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August 11, 2022
Dare We Say
We're Crowning!

In This Episode

Welcome! Come on in to the very first episode of Dare We Say. This week, besties Josie Totah, Alycia Pascual Peña, and Yasmine Hamady are celebrating! Our Leo queens Josie and Yas turn 21 and 24 and the girls reflect on the birthday scaries, the anxieties of getting older and the proper way to birth a brand new baby podcast. Plus, Josie, Alycia and Yasmine give you their Top 10 Ways to Celebrate your Birthday like a Bad Biotch. Stay engaged, stay hot!

 

Follow us! http://instagram.com/darewesay

Subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/c/darewesay

 

TRANSCRIPT

 

Josie Totah: Our show has just been birthed by C-section, or do you think this is a natural birth? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I think this was natural. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Natural. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No epidural. 

 

Josie Totah: Is it like, was it– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No epidural. I think it was natural. 

 

Josie Totah: Is it a pre-birth? Or is it right on time? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mmm. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I think it was right at– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: –right on time– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –the nine month mark. 

 

Josie Totah: Were we in the hospital or was this with a doula at home? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Hmmm. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I kind of feel like we rented out the whole Cedars-Sinai like– 

 

Josie Totah: We did. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: West wing area, like I think we– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Of course you do, of course you do.

 

Josie Totah: Kylie Jenner style. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I think there were cameras involved and I think all of our, all of our legs were like spread open. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I was going to say, doula. 

 

Josie Totah: I literally rue the day that you give birth because– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Oh I want! I want it to go, I want to go on Instagram live– 

 

Josie Totah: I rue it! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –the day I give birth and I want everyone to fucking see it. I want it to be shown in all, like sex education classes in seventh grade. 

 

Josie Totah: Okay. Well, with that being said. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: With that being said. 

 

Josie Totah: Play the theme music. And when we come back, we’re going to talk. [music break] The reason why I have this much energy is because I am on a burst prednisone pack and I am so excited to introduce our beautiful effing show. Hi guys, I am Josie Totah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Hi, I am Alycia Pascual-Peña. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I’m Yasmine Hamady. And you’re listening to– 

 

[spoken together] Dare We Say. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Woo! 

 

Josie Totah: So I literally called Yasmine the other day. I woke up feeling as though I was like multiple feet penetrated into the ground. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, yeah she did. 

 

Josie Totah: I was at my death. Okay. I go out the house to go to ur- because I’m like, I need to go to urgent care. I like, I can’t even go to work this day. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No. 

 

Josie Totah: I don’t have my keys. I don’t have my car. My car’s in L.A., I’m stranded, I Uber. I leave the door to my house, in my college house, unlocked. Now I’m risking my roommate’s life. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, you are. 

 

Josie Totah: They can handle it. One of them’s from Alaska. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay. 

 

Josie Totah: I get an Uber. I go to an urgent care in Anaheim. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Oh, God. 

 

Josie Totah: It is stacked. This place is stacked. It’s very busy. People are on top of each other. People are coughing. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Jesus. 

 

Josie Totah: It’s very Caucasian. I asked the woman like, Hi, like, how long is it gonna take? She says, minimum one hour. I’m like, That can’t be done. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It needs to be now. 

 

Josie Totah: It needs to be now. I’m literally dying [?]. So I wait on an Anaheim Street. I Facetime you. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes, it’s true. She did. 

 

Josie Totah: I lay stranded on an Anaheim street. I’m waiting for my Uber. I go to my college’s health center. I get there. I get tested for literally everything under the sun. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mm hmm. 

 

Josie Totah: I get tested for mono, strep one, strep A, strep B, strep C. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: All of them. 

 

Josie Totah: Every single one, blood tested, pricked, prod. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Everything. The whole nine yards. 

 

Josie Totah: Covid tested, even though she refused to Covid test me, I was like, I had COVID two weeks ago. But Jimmy Kimmel got COVID three weeks after he got COVID for the first time. So if Jimmy Kimmel can do it, so can I. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh. 

 

Josie Totah: But I didn’t. I didn’t have COVID. You know what I had? She said I had depression. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: [gasp] Oh wow. 

 

Josie Totah: And exhaustion. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: She said I was exhausted. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: [indistinct] 

 

Josie Totah: No, no, she said I was exhausted and depressed and she told me to go home. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Imagine. 

 

Josie Totah: Can you imagine that? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: What do you even say at that moment? I don’t know what I would say. 

 

Josie Totah: I said, so what can you give me? And she was like, you just need to sleep. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And you’re like, No, that’s not enough. 

 

Josie Totah: So I told her I had this, like thing once, like a few months ago where I was filming, and I, like, had no energy and I felt like shit. And then they gave me a steroid and she was like, Oh, look, we don’t usually just, like, give out steroids. Like, give out steroids. And I, like, made a joke where I was like, haha like, I’m addicted or whatever. And she giggled, which I was like, that’s kind of sus. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Problematic and scary. 

 

Josie Totah: Like, this is literally how the opioid crisis started, like– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But you are also like trying to finesse this doctor.

 

Josie Totah: Exactly. And so she’s like, oh, like, what are you up to this week? And I was like, I told her about my show. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yup. 

 

Josie Totah: And like, how I’m going to Scotland or whatever. And she was like, Oh, my God, tell me about the show. Like, are you acting in it, like was so into it and I told her everything about it, how it was like a drama, gave her the full details. And like at the end of my story, she was like, you know what? We can give you a steroid. And so she– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She gave you the drugs. 

 

Josie Totah: She hooked me up. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She was trying to become your friend. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: There’s a lot going on. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And in that case, she was giving you prescription meds. 

 

Josie Totah: And I normally don’t talk like, I would never tell the doctor about what we do because I think it’s so embarrassing. I think actors are the most embarrassing thing on planet Earth. It’s literally the stupidest thing in the world. [laugh] But I told her that because, what did I want? I wanted drugs. When did I want it? I wanted it now. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. The bodybuilding community is shaking right now that you got steroids. [laughing]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Guys, how do we know each other? Do we want to let the people into, like, our crazy lunatic lives? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. I mean, I met Miss Josanna uh in our sorority rush. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mm. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, we were in a White sorority. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Wow. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: In Orange, California, and– 

 

Josie Totah: RIP. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She became my little and we just automatically fell in love. Uh fun fact. I actually said I loved her when I didn’t even know who the hell she was and she thought I was a mom. 

 

Josie Totah: I did. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Wait. Clarification. First day?

 

Josie Totah: I was scared for my life. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: First day knowing Josie, you told her that you loved her. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I didn’t even–No, I didn’t know her. I didn’t even know her name. 

 

Josie Totah: We were in a event setting picture. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s giving cult. 

 

Josie Totah: Picture a cult, picture a– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –Sacrifice. 

 

Josie Totah: A gathering. Truly. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: A sacrifice. 

 

Josie Totah: Sacrifice of our moral integrity. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mmm. Sororities. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s giving Midsommar a little bit. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Thank you for the picture. 

 

Josie Totah: Except it was mid-January, but whatever. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, and I said, I don’t know who you are, but I love you. 

 

Josie Totah: And I thought she was like a 50 year old woman. I thought she was–. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Stop. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Because I looked fucking 50. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: That I knew that that was going to, yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: All the Botox right now I’m like, [spitting laughter] I’m just kidding. I don’t have any. 

 

Josie Totah: I truly thought you were a mom. And that’s how we met. I think we literally talked about having a podcast the first time we ever hung out. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Cause’ we can talk for hours and hours and people will still listen because we’re that attractive and smart. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Wow. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And kind and all of that. And then during the pandemic, I was moving um to LA. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: After graduation, and like Josie kept talking about Alycia. Alycia, I was like who the fuck is Alicia? [laugh] And little did I know she’d become one of the most important people in my life. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Aww. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Um, she was my roommate. She was my mom, my aunt, my grandmother, my little sister, my guardian. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: All the tings. All the tings. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And she. They just. They’re everything to me. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. It’s crazy to think, like, people still don’t fathom that we lived together. Like, I think people think that I’m, like, saying that hyperbolically or like, joking around. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: They’re like, you live near each other. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I’m like no no no no no. We lived in the same house during the pandemic um because I met the beautiful Josie Totah on a movie called Moxie. And then by some grace of God, we book the same show together. Like, unbeknownst to us, like I fully was auditioning for it, and I was just like, child, I need a job to keep me in LA. So I don’t have to go back to my three jobs and double major at my school. Um and Josie was like, wait a minute, I may be doing that. And I was like, girl, stop it. And I literally got emotional on the set. Fast forward, we filmed an entire television series together and then I vowed to myself that I want to do everything in life with this girl. So we lived together, we traveled together, we worked together like for over two years, which is crazy. And now we’re doing this together. So ha my plan is working. We um continue to do so much together. And then her lovely light brought me to my baby daughter. Okay? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She’d put me to bed sometimes, like, physically. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: All the time. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Tuck me in. 

 

Josie Totah: This is true.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Do we, do we want to let them know that, like, I would? I think. Yeah, I think we can share. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: What. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: They’re our family. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Say it. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: So I would sit in the shower uh. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Shut up. Yes. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Because you asked me to! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay. Fuck off. Fuck off. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I would sit– [laughing]

 

Yasmine Hamady: I have abandonment issues. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: No and it’s okay because I love her that much that I would do it because I’m a Bronx bitch. You feel me, if I don’t fuck with something uh– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She would sit on the toilet– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I don’t fuck with it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –as I would shower and we wouldn’t talk. She would just be there. 

 

Josie Totah: To be fair, though. Alycia, you have a bench in your bathroom dedicated to visitors. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: See? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: No, come for me. 

 

Josie Totah: While you shower. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Come for me. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. It’s not while I shower it’s because everybody wants to kiki in a bathroom. You feel me? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s the safest space. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I no longer have extra space. So when I’m getting ready, I wanna kiki, whether I’m showering or whether I’m doing my makeup, people sit on the bench. It’s like a park bench in the Bronx, feel me? 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: So. 

 

Josie Totah: Park bench in the Bronx in your bathroom? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Exactly. 

 

Josie Totah: Watching people shower. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Except it’s from IKEA. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Okay, it’s from IKEA. And it gives and it’s great. And both of y’all have sat your beautiful asses on it. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I have. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: So your welcome. But all that goes to say, we’re really close, guys. A little bit more than we should be. And uh we find ourselves having all of these peculiar conversations, and um we find ourselves going in depth of things as crazy as like TikTok, and trends, and make up, but also like the world that we’re living in right now. So we thought we’d bring it to you. 

 

Josie Totah: We created this podcast because we have not been able to find a place that just has an outlet for substantive conversations, basically, about things that we find important, such as like systems of oppression, like infrastructure, as policies, but also like really important pressing topics like Dua Lipa’s obsession with wearing her hair the same and never wanting to change it. Like those are things that are really important to us. And I remember Yasmine and I, we had initially titled this podcast, we were like laying in bed in the pandemic and we came up with the title and that was, Let’s Get Hard. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Let’s Get Hard and we would have it as like the foreplay like that’d be the beginning part of the podcast, the climax, and then the– 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: What is it? Pillow, no, pillow talk, foreplay, climax. And what was the last part? 

 

Josie Totah: I have no idea. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Like, oh, post post-nut–

 

Josie Totah: Clarity? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Post nut clarity. 

 

Josie Totah: And anyway, no one wanted to buy that. So we had to sort of reposition ourselves. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh wow. 

 

Josie Totah: And realized that the conversations that we wanted to have, we were having every single night in our house with our beautiful roommate, Alycia. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: Through the pandemic, we survived by having each other. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mm hmm. 

 

Josie Totah: What do you guys think? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I think there is so much that we talked about, whether it was like we even even talked that day because sometime during the pandemic we were not in the best of places. Some days we felt amazing. Some days we felt like shit. And at the end of the day, we always had each other. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And we had to have these topics. Especially after such a monumental time that was 2020. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: In so many aspects. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We really experienced like turbulent times together, and it was beautiful to like have a collective and have community in each other, and I think it was really healing for all of us to come together and have frank, transparent conversations. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Mm hmm. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Especially because we are so different. You know, our opinions about certain things are very different. Um, our upbringings and our backgrounds are so different. But we were educating each other with compassion and it was really beautiful. And then it was super interesting to have like other friends come into our life and hear our personal conversations and say, whoa I learned from that.

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah! 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Like it happened all the time, very naturally. So the fact that, you know, we’re kind of birthing this baby of our podcast Dare We Say, it feels really beautiful, but it feels natural. It feels like it makes sense because like what Josie was saying, like we’re these multi-dimensional beings that don’t always feel like we’re being respected in our fullness in a lot of media outlets. So yeah, it’s going to be really fun now bringing our personal coffee day talks and dinner table talks. 

 

Josie Totah: And late night car rides. 

 

[spoken together] Late night car rides. 

 

Josie Totah: The amount of times we’ve like talked in the car in Alycia’s driveway until like four in the morning. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: When we had work the next day, 5 hours later. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: A lot of drives have been on, the amount of nights we stayed up, literally sleeping together, holding hands. We would lay in bed until we fell asleep while we hold hands and we’d have conversations about the state of the world. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: Now that’s all going to happen here, except with experts and fun guests. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s I– 

 

Josie Totah: And fun games. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m honestly so grateful that first, Crooked’s giving us this opportunity. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Shout out Crooked. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I’m with you two, because I just wish growing up as a young Lebanese woman in today’s world that I had something to listen to that taught me and came towards me with no judgment. But it’s like, I just wish I had that. And now we get to make that on Dare We Say. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It’s going to be a really fun time. I’m like super grateful and excited and it’s going to be interesting having people now hear these conversations because hopefully it allows them to– 

 

Josie Totah: –to be a little less fucking stupid, just kidding. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I was going to say a little bit more liberated and empowered. 

 

Josie Totah: Yes that. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But what Josie said. 

 

Josie Totah: That. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Also, I just want to make it clear that we want the people from the left, the right, the north, the south to be able– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Up down all around.

 

Josie Totah: And the middle. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: To, we want you to–

 

Josie Totah: We want everyone. Meghan McCain, I hope you’re listening. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We want you to come and listen in a place of where we want to listen. We might not agree. But we–

 

Josie Totah: And we also might not be right all the time. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Tea. 

 

Josie Totah: We also might not all agree all the time. We probably won’t because we’re literally from different places, as Alycia said. So with that, you guys, I think we should kind of get into it. 

 

[spoken together] Let’s get into it! 

 

Josie Totah: So when we come back, we are going to be discussing the controversial topic of birthdays. I’m turning 21. But first, we have a very special guide from your favorite girls about how to celebrate your birthday like a bad biotch. [music break]. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I fucking love birthdays. It’s something we all have in common. 

 

Josie Totah: Every single day there’s one. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Exactly. We sometimes spread love, we spread cheer, we spread kisses. Sometimes COVID, get vaccinated. And so I just wanted to uh give you all some tips, tricks, and gifts from your favorite girlies. Of how to celebrate your birthday like a bad biotch. 

 

Josie Totah: Number one, invite only hot people because you don’t want to be caught with ugly people on your birthday. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Number two, choose your roster wisely and always have a plan B and get it while you can. 

 

Josie Totah: Number three, only do drugs that can be found on a Hilton daughter. And if you’re going to do so, test them for fentanyl. Stay safe out there. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Number four, make sure that you block that family member that always sends you something depressing on your birthday. Preserve your mental health. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Number five, curate the dirtiest playlist you can. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Number six, live, carefree. Live with the audacity of a cis hetero white man. Number seven, make sure that you get a good rintsa pic, abuela friendly. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And a slutty pic for the close friends. 

 

Josie Totah: Number eight, pick fights with every single person you know. This is the one day you can get away with anything. Seriously, hit your grandma. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Number nine. Don’t pay for anything. Put the me in Gofundme. Put the fuck in fuck. [laughter]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Number ten, schedule an hour to cry earlier in the day because there is no crying in the club bitch. 

 

Josie Totah: Unless it’s for attention. 

 

[spoken together] And those are the top ten ways to celebrate your birthday like a bad biotch. Heh! [laughter]. 

 

[AD BREAK]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Guys. It is my beautiful sisters’ birthday. You guys would be born the same week. [laughter]. Literally–

 

Josie Totah: 24 hours apart. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I was going to say within the same 48 hours. That checks out. It is on brand for you guys. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: 24 hours and in three years. So. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Well you know, we can include that fact. 

 

Josie Totah: She’s three years older than me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She’s a baby. She’s a– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Little baby. [spoken in a weird baby voice]

 

Josie Totah: I’m an urchin.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Anyways, my Leo queens. I’m so excited to celebrate you guys. Well, I’m always happy to celebrate y’all because I love you all. But specifically this week is a tie up. [shouted] And Josie, specifically, I’m sorry I got really excited. [laughter]. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Is she okay? Everyone. 

 

Josie Totah: I’m truly. Did you just have a stroke? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yes! 

 

Josie Totah: Your Honor. [laugh]

 

Yasmine Hamady: Your Honor, I’m a freak bitch. [laughter] Thats Megan Thee Stallion. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Your Honor, I’m a freak bitch. Handcuffs, leashes. Switch my wig. 

 

[spoken together] Make him feel like he cheatin’. Put him on his knees. Give him something to believe in. Never lost a fight but I’m looking for a beating. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Ding ding! Megan, if you want to come on the podcast, this is a formal invitation. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I’m obsessed, I’m obsessed.

 

Josie Totah: She won’t. She won’t. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: [protesting in Spanish and tongue roll sounds]

 

Josie Totah: We’re not good enough for her. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mi gente, back, back, back to the studio, back to la finka. Back to where we talking about. It’s y’all’s birthdays. [indistict whispering from other hosts] How do you guys feel about your birthdays? That’s a question.

 

Josie Totah: I’m like where the fuck is the question? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, it’s y’all’s birthdays question mark? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I’m trying to say it pero each time you guys fucking stop me because you don’t understand me or I start talking. 

 

Josie Totah: No, but what there’s a question here. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: The question is, how do you feel about your fucking birthdays? 

 

Josie Totah: What does it mean to you? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: [angrily in Spanish] 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay. So. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Anyways. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Right. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: How do you guys feel about your birthday week? 

 

Josie Totah: Anyway. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Especially turning 21. That’s very special.

 

Josie Totah: You guys okay? So you know what’s so funny? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She asked you a question. [laughing]. 

 

Josie Totah: I’m going to answer the question. I’m saying, how do I feel about my birthday? I’m turning 21, right? Recently I was just kicked out of a bar, a few months ago on my graduation morning. That was the first time that I was ever denied access from a bar. Do you remember that? You were there. You were there too. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Mm hmm.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: At 6 o’clock in the morning they kicked us out?

 

Josie Totah: You know we were kicked out. Why did you think we left? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Um, because we had to leave to graduation. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh. 

 

Josie Totah: Oh. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We were kicked out? 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. He came up to me and he said, Are you 21? I was like, No– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Why didn’t you lie? 

 

Josie Totah: Because my sister, I have my sister’s I.D. and my sister has her I.D. and my sister and I can’t be that. I mean, she looks nothing like me. She wishes. I literally went through all of college. I literally, like, didn’t do anything illegal, but I always went to the bar with a fake I.D., so I’ll never know what it’s like to be in college with being 21. So to me, 21 doesn’t really have anything to do with like bars and like nightlife and like alcohol and stuff. Just because I’ve never really drank, to be honest. And that’s just the truth. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: She wasn’t ever a drinker. 

 

Josie Totah: No, truly not. But anyway, so about my birthday, I feel like, I don’t know, I just feel like growing up because I wasn’t always allowed to be myself, I fully didn’t get to like, have like birthdays. So like I feel like I’m still like very much a baby because like when I started becoming my full self, like, what was that like four years ago now? Like, I feel like I’m like four years old. Like, I feel like I’m having experiences that people have, you know, ten years ago, I’m having it now. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mmm. 

 

Josie Totah: And I think that makes me stunted in certain ways. And it’s honestly, like, sad sometimes. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: You know, because it’s like wow am I behind? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mm. 

 

Josie Totah: But it’s also like beautiful because I get to like, have this new perspective and start life. So, like, I’m excited, but I’m also like, hmm I wish I had more of my teen years, you know? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mm hmm. 

 

Josie Totah: Cause’ I’ll never get that back, is that depressing? Maybe, but it’s also the truth. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And that’s okay. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s right. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: That’s a really powerful perspective. And I want to say like, thank you for even just sharing that um because I don’t think people would think of it that way. I think people historically have always been told you have to be happy about your birthdays regardless, but sometimes you’re not always in the best space like Josie and Yas historically, how have you guys felt about your birthdays? Like what are your sentiments towards it? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, so I’ve always loved my birthday. I’m a very like I love being the center of attention. Shockingly. 

 

Josie Totah: [laugh] That’s the truth. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And ain’t that the truth? And so I always was. I always built it up to be this huge– 

 

Josie Totah: The way you’re gripping the mic right now. You have like a gorilla grip on that mic. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Don’t say that. Um I. I used to love my birthday. I used to plan it like weeks and months in advance. I used to want to have, like, the biggest day. Like I always wanted to have like a non summer birthday because I wanted like everyone to sing happy birthday to me in class and like bring cupcakes for the class. 

 

Josie Totah: Decorate your locker. We never got that because I had a summer birthday. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Exactly. We never got that. 

 

Josie Totah: Also everyone’s out of town in the summer. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Everyone’s always gone. But um I used to love it. And then not trying to get depressing on everyone but uh 2020 happened. And on my birthday the Beirut explosion happened um. And that was really hard. It still is for me because it’s my whole family. We were supposed to be there on my birthday. 

 

Josie Totah: And she’s from there. Like, that’s where her– 

 

Josie Totah: Like my whole family. 

 

Josie Totah: –family’s from, Beirut. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Like my home. We were supposed– we literally canceled our flight a couple of weeks because it was the pandemic. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Pandemic, right. Yeah.

 

Yasmine Hamady: So in a way, the pandemic saved my whole life because the people in my building were killed. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I lost everything. I lost family members. I feel a survivor’s guilt. I felt like I should have been there. And so I can’t help but think that on my birthday. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mmm. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And it’s so frustrating because I remember that day where I– I’m not trying to trauma dump on you guys. 

 

Josie Totah: No. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Speak your truth. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Well, you guys know this, but to our viewers, I want you guys to know that it’s okay to not like your birthday sometimes, or it ebbs and flows. Some years you love it, some you don’t. It’s just any other fucking day and you get to choose to love it or to not. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Thank you Yas for sharing that. I think it’s really important to, like, give people the space to feel whatever comes natural, like don’t force it. And if I’m going to be completely honest, it’s really interesting to hear your perspectives. I think that it’s really fruitful to hear how you guys have conceptualized your birthdays, but historically. I haven’t always loved them. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Uh, Why? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Um, I just felt like people made them more grandiose than they needed to be. To be frank, I would get a bit overwhelmed. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Mmm. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Like also my parents are phenomenal and would make miracles happen on my birthday. So like, even though they didn’t have the means to celebrate me, they would do like phenomenal things. Like literally like for one year my mom fundraised to send me on a school trip, which happened to be in London, and that was like my 16th or my 17th birthday gift because unfortunately my 16th I was in the hospital as a result to um lupus complications because I have lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. So frankly, historically, I didn’t always feel the best about them. But now on the other side, I kind of adore birthdays. 

 

Josie Totah: Mmm. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Mmm. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Um and I think its–

 

Josie Totah: That makes me happy.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: –in part because of you guys, just because of community. I think I’m in a very different place in my life. But, you know, I think it’s this juxtaposition. Feel however you want to feel. If you don’t want to see nobody, don’t see nobody. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But at least to yourself, even if it’s internal, you go, thank you. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s perspective. Yeah!

 

Josie Totah: No, that’s important. We talk about birthdays honestly, often, like we always talk about birthdays. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We always do. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We really do.

 

Josie Totah: I– All that I’m here to say is that, that was also a weird thing about my birthday too, but recently I actually have been loving my birthdays. For instance, my 20th birthday which I– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Iconic. 

 

Josie Totah:  –famously titled the theme Sweet 16 X Modern Sex. No one understood why it was called that. I just.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We all wore black. There was a lot going on, but it was so much fun. 

 

Josie Totah: That was literally my sweet 16 that I never got, was that not it? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It was, we were on a party bus. I put on a show honey, you were living your best life. Oh Josie looked divine. Please go back to the Instagram pictures. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: On screenshot. I wasn’t there because I was with family mourning, but I was screenshotting every fucking post of her on that party bus. She was the hottest person I’ve ever seen in my life. 

 

Josie Totah: I love you.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Josie, I think that that’s also like such a great note about birthdays. Make it whatever the hell you want. I’m going to be completely honest with you girl. 

 

Josie Totah: Oh, yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I didn’t understand what the fuck was happening, but I was living my best life. [banter] And you looked amazing. 

 

Josie Totah: Well, it’s called modern sex because the woman finishes first. And that’s why I wanted to make it modern sex. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes ma’am. Yes ma’am.

 

Josie Totah: That’s why I wanted to make that the theme. I wanted the woman to be in charge. So I wanted all the women to feel very empowered. But that was like– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It was a sweet sixteen too. 

 

Josie Totah: –such a thing. And the people that came to it too, it was such a t, but honestly it was very fun. Your birthday this year felt like we were planning like a White House event. [laugh]. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: No, we were. We’re planning a–

 

Josie Totah: It was like the met gala. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It was the met gala. What they wanted it to be. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Okay, T Wow. Thank you, guys. I’m going to be honest, this is a PSA. I don’t know what happened. We did throw a party together in less than two weeks and I’m like, Oh, I’ve never had a party like this. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: A party? It was an event. It was a gala. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Exactly. I never had the means to do this. Why not? I was like, I just want to see all the people I love in one room. Beautiful community, you know, collective. That’s all that I’m about. I didn’t think it was going to be this big. It turned out being like 350 people. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: Shoved into like a meat locker of in really nice– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: In downtown L.A. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Underground. It was like I was living– 

 

Josie Totah: There was no reception. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It was giving [laughter] It was, there was none. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: You could’t reach anyone. There was fights. 

 

Josie Totah: Not a bar. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: There was everything. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I’m grateful there was no reception because I tried to drunk text like five different people. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah you did. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And not one went through. It was like I was in Berlin, underground, latex, everything.  

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: One of our friends made out with every man she saw that night. 

 

Josie Totah: Yes she did. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes she did!

 

Josie Totah: And half of them were homosexual. [laughter]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And it was amazing. It was such a beautiful night. 

 

Josie Totah: Which she later found out. [laughter]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: There was so much happening.

 

Josie Totah:  That was everything. I had never given so much for anyone, any one of my friends. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Wow, thank you. 

 

Josie Totah: Like I have never like truly. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Over ten people flew out, it was really amazing. 

 

Josie Totah: I didn’t take any photos of my outfit because my outfit was partially nonexistent and for that reason– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mm yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: I didn’t want to be sued and or canceled. So thank God it was dark in there because I had no undergarments on and I just had what was a little cloth. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It was literally. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It was literally a sheet. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It was no, it wasn’t a cloth. It was a thread. 

 

Josie Totah: Dare we say a face towel? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Dare we say just literally a thread mesh, might even. 

 

Josie Totah: Just going right over the crease. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Right over the nip, right over the buttocks crack. 

 

Josie Totah: Right. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And that’s and then fur boots. We can’t forget the fur boots. 

 

Josie Totah: Literally. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Wait, guys ugh. 

 

Josie Totah: Broke the internet with those fur boots. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Literally, you guys made that night. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. The amount of DMs I got. Speaking of Dms, DMs on your birthday are such a thing. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: DMs and posting. Okay, question for you both and I’m being genuine. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Okay. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: If one of your friends don’t story you on your birthday. [pause] How does that make you feel? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I could care less.

 

Josie Totah: I feel nothing. Unless it was you then I’d be like, what the fuck is wrong with you? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. 

 

Josie Totah: But other than that I don’t care, actually is that true? If we didn’t post on your birthday, you would be like that’s weird. [banter]

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m glad you fucking said something, Josie. 

 

Josie Totah: Right, right. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m glad you did, thats, you’re so full of shit Alycia. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Na na na na na. Actually I’m not full of shit. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: You’re so full of shit. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Cause’ I wouldn’t give a fuck! Okay. Just because you care if every single person post about you is not the same for me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: But also– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But I’m gonna say– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –sidetrack for a second. Isn’t it insane how we literally measure a friendship on if someone posts or not? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: See that I don’t do. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s insane to me. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But it is insane. It is a part of the social contract. That is what I was going to get into. I think unfortunately there is like a social contract that you sign with certain people. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes, agreed. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: So for example, I feel like Jos, Yas and I, you and I, we post a lot. So like if we didn’t post for each other, that would be kind of crazy. But like–

 

Yasmine Hamady: People would be like their friendships over. [?] shaking. 

 

Josie Totah: My most recent–

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah, but hey like, if Josie didn’t post, I’d just be like, oh, she’s busy. [?] Oh, your birthday? No, but for your birthday, I’ll take accountability. For your 20th. I was with you all day and we worked. We worked an over like 16, 17 hour day. I didn’t post shit. 

 

Josie Totah: But I actually don’t care if someone doesn’t post for my birthday. You know why? Because I won’t see it. I probably haven’t seen it. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Me, yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: If I don’t post for your birthday. Honest to God. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She would just be like, that’s weird, but she wouldn’t care. Her and I are the same. I feel like. 

 

Josie Totah: No, I obviously. I love you so much. I love all my friends equally, though, but I feel like people expect. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I know what you’re going to say.

 

Yasmine Hamady: No, she doesn’t. She does not like love all your friends equally. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: No she doesn’t. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Because I don’t love my friends equally. No one loves their friends equally. 

 

Josie Totah: I don’t love all my friends– I love the word love. I love all my friends equally. Do I like them equally? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Do you like all your friends? No. 

 

Josie Totah: That’s how my mom told my me and my siblings. She said, Do I love you guys? Yes. Do I like you? Most of you. [laughter]. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Shout out. 

 

Josie Totah: Chrissy. Anyway. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Chrissy, I love Chrissy. 

 

Josie Totah: Today I ran down the stairs and I, my mom is in town and I ran into a laundry basket in the middle of the hallway and I said, Oh my gosh, why is this here. And she said, Because I’m fucking doing laundry. And I was like, Good morning. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She is going to kill you. 

 

Josie Totah: I know. Anyway. So.

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: She’s a lovely woman. Continue. 

 

Josie Totah: What I wanted to say is that I feel like because we have a public thing going on. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: Where we did a movie together. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Cause’ we’re a Hollywood manufactured couple. 

 

Josie Totah: And then we did a show together. And so I feel like if I don’t post about your birthday, people would be like, are you ok? Are they okay? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I feel like there’s extra pressure for you both because of your, how public. 

 

Josie Totah: Do you know what I’m saying? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: No, absolutely. On a–

 

Josie Totah: Like, I don’t want people to think we aren’t friends anymore. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah, but and I know you– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We should start that rumor. I’ll make like a Twitter alias and be like, apparently. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: They’re no longer best friends. 

 

Josie Totah: But also no one also cares about that much and we’re not famous. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: That’s what I’m going to say. 

 

Josie Totah: We’re literally not shit, we’re literally stupid and weird. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Um, I’m not stupid but I’m definitely not famous. 

 

Josie Totah: Oh sorry you’re not stupid but I’m stupid. But I will say is that I still feel the pressure with you. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: No, I understand that. And I think that that speaks to like a larger conversation. There’s like a social expectation, like once people have like invested their selves into an image and it feels awful saying that about Josie and I because unfortunately it is an image because it’s so genuine. Like she just happens to be my best friend and we happen to work together, which is a blessing. But I think people do expect to see us together all the time and it’s like you don’t want them to question where we lie, but it’s also like who gives a fuck? Like, I don’t care, you don’t care. 

 

Josie Totah: I don’t care. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: But you know that people care, which is so interesting. 

 

Josie Totah: Okay, okay, okay. Moral of the story here is do not post if you don’t think that person isn’t going to care, but if it’s important to your friends, then maybe post. But more importantly, social media doesn’t even matter anyway. And if your friend is caring about it, you probably wouldn’t want to be close with them. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Let’s just take a quick little break. And then we’ll be right back. [music break]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I have a question for you guys. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Say it. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: How do you guys feel about turning 21 and 24 and how do you feel like other people are putting expectations on you about that and what are your own expectations? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, I feel like and I feel like this also brings up how different the generation was like from our parents turning 20. [indistinct]

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Could you imagine? They don’t even know, like the importance of birthday posts or any of that shit. Like none of this matters.

 

Yasmine Hamady: No, because this didn’t exist back then. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I also feel like age is so maybe this is because of me, because I literally go manic once I hear about like climate change constantly and think about like, am I going to have a 50th birthday? Or are we going to be dead because of the planet exploding? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Like central crisis. Yeah, once a week.

 

Yasmine Hamady: And I literally would cry in high school thinking about this. And I’m like, does any of this even matter? Because I don’t know what’s going to happen in 20 years. But also that’s maybe being depressing. But–. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: No, but that’s a valid notion. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I think it’s turning 24. It’s kind of like I’m ready for like I don’t know what’s going to happen. Like some of my friends are getting fucking engaged. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Wild. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Like some of my friends are having babies right now and I’m like single. I, I’m putting my career first. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m on my, like, bad bitch– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: As you should. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –motive right now and that’s so scary. And it’s like everyone has their own timeline. I understand that. But I’m like, if Selene is getting married and having a partner, why where the fu– Where’s my ring? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Mmm. 

 

Josie Totah: I feel like people are like becoming mothers later now, which I love. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Which I love. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Same. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Also people are deciding not to be a parent. And I think that’s really important too. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Understandable. Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: And I take flaw, I used to judge people, like women. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I used to judge people too if they if they didn’t want kids, I would be like, why don’t you? 

 

Josie Totah: But I’m like that’s so stupid. Why do we expect people to have children? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Absolutely. It’s absurd. 

 

Josie Totah: People are doing it older now. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I love that. 

 

Josie Totah: And I wanna have a kid when I’m like fucking 64. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Oh t okay. 

 

Josie Totah: I want to be a century away from my child. [laugh] I just love that my mom speaks a different language than me, not necessarily literally and figuratively. Although she wishes she was fluent in our homeland language of Arabic. Um.

 

Yasmine Hamady: Of of the country of Arab. 

 

Josie Totah: Someone will literally be like talking about baseball. They’ll be like Babe Ruth. And she’s like, Beirut. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Beirut. Yes. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah no, but my mother, um I love that she doesn’t understand a lot of me. And that’s why I think the gap is important. Obviously– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: If you have children unexpectedly and you are forced into that, then that is a different story because that is awful. That’s traumatic. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: It’s almost as if our country wants us to do that. 

 

Josie Totah: And if you’re choosing to be a mother at a young age, and that is literally you’re commendable for carrying on, you know, your motherhood. With that, I’m talking about people who choose to literally marry someone and to give birth at a very young age and to have a child. Because I’m just like, that is weird. Like, you guys listen to the same music, like the same things. Like, I grew up, my mom being like, I’m not your friend, I’m your mother. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m your parent. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: I’m your parent. And don’t talk to me like your friend. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Exactly. 

 

Josie Totah: That’s why I’m like, I want to be 80 years old. I don’t even want to be your parent. I want to be your like ghost– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –superior. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: –from Ancestry. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Grandperson. 

 

Josie Totah: I want to be visiting you from the past, [laughing] coming in to like give you my words of wisdom. I don’t want to get my nails done with you. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I’m dead. 

 

Josie Totah: I don’t want to hang out with you. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: It is- 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I do! 

 

Josie Totah: No that’s. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I do. 

 

Josie Totah: That’s an inappropriate relationship. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I think my mom– 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I can’t. We’re all so different. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: My, that’s not an inappropriate relationship. 

 

Josie Totah: It is. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: My mom and I are so fucking different, but I have her name tattooed on my arm like she’s the most important person in my life. 

 

Josie Totah: No, I love my mom, but I also love that she’s, like, on Mars and I’m here. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: But I love that my mom loves Dua Lipa. I love that my mom loves Rüfüs Du Sol. Like. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s iconic. Like, I want to smoke with my parents even though they won’t do it with me. But like– 

 

Josie Totah: See if I brought up weed around my parents. My mom would literally scream and cry. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I know they would. 

 

Josie Totah: But I love that. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: They’re everything. 

 

Josie Totah: Like, I love that my mom listens to sixties music. I love that she showed me Etta James, like I want her– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: –to educate me from her generation. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: My mom doesn’t. You know what I mean? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yes, I do. And I do know what you mean. 

 

Josie Totah: And then I have my dad to kind of like, he knows who like Dua Lipa, and like– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: Charli D’Amelio. And like, he’s really in the know, but I love that my mom is like sss– out of the loop. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. It’s interesting, like, how, you know, we put arbitrary timelines on like, what decades are supposed to look like. Our like 20s, your 30s, your 40s or where you’re supposed to quote unquote, “be” at an age because like, oh, my gosh, have I had such a paradigm shift about like age and what I think I’m supposed to be doing because frankly, this feels like an insane thought to share. But when I was younger, I thought by 25 I’d be married. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Yeah!

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And I would be having children before 30 because it’s specifically coming from my culture. 

 

Josie Totah: Mm. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And everyone that I knew. My mom had me fairly young, like she was always the youngest and I loved that, you know, my mom to this day will twerk on the boat with us, but will also, you know, giving us her wisdom. You know, she’s a very intelligent woman. But most of the people in my family, especially as Latinos, had their children pretty young. So I fully couldn’t fathom at a young age people waiting and prioritizing their career and their mental health and establishing themselves financially um to then wait. 

 

Josie Totah: Yeah. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: And have children. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Um, So. 

 

Josie Totah: I think that speaks to just not perpetuating timelines and just celebrating the fact that like aging is kind of a good thing, you know? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. [?]

 

Josie Totah: And like wherever you are is like where you are. And I think we should just embrace that. And like the growth that comes with that, don’t you guys agree? 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I completely agree. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We’re all on our own timelines. Nothing matters. This isn’t even real. 

 

Josie Totah: Amazing. Well. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: I love you guys. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I love you. 

 

Josie Totah: We’re going to take a break and then we’ll come back. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Let’s go. Let’s go for a nice little– 

 

Josie Totah: I have to pee so bad. So lets, we’ll come back. I’m going to urinate. Let’s go, who wants to come with me?

 

Yasmine Hamady: Perfect, I’ll come. [music break]

 

Josie Totah: Well, you guys. We did it. We became mothers. What do we get? Like, what does a mother get? You know what I really want? The only reason– 

 

Yasmine Hamady: What? 

 

Josie Totah: –why I wish that I had a, I wouldn’t necessarily say a working uterus, as if someone shoved a uterus in me. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Please. 

 

Josie Totah: And like it’s not even working. Doesn’t exist, is cravings I love having cravings. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Ooo. I thought you were going to say a push gift. 

 

Josie Totah: Do you know that about me?

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: You do love a craving. Like when you’re into something you’re into it.

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay, then just like take an edible or something, you’ll get craving right then and there. 

 

Josie Totah: I’m literally high right now. [laughter] Just kidding, I’m not mom. You know, I once did an article where I said, I feel like I’m on coke. And then the headline of the article of a very reputable. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yes. 

 

Josie Totah: Article, magazine was, um I’m on cocaine. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Your mom. 

 

Josie Totah: And my mom called me crying and I was like–

 

Yasmine Hamady: That’s kind of iconic. 

 

Josie Totah: I was like, babe, relax. By the way, if you want some come over. Anyway. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Stop. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We’re joking. 

 

Josie Totah: You guys, we didn’t. I’m joking. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We don’t do that. 

 

Josie Totah: I don’t do coke. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We don’t do that.

 

Yasmine Hamady: I don’t, I don’t have access to it. I literally don’t do drugs. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: You just love talking about them. So then it leave people confused. 

 

Josie Totah: No, that’s not true. Stop talking. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Okay. 

 

Josie Totah: Okay, anyways. To close out our first episode, our producers, shout out Caroline and Ari. And Sandy. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: We love you! 

 

Josie Totah: We love you all team! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We love you all so much! 

 

Josie Totah: We’re going to be doing this show every single week, having conversations just like this and even more, bringing you new content. Like I said, with experts, celebs, I don’t know, maybe Jojo Siwa will be here. Maybe Obama will be here. He won’t. We can guarantee that. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Josie Totah: But you know, you really never know. [laughter] You really never know in this house but– [laughing] any parting words? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: I’m sorry. That was really funny. 

 

Josie Totah: Thank you. Yes, I know. And I’m just kidding. I don’t know. Actually, I’m a self-hating narcissist. Any parting words, you guys? 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We’re so excited for you guys to join us on this journey. 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yeah. 

 

Yasmine Hamady: Whether you love us. 

 

[spoken together] Hate us. Want to kiss us, or do us! 

 

Alycia Pascual-Peña: Yay! 

 

Yasmine Hamady: We want you here. 

 

Josie Totah: Hey, hey, hey. Do not forget to subscribe and review us and for even more juicy content subscribe to Dare We Say on YouTube and follow us on Instagram. 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. Vasilis Fotopoulos and Charlotte Landes, they are both our engineers. Brian Vasquez is our editor and 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.