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[0:00] Leah Walsh: Hi, and welcome to The Compass, the podcast documenting the struggles of life as an artist.

[0:05] Leah Walsh: I'm Leah Walsh. Hi everyone. It's been a really busy month for Frankie and I. We figured out we're somehow seeing every member of our extended family in a month. And we're flying out tomorrow to Tampa to a wedding and where we'll see my mom and her husband. And then um hopefully things will quiet down after that. But I've been scrambling a bit to get this done and to um to feel like any sort of any sort of individual between going to my day job and coming home and the baby stuff and everything. So that's where I am. I am struggling but will prevail, having a lot of fun in some ways and um struggling a lot with others. So that's my little check-in. Um my guest today is Erin Cherry. That's her full name, but she goes by Cherry.

Erin is a fantastic actor who I've been wanting to have on the podcast for a long time. We've tried several times, and schedules always got in the way, so I'm really glad that um we persisted and managed to get this interview in. We met we met a long time ago randomly. I was at the Guthrie doing a summer program before my last year at Juilliard, and she was there performing in a midsummer night's dream. And then we just kept in touch after that, became Facebook friends, realized we had a lot of friends in common. I really admire how dedicated she is and driven about her career, and she actually just won an Emmy, which was very exciting for her role in an online series that we'll talk all about.

So very exciting. Congratulations, Erin. She's just someone who's really thoughtful about how she's living her life and how she's taking care of herself in conjunction with her career as an artist. So I hope you enjoy the 139th episode of the Compass.

[2:02] Erin Cherry: What do you do to try to keep from going to the dark side as an artist?

[2:07] Erin Cherry: Oh um, working out. I work out a lot. I kind of I go to the gym almost every day except Sundays. I get a little OCD about that. Therapy. I'm definitely therapy. And then um making sure I have quiet time, giving myself a lot of quiet time, meditating, even if I have to go to church and just sing. I feel like self-care is very important in this business. So um I'm glad you asked that question. Because I'm gonna ask you a student just a tiny.

[2:34] Leah Walsh: Okay.

[2:35] Erin Cherry: That's perfect. All right. But yes, um, self-care is very important to me, but I do it by because being physical, because I've always been physical all my life. I grew up dancing, always moving, always shaking, and working out gives me that outlet, especially when I'm stressed. I'll do some cardio, I'll go rollerblade, I'll take a gym class. So I do a lot of conscious, yes, yes. Conscious thing for you. And when you when I say the dark side, what does that bring up in your mind? What does that look like most often for you in relation to your work as an artist?

[3:05] Erin Cherry: Um, shutting down emotionally, um, dealing with uh myself worth, um getting depressed because I just when I beat myself up or try what I tend to do sometimes, and I'm working on this, not comparing myself to other, it doesn't matter what level you're on, you're always looking and going, what's uh why am I not there or I want to be there, and then um I'm going through this process right now of working through dreams unrealized and um how to create new dreams and new discovery of dreams, and some of those dreams don't have to be the end, um, that they still can be realized. And what I mean by that is w what I talked about a lot in therapy in the beginning of this phase that I'm in, is that I had a age of by the time I'm this age, by the time I'm this age, I'm gonna have this, I'm gonna have that, I'm gonna be doing this, I'm gonna be gonna cover this magazine.

Right. Things like that, you know. You come out of you come out of grad sch grad school and next thing you know, you just have all you just have these deadlines as you say, and um and just sitting in therapy and crying it out and saying, I don't have those things and what does that mean and how and is that a failure and what successes do I ha have I had, things like that. And so, um, yeah, the dark side for me is part of grieving through that, having myself worth and questioning, am I good enough? Why am I here? Am I meant to be doing this? And I can just just cry for days and I allow myself that cleansing, but then I have to pick myself back up and go. But that's what comes up for me.

[4:41] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Can I so intrigued by this what you just mentioned about the dreams unrealized. Is that a term that you spoke about in therapy? Or is that something that you've just been developing on your own?

[4:52] Erin Cherry: Yeah. I know, it's just something I disco I just talked about in therapy. I w I just remember sitting there and just saying, I have all these dreams unrealized, and that's the quote that you know that I use because um it c I wanna say hopeful for some of them because just because they're unrealized they they didn't meet the deadline then doesn't mean that they can't meet the deadline in the future, if you know, 'cause I'm trying to let go of deadlines, but whatever that means, like I can still walk a red carpet or I could still find the partner, right? You know, I could be and uh uh let me give you some backstory. So my career back in the day when I got out of grad school was supposed to be um Carrie Washington's career, basically.

I have my own TV show, I'm married to this beautiful football player, I have two kids, we're walking the red carpet together, you know. I'm on the all the cover magazines because at the time there wasn't a lot of black women doing that, and so my dream was I wanted to break barriers, like I want to be the first of something, I want to be the first to make history uh in something, and I was like, okay, I'm gonna be this person, and then you wake up one day and you're like, Carrie Washington, who I love, and I think you know she's doing a great job, she got scandal, and then she becomes like she makes history, and I'm like, okay, and I see that, and I'm like, that was supposed to be me. And grieving that and realizing okay, that is not your path, and being okay with what the universe gives you and the path that you need to take, and go, okay, so if that's not my path, what what are you trying to tell me, universe?

What are you trying to tell me, God, goddess? Um, where am I supposed to be? And so I had to grieve that because I'm I woke up one day, I'm like, I don't have that. So, what does that mean? Does that mean I failed? You know, things like that. So that's give you some insight of what where that was coming from.

[6:38] Leah Walsh: No, I totally I'm I need to sit down and evaluate that more specifically for myself. Very interesting.

[6:46] Erin Cherry: Yeah, dreams and realized, and some of them are you have to let them go, and then some of them you go, okay, you know what? How can we look at it from a different with fresh eyes from a different perspective where you are now and how can you still achieve that? But it's hard, it's a very painful journey. Yeah, lots of tears.

[7:05] Leah Walsh: How long have you been in New York?

[7:07] Erin Cherry: Ooh, 20 years.

[7:08] Leah Walsh: Oh my goodness.

[7:09] Erin Cherry: Yes, 20 years.

[7:11] Leah Walsh: Are you a lifer? You feel like this place is your home now?

[7:14] Erin Cherry: I feel like this place is my home now. Um I do want to be by coastal. That's a goal of mine. Uh but I also want to be a homeowner one day. And I know I don't want to h own a home in New York City. But I could go upstate or Connecticut or somewhere. But I do know that I don't want to go back to the West Coast. I grew up on the West Coast. I grew up in Las Vegas. Uh-huh and did you go to that performing arts high school?

[7:38] Erin Cherry: No, I wish. You know like Routina went there.

[7:40] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[7:41] Erin Cherry: A bunch of my friends from undergrad went there too.

[7:44] Leah Walsh: Okay.

[7:44] Erin Cherry: I wish. I 'cause it's so funny because everybody asked me if I know Routine and I wish I we never met across ne our paths never crossed. And she you know graduated from my undergrad the spring before I started. Oh wow. And then she went to Juilliard and graduated. And we m kind of met in between and she gave me some advice going there but she graduated the spring before I started like six degrees of separation. But yes, no I haven't met her. I would love to meet her but um uh she's on Queen Sugar now and she's doing an amazing job. I but every time I bring up Vegas people go, oh you guys do you guys know each other you guys are are you guys related? You guys look like sisters you guys and I'm like I wish but no but no I just growing up on the West Coast I always felt out of place in a lot of ways 'cause everything's slower pace.

The minute I learned how to drive I was always in LA at the beach, you know, 'cause it's only four hours. And I would just um hang out on the beach and just dream about my life. And I remember the first time I visited New York, I was just like, I belong in New York. And so since that first visit back in the day, I just kept saying, when I'm done with school, when I'm ready, when I grow up, and quotes, I want to m move to New York. And then I went to grad school, I went to Rutgers in Jersey. Um then I decided to stay here in New York and not go back to LA. And I still feel that way. Even when I go back to LA now, when I was just there a couple of months ago, um, I it's a I'll visit and I can be there to for work, but I just something about New York that just disgrabs me. It's like a um it's like an abusive relationship. Like I love, I love and I hate you, but I just can't be without you kind of thing.

[9:25] Leah Walsh: Yeah. But I do need to get away. There's times where I'm like, okay, I want to slow down, I want to get away. It's better the more you leave, I feel like a little bit of time away, and then it's sweeter when you come back.

[9:29] Erin Cherry: Sweeter when you come back.

[9:37] Leah Walsh: I agree with that, yeah, definitely. What is your family think of you making a life as an artist? Are any of them in a creative field as well?

[9:46] Erin Cherry: No, my mother was a teacher, she's retired. Um, my step um father um worked in area fifty-one. So I don't even know half the things he did because he he couldn't tell me. And um my dad is artistic. Um he when I was when I was growing up, he wanted to be a comedian. So I have I have min images of him. It was short-lived, but I have images of him writing his jokes, telling his you know, getting his jokes out on the family, seeing if we like them, and I remember going to visit him, like seeing him on stage, and my mother loved the arts, as so when I was a young buck, she would take me to see plays, and my mom said she would take me even when I was a baby, young, but my first memory is um I was seven, and she said we were on some college campus.

I can't remember she I can't remember where we were, but we were seeing a a college campus play, and they were doing for colored girls, and I remember it to this day, because I remember sitting on the edge of my seat, my eyes just open like diamonds, you know, just like silver coins and I I don't know what's going on. But I just remember looking at my mother going, I want to do this. And at the time I was already like dancing and things like that, but not really acting or theater. And then my mom was like, okay, let's let's um let's see what we can do. And then in her mind she's like, Oh my gosh, what am I gonna do? I have now I'm a stage mom, you know, so but she didn't she never talked me out of it.

She was always supportive. She's seen almost everything I've done. I can count on one hand she's missed maybe maybe like five shows in my career, you know. And so she um like I just did I was just in Denver doing a show and she flew out to Denver. You know, my mother is my number one fan and um she's been very supportive and I just have a I my cousin Jamal he just graduated yesterday um with the MFA and film production. So we have it's all ramp it's yeah it's through the it's through the family. Um but only so far there's like two of us that are really pursuing it. But people appreciate it. Yeah they appreciate it difference when you're trying to talk about yes the stuff you're dealing with. Yeah very supportive and um very proud and you know and just always sending me love texts or emails saying you know I support you, you know, things like that. So yeah.

[12:00] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I want to talk about all sorts of things.

[12:04] Erin Cherry: Okay, yes.

[12:06] Leah Walsh: But since this just happened to you I feel like we should just talk about it right away and then we can kind of work backwards.

[12:11] Erin Cherry: Okay.

[12:12] Leah Walsh: That you just won an Emmy.

[12:13] Erin Cherry: Yes I that old thing, that little thing.

[12:17] Leah Walsh: And what's the category officially called? Because I want to say it's it's it's not a web series.

[12:23] Erin Cherry: Well, yeah, I mean is that what they call it. Well, no, they call it um I got Best Supporting Actress and a Digital Drama series.

[12:29] Leah Walsh: Okay.

[12:30] Erin Cherry: And so it's interesting because I guess the from what I'm gonna this is I don't know I'm gonna have it right, but from how I understand it from what they say to us on the show is um there's so many different platforms now, right? So many live streams, different ways of being an actress or an actor. And um they are trying to recognize talent in those areas that have never really been recognized before and they're trying to grow it and build it. Right. And see that it's a big yeah, they see it's a big market, and so um it's it's a new category from what I understand, and um to really be able to get together, create your own web series, put it on a platform, but then actually re n know that some people could actually look at it.

Because I didn't I learned this as I go 'cause uh I had no idea that the Emmys that I would even get a nomination or they were even on the radar of the show or that they even look at those categories like look at web series, things like that. But apparently that's what they do now. But yes, the title is um Supporting Actors in a a Digital Drama series. And they and they call it daytime it was the daytime Emmys, and um I guess because of the platform that it's on, it it's under that category. Cause you know, like you have shows like This Is Us or you know, um Empire, things like that. Those are the Emmy Emmys and I guess like nighttime emmys I say they don't say nighttime, but those kind of shows. But um, you know, it's very interesting to even be considered a daytime show. But I guess it's cause you can watch it in a daytime.

[14:02] Erin Cherry: Watch it whenever you want. And watch it whenever you want. So it's just very it's I'm learning as I go, but it's very interesting. But um it's been surreal. I wasn't expecting to win and I walk in my house and I look at her and I'm just like I can't believe you're here. There's I still feel sometimes out of a body experience. Um because I literally I didn't write anything down when I won. I went up there, I babbled.

[14:27] Erin Cherry: I was like I hope I thank my mother and I went back and I listened to what I said which was incoherent in the first half of it. But I did thank my mother eventually. I was like okay if did I thank my mother as long as I got that out, as long as I got that out, you know. And so um yeah and uh now it's um a matter of learning this next level you know my manager he's like okay now we have to talk to agents, you know um this can be like a tool. A tool you're gonna use it. Exactly. So that's where we're at right now, strategizing. That's good. Um how okay I've been meeting with publicists, trying to find a publicist, you know, a publicist that can work with my budget because I was thinking yeah a lot of these publicists are really expensive and they're I get it.

They're worth it. They're worth their money 'cause they do a lot of work. But you know, meeting with them and saying, Okay, this is moving faster than my pocketbook, right? So it's like I wasn't expecting to win. I I g I have this in me, but I need you right now because I really need to get people to know who I am and who's this newcomer on the scene. But I don't have ten thousand dollars to pay you, you know, things like that. And so if we can go down the road and lead to other things. Yes then I can pay you. So it's like one of those humbling, humbling oh my gosh conversations because it goes up against my worth in the sense of like one, I don't want to ask that. Like I wanna be going this is back to my own stuff in my therapy.

I want to be that person that walks in with a million dollars in a bank and go, I need you, I'm gonna pay you $10,000 a month. Let's go. I want to be that kind of powerful woman when I walk in the room, and I don't have that kind of power, which is you know, okay, because I'm powerful in other ways, but it is a very humbling experience to walk into the room and go, okay, I know on the outside it looks great, but behind closed doors, the reality is I don't have Regina King money or you know, Viola Davis money. This in me could help me get there, but are you willing to work with me and help me get to where I want to be so then I can, you know, pay you what you're wanting. And we can build a relationship.

It's about not just right now, whoever I pick on or take on, I want to be with you for years to come. You know, and some are like, no, we don't work that way, and that's fine. And some are like, well, let's do a proposal, let's see what we can do. So I'm just hoping one of them works out, but it's um dealing with um the embarrassment side of it, you know, feeling embarrassed at times because I feel like the expectation is I should when I walk in the room, like, why am I even here? Because I should have this money, you should pay me this money. And that could not very well be what's happening, but it's my own stuff that I recognize that I put on myself, and then I get embarrassed because I'm like, oh goodness.

So it just brings up it's so funny. The Emmy has brought up a lot of my stuff. And I'm like, okay, I'm sort of running from it. Yes. And so instead of running from it, I'm gonna embrace it and work through it. But it's very interesting what an Emmy can do or whatever level you go, because it just brings out your insecurities, and that's what I'm dealing with. Um, well, I'm sure part of it must also be strange that like you've been working hard at this for so long. So it's like you say it, you use the term like newcomer on the scene, but it's like yeah maybe to this one sliver of the industry which might help you like get into but you've been around you've been doing things everybody knows you in our circle in New York at least everybody knows Erin Cherry.

So I'm sure that's an interesting thing too to like feel like the new kid. Yes and I completely feel like the new kid on the on the bottom of the totem pole. And I don't mind working my way up because I'm a hard worker but I do um feel like and this like I said is not may not be the reality that people are looking down on like this new girl who's she has no money who where does she come from but you know at least people are showing up to meet with me. I'll say that. And I'm sure most of them are not yeah that's what I that's like a lesson I always have to relearn is like most people are not thinking about me. Yes. They are thinking about their own insecurities and they're probably not thinking of how stupid that thing I just said yes yeah felt to me.

And I'm working on that I have to just really talk to I have to really be good to myself and talk to myself in a very loving way which I I welcome but it's interesting how I just have to remind myself to talk good to myself and I don't know if that's a woman thing society thing because we're just we're inundated with so much and I feel like when I talk to my girlfriends we're always unlearning and and unpacking stuff that society has placed on us that we don't want to we don't want placed on us and I feel like that's a part of it. Right. Yeah. Tell me about the show itself that you won for yeah. Well um After Forever, it's on Amazon. Um, it's um a story about finding love after fifty. Um, of course, not me, 'cause you know, I mean, I could very well be 60 and look amazing.

But um, I play the best friend of one of the leads, um, played by Kevin Spearis. Um Brian and Jason are the characters on the show, and he um goes through a lot, and I'll just say he goes through a lot that a lot of people can relate to. So if you watch the show, it's very universal in the sense that you would go, Okay, if you've been in love, you love people, you love you have relationships that are important to you, you're gonna connect to the show because it's all about relationships. And um I play Brenda, who is his best friend, and I am there to help him get through things, right? And it's so funny because I'm like, it's and when I say it, I'm like, it's such a cliche. I'm the the b the um best bad black friend, right?

Right. And so it's interesting because when I uh when I talk to one of the writers, Michael Slade, he's that one of the head writers, you know, I talked to him about my concerns and he's been very open to say he's like, We're gonna make sure that doesn't happen. Even with the first season when I sat with him, we connected and clicked right away, and I gave him some insight. I just had questions. I and um and I always approach him in a way of like, because my goal is to not cross burn bridges, I guess, but how can I get what I want or need, you know, a a cook that can come across without blowing up the whole ship or sinking the ship, right? And I say that in a sense of like this these writers have an idea of how the character should go, and then you you read it and you go, Okay, well, this this is my input, my insight, this is what I'm feeling.

What do you mean by this? How do you feel about this? And Michael and I had that conversation and he was very open with it to me, which I loved because you don't get a you don't get that a lot. So it and I knew right away that he was different and special in that way. And then he went back and he made a little changes to Brenda that he felt he was like that he felt that what he said to me was I listened to you and you um really just you know got my thinking cap on and he sent me the script again, let me know what you think, and I was like, This is great. And then That's so nice. It's great, right? It was a great feeling. And it's so funny because then he's like, Well, it's between you and another person.

I was like, What? I was like, Well, Danny, you might go what's going on? How is that possible? And so, um, and I just remember going, Okay, I would love to do this, but whatever my path is, my path is, and you you just I just went on to live my life and live in my life like it's golden. And um, and then I get an email from him saying that we really want you to come on board. And it was great because it was very fascinating in the sense of in hindsight, it was one of those things where I didn't have to audition, like you hear stories about what I was gonna ask if just how if you no auditions or how this worked out. Well, we met through a mutual friend, my friend Melissa Maxwell gave him my num my name and number and all of that, and he contacted me and we talked about her, how much we love her, and then it was just meetings.

We talked because he was like he wanted to see me connect, he wanted to see how I understood Brenda at the time when he sent me the script, and it was just it's an experience I've never had before because you know, I'm just used to going auditioning, going, You're not right. Okay. And then um and you hear stories of actors on different levels, how they said we had a meeting, we talked about the character, and then here I am sitting having an interview about the movie I just made. And I'm just like, wow, that is so nice, Jennifer Lawrence. You know what? So nice, Viola Davis. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, oh yeah, we just met and I just said I like this part, and I got the part, and I'm like okay.

I it always makes me laugh when I'm like late night talk shows and stuff. They ask them, like, Well, how did you decide you wanted to do this movie? And I'm like, it must be so nice to get to that point where that's about you choosing the movie. Exactly. And that's what not about the job choosing it. Listen, I I keep putting out to the universe, like I look forward to the day where I just don't have to audition as much. And I hope one day that happens, but I don't like auditioning. It drives me nuts. The things that we the things that actors go through, we just we love the craft, right? But I do not I was talking to my manager about this the other day. I'm like, I don't like auditioning. I can't master it.

I don't get it. And then I feel like as much as I try to show what I can do, it still doesn't come across of what I can do. Like I see actors, I look at some of their audition tapes, like on YouTube and things, and some of them are good at it. It's a skill and a technique that I feel like I haven't mastered. But it's different. And it's different. And that I'm like, and there are actors who and that's why you hear stories about actors who can walk in a room and nail the room and then they're fall apart on stage. Mm-hmm. And then there's actors who can't master the audition room, but if they're on stage, they're amazing. Yeah. I feel like I'm the person on stage that's amazing, but in the audition room, I fall apart.

Yeah. And so I just want to get to a place where I just because I don't I just don't like the anxiety that it brings up in me, right? Yeah. And I would love to pick and choose the projects that I want or how a black woman represented in the world. And yeah, and so with this experience, I look back and I didn't have that. Like we just talked. He came in, he trusted me. He said, I want to give you the part. I came on set and they all took me under their wing. They treated me really well. Um, Kevin Spiritus, who's you know, more seasoned, because I'm the newcomer as far as when it comes to sets, right? Being on set. You've done more stage. Yeah, I've done more stage. I'm a theater girl. Like my resume is all theaters, right?

I've been at the Guthrie, I've been everywhere. And so um and you know, going in the environment already nervous, but knowing that you can do it, but it's just like okay, I just don't know how the other people are gonna be, the cast is gonna be and and when you watch a show, you'll see how much love people have with each other and you see it reflect in the characters because in between takes everybody was getting along, laughing, having a good time. Kevin was good to me. You know, there's certain terms I didn't know or and like in in between takes we'd be in the corner running our lines while they change. Like it was just it was just a love fest. And so um I just really stumbled onto something that was really great.

Cause it could have been no one gets along or there's drama and there was no drama it was none of that and I was like this is amazing because there's always one bad apple. And we didn't we didn't have one. Amazing. Yeah. I was like okay I'll take this now as we go forward who knows because you know you become a family and then you bicker like family. I don't like ask us if we have a fifth planning to keep going yeah we're gonna do um season two in um September we're gonna shoot that they're already um you know getting together pre-production and dates and things like that so I'll I'll know more soon. And they shot here? We shoot in New York yeah so yeah so second season's gonna be happening and I'm I'm excited about that and to see where Brenda goes and how she grows and all the characters really but um yeah it just never a journey that started in a coffee shop never would have thought it it would end with the Emmy.

It's just I just I just want to work. I just want to I'm just hungry. I'm just about the work. Can we talk a little bit about some of uh like you've done a lot of regional theater, you've done a lot of plays in New York, but like in between those when you're trying to like stave off the dark side when you're not working, like the kinds of things you've tried to ignite for yourself, projects you've started for yourself that maybe No, I'm just putting words in your mouth. And maybe give you some like control when you're not in. I hear that. I hear that. Um it started uh this is a long-winded answer. Hopefully I can find the words to give it. I don't know. It's just this is what's coming to me, I'll say that.

Okay. Um so I'm MFA at Rutgers. Right. Graduated, you know, they don't prepare you. You just get out, even if you take business class, you get out, you're like, what is happening? What is going on? And I've been out six months, and I don't have my own TV show. Why is that? You know, so you're going through all this stuff, right? And then I remember my mentor who was my teacher at at Rutgers, I had Bill Espermay with Rest in Peace, and then I had Maggie Flanagan both together. And I remember going to Maggie's office at her studio because I was so just like, what is going on? I don't know what I'm doing. You know, school doesn't prepare you for the first year, second year out in that way. Emotionally, spiritually, all of it.

And I'm in her office, I'm just boohooing, talking, don't know what I'm doing. And so she just looks at me and she goes, Well, why don't you come here? 'Cause she she has her own acting studio. And I was like, What do you mean? 'Cause I'm like, I do not want to go through training again and kick my butt. I just paid for that. You know, I just paid for that. And I'm still paying it off, I'm still in debt. So, you know, um, she's like, Why don't you come here and and teach with me? And my ear burned up. I was like, What? And so, and that's how I ended up at Maggie Flanagan's, which I've been there for like eight or nine years. Oh my gosh. Coaching, teaching cold reading. I do um classes and individual teaching.

I do private coachings, and then it's a two-year conservatory and um cold reading and monologue class, and it started me again. This is my path I see in hindsight. I walked in not asking for her to for a job, just saying, You're my mentor, help me out, what's going on? And then she's like, You can train with me uh with the Meisner technique. She's like, There's not that many teachers who study under Sandy Meisner himself, Bill did, Maggie did some a few other teachers, and then she's like, I I want to pass the torch on eventually, and there's not that many women teachers in Meisner, and she's like, You'll be the first African American woman teaching Meisner.

[28:55] Erin Cherry: She's like, it seems like all win win win win. She just pulled those and then she just pulled it out in that thin air in her office, and I was like, are you serious right now? She's like, yes. So I decided to do that. I trained with her for three years just as a teacher. So I had to come to class, I had to sit in class, I had to take notes, I had to check in with her, I had to really get the language and do, and it was a big commitment and it was a lot of work and I couldn't go away as much, you know, regionally, because I was like, well, once I'm done with this, I can go wherever I want and teach when I decide to teach, you know. Because Maggie was even like, she's like, you know, if you decide to have a family, you know, in the future, you whatever you want to do.

She's like, do you have this technique as a teacher where you can just stay in one place and do what you have to do, right? Right. So I trained with her for three years before I could even touch my own student. And then after that, I was sub and then I became a coach because then it's so funny because after I was done, I started getting regional gigs, right? But it's probably because I was so focused on something else and not the damn career. That's the way it happens. That's the way it happens, right? So I'm, you know, walking in the room, booking, I'm like, okay, great, you know, because I'm not like I have to get this, there's no desperate energy going on. And then Maggie, that's when Maggie and I were like, listen, because if you're gonna teach my for a two-year conservatory, that's a commitment.

And I wouldn't want to leave in the middle of, you know, because I feel like if I start a class, I want to see them all the way through their training. And so then that's when Maggie was like, well, why don't we have you be a coach? So when they need to be put on tape, you want to help them with the grad school auditions, or if you know they're stuck in class, I can send them to you, things like that. And so that's how the coaching came about because I can pick and choose my hours when I'm in town, I can coach, I can go away. Because Maggie was, Maggie, she still is very big on this, but at the time she was saying to me, you can do it all. If you want to coach, if you want to teach, because I was like, how am I gonna do this?

I can't do this. She's like, listen, yes, you can. I don't want you to feel like you can't do it. She's like, I want you to think of it as an expansion, like you're expanding. You just expanding your toolbox. That is it. And that amazing. And isn't it amazing? I mean, just that's how I ended up at Maggie's, because she took me under her wing, and I still to this day coach. I teach, you know, and when I'm, you know, I don't do as much regional anymore because I was like, I just don't want to live out of a box anymore. Cause you get older and you're like, I just can't, I don't want it. I have to be, it has to be big for me to go, like Mark Tabor or the Globe, and I'm like, you know, Hamlet, you know?

Like it has to be something big. But um, but yeah, so that's that, and then that was, that's so that helped me with the dark times in between because I love going to class, I love teaching, I love watching them learn. It's a day job too, right? And as a day job, actually. So it's so great. And um, and then even with Charlie, he runs the studio now because Maggie's retired. We went to school together, we were in the same class. He's the master, they call him the master main teacher 'cause he's the head head teachers of all the teachers. And then like I'll sub for him, there's Karen, I'll go in and sub for her if they if they're sick or they can't make it, but I teach my classes and I coach and I love it.

So um, so that helps me. Um and it makes me a better actress being a teacher. So that and then um, and then I have my own little talk show called Sundays with the Cherry on Top and I started that because I just didn't want to wait for the phone to ring. I was like, you know, because of course I want to do film and TV and and have financial stability. And then I was like, you know what, I just I can't let that stress me out because then again I'm in therapy, stressing out about how do I become stable, all those things. And then to keep that from overtaking my psyche, I created this show as an outlet. So, you know, I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna start interviewing my friends, mm-hmm, you know, people that I know, the sound, you know, I know you know what I'm talking about.

Yeah. And then and then just see where it goes and expand. And then when I started reaching out to people and asking them to do this, they would say yes. And I was like, oh, so many people are they wanna talk, they wanna let people know what they're doing, they wanna feel included, they wanna talk about their art because and they're not getting phone calls for interviews. And I was like, I'm on to something here. So I have season one down, I'm gonna do season two. But that's why it was important for me to be here with you today, because I'm like, I understand and I get it. It's like we need to have outlets and we need to support each other. And people supported me, you know, my friend Camila, she was like, she runs the Apollo.

She was like, yeah, come to the Apollo, let's do an interview. I was like, the executive producer of the Apollo said yes to me. You know, when you think about things like this for an answer. And you're like, she could have easily been like, no, girl, I'm too busy, I can't do this. Right, you know, and then and I just, it's about I'm thinking about what my friends are doing, where they are. You know, I have a friend that runs a hope, the Hope Center in um in Harlem, and it's um a uh an office through a therapist of color, which is very rare, but all the therapists are black men and women, and you know, so if somebody who is of color who's specifically black wants a therapist that looks like them, they can go to the Hope Center.

I'm like, no one knows about this place. Let's interview, and that's part of my first season. So it's just I'm getting creative and like getting an outlet for myself, but also giving other people outlets because not many people are picking up the phone going, you know what? I wanna interview, you know, the head of the Hope Center in Harlem. And I just feel like it's needed and it fulfills me and it keeps me from the dark side.

[34:28] Leah Walsh: And when you came up with that idea, were you also um like the medium? The medium of doing it as a video. Like, were you also thinking um strategically about like this is somehow the way I want to showcase myself as like a host, or was it more just like the visual medium is gonna be the most interesting to like spotlight these different environments that everybody's in, or I'm just curious.

[34:54] Erin Cherry: I mean, instinctively and honestly, it was just about the visual. And then as I started to do it, my friends will watch the video because I was like, hey, um, this is edited before I post it, give me some feedback, things like that. And um, they were like, oh, this is great. This is, you're good. This is the element you should think about hosting. And then I started thinking about hosting. And so that's basically how it happened because and I was like, okay, that's another cap, a feather in my cap I can add. But then I was like, I do not want to do the work as far as trying to find an agent who hosts or you know, who represents host or trying to build a host reel. I was like, you know what? It's yeah, it's weird that that's a, it's a thing.

It's its own lane. It's its own lane. But uh that's that's great that it's kind of like a happy accident thing. Yes. If you needed a little reel for hosting, yes, I can put one together. And so and I just, I haven't put a reel together. I just I wanna shoot my second season and maybe something out of that. But I it's um interesting um to know that now I can add that because now when I watch um like The Talk or The View, yeah, or when I w and when I watch political shows and I watch like late night talk shows, I'm like, yeah, I could do that too. But it wasn't something that I was thinking about, but now but I watch them now because you know how to ask the right questions, how to interview people, um, and really keep the interviews interesting, and plus the with the V being visual, it's like I want to keep people's attention, right?

I don't want them to like watch five minutes and go, okay, I'm done, Cherry. This is boring. So really editing how to keep it interesting, not making it too long now, because now it's like you know, my first season the episodes are like 15 minutes, but now I now I'm like it's so much has happened, so much has changed, like even with social media and and now we have Instagram TV and the snippets are like two seconds, and and I'm like, okay, maybe 15 minutes is too long. So maybe second season will be ten minutes. You think about those things because you don't want people to turn the channel, yeah. And it's very interesting. But I'm learning as I go with that too. But um, yeah, I I could see myself on The View as a co-host, you know, things like that.

So it is on my list, but I'm not, I'm just too tired. Like I just want to just do it because I love it and I look I want like you, I just want to sit with people that I love and know and just talk to them. I mean, the that's what I find with the podcast too is it just it empowers me so much to have something that I can make without anyone else telling me that I can.

[37:19] Erin Cherry: Yes, yeah, you get me. Exactly. Exactly. Do you have someone filming when you do it, or you just set up a camera and yeah, I have a camera person. I have um Gabriel. Well, I well, I don't know who I'm gonna have this second season right now, because I'm I'm talking to people, I'm talking to my friend Larry, he has a whole camera thing, and so he might be my guy. We're just looking at times to see if it if we can match up. But the first season, it was um my friend Gabriel Lawrence, and um he would come with me, snip snip, you know, shoot shoot, and then he would edit for me too. So he was like filming and editing and doing all these things, and I kept praising him because I was like, um, again, back to money, right?

It's like I personally don't know how to edit. Um I if I had to shoot it myself, I would. And I was like, but you have a great eye. Will you, are you willing to come on board and do this for me basically for free because I don't have 30 million dollars to give you. And he was like, yes, because I believe in the project. And the goal is as I started doing the show, I discovered um I would love it to be something like what Ava DuVernay did with Queen Sugar, is like each episode is directed by a woman, right? And um, and then I was like, oh, that's kind of cool because um, because when um after the first season, I was like, you know what, I wanna build a team because some 'cause Gabriel's an actor as well, right?

And so there was times where we had to reschedule because he got a job, he had to go away, things like that. And I'm like, great, I support that. But then at the same time, I'm like, maybe I can have a list of editors, and then like every episode can be edited by a different person and I can put people on the map that way. Um, and then I started asking my musician friends who are who k don't have their music out there, like one of the episodes, my friend Germano. I was like, hey, can I have one can I use one of your songs for one of my episodes? He's like, great, yeah. And I gave him credit, and I was like, okay, so this is what Ava DuVernay is talking about. So I'm gonna continue on that, right?

My cousin just graduated with a um MFA in film editing, so I was like, hey, um, I want you to edit my season one, all of them like to make a little commercial snippet to get ready for season two. Like just take a little bit from each episode, put it together as a little commercial, and I said, and he's a musician, and I said, pick let's pick one of your songs. And he was like, oh my god, that's so dope. And I was just like, I and it made me feel so good.

[39:41] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[39:41] Erin Cherry: So I wanna continue doing that. Like I would love to have different editors, different people coming in and helping me and just keeping long as the divisions there, but I wanna put other people on the map that way. So when I put them on YouTube, um, the first season I went through and I gave everybody credit, I put their social media handles, so if people go watch that one of the episodes, they'll see who is exactly on that one, who edited that one and things like that. So that's, yeah.

[40:06] Leah Walsh: That kind of collaboration just feels so good.

[40:08] Erin Cherry: Yeah. What other artistic outlets have you found? You mentioned at the very beginning you're doing a little bit of writing.

[40:14] Leah Walsh: Mm-hmm.

[40:16] Erin Cherry: Have you found it um useful in your self care?

[40:21] Leah Walsh: Uh yeah.

[40:24] Erin Cherry: Yes and no, in the sense of like the subject matter I'm writing about, I'm like, why am I writing about this? Um it's um dealing with uh police brutality. Mm-hmm. I don't wanna give too much away, but that's so there's times when I write and I'm like, okay, oh my goodness, my mind, my heart, what am I saying, what am I doing, why am I, why? But I also want to try. Um, years ago I took a um a writing class, just to say, playwriting class, and a friend of mine taught it and I went as a guinea pig, but then I was like, oh, the exercises she gave and then I started putting ideas down, but then I got scared, so I put it away. And then with everything happening even more so just every day you wake up with something, right?

Climate change, what's going on with 45, I come 45, and then um, you know, just what's going on with the Senate, just all there's so much going on. And I was like, you know, I just really want an outlet, you know, and I grew up journaling a lot and I was like, maybe it's gonna it's maybe I, it's a healing process to help me if I talk through characters, because sometimes when I sit down to journal and write, I get overwhelmed for whatever reason. I still haven't figured that out. But um just sitting with myself sometimes and just journaling my thoughts and seeing how overwhelmed and so emotional I am and angry I am becomes a lot. So um I decided to just write and write let the characters say these things.

So I have one play and everything is connected spiritually, like my plays are always have a spiritual element in them, I noticed because I have one play that's almost done, and then I have another play that I want to write and where I got the idea I'm just baffled by, but it's um a trilogy and I'm like you've never written anything in your life. Why are you out here trying to write a trilogy? I'm like girl I saw I say to myself I'm like girl I'm like what is wrong with you? Why but why not? I am so mad at myself. I was like this is not okay. But um so um I started the trilogy as well um and then I stopped to finish the first play I have in my head. And then I have this journal where I just write ideas of plays because now ideas are coming up and I trust me I don't write but I guess I do write now if you know what I mean.

It's this I've never finished a play before. I've never sat like I've always started or stopped over time but I'm determined to sit down. It doesn't have to go anywhere. No one has to read it. That's what I'm telling myself. Like I just want to write it and I just want to finish it. And if I can at least finish one play instead of running from it, I feel like I will have girl do something. So that's what I'm trying to do. I'm really just trying to finish this one play. I and I have an idea how I want it to end and I just I've been writing it going through um I have several acts down.

[43:20] Erin Cherry: It's and I'm really proud of myself but I don't want to run from it because of the subject matter but it's the subject matter that came up for me and it's very painful. So yeah the idea of wanting to finish something heals me but sometimes it can I have to stop because I feel like it brings up the dark place because of how plus you know you see the videos. There's so much going on with that it that it's just very heartbreaking. And so I but I wanna I want to write about it in some way. I don't want to be silent about it.

[43:50] Leah Walsh: Yeah. I mean that's and that's a huge goal to set for yourself too. But what a valuable exercise. Like you said, like even if no one else reads it, or if you become in a playwright.

[44:03] Erin Cherry: Mm-hmm. The fact that you channeled yeah your energies into this new form. Yes. Exciting.

[44:10] Leah Walsh: So I was actually that was a question I wanted to ask you if you wanted to talk about it. It was like how you've been dealing with this current political climate.

[44:19] Erin Cherry: Yeah. As an artist. Yeah. So that happened.

[44:24] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[44:24] Erin Cherry: Writing and um, you know, talking with friends, um, just and finding safe spaces because um I I really feel um black and brown people have to find safe spaces right now, especially now. Um, and because a lot of safe spaces, if you look at history, were infiltrated by the FBI or broken up, you know, all these that's a whole nother history lesson, MLK. And you know, just finding safe spaces to talk about it, but you know, no one has to know about it. Like I'm not gonna post it on social media because I don't need somebody coming in and trying to break it up, you know, things like that. Um, but talking about your feelings, airing it out, crying a lot. I was just talking on the phone to a friend um two nights ago for two hours, just talking about the debates, talking about the Supreme Court and what they're doing with gerrymandering, and I'm just like, okay.

[45:17] Erin Cherry: So that it just makes me so angry because the gerrymandering's happening because the black and brown vote is the most powerful vote. And you know, and there's these senators who can only stay in office if they gerrymander because they know that they would not be they would be voted out. Black and white would vote them out. And it and for the Supreme Court to say, okay, no, that your local judges can't help you, they can't interfere and they're just gonna allow you to just do what you want, it angers me because one people are gonna be in office indefinitely. That's what I see happening. And I also see this trickling up to um 45 if we don't vote him out or if we don't get him out, because I just feel like they just handed him the presidency in a way that if people can gerrymander and it's not illegal, they're gonna gerrymander in Trump's favor.

And I just it just it just scares me and angers me. And um I it I just hear people talking about different things, and I feel like a lot of people are focused on the wrong things. But even if we were focused on it, how do we fight this? But I just really feel I really in a perfect world would want Congress to prove that he's an illegitimate president and just undo everything he did. Just be like, you know what? This you're ill, you know, because you can do that if you're if a foreign government or you get aid you commit treason, we can just undo everything he did. And I I want something like that to happen where they just say, go, okay, well, you know what? You've been found guilty, treasonous, and these judges you've put in, we're gonna remove it.

Rewind that that Supreme Court thing, not even we're not even gonna go there as rewind because you're you're not removing you from office, you know. So I just I but I don't know how that looks and will that happen, but I just in a perfect world that's what I would want. Just redo everything he's done by proving that he is not fit to be president.

[47:11] Erin Cherry: Because if you can prove that, then legally you can say Well, that's the thing that's so maddening is that so many times something'll come up and then they'll be like, but it's not actually like legally, it's like there's a he's broken every precedent ever, but there's not actually a legal something that's wrong with it. And it's just like how is it's because everything's out in the open. That's how I feel. It's like yeah, there's a million reasons why he shouldn't be president. Everybody knows them. But for some reason they can't pin down the one thing that is against the law and you should go to jail or whatever it is.

[47:46] Leah Walsh: Yeah, I type it's m it's baffling. It's so baffling, and so you know, so I I have a circle of friends that we talk about things like that.

[47:53] Erin Cherry: Good. You know, does it have a safe environment? Like to be able to say exactly how you feel, have your feelings. If you're angry, you want to throw something, he's like, you know, just well, I could be an angry black woman, right? Because sometimes, you know, you can't I can't walk around with that because I just because the way I'm perceived, right? But to have a safe space to just be able to get those feelings out and not be judged and being in the room with someone who is that same feeling with me, um, it's very important. But it's a very hard time. I'm very scared. I really want um the country to do right because I I look at um what happened with Hillary, she got the popular vote, right?

So that gives me hope. But I just need we I just feel like the only way we can get him out is if the margins are so big that they can't because if the margins are closed, I feel like he can try to he can try to take it, right? But I feel like if the margins are so big, there's nothing he can do because it was like lit unless he literally doesn't care and he takes it and then we have to arrest him or something. But you know, I I just we can't the country can't survive another four years.

[48:56] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Anywho.

[49:00] Erin Cherry: Yeah, anyhow. Uh let's change the talking. We had to go down there, but now.

[49:11] Leah Walsh: I know that it's like, but you know. Um are there any lessons that you've learned in the last couple of years that you're really proud of that you want to share with me? It could be something big or something very small.

[49:24] Erin Cherry: Wow. Such a good question. I feel like I'm learning all the time. But um learning to be good to myself is something I have I've realized, right? Like I was talking about earlier about dealing with the self-worth. Um and how it's magnified and really recognizing it and talking myself off the ledge. That's huge, right? And just giving myself love and say, you know what, it's doesn't like I say this a lot because it's something I've learned. I feel this way, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the reality, right? And just really saying that out loud so I don't fall off the deep end, right? Um, that's huge for me because um I feel I could feel so many things and then y I could easily make it a reality.

Like I just feel like that's what's going on, and then once I get through it, I look back and I'm like, oh that's that wasn't really the reality of it. And and also to um the people that you know who are there for you no matter what, you you just want to keep 'em close as a glove. That is huge for me. Um sometimes I can hibernate or not um see them or love them as much as I should. And um just realizing those four or five people, I mean, if they're gone, then you have no lifeline.

[50:46] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[50:47] Erin Cherry: And that is something that I'm I'm nurturing with them. Like I have a small village, I call it my tribe that I can just be my my hundred percent self around, and that's very rare, right? And then and I don't you know that's all you need is four or five. You don't need a whole bunch, right? And so I just really um you know yeah I need just making sure I'm around more making sure that they know I love them and that um that we spend time together because I get it you don't see each other all the time time goes by but I it can't be eight nine months ten years, you know things like that. With those specific people.

[51:20] Leah Walsh: That's pressing chosen family.

[51:23] Erin Cherry: Exactly, yeah. Some people you're like, oh I'll see them when I see them. But the ones that you have your back, you just want to nurture you just nurturing them is important to me.

[51:32] Leah Walsh: When you do find yourself in that dark side, are there any really tangible tools that you reach for again and again like a book you reread or music you listen to. I know we talked about working out.

[51:43] Erin Cherry: Um things like that that you come back to um I I love incense. Mm-hmm. I love sage. So like I always I'm always about changing the energy. Um palo santo um I will walk in my house um I'll sage I'll open the windows and I'll go through and I'll sage and I'll say a prayer or you know if I feel if I'm feeling energy from my dark side and I want it out of the house out this palasanto, I'll bless um I this is this is a very spiritual thing. I have an altar um and I have my grandparents on there and I have s my grandfather's pipe. I have different things from um my family on there. I have money on there, right? I have a two dollar my grandmother when I was growing up used to always give me two dollar bills and I have a two dollar bill on there and I just um 'cause I believe my they're here with me and I believe that they hear me when I talk to them.

And I know not everybody has that belief, but this is something that I do to get me through, so I'll talk to them at the altar. Um but yeah, I literally will change the the energy of my room by saging. I think that's important. And then I do um I have rituals that I do, like you can do um basil baths, you can b boil water and basil, and um, you know, um you can Google it like different kinds of bat ritual baths and um, you know, stand in the shower and just pour it over yourself and like give yourself a prayer, things like that, like self-care. It just has to be, yeah. But those are some tangible tangible things that people can try or you could take away. But it's like finding ritual baths that that you feel that you know I do there's some for New Year's Eve, there's some for all different kinds of occasions.

Um, but yeah, and there's some for like whatever you're feeling or how you want to get rid of it. You just you know, get get your your roots of certain kind of roots and you boil them, and you take the water you send in the shower and you just you just let it go down the dragon. Water is my yeah, therapeutic elements I need to try.

[53:39] Leah Walsh: Yeah, so try some of those, yeah.

[53:40] Erin Cherry: Yeah, but Google Google and see what works for you, especially if you're inclined to water, it's gonna it's that'll benefit you even more. Um, and then the final question is Is there anything that you've seen recently of any art form that you want to recommend?

[53:53] Erin Cherry: Ooh. Like friends shows or books or oh my goodness, okay. What do I w what have I seen that I recommend? Oh my goodness, I've seen so many things. Okay. Um I j saw okay. Um the one that I that's that's still sticking with me now, Secret Life of Bees. And that's at the Atlantic. Oh, okay. And it's with LaShans, Sae Khan, um Issa Davis. Those are the names that come into mind. There's other names, but I can't picture them. I mean, I can't get the names right now. But um And it's still running. It's still running, and it's um a musical based on the movie in the book. Um taking a lot of things from the book more so than the movie. Um, but it was just um oh it was just beautiful to see these black women on stage singing and I don't want to give it away, but there's a ritual that takes place, and I was like, this is what I needed.

Because I'm all about I'm a very I'm all about rituals anyway. It was perfect, and so it was perfect, and so I recommend um people see um secret lives of bees if they if they can go and see that. I think that I think that'll that'll lift their spirits because it's a it's a beautiful musical. It's beautiful.

[55:10] Leah Walsh: Wonderful.

[55:12] Erin Cherry: Yeah. Thank you so much. I'm so glad that I'm glad that you're gonna be able to do that. Thank you for reaching out again and made it happen. I'm glad. I'm glad I have to I'm like, I'm here. And like I was say earlier about the nurturing thing, is like I'm reaching out to people, I'm like, I'm here, let's spend some time together because you know, before I get busy again. But I just feel like especially with everything that's happening in my life, I don't not and I uh this is the only thing that comes to mind, but it's cliche like they say is lonely at the top, like I'm not at the top, like where I still feel like I can continue to grow. Right, but you're writing this wave right now. But yeah, I'm writing this wave right now and I don't want to be isolated in it because I can easily just hunker down and go, goals, goals, goals, you know, what do I gotta do?

What I do where I have to be, I'm gonna be in LA and like not talk to anybody and just be and then you wake up and you're like you're like, Oh, I wanna hang out, and like, but you if you don't nurture those relationships, right? And so that's important to me. And I don't want to do this journey by myself. And so I feel like the people that like I said, I went through and I was like going through my emails, and I'm like the people that I adore, and that was like, oh yeah, we we said we're gonna do this interview. Oh, I have time, we're gonna do it. You know, and so I it's important to me, especially during this time that I nurture community.

[56:26] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[56:27] Erin Cherry: That's what I want to do.

[56:30] Leah Walsh: I also can get to really connect.

[56:31] Erin Cherry: Yes, because it's been a long time.

[56:33] Leah Walsh: It has.

[56:44] Erin Cherry: Thank you for listening to the Compass Podcast. If you find these conversations valuable to your life as an artist and would like to support the ongoing production of The Compass, please consider becoming a patron at Patreon.com slash The Compass Podcast. Pledges start at as little as one dollar a month. You'll get access to bonus content, and anything you can give would be greatly appreciated. Also, if you have a moment, please rate or review in iTunes. Every little bit helps other listeners to find the podcast. I'd like to thank the following people for their generosity. The Compass Cover Art is by Kim Miller, music by Brandon Speth, audio assistance from Nick Choxie, and a special thanks to Frankie J. Alvarez. See you next time.