[SPEAKER_00]: Oh hello, I'm Lexi Lombard, a host of the Lexi podcast, and a wise woman once told me when it comes to your career, bite off more than you can chew and then learn to chew faster.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I am crying in the last...
[SPEAKER_00]: year I have taken on posting vlogs regularly on YouTube.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a weekly post as well as weekly podcast episodes.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have a coloring book that's out and I want to promote.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm working at a boutique.
[SPEAKER_00]: There was a little blip in there where I was working for a matchmaker.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will discuss how that came together and also fell apart very quickly and trying to maintain
[SPEAKER_00]: consistent posting on social media, daily TikToks, at least three times a week on Instagram, be politically involved and informed and an activist for women's rights, and be a part of a writer's club that meets twice a month, and compose a book of 12 essays to publish.
[SPEAKER_00]: that's a lot because I don't have a partner I will say I worked with someone on the coloring book but everything else is really a one-man show and I think that's because when I began my career it actually began on social media I don't know if you know this but I fell into this social media occupation as a form of income and as my livelihood when I was a teenager
[SPEAKER_00]: I had a YouTube channel when I was in eighth grade, and I continued that all through high school, saved up enough money, deferred college, went to LA, took a couple years, and then ended up moving to New York, going to school, working, and was there until the pandemic happened, and now I'm back in Los Angeles, but this entire time, I've been supporting myself fully with social media.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, ever since the pandemic, social media has changed dramatically, one, we have even more people than ever, but it's also an influx of new creators that have gotten themselves to a posting schedule that's fairly hard to maintain, I would say.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if I actually have things to value to say every single day, and it's taking a lot of forethought.
[SPEAKER_00]: which has never been my personal form of creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wait for burst of inspiration to hit, as well as particular stories, and I move from there.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not sitting and planning what I wasn't before I am now, where I have a monthly editorial calendar, and I have on Tuesday we're posting a thrift with me on Thursday we're posting a vlog on Friday.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're doing the
[SPEAKER_00]: an up close shot on Monday.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're doing a real story time on the abortion ban on the 10th.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to do an outfit real at the store on the 11th.
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do the podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, now I have that where I'm planning ahead and it's definitely helping a lot, but I will say it's incredibly
[SPEAKER_00]: difficult mentally to do social media full time.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's such a wide net to say because it really depends on the type of content that you are producing.
[SPEAKER_00]: It can be incredibly lengthy or it can be super casual.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've always been a little bit more of a chatter than I am an editor.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me as long as I have a micro camera, I'm good to go.
[SPEAKER_00]: But recently, I've been working at my friends boutique and let me tell you I did not realize how lonely I was during the workdays.
[SPEAKER_00]: I truly do not know if I actually would want to do social media full-time for the rest of my life or for the rest of the upcoming future.
[SPEAKER_00]: because it's really healthy to get up, get dressed, get out into the physical world and interact with people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm way too outgoing, I'm way too extroverted.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know this about myself, I get energy being around people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I decompress alone.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my roommate, her career, has really taken off this year and she's been traveling a ton.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it wasn't too bad working from home when my roommate and I would both,
[SPEAKER_00]: be working from home on our computer, but since she's been gone, I'll wake up and I have a slow morning.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, next thing you know, it's noon and I'm just sort of la di da di da because as long as I get my calendar and my things checked off, it doesn't really matter when I'm doing it.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, there's no kick in the butt.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no urgency unless there's a deadline with a sponsor or something.
[SPEAKER_00]: where you know that you have a posting requirement on a certain day at a certain time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Otherwise, it's fully self-motivated, which I've never had an issue with self-motivation.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm incredibly disciplined and that is not my issue.
[SPEAKER_00]: My issue is energy and enthusiasm.
[SPEAKER_00]: I find anytime I've had something else that I'm doing, whether that's being in school, working, or interning, I have always found myself way more inclined and way more enthusiastic to post and share when I have another life outside social media.
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of people have their own businesses that they do alongside of it and that I just haven't gotten there yet.
[SPEAKER_00]: Check out the coloring book, but I wouldn't say that's a business.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say that's a singular product and it's not the same as building an empire.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just a fun little project that I would love to expand on.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is going to go back into the bite-off more than you can chew and learn to chew faster.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to host a coloring club.
[SPEAKER_00]: I just need to find my system because I'm a little overwhelmed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a little, just a little.
[SPEAKER_00]: enthusiastic, but an extra handled be great.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, back to what I was saying, where if I have nowhere to be during the day, it's just me in my house and I can film and my bathroom and my bedroom and my living room kitchen, I can share whatever I want.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little dull.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's a little pouring.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank God I have spruing.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what I would do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was fully without anyone else in the house, but it's not.
[SPEAKER_00]: exciting.
[SPEAKER_00]: When I'm out and about and I get up in the morning and I put enough it and I go to work and I'm chatting with people and I'm meeting people suddenly my brain is working and moving and wheels are turning and I'm coming up with ideas and I'm way more excited when I get back home to share them.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas when I wake up, spend the whole day in my house, go to bed, where I energize and decompress all within the same spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not as fulfilling, it's really not.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I also think that it's important to be living a life if you want to share your life.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a point where you have a lot of things to share and it might be hard to manage a full-time job and posting an online and doing your self-employed internet entrepreneur career.
[SPEAKER_00]: I could definitely workshop that title that I just gave it, but
[SPEAKER_00]: then you hit a point where you're like, okay, well, shared what I learned.
[SPEAKER_00]: I showed the things I want to.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it takes a very specific personality type to maintain enthusiasm for showing up and sharing on the internet day and and day out with nothing else.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have realized that by helping my friend at her music, which by the way, if you're in Los Angeles,
[SPEAKER_00]: Cleo just opened.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's on third street.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's next to neighborhood coffee.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's so cute in there We sell my friends brands where you sell a sight glare, which a lot of people have come in Specifically for a sight glare.
[SPEAKER_00]: So whether you're a Claudia Saluski fan or your sight glare fan or both Come on in and check that out my friend Bella runs B.P.
[SPEAKER_00]: Bella.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have a ton of her stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have
[SPEAKER_00]: Dresses, hats, belts.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also, as her name is Skyler Chase.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sienna Collective is her brand.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have her stuff.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have fancy club.
[SPEAKER_00]: Fancy club is so popular.
[SPEAKER_00]: I swear so many people come in specifically for fancy club.
[SPEAKER_00]: with Angel Moon which I am new to.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a Los Angeles bass brand.
[SPEAKER_00]: They have the softest loungewear.
[SPEAKER_00]: They also have pieces that you can definitely style outside of loungewear.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was wearing their black apries and I love a capri.
[SPEAKER_00]: To know me is to know I love a capri.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm so glad they're back in style, but they're some of the softest fabrics.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just one of other brands.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a really cute shop and I'm there.
[SPEAKER_00]: A few times a week.
[SPEAKER_00]: So, I
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're listening to this, I'll be there Wednesday, but I don't want to call it a side quest.
[SPEAKER_00]: I needed something to get me out of the house.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my friend just opened this door and needed extra hands.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I so gladly wanted a routine and a structure that wasn't just me and my own head in my own house until the rest of time, unless there's a trip on the calendar.
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you know what I mean?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's good for me.
[SPEAKER_00]: It feels a lot healthier.
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, in addition to that,
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to host a coloring club.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also want to set aside time to work on these 12 essays and then in addition, I feel like when it comes to making a product, you also need to promote it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I have this coloring book and I need to make a full video and more post about that.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've never done anything like that before that.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm just I'm avoiding it because I'm not sure my vision for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not intentionally on the back burner.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just hoping that an idea hits me.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is new.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not in my skillset.
[SPEAKER_00]: But
[SPEAKER_00]: was gonna go to fashion week last week and I'm like, okay, that now feels like the side quests.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had to sit with myself and say, okay, like, are you trying to enter the world of fashion?
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is there someone in fashion week right now that you're desperately trying to work with?
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is there a paid opportunity that's waiting for you there?
[SPEAKER_00]: No.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we don't know if you need to go to New York right now and spend a week going to different parties and taking photos.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whereas working at Cleo Fios, I'm around other LA brands, small brands, new brands.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love Lexi J. I think she's fantastic.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love spending my days with her.
[SPEAKER_00]: We have so much fun in the store.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just feels like barbie world.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm learning a lot.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been living in LA, but I'm mostly just living in my apartment, you know?
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm being a little dramatic when I
[SPEAKER_00]: I say this often, I'm just putting a microscope to this situation, so it's seeming more dramatic, obviously I have a social life and I hang out in Los Angeles, but not really in a work setting, and there's such a huge industry.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yes, I'm going to link influence events and stuff, but it's different.
[SPEAKER_00]: The experience I'm having is different, and I like it, and that is the long story short, I'm feeling healthier, and I'm excited.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also got to go to a press conference recently for free and just, which is a non-profit, and they are trying to fight the abortion bands.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got to listen in on a representative from North Carolina, as well as the women from Plant Parenthood, a doctor from Duke University.
[SPEAKER_00]: that has continued to fire me up.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to fight for women's rights.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's diabolical that Roby Wade was overturned.
[SPEAKER_00]: It just feels archaic.
[SPEAKER_00]: And by archaic, I mean like very 1950 and that's something I want to make sure that I'm involved in also another woman Elizabeth at the store whose Lexi's partner is
[SPEAKER_00]: And Icon and I've been spending time with her and I love her because she is someone who similarly has so many different projects going on Well, she has a fashion brand.
[SPEAKER_00]: She has she's a real estate agent.
[SPEAKER_00]: She also runs a course
[SPEAKER_00]: For people that have been in prison for many, many years, and I'm talking, I got to listen in on one of our zooms on Wednesday.
[SPEAKER_00]: I posted a video on Patreon about this, and it was so inspiring.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were some men that were put in prison for domestic violence, like trying to kill their wives.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not talking like light sentences.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking.
[SPEAKER_00]: Someone who's been 20 years in solitary confinement and to listen to them speak and find a second chance, give themselves a second chance, cry over their mistakes in the guilt that they've carried with them.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then to just see Elizabeth, hot shot, real estate agent, batty, the fashion line, guiding these men and helping them find what feels like a miracle was so beautiful.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I want to find my purpose in that way.
[SPEAKER_00]: She was saying that she has all of these other jobs, but the course that she teaches to these men, that is her purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: That is what fuels her fire.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she said, the two big days of your life are the day you enter the world and the day you discover your purpose.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's so inspiring.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm having a lot of fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: My brain is moving.
[SPEAKER_00]: It was
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, I had a fun summer.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's nice to chill.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was in Australia, New Zealand, in the spring, and then I went to Hawaii, and I went to New York, and that was great.
[SPEAKER_00]: That was good for the soul, but in terms of my career and my path that I want to take now that it's quote unquote back to school season, I like this turn of events.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like this change, and I'm excited for it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just not sure what my posting will be like.
[SPEAKER_00]: I decided that I wanted to post this podcast every two weeks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, I can't even begin to talk about this podcast.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not the time, it's not the time, but, you know, what is the time?
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the time, sure.
[SPEAKER_00]: My friend introduced me to the show, this American life.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do not know what rock I was living under, but,
[SPEAKER_00]: I have become the biggest fan girl.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love this American life.
[SPEAKER_00]: It makes my podcast sound like a diary because that is my dream.
[SPEAKER_00]: My dream is to produce a show like that.
[SPEAKER_00]: My dream is to produce a show for them.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to host a show with another network.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to help produce a show.
[SPEAKER_00]: I really love having a podcast and I would love a team.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also would love to have either a second show or produce a show where there's two people at least a couple generations apart.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need like at least a 20 year age gap.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that would be so fascinating because we have a lot of BFF shows and I would love a generational gap co-hosts that speaks to me.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've been listening to that and thinking how I can find the
[SPEAKER_00]: to my show but do you see what I'm saying like biting off more than I can chew and do I need to be working on a book to publish, applying to different places to help be a show producer, post a coloring club, work at a boutique, post weekly vlogs, and then daily vertical content on either TikTok shorts or Instagram rails?
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that just it feels like I need a North Star and my North Star a story telling, obviously, I love sharing, I love connection, stories are medicine, connection is medicine that's always been my medicine, I love to chat, I love to listen, I love to write, I love to read,
[SPEAKER_00]: I love to be out.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love to explore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm an adventurous.
[SPEAKER_00]: That sounds so corny, but I'm meant it with every bone in my body.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love to share and in whatever capacity that is.
[SPEAKER_00]: So the coloring club is interesting to me because that's a way of getting to meet you guys.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're in the area, I would love to see you use the thing that I created.
[SPEAKER_00]: With me and hang out and chat and gab.
[SPEAKER_00]: I also love this podcast because it's a form of communicating and sharing as well as the vlog and then that's the same reason I love working at this boutique or at Cleo because I'm getting to interact with people on a daily basis like that's what I live to do.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love meeting people.
[SPEAKER_00]: I love talking to people.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I love listening to people.
[SPEAKER_00]: This sounds obtuse, but I mean it.
[SPEAKER_00]: So that I suppose is my North Star.
[SPEAKER_00]: And what my main goal is, but it's just a matter of filtering it down because there was also a period of time where I was
[SPEAKER_00]: Calling different spaces to see if I should try to rent an office so that I could keep the inventory and ship out the coloring books myself because right now they're only available on Amazon at sea, at sea for the digital copy, Amazon for the physical copy, and I don't know if you know this, but Amazon takes 60% if they're producing the product.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that I should be telling you this, but whatever, if you're in this far, you're probably a true listener, so you can be nosey, I'll give you some insight because we need to restructure this, but I'm going 50, 50 with my illustrator.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like it's a very expensive product.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not selling $100 pair of jeans, $500 sweater, we're selling a $14 coloring book.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, 60% is 60% regardless of how much the product is, but I was thinking maybe I get a space and I keep it in 90 the distribution myself, but I'm like, that's entirely another task to tag on and I need to learn to outsource, I'm just totally winning it.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I have ideas, but I clearly need partners.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need assistance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need guidance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel thankfully.
[SPEAKER_00]: Excited and happy, but I definitely need a little bit of someone to help me walk through my next steps And that's a little bit of where I'm at when I was in turning up milk make up back when I lived in New York This is years ago.
[SPEAKER_00]: I was like 20 maybe 21 maybe 20 to I don't know early 20s one of the weekly activities We would have is an employee would rotate and come in and chat with all the interns about their best cut
[SPEAKER_00]: secrets, what helped them in their career, a little bit about their story, and that is where I was told bite off more than you can chew and learn to chew faster, and I wrote it down and it never left my brain.
[SPEAKER_00]: It repeats in the back of my mind all the time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I'm asked what my mantra's are, it feels like I'm supposed to say, I don't live love, love, or breathe and breathe out, but
[SPEAKER_00]: the quotes that really stick in my brain.
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not very related, but that is one of them.
[SPEAKER_00]: The second one is happiness walks on busy feet, which is now sort of changing into a more recent one I heard, which is if you need something done, ask a busy person and those go in line, hand in hand with each other.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the last one that repeats in my head oftentimes is there's no bad weather, only bad clothes.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that I learned from my therapist because I would tell her,
[SPEAKER_00]: how I loved being outside and I hated winter in New York because I was so uncomfortable she's like, then you're not wearing enough layers, you're not wearing the right clothes.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no bad weather, only bad clothes.
[SPEAKER_00]: So a little bit of a random note to add on I don't have the brain power to think of a clever little transition, but that is where I'm going to end this segment.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we will get into your questions every single episode.
[SPEAKER_00]: I ask on Instagram, my Instagram will be linked down below.
[SPEAKER_00]: So let's get into them, but first
[SPEAKER_00]: Caitlyn wants to know a favorite childhood memory or favorite aesthetic.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll answer a favorite childhood memory.
[SPEAKER_00]: My grandpa and I were best Steve's.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking soul connection from day one to the point that people would be like, what color are they talking about?
[SPEAKER_00]: Like we could just fall into conversation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Mind you, I'm a toddler, but there was some deeper understanding that we had towards one another from day one.
[SPEAKER_00]: I had this second grade teacher and she hated girls and she made it obvious.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes I think back to my childhood and I don't know if it was the times I was born in the mid-90s.
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of the things that were said in school just would not fly this day and age but our teacher made it clear towards the beginning days that she preferred boys over girls.
[SPEAKER_00]: And she was young too, which makes it even more strange because if it was coming from an older woman, it could be like, okay, she's a little backwards, she has her tenure, no one's getting rid of her, but this was a young 20-something sadness.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would fix it all the time in second grade, because I just wanted to leave school.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would just cough whatever go to the nurse and then I would call my grandpa and he would pick me up and we would go berry picking peach picking bird calling and I just love that that brings me so much joy.
[SPEAKER_00]: It would just be the middle of the day and I'd be like, Oh, Grandpa, I'm so sick and he's like, Oh, sweet heart, snow comes let me come get you and then he would come get me in his pickup truck and then I would say can we get black rosemary.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, sure thing, we would go to the pool.
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, all the activities, and then he had a garden, I would help in his garden.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I would just stay for dinner at that point.
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause at that point, it was just day with Grandpa and Grandma, and I love those memories.
[SPEAKER_00]: I look back on them very fondly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And my mom was much younger than her siblings.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my grandparents were much older.
[SPEAKER_00]: So my dad's parents were probably in their six days
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like my grandpa Bruce must have been in his lead seven days.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think like he was much older.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh my god, I just thought about what I'll share for.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about a crush.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about a crush on Patreon.
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to talk about some dates I've gone on recently.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have some stories I want to share on Patreon, so.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you don't know, I do an extended episode of this show on Patreon as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll leave a link for it, but I try to give juicier stories or things that I wouldn't want the full public knowing and one of these questions just reminded me, or inspired me of what I want to share.
[SPEAKER_00]: To think companies as had a fine space for venting about the state of the world without scarring or killing the vibe.
[SPEAKER_00]: you know what I like is watching videos or reading about history because I start to get really worked up as many of us do about the state of the world and you're like it's just the worst it's ever been it's simply the worst it's ever been we've never seen times like this.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I was recently watching a video about Victorian women and their beauty secrets as well as their communication styles and for example they would give themselves lead poisoning on purpose because it would give them that more gaunt look they would use arsenic on their dresses to get a beautiful green color and then have broken pieces of skin and lesions on underneath just so they could look pretty they also
[SPEAKER_00]: weren't allowed to truly conversal with one another, so they would use card tricks.
[SPEAKER_00]: They would be playing cards and they would communicate with each other through the bending of certain cards.
[SPEAKER_00]: There were full codes that they would speak in, but so many toxic things, you know, when we talk about, oh, God, like you don't even know what's in makeup, we're just obviously not why you're discussing when you're speaking about the state of the world.
[SPEAKER_00]: No one's really concerned about toxic makeup but this moment we have bigger fish to fry.
[SPEAKER_00]: such as Gaza, such as ICE, such as Presidency, such as, I don't know, the abortion band, we have a lot going on, alligator alcatraz, mass shootings, we need education reform, but this point still stands with when I learn about history.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, oh, God, that was really bad women could not communicate with one another.
[SPEAKER_00]: They were poisoning themselves to, like, beautiful and skinny.
[SPEAKER_00]: The corset thing, for instance, obviously, you know, they would have, like, organ failure.
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're forced into relationships and had no freedom.
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you are reminded of things like that, you do think, oh, while we've come a long way and how we made it better, or is it just equal same, same little different?
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it better, or is it,
[SPEAKER_00]: equal, and seeing bad times from years ago, the example is less important than the sentiment of watching history to realize in a lot of ways, there's nothing new under the sun.
[SPEAKER_00]: There's also nice things to remember when we have saw things, for example,
[SPEAKER_00]: The ozone layer recovering because the United Nations came together and every single person that's historical, what it to ban was it's CP, whatever the aerosol ingredient was chemical and now the ozone layer is going to repair itself.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's huge.
[SPEAKER_00]: So reading history, learning how things have been fixed, it gives me a little reprieve.
[SPEAKER_00]: So one wants to know how to know if a tattoo is right for you, chitchat about tattoos.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would say I would advise against it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know.
[SPEAKER_00]: I know a lot of people with stupid tattoos that think their tattoos are stupid and enough spending money to get them removed.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would a fine a good artist.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would focus more on the artists than I would the type of tattoo.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I have the type of tattoo that you want in your mind and then find an artist that is good at that.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted my grandpa
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted a tattoo to represent him, but I didn't want his name, I didn't want his birthday, I wanted something a little bit more obscure, so I got his email password tattooed on me.
[SPEAKER_00]: However, I just went to a random shop that I...
[SPEAKER_00]: looked up closest tattoo shop in New York and just went to a random spot.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's blown out.
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's ugly.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I would love to have a tattoo that reminds me of him, but I don't like the one that I have.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I wanted my mom's car.
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted something to remember my mom.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I had found a guy through people on Instagram.
[SPEAKER_00]: that would tattoo really detailed cars so then I thought oh I'm going to him and now to this day it looks flawless I love it every time I get a glimpse of it in the mirror I am so pleased with it so look for good artists it's worth seeing it's honestly worth traveling for I've never traveled for a tattoo but if you live in New York and there's a tattoo artist in Toronto oftentimes
[SPEAKER_00]: My tattoo artist who did the car, he's from Moscow, so they do travel as well.
[SPEAKER_00]: But I would advise on, and this is my take.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think you'll regret a tattoo with meaning way less than a tattoo with no meaning.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you did a stupid tattoo and it has no meaning, then it's like, okay, I actually get this off my body.
[SPEAKER_00]: What the hell is it doing on here?
[SPEAKER_00]: At least for my grandpa's email password, I can look back and I'm like, oh, I still think of him.
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it still makes me smile even though I think the actual tattoo isn't done very well.
[SPEAKER_00]: Veronica wants to know how to romanticize my hour commute from Harlem to Dumbo.
[SPEAKER_00]: I would always read on the subway, the thing is you're going to be on the subway during rush hour, so it's going to be less comfortable, but I still would stand in close quarters with my book and that would give me an opportunity to read.
[SPEAKER_00]: You could also wake up a half hour earlier and get on the train when it's less crowded.
[SPEAKER_00]: and it would be hypothetically a more comfortable experience.
[SPEAKER_00]: Also, make yourself feel pretty.
[SPEAKER_00]: Whenever I look good, I'm like, yes, just a chance for everybody to see me.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, look at me looking so cute.
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, get a glance.
[SPEAKER_00]: I look adorable.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that sometimes I always say tangent, I personally not to tut my own horn, but I think I pick out better outfits for the real world than I do for Instagram.
[SPEAKER_00]: So from a brand perspective, it's probably not smart of me, you know, I should be taking photos of my cuter outfits, but
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really struggling with this whole migration towards the virtual world because I'm such a huge fan of the physical one and because I already work on the internet and with so much socializing now happening virtually it drives me a little crazy so I want to make sure that I'm still giving the physical world a good bit of love and my cutest outfits but how to romanticize your commute give yourself time put yourself together and then people watching I mean is New York there's going to be so much of it.
[SPEAKER_00]: Manicari, do you remind yourself of an actress versus what actress you get compared to a lot?
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't remind myself of an actress, but throughout the years I've gotten Drew Barrymore and this Turkish actress, I forgot her name, but the guy at the bagel shop by my first department when I moved to New York would give me free bagels just because I reminded him of this favorite Turkish actress, so that was kind of sick.
[SPEAKER_00]: Nebraska Jones.
[SPEAKER_00]: I like that name.
[SPEAKER_00]: What book are you reading right now and how is spoon?
[SPEAKER_00]: I just finished Metamorphosis by Kafka.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd never read anything by M before and that felt a little bit criminal.
[SPEAKER_00]: And for those that don't know, the story of the Metamorphosis, you could read it very quickly in a day at 70 pages.
[SPEAKER_00]: So we have this guy who works as a commercial traveler, getting on trains, going to different studies, doing his job, simple man, providing for his family, takes pride in his work, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[SPEAKER_00]: He wakes up one morning and he looks at the clock and this is a man who has never missed a day of work as long as he has had this job.
[SPEAKER_00]: He looks and he's like, fuck, I slept in.
[SPEAKER_00]: I never sleep in.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's going on?
[SPEAKER_00]: I miss the train.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna lose my job.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've never called in sick.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is so strange.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it looks down.
[SPEAKER_00]: And his belly is just hard brown color.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, okay, that's weird.
[SPEAKER_00]: What's happening?
[SPEAKER_00]: And then his parents come knocking on the door and the door is locked.
[SPEAKER_00]: And they say, Gregor, why aren't you up?
[SPEAKER_00]: Get up.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he tries to respond, but it just sounds like a pip squeak.
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's so confused.
[SPEAKER_00]: and his boss comes and it's like, cry, or if you don't get out here right now, and then they eventually bang up in the door and he's looking at him and he's turned into a bug.
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like a roach, but a huge roach.
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm talking like a bug that still is human size.
[SPEAKER_00]: And that is the premise.
[SPEAKER_00]: So I finished that and then after reading Kafka, I was like, well, let's do Virginia wolf.
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, I need to get to know my literature.
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to
[SPEAKER_00]: be re-enformed.
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes you get caught up in, I'll get caught up in non-fiction because I'm also listening to grit on audible, and I also want to listen to this podcasting book, but I was like don't forget that you're actually like reading writing, not just information.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I had a room of one's own.
[SPEAKER_00]: I picked it at random and I used bookstore.
[SPEAKER_00]: I think I got it in COVID and it's just been sitting.
[SPEAKER_00]: So open that up and wow, you know how you'll read a book and you think oh I'm enjoying this book and then you start reading from a renowned writer and you're like oh so this is what good writing feels like.
[SPEAKER_00]: This is what it sounds like.
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know anything about DJing but I'll go out and I'll dance and I'll dance to anything.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then sometimes I'll be out and think, oh, so this is what a talented DJ sounds like.
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, I'm obsessed with this DJ and it sometimes takes reading the writing to know how good it is.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what I'm reading right now.
[SPEAKER_00]: Amanda wants to know my skincare routine.
[SPEAKER_00]: My skincare principles are never sleep with makeup on.
[SPEAKER_00]: I give myself one day a year and often that's a
[SPEAKER_00]: New Year's Eve or Halloween or something like that, I got one day year to sleep in my makeup.
[SPEAKER_00]: Besides that, I'm taking it off every single night.
[SPEAKER_00]: Another principle I follow to keep me very on track with my skincare routine.
[SPEAKER_00]: Is to do my nighttime skincare routine?
[SPEAKER_00]: when I'm done with my activities for the night.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if I get home and it's five o'clock and I don't have dinner plans with anyone I'm not going out anywhere.
[SPEAKER_00]: I will do my nighttime skincare routine at five o'clock because if I wait, 10, 11, 12, sometimes I'm too tired to do it.
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't be fucked to watch my face, but if I do it at 4 p.m.
[SPEAKER_00]: even earlier, sometimes if I just have morning activities and I don't need to do anything that anyone would need to see me for that I care about having makeup on,
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll just do my skincare routine then.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then other principles are I wear sunscreen every single day, sometimes twice, sometimes three times a day.
[SPEAKER_00]: I reapply pretty frequently, and I wear a lot of moisturizer.
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I also exfoliate, but I would say that's on an as needed.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have the Paula's AHA BHA, and I'll exfoliate, but I would say the main pillars of my skincare and maintaining good skincare is moisturizing,
[SPEAKER_00]: never sleeping with makeup and then being consistent with my routine and my way to do that is to do it as early as possible.
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, Melanie wants to know my mind mapping process.
[SPEAKER_00]: I heard you mention a briefly with love a deep dive.
[SPEAKER_00]: I do remember saying that I would make a video.
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hate when I don't stick to my word, truthfully.
[SPEAKER_00]: But the premise is to write down in the middle of the piece of paper, passion and interests.
[SPEAKER_00]: Circle that and start doing a physical brainstorm of all of your passions and interests.
[SPEAKER_00]: So for me, one was,
[SPEAKER_00]: deep conversation and under that input spirituality, death after life philosophy science space time history.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I did working with my hands, coloring art, makeup, creation.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I did beauty and wellness with things under that personal style, acupuncture, hair care skincare, makeup, then I did learning.
[SPEAKER_00]: So school programs, books, conferences, lived experiences.
[SPEAKER_00]: I've
[SPEAKER_00]: than exploring adventures, so travel road trips, seminars, spontaneity, swimming, waterfalls, walks, new people.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then I have reading, classic literary fiction, spirituality, self-help, culturally relevant topics, writing to do list, diary entries, think pieces storytelling.
[SPEAKER_00]: and I have handwriting, journaling, writing cards, and then meeting people, travel events, work, friends, strangers, and talking.
[SPEAKER_00]: Podcasts is that too deep of a dive.
[SPEAKER_00]: So then on the next page in the middle, I wrote dislikes, and I wrote sitting, computer work, TV, too much time at home alone, and idle time.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then the next page, I wrote things I want to try in the middle,
[SPEAKER_00]: And I wrote working for someone growing a brand writing a book, a book tour, have a show, make a coloring book, utilize my network, work with highly intelligent people, be a part of something bigger than myself, make a million dollars.
[SPEAKER_00]: We're on page four now, so I'm just going to my notebook and I made this at the beginning of the year.
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's actually cute to see that now I'm working for someone and I've made a coloring book.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's fun, but on page four, for next steps, I did editorial because if I like writing and I want to work with someone, it could be interesting if I worked for Conday or Hearst or the New Yorker, the cut, dazed, ID, for brand, I wrote Calls Driven, so today Camp, Scene Library, you saw.
[SPEAKER_00]: For brands, goop, alo, Nike, for school, getting my masters, bachelor's, schoolwork, and then for independent working on a sub-stack.
[SPEAKER_00]: But what I actually ended up doing was joining a writer's group.
[SPEAKER_00]: Then on the fifth page, I made a this month and I broke down things that I could do this month, whether that was people to reach out to, brands I was already in contact with, and then I did another one for three months, one year and lifetime.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if that's of your interest, I would check it out because this is fun.
[SPEAKER_00]: I have looked back on it, but it's interesting to see what came to fruition first, and which is still in the process.
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like that's a great question to end that episode on because I would love nothing more than for you guys to do a deep dive on your life and find
[SPEAKER_00]: your inspirations and what your next steps are because if you do anything in this life, it gets to know yourself and live out your truth.
[SPEAKER_00]: That's all like an ever asked for out of any of you.
[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you so much for listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're interested in some juicy little crush stories, dating stories, et cetera, I'll get into that in the Patreon.
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you're already on Patreon, just keep listening.
[SPEAKER_00]: If not, I will link the Patreon down below.
[SPEAKER_00]: as well as my coloring book, my YouTube channel, I'll have a vlog up this week, and anything else.
[SPEAKER_00]: It's probably going to be linked down below, but if you're just a fan of the podcast, I'll come back and be chatting to you in two weeks.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you so much for listening,