# Sophia Answers Fans' Questions!

An episode of [Drama Queens](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1571792783), 10 Jun 2026, 36 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/e53aefd3-699f-4685-9a84-aed700f383fa/4dfef697-fad4-4294-9d03-b465001dbd41/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=cf2e6477-1a1d-4442-8b33-ae320005bb63

In this special Pride Month fan Q&A, Sophia gets candid about everything from coming out and finding the courage to be fully yourself to the surprisingly personal fear she’s working to balance alongside the excitement she’s feeling about her upcoming memoir. Plus, Sophia shares some practical packing tips, her presidential picks and why she can never go incognito. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Hi, everyone, It's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Welcome
[0:17] Speaker 1: back to work in progress friends, Happy Pride. We are
[0:21] Speaker 1: a week into celebrating love in June, and we've gotten
[0:27] Speaker 1: so many questions from folks lately that we felt like
[0:32] Speaker 1: maybe this week we do another Q and A. It's
[0:34] Speaker 1: been a while, so let us dive right in. Thank
[0:40] Speaker 1: you for your questions. You know, some of them are
[0:42] Speaker 1: very vulnerable, some of them are very nerdy and sweet,
[0:50] Speaker 1: some of them really need to think. And I yeah,
[0:53] Speaker 1: I just love this stuff with you guys, So let's
[0:56] Speaker 1: dive right in on the subject of the month, said
[1:00] Speaker 1: Happy Pride. I am ready to come out to my parents.
[1:04] Speaker 1: They're cool, but I'm still nervous. Can you hype me up, oh,
[1:09] Speaker 1: dear one. Yes, here's what I think about that, no
[1:15] Speaker 1: matter where things fall on the scale for you in
[1:18] Speaker 1: your own house, whether your parents are pretty cool or
[1:23] Speaker 1: very affirming of people queer people in the world, or
[1:28] Speaker 1: even if your parents might be whatever they are that
[1:35] Speaker 1: might make you feel afraid, coming out is a big
[1:40] Speaker 1: deal because it forces you to integrate things you might
[1:45] Speaker 1: not realize you'd been carrying all your life. You know,
[1:50] Speaker 1: you learn as a queer person who is not out.
[1:55] Speaker 1: I also would sidebar for a moment and say, people
[1:59] Speaker 1: who experience domestic violence learnedness, people who have experienced sexual
[2:05] Speaker 1: violence and not talked about this learnedness. You learn to
[2:11] Speaker 1: reduce and perform. You withhold a part of yourself while
[2:16] Speaker 1: performing like a whole self. You keep something back for
[2:20] Speaker 1: fear of that violence in the world, or if you
[2:25] Speaker 1: have very prejudiced parents, for some folks listening, you withhold
[2:31] Speaker 1: because you're afraid of that violence at home. It is
[2:35] Speaker 1: a very intense thing, I think as a person to
[2:39] Speaker 1: come to terms with what you have withheld in order
[2:44] Speaker 1: to perform. You know, it was something I had to realize,
[2:50] Speaker 1: even for myself in as affirming a person as I've
[2:54] Speaker 1: always been as a ride or die supporter of my community,
[2:58] Speaker 1: that I've always been as someone who has been pretty
[3:03] Speaker 1: damn open playing characters across the spectrum, and knowing that
[3:09] Speaker 1: that mattered, that even my own desire to not have
[3:14] Speaker 1: every single relationship I was ever in, you know, chopped
[3:19] Speaker 1: up for parts out in the world, my desire for
[3:23] Speaker 1: some mode of privacy, even though I don't think I
[3:27] Speaker 1: thought for a moment I had a desire not to
[3:32] Speaker 1: specifically share my identity. I felt like I'd been sharing
[3:35] Speaker 1: it on screen for twenty years. My desire for privacy
[3:40] Speaker 1: was in a way a protection against the violence, the
[3:46] Speaker 1: violation of being used for clicks and tabloids and gossip,
[3:54] Speaker 1: and it was really a surprising thing to realize that
[3:57] Speaker 1: that in a way had also reduced me. And so
[4:04] Speaker 1: I share all of that only to say, in whatever
[4:08] Speaker 1: way you feel like it's all going to be okay,
[4:12] Speaker 1: there's still a part of you that's withholding, and there's
[4:15] Speaker 1: still a part of you that's required to perform because
[4:18] Speaker 1: of that. And performing is exhausting, sweetheart. It's tiring. It
[4:25] Speaker 1: takes more energy in the day than a human body
[4:28] Speaker 1: normally has. And so especially for you, be if you
[4:34] Speaker 1: feel ready, and you do think your parents are going
[4:37] Speaker 1: to be cool about it, I say, go for it.
[4:42] Speaker 1: Go for it, be your full self with your family
[4:45] Speaker 1: and the world, because the deep breath you will take
[4:49] Speaker 1: when you stop performing is going to give you something
[4:54] Speaker 1: I would wager you didn't even know you were missing.
[4:57] Speaker 1: So good luck to you, and I hope you were
[5:01] Speaker 1: met with every ounce of being seen, so you really
[5:07] Speaker 1: know what it feels like to see yourself in the world.
[5:14] Speaker 1: Sammy takes a left turn and says, you're always on
[5:17] Speaker 1: the go. What are some of your travel rituals and
[5:20] Speaker 1: packing hacks and jet lag cures? Girl? This is something
[5:24] Speaker 1: I could talk about for days. I still keep a
[5:28] Speaker 1: running note in my phone about how to travel better,
[5:33] Speaker 1: like Ooh, I might need this, Ooh, I might need that.
[5:36] Speaker 1: I love to have things that are always in my
[5:40] Speaker 1: carry on bag. I've recently ordered a bunch of little
[5:44] Speaker 1: mesh zipper pouches, and one has safety pins, tidesticks, shout wipes,
[5:52] Speaker 1: because sometimes when you're on the go and you spill something,
[5:55] Speaker 1: you don't have time to get something, you know, dry
[5:57] Speaker 1: cleaned or laundered, and you got to figure it out yourself.
[6:00] Speaker 1: I have another one of those that has all the
[6:02] Speaker 1: tech things I need. An Hdmi cable if I want
[6:05] Speaker 1: to plug my laptop and watch something on the TV
[6:08] Speaker 1: in the hotel. Two extra iPhone chargers. I always have
[6:12] Speaker 1: a charging brick. I keep an extra set of AirPods
[6:15] Speaker 1: and an extra set of wired headphones in my bag
[6:19] Speaker 1: at all times. And because I have a podcast, I
[6:22] Speaker 1: keep a set of wired headphones with the USBC and
[6:25] Speaker 1: a wired set of headphones that are old school style
[6:27] Speaker 1: that can plug into my laptop. I also, you know,
[6:31] Speaker 1: for the podcasters out there, have an actual travel mic
[6:34] Speaker 1: setup that is always in my suitcase because I once
[6:38] Speaker 1: forgot it and it was so deeply stressful and terrible
[6:41] Speaker 1: that I will never let that happen again. I keep
[6:45] Speaker 1: a toiletry set that is travel sized. Also in a
[6:49] Speaker 1: mesh zipper pouch that's essentially the size of a zip
[6:53] Speaker 1: block with all your you know, under three ounce things
[6:56] Speaker 1: in it that you need, one for hair, one for skin,
[7:01] Speaker 1: and don't laugh at me. I also keep another kind
[7:07] Speaker 1: of zipper pouch, but it's like a it's some sort
[7:11] Speaker 1: of I guess a plastic material, which I know is terrible,
[7:13] Speaker 1: but here we are. I don't want to use single
[7:16] Speaker 1: use plastic. So it's like a white grid, almost like
[7:22] Speaker 1: a blown up mesh that has colored zippers on the top.
[7:25] Speaker 1: And then in those I have full size hair products,
[7:30] Speaker 1: full sized skincare products. Because if I'm going anywhere longer
[7:35] Speaker 1: then a weekend where I'm only taking a carry on
[7:38] Speaker 1: bag and I'm checking luggage, then I bring full sized
[7:41] Speaker 1: toilet trees. I have most of my sort of toilet
[7:46] Speaker 1: trees and makeup in two drawers in my home, but
[7:51] Speaker 1: I keep the makeup I use the most in my
[7:55] Speaker 1: travel case. It has like a zip top that folds
[7:58] Speaker 1: down and then that goes just in the drawer, so
[8:01] Speaker 1: when I'm at home, I can use everything together. But
[8:04] Speaker 1: when I need to travel, I pull that out, the
[8:06] Speaker 1: zipit shut, throw it in the bag. I'm ready to go. Yeah,
[8:09] Speaker 1: those are sort of the hacks. I also, finally, in
[8:15] Speaker 1: the last couple of years, after twenty years of traveling
[8:18] Speaker 1: this much, invested in some hair tools with European plugs.
[8:25] Speaker 1: Because I shorted out two very nice curling irons, even
[8:30] Speaker 1: though I bought the converters that said they were converter adapters,
[8:34] Speaker 1: and then they weren't, and then they cost me a
[8:37] Speaker 1: lot more money than the converter did, so I gave
[8:40] Speaker 1: up on that. I now have a European plug curling iron,
[8:45] Speaker 1: straightening iron, and I finally bit the bullet. Here's a
[8:49] Speaker 1: pro tip going through customs so I could buy it
[8:53] Speaker 1: at the duty free in Europe. On my way home,
[8:57] Speaker 1: I bought Dice air wrap that has a European plug
[9:02] Speaker 1: as well, so I got it at quite a nice discount.
[9:05] Speaker 1: Things to the duty free, but that was still a
[9:08] Speaker 1: tough pill to swallow. It has made traveling for the
[9:10] Speaker 1: last two years so much easier. So that's a big
[9:14] Speaker 1: hack if you're at a point where you can invest
[9:16] Speaker 1: in something like that and jet lag cures. I work
[9:22] Speaker 1: really hard to try to get on a time zone
[9:24] Speaker 1: as quickly as possible. So if I'm flying east over
[9:30] Speaker 1: an ocean overnight, I will take a unism. It's an
[9:35] Speaker 1: over the counter sleep bait. This is not an ad,
[9:37] Speaker 1: by the way. I just learned this from a nurse friend.
[9:40] Speaker 1: It's an over the counter sleep bait. It's the only
[9:42] Speaker 1: one pregnant women are allowed to take. And you know
[9:44] Speaker 1: they spend no money on medical research for women. So
[9:47] Speaker 1: if we know pregnant women can take this with no
[9:49] Speaker 1: side effects, it's like gotta be And again, I don't
[9:53] Speaker 1: know this for a fact. I'm assuming it has to
[9:56] Speaker 1: probably be one of the safest things available on the market.
[10:00] Speaker 1: And so I'll get on a flight that's, you know,
[10:04] Speaker 1: at four pm landing wherever I'm going to work, London
[10:08] Speaker 1: or somewhere at nine am, and I will just knock
[10:12] Speaker 1: myself out at four I will force myself to sleep.
[10:15] Speaker 1: I bring an imask, I bring ear plugs. I bring
[10:18] Speaker 1: a blanket that is mine so that I feel very
[10:22] Speaker 1: comfortable on the plane. I have a pillow that I
[10:25] Speaker 1: like get under my neck just so so it stops
[10:28] Speaker 1: my head from falling over. And I force myself to
[10:32] Speaker 1: sleep so that then at least I wake up in
[10:35] Speaker 1: the morning and I just I suffer through that first day.
[10:39] Speaker 1: I drink a lot of coffee. I stay awake until
[10:41] Speaker 1: at least nine or ten PM, and then I try
[10:44] Speaker 1: to be on the time zone, and then coming back
[10:47] Speaker 1: the jet lag cure, which is so hard, but if
[10:50] Speaker 1: you can do it is necessary. You get on your flight.
[10:54] Speaker 1: I try to book an afternoon flight. I adjusted this
[10:57] Speaker 1: coming back from London for south by Southwest. I'm giving
[10:59] Speaker 1: you that at you know, nine and a half hour
[11:03] Speaker 1: flight or whatever it is. I got on a six
[11:08] Speaker 1: pm flight. I was very ready to go to sleep
[11:13] Speaker 1: by halfway through that flight, but I didn't let my stuff.
[11:15] Speaker 1: I kept my window shaped up because I was chasing
[11:18] Speaker 1: the sun the whole time, so seeing sunlight really helped
[11:21] Speaker 1: trick your brain. And I drank a coffee on the plane.
[11:26] Speaker 1: I went through movies I really wanted to see so
[11:28] Speaker 1: I would be interested, and I stayed awake until I
[11:31] Speaker 1: landed at ten o'clock, got my bags, got home, absolutely
[11:37] Speaker 1: took another unis on to make sure I really slept
[11:39] Speaker 1: through the night. And I woke up the next morning
[11:42] Speaker 1: at six forty five, wasn't quite ready to get up,
[11:47] Speaker 1: laid in bed for another hour, not sure if I
[11:49] Speaker 1: fell back asleep, and then I got up. And I
[11:52] Speaker 1: haven't had a hard time, and I've been home now
[11:54] Speaker 1: for almost a week, so I think I crushed it.
[12:00] Speaker 1: The flight was tough. I had to give myself a
[12:02] Speaker 1: couple little smacks in the face along the way, but
[12:06] Speaker 1: I did it, and I believe in you. You can
[12:09] Speaker 1: do it too. And now a word from our sponsors
[12:12] Speaker 1: that I really enjoy and I think you will too.
[12:17] Speaker 1: This segment is brought to you by our friends at
[12:19] Speaker 1: Miracle Girl. Some of my earliest childhood memories are in
[12:24] Speaker 1: the garden, helping my parents trim flowers, plant tomatoes, just
[12:31] Speaker 1: be out there playing in the dirt. We would roll
[12:34] Speaker 1: up our sleeves and spend afternoons in the springtime planting
[12:39] Speaker 1: together and making discoveries side by side. For me, a
[12:44] Speaker 1: garden is more than just a patch of dirt. It's
[12:47] Speaker 1: a place for connection, It's a way to bring people
[12:49] Speaker 1: together to slow down and spend some time in nature.
[12:54] Speaker 1: And I really love when I get to do that
[12:56] Speaker 1: with people. Whether that's taking friends down into the garden
[13:01] Speaker 1: to pick some tomatoes and basil for a salad we're
[13:04] Speaker 1: going to make, or having them suit up in a
[13:07] Speaker 1: full head to toe bee suit and learn how to
[13:09] Speaker 1: check on the bees that I keep. It's a really
[13:13] Speaker 1: special experience. Not everybody joins me in the garden, but
[13:17] Speaker 1: everyone who comes over for a dinner party certainly gets
[13:20] Speaker 1: a piece of it. And I really love that. Whether
[13:23] Speaker 1: friends are planting or weeding, or just hanging out and
[13:27] Speaker 1: talking or showing up for dinner, the busy week just
[13:32] Speaker 1: kind of melts away while we catch up, we get
[13:35] Speaker 1: our hands dirty, and then we make a meal together.
[13:38] Speaker 1: And the best part, so many of my friends that
[13:40] Speaker 1: come over have gotten inspired to start gardens of their own.
[13:44] Speaker 1: I get them set up with all the right stuff.
[13:46] Speaker 1: I give them the tips and tricks I've learned and
[13:48] Speaker 1: tell them what bumps in the road to avoid. And
[13:52] Speaker 1: I love making people a little kit, a little honey
[13:54] Speaker 1: from my garden. I get them a starter bag of
[13:57] Speaker 1: Miracle Grow organic outdoor potting mix because it is absolutely
[14:01] Speaker 1: the best for beginners. I make sure to set them
[14:04] Speaker 1: up to win. Miracle Grow Organic outdoor potting mix, beads
[14:09] Speaker 1: and nurtures your plants to help them stay healthy and
[14:13] Speaker 1: takes a lot of the guests workout, which is so
[14:15] Speaker 1: great when you're starting your gardening journey. And frankly, I'm
[14:18] Speaker 1: well into mine and I still use it all the
[14:21] Speaker 1: time because hello, I like to have the help and
[14:24] Speaker 1: I like succeeding, and I know other people do too.
[14:27] Speaker 1: It's so fun to watch my friends get into it.
[14:30] Speaker 1: I actually think my favorite part is that after a
[14:32] Speaker 1: few weeks, I'll get a text message with photos of
[14:35] Speaker 1: their plants or their herbs, and then you know, within
[14:38] Speaker 1: a couple of months we're comparing whose cherry tomatoes are
[14:41] Speaker 1: doing the best. I never want to have that competition
[14:43] Speaker 1: with Martha Stewart, but for the rest of us, it's fun.
[14:46] Speaker 1: You get my drift, it's really beautiful. Planting with friends
[14:50] Speaker 1: can turn into a ritual that brings everyone closer together.
[14:55] Speaker 1: I think food is a love language. I think a
[14:58] Speaker 1: garden is a love language between friends and certainly with
[15:02] Speaker 1: the planet. And I think when you teach someone to garden, Oh,
[15:06] Speaker 1: what is sweeter than that. If you want to get
[15:09] Speaker 1: started on your own garden, or maybe inspire someone you
[15:12] Speaker 1: love to get started on theirs, head to miraclegrow dot
[15:16] Speaker 1: com to check out all of their easy to use
[15:18] Speaker 1: products and start your growth journey today. Bella, Oh, this
[15:25] Speaker 1: is a good question. Besides your therapist. I love that
[15:28] Speaker 1: you ask that, because you all know how much I
[15:30] Speaker 1: love my therapist. He's a good did Besides your therapist,
[15:33] Speaker 1: Who in your life gives you the best advice? Oh,
[15:38] Speaker 1: my goodness, I have a handful of friends who give
[15:41] Speaker 1: incredible advice. Obviously, Nia, who's my best friend, is the
[15:45] Speaker 1: kind of person who just sees me, and she meets
[15:50] Speaker 1: me and everyone in her life with a judgment free
[15:55] Speaker 1: openness and really thoughtful questions, just such a level of real,
[16:03] Speaker 1: genuine support that I think she makes everybody feel safe
[16:08] Speaker 1: and cared for. She's an incredible advice giver. We joke though,
[16:13] Speaker 1: that we are both so incredibly adept at political engagement
[16:21] Speaker 1: and civic work and fiscal work, and you know, our
[16:26] Speaker 1: entertainment work, all the things we do, and that sometimes
[16:29] Speaker 1: the simpler sort of personal stuff is harder, and it's
[16:34] Speaker 1: nice to have someone who has the same thing in
[16:36] Speaker 1: common with you that's also hard for you to figure out.
[16:41] Speaker 1: I can solve a systemic problem much more quickly than
[16:44] Speaker 1: I can solve a close to me personal one, so
[16:48] Speaker 1: we can really bounce ideas off each other that way.
[16:51] Speaker 1: My friend Lauren is one of the best advice givers
[16:53] Speaker 1: I know. She's been living abroad for a year, so
[16:56] Speaker 1: I don't get to talk to her as much, and
[16:58] Speaker 1: I like feel the way my soul and this is
[17:00] Speaker 1: her advice. I can't wait for her to come home. Likewise,
[17:05] Speaker 1: my friends Sam and Sammy, who are two different people.
[17:09] Speaker 1: Sometimes people get confused unbelievable advice givers. My friend Rory.
[17:15] Speaker 1: If you haven't read her book or listened to our
[17:17] Speaker 1: podcast episode, Rory Uphold was on the pod to talk
[17:21] Speaker 1: about her first book, The Horrors of Dating, a Final
[17:24] Speaker 1: Girl's Guide to Getting through Relationships. You guys, it's so
[17:28] Speaker 1: good and Rory's the kind of friend you want to
[17:31] Speaker 1: call when you want really exacting advice that also reminds
[17:36] Speaker 1: you who the fuck you are. So I've got a
[17:39] Speaker 1: really good list of humans who do that with me,
[17:43] Speaker 1: and I'm very very grateful. Skyler, who would you like
[17:47] Speaker 1: to see run for president in twenty twenty eight. Anyone
[17:50] Speaker 1: who's not a fascist, anyone with actual expertise in democracy,
[17:57] Speaker 1: public health, know the way actual systems of government work.
[18:04] Speaker 1: I mean, guys seeing everything explode, from the measles to
[18:08] Speaker 1: the screw worm coming back to infect American beef herds,
[18:12] Speaker 1: which by the way, we've eradicated since the nineteen sixties
[18:16] Speaker 1: by assisting south of our own border with these It's complicated,
[18:22] Speaker 1: but readap on it. We basically we drop these flies
[18:24] Speaker 1: that then eradicate the bug population that spreads upwards and
[18:30] Speaker 1: causes the screw worm investations. I know it's going to
[18:33] Speaker 1: sound crazy. It's like, oh, we spent forty million dollars
[18:35] Speaker 1: a year on that. When you have a multi billion dollar,
[18:38] Speaker 1: multi trillion dollar budget, that's not a lot of money.
[18:43] Speaker 1: When you protect the food sources of three hundred and
[18:47] Speaker 1: thirty two million citizens in America and then all of
[18:49] Speaker 1: the other people who you know, live in our country
[18:53] Speaker 1: on visas and green cards and all of the other things,
[18:56] Speaker 1: and the people, by the way, who are our neighbors
[18:59] Speaker 1: just across the border, Like that is not even a
[19:03] Speaker 1: drop in the bucket When you're talking about that sort
[19:06] Speaker 1: of money, at that scale, and they called it waste
[19:11] Speaker 1: f audtive use, and they got rid of it, and
[19:13] Speaker 1: now we're like literally at risk of not being able
[19:14] Speaker 1: to feed people. It's just those are two examples where
[19:18] Speaker 1: I just cannot fathom what we're doing. And I think
[19:22] Speaker 1: about the harm done by incompetent administrations. I think about
[19:29] Speaker 1: the harm done that we are seeing in our economy
[19:33] Speaker 1: and our gas prices, and entering into another war nobody
[19:36] Speaker 1: wanted to be. And I mean, the list goes on
[19:37] Speaker 1: and on and on. The reduction of rights for everyone
[19:41] Speaker 1: who doesn't look like the president, for women who are
[19:44] Speaker 1: dying at record rates since the overturning of dobs, for
[19:48] Speaker 1: people of color in our country who are losing their
[19:51] Speaker 1: constitutional rights to have their voices heard. And by the way,
[19:54] Speaker 1: it's against American law to have taxation without representation. Don't
[19:58] Speaker 1: even get me started on the people who live in
[20:00] Speaker 1: the District of Washington, d C. District of Columbia. To
[20:04] Speaker 1: be clear, the amount of work we're gonna have to
[20:10] Speaker 1: do just to fix the fuck ups if we even can.
[20:15] Speaker 1: The science we've lost, the cancer research that stopped the
[20:19] Speaker 1: scientists who have left the country. You guys who are
[20:23] Speaker 1: now setting up lives and labs in other places. We
[20:26] Speaker 1: are losing the wind and energy projects that have been
[20:32] Speaker 1: canceled that are going elsewhere. We've lost the future of
[20:37] Speaker 1: the energy race to China already. These are things that
[20:41] Speaker 1: will take so long to fix. They will take so
[20:47] Speaker 1: much more money to fix, so much time, so much effort.
[20:51] Speaker 1: And what frustrates me, and what I want you to
[20:54] Speaker 1: talk to the people in your lives about, is we
[20:57] Speaker 1: could have spent the last decade that we have been
[21:02] Speaker 1: dealing with this man in office twice. We could have
[21:06] Speaker 1: spent the last ten years building by leaps and bounds.
[21:11] Speaker 1: We could have cured certain cancers. We could have become
[21:15] Speaker 1: the global green energy leader of the world. We could
[21:18] Speaker 1: have taken American citizens who have worked in energy production
[21:23] Speaker 1: that has hurt them and their families, caused cancer, caused injury,
[21:27] Speaker 1: caused death in some instances. We could have given all
[21:30] Speaker 1: of those people the best clean energy jobs that would
[21:34] Speaker 1: pay them more, give them benefits, create health care for
[21:37] Speaker 1: their families. We could have continued to change everything here
[21:45] Speaker 1: and abroad. We could have stopped this abola outbreak. We
[21:51] Speaker 1: could have taken the magic we all felt watching Artemis
[21:55] Speaker 1: two go to the Dark Side of the Moon and
[21:58] Speaker 1: doubled it tenfold instead of NASA to one of its
[22:01] Speaker 1: lowest budgets. I believe ever, we're gonna have to spend
[22:06] Speaker 1: all this time and money fixing instead of building, and
[22:12] Speaker 1: that pisses me off. That's the waste, fraud and abuse.
[22:15] Speaker 1: And so when we think about the run for twenty
[22:18] Speaker 1: twenty eight, I'm open. Is it Pete buddhacheg is it
[22:26] Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom? Let me tell you something as a person
[22:28] Speaker 1: who was born and raised and lived in California for
[22:30] Speaker 1: a long time, Yes, is Kamala Harris coming back to run?
[22:34] Speaker 1: Let me tell you something else, as a person who
[22:36] Speaker 1: worked alongside her and her administration for a very long time,
[22:40] Speaker 1: both in the White House and in California as well,
[22:43] Speaker 1: seeing what she has doggedly done for people, does she
[22:46] Speaker 1: want to come back? Yes, I'm in any of them.
[22:51] Speaker 1: But we cannot risk turning our political system into reality TV,
[23:02] Speaker 1: into wanting to watch the drama on Love Island or
[23:05] Speaker 1: Summer House from the Oval Office. Like enough, we have
[23:11] Speaker 1: to we have to get a little sane again where
[23:16] Speaker 1: it comes to how we build a nation. And I
[23:20] Speaker 1: think we need to understand that so many of these
[23:22] Speaker 1: systems that we never saw or perhaps paid attention to
[23:31] Speaker 1: in real time, they matter. Each of those things is
[23:36] Speaker 1: a piece of the net that literally held up society,
[23:42] Speaker 1: and I would argue the world and while I think
[23:44] Speaker 1: we have a lot to add to that net and
[23:48] Speaker 1: a lot to build to be better, ripping the whole
[23:53] Speaker 1: thing apart because nobody bothered paying attention how it worked
[23:57] Speaker 1: in the first place is not working. So that's what
[24:02] Speaker 1: I think about that. And if you are thinking about
[24:06] Speaker 1: the midterms, if you're thinking about twenty twenty eight, please
[24:09] Speaker 1: sign up to volunteer for an organization that works for good.
[24:13] Speaker 1: Whether it's the Human Rights Campaign. I'm in one of
[24:15] Speaker 1: my favorite HRC sweatshirts right now. Democracy Now. If you
[24:22] Speaker 1: want to get involved with us, and I am a voter.
[24:24] Speaker 1: If you want to work on a specific campaign, sign
[24:27] Speaker 1: up with Stacy Abrams. I mean, anyone, please show up.
[24:34] Speaker 1: We were going to need all hands on deck. And
[24:37] Speaker 1: now for our sponsors. Ooh, this is a good question
[24:48] Speaker 1: from Linda. Are there any stories in your upcoming memoir
[24:52] Speaker 1: that you are anxious about sharing? Yeah, all of them.
[25:00] Speaker 1: You know. Working on my first book has been such
[25:05] Speaker 1: a labor of love, you know, for anyone who's busy
[25:09] Speaker 1: and hasn't seen the news announcement or the posts about it.
[25:15] Speaker 1: I'm working on my first book, my memoir in parts
[25:22] Speaker 1: titled I Will Tell You Mine, is coming out this
[25:26] Speaker 1: fall and I'm so excited about it. I also need
[25:30] Speaker 1: to give a shout out book agent Kate Hoyit, who
[25:32] Speaker 1: has literally been chasing me for nine years trying to
[25:35] Speaker 1: get me to write this book. Kate started sending me
[25:40] Speaker 1: email compilations of the essays you all know I like
[25:44] Speaker 1: to write on Instagram and saying, hey, Hi, you're writing
[25:48] Speaker 1: short form essays on social media. You're a writer. You
[25:51] Speaker 1: need to write a book. And I was like, you're sweet,
[25:53] Speaker 1: I don't have time for that. And we went back
[25:55] Speaker 1: and forth for nearly a decade, and I think, I know,
[25:59] Speaker 1: there was finally a point when I had realized I'd
[26:03] Speaker 1: started to write reflections like that nearly every day in
[26:09] Speaker 1: my own private journals for about eighteen months where I went, oh,
[26:15] Speaker 1: I think I'm starting, you know, I think I'm actually
[26:17] Speaker 1: starting to write a book. And here we are, and
[26:22] Speaker 1: it's still very scary, you know, it's it's terrifying to
[26:28] Speaker 1: share about things that shaped you that might hurt other
[26:35] Speaker 1: people in the sharing, even though you've done the work
[26:40] Speaker 1: in those groups or those family structures to process those things,
[26:46] Speaker 1: and everyone loves each other and everything's okay. You can't
[26:52] Speaker 1: talk about how you got somewhere without talking about what
[26:55] Speaker 1: shaped you, which is good and bad. And I think
[26:59] Speaker 1: my greatest year is to ever make anyone feel embarrassed
[27:04] Speaker 1: now about things I used to feel embarrassed about or
[27:08] Speaker 1: carry shame about before I did the work to unpack that.
[27:12] Speaker 1: I think also, guys, it's twenty twenty six, like everyone's
[27:17] Speaker 1: just mean about everything. The Internet thinks everything is cringe.
[27:22] Speaker 1: I'm scared to share about things that I find beautiful
[27:27] Speaker 1: and be made fun of for it, you know. I'm
[27:31] Speaker 1: scared to share about my AHA moments and the slow
[27:35] Speaker 1: revelations I'm still experiencing and have people be cruel or
[27:40] Speaker 1: say like, can't believe a fucking took you this long
[27:43] Speaker 1: to figure it out or whatever. I mean. I don't
[27:47] Speaker 1: feel like I can move outside of the space of
[27:52] Speaker 1: my home without seeing such vitriol, and I have to
[28:00] Speaker 1: do a lot of work to remind myself that there's
[28:02] Speaker 1: also so much kindness. But the world gets off on
[28:07] Speaker 1: the cruelty now, and it's a scary time to choose
[28:13] Speaker 1: to share. You know, it's tough because maybe if I'd
[28:22] Speaker 1: written you my book in twenty fifteen, it would feel different.
[28:27] Speaker 1: But I don't think I was a fully formed version
[28:31] Speaker 1: of myself yet. So it is the greatest kind of
[28:39] Speaker 1: whiplash I've ever experienced working on this book, from pride
[28:44] Speaker 1: and tenderness to like terror. Everybody here we are and
[28:53] Speaker 1: it's goven Oh, I love this question, f he asks.
[28:57] Speaker 1: Ashland's documentary looks amazing. What's something you learned about her
[29:01] Speaker 1: from it? So much? You know, it's really beautiful. It
[29:08] Speaker 1: was really beautiful to watch her. A little backstory. You know,
[29:12] Speaker 1: she's been producing a lot of amazing sports content, amazing
[29:16] Speaker 1: sports stories. You know, she eped, pitched, and then ep'ed
[29:21] Speaker 1: a whole sports documentary series that was produced by Hollow Sunshine.
[29:26] Speaker 1: It was on Peacock. I hope you guys watched it.
[29:29] Speaker 1: The Rise. It's so incredible. I learned so much about
[29:32] Speaker 1: all those athletes and all those sports in every one
[29:35] Speaker 1: of those episodes, and then her next idea was to
[29:40] Speaker 1: do more in depth, you know, single athlete documentary every
[29:47] Speaker 1: episode series mini series with Roku, you know, in separate verticals.
[29:56] Speaker 1: She was looking at their documentary space, their unscripted space,
[30:00] Speaker 1: and I was looking at their future film space, and frankly,
[30:05] Speaker 1: knowing what was coming, you know, after the twenty twenty
[30:08] Speaker 1: four election, knowing that everything the expert economists said was true,
[30:13] Speaker 1: we knew the economy was going to get really hard
[30:15] Speaker 1: for people. We kept joking. I mean, not that it
[30:18] Speaker 1: was funny, but being like gas is about to get
[30:19] Speaker 1: so expensive, people aren't going to be able to afford
[30:21] Speaker 1: to go to the movies. It was really important for
[30:24] Speaker 1: both of us to put our producing hats on and
[30:27] Speaker 1: make content that was accessible for families for free. And
[30:32] Speaker 1: so I was off making Broad Trip, my film with
[30:35] Speaker 1: Lauren Holly that came out in May on Roku while
[30:39] Speaker 1: she was pitching this, and then this got picked up
[30:43] Speaker 1: by Roku for unscripted. So I like, get a FaceTime
[30:47] Speaker 1: and the executives on my movie or talking to her executives,
[30:49] Speaker 1: and I'm like, this is crazy anyway, very sweet, felt
[30:53] Speaker 1: very kismet, and it was really cool to then hear
[30:58] Speaker 1: because I'm I'm really an easdropper, but if I'm in
[31:01] Speaker 1: the room, I'm going to listen to the zoom you're
[31:03] Speaker 1: on obviously, and to hear them say, you know, with
[31:08] Speaker 1: everything you shared with us across our pitch meetings, We've
[31:13] Speaker 1: had our internal conversations, we want the first story to
[31:16] Speaker 1: be your story. And she was kind of like what,
[31:21] Speaker 1: so I knew so many parts of her story, but
[31:26] Speaker 1: there's something about such an amazing documentary crew, such an
[31:32] Speaker 1: incredible director, you know, going home and gathering all the research,
[31:40] Speaker 1: all the photos, you know, hearing Ants and Dornce talk
[31:43] Speaker 1: about her, hearing about what it's like to you know,
[31:48] Speaker 1: be chosen to be the backup for the best goalkeeper ever.
[31:52] Speaker 1: So like, okay, you're the second best goalkeeper ever. Like what.
[32:00] Speaker 1: It's such a crazy place to be in and to
[32:05] Speaker 1: watch someone sit with what it is to have a
[32:10] Speaker 1: lifelong passion, to have that passion dinged by injury, and
[32:17] Speaker 1: to have this whole, very public athletic life with this
[32:21] Speaker 1: whole thing happening underneath that nobody knew about. I knew
[32:26] Speaker 1: those stories, but to see them tied together the way
[32:29] Speaker 1: they were. While I've been working on the same process
[32:33] Speaker 1: for myself with my book, to see how sometimes what
[32:38] Speaker 1: you go through that home, what you learn by osmosis
[32:42] Speaker 1: as a child. The way it follows you and affects
[32:45] Speaker 1: you for so long in your life mirrors into your
[32:49] Speaker 1: own everything. It's really profound, and it's been really beautiful too,
[33:00] Speaker 1: to feel like through this project for her and this
[33:04] Speaker 1: project I'm working on for me, we're connecting even more dots.
[33:09] Speaker 1: I think it's a way to see and love a
[33:11] Speaker 1: person even more deeply. And I'm really grateful that I've
[33:14] Speaker 1: been with her through this process because I love her
[33:21] Speaker 1: more and I think her being with me through my
[33:26] Speaker 1: process is helping me, you know, learn to love myself
[33:30] Speaker 1: more as well, which is beautiful. Oh Maya has a
[33:36] Speaker 1: really good question. Oh my goodness, would you ever do
[33:39] Speaker 1: a one woman show like Cynthia or Reeve I just
[33:41] Speaker 1: did in London? Okay, so you saw me post about
[33:43] Speaker 1: Cynthia and Dracula. I have never in my life seen
[33:50] Speaker 1: such a thing. I would love to work with Kip Williams.
[34:00] Speaker 1: I would love to do something like that. And I
[34:05] Speaker 1: don't think I could do that for sixteen weeks like
[34:07] Speaker 1: she did. I don't. Maybe I could, you know, maybe
[34:11] Speaker 1: if I really went underground for long enough to store
[34:16] Speaker 1: up the energy to do it and then did the
[34:20] Speaker 1: same afterwards. Part of me is like, I think I
[34:25] Speaker 1: think I could do like eight weeks of that after
[34:28] Speaker 1: all the weeks of rehearsal. I don't know if I
[34:30] Speaker 1: could do sixteen weeks. I don't know. Maybe I have
[34:33] Speaker 1: to try. But oh, my goodness, what a feat. I mean,
[34:36] Speaker 1: just what an incredible feat of artistry. Unreal. Okay, sorry,
[34:50] Speaker 1: I love the last one. It's so good. Alex. Have
[34:54] Speaker 1: you ever been mistaken for another celebrity? Here's what's funny. No,
[35:02] Speaker 1: And I've come to learn apparently it's because of my voice.
[35:07] Speaker 1: Because even if someone sees me and has a moment
[35:11] Speaker 1: where they're trying to figure out why I'm familiar, once
[35:16] Speaker 1: I reply, they know and they say it's it's my
[35:21] Speaker 1: voice that makes the final aha click. I even had
[35:25] Speaker 1: that experience during COVID when we were all masking, people
[35:29] Speaker 1: would hear my voice and know it was me behind
[35:31] Speaker 1: the mask. So I don't know, guys, I don't think
[35:36] Speaker 1: I'm I don't think I'm gonna get away with it.
[35:41] Speaker 1: Thanks for joining today. This has just been so much fun.
[35:44] Speaker 1: Your questions are wonderful. Keep sending them in. We'll try
[35:47] Speaker 1: to we'll try to get to these a little more often.
[35:50] Speaker 1: I really enjoy this time with you all. Have a
[35:52] Speaker 1: great week, Fam and happy Pride.

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