Show Me Your Messy

#4. Today's guest is Farah Shea, a genre-bending songwriter, actress, producer, and new mom (8 months pregnant at the time of recording)!

For more episode content including our guest questionnaire, check out Creative Labor on Substack!

In this episode, we talk about her journey in the music industry, working in nightlife while pregnant, embracing your sexuality as a mother, supporting freelance mothers, and much more!

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro to Farah & her pregnant belly!

2:37 Farah’s music journey

6:42 Becoming a boy mom as an empowered woman

12:18 Becoming first time moms around age 40

16:46 Pregnancy while both parents are artists & work in nightlife

22:33 Predicting a postpartum identity shift

26:19 Giving yourself grace & not overplanning

29:30 Producing is preparation for motherhood

31:58 No support for freelance mothers

36:27 Cultural importance of female artists staying in the workplace

38:02 What would you want a woman a few years behind you to know?

Farah Shea is a genre-bending songwriter based in Los Angeles with roots in Paris and North Africa. She fuses hip-hop, electro and indie pop to create a sound that is entirely her own. Her writing style is characterized by suggestive imagery and social commentary, all from a bold female perspective.

Want more Farah?

🔗 Farah’s links

🌐 https://www.farahshea.com/ 

📷 Follow Farah on IG

🎧Listen to Farah on Spotify

🎧Listen to Farah on Soundcloud

🎥 Check out Farah’s music videos on Youtube

-------------------------------

Follow us @creativelabormedia on IG

https://linktr.ee/creativelabor

Show Me Your Messy is hosted by Cat Del Re & produced by Madeline McCallum

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/richard-smithson/starburst

License code: ZKHN7J95UJWQDGJ4

#3. We are so excited to share our conversation with today’s guest, Michelle Birksy, a composer, artist, music producer, and mother.

For more episode content including our guest questionnaire, check out Creative Labor on Substack!

In this episode, we chat about her decision to have a baby, infant daycare, being the only one in the friend group with a baby, body stuff, and what needs to change in the industry to support women and mothers.

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:30 Shifts in creativity since becoming a mother

6:24 Choosing daycare as a working freelance mom

12:26 How her composing has shifted since becoming a mother

15:17 1st trimester anxiety about how your life is going to change

17:07 Navigating community post baby

21:17 The mom judgement is real

22:00 Decision to become a mom + trying for a baby

24:39 Postpartum experience

27:32 Body changes

33:33 Advice for your younger self

36:00 What needs to change in the industry

Michelle is a composer, artist, and music producer based in Los Angeles who specializes in nontraditional, electro-acoustic film scores. She and her partner Kevin Henthorn have composed the score for projects like Mother/Android (feature, Hulu), The Lesbian Bar Project Seasons 1&2 (docuseries, Roku), and SPITE (feature, Austin Film Fest '25), specializing in darker dramas and sci-fi thrillers, as well as documentaries with an emotional, social justice angle. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, their baby Maggie, and cat Wednesday. Through her music and film composition, Michelle seeks to tell stories that broaden minds and raise the female voice.

Want more Michelle?

🌐 Learn more about the Birsky-Henthorn film composer duo

📷 Follow Michelle on IG

🎥 Watch Terminator Zero on Netflix

🎥 Watch Mother Android on Hulu

🎥 Watch The Lesbian Bar Project on Roku or Youtube

-------------------------------

Follow us @creativelabormedia on IG

https://linktr.ee/creativelabor

Show Me Your Messy is hosted by Cat Del Re & produced by Madeline McCallum

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/richard-smithson/starburst

License code: ZKHN7J95UJWQDGJ4

#2. Today's guest is actress, author, and playwright Krystina Bailey Brawer. Krystina is not yet a mother but wants to be, and we get into all the messy realities of deciding when to have a kid, balancing income streams as an actor, shifting identities, and how we have defined success as millennial women.

For more episode content including our guest questionnaire, check out Creative Labor on Substack!

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro + being a multi-hyphenate

5:08 Not a mother yet + fears around becoming a mom

10:45 Reality of balancing income streams in the entertainment industry

13:26 What changes would help support mothers in the industry?

18:36 How do you think becoming a mom will shift your identity & your creative life?

22:13 Feeling like you can’t have a kid until life circumstances are perfect

24:43 Krystina’s current messy

26:56 Different standards working with all female reps

28:28 Work & audition strategies shifting

31:43 Deciding to bring a child into the world right now

Krystina is an award-winning actress known for her work on "The Savant" starring Jessica Chastain, "Beyond the Gates" (CBS), "Tusla King (Paramount+), “The L Word: Generation Q" (Showtime), Jordan Peele's "Weird City" (YouTube Premium), "Blue Bloods" (CBS), and "The Family Business" (BET+). A graduate of Manhattanville College with a double major in theater and education, and a holder of a Business of Entertainment Certificate from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, she has starred in six independent films, co-producing one that received multiple honors including an "Award of Recognition" from the Accolade Global Film Competition. Her play "Showtime" earned her a nomination for Best Playwright in the Midtown International Theater Festival, and her book "Actors! What You Need to Know Before Moving to LA" hit #1 in Amazon's Performing Arts Industry new releases.

Want more Krystina?

📚 Read (or listen to) Krystina’s book, “Actors!: What You Need to Know Before Moving to LA”

🎭 Find Krystina on IMDB

📷 Follow Krystina on IG

🌐 Keep up with Krystina

Episode Resources

The Entertainment Community Fund

Learn more about Cat’s movie “Rot", currently in development

-------------------------------

Follow us @creativelabormedia on IG

https://linktr.ee/creativelabor

Show Me Your Messy is hosted by Cat Del Re & produced by Madeline McCallum

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/richard-smithson/starburst

License code: ZKHN7J95UJWQDGJ4

#1. We are so excited to share our conversation with today’s guest, Jodi Moore Lewis, an actress, writer, and mother based in Los Angeles.

For more episode content including our guest questionnaire, check out Creative Labor on Substack!

In this episode, we talk about motherhood in your late 30s, being boy moms, Jodi’s experience with placenta previa, Cat and Jodi’s meet cute in the hospital, and much more!

Jodi has a recurring role in Euphoria on HBO Max, directed by Sam Levinson. She has also been part of CBS’s S.W.A.T. and Criminal Minds. Additional TV credits include Freebirth (Hulu), Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction (Tubi TV), and My Crazy Ex on Lifetime. Jodi has also taken on lead and supporting roles in numerous films. She starred in He(a)rd, directed by Danielle Savre, for which she received a Best Actress nomination at the Palm International Film Festival (PIFF) in 2022. She also appeared in Clarity, which won the Jury Grand Prize for Best Short at the Mammoth Film Festival.

Want more Jodi?

🎟️ Get tickets for the final weekend (8/22 & 8/23) of Tunnel of Love, a show by Blue Pen Theatre Company

🎭 Find Jodi on IMDB

📷 Find Jodi on Instagram

💌 Subscribe to Jodi’s Substack, Love Notes

🎧 Listen to Notes with Friends podcast

-------------------------------

Follow us @creativelabormedia on IG

https://linktr.ee/creativelabor

Show Me Your Messy is hosted by Cat Del Re & produced by Madeline McCallum

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):

https://uppbeat.io/t/richard-smithson/starburst

License code: ZKHN7J95UJWQDGJ4

Welcome to Show Me Your Messy, a new podcast by Creative Labor for anyone navigating motherhood, creative ambition, and all of the identity shifts that come with both.

Creative Labor is a media brand exploring the realities of sustaining a creative career while raising kids or planning to start a family.

On Show Me Your Messy, we have honest conversations with women in entertainment and creative industries about the hard parts, the trade-offs, and the strategies that actually work, whether they are a mother, want to be, or are still figuring it out. Stay tuned for full episodes launching this August!

Hosted by Cat Del Re (@_royalmisfit_), an award-winning writer, director, actor, producer, and mother to a one-year-old.

Find Creative Labor on Substack: https://creativelabor.substack.com/

Follow us on IG @creativelabormedia