Leslie Hassler: A Photographer's Journey Capturing Essence & Developing Rapport

Prepare to be mesmerized by Leslie Hassler, a celebrated New York-based photographer, writer, and entrepreneur. In our intriguing conversation, Leslie uncovers the magic behind her captivating photographs, sharing how she nurtures profound connections with her subjects and prepares for a shoot. This in-depth conversation also offers a glimpse into Leslie's early years, tracing her transition from modeling to photography.

Join us as Leslie recounts some remarkable highlights from her career. From her transformative journey from model to photographer and her courage to take risks and trust her instincts along the way. Leslie's career is a testament to her exceptional talent and her ability to capture the essence of her subjects. Hear her colorful anecdotes about her encounters with Morgan Freeman and Harrison Ford as a young photographer and the close connection she made when she shot Julia Louis-Dreyfus in NYC.

Take a deep breath as we venture further into Leslie's philosophy of living in the present and trusting your intuition. We explore the narratives we create when things don't pan out as planned, and discuss the fear of heartbreak. Finally, Leslie shares insights into her vulnerabilities, the misconceptions she has had to debunk, and the importance of gratitude. Get ready for an inspiring, heart-touching episode with Leslie Hassler, an episode that promises a unique peek into the life of a distinguished photographer on her journey to self-discovery.

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Chapters

• 0:24 Photographer's Journey and Connection in Portraiture
• 11:48 Photography Journey and Highlights
• 21:56 Living in the Moment With Partnerships
• 32:18 Discussion on Weaknesses and Gratitude
• 41:38 Expressing Gratitude and Encouragement

Transcript

Lisa Hopkins: 0:24

This is the Stop Time podcast. I'm your host, Lisa Hopkins, and I'm here to engage you in thought-provoking, motivational conversations around practicing the art of living in the moment. I'm a certified life coach and I'm excited to dig deep and offer insights into embracing who we are and where we are at. My next guest is a New York City-based writer, photographer and entrepreneur. Her photographs have appeared in magazines worldwide, including Rolling Stone, the New York Times, vogue, glamour, new York Magazine, elle, vanity Fair and on many covers, including GQ. She loves being around actors and directors and writers in movie sets and specializes in portraiture, shooting actors, entrepreneurs, business owners, writers, chefs, musicians and celebrity portraits from magazines. Her client list is a who's who of the entertainment industry, all of whom are drawn to her unique energy and innate ability to see and capture the true essence of who they really are. I'm really thrilled to be sitting down today with photographer Leslie Hassler Leslie, welcome.

Leslie Hassler: 1:32

Thank you, pleasure to be here.

Lisa Hopkins: 1:34

It's really, really wonderful to have you. I've spent the day looking through all your stuff because I like to do that. I mean I do research, but I also like to immerse myself in whoever I'm speaking with and I just want to take a moment and celebrate your work. I mean it's really wonderful, it really is.

Leslie Hassler: 1:52

Thank you so much.

Lisa Hopkins: 1:54

What is it that you like most about what you do?

Leslie Hassler: 2:01

I think. For me, it's creating a rapport with someone new. That's the turn-on part. It's not about creating some incredible new lighting setup. That never has been. What does it. For me, it's the connection that's very tangible once it starts flying between us. It just happens, it clicks, and then that's when I get that elevated feeling of being high. I think they do. It's really fun.

Lisa Hopkins: 2:33

It sounds like a mutual flow state. You guys hit it yeah. That's pretty cool. What happens when it doesn't? Does it ever not happen?

Leslie Hassler: 2:42

Yeah, I think it's happened maybe a couple of times. One was because I asked an actor to hold a vintage clock as a prop and even wrap the cord around his neck and be goofy with the cord. He just didn't want to do it. I just said, okay, yeah, never mind, don't worry about it, we'll just take some without it. We did. Then I remember I was stressed out. After that I left my own studio. I actually just said I have to go. I left him there with some PR people and my assistant. I came back and he'd left me a note saying dear Leslie, I'm really sorry, I was in such a bad mood and had nothing to do with our shoot. I love your work, xoxo. It was just he was having a bad day.

Lisa Hopkins: 3:32

He was being human. Isn't it funny, though, how we shut down right. Then we make all these stories about. It must be me, why did I ask him? What an idiot.

Leslie Hassler: 3:40

I know I don't think it's very rare that people don't get into the flow state, because when I'm feeling my energy is elevated, it's going to elevate them naturally, without really doing much. It's just me being interested in them that brings them out.

Lisa Hopkins: 4:00

Totally. How do you prep for a session like in terms of it's interesting to me because, much like getting ready to play the role, in your case, really getting to create that energetic moment Do you have a ritual of what you need to do for yourself?

Leslie Hassler: 4:17

I think I do. It's not anything set in stone, it's just that I leave whatever is going on. Maybe that might be negative. I told you, I think in something I wrote down, that my mother passed away this year. I didn't bring any of that into the room, my grief or anything I was going through, because it has nothing to do with their shoot that they are expecting to be very positive. In times like that, I just leave everything that I might be going through in my life and just walk in the room with a big smile on my face and say it's so great to see you and meet you. Sometimes I haven't even met them in person. We've done a Zoom pre-branding thing. Bring my good energy, I guess.

Lisa Hopkins: 5:05

Yeah, this may be a difficult question, but how do you do that? I understand what you're saying and I understand that there's a value there, maybe that you're honoring, that is easy to step into, as opposed to, or is it a siloing? When you do that, when you remove yourself, I don't think it's toxic positivity. What is it that? How do you do that?

Leslie Hassler: 5:23

It's just compartmentalizing and also, plus, I had already taken three months off work completely. I didn't just jump right back into working, I just took as much time as I needed and that I felt like working actually makes me very happy and I get a lot of joy from what I do. I did a couple of shoots and I thought I can do this. It's a good thing to work again, yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 5:47

That's beautiful. Thank you for sharing that. That's really really nice. Take us back to your origin story, because I know that you've got a really interesting background that led you to where you are now. Would you share some of that with us?

Leslie Hassler: 5:58

I was working in New York as a model with Ford and I did that for quite some time, maybe 15 years, 12 years. The only time that I actually liked that job was when I was living in Paris or living in Tokyo and having an excuse to be able to live in a foreign city and learn the language. So I got so much out of it because of that. But I didn't actually like saying that I did that for a living. So I would just say, oh, I'm a student, but I think I was on my last job. I was hoping it was my last job in New York and I asked the photographer if he ever hired assistants and he said, yeah, I do. And I said, so, let me, I'll come down to your studio. And we did the next day and it was a beautiful studio on Broom Street. I remember so clearly thinking that he was a food photographer because we were doing an ad for olive oil like a hang tag. And I walked in and it was all celebrity portraiture, big blow-ups of it, of cool portraits, and I said, oh my God, you shoot this type of stuff. And he said, yeah. So while I was there and I was looking at his work. He got a phone call and he went to the other end of the studio and I could completely hear that he was talking about a shoot the following day. That was going to be Harrison Ford, and so he came back over to where I was and I just looked at him and I said I'll be assisting you tomorrow. Yeah, and he got will not be assisting me. And I said no, I am going to be assisting you. And it just kind of went back and forth so I was able to get him to train me right then that day and what kind of lighting and how I needed to set it up.

Leslie Hassler: 7:44

So the next day we go to some amazing hotel it was for a press junket and we're in a hotel room and Harrison walks in Immediately, just kind of like he and I start having a little bit of a rapport just because I say what's with the mustache? I'm just gonna add a mustache and I noticed that the photographer really wasn't getting anything much out of the shoot. Like it was just sort of boring, you know, and the photographer was kind of sweating and nervous. So I just like jumped in and started kind of, you know, just giving Harrison a little bit of a hard time, you know, and he loved it. And so he walked over to me, this close, and he said you don't like mustaches? And I was like whoa? I said no, actually I'm not sure I was all befuddled, but it showed me how to loosen someone up, because the pictures became so much better, because he was now having a great time and he was laughing.

Leslie Hassler: 8:52

And you know, consecutively he asked me if I would photograph him sometime. I said yeah, of course, but I knew I was a complete neophyte, okay, so gave him my number, figured nothing would ever come of it. And then, like five months later, I'm in a taxi, phone rings Leslie, hi, it's Harrison. And then there's like this long silence and then he goes Ford, and I go, oh, okay, and anyway it ended up being a big shoot that I faked my way through, okay, and it ended on the cover of Japanese GQ, Like that's how I started my career.

Lisa Hopkins: 9:34

So it was pretty interesting yeah. Wow, you got a lot of a lot of balls there, Kojones.

Leslie Hassler: 9:42

I know I was one of those. I mean, I still my motto, which is jump in the net, will appear. That's always been my kind of way of living and I feel like if you don't ask you'll, you wouldn't get. You know you get a yes or no, and it's like I just used to ask for what I wanted a lot.

Lisa Hopkins: 10:01

Yeah, I mean, you don't have anything to lose. If you don't have anything to lose, yeah that's true, Literally right.

Leslie Hassler: 10:08

How old were you then? I must have been about, I'd say, close to 30, maybe 28.

Lisa Hopkins: 10:17

So cool. And when you were modeling, did you begin that when you were like a teenager or was that just like? How did you get into modeling?

Leslie Hassler: 10:25

Oh, we were. My family was living in Montreal. My mother wanted us kids to learn a foreign language my brother and I so she forced me to go to an all French school in Montreal French, luckily and she moved back down south to be near her parents. My mother did and my brother went with her, and I decided to pass through New York on my way there. And, lo and behold, the woman I stayed with said have you ever thought about modeling? And I said no. She said well, I'm friends with Eileen Ford's son, billy. You might as well just go in and see what they say.

Leslie Hassler: 11:06

So I felt like remember that scene for Mary Tyler Moore when she steps out into the city and throws her hat in the air. It was kind of like that. Like the minute I got to New York I came out of Grant Central and I had like white wide leg jeans and clogs and a blue blazer and I just felt this is my city. So it ended up that they took me, they accepted me and I couldn't believe it, but it just started me. I didn't ever end up going back to live with my family. After that I stayed in the city, got an apartment and, yeah, did the thing complete change.

Lisa Hopkins: 11:46

Yeah, that's amazing. It's interesting too because you said earlier that it sounds like for you. You kind of knew instinctively that that wasn't what you wanted to do, but it was certainly providing you travel and opportunity and money to sort of be a life experience.

Leslie Hassler: 12:05

But had you not done that?

Lisa Hopkins: 12:07

then you wouldn't have asked the photographer right Like ding, ding ding.

Leslie Hassler: 12:11

Exactly. I mean, some people have asked me how did you get to where you are? And I always look at this vision of you know, building a brick by brick by brick across a river. And then you look back and you go, oh my God, a bridge, whoops, I didn't even realize. Because, if you think about, like, modeling is so helpful as a photographer because, I mean, I've had so many experiences where, say, the photographer would say something like no, not like that, and then I would just shut down yeah, so I learned how to express things in a very positive way.

Lisa Hopkins: 12:49

So it sounds like you kind of just, kind of you didn't really have the technique yet or anything right, you just had this sense of how to really create the moment. And then so did you ever? Was there ever a sort of posture syndrome or any kind of like, or did technique come into it? Did you go study more? Did you just kind of keep going with it?

Leslie Hassler: 13:09

Yeah, Basically I had gone to NYU film school so I knew a little bit about imagery and images were all plaster all over my walls always. But I studied with a guy in New Mexico named David Michael Kennedy who teaches at the Santa Fe workshop. He did a bunch of Rolling Stone covers back in the day and he's a hippie. He shoots basically Indians. Now he's like New York Jew but he's got a long braid and a cowboy hat and he's allowed on these reservations. So I worked with him, which taught me a lot.

Leslie Hassler: 13:51

And then I ended up dating someone who could just. I would say I was at Sundance Film Festival by myself. I'm shooting an actress. She's lying on her back like this in the snow and I'm standing straddling over her, shooting down and my camera breaks. So I called my future partner in New York and he taught me how to take my camera apart and fix it and I fell in love with him. So he and I used to argue. I would say it's all about rapport and he'd say, no, it's all about the lighting. And so we had that debate for years, but during that I learned all about the lighting.

Lisa Hopkins: 14:32

And do you still think it's all about rapport?

Leslie Hassler: 14:36

Yes, yeah, I do, because without rapport, what do you have? A very flat image With good lighting, with good lighting, yeah, oh, I'm with you 100%.

Lisa Hopkins: 14:49

Yeah, I'm so with you. I mean, it's about, it's like the technician in anything, right, they can be the most brilliant technician and you can appreciate the technique, but there's not that sort of je ne sais quoi. We're talking about, right, that you clearly capture and that's kind of your. That's where you reside, right, that's so beautiful. So talk to me a little bit about legacy, because from my perspective, what you do has a lot to do with legacy. And I say that specifically because, as I was researching you more today, I came across Luke Perry obituary photographed by you Wow, maybe you didn't even know that and Harry Belafonte the two things because I was just researching you and saying was the Hassler photographs. Those two came up and I thought, my goodness, like to think that your photographs were used for even just the family members, let alone all the fans and whatever, to remember by right, the last image that they're going to see. What do you think about that?

Leslie Hassler: 15:51

I don't, I never thought about that before and in fact both of those portraits that I did I wasn't even a photographer fully at the time, I was still an assistant, because I ended up assisting that person for over a year. But oftentimes he would let me shoot after he was done, which is unbelievable. No one does that and so I don't know, I don't really. I mean, I guess I'm honored that they would choose a portrait that I did, but those to me just feel like before I even knew what I was doing, I just was winging it, fully winging it. I remember once I was assisting, and it was Morgan Freeman, who I just love his face and voice and everything, but I was itching to take the pictures and to be the one shooting it.

Leslie Hassler: 16:38

And so at one point, morgan, he was wearing a black turtleneck. He just looked over at me and he goes did you bring your camera? And I go, yeah, and he goes, all right, everybody out, everybody out. And he had some pretty strong women around him like his makeup artists and whatnot. And so even the photographer left the room and closed the door and he started doing like all this cool stuff at the black turtleneck and I was shooting. You know, meanwhile I get into the cab at the end of the shoot with the photographer and I was like hi. I said, oh my God, what a rush, that was incredible. And he said, did you remember to change your camera from indoor, from outdoor, to the indoor strobe settings? And I go, no, should I have done that? And he's like, yeah, you're not going to have, it's not going to be any exposure on on the film, except maybe that much.

Lisa Hopkins: 17:36

Oh, my God. But how'd they turn out? I mean, was it were they?

Leslie Hassler: 17:43

that no, there was no exposure. It was like say the negative is that big, that much was exposed.

Lisa Hopkins: 17:48

Oh, my God.

Leslie Hassler: 17:49

So it was just one like I got exposed to very fun possibilities. Early on, I got to shoot Al Pacino. I wasn't even a photographer. And anyway, just like things like that. There's so many funny stories from those days, those early days flying falling flat on my face just trying, and then you know yeah, that's awesome.

Lisa Hopkins: 18:11

It's beautiful. I love that. What is there a highlight of all of them? I could you pick one that? Because one of my questions would have been like you know what's one of your highlights of your career and what's one of your lowlights?

Leslie Hassler: 18:23

Yeah, highlight would be Julia Louis Dreyfus. I had watched Seinfeld probably 20 times, you know, front to back, yeah and curve. I'd watched every enthusiasm also, the whole thing. So I was so happy to be photographing her. And she walked in to my loft in Chelsea with a very imposing tall hairdresser and I had gone out that morning to my deli because I was trying to come up with an idea and I just sort of bought daisies out of the blue. I just thought, oh, we'll see what happens, but daisies, you know, pinned in her hair or something. And so she came around, sort of like my kitchen table area where the daisies were laid out, and I said, oh, we could just pin the daisies in your hair and it would look really cool. And she looked over at her hairdresser and he went no, and she looked at me, she looked at him and he looked at me and then she went let's do it. So we put them in her hair and it's on the cover. It's such a beautiful picture, I love it.

Leslie Hassler: 19:33

And then when she was leaving, I was leaning my arm against the elevator and she's like, oh, my God, this has been so much fun. And then she goes oh, I love your bracelet and I said oh this, wow, I bought this in Argentina. But you know what? I bought two, let me give you one. So I go and I give her one and she comes back. When I come back up to her, she goes, get out and she shoves me like she did on side. So that was a highlight, because she even wanted like autographed pictures of her and I wrote it was an email and I said you mean on the back right.

Leslie Hassler: 20:07

She was on the front Hello, so cute, yeah, so sweet.

Lisa Hopkins: 20:12

Oh, that's amazing. I love that, yeah, and it's. Isn't it nice, when you like really admired somebody, that they, they show up in the way that you really hope, and better. Yeah, oh my God, that's. That's super cool. And is there a low light? Would that be hard to find for you, a low light?

Leslie Hassler: 20:30

Yeah, but I mean, I think the Morgan Freeman story is definitely you know. You know, he even gave me his number and said if you ever need anything at all, call me and I. That was a time when I didn't have the nerve to ask because I didn't want to. It was almost embarrassing, Like I actually didn't get anything. Can we reach that, you know? So I sort of was kicking myself because he would have said, yes, he's so kind, but I just didn't. I just didn't have the nerve to do certain things.

Lisa Hopkins: 20:59

Yeah, yeah, so you would have. If you could have done it differently, you would have. You would have just called them and owned up.

Leslie Hassler: 21:07

And I would have admitted what happened and he would have probably started laughing, Is it? Of course, you know.

Lisa Hopkins: 21:14

I love it. Well, and with the legacy piece, do you have you ever thought about what you want your legacy to be?

Leslie Hassler: 21:23

I have not thought about that now. My legacy she was a good person.

Lisa Hopkins: 21:31

Yeah, Well, I mean, yeah, I mean, how do you want to be remembered? That's what legacy is right, Really, I mean it's interesting because there's two parts too and I'm actually curious to ask you about. Like, is mentorship something that you've felt you've had or that you would like to give? Has there been anyone that's been a key sort of mentor in your life?

Leslie Hassler: 21:56

I have had a lot of great partnerships with other people, especially in my writing, like an editor and things like that. But in photography it's mainly that I've studied a lot of other photographers work, you know, that I admired and I feel like you know, when you kind of get it, it's not, it's not copying like the style of someone else, it's more just getting inspired by an idea or a location or well. I will say that I do something I think is different, which is I style my shoots. I'm a stylist and I bring that to the table to the point where people say I would have never thought of wearing this. Wow, I never would have even pictured wearing this, but I'm going to wear it from now on.

Leslie Hassler: 22:51

So that happens a lot. I think that's important, but I don't know. To your question, yeah, no, I don't really think there are any like specific mentors and I also. As far as mentoring, I have done that quite a bit. I had interns work with me in my studio and you know they get to learn all the behind the scenes shooting indoors and outdoors and all the different aspects of it, and then they get employed, usually for a couple of years working for me, and it's super fun for them and they learn a lot, so that's enjoyable.

Lisa Hopkins: 23:23

Yeah, no for sure, and because you kind of came up that way right In a way, just sort of, can I try, let me try, let me try. Yeah, which is nice. What is your definition of living in the moment?

Leslie Hassler: 23:37

Saying yes a lot is, I think, important to me. I would say that's mostly how I live, is that I take chances and you know, if something comes up, I try to say yes if I can, and I also stop and notice, wow, this is fun, like I don't. I don't project into the future or into the past that much. That's mainly because I've really worked on that in myself. And you know, if you see me in my car, I'll be listening to the Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle or something like that, because it always reminds me that the time is now and even as a joke people will say what time is it? I'll come now, because it just reminds people to. You know, just realize it is about this moment. I mean, I do say no also, but that's just out of my own, you know, self-care, I just I like my, my time, my quiet time too. My creative time is kind of like freshest to me.

Lisa Hopkins: 24:38

Yeah, no for sure. It sounds like, if I hear you correctly, that the best living in the moment really occurs in the land of yes, right, that's what's where it tends to kind of, where you can really savor it and be really in it and enjoy it. But it's also you create it when you say yes, don't you?

Leslie Hassler: 24:55

Yes, yes, I think also another thing about that is listening to your intuition. I think one of the questions you had asked were three adjectives and I think one of them was intuitive, which you know, in that yes or no choice, oftentimes I'll, I'll get a feeling about it and I try to listen to my intuition as often as possible. Sometimes I'll say to a friend but I don't know what my intuition is saying, because I don't feel, I don't feel anything, yeah, yeah. So sometimes I am good at it, sometimes I'm not, but I try to feel it as much as I can.

Lisa Hopkins: 25:37

Yeah, no, fair enough. What if anything scares you? Are you like, is there anything that that? How does fear show up?

Leslie Hassler: 25:44

Sure, sure, I'm getting my heart broken for sure. It's scary. You know, taking a chance on love and falling in love is exciting and yet also scary. I don't know what else scares me. I mean, sometimes I might, I might wonder, you know, if someone doesn't? Well, I don't know. That's not even a fear, I don't know. I think that's about the main fear that I have, you're so cute.

Lisa Hopkins: 26:21

It's interesting that you stopped yourself, like if we were coaching together I'd be like no, no finish that.

Leslie Hassler: 26:25

Oh yeah, okay, so I'll say what I was gonna say then is that sometimes I might have a sense that, oh, I wonder if they maybe they don't like me, like this certain say person, and then I'll reach out and make the gesture like, hey, do you wanna get together? Of course they wanna get together and it's great. But I can sometimes, if someone is a little bit distant or busy or whatever it is, I can sometimes get a feeling of I wonder what I did or said, or I don't know if they like me, which sounds so childish, but I think you know like it feels, like a kid would say that, but I think we're always gonna be like that.

Lisa Hopkins: 27:04

Yeah, 100% yeah. We want connection and it's interesting. It makes actually so much sense, especially with someone like you and how you've described yourself, which is that you've had a lot of kind of just ease and it's come naturally to you to connect with people. So when it doesn't, you sort of think it must be me, because something's not working.

Leslie Hassler: 27:27

Something's not working. Everybody likes me, right? No, you're right. When it's off, it's kind of like what.

Lisa Hopkins: 27:35

Yeah.

Leslie Hassler: 27:36

What did I say? What did I do? Yeah, and then it's just them. They're busy, they've got three kids, or whatever it is, you know.

Lisa Hopkins: 27:45

Inevitably. That is so true. I mean, it's amazing the stories we tell ourselves, right when we don't know the answer, when it's not the way we thought it was gonna be. Yep, what would you do if you couldn't do what you do Now? That's a loaded question because you do a lot of things, so I don't know how you want to receive that question. But if you couldn't do any of the multitude of artistic things you do, I guess is what I'm asking?

Leslie Hassler: 28:10

Yeah, oh, you mean not just photography.

Lisa Hopkins: 28:14

Whatever you want to answer, it's fine.

Leslie Hassler: 28:16

Um, I, if I had to work to make a living, it would be different than if I didn't have to work, because if I didn't have to work at all, I would spend so much time painting and gardening and growing things. And you know, I love being a homebody so much. Now that I moved out of Manhattan and I live upstate which was one of the best things I've ever done you know, the lifestyle is so different I can do those sort of homey things that I couldn't do for so long. Yeah, so I like painting. I've always had a desire to be like a detective, I think that would be.

Lisa Hopkins: 28:57

I love that.

Leslie Hassler: 28:59

I used to. As a kid. I had a club based on that book, harriet the Spy.

Lisa Hopkins: 29:03

Oh, I love that.

Leslie Hassler: 29:05

And yeah, we would just go around spy on people and writing notes, you know and you know, saying ooh, well, they're up to no good. That would be so intriguing.

Lisa Hopkins: 29:14

Yeah, if you didn't have to work. I don't even know if you consider your work, work, I mean, I know you get paid to do what you do, but would you if you were? You know, if money were no object, would you do less of it? Would you do more of it? Would you? What would you? How would you approach, let's say, the photography in this case? How would you approach that differently?

Leslie Hassler: 29:32

I mean I don't let's say I don't know, I don't really like have to work financially. I feel pretty comfortable in that work, in that department For the first time. You know, I mean, as an artist you're never really comfortable or safe, but I feel like I am now Doesn't mean that I'm, you know, not at work, because I am, because I love it, but I, yeah, I still, I still would do it. I still I still love it because it's a turn on for them and me. And I feel like if I wasn't working, I'd probably oh, I'll give you an example.

Leslie Hassler: 30:15

I once stated a man in London, an actor, of course, and I was in London for quite some time and when I got home to New York, I saw my apartment and my photographs all over in my office and I was like, oh, this is who I am, this is me. Because, having gone over there to his world, I kind of lost myself for a while. Like I lost myself and who I am. And it took, you know, coming home and seeing that, to kind of like realize, wow, I am, you know I'm here. I don't know, I can't explain it, but I really love what I do. It's just so you know, like, say, two days ago I was on a corporate shoot. They were having so much fun because they don't get that that often to have a photographer come in and tell them how to dress and how to pose and do all this stuff so they were just ordering sushi and the whole thing was a blast.

Lisa Hopkins: 31:14

Bringing people together, right? Mm-hmm? Yeah, so I know that you're a mom, right? So how old is you? Have a son, yes. So how old is he now? He's 21. Okay, so, now that he's 21, is there any difference for you and I'm speaking mother and mother now for you about, like, is it easier, what's changed for you now that he's kind of in? I mean?

Leslie Hassler: 31:36

he's in his final year of college, so this is the first time I've had those feelings of truly he's on his own, you know. Like I mean summer, who knows, he may end up living with me for a year until he gets, you know he's going, but yeah, it's very different. I felt it so strongly this year. He's home right now, which is nice for a few days, but I mean I'm all for him doing exactly what he's doing and I like it. It's just a part of, you know, the journey of life and what mothers have to feel, which is kind of a letting go and also being so proud at the same time.

Lisa Hopkins: 32:18

I hear your mind moved to New Zealand, so. It's so far away, so far away. Yeah, that will do. That will be a sidebar with a bottle of wine you and I.

Leslie Hassler: 32:29

Okay, for sure.

Lisa Hopkins: 32:30

Hey, what would you say? Is your Achilles heel?

Leslie Hassler: 32:36

Oh, so this would be like a weakness of mine, like the.

Lisa Hopkins: 32:38

Greek myth correct. So it would be one thing that is, you know, despite all this incredible strength, that is actually, yeah, probably your weakness, yeah.

Leslie Hassler: 32:47

Hmm, I don't know if it's my slight doubt when I can not feel my own intuition and I start to question things, which is very typical of my Libra. You know, both sides look good to me and I can't make a decision. That might be what it is, it's just I cannot stand it for myself when I can't make a decision. Am I going to Paris, Am I not going to Paris? I don't know, it could take me like three or four days and I'm finally like okay, decision made. So that drives me crazy about myself.

Lisa Hopkins: 33:27

I love it. So you get paralysis by analysis.

Leslie Hassler: 33:31

Oh, that's good. I've never heard that.

Lisa Hopkins: 33:33

Yeah, so, which happens for high resonating folks like you, because you live in the land of possibility, you believe in possibility and sometimes there are so many possibilities that excite you all. So it's not so much like a judgment thing that would be better than this, it's more like ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, right. And so you get paralyzed because you're not really sure what to do, because you feel kind of feel them all right.

Leslie Hassler: 34:01

Yes, yes, yes, very true.

Lisa Hopkins: 34:03

Yeah, let me ask you a few more, because I know you've got family and then I'll let you go. But to be continued, what do you not want people to know about you?

Leslie Hassler: 34:18

Wow, I, nothing is coming to mind. Okay, I used to be triggered by that question when I was young. I was very triggered by that question, but now I don't feel like I am. I was triggered back then because, you know, we were living in Montreal and my mom was a total hippie at that time and my friends moms were these very conservative, you know, like beehive, tall, like gray hair, and my butt was like, you know, hippie, and I was embarrassed. So I would just, you know, looking back, my friend said, oh my, your mom was the coolest you know, but of course, as a 14 year old, you're like cringing, horrified Everything she's doing. Yeah, I really was traumatized, actually, by it. I would get off the school bus and like walk past my house and then backtrack into my own house. Wow, yeah, but later like I totally got over that because my mom is amazing, was amazing, and she was just going through a phase and it was a pretty cool phase.

Lisa Hopkins: 35:26

Yeah, no, totally. Can you finish this phrase? Most people think Leslie Hassler is, but the truth is.

Leslie Hassler: 35:34

Oh, wow, see, that was on the intake form and I couldn't answer it because I really ran through like the possibilities of answering that.

Lisa Hopkins: 35:43

Yeah.

Leslie Hassler: 35:44

Um, because I don't present myself as a loof and then actually they find out I'm nice.

Lisa Hopkins: 35:50

Right.

Leslie Hassler: 35:51

Like I am nice up front. So then I thought, okay, what am I? I don't know.

Lisa Hopkins: 35:56

So you don't feel like anyone ever gets any misconceptions about who you are or how you are.

Leslie Hassler: 36:02

Not that, not that much. I mean, I, I don't like give off a different. I think I'm pretty genuine, you know, I think I'm pretty just, straightforward and genuine yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 36:13

Yeah, no, that's cool. I love that. Yeah, all right, let's do this. Let's do we do a little rapid fire. Very simple I say what makes you and I say word and then you say what comes to your mind. Okay, how does that sound? Sound good, all right, what makes you hungry?

Leslie Hassler: 36:35

Paris.

Lisa Hopkins: 36:38

What makes you sad?

Leslie Hassler: 36:40

I guess recently my mom yeah, what inspires you Um everything? What frustrates you? Also, my son inspires me.

Lisa Hopkins: 36:53

What frustrates you?

Leslie Hassler: 36:54

Yeah Well, I was frustrated the other day, just not being able to do something or not understanding how to do something, like a certain light that I'm supposed to know how to set up, and I don't. I get so frustrated. So, yeah, what makes you laugh? Uh, people who make me laugh, I don't know People with a good sense of humor. Yeah, yeah, I just love laughing. Of course, I also like people. I think something that makes me laugh is when people make fun of me or you know, like, give me a hard time, that I love that.

Lisa Hopkins: 37:29

That's fun yeah. What makes you angry?

Leslie Hassler: 37:34

Angry. Um, I guess I can get angry with myself when I'm late for something, because that can happen and I it really angers me. So I'm working on that one. Oh, that's a good one. You know, not have that creative sense of time.

Lisa Hopkins: 37:54

Mm.

Leslie Hassler: 37:55

Sometimes yeah.

Lisa Hopkins: 37:56

Why do you think that makes you mad? Um, because I grew up with that.

Leslie Hassler: 38:00

My mother was always late and it drove me crazy. So I don't want to see that happen to me. Where I'm just. You know it makes me mad because it's disrespectful of the other people that are waiting on me, or, you know, I I am really much better at it now, but, um, it probably triggers something from my childhood and that's why it makes me angry.

Lisa Hopkins: 38:22

Yeah, no, fair enough, and it sounds like, too, that there's a value in there that it that you want to honor and and when you're not, when you're late, somehow it really triggers that you're not showing up the way you want to oh yeah, yeah, no, absolutely that's valid. Finally, what makes you grateful?

Leslie Hassler: 38:40

Oh, just my life, my son, so much so, um, where I live, my friends, my, my clients, um, yeah, I mean I can find just my cats, my cats. I have two cats that I love. Um, and yeah, I mean I feel like I get a lot of gratitude. You know feelings throughout the day.

Lisa Hopkins: 39:08

I love that.

Leslie Hassler: 39:09

Yeah, just when I come home I I saw a video of myself just walking up the stairs and because it was on like a you know a camera in my house and I saw myself come up the stairs and greet my cat, lenin, who's a girl, and just the, the little interaction that we had, I was like I don't know, it's just. I immediately felt like, oh, like that's such a nice moment.

Lisa Hopkins: 39:34

Yeah, 100%, 100%.

Leslie Hassler: 39:38

I think I definitely surround myself with things that make me feel grateful. I noticed that beauty is so important to me visually, so everything I see in my house is pleasing to my eye and dim lighting and I don't know. I just feel. I feel the energy and the vibe in my house is good. It's positive.

Lisa Hopkins: 39:59

Yeah, no, that's important. Yep, I can agree with that. What are the top three things that have happened so far today?

Leslie Hassler: 40:08

Uh well, this morning I got a massage and it was called a myofascial massage, so it was really painful. Yeah, I was like I'm not. I need to do that from time to time because of my job like always holding a heavy object here, so I get like the need for someone to pummel me. That was this morning. Then I had brunch with a friend, um, and then what else did I do? Oh, I worked on that project. Outside I'm stringing some lights on tree.

Lisa Hopkins: 40:41

Nice, yeah, it's starting to get a little bit chilly up there, right? Yes, yeah, do you have a fireplace? I have a fire pit outside, oh there you go. That works. I love that. And what's something that you're looking forward to both today and also in the future?

Leslie Hassler: 40:59

Um, today I'm looking forward to going out to dinner with my cousins who just arrived from Ireland Nice, Um. And then in the future I'm going back to Europe on Monday, to Tuscany, to. This is really like the downside of my job. I'm going to photograph my friends vineyard in Tuscany. I mean it's, it's a tough, it's really horrible, it's horrible, I know. So I'll be there for like four or five days and they're going to have a bunch of wine tastings so that I can take pictures of the wine tastings and I mean it just sounds like torture. And then from there I'm going to fly to Paris Four days also sheer torture and then come home. So I'm really looking forward to that.

Lisa Hopkins: 41:38

I can't thank you really. I cannot thank you enough for joining me today. I've had such a great time.

Leslie Hassler: 41:46

We have a lot in common, for sure.

Lisa Hopkins: 41:47

Yeah, for sure. So I've been speaking today with Leslie Hassler. I'm Lisa Hopkins. Thanks for listening. Stay safe and healthy, everyone, and remember to live in the moment. In music, stop time is that beautiful moment where the band is suspended in rhythmic unison, supporting the soloist to express their individuality. I encourage you to take that time and create your own rhythm. Until next time. I'm Lisa Hopkins. Thanks for listening.