IMO Live: Give Your Parents Grace with Quinta Brunson

I worked on Key & Peele. Oh, yeah. As a PA. I missed that in your book. I don't know if I was in there. I don't know. I did. It was their first episode, actually. Wow. And I was a PA. And through that, met a producer. PA is a production assistant. Production assistant. She does a podcast now. She's in the business. I'm just, you know, all this lingo, PA. I was a PA, you know, production assistant. And then I, that producer. This episode of IMO is brought to you by United Airlines and Chase Home Lending. Oh, wow. It's everybody we know. Can we go back out and come in again? I know. It's like, I'm going to be like, hey, what? Oh, what? You're here, Sandy. What's going on? Well, you guys, welcome to IMO. But this is the video. This is the very first event that we're holding here in this amazing auditorium. Isn't it beautiful? Wow. And I just would like to thank all of our friends and family who are here. And a special thanks to United Airlines, who's sponsoring this episode for us. Shout out to our sponsors. Yeah, but, you know, I'm actually a million-mile flyer. I didn't know that. I know you didn't know that. I'm going to try to catch up. There's no way you're going to catch me. Probably not. You can't fly that much commercial anymore. Probably not. Well, congratulations. Congratulations. Just go catch up to me. But, you guys, we are excited. This is a big week. This is the opening of the Obama Presidential Center. And we thought that it would be a good thing to do is to have a wonderful chat. We've got a room full of amazing young girls. We've got a room full of amazing young girls who are participating in our Girls' Opportunity Alliance. And I think we have the perfect guest today who's going to join us. And she is – Craig is supposed to do the introduction. See, just like always, she's trying to take over the whole thing. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. And see, all of my cousins and my relatives are here. Look, Mike is over there cracking up because he's like, there she goes again. Take it. Taking over. Sorry. Well, Quinta is a creator, writer, actor, and executive producer of ABC's hit mockumentary, Abbott Elementary. Right on. And, you know, the Robinson household, we're back to appointment TV now. That's a big show. I'm glad you're letting the boys watch a little TV. Just happy for them. Quinta Brunson is the first solo black woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and the first to earn three Emmy nominations in a single year for writing, acting, and producing in the comedy category. So without further ado, let's welcome our – A big Chicago welcome. Our good friend now that we got to meet her in the back, Quinta Brunson. Oh, so glad you're here. Thank you. All righty. Hey, girl, hey. Hi, Mrs. Obama. I know. I told you to call me Michelle. So you're going to have to figure that out. I asked in the back. I said, what do I – do I say Mrs. Obama? Do I say Mimi? No. Michelle. Michelle. Michelle. Everybody in this room, I mean, it is truly full of friends and family. They don't know me as Michelle Obama. They know me as Misha or Michelle or Michelle. So you're part of the family now. Or hey, you. Hey, you over there. Well, thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. This building. This building is gorgeous. It is beautiful. Thank you. I didn't get to see it being built, as I'm sure all the Chicagoans, you've been riding past this. But it was absolutely breathtaking to me from the outside in the car. I just – I said, what is this huge piece of art that got installed? I didn't even realize that this was the Presidential Center. So it's just – it's gorgeous, and congratulations. Oh, thank you so much. It's really beautiful. We can't – we are so excited to share this space with the community. Because it's more than just an archive of Barack's presidency. It is really a declaration of hope. It is a community space. There are recording studios here for young people. This auditorium is available for the community. There are gardens here. There are 19 acres of public new park space created. There's a big gymnasium across the street from Hyde Park High School, which is across the street. Yes. It's a full professional-sized basketball court, because you know, Craig, Barack had to have basketball. I respect that. Did you say Craig? I did say Craig. We do that. I call Barack Craig. He calls Kelly Meech, Leslie Meech. We do all that. So we're very proud of it and happy to share it with the city and with the world. And I know you're going to take a tour before you get out of here, maybe, or you'll come back for a tour? Yes. I was supposed to take a tour before this, but as you know, getting here was a. Yeah. There was weather in the Midwest, and so I am here on two glorious hours of sleep. Look at it. And you know what? I was tired. I know where I'm coming. I want my energy to come back and everything. And as soon as we got outside and saw that building, there was really, I'm not kidding you guys, like a warmth and positivity. My driver even was, he was so hype about it. And he's here from, he's from Chicago. My security was like, what in the world? It's just, it's really stunning. And I think there's a good energy radiating out of this place for sure. And seeing these lovely faces brighten my day, coming out. Hi, girls. Hi. Hi, beautiful. Quinta, you spent some time in Chicago. I did. How long ago was it that you spent some significant time here? Oh, man. It was. Okay. So, if I do. 15 years? What? Yeah, which is crazy because I'm like only barely 17. I know. It's like, you were seven when you came. It was wild running the Chicago streets. No, I think like 15 years. I started coming out while I was in college. I might be wrong on the math. I'm a writer, not a mathematician. I don't believe. And I don't think about the past too often. So, I'm not sure. But I started coming out when I was in college. And I was. I was taking classes at Second City. I had a boyfriend at the time who was going to Columbia College. Tell us more. She didn't wait. She didn't wait, did she? She just go right in. I said explicitly, I don't want to talk about. She went right in. You brought him up. I did. Okay. See, that's the lawyer. And she's pointing out that you brought it up. That's why I was scared. Right through the door. Okay. So, there was some guy you were visiting. No, he's a significant part of my past. But that's. Because, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know what? It brought me here. And I came out to visit him once and saw that Second City was just right next door. And it was kind of like my dream place. I would go watch. I watch SNL every night. And I eventually looked up where all these people. How they learned to do this. I started to figure it out. They had to have known each other. They had to have developed these skills. And a lot of those people went to Second City. So, I started coming out just to take like a week intensive course. It was all I could afford. I could afford a Southwest ticket and a week-long course. But you were a West Philly girl. Yes. So, I was in Philly. Yeah. I was like, oh, West Philly in the. How? Mm-hmm. Oh, I like my people. What are you guys doing here? We can't. We'll get into it later. I was in Philly. I was using my little money. I taught dance classes. Okay. You know? Mm-hmm. We in Chicago, people are going to be involved in this conversation. I love it. I love it. Mm-hmm. I love it. Girl, help me more. We're going to get to the dance classes. Just slow down. I love that. I taught dance classes for like $25 a class at a dance school in Philly. And I would take my little money and buy a ticket and spend the rest of my little money to go to Second City and take a course. I really had to use my own money because I did not tell my parents. They would think that I was on campus at Temple. Wait, so you were commuting to Chicago. I like the way you put it. Not sneaking, but commuting to Chicago. Thank you, Craig. Without your parents' knowledge. No. Oh. Which, don't do that. Don't do that. That's who we'll go. We'll talk about that later. We will talk about it. But yeah, you know, classic girl sneaking off and doing improv. Wow. Common story, just like mine. At least it was something positive. It was something positive. But you were. because you grew up in a pretty strict um i did environment you're one of one of five five tell us about uh little quinta and your name quinta number five yes my name means fifth because my parents um didn't expect me and so they just she was one of those oh yeah we met yeah we did we did yep the your next oldest is what's the age difference eight years yeah yeah you were oops yeah any you guys got any oops any no no we we have big generations craig's had two sets of kids okay right so they're they're big age gaps okay the cousins are close is it just you two just us that's cool and a whole bunch of cousins i love everybody's here i love probably half this audience is um really oh yeah that's so okay no let me oh yeah back to you okay so don't be don't i know i'm trying to flip it so i don't have to i like how you flip that right to us could have been a smooth journalist but you're one of one of five one of five i was the the youngest and yeah my my brother closest to me was eight and um eight year different sorry and um it was cool because i grew up really really really cultured i think that's the best way i can put it my parents are in their 70s um i believe they're 73 and um my oldest sibling is 53 and my sibling closest to me is 45 is that correct yeah and so growing up my brothers and sisters were already living life and passing down life to me and i was like oh my god i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry i'm so sorry to me and my parents as well um i recently was talking about this but i grew up with my parents music so my music was stevie wonder and al green and and even their oldies like very old doo-wop songs by groups i don't know the names of where they listen to jazz we were big yeah jazz jazz household and then my brothers and sisters were taking in so much i mean my brother was watching wwe so i was this little girl coming to school asking people if they could smell what the rock was cooking and everyone's like what is wrong with why do you why are you into that and then my sisters were into like you know they they were into conan and um friends and like late night tv but also my sister took me to my first concert which was an usher concert she just she she liked me she pulled me around like a little doll and she was always just taking me with her to things because she liked me but i was always the youngest kid in the room so i think you feel like you were trying to keep up or did you like being i liked it it didn't seem strange to me and i would get to school and share all the things that i thought were normal with my classmates and then i would go to school and i would go to school and i would and i remember in in kindergarten i was four everyone else was five and i remember talking to them about like luther vandross and the children and they're like what would you say what were you telling the people about luther i would you know i would talk about music music great music to fall in love to yeah by the sandbox i i was like yeah these are the songs right you guys know this song right and they're just like talking about smiley face from nick jr and you're like these babies yeah seriously but i'm so happy that i got so much culture and it definitely was the case with television because you know my parents had me watching their shows plus their oldies and my brothers and sisters had me watching everything from ace ventura to kings of comedy to snl to mad to live in color for every shows like rock but then also shows like the west i just got so much funneled into me and i'm really grateful for that um so like if i have kids i kind of want to do the same kind of setup like one really old one one really young one because i think the young one keeps the older ones young too yeah really good point yeah really good point so were you always the show show kid like because you were the youngest were you performing all the time let the baby sing oh yeah no they made me like their little jester for sure it was um quinta do this line for martin because they just thought it was funny what was the line oh it's so dumb there was one i just saw the episode again recently and i was like this is where that came from it was a man at the dmv um i was like it's just it's very silly stuff guy i don't know but there was an episode where someone well martin gets a new job he's um he's doing a tv show now instead of the radio show but one of the irate audience members goes and where's oprah and for some reason that was something they had me say just all the time at three um reciting you ain't got no job tommy um and live in color they really enjoyed making me do the character wanda who jamie foxx played oh say a little your little seven-year-old impression of wanda i mean i'm talking four oh my god just learned to talk and they are making me and then they made me do not fun stuff like there were three floors to our house and this was back in the day you had one remote and it worked like all the tvs um and so or maybe we had more and we just lost them that's probably that's probably what happened so they my sister would make me go all the way to the third floor to get the remote and bring it down and so the gopher yeah i was a gopher those were the um and then there were fun perks like they forgot to tell me stuff a lot of the times i came so late that they family stuff like family secrets like i didn't find out my oldest brother had a different dad until i was 16 oh yeah and it was just because they forgot to tell me yeah it was just like so normalized at that point um i was like quinta were you were your parents funny because they are to me yeah i just you're you have this natural way comedic way about you why thank you and i'm just a good thing yeah yeah well we always talk about how our parents were funny yeah they were funny people right but your your your parents i mean your household sounds like it was just a i think there's a blast beauty and people who are just dangerously authentic in themselves and then they're observational people like me who are taking it all in and you know my sister is one of the funniest people in the world to me she would never get up on a stage or um you know even pursue acting but her natural rhythm is just hilarious because she's so authentic to a fault i can't get her to reel it in sometimes but i appreciate that about her so much and then i think my parents are the same way my mom is just the funniest little lady and she doesn't see it we were texting while watching the finals and she was really upset about uh uh wimby nyama pushing jaylen brunson to the ground and she was like this lanky man my goodness i said mom that's like so funny that you're so mad and she's a lanky man i said well they used to bully wimby so you know now this she was like well it's a lanky man and she's like well it's a lanky man and she's like it must stop and she sent the stop emoji and that was just so funny to me where did you get that a hilarious little lady but you know it's funny the first time i met you michelle it feels weird i want to say mrs you're doing just okay yeah mrs obama you cracked me right on up you really did what did i say to you i'm not gonna say what you said but you were just so funny and i i don't know if you remember but i literally fell off my rocker laughing i was you so just people people's natural just i don't know personhood is like you sure it was her it was her i was cracking up it was i was one thing i'm funny yeah yeah but your your mother was a school teacher your father managed to parking lot yeah he managed parking lots at a company called parkway my philly people okay shout out to parkway i mean it's the bees knees in philly you know and i was uh what they call a parking princess and by the way i mean me i called myself that because i could park anywhere in philly you know parallel parking i parallel i can't no she's talking about she could park at any parking literally oh sorry see but that's how i think if you're the princess that means you can literally park i'm not good at oh well then you don't you don't like to drive that was the crazy part about it i don't enjoy driving but i had like the juice my friends would call me and be like oh my god i'm downtown do you think your dad can get me in i'm like here let me call my dad real quick It was great. It was so cool. You were living like, what was your neighborhood like? What was school like? My neighborhood, that's a good question. My family did a really good job of making me feel like I lived in, like, full house, you know? Like, you know, I didn't know that outside my neighborhood was more like the wire. I wasn't really that aware. I think everybody here can relate. Something I really love about Chicago and feel a kinship there. We all thought we were rich. And I think that's kind of like a testament to a really good family. And it wasn't protectiveness. It was, you're a child and you deserve to live in a nice environment. But, yeah, one day I was outside and I was, like, jumping rope. With my girlfriend. Double dutch. With my girlfriend. There you go. And then there was, like, a drive-by. Oh, yeah. And that happened. And we just ran behind the, on my porch, there was, like, a little barrier. We had a, what do you call it? Outdoor perch. And then we, like, stood up. And then this kid I knew came limping down the street and blood dripping from his leg. And I was like, man, that's so crazy that that happened to him. And then I was like, wait, could that happen to me? And then I remember that being a moment of, ooh. How old were you? It was summer. I was outside by my, I probably was about 12, I would say. Yeah. Because we moved out of that neighborhood when I was 14. But they did a good job of making me feel like it wasn't as tough as it was. Because it was a rough neighborhood. Did having the older brothers and sisters, were they kind of your protectors? Yes. Or were you kind of like, I know you knew. That you had to be able to throw some hands. I know you're right about that. Yes. I knew I needed to know how to fight. And I do know how to fight. Or it's just like, by the way. Really well. Just so it happens. You just messed up. You look like somebody who can fight. Thank you. Quint don't mess up. I think. It's like. I don't like I think. Right now? Quint. Right now? Right this second? Okay. That wasn't the look I was going for. I can take multitudes. I guess that's good. Yeah. No, yeah. They knew how to fight. We never fought each other. And we weren't fighters. You know? Fighting. I don't want to fight. But you have to if you need to. In a city like that. Once again, girls. I'm just. I don't feel like. Don't fight. It's not. If you can resolve it in other ways. Please do it. Yeah. That's true. That's true. I've only been in like two physical fights. And I'm very proud of that. Yeah. And a lot of people haven't been in one. But. Somebody's clapping for the fights. That's good. That's good. I feel like you guys should take the reins now. This is. No, we love this. We love it. This is great. This episode is brought to you in part by United Airlines. Chicago's hometown airline where good leads the way. So, Mish, I have to ask. When you're on the plane coming back to Chicago and you catch a glimpse of the skyline over Lake Michigan, what comes to your mind? That's my favorite part of the flight. I mean, I try to make it a point to stop everything that I'm doing and make sure that I'm looking out the window. Because I don't know about you, but I try to outline where we are. Because the beautiful thing about Chicago, it's a grid system. And it's an easy. It's an easy. It's one of the easiest cities to get around in. And you can sort of track your whole neighborhood. Right. So I try to find out where's the house. Do I see mom's house? Do I see where you guys used to live? Even though it's a little bitty dot. It's just exciting. You have an idea. No, I feel I feel that I feel that same way. Every time I land at O'Hare, there's this specific moment where I just exhale like, OK, I'm back. This is where it all started. And even after traveling the world, I still think Chicago is one of the most beautiful electric cities on the planet. And that feeling never gets old. Do you have any special feelings about the city like that? Oh, my God. It's the exact same thing. I mean, I have traveled the world and my heart is still in Chicago. It is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The Grant Park. And now Jackson Park is going to be just as beautiful because, you know, shameless plug, but the Obama Presidential Center is going to be a part of that skyline. The lakefront is amazing. I mean, it's just such a livable city. And when it's not freezing cold, which is the summertime, it's alive with so much going on, festivals and art museums and great shopping and some of the best food you can have. So, yeah. Chicago is still my favorite city in the country. Probably in the world. And United is part of that. They've been part of this city for 90 years, shaped by the same grit and work ethic Chicago is known for. Mish, what does home mean to you? I've learned that home isn't about the house you're in. It's about the people who are in the house. Right. So we've had to learn, you know, leaving Chicago, our hometown. To start a new life in Washington and living in the White House. One of my fears was that it wouldn't feel like home. But the best thing I learned was that home is wherever family is. Well, Chicago is forever our hometown. And as Chicago's hometown airline, United Airlines can connect you to the world with more destinations than any other airline. On more new planes with screens at every seat, Bluetooth connectivity. And bigger overhead bins. Book your next flight on the United app or at United.com. Now, your parents were wonderful role models to you. There was a lot of love. But there was a period where you were going through some contentious times. Sure. With your mother in particular. Oh, yeah. Can you talk about that? Because I bet there isn't. There's no girl in this room who isn't mad at their mother, right? You know. Even the 60-year-olds. I know. And, you know, it was in college, really, where I, once again, didn't know what she was trying to protect me from. Yeah. And that's where we started having issues. We were so solid before that. But in college, it just felt like she was holding on for dear life or she didn't trust me. Mm-hmm. And I just didn't. I just didn't understand. I was doing, like I said, I was doing improv. And I wasn't doing drugs. I was, well, I wasn't doing anything bad. I wasn't doing anything bad. You weren't doing anything illegal, technically. Yeah. Anything that everybody else wasn't doing. I was a really good kid, so I just didn't understand. And my mom and I got into it one day when I was getting out of the car. She was driving me off at a friend's house. And I just really, you know, I was never disrespected. I was never disrespectful. But I asked her, like, what is going on? What is your deal? Like, you did this. You raised me. You made me who I am. Why are you trying to stop what, you know, is inevitable? And, you know, I wasn't looking at her as a full human being. It's kind of similar to what I'm talking about, where, like, you get to see the full America, therefore you understand it. That's why it's important to learn it. I wasn't seeing the full picture of my mom. I was just looking at her as a mother, but not as a full human being who had lost two siblings. To drugs and alcohol. And, you know, was just trying to protect me from a rough world. But I just didn't understand because she was a dancer and everything. And she, like, lived a life. Because you went to temple, but you lived at home. You didn't live in the dorms. I failed my way to live in the dorms. Yeah. Well, you snuck your way into the dorms. Wait a minute. Explain this. I commuted my way. Into the dorms. I like your way. I had a, there was a friend who, the first day of school, her roommate, I guess, dropped out. I don't know what happened to that girl. But she never, I hope she's okay. But we never told the, we never told the school. And I just moved in. Oh, nice. And so, I always be on my way. I was like a couch surfer, hobo. Just moved around campus, stayed on friends' couches. I was going to find my independence. Where did your parents think you were? I would tell them that I was staying on campus. Okay. But there was resistance to that. And I was just like, I'm not doing anything. I was watching, do you know the show Tim and Eric? Are you guys familiar? No. What is it? No, I'm not my age. I was watching. Tim and Eric. I was watching like SNL and comedy shows with my friends on the couch. But they were just, were not, my mom in particular was really not happy. We got over that hump. And I'm happy that we did. It took a lot of discussion and communication. Because I was. I was determined to have a good relationship with my mother. And she was determined to have a good relationship with me. with me. And I think if two people are just determined to work it out, it can eventually work, but it took some time. I mean, but I think the point you make about seeing your parents as whole people. Yeah. I remember distinctly when I, we, we always had a great relationship with our parents. We were a close knit family, all aunts and uncles and cousins. They believed in talking to us about things, but I think our parents did the opposite. They were like, kick, kicked us out. They were like, go try some things. Don't stay so close. You know, they had the same fears, you know, but you grow up with your parents and all the adults around you as heroes, right? Because they're so wise. But then one day as you grow up, you realize, oh man, dad's got some issues, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then you, and the same thing. And she wonders why I was the favorite. But you also see it happening from your kids when you have kids. When you start, when you know, you've got to go through that period where you start growing up. Yes. Yes. And then you start realizing what the world had, has in store and what your parents are really struggling. I'm talking to all you young people here who may be mad or struggling with the adult, figures in your lives. It's, it is hard to see those people as real whole people with a set of fears and setting challenges and limitations. And a lot of times parents don't talk about the hard things. No, I mean, they don't want to, you're a kid, but it helps. It does. Yeah. It helps. But to the parents defense, sometimes they're just afraid. Totally. And they're afraid for, for you because they think you don't know what's coming. Yeah. And that's where I thought our parents did a really good job because we found out later how really afraid our parents were, were to let us go on trips with a basketball team when you're 13 years old or, um, go out of the country, go out of the country for the first time by herself when she's in high school or, you know, um, send you off to a school. I went to high school right around the corner here at Mount Carmel high school, you know, you know, mostly white school. I've got a couple of friends here who I've been friends with ever since then, you know, they were afraid of all of that. And I, you know, I want some of these, these young girls and the young people in here to just have a, you know, we're always talking about giving people grace. We never give our parents the grace because, um, and, and sometimes it's too, too much, right? Like Misha and I always talk about how parents these days try and curate this perfect existence for their children. So there is something in the middle there, right? You can't be too afraid that they can't do anything and then you can't protect them from everything. Absolutely. There's a good book I'm reading. It's a, it's a tougher read, but I'm getting through it called the anxious generation. And it speaks to that. So, well, it is speaking specifically to technology, social media, but it's true that each generation is going to try to create perimeters based on what they experienced. My parents, look, they survived. And I mean, they made their way through the crack era where they were losing friends through the AIDS era, losing friends, watching people disappear left and right. You know what I mean? So of course they're trying to, they're trying to protect their children from the things that they've seen. I'm going to try to protect my kids from the things that I've seen. And they're probably going to look at me like I'm crazy because those problems probably still, they probably won't exist in the same way. Or, you know, I hope they won't anyway. I think the internet is our big painful thing that my generation is dealing with. But, you know, to your point though, you're right. How much they're afraid of. And I realize it more and more as I get older, if you're fortunate to get older, you get it. You start to thinking about having kids of your own or having kids of your own. And you're just like, I don't even know how my parents had five children. My mom's a teacher. I don't know if you guys heard, they don't make that much. And my dad was managing parking lots. He don't make that much either. He was a king of parking, but still. He was a king, but we're talking about a combined. Combined salary of maybe over a little over a hundred grand. Five kids. I'm doing all right, I think. And I'm still like, if I have one, I'm like, oh my God, I can never stop working. I have to, I don't know, how am I going to do it? How am I going to do it? But that's the thing that we constantly have to remind ourselves because we talk to young people like, I don't know if I'm ever going to have kids. I can't afford it. And, you know, our parents were the same way. My mother didn't work until, until high school because she wanted to be home. She wanted to be involved in the PTA. She wanted to look out for us. She wanted us to be able to come home for lunch. And so that meant we were living off of one, my dad was a city worker, right? He was a shift worker. And so what that generation did was that they lived small, right? Yes. And then they, they didn't place a whole lot of value in the stuff we had, right? Yes. Yes. And they didn't feel responsible for us having said they didn't feel guilty. Yeah. Right. I mean, one of my father's favorite sayings was never satisfied, never satisfied. If you had something good on your plate and you were looking for the next thing, he was like, see, that's the problem. You know, you got to learn how to be satisfied with what you have. Satisfied and grateful. And social media is kind of putting forward all the things you don't have and should want. To your point. To your point. That my dad, I was on the phone with him two days ago and he was talking about what his dream was. He dreamed to have a family. That was his dream. Yeah. And he accomplished it. And then it was keeping that family taken care of, no matter what that meant. Working jobs that he didn't want to until he got the one that was good. He was, and that was so special to me because it was so big to him, seemingly small to other people. And then another point to like the internet. And I feel like we're often trying to impress people who aren't even in our community, who don't even know us. And the way I was brought up, we were, you know, a part of a religious community. Our neighborhood, our literal neighborhood community. And my dance school was another community. My father was in the Carpenters Union and he was a part of a music group. And these were the people we wanted to impress, our actual communities. And I think that made for a healthier environment. But now that we have gotten into the habit of impressing people who don't even know we exist, it feels like a disconnect between what's really needed at home and what we think we need to show people. And I'm saying this not as a judgment, but as someone who's grown up through that and is now trying to actively reject it. And it's hard. I struggle. I'm like, I have to actively like put down this thinking. That's a great point because I was thinking about all the things I wanted to talk to you about. We're not going to get to all of them. But one of them was you got your start on the internet before folks were like, online like that, right? Can you talk about what you were thinking and how that all evolved? Because first of all, I'm too old to know. I didn't really get to know you until I saw Abbott Elementary. And then we started doing the background work. And I was like, whoa, you've been doing stuff for a very long time. And at a young age, can you talk about how, what was your mindset? How did you say, well, I'm going to do this and then I'm going to put it online. Was that a plan or was it just sort of an outlet? It was an outlet. I talk a lot about the importance of craft. I just was practicing comedy. And the internet, I was actually staunchly against it at first. I had zero respect for YouTubers. I thought I was not on board. I respected the stage and I respected writing and television, but I did not respect the internet. I did not respect the internet. And then what happened was Instagram, look, social media, Facebook, how far back do I go? Yeah, really. It's really hard. I mean, MySpace was the beginning of it. You made up. It's so hard. MySpace was like really the beginning of it, but we didn't know what was happening to us. I want to be clear about that. Yes. We were just kids using the internet. We didn't know. We were basically being indoctrinated into our social lives changing forever. So that MySpace happened. And like Facebook happened next. And Facebook, this is back when you had to have a college email. sign up for it and that became the second iteration of you living your life online you know like it wasn't just your friends in the classroom it was your friends here and then when I came to Chicago actually I started having friends on Facebook in Chicago which expanded my internet living you know the beginning of like I don't know just a network of people online and then Facebook had video and I would make really silly videos with my friends for no one that was the goal it was just like just for me and my friends and then I started a little teeny talk show on Facebook none of this is big stuff it just was kids messing around on the internet and I would interview someone for silly the first episode of that show it's when Barack um he wasn't elected yet he was about to get elected I made up a rap and I said Barack Barack you rock my socks I don't know what else I said it was so dumb I'll show you but it was it was so silly just being in the dorm being silly and I and then it expanded to Chicago because I would come out here and visit my boyfriend and he was in a music group and I interviewed them and then the series started getting popular on Facebook and so that was kind of my first way into like all right there's something to creating here then Instagram happened now once again just making silly videos for my friend this is before you could share yeah you guys I feel like some of us in here remember it was just for you and your friends and then I made some silly videos but then I woke I went to sleep woke up and they were getting a lot of comments from people I didn't know and looking back I'm not even sure how because it wasn't easy to share a video then there was no share link I'm not even sure you could like copy the URL to paste and send to someone so it was complete word of mouth and that was really interesting to me so I'm not even sure if you could like copy the URL to paste and send to someone scary was it exciting it was exciting okay it was I didn't know to be scared yet because once again yeah yeah didn't really know what was happening and did your parents know no god yeah they didn't even my parents still to this day don't I don't know how to you know I remember when Malia and Sasha were starting to ask for stuff and then I was like I'm supposed to be monitoring this yeah but I don't even know what it is so I'd get mad like give me your phone no and I'd be like open it now take me to the site I don't even know what I'm looking for but I'm gonna find it with your help that is hilarious see this is what I mean that is hilarious so no they had no idea and um then I started making more of those Instagram videos and they started going viral and then I would put some of them on Vine which no longer exists and people would pick them up exactly thing everybody's all like oh fine and I was it was all just happening and I I was I was broke I was working at Apple but man I was dead broke my money went straight to rent I had no money so I was like when you were in LA yeah I made it to LA by that point yeah well also talk about how you got to LA because eventually you just you just left you you like you were secretly staying in the dorms so secretly took your little self to LA to live I'll talk about that I knew I wasn't gonna get away with that I had to tell my parents I was soft launching it to them so I went out to LA I was like I'm gonna go some of my friends are out there from Temple they're doing the Temple um the Temple program that they have in LA I'm gonna go I'm yeah I'm doing that mind you at this point I'm flunking out of college I had a bad breakup with that yeah yeah the Chicago boy and it broke me okay don't don't do that don't do that don't let me not do that it broke me sorry boy break you don't do it I thought I was I thought I was like going back to school but I was like heartbroken yeah it's a very emotional girl and just like was devastated and then I was like I'll go back to school I am gonna go back to school but they didn't know at that point that I was like not doing well you were undercover flunking undercover flunking you was such a little undercover girl I know not anymore that was a hard life to live I didn't I didn't I didn't like that I was and I wasn't a good liar so it was seemed like you were Quinta no I was good at half truths uh-huh and living what is called a double life oh so I was never I wouldn't say my parents like where you going I'm gonna see some friends uh from college I didn't say what college and I didn't say what friends um so I would get away with it but then I yeah when it came to LA I kind of went out to test the rules and I was like I'm gonna go to the waters just for a month stayed with a friend and to see if I could work so I got to work in the business yes to see if it would work out at that point I knew Chicago it was going to be like SNL or bust and I didn't know if that was going to be right for me and I felt like LA had more opportunity so I worked I took a second city class and I got a lot of PA jobs I worked on um this show oh Key & Peele I worked on Key & Peele I worked on Key & Peele oh yeah it's a PA I missed that in your book I don't know if I was in there I don't know I did it was like it was their first episode actually wow and I was a PA and through that met a producer production assistant and she does a podcast now she's in the business yeah I'm just you know all this lingo PA I was like yeah you know production assistant and um then I uh that shut up that producer got me a job on a music video which happened to be Donald Glover's music video heartbeat and I uh was so that that wasn't I was like okay I can do this I can work out here the girl stayed with Britney she was a styling assistant and she couldn't do a job and she gave the job to me for a woman named Samira Nasir who now runs Harper Harper's Bazaar but at the time she was like a traveling stylist so I went back to Philly I said okay I need to get a job and I'm going to make sure it's a job that can move me to LA and that's how I started working at Apple because I knew that they had a good transfer program so I worked at Apple for a year so you were tech assistant at Apple or what was it I don't know if they exist anymore FR and FRS a family room specialist never been in an Apple store I know I'm first lady well you had like a big period of your life where you probably couldn't go places easy normal human things yes that's true um um you should go lovely experience I probably probably won't probably won't yeah I know and then I I transferred to LA I did tell my parents at that point I was like I am moving I I'm going to move there and I just had to present it as a thing of I'm not asking you I am going which was really tough for me because I had never really had that experience with my parents before my mom was an absolute shock and my dad my dad was only supportive of me and my mom was like supportive of me in a really unique way he kind of respected my carrying on but so he would let my mom do the yelling but he secretly would be like proud of you do your thing yeah did they know you were interested in comedy no I didn't you couldn't say that you're like I'm gonna know at that point I was telling them I'm still planning on going to school and I I was I was gonna transfer to UCLA I know but it was a plan I was like I'll go to UCLA so it was a full it was it was a truth you weren't lying I wasn't lying um and then I got to LA and uh worked at Apple but then those videos started going viral and I said I started selling t-shirts with like phrases from the videos on them I was making more money than I've ever made in my life and I'm talking four thousand dollars okay I'm balling living like a queen I was taking my friends out to dinner and everything it was immediately crab dinners for everyone it was so cute um and then uh the money ran out um and for the young people that's another thing you don't do don't do that money ran out I didn't want to make t-shirts I was like I feel like a t-shirt maker that's my job now I don't want to be that and so I was like I need a job I started doing stand-up and public appearances but I didn't want to do public appearances and say my catchphrases on stage that didn't feel good and I didn't stand up was I was good at it but it was not for me I knew it wasn't what up yeah um it the lifestyle of stand-up wasn't for me I didn't like being at the comedy store in LA until 2 a.m I didn't like who I was becoming like I was starting like smoke cigarettes and stuff just to hang out and and I just it just wasn't for me I respect stand-ups and people who are very good at it and that is like their thing but I felt but it is a tough life tough life and I didn't feel like it was my version of storytelling I always say that I didn't want to be singular my personal experiences I really enjoyed fictional worlds and and narrative pieces so then I got a job I said it's time to get a job so I started working at BuzzFeed at the time and that was a lifesaver it was great pay a wonderful opportunity for me to talk a bit about BuzzFeed for BuzzFeed was this uh platform that used to exist it still exists It still exists. It still exists, but not like it did in its heyday. I joined at the beginning of its heyday where we were producing videos for the internet that were like, it was relatable content, taste tests, et cetera. I kind of came in and helped build the narrative department. So scripted videos. That was just like a dream come true. I sold shows. I learned how to sell shows there, how to, it's one thing to make a show. It's another thing to actually sell it to a platform. And so I learned how to do that. I made incredible relationships. A lot of my friends from BuzzFeed currently work on Abbott. My friend Kate, my friend Justin, my friend Garrett. Lifelong lessons there. And there are a lot of people who did not have good experiences and their experiences are valid. I'm not one of those people. But I also think I looked at it as for what it was. It was a job for me. And a lot of those kids were like coming out of college and that was their first job. And they didn't- You had had bad experiences. I had had bad jobs. I had had bad jobs. I had, I worked at Friendly's. I worked at American Eagle. I worked at a dance, I worked at the YMCA in LA. And that was a wild experience. It just, I had some jobs. I worked at a call center for my school. I worked at a sex phone center because I was that broke one time. I had pawned all my stuff at a point in LA just to stay there, like everything I had. And so I was like, this is a job. I get that. Even working at Apple, I understood a job. So for me, it was the best job. Well, and that's another thing about, you know, just for kids, like taking some time to try on some things when it comes to work. Yeah. You got to work to pay rent. You got to work to, you know. Yep. So having all these experiences, so by the time you get to BuzzFeed, you're kind of an adult. I'm an adult and super appreciative. I have a 401k benefits. Right. By the time I left there, I was like, I'm going to do this. I'm going to do this. I was making six figures. I couldn't, I never even saw that happening for myself. I was treated with respect with, especially in media. I mean, they let me do stuff that I don't, that nobody was letting no black girl do anywhere else at the time, you know? And when I would even ask them why, it would, they were like, because you're good at it. Yeah. I loved that. That was so, I'm so grateful for that. That was, that was huge for me. I'm so grateful for that. This episode of IMO is brought to you by Chase Home Lending. When you're thinking about buying a home, it's a major decision, a mix of excitement, nerves, and a lot of questions. I've been there myself, and I know how important it is to have someone in your corner. You know, I was remembering back, I could have used some support when I was shopping for my first home. I didn't know how important it was to have someone in your corner. I didn't know anything. 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Get a $49 annual membership with the promo code PODCAST at ship.com slash offer. That's S-H-I-P-T dot com slash offer. Terms apply. Was that the first time you felt successful in your path or? Yes. Because I, I ask this because as, as an athlete and a coach, I find we learn sometimes more from our failures than we do from our wins. And I just want to get a feel for you, Dee, Dee. Did you think that all those tribulations you went through, good, bad? Was it better to fail and figure out how to do it right? Or if you can avoid failing, and this is, this is for the young people out here who think that, you know, you just sat here and did boom, boom, boom. And here I'm at the, I'm, I'm at the, you know, award show to picking up my awards. Picking up your third Emmy. Well, you know, I love that question because sports is how I look at everything. And, Oh Lord. I know. I'm sorry. Please. I know. You're one of them. There are two sports fans up here. I am one of them. And I like sports. Don't I? I do. And I just like, I just watched actually, not save the last dance. Sorry. The last dance again. Yeah. The Michael Jordan documentary. Yeah. Oh God. Like, right. That kind of look at greatness is what I, that's my jam. I, failure is just motivation and it's just a part of the bigger picture. And so I have not considered anything I've ever done ever a failure and I never will. It's not that it wasn't, you know, it's just part of the bigger picture. Even when I was folding pants at American Eagle, that was a part of getting me here today. Um, when I had to pawn all my stuff, that would have been a lot of people's down moment. But, for me, I'm like, this is just part of the, part of the up, part of the, uh, this, I now look back, I had to ride past that place recently where I, where I sold my computer, which that was big. It was all I had. I sold all my clothes at that point for nothing, mind you. I mean, I didn't have like good clothes. They were from like wet seal. So I didn't get a lot of money. Oh yeah. They were, I didn't get anything for them. So that computer was a big deal. And then, but I rode past that place the other day in LA and was like, wow, like, I'm so grateful that I can ride past and that I have that moment to see how far I've come. So I just think I don't. Yeah. I mean, like I was talking about that documentary because they had that, that moment where the bulls lost to, um, the jazz. And that could have been the, it could have been the end of Michael Jordan as we know it. Yeah. And it wasn't, it was, we'll be back next year. And, uh, that's part of the journey now. And I'm coming for you. Like, and I think that. That's how I kind of look at things. And even Abbott, I don't know. There was a point where I was like, I don't know if I'll ever have another good idea after Abbott. Really? I did because it seemed so big. It is big. I wrote this show and then all of a sudden, I was like, well, all right. And then as we've gone through it, I was like, oh, this is a piece of a larger puzzle. I don't know quite what's in store. I know some things, but it is part of something big. But somebody else, it's big to us and big to me. There are people who could look at, I know it's crazy to think, having a show on network TV as a, oh, I didn't make an HBO show. I am around people like that every day. It is nuts to me. It's nuts. Never satisfied. Exactly. And that's where gratitude comes in for me. It's major. Well, that's something to also remember as you ascend. You know, you start realizing that. This constant pursuit of something outside of yourself, for people who haven't figured that out, they're never satisfied. I've probably said it, sat at every powerful table there is, you know, from grammar school to the G Summit, right? You see the same people at the table with the same issues. You know, it doesn't matter how much money they have, how much power they have, you know, if they haven't figured out this piece. You know, if they haven't figured out their process, their purpose in life. And it's so hard for kids to believe this, but they're not happy, you know. And some people that are constantly grasping at more, the trillionaire, you meet these people, and they don't know how to build anything else except for wealth. So they're empty, right? Totally. Totally. And it's fascinating to see. Someone who spent a lot of time working on making sure this was straight, to watch some people that everyone knows and loves are hollow. Yeah. Hollow, man. Like, and you talk to them, and literally, like, you feel like you can see right through them. It's like, I don't even know why I'm having a conversation with you. I see what, it's just nothing in there. And I was watching one of my Defining DCOM's Disney Channel original movies the other day. Hold on one second. This is what happened. We have old, we have, we have old people in here. I know, it's okay. I guarantee, I guarantee that's somebody old. And they don't know how to turn it off. They don't know how to turn it off. And I go, Jesus, we were just talking about social media. Hand it to a young person. Give the young person the phone. To turn the phone off. But, do you guys remember the movie Brink? The dad in that movie says something that was, that hit me so hard. In this Disney Channel original movie. But, he tells Brink. Brink, who's a skater. And all he cares about is skating and shredding. And his dad's like, you know, skating is what you do. It's not who you are. You are. He says, he lost his job, the dad, in the movie. And he was a construction foreman. He said he used to introduce himself as, hey, I'm construction foreman such and such. Almost like who he was, was the job first. And then he falls off a ladder and hurts himself. And he had to find himself again. And that really stuck with me. Because I'm going through that with my career right now. My job is not who I am. It is my work. I do care about it very deeply. But, I think it's important. I mean, I know people who, teachers who care about their job very deeply. I know bus drivers who care about their job very deeply. But, it's not who I am. Who I am is a good sister, a good daughter, a good friend. You know, just who are you when no one's looking. And these are not just words. It's really the truth about life. Yes. You know. And it's like, the sooner that you young people understand that, just sort of believe that truth. You know, then you can start building life from there. Right. We've got to get rid of social media. I don't know what to do. I just, I don't know. Well, and spoken like somebody who's built your career on. So, can you talk about. How you're thinking about it. I started to vow. Yeah. To destroy the very thing that created my career. Yeah. You know how many times I used to. Back before even, you know, Twitter became X. I used to be. I used to have dreams of going to Twitter and pulling the plug out of the headquarters. I'm so serious. Yeah. Yeah. Because I could feel in real time the negative effects that it was starting to have on my peers, on my people. Yeah. Not to even mention the younger generation. Yeah. They got a. number done on them for real because I at least lived life before the internet you know the internet didn't come into my life as a social platform until I was like 17 but man it is it's a doozy I don't know what we're gonna do people thinking that fame is a goal um that like I don't even understand what influence is in the absence of anything behind it yeah you haven't built anything you're just sort of selling somebody else's stuff it has its benefits for sure for sure I do think the negatives are outweighing the benefits and so um there was a recent case though that you you know is going to be interesting where finally someone got to court and proved hey same effect the cigarettes yeah happening right here we gotta do something we can't keep living like this and I know we all like joke about the algorithms but it's really not funny that you can you can manipulate somebody it's just yeah you know that you're messing with dopamine and yeah people's habits the the notion that a lot of these um programs are using the same uh algorithms that they use in Vegas you know to get people to continue to gamble and use slots is the same sounds and the sights and the noises and the repetition yeah um it's just important for kids to understand that because it all looks so good because the the the allure of fame and notoriety um and the allure of community that's another I think more than fame it's been this allure of community yeah that is there that I think there's there's issues with that it's now been scientifically proven that there is an issue with you thinking your community is people you don't know 10,000 people you don't know and have no connection with in person and even you know for children to be growing up and the first people they are talking to yeah are people they don't know it's so I would tell the girls that when they started getting into it yeah I was like you would make the same point now they were right up the cusp and they're like you they are so glad that they were just right on it yeah that it's not like part of their ecosystem Sasha being the youngest is probably a little more into it but you know you look up and she you know she's like I got a thousand friends I was like I know you don't I mean there is you don't you don't know I know these people and I was like no you don't and I said the thing you have to understand is like now you have a thousand people who have access to you you know and when you're coming up in our day when it was black and white tv and we used to walk to school in our bare feet but in order for you to have people have access to you they had to call a phone right and your mother or parent would answer and the person calling you would have to communicate and say hi my name is x is such and such there and by doing that your parent was alerted oh such and such is in my child's life yeah now I am cognizant of who my child is dealing with you might say well who's such and such right tell me about that person right now that buffer that is necessary of protection just a parent going somebody is calling my kid now you don't have it in in the fun I'm so sorry no no the interesting part about this conversation is a lot of parents of that time they were trying to protect their kids from outside outside was getting crazy yeah so it was really safe if you were on the family computer doing something but they had no clue they were trying to protect us from the outside but now we know and that court case is what they're proving which is no they know what they're doing they are getting your kid addicted uh that's what they had to prove with cigarettes like no no no the marketing joe camel is like a cartoon that's right who would have ever thought watching loads of tv would have been better for you I know I'm a big big supporter of television yes so so we were tv kids we were tv yeah I was such a tv kid I mean I I love I just love tv I like that you oh no go ahead speaking of tv yeah can we talk about abbott elementary we can yes so we we all we all admit this is a it's a great show and you know I was talking to my wife and my kids about this show and we all like so you got 16 year old 14 year old and adults all watching tv again which which had had stopped happening everybody's yeah sort of binge watching everything And I was dying to ask you, why do you think it's such a great show? Well, I created it with that intention. I thought you were going to say, because I created it. No! Intention is important, though. Okay. I created it with that intention. I would go back home, and my niece, she's 20, 20? 21. And my mom is 73, and I'm 36. And we had nothing to watch together. And I really couldn't stand that. You know, I really, I just didn't like that. Because my parents and I grew up watching TV together. Everybody watched the same show. And everything that we were watching was old, you know? I think a big show in our house was later on became King of Queens for some reason. And that became a generational show in our house. Cosby Show kind of fell off in the house. But that would have been one, I think. That would have been one. A Different World was a big one, because my niece really liked it and everything. But I was like, there should be more of these. And then after I was visiting my mom the year before she retired, and I was pushing her to retire. I was visiting her and just walking around the schools. I grew up in schools. They feel like second homes to me. So I do know them well enough to know the rhythms and everything. But visiting it in that way after being out of school for so long, you start to see it in this really clear way. Yeah. Kind of like when you haven't seen your family in a while. Yeah. And you grew up in this family, but you haven't seen them in a while. And you see them again. And then you see everyone kind of clearly for who they are. That's what it was like when I visited my mom. Her new principal was so funny and bananas. And my mom's little best friend, who Melissa in the show is based off of, was so funny to me. And my mom was so. I saw this woman who didn't want to retire, because she didn't. She didn't want to be put out to pasture. I don't know. Both my parents really. They're workers. They've been working their whole life. They love working. My mom loves teaching. And I could feel that in her. So that was the heart of the show to me right there. And then my mom, years ago, had this TA, a teaching assistant, that was so young and bubbly. And I remembered, even though I was young, I remembered that woman getting on my mom's nerves. And I thought that was so funny. And so all of a sudden. I'm like, I see Janine. I see Barbara. I see Melissa. I see Ava. My good friend from school, Gregory, he became a teacher and wound up teaching with my mom. And he and I went to school together. We went to these programs together and everything. We went to college together. And I really. Watching him become a teacher was so interesting. And I was so proud of him. And so proud of what he was doing. He was. It's, again, what I'm talking about. Like, him choosing to be a teacher was him choosing to be a role model for so many young black boys in Philadelphia. Something they desperately needed, whether they knew it or not. And so then Gregory became clear to me. And I had a friend, Matt, who was teaching in New York, who was the most well-meaning white guy you could find. And I was like, Matt, it was so funny to me. Just so earnest. Nothing could get him down. And I wanted to. So many times. Be like, Matt, you corny as hell. That's everybody on the Obama campaign. No. Yes. But you know what? That corn is what helps some kids to see another day. That corny teacher is necessary. So then I got my Jacob. I was like, I have a show. You do. I have a show. And then I just, like, woke up and was like, I'm going to make this. At the time, I was in between some other deals. So I was going to make it as an animated show first. Oh. But I was really in, I am very into animation. And so I was like, I'll do it animated. And I hadn't seen an animated mockumentary. But then things happened, whatever. And got the opportunity to do it live action, which led to the show. And yeah, I just, I just wanted to make a good comedy. I had no idea how it would really shine a light on education. That was not my intention, to be honest. I just thought it was a good show. And I think that's kind of what I wanted to do. I think that's kind of what I wanted to do. I think that's kind of the beauty of, like, being so intentional about one thing. Yeah. You don't even know the, like, blast radius that could happen. You know, I really wasn't thinking about any, I'm amazed by some of the impact that has come from the show. I was just in Chicago. And let me tell you, the energy in the city was incredible. Everyone was just buzzing with excitement. While I was there, I actually had a bit of downtime. So I booked this Airbnb experience. It was a custom sneaker-making workshop. It was seriously so much fun. First, she takes you through her space and shows you exactly where the magic happens. You get to see the whole process, ask a million questions, and check out all these different leathers and fabrics. But the best part? I got to customize my own pair of sneakers. I made them especially for IMO. And honestly? The conversation and the hands-on activity made it such a memorable part of the trip. Now, here's what really struck me. Chicago was absolutely packed. And I'm thinking, if you live in a city that draws big events like this, you could be making real money those weekends. That's the beauty of Airbnb. When people list their spaces, it allows travelers like me to actually experience a city like a local, instead of just staying at a hotel. So if you've got travelers. If you've got travelers coming up, think about listing your space. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.com slash host. It's officially patio season. And this year, Kelly and I were committed to sprucing up our outdoor space without completely blowing our budget. The idea was to make our patio feel like an extension of the house. And Wayfair made the whole process so much easier. We got new seating. 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And I love the way you talk about how you weren't necessarily, you don't suffer from imposter syndrome. No, it's my biggest flaw, I've learned. I was like, maybe I should get some imposter syndrome sometime. Yeah, I know. Can you talk a bit about that? What is that about, especially when so many, there's so much conversation about people not feeling like, they belong in their success? I feel like, if I feel like I don't belong somewhere, for me, that is a sign to leave. So I always follow that instinct. If I'm somewhere, I'm like, I don't belong here. To me, that doesn't register as imposter syndrome. It registers as, I'm not supposed to be here and I'm leaving. And peace out to the environment. - Environment. - Yeah. Yeah, but if I am somewhere and I feel like I do belong there, I don't let any doubt enter because I'm here. And I look at the feeling of not belonging as more as a defense mechanism for me, something to keep me safe. But when it comes to my work or comedy or any of this, I don't know. I don't, and when I do get it, it's for the silliest things. And even then I'm like, you're here, so you belong. And so I had it for a brief second. I think this is what imposter syndrome feels like. I was at the game, not the, the game on Wednesday in Madison Square Garden. And I'm not a Spurs or a Knicks. I'm not from New York and I'm not from San Antonio. I'm especially not from New York. And being in Madison, like being in Madison Square Garden. I was like, oh man, like, dang, I felt like, I felt like a little bit of, ooh, can I root? So I went out and got like an agnostic NBA jacket, you know, I just followed the feeling. I was like, oh, I'm not, I'm not an, you know, I'm a fan of both teams. I'm just not from there. But I was like, let me get up. So you weren't rooting against the Knicks is what you're saying. This was a series where I truly was, you were neutral. You hope both teams lost. I, I hoped both teams won. That would have been, after watching this season of basketball, I thought these were two, I was so happy it was these two teams in the finals. And so I just felt like, I just, it was just good basketball, which is so fun to watch. And so I, I felt, is that imposter syndrome? I felt that way, but then I went and worked on it. I got myself an agnostic jacket. Right. I went. I'm going to the game. I sat down and I had a green. It was like Randall time, you know, and I, I was able to lift the spirits of those around me because the New Yorkers around me threw in the towel. This is when they were down by 30. I was like, hey guys, you got to believe. I don't, I'm just, I'm here for a good time. So, and that was the beauty of it being like, no, I don't belong here. I, there was a man next to me about to croak. He was like 97 and he was, I was like, sir, you, you gotta believe. You gotta believe. You gotta believe. You gotta believe everyone. And they're like, what is your problem? And I'm like, just having a good time. I belong here. I belong here. It's my stadium. And so that's why I don't let it enter because I think it can block your blessing or the blessing you can be to someone else too. Oh, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Well, we, we have some fun stuff planned before at the very end that we want to get to. But before we do that, I want to talk about the field trip fund, the Quinta Princess. Can you talk a little bit about that? I'm so excited about it. Yeah. So. I was really sad to hear that my niece and nephew who went to school during COVID didn't get to experience that many field trips. I immediately blamed COVID and they just were like, no auntie, like field trips just aren't happening anymore. And I was like, excuse me? They were like, yeah, it's like, there's no money for them. They just aren't that big of a deal anymore. And I was like, not that big of a deal. Field trips changed my life. Yes. Changed my life. The first time I went to New York was, New York is only two hours away from Philadelphia, but so many kids from Philly never go to New York and it's right there, but you know, whatever. So, and then we did such fun things. We, we went to the river to, and we built boats and whatever. We went to museums. We went to, sometimes it was just to the, the, the Independence Hall in Philadelphia and drew the Liberty Bell, but these things mattered. And so when I learned that, that really upset me. And when I found out the issue was like money, I was like, well, I have some of that, so I'm going to try to help. And so I started talking about it with, I now have a team of people I work with in philanthropy specifically. And I was just like, what can I do? How can I help? And I went back to that thought of community, right? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I could by myself, like throw money at the problem, but there was something to the community also being able to care if they were, if they were moved to do so. And I felt like when people in Philly heard the information that I heard, which is that field trips aren't happening anymore, because you're kind of disconnected from that if you don't have kids, that they would feel motivated too. There's not much that we as individuals can do about maybe the school buildings, which are old. Or the teacher's salaries, which need to be raised. But there, here's this main thing we can do. And so we talked about this fund where anyone can donate and you will change the lives of Philadelphia students everywhere. Because field trips don't cost that much, but they do cost money. And they can go somewhere free, but they need a bus. They need transportation there. We took a lot of my field trips in school on SEPTA. SEPTA is the public transit. And, you know, because they were like, we're not paying for no school buses. We are getting tokens and getting these kids on the bus. Yeah. And we're going to the park today. And so teachers will come out of their pockets for that. And I don't expect, Philly is, I think maybe the, it's one, maybe like the fifth poorest large country, large city. And so people are not, they don't have money. Yeah. They don't. Yeah. Their parents are working multiple jobs. They don't have the extra. They don't. Multiple jobs, just trying to get the kids to school. If we can alleviate one thing for them, it'd be nice. So I launched it and put $20,000 in and was, and just told the public like, hey, if you guys want to donate to this, you can. This is going to be here forever. In only two months, we had over. Over $100,000. I was, I could not, I could not, I was in disbelief. I thought they were telling me the wrong amount. Yeah. Because we, we didn't do that much press for it. I kind of announced it once with a video and that was it. But people were so motivated like I was to learn in Philly. And I also just wanted to start small. They were like, do we want to do this nationwide? But I do believe in watering your own garden first. And I don't, I don't know the situations in other cities. So I didn't want to assume that I did, but I know what's going on in Philly. So we, it, and it just keeps growing right now. We're hitting, we're, we would like to hit a marker where at that point, basically over time, this money will continue to be there forever. It will, it will always be there and always grow for these kids to be able to go. And. It'll start next year and teachers will be able, they don't have to apply. They don't have to prove they deserve a field trip. It's going to be there for them to grab what they need and go. And that's what I want it to. I don't want to do the thing where you have to add more paperwork. Thank you for that. Where you have to prove how good a school you are, how good your class is. Because that was a thing that, that was becoming a thing. And I didn't like that either of like prove that your class deserves that. Like, what, like what, it's just some kids that need to do something. That used to kind of get on my nerves with like, I don't know. It was a thing I had too as a kid where I'm like, why are they better than me? Because they made a better collage. Like, okay, we deserve to go. It would be like sweepstakes where it'd be like, went a trip to Nickelodeon Studios and proved that you're the best class. And it was like, shouldn't all kids get to go? So I'm so excited about it. Anyone here can donate. Basically, we are going to reach 200,000 and then it will self fund, so to speak. I will be continuing to contribute to it for the rest of my life. And making sure that these teachers can just pull and these kids can never have to worry about a field trip. They've got a lot to worry about, but they won't have to worry about being able to get, to get somewhere. And we're not trying to send. We're not trying to send kids out of the country. We just go to the museum, to the museum, to New York. I actually met someone in Philly recently that 30 years old, never been in New York. It's right there. But that's the importance of like being shown you can do it once is it. It never seems scary again. Yeah. That's the thing. Well, that's beautiful. Thank you. So proud of you. Proud of you. So. We tried some. We tried the new, a couple episodes ago where we had like this rapid fire round. So we would love to do it with you. Are you in charge of rapid fire? Actually, this was my sister's idea. No, no, it wasn't. I think rapid fire is for the staff. It wasn't. But you're going to do rapid fire. Yes, let's do it. Be rapid about it. So Philly cheesesteak or Chicago deep dish pizza? Philly cheesesteak. Yeah. That's. Well, what about you? Deep Dish. I mean, you know, because I just have to. But certain kind of Deep Dish. Gino's East. Gino's East. Not Giordano's. It's hard to get into it. It's so, the crust is so good. It's really hard. And that sausage layer. Ugh, to die for. You just need a sharper knife. Okay. You have the wrong tools. Good to know. Okay. Reality TV or sitcom? The other answer, sitcom. Hate reality TV. I hate it. I mean, as much as I love reality TV, there's nothing like it. I know you like it. I didn't even talk to you about this. I know. What? Is it a problem? It fascinates me. It is. That's the thing. I would like to have judgments, but I would never judge you on that, ever. I consider it part of my major is sociology. It's just a study of people. Fascinating. And they are fascinating to me. She's trying to get me, because we're doing this podcast, into reality TV. He's got to know more about popular culture. I mean, we're talking about that. He's got to know more. He doesn't see anything. I watch Survivor. Yeah. The competition show. Yeah, yeah. But still, it's a sitcom. Do you watch Love Island? Yeah, I do. Yeah. Malia, in fact, that's mother-daughter time. Okay. You know, because, and they're behind. They got me hooked. And I was like, have you started the next season? And they were like, no. And I was like, no, we're busy. It's like, oh, you need to, okay. You need to get some more free time. I re-watch old reality TV. Well, what's the point of that? I don't know. I'm fascinated. Okay. I'm fascinated by that time. Like, the early 2000s reality television was the purest I think it was ever going to be. Yeah. So, every now and then, I'm loving this guy clapping in the hat like, like, preach. But I re-watch, very often, I re-watch Flavor of Love, I Love New York, America's Next Top Model. His characters are coming back on the new reality. What's her name? Wasn't this supposed to be Rapid Fire? I know. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Rapid Fire. Okay. Well, you just got to keep going. Yes. Because we both talk a lot. Yes, we do. And, no. Wawa or Petillos? Wawa. I don't know what Petillos is. Oh, Petillos. We're in Chicago, y'all. Let's be nice to our guest. She's from Philly. Be nice to our guest. So, I'm being set up. No, no, no, no. No. No. No. Petillos is a locally, regionally famous hot dog and Italian beef place. But it's got beefs in. It's got everything. Sounds lovely. I would love to try it. And Wawa, for the Chicago fans, Wawa is like a convenience store. See, but that's why I don't think the two. I don't think the two. The Wawa, we had, all they had was sandwiches. Okay. So, not anymore. Not anymore. Not anymore. It was way back in the day. You can get a, it's a lot there. You can get everything there. Iced tea. Yeah. I think you can get a pashmina there. Okay. I haven't been on Wawa like that ever. Aspirin. Okay. Wrap it. Wrap it. Wrap it. All right. One week teaching at Abbott or one week at the White House? Respectfully? Uh-huh. One week teaching at Abbott. There you go. Respectfully? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Last one. Tasty cake or Garrett's popcorn? I don't even know what a tasty cake is. So, tasty cake is like Hostess, but on the East Coast. But better. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, Garrett's. Quinta said, but better. But better it is. Let me just say, I do love Garrett's popcorn. It is legalized drugs. What's your go-to Garrett's order? The caramel? The straight caramel. Someone, one of my writers brings me a bucket. You don't do the mix? The caramel and cheese? The caramel and cheese and caramel. Yes, I do that. Okay. His name is Garrett and he brings a bucket. He does. He brings a bucket to the room every year, every time he visits home. And you can't stop eating it. Can't stop eating it. However, I'm going to have to go tasty cake because it is just so good. I'll bring you one at some point so you can taste it. Yeah. You would think you didn't go to school on the East Coast. You don't know tasty cake? I don't remember. But I don't remember much, y'all. It's very Northeast specific. Yeah. It's like Hostess. Yeah. Okay. But I think people. People on the East Coast feel like it is much better than Hostess. Because it is. Okay. Yeah. Okay. That's the reason we feel that way is because it is. We're going to be nice to you because you're our guest. Quinta, thank you so much for being here. It has been a pleasure. Thank you. Thank you. You really don't seem like you're working on two hours sleep. So we thank you for that. Yeah. Yeah. It was the energy in this room. It really was. Thank you, guys. I appreciate it. I was so proud of you. Thank you. And keep it going. We are watching. We love everything you do. Thank you. So. Oh. Ladies and gentlemen. Thank you. Thank you, guys. You got to come back and visit us again. I will. Thank you so much. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.