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TED Business

27 Aug 2026 · 36m · 14 chapters

Episode artwork

Finding Purpose: How to defend your values (w/ Yara Shahidi & Keri Salter) | from Fixable

In short

Purpose as an “operating system” for decisions at work and in life—how to defend values, align with partners, and tell more inclusive, joyful stories without ignoring real-world trauma.

Guests (backgrounds)

Yara Shahidi (actor known for Black-ish and Grownish) and her mother, Carrie Salter (producer/entrepreneur). They co-lead Seven Son Productions, a company aiming to make Hollywood more imaginative, inclusive, and honest about whose stories get told.

Key claims

Purpose shapes both big and small choices (who to work with, what narratives to pursue). “Highest order” helps them choose projects by life-phase needs (community, experience, chosen family). Joyful storytelling can be radical because love/self-discovery can drive plots instead of pain. Purpose must stay steady while tactics adapt to industry and political shifts; diversify funding/infrastructure and invest in writers’ development.

Notable examples

Their “63” tattoo tied to civil-rights catalysts; story choices like queer romance Heated Rivalry; mentorship programs including a year of filmmaker mentorship in Iceland.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes.

Chapters

2:35

Purpose and Personal Stories

Discussion with Yara Shahidi and Carrie Salter about finding purpose in storytelling.

“There is somebody out there who makes the best freaking brown butter chocolate chip bars, right?”
4:31

The Evolution of Seven Son Productions

Exploration of how Yara and Carrie started their production company together.

“shaping not just the big calls, but the small ones too.”
6:01

Balancing Art and Business

Yara and Carrie discuss blending creativity with the business aspects of production.

“And I think, you know, some people know, but they didn't watch TV growing up.”
7:49

Understanding Highest Order

The importance of aligning personal and professional values with the concept of highest order.

“So what has surprised each of you the most about the experience so far?”
9:45

Tattoos and Personal Significance

Yara shares the story behind her tattoos and their meanings.

“commercial space, that you are learning all of the skills, the underlying infrastructure, leadership skills to pull this off whatever role you're playing in that moment.”
14:00

Tattoos and Their Meaning

Yara and Keri discuss the significance of Yara's tattoos, especially the one symbolizing a pivotal year in civil rights.

“And I resisted because I was like, what is this white girl shit?”
18:56

The Role of Media in Social Change

Yara and Keri explore how media can spotlight injustice and the need for nuanced storytelling.

“one of the things of course that happens in 1963 is the media shows up right and and puts a spotlight on injustice and suffering and trauma.”
23:25

Purpose and Adaptation in Storytelling

They discuss the evolving nature of purpose in storytelling, especially in a changing cultural landscape.

“It's entertaining enough, the messiness of watching us figure out who we're going to be.”
28:00

Exploring Purpose Through Diversification

Learn how diversification can help in achieving your purpose amidst challenges.

“And I'd have to say it takes us to the other lesson of just diversify.”
29:20

Healing Modalities and Purpose

Discover different healing modalities that support purpose-driven lives.

“How do you protect your sanity and energy and well-being along the way?”
Show all 14 chapters
31:20

Finding Your Unique Contribution

Understand how your unique contributions can support your purpose.

“The word that's coming to me as you're talking is, is sturdiness.”
33:10

Collaborating with Loved Ones

Explore the dynamics of working with loved ones and finding harmony.

“They have the best brands all in one place with so many shades, coverage options, and finishes, plus expert beauty advisors, free samples, and shade matching tools both online and in-store.”
35:30

Navigating Personal Growth in Partnership

Learn how personal growth impacts partnerships and working relationships.

“You know, what you're reflecting, what we're reflecting is this idea that one, be earnest, be honest about who you're thinking about.”
37:30

Shifts in Identity and Vulnerability

Examine how embracing vulnerability can lead to personal discovery.

“and get them through the door and da, da, da, da, da.”
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Transcript

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0:00Hi listeners, it's Madhupe, the host of TED Business. On this show, we talk about the business of business and the why of it all. A sense of purpose is often at the heart of successful, impactful work. And these are the big questions that we're constantly asking on TED Business. How do you seek out meaningful work? How do you locate meaning in your work? What does the word purpose even mean? Well, I'm not the only one in the extended TED family asking these questions. Over on the podcast Fixable, leadership coaches Frances Fry and Anne Morris have done a four-part series on finding purpose, and I'm sharing each part of it with you today.

0:43I just know you guys are going to love it. So without further ado, Frances and Anne are going to take it from here.

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2:43There is somebody out there who makes the best freaking brown butter chocolate chip bars, right? And they've just been giving them as gifts. And at one moment, they may turn their head and say, I can sell these. Your purpose is to make somebody's Friday after work just feel decadent. Purpose doesn't have to loom large.

3:13This is Fixable, a show where we take the problems at work that feel unfixable and prove that they're not. I'm Anne Morris. We're back with another episode of our Purpose at Work series. And today I want to explore what purpose actually does, not just what it is. We throw the word around a lot, but today's guests are true practitioners of what it means to have clear purpose. Purpose is the operating system. It's the thing running in the background of every decision, what to make, who to work with, which stories need to be told. I'm talking about Yara Shahidi and her mom, Carrie Salter, who I spoke with at TED 2026 in Vancouver.

3:51You probably know Yara as Zoe Johnson from the hit shows Blackish and Grownish. But beyond the acting, she and Carrie are building something together, a production company called Seven Son Productions, where the whole point is to make Hollywood more imaginative, more inclusive, and a lot more honest about whose stories get told. What makes them unusual is that they're a mother and daughter who actually work together. And what holds them together isn't just family loyalty or shared taste. It's a sense of purpose that feels bigger than either of them when they keep revisiting, stress testing, and building on together.

4:28I got so much out of this conversation. Purpose only works if it comes with you, shaping not just the big calls, but the small ones too.

4:42Yara and Carrie, welcome to Fixable. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Oh, it is such a personal, selfish pleasure to have both of you here. You're our first mother-daughter duo. Hey. Yeah. And I have lots of follow-up questions about that. But I want to start with 7 Sun Productions. What made you want to start this company, and what made you want to do it together? I feel like the evolution of Seventh Son happened quite naturally. Tell me what I'm missing, but at least in my recollection. When did you miss? Thank you. Mom, that's the right start. It happened quite naturally because we were doing the work of producing without a title.

5:26I think our work has always naturally been together because we've had the same values. I've, outside of the cheekbones, I've inherited her outlook on life and media and why I wanted to be in television to begin with was because of the stories that she set in front of me. And so when we stepped into producing projects, whether it be short form, whether it be for our business partners in the fashion side, we were already doing what it is to cast, to line produce, to go through a story and think macro about what narrative that we're telling. And many times the title comes after the work, which is, I think, what happened here.

6:04That's so true. Yeah. And I think, you know, some people know, but they didn't watch TV growing up. So to have a family of actors, they were playing library in the backyard. So was that a very deliberate choice? Absolutely. So I was in my bathroom at midnight watching Law and Order. But I wanted a really big, flourished world for these bicultural children that I have. And so the idea of allowing them to imagine was really important to me. I don't know where it came from. I remember my father saying to me when I was younger, the reason we don't watch soap operas, why would you take on other people's imagined or real troubles if you don't have to?

6:49Right. Good, bad, indifferent. And so I think, like Yara was saying, before 20th, which was ABC, before they presented us with this idea of, will you all produce under our banner, we were already producing. I even turned to a team member of ours saying, why would they approach both of us? And she said, well, that's all you do is produce. And they've watched you with two of your three come through the network and the studio for their own shows. So I think the idea of working together, I always thought if I wanted to support my children, I'd take a second job. And then I thought, well, sitting on set and teaching them how to be entrepreneurial in their own space was a second job.

7:36So I sat and then we transitioned to really formally working together. But a lot of it is to present to them the possibilities at a very young age. and what young people do is they evolve. They evolve us, older ones. And this one was like, let's go. Let's go do some things together. I love it. So what has surprised each of you the most about the experience so far? I honestly, not to toot our own horn, but how much we know. I think oftentimes as women, speaking just as black and brown women, stepping into this space there was such a feeling of oh my goodness there will be a lot to learn which absolutely learning new things every day but I didn't realize how much we had already been doing this work yep and how much so much of the skills that producing requires which oftentimes I call professional team building when you're a non-writing producer it really is having the wherewithal to know what parts go together to create some cohesive structure because you're Basically kind of launching mini businesses every project.

8:40Who's going to lead this? Who's going to head this up? How are we going to communicate together? And from the amount of partners that had wanted to work with us to even knowing how to talk to writers, I think our strong suit is separate from what you've blossomed in the creative space, whether it's your master's in business or coming from the nonprofit space, was like we've always looked at Hollywood as a job. And we've always been able to balance the humane effort of wanting to bring and blossom a creative idea with the idea of there is a job and an infrastructure that needs to be set in place.

9:13And I think that's our strong suit, whether it be talking to writers about all their ideas, but we also have the ability to talk to studios and say, OK, so what are you looking for and what demographic are you trying to capture? Yeah. And what these are skills, as you said, you had you've been using those muscles for a long time by the time you put out the shingle. formally. Yeah. And a lot of people, I think we underestimate the skills that we already have when we're dreaming our biggest dream of our next idea. One thing I think people underestimate, particularly if they're in that space as an artist, is that if you are making art in a commercial space, that you are learning all of the skills, the underlying infrastructure, leadership skills to pull this off whatever role you're playing in that moment.

10:00That's right. Absolutely. That's right. And much of that information is siloed. And our idea - On paper, it's siloed. On paper, it's siloed. But to pull this off, you have to be part of making it work. That's right. Yeah. And we really try and disassemble the silos. Yeah. Beautiful. Let's talk about purpose. Let's talk about it. It's a big word in my experience. It's clarifying and motivating, but it can also be heavy. Yara, have you spoken about the idea of highest order before? What is highest order? Where did it come from? What does it mean to you? Yeah. I mean, highest order blossomed, as most things did, from conversations we have with each other pretty regularly.

10:40Because aside from the business venture we're on, the beauty of being partners that are related is that we're on a life adventure. And oftentimes what underpins the choices that we make in business is us figuring out where are we at in this phase of life and what do we want to blossom bigger than this project? So sometimes it's community. Sometimes for me it was in the acting space. I just want new experiences in a world where I felt like I was so close to making the wrong next choice. it was the conversations we had about highest order that was like I'm not going to figure out what the next move is by reading a script and knowing it's perfect and knowing it's the right thing but by taking a step back to be like at this phase in my life as a 20 something year old what am I craving and so the way that we've done it too is luckily our kind of highest orders oftentimes align about community experience what can we put forth into the world but it's also a way of figuring out alignment between new partners.

11:43And I think that has been the most revelatory is that when we're sitting across from someone else, it makes us break down the assumptions we carry, which is like, I know why I'm doing this right now. And I can only assume why you're doing this right now. But we know what happens with assumptions. And so the amount of times we'll figure out like, oh, this is a perfect partner because we want to do this work for the same reason versus there's someone that may be doing this conversation is what yeah yeah versus someone that may be doing this let's say for the check there is no problem for doing it for the check and wanting to create financial stability but i think we just have to be clear on that because it allow it makes us move differently was this a shahidi family conversation highest order yeah i think it's myself and and you and your brothers yeah um we talk about because it it doesn't have to make sense.

12:36Yeah. That it releases you from the traditional, this is what you do first, next, you know, time is a concept. Right. So if it only exists in our mind, dream the biggest dream. Sometimes my highest order is I just want to be laughing. Yeah. And that may then direct me to. That's so central for me right now. Yeah. In this moment. Yes. How would you capture yours then? What would you say your highest order is? And we usually say top three. It doesn't have to be like. You know, one of the things about this conversation that's interesting to me is I grew up with this idea of highest order as a as a pretty heavy thing.

13:18So my my father died young. He left his own small mark in civil rights in America. It was around religious freedom in the military. But I grew up with this idea of this great man, and I was inheriting some part of his legacy that he couldn't fully live out. And one of the joys of getting older for me is that I've allowed some just more oxygen around this idea of purpose. Yes. And so where I am with it now, I actually kind of resisted it. where I am in touch with just really what lights me up is the chance to play some kind of catalytic role in other people's lives. And I resisted because I was like, what is this white girl shit?

14:03Like, oh, no, it's not about me. It's about you. But then finally I was like, no, this is why you jump out of bed. That's amazing. It has been reported, Yara, that you have 63 tattoos on you. The rumors are true. And I confess when I heard that, and I was totally projecting, but when I heard that, like the mama bear in me got a little protective of you because it was, I mean, you're literally carrying that kind of the heaviness of that year around with you. So talk to us about that choice. Yeah. Well, it's fun. We actually got our first tattoos together. We did. So we have tattoos in the same place, but they say different things.

14:50Mine is 63. Mine says, I remember. Yeah. All right. I've followed questions about both. For me, I think there were a couple things behind 63. One, it is a year of a lot of pain, as you know, and it is such a pivotal year in the civil rights movement, as well as what I would consider the catalyst. I think that's such a perfect term. When I think about, let's say, and I'm going to be referencing specific events, it doesn't capture nearly everything that happened, but the assassination of Medgar Evers, who's a civil rights leader. And I think the connective tissue was that that's what brings James Baldwin home from Paris is he thinks, oh, I'm indebted to my brothers who have now watched die.

15:31When we think of the bombing of the Birmingham church and knowing that Angela Davis's mother was one of those girls teachers. And that's what sends her on a path of activism. I think it's not that I even believe that pain is necessary for progress but I think of people who have laid their lives on the line and what they have blossomed is bigger than any of us could have imagined and then there's super silly things that happen in 63 such as like I think the first x-men comic book comes out in 63 two of my other favorite books cat's cradle by Kurt Vonnegut James Baldwin's the fire next time they all come out in 63 and so it was something that I was called to without necessarily having an exact timeline but what it represented to me was feeling that I'm also living in the wake of a legacy yeah uh and I'd also have to say like I've had my own relationship with year after year how much I feel as though every action of mine has to represent this thing I'm walking forward and doing and walking from and feeling like now hitting a similar space of if I know that my intention is to be a good human in the world do I need to be so precise about what living in the wake of a legacy looks like.

16:44I got another tattoo recently that's based on the stars in one of Kerry James Marshall's murals, Power and Knowledge, that was hung up in the Chicago Public Library. And for me, that was a lot more whimsical than 63. I like that there's some joy. Yeah, I like feeling like there's a cosmos I'm a part of. Yeah, yeah.

17:09Thank you.

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18:56one of the things of course that happens in 1963 is the media shows up right and and puts a spotlight on injustice and suffering and trauma. It's historically how the media has played a role in change, right, is to keep the lights on and force us all to pay attention. I'm so moved by the part of your mission at 7th Sun where you're replacing the kind of constant stream of suffering with these more joyful stories and more nuanced stories. How do you wrestle with the tension between those two things? I think all stories are necessary if there's a story to be told. I believe that we've got great media peers that do that work.

19:43It's just, you know, a story can come our way and it's not for us. We may know somebody who could really do this and we will pick up the phone. And that happens for us as well. You know, we ground our stories in reality. But we also know that so many stories have not been told in the tableau of brown, black, immigrant women, in all the spaces, fluidity, the stories have not been told. You know, there are stories that are blossomed from simply having, you know, people very close to me in my life that have children and are struggling in this new family dynamic when one child comes home and says, wait, everybody has dads at school.

20:34And those are the real conversations that we're having. And then we're looking at each other like, we want to explore that. So a lot of times our stories are blossomed from places where we need to explore in real time, along with the people that we love are the people that we support. And I love your point that you are telling stories in an ecosystem where this part of the ecosystem has been wildly underdeveloped. Joyful, rich, textured stories where trauma isn't the main event that moves the plot forward. Have you watched Heated Rivalry? I've started to watch. My functional medicine doctor is like, after going through my blood work, which was stellar, I must say.

21:20She was like, have you watched it? I was like, I love that. That is the tone that most people ask the question. She said, have you seen it? It's a very powerful example of what you just articulated so beautifully. It is a queer story where these two, by the way, beautiful, these two beautiful men fall in love. That's it. Yeah. I mean, there's the beautiful men have beautiful sex along the way, which is why, you know, the viewership is high. The viewership is skyrocketing. But as a queer viewer watching the story, like, we're just holding our breath for the time, like, that something goes horribly wrong.

21:58Yeah. And then something doesn't go horribly wrong. Like, that's what's radical about the storytelling. Yeah. And people went nuts. Like, to the commercial point of we have to make this all work in a context of capitalism, people went nuts. Mm-hmm. Because their story does exist. Yes. And I think that's something that we talk about frequently, which is oftentimes there's this idea that you have to meet the viewer where they're at. Yeah. I think the viewer will meet us. Yeah. Because – And sometimes lead us. Yeah. To this point. To new spaces. Oftentimes we deal with such a repetitive framework because there's this feeling of we only know what works based on what people have watched in the past.

22:36And it's so kind of chicken or egg, which is like, well, we create what people watch. But also fear – it's also fear-based. Yeah. And I think everything that we've worked on, it's not without real struggle or pain, but it's just the idea of changing what the actual inflection point is. Because like you're saying, oftentimes the anchor is the pain versus it's still real life. It's not just always going to be cheery, but what happens when the catalyst is love or self-discovery or chosen family? And that is what we're exploring. And sometimes it's putting people in spaces and places that we know these people exist, but the viewership has yet to have the experience.

23:14So it could be an Ivy League setting. It could be as a detective, as a CIA agent. It could be just so many things. And then the messiness of life. It's entertaining enough, the messiness of watching us figure out who we're going to be. Yeah. 100%. Yeah. That's exciting. Yeah. Inclusion and representation are obviously the center of your work. And in the last few years, the political and cultural context for that work has changed pretty dramatically, as has the business of Hollywood. How do you reconcile, have you reconciled the idea of purpose as this true north with the reality of purpose or maybe its expression has to change over time as the context around it changes?

24:00I'd have to say it does take me back to my Harvard days because I do remember I was quite a nuisance when I was taking this racial capitalism class because it just put me into this like real existential hole. Yeah. Like there's no good way to make money. Like there is no ethical way to consume. And I think every time the team would email me an opportunity, I was like, I can't. Sounds fun though. I must not. I must not. But this is the young human that with each client, she'd say, hey, we'd like you to do a philanthropic donation outside of my fee. So we could call our friends at the LGBTQIA, you know, spaces, which we've done, like, got$100 ,000.

24:41Yeah. You know, could you utilize it? It's so subversive. I love it. She's a million-dollar grant tied to up-and-coming filmmakers. And so, you know, I'd have to say it was possibly some of our work. most productive conversations too, because we were the ones having this where I would come out of class and I'd be reading these books and they'd be making these great points, but I didn't know how to put it into practice because what it drove me to was inaction. I was so overwhelmed by the idea of making the wrong move. And I think it got us, you know, even before this large shift that we've witnessed to really distill, why do we do what we do?

25:16And like you're saying, what is unchanging about how we move, irregardless of what's happening around us? I think this moment in time is really clarifying because as many people know, there is a visual of social progress with these large institutions that we know doesn't actually exist in the infrastructure. Right now, I think the transparency of what's happening is both terrible but necessary because so many times these power players have been power players for a very long time, before we knew their names, before they were in every article. And now subtext is text. Yes, subtext is text. But some of the tension that we were dealing with well before this moment was that these institutions that claim to be socially progressive still aren't necessarily green lighting these stories we're still not it's not easier to get our stories onto television right and if anything it was more confusing because there's all sorts of banners and initiatives and things to make sure that we have this easy pathway to explore all of these stories and there are great people we met along the way which that was absolutely their mission but this large infrastructure wasn't necessarily supporting it.

26:22And so I say that as context to say, this is a conversation we've been having well before this year, because it's one that we've been confronted with many times. The idea of whether or not global faces and global stories make money or are worth money has always been up for debate. And unfortunately, every success doesn't lead to setting precedent, but more so like, well, we already have that. Right. Right. You know, I'm the quota has been met. Yeah. So rather than feeling like, wow, there's this blockbuster success from the showrunner who explored this really like specific community, of course you want to continue in that.

27:00They're like, well, they did it. Yeah. And we really try to back to the procedural. Right. But we really try to remind ourselves and the people that we are surrounded by that the idea of in these communities, brown, black, immigrant, all of the communities, when there's not been the same level of space to make mistakes and keep getting funded, the investment is deeper. It's longer. They just, you know, every time an executive gets uncomfortable, if you can find that executive, is like, yeah, but this is their first time. If we have a playwright as a writer and you've not given them the boot camp, if you think their awards that they won for a stage play translate, it doesn't.

27:52Yes, they're an incredible writer, but give them the tools instead of saying like, they're good. And the grace. And the space to learn and bring them along. Yes, invest. And I'd have to say it takes us to the other lesson of just diversify. Yeah. oftentimes I think the thing that we've been good at is having our hands in a lot of spaces. And so let's say the storytelling is feeling stagnant in the traditional production company sense. That's where, because we in-house produce a lot of the fashion deals that I do, a lot of the endorsements, that's when we get to then change the method. Oh, this isn't working.

28:26We're hopping into this space. Oh, this isn't working. Well, luckily we can do this work in this other space. And so I think our purpose undergirds everything that we touch, but we also acknowledge, Yeah, there are certain times where you hit roadblocks and it's been beautiful to see how each of the respective spaces that we're in has allowed us to explore our purpose in different ways and allowed us to say, hey, this isn't happening here. They're not green lighting things here. But to your point earlier, through a technology company deal we have, we were able to give like 25 young filmmakers the opportunity to go film a movie in Iceland and explore a full year of mentorship.

29:01or through this other program that we have, then we get to continue to push our purpose forward. Really smart. You're both leading these very dynamic, high-performing, creative lives in a world that's going to fight you on the impact you're seeking to have. I don't need to be the messenger for that. I think you've probably figured it out. How do you protect your sanity and energy and well-being along the way? Reiki. Yeah. Just, yeah. alternative healing yeah um because there are a lot of people are listening who are doing their own version of this yeah and i think we share a lot of like if there's a healing modality or a preventative health or an exploration of you know anchoring self we share a lot of those like oh i just did this what do you think of this yeah um but i think just really knowing that purpose is innate.

29:56There is somebody out there who makes the best fricking brown butter chocolate chip bars, right? And they've just been giving them as gifts. And at one moment they may turn their head and say, I can sell these. Your purpose is to make somebody's Friday after work just feel decadent. Yeah. Purpose doesn't have to loom large. And I think many times we overthink it. But I think in these spaces, it's great to think about our purpose in many spaces and think about what it is that anchors us personally. much of it we overlook. We think, oh, that's just what I do. What you do is different from what somebody else does.

30:45It's, you know, in the height of the protests some years ago, some of us couldn't be in, you know, protesting because we had immunocompromised humans at home. But what we could do is feed the people. What we could do is send a text of support. What we could do is write, you know, the art, you know, create, help create by the markers. There's space for all of us to do things. And I think many of the times we overlook what we're doing. And so going back and re-anchoring and what we're able to do naturally, I think, helps ease the strife that we may feel from external forces. Yeah. The word that's coming to me as you're talking is, is sturdiness.

31:35Like there's a sturdiness to what you just described.

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32:26You know, about investing. With the new Schwab Teen Investor account, teens can gain hands-on investing experience and build positive money habits. It's an account co-owned by you and your teen, so you can monitor and engage with the account while your teen learns how to invest and manage money. Learn more at schwab.com slash teen. Hey guys, it's Drew from the comment section. Some days my skin just needs a little coverage and other days I want to go full glam. For those everyday moments like running errands or grabbing coffee, I've been loving the Merit Minimalist Stick because it's a foundation and concealer in one that gives me a really natural skin-like finish.

33:04But when I want more coverage, I'm reaching for the Hourglass Vanish Concealer every time. I know I'm not the only one who struggled to find the right foundation or concealer shade, which is why I always shop at Sephora. They have the best brands all in one place with so many shades, coverage options, and finishes, plus expert beauty advisors, free samples, and shade matching tools both online and in-store. So whether you're looking for barely there coverage or full glam, Sephora can help you find your match.

33:37For people listening who are thinking about starting a company with their loved ones, do it! Yeah, what advice do you have? What advice do you have? Oh, I've got... I know, I was going to say, we're going to hear. Let's talk. Yeah. So my wife and I do all of our work together. It's not how we started. She kind of pulled me over to the dark side of consulting and coaching. Well, I do think clarity about your lanes can be a very powerful kind of hidden structure. And if you can make it explicit. So, I mean, I think the metaphor is harmony, but you each are hitting these very beautiful notes. They're different notes, but they sound great together.

34:18And I think that's the goal. If you and your daughter or husband or whatever are hitting the same notes and are going to be kind of competing for the same space, then I think that's where I have seen it not go well. But if you can harmonize, then I think you really have a chance of one plus one equaling some number bigger than two. And that's what you're trying to solve for. If not, go do your things in separate lanes. Come home and talk about it and compare notes. But if there's that alchemy, then it's worth taking it quite seriously because it is a beautiful way for sturdiness. Like that I get to be in these public spaces that are fighting me on what I'm trying to do there.

35:04And I get to have the love of my life next to me. She's doing her thing. She's fighting in her own way. But there's nothing like it. Do you also find that when you get home, like that's home time? Yeah. Because I think some people are tickled. And it's important to defend it. It's important to say, okay, now we're transitioning out of work more. Because the risk is higher that you just work all the time. Right. So you may get to your next meeting and you all haven't talked about whatever that last topic is because work was over. Yeah. And I think that's a beautiful thing. You know, what you're reflecting, what we're reflecting is this idea that one, be earnest, be honest about who you're thinking about.

35:42Many times we're stuck in a traditional mindset. Oh, that is my sister. I have to do that with her. No, you don't. Yeah. No, you don't. And so be honest. Take a step back. Think about yourself. Think about yourself in relationship to the person you may be considering. And if you all are already fussing over what you were supposed to take the trash out. And those are old scripts, too. Those are old scripts. So interrogate the scripts you're bringing into this. Because you cast each other in that role when you were six and seven. That's right. And so making that discussable, I do think that's critical.

36:15Yes. And so you may have, it may blossom something else before a business. it may blossom other conversations with this person that you were considering because they are your fill in the blank. Yeah. But yeah, I would say yes. But you said do it. The first response was do it. Absolutely. I think the thing that we've continued to do with ourselves and with each other to also make this work is know that we're meeting ourselves as a new person every day and we're meeting each other as a new person every day. To your point, I think both of you said this really beautifully, just this idea that just because you have known this person for a long time does not mean that you have an understanding of this person in a way that we may assume.

37:00That kind of humility. Yeah, and I think so much of what allows for us to work together so fluidly is that we're always talking about who we are, who we want to become, the things that we're really happy with in ourselves, the things that are feeling a little upended. And similarly with the work, I think in the span of our production company, there have been many pivots of we used to move this way. And we used to, it may be an example of, okay, we used to think we have to get somebody that has no credits to their name and get them through the door and da, da, da, da, da. And then it was like, no, we want to create sustainable infrastructure.

37:37And so we may get a more accredited writer. But then that means we have a writer's room with 20 open slots. Because we got it through the door and through the thing. And that requires us always being in conversation about who we are as people, what has moved us. Shoot, I was not the same kid that was in the racial capitalism class. And I think the nuance of being her mother. We're friends. We're all the things. And I'm her mother. And so there are plenty of times where she may be like, oh, I'll be on that meeting. Like, no, you won't. You're going to be out living your life in Rome. my foot is on her proverbial backside to go live her life.

38:17If I'm outside in the world, it's because she's inspired me to get outside. I have blocked the door. You can't come back in. You cannot come back. The way people think it's reversed, they'll see me outside and they'll be like, oh, does Carrie know? Does your mom know? She's the reason I'm outside. Alright, a final question we ask all our guests. What is one thing that you're each fixated on? Something joyful, something light? Oh, my God. Right now I'm fixated on an old love from when I was 14, which is old time radio, great detective series. Oh, nice. Johnny Dollar, Dragnet. Yes. X minus one. The Saint, The Shadow, The Whisperer.

38:57And this is all audio? This is all audio. All audio. Because they didn't watch TV growing up. They watched maybe an hour a week. Yeah. And so we were audio, our audiophiles. Yeah. And I've always been a podcast nerd, always loved true crime, but there's been something about stepping back into that space, like you've said, of just pure imagination at night, of putting on an episode and imagining what the world looks like. That has been so fun and very portable. Yeah. Yeah. You can take it with you to Rome. Yeah. What about you, Carrie? I would say now that my youngest is headed off to university and everybody's doing their thing, it has really been anchoring myself in the mornings, in the midday, at night, and being more vulnerable with my friends.

39:47You know, I just held a lot from a place of this is what I'm supposed to do as a woman, as a black woman, as a mother, as a wife. as a, and I don't know if it's menopause. I don't know what it is where you just get to a point where you like. I'll just tell you, it's a big variable. Yeah, you get to a point where you're like, yeah, I'm not doing that anymore. And so starting to get to know myself, not in as a reflection of. That's huge. But as myself. And that's been really fun. Thank you both for this beautiful conversation. Thank you. Love having you on the show. Thank you so much. Yeah, it's been so nice to be able to talk about this side of our work.

40:28If you're enjoying this show, make sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and tell a friend to check us out.

40:40Fixable is a podcast brought to you by Ted and Pushkin Industries. It's hosted by me, Anne Morris. And me, Frances Frye. This episode was produced by Trina Menino. Our team includes Constanza Gallardo, Banban Chang, Daniela Balareso, and Roxanne Hylash. Our show is mixed by Louie at Story Yard.

41:14Hi, it's Paige from Giggly Squad, and this episode is sponsored by Experian Boost. Summer glow up, check. Credit glow up even better. Boost your credit scores instantly by getting credit for bills you're already paying. Your phone, utilities, rent, and insurance. I wish dating kind of worked like that. Connect your bank account, add those on-time payments to your Experian credit file, and your FICO score updates right away. You could instantly raise your FICO score by an average of 14 points with Experian Boost. Download the Experian app for free today. Results will vary. users who received a boost improved their FICO score 8 from Experian by an average of 14 points.

41:54See App Store or Experian.com for details. Results will vary. Not all payments are boost eligible. Users who received a boost improved their FICO score 8 from Experian by an average of 14 points. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use scores impacted by Experian boost. See Experian.com for details. Hey guys, it's Drew from the comment section. Some days my skin just needs a little coverage and other days I want to go full glam. For those everyday moments like running errands or grabbing coffee, I've been loving the Merit Minimalist Stick because it's a foundation and concealer in one that gives me a really natural skin-like finish.

42:31But when I want more coverage, I'm reaching for the Hourglass Vanish Concealer every time. I know I'm not the only one who struggled to find the right foundation or concealer shade, which is why I always shop at Sephora. They have the best brands all in one place with so many shades, coverage options, and finishes, plus expert beauty advisors, free samples, and shade matching tools both online and in-store. So whether you're looking for barely there coverage or full glam, Sephora can help you find your match. Hi, this is Becca Moore from For The Girls and this podcast is sponsored by Aerie, where you can find the right bra in 59 sizes, soft fabrics, and good fits.

43:06If your bra strap is digging into your shoulder right now, it's the wrong bra. We get so used to being in pain as girls that we forget it doesn't have to be this way. Your clothes should not hurt. I got to the point where I stopped wearing bras altogether. And now my life has changed, you guys. The only bras I have in my dresser right now are Aerie, and I'm not kidding. Aerie's on a mission to make you feel good, and that starts with your bra. Your bra should hold you in, not back. Visit Aerie.com to find the right bra for you.

From the publisher

In a world that won’t stop changing, knowing what matters most can make all the difference. Yara Shahidi and Keri Salter are a mother-daughter duo building a more inclusive and imaginative Hollywood through their production company, 7th Sun Productions. In this episode, Anne sits down with Yara and Keri at the TED Conference in Vancouver to dig into their “highest order” framework for aligning purpose with priorities. They also reflect on how purpose evolves over a lifetime and explore what today’s changemakers can learn from previous generations.


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