August 1, 2023 • 45 mins
Michelle and Denise are pivoting! Denise Boutte shares her thoughts on the SAG-AFTRA strike and how she’s coping with it. She also discusses how she changed gears to maintain a purpose while she stands in solidarity with the union. CHECK IN to this episode if you need some inspiration to follow your gut!
To purchase Denise’s seasonings and recipes, visit: https://www.weezianagirl.com/
Follow Denise on Instagram: @denise_boutte
Make sure you’re following Michelle on social media!
Instagram: @MichelleWilliams
Twitter: @RealMichelleW
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Checking in with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Hey, everybody, there are just
some folks that I just can't wait to talk to,
(00:22):
especially when you see folks on your screen all the time,
such a light, just beautiful, and they just seem like
so much fun. So today I'm excited to talk to
Denise Boute. She has pivoted, she's got her own seasonings
(00:43):
and cook book, but yet she is still amazing on screen.
We can't talk too much about specific acting work because
we are on a strike. We are on strike, and
that being said, I want to thank everybody for your
love and your so port and patients as the actors
(01:04):
navigate through the strike. But listen, Denise Boute, you know,
has been on every network that you can probably imagine,
on our favorite shows like Meet the Browns and Family Business,
and she's just awesome. Y'all. Just stay tuned. We're gonna
have a good time. Let's get going, okay, y'all. It
(01:28):
is a joy and honor to have who I know
to be an amazing heart and amazing so Louisiana Bread.
You know, she's been on so many of our favorite
shows like Meet the Browns and family Business, and she
starred in a lot of our favorite movies on BT, Hallmark,
(01:51):
TV one and the Big Screen. Come on, come on,
so y'all, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
The skin is popping, the hair is always hairing, the
brows are always full in lush, and she is checking.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
In with the y'all, her pray LANs getting to them.
We're gonna talk about that, Denise Boute, welcome you down.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I'm just trying to keep up with you, girl, trying
to be back here.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Listen, we are in the middle of a strike, a
sack sack after a strike which we both are members of.
It is a blessing to be in, uh a union.
There's some great things about it, but we are noticing,
(02:36):
you know, some issues going on, and uh the actors
have decided to be in support of what was originally
the writer's strike. And then the actors.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Was like, now wait a minute, some of these shows,
that's all right.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Now we are being affected. Some aren't seeing certain residuals
and the shares that are actually well deserved. And so Denise,
we're gonna talk about that. How you're holding up, how
you doing well?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Here's the deal.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's hard to get the right information right now because
you're seeing what the studios are saying, you're seeing what
the you know, the the Union is saying, and it's
kind of hard, I guess you would say, to decipher.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
What's really going on.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So we kind of have to read between the lines,
but at the same time try to stay positive and
figure that.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
They've got it under control.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But the only thing is, here's what I will say,
we got a David in Goalia situation going on, right, Yes,
we had a David in Galaia situation going on. And
I was trying to explain it to my mom yesterday,
and basically, if you don't keep ahead of technology, it's
going to golf.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I mean, that's all there is to it. So there
have been rumblings, you know, over the years or whatever
about this whole.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Thing, and you know, this whole AI situation. And the
point is, I feel we didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Properly stay in front of the technology because it was coming.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It was bound to happen. And I was explained it
to my mom yesterday. I was trying to simplify it.
Mom's almost eighty years old.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So she's like, man, what's going on? I said, well, mom,
let's go ahead and break it down in the terms.
You understand, my dad was an appliance repairman. Okay, he
would go in there and he would fix those boats
and he would do all this stuff. Right. Well, then
technology advanced. Then here come the young guys with a
little box, you know, and they would they did diagnose
(04:27):
things with a microchip. And my dad was like seventy
something years old and he's like, I can't learn this,
Like I don't know what's going on, you know, and
he wasn't able to keep up with the technology. That's
how it works. It evolves sooner or later.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Unfortunately, certain things disappear because it's no longer needed.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Certain things become obsolete. So that's what we're kind of
dealing with right now. You know, if you don't evolve
with that changing.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Technology and you don't get ahead of it and starting
negotiating early, you're gonna get left behind.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Oh you said, negotiate early. But those are tips tools
and resources that maybe. Okay, So we've got actors, writers, producers, extra.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yes, we got a whole gamut of people that are
trying to get a piece of this pie and negotiate.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
And it's broad.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But when you say negotiate, I think that's the first
time I've heard this word in the midst of all
of this, because some people maybe you got the audition
and you were so glad to get the audition that
maybe you felt like you couldn't negotiate because this is
your first time, maybe just maybe a third time, but
you don't know the power that you have. And it's
(05:48):
not that you're negotiating to be a diva. You're negotiating
for protection.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And it's all said, it's always two fould And here's
something I always keep in mind. There's a backup.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No matter how important you are, no matter how bad
they want you, there's a backup. So you have to
always balance or whatever what's your worth? You know what
I'm saying, And what is it that you are willing
to risk to potentially not be a part of this.
Because I'll be honest with you, girl, there are times
that I've negotiated.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And you know, it felt my worth and girl, and
I see that movie a few months later, I'm like, gosh,
you know, like it would have been you know what
I'm saying, something great and grand that I didn't have
that perspective on at the time, and sometimes you really
just looking at the numbers. You're really trying to again
own your power, no, your worth, do these things or whatever,
(06:39):
and sometimes they MiG in the butt. So that's what's so,
it's a typewrote.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We're on a type rope right now, and we have
to know what to give in order to get.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
But again, who is in this game is very broad.
It's very broad. You know what it is that's going on.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I mean, SAG's got a whole lot of different you
know type actors and entertainers or whatever you take care
of right now. And it's like I said, David and
Goliath right now, girl, we're trying to play catch up.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It is a lot going on. Denise, tell us, how
did you get in this place? And how did you
get here in the first place. How did you get
to a place where from the time you were a
little girl, teen woman, amazing actress. I guess what I'm
trying to say, you were in a strike. But how
did it start for you before any of this?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
How much time you got, Carol?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I don't I try to be light on people's time,
but we're open, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I mean, you know, this is the part that a
lot of folks in a group on a farm.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You know, I don't love it. Yeah, I mean, I
grew up on a farm, so I'm a.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Very simple girl. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
My chores were you know sometimes I hate to use
the term, but slapping the hogs eating if I could
carry the bag of feed, girl, you know, responsible for
doing that. I was picking the eggs. I was feeding
the chickens every day. I had chores. My grandparents. It
was their farm and our house was like right next
to it. Our main crop with sugarcane. So we were
(08:13):
very much So that's a nothing one girl. When Queen
Sugar came out, I was like, Okay, in fact, hen
me tell you something true story.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Don't tell me you were up for it for the
role or something. Girl.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
No, I didn't even make it that far. So I
made my proleins and got into Ava's office.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I did.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I got it because at the time I think she
was a publicist.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think she was a publicist, right, Okay, so she
had an office right not far from venture, right, So
your girl did some investigative work. I knew I couldn't
get into Oprah's office. I knew I couldn't get into
Harboe right.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So I was just like, you know what, I'm going
to make a plea and I know this thing is coming.
I'd heard rumblings of this thing. I'm like, I'm Queen Sugar,
like I have the real Queen Sugar. So girl, needless
to say, I did get into her office. Your course
was not there. I gave it to her secretary and
never heard of work. But I tried. I tried, girl.
I gave it a valiant effort because I was just like,
(09:15):
I know I'm gonna be on that show.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But I tell you this, we don't know what's down
the pipeline. No, seriously, we can laugh at that, but like, okay,
but you were putting your faith to work.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Girl.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
I'm gang.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I mean, I'm gonna say I'm ganged to like that.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
If I see a role or if I hear it
in the breakdowns and my manager says something's coming down
the pipe, I'm going after it. I don't know if
you can get some flowers. I don't know if you're
gonna get some gown caddy. I don't know what you're
gonna get. You might get a bottle of spices. You're
gonna get something, trying to figure out how did I
get your prey les? Why do I feel like were
we all gonna were a gift bag a show?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Orcn the real baby? You were? It was the real
I knew.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I was like we were, Yes, you were on you
were hosting on the Wheel.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And I came out, girl, that was my introduction. I
came out with a whole platter up for colon candy
and Lannie had already had them before, so Lonnie knew
what was up. But yeah, so that's that was it.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Girl.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That's the down home girl in me that I've never
you know, left, That's just who I am.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And so with regards to so I'll get back on track.
With regards to the whole acting thing, this was not
in my mirror, Like, this was not even something I
fathomed at all. I wasn't a little girl like, oh
my god, I see this person and I want to
be Rudy Huxtable. That was never something that I aspire
to do. And so I was saying a practical things. Girl.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I was trying to get off the farm, like I
was trying to get up off the part. Okay, I
didn't know how I was going to do it, but
that's what I was gonna do. Yeah, So basically I
was like an overachiever, I guess you would say in
high school because I knew.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
To need a scholarship. You know, I knew my family couldn't,
you know, afford to do that, and so I knew
I needed a scholarship. So graduated top of my class
and got a scholarship to LSU. And originally I was
in pre met girl. I knew I wasn't gonna be
a doctor. I read that, But why did you not
feel like you were going to be a doctor?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You just felt it in your soul or something. Again,
I was.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Trying to get off the farm, and in my mind
I wasn't exposed.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
To too much.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I wasn't exposed to too many options.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But in my mind, anytime a parent talked about their
kid and they were with.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Pride and they were just like, oh my kid did
something great. They were a doctor, a lawyer, got it,
they were doctor or lawyer.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You felt that being on the farm wasn't as talk worthy.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
No, no, And so I knew, oh no, I was
not saying on the farm that was not even a question. Okay,
that was that was not an option, okay, but I
picked one. I was like, okay, lawyer, you got to
read a little too much. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And I was just like, you know what, let me
go ahead and do this doctor thing. Because there's so
many different types. You know, there's bound to be something,
you know, dermatology something.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, you don't understand that dermatology takes several years also,
not to diminish what they have to do. And so
I was like one of my girls in the dormitory,
she was mass communication and I was like, shoot, I
could talk. I was like, you can get a degree
by talking. I was like, that's what I'm talking about
right there. Okay, So I was.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You're money.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I went and I went into her class or whatever
checked it. I was like, that's my major, that's my major.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So then I started interning out a news station WRZ
Channel two news.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You better come on.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
No, girl couldn't read the teleprompter too good.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So I I'm upset. Now what it's hard, Michelle?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Have you read it?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I love teleprompters.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
No no no, no, no no no no. When you
are reading this on the daily five o'clock news and
this thing is scrolling or whatever, you've got to like,
it's hard to get your pacing down. And I remember
Sylvia Weatherspoon would come with me sometimes after work, and
Sylvia would work with me sometimes on weekend.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I just couldn't get the hang of it, got it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
It was just a yeah, it was just a thing.
But maybe now, you know, I've got glasses and stuff
like that, I've got more practice, so maybe I could
I don't know, I don't know, Michelle, So maybe I
can actually do that later in life. But then the
whole advertising thing came up so fast forward.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I was at five different agencies or whatever, and I
was climbing the ranks doing some pretty awesome stuff. And
one of the agencies I worked at or whatever wasn't
actually an agency, but it was Fossil that makes up
purses and watches and all that.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, they were launching their clothing line. And in order
to you know, keep cause down or whatever, Carford.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
America, keep those casts down, they got a few of
us around the around the business, I mean, to the
corporation to model the clothing.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
They were launching a clothing line. So some of those
went in a few of the local stores, and one
of the local agencies actually reached out to them and
found two of us and had a conversation and wanted
to have a meeting, and lo and behold, I signed.
And it got to the point where my boss was like, hey,
(14:35):
you're missing a little too much work. I don't know
what you're doing, but you need to make a decision.
Here I am six months married.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I go to my newly wet husband and I'm like,
I want to try this.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I want to see how he's like. Go. He was
like yeah, and I'm not.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I mean, honestly, I'm not exaggerating. There was no hesitation
in his voice. There was no hesitation in his voice.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Did he ever tell you why was that he was
so sure to say yes, honey gull because I put a.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Time frame on it and basically said, hey, look if
things don't happen in a year or two, which I
don't know. You know, if I'd gotten to that point,
I probably would have been like, let's give it another
couple of months.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Let's give it, you know, because it's hard, you know,
when you've made you know, some advances to say I'm done,
it's over.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So that and he'd seen the stuff that happened, and
he'd seen over the years.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
You know, I guess you would say.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And again I feel kind of, you know, weird saying this,
but how people would respond, you know, to me during
certain things.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And it's just like there's something to this.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
He was like, I don't know what it is, but
this thing is not just halphazardly happened, you know. There
there's he's orchestrating this, you know, And so it doesn't
hurt to try.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So were you in the arts in school in the
when when I was.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
In elementary school. You know what I'm saying, No, my
music to.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Me, Okay, formal training.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Played bird, I played Big Bird. I did I'm forgetting,
I'm forgetting. There was okay, there was two. Let me
break it down. There were actually two. Let's break it down.
This was not my first time. So we had Clovy's
Crawfish on the Bayou. I'm this, Michelle, I'm lowly.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I'm trying to be really nice and civil and stay
focused in at interview style.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
But it's the Big Bird for me. This is what
I do, Michelle. Though this is the unexpected part of Denise.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You never know.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
When you asked, I will tell Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
So, so formal training, like you didn't go to school.
You went because I'm trying to find the details. So
you went from Far.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
To Fossil, Yeah, foreign to LSU to Fossil and again
got an agent haphazardly like it just like I said,
divinely orcert there is no rhyme or reason, makes no
sense whatsoever. And then I was taking my first set
of headshots okay, and this.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Woman named sus Lanier took my headshot and she was like,
I think you have something. She was like, I don't
know what it is, but something tells me. She had
been in the industry herself for years. Something tells me
you have something.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Was She was like, if you can come to Los Angeles,
I'll introduce you to my partner, Jasper Cole, and I
want him to meet you.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
You were just starting this agency, and I really think
you have something. Okay, So I call up my girl
from LSU.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Her name is Victoria, and I called Victoria was like, look,
can I sleep on your couch? Can I sleep on
your couch or whatever for a moment and I want
to meet these folks or whatever, and just kind of
see I'd never been to Los Angeles, never been to
Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And she was like, yeah, sure, come out and I
met her and Jasper until this day, Jasper is my manager.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I love this story, Denise. As the kids say today,
it takes a lot of audacity, Yeah, to just go
and you are right being divinely orchestrated and guided. And
(18:17):
the fact that you are still here it could only
have been God purposed for you to be in this industry.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
There's no reasoning that, like, there's no reasoning behind how
this all came about, you know what I'm saying. And
again I gave myself that that you know, it was
two years or whatever, and within a year and.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
A half here comes Styler Berry. I had no training, Michelle,
I had no training whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
But again, Tyler's the way that my you know, manager
was she saw something, He saw something.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You know, So when you would get in the camera,
say with no training and say that or other actors
who you know maybe went to Juliat or had the
formal trainee, you weren't like are they can they tell
I haven't had any training or you or.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
There wasn't insecurity. Absolutely when it started.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Let me tell you something, when I got on Brown's,
I finally, when when I got the offer i'd done.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You know, I was a vampire. I was a vampire
and I was a zombie. Yeah that was great.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
So that's how I could started out, you know, the
first black girl that got killed or whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I wasn't playing the zombie, but the zombia killed me.
You know, my heel, we.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Weren't supposed to die. We're not supposed to die.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah, but I was the first one, you know how
I was the first one to die. A tripped in.
The zombie got me. So anyway, not long after that,
it's when Tyler came along. So yes, there was insecurity,
you know. But Tyler was more so Medea, like I
know him as Medea. So honestly, I didn't even know
he was in my audition. I had no idea he
(19:57):
was in No, ma'am. That's a whole other story. Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
But it was a year and a half after I
got here, and so as soon as I got the job,
I found a comedy teacher and started working with her.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Immediately started. So the first season of Brown's I was
getting my four scripts on Friday, working them out with
her on Saturday, and walking around with a tape recorder
in my ears or whatever on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Okay, and let me tell you something. Logan Browning and
I were the only newbies. Lama was not a newbie.
Dave and Tam were not newbies. Okay, they knew what
they were doing. So literally, Logan and I would take
our lunches and be like, okay, you know, so we
were nervous.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I remember before anyone would yell.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Action, my heart, my heart was beating out of my chest. Girl,
it was literally beating out of my chest. But you know,
once we started and action started, it just it was
a bike, you know, you get on that bike. By
season two it was kind of like it was, you know,
because comedy.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Is it's a rhythm. It's a rhythm. You learn that
rhythm and beat. But comedy is harder than drama.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
For me, comedy is harder than drama because again it's
a rhythm, you.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Know, the rhythm and choreography. That's what comedy is.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, So when you're doing that, you got to catch
whatever is given to you. And David a lot of
times was if he was improper, So girl, you had
to pick up what he was putting down.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, following and follow and flow and uh, lots of
times I could sit and watch, you'd be like, is
that improv or is that scriptive? But you like, I
think to me, the length at which a scene could
go on, I'm like, that's improv. But it's still amazing.
It's still amazing. You're right, everybody got to be on
(21:44):
their toes.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yes, you know, you can't be like, uh no, no,
you literally have to come up with something or whatever,
because I mean, Tyler, you get like two takes and
this on like he's got several cameras. You miss your spot,
you missed your dialogue. I mean, you're that's you know
on you You got to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I am so encouraged by your story because I'm sure
there could be someone listening who's probably feeling like they have. Well,
me and you have similar stories about going to college
feeling like I've got to do this so that I
could do this. You know, it was about the four
oh one K, the benefits, the nice salary. You know,
it's all about that, and then both of us coming
(22:22):
into an industry kind of with no. I had church
and I wasn't creative and performing arts in junior high
and high school, but they would never pick me to
be in the plays, and I would audition and would
audition and they would never pick me. And I literally
still look back today like, Wow, I've done movies, I've
(22:44):
done television, I've done Broadway, and so now we want
to encourage you. If you're in training, still go. But
if you find.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yourself knowing that you don't quite can't articulate it, but
you know, oh you might.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
It seems like you're being guided in another direction.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Lead It is your intuition, it is in you. If
you listen to that little voice, things don't halfhazardly happen.
I'm a true believer. And if we listen to what
is going on around us, he's talking to us.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I'm not saying audibly, I'm not saying that, but you
have to pay attention.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
To the people around you and the little coincidences that
are happy. I don't believe in coincidence. Again, I said,
divinely orchestrate. That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It is it is.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I don't even I don't even question it. In hide sight,
I'm just like, oh, that's what you're trying to do.
But in the moment or whatever, I just try to
listen and not fight it. And I'm a very practical person.
I'm a type A. If I show you my scripts,
it is the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen in
the world. Okay, but the beauty of it is you
have to have faith because once you get on that set,
(23:57):
the whole point is to free fo you, free for you,
let all you do, all that preparation, all that studying.
But when you get that's for me type A, I
get to just free fall. That's the one time I
don't have to be in control. Because if you're trying
to control yourself, you know that you give a robotic performance,
(24:17):
you know good, you can't do that. And so for me,
my training came from vulnerability, you know, over time, letting
my guard down and listening, just being interacting with that
other human.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
When once you got the technicalities of the dialogue down,
you're having a conversation with another person.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And I mean because when we're talking, it's I could
it's almost as if you're on TV, but you're being you.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
And you have to know the more in tune you
are to you, the more you can let your guard,
the most more authentic you can be and respond to
that other person.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
That's your performance.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, it's women like you and Alfree Woodard where it's
like you're literally feeling like I'm just watching y'all just
talk like it's not oh she oh, she wrote down
on her script. Make sure to hunch my shoulder and
have like you know what I mean. Now, Okay, Michelle, you.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Said Alfree Woodard. That is the biggest compliment you can
give me. You said me Alfree Woodard and my name
in the same sentence. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's one
of the most amazing compliments I've ever received in my career.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
It's the down to earth'sness of the And I'm not
saying that there weren't some roles where you had to
be more dramatic or maybe play less than maybe what
your type a personality is. I get that, but it
still comes across natural and now we know why. And
I'm gonna thank the farm for it.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Hey. Hey, like I said, authentically, I wanted to get out.
I just need to.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Get out for I'm gonna think that being Louisiana. One
more question about the side of producing the importance of
what how you feel like? Is it important for you
now producing your own projects?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Because what am I doing in this downtime I have
to channel my creative energies into something. See that's the
whole thing, you know, with all this whole strike situation.
And now we'll go to you talking about mental health.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
You have to have somewhere to pour your energy into
so you're not waking up every day saying, I hope
this stripe ends. What am I gonna do? We're not
gonna work again.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
You have to take whatever anxiety you have and transform
that energy into something you can pour into another passion.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Where am I pouring it into projects? Baby, I'm writing
my managers already. We're dusting off projects. We have new relationships.
We have new relationship ships that we built for people
that got some money. So let's go ahead and go
into pre production on some of these items because we
(27:15):
have time.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And that my DearS, y'all are listening. That is what
longevity gets you. That's what keeping trying to be a
good integrity in this business. So like you said, you know,
you can dust off a project like you said and
go back to the people. You probably couldn't do this
your first or second year in the game. Now you've
got some equity.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I didn't know those people, See, I didn't know those
people to make it happen. But in developing and nurturing
relationships and knowing who's got my back and knowing that
people who are authentic.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You know what I'm saying. We want to work together again.
I would love to do a project.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Who's getting a call? Hey, I know you can find it.
I know where I can do an independent project when
we gonna make it happen. Okay, and guess what those
gears are already in motion. Come on here, here's what
I did, girl. I got back to that pot. Girl,
I started to start.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I've been talking. Listen, listen, I'm like, we're talking about
pivoting and other passions. The food.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
The food growing up on that farm, my mom go
stir my pot. Now, mind you let me break it down.
We ate rice and gravy and pork and beans almost
every night, like it was always the only thing that
changed was the meat.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Like we were.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
It was as if beans were vegetable. We never eat
broccoli or asparagus or anything. We had beans.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
We had corn. We had corn, well corners, a.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Lot of seafood and green oh.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Honey, that was on the weekend. See weekend. Yeah, Now,
seafood was a tree. Okay, when the script man came
with his truck with his ice in his tailgate, with
a shrip that he just got. Yes, that's how I
went out. That was a treat. So on the weekends,
oh yes, and the family every weekend got together on
Sundays at Mama's mamma's house. Mama is a grandmother, Capa's
(29:10):
a granddaddy. Okay, so yeah, so the whole family got together.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
We went and had that we would all leave with
you know, whatever foods or whatever that were packed. If
we had a oh, I'm taking it to Abushiti, which
is when you do the cab for the the pig
and you go home with you meet. Okay, okay, okay,
that's a whole other that we're gonna have to have
a whole of the show about that situation. But that's
what I did and saw. I was familiar with it,
(29:35):
but I wasn't in love with it. I didn't care
about cooking until I went to Dallas, Texas, and I
was in advertising.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Because out of practical purposes, when you're just starting out,
you don't have any money for takeout, you don't have
any money for all these things or whatever.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So I basically would call my mom on Saturdays and
she would, you know, I would ask, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Mom, how do you do this? And how do you
do that?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
The first time I made a gumboat, you know what
she said, I wanted to know how dark the rook
had to be because there was no ruin or jar.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Now you're just buying a jar, girl, and keep it moving.
Wait a minute, yeah, you just go ahead and get
your jar, girl, and you put that in the pot
or whatever. Put it from you, though, it will be.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Okay because we can only get it from like you
or Miss Tina knowles her gumbo's amazing, so you yeah, okay, okay, So.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Me and Miss Tina are gonna have to talk. So yeah,
I don't know if Miss Tina got time to put
it in the jar, but I do so well, thank you, Michelle,
because honestly, that was not a part of my trajectory
trajectory with me. You from Louis, you know, so when
you say now you can just get in the jar,
wait wait wait wait wait wait, no, you from you
know what it's supposed to look like, taste like, the
texture that is supposed to be To credit Michelle, I
(30:47):
will say inspired by.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
No, but just I just just just let's do something
where we can do together.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
I love it. Okay, I'll take it, receive it.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
We'll do something one where I get to be I
want to sample all the products.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
You want to sample all the products. Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
So right now we just have spices, but we are
expanding those going pralins that you taste it.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
It's a hell of a process in developing because they
have to be authentic.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I'm not gonna put something or whatever on the market
that is not true to my mama's recipe.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
That's my mama's recipe. Okay, but I'm the only one
that can recreate it.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Usually get a big old kitchen. Just get you a
big old kitchen.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Make some prailings.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
I'll come out and help you stamp them.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
And part of it, Michelle, here's the bad part. It
takes so long to real sugar and caramel. It's a
long process.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And that's sugar butter. Okay, let me sugar butter caramel.
Is there coconut? Is there anything coconut in pralins?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I'm not from Louis.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I'm from Illinois. Okay, so butter caramel, brown sugar. Am
I right? What do I be tasting?
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I can't tell you my recipe of miso, okay, but
but I will say, if you want to add coconut,
you can, or you can add coconut flavoring.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I feel like I've tasted now in you. I feel
like I've tasted them.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
It's possible because there's different versions of it. Everybody makes
their own version of it. So no, you are absolutely crey.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
So here's the funny part. I'm gonna tell you how
my mom taught me how to make a room. She said, well, baby,
she's like, if you want to make a light room,
she was like, you're gonna go to the inside your arm.
You're gonna go to the inside. I'm just like, mom,
it's like summertime. So I don't know, I got that, okay.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And she was like, if you want to make a
roof of gumbo, you want to make a dark room.
She was like, so put your arm on the side
of the pot.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And when that roop gets that color, she was like,
make sure your waters. It's gonna turn real quick. The
color's gonna turn, so you make sure you got your water.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
And she was like, that's when you dump your water
when you've got that root, this color, dump your water,
and that's your roof.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
For your gumbert Here for essence Fest twenty twenty five,
because you're gonna eat twenty twenty four to really, you know,
I'm gonna say, let's do it. Maybe me, maybe we
can do fast twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I got a year, Okay?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Is that pressure? Is that pressure?
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Honey? No, listen, I have time. I have nothing but
time right now. Really, you were saying, we said pivot. Okay,
well let's your girls go on pivot. And I wanted
to do I have a I have a cookbook. I
have a cookbook out here with Chef Gennard's. But I'm
gonna go ahead and venture out. He did one of
his own. Okay, I'm going to do one of my own.
(33:36):
That's still my boy, right, But we were both talking
about another concept, and so I'm also working on my
cookbook because I've been pulling recipes. I didn't have time
to do it.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
And the spices are called Weisiana Girl Weisiana Girls spices.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
So as you can see, I got the purple, the gold,
and the green. Imagine the color coordination, right and real cute.
She's so cute. You hold a gumbo with a nice y'all.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Weezyana girl, w e e z I A n A
girl dot com is where you can read your Teleprompter's
where you can get these amazing spices. You have been
an absolute joy. I know this is who you are.
(34:26):
But do you feel the pressure to always stay lit up?
And or do you have moments of anxiety or nervous
like say with the strike, was there nervous?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Is?
Speaker 1 (34:35):
How are you taking care of your mental health? Hell?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, I'm nervous. Oh yeah, I mean I wouldn't sit
down here and tell you I'm not, Like when am
I gonna work again? You know, because again you're getting
so much information, and law of that could be misinformation.
I don't know. So I pick and.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Choose how much I actually digest today, because again there's
a lot of negative energy out there, so I don't
I don't expose myself to too much of it.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Right, But like I.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Said, and I'm channeling that instead of staying in a
place of anxiety and nervousness, I'm going and taking what
I can't control.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
I can't control that.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I mean, yeah, you can go on the picky line
or whatever, marching and stuff. But I honestly I can't
control that. What I can control is how I use
my time, how it is that what I pour myself
into in the meantime.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
And figuring out all these things that, Thank you Jesus,
I was blessed with all these products.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I've never worked more than a half this year, and
that's part of the reason why I'm like, dang it,
because I'm here and I can't use my platform or
whatever in order to get that information. There's nothing that
hurts me more because I've worked with some of the
best people, with some of the best productions, with some
on some of the projects that mean so much to me,
(35:50):
telling stories that these people need to hear. We need
to hear, like women need to hear.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
But I got a gag arter, dude, Like I can
say nothing. That's pretty much the equivalent of what it is.
I've worked for a major corporation that I've been wanting
to work with for years. I did it. I can't
say nothing, Michelle, I can't see.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Put it in the chat. I won't say nothing. I'm
just playing.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
No, I'm just saying I'm so sorry, Yes, yes for
me my heart hurts. But what I'm doing is going
back in that kitchen. My baby girls like Mommy, let's
do a TikTok this, that and the other. Okay, we tiktoking.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Okay, and we can't TikTok right, we can take a
tick top, but we tiktogging.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Girl. Weusiana girl going in the five. Look, I got
some cinnamon sugar right here we are. We are putting
Louisiana girl in the pot. I am taking that time.
All those recipes I've modified that, I've.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Pulled all my mom and my mama's recipes that I've
always wanted to recreate.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
This cookbook was we called Southern Inspired because it was
a healthier take on some Southern dishes. Okay, I'm going in.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
When you say healthier take, you mean like lower MSG
no butter, no no.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Oh yeah no MSG period but yeah, lack of butter,
basically finding substitutes for butter, you know, lots of and
and here's what they say.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Wat's that olive oil You shouldn't eat? Olive oil you shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah, it's certain of so many now I don't know,
but they say you got avocado, sesame and other kinds
of oils now, don't I don't know which ones are best.
As far as heating grape seed, grape grape seed, I
knew it was something grape seed. Now, my uncle is
a doctor, he's a medical physician. Let me tell you
what he told me. He said, regular butter is healthier
(37:43):
than all the process margins and stuff. Especially, Maybe go
to a farmer's market or get that good old block
hard butter. That's that good.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
He is absolutely correct. He is absolutely correct. As soon
as you've seen too many ingredients and you see that
preservative in there bbbb, unless it's pure, it's something. Because
of course you're gonna pay for it. That's the sucky part.
Healthy eating costs more. You're gonna pay more, you know,
which is almost like a setup.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
It's like, dude, we don't want to have to get
on medication, we don't want to go to the hospital,
we don't want.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
To do these things. But unfortunately it costs in order
to be healthy, you know. So it's kind of like, yeah,
which kind of game is going on?
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Okay, in order for me to attend to my health
if I don't have the means or whatever to do it.
So that cookbook was about using items everyday, items that
you could as healthy as you possibly could, to substitute
and give you the most authentic flavor that you could
have without sacrificing the taste.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Where can we get the cookbook?
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Oh? The cookbook is on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
It's on Amazon.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Yeah, so if you go to my website, you can
of course get it, but it'll take you right over
to Amazon. Okay, Now, when you modify a recipe, yes,
are you sure it's as good?
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Because people be like sugar free peach cobbler, you know.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Can I be real with you? Can I be real
with you?
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:06):
I know what it's authentically supposed to taste like. Okay,
so it's kind of hard. But maybe you being from Illinois,
maybe your palette is not as discriminated.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
I don't from Illinois, but the folks is from Alabama.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
And Artasaw, so I know, I know. So you know, Okay,
maybe a person that doesn't have other roots that lives
in Illinois don't really know, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (39:36):
So what could I cook today from the cookbook that
could like maybe as a pot of cabbage or green beans,
pot of greens? Is that a modified recipe in there?
And if so, how did you and chef.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Modify? Give me something you could It could be anything.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
What can I cook tonight? Okay? So I have a
we a girl pot pie. But here's the one that
I would say. And again it's because there is no uh,
you don't have the butter. Okay, Louisiana Girl Shrimp Creole
Girl Shrimp Creole year Mars Shrimp Prio.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
So I'm going on an I'm going on Amazon literally
as we speak.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Yeah, being unprofessional. I'm just gonna get.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
And this is my this is my nanny's recipe, my
godmother this okay, So yeah, so nanny know how to
do it.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
So Weuisiana Girls Shrip Priole on page I'm sixteen seventy.
So you can find again step by step, step by
step on how to make these.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
But like I said, you know, so this right here
was us being you know, uh, what do you call it?
Fat conscious, health conscious, all that stuff. I'm gonna have
a block of butter and everything in this NEXTICLK.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Okay, I listen, I am getting this cook book Southern.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Modified, Southern Modified.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Okay, at least I'm a put it right here. I
don't want to be too unprofessional.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, so that's again, that's what I'm pouring my stuff into.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Instead of dwelling on this stuff that I cannot control,
I'm getting back in that kitchen.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I'm getting the harrd cover.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
I'm there's it comes in paperback, but I'm getting the
hardcover because it's gonna make for nice on the kitchen shelf.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
But I'm actually going to use it. Let of y'all
got cookbooks and it's just for decoration, use it, But.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
The real one that I have, I don't know the
paperback girl.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Look now, this is a paperback girl's got stains on it,
because I still have to use. If you've got a
real good cookbook, you got stains, you got some posting
notes up in that bad ball. Yes, I still use
the recipes, okay, but yeah it's real y'all.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Y'all can't see it. But she does have the book
with all the posted notes and every since she actually
uses it. Well, I just got it. It will be
to my house by Friday. I am excited. So y'all
go on Amazon. It is called Southern Modified Southern Inspired
Dishes Modify for Today's Healthier Lifestyle. You can go to
(42:05):
Louisiana Girl dot com and get those spices. And when
this is all said and done, I pray that we will.
I know we will. We just got to get through
this portion of the strike. And it was something about
what the pandemic has done. It's something for what the
strike is done. You know, once we get what we
(42:25):
are asking for, I know the I can imagine what
the industry is going to be. It's going to be
on fire in a good, good, good way. And thank
you for your strength, your boldness and your courage. There's
somebody listening that is saying, I am going to go
for my dreams or when I feel that nudge of
(42:48):
guidance that maybe everybody wanted me to go right, but
I just feel a divine tugging to go to the left.
That's where you go, because that's how we are able
to talk to the amazing seeing Denise Boutet today.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Michelle, thank you so much. You are awesome.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You are awesome. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to
see you in person sometime.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
I can't wait to work with you in person.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
We will work together. There's so much to do. There's
so much to do. As you were talking, my wheels
were spinning. But we can't talk about that right now.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
We on strike, all right.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
We may not be next week, you know, we don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Okay it he's got to figure it out and under control.
But all we can do in the meantime and between
time is channel our energies and our creativities into something or.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yes, yes, thank you, dear heart.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
I'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
All right. I told y'all we were gonna have a
good time. It was kind of like we weren't even recording.
What a joy. And I hope that you are encouraged,
you know. I remember being told Michelle, stick to one thing,
stick to one thing, and I'm so glad I didn't
(44:11):
stick to one thing because time's changing. So you have
to be able to, you know, evolve. You have to
be able to pivot. You've got to be able to
be willing to try new things if you want to.
You don't have to. But it's just a joy. It's
a joy, all right, you guys, Thank y'all so much
for checking in. I love you, and there's I mean,
(44:34):
what you're gonna do about it? Checking In with Michelle
(45:08):
Williams is a production of iHeartRadio and the black effect.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Checking in with Michelle Williams, a production of
iHeartRadio and The Black Effect. Hey, everybody, there are just
some folks that I just can't wait to talk to,
(00:22):
especially when you see folks on your screen all the time,
such a light, just beautiful, and they just seem like
so much fun. So today I'm excited to talk to
Denise Boute. She has pivoted, she's got her own seasonings
(00:43):
and cook book, but yet she is still amazing on screen.
We can't talk too much about specific acting work because
we are on a strike. We are on strike, and
that being said, I want to thank everybody for your
love and your so port and patients as the actors
(01:04):
navigate through the strike. But listen, Denise Boute, you know,
has been on every network that you can probably imagine,
on our favorite shows like Meet the Browns and Family Business,
and she's just awesome. Y'all. Just stay tuned. We're gonna
have a good time. Let's get going, okay, y'all. It
(01:28):
is a joy and honor to have who I know
to be an amazing heart and amazing so Louisiana Bread.
You know, she's been on so many of our favorite
shows like Meet the Browns and family Business, and she
starred in a lot of our favorite movies on BT, Hallmark,
(01:51):
TV one and the Big Screen. Come on, come on,
so y'all, I'm excited.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
The skin is popping, the hair is always hairing, the
brows are always full in lush, and she is checking.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
In with the y'all, her pray LANs getting to them.
We're gonna talk about that, Denise Boute, welcome you down.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
I'm just trying to keep up with you, girl, trying
to be back here.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Listen, we are in the middle of a strike, a
sack sack after a strike which we both are members of.
It is a blessing to be in, uh a union.
There's some great things about it, but we are noticing,
(02:36):
you know, some issues going on, and uh the actors
have decided to be in support of what was originally
the writer's strike. And then the actors.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
Was like, now wait a minute, some of these shows,
that's all right.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
Now we are being affected. Some aren't seeing certain residuals
and the shares that are actually well deserved. And so Denise,
we're gonna talk about that. How you're holding up, how
you doing well?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Here's the deal.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
It's hard to get the right information right now because
you're seeing what the studios are saying, you're seeing what
the you know, the the Union is saying, and it's
kind of hard, I guess you would say, to decipher.
Speaker 3 (03:18):
What's really going on.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
So we kind of have to read between the lines,
but at the same time try to stay positive and
figure that.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
They've got it under control.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
But the only thing is, here's what I will say,
we got a David in Goalia situation going on, right, Yes,
we had a David in Galaia situation going on. And
I was trying to explain it to my mom yesterday,
and basically, if you don't keep ahead of technology, it's
going to golf.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I mean, that's all there is to it. So there
have been rumblings, you know, over the years or whatever
about this whole.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Thing, and you know, this whole AI situation. And the
point is, I feel we didn't.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Properly stay in front of the technology because it was coming.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
It was bound to happen. And I was explained it
to my mom yesterday. I was trying to simplify it.
Mom's almost eighty years old.
Speaker 3 (04:06):
So she's like, man, what's going on? I said, well, mom,
let's go ahead and break it down in the terms.
You understand, my dad was an appliance repairman. Okay, he
would go in there and he would fix those boats
and he would do all this stuff. Right. Well, then
technology advanced. Then here come the young guys with a
little box, you know, and they would they did diagnose
(04:27):
things with a microchip. And my dad was like seventy
something years old and he's like, I can't learn this,
Like I don't know what's going on, you know, and
he wasn't able to keep up with the technology. That's
how it works. It evolves sooner or later.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Unfortunately, certain things disappear because it's no longer needed.
Speaker 3 (04:47):
Certain things become obsolete. So that's what we're kind of
dealing with right now. You know, if you don't evolve
with that changing.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Technology and you don't get ahead of it and starting
negotiating early, you're gonna get left behind.
Speaker 4 (05:01):
Oh you said, negotiate early. But those are tips tools
and resources that maybe. Okay, So we've got actors, writers, producers, extra.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yes, we got a whole gamut of people that are
trying to get a piece of this pie and negotiate.
Speaker 3 (05:23):
And it's broad.
Speaker 1 (05:25):
But when you say negotiate, I think that's the first
time I've heard this word in the midst of all
of this, because some people maybe you got the audition
and you were so glad to get the audition that
maybe you felt like you couldn't negotiate because this is
your first time, maybe just maybe a third time, but
you don't know the power that you have. And it's
(05:48):
not that you're negotiating to be a diva. You're negotiating
for protection.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
And it's all said, it's always two fould And here's
something I always keep in mind. There's a backup.
Speaker 2 (05:59):
No matter how important you are, no matter how bad
they want you, there's a backup. So you have to
always balance or whatever what's your worth? You know what
I'm saying, And what is it that you are willing
to risk to potentially not be a part of this.
Because I'll be honest with you, girl, there are times
that I've negotiated.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
And you know, it felt my worth and girl, and
I see that movie a few months later, I'm like, gosh,
you know, like it would have been you know what
I'm saying, something great and grand that I didn't have
that perspective on at the time, and sometimes you really
just looking at the numbers. You're really trying to again
own your power, no, your worth, do these things or whatever,
(06:39):
and sometimes they MiG in the butt. So that's what's so,
it's a typewrote.
Speaker 2 (06:44):
We're on a type rope right now, and we have
to know what to give in order to get.
Speaker 3 (06:49):
But again, who is in this game is very broad.
It's very broad. You know what it is that's going on.
Speaker 2 (06:56):
I mean, SAG's got a whole lot of different you
know type actors and entertainers or whatever you take care
of right now. And it's like I said, David and
Goliath right now, girl, we're trying to play catch up.
Speaker 1 (07:08):
It is a lot going on. Denise, tell us, how
did you get in this place? And how did you
get here in the first place. How did you get
to a place where from the time you were a
little girl, teen woman, amazing actress. I guess what I'm
trying to say, you were in a strike. But how
did it start for you before any of this?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
How much time you got, Carol?
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I don't I try to be light on people's time,
but we're open, go ahead.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
I mean, you know, this is the part that a
lot of folks in a group on a farm.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
You know, I don't love it. Yeah, I mean, I
grew up on a farm, so I'm a.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Very simple girl. You know.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
My chores were you know sometimes I hate to use
the term, but slapping the hogs eating if I could
carry the bag of feed, girl, you know, responsible for
doing that. I was picking the eggs. I was feeding
the chickens every day. I had chores. My grandparents. It
was their farm and our house was like right next
to it. Our main crop with sugarcane. So we were
(08:13):
very much So that's a nothing one girl. When Queen
Sugar came out, I was like, Okay, in fact, hen
me tell you something true story.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
Don't tell me you were up for it for the
role or something. Girl.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
No, I didn't even make it that far. So I
made my proleins and got into Ava's office.
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I did.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
I got it because at the time I think she
was a publicist.
Speaker 2 (08:40):
I think she was a publicist, right, Okay, so she
had an office right not far from venture, right, So
your girl did some investigative work. I knew I couldn't
get into Oprah's office. I knew I couldn't get into
Harboe right.
Speaker 3 (08:53):
So I was just like, you know what, I'm going
to make a plea and I know this thing is coming.
I'd heard rumblings of this thing. I'm like, I'm Queen Sugar,
like I have the real Queen Sugar. So girl, needless
to say, I did get into her office. Your course
was not there. I gave it to her secretary and
never heard of work. But I tried. I tried, girl.
I gave it a valiant effort because I was just like,
(09:15):
I know I'm gonna be on that show.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
But I tell you this, we don't know what's down
the pipeline. No, seriously, we can laugh at that, but like, okay,
but you were putting your faith to work.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Girl.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
I'm gang.
Speaker 3 (09:28):
I mean, I'm gonna say I'm ganged to like that.
Speaker 2 (09:30):
If I see a role or if I hear it
in the breakdowns and my manager says something's coming down
the pipe, I'm going after it. I don't know if
you can get some flowers. I don't know if you're
gonna get some gown caddy. I don't know what you're
gonna get. You might get a bottle of spices. You're
gonna get something, trying to figure out how did I
get your prey les? Why do I feel like were
we all gonna were a gift bag a show?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Orcn the real baby? You were? It was the real
I knew.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
I was like we were, Yes, you were on you
were hosting on the Wheel.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
And I came out, girl, that was my introduction. I
came out with a whole platter up for colon candy
and Lannie had already had them before, so Lonnie knew
what was up. But yeah, so that's that was it.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
Girl.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
That's the down home girl in me that I've never
you know, left, That's just who I am.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
And so with regards to so I'll get back on track.
With regards to the whole acting thing, this was not
in my mirror, Like, this was not even something I
fathomed at all. I wasn't a little girl like, oh
my god, I see this person and I want to
be Rudy Huxtable. That was never something that I aspire
to do. And so I was saying a practical things. Girl.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
I was trying to get off the farm, like I
was trying to get up off the part. Okay, I
didn't know how I was going to do it, but
that's what I was gonna do. Yeah, So basically I
was like an overachiever, I guess you would say in
high school because I knew.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
To need a scholarship. You know, I knew my family couldn't,
you know, afford to do that, and so I knew
I needed a scholarship. So graduated top of my class
and got a scholarship to LSU. And originally I was
in pre met girl. I knew I wasn't gonna be
a doctor. I read that, But why did you not
feel like you were going to be a doctor?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
You just felt it in your soul or something. Again,
I was.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Trying to get off the farm, and in my mind
I wasn't exposed.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
To too much.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I wasn't exposed to too many options.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
But in my mind, anytime a parent talked about their
kid and they were with.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
Pride and they were just like, oh my kid did
something great. They were a doctor, a lawyer, got it,
they were doctor or lawyer.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
You felt that being on the farm wasn't as talk worthy.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
No, no, And so I knew, oh no, I was
not saying on the farm that was not even a question. Okay,
that was that was not an option, okay, but I
picked one. I was like, okay, lawyer, you got to
read a little too much. I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
And I was just like, you know what, let me
go ahead and do this doctor thing. Because there's so
many different types. You know, there's bound to be something,
you know, dermatology something.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Yeah, you don't understand that dermatology takes several years also,
not to diminish what they have to do. And so
I was like one of my girls in the dormitory,
she was mass communication and I was like, shoot, I
could talk. I was like, you can get a degree
by talking. I was like, that's what I'm talking about
right there. Okay, So I was.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
You're money.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I went and I went into her class or whatever
checked it. I was like, that's my major, that's my major.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
So then I started interning out a news station WRZ
Channel two news.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
You better come on.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
No, girl couldn't read the teleprompter too good.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
So I I'm upset. Now what it's hard, Michelle?
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Have you read it?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
I love teleprompters.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
No no no, no, no no no no. When you
are reading this on the daily five o'clock news and
this thing is scrolling or whatever, you've got to like,
it's hard to get your pacing down. And I remember
Sylvia Weatherspoon would come with me sometimes after work, and
Sylvia would work with me sometimes on weekend.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I just couldn't get the hang of it, got it.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
It was just a yeah, it was just a thing.
But maybe now, you know, I've got glasses and stuff
like that, I've got more practice, so maybe I could
I don't know, I don't know, Michelle, So maybe I
can actually do that later in life. But then the
whole advertising thing came up so fast forward.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
I was at five different agencies or whatever, and I
was climbing the ranks doing some pretty awesome stuff. And
one of the agencies I worked at or whatever wasn't
actually an agency, but it was Fossil that makes up
purses and watches and all that.
Speaker 3 (13:59):
Yeah, they were launching their clothing line. And in order
to you know, keep cause down or whatever, Carford.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
America, keep those casts down, they got a few of
us around the around the business, I mean, to the
corporation to model the clothing.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
They were launching a clothing line. So some of those
went in a few of the local stores, and one
of the local agencies actually reached out to them and
found two of us and had a conversation and wanted
to have a meeting, and lo and behold, I signed.
And it got to the point where my boss was like, hey,
(14:35):
you're missing a little too much work. I don't know
what you're doing, but you need to make a decision.
Here I am six months married.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I go to my newly wet husband and I'm like,
I want to try this.
Speaker 3 (14:48):
I want to see how he's like. Go. He was
like yeah, and I'm not.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I mean, honestly, I'm not exaggerating. There was no hesitation
in his voice. There was no hesitation in his voice.
Speaker 1 (15:01):
Did he ever tell you why was that he was
so sure to say yes, honey gull because I put a.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
Time frame on it and basically said, hey, look if
things don't happen in a year or two, which I
don't know. You know, if I'd gotten to that point,
I probably would have been like, let's give it another
couple of months.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
Let's give it, you know, because it's hard, you know,
when you've made you know, some advances to say I'm done,
it's over.
Speaker 2 (15:26):
So that and he'd seen the stuff that happened, and
he'd seen over the years.
Speaker 3 (15:31):
You know, I guess you would say.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
And again I feel kind of, you know, weird saying this,
but how people would respond, you know, to me during
certain things.
Speaker 3 (15:40):
And it's just like there's something to this.
Speaker 2 (15:42):
He was like, I don't know what it is, but
this thing is not just halphazardly happened, you know. There
there's he's orchestrating this, you know, And so it doesn't
hurt to try.
Speaker 1 (15:53):
So were you in the arts in school in the
when when I was.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
In elementary school. You know what I'm saying, No, my
music to.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Me, Okay, formal training.
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Played bird, I played Big Bird. I did I'm forgetting,
I'm forgetting. There was okay, there was two. Let me
break it down. There were actually two. Let's break it down.
This was not my first time. So we had Clovy's
Crawfish on the Bayou. I'm this, Michelle, I'm lowly.
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I'm trying to be really nice and civil and stay
focused in at interview style.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
But it's the Big Bird for me. This is what
I do, Michelle. Though this is the unexpected part of Denise.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
You never know.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
When you asked, I will tell Okay.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
So, so formal training, like you didn't go to school.
You went because I'm trying to find the details. So
you went from Far.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
To Fossil, Yeah, foreign to LSU to Fossil and again
got an agent haphazardly like it just like I said,
divinely orcert there is no rhyme or reason, makes no
sense whatsoever. And then I was taking my first set
of headshots okay, and this.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Woman named sus Lanier took my headshot and she was like,
I think you have something. She was like, I don't
know what it is, but something tells me. She had
been in the industry herself for years. Something tells me
you have something.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Was She was like, if you can come to Los Angeles,
I'll introduce you to my partner, Jasper Cole, and I
want him to meet you.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
You were just starting this agency, and I really think
you have something. Okay, So I call up my girl
from LSU.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Her name is Victoria, and I called Victoria was like, look,
can I sleep on your couch? Can I sleep on
your couch or whatever for a moment and I want
to meet these folks or whatever, and just kind of
see I'd never been to Los Angeles, never been to
Los Angeles.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
And she was like, yeah, sure, come out and I
met her and Jasper until this day, Jasper is my manager.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
I love this story, Denise. As the kids say today,
it takes a lot of audacity, Yeah, to just go
and you are right being divinely orchestrated and guided. And
(18:17):
the fact that you are still here it could only
have been God purposed for you to be in this industry.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
There's no reasoning that, like, there's no reasoning behind how
this all came about, you know what I'm saying. And
again I gave myself that that you know, it was
two years or whatever, and within a year and.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
A half here comes Styler Berry. I had no training, Michelle,
I had no training whatsoever.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
But again, Tyler's the way that my you know, manager
was she saw something, He saw something.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You know, So when you would get in the camera,
say with no training and say that or other actors
who you know maybe went to Juliat or had the
formal trainee, you weren't like are they can they tell
I haven't had any training or you or.
Speaker 3 (19:11):
There wasn't insecurity. Absolutely when it started.
Speaker 2 (19:15):
Let me tell you something, when I got on Brown's,
I finally, when when I got the offer i'd done.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
You know, I was a vampire. I was a vampire
and I was a zombie. Yeah that was great.
Speaker 2 (19:26):
So that's how I could started out, you know, the
first black girl that got killed or whatever.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
I wasn't playing the zombie, but the zombia killed me.
You know, my heel, we.
Speaker 1 (19:35):
Weren't supposed to die. We're not supposed to die.
Speaker 3 (19:37):
Yeah, but I was the first one, you know how
I was the first one to die. A tripped in.
The zombie got me. So anyway, not long after that,
it's when Tyler came along. So yes, there was insecurity,
you know. But Tyler was more so Medea, like I
know him as Medea. So honestly, I didn't even know
he was in my audition. I had no idea he
(19:57):
was in No, ma'am. That's a whole other story. Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
But it was a year and a half after I
got here, and so as soon as I got the job,
I found a comedy teacher and started working with her.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Immediately started. So the first season of Brown's I was
getting my four scripts on Friday, working them out with
her on Saturday, and walking around with a tape recorder
in my ears or whatever on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
Okay, and let me tell you something. Logan Browning and
I were the only newbies. Lama was not a newbie.
Dave and Tam were not newbies. Okay, they knew what
they were doing. So literally, Logan and I would take
our lunches and be like, okay, you know, so we
were nervous.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I remember before anyone would yell.
Speaker 2 (20:39):
Action, my heart, my heart was beating out of my chest. Girl,
it was literally beating out of my chest. But you know,
once we started and action started, it just it was
a bike, you know, you get on that bike. By
season two it was kind of like it was, you know,
because comedy.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Is it's a rhythm. It's a rhythm. You learn that
rhythm and beat. But comedy is harder than drama.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
For me, comedy is harder than drama because again it's
a rhythm, you.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
Know, the rhythm and choreography. That's what comedy is.
Speaker 2 (21:12):
Yeah, So when you're doing that, you got to catch
whatever is given to you. And David a lot of
times was if he was improper, So girl, you had
to pick up what he was putting down.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes, following and follow and flow and uh, lots of
times I could sit and watch, you'd be like, is
that improv or is that scriptive? But you like, I
think to me, the length at which a scene could
go on, I'm like, that's improv. But it's still amazing.
It's still amazing. You're right, everybody got to be on
(21:44):
their toes.
Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yes, you know, you can't be like, uh no, no,
you literally have to come up with something or whatever,
because I mean, Tyler, you get like two takes and
this on like he's got several cameras. You miss your spot,
you missed your dialogue. I mean, you're that's you know
on you You got to figure it out.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I am so encouraged by your story because I'm sure
there could be someone listening who's probably feeling like they have. Well,
me and you have similar stories about going to college
feeling like I've got to do this so that I
could do this. You know, it was about the four
oh one K, the benefits, the nice salary. You know,
it's all about that, and then both of us coming
(22:22):
into an industry kind of with no. I had church
and I wasn't creative and performing arts in junior high
and high school, but they would never pick me to
be in the plays, and I would audition and would
audition and they would never pick me. And I literally
still look back today like, Wow, I've done movies, I've
(22:44):
done television, I've done Broadway, and so now we want
to encourage you. If you're in training, still go. But
if you find.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
Yourself knowing that you don't quite can't articulate it, but
you know, oh you might.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
It seems like you're being guided in another direction.
Speaker 3 (23:04):
Lead It is your intuition, it is in you. If
you listen to that little voice, things don't halfhazardly happen.
I'm a true believer. And if we listen to what
is going on around us, he's talking to us.
Speaker 2 (23:17):
I'm not saying audibly, I'm not saying that, but you
have to pay attention.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
To the people around you and the little coincidences that
are happy. I don't believe in coincidence. Again, I said,
divinely orchestrate. That's what it is.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
It is it is.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
I don't even I don't even question it. In hide sight,
I'm just like, oh, that's what you're trying to do.
But in the moment or whatever, I just try to
listen and not fight it. And I'm a very practical person.
I'm a type A. If I show you my scripts,
it is the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen in
the world. Okay, but the beauty of it is you
have to have faith because once you get on that set,
(23:57):
the whole point is to free fo you, free for you,
let all you do, all that preparation, all that studying.
But when you get that's for me type A, I
get to just free fall. That's the one time I
don't have to be in control. Because if you're trying
to control yourself, you know that you give a robotic performance,
(24:17):
you know good, you can't do that. And so for me,
my training came from vulnerability, you know, over time, letting
my guard down and listening, just being interacting with that
other human.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
When once you got the technicalities of the dialogue down,
you're having a conversation with another person.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
And I mean because when we're talking, it's I could
it's almost as if you're on TV, but you're being you.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
And you have to know the more in tune you
are to you, the more you can let your guard,
the most more authentic you can be and respond to
that other person.
Speaker 3 (25:01):
That's your performance.
Speaker 1 (25:03):
Yeah, it's women like you and Alfree Woodard where it's
like you're literally feeling like I'm just watching y'all just
talk like it's not oh she oh, she wrote down
on her script. Make sure to hunch my shoulder and
have like you know what I mean. Now, Okay, Michelle, you.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Said Alfree Woodard. That is the biggest compliment you can
give me. You said me Alfree Woodard and my name
in the same sentence. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, that's one
of the most amazing compliments I've ever received in my career.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
It's the down to earth'sness of the And I'm not
saying that there weren't some roles where you had to
be more dramatic or maybe play less than maybe what
your type a personality is. I get that, but it
still comes across natural and now we know why. And
I'm gonna thank the farm for it.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
Hey. Hey, like I said, authentically, I wanted to get out.
I just need to.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
Get out for I'm gonna think that being Louisiana. One
more question about the side of producing the importance of
what how you feel like? Is it important for you
now producing your own projects?
Speaker 3 (26:22):
Absolutely?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Because what am I doing in this downtime I have
to channel my creative energies into something. See that's the
whole thing, you know, with all this whole strike situation.
And now we'll go to you talking about mental health.
Speaker 3 (26:36):
You have to have somewhere to pour your energy into
so you're not waking up every day saying, I hope
this stripe ends. What am I gonna do? We're not
gonna work again.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
You have to take whatever anxiety you have and transform
that energy into something you can pour into another passion.
Speaker 3 (26:54):
Where am I pouring it into projects? Baby, I'm writing
my managers already. We're dusting off projects. We have new relationships.
We have new relationship ships that we built for people
that got some money. So let's go ahead and go
into pre production on some of these items because we
(27:15):
have time.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
And that my DearS, y'all are listening. That is what
longevity gets you. That's what keeping trying to be a
good integrity in this business. So like you said, you know,
you can dust off a project like you said and
go back to the people. You probably couldn't do this
your first or second year in the game. Now you've
got some equity.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I didn't know those people, See, I didn't know those
people to make it happen. But in developing and nurturing
relationships and knowing who's got my back and knowing that
people who are authentic.
Speaker 2 (27:49):
You know what I'm saying. We want to work together again.
I would love to do a project.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
Who's getting a call? Hey, I know you can find it.
I know where I can do an independent project when
we gonna make it happen. Okay, and guess what those
gears are already in motion. Come on here, here's what
I did, girl. I got back to that pot. Girl,
I started to start.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
I've been talking. Listen, listen, I'm like, we're talking about
pivoting and other passions. The food.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
The food growing up on that farm, my mom go
stir my pot. Now, mind you let me break it down.
We ate rice and gravy and pork and beans almost
every night, like it was always the only thing that
changed was the meat.
Speaker 1 (28:34):
Like we were.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
It was as if beans were vegetable. We never eat
broccoli or asparagus or anything. We had beans.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
We had corn. We had corn, well corners, a.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Lot of seafood and green oh.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Honey, that was on the weekend. See weekend. Yeah, Now,
seafood was a tree. Okay, when the script man came
with his truck with his ice in his tailgate, with
a shrip that he just got. Yes, that's how I
went out. That was a treat. So on the weekends,
oh yes, and the family every weekend got together on
Sundays at Mama's mamma's house. Mama is a grandmother, Capa's
(29:10):
a granddaddy. Okay, so yeah, so the whole family got together.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
We went and had that we would all leave with
you know, whatever foods or whatever that were packed. If
we had a oh, I'm taking it to Abushiti, which
is when you do the cab for the the pig
and you go home with you meet. Okay, okay, okay,
that's a whole other that we're gonna have to have
a whole of the show about that situation. But that's
what I did and saw. I was familiar with it,
(29:35):
but I wasn't in love with it. I didn't care
about cooking until I went to Dallas, Texas, and I
was in advertising.
Speaker 3 (29:42):
Because out of practical purposes, when you're just starting out,
you don't have any money for takeout, you don't have
any money for all these things or whatever.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
So I basically would call my mom on Saturdays and
she would, you know, I would ask, okay, so.
Speaker 3 (29:55):
Mom, how do you do this? And how do you
do that?
Speaker 2 (29:57):
The first time I made a gumboat, you know what
she said, I wanted to know how dark the rook
had to be because there was no ruin or jar.
Speaker 3 (30:04):
Now you're just buying a jar, girl, and keep it moving.
Wait a minute, yeah, you just go ahead and get
your jar, girl, and you put that in the pot
or whatever. Put it from you, though, it will be.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
Okay because we can only get it from like you
or Miss Tina knowles her gumbo's amazing, so you yeah, okay, okay, So.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
Me and Miss Tina are gonna have to talk. So yeah,
I don't know if Miss Tina got time to put
it in the jar, but I do so well, thank you, Michelle,
because honestly, that was not a part of my trajectory
trajectory with me. You from Louis, you know, so when
you say now you can just get in the jar,
wait wait wait wait wait wait, no, you from you
know what it's supposed to look like, taste like, the
texture that is supposed to be To credit Michelle, I
(30:47):
will say inspired by.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
No, but just I just just just let's do something
where we can do together.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
I love it. Okay, I'll take it, receive it.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
We'll do something one where I get to be I
want to sample all the products.
Speaker 3 (31:06):
You want to sample all the products. Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
So right now we just have spices, but we are
expanding those going pralins that you taste it.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yep.
Speaker 3 (31:13):
It's a hell of a process in developing because they
have to be authentic.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
I'm not gonna put something or whatever on the market
that is not true to my mama's recipe.
Speaker 3 (31:24):
That's my mama's recipe. Okay, but I'm the only one
that can recreate it.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Usually get a big old kitchen. Just get you a
big old kitchen.
Speaker 3 (31:33):
Make some prailings.
Speaker 1 (31:33):
I'll come out and help you stamp them.
Speaker 3 (31:35):
And part of it, Michelle, here's the bad part. It
takes so long to real sugar and caramel. It's a
long process.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
And that's sugar butter. Okay, let me sugar butter caramel.
Is there coconut? Is there anything coconut in pralins?
Speaker 1 (31:53):
Okay?
Speaker 3 (31:54):
I'm not from Louis.
Speaker 1 (31:55):
I'm from Illinois. Okay, so butter caramel, brown sugar. Am
I right? What do I be tasting?
Speaker 3 (32:02):
I can't tell you my recipe of miso, okay, but
but I will say, if you want to add coconut,
you can, or you can add coconut flavoring.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
I feel like I've tasted now in you. I feel
like I've tasted them.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
It's possible because there's different versions of it. Everybody makes
their own version of it. So no, you are absolutely crey.
Speaker 1 (32:22):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
So here's the funny part. I'm gonna tell you how
my mom taught me how to make a room. She said, well, baby,
she's like, if you want to make a light room,
she was like, you're gonna go to the inside your arm.
You're gonna go to the inside. I'm just like, mom,
it's like summertime. So I don't know, I got that, okay.
Speaker 2 (32:37):
And she was like, if you want to make a
roof of gumbo, you want to make a dark room.
She was like, so put your arm on the side
of the pot.
Speaker 3 (32:44):
And when that roop gets that color, she was like,
make sure your waters. It's gonna turn real quick. The
color's gonna turn, so you make sure you got your water.
Speaker 2 (32:53):
And she was like, that's when you dump your water
when you've got that root, this color, dump your water,
and that's your roof.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
For your gumbert Here for essence Fest twenty twenty five,
because you're gonna eat twenty twenty four to really, you know,
I'm gonna say, let's do it. Maybe me, maybe we
can do fast twenty twenty four.
Speaker 3 (33:12):
I got a year, Okay?
Speaker 1 (33:14):
Is that pressure? Is that pressure?
Speaker 3 (33:16):
Honey? No, listen, I have time. I have nothing but
time right now. Really, you were saying, we said pivot. Okay,
well let's your girls go on pivot. And I wanted
to do I have a I have a cookbook. I
have a cookbook out here with Chef Gennard's. But I'm
gonna go ahead and venture out. He did one of
his own. Okay, I'm going to do one of my own.
(33:36):
That's still my boy, right, But we were both talking
about another concept, and so I'm also working on my
cookbook because I've been pulling recipes. I didn't have time
to do it.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
And the spices are called Weisiana Girl Weisiana Girls spices.
Speaker 3 (33:50):
So as you can see, I got the purple, the gold,
and the green. Imagine the color coordination, right and real cute.
She's so cute. You hold a gumbo with a nice y'all.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Weezyana girl, w e e z I A n A
girl dot com is where you can read your Teleprompter's
where you can get these amazing spices. You have been
an absolute joy. I know this is who you are.
(34:26):
But do you feel the pressure to always stay lit up?
And or do you have moments of anxiety or nervous
like say with the strike, was there nervous?
Speaker 3 (34:34):
Is?
Speaker 1 (34:35):
How are you taking care of your mental health? Hell?
Speaker 3 (34:37):
Yeah, I'm nervous. Oh yeah, I mean I wouldn't sit
down here and tell you I'm not, Like when am
I gonna work again? You know, because again you're getting
so much information, and law of that could be misinformation.
I don't know. So I pick and.
Speaker 2 (34:49):
Choose how much I actually digest today, because again there's
a lot of negative energy out there, so I don't
I don't expose myself to too much of it.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
Right, But like I.
Speaker 2 (34:59):
Said, and I'm channeling that instead of staying in a
place of anxiety and nervousness, I'm going and taking what
I can't control.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
I can't control that.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
I mean, yeah, you can go on the picky line
or whatever, marching and stuff. But I honestly I can't
control that. What I can control is how I use
my time, how it is that what I pour myself
into in the meantime.
Speaker 3 (35:23):
And figuring out all these things that, Thank you Jesus,
I was blessed with all these products.
Speaker 2 (35:27):
I've never worked more than a half this year, and
that's part of the reason why I'm like, dang it,
because I'm here and I can't use my platform or
whatever in order to get that information. There's nothing that
hurts me more because I've worked with some of the
best people, with some of the best productions, with some
on some of the projects that mean so much to me,
(35:50):
telling stories that these people need to hear. We need
to hear, like women need to hear.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
But I got a gag arter, dude, Like I can
say nothing. That's pretty much the equivalent of what it is.
I've worked for a major corporation that I've been wanting
to work with for years. I did it. I can't
say nothing, Michelle, I can't see.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
Put it in the chat. I won't say nothing. I'm
just playing.
Speaker 3 (36:21):
No, I'm just saying I'm so sorry, Yes, yes for
me my heart hurts. But what I'm doing is going
back in that kitchen. My baby girls like Mommy, let's
do a TikTok this, that and the other. Okay, we tiktoking.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Okay, and we can't TikTok right, we can take a
tick top, but we tiktogging.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Girl. Weusiana girl going in the five. Look, I got
some cinnamon sugar right here we are. We are putting
Louisiana girl in the pot. I am taking that time.
All those recipes I've modified that, I've.
Speaker 2 (36:51):
Pulled all my mom and my mama's recipes that I've
always wanted to recreate.
Speaker 3 (36:55):
This cookbook was we called Southern Inspired because it was
a healthier take on some Southern dishes. Okay, I'm going in.
Speaker 1 (37:02):
When you say healthier take, you mean like lower MSG
no butter, no no.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
Oh yeah no MSG period but yeah, lack of butter,
basically finding substitutes for butter, you know, lots of and
and here's what they say.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Wat's that olive oil You shouldn't eat? Olive oil you shouldn't.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
Yeah, it's certain of so many now I don't know,
but they say you got avocado, sesame and other kinds
of oils now, don't I don't know which ones are best.
As far as heating grape seed, grape grape seed, I
knew it was something grape seed. Now, my uncle is
a doctor, he's a medical physician. Let me tell you
what he told me. He said, regular butter is healthier
(37:43):
than all the process margins and stuff. Especially, Maybe go
to a farmer's market or get that good old block
hard butter. That's that good.
Speaker 3 (37:52):
He is absolutely correct. He is absolutely correct. As soon
as you've seen too many ingredients and you see that
preservative in there bbbb, unless it's pure, it's something. Because
of course you're gonna pay for it. That's the sucky part.
Healthy eating costs more. You're gonna pay more, you know,
which is almost like a setup.
Speaker 2 (38:11):
It's like, dude, we don't want to have to get
on medication, we don't want to go to the hospital,
we don't want.
Speaker 3 (38:16):
To do these things. But unfortunately it costs in order
to be healthy, you know. So it's kind of like, yeah,
which kind of game is going on?
Speaker 2 (38:23):
Okay, in order for me to attend to my health
if I don't have the means or whatever to do it.
So that cookbook was about using items everyday, items that
you could as healthy as you possibly could, to substitute
and give you the most authentic flavor that you could
have without sacrificing the taste.
Speaker 1 (38:40):
Where can we get the cookbook?
Speaker 3 (38:42):
Oh? The cookbook is on Amazon.
Speaker 1 (38:44):
It's on Amazon.
Speaker 2 (38:46):
Yeah, so if you go to my website, you can
of course get it, but it'll take you right over
to Amazon. Okay, Now, when you modify a recipe, yes,
are you sure it's as good?
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Because people be like sugar free peach cobbler, you know.
Speaker 3 (39:03):
Can I be real with you? Can I be real
with you?
Speaker 1 (39:06):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (39:06):
I know what it's authentically supposed to taste like. Okay,
so it's kind of hard. But maybe you being from Illinois,
maybe your palette is not as discriminated.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
I don't from Illinois, but the folks is from Alabama.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
And Artasaw, so I know, I know. So you know, Okay,
maybe a person that doesn't have other roots that lives
in Illinois don't really know, you know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (39:36):
So what could I cook today from the cookbook that
could like maybe as a pot of cabbage or green beans,
pot of greens? Is that a modified recipe in there?
And if so, how did you and chef.
Speaker 1 (39:55):
Modify? Give me something you could It could be anything.
Speaker 3 (39:57):
What can I cook tonight? Okay? So I have a
we a girl pot pie. But here's the one that
I would say. And again it's because there is no uh,
you don't have the butter. Okay, Louisiana Girl Shrimp Creole
Girl Shrimp Creole year Mars Shrimp Prio.
Speaker 2 (40:16):
So I'm going on an I'm going on Amazon literally
as we speak.
Speaker 1 (40:21):
Yeah, being unprofessional. I'm just gonna get.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
And this is my this is my nanny's recipe, my
godmother this okay, So yeah, so nanny know how to
do it.
Speaker 3 (40:29):
So Weuisiana Girls Shrip Priole on page I'm sixteen seventy.
So you can find again step by step, step by
step on how to make these.
Speaker 2 (40:38):
But like I said, you know, so this right here
was us being you know, uh, what do you call it?
Fat conscious, health conscious, all that stuff. I'm gonna have
a block of butter and everything in this NEXTICLK.
Speaker 1 (40:50):
Okay, I listen, I am getting this cook book Southern.
Speaker 3 (40:56):
Modified, Southern Modified.
Speaker 1 (40:58):
Okay, at least I'm a put it right here. I
don't want to be too unprofessional.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Yeah, so that's again, that's what I'm pouring my stuff into.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Instead of dwelling on this stuff that I cannot control,
I'm getting back in that kitchen.
Speaker 1 (41:13):
I'm getting the harrd cover.
Speaker 2 (41:15):
I'm there's it comes in paperback, but I'm getting the
hardcover because it's gonna make for nice on the kitchen shelf.
Speaker 1 (41:21):
But I'm actually going to use it. Let of y'all
got cookbooks and it's just for decoration, use it, But.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
The real one that I have, I don't know the
paperback girl.
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Look now, this is a paperback girl's got stains on it,
because I still have to use. If you've got a
real good cookbook, you got stains, you got some posting
notes up in that bad ball. Yes, I still use
the recipes, okay, but yeah it's real y'all.
Speaker 1 (41:44):
Y'all can't see it. But she does have the book
with all the posted notes and every since she actually
uses it. Well, I just got it. It will be
to my house by Friday. I am excited. So y'all
go on Amazon. It is called Southern Modified Southern Inspired
Dishes Modify for Today's Healthier Lifestyle. You can go to
(42:05):
Louisiana Girl dot com and get those spices. And when
this is all said and done, I pray that we will.
I know we will. We just got to get through
this portion of the strike. And it was something about
what the pandemic has done. It's something for what the
strike is done. You know, once we get what we
(42:25):
are asking for, I know the I can imagine what
the industry is going to be. It's going to be
on fire in a good, good, good way. And thank
you for your strength, your boldness and your courage. There's
somebody listening that is saying, I am going to go
for my dreams or when I feel that nudge of
(42:48):
guidance that maybe everybody wanted me to go right, but
I just feel a divine tugging to go to the left.
That's where you go, because that's how we are able
to talk to the amazing seeing Denise Boutet today.
Speaker 3 (43:03):
Michelle, thank you so much. You are awesome.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
You are awesome. I cannot wait. I cannot wait to
see you in person sometime.
Speaker 3 (43:12):
I can't wait to work with you in person.
Speaker 1 (43:15):
We will work together. There's so much to do. There's
so much to do. As you were talking, my wheels
were spinning. But we can't talk about that right now.
Speaker 3 (43:24):
We on strike, all right.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
We may not be next week, you know, we don't know.
Speaker 2 (43:31):
Okay it he's got to figure it out and under control.
But all we can do in the meantime and between
time is channel our energies and our creativities into something or.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Yes, yes, thank you, dear heart.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
I'll see you soon.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
All right. I told y'all we were gonna have a
good time. It was kind of like we weren't even recording.
What a joy. And I hope that you are encouraged,
you know. I remember being told Michelle, stick to one thing,
stick to one thing, and I'm so glad I didn't
(44:11):
stick to one thing because time's changing. So you have
to be able to, you know, evolve. You have to
be able to pivot. You've got to be able to
be willing to try new things if you want to.
You don't have to. But it's just a joy. It's
a joy, all right, you guys, Thank y'all so much
for checking in. I love you, and there's I mean,
(44:34):
what you're gonna do about it? Checking In with Michelle
(45:08):
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