Over the first season of Lifted, I have had the pleasure of talking to the dynamic creators of From Scratch. Through these conversations, I've thought deeply about creativity in general, creativity in my own life, and how creativity can be used to find our way back to ourselves.

I thought it might be nice to talk to an expert in this field so that she can unpack and demystify this thing called creativity, and inspire all of us, but particularly caregivers, to use it in times of strife, challenge, and trauma. In this special bonus episode, I sit down with Eve Rodsky, New York Times best-selling author of Fair Play and National Bestseller, Find Your Unicorn Space, for a deep dive into creativity, and how we can use it as a north star to find our way back to ourselves.   

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ABOUT OUR GUEST

Eve Rodsky transformed a “blueberries breakdown” into a catalyst for social change when she applied her Harvard-trained background in organizational management to ask the simple yet profound question: What would happen if we treated our homes as our most important organizations? Her New York Times bestselling book and Reese’s Book Club Pick, Fair Play, a gamified life-management system that helps partners rebalance their domestic workload and reimagine their relationship, has elevated the cultural conversation about the value of unpaid labor and care. In her highly anticipated follow-up, Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too-Busy World, Rodsky explores the cross-section between the science of creativity, productivity, and resilience. Described as the ‘antidote to physical, mental, and emotional burnout,’ Rodsky aims to inspire a new narrative around the equality of time and the individual right to personal time choice that influences sustainable and lasting change on a policy level. Rodsky’s work is backed by Hello Sunshine—Reese Witherspoon’s media company whose mission is to change the narrative for women through storytelling. Rodsky was born and raised by a single mom in New York City and now lives in Los Angeles with her husband Seth and their three children.

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This might be my most personal conversation to date.  In this episode, I sit down with Attica Locke. In case you don't know, she is the author of five books; her latest novel, Heaven, My Home, is the sequel to her Edgar Award-Winning Bluebird, Bluebird, and it is also a New York Times Bestseller. Her novel Pleasantville was a winner of the Harper Lee prize for Legal Ficton, her second book, The Cutting Season, was the winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence, and Black Water Rising, her debut novel, was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, an LA Times Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction. Attica is also a screenwriter and TV producer, with credits including Empire, When They See Us, and Little Fires Everywhere, for which she won an NAACP Image Award for screenwriting. She also happens to be my sister. Together, we co-created and adapted From Scratch, but it was her role as showrunner and as sister that made our whole series happen.



Guest Bio:
A former fellow at the Sundance Institute’s Feature Filmmaker’s Lab, Attica Locke is an author, showrunner, screenwriter and producer, with credits that include Empire, When They See Us and the Emmy-nominated Little Fires Everywhere, for which she won an NAACP Image award for television writing.

Most recently, she served as showrunner, an executive producer, and co-creator, alongside her sister Tembi, for the Netflix series From Scratch. An adaptation of Tembi’s memoir of the same name, the series, produced by Hello Sunshine, landed on Netflix’s Top Ten List in its first week on the platform.

Attica Locke is a New York Times best-selling author of five novels. Her novels include, Heaven, My Home, sequel to the Edgar Award-winning Bluebird, Bluebird; Pleasantville, winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and long-listed for the Bailey’s Prize for Women’s Fiction; The Cutting Season, winner of the Ernest Gaines Award for Literary Excellence; and her debut, Black Water Rising, which was nominated for an Edgar Award, an NAACP Image Award, as well as a Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was short-listed for the Women’s Prize for Fiction. 

A native of Houston, Texas, Attica lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband and daughter.

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After working as an actress on and off Broadway, in regional theater, and in TV and film, Marguerite MacIntyre turned her focus to writing, adapting Liz Tigelaar's novel Pretty Tough for Tornante/Hulu. Since then, she has written/produced for genre hits The Originals and Legacies, the limited drama series Containment, and Hulu's Golden Globe nominated comedy, Casual. Most recently she was Co-Executive Producer on limited series From Scratch for Hello Sunshine/Netflix, and Co-Creator/Showrunner with Julie Plec of Vampire Academy for Peacock. We met first in the writer’s room, where I was drawn to Marguerite's keen intellect, warm heart, her facility with dual art forms, acting and writing. She wrote the powerful episode in which Amy and Lino say goodbye. Marguerite is the real deal, a wise soul, and the kind of friend you learn something new from every time you meet.

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Shannon Baker Davis is an award-winning television and film editor. For the first 10 years of her career, she worked on unscripted and reality projects, including Emmy-winning shows like Top Chef and Project Runway. Later, she parlayed her skills into the scripted world, working on acclaimed television shows and films like The Photograph, Impeachment: American Crime Story, Insecure, Grown-ish, The Obituary of Tunde Johnson, and Ava DuVernay’s Queen Sugar. Most recently, she joined the editorial team on From Scratch to bring the series to completion. It was a joy to work with Shannon, and after working together I can say with confidence that she is not just a talented editor, but a thoughtful storyteller, a remarkable collaborator, and a bright spirit. In our conversation, we discuss what it means to navigate Imposter Syndrome, how motherhood informs our professional lives, and the ‘invisible work’ of editing. 

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Laura Fox is an Emmy-nominated production designer with over 25 years of experience in film, television, music videos, and commercial work. Her projects include The White Lotus, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, and (500) Days of Summer. I got to see her magnificent work first hand on From Scratch, as she created a beautiful, rich, 360-degree world for Amy and Lino to inhabit. I also came to know her as a truly genuine, deeply creative person with a very large heart. This conversation was my way of better getting to know her - what captivates her, and what inspires her as she transforms ideas into space. 

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Allegra Jones is a half Italian, half African-American multidisciplinary artist who lives in Los Angeles. As a multimedia visual artist, Allegra creates art pieces that speak to her interest in psychology, buried histories, Black studies, and her own experience growing up bi-racial in America. As a multi-instrumentalist, Allegra has performed in spaces such as Carnegie Hall, and has experience performing with accomplished musicians such as Rodrigo Amarante. Allegra holds a BFA in Experimental Animation from California Institute of the Arts. She sees animation, filmmaking, and performance as a means to merge her passions for music and visual arts together. As an artist, Allegra has worked for entities such as Slamdance Film Festival, Coldplay, Hulu, FX, and Adult Swim. But most recently you may recognize her art in From Scratch, as Allegra created all of Amy’s artwork. Allegra is gregarious, insightful, and wildly talented. Her parallels to her onscreen artistic persona will definitely surprise you, and I was moved by her thoughts on how, when we give our lives more structure, it can create a beautiful freedom in our artistic endeavors. 

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Amanda Riley is a costume designer with nearly two decades of experience working on television shows and films of all genres, from sitcoms, to sci-fi, to blockbuster action movies. You’ve seen her work on projects like Supergirl, Westworld, Spider Man: No Way Home, and most recently From Scratch. I had the pleasure of working with Amanda up close, talking with her about texture, color, the way fabric moves, as she interpreted the scenes and characters of From Scratch from the inside out. But also, I talked with her about spiritual journeys, travel, and love. She is a soulful creative, a woman who follows her intuition with remarkable clarity, and her work as a designer is jaw-droppingly beautiful. I promise you, this conversation will make you want to redo your wardrobe, or perhaps redo, or at least reimagine, parts of your heart and life. 

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Danielle Deadwyler is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, actor, and filmmaker.  As an actor, she is unforgettable in Station 11, Watchmen, Atlanta, and The Harder They Fall.  As a filmmaker and producer, Danielle’s work has been screened at the Creative Loafing Atlanta, New Orleans Film Festival, Oxford Film Fest, and more. As a performance artist, her work has been included in the Atlanta Contemporary Museum among others. She is a graduate of Spelman College and holds a masters in American Studies from Columbia University and masters in Creative Writing from Ashland University in Ohio. Danielle stars as Zora in From Scratch and as Mamie Till in the critically acclaimed 2022 film Till about the life of Emmett Till and Mamie, a mother who changed history. I had the privilege and pleasure of seeing Danielle's artistry up close while working together, and I can tell you that she is an artist, a thinker, and change maker for our time. I know you will enjoy and be illuminated by my conversation with Danielle.

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Here, we set the table for what’s to come. 

I see this podcast as an auditory dinner party of sorts. Each week, a new guest will arrive, and we’ll sit around the table for a conversation about the big questions that we all face: what it means to be creative, how to pull ourselves forward even in life’s most unexpected times, where we seek (and find) inspiration, what it looks like to begin again, and how we expand. We’ll explore how being lifted allows us to meet the world more fully, wholly, and generously. 

I love nothing more than an open-ended, deep, intimate conversation, and I am fascinated by the ways in which people meet both life’s victories and its hurdles. So, I invited a group of women who inspire me to discuss, to ponder, and to share the lessons we’ve learned, as well as those we’re still learning, about our own journeys towards living conscious, elevated, fully-embodied lives.

If you’ve seen From Scratch, you’re already familiar with the beautiful artistry each of these women possesses. As these conversations unfold, you will understand too the depth of their curiosity, the strength of their convictions, and the unique spark that lives within each of them. So take a walk, or pour a cup of tea, and settle in. I can tell you from first-hand experience: these are the conversations that lift our lives.

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Mentioned in this episode: 

“The quiet calling to the health of our communal soul” – Krista Tippett in On Being 

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Nzingha Stewart is an NAACP Image Award-nominated director. A graduate of NYU, she started her career in music videos, shooting for artists like Common, Eve, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent, before going on to a successful career as a commercial director. Then transitioned to film and television where her work includes the Emmy-Nominated limited series Inventing Anna, Maid, and Little Fires Everywhere as well as Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, and Netflix’s Tall Girl. She is the producing director and co-executive producer on From Scratch. Nzingha is someone I admire for her vision, sublime creative sensibilities, her leadership as a female producer, and her big heart. There is no one you’d rather go to dinner with than Nzingha, she will make you try everything and order double desserts. I love her “yes, and” approach to life. You can see her vision and heart all over the first episode of From Scratch.

About the Guest:

Nzingha Stewart attended NYU’s Gallatin School and upon graduation went on to shoot over a hundred music videos for artists like Common, Eve, Jay-Z, and 50 Cent breaking down barriers for women of color in the music video world along the way. An equally in-demand commercial director, Nzingha has also filmed clips for ESPN, McDonald’s, and Coors Light among others.

Having recently directed episodes of Little Fires Everywhere, Black Monday, Greys Anatomy, A Million Little Things, Good Girls, Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, the Netflix hit feature film Tall Girl, and Shonda Rhimes upcoming series Inventing Anna, she has also proven herself as a writer, having written With This Ring and The Tenth Date (Lifetime/ A+E Networks) which she also directed. Both movies were ratings hits for the network and With This Ring went on to be nominated for three NAACP awards and won the Women In Film Award for Best Television Movie.

Nzingha is the executive producer of Netflix’s From Scratch. Recently, she was the executive producer of Daisy Jones and the Six for Amazon and Hello Sunshine. 

She sold her co-written script, Bad Ass Biker Chicks of Marrakech to Wayfarer for which she is also set to direct. Next up on the directing front is the feature film Life in Motion, a biopic about powerhouse prima ballerina Misty Copeland.

http://www.nzinghastewart.com

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