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[0:00] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Hey Odd Squad, it's me, Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo, your host of Odd Woman Out, a podcast where we talk to women artists about what it is like to be a woman in the entertainment industry, how to embrace our odd, and how we can hold space to lift one another up. Please enjoy this episode, tell your friends to tune in, like, subscribe, and follow, and reach out to a woman in your life today and give her some love. Enjoy this episode. Hi, Kandi Burruss, welcome to Odd Woman Out.

[0:43] Kandi Burruss: Well, thanks for having me.

[0:45] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yes, I'm so happy to have you. I do want to start this episode by going, Are you ready to conquer the day?

[0:50] Kandi Burruss: Yeah.

[0:51] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Okay, I've been obviously on a deep dive, like prepping for this interview.

[0:56] Kandi Burruss: No, I swear that has been helping me in the mornings.

[1:01] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Are you serious?

[1:02] Kandi Burruss: Yes, because sometimes I wake up on the wrong side of the bed. And I'm like, Are you ready to conquer the day? Can you please tell everyone who's listening who do not know what I'm talking about?

[1:10] Kandi Burruss: Okay, that is so every morning I have this routine with my kids that I always like hype them up before they go to school or anything they have to do. And I say, Are you ready to conquer the day? And they say, Yeah. And then I said, Are you ready to go? And they have to do it hyper each time, you know, they got to get hyped up. Because if they sometimes they're like, Yeah, I'll get it together. And so it helps them to get that energy they need to start the day to feel like they can conquer the world, you know?

[1:41] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Listen, it's been helping me as well. So thank you so much. Thank you to your kids and to you for coming up with that. I went to an early workout class today, which I do not typically do. Listen, it's the Kandi Burruss MO, the motto, keep me going. Like I said, I'm so happy to have you here. We have so much amazing career stuff to talk about. But the show is called Odd Woman Out. So I always love to start the show talking about women. So I want to go back to a younger version of Kandi. When you first discovered that you wanted to be an artist and that you were an artist, was there a woman influence in your life that really helped you pursue this, whether that was someone who was professionally working or someone in your personal life?

[2:14] Kandi Burruss: That is so funny. Um, well, you know, I started in high school. I do. So you were like a number one hit by the time you were 19.

[2:22] Kandi Burruss: Something like that. Yeah. I'll have to say, you know, obviously a lot of different people helped me along the way. Yeah. But one woman that stands out, shout out to Mrs. Turner. Much love to you. Um, she was, she was my drama teacher at the time, but she eventually became the head of the performing arts program at Tri-Cities High School of Visual and Performing Arts. We had a lot of hit makers come out of that school. Hey, um, shout out. Yeah. Yeah. She's had her hands on a few people who've gone on, like we got rock and roll hall of fame, outcast. She was their teacher too, at one point, you know, lots of my girls in, um, escape, you know, the group that I'm in, um, when we were kids, you know, she had a, she touched, put her hands on it. So the one thing that she taught me was, um, she took me on my first audition outside of school.

[3:29] Kandi Burruss: Oh, wow. And a light clicked on. So I remember her saying to me and some of my other classmates, she was like, okay, I want you guys to audition for this play outside of the school. And I was like, they, they'll let us audition. What was the play? What was the play?

[3:48] Kandi Burruss: Honestly, I can't remember now, but it was like in a local theater in Atlanta. But at the time as a kid, you know, I started, um, the school when I was like 14. So 14, 15 years old, you know, people are always saying, Oh, you have to wait until you graduate from high school and college, and then you can go after your dream. But that lit that fire in me that, Oh, so we don't really have to wait. Like we can start auditioning for stuff right now. And so she took us on the audition. I got the part and, um, that was just the beginning of a lot of things. Yeah. For a lot of things for real. Um, shout out to her. Teachers are so important, especially for young women, especially who want to be in the arts. So I always love hearing a good teacher story.

[4:27] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Um, okay. So now think about your career, maybe starting out, or maybe down the line where there was a situation of like a woman supporting woman type of thing. I like to ask this question because I feel like, especially in the entertainment industry, women get a bad rep of like being catty and bitches and like cutthroat. And so I always love to hear the positive woman and another woman uplifting you in the arts.

[4:51] Kandi Burruss: Oh, another woman, uh, lifting me in the arts. Let's see. Where do we begin? Um, okay. Well, I mean, you know, you always got your mom. My mom was very, um, you know, she was like, yeah, let's go, you know, motivational for me and my group members. She supported us fully when we first started. Um, shout out to my bestie Tamra, when now, but back then she was Tamra Coggins. Um, we were classmates. And, um, I remember her mom, well, Tam was supposed to be going to an audition for this girl group. Mind you, I didn't know what we was going to, but she, her mom said, doesn't that girl sing? You know, pretty good to ask her if she wants to go with you to this audition.

[5:38] Kandi Burruss: Oh, how cool. Right. And, um, so she took me with her and, uh, which is pretty cool. It ended up, well, we ended up seeing our friends from school, which I already had been singing with, but it was, you know, this, um, woman was putting together, like trying to put together a teen girl group or whatever. And so when I saw my friends, I'm like, I thought y'all didn't want to do this girl group thing. Okay, cool. But, um, just the simple fact that my friend, you know, thought enough of me and we were just becoming real friends at the time we were in the ninth grade classmates, but, you know, she thought of me to take me with her and mind you, she was in the group at first, but even, you know, things happen and she was no longer in the group. We still stayed best. We still best friends to this day.

[6:22] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah. That's so important to the relationships are more important than the glitz or whatever. Um, okay. So now tell me about a time in your life, maybe in the arts, maybe on reality TV, maybe on Broadway where you have felt like the odd woman out.

[6:39] Kandi Burruss: Oh, it's been plenty of time. Right. Like the odd woman out. Right. That's why we started the show. So, you know, when you start out in girl groups, obviously, you know, we've gone through our moments of cattiness and we've gone through our moments of sisterhood and support. So we've, we've had every scale of female relationship on that level. Um, and, um, I would have to say when we were young, you know, it was a lot of the petty argument and stuff like that. But, you know, we, we had each other's back because, you know, we had to, we were one and we got success together. Yeah. But then we had that moment where we didn't talk and it's just the group kind of fell apart after major success. We have multiple platinum records together.

But then, you know, later on, I guess a decade passed before we came back together as a group. And now I would say, shout out to Tiny and Tamika. Much love to y'all. Shout out. You know, they're here. Like they came to surprise me on my first day to do and Juliet on Broadway or, you know, they're always sending texts to, you know, motivate me and keep me going. So that's really special to me. And then in the Broadway space, Hey, coming into the Broadway, I would have to say, you know, um, I run across a lot of men here and there that have been mentors for me and throughout, you know, a shout out to Brian Moreland. I can't even know we talk about women right now. I have to shout out to him. That's my, that's my homie.

But, um, just people that I met in this Broadway world, Irene Gandy, she was so uplifting of me. And just because she was coming in as a Black woman producer in Broadway, she was like, Oh my God, I need you to keep this going. I'm so proud of you. And she comes to everything that, uh, you know, that we're a part of and she's like rooting me on and championing me. And I really loved it.

[8:32] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Oh, I love that. Shout out to all the people who, you know, keep it going. Cause it's hard. It's really hard out there, especially over a long period of time. It'd be entertainment business. No bar, no matter what part of the entertainment business you're in, it's crazy, you know, it's crazy and you don't always get support. Right. And then it's just like trying to hang, trying to maintain longevity. Right. It's crazy for real. And it's like, you don't always get support. So you have to find the support for yourself, which is really hard, which sort of leads into my next question. So I want to talk a little bit about no scrubs, which iconic congratulations. Hello, Grammy winner. And it's coming to the Broadway stage.

Let me just say no scrubs, TLC. They're doing a Broadway play about TLC. That's amazing. Yeah. Oh my God. You'll have to give us some tea about it. Whatever tea you got later, maybe off camera. Um, anyway, but I heard you say in an interview that, you know, you wrote that song for your group, but then they were like, nope, it's going to TLC. And you said something like all good. Cause there's more where that came from. And so I just want to know, like at a young age, you were young. How did you get that confidence at such a young age and then maintain it to continue on to be so successful and not let that like break you?

[9:42] Kandi Burruss: Well, it came in a crazy time in my life. So like I said, my own group, we were having our issues on and off. So after our second album, we knew we was going to be on a hiatus after the third one. So we were recording the third one, going through all kinds of drama and turmoil. Yeah. So I had asked my group member, Tiny, shout out to you. I was like, um, Hey, we need to figure out what we're going to do. One of our other group members was going solo. Like we need to make a plan. Cause how are we going to pay our bills if the group is, you know, on a hiatus. Correct. And so, um, we decided to do our own like duo project. And I was like, this time let's try to write our whole, you know, demo and, you know, submit it to the label so they can see what we can do.

Right. So no scrubs was one of the songs that we had did for ourselves and then playing it for different, um, you know, A&Rs and stuff. Um, it got in the hands of L.A. Reid, who's owner of LaFace records. And, um, he was like, he wanted it for TLC. And I always wanted to write for other artists, but I just didn't know how to get in as a writer because you know, if you're an artist, some people are like, really? Yeah. So, um, when he said he wanted it for them, I was like, yeah, sure. You know, they could take it because, you know, I felt like we had a lot of strong songs, you know what I mean? And I knew, I just knew we could do it again. I knew we could do it again. It wasn't a thing for me.

Like, yeah. And, um, I just felt like that opportunity would be bigger. And it was, I didn't realize it was going to be that big, how big, you know, but, um, L.A. Reid told me I'm gonna make this the biggest song of your career. And I was like, yeah, okay. Because I'm thinking we already had platinum records, you know, whatever. But he was not lying. This song has been the gift that keeps on giving again and again and again, you know, but I also love that story to just tying it into this show of like women's sporting women. You're like, I made this song. Okay. Well, you know, it wasn't like a caddy thing. So that was really cool. That's another part of, you know, being able to stretch a career, right? If you're not always trying to be so stuck of being the one in front of the camera or on the stage, then it's so many, so much more opportunity for you, you know, and you've literally done that.

[12:06] Kandi Burruss: Yeah. And every, every part of the business I've been in, I feel like I learned the artist part and then I try to learn the behind the scenes part and it has really done a lot for me, even as far as respecting the industry, right? Because like, I know when we were just artists, we just singers, you know, everybody was like, oh yeah, they're dope. You know, whatever, whatever, as far as the industry is concerned. But when I would come to like an industry,

[12:28] Kandi Burruss: You know some of the people from other labels that we weren't signed to, it just like, yeah, okay, that's those girls. But when I start writing hits for other artists, it was like all of a sudden every label head at every company was like, Kandi, yeah, where have you been? Before I was just that girl from Xscape, right? Now it's like all like they act like we go way back, right? And I just thought it was so interesting, the dynamic of how they treated me being a hit songwriter versus a hit artist in a group, right? It's a different feeling and getting your feet like totally into the industry, right? Well, the thing is, the artists, you know, it's good. You know, yeah, it's a face to that. Yeah, but the hit songwriter provides opportunity to everybody for sure.

And this is what, you know, a lot of agents always tell young actors, create your own work. Yeah, young artists create, do it yourself because you can't just always wait on the opportunity else to say, oh, she's good. Oh, she'll fit here. If you make yourself fit exactly, then the world is wide enough. Okay, Hamilton, exactly.

[13:39] Kandi Burruss: Okay, so congratulations. You just got honored, maybe not just, at Bravo Con with the Lifetime Achievement Award. Yeah, that was amazing. So you said something in your speech that I really loved. You shouted out the women that you were on The Real Housewives with, and I'm not gonna quote you correctly, but you said something along the lines of no matter what we've gone through, the good, the bad, the shade, whatever, it's been such an honor. Yeah. And so my question is, is there a woman that you worked with in The Real Housewives chapter of your life that you learned a big lesson from?

[14:17] Kandi Burruss: I learned many lessons. I learned many lessons being a part of Housewives. I mean, you know, that's like the epitome of cattiness, right? But what I love that you said because it just brought another light to write a whole women. But what I wanted to recognize that in that moment, regardless of, you know, whatever interaction I've had with anybody on the show, yeah, all of that has led me to the point where I could win a Lifetime Achievement Award. You get what I'm saying? It's like I have to recognize regardless of we getting along or not, our interaction with each other built something special that people are always gonna remember and that has allowed me to continue to do the things that I'm able to do, so I wouldn't change it.

Yeah, you know what I mean? Like I hate that some of the arguments that have been had have been had or, right, you know, sometimes I go solo, solo. Yeah, I mean, but at the end of the day, you know, it led me to that moment of being on stage accepting that award, and I had to say, hey, you know, we all contributed to this.

[15:35] Kandi Burruss: I love that. Congrats. Thank you. I love Bravo. Shout-out to Andy Cohen.

[15:38] Kandi Burruss: So you're such an artist. So when you got The Real Housewives, did you feel like it was a creative outlet for you? And if you think nothing of it when that first opportunity came up?

[15:49] Kandi Burruss: So, well, I remember when it first happened, I was like, okay, yeah, I was like, I don't know about this. So that first season that they had, I watched the show and I thought it was so funny. I thought it was cute, but I didn't see me on there. Yeah, you know, and I was actually working on something else with Tiny. Once again, we always be coming at what I do. Shout out to Tiny. Yes. I was, Tiny, we was working on trying to do a different show for another network, and we were getting a little interest in it, but at the time my friend Derek J, who people have seen him on the show, he would used to be, what was that? Glam Queens? Fashion Queens on Bravo back, you know, and I used to do the fashion reviews.

But Derek J was like, um, they're about to look for, you know, women for Housewives for season two, and I was like, okay. He was like, well, I'm gonna tell him to call you. I was like, I'm already doing something. He was like, well, I'm gonna tell him to call you anyway because they need somebody who has their own money. Yes, girl, whatever. But like literally, like a couple weeks after he said that, a week or two maybe, the opportunity I was working on, they decided they no longer wanted to use me for it. They only wanted Tiny and another one of our friends or whatever, and I was disappointed, but I was just like, okay, it wasn't meant to be, on to the next, and I was writing songs. It wasn't like I was cool.

Yeah, but then the people from The Housewives called and were like, hey, can we meet you or whatever and talk, do an interview or whatever? So I was like, yeah, I guess so. But in my mind, I'm like, I've been on TV before, I guess, like, you know, it's no big deal. I can do this casual. I was like, it'll be one year sometime. It's cool, you know?

[17:39] Kandi Burruss: And the crazy thing was a lot of people that I knew were like, don't do that show. That's not a good look for women and, you know, all that stuff. And I was just kind of like, well, if you don't think the women on there is a good look, then why would you want me to be on there? Don't you think somebody needs to go that you think will be a good representation, right? So I was like, you know, I'm gonna do it. And one year that I thought that I was gonna do it turned into 14 seasons, and you're the longest-running housewife in all the franchise, right? At the time I left. Now, I don't know about now, but I mean mine, it was for 14 straight seasons. I never left.

[18:29] Kandi Burruss: So, I mean, I think at this point, was it? I don't know. But when I left, I was the longest-running consecutive 14 seasons. That's a huge accomplishment. Were you ever like, I can't do it? Like being so open with your life, was it ever too much or did you just not care and this is what I chose?

[18:42] Kandi Burruss: No, it became a lot, especially, you know, at one point I was doing the Housewives seasons and in between I was also doing my own mini spinoffs in between, yeah, so I had like seven, I believe, specials or spinoffs with it, whatever you want to call them. Yeah, and it was great, but it's like, can you imagine you constantly having a lot of stuff? And I had a lot of personal turmoil on the show with family stuff. Yeah, so that stuff doesn't turn off, like just because they can't. We're still over here, man, you know, it's not like when you leave a Broadway show right at the door. It's different.

[19:20] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, it's very different. So now your daughter is on Next Gen. Did you give her any advice going into it? And how did you feel? Were you like supportive or really girl, watch yourself, girl, don't embarrass me? No.

[19:36] Kandi Burruss: No, I just told her like, you know, no matter what, first of all, I got your back no matter what. And I was like, at the end of the day, you know, own everything that you say. Mm-hmm. So if you say something, just own it. If you're wrong, just own it, apologize, and, you know, try to make it right the next time around. Just don't be on their line. It's too many liars on Bravo where they rewind the tape on you, and they've never been able to rewind the tape on me. Okay, so don't go embarrassing me doing that. So she knows the rules. So basically, even if she does something one day, my daughter is 23. I don't expect her to be perfect, right? You know what I mean? But, you know, if something happens, you know, I just expect her to own whatever it was and, you know, try to make it right, right, you know?

[20:34] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, that's a great model for life in general. So take notes, people. That's all you can do. So literally from Bravo to Broadway. So you made your Broadway debut in 2018 in Chicago, and now you just finished up a run of & Juliet. Shout out. Congratulations.

[20:47] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, what did I do see everyone doing? What made you come back to Broadway? What is appealing about performing on the Broadway stage for you? Um, well, I, you know, I love performing, yeah, in all forms, yes, okay? And I just felt like I wanted to come back to the Broadway stage. First of all, that's the toughest stage that you can do eight shows a week. It's no joke. But I felt like I had did, after doing Chicago, I did four shows as a producer back-to-back in which I'm very happy about those choices, and I'm super excited, and I feel fulfilled in what we've been able to accomplish.

[21:32] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, but I don't want to get stuck in a producer box. Like, I don't want to, you know, every time we're putting together the show, like everybody's always thinking of somebody else to put in the show. Hey, hey, I can do it too. And I even so like my partners, like y'all do realize that I could also do this. Yeah, I'm just saying, put me in, coach.

[21:57] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, you know, like you said, sometimes you have to like go out there and get a different opportunity for the people that's right in your face to see what it is, you know what I mean? And I, you know, and I'm excited, like I said, of what I've been doing and what I'm continuing to do as a producer, but I just don't want to get stuck in the box to where people think, oh, she doesn't even want to do that. She just wants to produce. No, I still like to perform right where it all started.

[22:22] Kandi Burruss: Okay. So what was your biggest takeaway from & Juliet? What did you enjoy the most?

[22:31] Kandi Burruss: So, biggest takeaway is how nice the entire cast is. So we have fun backstage as well as that's the show. It's a fun show, so you have a fun time if you just going to watch the show, but even backstage, we're having a good time. We're playing games. We have dance competitions backstage. We're doing all kinds of stuff back there that y'all don't know about, but it's just been a pleasant experience from beginning to end. The producers have been awesome. It's kind of cool to get treated like talent sometimes, you know, right? Instead of being in charge, like having to handle shit, yeah, worry about anything, like they worrying about it for you.

[23:15] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, so all those things are pretty cool. It's been a joy to work with them as far as like for me, working on my stamina, making sure that I'm prepared to do eight shows a week. You know, I could, I like, I literally lost 20 pounds from I started the show in December 11, but December 1st, I stopped eating dairy, cut out all white sugar, everything, and changed my diet completely.

[23:43] Kandi Burruss: Man, maybe I should go into Andrea.

[23:48] Kandi Burruss: Well, congratulations, you were stellar in that role, and so if you missed it, sorry guys, you missed it. Hopefully there's a bootleg going around somewhere.

[23:55] Kandi Burruss: Yeah, so now you're producing August Wilson's Joe Turner's Coming Gone. Yes. Congratulations.

[24:03] Kandi Burruss: Thank you. Tell us a little bit about how this came to you. Well, I've been consistent with Brian Moreland as my producing partner for this is our fifth production together. First one was Thoughts of a Color Man. That was right when the pandemic was opening back up. Remember the Broadway shut down? I sure do, that was crazy. Remember that? So we were part of bringing it back, and how beautiful was the comeback? I remember the first Broadway show I saw after the pandemic, I just hyperventilated crying. It was scary. It was the show was amazing, but it was scary because that was my first time. Oh, then on top of that, we, you know, people were still trying to figure out how was it safe to come back to the theater? There were so many more rules, which obviously over time impacted our show because of, you know, people don't think about the production budget that we got to stick to and the COVID.

[24:56] Kandi Burruss: The rules. Yeah. So it was a lot that ended up impacting the show, but it was a lot of learning and, uh, I felt like we accomplished a lot as well and, um, in a significant way. So, um, I was very happy with that experience so much that I want to do it again. And so when we came back with the piano lesson in a time where everybody was very comfortable coming back to the theater, we started, you know, selling our shows. We got the, um, Tony nomination. It was an amazing experience. The production was stellar. Yes. Um, and that was our first August Wilson production. Um, and which, you know, obviously, um, I always got to give Brian, he's our lead producer. Okay. Um, I give, I always try to lean in on him and give him his credit because you know, he kept that relationship to make sure that we could, you know, we'll be able to come back and do it again to be able to say, okay, now we're doing August Wilson, Joe Turner's coming on, you know, which is important.

[25:59] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Is it, did I hear this right? That it's at the original theater? It's going to be right.

[26:03] Kandi Burruss: Yeah. It's going to be at the original theater. It premiered at. Yes. That's so crazy and beautiful and so special. So how's the process been so far? You've been in rehearsals, like give us, give us some inside scoop.

[26:14] Kandi Burruss: This is, um, it's slightly different than before, but it's still, it's still been great. Um, so pretty much everybody came together for the first day of rehearsal. They, we do like this meeting before the rehearsal and everybody agree. Yeah. Meet and greet. Um, that's for like, you know, some of the producers and then all of the people that are working on the team to make this a success. So, and of course our stars, we got to, you know, we got to meet them and mix and mingle. I mean, casual Taraji and Cedric the entertainer, like that is going to be. Very, I'm super excited about that. Like I can't wait to see Taraji P Henson hit the stage for her Broadway debut. Okay. She kills it in everything she does. So I'm really excited to see how she brings it to the stage and Cedric, I love him. Like he has such range as an actor that I can't wait to see what he's going to bring to this world.

[27:15] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Um, so what is your biggest difference? What, what is your biggest difference of fulfillment from performing and producing?

[27:23] Kandi Burruss: Um, well for me, I mean, just really, just from a aspect of, you know, making sure that the word is out there about the show, um, you know, helping bring other people on board as far as if, you know, producers, you know, because it's all about the money raised and, and then, you know, going through, like, I don't get final say on things, but Brian definitely does a great job of like keeping me included from the beginning to say, here's what we thinking about this. You know, as far as like, even when he was going through casting, you know, for me to say, well, I don't know what you do. Why don't you, you know, I'll study a couple of people and we've done that on all the, um, productions that we've done thus far.

But, um, it's just having a little bit more knowledge about what's happening instead of finding out late. Right. You know, when you're in the cast, it's a little different. Yeah. When you're in the cast, it's a little different. You don't really know that, you know, the numbers or what's, you know, whereas, you know, I'm privy to more information, which I love being the Taurus woman that I am. Hey, Hey. Yeah. I'm a little bit more privy to a lot more information that, um, everybody else doesn't really necessarily get to know.

[28:38] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: For the listeners who might not know a lot about Broadway, can you give us like something that maybe the normal person walking down the sidewalk wouldn't know about Broadway from being an insider?

[28:51] Kandi Burruss: Um, well, a lot of these ideas that you're seeing on Broadway took years to come to the stage, you know, and it costs a lot of money to keep a show going on Broadway, you know, and shows close early, you know, people like, Oh, that was a great show. You know, why did, well, you know, there's so many factors that could go into that. Was it promoted well enough? You know, how do you get people in the seats to buy these tickets? You know, it's like, it costs money to, you know, get, you know, especially like if you get big names and all those things, like, you know, it's not an easy thing to do. And, um, and so I don't think that people understand that type of process of how do you keep it going?

And that they're not that many theater owners. And so you have to convince the theater owner to even allow your production to be in their theater. Right. That alone is tough, you know, so you can't just up and decide tomorrow. Yeah, I'm going to put a play together and I'm going to be at the Barrymore. It doesn't work like that, you know? So it's a lot of, you know, building relationships and, um, you know, staying connected with people, raising money, doing all of that.

[30:07] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Uh, it's the business of the show business, right?

[30:11] Kandi Burruss: Right. There it is. I'm going to turn that question and ask you the same thing about Bravo. What is something, some inside scoop, some tea that we might not know as viewers about Bravo?

[30:21] Kandi Burruss: Um, I think people think that everything on there is scripted and it is not. Let's start there. Like at all. No. So, okay. This is what, this is how it plays out. So, you know, the story has to continue. Right. So say for instance, let's say we own a reality show together. Right. And, um, this is not a show I'm producing. I didn't, I don't know what's happening and I don't have any say on what gets kept in the show. What's not, you know what I mean? People think we do, we do not. So say for instance, you and I, let's say it was me, you and one more person and I had an argument with you about the chicken that you were eating that day. And I'm like, why are you eating chicken? And you was like, why are you, you know, fat shaming me or whatever.

Okay. So the person that was in the, um, the lunch with us, that next scene may be her going to have lunch with somebody else. And she was like, well, you know, they were over there, you know, okay. So in real life, that person may not have brought it up again. Right. But in real life, okay. So the producer said, okay, you're going to meet with them and make sure at some point in there, you got to talk about what candy said to her. Yeah. They're not telling that person what to say, what to say their opinion of that, of how they can relate that information if they were mad about it or if they weren't mad about it. Like they're just saying, you know, you got to add this to your conversation. You get what I mean?

So it's a lot of leeway in that. Now, if you come back real shady, that was on you. Okay. Yeah. They didn't tell you to be shady. Bring it up. It was up to you and you decided to be extra shady when you pass that information on now. So it may not, you know, people get mad. Why she always spreading stuff. Now that's the only thing that I can say. They may not have spreaded it on their choice, but everything they say elevated it. They elevated it on their own will.

[32:20] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: That's right. Thank you. We love a little tea. What did you do before?

[32:24] Kandi Burruss: Yeah. We love a little tea. Um, so you do so much, you know, you're such an entrepreneur as well with your beauty collection and all of these businesses you have on top of producing, on top of performing, on top of songwriting. How do you keep balance and how do you do it all?

[32:42] Kandi Burruss: I'm still working on the balance. I don't know how people just easily find balance. Um, the one thing, you know, like even when you, especially like when you have kids, right. It's like, um, you know, I see sometimes people be commenting like, Oh, she's, you know, doing Broadway. Okay. Well I'm doing Broadway for a couple of months, but the rest of the year I'm still at home dropping, you know, get my kids up and getting ready for school, hyping them up every day. Yeah. I'm flying home every off day for even if it's just a few hours, just so I can hang out with them. I'm coming back. So it's like, people don't know, you know, your, your balance may be different than someone else's balance. You know what I mean?

Like, or even like time for myself, I don't have a lot of time for myself. This is an off day for me right now, but I'm here with you. So it's just, um, I'm still trying to find a balance because yeah, I am driven and I do think me being driven does help help my children as well. Think about it. Everything that I've done thus far has helped Riley. Now she has her own show and doing her own thing. Ace has been in, you know, scripted TV shows already. You know, now I'm working on my little one, blaze. She got to get to work. She's little, right? She's like six. Let's go. Let's go. The clock is ticking. She has a pageant coming up. We're going to be working. Let's go get it together. Little girl.

[34:09] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: I love that. But yeah, I mean, you know, we all are still, I don't know unless you are just somebody who was able to just be kept and sit at home all day. You know, I don't know how you maintain a career and just have complete balance. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if anybody ever will achieve true balance. I think that's, I think that's part of being somebody who has many different hats that they wear and many different dreams. Other side of that coin. Um, I know some people who, um, you know, totally pour themselves into their children. Right. And then when they kid, when the kids turn 18 and go off to college, you're like, what am I doing? They don't even know themselves anymore. They don't know what to do. They're totally lost. And it's kind of like, well, how do we find that balance to where you don't get totally lost, but you, you know, still giving them what they need and all the things.

[35:59] Kandi Burruss: Well, thank you so much. I think you're such a great role model to women, right? Specifically to say that you can do it all. There is no, there is no reason that you can't be a mother and do a million amazing things. So thank you for everything that you do. This has been so fun.

[36:17] Kandi Burruss: Thank you so much. I just want to let you know you're now an official odd woman. Boom. Before we let you go, can you offer up some advice to anybody who may be listening specifically the women, specifically the odd women who maybe want a career in the arts, but are letting their insecurities in their way or feeling like they're not good enough or that they don't have the time and they don't have the balance. What is your advice to somebody listening?

[36:29] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Yeah. You don't need followers to be an artist. Right.

[36:29] Kandi Burruss: Right.

[36:35] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Candy, this has been so much fun, even though you fat shamed me.

[36:38] Kandi Burruss: I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Thank you so much. Everybody needs to go see Joe Turner's come and gone at the Barrymore theater. Starting previews on March 30th. Hey, congratulations. You're amazing. Thank you so much.

[36:44] Kandi Burruss: My advice to someone that's listening is start working on your next move. Start working on your next move. It's like, you know, a lot of ideas that we have, you know, we just keep talking about it. Then you find yourself six months, you keep talking about it. You gotta put some action behind these ideas that you got. Just, just work on it. Even if it's something small, something small, just start taking action towards whatever it is that you are into something that you just know that you're good at. Stop thinking that you have to have a million followers tomorrow. No, it can start very, very small and you can build a movement.

[36:56] Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo: Hey Odd Squad, it's me again, Samantha Dawn Tuozzolo. Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please like, subscribe and follow. We will be releasing new episodes on most Fridays. So follow us on social media to keep up at odd woman show on Instagram and TikTok. And you can follow me at Sammy Tutz.

[37:19] Kandi Burruss: And I'm done.