Author event! Alisha Fernandez Miranda & Gloria Calderón Kellett
[0:00]for the hydrings in some of them.
[0:01]There's some are oatmeal raisin.
[0:02]Oh, my oatmeal raisin.
[0:03]That's your basically good for you.
[0:04]What is that help?
[0:05]Oh, and we can just see ourselves there.
[0:07]This is what I feel like a bunch of these.
[0:08]How's the stream?
[0:09]Hi, Livestream.
[0:11]I to my mom probably.
[0:12]Hi, mom.
[0:13]Hi, Alicia's mom.
[0:15]Hi, everybody.
[0:15]Well, look, this gives so much pleasure
[0:17]because I love this woman so very much.
[0:19]I will tell you how we met.
[0:21]Wait, how long ago was it, three, three?
[0:23]It was three, one, three, two and a half years.
[0:27]We're coming up on an anniversary.
[0:28]I know.
[0:29]We need to do something.
[0:30]Anyway, I was in New York visiting
[0:34]really well, Miranda.
[0:36]And he said, you have to meet my friend.
[0:38]And I said, I'd love to meet any friend of yours.
[0:40]Are you kidding me?
[0:41]Little did I know.
[0:42]I would fall so deeply in love with this very talented woman
[0:46]and read her book and devoured it and loved it.
[0:48]And it was just like, I love yourself,
[0:50]but also can I be your friend?
[0:52]I'm getting tired now.
[0:53]And I'm just starting.
[0:54]And she's just one of those people that's so immediately
[0:57]authentic and easy to talk to.
[0:59]And she is exactly the person.
[1:01]And so this book, I obviously read all of her other books, too.
[1:05]She's amazing my what if you're with.
[1:07]I love so much.
[1:08]And new stuff on the horizon, which we can't talk about you.
[1:12]But this is your first piece of fiction.
[1:14]So first, I'm going to do a little,
[1:15]I'm going to do the proper, I think we should.
[1:18]OK, for the people, for the people, for those in the back,
[1:20]for my mom.
[1:21]In your webs.
[1:21]OK, so Alicia Fernandez, Miranda,
[1:23]is an award-winning Cuban American author
[1:26]of the USA today, bestselling novel,
[1:28]someone's got to give three times.
[1:30]Three times, thank you.
[1:31]Her first book, The Men Warm, My What If Year,
[1:34]featured on Good Morning America,
[1:36]and was Best New Book in People Magazine
[1:39]and The Boston Globe, her writing is
[1:40]the published in Bogue, Mary Claire, Shondellan,
[1:43]and numerous other publications.
[1:45]Alicia is the current chair at IG Advisors,
[1:48]a leading social impact agency that
[1:50]consults the world's biggest nonprofits,
[1:53]including the Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation,
[1:55]and UN Women.
[1:56]Alicia is a graduate of the London School of Economics
[1:59]and Harvard University, and speaks on women's empowerment,
[2:03]social impact, and sustainability.
[2:05]And she currently lives in Scotland with her husband
[2:07]and children.
[2:09]So this book today, I don't want to tell them that,
[2:12]because I want them to find out about it.
[2:14]I can do it.
[2:14]And so I can do a little summary of a little,
[2:16]because I want to start with what inspired this book.
[2:19]Well, I have to start by saying that this book is fiction,
[2:22]because when people hear my bio,
[2:24]they're like, oh, no, this book is about you.
[2:26]This is your thinly veiled take down
[2:28]of the philanthropy industry, which I swear it is not.
[2:32]But so this book is the story of Lucia.
[2:34]Lucia is a new mom, new wife, and new ex-app.
[2:37]She's moved to London.
[2:39]And she finds herself served without her purpose
[2:41]and a fundraiser her whole life.
[2:43]And she is not working, and she's home with her baby.
[2:46]And she ends up getting a job as a philanthropy advisor
[2:49]to London's rich and powerful at the cautious private bank
[2:52]in the UK, and Tolarity Institute
[2:55]off the back of that.
[2:55]So I really, I started writing this book,
[3:00]as soon as I put my what if you're to bed,
[3:02]I had finished all the edits.
[3:04]And they were like, great, the book will come out
[3:06]in a year, we'll see you then.
[3:07]And I was like, wait, what?
[3:09]First of all, I have to wait a whole year for this to happen.
[3:11]But also, I had just fallen in love with this process
[3:14]of writing, and I was so excited by it,
[3:16]and I couldn't imagine not working on something else.
[3:19]And I don't know if I had met you by then,
[3:20]but someone who really inspires me to keep working
[3:23]is you, because you constantly have incredible projects
[3:26]on the go, you're so prolific and inclusive,
[3:28]your creativity, and your output.
[3:29]And so I was like, I got to work on something else.
[3:31]So I thought, point out right now,
[3:33]well, how hard could that be?
[3:34]I've just written a book, which turns out much harder
[3:37]than writing in the bar, as I soon learned.
[3:39]So this book went through 11 full drafts
[3:41]before we got to the beautiful version that you've
[3:43]seen.
[3:43]I really had to learn fiction from like the ground up.
[3:46]And when you say full drafts, so because I'm very
[3:49]interested in this, I'm sure these people are too.
[3:52]What does that look like?
[3:52]Is that a full re-break of the story?
[3:54]Like a re- we say break it.
[3:57]What do you say in the novel?
[3:58]Or what am I supposed to say?
[4:00]Like, would you fully restructure it?
[4:03]OK, so I did, I think I did probably three major complete
[4:08]thought restructures from like start.
[4:10]If you think say the same outline mode,
[4:12]or is that you write the whole thing?
[4:13]I kind of wrote the whole thing.
[4:14]Oh my gosh.
[4:16]OK, so I was, I did a couple of drafts,
[4:20]because there are some writer's drafts in this big,
[4:23]we like, I did two drafts.
[4:26]And then I, just to my agent, my former agent,
[4:29]let's just say to my former agent,
[4:30]have she's not watching this stream.
[4:33]And I've shaded her stuff on the story.
[4:36]But this is a true story.
[4:38]I have to be authentic about this.
[4:39]And she kept it for like eight weeks.
[4:42]And then she wrote me back.
[4:42]And she was basically like, this book is not good.
[4:46]And I can't really tell you why.
[4:47]It's not good, or what you should do to make it good.
[4:50]But she had been very adamant that I should stay in my life.
[4:53]She was like, you wrote a successful memoir.
[4:54]Why are you trying to do fiction?
[4:57]You know?
[4:57]And I was like, well, I want to write fiction.
[4:58]And I have this idea and I'm working.
[5:00]And it's like, you know, maybe you should write a self-help book.
[5:02]That was like the piece of everybody kept saying,
[5:04]write like a companion to my what if you're
[5:06]and help people with it.
[5:07]It was like, I couldn't possibly because I don't know
[5:09]how to tell people how to live their lives at all.
[5:11]So anyway, I then put the book away for like two or three months.
[5:15]And I was like, forget it.
[5:16]I guess I can't write fiction.
[5:18]I was wrong, like I'll just do something else.
[5:20]And the story and this character really
[5:23]sit kept coming back to me.
[5:24]So I took it out again.
[5:26]I then did a full rewrite of the whole book
[5:28]from start to finish.
[5:29]I sent it to a bunch of writer friends.
[5:31]And I was like, I'm usually telling me if this is
[5:32]the worst thing you've ever read.
[5:34]Or if it's like, there's stuff in there
[5:36]that I can work on.
[5:37]Because if you really think it's the worst thing
[5:39]that you've ever read, I will put it away in a drawer
[5:41]and I'll start something like I'm not going to touch it.
[5:43]And I got some really good constructive feedback
[5:45]from people.
[5:46]And so I went back to it again.
[5:48]And then I think around draft five,
[5:49]I did another full completely plot
[5:52]restructure again.
[5:53]So it was a huge amount of effort.
[5:55]But I kind of think it's important to say that
[5:56]because people see books and they think they just
[5:58]like magically it occurred out of your head.
[6:00]And this book took a huge amount of hard work
[6:02]to get good enough to be published
[6:04]and to be able to start a process in terms of,
[6:07]do you yourself say it's not right up to start over?
[6:10]I do.
[6:11]So now that I've done it once,
[6:13]so now I was working on my new project,
[6:15]I know when I get to the end I have to start it.
[6:17]Because I write really fast and I fit it all out.
[6:20]And I even, I leave the stuff that's terrible
[6:24]because I know I'm going to go back to it again.
[6:26]So I will do another draft.
[6:27]And I thought there's a really good book called
[6:29]Refuse to be done if you're ever working on novel writing,
[6:31]which is like, how to write a novel in through drafts.
[6:34]And draft two is you basically take what you've written
[6:37]and you kind of keep it on one screen
[6:39]and then you literally retype your whole book again
[6:42]and you're making changes as you go.
[6:44]And the first time I read that I was like,
[6:46]what a waste of time.
[6:47]But then I did it and I was like,
[6:49]oh actually this was so much better
[6:50]because you really kind of need that fresh
[6:52]revision of it.
[6:54]But once I got my book deal with the book,
[6:57]then I had an editor and I met her
[6:59]and she was like, this book is great.
[7:01]We have so much work to do it.
[7:02]And I was like, okay.
[7:03]So then from that point on a lot of my re rates
[7:05]were feedback from her kind of speaking on board
[7:09]what she said.
[7:10]So it's very helpful to have somebody else
[7:11]for the editing for you,
[7:12]but I do it myself, too.
[7:13]That's great.
[7:13]And then why this book in this moment?
[7:16]I really, so this character is so much.
[7:21]I really, but I want to try it about playing space.
[7:23]I want to set a book in the world of philanthropy
[7:25]because it is a super weird, weird world.
[7:29]Like I have met most of the members of the Royal family.
[7:32]I have been to some of the fanciest nicest places.
[7:35]I have been served caviar while talking about poverty.
[7:38]I have been to conferences about climate change
[7:40]where people came on their private debt.
[7:42]Like this all happens in this very strange world
[7:46]where everyone's trying to do good
[7:47]and it comes from such a good place.
[7:50]But it's not always implemented or executed in this way.
[7:54]And because of what philanthropy is
[7:56]and what it has become, it is also a place
[7:58]where you guys did you like brief things
[8:00]and like you meet great people
[8:02]and people kind of want to be around these issues.
[8:04]And so I just felt like this is like the perfect place
[8:06]to set a novel and it's one of those in what a book
[8:11]that I absolutely looked through for inspiration
[8:13]for this to double worst product
[8:14]did for the magazine industry.
[8:16]I love the idea of action a book,
[8:18]like a pea-five industry.
[8:19]So I wanted to set it in the world before I see it.
[8:23]And I really wanted to write about a character
[8:25]who was a youth because that for me
[8:27]was a hugely transformational time in my life
[8:30]in good ways and really difficult ways.
[8:33]I really struggled for many years after my friends were born
[8:37]to balance all of these things I had been so ambitious
[8:40]about from my whole life, all these goals that I have
[8:42]for myself and trying to be a good mom
[8:44]who was also there for my kids
[8:45]and how I did those things together.
[8:47]So now I'm like 13 years on from it.
[8:49]My kids are mostly self-sufficient.
[8:52]We'll see.
[8:53]My son called me today.
[8:54]He's like, I love my keys.
[8:55]Oh, God.
[8:56]I'm literally on the other side of the world.
[8:58]What would you like me to do about that?
[9:00]Please call your dad.
[9:04]But to look back on that,
[9:06]I just feel like motherhood was such an experience for me.
[9:10]It was something that really spoke to a lot of these issues
[9:13]about what are my goals?
[9:14]How do I be the person I always was and want to be
[9:17]but also be this person that is giving so much of myself
[9:19]to my family?
[9:20]And I want to do that too.
[9:21]And it just seemed like the marriage of those two boys
[9:25]really went away from my motherhood.
[9:26]Because you're very vulnerable in my what-if-year.
[9:30]But also in discussing what it means in this moment
[9:34]to be a mother, too.
[9:35]Because many of us were brought up
[9:37]who are female moms who were either single moms
[9:39]or moms who were working moms.
[9:41]And I think I'm really noticing that those women
[9:44]had to pretend that they could have it all.
[9:47]That was what they were told and they had to really
[9:48]present that.
[9:49]And so to see behind the curtain,
[9:51]to see the cracks in the arm,
[9:52]but to see that it's OK to see,
[9:54]even when you were saying how to be a good mom,
[9:56]I wonder what the definition of good is.
[9:58]I mean, mostly keeping your-
[10:00]children alive. I mean that's a really good question because I don't I don't I don't I don't know
[10:07]I don't know like it's different and everybody has a expectation now that people have on themselves
[10:11]and and how often times like when you're out there talking about this book I'm wondering is there
[10:17]sexism when when asking you about those questions because I feel like I would get questions all the
[10:22]time about like as a mom and I'm like do you have tremendous? Yeah you say to the man like what's it
[10:28]as a dad you say that no big never happened in every single event I did for my what if you're
[10:33]somebody would raise their hand and say how have you did you find it how did you leave your
[10:37]children to go and do these internships so my what if your which is my first book which is
[10:42]hot pink and around here somewhere oh yes holds up everybody thank you so much um and it tells the story
[10:48]of this year I spent going to do these internships that the dream jobs on my childhood
[10:53]that I went out to go do and I had this amazing experience but for for half of them I had to leave
[10:58]home to go and do them and leave my kids in my husband behind and go and do that and so people asked
[11:03]it every single event what was that lot how did you do that how did you leave your kids how did
[11:08]you leave your husband you know what what did he do what did they do with that how did they
[11:12]manage and it was and I did often say would you be asking this question if I was a man
[11:17]but I also recognize at the same time that it is different for me to leave than it is for my
[11:20]husband to leave especially when my kids were younger and there was more of that
[11:26]just kind of like emotional well I like them they're emotional garbage I like you know
[11:30]also there are nice things about it too but so that it was definitely something that I
[11:37]took up brought up a lot I think with this book if people have read it they they've kind of
[11:42]gotten to the point where they're like oh right maybe she can ask for that question because
[11:45]there's a lot in here of Lucia going on this journey where she has to come to terms for self
[11:50]with how she balances these things to her life and how she has somebody who deeply deeply
[11:56]cares about what she does this is her vocation she is so passionate about her work he is
[12:00]actively working to make the world a better place for the most vulnerable people that is how
[12:05]she always wanted to be and that is what she's always wanted and then she's got all of these
[12:08]familial responsibilities that she never had and she wants to do both but she's finding herself
[12:15]constantly pushing up against the walls of the having at all.
[12:19]That's right and the importance I think of our children seeing us fight for them fight for a
[12:25]better future be active in our communities like that's something that I think is often not discussed
[12:30]too and that's a really important part of why the books like this are very important so what
[12:35]do you hope the readers will take away from Lucia? So first and foremost I hope that people have
[12:42]fun reading the book because I wanted to write an interesting story because I like to read
[12:46]entertaining stories like if somebody tells me a book is art renting I will not read it I won't
[12:52]read it I'll put it on my list and like I'll read my like one heart-wrenching book a year but
[12:57]especially now the things that I crave are stories that are entertaining stories at home is
[13:03]safe but also stories that don't make me feel dumb or after like I want there to be something
[13:07]interesting in the book so I want people to get to take it and I also would love if people who
[13:14]read it and it's been fun because I've done like a real mix of events I'd say half my events
[13:17]have been philanthropy world event where I'm in a room of fundraisers or program officers for
[13:22]foundations or people that really know this world well and those conversations are very much
[13:27]about the world and what this means and what's happening in philanthropy right now and then
[13:30]there's just people who read it may have had no exposure to philanthropy at all and so for those
[13:35]people especially I want them to see that this like shadow world that exists actually has a
[13:41]significant impact on getting it all away but also that there are lots and lots of ways to do
[13:46]good and embody the spirit of the surface without having to give away millions and
[13:52]I mean it's not incredible so she just want to hear her talk all the time I do
[13:56]I wonder you talk all the time I'm like what are the glory tells us things
[14:00]okay oh reviews have called this is attempt to be the best mom wife and career woman
[14:05]relatable what was this your intention which we kind of covered though a little bit
[14:10]and how did you achieve that I don't know how many of you have read the like ability trap by
[14:15]at least you know our friend yeah at least you know a lot of people so um in the book she like
[14:22]goes through her history of life as the people pleaser and then how she's really trying to not do
[14:27]that and I read that book and then I was like oh okay I'm never going to not be able to do this
[14:32]because I I desperately wanted people to like yeah I did want her to be a relatable character maybe
[14:39]one day when I read and write more heart-wrenching book I'll make unlikable narrators like that
[14:44]is something and I I do enjoy books like that sometimes but I it was like really important to
[14:50]get it both like yeah and of all of the new momness too makes you want right yes that you do want
[14:57]to shine a positive light on that yes we know
[15:00]the questions and balancing and all of that.
[15:03]Totally. I think that's the right way to do that.
[15:04]And that it's okay that it doesn't make you a terrible person or a terrible mother if you're
[15:08]not in love with every element of motherhood, which was not my experience. I love my children
[15:13]more than anything in the world. There were lots of parts of being a mother that I really
[15:17]struggled to come around to. And so I just, I really wanted her. I needed her to be different
[15:23]for me and that was probably the toughest part, like writing tasks for me. And I needed her
[15:28]to be somebody that people like. And I got feedback in early drafts that were like, I don't
[15:33]really get, I don't get her. Like I don't like her. And so I worked so hard. And several of the
[15:39]kind of passes that I did were just Lucy a past. So it would be like, I'm only going to look at
[15:44]everything she says, everything she does, every action that she takes. And see, is it consistent
[15:49]with her character? And she is. Is it coming off in the way that I want her to come off? And I'm
[15:53]really focusing on making her a likable character, which is not the same as a relatable
[15:58]character, I would say. But I think the things that make her relatable are the mistakes
[16:05]are the insecurities that she has about herself. I think those are being someone who is like a
[16:11]badass in a lot of ways, but also not perfect. And where she has one amazing day of work and
[16:16]she was home and she's like screwed everything up with her husband. Like I think that is relatable
[16:20]because that is real. And so I want her to be like, well, and I got someone that was relatable
[16:26]and like, well, I hope you like her. I love her. I love her so much.
[16:30]Why is I'm curious, what were the things that people found? I'm like, well, that you
[16:33]shouldn't change. Well, there was a lot of feedback at the beginning that she was too negative
[16:37]than negative about motherhood. And that people weren't going to like that. And I was like,
[16:46]oh, okay. Okay, fine. But I think that there was some of that was really valid in terms of like,
[16:54]she needs to be having more in both her motherhood and her job. She needs to be having more
[16:59]fun. Like, why is she doing if she is constantly questioning how much money people are sending on
[17:05]dollars? Why is she, you know, surely there are some great things about being a mother to an
[17:11]18 month old, which there are. And I think that I, even though it's absolutely not, it is a novel.
[17:17]And she is a fictional character. I did have to take myself back to the early days in life
[17:25]and my early days of motherhood and remember the joy of that. And that was a really
[17:31]like ultimately cathartic and like gratifying exercise because I worked in philanthropy for almost
[17:38]20 years. I've been, you know, my kids now are teenagers, like they're actual teenagers, the
[17:42]i-rolls, the like, you know, I'm so, I'm coolest person that they've ever met. Like, I'm like,
[17:49]actually, I am pretty cool. They're like, you're so not cool. And I'm, and, you know, and they're
[17:56]going through their own changes in their life. And so they're very focused on themselves in their
[18:00]world. And it's not all about me anymore. And that's fine. But I had to go back and remember what
[18:06]real little, I just wanted to spend that time with them. And when I knew I had so much to do. But
[18:13]the building of this Lego tower was like the most important thing in the world. And that was the
[18:18]place that I wanted to be. And the feeling of being pulled in all those directions is something
[18:22]I still feel. But that just wanting to be with your child and wanting to be with you all the time
[18:28]was something I had to go back to. And so it was the same with philanthropy too. And I think part of
[18:33]through the writing process of this book, I reconnected with a lot of the joy that I feel and
[18:38]feel because when you do anything for 20 years, easy to get jaded, you see all of the flaws,
[18:44]feel the places people go wrong. And it's harder to remember what it's like when you are
[18:50]and it's exciting. And it's scary. And you don't know everything. Yes. And that was such a good
[18:58]like, personally, it was a good exercise. Because afterwards I was like, oh right, I really do like
[19:02]work. So many you're talking about this too, but many elements of Lucy's story draw parallels
[19:10]from your own life. So why did you decide to write this story of a Latina expert to the UK
[19:16]who works as a philanthropy advisor as a fictional after writing a memoir? Because you could have done
[19:20]another. I could have done it about you and about that. I signed a lot of non-disclosure agreements
[19:26]with previous clients. I definitely could not have written a memoir. But my memoir would not have been
[19:30]as fun as you see as fun. And so I definitely wanted to be fiction. I just, there was like never a
[19:39]question in my mind that she was going to be a Latina Rowan ever. And also that's what I'm doing
[19:44]in all my books anyway. And I realized that people write about people that are not like themselves
[19:49]all the time. And there are lots of characters in the book for a Latina. But to get inside the
[19:54]head of that very character, I really, that was just never. I never even questioned it. And I
[19:58]remember
[20:00]an interview I did one, or an interview I read with
[20:04]Kiara who was Lin-Manuel's writing partner in the house
[20:08]and she talked about working on the script for the film
[20:12]and making it in the script, putting in various lines that referred to the character of Nina
[20:18]being Afro-Lakina and that she was like, if I didn't put it in the script
[20:22]they were never going to cast it, right?
[20:24]I had to write it in, right?
[20:26]And so, part of it was also thinking like if I don't write this
[20:31]and I don't make it so clearly a part of the story
[20:34]then it's never...
[20:35]Then it could be anybody else.
[20:37]Exactly.
[20:38]Yeah.
[20:39]And I'm sure she's great at what she does.
[20:40]Great.
[20:41]I'm sure she's a great person, but that's not who I want to, you know,
[20:45]continue on this story and different things
[20:47]and it's just not...
[20:48]It just didn't feel authentic to me
[20:50]and it did feel important.
[20:52]And I have written about this about how there's just so few messy,
[20:58]complicated, like in the hands.
[20:59]You are responsible personally for having written a lot of them.
[21:03]And so why wouldn't I want to put that out there?
[21:06]If I have the opportunity and people are going to read my stuff,
[21:08]yeah, like that's what I'm going to write about.
[21:10]It's even...
[21:11]It was like a no-brainer.
[21:13]Maybe someone will make a movie of this book
[21:15]and we can then get past the whole bunch of...
[21:18]I love it.
[21:19]Yes, please.
[21:21]So fellow author Sally Franson called this,
[21:25]the double worst product said,
[21:26]do you see how I tried without the glasses?
[21:28]I'm kidding.
[21:30]I'm absolutely not reading anything tonight, which is like...
[21:32]Double worst product set in the world of charitable giving,
[21:36]which is so spot-on.
[21:37]So was that intentional?
[21:39]I mean, yes.
[21:40]But I didn't pay her to say she just had that.
[21:43]I can even pay her.
[21:44]Yes!
[21:45]Isn't that exciting?
[21:46]That is exciting.
[21:48]I took apart the book of the double worst product.
[21:51]Because I was teaching myself how to write fiction.
[21:53]I had never written fiction.
[21:55]Yeah.
[21:56]So much of my memoir writing process was like literally my stream of consciousness
[21:59]of what I was thinking, which is not to downplay
[22:01]that there was craft in it.
[22:03]But that book went through who rounds of edit maybe.
[22:06]My editor left the company before the book came out.
[22:08]It was very, very quick.
[22:10]And it's very much people say to me all the time,
[22:13]when I read that book, I feel like I'm listening to you off,
[22:15]which is a very big compliment.
[22:16]But that's kind of what it was.
[22:17]I was like, this is my voice in my head.
[22:19]And these are the things that happened to me.
[22:21]And we're going to try to make it like funny in places.
[22:23]But more or less, that was it.
[22:25]And this just involved a whole different world.
[22:28]And I've read a ton of fiction.
[22:30]But I still could not figure out the mechanics.
[22:33]And I need to know how something works.
[22:36]Yeah.
[22:37]I am a butter, not a pantser.
[22:38]If you are familiar with those distinctions,
[22:40]like I need an outline for everything I write,
[22:42]I can't just like dream about like,
[22:45]character do next.
[22:46]No.
[22:47]I like to write within a structure.
[22:48]And then sometimes that changes.
[22:49]But I need that.
[22:50]So when I started out this book,
[22:51]I was like, how do you write a novel like this?
[22:53]How do people write novels like the ones I like to read?
[22:57]Let me take one and figure it out.
[22:58]So I took the Delaware product.
[22:59]I went after my chapter.
[23:01]I pulled everything out.
[23:02]I summarized what happened.
[23:03]What happened to each character?
[23:04]When the different story beats happened.
[23:06]I got stave the cat rights to novel.
[23:08]I looked at that.
[23:09]I thought it.
[23:10]I looked at that.
[23:11]And I just poured apart completely
[23:13]because I think what Lauren Weisberger does in that book,
[23:17]which I love, is this amazing job of making you,
[23:21]you understand the world of magazines
[23:24]through the eyes of this one character.
[23:26]Who's going through a very relatable,
[23:28]and she weaves those two things together so well.
[23:33]And so I just want you to be like, how did you do it?
[23:36]So I took apart the entire story.
[23:38]I think that's the way.
[23:40]I mean, every year that I write a pilot, every year,
[23:43]I've re-watched cheers.
[23:45]Like with the script.
[23:47]It's a perfect pilot.
[23:49]It's a perfect pilot.
[23:51]And I'll go through and be like, oh, right.
[23:53]One location, he comes in every first character's line.
[23:57]It tells you everything about the character.
[23:59]I haven't seen it in years.
[24:01]It's with it.
[24:02]And so I do that, like, it is like a reminder
[24:04]of like, what are the grades?
[24:05]How do we honor the grades?
[24:06]How do we find the things we love?
[24:08]Because I think it also pulls up, which is also a big thing.
[24:11]And the fact that Delaware's product holds up
[24:13]years later.
[24:14]And then you took that and did that.
[24:16]I think it's a great learning tool for creatives.
[24:18]I think it was just, I know how my brain works
[24:21]and how I like to learn.
[24:22]And that was really helpful.
[24:23]But you don't need to reinvent the wheel.
[24:26]There's brilliant people who have written really things
[24:28]that I have loved.
[24:29]And so why wouldn't I try to learn from them?
[24:31]Because your voice is your voice.
[24:32]And so it's going to be different.
[24:33]We're going to do your thing to it.
[24:35]But there's a structure that works.
[24:36]and so why not learn from that structure?
[24:38]And I learned so much from that effort.
[24:39]Yeah.
[24:40]Oh, that's so cool.
[24:41]I love that.
[24:42]OK.
[24:43]So Lucy's art art explores the difference between meaning well
[24:48]and doing good in the world.
[24:50]Can you tell us a little bit more about what you mean by that?
[24:52]OK.
[24:53]So I'm going to tell my favorite story.
[24:54]So I'm off the back.
[24:55]I did 15 days of book events on the East Coast.
[24:57]And it's my first best event.
[24:59]All of you.
[25:00]And my, and my mom and dad came with me to most of my East Coast events because they followed me around us. We're like, yes, you are.
[25:07]And I love them for that. And at every event, I told this for the first night. And then every event my mom stood up and said, you need to tell this story.
[25:14]So mom, if you're watching, I'm going to tell this story. So to illustrate this distinction, I have pulled this story about one of my earliest clients in my early 20.
[25:26]And I was consulting for a firm in New York. And it was like the kind of very wild West early days of strategic appropriately.
[25:33]We now all the time you see companies that are sponsoring things that are connected to their brand. But back in the early 2000s, companies would just throw money anywhere.
[25:40]They wanted, they were starting to learn about what this thing meant. So they would come to us like, oh, we have $28 million. We've been spending it on the garden club.
[25:47]Like, what should we do that's connected to our brand and community. And I was like, I'm 26. I'll tell you what you should do with that money.
[25:53]So we had this client that was a pharmaceutical company. They were based here in LA.
[25:58]And they were going to put something like 10 million a year towards this program that they asked to design.
[26:04]And so we spent like nine months designing this philanthropic strategy for that and to do that we talked to their employees.
[26:10]We talked to the leadership of the company. We talked to their consumers. We talked to the communities in places where they work.
[26:15]And we put together something that matched what their brand was about and their needs, which was this like beautiful access to health for immigrant women program that was going to be in LA.
[26:23]And they were going to build a center and then they were going to have all of this like community outreach and sponsor all of these existing nonprofits.
[26:29]And it was like amazing. Super proud of it.
[26:32]And then when you're a consultant, you just, you handed over to the client, you say thank very much.
[26:36]And then you may never see them again. And you hope they do something good with it.
[26:39]So we handed over this piece of work and then six months later, I'd get an invitation in the mail inviting me to the launch of what they decided to them, which was a super sized model of the human colon.
[26:53]That they were taking to tour around to the US so people could learn about their colon.
[26:59]You are walking through the colon like you are the poo. You are the poo and you are following the journey of the church.
[27:07]And they were launching in Grand Central Station. I was living in New York at the time. Did I want to come and see the model of the human colon in Grand Central instead of the millions of dollars going towards.
[27:18]And I didn't go, I didn't go walk through the colon, but it was a very harsh lesson early in my career, which was that people have very different ideas about what doing good actually looks like.
[27:31]So I've met very few people in my 20 years in philanthropy who don't mean who aren't coming from a good like some people are not coming from a good place.
[27:40]But overwhelmingly people really, really care they want to do good, but there are so many different ways that you can engage in doing good.
[27:49]And some of them are better than others and smarter than others and more thoughtful to take into account what the needs of the community are versus just what you want to do with your money.
[27:58]And so that tension was something I really want to explore, especially in this world where it's wealthy people's individual money.
[28:05]And they're coming to philanthropy and I worked with many amazing high net worth individual all them who have done incredible things and who have been thoughtful and want to listen.
[28:15]And I have worked with many people who have come and said, I want to fund playgrounds in Greenwich, Connecticut, and that's what I think the world needs.
[28:22]And I don't think that's what the world needs actually just saying that I think Greenwich has a lot of beautiful playgrounds already.
[28:29]And so it was important to play with that tension because I think that that for people that work in this space and I know there's been here tonight like that is that is that wanting constantly the knowing that everybody has really good
[28:43]but they're not always doing things in the way that's the greatest impact and so help and keep that.
[28:53]So we'll see how often tells her daughter, let's go do something great does that mantra come from your own life.
[29:02]And what advice would you give readers who want to make a positive?
[29:05]Okay, this is actually the perfect side. Are we supposed to move into Q&A time anyway?
[29:09]Okay, so here's what I would say if you put if you purchased a book tonight you have a bookmark beside your book. I would like you to take out that bookmark and look on the back. Does anybody have a rainbow?
[29:23]Rainbow sticker.
[29:27]Don't the suspense is good.
[29:30]Okay, so congratulations, you are the winner of our $50 Insomnia gift card and for Insomnia cookies.
[29:38]Thank you to my tourist sponsors and Sonia cookies but now that I have your attention on the bookmarks there is a little to our code on there.
[29:46]And I QR code and you are welcome to get your phone sounds in it because it will speak to you a very quick and easy way that you can do so.
[29:55]So did I grow up with that concept? I mean I didn't have a grandparent telling me that.
[30:00]was a completely made-up scene, which I really love
[30:01]this scene with Lucy and her grandfather.
[30:05]But my mother in particular has just been,
[30:08]she's one of the most generous people I've ever met.
[30:10]She volunteers all the time, almost like
[30:12]she's like a pathological volunteer.
[30:14]And she is constantly thinking about how
[30:17]to make other people's lives better than everything
[30:19]that she does.
[30:20]And I am much more selfish than she is as a person.
[30:23]But I also think that what she has taught me
[30:25]is that there are so many very small ways
[30:28]that we can make a difference in the world around us.
[30:30]And especially now, when things feel so darkly apocalyptic
[30:34]and people kind of feel like giving up,
[30:36]I really want to make sure that people do not lose
[30:40]that spirit of joy that comes with you.
[30:42]So tonight we are supporting this is about humanity
[30:46]who are an incredible organization.
[30:48]They support reuniting families.
[30:50]They do incredible work with, I mean, you actually,
[30:53]I will do a lot of work with that.
[30:54]Yeah, you do a lot of work with them.
[30:55]So you did a freezer for them for your birthday.
[30:57]And yeah, yeah, I do a bunch of them for my birthday.
[31:00]So Elsa Collins and so many others come together.
[31:03]And they basically do a lot of trips to the border.
[31:06]And they work also with immigrant defense
[31:10]to make sure that there's legal services provided
[31:12]to people that they have access.
[31:14]They also do a lot of events for recently
[31:17]reunited families.
[31:19]These kids have been through some real trauma.
[31:21]And so I am the daughter of Cuban immigrants as well.
[31:24]And there are many, many strangers
[31:27]that are ranged for my parents to come here safely
[31:30]for them to have a path to citizenship, et cetera.
[31:32]And I will never be able to thank those people.
[31:35]So this work is very important to me because it is a way
[31:37]that we can be giving back and in small,
[31:40]if they do so much great work also at the border
[31:42]and across the border, they do events here in the U.S.
[31:45]and you can participate in and across the border as well
[31:49]with in partnership with the YMCA.
[31:52]And there's different pockets that you can contribute to.
[31:55]If you're passionate about LGBTQ issues,
[31:57]they have an LGBTQ center that you can give money to.
[32:00]They also have a lot of kids that are in their orphanage
[32:03]and you can give money to buy balls for the kids
[32:06]so they can play outside or have shade or have new books
[32:13]or whatever you want.
[32:14]You can be really intentional about how you see
[32:16]that money go to them.
[32:18]And they're just a really beautiful organization.
[32:20]And really, they're amazing that organize to make sure
[32:23]that these kids are being looked after.
[32:25]So I'm so proud of what they do.
[32:26]The first link on that site will take you to their donation page.
[32:29]You can give anything you can.
[32:31]I have now seen two days in LA.
[32:33]I see how expensive a coffee is here.
[32:34]So the price of one LA coffee will really make a difference.
[32:39]And you will feel really good if you engage in that way
[32:42]and you learn more.
[32:43]So if you want to do something great,
[32:45]they I would love you to support them.
[32:48]I mean, really, 10 bucks, not kidding.
[32:49]Like there was, there was campaigns that I do every year
[32:52]that it's like people think that, oh, I don't know.
[32:55]It is small, small donations are the backbone
[32:57]of how most charities are supported.
[32:59]It's not that people like him's in giving 200 million
[33:01]or whatever she's doing.
[33:03]So yeah.
[33:06]All right.
[33:07]So we do that.
[33:08]Do we have to ask questions now?
[33:10]Is that where we are?
[33:12]They ask questions.
[33:15]It doesn't so diplomatic.
[33:18]She's like, stop, talk.
[33:25]I'll be here all night.
[33:26]Yeah.
[33:27]Do you guys have questions?
[33:30]Come on.
[33:31]If you don't, Gloria can just ask me more about it.
[33:33]I'll talk in.
[33:34]Yeah.
[33:35]Um,
[33:36]I won't back.
[33:37]What's the ability to kind of tap over
[33:39]and just through with the project.
[33:41]But I think I was working on that.
[33:43]as well.
[33:44]Do you know what you're talking about?
[33:45]Do you struggle with wanting to be perfect?
[33:47]And wanting to impress and being better
[33:49]than what we need to be to be shown in certain spaces?
[33:53]So I would love it to talk about like the messy heroine
[33:56]kind of aspect of your guys's projects.
[33:58]And that tension between wanting to be liked,
[34:00]but also accepting who you are, where you're at in life.
[34:04]And then look at it, we have to stay just in the middle of that.
[34:06]So I want you to start with that.
[34:08]No, well, see, look, I just turned 50.
[34:10]So my last book has really been given.
[34:14]And it's really, it's so wonderful.
[34:19]I'm so grateful to be in this space now
[34:21]because I love getting older.
[34:24]I really love it.
[34:26]I love aging.
[34:27]I don't think we give it enough credit or make it sexy enough,
[34:30]but it's so sexy getting older.
[34:33]I have the best act of my life now
[34:35]that I did when I had a boot.
[34:37]I did, right?
[34:38]I have a better relationship with my children,
[34:40]with my parents with my husband.
[34:41]I have more authentic relationships with people around me
[34:44]because I have cut the fat of people that,
[34:48]I don't like small fat.
[34:50]So my favorite thing is like, tell me about your mother.
[34:52]You know, I want to get right into it.
[34:55]And so for me, we're all messy.
[34:58]And I've done the purpose.
[35:00]thing for a really long time. And it's exhausting. We don't have to do that. So for me, I get a real
[35:07]joy now in writing characters that for a long time, I did feel like I had to write these perfect
[35:12]characters. And I remember when I wrote one day at a time that a lot of people were like, oh, the
[35:16]perfect lucky enough student, you know, that's a little, that's what, and I was like, no,
[35:19]dude, that's what I had to do. Like, that's what many of us still need to do in order to survive
[35:25]and because of the sacrifice of so many of our parents, we walk with that with everything I do,
[35:30]I walk with my ancestors and their sacrifice and what it was to come here and help so much
[35:35]has been pinned on me succeeding. I have to do it. I've let that go. And I think that I want to
[35:41]give people permission to also let that go and to understand that actually people want people take
[35:47]great relief in seeing your mess, because it allows them to connect with their own mess,
[35:52]and then they are more vulnerable with you and more authentic. So I really love that.
[35:57]I love that too. I can't answer that. That was amazing. I do think just to like,
[36:03]exclamation point, just that is that I don't think that being likable, one thing I have learned is that
[36:08]being like one person actually don't think people, I think a book about a perfect heroine,
[36:12]nobody would read that. And also I'd run out of things to say. So I like to repeat this. So I
[36:16]think that to me a lot of the likability is in showing those imperfections. And in my journey
[36:23]through motherhood, I remember I they have this thing in the UK called NCT, which is like
[36:30]I guess like prenatal groups that you do. And they are wonderful because you get it's a non-profit
[36:34]that runs that you get place with people who are in your neighborhood having a baby around the same
[36:38]time. And you meet you have like scheduled meet up. You have like a built-in group friend.
[36:42]It looks like a mommy in the UK. You came on me but everybody in the country does it. And it's
[36:48]really popular. And they're so it's like micro community. So I had these women that lived within
[36:52]10 20 blocks of me who had kids who were within a month. So we would meet up. And I would meet
[36:57]up with them and everybody would be like, yeah, you know, it's hard. But sometimes it's just
[37:00]parent to my baby's eyes in the bed. And I was like, all right, I can only have one baby. But I
[37:04]never said that. I said, yeah, me too. I do that too all the time. I just love staring into
[37:12]and like, I'm not even worried about the fact that I'm spending literally 16 hours a day
[37:16]producing milk in some capacity for two children. But I said nothing because I felt like I was a
[37:21]failure for not embracing these like quiet moments as much. And then when the twins were like four
[37:27]months old, I found a local gathering of twin moms and I went there. And I was like so stressed
[37:33]taking them on the bus like happened. They were sleeping when we got there. And there's all
[37:36]then I've get there. It's chaos. Like a gathering of twins is just mind blowing. Like they were
[37:40]like running around everywhere and throwing things. And they all look alike. So there's like mashed
[37:44]pears. And the, so I like, I put my sleeping twins and I walk in a cup of tea and the woman says
[37:50]to me. She's like, how are you doing? And I said, you know, it's fine. Like it's hard. But I'm looking
[37:55]to my baby's eyes. It feels like really because my first year of having twins was like a war zone.
[38:00]I felt like every day I woke up and I was in a war zone. And then I went to bed and I woke up
[38:03]the next day and I was in a war zone. And I was like me too. And I wish I could remember her name
[38:10]because I'm so grateful to her because by her showing to me that she was vulnerable, I was unable
[38:15]to be able to. And I feel like it's important to be that forward because I am also not quite 50
[38:20]yet, but on my way. And I feel like it is, I have an obligation to make sure that people know that
[38:27]so much is not perfect. And there's such a, yeah, medium bowl. That's not real. Like the stuff
[38:33]that's messy is real. And I think people are drawn to that. And that's what I think really pulls
[38:38]at the heart. And I love watching it. And with love was such a life. Oh, I hope you've all seen
[38:46]with love. Like, it is, but it is, it is such an, but you're such a great show of a lot of imperfect
[38:56]people just doing their best. And there's very pretty all of them. But like, you know,
[39:01]pretty people have, pretty people have problems too. And I just think that that is what
[39:07]what you want to back. It's in them and all their fuss.
[39:15]Any other?
[39:16]Oh, my God, what a good question. Well, first of all, Gloria, it has to be in charge. So that's
[39:33]I think that the tension between meaning well and doing good for sure. I think that there's not
[39:39]a lot of popular culture about, yeah, there's loot. Yeah. Which I love Maya Rudolph, but I don't
[39:46]think that that show had anybody who worked in for life to be writing a show because it was like
[39:50]very unrealistic. Um, so I think that that real all of these people who mean really, really
[39:57]well, and not in a hunching down away. But it's.
[40:00]in a real way.
[40:01]Like, let's talk about the fact that lots of people want to do good and always be
[40:04]exposed to their own lots of reasons.
[40:06]I think that the tension between motherhood and ambition for me is crucial.
[40:12]And it's something in my next book that I'm working on.
[40:14]I'm exploring as well from a different stage because it is real.
[40:17]It is real at every stage of my life since I have been a mother of that.
[40:21]And I don't know what number it is.
[40:23]I think X-TAT life and like that is a shadow water, which we didn't talk about much tonight,
[40:26]but like, I really loved so many of the, just those moments where Alicia is so out
[40:33]of place in London, not just the American and London, but Alakina in London.
[40:38]And I put the first interview I did before the book came out with a bunch of British
[40:42]people.
[40:43]And they were like, so let's talk about your portrayal of British people.
[40:46]And I was like, oh god, I never thought British people were going to read this book.
[40:54]But I, you know, we had a really good story.
[40:56]So they were like, it feels like stuff.
[40:59]So they were like, do you really think we're like this?
[41:00]And I was like, yes, you are like this.
[41:02]Like, I've been here for 18 years, like, oh, you are often like this.
[41:07]And we had a really good chat because they were like, well, you know, it feels like
[41:11]this kind of cliched version of English people.
[41:13]And I said, this is very real for me.
[41:15]Like a lot of the people I have met have been like this.
[41:19]The British are amazing.
[41:21]I, many of them, not all of them, but, you know, I love being part of that culture.
[41:26]But I have also been made to feel like I am not British, like I do not belong in a lot
[41:31]of ways.
[41:32]And that all these pieces of my identity are not welcome over here where I can just
[41:36]pull with strictly American.
[41:39]And, you know, British people never say anything like really, they're very bad at it.
[41:43]Yeah.
[41:44]I mean, you lived in London for a long time saying, you know, so I think that would be
[41:47]the third one.
[41:48]Is that kind of expertise?
[41:49]They, in the end, they really liked it.
[41:50]But I think they were like, they were like, they couldn't believe, but they were both
[41:54]British.
[41:55]And they were like, is this what we are like to other people?
[41:57]And I was like, you know, I love you, but yes.
[42:01]Yeah.
[42:02]No, it was a real, I mean, I, I love your exploration of that and your work, too, because
[42:07]I hear, I always feel like I'm defending my loving death, right?
[42:12]And when I went to England, I was American.
[42:15]Yeah.
[42:16]And I was like, wow, I'm more American in the UK.
[42:22]Because theirs are like, let's see, what is that, what is that, I don't know, what,
[42:25]they don't, if they don't understand a complexity of it, they're like, oh, wow, wow.
[42:31]So it's the exploration of that, not the shot of water, yeah, that is.
[42:35]And there are so much more about class, like it really, I think living England for me was
[42:38]fascinating because it was really like, oh, we've just as people are sort of assholes that
[42:43]need to make ourselves feel better than one another.
[42:45]There are a lot of people that they're like, oh, we have a different accent than you.
[42:48]So, you know, like, it's like, oh, we will do anything to live in some sort of hierarchy.
[42:53]And how can we in this life break that down and just be nice to each other, right?
[42:58]And so, and it's hard and the Brits don't like to talk about that.
[43:02]They don't like to see it.
[43:04]Social mobility in the UK is horrendous.
[43:06]I think it's much worse than it is because it is very difficult to be, live a different
[43:13]and they also have no issue whatsoever with somebody being born into something.
[43:16]Like the royals were just born into anything extraordinary in order to do that.
[43:22]That's an interesting environment to live in, that people were just born into something
[43:26]and then they're accepted.
[43:27]And having grown up with this very much like this whole, the whole narrative around my childhood,
[43:32]which was like, you know, we are, we are immigrants.
[43:35]We are here to build the American dream.
[43:36]If we work really hard, we can get it.
[43:38]We are stronger because we came from nothing.
[43:41]That's right.
[43:42]And in the UK, that rags through it, isn't it, if it's like, under the table, people don't like
[43:46]to talk about it.
[43:47]If you've come from Birmingham or the Midlands or the North or Glasgow, your accent softens,
[43:53]if you're going to, that's right.
[43:55]Or you change your accent.
[43:56]You don't, you know, who's, they do change, and they do.
[43:58]They have accent coaches.
[43:59]They don't, they will change access.
[44:01]And it's weird in Scotland as well, because like in Scotland, regional Scottish accents are
[44:05]like not seen to be as acceptable as like an English beat in Barak.
[44:10]But every time I get into a taxi, they're like, oh, how long have you been here?
[44:14]And I'm like, 18 years.
[44:16]And then they're like, excuse me, which I also thought.
[44:19]It is interesting.
[44:20]You don't have the Madonna effect.
[44:22]I think I did it for like a little while.
[44:24]When I came back, I was definitely like that I would go, I would actually do Australian
[44:28]influence of going up at the end.
[44:29]Yeah, you're right.
[44:30]And then we make everything a question.
[44:31]I think if you talk to me in a work setting, you would maybe hear a little bit of
[44:35]of it, but also I really write emails like a British person.
[44:38]And then when people who have only emailed with me, they're like, oh, because I worked,
[44:43]my overwhelming majority of my career has been in the UK.
[44:46]So I'll be like, yeah, I'll just pop this in the diary and then we'll just meet later.
[44:50]And then they're like, you don't, you don't found talking like you sound not email.
[44:54]And I'm like, I was one personality is what I say.
[45:00]Right now, it's really hard to get in the game.
[45:05]My previous boss, when I'm very grateful for it,
[45:07]because that's how I go for it.
[45:10]Um, at least never get back to ask him.
[45:14]Oh, God.
[45:15]Me too.
[45:16]I'm glad he was rich right now.
[45:17]Yeah.
[45:18]But he wasn't always a rich right now.
[45:20]Right.
[45:21]Citizen first.
[45:22]He was a humanitarian second.
[45:24]He was a mentor first.
[45:26]And as two very accomplished lefty men's working in this business,
[45:33]sharing your art with the world,
[45:36]please tell me how do we keep growing.
[45:39]Oh, we will poke you whenever you have to share.
[45:42]Cause I just need to.
[45:44]Yeah.
[45:45]Because we have to.
[45:46]First of all, if not us, then who?
[45:50]You know, in so many ways, I feel like we are who we've been waiting for.
[45:56]And so I mean, I have an email.
[45:59]I have an email, one of the last emails, Norman Lear.
[46:01]So she's talking about I have one of Norman's emails on my desktop,
[46:05]and they'll just click it open every once in a while.
[46:08]Because I often feel like gosh, I wish I could talk to him right now
[46:12]and think about like and hear him talk about this moment
[46:16]and how to work through this moment.
[46:18]Um, where we are back, I will share that from a Hollywood perspective.
[46:22]People are saying the quiet part out loud now.
[46:25]Um, they're saying, you know, one day,
[46:28]we love one day at a time.
[46:29]I mean, you couldn't, you couldn't do that right now.
[46:31]We couldn't program that right now.
[46:32]It's too, it's too political.
[46:34]I was like, just a Latino family.
[46:36]Yeah, we're being Latinos like really political right now.
[46:40]Dead serious.
[46:43]So it's like, oh, okay.
[46:45]Well, listen, the good news is that does not determine.
[46:48]Except in him before.
[46:49]Smashing 99 again.
[46:50]I can do that.
[46:51]I can do my shit and all of the Trojan horses.
[46:53]I'll be like her name is Stephanie.
[46:54]Ha ha.
[46:55]Stay funny.
[46:56]Like, like, um, you know, like we'll figure it out.
[47:00]Right?
[47:01]We can do that.
[47:02]But we, we must.
[47:04]We must.
[47:05]We must virtual.
[47:06]We must because we know what it feels like to do it.
[47:08]We both had a taste of what it feels like to do it.
[47:11]And that response that you get from people where you realize.
[47:15]Oh, we're making like, look, there's something just fun about writing a book.
[47:19]to write a TV show.
[47:20]It's so fun.
[47:21]It's so cool.
[47:22]Then you see the people that come up to you.
[47:24]And are like, there were days that this piece of art that you made helps me not to myself.
[47:31]It helps me understand.
[47:32]That may be proud of what my parents didn't wear a cane from.
[47:36]And you can really see how the work that we do matters beyond entertainment.
[47:43]It really can make people feel seen and heard.
[47:47]And I'll share a story.
[47:48]I sure love it.
[47:49]I don't know that.
[47:50]I want to hear that.
[47:51]So it's about art and policy.
[47:54]And granted, this study was done in the 90s.
[47:58]Fabiana Rodriguez, you should all follow if you don't.
[48:00]She's an incredible artist.
[48:01]Yeah, she's an amazing.
[48:02]She did this study on impact from art to policy specific to the United States.
[48:12]And she said in the 90s, it took about 10 years.
[48:15]So if you're talking about Will and Grace,
[48:17]and you're talking about Laverne Cough on, on, or is this a new black?
[48:22]From there is, you can see 10 years.
[48:24]People see it.
[48:25]It's in the mainstream.
[48:26]People are talking about people are treating about people.
[48:28]And then 10 years later, policy change happens in DC.
[48:31]That's what used to happen.
[48:32]We used to also watch more of the same things together.
[48:35]And I honestly feel like a lot of the fracture that we're experiencing in this moment is because we're not sharing art.
[48:44]We're not talking about the same things in the same ways.
[48:47]And it's something I'm trying to as an artist around my brain around because I want,
[48:52]I want to just not just talk to my people.
[48:54]I want to build a bridge.
[48:56]I want to say you don't know who we are.
[48:58]So if you get to know who we are, you're going to feel differently.
[49:01]I promise you, right?
[49:03]But she did this big thing about this 10-year gap.
[49:06]And I really sat with it.
[49:07]And then I thought about my parents coming here from Cuba.
[49:10]They came in 1962.
[49:13]They were put in camps in Florida City.
[49:16]But they got blankets and pillows.
[49:18]But they were separated.
[49:19]They were unaccompanied minors separated from their parents.
[49:21]Okay?
[49:22]Now at that time, yes, there were some people that were out there like we don't want Cubans.
[49:27]But for the most part, the country was pretty adaptable and amenable to 14,000 Cuban children coming.
[49:33]What was different in this country?
[49:35]What was happening in 1952?
[49:37]Oh, the number one show in America was I love Lucy.
[49:41]Oh, there's a Cuban on TV and he's married to a white lady.
[49:45]And he's working and he's funny and he's great.
[49:47]And he just wants to live his life.
[49:49]Right?
[49:50]So I truly believe that Desi Arnaz is the reason I'm here.
[49:55]Right.
[49:57]So when you see that and you hear that.
[50:00]and you go, oh, I have a, oh, this thing that for me was fun and I hope it's a deal
[50:05]of what a dream and it's about more than that. It's about making other people feel
[50:10]seen through the work so that one day they can be sitting somewhere and saying because of this piece
[50:15]of art I got through a difficult moment. This is when the artists have to get to work.
[50:20]This is when we have to show up more than ever. And so I was waking up and remembering that
[50:24]purpose I think is the thing that we'll get. That's amazing. Oh, I had not heard. I'll add
[50:32]just one small thing to that and then we should probably wrap up. It's like, yeah, whatever. I could
[50:37]sleep here overnight. Okay. Thank you. I have heard you speak about Norman Lear before and I've
[50:45]heard other people speak about him. Never with a, with a negative word. So I would say, can you
[50:51]beat to somebody what he was for you? And I do, and I do think that I have the great privilege
[50:57]of living overseas. I do not have to engage in the same way that in the US, everybody has to
[51:04]engage on a daily basis. But particularly in LA, you have to be engaged with what is happening
[51:09]in the world and you are seeing it affect your community. It is so difficult to come in from
[51:14]the outside and also I feel guilty sometimes that I get to shut it off a little bit when I go home
[51:18]you know that we have our own problems in the UK but they're different. But I really think
[51:24]that the power of small actions of putting out in the world what you want to be getting back
[51:30]is so important. You know, my husband was, he called me yesterday and he was like connecting some
[51:37]friends. We have an amazing friend who is, I think, kind of be the candidate for the Senate,
[51:41]the floor of the Democratic Senate. I think this is secret. So I won't say what his name is, but this is
[51:47]and he is just the most amazing person. So we, my husband is on the phone with him for like two
[51:50]hours to be like, all right, we're going to do a fundraiser and Miami and Christmas when we're
[51:53]there. We're going to connect you. These people are going to do this. And after we see the country,
[51:56]you know, I feel so good because I feel like I'm taking a positive act and doing something. And I
[52:01]think there isn't overwhelm that comes with the scale of the problem feeling unable to fix them
[52:07]all or even one, but really from a personal day to day like, how do you wake up and show up to
[52:13]the people that matter to you, just strangers. And if you are an artist and you are creating art
[52:19]and more power to you in that way, but that stuff matters really matters. And it has a
[52:23]cumulative effect because if everybody was treating people the way they wanted to be treated,
[52:27]we would all be a better thing. So it's like such a simple thing, but I think that like every day
[52:32]I wake up and I think what can I do today that's going to make a better in a very small way.
[52:36]And it makes me feel better. And I think it makes them feel better. And then I hope that they
[52:41]will go on and make other people feel better. So he's made my day better. This has been
[52:45]an amazing day. If you spend everything doing so already, you can have a great job. Thank you, Alicia.
[52:50]And guys, please, look, it may seem small, but tweeting about this, instagramming about this,
[52:55]yes, tagging it, tagging Alicia, tagging Zivi, that helps. We need books like this that are
[53:01]positive, beautiful, for pros, lucky, and really complicated and interesting lives. So please,
[53:06]please, please take photos of it. Talk about it when you're reading it. Go, oh my god, it's like
[53:10]Ask for it at your library. That really makes a difference. Really good too. And then more will
[53:15]exist because this right. Thank you, Gordon. Thank you so much. I'm sure it's time for you.
[53:27]Yeah, right. If you twist my