This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[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. So before we get started, I just want to say that I'm hosting a live event for the hundredth episode of The Compass. It's coming up fast. It's going to be on November 19th. That's a Sunday, 2017, at 7 p.m. in New York City at Arts on Site down on St. Mark's. My guest will be Jesse J. Perez, who is an actor, director, choreographer, and teacher. He's one of my favorite artists to watch, and I've wanted to have him on the podcast for a very long time. Brendan Spieth from episode four will be there playing the podcast theme music. And the wonderful Samora Pinderhughes, who was my guest on episode 49, is going to be there playing a few songs as well. He's a jazz pianist, a composer, and an activist.

So I hope to see you there on the 19th. The first 50 people who email me at the Compass Live at gmail.com will be put on a reservation list. It's going to be a $15 suggested donation at the door. And then after those 50 spots are filled up, you can show up at the door and try it again in the night of if we have space. So I hope that you will join us. I also just want to say a special thank you to Margie Blodgett. Thank you so much for becoming a patron on Patreon and for always supporting the work I'm making here. I can't tell you how much I appreciate that. My guest today is Priscila García-Jacquier. She is a writer, producer, and director. We were introduced to each other through the Facebook group Art Girl Army, one of whose founders, Sidney Lowe, was my guest on episode 55.

And I loved getting a chance to sit down and get to know Priscila. She's had a lot of really varied experiences as an artist, and she's very thoughtful about how she moves through the world and how she's trying to help others. I hope you enjoy the 97th episode of The Compass.

[2:11] Leah Walsh: So I always start out with the big question of what do you do to try to keep from going to the dark side as an artist.

[2:20] Priscila García-Jacquier: Sure. I think I kind of like live on the dark side. Um and I've become okay with that. I think, you know, I grew up—both of my parents are brain surgeons, and so they both are? I mean, my mom's a brain doctor, but like essentially they're both brain doctors, and my dad's a brain surgeon, and then my dad became like a hot shot politician in Colombia. And um I've always kind of asked myself the big questions like, do I matter? Like, does I want to make art? Does that matter? Um, how do I want to make art when my parents are kind of like bringing, you know, uh drinking water into disenfranchised parts of the world? Like all those questions have been very important to me. And so, what do I do? I mean, I write and I trust that I force myself to be disgustingly honest.

Um, not just about the world, but kind of all those private moments, you know. I mean, you went to acting school, it's like those private moments, those exercises about like the things we actually hate sharing, um, not just like the polemic things, but the like really kind of—I, you know, I tuck my tights in the middle of my toes when there's a hole when I don't want to buy new ones, like those kind of things. Um, and I force myself to really face that, and I think that keeps me um level-headed, because it always ends up helping someone, right? Like if I share that writing, someone always tends to kind of find it. And that's enough. Connection for me is enough for now. And maybe I just like keep asking for a bigger and bigger stage, but connection. So I'll write, I'll be really honest, and then I'll share.

[3:55] Leah Walsh: What do you think the dark—when you are feeling it, what do you think the dark side is for you most often?

[4:03] Priscila García-Jacquier: The dark side for me is really questioning my talent. Uh, you know, it's questioning kind of like my skill set. And I think it's so hard. Like it's so hard. I work—I've always kind of—I've been lucky that since I graduated, you know, my first gig was like assisting on Broadway. And then, you know, and then I started working at a big agency, and then I started working for an Oscar winner. And so that's incredible, and like what a blessing every single like kind of platform has been. And a learning opportunity. Immensely, yeah, and like on the job, you know what I mean? Um, but like yeah, I mean the dark side for me is like taking my place seriously when I'm like helping to make a deal that they for Lynn Nottage.

Like that is so hard, you know, kind of like valuing um where you are versus where someone else who's like literally 30, 40, 50 years older than you is. Right. It's really hard. That shit is hard. Right, and you know you shouldn't compare yourself to that. Yeah, but you can't help it. Also because like specifically like now, you know, it's a very writing intensive job. Um, it's the best job I've ever had. It's an incredible opportunity. I kind of, you know, I do have to manage the workflow and schedules and all of that. But I get to be in every writer's room that my boss is in. And that's—I never thought that that would happen so quickly, you know, for me. And I'm learning to view work the way that he views work. And that is both the blessing and a curse, right?

[5:33] Leah Walsh: Yeah, that's interesting.

[5:34] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, because I'm getting his kind of—I'm getting his tools, I'm getting his lenses, and I'm getting um the spectrum. But—and while I should apply that to every work, right? Where do I—while I should apply that to everything I'm doing, it also makes it harder because then I'll have to look back at my pages and say like, oh my god, like I—it isn't there yet, right?

[5:57] Leah Walsh: Right, but also to know what your perspective is and like what tools are gonna be like to learn from him and then also what to throw away or what doesn't apply to you or like how—where are you gonna go in the future from there?

[6:10] Priscila García-Jacquier: Right. For sure. I think I'm only learning that now, and I think that might come with age. Um, I think that I—you know, I went to boarding school when I was like fourteen years old and so I—and I'm the youngest one by far in my family and the only one—the only girl. So my parents have always kind of been mentors, right? Like I grew up with a lot of nannies and they were not really around the household and they were in many ways, and their big ways were more mentorship than it was like really parenting, like someone else taught me how to tie my shoes, you know, but the big lessons came from mom and dad. Um, so I flock to mentors like, you know, like mosquitoes to light. I—and so it's been a growing pain to start learning how to let go of lessons that I like—I don't need to apply every single one.

[7:02] Leah Walsh: Yeah, you know.

[7:04] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, I've been thinking about that a lot lately 'cause I've been spending time here at Juilliard and I think about how much I tried to be—do things perfectly when I was here. And then how much you have to learn after school that like that's not the point. Yeah. Like following the rules exactly or doing something precisely the way you think it's supposed to be done is actually not the point when you're an artist in the world. It's like how do you go outside of those rules? How do you break the rules? How do you—I don't know? I mean, but it's such a fine line also, right? Like I think so much—something that I'm experiencing a lot now is like, um, I mean you went to school with a bunch of writers and I did as well, but like there's something so mathematical about writing, right? There's something so kind of structural and like that you can learn.

[7:50] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. It is about how to get from point A to point B and it is like it's a puzzle, you know? And so—and I'm really learning and my boss is incredibly Aristotelian in his structure and, you know, he doesn't write a single word before the entire structure is set. And that structure setting takes six, eight months at a time. It's an insane process. And so, you know, like he wrote Birdman and people will watch Birdman and I'll be like, I love that movie because it's so unlike anything else and if they only knew that it was structured to an inch of its life. Yeah. An inch of its life. You know, it's insane. And so lately I've really been thinking about—I look at peers who are making things and I think the line is fine between like just kind of throwing yourself out there before you even know the rules just because you need to make work because you have—you must, like it must pour out of you and like good job for even creating anything at all.

And also let's challenge ourselves to make better work. So I think the line is fine. You know, I look at so much work that is not ready and—and while we should applaud ourselves for producing our own things and kind of making our own things and like throwing things at the wall, I think we also kind of had to learn how to hold back um before it can really be there. But then some people get paralyzed in that space as well.

[9:08] Leah Walsh: So yeah, it's the balance.

[9:09] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, it's a total balance. I mean, I feel I'm only now kind of coming out of my shell. I was totally paralyzed for a year and a half to make anything because I was like, well, it's not gonna win an Oscar tomorrow. So, you know, and I'm only now learning to be like, okay, well, Priscila, like relax.

[9:22] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[9:23] Priscila García-Jacquier: And so you were telling me that you went to school for directing, and now you're focusing kind of more on writing.

[9:29] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[9:30] Priscila García-Jacquier: Is it—are you more interested in film or are you a playwright as well?

[9:35] Priscila García-Jacquier: I am a playwright. I definitely—I’m a theater kid, and that's—I’m always gonna have that. The most impactful experiences for me have been live theater. Um, I don't think there's anything that can have as much impact on a human as like watching something live. Um, I think I've always had a very complicated relationship with theater. Um, like most theater makers, but I think—I think, you know, my dad was kind of a rock star, right? I was always aware of huge platforms, and I was always aware of the reach that theater couldn't have that other platforms did have. But there's—I mean, there's definitely a theatricality to politics.

[10:13] Leah Walsh: Oh, 100%.

[10:13] Priscila García-Jacquier: I always was like, this man, right, this man is—he's an entertainer, right? There's something to that. But I always, for example, my freshman year of college, um, you know, at Carnegie Mellon we have playground and it's like that's the best week of the year. You kind of—you apply for it, you create your own show, you get all the spaces at CMU to put up your work and do your little plays, and it's awesome. Uh-huh. Um, and freshman year I had the chance—my piece was accepted as a freshman, which is like a big deal. My dad had been a victim of parapolitics in Colombia which I won't get into but it's a messy political trial and I had written a piece about it, kind of—I had reimagined my father's trial through the mothers of everyone involved in the trial, you know, and I kind of had set that as a piece and kind of come out to my school as to like why I'd been so mean or like I just wasn't prepared to be there freshman year. You know what I mean?

[11:16] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[11:16] Priscila García-Jacquier: So anyway, I put up this piece that like it closed one of the nights or something or it's like penultimate one night. Um, and after we closed—I mean the piece like closed and everyone was so excited about it and I remember just—it was such a positive um acceptance of the piece and I walked out of the room and I was sobbing and I called my dad and I was like, dad, like only—there was only like 70 people in the room, like what am I doing? You know what I mean? Like theater only reaches like a thousand people at a time, like what do I do? You know, and he had an amazing answer of like, you know, when the plane is falling, you have to put on your mask first before you can help anyone, and that's—that's what he meant.

But I think about that now and I think um I think that I will want to make theater and um pursue that but always as a thing that kind of brings me home. I’m very aware that like, you know, if I make a theater piece like no one in Colombia is gonna watch it and that matters to me.

[12:16] Priscila García-Jacquier: So I want to make TV and I want to make, um, even film is hard to talk about because I'm so aware of the business side of it all that TV is just so much more tangible and so much more available, especially to the Hispanic community and the black and brown community and, um, minorities as a whole.

[12:35] Leah Walsh: Yeah. So when did you get into the arts? And what does your family kind of make of you choosing it as a career?

[12:41] Priscila García-Jacquier: Sure. Um, I was actually telling my boyfriend this morning this, he's also an actor. I got into the arts. I think it was a really good way to, as a child, I grew up watching operettas. My mother is French, and we would go to my grandmother's every summer, and, um, she lives in this very old town with a very old casino, and they would always have kind of like the operettas that they would write as a community, and I just loved it. I mean, if I were to see one now, I think I'd be horrified at the horrible quality of it all. But I loved it, I just thought it was amazing. Um, but that's great. It was a part of the community.

[13:21] Leah Walsh: Oh, totally, you know, and they kind of, there was always one director and there was always the same people, but we knew someone in the team, and so I would get to go backstage, and it was these really old theaters, you know, these like beautiful kind of French Victorian theaters, and I was first introduced to like the backstage of theater, and I thought there was nothing more amazing. I mean, it was like women with, I mean, it was so like Moulin Rouge, you know what I mean? It was just all these women with their hair and their boobs and their whatever. It was amazing, it was amazing.

[13:47] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, and then I think that once, um, we moved to the States and like theater was even an option, like the arts were even an option. I think it was a really good way to kind of look like, you know, I've always been an extremely social kid. I always was like writing. I, I not that I was a bully, but I definitely was like a very strong leader. Um, theater was a great way to kind of hone in that energy. Um, and then that just grew. I ended up going to an arts high school from there and then the rest is history.

[14:17] Leah Walsh: So how old were you when you moved to the States?

[14:20] Priscila García-Jacquier: I was nine. Um, I was nine. Uh, it was two thousand one. We moved here August of 2001.

[14:27] Leah Walsh: Oh my goodness.

[14:28] Priscila García-Jacquier: To New York City.

[14:29] Leah Walsh: To Miami, like all good Latinos do when they first land here.

[14:33] Priscila García-Jacquier: Oh yeah. Um, did he go to New School?

[14:36] Leah Walsh: No, he did. He went to Newland.

[14:38] Priscila García-Jacquier: Oh, I see. Okay, cool. But I have a, I have a lot of Juilliard friends who went there.

[14:43] Leah Walsh: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, one of the most amazing teachers I've ever had ended up working there.

[14:49] Priscila García-Jacquier: Just, I mean, I think she was the one who like told me to go pursue my dreams. Um, yeah, and then in terms of my family, um, my parents, it's a generation thing, and it's also, I think like a, yeah, I mean, I guess a lot of immigrants do have the story of their parents kind of being flabbergasted that their child is pursuing the arts, but my parents never did feel that way. I think that they were both rebels.

[15:14] Leah Walsh: Sorry, and you moved, you moved here with both your parents?

[15:19] Priscila García-Jacquier: I moved here with my mom. So my dad has, yeah, my dad's like stayed there. He's just always kind of been a big shot. Um, but Colombia was really bad. Uh, you know, I mean, it was impossible to live there. And his family couldn't say it was a safety thing.

[15:32] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[15:32] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, but yeah, in terms of the arts, um, my brother is a painter, and I think my parents were both kind of artists in their own expression and in their way of thinking, but just didn't pursue the arts. It wasn't a choice for my mom. My mom's like a, you know, she's an exquisite writer, and I think she always wanted to be, um, a person of letters, but in France, if you, I mean, I don't know if it's like this now, but when she was growing up, unless, you know, you kind of have to choose your focus really early on. And so if you choose letters, it's because you couldn't get into the science program.

[16:05] Leah Walsh: Ah.

[16:06] Priscila García-Jacquier: And then my dad, I mean, there was no way that he was gonna rise out of poverty in Colombia without being some sort of science man.

[16:13] Leah Walsh: Right.

[16:14] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. So I think that they just want their children to kind of pursue and pursue at a high level, no matter what it is.

[16:20] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Do you find that kind of like, uh, inspiring or like a difficult pressure to bear in your career?

[16:31] Priscila García-Jacquier: Sometimes, um, sometimes I'm mostly really grateful for it. Yeah. Um, I think that yes, the household is naturally pressurized because they're like that. Like because they achieved so much, right? Like my mom was like, she was in labs, like discovering proteins for like Alzheimer's and it's curing, like, you know, this process. I mean, it was ridiculous. And then my dad was like running the Senate. There was no understanding that these two people weren't larger than life. You know, they were, they just were and they were the world before they were kind of our parents. That was totally okay. I, I, I don't know anything different. Um, I think the only time where it feels impossible is when I c, I can't reconcile like my dreams with where I am right now.

[17:28] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[17:29] Priscila García-Jacquier: You know, that, that to me is paralyzing, totally debilitating. Like, and then sometimes it's also easier, right? Like my boss works often, you know, he's part of the Birdman team. So, so like the Alejandro, the, you know, the Chivo, the, you know, Alex, like, they're so far ahead in their careers that sometimes it's almost easier to be around them because I think, well, there's a 30-year gap, so it's totally fine, like I'll get there eventually. Um, but other times the other side of that coin is, is totally paralyzing. Like you think you, you know, you want those things, you can't even see the first step.

[18:07] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Have you found any, um, peers or mentors who are kind of just a few steps ahead of you that you're finding it valuable to like learn from them being in a not quite all the way there yet?

[18:23] Priscila García-Jacquier: Sure. Um, you know what's interesting is that lately I have found, I have found that and I find it even more paralyzing. Yeah. Um, because there is something about, so Alejandro Iñárritu is over there, and so I can't even begin to compare myself to him, right? Um, but someone who's only two years ahead, it feels almost so tangible that that is, that's like, oh man, that's, that sometimes also feels impossible. So what I have done is, um, I run my own production company, um, and it's, it's a, it's a creative production company, and they, and they have focused on the non-scripted until I came along. Um, we all went to school together, and we have such different skills that that feels possible. Do you know, that feels totally freeing? It does feel like no one's trying to do the same thing, not at all. Um, that has been, I think, the only thing that's kept me kind of like afloat and not have a total psychotic break.

[19:23] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, I used to think that it would be, well, no, it just is what it is. Like I, I, I work in these writers' rooms, you know what I mean? And they're all kind of like million-dollar-plus writers' rooms, and I get to take those lessons and apply them in real time, um, with my team and kind of learn how to develop my gut and learn how to develop my instinct and, um, learn from my mistakes without all that pressure. Um, but then I do get to bring my built confidence back to the rooms that are millions of dollars. That's been the most freeing situation. And I can go back to my boss and say, like, hey, what do you know? The direct mentorship of running something rather than running his own projects is completely different.

[20:07] Leah Walsh: What do you like best about working in that production company?

[20:11] Priscila García-Jacquier: I like, I like knowing that I can't do it alone. Yeah. You know, that's been a huge lesson for me, especially as, I mean, it sounds ridiculous as a director because you can't do anything alone as a director. It's not like I get to go in a practice room and kind of like practice on my own, you know. Um, the most I could do, I remember in college I would like set out plans and I would like take like empty tampon containers and move them around and like that's how I would get my blocking. Um, and so for the production company, are you functioning as a director or more as a writer or more as a?

[20:38] Priscila García-Jacquier: Well, I'm the VP of the company and so it's kind of everything, which is why I love it so much. It's, I help produce the content that is non-scripted, and that feels good because the producing skills I did learn while I was at the agency.

[20:59] Leah Walsh: Okay.

[20:59] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, what were you doing at the agency?

[21:02] Leah Walsh: I'm, I'm loving, I'm learning about it.

[21:03] Priscila García-Jacquier: Totally, yeah, yeah, yeah. Totally, totally. I was, uh, I was an agent's assistant.

[21:06] Leah Walsh: Um, in what department?

[21:08] Priscila García-Jacquier: In theater literary.

[21:09] Leah Walsh: I thought that I was gonna move forward as an agent. I think as a minority, I'm like very, very aware that, uh, nothing really changes unless executives actually start mirroring, um, our communities. So I wanted that, you know, like the, the senator's daughter brain really was like, this should be the way I need to go. If I become an agent here, that means that everyone will kind of rise with me. And it's lofty, but it's true, right? I kind of saw it in action. And then I was like, I actually still really want to be in the rooms. Even though I, I get high off making deals, it really, really like it's amazing. But it doesn't cost me anything. I mean, like writing costs me. It like is painful. I do have to, it's not on like acting, right? Like you kind of have to go, you and you can tell. You can tell a good challenge though.

[21:56] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[21:57] Priscila García-Jacquier: You can tell when people are writing and and they're not going there, right? And then they're just kind of, it's lazy and they're just like writing pseudo-effective dialogue. But I watch my boss, you know what I mean? Like Alex is just like, I mean, he's been writing for like over 30 years, and he still like is banging his head against the wall, like trying to find the right pairing of words of what actually is deep down there, you know. And like no actor can pull it off really without going there. And like I don't think that writers think that they should pull it off either if they're not going there, you know. Um, producing doesn't cost me, I just love it. Yeah. So I produced an unscripted part of it, which is amazing because it kind of keeps that kind of, um, left brain part of me alive. Um, and then I proposed that we start the scripted branch and that I would kind of be able to run it and bring that in. Um, and that's been incredible. Um, so scary.

[23:00] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[23:00] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, I imagine. Yeah. But the best part is being like, you know, I can't do this without these people. Like, I have, our DP is incredible. You know, the woman who kind of runs, you know, she makes decks. She's like the deck maker for our company. It's so much a part of the pitching process, like having decks, and you don't even think about that. I'm trying to learn about it for the podcast to try to pitch it to some people, and I'm like, I don't know.

[23:21] Leah Walsh: Yeah, I mean, it's a skill set. I mean, it's like insane.

[23:22] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, it's insane. Like, I'll get these beautiful finished products, and I'm like, holy crap, like this is just, it's a total skill set. And I, and I shouldn't even pretend that I can also do that. Yeah. And that's been super freeing, but a huge learning experience.

[23:37] Leah Walsh: Yeah, being able to say it's to step back from some elements.

[23:41] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. Like, okay, that's not my, totally not mine. And it helps because now it's like technological, and I'm like, I really like, I can't do that, you know. But I would never tell a set designer what to do. And so it, it kind of is the same here, you know.

[23:53] Leah Walsh: How are you juggling, um, because you're not really quite in a day job situation? You're doing like two things that you love.

[23:59] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah.

[24:00] Leah Walsh: How are you juggling them at the same time? How's that going?

[24:03] Priscila García-Jacquier: It's the best. I mean, that the, I learned that I work most efficiently that way.

[24:07] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[24:07] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, when you have a lot on your plate.

[24:08] Leah Walsh: Yeah, definitely. I mean, I was always like the kid, like if I have three classes, I fail. And if I have seven, then I somehow get straight A's, you know, like that, that just kind of happens.

[24:20] Priscila García-Jacquier: I think boredom is like too much free time for me is extremely dangerous. I'm also like, you know, I'm also like in recovery, like, and so yeah, so like too much time for me ever has always been very dangerous. Um, so right now it's that. It's just knowing, and I have my own projects. Like, I think that going back to my scripts and learning how to be diligent about those. Uh even if as a team we don't have something going, there's some there's always something that I can kind of go back and reference and go back and challenge myself, and it's so time consuming. I mean, you'll spend hours on three pages, and you're like, why? You can always spend more.

[25:00] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[25:00] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, totally. Um, can we talk a little bit about, I mean, the way that we got connected through our girl army is that looking to highlight people who are artists and activists. And you sent me the information about that letter you wrote.

[25:12] Priscila García-Jacquier: Totally. Can you tell me a little bit about that or other ways that you see yourself as an activist or action that you're taken these days?

[25:20] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, I mean, I think it's uh it's interesting because I don't think I think it'd be kind of disrespectful to be like I am an activist in the world. I think I think I I've thought about this all day in terms of like there are people who do I know it's a strong word. It's such a strong word. I mean, there are people who really are community drivers and are really that that's their life and that's their job, and that is to be championed. I think that I have activist tendencies.

[25:44] Priscila García-Jacquier: I want to hear about them. I think I just I think now is such a time of like people don't quite know what to do. Yeah. A lot of people want to do something and they don't know what to do.

[25:52] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. Um, so this anyone who's who's trying, I am interested in hearing your totally. I mean, I sort of appreciate that you're that the focus is is that I think I don't know. When I think about it, I feel like I've never had the choice of not having those tendencies. You know, I I was always very aware that okay, if I'm gonna choose the arts, I'm choosing the arts because I know that growing up, Shakira and Sofia Vergara and Juanis had a bigger impact on the public than my father, who was a leading politician, you know, and I was always, always crucially aware of that.

[26:33] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um so if I was gonna make art, it was gonna have to matter and it was gonna have to matter big time. And so that's kind of what I think about. I mean, I get involved every time, right? I I'm involved in every march that happens, right? I'm involved, like all the things that everyone is doing to kind of feel a part of of something, right? Like calling your senators, writing them letters. I I always do it. But more importantly, I'm kind of being very loud about my own experience and I'm being very loud about the things that I care about, where I actually come from, how this is actually affecting or could affect if it wasn't for my privilege.

[27:08] Priscila García-Jacquier: Right. And that I think has been the most effective action I've taken, actually. Um when you know, the New York march against Trump started, like really, you know, when our when our own community started kind of the uproar, I just remember every time I would go march, I would I would kind of bring my friends together and be like, let's go do this, you know, come with me. Like, let's go march for this. DACA happened, you know, what do we do for this? I was always like, no, I have brunch, or like I love that, and whatever. And I thought, you know, this is insane because it's it's insane that it's happening in our country in the first place, but I, for example, with the DACA thing, like my immigration story isn't some cute thing I tell your parents at Thanksgiving as like some sort of like cute exchange. Like I'm actually an immigrant, you know.

[28:01] Priscila García-Jacquier: And if you don't come march for someone who looks like me, who shares your own like socioeconomic background and your education, um, and the city that you live in, who are like who are you gonna march for? You know, if you're not marching for me, literally the most privileged immigrant you know, right? Right in the immigrant like narrative in your mind, then you're never gonna march. And that is has been the most shocking, and that's why I always kind of want to take action within my own community, kind of waking people on calling people out.

[28:30] Leah Walsh: Do you ever feel like you've gotten any pushback of people saying, well, like why why are you you are privileged? Why are you calling this into question?

[28:39] Priscila García-Jacquier: Not really. Um, and I'm glad for that. I mean, I think that I explain that. I think that I always say, like, you yes, we're right. Like, I have, you know, I'm an American citizen now, and I'm the only American citizen in my family, but I'm an I'm an American citizen because my parents could afford to make me an American citizen, and that is not a fact that is lost on me ever. And so it's my job, literally, that's the job of privilege, is to is to speak and and and to to make it make the reality different for those who had a different set of cards handed to them.

[29:14] Priscila García-Jacquier: And that's, you know, that's not to to tap ourselves on the back or like, you know, have this like kind of savior narrative. Um, but I just grew up in that. You know, my dad grew up in a very rural Colombia, and there's no structure there for him to rise. I mean, the fact that he did is a challenge to everything that the country is. And that's just what you do, right? That's just what you do with privilege. It's that you use it, you know. I mean, I think if someone were to I think that people, at least my community is like very aware that that's a part of my narrative, is understanding my privilege and saying, I'm willing to look at my privilege. Can you look at your privilege? You know, because that's what got us into this in the first place, is that we're not kind of willing to look at our privilege. And that's the problem, you know.

[30:01] Leah Walsh: So tell me a little bit about the letter that you wrote.

[30:03] Priscila García-Jacquier: Sure. Um, so when DACA happened, I mean, everything sets my stomach on fire and kind of, you know, I mean, ulcers like everywhere. But when DACA happened, I really this that was a big heartache for me. Um, because again, under any circumstance, I could have 100% been a dreamer.

[30:23] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. You know, I was brought here underage. I mean, my parents, it's just that people don't realize that oh my god, the thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars you have to spend in order to get citizenship. And I've you know, we would be at opening nights and parties, and even within our own kind of liberal bubble, if I ran into a single executive that was like two generations older, it was always like, Oh, you don't have an accent. That's so cute. And like you did it right, and that conversation would come up and are like theater openings, and that is crazy to me, you know.

[31:00] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. I guess what I always want to say to that is like, guys, we moved here, we could afford to move here, and then we had to pay thousands of dollars to go to private school so we could get a visa. And then once we got the visa, we had to go through like thousands of dollars to apply, and then like thousands of dollars to for the lawyers, and it's just like hundreds of thousands all later. Then you get your your green card, and then you get your citizenship, and that's and you were able to take that version of the path.

[31:28] Leah Walsh: Totally.

[31:28] Priscila García-Jacquier: And so we're so proud of the immigrants who do it well, right? We're so proud. Like, I I've been to Token Latina often. Um, because it's so easy, right? And I look like it must be I that must be a very uncomfortable feeling if people someone who you're not close to holds you up as an example.

[31:44] Leah Walsh: Oh sure.

[31:45] Priscila García-Jacquier: Of something that they're not really even celebrating. Celebrating or aware of what they're talking about or like you said, like the thin line between what one person's story can be and what someone else's totally also like there's no reason why I should represent the entire community. I just don't but also didn't know you know I didn't think of being Latino until I was in college because Latino is an American term.

[32:07] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. Latino is a term created based on like white people's misunderstanding of what Latinos really are. So I never had to question that. But so I wrote the letter to our New York senators talking about that. I I wrote it from a point of view of understanding I, you know, I grew up with senators in the House. Like my dad was a four-term senator. That's you know I'm gr I grew up how how their children were growing up. You have a unique perspective of communicate and I know that it's not black and white. You know I think that it's so easy even with my family in in Colombia who is slightly you know I mean Columbia's behind and they're slightly more conservative than I am I'm even aware that I get to be less conservative.

[32:52] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[32:52] Priscila García-Jacquier: You know what I mean? It's it's so easy for me to be in my bubble and to talk about human rights and to talk about LGBTQ rights and it's so easy for me to talk about you know my rights as a woman and because I'm here right but it's my brother for example who you know will be up for um he's running for senator next year he's in the front line in and in a developing country, you know, um, his beliefs need to be the beliefs that he has. Like he is worrying about people's daily lives. He is worrying about drinkable water. He is those beliefs for him are real. For me to challenge them, it gets complicated.

[33:30] Priscila García-Jacquier: So I know that it's not black and white. I know that holding those seats is hard. Um, I never believed that democracy was perfect. That as a Colombian like citizen, that was never promised to us. I think that that's a lot of what Americans are facing now is is finally seeing that there does exist a shadow government, something that was never hidden from me. Yeah, you know, that I grew up with that. Corruption, uh yeah, corruption was the game. It wasn't, you know, justice, that that didn't exist. So I wrote it from that point of view, and I just thought again, like I could afford my freedom here. It's not about how hard we work, and it's not about like kind of pulling ourselves by our bootstraps. It's about whether or not we can afford to pay our way through this country, um, as immigrants.

[34:19] Priscila García-Jacquier: And I could, and I did, and I will be celebrated for that. But sometimes, you know, we all left our homelands because being a second class citizen elsewhere was easier than being home. And that is the exchange that I think people don't realize. Yeah, you know.

[34:37] Leah Walsh: Um, what sort of response, if any, have you gotten?

[34:40] Priscila García-Jacquier: No response, man. And it's so hard. I mean, something that I know, I something that I did love though, is that um Fox Five reached out to me the next day and I got to speak on their podcast, and I thought, you know, the day that Fox Five like kind of talk to you, I mean, they're not Fox News, so it's a different thing, but I just thought I don't know, I just don't know. I'm also deeply aware of like the numbers game, you know, like dreamers are the most sympathetic group of illegal immigrants in the country.

[35:12] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, and while it's heartbreaking and our liberal hearts are bleeding. It's at the end of the day, yeah, 800,000 people is a lot of people, but it's not, you know, kind of a colossal amount of people. Um, and that's where it's heartbreaking because you're like, oh man, when this is a numbers game, it just kind of falls apart. Um sorry, I'm like going down the black hole.

[35:41] Leah Walsh: No.

[35:42] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. Like I said, I kind of live there.

[35:44] Priscila García-Jacquier: So um yeah, no, it's especially when it's people you're talking about people who like don't even know their homeland very much. Yeah, I mean, that would be like telling me sending you back to people somewhere that you don't have anything. I mean, it it's an insane thing to propose. I even I, you know, my entire family's still in Colombia. Um one of my brothers is here, thank God, but our family's in Colombia, and that would be like telling me to pack up my bag, kind of give up my degree, tell my boyfriend goodbye, and send me home when I haven't been there in 16 years.

[36:21] Priscila García-Jacquier: Like, I mean, yes, I've been there, but I haven't none of my life is there. I'm I'm I'm American by every standard, you know. And also people misunderstand what DACA even is.

[36:30] Priscila García-Jacquier: I mean, it's not amnesty, you know, people really have to pay their way to make that happen. You just kind of have to pay your way anyway. But you know what? In terms of the black hole, I do think this is something that I do think about. I do think about how to be the most effective businesswoman I can. It's part of why I worked at CAA for almost three years. For me, it was learning that we can thrive. And this is, again, I understand my privilege in being able to say this, right? That because I am light-skinned, because I speak perfect English, I mean, you know, that's to be debated, but you can't really hear that I'm that foreign, right, unless I get super angry. But you won't question my otherness until I tell you necessarily.

Yeah. Well, until you see my name written on paper. But I thought the most effective way to kind of make an infrastructure is really to be an effective capitalist. And the agency was such an amazing way to learn that. You know, it was really about, you know, Hispanic consumer power is number one in the country. And so how do we really capitalize on that? How do we make everything available to the Hispanic market? Latinos are the number one buying consumer. And so I thought, yeah, that when I get into the really dark color about like where we're going, then I look at those numbers and I'm like, you know, by 2050 we'll represent 30% of the country. Latinas will have outnumbered African American women, then it's just about consumption.

And that will speak more than any legislation. And that's when I get really excited. And that's when I'm like, okay, this is tangible. Oh yeah, totally. It's about capitalism and like making that effective. If I can't change people's hearts, you know.

[38:25] Leah Walsh: What sort of lessons did you learn when you were at the agency that you could apply to artists who are like where we are now? Because when it does get into all of those big ideas of appealing to the masses or what's gonna sell most or such and such, it's hard to picture that when you're like an actor auditioning for a TV show or when you're, you know, someone who's trying to get an assistant job or something like that.

[38:50] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, totally. I do think it's different when you're a creative versus being an actor. I mean, I just think that being an actor is so hard, being all artists. But you know, my boyfriend, like I said, is an actor, and I just think it's just a different thing, a different timeline. Listen, for me it was just, I mean, it's two things. Like you should, you know, there was just that piece on Lauren Gunderson, the playwright, about how she became the most, like she's the number one produced playwright in the case. I did not read it. I saw that headline and I totally was like, I knew her because we would get her kind of like residuals from, it was like her residual checks from, I forget what printing company it was, while I was at CAA.

But it's something along the lines of her knowing that people love Christmas and people love Jane Austen. And so if I just write a plan, put them together, then that will fulfill the community's needs. Exactly, you're just kind of filling the need of the community, right? And as someone who's worked at an agency, I thought it was brilliant. Like I was, you know, I thought that it's that fine line. I think I do study a lot in terms of markets and I look at kind of like trends and, you know, all those studies are kind of available. I mean, I think especially since I'm like in the Latinx community, I look at what's selling there and how the consumer growth is growing and where the holes are. Like for me, it's always like where's the hole, you know?

And I do kind of create from that place. Not in like let me change, not in like let me change myself, but if there's anything super effective that I learned that I think I'm 100% applying now, both under Alex and in my own production company, is what are the things that I already possess that I can totally capitalize on and then monetize instead of kind of like looking for something outside of myself to reach for, right? Instead of like one day I can become X type of writer. If I can look at, okay, let's see. Like I'm 25, so I'm millennial, I'm Hispanic, I'm Latin, I'm trilingual, I'm a writer, and also I like interviewing people, like all these things I can fit together, and I say what is this puzzle and how can I put it together and what comes out of that package, and then I see the whole, you know.

[41:18] Leah Walsh: So looking at what you already possess is super important because that's what agents do. They're just really good at kind of seeing what is already there and deciding to capitalize on it, and then they'll make it sellable, right?

[41:31] Priscila García-Jacquier: It's not, and so then they'll get better at being like, oh, well, this person already has this thing, but it's because it's what they're looking for, really.

[41:38] Leah Walsh: Yeah, I guess it's just a matter of harnessing that for yourself in a way that you find empowering instead of, I feel like sometimes it can be frustrating.

[41:47] Priscila García-Jacquier: Totally when someone's doing it to you.

[41:49] Oh yeah. I mean, I don't, God, it, I mean, watching actors go through showcase at CMU is probably one of the most painful things that I have ever gone through, right? It's ridiculous. It's horrible, but I'll say this. I think it mostly comes not from just like the industry doing that, but I think that there's such a generational difference with teachers and what the playing field actually looks at today that it's dangerous. I don't even say that it's problematic. It's just straight up dangerous. Like teachers who started teaching 35 years ago who are not that aware of what the industry actually looks like now are telling students that they don't have a place when they do. And so then they graduate thinking that they don't have a place, and yet like shows like Girls are being made, you know, and like Insecure is being made.

But current teachers don't actually know that. We don't know how to treat otherness in these conservatories, and it's super dangerous. I mean, or there's like a black and white situation, and that's also problematic. I mean, I just never understood, I don't know. I directed Brother Size as my senior thesis. And I think it was like the first time that like an all-black show had been done at CMU in a while, I think maybe seven years, which is like a long time when you think about like classes and how quickly it all goes. And I just remember sitting there, like, you know, I working for Kenny Leon was my first job out of school. And he knew, you know, like these kids are coming out of these big schools, and they don't actually know the roles that they're gonna play when they graduate.

I mean, maybe it's changed, but my experience is that like they were learning, you know, Irish accents and Scottish accents, and I'm like, when is he ever gonna use that? Like, not that people shouldn't be, you know, actors shouldn't be super diverse, but it's not helpful. Like the thing you have to kind of like anyway.

[42:48] Leah Walsh: Yeah, I don't know. I was just curious. I don't mean to make you speak for—

[43:43] Priscila García-Jacquier: No, no, no, I talk about this again, no, no, no, I totally like open about this. Interesting perspective. All the time. No, I, it's like my favorite thing to think about. I think it's like because it's something that I so apply actively in my life now, and I don't think that I would be in my understanding if it wasn't for my time there. But it is that I think I do look at the whole and I think about like people are gonna put the cards on us anyway, so we might as well just play them and play them effectively. I was told by a former boss of mine that, you know, people expecting them to be like the black director or like the black creative, and so maybe they just had to harness those tools and then play them effectively.

And I thought the same thing. I was like, well, maybe that's gonna happen to me. If I'm gonna be like the Latina token, whatever, then maybe I will play that card and just like be effective about it until I get to do whatever I need to be doing. And I am not mad at that. You know, I think that I've surrendered that. I find that pretty empowering now. Because oftentimes, and again, this is my privilege, it has allowed me into lots of rooms. You know, it has allowed me to kind of like explain or talk about my experience. At CAA, it was so important. It was such an important part of my job. It was, you know, we had this understanding that like, you know, my boss at CAA was so, I mean, my first job at CAA to begin with, I got it because it was Spanish-speaking desk and it was like about the Hispanic market, and I was wildly aware that that was what got me in the door.

And then my second job, the same. They had a diversity initiative. They needed, they still like need to recruit more and more diverse talent, and they were on the lookout for that, and there are people on the inside who needed to represent that. So it's also worked super to my benefit and in great ways. So I'm not mad at it, you know.

[45:40] Leah Walsh: Is there like any lessons you've learned in the last couple of years that you're really proud of that you want to tell me about?

[45:49] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. In terms of the black hole. This was a really recent one, actually, and it relates to my own recovery. One of my best friends from high school and then college got engaged recently. And I think her boyfriend runs like five startups. I mean, it's just like a completely different world than I exist in at the moment, you know. Like I went to her engagement party in Tribeca, you know, which like what theater person ever goes to Tribeca, you know? And I went with my boyfriend who's like, you know, he's a kind of man who wears like high-waisted pants. Like, that's just how he works, you know. And like we were there, we're totally out of place, and it was kind of wonderful. And she made a joke about like, you know, that there was a room full of bros.

Like it was a room full of bros, and she made a joke. She was like, oh my god, look at them. They're just like, you know, these are good bachelors, like they're like well-dressed, and I was like, Yep, and they could pay for dinner. And she laughed and she looked at me and she was like, Oh my god, like you've been hanging out with actors for way too long. And I thought, maybe that's true. I don't know. I looked at her and I was like, I didn't think that was a strange thing to say. But you know, I just kind of thought about it and I was like, maybe that's true, actually. Their present was another good friend of ours from college who is like a few years ahead in her career. You know, and she's producing with Marvel, and she's like working on a movie and show with Netflix, and like it's just right there, you know.

Like, she's only two years older than me. But she, you know, she was like wearing this amazing leather skirt with this like slit on the back, and her shirt was gorgeous silk, and she had like one of those pinky rings, you know what I mean? Like it just was like so, yeah, she's in a different place right now. And I just thought like I might, you know, I kind of felt this like burning thing that happens when we feel both like threatened and competitive and bad all at the same time. And I like set, I stepped out, and I looked at my boyfriend and I was like, Eric, like I'm gonna, I need to choose to have a different reaction right now. Like, I need to choose to say that like maybe it's not, yeah, I don't know, like maybe it's not to like being jealous hasn't worked right now, right?

Right, like feeling this competition hasn't worked, it's actually just made me like paralyzed. This like burning feeling only is debilitating. Maybe it's about, maybe I can learn to celebrate that she's there, and maybe I can feel like it's like a wink, you know, like the Oprah winks, like it's like a wink from my higher power that like this exists and this can exist, and so if it exists for her, maybe it can also exist for me, and like maybe I can just ride that wave instead.

[48:43] Priscila García-Jacquier: And the fact that I even thought that for me was like huge, huge. That takes a lot of awareness. Yeah, I'm not completely like I can't say I landed, but the fact you know what I mean, like the fact that I I'm I want that instead of the burning sensation, like I'm just kind of so over it. And then the other thing I learned was about writing, was like really deciding that the more specific things are, the more universal they are. And that writing is about closing your eyes and putting yourself in those shoes and really like feeling it in your stomach about like what this person is actually gonna say next, you know, and feeling that and that has to cost you something, and then switching so that you then do the same for the other person and deciding that you're gonna go there instead of just writing things that are polemic or political for the sake of being political or whatever. That they're actually very specific and very personal.

[49:44] Leah Walsh: Are you writing anything right now that you're really excited about?

[49:47] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, man. Um yeah, so what I'm always excited about my blog. Um Yeah, tell me about your blog.

[49:52] Priscila García-Jacquier: It's like the best thing. When did you start it?

[49:57] Priscila García-Jacquier: I started it about I mean, it's been online for like three years, but never use it. I just wanted to buy my my my domain name. Uh-huh. Um, but in the last year, it's been the best way to write and apply the lessons that I'm learning with Alex without it feeling like life or death. Because right now writing a script is life or death. Right. Because it's so freaking pressurized. And this is something you can just like put out in the world.

[50:18] Leah Walsh: Yeah, totally.

[50:19] Priscila García-Jacquier: But apply the lessons and kind of feel them and like whatever. Um, but the responses have been amazing. I mean, people are so it it's an incredible way to connect with people and um I I n I don't realize until until it's reflected back at me how hard it is for people to be like really honest. Um I think it's just part of like how I'm wired and I like it. Um what kind of things are you writing about?

[50:44] Priscila García-Jacquier: I write a lot about addiction. I had an eating disorder for 10 years, so I'm I've always been very, very open about that. But recently I got sober. Um, and so I've been writing a lot about that. Cause I think it's really it's we don't we're not it's not okay to talk about that in your 20s.

[50:59] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[51:00] Priscila García-Jacquier: Because if you say to someone that you think you have a drinking problem, they're like, Oh, that's you don't have a drinking problem, you're just in your twenties, and you're like, how can we have an effective conversation about this? So I've made kind of a decision to be really uh open about that. Um I just got sober like four months ago.

[51:16] Leah Walsh: Oh my god, congratulations.

[51:18] Priscila García-Jacquier: Thank you. How's that going?

[51:19] Priscila García-Jacquier: It's going really well, but I am I've talked about it on the podcast, but you know, like not in depth yet. Like I'm still figuring that out.

[51:27] Leah Walsh: Totally. I mean I think that's great.

[51:30] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, I like congratulations. It's just it's one of it's like the best thing that I've done and also probably the hardest. I don't um I I feel like I grew up in the public eye, and so I had to learn how to talk about things publicly anyway. So I might as well do it personally.

[51:48] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[51:49] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, so that's what I do on the blog, and that's been it's just been rocking. Like it's just feels so good to connect to the community in that way. And for them people to feel like they can open up about their own experiences, you know, I don't ever take that for granted. And then I'm writing a script about a boss and his assistant. Um who got stuck in an elevator. Uh-huh. Um and take it from there. Um, I think that I've just worked for so many powerful men. It's it's such a specific experience.

[52:21] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[52:21] Priscila García-Jacquier: And not necessarily something I can write in a blog. You know what I mean? Um, so I kind of have to build the narrative around that in order to talk about it, I think effectively.

[52:31] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Have you gotten to work for any powerful women?

[52:35] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yes, one. Um, I worked for Camilla Forbes uh my senior year of college, because by s by junior year I was already kind of like part-timing. I mean it was a very hectic, awesome thing. I've always I think ha you know, have had to do two things at once. But I was commuting between New York and Pittsburgh and I met Camila because I worked on the workshop of Holler, if you hear me, before my senior year. And we fell in love. I mean, she was just like a ma I mean she was just amazing. I had never been in a in a room under a powerful woman, let alone a powerful woman of color. Um and I was very open with her about the fact that I needed that skill set that uh if I was gonna be a female leader, I mean my dad raised me to be just like him, but but if I was gonna be a female leader, I needed female mentorship.

[53:31] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um so I was I just that's what I said, and then we s we kept working together and I was just to her on a few shows and um I got to extend kind of my summer abroad or my my semester abroad in New York and I kept working through her for her through my senior year. And it was an amazing experience.

[53:51] Leah Walsh: Well, yeah, I know there's there's just not as many women in power, so I'm I'm glad that you've gotten to find some powerful men who have been good mentors to you.

[53:59] Priscila García-Jacquier: Totally. I mean I also think 'cause not not all of them not all men are open to being mentors to women or know how to be good mentors to women.

[54:08] Leah Walsh: Yeah, I think you're right.

[54:09] Priscila García-Jacquier: I think that I have been extremely lucky in that regard. I think something that I've been thinking about a lot lately is like how much I don't know, I part of part of my job is like doting. Do you know what I mean? Part of like assisting men is doting on men. Um and I naturally take care of them in a way.

[54:27] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[54:28] Priscila García-Jacquier: And like there's a lot of pride in that. That's not to diminish them at all. It's just I think part of the dynamic. I kind of grew up with that. You know what I mean? I'm my dad's only daughter, and I just always grew up like Does it do you ever feel like it gets weird or you feel like it totally gets weird, man? It's like a weird subservient part of it or I don't know.

[54:46] Priscila García-Jacquier: I don't know. I've been in I've been in like not at those levels, but in like assistant roles and offices and things to a guy where I'm just like, I don't I don't like the way this feels.

[54:55] Leah Walsh: Yeah, totally.

[54:55] Priscila García-Jacquier: I mean, I think I'm learning that now. Um, not because it feels weird but I just think you have to be conscious of it.

[55:00] Leah Walsh: Yes.

[55:00] Priscila García-Jacquier: Um, I think I naturally do that. I grew up in a Hispanic household in South America with powerful men not only in the house, but like objectively. I don't, I just don't. Um and women don't need doting. Do you know they're actually kind of apprehensive about it? And so it it's it's a stranger thing. Part of the power dynamic, is that um my taking care of you is part of how you need me, right? So that I'm just becoming aware of that now and the ways that I can shift that. Um, but that will come with age. I think I'm I think that the other lucky thing about the men that I work for is that I can always engage in a conversation about it. Um it's not an unspoken thing.

[55:41] Leah Walsh: Oh, not at all.

[55:42] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah, I think I've always been just lucky. I mean, I think it's both like how I work that I I'm I'm kind of always willing to put it on the table, and then that I've worked for men who are willing to have that conversation. Um, so very lucky.

[55:55] Leah Walsh: Yeah. Um, I've kept you for a while. There are two last questions that I actually ask. It w if you are having a day where you're feeling really like down or uninspired, like are there any concrete things that you reach for again and again, like a book or music you listen to or somewhere you go.

[56:15] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah. Um I watch a lot of documentaries. Um it's not by any means kind of what I want to make. Um, sorry, to my production company. But um it's it's it's not kind of what sets my soul on fire, but I too I have always appreciated them. I tend to watch documentaries of people who inspire me. Like right now, I'll have like Demi Lovato's documentary on loop for forever. But let me answer that a little bit better.

[56:46] Priscila García-Jacquier: You know what? There's two things. There is journaling, like being conscious of wanting to put everything out. I fight the the instinct to suppress anything, you know, and so being um challenging my own self to do that, and then reading scripts. Like reading a good like West Wing script, you know, like reading that, like reminding yourself that like that's how good dialogue can be, you know. Um like I j for me, like recently it's just been like reading like any script by Matthew Lopez. Like I just like I love Matthew. Oh my god, Matthew's incredible, you know. So I read good scripts and then I journal. And that's the place. And then I'll try to take an action that makes me feel um I'll try to check in with my team, you know, but like if we're being effective, if there's an an any action I can take, if there's anyone I can reach out to, um, if there are any ideas I can write down, if there's anything that we can have.

But it's usually an inside job rather than like an outside job. I feel like if I put my too much pressure on myself to be too proactive then I'll freak out about not being proactive enough and that for an addict is not necessarily a great place to be you know um and then the last question is have you seen anything recently that you want to recommend of any art form.

[58:17] Priscila García-Jacquier: Yeah man Demi Lovato's documentary I gotta watch this.

[58:20] Leah Walsh: Oh it's amazing. Is it on Netflix or something?

[58:23] Priscila García-Jacquier: it's on YouTube. It's like one of it's like their first release as part of like the red initiative like they want to have like a pay-per view um kind of like Netflix streaming type thing but via YouTube. It's ex it's extremely powerful. I mean obviously I have my own I mean she goes like through eating disorders to addiction and like her own sobriety and so for me like that's just what I needed to watch especially right now. Um but it just I think that it's so important to see work that is or someone's journey that isn't just like a 45 year old who already made it. Like yes Demi Lovato has made it she is a superstar but it's very important to see our like our like people who can be peers. Do you know what I mean? Like see them in the active process of building.

[59:14] Leah Walsh: Yeah.

[59:14] Priscila García-Jacquier: And that was a clear reminder of that like sh it does an amazing job of like making you a daydream you know because she is like a superstar but also like letting you feel all your all of your emotions. It's an it's an amazing balance. So I highly recommend that at the moment.

[59:28] Leah Walsh: Okay. Yeah totally all right, great. Well, thank you so much for doing that.

[59:33] Priscila García-Jacquier: Thanks for having me. This is like really greatly great.

[59:46] Leah Walsh: 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. See you next time.