TheDailyBrag
Welcome to The Daily Brag Podcast, where we inspire and guide you on your journey towards greatness. Founded by a seasoned professional with diverse experiences in the music industry, technology, and team leadership.
Join us for regularly updated podcast interviews filled with inspiring stories, thought-provoking ideas, and practical advice. We explore topics like creative problem-solving, team leadership, innovation in technology, and personal growth, providing actionable insights to unlock your potential.
Our mission is to accompany you on your continuous journey of learning, adapting, and growing. Explore our content and join us in the pursuit of greatness. Let's embark on this exciting journey together!
TheDailyBrag
Finding True Self in Creativity: Nina’s Story of Perseverance and Innovation
What if you could turn rejection and setbacks into the fuel for your greatest achievements? Meet Nina, a global adventurer whose life story spans from Switzerland to Canada, the US, Belgium, and the UK. Despite her international upbringing, Nina has maintained her American accent and found her true home in London. With an unexpected stint in a parkour society, a transformative time in LA, and a coveted internship at CAA in London, Nina's journey is a testament to resilience and passion for the music industry.
In this episode, we explore Nina's path to success, marked by overcoming rejections, walking away from tempting but misaligned opportunities, and learning to stay true to her dreams. From creating successful theater productions to embracing the messy process of success, Nina shares personal anecdotes and valuable lessons on self-belief and resilience. We discuss the power of mindset, the importance of self-awareness, and the role of positive thinking in shaping our realities. Nina's experiences highlight the significance of perseverance and staying true to oneself in the face of adversity.
Finally, we delve into Nina's innovative work with Dauntless, a production studio that merges entertainment with self-development. We discuss her role as a campaign manager for a major artist, her self-proclaimed title of "creative scientist," and her commitment to personal growth through hypnotherapy and reprogramming the subconscious. Tune in for an inspiring conversation on self-compassion, the messy reality of creative pursuits, and the impact of following one's unique path. Join us as we celebrate Nina's incredible journey and the wisdom she's gained along the way.
Hi Nina, Welcome to the show. How are you today?
Speaker 2:Hi, deshae, I'm very well. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited because I'm glad you reached out, because, based on your story, I thought this would be something that the audience would love to hear, so I'm glad you're willing to share that. So now I want to ask you first things first. So you don't have a British accent, but you live in the UK, tell us about how you got from I think from the US. I think you said you lived in the US and now you live in the UK. So two questions in one why the UK and how'd you end up there?
Speaker 2:well, deshae, it's a, it's a bit of a. It's a bit of a story, um, no, so I? So I'm, I'm half Belgian, half Canadian, uh, born in Switzerland to a Dutch mother and a Croatian father, and, um, when I was like eight months old, we moved to Canada. Then I was there since till I was like five, and then we moved to the States and I was in LA for four years. Then we moved to Belgium and I was there for I don't know eight, nine years, and then I went to Leicester, which people in the UK are always shocked about, and then I came to London. So it's been a bit of a bit of a journey, and I've kind of just retained the American accent, but I'm not American, so I always need to remind people that.
Speaker 1:You've maintained the accent very well.
Speaker 2:Exactly, although I would love to be able to do a British accent. I think that'd be a lot of fun.
Speaker 1:British accents are really cool. I like British accents, british accents are really cool.
Speaker 2:I like British accents, yeah, they're great. I'm working on mine. I'm working on mine and I think with the UK, like I, or London especially I'd because I moved around so much as a kid I never really felt very, I don't feel very patriotic, you know, I don't really feel like I'm from one place, right, one place right. When I first came to London, I was like, oh, this is my city. This feel, this feels like a place where I meant to be, and so I always knew that I wanted to, um, wanted to make my way here, and I've been here now for, uh, almost nine years, eight years something like that.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's not that long when you think about it. Well, it's not's not a. It feels like a lifetime, though.
Speaker 2:It's the biggest chunk of time I've stayed in one place, though.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, okay. So let me ask you this Is there a reason why you've moved around so much growing up?
Speaker 2:Oh, it was always different, always different reasons. Okay, got it Now.
Speaker 1:I know a lot of a lot of uh people that I've talked to who've who um have had to move. A lot like that usually comes from like a military family. Was that your case, or?
Speaker 2:no, people always ask me that. They always ask me like were your parents in the military? And I'm like no no no, it just um, it just they're very international, uh, and yeah, the world has kind of just taken them around around, got it all right, uh, and let me ask you something.
Speaker 1:So you said that you wanted to get into something that you thought no one would think you would do, which is a parkourist. Explain to us what that is?
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, this was when I was in Leicester such a random part of my life these two years that I was in Leicester.
Speaker 1:And anyways.
Speaker 2:I was at the fair, at the university fair, and I was like, oh, I'm going to join a society, but I really wanted to join a society that nobody would have ever expected me to join. And so I was kind of walking around the fair and I was like, oh, maybe the baking society, you know. And I was like, oh, maybe the poker society. And then across the way I saw this table and they were playing. They had these screens, screens where they were showing these parkourists like jumping on, like across walls and doing all these crazy tricks in the street, and I was like, yeah, that's it, that's it.
Speaker 2:And I like walked up to the stand. I was like hello, and just like the stand full of these very athletic, um men. And I was like, hello, I'd like to sign up please. And um, I think I was just, yeah, they were. They were quite surprised, I think, but I, I stuck it out. You know, I went twice a week. I went, we trained, once in the gym and once on the streets of Leicester for a good five months or so.
Speaker 1:Five months. Are you still into that or no? No, I've not done it since. Okay, got it, so just a few months, all right. So tell us a little bit about you outside of like when did you so, how long? First of all, how long did you live in the United States and what part of the United States did you so how long? First of all, how long did you live in the United States, and where? What part of the United States did you live?
Speaker 2:So we were there for four years in LA.
Speaker 1:Okay, is that now? Is that when you, um, you joined the CAA Cause? Now I know you were two out of what 1000 people who got selected to uh for an internship at at CAA. How was that experience and how did that happen, as far as you being the only one of two people that got picked out of so many?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I don't know how many people applied, but it was, it was interesting because so this is actually in the UK, so this was CAA in London, okay, and at the time I was working in music and I wanted to be an artist manager and then somebody suggested told me about this internship and he's like Nina, I think you know you should apply, it's a summer internship and I think you know it would do you good. And so I was like okay, and so I, you know, hadn't really heard of CAA before then. So it was, it was, um, new. But then I remember walking into the office and, um, I remember I actually was wearing like. I remember there was like like a tomato sauce, like there's some tomato sauce on my shirt, and I was wearing ripped jeans and I was, I was sitting in this office and I was like why am I wearing this?
Speaker 2:And the other guy opposite me was wearing a suit. Wow, I was like, oh god, okay, and um, and then, yeah, you know it was the. This was like the final round. So I kind of had to go through a few rounds and I was in this final round and I met with Emma Banks, who's like the head of um CIA in London. She's a legend, incredible woman um and I actually ended up talking to her about parkour.
Speaker 1:So was this while you were doing the parkour thing, or this was after?
Speaker 2:No, she's like it. Just I think, yeah, I don't know, we just ended up chatting about it. I don't even remember how, um, and and yeah, and we had a really good chat and then, and I thought that I had I mean, I didn't think I got it I went back home and I remember feeling really, um, quite, I felt quite upset and sad and I had I don't know. I just felt like I'd I'd failed. I'd feel I felt like I'd missed out on this opportunity and I was frustrated because I was just waiting for someone to take a chance on me in the industry, on that level. And then, I think, like a week later or so, I got.
Speaker 2:I got a call and I'm at my other, my other job that I was working, and it was during my lunch break and it was the HR manager oh, anthony, he's a legend. And he was like Nina would love to offer you, um, the internship. And I was like, okay, this is, I know. Yeah, I could not believe it. I could not. I was amazed. I couldn't believe it now how long?
Speaker 1:how long did you do the internship for?
Speaker 2:so it was. It was two months or three months, but then they extended mine by four weeks or so okay, okay, yeah, now I saw something interesting.
Speaker 1:So what was that experience like and what led you to universal? Because I understand that universal offered you two opportunities and you walked away from it. So what happened there?
Speaker 2:So okay. So what happened? Was I, so I so wait. What was the first part of the question?
Speaker 1:So how was the experience as an intern?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, right, it was great. So I like I, I really enjoyed the internship. I went to a lot of gigs, I met a lot of amazing people, um and and yeah, like I'm really quick, I'm really quick. So it was a lot of contracts, a lot of admin. It was a lot of um, yeah, it wasn't very it's. It's not rock and roll, right, it's, it's very admin heavy, roll right, it's very admin heavy being an agent.
Speaker 2:And I think that's when I knew that being an agent wasn't for me, I was like this isn't creative enough for me, right. But I mean, yeah, I met some incredible people and I had taken, I'd made it, you know, I'd taken the time to really ask all the agents for some one-on-one time and I'd made it, yeah, a priority to that while I was there, that I actually, you know, asked them for their time and ask them questions about what they did and you know how they got to where they got to. And, yeah, I, I that's, I'm really good. I like getting to know people. You know that's that was my favorite part of it.
Speaker 1:I have a whole notebook still of all the notes that I took from all the one-on-ones I had with them well, that's really important because, uh, you know, as you know, the music business, or like any other business, really is like relationship heavy, so it's all about the relationships you build, so that that that approach is really good. But then, so you had the internship and then I wanted to understand how you got to the universal situation where they offered you two gigs or what. I don't know what they offered.
Speaker 2:Okay. So what happened today is I was on a panel and somebody from the universal was on the panel too, and afterwards they were like oh, like you're. You know that's really your story is really cool, like we'd love. Would you like to come in? I think there is a job, um, there's a job opening that I think you'd be really great for. Yeah, and it was for an artist liaison job, which I like, yeah, which sounds really cool and exciting. Right, and um, I went in and I met. I met with um, you know, the head of the department, and we had a really good chat yeah and it was funny because at this time I had been planning to go traveling through Asia.
Speaker 2:So I was like, oh, I'm after, because this was as I was graduating. I was like, okay, I'm gonna go traveling through Asia by myself. But if I'd gotten this job, I wouldn't have been able to do that. And I remember being in such a debate like, oh god, what God, what do I? What do I do? If I get it, why not and go traveling? Like what am I gonna? What am I gonna do? Yeah, and then I got a call from them and they were like Nina, you are way too, you're overqualified for this job. Like we think you're great, you're great at what you do, but you're overqualified and we think you're going to be kind of bored in this role because it is a lot of admin and it's probably not the best use of your talents. Wow. So that was a blessing in disguise, because I got to go traveling and that really clarified a lot to me in terms of what I really wanted to do.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I, you know, made this decision when I was out traveling. I was like okay, when I get back, I'm going to focus on get back, I'm gonna focus on acting, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna focus on acting and I want to build my own business. And so, when I came back because the universe likes to do this, it likes to test like test you, doesn't it?
Speaker 2:yes, it does like to ask you like do you really, do you really mean that? And so one of my old teachers like he, somebody that he mentored, who was now like at the top of universal on the publishing side they were looking for an A&R and so I went into the interview and and I actually asked them. I was like, would you consider doing me coming in four days a week instead of five? Because I knew that if I was there five days a week it would take up all my time and I wouldn't be able to actually do the thing that I'd said I wanted to do. Right, yep, but I had to. I had to say that and they said no. And so I was like, okay, well, I don't think, I don't think it's for me. Then Wow.
Speaker 2:And, and then I yeah, so yeah, and then, and then I went and, you know, worked with another management company who were super flexible and gave me a lot of freedom, and you know, I didn't have to come into the office all the time, I didn't have to work five days a week, and then during that year I managed to produce a theater show that I also starred in that we sold out completely in the West end. Um yeah, and I produced a podcast show that year too and put on a bunch of events for the business and like, yeah, it was, it was really good it was. You know, that's what I wanted to do, and I think sometimes you have to walk away from the shiny thing for the thing that you really want.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's interesting and that's good, but, um, because I know I've had, I've done that, um, yeah, with in corporate, not necessarily music, because I did the opposite. I wanted to be in music and I was in corporate and they offered me, um, a promotion, and at that time I said, you know what I'm gonna go do, the thing that I said I wanted to do, because if I take this promotion, that means I'm stuck here. So I went on and I did it and so that was, that was amazing. But I want to get to something that I said I wanted to do, because if I take this promotion, that means I'm stuck here. So I went out and I did it and so that was, that was amazing. But I want to get to something that you said.
Speaker 1:So, you talking about you? You you wanted to get into acting and and and creating your own business and production company and something that you talked about that you got rejected from drama school and ended up becoming an actress on sold out shows. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Speaker 2:Well, so this, I mean, this is this. Is it right? Like I, I mean, one of my first dreams was to go to drama school. I really wanted to go somewhere where I could just perform all day, you know, and I got rejected from every drama school I wanted to go to. This was like after high school, um, and then, when I decided to go back, get back into acting, I decided to apply to this MA drama school and, um, I don't know, I like there's like this, this kind of naive, the naive confidence, potentially. But I ended up going to this audition and I actually, you know, I sat there in front of the judges after I sang my song and did my little monologue and they were like, so where are you from? And I just start crying. I'm just crying in front of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Start sobbing and the guy you know, he passes me some tissues and he's like it's obvious, there's a lot at stake here for you. Yeah, and it was because I really cared about it. I really cared about being an artist but spent so much of my life feeling like I wasn't good enough and that that you know that I was kidding myself to believe that I could go down this path. Know that I was kidding myself to believe that I could go down this path. So obviously I got a rejection letter from them. They said my monologue was great. They were like you're really funny, like you should, you know, focus on that.
Speaker 2:Um, but then, and like then, you know, I ended up going to this acting class called AMAW, which are incredible, I love them so much, and I presented this idea to my class. I was like, hey, let's put on a showcase. I really want to organize a showcase for us, because why should we wait for somebody else to give us a showcase? Why can't we just make our own? And so I was looking at a couple of with the director.
Speaker 2:We looked at this small venue, um, in Camden, a small space above a pub, and I remember walking away and we were like, are we putting in all this work for free to just do like one or two nights in a small theater? And we were like you know what, if we're gonna do this, let's do it properly. Let's really try and see what we can, what we can sort out, what we, what we can do if we set our minds to it. And I had emailed a bunch of theaters, got us a meeting with Tristan Bates in the West End, um, who are part of the actor center, and pitched them the show, and he was like the, the programmer's, like we can give you a week, and I was like we'll take it and I remember leaving and the director Kwame, he was like Nina a week and I was like, yes, we got this, we can do this, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then, yeah, we sold out the entire thing, which was amazing. And this was your own monologues that you were doing at the theater. So there was nine actors and we had done a call-out for new writers. So we had a bunch of writers send us in scenes around the theme of identity and then we picked the ones we liked the best and put those on. So it was an anthology, so the collection of scenes around the theme of identity.
Speaker 1:Got it Now. How long did that last? How long did you do that for?
Speaker 2:It was eight shows.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow. Now let me ask you is that was that you did these eight shows? Was that during the time and I don't was that during the time you lived in the warehouse with the 19 other people? And I don't was that during the time you lived in the warehouse with the 19 other people? Because at some point you lived in the warehouse with 19 people and then you, that was that was some challenge, a challenging time for you. Let's let's talk about that a little bit.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, so no, this was, this was before that. This was maybe a year and a half before that, and I felt super proud. This was a really proud. I was just like year and a half before that, um, and I felt super proud. This was a really proud. I was just like I love this so much, I want to do this forever, um, but yeah, no, the you know, look, the warehouse was a challenging time for me for many different reasons, um, and ultimately, I think you know it's funny because so, like, do you, do you know, do you do a lot of like reprogramming, or I mean, do you look at this?
Speaker 2:I'm super into psychology, basically OK, like so up until you're seven years old, your brain is being programmed by your environment, by your parents, by the people who raise you, and then you are subconsciously replaying these programs throughout the rest of your life and it's funny, like now, looking back, I can see that during that time, I was replaying programs that I had to really look at. You know that I had still not healed, that I had still not um addressed, and so I think anytime where you feel like you're struggling or where you feel like you're not yourself, it's a really amazing opportunity to ask yourself what is this moment trying to teach me? You know, what is it in this that I, that I need to still learn, and how can I, how can I, how can I learn it? You know, how can I shift my behaviors, how can I change the way I think about certain situations and about myself? And, yeah, so I like for me, I look back and I'm very grateful for for that entire experience.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, Well, you did say during that time you know, your creativity right is how you transmute your your energies Right In a turmoil. So let's talk about that a little bit. In that moment you were going through and you felt so alone, but you were able to kind of go into yourself and just get creative with your shows and everything else. So is that the time when you founded your business?
Speaker 2:No, so during that time I had this idea that I wanted to just film a bunch of little monologues, I wanted to test out a bunch of material and, um, it was great. So my my partner at the time he was a filmmaker and so you know, me and him would go out and we would go and film these, these monologues, and then I would, you know, take them back and I would edit them and I would find the music for them and I really found a lot of purpose and hope in making those.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Um, yeah, so it was a really great way to just get over the need for it to be perfect.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Allow, allow myself to just develop through the craft and it just it's like sometimes you need to, there needs to be something that you hold on to, or there needs to be some hope. When you're feeling need to, there needs to be something that you hold on to. There needs to be some hope when you're feeling really down. There needs to be something that you look forwards to, and so that was that for me. I really looked forwards to making them and working on them.
Speaker 1:Got it. Now you talk a lot about greatness. You use that term a lot in some of the stuff that I've read.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 1:So tell us your thoughts on greatness and achieving greatness, because something you said in that same post. You said there's opportunities in everything, in everything, once we take our responsibility, in the role we play and what manifests around us. So, I'm assuming that that's what happened to you during that time and you were able to find your greatness in there, and that's when you created the or came up with the idea for the production studio.
Speaker 2:So the production studio came later, okay, so the production studio came later, okay. But I think when it comes to like it's tough, right, people find it difficult and I have in the past and I have known many people who have also found it difficult to take responsibility for things that are happening to you. When they feel painful and unfair, right, and you know it's easy, then it's easy in those moments to go into like a victim state of mind where you feel like you can't, there's nothing you can do, and yeah, and there's nothing you can do, and yeah, and there's no hope.
Speaker 2:That's an easy way to look at that situation and feel like the world's out to get you yeah and I'm very much a believer of taking responsibility for what is around you, and and when you do that, even if it's something you don't like, then you can change it, because if you, if you know, if your life is in your hands and you have the power to change it right right, but first you need to acknowledge that you also probably put yourself there because of the way that you think, because of the way that you um act in, act in the world, and like I don't know if you're, if you're spiritual at all to say, but like I very much believe that we attract, um, what we need to learn and we attract similar energy than we.
Speaker 2:we attract mirrors, right, everybody. I read this recently that everybody is a teacher, so nobody's your friend or your parent or your sibling or your partner, everyone is a teacher. And when you can look at things like that, suddenly for me anyways, it's given me a lot of freedom to be like oh okay, what is this person here to teach me, without putting all this pressure on it leaving or it needing to be something and just allowing it to be what it's meant to be. I don't know if I put that in the best no, no, that, that, that makes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, I totally get it. Um, and you know it's funny cause it made me think of of a book that I read a long time ago and I'm. I'm, I wouldn't, I wouldn't use the word yeah, I would say I'm spiritual, uh, but because I I really do believe in how we use our energy.
Speaker 1:Um you know, we attract what we think. You know, if you ever read that, uh, as a man thinketh like, I really believe that what we think becomes a reality, um, I really, I really do think if we don't pay attention to just the stuff that's going on up here in our heads, if we don't pay attention to that, then we're just allowing anything to get into our mind.
Speaker 1:And that, of course, gets projected out in the way we are, how we speak and just how we treat other people around us, so I think we have to be very careful with that type of stuff. So yes, I do, I do clearly understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go ahead, nina no, absolutely, and I think also like it's coming back to greatness, right yeah greatness starts from within.
Speaker 2:Greatness starts with it, from within. It doesn't start from anything outside of yourself, and for me it's self-mastery. That's what greatness is to me, because that's how I can show up as my best self. That's how I can show up and and do something that's unique to me, by taking what I'm learning about myself and about what I am going through and experiencing, and transmuting that into some kind of art or some kind of project. That, to me, is great.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about project. Something I love that you're doing is your production studio Dauntless, where it's entertainment merging with self-development, and I really like that idea, so tell us about that.
Speaker 2:Thank you. It's early days days, um, so I'm really I'm in the process right now of putting together a business plan and um raising funds to develop a slate of projects, which is very exciting. Um, and the web series that I just released was kind of has been the proof of concept, because, basically, I mean a lot of oftentimes, you know, entertainment is used to numb ourselves. It's a, it's a form of escapism and although there's nothing wrong with that, that we all like to escape every now and then, right, but I feel like when I look at all the shows that are available, I like it just feels very there are a lot, a lot of. It feels very surface level and I what I see creating shows and they can be dramatic and funny and they're narrative, they can be full of ups and downs.
Speaker 2:They're not going to be self-righteous in any way. But then you have a whole digital ecosystem that you've created where people can further engage with the themes that you're talking about in the show. So you're really giving people a space where they can transform themselves and rather than just say, great, here's an interesting show and it inspires you and you'll talk about it to your friends and you might learn a couple of things. But no, here's a space that we've curated with influencers, with the thought leaders of tomorrow. Here's some courses, here's a podcast, here's content and like here's an event, like how can you really allow people to immerse themselves and use entertainment as a tool to mirror back people to themselves and then give them a space where they can, you know, become their best, most authentic selves and do what they're really meant to do while they're here?
Speaker 1:yeah, that's awesome and I love, uh. I love some of those uh monologues and videos that you have thank you everyone should go check you out there.
Speaker 1:Um. So you talked about raising funding, um, for your, for this, for this project, um, and you said you tried to do it for about a year or so, um, and you couldn't do it. So you just decided that you're not going to wait for the timing to be perfect, uh, for you to get funding and everything else, so you just went out and did it on your own, um so it's just for the web series, yeah. Yeah, but so.
Speaker 2:I ended up making a very different web series.
Speaker 2:So the first web series I was going to make was about something completely different, um, and then, yeah, two years I kind of spent on trying to make it perfect and trying to raise the money and like just overthinking it, being so afraid of it being wrong, being so afraid of making the wrong step, and it's like being wrong, being so afraid of making the wrong step, and it's like also not trusting my own intuition enough.
Speaker 2:You know, listening to external voices more than my own, and I think there is definitely a place to listen and to be inspired by others, but at the, at the end of the day, like we do know deep down what we need to be doing, Um, and you need to trust that. And so, yeah, with this, with this one, I was like I've been writing all these scenes and I saw this common thread about, like female rage and revenge, and I was like you know what? I don't have the money to make it, but I'm just going to make it and I'm going to figure it out. And you know what I've learned so much in the five months that it took me. I learned so much more as a filmmaker, as a writer, as a director, as an actor, than I did, you know, planning something for two years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so just go do it.
Speaker 2:It's basically what I'm trying to make. You know, get people to do Like if you don't have the resources, just go and make your idea, put it out there, because once you have it, even if it's rough, you can then go and talk to people about it. You can say hey, look, I made this thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, it's interesting because you were a manager and in the music business and I did the same thing.
Speaker 1:Something you said there right when I think creative people tend to wait for things to be perfect, because they have all these great ideas, um, and they often whether it's too early or too late, but they often look for someone to help them get this thing right. Um, do you feel like you struggled with that a little bit? Um, for someone to kind of help you get these ideas out and put it perfectly before you can take the next step, absolutely, because you know what.
Speaker 2:where I went wrong. I'll tell you exactly where I went wrong. It was by saying this is going to be the project that puts me on the map and by saying that all the pressure, all the kind of anxiety got piled up on my shoulders and the joy of creating and the joy of letting it just be an experiment was no more there. You know, I think I've learned more by just moving forwards and making things yeah, regardless too, if they're that's right, and I was just going to say.
Speaker 1:Regardless of if they're perfect or not, the fact, the point is, you just take the step forward.
Speaker 2:Every step forward will create momentum until it blossoms into what, what you want and that vision that you have in your head, right um, and you like like I produced a podcast show a couple years ago, right, and it was about the music industry and I was like, okay, I'm gonna get all these amazing guests.
Speaker 2:My podcast show and I did there was. It was an amazing lineup and one of the guests was um nick caves, manager um all, the founder of atc management, and I'd worshipped that man management company for years, wanted to work with Brian so badly, and it was so fascinating because off the back of that podcast show, he then one day messages me and he's like, yeah, we have an amazing role going. I'm looking for a campaign manager and I think you'd be great for the role. And I got to then manage a campaign that was six figures for brand new artists and I got to really like, take on all this extra responsibility and work alongside um. You know him and his company and it was awesome. But that happened because I had taken this initiative and made this podcast show and he was one of the guests on it and I think it just it's an amazing networking tool as well. When you create your own thing and then you can send it to people or get people involved. It just opens so many doors, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, are you still doing the podcast?
Speaker 2:No, I'm not doing that, it was just. It was just, I think, 12 episodes. You can listen to it. It's called Dauntless. I'll send it to you. Actually it's about the music industry.
Speaker 1:Oh please, I'd love to listen to it. I still listen to a lot of stuff related to music, but I personally, I tell people I'm so far away from that now. I can barely remember a lot of the names of the people I dealt with back then.
Speaker 2:What do you like to listen to now? What's your go-to podcast?
Speaker 1:You know I really like there's this podcast called Earn your Leisure. I like listening to that a lot, a lot of that business podcast. There's another one called I can't remember the name of it now, jesus, I just looked at it this morning. There's a few others, like Tim Ferriss show show. Um, uh, I like I used to listen to grant cardone show when it was, uh, when he had it. So there's a few different ones, uh, that I like to listen to. But I'm doing a lot of reading right now, so I'm not listening to a lot of podcasts as I like what you know a couple months back, because I'm doing a lot of reading and a lot of it is on podcasting. So it makes sense. Yeah, so you seem to have a lot going on. You dubbed yourself the creative scientist.
Speaker 2:Explain what a creative scientist is.
Speaker 2:A creative scientist is something I came up with recently. It just kind of came to me, I don't really know how, and I was like, well, I've literally spent the past decade experimenting with creative projects using all forms of different media, you know. So I've made a theater show, I've created like a showcase, I've released an EP, I've done 100 monologues for Instagram, I've what? Made a web series, I've made a podcast show, I've like, I've just done so many, and this has all been like next to my jobs, right? So this is, it's all been stuff I've just done on the side, for fun, because I wanted to experiment with um, with with my creativity, and they've all been incredibly eyeopening and I've learned so much from them almost more than I have from working with some of these companies who are, you know, have this huge, amazing reputation, cause sometimes you go into these companies and you don't really do very much or you don't do work that's very um challenging or creative and um yeah, so you know, I, yeah, I make discoveries through creative projects and creative experiments.
Speaker 1:That is awesome. So, through the all of the work that you're doing and that you've done, uh, and that you're going to do, um, what are some lessons that you've learned on your? You know on your journey that you um hold dear to you, uh, and that you want to help other people learn.
Speaker 2:Okay, there's three. The first, I would say, is to trust yourself, and I know that might sound kind of cliche, but honestly, like it's so important to trust your gut and trust your intuition, because it will tell you everything you really need to know about situations, about people, about what you need to do next.
Speaker 2:Um, and nobody can give you that answer, even if someone's more experienced than you or you know it's more successful. Like always, yes, be, have an open mind and listen listen more than you talk but but ultimately you have to make a call right and you need to ask yourself what that's, what that's, what that is, what that is. So that's one. And then to just believe in yourself and that's another one. That might sound so basic, but like believing in yourself is such that's the number one problem. I've seen that holds people back, not believing in their abilities, not believing they're worthy, not believing they're talented enough. I saw it in music all the time with artists. Um, I've experienced it myself and it's such a like yeah, we need to teach people how to believe in themselves and you know, surround them with, with empowering words that will push them forwards rather than keep them small and afraid.
Speaker 2:And then the final thing I would say is just question what you, who you think you are that's interesting.
Speaker 1:So to expand on that a little bit, question who you think you are.
Speaker 2:Well, I think it's easy to say, oh, but that's just who I am. Oh, I do that because, yeah, that's just who I am, and I feel like that's one of the biggest lies you can tell yourself, because that's just who you choose to be, or that's just who you've been up until this point, and maybe it's because I'm an actor and a writer and I'm constantly exploring with a different size of myself. But essentially and I talk about this a lot like we are, human beings are like a mixing desk. We have all these different channels and some of them are turned up and some of them are turned down, and at any point you can turn certain ones down and others up. Now, you might not be used to, you know, playing with these channels, so it'll might, it's going to feel uncomfortable, but essentially, like this could be your new norm if you wanted it to be so wow that so I have a question for you on that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay now, you asked me earlier if, uh, you said if I was into psychology or programming, reprogramming, um, and, and you just talked about how, um, you know, I guess, tapping into yourself right to to reprogram, how do people do that for achieving success or achieving greatness and, um, you know, believing in themselves, finding that self-belief and getting rid of that self-doubt from a psychological standpoint so there are so many different methods and I think it's really about finding one that works for you.
Speaker 2:What I've really resonated with is hypnotherapy, and there is one woman her site is called To Be Magnetic, and she talks about manifestation, but she talks about how it's not linked to being happy and joyful all the time. It's linked to your self-worth joyful all the time it's linked to your self-worth. So if you're not manifesting what you want in your life, it's not because you know, it's because your self-worth isn't, it has not risen to the point where it meets your manifestation. And so in her program she has a lot of hypnotherapy and you know there's a workshop on inner child and shadow and those are the two most powerful things I think anybody can do, and there's a lot of people who talk about this online. But you know your inner child, like figuring out, like what is it from those early years that programmed you to believe X, y and Z, and how can you then go into your subconscious through hypnotherapy and reprogram the story? And yeah, it's really powerful. It's really powerful and I mean, yeah, I would recommend it to everybody.
Speaker 1:And yeah, it's been huge for me. That's awesome. I actually had a hypnotherapist that I spoke to on the show. Yes, so I'm glad you brought that up. One of the questions I asked him and I'm going to ask you this, based on you um talk about this program and, having done it, can people do it on themselves?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so how she, how she works, is amazing, like this, and a lot of people in LA love, love this, love this woman, lacey Phillips, like they adore her, um, so it's kind of got LA vibes, but it's interesting because she makes, she doesn't, she doesn't just talk about like the woo, woo, she really brings in um, psychologists and epigenetics, um and psychotherapy into the, into the equation and really delves deep into that. But what you do is you go, so there's a lot of journaling. So you go on the back end and it's 20 pounds a month, which is crazy. It's crazy.
Speaker 2:And I've had friends who've done a lot of therapy and they said this is better than any therapy I've ever done and I've paid a lot more than that per session, you know. And then, yeah, so you like, pick, like if you're going through inner child, there's like videos you watch and then you do some journaling. And then you go and you listen to an audio and it's a hypnotherapy like audio, so binaural beats, so it puts you in that hypnosis state, um, and then you come out and then you'll do some more journaling. So it's a lot of it's. I mean it's it's. I've been doing this work daily, sometimes twice, almost every day since uh June.
Speaker 1:June of this year.
Speaker 2:It's not even that long ago, yeah, it's not even that long ago, but it's been daily and it's like constant. And there's another coach who's been um working with me and she's like she, she's really reminded me that I need to be watching every single one of my thoughts.
Speaker 1:Oh, absolutely. That's so important.
Speaker 2:Now, it's a lot of work.
Speaker 1:It is a lot of work, it's hard, it's really hard to do.
Speaker 2:Those neural pathways.
Speaker 1:Now do you meditate, Nina?
Speaker 2:I do, I do, and I've been meditating religiously since uh um february yeah so yeah, so you started meditating in february. Well, I've done it for a couple years, but it's okay. I've really kind of made it. It's just part of my life now where I I just it's in a way that it wasn't before. It's taking me some time to really integrate it into my life.
Speaker 1:Um yeah, okay, how do you meditate?
Speaker 2:oh, right now I'm really enjoying, um, like, guided meditations. Okay, so I'll just pick one that I feel is is right. But, you know, I think it's really interesting, like because I've been into all this stuff for many, many years, and you know, when you first find out about meditation and like all this stuff and waking up early, and you know, I see that it could take some time. It takes time to really integrate all this stuff, and I think people can be very hard on themselves when they feel like they're failing and not like ticking all the boxes. And I think all this work is really about having self-compassion and really just, you know, patting yourself on the back and being like today you did three minutes of meditation, you know. Or today you didn't meditate, today you actually had, you know, a whole tub of ice cream, but you know what that's OK, you're still amazing, you're still great and you still got this. And tomorrow is another day.
Speaker 1:You know, I do want to say because I said you know it's really hard to do it to to anyone listening is it's hard to do, but if you are consistently working on it, uh, it will get easier. Uh, just like meditation, right, nina? Because I, I I try meditation, trust me. I fall off and I get back on, and I fall off and I get back on again, uh, and every time it gets a little bit easier. So, um, I have not.
Speaker 1:I will be honest and transparent here. I haven't been consistent with it as I would like to, but it is something. I think that one thing for sure that I do when it comes to meditating is and I mentioned that to someone else on another episode is that I kind of throughout the day, even when I'm busy and doing a lot of stuff, I take a few minutes to go into my head and just try to pull in the thoughts that I want, as opposed to just kind of letting it run wild all over the place. Because you can do that, right, you don't have to necessarily close your eyes and sit in it. You know, right, you can do that.
Speaker 2:There's so many different ways to do it. There's so many different ways to do it. There's so many different ways to do it and there's no right or wrong way. It's about finding what works for you, and you know some people like meditate, but while they run, that's very meditative. Or while they walk, that's also that can be very meditative. Um, I really have been enjoying going, uh, and visualizing stuff. Um, recently, I've actually really I really enjoy, I really enjoy meditating to the point where I like it's like fun.
Speaker 2:Now, yeah that's, you know, which is weird. Sometimes I do too, because I'm just like I'm enjoying it so much that is that's all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know it's, it is it to me I. I think you have to enjoy the process. Let me not say you have to, but it's good. When you enjoy the process it becomes a little bit easier, right? Yes, doing, whether it's the production company and all the other stuff that you do Some people they do it, but they don't necessarily enjoy it, but they do it because they think this is something I can be successful at. Everyone else is doing it and they're being successful. They're watching a TV show or they right. So your thoughts on doing something because you truly genuinely like it versus doing something because everyone else is doing it and you see people being successful at it. So you decide how I'm going to drive. This is the path I'm going to try to take to get to be successful.
Speaker 2:I mean, there's so much noise out there today, right, so much noise, and in a way it's amazing because people can show you what's possible, but at the same time you can't, like you have to find your own path. Um, and what it's in um joseph campbell's, like he talks about in his one in one of his books he talks about in one of his books he talks about King Arthur and his knights and basically they had to go in this dark forest and one by one, they had to go into this dark forest and basically, if you saw a path that meant that was somebody else's path and that wasn't your own path, so you couldn't go down that path and that wasn't your own path, so you couldn't go down that path. You had to forge your own path. And so I think in our world it's very easy to copy other people's paths and the real powerful thing to do is forge your own. But to do that, go and try things, but just let go of the pressure of it.
Speaker 2:If you wanted to start a podcast, like you might do 10 episodes and realize you don't actually don't like it. You know, you might actually realize you really don't like it. Or you know you might start, you know, blogging and you might be like, oh, actually I hate writing, I just hate this so much, like a lot of people you know want to be rock stars but they hate rehearsing. They hate sitting there and rehearsing with an instrument and it's like, well, the process isn't glamorous, so find a process that you can enjoy, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so just so you know, the Daily B brag was initially going to be a blog. It was, and I realized I'm just. I'm not a writer, that's not who I am, that's not what I'm good at, uh, and then I said oh, you played your strengths, right played your strengths exactly. Well, I don't even know if I'm good at this, but I'm doing it you're great.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's it, you're, you're. I think you're a great interview host.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much, nina. So, um, now the we talk about greatness, and, and my show is born ready to achieve greatness um, what are some things that you think people um can take from all of your experiences? As far as you know, going out there and just doing what they love and finding success, whatever that is for them, whether they have a million dollars.
Speaker 1:They have zero. You know what are some things that you would like to leave people with who you know want to find their greatness, but they just, they just don't know how, they just don't know where to go, what direction to take. Yeah.
Speaker 2:So put on your scientist hat. I think one of the most powerful things about being a creative scientist and I welcome anybody to go down the same road and adopt that philosophy of I'm just going to go and try, try things as long as you're moving forwards you know just try things that inspire you, that you're curious about, and, along the path, by taking action, things are going to become clear, and that is the biggest thing I've learned things become clear when you are moving.
Speaker 2:They can only be so clear when you are moving. They can only be so clear when you're standing still. Yeah, like even to give an example, like just yesterday I released a blog series that I'm now doing it's like 40 days where I'm going to be sharing 40 creative lessons that I've learned through making the web series and over the past decade, and I only realized it was going to be a 40 lessons series halfway through writing the first article.
Speaker 1:Wow, by the way, that is the genius time blog. Yeah, okay, good. Yes, I was going to ask what is genius time?
Speaker 2:genius time.
Speaker 2:Well, that was the very first monologue that um I released during lockdown, um, and it was kind of like, so, if you go, I mean so, basically, in the video I'm saying how like everybody is.
Speaker 2:You know, everyone's currently in lockdown and everyone's talking. It's all doom and gloom, right, everyone's talking about how this is so terrible and we should all be so afraid. And I was kind of like, well, why don't we, you know, rebrand it as Genius Time, you know, to create something that you know, give it a name that inspires people, that brings some hope to people's lives, that actually inspires people to um, to tap into themselves and into what they're capable of during a time when they can't go anywhere else. And it's like why, why is that never the narrative that's spun? Why is the narrative always a fear-based narrative like that really bothers me. And so genius time is really about about that's about tapping into, into your, your essence, and being brave enough to you know, show up in the world as your authentic self. And that is not an easy task. It's not an easy task and it's a process, and that is not an easy task.
Speaker 1:It's not an easy task and it's a process. Okay, Awesome, Um, and so you're going to have. So that's your first. That's the first series of the 40. I mean, that's the first of the 40 series blog.
Speaker 2:Uh, so what do you mean? No, so the it's 40 lessons, so it's 40 lessons.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry, yeah.
Speaker 2:And the first lesson is embrace the messy process embrace the messy process?
Speaker 1:yeah, amazing. So tell us about the messy process. And when you say messy process, I mean you, are you talking about like organizing everything, organizing your thoughts, or what, what, what's?
Speaker 2:everything, it's just everything. The process is messy. Doing anything in life is messy, nothing. You see all these people who have amazing shows and it all looks so put together and so perfect, but you know what to get there? The amount of it's, it's, it's messy like.
Speaker 2:And people in business always talk about this. They never really know what they're doing. The startup culture, founders they have no idea what they're doing, they're just making it up as they go along. And the same thing in film and tv. Like I was talking to a producer the other day and she's like literally no producer knows what they're doing. They're all just making it up as they go along. Yeah, um, and that's, you know, not completely true, but in music, same thing, right, people are constantly trying to figure it out. So the process of doing anything is going to be messy, yeah, so embrace the fact. Embrace it and don't let perfectionism and the fear of looking foolish and the fear of failing keep you at a standstill, because that's never gonna move you forwards. And I think that just needs to be common knowledge that doing anything is going to be messy yeah, and that's.
Speaker 1:It's funny, uh, talking about the fear of failing, uh, that seems to be like most people you talk to. The one thing that stops them is what if I fail? Either that or the fear fear of what other people think about what they're doing, the fear of judgment and so what I've learned through having a conversation with this lady named Lisbeth is that we're born with two fears the fear of loud noises and the fear. I think it's the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises.
Speaker 1:Those are the only two fear we're actually born with. Everything else is learned. So if we can get beyond all these other fears cause they're made up fears then then we'll be, we'll be okay, you'll be, you'll be good. Now I want to go into you, you also. One last thing that that I know that you're doing is you're helping authors turn their books into, into like marketing. I guess I'm sorry. Yes, tell us about that, okay.
Speaker 2:Well, first just a really quick one on the fear thing. There's a very quick and easy thing you can do to get over the fear of failing and the fear of what other people think, and that is committing to like 30 days where you're going to do something in public. So, whether that be an Instagram live, where you're going to share one of your thoughts or post, you know, a blog article where you're going to share something that you think, or, just for 30 days, ask somebody for what you want, or pitch them an idea what you want, or pitch them an idea like just commit to 30 days of of doing what you want to do, and you will, you will, you will have to fail and you will look foolish and you will have to just, and that will help you get over it.
Speaker 1:So that's great advice. That's like very practical. That's even good advice for me. I'm still to muster up the uh courage to do instagram live. But yeah, I did my first one recently. It's scary I was scared.
Speaker 2:I was like oh god. And then like only one person came on and I was like hello, um. But it's fine, so what? So what? I think that's the other thing it's like so what so?
Speaker 1:exactly? So who cares? And you know what I, I've, I've, I've. I've read this somewhere that we often think that people is thinking about us. They're really not. People aren't thinking about us?
Speaker 2:no one cares about us.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah they're not paying as much as attention as as we would like. We think um, so all right. So now you have the I'm Not Mad web series. You have Junior's Time blog, you have the uh, the book that you the book business.
Speaker 2:Yes, I work with authors and I turn their book into 12 months worth of content to help them build their personal brands. That's right.
Speaker 1:So how are you balancing all of this, nina? You, you got a lot going on.
Speaker 2:I have a lot of energy. Yeah, I mean, look, I'm I'm really grateful because I've managed to create a business which is my book business, which allows me to support myself, that allows me to and it doesn't take up all my time. You know, I'm very grateful for that every day and that gives me the space to work on the other things that I really want to work on. And you know, the web series was a messy process. It took everything went wrong. Like there were some days when I was like I'm just going to give up on this, like this feels like it's too much energy. You know, you hit those days, and I definitely have. But then you, you know you go to sleep and then you wake up the next day and you're like, okay, it's fine, today's a new day and we got this, um, but yeah, I just yeah.
Speaker 2:I think you know, recently I was speaking to someone about a full-time job and it doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense to give all my time away for the pay that you get. It's crazy. I'm just like, how is this and this is shifting massively right? People on social who, you know, are making five figures a month by, you know, through Instagram and through coaching people online, and you know that's super inspiring. It's like people can actually when you tap into your unique essence, you can then teach other people and you can really make a very healthy living for yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. Thank you so much. What'd you have for lunch? You said you were having lunch, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:I actually it's not very exciting. I had a chia pudding, a really delicious chia pudding with like a bunch of fruit and some yogurt.
Speaker 1:Awesome. That sounds healthy. That sounds good. Anything that you want to leave us with? Or is there anything that I, that you wished? I would have asked that I didn't ask.
Speaker 2:No to share. Your questions have been really good. Have they been really thought through? You've done all your research. I'm very impressed.
Speaker 1:Thank you Appreciate that. I appreciate you coming on, Nina. Thank you so much for spending time with us Thanks for having me. Yeah, yeah, we should do a part two.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. And yeah, if people want to follow me on Instagram, I'm just Nina, underscore Rubessa, which is R-U-B-E-S-A, and you can find all the stuff there.
Speaker 1:Excellent. Well, that was going to be. My next thing is where can people reach out to you if they want, they need to like? If a big agent out there hear the podcast, he's like, hey, I should reach out to nina for her uh, her skills in acting well I am on the hunt.
Speaker 2:I am currently taking meetings with the agents, so I'm gonna be quick um yeah, no, just just through instagram. Um, you can or can, or my email, or my email is nyrubessa at gmailcom, so anyone can email me. You've got, if you're an author, you need a book, you know, turn it to content. You're anyone, just drop me a line. If you just want to ask me a question, like my inbox is open.
Speaker 1:All right, nina, it was a pleasure Really. Thank you so much. It was amazing. Thank you so much. Yeah, please visit Nina's Instagram. Check out her blog. Really it's amazing and I'm going to be following her. So follow me and then at the daily brag on Instagram and definitely check out Nina's work. It's amazing. I like some of the videos. I went to the YouTube as well, so make sure you check out her work. It's awesome. All right, hang on, nina. Thank you again for coming. Thank you.