HOW DID YOU GET HERE

My guest this week is originally from down under. She won the lottery, a different kind of lottery, and came to the U. S. and became a makeup artist, but it didn’t happen fast and it wasn’t easy. But she has amazing tips on who to follow in the industry, what’s real on Instagram, and how to approach someone to get a job in a make up trailer on set. She also offers up what she does when she takes a breather. I hope you enjoy my chat with Paula Jane Hamilton.

Show biz includes the music biz, and my next guest is from Mississippi, that’s where the accent is from. She started playing out at chapel when she was 15 and got started in the Memphis music scene not long after that, which led her to a development deal with Geffen when she was 19. The music industry shifted in major ways and she’s managed to keep up and pivot, all while deprogramming herself from fundamentalist christianity, well, the unraveling still goes on, but it sure does make for good songwriting! She’s played with some the greats, from Patty Griffin to Emmylou Harris, to Mary Chapin Carpenter, and lots more. We take a sneak peek/listen to her upcoming album titled GIRL I USED TO BE. I’ve listened to the whole thing, and it sounds like a tender, homecoming of sorts. Oh and one of her other songs, not from the album, is on the new Backstreet Boys record. WHAT?!! Cheers to Garrison and all humans out there doing the work, cheers to unraveling, and trying to get back to your birth state with some perspective. I hope you enjoy a slightly longer conversation with me and my friend, Garrison Starr.

I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone more active on their own creative behalf than my guest this week, Katie Malia. She is perhaps the most multi-hyphenated person I currently know in showbiz. Now, I could let that send me into a shame spiral about my own level of creative production, OR I could let it blow me away in a good way and be inspired to do more. I choose the latter. Thank you Katie for sharing your story and what moves you. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Katie Malia.

My new man crush, actor @rayabruzzo Ray Abruzzo, has a career that spans many decades, beginning with theater as a young man in high school in New York City.

He fearlessly opened the first scene in his first play in school , and it felt right to him, something clicked.

Filled with inspiration, he and his friends created theater collectives and produced plays in and out of school.

He worked a full-time job to support his theater habit, but when he was presented with a major health scare, Ray felt the need to make a significant change - that change led him to television shows like: Dynasty, Night Court, LA Law, The Sopranos, and Transparent, and much more.

I love Ray’s story and his love of acting. He’s a wise soul with some great advice, and his ideas about getting or not getting roles is funny and refreshing.

Hope you enjoy my conversation with good human, Ray Abruzzo.

Fortune Feimster’s accent used to be thicker when she was younger and reporting the school news. A “right place right time” well-written speech at college got her a job offer in LA, so she moved to the west coast. Her speech writing skills again landed her a second job in LA. Needing friends she applied to funny school, and later auditioned for SNL. Chelsea Handler often elevates smart and funny people who are often overlooked, and she helped elevate Fortune. Fortune’s relationships with her Mom and Grandmother helped inform her need for preparedness and drive. She’s a regular shower singer and gets excited about a particular project’s movement and success, but tempers her urge to celebrate. And I love watching her from the sidelines, bringing light to the world.