Janine Rubenstein | Reinventing Within the Company

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I have an insider question for you.
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Ooh, okay.
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Do celebrities get nervous talking to you?
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Oh, absolutely.
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Interesting.
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I think it's kind of cool being on a brand
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that people think of as a celebrity.
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Like, people, people's an iconic brand.
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It's an iconic brand and people will come into a situation
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and you're like, okay, wait, this is my people interview.
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This is my people interview, right?
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Your people come.
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And sometimes you have to like calm them down as well.
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Today's exit interview, we're on air with people's editor
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at large and host, Janine Rubenstein.
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She's managed to master both writing the story
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and being in it, proving that authenticity can resonate
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on every platform.
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Well, we want to welcome you, Janine Rubenstein,
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to the exit interview.
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We're so excited to have you here today.
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Janine is a journalist, a red carpet host,
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our favorite mom on Instagram.
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And of course, enter at large of people magazine.
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So welcome, Janine, to the exit interview.
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Welcome.
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You're not getting fired, right?
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No, no, no.
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Okay, great.
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We'll have you be here in that case.
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So we'd love to just jump into the origin stories
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of your current iteration.
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That love that you've been had such a storied career
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at people who've done all kinds of things.
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So we'd love for you to just tell the people
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how you got your start in the industry
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and a little bit about the journey that's
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led you to your current moment.
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Well, it was a sunny day, May 12, 1985.
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Come on, come on, come on, specificity,
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and I burst into the world.
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I'll pass forward.
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I'll pass all that.
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Now, I have loved writing and journalism
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since, as early, literally as I can remember.
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And my mom still has this like piece of paper
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from like a school project or something.
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I was seven and I said, I'm going to be a magazine writer
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and a songwriter and literally found it and stored
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somewhere and she was like, you knew what you wanted to do.
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I love it.
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And that really carried me throughout everything.
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I always leaned into my English classes
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and any kind of writing opportunity.
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And I pursued that at UC Berkeley undergrad.
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They didn't have a journalism major.
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I knew I wanted to write for a magazine.
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So I just did English, which was great, learned a lot.
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But when I started applying, you know,
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they don't care about Chaucer and Beowulf and all those things.
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They want to know, can you, what's the inverted pyramid?
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Can you write a story?
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Right, right.
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And I went to grad school finding that, you know,
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this is around the.com stuff that was going on
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and the housing crisis saying, we millennials have been through a lot.
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Oh, yeah.
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Remember that 2008, you know, she shall live in them for me.
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All of it, all of it.
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So went to grad school.
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So happy that I did a USC journalism studied print and digital.
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And just that was really where I like honed my skills
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when it came to networking, right?
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Like I knew how to write.
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I knew how to tell a story, but there's something about, you know,
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USC, I think really that tells you, like, no,
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this is how you get the job.
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Oh, I like it.
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And shout out, go Trojans.
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Yeah, seriously.
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I mean, Go Bear, I'm a Cal Bear.
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Oh, yeah.
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Go Bear.
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Thanks for giving me the job, Trojans.
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Right.
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And it was just a lightning bulb went off.
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And coming out of there, I had an opportunity to either write
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for a newspaper back in the Bay Area,
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where I'm from San Francisco, or to go to New York
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for an internship, which was not a, you know, guaranteed shot.
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And the newspaper had like a staff job.
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Like I was going to be a newspaper writer.
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Health insurance.
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Yeah.
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I'm interested in crime and hard news at the time.
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And I, you know, went back and forth.
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And I decided to take the internship in New York.
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Because at my core, I knew I wanted to write for magazines.
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And I, you know, needed to shake things up and get out of California
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for a little bit.
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What attracted you to magazines?
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Oh, my gosh.
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I mean, I, to this day, my grandmother has a pile of magazines
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in each bathroom.
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Yes.
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Essence and Ebony.
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Come on.
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And, and jet as well.
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Oh, yes, yes.
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You can't leave out jet.
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You can't leave out jet.
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And now she has piles of people magazines all over the house for us.
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Of course.
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But with that early exposure to like going to the bathroom,
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grabbing a magazine and finding out like the news
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and what was going on in Black America.
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And, you know, who the jet beauty of the week was.
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I thought that was like the best.
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That was everything back then.
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And to this day, we just went and surprised
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very recently my siblings and I, we did like,
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we got it off a TikTok where you go like do a pop-up sleep
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over at your grandma.
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Oh, yes.
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Oh, yes.
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Yeah, yes, yes.
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So my brother and my sister and I just did that.
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And I went back to the bathroom.
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And those jets were still sitting there.
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And the episodes.
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So that was like, I think my early exposure.
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And I just loved writing and storytelling and being
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able to just really package a story,
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take all those pieces and put them together
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into something that feels like poetry from early on.
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I took the internship out in New York
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and honestly, I haven't looked back.
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I mean, I'm back in California now.
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But I have been with, I was essence during the internship.
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But that was in the timing brand.
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And at the time, essence is no longer in the brand.
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But we have evolved and grown.
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And people was under that umbrella.
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And I made my way through the building telling them,
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like, hey, I'm at this internship.
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But, like, I'm grown, grown.
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And I got in grown bills, and I want to write.
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So who wants me?
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And I landed at people as an editorial assistant,
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sorting books for the books editor, shout out to Kim Hubbard.
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She's amazing.
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And just making my way and asking, raising my hand wherever
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I could, one of the earliest things I did
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was, I think Devil Wars Prada and think, you do what you do
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and, like, stay out of everybody else.
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That's an important way.
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That's that type of space, or at least it was
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when I was coming up.
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And I did that.
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But I also leaned in in, like, quiet ways.
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Like, I remember poking my head into Kim's office one time
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and being like, hey, I know you just assigned this,
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this write up on this book.
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I think it's so cool.
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I know it wouldn't be published.
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But can I just, like, go write it myself as well,
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just for you to look at it?
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Like, I know it's not going to go anywhere,
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but I just want to pretend like you gave it to me
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and write it up on deadline and have you read it
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just for my own purposes.
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And that went over really well.
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It was great.
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Was that like a gut intuition of yours?
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Yeah.
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I mean, I think I was scared straight
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when I went to grad school because, like, our first day
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in the orientation, they were like,
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10 of you are going to work in magazines.
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Most of you are going to have to do something else.
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This whole industry is in a blender right now.
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Like, newspapers are dying.
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Like, you're screwed.
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And I took that as, I got to be one of those 10 people.
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Oh, right.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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That works in magazines, absolutely.
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What do I have to do?
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And so I, you know, being in New York,
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it gives you that, like, you know.
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That grind, grind, grind.
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Get it from the mug, baby.
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What do you got to do?
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Yeah.
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And I applied that as much as I could whenever I could.
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I was, you know, popping my head in.
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And didn't need anything.
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I guess I'll do menial things, but I will also let you know
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that I'm ready, willing, and able to do more.
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So, yeah.
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No, that's amazing that you kind of found ways.
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And we talked about, we talked about this a lot
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with other people, like finding, you know,
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finding your, like, pockets of things,
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ways that you can show up differently to your bosses,
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ways that you can network within the company,
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get to be known creating opportunities.
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Absolutely.
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Absolutely.
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And you'll be surprised at how many people, you know,
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secretly want to be a mentor in that way.
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Like on paper, nobody has time, like all that.
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But like, you're like, hey, I just did this.
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Could you look at this for me?
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Right.
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Yes.
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Absolutely.
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Let me give it a read.
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Like, this is great.
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Work on this.
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And I took all of those opportunities.
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And I think that's why I've been able to morph myself
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into so many different iterations at the same brand
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for 13 years now.
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Right.
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How do you keep your enthusiasm more confidence
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to keep pitching after a couple of no's or when you ask
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for something and they say, no, what is your secret sauce
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to just being persistent?
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Wow.
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My very good friend, Beyonce, wants that.
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Oh, you know her too.
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Yes.
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Oh, yes.
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Now we know her way there.
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Oh, my goodness.
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Hang on there.
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Anyways, she, I forget what interview this was.
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This is back when she did interviews.
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All of that.
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That's actually what I want to do.
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That's what I want to do next.
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And my girl, I want to interview queen V.
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Absolutely.
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Just put it out there.
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You know, whatever she, she watches a podcast.
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What are you talking about?
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I guess she's watching.
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Love her.
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I do hope we're watching it right now.
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I did interview her mom.
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This year for her, but for me too, that was amazing.
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Oh, my goodness.
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Yeah, yeah.
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One degree away, but I got to talk to the queen mama.
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Exactly.
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Exactly.
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But no, Beyonce said many moons ago, like it was a hundred
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nose and one yes for Destiny's Child.
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Right.
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They pitched themselves up and down Atlanta, Hollywood.
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You name it.
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They were trying.
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And everyone was like, absolutely not what?
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No.
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Right.
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Destiny's Child, biggest girl group in the world.
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So that is, I always think about that when I'm thinking,
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if I want something, if I'm going something, if I'm going
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for something, and I think something is for me or should be for me,
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keep asking.
272
00:10:30.880 --> 00:10:31.880
What?
273
00:10:31.880 --> 00:10:32.880
No.
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00:10:32.880 --> 00:10:33.880
What is that going to do?
275
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Right.
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00:10:34.880 --> 00:10:36.880
You know, doesn't hurt you.
277
00:10:36.880 --> 00:10:41.320
And somebody is going to say, yes, also another thing I say is never
278
00:10:41.320 --> 00:10:45.400
accepted no from someone who does not have the authority to give you a
279
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yes.
280
00:10:46.400 --> 00:10:47.400
Come on.
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Come on.
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00:10:48.400 --> 00:10:50.400
Go on around the whole scripture.
283
00:10:50.400 --> 00:10:51.400
Thank you so much.
284
00:10:51.400 --> 00:10:52.400
I appreciate it.
285
00:10:53.400 --> 00:10:56.440
I'm going to just going to check over here.
286
00:10:56.440 --> 00:10:57.440
Exactly.
287
00:10:57.440 --> 00:10:58.440
Absolutely.
288
00:10:58.440 --> 00:10:59.440
Absolutely.
289
00:10:59.440 --> 00:11:02.320
And I like, let me talk to your manager kind of way, but like, okay, great.
290
00:11:02.320 --> 00:11:07.120
I'm just going to, you know, look into these other avenues as well, just to be sure.
291
00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:08.120
Just to be sure.
292
00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:09.120
Just to check.
293
00:11:09.120 --> 00:11:10.120
I'm just going to check.
294
00:11:10.120 --> 00:11:11.120
That's what I say.
295
00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:12.120
Right.
296
00:11:12.120 --> 00:11:14.120
So, so you went from, so you're working through the book editor, like how did it kind
297
00:11:14.120 --> 00:11:15.120
of progress for me?
298
00:11:15.120 --> 00:11:16.120
Yeah.
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00:11:16.120 --> 00:11:19.120
It was editorial assistant for the book editor, which was like a permalance thing.
300
00:11:19.120 --> 00:11:20.120
Right.
301
00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:25.920
It was time, but not, um, and that turned into me leaning into the crime and human
302
00:11:25.920 --> 00:11:30.560
interest side of the magazine and the site, which a lot of people don't know.
303
00:11:30.560 --> 00:11:32.840
Yes, people magazine took a lot of crime.
304
00:11:32.840 --> 00:11:33.840
Oh, yeah.
305
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:35.080
A lot of human interest work.
306
00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:36.720
And that's what all my clips were.
307
00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:41.960
I mean, I had done a fellowship in in South Africa, covering crime, I had done a fellowship
308
00:11:41.960 --> 00:11:47.920
and in Israel, um, covering, um, everything that was going on there at the time.
309
00:11:47.920 --> 00:11:53.960
So like, I had this with me while I was getting coffees and do it, but I had that under
310
00:11:53.960 --> 00:11:54.960
my belt.
311
00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:00.880
And I was, you know, let people know it was there and I got a role, still permalance, um,
312
00:12:00.880 --> 00:12:06.200
on the crime and human interest team, covering the worst of the worst, um, that was happening
313
00:12:06.200 --> 00:12:09.080
in New York and around the area at the time.
314
00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:16.320
And, um, I think it was around 2014 when I feel like, okay, I'm tired of talking to people
315
00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:23.800
on the worst day of their lives every day, um, and I was happy enough to have made relationships
316
00:12:23.800 --> 00:12:28.320
and the company and the entertainment team had an opening and was looking for someone
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00:12:28.320 --> 00:12:32.400
on the TV side to cover, um, TV and all of that, which I love.
318
00:12:32.400 --> 00:12:34.680
And I always been, who doesn't love TV?
319
00:12:34.680 --> 00:12:39.720
And I became a TV writer and did that for a couple of years, which was so great.
320
00:12:39.720 --> 00:12:44.360
And, um, I, you know, highlight of that was like SNL's 40th, we're in their 50th.
321
00:12:45.360 --> 00:12:53.720
But it was SNL's 40th and I was a fly on the wall for a week, um, at MVC, um, it was,
322
00:12:53.720 --> 00:12:59.040
I think Kevin Hart was hosting that week, and I was pregnant out to hear, like, I was
323
00:12:59.040 --> 00:13:04.840
pregnant having the time of my life, um, like, you know, from just set the designers to
324
00:13:04.840 --> 00:13:08.440
I got to sit in and the pitches where they were like, oh, right, right, right, right,
325
00:13:08.440 --> 00:13:09.440
right.
326
00:13:10.440 --> 00:13:13.280
So I loved my time on the TV team.
327
00:13:13.280 --> 00:13:15.320
It sounds like you didn't miss a beat during pregnancy.
328
00:13:15.320 --> 00:13:16.560
Oh, no, not at all.
329
00:13:16.560 --> 00:13:21.960
I think I think Reese popped out, like, a couple weeks later, literally, like, I was on
330
00:13:21.960 --> 00:13:26.800
the floor as they were running past, like, oh, laughs, we're going, what's the thing?
331
00:13:26.800 --> 00:13:30.760
Um, no, literally Kevin Hart bumped into me and he was like, I didn't do it.
332
00:13:30.760 --> 00:13:31.760
I didn't do it.
333
00:13:31.760 --> 00:13:32.760
I didn't want to come back.
334
00:13:32.760 --> 00:13:33.760
It wasn't me.
335
00:13:33.760 --> 00:13:34.760
It wasn't me.
336
00:13:34.760 --> 00:13:35.760
That's hilarious.
337
00:13:36.760 --> 00:13:41.760
Um, and then from there, uh, it just happened that our, our music editor was going on
338
00:13:41.760 --> 00:13:43.560
maternity leave.
339
00:13:43.560 --> 00:13:47.920
And when she came back, uh, she decided to, you know, go in a different route and she
340
00:13:47.920 --> 00:13:51.000
left and went into Silicon Valley and all of that.
341
00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:57.000
And they had tapped me in her interim to, uh, fill in for a music editor, right, ended
342
00:13:57.000 --> 00:13:58.000
up loving it.
343
00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:01.000
Uh, I'm kind of all over the place, some music head as well.
344
00:14:01.000 --> 00:14:02.000
Love me.
345
00:14:02.040 --> 00:14:05.840
But you're like a pop culture girl, you know, like, yeah, I think you love it all.
346
00:14:05.840 --> 00:14:06.840
Yeah.
347
00:14:06.840 --> 00:14:08.160
And that was great.
348
00:14:08.160 --> 00:14:13.320
I feel like that was even more of a melding of like my personal, my professional.
349
00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:17.520
I was started as staff and then I was senior editor of music over the music team and
350
00:14:17.520 --> 00:14:22.320
have, you know, a bunch of different people I was managing and all of that.
351
00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:27.920
And then again, another happenstance, um, people decided that they wanted to get into
352
00:14:27.920 --> 00:14:30.360
the podcast space.
353
00:14:30.360 --> 00:14:37.920
And that this was Circa, Circa 2020, nothing was happening in 2020, it's a quiet year.
354
00:14:37.920 --> 00:14:41.720
You know, I, I saw that like late 2019, this is going to be great.
355
00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:42.720
We're going to podcasts.
356
00:14:42.720 --> 00:14:49.200
We're going to have people in the studio, all of that, uh, and then now, uh, but it's
357
00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:50.200
still happened.
358
00:14:50.200 --> 00:14:56.320
We still lost people every day, you know, really ambitious, a daily podcast, um, doing
359
00:14:56.320 --> 00:14:57.880
everything that we do at the magazine.
360
00:14:57.880 --> 00:15:02.080
And I think they, they decided to go with me outside of outside talent or anything like
361
00:15:02.080 --> 00:15:07.360
that because, um, I really got the brand and I had done so many different things already.
362
00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:08.360
Right.
363
00:15:08.360 --> 00:15:12.320
Not too many people had text crime and human interest and TV and music.
364
00:15:12.320 --> 00:15:13.720
And that was the energy.
365
00:15:13.720 --> 00:15:14.720
Right.
366
00:15:14.720 --> 00:15:17.440
So you were able to bring all that together to bear in the podcast because you were already
367
00:15:17.440 --> 00:15:18.960
familiar with all the different things.
368
00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:19.960
Yeah.
369
00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:20.960
Yeah.
370
00:15:20.960 --> 00:15:21.960
Yeah.
371
00:15:21.960 --> 00:15:22.960
Yeah.
372
00:15:22.960 --> 00:15:25.200
For each of the new opportunities that you had come to you while you were at people over
373
00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:27.800
that duration of time, um, were you always?
374
00:15:28.240 --> 00:15:33.360
Opening your eyes and kind of looking to see what was coming or was it just organic, organically,
375
00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:37.360
kind of coming your way, um, it's, it's random.
376
00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:43.000
It's a little bit of both, um, especially with when I was shifting from crime to the entertainment
377
00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:49.440
team, which is like just a whole other wing of the brand, um, I was like, I'm ready, I'm
378
00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:50.440
ready for a change.
379
00:15:50.440 --> 00:15:54.640
I need to, you know, yeah, I think it was like a killer nanny on the upper west side that
380
00:15:54.640 --> 00:15:59.600
like something else, something else that was just like, all right.
381
00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:00.600
Oh, yeah.
382
00:16:00.600 --> 00:16:01.600
Okay.
383
00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:02.600
Yeah.
384
00:16:02.600 --> 00:16:03.600
Yeah.
385
00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:04.600
Yeah.
386
00:16:04.600 --> 00:16:05.600
No, true crime.
387
00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:06.600
I mean, I worked in true crime and document on the documentary side for years.
388
00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:07.600
It's a lot.
389
00:16:07.600 --> 00:16:08.600
It can get heavy.
390
00:16:08.600 --> 00:16:09.600
And I have a bit of a bleeding heart, too.
391
00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:12.120
And I was trying to feel you know, for the years that I did it.
392
00:16:12.120 --> 00:16:14.120
And I do want to get the story no matter what.
393
00:16:14.120 --> 00:16:15.120
Of course.
394
00:16:15.120 --> 00:16:16.120
But, um, yeah.
395
00:16:16.120 --> 00:16:17.120
Yeah.
396
00:16:17.120 --> 00:16:23.200
So, so that one I kind of positioned myself, you know, I made sure people knew, um, that
397
00:16:23.200 --> 00:16:28.600
I wanted to make that transition, um, but other than that after that, things just started
398
00:16:28.600 --> 00:16:30.680
falling into place.
399
00:16:30.680 --> 00:16:37.960
And it all aligned with me wanting to grow at that time and wanting to expand, which
400
00:16:37.960 --> 00:16:38.960
is really cool.
401
00:16:38.960 --> 00:16:43.520
And I remember when I started at people, even when I had just signed on, um, I think with
402
00:16:43.520 --> 00:16:47.840
the crime team, someone had said, you know, be careful.
403
00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:51.400
People make a life or out of you, they like to make life or out of people don't, don't
404
00:16:51.400 --> 00:16:53.080
get caught.
405
00:16:53.080 --> 00:16:58.240
And, you know, and I have a, my husband, he has, you know, changed, you know, in the finance
406
00:16:58.240 --> 00:17:02.000
and tech world, not that they changed and switched and go for the next biggest paycheck
407
00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:03.480
and all of that.
408
00:17:03.480 --> 00:17:06.320
And I was like, no, I'm not going to become a lifer.
409
00:17:06.320 --> 00:17:11.680
I'm going to go where the money is going to do all of that 13 years later.
410
00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.280
But it's because I truly believe it's because I've had so many growth opportunities.
411
00:17:15.280 --> 00:17:16.280
Yeah.
412
00:17:16.280 --> 00:17:19.520
And I wasn't pigeonholed for whatever wonderful reason.
413
00:17:19.520 --> 00:17:20.520
Right.
414
00:17:20.520 --> 00:17:22.600
And I've been able to just do so many new things.
415
00:17:22.600 --> 00:17:27.440
And after music editor came the podcast, I did that for two years.
416
00:17:27.440 --> 00:17:29.080
It was fantastic.
417
00:17:29.080 --> 00:17:37.080
I got to really just dig in every single bag that I have every day, literally six a.m.
418
00:17:37.080 --> 00:17:41.560
Morning meeting for the early show is we were out by, I think, around two p.m.
419
00:17:41.560 --> 00:17:45.040
And it was like life because we wanted to hit that like happy hour time.
420
00:17:45.040 --> 00:17:46.040
Sure.
421
00:17:46.040 --> 00:17:50.040
So a lot of that had to be mostly good in one shot because there's not a lot of editing
422
00:17:50.040 --> 00:17:51.040
time.
423
00:17:51.040 --> 00:17:52.040
Yeah.
424
00:17:52.040 --> 00:17:53.040
Oh, yeah.
425
00:17:53.040 --> 00:17:58.800
Had some rate editors along the way it was like, let's go, let's get out the door.
426
00:17:58.800 --> 00:18:00.640
Because we wanted to, that's people.
427
00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:03.520
We are up to the second, right, right, right, right.
428
00:18:03.520 --> 00:18:04.520
And what's happening?
429
00:18:04.520 --> 00:18:11.240
And we wanted people to feel like they got their entire day of what they needed to know
430
00:18:11.240 --> 00:18:13.240
to be able to go into that dinner party.
431
00:18:13.240 --> 00:18:14.240
Right.
432
00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:15.240
You heard about.
433
00:18:15.240 --> 00:18:16.240
Wow.
434
00:18:17.240 --> 00:18:18.240
What?
435
00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:19.240
All the tea.
436
00:18:19.240 --> 00:18:20.240
What happened?
437
00:18:20.240 --> 00:18:21.240
Right.
438
00:18:21.240 --> 00:18:22.240
Right.
439
00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:23.240
Right.
440
00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:26.920
Then we had, we at the tail end, we had celebrity interviews, not every day, depending on
441
00:18:26.920 --> 00:18:29.960
like the news cycle and how crazy it was out there.
442
00:18:29.960 --> 00:18:32.080
But we would have people stop by.
443
00:18:32.080 --> 00:18:33.080
And what great training.
444
00:18:33.080 --> 00:18:34.080
I mean, it's a grind.
445
00:18:34.080 --> 00:18:35.080
I have to do it every day.
446
00:18:35.080 --> 00:18:38.680
But like you said, like, after a while, you learn how to do a sound bite, like what
447
00:18:38.680 --> 00:18:43.680
really works, what your audience is responding to and you're getting it in real time and
448
00:18:43.680 --> 00:18:49.120
like kind of getting it into your cellular, and out of a cellular level, how do you know?
449
00:18:49.120 --> 00:18:51.280
What's the secret to staying so nimble?
450
00:18:51.280 --> 00:18:52.800
Oh my gosh.
451
00:18:52.800 --> 00:18:53.800
Caffeine.
452
00:18:53.800 --> 00:18:57.800
What's your dream's order?
453
00:18:57.800 --> 00:18:58.800
Jesus.
454
00:18:58.800 --> 00:18:59.800
Always Jesus.
455
00:18:59.800 --> 00:19:05.040
I was in, like, Carmel Macchiato days back.
456
00:19:05.040 --> 00:19:06.040
Right.
457
00:19:06.040 --> 00:19:07.040
Right.
458
00:19:07.040 --> 00:19:08.040
Give me all the points.
459
00:19:08.040 --> 00:19:09.040
Give me all the points.
460
00:19:09.040 --> 00:19:10.040
Give me all the points.
461
00:19:11.040 --> 00:19:16.760
And how was it because you're your have kids at this time, like did you have both kids
462
00:19:16.760 --> 00:19:17.760
by this time?
463
00:19:17.760 --> 00:19:18.760
Yeah.
464
00:19:18.760 --> 00:19:21.760
So I was that again pregnant 2020.
465
00:19:21.760 --> 00:19:27.920
I was out there in 2020 when we started the podcast with Ramy.
466
00:19:27.920 --> 00:19:31.280
So Reese is my 10 year old and Ramy is five.
467
00:19:31.280 --> 00:19:37.840
And I, you know, doing the podcast, launching the podcast, kicking all of that off, um, top
468
00:19:37.840 --> 00:19:43.600
of 2020 while in the house and being a makeshift kindergarten teacher, because I had to
469
00:19:43.600 --> 00:19:44.600
eat, right?
470
00:19:44.600 --> 00:19:45.600
We were all right.
471
00:19:45.600 --> 00:19:46.600
We were all right at the time.
472
00:19:46.600 --> 00:19:47.600
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
473
00:19:47.600 --> 00:19:51.400
And like trying to polite, we tell him, okay, go do your art class with Bob Ross.
474
00:19:51.400 --> 00:19:52.400
Right.
475
00:19:52.400 --> 00:19:53.400
I'm a TV right now.
476
00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:54.400
Ramy has no record.
477
00:19:54.400 --> 00:19:55.400
Shut up, Bob Ross.
478
00:19:55.400 --> 00:19:56.400
Still teaching the children.
479
00:19:56.400 --> 00:19:57.400
I have stations.
480
00:19:57.400 --> 00:19:58.400
I have stations.
481
00:19:58.400 --> 00:19:59.400
I have stations.
482
00:19:59.400 --> 00:20:06.160
I believe he did all the things that I thought a kindergarten teacher would do.
483
00:20:07.160 --> 00:20:09.160
But it was a lot.
484
00:20:09.160 --> 00:20:13.520
And when we moved to LA, because that was actually one of the things I said when I signed
485
00:20:13.520 --> 00:20:17.560
on for the podcast, I said, okay, we are doing this.
486
00:20:17.560 --> 00:20:19.960
The world is kind of collapsing.
487
00:20:19.960 --> 00:20:22.560
So I want to move back to California.
488
00:20:22.560 --> 00:20:28.600
And I want, you know, a podcast booth in my, wherever I'm living, California, because
489
00:20:28.600 --> 00:20:34.360
all I can do is record these podcast shows and beyond Zillow and Redfin, because I'm over
490
00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:35.360
the East Coast.
491
00:20:35.360 --> 00:20:36.360
Sorry for any East Coasters out there.
492
00:20:36.360 --> 00:20:38.520
I'm like, it was no place to pandemic.
493
00:20:38.520 --> 00:20:39.520
Let me take that.
494
00:20:39.520 --> 00:20:40.520
Yes, yes, yes.
495
00:20:40.520 --> 00:20:43.320
So that, it was a lot of transition.
496
00:20:43.320 --> 00:20:44.320
Sure.
497
00:20:44.320 --> 00:20:48.080
And, you know, Ramy comes, we, we moved not long after that.
498
00:20:48.080 --> 00:20:55.240
And I did the podcast out of my studio and my garage for a year after that in LA, which
499
00:20:55.240 --> 00:20:56.880
was great.
500
00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:58.840
And then everything kind of changed again.
501
00:20:58.840 --> 00:21:02.800
And this is one of those moments that I didn't plan for.
502
00:21:02.800 --> 00:21:09.880
You know, it was top of 2023 and the podcast ended and they were like, but we don't want
503
00:21:09.880 --> 00:21:11.160
you to go in your journey.
504
00:21:11.160 --> 00:21:15.960
And I think one of the, the smartest things I did when I signed on for that pivot, the
505
00:21:15.960 --> 00:21:22.280
podcast was to say, okay, I still want to have a foot in, you know, what has made people,
506
00:21:22.280 --> 00:21:24.360
people, which is our print product.
507
00:21:24.360 --> 00:21:25.360
That's great.
508
00:21:25.360 --> 00:21:28.440
And our digital juggernaut, which is people.com.
509
00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:34.640
And now the people at all the different iterations of people, just content creation, cranking out
510
00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:39.680
the content that I've been doing, be it crime, human interest, you know, you know, sourcing
511
00:21:39.680 --> 00:21:42.280
and put people up on the tee.
512
00:21:42.280 --> 00:21:46.120
And Hollywood, that's in my bones.
513
00:21:46.120 --> 00:21:47.120
Right.
514
00:21:47.120 --> 00:21:51.260
And as much as I love hosting and interviewing and all of that, the writing is like still
515
00:21:51.260 --> 00:21:52.260
the core.
516
00:21:52.260 --> 00:21:56.160
Yeah, writing is still something that I do love deeply.
517
00:21:56.560 --> 00:22:04.280
It's now, I think it's like a 50, 50 split now in a lot of hosting, but yeah, I, that
518
00:22:04.280 --> 00:22:05.280
happened.
519
00:22:05.280 --> 00:22:06.280
Podcast goes away.
520
00:22:06.280 --> 00:22:11.760
I was heartbroken for a little bit, but I was able to lean in at a brand that loves me
521
00:22:11.760 --> 00:22:17.480
and that I love and, you know, lean into my editor at large title, bring in cover stories
522
00:22:17.480 --> 00:22:21.280
and break news and do all of that huge interviews.
523
00:22:21.280 --> 00:22:22.280
Yeah.
524
00:22:23.280 --> 00:22:27.880
All while also they tapped me and said, you know, you're not hosting the podcast anymore,
525
00:22:27.880 --> 00:22:33.440
but we want you to do even more red carpet hosting, which I thought was fantastic.
526
00:22:33.440 --> 00:22:38.640
And because of that podcast experience, I was able to go ever was coming down that red
527
00:22:38.640 --> 00:22:39.640
carpet.
528
00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:40.640
Right.
529
00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:45.480
And I've been doing that for years now at the biggest shows, Grammys, Oscars, Saga
530
00:22:45.480 --> 00:22:46.480
Awards.
531
00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:47.480
You name it.
532
00:22:47.480 --> 00:22:54.320
So I am in this whole new iteration now, but you've been training for it for so long.
533
00:22:54.320 --> 00:22:55.320
Yeah.
534
00:22:55.320 --> 00:23:00.800
So if you ever need plus one, you know, we just hold the mic.
535
00:23:00.800 --> 00:23:01.800
You know, I love it.
536
00:23:01.800 --> 00:23:02.800
I love it.
537
00:23:02.800 --> 00:23:03.800
I'll hold your reflector.
538
00:23:03.800 --> 00:23:04.800
You're lighting.
539
00:23:04.800 --> 00:23:05.800
Exactly.
540
00:23:05.800 --> 00:23:12.240
You were able to successfully navigate people going through an acquisition and you continued
541
00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:16.040
to move up the ranks through that acquisition and thereafter.
542
00:23:16.040 --> 00:23:20.240
What advice would you give for somebody who's mid-career or even a seasoned professional
543
00:23:20.240 --> 00:23:24.640
who's now facing a company acquisition or just completed one?
544
00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:28.920
And that obviously comes with a lot of changes, which is the culture and the company.
545
00:23:28.920 --> 00:23:33.120
What would be your advice or strategy to successfully navigate that if they want to stay with
546
00:23:33.120 --> 00:23:34.120
the company?
547
00:23:34.120 --> 00:23:40.360
I think a big piece of advice, especially coming from a legacy media brand that we all
548
00:23:40.360 --> 00:23:49.680
took, well, not all of us, but a lot of us took was to make sure that you are open and
549
00:23:49.680 --> 00:23:56.080
you are listening and you are hearing and you are taking in the change that is coming.
550
00:23:56.080 --> 00:24:00.320
You know, closing your ears off and being negative and being like, ah, I know what they're
551
00:24:00.320 --> 00:24:05.320
talking about, all of that energy that gets negative energy and you don't want that in
552
00:24:05.320 --> 00:24:06.320
your space.
553
00:24:06.320 --> 00:24:07.320
Right.
554
00:24:07.320 --> 00:24:08.320
Right.
555
00:24:08.320 --> 00:24:09.320
So like, okay, what is this company about?
556
00:24:09.320 --> 00:24:10.320
It's like, let me lean in.
557
00:24:10.320 --> 00:24:15.280
Oh, that's actually a really good platform and that's a really good idea they had or really
558
00:24:15.280 --> 00:24:19.040
good innovation that whatever it is, steady up.
559
00:24:19.040 --> 00:24:27.600
Like you are about to apply for that company because you want to keep your job.
560
00:24:27.600 --> 00:24:28.600
Right.
561
00:24:28.600 --> 00:24:33.160
So yeah, that was wondering what new avenues you might be looking into, what their priorities
562
00:24:33.160 --> 00:24:38.680
might be based on who they are, what their energy is, like really steady up in that space.
563
00:24:38.680 --> 00:24:44.200
But also just lean in, lean into what is to come if it's for you.
564
00:24:44.200 --> 00:24:48.080
Now, you know, it might be something where you're like, nah, I'm out.
565
00:24:48.080 --> 00:24:49.240
So you've done to that point.
566
00:24:49.240 --> 00:24:54.880
You've done so many now, like huge interviews, like chronic interviews for the magazine.
567
00:24:54.880 --> 00:24:56.760
What are the ones that stand out for you?
568
00:24:56.760 --> 00:25:00.840
Okay, I love this question and I hate this question all the same time.
569
00:25:00.840 --> 00:25:01.840
Oh gosh.
570
00:25:01.840 --> 00:25:02.840
Okay.
571
00:25:02.840 --> 00:25:07.440
There's so many different ones, but I'm going to start with one that like I really love
572
00:25:07.440 --> 00:25:09.840
that's going to be a bit of a deep cut for you guys.
573
00:25:09.840 --> 00:25:19.080
But I interviewed a known writer in New York and I am such a fan of her, like kind of
574
00:25:19.080 --> 00:25:24.080
not backpack, but backpack day, like just that welcome home, Roxie Carmichael and all
575
00:25:24.080 --> 00:25:25.080
of these things.
576
00:25:25.080 --> 00:25:29.360
And she had been out of the spotlight at the time for a long time for many reasons.
577
00:25:29.360 --> 00:25:33.280
And this was kind of like her first interview after that.
578
00:25:33.280 --> 00:25:35.760
And I was so nervous.
579
00:25:35.760 --> 00:25:39.480
It was at the peninsula and like all right, yeah.
580
00:25:39.480 --> 00:25:44.600
And I just remember sitting there and I didn't know going in for whatever reason.
581
00:25:44.600 --> 00:25:47.960
I didn't my research, but not enough, I guess I didn't know she was from San Francisco
582
00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:49.680
and I was from San Francisco.
583
00:25:49.680 --> 00:25:50.680
And we sat there.
584
00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:52.880
It was supposed to be like a 20 minute interview over an hour.
585
00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:53.880
I love that.
586
00:25:53.880 --> 00:25:55.560
Her rep was like, wrap it up.
587
00:25:55.560 --> 00:25:56.560
Wrap it up.
588
00:25:56.560 --> 00:26:00.040
Here was also a one that comes to mind.
589
00:26:00.040 --> 00:26:01.040
Very recent.
590
00:26:01.040 --> 00:26:02.040
Really.
591
00:26:02.040 --> 00:26:03.040
Yeah.
592
00:26:03.040 --> 00:26:04.040
We love her so much.
593
00:26:04.040 --> 00:26:05.040
She's all around us.
594
00:26:05.040 --> 00:26:06.040
We just love her.
595
00:26:06.040 --> 00:26:07.040
Goodness.
596
00:26:07.040 --> 00:26:08.040
Be still my heart.
597
00:26:08.040 --> 00:26:13.480
She is such a queen and has had such a journey and I was able to sit with her.
598
00:26:13.480 --> 00:26:18.520
And just we, our conversation ran the gamut like share her first movie was with Sydney
599
00:26:18.520 --> 00:26:19.520
Portier.
600
00:26:19.520 --> 00:26:20.520
Oh my God.
601
00:26:20.520 --> 00:26:21.520
Sydney Portier.
602
00:26:21.520 --> 00:26:22.520
Right.
603
00:26:22.520 --> 00:26:25.560
Like we're sitting up there, like watching her on Abbott Elementary, kill it.
604
00:26:25.560 --> 00:26:28.560
That reinvigorated me just to talk to her.
605
00:26:28.560 --> 00:26:30.840
There are certain interviews that like really sit with you.
606
00:26:30.840 --> 00:26:31.840
And she was one.
607
00:26:31.840 --> 00:26:32.840
Dreamgirls.
608
00:26:32.840 --> 00:26:33.840
Oh, the Moisha.
609
00:26:33.840 --> 00:26:34.840
Right.
610
00:26:34.840 --> 00:26:35.840
So many things.
611
00:26:35.840 --> 00:26:42.160
And then there was another interview with Matt Damon.
612
00:26:42.160 --> 00:26:43.160
That was really cool.
613
00:26:43.160 --> 00:26:46.920
So this was one of those like, you know, he doesn't do that many interviews.
614
00:26:46.920 --> 00:26:47.920
He does.
615
00:26:47.920 --> 00:26:48.920
He does many interviews.
616
00:26:48.920 --> 00:26:49.920
And he wasn't supposed to do this one.
617
00:26:49.920 --> 00:26:50.920
Tell me about it.
618
00:26:50.920 --> 00:26:51.920
Okay.
619
00:26:51.920 --> 00:26:58.480
I was at a party for, it was like a screening party for our
620
00:26:58.480 --> 00:26:59.480
go.
621
00:26:59.480 --> 00:27:00.480
For the Netflix.
622
00:27:00.480 --> 00:27:01.480
Okay.
623
00:27:01.480 --> 00:27:04.800
Big movie, you know, they, you know, really wanted to get the word out about it.
624
00:27:04.800 --> 00:27:08.560
I was supposed to get like, you know, a couple minutes with Ben about the movie and ended
625
00:27:08.560 --> 00:27:12.560
up being like, you know, just a bunch of reporters like sticking our mics up to get a
626
00:27:12.560 --> 00:27:14.560
couple of quotes.
627
00:27:14.560 --> 00:27:16.840
But they are milling about was Matt Damon.
628
00:27:16.840 --> 00:27:18.960
And I saw him like, you know, he was kind of just hanging out.
629
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:19.960
Nobody was bothering him.
630
00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:20.960
It wasn't his night.
631
00:27:20.960 --> 00:27:21.960
You know, he was there.
632
00:27:21.960 --> 00:27:22.960
He was going to support.
633
00:27:22.960 --> 00:27:23.960
Right.
634
00:27:23.960 --> 00:27:26.280
And I went up and you just started small talking with him.
635
00:27:27.280 --> 00:27:29.280
I told him, I was like, oh my goodness, that's so cool.
636
00:27:29.280 --> 00:27:32.280
He was just raving about Ben and how excited he was for him and all that.
637
00:27:32.280 --> 00:27:34.200
And I was like, do you mind him with people magazine?
638
00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:35.200
Can I get this?
639
00:27:35.200 --> 00:27:36.200
This is great.
640
00:27:36.200 --> 00:27:37.200
Right.
641
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:40.200
And, you know, pull up my voice, my mouth's still on there.
642
00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:46.440
And we end up talking for over 10 minutes, like 12 and, you know, not forcing it at all.
643
00:27:46.440 --> 00:27:47.840
We were just having a great conversation.
644
00:27:47.840 --> 00:27:51.720
And we started talking about his career and his wife and their relationship and all the
645
00:27:51.720 --> 00:27:52.720
things.
646
00:27:52.720 --> 00:27:59.720
And he was like, what the hell is going on in the office and everyone was like, what?
647
00:27:59.720 --> 00:28:00.720
Yeah.
648
00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:01.720
What is it?
649
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:02.720
I'm like, how did you do that?
650
00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.720
That day, man, he's great.
651
00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:04.720
Yeah.
652
00:28:04.720 --> 00:28:05.720
Like, you guys don't talk to him.
653
00:28:05.720 --> 00:28:06.720
We talk to him.
654
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:07.720
I mean, yeah.
655
00:28:07.720 --> 00:28:09.720
Just to save me a man, you know, kicking it.
656
00:28:09.720 --> 00:28:10.720
As one does.
657
00:28:10.720 --> 00:28:11.720
Yeah.
658
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:14.720
It was seriously him just weighing in on Ben.
659
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.720
And this moment that Ben was in, but I always remember that being like, no, we talk.
660
00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:19.720
Are we talking?
661
00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:20.720
Right.
662
00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:21.720
Yeah.
663
00:28:21.720 --> 00:28:25.720
But it sounds like that's part of your, like, approach and style with interviews.
664
00:28:25.720 --> 00:28:31.760
Like, if you can talk about that a little bit, like, how do you approach, like being prepared
665
00:28:31.760 --> 00:28:32.760
for interviews?
666
00:28:32.760 --> 00:28:35.280
Like, how do you approach connecting to people?
667
00:28:35.280 --> 00:28:37.720
Like, how do you kind of get into the zone?
668
00:28:37.720 --> 00:28:38.720
Yeah.
669
00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:45.000
With me, especially now that I've done it for so long, I really tried to, and just thinking
670
00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:48.720
of, you know, where people are coming from and the times we're in and all of that, I just
671
00:28:48.720 --> 00:28:53.720
like to, like, set out the fact that they are human beings.
672
00:28:53.720 --> 00:28:54.720
That is a person.
673
00:28:54.720 --> 00:28:56.720
I don't care how big their celebrity is.
674
00:28:56.720 --> 00:28:59.080
I don't care how many followers they have.
675
00:28:59.080 --> 00:29:00.080
I don't care.
676
00:29:00.080 --> 00:29:04.960
Like, what I last saw them in, I can be excited or whatever, but that is a person.
677
00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:07.680
And I want to approach it from that space.
678
00:29:07.680 --> 00:29:11.600
This is a human being who probably just dropped out their kids or picked up their kids or
679
00:29:11.600 --> 00:29:14.280
might have gotten to a car accident or whatever it is.
680
00:29:14.280 --> 00:29:18.560
And I try to connect, first and foremost, on their humanness.
681
00:29:18.560 --> 00:29:23.120
And I also, like, you know, do a little internet stalking right before I like to go and
682
00:29:23.120 --> 00:29:24.120
look at it.
683
00:29:24.120 --> 00:29:25.120
If they have social media.
684
00:29:25.120 --> 00:29:29.280
But the last thing they posted was, you know, where's their head at coming into this?
685
00:29:29.280 --> 00:29:31.680
So I know how to kind of frame myself.
686
00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:37.920
Like if that person was like, I can't stand this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, I'm so
687
00:29:37.920 --> 00:29:38.920
mad.
688
00:29:38.920 --> 00:29:39.920
Right.
689
00:29:39.920 --> 00:29:40.920
Two hours before I meet them.
690
00:29:40.920 --> 00:29:41.920
Right.
691
00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:42.920
Right.
692
00:29:42.920 --> 00:29:43.920
Right.
693
00:29:43.920 --> 00:29:44.920
Right.
694
00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:45.920
Right.
695
00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:46.920
Right.
696
00:29:46.920 --> 00:29:47.920
You know what I mean?
697
00:29:47.920 --> 00:29:48.920
Yeah.
698
00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:52.840
Well, sometimes you're dealing with people like your story for people is after something big
699
00:29:52.840 --> 00:29:53.840
has happened.
700
00:29:53.840 --> 00:29:54.840
Yeah.
701
00:29:54.840 --> 00:30:02.120
Culturally, a divorce, a marriage, you know, a scandal even, you know, healthy.
702
00:30:02.120 --> 00:30:06.400
So you know, when you're trying to get people to talk about those kinds of things, I mean,
703
00:30:06.400 --> 00:30:07.880
it sounds like you mentioned some of them.
704
00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:10.800
You want them to know that not only are they human, you're human.
705
00:30:10.800 --> 00:30:11.800
You are not.
706
00:30:12.800 --> 00:30:13.800
People.
707
00:30:13.800 --> 00:30:20.320
I'm Jeanine Rubenstein, a journalist and I am, of course, therefore a job, but I want
708
00:30:20.320 --> 00:30:21.320
to connect with you.
709
00:30:21.320 --> 00:30:25.320
I want to have a conversation with you so that we can actually get to those places and
710
00:30:25.320 --> 00:30:30.680
get there in a way that you feel comfortable and that, you know, we're really able to communicate
711
00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:34.680
what's going on and your humanness to the millions of other humans who are going to read
712
00:30:34.680 --> 00:30:35.680
it.
713
00:30:35.680 --> 00:30:36.680
Right.
714
00:30:36.680 --> 00:30:40.360
You know, what's the icebreaker to bring their guard down when it's a topic that maybe
715
00:30:40.360 --> 00:30:43.880
isn't as pleasant, but they don't want to necessarily discuss.
716
00:30:43.880 --> 00:30:44.880
What's a good icebreaker?
717
00:30:44.880 --> 00:30:45.880
Take notes of it.
718
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:46.880
I love your hair.
719
00:30:46.880 --> 00:30:47.880
No.
720
00:30:47.880 --> 00:30:54.200
It looks like if it's a black woman, you have a, you have a 20-minute conversation about
721
00:30:54.200 --> 00:30:55.200
that.
722
00:30:55.200 --> 00:30:56.200
Yeah.
723
00:30:56.200 --> 00:30:58.200
You look good, girl.
724
00:30:58.200 --> 00:31:00.200
And they usually do.
725
00:31:00.200 --> 00:31:06.840
No, you know, one of the things I like to go in, especially when it's a tougher subject
726
00:31:06.840 --> 00:31:13.400
or a tougher conversation that we're going to have, is to find, you know, myself in
727
00:31:13.400 --> 00:31:18.960
it and bring that to the table and saying, like, I, you know, saw what happened, of course,
728
00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:21.960
with your, your son and what you all are going through.
729
00:31:21.960 --> 00:31:24.080
I have a 10-year-old, right?
730
00:31:24.080 --> 00:31:29.200
And I haven't been there, but I've been there in a sense in that blah, blah, blah, you
731
00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:30.680
know, whatever it is.
732
00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:35.480
And like, just allow them to know that we're in this community together, that things happen
733
00:31:35.480 --> 00:31:36.480
to all of us.
734
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:43.720
Nobody's trying to gotcha and, you know, well, why didn't you, you know, those, there's
735
00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:45.720
a time for tough questions, there really are.
736
00:31:45.720 --> 00:31:49.800
And I have not been there in all of these different situations, thank God.
737
00:31:49.800 --> 00:31:52.080
So, let me just go through a lot.
738
00:31:52.080 --> 00:31:59.360
But there is a way that you can approach it to where you're, you're, you're telegraphing
739
00:31:59.360 --> 00:32:04.680
understanding and you're telegraphing that you're meeting them in the middle of whatever
740
00:32:04.680 --> 00:32:06.800
it is they're going through.
741
00:32:06.800 --> 00:32:10.880
And I think that has always voted really well for me.
742
00:32:10.880 --> 00:32:13.320
And sometimes even was just like, I'm not going to talk about that.
743
00:32:13.320 --> 00:32:20.320
I'll follow it up with no, I fully understand because, you know, however I phrase it, but
744
00:32:20.320 --> 00:32:26.040
I'll bring myself into it then, and then sometimes I'll open up them saying what they have
745
00:32:26.040 --> 00:32:27.040
to say.
746
00:32:27.040 --> 00:32:28.040
Right.
747
00:32:28.040 --> 00:32:29.040
So, it's a dance.
748
00:32:29.040 --> 00:32:30.040
It is a dance.
749
00:32:30.040 --> 00:32:32.000
I have an insider question for you.
750
00:32:32.000 --> 00:32:33.000
Okay.
751
00:32:33.000 --> 00:32:35.840
Do celebrities get nervous talking to you?
752
00:32:35.840 --> 00:32:36.840
Oh, absolutely.
753
00:32:36.840 --> 00:32:37.840
Interesting.
754
00:32:37.840 --> 00:32:38.840
Absolutely.
755
00:32:38.840 --> 00:32:40.400
They're not used to it all the time.
756
00:32:40.400 --> 00:32:41.400
Not all the time.
757
00:32:41.400 --> 00:32:48.040
Some are, you know, it's run of the mill, but there are a lot of celebrities who, I think
758
00:32:48.040 --> 00:32:50.760
it's kind of cool being on a brand that people think of as a celebrity.
759
00:32:50.760 --> 00:32:57.040
Like, people, I give you, you know, people's an iconic brand, it's an iconic brand and, you
760
00:32:57.040 --> 00:33:03.000
know, people will come into a situation and be like, okay, wait, this is my people interview.
761
00:33:03.000 --> 00:33:04.000
Right.
762
00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:05.000
This is my people interview.
763
00:33:05.000 --> 00:33:06.000
Right.
764
00:33:06.000 --> 00:33:10.400
And sometimes you have to like, you know, calm them down as well and tell them like, you
765
00:33:10.400 --> 00:33:11.520
know, it's perfectly fine.
766
00:33:11.520 --> 00:33:13.280
It's that, you know, this is going to be great.
767
00:33:13.280 --> 00:33:16.280
We want to make you look the best that you possibly can.
768
00:33:16.280 --> 00:33:17.280
Right.
769
00:33:17.280 --> 00:33:18.280
So, that, that's fun.
770
00:33:18.280 --> 00:33:21.600
You know, you get that a lot with the social media stars, you're like, oh my god, I'm
771
00:33:21.600 --> 00:33:22.600
really cool.
772
00:33:23.600 --> 00:33:25.360
There's like a real place.
773
00:33:25.360 --> 00:33:26.360
Yeah.
774
00:33:26.360 --> 00:33:27.360
Off of Instagram.
775
00:33:27.360 --> 00:33:29.760
I've been actually thinking of the world.
776
00:33:29.760 --> 00:33:37.240
I'm curious what has, have you seen the evolution of the print digital media landscape
777
00:33:37.240 --> 00:33:42.200
over this past, you know, 13, 14 years?
778
00:33:42.200 --> 00:33:47.280
What do you think, how do you think you and the magazine have stayed relevant?
779
00:33:47.280 --> 00:33:53.120
Like what, what does that take, you know, that you, because that you survived this long
780
00:33:53.120 --> 00:33:56.280
to sort of, to continue to be at the tip of the, the spear?
781
00:33:56.280 --> 00:33:57.280
Yeah.
782
00:33:57.280 --> 00:34:04.880
I think it's, you know, a really simple, delicious recipe, which is extraordinary people
783
00:34:04.880 --> 00:34:09.960
doing ordinary things and ordinary people doing extraordinary things and who doesn't want
784
00:34:09.960 --> 00:34:12.600
to see that and feel that.
785
00:34:12.600 --> 00:34:18.960
But outside of that, which is our core, it's being nimble, like, right, honestly, like
786
00:34:18.960 --> 00:34:25.840
something that aligns with like me in my career, the, I remember when I started at people,
787
00:34:25.840 --> 00:34:32.320
they were thinking so intensely about.com about, you know, the website and what they, bringing
788
00:34:32.320 --> 00:34:36.640
in new people, bringing in thought leaders, all of these things to figure out how to get
789
00:34:36.640 --> 00:34:37.640
it right.
790
00:34:37.640 --> 00:34:43.280
So many other places, including, you know, the newspaper that I was planning on working
791
00:34:43.280 --> 00:34:44.280
at.
792
00:34:44.280 --> 00:34:51.320
We're like, you know, like it, they weren't focused on it, like it, not to the same extent.
793
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:55.200
It was like, they were coming from a place of fear as opposed to a place of embracing,
794
00:34:55.200 --> 00:34:56.360
like, hey, this is here.
795
00:34:56.360 --> 00:34:57.360
What are we doing?
796
00:34:57.360 --> 00:34:58.360
Well, right.
797
00:34:58.360 --> 00:34:59.360
How we did with it.
798
00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:00.360
Right.
799
00:35:00.360 --> 00:35:01.360
How are we leaning into it?
800
00:35:01.360 --> 00:35:02.360
And it's always been that way.
801
00:35:02.360 --> 00:35:03.680
They had whatever is coming down the pack.
802
00:35:03.680 --> 00:35:08.640
Like we just launched the people at recently and it is like, you know, where are people
803
00:35:08.640 --> 00:35:09.640
reading?
804
00:35:09.640 --> 00:35:10.640
What are they doing?
805
00:35:10.640 --> 00:35:11.640
How are they getting their new?
806
00:35:11.640 --> 00:35:12.640
Okay.
807
00:35:12.640 --> 00:35:17.000
Let's meet them there and let's meet them there in the most, you know, high tech, like
808
00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:25.160
accessible way possible, and just pouring everything that we have into being, you know,
809
00:35:25.160 --> 00:35:30.120
if not first, best, you know, newest in the space.
810
00:35:30.120 --> 00:35:36.400
And it's really worked out like if you look at what's going on out there with print media.
811
00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:37.400
Yeah.
812
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:42.760
And that as well, like, you know, our print product is still the best, like that is out
813
00:35:42.760 --> 00:35:48.720
there in terms of, you know, availability, you know, we are not, we haven't downsized
814
00:35:48.720 --> 00:35:49.720
in that way.
815
00:35:49.720 --> 00:35:50.720
Right.
816
00:35:50.720 --> 00:35:51.720
It's still on the new stand.
817
00:35:51.720 --> 00:35:52.720
Well, I don't know.
818
00:35:52.720 --> 00:35:53.720
It's so funny.
819
00:35:53.720 --> 00:35:55.440
I have not even, not even exaggerating.
820
00:35:55.440 --> 00:35:59.680
I got off the plane this morning and right as I get out the gate.
821
00:35:59.680 --> 00:36:05.920
There's a people news store, like people magazines, and I was like, this is like a very
822
00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:09.840
bad open happening right now, but of course, it was like, yeah, of course I had to walk
823
00:36:09.840 --> 00:36:12.240
and see what was on the covers and everything.
824
00:36:12.240 --> 00:36:17.000
And it's still, there's a novelty to it every single time you see it's such an iconic
825
00:36:17.000 --> 00:36:18.000
brand.
826
00:36:18.000 --> 00:36:19.000
Yeah.
827
00:36:19.000 --> 00:36:22.240
And it just gives you that warm and fuzzy, like, what's the tea today?
828
00:36:22.240 --> 00:36:23.240
Yeah.
829
00:36:23.240 --> 00:36:27.600
And it's people, like it's in the name kind of in this space that we're in right now
830
00:36:27.600 --> 00:36:34.600
with AI and all of that, like we're still about people right now, and of course, figuring
831
00:36:34.600 --> 00:36:37.200
out how to make it work for us and incorporating it.
832
00:36:37.200 --> 00:36:44.200
But, you know, that'd be interviewing AI's, like, I'm great, I'm not a girl, I'll even
833
00:36:44.200 --> 00:36:45.200
now, girl.
834
00:36:45.200 --> 00:36:46.200
I never say never.
835
00:36:46.200 --> 00:36:47.200
Ask me in a month or two.
836
00:36:47.200 --> 00:36:49.200
I don't know how fast this is going.
837
00:36:49.200 --> 00:36:54.800
To your point earlier, it's ordinary people doing extraordinary things and extraordinary
838
00:36:54.800 --> 00:36:56.600
people doing ordinary things.
839
00:36:56.600 --> 00:36:57.600
Like, it's about the people.
840
00:36:57.600 --> 00:36:58.600
Right.
841
00:36:58.600 --> 00:36:59.600
It really is.
842
00:36:59.600 --> 00:37:05.040
How do you stay on, how do you constantly stay on top of things as a mother at a large
843
00:37:05.040 --> 00:37:08.080
and always being on top of everything all the time?
844
00:37:08.080 --> 00:37:09.400
This was always moving.
845
00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:12.400
You have to be honest all the time.
846
00:37:12.400 --> 00:37:13.400
Yeah.
847
00:37:13.400 --> 00:37:16.760
Someone asked me recently, like, yes, but what's your brand?
848
00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:22.080
And I said, happy chaos because that is really what's going on.
849
00:37:22.080 --> 00:37:23.080
Right.
850
00:37:23.080 --> 00:37:24.080
I'm pretty joyful.
851
00:37:24.080 --> 00:37:25.080
Almost all the time.
852
00:37:25.080 --> 00:37:26.080
I don't know.
853
00:37:26.080 --> 00:37:27.080
They always listen to me.
854
00:37:27.080 --> 00:37:28.080
I know.
855
00:37:28.080 --> 00:37:29.080
But you're a choice too.
856
00:37:29.080 --> 00:37:30.080
Yeah.
857
00:37:30.080 --> 00:37:31.080
Yes.
858
00:37:31.080 --> 00:37:32.080
Yes.
859
00:37:32.080 --> 00:37:33.080
Oh my God.
860
00:37:33.080 --> 00:37:34.080
Yeah.
861
00:37:34.080 --> 00:37:40.180
But that, and it's always just something like, my job is kind of break neck.
862
00:37:40.180 --> 00:37:41.780
We never know on any given day.
863
00:37:41.780 --> 00:37:42.880
Like, it's, you need to go.
864
00:37:42.880 --> 00:37:43.880
We need you to host this.
865
00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:44.880
We need you to do that.
866
00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:45.880
Can you MC this?
867
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:48.560
Can you, like pop into whatever?
868
00:37:48.560 --> 00:37:52.120
And same with my kids, because they love a sport.
869
00:37:52.120 --> 00:37:53.880
They love an activity.
870
00:37:53.880 --> 00:38:02.680
Yeah, and I'm leaving here literally and going to my son's football game right right. It's it's it's a lot, but I also
871
00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:09.120
Love that I like you know my friends always joke that I have like a FOMO like
872
00:38:12.360 --> 00:38:14.360
Grade FOMO
873
00:38:14.360 --> 00:38:16.360
I have to be there
874
00:38:16.360 --> 00:38:28.360
I love I love people and I love this and like I love my kids and all the things that they have going on and it's not
875
00:38:28.800 --> 00:38:30.800
a lot for me to
876
00:38:30.800 --> 00:38:36.880
Show up, but you know, it's not a lift for me to just get out there and be out there and say yes
877
00:38:36.880 --> 00:38:41.740
I'm I'm really into saying yes. I do need to exercise my know a little more
878
00:38:42.300 --> 00:38:49.020
But I love yes, yeah, yeah, you have definitely this charm about you you walk into a room
879
00:38:49.020 --> 00:38:51.980
And it's just very radiating. It's very apparent and this
880
00:38:53.780 --> 00:39:00.980
Is there did you keep just constant upbeat and enthusiasm throughout your tenure at people and oh
881
00:39:05.220 --> 00:39:07.620
Now and it's so funny because I am always
882
00:39:08.220 --> 00:39:13.980
Like this that when I'm not it is like it's like his way brainy go to bed. Yeah
883
00:39:17.260 --> 00:39:19.260
Well my friends are like what is wrong?
884
00:39:22.860 --> 00:39:32.220
I you know, I always like to let emotions happen to me, but I don't move in like I don't live there like whatever it is
885
00:39:32.220 --> 00:39:37.040
I know and I remind myself that this too shall pass I say that to myself a lot
886
00:39:38.340 --> 00:39:43.740
And that I can get back to joy and get back to all of it
887
00:39:43.980 --> 00:39:47.260
Sometimes it takes some time takes a few days
888
00:39:48.380 --> 00:39:55.860
Especially when you know you have a podcast deadlines and you just births someone and you're stuck in the house and it's snowing outside
889
00:39:55.860 --> 00:39:57.860
but
890
00:39:58.060 --> 00:40:01.420
My mom used to saying like you are my sunshine all the time
891
00:40:02.100 --> 00:40:06.420
And put on a happy face and I think like from when I was a little baby
892
00:40:07.420 --> 00:40:09.420
And I got stuck in my
893
00:40:12.620 --> 00:40:14.100
Amazing
894
00:40:14.100 --> 00:40:18.380
Well, I want to ask you because being at a place like people
895
00:40:19.100 --> 00:40:25.580
Which is a massive mainstream, you know culture like kind of like it's an icon. Yeah
896
00:40:26.100 --> 00:40:35.260
And being a black woman, you know and doing kind of being tip of the spear editor at large like what what's your relationship to
897
00:40:36.260 --> 00:40:39.660
Representation in that context like representing the culture
898
00:40:40.140 --> 00:40:45.420
You know, and I'm you know, how do you approach that because I'm sure for some of these interviews
899
00:40:45.420 --> 00:40:49.300
There are some cult some cultural competencies. Oh, yeah, to bear
900
00:40:50.020 --> 00:40:54.860
And how do you shoulder that responsibility if you see it in that in that way?
901
00:40:55.180 --> 00:40:59.540
Yeah, that's such a great question and it's it's really twofold like
902
00:41:00.460 --> 00:41:02.460
Inside the organization
903
00:41:02.860 --> 00:41:09.460
You know, I started off like you know work work work head down just you know do everything do what you got to do all of that and
904
00:41:10.620 --> 00:41:11.820
recently
905
00:41:11.820 --> 00:41:13.820
very recently actually I
906
00:41:14.660 --> 00:41:21.820
You know had got a promotion and I'm you know in this like kind of corner office space now in our office here in LA
907
00:41:21.820 --> 00:41:28.300
And I had one of the younger staffers a young black girl come in and say oh my goodness
908
00:41:28.300 --> 00:41:35.460
It's so good to see you sitting here like in this office like I love this and I love her name's Angel
909
00:41:35.460 --> 00:41:37.140
She's a sweetheart
910
00:41:37.140 --> 00:41:40.300
But that did something and then that's very same day
911
00:41:41.300 --> 00:41:47.100
One of our older staffers, you know, the older black woman comes in and she's like I see you sit there
912
00:41:48.140 --> 00:41:53.940
And I like that like just those bookends told me you know one
913
00:41:54.100 --> 00:41:57.940
This is so amazing just like in being here and in representing the way that I am
914
00:41:58.100 --> 00:42:03.220
But also I need to do more I need to make sure that that this is an open door policy
915
00:42:03.220 --> 00:42:08.500
Like don't just go what do you need like you know, how can I help you? How can I support you right all of that?
916
00:42:08.500 --> 00:42:10.500
And so I'm just excited to
917
00:42:11.900 --> 00:42:18.740
You know have yeah, I've always done I've always had conversations and all of that but like it just feels you know different now
918
00:42:19.460 --> 00:42:25.260
And it's something that I need to be like even more intentional about right right but when it comes to interviewing and all of that
919
00:42:25.940 --> 00:42:30.180
Yeah, man, I follow what I love. I know I pitch who I love
920
00:42:30.900 --> 00:42:33.540
I'm who I'm listening to and who I'm watching and all of that
921
00:42:34.220 --> 00:42:41.420
But also there are you know some stars out there that will say hey, I want Janine to do this
922
00:42:41.420 --> 00:42:43.220
If I'm gonna do this people interview I want her to do it
923
00:42:43.220 --> 00:42:47.580
Yeah, and that's something that started happening a few years ago. I was like that's really cool like they're
924
00:42:47.580 --> 00:42:52.980
Yeah, they're seeking me out. Yeah, I mean, I just see people react to you on the carpet like people like to me like people like
925
00:42:54.540 --> 00:42:56.540
Up to you to talk to you
926
00:42:57.420 --> 00:43:02.780
Because they know what it means and because obviously they respect how you treat them and how prepared you are
927
00:43:02.780 --> 00:43:05.380
Yeah, yeah, for sure. I just I mean when I think of it
928
00:43:05.780 --> 00:43:14.260
You're bringing up, you know, just just different cultural conversations and things that like sensitivity that I might bring to it that other people don't and it reminds me
929
00:43:14.260 --> 00:43:19.060
I'm like we did a snoop dog cover last year and oh my god
930
00:43:21.380 --> 00:43:24.420
And not to say that you know, he has fans of all
931
00:43:25.300 --> 00:43:28.340
The thing like that, but I wouldn't they're like
932
00:43:35.060 --> 00:43:37.060
And and he met me there
933
00:43:37.060 --> 00:43:44.140
What it was yeah, he told me after he was like I'm so happy if you did this and and you know
934
00:43:44.140 --> 00:43:48.060
I'm from San Francisco. I'm from the film. All right, which is like, you know
935
00:43:48.820 --> 00:43:56.020
Historically a predominantly black area San Francisco and I brought that up in the beginning and he was like what I have like
936
00:43:56.020 --> 00:43:58.740
I got you know, and we had all these different connections
937
00:43:58.740 --> 00:44:02.620
And so there are things like that that you do that at the top of the interview
938
00:44:02.620 --> 00:44:08.420
You set the tone. It just opens you up to like get answers the questions you didn't even think you were gonna be able to ask
939
00:44:08.420 --> 00:44:13.660
Right, you know, and I'm just because you have that familiarity and that understanding and that shared cultural
940
00:44:13.660 --> 00:44:20.620
Yeah, you know just bond right, but yeah, how do you I'm sure people come up to you all the time and would have been or like
941
00:44:20.620 --> 00:44:26.380
I want to do what you do. Yeah, how do you what's your relationship like to that with the media landscape?
942
00:44:27.020 --> 00:44:34.060
I keep it real. Yeah, it is you know, it's difficult. It is a difficult industry was back then
943
00:44:34.060 --> 00:44:41.740
It was back difficult before I even started you know to break into right and that's one of the things I noticed like you know
944
00:44:42.220 --> 00:44:45.980
It's considered one of those prestige industries. You know, be able to sit there
945
00:44:45.980 --> 00:44:53.420
And it is like it's a blessing to be able to you know, talk to all these different people and talk to your heroes and all of that
946
00:44:54.380 --> 00:44:59.580
And in that space, you know, they kind of expect especially young people to
947
00:45:00.140 --> 00:45:05.100
Just jump right in and be able to do it and usually not for a lot of money
948
00:45:05.660 --> 00:45:09.980
And the people who are able to do that are people who have you know
949
00:45:10.540 --> 00:45:14.540
Daddy war bucks are like, you know, no families that can you know no shade to them
950
00:45:14.540 --> 00:45:17.820
But they can support it and they can pursue you know a dream like this
951
00:45:18.460 --> 00:45:24.220
And for a lot of others like it's just a lot more barriers to entry because yeah rent, you know
952
00:45:24.860 --> 00:45:29.900
You got to you have to pay your bills and what I really like to do is be honest about that
953
00:45:30.220 --> 00:45:34.140
But also like tell people the same thing that I was told like
954
00:45:35.020 --> 00:45:41.020
We are in a space that has really democratized everything when it comes to your ability to publish your ability to write
955
00:45:41.420 --> 00:45:45.980
Your ability to just get your voice out there like never before
956
00:45:46.140 --> 00:45:49.500
So yes, these you know more structured
957
00:45:50.540 --> 00:45:55.180
You know corporate spaces the door is like getting more narrow and narrow and narrow
958
00:45:55.580 --> 00:46:00.460
But the opportunity for you to get your voice out there and for you to get clips really in journalism
959
00:46:00.460 --> 00:46:04.300
Right um is wide open right you know like when you're thinking of
960
00:46:05.260 --> 00:46:10.220
Patreon or or you know word prep whatever you can do right to get
961
00:46:11.180 --> 00:46:14.300
Whatever when they google you and like that last article comes up
962
00:46:14.780 --> 00:46:17.900
You know if it's well written you're gonna be able to use that
963
00:46:18.380 --> 00:46:22.540
And so I tell them that like just get to writing get to hosting get to whatever you're doing
964
00:46:23.420 --> 00:46:27.260
And I'm getting it out there as much as possible, but also
965
00:46:28.300 --> 00:46:30.300
same method
966
00:46:30.620 --> 00:46:36.380
To put stick your head in that door right reach out send that random blind cold email right
967
00:46:36.460 --> 00:46:43.340
You know maybe send it twice a few times like right those are the things that still to this day even in the AI age all of it
968
00:46:44.220 --> 00:46:49.420
Will have you I mean my production assistant on the podcast when I was looking to hire someone she cold
969
00:46:50.060 --> 00:46:54.460
emailed me and cold sent something through LinkedIn didn't know her from Adam
970
00:46:55.500 --> 00:47:00.940
Amazing great, and I you know looked at I looked at the resume. I was like oh, you know, she looks great
971
00:47:00.940 --> 00:47:05.100
Called her in met with her. She did two years with me on the podcast
972
00:47:05.980 --> 00:47:08.780
Because that still works right you're not doing that
973
00:47:09.420 --> 00:47:15.180
You're either even further right behind how crazy it's getting out there to get to your goal
974
00:47:15.580 --> 00:47:18.620
So that's really the advice that I give and then also
975
00:47:19.740 --> 00:47:23.020
You know lean in once you are there. Don't like
976
00:47:24.060 --> 00:47:27.420
It's not over lean in right. We're just getting started
977
00:47:28.140 --> 00:47:31.420
Like your name needs to be on everyone's lips in a good way
978
00:47:31.980 --> 00:47:36.300
So what are you doing to do that like how are you helping right your whole
979
00:47:37.100 --> 00:47:41.980
Purpose is to make whoever is above you their job easier absolutely that first
980
00:47:42.380 --> 00:47:44.220
Absolutely, and then you know
981
00:47:44.300 --> 00:47:47.900
Everything else that you need to do for you absolutely and you will be in good standing
982
00:47:48.220 --> 00:47:51.500
And they used to be standard training for us, but it feels like you have to tell the
983
00:47:52.780 --> 00:47:57.020
Yeah, but the ones you don't have to tell they're right into the town. You know like it's it's period
984
00:47:57.660 --> 00:47:59.260
Yeah, and that's perfectly fine as well
985
00:47:59.740 --> 00:48:03.820
But if you're interested in keeping your job and you're interested in the new company and growing there
986
00:48:04.780 --> 00:48:13.340
lean into it and figure out like where your lane is there and then be a squeaky wheel about it one thing I tell everyone
987
00:48:14.300 --> 00:48:16.940
All of these companies. I don't care if it's legacy if it's
988
00:48:17.660 --> 00:48:19.660
Startups whoever it is
989
00:48:19.740 --> 00:48:26.780
They want new fresh ideas. They want people taking risks. They want people raising their hand and saying. Oh, what have we tried this?
990
00:48:27.260 --> 00:48:31.900
Right that you that will not you know, I mean you don't think it through run it by a few people
991
00:48:32.860 --> 00:48:34.860
That's what just the CEO's doing
992
00:48:39.820 --> 00:48:41.820
Flush it out
993
00:48:41.820 --> 00:48:43.820
Make sure it's new make sure it's good
994
00:48:45.100 --> 00:48:51.980
But raise your hand and stick your your head out and and make sure that you are known that you are there
995
00:48:52.060 --> 00:48:54.940
And you are ready to innovate right and you're ready to you know
996
00:48:55.580 --> 00:48:58.940
Accept the new energy and give it right back to them right
997
00:48:59.420 --> 00:49:05.260
Are there things now just in that with you being where you are in your career? Are there things that you
998
00:49:06.220 --> 00:49:08.060
Like are wanting to do or
999
00:49:08.860 --> 00:49:16.380
Thinking about like moving forward as you see your career even within the people ecosystem or like are we gonna see your talk show one day
1000
00:49:22.940 --> 00:49:24.140
I mean you
1001
00:49:24.220 --> 00:49:27.740
Speaking about like you're like you really are I mean, I know you're at people
1002
00:49:27.740 --> 00:49:33.820
But I always have seen you as standalone in that way. Yeah, and people just love being around you
1003
00:49:33.820 --> 00:49:37.660
And you have such a great way of connecting to people. Thank you. So I don't you know
1004
00:49:37.660 --> 00:49:43.340
I don't know how much you ideate around that but just where do you what kind of things do you see for yourself in the future?
1005
00:49:43.820 --> 00:49:46.220
Yeah, I mean, I I love what I do
1006
00:49:47.180 --> 00:49:50.780
At people, but I you know at this stage in my career. I do think about like
1007
00:49:51.580 --> 00:49:56.700
What else could this look like right there or you know on my own and I always think about
1008
00:49:57.500 --> 00:49:57.980
um
1009
00:49:57.980 --> 00:50:03.580
Hosting and and just talking to people and being in an Oprah state of mind
1010
00:50:07.500 --> 00:50:14.140
No comparison whatsoever. I did get to where her wig wants. Oh my god, which one or Oprah's wig ones
1011
00:50:14.300 --> 00:50:17.420
It's this big like curly one. We did this um partnership
1012
00:50:17.900 --> 00:50:19.420
And um, it was like
1013
00:50:20.220 --> 00:50:24.860
We recreated it was own was having her magazine. I think was having like some sort of
1014
00:50:25.340 --> 00:50:31.260
Anniversary. Oh, we recreated and like her stylist brought Oprah's actual wig and I got to wear one
1015
00:50:35.180 --> 00:50:41.260
No, it really is like I tried on her shoes, but it was my accident. It was when they had the stove with oh
1016
00:50:41.820 --> 00:50:43.820
Are you that you accidentally try out
1017
00:50:47.420 --> 00:50:49.420
No, it would
1018
00:50:49.420 --> 00:50:53.420
So I went to her show one time. Yeah, um, and they had a stu
1019
00:50:53.420 --> 00:50:57.100
This is back in the date when they had this there was a store attached and it didn't last very long
1020
00:50:57.100 --> 00:51:02.220
But there was a while wishing it like a tarpo store. Okay, so we go into the store, you know, whatever
1021
00:51:02.220 --> 00:51:07.100
I'm just sucking up as much Oprah as I possibly can yeah, you know, whatever I'm buying and
1022
00:51:07.820 --> 00:51:12.700
There was a little section called Oprah's wardrobe, but it was really I guess it was like for charity
1023
00:51:12.780 --> 00:51:18.380
Wish she would she started selling yeah her wardrobe items, you know, like is a donation for charity on it
1024
00:51:18.380 --> 00:51:20.380
Yeah, they had a little display
1025
00:51:21.020 --> 00:51:26.620
And there were some shoes and she wears a size 10 so I was like, I tried Oprah's show
1026
00:51:28.380 --> 00:51:31.420
So I put on Oprah's shoe and the people from the store
1027
00:51:32.540 --> 00:51:34.540
like
1028
00:51:34.540 --> 00:51:36.540
I
1029
00:51:40.540 --> 00:51:44.540
Was like and I was like Dorothy was like Ruby
1030
00:51:46.540 --> 00:51:49.500
And it was literally like they do like I don't get you my pretty
1031
00:51:52.940 --> 00:51:54.940
Oh
1032
00:51:54.940 --> 00:51:56.940
It's a different display and I was like oh
1033
00:52:00.060 --> 00:52:02.060
But I was like too late
1034
00:52:10.300 --> 00:52:12.300
No, this was pre this was
1035
00:52:12.780 --> 00:52:14.780
She was still on the vision board
1036
00:52:14.780 --> 00:52:16.780
Oh, absolutely
1037
00:52:18.940 --> 00:52:23.340
Years from vision board to Oprah was Oprah on the vision board. It was going to the show
1038
00:52:34.380 --> 00:52:36.380
So whatever we gotta do whatever we gotta do
1039
00:52:36.380 --> 00:52:38.380
I know
1040
00:52:43.980 --> 00:52:48.540
Hosting I love it my friends always say like when's your talk show? When's your talk girl? I'll take a girl
1041
00:52:48.620 --> 00:52:53.340
I will take it absolutely, but I love that space and I messed it up. Yeah, you're good
1042
00:52:54.300 --> 00:52:56.140
hosting
1043
00:52:56.140 --> 00:53:01.180
You know, I could absolutely see a talk show in my future. Yeah, you can see I love talking. I can't
1044
00:53:02.140 --> 00:53:05.260
We gonna manifest we're gonna claim it. We gonna claim it
1045
00:53:05.660 --> 00:53:11.020
But a lot of other things too like I really am as I say happy chaos like I still love songwriting
1046
00:53:11.260 --> 00:53:18.140
I love that um and you know music is still something that is really just a core
1047
00:53:19.180 --> 00:53:23.660
Part of me, you know, it's like it's what I do to amp up even for interviews for the record
1048
00:53:23.820 --> 00:53:29.260
All that like I have to have like music going and I love writing in that way too and also
1049
00:53:29.980 --> 00:53:31.660
Just I don't know like
1050
00:53:32.300 --> 00:53:39.580
Finding a space that is like really kind of incorporates all the different things that I do
1051
00:53:39.820 --> 00:53:42.460
I don't know exactly what that is yet
1052
00:53:43.740 --> 00:53:45.740
But I do a lot I can't cook but I do a lot
1053
00:53:46.540 --> 00:53:59.900
I don't see what you get nervous. No, you don't at all. I don't know. Oh, that's good
1054
00:54:00.540 --> 00:54:05.180
Well, I do get nervous. I get butterflies um and I
1055
00:54:06.220 --> 00:54:09.020
Take that as a sign that everything's gonna be great. Oh
1056
00:54:09.020 --> 00:54:11.020
I try I like
1057
00:54:11.180 --> 00:54:13.180
I'm hearing it and like reframing
1058
00:54:16.060 --> 00:54:18.060
In anticipation like feels
1059
00:54:18.300 --> 00:54:20.300
Yeah, when you went to can
1060
00:54:20.300 --> 00:54:29.020
Oh, I was nervous when I went to can um only because I had never been I didn't all the way know exactly what I was doing out there
1061
00:54:29.580 --> 00:54:33.020
Um, but I knew it was going to be um really
1062
00:54:33.820 --> 00:54:36.300
Important and audience-facing and global
1063
00:54:37.100 --> 00:54:41.340
I was like um, but it was also something I leaned into
1064
00:54:42.140 --> 00:54:44.540
Even while being nervous like you know
1065
00:54:44.540 --> 00:54:52.060
I had seen some other journalist friends go and they had raved about the experience there being able to you know speak on behalf of brands and
1066
00:54:52.940 --> 00:54:59.100
Just you talk about what's coming down the pipeline talk about advertising all these different things can lines is what we're talking about right and
1067
00:55:00.060 --> 00:55:02.300
I'll go to the can film festival too if you want to
1068
00:55:02.300 --> 00:55:04.300
Oh, yeah
1069
00:55:09.580 --> 00:55:11.100
But I
1070
00:55:11.100 --> 00:55:15.020
You know had heard about it. I was like let me just raise my hand and say you know
1071
00:55:15.020 --> 00:55:20.380
I don't think I was on anybody's bingo card to like you know fly out to can um and
1072
00:55:21.180 --> 00:55:22.140
I
1073
00:55:22.140 --> 00:55:26.140
New we were activating out there. I said hey, how can I be a support? You know?
1074
00:55:26.300 --> 00:55:31.500
I'm officially editor at large and host now the brand use me. Let me be at large
1075
00:55:32.300 --> 00:55:34.300
Yeah
1076
00:55:34.940 --> 00:55:36.940
Can't sounds very
1077
00:55:37.100 --> 00:55:43.500
And you know, it worked out like it almost didn't work out. It was like I wasn't gonna go and then I ended up you know
1078
00:55:43.580 --> 00:55:51.740
Going and ask a couple of times before you were I did I did um because you know like as we're working out like what the activation is gonna
1079
00:55:51.740 --> 00:55:57.340
Be how we're showing up in the space? They're figuring out like partners that we may or may not have um things were
1080
00:55:58.300 --> 00:56:01.420
fluctuating right and at one point it wasn't happened and then
1081
00:56:02.300 --> 00:56:06.780
You know not long before they were like no, yes, we want you. We need you. We you should you should go
1082
00:56:07.180 --> 00:56:09.180
And I was like yes, okay. What am I gonna wear
1083
00:56:12.140 --> 00:56:15.820
Uh, but it worked out and I got to you know
1084
00:56:16.300 --> 00:56:23.340
MC host um one of our big parties that we threw out there um launching the people app, which was so exciting and
1085
00:56:24.300 --> 00:56:28.460
I showed up you know to a bunch of different things and then as I was going out there other
1086
00:56:29.180 --> 00:56:35.020
Companies hit me up and said like hey, would you mind, you know, it moderating this panel or you know
1087
00:56:35.500 --> 00:56:40.300
I moderated for the female quotient right which was really cool and you know
1088
00:56:40.780 --> 00:56:46.860
Black it can ask me to moderate while I was there just a different it just all started kind of coming together
1089
00:56:47.420 --> 00:56:50.540
Um very shortly before I went but it all worked out
1090
00:56:50.700 --> 00:56:55.980
It was wonderful and that's some amazing people and I was nervous the whole time
1091
00:56:57.420 --> 00:57:02.620
Yeah, one of the things I most know about you just knowing you socially is that you're at aka
1092
00:57:04.940 --> 00:57:09.340
These are the peakies always up pink and green is always in the building
1093
00:57:09.500 --> 00:57:10.700
Oh, yeah
1094
00:57:10.700 --> 00:57:14.540
Oh, yeah, and it's such a huge part of your just personality and social networks
1095
00:57:14.700 --> 00:57:16.700
So just talk a little bit about
1096
00:57:16.700 --> 00:57:23.260
What aka being an aka means to you what pledging was like and it just what being a part of that community is like for you
1097
00:57:23.500 --> 00:57:25.740
Yeah, and now I'm giving I'm giving like Zeta right now
1098
00:57:27.340 --> 00:57:29.340
Love my Zeta friend
1099
00:57:29.340 --> 00:57:32.940
But now Alfa sorority in corporate all the way
1100
00:57:33.580 --> 00:57:34.380
um
1101
00:57:34.380 --> 00:57:41.420
I love my sorority and and it is something that I feel like has even though it's like kind of
1102
00:57:42.060 --> 00:57:49.740
Separate very separate from my work life and all of that um, it has really informed like the woman I am today and
1103
00:57:50.620 --> 00:57:57.020
Even the career woman that I am I you know, I pledged that Berkeley um and that
1104
00:57:57.580 --> 00:58:03.260
Has those are my best friends like and I remember I I really wanted to go to UCLA because I'd always loved LA
1105
00:58:03.660 --> 00:58:08.540
And I remember I got in the cow and it was in my backyard. I'm from San Francisco
1106
00:58:08.620 --> 00:58:12.860
Berkeley's right over there. I had done stuff on that campus at in high school and everything I was like ah
1107
00:58:13.260 --> 00:58:15.260
I went in I mean
1108
00:58:15.340 --> 00:58:21.420
You know, and I ended up you know joining the organization alongside some of my friends that were in my very first dorm with me
1109
00:58:21.420 --> 00:58:26.140
We were on the Afro floor at Berkeley and we ended up joining aka together a bunch of us
1110
00:58:27.020 --> 00:58:28.220
and
1111
00:58:28.220 --> 00:58:33.100
Oh god, it's like the sisterhood the bonding the working together
1112
00:58:33.900 --> 00:58:35.500
The you know how hard it was
1113
00:58:36.380 --> 00:58:38.620
Just becoming members together, but also
1114
00:58:39.500 --> 00:58:44.380
Doing the work of the organ, which is he's known to it's a community service-based organization like getting out there
1115
00:58:44.700 --> 00:58:49.100
figuring out what people need getting our hands dirty um and helping and
1116
00:58:49.820 --> 00:58:51.820
Navigating dozens of
1117
00:58:52.700 --> 00:58:54.700
uh, you know women's
1118
00:58:55.420 --> 00:58:57.420
attitudes and
1119
00:58:57.580 --> 00:58:59.580
Energy and all of that. What do you mean?
1120
00:58:59.580 --> 00:59:01.580
Uh
1121
00:59:02.220 --> 00:59:05.500
We're not all the same. We're different. Oh my goodness
1122
00:59:06.700 --> 00:59:08.700
No
1123
00:59:08.700 --> 00:59:10.700
aka and bro chapter
1124
00:59:11.020 --> 00:59:16.780
Not a monolith okay at all and including like even to now I'm in an alumni chapter here in Los Angeles
1125
00:59:17.420 --> 00:59:22.140
That I love but I really go back to just those days of figuring out um
1126
00:59:23.180 --> 00:59:29.340
What kind of sister I am what kind of woman I am and bouncing things off of this group that um is
1127
00:59:29.660 --> 00:59:35.740
Family to me really and to this day like when it comes to career stuff. We have a group chat that is like
1128
00:59:36.940 --> 00:59:40.940
All about that like okay, I'm going through this and it is like doctors lawyers
1129
00:59:41.660 --> 00:59:45.900
You name it like stay at home mom like NFL wives like you
1130
00:59:46.540 --> 00:59:54.860
Have some of everyone um and your green advice right yeah great advice like when I was thinking about pivoting to the podcast or
1131
00:59:55.260 --> 00:59:59.020
You know what to do after the podcast like that is I go there
1132
01:00:00.060 --> 01:00:06.380
I talk to my husband, but I also go to the girls and they will give it to me straight and tell me now ask for more
1133
01:00:07.500 --> 01:00:09.500
Right, it's always a great reminder
1134
01:00:12.940 --> 01:00:19.180
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love my gay. I think we always we ask all of our guesses is just what
1135
01:00:19.820 --> 01:00:26.540
What's your current definition of success and how might that have evolved for you over your your career?
1136
01:00:28.060 --> 01:00:29.340
um
1137
01:00:30.540 --> 01:00:32.540
Getting to bed at 10 p.m
1138
01:00:35.980 --> 01:00:37.980
Winning
1139
01:00:45.740 --> 01:00:49.420
A little bit of time to just and then this is great
1140
01:00:52.780 --> 01:00:54.780
Um outside of the house
1141
01:00:55.740 --> 01:01:00.300
I I really think that being joyful and
1142
01:01:01.180 --> 01:01:06.860
Excited and interested in what I'm doing which I am right now at the stage in my career
1143
01:01:07.580 --> 01:01:09.580
feels so successful
1144
01:01:10.620 --> 01:01:13.420
For me it's not really you know
1145
01:01:15.100 --> 01:01:18.380
Accolades in that way and or anything like that like I
1146
01:01:19.100 --> 01:01:21.580
You know get excited to do what I do I get
1147
01:01:22.300 --> 01:01:25.020
nervous still I get uh, you know
1148
01:01:26.060 --> 01:01:30.540
Just this this joy comes over me when I leave things like this or um
1149
01:01:31.340 --> 01:01:39.900
You know red carpet or whatever it is. I'm like I get to do that. That's I'm really um I feel successful in the
1150
01:01:40.700 --> 01:01:49.100
The joy that I have about what I get paid to do right um so that that's it um I wouldn't mind
1151
01:01:49.740 --> 01:01:52.460
More success sure in other ways
1152
01:01:53.100 --> 01:01:55.100
Financial Birken bag
1153
01:01:58.300 --> 01:02:00.300
Not money
1154
01:02:03.100 --> 01:02:11.020
Bring it on but um but yeah, that's what that's what it feels like for me now and um and keeping that
1155
01:02:11.820 --> 01:02:15.900
Keeping that same energy right you know like as if this doesn't
1156
01:02:16.220 --> 01:02:24.060
Excite me anymore. This doesn't feel like is okay. It's whatever then that won't feel successful for me like
1157
01:02:24.060 --> 01:02:28.060
What is the next thing like constantly like my mom says you don't sit down
1158
01:02:28.940 --> 01:02:35.100
He never sit out, but like that there's success in that to me like constantly striving. Right
1159
01:02:35.340 --> 01:02:38.380
I sometimes I think like I think this in my husband
1160
01:02:38.540 --> 01:02:40.540
He's like don't put that out there
1161
01:02:40.540 --> 01:02:43.900
But like to have everything must be so boring
1162
01:02:46.460 --> 01:02:48.460
He's like let's try
1163
01:02:50.380 --> 01:02:52.380
Let's be bored out of her mind actually
1164
01:02:53.100 --> 01:02:54.860
I do I read this book
1165
01:02:55.180 --> 01:02:57.260
Years ago when I was working at in the book room
1166
01:02:57.260 --> 01:03:02.540
I have something that would get caught up in there like because these amazing books have come through and it was called the happiness index
1167
01:03:03.180 --> 01:03:06.140
And it talked about that about like you know
1168
01:03:06.940 --> 01:03:13.660
Being in that middle striving area, you know like think of the middle class think of like whatever it is where you're working
1169
01:03:13.980 --> 01:03:20.700
Constantly towards yeah for something right there is so much joy and excitement and peace in that
1170
01:03:21.020 --> 01:03:25.100
But you know, you're not idle. You're not you know trying to figure out, you know, you're not struggling
1171
01:03:25.500 --> 01:03:31.580
That's right right, but you're not where you want to be at you feel more exactly exactly
1172
01:03:33.100 --> 01:03:36.460
And it's not in that way of like how do I keep it? How do I just you know?
1173
01:03:38.620 --> 01:03:40.620
Yeah, it's not it's
1174
01:03:40.620 --> 01:03:42.620
Okay, what's next?
1175
01:03:43.420 --> 01:03:44.460
Amazing
1176
01:03:44.460 --> 01:03:47.260
Well, thank you so much. Shining. This was so great
1177
01:03:48.460 --> 01:03:50.460
You're not fire see you made it
1178
01:03:51.260 --> 01:03:55.820
Do your ex interview, but it's just so great to hear like I said we you know
1179
01:03:55.980 --> 01:04:00.140
People normally have to bounce around so much like how you've been able to like
1180
01:04:00.620 --> 01:04:05.900
Stay relevant to yourself stay relevant within your company and like just the joy you have for working
1181
01:04:05.900 --> 01:04:12.380
I really think that that really is success so much just to like wake up every day and love what you're doing
1182
01:04:12.380 --> 01:04:16.140
Yeah, and to be able to lead in it and still be like eager and like yeah
1183
01:04:16.300 --> 01:04:23.100
You know like what's around the corner like it's it's such a rare place to get to sometimes especially like when you get to like
1184
01:04:23.580 --> 01:04:25.260
The upper parts of your career. Yeah
1185
01:04:25.580 --> 01:04:29.660
Thank you so much for sharing your journey because a lot of people listening to this podcast are
1186
01:04:30.220 --> 01:04:35.100
Contemplating a transition, but a lot of those people also want to stay and grow within their company
1187
01:04:35.260 --> 01:04:40.460
I think you've been able to share just how somebody can successfully do that absolutely
1188
01:04:40.460 --> 01:04:48.300
Thank you for sharing. Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks guys. Thanks for having me