00:00I'm Lance Gross and a value that means a lot to me is courage.
00:08Courage is just getting it done.
00:13No matter what's in the way, no matter what obstacle you have, you know, what fear you have.
00:19To me, fear is nothing but false evidence appearing real.
00:23So courage is getting it done, making it happen.
00:28That's what courage is for me.
00:41Simone.
00:43Lance.
00:44Simone, thank you for joining me here today.
00:47Thank you for having me.
00:49So with this project, I had a wish list of celebrities that I wanted to shoot.
00:54Along with that, I picked values that were important to me.
00:59So for you, I chose courage.
01:01What does courage want you to do?
01:03For me, it's faith.
01:07I think that it takes a tremendous amount of courage to trust in something that's greater than yourself, that you can't see or feel.
01:16And for people who aren't spiritual, it is really just self-belief, believing that those things that you put out and that you want, you can actually achieve.
01:26What do they say?
01:27It takes seven years to make a success, right?
01:29Well, I say 12.
01:30Well, I should have been listening to you.
01:33Because I had seven stuck in my head and I had a number.
01:36I had an age in my head when I thought I was going to be successful.
01:40I was like, Gabrielle Union got, bring it on at 28.
01:43I'm going to be 28 and it's all just going to come together.
01:45Had it all.
01:46Had it all.
01:47I'm planned out.
01:49And when that 28th birthday came and went, I was like, okay, God, what's happening?
01:54How did you get the courage to throw your hat in the pot for such a beloved character in the Marvel world?
02:03I think it all goes back to faith again.
02:06I did not actually know what I was auditioning for.
02:12So the day of my audition, I go into the room and I have the worst cold, summer cold.
02:19I almost lost my voice.
02:20I was doing a play in LA and I called up my manager.
02:23I was like, Stephanie, you have to push this back.
02:25I don't even think I'll be able to talk.
02:27So I go in and I literally just prayed to God for 10 minutes, just 10 minutes.
02:33That was all I needed.
02:34And I went in there, probably the most confident and calm person I've ever been.
02:39Cause I was high on day quill and it really just came from the belief that if this is mine, it's mine.
02:46And there's nothing anyone can do to take it from me.
02:48And there's nothing I can do to take it away from myself.
02:50And there is that thought, you know, because there were so many people who wanted this role.
02:55There is that thought of, will it come out?
02:57And people say they should have went with such and such.
03:00You know what I mean?
03:01That feeling of, are you not enough?
03:03And I just had to keep reminding myself that I was placed here for this.
03:07No one, it could have been no one else.
03:13Did you have anything to do with Misty having natural hair?
03:17I wish I did.
03:19Um, I came in the room the way I was with my hair naturally curly.
03:24And I put myself on tape that way.
03:26And as one saved the first time I'd ever done that.
03:30Um, because again, you often think, okay, does this character have curly hair or straight hair?
03:35Okay. If she has curly hair, do I really want them touching my hair?
03:38Because that's a big thing.
03:39You know, are they going to burn my hair off, break my hair off?
03:42Okay.
03:43And for this audition, I was like, I'm just going to do a twist out and just do it.
03:47And I had no idea that she had an afro or anything like that.
03:51And my manager, Stephanie called me up.
03:53She was like, that was amazing.
03:55And your hair looks amazing.
03:57And I was like, thanks Steph.
03:59Okay.
04:00And then also Chao, the creator of the show, his wife has natural hair.
04:04And he was adamant that Misty was going to have natural hair.
04:08So I think again, it all came from me just stepping in into that position as I was and in my full self.
04:16And they accepted it.
04:17It was great.
04:18I think it's awesome because it's little girls everywhere watching TV.
04:22Like mom, her hair is like mine.
04:24I know.
04:25It's great to see.
04:26It's grown women saying, man, my hair is like hers.
04:29Right.
04:30Because it's hard.
04:31It's so hard.
04:32I think, you know, you look at TV and you do not see yourself represented often.
04:37Or if you do, it's not in a way that you feel is representative of who you are.
04:43And I feel like, you know, Misty having naturally curly hair makes people go, okay, that can be professional.
04:51How does it feel to know that you guys broke Netflix?
04:56I know.
04:57How does that feel?
04:58What kind of feeling do you get from that?
05:00You get this feeling of, yes, my squad is the best.
05:03Yeah.
05:04But I think, you know, on a cultural level, you often hear, people don't want to see black
05:09people overseas.
05:11Our art isn't worthy in China or Europe or wherever.
05:16Yeah.
05:17You know, nobody wants to buy into those stories.
05:19Yeah.
05:20And I think that, you know, us breaking Netflix really just broke that, you know, that lie
05:25that gets told.
05:26You know, I think that that was a little to all those people who are, you know, trying
05:30to keep all this magic down.
05:32So what is your black girl magic?
05:33I think my black girl magic is being me and recognizing that nobody else can be me and enjoying that.
05:43I spent a lot of time in LA trying to fit into this box of what I thought people wanted me to be.
05:50It's like when I moved here, I was like, I gotta get a weave and wear the Hollywood uniform.
05:55And I tried to take away all the things that were unique when it came to my art as well.
06:01It was like, okay, what do they want me to be?
06:03And thank God I met my husband because he would just say, you know, bring you to it.
06:10You are enough.
06:12And it was that constant reinforcement that made me recognize.
06:17Yeah.
06:18I mean, the fact that I'm a little goofy and I'm not trying to be serious all the time.
06:22And I have this deep voice that nobody else has.
06:25All of those things make me special and make me unique.
06:28And I think that that's my black girl magic.
06:31Just recognizing that I'm boss all by myself.
06:34Yeah.
06:35Now, how much of you did you bring to your character?
06:41I would say a good 30%.
06:4830%.
06:49I think a lot of Misty's humor comes from me, the sarcasm.
06:54But, you know, she's a much more altruistic person than I am.
07:00It's hard to believe in a system like that where you see men and women being unjustly thrown in prison every day
07:07and locked up for the rest of their lives.
07:09And you recognize that it's a system that is built on money.
07:12Misty believes in that system.
07:15She believes that she has the ability to change that system.
07:18I'm a person that stands outside of it and recognizes that in the voice that I have and the body that I have
07:24and the gift that I've been given, I can speak to that in that way.
07:27Well, Simone, I appreciate you coming to my studio, allowing me to turn my camera on you.
07:33I wish you all the success in the world.
07:37You know, you're a Howard alum.
07:39Yes.
07:40So I'm always rooting for you.
07:41Fights incredible for you.
07:42Yeah, always.
07:43And you too.
07:44You too.
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