TIPPING POINT | ROSE BYRNE + DIERDRE FRIEL

When we first heard about Apple TV+'s dark comedy, Physical, we knew that we would enjoy it. Growing up in the 80s, we remember watching countless workout videos with Jane Fonda, Denise Austin and more. What's not to love about the leotards, neon outfits and so much more.

In Physical, we meet Sheila Rubin played by Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids, X-Men: Apocalypse, Mrs. America) who is a San Diego housewife that is juggling her household while battling personal demons and an inner voice that is extremely vicious. She finds empowerment and success with aerobics as well as a friendship with Greta played by Dierdre Friel (The Sopranos, Little America, New Amsterdam).

With a second season starting Jun 3rd, we catch up with all the drama from the last season as we continue to see Sheila build her empire! We can't wait to see where we go and to see Murray Bartlett (Guiding Light, Nashville, The White Lotus) who plays Vinnie Green being added to the cast. We catch up with Rose and Diedre to talk about the new season, what drew them to this show and how they prepare.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What drew you to Physical. What drew you to the show and what made you want to be part of it?

DIERDRE FRIEL: As a plus size actress, I actually said that I don’t like to do roles that have to do with my size. Most of the time in storytelling, it has some sort of negative connotation where you’re the butt of the joke or something like that. So actually, when the show came up for me, I was a little bit anxious about that – whether or not being heavy was going to be made fun of and pointed out. But in fact, after getting the script and getting more information, I was like, this is really an empowering asset and really wonderful thing. This season, she’s super sexy and all of this stuff, so I really loved it. It actually drew me to really wanting it and that was really wonderful for me.

ROSE BYRNE: Yeah, I read the script in 2019 and then I met with Annie Weisman (Desperate Housewives, The Path, The Bold Type), the creator and I was just so drawn to it and I had never read anything like it. It’s a very candid story about her and her struggles with her eating disorder and growing up in San Diego. It just felt very intimate, raw and dark. I knew it would be funny and polarizing to some extent and I felt very drawn to the whole world of it.

AM: I mean, I agree, I love thinking back to that time of the 80s where people were working out in aerobics and there was this birth of the fitness industry that brought us to where we are today. There are so many dynamic topics and points that are talked about and I like the relationship between you guys as your characters. How did you prepare to be in these roles and to go through these awesome tensions that exist within your arcs between the two of you?

DF: To prepare to get into character, it’s different for each project. For the show, depending on the scene. If it’s kind of a light scene like a walk and talk, something like that, honestly, I really like our relationship so we can roll up and have some sort of chit chat and I feel that sometimes with those scenes, we roll into them really easily because of the natural ability of it.

If it’s something heavier or darker, sometimes I listen to some music and something like that to just get into the right kind of headspace with it – to do some thinking about it.

RB: Yes. Annie Weisman who created this is a really good touchstone in terms of Sheila. I particularly love the scenes with the aerobics. They’re very hard, but it’s great in a way, you’re less self-conscious. You don’t have the time to make too many decisions. I mean, what’s more boring then watching an actor make decisions about a performance. You know what I mean? It’s like there’s a lot more things that are more boring - but as a viewer, I think that it is when you feel that you can see people calculating what’s next. So when you’re doing a physical scene, it’s always a bit liberating in a way and less scary.

AM: With the 2nd season kicking off on June 3rd and as a bit of a refresher, where do we end with your characters from last season and where do we pick then up again?

RB: Well Sheila really ends her marriage at a crisis point with the beginnings of this affair with John Breem played by Paul Sparks (Boardwalk Empire, House of Cards, Sweetbitter) who is a very powerful and successful businessman in San Diego. We pick up and she’s also released this fitness video which has sort of caught on fire and has a local following. We meet her at this moment where she is trying to build this brand and to build this business. She’s harboring this pretty dangerous affair with this guy and she’s in “recovery” – but then there’s recovery and then there’s recovery. It’s dealt with later and I love that. I mean, it’s a true representation or a version of one person’s way of trying to recover from a terrible addiction and illness.

DF: Greta in season 1 really becomes inspired a lot by Sheila. A lot of Greta’s story is really built around her friendship with Sheila and additionally, her relationship with her husband as they went through a big change so they are exploring their marriage and their relationship. They’re adventurous together and so a lot of that plays in as well in looking at the relationships in Greta’s life.

IG @appletvplus

@fullyrosebyrne

@dierdre_friel

PHOTO CREDITS | PG 56 - 61 APPLE TV+/Physical

Read the MAY ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see TIPPING POINT | Rose Byrne + Dierdre Friel in mag.

9DRIP | JB SMOOVE

Read the MAY ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see 9DRIP | JB Smoove in mag.

THE BACHELORETTES S19 | MEET THE MEN OF THE NEW CAST

On Jul 11th, we’re heading back to the mansion! Since the pandemic, we have seen variations on ABC’s The Bachelorette from new hosts, date dynamics for their dates and more. This season, the changes continue as there are 2 bachelorettes! We will follow the journeys of 26-year-old Rachel Recchia, a flight instructor from Clermont, Florida, and 31-year-old Gabby Windey, an ICU nurse from O'Fallon, Illinois.

Ahead of the season, we have The Bachelorette contestants that will be participating this season. You can find out more about who they are and where they’re from. There are a number of men who are from San Diego, Chicago and the surrounding area, Tampa and even twin brothers! It will be interesting to get to know the guys and see who we can see for each woman. Without a doubt, it’s going to be interesting to see the dynamics of how the men will decide between the two.

Each night during this season, we tweet about The Bachelorette and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

ALEC, 27 | Houston, TX

AVEN, 28 | San Diego, CA

BRANDAN, 23 | Carlsbad, CA

CHRIS, 30 | Redondo Beach, CA

COLIN, 36 | Chicago, IL

ERICH, 29 | Bedminster, NJ

ETHAN, 27 | NY, NY

HAYDEN, 29 | Tampa, FL

JACOB, 27 | Scottsdale, AZ

JAMES, 25 | Winnetka, IL

JASON, 30 | Santa Monica, CA

JOEY, 24 | Brookfield, CT

JOHNNY, 25 | Palm Beach Gardens, FL

JOHN, 26 | Nashville, TN

JORDAN H., 25 | Tampa, FL

JORDAN V., 27 | Alpharetta, GA

JUSTIN B., 32 | Solana Beach, CA

JUSTIN Y., 24 | Brookfield, CT

KIRK, 29 | Lubbock, TX

LOGAN, 26 | San Diego, CA

MARIO, 31 | Naperville, IL

MATT, 25 | San Diego, CA

MICHAEL, 32 | Long Beach, CA

NATE, 33 | Chicago, IL

QUINCEY, 25 | Miami, FL

ROBY, 33 | Los Angeles, CA

RYAN, 36 | Boston, MA

SPENCER, 27 | Chicago, IL

TERMAYNE, 28 | Naperville, IL

TINO, 27 | Playa Del Rey, CA

TYLER, 25 | WIldwood, NJ

ZACH, 25 | Anaheim Hills, CA

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

BACK AT THE PYNK

In 2020, the first season of P-Valley, an adaptation of Olivier Award, Pulitzer Prize winning and 2X TONY nominated playwright Katori Hall's (The Mountaintop, Tina: Tina Turner Musical, The Hot Wing King) play Pussy Valley, premiered on STARZ. Katori serves as the Executive Producer and showrunner for this series. This series takes us to the Mississippi Delta where local politics, a strip club and the need to elevate in society come to a head.

The sophomore season of P-Valley begins June 3rd and we caught up with some of our faves of The Pynk in Chucalissa, Mississippi. In our roundtable, we talked with Elarica Johnson (Eastenders, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, A Discovery of Witches) who plays Autumn that we meet in the first season after running from her problems to the town of Chucalissa and becomes a dancer at The Pynk; Parker Sawyers (Succession, Snowden, A Discovery of Witches) who plays Andre Watkins who is an an associate at a commercial investment company trying to secure land for The Promised Land Casino and Resort. We also talk with Shannon Thornton (POWER, Dynasty, Inventing Anna) who plays Keyshawn a dancer at The Pynk who is also making her debut as an artist and J. Alphonse Nicholson (Mr. Robot, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame C.J. Walker, Just Mercy) who plays the up and coming rapper, Lil' Murda.

We find out how they came to this series, why this show is powerful and what can we expect as we head into season 2.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so great to talk to you guys and we've been a fan of your work in this series as well as other projects that you have been attached to. Before we delve into P-Valley and the upcoming season, what led you to want to be an actor?

ELARICA JOHNSON: Ohh I like this question! I was that performing artist kid – the annoying one that has to do performances at the age of 4 or 5. Then I watched Annie in the theater and saw this little girl doing this performance and I was like, oh my God, I want to do that. And then I think that the biggest part is the storytelling. I loved reading stories when I was younger and the fact that I can dress up and be whoever is handed to me and to be who I want to be, that’s the most incredible thing.

PARKER SAWYERS: What’s the expression? Nothing is as queer as folk – nothing is as queer as people? I just love exploring humans man! We’re just a strange animal! So far, my degrees are in philosophy and psychology. I like thinking and reading about people and then I didn’t start acting until I was 27. I’ve always been a keen observer of human behavior and just like – what? Why is that? I’ll give you an example. I was surprised by Katori, I think she had been out of her hometown for awhile like a decade! She had been in NY like Columbia, Harvard and this kind of stuff. And then, her accent is still quite strong! I love thinking about how she loves her hometown and she’s seeing all the stars, her place, the dialect – she loves it so much! That accent isn’t going anywhere! Whereas some other people, they move and they want to assimilate – I live in London and some Americans, they want to feel part of the culture and it’s not on purpose but their accent will start to go British. I love thinking about stuff like that and then putting it on screen whenever I get the chance.

SHANNON THORNTON: I wanted to be an actor since I was a kid. I have always just been a creative person. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a lefty as we’re always creatively and artistically inclined. I don’t know if that has something to do with it as well! I’ve always had a passion for drawing, I was involved in everything band, choir, drama club, African dance, ballet – anything that just involved being on the stage and performing. I was just a part of it and ever since I was a kid from my first play in middle school, I’ve always wanted to create and to express myself artistically. I really couldn’t see myself doing anything but what I am doing right now.

J. ALPHONSE NICHOLSON: For me, it came later in life. I’m a musician first, I’ve been a percussionist my entire life, but I will say that I have had a lot of artistic influences growing up from my mom writing church plays to being on a step team in high school to being in a marching band – so the showmanship was always there. Once I got to college, I was 18 at North Carolina Central University thinking that I was going to be a band teacher, I had a wonderful teacher come up to me and said that I should pursue this theater course and to audition for this play because I had a great personality. I did it and I fell in love with it. Here we are now at 32, 12 years later and I found a lot of success through storytelling and it just grew on me and I knew it was something that I was going to do for the rest of my life outside of any of my other endeavors. Storytelling is important to me and once you realize that you have a gift for it, it doesn’t feel like work – it’s something that you want to keep going after.

AM: I love that. What drew you guys to wanting to be part of P-Valley? I remember hearing about it before the 1st season dropped and I was excited. It sounded like it was going to be really good and when it came on, I was obsessed with this show and the characters! It was everything that I could have imagined and more.

EJ: I mean, I read this script and I fell in love very early on! I was like, this one’s for me – yes! The writing is amazing and Katori does an incredible job with the characters and the space and even the language – I had never seen it before. I knew that it had to be mine. You don’t see scripts like that very often.

PS: The same, the same! Elarica already said it, but as actors, I don’t know how many scripts we get and especially during busy months of the year, it can be 5 or 6 a week. I mean a lot of them look the same and I get confused! I’m like, did you already send me this one? But when I got P-Valley, it was so new and fresh – I got it and I understood it! Oftentimes, I don’t understand some of the humor written down or something in the script. But this one I was like – oh that’s funny, I got this, that’s cool. Reading it I was like, that’s interesting and I know that and I know that world – a little bit. So that’s just something that just leapt out.

ST: The writing is what pulled me in for sure. As soon as you read the script, I remember going into my manager’s office one day to put myself on tape for another project that I was auditioning for and they were like, “listen, this came across our desk and I know you don’t do nudity and that you don’t play this type of character, but it’s definitely worth a read.” I read it on the train ride home as I was living in NY at the time and I cried. It was so beautiful and I hadn’t come across anything like that in my entire career up until that point. The characters are just so beautifully fleshed out and complicated and this world is just so real and familiar to me. I absolutely, despite my reservations, absolutely had to at least throw my hat into the ring and see.

JAN: Same! Katori Hall! The writing! I knew of her genius as a writer prior to coming to P-Valley. We both come from the theater world in NY. So I was very fond of her work and when the opportunity came to work with her and to have an opportunity to audition, we went for it and when you add in the complexity of playing Lil’ Murda right? Him being a closeted rapper so as a heterosexual man, you get a little apprehensive and say, “hey is this a story that I feel comfortable in telling” and then you do it and it's so rewarding! For me, I feel like I have played a part in being an ally in a really dope community and that’s what drew me to it. 1. being an ally through storytelling and then 2. just this incredible writing by Pulitzer prize winning Katori Hall.

AM: That's great. One of the things that we love about this show is that everyone is haunted by something in this series and they are trying to escape to other things in their life. Where did we leave your characters last season and where do we pick up with them again going into the 2nd season which launches next month?

EJ: I mean, when we left my character Autumn, she was at the auction house and I know that there are a lot of questions from fans on where is that situation now and does she really own this space now and what is her relationship like with Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan – Snowfall, This is Us, Claws)? I can tell you that it’s very bumpy! She does own the majority of The Pynk and is in partnership with Uncle Clifford and she is the boss now. This is a huge difference from her 1st season but the space belonged to Uncle Clifford for so long and has been in her life for so long that this battle has been going on for a very long time.

PS: With Andre, we’ve seen him where we left off with him failing at a mission again. We open up with him out of a job and sort of lost. And in my mind, a bit of a bum, overgrown and he’s stopped grooming himself and maybe stopped showering and maybe stopped washing his legs – I don’t know! He’s a bit lost, but then there’s something that happens that gets him out of it. Not immediately but it starts him on his path to getting back to himself. But he does it quickly and it’s pretty impressive.

ST: Season 1 as far as Keyshawn, you last see her at The Pynk, she had at this point, pulled a gun on Diamond (Tyler Lepley - 90210, The Haves and the Have Nots, Harlem) to protect her abusive boyfriend Derrick (Jordan Cox - TURN: Washington's Spies, Dynasty, The Outsider). We pick up where we left off, maybe a few months later where we are now in the throws of a pandemic and Keyshawn is dealing with the consequences of her actions. We see in season 2 whether or not she’s forgiven by Diamond or forgiven by her co-workers at The Pynk and where the relationship stands or goes with Derrick.

JAN: We find Lil’ Murda in a similar place at the end where he’s trying to figure him self out and to find himself. We absolutely find him in the same place that we’re at right now, dealing with a pandemic and dealing with how to cope with that. By the time we get to the end of season 2, we see him in a much more clearer space with himself but still complicated and complex none the less. We see him go through this incredible journey as a musician, a lover, a friend as a big brother to Keyshawn and how he moves through that space. So we find them in a multitude of different levels and a lot of different levels and then we find out how they even that playing field for themselves.

AM: The cast is really great and as you're watching the story unfold, there are interesting dynamics between them. In terms of Autumn and Andre, there is a tension between them will we continue to see that as we continue into the next season?

For Keyshawn and Lil' Murda, there is a great vibe into your characters in their relationship as friends and business partners. How will that evolve into the next season?

EJ: They do! They naturally have this thing. They’re like magnets and they’re drawn to each other regardless of what they’re going through as there’s always going to be something. I think that that is definitely a strong factor in their relationship. Yeah, we see that in this season coming.

JAN: For sure, you see it grow immensely. You see them become very fond of each other and what they are able to offer each other. Not only as business partners but as friends too right and as entertainers. I think that Lil’ Murda knows that he has to admit it to himself and his manager on the show that they can’t do that tour without Keyshawn. So we have to make that happen and then at the end of the day, I think that she knows and I don’t want to speak for her, but I feel like Lil’ Murda knows that Keyshawn knows that I am valuable to her. She feels like, “hey, he’s going to help me get out of these trenches – let’s go on tour and make that happen!”

I am valuable to her. She feels like, "hey, he’s going to help me get out of these trenches – let’s go on tour and make that happen!”

AM: Do you think that Keyshawn feels that way?

ST: Absolutely. Yes! We’re helping each other here. I think that being on tour is a kind of escapism and we were able to just escape reality for a little bit. It’s in the middle of the pandemic, but at the same time, we get to take that breather because we’re going on tour. You’ll see little texts and phone calls that bring us back to reality, but yeah absolutely.

AM: Looking past P-Valley, do you have any upcoming projects that you’re able to share that we can keep an eye out for?

PS: Oh man! The Lost Girls, that’s a movie that’s coming out. Look on my IMDB. Next week, I go off to Europe for a few months to do a couple of shows. I’m doing one for HBO Max and it’s set in the 1970s and it’s a spy thriller. Then I am also revisiting a character from a BBC show that I did in 2018 but because of the pandemic, we’re just getting around to being able to do the 2nd season! It’ll be cool, summer in Europe.

EJ: There’s nothing that I can talk about at the moment but I’m so thrilled to hear about what everyone is doing!

JAN: For sure, so I had an opportunity to work on a really cool project with John Boyega (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker), Jamie Foxx (Horrible Bosses 2, Baby Driver, Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Teyonah Parris (If Beale Streets Could Talk, Wandavision, Candyman) called They Cloned Tyrone coming to Netflix this year. I have 2 other projects that are in production right now and they are producer projects as well called Shadowbox with Hill Harper (Homeland, Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, The Good Doctor) and Joslyn Rose Lyons (Looking Glass, Waging Change, Truth to Power) she’s a writer and director of that project. So it’s in the festival circuit right now. The other 2 projects that I am doing right now haven’t had my characters be announced yet so I can’t wait for the audience and my fan base to get a hold of that!

ST: There are a couple of things that are in play right now, that I don’t want to jinx – they’re under wraps for the moment but I am very very excited and I don’t think that anyone will see me in quite this light before.

IG @pvalleystarz

@elarica

@parkersawyers

@shannonthornt_n

@j_fonz

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 100 - 111 STARZ/P-Valley

Read the MAY ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see BACK AT THE PYNK in mag.

THE SCIENTIST OF MOVEMENT | TANISHA SCOTT

This month's cover is 3X MTV VMA nominated Creative Director, Choreographer, Performance Coach and dancer, Tanisha Scott. You've seen her iconic work as a choreographer with Sean Paul in Gimmie the Light and has continued to work with an array of artists from Beyoncé, Rihanna, Lil Nas X, Drake and more. She currently serves as Creative Director for Lizzo, Cardi B and H.E.R. A number of videos and performances that she created have become part of major cultural moments in Hip Hop and those movements have found their way into memes, Tik Tok videos and on an array of dance floors.

Her ability to bring her love of dancehall, freestyle and knowing what is natural to the body transcends her work for music videos across genres, touring and award show performances. We talk about her love for dance, getting into the industry, those she collaborates with, continuing to add to her skill sets and how she continues to leave her mark.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you fell in love with and wanted to dance?

TANISHA SCOTT: Honestly, dance has been part of my life and I can literally say this without it being cliché – for forever. My parents are Jamaican , my father loves music and he was actually a DJ on the side – not just house parties, but he would go out with his friends and spin. Before I was even born, music was all around within the family. I knew it was something that was super special to me not only because of my shadow – my brother, my sister and my dad playing, but I just knew how much it helped me feel good. It helped me to really open up. I’ll tell you this, when I was really, really young, I had an issue with stuttering and I found that through dance, I didn’t have to speak that much and I can speak through movement and I can express myself and people would smile and laugh and would want to dance too without me having to actually say something and feeling insecure about it. I knew I loved dance and that dance was actually a part of me and a very important part because of that journey. I didn’t realize that until I got older and saw that it actually made a difference for me in my life.

AM: That’s amazing. You were a background dancer for Mya when you first started. How did you transition from being a dancer to a choreographer and adding that to your body of work?

TS: Yeah, reluctantly, I can say that I didn’t want to call myself a choreographer for about a year after Gimmie the Light happened. Gimmie the Light happened because my dearest closest friend, Director X (DMX What’s My Name, Sean Paul Gimmie the Light, Drake Hotline Bling) is also from Toronto. He and Taj Critchlow who is his longtime manager have been so close to me! He didn’t ask me to choreograph the video, he told me I had to! I fell into it, I was scared out of my mind not knowing what to do because I felt that I was a freestyle dancer and that’s all I knew – how would I put moves together for other people? He just told me to figure it out. It wasn’t until I reached out to my mentor, Luther Brown (Janet Jackson Dammmn Baby, Lizzo Juice, Ozuna BAILA BAILA BAILA) who is the king of Hip Hop and stepping in Toronto and he mentored me and a bunch of other kids. It wasn’t until I reached out to him and let him know that I didn’t know how to choreograph and how would I do it? He broke it down to me and said what I would do especially is go to the mirror, figure out some moves, see what looked good on me, put it on some people and make sure that it looks good on them and there you go – from the basic aspect of it.

I choreographed the music video and I was like it’s not going to be much. Sean Paul was singing this song which was older at the time when it came out in North America. Being of Jamaican descent, you know that we’ve heard this song for forever. So it was like, I’m going to do this video for Sean Paul – yes. It wasn’t anything that I had to think of when it came to the movement because it’s what we did in the clubs, in the basement parties so I put all of our moves together and felt how it should flow – did the video and that’s it. Nobody knew that Gimmie the Light was going to blow up the way that it did in North America! No one had any clue of it. That’s how it happened and then before I knew it, people were like, you need to get this choreographer. I would say, the dancer, because I danced in that video but I didn’t feel like a choreographer – so reluctantly it happened – blame it on X!

AM: How does your love for dance, dancehall and being from Toronto inspire and infuse your work?

TS: Oh gosh, I think the reason why it inspires my work is that it’s the only thing that I know innately that I wasn’t taught to do. I was not taught in any kind of professional dance when I was younger, we just did dancehall because I come from a Jamaican lineage, music is all around and that’s what we’re going to do right? I just dance the way I knew to dance where it’s already in my blood. So that, no matter what project I do, you’ll always find a piece of it. I find that my choreography is organic and authentic. I don’t do traditional movement for anything that is cool or in, in style or whatever the trend is. I literally follow suit to what the music calls for. If it’s dancehall, then I’m going to give you dancehall, if it’s Hip Hop, I’m going to give you Hip Hop and if it’s something else, then I am going to give you that. I attribute that to the fact that I am a freestyler where I actually watch and I pickup visually a lot easier and do things that makes me feel good in my body as if I’m about to freestyle as opposed to putting together a segment of moves that are regimented in a specific style or technique of a dance. So I think that that’s how I get to flip flop. You’re always going to get a little piece of dancehall, but at the same time, I’m a battler at heart so if I see somebody do something, I’m going to do it and do it better and that’s the way that I choreograph.

AM: I like that and that’s why it’s authentic because you’re freely leaning into fluidity because that’s what you’re feeling.

As a choreographer, what are you looking for when you’re working with an artist or maybe someone who isn’t even a dancer – is it hard to work with someone like that who doesn’t dance, but they’re going to need to dance for that video? How do you go about that process of making that story and making them feel comfortable and let them dance?

TS: You know what? Would you believe me if I said that I actually prefer artists who don’t dance?

AM: I would actually understand why you would like that because you don’t have to breakdown or have someone unlearn what they do and you can just flow!

TS: Exactly! It’s for this one main reason, they end up becoming a little more fearless in what they do. Because I’m not a trained dancer, I understand the fear or being unsure of how to move, what to do and what looks good. Because of that, I find it very easy to look at someone and tell what their strengths and weaknesses are. I work with both to create something that is signature to them.

For instance, Kelis and Bossy – her whole walk thing, Rihanna obviously with her hips, anything that I do with any artist – Alicia Keys with her walk how she does it to the side and plays the piano with the side – using one hand on the piano but doing it while leaning – it’s so much more interesting to create something that is signature to that person.

Honestly, anybody can choreograph – literally. It’s just a series of movements together to express whatever you want to express. Some people just want to have trendy moves, some people want to tell a story, some people are just a little more intrinsic with their movements – there are an array of things. What gives me joy is working with artists and giving them their own signature imprint so that the choreography is not a Tanisha Scott choreography that so and so is doing. It’s what Tanisha Scott has created that is based off of this artist and that it is an imprint so the dancers look like them, they move in a certain way and that’s what I find more interesting is working with someone from the core and being able to build from the ground up – who are you, what is your persona, what is the zhuzh, what is the story that you want to tell. That is more intriguing and satisfying!

Now, artists that can dance, the palette is open – let’s try tap, let’s do jazz, silks – there is an array of things! What pulls at my heart strings where I just become the scientist of movement, is when I’m like, “ooo this will be amazing” and then you see them blossom, it means the absolute world to me. That is much more fulfilling.

AM: Love that! Going back to Gimmie the Light video, what do you think it is about this video that after all of these years, that reaction is still there? The feeling is still there. Since that video, we have seen tons of amazing things and technologically there are different things, but the song and visually there is that feeling that you still get when you see it. How does it have such staying power?

TS: I’ll tell you something, I feel that it’s because it is so organic and it’s so freeing like you can’t even explain or break it down to how everybody moves in that music video. It was just captured in the right way and it was just a vibe! Like, you can’t fuck up a vibe! Like you can’t not feel a feeling – you know what I’m saying? It wasn’t technical at all! It was just people moving and grooving in a way that was just something that felt good naturally in your body that connected to the music perfectly. Individuals captured it and it made it cool. It was swaggy, it was fun! You had PonyTailz doing the Spidermen, you had Dainty Crime which was a crew of guys in there jumping up and down, it was entertaining. It also didn’t feel like you couldn’t do the moves. Everybody at home wanted to try because it felt like, “oh I think I could do this.” That’s what makes it so good and continues to be so.

It’s like YMCA, everyone can do that and you want to jump in – that’s what I think it is.

AM: I think so too and conversely, we were on set shooting one of our covers and Hotline Bling came out. I hadn’t seen the video yet and we’re all prepping for the shoot and I was asked if I had seen the video. We’re watching this video and I knew it was Director X, but the vibe had elements of Gimmie the Light as well. Of course, I find out that you did that and I can see why I felt those homages to the other video. What was it like being on this project and obviously another Toronto connection – and it was fire!

TS: Yo, Hotline Bling, what made it so special from the beginning is because it was Director X, who had me involved and of course, it was Drake. I remember Drake saying, I need that Tanisha Scott/Gimmie the Light moment. So, I’m like, “let’s do it brother” and I had previously worked with him before. He said he just wanted to let loose – almost like not taking anything too seriously and to just move and vibe. So I was like, let’s go – literally. What made the video so amazing is of course it was beautifully shot, but it was that synergy once again. It was the visuals, it was X's understanding what it takes, it’s Drake that’s part of it. Let me tell you one thing, that man has his finger on the pulse of not what’s new or next, but 2 slots or 4 years ahead. He knew more than anybody, he knew that this was something. He is so smart and he said, let’s just vibe and we had fun. We freestyled and we literally just had fun on set joking around and it became what it became.

Who would have seen me coming up with dances that actually became a meme, people are doing it and it’s a signature Drake move! It was a blessing because I’m working with my friends and we’re honestly friends where we trust each other so much that there’s no micromanaging of anything. It’s like, I’m going to do this and this makes sense to this and it makes sense to that – so let’s do that. Then Drake is like let’s do this and we just made it happen. So trust and just going with your gut and not just doing things that you think is right or what someone else thinks is right.

AM: Well once again, it’s just beautiful and it will be 20 years from now where there will be those relevant elements that have a different vibe in respect to Gimmie the Light but it still has that warmth –

TS: That simplicity.

AM: It’s so simple and I do love an over the top production as well, but I also like when things are paired down and you can focus. No matter how many times you watch it, there’s something that pops up and it just figures that you were involved as well!

So it’s always fun to see your work as a dancer and a choreographer but it’s interesting to see you as both in the same project. Does it feel like a balanced moment when we get to see you as both the dancer as well as the choreographer?

TS: That to me – being a dancer during doing something that’s choreographed, unless I’m freestyling – doesn’t really feel good. But, if I’m on camera choreographing doing what I do, that feels balanced. But if I’m dancing, I can’t perform to my best when I know that I have choreographed for other people are around me and I’m looking for where they are in their space. I’m still thinking as a choreographer as well as what is my artist doing and I feel like I’m cheating – it doesn’t feel good. Because when I dance, I zone out and I let go to be free. In that moment, I’m not on guard. When I’m choreographing and I’m on camera doing choreography or creative, I feel like I’m at home. I’m able to not just express what it is that I do and get the job done, but I want other people to learn as well. There are other levels to creative direction and different aspects of it as well as even for the dancers. There are a lot of things that we can do because the longevity of a dancer is not that long so you have to think of other things to do that can still play into your love of dance – you don’t lose it, but you just evolve.

AM: You look at a person like Debbie Allen who she can still –

TS: I mean queen, queen, queen!

AM: You just look at her and even when you watch her in something that she isn’t dancing in like when she is in Grey’s Anatomy, she has a flow to her movement that when she crosses over to the other side of the room, you’re transfixed!

TS: Preach Kimmie!

AM: I love flow and it doesn’t just exist in dance, but when you see those who are dancers and they still have that style in other portions of their life, it’s beautiful to see! You can tell the flow and musicality that some people have even when there isn’t anything being played.

TS: She doesn’t know this and I never met her but she is such an inspiration.

AM: She’s amazing! She has that eye and you know she’s watching.

There are so many videos where your fingerprint has graced those productions and moments. How is that for you to do it from a video standpoint versus being on someone’s tour with Rihanna versus doing something for TV like the BET Awards? Do you have to think differently Awards? Do you have to think differently for space or just the mediums that are being used?

TS: I do and I’m glad that you asked that question. I think that that’s what keeps me excited because it’s not the same thing over and over again. It allows me to stay on my toes.

So when we breakdown for a music video, a music video has edits and the primary thing about a music video is centering around the artist. So if there is choreography involved, it’s for a specific section. I always have enough dialogue with the director understanding what the environment is – are we dancing in a box, dancing on platforms, dancing on a wet floor, what are the costumes, what is the vision and go from that. I choreograph in sections that I know will be used. If you were to choreograph the whole song, you already know half of that isn’t even going to be seen or used unless the artist is in it. But even so, there are different things that we have to see. That’s one way and how I deal with music videos.

When it comes to tours, I have to now consider not just what the director of the music video is shooting, the type of frame that it is – is it overhead, is it specifically for the camera. With a tour, I choreograph for the naked eye. The naked eye means the expansion of it – it’s entrances and exits because we see everything. You can’t control what one person is seeing when you have thousands of people watching. So it’s the beginning of the song, the ending of the song and how the next song comes in. So it’s the thread that I use and the bigger purpose and I also choreograph the movement for me which is never little. It’s always a lot bigger because I tend to choreograph for those in the nosebleeds that aren’t so close – they have to have some kind of entertainment so that they can see and feel it and you have a successful show.

For an awards show, it’s a hybrid of both. I actually prefer the awards shows because I get to hone in on the director portions that I went to school for about 6 months at the NY Film Academy to learn music video directing. Not so much to be a music video director, I wanted to know how to choreograph and to speak to actors, actresses and dancers and to know what different frames were so I could be better choreographer. So I get to hone in on that when I am creative directing and choreographing the awards shows, I’m able to set the tone – the feeling of this is The Wiz so it’ll be different colors here and there, we have a yellow brick road and we formulate that. Now, how do we put in the choreography into it – this person enters here, that person enters there. Ok great, now with the camera, what do I need to see first? I need a close up shot of the artists walking on the yellow brick road and now I add a steady cam with a 360 turn to a smaller lens where I see 1 person pop up and then the next. We then go to a jib for a wide so I get to utilize everything that I have learned to put together a piece which hopefully, my next dream or chapter, is to be able to do Broadway. That to me is everything from when I do these awards shows because I get to think outside of the box and actually create a real piece. I have my hands in all aspects from set design to lighting – it’s everything to tell what that story is for what I want in that moment.

AM: I really like getting that insight and I expected a lot of what was said, but I really liked hearing about the hybrid environment of an awards show that is a defined box but still a little more open versus other areas. To hear your process in how you work that makes me think of our photoshoots where we’re creating that set, bringing in the team, sketching out the moodboard, bringing in the styling etc to create this concept. So by the time I arrive to the actual set day, I have played so many things in my mind for those hours.

TS: Prep is no joke!

AM: For sure! At some points as you’re actually seeing it all together, you feel like it already happened because you were so immersed and bringing it life in every way.

TS: Oh my God I swear, I think we’re twins!

AM: When you’ve seen videos that you’ve done that have been given various awards, obviously a video is the culmination of what you’re doing, the talent, creative teams, director etc – with all those things coming together and showing everyone’s versatility and work – what does it mean to you to have that award given to a project you were involved in?

TS: I feel so accomplished, so much more than even if I were personally receiving it for myself. When people hire me, I sign a contract in the air – it’s not a real one but it’s where they trust me to deliver to the best. When they are awarded, the team is awarded and/or the video is awarded – I know that I have done my job and that I have gained the trust. I know that what I set out and put out to do happened. I’m definitely a woman of my word. If I say I’m going to show up, I show up. If I say I am going to make something happen, I’m going to make something happen. With these videos, it’s definitely a collaboration – you have a director at the helm, but nothing is independent from one another. The gaffers, the stylists, the stage PAs, like we’re working and a lot of times, you don't know these people and you have never worked with them before, so you have to get on board and have the same common goal. When that’s achieved and it’s achieved with an award at the highest point, I feel so much more pleased with the job because it’s good and then It’s onto the next! It’s all about hurry up and wait and then on to the next.

AM: So with everything that you have done from a video perspective, you’ve also done other things from campaigns to commercials to even working outside of the genre of Hip Hop. You’ve extended the multi-hyphenate nature of your work beyond creative director, dancer and choreographer, but also performance coach. What is a performance coach as you worked with Sarah Jessica Parker for her campaign with Intimissimi.

TS: Ok Kimmie, I like you, I swear you’re asking all the questions. Ok, so a performance coach is involved when there are no specific movements given. But it is having somebody portraying the emotion that they want them to portray through their body through movement. So it can be anything that you do, but it’s just narrowing it down to 10 beats. Now they have the freedom to choose which beat they want to use at this time. They may switch at another time. But it’s always showing you the vein or the box that you need to be within. Like, here are all the treats, you have 20 treats and this is the box. It allows them to be more individuals in that sense.

AM: That’s very interesting. I think it’s great to have those that are multi-hyphenates because they are able to pull from a range of skill sets and that it can be applied to a fuller spectrum so that you’re able to do more than one thing and you have longevity in other places too. The touchpoints that you have crossed by being able to take those skills and to work with George Clooney and large brands etc – it was interesting to see the research and how you have really optimized your talents and why it’s important for people to do more than just one thing.

You’ve been the creative director for Cardi B and H.E.R. which is amazing and what does that role involve for those that may not know what that means in this part of the industry?

TS: I work very closely with both of them and Lizzo is a new client of mine as well in this role. I basically sit with them and it starts off with a conversation about what it is and how they want their music and themselves to translate visuallly numbers that we wanted to add in. It was only supposed to be 1 episode and it ended up being more and it just happened that way.

AM: We saw her recent hosting and performances on SNL. Were you involved in that choreography?

TS: Yes!

AM: Loved it!

TS: It was cute right?

AM: I was watching it and was like, that’s her too.

TS: Yaaas! I did that and I did the creative for it. You know, it’s a new album, it’s going to be a dope album and really good. She is singing, the vibe is so fun – it’s funky. So we’re like, what do we do? SNL is one of the most iconic running shows in the world and I’m like we just need to have people hear and listen to the song. So instead of making a big dramatic set, let’s keep it simple, but golden and sparkly with lights. We just needed to give what the song gives. It was good and a good time and with her hosting too!

AM: Such a fan of her work but to have her hosting and performing on SNL while her series is streaming on Prime Video was amazing.

We’re living in a number of moments right now and in this body inclusivity time we’re in to give space to everyone that has an interest and the talent to do so, I think Lizzo’s show to have someone such as yourself who has worked with so many people to work with these women, really drives home the point that it’s not cool to identify those based on their race, gender, sexuality, body type etc and to dismiss them from opportunities where they can be present and own their gifts. This show is a great way to draw awareness to the opportunities that do exist for people.

TS: I love that! To me, what am I doing this job for – for what? When I think of what my legacy is, I just want everybody to have an opportunity and a moment to have what they want to have and then it’s up to them to continue with it. So give people the tools to be great to do what they want. It’s literally limitless. You’re right, it’s not cool to tell someone that they are not the right look for something. If you have the capability and the chops to do something – absolutely you should. Who is making the decision to defining what the perfect look is for something that is specific. You can have it in your box for what you do, but it should never be generalized.

With the girls, I said listen, we’re going to open up this door and you need to kick it down because I can only do so much for you. There is that aspect of being real and of course, it’s a sisterhood and we’re not here to put anybody down. We’re here to motivate and to uplift but at the same time, I’m very real and I know the kinds of circumstances that I have been through. I’ve been the dark-skinned girl where there was no makeup for you so before for those young kids that didn’t know, there was nothing. So I’d come in with my hat down low because X is calling me and Hype is calling me and telling me to get to set. I’m the first one in the makeup chair and the last one getting my makeup done. So, I’d put on a hat so that no one could see that I didn’t have makeup on. Or the fact that I’m chocolate, you can only have 1 of the 4 girls in the audition that will be chosen. Half the time that I’m auditioning, I’m like, "hey girl, hey girl” who is it going to be this time – well you got the last one so I’m going to be picked this time. You know what I’m saying? I’m not a Size 0 so having to get sample sizes was never the thing so my outfit was always the other outfit. My butt is big. Not being a trained dancer, I couldn’t do pirouettes, leaps and jumps. To this day, I still put myself in class learn and I am in beginners’ classes.

I’m not afraid to learn and that’s also what I tried to teach the girls. You control what happens to you in your life. Regardless of what people want to say and doors that have closed. We have all heard the stories about what happened to Tyra Banks and getting so many doors closed and then of course look at her now. We’ve all had that! But you have to keep pushing and once you push and that door opens, then you have to make sure that you stomp so hard that your foot is cemented into the ground and that they cannot deny you.

That’s what I got, I said don’t look at my face, I put my hat down, I didn’t need makeup, I’ll be there on time, I’ll wear my own outfit – I wasn’t doing choreography, so I was doing freestyle and every time out of those 100 music videos that I did, I freestyled that. I made sure that every single time I freestyled that I would get a standing ovation that would make them clap to make myself memorable. People would say, who was that girl that did this or who is that girl that did that and that’s how I made my mark. I think that that is the reason that I am where I am now because of all the no’s, I took them like a champ and I’m not saying that I never cried or wanted to give up, but I just kept going and every time there was an opportunity, I just said yes and let me figure it out when I get there.

AM: Tell me about the B Project campaign with Good American.

TS: Ok, yaaas! That was so fly to me Baroline Diaz is a VP of A&R at Interscope Records. We had never met before and she reached out to me and a few other women in her network that she didn’t know but admired and wanted all 12 of us to be part of her campaign. It was strictly for boss women that were self-made who didn’t have anything easy but are doing their damn thing. She just wanted to celebrate us and to be able to recognize others. Honestly before I even met her, I thought this sounds fire and when I met her, we had dinner and had some drinks and I’m like, “you are like everything that we need as a network for women that really do truly empower one another.” She doesn’t just say it, she lives it. We even have a chat that we still everyday talk with one another. Baroline is on it! She’s on our Instagram and our socials and she lets us know about so and so who does this and we say, “yes.” Or someone will say that they have something and will ask to get our addresses and they send it out. I’m going to help out someone else in the group with one of her artists. There are a couple of people in that group where we’re all super connected and we’re going to work with each other and help lift each other as well. There are just a lot of convos that go on in the group chat whether we’re helping one another out, sending scriptures or just getting projects going. It is such a great good sisterhood and it’s such a great campaign that I was able to be part of!

AM: It feels like you’re someone who is always flowing from one project to the next project or maybe it’s 80 projects that are all running at the same time! What do you have coming up that you are able to share that you’re excited about?

TS: I can share 2 things – 1 halfway. I am doing something with Disney and in NY so that should be cool! It’s kind of like wowzers and then another thing that is coming soon is that I’m working with Tom Holland and Sasha Lane on this Apple+ TV show, The Crowded Room. I can’t give anything away with this show, but I am so excited! I have the BET Awards coming up with Lizzo! H.E.R. right now is on tour opening up for Coldplay as well as her own tour. I did the creative direction for that. And working with Coldplay too!

AM: Saw that, I’m a huge Coldplay fan. I was like look at her rocking more spaces then just her spaces!

TS: RIGHT! And then Lizzo’s tour is coming and we’ll be announcing soon!

AM: In looking at other things that you have done, I know that at one time you were the choreographer for the Brooklyn Nets Kids dance team! How long were you with them and why did you want to do be involved in this?

TS: I started once Barclays opened up and the Brooklyn Nets became a thing. So I started working with the kids for about 5 years and then I passed it onto the assistant of mine at the time only because I started traveling for work and I couldn’t physically be there! I actually got the job through Jay-Z and my friend who is one of the directors for the female dancer’s entertainment group. For me, I chose to work with the kids because honestly for me, it’s not work for me when I work with children. Because they’re so fearless and they want to try everything, because they’re always so ready to go – I get a lot from them. I just feel really good being one of their first teachers to show them direction on how to learn, how to be, how to respect choreographers, how to walk in and just being part of their journey and helping to help them find who they are whether they want to do this or don’t want to do this as a career. Whether they want to continue or not, to me, that’s the world. I love working with kids.

AM: It’s so important to have a positive influence for dance. I remember growing up that I started in ballet and tap at a really young age. I liked ballet and I remember that the teacher told me that due to my body type there wasn’t a place for me in that arena and that there weren’t any Black ballerinas and that I shouldn’t do it. So, we’re talking the early 80s, I didn’t do it and I just did tap instead. The teacher, I thought at the time, was super nice and I believed what she said.

So to have a teacher that makes sure that you feel seen and allows you to go after something if that is your interest without putting barriers up, made me think that what you did for those kids was amazing.

Now do we know if I would have really done ballet – but I know you shouldn’t tell a 3 or 4 year old that they shouldn’t.

TS: No that’s absolutely right! That shouldn’t have happened. You said it perfectly, we need voices that allow people to be seen and to encourage them and to let them know you’re good enough. You should hone in on what you have and what you want. Golly, you need a second opinion sometimes.

AM: I know! But it was back then, so I didn’t know that there would be a Misty Copeland that would come along and at the time and where I grew up, there was no reference. But it did make me realize from then on that when I would go in whatever space, I fought for myself and place there and if it was something I wanted to do, I would make it happen regardless of what was said.

You also worked for a program with the Block Institute for Autism. Why did you want to be involved in this?

TS: Because I realized that there are things that are bigger than me and that there are things that are more rewarding than the biggest celebrity and the biggest brand. Does it even matter if you can’t enrich the lives of those that are not seen. People are important and if there is a need and especially with dance and what it has done for me and how it makes me feel, I want to be able to work with and teach and empower those that are in my reach. When I got the opportunity it was through a friend of mine that I talked with who worked with the Block Institute. I asked what they did and he explained that they provide extracurricular activities and I asked about dance. He explained that sometimes they would go in the gym and I let them know that I would come in and help and I did it for 3 years.

Life is short. God gave me a gift and it’s not for myself and it’s not for the riches or the popularity – it’s to enrich and to give hope, love and acceptance to others. I’m not keeping this to myself. I don’t like to dance alone! I want everybody to come and dance with me! It was pretty easy and a very quick yes from me. I actually miss doing it and I do want to start something up like that again. I really really do and I just have to make time for it. Thanks for reminding me about it! It’s important.

AM: I liked seeing that. We have been covering various autism stories from Autism Speaks Gala which included noted chefs and Andrew Zimmern was one of the hosts of the night, his son is autistic. It was a beautiful gala at Cipriani’s downtown and then Prime Video has a series streaming now, ‘As We See It’ which focuses on autistic adults and how they engage in the world and their relationship to one another, their families and they aid. It showed the depth of what it means to be autistic and how that can be from one person to the other as it’s not a monolithic experience. So to have someone such as yourself to give of your time in addition to everything you do, to infuse something you love to them is pretty awesome.

TS: Thank you. I really need to do more and it’s not enough.

AM: You do what you can in the hours of a day and I have taken 1 24 hour clock and made it 72 hours!

TS: Ha yes you’re right – let me stop!

AM: So when you’re not doing projects, how do you take time for yourself to have a reset? Because when you’re working with so many people and playing checkpoint, you’re doing 72 hours in a 24 hour cycle and you’re being 25 people!

TS: I’ve never heard it so eloquently stated like that! I literally when I have that time and I’m searching for it right now, I drop everything and go to Jamaica. I’m gone – the beach, the sand, the air – that’s what I need. If I can’t get away, then I’m in my bed watching any type of reality TV – like Love Island!

AM: Have you watched The Ultimatum yet?

TS: I just started! Because I just finished –

AM: Love is Blind!

TS: Yes, I’m still in the first episode, are you watching it?

AM: I already watched it. I am a queen binger because that is how I decompress! I love reality shows for a number of reasons – obviously it’s interesting to be able to see the people, you’re seeing designers coming through and there’s a lot of education that you can learn from the area that’s being covered, regional knowledge, restaurants etc and to know that that’s not you watching it all go down! Because I’m here for the drama as long as it’s not my own!

TS: Yes, same here!

AM: Who are 3 people that assisted you to be where you are today in your career?

TS: Director X, like I said, I’ve never met her before but Debbie Allen. She mentors me from afar there are things that she has done that are just so impressive. I’ll also say, my closest friends that are like my family and my brother and sister. They’re always like, how did you do this – this is great – keep going! Do t his and do that. They also ignite my fire. They give a lot of reassurance from them.

IG @tanishascott

PHOTO CREDIT | FRONT + BACK COVER, PG 18, 21, 26 Carey Bradshaw | PG 22, 25, 29, 30, 32 Courtesy Tanisha Scott | PG 35 + 36 Amazon/Watch Out For the Big Grrrls | PG 39 Ali Page Goldstein/HBO Max | PG 40 HBO MAX/Legendary | 9LIST STORI3S PG 180 Mohamed Sadek/GapFit |

Read the APR ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see THE SCIENTIST OF MOVEMENT | Tanisha Scott in mag.

IT'S ALL JUST STORY | RODNEY BARNES

This year when the NBA unveiled their 75th Anniversary Team of retired and active players, it included 17 members who played for the Lakers which includes the Showtime era of the 70/80s with players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. To understand the importance of this era and what it did to how we enjoy the game, and how it moved the game forward in terms of commerce and making players brand, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty illustrates the dynamics at play.

We talked with Rodney Barnes, who has written for STARZ Heels, STARZ American Gods, Everybody Hates Chris and more. He shares how he got into the industry, the positions he has held, his approach to his work, being the Executive Producer and writer for Winning Time, Zombie Love Studios and his passion for comic books and graphic novels.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You’ve worked in various positions in the entertainment industry as a Production Assistant, showrunner, Executive Producer and an award-winning screenwriter. With all of these roles, what was the moment that you realized that you wanted to work in this industry?

RODNEY BARNES: I was going to Howard University and I was in the School of C (Howard University Cathy Hughs School of Communication) and I was working at Georgetown Law Center as a campus cop at night and I found out that the movie The Pelican Brief was coming to my job to film some scenes. So I was really excited because it’s one thing to go to school for this and it’s another thing to actually be able to see it up close. So I signed up for all of the overtime details and I got them all. I started watching the movie being put together and it was so exciting! So I met a guy and he was the PA, he was a Key Set PA. So I asked him how I could get a job doing what he did. He said that that weekend, they had some big scenes that were taking place at the Washington Monument and that if I wanted to come and do it for a day, they'd be happy to have me.

So I did it and it was the most exciting, fun and best $100 that I ever made in my entire life! It was something about it that felt right. I felt more purpose in doing that and being close to this thing that I wanted to be close to then I did doing anything else that paid a lot better. I quit my job at Georgetown and started working as a PA full time.

AM: What a story, we always tell people that we embrace the multi-hyphenate. As someone who has worked in a number of roles and continues to do so from writing and producing, when did you know that you wanted to take on these areas and what the specific area was that you wanted to start in first? Or was there just a confluence that took place to make all of this come together?

RB: I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I knew what I didn’t know. I knew that I didn’t understand how any of this worked and I had a very fundamental understanding of what writing was and telling stories. Quite frankly, emotionally and psychologically, I wasn’t mature enough or evolved enough to be able to take on the big job. So, working as a PA, I look at it as being an apprentice. I had an opportunity to meet people, to sort of find my tribe, to figure out the psychology of how it would work and to just get my legs under me which was a bit like bootcamp. It was always writing, but I had to build up to the idea of being able to take my shot at it because it just felt too big.

AM: What do you think was the biggest thing that you learned from being a PA that has helped you with your career or was it just being able to see all the parts that were moving and to be able to understand how they connect?

RB: There was that. I think that the thing for me was that I always had this idea that everybody in Hollywood must be a genius and I haven’t met a genius yet. But, what I have met are some folks that have worked really really hard at their craft. It sort of demystified the entire process for me in being able to see it up close and to be able to observe. I wouldn’t say that I was a vital part although I know that some people would disagree. It was sort of the type of thing where getting to know people as friends and mentors even though that’s a problematic word as no one put their arm around me and said, “son this is what you do.” But they allowed me to be in their circle and to be able to see how the sausage is made. I got an opportunity to be able to just see things up close and to decide whether or not I could do it, if I wanted to do it and the closer I got to the thing that I wanted, the better that things got for me, but I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it if I hadn’t been a PA.

AM: From a screenwriting aspect, you have written a number of things. I loved your work in American Gods which I loved that show and obviously Winning Time and then you look at shows like Everybody Hates Chris. How do you get inspiration to write and then where do you start from when you’re trying to put words to paper to create these worlds for us?

RB: I never looked at it from a place of inspiration because if I need the emotional investment to do it, then I’m not going to be inspired some of those days and I’m still going to have to do it. For me, the difference was, approaching every day like I’m at work which was no different then when I was at Walmart or Target or any of those places that I worked at along the way. I had to get up, I had to work, I didn’t feel like it and then somewhere midday or so, it got a little bit better and then a little bit better. I sort of approach writing in the same way. I have a lot of resistance on the days that I don’t feel like doing it, but it needs to be done because I have a deadline. 78% of the time, I’m able to be disciplined and I’m able to get it done and the other times, I might go to the movies, sit and watch a game or do something else when I’m supposed to be writing. But I think it’s more of a discipline of doing the thing than an emotional component to it. There are days where I feel it and if I'm writing something like a horror driven thing like in my graphic novels, I'm enjoying it a great deal so it’s easier to do, but whether I feel it or I don’t feel it or am some place in between, I still do it.

AM: Just to circle back to American Gods, one of my minors in college was Classical Civilization so it covered mythologies of the world in addition to Greece and Rome and included African and Asian nations. So when I watched it, I loved seeing all of these stories that came to life. What was it like writing for that?

RB: It was great! The best thing that came out of it was my relationship with Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow, American Gods, The Good Lord Bird) who played Anansi/Mr. Nancy on our show. I had a similar thing as you, I didn’t do it in college but I studied a lot of different types of mythology and some of these characters like Anansi and Bilquis and others, you don’t really get to hear a lot about them. Because of comic books, you get Thor and Zeus, Odin and Hercules and those guys but oftentimes, Gods of color don’t get a lot of love. Even when they do, it’s in secondary roles. Working for American Gods and I’m a huge Neil Gaiman fan. So to be able to play in that sort of world and get some genre credits under my name was great as I have a comic book company and I also tell a lot of genre driven stories so being able to legitimize that beyond wanting to do it was always something that I wanted to do.

AM: It was such a phenomenal series. I remember seeing the episodes and being able to see some of these characters that I had read about being brought to life so fully, it kept me glued and it was truly incredible.

So as a screenwriter, what is that process like in terms of getting attached to a project and how does one pitch themselves to get into this work?

RB: Well my agents do a lot of my pitching. They typically open doors, but I’d say that about 75% of the work that I get, outside of the things that I create, really comes from via word of mouth. Right now it’s a good time because of Winning Time and people seemingly are enjoying it and you get a lot of offers to do things because they like it which I am grateful for and it is a blessing. More often than not, it’s about putting yourself in the right position you know? People know that I write graphic books and comic books so whenever a project like that comes around and it seems like they can use a writer like me, oftentimes, they’ll call or not so much now because I have been doing it for awhile but maybe 7 or 8 years ago, if it was something that I had heard about that was coming down the pike, I would tell my agents to keep an eye out on it and then see if maybe they could get me up there to be considered.

AM: Is it a different flow for you when you’re writing for the BET Awards or the Oscars – is there a different approach because it’s a live audience or a different format then just a show or even the comic books?

RB: Not really, I look at all of it like it’s story whether it’s writing a joke, Chris Rock or one of his specials or whoever I’m working for for the Oscars or an awards show. Even a joke is a story. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. Whether I’m telling a funny story or a horrifying story or a dramatic story, at the end of the day, it’s all a story. So, I approach it all the same way. The biggest thing for me is really understanding who’s going to be interpreting the words. Like, I work a lot with Chris Rock, and I know him really, really well so if I’m going to pitch something to him, I incorporate that knowledge into the pitch. Like, I can sort of filter myself and know that he wouldn’t like this or he would really like that part. In writing the shows, I have built a great relationship with a lot of our cast and so, I try to write to their strengths as well as to the story that I am trying to tell. When I am saying that I’m writing to their strengths, I'm talking dialogue. There is a cadence to how people talk and if you can make it easier for them to interpret the words, I think that they become more comfortable with it so it's really more so about having familiarity with it for the task at hand.

AM: Also in your body of work, you have been a co-producer and a producer in shows like Heels, Winning Time and Wu-Tang: An American Saga. We’ve had a number of WWE wrestlers as our cover and shared their stories so seeing Heels was another show that we enjoyed. When did you realize that you wanted to add these roles into your body of work and how does that change your perspective especially when you're also writing the show as well?

RB: Well it’s funny, those titles of producing can mean a lot of different things. Earlier in my career, say on My Wife and Kids, when I was a producer, it wasn’t really a lot more to do than sitting in a room and writing. It’s sort of like the government, government jobs they have G-1, G-2 as you work up and it’s sort of like that in television in writing as well. If you do it long enough, you start out as a staff writer and then you move up to a story editor and then an executive story editor and then you go up through the WGA (Writers Guild of America) classifications that go with moving up. But then, in certain gigs like in Everybody Hates Chris, I was in the writer’s room and wrote a number of episodes, but I also produced the voiceover that you would hear in every show. So I would write the lines and go with Chris Rock and go record the lines together and then I would place them in the show in editing. So, to me that was actually the beginning of actually producing and so on different shows, that idea of what a producer means is something different.

On Winning Time, I actually work with the actors whether it’s working on set with their lines, working with the director to see whether or not a shot is sort of lining up with how we saw it when we were writing the show – it can mean a lot of different things. There are some shows where I have been an EP and it didn't mean anything more than just writing a show and putting it together or on some shows I'm actually tangibly doing something different. On American Gods, I wrote and also worked on the set with the actors and the director as well and putting it all together. On Heels, not so much. Marvel's Runaways – not so much. But it’s different with each one, so it’s a classification that comes with being a TV writer and as the responsibilities go, it has more to do with what that show requires.

AM: When I first heard about Winning Time last fall, I knew I was going to love it, I remember as a kid in 1986 loving this team even though I grew up in Indiana and it continues even though I live in NY now. So seeing this story, hearing about this story and getting this inside scoop of what was going on has made it really enjoyable to watch. How did you get attached to this project and what made you want to be involved?

RB: Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Worth, Godzilla vs Kong) who is our showrunner and the other Executive Producer as well, he and I have been writing together for about 10 years and when Jim Hecht (Fairly OddParents, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild) first optioned the book, he got the book to Adam McKay (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Vice, Don’t Look Up), and he got it to HBO and they said they would do a pilot I believe, I don’t know if the project was picked up then. They hired Max, Max called me and I said yes that I would want to be a part of it. That’s how it started.

AM: It’s an incredible cast and I love McKay films and the people that are in it. In terms of writing this where you had Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, how much source material did you have as I know players of that time as well as the franchise didn’t reach out to you on this. How did you coalesce these things all together to create this story and to provide that insider feel?

RB: Well we were really fortunate that book. So we studied a lot of books and Rick Fox, former Laker was our technical advisor, we talked to a lot of folks who were around the team at that time who worked for the organization, YouTube – we did a lot of research everywhere – articles anything that we could find. We sort of incorporated into the narrative and some stuff we had to tie in together for dramatization purposes.

AM: Obviously with the people that were involved, John C Reilly (Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Anchorman II: The Legend Continues), Jason Clarke (Brotherhood, Chappaquiddick, Silk Road), Rob Morgan (Stranger Things, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Don’t Look Up), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Dispatches from Elsewhere, Hotel Artemis) and Adrien Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Peaky Blinders, Succession) etc, there are actors in there where there is a lot of secret sauce. You have actors who were athletic but didn’t play basketball and having to do so for this role, having Quincy Isaiah play such a key and iconic person who was new to this platform, how did all of this come together to get that energy, to make an audience believe that these people who be playing this game even though they didn’t necessarily have this background?

RB: Francine Maisler (Uncut Gems, Being the Ricardos, Dune) is our casting director and she did a great job finding folks. Sometimes you get lucky like in the case of Quincy who is from Michigan and was an athlete – a football player. He had to lose 80lbs or so to come down to being able to have a Magic Johnson-like look. Solomon Hughes who plays, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar is an educator, is 7-feet tall, plays jazz and he played basketball on a professional level before. You just get lucky sometimes. I think that that’s across the board in finding people that not only have the talent but also the emotional stuff.

If you think about our players, they have to learn how to play the game because some had never played the game before, they had to be convincing to learn how to play a particular way that their character played, they had to go through physical training everyday and then they had to learn their lines and then they had to act. So there would be times when they would have to come from training, be on set, leave their work, leave set and go and play basketball everyday for however long – for a year or so. Then there is the training that went into it before hand and always having a good attitude about it as they were going. We got really really fortunate to find the folks that we found.

AM: When did you realize that you were going to be Maurice?

RB: I’ll tell you when I was working, Max was working on a movie called Worth in NY that’s on Netflix now. I was working on the first season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga. I was in Staten Island, he was in Manhattan. We would meet on the weekends and we would go over it with Jim Hecht and Rebecca Bertuch (Worth) and we would work on putting the show together. Every now and then, this name would pop up, Maurice, Maurice, Maurice – like who the hell is Maurice? Oh, you’re going to see and it was like an inside joke. They knew that I didn’t know. When we were officially on board and we started in the writer’s room in LA, we had all the pictures up of the actors on the wall and then there was a picture of me. I was like, “why is my picture on the wall?” They said, you’re going to play Maurice and I was like, “oh, ok – haha Maurice.” So Max actually wrote Maurice’s lines and the only scene that I had at one time was the scene with Pat Reily where I don’t let him in The Forum. I thought, “ok, I can do that, I’ve been a security guard my whole damn life!” I know how to say you can’t come in. You don’t even need to even write out the lines just let me stand there and I know how to not let you in some place. Then, all of a sudden, I started seeing Maurice pop up in other scripts! He's like a leprechaun where he sort of shows up in different places and I'm like, "why am I popping up?” and then I had a walk and talk which is very difficult as an actor because you have to walk, you have to think and you have to move which was in episode 5 where I had that scene. I was nervous about that scene. Actually, I messed up the scene that is on. I messed up a line but Gabby Hoffman (High Maintenance, Girls, Transparent) who plays Claire Rothman is so great, you would never know because she kept going and I kept going and so that was it and they cut and we went on with the day – but I messed up.

It's cool, the network likes it, everyone likes him and I think that Maurice is going to come back and probably say more words.

AM: We always like when he pops up!

RB: Well, thank you! As long as I stay big and relatively menacing and intimidating, Maurice will probably be around.

AM: What has been your biggest takeaway of being part of this particular project, seeing it come together and the reception of people loving this?

RB: Anytime you work hard at a thing for a long time that is intended to entertain people, you always want that to land the way it is intended so that people are entertained. I think that we’ve got a great reception and that people really seem to like it and it’s sort of gratifying because I and a lot of people give a lot when you do these sort of things and it’s not easily assembled. For me certainly being able to talk about African American culture as it pertains to sports in a way that is sort of elevated is always an honor. It’s a good thing.

AM: Well, you guys have been greenlit for a second season. What does that look like, what do you want to tackle – will it continue with these same players or will it be another part of Laker history or even another time in NBA history for a Winning Time situation?

RB: As of the moment, the plan is to continue on in the same narrative and to just keep telling the story as we have been. Even now, when we first started the process before, we were going in the third or fourth iteration of what you see on screen now – we were going to go a lot faster. Then, the decision was made during COVID to slow down the process of storytelling and we had to go back to the drawing board a couple of times to slow it down. I say all of that to say that you never know. We could speed up a couple of seasons, we can keep going the way that it is, but I think that the plan for now is to continue going in the direction that it is.

AM: One of the things that I enjoy especially with a lot of the HBO shows is that there is a companion podcast and literally, I can’t wait until Mon to listen to the show which drops right after the episode airs on Sun. I listen to JB Smoove and then I listen to your podcast. It’s great to get your insights, what’s going on – the Rob Morgan episode was really great to hear. Every episode is great as there are so many tidbits that can be enjoyed. How did you get attached to hosting this podcast and how much input do you have over who ends up being on the episode with you?

RB: Very similar to how I became Maurice. Somebody thought that it would be a good idea to have me do it and my first reaction was, I have never done a podcast before and they were like, “oh you can do it.” I think that I tried to back out a couple of times and they were like no just give it a shot. I think that I got better as time went on which is sort of the course of life, the more you do it, the better you get at the thing that you do. But, it also helps that I know everybody. Everybody that I have had on so far whether it was Snoop Dogg, Rob Morgan or Quincy, or Max or whoever, I know them. It’s like having a conversation with someone who is a friend and not so much like talking to someone who is a stranger.

They always ask me who I would like to have on and I try to spread it around between the cast members, but also the people behind the scenes. I had Todd Banhazl (Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer, They Call Me Magic, Hustlers), I had Max, I had Jim Hecht, Rebecca, I had Sarah Scott (Pam & Tommy, The Offer, The Flight Attendant) our intimacy coordinator. I had Idan Ravin whose the basketball coordinator. I had our director Salli Richardson (The Chi, Altered Carbon, The Wheel of Time) and Tanya Hamilton (Big Sky, The Deuce, Snowfall). I try to mix it up where you have one of the cast members and then someone who is a technical part of the team so that for people who are interested in being part of the business as one time I was, you can actually hear some of what they do and realize that there are a number of jobs besides the big 4 or 5 at producer, director, writer. There are a lot of other things to be done and some things may spark to someone and hopefully that podcast can help a little bit.

AM: We love seeing the birth of the NBA as we know it today as this entertainment platform with next level dancers, club lounges and had this came together with Dr. Buss. This has become the standard for what it means to go to a NBA game. Being able to hear more about Jack McKinney and his time with the Lakers. I knew he was a coach for the Pacers, but I didn’t know about his backstory. What is it that you want audiences to walk away with after watching this season or subsequent seasons?

RB: Always with our show, we have what you know and the thing that you can Google and find out. Who won the game, who lost the game and those types of things. But there’s also those things that you didn’t know. Like in the case of Jack McKinney, a lot of people had forgotten not just him, but the accident that he was in – the basketball accident and how that changed the course of the Lakers coaching dynamic. So, being able to tell some of those stories and show the Shakespearean dynamic of the coaching system with Paul West head and Pat Riley, most people know Pat Riley being the Lakers coach and they sort of identify with just him, but there were other guys too.

I think that the other side of that coin is Spencer Haywood who was a big part of NBA free agency and a lot of how we look at basketball today in the fact that we can look at James Harden and see him go from team to team to team or LeBron just being able to go to the Heat and all of that – a lot of that has to do with Spencer Haywood and going to court to battle for free agency rights for players. When I was growing up watching the NBA, I’m from Maryland so we had the Bullets, now the Wizards. Usually if a player got drafted, he played with one team for his entire career. It was big news when a player would move from one team to another.

Now, when you look at the change and the evolution both in the style of play when you look at the Showtime offense of Jack McKinney that evolved and to Spencer Haywood’s contribution, that you see in these 2 gentleman, it has a lot to do with the way that the game is played and it’s rarely recognized over the course of history. Anytime we can incorporate things that folks don’t know, it’s always a treat!

AM: Usually, when an episode concludes, we’re usually Googling about 4 things! It becomes a great way to understand how far the game has come in really such a short period of time and how things are so different and the shoulders that people stood on to get to where we are now.

RB: Exactly.

AM: Where did your love for comic books come from. You have Killadelphia that you’re writing, Marvel, Star Wars universes and Lucas Film Studios – where did this come from?

RB: The only inciting influence that I can find in my mind and my heart was that my mother was a school teacher. Before computers and all of that stuff, she would go to the public library to do her lesson plans and she would bring me. There was always this area where you would have kids like in a pen, your Cat in the Hat, Curious George books etc. I had no interest in any of those books because under those books was a box and in that box was comic books. I knew exactly where it was and I don’t think that they ever changed them in all the years that I went. I would just sit in the corner and read them for hours. It sort of became a thing where it was infectious you know? The moral throughline and some of the stories were more evolved than what my 5 or 6 year old mind could handle but I was intrigued by that idea. Then later, people would give them to me and my grandfather would call them funny books back then. They would give me a stack of them and it was a way to keep me quiet. Later on, when I would have odd jobs, I would buy them. This was during a period of time where you could get comic books anywhere – the convenience store, liquor store, virtually any place that had a spinner rack full of comics. Now, you have to go to a comic shop on Wed to get them. But back then, they were readily available and they were only 20 cents or a quarter. Now they’re $4 if not more.

It was just a love that just evolved along with my life. In the beginning, it was mostly about the art and the story. Then in my teen and later years, there were guys like Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing) and Grant Morrison (Doom Patrol, New X-Men, Fantastic Four 1234) and Frank Miller (Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City), they sort of made it like literature and evolved into something that was more serious and that kept me involved and then later television and film like most people. So there has always been this relationship.

When I was younger, I tried to write comics professionally, but couldn’t find a way in. Like a lot of things that I’m sure people feel with television and film, it’s a tough nut to crack. But even more so back then, there weren’t a whole lot of African American characters and there wasn’t a big indie space when I was coming up. It was just Marvel and DC and every once in a while there’d be a new company that would pop in. They didn’t have the same distribution chain as DC so you were relegated to those 10 characters maybe if there were 10. I think that a lot of times, companies back then felt like unless you were writing for a character of color, what’s the point of hiring this person? So for me, I wanted to take a shot at writing a comic so when I was on the show Runaways which was a Marvel show, they liked my work and I sort of leveraged the appreciation of my work to say, “hey if you guys have any relationship with Marvel Publishing, I’d love to write a comic book.” They gave me Falcon. I quickly realized that I had no idea what the hell I was doing or how to write a comic book. I just took my shot. It was received ok-ish. Then again like the podcast, I kept doing it again and again and again and I got better and better and better at it and then I had the idea for Killadelphia and started a whole new thing. Now I write 10 books a month and I have my own company and it’s taken on a life all of it’s own.

AM: Which is amazing and I know in looking at your IG, you were talking about The Mandalorian which I’m a fan of. You have a project coming out in June – can you tell us more?

RB: Yes, it’s June the 22nd, The Mandalorian adaptation of the TV show and it’s the first adaptation that Marvel and Lucas Film have done with a project. It’s basically straight adaptation of that story. They don’t let you deviate too far from the story because it’s Star Wars cannon and you can’t really interfere or add new things because it’s connected to the television show. So I basically do my version of the television show would be.

AM: It’s still very cool though!

RB: Yes, it’s an honor to play in that space.

I just finished IG-88 Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters and I did Lando Double or Nothing earlier. I love to play in the space. I have a Luke Cage short that’s coming up and maybe a Luke Cage miniseries coming up for Marvel. So anytime you get to play in that space, it’s always fun because it’s such a big fan base that you get to connect with that many people is always an honor.

AM: You created Zombie Love Studio which deals with creating original graphic novels and things of that nature, what are some things coming out of there that you want to highlight?

RB: The first book is Blacula, a reboot of the Blacula character from Blaxploitation era in Oct/Nov which should be dropping then. I also have another book, Florence and Normandie and alien attack story that takes place on the corner of Florence and Normandie famous because of the Rodney King riots that started from there. I’m writing that with Xzibit. I have Tales from the Crip with Snoop Dogg which is the Crip Keeper. I have a book called Crownsville which is set in one of the first black mental asylums in America that’s a ghost story.

There's a bunch of other things that we’re developing that are moving along. There aren’t enough hours in the day, but I’m really excited about it all and it’s coming together slowly but surely.

AM: The depth of what you’ve done is truly phenomenal. What are things on your bucket list that you have yet to do or areas that you want to put into that body of work that you haven’t but that you’re still interested in tackling.

RB: Well certainly, developing the Zombie Love books and Killadelphia and things like that into my Substack page where I do 4 of the books. 3 that are connected to the Killadelphia world which is the book that I do at Image. There are 3 books that I do at Image, Killadelphia, Nita Hawes’ Nightmare Blog and Monarch an alien attack miniseries that I am doing. My Substack page has 3 other series, Johnny Gatlin who is a gun slinger in hell and hell is like the Wild West. 20 Degrees Past Rigor which is a zombie story set in Flint, Michigan where zombies are connected to the polluted waters of Flint. The Butcher of Black Bottom which is a serial killer story set in 1920’s Black Bottom section of Detroit. Then there’s Elysium Gardens which is in the back of Killadelphia which has an ongoing story on a Substack page. So, there are those books as well. There’s a lot of stuff and next, I hope to adopt a lot of those things into other forms of media whether it’s animated, live action or television or those kinds of things.

AM: Because you have so many projects that are just in constant rotation, how do you deal with the overlap? Do you have to be at a certain point before you take other things on – do you slice it up like a pizza and mix it the best that you can?

RB: Ha! That’s basically it. I try to tackle each thing as the day comes at me. I usually get up at 4 in the morning and then I start writing and I get the comic book stuff done in the morning. Then I tackle my day jobs like Winning Time or anything else that I have in front of me and I take it as the day comes. Whoever is yelling the most that is owed the thing to them – so yeah! Whoever’s voice is the loudest at the moment!

AM: I think that the time that we’re living in right now, although there is still a need for a lot more representation, to think of myself now versus the younger me who wouldn’t have thought to know that there would be an Ava Du Vernay (A Wrinkle in Time, Queen Sugar, Girls Trip), yourself, Shonda Rhimes (Bridgerton, Inventing Anna, Grey’s Anatomy) all these people that are moving storytelling forward. How important is it for you to reflect that in your work and to have POC be able to see themselves as well as for others to understand why they need to be an ally and to make these spaces more open?

RB: Well I think it’s important because the world doesn’t connect in the same way anymore like physically. We don’t talk to each other the way that we used to and it wasn’t perfect back then either. It’s more important than ever to be able to tell stories that have a ring of truth or some semblance of honesty. That way you get to see people as they are good, bad and indifferent more so than as a caricature or something that feels contrived in some way. I think that a lot of the biases that we hold with each other comes from those depictions. I know since 1619, a concerted effort was made speaking directly to African American culture to make us less than human. There’s one idea of being less than human, but you have to reinforce that on a regular basis. So you either make them caricatures or villains – one extreme or the other. If that idea has the ability to sort of ferment for 400 years or more then you’re at a place where it almost becomes truth because you’re so used to seeing that be the case.

So when you have this culture that is fighting for a slice of the pie or some semblance for respect and dignity, living in a culture and you’re sort of burdened by living with that depiction. It's really a hard thing to overcome because then even the culture itself starts to believe it – is this who I am and some people do. That can be problematic in its own way because you start to devalue yourself and people who look like you.

So I think that the more folks that can get in for various gender, sexual orientation, race or whatever it may be – to be able to speak to your truth in an honest way cannot only help you and the group that you’re in but also people outside of that group so that they have a better understanding of who you are and the struggle that you navigate just to be a human being and to have a human experience.

AM: Who are 3 people that you feel were profound, instrumental or helpful to be in your career?

RB: Damon Wayans (My Wife and Kids, Lethal Weapon, Major Payne) is always first! He was the first person that gave me an opportunity to work on a television show. Were it not for him, I wouldn’t be here. Don Reo (Everybody Hates Chris, Two and a Half Men, The Ranch) who was the showrunner and creator with Damon on My Wife and Kids. He helped take whatever raw ability I had and allowed me into a space in a way that pushed me to a space where I was able to see for myself what I had to do. I’m eternally grateful to him as well. I have to say that there is a tie for number 3 Allen Hughes (Dead Presidents, Menace II Society, The Book of Eli) of the Hughes Brothers, a director. He helped me to bridge art and commerce. He gave me an opportunity to write in a different type of way and helped me find my way of doing art. He was very supportive in that. Then, Max Borenstein who is our showrunner on Winning Time who sort of did the same thing but in a different way. There’s a push sometimes that you need to get out of where you have been to where you want to be and Max was very helpful in being able to push me. Beyond him pushing me, was me pushing me as well. There are a lot of other people and if you had given me 10 or 20, I could have continued on with other people who have helped me even if it was just survival – that’s important as well. So when it comes to writing and being a professional writer, those people come to mind.

IG @therodneybarnes

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 78 Warrick Page/HBO MAX | PG 81 - 85 STARZ/American Gods | PG 87 + 88 STARZ/Heels | PG 91 -102 HBO MAX/Winning Time |

Read the APR ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see IT’S ALL JUST STORY | Rodney Barnes in mag.

THE LEGACY CONTINUES | TITUS WELLIVER

We've been fans of Prime Video's Bosch where we follow along as Harry Bosch solves a number of cases regardless of how many feathers he ruffles in the process. On May 6th, the story continues on Amazon FreeVee with Bosch: Legacy. We see how Bosch continues to fight for victims as his daughter Maddie Bosch continues to walk in her father's steps and how he will reconnect with former nemesis, Honey Chandler.

We enjoy the way Titus Welliver leans into his characters and draws us in. Whether it's his work in ABC's Lost, FX's Sons of Anarchy, HBO's Deadwood and countless other TV shows and movies, we know that Titus is going to leave quite a memory with us in the characters that he plays.

We talked with him about becoming an actor, working in the industry and taking on Bosch which comes from a series of books written by Michael Connelly.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to be an actor?

TITUS WELLIVER: Oh boy, you know, I think I was born acting. I don’t know about that, I think it’s difficult or I can say, it was right after I realized I didn’t want to be a firefighter or a policeman anymore like all little boys do.

Actually, there was a filmmaker named Rudy Burckhardt and he made some films and he asked me to be in a film of his when I was about 5 and it was a very simple little bit where I played a little boy that had a shiny penny in his pocket and he was walking down a road. He had a hole in his pocket and he lost the penny and the penny was stolen from him by this stingy old man. I remember sort of thinking that it was kind of fun, but I didn’t really consider it any further than that. I did some little bits in school plays and things like that.

I really was initially trained to be a painter – a fine artist, that’s really what I wanted to do. But I always had an interest certainly in film and I watched a lot of television. I was spending a summer with my mother – she was living in Boston, but I didn’t go to school there so I didn’t have any friends there and I didn’t know any kids there. She was living in an area where there just wasn’t that kind of accessibility and I was sort of left to my own devices which meant I was just going to the Cineplex – to the movies all day long. She signed me up at a place called The Actors Workshop in Boston and I was 14 years old. I was reluctant, I wasn’t a camp kid, I liked sports camps and things like that. I went and after the first day, I came back to my mother and asked her if I could do more days of that. I ended up doing 5 days a week and it was a professional school for both adult and kid actors. I did that and I spent the summer doing that, but I still stayed on the trajectory that I was going to go to art school and I painted and I studied and studied.

I did a few productions in high school and enjoyed doing that and after a year of art school, I was left kind of cold to a certain degree and I had a conversation with my father who very directly said to me, “you know, when you’re not thinking about girls and drinking beer, what do you think about?” I said, “I think about acting.” My father said, “so not painting?”and I said no. He told me that I needed to be an actor. That was kind of it!

AM: What’s your process like when you’re thinking of attaching yourself to projects? We’ve enjoyed seeing your in Deadwood, Sons of Anarchy and of course Bosch – what are you looking for?

TW: Well, when you’re starting out, it’s about paying your bills, but also gaining experience. I mean, I did a lot of teeny tiny parts in plays, in short films and things because I was just trying to learn and gain that experience. So there’s that, but I think that more then anything, it starts with the writing. I've read a lot of bad scripts and I have acted in a few. But when the material is good, then it’s on! Then you realize that you’re in the presence of some material that’s going to challenge you and also that it will hopefully teach you something. Because I always say, I like to be in a constant state of learning and getting better. I think that with time, age and experience, the hope is that we evolve and certainly as artists, otherwise, you get kind of bored and you go and do something else. I’ve been extraordinarily fortunate that I have worked with great writers, producers and directors over the years – David Milch (Deadwood, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues) and Steven Bochco (NYPD Blue, Doogie Howser, M.D., Brooklyn South) to name a few and here I landed with Michael Connelly (The Lincoln Lawyer, The Dark Hours, The Poet) and Eric Overmyer (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, The Affair) and Tom Bernardo (Bosch, Bosch: Legacy) – a very gifted and dynamic group of people. To be given the opportunity to play this very iconic character, he’s kind of like Santa Claus for an actor, he goes down the chimney every time that I go to work and it’s nice.

AM: We’ve been a fan of Michael Connelly books for a number of years so when Bosch went to Prime Video it was exciting and then that you were going to play the title character, we knew that it was going to be so good. How did that come together for you to be part of this?

TW: Well, I was initially sent the script and I read it very quickly. I had only read one of the Bosch books many many years prior to. Unbeknownst to me, my younger brother had read and re-read the books and to this day possesses a kind of encyclopedic knowledge of Bosch as well as everything that Michael has written.

Through a series of mishaps, I kept trying to meet with Michael and the meetings kept getting pushed off and I was shooting Transformers: Age of Extinction which had me traveling all over the place in Chicago, Michigan and then Hong Kong. We just kept missing. I got a call a couple of months later from my manager who told me that I had a little window and Michael Connelly was in town and I would be able to meet with him. At that point, I thought that that boat had sailed as it had been a couple of months that had passed. I went in and met with him and the producers and the director and I was – as my grandmother would say, I was blessed at that moment. I left that audition feeling good, but you know, I have been doing this long enough and have enough humility to know that that’s all you can do. I got the call from my manager that I had been cast as Bosch and to say that I was thrilled was an understatement. It was just more realized after the first day of shooting that I knew I was part of something that was different. I’ve played other cop characters and I’ve done lots of procedural cop shows. Look, when you’re doing something from the ground up, it’s tricky but, when you have source material, like Michael Connelly’s books, you have to work really hard to mess it up. You know, in less capable hands, it could be very very messed up. The temptation to sex things up for a lack of a better word – to have him wearing Brioni suits, driving a fast car and jumping in and out of bed like James Bond, I was relieved that there was never any kind of consideration to do anything because I have always felt that if it ain’t broke, there’s no need to fix it.

Because of the ways that Amazon and the executives work which is at the beginning of the studios, they have a prime directive which is to get the material, but then to delegate the process to the creative people and not to micromanage. They delegated to people that they knew that they trusted. They really did that and they stood behind the show. When we needed things, they always showed up. Because we had such a great group of writers and producers, we were excited by the acceptance and the invitation into people’s homes for the show and the success of the show. But I think that we always felt that it speaks back to what I said in evolving and learning. I felt that the show just continued to get better and better and here we are now in Bosch: Legacy which is a continuation of the work we have been doing for all of these years.

AM: For those who might need a refresher, where did we leave Bosch in season 7 and where do we pick up with him again as we continue his saga in Bosch: Legacy?

TW: Well, Harry’s you know in the last season of Bosch, he’s so completely fed up and disenfranchised that he gives his badge to the Chief of Police and says he’s done. There’s a great line that Irving (Lance Reddick – Bosch, John Wick franchise, The Wire) says to him in that moment, he says, “who are you gonna be if you’re not a cop and you don’t have a badge, who are you going to be?” Harry says, “I guess we’ll find out.” In the final scenes for a little Easter egg scene, we find Harry filling out his paperwork to become a private investigator.

We pick up a little over a year later after that season and Harry is working as a private eye, but he’s doing divorce cases and things here and there. It’s not like he’s got this bustling business and Maddie (Madison Lintz – The Walking Dead, Bosch, Bosch: Legacy) has joined the force and has been on the force for awhile. She’s still working with a training officer, so she’s a boot and she’s trying to find her own legs, but she’s Harry’s daughter and it’s really in her DNA, she carries a lot of the work ethic and the same characteristics and has the same moral compass as well as independent thinker which places her at odds, but she’s out there doing it. We find Chandler (Mimi Rogers – Mad Men, Bosch, Bosch: Legacy) sort of reeling from the very serious PTSD from almost being killed and the person who orchestrated her attempted assassination and Maddie’s looks like he’s going to go free.

You find that everybody is in these states of being kind of fractured and broken. You know, Harry is untethered, he's kind of wandering and he's always been a kind of an isolated character, but he's more isolated than ever now. Maddie, as she’s navigating it, she’s also trying to come into her own because Harry’s legacy has cast a very, very big shadow and that’s not all great! Harry’s reputation was one of being a closer and a great detective, but he pissed a lot of people off because he was a very direct guy and not exactly user friendly. The name Bosch on her uniform is not necessarily a great thing and she doesn’t use her father’s reputation as commerce within the department. So we find these characters really navigating things at the same time and interacting so it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s a triptych, everything intertwines. But it’s also not like you have Maddie, Chandler and Harry having dinner at the house together – it’s not contrived like that. They’re all living their different lives and they’re all finding their way.

AM: How excited are you in being able to continue this story?

TW: I’m very excited and the idea when we were shooting the final season of Bosch, there was a heaviness for everyone involved. We had become very very close like a family as productions do and we were all invested and were very, very connected and committed to our characters and to the show and so when the opportunity presented itself that we would continue, obviously with a smaller ensemble cast and the ability to focus more on 3 central characters, but still bring in the characters that people know and love that populate the Harry Bosch universe – it’s a thrill! I’m very excited for the show to come out there because the fans of the show that have been so incredibly supportive over the years are really eager and hungry and they want to see what it’s going to be like. I have confidence that we will meet and surpass their expectations.

IG @tituswelliverofficial

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | PG 46 - 51 + 55 Prime Video/Bosch | PG 52 Amazon FreeVee/Bosch: Legacy |

Read the APR ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see THE LEGACY CONTINUES | Titus Welliver in mag.

9LIST STORI3S | TANISHA SCOTT

Read the APR ISSUE #76 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Tanisha Scott in mag.

9LIST STORI3S | CANDIACE DILLARD-BASSETT

Read the MAR ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Candiace Dillard-Bassett in mag.

63MIX ROUTIN3S | BEAR GRYLLS

Read the APR ISSUE #76 of Athleisure Mag and see 63MIX ROUTIN3S | Bear Grylls in mag.

THE ARTIST | TYRON WOODLEY

This month's cover is 5X UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley. With an impressive career, we delve into this athlete and artist who got his start wrestling and went on to continue in this sport at the University of Missouri and are a 2x All-American and Big 12 Conference Champion. In addition to the impact that he has created in MMA, he is also an analyst. When he is not in or talking about the Octagon, Tyron has acted in a number of films and movies including Straight Outta Compton, Kickboxer: Vengence and Hawaii Five-0. He has also been involved in stunts in Olympus Has Fallen, Once Upon a Time in Venice and has trained actors such as Denzel Washington in The Equalizer 2.

We talk with him about he got into MMA, his passion for it, his creativity in entertainment, the music industry and more.

ATHLEISURE MAG: My favorite sport is boxing and through that it brought me to enjoying MMA as well. I’ve been a fan of yours for a number of years. What was the moment when you realized that you wanted to be an athlete as I know that in highschool you played football as well as wrestled. What initially drew you to wrestling as you were NCAA Division I collegiate wrestler at the University of Missouri and are a 2X All-American and Big 12 Conference Champion.

TYRON WOODLEY: I mean, just as a kid, I started off just being outside and in a regular neighborhood to play. We didn’t have a ton of funds to go on a billion vacations and trips and all those extracurricular activities and things. So it came down to racing people in the streets first, who was the fastest and who could do the most push-ups. Naturally, when it came to wrestling, I kind of gravitated towards sports that were more economical. For wrestling, you don’t need a lot of stuff for that. It’s very affordable, so I kind of started to do that and I didn’t even notice that I was doing that. I also just enjoy the difficulty of doing stuff and I don’t even know why. Especially growing up as a kid, if there was something that was difficult that I could do, it made me feel a certain kind of way and I liked it.

That’s kind of the journey that I have been towards - I don’t want to say the impossible because other people have done it, but the things that seem to be very difficult and people veer away from it, I go straight to it.

AM: So how did being a wrestler eventually merge to you focusing on being a Mixed Martial Artist?

TW: I mean when I was wrestling, I was doing that and I was also trying to out amateur MMA just to see if I liked it. I’ve always wanted to box, but I felt as if at 23 years old, which was the age that I graduated from college, I felt that I was too old to start boxing. At that age, most people that are successful have started since they were 18 or 19 years old. I felt that with Mixed Martial Arts, I could punch, wrestle and do a couple of other things too. I was giving it a try but what really crossed me over the edge was that I was the #1 wrestling coach for the top fighters. Everybody that had a big fight against wrestlers – The Ultimate Fighter show 1, 2 and 3 and really it brought a shit load of Division 1 level wrestlers into MMA Rashad Evans, Gray Maynard, Josh Koscheck – all of these different guys you’ve seen from that show. The mindset of a wrestler amongst any other martial arts was just so different – it was really kind of meat head and really a bar that was set that nobody had really done to get there. With that mindset, they became really good MMA fighters because of drilling – we drill so many moves thousands of times. We’ll do the same leg and then we’ll do a variation of it and based on his defense we do this and if he does that then we’ll do this. It made it easier because it was a mindset that we use anyway. It’s one of the few sports where we had to cut weight year around which got us ready for MMA and it was natural as I was already doing those things.

AM: When you say MMA, what disciplines are involved in that when you’re fighting and what are you looking to add to your skillset in your journey?

TW: For MMA, Mixed Martial Arts, it’s really any form of martial art excluding fish hooks, head butts, striking of the groin, kicking someone when they’re down. Outside of that, karate, judo, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, boxing, Muay Thai, kickboxing – every form of striking, every form of grappling, Sambo – all these different things, there are different places where you can use them in the Octagon. There’s a lot of Greco-Roman wrestling in judo when you’re against the cage in the area that we call “the clinch” – striking out in the open and now you don’t have to just punch – you can punch, kick, slip, roll, knee, elbow – you can pretty much use your entire body minus your forehead to fight.

You have to be up to date on what’s the new techniques, what the new training camps are learning so you know how to prepare, who you’re going against and what they bring to the table. So I just looked at my wrestling background and said, “hey, I’m going to be able to take most of these guys down,” because I’m the head coach of most of the guys that are trying to stop from being taken down. If I spend 85% of my time on striking and you can’t out strike me and you’re supposed to be a striker and you can’t out wrestle me and I can get up and be in good shape, you’re going to have a hard time defeating me. That was my formula for many, many years and it was proven, because I didn’t lose a round and I hardly lost any minutes in any round. It’s basically a game plan that I ended up using and it worked out.

AM: For those that are not familiar, what are the rules of the sport and how is someone designated the winner?

TW: The rule of the sport is that you start to fight on your feet and usually both of the fighters are in their corner and from that position, the referee will tell them that they are ready to fight. Basically, they’ll say, “let’s get it cracking, you guys get it on,” or whatever they say. These referees ref so many fights that they start having a familiar face and people are starting to associate them with their ad lib to start the fight.

You start on your feet and what you see first is mostly striking because that’s what people do when they’re on their feet - punching, kicking, knee and elbow. But anytime people get close enough, it’s allowed to grab the person, slam them down, grapple them, cement a few arm locks, chokes, pressure points or utilize your elbows. You can put somebody in a move that causes someone to submit which means that they don’t want to do that move anymore and they can’t get out of it and they submit to you or give up.

Then there’s scoring. The judges are looking throughout the rounds because sometimes it’s not finished by submission, a knockout or disqualification – they’re looking at who is the aggressor, who’s landing power; who’s persistent, who’s pressing the pace – from there, they will deem who they have seen from that round. Who won that round and then who won the next round – they look at all the rounds and add it up to decide who actually won the fight. It’s kind of confusing because the sport hit by storm and many people were not ready for it. You have to remember that there isn’t a MMA judge! It’s really a boxing commission that are judging these fights. When you look at it that way, some boxing commissioners aren’t even familiar with what they are even looking at because they are not familiar with martial arts. They don’t understand that if I’m a D1 wrestler and I’m All American and a striker and you hook me down, I would weight that more as a bigger deal than if I have to take him down. So that’s the way how I feel that it should be judged, but I’m not trying to be the judge and the fighter at the same time. I just have to let it go as it goes.

AM: That’s an interesting point that you made as I wasn’t thinking about that. Is it difficult for you knowing that as you’re going in that there are judges that aren’t into the details of your sport, but they are literally judging what you’re doing?

TW: Yeah I mean, it’s difficult, but like I told you before, I have been blessed to have some good friends. Lin Oeding (Reacher, Cobra Kai, Warrior), a fighting/stunt coordinator/performer and who is a director now, he kind of gave me his mindset because he’s good at analyzing issues that come up with good solutions. He said, “Tyron, if you train this way (in the formula that I told you), you’re going to be hard to beat.” Luckily for me, even though my background was grappling, wrestling, jiu-jitsu and the last thing that I started to do was striking, I was one of the best strikers and one of the most explosive strikers. I would use the fact that people were so scared of my ability to take them down - that it actually made them tense up a little bit. Then I would be able to sneak in and make it look like I was going to be able to take a shot when they responded to do that by lowering their hands or getting intimidated, then I would just come up and punch them in the face.

AM: You began your career in Strikeforce and you’re a 5 X UFC Welterweight Champion, can you talk about what it means to have such an amazing career of 19 wins you only have 7 losses and a draw – it’s great stats.

TW: For me, it was always to try to be the best. Everybody else wanted to participate or to just get to the UFC or to win a title. Because, when you win a title, no one can ever say that you’re not a champion – you’re a champion. But my goal wasn’t just to win 1 title, it was to be the best. By definition, the best is somebody that gets a title and defends it multiple times and makes it very difficult to be beaten and that was my motivation. I accomplished that and obviously, life has highs and lows sometimes you don’t understand how things go, but it’s not really for us to understand. I just use it as a learning curve to keep getting better and to create my legacy.

AM: What is a normal week like for you when you’re in the gym training. You must be doing the most insane workouts and spending many hours to be where you’re at!

TW: You know, I used to do that when I was younger by spending many, many hours. You need to know if you can do it. You need to see if you’re built for it because what you don’t want to do is to waste their time or to waste your time.

This ain’t a sport where you do all of this hard work and you don’t know if it’s right for you. It’s too hard and there are great chances where you can get hurt. If you find out early in your career that you strike on somebody and they hit you in the face and you didn’t like it, shit maybe it ain’t up for you. If you don’t deal with pressure well, if you’re learning curve isn’t up to par with the growth of the sport, you have to look at yourself and say, “hey, you know what – maybe I should be a coach or I should be alongside it or I should do it for leisure but not put all my ducks in a row.” Some fighters think that just because they decided that they were going to give up the rest of their life towards this that they should be a pro fighter. That’s not how it works.

AM: Can we expect to see you in an upcoming MMA fight and who would you like to fight?

TW: I want to fight big fights. I don’t want to fight any small fights. Right now I feel like, if I beat 5 - 10 super high level guys and get a world title again that don’t mean shit. That’s not going to make me anymore of a great. I had to talk to God about this. I wanted to do that. I wanted to go back and get my belt back - it's the ego. Because, that's not my belt. That’s the current person’s belt, they earned their belt and I lost my belt. They didn’t take my belt, they earned theirs. Once people start thinking about it that way, his blessings are not mine and mine is not his. So, me going back and trying to chase that down – something that I have already done is kind of ego. So I had to check myself and now I just want to fight to make myself happy, to make a lot of money and to make a big fuss and a lot of exposure and a lot of media and buildup and marketing and big endorsements – big exposure and everything is leading me towards another area of martial arts.

AM: How much influence do you have when it comes to setting up matches. Are you able to select or at least propose who you want to go against? How does that process work?

TW: In the UFC, I didn’t really get much of a say so. If I did a couple of favors and I particularly wanted to fight somebody and they felt that it made sense and they could see how that looked good marketing-wise, then it became a yes. It was always if this person that I wanted to fight, made sense for them as well, then we’d do it. If it didn’t, then there was no chance. There were many times when it didn’t make sense for me to fight in my career, that they didn’t care and they wanted that fight to happen. Right now, I’m in a different position. Today, I was offered a fight, my first question was what’s the weight, where’s it at and are we at 7 figures and up?

AM: Ok now.

TW: Yeah why wouldn’t I?

AM: It’s interesting as I’ve always been interested in how these matches come together and it’s great that you’re able to have the ability to set those standards and parameters.

Why were you interested in boxing as you have had 2 fights against Jake Paul and will you continue to box?

TW: Yeah I’m going to continue to box and I was interested in boxing before the Jake Paul fight. I told my manager that I just really wanted to focus on doing all forms of combat and becoming an actual real free agent. Not having to conform to an organization that says that I have to fight at a certain time and I’m not saying that that didn’t benefit me and I don’t have no smoke with UFC. I’m not trying to get time back. I did what I was supposed to do in the time that I was given and I created some mystery so now I’m in a position where I want big fights that excite me and makes me want to walk out there! Because, for the longest, I was doing it to prove people wrong. I felt like at certain points, I was doing it to prove naysayers wrong, the organization wrong, the fighters wrong and the haters wrong. That’s too many people to be doing that with. I’d rather focus on just proving my people right and my coaches right versus all that other stuff.

AM: You’re also an analyst and it’s always good to watch a sport and see someone who comes from it who does it being able to tell you what’s going on. What do you enjoy about being in this role?

TW: I think it’s that people get to see me in a different light. They don’t get to see the quiet or the outspoken because I’m never in between! I feel like when I needed to, I was quiet because people didn’t deserve to really get to know me for who I was because everything was just so fake to me. It was like everything was such a façade and I wasn’t used to that. In St. Louis, it’s all about respect, all about being real and I’m just not used to people doing things that everybody else is doing because it looks cool. That was really corny to me and so at times, I didn’t feel like I fit in. So the analyst desk gave me a way to express myself, to say how I see the sport, make it realistic for someone that has never watched it and just make it fun and make it where it’s a moment that they will remember and tie them into our sport. We need more fans and more supporters and the way to do that, is to tell more people about it. Sometimes, as an analyst, you’re teaching people about MMA and they don’t know about it until you tell them.

AM: Exactly, I live in NY, but am originally from Indiana so I definitely understand the sensibilities of growing up in the Midwest and then when you go outside of it, it’s a different cadence that you have to get used to.

TW: Very interesting, very interesting. If you came from Indiana to NY, you understand exactly what I’m saying. It’s fast paced, no one is really caring about anything you’re saying as they’re focused on what they need to do and in the back of their mind, they’re trying to position themselves and posture. I’m not trying to do that. If you’re cool with me, you’re cool with me – if not, you can slide.

AM: In addition to everything that you’re doing, you’re also an actor and a stuntman. I remember watching you in Straight Outta Compton and I was like, “wait, he’s acting?” I know you’ve done other roles as well, why have you embraced this portion of the entertainment industry in your body of work?

TW: I’m just an artist. I’ve said it to a lot of people and they don’t even realize it. I’m just an artist. I’m not a boxer, I’m not a fighter, I’m not a rapper, I’m not an analyst – I’m an artist. Whatever canvas I have to paint on for that day, I have to do what I have to do. So that’s why I think of it and I separate it. My filter when I had my own TMZ show was different than when I do FOX, is different then when I act. Again in acting, there are a whole lot of different roles – so I do that differently. Music is a different look and it’s just different filters that you use and sensors. Sometimes there’s no filters and it’s very encouraging for you to be 100% yourself. But they all exist because you're an artist.

So, I feel like that we as humans try to box people in because we’re afraid that someone else will want us to be something more. If you’re comfortable being a 5th grade high school teacher, you don’t want somebody out there over doing it making you feel like you need to get down and get into crypto, to build some real estate developments and to look into these areas. There are people that don’t want to do that. So that’s why they allow the 1% to tell them what to do and to tell them what’s cool.

AM: As someone who is an artist, what are some things that you have coming up that you can share as you have your hands in various pots.

TW: I have an EP that I’m working on musically, I have a TV show that I’m writing, executive producing and starring in which is my main focus. I will fight 2 more times this year one time will be boxing and the other will be MMA. I haven’t confirmed it, but if I can get this last fight of the year on NYE, then it will literally turn a lot of heads. I’m just in to doing stuff that’s ground breaking, trailblazing and when people try to tell you that you can’t do something, I’m trying to be a living vessel to show you that you can and to tell everyone else that they can shut up!

AM: How do you take time for yourself when you’re not in the midst of doing all of these projects?

TW: I just started doing that! So I took up golf and I’m just about to go play golf in Hawaii right now! The first time golfing, I was in Hawaii, my second time golfing – I was in Hawaii and now today, I’m taking my son out in the jungle where they filmed parts of Jurassic Park – we’re going to go out there. I like shooting guns and getting a haircut. Like, I’m really into getting a haircut and I don’t know why.

AM: How do you give back to your community and how important is that?

TW: I give back to my community and I would go to schools and talk to them and encourage them and showing them somebody that came up from a similar background or similar complexion could make it. A lot of kids used to message me and said they were from the same area that I grew up in and they wanted to know how I made it out of there. One in particular told me how he was getting bullied to join a gang and he didn’t want to. I was real with him and told him that I joined – it wasn’t because I was scared, but I didn’t want to have to deal with people asking me questions every day like which gang I was in. So, I did it because of that and I told this kid that he shouldn’t do it. He was a freshman in high school when he reached out and now he is a Senior, a kid named Cameron a D1 athlete with a scholarship and he made it out. So, I can do that and inspire others – obviously me going out there and doing well and winning is the best thing that I can do. Unfortunately, people don’t understand that the real life is not about whether you got the most points in regulation or what the judges are saying – it’s about how you live. You’re a champion because of the way that you live not because of the title or the belt, you know what I mean? That’s my thing to go out there and show you better and to tell you.

IG @therealest

PHOTO CREDIT | FRONT COVER + PG 50 9DRIP Jeff Bottari/Getty Images | PG 16, 20, 24 UFC/Getty Images | PG 18 + BACK COVER Josh Hedges/UFC/Getty Images | PG 23 Eric Lars Bakke/ESPN Images | PG 27 Art Streiber/NBC | PG 28 - 33 Byron Cohen/ABC |

Read the MAR ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see THE ARTIST | Tyron Woodley in mag.

9LIST STORI3S | BRIAN MICHAEL SMITH

Read the MAR ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see 9LIST STORI3S | Brian Michael Smith in mag.

NEVER GIVE UP | BEAR GRYLLS

When it comes to being an adventurer and navigating an array of terrains and working with what's around you, Bear Grylls is a man that you think of that you'd want to have on your team!

Known for his National Geographics' Running Wild with Bear Grylls where he takes A-list celebs on his expeditions, he has spent his life perfecting his craft and sharing his knowledge with many of us! His survival school comes from years of work that included serving in the Territorial Army of the 21 SAS, he has been awarded the honorary of Lt Commander in the Royal Naval Reserve and was awarded Honorary Colonel in the Royal Marines Reserve. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire as well as the youngest ever Chief Scout of the United Kingdom and Overseas Territories.

We talk with him about how he became an adventurer, shared these skills with us through his TV shows and how he stays fit to continue to do what he loves on and off the camera.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’ve been a fan of yours for a number of years watching you go all around the world in these amazing environments and taking on nature. How did you decide that this was something that you wanted to do and then doing it as a career and being able to have these TV shows that showcase this profound series of skills and activities that you’re doing?

BEAR GRYLLS: That is so sweet of you to say. I’m not sure that it’s something that is so very profound. But you know, it’s been the only thing that I have been good at in my life! As a kid growing up, I loved adventure and it was a huge part of my upbringing with my dad doing this sort of stuff. Then I joined the military and my job there involved combat survival, the climbing and the sky diving. After the military, to be able to do a show like Man vs. Wild which then became Running Wild – it’s been a true privilege. I’ve been able to take incredible Hollywood and sports stars from all over the world to take them on great adventures and to introduce them to the power of the outdoors and how adventure can inspire us. Like I said, I’m very privileged.

I think it’s been a stumbling journey with many failures as well. People often like to talk about the good stuff, but I think it’s also important to be honest and say that behind the scenes there have been many failures! There have been many failed expeditions, failed TV shows and failed projects you know? It’s through that door that you get to go through to the good stuff! Never give up! I think that that’s the message isn’t it, for all of us for life!

AM: From our standpoint, we find it to be impressive and profound simply because you’re introducing things to us and people at large that we have never seen before or thought to do! It’s amazing to see you taking all of these celebrities and even President Obama to these places. You can kind of imagine what it would be like to do it, although we would not be able to do that! But we can appreciate that you do it!

BG: I’ll take the compliment. You’re so kind! When I talk with my family, they say, “Papa, you’re head is just filled with so much useless information.” And I go, “you might say that until it all goes wrong and your life is on the line.” I love this stuff and It’s a huge privilege to be able to do it and I hope to continue to be able to do it well into the rest of my life long after TV cameras – it’s been the beating heart of things that I have always loved! It’s a pleasure to share it with people – thank you!

AM: Do you have a favorite location that you like to go to or what do you look for from a TV perspective in terms of an area you want to go to? Is there a checklist or a criteria?

BG: Yeah, we try to keep every season of our Running Wild's as diverse as we can. We’ll hit a bunch of jungles and deserts and mountains – but at the same time, we have to be mindful that we’re taking rookies and they may be iconic people but in this world, they are rookies. You have to moderate as well as it can’t be too inaccessible and you have to have safety back up with us as well. You need to have rescue guys in case things go wrong. We try to avoid the real extremes of temperatures now because it really limits what you can do with people and it makes it super hard work for the crew in minus degree weather or in 125 degree weather. So, on the whole, we try to pick iconic places that are going to deliver adventures. So, it’s always fresh, it’s always new and it always puts a smile on my face that’s for sure!

AM: You just released your latest book, Never Give Up: My Life in the Wild, why did you want to write this book and how long did you spend putting it together?

BG: Well, I think that these are the stories that I get asked about all the time by people – including my own family, you know as my kids are growing up. I’ve never written about these things before – about the closest I’ve ever come to dying, behind the scenes filming with President Obama, filming Running Wild or Man vs Wild narrow escapes! Getting chased by snakes and this and that! All of those stories are things that I get asked about a lot and I spent 10 years writing about this. I wanted to write every word myself and I wanted to do it from the heart. I wanted to include the struggles and failures you know? That’s why, for me, the book was ever going to be called Never Give Up because that is the journey of life, you know? You hit some storms, you have to get back up and you have to be resilient and it’s the key to so much. I think that in this current climate with people as we re-emerge from this COVID time, I think it’s especially tough for young people. We need a spirit of resilience, determination and to know that the power of a never give up spirit – how much it counts for in life.

AM: Tell us about Cardio Miracle and why you wanted to partner with them?

BG: Well, Cardio Miracle is something that I have believed in for a long while. I think that the world of supplementation is really a minefield for people and I'm super conscious of my health and fitness. I need to be fit and strong for my job. You know, when I’m not out at adventures, I do everything that I can to stay fit and finding a supplement like Cardio Miracle which is all in one and does it all, has been amazing for me. Just reading the stories from all around the world from people that have been taking the supplements and how it’s enhanced and strengthened their lives is amazing to see. They pour in every day. I love that! I try to do things that really empower people’s lives and I think that all of us as we get older, we have to be conscious of our heart health. You know, I lost my dad far too young to a heart attack and it’s made me super conscious about getting really good proper supplements that’s really good and all natural – great antioxidants, great anti-inflammatory and good amino acids that are good for our hearts as we get older and we want to stay fit for these adventures.

AM: Absolutely. How long have you been taking it and in terms of your partnership with them, what are the things that you are going to do to spread the word?

BG: Well, I’ve been taking Cardio Miracle for a few years now. I had been on the lookout for something like Cardio Miracle for about 10 years. A lot of people have not been able to find something that has everything that I believe is really great and is natural for your health.

It’s been a journey. There is also an alignment of values there and the fact that they are really trying to do something positive for heart health for people’s metabolic health. As we come out of this COVID time, I think that one of the messages that is resounding for all of us is that we just can’t rely on vaccines.

It's important to also be metabolically strong and to have a strong immune system – I think this is part of that, physical training is part of that - but definitely in the modern world getting supplementation that really helps you metabolically to help you stay ahead of the curve to stay strong and fit. It’s so key and they do an amazing job. For me, it’s just seeing the stories like I said, that are pouring in and how it has helped people. I’m proud to do that.

When we’re not filming, I love championing that message for people. We want people to have good heart health long into their life.

AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for that you can share with us?

BG: Well we’re back on filming Running Wild right now. Never Give Up was just pushed in America. I’m also sharing that message of Cardio Miracle for people that want to stay in good health as they get older. So those are my 3 focuses of the moment! Stay fit and healthy, enjoy these stories and I’m back on the road filming Running Wild.

IG @beargrylls

PHOTO COURTESY | PG 96 Bear Grylls | PG 98 - 109 Ben Simms/National Geographic |

Read the APR ISSUE #76 of Athleisure Mag and see NEVER GIVE UP | Bear Grylls in mag.

ON THE SCENE | BRIAN MICHAEL SMITH

Over the last few years, Brian Michael Smith has been a man that has had clutch characters in shows that are part of major cultural moments. We love the way he embraces the shows that he's in as well as really being into the process of movie making magic behind the camera. We catch up with Brian to find out how he gained the love he has for the entertainment industry, we chat about his process to approaching playing his roles, we talk about him being one of our faves in FOX's 9-1-1: Lone Star and his advocacy in the trans community.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you realize that you wanted to be an actor?

BRIAN MICHAEL SMITH: I’ve always had an inclination towards acting. My family was pretty close knit and full of people who couldn’t tell a story without acting it out, and I learned at a very young age that I liked to entertain. I truly fell in love with acting when I was in fifth grade and our class put together a play where we made up the plot and characters. I remember how powerful it felt to step out there and have everyone respond to and believe in my character without question. It felt like anything was possible and I loved it. I stayed involved with acting a bit throughout school, but it wasn’t until I was in my 20s living in New York that I decided to really commit to acting professionally. In fact, I remember it was a day I was working background in one of the battle scenes of the Dark Knight Rises. It was something I started doing to learn more about working on set and earning some side money. It was a Saturday, and Wall St. was shut down, there were like 600 people dressed as cops or warriors, IMAX cranes, Batmobiles, fake snow blowing around. Christopher Nolan (Tenet, Justice League, Interstellar), Tom Hardy (Inception, Legend, Venom) and Christian Bale (Vice, The Big Short, American Hustle) were a foot away hammering out the scene. I’m standing there with my partner, and they call action and all these guys start yelling and doing their fight choreography and it's FUN! They yell cut after what felt like 15 minutes and we're all standing there panting and I just remember looking around thinking this is exactly how it felt when I was a kid at my happiest, outside playing with my friends on Saturday mornings and I love this and would do it for free. Then I’m looking around at all the people involved to make this, the hundreds of different jobs, and it hit me that yes this is a real industry, a profession, a day-to-day and this is all I want to do.

AM: You have been in a number of phenomenal shows including Toine Wilkins in Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar on OWN, Pierce Williams in Showtime’s The L Word: Generation Q and currently, you play Paul Strickland in 9-1-1: Lone Star just to name a few. When you’re selecting projects that you want to be part of, what is your process and what are you looking for?

BMS: My process has depended on the project or what my career or creative goal has been at the time. At first, it was about getting experience and learning the craft and industry. And then as I started to earn more credits and get my career going, I shifted my focus to developing a body of work that spoke to what was important to me as a person and defined who I am as an artist. Around 2016, when looking for work, I started asking my myself, “What story do I want to tell right now? And what part of myself or being a person do I want to explore in my work?”

And then right before I booked Queen Sugar, I was asking myself, “as an artist what do I want to say?" What can I do with a character, a scenario that no one else can do?” And these are the questions I still use when seeking out work.

AM: I have been a fan of 9-1-1: Lone Star from the beginning and have enjoyed Paul and seeing his contributions to his team as well as sharing his life as a trans man on the show. Can you tell me about him and what drew you to wanting to play him?

BMS: I love Paul, he is a great aspirational character. He possesses a lot of qualities I admire like bravery, tenacity, aptitude, and a great sense of humor. He’s definitely a guy you want on your team. You know he will have your back. He has a fierce love for people in his family including his chosen family and the community that he serves. He is an enigma in a way, and it has been really interesting for me to discover more about him as the seasons develop.

What drew me to him originally was that he was a character I pretty much manifested for myself. At the time the audition notice came out, I was working on the L Word and really enjoying playing Pierce who was very different from me in a lot of ways that I enjoyed exploring. He was reserved, he was methodical and very corporate. And while I enjoyed that, I was in a space where I really wanted to play someone more physical.

I was at an event in the summer of 2019 and a friend had asked me, “If you could be playing character right now what would you want to be playing?” And I had literally just wrote in my vision board/ goal sheet: “Be cast as a series regular in an ensemble action-oriented procedural TV show that keeps me working in LA, increases my footprint.” As I was sharing that with him, I got the email for the audition for Paul in Lone Star.

In the casting breakdown, Paul was described originally as ‘a Midwest roughneck’ and I loved that and also the note about his powers of observation, so I like this idea of this very physical tough guy who is also really smart and a bit of a brainiac.

AM: You play a firefighter – what is it like to prepare to play Paul physically, emotionally and mentally?

BMS: Physically, it has been a journey to figure out how to best play Paul. When I first started to get ready, my goal was to just get in shape. I’d been playing a character with a very different style than Paul on the L Word and knowing how physical and athletic Paul was going to be, I wanted to look like a firefighter so my training for the weeks leading up to Lone Star was focused on that goal. I found myself hitting the gym 5 days a week, doing weightlifting workouts I used to do when I was a thrower in college and then adding circuit training to trim down. But when we actually started visiting fire stations and working with actual firefighters, I saw that the build I had developed was cute for TV but didn’t really match the real-world physique of most of these guys, I could barely work the equipment for anything longer than a minute and was pretty easily gassed out when doing the job-based activities. So, I went back to the drawing board with my physical training and came up with a program that focused on functional strength and muscle endurance. I looked up training programs and exercises that actual firefighters do, I added a weighted vest to my circuit workouts and added functional mobility work to my warms up.

This physical work actually helped me connect emotionally to Paul, because I felt like one of the survival mechanisms he developed in Chicago to counter discrimination was to put all his energy into what he could control and to be the best firefighter he could be. I understood more about the amount of work he put in to do that what it would have meant for him to have that work overlooked for years in Chicago, then to have it recognized and celebrated by Owen and the 126 in Austin. Mentally and emotionally, it has been exciting and enjoyable to prepare to play Paul because he gets to do things that I’ve dreamed about doing, you know? He’s a lifesaver, he gets involved in these crazy rescues, and every day is different. He also gets the chance to live fully as his authentic self with people who love him.

AM: It’s an incredible cast and crew from having Ryan Murphy (Glee, Pose, American Horror Story) as the co-creator to working with Rob Lowe (West Wing, Code Black, Californication), Jim Parrack (True Blood, The Deuce, Suicide Squad) and Gina Torres (Suits, Westworld, The Catch) to name a few. What’s it like being able to work on this show and to be able to tell a series of stories that are so timely for us to watch as viewers?

BMS: It’s genuinely a dream come true for me to work with such incredible, talented, and giving people. It’s very rare that you get involved in a project and everyone is excited to be working on it. And with a production of this scale and the fast turnover of episodes, you need people who are at the top of their game, know how to roll with the punches and care about the people they’re working with and the stories we are telling. It’s an honor to be able to be a part of this kind of storytelling because I know our shows reach people in communities that may not include many people like the characters on our show. I think empathy and understanding come from watching these characters and learning who they are. I think the audience finds that they have much more in common with people they think are different from them and that can change hearts and minds.

AM: What have been your 3 favorite moments in playing Paul?

BMS: There have been so many! He’s such an enjoyable character and we get so many crazy calls. I personally love all the little 126 family moments in the firehouse and there were a lot of moments in season 1 where we were all still getting to know each other and our characters and would just crack up playing off each other. But let’s see off the top of my head:

Season 1 Episode 2 with the racist lady in the backyard - This was one of those days where we were still getting to know each other and had so much fun and the scene is just hilarious.

Season 2 Episode 11 - The truck rescue on the bridge – It was one of my first really big stunts and as an action movie buff, I felt like I was shooting a scene from Cliffhanger or something and then throughout the episode we got to see more of Paul and Marjan’s friendship and how they support each other. So, it was a good balance of action and character development scenes.

Season 3 Ice Storm gym collapse - One of the strengths of our show is that it’s an ensemble show, and we work often as a team, but every few episodes, you get a storyline that focuses on your character so what was cool for me about the ice storm was that Paul got to go on a bit of a hero’s journey after he is separated from the group.

We shot episodes 1-4 pretty much at the same time and so much of Paul’s storyline was shot in sequence so it truly felt like I was making a movie within a movie, which was new and exciting for me as an actor, to have the responsibility of carrying an episode arc and exploring some new aspects of my character. We hadn’t seen Paul face this level of challenge before, him being isolated from his team, and having to save a life while putting his life directly on the line.

AM: For next season, what would you like to explore for Paul as we continue to get to know more about him?

BMS: I’m interested in what career advancement would look like for Paul. I wonder if he wants more responsibility or some new professional challenges. I love rescues and action so I’d like to see what other dangerous situations he can get into. I want to explore his relationship with Austin and what his community there outside of the 126 family is. We know Paul has strong observational skills, so I’d love to see him put that to work more, maybe even solve some crime with Carlos.

AM: You have used your platform to advocate for trans rights and representation on the screen. You have done this through panels and other projects – how important is this for you to continue to do?

BMS: It’s very important to me to continue to advocate for equality for trans people. Right now, there are about 300 pieces of anti-trans legislation being proposed and passed in statehouses throughout the country. Bills that bar people from accessing healthcare, prosecuting family members, doctors or educators who refuse to out children, or block trans youth from participating in sports. Many of these bills are being advanced based on lies and misinformation. So, in addition to my advocacy through my art, I feel it’s just as important to use my platforms to combat this misinformation and make allies aware of these attacks on basic human rights.

AM: Do you have any upcoming projects that you can share with us?

BMS: I’m cooking up some things for the hiatus, but I can’t share yet.

AM: Will we see you take on other roles in the industry whether it’s writing, producing or directing?

BMS: Yes, during the hiatus from the show I’m going to spend time developing some projects I’d like to produce soon.

AM: In watching the show, we know you’re in great shape. On your IG, we see you boxing and going at it in the gym. What is a typical workout like for you as we’re always looking to add to our routines!

BMS: Thank you! After season 2 and the Quarantine 15 I put on, I found myself needing to adjust my workouts again. During the last month of the hiatus, I shifted from strength and powerlifting to aesthetics and conditioning. So, in the gym, I started lifting like a bodybuilder, and to push myself in the cardio department, I started boxing. The results have been incredible. I feel like I found the right combination for my lifestyle and fitness goals.

I try to hit the weights at least 3 times a week and do boxing 4 times a week. In the weight room, I’m doing bodybuilding workouts, following the progressive overload principle, and lifting a high volume of moderate weight and really focusing on fully contracting the specific muscle I’m targeting. So, within 90 minutes, I’ll try to do 3-4 exercises for a specific muscle group doing 3 sets of 12-20 reps.

Boxing has been a game-changer for sure. I work with my trainer, Adel Altamimi, 4 days a week and a typical session with him involves, mobility warm up, shadow boxing, mitts, or drills, bag work and then some boxing strength training or HIIT cardio.

It’s intense but I’ve been able to improve my level of fitness at a faster rate than I imagined possible because of it. I’ll also share that recovery is also a critical part of my training. I make sure to hit the sauna, hot tub, or ice bath daily, and try to get sports massages at least once a week.

AM: When you’re not on set or being an advocate, how do you take time for yourself for a bit of a reset?

BMS: Hanging with my wife and my pup T’Challa. We’re still relatively new to LA, and now that things are opening back up, we like to go out and explore the city or just kick it at home. I also got my first motorcycle this year so learning to ride and work on that is my new jam.

IG @the_brianmichael

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 74 - 79 Jack Zeman/FOX | PG 81, 82 + 158 9LIST STORI3S Storm Santos; STYLING Toye Adedipe; GROOMING Grace Phillips |

Read the latest issue of MAR ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see ON THE SCENE | Brian Michael Smith in mag.

MANIFESTING THIS LIFE | CANDIACE DILLARD-BASSETT

One of our favorite reality franchises is BRAVO's The Real Housewives. It gives you a glimpse of a city with a group of women that are friends who open up their lives. You find that they are ambitious driven women who navigate their communities. The Real Housewives of Potomac is one of our favorites in this city specific series and when Candiace Dillard-Bassett arrived starting in the 3rd season, we met a woman on a mission who had an array of accolades under her belt while being focused on building her legacy. We talk with her about pageantry, her career prior to being on RHOP, the show, what the platform has provided, her music career and how she continues to give back to others!

ATHLEISURE MAG: In prep for this inter-view, I really liked learning about your background. You grew up with parents who both worked in the Air Force as physicians, graduated from Howard University and you worked in public service at the White House Offices of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for President Barack Obama as well as serving as a staffer during his 2012 reelection campaign. Why was it important for you to begin your career in this way in public service?

CANDIACE DILLARD-BASSETT: I know that I grew up in a household that de- manded excellence. I grew up in a household where everyone was a professional. My parents were physicans, they have a military background and they raised me as well as my siblings to model that. They taught us the truth of being people of color in this country, how the world might not always see us in the way that we see ourselves when we’re surrounded by like-minded people who look like us and think like us.

I always tell this story, it’s funny. I wanted to be a doctor, I wanted to be a physician, I started out wanting to be a dermatologist, and I wanted to be an OBGYN. I think I must have gotten to the 9th grade and chemistry, algebra and calculus were kind of kicking my butt and I discovered that these were not my friends, so it let me pivot to something else that I am really good at which is communications. I love publc speaking – I love writing and I love aspects of journalism. I ended up being co-editor of my yearbook and co-editor of my newspaper in high school. I love to read. So, thank God, that I found something else because that math got me!

I want to encourage women who are going out in those fields for STEM because it’s so important and it’s something that we need to have more faces there that look like us there and showcase that representation. I’m a cheerleader and I’m in the back in the hallways saying, “go my STEM sisters!” But it’s just not my ministry. You have to know your strengths.

AM: That’s totally true. I thought about med school and then law school, but then you think about those years and the kinds of studies involved and I just kept continuing to code and work in fashion. But I love seeing those who are deeply involved in STEM and STEAM – all of that! So, you were Miss United States 2013. I never did pageants personally, but I have styled projects with Virginia Limongi Miss Ecuador 2018 ahead of her competing for Miss Universe as well as Nia Franklin Miss America 2019. I love this element of the pageant world as it’s more than looking beautiful as there are these other facets to it. Why was it so important to you that you wanted to do that and how important is that for character building?

CDB: I’m a pageant girl for life. I started competing since I was 5 years old and it was just ingrained in me. I will always speak up and speak about that part of my life because I always want to serve as an example of what it truly looks like to be a product of the pageant industry and of the pageant world as a whole, because there is this stigma – this neg- ative idea attached to women who compete in pageants that we’re dumb, we’re self-absorbed that we are mean – cutting each other’s dresses backstage, cutting lipsticks -

AM: Breaking zippers!

CDB: Yeah all of that stuff!

AM: I was a cheerleader – so yup!

CDB: Same! So you understand! So there’s that Toddlers and Tiaras sort of trope that people always ask me when I say that I have competed in pageants, “oh is it like Toddlers and Tiaras?” I mean, yes there are some aspects of the pageant world that can be superficial and that can be seen in a negative light, but my experience in all my years competing and I have competed a lot, I have always felt uplifted and empowered, seen and heard and loved. It’s where I learned to identify who I was. Where I learned how to brand myself, where I learned how to speak up for my- self and be an advocate – not just for me, but for causes that I believe in. I learned how to communicate those things in a way that was palatable and respectful and made sense to different audiences. I credit my mom and pageantry for all of those things. Some of the most brilliant women that I know – doctors, lawyers, scientists, inventors, dancers – you could not imagine the pedigree that you find in pageantry, and it goes far beyond just smiling, waving and being a robot. That’s only one aspect of the game of the sport because I do feel that it is one. I’m so proud to be part of it!

AM: You also have an agency where you help other people in the pageant system. Can you talk more about that?

CDB: I founded my consulting firm Candiace Dillard Pageant Consulting for the very reasons that I explained. After I won Miss United States, I found myself being a coach on accident – being someone that is empowering women around their pageant journey. It was my director at the time, Laura Clark who is now the director of The Miss Earth United States Organization – she’s a bad B! She’s a bad woman, I love her! My makeup artist at the time, Melissa, we were sitting in the hotel room and I was helping to co-produce a pageant for them one weekend. We were talking about me helping the girls and we were talking and they said, “this is a business – why don’t you start a business?” I was like, “no, why would I do that? I could just help them.” They explained that I could do it for free but when it could be framed as a structured enterprise that has tiers and everything that these women need to truly get the most of this experience by someone that has been through it.

I was like, ok and it was born! I have coached over 500 women to different titles and different places. Obviously have not been as active lately because I can barely keep an eyebrow on!

AM: You’re just a bit busy!

CDB: It’s always something that I go back to. My girls – they’re my friends, my sisters – I call them my pageant sisters. They’ll call me and let me know what’s happening. Even the little girls that I have coached, I have watched them grow up and compete as junior teens and now they’re in the Miss category. They’re like my little babies and they have just flourished. It’s rewarding to see and it’s work that I would do for free.

AM: I think that that’s amazing when you’re able to give back and infuse peo- ple in that way. You’re always going to remember who shined a light on you and to do that across all the people that you have mentored – it’s phenomenal.

CDB: Of yeah, it’s so rewarding and I would do it for nothing – just for fun. You get to play dress up, help women decide who they want to be and you’re doing it with them! It’s like having your own children helping them out and I love opening doors or women who are al- ready so special, intelligent and wise. It’s just giving them that polish and tweak that they need to accomplish their goals in the same way that I was fable to use pageantry to accomplish mine.

AM: I don’t know how you sleep because you also have a successful hairline, Prima Hair Collection by Candiace Dillard. Why did you want to be involved in the hair industry and why are you so passionate about it?

CDB: Prima Hair Collection was really a spin-off of pageantry so I love that you put those questions together. When I was competing coming up in the 90s, it was hard to find hair extensions that worked, were human hair, that came in different lengths, different textures and different colors that worked for me and worked with women that looked like me. We were stuck with synthetic hair or bad weaves or very expensive extensions because there was a monopoly on the market. There are a lot of different hair extension companies that you can choose from now, but I still had a passion for sector of the beauty history. It was my mom who said, “this should be a business.” There’s that theme where it’s always a woman empowering me to see something great for myself. It was my mom this time and she said that we were going to do it. I was like, “really we are, yay!” She helped me do the re-search and she gave me the investment. She purchased my first large order of hair. My sister got involved and 7+ years later, we are a full-service company that does business across the world. We have international clients that will clamor to get Prima hair. We are looking to move into other products soon. I have always seen myself move into other hair care products. I see myself at some point moving into skincare – I love it so much!

AM: I could see that!

CDB: Yes, but that’s really something that I would want to take my time with and find the right people, the right chemist that will ensure I’m putting out the products that I would use myself. But that’s down the road. Right now, Prima Hair is still kicking and we’re moving into other hair products.

AM: I think it’s amazing to hear this. I graduated from college in 2001 and the first 6 to 7 years, I was modeling and what it was like then to model as a Black woman – some people didn’t know how to do my makeup, you brought your own items! When we launched this magazine, 6 years ago I said that it was unacceptable for a hair or makeup person to come to set saying that they couldn’t work with various skin tones and poking around.

CDB: Yeah! We have had to learn to bring our own makeup for ourselves and to do our own hair. Right now, if it’s not one of my own makeup artists, I’m like, “I’m ok, I can do it myself.” You just come conditioned not to feel seen and not to be represented in those spaces.

AM: It’s so sad. We had someone come to set, is super accomplished and she brought 3 bags of her own makeup and it broke my heart. To know that she was known and she still felt the need to do that, I told her that she didn’t have to do that and we had great talent on set. Of course, our MUA killed it but seeing that the feeling still exists even after all of this time – it broke my heart. I always enjoy hearing that people like you and others are doing the good work!

You joined the cast of RHOP in the 3rd season. I already loved it when it first came out and then you stepped on the stage and I was excited as your personality is like my own. What made you see this and want to be part of it?

CDB: So, I can remember – I’m originally from Georgia – when The Real Housewives of Atlanta started, I thought, “oh my God, a show about Atlanta.” I watched with my mom and we were all engrossed in the show and then of course, I went off to college in Howard and then I was living in the DMV which we call the DC, Maryland, Virginia area and my best friend called me and asked I had heard about this new Black Housewives show. I hadn’t, but then I started watching. It was exciting that on a network like BRAVO that is very popular and well known and very much engrossed in pop culture – Atlanta was the premier show for women of color and here we are now with the second iteration of women of color in this franchise. This was exciting. I wanted to know who the girls were and at that time, I had been here for 14 years – a long time. I came to Howard in 2005 and I never left. I wanted to know who was on the show, what they were wearing and where they were going. I was interested and I was watching it with my boyfriend at the time, Chris and I thought, why am I not on the show? I knew I should be on this show and I remember praying about an opportunity to be on the show. I said, “listen God, if You give me the opportunity to be on this show, I promise that I will glorify You and I will use it as a vehicle to be a catalyst to accomplish all the things that You said that I would have.” Literally, the next year I was getting a call from the casting director – the Power of the Tongue. I live by it – I manifest with the Power of the Tongue. Speak what you want – that’s the message of today.

AM: Are there things that you had to consider when you knew that you would be putting your life out there and did you think about aspects involving bringing friends, family and your relationship on there?

CDB: Yes, so obviously, I had to talk to Chris. At the time, we were not engaged. We had talked about it and he had explicit instructions on what that ring would be.

AM: Check!

CDB: My mom – I didn’t worry about her because if you watch the show, you know that that woman was made for TV! She created me – my mom named me after Candice Bergen from Murphy Brown and Dominique Deveraux played by Diahann Carroll from Dynasty. So she knew what she was doing. So that lady knew what she was doing. That lady was ready! I didn't have to tell her anything except what time and where she had to be!

AM: She might have outrun you to get there!

CDB: EXACTLY! She was getting in there. Chris and I sat down and we said that we wanted to do it and we wanted to use the show, like I said, as a catalyst and a vehicle to accomplish our goals. We agreed upfront that it would be us against everybody and that we would never allow anything to infiltrate our relationship and that we would do it until it wasn’t fun anymore. Those were solid conversations that we had. So far, we have stuck to that and we have been able to use the platform in a way that has been beneficial in our careers. I’m so grateful to BRAVO and to our production company because they have allowed me to get married on the show, truly start my music journey on the show, my acting on the show and my hair business on the show. You should come in and want to use this platform to advance yourself. Being a career housewife is wonderful, but I know that there is more to do beyond the platform and so I’m here as long as it serves me and then it’s on to the next.

AM: So, how long do you guys film for?

CDB: We shoot for about 4 months.

AM: That’s a chunk of time.

CDB: Yes and it’s a stressful chunk of time because it’s a job. You are with the pro- duction company for that entire period of time and you have to tailor your life to that time. Luckily, the show is a docuseries so they’re following our lives. Most of what we’re doing, they’re following. The more you have going on the better and I have too much going on this year! It’s making my edges fall out! The plus and the minus is that having a lot going on is great, but it is an ensemble cast, so a lot of things that are happening in your life, may not make it and may stay on the cutting room floor. They have to get equal amounts of everyone's story. So they pick and choose what makes it and we have no control over what makes it. So that’s always an interesting journey to go on to find out that right before it airs, they cut that whole story out and it’s like they shot 5 scenes for that and it won’t air.

AM: My favorite scenes are the confessionals because you’re glammed up and you’re talking about what you thought about something that is taking place on the episode. How do you come up with the outfits that you’re going to wear?

CDB: That’s always really fun! Shout out to my style team - my hair and my make-up glam team and my stylist. We come together and we decide together what we are going to do. So, one of them – sometimes it won’t be my hairstylist, my wardrobe stylist will send a hair look that she thinks would be amazing. My hairstylist, Stephanie will say that she loves it and my makeup artist Kendell will say that this is a great look to go with it. We then piece it together. One thing that people may not know is that we shoot the same look, multiple times. It’s always a challenge to find a look that is intricate and unique, but can be recreated. I’ve had braids twice now and braids are tricky because you shoot with them when they’re new and then you come back and shoot with you again in the same look in a month or month and a half and you’ve been running around in the world living with those braids and you need a touchup. But what I do, is that I have a headwrap when I have braids and you can’t tell when my roots start to show. I love confessionals, it’s like playing dress-up and you’re talking and chatting with your producer, saying what’s happening, being funny and being shady while having some champagne.

AM: It’s safe to assume that you will be back for the 7th season?

CDB: Well I think I saw somewhere that someone at BRAVO had to make an announcement that everyone was asked back because I made a little bit of a cryptic tweet and it had the Internet in an uproar.

There are just days where trolling is my ministry!

AM: It is what it is!

CDB: So yes, that was a funny day because my publicist told me that everyone was calling and E! wanted a statement and I said that they would be fine! So, I think that everybody is coming back.

AM: Like you said, you’re always using the platform to share your body of work and interests. We have seen your music career on the show and now DEEP SPACE, your debut album is out! How was that, you released it fall of last year – you’ve had over 2M streams – it’s amazing!

CDB: It’s crazy! It’s surreal because I had always seen something with music happening in my head and it really started when Chris and I got married and I knew I wanted to perform a song for him at our wedding.

AM: It was a beautiful song.

CDB: Thank you. I See You was my first recorded song. Originally I wasn’t going to do an original piece. I wanted to do a Toni Braxton song – she’s perfect at love songs. My wedding was being filmed for the show and my producer said, if you want us to capture you singing, you can’t do someone else’s song. For those that may not know about television is that there are so many rules and one of them is that you have to keep in mind the licensing. Toni Braxton is gong to demand the fees of herself, the producers, the writers and her label. That could be $40K or $100K for the show to play her song on the show and they said they weren’t going to pay that.

So I thought I would write the song and I worked with Veda Whisnant and my good friend Cliff as well as the gentleman who is now my music director, Aaron Hardin. They created I See You and that was the snowball effect and people were looking to work with me including Chucky Thompson, may he rest in peace. He did a disgustingly amazing job on the I See You the Go-go Remix – Go-go music has been a huge part of my life since I have lived in DC. It kind of snowballed from there and got bigger than what I thought it would. I knew I would put out a few songs, but then as I continued to move through the music industry, it went to doing an EP, to doing an album to performing live – it just materialized before my eyes. It’s still going!

AM: What’s it like to have Anita Baker, Nicki Minaj and Toni Braxton to bless your work? I’ve been a huge fan of Anita Baker’s work and have such a respect for her and obviously, Toni Braxton and Nicki Minaj are amazing as well. What has that been like?

CDB: I don’t even know! I have no words. When you grow up listening to these voices. For me who has a lower register, I never felt confident about my voice. Every- one celebrates Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston that has these soaring Soprano voices and I never felt like I heard anything like my voice until I heard Anita Baker, Toni Braxton and Brandy who I love. They liberated me and helped me to be proud of my voice and showed me what I could do with my voice and I studied their voices to really feel like I could sing and that I could use my voice to emote and be an artist. I owe them everything. What do you mean that Anita Baker knows who I am?

AM: I read that twice and was like, oh – Anita.

CDB: It’s still crazy to me. It’s like shut up, I can’t believe that.

AM: And yet, it happened!

You came off the Femme it Forward Tour – how was that? SWV, Faith Evans and Mya? That’s some legit superstar magic right there!

CDB: Not me – them! I’m still processing.

It's just unbelievable because again, these are Black women in R&B that wrote the soundtrack to so much of my life in the 90s and on. They wanted me to be with them on their stages, on their platforms and they respect me and they see me. That is heavy, but it’s also light in a way because I’m doing all day – that’s where I am with it. I wouldn’t be there if I wasn’t worthy and I’m just trying to live in the worthiness of it if that makes sense.

AM: It totally does! Once again, you’re manifesting up a storm. You’ve been on Netflix’s Family Reunion and being on BET’s The Christmas Lottery. The level of creativity that you have embraced and do, what does it feel like to know that it’s ok to embrace on all of these activities and to nibble on them, try them and to make it their own way. There are so many people that shy away from taking on so many things especially when they are not in the same area and I always encourage people to lean into it.

CDB: I feel like if I didn’t do all of the things that are inside of me, I would explode. It just has to come out. Some- times it doesn’t make sense and some- times I’m exhausted and sometimes I don’t know what I’m doing and I feel that sometimes.

AM: And that’s ok.

CDB: Yes, it’s ok to not know what you’re doing. If you’re following your heart, you’re following your dream, just follow it. You don’t have to ask questions – you just need to follow it and be led by it. That’s what’s calling you and you have to trust that if you’re spiritual or not but that which is leading you is coming from a higher place. That’s literally it. Some- times I’m like, “girl what are you doing and I’m like I don’t know.” But I trust and I continue and then I see the fruits and then I know why it makes sense. That’s why there is a DEEP SPACE, that’s why there is a Family Reunion, that’s why there is a Water in a Broken Glass – whatever projects I’ve worked on and there's more - so much more that I want to do in the acting realm episodically and on the big screen. I want to continue to tour and collaborate musically with new people.

AM: You’re just flowing. I always say that – I say it, I pray it, I step out on it and I just pray that God catches me.

CDB: Yasss! That’s all you can do.

AM: The rest will be figured out and if it gets messy, we’ll figure it out and make it to something else.

CDB: Exactly.

AM: Tell me about My Sister’s Keeper and why you wanted to create this organization?

CDB: So this goes back to pageantry. It was competing in pageants that led me to feel like I could create an organization that truly empowered women that were not in a position to receive resources in the same way that I was. I was a student at Howard University and it’s located in NW Washington DC. There are no gates, you are in the city. You are a part of the fabric in DC and that’s not always attractive. There’s homelessness, there’s crime – it’s a lot of pieces to that puzzle. The school directly across the street from Howard was Banneker Senior High School. I used to tudor there and I noticed that there was a lack of guidance for a lot of the young women who attended school there and just in general as I maneuvered through DC, I experienced the youth in the area – particularly in lower income areas in SE DC. I felt like I could help and part of it was ignorance. I grew up in a way that I hadn’t seen that with my own two eyes. So when I’m out in the world and I’m now doing my own thing, I realized that I had all these resources and I had someone who reared me, taught me and showed me – I said I could do that and help with that. That’s how we started. We go into schools that are mostly in the DC area and just have conversations with these young women.

We do these things called a Girl Talk Circle where we sit in a circle and put questions and thoughts into a bowl and pull them out and talk about what they’re feeling or thinking. Sometimes a girl will own it and sometimes she won’t but that’s the point. You can have an issue and not be judged. I have integrated My Sister’s Keeper into Candiace Pageant Consulting because everyone is not cut out for pageants, but you can tell when a young woman has that spark or that je ne sai quoi piece that she could rock a stage or that she could be good in this space. It’s a great way again to iron you out and give a woman poise and purpose. You have to know who you are in order to compete and it forces you to figure out who you are and I want it for all women but especially Black women because we’re not first. No one is giving us the right – it’s not a privilege – the right to feel empowered and to feel that we can have whatever we what.

AM: And to understand what the game- board is and to navigate that! And to do it one way versus the other way. Although, you might have to dig in that bag every now and then again too.

CDB: That’s part of it too. It’s knowing how and when to code switch and when to use what resources where and how – yeah!

AM: Are there any other up and coming projects that we should keep an eye out for because I feel like you’re this till that keeps on springing forth.

CDB: YES! Part of the reason why I am so tired is because I was finishing up one of my final classes for my MBA program at Howard. You’ll be seeing graduation very soon and at the same time, I made this 14 slide pitch deck that I had to do for this class, I was in the studio recording new music. I am really excited because we are going to be doing a deluxe version of the DEEP SPACE album and that will be set to come out some- time this summer! I haven’t talked about that, that’s an exclusive to you guys!

AM: I mean, you just dropped your album - last fall!

CDB: It hasn’t even been a year – I know we dropped it in Sept. But you know, I didn’t want to get stale and there’s so much left to sing about and there are so many good tracks, such good music and so much to write and I have such a cool writing team. I’m newer to writing music. My team is really patient with me and lets me make changes whether I don’t like something or I want it to feel more like this or that. We make it work. So I have been in the studio for the last 3 days so I’m finishing that. That’s done and I’ll be listening to the songs ad nauseum so I’ll be sick of that ha! But we’ll be piecing them together. It’s in the works – but a TV series that I can’t say a lot about but it’s in the works. I would be playing someone that is not a whole lot like me which is exciting and it will be shooting right here, so I wouldn’t have to leave the area which I’m excited about that! So look out for that coming out soon! I think that’s it – music, TV, the show – you’ll get all the entertainment from RHOP.

AM: Every time you hit the screen on RHOP, I’m like ok, what’s happening now ha!

CDB: It’s a mess, my God. Me enjoying life, married life and I’m still decorating my house – just living!

IG @candeegal09

PHOTOS COURTESY | PG 34 - 38 Paul Morigi | PG 41 -49 +9LIST STORI3S PG 154 Candiace Dillard-Bassett |

Read the MAR ISSUE #75 of Athleisure Mag and see MANIFESTING THIS LIFE | Candiace Dillard-Bassett in mag.

IT'S ABOUT THE CHARACTER | REBECCA HENDERSON

We always have a series of shows that we look forward to watching and have placed on our Bingely Streaming list. This month, a number of shows are currently in that group. We caught up with Rebecca Henderson who is currently in Freeform's Single Drunk Female, Netflix's Inventing Anna and the upcoming 2nd season of Russian Doll.

She shared how she came to acting, preparing for her characters, chatted about these shows that are out now, upcoming projects and how she takes time for herself.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You have appeared in a number of shows we enjoy from Westworld, Orange is the New Black, Russian Doll and I am really enjoying seeing you in Single Drunk Female. What was the moment that you realized that you wanted to act and to do it professionally?

REBECCA HENDERSON: Oh my gosh! Nobody has asked me that, that’s such a good question!

AM: Really?

RH: Yeah! It’s so funny. I’m from Canada and I was a synchronized swimmer – it’s a different kind of performance and then I didn’t want to be a swimmer anymore and I was in junior high basically and I took my first drama class and I just loved the people so much and the community of it. I loved how much it taught me about being a teenager and just not knowing anything. I was such an uncomfortable and embarrassed person that it made me feel that we all pretty much feel like that. I never stopped. I went to undergrad for it and I came to NY and I did my Masters degree in Theater at Columbia and that was that!

AM: What’s your process like when you see these projects coming to you. How do you decide on something that you want to do and be attached to?

RH: Basically, I read it and if I like it, then it’s like – let’s go! It’s not that mysterious. If it speaks to me, I go for it generally and I would say that there is something about actors that when we start auditioning for something, you start to fall in love with the thing and you start to really want it which is part of it. So sometimes when I get offered roles that I don’t audition for, I kind of find it more difficult because it’s like, “ok, now I’m here – I hope that they like what I’m going to do.”

AM: Ha it becomes a bit of a grab bag!

RH: Yeah, it’s like, “is that what you wanted – am I fired?” Once I get a part, I tend to read it over and over again. I am obsessed with knowing the lines word perfect forward and backward and I tend to just write, fantasize about it – I think about the voice, the movement, the costumes. The hair always helps. I love to do my hair for parts. Then of course, when you’re there for the day and you’re there with the other actors, that’s when it hopefully comes together.

AM: Once you have immersed yourself in your character, is it difficult for you to step away from that when you’re no longer doing that role?

RH: It depends on the material. I find that if I have worked many days in a row and then suddenly, I have time off, there is a dip more so in my own personal mood. When you’re on all the time and you’re so focused on these long hours and then you’re just like, “ok, what am I going to do today?” I don’t have makeup on, I look weird – so that I find harder. I have done a lot of theater and sometimes I think that when you do theater and you have done it for such a long time and you’re always living for that 8pm current, it can be a little more all-encompassing.

AM: What drew you to Single Drunk Female?

RH: Well, I love the sponsor/sponsee dynamic. I have many friends in recovery, addiction is something that has touched so many of our lives and I thought it was hilarious as someone who is very honest and very straightforward, I think that I would make a good sponsor. I loved the idea of this show that was just this young person – we don’t have that many young female protagonists trying to get sober – we just don’t have that. So I liked that that story was being told.

AM: What did you pull from to become Olivia who is such a great character.

RH: Thank you!

AM: There’s such a bite to her, but at the same time, we see this duality of how she is in her sponsor relationship, and we also see how she is in her own relationship with her wife. You get the sense that when you see people who are dominate in one area of their life, that they have a different personality in other areas of their life and they’re juggling just like everybody else.

RH: Yes, that’s so smart. She’s an alcoholic. She happens to be sober for 10 years, but I think that at work and when she is in her sponsorship role, she really understands what she is talking about and then at home with her wife, there’s another source of energy where it’s like, “I don’t know and are you happy?” She really throws herself into work and working with her sponsees so she could probably stand to spend a little more time with her wife and paying attention to her needs.

AM: The other thing that is really great about this show is that you see all of these different interactions. When we first heard about the show, we knew that it would be about seeing the process of someone who is an alcoholic and their journey to being sober. But then we really get a birds eye view on how it affects the family members and the quirky things that they are trying to deal with. How important is it to show these full 360s of what it is like when someone is part of that community of people?

RH: I think that the show really shows the way that alcohol has brought her to this point. How alcohol isn't going to fix what's currently going on and how she has a lot of repairing to do and that she has to exist in a world without alcohol. So there are so many firsts that she has to make it through. She has to make out first with someone without alcohol, she has to apologize to somebody without alcohol, she has to put herself in all of these awkward situations and attempt to not start drinking again. That’s the way life is and we have a real problem in this country with alcohol. If you go out to dinner and sit down at the table, there are wine glasses already there. I’m glad that this show is in the half hour comedy format where it can go out to the country and it’s a light touch on how we can start talking about these things.

AM: I think it’s also great that with the show being on Freeform which has other programs that are also focused on making its viewers aware of issues – there is a scene in the series where she goes to where her friend is trying on bridal gowns and the glass of champagne is being passed to her and you see her navigating that situation. Prior to COVID, if I was out for a media event and you decided not to drink there was a need to explain why and that you weren’t feeling well or to have a club soda with lime in your hand to give the appearance of a cocktail so that you didn’t have to say anything. So it’s definitely something that people are aware of.

RH: Yes and there’s a lot of pressure around it where people feel like, well if you’re not drinking, where is my drinking buddy? Then you start thinking about your own drinking. I love that scene from the show because she gets that glass and she’s holding that glass way out!

AM: Yeah and eventually she tells someone else to hold the glass.

RH: Yeah, she was very scared. I think that that is a big fear for a lot of alcoholics that they will go to a party and a drink will be put down on the table and it will look like seltzer but it’s actually a vodka.

AM: That juxtaposed against the St. Patrick’s scene where the two sober friends are “playing” a game as they navigate past people who are drinking and heading to various parties. As a viewer, it makes you think about this on another level and even though this season is only 10 episodes, what is your hope if there is another season – what will we see between your character and her wife and how would you like to explore that sponsor/sponsee relationship?

RH: I mean, I was just thinking that I would like to see Olivia’s rock bottom and how she got sober if we did flashbacks. I think that that would be really interesting. Perhaps how she met Stephanie and how they fell in love. I’d love to see them become parents and see how that relationship as a mother/child is sort of mirrored in a way like Carol and Sam’s relationships. Also, what might that bring up for someone who is in recovery? To suddenly have a baby in the house and not be able to sleep. It would be interesting to be able to dig into those tools.

AM: The other part that is interesting to watch with Olivia is the sponsor/sponsee relationship where she operates in two different ways. Sometimes she’s like, look you have to figure things out and have a plan and then there is a compassionate side where she says if you can't be by yourself, come with her and her wife on a weekend trip – even though she was not down for that. This tough love and safety net paradigm is such a powerful relationship to see there.

RH: I mean, I think it goes to a bit of a codependent area where her wife is telling Olivia that Sam has to take care of herself. I think that Olivia really sees herself in Sam and she has a kind of a motherly quality toward her. She really wants her to succeed.

AM: While talking with you about this, I’m really excited that Inventing Anna has dropped and can’t wait to see it.

RH: I’m so excited to and I’m so happy that it’s finally out there!

AM: We’ve listened to so many podcasts about Anna Delvey and since we’re based in NY it’s definitely been making the rounds of conversation. What was it like being apart of this project, being able to work on this Shonda Rhimes production and tell us about who your character is on this show.

RH: I loved, loved, loved working on this show and I also live in NY and we shot in NY. I’m basically obsessed with Shonda Rhimes – meeting her was the highlight of my life! She appeared and was like, “I’m Shonda” and I was like my God! She’s an amazing woman. We started shooting right before the pandemic. It was one of the best projects that I have ever had. There were tons of NY theater people and amazing actors. Julia Garner and Anna Chlumsky are just like unbelievable. I play the prosecutor, A.D.A. Catherine McCaw. I’m obsessed with putting this woman away in prison. I was just saying that I feel like Shonda has successfully just told the first female sociopath story. By the end, you really get it and you understand why people lent her this money and she’s very, very smart. I also like that this series puts forth this idea that if she had been a man, she probably wouldn’t have gone to jail because men on Wall Street do this all the time.

AM: Very true.

RH: Yeah, but she’s in jail and I put her there.

AM: It’s definitely going to be good and there’s such great buzz around it.

Are there other projects that you have going on that we should keep an eye out for?

RH: Yes, in April, Russian Doll season 2 comes out. I’m back in my character Lizzie with blonde hair and I’m very excited for that. I did 2 movies with Sigourney Weaver. One I play her daughter and in the other, I play her friend. One of them is called, Call Jane it was just at Sundance and now it’s at the Berlin Film Festival and The Good House should be coming out soon, it was at TIFF earlier this year and it should be coming out in the next couple of months.

AM: When you’re not in the mix of planning projects, how do you take time for yourself – do you have a workout regimen, do you like shopping? What does Rebecca do?

RH: Well my wife works in the industry as well and is currently making a Star Wars series (Editor's Note: Leslye Headland is an executive producer, showrunner and writer for Disney+'s The Acolyte). I love being a wife and I really love taking care of her. People who really work at a high level in this business really need help. Maybe it sounds silly to say, but I really love cooking meals, making sure she has what she needs!

I do love walking and I spend a lot of time talking with my friends that are also a bunch of actors and we process all of our stuff together. I love shopping and everything that you said I love!

IG @therebeccahenderson

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | Freeform/Single Drunk Female

Read the FEB ISSUE #74 of Athleisure Mag and see IT’S ABOUT THE CHARACTER | Rebecca Henderson in mag.

HOW WE ALIGN | CHRISTINA OCHOA

This month, our cover story is with Christina Ochoa who plays Renn Randall in TNT's Animal Kingdom as well as Veronica Sandoval in ABC's Promised Land. We talk about what drives her when she is selecting projects In addition, we also talk about how she balances her love for acting and being creative with her passion for science with a focus on the oceans through marine biology. She shares how she continues to make an impact on the world with others through her work and staying stimulated in these efforts.

ATHLEISURE MAG: When did you realize that you loved acting and that you wanted to do it as a profession?

CHRISTINA OCHOA: I realized it really late in the game. I was probably in my mid 20’s compared to all of the wonderful child actors that already came and knew what they wanted to be! I realized when I took an amateur theater class in order to just help my public speaking engagements for science! It had nothing to do with having an ambition to be an actor. Then, I just had so much fun. I fell in love and that’s all she wrote!

AM: That’s awesome, you never know when something like that will happen! What’s your approach when you’re thinking about whether you want to take on a project? What are you looking for?

CO: The number one thing that I look for is the caliber of people involved. So for me, having a conversation with either a showrunner, director or producer prior to joining at this point just makes sure that creatively – that 1, I can bring in any added value, and 2 that we see eye to eye on how to go about a project which is really important.

When it comes to the character choices, I like admiring the characters that I play and being enamored with them and their complexities. High-level competence is a factor that all of my characters have one way or another regardless of the realm that they inhabit. They are all very competent women and also, they have real questions and doubts and concerns and color! They’re not just necessarily written in one specific way. I like that.

AM: We first saw you in Animal Kingdom which we are fans of this show. Your character Renn is one that we love to watch. We know our readers have so many questions going into this final season which comes back this summer – is she coming back and what’s it like to play this character?

CO: Oh come on! You didn’t think that that was all it would take to get rid of Renn did you?

AM: Haha we didn’t, but we know that there have to be people wondering out there!

CO: Craig and Renn are a very interesting dynamic that I think was one of the most fun things to play with. Ben Robson (Vikings, Emperor, The Boy) and I talked about it all of the time. They are just meant to be together and they have no idea how! In a weird way, they’re childish in their approaches and it’s so volatile. They act like they are going to explode or implode, you never know. I think that in the last season coming up soon, we get to see maybe what it’s like for them to really come together in a new way. Like for the first time, maybe not opponents, but teammates.

AM: Yeah! Being on the same side!

CO: Exactly!

AM: Another show that we love which you’re in is ABC's A Million Little Things. We love the storyline and we’re glad that it’s resumed it’s midseason break this month. Your character, Ashley was in the first season and we saw her working with Jon Dixon and got clues on what was going on with him. As they’re currently in their 4th season, will your character come back to this show?

CO: Well you know, conversations that I have had a lot with DJ Nash (Truth Be Told, Growing Up Fisher, Guys with Kids) have been ongoing for awhile for a couple of years. Where is Ashley and will she come back or not? I consider myself to be incredibly lucky to have joined some of my closest friends on this. At the end of the day, that was a job where being able to work with James Roday Rodriguez (Psych, Blood Drive) again which I had already worked on in a number of different capacities was just a chance that I just had to jump on.

I hope that there is still a space for Ashley to be there and to be able to pop in. But I do not have that information. If they want to give me a call, I’m here!

AM: Well seeing you on your latest show, Promised Land, it’s definitely a great show that we’re getting obsessed with. We love that we’re getting to learn about the wine industry and how a family is maintaining that power, which has that Succession vibe. We’d love to know more about Veronica which you play and what can we expect from this season as it continues to unfold?

CO: The thing about Veronica that I gravitated to the most from the get go, she was in this very male dominated environment – very muy macho - her father, her brothers and siblings - everyone around her. Yet, she managed to tap into a very powerful position without having to emulate the men or to compete with them on their turf and that was something that was really intriguing to me and there were a lot of conversations with Matt Lopez (Race to Witch Mountain, The Wild, The Sorcerer's Apprentice) and Adam Kolbrenner (Free Guy, The Tomorrow War, Slender Man) initially before the pilot in terms of how they wanted to see this character.

This is such an important milestone in the journey for real diversity on network television and ABC decided to take an entire Latin cast and infuse the show behind the camera with a lot of Latin crew as well. I think that for me, that was one of those things where how could I ever say no to doing something that was so meaningful? Human first, entertaining second.

It was really wonderful to jump on board and I think that for me, Veronica in particular, is just one more version of that diversity that I want to see within a certain ethnic group. So yes, they’re all Latin but that’s the number 10 on the list when you describe them. There is diversity of thought, diversity of perspective, diversity of political opinions within this Latin family and you get all of that and what a beautiful thing. That's a diversity that nobody ever talks about. That's one that is very close to my heart. Heteradox thinking is the number 1 thing that I want to see in a group of characters that are all defined by this one common denominator.

AM: In the months and weeks leading up to the show and seeing the previews for it. I was excited to see this on TV. I have to say that as a Black cofounder of Athleisure Media and doing all the things that I do, I’m always excited to see the depth of diversity across various racial groups and how they are portraying characters who work in fields that some who are viewing may not have thought that they would be there – but they are! So it’s amazing that your show is presenting this and you have an incredible cast.

What should we be looking for as we continue through this season?

CO: Oh I think that for Veronica in particular – how to do it her way is one of the most common things especially during the pandemic that we all went through this. We evaluated our life choices, figured out what we wanted and thought about whether we were fulfilled – did we want to make an impact where we could make things better?

I think that she is the personification of some of those journeys where she has done everything that she should do and she has done it right most of her life and suddenly, she has to be confronted with, what does she even want and how does she want it? And how is she going to get things done and do the ends justify the means? All these big questions, she is being faced with for the first time in her life. So going along that journey and seeing where in that fight for power, what’s going to happen with Michael and her and that relationship? Those worlds are in chaos and in limbo and that’s going to be so interesting. People will be able to see themselves in it.

AM: What are some upcoming projects that you have in film/TV that we should keep on our radar, that you’re able to share?

CO: Well, I have a movie coming out soon called Boon. It’s a western thriller – very different and very exciting. Then, another movie coming out called MVP about an NFL player who is also a veteran and it’s about his journey. That’s coming out soon and of course season 6 of Animal Kingdom that is coming back very soon.

AM: At Athleisure Mag, we love sharing great people with our readers and giving them insight on what they know about them as well as things they may not. In prep for this interview, we knew about a number of your shows and your work in them. In addition to your work in the arts, you’re all about the sciences as well and that was fun for us to learn about how you’re a badass in this area as a marine biologist and what you do for the community. When did you embrace your love for science and more specifically focusing on the oceans?

CO: For me, the ocean is the Alpha and the Omega, it’s the love of my life. If I fell in love with acting, the ocean is still the love of my life and it always will be. I try to maintain a bit of a balance. I find that having something, especially in the entertainment industry and any of its forms and I’m sure for you, it’s the same.

Having something that you believe in that’s greater than you and more important than anything in your immediate surroundings whether that be a family, religion or a cause – I think that that’s so fundamental! This way we don’t become myopic in our world and what matters to us as individuals. That’s kind of always been there and hopefully always will be.

I was very fortunate to be at James Cook University and a lot of wonderful friends that I am still in touch with – I get to still piggyback off of a lot of the amazing cool adventures that they’re having when I have time off. I get to go jump in the water and do expeditions and fieldwork and help out and go shark tagging. It’s definitely something that will never go away – maybe I should put that in the credits some how haha, “also come join her shark tagging!”

AM: Yeah the duality of someone who does both and their passions in both are just great to see that. I can appreciate this as someone who is just as comfortable coding as I am with my work in this magazine, styling a project or doing interviews. It’s always amazing to see other people especially those that are women who also like to embrace work in art, tech and science fields. What does it mean when you’re saying that you’re a marine biologist, tagging sharks and doing fieldwork – what are you doing?

CO: Because I’m not actively in the academia community anymore because I’m acting, what I’m doing is basically jumping on board to do the expeditions and projects that my friends and colleagues are doing. I come in and I try to collaborate and contribute in whatever ways that help them. So for shark tagging, I work with the American Shark Conservancy and a lot of researchers that are monitoring healthy communities of Great Whites, Hammerheads or Tiger Sharks and that kind of work that they are doing. If I’m with my friend who’s a primatologist, I’m working with the orangutans in Sumatra and I’m going on an expedition there and just trying to help gather information and samples for their research. So it kind of varies and like you, it’s like that “Jack of all trades” mentality which has always been a thing right?

I saw a video online once where they said that when people say, “A Jack of all trades is a master of none,” they leave it there – but there is a full saying that’s much longer than that –

AM: Yeah, the way many of us have learned that quote, it’s a “Jack of all trades, master of none” which definitely is not something that I would want to be associated as but when you have the full quote, “Jack of all trades, master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” It really gives you that agency to explore multiple interests.

CO: Totally!

AM: It’s so great that you love the oceans and clearly you love protecting them. You’re involved in so many philanthropic efforts – Oceana, Earth’s Oceans, and CARE. Can you talk a little about what you do in those organizations and why you wanted to be involved?

CO: I mean, all of these organizations, for the most part, the reason why I like to be involved is that my personal motto is replacing condemnation with inspiration – right? Tapping into things that are uplifting and motivating and as an example, putting your efforts into places where they do have an impact and a reward. As opposed to just shaming societies in saying that everything that we do is wrong. These organizations, all of them Oceana, Earth's Oceans, CARE and Sustainable Ocean Alliance they are all solution-based as opposed to problem-focused. To me, that is fundamental in being able to catalyze movement and mobilize communities to do something whether it’s on an individual level or not. Most of them are policy based as they want to change legislation and they want to tackle things on the governmental level whether it's local or national. I think that for me, being able to do that in such a tangible way - partnering up with these organizations because they align so well with my personal philosophies is easy. I don’t feel that the work that I do with them or are on the board is effortful. I feel that the work I do is so rewarding and easy it aligns.

AM: I have always felt this way and it’s become the way that we go about our work on out team as well – if a lot of the things that you do are in the same vein, even it feels different or sounds different to other people, you're not really spreading yourself thin. You’re just doing what you’re really passionate about and you’re able to chop it up in different ways.

CO: Yeah, I like that – it’s the key right? It’s finding something that you align with so closely that it doesn’t feel separate to you. It doesn’t feel like, “oh I have to do philanthropic work. Let me go find an organization.” The philanthropic effort comes from you aligning your core values and then you can change your own surroundings.

So with Earth’s Oceans, for example, they have a big partnership with a lot of our shows including Animal Kingdom now. They take a lot of the recycled plastics that are not normally recyclable. Things that people don’t think about - lawn chairs, hair brushes from makeup trailers, everything in the film production – the production is now a green production. They take these plastics and they use it to make consumerable goods.

It’s just, changing your own environment is easier than just thinking about, “oh I have to go somewhere else to do it.”

AM: Wow that’s pretty amazing. You’re also a member of the Los Angeles Science for Society. What is that and how long have you been involved with them?

CO: They are fantastic! They host these incredible Intel International Science Engineering Fairs (ISEF) that are pre collegiate level! These children – these prodigies are so innovative and it celebrates them and it brings them from all across the world and from different areas of STEM and now it’s called STEAM because they include a lot of the arts into it. They bring them together and it’s a wonderful cause and something that I am very passionate about in catalyzing that kind of curiosity in children is fundamental. It's really amazing and I know that you interviewed the director of Science Fair?

AM: Yes! We interviewed Science Fair's filmmaker and director, Cristina Costantini, Dr. Serena McCalla and student Kashfia Rahrman. The film was amazing and it was so impressive to see these students and the teachers that worked with them being able to create these projects and to see the kinds of impacts they could make in the world!

CO: They are fantastic and I’m very lucky that I have been able to work with them for so long. I also just think it’s really wonderful because children are encumbered by a lot of the limitations that once you get into collegiate levels whether it’s someone that’s going on a tenure track or corporate side of things – a lot of the time, you start seeing limitations whether it’s funding, access and you see them. Children don’t have that. They’re imagination really reigns in this arena and it’s so beautiful to see that overlap between their imagination and the science that they are doing and the causes that they tackle. It’s all very personal as one will say that they want to improve the hospital energy supply in their local area because refrigeration is a big thing, so they invented solar cells that people can replace themselves. It’s just fascinating to see and of course, the awards are largely education based with grants and college scholarships.

AM: We were excited to share that with our readers to show how these students are making an impact and are being infused with these skills that will help them as they continue to navigate their careers.

In addition, thinking back to things that we have talked about, it’s great to hear that you’re the keynote speaker at these conferences, podcast guest for a number of these science shows, you’ve been a member of MENSA since 2009 and you are doing a number of fascinating projects –

CO: Oh thank you.

AM: Absolutely, I mean I think that the work you’re doing is incredible and when you look at it in the lens of being a woman who is doing this and owning her space it’s amazing how you are using your platform to showcase – why is it so important for you to do this and to have this mix of arts and sciences?

CO: Apathy is the devil to me. To me, everybody wants an intellectually stimulating life. Everyone wants a creatively stimulating life. I don’t care what arena or industry you’re in. That’s something that as human beings, we crave and to me, mixing those two helps to avoid that apathy. It’s so easy to become self-centered in an industry that encourages that because hey we are tools, our creativity, your imagination – all of these things. For me, mixing the two is just a way that I find balance in those things that I care about because I also think that creativity benefits from all of that. You were saying that you benefit from your knowledge and mastery of technology every single day. I feel that I benefit from mine too because – famous quote of course, “it’s not a body of knowledge, it’s a way of thinking.” To me, it’s about asking the right questions whether it’s for a role or one of these organizations working with them or in the field working with wildlife.

So, learning to ask the right questions and questioning yourself, that is so important. Asking ourselves, ”what if this did work and what if we did it this way?” What if we got it right, what if we did make an impact – what if whatever I did in the next hour mattered to somebody or to something? Learning to ask different questions depending on the circumstances is so fundamental to me and something that I use daily. I think that it helps stomps out apathy first and foremost for myself and other people around me and inspiring them to do the same. So for me, that has been the guiding force I guess.

AM: It’s been so fascinating to talk with you and to hear about what you’re involved in and how you continue to take on new things as an educator, author, being published in Vogue Spain etc. Are there still things that you wish to tackle that you have yet to do at this point?

CO: A social life – ha! I mean, I see myself as a storyteller so for me, that in general has come through acting, it has come through writing. It has come through writing research papers and it has come through podcasting, producing and things like that. To me, it’s not just one medium and I’m very fortunate, knock on wood that I have, like you, that true Jack of all trades gene. So anything that feels labeling and limiting is not going to satisfy that fluidity. I get energy from transitioning from podcasting to producing or from acting to writing a research paper or writing an article. I enjoy that fluidity and I assume you do too as you built your life around that structure.

AM: I do find that if I am only doing one thing, then I feel a little stuck, but if I can flow or see something that’s presented and even if it’s not a fit, pivot it so it leans back to things that I can execute on – then it makes sense to me. But if it’s constantly the same that’s really going to be a bit of a wall until we can put a twist on it because you want to be challenged! You to be a bit of a wall until we can put a twist on it because you want to be challenged! You don’t always want to feel like you can do it with your eyes closed all the time. I don’t like every bump that comes along but I can appreciate certain bumps – depending on time and place.

So when you’re not on set, and I assume you’re going to say the ocean, where can we find you in terms of getting back to yourself and making sure that your cup is replenished?

CO: I mean wildlife, water, nature – those things really replenish me. They don’t have to be grand scale – I don’t have to be at the Bimini Shark Lab free diving for Tiger Sharks - it's as easy as taking a walk with my dog or honestly, reading a book! I mean, to me, it’s the cheapest form of travel and cheapest form of escapism and I suffer the need for escapism constantly, I think! I like the idea of going away to a cabin on the cliff by the ocean is my dream in general! Books are a very easy and quick way for me to do that. It’s a go-to that definitely replenishes. Anything that’s creative and is not result-driven or process-driven – so painting – even when I know it might go in the trash 20 mins later – that is very replenishing for me! Not having to get something right is great – so anything in that vein.

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PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | FRONT COVER Rachael Porter | PG 16 - 27 ABC/Promised Land | PG 28 - 30 TNT Animal Kingdom/Eddy Chen | PG 33 + BACK COVER ROGUE EXPEDITIONS | PG 156 Still from video provided by Christina Ochoa |

Read the FEB ISSUE #74 of Athleisure Mag and see HOW WE ALIGN | Christina Ochoa in mag.

THE BACHELOR S26. E12. | THE FINALE

We continue with the 2nd part of ABC’s The Bachelor finale. We catch up with Clayton Echard at the Hilton in Iceland as he wonders about what he will say to Susie. Jesse Palmer swings by Susie’s room and lets her know that Clayton has been distraught since she left. Susie obviosuly decides to talk to him and finds him there with his parents! She asks to talk with him privately and lets him know what she was thinking.

She lets him know that she can’t answer right now if she is willing to stay and he says that he understands. He decided to let Rachel and Gabby know that he is no longer continuing with them and they don’t take it well.

Back at the finale studio, Gabby comes to the stage and we see her grandfather which we all love as we know he loves her. Gabby shares her thoughts on what took place as she listened to Clayton saying that he was no longer interested in pursuing them and how she thought that she would be the one in the end.

Clayton joins Gabby on the stage and Gabby lets him know how she feels. Although she says she doesn’t think that he is malicious, he isn’t transparent. She believes that he didn’t compartmentalize the relationships even though he said he did. She also explains the importance of loving someone, saying it to the person it is intended to, protecting them and more.

Back on the show, he chats with Rachel and listens to her lay out the timeline and as Rachel notes, he doesn’t even shed a tear. He leads her to the car and she’s left to pick up the pieces. Back on the stage, Rachel watches it playing back and thinking about how in love she was with him. She also sees that in looking back, she fought hard for it and that Clayton just showed disrespect to them. As she talks about her experiences in Iceland, we see her tear up and at one point, Jesse asks if she is still in love with him. She explains that now that she sees everything that went on, she has no feelings for him because all she sees is the disrespect that he show the women that were still trying to continue their journey for them.

Rachel and Clayton are on the stage together. She feels that she will use this time to stand up for herself and to say the things that she didn’t get the chance to stay. Unlike Gabby, she didn’t get up to give him a hug. Rachel shares her thoughts and talks about how she sees him now and how he maneuvered the season. She lets him know that she doesn’t believe them. Throughout, we see that her parents are anger and we can only imagine what they really want to say if they had the ability to do so! Clayton maintains that he did what he thought was best, but he is angling to be a better person.

With both Gabby and Rachel out of the picture, he is focused on doing whatever it takes to win Susie back. He has his Neil Lane (who is also in the audience) ring and hopes that he can leave Iceland with his love. He tells her how much he loves her and how ready he is. She thanks him for his letter and can appreciate all the sentiments but she plans on leaving the island alone as she is not where he’s at and doesn’t feel that she can get there. He asks her if it’s really over or if she needs more time and she lets him know it’s over!

Back in the studio, Jesse says it’s the first time in Bachelor history that there has been a rejection at the final rose ceremony of the Bachelor and the journey ends with no one - or is it? Ultimately, Clayton and Jesse talk about the show and we learn that he is currently dating Susie! Even though she left the experience, they took time apart and then they reconnected! Before we get more details, we learn that the next Bachelorette will not be Gabby or Rachel! We now know that he will be moving in with her in Virginia as he has given up his job, sold his condo etc. He also asks her if she will accept the final rose which she does.

Gabby and Rachel will not only both be The Bachelorette but they will be in the same season! We loved how these two were with one another and this is a new twist to the show that we didn’t expect! We also love their families which we hope we will see more of in their journey! We also learn that Jesse will be the host which will be nice as there’s something to be said for someone that has been through the process and that they already know well.

With that, it’s a wrap! This season had various twists and turns and now, it’s time to look forward to The Bachelorette and our two fave ladies from this season, Gabby and Rachel!

Each night during the season, we tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

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SEASON 26 - EPISODE 12

So Gabby and Rachel will be The Bachelorette in the same season! We couldn’t be happier to seethis.

GABBY

RACHEL

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

CASSIDY | 26 - Los Angeles, CA (Copy)

CLAIRE | 28 - Virginia Beach, VA (Copy)

DARIA | 24 - New Haven, CT (Copy)

ELIZA | 25 - Berlin, Germany (Copy)

ELIZABETH | 32 - Highlands Ranch, CO (Copy)

ENCY | 28 - Burbank, CA (Copy)

GABBY | 30 - Denver, CO (Copy)

GENEVIEVE | 26 - Los Angeles, CA (Copy)

HAILEY | 26 - Orlando, FL (Copy)

HUNTER | 28 - Charlotte, NC (Copy)

IVANA | 31 - Queens, NY (Copy)

JANE | 22 - Los Angeles, CA (Copy)

JILL | 26 - Scituate, RI (Copy)

KATE | 32 - Lake Hollywood, CA (Copy)

KIRA | 32 - Philadelphia, PA (Copy)

LINDSAY D | 27 - Jacksonville, FL (Copy)

LYNDSEY W | 28 - Houston, TX (Copy)

MARA | 32 - Collingswood, NJ (Copy)

MARLENA | 30 - Gainseville, FL (Copy)

MELINA | 27 - West Hollywood, CA (Copy)

RACHEL | 25 - Clermont, FL (Copy)

RIANNA | 26 - Dallas, TX (Copy)

SALLEY | 26 - Charlottesville, VA (Copy)

SAMANTHA | 26 - San Diego, CA (Copy)

SARAH | 23 - NY, NY (Copy)

SERENE | 26- Oklahoma City, OK (Copy)

SHANAE | 29 - Sycamore, OH (Copy)

SIERRA | 26 - Dallas, TX (Copy)

SUSIE | 28 - Virginia Beach, VA (Copy)

TEDDI | 24 - Highland, CA (Copy)

TESSA | 26 - Brooklyn, NY (Copy)

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE BACHELOR S26. E11. | AFTER THE FANTASY SUITES

On tonight’s episode of ABC’s The Bachelor, we’re back in the thick of it with all the drama from last week. Clayton Echard sent Susie home after she shared that she couldn’t believe that he had been intimate with someone else. Of course, we know the full story - but where do we go from here? With a 2 night finale, it’s definitely going to be interesting!

After seeing Clayton in a church getting his thoughts together and realizing that he feels broken, we see him catch up with Jesse Palmer on where he should go from there. Jesse suggests the format of the show should still be done.

Meanwhile, Gabby and Rachel are on their way to the rose ceremony without knowing that Susie was sent home the night before! Even Jesse says that this is the Rose Ceremony from Hell - yikes!

Jesse meets each of the women and they have nothing but great things to say about their connections, how they have felt etc. They see that there are 2 roses and they’re looking to see where Susie is! It dawns on them that she is not there. Clayton lays it all out there and tells them what took place! It’s definitely a stark moment as he becomes transparent and to see how the women absorb what he just said.

Gabby chats with him and although previously, she said that she wanted him to explore relationships fully, she’s clearly annoyed that he said, “I love you” to each of them and that ultimately, the one he picks is the one he loves the most! Gabby is not pleased and although she wants to know, at one point she tells him that she doesn’t need all the details.

He chats with Rachel and she is equally as hurt, but it seems like she’s willing to stay - but she is conflicted.

Both women accept his rose and they both meet his family. The family likes them, but they are looped into the fact that he became transparent with all of them. The family can see why Gabby and Rachel are upset about everything that has transpired.

Ultimately, the women bond well with his family; however, he lets them know that he wants to reach out to Susie! Jesse shares that Susie is still in Iceland! Tomorrow is the finale and we’re going to see how everything shakes out!

Each night during the season, we tweet about The Bachelor and you can chat along with us (@AthleisureMag + with our Co-Founder/Creative + Style Director, Kimmie Smith @ShesKimmie) to see what’s taking place!

Each week we will let you know who our faves were from the last episode and if we’ve changed up since then as it pertains to who we think should go to Hometowns.

We also suggest a podcast that we’ve become obsessed with over the past few seasons, Wondery’s Bachelor Happy Hour to get their feedback!

---

SEASON 26 - EPISODE 11

So Gabby and Rachel are still on the road to finding love - but will Susie be placed back in the mix?

GABBY (Copy)

RACHEL (Copy)

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THE BACHELOR CONTESTANTS

CASSIDY | 26 - Los Angeles, CA

CLAIRE | 28 - Virginia Beach, VA

DARIA | 24 - New Haven, CT

ELIZA | 25 - Berlin, Germany

ELIZABETH | 32 - Highlands Ranch, CO

ENCY | 28 - Burbank, CA

GABBY | 30 - Denver, CO

GENEVIEVE | 26 - Los Angeles, CA

HAILEY | 26 - Orlando, FL

HUNTER | 28 - Charlotte, NC

IVANA | 31 - Queens, NY

JANE | 22 - Los Angeles, CA

JILL | 26 - Scituate, RI

KATE | 32 - Lake Hollywood, CA

KIRA | 32 - Philadelphia, PA

LINDSAY D | 27 - Jacksonville, FL

LYNDSEY W | 28 - Houston, TX

MARA | 32 - Collingswood, NJ

MARLENA | 30 - Gainseville, FL

MELINA | 27 - West Hollywood, CA

RACHEL | 25 - Clermont, FL

RIANNA | 26 - Dallas, TX

SALLEY | 26 - Charlottesville, VA

SAMANTHA | 26 - San Diego, CA

SARAH | 23 - NY, NY

SERENE | 26- Oklahoma City, OK

SHANAE | 29 - Sycamore, OH

SIERRA | 26 - Dallas, TX

SUSIE | 28 - Virginia Beach, VA

TEDDI | 24 - Highland, CA

TESSA | 26 - Brooklyn, NY

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

AWARDS SEASON | 27TH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS TV + FILM WINNERS

The Critics Choice Awards TV + Film Awards too place tonight with a number of our faves being recognized! Tonight, viewers could watch on The CW and TBS as Awards Season continued from the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel. Who we believed would win is in bold, winners that won who we did not predict correctly are italicized and those that we correctly predicted are in bold italicized.

TELEVISION NOMINATIONS FOR THE 27TH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS

BEST DRAMA SERIES

Evil (Paramount+)

For All Mankind (Apple TV+)

The Good Fight (Paramount+)

Pose (FX)

Squid Game (Netflix)

Succession (HBO)

This Is Us (NBC)

Yellowjackets (Showtime)

BEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Sterling K. Brown – This Is Us (NBC)

Mike Colter – Evil (Paramount+)

Brian Cox – Succession (HBO)

Lee Jung-jae – Squid Game (Netflix)

Billy Porter – Pose (FX)

Jeremy Strong – Succession (HBO)

BEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Uzo Aduba – In Treatment (HBO)

Chiara Aurelia – Cruel Summer (Freeform)

Christine Baranski – The Good Fight (Paramount+)

Katja Herbers – Evil (Paramount+)

Melanie Lynskey – Yellowjackets (Showtime)

MJ Rodriguez – Pose (FX)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA SERIES

Nicholas Braun – Succession (HBO)

Billy Crudup – The Morning Show (Apple TV+)

Kieran Culkin – Succession (HBO)

Justin Hartley – This Is Us (NBC)

Matthew Macfadyen – Succession (HBO)

Mandy Patinkin – The Good Fight (Paramount+)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA SERIES

Andrea Martin – Evil (Paramount+)

Audra McDonald – The Good Fight (Paramount+)

Christine Lahti – Evil (Paramount+)

J. Smith-Cameron – Succession (HBO)

Sarah Snook – Succession (HBO)

Susan Kelechi Watson – This Is Us (NBC)

BEST COMEDY SERIES

The Great (Hulu)

Hacks (HBO Max)

Insecure (HBO)

Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

The Other Two (HBO Max)

Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu)

Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Iain Armitage – Young Sheldon (CBS)

Nicholas Hoult – The Great (Hulu)

Steve Martin – Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

Kayvan Novak – What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Martin Short – Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)

Jason Sudeikis – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Elle Fanning – The Great (Hulu)

Renée Elise Goldsberry – Girls5eva (Peacock)

Selena Gomez – Only Murders in the Building (Hulu) 

Sandra Oh – The Chair (Netflix)

Issa Rae – Insecure (HBO)

Jean Smart – Hacks (HBO Max)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY SERIES

Ncuti Gatwa – Sex Education (Netflix)

Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Harvey Guillén – What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Brandon Scott Jones – Ghosts (CBS)

Ray Romano – Made for Love (HBO Max)

Bowen Yang – Saturday Night Live (NBC)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY SERIES

Hannah Einbinder – Hacks (HBO Max)

Kristin Chenoweth – Schmigadoon! (Apple TV+)

Molly Shannon – The Other Two (HBO Max) 

Cecily Strong – Saturday Night Live (NBC)

Josie Totah – Saved By the Bell (Peacock)

Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

BEST LIMITED SERIES

Dopesick (Hulu)

Dr. Death (Peacock)

It’s a Sin (HBO Max)

Maid (Netflix)

Mare of Easttown (HBO)

Midnight Mass (Netflix)

The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime Video)

WandaVision (Disney+)

BEST MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Come From Away (Apple TV+)

List of a Lifetime (Lifetime)

The Map of Tiny Perfect Things (Amazon Prime Video)

Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (Lifetime)

Oslo (HBO)

Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas (The Roku Channel)

BEST ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Olly Alexander – It’s a Sin (HBO Max)

Paul Bettany – WandaVision (Disney+)

William Jackson Harper – Love Life (HBO Max)

Joshua Jackson – Dr. Death (Peacock)

Michael Keaton – Dopesick (Hulu)

Hamish Linklater – Midnight Mass (Netflix)

BEST ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Danielle Brooks – Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia (Lifetime)

Cynthia Erivo – Genius: Aretha (National Geographic)

Thuso Mbedu – The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime Video)

Elizabeth Olsen – WandaVision (Disney+)

Margaret Qualley – Maid (Netflix)

Kate Winslet – Mare of Easttown (HBO)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Murray Bartlett – The White Lotus (HBO)

Zach Gilford – Midnight Mass (Netflix)

William Jackson Harper – The Underground Railroad (Amazon Prime Video)

Evan Peters – Mare of Easttown (HBO)

Christian Slater – Dr. Death (Peacock)

Courtney B. Vance – Genius: Aretha (National Geographic)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A LIMITED SERIES OR MOVIE MADE FOR TELEVISION

Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus (HBO)

Kaitlyn Dever – Dopesick (Hulu)

Kathryn Hahn – WandaVision (Disney+)

Melissa McCarthy – Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu)

Julianne Nicholson – Mare of Easttown (HBO)

Jean Smart – Mare of Easttown (HBO)

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE SERIES

Acapulco (Apple TV+)

Call My Agent! (Netflix)

Lupin (Netflix)

Money Heist (Netflix)

Narcos: Mexico (Netflix)

Squid Game (Netflix)

BEST ANIMATED SERIES

Big Mouth (Netflix)

Bluey (Disney Junior)

Bob’s Burgers (Fox)

The Great North (Fox)

Q-Force (Netflix)

What If…? (Disney+)

BEST TALK SHOW

The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock)

Desus & Mero (Showtime)

The Kelly Clarkson Show (NBC)

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC)

Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen (Bravo)

BEST COMEDY SPECIAL 

Bo Burnham: Inside (Netflix)

Good Timing with Jo Firestone (Peacock)

James Acaster: Cold Lasagne Hate Myself 1999 (Vimeo)

Joyelle Nicole Johnson: Love Joy (Peacock)

Nate Bargatze: The Greatest Average American (Netflix)

Trixie Mattel: One Night Only (YouTube)

FILM NOMINATIONS FOR THE 27TH ANNUAL CRITICS CHOICE AWARDS

BEST PICTURE

Belfast

CODA

Don’t Look Up

Dune

King Richard

Licorice Pizza

Nightmare Alley

The Power of the Dog

tick, tick…Boom!

West Side Story

BEST ACTOR

Nicolas Cage – Pig

Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog

Peter Dinklage – Cyrano

Andrew Garfield – tick, tick…Boom!

Will Smith – King Richard

Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain – The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Olivia Colman – The Lost Daughter

Lady Gaga – House of Gucci

Alana Haim – Licorice Pizza

Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos

Kristen Stewart – Spencer

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Jamie Dornan – Belfast

Ciarán Hinds – Belfast

Troy Kotsur – CODA

Jared Leto – House of Gucci

J.K. Simmons – Being the Ricardos

Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Caitríona Balfe – Belfast

Ariana DeBose – West Side Story

Ann Dowd – Mass

Kirsten Dunst – The Power of the Dog

Aunjanue Ellis – King Richard

Rita Moreno – West Side Story

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Jude Hill – Belfast

Cooper Hoffman – Licorice Pizza

Emilia Jones – CODA

Woody Norman – C’mon C’mon

Saniyya Sidney – King Richard

Rachel Zegler – West Side Story

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

Belfast

Don’t Look Up

The Harder They Fall

Licorice Pizza

The Power of the Dog

West Side Story

BEST DIRECTOR

Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza

Kenneth Branagh – Belfast

Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog

Guillermo del Toro – Nightmare Alley

Steven Spielberg – West Side Story

Denis Villeneuve – Dune

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Paul Thomas Anderson – Licorice Pizza

Zach Baylin – King Richard

Kenneth Branagh – Belfast

Adam McKay, David Sirota – Don’t Look Up

Aaron Sorkin – Being the Ricardos

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Jane Campion – The Power of the Dog

Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter

Siân Heder – CODA

Tony Kushner – West Side Story

Jon Spaihts, Denis Villeneuve, Eric Roth – Dune

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

Bruno Delbonnel – The Tragedy of Macbeth

Greig Fraser – Dune

Janusz Kaminski – West Side Story

Dan Laustsen – Nightmare Alley

Ari Wegner – The Power of the Dog

Haris Zambarloukos – Belfast

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Jim Clay, Claire Nia Richards – Belfast

Tamara Deverell, Shane Vieau – Nightmare Alley

Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo – The French Dispatch

Adam Stockhausen, Rena DeAngelo – West Side Story

Patrice Vermette, Zsuzsanna Sipos – Dune

BEST EDITING

Sarah Broshar and Michael Kahn – West Side Story

Úna Ní Dhonghaíle – Belfast

Andy Jurgensen – Licorice Pizza

Peter Sciberras – The Power of the Dog

Joe Walker – Dune

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Jenny Beavan – Cruella

Luis Sequeira – Nightmare Alley

Paul Tazewell – West Side Story

Jacqueline West, Robert Morgan – Dune

Janty Yates – House of Gucci

BEST HAIR AND MAKEUP

Cruella

Dune

The Eyes of Tammy Faye

House of Gucci

Nightmare Alley

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

Dune

The Matrix Resurrections

Nightmare Alley

No Time to Die

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

BEST COMEDY

Barb & Star Go to Vista Del Mar

Don’t Look Up

Free Guy

The French Dispatch

Licorice Pizza

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Encanto

Flee

Luca

The Mitchells vs the Machines

Raya and the Last Dragon

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

A Hero

Drive My Car

Flee

The Hand of God

The Worst Person in the World

BEST SONG

Be Alive – King Richard

Dos Oruguitas – Encanto

Guns Go Bang – The Harder They Fall

Just Look Up – Don’t Look Up

No Time to Die – No Time to Die

BEST SCORE

Nicholas Britell – Don’t Look Up

Jonny Greenwood – The Power of the Dog

Jonny Greenwood – Spencer

Nathan Johnson – Nightmare Alley

Hans Zimmer – Dune

SEE HER

Halle Berry

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Billy Crystal

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