This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:01] Patrick Oliver Jones: Back in 2019, Disney Studios entered the streaming video arena with their very own Disney Plus.

[0:09] Patrick Oliver Jones: One of the linchpin shows to help launch their streaming service was The Mandalorian.

[0:14] Patrick Oliver Jones: And needless to say, it was a huge hit with both critics and viewers.

[0:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: Even for people who don't care much about the Star Wars universe, I mean, who doesn't love Baby Yoda, huh?

[0:26] Patrick Oliver Jones: Now, two other fan favorite characters from the show are Kuiil, a wise and peaceful Ugnaught, and Frog Lady, an amphibious creature trying to save her eggs.

[0:37] Patrick Oliver Jones: While two different actors provided the voices for these characters, they are both physicalized and performed by one actor, Misty Rosas.

[0:48] Patrick Oliver Jones: She actually has a long history of performing suit characters like these.

[0:53] Patrick Oliver Jones: But she is also a dancer, singer, gymnast, stunt woman, and voiceover artist.

[0:59] Patrick Oliver Jones: And while her resume is impressive, it's all the more amazing that she's done each of these with about half of her hearing gone.

[1:30] Patrick Oliver Jones: Hello and welcome to Why I'll Never Make It or WINMI for short, one of Feed Spot's top 25 theater podcasts.

[1:38] Patrick Oliver Jones: I'm your host, Patrick Oliver Jones, and each week I talk with fellow artists as we explore the realities of what it really means to make it in the performing arts.

[1:48] Patrick Oliver Jones: The website is Why I'll Never Make It dot com, and there you can sign up for the monthly newsletter, as well as support this podcast financially.

[1:58] Patrick Oliver Jones: Learn about all that and more at why I'll never make it dot com or click on the link in the show notes.

[2:09] Patrick Oliver Jones: Now I have been a fan of The Mandalorian since it debuted.

[2:13] Patrick Oliver Jones: And when I found out that one actor had played two wonderful characters on the show, I was really impressed with her work.

[2:21] Patrick Oliver Jones: That's when I looked up Misty Rosas and discovered her long resume of other character work.

[2:27] Patrick Oliver Jones: Then come to find out she's a recording artist as well, having released albums and music videos and even opened for the classic 80s band Air Supply.

[2:36] Patrick Oliver Jones: But it was when I read her personal story that I truly became a fan of Misty.

[2:42] Patrick Oliver Jones: So we will certainly be talking about The Mandalorian and other movies and shows she's been a part of, but it is her personal and medical challenges which galvanized her character and made her not only the actor, but also the person that she is today.

[3:08] Patrick Oliver Jones: My time with Misty was certainly one of those times.

[3:12] Patrick Oliver Jones: But as you'll hear in part one of our conversation, she was a warm and open heart with so much wisdom to share from the lessons she's learned in her life and career.

[3:23] Patrick Oliver Jones: And I am so grateful she came on this podcast to share it with you and me.

[3:31] Patrick Oliver Jones: Welcome, Misty, to the podcast.

[3:33] Patrick Oliver Jones: It is truly an honor to have you here.

[3:35] Misty Rosas: Oh, thank you.

[3:36] Misty Rosas: Thank you so much.

[3:37] Misty Rosas: I'm very honored and excited to be here.

[3:41] Patrick Oliver Jones: Now, with the kind of performing that you have done throughout your career from dancing and singing to the costume character suit performance and stunt work that you've done, I just find it all the more impressive considering the hearing loss that you have managed since birth.

[3:56] Patrick Oliver Jones: Now, what was it that actually caused this hearing loss?

[3:59] Misty Rosas: I was actually born with the hearing loss that I have in my right ear.

[4:05] Misty Rosas: Basically, it's just one of the three inner ear bones didn't sync up with the rest.

[4:11] Misty Rosas: So, and I actually they did go in to try to correct that, but they had to abort surgery because my facial nerve was a little bit too close.

[4:22] Misty Rosas: And if they hit that, there was, you know, the fear of half of my face being paralyzed.

[4:29] Misty Rosas: So it was just like, nah, just you know, it'll be what it is, and I will handle it.

[4:34] Misty Rosas: And it was a partial hearing, right?

[4:36] Misty Rosas: It wasn't full.

[4:37] Misty Rosas: Well, I mean, it's pretty significant.

[4:40] Misty Rosas: It's a 65% loss in my right ear.

[4:43] Misty Rosas: Yeah, yeah, which is very significant.

[4:45] Misty Rosas: And then the left ear, I guess as part of compensation or whatever, it started to lose as well.

[4:51] Misty Rosas: It's nerve damage over time.

[4:54] Misty Rosas: With all of the suit work that I do, you wear an earpiece in your ear.

[4:59] Misty Rosas: It's just perhaps sometimes it was too loud, and I don't have any control of being able to turn that volume down.

[5:07] Patrick Oliver Jones: So I see yeah.

[5:09] Misty Rosas: So I have a 45% loss in my left ear and 65 in my right ear.

[5:14] Patrick Oliver Jones: So, how has this hearing loss affected the kind of work that you do?

[5:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: Or rather, I guess the adjustments that you've had to make to compensate for it.

[5:24] Misty Rosas: I would say obviously, with recording as a music artist, that is it's a challenge, but my love and passion for music and singing and recording is worth all of it.

[5:41] Misty Rosas: So I just I train with my vocal coach every single week.

[5:45] Misty Rosas: Um and you know, over the years he's helped me to refine how I find pitch center, which you know, I mean, and I'm always it's just obviously because of my ears, I'm gonna struggle with that, because I just I don't even have a full 100% of hearing almost.

[6:06] Misty Rosas: So um, and then in the recording studio with my record producers, it's just kind of like trial and error of you know how loud things should be or soft and how to, you know, where my headphones and stuff and I always just have to listen to a playback.

[6:25] Misty Rosas: And I've gotten really quick to be able to hear where I'm pitchy because of training and you know, so much training that it's getting a little bit easier.

[6:34] Misty Rosas: But um it was pretty, it was rough at first, but it's one of those journeys that you know, ultimately if you really, really love something, you're just you know, giving up is not an option.

[6:47] Misty Rosas: You just navigate through it and find your way.

[6:50] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah, because you started performing really young at the age of six.

[6:53] Patrick Oliver Jones: So you were dancing, which obviously requires you to hear the music, feel the beat.

[6:58] Patrick Oliver Jones: So was there from day one, an effort to not let the hearing loss affect you or hinder you in any way?

[7:08] Misty Rosas: It never did, you know.

[7:10] Misty Rosas: I mean, I could always hear my music and stuff.

[7:14] Misty Rosas: Um it's like kind of a little bit later.

[7:17] Misty Rosas: It's with the you know, my music journey, which obviously I've been drawn to music since I was a little kid.

[7:25] Misty Rosas: Like my earliest memory is being, you know, about two or three years old, and my parents have this big beautiful record player, and I would use my right ear to just like I just be right against the speaker and just kind of feeling the vibration and the music is just something that you know feeds my soul.

[7:48] Misty Rosas: So yeah, one of the earliest pictures that my mom took of me was as I was just beginning to walk and stand on my own.

[7:56] Misty Rosas: I would go to the washing machine and just put my face up against it because the vibration, the sound of that, I for whatever reason, I because I not only heard obviously what the washing machine was doing, I then felt the vibration.

[8:07] Misty Rosas: So I think that there's something within us from a young age that is just drawn to those kind of sounds and feelings that music can do for us.

[8:15] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah, vibration and connection.

[8:18] Misty Rosas: Um, you know, so you can feel it, you can feel it.

[8:22] Misty Rosas: Uh felt it on stage, um, especially after, you know, the last time that you know I opened for Air Supply.

[8:32] Misty Rosas: They're my favorite band.

[8:34] Misty Rosas: And again, it was just like this connection.

[8:36] Misty Rosas: Um, I remember the first time that I discovered them, it was um my family.

[8:42] Misty Rosas: We would always, you know, go and watch a show in the evening together.

[8:48] Misty Rosas: And um, I wasn't really paying attention.

[8:51] Misty Rosas: My parents were watching like a music awards show on TV, and I had my back turned, and I was playing with my stuffed animals, just you know, being within the setting of my family.

[9:04] Misty Rosas: And I heard Russell's voice and it literally made me stop.

[9:09] Misty Rosas: I'm all out of love.

[9:11] Misty Rosas: I'm so lost without you.

[9:14] Misty Rosas: I know you were right.

[9:16] Misty Rosas: Believing for so long.

[9:18] Misty Rosas: I'm all out of love.

[9:20] Misty Rosas: What am I without you?

[9:22] Misty Rosas: I can't be too late to say that I was so wrong.

[9:29] Misty Rosas: That voice is just like so beautiful.

[9:31] Misty Rosas: And I like literally crawled right up to the TV and just was like consumed, you know, just like wow.

[9:39] Misty Rosas: And it's a one of those heart moments where I didn't really realize it, but it's like I want to do that too.

[9:47] Misty Rosas: So and I got there, you know, oh, it took a long time.

[9:51] Misty Rosas: Um, but ultimately, you know, that's like been one of my biggest for me personal successes is opening for them because I've been literally a lifelong fan.

[10:02] Misty Rosas: And then the last time at the Rose, I had three ear surgeries, um, three weeks and three days before the show.

[10:10] Misty Rosas: Um, and it taught me a lot about having faith, leading with love and trusting that everything is gonna be okay.

[10:18] Patrick Oliver Jones: So at this point, how many surgeries have you had regarding your hearing loss?

[10:22] Misty Rosas: I've had four.

[10:24] Misty Rosas: You know, had one in this in my right ear that we aborted, which was traumatic for so many reasons because you have so much hope that oh my gosh, you know, I might be able to hear a little bit better to be able to hear like everybody else.

[10:39] Misty Rosas: And also, like I have long brown hair, and they had to shave um about an inch or two along the sides for a long time like it was really cool at first and it was like I had this like punk thing going but then my hair you know needed to grow out it was just like really and I did all that for nothing and then the other three ear surgeries again that happened in one day which is you know it was a lot to handle that was in my left ear.

[11:11] Patrick Oliver Jones: You know that there's that old saying that strength comes from adversity.

[11:15] Patrick Oliver Jones: Would you say that that has been the case for you?

[11:15] Misty Rosas: Absolutely it just feels like yeah from even as a gymnast like I was told that you're too tiny to be a gymnast which again I'm Simone Biles height so I'm proud of that.

[11:32] Misty Rosas: But that it has been a challenge it's been a challenge as a dancer.

[11:37] Misty Rosas: I remember coming up to LA and at a plan you know I was um the moment literally the day after I moved in up here I was at the Edge Performing Arts Center and training about three hours every day in the different disciplines and after years like okay I'm ready I'm ready to go out there and you know audition for the dance um agencies and I did and one after the other said we love you but you're too tiny.

[11:37] Misty Rosas: We love you but you're too tiny.

[12:10] Misty Rosas: And so that was really like crushing to my heart.

[12:15] Misty Rosas: I never thought that height would be such an issue.

[12:21] Misty Rosas: Like if you're really good at something, there's a place for you.

[12:24] Misty Rosas: And so I kind of lost, like I was broken and so sad um for a while, and I just stopped dancing and went on to really kind of focus on stunt work.

[12:36] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah, what was that transition?

[12:37] Patrick Oliver Jones: Because obviously dancing is all about your body free-flowing, expressing a story, whereas stunt work tells a different kind of story, but it's obviously much, much more physical.

[12:46] Misty Rosas: So what was that transition?

[12:48] Misty Rosas: This is all, you know, I mean, my whole life, all of these things have been swirling together.

[12:54] Misty Rosas: Um as a gymnast, I, you know, I trained, I took my first gymnastics class when I was two and a half, and I was immediately hooked.

[13:03] Misty Rosas: And I trained as a gymnast and competed all the way up till I was 16 and a half on the national team and all of that and dancing, you know, for the floor routines, especially at that time.

[13:15] Misty Rosas: We had compulsory floor routines that were very, very much ballet.

[13:20] Misty Rosas: So we had ballet bar class, you know.

[13:23] Misty Rosas: Obviously, I was never like professionally trained or technically trained as a dancer growing up, except for within the gymnastics training.

[13:32] Misty Rosas: And then at 18, when I went to college, I immediately enrolled in dance, the dance classes and um auditioned for to be a part of you know the dance performance at um college. So it's always been there. Um stunts was an easy transition for me because of my gymnastics background. You know, I have air awareness, I know how to fall. Um I just have yeah, I have um that ability. So um yeah, it's always been there too. And it was actually stunt work that first brought you to the television world. That was actually your your first foray into that, but your first on-camera was with with Congo and Instinct in portraying the gorillas. Because of suit performance and knowing John Alexander and Pierre Elliott and being taught by them how to do this type of performance and to learn how to work blind and to you know handle the weight and the heat and the oxygen deprivation.

John Alexander was asked by the Jim Henson Company and Disney to assemble artists to audition for the Country Bears movie. And so that was my introduction to the Jim Henson Company, which was first about uh practical suit work and um doing that movie. And then from there, with the Jim Henson company, I shifted into their motion capture world with the Henson HDPS system. So Henson Digital Puppetry System and the Motion Capture World. So which also brought me back to dancing.

[15:34] Misty Rosas: We're taking the disciplines of more than 50 years of the Jim Henson Company, uh, puppeteers, suit performers, puppet fabricators, and electronic geniuses all working in concert to deliver a singular vision here in real time. Would you say that Mandalorian has just been another level of this suit performance? Like it took it far beyond where you've ever been. It was very similar to the Country Bears, um, with being inside a character suit. My friend Michelin Sisty, you know, who's this brilliant performer, I mean, he's on Broadway. Um, and so he's a singer, dancer, actor, musician, and he was with working with the Jim Henson company too. So I was able to train with him uh for the country bears, and he taught me this other technique as far as suit performance in these costumes where you're actually um speaking dialogue and how to do that.

And then it was like a 20-year gap until Mandalorian came along, really for soup performance, right? There was definitely a big break because after the country bears, uh Brian Henson brought all of his artists and performers in for a meeting and had said, well, you know, we love doing practical builds and effects, but it was a time when that type of performance was shifting into the motion capture world. And so it's like, oh man, I just got here, and um, you know, so I figured it's like, well, I guess that's it for me. Um, but he actually called me and Misha, Michelin Sisty, in for to do a test pilot for their Henson digital puppetry system, uh, which was a little uh Muppet Babies pilot. He was baby Kermit, and I was baby Gonzo, so which is really fun.

[17:33] Misty Rosas: How funny? It didn't it must be interesting uh portraying such uh such iconic characters. I mean, I mean certainly uh your your work as the gorilla got really noticed, and then and then with uh with with country bears and now playing uh the Muppets and these recognizable characters. Did it prepare you for, even though we had never seen these characters before in Mandalorian, did it kind of prepare you for taking on this very iconic world of Star Wars and a fan base that will either love it or hate it kind of thing? Yes, all of this work uh from my very first job in the film industry with Congo, all of it, you know, the suit performance work, the motion capture work. Yeah, um we worked on Sid the Science Kid for you know a few years, and I worked in tandem with puppeteer Drew Massey.

Um, and so learning how to do that work and to blend and mesh with another artist. Um, you know, in that volume, I obviously do all of the from head to toe. I'm the body performer and performing his body movement, and Drew is you know, performing the voice and puppeteering his face. So um I had a lot of training and time and experience working with people to fuse and you know come together into one character.

[19:00] Misty Rosas: So it's all been this journey to this point, as well as uh struggles, you know, dancing and not dancing, going back to it because I love it and it's part of my heart, the music journey. It's all like kind of streamlined into these characters that I play in Star Wars. And I came obviously to the Mandalorian with that, but it had been a while since I had been in a practical, you know, suit with the animatronic head and all of that. So it's like, oh I remember this. Now certainly just the practical physical element of it is very different from acting. But but but as actors, you know, it's it's us, it's our body, we move, we speak. We're kind of autonomous in that sense of portraying these characters.

Whether whereas when you're in these suits, you're dealing with someone else doing the voice, puppeteers controlling some of those finer animatronic things, and then you're embodying the full character. And you have to, as you said, you have to mesh all those elements together into a single performance. Does that help in some way that you're not carrying the full weight of the character work on your shoulders, or is it kind of hard to fall in line with what everyone else is doing?

[20:16] Misty Rosas: We've all the puppeteers and I, like we've had the privilege of working together before. Um so we know each other, and um, and then when we knew it was Star Wars, like, oh man, you know, we gotta work, let's work really, really hard. We gotta focus and you know, bring a game every day. And usually the first take or two would be a little bit wonky and um not fully synced up. So it just takes some time, you know, because there are so many moving parts with him and literally a lot of people, yeah. Um, you know, doing their thing. So like I was always we I would come in a little bit early and meet up with my team and we would talk about what scenes we were doing and ideas that I had. I never wanted to get stuck in a rut of like having to give them physical cues. Is it just I don't, I just want it to be organic and feel very natural. So oftentimes it's like, you'll just trust me, trust me, we'll feel it out. And you know.

[21:22] Misty Rosas: Yeah. Um, and we, you know, we did. So it was, I was really proud of him. And in comparing Quill to Frog Lady, obviously the characters are different, but was the physicality, the performance itself was it similar? Physically, Queel was much heavier, uh, but I could see it was challenging because the moment they shut the mouth, there's no oxygen coming in. And after a while, you start to take in your CO2, which you know can get interesting. Um Frog Lady wasn't quite as heavy except for the pack. That was very heavy. And I was blind in my hero head for that character. So that was challenging.

[22:03] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yes, so so how did they manage that? As you say, once the mouth closes, was there a certain amount of time like you have 10 minutes and then you have to take a break, or how did they balance that so that you don't overheat and lose oxygen in there?

[22:16] Misty Rosas: It was up to me. I know when I start to feel a little bit lightheaded or something, I would always because I knew, you know, the volume of work we were trying to create, it was a lot. So and I think too, that's why, you know, Legacy, I know them and they know me and they know my work ethic, and they're like, you need to, you know, audition her because um she knows what is coming, you know, what goes along with this work, and it is not easy. Um, you know, you have to have a lot of patience. I remember Peter Elliott telling us there's the challenges of acting, and then there's this part too, and a mantra that he told us and taught us was not now later, uh, where you know, when everything hurts and you're tired and it's uncomfortable and all that, you have to tell yourself, not now, later, you know, stay focused, stay in it.

So, you know, things like that are very important when you're just uh exhausted and you're like, okay, I'm done, I want it out, you know, and we're in the middle of you know, shooting. So that wouldn't go well.

[23:26] Patrick Oliver Jones: Now, how did the the suit performance you did for Mandalorian? How did it compare with those gorilla characters, for example, that you portrayed 20 years previously? Was technology different or was your own performance? Did you feel like you had grown?

[23:39] Misty Rosas: Oh, yeah, especially with Congo. I had never been on a set uh or taken an acting class. Fortunately, we had three months of training um to learn to move and to feel and breathe as a gorilla, and also start to learn how to move in those suits. Like I remember putting everything on for the first time, and especially with the animatronic head. Um most of the time you're blind in those heads. So it's like I can't do this, I can't see. And so we had training sessions where uh John Alexander would be with us and they'd put a blindfold, and you just really had to learn to trust um the people in your earpiece. Um, and then when blocking happens, learn how to, you know, count your steps at first, but then get so comfortable in your body that you can kind of feel it out if you, you know, are more in the scene and you've lost count of your steps.

So um, but yeah, so that was uh Congo I loved it but it was overwhelming um just because it was brand new and I just didn't know what I was doing yet. Instinct was I was so grateful to get to come back because I got to improve my skill set and I just felt like I I knew much better what I was doing and how all of the damn dynamics of what goes on on set and all of that I just felt more comfortable so I was super proud of that work.

[25:16] Misty Rosas: And I will say Wheel and Frog Lady they're a combination of that but also since you know the very beginning like I've definitely done more work as and training as an actor you know with in a school with my friend Brad William Hinkey it was just like every week you know you're just learning the craft of acting so that's what is different this time and um maturity and life experience.

[25:44] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah yeah yeah I mean that that really does uh us becoming a more just well-rounded person helps us whether on camera or on stage it definitely uh definitely helps us both Misty and myself have had a good working relationship with the Disney company though my work has yet to rival the Mandalorian we both got our start professionally at the Disney theme parks for myself it was Disney World in Orlando where I got to perform in several of their stage shows the first of which was as Victor the Gargoyle in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. For Misty, it was Disneyland in California, where she would end up being one of the original cast members in Phantasmic, playing one of King Louis's dancing monkeys and a host of other characters.

She would also go on to do stunt work and dancing for the Lion King celebration parade. Now, as any actor knows, there is a certain connection to a character once you put on the clothes or the costume of that character. In many ways, it helps solidify the work put into the rehearsals and is one of the last steps in fully realizing and connecting with the character.

[26:57] Misty Rosas: Having done a little bit of costume character work myself, is there ever a sense of when everything closes around you? Is there almost a sense of serenity inside that costume? Yeah, um, a lot of the crew, especially when it was working as Kuiil, the moment I put everything on, I did have to go to a very like kind of quiet, still place because I needed to, you know, conserve every bit of energy um that I had for working in those scenes. He was super, super heavy. So yeah, you just you have to go, you have to be able to go into that peaceful place of just breathing. You know, it was a unique animatronic head because obviously my eyes are exposed, so I could see. But in Frog Lady, sometimes, you know, you just like needed moments where you could just sit and close your eyes because you can't see anybody or anything anyway.

So but yeah, you do. You have to conserve energy. I think you'll never forget it's uh Frog Lady's Introduction. That scene was very challenging for me because obviously both Amy Sedaris and Pedro, they were mic'd. So when they're calling action, I was sitting back there and they had to take my air away, which is basically uh Legacy has built, you know, they're out of little hairdryers, but they take the heating mechanism out, and you know, you get to shove that in the mouth, and you just get air and it gives you oxygen and say a little bit cool. So they had to take that away from me. And you know, the opening of the scene is the two of them for quite a while just having their chat before I'm even revealed. So it's just like I would just I call it just dropping down. Um, just sitting listening to, you know, waiting for my cue and just breathing slow and steady until it's my time to go.

[29:02] Misty Rosas: Besides enjoying the Mandalorian show itself, there is also a behind the scenes look at the making of the show called Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. And for season two, they talk about the Frog Lady and what went into bringing that character to life. In the following clip, you will hear from Peyton Reed, who is the director of episode two in the second season, as well as Hal Hickel, animation supervisor, and finally the Mandalorian himself, Pedro Pascal. All of them describing what Misty brings to the role of Frog Lady. When you read this thing, it's like, how are we gonna create sort of a dimensional character out of this Frog Lady? And Misty brings this performance level to this character that's unbelievable.

The way that she embodied the creature, just as she did with Kuiil, it's just remarkably sensitive. And immediately you love this character. Misty is a superstar. It's absolutely heartbreaking the way that she creates a compelling little Frog Lady. The physical language that she's able to demonstrate that kind of performance is exactly what makes things like that work in the world of Star Wars.

[30:29] Patrick Oliver Jones: What has that phrase meant to you personally?

[30:32] Misty Rosas: It is probably one of the most significant and important connections. Um at a time when I was doing a lot of stunt work, I decided to take a break and go to yoga teacher training. Um, it was at a time when I was, you know, my body was pretty beat up from 18 years of gymnastics and then costume work and stunts. And uh I discovered yoga right after we wrapped up the Country Bears movie, and I was just hurting. And fortunately, my puppeteer, Alice Dinian, um, she's like, Do you have you ever practiced yoga? And uh I was like, No. And she's like, Well, it would probably be good for your body. So we went to a class, and I again was immediately hooked. Uh, so then a few years later, I found Bikram yoga through one of the physical therapists that I was working with, and he's like, the amount of scar tissue and the damage you've done to your body, you have to be in that heated room in order to break that down and to really heal your body.

And um, within a month of that practice, it's just like, wow, this really does work. And so teaching yoga is part of my karma work of giving back to people and then in hopes of um helping them to really see themselves too in that mirror and to go after their dreams. And so I've been teaching Bikram Yoga since 2006 and Kuiil is very much like his wisdom, his quietude, his precision in what he says and why I try to be as precise like that in the hot room with my students because I know there is a lot going on mentally, physically and emotionally for them. So being that calm steady support of, you know, just breathe, be still, just keep come back to your body I have spoken, that's where that comes from for me.

So it's really special because my whole family's like what are you doing? And it's like I have to do this. I don't understand it. And it's like I have to do this. I don't understand it. I don't know why other than I really want to help people so just trust me. You know, even then I was like I don't know what I'm doing sometimes either. So I learned how to trust myself and trust that journey that sometimes when you do something selfless because it is my karma job, it comes back to you in the most spectacular ways.

[33:11] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah, because it sounds like the certainly you're helping others that as you said kind of find their own center emotionally, spiritually, creatively it sounds like that it's really meant a lot to you personally.

[33:24] Misty Rosas: Yeah it helped me too with confidence. I'm pretty shy um and like you know I'll do training and fine and fine and fine except for you know the first time you we had to stand up and do the dialogue for the first posture in front of 350 people it was I was okay because it's like just stay with the the yoga stay with the you know the words the dialogue but then on my first day of teaching I'm like in my car on the phone with my mom crying going I don't want to do this I don't know what I'm doing you know I don't know what I was thinking and she's like calm down she's like why why'd you do that? Why'd you train for nine weeks you know all day every day it's like because I know the yoga works and I just want to help people like tears and crying um and you know it was just it's really intense for me because I usually wear it's crazy but it's a thing um my tall shoes when I go out those inches matter and in the yoga room you're barefoot so I'm itty bitty and it's like nobody is gonna take me seriously and I have to be in here with all of these you know tall adult people so um again love and trusting the why of what I was doing uh really helped and then when I opened my mouth and just tried to stay centered too for me and learning how to command that space and just lead people it helped me with courage.

[34:54] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah it's interesting you brought up size and it makes me think back to what that dance instructor said, you know, you're you're just too small. I'm sorry, you can't do this. But now your height is what has enabled you to portray these characters on screen. So actually, your height has been almost a blessing to you in that way.

[35:12] Misty Rosas: It's felt in moments like a lot of, I mean, even Simone Biles said it, I just want to be taller. Um, and as a dancer with the tears and getting rejected so many times, I wish that I was just tall enough to do this thing that I love. But then if I was that, then this would have never happened for me. So it's just like just be mindful of sometimes um what you wish for, but also to trust your journey. And you know, all of it tends to manifest and create ultimately where you're going.

[35:50] Patrick Oliver Jones: Yeah. It almost shows us that we don't have limitations. We may have things that guide us to certain paths, but they're they're they're not limiting us, they're merely in some ways helping us down a certain path that we might not have gone down otherwise.

[36:04] Misty Rosas: Absolutely. Yeah. Um, that's you know, one of the bigger lessons that I've learned. It may feel like sometimes um the things that I've loved, uh there's been these physical obstacles, but really the only obstacles are the ones that you create. So instead of choosing to agree with those obstacles, choose, you know, the joy in what you're doing. Um, I love to go to dance class just because like it just makes me happy. Um, and I, you know, I'll dance all night, you know, and you can feel it. It's something that you can feel when you really love something. Cause you just do it, you know, when I'm training with my vocal coach, just to sing a song, just sing it. Sometimes I'll get goosebumps, and I think it's just a little reminder from the universe or wherever of you're exactly where you're supposed to be.

[37:09] Misty Rosas: And part of accepting that we are where we're supposed to be and staying present in the moment comes from us also accepting and honoring the past and where we came from. So before we finish this episode, which is coming out at the midway point of Hispanic Heritage Month, I wanted to share a bit of my own heritage and the important lesson I learned from my father.

[37:37] Misty Rosas: Yeah, my heritage is Italian, Mexican, and Native American. So wow. I haven't done ancestry yet, but I do want to do that because I want to know really, really where my roots are. Right, right. To dig into that. Yeah. Yeah. You know, my heritage, and I'm proud of it. I'm proud of where I come from. And I come from the working class, you know. Um, not handed anything. My dad, and I remember that. By the time he was six, he had to work in the farms with his family, you know. Um, and it's just it wasn't an easy life. So everything that he gave to me, it's just like uh every opportunity I can. I want to honor his memory of um you gotta work hard, you know, you gotta earn it. Which is uh a classic example of that. Keep saying yes, right? Yeah, yeah. If you have to do it, you gotta do it. Say yes. You gotta do it. Just figure it out. You'll figure it out along the way.

[38:41] Patrick Oliver Jones: Thank you so much for joining me and Misty for part one of our conversation. You can actually watch the full interview on YouTube. That's right. Why I'll Never Make It has a YouTube channel, and there's quite a few episodes on there. You'll find a link to that in the show notes. Otherwise, just stay right here on your podcast app for part two with Misty Rosas. We'll talk more about how she deals with the negative voice, both from others and within herself. And you'll also get a preview of Misty's latest single, Thank You.

[39:19] Patrick Oliver Jones: Well, I'm your host, Patrick Oliver Jones in charge of writing, editing, and producing this podcast. Publicity provided by Imagine PR Group, the song clip you heard, All Out of Love, was recorded by Air Supply and written by Graham Russell and Clive Davis for Arista Records. Other incidental music is by Vortex. Why I'll Never Make It is a part of the Helium Radio Network and a member of the Broadway Makers Alliance. Join me next time with Misty Rosas as we talk more about why I'll never make it.

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