Praise This sweet girl! Josie, Alycia, and Yasmine invite their bestie Anjelika Washington to chat about her new movie on Peacock, the different stages of her acting career — from auditioning while driving for Lyft to being booked and busy — living in LA, prioritizing her mental health (even when therapists take vacations), and everything in between.

Show Notes
Watch Praise This (2023)
Anjelika Washington Opens Up on Blackface Incident Involving Stunt Double (Variety)
StuntPOC.com

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Yasmine Hamady: Guys! 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Happy belated Easter if you practice it. Happy still continuing Ramadan. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Happy Passover. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Happy all the holidays. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Happy any other Sunday if you don’t celebrate anything like– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: [?] 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Just– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Like just– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Hope you’re doing well overall. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We have a special guest with us today. Alycia, do you want to describe– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: One of–

 

Yasmine Hamady: –this person?

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: –the most special guest–. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yup. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We’ve ever had on this pod. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yup. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Um. It honestly would have been blasphemy if we didn’t have this individual–

 

Yasmine Hamady: Disrespectful. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: –on the podcast. I have lived with her. I have filmed a movie with her. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Well, everyone thinks that you guys are dating half the time. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: That’s a good story. But but more importantly, um she is one of the best souls to ever grace the planet. She is ridiculously talented, so it is only right that she comes on and kiki’s with us and we get to pick her brain and also just celebrate her because she has some pretty awesome things going on. For example, the wonderful Praise This that just came out on Peacock. She is one of the leads with the Chloe Bailey. Um it dropped April 7th. People are eating it up. She is a multi-hyphenate, she writes and is a Black queen and that is our sister, my wife, Anjelika Washington. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: [cheers] I– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: [rolling tongue cheering] Hi Anje, how are you doing? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Hi. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Hi. Now, if I don’t have that type of introduction for the rest of my life, just don’t even invite me. Like just–

 

Yasmine Hamady: No might as well. 

 

Anjelika Washington: If the introduction–

 

Yasmine Hamady: Don’t go. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –isn’t like that for my girls. I don’t want it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No, why would you? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Well Anje boo. You know, I will go anywhere and everywhere with you to give you that intro and be like, don’t play about her. But um– 

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s a fact. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: How are you doing today? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I mean–

 

Anjelika Washington: She actually– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –look at her. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –went around and corrected people how to say my name. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh yeah yeah yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: As she should. Well, she’s she’s also done that for me when everyone’s like, hi, Yasmine. Hi, Yasmine. And she’s like it’s it’s Yasmine. [laughter] [banter]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah and I don’t play about the people I love. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No, so. Welcome to the pod. How are you? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. I’m well. I’m tired. I’m recovering– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: From a wonderful weekend. Obviously, you just said it. The movie came out and I was with my family for Easter for the first time in four years, so that was really nice. And so, yeah, happy to be here. Now I get to, like, actually see where y’all are recording all the time. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: You said something that I want to touch upon. It was your first Easter in four years with your family, and that is because you’ve been nonstop working like you are always on go. You are always so busy. How has this rollout felt different from other projects, like the rollout of Praise This? How are you receiving it being out? Because it’s, you know, it’s very new. Um. But yeah, like, how is that all going for you? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. Um. You know what? This has been the most different for sure. It’s my fifth movie ever. Which is exciting. My first time getting to co-lead something which is also exciting. And I think I’ve had the most anxiety– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Oooh. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –with this coming out than anything else. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Why? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Just because I’ve actually had an opportunity to, like, help carry a movie. I’ve actually had more than just like, four scenes. You know, I have– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –like, majority of the dialog in the film. Majority of the jokes in the film. Just–

 

Yasmine Hamady: You were the comedic relief throughout the whole– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –entire thing. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. And so just that weight of it and me, just like having this um, you know what it is. The honest truth is that this is my first Black project and my first introduction to my own community, and I think I’m most anxious of how they perceive me and–

 

Yasmine Hamady: Sure. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –receive me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Sure. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And so I think that that’s where the anxious energy comes from. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Because I’ve been acting for ever. But this is my first time in something where people that look like me finally get to see me, and a lot of them don’t know who I am because they’ve never seen my work. I’ve been working for a long time, but they haven’t really gotten a chance to see me. And so I think I’ve just been really anxious. I’m having a lot of, like, posting anxiety like– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Sure. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –making a post or a draft and then just like, not posting it at all because I’m just like– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –never mind. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s scary. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Just abandoning it.

 

Yasmine Hamady: Well I want to also bring up, you said this when we were at your screening this Saturday, and you said that when you were in Atlanta with your mom, you guys were at a supermarket and she made a comment to you. Can you share are you comfortable sharing it– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –with everyone? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah, um I was at the grocery store with my mom, like– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –Yas said. And we were just walking around. I was literally in like sweats and a t-shirt. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Sweatpants, hair tied, chilling with no makeup on. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s when you the prettiest–

 

[spoken together] –I hope you don’t take it wrong.

 

Anjelika Washington: Exactly. And so my mom just goes Anje and I’m like, what? She’s like, this is the last time you’ll be in an area or a grocery store or in a public place that’s full of Black people, and no one will know who you are. Like, this is the last time. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s an insane thing to, how did how did you receive that in that moment? 

 

Anjelika Washington: I, it kind of hit me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That was the first time it actually hit me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Because we were in Atlanta for the premiere of the movie, and that was the moment where I went. Oh, my gosh. I think you’re right. Like, people are going to watch this movie. Like in my head, I’m like, Beyonce’s mom will watch this movie. There’s a chance Beyoncé will watch this movie. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, shit.

 

Anjelika Washington: You know what I mean? There’s a chance Cardi B will watch this movie. There’s– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –one of her songs in there, Meg Thee Stallion song’s in there, like so many people that I love and that I watch and they feel like almost like not real really. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Like they don’t feel like in my reach when they feel like worlds apart. Like I feel like I’m an actress who’s still a regular person and they feel like in a different world. But the moment that I think they’re going to know I exist, is just wild. Wild.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It’s scary. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And, Anje, you said something. And as a sister, I just want to take a moment for you to know that like you are loved by your own community, I think that there’s a different weight that we don’t always explore when it comes to being an artist. Um. Maybe specifically an actor from a marginalized community and disenfranchised communities. And understanding that you have to think about how you’re going to be perceived on a large scale by the world. But specifically, like being a Black woman, you and I personally take it very seriously um that we respect and uplift the communities that we come from and we play powerful young Black women. And you’re doing that. I just I feel like you need to hear– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No you are. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: –that. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: During this like, transformative time. And I’m so excited for you because I think there’s so um much to expect in the journey. But like, you’re very unknowing at this point, but I’m just so excited for the world to receive you and like for you to be a part of Black joy in a lot of ways. I feel like I just have to say that as a sister. I just realized we haven’t explained to people how we know each other. We just said, this is our wife, our sister, our friend. Um. [laugh] So do you want to share with people how we met or any memorable experiences you have with us? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes, I met Alycia and Josie working on the Netflix movie, Moxie. Um. Such an incredible, life changing experience directed by the one and only Amy Poehler, by the way. Queen. Um. We love her. And um it was an incredible experience. I will say still to this day of every project I’ve ever worked on, that has been the most life changing. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Same. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Oh wow.

 

Anjelika Washington: Just because it’s such a beautiful opportunity when you get to make wonderful content. But it’s an even more beautiful experience when you get to make wonderful content and meet wonderful people and then take those people with you in your life and on your journey, because that doesn’t happen all the time. And I’m very aware that, like you go in and you do jobs, you work on shows, and you work on movies, and it just ends there. You know, like once you wrap, once you’re done, that’s it. You know, you don’t really see them again or talk to them again. That’s kind of how this industry is. So I think it’s really special to like, make friends that you love. And but I’m also very picky. Like I really curate my friend group. Like I handpick every– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –every bitch that’s in my group. All my girls, all my girlies and all my, all my, my theys, my thems, my boys, my everyone. Everyone has been like, handpicked because I’m so particular about the people that are around me. And I really do have good discernment. And any time I lean into that and like, trust my intuition, I’ve never, ever, ever been wrong. Ever. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s that’s funny you say that because I feel like as we grow up, especially in this industry, we’re surrounded and we meet so many people and we meet so many friends of friends and friends removed from friends, and we all become very playful and like kind with each other. And I feel like recently or not even recently, in the past couple of months, I’ve been feeling like gut feelings over some people that I’m like, maybe I don’t want to surround myself around you. Maybe you’re great to hang out with in a group setting, but maybe I don’t want to hang out with you that much. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Do you feel like you get that a lot in L.A.? 

 

Anjelika Washington: 100%. And I feel like now that I’m older and now that I’m I’ve had more experiences being on set, meeting actors, with Praise This was a really awesome experience because I got to work with musicians and artists and influencers and people that I normally don’t work with on a set. I’m usually just working with actors, you know? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And so that also showed me um just the different types of people that are in this industry that you know, I haven’t really had a chance to meet yet. And it also really showed me who I am and who I want to be and the type of people that I want to surround myself with. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Because I learned a lot, not just with that project, but really just meeting people, like you said, living in L.A., like I really am not into that influencer cloud chasing shit. And I have zero desire to be around people who are obsessed with that because I cannot stand like if you have your phone out at all times when I’m with you, I don’t want to hang out because I don’t also want to record every little second of our conversation. I want to just be you and me. I want to be a person. I want to connect. I want to have like a human connection. Like not everything is for the gram. Not everything is for TikTok. Like, we’re just people. And I also just like, acting is a thing that I do, but it’s not all that I am. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: 100%. 100%. I think I think it’s hard to find that, though, in L.A., because this is where like everyone everywhere comes to to get that career boost. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Like absolutely. 

 

Josie Totah: I love that. Anje I think you’re one of the most exciting young actresses right now and are genuinely one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life. And to think that you are starring in this movie and you have had several number one movies on Netflix and you’re at this new height of your career is so exciting. But obviously you weren’t always at this place and you started from a very different place. And even just looking back, you know, five, six years ago. Can you, like walk us through where your mind was at and what you were doing? Um if you feel comfortable opening up about like those Lyft days and– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: –those Starbucks days and– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah, I was– 

 

Josie Totah: The days that basically grounded you to get you here. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. Um. Literally six years ago, I was working at Starbucks for $10 an hour, I think, and I was working the 3:45 a.m. to 9 a.m. shift and then I would have like a 30 minute break and eat a snack and drink a coffee. And then I would drive Lyft from 9:30 a.m. to like 5 p.m.. And then I would just do that every day. Every day I didn’t have an in-person audition. That’s what I was doing, like every day. And then when I did have an in-person audition, I wouldn’t drive Lyft because Starbucks ended at 9 a.m.. So I was free during the day to audition and that was how I sustained myself. And I lived in the living room of my old apartment and I did not have a door. I had a curtain that like closed off everything. And I just had like my bed in there, like it was the artist struggle. It was like the artist hustle grind life. So this life has been like a worldwind [sic]. But yes, at my screening that you all came to, which I’m so grateful. I love you all so much. Um. I had some of my very my very first friend that I ever made in L.A. and I met him doing background on I believe it was either Ant Farm on Disney Channel or like K.C. Undercover, like something one of those. And then there were four other people there that I for sure met on K.C. Undercover doing background on Zendaya’s show years ago when I like first got to L.A. And so it was really special that all of them were also there because I met them so long ago when I literally knew nothing, didn’t have an agent, didn’t have headshots, was still like taking acting classes. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Was still just figuring it out, you know what I mean? I was like, what is SAG-AFTRA? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Like, [laughter] what the fuck is sag-aftra? 

 

Anjelika Washington: What is that?

 

Yasmine Hamady: I ask myself that every single day, that inspires me because it feels like divine timing, like everything will set you up for where you need to be. Like I, I, I’m working, you know, a 9 to 6 job. I don’t have an agent, and then I’m seeing you and I’m like, I could fucking do it, you know, because, like, Anjelika brings me hope to do this. And not only do you do that with just sharing it right now, but like with all of your work. Being in, you know, stargirl, tall girl, moxie. 

 

Josie Totah: Anything with girl in it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Anything that–

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s right. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –ends with girl. 

 

Josie Totah: I feel like every time I’m in a Lyft or ride sharing vehicle, suddenly I’m leaving with a crazy story. I had an Italian uber driver the other day he gave me, like, this weird manifesto about life. Telling me to stay present. What would you say are some of your most memorable experiences driving Lyft and the people you encountered? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Well I always met the most incredible people. And I always pretended to be different people. It was like I couldn’t afford acting class, so I would just– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah yeah yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –pretend to be different characters when I was driving Lyft. Like I would have different accents, different whatever. But– 

 

Josie Totah: Iconic. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –a really memorable experience was me picking up Lily Collin’s mom from the airport and dropping her off at, like, some wonderful, beautiful, huge house. And she was in town for Lily’s premiere of her movie. And I remember picking her up and like, just telling her like, Oh, I’m an actress and I’m, you know, in L.A. and I’m trying to figure it out. And she was like, Oh, my gosh, I’m here for my daughter’s movie. Her name is Lily. Maybe you’ve seen her. And I’m like, maybe I’ve seen her. Like Lily Collins. Like, of course I know who that is. And she was like, really? Oh, my gosh. And she just poured, like, a lot of kindness into me and was like, you know, this industry is really hard. You just got to, like, stay true to who you are. Never compromise. Like, be yourself, you’re beautiful, you’re young, you’re whatever. And I was like, Oh, my gosh, thank you so much. This good woman could have not been Lily Collins mom and I would have no idea. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I would have had no clue. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No, but here’s the thing. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But you know what? She was nice. 

 

Anjelika Washington: She was so nice. [indistinct banter]

 

Josie Totah: –lie. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We love that. I feel like there’s something so spectacular about people who lie. End of sentence. No, but people who lie, like going to different stores or, like like when I go to Vons or something, or like, when I’m ordering a Starbucks at a different location that I usually go to, I’ll start speaking in a British accent. Or a Scottish accent. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Or a like an Arab accent. And they’re like, Oh my God. And I will like interchange between the whole sentence– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –speaking in Scottish, Scottish English like– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And then like Arabic, like, I don’t know, what are you doing? [speaking in a Scottish accent] Like all of that. And they think like I’m mentally deranged, but I think it’s a part of acting class. If you can’t, like, take it. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It’s it’s it’s fun to switch it up. 

 

Josie Totah: It also reminds me a lot of when you were sort of building your career in the early days too. How you kind of had to invest in other parts of you to be even more successful in acting. Didn’t your agent tell you, she gave you a piece of advice one day that had to do with booking jobs and– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: –and leaving. And– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. She said– 

 

Josie Totah: –and it worked, right? What was that?

 

Anjelika Washington: 100%. She said, if you want to book a job, book a trip. And she was right. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: That’s a fact. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And then I was like, but if I book a trip, I’ll miss the audition. And then she was like, no, you’ll get the audition because you book the trip. When you go live your life, it makes you a better artist. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And I didn’t really understand that. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: But she meant like, you’re going to get life experience. You’re going to learn how to figure things out, how to take care of yourself on the fly. And when I tell you, baby, I booked that first Lipton Sparkling iced tea commercial. I was out two weeks later and I backpacked Europe for 31 days. So, you guys already– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: See that’s. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –know, but that’s literally I spent every penny. I blew the whole thing. I regret nothing. And actually, if there’s anything I would do, I would actually recommend that type of experience to someone who’s like, really young and like, figuring it out, like take your two best friends. And like, that was also my first booking, right? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: My first booking. So I made like $3,000. But I think to me when I came off $10 an hour. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: At Starbucks. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah, I was like $3,000 for one day of work. Heck yeah, I’m going to Europe. And that’s– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –what I did. And I think it was the best experience I’ve ever done. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And that’s really important because I was recently talking to a friend. I love him dearly, but he’s, you know, a male actor. And I was telling him I took a couple of months off of acting classes because I feel like some of these acting classes in L.A. are cults. 

 

Anjelika Washington: 100%. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Are actual cults. And they’re scary. They have like, they praise like, [stuttering] [?] like the the eh [?]– 

 

Anjelika Washington: The instructor, like they act like they can’t leave. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And like, also, like they’re just like, we come here, we have to rehearse like 5 hours a day because I’m like, well people also have a job. People also have a life and like you’re– 

 

Anjelika Washington: And working actors aren’t doing that. Just LOL. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No I’m sorry. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Just want you to know, working actors aren’t doing that.

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. And I so I took a couple months off of acting classes and like then I had an audition for something and I sent the audition to my manager and she was like, that’s the best work you’ve done. And that’s like the most unseasoned I was. And I obviously I didn’t book it, but like, it’s just having that and I think you’re always like a very much guiding light for me when I say like, even just from like working and then also like you have to live your life or else. Well, I mean, isn’t that the point of acting? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Mm hmm. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Taking human experiences of what would I do if I were this character in this–

 

Anjelika Washington: Yup. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –certain circumstance? Sometimes?

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s exactly it. But if you don’t live your life and you’re not– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Then how would you? 

 

Anjelika Washington: –in circumstances, how are you going to know how to handle it when you, like, get a thing, you know, get a get a scene and maybe the actress is like or your character’s like, trying to figure out what she’s doing. And she’s really flustered and she’s lost in an airport. But like, have you ever been lost in an airport? I have in France. 

 

Josie Totah: I have. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Also, one of my favorite things about you, which I want you to walk people through because I don’t think people would know this is you have done a little of everything. And it is something that I revel in because very much like what you’re talking talking about. You were like, I want to live life. I want to have experiences. And didn’t you do like a free trial of everything? Like, I think that you have seen the most of L.A. than anyone I know. And please explain to people what I mean by that. 

 

Josie Totah: That sounds like a movie. Free trial of everything. [banter]

 

Anjelika Washington: She’s right. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s actually really good. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: A great movie. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That is a great movie. I could literally write it. I did it. So what she means by that is I was in a point where I was just like really poor and I just couldn’t afford anything. And I was working minimum wage and I was just struggling and I was, you know, like early twenties, late teens, like I just was figuring it out. I’m still figuring it out. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: But what I mean by that is at the time, I needed to, like, live my life, but I couldn’t afford anything. So I literally went to Google and was like free activities in L.A. and I just found anything, whether it was a free Groupon or a free workshop, things on Craigslist that were free, anything that I could find that was free. I literally went and I would either drag someone with me or I would go by myself. And I just learned a lot. And I met a lot of people. And I just did random stuff, like I tried a free archery class. I took a free fencing class. I took a free silk aerial class. I took a–

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s insane. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Like free pottery. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I can imagine you. Okay. Katniss Everdeen. Like– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I could imagine you in Hunger Games. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah, literally, like, because why not? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And now, if anyone’s asked me, like, I’ve done it, I’m not good at it, but like, I’ve done it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay, so I pose the question then. If you could do a free trial right now, what would it be? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Therapy. Because it’s so expensive. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Jesus Christ. Okay. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I I do have to say, you really inspired me of taking care of my mental health um to new extents and in ways that I really admire. Because you’ve been on the road and you’ve been working your ass off. Um. But how has therapy helped you because you’ve been consistent with it and it’s actually something that I, I mean this like this is just honestly a sister moment. Like, thank you for certain conversations you’ve had with me, with reminding me on how like mental health is something that I don’t take care of when I think I need to. But it should be a consistent conversation and something that I should always be mindful of, even at my busiest points. How do you think therapy has helped you throughout filming, throughout, you know, now, being on your fifth movie, now being the superstar that has a very different life from six years ago? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah, great point. Um. Well, I’ve been in therapy consistently now since 2020, and I started it because of during the pandemic. Black Lives Matter. I just felt like I really needed it at that time. I felt like I was just in a place where, you know, my first season of television just came out. We had no idea what was going to happen if we were going to get picked up. We had no idea what was going on in the world. And I’m [?]– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Stargirl where she plays a superhero, continue. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. I’m exhausted for fighting for my people, fighting for people to just have a chance to live. And I was just exhausted and I was realizing like, you know what? I don’t know how sustainable this is. So I really think I need to see someone and like talk to someone and talk it out. And I think just like different changes in life, it’s always really helpful. Sometimes I think people think you need a therapist when you’re grieving or you’re going through something– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –really deep or dark, but actually you can just have therapy for regular life stuff, you know what I mean? And I feel like that’s actually been the moments, those tools of having consistent therapy sessions, even when I feel like the sessions are like ah I literally just told her about my week, like I didn’t really do much or, you know, I feel like I’m saying the same things over and over again. I’m still gaining like, tools, so when the big shit happens, I am equipped to take care of it. I’m equipped to handle it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s huge. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And the irony is, God is so funny because I have found that the biggest moments happen when my therapist is on vacation. Always. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Don’t get me started on that, because that is literally me. Why are you taking a day off when, like actually when something happened in my family? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Always. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I know you didn’t know about it, but that’s your fault. 

 

Anjelika Washington: The craziest shit always happens to me when she’s on vacation. Always. 

 

Josie Totah: And it’s never just like, three days too. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She’s be gone for like three weeks. 

 

Josie Totah: –[?] on an island. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes. 

 

Josie Totah: I’m like, where? I’m like are you a therapist or are you Mark Zuckerberg? 

 

Anjelika Washington: But as a therapist, she knows to take those quarterly vacations because– 

 

Josie Totah: She does. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –she also really has to take care of herself because she not only dealing with her own shit, she dealing with my shit, she dealing with everyone’s shit. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She said self care. She said self care–

 

Anjelika Washington: Right. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And I love that. 

 

Anjelika Washington: So I’m like, she needs it. I support it. But sometimes I’m like, come back. What are you doing? I need you here. But I do think therapy is so wonderful and so helpful. And I have learned so much about myself, about who I am, and a lot of freeing things as well. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: So that has been really helpful. Like, I feel so free, like now that I know I don’t give a fuck about a luxury car, I’m so happy in my Honda. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I love her car. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I’m like, I’ll save my money. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: As you should. I remember Alycia and I were driving it [?]– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Shout out Holly the Honda. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Holly the Honda. She’s a cute little red little nugget. Like Alycia and I were driving in at once, like before Alycia got her car and the speakers. You don’t have Bluetooth, right? 

 

Anjelika Washington: I do now, but I didn’t. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Congrats um and the and the aux cord wasn’t working, so Alycia’s like, we can’t drive without music. She goes back up to the apartment and [?]– 

 

Anjelika Washington: And grabs a speaker. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: — [?] speaker. And she starts, we start like bumping Tyler the Creator on Bluetooth audio on a speaker in little Holly. And it was so fucking funny. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 2011 Honda Civic. She has never failed me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She has never failed you. [music break]

 

Yasmine Hamady: We’re talking before this podcast started, because you and I like we kind of looked at each other and were like, LA. And there was a long pause and you just got back late last night from home in Bakersfield. You’re from Bakersfield. And before we touch on you growing up there. Where are you at with L.A. today? Because you were saying you don’t know where how you feel? Because I feel that. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. I’ve just been here for so many years, and I’m at this, like, interesting place in my life right now that really hit me yesterday when I was talking to my mom when I was home in Bakersfield. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And I was sitting with my sister-in-law and I was looking up condos to buy here in L.A. because I’m still renting. And I’m like, I just feel like I deserve to own something, like– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah you do. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I deserve to buy something. And the prices, it’s just insane. And I really my my sister-in-law was like, why don’t you move back to Bakersfield? You know, you have so much family here. And I’m like, because I don’t have as much as I have family there. Y’all have kids. Like y’all are busy. I’m a young, single woman and, like, living in a tiny town is just not going to cut it for me. Not right now. Um. Maybe if I was, like, married and had kids and, like, you know, wanted to settle down, like, maybe I’d go back home and just do the drive to L.A., you know, it’s not that crazy. But honestly, the only thing keeping me in L.A. is my community. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That. 

 

Anjelika Washington: If y’all left L.A., I would be out of L.A.. That is a fact. I would not be here if you guys left. Like, if you guys leave tomorrow. I’m leaving tomorrow, too, because– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Whoa. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I love the weather in L.A. I’m really affected by the weather, which is the only reason why, like, New York won’t work for me or like a lot of places on the East Coast, because I can’t do the cold, I can’t do the snow like I can’t do the rain. Like it makes me literally like seasonal depression. So I can’t have that. I need sunshine in my life. But like L.A. specifically is just so expensive. And like, you guys know I, my phrase that I like to say all the time. I’m like, I’m rich. I like to say all the time. I’m like, I’m rich. I literally don’t care. I’m rich. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah you are. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She’s a queen who knows her worth. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. And like, in the grand scheme of, like top 5% of Americans, I am. You know what I mean? So, like, great. I’m in the tax bracket. Thank you God, it’s such a blessing. But also, I don’t know if I want to spend my money like this, like how the lifestyle of L.A. is. And as I’m getting older and I’m trying to save and thinking about buying and I now save, you know, I put a little bit aside every month for my future kids. I put aside every month for my future home, like I’m trying to get into those, like adult saving ways and things like that. And so I’m just looking around and I’m like, how much longer will this be sustainable and will I be able to really invest in a lifestyle here in Los Angeles? And I just I genuinely don’t know if maybe I had a partner. I think I would be open to leaving. I just the only reason I won’t is because I’m alone. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Interesting. 

 

Josie Totah: Where would you go? 

 

Anjelika Washington: I don’t know. I think it would be a decision that me and my significant other would make. But right now I feel the most open minded to try something new. Because I’m not on a series. I’m not attached to anything. My lease I’m month to month. Like, I can go anywhere. I have like– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I feel like sky’s the limit. I just have to figure it out. And I told my mom yesterday, I said 100%, if there is a writers strike and if it goes through, I’m leaving. 

 

Josie Totah: Oh. There’s definitely going to be a writer’s strike.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: There’s going to be a writer’s strike. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I’m going to sub, great so I will sublet my apartment and I will travel and I will be gone for two months. And I’ll see you when I come back. 

 

Josie Totah: I see you in like– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Where would you go? 

 

Josie Totah: –in Miami right now I don’t know why.  

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s what I said. That’s what I literally said to her. I was like, I don’t know why I see you in Florida. Even though Ron DeSantis– 

 

Anjelika Washington: You did say that. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I said to her. Even though Ron DeSantis would not want–

 

Josie Totah: I see her in Miami, too, I don’t know why.

 

Anjelika Washington: I hate Ron DeSantis. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No–

 

Anjelika Washington: Absolutely not. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Could you go to Austin, Texas? 

 

Josie Totah: Not Ron DeSantis. [?]

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes, actually, I would. I literally was like, I’d go visit Austin, Texas. My manager lives there. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Josie’s obsessed with Austin. 

 

Josie Totah: That’s where I would go. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah I know.

 

Anjelika Washington: We’ve been wanting to go Josie. Ever since we watch 20 somethings Austin. 

 

Josie Totah: [clapping] Yes. Oh can we talk about–

 

Anjelika Washington: We’re like– 

 

Josie Totah: –that? Can we– 

 

Anjelika Washington: We got to go. 

 

Josie Totah: –talk about that? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No– 

 

Josie Totah: Can we talk about the fact that that was one of the best unscripted programs–

 

Anjelika Washington: Ever of all time. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I just think it was– 

 

Josie Totah: Of all time. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –genius. I have a friend, Isha was on it. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Oh! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And she– 

 

Josie Totah: We know Isha. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, so– 

 

Anjelika Washington: We love her.

 

Yasmine Hamady: She she was on it and it was like I was like, what the fuck is going on in this show? And she’s like, it’s crazy, isn’t it? And I was like, Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: It’s crazy. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: [?] 20 something Austin. I’ve never felt so seen because I’m sorry. These shows like Love is Blind, the Circle–

 

Anjelika Washington: Not real. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –Love Island, USA. There’s no place for you on television. Stop it! Stop! Fuck the writer rooms for that one. I don’t care. Go on strike for those. I’m tired of it. Love Island UK, down for. 20 something Austin, down for. Other than that. Shove it up your ass. 

 

Josie Totah: Anje I will leave everything to go to Austin with you if that is what you choose to do. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Please. 

 

Josie Totah: But I think that’s a beautiful thing that everyone realized post-pandemic. We could be literally anywhere. I remember I was getting a Covid test and I was like, I could live literally anywhere. Maybe I’ll go to Chicago for a summer. You know, God took me across the world like it wasn’t Chicago, but it was still amazing. And I think it just made me realize, like, we can still have our people and our and our time and our purpose in any location possible. So I think that’s amazing that you had that realization. And I’m really excited to see what you do with that. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. Well, I’m definitely coming to see you in NOLA. That’s my first stop. So–

 

Yasmine Hamady: You are going are you going next weekend? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Um. No, I’m going to go at the end of April, but I’m that’s my first stop. And then it’s probably just going to keep going because I’ve been invited to like, oh, my friends, like, I’m having a party in Mexico City for my birthday. Never been to Mexico City. Great. I’m there. 

 

Josie Totah: Let’s recenter. Let’s get back on track. So I think. With being a successful actress. There obviously comes difficulties with anyone, especially being a woman in this industry. But in your case, being a Black woman in this industry and having that specific intersection, how have you navigated the question of should I just be grateful or should I demand what I deserve throughout all these projects– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Great question. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Wow. 

 

Josie Totah: –that you’ve had. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Well, you know what? I am still figuring it out because there are so many conversations, particularly that I get to have with you and and Sabrina um Carpenter, one of my really good friends. And you both are so successful as well. And I think what’s so great is that you guys remind me of my worth as like women who are, you’re a woman of color, but not Black women. But in that sense of like, I have guidance and you know what it is? I feel grateful that I have other women who are reminding me that I am allowed to demand what I deserve. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And I think that that’s so special, particularly because, of course, another Black woman is going to tell me, you better ask for whatever you deserve da da da da da. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And of course, I’m going to say the same thing to her because I know that and I believe that. But it is very different when a white woman is telling me this is what you should be getting paid, this is what you deserve. And I actually think that’s real allyship. I think that that is real, like progressive movement, because now you’ve allowed me like almost insight into your world of what you know it’s what the average treatment is like for a white person, you know, and what that looks like. And now I’m like, that’s what I deserve as well. You know what I mean? Because I’m in this industry, I’m working just as hard. I’m doing just as great work. That’s what I deserve. So I’m still figuring it out as far as like how to use my voice and how to go about asking for it and demanding it um and really what the way is to go about that. But I do have a really great team and I think I’m learning more and more what my worth is and Josie, you do a really great job of reminding me of that. So thank you. I love you, um but I’m still really figuring it out because as you know, like sometimes I feel like again because six years ago I was working at Starbucks for minimum wage. A lot of times I feel just grateful to be here. Like, just grateful to be doing what I’m doing, grateful to being able to pay my rent, grateful to be able to go into Whole Foods and buy whatever I want and go home for Easter and and buy my family dinner and treat my you know, I got a bounce house for my nieces and nephews. Like, I just feel grateful that I can do those things even though I know I’m still not getting what I deserve. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And two things can exist at the same time. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Where you can say. I’m just grateful to be here. Six years ago, I was working at Starbucks. I’m grateful that I can even afford to, you know, provide for my family, etc., etc.. But also I need more, not only because I need more, I deserve more. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right. 

 

Josie Totah: And often times being grateful is this thing that productions and executives and higher ups use to mask your own needs and value that’s just being ignored. And so, yes, I’m grateful. Yes, and I’m grateful but this is what I deserve. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right. 

 

Josie Totah: And I think I have seen you just as your friend grow that voice. And I’m so impressed by you and proud of you, because it’s not easy to do. And I remember reading and hearing from you uh an article published, um I believe it was in Variety, about an experience that you had on set. Do you want to talk a little bit about that? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah, sure. So I was filming this project that I got to play a lacrosse player. Never played lacrosse before. Um. And, you know, they told me I was gonna have a stunt double because I didn’t have any training, um like lacrosse training. And I showed up to set on my, like, big day with this big stunt. And the stunt double was clearly painted in, like, dark brown paint to look like me. So she was Black faced, literally. But in the stunt world, they call it paint downs, meaning you’re painted down to match the actor that you hired instead of just hiring a Black stunt double, which exists. There’s– 

 

Josie Totah: Many. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –so many. 

 

Josie Totah: Many talented– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Many, many, many. 

 

Josie Totah: –Black stunt doubles exist. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Very talented stunt POC dot com literally stuntPOC.com is where you go. It’s like actors access for stunt doubles of color. So like it’s actually unacceptable. Anyways that happened. I saw it immediately. I felt very uncomfortable. I was more so looking around, confused as to why everyone else was comfortable. I was like, does anyone else not see what’s going on? So I advocated for myself the way I normally would. I actually texted my mom first and I was like, this woman is in Blackface. She’s supposed to be me. And I’m so, and my mom was like, hell no. By the way, context. My mom is a discrimination investigator. That’s what she did for a living. So–

 

Yasmine Hamady: She’s so iconic. She is so iconic. This woman. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right? She is iconic. My mom. Hey mom. She’s the best. And so with that being said, like, obviously, I’m aware of the situation. I know what’s happening. I was raised with this type of stuff. So I text my mom immediately and she was like, absolutely not. You need to go speak to a producer, figure it out. And I’m like, okay. So I go up there and I ask the producer like, hey, I just wanted to see what’s going on. Like, I know I have a stunt today, but the stunt double is like Black faced, and I don’t understand why I don’t have, like, a Black stunt double. Isn’t that the whole point of a stunt double? They’re supposed to look like me, and she doesn’t look like me at all. And the producer straight up, she was a white woman. She just literally looked at me and was like, we couldn’t find any Black stunt doubles that look like you. But you should be grateful to be here. Like, aren’t you excited to be on the set and excited to be acting? Yeah. Just be grateful for that. And turned and walked away. And I just– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m my blood is boiling. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –stood there. Yeah, I stood there feeling very torn down. Very–

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –not seen very just like very, very like low. She made me feel really low. She made me feel like, yes, I’m an actor, but like, you’re so indisposable that we literally didn’t even care to find someone who looked like you and not even look like me. They don’t stunt doubles don’t have to look like you, but didn’t even find a Black stunt double. Like we went to find someone else and we’re just going to paint them. And I was more upset by how many people it had to go through to get there. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Because not only are you the producer. Wardrobe had to dress her. Makeup had to paint her like all of these people– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Casting had to cast her. Like–

 

Anjelika Washington: –casting the stunt. The stunt coordinator had to pick her. Like this had to go through so many people before I showed up to set that the idea that it was so it that I didn’t matter that much, that we could just throw anyone out there, that we could just paint anyone. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Like it just was so um I don’t want to say demeaning, almost like, degraded. I felt very degraded.

 

Josie Totah: It is demeaning. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –[?] degrading. It’s it’s, it’s– 

 

Josie Totah: It’s disgusting. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I was going to say it’s disrespectful. It’s you’re not a human. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s basically humanizing–

 

Anjelika Washington: It felt like it dehumanized me.

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s dehumanizing. And it’s and like, I really hope behind the scenes um that woman, um that producer gets what she deserves. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I’m sure she won’t. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I hope she gets held accountable for her actions.

 

Josie Totah: I mean, that– 

 

Anjelika Washington: She knows who she is. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: [?]

 

Josie Totah: –is a horrifying thing to go through. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m so sorry. 

 

Josie Totah: And I genuinely am so sorry. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m so sorry. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: That you had to experience that. And I think even speaking out about that is also a sign of bravery and– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s protest. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah it’s a it’s a protest. And it’s it takes a lot. And I don’t think a lot of people would A.) Feel comfortable speaking up on set, but let alone in a public manner like you did. But I think it actually was really groundbreaking that you did that. And I think it honestly is like really helpful for, you know, the many productions that unfortunately are literally stupid. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: And have probably done that before. I mean, if this woman’s done it once, she’s probably done it before. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: And so the fact that you were able to just speak about that, I think is is pretty tremendous. What was it like having people read that and having that out there? What was the response like? 

 

Anjelika Washington: Well, mostly the response was actually really, really supportive, which I’m really, really grateful for. I think one of the reasons why I chose to share it in the summer of 2020 was because I was just starting to become a working actor, and everything that I had worked on has been primarily white. So all my castmates were white, my producers, directors, pretty much everyone I had been working with was white and everything I had done up to that point. I was pretty much a token Black girl. Like in everything I had done. And I really needed my peers, people that I worked with to realize racism is happening to every Black person that you know, even in ways that you don’t know about. So they’d work with me on sets that, you know, I was treated very well where I was respected and I was, you know, treated very equally, but that I needed them to see, like I’m also in situations where I’m on sets and this shit is happening to me. Anjelika, your friend that you love, who’s bubbly, outgoing and fun and loving, people are still doing this to me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: You just don’t know about it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And I needed them to see like, Oh fuck, this is even happening to like Anje. Like people that I love. You know what I mean? Because I feel like sometimes they think like, Oh, that’s only happening to certain people. That’s not happening to people I know. You know what I mean? And I think that their eyes have really been opened now. But like, that’s every person of color has experienced something like that. Maybe it’s a microaggression, maybe it’s a macro, a macroaggression like what I experienced. But to some extent everyone has experienced that. And I think that I really needed the people in my life to really see it, because sometimes when it’s not personally affecting you, you don’t really get it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Nope. No.

 

Josie Totah: Do you think and do you think they did? 

 

Anjelika Washington: I do. I think that for the most part, they absolutely did. Do I think that it came and went just like the black squares on Instagram? Yes. But I do think that it did affect them in the moment. And I think that it changed their perspective. Now, do I think that everyone is fully changed? No. But I do absolutely believe that any person I’ve ever worked with that has known me, that has seen that post, if they saw that on a set, I believe that they would be like, no, absolutely not. Shut this shit down. We’re not doing this. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. 

 

Anjelika Washington: No. 

 

Josie Totah: Right. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Not going to happen. Um. But yeah, shout out to Jesse Williams. Jesse Williams from Grey’s Anatomy. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s his last name. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: He is actually the one who reposted my post, and I have no idea. I’ve never met this man. I don’t know how he saw it. I don’t know who sent it to him. 

 

Josie Totah: Of course it’s the hottest person on earth. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Literally the most sexy– 

 

Anjelika Washington: Right! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –attractive man on planet Earth. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes. So someone– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Oh God. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –sent my post to him. He reposted it on Instagram, and that’s kind of how it went viral and kind of like blew up and got all of this traction. And then so many other Black actors. Actors who I’ve looked up to were Dm-ing me like sis, the same thing happened to me. Something just happened to me last week on a set where they did a paint down on my stunt double. Something literally just happened like three months ago. Like so many actors were coming out. And not just Black actors. Latino actors, Indigenous actors, Asian actors. Like, of all different races, were like, that has happened to me. And we were like, this cannot continue. There they need to, like, figure this out. And so from there, I think that um the stunt community is really working on it and has been working on it, particularly stunt POC like that community that they have they have been working on that for years before I even came into the picture. And so–

 

Josie Totah: Right. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I think and I hope that there has been a light shined on that issue. And so it never happens again because it’s unacceptable. And also as just like a young Black actress by myself on a set like, I don’t have a parent there, I’m an adult. Like, I’m still working, but I’m still young and I’m still alone. And to have no one else there to advocate for me was honestly a really traumatic experience because I had to– 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: –figure it out on my own. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: And– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And that’s and you’re put in a position where you are not only vulnerable, but you were the target. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Whether it was intentional or not, you were the target. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. And I did stand up for myself, and I actually did. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And you should be so damn proud of yourself, because not only are you standing up for yourself, but you’re standing up for all the young, like you said, Black and Brown BIPOC Indigenous people who have who this has happened to. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m really fucking proud of you. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. I love you. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And if I ever see that bitch, she’s done. [laughter] She’s done. 

 

Josie Totah: Well and look at and look at all the work that you’ve already done so far and that you’re going to continue to do and looking forward in the future. I mean, you have already accomplished so much. You’ve campaigned and organized with Alyssa Milano. You’ve been in rooms with Kerry Washington, you’ve been on the ground, you’ve been active through social media for years now. Where do you see yourself in the next few years career wise, but also in this form of civic engagement that you’ve taken on as kind of like an icon? Dare I say. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Hmm, that’s a good one. I love the phrase that you just said civic engagement, because I don’t feel comfortable calling myself an activist. Like, sure, you can do act– you can have activism. Like everyone has moments where they can, you know, have activism work, and they can do that. But calling myself an activist, I feel like is a slap in the face to all activists that do that 24/7 who are on the ground in grassroot organizations going door to door knocking–

 

Yasmine Hamady: Like this is their life. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s their life. That’s what they do. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Anjelika Washington: That’s how they make their living or that’s what they spend all of their money on when they have a side job. You know what I mean? 

 

Josie Totah: Right. 

 

Anjelika Washington: So I don’t feel comfortable calling myself that, but I really like that you said I’m civically engaged and I think that that’s a better phrase, um being civically engaged. Um. And you know what? Career wise, I hope that in like the next five years, twenty years that I continue to work and I hope that I get to do work that really shows off more range of what I can do. And I look forward to working with just like amazing people. I care more about working with amazing people than just amazing actors actually, or just amazing people that are good at what they do. Because there’s a lot of people that are good at what they do. But like, I don’t want to spend 14 hours with someone who’s a shitty person and good at what they do. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I want to spend 14 hours with people who are good at what they do and are good people. And I think that my value system has just changed over the past few years, primarily since the pandemic, but specifically just within the last year. I think my value system has changed and I just value people and I value human connection and I value good people, genuine people more than I value people that can do something for me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I think when you– 

 

Josie Totah: I love that. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –have that connection with good people, that’s when you make the best art. And isn’t that the outcome that everyone wants at that–

 

Anjelika Washington: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: You know on set. Um. 

 

Anjelika Washington: 100%. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: You know, I feel like that’s a good place to kind of circle this out because here at Dare We Say from the beginning, we’ve never wanted to call ourselves activists because we’re not we are disruptors, we’re civically engaged and aggressively hot. And I couldn’t think of anyone better than yourself, Anjelika, for being a disruptor, for breaking the status quo, for being a grace, for being a light at the end of the tunnel for so many people. I’m lucky that Josie and Alycia introduced me to you because I know for a goddamn fact you’re a lifelong. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Aw absolutely. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I like, I know that, and I. I love you. Were so, so, so thankful for having for for you coming on this podcast. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Thank you. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I love you. 

 

Anjelika Washington: I feel so honored and so grateful to be here. And while I’m here, I just want to say that I am also so proud of y’all. Like, if everyone doesn’t know you guys literally built this shit from scratch. Like, I remember sitting in Josie’s house on the couch and you guys being like, we have this podcast idea and we’re going to go like, try to pitch it and try to sell it and you fucking did it. So I hope that you all are also equally as proud of yourselves and proud of what you’ve done. You’ve done so many incredible episodes. You have talked and shared your life with the world and I’m so proud of you and I’m so excited to see where all of you go and all the things that you guys do. And I know that this is just the beginning, whether like more podcasts, less podcasts, more acting, more comedy, more whatever, you’re going to shine and be so successful at everything you do. And also, yes, because you’re so talented, but mainly because you’re genuine good humans. And I really believe that you are going to go so far because you’re good people and you love people and you treat people the way you want to be treated. And as much as we don’t get to see that a lot in L.A., I’m so grateful that I get to have a community of people who think that way and see the world the same way. And I just know that we’re all going to just do so well. I think that’s why I have so much peace right now in my life, because I just feel the most surrounded by genuine good people than I ever have. And I just know that we’re going to be taken care of, like God’s got us, the universe got our back. The universe is going to take care of everything because we’re we’re doing everything right. We’re like being our best selves. And you know what? Even if not, we’re still going to be okay because we’re smart enough and we’ll figure it the fuck out. 

 

Josie Totah: Yes, we will. I love you so much, Anje. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I love you. 

 

Josie Totah: I love you to the moon. 

 

Josie Totah: Thank you for your kind supportive words. I feel the exact same way about you. Thank you for coming on the pod. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I love you. Once this camera cuts– 

 

Anjelika Washington: I love you. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –I’m jumping on top of you. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Ah. I can’t wait. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Are we good to go. Thank you for listening. Make sure to subscribe, like, and share. Thank you Anjelika Washington. [cheering]

 

Josie Totah: And Praise This is streaming on Peacock right now. 

 

Anjelika Washington: Yes it is.

 

Yasmine Hamady: Right now, stream that shit. Stream that shit. [cheering

 

Anjelika Washington: I love you guys so much. 

 

Josie Totah: Dare We Say is a Crooked Media production. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Caroline Reston is our showrunner, producer and mommy and Ari Schwartz is our producer and show daddy. Fiona Pestana is our associate producer and Sandy Girard is the Almighty executive producer. 

 

Josie Totah: It’s hosted and produced by me, Josie Totah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And me, Yasmine Hamady.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And me, Alycia Pascual-Peña. Our engineer and editor is Jordan Cantor. And Brian Vasquez is our theme music composer. Our video producers are Matt DeGroot, Narineh Melkonian and Delon Villanueva and Mia Kellman. 

 

Josie Totah: Lastly, thank you to Jordan Silver, Gabriela Leverette, Jesse McLean, Caroline Heywood, Shaina Hortsmann, Deisi Cruz, Danielle Jensen and Ewa Okulate, for marketing the show and making us look so damn good.