Frens that Bloom through Mental Health with Alessandra Levy

The future of film with last week's guest, Jordan Bayne, Decentralized Pictures, just announce their very first financing award is in partnership with the Gotham film Institute and they're offering finishing funds for documentaries and you can apply. Now the link is in the bio on their Instagram.
If you have a film that needs to be finished, they're offering $50,000. So make sure you apply and make sure you share it with friends and family who might have a project going on right now. Okay. I want to give this really cool shout out to this artist. Brayden. I met him at San Diego NFT conference. He was there with his physical paintings. He does collages. He had one of Audrey Hepburn. I love the colors. I love the texture. He also had jewelry there. I went up to him and I just introduced myself and I'm just like pointing them out. And I'm just like, yeah, I love your artwork. Super dope. And I want to connect, create and do collaborations together.
And he was open and he's like, yes, he has a lot of really cool projects going on. He's a part of some really neat exhibitions and yeah, check out his Andel. Brayden's Instagram is B U G a Z Z I art a R T again, his Instagram is B U G a Z, Z I a R T. I hope you like his artwork as much as I do. He's really sweet. Really cool person. Decentralized pitchers. DCP is a five oh one three nonprofit organization born out of the idea that great talent and art can be discovered anywhere through blockchain technology. How cool is that? DCP creates consensus among the community of film fans and filmmakers around the stories and talent that move people.
Most DCP has set up the world's first democratically selected film fund and network of industry partners to support film projects that audience wants to see most as a nonprofit organization. DCP opens up the film financing world to a daring and passionate new generation of filmmakers and film goers, wherever they may be DCP strives to empower the community, to choose which films get made effectively creating new keys to the filmmaking industry, which have historically been held by the gatekeepers of Hollywood and its first pilot test DCP provided the talented thriving filmmaker, Tiffany Lynn finishing funds for short film poachers, which has now been featured in a variety of film festivals. Hey,
Beautiful. Welcome. Allie, Sondra web three boss, lady.
Happy Thursday.
Happy Thursday. Our first of many. So I've been wanting for over six months to put this on the cart. So all the spaces are recorded and then they, I edit and they'll go on the podcast. I love it. Yeah. So we'll love for you to cohost as many, she all over the place podcast episodes with me officially and yeah, it'll be a lot of fun.
Very excited. I got my water. I'm ready to go.
Well, I'm going to get my water
Got to stay hydrated.
Oh yes. Yep. Definitely. I had some protein. So where are you right now?
Hanging out with the doggies, you know, got done with some sessions and some auditions. And now I'm just, just enjoying this moment with you.
I love that. Oh my God. That's so great. I love that. Cool. Yeah, I'm a hub stairs. I'm just going to switch offices here, different energy, little more serenity, some purple and pink, shifting it to the divine feminine. I just did a submission. I'll send you the link and it's to the end of the month. And it's all NFTs. You send in just a photo of one of your physical paintings or a piece of photography that you did or something. And there's going to be three cash prizes of $500 each for three individuals or three projects. And if he projects, even if people collab one entry per submission and they're going to license it to be able to use it on like international and like campaigns and stuff.
So like great exposure for the artists in addition to being paid, but you own the copyright. So then you can make an NFT and it becomes very popular and people want to like support that NFT. Cause it's about mental health. Then you can, you can make money from it so I can show you how you can do it. But yeah, we'd love for you and Steve to participate in a photo of him, like on the guitar or something like that. And he hears his like mental health journey and like being a professional, like on tour, things like that. And he talks about mental health and life and balance and you'll see all the different things you can talk about. But yeah, I'll, I'll send you the link now since I'm blabbing about it, but Dr. Lenley it, she connected us with, we heal us art.org.
Boom. Okay. Yeah. So that's one mental health thing I'm doing this month. Yeah. This morning known origin is a marketplace. They're very sophisticated. Amazing. So cool. And you need to apply when they're taking applications, right? So to end, you have to have an invitation to be on the platform. I'm going to do more of my own research, but it's a lot for photography. So I think I would like to like release a lot of my photography on that platform. Yeah. They just announced their ambassadors a few months ago. And my friend who's from Columbia, she's an ambassador for known origin and Sheila Darcy sketch poetic.
She has the book sketch by sketch she's at the mental health ambassador and she curated the event we're having right now together. We had a kickoff mental health awareness month, and then she had a Google drive of all the mental health events in the space when we were talking on the phone and then about doing like another podcast, but then like everything about NFTs and stuff. I just thought, Hey, let, let's just take the train and put it on the tracks and just be in the center of the space of where the sharing and caring goes on, like how we're doing right now on spaces. And there's like so many other rooms going on and then people can find our room and come and listen and be a part here too. So this is where it happens. And I've been also, like I said, at the beginning, wanting to record all of my podcasts here and then edit it to put it on the podcast.
So yeah.
So
Instead of using, you know, I'm still gonna use the platform I use because what I was thinking was, although it's going to go on and Twitter spaces like this, like when I set it up the next time, it'll be like, I'm in front of Zencaster you're in front of Zencaster. So we're seeing each other and doing the podcast while it's still being recorded in Twitter spaces, but we're, you and me are looking at each other on Zencaster and it's also recording on Zencaster with our quality audio.
Oh, cool.
Yeah. That's what I'm doing moving forward. I just think it's like really taking the energies and aligning them to be on multi-dimensional platforms for people to connect and share and just have it be more fun, you know?
Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. I've seen some people do that where it's like they're able to stream live on one place, but also at the same time, record it somewhere else. Or like I saw that a lot with clubhouse, right. People were like, oh, the is happening here. But if you want to just listen to the audio it's happening just on clubhouse. So that's cool that there's endless possibilities with this sort of technology.
Oh yeah. Like you can even sing songs and do voiceovers and make music while we're like on the podcast, you know? Cause we'll be doing video as well. So there could be like a video YouTube version of it or just, you know, like that and, and the audio. Yeah, definitely. Very cool. Very cool. So with that being said, what are some mental health things that you're doing this month for aligning? Cause I know like you're really big into mental health. What are a couple of things you're doing this month to honor you?
Yeah, well this month along with every other month, you know, making sure that I go to therapy, make my therapy appointments, you know, get into talk to my lovely, my lovely therapist. And I also practice every day, some grounding, whether that's like going outside and not having any technology with me, like no phones and just kind of like being present, experiencing the outside world or if it's just sitting still and like trying to get connected with my body, you know, I think especially with our phones and just with how our whole world works, it's really easy to like jump out of your body and just be consumed by something outside of ourselves.
But I think it's really important to get back into our bodies and kind of feel what we're feeling and notice sensations and notice things. So I've just been, trying to be a little more in my own body. So whether that's meditation or just literally sitting and being like, you know, you know, touching a part of my body and just feeling like I'm very connected with myself, things like that. And then all the other things that affect mental health, at least for me like getting enough, sleep, spending time with people that I love petting my dogs, listening to music, dancing, all the things that I do normally I'm, you know, just trying to pay more attention to.
Yeah. I love that. Especially with the pets, you know, very nurturing and you have your beautiful garden and that's really awesome. That's so cool. I can't wait to see you fly so we can be fun to meet up and yeah, that'll be awesome.
But yeah, that's what I've been focusing on this month.
Love it, love it. Yeah. And then have you gone to the ocean at all?
I have. Yeah. And now that it's gonna, you know, start being warmer and warmer, Steven, I usually like to go once a week when it's warm, you know, if he's not on tour and if I'm, if we have the time we like to, just because we love it so much, but our dogs are like so happy and free at the beach. They absolutely love it. So just like another opportunity for us to enrich our lives. But also our dogs lives, you know, it's just like one big happy family. We're more at the beach
And what are their names
Max and Daisy.
And I seen them, but I haven't met them yet. So
Yeah. You're going to love them. They're so like, they're very, they're very loving and wait, what'd you say
White?
Yes. They're big white, fluffy dogs.
Like my teeth whites.
Yes. They're big fluffy white dogs. They really are. I mean, I, animals truly are therapy in a way. It's actually kind of funny talking about mental health awareness. You know, it's like, I didn't think about this until much later on, but when I was in college during finals week, which is, you know, historically a very stressful time in people's lives when you're like trying to wrap up the semester and you're taking all these final exams and you know, all this stuff is happening. I remember on campus at school during finals week, they would have a bunch of puppies that they, there was this like little area in the grass and there'd just be a bunch of puppies and a few people, I don't know if it was like from a rescue or a shelter or whatever, but they would bring the puppies during finals week so that us stressed out college kids could go over and play with the puppy.
Really? Yeah. So it was pretty amazing, you know? And it's like, I didn't think about it until after the fact like, oh yeah, there are like therapy animals. And even if they're not categorized and trained as therapy animals, I think animals in general have that effect on us. You know, they can help us feel calm. They can bring us joy, they can bring us gratitude. They can remind us to be present. You know, anytime my dogs, you know, take a big, deep breath. I'm like, oh yeah. Okay. I'm going to take a big, deep breath too. Like, I feel like they're good teachers. I'm
Going to do that right now too.
Yeah. I love that. Yeah. There are good teachers.
I need to do that. There we go. Three. There we go.
Yeah.
Yeah. So I'm doing a new headshots this weekend. That's really cool. I did head shots and I thought they were the one and then people critique them and solid. And let's just say that was the rehearsal because the lighting wasn't good. The background needed to be different. And we got some cool shots and they, I can use them as NFTs and doodle on them and change the lighting and stuff. But for head shots, I needed very, very specific. I got connected with Peter Hurley. He follows me on here. If you're not following Peter Hurley, follow him immediately. He also has the first NFT collective project. He's the first photographer. He's actually, I Google them like after we met and stuff. So my friend was friends with him and he's like, oh yeah, to meet Peter Hurley.
So I came to New York after San Diego NFT conference. I'm like, okay, cool. And I'm like, I just landed in New York. And he tells me where his office is. And I literally like walked to his office and it's right by where I live. So,
Oh, this is amazing. All aligned.
Yeah, exactly. And we killed and we talked and he showed me a studio. When you call me, I'll show you. It's like, so it's a kid in a candy store. It's brilliant. It's
Just like
So much space. And he's sponsored by Canon and BNH he sponsors that. And so he has headshot crew, headshot crew, it's his company. And he represents, he has a headshot crew of like over 20,000 photographers all around the world and they learn his technique. He's the number one headshot photographer in the entertainment industry. East coast to west coast.
Whoa, whoa. Yeah, I
Know. I
Know.
So grateful. Like you know that my friend Axel, who's amazing. We should ping them in the room, introduced us. And so I'm in Michigan and I sent it to Peter and he's just like, ah, who decided on the blue background? He's like, like, how much did you pay for this? And he's like, it's too harsh for my case. And I'm like, I didn't pay a penny. He's like, so he's like, oh, I wish I would have known because I have someone in Detroit who can cheat you. I'm like, I'm still here. He's like what? And he's like, hold on. And he called up Nico. He called Nico. He called me a minute later on three-way and he's like, okay, Nico shooting, you set it up. And he's doing my headshots and he, Nico can use it for his portfolio.
And so now I'm going to have these legendary headshots and Peter's like isolating myself. And I'm like, yes. Awesome. Yes. Let's make that habit. So yeah. So I'm going to be shooting with Nico from Peter this Saturday, new headshots.
Yeah. Now how does that feel? Like, you know, we're, you know, obviously we're talking about our lives and we're talking about what gives us, like you said, you feeling so grateful, right? The gratitude, like, do you, like, it's sort of this amazing gift that you're giving back to yourself this month?
Yes. All of that. In addition honoring with you, like this space is friends that bloom you and I are the groundwork we've done together, which we can get into and share with people along our journey, because this is the first of many of this show specifically on she's all over the place, friends at bloom during mental health awareness month. I am so in deep gratitude and honoring, and I can hear it from a space of not egoic and a place of gratitude and abundance and a place of vulnerability and in a safe space. Because if you and the kinship, we have built with one another and just, you know, where it's like, we were blooming. Like we need to share our bloom with one another and here and get into like the work and everything.
But we're always in the grind in the work. So to shape shifting to the bloom and just, you know, allow it to be is really, really special. So yes, definitely.
I love that. And I feel the same exact way. I'm so grateful and yeah, you're right. I mean, it's kind of cool too. Cause it's like bloom, right. We're blooming, but also it's like spring time. So everything's blooming, I'm looking outside right now. There's these beautiful flowers that my neighbor has that have just bloomed and yeah, it's just, this is the time of year, you know, it's like we're coming out of hibernation. And also if you want to think about over the grand scheme of things over the past two years, people are starting to come out of their shells again, you know, even though the pandemic's not over, people are, you know, starting to come out of their shells and start to live life a little bit more
Second quarter.
Yeah.
Right. Second hibernation, second quarter, we sowed our seeds. The beginning of the year, I'm wearing a dress right now and it's a Terry dress has cherries all over it.
Cherry blossom seasons now. Yeah.
So I'm, I'm blooming, we're blooming together and I'm so excited because you know, like the stuff we're talking about and it's awesome to share it and feel safe to share in a healthy way, you know? Cause we can get into the other stuff of, you know, we know what the isolation feels like. We know what it's like to yearn to have it, to want it. We know what it's like to do the work to get it. And so to be able to, you know, honor and have that with you is really, really beautiful.
I agree. Yeah.
1000%. So when I say the, the fork in the roads and the bullet points of dominoes of one thing leading to another, it's explaining the way that it unfolds once we've done the work, you know, and, and, and then appreciating those things. Yeah. That's what I have to say on that subject. I think I'm flushing, pushing a bit. Let's definitely give some props to Steve and talk about like, you know, his world tour and shout out.
Yes. He is in, he's playing a festival tomorrow and then he'll be back this weekend and then the mill it's in salt lake city.
Dope. Yeah. Well people who live there.
Yeah. And then this whole summer, they're doing a ton of festival dates. Like governor's ball in New York, they're doing like a big one in Barcelona. They're doing one in, in Sweden. They're kind of going to be all over the world, this summer doing bunch of different festivals. Cause you know, summertime is when a lot, I mean, festivals happen all year round, but a lot of the festivals are happening in the summer. Cause you know, people can take off from work or they're not in school or that kind of thing. It's like summer. Well, I mean, if you think about it in Europe, people are off the entire summer. Basically they take a month or more
Three. Yeah,
Yeah. Sometimes two, three months, but definitely at least one. So
Are you going to go to Europe for a leg of the trip then
To be determined? We'll see. But you know, this is only the beginning for him. So I know there'll be many years where I'll be able to, you know,
Yeah.
Join him on.
That's so sweet and you allow him to have his space and you have your space, you know, as newlyweds and he's doing his thing and laying the ground for the first time, you know, understanding the cycle before like really nourishing and honoring himself as an independent person and artists and in the relationship with you to really understand it. And then, and then when he opens the door, invite you and brings you, he can show you in the most graceful way. You know, I know he's like really thoughtful in that way. And so are you, and it's one of the reasons why I really admire you, both of you.
It's funny. You should say that. I mean, obviously I'm not going to speak so much on his behalf because he's not talking about this, but as far as you know, we're talking about mental health awareness and it's mental health month, mental health awareness month, you know, I know for him and a lot of other musicians starting with the lockdown in 2020, it was an incredibly scary and low. I mean, it was a scary and lonely and horrible place for every single person on this planet. But I know for musicians and having lived with Juan, I mean, we're both musicians, but he's a full-time musician. It was like this part of him. I could see that he was just like, oh my gosh, like I can't do anything right now. I can't play out. I can't work. I can't go on tour.
I can't do any of this, any of these things. And I saw, you know, health wise, mental health wise, it just like, it was a very lonely and sort of like this kind of feeling like what's going to happen this very much unknown. So to see him now, like on the road, thriving, he's playing like seven instruments in this band. I mean just seeing him like do what he loves. I'm just so happy for him. And I'm so proud of him, you know? And I'm just like his number one fan in the corner, you know?
Yeah. I love that. That's so sweet. That's so sweet. Yeah. So, and then when he went on like a first leg of his tour, let's talk about you and how that was for you. Like after being, getting married and then like being on your own for the very first time while he was away. So, well how, what are some self-care nurturing things you got to do and discover during that time? Cause I know like your friend from back home came and visited, so you weren't by yourself. You are, but then like your family's there and then you were able to have your girlfriend stay with you. So we'll maybe talk about some of those things.
Yeah. Well, I will say that, you know, just a very brief introduction about our relationship. We were best friends all throughout college and you know, we saw each other every day at school. Right. And then fast forward to when I graduated from school and I moved back home to New York, we lived together with our other best friend before we were together. And so, and then when we moved and then when we actually got together, we had still been living together. And so first of all, I've known him since 2007 and we've been living together since 2011. And so that's, let's see 2011 to now that's 11 years that we've been living together. If you could believe that that's sounds insane to me, but it's true.
And so in those 11 years, I mean, we basically were spending all the time together. We really, maybe a week here, like, I'd go somewhere. He goes somewhere. I went on tour one year, but generally for like 11 years, we basically saw each other, you know? And so for that to all of a sudden be he's gone for two and a half months. It was the first time in our whole relationship, you know, friendship and marriage and partnership. We were apart for more than a month. This was the first time in our entire relationship. So it was very, very interesting and sort of difficult at first, you know, cause it was like, I didn't know how it was going to be if you're spending this many years with someone and then all of a sudden you're just not going to see him for like two and a half months, especially on the heels of spending literally almost every moment of every day together when lockdown happened, obviously because we had nowhere else to go and nothing else to do.
So I was a little concerned. I was like, oh man, I don't know if I'm going to be okay.
That's a good awareness. That's an important awareness.
Yeah. And so I would say overall my mental health during the time period, he was gone was kind of up and down. If I'm being honest, you know, some days I felt like, you know what, I got this I'm working full-time I have two dogs, you know, like I can do this. I'm I'm capable. I'm I'm getting through, we talk, we, you know, we would talk every day or almost every day, as long as he could, you know, have some downtime to call me. So there were a lot of days where I was like, you know what? This is actually kind of nice. I have some like alone time I can just kinda do what I want to do. And I have this beautiful house to myself. Like, so there were some days where I was like, this is great. And then there were some days where I was sad, you know, I cried.
It's like, you're missing your, you know, you're missing your partner. You're missing your other half, the person that you kind of live day to day with. So yeah, there are definitely some days that were very difficult. And I think it's, it's kind of funny because I mean, you know, Steve, but for the people out there listening my partner, my husband is the kind of person that isn't, he's much more expressive with his music versus his words. And so the times that it kinda hit me the most is when we'd be on the phone and he would start like gushing about how much he missed me and how much, you know, he loves me and can't wait to see me in the dogs. And like, those are the moments that really made me kind of break down because you know, not, he's not always someone to be mushy and gushy.
Like I am, I mean, I'm always going to be mushy gushy kind of that person, but so you to hear him sort of that, yeah, that those are the moments that made me really sad and really miss him and want him to come home. But I think, you know, what I'm learning with therapy right now is that as humans, we have a lot of complex emotions and we are allowed to have differing emotions at once and we are allowed to feel contradicting things at once. And that's the biggest thing I've learned. Right? So for me it was like, I am so happy for him. I'm so proud of him. I'm like his number one fan. I'm like just over the moon that he's doing exactly what he wants to do and he's succeeding. And that people are starting to see him for like the amazing talent he is.
But then at the same time, I'm also allowed to feel like sad. And then I miss him and I wish he was home and this is difficult to, you know, be married for almost five years, but have your spouse go away for like two and a half months and leave you with two dogs and a house,
Beautiful home, by the way.
So, you know, it's like, that's what I've been learning that it's okay to have contradicting emotions and feelings. And that's the complexity of our mental health.
Yeah. Yeah. Love that. definitely,
You know, that's, what's been going on with me and I think, you know, just, just like everything in life, there's different seasons, there's different seasons of your life. There's different emotions that are happening. There's like I said, it's like a roller coaster, right? It's like some days I was great. Some days I was really sad. It just kind of depends. And I think learning to have the self-awareness of what helps you in those moments. And so like you, I know you had asked what was I doing to help take care of myself while he was gone? And you know, I take two walks a day with the dogs and getting outside and just enjoying my neighborhood. Like that's something that's always been so crucial for me, you know, doing things for myself, like going to get a body work done, you know, and you know, as performers,
Tell us more about some work
As performers. I'm also, I'm also an athlete. I'm working with a trainer on bodybuilding right now and, and personal training work. And so, you know, that plus standing all day in a booth and being very active and walking the dogs two times a day and hiking and all these things, you know, your body needs some love. And so for me, and that's another thing that I do to take care of myself mentally, emotionally, physically, because it's all connected. Obviously it's all, it's all the same. You're, you're all the same being right. Physically, mentally, emotionally, even though there are different parts, they're all connected. That's something.
Yes. Although we feel disconnected at times. Right?
Exactly. Exactly. But it's good to remember that even getting bodywork affects not only your physical state, you know, if you're getting things released like knots and other thing, discomfort, but it affects your mental and your emotional health, you know, it's all connected. And so yeah, that's something that's been for me to see someone I see someone twice a month and it's, it feels great to get your body worked on, you know, help, help release, stuck energy, stuck, you know, not any kind of pain discomfort it's so helpful. And so those are things. And then of course, like I said, my meditation practice going to therapy, all of these things that I find are helpful to keep, you know, keep yourself as healthy as you can.
And journaling,
Tell us more about journaling.
Yeah. I mean, I know you and I have that similar, you know, how we started journaling at a young age, but for me, it's interesting. I started journaling in like sixth grade. So I guess I was maybe 12 or something and I've gone through so many journals in my life. And it's interesting. I journaled almost every day until I went off to college. And then when I went off to Casa, that's like six years, six years of like constant journaling. And then when I went to college, I found it very difficult to remember, to write before bed or like write at any time. Cause it's just like, it's so much you're with your friends all the time in your practicing. At least for me in music school, you're like practicing all the time. You're going to classes.
Next thing you know, you're like going to bed at like two, three in the morning and then you gotta wake up at like seven to go to your 8:00 AM. So I sort of lost my connection to journaling. I would journal every once in a while, but it wasn't like a consistent practice like it had been. And it kind of turned into like photo journaling where it's like, instead of having enough time to sit and journal about my days every day, it's like, I took my camera everywhere with me. And this is, This is before smartphones. So I am dating myself, but that's okay because I don't really care. But I took my little digital camera with me everywhere and I took videos and I took pictures. And that for me was the way that I could journal and remember college as best as possible instead of like remembering to write a bunch of pages before bed.
And then when I got out of college, it took me a while to get back to journaling. But I would say within the past few months, I've been trying to make it a more daily practice again. And again, I say that loosely because I'm trying to get away from the all or nothing mindset, which has
That, which is I call it.
Yeah.
And really incorporating it smoothly. So it's called the space in between.
I like that.
So finding that subtleness of the space in between. And so in dreamland 11, 11 on my album, one of the songs where I write four pieces of spoken word poetry, it's called the space in between. Okay.
I love that. It's so good. Cause I feel like a lot of us are kind of recovering from living a life of just like it's either all this or none and you know, it's not the greatest way to survive. Cause there's, then you're, you're right. You're missing everything in between.
And if I may interject for a moment or did you want to continue or
Oh no, go ahead. I'm excited to hear more about
This. Okay. So a very pivotal moment for me. I have two, but one that includes you was I was in New York city. I was living at 55th and eighth across from the old studio, 54 with my girlfriend Juul, you came over there. I stayed with her six months and I was just like putting myself together again and focusing on myself and just relaxing my, my central nervous system and like getting my life, going to, you know, make money and provide for myself in a very successful way and without any distractions. And she created a very safe space for me to do that. And I remember I was up for the place where I'm in now, the condo, but I also went through all these other hoops. So a, I went through all these hoops to lead me to a place that was going to get me this place that was in the city in a good area by Columbus circle.
And, but then this other opportunity came from a lower east side and without going through those hoops, but it came in a different way and that was the location I wanted. And that was the one I wanted. And like it was all going through. And so there, wasn't a point for me to go and go through the last hoop at sag AFTRA, you know, to go through that last week, although I already went through four and I remember being by HBO, walking and being outside and you saying to me, just reschedule, just reschedule. Like, because there wasn't a point for me to go there and do all that work if I was going to get the other place and I didn't know for another day.
So instead of it being all or nothing, which I was very all or nothing, you taught me not to be so intense, how you didn't teach me not to be so intense. You taught me how to be more gentle and graceful. You show me another option in a way that I didn't have to be all or nothing from a safe space of, you know, what it's on a Thursday or Friday, just reschedule for next week. So I wasn't canceling it and not going. I was just letting me reschedule and I'm putting a pause so I can breathe to see if the other thing came through or not. It did. So I didn't have to reschedule, but if it didn't, then I could have rescheduled and then went on with the other kid. So the space in between, for me, although on dreamland 11, 11 it's music and it's poetry, the work and the, what I just shared is like the tough stuff that I grew through that I went through.
And you were my friend they're creating space, so I could blossom and discover that on my own.
Yeah, I do remember that. And I think it's beautiful that, you know, that moment of an idea that I had was so helpful to you. I, you know, I'm so happy about that, but I also think, yeah, it does come from a place of the all or nothing, especially what you were talking about, how you felt like, oh, you had to do everything. You know, I think a lot of that all or nothing, it, it manifests in a way that a lot of us are just very, very hard on ourselves and we push ourselves and we try to do too many things and we don't give ourselves the proper rest or the breaks. And we don't listen to what our body needs in that moment. And I know that I've had to work on that a lot. And so I do think it comes from a place of like just wanting to do things well and wanting people to think that we're someone who is responsible and sticks by our word and all that kind of stuff.
So I think it does come from a place of like being really hard on yourself, but at the same time, you know, things happen and people reschedule things all the time. You know, that's not a terrible thing to do. And so I'm just, I'm really happy that that was a moment that something clicked for you because I think a lot of that sort of wording that was like given to me by my mom of like, take one thing at a time, you know, if you need to write a list, but why don't you look at the list and don't look at everything on the list that you need to do right away. She's like, why don't you like order it in the ones that need to be done today? And then maybe things that need to be done in general, but could wait. And so I think that has been really helpful for me as well,
Flowers to Mrs. Levy flowers.
Yes.
For mental health awareness month and mother's day. Yeah.
Yeah. That's so that's been very helpful. So I'm so happy that I do remember. I it's like, it's funny when you were telling the story, like, it's like, I felt like you brought me right back to that moment. It's like, I could remember everything. Yeah,
Yes, yes. Me too. I was outside, there was a lot of things going on and it was so intense and you were there and it was just like, it was so awesome. I had that mirror reflection in that sacred bond and that kinship of when we first met. So I'll put it in the show notes below, so you can hear the, you know, the, the journey of myself. Yeah. And then one or two other links of, you know, to binge Ali, Sandra Levy, Everything only Sandra Levy, voiceover boss, queen producer. And the, how about you share like some, the moments of like us meeting, you know, brushstrokes of us initially in may, it was in may.
Can you just, so before you do real quick, the person tuning in Ali Saundra wrote me last week, a week and a half ago, she wrote me, you know, happy seven years. Like we met seven years ago today. And then I called her, I FaceTime her and she was on the way to her therapist and, and we were celebrating that moment. And I'm like, oh yeah. And I was telling her about like web three NFTs mental health and the things were going on and inviting obviously Ali on the show anytime. And she's like, yeah, let's do something where mental health awareness month. I'm like, cool. All right, cool. This is what we're doing. We're going to do it. And we're in Twitter spaces. And so here we are. And, but all of that is the actionable steps of the thought and the flow and the processes that go along in the communication back and forth and showing up for ourselves and each other.
And that's how we are blooming and thriving from when we initially met seven years ago this month. Yeah.
Yeah. It's unbelievable to think about, I mean, I don't know about you, but where I was seven years ago and where I am today, it's like, I'm obviously still the same person, but I mean, I'm living a completely different life and it's kind of amazing, but yeah. I just, I just remember showing up to, I did something very brave that year. I met you. I decided to go on a meditation and yoga retreat. I basically just said yes, even though I didn't know anyone going, except for the two instructors, but I didn't know anyone going Chloe. Yeah. I knew Chloe and I knew I can see her face. Yes. Chrissy, thank you. So I knew them because I had taken classes with them, but you know, I did something brave.
I was like, I'm going to go on this trip. I know no one. And I've never been to this country. I've never been to a yoga retreat, but I'm just going to say, I said, yes. And I wanted to go. And so I met you and your sister at the same time we were, I feel like it was like, I was one of the last to arrive, I think. And you guys, we all were sitting at this table and I just remember somehow we just started chatting. And then the fact that we were like both in the same industry and doing the same things, it was like an instant connection, you know? Cause I think a lot of the other gals on the trip, like some of them were still in like finishing up school. Some of them already were working, but they were working in different industries. So it was just like this moment that you and I instantly kind of connected on like, oh, musician and actor and producer and just, it kind of was like, Yeah, exactly.
Yeah. So it was kind of, Well, you're more of the fashion person than me, but you know, my fashion is comfortable and bright. That's what I'll call it. I like bright colors and I like to be comfortable.
And you were in New York and I was primarily in dominant in LA at this point.
Right. Yeah.
And I came to, that was may we met. And then in September I came to New York for New York fashion week and I told you, like, I'm coming from New York fashion week. Let's meet up. And we're like, okay. And then you're like, what about Chloe vegan? Yes. We met up and then I approached you about masterminding and what I learned from the actor's fund through being a union member and it's for all artists, actors, musicians, any talent to be a part of the actors fund. And there was, you know, masterminding. And, and so I said, we can be accountability buddies and we were masterminding. And we mastermind for, I think three, three and a half years in a row, east coast to west coast that we took a break when I went to Europe for the summer.
And then we got back on and then, then we took a break because you were primarily going to the west coast and I was going to the east coast. It was so crazy how we just did this
Flip. Yeah. It is kind of wild to think of how many places we've been and parts of our lives that we've lived while still cultivating this relationship. It's been pretty amazing. I mean, I'm, you know, this is definitely one of the relationships that I feel like I've put the most like time and effort into in a way, because think about, well, cause we've had, I mean, we've obviously wanted to, but at the same time when you're masterminding and when you're being accountable to each other, there's responsibility there as well. You know what I mean? And so I feel like that's an amazing thing. And I, and I would encourage anyone. Who's listening to this on the podcast, in the future, in your present moment, whenever you're listening to it, if you don't have someone who is sort of like accountability for you or masterminding with you, I it's incredibly beneficial.
Anyway, I just was saying, you know, it's just incredibly beneficial. And I think that it's not only improved our lives in general, but also our relationship has grown so much and so deeply over the seven years, because we spent, you know, at one point it was every single week, you know, every week just checking in and
No matter what, no matter who was around, we just showed up when we did it.
Yeah. It was set goals, set intentions, have ideas of where we want to go on our career, where we want to go in our personal life. Just, you know, really stand accountable to each other.
Even like when, before the world blew up, we were like, we were doing okay, meetups. Like how many, like how many coffee meetups, 15 minute meetups, 45 minute meetups. How many like coffee meetups, or who can you call? How many people are you calling this week? How many calls, okay, you want to do this? Like, like when's the real going to be done? Like what are the head shots going to be done? So we'd be like, you know, okay, this is going to happen. And then we would like, you know, check in like three weeks later, like, yo, did that happen? Like, oh, did you get it done? Okay. This week I'm going to do this. And not only for like, you know, how many calls, how many emails, like who to meet up with vitamins or smoothies or getting Like personal care and that nature.
Yeah. It's important. Yeah. It's important to say like, okay, that's great that you're going to get all these things done where you could check off the list, but also what are you going to do for yourself? I love that. I mean, that's just as important if not more important, because those are the sort of things that rejuvenate you so that you can get back to work and do what you want to do. Right. Because you have to be able to have something, have energy to pull from. And if you're burning yourself into the ground, you're not going to have any energy to do the things you want to do.
Yeah. Speaking of energy next week is a V con with Gary V. Gary Vaynerchuks of econ in Minneapolis. Oh, I wish you could come like just come, but there's going to be so much great energy there. I'll send you the website, the lineup and like the
Speakers. Are you going to be there?
Yeah, yeah. Yes, yeah.
Yes. Oh my God. That's amazing.
I'm very grateful. Very grateful to be invited to go. So I'm definitely going to be showing up and just following the flow of the energy and having fun and having a lot of fun because lake, for me, I've been working and doing everything was fun, but to go there and to celebrate and just like really celebrate IRL with people and, you know, in a, in a safe way, because you know, from what I've hearing, you know, in the world. So like in a very safe way, just have some fun and, and have a lot of fun. So that's what I'm going to be doing next month for energy and fun and just to dance and just, you know, connect with some people that that's like dipping myself into the ocean. That's like getting like
Great.
Yeah. That's like getting like a 500 hour massage, you know?
Yeah,
Yeah. Yeah. And then after that, I'm going to Orlando for a podcast conference and I'm a speaker at a podcast conference.
Awesome.
Yeah. It's called pod fast. It's one of the largest.
Yeah.
Yeah. And so they have a, like 300 speakers and their ethos really aligns to mine and it's like, they have multiple events per year and it's like, once you're in with the family, like you're in with them. So to be a valuable asset and to like spread awareness about she's all over the place, podcasts, you know, my brand, who I am, what I stand for. Like, you know, I'm talking about mental health and the psychology of NFTs at these conferences. So that's really exciting. Where are you going to be for Memorial day weekend?
I'm going to be here because Steve's family is coming to town.
Beautiful. That's so nice.
So it'll be nice to spend some time with family who we haven't seen since last year. And so, yeah, it'll be nice and relaxing. We'll probably, you know, go to the beach and just hang out or maybe do a barbecue here. Just spend some good family time together, you know,
Barbecue. And then you, you all work out together every week, every Thursday. Right? So you can like do in-person workouts In person workouts. That's awesome.
Well, hang out. Maybe I can convince everyone to do some yoga, you know, stretch out your body. You feel nice and relaxed and present. Yeah,
Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Would they be open going into like a sound bath?
I could probably, I could probably convince a few of them.
Oh. So just for you pivoting real quick, just for you this Friday or Saturday Sharman, Derek's going to be at Rama and he's doing this like pre moon meditation, the moon's in Scorpio. And so I'll send you the link, but yeah. And they have a sound bath like Saturday, if you wanted to go do the sound bath for the full moon in Scorpio. This weekend is at Rama. Yeah. They have a new location. So
What is the place called?
Oh, Rama. It's R a M a the Rama Institute. It's a Kundalini.
Oh
My God. Your first two classes in your first month is free. So like you can do it in person or virtual.
Oh, okay. That's cool.
I'll send you that link. Yeah.
Cool.
Yeah. I love it. I was
In Santa Monica. Cool.
They changed the location though. They moved
Somewhere else. Now
Look. Yeah, because they know. Oh, Santa Monica. No, that's the new location. They were in Venice before on Lincoln,
21st street.
Oh, perfect. Yeah. Yeah. But like we'll share something for Santa Monica.
Yeah. It's in Santa Monica. Yeah.
It's a better location than where it was before we were before as low crowded little congested. Cool.
Well, that's
Great. Yeah. Yeah. So your first month is free. He Romulans Kundalini. Yeah, the soundbath that's cool. So I don't know where I'll be for Memorial day weekend yet. I have no idea, but I will be going to Orlando. So maybe, maybe I'll pop over to Miami. Who knows? I have no idea, but I'll be in New York for NFT NYC, which is, I'll be going by the 17th and I'll be there for a few weeks. But then yeah, I mean, I would like to go somewhere hot with like Hawaii or even, I don't know, to somewhere hot with like water, you know, like on, on the stands and stuff. So,
Well, Miami is going to be hot and by the sand and the water is
So, I mean, I'm going to Orlando, but maybe since I'm there, I just take a short flight over to Miami. I don't know. I'll see what Logan's doing. He's in Palm beach. So I don't know. Oh
Yeah, there you go.
I'll see what he's doing. Maybe for Memorial day weekend. I dunno. We're hoping we'll find out. Very cool. Very cool. Anything else about mental health and wealth and things you want to share, pay homage, things of that nature?
Good question. I think I don't really have anything else to say, like as far as what I'm doing, but just maybe sort of more like a wish or a hope. I hope that more and more people feel comfortable and open to speak about mental health and their struggles so that it can not be so stigmatized in general and that, you know, people come together more and more to really just bring light to the fact that every single person at one time or another in their life is going to struggle with mental health issues. And that it's not some taboo thing where people are sick and crazy and, you know, sort of this image that some people have.
And so, yeah, I guess my hope is that more and more people are open about speaking about it and opening to listen about it as well and get help because there are resources.
Yeah. Tons of resources. So that's great. Love that. Love that I have a, a cool announcement to make, to share with you what I'm doing. Ooh. So, so for the month of may, I released an NFT collection called mental health selfie series and I put 10, but they're a 10 selfie images. The first one that covers actually me doing Kundalini when I made a declaration and I made a moment, a declaration for myself to focus on my mental health. That was when I was in Atlanta in 2018. When I left on a road trip, that was a moment. I started a journey until I did these 10 NFTs. And when I was writing the descriptions, it was very difficult for me for like the whole week. It was very taxing on my physical body, my spirits.
I went to such a place. And also I reflected like how I'm not at that place anymore, but I remember exactly how it fell. It, it made me feel like that, like my energy felt like that it was so heavy, so dark. So her, it was hurting. You like really like her energetically. It was like an energy that hurt until it was like really difficult on me for like the rest of the week when I was off with my assistant, I was like just crying. Cause I was like doing the voice memos, like talking about it. And I was just like crying. And he was just there, like holding space for me while I was like, you know, crying my guts out then over the weekend when I was meditating and stuff, I decided because releasing my second poetry book on the first day of summer, June 21st, and then I'm like, oh, but I'm going to release this mental health selfie series as a book, as a coffee table book.
So I just put it together today and I'm going to release it during mental health awareness month. And I'm going to make a coffee table book of those 10 images with the descriptions of my mental health selfie series through NFTs and put it like on Amazon and everywhere and self publish a book this month and do my second poetry book next month. So I'll have three books total. So I'm really proud of myself and empowering myself and applying it and not letting it have power over me and me. Like not only putting our web three for transparency, but also putting it on, on web two too. And just like being okay with it and just like, just seeing how it's separate from me. And that's not me. Those are some collective experiences that can be a ripple effect, images and moments for other people, but like I've moved on from those things, you know?
Yeah. That's awesome. I love that.
Thank you. Oh,
Oh, I see it. Wow. Wow. So vulnerable. Yeah. Okay. This is so vulnerable. It's really beautiful.
Thank you new, right? Yeah. Like a part of me, you know, that thing you feel shamed and blamed and you think that you're supposed to hide and meet cause of that was, that was told or maybe that's what you told yourself, but to be able to dismantle those beliefs that don't serve me and to be able to expose them in the way, not just intimately with stuff that you know, but like stuff that people would never care about or want to know about or wanting to share. And so like, those are definitely photos. I would never put on Instagram or Tik talk. You know, those are, those are photos I would put there, but I took photos in that moment to remember, to remember where I was. So I know how far in low I went and how far I've come and just to what put me there and why without shaming and blaming, but acknowledging I felt shamed and blamed, but acknowledging like how did I get there?
You know what I mean? Yeah. So it's new. I mean, it's really like a new thing, you know? Yeah. So that's it transparency and that's what mental health is all about. You know, being transparent, I feel and shape-shifting and sharing stories, all sorts of stories. So yeah. First of many, I'm excited to have this conversation with you. I'm excited to have couples therapy. The improv web series that we produced together created together will be on the blockchain. We will be the very first web series on the blockchain. Mila Kunis has cool cats. It's hitting animation series. There's a, another series, Rick and Morty, their studio is doing this series.
They just did like three or three episodes there, the voiceover talent, and I'm the writer follows me and I follow him. I'm on the Twitter. I'll send you his profile. And yeah, so they're doing a series, but it's animated. So ours is the very first human actors, voiceover actors, actors, improv actors having a web series on the blockchain. So I just set up everything today and we'll be scheduling them out starting next week. So we'll have a celebratory event and party for it and a press release and we'll share it with people and make it all happen. But I'm really excited to onboard you into web three. And you have your own NFT.
I'm excited to learn more.
Yes, definitely. You know, we just start messy and we just go with the flow and lean into it and it's like, oh, like, wow, I'm already in motion. I'm already doing it. I'm already further along than I even knew. You know? So that's really cool. But basically any other, any questions or anything like that?
No, I don't think so.
Cool. Cool, awesome. Awesome. So yeah, I think, I think we're really full. I think we're really in bloom there's any stories or books or anything you want to share. Otherwise we can wrap this up.
I also agree with you. I feel very like rejuvenated and just excited. And I have a new, I have some energy for the rest of the day now.
Yay. There's this woman, Bethany Webster. She's definitely a person I want to give a shout out to for, you know, mother's day mother's day or mother's day mother's day, month mental health awareness month. I'm very feminine and bloom, but on overdrive, which Ali Saundra told me about, you can download up to 30 audio books per month for free through your public library and or eBooks. I love audio and discovering the inner mother by Bethany. Webster is on overdrive and I need to re-download it. I just did because I only listened to half of it. I have to listen to the other half, but that's like a self care loving gift. I'm going to give myself for mental health awareness month to finish listening to the rest of the book and the mother room.
It was very healing for me for a lot of my mental health stuff that I had restrictions and questions and curiosity and confusion about for my whole life. Yeah. But I'm in Detroit right now. So I I'm with my mom there she's downstairs. So I'm glad I get to be with my mom and dad during these times. Yeah. Their anniversary is coming up. So they have two anniversaries. Yeah. So it's nice to be able to spend time mom, you know, spending time with mom during mother's day and mental health awareness month, especially with a lot of the lessons, you know, for, for on mother's day on Sunday, last Monday, you know, we were watching a church service together and you know, I always commend her and glam about like my health, like my, my physical appearance, like lotions and like treating myself, my body nurturing my vessel in that way is why like took care of myself in a physical way.
But I also said, you know, I know it's not so pretty or so easy to hear, but the very things of, you know, the not so great things and the hardships and those kinds of things. I said, those things have helped me build character. And those things have helped me like be able to fully bloom and blossom in such ways from understanding her mother womb. And then her mother's mother wound my, my AI, you know, and it's generational. So being able to go through that growth through that and learn from it, it's just, you know, it's one of the biggest gifts because I'm able to teach that and share that with, with other people. So, you know, so I think it was really, she, she, I was the best hug like she's ever given me.
My dog agrees.
Yeah, totally. It was the best time ever giving me in her life. Her heart was so full and open and her shoulders were back and it was very, so much strength and I felt it, it was, it was great. Yeah. Yeah. It was really good. So hopefully this, you know, chat inspired others and I'm excited for everyone to tune in and listen and leave comments and subscribe and share this with other, you know, friends and family members and yeah. Anyway, how can people get in touch with you all is Sandra?
Well, my website is all the songs are levy.com. That's a L E S S a N D R a L E V y.com or Instagram Allesandra voice.
I love all that. And it'll be in the show notes below. So that's a rock and roll rock and roll. Yeah. Go to dot com. You can just go to the link in the show notes, but it's C H O N a C a S C H O N a C a S. I'll pick up my NFTs, my NFT merge, check out, you know, all their podcasts episodes in the show notes below with Ali Saundra. And we'll just tune in again. We appreciate you tuning in and being here and we honor and respect you. Shout out, see you later.