1: LaNisa Renee Frederick
Creator's Cafe Episode 1: LaNisa Renee Frederick - Taking Up Space and Learning Who You Are with host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs
In this episode, LaNisa Renee Frederick embraces her comedic rise through Hashtag Booked, TV, Film, and voiceover. She encourages us all to step out of our comfort zones to create a career we are excited about.
Show Notes:
More info | www.kikalabs.com
Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs
Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs
Lanisa | https://linktr.ee/lanisareneefrederick
@lanisafrederick
@hashtagbooked
Quotes from LaNisa:
Hone in on yourself. Listen to who you really are. Focus on what strengths you bring to the table.
It is never too late. It might be a little harder, but it's not too late.
Creator's Challenge: Document doing something outside of your creative comfort zone and tag @creatorscafebykikalabs
Hashtag Booked | www.hashtagbooked.com
Coaching/Studios | LaNisa - Business of Voice Over
Bio
My guest Lanisa Renee Frederick is a successful Actor/ Writer/ Content Creator/ Voiceover Artist and coach.
You can see her across TV and film, where she is currently featured on Snake Oil and voices the teacher Mrs. Slothworth on the hit TV show interrupting chicken. She was featured in a LA Times column about the future of Black Hollywood .
LaNisa trained at the University of Essex, Chicago's Second City, the Victory Gardens Theatre, Goodman Theatre, and Steppenwolf.
She's made us laugh on sitcoms such as Mom, Young Sheldon, A Black Lady Sketch Show, The Goldbergs, and Brooklyn 99 to name a few. And you've definitely seen her hold her own in national commercials with Kevin Hart, Mr. T, Amy Poehler, and Flo from Progressive.
LaNisa made voiceove
Creator's Cafe with Jessica Payne of Kika Labs
Host Jessica Payne of Kika Labs breaks down the subtle and the sublime of the creative process with inspiring artists at the Creator's Cafe.
Find out more info on the show and host Jessica Payne.
Offering digital courses, performance coaching, and more! www.kikalabs.com
Jessica's Featured Course:
If you or someone you know is on the job search, check out her digital course "Level Up Your Video Interviews."
More info and resources at | www.kikalabs.com
Watch the video podcast on YouTube | YouTube Creator's Cafe Podcast Playlist
Follow the Show | @creatorscafebykikalabs
Facebook Group | Creator's Cafe by Kika Labs
Transcripts and YouTube Links at | www.kikalabs.com/creators-cafe-shownotes
Theme Music
Our theme music is composed and performed by Kyle deTarnowsky.
Transcript:
Jessica
Welcome to Creators Cafe. I'm your host. Jessica Payne. I'm a performer, performance coach and multi-hyphenate creator. I'm going to be bringing you conversations with some of my favorite creators. Where we talk about this line and the specifics of the creative journey. So grab a drink, get cozy. Let's go.
My guest, LaNisa Renee Frederick, is a successful actor, writer, content creator, voiceover artist and coach. You've probably seen her on sitcoms such as Mom, Young Sheldon, a Black Lady sketch show, The Goldbergs and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. You've definitely seen her on national commercials holding her own with favorites such as Kevin Hart, Mr. T, Amy Poehler, and even Flo from Progressive.
LaNisa made voiceover history as the first Black woman to be a major playable character in Call of Duty. She's also featured in Ada Twist Society, which is executive produced by the Obamas. Lonza and her creative partner, Danielle Pinnock from Ghosts. Went viral over the pandemic with their social account hashtag booked there. They show the joys and misfortunes of being actresses of color in the entertainment industry.
It is so smart, so incisive. Check it out. You can see her in Snake Oil. You can hear her in Interrupting Chicken. The hilarious, passionate advocate creator and, artist. LaNisa Renee Fredrick.
Welcome LaNisa Renee Fredrick to Creators Cafe.. What are you drinking?
LaNisa
The best goddamn orange juice I never had in my entire life. This was juices. I mean, I'm an orange juice. How This right here. What's the place called?
Jessica
Dialog Cafe.
LaNisa
Dialog Cafe. This is like it tastes like it was squizzed. Like a fresh, fresh orange that somebody picked this morning.
Jessica
I think so. When I feel like a little sick. I go get that orange juice and I feel better. They need a little magic.
LaNisa
They should. Sponsor you.
Jessica
I think so, too. Dialog.
LaNisa
Hello, Dialog Cafe!
Jessica
Voice. They're great people, too. I got an ice mocha from Dialog. They have this, like, dark, dark chocolate, Bitter.
LaNisa
It's really good.
Jessica
How do you think of yourself as a creator? I know you as an educator an actor first, but you do all of the things. What do you when you think of yourself, kind of what are what are the slashes or the hyphens that you think of most?
LaNisa
I mean, I feel like that is changing a lot and it changes yearly. It changed from when I moved from Chicago to here. But I what I think I'm saying now, I am an actor, a voiceover artist, a writer and a content creator. I hope to add director to that one day. I've done some directing, but I hope to add to that to more, more to my slash this one day.
Yeah. Overall, probably just I'm an artist like because I think I wanted to fight that term for a long time, but now I'm just like, I'm an artist and it takes on different forms every day. Whether or not we put a specific label on it.
LaNisa
Or whatever. But every day it feels like especially now, you're doing so many things and you don't realize that number of skills, whether or not it is like editing or sound editing or video editing or, you know, directing yourself in a self tape, directing yourself, doing voiceover. But overall actor, voiceover artist, writer, content creator.
Jessica
So you studied in the States for your undergrad and then you got your masters in London. What was that?
LaNisa
It was awesome. So I went to Loyola University Chicago, which was not a theater school, but I'm from Ohio originally, and I moved to Chicago because my parents wouldn't let me do York. So they were like, This is a this is a nice little middle Chicago, which I appreciate and I love. I would have been wowed if I was in New York at 17.
LaNisa
I go, So well, like, okay, great, bold move to Chicago. I guess I didn't understand much. My parents, they are both college educated folks, but they knew nothing like letting their kids go into the arts, which is beautiful. They weren't like, You have to major in math. I like okay, theater. Sure, that's right. Now I go.
LaNisa
Why did you let me major in theater? What is wrong with you?
LaNisa
So I did my undergrad there, and then a couple of years later, I was kind of, like, restless and bored and was like, All right. Been doing some nonunion theater because Chicago's a theater town. And the school was like, Hey, come check us out. And it ended up being East 15 school, and you're like, We're in England. And I was like, Cool, I really think I should go.
LaNisa
They're like, You want to come and audition? I was like, Okay. So like, I booked a flight for a month later to audition. And those auditions, when I think back, are crazy because you come in as a group. So it's like 50 people. You audition in front of each other. She was like, What? Dance theater, whatever. It was in front of each other.
LaNisa
And then they slowly cut people out. Right. So I remember a girl that I was like, cool with, like she got cut and I was like.
LaNisa
Yeah, Really? Yeah.
LaNisa
And then at the end, they're like, Cool, you're in. And I'm like, What? Okay. And then I remember calling home. I remember sitting on an Airbnb, not an Airbnb at that time. What is it? A bed and breakfast. They're eating like literally and chips. There was no TV in this room. And I remember calling home on like my Razr flip phone and was like, Mom, I got into school here, so I'm going to move to.
LaNisa
And she's like.
LaNisa
Okay, okay.
LaNisa
So Mom and Dad were.
LaNisa
Like, Oh, way.
Jessica
To go. Your parents.
LaNisa
Okay, Yeah, Maybe looking back, I might have gone to a different school, but for what it was when it was and what I needed, it was great, especially because I hadn't been I don't think I had really been overseas at that point.
Jessica
So even just the experience exactly is.
LaNisa
Culturally, I think that's what made the difference. Not necessarily other stuff, I guess, but culturally, because you know, you wanna go to Spain today. Okay.
LaNisa
I do want to go to Spain, right?
LaNisa
Yeah, that's how it was. I was like, Oh, spring break. Should we go to like Bosnia? We should. So that really awesome. And then I went back to Chicago and then couple of years after that, went to school at Steppenwolf. Mm hmm. So that's like my big training knife jumps.
Jessica
So like, between London, Chicago, L.A., whatever kind of favorite, either artistically or culturally or just fish and chips or go to Spain, what was like kind of a highlight of each of those three places, I think.
LaNisa
And I would say in England, in London, the appreciation that others have for the arts, the appreciation that others have. It's not absurd that you're majoring in theater. It's not absurd that you're an actor. At least that's how it felt when I was there. Yeah, even things like how it's respected within the industry itself, sometimes I feel like we don't.
LaNisa
We don't. We still make fun of it, but I think like graduating from that school, if I'm not mistaken, I was already considered union like British Union, so I was already equity there because they were like, Well, you've trained, so of course you're good enough. So here's your union card versus here. You jump through hoops. It's confusing.
LaNisa
There's stuff that I.
LaNisa
Still don't understand 20 years on, and it just doesn't feel as like sometimes as inclusive versus there was like, great, you're an actor, here's your card now and it's I don't know it felt better. Yeah so that's London Chicago. I miss the community. Yeah I miss the theater community. I miss being able to like be on the train, reading lines and seeing someone else that you know, and you're like, Hey, what's that?
LaNisa
I got to study for this, but I will help.
LaNisa
Like, I miss that. You don't get that here in L.A.. Yeah, because I was in their car, pissed off listening to a podcast. Yeah.
LaNisa
Yeah, listen to podcast.
LaNisa
Yeah. So I definitely would say I missed the community of being able to just see people in the arts and like things like opening night, like I miss that energy. Like, hey, you're going to, good man. Opening night. What are you wearing? Yeah, you can go to afterparty. I do miss that. That was fun. I mean, we all got paid and like, pasta and pizza, but I missed the community.
LaNisa
And here, like, what's my what's the highlight that I love? I think the opportunities, like the ability to your wings in so many different directions and being expected to and being able to just grow in different ways that I, I personally didn't feel like I could grow in other cities So and being like, I think there's so many avenues you can go here.
LaNisa
There's going to be an expert in it somewhere. You can just go talk to them and get the expertise. Yes, Internet has opened up a lot, but I do feel like there's something about being in a city where everyone is doing that helps is something about like being in the midst of it. Even if you might not meet each other all the time.
LaNisa
I know if I need this, I can go run here. If I need that, I can go run here. So yeah, I would say the opportunities.
Jessica
Let's talk about how then you took that really great theater training and then transformed it into an LA film and TV career because that's a hard transition, especially if you're not 17 and rich, right?
LaNisa
Like what. And already related to so good. But you've.
Jessica
Done it so wildly successfully, I'll.
LaNisa
Take it. So because every day I wake up, I'm like what can I do? Right? And it doesn't always feel like it when you're in.
Jessica
The middle of it. It doesn't feel like, oh, this.
LaNisa
Is what.
Jessica
Success feels like.
LaNisa
So that's the so what?
Jessica
But from the outside, you've done so many things. I am I.
LaNisa
Have I have to remind myself that.
Jessica
I am both proud and envious. I'm proud for, you know, as a friend and this is another actor kind of besides, you're like, damn, you're you're so good. And you're also getting in those rooms and building those opportunities more consistently than most people I know.
LaNisa
Yeah.
Jessica
So how are you doing that?
LaNisa
It is it has been a whirlwind and a journey and I remember one of the first reason why I left Chicago and you know, I will rep Chicago all day. Yeah, but I was starting to feel stuck. I was starting to feel like I was just there understudy because I was doing understudying and a lot of the big houses.
LaNisa
And I remember asking castings in one of the theaters. I'm like, If my not good enough for the stage, am I not good to the door? And they were like, Honestly, it's we know that you, we can trust you. And I was like, Wait, yeah. So you're not going to let me be a lead or shine because, you know, I can count on Lenny's said to understudy should something go down.
LaNisa
Cool. So I got you. So I think that was my, my turn. And at that time, my co-creator and friend Danielle had been out here for a year and she was like, Girl, it's just time to go. And I was like, okay. So I did like one show. I did a show in Singapore, then I did one more show in Chicago where they had me, and I still said yes because I didn't know what to say.
LaNisa
No, I'm a good Midwestern girl. And then I packed up and was like, I'm out. And before I left, I remember somebody saying, like, if you go out there have at least one agent in some capacity so you feel like you're working with and for something. So for me, that one was my voice over as I was booking really well in Voice over in Chicago.
LaNisa
I went to them, I said, Yo, I'm leaving. Do you have any recommendations for voice over Agents in L.A.? And they're like, Yeah, we got You ended up being WME, which was like, Okay.
LaNisa
That's that is great. Hooker Oh God, I would take that recommendation. Sure. Okay.
LaNisa
So they were so sweet. And I remember like going in there and a guy at the time that was there was Chicago as well. So it was an instant like, Oh my God, that in an hour. But it was a great opportunity where I was able to be wrapped in voiceover in Chicago. So kept that agent, but also at WME.
LaNisa
And it did open my doors and exposed me to things. And when I think back, I used to drive at that time. I was in Sherman Oaks and then I moved to, I think, North Hollywood. I would drive from there to Beverly, I'm going to say like four times a week to do, because the agency was in Beverly at the time to do auditions in their voiceover booth because I one needed to feel like I'm getting up to do.
LaNisa
Something.
LaNisa
And to like, I just was so new at so many different aspects of voiceover at that time. Chicago is mainly commercial. I got here and it was like, Here's animations, do that, here's three video games, do that. So I was like, Oh no, I'm going to drive down. And so I was driving down to Beverly like three or four times a week to sit there and wait to be called into the booth to do my audition.
LaNisa
But I have to say, thinking back, that helped build a community because fast Pandemic Hit Me closed on her voiceover department. But I'm still friends with some people. That was that I would be in that room with, you know, and that build a network. So if I need, like a job, I got a question about X, Y, and Z.
LaNisa
I know I have still that community and it helped me learn what to ask for for my next agent. So It felt very helpful in that capacity.
Jessica
That that transition from Chicago Regional Theater to L.A., all the things that's a hard transition to make. And so for you, the door was.
LaNisa
Voiceover, I think. I think that was the door. I also did then right away got a commercial agent which was connected to my commercial agent in Chicago, so that help not going to lie. And then I think that's around the time that Danielle and I started creating hashtag books. So we were literally sometimes just bored or sometimes figuring out like, Hey, we want to create our own stuff because we don't want to sit around all day.
LaNisa
Yeah, you could draw to Beverly all day, but then you're like, Okay, now what? So that's when we both said, Well, let's create our own stuff. And the time we were like cracking up at either stereotypes are just like the misadventures of being of actor of color in Hollywood, being a Black actress and going in and you see all your cousins, they're like, Hey, how you doing?
LaNisa
Hey, are them just like throwing spaghetti at the wall of? Black people so you can walk in and you're like, Why is there an 80 year old man here auditioning for the same part as me?
LaNisa
Oh, my.
LaNisa
God. That was one of my first. I remember my first theatrical I went in and it was literally just like the the huge buffet of Negroes.
LaNisa
Was like, I was like the job. Just call any Negro, you know what it is? And I was and I.
LaNisa
Cracked me out of recall it My Girl, because at the time they had like the computer check in. You remember, like the sign ins for your audition, the computer one and anybody over like 60 didn't know how to do it. So half my audition, I sat there and just signed people in. I was like, I.
LaNisa
Wish you all ran. Okay, I got you right.
LaNisa
And then I'm looking at these people like I remember you from like some.
LaNisa
I remember you from Roots. Why are you here?
LaNisa
I just sleep for this. It was insane, but it did to insult me a lot. So it was like, All right, we're getting in it.
LaNisa
Yeah.
LaNisa
And then it. So we utilize those experiences to create hashtag.
LaNisa
Book like the hell Yeah.
LaNisa
A lot of the things that we would vent about and we were like, Let's just make a video. Yeah, like going into set. And they didn't have your makeup color or they were like, Oh, there's no one here to do your hair. You could just do it yourself. And you're like, But you still get paid, so why am I your job now?
LaNisa
I got to stress out, wake up early. Okay? So instead of just like, oh, let's vent via, you know, verbally, we're like, we're both comedy people. Both of us are Second City trained. Let's just make fun of it. And that's what we did and we didn't. There are days Danielle still has to be like, Girl, people do know who you are.
LaNisa
Girl people. Oh, I'm like, It still trips us out when people are like, Oh, it's hashtag. And I'm like, Oh, you know me. My brother will never forget this story. Went to see a movie and this girl, like, ran up and he was like, Oh, shoot, what's going down? And she's like, I'm so sorry, but your hashtag book, I'm like, Oh, people are okay.
LaNisa
It's hard to clear.
Jessica
I mean, I've been out in public. My had people have come up and you we have to it's you're like the prom queen. It's so weird to wait for your adoring fans.
LaNisa
So adorable.
Jessica
I think you also, like, really speak to something that nobody was talking about or people were talking about only in a a kind of either personal vent. Right. Which is important, absolute or maybe a little more academic. This is an institutional problem we need to change, which is also important. But like.
LaNisa
I think the way that.
Jessica
You speak to things, it just feels so sudden, so immediate and yeah, right. Of like, oh, of course that's the problem, that's it. But I also think I can see that people seen and that's what makes it Yeah, it's like just tell a funny, I'll take it.
LaNisa
Hopefully we will take it.
Jessica
Can you talk about your shirt.
LaNisa
Yes.
LaNisa
So when this strike Yeah, strike started Danielle and I decided to create a series of t shirts and a few other things on there too, but mainly t shirts that just spoke to some of the things that were striking about, including I including residuals. So the one that I have on right now, it says, But can I do a full body slate very it's very specific.
LaNisa
It can you there.
Jessica
Because a lot of the audience might not know might not even know what a slate is. Right.
LaNisa
So it's a very specific theory, but that's what makes it so satisfying.
Jessica
Is your audience is small and rabid.
LaNisa
Exactly. Like all they know.
LaNisa
Is like, this is perfect.
LaNisa
They know so first. I bet they definitely you know, we have definitely been fighting and speaking up about the fact that we we want to be compensated for our faces, for our work background. Actors do not deserve $200 to be used in perpetuity. That is disgusting.
Jessica
And terrifying.
LaNisa
And terrible.
Jessica
Somebody could like pay me for one day's work and then have my image.
LaNisa
Forever.
Jessica
Forever. That's very seriously what it does.
LaNisa
No, thanks. I don't like. I don't.
Jessica
Like. I like as a human thing, let alone in.
LaNisa
Exactly. Exactly. And you know, I've heard some rebuttals. We have to embrace technology. I will say that artists are the number one people that embrace technology. We've had to all you need to sell tape. You need to audition. Great. We can do that from home. Now. Great. We'll do this. So we embrace that. That's not the issue. The issue is like, then I need to be compensated for the work that I'm providing and it's an insult to me and my peers when you're just like, Well, just be so grateful that you get to be in this creative industry, which I think happens a lot and breeds that starving artist mentality that we unable to see
LaNisa
the worth in our and our art. So with the t shirt but can I do a full body slate within auditioning many times casting asked for a full body slate meaning an entire picture of your body, an entire video picture of your entire body from head to toe. What people fail realize is that if we're self taping, we are in tiny apartments with life around us.
LaNisa
So the manipulation of trying to put a camera to this wall, make sure that you ain't got a shoe on this side. Make sure that your plates and your children and dogs are on this side and take a full body slate. It's a skill. You know, what I was saying about actors in tech is like, we're not resistant to it.
LaNisa
Like, we always have to adapt. We are a reflection of society. So that is our job. So it has nothing to do with the fact that we don't want to take over. It's like, Hey, can we can you tell me you will use my whole face? Can you let me know? That's the part that is an insult? Can you pay us?
LaNisa
We are train people. We are. We put our livelihoods. We put we put our whole life into this. So why not compensate properly? I have an experience when I was in Chicago and a very young, dumb actor where I let someone take my photo because I was so excited, be a part of this, blah.
LaNisa
Blah, blah.
LaNisa
Next thing you know, my face was on a billboard for a church. I had no idea, had no idea, and understood that I sang to say you could do that. So it's really just the idea of like, No, my business is my face is my that is my business. Yeah. So we need to be compensated.
Jessica
Yes. I have friends that, you know, signed had a one day model shoot when they were not for $100. Yeah. In other faces on like, you know, Ross.
LaNisa
Yeah.
Jessica
Billboards and bus stops.
LaNisa
Exactly.
Jessica
Here's exactly. They got $100 for that one thing.
LaNisa
Right. And that's, you know and a lot of people I, I go down rabbit and read comments sometimes they're like, but these people are being paid so much. It's like, look, say I get 1200 for a day's worth of work. I might have work for the next month. So that 1200 stretches, imagine you get your whole salary, half of your salary in one day and you might or might not get more later.
LaNisa
So it's the idea of like, no, no, no, no, we're not. Actually, we're the average actor is one broke. Number two. There's a huge contingency of middle class actors. And just because I listen to something the other day, this guy talking about how we view work just actors, artists, writers, we have the we are very blessed to be doing what we want.
LaNisa
It doesn't take away the fact that we still need to make a livelihood. This still my job. This is still my career. So all the creativity, yes, I'm very blessed that was able what I'm able to do. But it doesn't take away from the fact or mean that I should sacrifice living a decent life by that. Yeah. So that's part of the things with I know we're going back to Asia and striking, but that's part of the things that we've been definitely vocal about.
LaNisa
A few weeks ago we had hashtag work. We're able to do a march, which was fun, get on the picket lines and hold like a hashtag book march. So folks, that a lot, which was great because a lot of folks that we'd never met, we finally got to meet people in person and be like, Oh my God, your fam, It feels like a family now.
LaNisa
So hashtag book has created like I feel like a community where we have been able to share. And honestly, Danielle and I have both seen it spun off into other things, other people being empowered to do, to speak up in different ways, other people doing sketches. Because I think there is a lot of like there now so, you know, not be blacklisted.
LaNisa
And then this generation has been like, now speak up and hashtag I book. I feel like we embrace and use comedy to share our message.
LaNisa
So yeah.
Jessica
I love it. And hashtag book has also had some inroads to, other opportunities creatively. Can you.
LaNisa
Talk? Yeah.
LaNisa
So we look at hashtag book now as a full brand and there are things that we have on the, you know, in the future because let's be real like what we were year five and we are either retired or sometimes we just don't have the capacity to be like, Let's create this sketch. We've both moved in so many different directions as well.
LaNisa
Danielle is a series regular on the show now. I've been doing a lot of voiceover, I've been doing a lot of commercials. I'm also writing now, so we're just seeing how it's broadened into other aspects. We do believe this is a TV show still, and when this strike is done, we are ready to go back and do this.
LaNisa
Do the do. Yeah, we've been able to help to create other things, other shows as well that I can speak about. Yeah. Also, you know, the merchandise that we have and we're also looking at also similarly a podcast component to it because we've been discussing that for a while and seeing what that could look like. We also we did a show with Blavidy, which was an unscripted show called The Block Is Hot, which was amazing, where we went on the street and kind of did like Man on the Street kind of interviews with people asking them about Black Hollywood.
LaNisa
We also had a collaboration with Pasadena Playhouse and which we did an interview show called Intermission with hashtag booked. So were interview folks like Alfred Molina, Jeff Perry. So it really is we're expanding it into a brand and I'm excited to see where it goes, especially like with our crazy schedules, how we can still because we both still believe in this mission and our project.
LaNisa
So we'll see. I love creating your own we'll see.
LaNisa
But it's crazy. Yeah.
Jessica
And you've I mean, you've always had this strong voice and strong passion for advocacy and just been hilarious and smart, funny. So it's so cool to see you putting it together and really making smart, fresh, funny content. And so I can't.
LaNisa
Believe.
Jessica
We found out that SAG-AFTRA was going on strike and within, I don't know, 12 hours you had the funniest piece of I've seen this year.
LaNisa
I liked it that I did that one. And then I was like, I don't feel like making anything now. Like I've done like.
LaNisa
Two other sketches since because I've just been like we.
LaNisa
Were doing we're our schedule was like 2 a.m. we'd be up editing with each other. Like back in the pandemic, it was making content and now we're just kind of like, okay, let's focus because we want to we want it to grow to something else. But that spoke to me so much, the idea that we were on strike.
LaNisa
I was at a friend's film opening for, a short film that she had done, and I had been thinking about it driving there. And then I think the film ended and I was like, I got it. I got to go, I love you. I'll buy and I'll rebuild. Yeah, Put it together real quick.
Jessica
So is that kind of what the creative process is usually like for a hashtag book? Sketch is just like, I've got it, I've got an idea, I've got a concept. I'm just going to make it happen. Yeah.
LaNisa
And I have to say, like, you know, Daniel and I work together very well in terms of arguing anything. You know, when we first started, she's very much like, Let's do it now, Let's do it. And I'm like, okay, Anna, let's sit down and figure out and think about it. And I think that works well for our dynamic.
LaNisa
Yeah. So for the few, we're literally joking about the fact that every woman over 30 has to wear cardigan to a damn commercial audition to play a mom. Can I cut on this? Oh, yeah. Okay. To play a fucking mom.
LaNisa
Yeah.
LaNisa
So joking about the fact that me and her had matching cardigans and didn't even realize it because. It was our mom commercial fucking cardigan.
Jessica
I finally got rid of mine after, like, ten years, and it felt so good. I just checked.
LaNisa
It and I was like, God, freedom. I don't want.
LaNisa
I have one that's way too small that it just stay in there for, like, nostalgia.
LaNisa
I have like, like.
Jessica
One night where when it's cold, right? It could wear if I had.
LaNisa
But it's like I.
Jessica
Had the target mom one and. Oh, it's gone now.
LaNisa
Definitely have the target, Mom.
LaNisa
I'm like.
LaNisa
Okay, all right. So that happened. And I was like, Oh yeah, that'd be funny to put video. And she goes, Let's do it now. Yeah. Okay. So that really is like the dynamic of like chatting about something, finding something we both find hilarious and going. And then once like, she ended up filming in a different country and I was here, it was like, great, if we have time, we can be on Zoom and do something together, but it's okay to do our individual things, which I think was very helpful and freeing too, because it also helped me learn individually what my strengths are.
LaNisa
Yeah, but still have this platform where we can support each other on it and we're like all girl, that was hilarious. I love when you did that. Oh, that was hilarious. Can't wait to meet again so we can do something together. So I think it's definitely been a dynamic where it hasn't been because someone else wants like so how long does it take for you to write sketches?
LaNisa
And we were like, Oh wait, I never wrote nothing like this. We never run this sketch. We'll write down ideas right? We'll write down like a concept. But we've never everything we've done is like, improvise a little.
Jessica
So you're coming from Second City, Chicago, right? Prob you're doing a sketch. Like, that's the art form.
LaNisa
That's it.
LaNisa
What do you mean? Writing a script for them? Like y'all rights groups. Would it not be often we have that.
Jessica
So technically you record them, you just use your phone. And then what do you edit in? Just like on the phone.
LaNisa
I'm movie your phone.
LaNisa
Okay, I have to say.
LaNisa
But I think.
Jessica
That's really cool because you you have the training and you have the skills, but there's a lot of people that have that. But let a lot of gatekeepers stand in the way.
LaNisa
Oh yeah.
Jessica
And or like the skill set stand in their way, you're like, No, no, no, you have an.
LaNisa
Idea, Record it, just do it. You just do it. Just do it and just toss it out.
LaNisa
Hood Fail miserably. That's okay. I mean, I still beat myself up about stuff that might. What did that do well or did I is a sound writer. Should I chose this song? I have to say also backing up like Danielle's husband, Jack Wallace, who is an amazing dialect coach as well, helped us so much because neither one of us even knew to install Instagram in the beginning like we are now not there.
LaNisa
Okay, well, I don't know how to do this. He knew. So he is the one that definitely help. He's the man behind the camera as what we say. So if it's me and her, it's like it was usually him behind the camera, like actually turn this way, actually, blah, blah, blah. So he helped us out a lot. And eventually those beginning stages where both of us were like, How do you spell Instagram?
LaNisa
I mean.
LaNisa
We didn't know. But in terms of like stop. We like allowing there to be gatekeepers. We knew that it's out there. Like we know we have our movie, we have to do the self tapes. That's what I use. Yeah We know that there are so many apps to use to edit. We'll figure it out and it might look like crap.
LaNisa
I mean, there was I remember one a friend of mine called was like Lenny's it's muted. The video you just post, it's muted, you know, stuff like that. And I'm like, Oh, well, it happened. Yeah, You live, you learn, do another one.
Jessica
What I find whenever I watch you is I'm impressed with how quickly you can pull me into a believable, yet really funny.
LaNisa
Character.
Jessica
Who feels like a 3D person.
LaNisa
Oh good.
Jessica
I think you get that. What I like is that, like, smart, broad comedy?
LaNisa
Yeah, quickly.
Jessica
And it doesn't. I don't feel off put by the size of it. Oh, good. I think you do really?
LaNisa
All right, so how do you do that? Well, thank.
LaNisa
You. And that's a beautiful compliment. I'll take it, because I am. I'm theater trained. Definitely thought I'd be doing more Lady Macbeth.
Jessica
Okay. Yeah.
LaNisa
So for me to be into comedy has been something that's been like, Oh, I can do that, too. Like, even improv was an accident. The only reason I was cast is because they need it more Black understudies, and they ran out of Black people again. So Second City called. I was like, Are you understudy? Oh, can you do it?
LaNisa
And I was like, Oh, great. The improv stuff definitely has helped cultivate that, I think because it's being grounded and in reality with crazy circumstances.
Jessica
Yes, you do that really well?
LaNisa
So I think that's it. And I realized honestly, with doing hashtag books for so long, doing other sketch for so long, I realized kind of I'm learning like where my places okay. And sometimes I get cast a lot as the straight man, straight woman, straight person. As a result of that, I know it is just I got to be grounded.
LaNisa
I have to let them have this bombastic joke and I just be the what, the sati. Yeah.
LaNisa
You're okay.
Jessica
So you're really good at that the side eye and the like. I am suspicious that in judging you. Right. But it's believable and it's nuanced and it's different every time. And I really appreciate that you bring that side to it. You're also really good at the comedic switches. Do you have any tricks for that or techniques of like where where you're kind of maybe going along this path and like listening intently and then you quickly switch to that judgmental mode and then you snap back?
LaNisa
I honestly think it's just who I.
LaNisa
Oh, okay, great.
Jessica
Like that's your just internal tempo.
LaNisa
Yeah.
Jessica
Okay. So like, figuring out, I.
LaNisa
Think.
Jessica
Showing that to the work, then I.
LaNisa
Think it's like if look, bring yourself I think for so long, especially being theater trained in theater you're told that you can do, you can do anything and you can't play an 80 year old woman, you can do X, Y and Z. And reality is you get out here and it's like, why would you play that If we could get somebody that is that.
LaNisa
Yeah. So it's like, oh, hone in on yourself, listen to who you really are. Focus on what strengths you bring the table and I know I bring that. I will listen intently and then my face will turn up and be like, Yeah, so and so I'll bring that to a character. Yeah. And I for co and guest stars, I think that's really important.
LaNisa
And I'm learning a lot from either coaching or from watching what use from that for my when I audition for series regulars because I've auditioned for a lot of series regulars and I'm like, What's going on? Why can I get it? Oh my God, I'm bringing my funny right that it, it And I had an amazing casting director, Rachel Briguglio Oh Imbruglia.
LaNisa
I always think of Natalie.
LaNisa
Uh huh.
LaNisa
That is a great show and really amazing casting director. And she was like, LaNisa, it's not that you're not good. Like, stop criticizing your skill. You're good there. Your brain hasn't switched it. You are the lead character versus I've been told so much costar and guest star you're supporting. So you can't take up space, you can't take up time.
LaNisa
So you're bringing that same energy when you're doing series regular instead of realizing like, No, the show's about, you sit in that and it really changed my mentality. So I was like, Oh, so I can still bring my form of funny. I still can bring my like special. And I just felt more confident I could bring what I want to bring to the table.
LaNisa
I can just like sit back in the chair a little longer because it's my show versus a costar. You're tall. All right. Say the lines support the story. Have a good day. Bye.
Jessica
Wow. It's interesting the parallels with the Chicago understudy scene. Exactly. It's like you.
LaNisa
I know that.
Jessica
You were excellent at that there. And so you brought that skill you're made your way into.
LaNisa
Didn't even connect that to.
LaNisa
That's.
Jessica
Good stories. But now you have to, like, take up space and like mentally move to L.A..
LaNisa
That's been what I like that. I like that. Okay.
LaNisa
Oh, I like that. I'm going to use that. Just hurry up and let the strike be over so I can go back. Let's get this going. Working some. Oh, Oh, that's deep, though I still have that understudy mentality.
Jessica
I mean, it sounds like you don't, but it's.
LaNisa
Up to you to get into it. So it's comfort.
Jessica
Well, and it makes, you know that, you know, that you're making it about the other person. And it's kind of easy, I think. I think culturally as women to we're conditioned a little bit yeah that's support for people.
LaNisa
And I'm very Midwest.
Jessica
Yeah and so it's just culturally it's there in a couple of different ways. Yeah and so I know I have to fight against just doing that and it selfish and gross right times to take up that space so I think it's a big deal to hear you saying like because when I see you from the outside and even as a friend, you look like you're just in that mode of like, this is my chair.
Jessica
I take up space and I know, I know that's not true. Right? Right. I know it. But it's still it's still impressive to kind of see how someone navigates that.
LaNisa
Yeah. And I think it's something to keep figuring out. You know, it's not going to change overnight. I'm not I did not move out here at 20. I did not move out here at 18. I moved out here when I was older. So I think it's geriatric.
LaNisa
I am a geriatric millennial and I am with you. Yeah, but.
LaNisa
Geriatric millennial.
LaNisa
Foolish. That also needs to be a show.
LaNisa
Okay, I got to write that down.
LaNisa
That's hilarious. That would be a hilarious show.
LaNisa
So I think there's pros and, you know, there are a lot of pros to that. I guess I would be a while to take off. I moved out. Moved out here at 17. Yeah. But I think it gave me the capacity to be like, Hey, that you don't have to rush and get this right away. Yeah, it's okay.
LaNisa
So learning that lesson, that learning that lesson of like taking up space and sitting in your self and figuring out who you are, I think that's it's, it makes it more rewarding for me. Now, I don't know if I would have taken that at 25.
LaNisa
Yeah.
Jessica
So what else kind of challenges you or scares you creatively other than taking up that space writing?
LaNisa
Okay, I'm still scared. Yeah. And I've done it. Yeah. And I'm doing it. Yeah, but there is something that's still scary. Like, I've been very lucky. I've been right. And I can say this because it is not under this contract, but I've been writing on like children's animations, which is really fun, still scary, but I'm learning about myself in that capacity too, because I was hired as a freelance writer versus in the room writer.
LaNisa
So if folks don't know, like, you know, you might have a writer writing room where everyone collaborates for the story. You have one maybe main person that ends up writing it, but you have a writer's room with other people collaborating, throwing ideas, and I realize that's where I thrive. So when I was hired as a freelance writer, I was like, So by myself.
LaNisa
Oh, cool, cool, cool, cool.
LaNisa
And it was it was hard. It was a challenge. I was very lucky that I'm with a show that was very much like, if you have questions or, you know, will help you if you get it up. But they do as much as you can when you're like, I'm at home in my office writing.
LaNisa
Yup.
LaNisa
Versus I'm in a room with someone. So I think it's still I'm still trying to find the confidence to say it. So when I say like I'm a writer, I'm like, I am. You actually have been paid for it lately. So you that you do, do do that. Well, I have had fun writing my own stuff, so I've written a few pilots that I'm very proud of and I know will sell one day, and that's been fun exploring that side.
LaNisa
But very scary because especially coming from theater, you're used to someone. Here's your script, analyze it and figure it out versus like, Oh, I have to have voices for everyone. I have to have distinct ways that everyone says something, but I'm so excited about the ideas that I'm bringing to the table that I can I can get through that.
LaNisa
I'm working to get through that. That's cool which is fun. Also, I think coming from a trained background, I am very trained in theater, I'm very trained in acting. My degree in English literally says acting it. Don't say writing. So I doubt myself, even though I'm like, I know I can do it right. I have done it. Yeah.
LaNisa
It's just that boost of confidence that I'm working.
Jessica
Yeah, right. And it just owning yourself and owning it, that title. Exactly. Internally.
LaNisa
Exactly.
Jessica
Yeah.
LaNisa
Getting there. Yeah. It's a journey.
Jessica
What style of writing do you like? Doing the best.
LaNisa
I love. I do like writing comedies. I haven't written a drama yet, but I do like writing the one that I'm most probably excited about selling and really seeing on the screen that I can. Well, there's two that I can see on the screen. The first one is who did the Body. And that show is about a Black funeral home that's set in the Deep South.
LaNisa
I love mixing little reality with comedy. And we have not seen a funny funeral show in a while. We saw Six Feet Under. That was a while back.
Jessica
Pushing up daisies.
LaNisa
Right. But that's that was a while back time ago. There has not been a fire. And I'm like especially since pandemic. I think that's what hit like we got to find the comedy in it. Yeah, there's pandemic. I mean I went to zoom funerals, you know it's like.
LaNisa
Real.
LaNisa
There's drive through funerals Chicago like there.
LaNisa
It's.
LaNisa
Absurd. And I just I adore how we celebrate life and meet and celebrate death as well and I think that there is something that's culturally specific but also universal in the way that we do it very western. So I do in this show, who did the body? It does follow a struggling Black Funeral home and how they try to adapt to today.
LaNisa
So that might mean like, oh, you want a Viking funeral where we burn your body on the water. We got to figure out how to do that. Are there are these days called like death balls.
LaNisa
Which how hilarious that you get.
LaNisa
This like 80 year old grandmother, Black grandmother. That's like I got to figure out how to make Chinese death balls so we can survive. So I really feel this like I feel like this is a show that a single cam show that can definitely have some legs because we don't have that story right now? So I'm excited about that, that comedy.
LaNisa
And then also I was raised in a cult and no one talks about that stuff when you're Black. So the second comedy I have is about this little girl who is being raised in a cult, and she starts to realize like, Hey, someday right? Wow, this is weird. So it's really taking social issues. It's taking like how we look at life and mixing it with comedy.
LaNisa
And that's the kind of stuff that I'm excited about writing.
LaNisa
So that's fantastic. Yeah, those are.
Jessica
Both really fun. I can't wait. Let me ask you, do you have any specific classes other than your own? Because I think. VOICEOVER I would I would love to take one of your voiceover classes and people should follow you in taking Come.
LaNisa
On Through, I love it.
Jessica
Or killing it. So in addition to that, are there any classes or studios or anything that you recommend or love in LA or online?
LaNisa
Mm hmm. I love Put me on State. Ana's amazing, and they have a whole team of folks over there. But I've mainly worked with Ana and I just love their philosophy. I really love how they're really just like, Hey, I'm trying to educate, I'm trying to demystify. I'm trying to not make it feel like a scary acting world.
LaNisa
And she's personal. One on one audition. She's just great to work with. So that would probably be the a huge win. I've taken some great commercial classes. I know Alison Horne at one point was I don't know if they're still teaching commercial classes, but if they are. Alison Horne Toby Lawless was an amazing commercial class because I do a lot of commercials as well.
LaNisa
Begbie It's a studio.
LaNisa
They used to be in North Hollywood. I think they moved, but Big Studio was great.
Jessica
They have a good like online presence as well.
LaNisa
Oh Okay.
Jessica
I like their philosophy. Oh good. Well, it's put me on self tape. Like, I think both of those have been really great resources through the strike.
LaNisa
Yeah.
Jessica
Quickly is Yes which is a big deal.
LaNisa
Absolutely. You don't want someone that's just like limited man. You get out here, you're like, Oh, everybody a coach, everybody a teacher. It's like, okay, well, we bring to the table, what else are you doing? So absolutely with their philosophies, I do appreciate that. Yeah, those are some of the big ones. I would say.
Jessica
Okay, a cool and then if somebody is trying to get into voiceover and they're maybe a trained actor, but brand new to that world, where would you point them research wise or just like things to think about?
LaNisa
Yeah, mean So I do, I do coach. And I think that I'm very specific about like who I coach and I do coach usually people that are experi in acting but are confused about the voiceover LAN how do you make that transition? So I would say get specific about what kind of voiceover artist do you want to be?
LaNisa
And a lot of people are like, Oh, I want to do animation. I'm like, No, no, no, no, no, no. Think bigger than that. What kind of voiceover artist do you want to a voiceover artist like me, that's like actor, voiceover artist, etc. And your agent takes care of everything in terms of your auditions. Are do you want to be like my girl?
LaNisa
Kelli Baskin, who's an amazing voiceover artist. But that's all she does. That's her thing. So she's out there hustling and marketing to different companies herself. She's out there, like she has spreadsheets and blah.
LaNisa
Blah, blah.
LaNisa
I'm not doing that. Yeah, that's not my life. Okay, So I always say, get real about what kind of voiceover artists you're going to be. And with that, what do you want to be recording, for example, in your space? I know for my comfort level and my space I will book and record commercials in my booth. I will not do a video game for my booth.
Jessica
Because that's the difference.
LaNisa
Volume, the gain. I want to engineer there that is figuring all that stuff out. Great. I can do it enough for a commercial.
Jessica
We can brag about your voiceover stuff.
LaNisa
Oh, all right, let's go take a dump. Brag, please, because you. You've got some pretty cool first I doing.
Jessica
So Brag.
LaNisa
Breakaway. It's been awesome because like I say, when I moved from Chicago to here, it opened up my horizons terms of what I could do. So I've definitely done more than commercials. When I got out here and I've done like video games. I've been in Call of Duty, I've done League of Legends. Those are some of the big video games I've done.
LaNisa
And then in animation I've done like some Disney animations, I've done some DreamWorks. I just knock on wood, submit it to be after Remember how to say it. I submit it to be nominated for an Emmy for my work on a show called Interrupting Chicken, which is not in the contract. So we're allowed to talk about that.
LaNisa
Yeah. So see the teacher, this is sloths were so fun.
LaNisa
I luckily have an amazing team. I mean, amazing. A manager definitely helped me through the process and got what we needed to get. But It was definitely learning that, Oh, you are a solid middle class actor now. You are. You're not the girl that's like, you know, pasta is payment anymore. That's not your thing. But you're not like getting nominated through the network because they don't know your name yet.
LaNisa
Okay. You're the middle. Yeah. I'm like, okay, so that means you're still hustling in another way. Yeah. Which is beautiful. But, you know, it's it's a struggle yeah, but within voiceover I have been able to like really expand what I can do and I love it. I was in Ada Twist, which was so fun. Ada Twist is produced by Michelle and Barack's production company.
LaNisa
Like I say it like I know them, Michelle and Barack Production, but it's a really fun show and it's stuff that I'm like, Oh, my niece can watch this. Like my friends with kids can watch this. And coming from education, I worked in public schools. My mom was a school teacher. It's really fun and rewarding, like being, you know, a lot of these animations where I play like the preschool teacher or the mom.
LaNisa
So yes, but back to your question about what you should do if you're getting into it, I would say get to learn your voice first, Understand the type of voiceover artist that you want to be. Don't figure out like if you want to coach, because people that I talk to that I coach, I don't take everybody and they I tell people I'm like, Let's have a 20 minute chat to see if I'm right for you and vice versa.
LaNisa
Mm hmm.
Jessica
Is there anybody that you have worked with on set that you really loved working with or looked up to in a special way?
LaNisa
I got to work with Yvette Nicole Brown, which amazing and everything that folks say about her is absolutely true. She is such an advocate. She started advocating. I would say, for Danielle and I like in terms of hashtag booked way early, like with DMS and be like I see what she'll do and keep on.
LaNisa
Oh that's.
Jessica
So beautiful.
LaNisa
Like here's number if you ever have questions, that kind of thing. So I was like, Oh, she a real winner.
LaNisa
Wow.
LaNisa
Oh, she real. So I ended up on a show that is a series regular on. And I was like, Hey, guess what? You know, I got a little small part on there. And she's like, What? You're like, Hype me up. Brought me around to people on set and was like, This is what need. So you should know who she is.
LaNisa
This is and these are how you do it. Okay. Do you have anything you need? Like had my back hard on say because it's hard as a guest star. Like I was a one day guest star. It was cute, fun. But you walk in and you're like, All these people have established family. They know each other. It's, you know, here I come, what am I doing?
LaNisa
And it's nerve wracking as hell. And she immediately it was like, Hey, director have you met Lennie? So yeah, she's great. And I was like, This is what I.
LaNisa
Aspire to be. Yes, I want to do that.
LaNisa
So I look forward to that and I will always be grateful.
LaNisa
So grateful for her.
LaNisa
Because she's good people.
Jessica
That's beautiful. I love.
LaNisa
That. Yes.
Jessica
Is there any quotes or mindset or any maybe non-actor artists that inspire you or you aim for?
LaNisa
I have to remind myself all the time, it's never too late. MM. Going back to the fact that I did not move out here at 20. Mm hmm. As a geriatric millennial is never. And I think that goes for regardless of occupation. It is never too late to stop and learn something new. It's never too late to, like, discover.
LaNisa
A new activity is not too late. So we did it. So in the meantime, let's just do it. It's hard. It might be a little harder, but it's not too late.
Jessica
Nice. Yeah. Do you have any secret dreams or any fun projects that you're like, Hey, if there's somebody out there, aside from of the Dream Project, we talked about the pilots and everything that you're already working on and hopefully getting hashtag books into.
LaNisa
A, a.
Jessica
TV series and the that you were talking about, are there any kind of fun little side things that you're looking forward to or would like to do?
LaNisa
One thing you've mentioned.
Jessica
In passing is you would love to.
LaNisa
Be a model of Muse, and I thought that was so.
Jessica
Amazing and hilarious. And so that's why. Is there anything else that that comes to mind?
LaNisa
I want to be Regina King. Oh, I love and respect her so much, and I love the evolution, her career, so her from her animation and Boondocks to like her directing. So I definitely would love that lane in to see what that looks like. Yeah, I did a multi-cam as an actor TV show a couple of years ago.
LaNisa
I didn't and that was my first multicam. Did not know how much like theater it was after being doing that because I'm not the biggest fan of watching multi-cam.
Jessica
Oh, interesting. Yeah.
LaNisa
Not the biggest fan. Yep. On set. I had a ball.
LaNisa
Feels good.
LaNisa
I had so much fun and I would love to direct some multi-cam. Okay. And that's like what sucks is it's kind of like an boy's club still that genre.
Jessica
Okay, so somebody hyaline is a exactly direct multi-cam.
LaNisa
I want to do some multi-cam. Okay. It's theater. I was like, Oh, I how to do this?
LaNisa
Yeah. Okay.
LaNisa
So I would love to do some random will take hands and put in some like classic people. What I loved about Robin Thede in the work that she did and the TV show that she did was that she put in some like classic Black actors and actresses that we hadn't seen for a while that we were like, they were brilliant.
LaNisa
What happened? And I would love to do that on like, a multicam level.
Jessica
Ooh, I like that.
LaNisa
Yeah. Like Marla Gibbs, who is still brilliant, Like, she's like 90.
LaNisa
Mm.
LaNisa
So stuff like that. Yeah. Kim Wayans Like, stuff like that. So bring them to the forefront because they're brilliant.
LaNisa
Yeah.
Jessica
Jack And just, like, celebrate.
LaNisa
Exactly.
Jessica
Exactly, exactly. Is there anything else that you would love to see? I mean, I know there's a lot of things, and the hashtag book directly addresses them, but what would you love to see Hollywood get right?
LaNisa
Jesus Christ.
LaNisa
Oh, that's the what would I like to see them get right? I think listening. Just listen and act.
LaNisa
Their.
LaNisa
Deeply listen and really follow through on what people are saying, be it network with what we're experiencing now are being, you know, on set deeply get uncomfortable. Well, and then follow through whether or not it's like Black women saying, hey, we're tired or doing our own hair, whether or not it's know trans people saying, hey, can you represent us in a light that doesn't feel fake, whether or not it's like, you know, those that are differently abled saying, like, yo, I'm actually in a wheelchair, Can you actually hire me?
LaNisa
What's up with that? So I think just the deep listening and being uncomfortable and following through, even if that means you might got to take a back seat for 5 seconds yet and had the platform for wow satire. You will be fine. Nobody said life was fair, that you get it all the time. So sharing that really deeply, listening and being uncomfortable in sense.
LaNisa
I talked to my boyfriend is an editor. He does mainly game shows and he's talked about the fact that he's had to like back away from some editor friends because it has been a very white male club and he's a white male, and they feel comfortable saying to him like, well, you know, things are changing and, you know, I'm not Black, so I can't get this job now.
LaNisa
I can't do it. And so changing of the guards, deeply listening, being uncomfortable and following through and believing what people are saying. Mm. I feel like artists are a reflection of society. So I think that's why it's bigger than like, Oh, we're just having fun and acting. It's like, yo, we are a reflection of society. And if we, if it's we're having a hard time getting it right, then like let's look at what's really going on in the big picture.
Jessica
So for our audience. I like to do a creative challenge where they can take whatever resources that they currently have front of them right now and create something from nothing. So kind of from 0 to 1 challenge. So what creative challenge would you give my audience that they could make something that doesn't exist now and create something in 10 minutes with what have.
LaNisa
I'm going back to social media because social media is such a huge vehicle to give you your own TV show, essentially because you don't have to sit around and wait for anybody to say yes or no. So I would say like do something that is not gatekeeping yourself. Are your creativity something? I think that will get you outside of your comfort zone?
LaNisa
I feel like a lot of times with artists we get so consumed with if I'm not creating, I'm a bad person or if I'm not creating right now, then what am I fail? And I think we lose touch with outside as friend of mine says, like we need to touch grass more. And you know, if you're at a place where you do some grass, then do that.
LaNisa
I would challenge an artist, do something that has nothing to do specifically with their art. So maybe, okay, fine. If it's another discipline within the business, fine. But I would really encourage someone like if you have 10 minutes to do something that has nothing, I am very guilty of connecting everything to my artistry. So that could be yoga.
LaNisa
Why? Because I can put it on my resume too. My therapist was like, Sis, not everything you do has to go on your resume. So finding something as an artist that you can disconnect from creating because then it just it's not as fun, but Then in the back of your head, you can bring that out when you are writing or when you are acting like, Oh, I remember I had that experience when do that?
LaNisa
And it makes it more real and vivid and tangible versus like, Well, I have to create something, otherwise I suck.
Jessica
So I think that creates a challenge here is to maybe document, take a picture or a recording and share it in the Facebook group, or just a friend or just for yourself, but like actually make something so like just take a picture or a recording or create it or something of you doing something that you do not typically do, right?
Jessica
That feels like whatever your multi-hyphenate.
LaNisa
Discipline is right.
Jessica
And your discipline is, it's like the opposite direction. Exactly. Left.
LaNisa
Yeah.
LaNisa
Like right now. I mean, since pandemic, I know we all did this, but I started collecting plants and I do connect stuff way too much to my.
Jessica
Art well, and when you're an actor, everything kind of is a special skill.
LaNisa
Exactly. So my brain goes there.
Jessica
I love this. Okay. So the challenge is to make something to do something that's the opposite of your creative comfort zone.
LaNisa
Yeah. Is there anything.
Jessica
Else that you'd like to say? The girl I.
LaNisa
Gave you so much to edit out of, to shut up because. You have too much to edit now. I have to give.
LaNisa
This one out a task rabbit or something.
Jessica
Or it'll just be really long and beautiful. Right? That's totally.
LaNisa
Fine.
Jessica
Join the community and share your creative challenges on Instagram and Facebook. At Creators Cafe by Kiko Labs. And also check out my website www.kikalabs.com
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