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[0:00] ♪ Musical number: "When Lightning Strikes" — performed by Unknown artist ♪

[0:25] Jeryl Brunner: Hi, this is Jeryl Brunner, and you're listening to When Lightning Strikes, where we talk about the tingly mic drop moments that led you to becoming an artist.

[0:38] Arian Moayed: Arian Moayed was nominated for a Tony Award for his dazzling performance playing Torvald in A Doll's House opposite Jessica Chastain, an Emmy and Tony nominated actor, writer, and director. In 2002, he co-founded Waterwell, a risk-taking and civic-minded non-profit theater company. Some of his other theater credits include The Humans, Guards at the Taj, and Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. Just a few of Arian's TV and film credits include Stewy in the HBO hit Succession, Love Life, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Inventing Anna, Ms. Marvel, and most recently, A24's You Hurt My Feelings. So welcome. It's such a joy to have you, and an honor to have you on the show.

[1:39] Arian Moayed: Thanks, Jeryl. Thank you.

[1:41] Jeryl Brunner: So what a surreal month, I imagine it's been for you. You're coming off this gorgeous production of A Doll's House and also editing Succession.

[1:58] Arian Moayed: Yo, let's say month. So crazy.

[2:03] Jeryl Brunner: How does it feel to say goodbye to these, not to be so dark, but to say goodbye to these beautiful characters who you're creating?

[2:13] Arian Moayed: I mean, you know, it is a surreal time. It's yeah, it was both, it was three things. It was You Hurt My Feelings, this film, this new Nicole Holofcener movie that just came out, A Doll's House, and Succession. I mean, when it rains, it pours. I mean, to be real with you, doing the play was so invigorating and so exciting, and working all my scenes were essentially with the great Jessica Chastain playing Nora Helmer. But I will also say eight shows a week is inhumane. My body was just by the end of it, just no longer able to do it. It was just the proximity of just being in that chair and just all that built-up emotion, just constantly like enraged, and you know, it's good to let some of that stuff go.

With Succession, you know, it's funny because I let go of Succession all prior to that, you know. My last day of shooting was February 10th. But it's sad to see that show go. It's sad to see it kind of like end after four glorious years. I will say we ended on such a high note that it just feels so exciting to be in something that just lands in such an amazing way. But it's sad to see it go, yeah.

[3:42] Jeryl Brunner: You know what? I want to start with A Doll's House because I've seen many iterations of that play. I love the play, but I've never seen a production like this production with Amy Herzog's adaptation, this pared-down production, Jamie Lloyd directing it. I mean, here you are, and you're all on stage, bare bones, you know, it's stripped down and yet it's so full and rich. Can you explain that? You know, what went through your mind when you heard about this production?

[4:26] Arian Moayed: You know, I mean, it is a phenomenon. There is nothing but just the acting and the words and very minimal staging. Exciting staging, but minimal. But I think a lot of it is, you know, just the immense trust that Jamie had for the actors, an immense trust that Jamie had for the words, and just letting us be there and letting it be what it needs to be. You know, the other big portion of this process is that we had these microphones that were visibly attached to us, like lavaliers. It's visible so that the audience purposefully knows that we are being mic'd, so that we can even get quieter. We're showing you the illusion. We're not hiding what we're trying to do. And those moments where it gets so quiet and so small and so tight and so uncomfortable with the microphones and the ability to have these amazing words, you know, it was easier for us to drop into something very honest and real that feels like you're watching a private conversation publicly. It was so intimate.

[5:51] Jeryl Brunner: And I love there was a moment where Jessica, Nora says, "Here's a cup of tea," and she doesn't even improvise, right?

[6:03] Arian Moayed: Is that the left? She doesn't even, and you think I don't even need to see her improvising a cup of tea. I get it. I'm with you. And I just thought it was such a riveting production.

[6:17] Arian Moayed: Yeah, one of the moments that I think you're thinking of is when she's like, "Here's your ring."

[6:21] Jeryl Brunner: Oh, here's your ring. Okay, sorry.

[6:23] Arian Moayed: And she does, yeah, no, no, no, not at all. She goes, "Here's your ring," and then she waits a second, she doesn't move.

[6:31] Jeryl Brunner: Yes.

[6:31] Arian Moayed: And I'm looking at her, and she's looking at me, and then she goes, "Now give me mine."

[6:39] Jeryl Brunner: Yes.

[6:41] Arian Moayed: And then, you know, then that's all you need.

[6:43] Jeryl Brunner: Yeah.

[6:43] Arian Moayed: And in those scenarios, there's another great moment between Michael Patrick Thornton and Jessica Chastain. Michael Patrick Thornton plays the great, he plays Dr. Rank, and he obviously just an unbelievable performance. But there's like, "Let me light this cigar for you."

[7:00] Jeryl Brunner: Thank you.

[7:01] Arian Moayed: You know, it's such a beautiful moment that by doing the action of lighting the cigar, it actually takes away from the intimacy of what the two of them are experiencing with each other. I mean, there's so much to talk about. I just want to go back to your childhood for a second, or the moment when you knew you had to be an artist because you have, from what I've read, just really fascinating and I imagine complicated, if I may say, trajectory. You came here when you were five.

[7:38] Arian Moayed: If I have this right, yeah, I was, that's right. I was a kid that moved here, escaping Iran in like a war-torn moment in which our whole family was kind of just shattered in a weird way. I'm the youngest of four kids by 17 years. So I was a big surprise, and it was a crazy time in the world, and Iran and the United States was not a good thing to, you know, it wasn't a popular country, to say the least. So yeah, all those things brought, and then my parents didn't speak a lot of English. We were not of a class to really move over. And so we had that very, I imagine what most people that don't know what would imagine would be a very typical rough and tough immigrant kind of upbringing, full of joy and love.

And the joy and love of it all was kind of maybe why I wanted to, you know, I'm only speculating these things as a 43-year-old man looking back at what was happening at that time. But maybe what was happening at that time was that I was making my family laugh, doing bits of things that I would watch on TV. My family was kind of like addicted to Three's Company and the like slapsticky type stuff, and I could maybe mimic some of that. We watched Charlie Chaplin films as a kid. And so maybe subconsciously I was doing all that just to like make everyone laugh. And maybe that's where it all started from. And maybe it's a little bit of God, you know. All those pieces together can come together and form someone.

And really, I think that being an immigrant growing up in this country, especially as Iranians, especially, you know, trying to make ends meet, you know, so much micro terrible trauma, traumatic things that were happening at the time. But what was also happening at the time was I was realizing that it's never gonna get as bad as this. And so much of, you know, I get asked by so many people because I have so many hats that I wear as a teacher, as a producer, as a writer, as a director, as an actor. And none of that seems as hard as none of the stuff that I'm doing today feels as hard as being an immigrant in this country. That to me feels still harder. Like I would not want to go back to those times.

I think about it. And again, they had so much joy in that time. I'm only giving there was love and humanity and laughs, but crazy. I can't even imagine I will not be able to speak the language fully and feel like maybe feeling like an outsider.

[10:34] Jeryl Brunner: Do you mind me asking? What did your parents do when they got here?

[10:35] Arian Moayed: My dad was, when they got here, you know, my father tried to start a business that didn't do very well, and kind of like epically, you know, sadly failed and really couldn't get it off the ground after that, really. You also realized my parents were much older, so when they were trying things in their fifties, and when they got here, they were like in their fifties, you know. So it was tricky. All that was really, really tricky. And then my mom really was the breadwinner of our family, and she basically had a lot of jobs. She worked in childcare a lot. So there would be like babysitting and nannying, and she worked at a childcare center for a long time. And then when we'd come home, she'd also like work as a seamstress on the side, like because that was something that she could do. So it was just, you know, I was watching my family, you know, my mom, my dad trying to make all that stuff happen, you know, with learning the new skill sets.

[11:43] Jeryl Brunner: So do you remember one of the first times you performed or were on stage? Or tell me about that, because I'm curious how you got it.

[11:52] Arian Moayed: I was in ESL classes. I was in ESL classes till fourth grade, and in the third grade, the ESL teacher, I guess, did a performance of all the different cultures that are at our school. This is a north suburb of Chicago. And in this middle school called Winkleman, which is in Northbrook, Illinois.

[12:17] Arian Moayed: Um, and I grew up in Northbrook, Glenview, Borderline. Um in this neighborhood, um uh in the school at Winkleman, they had this moment where all the ESL kids had to come on stage and like say hello in their own language as part of the um like the assembly. And you had to dress up like you were Iranian. And so I remember the night before my mom and I were going through the closet trying to find like what we would wear, but we didn't really have anything that was super Iranian. So it kind of and I kind of slightly looked Russian. But that's what we had, and we we we we we we came in and I performed it, and I remember Miss Roar's third grade class with like Lauren Anderson and Justin Tanner and Jennifer Jameson and all and Anand Shaw and Clay Hamana, and all of a sudden I kind of saw them kind of like wave.

I was like, this feeling is amazing. Because you know, I was such a I I I you know being in ESL was kind of weird, you know, like I was, you know, it's just like a it was cool though. That was a real and then in fifth grade, Gerald, obviously I played Santa Claus's personal trainer. Of course. Um, where I did a I'm sure uh a fair deal of yelling. You mean like like sit-ups and yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, he had to do sit-ups and stuff. Though it doesn't really make any sense because Santa Claus doesn't really exercise, it seems, but maybe I guess. In this world, yes.

[14:01] Jeryl Brunner: So how did you went to IU, right? So how did you go from you know being Santa Claus's trainer to um deciding, okay, I'm gonna put my stake in this profession as an artist. You know, when did that moment happen that you decided, oh, this is life for me?

[14:22] Arian Moayed: Yeah, I mean, again, when you have arts programming at a school, at a public school, you can you you can show people a whole new thing. And so at Glenbrook South at my high school and my middle school, my middle school was called Field Middle School, and then I went to Glenbrook South High School. There was emphasis on the arts and there was opportunities, and I kept on doing them. And they liked me. And I was a theater kid, and I, you know, I liked hanging out backstage, and I like, you know, making costumes, and I liked all the stuff that you do when you're a theater nerd. And then and then I applied to every college for acting, and I didn't get I didn't even get a callback anywhere, to be honest with you.

I kind of got a mini callback at Juilliard, but not really. And um, and then I got accepted to Indiana University, and and I remember my my mom, she the last school we were waiting on was University of Illinois at Champaign, Urbana, and I didn't get into that one either. And I knew I wasn't gonna get into it because I didn't get a callback. And so my mom held the letter, and I came home from school, and my mom held the letter, and she's like, This is from the school. And I'd already told her, because she didn't really like I was the one that was managing basic m much of that like paperwork. Um, but my mom really I told her that if it's a big envelope, that means you got in. Yes, if it's a small envelope, that means you did not get in.

And so my mom is holding the last school. And and and she goes, and Farsi, she was like, Did you um does this mean that they don't want you? And I said, Yeah, it means that they don't want me. And she goes, No, do they not want you for acting? I said, Mom, they specifically don't want me for acting. And so that was tricky to handle. And my mom was mortified. And she's like, What the hell? But to be real with you, Gerald, also what was happening at this time, and this is a little bit of my brother's help. And my brother, who's again 17 years older than me, he was becoming a doctor at this moment. And so my mom had like a little thing to like latch on to. And I kind of like wiggled my way out of there.

I went to Indiana University. That was the only school I got accepted to. And I went in to meet the undergraduate advisor there. True story, his name is Charles Roseback. I hope he listens to this. And Charles, I asked Charles, how many shows can I do here? And he goes, as many as you want. And even though there was no other school to pick from, I was like, that seems like the school for me.

[16:54] Jeryl Brunner: What did you do? What was in your repertoire?

[16:57] Arian Moayed: Well, you got to. Oh, I did 15 shows in five in four years. Were there some of them that you did? The first show, my first I did, I did um Servant, I played the servant and servant of two masters. I played Iago, I played a little Orlando. I was lucky in in in um in um what was the name of that show? Um Waiting for Godell, obviously. Um and yeah, I played a bunch of cool parts, you know, bunch of cool, you know, Shakespeare and and and I didn't care. I went from after I did Servant of Two Masters, my first freshman year, which was the lead of the mainstage show. I went and became like a supernumerate, like an extra in uh off-campus production of Keely and Do. You know what I mean? Like, I just didn't care. I just really just wanted to be in shows. I just wanted to keep doing it. I think I had a very good sense that that if I do it a lot, I think it will it will make more and more sense to me, maybe, you know. I was really into that kind of like mode.

[17:55] Jeryl Brunner: And is this right that very soon after graduating you ended up in New York? And what I think is so incredible is that you co-founded Waterwell, right? In 2002. So I love how you took agency over your career. That it well, can you tell people what Waterwell is and the beautiful work you do?

[18:18] Arian Moayed: Thank you so much, Gerald. Waterwell is a um nonprofit here in New York City. It is a community organizing art and education company. And all three of those engines are really working alongside each other. We believe that we're tackling these really complex questions without being a polemic or without being red or blue or black or white. We're we're really giving you the truth, and we work alongside the communities in which these truths really matter. I'll give you an example in a couple weeks, uh, or actually next week now. We're working um with uh a bunch of people that are trying to do this act called the Dignity Over Detention Act, where Waterwell is making a piece of art to deal with the um uh one of the bills that we're trying to pass in the immigration world called the Dignity Over Detention Act.

So that is one example. The community came to us for that. Oh no, and then on the other aspect of it, we we are a um a vendor of the New York City Department of Education in in Midtown Manhattan. And for 12 years, we've been teaching grades six through twelve um in a public school setting inside the curriculum, completely tuition free. Um something we call the Artist a Citizen, in which we teach you how to become a world class artist, but we also teach you it won't matter unless you better the communities that you care about. Um where it could be um the community, it could be your mosque, it could be your synagogue, it could be your gaming community, it could be your your book club, it doesn't really matter.

And and and we've been teaching that for 12 years, and and on all three of these engines have been going out now for 20 years, and now I am the board chair, and the organization is run by the great Lee Sunday Evans, our artistic director.

[20:05] Jeryl Brunner: So brilliant. What what gave you the inspiration to co-found this? Here you are, new in New York, right? An artist trying to trying to make it happen. You think I'm gonna found co-found this theater company, doing all these code. Tom Ridge.

[20:22] Arian Moayed: Yeah. You know, a lot of the Yeah, I mean, that's a great question. I mean, when I was in Indiana University in 9-11 happened. And Tom Ridgely and I, who are roommates and best friends, we are we were so adamant that the theater could be a tool for change at 21 years of age. And when 9-11 happened, I that was our patriotic push to be like, we gotta do this. We have to do this. And we believe and still do. You know, our mission statement when we were 22 years, 22 years old in 2002, a year after 9-11, was about accessibility, responsiveness, civic-minded, socially conscious, you know, bringing arts to the world and changing the world through arts. Like we were, we believed in that. Some of that was just like pure idealism and positivity that we were like pushing out into the world.

Some of that was craziness, some of that was, you know. But but to be real, also, I we moved to New York City and we knew nobody. Like there is not a huge Indiana University alumni network back then. There was nobody. And so, how do you put on a play? Well, you gotta write the play. And then, oh, they were like, oh, you gotta buy the play, but you can't get the rights. Well, how do you get the rights? You can't, you have to pay for it. We can't. Well, just write the play. Okay, write the play. Who's gonna direct it? Nobody. We'll direct it. Okay, we'll direct it. And we just kept on doing that. And the first three years of Waterwell, we put out five shows in three years, all written, directed, and produced by us.

And the fifth one was a show called The Persians, a comedy about war with five songs. And that kind of blew up. The New York Times came, and then I got signed by a big agency. And then we just kept on moving that engine forward. And it wasn't very popular, the type of work we were doing. And we weren't really actually even going after too many theater audience goers. But the industry respected us, and they knew what we were doing, and they just, you know, but it was just not a popular form at the time. Anyway, all this to say is that kind of led to more and more things. And along the way, I was teaching at the school, um, at at the professional performing art school in Midtown Manhattan, and and then and then Waterwell in 2009 put in a bid to run the education program, and here we are now.

[22:40] Jeryl Brunner: That's so extraordinary extraordinary. I love how you devise work, you know, with the students, with the, you know, and how and how it informed your career as well, and how it led to your, like you said, getting a legend and all the these pieces, you know, because you were following your passion, your path, your way, instead of just sitting back waiting for the phone to ring.

[23:03] Arian Moayed: Yeah, I I feel like a little bit of that is just the privilege of being an immigrant, to be honest with you. Um, that I have that privilege over other people just because I I there's this immigrant mentality that we hope that we are here doing enough for our parents' struggles. You know what I mean? And that that feeling, no matter how much I try to fill that hole, it's kind of unfillable, you know. So a little bit of it just is just pure like we're gonna get this done. And again, like I said, it none of it feels as hard as as as that earlier stuff. And you had amazing people around us. Tom Ridge is a genius. We have these amazing people that just it just started with the two of us, and then it became five people, then 10 people. You know, now we're, you know, you know, we we have you know, 15 faculty. We do a lot, you know. We I'm very proud of what the work that Waterwall does. And continues to do.

[23:56] Jeryl Brunner: Well, can we talk about succession? And uh, well, what do you miss about that experience? I know it's been several months since you shot it.

[24:08] Arian Moayed: The thing I miss most about succession, there's two things I miss most about succession the people and the scripts. That's what I'm gonna miss. And I'm curious, everybody has an opinion who I talked to said who who they wanted to take over, and what a fascinating choice, you know, that lot of the kids got to take over. Who who do you think you would like to take over?

[24:36] Arian Moayed: Uh well, Gerald, there's only one answer. Stewing. That's what I thought. There's only one answer. One call, one competent person amongst a bunch of fools. And why? I mean, why I mean. Well, the funny thing about Stewie is Stewie at the end of it still is with Tom, too. You know, that's the amazing thing about Stewie. He will go for whoever wins. I think, you know, I of all of those folks, who does Aryan think should win? Yes. I don't think any. I think they should all lose. I hope they all lose. Why? Because they're just I you know who I think because I despise that. I despise those people. And I despise people that have that much wealth and that much power over us. Yes. I really do. Um I'm talking about the Logan Roys of the world.

Like no one should have that much energy and power in the last uh season. There's this episode where it's the it's election night, and you're seeing these young these two sons and this and and the the Roy family make decisions about our future right in front of our eyes. And we all honestly, that's that to me is like the most the scariest succession episode because we all think that's that's how it goes. That's probably how that plays. And and to be real with you, I hope that they all fail. Well, they have so much power. Ewan, Ewan, Ewan is who I like. Ewan. Well, they have so much power. It's really Shakespeare. When I think about, I mean, it's like Macbeth or Hamlet, that they're just so that they're they're so base and and complicated and and can be, I hate the word, I don't like the word evil, but like there's this There's some evil in there.

There's a lot of evil, you know, when you think about the things that they did or got away with, and it's the scripts though are fascinating because you really do care about them. That's the thing. We care about Stewie as corrupt as he is.

[26:46] Arian Moayed: And I want to talk about also You Hurt My Feelings, because here, granted, some projects, like long-term projects have come to an end this month, but you have this beautiful new movie, You Hurt My Feelings. So can you talk about that from A24? And you played the movie. Yeah. Yeah. A24 has this amazing new movie written by and directed by Nicole Holofcener called You Hurt My Feelings, starring the unbelievable Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the lead. And yeah, I play Mark, this kind of out of work actor who might be okay, but is not great. Um, but really still believes in it and still wants to do it. And the story is a very simple one. It's what happens if you're a loved one. You find out that they actually don't like your work.

And Julia Louis-Dreyfus finds out very early on that her new memoir that she's been writing that that that he has been saying that he loved, her husband has said it's not very good. And she finds out, and how do you deal with that? And that opens up just that's just the tip of the iceberg because it opens up so many other things. There are so many reasons where we, you know, with the parental, with kid, you know, so it's a glorious movie, movie theaters only. Please go check it out. You're it really feels like an all nostalgic way of watching movies back, like back in the day you went to the movie theater. It's so fun. And I think about the complexities of relationships, you know, watching it, thinking, when is it okay to really tell the truth to someone you love, you know, without you know, is that safe sometimes?

You know, is it protecting them? Tricky. You know, it is tricky because you don't want to hurt people you love, but if you can't tell them the truth, who can? You know, and we're all yeah, I mean I feel that way. I feel that way all the time. Yeah, you know, should you, should you not? You know, it's okay. You know, if it's if it's if I'm really passionate about it, and I, you know, it's do or die, I think my wife will just lie to me. That's really you can tell me later. Tell me in like a year from now. You know what? I'm gonna be honest with you, I hate it. Okay, fine, it's over.

[29:02] Arian Moayed: Can I take these three characters, Torvald, Stewie, and who you play in You Hurt My Feelings, forgive me, and Mark, what do you love about them? They're all very rich, very delicious. What do you love about each one? I love Stewie's confidence. I love Torvald. Well, I love. Tricky one. Good question. I don't know if you um I love. I think that Torvald, though misguided and clueless, really does love Nora. I love that he loves her. I think he loves her in all the mistaken ways, but I do believe that the love that he has for her is genuine. And when he and when she leaves him, he's devastating. It's heartbreaking because I can't stop thinking of the children. Oh, so it's so it's painful. I remember I I get so invested in that character.

And I think is Torvald trying to save his family at the end. And as you're as misguided and clueless as he is. Cruel. And and he also, I also think, well, context. I mean, women didn't have the right to vote. They couldn't own property. They weren't looked at as real as citizens. You know, women were seen very differently back then. And Nora's done something really in his mind. Yeah. And society, yeah, could destroys him, could destroy him. And it's I mean, it happens back then. I mean, to be honest with you, shit like that happens today. I mean, we think that we in our own bubbles in the East Coast. I mean, there are things like this happening day to day, everywhere across the country, the globe, Iran, everywhere.

And so, and and and um, and sometimes we turn an eye, we you know, we turn a blind eye to it. We we don't, we we don't see it because we have been so brainwashed by the misogyny that's been put upon us that we don't even know what's what up is up anymore. Right, you know.

[31:39] Arian Moayed: Um going back to Mark, what I love about Mark is that um is that even though he might even though he might not be the world's greatest actor, he's got the resilience to keep pushing ahead. I like that about him. He's a resilience, unstoppable. Yeah, can I add why you I love the choice in A Doll's House? Uh Nora literally, I mean, I could give it away now. I hope that's okay to give it away. Every um that she literally walks out of the theater. Literally. It is absolutely riveting. Because I thought, no, is she really literally what literally walks on to 45th Street? 45th Street. That's such a fascinating choice. Do you do you can you give some insight into that incredible choice to have her literally?

Yeah. Jamie Lloyd knew it from the very beginning that that the ending of the play, how the ending was gonna be. Because when we met in London, he described it to me, and I thought it was like, holy goodness, that's gonna be fantastic. Um, and so that was, yeah. So he knew it from the very, very jump. And every night it was just uh, you know, a coup de top, as as Brian Cox said to us. He's like, So coup de tach, coup de dot. I was like, okay, thanks. Um, and um, and it was, it was just how exciting to see our heroine walk out into this crazy world that is New York with color and sound, and just see what that all feels like and be like, oh my god, what is happening here?

[33:22] Arian Moayed: Did you have people back there sort of monitoring? There was two people on the side with like um, yeah. So they had a permit for the block, the block was closed up, um they have security guards on both sides. Um, but that being said, um, there was paparazzi and fans on each side every night. So it's extraordinary, and I love the layers of you that you play so many eclectic characters. I mean, that you could play Torvald and also Stewie at the at what and then of course, you mean The Humans and Marvel. Yeah, and uh is there a care uh a role you're aching to play or kind of character who you haven't played yet? You're like, I've gotta tackle this. I really want to do a comedy. That's what I really want to you know. I want to do a romantic comedy. That's what I really want to do.

[34:14] Arian Moayed: Alright, I read that with Jessica Chastain, right? That would be amazing to yeah, it'll be a fun, it would be a fun duo. That would be really fun duo. And but is there something in a parallel universe? If you could go back to that kid in ESL class who's just discovering acting, you're finding your way. Is there something you wish you knowing what you know now you could tell that kid? It's not always as scary as it seems, you know. I think I live with a lot of fear growing up. Yeah.

[34:52] Arian Moayed: Yeah. And how beautiful that you're a teacher, you know, that you can what does that give you? Be a teacher. You know, I think teach being a tea uh, you know, teaching for almost 17 years at the high school level, which is the level that I love more than any level, is um is it teaches me um you know to think outside of myself that the that there's so much more to this world than acting. You know what I mean? There's there's it's it's about stories, it's about hearing other people's stories, you know. I'm so honored. I have so many of my students are now, you know, 12 years. Well, I've been teaching for 17, but 12 years of Waterwell students. There's so many students of mine that are playwrights.

Um there's someone that's running a nonprofit in the Bronx. There's someone that's you know starting her own, you know, uh fashion life. And there's so much stuff that they're doing out there. Um working in the environment, working in one of our students is uh the you know, a lead of the new Ironheart, she is Ironheart. Um so uh to me that you know gives me so much joy, but it also you know selfishly gives me so much confidence to do everything else with at with more ease, because it feels outside of myself. I don't I you know, even uh sometimes teaching I say this to people selfishly, just do it selfishly. Giving to others is a nice gives you gives you a little boost that you might need.

[36:20] Jeryl Brunner: Well, it's such a gift to have you on the show. Thank you so much.

[36:24] Arian Moayed: Thank you so much so much for taking the time and you too, you too.

[36:30] Arian Moayed: It still happens every day. When lightning strikes is the moment you know.

[36:36] Jeryl Brunner: The theme song was written by Tom McGovern.

[36:39] Jeryl Brunner: This episode was edited by Kyle Moore.

[36:42] Jeryl Brunner: This episode was produced by Alice Stran.

[36:45] Jeryl Brunner: When lightning strikes.