Read more in 2016. Everyone’s resolution. Why? Because reading makes you smarter, wittier, more interesting, even prettier. But wait, you’re already smart/witty/interesting/pretty enough? Okay, egotist. Go continue to be “perfect” and let the rest of us EGOTists (here for the ambition) get to work! Ready? Begin. Books to Rule the Fortune 500 The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau “Imagine a life where all your time is spent on the things you want to do…Imagine that today is you

Wow…guys…it’s been a long time, right? What’s up with this blog? What a good question… Well now that that awkward moment is out of the way. Hey everybody! I missed you guys! Thanks you to everyone who’s stuck around through the 3-month hiatus (yikes!). I really appreciate y’all. I’ll be really honest here, I muddled myself all up with a rookie blogger mistake. I started without a clear plan. No goals, no topics, nothing. I was writing from the heart but after a while I ran ou

Y’all, I had to take a break. I’m still finding my way with this blog and a lot has been happening in real life. On top of the usual efforts of job hunting, temping, and auditioning I had a death in my family and I booked a show. Like I said before, I’m really good at running myself into the ground (being equal parts workaholic and lazy will do that to a person). So I took some time off from writing after my daily post blitz. I also took some real time off following my 14-day

I told y’all about my first stage defeat/horror (not the last time I thought a giant reptile would end my life). So to balance it out here’s my first stage triumph. This is before I decided to become an actor, back when performing was still just playing in my mind. I was 3 years old and the Simpsons were doing a big promotional event at a bookstore just outside the city. My grandmother packed my older cousin and I into the car and drove us out there. The place was swarmed. I

Last Monday was the start of a 13-day work week (that I arranged for myself somewhat accidentally) and I’m starting to falter. It may be because when I got home at 4:45am I went back to sleep instead of staying up. Or I could just be regular tired. Aside from my current temp assignment (which is a steady 9:30 – 5/5:30) the rest of my near double week notched itself into place nearly without my notice. I blame my job search and the mercurial nature of an acting career. They’re

What follows is a story of dragons, human sacrifice, and one terrified 4 year old. Of how theatre taught me the most important lesson of all: find out what they’re asking for before you volunteer. On a sunny (I can’t remember the day so we’ll say it was Tuesday and assume it was sunny. For the sake of the narrative). On a sunny Tuesday, Mrs. Krishnan’s PM kindergarten class and the rest of the kids in the elementary school bustled into the cafegymnatorium for a special perfor

So make-up. That’s a thing that exists. I only halfway know what I’m doing when I put make-up on. Most of the time I’m an eyeliner & tinted (barely) lip balm kinda lady but I’m attempting to be paparazzi ready whenever I step out of the house… And I’m not quite to the point of keeping to it 100% every day (getting there though, I believe in myself). My new absolute minimum is eyeliner and lip gloss but I’m trying to bump it up to liner, gloss, brows, eyeshadow, blush, and und

I’m an actress. Y’all have heard me announce this 8 billion times (and honestly probably will 8 billion more times #sorrynotsorry). But stick with me, there’s a point to this one. I’m an actress, writer, a bit of a perfectionist, and a know-it-all (I’ve accepted this about myself. I call myself an “actually kid”*). The problem? I can’t watch any movie, tv show, commercial, or theatre or read a book piece without critiquing it. I’m constantly aware of things like costume desig

So I think I’ve got to get this off my chest before my brain will let me write anything else. Straight Outta Compton was Amazing! Like the night after I saw it I dreamt that I was telling people they had to go see it because it’s a great film. No I’m not a hardcore hip-hop head (or even a mild one) so that aspect didn’t hit me as hard as it does some. What I definitely am though is a movie lover and, more than that, a black person in America. This is such a well-structured, b

So yesterday I was in crisis. Again (they happen a lot, the curse of thinking too much). I’m not living my best life. I know that I’m not. Cause for panic, right? But here was the bigger question. What is living my best life? Like what does it actually look like? The nebulous (favorite word right now), vague idea of “not this” only incites panic and creates stress. It doesn’t make me proactive. Identifying the issue is step 1 and I hadn’t even finished that yet. So let’s get

A photo shoot: privately one of my biggest fears and my final boss battle before the EGOTist launch. It’s not that I didn’t have any pictures. Jessica Osber took some fantastic headshots for me but they fit the cute, low-key me. They don’t quite read EGOTist (Jessica is fabulous to shoot with, definitely hit her up if you need photos). Sidebar: Photo shoots are my kryptonite I even do the “make a weird face on purpose” preemptive strike when I’m taking pictures for fun. My br