April 18, 2023 • 56 mins
This week in the HER Living Room I’m so excited to welcome Filipino-American, director, photographer, fine artist, and co-founder of film production company Ground Work, Christelle de Castro! Listen in as Christelle and I talk about working on Olay #FaceAnything together, the lessons she’s learned as a creative, why mentorship is so important, and Christelle’s very necessary movie snack remix! Learn more about Christelle at https://christelledecastro.com/ and learn more about Ground Work here: https://ground-work.co/.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:31):
Hey, everybody, welcome back to a new episode of Her
with Amina Brown and y'all. Let me tell y'all something
the way that I had to just go ahead and
start recording right now because I'm already in my feelings.
I know some of y'all are like, is she our
feelings every week? But let's not focus on that. I'm
in my feelings today because we have a guest in
her living room that this has been a long time coming.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This has been a long time coming.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
So I want y'all to welcome Filipino American director, photographer,
fine artists and co founder of film production company round Work.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Christelle did Castro. That's right.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Can I just have Can I just have you present
me every day when I walk out of the when
I walk out of my space, that energy is I
need that?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I think what you should also do is give this
verbiage to every barista that does like your order at
the coffee shop and they're like, oh, what's your name?
Be like director, photographer, and you're like, you need to
hand them like a car so they can say all
of it and then be like your latte.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Right, They're like, ma'am, step aside.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You're like, no, you have to read all of this,
not just my first name, not just my last name,
like all of this.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
You're like, ma'am, please lead.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Right, Please get your latte and get on.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
We have other customers. Get out of here, y'all. Let
me tell y'all something. The reason why I'm telling y'all
this is a long time coming is because Cristell and
I originally met in twenty twenty. I actually met you, Christelle,
probably like weeks before this podcast relaunched. So this podcast
was seasonal and I am now under the Seneca Women Network,
(02:10):
So this podcast relaunched just probably a few weeks after
you and I met. And y'all, those of you that
have been following me on this podcast, remember that I
was a face of an olay campaign twenty twenty into
twenty twenty one, and any of you that saw the
video spot from that, Cristell was the director. Like I
(02:31):
just want to first of all say that shoot was
full of a lot of badass women, and you were
one of the badass women I got to watch like
making that whole thing happen, Christell, Like, yo.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thank you, thank you, No, that shot was incredible. Basically
the whole production team. We were all women. The DP
Daisy now a woman like everybody, you know, we were
very intentional with making sure that, yeah, that we.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Were crewed up with women. That's kind of important.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
It was a camp really about like female empowerment, and
so we wanted to make sure that that was represented
with the crew.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And Christelle you not even get to talk about this
in detail, I don't think. But I've only been directed
two times in my career and one of those, who's.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
You really yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, that was like a big big deal for me,
and just you know, just to let you know. The
other one is Robert Townsend. That's like you're you're the
two directors, so you know, it's I feel like, yes, exactly,
you know, like I'll be able to say when you're
out there, you know, winning your awards, I'll be able
to be like Robert Townsend and Cristelle de Castro both
(03:41):
directed me. You know, I'll be able to say. But
because I have been a poetry performer so long, it's
really like any of my performances or sets or anythings
like that, most of the time it was kind of like,
really I had to be self directed a lot, so
I walked into the Olay shoot with a lot of
nerves because it was the first of in a long
(04:02):
time of a shoot that I was doing where I
wasn't performing my own work. And it wasn't like it
was it was hugely scripted or anything like that. We
just kind of had some different setups and just the
way you walked in to like the makeup trailer, you
just like sat down with me and you were like, Hey,
here's where I'm thinking, like the ViBe's going to be today,
Here's what you can expect. Like I just immediately felt
(04:23):
so comfortable with you. And we had a long day
trying to get all that done. And y'all, let me
tell you all something else that Chrystell and the team
there were doing. We were in Atlanta shooting, the client
was in New York. They were watching from like some
element of a live stream where they could kind of yeah,
(04:46):
but they weren't actually there in the room. Like if
this had been done pre pandemic, it would have been
a gangang of people there because the clients would have
been there, you know, all everyone but Christelle's directing me.
But we're also having to like wait and get clearance
from the client watching like that was a lot. Can
you just talk about how you and the team were
(05:07):
navigating the complications complexities of having to shoot that in
the time that we did, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
So that was my first commercial out of COVID. So
that was like the first big shoot that I got
to have during COVID. And we can talk about this
when we talk about the production company, but I had
a lot of remote.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Shoots, right, everybody was kind of just making do with
what we.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Could with technology, and finally it was like, ah, like
now we can be on set.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Do you remember, like people were wearing haz masksus like,
so this is.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
How fresh it was from being in Lockdown and so yeah,
like beauty team was wearing has mats. Like it was
like we were taking we were taking it very seriously
to social distance and you know, not get each other sick. Yeah,
that was like the biggest shoot since Lockdown. And we
traveled to I think three cities and obviously there were
(06:05):
major women that were going to be in the spot,
including Amina Brown, you know, spoken word artists, and you know,
for me, I was nervous to meet you because I'm like, she's.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
A star she's an artist, and like, you know, we're
giving her line.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
She's spoken word artists, Like, I don't ever know what
I'm going to get when I'm meeting people, whether they're
musicians or designers or actors or whatever.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
You never know what you're going to get. That's just life.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And and then but then you know, you add to
that like somebody with a big profile, and then somebody
who's an artist in their own right, and then you
kind of have to, you know, be the orchestrator.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Of this thing, right.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
So yeah, for me, it's really important in my work
that I get to talk to everybody before we start shooting. YEA. Oftentimes,
like ideally in a perfect world, I like to chat
with my talent before we even get on set, like
do a zoom and just introduce myself.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Or get on FaceTime with them just so that they
know who I am. You know, I'm I'm a chill
person and just to establish this sort of.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Like like camaraderie prior to to the shoot. If I
don't get that, then I will always chat with people
during hair and makeup just to introduce myself again. And
you're not you know that way, You're not like meeting
somebody cold by the time we start rolling, and so
it was so lovely to be able to like connect
with you and and I was like, oh wow, okay,
(07:30):
so she's cool.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Like you know, when we chatted, I immediately.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
In myself felt just like a like a relief because
it was like, okay, so she's not gonna be deep,
but you know, because you never.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Know like that, sometimes I do really.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Be like that.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Sometimes we had I remember we had some chuckles during
during that shoot when we when we were recording the video.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
So so basically so imagine for those listening, we had
to record vo aside from lines that were being recited
on set. So we took one of the rooms in
the studio and you know, we had a little microphone
set up and we were recording the vo as you know,
was saying the lines clients.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
It was feeding back to clients who were in New York.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
So we would do the line and then the producer
would get like a delayed reaction from clients, right because
they're populating all of their notes and then she's got.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
To tell it to us.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We had some moments during that recording where we were
just busting up, like.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Me and like it was just one of those things
where like we would look at each other and be like.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Okay, no, that's that's yeah, that's that's not what we're
going to do, right, But but that was a cute idea.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It was just so nice in that moment to be
able to like look into your eyes and you know,
there were a couple of other folks from the production
team in there with us, just to look at each
other's eyes and be like, Okay, so we're not gonna
do that, but we're going to figure out a way
that we feel comfortable. Okay, all right, Okay, we're all
going to collaborate. It's great, it's great. Okay, Christelle, can
(09:10):
you talk about when as a director this is something
as a as a person who just loves the form
of film and that this is something that you work
in all the time and not having I've had a lot,
like I told you, I've had a lot of on
camera experience, not as much direction. Right, what's the vibe
of how you are going to navigate that because sometimes
(09:31):
you have talent that it's going to have script that
have a character they've got to take on. Sometimes they're
going to be there like I was to be themselves,
but to maybe say things or have to do things
that may not feel totally natural to them in the moment.
So what do you feel like is the role of
the director in that moment?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So for me in particular, and I don't think like
all directors necessarily have to be this way or operate
in this way, but I actually see myself as an
energy dueler. So my job on set is to basically
orchestrate the energy in the room, not just myself and
(10:14):
talent and whoever's on screen, but also to make sure
like the crew is feeling alive, the clients are liking
what they see and they feel like their needs are
being met. Like it's actually very it's energy work in
an interesting way. And like when I'm working with talent
(10:35):
in particular, like it is so important for me to
get them to feel just like they've forgotten that there's
twenty forty, you know plus people in the room staring
at them. So I kind of like to establish like
just a sense of trust is so important, and I
don't know, it's like something that happens where we kind
(10:57):
of click into it. But I try to keep things
very light. I try to keep things very very light.
So yeah, so that's kind of how I navigate it.
I feel like it's more than just like saying lines
and getting the script right.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
It's so much deeper than that.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
It's kind of hard to explain, but it's like I
take it really seriously, and even though it might be
a beauty campaign where like the lines are scripted, I
really try to get talent to feel it, yeah, and
to identify with it, and so.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
It makes the work look and feel authentic.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I totally felt that, And especially when you're shooting for
such a long day, I felt like as a director,
you were paying attention to that. It's to the energy
level of what happens when you shoot a long time,
and how in like ways we can kind of like
click back in to try to like find the energy,
you know, we can get access to there, you know,
(11:56):
to kind of finish out the shoot. So there were
a lot of moments like that that I felt like
you gave me those moments to recenter, you know, you
gave me those moments to be like, Okay, now here's
a different setup from what we've been doing. Let's think
about this, let's talk about.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It, and it's important to hype people up as well
and let them see themselves like that's so important to
be like do you see yourself in the show, Like
this is gorgeous?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
It is so important to like touch space with because
I would.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Want to know I would want to know how I'm
looking if I was doing something really difficult or you know,
because sometimes it just feels unnatural the things that we're
saying on screen, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Then you see it and you're like, that actually looks phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
It just gives you that bit of courage to like
keep keep on the path, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So it's definitely a moment where like you you sometimes
as I felt anyway, it's like you're you're on camera,
You're like does this look am I?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And you like meet someone to be like you a
bad bitch. Absolutely, don't worry about it. It's given bad bitch.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Right now, you're doing great and you're like okay, because
sometimes you're there in yourself you're not knowing how like
it's coming across with all of the other tools that
are there, the lighting and the way the camera's shooting you,
and there are angles like you don't know about all
that you're just in your own body, sometimes in your head,
depending on you know, where you are in the shoot.
(13:21):
So to have someone whose vision is thinking about the
broad scope.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Of that like it you really you really.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Impressed upon me how important it is to be directed.
And I told my husband, I said, I said, Hey,
if Cristelle de castro ever called me up someday and
be like, hey, I'm working on a project and I
want to know if you would be like, okay, girl,
well just go ahead and email me, because whatever you're saying, yes, yes,
whatever you're saying, I bet I can do it. Note
(13:52):
please put it, put it down in your plan or Crystal, Okay,
just say you no. Like just would have a lot
of weight with me because I just enjoyed your expertise
and your professionalism and your ability to not you had
you had this way, and I feel like this was
true of the crew overall that day too. It's like
you had this way of being like, you know, it's firm,
(14:13):
but it's also gentle, it's thoughtful. And we've all worked
in this industry long enough, you know you have some
experiences with people who are just like, oh, they know
how to be is a cousin football coach, doesn't matter
what position they're in, you know, and that's not always
the energy that you might need in the moment.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I mean, we are so lucky that we get to
do this for a living. I feel like this work
is fun and we're lucky to do it and we're
not like operating on someone's deathbed.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
If that were the case, then you know, maybe I
could see a world in which like stressing out and
and you know, like like kind of like losing composure
could be a.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Thing because it's someone's life.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
We are making films where like making beautiful images like
this is fun, this is this is this is like
not everybody gets to do this. So at the end
of the day, I'm like, there's no reason to be
flashing on people on set, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Let's take a little bit of a deeper dive into
your career journey, because the experience you've had as a director,
as a photographer, as a fine artist, now as a
co founder of a film production company, all of these
things involve the visual arts in some regards. So talk
to me about how did that journey start with you?
How did you know that you had interest skill talent
(15:42):
to want to explore, like how you could do the
visual arts yourself.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Yes, okay, so it's I'll take you through the journey.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I'll try to give you the cliffs notes of it,
but it'll all makes sense in the end.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
But basically, when I was in high school.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So I grew up in the Bay and in like
a suburb in the Bay, kind of like a baby Oakland.
The only thing putting us on the map was that
we had a bart station that landed.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
And that finished in our in our little suburb.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
When I was growing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Up, I would watch the public Access channel and the
high school of my town had like a thirty minute
segment on that channel where like all the high schoolers
would make, you know, silly projects and then put it
on the public access channel.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Obviously, as like a young kid, I would.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Always be like they're so cool, like I want to
take that class or whatever. They were just silly projects.
And then flash forward to me going to high school.
I took the TV video class.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Now, my high school was like a poor Euphoria.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So so all of the like all of the crazy
shit that goes on in euphoria, like and.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Like the very inappropriate stuff. Like those things were happening
in my high school. Just we just we were not
a rich high school. Okay, but I love my high school.
I'm so happy I went there because it gave me
so much soul and it was so fucking diverse and like,
just we just were soulful. We had like we didn't
necessarily advance in the books, but like we had a
(17:18):
popin marching band.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
We had you know what I mean, Like we had
an amazing theater program.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
And then we also had this TV video elective that
everybody kind of wanted to take because the football coach
was the teacher of that class and he was just
super cool.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
And this is how bad my high school was.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
You could cut class and go hang out at another
and just go hang out with your friends in another class,
and the teachers would let.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You wow chilling.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, it was not crazy for my TV video teacher
to be like, I'm hungry, can somebody get me a
burger at Burking and then just literally put his keys
up and then a kid would just drive out with
his car.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Whow was wild.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
So that was my high school. And anyway, so I
took this class.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Everybody wanted to take that class because it was infamous
for just being a class where you could just like
chow with your friends. But I actually took it seriously
and like I had so much fun, and my teacher
would just be like, yo, you.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Need to borrow a camera. Like he just let me.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
He created an environment, and I think because I was
the only kid who actually like made stuff, he was
just like giving me any of the tools that I needed.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Right, So I mean to the point where for one
summer he snuck a computer into the back of my
car so I.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Could edit for the summer.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
He left the home computer from school.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Which is really amazing. Right.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So I realized when I was like fourteen, I was like,
I really want to become a filmmaker.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
This is what I want to do. I want to
be a director.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And I'm from an immigrant family, Filipino family.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
I moved here when I was five.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
We had a mom in pop grocery store that I
started working at when I was eleven. So it's kind
of like everything everywhere all at once, like that vibe
I know that so well, like that sort of immigrant
like family business hustle that was my family to the tea.
So I remember being at the dinner table saying like
(19:18):
I realized I want to be a director, and my
dad like scoffed at me, you know, he was like
with what money, Like I don't, I'm not following, you know,
and it was just like, okay, well that dream had
that bubble hasband popped. But that kind of reaction was
to be expected from from him. And anyway, what ended
(19:39):
up happening was after high school. At that point, my
father had left our family and my mom was now
a single mom with this store. And I'm the one
daughter of three kids, so I'm the middle child of
two boys. So I was always kind of relied on
to be like one of the you know, one of
the cash register girls at the store. So I was
(20:00):
my older brother like had to go out and make money.
My little brother was too young. And then it was
just like it was like me, you know, and like
I retained the language the most out of me and
my big brother, and my little brother didn't speak to gallogs,
so I kind of was I had to just be around,
got it. So not that I wanted to go to
(20:22):
college in San Francisco, but it was something I had
to do in order to take.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
The train on the weekends to work and help my
mom got it, So I kind of put my kind
of dream on hold.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
I also didn't really even have really any direction as
to like how I was going to make that happen.
But what ended up happening was so I went to
San Francisco State. I went with a theater and cinema
double major idea, that's what I wanted to do. I
quickly fucking like took dropped out of theater because I
(20:55):
was like, brouh, like if this is going to be
my future, Like I'm like, why are showing up to
class with a kpon? That is just unnecessary? That's and
I was like I can't this is these are not
my people. I love acting, but I just I was like,
I can't. I don't see this being my future or
something to drop that. What ended up happening was I
(21:18):
went from remember my teacher was just like take a computer,
take this camera. He was really involved with just helping
me like creatively grow to going to this school where
like we didn't have any video projects. My first year
there was mostly like theories, so we didn't work on
anything creative, and I went on Craigslist to try and
(21:41):
find students from other schools that I could.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Join a project with. Wow, go on Craigslist.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
It's these kids going to the Academy of Art. They
were shooting a commercial for like a school project and
they needed actors.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So I tried out. I got a part the DP
and I became besties from that point on, and he
introduced photography to me.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
He was an incredible still is an incredible photographer. His
name is Ago, He's Japanese. He lives in Japan now.
But he literally, I mean this man, I wasn't even
interested in photography at all, Like he just like he
just had these gadgets that I didn't understand, and like
the light meter, just I was like what is that?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Like?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
I would just be like, what are these things? And
one day he was just.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Like, you keep asking me questions, do you want to
just try it? And I was like no, no, I
just I just what is that? Like That's just a weird,
vintage looking thing. And basically he ended up teaching me
how to take pictures. He again, he's an angel in
my life. And he would give me film and then
I would shoot through the film and then we would
(22:55):
develop it in his kitchen and then we would make
contact sheets.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
And this now became like the new thing that I
could involve.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Myself with that was feeding my It was like you know,
in high school, I got to really like feed my
creativity through that video class. And then now I found
this thing that like I could do by myself. I'm
it's instant gratification because I shoot it and then we
develop it. I get to see it. It's not like
shooting a video and then having to edit it. And
(23:22):
so it just was like blowing my mind photography. And
then in the next year I got into like my
first group exhibition. So I was basically like photographing all
the like kids that I was running around San Francisco
with and like just like photographing like musicians, and so
I was a street photographer, Like that was my vibe.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Yeah, just like the scene.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I was like shooting the scene, and then that became
my world. I was heavily involved in like gallery shows,
but specifically street art.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Right, So not it's low brow, it's very lowbrow.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It's just like you know, like photos of like kids
getting drunk and you know what I mean, Like that
that was the vibe cut too.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Moving to New York. Finally, when I was twenty four, whoa.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I moved to New York because I was working at
a diner in back home, and I was like, Okay,
I love this.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I love what I'm doing.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
And I love photography, but how do I make money
from this? Like I'm shooting my friends, I'm shooting bands,
but like, how do I then make a career out
of what I'm doing?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I hadn't been printed in a met well, no, I
had been printed in one magazine. I just didn't know
how to take it to the next level. And I
just felt like New York was the key. So I
moved to New York. And immediately I felt like I
can't be this like this art girl because I'm not
from an academic background, right, Because.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
In New York, it's not about lowbrow.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It's very much about high brow, and it's very much
about like like your masters and like being able to
speak about I'm Like, in New York, you can lean
a broom on a wall and have a little title
card next to it and a written thing, and people
will be like.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Wow, you know that's it. That's a fact. That's a fact.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
I just felt so outside of it.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I felt like there was no way I was going
to be able to compete with these people.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I dropped out.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I didn't get my degree, so I just felt very
intimidated and I said, Okay, well, I'm just gonna then
have to figure out how to work in this field.
And so then I went more commercial and I started
learning digital photography. Then I started like shooting for like brands,
(25:51):
and I went that way. It was funny because in
those early years when I would go to San Francisco,
they'd be like, do you have a show coming up?
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Said?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
They knew me as an artist, and then here I
was really more of like I was working commercially, and
then a couple of years into that, I started getting
the payings.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
In my heart, I wanted.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
To direct, so I started slowly bringing that back into
my practice. Twenty thirteen I think was the first like
fashion film I directed, and then now cut to now
I'm like ninety really like ninety five percent directing. Oh yeah,
for work, And I still love photography. If I could
(26:33):
have it my way, it would just be like I
would just do it as my art practice.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
But I won't say no direct that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Just in case anybody's listening, you can still pay Chrystale
for some photographs. That's you could still pay her for that. Okay,
just you know, we'll also long story.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
But I think the context is necessary for people like, Yeah,
I'm actually doing my first love.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I'm pursuing my first love, and so I just feel
fucking blessed to be here.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
You know, like I thank you for sharing that journey,
because the reason why I want our community here in
her living room to hear that is because a lot
of times we're meeting someone at the point we see them,
we're not getting to hear like all of the rough
and tumble journey, all of this stuff we learn, like,
oh I don't really like that, but I didn't know
(27:22):
i'd like this. You know, there's all of that stuff
that leads a person to their sweet spot that you
see them in. And I think when we look at
our own lives, it's sometimes hard to think that all
this stuff I've been trying to figure out could actually
be leading me down the road where I'm going to
end up where I'm supposed to be anyways, So I
(27:42):
just really appreciated you sharing that journey with us. So
now take me from now. You have photography as a
part of art that you're doing, you have your commercial work,
you're now getting into directing. How does that transition into entrepreneurship?
What was our journey life between there and we is
(28:04):
starting a company? And we is starting a company in
twenty twenty, Tell the people, Tell the people, Crystal Listen.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
That was humbling the twenty twenty moment because we were forming.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
In twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Before any of us knew what the fuck was going
to happen, right, So we were we were forming in
twenty nineteen, and then the pandemic happened and we were like,
oh shit, like this is.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
A funny time to be doing this.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
But here's the wonderful thing is that we didn't have
an overhead. So my business partners, it's me and my
business partners are all in the UK. So I had
the New York office and we have a London office
in an office in Bristol.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
We were running the New York office out of my living.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Room, right, So it wasn't like we had some other
rent we needed to pay. It wasn't like we had
an employee that we hired on that we had a
salary for. There was no really losses on our it
was just you know, a slow season to start in.
So that was the blessing, you know, Like when that happened,
(29:07):
we were like, well, the good thing is it's not
really affecting us, So it was it was fine. And
the entrepreneurship, I think I will always have that bone
in my body because I grew up in a family
business and that's just kind of where that came from.
That's kind of what I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Used to, you know, Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense,
Like especially just hearing your story coming from a family
that you were also watching be entrepreneurial and how that
like affects your journey and what you know is possible,
what you know is possible to do, Like I think
that's so dope. And twenty twenty just you know, it
just snook so many of us, Christal because the way
(29:46):
I had the tours lined up, it was going to
be a spring and a fall and just it was
like so many things. But you know, to be honest,
like I didn't know I was going to get a
podcast deal. I didn't know the old opportunity was going
to even arrive. I mean, truthfully, I ended up getting
booked at P and g's headquarters. Actually, I want to say,
(30:08):
this is like a week before the pandemic tip. This
is when everyone was just like leaving hand sanitizer out
because we're just like, I don't know, something seems like
it's going on some place kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
But it became real, like super real.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, it was like we weren't really sure, right, And
I actually did some poetry there and the Olay team
was sitting in the room and they were like, you
just did a piece that sounds exactly like this campaign
thing we're working on. And then the pandemic started and
I was just like, well, I'm glad we had that conversation.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
That was that.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
But then to your point, there were still all of
these creative things that went on after that that people
were like, Okay, we could figure out some ways to
like film some people from home. We can figure out
some ways to do these voiceovers this way. You know,
there was a lot of like innovative things that I
think a lot of us as creatives had to do.
(31:00):
Like I love that for you and your business partners,
Like now you can look back at this three years
do y'all ever sit around and be like, yo, like
we actually made it through this oh.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
All the time, all the time, Like we really had
to get savvy with like the remote tech. You know,
we needed to get savvy with like what do we
need in order to like produce something?
Speaker 4 (31:21):
And it was nuts. It's a thing I would not
like to go to anymore.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
But I'm I'm glad you know that's something that we
evolved and learned through that time. But yeah, I'm curious,
like for you and like poetry and touring, you said,
you know, all these tour dates got canceled. Do you
find in your field it's adapting to a new world
or like our tours back are performances.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Back for you?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
They haven't come back for me fully yet. But in
some ways it was kind of like the work that
came to me over this past three years was all
stuff for the most part that I could do from
Atlanta or do from home. So a lot of it
was more like some collaborative type of work. And obviously
the podcast and like you're watching me here in my
husband's studio, so we just made a lot of stuff.
(32:11):
We just made it from here. But I am a
stage person Chrysto. I like, really, that's that's really where
it's at for me. Like every other thing I'm doing
came from me loving writing, which led me to loving
the stage. So I'm starting to get to a point
where I was just starting to cry because I was
just like, I don't know, can I Is this someplace
(32:33):
people is and I could just go there and just
like say, well, hello, can I say a poem to y'all?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Can I do a poem or something?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
So in a way, now I'm just now kind of
getting back out, like taking my poems back out to
open mics. That's a big part of my process. I've
been trying the moth and learning how to do that
sort of like storytelling form, which has been really really
good and like challenging for me to figure out. So
I feel like I'm seeing the touring come back for
bigger name artists, which I hope means that that will
(33:05):
happen for some of us. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
The culture's still here.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah for us as indie artists. And I think
some indie artists too are kind of thinking about like,
you know, maybe pre pandemic, you might have an artist
like me and an artist over here and an artist
over here and artists over here, and they're all touring separately.
I'm watching a lot of indie artists figure out like, Okay,
maybe it's better during this time to be figuring out
how we tour together, how we put three or four
(33:30):
artists on a bill and kind of build ourselves back
up to an audience and people get more comfortable, you know.
So I think a lot of the collaboration that came
out of this time, like you said, not a time
I would like to go back to, but the collaboration
that we learned and the ability to just like think
on the fly and figure out how we can do
(33:51):
things like I think that's the thing I hope that
we keep, you know. Yes, I also wanted to ask
you about mentorship. I want to talk about this, Christal,
and I want to hear your thoughts about it, because
sometimes people ask me, like who's your mentor? And sometimes
I kind of feel like I kind of feel like
I had a lot of mentors from Afar, Like if
you walked up to those people, they wouldn't be like
(34:13):
I know Amena, but I would be like I read
her books through and through and she mentored.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
Me from.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Not at her house and not in her office.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
No, personally, she doesn't know who I.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Am, doesn't know me, but I watched her videos until
I had her videos like memorized, and so she mentored me.
So you have the experience of now as an entrepreneur, now,
having been in your career as long as you have,
you have a lot of folks that probably see you,
hear your story and are like, tell me everything, Christal,
(34:45):
be my mentor, be my mentor. I want you to
talk about what's the process like for you of knowing
when the fit is right for you to mentor someone?
And then I also would love to hear your journey good, bad,
ugly and different of finding mentors for yourself.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
So I actually started teaching at Parsons, which is fucking
nuts because I don't have my degree. Right when literally
when they tapped me to teach his class, well, people listening.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
To this won't be able to see this.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
But I was like this, who I was looking over
my shoulder, left to me, you talking to me?
Speaker 7 (35:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (35:20):
I was like, I took the meetings and I was
like you want you want? You want me to teach
us class? Like you want me?
Speaker 3 (35:26):
But it was it was a it was an intensive
photo and video intensive for MFA fashion students. Wow. So
it was teaching fashion designers how to think in the
world of pictures and in video, which was so amazing
and it was such a an awesome it's.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
It's an amazing fashion program at Parsons.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
But like the directors of that program basically wanted to
give their like they had a movement class because they
were like, look, if you're going to design something, let's
say for Amina Brown, who's going to recite something at
at the Grammys, she.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
Can't feel stiff, Like you need to know how your
clothing feels and like you know, So they just thought
of so many out of the box things, including this
course that I taught, and I was there for four years.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
This is my first year not teaching anymore.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
But what I realized is I really love connecting with
younger people.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
I really love teaching.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
I really love just like and again it's coming from
this maternal place. It's like totally coming from this like
it's the same with directing.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
There is a level of care and like it's there's heart.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
It's a lot of heart that goes into both directing
and teaching. For me, so I feel like I get
so much out of that kind of interaction. And I
love doing like guest speaking for you know, organizations for
other creative students, and I've been doing I actually have
had a lot of speaking engagement this month with different organizations.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
I love doing that.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
So I don't mentor anybody one on one, but like
I mostly show up for young folks in that way.
When I did have a team of interns pre COVID,
I obviously mentored them, But I always find myself in
the space where I'm being asked to mentor, which can
(37:26):
get very.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
I guess the word would be overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Yeah, in a world where you are a woman of
color and you are dying for a mentor yourself.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
In my personal life, like I don't.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Have anybody in my family that I can sort of
lean on or look up to for financial advice.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
I'm the one who's going to have to take care
of my family.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
You feel me like like I'm working hard because I
don't see like I feel like I'm gonna have to
be the one to break the cycle of you know,
of not having enough money in my family legacy, you know,
So it's it can be very tough when when like
so many different groups of people are leaning on you
(38:11):
for advice and mentorship. I'm always happy to do that,
but I am I am out here fucking trying to
look for a fucking mentor because I just, yeah, it's
it's tough out here, and I think it's It wasn't
until recently where I was like, you kind of need
to look for a mentor yourself, you know what I mean?
And what about you, like, do you have any any
(38:32):
mentors that you can talk to or get advice from.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
I don't feel like I do, Crystal, which is why
I just identified so much with what you said, because
I think, especially some of the spaces that I've been in,
there would definitely be a lot of young folks of
color that would just like gravitate to me and and
I love it. And then I would also be like, oh,
who is the person that I'm all call or or
(39:01):
who who is that exactly? Yes, So I feel like
I feel like, when I look back at my story,
there are people I can see like, oh, that person
really had an impact on the form of what I'm doing,
or you know, how I decided to approach this, And
so I'm like, I don't know if I thought back
then I was being mentored, but now I can see
(39:26):
I was right. Like when I think about your story
about your teacher from high school, right, it's like I
think a lot of like the mentoring part that's hard too,
is like when some people talk about it, it sounds
very formal, you know, it sounds very right, which I
guess maybe is like more of a corporate America kind
of style, which for folks like us that are working
for ourselves, we're just not going to have that kind
(39:46):
of ladder experience where you're going to be like here,
I am a supervisor at this level in the company.
I would like to ask so and so, who's a
manager of this department to now be my mentor? Wherein
we will go to this very expensive place and they
will pay for me to eat like niche oi salad while.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
We like talk over whatever this is, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
And I feel like when you're like in the creative space,
you just don't have like you're like, am I supervisor?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Am I a management?
Speaker 4 (40:13):
You know what? I think we need to have that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Like so I think what we have had probably are
our bunch of angels. That's kind of how I see
it so like my you know, my teacher and Ago
who taught me.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Photography, Like they were angels in my life.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
I wouldn't consider them mentors necessarily, they opened my eyes
to things and they really like invested, and they created
an environment for me to like blossom, which is I'm
so forever grateful for.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
I consider them angels in my life. I would love to.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Have like a fucking savvy, seasoned business woman that I
can speak to, who who can you know, give me
grades that I'm not. I'm still out here Flailand, but
like you know, give me a little bit of like
help me see what kind of structure I need to
build out into my life, Like someone I can look
(41:07):
up to and be like wow, like you kind of
come from a similar pass or whatever. I just I
just fucking like, adore what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
But like it.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
It's really tough out here, I realize often I think
more so lately like I feel like I'm I'm in
I'm out here in this world being almost forced to
be more more masculine and more more aggressive than I
even want to be. You know what I'm saying, Like
I don't have a partner, I don't you know, I'm
(41:36):
I'm I'm just single mom in it with my dog.
You feel me like, I actually don't want to be
a leader one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
I also want to be led.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Say that, Crystal, you know what I'm saying, so like
it's actually it's a beautiful realization. I mean, like fourteen
almost fifteen years into living in New York City, I'm
only just realizing, you know, it is actually okay to
like to make a beat and like open open, Like
right now I'm in I'm in a space of like
I just want to like open my world up to
(42:10):
other folks to come in and help me out because
I do not have all the answers.
Speaker 4 (42:14):
So that's kind of where I am.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, and there are fucking amazing women who are killing
it all around us, so I think it's just about yeah,
like if this is a great platform for me to
even just say, you know, if there's anybody listening who.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
Would like to have a coffee you.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Okay, because whatever you say, Crystal, I want to eat
strap on there as well, so we know you're listening.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
We want that.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
And Crystal, I think too, I just resonated so much
with what you just said. Especially when you are sort
of having to create a path for yourself.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
You know.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I have felt that a lot as a poet, because
people are always like what a poet, like, how do you?
Speaker 2 (42:54):
How do you live? Do you eat food? What are
what are poets doing out here?
Speaker 1 (42:58):
You know? And I sort of feel like I carve
this lane for myself, which meant I didn't have a
specific person that I could go to and say, hey,
when you were my age and you were doing this,
It was sort of like I would have to kind
of build that out of various the sundry types of people.
But I do think a part of it I'm trying
to work on, Crystal. I ain't got it all the
way and got it all the way together. Maybe I
(43:19):
never will either, But no part of it I'm trying
to work on is like how to put myself in
spaces where I'm being poured back into right and really
digging into like what does that look like for me?
Are there are there conferences or retreats that would be
a space where I can say, of all this hustle
and I'm doing to make this money, what percentage of
(43:41):
that money can I give to? Like I'm gonna go
to something where I'm gonna sit there and get to
learn from other people, right and get to like and
sometimes that can be a space I think where you
can catch a vibe from someone to see if you
think they would be like a mentor type person. One
of the things that's worked for me so far, which
is not technically meant maybe some people would say it is,
(44:02):
but it's sort of like having like a peer knowledge
share like I have, Like I have like a very
small number of black women that every now and then
we like get on a zoom and one of us
will be like, I'm about to have a meeting where
I have to pitch this idea to this brand. Y'all
pour into me what you think based on your industry,
(44:23):
Pour into me what you think I should think about,
what you think I should ask, What should I say?
What are things I should consider as I'm preparing for this,
and we all kind of like take a turn. And
so I think, as creatives like in some ways we
can we can give to each other the thing that
we wish we had ahead of us.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Now.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
The hope is like when I look at you, Cristel,
and when I look at how far my career has come.
I hope that the generations after us will have more
access to mentorship, like I hope to give back to
the people coming after me, like more than was able
more than I guess I was able to receive. But
in some ways some of us weren't able to receive
(45:02):
that because who was doing this right? Look like this
specific thing. It's like sometimes it's like, oh, I just
I just made up a lane right here, So now
like I don't quite have that one exact person where
I can go to, right, but like who who can
be that? So I think some of it is like
every time I learn something, I'm always like in an
episode of like Black Girl tries to pretend like she's
(45:24):
been places, and it's like every time I learn something,
you know, every time I do get a new contract,
look in the clauses and be like, oh, I didn't
know that could be a clause. Sometimes I might made
up a creative friend and be like, girl, let me
tell you what was in the contract, just in case
you get one like this, you know, So like creating
some element of peer sharing which can be like a
little mini mentor, and because sometimes my.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Friends right, actually, yeah, absolutely, I think that's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
They're like across having the same experience as you, but
sometimes they get in a room different from you, or
get in a room you want to get in, and
when they come back and be like, girl, when you
go in there, don't order this order this is stay.
Speaker 4 (46:04):
Right right, No, that is that's actually so important.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
I was actually reading there was this I can't remember
what book this is from, but this person was talking
about having creative kind of like a creative group that
like every every week for like thirty minutes, they would
meet and it might have even just been two people
that would meet every thirty minutes, but I thought that
was like smart because it's kind of like therapy, Like
(46:29):
I speak with my therapist every single week, and but
like how cool could it be to like speak with
a peer and just be like, this is what's going
on in my world.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
This is what's going on in my world.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
And it's it's actually like agenda based, like you're meeting
for those thirty minutes, not just to like piki, but
like you're you know, Okay, what's going on?
Speaker 4 (46:50):
What can I help you with? Okay? Can you pour
into me? Now? Like yeah, I think that's brilliant. Why
like we need to do that.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Okay, I think that's not me wanting to invite you
and figure out.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
How we do that.
Speaker 7 (47:03):
So I'm glad we talked about it, Crystale, okay, because
the creatives need to put there because sometimes for me,
Crystelle is also like some of my other friends are
just in different industries from me. They're not necessarily like creatives,
so that will add like a different element that I'll
kind of feel like, oh, I'm not sure how well
I need to explain to you this part of how
(47:23):
this typically works, whereas someone like you would be like, oh, yeah, no, totally,
Like I've been in the meetings where like we were
talking about that, I've looked at the contract, so we
had to decide.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
To see this right exactly.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Yeah, yeah, So I'm glad we talked about that so
we can invite each other.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
That's very good, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
But I'm sure so many people who are going to
be listening to this are going to resonate with wanting
to find a mentor. And I'm calling on all those
people to comment on this posture because maybe this could
this can possibly start some sort of I don't.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Know, like it's like a match dot com. But for mentors, right, yeah,
that's what we need.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
If I get to your point, the retreats and all
that stuff like that is something that I need to
look into.
Speaker 4 (48:03):
I think that that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, at least to get started, because sometimes that'll put
you in the room with some people and then some
of it. Also Christo for me is like sometimes I
meet people that could be my mentor and I'm scared
to ask them, right.
Speaker 3 (48:14):
So we need to like we need to do the
work right because people have the audacity to ask us okay.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Okay, you know, and sometimes they ask it. I'll be like,
I got you, let's meet, let's do it. So it's
like sometimes you don't know a person might be or
a person might be like I can't you know, meet
with you every week for two hours, but call me
right now. I got thirty minutes. Ask me some things,
let me know what you need, let me look into
(48:42):
it something. So also like not being afraid to put
the ask out there. When you do come across someone
that you feel like that vibe from, don't be afraid
to like toss it out there to them. You never
know when someone might be like, let's hop on the zoom.
I got you. I'll answer your questions. I got thirty minutes,
so you better make that thirty minutes.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
You were so right, Yeah right, Maybe we actually need technology.
Speaker 4 (49:07):
The fact that we are not asking as well, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Gotta get into that for sure.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
But yeah, if y'all want to mentor Crystell, please hit
us up right now. And also if you want to
pay Crystale money, that's separate from the mentoring, but if
you want to use Crystal services, you can also pay
for that as well. Okay, I wanted to ask you
a very important question to close our interview, Christell, because
when we are here in her living room, what I
(49:33):
imagine is like, this is the place that I gather
with my girlfriends. It's the living room. It's that old
couch that you got.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
On sale somewhere.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
Is when your girlfriend comes over and she's like, girl,
I brought these crackers and a little bit of cheese
I opened last week, and you're like, girl, I got
a bell pepper, I got a little bit of hummus
I tasted last week. And you just bring your little
snacks together. It's like a little snack pot luck. I
want to know when you are with your friends, when
you were with your homies, What's what's the snack that
(50:05):
you are bringing to this type of situation?
Speaker 4 (50:09):
Okay, So currently I am doing keto, right.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
So my snacks are like it's like meat and cheese,
like salami and like cheddar, and like like nuts. Technically
nuts are not keto, but like I'm on that like
roteine me vibe that train.
Speaker 4 (50:31):
Oh yes, if that were not the case.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
If we were not doing keto, we.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Were not okay. So let me tell you what I
love to eat at the movies. I get a big
ass popcorn and I go to the movies by myself
all the time. I have like body dysmorphia because I
really swear like I'm going to be able to eat.
Speaker 4 (50:55):
Like this huge tub of popcorn.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
But I get a big old popcorn and I get plains,
and I salt and butter the shit out of that
popcorn and then I temper the eminem's onto the and
it is delightful. And I get a big ass coke
ye and it sends me into another dimension. And I
that that snack right there is so phenomenal. And then
(51:19):
and then another one. I I've been doing these this
is all like it's all like trashy stuff, okay.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
But trashy lish okay.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
Some like just getting some like cute organic and like
you can get vegetarian refried beans, but I'll refry that
shit up with some cheese in it and then serve
it warm with some tortilla chips and some hot sauce
and some sour cream and plopanos that right there for
a little little TV binge.
Speaker 4 (51:49):
With with the homegirls. Ah, it's alish.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
When you said you warmed it up, like, that's when
I knew that we were people right there. It's two things.
Speaker 4 (51:58):
Oh yeah, we warm it up.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
Over the said you warmed it up.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
I needed that when you said you tempered the popcorn
with the eminems.
Speaker 2 (52:05):
The fact that you said.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Tempered let me know that you are my people, Crystal,
you are my people because you're like, I'm not going
to be for the Eminem's.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
I'm a temper the popcorn. Uh huh. That's it.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
The reason why you have to temper, and this is
very important. This is a very important step.
Speaker 3 (52:19):
Is all of the Eminem's fall to the bottom, and
so you have to just go a little bit at
a time to.
Speaker 4 (52:24):
Be able to still access the.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
Especially if it's like a big tub of popcorn, right,
you don't want all the good stuff to like end
up on the bottom. Wow, I still fixed my life
today because listen, you have to try it. Okay, thank you,
because about Hey, what's your favorite snack? I am a
popcorn girl. Okay, I'm a pop popcorn girl in okay, okay,
in all circumstances. I'm in the movies and without I
(52:50):
am just a popcorn girl all the time. I am
like I air popped the popcorn at my house. I
just get into that. I'm getting involved some nutritional yeast
these days, you know, Okay, we're just throwing a little
You know, my mom was a big seasoned salt person
on the popcorn.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
That's how she raised me.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
So I sprinkle a little seasoning salt on it. You
shake up the bowl like that's me. I'm popcorn is
my favorite snack. I feel as a person who would
bring snacks to a thing. I mean, I am a
hummus girl. I do a particularly like a particular brand
of hum miss. I don't just want to walk in
a store and assume everything's fine, Like it's like if
(53:33):
it's not the brand of hummus. I've decided it's delicious,
then we're just not doing that, you know, So I
want to bring pershudo into this conversation. I love my husband,
We've been married a very long time, and pershudo is
so delicious. Like considered adding persudo as an additional partner
(53:53):
to this situation, you know what I'm saying, Just like
considered for a second, would my husband agree to be
like you can be married to me and preshudo, you know,
like in a world we can do that. Like that's
how much I enjoy perscudo. Yes, so funny, Yes, I
do have a moment's so like anytime I go somewhere
to restaurant and they're like they could be like lasagna,
(54:17):
fried chicken topped with proshudo, I'm like, yes, I'll have
that zero and I I don't care preshudo and a
little ice cube. Yes that sounds great preshudo. Mm hmm
my god, Yes, amazing. Christal, Thank you so much for
joining me in the living room, for for bringing us
(54:37):
these snack ideas because I needed to investigate this further.
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. People are
gonna want to follow you. People want to know how
they can give money to groundwork so that groundwork help
them look look fabulous and crispy. Tell the people how
they can engage with you and your work. Tell me
(54:59):
the things.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
Sure so on Instagram and in TikTok, I'm it's Crystelle
Underscore Studio.
Speaker 4 (55:06):
My my name is felled C h R I S
T E l E. Underscore Studio.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
And then uh, groundwork you can see well, if you
want to see my website, it's Christelle to cash dot com.
Groundwork is ground Dashwork dot co c O. But if
you go to my Instagram you'll get linked to all
of that stuff. And I mean, I just want to
thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 4 (55:30):
This was so lovely connecting with you.
Speaker 3 (55:33):
It's been it's been too long, and I just I
feel so blessed that you've given me the space and
that we could and that just that we could connect today.
Speaker 4 (55:44):
It's just been lovely.
Speaker 2 (55:45):
You're the best, Crystelle.
Speaker 7 (55:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Her with Amina Brown is produced by Matt Owen for
Solo Grafeity Productions as a part of the Seneca Women
Podcast Network in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate, and
review the podcast.
Hey, everybody, welcome back to a new episode of Her
with Amina Brown and y'all. Let me tell y'all something
the way that I had to just go ahead and
start recording right now because I'm already in my feelings.
I know some of y'all are like, is she our
feelings every week? But let's not focus on that. I'm
in my feelings today because we have a guest in
her living room that this has been a long time coming.
Speaker 2 (00:52):
This has been a long time coming.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
So I want y'all to welcome Filipino American director, photographer,
fine artists and co founder of film production company round Work.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Christelle did Castro. That's right.
Speaker 3 (01:06):
Can I just have Can I just have you present
me every day when I walk out of the when
I walk out of my space, that energy is I
need that?
Speaker 2 (01:16):
Yes?
Speaker 1 (01:16):
I think what you should also do is give this
verbiage to every barista that does like your order at
the coffee shop and they're like, oh, what's your name?
Be like director, photographer, and you're like, you need to
hand them like a car so they can say all
of it and then be like your latte.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Right, They're like, ma'am, step aside.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
You're like, no, you have to read all of this,
not just my first name, not just my last name,
like all of this.
Speaker 4 (01:41):
You're like, ma'am, please lead.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
Right, Please get your latte and get on.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
We have other customers. Get out of here, y'all. Let
me tell y'all something. The reason why I'm telling y'all
this is a long time coming is because Cristell and
I originally met in twenty twenty. I actually met you, Christelle,
probably like weeks before this podcast relaunched. So this podcast
was seasonal and I am now under the Seneca Women Network,
(02:10):
So this podcast relaunched just probably a few weeks after
you and I met. And y'all, those of you that
have been following me on this podcast, remember that I
was a face of an olay campaign twenty twenty into
twenty twenty one, and any of you that saw the
video spot from that, Cristell was the director. Like I
(02:31):
just want to first of all say that shoot was
full of a lot of badass women, and you were
one of the badass women I got to watch like
making that whole thing happen, Christell, Like, yo.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Thank you, thank you, No, that shot was incredible. Basically
the whole production team. We were all women. The DP
Daisy now a woman like everybody, you know, we were
very intentional with making sure that, yeah, that we.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
Were crewed up with women. That's kind of important.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
It was a camp really about like female empowerment, and
so we wanted to make sure that that was represented
with the crew.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
And Christelle you not even get to talk about this
in detail, I don't think. But I've only been directed
two times in my career and one of those, who's.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
You really yeah, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Yeah, that was like a big big deal for me,
and just you know, just to let you know. The
other one is Robert Townsend. That's like you're you're the
two directors, so you know, it's I feel like, yes, exactly,
you know, like I'll be able to say when you're
out there, you know, winning your awards, I'll be able
to be like Robert Townsend and Cristelle de Castro both
(03:41):
directed me. You know, I'll be able to say. But
because I have been a poetry performer so long, it's
really like any of my performances or sets or anythings
like that, most of the time it was kind of like,
really I had to be self directed a lot, so
I walked into the Olay shoot with a lot of
nerves because it was the first of in a long
(04:02):
time of a shoot that I was doing where I
wasn't performing my own work. And it wasn't like it
was it was hugely scripted or anything like that. We
just kind of had some different setups and just the
way you walked in to like the makeup trailer, you
just like sat down with me and you were like, Hey,
here's where I'm thinking, like the ViBe's going to be today,
Here's what you can expect. Like I just immediately felt
(04:23):
so comfortable with you. And we had a long day
trying to get all that done. And y'all, let me
tell you all something else that Chrystell and the team
there were doing. We were in Atlanta shooting, the client
was in New York. They were watching from like some
element of a live stream where they could kind of yeah,
(04:46):
but they weren't actually there in the room. Like if
this had been done pre pandemic, it would have been
a gangang of people there because the clients would have
been there, you know, all everyone but Christelle's directing me.
But we're also having to like wait and get clearance
from the client watching like that was a lot. Can
you just talk about how you and the team were
(05:07):
navigating the complications complexities of having to shoot that in
the time that we did, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:13):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
So that was my first commercial out of COVID. So
that was like the first big shoot that I got
to have during COVID. And we can talk about this
when we talk about the production company, but I had
a lot of remote.
Speaker 4 (05:28):
Shoots, right, everybody was kind of just making do with
what we.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
Could with technology, and finally it was like, ah, like
now we can be on set.
Speaker 4 (05:37):
Do you remember, like people were wearing haz masksus like,
so this is.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
How fresh it was from being in Lockdown and so yeah,
like beauty team was wearing has mats. Like it was
like we were taking we were taking it very seriously
to social distance and you know, not get each other sick. Yeah,
that was like the biggest shoot since Lockdown. And we
traveled to I think three cities and obviously there were
(06:05):
major women that were going to be in the spot,
including Amina Brown, you know, spoken word artists, and you know,
for me, I was nervous to meet you because I'm like, she's.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
A star she's an artist, and like, you know, we're
giving her line.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
She's spoken word artists, Like, I don't ever know what
I'm going to get when I'm meeting people, whether they're
musicians or designers or actors or whatever.
Speaker 4 (06:30):
You never know what you're going to get. That's just life.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
And and then but then you know, you add to
that like somebody with a big profile, and then somebody
who's an artist in their own right, and then you
kind of have to, you know, be the orchestrator.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
Of this thing, right.
Speaker 3 (06:45):
So yeah, for me, it's really important in my work
that I get to talk to everybody before we start shooting. YEA. Oftentimes,
like ideally in a perfect world, I like to chat
with my talent before we even get on set, like
do a zoom and just introduce myself.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Or get on FaceTime with them just so that they
know who I am. You know, I'm I'm a chill
person and just to establish this sort of.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Like like camaraderie prior to to the shoot. If I
don't get that, then I will always chat with people
during hair and makeup just to introduce myself again. And
you're not you know that way, You're not like meeting
somebody cold by the time we start rolling, and so
it was so lovely to be able to like connect
with you and and I was like, oh wow, okay,
(07:30):
so she's cool.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
Like you know, when we chatted, I immediately.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
In myself felt just like a like a relief because
it was like, okay, so she's not gonna be deep,
but you know, because you never.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Know like that, sometimes I do really.
Speaker 4 (07:45):
Be like that.
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Sometimes we had I remember we had some chuckles during
during that shoot when we when we were recording the video.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
So so basically so imagine for those listening, we had
to record vo aside from lines that were being recited
on set. So we took one of the rooms in
the studio and you know, we had a little microphone
set up and we were recording the vo as you know,
was saying the lines clients.
Speaker 4 (08:16):
It was feeding back to clients who were in New York.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
So we would do the line and then the producer
would get like a delayed reaction from clients, right because
they're populating all of their notes and then she's got.
Speaker 4 (08:28):
To tell it to us.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
We had some moments during that recording where we were
just busting up, like.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Me and like it was just one of those things
where like we would look at each other and be like.
Speaker 5 (08:37):
Okay, no, that's that's yeah, that's that's not what we're
going to do, right, But but that was a cute idea.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
It was just so nice in that moment to be
able to like look into your eyes and you know,
there were a couple of other folks from the production
team in there with us, just to look at each
other's eyes and be like, Okay, so we're not gonna
do that, but we're going to figure out a way
that we feel comfortable. Okay, all right, Okay, we're all
going to collaborate. It's great, it's great. Okay, Christelle, can
(09:10):
you talk about when as a director this is something
as a as a person who just loves the form
of film and that this is something that you work
in all the time and not having I've had a lot,
like I told you, I've had a lot of on
camera experience, not as much direction. Right, what's the vibe
of how you are going to navigate that because sometimes
(09:31):
you have talent that it's going to have script that
have a character they've got to take on. Sometimes they're
going to be there like I was to be themselves,
but to maybe say things or have to do things
that may not feel totally natural to them in the moment.
So what do you feel like is the role of
the director in that moment?
Speaker 3 (09:53):
So for me in particular, and I don't think like
all directors necessarily have to be this way or operate
in this way, but I actually see myself as an
energy dueler. So my job on set is to basically
orchestrate the energy in the room, not just myself and
(10:14):
talent and whoever's on screen, but also to make sure
like the crew is feeling alive, the clients are liking
what they see and they feel like their needs are
being met. Like it's actually very it's energy work in
an interesting way. And like when I'm working with talent
(10:35):
in particular, like it is so important for me to
get them to feel just like they've forgotten that there's
twenty forty, you know plus people in the room staring
at them. So I kind of like to establish like
just a sense of trust is so important, and I
don't know, it's like something that happens where we kind
(10:57):
of click into it. But I try to keep things
very light. I try to keep things very very light.
So yeah, so that's kind of how I navigate it.
I feel like it's more than just like saying lines
and getting the script right.
Speaker 4 (11:11):
It's so much deeper than that.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
It's kind of hard to explain, but it's like I
take it really seriously, and even though it might be
a beauty campaign where like the lines are scripted, I
really try to get talent to feel it, yeah, and
to identify with it, and so.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
It makes the work look and feel authentic.
Speaker 1 (11:34):
I totally felt that, And especially when you're shooting for
such a long day, I felt like as a director,
you were paying attention to that. It's to the energy
level of what happens when you shoot a long time,
and how in like ways we can kind of like
click back in to try to like find the energy,
you know, we can get access to there, you know,
(11:56):
to kind of finish out the shoot. So there were
a lot of moments like that that I felt like
you gave me those moments to recenter, you know, you
gave me those moments to be like, Okay, now here's
a different setup from what we've been doing. Let's think
about this, let's talk about.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
It, and it's important to hype people up as well
and let them see themselves like that's so important to
be like do you see yourself in the show, Like
this is gorgeous?
Speaker 4 (12:18):
It is so important to like touch space with because
I would.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Want to know I would want to know how I'm
looking if I was doing something really difficult or you know,
because sometimes it just feels unnatural the things that we're
saying on screen, like you know what I mean.
Speaker 4 (12:33):
Then you see it and you're like, that actually looks phenomenal.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
It just gives you that bit of courage to like
keep keep on the path, you know.
Speaker 1 (12:42):
So it's definitely a moment where like you you sometimes
as I felt anyway, it's like you're you're on camera,
You're like does this look am I?
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And you like meet someone to be like you a
bad bitch. Absolutely, don't worry about it. It's given bad bitch.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Right now, you're doing great and you're like okay, because
sometimes you're there in yourself you're not knowing how like
it's coming across with all of the other tools that
are there, the lighting and the way the camera's shooting you,
and there are angles like you don't know about all
that you're just in your own body, sometimes in your head,
depending on you know, where you are in the shoot.
(13:21):
So to have someone whose vision is thinking about the
broad scope.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
Of that like it you really you really.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
Impressed upon me how important it is to be directed.
And I told my husband, I said, I said, Hey,
if Cristelle de castro ever called me up someday and
be like, hey, I'm working on a project and I
want to know if you would be like, okay, girl,
well just go ahead and email me, because whatever you're saying, yes, yes,
whatever you're saying, I bet I can do it. Note
(13:52):
please put it, put it down in your plan or Crystal, Okay,
just say you no. Like just would have a lot
of weight with me because I just enjoyed your expertise
and your professionalism and your ability to not you had
you had this way, and I feel like this was
true of the crew overall that day too. It's like
you had this way of being like, you know, it's firm,
(14:13):
but it's also gentle, it's thoughtful. And we've all worked
in this industry long enough, you know you have some
experiences with people who are just like, oh, they know
how to be is a cousin football coach, doesn't matter
what position they're in, you know, and that's not always
the energy that you might need in the moment.
Speaker 4 (14:30):
Listen.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
I mean, we are so lucky that we get to
do this for a living. I feel like this work
is fun and we're lucky to do it and we're
not like operating on someone's deathbed.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
You know.
Speaker 3 (14:44):
If that were the case, then you know, maybe I
could see a world in which like stressing out and
and you know, like like kind of like losing composure
could be a.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
Thing because it's someone's life.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
We are making films where like making beautiful images like
this is fun, this is this is this is like
not everybody gets to do this. So at the end
of the day, I'm like, there's no reason to be
flashing on people on set, you know.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
Yeah, yeah, Okay.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
Let's take a little bit of a deeper dive into
your career journey, because the experience you've had as a director,
as a photographer, as a fine artist, now as a
co founder of a film production company, all of these
things involve the visual arts in some regards. So talk
to me about how did that journey start with you?
How did you know that you had interest skill talent
(15:42):
to want to explore, like how you could do the
visual arts yourself.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Yes, okay, so it's I'll take you through the journey.
Speaker 3 (15:50):
I'll try to give you the cliffs notes of it,
but it'll all makes sense in the end.
Speaker 4 (15:55):
But basically, when I was in high school.
Speaker 3 (15:58):
So I grew up in the Bay and in like
a suburb in the Bay, kind of like a baby Oakland.
The only thing putting us on the map was that
we had a bart station that landed.
Speaker 4 (16:09):
And that finished in our in our little suburb.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Okay.
Speaker 4 (16:13):
When I was growing.
Speaker 3 (16:14):
Up, I would watch the public Access channel and the
high school of my town had like a thirty minute
segment on that channel where like all the high schoolers
would make, you know, silly projects and then put it
on the public access channel.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Obviously, as like a young kid, I would.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Always be like they're so cool, like I want to
take that class or whatever. They were just silly projects.
And then flash forward to me going to high school.
I took the TV video class.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
Now, my high school was like a poor Euphoria.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
Okay, okay, okay, okay.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So so all of the like all of the crazy
shit that goes on in euphoria, like and.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Like the very inappropriate stuff. Like those things were happening
in my high school. Just we just we were not
a rich high school. Okay, but I love my high school.
I'm so happy I went there because it gave me
so much soul and it was so fucking diverse and like,
just we just were soulful. We had like we didn't
necessarily advance in the books, but like we had a
(17:18):
popin marching band.
Speaker 4 (17:20):
We had you know what I mean, Like we had
an amazing theater program.
Speaker 3 (17:24):
And then we also had this TV video elective that
everybody kind of wanted to take because the football coach
was the teacher of that class and he was just
super cool.
Speaker 4 (17:36):
And this is how bad my high school was.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
You could cut class and go hang out at another
and just go hang out with your friends in another class,
and the teachers would let.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You wow chilling.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Yes, it was not crazy for my TV video teacher
to be like, I'm hungry, can somebody get me a
burger at Burking and then just literally put his keys
up and then a kid would just drive out with
his car.
Speaker 4 (17:59):
Whow was wild.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
So that was my high school. And anyway, so I
took this class.
Speaker 3 (18:05):
Everybody wanted to take that class because it was infamous
for just being a class where you could just like
chow with your friends. But I actually took it seriously
and like I had so much fun, and my teacher
would just be like, yo, you.
Speaker 4 (18:17):
Need to borrow a camera. Like he just let me.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
He created an environment, and I think because I was
the only kid who actually like made stuff, he was
just like giving me any of the tools that I needed.
Speaker 1 (18:29):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Right, So I mean to the point where for one
summer he snuck a computer into the back of my
car so I.
Speaker 4 (18:36):
Could edit for the summer.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
He left the home computer from school.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Which is really amazing. Right.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
So I realized when I was like fourteen, I was like,
I really want to become a filmmaker.
Speaker 4 (18:47):
This is what I want to do. I want to
be a director.
Speaker 3 (18:50):
And I'm from an immigrant family, Filipino family.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
I moved here when I was five.
Speaker 3 (18:56):
We had a mom in pop grocery store that I
started working at when I was eleven. So it's kind
of like everything everywhere all at once, like that vibe
I know that so well, like that sort of immigrant
like family business hustle that was my family to the tea.
So I remember being at the dinner table saying like
(19:18):
I realized I want to be a director, and my
dad like scoffed at me, you know, he was like
with what money, Like I don't, I'm not following, you know,
and it was just like, okay, well that dream had
that bubble hasband popped. But that kind of reaction was
to be expected from from him. And anyway, what ended
(19:39):
up happening was after high school. At that point, my
father had left our family and my mom was now
a single mom with this store. And I'm the one
daughter of three kids, so I'm the middle child of
two boys. So I was always kind of relied on
to be like one of the you know, one of
the cash register girls at the store. So I was
(20:00):
my older brother like had to go out and make money.
My little brother was too young. And then it was
just like it was like me, you know, and like
I retained the language the most out of me and
my big brother, and my little brother didn't speak to gallogs,
so I kind of was I had to just be around,
got it. So not that I wanted to go to
(20:22):
college in San Francisco, but it was something I had
to do in order to take.
Speaker 4 (20:26):
The train on the weekends to work and help my
mom got it, So I kind of put my kind
of dream on hold.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
I also didn't really even have really any direction as
to like how I was going to make that happen.
But what ended up happening was so I went to
San Francisco State. I went with a theater and cinema
double major idea, that's what I wanted to do. I
quickly fucking like took dropped out of theater because I
(20:55):
was like, brouh, like if this is going to be
my future, Like I'm like, why are showing up to
class with a kpon? That is just unnecessary? That's and
I was like I can't this is these are not
my people. I love acting, but I just I was like,
I can't. I don't see this being my future or
something to drop that. What ended up happening was I
(21:18):
went from remember my teacher was just like take a computer,
take this camera. He was really involved with just helping
me like creatively grow to going to this school where
like we didn't have any video projects. My first year
there was mostly like theories, so we didn't work on
anything creative, and I went on Craigslist to try and
(21:41):
find students from other schools that I could.
Speaker 4 (21:44):
Join a project with. Wow, go on Craigslist.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
It's these kids going to the Academy of Art. They
were shooting a commercial for like a school project and
they needed actors.
Speaker 4 (21:56):
So I tried out. I got a part the DP
and I became besties from that point on, and he
introduced photography to me.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
He was an incredible still is an incredible photographer. His
name is Ago, He's Japanese. He lives in Japan now.
But he literally, I mean this man, I wasn't even
interested in photography at all, Like he just like he
just had these gadgets that I didn't understand, and like
the light meter, just I was like what is that?
Speaker 1 (22:30):
Like?
Speaker 4 (22:30):
I would just be like, what are these things? And
one day he was just.
Speaker 3 (22:34):
Like, you keep asking me questions, do you want to
just try it? And I was like no, no, I
just I just what is that? Like That's just a weird,
vintage looking thing. And basically he ended up teaching me
how to take pictures. He again, he's an angel in
my life. And he would give me film and then
I would shoot through the film and then we would
(22:55):
develop it in his kitchen and then we would make
contact sheets.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
And this now became like the new thing that I
could involve.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Myself with that was feeding my It was like you know,
in high school, I got to really like feed my
creativity through that video class. And then now I found
this thing that like I could do by myself. I'm
it's instant gratification because I shoot it and then we
develop it. I get to see it. It's not like
shooting a video and then having to edit it. And
(23:22):
so it just was like blowing my mind photography. And
then in the next year I got into like my
first group exhibition. So I was basically like photographing all
the like kids that I was running around San Francisco
with and like just like photographing like musicians, and so
I was a street photographer, Like that was my vibe.
Speaker 4 (23:43):
Yeah, just like the scene.
Speaker 3 (23:45):
I was like shooting the scene, and then that became
my world. I was heavily involved in like gallery shows,
but specifically street art.
Speaker 4 (24:05):
Right, So not it's low brow, it's very lowbrow.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
It's just like you know, like photos of like kids
getting drunk and you know what I mean, Like that
that was the vibe cut too.
Speaker 4 (24:17):
Moving to New York. Finally, when I was twenty four, whoa.
Speaker 3 (24:21):
I moved to New York because I was working at
a diner in back home, and I was like, Okay,
I love this.
Speaker 4 (24:28):
I love what I'm doing.
Speaker 3 (24:30):
And I love photography, but how do I make money
from this? Like I'm shooting my friends, I'm shooting bands,
but like, how do I then make a career out
of what I'm doing?
Speaker 4 (24:40):
Right?
Speaker 3 (24:41):
I hadn't been printed in a met well, no, I
had been printed in one magazine. I just didn't know
how to take it to the next level. And I
just felt like New York was the key. So I
moved to New York. And immediately I felt like I
can't be this like this art girl because I'm not
from an academic background, right, Because.
Speaker 4 (25:01):
In New York, it's not about lowbrow.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
It's very much about high brow, and it's very much
about like like your masters and like being able to
speak about I'm Like, in New York, you can lean
a broom on a wall and have a little title
card next to it and a written thing, and people
will be like.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
Wow, you know that's it. That's a fact. That's a fact.
Speaker 4 (25:24):
I just felt so outside of it.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
I felt like there was no way I was going
to be able to compete with these people.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
I dropped out.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
I didn't get my degree, so I just felt very
intimidated and I said, Okay, well, I'm just gonna then
have to figure out how to work in this field.
And so then I went more commercial and I started
learning digital photography. Then I started like shooting for like brands,
(25:51):
and I went that way. It was funny because in
those early years when I would go to San Francisco,
they'd be like, do you have a show coming up?
Speaker 4 (26:00):
Said?
Speaker 3 (26:00):
They knew me as an artist, and then here I
was really more of like I was working commercially, and
then a couple of years into that, I started getting
the payings.
Speaker 4 (26:10):
In my heart, I wanted.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
To direct, so I started slowly bringing that back into
my practice. Twenty thirteen I think was the first like
fashion film I directed, and then now cut to now
I'm like ninety really like ninety five percent directing. Oh yeah,
for work, And I still love photography. If I could
(26:33):
have it my way, it would just be like I
would just do it as my art practice.
Speaker 4 (26:38):
But I won't say no direct that's right.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Just in case anybody's listening, you can still pay Chrystale
for some photographs. That's you could still pay her for that. Okay,
just you know, we'll also long story.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
But I think the context is necessary for people like, Yeah,
I'm actually doing my first love.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
I'm pursuing my first love, and so I just feel
fucking blessed to be here.
Speaker 1 (27:02):
You know, like I thank you for sharing that journey,
because the reason why I want our community here in
her living room to hear that is because a lot
of times we're meeting someone at the point we see them,
we're not getting to hear like all of the rough
and tumble journey, all of this stuff we learn, like,
oh I don't really like that, but I didn't know
(27:22):
i'd like this. You know, there's all of that stuff
that leads a person to their sweet spot that you
see them in. And I think when we look at
our own lives, it's sometimes hard to think that all
this stuff I've been trying to figure out could actually
be leading me down the road where I'm going to
end up where I'm supposed to be anyways, So I
(27:42):
just really appreciated you sharing that journey with us. So
now take me from now. You have photography as a
part of art that you're doing, you have your commercial work,
you're now getting into directing. How does that transition into entrepreneurship?
What was our journey life between there and we is
(28:04):
starting a company? And we is starting a company in
twenty twenty, Tell the people, Tell the people, Crystal Listen.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
That was humbling the twenty twenty moment because we were forming.
Speaker 4 (28:16):
In twenty nineteen.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
Before any of us knew what the fuck was going
to happen, right, So we were we were forming in
twenty nineteen, and then the pandemic happened and we were like,
oh shit, like this is.
Speaker 4 (28:28):
A funny time to be doing this.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
But here's the wonderful thing is that we didn't have
an overhead. So my business partners, it's me and my
business partners are all in the UK. So I had
the New York office and we have a London office
in an office in Bristol.
Speaker 4 (28:45):
We were running the New York office out of my living.
Speaker 3 (28:46):
Room, right, So it wasn't like we had some other
rent we needed to pay. It wasn't like we had
an employee that we hired on that we had a
salary for. There was no really losses on our it
was just you know, a slow season to start in.
So that was the blessing, you know, Like when that happened,
(29:07):
we were like, well, the good thing is it's not
really affecting us, So it was it was fine. And
the entrepreneurship, I think I will always have that bone
in my body because I grew up in a family
business and that's just kind of where that came from.
That's kind of what I'm.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
Used to, you know, Yeah, no, that makes perfect sense,
Like especially just hearing your story coming from a family
that you were also watching be entrepreneurial and how that
like affects your journey and what you know is possible,
what you know is possible to do, Like I think
that's so dope. And twenty twenty just you know, it
just snook so many of us, Christal because the way
(29:46):
I had the tours lined up, it was going to
be a spring and a fall and just it was
like so many things. But you know, to be honest,
like I didn't know I was going to get a
podcast deal. I didn't know the old opportunity was going
to even arrive. I mean, truthfully, I ended up getting
booked at P and g's headquarters. Actually, I want to say,
(30:08):
this is like a week before the pandemic tip. This
is when everyone was just like leaving hand sanitizer out
because we're just like, I don't know, something seems like
it's going on some place kind of thing.
Speaker 4 (30:20):
But it became real, like super real.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Yeah, it was like we weren't really sure, right, And
I actually did some poetry there and the Olay team
was sitting in the room and they were like, you
just did a piece that sounds exactly like this campaign
thing we're working on. And then the pandemic started and
I was just like, well, I'm glad we had that conversation.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
That was that.
Speaker 1 (30:40):
But then to your point, there were still all of
these creative things that went on after that that people
were like, Okay, we could figure out some ways to
like film some people from home. We can figure out
some ways to do these voiceovers this way. You know,
there was a lot of like innovative things that I
think a lot of us as creatives had to do.
(31:00):
Like I love that for you and your business partners,
Like now you can look back at this three years
do y'all ever sit around and be like, yo, like
we actually made it through this oh.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
All the time, all the time, Like we really had
to get savvy with like the remote tech. You know,
we needed to get savvy with like what do we
need in order to like produce something?
Speaker 4 (31:21):
And it was nuts. It's a thing I would not
like to go to anymore.
Speaker 3 (31:25):
But I'm I'm glad you know that's something that we
evolved and learned through that time. But yeah, I'm curious,
like for you and like poetry and touring, you said,
you know, all these tour dates got canceled. Do you
find in your field it's adapting to a new world
or like our tours back are performances.
Speaker 4 (31:46):
Back for you?
Speaker 1 (31:48):
They haven't come back for me fully yet. But in
some ways it was kind of like the work that
came to me over this past three years was all
stuff for the most part that I could do from
Atlanta or do from home. So a lot of it
was more like some collaborative type of work. And obviously
the podcast and like you're watching me here in my
husband's studio, so we just made a lot of stuff.
(32:11):
We just made it from here. But I am a
stage person Chrysto. I like, really, that's that's really where
it's at for me. Like every other thing I'm doing
came from me loving writing, which led me to loving
the stage. So I'm starting to get to a point
where I was just starting to cry because I was
just like, I don't know, can I Is this someplace
(32:33):
people is and I could just go there and just
like say, well, hello, can I say a poem to y'all?
Speaker 2 (32:39):
Can I do a poem or something?
Speaker 1 (32:41):
So in a way, now I'm just now kind of
getting back out, like taking my poems back out to
open mics. That's a big part of my process. I've
been trying the moth and learning how to do that
sort of like storytelling form, which has been really really
good and like challenging for me to figure out. So
I feel like I'm seeing the touring come back for
bigger name artists, which I hope means that that will
(33:05):
happen for some of us. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
The culture's still here.
Speaker 1 (33:10):
Yeah, yeah for us as indie artists. And I think
some indie artists too are kind of thinking about like,
you know, maybe pre pandemic, you might have an artist
like me and an artist over here and an artist
over here and artists over here, and they're all touring separately.
I'm watching a lot of indie artists figure out like, Okay,
maybe it's better during this time to be figuring out
how we tour together, how we put three or four
(33:30):
artists on a bill and kind of build ourselves back
up to an audience and people get more comfortable, you know.
So I think a lot of the collaboration that came
out of this time, like you said, not a time
I would like to go back to, but the collaboration
that we learned and the ability to just like think
on the fly and figure out how we can do
(33:51):
things like I think that's the thing I hope that
we keep, you know. Yes, I also wanted to ask
you about mentorship. I want to talk about this, Christal,
and I want to hear your thoughts about it, because
sometimes people ask me, like who's your mentor? And sometimes
I kind of feel like I kind of feel like
I had a lot of mentors from Afar, Like if
you walked up to those people, they wouldn't be like
(34:13):
I know Amena, but I would be like I read
her books through and through and she mentored.
Speaker 6 (34:18):
Me from.
Speaker 2 (34:21):
Not at her house and not in her office.
Speaker 4 (34:23):
No, personally, she doesn't know who I.
Speaker 1 (34:25):
Am, doesn't know me, but I watched her videos until
I had her videos like memorized, and so she mentored me.
So you have the experience of now as an entrepreneur, now,
having been in your career as long as you have,
you have a lot of folks that probably see you,
hear your story and are like, tell me everything, Christal,
(34:45):
be my mentor, be my mentor. I want you to
talk about what's the process like for you of knowing
when the fit is right for you to mentor someone?
And then I also would love to hear your journey good, bad,
ugly and different of finding mentors for yourself.
Speaker 4 (35:01):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (35:02):
So I actually started teaching at Parsons, which is fucking
nuts because I don't have my degree. Right when literally
when they tapped me to teach his class, well, people listening.
Speaker 4 (35:13):
To this won't be able to see this.
Speaker 1 (35:14):
But I was like this, who I was looking over
my shoulder, left to me, you talking to me?
Speaker 7 (35:20):
Right?
Speaker 4 (35:20):
I was like, I took the meetings and I was
like you want you want? You want me to teach
us class? Like you want me?
Speaker 3 (35:26):
But it was it was a it was an intensive
photo and video intensive for MFA fashion students. Wow. So
it was teaching fashion designers how to think in the
world of pictures and in video, which was so amazing
and it was such a an awesome it's.
Speaker 4 (35:44):
It's an amazing fashion program at Parsons.
Speaker 3 (35:46):
But like the directors of that program basically wanted to
give their like they had a movement class because they
were like, look, if you're going to design something, let's
say for Amina Brown, who's going to recite something at
at the Grammys, she.
Speaker 6 (36:01):
Can't feel stiff, Like you need to know how your
clothing feels and like you know, So they just thought
of so many out of the box things, including this
course that I taught, and I was there for four years.
Speaker 4 (36:14):
This is my first year not teaching anymore.
Speaker 3 (36:16):
But what I realized is I really love connecting with
younger people.
Speaker 4 (36:22):
I really love teaching.
Speaker 3 (36:25):
I really love just like and again it's coming from
this maternal place. It's like totally coming from this like
it's the same with directing.
Speaker 4 (36:34):
There is a level of care and like it's there's heart.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
It's a lot of heart that goes into both directing
and teaching. For me, so I feel like I get
so much out of that kind of interaction. And I
love doing like guest speaking for you know, organizations for
other creative students, and I've been doing I actually have
had a lot of speaking engagement this month with different organizations.
Speaker 4 (37:03):
I love doing that.
Speaker 3 (37:04):
So I don't mentor anybody one on one, but like
I mostly show up for young folks in that way.
When I did have a team of interns pre COVID,
I obviously mentored them, But I always find myself in
the space where I'm being asked to mentor, which can
(37:26):
get very.
Speaker 4 (37:30):
I guess the word would be overwhelming.
Speaker 3 (37:32):
Yeah, in a world where you are a woman of
color and you are dying for a mentor yourself.
Speaker 4 (37:40):
In my personal life, like I don't.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
Have anybody in my family that I can sort of
lean on or look up to for financial advice.
Speaker 4 (37:48):
I'm the one who's going to have to take care
of my family.
Speaker 3 (37:51):
You feel me like like I'm working hard because I
don't see like I feel like I'm gonna have to
be the one to break the cycle of you know,
of not having enough money in my family legacy, you know,
So it's it can be very tough when when like
so many different groups of people are leaning on you
(38:11):
for advice and mentorship. I'm always happy to do that,
but I am I am out here fucking trying to
look for a fucking mentor because I just, yeah, it's
it's tough out here, and I think it's It wasn't
until recently where I was like, you kind of need
to look for a mentor yourself, you know what I mean?
And what about you, like, do you have any any
(38:32):
mentors that you can talk to or get advice from.
Speaker 1 (38:37):
I don't feel like I do, Crystal, which is why
I just identified so much with what you said, because
I think, especially some of the spaces that I've been in,
there would definitely be a lot of young folks of
color that would just like gravitate to me and and
I love it. And then I would also be like, oh,
who is the person that I'm all call or or
(39:01):
who who is that exactly? Yes, So I feel like
I feel like, when I look back at my story,
there are people I can see like, oh, that person
really had an impact on the form of what I'm doing,
or you know, how I decided to approach this, And
so I'm like, I don't know if I thought back
then I was being mentored, but now I can see
(39:26):
I was right. Like when I think about your story
about your teacher from high school, right, it's like I
think a lot of like the mentoring part that's hard too,
is like when some people talk about it, it sounds
very formal, you know, it sounds very right, which I
guess maybe is like more of a corporate America kind
of style, which for folks like us that are working
for ourselves, we're just not going to have that kind
(39:46):
of ladder experience where you're going to be like here,
I am a supervisor at this level in the company.
I would like to ask so and so, who's a
manager of this department to now be my mentor? Wherein
we will go to this very expensive place and they
will pay for me to eat like niche oi salad while.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
We like talk over whatever this is, you know.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
And I feel like when you're like in the creative space,
you just don't have like you're like, am I supervisor?
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Am I a management?
Speaker 4 (40:13):
You know what? I think we need to have that? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Like so I think what we have had probably are
our bunch of angels. That's kind of how I see
it so like my you know, my teacher and Ago
who taught me.
Speaker 4 (40:25):
Photography, Like they were angels in my life.
Speaker 3 (40:28):
I wouldn't consider them mentors necessarily, they opened my eyes
to things and they really like invested, and they created
an environment for me to like blossom, which is I'm
so forever grateful for.
Speaker 4 (40:43):
I consider them angels in my life. I would love to.
Speaker 3 (40:46):
Have like a fucking savvy, seasoned business woman that I
can speak to, who who can you know, give me
grades that I'm not. I'm still out here Flailand, but
like you know, give me a little bit of like
help me see what kind of structure I need to
build out into my life, Like someone I can look
(41:07):
up to and be like wow, like you kind of
come from a similar pass or whatever. I just I
just fucking like, adore what you're doing.
Speaker 4 (41:15):
But like it.
Speaker 3 (41:15):
It's really tough out here, I realize often I think
more so lately like I feel like I'm I'm in
I'm out here in this world being almost forced to
be more more masculine and more more aggressive than I
even want to be. You know what I'm saying, Like
I don't have a partner, I don't you know, I'm
(41:36):
I'm I'm just single mom in it with my dog.
You feel me like, I actually don't want to be
a leader one hundred percent of the time.
Speaker 4 (41:46):
I also want to be led.
Speaker 3 (41:47):
Say that, Crystal, you know what I'm saying, so like
it's actually it's a beautiful realization. I mean, like fourteen
almost fifteen years into living in New York City, I'm
only just realizing, you know, it is actually okay to
like to make a beat and like open open, Like
right now I'm in I'm in a space of like
I just want to like open my world up to
(42:10):
other folks to come in and help me out because
I do not have all the answers.
Speaker 4 (42:14):
So that's kind of where I am.
Speaker 3 (42:15):
Yeah, and there are fucking amazing women who are killing
it all around us, so I think it's just about yeah,
like if this is a great platform for me to
even just say, you know, if there's anybody listening who.
Speaker 4 (42:27):
Would like to have a coffee you.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
Okay, because whatever you say, Crystal, I want to eat
strap on there as well, so we know you're listening.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
We want that.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
And Crystal, I think too, I just resonated so much
with what you just said. Especially when you are sort
of having to create a path for yourself.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
You know.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
I have felt that a lot as a poet, because
people are always like what a poet, like, how do you?
Speaker 2 (42:54):
How do you live? Do you eat food? What are
what are poets doing out here?
Speaker 1 (42:58):
You know? And I sort of feel like I carve
this lane for myself, which meant I didn't have a
specific person that I could go to and say, hey,
when you were my age and you were doing this,
It was sort of like I would have to kind
of build that out of various the sundry types of people.
But I do think a part of it I'm trying
to work on, Crystal. I ain't got it all the
way and got it all the way together. Maybe I
(43:19):
never will either, But no part of it I'm trying
to work on is like how to put myself in
spaces where I'm being poured back into right and really
digging into like what does that look like for me?
Are there are there conferences or retreats that would be
a space where I can say, of all this hustle
and I'm doing to make this money, what percentage of
(43:41):
that money can I give to? Like I'm gonna go
to something where I'm gonna sit there and get to
learn from other people, right and get to like and
sometimes that can be a space I think where you
can catch a vibe from someone to see if you
think they would be like a mentor type person. One
of the things that's worked for me so far, which
is not technically meant maybe some people would say it is,
(44:02):
but it's sort of like having like a peer knowledge
share like I have, Like I have like a very
small number of black women that every now and then
we like get on a zoom and one of us
will be like, I'm about to have a meeting where
I have to pitch this idea to this brand. Y'all
pour into me what you think based on your industry,
(44:23):
Pour into me what you think I should think about,
what you think I should ask, What should I say?
What are things I should consider as I'm preparing for this,
and we all kind of like take a turn. And
so I think, as creatives like in some ways we
can we can give to each other the thing that
we wish we had ahead of us.
Speaker 2 (44:42):
Now.
Speaker 1 (44:42):
The hope is like when I look at you, Cristel,
and when I look at how far my career has come.
I hope that the generations after us will have more
access to mentorship, like I hope to give back to
the people coming after me, like more than was able
more than I guess I was able to receive. But
in some ways some of us weren't able to receive
(45:02):
that because who was doing this right? Look like this
specific thing. It's like sometimes it's like, oh, I just
I just made up a lane right here, So now
like I don't quite have that one exact person where
I can go to, right, but like who who can
be that? So I think some of it is like
every time I learn something, I'm always like in an
episode of like Black Girl tries to pretend like she's
(45:24):
been places, and it's like every time I learn something,
you know, every time I do get a new contract,
look in the clauses and be like, oh, I didn't
know that could be a clause. Sometimes I might made
up a creative friend and be like, girl, let me
tell you what was in the contract, just in case
you get one like this, you know, So like creating
some element of peer sharing which can be like a
little mini mentor, and because sometimes my.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
Friends right, actually, yeah, absolutely, I think that's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (45:50):
They're like across having the same experience as you, but
sometimes they get in a room different from you, or
get in a room you want to get in, and
when they come back and be like, girl, when you
go in there, don't order this order this is stay.
Speaker 4 (46:04):
Right right, No, that is that's actually so important.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
I was actually reading there was this I can't remember
what book this is from, but this person was talking
about having creative kind of like a creative group that
like every every week for like thirty minutes, they would
meet and it might have even just been two people
that would meet every thirty minutes, but I thought that
was like smart because it's kind of like therapy, Like
(46:29):
I speak with my therapist every single week, and but
like how cool could it be to like speak with
a peer and just be like, this is what's going
on in my world.
Speaker 4 (46:37):
This is what's going on in my world.
Speaker 3 (46:38):
And it's it's actually like agenda based, like you're meeting
for those thirty minutes, not just to like piki, but
like you're you know, Okay, what's going on?
Speaker 4 (46:50):
What can I help you with? Okay? Can you pour
into me? Now? Like yeah, I think that's brilliant. Why
like we need to do that.
Speaker 1 (46:57):
Okay, I think that's not me wanting to invite you
and figure out.
Speaker 2 (47:00):
How we do that.
Speaker 7 (47:03):
So I'm glad we talked about it, Crystale, okay, because
the creatives need to put there because sometimes for me,
Crystelle is also like some of my other friends are
just in different industries from me. They're not necessarily like creatives,
so that will add like a different element that I'll
kind of feel like, oh, I'm not sure how well
I need to explain to you this part of how
(47:23):
this typically works, whereas someone like you would be like, oh, yeah, no, totally,
Like I've been in the meetings where like we were
talking about that, I've looked at the contract, so we
had to decide.
Speaker 2 (47:31):
To see this right exactly.
Speaker 1 (47:34):
Yeah, yeah, So I'm glad we talked about that so
we can invite each other.
Speaker 2 (47:37):
That's very good, yes, exactly.
Speaker 3 (47:40):
But I'm sure so many people who are going to
be listening to this are going to resonate with wanting
to find a mentor. And I'm calling on all those
people to comment on this posture because maybe this could
this can possibly start some sort of I don't.
Speaker 1 (47:54):
Know, like it's like a match dot com. But for mentors, right, yeah,
that's what we need.
Speaker 3 (47:59):
If I get to your point, the retreats and all
that stuff like that is something that I need to
look into.
Speaker 4 (48:03):
I think that that's a great idea.
Speaker 1 (48:05):
Yeah, at least to get started, because sometimes that'll put
you in the room with some people and then some
of it. Also Christo for me is like sometimes I
meet people that could be my mentor and I'm scared
to ask them, right.
Speaker 3 (48:14):
So we need to like we need to do the
work right because people have the audacity to ask us okay.
Speaker 1 (48:22):
Okay, you know, and sometimes they ask it. I'll be like,
I got you, let's meet, let's do it. So it's
like sometimes you don't know a person might be or
a person might be like I can't you know, meet
with you every week for two hours, but call me
right now. I got thirty minutes. Ask me some things,
let me know what you need, let me look into
(48:42):
it something. So also like not being afraid to put
the ask out there. When you do come across someone
that you feel like that vibe from, don't be afraid
to like toss it out there to them. You never
know when someone might be like, let's hop on the zoom.
I got you. I'll answer your questions. I got thirty minutes,
so you better make that thirty minutes.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
You were so right, Yeah right, Maybe we actually need technology.
Speaker 4 (49:07):
The fact that we are not asking as well, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2 (49:10):
Gotta get into that for sure.
Speaker 1 (49:11):
But yeah, if y'all want to mentor Crystell, please hit
us up right now. And also if you want to
pay Crystale money, that's separate from the mentoring, but if
you want to use Crystal services, you can also pay
for that as well. Okay, I wanted to ask you
a very important question to close our interview, Christell, because
when we are here in her living room, what I
(49:33):
imagine is like, this is the place that I gather
with my girlfriends. It's the living room. It's that old
couch that you got.
Speaker 2 (49:41):
On sale somewhere.
Speaker 1 (49:43):
Is when your girlfriend comes over and she's like, girl,
I brought these crackers and a little bit of cheese
I opened last week, and you're like, girl, I got
a bell pepper, I got a little bit of hummus
I tasted last week. And you just bring your little
snacks together. It's like a little snack pot luck. I
want to know when you are with your friends, when
you were with your homies, What's what's the snack that
(50:05):
you are bringing to this type of situation?
Speaker 4 (50:09):
Okay, So currently I am doing keto, right.
Speaker 3 (50:14):
So my snacks are like it's like meat and cheese,
like salami and like cheddar, and like like nuts. Technically
nuts are not keto, but like I'm on that like
roteine me vibe that train.
Speaker 4 (50:31):
Oh yes, if that were not the case.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
If we were not doing keto, we.
Speaker 3 (50:40):
Were not okay. So let me tell you what I
love to eat at the movies. I get a big
ass popcorn and I go to the movies by myself
all the time. I have like body dysmorphia because I
really swear like I'm going to be able to eat.
Speaker 4 (50:55):
Like this huge tub of popcorn.
Speaker 3 (50:57):
But I get a big old popcorn and I get plains,
and I salt and butter the shit out of that
popcorn and then I temper the eminem's onto the and
it is delightful. And I get a big ass coke
ye and it sends me into another dimension. And I
that that snack right there is so phenomenal. And then
(51:19):
and then another one. I I've been doing these this
is all like it's all like trashy stuff, okay.
Speaker 2 (51:25):
But trashy lish okay.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
Some like just getting some like cute organic and like
you can get vegetarian refried beans, but I'll refry that
shit up with some cheese in it and then serve
it warm with some tortilla chips and some hot sauce
and some sour cream and plopanos that right there for
a little little TV binge.
Speaker 4 (51:49):
With with the homegirls. Ah, it's alish.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
When you said you warmed it up, like, that's when
I knew that we were people right there. It's two things.
Speaker 4 (51:58):
Oh yeah, we warm it up.
Speaker 2 (51:59):
Over the said you warmed it up.
Speaker 1 (52:01):
I needed that when you said you tempered the popcorn
with the eminems.
Speaker 2 (52:05):
The fact that you said.
Speaker 1 (52:06):
Tempered let me know that you are my people, Crystal,
you are my people because you're like, I'm not going
to be for the Eminem's.
Speaker 2 (52:12):
I'm a temper the popcorn. Uh huh. That's it.
Speaker 4 (52:15):
The reason why you have to temper, and this is
very important. This is a very important step.
Speaker 3 (52:19):
Is all of the Eminem's fall to the bottom, and
so you have to just go a little bit at
a time to.
Speaker 4 (52:24):
Be able to still access the.
Speaker 1 (52:27):
Especially if it's like a big tub of popcorn, right,
you don't want all the good stuff to like end
up on the bottom. Wow, I still fixed my life
today because listen, you have to try it. Okay, thank you,
because about Hey, what's your favorite snack? I am a
popcorn girl. Okay, I'm a pop popcorn girl in okay, okay,
in all circumstances. I'm in the movies and without I
(52:50):
am just a popcorn girl all the time. I am
like I air popped the popcorn at my house. I
just get into that. I'm getting involved some nutritional yeast
these days, you know, Okay, we're just throwing a little
You know, my mom was a big seasoned salt person
on the popcorn.
Speaker 2 (53:10):
That's how she raised me.
Speaker 1 (53:12):
So I sprinkle a little seasoning salt on it. You
shake up the bowl like that's me. I'm popcorn is
my favorite snack. I feel as a person who would
bring snacks to a thing. I mean, I am a
hummus girl. I do a particularly like a particular brand
of hum miss. I don't just want to walk in
a store and assume everything's fine, Like it's like if
(53:33):
it's not the brand of hummus. I've decided it's delicious,
then we're just not doing that, you know, So I
want to bring pershudo into this conversation. I love my husband,
We've been married a very long time, and pershudo is
so delicious. Like considered adding persudo as an additional partner
(53:53):
to this situation, you know what I'm saying, Just like
considered for a second, would my husband agree to be
like you can be married to me and preshudo, you know,
like in a world we can do that. Like that's
how much I enjoy perscudo. Yes, so funny, Yes, I
do have a moment's so like anytime I go somewhere
to restaurant and they're like they could be like lasagna,
(54:17):
fried chicken topped with proshudo, I'm like, yes, I'll have
that zero and I I don't care preshudo and a
little ice cube. Yes that sounds great preshudo. Mm hmm
my god, Yes, amazing. Christal, Thank you so much for
joining me in the living room, for for bringing us
(54:37):
these snack ideas because I needed to investigate this further.
Thank you for sharing your journey with us. People are
gonna want to follow you. People want to know how
they can give money to groundwork so that groundwork help
them look look fabulous and crispy. Tell the people how
they can engage with you and your work. Tell me
(54:59):
the things.
Speaker 3 (55:00):
Sure so on Instagram and in TikTok, I'm it's Crystelle
Underscore Studio.
Speaker 4 (55:06):
My my name is felled C h R I S
T E l E. Underscore Studio.
Speaker 3 (55:11):
And then uh, groundwork you can see well, if you
want to see my website, it's Christelle to cash dot com.
Groundwork is ground Dashwork dot co c O. But if
you go to my Instagram you'll get linked to all
of that stuff. And I mean, I just want to
thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 4 (55:30):
This was so lovely connecting with you.
Speaker 3 (55:33):
It's been it's been too long, and I just I
feel so blessed that you've given me the space and
that we could and that just that we could connect today.
Speaker 4 (55:44):
It's just been lovely.
Speaker 2 (55:45):
You're the best, Crystelle.
Speaker 7 (55:47):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (56:00):
Her with Amina Brown is produced by Matt Owen for
Solo Grafeity Productions as a part of the Seneca Women
Podcast Network in partnership with iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (56:09):
Thanks for listening and don't forget to subscribe, rate, and
review the podcast.
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