How Lela Lee Turned Anger into Art

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For Leela Lee that thing was a voice raw honest and

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unafraid to call out injustice. It started as a comic strip. It became a

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movement and it's a pro and it's proof that when you tell the truth, even if it's messy, you give other people

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permission to do the same. Very nice. Yes. Wow. Goosebumps. Goosebumps.

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Thank you. And proof of that is how we met. So Jordan is also going

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to because we got to tell the world because this you know what? This is my sister from what do they say? Sister

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from another mister. This is my sister. And I knew I like

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like I knew that we were kindred spirits because Jordan Oh man, what happened?

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I'm really embarrassed. It's your fault, by the way. This is my fault. This is my fault. So, we met at the LA Times book

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festival. Mhm. And it was um Yeah, it's very unconventional to say the least.

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Well, it was pouring rain. It was pouring rain, first of all. Yeah. We opened our tent and we literally had

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a waterfall and I was like, "Oh no, we can't we can't do this." Literally, we're walking in puddles. And I'm

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thinking our tents have two separate curtains. Like there's two tents. You're thinking

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there's two tents. So I I tuck it over to the other side, not knowing there's only one layer in

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between us and literally soaked everything you had in your tent. Yeah.

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And you were not happy. I No, you were not happy. No, I uh

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And every scene in the books that I've read came out in that moment. Oh man, I felt I

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No, it was really bad. He felt really bad. Well, you know, I think uh after I we

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fixed it and uh at the end I went over and I apologized. It stopped raining and

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I and then it all went well. No, it was awesome. And the sun

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came out. What's crazy was crazy is is that obviously more people you've sold

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more books than I have. So you were you had this line. Oh my goodness. Uh that was the when the sun did come

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out and what was beautiful about it is that because they were in the line and they were waiting. They got to talk to

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me. So indirectly you probably sold a bunch of books uh of my books. Uh no no way.

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But but I I think that that honestly I I love uh the spirit. I love and then when

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I actually came over and started reading and because I didn't really even pay

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attention and I'm hearing people talk in the background like oh that's angry that's and they're and they're running

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in they got the Instagram open they're I'm like wait a second what is going on I'm trying to sell this book but you you

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really did start a movement and I I I just think it's amazing. Yeah. You know it was it was really by

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accident. Um, the story of it going way back to the very beginning was that I

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was in college and I had gone to an all girls Catholic school. I had very strict

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Korean parents. I'm the youngest of four daughters and um I I went to Berkeley

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and it's so progressive. I actually um when I was a senior

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um one of my my classmates parents asked me what it was that I would end up

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majoring in or would choose as a major. And I said, "Oh, it'll probably be law because uh I can't be a doctor because

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I'm I'm not good at science." And he suggested that I just take whatever class sparked my interest. Anything I

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was interested in, just take that class. So what was amazing about that was he

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was an adult who was giving me permission to do that. Whereas my the

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other adults in my life who are my parents were saying I had to be a doctor or a lawyer. And it's just the the

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typical Asian parenting tiger parent dream is to have their children be a

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doctor or a lawyer or an engineer, right? Um, so that father of my friends

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really really gave me permission from another authority source or um, so I

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that freshman year while I was scared of using the bathroom in my dorm, I took whatever class I wanted and actually

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what happened was I became really depressed because I felt that I was inheriting a world that was um, very

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unfair for females. Um, I started learning terms of what it was I I

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encountered that didn't sit right with me. Um, misogyny, racism, um, sexism. I

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took a sociology class. Uh, I took an Asian-American studies class. I took a women's studies class. Um, and and I

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started learning that that the media, even when I was walking down this the sidewalk and the billboards were doing

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the things that I was learning in my women's studies classes about, you know, objectifying a woman's body, it would be

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a headless torso selling toothpaste or something. And so I kind of went through this

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really melancholic, disaffected,

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unhappy. I was just not h I was like I was just really upset and I I couldn't I

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couldn't articulate or put into words all the things that I had lived through

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and was learning that I had to accept. And I had a friend who noticed I was

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really unhappy and said you he said you need to go laugh. Let's go to the Palace of Fine Arts. Uh there's going to be an

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animation festival. It'll be funny. You'll laugh. It'll be great. So, we went and I ended up being so

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apoplelectic at what I watched because they were all offensive. They were all

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cartoons made by guys, but the one that stuck out was of two girls, one fat, one

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skinny, and they went around uh chasing boys. And then the fat girl was so I

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guess the word is thirsty, that she ended up getting essayed. And she liked it. And so I was I came out of

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the theater. I was like I can't even like also too I I didn't

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have any uh sex education. You know I go to a

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Catholic all girls school. Catholic all boys school. The reason why I was afraid of using the

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bathroom was because um when I was a sophomore, one of the teachers at the

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school, her daughter came back from college pregnant. And the story that the

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teacher told the school was that she sat in a toilet seat. No, no, no. That's a that's legit. That

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I've heard that on Okay. No, no, no. I've heard it a 100 times. Yes. 100 times. Yeah. Yes, it's

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and I think I don't I don't know if that's cuz I went to all boys Catholic school also and so I mean next to the

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all girls school but there were all these different things that you just didn't talk about. Yeah.

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One of the most important things of your life they don't talk about talk about it. So that is why I was so afraid of using

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the bathroom. I would I would like line the toilet paper and if I was in a rush

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I would just like aim. But um you know it's just it's so I

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I mean somehow I feel guilty for laughing on that one but I wish I was a guy right but

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but um but it was it was so I went to co and my parents never I mean we they did

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not talk about that. It was so shameful. So when I went to college to this co-ed progressive

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uber uber progressive. Yes. I felt like I felt like I felt like fresh me. It felt and I did it really

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and also growing up in Asian cultures tend to be an obedience culture. So it's

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it's very hierarchal. It's very rigid and daughters are told to obey and

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you're you're just told what to do. Basically children and I'm generalizing it. Not all Asian families are like

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this, but the ones that are more old-fashioned uh with oldw world values, they see

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their children as extensions of their bodies, their arms. It's like, you know, you should be doing what I tell you.

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Yeah. So, I had a bit of that. So, saying no

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to me felt like I was shortcircuiting, like my programming was I was not

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allowed to say that. So, it was kind of I just was I was just the swirl of

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anguish, anger, confusion, um you know, a self self-sabotage, all

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that stuff. Um, and so my friend said, "You should make a cartoon about yourself. Call it Angry Little Asian

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Girl." I was like, "You know what? I will." Wow. So, I went home that night and I had markers and typing paper and I just drew

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it and because that father had said to take whatever class interested me. I was

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in a video class on Tuesday nights and no one got credit for it because it was just a it was just a kind of like a

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weird art class in the department and I took it and nobody took nobody took it

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seriously. So when I called the to reserve the room for the equipment I had

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it for the whole day. I could have had it for the whole weekend because nobody nobody's nobody's even using it. So, I made I made this little video called The

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Angry Little Asian Girl the first day of school. And I had to put the papers that I drew on the animation table. And back

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then it was, you know, the camera was flipped uh overhead, pointed down. Yeah. Pointed down. Um, and then I was

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recording it and then I put it together. I was watching it. I'm like, "Oh, wow. That's a big big time lapse. Let me Oh,

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I'll just hum to fill up." cuz I didn't want to edit it cuz I was it was just the learning curve was

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really it was a big gap. So I didn't really know what I was doing. So I I just knew that cutting it would

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take so much time. So I just started humming to sort of kind of like a improv. So sometimes mistakes or gifts

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is what I'm trying to get to that to that sort of story. And then after I put it together I watched it completely

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and I was like I got to hide that. that is so I I'm no one's gonna like me. So,

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I put it away. I had a VHS tape. I put it in a drawer and I just continued on

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with college.  graduated um on time and then I had to work at my mom's dry

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cleaners and I worked there and it was during um so the mornings are really

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busy and the evenings are busy cuz it's like drop off and pick up and the rest of the day in the in between is really

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slow.

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So I sat there and I just started um like doodling, writing and then uh I

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was also a volunteer photographer at uh the American Cinema Tech, which is this

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art house, film house theater that did weird obscure art

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house, independent um sometimes classic movie screenings. And because I wanted

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to be around storytelling, I volunteered as a photographer. So whenever there was a director that programmer called me was

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like Leela so and so is going to be at this uh Friday night screening come take pictures. So I was there every weekend.

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And after a year she's like why are you always here? What is your story? I said well Julie I I am an actress and

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a cartoonist. And she's like cartoonist? What? Show me what what are you doing? So I sent Oh let me backtrack. Um, so,

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uh, when I was out of college, I had a group of friends and when you're young,

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you're all, you know, aspiring writers, artists, whatever. And I had a a friend who was um an aspiring screenwriter and

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he got a hold of the South Park spirit to Christmas and he he showed it to us and I was like, that kind of reminds me

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of mine. Like it's a a small young kid that's got body mouth. Yeah. And so I

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got I finally took it out of the drawer and I showed it to my friends and they watched it and they said, "You know,

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that's really funny. You should do more with that." So, um, so during the the

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long stretches of hours in between the rush hours at the dry cleaners, I started working on it again and I added

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four more episodes. So when the programmer at American Cineipitech had asked me what else I did, that's when I

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added Cartoonist to my my aspiring actress label.

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Yeah. Um so I sent it to her and she called me and she's like, I I love it. I'm going to program it. We're going to put it

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before a feature length. And because she had connections to the LA Times and the

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LA Weekly, the critics got a copy of it beforehand. And the night of the

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screening, my sister called me. She's like, "Oh my god, Ila, you got reviewed. Go get the papers." I was like so

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nervous. Wow. So, I got my quarters because it was back then we Yeah.

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And I I got them and they were stunningly positive. Wow. I was really surprised cuz I was like,

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did the critics not watch? I mean, cuz it doesn't move, right? Right. It's not truly animation. Um, so, uh, I

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went to the screening and it was the first time it was for a general

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audience. I stood outside with the other filmmaker of the a feature length and um,

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yeah, like all these people came up to me. They're like, I am an angry little Asian girl. She's saying everything I

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wanted to say. Oh my god, I'm her. Oh my god, I want a t-shirt. And I was like, yeah, I I'll make a t-shirt.

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T-shirt, too. Wow. So, I I looked up how to make t-shirts and I the next day I found and

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this was before screen printing fashion shirts was a thing. It didn't exist back then. So, I found a

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sporting goods store with and I asked them to make a baseball uniform with the rag red raglin sleeve

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with the white. That was the first shirt because it was basically like a baseball uniform shirt. And I said, "Can you put

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this art on it?" He say, "Uh, yeah. Uh, but you're going to have to make more than 12 because for us to do the

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printing, it's the same cost. So, you might as well make 300. So, I was kind of doing the math and I was thinking, I

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can't afford that, but how much are you sure this like 12 and 300 the prices are the same.

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So, he was explaining the screen the setup. I was like, oh, okay.

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So, I plunked down my credit card and then 3 weeks later or two weeks later, he calls me. He's like, "Your order's

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ready." I go down there and I'm like, "What did I just do? Oh my god, I have

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300 shirts." Because you like it's just a number, but when you pick up the boxes and you're putting it in your car,

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you're like, "This is a lot of shirts. What am I going to do?" So, I called up

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my 10 friends. And I was like, "Can you I did something really crazy and stupid. I made these shirts. Will you just buy

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one off of me for 20 bucks?" And uh they did. And And then they started wearing

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it out. And then uh I started getting calls from people I didn't know who came over to buy these shirts. And I'm like,

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"This is really cool. Want to keep selling shirts, but not the safest thing for a young woman to have random people

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coming over, right?" Um I bumped into my cousin and my cousin said, "What are you doing?" And I said,

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"I'm selling these Angry L t-shirts." And he said, "I'll make you a website."

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And I was like, "What? What's I Okay, the internet. I've heard of that." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and he said, "Come

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over. I'll make we'll build the website." So, we made the website and it

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just became this it it was I was I guess I didn't know viral. You went viral.

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I went viral. Yeah. And I didn't really know this till much much later. It wasn't until I did a a a

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ComicCon in Vancouver and um I was staying with a friend who's who she

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actually became a friend. She it was my friend in Canada. it was his aunt and then uh she's she's very young and she

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was saying she's very academic too but she was saying that you know Lea you were one of the first artists to take to

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the internet and I didn't really realize your place in history.

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Yeah cuz you know when you're young you're just doing stuff. Yeah. Um and then I later learned that uh that

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I I was taught in college courses. So, one I mean this is the most recent guy

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uh came up to me at I think it was San Diego Comic- Con

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He was a student at

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Arizona State said he actually did a paper on me and it it just blew my mind.

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It it really was really kind of amazing that this little

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this little drawing this little doodle that I did cuz I was mad. But I think it's more

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tell me. I mean ask I'm saying it but it's really a question. It seems like it's more than just I mean it's clearly

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just more than a little doodle, right? Would you say like your So my base

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energy is anger. So my base like like when I want to get something done, you know, I write about it. You know, if you

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tell me I can do something, I'm like your best friend. Oh, okay. You know, but you tell me I can't, it's over. like

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I will not stop until I can. So my So I had to learn how to channel that. Obviously that's not always the best

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way. But is your is your base energy is this a representation of of your base energy? Yeah.

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Yeah. I actually had a uh

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forget this book. This book really was profound and I should know the title of it, but it

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talked about how there's a sentence that runs each of us.

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And that was what the book was about was about this sentence that ran this protagonist in the story. And at the

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end, they uncover the sentence. And it was it was so enlightening enlightening

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that I actually had to stop and and think what was my sentence? What's my sentence? and I got to it and it's I'll

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show them. Yes. Well, you could have probably wrote my book for me.

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Well, that that I show them that is I think that's one of the most powerful energies

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ever. Um it can actually though um it can if it drives you too much it can make you

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sick. If it drives you timid your body will break down. I think I am sick. Um so I think you're

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healthy. I do. I look it. But no, I I actually I think yeah, I think just like you said, um you talked about mistakes,

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but I think everything is a gift and a curse, right? Anger is a gift and a curse. Um happiness, positivity, everything has

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its upside and its downside. And I think how I think how successful you are is

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how well you use it. But how you feel about yourself is the how well you balance those two because you can be

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angry. I mean, I was Yeah, this uh Wonder if the statute of limitations

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applies, but there's there's cut it if Yeah. Yeah. Cut it. Please edit this out

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if I um incriminate myself. But I've been so angry growing up. I mean, of

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fights and doing all kinds of stuff. And when I got older, I realized, okay, you

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can you can channel this. It doesn't have to be, you know, you get anger and you yell or you get angle and you hit

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something, you know. So, so, um, I have lots of questions. I realized

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one real quick. Um, well, you know, fresh off that story, you said you you

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had some good reviews, um, from critics. Um, how did your family react to

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That's a great question. The way you were writing. My family hated it. Oh. Um,

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yeah. So, my mom would call me after college and Okay. So they sold the dry

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cleaners and I was so relieved because it as long as they had it, I had to work

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there. So um when they finally did sell it, I

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was so relieved because it meant then I could go back to what I wanted to do. And um because I had had that initial

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success to for the reviews and the t-shirts um I knew I knew that there was

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potential there and it wasn't that it was a calculated data driven thing. I just kind of had a fire that I knew I

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had to follow this. Um, I also got because I had a lot of buzz, I had a lot

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of meetings with studio heads and um, one of the guys

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uh, at a cable network, one of the studio people said there's no market for Asians. And I just thought, you know, I

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don't think he knows what he's talking about. Like I just think he's wrong. And while

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the media that was reflected at the time that I was young and starting out was

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blonde. Yeah. You know, brunette basically. That's, you know, that was it.

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Uh I just felt like there's got to be more people like me. I

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So I most most people, right? It's almost like you're you were kind of the

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majority obviously. Yes. This representation was a representation of something that wasn't even real,

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right? Yeah. Yeah. You were the real one, I think. So, I mean, I I I just had to

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follow my hunch with that cuz I thought he was terribly mistaken and I then said in my head, I'll show him.

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Yeah. I'm telling you, own market kind of. That was your Barry O'Shea. Yeah. Um,

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do you do you remember people who doubted you? Do you remember their names?

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Mhm. Yeah, I remember every everyone's name. Like I I got a bunch that I haven't even

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talked about. I'm saving them for other books. Um,

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so, so I I want to talk a little bit about from a heritage standpoint. You talked about

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because I I have, you know, this, of course, this is this is my favorite line

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right here.

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That hits home. I mean, you put the right one. I mean, there are other good ones in there, but

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this this one that got me, right? So, for for those I don't know if you can see it and it says uh it says moments

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with my mother. I got you a gift. Why are you wasting money? So, we we're I'm Jamaican and so you

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know that's you know the idea that your kids or as

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as kids that you're an extension of the family and whatever you do i.e. you have

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to go to medical school of law school or whatever is a measure of the family success or failure. I mean, and this

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this is there's so much in here that isn't just about saving money. This is about

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this is not what you should be doing with your time. Are you proud of that heritage or do you believe that that

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heritage you your anger was generated from the fact that maybe you didn't fully agree

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with all of it? Um, that's a deep question.

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Oh man, I cut I cut too deep too early. That's that's got so many layers of of

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answers and reflections. And even I don't know if I can completely answer it cuz I don't know if that's the answer.

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But um I

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am born to who I'm born to and uh the culture that I am in.

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And I'm also so I'm Korean. Yeah. And but I grew up in California,

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so I'm Korean-American. And I I was sort of working this out with my

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therapist. uh I graduated from therapy but not not to say that I won't go back but I felt like I overcame that issue of

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my life and but one of the things that I was parsing out was what part of the

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culture can I embrace that doesn't harm me because some

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cultures are and some families hang on to old parts of culture that are harmful

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to their daughters. Yeah. And so for me, I had to figure out

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what part of a culture am I proud of and what part is is just unfair. And uh so I

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was thinking about the motherland and then also, you know,

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the the diaspora. So I'm part of the diaspora uh and being in two cultures. And

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my therapist said, "Does a fish know it's wet?" [Music] So, meaning that he meant for me, I

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can't know what's abusive of my culture if I'm in it. Mhm.

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Until you see something else to compare it to. So

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sometimes certain cultures that are very cloistered or

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like you know they used to call Korea the hermit kingdom. Mhm. And when I heard that I was like that

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really tracks. I feel that they're very rigid to outside ideas. Um,

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even though my family lived in Southern California,

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it was almost like they cherrypicked which parts of American culture they'd let in. The dichotomy

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dichotomy where you exist. They only they only accepted like

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economic progress. Yeah. But none of the social Yeah. So um

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so yeah I feel that my upbringing and my heritage my my heritage is Korean but my

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upbringing is in America and because of that

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I guess not positioning is not the right word but because of that sort of

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placement of where I am culturally I I can point now. Oh, wait. I am wet.

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Yeah, right. This is this is this ain't cool. I'm dry.

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Yeah. Or, you know, like this. So, I I guess the uncomfortable part of that is then

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you have to figure out what what kind of water do I want to be in?

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So, yeah. I I mean, I I think I had similar experience. I I feel like I don't

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Everybody asks me if I'm a Dallas Cowboy fan cuz I moved to Dallas and I'm like I don't know because I've never I in some

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ways feel like I don't have a home, you know? So I'm from Toronto of Jamaican descent. So I'm an immigrant of

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immigrant state. My parents immigrated from Jamaica to Toronto and then I immigrated from to Toronto to New York

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at 18. So when people ask me what's my team, I'm like I don't know cuz I don't

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really feel I belong anywhere but then I feel I belong everywhere. And so that

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and I think what you pointed out was you know especially at this time uh you know

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not going to get political but you know with just changes that we've that we have politically whether you know on

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either side of the spectrum a lot of times I look at these things and I'm like well that doesn't make sense and

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that doesn't make sense and people are like what do you mean who's your team like I don't have a team I'm from Canada

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Jamaican like I have all these different ways to evaluate whether the water is wet or

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Um, and so I think that it I feel like it might be somewhat dichomous and make

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people crazy, but then it's also something beautiful because you can actually see things that other people

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can't in either community, right? Well, I mean, just to

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argue to your point and also your book is that you're not accepting the group think.

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Not accepting it. Absolutely. So, you're a little bit more discerning about who it is you're going

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to give your allegiance to. Yeah. Which I think is great. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think it's a it's but I I I empathize with what you

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said. Maybe I should get a therapist. Um because it's a lonely place.

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It's a lonely place to constantly, you know, you're in the matrix and you took the the pill and you're watching the the

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lines go down and you realize that everything I grew up with or everything you taught me or whatever you taught me

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on how to be, that's not the way I want to be. Um, and I think that your book is

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a great testament to authenticity, which 100% you have to be your authentic self.

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Like you know how much more greatness would there be in the world if we all were our authentic selves.

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So that's awesome. I I I mean I feel like it is I feel like it

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is so deep that your fans actually didn't they didn't let me get the real

31:29

deepness of it because it's viral now. I mean like and they love it, but there's

31:34

so many layers to how deep um your story in the book goes.

31:41

Thank you. Yeah. And it wasn't just Asian girls. And it was the one guy, it was a it was

31:47

a boy that he was in the line. You actually gave him one of my one of my books. He threw it in the trash. But um

31:54

you uh it was a boy and he was coming to get, you know, to get a book. So it's really it's really amazing. All right.

32:00

Well, I'm going to go deeper. Okay. You ready? Mhm. What do you think your superpower is?

32:08

Now, I'll c I'll give you a break and explain. It can't be I'm on time. It

32:15

can't be uh something simple. It has to be something intrinsically to

32:21

intrinsically intrinsic to you. Um and also something that you can do um

32:27

and not lose energy. It doesn't take anything. You can do it all day and all night and you don't even know the time

32:33

has passed. So, what do you think your superpower is?

32:38

Overthinking. Overthinking as a superpower. Okay. So, the reason why I say that is

32:45

because when I was little, I would ruminate over situations where I didn't

32:50

get to say what I really wanted to say. So, I would I would think about, oh, you're kind of editing. Yeah. or I would

32:57

have said this and this. Do you swear? You can only read one.

33:03

Okay. I was going to say, but if you think about it, I made that into my job. Yes.

33:09

I go back and I give my characters like

33:14

parts of you, parts of me. I give them really snappy comebacks. M so so

33:21

I I enjoy thinking and if something rubs me the wrong way I always think about

33:27

why did what is going on there? So I will I will

33:33

get to I will work at something and analyze it till I get to like oh that's

33:38

it. Okay. Okay. You're we're going to have to narrow that down. We're going have to

33:43

narrow that down. So you you because you started with overthinking and then you

33:49

ended up with insight which tell me is that or is that the same thing?

33:54

Well, I think when you overthink you're you're you're taking all insightful you're bringing in a bunch of

33:59

different things. Yeah, because what it is is you're just taking all the data. Okay. And you're you're analyzing all the

34:07

Well, is it their age? Yeah. Is it their background? Did you do that with with with us when he when he put

34:13

all the water into your booth or did Were you just You had to bring it up. You had to bring

34:18

it up. I um I just Well, I was actually overthinking. I was

34:24

thinking, "Oh my god, they think I'm such a pain in the ass." No, we No, I I

34:30

No, we were we were we were devastated. We were devastated. We're actually And this that weekend kind of was weird, right? Like it was

34:36

raining in southern California. Tony Tony Tony, what do you Rafael Sadi, come on, man. It never rains in Southern

34:42

California. No, it does rain. It rains. I I lived in Southern California, so I know it rains, but it had to rain on the

34:48

day. Okay, so insight. Mhm. Insight processing. Insight. Okay. So,

34:55

you think if we asked, by the way, I met I met that was that your husband at

35:00

Okay. Now, I don't know what I don't know how he is. I I just met him that day, but he

35:06

seems like a really nice amazing guy. He was just out there cool and calm. I'm

35:11

like, and we started talk. I talked to him all day.

35:17

All day. Okay. So, what we try, what we do on the show is we ask other people could be, you know, your husband or

35:23

whoever you want to call um what your superpower is. And so, we we're saying

35:29

overthinking. Overthinking. Yeah. Overthinking. Okay. Now, we're going to call.

35:34

Do I do speaker? No. No. Just regular. It's already coming through. Okay. Yeah, you'll be able to hear it.

35:39

You can turn it up if you want the volume. Oh, I can hear fine. Okay.

35:49

Hello. Hi, Ken. Hey. Hey. How are you?

35:55

Good. I remember Hey, this is your friend from the LA book fair. We were We were next

36:00

to you. Yeah. How are you? Good. Good. How are you doing? Good. Just eating some lunch here.

36:05

Oh, awesome. Awesome. Well, we're sorry to bother you. We um we're doing the podcast and what we do on these podcasts

36:12

is we ask uh our guests what their superpower is. And so now we're going to

36:17

ask you um you know what is your wife's superpower?

36:24

He's very driven. Driven. Yes. Give it give us give us give us an

36:30

example. um that she says that uh she's going to

36:37

write a book. She's going to go write a book. Um very focused.

36:44

Um I don't know if she told you this, but when she first taught herself to draw, she was so focused that she would

36:52

actually unplug back then, you know, we had landlines. She would actually unplug the phone in

36:58

the house so she has no no disruptions, no

37:04

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's That's different. That is different. Yeah.

37:09

That's different. Okay. Okay. So, she she said that Tell

37:14

I said my superpower was that I overthink. That That's more of a um That's more as

37:22

as you got older. Oh, okay. Yeah, me too. But we got Yeah.

37:29

Maybe I stress more. Yeah. Yeah. But but I think I think the driven I think the driven fits.

37:36

The driven fits. Yeah. Yeah. Whether it's uh writing or licensing or drawing or you know events,

37:45

it's just very focused and driven. Awesome. Awesome. Well, we appreciate

37:51

you and sorry to disrupt your lunch. Oh, no, no, no problem. And good talking to you again. I told her that at the book fair that you and I

37:58

just talked the whole time. Yeah. I didn't get to I didn't get to talk her till the end.

38:03

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Appreciate you. Uh Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Chen.

38:11

Driven. I think what if you had to What do you think? I am um goes back to the I I'll show

38:19

them. So, also I just I I know that I'm out there and so when I put stuff out

38:26

there, I want it to be the best it could be. So, I stress a lot about details. Um,

38:34

I think that's dri I think that's driven. I mean, I think maybe overthinking or reworking or

38:40

overprocessing might be the how, but the core of what you're It sounds

38:45

like the core is like you're just driven driven to make an impact or driven. What do you think is the what do you think is

38:51

the thing that makes you decide? I mean, once you saw that this is going to be a thing, why not just do it? What makes

38:59

you go that extra mile? Well, I feel also I've I've not fully

39:05

told the story, the point of view from which I come from. Um

39:13

I I just feel like I have I have these amazing conversations with

39:20

uh fans at my booths, and events. Uh, and I just feel that the kind of the

39:27

worthlessness I felt as an Asian daughter is very common. And so I have a I I feel I have a

39:34

greater mission to heal that. See, that's your that's your why.

39:40

Yeah, that's your why. And I think because you're a healer, you're a doctor, you're also thinking

39:46

about how to better people's lives. But it's not just

39:51

it's not just a superficial thing. It's holistic. Yeah. And

39:58

so while you're a doctor, I'm an artist. You know that but we're doing things in different methods. But

40:04

um yeah, the method the me the method is just the how. So I did a um an interrogative like why you know

40:12

Simon Synynic and his why statement. So he and I are friends and we I went to his place and he did this why

40:18

interrogation. That's what I called it cuz I didn't like it. And um No, I hated it, man. Like I you know cuz cuz he cuz

40:26

he cut me he cut me deep. He asked like deep questions and I went from almost crying to laughing my my tail off. But

40:33

we came up with or he he came up with and I agreed with it. He says, "My why is that I inspire people to do the work

40:40

to be greater than they ever thought they could be." And when he said that, I was like, you know, wow.

40:46

Like I was like, okay, that's it. Like I didn't didn't understand. And it's not I think that's why a lot of people ask

40:51

like, "Moo, why are you doing a podcast? Why are you writing a book? Like I'm a healthcare CEO. What are you what are you doing?" And I was like, "No, I feel

40:57

like I can impact the world." And you know, and I and I didn't know what it was. And so we went through that and I

41:03

was like, "Oh, I get it now." And so once he not once he said that but when I realized then it was like whatever do

41:11

and he knows because uh Jordan's helping me in my madness everybody asks what are

41:18

you doing like why are you doing so much what are you doing this for this makes no sense and I'm telling you I'm like

41:24

listen no I think we can we can we can change the world I can change the world

41:29

even though I can't so well you never So

41:38

the message that that we have as healers, artists,

41:43

hopefully good politicians Yeah. is um

41:48

it needs to be amplified. So you need to have platforms like a podcast to reach people because you it's

41:55

where will it be heard if you just keep it in your journal. Right. Right. So and create and I think creatives to your

42:01

point about creatives are different. I think that authenticity is unique to creatives. You can't I mean I think

42:08

there are people that are super successful in the creative genres. I

42:13

think they can be but I think the ones that are really the sants are are

42:20

you know that they they they're being their 100% authentic self. Like I was watching Denzel Equalizer and I was

42:27

thinking to myself, you are like your you're you're the the your approach to this I mean

42:34

from all the different roles he's had over time. I mean it's just just amazing

42:40

you what he can portray. Um but that's a segue to what you call me. you call me

42:49

cuz we're scheduling the time and um you know we're trying to figure out schedules and then you're like hey I

42:56

might get this part and I'm like part what are you talking about like what are you talking about like part and then you text me yeah I was watching uh

43:04

I was I guess I was I was binge watching Shameless actually and I you know I had no idea you were even on there and I was

43:11

watching and I was like that lady looks that lady looks familiar

‍

43:00

So, how I

43:19

mean you left that was a whole other part. How did how did that

43:24

not just that particular but in general the acting and how did acting happen? Because you were on Tremors too the

43:30

series. Yeah, I was on Tremors. I I pop up every now and then on different shows. Um I

43:37

was a really shy kid. I was so shy people could not hear what I said. So in

43:44

middle school, this is when I got that note. So also it was just a very awkward

43:51

time because puberty is just so painful for everybody. Um my uh one of the

43:58

electives I could take was public speaking. So I I signed up for it so I

44:04

could overcome my problematic

44:09

uh voice level. Um, and then when I was in high school, I I I got involved in

44:19

student government and I started giving speeches to get elected and then um I I

44:27

auditioned for a play. I kind of didn't really pursue that, but it was I was at

44:34

at Berkeley and the Korean Student Association was putting on a play and they could not find any actors.

44:41

Yeah. But because I was friends with some of the KSA um members, they knew that I had

44:50

uh been in student government and was in a play. So, they they encouraged me to

44:56

audition and I ended up getting the the lead part. And then after I did it was a

45:01

one night performance. So after I did that, a lot of people were saying you should really look into acting. So I

45:10

took I took drama as well. So um I was a double major with rhetoric and drama.

45:16

And then my junior year I pursued acting. I I decided to leave Berkeley and go to LA, become an actress. Um but

45:24

I didn't like the stereotyping that I got. So, I got fed up and I was like, "No, I'm going to go back to Berkeley,

45:31

get my degree." And I still was very um

45:37

compelled, my compass, my internal compass was saying to go to towards storytelling. So, all of that is related

45:45

to telling a story. Um and then so I made Angry Little Asian Girl in

45:52

college, but I was also a drama major. But when I graduated college and I was working at my mom's dry cleaners, I was

45:58

also taking auditions and then um I just became a working

46:04

actress. I be it kind of happened really quickly and faster, but I was also doing the comics. Um, so they kind of went in

46:12

hand in hand and when I didn't have any acting jobs, I focused on this and then

46:17

when I was busy with acting, I I would put that on pause or I kept it so that I

46:23

I did this comic the output is every week. So I chose that output schedule

46:31

because it was something that I could keep up with if I was busy acting. Um, so I did both. And then um

46:41

I felt like it was uh a way for me to I don't know if acting's like the right

46:47

word, but like body work like it just you you

46:53

you're using physicality, your voice. Yeah. Storytelling. Um

46:59

and I don't know therapy modalities very well, but my my therapist had said that storytelling and narrative and acting

47:06

can also help in healing. Yeah. Uh traumas. So I think that's why I

47:12

wanted to do it and I I still do it. Yeah. So I um there's a theme in for the

47:20

first time. How long you've been married? 23 years. 23 years. So the for the first time in

47:26

23 years, your husband is right. Driven is the right superpower. So you are in

47:35

school, right? I'm in school. I don't like to talk. So, what am I going to do? I'm gonna go take a class about talking.

47:43

You're driven. Like, there's no other I mean, yeah. Why normal people when people don't like

47:49

talking, they don't take classes where they have to learn how to talk. That is special. That's not

47:56

most people. Well, I feel like whenever I don't know something or I feel like something's in

48:01

my weak spot, oh my gosh, you're going to love this story. You're gonna love this story.

48:08

It's a So, I got dropped by my accountant because I went from a royalty-based business to selling

48:16

product because after my kids got older, I I sort of went back to work, but the

48:21

shopping landscape was different. It I the model of it had to change. So, I

48:27

decided I would manufacture my own products. So, I would at the end of the year when it was time, I'd just throw

48:32

all this stuff at my accountant and he was like, "What are your cogs?" And I was like, "What are cogs?"

48:39

And he was like, "Oh my god." So, he put up with me for like maybe three tax seasons and then he was like, "I can't

48:45

do this." So, he dropped me right before the tax returns were due. I'm I'm

48:51

frantically searching for a replacement accountant. By the way, if any young kids need a job, uh there are not a lot

48:59

of accountants, young accountants replacing old accountants. So, it's kind of a it's kind of a gap. There's

49:05

there's a big big gap there. Um so, I was asking I did find a young accountant

49:12

cuz the one that we had before, like before her was this 80-year-old man, my

49:18

husband and I went to a meeting. He's like, "La," he goes, "La, are you sure about this?" I'm like, "He's all I can

49:25

find." So, um, he called me several times and on the

49:32

fourth conversation, I was like, "Oh my god, he's repeating himself." And I'm,

49:38

so I had to scramble to find a new one. She's young, she's great. So, I was asking her questions uh just about how

49:46

to strategize and I realized I was like, "You know what? instead of asking her, I'm just going to go learn tax law. So I

49:54

this Of course she did. Yeah, of course. Yeah. H I don't you know I need an accountant. H let me go

49:59

learn tax law. Yeah. So okay. So just so everybody knows your your son is here.

50:05

Yeah. In the studio. And is there a superpower in being driven?

50:10

I would. I would say so. I see. We got two. Yeah. Okay. So yeah. So you're accounting. You

50:16

did tax law. Okay. That's where we're at. But I actually also got a job at H&R Block.

50:23

I didn't work there. So, actually, they hired me cuz I passed the test cuz

50:28

Okay, you know what? I'm going to just kind of do a plug. I think it's a great program. It's 149 for a three-month

50:34

class. It's very rigorous. You have to sit there for three hours twice a week. There's a lot of reading, but every time

50:41

I would finish reading a chapter, I'd come out of the bedroom and I'd say, "Ken, did you know that you could write

50:47

off this and this tax law is this?" Oh my gosh. And so, uh, I ended up passing. I barely

50:54

passed. You have to get a 70%. I got 71. Hey, it's passing. Hey. And then, uh, they they ended up

51:00

recruiting me and I was like, "Okay, this would be a really neat experience. I'll just do this for one season." And

51:07

then I got cold feet and I tried to quit, but then they called me like 2 minutes later after I sent an email

51:12

saying, "Thank you so much. I offered you more money." No, no, I didn't want it. I just was

51:17

like, "This is I'm a creative. I just was learning for myself." Anyways, my goal was to not get fired and to not

51:23

quit and I did that. Nice. Okay. I have a I have a Okay. So, first of all, I have to So, to show

51:30

everybody that You can open it. I can open it. I don't want to. I was like, you know, Christmas. Yeah,

51:36

I'm like I just tear things. But then I get around people and I'm a little nervous like let me open it properly.

51:44

But I want to show everybody this because back there because um you know

51:49

my whole thing is is is you know disrupt and uh and I think that when I wake up

51:56

in the morning I try to disrupt and then yours is like disobey. Love is not obedience. And I I I I love that actually. So, I do

52:05

I want to I want to ask you one thing, but I'm going to give you this.

52:00

So the whole

52:11

all boys Catholic school um I was in a different situation. I was in a Jesuit

52:17

school and the Jesuits have well at least I don't know if this is true of all Jesuits, but at least the ones that um I

52:24

was at, I was a disruptor and I didn't know it. I didn't know what that was before I actually started kind of

52:30

researching to do this book. I didn't characterize what a disruptor was. Usually a disruptor was a bad thing,

52:36

you know, before. So they said that um you shouldn't believe in anything.

52:43

I'm like, what kind of priest are you? You know, like you're supposed to I mean

52:49

that's what you do. You go, you have faith and you believe. They said no, no, no, that's not what we teach. We teach

52:54

that anything that you are going to believe in that you need to question

53:00

violently. And I was like, yo, I'm this is you you guys I was it was amazing. So there

53:06

would be things that instead of just learning and reading the Bible or reading whatever, you know, I would read

53:12

that like I don't agree with that. You know, my big thing was like there's no black people in the Bible, you know,

53:18

like I would do all these different things because I really just wanted to disrupt. And then I would go and I'd

53:24

read a bunch of stuff and I'd look at history texts and look at other books and I was like wait a second that's you

53:30

know that's kind of the not killing people that's kind of but I mean you

53:35

know going through that mindset and I think that's for me what disruptive mindset is it means that everything you

53:41

hear everything you learn you automatically disagree. I automatically you'll tell me stuff even when we were

53:47

talking you know I don't know if that's true but then as you communicate more you're like oh yeah that's true. So that

53:52

mindset is interrogative. It's thoughtful. It's constantly challenging.

53:58

And I I think it's kind of a lost art to your point. Like we, you know, we get to the point where we just accept what

54:04

we're told. But I have a question for you. M this was that was

54:10

um have you ever thought about sharing the stories of those people that

54:17

you interact with that I mean tell you their life story and and

54:22

you know I mean again Asian as a group is probably not fully parsed out right

54:29

because there's differences obviously but it seems to me that there's a book somewhere where it's the interactions

54:35

that you've had with people that have almost the same way of viewing where they're having that fight through that

54:41

dichotomy and they're living through it and they're learning through it and they're crying through it and they're happy through it.

54:47

Is that am I is this something on your Yeah, actually um I have been writing.

54:53

So when COVID hit I got very scared of my mortality and I

55:00

I told God I was not done. Yeah. You could not take me because I had some things to do. And uh I immediately

55:07

started writing cuz I I have I have a lot to say. Uh so I I've been sitting on

55:14

a book for over 20 years. I I did finish it. Okay. And then I just started writing a whole

55:20

bunch more because uh while I don't have a book agent right now,

55:25

whoever it is will come and uh then I have a lot more. But um one of the

55:31

things that I did when I had to wake up my business after my kids went to school and were older. I started doing popups.

55:39

So you know the the book festival is one of the events that I do. Um but there

55:44

was a year that I just did anything and everything I could get into. And it it was so much work. It was it

55:51

was grueling work. I think I put threw out my shoulder. I'm like, you know, it's like, you know, I'm I'm hoisting

55:58

these grid panels up and I'm driving the van to these locations and

56:03

it was it was such a really interesting experience because um

56:09

I met so many interesting people. I had great conversations and then I just

56:15

decided I've got to write these things down. Mhm. There was um there was one woman who she

56:23

walked by my booth. She saw I survived the Asian mom t-shirt. She goes, "H oh my god."

56:29

And and then she left. And I kind of knew I know my people. We're very frugal.

56:36

Yeah. So, uh, at another event, the biggest compliment was this guy was like, "Ah,

56:42

you make me want to spend my money." Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The ultimate compliment. He he sacrificed his entire

56:51

existence to keep you. So he was very carefully picking stuff out and I price things very like at all ranges and also

56:58

like little things. So you know it's the whole like every economic pallet is served

57:04

cuz I kind of am that way. I know I know that feeling. So I uh I was very honored

57:10

when he selected three items. Uh but anyways this back to the woman.

57:15

She came back and she said, "Oh, my husband said I should get that shirt." I said, "Okay, tell me why you want that

57:23

shirt." She said, "Well, yeah, I don't I don't talk to my mom."

57:28

And um I mean, I get the country wrong, but it's like Kazakhstan. She said, "I'm

57:33

from Kazakhstan." And how did you get here? She told me the long story of how

57:39

she left and uh and now she's here and she's married and uh I'm sort of

57:47

abbreviate I'm like making it very short but um uh she shared with me a story about how

57:55

she was so mistreated just because she was a daughter and um

58:01

so she was saying that her brother when he went to school wait let me tell That's right. So, when she was starting

58:08

kindergarten, they they just dropped her off at the edge of the city and they're like, "Good luck. Go go go find the

58:14

school." And she had never been there. So, she was just roaming and then she got to school.

58:20

And then she said, "When my brother went to school, they threw a party for the whole village

58:26

and they slaughtered three animals and it was a big to-do." And I was like, "Oh my god, for university?" She said, "No,

58:33

for kindergarten." Oh my goodness. And it was so outlandishly ridiculous

58:39

cuz it sounded like Sasha Baron Cohen's like the his his bit that he does with I

58:44

forget the charact. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I know that character that he does.

58:50

So, so actually after she left, I had to look up the country that she was from and it's right in between Russia and

58:56

China. Yeah. Because she also had these striking eyes that were light, but she had, you know, black hair.

59:02

And I was thinking, oh, you know, in this modern day and age

59:07

in America, people are still dealing with these really outdated, archaic,

59:13

uh, culturally gendered oppression. Yeah. in their families and she was

59:21

still living with a lot of pain about how her mother kind of hated her.

59:28

Yeah. I mean, I think those stories cuz I think,

59:33

you know, you're the authority. I mean it sounds, you know, sort of walking through your development of your voice

59:42

um to give voice to others that are not nearly as developed would be I think that would be super powerful. So that's

59:49

just one one uh under un under sold uh author's opinion.

59:57

Oh yeah, I think that I think super super powerful. What

1:00:03

what um I'm interested I'm interested in a couple more things. One, what what are you working on that you want everybody

1:00:08

to know about? Is there something that So, where where do they where do I go to consume,

1:00:14

you know, consume you? Okay. So, my website is angry girls.com.

1:00:21

I always have a weekly comic strip, okay, without fail. It's on Monday mornings.

1:00:26

Um, I am hoping I would like to partner up with

1:00:32

an animation company. Okay. Um, I feel that

1:00:38

it's time. I mean, I've tried before and it's it's been uh the traditional studio

1:00:47

system has not really worked for me. So, I feel that um from a creative standpoint, what's been

1:00:52

the hindrance there? The hindrance has been the hindrance has been that I well first

1:01:01

my first encounter was that the executive asked me to take the Asian girl out.

1:01:06

I passed on that and then that's when I switched and called it Angry Little Girls. Kept the Angry Little Asian girl

1:01:12

as the star. Um so that's what's called cultural switching. I didn't know that was a thing until I uh came across it in one

1:01:19

of these books I was reading about Asian-American studies. Um, but you know, a lot of um, marginalized

1:01:26

communities, we do a lot of cultural switching. We act one way at home and then act. Oh, 100%. Yeah.

1:01:32

I had a deal with the studio and they wouldn't let me write, but the one of the notes that the other writer and I

1:01:39

got was, "Where's Leela's voice?" And I was like, he wouldn't even let me write it. Like,

1:01:46

okay. Like so, uh, it's it's again the

1:01:52

the way the system is set up for

1:01:58

cultivating new voices. Yeah. Is counterintuitive to me.

1:02:03

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, yeah, different genre and think, you know, I could whine about the book, the

1:02:10

book industry and going through, you know, trying to keep that creative

1:02:15

control and really understanding. I mean, I, you know, I said it earlier, I think that the you you get people that

1:02:22

write about businesses that have never built a business. People write about business culture. Um,

1:02:28

one thing with my book, the problem was is where does it fit? And they're like, "Well, you use sports analogies and you

1:02:35

talk about the Jamaican revolutionary and you talk about Apple and you talk about Bob Marley. Like, we don't know

1:02:41

where to put that. Like, get rid of something." And I'm like, "No, but that's the story I want to

1:02:47

tell." Mhm. So, I think that's and there's also a there's a thread. Yes. Yes. Yeah. There's a there's a

1:02:53

there's a connection. There's total connection. So, I I would argue against that. I well I did and

1:03:00

that's why I didn't go with you know with that publisher. Um but yeah I think

1:03:06

um I think you know in writing about disruptors you're you're an absolute

1:03:12

disruptor. Yeah. No you are. I mean it you fit all the disagreeable.

1:03:18

Okay. Right. That's you're disagreeable in a way that's not just you know I'm

1:03:23

upset at you but that I will not accept the status quo. um whether it's in my own culture or whether it's in the new

1:03:29

culture that I'm in. Um but you're optimistic, right? Your your ability to

1:03:35

impact people and change the world. And then the last one is you're relentless and your husband said that about you. So

1:03:42

you fit the criteria for a less than 1enter. That's official. You're part of the family whether you like it or not.

1:03:48

Thank you. Oh, you know, I have to say I I wasn't sure what this book was about.

1:03:54

So, you gave me this copy at the book festival and um

1:04:00

I didn't actually think you were going to have me on your podcast. I know you said that, but I was like, I don't know.

1:04:05

And then when you What he said when we had that whole situation, you know, when we first met,

1:04:11

first thing when we told him the story, he said, "We're going to be friends after this." Yeah. I already No, cuz

1:04:17

Oh, no. No, but I'm telling you, I'm telling you the the just again less than 1%. you

1:04:23

already fit. Like you already fit like you you were trying to sell your sell, you know, you're trying to make an

1:04:29

impact and and we got in the way in, you know, in a weird, you know, you you knew it wasn't us, per se, but no, you were

1:04:36

you just cut my merchandise wet. You're a family. Anyway, we cut you off it. Uh uh what was I saying?

1:04:42

I knew I knew we were going to forget. You were you were saying about the book. Uh oh. So I You didn't know what it was.

1:04:48

Yeah. I wasn't I wasn't sure what it was about, but when you emailed me and I was like, "Oh, I guess I am going to be on

1:04:53

it." So, I started reading this and you know, it's very lonely being a

1:05:00

disruptor. Yes. It's very lonely to be thinking differently from everybody

1:05:06

else. Yes. Um, but this book felt very validating and it's so well researched

1:05:13

and the examples of of these amazing people that did disrupt and followed

1:05:19

their intuition or their compass or their voice or their higher calling was

1:05:26

was encouraging. I mean, I already I'm already too far

1:05:31

gone. I have to keep doing it. But but it's I could see how it's very encouraging to people who are starting out to be

1:05:38

cuz you you define it. Yes. Whereas the whereas maybe there isn't a book that defines

1:05:44

being um someone who thinks differently, who does things differently.

1:05:50

Um and I think we need to encourage more of that because the group think is

1:06:00

it it's While I think it's good to be part of a collective, I think that it just it's

1:06:06

safe. It becomes comfortable and then um you know growth also growth is is not it

1:06:15

doesn't feel good to grow. Growth is really uncomfortable. And I think a lot

1:06:21

of um a lot of young people who are seeing um all these fabulous people

1:06:28

being fabulous, they don't they don't know the hard work that goes into

1:06:35

growing and being fabulous, whether or not that is actually true. So, I don't

1:06:41

know. I just felt like this book was was was a breath of fresh air.

1:06:47

I appreciate it. Appreciate it. No, I I I felt like again from when we met I I just thought, "Oh,

1:06:53

she's she's definitely" and then, you know, looking at the titles and I was peeking around the corner talking to her husband and I just thought, you know,

1:07:00

this is um I mean, this kind of message that really I feel um that I want to get

1:07:05

out there

1:07:00

Because I do feel and you know, for the next generation, the mindset will always be uh to your point,

1:07:12

you have to be popular or rich or there's some kind of thing come success that you got to get too. And I think if

1:07:20

you're just your authentic self, if you're just that, use whatever superpower you have. Like I don't, you

1:07:27

know, we talked about this. We have um you know, I'm a I'm a man. I don't know,

1:07:32

you know, I'm a man. Um but we're I'm doing a woman's meeting in the fall and

1:07:37

everybody's like, "M, why are you so passionate about doing a meeting that you might not even be able to go to?"

1:07:44

And I said, I just feel like there are so many people out there that have superpowers that are being told that

1:07:50

they're less than. I mean, the whole idea of imposter syndrome is absolute foolishness. Like the idea that I feel

1:07:56

uncomfortable because I'm not supposed to be here. That's terrible. That's a terrible thing. And then you teach

1:08:03

people, you say, "Oh, you have imposttor syndrome. Let me show you how to really fit in. How to really be like somebody

1:08:10

else." No, there's to me there's no such thing. you have a superpower and you have kryptonite. You have things that

1:08:15

I'm bad at and um but instead of focusing on what I'm bad at, focus on what you're amazing at and change the

1:08:22

world with that. So that's that's you know hopefully that comes through the book and uh and like yourself I mean you

1:08:30

motivated me also because I think like for me you just keep writing you know like you said just keep putting it out

1:08:35

there. You have to put the content out there and and it'll resonate with some and it may not resonate with other

1:08:41

others and that's okay. Yeah, that's awesome. Well, any last words for

1:08:48

the the audience out there? Um I guess I don't have to tell an actress

1:08:53

to look at the camera, you know. Yeah. Well, there's so many. Yeah, there there are a lot in here.

1:08:59

There's one there, there's one there, there's one there. Uh uh last parting words is is follow your soul.

1:09:07

Follow the calling. Um and and you won't know exactly what what that thing is

1:09:14

you're supposed to do, but your compass will point you in the direction you're need you need to be. And whatever you're

1:09:21

interested in, learn about it and you'll find you'll find it that way. Whatever

1:09:28

whatever it that is. Yeah. So that means

1:09:33

take a a speech class, speech class, then go work at H&R Block and take

1:09:38

Tackle T. No, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. But seriously, yes. Follow your follow your soul. Um, you know, be yourself.

1:09:45

And we appreciate you so much for coming. I know you came a long way. Thank you so much. Thank you for inviting me. I'm very happy to be here.

1:09:51

Awesome. Awesome. All right. Awesome.