April 12, 2024 • 33 mins
The color-obsessed content creator Courtney Quinn — better known as Color Me Courtney — joins the show to talk about the power of color, and what different colors say about our clothes, our confidence, and even our show’s logo! Plus, Danielle and Simone talk about the upcoming Margot Robbie-produced Monopoly movie, Lenny Kravitz working out in leather pants, and the colors we’re wearing this season. Are you all about bright colors, or do you prefer a more neutral palette? Send us a voice memo at hello@thebrightsidepodcast.com.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey bride, So I'm besties, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright side, we're learning how to brighten
our lives with.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
A little pop of color.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Oooh, the Queen of Color herself is here, Courtney Quinn.
She has over a million followers that know her as
color Me Courtney, And honestly, Simone, I'm a little scared
for this conversation because you know, I'm a neutral tone girl.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I wear a lot of black.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
This is good for you, Danielle. It's really healthy. It's Friday,
April twelfth.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm Simone Boye, I'm Danielle Robe and this is the
bright side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
All right, Simon, what's on for the weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Weather's really good in La. Right now, I'm thinking about
firing up the pool for the first time this season.
Get the kids in the pool.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know, I'm really jealous when you talk about that,
because you know, I grew up in harsh winters the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The cold in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Is so real, and I used to like just look
at people in magazines that lived by pools, and I
just couldn't even imagine that, like your kids get to
grow up by.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
A I know, I think growing up in Florida spoiled
me because we had a pool growing up, and everyone
I knew, all my friends had pools. Obviously, I know
that that's like a very privileged thing, so I'm very
grateful for it and aware of it. But it was
it was important for us to have that for our
kids if we could make it happen, and thankfully we
found a beautiful spot that has one, so it's really fun.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
There's nothing like a pool party when you're eleven.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
They don't hit the same when you're like twenty one
and in Vegas and in those gross foam pools.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
That was never for me. The eleven year old pool party.
That was a jam.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That was the best. Putting the water balloons in your
bathing suit top, did you do that? Or was that
just me?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I had huge boobs so that couldn't fit any water.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
You didn't have to. What about the George Washington hair flip?
Did you ever do that? Oh?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, georget To Washington.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yes, of course, Georgina, that's so funny.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I'm always so fascinated by how these things all over
the country.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yes happened.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Even though we didn't have Instagram, we didn't have social media. Yeah, like,
how did we all know about the George Washington hair flip?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
We all did it. It somehow traveled through the ether.
I remember eating like Domino's pizza out of boxes and
like being just like dripping wet, but like shoveling pizza
into my mouth.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
It was just so fun, so fun. I love that
your kids are gonna have that.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, you're gonna have to come up one day and
hop in the pool over the summer.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You don't have to ask me twice. I'm a pool girl.
I love being in the water.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I do too. What are you up to this weekend?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh, I'm nervous. I'm cleaning out my closet.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I do a once a year cleaning, a big cleaning,
and I invited a friend over to help me. Because
I'm not one of those people that can just pick
up a shirt and say does this bring me joy
and put it into a yes or no pile. I
need someone to laugh at me, embarrass me, and shame
me into throwing something out.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
That's a really good friend who will sit through this
with you.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh yeah, it's a camp friend. Camp friends will do
everything with you.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's true. It's true because this is like a six
to eight hour commitment.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
At least it's gonna be thirteen hours for me because
I have twelve black tank tops and twelve white ones.
Like I have all of the same things, I just
have a ton of them, So it's deciding which cut
looks the best, which one is not yellowed.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Today's episode is perfect for you and anyone else out
there because Courtney Quinn is the raining expert on color
and so she's gonna help you just brighten up your wardrobe.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I don't know if I want that.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I like my neutral toned wardrobe. I worked very hard
on curating it.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Actually.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Okay, well listen, no one's forcing you to change, Danielle.
It's up to you. The choice is yours.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I'm gonna have to live through my closet clean out.
I don't need to talk about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Okay, before we get to the weekend, here's what's popping
on our feeds today.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
This is your morning drip.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Okay, y'all. Another core memory from childhood is heading to
the big screen. Margot Robbie is making a Monopoly movie. Whoo,
It's gonna be fun. She's so good at making films.
I mean, after Barbie crushed the box office last year.
This makes a lot of sense. She's gonna be turning
the classic board game into a lot action movie.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I am really excited that they're bringing this movie to
life because there's so many characters in it. There's actually
a lot of lessons to be learned, like financial investing
lessons to be learned through Monopoly. Also, Margo Robbie is
a producer. Excites me, oh because for sure people totally
underestimate her. They see this beautiful blonde woman and they
think Barbie, but they don't realize that she was a
(04:22):
producer on that she's producing this.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
She really takes control of her career.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yes, I could not agree more. I will watch anything
she does just because of her sheer ambition and like
how daring she is as a creator.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yo.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Speaking of daring.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, Lenny Kravitz, Oh yes, oh, yes, we have to
talk about this video of our father. Lenny Kravitz has
been going around.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Our father, our boyfriend, our husband, the Internet's husband.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So if you haven't seen this video yet, Lenny posted
this to his Instagram account. He is working out. He's
on a bench, He's doing weighted crunches and the best
part of this, besties, is that he's doing it in
a purple mesh top, sunglasses and leather pants.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Was this for the Gramm or was this real?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I have no doubt that this is actually how he
shows up to the gym every single day.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I get it that he's a brand, but how could
you wear leather pants to the gym? Do you remember
that Friend's episode with Ross. He couldn't even go on
a date in leather pants.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
They are warm.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
No, it's unhinged, It's completely unhinged. But this just shows
that he is like one of our last living rock
stars and he can't shake that rockstar persona even at
the gym.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I kind of think it was for the gram like
he knows what he's doing. I see people wear denim
to the gym sometimes, and I feel like that's unhinged.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I just I'm getting I'm so uncomfortable at the mention
of like denim and sweat. There's no wicking, there's no breatheability.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
How about the mobility of it all? It doesn't quite
make sense. But the videos amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Have I told you my lenon gravit story?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No, Okay, I'm so jealous that you even have a
Lenny Kravitz story.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
It's not that good, but it exists. It exists. Okay,
So I was twenty one years old. I was studying
abroad in France, and I'm frolicking around Leone and I
stumble into this store of oddities. It had like antiques
and like weird artifacts in glass jars. It definitely had
juman G vibes. And to this day I swear that
(06:23):
the store owner was an actual wizard because we walk in,
my friend and I and he's like, let me spray
this perfume on you, and he's like, it has magical qualities.
So he sprays this perfume on us. Okay, this man
looks like a wizard too. He had the mustache, the
little wizards tickler, everything, long hair.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
I'm sorry, wizard's tickler.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, that's the thing underneath the bottom lip. It's like
a little triangle. I digress. He coats us in this
magical perfume. Right, and then a few hours later, we're
bar hopping and we meet this group of musicians. Turns
out they're turning the country with Lenny Kravits, and they
wind up giving us backstage passes to go to his show,
(07:04):
and so we go to the show and I got
to meet Lenny Kravitz. I like was a total groupie
at twenty one years old, like rocking out backstage at
this Lenny Kravitz show and he was wearing a bathrob backstage.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That tracks.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Was he nice sunglasses?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Super nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
This is the most simone story because everybody sees you
as this like really intellectual journalist, and then you get
to know you and you are a wild child. So
like this time you went to this random bar met Lenny.
This all tracks for me.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I know, my travel stories are a little dangerous. This
one's pretty safe.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, today's a big fashion day, m hmm, because we
have Courtney on. I'm cleaning out my closet, which when
I clean out my closet, I tram my clothes and
I'm like, who let me out of the house in this?
And I can't believe I'm the one that let me
out of the house in these things. But this caught
my eye because in Style just released it's spring color palette,
(08:01):
and surprise, surprise, there's a whole lot of color. So
we've already established that I'm a black, white, and gray girl,
which means that I'm very much out of style this
season already, And according to their stylists, the colors of
the season right now are Robin's egg blue, don't know
what that is, lavender blue, pastel, pink, and blood orange.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Okay, can we just set the record straight. I have
to defend my girl periwinkle here, lavender blue is periwinkle.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
This is also giving very easter, Like, what do you mean?
This is the spring color palette.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
This is always color. Well, it's always the spring color palette.
It's pastel.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
This is the peep's palette, like.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Go long, it is the peep's palette. I mean, I
love a pastel. I'm here for most of these. So
Robin's egg blue to me is kind of it's a
light blue, but it has a little bit more green
in it. I love a lavender blue aka periwinkle. I
love a pastel, pink. I love all shades of pink.
Blood orange.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'm here for the blood orange. I like an orange.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
You're losing me blood orange.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You're wearing orange in your headshot.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
That's not blood orange, girlfriend, That is like the difference.
That's tangerine. That's clementine. That's why do you know so much?
About colors, cause I'm alive. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Okay, So when I get my nails done, when I
was younger, I used to do a French tip, and
for the last i'd say ten years, I've done ballet
slipper by SSI, and every single week I don't do
gel I just do regular ballet slipper. And they always
try to get me to do a color like They're like,
just try a red or try this, and I'm like, Nope,
(09:36):
don't have time to try things. Would you try any
of these peeps palate color tones on your nails?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Actually, one of my next nail appointments is gonna be periwinkle,
and then after that, I think I'm gonna do a
cobalt blue and maybe a neon lime.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I love how gen Z does press on nails. They're like,
I don't have time to go sit at the nail salon.
I'm just gonna do these press ons and change the
color all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I don't have time for any of it, to be honest,
I was at a conference and I was doing the
press ons and I'm literally running out the door with
the nail glue in my hand, finishing them in the
elevator and like regluing them on because they came off.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So it's always scared they're gonna like pop off while
I'm speaking, I were like holding a microphone.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
That happened to me. I had to hide my thumb
as I was speaking. It was, Yeah, it's all hard.
It's just hard being a girl. Sometimes it really is
all right. After the break, we're diving into the world
of color with Courtney Quinn.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Stay with us, Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
We are adding a pop of color, not just to
our wardrobe, but to our lives. Whether it's the calming
blue of the ocean or the fiery red of a sunset,
colors have a profound impact on our emotions and perceptions.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Known as color Me Courtney to over a million followers online,
Courtney Quinn is famous for her out of the box
sense of style and obsession with all things colorful. After
years of working in the corporate world for brands like
Tommy Hillfigure, Kate Spade, and Coate, Courtney left to pursue
color Me Courtney full time as a content creator and entrepreneur.
(11:15):
She's partnered with brands like Barbie, Netflix, and she just
designed her very own clothing and accessory line with Disney,
which sold out, and it was inspired by the first
black animated Disney Princess Princess Tiana. Courtney, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Welcome to the bright Side, Courtney.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Hi, guys, thanks so much for having me, Danielle.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
We should also mention that Courtney is in the Hello
Sunshine Collective with us, which, by the way, for anyone
that doesn't know, the Hello Sunshine Collective is just a
community of creatives, content creators and entrepreneurs curated by Hello Sunshine.
And I've met so many incredible women through this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Oh for sure. It's such a great network. Okay, color me, Courtney.
You are all about color.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You're almost inspiring me to try and live a more
colorful life. And that's hard because I am a muted girl.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
That's always the goal.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
But in a world, especially in the millennial world of
beige's and muted tones, why are bright, bold colors so
important to you?
Speaker 6 (12:12):
I think color is so tied to confidence, and so
it's so important to me to be able to infuse
it into your world because it can really change and
affect your mood. I've had instances where I'm having a
bad day and I like, look down and I'm wearing
like a gray sweatshirt and I'll go change into like
something pink or bright, And sure that won't solve your problems,
but it's one of the few things that you can control.
(12:36):
I've also had circumstances, especially because I mostly live in
New York City where it's very like gray and drab
outside and everyone's wearing black coats and umbrella.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
So I'll walk out and wear a yellow.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Raincoat or pink coat and people will light up strangers,
it will bring like brightness to their day, and that
I could make them smile for a moment just by
what I was wearing is kind of like a superpower.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
You are such an impressive entrepreneur, content creator, and just
creative in general, and your story is so inspiring to me.
So I want everyone to hear your origin story. You
always had an interest in fashion, But take me back
to that time when you were living in New York
City and you were looking for your big break.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
Sure, of course, like you said, I always was interested
in fashion. I recently had this conversation with my fiance
where he was like, what did you want to be
when you grew up? And I said an astronaut of
princess or I pictured myself wearing a yellow suit in
like a boardroom, like with like marketing graphs, like either
working in fashion of marketing, and he's like, that's really specific.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
You like pictured the.
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Outfit even before you knew what the job title was.
So then I moved to New York with like hoax.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Of working in fashion.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
I actually got my degrees not in New York, and
I got my MBA at twenty one, so I was
very young.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
I kind of thought I would be able.
Speaker 6 (13:54):
To break in the industry with all these great degrees
and everyone would be so eager to hire me. And
that wasn't necessarily the case of I got of learned
that because I didn't go to fashion school because I
didn't like swim in the right circles. Really, it was
really hard to break into the fashion industry. So I
kind of was working on my blog just as a
creative outlet because I was working in a few different
(14:15):
stock rooms or working in retail jobs at the time.
And eventually I took my MBA off my resume and
put my blog on my resume, and that's kind of
what got me my first job in fashion.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Then I got exactly.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
What I wanted my dream job on paper, and it
turned out that the job was not necessarily what I
thought it would be my particular skill set. I could
do it, but I wasn't great at it, and I
kind of had to force it. And then the company
culture where I was in the team wasn't really what
I thought I would be, and so then I was
really depressed because I was like, I got exactly my
(14:50):
dream and I'm not very good at it and I
don't like it. And so I kind of had the
sense of like, wow, you're kind of an entitled brat
because you got what you wanted and it and it
didn't turn out the way you thought it would. And
so then I started doing more of the things that
were outside of the box for me, and I was
not really getting invited to a lot of blog events.
(15:11):
So I hosted my own event, like in my apartment,
and I invited all my favorite bloggers, and I reached
out to brands and made goodie bags and like put
this whole thing on and was like, I'm not getting
invited to the party, so I'm going to throw my own.
And it helped me not only rEFInd my confidence and
then it eventually led to me getting to know other
people at the company and moving to a different position
(15:31):
that I really loved with the best boss ever that
I still think about because she changed my life and
it completely changed my Color Me Courtney career as well.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
That moment where you realize the dream job is not
actually the dream job, I think is such an essential
coming of age moment for everyone.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
To me at the time, it felt like such a failure,
and I think so many people are afraid of the
word failure. I kind of love when I fail because
a lot of time that redirects me.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
The key is to fail fast.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yea.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
So once I could like sit in that reality that
this is wrong, I need to change. I made the
wrong choice, but that's okay because it led me to
the right choice. It led me to working on color
Meet Courtney more because I was not really super satisfied
in my career.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
As somebody who fails slowly, I have turned the word
fail into pivot.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Oh yeah, so, Courtney, As you mentioned, Color Meet Courtney
started as a personal blog, but now you have over
a million followers online and you're making and selling your
own products. I just know that there are entrepreneurs out
there right now who are wondering how the sausage is made.
So how many hours a week did it take to
build color Mee Courtney into the vibrant lifestyle, fashion and
culture brand that it is today? And then how many
(16:51):
hours a week would you say you're putting into it
right now?
Speaker 6 (16:53):
You know, every week is different now. When I first started,
I called it my five to nine because I had
my nine to five and I would come home usually
closer to like seven pm, and work on it during
the night and during weekends. And trickily, I probably feel
like I work about the same amount. I was just
maybe more efficient then because you didn't have time to
(17:15):
like second guess what you were creating, because you had
a few hours and then you had to go to
sleep and then you had to go to work. I
called it my hand I'm ontana lize, take off the
wig and then be color uity or put on the wig,
be color re course to take it off. It was
really fun, and I missed that time too because there
was a lot of other creatives in my community who
are doing the same so we had this like kind
(17:37):
of fun camaraderie.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So I love how this work in your blog eventually
gets you a job producing handbags at Coach and obviously
you're working, like you said, you're five to nine and
you're nine to five, which over time becomes exhausting, and
you decide it is time to pivot. And Simone and
I are constantly fascinated by that little moment and time
(18:01):
in people's stories. Can you take us back to the
day and the moment that you decided it's time to
take my side hustle and make it my main hustle.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Yeah, it's weird because like when I started coloring Me Courtney,
it was really just creative outlet and then eventually became
means to an end to get me a job. But again,
I never really thought it would be a full time job.
I knew people did it full time, but truthfully thought, oh,
they had other sources of income, like I had New York.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
City rent to pay.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
And it kind of happened in a few ways that
I'm really thankful for.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
I was a little early to the game.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
I think right now, if you work for most companies
and you have like a social media presence, it's really
considered an asset. But at the time it was a
little bit of like they didn't know if it was okay.
They were just like, we don't know if it's okay
if you're wearing our competitor in a blog post, but
you're making our brand, we don't know, and let's talk
about it and kind of figure out if it's okay.
(18:56):
And so then once I was like, you're right, there
might be like this ethical implication that I didn't realize,
then that's when I started to think of like should
I leave or not. So I really wrestled with it
for six months because I loved my job so much
and I love the people I worked with, and in
that six months was like, I'm gonna hustle harder on
color M Courtney and I'm gonna see if I cannot
(19:17):
touch my coach salary.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
So I put that away.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
I didn't touch it for six months and tried to
just live off Color ME Courtney to see if it
was even possible. And then it also gave me kind
of like a little like security nest day to where
if then when I decided to leave, if it really
all failed, I would still have something to back up on.
Then the answer was what is there to lose? It
is scary, but I would rather try it than not know,
(19:42):
and so I just kind of decided to jump that way.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I think that that is such great advice, you know,
taking care of yourself, making sure that you have a
backup plan, and then also really analyzing the revenue as
it's coming in and being like, Okay, can I make
a living off of this? Like I'm gonna give it
a shot for six months and if I prove to
myself that this is a viable path forward. I think
(20:06):
that's really really smart.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
And I will say it's really cool to see. I
recently reconnected with someone who worked at Coach Why was there?
She's very high up now and she has like a
very successful Instagram and things like that. So it was
just too early, yeah, and I was really thankful. I
think if they let me do both, I would still
be there, and Colouring Courtney would not be what it was.
So I'm so glad that it pushed me to make
(20:31):
a choice about what I wanted and maybe realize.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
What could it be.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I want to tap into that business part of your
brain for a second, because every entrepreneur that I interview
talks about the very high highs and the very low
lows and Honestly, you can experience both in one day.
You create content, you do brand deals, you have your
own products, which people don't realize is just such a
huge undertaking. Is there a lesson that you've learned that
(20:57):
you'd really like to save other people from.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
Yeah, worrying means you suffer twice, is like my life mantra,
not just for work, for everything else. And then in
this business, like if it's something that you create, there's
no rules to color me, Courtney. And so you get
into this thing where, especially when it's just you, where
you create your own really rigid set of rules, and
(21:21):
it becomes sometimes suffocating. And sometimes when you go left
and do the other thing, you find all new people,
all new experiences. I even feel like that with like
a to do list, I think people get overwhelmed by
to do lists. Put brush your teeth on your to
do list. You woke up, you brush your teeth, crossed,
it off, done, Like what are you?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
You did it?
Speaker 5 (21:40):
There's no rules. You can make it up and kind
of build yourself up because of that.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
That's funny, Courtney. All Right, when we come back from
the break, we're getting into color theory and our own
color stories. Courtney is going to read me all right,
stick with us.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
So we have to talk about color theory today. I'm
wearing coral, I did it on purpose, and Simone is
in purple.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Can you explain to us what color theory is.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Yeah, So just color theory in general is kind of
like the idea that different colors have different effects, have
different alterations on our mood. Maybe like as I say this,
as I'm literally designing a red bedroom, but most people
would say that you wouldn't design a red bedroom because
it's like a very fiery color, and usually you want
your bedroom to be like more of like a blue
(22:36):
or green, like something more calming and centering. So just
kind of the theory that color can affect our mood
and like personality traits. And then also I think that
sometimes a color we like to wear or our favorite
color might say something about us or be something that
we're trying to say to the world.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
So there are a couple of trends that have taken
over the design world and the content world recently, like
the clean girl aesthetic, which is very minimal, not very
color forward, and also blanding. So blanding is this idea
that companies are reaching for neutrals, for really modern, minimalistic
(23:16):
silhouettes and design in order to brand companies. Because that's
just kind of like the way that everything has shifted
in terms of our aesthetics as a society. What do
these trends say about us?
Speaker 6 (23:29):
First of all, I love that for them, but that
is definitely not my journey. And this is not my
first time seeing this. When I was kind of building
color m Courtney, Like if you think back to like
twenty twelve to twenty fifteen Instagram, like marble backdrops, everything
was super minimalistic.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
It was like a coffee shot with like your journal and.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Like that was it? Like that was the photo? Yes,
a million likes, you know. So I've always gone the
opposite direction. I think coming out of the pandemic, people
were reaching for color a little bit more, but I.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Think now we're just raining it back in.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
It's always going to be like this, Like there will
be times when people lean into color and times when
people are totally afraid of it. I think there's a
way to do both. There's a way to do color
and have it be clean. There's a way to do
color and have it be maximalist and over the top,
and there's a way to do bland and even have
it be maximalist if you want it to.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
I maybe wouldn't call it bland, but like more neutral
colors in that case.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
So I think it's just this desire to like streamline
things make it cleaner because we just are so bombarded
with ads and content and things constantly, and our attention
splans are low. It probably feels really calming sometimes for
people to just have like nothing going on.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
So maybe that's why.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
The blanding thing comes in, and as you're trying to
appeal to more customers like it's definitely a safer approach.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I love that term. I didn't know it existed.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
This is another term that I learned because of you, Courtney,
which is color story. We all have a color story,
and so I want to know about the bright Side's
color story. We have a gradient that is yellow, orange, pink,
and then purple, and we even have a little like
orange red in our logo as well. What's the bright
(25:10):
Side's color story.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
The way that I see your podcast is it's just
like the right way to start off your day and
you can listen to it at any time. But to me,
it's just like such like a nice bright moment, a
way to like put you on the right foot in
the morning.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
And so I love that yours.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Kind of looks like almost like a sunrise, or even
like a sunset.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
A sunset kind.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Of serves as like a reset, a reframe, kind of
like getting back into like the right mood. And so
I think that's kind of a perfect thing for you, guys.
One of the colors that I find interesting that's in
your logo that if I had to guess what your
logo was before knowing it, I probably would have guessed
it was yellow and orange or yellow and pink. I
probably wouldn't have guessed purple, because purple is such a
(25:52):
transformative color. There's so many different sides of it depending
on the shade, Like lilac and violet are night and day,
they mean totally different things. I've also found that purple
people are some of the most passionate people. They love
their color, and so I think those are things that
kind of apply to the bright side too, like that
(26:12):
kind of confidence and that boldness and that unapologeticness.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
So I love that we see that in your logo.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I'm wearing purple right now, I'm gonna admit I'm not
like a hardcore purple person, but I do love it
and I appreciate her because she's just so unique.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
I think of you just knowing your personality, though I
think of you read me. I think of you as
like a warm tone, girly, so like someone who loves
like maybe.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Like pinks or something.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
I think because I spent so much time with you
when we were both matching wearing yellow at when we met,
and so I think that makes me a little bit biased.
Sometimes your first impression of what someone's wearing sticks with them.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
But also I think.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Your personality backed that up. That you have such like
a warm and wonderful personality and we like instantly kind
that I was like, oh, I'm just gonna think of
her as like yellow, but probably if I read your
specific personality, I would think of like more like pinks oranges,
like warm.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
When you meet people, do you automatically put them into
a category like, Okay, they're a blue, they're a pink,
they're a.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Babe, not too but yeah, a lot, they're.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Okay, Danielle's wearing coral.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, So though I could be kind of a beige,
you're not a beige.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
No, I think you're probably I know you wear a
lot of black because I just know you online, and
I think a lot of times color people a lot
of times maybe misdirect black as boring. I think it's
stylish and bold, and I think it makes a statement.
I also think of you as blue. But blue is
interesting because sometimes people think it's blue as like really serene,
(27:51):
like easy going, and I think of it more as
like a commanding force, like a wave. So it's something
that like kind of can come at you, not in
an aggressive way, but in like a really powerful way.
But for you, it's like you have this really interesting
power to be a force but something that everyone would
(28:11):
like be interested to see. And I think that's probably
why you're a good journalist, because you can get stuff
out of people and things like that.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
So true, that question so good at that.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
I need your advice, and so does everybody who lives
in New York who also wears all black. But is
there a hack for people like me that are a
little scared to jump into bright colors right away, to
throw on a bright pink dress?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
How can we start small?
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (28:33):
I think the easiest way to start small is lipstick,
which that can be scary for some people, but I
always tell people to just try it, Like try a
colorful lip. It doesn't have to be super colorful, but
then you can still wear all black and you can
kind of have like a red lip.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
I really want to bring back the orange lipstick that
I wore in high school middle school.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I kind of like an orange red.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Do you think it's time? Could we bring back the orange? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (28:58):
Especially on your skin tone, a red orange lip perfect you.
So another tip is to just kind of try it,
like maybe low Steaks, go to a coffee shop, go
to somewhere where you don't know anyone, try the pink
dress and just see if you feel different. And you
might wear pink and be like, I don't like it,
Pink's not for me. And then you might wear orange
(29:19):
and be like, oh, I feel better today, I feel
more confident. Just kind of try it and like the
same environment over and over. If you can in something
low Steaks and see how you feel and also how
people respond. Well.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I hope my mom listen to this episode because she,
for the longest time, has worn a lot of black,
but I think she secretly wants to branch out and
be more colorful. But I think I think also as
you age, as women age, it becomes a confidence thing.
And like, am I allowed to wear something loud? Am
I allowed to take up space?
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Yes? First of all, yes, you're allowed to be seen.
You're allowed to take up space always.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
If let me ask you this, if you got your
mom something which you maybe be more likely to wear
it because it means something coming.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Fro turn in the stuff I get her, I think
some people.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
Are yes or no, because I tried another way to
kind of introduce or dip your toe into color would
be either you guys could like go get your nails
done and she could do like kind of push her
to do a more color color on her nails or
even her toes. And then number two would be like
buying a colorful accessory. So like mother stays coming up,
Like if if you have a mom who really does
(30:23):
love the gifts that you give her, maybe giving them
like a red bag or a coral bag.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Or something like that a great idea.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
Yeah, my mom exclusively wears black, but I bought her
a red handbag.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
She wears a red handbag.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
It's a great idea, Courtney. It was so much fun
having you here. I learned so much about color and
the meaning behind it.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Oh good, I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Thanks for brightening our lives.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Courtney happy too is likewise, thank you guys for brightening
our days every day.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
That's so nice.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Courtney Quinn is a designer, content creator, and the founder
of the media company color Me Courtney. You can follow
her on Instagram and TikTok at color me Courtney. Courtney
inspires me so much, Danielle, because you look at her story,
what she's accomplished. She's truly a self made woman.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
She did it, I mean she told us how she
did it too. My favorite line in our whole conversation was,
if you're not invited to the party, throw your own.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
There's so much there.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
We got to throw our own party, exactly, find your
own way in.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
If you don't have a seat at the table, just
build your own table.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
So many puns, let's see how many we can talk about.
I will tell you this though. There is a book
called The Third Door by Alex Benaian, and the entire
book is about if you can't get in the front door,
and you can't get in the side door, find the
third door. And it's the same thing as throwing your
own party. There is such a power in that totally.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Can I borrow that book? By the way, yes, thank you.
On Monday, we are talking about the gender gap in
athletics with author and journalist Christine You. Christine shares how
his parents, teachers and friends we can help keep young
girls in sports.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and
iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wank. Our engineer
is PJ. Shahamat, and our senior producer is itsy Qinthenia Our.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Conna's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzika. Arcana's
head of production is Matt Schultz.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Natalie Tulluck and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is
the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts. This week's episodes were
recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton lighthauser.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Special thanks to Connell Byrne and Will Pearson.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
That's it for today's show. I'm Simone Boyce. You can
find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's ro b A y See you Monday, fam, See
you later.
Hey bride, So I'm besties, Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Today on the bright side, we're learning how to brighten
our lives with.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
A little pop of color.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Oooh, the Queen of Color herself is here, Courtney Quinn.
She has over a million followers that know her as
color Me Courtney, And honestly, Simone, I'm a little scared
for this conversation because you know, I'm a neutral tone girl.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I wear a lot of black.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
This is good for you, Danielle. It's really healthy. It's Friday,
April twelfth.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
I'm Simone Boye, I'm Danielle Robe and this is the
bright side from Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
All right, Simon, what's on for the weekend?
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Weather's really good in La. Right now, I'm thinking about
firing up the pool for the first time this season.
Get the kids in the pool.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
You know, I'm really jealous when you talk about that,
because you know, I grew up in harsh winters the Midwest.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
The cold in Chicago.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Is so real, and I used to like just look
at people in magazines that lived by pools, and I
just couldn't even imagine that, like your kids get to
grow up by.
Speaker 3 (00:59):
A I know, I think growing up in Florida spoiled
me because we had a pool growing up, and everyone
I knew, all my friends had pools. Obviously, I know
that that's like a very privileged thing, so I'm very
grateful for it and aware of it. But it was
it was important for us to have that for our
kids if we could make it happen, and thankfully we
found a beautiful spot that has one, so it's really fun.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
There's nothing like a pool party when you're eleven.
Speaker 3 (01:24):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
They don't hit the same when you're like twenty one
and in Vegas and in those gross foam pools.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
That was never for me. The eleven year old pool party.
That was a jam.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
That was the best. Putting the water balloons in your
bathing suit top, did you do that? Or was that
just me?
Speaker 1 (01:39):
I had huge boobs so that couldn't fit any water.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
You didn't have to. What about the George Washington hair flip?
Did you ever do that? Oh?
Speaker 1 (01:47):
Yeah, georget To Washington.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
Yes, of course, Georgina, that's so funny.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
I'm always so fascinated by how these things all over
the country.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
Yes happened.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Even though we didn't have Instagram, we didn't have social media. Yeah, like,
how did we all know about the George Washington hair flip?
Speaker 3 (02:03):
We all did it. It somehow traveled through the ether.
I remember eating like Domino's pizza out of boxes and
like being just like dripping wet, but like shoveling pizza
into my mouth.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
It was just so fun, so fun. I love that
your kids are gonna have that.
Speaker 3 (02:17):
Yeah, you're gonna have to come up one day and
hop in the pool over the summer.
Speaker 1 (02:21):
You don't have to ask me twice. I'm a pool girl.
I love being in the water.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
I do too. What are you up to this weekend?
Speaker 1 (02:27):
Oh, I'm nervous. I'm cleaning out my closet.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
I do a once a year cleaning, a big cleaning,
and I invited a friend over to help me. Because
I'm not one of those people that can just pick
up a shirt and say does this bring me joy
and put it into a yes or no pile. I
need someone to laugh at me, embarrass me, and shame
me into throwing something out.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
That's a really good friend who will sit through this
with you.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Oh yeah, it's a camp friend. Camp friends will do
everything with you.
Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's true. It's true because this is like a six
to eight hour commitment.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
At least it's gonna be thirteen hours for me because
I have twelve black tank tops and twelve white ones.
Like I have all of the same things, I just
have a ton of them, So it's deciding which cut
looks the best, which one is not yellowed.
Speaker 3 (03:09):
Today's episode is perfect for you and anyone else out
there because Courtney Quinn is the raining expert on color
and so she's gonna help you just brighten up your wardrobe.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I don't know if I want that.
Speaker 2 (03:22):
I like my neutral toned wardrobe. I worked very hard
on curating it.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Actually.
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Okay, well listen, no one's forcing you to change, Danielle.
It's up to you. The choice is yours.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
I'm gonna have to live through my closet clean out.
I don't need to talk about it anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Okay, before we get to the weekend, here's what's popping
on our feeds today.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
This is your morning drip.
Speaker 3 (03:42):
Okay, y'all. Another core memory from childhood is heading to
the big screen. Margot Robbie is making a Monopoly movie. Whoo,
It's gonna be fun. She's so good at making films.
I mean, after Barbie crushed the box office last year.
This makes a lot of sense. She's gonna be turning
the classic board game into a lot action movie.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
I am really excited that they're bringing this movie to
life because there's so many characters in it. There's actually
a lot of lessons to be learned, like financial investing
lessons to be learned through Monopoly. Also, Margo Robbie is
a producer. Excites me, oh because for sure people totally
underestimate her. They see this beautiful blonde woman and they
think Barbie, but they don't realize that she was a
(04:22):
producer on that she's producing this.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
She really takes control of her career.
Speaker 3 (04:26):
Yes, I could not agree more. I will watch anything
she does just because of her sheer ambition and like
how daring she is as a creator.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Yo.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Speaking of daring.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
Yeah, Lenny Kravitz, Oh yes, oh, yes, we have to
talk about this video of our father. Lenny Kravitz has
been going around.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Our father, our boyfriend, our husband, the Internet's husband.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
So if you haven't seen this video yet, Lenny posted
this to his Instagram account. He is working out. He's
on a bench, He's doing weighted crunches and the best
part of this, besties, is that he's doing it in
a purple mesh top, sunglasses and leather pants.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Was this for the Gramm or was this real?
Speaker 3 (05:10):
I have no doubt that this is actually how he
shows up to the gym every single day.
Speaker 2 (05:14):
I get it that he's a brand, but how could
you wear leather pants to the gym? Do you remember
that Friend's episode with Ross. He couldn't even go on
a date in leather pants.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
They are warm.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
No, it's unhinged, It's completely unhinged. But this just shows
that he is like one of our last living rock
stars and he can't shake that rockstar persona even at
the gym.
Speaker 2 (05:37):
I kind of think it was for the gram like
he knows what he's doing. I see people wear denim
to the gym sometimes, and I feel like that's unhinged.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
I just I'm getting I'm so uncomfortable at the mention
of like denim and sweat. There's no wicking, there's no breatheability.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
How about the mobility of it all? It doesn't quite
make sense. But the videos amazing.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Have I told you my lenon gravit story?
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No, Okay, I'm so jealous that you even have a
Lenny Kravitz story.
Speaker 3 (06:02):
It's not that good, but it exists. It exists. Okay,
So I was twenty one years old. I was studying
abroad in France, and I'm frolicking around Leone and I
stumble into this store of oddities. It had like antiques
and like weird artifacts in glass jars. It definitely had
juman G vibes. And to this day I swear that
(06:23):
the store owner was an actual wizard because we walk in,
my friend and I and he's like, let me spray
this perfume on you, and he's like, it has magical qualities.
So he sprays this perfume on us. Okay, this man
looks like a wizard too. He had the mustache, the
little wizards tickler, everything, long hair.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
I'm sorry, wizard's tickler.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
Yeah, that's the thing underneath the bottom lip. It's like
a little triangle. I digress. He coats us in this
magical perfume. Right, and then a few hours later, we're
bar hopping and we meet this group of musicians. Turns
out they're turning the country with Lenny Kravits, and they
wind up giving us backstage passes to go to his show,
(07:04):
and so we go to the show and I got
to meet Lenny Kravitz. I like was a total groupie
at twenty one years old, like rocking out backstage at
this Lenny Kravitz show and he was wearing a bathrob backstage.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
That tracks.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
Was he nice sunglasses?
Speaker 2 (07:16):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Super nice. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
This is the most simone story because everybody sees you
as this like really intellectual journalist, and then you get
to know you and you are a wild child. So
like this time you went to this random bar met Lenny.
This all tracks for me.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
I know, my travel stories are a little dangerous. This
one's pretty safe.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Okay, today's a big fashion day, m hmm, because we
have Courtney on. I'm cleaning out my closet, which when
I clean out my closet, I tram my clothes and
I'm like, who let me out of the house in this?
And I can't believe I'm the one that let me
out of the house in these things. But this caught
my eye because in Style just released it's spring color palette,
(08:01):
and surprise, surprise, there's a whole lot of color. So
we've already established that I'm a black, white, and gray girl,
which means that I'm very much out of style this
season already, And according to their stylists, the colors of
the season right now are Robin's egg blue, don't know
what that is, lavender blue, pastel, pink, and blood orange.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Okay, can we just set the record straight. I have
to defend my girl periwinkle here, lavender blue is periwinkle.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
This is also giving very easter, Like, what do you mean?
This is the spring color palette.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
This is always color. Well, it's always the spring color palette.
It's pastel.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
This is the peep's palette, like.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
Go long, it is the peep's palette. I mean, I
love a pastel. I'm here for most of these. So
Robin's egg blue to me is kind of it's a
light blue, but it has a little bit more green
in it. I love a lavender blue aka periwinkle. I
love a pastel, pink. I love all shades of pink.
Blood orange.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I'm here for the blood orange. I like an orange.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
You're losing me blood orange.
Speaker 1 (09:00):
You're wearing orange in your headshot.
Speaker 3 (09:02):
That's not blood orange, girlfriend, That is like the difference.
That's tangerine. That's clementine. That's why do you know so much?
About colors, cause I'm alive. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Okay, So when I get my nails done, when I
was younger, I used to do a French tip, and
for the last i'd say ten years, I've done ballet
slipper by SSI, and every single week I don't do
gel I just do regular ballet slipper. And they always
try to get me to do a color like They're like,
just try a red or try this, and I'm like, Nope,
(09:36):
don't have time to try things. Would you try any
of these peeps palate color tones on your nails?
Speaker 1 (09:42):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (09:42):
Actually, one of my next nail appointments is gonna be periwinkle,
and then after that, I think I'm gonna do a
cobalt blue and maybe a neon lime.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I love how gen Z does press on nails. They're like,
I don't have time to go sit at the nail salon.
I'm just gonna do these press ons and change the
color all the time.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
I don't have time for any of it, to be honest,
I was at a conference and I was doing the
press ons and I'm literally running out the door with
the nail glue in my hand, finishing them in the
elevator and like regluing them on because they came off.
Speaker 2 (10:12):
So it's always scared they're gonna like pop off while
I'm speaking, I were like holding a microphone.
Speaker 3 (10:16):
That happened to me. I had to hide my thumb
as I was speaking. It was, Yeah, it's all hard.
It's just hard being a girl. Sometimes it really is
all right. After the break, we're diving into the world
of color with Courtney Quinn.
Speaker 4 (10:30):
Stay with us, Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:40):
We are adding a pop of color, not just to
our wardrobe, but to our lives. Whether it's the calming
blue of the ocean or the fiery red of a sunset,
colors have a profound impact on our emotions and perceptions.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
Known as color Me Courtney to over a million followers online,
Courtney Quinn is famous for her out of the box
sense of style and obsession with all things colorful. After
years of working in the corporate world for brands like
Tommy Hillfigure, Kate Spade, and Coate, Courtney left to pursue
color Me Courtney full time as a content creator and entrepreneur.
(11:15):
She's partnered with brands like Barbie, Netflix, and she just
designed her very own clothing and accessory line with Disney,
which sold out, and it was inspired by the first
black animated Disney Princess Princess Tiana. Courtney, Welcome to the show.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Welcome to the bright Side, Courtney.
Speaker 5 (11:31):
Hi, guys, thanks so much for having me, Danielle.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
We should also mention that Courtney is in the Hello
Sunshine Collective with us, which, by the way, for anyone
that doesn't know, the Hello Sunshine Collective is just a
community of creatives, content creators and entrepreneurs curated by Hello Sunshine.
And I've met so many incredible women through this opportunity.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Oh for sure. It's such a great network. Okay, color me, Courtney.
You are all about color.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
You're almost inspiring me to try and live a more
colorful life. And that's hard because I am a muted girl.
Speaker 5 (12:01):
That's always the goal.
Speaker 2 (12:03):
But in a world, especially in the millennial world of
beige's and muted tones, why are bright, bold colors so
important to you?
Speaker 6 (12:12):
I think color is so tied to confidence, and so
it's so important to me to be able to infuse
it into your world because it can really change and
affect your mood. I've had instances where I'm having a
bad day and I like, look down and I'm wearing
like a gray sweatshirt and I'll go change into like
something pink or bright, And sure that won't solve your problems,
but it's one of the few things that you can control.
(12:36):
I've also had circumstances, especially because I mostly live in
New York City where it's very like gray and drab
outside and everyone's wearing black coats and umbrella.
Speaker 5 (12:45):
So I'll walk out and wear a yellow.
Speaker 6 (12:48):
Raincoat or pink coat and people will light up strangers,
it will bring like brightness to their day, and that
I could make them smile for a moment just by
what I was wearing is kind of like a superpower.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
You are such an impressive entrepreneur, content creator, and just
creative in general, and your story is so inspiring to me.
So I want everyone to hear your origin story. You
always had an interest in fashion, But take me back
to that time when you were living in New York
City and you were looking for your big break.
Speaker 6 (13:20):
Sure, of course, like you said, I always was interested
in fashion. I recently had this conversation with my fiance
where he was like, what did you want to be
when you grew up? And I said an astronaut of
princess or I pictured myself wearing a yellow suit in
like a boardroom, like with like marketing graphs, like either
working in fashion of marketing, and he's like, that's really specific.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
You like pictured the.
Speaker 6 (13:40):
Outfit even before you knew what the job title was.
So then I moved to New York with like hoax.
Speaker 5 (13:46):
Of working in fashion.
Speaker 6 (13:47):
I actually got my degrees not in New York, and
I got my MBA at twenty one, so I was
very young.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
I kind of thought I would be able.
Speaker 6 (13:54):
To break in the industry with all these great degrees
and everyone would be so eager to hire me. And
that wasn't necessarily the case of I got of learned
that because I didn't go to fashion school because I
didn't like swim in the right circles. Really, it was
really hard to break into the fashion industry. So I
kind of was working on my blog just as a
creative outlet because I was working in a few different
(14:15):
stock rooms or working in retail jobs at the time.
And eventually I took my MBA off my resume and
put my blog on my resume, and that's kind of
what got me my first job in fashion.
Speaker 5 (14:26):
Then I got exactly.
Speaker 6 (14:28):
What I wanted my dream job on paper, and it
turned out that the job was not necessarily what I
thought it would be my particular skill set. I could
do it, but I wasn't great at it, and I
kind of had to force it. And then the company
culture where I was in the team wasn't really what
I thought I would be, and so then I was
really depressed because I was like, I got exactly my
(14:50):
dream and I'm not very good at it and I
don't like it. And so I kind of had the
sense of like, wow, you're kind of an entitled brat
because you got what you wanted and it and it
didn't turn out the way you thought it would. And
so then I started doing more of the things that
were outside of the box for me, and I was
not really getting invited to a lot of blog events.
(15:11):
So I hosted my own event, like in my apartment,
and I invited all my favorite bloggers, and I reached
out to brands and made goodie bags and like put
this whole thing on and was like, I'm not getting
invited to the party, so I'm going to throw my own.
And it helped me not only rEFInd my confidence and
then it eventually led to me getting to know other
people at the company and moving to a different position
(15:31):
that I really loved with the best boss ever that
I still think about because she changed my life and
it completely changed my Color Me Courtney career as well.
Speaker 3 (15:41):
That moment where you realize the dream job is not
actually the dream job, I think is such an essential
coming of age moment for everyone.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
To me at the time, it felt like such a failure,
and I think so many people are afraid of the
word failure. I kind of love when I fail because
a lot of time that redirects me.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
The key is to fail fast.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
Yea.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
So once I could like sit in that reality that
this is wrong, I need to change. I made the
wrong choice, but that's okay because it led me to
the right choice. It led me to working on color
Meet Courtney more because I was not really super satisfied
in my career.
Speaker 2 (16:22):
As somebody who fails slowly, I have turned the word
fail into pivot.
Speaker 3 (16:29):
Oh yeah, so, Courtney, As you mentioned, Color Meet Courtney
started as a personal blog, but now you have over
a million followers online and you're making and selling your
own products. I just know that there are entrepreneurs out
there right now who are wondering how the sausage is made.
So how many hours a week did it take to
build color Mee Courtney into the vibrant lifestyle, fashion and
culture brand that it is today? And then how many
(16:51):
hours a week would you say you're putting into it
right now?
Speaker 6 (16:53):
You know, every week is different now. When I first started,
I called it my five to nine because I had
my nine to five and I would come home usually
closer to like seven pm, and work on it during
the night and during weekends. And trickily, I probably feel
like I work about the same amount. I was just
maybe more efficient then because you didn't have time to
(17:15):
like second guess what you were creating, because you had
a few hours and then you had to go to
sleep and then you had to go to work. I
called it my hand I'm ontana lize, take off the
wig and then be color uity or put on the wig,
be color re course to take it off. It was
really fun, and I missed that time too because there
was a lot of other creatives in my community who
are doing the same so we had this like kind
(17:37):
of fun camaraderie.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
So I love how this work in your blog eventually
gets you a job producing handbags at Coach and obviously
you're working, like you said, you're five to nine and
you're nine to five, which over time becomes exhausting, and
you decide it is time to pivot. And Simone and
I are constantly fascinated by that little moment and time
(18:01):
in people's stories. Can you take us back to the
day and the moment that you decided it's time to
take my side hustle and make it my main hustle.
Speaker 6 (18:10):
Yeah, it's weird because like when I started coloring Me Courtney,
it was really just creative outlet and then eventually became
means to an end to get me a job. But again,
I never really thought it would be a full time job.
I knew people did it full time, but truthfully thought, oh,
they had other sources of income, like I had New York.
Speaker 5 (18:27):
City rent to pay.
Speaker 6 (18:28):
And it kind of happened in a few ways that
I'm really thankful for.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
I was a little early to the game.
Speaker 6 (18:35):
I think right now, if you work for most companies
and you have like a social media presence, it's really
considered an asset. But at the time it was a
little bit of like they didn't know if it was okay.
They were just like, we don't know if it's okay
if you're wearing our competitor in a blog post, but
you're making our brand, we don't know, and let's talk
about it and kind of figure out if it's okay.
(18:56):
And so then once I was like, you're right, there
might be like this ethical implication that I didn't realize,
then that's when I started to think of like should
I leave or not. So I really wrestled with it
for six months because I loved my job so much
and I love the people I worked with, and in
that six months was like, I'm gonna hustle harder on
color M Courtney and I'm gonna see if I cannot
(19:17):
touch my coach salary.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
So I put that away.
Speaker 6 (19:20):
I didn't touch it for six months and tried to
just live off Color ME Courtney to see if it
was even possible. And then it also gave me kind
of like a little like security nest day to where
if then when I decided to leave, if it really
all failed, I would still have something to back up on.
Then the answer was what is there to lose? It
is scary, but I would rather try it than not know,
(19:42):
and so I just kind of decided to jump that way.
Speaker 3 (19:45):
I think that that is such great advice, you know,
taking care of yourself, making sure that you have a
backup plan, and then also really analyzing the revenue as
it's coming in and being like, Okay, can I make
a living off of this? Like I'm gonna give it
a shot for six months and if I prove to
myself that this is a viable path forward. I think
(20:06):
that's really really smart.
Speaker 6 (20:07):
And I will say it's really cool to see. I
recently reconnected with someone who worked at Coach Why was there?
She's very high up now and she has like a
very successful Instagram and things like that. So it was
just too early, yeah, and I was really thankful. I
think if they let me do both, I would still
be there, and Colouring Courtney would not be what it was.
So I'm so glad that it pushed me to make
(20:31):
a choice about what I wanted and maybe realize.
Speaker 3 (20:33):
What could it be.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I want to tap into that business part of your
brain for a second, because every entrepreneur that I interview
talks about the very high highs and the very low
lows and Honestly, you can experience both in one day.
You create content, you do brand deals, you have your
own products, which people don't realize is just such a
huge undertaking. Is there a lesson that you've learned that
(20:57):
you'd really like to save other people from.
Speaker 6 (21:00):
Yeah, worrying means you suffer twice, is like my life mantra,
not just for work, for everything else. And then in
this business, like if it's something that you create, there's
no rules to color me, Courtney. And so you get
into this thing where, especially when it's just you, where
you create your own really rigid set of rules, and
(21:21):
it becomes sometimes suffocating. And sometimes when you go left
and do the other thing, you find all new people,
all new experiences. I even feel like that with like
a to do list, I think people get overwhelmed by
to do lists. Put brush your teeth on your to
do list. You woke up, you brush your teeth, crossed,
it off, done, Like what are you?
Speaker 3 (21:39):
You did it?
Speaker 5 (21:40):
There's no rules. You can make it up and kind
of build yourself up because of that.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
That's funny, Courtney. All Right, when we come back from
the break, we're getting into color theory and our own
color stories. Courtney is going to read me all right,
stick with us.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
So we have to talk about color theory today. I'm
wearing coral, I did it on purpose, and Simone is
in purple.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Can you explain to us what color theory is.
Speaker 6 (22:13):
Yeah, So just color theory in general is kind of
like the idea that different colors have different effects, have
different alterations on our mood. Maybe like as I say this,
as I'm literally designing a red bedroom, but most people
would say that you wouldn't design a red bedroom because
it's like a very fiery color, and usually you want
your bedroom to be like more of like a blue
(22:36):
or green, like something more calming and centering. So just
kind of the theory that color can affect our mood
and like personality traits. And then also I think that
sometimes a color we like to wear or our favorite
color might say something about us or be something that
we're trying to say to the world.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
So there are a couple of trends that have taken
over the design world and the content world recently, like
the clean girl aesthetic, which is very minimal, not very
color forward, and also blanding. So blanding is this idea
that companies are reaching for neutrals, for really modern, minimalistic
(23:16):
silhouettes and design in order to brand companies. Because that's
just kind of like the way that everything has shifted
in terms of our aesthetics as a society. What do
these trends say about us?
Speaker 6 (23:29):
First of all, I love that for them, but that
is definitely not my journey. And this is not my
first time seeing this. When I was kind of building
color m Courtney, Like if you think back to like
twenty twelve to twenty fifteen Instagram, like marble backdrops, everything
was super minimalistic.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
It was like a coffee shot with like your journal and.
Speaker 6 (23:47):
Like that was it? Like that was the photo? Yes,
a million likes, you know. So I've always gone the
opposite direction. I think coming out of the pandemic, people
were reaching for color a little bit more, but I.
Speaker 5 (23:59):
Think now we're just raining it back in.
Speaker 6 (24:01):
It's always going to be like this, Like there will
be times when people lean into color and times when
people are totally afraid of it. I think there's a
way to do both. There's a way to do color
and have it be clean. There's a way to do
color and have it be maximalist and over the top,
and there's a way to do bland and even have
it be maximalist if you want it to.
Speaker 5 (24:19):
I maybe wouldn't call it bland, but like more neutral
colors in that case.
Speaker 6 (24:23):
So I think it's just this desire to like streamline
things make it cleaner because we just are so bombarded
with ads and content and things constantly, and our attention
splans are low. It probably feels really calming sometimes for
people to just have like nothing going on.
Speaker 5 (24:39):
So maybe that's why.
Speaker 6 (24:40):
The blanding thing comes in, and as you're trying to
appeal to more customers like it's definitely a safer approach.
Speaker 1 (24:46):
I love that term. I didn't know it existed.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
This is another term that I learned because of you, Courtney,
which is color story. We all have a color story,
and so I want to know about the bright Side's
color story. We have a gradient that is yellow, orange, pink,
and then purple, and we even have a little like
orange red in our logo as well. What's the bright
(25:10):
Side's color story.
Speaker 6 (25:11):
The way that I see your podcast is it's just
like the right way to start off your day and
you can listen to it at any time. But to me,
it's just like such like a nice bright moment, a
way to like put you on the right foot in
the morning.
Speaker 5 (25:22):
And so I love that yours.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Kind of looks like almost like a sunrise, or even
like a sunset.
Speaker 5 (25:27):
A sunset kind.
Speaker 6 (25:28):
Of serves as like a reset, a reframe, kind of
like getting back into like the right mood. And so
I think that's kind of a perfect thing for you, guys.
One of the colors that I find interesting that's in
your logo that if I had to guess what your
logo was before knowing it, I probably would have guessed
it was yellow and orange or yellow and pink. I
probably wouldn't have guessed purple, because purple is such a
(25:52):
transformative color. There's so many different sides of it depending
on the shade, Like lilac and violet are night and day,
they mean totally different things. I've also found that purple
people are some of the most passionate people. They love
their color, and so I think those are things that
kind of apply to the bright side too, like that
(26:12):
kind of confidence and that boldness and that unapologeticness.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
So I love that we see that in your logo.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
I'm wearing purple right now, I'm gonna admit I'm not
like a hardcore purple person, but I do love it
and I appreciate her because she's just so unique.
Speaker 6 (26:28):
I think of you just knowing your personality, though I
think of you read me. I think of you as
like a warm tone, girly, so like someone who loves
like maybe.
Speaker 5 (26:38):
Like pinks or something.
Speaker 6 (26:39):
I think because I spent so much time with you
when we were both matching wearing yellow at when we met,
and so I think that makes me a little bit biased.
Sometimes your first impression of what someone's wearing sticks with them.
Speaker 5 (26:52):
But also I think.
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Your personality backed that up. That you have such like
a warm and wonderful personality and we like instantly kind
that I was like, oh, I'm just gonna think of
her as like yellow, but probably if I read your
specific personality, I would think of like more like pinks oranges,
like warm.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
When you meet people, do you automatically put them into
a category like, Okay, they're a blue, they're a pink,
they're a.
Speaker 5 (27:15):
Babe, not too but yeah, a lot, they're.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Okay, Danielle's wearing coral.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, So though I could be kind of a beige,
you're not a beige.
Speaker 6 (27:28):
No, I think you're probably I know you wear a
lot of black because I just know you online, and
I think a lot of times color people a lot
of times maybe misdirect black as boring. I think it's
stylish and bold, and I think it makes a statement.
I also think of you as blue. But blue is
interesting because sometimes people think it's blue as like really serene,
(27:51):
like easy going, and I think of it more as
like a commanding force, like a wave. So it's something
that like kind of can come at you, not in
an aggressive way, but in like a really powerful way.
But for you, it's like you have this really interesting
power to be a force but something that everyone would
(28:11):
like be interested to see. And I think that's probably
why you're a good journalist, because you can get stuff
out of people and things like that.
Speaker 3 (28:17):
So true, that question so good at that.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
I need your advice, and so does everybody who lives
in New York who also wears all black. But is
there a hack for people like me that are a
little scared to jump into bright colors right away, to
throw on a bright pink dress?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
How can we start small?
Speaker 5 (28:33):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (28:33):
I think the easiest way to start small is lipstick,
which that can be scary for some people, but I
always tell people to just try it, Like try a
colorful lip. It doesn't have to be super colorful, but
then you can still wear all black and you can
kind of have like a red lip.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
I really want to bring back the orange lipstick that
I wore in high school middle school.
Speaker 1 (28:53):
I kind of like an orange red.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
Do you think it's time? Could we bring back the orange? Yeah?
Speaker 6 (28:58):
Especially on your skin tone, a red orange lip perfect you.
So another tip is to just kind of try it,
like maybe low Steaks, go to a coffee shop, go
to somewhere where you don't know anyone, try the pink
dress and just see if you feel different. And you
might wear pink and be like, I don't like it,
Pink's not for me. And then you might wear orange
(29:19):
and be like, oh, I feel better today, I feel
more confident. Just kind of try it and like the
same environment over and over. If you can in something
low Steaks and see how you feel and also how
people respond. Well.
Speaker 3 (29:30):
I hope my mom listen to this episode because she,
for the longest time, has worn a lot of black,
but I think she secretly wants to branch out and
be more colorful. But I think I think also as
you age, as women age, it becomes a confidence thing.
And like, am I allowed to wear something loud? Am
I allowed to take up space?
Speaker 5 (29:48):
Yes? First of all, yes, you're allowed to be seen.
You're allowed to take up space always.
Speaker 6 (29:53):
If let me ask you this, if you got your
mom something which you maybe be more likely to wear
it because it means something coming.
Speaker 3 (29:59):
Fro turn in the stuff I get her, I think
some people.
Speaker 6 (30:03):
Are yes or no, because I tried another way to
kind of introduce or dip your toe into color would
be either you guys could like go get your nails
done and she could do like kind of push her
to do a more color color on her nails or
even her toes. And then number two would be like
buying a colorful accessory. So like mother stays coming up,
Like if if you have a mom who really does
(30:23):
love the gifts that you give her, maybe giving them
like a red bag or a coral bag.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Or something like that a great idea.
Speaker 6 (30:31):
Yeah, my mom exclusively wears black, but I bought her
a red handbag.
Speaker 5 (30:35):
She wears a red handbag.
Speaker 3 (30:35):
It's a great idea, Courtney. It was so much fun
having you here. I learned so much about color and
the meaning behind it.
Speaker 5 (30:42):
Oh good, I'm glad.
Speaker 1 (30:43):
Thanks for brightening our lives.
Speaker 6 (30:44):
Courtney happy too is likewise, thank you guys for brightening
our days every day.
Speaker 5 (30:49):
That's so nice.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
Courtney Quinn is a designer, content creator, and the founder
of the media company color Me Courtney. You can follow
her on Instagram and TikTok at color me Courtney. Courtney
inspires me so much, Danielle, because you look at her story,
what she's accomplished. She's truly a self made woman.
Speaker 2 (31:10):
She did it, I mean she told us how she
did it too. My favorite line in our whole conversation was,
if you're not invited to the party, throw your own.
Speaker 1 (31:18):
There's so much there.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
We got to throw our own party, exactly, find your
own way in.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
If you don't have a seat at the table, just
build your own table.
Speaker 2 (31:27):
So many puns, let's see how many we can talk about.
I will tell you this though. There is a book
called The Third Door by Alex Benaian, and the entire
book is about if you can't get in the front door,
and you can't get in the side door, find the
third door. And it's the same thing as throwing your
own party. There is such a power in that totally.
Speaker 3 (31:46):
Can I borrow that book? By the way, yes, thank you.
On Monday, we are talking about the gender gap in
athletics with author and journalist Christine You. Christine shares how
his parents, teachers and friends we can help keep young
girls in sports.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
The bright Side is a production of Hello Sunshine and
iHeart Podcasts and is executive produced by Reese Witherspoon.
Speaker 3 (32:06):
Production by Arcana Audio. Courtney Gilbert is our associate producer.
Our producers are Stephanie Brown and Jessica Wank. Our engineer
is PJ. Shahamat, and our senior producer is itsy Qinthenia Our.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
Conna's executive producers are Francis Harlowe and Abby Ruzika. Arcana's
head of production is Matt Schultz.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
Natalie Tulluck and Maureen Polo are the executive producers for
Hello Sunshine.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Julia Weaver is the supervising producer, and Ali Perry is
the executive producer for iHeart Podcasts. This week's episodes were
recorded by Graham Gibson.
Speaker 3 (32:39):
Our theme song is by Anna Stump and Hamilton lighthauser.
Speaker 2 (32:43):
Special thanks to Connell Byrne and Will Pearson.
Speaker 3 (32:46):
That's it for today's show. I'm Simone Boyce. You can
find me at Simone Voice on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 2 (32:51):
I'm Danielle Robe on Instagram and TikTok.
Speaker 1 (32:54):
That's ro b A y See you Monday, fam, See
you later.
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