Transcript: Season 2, Episode 4
Felicia Pride
Terri Trespicio:
Felicia Pride calls herself a late bloomer. Why? Because she didn't pursue a full-time writing career until the ripe age of 35. But don't let her humility fool you, she had already published six books by then. After studying business and marketing undergrad, Felicia went on to earn her MFA in Writing, Literature, and Publishing at Emerson in 2005. And if I read you her complete bio, you're going to have to clear your calendar for the rest of the day. Here's what you need to know. Felicia Pride is a writer, an award-winning filmmaker. She wrote on Queen Sugar and a little show you might've heard of called Grey's Anatomy. She was a graduate of NBC's Writers on the Verge, and Felicia is the creator of The Create Daily, a resource for underrepresented storytellers, that she founded in 2012. So, I don't know about being a late bloomer, but she is most definitely in full bloom. I give you Felicia Pride on making it as a writer.
Terri Trespicio:
Felicia, you worked as an entertainment journalist, you worked in book publishing, you worked as a columnist, and as an author yourself six times over. All of that before/during this other part of your career where you're a Hollywood screenwriter and you've written for Grey's Anatomy and all these other fabulous projects and created and directed your own films, tender, that short film, I watched it. Incredibly moving, beautiful portrait.
Felicia Pride:
Oh, thank you.
Terri Trespicio:
So, yes, here's my point. We tend to think we're supposed to know, especially if we're a writer... Okay? It's hard enough to know what you're going to do in the world to anyone, but for writers, you think, "Oh, I'm going to do that kind of writing." They feel they have to niche down or choose something right away that you're this kind of writer or that kind of writer. How much did this thinking inform or not inform your career arc and it's choices?
Felicia Pride:
Absolutely. I mean, I think I had to even back up a little bit because I didn't even know or believe that I could be a writer. Coming out of undergrad, I did not know any full-time writers, I did not know any professional writers, I did not think that writing could be something that you could do as a career. So, I actually was a business major coming out of college. I had no idea what I wanted to do. And it's interesting because I've done some mentoring with current Emerson students, and our Emerson students are very ambitious. They put a lot of pressure on themselves. And one of the things that I tell them is that, "It's okay if you don't have it all figured out. It's okay if you change course. It's okay if you find that you like something else better." That's part of life. That's part of experiences. Which I also think helped to enrich your experience as an artist. Right? Trying things, deciding that you don't want to do something. It's all okay.
Felicia Pride:
And so, that was definitely my path. I mean, there was a time during when I was trying to figure things out and I'm in my early 30s that I felt pressure, "I should have things figured out. I should be more stable. People should understand what I do." But I really had to quiet the noise and get real with myself about what it is I wanted to do. And what contribution did I want to make to the world. And that was at 35 years old when I was really like, "I do want to be a writer." Because even though I had success as an author, a full-time career as a writer is really difficult. So, I was running away from writing for a long time because I was scared. I was scared to say that that was what I wanted to do as a career. I was scared to say that that was what was going to financially sustain me. So, I was running away for a long time.
Felicia Pride:
So, it was at 35 years old, so I was a late bloomer in a lot of ways, although some people disagree like, "Oh, you're never a late bloomer," but I felt like I was a late bloomer. But the timing was perfect, I was like, "Okay, I'm actually ready to go full force with writing, and I'm okay with, if I 'fail' at it. But I have to make this last attempt to be a full-time writer." And when I did that and I repositioned my relationship with writing and I quieted the noise, that's when I started to see success, and that's when I started to have a focus and a purpose that I really, really cling to to this day.
Terri Trespicio:
Quieting the noise. It's so important to think about that because so much of the noise we think is actually helping us figure it out, but, in fact, it wasn't until you stopped listening to it or turned it down that you actually could see clearly. And let's back up for a second, you graduated undergrad and you weren't like, "Great, now I can finally pursue my long lived dream of being a writer full-time." Some people come out of undergrad, the world of college that way, but you didn't. You were in business, you were studying business, which you think... This is the idea, right? "Oh, if I study business, I'm going to know how to earn a living. It's going to be something reliable. I'll make money." Going to writing is not a living. We think, "Oh, it's going to be hard." But the truth is, it's really hard to do something you don't like so that's–
Felicia Pride:
Tell me about it.
Terri Trespicio:
... the hard part. But wait a minute, that's pretty fantastic that you were like, "Yeah, 35, major life shift." What turned it? What is the moment when you say, "I'm going to do this now"? Had you done a few little things and said, "I like it"? Can you share what that knife's edge looked like?
Felicia Pride:
Absolutely. By 35, I had had a career as a writer, as an author, but what I realized that books wasn't my form.
Terri Trespicio:
You had written books.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. By 35, I'd written... I think I got my first book deal like 27, 28.
Terri Trespicio:
Okay. So, that's not late bloomer, you realize.
Felicia Pride:
It wasn't a late bloomer, but it wasn't my form. Right?
Terri Trespicio:
How did you know?
Felicia Pride:
I knew because they exhausted me, I wasn't fully into it, and I didn't feel like I was... I felt like a hack, to be honest. I don't think I've ever expressed that. But I felt like a hack, like, "This just isn't my lane. I know writing is my lane, but this is not my form." And you kind of touched on that, finding your form as a writer, which is something that I don't think we talk about a lot. So, yeah, by that time, I was writing books, but it just didn't feel like my form.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. And then publishing dried up for me. I was going through a lot of transition and I couldn't get another book deal, so I actually leaned on my undergrad degree, my marketing degree, and I started to do marketing. Because I did a lot of marketing for my own projects, so I started to do marketing for publishers that I used to work for, authors, which expanded to doing work that we consider now as impact producing. So, basically, I was helping social justice projects find their audiences. And I love that work because one of the things that is important to me is to be of service to other artists and creatives, but it can not be at the detriment to my own creating. And what I found myself doing was using that as a distraction and as an excuse. Right?
Terri Trespicio:
Yeah. You're like, "I'm doing good for the world."
Felicia Pride:
Yeah, exactly. And helping everybody else, but I'm not creating myself. So, by that point, I was running a consultancy where I was doing impact producing, and I remember getting my biggest contract ever from this nonprofit. And I was like, "Wow." It finally was like, "Okay, maybe this is worth it because at least I'm making a lot of money." Right? And then that contract is pulled from me because the project shuts down, and that's when I was like, "Okay, if I'm not even going to make money, why am I continuing to do this if it's not fulfilling me in the ways that I really want to be fulfilled?"
I talked to my mentor, who also went to Emerson, Alice [Mayet 00:09:33], and she said, "Well, what is it that you want to do? Honestly and truly." And I had to admit, I said, "I want to write and create work, and I want to do it in the film and TV space." And she said, "Well, you should consider..." Because at that point, I started reading screenplays and putting my foot in the water a little bit. And she said, "Well, why don't you move to the biggest market? Why don't you move to LA? What do you have to lose?" Because I wasn't married, I didn't have kids. She was like, "The worst that can happen as you come back." And when she put it in those terms, I was like, "Okay, that seems to actually kind of fairly low risk. If the biggest thing that'll happen is I have to come back, that's not so big of a deal." So, I decided at 35 to move to LA, and that was five years ago.
Terri Trespicio:
That is crazy, because it's like, when you were earning that money doing something good... Right? You were working with your nonprofit. And in case people think nonprofits don't have money, some of them do, for at least a little while. Right? And you're making a living, but isn't it interesting that the money was enough to go, "Oh, well, see, this has value"? But once it was pulled away... If you loved doing only that work, you'd say, "Well, this project's done, but I'll find another one," but once that money went away, you said, "Oh..." That was like inflating the balloon, and once that air fell out of it, you realized there wasn't much there. And if you were being honest with yourself, which you were, you said, "Oh, I want to do that," in my mind, I'm thinking, "Oh God, the prospect of being like, 'I'm going to move to LA and be a Hollywood screenwriter,'" I'd be like, "Me and 85,000 other people. " Did any of that concern get in your head like I get in my own head about that stuff?
Felicia Pride:
My biggest concern was not doing it and having the regret of not doing it.
Terri Trespicio:
Yes!
Felicia Pride:
That was more powerful to me than going and "failing." Right? I was like, "If I don't do this, I will be here in DC regretting what I didn't do," and I didn't want that. So, that was more powerful to me than thinking about all the... and all the young screenwriters. Right? The ones who were straight out of USC. I wasn't too concerned about that.
Terri Trespicio:
I love that. And also, PS, for anyone who's like, "I don't know what my form is," A, as Felicia will tell you, you have to write your way into it and see what you like. And you know what? We all feel like hacks, but if after your sixth book, you say, "Hmm, I don't know if this mediums for me," that's when you get to switch mediums, not when you haven't even done one book yet, if that's what you think want to do. So what I love about what you just said is you gave everything a shot. You said, "I'll do it once." You didn't do half a book and go, "I don't think I'm good at this." You said, "I'd done six. I think I'm done." Yeah.
Felicia Pride:
Yes.
Terri Trespicio:
Now I want to point out that your essay collection, The Message: 100 Life Lessons from Hip-hop's Greatest Songs with a foreword by Chuck D, was taught in several institutions around the country, and you ended up going on and collaborating with your mother to develop curriculum. This is interesting because this is where writing meets education.
Felicia Pride:
Yes.
Terri Trespicio:
Tell me about that shift. When were you like, "Oh, I'm going to also make a course out of this?" talk to us about that.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. It's interesting because my mother is an educator. She was a school teacher for a long time and then was a vice principal, then was a principal. And she's instilled in her baby somehow, some way she's instilled that we are educators ourselves. Right? So, I actually taught on the college level. I taught English and writing at several colleges and community colleges. I'm a big proponent of community colleges. But I was like, "This is a lot. This isn't necessarily how I want to be as an educator." And our work together on The Message was two-fold. It was being able to think about education broadly. Right? It's not just something that necessarily takes place in the classroom, but it's also not something that necessarily is of traditional texts that we're used to. Right? So, we did a lot of work around the intersection of cultural competencies when it comes to education, as well as the intersection between hip-hop and education.
Felicia Pride:
I was a hip-hop education fellow at NYU doing a lot of that work, but also what it was, for me, and what it continues to be from my work to this day, is how can we extend the work to reach all types of audiences in different ways? And that goes back to my impact producing work. Right? I'm very interested in making sure that what I make get to the audiences it was intended for, but also gets to them in ways that meets them where they are. And so, the work that we did around The Message was very much we were in libraries across the country. We did a program in almost every single branch of the Baltimore City Libraries, meeting people, meeting young people where they are, and also bringing them into different spaces. So, that work is something that I didn't realize was the intersection of my marketing degree, was the intersection of my mother's influence as an educator, and then was my intersection as being a creator.
Terri Trespicio:
Because you have to sell the idea to get people to even want to learn. Right? There's some aspect of selling in story. Like what do they say? Facts tell, stories sell. Stories are... Right? There's a power to them, obviously, but there's also... Stories are seductive. We want to hear stories, and we want to know that stories have an impact on us and that we have stories to share, too. I mean, you're a big fan of stories. Storytelling is having power and purpose. What, in your mind, now, having seen you've used story for so many different aspects of just your writing career, you've been moved by other people's stories, what do you think is the highest purpose of story and storytelling at this phase in your life?
Felicia Pride:
I think when I think about my purpose, because I really do now feel like I have a purpose and that is to tell very specific stories, but in that I want my stories to move people, and move is very broad, in whatever way that it moves them. In my impact producing work, it was usually we wanted to move people to take action. Right? But in my work, I want to just move people, maybe to feel something, maybe to laugh, maybe to contemplate, maybe to take action, but I just want there to be a shift. I also don't want to dictate what that move is. I don't want to dictate what that shift is. I want to leave it open to the individual. So, that's also a shift that I've had in my own work from impact producing, because usually we want something very specific to happen. But I'm very open to what that move... I just want to move people. I just want to move people.
Terri Trespicio:
That's how things change, though. Right? You can't change unless someone's moved. You're talking about writing you specifically for conversion, whether you're getting someone to click on a thing or read a thing or buy a thing, whatever. There's always an important role there, but that is not the only thing, of course, story is yoked to. And you're saying it evolves, it's almost as if the power of story evolves. Yes, you can use it in many different places, but you're seeing this as very connected to the self. Now, yes, there are stories that move and convert, but there are also the stories that we tell ourselves. And you share that very personal story in your TED Talk about a story you told yourself about your family, about your father, and then you change your own story. I mean, obviously, anyone who wants to should definitely check out Felicia Pride's TED Talk, but can you give us an idea about how that shift from story with an audience to story to self?
Felicia Pride:
Yeah, so interesting. So, my father and I had a tumultuous relationship because he was addicted to crack cocaine for a large part of my life. And it's interesting because when I was in college, I had an English professor who I wrote this very angry essay about my father, and because he was... I think it might've been his first bout with Hodgkin's. He had a back and forth with Hodgkin's disease for a while, and I think it was his first bout, and I was a freshman in college. And I was very angry that he was sick. I was very angry at him. And I wrote a very angry essay about that. And it was my English professor, Professor DeCrane, who saw something in that essay, in that angry essay, she saw some sort of craft. She saw emotion, she saw a voice, and she was like, "I would love to submit this to this contest." And she submitted it to a contest, and it won. And she just encouraged me—
Terri Trespicio:
Wow.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. She encouraged me to minor in English. And my response to that was, "That's more money, and that's more time. And what am I going to do with this."
Terri Trespicio:
It would cost more to do it, you mean.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. I did not minor in English. But she still had such an incredible impact on me in terms of seeing something in my writing and seeing the connection between me writing my way out of emotion. So, fast forward many years, and I'm trying to work things out with my father, so I start interviewing him as if he's a subject for a book. I'm like, "You know what? Maybe I start like I'm going to write a book about this, about my experience with my father." In the interviewing process, I started to learn things about my father that I never had learned, things about what happened to him as a child. I began to contextualize him just like we do characters in our favorite screenplays, in our favorite movies. We provide context. People just don't do things. There's always a why.
Felicia Pride:
And I started to understand his why, and that started to remove me from the center of my narrative. Right? Because I would have protagonist. And it started me to become the observer and to understand what he was going through, and that helped to break down all the very simplistic notions that I had about my father. "Oh, he's just a bad father." Well, no, he's a multifaceted individual. Complicated as all hell, very complicated, but he's not just this. To pursue it as a writer helped me to really, really look at my father in a different way, and we were able to reconcile. And he sadly passed away when I was in NBC Writers on the Verge program. But I know he was so proud, and he was one of my biggest cheerleaders. And he was the one who helped me to even pursue vulnerability in my work.
Terri Trespicio:
Wow! I mean that, what a... I'm so moved by that. I'm sure a lot of people will be, because not everyone gets to have that kind of reconciliation. It didn't just happen. You set up the conditions because you were ready to know something you didn't all ready know. You were ready to learn something that conflicted with what you might have clung to. You could have decided, "He was a jerk, that was it. He was a mess. He ruined my life. That's it." You could. A lot of people do that. But here's where it's very interesting, the intersection between the personal and the professional.
Terri Trespicio:
Because you didn't just say, "We need to get together and talk about our problems," you put on a professional hat, you put on the lens of craft, and you said, "How would I treat this if this were a character in a story, if I were interviewing this person for a journalism piece?" You don't come in with all the biases and things, that, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know this all ready." Nope, you listened to it all like was new. And that craft... People go, "What's the point of that? Is that just what MFA people talk about?" Well, first of all, yes, we love talking about that. But craft was a tool for you to get at something of meaning, and I cannot emphasize this enough when I'm working with people, too, that craft is the tool that changed your life, didn't just change your career.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. No. And I love that because my definition of craft, I take it from one of my teachers, Joan Sheckle, or one aspect of craft. I wouldn't say it's the definitive definition that she uses, but craft is the ability to stay. Right? So, the ability to stay and listen to things that may be uncomfortable. And to my father's credit, it was a gift that he gave me. One of his ways to try to reconcile things was like, "I will tell you anything you want to know." And that was a true gift. Things that he was embarrassed about, things that he had to admit that were hard for him. I mean, there were some times when he would have to get off the phone because it was just too deep, too much.
Terri Trespicio:
Too hard. Yes.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. So, that was a gift that he gave me, and I was thankful that I was at the point where I was ready to receive it.
Terri Trespicio:
Yes. Because you could have been like, "I don't care. I know what you did. I was there. I don't need to hear it." You contributed to this gift too, though, Felicia.
Felicia Pride:
Yes, yes.
Terri Trespicio:
You created it and you allowed him space to do that. That's the key, is the creating of or the using of craft is staying there and listening and allowing that to happen. But for any writer, think about that, you gave this major character of your life the opportunity to become fully fleshed out. Now, you also happen to be someone who writes for TV and film. Imagine, now, the screenwriters who are trying to do that using tropes, using assumptions, using shortcuts, you're not going to get the real character.
Felicia Pride:
You're not.
Terri Trespicio:
This is what contributes to... Who's surprised that you're as successful you are in portraying character on screen through writing
Felicia Pride:
That vulnerability—
Terri Trespicio:
[crosstalk 00:22:45] powerful.
Felicia Pride:
... it's key. One of the first wins that I had after my move to LA was being selected for the Film Independent Screenwriting Lab, and we would have different facilitators come in, and I remember, at this time, my father was sick again. And I just remember basically crying in the middle of this workshop. I can't remember exactly what the impetus was, but I was crying. And I was embarrassed because I was crying. One of our facilitators basically pointed to the power and the vulnerability. And so, now, I really, really think about that a lot when I think about TV writers, people who want to be in writers' rooms. I think one way to be very successful in writers' rooms is to be able to be vulnerable, to be able to share, to be able to come in as your full self and be giving of stories and experiences and connections in your own life, to the characters' lives. And that's a real skill, and it's also one that's kind of scary. Right? So—
Terri Trespicio:
Gosh. That is the most scary.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. It is.
Terri Trespicio:
Nothing is scarier.
Felicia Pride:
But you see the difference when you're able to do that in, as you're mentioning, the stories that you tell and the characters that you write and all of that.
Terri Trespicio:
I mean, there's two things here about this that I want to hit on. One is ego. We all have it, we all want to know we've done well, we want to be recognized. The ego also gets in the way of that vulnerability, and it can get in the way of our work as writers, but just as people, as humans. It's not like you ever go, "Oh, I win, total knockout. I've destroyed my ego, and now I can work freely." How do you tango with that in your own life in your work?
Felicia Pride:
I do a lot of self work. So, I realized the connection between self-worth and craft, and that could very much be an extension of my work around my father, my relationship with my father. But when I came out here, I realized, number one, that the business is nutty, so you have to have some ways to ground yourself.
Terri Trespicio:
I imagine.
Felicia Pride:
Yes. And also, I realized that I have to have a purpose that's bigger than Hollywood, that Hollywood can't take, that Hollywood can't stand in the way of, especially when you think about gatekeepers and you think about green-lighting. I don't need any of that to serve my purpose. Right? Because there are projects that I'm going to make no matter what. There's that resolve. So, for me, a lot of the ego comes from the work I do around yoga and meditation and hiking and everything to keep myself grounded and connected to source and connected to purpose. So, that's what helps me.
Felicia Pride:
And then I set very practical intentions. I remember my first writers' room, and I was 39 years old, 39 years old as a staff writer. I turned 39 in that room. And one of my intentions going into that room was I want to be of service to the show creator, show runner, and my colleagues, and that was my intention. And that helped to keep me and reign me in when the ego, the inflated ego, wanted to pop up. Because there are services for the ego, but when the inflated ego wanted to pop up, I clung to that intention. I'm here to be of service to my show creator, show runner, and my colleagues.
Terri Trespicio:
You talk about being connected to something bigger than yourself. Right? To make a difference so that you don't get... Because if you're only here for ego to steer with, you're going to get capsized a lot. Right? you're going to tip over easily. Whereas, when you're anchored by something bigger and you know you're serving, like you just said, but even outside of that writers' room, to the larger purpose, which we get the sense just from listening to that you're rooted to something even bigger than the show runner. Right? And part of that is not just being someone who tells stories for a living, but giving other people the chance and the opportunities to tell their stories. This idea of collaboration rather than competition, rather than fighting for this tiny, little slice of a pie that we think we're limited to. And you're doing your part to make those opportunities available to more people, specifically women of color. You've created something called The Create Daily that I imagine is what you did to serve that purpose. Tell us about it.
Felicia Pride:
Yeah. I started Create Daily in 2012, so I guess it's nine years now that it's been going. And really, it was a way to help my fellow creators connect to opportunities, because I feel like there's a lot that has to be done when you're creating. Not only are you creating and trying to be in an artistic space, but then there's also the business side of things and also connecting to opportunities. So, I was like, "How can I help?" And so, I started The Create Daily was a daily email, actually. I would send one opportunity a day, whether it was a program, a grant, curated by me, and it was always, my rule was, if I would apply for it, then I'm going to list it here. If I would not apply for it, I'm not going to list it. So, it was curated.
Felicia Pride:
So, I did that for a very long time. And I remember when I first wanted to start it, I had all these bells and whistles. "I wanted to be a comedian, I wanted to be this, this, this, this." And I was like, "What's the simplest way to get started?" And that's how I tend to approach my work. What is the simplest, fastest way to get started? So, that was it,, and that actually became the blueprint and what we did for a really long time. And now at this point, we have a weekly newsletter, which we have several opportunities that we curate. I still hand curate all the opportunities. If I'm would not apply for it, I do not list it.
Felicia Pride:
And then, we do other things. For instance, over quarantined, I had an IG Live series called Chats With My Creative Friends, where I chatted with Anthony Sparks, the show runner of Queen Sugar, or Amy Aniobi, the EP of Insecure, Cree Summer, voice actress, legendary actress. And we were just chatting, and it was a way to connect with the community during quarantine. It was a way for me to connect with my friends. So, I'm always looking for ways to be of service, but I realized that, I kind of mentioned this before, that it cannot be to the detriment of my own creating. For the long time, The Create Daily was a distraction and an excuse for me not to create, so now, I have a—
Terri Trespicio:
Ah, a very delicate balance.
Felicia Pride:
Yes. I have a very, very delicate balance of still being of service, because that's important to me and that's part of my purpose, but also knowing that the other part of my purpose is creating so I have to stay true to that, as well.
Terri Trespicio:
So, you were good at holding boundaries around that because you could imagine how you could disappear into service, or how, if someone doesn't have any catch into any kind of service, how they could feel they're spinning their wheels in their work. So, it's not one or the other, but it sounds like both and.
Felicia Pride:
Yes. And I mean, I'm still learning because there were times where I was going to shut down The Create daily, but there was times where I was full into it and not ignoring my own creating. So, I think I have a nice balance now where I... I think there's a lot of opportunity for this. I'm actually looking for people who to help and build it out. But right now, I feel like I have a nice balance with it.
Terri Trespicio:
Yes. It's so smart, too, to remember, how did Felicia start doing this? She said, "What's the easiest way?" Before I go, "Let me build a huge arena," it's like, "How about I talk to a few people."
Felicia Pride:
Yeah.
Terri Trespicio:
Right? Just a handful of people. Let me jump to this. Weird things stick in our minds from school, right? You might say, "Well, I learned how to be a better writer here," dah, dah, dah, but sometimes you learn things when you're in school that you didn't realize would be helpful. Is there something that you'd say about your experience at Emerson, you say, "I didn't know that it was going to be valuable at the time and it ended up serving me'?
Felicia Pride:
Well, I mean, on a very practical level, I took a magazine design class with Lisa Derricks?
Terri Trespicio:
Yes, yes. I think we all took that. Yeah.
Felicia Pride:
And honestly, what that class that I still think about to this day, is I really care about how things look that I put out. I'm not a graphic designer, but I remember her being such a stickler for every single thing. And I now find myself doing that. For my short film, we crowdfunded, and every graphic that we put out, every visual representation of this film, I'm very much a stickler on how it looks, and I think that's really, really important. And I think that's also come in to my director space because directing, and because now I'm in a very visual medium, being very, very specific about how things look and wanting them to look a certain kind of way, having a vision for that, and then executing that vision. So, I definitely remember that class, and I still have the magazine that I developed, and I'm actually [crosstalk 00:31:46]. I'm framing the cover of it and putting it up in my office because it did have that sort of influence on me.
Terri Trespicio:
Because you made something that you were proud of, for one.
Felicia Pride:
Yes. I made something.
Terri Trespicio:
But also, because, yes, but it raised your... It's not even just that you learn how to do this thing, but it set and raised a standard how you would present yourself going forward. And I can't imagine something better for being graduate of the Master's program, the Master's in Fine Arts, than that. And my last question for you, Felicia, is this, what in your mind, in your heart, really, does it mean for you to make it in whatever way you think, and how will you know when you get there?
Felicia Pride:
Oh, I'm all ready here.
Terri Trespicio:
That's what I was going to say. I kind of think she arrived a while ago. I'm looking at my watch.
Felicia Pride:
I'm all ready here. For me, what was the signal of making it was being fully in my purpose and in my power. And those two things are important because I started out being fully... When I first got here to LA, it took me a year and a half, but I finally was able to get fully in my purpose, but I was not fully in my power, meaning understanding my worth as a writer, as an artist, as a culture maker. So, for me, now that I'm fully both in my purpose and in my power, I've made it, and I'm unstoppable.
Terri Trespicio:
Can't have one without the other.
Felicia Pride:
Absolutely not.
Terri Trespicio:
Well, you have most definitely made it in our minds, and we are rooting, rooting for you, Felicia. Thank you so much for being on with us.
Felicia Pride:
Thanks you so much for having me, and thank you so much for this platform. It's wonderful.
Terri Trespicio:
Thank you.
