In this episode, we talk to Trisha about her incredible journey from poverty in Alabama to life as a runway model, artist, storyteller, and now executive producer of the upcoming film "Miss Macy," which is based on a story she told on The Moth stage. There are few people as inspirational as Trisha, so get ready for an incredible shot of creative courage (and some drambuie, too!)
In this episode, we talk to Trisha about her incredible journey from poverty in Alabama to life as a runway model, artist, storyteller, and now executive producer of the upcoming film "Miss Macy," which is based on a story she told on The Moth stage. There are few people as inspirational as Trisha, so get ready for an incredible shot of creative courage (and some drambuie, too!)
Hear Trisha's story about Miss Macy.
Check out Trisha's website.
Follow her on social media @trishamitchellcoburn.
Learn more about Jean Smart, who'll be playing Miss Macy in the movie.
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And toast Miss Macy with some drambuie!
Tricia: [00:00:03] Hey there. I'm Tricia Rose Burt and I want to ask you a question. What creative work are you called to do but are too afraid to try? Are you in IT but dream of doing stand up? A PR exec who longs to write a screenplay? Did you change your priorities and now you want to leave your fully funded PhD/MD program and go to New Mexico and paint? Or maybe you're like I was in my early career, trapped in a lucrative but soul crushing corporate job when what I really wanted to do was tell stories on stage. In this podcast, we'll hear from artists who took unexpected leaps and found the courage to answer their creative call so we can inspire you to answer yours. This is no time to be timid. [00:00:50][47.3]
Tricia: [00:00:56] Welcome to the show! It's the final episode of the season and we are so excited for you to meet our guest, Trisha Mitchell Coburn. She's a former runway model, a visual artist, a writer, a storyteller, and now an executive producer of a film currently being developed that's based on a story she told on The Moth stage called Miss Macy. The movie will star multi-Emmy Award- winning actress Jean Smart and be produced by Steven Spielberg's company Amblin Partners. You'd never know Trisha started out in poverty in Alabama. Her journey is incredible and inspiring. Now I love Trisha for so many reasons, not the least of which is she's a fellow Southerner, but because she always relies on her creativity to navigate her life, the good parts and the bad. And she's had both -- often at the same time. When I asked her what she thought was the most important trait to sustain a creative life, she said bravery. And when you listen to her story, you'll see why. Technology was up to its tricks and her sound quality is a little dodgy, but we couldn't have scripted a better interview to close the season. Enjoy. [00:02:07][71.4]
Tricia: [00:02:13] Hey, Trisha, thank you so much for being on the show. [00:02:15][2.1]
Trisha: [00:02:16] Well, thank you for inviting me. This is such a treat. [00:02:18][1.9]
Tricia: [00:02:19] I know. I'm just tickled. I'm really tickled. [00:02:20][1.5]
Trisha: [00:02:21] I love the fact that we have the same name. [00:02:22][1.5]
Tricia: [00:02:23] I love the fact we have the same name and that we both went to the same art school and that we're both from the south. That's right. There's a Venn diagram here where a lot of things overlap. That's right. I can remember the first time I met you was at The Players Club in New York, and it was the first time I think you told the story. Miss Macy. [00:02:43][19.7]
Trisha: [00:02:44] That's right. That was like in 2000. I think it was like 2012 or something. Yeah. [00:02:49][5.3]
Tricia: [00:02:49] So Miss Macy is a defining moment in your life. The story that you told on The Moth stage. Yes. But before that story, which we will get into, you had a runway career or runway model career for ten years. [00:03:04][14.5]
Trisha: [00:03:04] Yeah. [00:03:04][0.0]
Tricia: [00:03:05] And then you went to art school. Why did you go to art school? [00:03:10][4.8]
Trisha: [00:03:10] Well, you know, I never really got to develop my interest in art, and I've always liked to draw and but working, I was traveling around the world and living in different various fashion capitals, and I really wasn't settled anywhere. So when my career ended, I got married, started a family, and then I decided then I could to to art school. So I was able to get a degree in fine arts. [00:03:36][25.3]
Tricia: [00:03:36] And how old were you when you did that? [00:03:37][1.3]
Trisha: [00:03:38] I went to art school when I was about 30 years old, and then I actually graduated when I was 43. [00:03:43][5.1]
Tricia: [00:03:45] Okay. [00:03:45][0.0]
Trisha: [00:03:46] I had three kids at that point, but it took me a while to with raising family and then going to school to actually finish my degree. But I did it. [00:03:55][8.9]
Tricia: [00:03:55] Yeah. And that's why it's important because not everybody can go, oh, I have four years in front of me to finish this degree. I mean, there's many of us that fit art into our lives in whichever way we can. [00:04:08][13.3]
Trisha: [00:04:09] Absolutely. [00:04:09][0.0]
Tricia: [00:04:10] You had this desire to make visual work, which you did. What was your medium? [00:04:14][4.0]
Trisha: [00:04:14] I love working in oil, but I did a lot of focus with acrylic on large scale abstraction. But, you know, art was like my visual language. I've always been interested in writing. But when I started working with art materials, I started to realize it was really like making a visual language. And I found it to be incredibly healing, to paint and to work things out through like creating art. It's something I still do it now. I work, I do large scale murals. [00:04:46][32.1]
Tricia: [00:04:47] Oh, you do? [00:04:47][0.2]
Trisha: [00:04:49] Yes, I do. I live in Florida, so this is a perfect place to paint large, you know, orange trees. All the citrus trees, olive trees. It's fun. So that's kind of what I'm focused on now. Large scale. Yeah. [00:05:02][13.7]
Tricia: [00:05:03] Do you show or is it just for you to make? [00:05:05][2.5]
Trisha: [00:05:06] It's just for me to make. I do get commissions, and I will do, like, murals for clients around, you know, where I live in Florida. But I've sold a lot of my paintings on canvas, but I don't really... It's not really what I'm doing is, like, to show the work at a gallery. It's really for me and, you know, everything that I've painted, I've kind of given it to my kids anyway. So yeah. And they all grew up, you know, they I have three sons and they all grew up with me painting and they're all in the arts, so that's had a nice influence on them. [00:05:40][34.1]
Tricia: [00:05:41] Well done. And also just such an important message. If you grow up around the arts, then you step into it or at least have a better understanding of it and appreciation for it. [00:05:50][9.2]
Trisha: [00:05:50] Absolutely. [00:05:50][0.0]
Tricia: [00:05:51] Okay. So when did you decide to start writing and telling your stories? [00:05:58][6.8]
Trisha: [00:05:59] Well you know, I've always dabbled in writing Southern short stories. Growing up in the South, there's just a lot of, like, colorful history. And it's, you know, people that I grew up with and, you know, so I started writing pretty much when I was in my teens. [00:06:15][16.1]
Tricia: [00:06:16] Oh, really? You were writing? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. [00:06:18][2.4]
Trisha: [00:06:19] I never really showed anybody my writing, though, because it was basically just for me. [00:06:22][3.6]
Tricia: [00:06:23] Mm hmm. [00:06:23][0.1]
Trisha: [00:06:23] But when I got into my twenties, I started working with a a woman who was editing my work. So I kind of have a small collection of Southern short stories. Yeah. And one of the stories that I wrote was called Miss Macy. [00:06:37][14.0]
Tricia: [00:06:38] Okay. Yes. How did you get involved with The Moth and when did you make the decision to go on The Moth stage and tell that story? [00:06:44][6.2]
Trisha: [00:06:47] Well, you know, I didn't really know what The Moth was. And my two older sons, they said, Mom, you know, you should tell The Moth one of your Southern short stories. And I'm like, I didn't even know what The Moth is. This was like in 2011. And they said, they have a pitch line so you can pitch a story. I think at that time it was either a three minute story you could pitch on their pitch line. So I'd written Miss Macy, so I took like a section of the story. [00:07:12][25.4]
Tricia: [00:07:13] And I have a question for you, quick. Had anybody seen the Miss Macy story? Had you shown it to anybody? [00:07:17][4.3]
Trisha: [00:07:18] No, but I actually would tell the story. Right. Like in dinner parties. Oh, and where did you grow up? Oh, I grew up in Alabama. So then I would I would share Miss Macy's story. But I never, never really published it anywhere or, you know, tried to get it published. It was more of an oral story at that point. [00:07:36][17.6]
Tricia: [00:07:37] So tell us the Miss Macy story right now. Obviously not the entire story, because I'm going to send people to go hear it. But what the shape of that story is. [00:07:46][9.1]
Trisha: [00:07:47] Okay. So I grew up in poverty in Alabama. I'm one of five children and we lived next to an army base. So my mother married eight times. So there were eight husbands. Right? And so when I was 12 years old, I got a job working the concession stand at the local movie theater downtown. And one Saturday, this woman walked in and I'd never seen a woman look so glamorous, you know, working in a movie theater, I got to see all the movies. And it was so fun seeing how people dressed on screen and all the movie stars. And so but she walked and I thought, she must be a movie star. She had like a big pink hat, and she was wearing a pink dress. She was carrying a pink pocketbook and wearing these white gloves and pearls. And when she walked up to the counter, she ordered everything large. And I thought, this woman must be rich, because in my town, nobody orders large. Right? So we started this conversation and she wanted to know my name and how tall I was. And then she I didn't know my height, so she measured me with a pink measuring tape against the RC Cola machine. And then she handed me her pink card and said she wanted me to come to her charm school. She owned a charm school down the street. And so when I went home to tell my mama, of course she was like, No, that's a whorehouse. You're not going. And so basically, so here I was like, I had this opportunity. But then I have a mother who didn't know anything about a charm school either, because I didn't know what it meant. She thought it was definitely a place that I was not going to go. So I called Miss Macy and told her that my momma wouldn't let me come, and she said, What brand of cigarets does your momma smoke? And I said, Virginia Slims. And she was like, I'm coming over with the carton. I'll talk to your momma. [00:09:44][117.0]
Tricia: [00:09:45] Oh, geez. [00:09:45][0.3]
Trisha: [00:09:46] She basically -- actually that section is not in The Moth story. But a little bit more of a addition to the story. But basically what happened was I started going to her charm school and by the time I was 16 I was teaching at her charm school and then when I turned 17, she took me to New York City to a modeling convention at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. And I met Wilhelmina, who was a, owned a modeling agency in New York City. And basically, she didn't want anything to do with me. And Miss Macy pretty much convinced her that I that she wasn't taking me back to Alabama, that I was going to stay in New York City and be a model with her agency. And I honestly didn't know Ii Wilhelmina was going to burst out Laughing or applaud this woman. I mean, she had some, she just so determined to keep me in New York. And then Wilhemina said I'll give you six months. So she gave me a contract. And that's basically the story. Yes. It's a relationship between this woman basically saving my life. Yes. I mean, she stepped into my to my life and changed it. I don't know how I would have ever gotten out of Alabama to do something like that if I had met Miss Macy. [00:11:10][84.1]
Clip: [00:11:11] Miss Macy and I board the train for New York City with a bottle of Drambuie and a brown paper bag filled with southern fried chicken. 30 hours later, we walked into the Waldorf Astoria Hotel. We had never seen anything like it was grand, like out of a movie or something. And people sounded different and they looked different. And our room was a far cry from the cinderblock walls of my bedroom back in Alabama. Well, when the competition started, I was immediately intimidated. I thought for sure I did not belong there with my striped hair and my white go go boots. And I didn't see one girl walking the runway, the way Miss Macy had taught me by tilting and tucking and keeping her chin up. They're walking all fancified and flipping their hair over their shoulder and acting all confident. Well, I pretended to be confident, but I was really numb. I mean, I was really scared people were going to find out who I really was, like this poor white trash girl from the projects, you know? But Miss Macy, she never stopped encouraging me. It was my turn to walk the runway. She said, You get on out there. Those judges need to know how we show clothes in Alabama. [00:12:15][64.4]
Tricia: [00:12:18] I will encourage all of our listeners to listen to the Miss Macy story in its entirety. I listen to Miss Macy just kind of regularly. When you go to New York with a bucket of fried chicken and a bottle of drambuie it's like I can't even bear it. And say her whole name. Say her whole name. [00:12:39][21.8]
Trisha: [00:12:40] Her name is Olma Macy Harwell. [00:12:42][1.7]
Tricia: [00:12:43] Olma Macy Harwell. You know what she looks like just with that name. So it's an amazing story because she did really rescue you. You did go on to do ten years of a very glamorous life as a runway model. There are pictures of you with Giorgio, is it Giorgio Armani that you're pictured with? I mean, which is, you know, that's it's something that narrative arc is quite something going from Anniston, Alabama, to... [00:13:05][22.0]
Trisha: [00:13:07] I'm still pinching myself that it actually happened, you know. [00:13:11][3.7]
Tricia: [00:13:12] So you pitched it. You pitched it on The Moth storyline. And so it was a written story for how many years before you pitched it? [00:13:18][5.9]
Trisha: [00:13:18] I think the story is probably 20, 25 years old at that point. See? Yeah. So I had written it a long time ago. So basically I just took out a section of the story about meeting her and then stepping on the train to go to New York City with Miss Macy. And then The Moth, I think it was within like a month they called me back and said, We'd like to talk to you about the story. So I worked with The Moth producers and they produced it for The Players Club to premiere it. And then they said if it's, you know, if it's a success here, we'll take you all around the country to tell the story. But, you know, I'm not a public speaker. This was terrifying. Yeah, I don't know about you, Tricia, but I found it to be like a really scary experience. [00:14:03][45.1]
Tricia: [00:14:04] Oh, listen. I was petrified. I was so excited. But I was also petrified to go on stage and tell the story. [00:14:15][10.9]
Trisha: [00:14:15] The second time out, they wanted me to tell the story, they took me to Austin, Texas. So when I got there on the marquee at the Paramount Theater, was The Moth sold out performance, Right? And I was like, Is that us? Like, sold out? How many people are coming to the show? They're like, it seats 2700 and we're sold out. I was like, I can't do this. You don't understand. I can't get on the stage and tell this story to 2700 people. They're like yes you can. So I said to the director that night, Please let me go first, but don't make me go last because I have to sit through the whole show. Yeah, they said you have to close the show. So when it was my turn to walk onto the stage, there were like six steps, right? I tripped on the third step and literally did a face plant. I was so mortified. I was like, having a -- I couldn't feel my body. Yeah. Like I was having an out-of-body, huge anxiety attack. So when I tripped and I fell forward, my jacket went over my back. Thank God I had pants on. Right? And then when I stood up, I had my back to the audience. And for some reason this word popped into my head. It said Bow. So I turned around and I did a big bow to the audience and they started applauding and screaming like, You do this girl, You got this. Then I realized, You know what? They're all in this with me. They want me to do well. [00:15:53][97.1]
Tricia: [00:15:53] Yeah. [00:15:53][0.0]
Trisha: [00:15:54] I was able to get through the story, but... And funny enough, that's the one that they used on the podcast. [00:15:58][4.8]
Tricia: [00:15:59] Oh, really? [00:16:00][1.4]
Trisha: [00:16:01] That's the one from Austin, Texas. Because the audience, they were so supportive at that point. But, you know, I learned so much falling down in front of 2700 people. [00:16:12][11.2]
Tricia: [00:16:13] So what did you learn? [00:16:14][0.6]
Trisha: [00:16:15] I learned that I'm brave, that I actually got up and did it. [00:16:19][4.2]
Tricia: [00:16:19] Yes. [00:16:19][0.0]
Trisha: [00:16:20] Because I, that was really extremely hard for me to do to. To tell the story without -- you can't read it. You have to tell the story, you know, in a way memorize it, but not memorize it. But kind of have the map of the story. Right? But it taught me a lot about showing up for myself. Like, not not believing that insecure voice in my head saying, You really screwed this up. You know, I fell down and I got up again and I showed up and I told the story. [00:16:49][28.9]
Tricia: [00:16:49] Yeah. [00:16:49][0.0]
Trisha: [00:16:50] And that's given me so much courage. Sometimes when I feel that I'm not being very courageous about something, I remember that scene and I go, You got up again. [00:17:00][9.8]
Tricia: [00:17:00] Yeah. [00:17:00][0.0]
Trisha: [00:17:01] Yeah, that's the main thing. [00:17:02][0.8]
Tricia: [00:17:02] Yeah. That's fantastic. I remember having a conversation with you at one point, didn't someone want to pitch the idea of a movie to you but they wanted to switch you from being a model to being a chess player? Am I remembering that correctly? [00:17:21][18.7]
Trisha: [00:17:22] Yeah. [00:17:22][0.0]
Tricia: [00:17:23] And you said no. [00:17:24][0.7]
Trisha: [00:17:24] I said no because that I was like, How would I have learned to play chess in the housing project that I grew up in? Like, nobody was thinking about teaching me chess. [00:17:33][8.3]
Tricia: [00:17:35] And it is a really good thing you went with your gut on that. [00:17:38][2.8]
Trisha: [00:17:39] Yes. [00:17:39][0.0]
Tricia: [00:17:39] Because what happened in 2019? [00:17:42][2.5]
Trisha: [00:17:43] So in 2019, I get an email from a producer in Los Angeles and she said, I'm Jean Smart's producer, and Jean Smart heard your story. We heard your story on the radio, your Moth's story about Miss Macy. And she's very interested in talking to you about the story. [00:18:04][20.7]
Tricia: [00:18:04] How many years after it really aired because it had come back? [00:18:08][3.2]
Trisha: [00:18:09] It's probably about six years right? After it was actually when it was produced for the radio. But they kept playing the story, you know, around the country. And so Jean heard it, Jean Smart heard it. So I had a Zoom call with them, and she was like, I have wanted to play a role of a Southern woman like Miss Macy my whole career. Oh, my God. And it was fantastic. First I was like, really? This is Charlene from Designing Women, because remember, Yes, she was great. [00:18:43][34.0]
Tricia: [00:18:44] Yeah, she is remarkable. I would just follow her around. She'll be the perfect Miss Macy. She'll be the perfect Miss Macy. [00:19:06][22.4]
Trisha: [00:19:07] So what we did was she sent me money to get a lawyer. She was like, You're going to need a lawyer to do this. They call it a shopping agreement. So she said, I want to shop the story in Los Angeles, but we have to have a contract. So she was so kind to pay my lawyer fee. Right? So I thought she must she must be really interested if she's doing that. [00:19:27][19.9]
Tricia: [00:19:27] Yeah. [00:19:27][0.0]
Trisha: [00:19:28] So within -- this is so funny. So Jean said she started, she pitched, the first person she pitched it to was Tate Taylor. He's the director who did The Help and Girl on the Train. Mm hmm. So Tate was like, I'm in. I want to do it. So then Tate Taylor brings in Beth Henley, who won the Pulitzer for Crimes of the Heart, to write the screenplay. So Beth was in. Then they pitched it to Denise Di Novi Production Company, who did Little Women and Edward Scissorhands and Batman Returns. So Di Novi's. And so then they're going to take it to all the film studios. So every visit to this film studios, Jean would take little bottles of drambuie. [00:20:11][43.0]
Tricia: [00:20:11] Oh, no way. No way. [00:20:15][3.4]
Trisha: [00:20:16] Isn't that brilliant? [00:20:16][0.0]
Tricia: [00:20:16] It is brilliant. [00:20:17][0.5]
Trisha: [00:20:19] Because what I had done a year before that was worked with Jean and her producer on the bigger story of Miss Macy. So she knew everything about Miss Macy's life, about her husband, about her children, about what happened with Miss Macy and me. So she so Jean had the story to pitch and she loved the drambuie thing, so she gave everybody who was in the room a bottle of drambuie and they would toast Miss Macy. [00:20:46][27.1]
Tricia: [00:20:46] Oh, my word. [00:20:47][0.6]
Trisha: [00:20:48] So when she pitched it to Amblin, which Steven Spielberg's company, they liked it so much, they they said, we want to do the movie. Then it got into a bidding war with Amazon. Yeah. So I know Jean was like, we have to go with Amblin. And I'm like, absolutely, totally understand that, of course. So that's what we did. [00:21:10][22.3]
Tricia: [00:21:11] First of all, what I love about this story, other than the fact, Oh my God, this is the most amazing story. But what I love about this story is you wrote this story so many years ago. [00:21:22][11.2]
Trisha: [00:21:24] Tricia, I'm 70 years old, right? It just shows you in life don't give up. Yes. On a dream, on an idea, on something that your gut is telling you, there's something about this. And that was what kept going in me was like -- and I tried to tell everybody about this woman like and people when I would tell her over a dinner party or something, people would love the story. And I kept saying, I've got to find a way to get the story out there. But look how long it took! [00:21:54][30.9]
Tricia: [00:21:56] I mean, that's the thing. What I love about this story, because it is kind of a fairy tale, for God's sake. I mean, it is it's really a fairy tale story. Also, it's a fairy tale that took about four decades. The initial urge of yours to write it down. [00:22:16][19.6]
Trisha: [00:22:17] Yes. [00:22:17][0.0]
Tricia: [00:22:17] To go through the process of writing it down, to go to art school and go through all of the painting and learning and creating that language to, you know, just to round yourself out as an artist. [00:22:29][12.1]
Trisha: [00:22:30] Absolutely. [00:22:30][0.0]
Tricia: [00:22:31] Because you sort of knew enough and someone says, Let's turn you into a chess player to go, That's a bad idea. Yeah. You were cultivating your artist self. That's what I admire so much about this story, is that there was this nourishment of your artistic self this whole time. You know, And I mean, it just all feels related. The stories that you wrote and then going to art school and then getting that sense of esthetic, you already had one since you were a runway model for ten years, it's not like you didn't have taste. But do you know what I'm saying? Just owning, owning that part of you and really nurturing that part of you. How did it feel when you knew it was really Jean Smart reaching out to you? Were you like of course this makes sense I've been waiting for this for, like, was there just a sense of like, this is the next step? [00:23:26][55.1]
Trisha: [00:23:27] I don't know. Something kept holding my hand, leading me along the way to keep talking about the story, you know? [00:23:35][7.7]
Tricia: [00:23:35] Yeah. [00:23:35][0.0]
Trisha: [00:23:37] And I was just, I was so grateful. And a part of me was I was so proud that I didn't give it up. Yes. That I trusted. See, that's the whole key to this I think. I trusted that voice. It was a voice in my head. I knew it was right not to give up on this story. [00:23:55][18.6]
Tricia: [00:23:56] Yeah, Yeah. [00:23:56][0.6]
Trisha: [00:23:59] It took four decades, okay? But you know what? But it's never too late. [00:24:03][3.2]
Tricia: [00:24:03] But also. And the timing is now perfect. Yeah, like, if it was sooner, it may have been just too soon. [00:24:10][7.3]
Trisha: [00:24:11] Absolutely. [00:24:11][0.0]
Tricia: [00:24:11] In another interview when I was researching you, because I like to just look at everything that anybody's done before they come on the show. And you had said, you know, it was the perfect time for you. It seems to be the perfect time for Jean Smart, who said, I've been looking for a role like this my whole life. Yeah. And she'll bring the wisdom and the expertise that she has developed to bring to a character like Miss Macy, who is who is just remarkable, you know? But yeah, and that demands a person who can pull off Miss Macy, you know? [00:24:40][29.0]
Trisha: [00:24:42] Yes, for sure. And Jean is perfect for that. [00:24:44][2.7]
Tricia: [00:24:45] Yeah. She won't make her into a caricature of a Southern woman running a charm school. You know, she'll have all the depth and warmth that Miss Macy had. In my head right now, again listeners, you have to listen to this is when she's calling George Wallace. George, I mean, she calls the governor of Alabama to say we have a winner. [00:25:06][21.4]
Trisha: [00:25:07] Do you know what? This is the thing that's fascinating. I didn't grow up knowing what confidence meant. Right? And I really wasn't confident. But Miss Macy, she showed me what confidence was. So from a young girl, you know, I mean, like, I had a situation where I had an abscess in my front tooth. Instead of the dentist fixing the abscess and giving me, you know, medication for it, he literally pulls my front tooth out, I'm 14 years old. But he did it with a rag of ether. And when I wasn't expecting it, you know, like, all of a sudden I'm knocked out and then I wake up and my tooth is gone. So having a flipper, I had a flipper tooth all through my teens, right? Mm hmm. So if I said anything, like with the word the, the tooth would come out because it, it just stuck to the top of your mouth. So, so I was like, trying to, like, find words I didn't have to do the T-H sound, you know, stuff like that. I couldn't eat bread because it would come out on bread. [00:26:10][63.1]
Tricia: [00:26:11] Yeah. [00:26:11][0.0]
Trisha: [00:26:12] But Miss Macy, she's the one who said -- she came to me one day. She goes, Here's some Poly Grip. You're going to use it and that tooth is going to stay in. So then I could start talking again. She was like, You got to start using those T sounds. [00:26:30][18.0]
Trisha: [00:26:33] I had no confidence, but she showed me what confidence was, you know, and she -- the way that she did it with everything in her life. And she grew up with one of nine kids in poverty in Alabama. But she worked her way out of it. And I think that's why she saw in me what she had in her. Yeah. [00:26:56][23.1]
Tricia: [00:26:56] You know, I do. [00:26:57][0.6]
Trisha: [00:26:58] And I think that's why she was so, like, she wanted me to, she wanted to pull me forward, too. [00:27:03][4.5]
Tricia: [00:27:03] Yeah. Yeah. You know, and I feel like that's something that you do when you and I have conversations, just even around this podcast, how supportive you are about any creative venture I have or anybody else has. [00:27:17][14.1]
Trisha: [00:27:18] We're all in this together. Seriously. I mean, if I can do this, Tricia, if I am, if I'm one rung up the ladder than you are, my job is to turn around and say, Here, and I'll help you get up. That's what we all need to do with each other, is to help each other. Let's pull each other up as we go up. Yeah, right. [00:27:38][20.3]
Tricia: [00:27:38] Yeah, absolutely. [00:27:39][0.2]
Trisha: [00:27:39] I would say paying it forward is what Miss Macy did for me. I do that every opportunity I get I do that. [00:27:46][7.1]
Tricia: [00:27:47] I feel like we should start having bracelets that say, like, what would Miss Macy do? [00:27:52][5.7]
Trisha: [00:27:53] That would be so great. [00:27:57][3.1]
Tricia: [00:27:57] Yeah, we need to do that. What would Miss Macy do? [00:27:59][2.3]
Trisha: [00:28:00] One thing Miss Macy would say, if you're having a bad day, she'd say, You tilt, tuck and keep your chin up. So you would tilt your pelvis, tuck in your stomach, keep your chin up. [00:28:13][12.9]
Tricia: [00:28:15] That's not bad advice. [00:28:16][1.4]
Trisha: [00:28:17] You know, when I got to New York City and I was alone starting this career, I was young. I had never been to the South. Right? So I was staying at the Barbizon Hotel. On every floor there is a public phone box. Right? So I was so I'd been in New York maybe 2 hours. I was sitting on the side of my bed crying, and I was in this small room and the window faced a brick building and the radiator was pounding. Yeah, I was just terrified. So I go wait in line behind all the other young girls calling, using the phone, and I call Miss Macy collect. And I said, I started crying. I said, Miss Macy, I got to come home. I can't stay up here, Miss Macy. I'm too scared. And she said, Well, it looks like you're having a bad moment. We'll talk another time when you're feeling better. And she hangs up on me. I'm like, I'm dying. I'm dying up here, and she hangs up on me. It was the best thing she's ever done for me. [00:29:25][67.9]
Tricia: [00:29:25] Wow. Wow. [00:29:27][1.2]
Trisha: [00:29:27] Besides, you know, meeting me at the theater and ordering everything large, she literally saved me again. She did it like. You know, like, Oh, honey, I'm so sorry. You're so scared. Nope, None of that. [00:29:39][12.1]
Tricia: [00:29:40] Wow. [00:29:40][0.0]
Trisha: [00:29:41] That really helped a lot. [00:29:42][1.2]
Tricia: [00:29:55] We'll get back to the second half of our conversation in a moment, but right now, I want to tell you about our sponsor Interabang Books, a Dallas based independent bookstore with a terrific online collection. At Interabang, their dedicated staff of book enthusiasts will guide you on your search for knowledge and the excitement of discovery. Shop their curated collection online at interabangbooks.com. That's interabangbooks.com. [00:30:26][30.7]
Tricia: [00:30:26] Okay, so we have this amazing fairy tale story of, you know, after all these years, the story gets the recognition that it needs to get. You have major players in Hollywood who are going to do this story for you. It's incredible. And then you get diagnosed with breast cancer. [00:31:14][48.2]
Trisha: [00:31:15] Yes. [00:31:15][0.0]
Tricia: [00:31:16] And what? Is so poignant to me about that is that all of us often in our lives have one thing that's going amazingly well, and at the same time, there's something that's going totally off the rails. [00:31:34][18.5]
Trisha: [00:31:35] That's called life. [00:31:36][0.6]
Tricia: [00:31:37] It's like, here's the best thing that could ever happen to you. And, oh, by the way, we've got this other thing that's simultaneously happening. You sent me a wonderful story that you had written because once again, the way that you're navigating is writing and through creativity. And you sent me this wonderful article that you'd written. And in it you say once you get your cancer diagnosis and I'll let our listeners know you're good right now, correct? Oh, yes. She's all good. So we don't need to worry about her. But you wrote in this story, I wanted to meet my cancer diagnosis with compassion, common sense, creativity and humor. Yeah. And I loved that line so much about how I'm going to meet this diagnosis with creativity. Talk to me about how creativity played a role in managing this cancer diagnosis and and how you navigated that. [00:32:44][67.3]
Trisha: [00:32:45] I think everybody's creative in their own way. Being creative is about finding solutions, right? Yeah, because when we're creative, we can think outside the box. We can. We can like we can visualize something that's maybe not fits in the norm of how, you know, you've got this cancer diagnosis and now you have to do this, this and this. What I decided to do was to say. Okay, I'll do a lumpectomy. No clean margins. The doctor's like, let's do one more. Okay, I did one more. I did two total. And then he said, Let's do one more. I said, No, I want a total mastectomy of the right breast. And he was like, But I can save your breast. I'm like, No, I don't want to have something waiting in my body like a time bomb. I want to have a mastectomy. Then he goes, But then I can do reconstructive surgery. I said, No, I don't want reconstructive surgery. I want a mastectomy and I want my body back. And I feel like when I made that decision, it was like easy. I did a mastectomy. The next day, I went out to lunch with my son. I started swimming five days later because I knew instinctively I knew what my body needed. It didn't need to be another surgery. Didn't need another implant. No, none, I'm not going to do it. And another thing that I found -- I started researching like mastectomy bras, and they were like $85 a bra. I'm like, That's so expensive. How can women afford to pay $85 for these mastectomy bras? So I took all of my bras to my alterations woman and I said sew in a pouch on the right side. And then I ordered on Amazon all those foam inserts, like you can get a packet for like $6.99. [00:34:37][112.3]
Tricia: [00:34:38] Of foam inserts, specifically for a bra? [00:34:41][2.6]
Trisha: [00:34:42] For the right breast mastectomy bra. [00:34:43][1.0]
Tricia: [00:34:43] Okay. [00:34:43][0.0]
Trisha: [00:34:44] Yeah, my seamstress just charge me like $5 a bra. You can save a lot of money. And I put that in the article because I think women, that's where creativity comes in. You can think outside the box on this stuff. You don't have to go down that rabbit hole going, Oh my God, the bras are $85. And they were so unattractive when you can wear your own bra and create whatever you need, one the right side, the left side, you can create it for yourself. [00:35:17][32.8]
Tricia: [00:35:17] I really, really appreciated your approach to it. You know, and it just goes back to what you've been doing forever, which is just, okay, how do I navigate through this? How do I show up? How do I, you know, how do I get myself up out of this? You know, I loved also in the article you wrote about this, you said one of your friends said to you, you are now one of the Amazon warrior women who history tells us voluntarily cut off one of their breasts to become better archers. [00:35:49][31.7]
Trisha: [00:35:50] Yes! [00:35:50][0.0]
Tricia: [00:35:52] It's really good. [00:35:53][1.0]
Trisha: [00:35:53] I mean, think about it. You put yourself in a situation of owning your own power. You take back your power as a woman and you don't have to feel, like, disfigured or whatever the thing. It doesn't matter. I'm not defined by my breasts. And I think a lot of women who go through breast cancer probably feel the same way. I mean, you show up for what you have to show up for and you make the right choices. And that's why I think creativity helps, because it does take you to a solution finding mentality, you know? [00:36:26][32.6]
Tricia: [00:36:26] Yeah, absolutely. Again, I was like compassion and creativity. I need to know more about this. I need to know about this. Trisha, I'm just so tickled with... [00:36:37][10.7]
Trisha: [00:36:40] Do you know what's funny? I'm sorry to. [00:36:41][0.8]
Tricia: [00:36:41] Jump in. What? [00:36:42][0.3]
Trisha: [00:36:43] That's what Miss Macy used to say. [00:36:44][1.6]
Tricia: [00:36:45] What? [00:36:45][0.0]
Trisha: [00:36:45] Trisha, I'm so tickled. I can't believe that! She would say that all the time. [00:36:51][5.5]
Tricia: [00:36:51] Oh, that's so funny. [00:36:52][0.8]
Trisha: [00:36:53] You're channeling her. [00:36:54][1.0]
[00:36:55] I'm channeling Miss Macy. I could never be more excited in my life. I think I need to go get some drambuie right now. [00:37:00][4.7]
Trisha: [00:37:01] Hey, let's get some. [00:37:02][0.8]
Tricia: [00:37:02] Let's get some drambuie. [00:37:03][0.9]
Tricia: [00:37:05] No, I am. I'm just so. I'm so tickled that we met all those years ago. [00:37:09][4.3]
Trisha: [00:37:10] Me too. [00:37:10][0.3]
Tricia: [00:37:11] I'm so tickled that you're in my circle and I'm just so over the moon for you about this project and how it's moving forward. And I just, the grace that you have shown all through your life and really how much you have honored this woman. You know, I mean, I can only imagine Miss Macy is beside herself. I mean, don't you know she's beside herself? [00:37:39][28.6]
Trisha: [00:37:44] And can I just add, okay, when I turned 60, I got divorced right after 33 years of marriage. [00:37:48][3.7]
Tricia: [00:37:48] Oh, that's right. [00:37:49][0.5]
Trisha: [00:37:50] And I just got remarried in April of this year to a man named Macy. Really? Yeah. So she's up there like, she is orchestrating all of this. [00:38:08][17.8]
Tricia: [00:38:08] She's just looking after you. Trisha, you have done an amazing job through your whole life exploring. And, I mean, you've just been incredibly brave. Well before the stage in Austin, Texas. Well before then, you were being brave. [00:38:21][13.3]
Trisha: [00:38:22] I feel really blessed. I live in total gratitude about everything. Whatever happens to me happens, and I'll just meet it, however, I have to meet it and stay open and positive. And, you know, I'm thankful. Yeah. [00:38:37][14.9]
Tricia: [00:38:37] Well, and before we sign off, there is a book that's running around out there. Correct? This is going to be turned into a book as well. [00:38:44][7.2]
Trisha: [00:38:45] Yes. I'm in the process of working -- I just turned in a 75 page book proposal, so fingers crossed. [00:38:53][7.2]
Tricia: [00:38:53] Fingers crossed. Listen, we can't wait to learn all...and hey, who's playing you in the movie? [00:38:59][5.7]
Trisha: [00:39:00] I don't know. They haven't told me because, you know, the writers strike has put everything on hold. [00:39:06][6.2]
Tricia: [00:39:06] Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:39:07][0.8]
Trisha: [00:39:11] And it looks like we're definitely going into 2024. [00:39:13][2.1]
Tricia: [00:39:15] Tricia, thank you so much for joining the show. [00:39:17][2.5]
Trisha: [00:39:17] Thank you. Oh, I love your show. It's fabulous. [00:39:19][1.9]
Tricia: [00:39:20] As Miss Macy would say, I'm just so tickled. Thank you. [00:39:23][2.6]
Trisha: [00:39:24] I'm tickled with you, honey. [00:39:25][1.0]
Tricia: [00:39:26] Okay. You take care. [00:39:27][1.3]
Trisha: [00:39:28] Okay you too. [00:39:28][0.5]
Tricia: [00:39:29] Bye bye. Trisha is the best. She's an IV injection of creative inspiration and the perfect way to end our season. And here are some questions to think about. First, in what areas of life do you access your creativity to problem solve? Second, are you willing to trust your gut about a project's value, even if it takes 40 years? And finally, how do you summon your courage? Now, here's some homework. After you finish this podcast, go listen to Trisha tell the story of Miss Macy at themoth.org. Then follow Trisha on Instagram and Facebook @trishamitchellcoburn. To learn more about her, go to her website trishamitchellcoburn.com. And by the way, she spells Trisha. If you're a long time listener, you'll remember Rachel Perry, who was my guest in Season One on Episode Six: Practicality is Overrated. Remember Rachel went to art school at 36, while raising a first grader. Well Rachel is currently working on a video that will be shown in an upcoming performance at Carnegie Hall. That's right. Carnegie Hall. She'll be part of the New York premiere of Dorothea by artist Ted Hearne. So if you're in New York on October 27th, check it out. And if you want to summon your creative courage, join me at my No Time to be Timid retreat this November 10th through the 12th at the beautiful Cranberry Meadow Farm Inn in Peterborough, New Hampshire. It's an intimate gathering of eight women in various stages of their creative journeys who are eager to integrate more creativity into their lives. There are only two spots left, so if you're interested, go to triciaroseburt.com and click on the Work with Me button. We'll schedule a conversation to see if it's the right fit for you. And if you want more details about the retreat, click on No Time to be Timid in the menu bar. Stay tuned for a bonus episode. We're going to recap Season Two and all the traits necessary to sustain a creative life. We'll also report on an exciting opportunity that opened up for one of our guest because they were on the show. And we'll give you a sneak peek into Season Three as well. In the meantime, remember, this is no time to be timid. No Time to Be Timid is written and produced by me, Tricia Rose Burt. Our episodes are produced and scored by Adam Arnone of Echo Finch, and our theme music is Twists and Turns by the Paul Dunlea Group. If you like what you hear, please subscribe to the show, spread the word, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. No Time to be Timid is a presentation of I Will Be Good Productions. [00:39:29][0.0]