The Downtown 165- Trang Vu

On this episode of The Downtown, we talk to Trang Vu. We talk about what she's been up to, Lady Kings of Texas, and even a little about Amy.


Apple Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/yf2yk2jz
Google Podcasts - https://tinyurl.com/ybuxuvym
Spotify - https://tinyurl.com/yh4xbgvu
Podcast Addict- https://tinyurl.com/y9d7qcpy
Spreaker - https://www.spreaker.com/user/arlingtoncitizenmedia

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Welcome to Downtown, brought to you by our own Socidism Media.
I am Roady John and on this episode of The
Downtown we talked to Trang Vu. We talk about what
she's been up to, Lady Kings of Texas, and even
a little bit about our own Amy Gibson. That's right,
we have trained back on the show, and I can't
wait for y'all to listen to this interview. It is
such a great conversation her and I had with that

(00:45):
background noise, you know, with live at Inclusion Coffee and
that place is even better than our conversation. So definitely
hang out at Inclusion, Definitely listen to this interview and
definitely check out what traang is doing.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
So, without further ado, here is trang Vu like to
welcome back to the show train Woo. How are you
doing today?

Speaker 3 (01:02):
Man? It was great? How are you Jonathan? It's been
a long time.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
It's been a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Yeah, not just you know, i've seen you at person,
but you know you being on the show and yer,
so I guess kind of catch us up.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
What's been going on?

Speaker 3 (01:15):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:15):
So, I honestly I took kind of a hiatus from
just the things I was doing in general for about
a year. When I came back from Vietnam in February
twenty twenty three, I kind of had this big spiritual
awakening of.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
You know, kind of.

Speaker 4 (01:32):
Closing some gaps from my life before I moved to
the US. I don't know a lot of people know,
but I'm a refugee immigrant and my family.

Speaker 3 (01:44):
Moved here when I was four.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
Ninety eight, and I hadn't seen any of my family
back home for like twenty five years, wow, And so
I don't know. I think it was a combination of
just being able to see people, see the family that
I had lost, and just feel that that center of
acceptance and this unconditional love almost that I felt like

(02:10):
I had missed out on her uh majority of my life.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
And at that time too, I just was unhappy with work.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
I was just so happy with a lot of aspects
in my life that where I didn't feel the built
and I basically was just like, I need to do
the thing that I've always.

Speaker 3 (02:29):
Wanted, which was pursue film and production right.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
And I made a lot of big changes in my
life which caused me to really just reevaluate, you know,
the path that I had been on.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
For the past decade, and so yeah, I was. I
think I went into kind of this.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
Feeling journey, a continued feeling journey, right, but more of.

Speaker 3 (02:54):
More of a focused journey. So I put a lot
of focus to film production.

Speaker 4 (03:02):
I started an apprenticeship program called Pegasus Media Projects.

Speaker 3 (03:08):
It's a non profit organization, so it was basically like
a free film school education.

Speaker 4 (03:13):
Yes, and that was the one thing when I graduated
at eighteen, I wanted.

Speaker 3 (03:17):
To go to film school, but it's so expensive, ridiculous,
and I just never thought it was possible. My parents
weren't super supportive of it, and I just didn't.

Speaker 4 (03:26):
Know how I could kind of write into the industry
without anything like that.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
It's back in twenty twelve. So this program here is
led by.

Speaker 4 (03:37):
Meelu Mielu Javma her name with jal javil land As.
She's an Iranian board woman who started this nonprofit organization
to help kind of the.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Underrepresented in film.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
That's a yeah, so a lot of a lot of
women like it's it's designed to help women, well color,
people of different learning, you know.

Speaker 3 (04:05):
Uh, abilities, disabilities that top of things.

Speaker 4 (04:07):
And so I was fortunate enough to be accepted in
the program. Yeah, put a lot of focus.

Speaker 3 (04:13):
Into that and yeah it it really did change my
Life's awesome.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
What do you think you learned most about yourself while
taking yourself out of you know, cause you were a
very visy lator doing a lot of things all of
the city and the Metroplex.

Speaker 2 (04:29):
Taking yourself out of that and like you said, finding
yourself again. What do you think you've learned the most
about yourself.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
I think the thing I learned the most about myself
is really my resilience and ability to adapt and change,
because I literally I feel like I influent in my life.
I was doing a lot in Arlington, posting a lot,
doing things of trainement, productions, just very ingrained in the community.

Speaker 3 (04:54):
Which I loved. Yeah, but I think.

Speaker 4 (04:56):
I was giving more than I had, more energy, more
time than I had for myself.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
Yes, and I've burned myself out. And I feel like
a lot of people can understand that, especially as artists.
You know, people that.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
Work in service to others like yourself. I mean, you
do the you put a lot of energy into what
you do, like being a podcast for and everything else
to do.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Things for a community to bring it together. But spotlights onto.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Yeah, it does, like there is that time where putting
so much into it and then you feel like you're
never really getting anything.

Speaker 2 (05:32):
Out and you're like, what am I doing this for work?

Speaker 1 (05:35):
Like you said, if you're not finding time for yourself,
then that passion is going to fade out and fade away,
and then you're gonna be like, well, I'm really not
doing this.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Or everything at all.

Speaker 4 (05:44):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
I think that's exactly what happened to me. You know.
I've been wanting to go into cinematography and doing films
that's the cheap okay, and so it was a lifelong
dream and I was doing so much for the community
and I loved it.

Speaker 4 (05:59):
But at the of the day, I just realized that
I wasn't doing something to help me grow. I was
trying to pull the city grow or the community grow,
and had nothing for me, and.

Speaker 3 (06:10):
It just, you know, it kind of causes this feeling of.

Speaker 4 (06:13):
Almost resentments, of bitterness of like what am I day
of my life?

Speaker 3 (06:20):
But it's all self afflicted too, you know, because I wanted.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
To do those things, of course, But when we.

Speaker 4 (06:25):
Don't make time for ourselves and our passions that as
a creative that really.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Will destroy our soul, mental health, no matter where you
are in life or what you do in life, should
be upfront.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
What's the most important. Like, we all want to get paid,
we all want to make money because we have feels
to pay right, eat and everything. But if you're not
mentally in a good place.

Speaker 1 (06:44):
Your art's going to suffer or your work's going to
suffer or growth or yeah, it's just not good.

Speaker 3 (06:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Well, so to speaking of filmmaking.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
In one day, you and a group of women raised
thirty thousand dollars for the upcoming movie Lady.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
Kings of Texas. Tell us about the movie, and then
I want to go into the whole day of that.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Yeah, thank you. This has been an incredible journey. So
everything is just moving so quickly.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
So I got involved with this project through a woman's
named Giovanni Cruiz.

Speaker 3 (07:15):
Such as an actor and a producer on the on
the projects, and I met her on a short film set.

Speaker 4 (07:22):
We've actually worked on two short film sets now. One
was my very first one, which was back in September
for September twenty twenty three for a forty eight.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
Hour film festival.

Speaker 4 (07:32):
Oh those Yeah, that was fun and it was my
very first one. It was very overwhelming.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
The crew that I was on. We were like the
group at least fifteen people.

Speaker 4 (07:42):
Wow, and yeah, people were telling me, this is not
how these normally are, right, It was usually smaller groups.
So I guess I was blessed just to be able
to see all the working parts.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
I didn't get to.

Speaker 4 (07:53):
Talk with Giovanni as much as that on that set specifically,
but that director Natasha Paris, she did another short film
back in January of this year, and Giovanni was the
one of the main actors. Yeah, and so just she
saw how I was working on set, and I saw
how she was working on set, and we kind of

(08:14):
had this mutual respect for each other. And she ended
up telling me about this idea, this project that she.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
And some other women were working on.

Speaker 4 (08:24):
And so she planted that seed back in January twenty
twenty three. She said, you know, we're gonna it's it's
something that's gonna be down down the line.

Speaker 3 (08:34):
But would she be interested?

Speaker 4 (08:35):
And I was just kind of opening myself to, you know,
whatever opportunities.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
And experiences since I was so green in the industry.

Speaker 4 (08:44):
And I think back in maybe like the July or
maybe even sooner, she Giovanni is really good with keeping
connections and like reaching out to people, and so she
kind of like every now and then she would just
kind of hit me up and remind me be like, hey,
you know, we're we're still We're still doing this thing.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
Are you still on? And I think this came It's
a full fruition. Like I signed the deal memo and
the NDA and everything. Gosh one was it.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
I was still working an overnight job. So that was
like back in maybe like October of last year. Okay,
so this this project has been just kind of in
you know, in the works in pre production, which takes forever. Yeah,
but anyways, so we uh, we had we started having
these Zoom meetings where she introduced each other team and

(09:34):
we all kind of met each other and basically we
have a full team of of four main producers Giovanni Cruz,
Carlie Christopher, Elizabeth Ness, and Kenisia Thompson who is who's
uh co producer and those four.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
Women are also in his stall in Lady Kings of Texas.
We also have Crystal Riggs is a co producer.

Speaker 4 (09:57):
That was brought on and just to.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
Kind of, you know, give a shout out to the
whole team. We have a Mandalie who's our social media producer,
Our associate producer.

Speaker 4 (10:08):
Team is Emerus, Olivia, Natalie, Julia, James, Molly, Thomas, Emma
and myself, and then our writer director is Catherine Judas.

Speaker 3 (10:22):
And then we're gonna talk a little bit about Justin
getting's here in a second two. But he's hard, he's
helping us. He's our coach for the campaign. But yeah,
just a solid group of.

Speaker 4 (10:33):
Individuals working together to make this thing happen. And basically
raising thirty K was completely unexpected. You know, in the
first day our goal for the seed in Smart campaign
was sixty K, and I mean that was like.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
Over fifty percent first day, so any incredible.

Speaker 4 (10:54):
Justin told us that that's never happened or it's very
rare that it ends like a very handful of projects
that he's been a part of has that has that
ever happened to. And basically what we did was we
utilize our networks and each other's network.

Speaker 3 (11:12):
So there's a lot of like.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
The grind because pre production, there's so much that goes
into it to make something successful.

Speaker 3 (11:21):
Yes, you know, the pine the scenes that people don't.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Know about yeah, sexy part.

Speaker 3 (11:24):
Exactly of filmmaking of Pause.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
A lot of times things would just die on shelves,
like they either get bought so somebody gets paid for it,
but then never gets shoved, it never gets made, or
things you know, like a strike or the pandemic don't.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
Help things either. So it's that's.

Speaker 1 (11:41):
Amazing you guys were able to raise that much one
one day too, Like did y'all just kind of keep
checking or was it one of those things We're like,
we'll just wait till the end of the day and
see where.

Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah, it was. So we have a what do you
call it?

Speaker 4 (11:54):
A WhatsApp group group chat, and so the day of
the launch, we all have reached.

Speaker 3 (11:59):
Out our contacts within like a certain hour.

Speaker 4 (12:03):
So it was very intentional of how to reach out,
how to reach out to, and we all.

Speaker 3 (12:09):
Just kind of kept in communication of where we were at.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
It was really exciting to see kind of the ticker
go up and up and up and up, and having
those shout outs and seeing the names of people who
were donating.

Speaker 3 (12:21):
You know, there were people who I.

Speaker 4 (12:23):
Haven't talked to in months or even years that I
saw donated and just like responded to our emails or
my emails and said, you know, this is so exciting. Congratulations,
it's just really cool to see that support.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
Howsult. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (12:37):
So yeah, overall, just a very successful day one. We're
actually on week four of a campaign, and so this
campaign is a we have a generous sponsor who is
going to match dollar for dollar up to ten thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
So yeah, so everyone.

Speaker 4 (12:53):
Out there who is holding off on donating, this week
is a great time to do it.

Speaker 3 (12:58):
We have till Friday. But basically whatever you donate are
able to be sponsored will match.

Speaker 4 (13:07):
So even if you donate like five dollars, you're really
giving us ten dollars.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
Yeah, so so please.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
Do that and I will put a link in the
show notes in the social media.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
But yeah, just overall, this really really cool project to
be a part of already.

Speaker 3 (13:24):
And then the first day too, of the launch, I
was able to go down to.

Speaker 4 (13:28):
Austin and we had kind of like a launch party
Harley's at Carly's condo.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Yeah, and she she she got invited.

Speaker 4 (13:38):
Some of her film industry friends and just like just
people in the industry, and they shared the video they shared.

Speaker 3 (13:47):
You know what what they were doing, and then we got.

Speaker 2 (13:51):
Some donations through that event too, so I.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
Was down to Austin and then the next day was
project's play.

Speaker 4 (13:56):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:57):
Oh wow, Frejet Stiff pretty yeah, it is you lot
of like Crazy Kids is so beautiful. So who uh
so tell us what the movie is. I got this
a little synopsis of it. Yeah, I love you, yes.

Speaker 3 (14:09):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
So this this uh this feature film basically was was
birthed by by the women, right Catherine Judas, Like I said,
is the writer should be our director.

Speaker 3 (14:24):
But it was creative because of the Robi Wade. It
was kind of like a what do you call it,
like a like a response.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
To it defense And the premise is is it's it's
a dystopian Texas right after rov Wade, and basically any
any woman who is thirty five or older that are
not married or have kids are.

Speaker 3 (14:54):
Are getting caught and getting killed off.

Speaker 2 (14:57):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (14:58):
Yeah, it's kind of like Hammad's in sense, right, like
just that type of dystopia.

Speaker 4 (15:03):
And just to kind of give a brief synopsis, it's
going to be a ninety minute dark comedy feature that
explores the potential consequences of the post road feature concept
of the film is to challenge those who believe that
women should not have control over their bodies, right, and
basically just spark of conversations, because that's what a good filmline,

(15:25):
good art is meant to do, is just have that conversation.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
So just what's really interesting is.

Speaker 4 (15:32):
We've had some people who lean kind of more conservatively
donate to the Yeah, so that's really interesting because it
shows that people are open minded and want.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
To see just what the film is about, or people
that just love them in general, you know.

Speaker 4 (15:49):
And I find it very interesting because since twenty twenty
and maybe even sooner, you know, there's just been a
lot of things that have affected a lot of other.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Things that you know, catch my drip, And I think
having a conversation in general is important.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
For everyone, especially here in Texas.

Speaker 3 (16:09):
Correct. Yeah, correct.

Speaker 4 (16:12):
When we were doing the campaign kind of tour, the
mini two day tour, I.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Was honestly kind of nervous as to what response would have.

Speaker 4 (16:19):
You know, because of the contact of this film, And yeah,
I was pleasantly surprised.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, have you had that you've seen had any resistance whatsoever?

Speaker 3 (16:33):
And not myself personally, but you know, some people who received.

Speaker 4 (16:41):
An email or when when we launched the campaign, you know,
there there were some emails.

Speaker 3 (16:48):
Uh, you know, people are just saying, hey this, you know,
I don't I can't support this film because of my.

Speaker 4 (16:54):
Life style companies, which you know is completely understandable to
each other. But no, nothing crazy, you know, protest or music.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Yeah, obviously you've had nothing, but not nothing, but more overwhelming.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
Favor something about the movie.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
What do you think some people that have come out
that really, you know, help you guys out there, you're
all around.

Speaker 4 (17:15):
I can't believe it for.

Speaker 5 (17:16):
This person's Yeah, so because I'm I'm personally for for
my my network right now is smaller because I'm still
fairly new to.

Speaker 3 (17:26):
The industry too.

Speaker 4 (17:28):
But I know that like Giovanni and Nicia, Carley and Elizabeth.

Speaker 3 (17:33):
They they all have mentioned I I don't know the
names specifically, but.

Speaker 4 (17:38):
People who just gave very generously, Like if you go
to our our campaign, you'll see like the names.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
Attached to or no, you don't see the the dollar amount.
But yeah, there were just some people who were.

Speaker 4 (17:54):
Were just very generous and and we were all kind
of surprised at the amount that because yeah, that's good,
but it's if the whole thing is you know, like
in the film industry, it's hard being a woman.

Speaker 3 (18:08):
It's just in general, like it's there's a lot of
moving parts that are still fairly male dominated, right, So,
so it's really nice to see.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
Women's support of course. Yeah, well, I mean we've seen
it so much. The role of women have grown, without
a doubt in the film industry, but it's not anywhere
near where it should be. There's no there's no equal
quality when it comes to we're seeing more of the
inclusion of everybody else. Like you mentioned, people have.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Different disabilities or learning processes or you know, races or
exactly whatever they may be.

Speaker 2 (18:41):
What there's still not the equal playing ground that they should. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
Unfortunately, we've still got a very good old RAE system
and it's luckily it's dying off.

Speaker 3 (18:50):
Yeah, but things are changing, Yes, things are changing. They're changing.

Speaker 4 (18:54):
And what's great too about the film industry. Unmortually, Arlington
doesn't have a strong film industry yet, which I'm kind
of hoping that with this because you know, I have
been in the Arlington.

Speaker 3 (19:08):
Community for so I'm hoping that this kind of draws
a little bit of attention to Arlington because I.

Speaker 4 (19:12):
Saw rep Arlington right right, I'm still here, y'all. But
there's a huge film community in Dallas and what works
but mostly where I gravitate towards is mark the Dallas
area for my work, and.

Speaker 3 (19:30):
There's a there are different.

Speaker 4 (19:31):
Organizations like women in Film like Dallas specifically, those are
different groups within the community, and so everything is meant
to help support me and the different the different.

Speaker 3 (19:42):
Demographics of our community. So yeah, I'm personal. I'm kind
of hoping. Which thank you by the way for.

Speaker 1 (19:48):
Having me on the pot for this, because I love
supporting this in all rooms. It's like I love art
and I you know, my brother is an actor in
Canada and he tells me about some of these things.

Speaker 2 (19:59):
Yeah, I didn't know that.

Speaker 3 (20:01):
That's really neat. So you are like film.

Speaker 1 (20:03):
Adjacent, yes, And I also love for wrestling, which is
just a one take you know basically yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4 (20:10):
Yeah, you know, Okay, let's just kind of change gears
because because you've been in that for a while. Yes,
I remember like growing up right, like being new to
America and just.

Speaker 3 (20:22):
Like watching TV and everything.

Speaker 4 (20:24):
My brother was still obsessed with wrestling, like I grew
up on like the wall, right, do you saw what
the rock is cooking or whatever is that was that
his quote?

Speaker 2 (20:31):
Right?

Speaker 4 (20:31):
Yeah, and I never realized that.

Speaker 3 (20:35):
I didn't realize it was fag. Yeah, what do you mean?

Speaker 1 (20:40):
So the outcome is determined ahead of time. However, there
are a lot of times they really do hit each other.

Speaker 2 (20:46):
They really do hit the mat.

Speaker 3 (20:47):
What about what about when they get like the chair
the chairs.

Speaker 2 (20:50):
They really do hit each other with chair over the head.
They have done a lot.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
More, especially with CT the way it is, they discovered
a lot more of that than before.

Speaker 2 (21:00):
They just straight up hit him and hit each other
in the head, and they didn't care. Some of the
old school guys can.

Speaker 1 (21:04):
Still do it. They shouldn't, you know, whatever interest, But
a lot of the guys now will also put their
hands up so that way they're not getting it as
part of it. But yes, and accidents do happen.

Speaker 2 (21:13):
Where people break bones or concussions still happen depending on
how they fall.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
Yeah, yeah, Rather than faith, it's predetermined because things like
they kind of basically.

Speaker 1 (21:27):
Right, okay, well, a lot of yeah. That's the other
thing is a lot of times they'll kind of work
out a match how they're gonna do it ahead of
time and come back and then they get out in
front of the crowd and it could completely change.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
We're just speaking of the Rock like whenever he faced
Whole Cogan. Yeah, so they had a completely different match
lined up until the crowd went out and where they
went out there and the crowd wasn't complete the whole
Cogan who was a bad guy at the time, but
they it was a Toronto Toronto's trying.

Speaker 1 (21:54):
To the call because all well just because there was
those that crowd was a completely opposite of what you
think they're gonna do.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
So then they had to flip.

Speaker 3 (22:00):
Everything we wore.

Speaker 2 (22:01):
Rock was a bad guy. Yeah, the ending was still
the same, but everything else.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
That's really funny.

Speaker 4 (22:09):
Yeah, I remember, like I think the photo got released
where the Rock and Hogan were like hugging each other
or like you know, like I see each other, and people.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
Were like, what the heck, there's to be like enemies.
But I never understood the concept of like the fact
that it was a show.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, so cool, it's really cool and you do that
like yeah, I help yeah, I help out. Yeah, Like
I would like to do more of it him. It
takes a lot of money to put a show on
I bet.

Speaker 3 (22:32):
Yeah, so wow resting his theater, Yes.

Speaker 2 (22:35):
Athletic theater. That is one take rest. Yeah, that is
really interesting, just change your mind on everything.

Speaker 3 (22:43):
Yeah, it really did, Actually it really did well.

Speaker 1 (22:46):
So you doing what you do behind the scenes, what
are some jobs that you have done and what jobs
do you try to maybe steer more towards when you
are working behind the scenes.

Speaker 4 (22:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (22:58):
So so for me, I had mentioned, you know, since
I was fifteen.

Speaker 4 (23:02):
I wanted to kind of go into cinematography and that
is where I lean as well. So I've I've done
production assistant work and I still do here and there.

Speaker 3 (23:13):
Uh, I I gravitate towards camera's department.

Speaker 4 (23:17):
So with the UH apprenticeship program, Ryan Blitzer, my instructor,
he paired me up with a gentleman named UH named
Chritis ms Taylor, who is a first AC and AC
is assistant.

Speaker 3 (23:29):
Camera and so he's been in the industry.

Speaker 4 (23:33):
Chris has been in the industry for about fifteen plus
years or so. He's so knowledgeable about just every like,
so much about the working for camera because he worked
in the industry when it was just all filmed.

Speaker 2 (23:45):
Oh right, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, exact.

Speaker 3 (23:49):
Grey and so he's He's trained me so much.

Speaker 4 (23:52):
He's let me on with some of the camera press
that he's done, and so I've gotten to see like
put together and built a camera, tests, test the equipment,
and he got me on my first gig it is
Camera Pa.

Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:05):
And since then, like I've made my connections as well,
and I've gotten like referral work just from just that
network in general.

Speaker 3 (24:18):
Like once you once you're on your first shoot, you
you have the ability to meet so many people who
can give you your next job.

Speaker 4 (24:26):
And so for me, I lean more towards camera's apartment.
I've worked with the director and named Noriy Niven a
couple of times now.

Speaker 3 (24:33):
And Noriri.

Speaker 4 (24:35):
Gave me my first first AC gig, which was so fun,
And I did a camera cet by myself with some
of his students because he teaches overt Aca for the
School of Cinematic Arts, and uh yeah, I got to
do my first part which was super scary, and the
students were there to shadow and they actually, I'm gonna

(24:56):
be real, they actually knew more about the camera than me.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
No, it was a great thing because yeah, yeah, yeah
at first and this is this is a.

Speaker 4 (25:04):
Really interesting thing I've recognized about myself. It's like the
imposter syndrome.

Speaker 3 (25:08):
It never goes away.

Speaker 4 (25:09):
I had imposter syndrome when I was coasting the open
mics here in Arlington.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
I had the imposter syndrome in every aspect of my
art artists journey. But in this industry it's a little different.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
I feel like I'm very creative, Like I just like
I have an eye and I just kind of get
the sense, like I feel the art.

Speaker 3 (25:31):
The technical side of it is where I lack. It's
a huge area of opportunity for me, let's put it
that way. So so I'm learning to recognize that that
I have a lot to learn. You know, this whole
entire experience has been in a huge ego depth for me.

Speaker 4 (25:47):
I've just had to start from zero and just took
out everything I thought I knew about anything and just
kind of started from the ground up, which is how
I like to learn. And so the students are also
younger than me. They were you know, I just turned
thirty this year and they're to.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Think, you it's a huge year. I love it. I
love being in my thirties right now. And the students
were like twenty one twenty two, and they were.

Speaker 4 (26:10):
Both guys, and they like they knew so much about
the camera because they've had experience, they've had learning, and
at first I was kind of feeling like, oh shoot,
like why am I even here?

Speaker 3 (26:19):
Like make sure you're doing this? But they didn't make
me feel any less. So that's what I really appreciate.
They were just like so open to helping me learn
as well. And what really helped you was me being
uprun and honest is saying, okay, like this is my
first prat If y'all know anything more about this, I
want to learn to learning with y'all.

Speaker 4 (26:38):
And I think that's that's how I've always talked your
life is being open and honest, especially like admitting when
I don't know something, and especially in my department.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
Because you don't want to s anything up the camera.

Speaker 4 (26:50):
I mean that's that is like the star of the show,
because you don't have anything without the picture.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
So I forget where I was going with that, but
I mean you're.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
Learning, oh yes, yes, So just learning in general every
set that I go on, I'm learning something new from
from every single person.

Speaker 3 (27:08):
And that's how that's what I.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
Recommend everyone to just be a sponge anytime you go.
Always have a beginner's mindset, yes, always be curious.

Speaker 3 (27:19):
And uh yeah. Like so just to answer your question,
my main department is camera department. And I freaking love
all the.

Speaker 2 (27:27):
People I've worked with.

Speaker 4 (27:28):
It's like we're on a team, and I sometimes I
feel like, okay, so one of my guilty pleasures.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
It's like really bad action movies. So like the Expendables,
well you know, I don't know why, it's like, yeah,
it's so fun and so like camera department, I.

Speaker 4 (27:43):
Feel like we're the expendables because like we're like unloading
loading the gear and we got like the camera, the lenses,
and it's just all like very tactical. Like even the
way we dress is very tactical. It feels like we
are going into battle. And I've always seen it that way,
like I've seen production and as like a battle beeple
because you never know what you're up against because like

(28:05):
things happening exchange, like you know, nothing ever goes as planned.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
And I'm sure you can understand that too, just production
in general.

Speaker 2 (28:13):
You never know, so you always anything together. Oh true, yeah,
if that's something, if everything goes right, you have to
question something because something has to go wrong. Yeah for
you to I mean you're learning still, and everything happens
on the fly, so yeah, you.

Speaker 4 (28:27):
Got to figure out yah, yeah, definitely, And you know,
just to kind of take it back to Lady King's
real quick.

Speaker 3 (28:33):
I am one of the few who aren't who isn't
an actor.

Speaker 4 (28:37):
A lot of our team they know, they've known each other,
and they know each other through their network of acting
coaches and and just just working together.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
And I'm one of the few who is more on
the crew side, So I'm actually getting to learn the
behind the scenes of just actors' brains and things like that.

Speaker 4 (28:57):
And I think that's important too because my goal is
to DP do directing or director of photography, but also directing. Yeah,
so that was something I learned through watching Giovanni work
on the set back in January, is just how to
treat your acts or you know, properly, because they're not
just a piece of meat, right.

Speaker 3 (29:17):
They're not just uh, you know, an object to in
front of the camera.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
They're a person and they need to be treated as such,
and they have their own process and I'm getting to
kind of experience that on the other side.

Speaker 3 (29:29):
So I'm I'm I'm.

Speaker 4 (29:30):
Able to grow as a a DP and the future director,
you know, by being just ingrained in this community.

Speaker 2 (29:40):
So I love it.

Speaker 1 (29:41):
So you probably did watch movies a little different the way,
you know, when you were kind of learning about the
industry and loving the industry as it was. Look, when
you fully now have gotten into it, how do you
kind of look at movies and the way they're shot
or even because you know you go way back, they're
shot way different.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Yeah, every director obviously shoots differently, no matter what the time,
the yeah, equipment are using, but every you know, how
you've been kind of picking at those kind of.

Speaker 3 (30:07):
Things now, Yeah, great, that's a great question. I've I
kind of love and.

Speaker 4 (30:13):
Hate when I decided I wanted to work in film
because like because after I picked up my first DSL
and at fourteen, I r I learned how to capture,
how to frame things, how to capture things, and I
couldn't look at movies the same anymore because every everything
I watched was, oh my gosh, I love that shot.

Speaker 3 (30:31):
Yep, oh my gosh, I love that cut, and like
I was starting to analyze it.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
So I I love that about me, but I hate
it because sometimes I can't enjoy things, which is why
I watch those movies like The Extendables, because.

Speaker 3 (30:44):
Then I can just shut my brain offal yeah, and
like enjoy like just for action.

Speaker 4 (30:48):
But now working behind the scenes, like watching dps and
directors what they do, I get such a a I
get more of the.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
An understanding of what it all its games. So I
have this huge respect for film in general. Actually, at
the beginning of this.

Speaker 4 (31:09):
Year, I did a create more than I Consume challenge,
so I actually haven't really.

Speaker 3 (31:14):
Watched a lot of things in general. I'm trying to.

Speaker 4 (31:20):
Just put out more work in general, or like work
behind the scenes more than than watching too.

Speaker 3 (31:27):
Yes, yes, and so yeah, I honestly haven't seen a lot.

Speaker 4 (31:32):
But but I will say going forward, I'm going to
look at things differently because I already like have just
this even more of an excitement for the film industry,
more respect, and I'm more understanding of just the processes
behind behind filmmaking and how every director is different, how
their relationship with their director of photography can affect things.

(31:55):
And just like the amount of work in free productions
of plan one shot is so oh those days.

Speaker 2 (32:03):
Yes, sometimes you just stand around like what are you doing?

Speaker 3 (32:07):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Are we not doing it?

Speaker 3 (32:08):
Yeah? Exactly. There's and and me working in Cameron's apartment specifically.

Speaker 4 (32:12):
Like when I when I PA I, there's a lot
of standby because you do have to wait for all
the movie parts.

Speaker 3 (32:19):
Of the key players and the key departments.

Speaker 4 (32:24):
Yeah, ouize because Okay, so like with Cameron's apartment, I'm like,
I just feel like a lot of people don't understand
some Yeah, I'm gonna just kind of.

Speaker 3 (32:34):
Give a little brief overview saying things like, hey, let's
just like let's do this one extra shot real quick.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
It takes like you got to account for like thirty
to forty five minutes of changing all.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
The lighting and reframing things.

Speaker 4 (32:50):
So it's not just a quick easy like you know,
like you would do with photography, like oh, let's just
move to this background. It's like there's so many things
and you have to and and you have to respect
the different departments and respect their their input and.

Speaker 3 (33:06):
Their jobs what they have to do, because not only
are you dealing with your lighting department, your gaffer, your
you know, your grips, which are people actually.

Speaker 4 (33:15):
Moving the heavy things, you also have to think about
your audio person, your sound, Where are.

Speaker 3 (33:21):
They gonna put their boom? Where are they gonna mic
the talent? It's just so much.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
It's just a lot.

Speaker 3 (33:28):
And so I have learned to have patience. Honestly, I
think it's helped me having patience and resilience of like,
you know, things take time.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, yeah, so since those are long days and they
can be ruling physically mentally as well. How have you because,
like you said, you kind of helped find yourself again,
but you had to go away for that and now
you're back and learning completely not a completely.

Speaker 2 (33:55):
Different situation, but like something you really wanted to eat
into is something you were very passionate about. Yeah, and
you realized how ruling it can be mentally. How are
you holding up with have you checked in?

Speaker 4 (34:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (34:07):
That's a really great question.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
And actually, during my time as a student at Pegasus
Media Project, every time we got someone from the industry
coming to talk to us, that's exactly what I asked them.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
I said, how do you navigate your mental health? Because
when I made my one eighty and enclosion of my
life last year, my.

Speaker 4 (34:26):
Mental health was gone and I just I okay to
be very vulnerable, you know, that's that's my motto.

Speaker 3 (34:34):
Right as a poet is just vulnerability of strength. But I.

Speaker 4 (34:40):
I felt like I couldn't share what I was going
through because I had made this huge announcement to the
world of I am waiting my job, I'm changing my
life because I want to follow my.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Dreams, and so I almost felt kind of like I
couldn't let people down. There were a lot of people
that were rooting for me, cheering me on.

Speaker 4 (35:03):
And I felt like I couldn't see anyone or I
couldn't let anyone see.

Speaker 3 (35:08):
How bad it was, because it was bad. But I
did it to myself too. I also did not reach out.

Speaker 4 (35:16):
To people, so I recognized that as something this industry
has helped me learn is asking for help and collaboration
and networking and making friends.

Speaker 3 (35:29):
But to answer your question with mental health, this job,
even though we have twelve hour days, you know, maybe longer,
sometimes it doesn't feel as draining because it's what I love.
So like a ten hour day at my job in sales, previously,

(35:49):
I wanted to go home and not talk to anyone.
I just I was just drained completely. But with this industry,
like I just came back from a text out yesterday and.

Speaker 4 (36:03):
We had gone to San Antonio all study Dentin and
that was a huish like pre production situation.

Speaker 3 (36:11):
And today I feel energized.

Speaker 4 (36:13):
Like I was hell atired, Like I went to sleep
and I slept for maybe like ten hours. But today
I woke up and I went for a month because
I was like, I love what I do and I'm
ready to get back to it.

Speaker 3 (36:25):
And yeah, it's just a different type of stress, I guess.
But I will say.

Speaker 4 (36:31):
Through my mental health situation last year and honestly having
a mental breakdown earlier this year, I have learned to
be softer and kinder to myself and recognizing when I.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
Need to stop, and recognizing when I need to just
take a day off. And the biggest thing is communicating
that with people.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
So my biggest area of opportunity is letting people know
where I'm at mentally and telling them I can't give more.
So like I disappeared, honestly, I went and disappeared back
in April and I ran away to la for a
week because I had.

Speaker 3 (37:07):
A mental breakdown, and uh I came back and I
was like, you know what am I doing in my life?

Speaker 4 (37:12):
But now I was really like, like it was not good,
and so to offset that, I decided to reach out
to someone.

Speaker 3 (37:20):
And get on set just to say just to be like,
is this really what I want to do?

Speaker 4 (37:25):
And I decided yes, this wing so so that recent
it helped me that week long. But I didn't let
anyone know that I was leaving at all. I kind
of just like literally ran away. And when I came back,
I had to I was confronted with having.

Speaker 3 (37:42):
To you know, tend to people who like answer.

Speaker 4 (37:46):
To people and because people worry, yeah, people worry, yeah,
which is also a good Yes, it is a good feeling.

Speaker 3 (37:54):
But I was just so overwhelmed by the world where
I was one in life and I just needed to
like kind of to get out of arless for a
little bit, you know, just that type of feeling of
just feeling kind of like because of my line of
work through the community here in Arlington.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
A lot of people didn't know me, and I kind
of wanted to just be anonymous, to run away from
you know what I mean, like just kind of has
a mental break.

Speaker 3 (38:19):
But I feel like better, y'all, which is why I'm
here with Jonathan.

Speaker 2 (38:25):
I'm glad you're a better place. I I'm glad you
took your time away. Yeah, and then you know, snuck
away this time because you do need to take that break,
whether you know it or not, I mean your body
will know it in your mind. Hotell, Okay, yeah maybe
not today.

Speaker 4 (38:39):
Yeah, maybe we don't exactly Like I passion burn, And
I do not recommend that to anyone because at that
time I had my mental breakdown. I was working overnight
at a hotel and doing this season editing. So I
was working and doing the Pegasus Media project time. So
I was working maybe like sixty to eighty hours a week,
and like overnight shifts was messing me up.

Speaker 3 (39:00):
So do not recommend that, y'all.

Speaker 4 (39:02):
I I've tried to do the grind just to not
think about things, and it it backfired on the head.

Speaker 3 (39:10):
But I do wanna flip that question to you, Johnd,
So how do you do? How do you manage all?

Speaker 2 (39:15):
I try to journal when I can. I realized today
it's been two weeks. Even though I was supposed to
do on a vacation, I just didn't. It's it's it's
a struggle daily.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
I mean there's days I'm like, well, I haven't like
meditated and I can't remember how long it's been too
I try, Yeah, I do you like five minutes?

Speaker 3 (39:36):
Yeah, an I need little bit helps cause sometimes you
just have to clear your mind.

Speaker 1 (39:40):
Yes, so it's struggle, but I do realize that, Oh
there are times I just don't need to do anything
like at all, or like you said, not consume anything either.

Speaker 2 (39:51):
Just yes, take time to yourself. Don't have any screens,
cause the screens are really messed with your head, yeah,
and your eyes and everyone else. So yeah, it is
a is a daily struggle. But yeah, I'm doing well.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
I journal as small, so I definitely recommend that exactly.
You know, one thing I've been thinking.

Speaker 4 (40:10):
About and I feel like I have this conversation with
everyone I meet, kind of getting to the point of preachy.

Speaker 3 (40:15):
But like I feel like in this generation, in this
this time in the world right now, we are.

Speaker 4 (40:23):
So overstimulated, so much information, and especially like during political times,
it's just.

Speaker 3 (40:33):
So much information, so much emotion, and you just got
to unplug.

Speaker 4 (40:38):
And I think that was a part of it for
me too, Like when I was doing the editing, I
was consuming media to have to edit it and just
there it's just too much.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
It gets too much and so I do recommend unplugging
a lot. That's why I did my create more than
I consume.

Speaker 2 (40:57):
How long did you do that thing?

Speaker 4 (40:58):
I started it, I made a post about it, so
I don't remember, but maybe it's still kind of going on.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
Okay, I.

Speaker 3 (41:08):
Would say it's been obvious a year. Yeah, I mean
I watched a movie here and there, but.

Speaker 2 (41:12):
Like I used to binge.

Speaker 6 (41:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:16):
I always find that to be very interesting that when
people that's something that they could talk about.

Speaker 2 (41:21):
What are you watching her?

Speaker 3 (41:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (41:23):
You don't do anything else?

Speaker 3 (41:24):
Ye?

Speaker 2 (41:25):
Like it's always it's always weird.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
That was that was one of my non relationship goals
when I was in a relationship, but then we ended
up just watch TV anyway.

Speaker 2 (41:34):
But there wasn't like those conversations of what was the
last good thing you read or what was the last
other than TV? What are you you know? Consuming? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (41:44):
Like how are you throwing yourself?

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Have you gone to go? Have you gone? You were like? Yeah,
not even like travel, but like.

Speaker 3 (41:50):
You have you learned something?

Speaker 2 (41:52):
YEA done something new?

Speaker 3 (41:55):
And I love that you brought that down because that
is a huge part of like I do a lot
of personal development research and relationship research. As well, and
Jay Shetty says this, I was going to go I
got to meet him.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
Yeah, okay, yeah, so he had much I'm sure you'd
probably know this, but for the audience, you know, he
said that was one of the lowest.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Forms of connections.

Speaker 4 (42:24):
Is like when people just sit in front of a TV,
when a couple sits in front of a TV, because it's.

Speaker 3 (42:30):
Like you're not having a conversation, you're just consuming something.

Speaker 4 (42:33):
And like I always like if we were to consume something,
like me and a past partner, I would always try
and have a conversation with him after about what we
just watched, like what did you learn from it?

Speaker 3 (42:44):
But a lot of people, I think they use media
to just shut off their brain.

Speaker 4 (42:48):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (42:49):
And me working in production, like I think that's what's
kind of told me about from consuming even more because
like I love the process of making something, but I
know why things are made, you know what I mean,
It's like it is all for a reason. Everything that
in jil is intentional. Everything in production is actually intentional,

(43:12):
and it's to get you to keep.

Speaker 1 (43:16):
Watching really or like and there's a lot of things
that get made that just don't get released because it's
a the studio has to have a reason to spend
less money.

Speaker 2 (43:27):
Yeah, sometimes it's.

Speaker 4 (43:28):
Just like, all right, you made a movie, but there's
no ROI, which is not kind of bestment where if
there's no like way to entice people to keep watching,
you know, then what's the point for the exactly that's
what that's their.

Speaker 3 (43:41):
Job is to sell the things.

Speaker 2 (43:44):
Yeah, so that so I was gonna say, you brought
up Jay Shady.

Speaker 1 (43:48):
The last time I actually saw you didn't before before
something else will get into in a second. Was randomly
at the Jay Sheddy show in Dallas, and I was like, oh,
the ship, that's string.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
I don't know that, it's crazy.

Speaker 4 (44:00):
I didn't expect him to come over, and like, you know,
I didn't expect I was going to meet one of
the people you would be able to talk to because
I was.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Sitting like I was sitting ground floor, but like I
wasn't like in the very pot. But it was like
one of my favorite moments, Like I freaking love j Sheddy.

Speaker 2 (44:14):
It was amazing, like an amazing author.

Speaker 3 (44:17):
Yes, I think I feel like he has helped me
heal a lot and learn a lot about myself. When
did you start listening to him.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
Well, my ex got me into jo and I think
he was around that time. I think she mentioned it.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
And then also like the whole Will Smith thing was
kind of blowing up and being on the show, and
I was like, oh, I guess I don't know who
the Jay Sheddy guy watch it out. Yeah, the stuff
they were getting into and I was like oh, And
then I went back and listen to old stuff. And
then now I depending on who he has on, like, yeah,
Jelly roll on as we're recording yesterday. I don't know
much about this Jelly rode Gye, but everybody seems to
love him.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
And I listened. I was like, I'm gonna start and
listening to this stuff because now I love this story
is so fantastic and so down to earth.

Speaker 3 (44:56):
So I haven't I haven't heard Jelly Jelly. I see
like a brief in a bit of it. I was like,
who's this person?

Speaker 2 (45:02):
Do you want you listen to it?

Speaker 3 (45:04):
That's a great question. I listened to it, Okay, So yeah, yeah,
it's a consuming me.

Speaker 4 (45:09):
It's a visual stimulation for me, Like I've been listening
to audiobooks more.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
I can't look and read anymore so because I'm always
doing something.

Speaker 4 (45:16):
Yeah, so yeah, I listened to it, but I love
who he has. Like you know, there are some here
and there where I'm like skip, but but it's always
so interesting. And maybe this is why you and I
both like do the podcasts, is because like hearing people's stories,
you learn from it or you grow from it.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
And that's I believe.

Speaker 3 (45:37):
I will say for sure, Jay Sheddy, when I got
on medication back in twenty twenty one, or I got on.

Speaker 4 (45:46):
Canta depressants and ADHD medication, and then in that same year,
I was sober or like I was straight, so we
like whole.

Speaker 3 (45:56):
Turkeys because we hadn't mixed my medication.

Speaker 4 (46:00):
Yeah, and so I was like doing stuff sober, which
I'm very proud of myself for. But that year twenty
twenty one twenty twenty two, just a couple of years
changed my life, and I was introduced to Jay Shetty
just through my desire to grow. I was very unhappy
with who I was as a person.

Speaker 3 (46:18):
And yeah, it's just you know, I feel like if
I hadn't found Jay.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
Shetty, I wouldn't have opened my mind or my heart
to be who I am right now.

Speaker 3 (46:29):
And it's only been a few years, but like, I
feel like I've grown just so much. Would you say the.

Speaker 2 (46:33):
Same, Oh yeah, without a doubt. Yeah, yeah, they're he
like as he's one of the Bote reasons. I also
like to talk about mental health.

Speaker 1 (46:40):
Sonus because he's burning up so much that he's parture
early up in format.

Speaker 2 (46:45):
And then on my other podcast, I have a he
is a Final Five.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
I'm plumbing your podcast.

Speaker 2 (46:50):
The other one's Culture Raisers.

Speaker 1 (46:51):
If you guys don't know, there's been a lot of
an overlap of interviews, especially like Kevin Vonnair Flag he
has a he has a Final Five, and I don't
think it was bad idea, but we I also have
a second I call the five Camps just five random questions,
three of which are always the same.

Speaker 2 (47:08):
For two of which I'll switch out. But I like that,
you know, it's just a good wrap up.

Speaker 1 (47:12):
And then sometimes I'll do in the beginning, especially with
somebody I've never met before, because it's a good ice
prinker random stuff because otherwise they think them you're coming
in to talk about whatever, and so yeah, it's always.

Speaker 2 (47:22):
Good to just kind of mix it up with people
because again, they especially if they are on these media
towards where they talk to so many different people. A
lot of times it's the exact same questions. Yeah, and
they're like, literally, do you not listen to other interviews?

Speaker 3 (47:33):
Like it's exactly that's part of your researches to ask.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
Something that nobody else is gonna ask, or if you
do bring something up, twist it to where they're not
being they don't just already have the answer.

Speaker 4 (47:46):
Rh Like, Yeah, I always love when when people ask
me questions where I have to really think about the
answer because like it's a genuine answer.

Speaker 3 (47:53):
You know, you're getting a genuine.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Response, right, Yeah, if you get a pause from somewhere
or because they actually.

Speaker 3 (47:59):
The yeah you're doing great, by the way, thank you questions?

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Well, I mean I gave you some of the questions,
but then yeah, certain other things is kind of triggered
it off.

Speaker 2 (48:07):
Well, so I want to bring up our friend Amy.
We lost Amy since the last time we've been on here, Yeah,
earlier this year. How have you been dealing with the prius?

Speaker 5 (48:19):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (48:19):
And I guess how did you find out? And then
how how are you doing it?

Speaker 3 (48:23):
That was wild, That was really unexpected and wild.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
That was a weird way to wake up that.

Speaker 3 (48:29):
Yeah, I I was randomly on Facebook and I saw, gosh,
you'll have.

Speaker 2 (48:37):
To remind me boy friend.

Speaker 3 (48:39):
Yeah, Dan, Yeah, I'm I'm friends with it on Facebook.

Speaker 4 (48:44):
I just yeah, And I just happened to see post saying,
you know, Amy gives me how you passed away or
something whatever you wrote.

Speaker 3 (48:53):
And that was just super random, right, like I usually
like I did a.

Speaker 4 (48:59):
Social meunity talked as well, so I wasn't really consuming
anything of that and I just opened it, saw it and.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
No one else had posted or anything. So I was like,
what the heck, Like is this real?

Speaker 2 (49:10):
Right?

Speaker 3 (49:10):
You never know because sometimes it's spam.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
And yeah, I have a very interesting relationship with like
death and grief and things like that.

Speaker 3 (49:20):
Because when my grandparents passed away, I mean, this is
gonna sound a little cold, but I didn't feel sad.

Speaker 4 (49:29):
I wanted to feel sad, but like I had mentioned earlier,
I hadn't seen my entire family for twenty five years.

Speaker 3 (49:35):
I didn't know them, and so like when my for example,
when my mom's mother passed away a few years ago,
you know, she she was completely overwhelmed, shout out.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
To the Arlington community and just community in general, by
the way, because I did go fund needs to help
my mom get the Vietnam and people like donated community.

Speaker 3 (49:56):
It was really sweet.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
But yeah, I just she was crying and and I
guess at the time too, I hadn't been open vulnerably
in that way.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
With my and not in touch with my own feelings.
But over the past couple of years, that's just since twenty.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
Twenty, because I had this a very traumatic situation happened
to me, I decided to, you know, just kind of
change my perception on things from my perspective, and.

Speaker 3 (50:24):
I still have. I like, I still I guess I
accepted death.

Speaker 2 (50:30):
I lost.

Speaker 3 (50:31):
I experienced a different type of death in twenty twenty.
And then I experienced a loss of my childhood dog,
which I sh I grew up with her. She was sixteen,
about the sixteen princess, and I had to put her down.
She was in my arm.

Speaker 4 (50:47):
And so I guess like that was my first like
the real real and it's kind of crazy to say,
but that was my first real like death experience in
that way where like I.

Speaker 3 (50:55):
Saw the soul her bodies basically, and so I.

Speaker 4 (51:00):
That was a huge part of my mental health journey
since twenty twenty wife I got.

Speaker 3 (51:06):
On adderall and answidepressants and got soberd was just like
the the back to back grief.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
And so with this time happening, you know, experiencing with
Amy's death, I I think I like I recognized it
and I think I've processed it differently because I do
believe in ma reincarnation or very spiritual in that way,
and so.

Speaker 3 (51:33):
I was sad.

Speaker 4 (51:35):
I I was also going through a mental health name
right with my change of my entire life, and so
there was just a lot of emotions all over where
I did cry, yes, and I think I just have
this kind of acceptance of death and show so it's like,
I know we're all gonna die.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
We have to accept that, right. So that's one of
the only concepts in life is death. But it's surreal
to know that someone who's supported and like did such.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
Great things for the community. When I did class too Amy,
I shared this at her her memorial, that we had
a girl.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
But she had I reached out to her to say
she wanted to do a.

Speaker 4 (52:16):
Class too, and class stands for community and local artists
for a safer space, which we did back in like
twenty nineteen, and that's where I met her, and Amy said,
I'm super busy.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
I'm so sorry, but.

Speaker 4 (52:32):
I love everything that you're doing and I want to
help in some way, And she actually sent me some
money to help with the event, and I said, I would.

Speaker 3 (52:40):
Love to put you on the pamphlet as one of
our sponsors, and.

Speaker 4 (52:43):
She, being the person she is, she said, no, I
wanted to be anonymous, So yeah, she's I mean, that
just shows the kind of persons which she was.

Speaker 3 (52:53):
And Yeah, what's crazy is like the fact that you know,
I've been on y'all's podcast, so I can go back
and listen to her voice. That's something that like, as
I get older, I realized we don't hear each other's
voices anymore. So I do a lot more audio.

Speaker 4 (53:07):
Messages and PHO calls these space because like, the hearing
someone's voice and tone is so different than the disconnection
of reading a type of I.

Speaker 1 (53:17):
Mean, because you're putting your own tone into reading. Let's say,
let's say something bad is happening you, like you've got
cut off from traffic or something at work or whatever.
You're already in a bad mindset going into a message
that you could easily.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Because been what you're supposed to be INTI. But again,
if it was a voice, you'd be like, oh, like
I'm hearing the genuine joy or in their voice.

Speaker 3 (53:39):
Exactly, I know they're not.

Speaker 4 (53:40):
You know, there's so many nuances to text messaging that
caused a lot of argifles. Oh yeah, that can cause
a lot of arguments and so and it's just quicker,
you know, to to kind of do a call. But
audio messages, if y'all aren't already doing that is just
a really great way because like I think.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
It's just so important to like speak to people and
you can go back and listen to that. So meeting
on the podcast, I can actually go back and listen
to any news voice. And that's very special to me
because once someone's gone, you don't ever hear their voice again. Yeah,
and that's something that like you don't think about, but
it's it's true. How are you how did.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
You you know, uh, go on the voice thing? How
fast we just popped online? There's a lot of people
that will say voicemails. Yeah, certain people had left everything
because a lot of times how many times do we
really say voicemails?

Speaker 2 (54:32):
How many times people lead voice. Yeah, so I just
wanted to say that it was a genuine shock. I
think I didn't post anything at first because I just
wanted to hole more detail.

Speaker 3 (54:42):
That makes sure to make sure it go.

Speaker 2 (54:45):
Yeah, exactly. And then some people may have asked why
we haven't done an actual whole podcast the latter, and
we just we just haven't matter.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
It's not that I don't want to go back and
revisit it, cause I do, and it's just something I
haven't unfortunately made the time the priority for I understand.
I know, you know, her birthday's kind of coming up,
so maybe we'll do something in nice couple likes.

Speaker 3 (55:09):
So yeah, yeah, let's you know what, let's let's do something.
We'll talk off, but let's let's do something for her
because she deserved it.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Oh without her out. Yeah, so yeah, it's a giant shock.

Speaker 1 (55:21):
I mean I hadn't heard from her and months, but still,
you know, we spent so many so much time together some.

Speaker 4 (55:28):
May ys together they Yeah, I mean, it's just like,
you know, thinking about the fact that like literally I've
always like kind of talked about death since I was
young because I I love like the macar and like
just like stuff like that, So like I don't know my.

Speaker 3 (55:46):
My my brain goes dark sometimes, but I understand that.

Speaker 4 (55:50):
Like with with it's just kind of like someone was
there and now they're not forever until the next life.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
But it's just like they're literally out there. You cannot
see them, you cannot talk to them. They are not present.

Speaker 4 (56:04):
And and like the butterfly effects, right, like one person,
it's a ripple evact because she touched so many lives,
you know, and it's just like many people were affected
in different ways for her daughters.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
It's just it's wild.

Speaker 4 (56:22):
And and that's these are moments like I always find
it interesting when people just to go off on a
tangent rope, Like I always find it interesting when people will.

Speaker 3 (56:32):
Post about like celebrity deaths, which you know, like you
don't know these people. Yeah, yes, but yeah, it's it's
just like like I respect it, I support it.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
We should all, you know, always be like kind of
taking holding ace and taking a moment.

Speaker 3 (56:50):
To remember someone in that way. But like why don't
we be grateful? Why don't we like show up for
the people who like are in their lives, are in
our lives while they're you know, why why do we
wait until like the people that like were close to you, right,
people that really really do matter? Why do we wait
until they're gone to say these nice words? You know,

(57:15):
why don't we do it while they're here? And so,
you know, over my times gone A six six twenty twenty,
I've just been a lot more vocal about like showing
appreciation in general and just like telling people that they
matter while they're alive. And actually not even since twenty
twenty after I mean, I don't wanna go on a.

Speaker 7 (57:35):
Tangent for this podcast, but another change in yes, but
in twenty sixteen, I did have a suicide attempt and
I woke up, and ever since then I recognized that I.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
Could have dined that notey and I was alone in
my apartment, and ever since then, I just started recognizing.

Speaker 4 (57:56):
Like how short life could be, Like I cannot be here,
and I take that to everyone else because there's so
many people who are going through so much that they
cannot or won't talk about that, or you know, just
things that are holding the backcome talking about it. And
we just have to be really respectful and life go

(58:17):
to everyone we cross, regardless of you know whatever, because
they could be having a bad day.

Speaker 3 (58:25):
And one one final straw could be that for them. Right,
So I yeah, death, that touch.

Speaker 4 (58:34):
To that closeness to death has made me just rethink
a lot of needs in my life. And so that's
why I like with death loss of people such as
me is just like like I was kicking myself for
not reaching out to her one more, right, except for
the time that I wanted to have her work on
a project with you.

Speaker 3 (58:54):
Again, right, It's just kind of like, why didn't I
appreciate that personally? But I think that's how the world works,
is like we don't know what we have the toes gone.
Like that cliche quote.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
Sounds well, I'm glad you did wake up there.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
That's well. So if people want to help you guys out,
where can they donate? Where can they help you up
the journey?

Speaker 3 (59:17):
Yes, take me back to Lady Kis of Texas. So
we have a seed in Spark campaign. You can type in.

Speaker 4 (59:23):
Lady Kingsotextas dot com and it'll take you there. Because
also seed and Spark dot com slash fund.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
Slash Lady Kings Texas, which is long, but.

Speaker 4 (59:34):
I would love for y'all to follow Lady Kings of
Texas all like the bull Ward the bull words not
t X on Instagram and also follow me train Quincybo
on Instagram. I do post updates and stuff, but that
way you can get the leaks as well. In my
bio to Lady Queens of Texas and support us again.

(59:56):
We are doing our are Matching campaign through.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
Friday the eighteenth and so of October eighteen October. So
even if you.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
Donate you know, a dollar, that's two dollars towards us,
and we really appreciate any and all help and support.

Speaker 3 (01:00:16):
And also share the campaign with others and support the
ladies or not sorry if there's we have two gentlemen.
We have Chas and Thomas on our teams too and
justin getting who is our campaign coach. But support us.
You know, we're all artists, we're all growing, we're all
working towards us. This is an independent film which is

(01:00:38):
really really hard.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
It's hard to do, yeah, especially nowadays. Yeah, well trying.
Thank you so much for your time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:44):
Thank you for coming back on the show. Obviously we'll
have you back afterwards so we can actually with the
move that.

Speaker 2 (01:00:49):
Actually got made.

Speaker 3 (01:00:50):
So thank you so much.

Speaker 4 (01:00:51):
Yeah, shooting is gonna start should be in twenty twenty five,
so stay tuned for that, y'all.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
But thank you so much for having me on the podcast, Jonathan.

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
Yeah, we'll stay in touch for sure by at least right.

Speaker 1 (01:01:04):
Yes, thanks so much for training for being on the
show again. I love everything she's doing in her step
back that she had to take to make sure that
she is mentally healthy. And we all want to make
sure that we are all mentally healthy. So be more
vulnerable with each other and definitely ask for help if
you need it. It is not that it is hard
only in our heads, and as soon as it comes out,

(01:01:26):
it feels so much better. Definitely check out what training
Voo's up to, and then also definitely make sure to
go and help sponsor and fund the Lady Kings of Texas.
This is going to be an absolutely amazing movie and
I can't wait for it to start filming and I
can't wait to check it out when it's all done.
While you're doing all that, make sure it to go
out and eat local, drink local, and go rediscover your city.

Speaker 6 (01:01:49):
Tag us and send those pictures over to us on Facebook,
Arlington Citizen Media Twitter at x Citizen Media tag us
on Instagram Arlington Citizen Media and send those picure shres
the old fashioned way. Email Arlington Citizen Media at gmail
dot com. Also go to our website www dot Arlington
citizen media dot com. Don't forget to subscribe and give

(01:02:11):
those five star reviews of the downtown at Apple Music, Spotify,
Google Podcasts, and also hit us on SoundCloud, iHeartRadio, and
YouTube

Speaker 5 (01:03:00):
As double of Antito