, and she's you know,
wondering what she can wear when she goes to the Hamptons.
Speaker 3 (21:36):
But there's like a quiet confidence in her.
Speaker 4 (21:40):
And I love how she like leans into like her
new role at the magazine. And but again, like it
goes back to like that broken business model.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
The metrics matter.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
When Meryl Street's character like asked her, like, what were
the page views on that story you wrote, it's just like.
Speaker 3 (21:58):
Like, well, wrote story, but nobody read it.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
So yeah, like I think you know, in that case,
Andy could have like maybe put the story on her
social media because again, like as we know, like one
real or one TikTok and get way more views than
a visit to you know, a website. So I don't
know if that was just like a good part of
the movie.
Speaker 1 (22:20):
I thought it was just interesting too, though, to see
how much she still there was still that satisfact and
we won't say exactly what the satisfaction that she was
looking for, but there was still that.
Speaker 2 (22:31):
Sense of needing and longing for something.
Speaker 1 (22:34):
Yeah, And I've recently, like you know, as I get
to like certain points in career and just in life,
and I felt like Andy's at the same place in
life as me right now.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
I don't know how old she actually is in.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
This second film, but I find myself sometimes still needing that, like, oh,
you did a great job. And I thought I was
like so unneeding of that, and like you know, in
my roof and you know, black women, you can't tell
me nothing. And then I started receiving criticisms and I
couldn't take it, and I had.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
To readjust number one.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
How I took it because I need critique to get better,
but also I had to understand what to filter out,
what shouldn't be a critique, like something, what I shouldn't
let live on me, because there's so much coming at
you at one time, and I just it made me wonder, like,
why is it the industry we work in as media people,
as journalists, where we're constantly wanting that like you did
(23:30):
good because it's not common or is that just a
human thing that they touch on in the movie of
just like the feeling of like I don't know, like
admiration and you know, like all things good from people
that you admire.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I think it's a human thing.
Speaker 4 (23:46):
Like I think that for us specifically, it might be
magnified because of our industry, because of the optics and
just like the way that it's set up and glamorized.
But I do think it's a human thing to like
just kind of like sometimes want someone to say.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Like, you're doing a great job. But at the same.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Time, what I've been personally trying to work on is
like being more stoic too, And you know, even when
someone like gives me a compliment or if I you know,
have a certain success or when in my career, like
I'm always thinking about, Okay, what's next, how can I
do more? How can I you know, compete with myself,
and so like keeping this internal scorecard too, so that
(24:27):
way I'm like, you know what I said, I was
gonna work out this morning, and I worked out this morning,
Like just trying to like internally be the person that's
patting my own back and not always like looking forward
from others because you can't control what others will say.
And I mean, that's a whole other conversation because I
do think when I feel like, when we see our
(24:49):
people get to a certain level of success for some reason,
it's just like, Okay, now you need to come back
down because you're just And.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
That's crazy because in the movie, in the movie and.
Speaker 1 (24:59):
Double part of too, I felt like people weren't trying
to drag her down, but she herself was always preparing
for what if this is all over tomorrow because of
the way her industry was going, and I think just
because of how many risks she said to take the
way she gets to, which I try to talk myself
out of feeling every day. And I'm like I thought
when I was watching him, I'm like, I thought this
was just a black girl thing. We're so few fearm between,
(25:23):
especially in certain rooms and at certain levels. I'm always like, yo,
if I wake up tomorrow, not this is over, what
do I have? Don't buy that? Because just in case,
don't buy this. And she was doing that, Andy was
doing that.
Speaker 4 (25:34):
And then I think, too, it's the sign of the
times too, because we are constantly being told we're all
going to be replaced by AI, Like that's happening too,
So it's just kind of I don't know.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
I think people are, people.
Speaker 4 (25:47):
Are moving to I think just being like a little
bit more conscious that things can be here today, gone tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (25:55):
But it's so hard to like, I feel like when
I was really going through my darkest time over this
last year, not just in this last year twenty twenty six,
but this last like full year, right, the darkest time
that I was going through was when I was second
guessing myself, second guests in my instinct. And a part
of it was like I was receiving so much critique
(26:15):
at one time and I was I was letting some
of it live on me.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
Then the other part of it was me just preparing
to like.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Wake up and it all be going and not be
able to do it again and not understanding that like
regardless of.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
Where you go, you are, who you are, you got
it or you don't.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
And yeah, it's like I feel like Andy's constant battle
is that because we saw that in Devil was Proud
of one, then we saw in Devil Wors Product two,
and I feel like she came out of fast, came
out of it faster, and the second movie, but the
fight was there again, and I was like, Okay, so
no matter new levels and new devils, for.
Speaker 4 (26:54):
Sure, it's I think it's all as long as we
have breath in our body. Especially if you're an ambitious person,
I feel like we're always going to be like chasing
for something.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Now talk a bit about and you know, to your discretion,
because I know this is your real work life, in
real life. When people watch this movie, one of the
biggest things, especially you know, for the new kids who
are watching it and who are learning who in a
Winterur is and it's met galaxies and right now, I
feel like because of this movie, even me, because of
this movie, I have such a view of like what
(27:26):
in a Winterur is probably like because I know that
Meryl Streep's character was fashioned after her, What is it
really like working within a Winter?
Speaker 4 (27:37):
I will say I have so much respect for Anna,
and I know, like nobody's perfect on this planet, but.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
I've learned a lot from her from working with her,
seeing her.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
How she works, how she operates. This woman is the
best at what she does right, and so I enjoyed
it I enjoyed every moment of it. Like when I
heard the news that she was gonna step down, like
from editor in chief, like that was I was sad,
like I'm not gonna lie and I'm so excited that
Chloe Mall is now there, who I also got to
(28:11):
work with while I was at Vogue.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
But it's inspiring.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
It makes you want to be better, like wake up
every single day and do the best that you can
do at any and every job that I've gone to
on to afterwards.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
So I enjoyed it so much.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
She is she very hands on because when I worked
at TMZ and since then, when I talk about TMZ,
everybody always wants to ask me about like what my
experience was, and what they're directly asking me is what
is it like working with Harvey Levin? And I tell people,
you can say whatever you want about him, but he
is one of the most hard working people I've ever met.
He is involved in every story if he can be.
(28:48):
He is at work before we get there, after we leave,
working all weekend, like he really lives and breathes this,
and we saw that a lot with Merril Troop's character.
You know, when you live and breathing and some of
the things you lose in your real life is in
a winter like that as well, where she truly lives
and breathes every every article, every word, every pitch that
(29:09):
is going out from Vogue.
Speaker 4 (29:10):
Yeah, I mean she's always the first person in the
office there every single day, So she's really like in
the in.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
The work, in the thick of it.
Speaker 4 (29:19):
But at the same time, I think part of her
brilliance is that she also knows what she doesn't know,
and so she'll hire the best around her. So, for example,
like me and doing editorial commerce content, like Anna's not
an e comm expert, she is a magazine expert, and
so she hired a very very smart, brilliant team of
(29:42):
e commerce writers and like my former manager Lisa Aikan,
who is an e combat such a smart brilliant woman.
So for us, like when it came to like eCOM stuff,
she kind of just was like, y'all do y'all thing,
Like y'all got it as long as it looked great
and was in conflict with like the.
Speaker 3 (30:02):
Overall brand a Vogue. No, Like if you didn't hear
from her, no news was good news. That meant you
were doing well. So yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1 (30:12):
Yeah, And I feel I mean even with Breakfast Club too,
people always talk to me about Envy Charlemagne, just like
but more so I feel like Envy and Charlemagne because
me and Jess are both new there and people are
always wondering, like what is it like to be around
like they've been doing it for so long, and like
(30:33):
even now some days I'd be like, I can't believe
I'm really at the Breakfast Club. But like I remember
early on just like watching them, and it still happens today.
I just like watch them, like go watch them come
in and out of segments and talk breaks and all
these things that I'm learning.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
And they just do it so easily, and I just
be like, hello.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
Like yeah, but it's like, I mean, but these people
have really been doing it and doing it very very
well for a long time. But I think one of
the things that I admired a lot about coming to
the Breakfast Club's team was, I mean, Harvey definitely hires
he one thing he gonna do was put together something
higher a team and get it done or keep it
internal and figure out and identify who's best for it.
(31:16):
But one of the things that happened at Breakfast Club
that didn't happen at TMZ. For me was they allowed
me to own the own my space a bit more,
and I think that's why people got to feel like,
you know, I feel like my presence was felt on
the show because I felt and appreciated that. So, you know,
(31:37):
it's not like I didn't appreciate my job at TMZ,
But it's different when you feel like you're just a
piece of something versus when you're like a part of
the real full I'm here and I own my piece
of the puzzle growth of something. And I think we
saw that with Indyan and Douvile Worst PRODUCTO as well,
when you know there were big decisions on the line
that needed to be made in you know, Miranda Pressley
(31:59):
finally backed off Meryl Streep's character and let her character
just be great, like let Andy let a hat the
way do what she knew that she could do, you know,
and it turned out great for everybody. I don't know
if you've had an experience like that or just what
you're thinking around was when you saw her coming into
her own in that way. But it made me smile
(32:21):
because I remember my first time feeling like, oh girl,
you're the magic.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Yes.
Speaker 4 (32:27):
Yes, I've definitely had those moments, and it's special. It's
really special when someone allows you to thrive and creates
an environment.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
For you to thrive and to just do you do
what you're you know how to do bad.
Speaker 4 (32:44):
So I love that Andy finally had that moment in
the in the sequel Me Too.
Speaker 1 (32:50):
And I thought a part of a real grown up
conversation too in the first movie. In the second movie
that we saw is like prioritizing life outside of work
and what happened in the long run, because being a
career driven woman has always been such a hard conversation
of like can you.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
Have it all?
Speaker 1 (33:09):
And figuring out how to have it all while also
balancing a very high pressure, very demanding job. You know,
we saw in The Devil Worst Product one how Miranda
Presley's character, Meryl Sheep's character she lost a lot because of,
you know, certain decisions that she made, and I think
(33:29):
Andy learned from that. Anne Hathaway learned from that in
the first movie, and it paid off well in the
second movie by how she handled some of her life
decisions outside of work, and that resonated with Me too.
Because I think right now, I'm learning that things are
only going to grow, you know, God willing, and I'm
excited for that. But I am like, I love you
(33:49):
said you home with family, and I'm like, ugh. I
look back on the time when I was in Delaware
with my mom and I'm just for like that year
while I was trying to figure everything out, And I
cherished that time so much now because I don't have
that much time to just be with them and like
get the being the crevices of the small things, waking
up every morning and the breakfast is you know, and
it's difficult once you get moving and shaking trying to
(34:11):
like keep that balance.
Speaker 4 (34:13):
But I think that's why you should cherish every moment
that you're in right so, like cherish the grind season
that you're in right now. And I think that anything
that like every time you say yes to something, you're
automatically saying no to something else, and that's okay. Sacrifice
is fine. Like this is like sometimes something has to
(34:33):
give so that you can have something else. And I
don't think it's like there's no right or wrong way.
I think what the thing to focus on is like
what do you want out of life and going after
that wholeheartedly, regardless of what everybody else thinks, what regardless
of what everybody else says you should have, Like maybe.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
I don't want like, I don't want balance, maybe I
don't want to have kids, like and that's okay, Like
because whose life is it? It's mine?
Speaker 4 (34:59):
So so yeah, I love that they kind of like
highlight that in the film as well, Like, you know,
if you choose in one thing, sometimes that means saying
no to something else.
Speaker 1 (35:08):
So and that's okay in it, but I think when
you're in it, it feels like like because I felt
guilt a lot.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
I don't know how you feel.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
But when you're working in like this fast paced media
space or if you're just new in building anything, one
thing does lack and I always feel guilty about it
when it does, Like and I'm still learning how to
talk myself through that guilt and that feeling. I don't
know if you've got into a place of like, you know,
when things do lack, how you kind of talk yourself
through that.
Speaker 4 (35:37):
M I think for me, I've definitely I'll admit, been
selfish and so even if I do know, I.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
Love that about you.
Speaker 1 (35:47):
By the way I love. I admire that about you
so much. You're gonna leave when it's sudden lead, You're
gonna do what you need to do for yourself. I'm
not always I'm not fully there yet I've learned.
Speaker 2 (35:56):
It on very people. Pleasey in this phase of my life.
Speaker 4 (35:59):
I mean, I've definitely have those days too where I'm
like in my head thinking about here, what do people
think about me? But like, once I've made up my
mind about something, then I'm just kind of like if
everybody else, if everything else, like, this is what I want,
and this is the decision I'm gonna make. And so
I think, like, I think it's just important to be
(36:19):
self aware and like for me to even say like
I'm selfish, that took me like a long time to
get there. And I don't think it's a bad thing
to be like full of self, which is like what
the word means, because you can't help other people out
if you're not like preserving your own peace of mind.
And so I've yeah, I've made decisions like I just
(36:43):
lived my life based off of Okay, what do I
want and I'm in control. If other people don't understand,
then that's that's fine. Because they're not living my life.
Speaker 1 (36:51):
So one of the things that I've always thought about
when I watch movies like Double Worst Product or Sex
and the City, even Girl Friend, it's like the differences
between white women in a space or other's anybody, and
then black women in the space. Because for me, it's like, Okay,
I want to balance my life because I want, you know,
a full life outside of work. But when I think
(37:14):
about my my need to always show up, always be
the person that can do it, always be the person
that stays late. It's not because I love to please people,
like I'm very much so like I ain't kissing ass.
It's more so like I feel like I'm out of sight,
out of mind, like I'm already at a disadvantage because
i may be one of only in a space. So
(37:35):
let me overachieve because I feel like I have to.
And that puts you on a never ending hamster will
mm hmm.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Yeah, I've definitely I have been that person all the time.
Speaker 4 (37:45):
And I mean so many places, like going into like
these different magazines where it's like you're the only black girl,
or you're going on a pressure with a brand, you're
the only black girl.
Speaker 3 (37:54):
And so yeah, you. Definitely.
Speaker 4 (37:56):
I mean I don't like dwell on it, like, oh
my god, I'm the only but I do think it
probably does effect like which I don't think it is
a bad thing to go above and beyond like both,
but definitely, yeah, trying to be I'm the first one
in the office every day and the last.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
One to leave, like I do those things.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
And I guess it's more about like I guess I'm
asking you, when did you learn to set healthy boundaries
within that? Because I had to learn before I left
my last job. One of the things I was happy
about is I learned the boundary of being like no
and no. Yeah, but before that, no was obsolete because
(38:35):
I'm like, oh, it's only me here. I gotta do
it or they're gonna find another black girl.
Speaker 4 (38:41):
No. I think if you try to say yes to everything,
which I have been that person and I have done
that before, then it gets to a point where like
you're not being you're not get turning in your best
work on all of those things. Yeah, So like at
some point you gotta be like, listen, I'm already working
on X, Y and Z. If you want my help
(39:01):
with this thing over here, Like I can help, but
I'm gonna have to prioritize some things or like which
one do you want me to get to first?
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Like you have to like set those boundaries because at the.
Speaker 4 (39:11):
End of the day, like you don't want to be
trying to do it all and then you're doing it
all sloppily, like or you know, you want every every
single thing you touch to be its best and to
be excellent. So that's how I've learned, like, Okay, I can't.
I got something's gotta give. We gotta make decisions.
Speaker 1 (39:29):
I've learned a hard lesson in that as well to
even be on a breakfast club because like now it's
like whatever I put out there, girl, it's on me.
Speaker 2 (39:36):
So it's no cruise control.
Speaker 1 (39:38):
On days where like I might not be at my best,
it's like every day I gotta like, you know, sensor
and figure it out. In closing, and thank you so
much for joining me in this conversation. One of the things,
like one of my like overall moral.
Speaker 2 (39:53):
Of the story things that I took away from watching
Devil Works prod Of Too, was just it's a journey
to find yourself.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
And when you find yourself, even in times where like
you might slip, don't divert from it, because it always
garners you the best success, Like Saintento's donald who you
are and who you want to become and what it
takes to get there, and people will feel that, Like
people need Andy's presence just not even her work, but
her personality, her smile, her jokes, her gullibleness. At times,
(40:27):
it was so refreshing, and her absence was felt when
she left, and you could tell because once you know
they started rekindling things, you're like, oh, okay, they felt
her on a personal level.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
And for me, I'm always.
Speaker 1 (40:43):
Like, I just want to make sure that when I
show up, I'm able to show up as my full
self and then doing that, I'm able to Like I'm
always taking about like impact, Like how am I How
is my presence here impacting someone's life even once I'm gone?
So watching her operate in her full space and do
the things she did, it's all right, yeah, like girl,
like you're doing it, like you're doing what you need
(41:05):
to be doing and it's not even nothing for you
to think about. You just do it. I don't know
if you had like an overall takeaway or anything like
that from the movie.
Speaker 3 (41:13):
But no, I love that.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
I think especially like when you look at the most
successful people in the world, they're all the way they
show up to work, they're like one hundred percent honest
about their work. And I feel like you can't do
your best work if you're not, especially in the industry
that's about taste and style, if.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
You're not honest about it, Like you can't produce the
best if you.
Speaker 4 (41:35):
Kind of lye in and like, oh, we'll let that slide,
We'll let them get away with that, or I'm gonna
bite my tongue on this.
Speaker 3 (41:40):
Like you got to show up as yourself.
Speaker 4 (41:43):
And that's the only way I think that you can
put out your best work is if you show up
as yourself. And I'm so glad that Andy is like
thriving and bringing like this different quirkiness to the office,
like and for me it's inspiring because I'm like, Okay,
you know, I might not like like certain things about myself,
or it might be different than the other everybody else
(42:03):
I work with, but like that's who I am and
that's why I'm there. Because we don't all need to
be homogeneous. We need to all like have a different
perspective that we bring to the table. So it's just
overall inspiring.
Speaker 3 (42:16):
Go see the movie if you haven't.
Speaker 2 (42:17):
Yes, And it was her callback.
Speaker 1 (42:19):
It was her thing like you I saw want of
you know she wrote down is like the you know,
how to get into the industry and stay. I feel like,
you know, she got into the industry a very traditional
way where it's like, no, you really do start off
as like I remember being in the fashion clothes and
it being like, oh, this ain't just in the movies, child,
You really do start from like what the heck? Okay,
(42:40):
don't talk to that person, don't do that. Like, but
you're learning in the midst of all of that. I
think you're learning a lot just about structure and discipline
and tough skin. But her call back when she was
down and out was the fact that she showed up
every day as herself, and she had continued to do
that work long after she left there, so when they
needed a person, they knew exactly. Like people talk about
(43:01):
branding themselves, and I'm always like, yo, if you're a person,
you got to curate yourself, just be a person. R
cerrated herself naturally by doing her work, and her work
got her call back when she needed a dang job exactly.
Speaker 3 (43:13):
I loved it. It was really inspiring, Yes, it was.
Speaker 1 (43:16):
It was I I yes, like I'm going out tonight
for met Gala just to like hit some after parties
and I'm about to head home to like wash the
carpet and stuff. But it made me even want to
do Like it's like I want to get into the
shits more. Like I'm doing well, but like you know,
I need to find a way a lot more time,
Like I just left with all these things on my
(43:37):
mind of like brown as your oyster, and you need
that reminder sometimes, especially at our big age, like it's
easy when you're young and you all you know, googly eye.
Speaker 4 (43:47):
But yeah, the work continued. There's more to be accomplished.
So I'm inspired in every way. We're about to take
this to the next level.
Speaker 2 (43:57):
So yes we are years no cheers with but cheers.
Speaker 4 (44:03):
All right, y'alls.
Speaker 1 (44:04):
So this has been another episode of the Latest with
Laura LaRosa, the podcast and my low writers. I tell you, guys,
every single episode, y'all could be anywhere with any old body,
but y'all choose to be right here with me every
single episode.
Speaker 2 (44:17):
And I appreciate you guys so much for that. Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
We have the Brown Girl Grinding merch at browngargrinding dot
com and for a limited time, if you use BGG
love l o v E at checkout, I'm showing y'
all some love and giving y'all some money off your products.
It's a little surprise, but only if you've watched or
listened to this podcast will you know that I'll catch
you guys in my next episode.
The Breakfast Club News
Hosts And Creators
Charlamagne Tha God
DJ Envy
Jess Hilarious
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