Conscious Success Co (00:01.286)
Hi, Meredith. How are you? Thank you for being here with us on the Conscious Success podcast. I am so good. And I am so excited that you're here. For everyone listening, we worked together as assistants at a little TV production company when we were what, like 23, 24? I don't know, early 20s. And I think I had the world's worst boss at the time. You.
Meredith (00:06.52)
Hi Emma, I'm doing well, how are you?
Meredith (00:21.73)
Yeah. Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (00:27.334)
were like my safe place in the office to be like, what the fuck is going on? And, you know, I just remember back at that time, like you already knew at that young age that you wanted to be a TV writer. You were like writing your spec grips on the side. You had the vision. You were committed to it. And you were actually like taking action to make it a reality. And I, on the other hand, like could not get access that same.
belief in myself or belief in my dreams. And I honestly am preparing for this podcast had this memory that I had like, I think at one point told you like, that's probably not going to happen for you. Like you should do something else, which is so shitty. Let it be noted here in public that that is my formal apology, but it was absolutely limited by my own, you know, belief. And I just think that it's so cool that from
Meredith (01:09.806)
It's best.
Conscious Success Co (01:20.302)
such an early age you had this vision and then getting to see over the last decade plus you live into that and build it and achieve it is just like so, so cool. And oftentimes on this podcast, you know, I speak with women who've pivoted or who've redesigned their careers in some way, but your story is different. Like it's about the staying power that it takes to chase a creative dream and to actually see it through. And I think that that is just as inspiring, if not more. So yeah, I'm just so excited to have this conversation with you today.
Meredith (01:44.568)
I call that.
Meredith (01:49.378)
Thank you. I call that being delusional and for all we know, you being like, man, that's not gonna happen could have been the fire been like, I'm gonna prove Emma wrong one day. So you know what, maybe thank you. You know what, honestly, sometimes that's the right advice to tell somebody is to be like, maybe this isn't gonna happen for you. I think we need to hear more of that than like, you can do it. So I thank you.
Conscious Success Co (01:57.541)
You're like, fuck that bitch, I'm gonna do it.
Glad I
Conscious Success Co (02:10.916)
Well, I love the like, you know, healthy delusion or whatever. I had another guest on this podcast who was talking about the fact that she's like made her career realities all based on delusion. But I think many of us lack that, you know, for whatever reason. So I always like to start podcasts by going way, back to the very beginning and just understanding a little bit about you as a kid. Like, what were you like? Did you always have that, you know, whatever delusional positivity that you could make your dreams a reality? Did you know what you wanted to do with your life? Like,
Meredith (02:22.926)
Mm-hmm.
Conscious Success Co (02:40.432)
Take us back there.
Meredith (02:42.318)
always been sick, is what I would like to say. My brother is six years older than I am and I've come from a single parent household. And so I spent a lot of time by myself, which I love and as an adult, I love it now, but it was a lot of like, I would play house by myself. So I was always telling stories of like, okay, well I'm the mom making dinner, dad, come in here. Okay, here I come. So there was sort of like this sickness as a child of like being able to play and playing all the different roles, which later on I think was very instrumental in telling stories.
I have always been a very high energy, what can I be doing? I cannot sit still kind of child and looking back at my little journals I used to write down my diary and I would write down the time that I would write it and that I just as a child always went to bed at like midnight or like 1230 when I was going to school so it's all I've always been like a high energy my brain doesn't stop kind of person so the the foundation was there.
Conscious Success Co (03:35.591)
And you mentioned, you know, being in a single family house or single parent household, were you always supported and told that you could and should pursue your creative dreams? Or was there any type of like scarcity or you need to like pursue something financially stable? Like where did you source that belief? Is it something that you got or something you had to overcome?
Meredith (03:59.746)
For better or for worse, my mom loved and loves me so much and was always very supportive. She never was like, you can't do this and don't do that. In fact, I have members of me like, I'm gonna do this and she's like, okay. And so that's kind of how it been is me telling her what I'm going to do and I wanna do and her being like, great, I support you. there's definitely, I definitely come from a household where support and felt like I could do anything and there would be someone there for me should I succeed or fail. And I think like as I, she tells a story a lot, she is my mom, that when she dropped me off for the first time for
like daycare, monosurgery, a lot of kids cry. I was like, bye mom, I'm going to work. So.
Conscious Success Co (04:35.11)
I'm going to work. That's so good.
Meredith (04:37.998)
Yeah, I didn't cry. was like, see ya! I was off to school. yes, I credit her with the confidence to think that I could do anything and the support. No obstacles in that way. The obstacles were self-inflicted. But yes, definitely because of her and the way our house was, it afforded me that. Also, I a little brother, so everything went to him first, you know? He's a doctor.
Conscious Success Co (04:41.776)
Ha
Conscious Success Co (05:06.566)
So you're like, OK, great. You check that box. Now I'm going to just get to do my thing. But it also sounds like because you spent a lot of time alone or didn't have playmates your same age necessarily, like in your home, you developed some independence or you were just like telling your mom what you're going to do and going to do it you had that pattern of self-belief because you did. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
Meredith (05:11.81)
Yes.
Meredith (05:32.076)
Yeah, there's definitely a foundation of independence early on, is we talk about in therapy a lot, is that kind of thing of like, what do I, how do I want to spend my time and what am I doing? There's no question of like, I was never sitting around, what should I do? Wondering it was always going for, I'm going to do this thing to this thing, to this thing. And that does, that was being a product of, guess, no one around me telling me what to do or suggesting things. So compromise wasn't really something I learned until later on. I'm still learning what compromise is now. But the independence was definitely fostered then and just
Conscious Success Co (05:37.422)
Hahaha
Meredith (06:02.079)
I had friends by the way. I wasn't a big loser. I had friends. It's just to clarify but like growing up it was a lot of like alone time where between my brother was off at some symphony thing or he was playing sports and my mom was working or something so it was a lot of time of like how can I how could I use this time the most and I think that is definitely how I am today as an adult.
Conscious Success Co (06:23.75)
And we'll get into all of that. I'm curious, when did you first know you wanted to write for TV or movies? Was it a single moment or was it a slow realization? Not true.
Meredith (06:32.597)
a week ago. Well, I went to Northwestern and I knew at the time I wanted to like work in entertainment. I'll back up back to the childhood is that I originally want to be an anesthesiologist, which is so specific.
Conscious Success Co (06:47.31)
Okay, a little departure from that.
Meredith (06:49.518)
So my mom's a nurse anesthetist and so there was always this idea of medicine in the house and so I was like I would be the anesthesiologist and I think in eighth grade we had to write a report about our careers and I was like here's what I'm gonna do and then I learned oh wait I have to go to college for four years and I have to go to medical school and I do a rel- no I'm not doing that I am NOT going to medicine and so learning what it actually was I decided I want to do it and at the time I was obsessed with Lizzie McGuire which was the hot show of the day and so I you know when you become obsessed with a celebrity that age
Conscious Success Co (07:16.518)
course.
Meredith (07:19.612)
I was like I'm gonna be Hillary Duff's best friend and I like looked up everything about her and she lived in Burbank So I'm like when I grow up, I'm moving to Burbank and we're gonna be best friends So that is where the idea of like California came into my mind and then cut to Northwestern I knew
Conscious Success Co (07:33.792)
I'm gonna send this to Hillary Dove. She needs to know.
Meredith (07:37.422)
She changed my life And then I knew I wanted to do something in entertainment and film and producing I think I want to be a producer which I didn't know what that meant the time and while at Northwestern I had They would send out summer internships. And so me young Chad was like I have to go to work I was always like what internship can I have and so? This is along with an answer of saying that I while I was writing in college I never thought that I could be a writer. It did not seem like a feasible dream for me. I didn't even really know what it
until much later out of my life. So when I actually moved to LA, my dream was to be a talent agent. You can believe that.
Conscious Success Co (08:15.622)
And so you move to LA, you have this dream to be a talent agent. Like, what happens next?
Meredith (08:21.186)
I worked at a talent agency and that dream withered and died. I mean, I was watching Entourage and it seemed like, guess like I had, okay, I can back up and say that my first internship in college was...
Sony casting and talent and I was unpaid 40 hours. I'm like, I didn't, I don't come from money at that point. So I had like worked all year and it just was like a real hustle where I would go to my internship. And then I worked at a pizza place in West Hollywood. And I also worked at a food truck on the weekends. And so I was like, this sucks. I don't have time for anything. I want an internship that pays. So the following summer I got an internship at a talent agency, which was $10 an hour. And I was like, Oh, I am living that good life getting that $10 an hour. It was incredible.
And so working there I saw the foundation of like this is what stability looks like an agent is you're an assistant Then you're an agent and like there was a path forward and I thought that that would be really great for me because I always wanted stability So that is sort of where I want to be a talent agent and then when I graduated that's I went back to that agency and that was my first real job as an assistant and so Writing was something I liked to do didn't feel real just like did it in the dark and didn't tell anyone because it was embarrassing to say you wanted to be a writer so I was like I'll just be an agent and just
just secretly want to write forever. And then when I met you, yes, when I met you was my first job after the agency where I decided I did not want to be an agent. But I couldn't be a writer, but I wanted to be around writers. So working in a production company that produced shows for TV, I was like, this is a great close step where I get to be around writers. So that was sort of like, it took me a few more jobs to really say, all right, that's it, I have to write.
And then after our time together, I liked it a lot, it was drama and I wanted comedy because I'm a clown, honk honk. And so I wanted to go work in a comedy space. So I wanted to go work at CBS, the network, and that was the buying side. So I was like, maybe I could have a little power. can give eventually, like I can give a show to a writer. And then just reading all the pilots and meeting with writers, I was like, shit, I want their job. And I'd gotten to the point where I sort of had experience
Meredith (10:36.016)
How long I've been know at this point I've been in a life like three four years at this point and it was sort of like if I I have seen all the jobs out there the only one I want to write for I like leave the industry and go home Let me at least try writing and so then I started to tell people I think I want to be a writer and then of course when you tell people what you want that dream comes true people help you get your job and that's how I got my job working for a writer which is what set me on my path for life, so
Conscious Success Co (11:03.089)
Okay, wait, this is such an important point. When you tell people what you want, when you state your dream out loud, then people actually can help you to achieve it and can make introductions and make it a reality. But so often the biggest struggle is to own that dream within ourselves and be able to name it because that's when all of our shit comes up that, we're gonna fail, that people are gonna judge us, that we have the imposter syndrome, like all of that. How did you move through from like,
Meredith (11:05.71)
you
Yes.
Conscious Success Co (11:32.645)
you know, in the closet wanting to be a writer to actually being able to name that.
Meredith (11:37.614)
Process of elimination.
It was sort of like I'm very I have a very binary thinking where I'm like it's either black or white and so it's like well I'll do this job. I'll do this job. I'll do this job If I can't do it was sort of a very absolute like if I can't do these jobs The only thing that I would want to stay in California for in LA is to write so before I give up Let me just try one final last ditch. I'm a big Hail Mary fan and the fans of like let's just see let's just you know Let's just see at the very like when I've exhausted all options then I'm like, let's just see so it took it took experience and
time for me to get to be more confident in the writing, have a sample I finally liked, and then eventually just be like, well, I have no other options. So in a way, rock bottom.
Conscious Success Co (12:20.359)
But also, by the time you shared that with people, you had already gone through the process of refining a spec script that you actually liked. It wasn't just like you said, I think I want to be a writer, and didn't have anything to back that up with. You had also put in that effort and been also building the relationships in the industry for years at that point. And so I think that's also just important to name and to show is that
that allowed you to get to the point where you had the support and people weren't just like, okay, cool. Like, well, what have you done? Like, what are we doing with that? But it's like, no, oh, I know her, she's funny, she's written the script, it's good. I would put my name behind her and that opened doors, it sounds like.
Meredith (13:08.75)
Yes, there was definitely, yes, that's an important thing. Thank you for naming that as an important aspect to highlight is that there also, I would have been, think I was 23 or 24. I also didn't really have that confidence then and it took a while for me to.
At CVS, I was reading a lot of pilots and so seeing what was out there, what was capable and what these people were doing, that gave me the confidence to be like, oh, these people are misspelling words left and right. If I could at least get a sentence spelled correctly, maybe I can do this. And sort of seeing what else is out there and being like, well, maybe if this person did it, maybe I can do it too. So that was also very helpful. But I did spend time rewriting the pilot I was working on and meeting people and trying to get that experience to write and reading books and just trying to better my craft so that,
Conscious Success Co (13:42.247)
Mmm.
Meredith (13:51.84)
Because I knew you get one shot. You get one highlight, one read essentially. And I wanted to make sure that I felt confident saying, everyone can read it, tell me what you think. And when I said to tell people, I wanna be a writer, I wanna make sure that I had that thing ready to go. Because I think a lot of times people say, I'm a writer, I wanna write. And then they ask, what are you working on? And they go, nothing. Or I don't have a sample or whatever. So it was important to me to be able to back that thing up.
Conscious Success Co (14:14.277)
Yeah, and I love that you got close enough to reading all of these different scripts and being like, hey, if they can do it, so can I. Like, there's nothing that they have that I don't have. And I think so often, getting close demystifies it, you know? Whereas if we just see it from afar, like if you were still living in Chicago and just dreaming of being a TV writer one day, but not seeing how the sausage is made or what those scripts look like to start.
You might not have believed in yourself enough, but by getting in the rooms and by reading enough of that, you're like, OK, I can do this. It built your confidence, it sounds like.
Meredith (14:46.798)
Yes, 100%. And as opposed to just reading sort what's on there, I knew that in order for it to have gotten to my desk, my assistant desk at CBS, it had to have reached a certain kind of caliber and a level. So I knew what I was reading was considered excellent and the best and good. So that really set a standard and a bar for me to work towards in terms of comedy and style and what those writers were doing. It sort of was a model for me to work towards.
Conscious Success Co (15:12.697)
Okay, so your break came through the Mindy project, right? And kind of in Mindy Kaling's world. Can you talk to us about how that happened and what kind of those early years in the writers room taught you?
Meredith (15:23.254)
Yes, so that is where I started telling people I wanted to be a writer and this lovely soul who I had been an assistant with at UTA, she was working for the head of TV and the head of TV represented this writer named Charlie Grandy and he had an overall deal at Universal and he was looking for an assistant and so she was like, hey, if you want to be a writer, this would be a really great job. So I remember putting on my resume and I met with him and it was one of those meetings from like, if I get this job, my life changes forever. Like he was so wonderful and great and it just was like, this
the dream job I wanted and I remember him saying that he would let people know by Friday like Friday night and Friday night where it rolls around I didn't hear from him and so I was out dinner with my friend and her mom I just remember crying at dinner like I didn't get my dream job it's over I have to go back home and then during the dinner he got an email saying I got the job so that was really life-changing because
working for Charlie, aside from being like a genuinely intelligent, kind and wonderful person, also career wise was like what I wanted for myself. He was executive producer on the Mindy project. So he was in the writer's room all day working as a writer. He also had a deal.
And so he was developing his own pilot. So for my two years with him, I got to see the process of what it's like to come up with an idea, to pitch a TV show, to write the pilot. And then when I had met him, I actually don't really remember, but he had a pilot that he was shooting. So I also got to be on the set for the pilot for that week to see production. So every aspect of being a TV writer, I got to see while working for Charlie. And it really was such a gift. And I wasn't in the writer's room of Mindy's because I was his assistant, but I was in the office
with all the other assistants and exposed to all the writers and the life of a TV writer and I know my first day there, technically it was like my fourth day, I was like this is what I want. I've never been happier. This is exactly where I'm meant to be. that is sort of like the big shift was my environment, who I was working for and the reaffirmation that everything I wanted was possible to have and it was just in the room next door.
Conscious Success Co (17:06.311)
Hmm.
Conscious Success Co (17:29.659)
That is so huge. And to be able to get that exposure to all those different facets of being a TV writer and be like, yep, I found it. This is it. After the trialing and airing and different agent production, all of that to be like, I found it. From there, how did you then go from being an assistant to actually getting a shot at doing the writing yourself?
Meredith (17:57.742)
Well then, once I was working for a writer and I accepted my fate, the shackles were off and then I was like, I wanna be a writer! And then it became just like full diving in of how do I make this career for myself? It all starts with a sample. So then I really started to work on a new pilot and I got the great advice of write something that only you can write. I...
What was nice about working for Charlie, I got a million things, but what it afforded me was that all day I was in front of a computer so I could write during the day and I didn't have to hide it and it wasn't like a little secret. Like I could do it during the day and research and I could ask my co-workers thoughts on things. So it became kind of like a mini writer's room in a way and I finally had the time and like bandwidth to be writing. So I really spent all my energy trying to write the best pilot I could. And then I also asked Charlie questions and I, not to be, not to be annoying to him, but I was really just so
Meredith (18:53.543)
I was editing documents and sending things out for him. So I also saw the process of like, what does it like to be at a notes call? How do you receive notes? And it was just a big couple years of learning and taking information and setting a mode for how does being a TV writer work? And where that got me is that I wrote a, I like to think about what makes me laugh. don't really, a lot of people were like, right, the, I have heard the same, but when you chase
the thing. I don't ever chase the thing. I do what I what makes me laugh. So I always thought slavery was very funny. Haha! So my pilot is called Yes Massa and it is about a white family in 1830s Charleston who buys slaves the first time. So was like that's gotta be kind of weird if you don't support slavery but like you kind of have to buy slaves. And so that is the first thing I wrote. That was like a real sample and it's ridiculous but that's the kind of thing that a lot of people like I gotta read this.
Conscious Success Co (19:47.177)
Uh-huh. And as a black woman in the entertainment industry, I know from working in it, you're surrounded by white people, and now you're writing this script called Yes, Massa. Why is that funny to you? Where did that come from? Did that feel important at a deeper level than just comedy? Or is comedy always infused with realness? Talk to us about choosing that.
Meredith (19:56.75)
You
Meredith (20:14.988)
I just, it just made me uncomfortable. It made me feel something. And I think that is always my goal with writing is how do I make somebody feel something, whether it is discomfort or laughter or it sparks a curiosity. I'm always like, what would it be like for me to be in this scenario? Like if I were a slave in 1830s, like what would my life be like? And I also think a lot of times that sort of element is portrayed dramatically as it should be. So to me, I'm like, what an interesting version it would be if it wasn't a sad drama, but a comedy. you found kind of, obviously it's
not funny, but there is, know, for the purpose of meeting people and showing people my style of writing and my sense of humor, that is what it was. And so that is the pilot that got me my agency at CAA. They read it and were like, well, this is really different and it's very funny. And that is the sample that my boss, Charlie and Mindy read that eventually got me staffed on a show. So it was the kind of thing of, it was a big risk, but that's the good part about writing is that people were like, this isn't it.
you just write something else. So it made me laugh and I just, I really liked it and I felt confident in it that I, in the sense that like, I enjoy reading this, maybe somebody else will. So we get inside delusion of like, maybe this isn't crazy.
Conscious Success Co (21:16.264)
Hmm.
Conscious Success Co (21:24.648)
you
Conscious Success Co (21:28.136)
Totally. Well, I love that you're kind of writing for yourself or what you find funny and that like if you enjoy it, maybe somebody else will and rather than chasing what you think other people are going to find funny and not really being able to connect with that like tone or voice. in, you know, since getting staffed on a show, you've, you know, written for a number of different shows, Four Weddings and a Funeral, The Wonder Years, Central Park, like all these shows have, you know, very different tones and worlds. So can you talk to us about...
How do you approach stepping into then someone else's creative vision or someone else's idea of what's funny and bringing that to life versus your own?
Meredith (22:08.135)
I would describe myself as a student of life. I am sort of a chameleon where I like to absorb information and I think part of writing is figuring out your style but also being able to write another version of it.
Beyonce doesn't just do pop music. She also does country. think there's a strength in... yeah you know you heard Beyonce. I think there's strength in being able to take the core talent and figuring out how to put that in different mediums. So it was very important for me as a young writer to be able to do multiple different kinds of types of writing. Also it's kind of like the job that you get. So I was always excited to have a different experience. So the first show I worked on was called Champions. It was NBC. So it's
first year network comedy and it was about there was like an element of like living in New York and gym culture and sort of found family and that was one thing to focus on. The second show I worked on was Four Weddings and a Funeral at Hulu. It an hour at streaming and it was an hour long so that was a very different tonal shift of how do you take IP of a movie people love, take what they love about it, put it into the TV show, add more conflict because it is an hour but also make it funny.
So I was only a story editor on that, so that's the second bottom whatever. So that was more of a learning experience for me of also to see how these people in the room think. And what was cool about that, was half the room were predominantly hour long writers and the half were comedies. So it's really interesting hearing for the first time how an hour long writer thinks about story, how they approach it, how they break it. So that was really a learning experience for me. And then,
for Wonder Years, that is, again, to answer the question, it is sort of just like shutting up at first and listening to your environment and then taking the information and finding out what you can contribute. So Wonder Years was an experiment in how do you take a show people love and put a new spin on it, you know? And it's also a period piece. So that was also very cool for me to learn, sort of figure out, which eventually was helpful on...
Meredith (24:18.19)
I worked on the animated reboot of Everybody Hates Chris called Everybody Still Hates Chris, which was the same kind of thing of how do take a show people love and put a different spin on it. Also about a time period. I'm really good at, I think, period pieces. Yeah, I'm like, wait a minute, I hate the present.
Conscious Success Co (24:29.96)
You're like, this is just dawning on me right now with the three-lining.
Meredith (24:37.866)
I think if I were to guess, I think that the people who hired me saw the comedy that I could write and thought, she could write for this kind of character, or she knows how to tell a story, or this is somebody who can take an interesting premise and make it a kind of crazy premise and ground it. I think maybe that was one of my strengths with Yes, Massa as a sample of why people sort of took a risk on me for these different types of shows.
Conscious Success Co (25:03.048)
And it strikes me that in all of these different rooms and jobs, you've been this sponge where you come in and you're like, let me learn. Let me figure out how you break a story. Let me figure out what the one hour writers are doing versus the half hour comedy writers. And you just continue to take that all in and then also have your own spin on it or access your.
your own voice and it's like kind of the the combination of those two things and that like productive tension between the two that Sounds like it's really served you. Would you say that that's true? Or how would you put it?
Meredith (25:39.022)
Yeah, that's great spot, think.
To me what a successful writer is is somebody who never stops asking questions who never learns who is always trying to be better and different and try something new because I've met writers who are sort of stuck in the same pilot or writing thing where it's always about the only thing that they know in their life if it hasn't happened and they don't know how to write that and that is not something that I want for myself I always want to be able to put into any scenario and figure out how to write it and find
the universal truth to what that part of that story is and then taking the specificity of that world and making it a TV show or a movie. yeah, I find being a sponge is really important and listening is really important. I think a lot of writers are very talkative. It is important sometimes to just listen to what other people are saying and take that into.
Conscious Success Co (26:31.098)
What would you say has been the highlight so far of your writing career?
Meredith (26:37.112)
Boy, there's so many.
Meredith (26:44.458)
This is kind of a weird answer, I can give you a different one, the highlight is that I still love it.
That even though there are really hard days. It's a lot of rejection writing is very personal every every notes call I have is someone telling me I don't like what you did. I don't think this is funny I think you should change this it is funnily telling you what you did is wrong or bad or unlikable and so I think after all that I still the high for me is that I still love it and I still love writing that if I had nothing if Tomorrow's my last day on earth. I would I would turn my phone off I would go sit on my computer and I would go right because it gives me so
so much joy. So in a way, the highlight is knowing that I found the thing that I love and that I find that my life has kind of purpose. And then the tangible answer I can give you is that...
It's a collective yes of all the yes I've gotten because I have, because of the delusion now, now I'm really leaning into it and being like, why not to quote my friend, the Mindy's book, but why not me? Of asking for things and being like, well, can I do this? And the times people have had said yes has been really incredible because it was not without thought, it was because they thought that I could do it. So for example,
I directed an episode of Sex, of College Girls in the first season and that was the first thing I ever directed. And that was because the show runner, was Mindy Kaling and Justin Noble who said yes. And so the highlights are the people who take a big chance on you and say yes. I think that is really, really cool and maybe not something that is prevalent in other industries. So that's kind of in the highlight is the continued strive for a yes.
Conscious Success Co (28:26.581)
I love that so much. that like people, you you ask for it and then people also believe in you and think you can do it before you necessarily have the evidence or the proof that you can and then getting to like rise to that occasion. But also just the like love for the game itself, not trying to win the game necessarily, right? And you know, something I talk with on this.
Meredith (28:45.937)
I'm always losing.
Conscious Success Co (28:48.348)
but that you can still have love for the game regardless. You're gonna still go and shoot hoops even if you miss most of them, whatever that looks like. And something we talk a lot about on this podcast and a lot with my clients is like having an intrinsic love and feeling intrinsically motivated by the thing that you're doing, which keeps you in the game and it keeps you building mastery and has staying power. And if you find that and that thing gives you energy, it's not to say,
Meredith (28:50.35)
Yes.
Conscious Success Co (29:15.674)
it's always going to go well or you're not going to get rejected or you're not going to experience failure. But because you can stay in it, it can also lead to the external results or the things that you want like money or prestige or whatever that ultimately looks like. But if you're missing that thing, if you're missing that love and that intrinsic motivation and satisfaction from your craft or what you're committing your life to, like it kind of falls apart. And it seems like because you found this thing, yes.
and I wanna get into the hardships, but you are able to stay in and ride the waves and the ups and downs and the failures and all of that without letting that stop you.
Meredith (29:55.81)
Yeah, that's exactly what it is. It's a lot of, I like to think of it as like, working as a writer is kind of like you're really hungry and sometimes you don't eat, but then every now and you're like, I found some cookies in my back pocket. You know, those cookies in the back pocket are my joy for writing.
Conscious Success Co (30:09.447)
And how have you kept yourself like when you are getting all of this like criticism or rejection or you know, a show you're writing on doesn't get renewed or doesn't get picked up, like how do you keep yourself from internalizing that as failure and how do you separate your self-worth from outcomes you can't fully control?
Meredith (30:30.016)
I think of it as less of like, this just didn't work out, this kind of thing. And I also think I've been actively working on separating my life from my job. A lot of times that I write, writing isn't the only thing I have to offer. I think that's been really important in the last couple of years as the industry has gone on contraction is that if my one TV idea does not go, it's not all my eggs in my basket. I'm trying to fill my life with other things, both working wise.
and personally of like, oh, that didn't go. Well, I have three other things that I can work on or focus on, or I can go for a run. I think for me, moving my body is very helpful to sort of deal with things that are the big rejection. So I've really gotten into running lately. That's been a nice escape for me. Therapy is very helpful. Having friends who you can sort of bend to, but just knowing that...
There's always a new day is always something. For better or for worse, my phone could ring right now and it could be, hey Merida, this script you wrote seven years ago is being bought by Paramount. Or it could be, hey, someone found some weird tweets you posted and you're blacklisted. It's kind of that living on the edge of the possibility of things could always be happening. so knowing that there's always another day is always very helpful. That it's not the end until I'm dead.
Conscious Success Co (31:53.578)
Yeah, and it sounds like you've done some identity work to like remove your full identity from like that of being a writer and that being every dimension of you but being able to have these things outside of it and it's like, yes, you love this thing and yes, you're gonna take the actions to continue to pursue it but you never know what you know, the phone call that might come and also because you have these other things there's like more resilience in that that allow the whatever lows or rejections to not feel as
Impact Fall.
Meredith (32:24.43)
Yeah, I think it also, it's kind of like a callous where over time the rejection sort of build up and you realize it's not personal. It's not people saying, hey, you're dumb, I don't like you. think...
It's a thought thing of like is what they are telling me true. Is it helpful? Am I is this you know, there's no such thing as being a bad Well, it's not true. There are bad writers But I think that when I think a lot of writers look at stuff and go I'm a bad writer This is a bad project It can just be reef It's also reframing your mindset of this may not have been the right project for that producer or this may not have been the right thing for them right now I think that's another way is reframing the narrative that I tell myself about the outcome of things. That's been really important, too
Conscious Success Co (33:06.259)
Well, it also sounds like in that you're able to be like, okay, what of this can I take from that feedback? What if this is true? What if this is, you know, feedback as a gift and that's interesting. That is a perspective that I hadn't considered and that's going to allow me to improve my craft versus like, okay, that just like wasn't the right fit. It doesn't mean anything fundamentally about me as a person. And, you know, when we think about, you know, shame, shame is I am bad, right?
versus, I did something bad, which is like not internalizing shame. And in this case, if you're like, okay, I am a bad writer versus, that script just didn't land, right? Like those are very different. And when we internalize the shame, it's really hard to move forward from that. But it sounds like you've done a good job of being able to be like, okay, what if this can I take? What if this can I implement? What if this do I just let go of? Which allows you to keep moving forward.
Meredith (33:52.75)
Mm-hmm.
Meredith (34:02.688)
Yeah, I think sometimes I think it's important to also allow that there there are things that I write that are not very good But I take that feedback and knowing that okay if I say I'm a bad writer if this is true What can I do about it? And so I will try to be better. So just as an example I have been trying to write a feature script of every genre. So I wrote a murder mystery It's not very good because I'm not a murder mystery writer Like I acknowledge it in terms of what all the rules of what makes this genre so great. I didn't hit those targets
And I got that feedback from a lot of people so I this is not a great script doesn't mean I'm a bad writer So then what have I been doing? I have been reading every murder mystery book. I've been watching murder mystery movies I am reading books about investigators. I am doing the work to say okay now What did that what can I be better? How could I learn from this? How can I elevate this? I think that's the other side of it is on the eye on the other side of it is if you're gonna Lean into that I'm not great this what can I actively do to change that? prophecy I guess so
That's also been really important.
Conscious Success Co (35:03.221)
And that's such an empowered perspective and mindset to have. Like, OK, well, what can I do about it? And to be like, OK, well, I need to do more research. I need to learn more about this genre. It is knowable. It is figureoutable. It's not that I can't do it. It's that I have more learning to do. There's more actions I need to take to fill that skill gap or knowledge gap or whatever that looks like. And I think for everyone listening, that mindset.
has served you so well. And I think a lot of people listening are probably like, I don't quite have that mindset. Or that's something I need to do a little bit more work on. But I think when we believe, hey, I can do whatever I want to do. I can learn anything I want to learn. I can improve in any way I want to. First, I need to believe that. And then second, I need to actually take the actions to do the thing that I say that I want to do. It's not enough to have either. And it sounds like, yeah, it's not always easy. But you have built this muscle.
Meredith (35:50.7)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (35:58.204)
and this ability to continue to be like, yep, my dreams are possible and what action do I need to take? How can I learn? How can I keep moving forward?
Meredith (36:07.266)
Yeah, it's a perfect blend of having that talent but also having the drive. You could be Steph Curry, naturally gifted athlete, but it won't matter if you aren't practicing every single day. Sports reference!
Conscious Success Co (36:18.889)
Mm-hmm. I love it for all of our sports listeners on this pod. Let's do it Well, I am curious like the industry in recent years in particular has been pretty bumpy, you know, there's the WGA strike the streaming shakeup. There's AI coming all all of the things like what? Keeps you in it. Do you ever have these like existential crisis moments where you're like, oh my gosh, I need to have
an entirely different career, like what am I doing? Or are you still able to access that belief and that optimism? Like how does that bend to be a writer in this really crazy time?
Meredith (37:00.046)
I have that crisis every day now. I'm always like, oh God, why can't I do anything else? And to go back to us from earlier, it's because I genuinely love it. It's could I do something else? I don't know, maybe. There's not a lot I could do, but I do genuinely love it and I'm still finding ways. When you tell me I can't do something, I'm gonna be like, yes, I can. So I will spend my time. Yeah, yeah, so I'll be like, yes, I can. It's finding ways of getting around the no's to be like, maybe. So I spend a lot of time figuring out what is selling?
Conscious Success Co (37:17.353)
See the intro of this podcast.
Meredith (37:30.0)
people buying, what are interesting, and it was just the first of what I said earlier, but thinking about like, what is my target and how do I make my thing that target? So I've been doing a lot of that, but it is, it has been getting harder where it's like, wow, maybe this is it for me. And not taking it personally where like, again, I'm not a bad writer, I'm not this, it's more of just like, what I get excited about is maybe not what people are interested in making right now.
But it goes back to the other outlets of how can I find joy and make use of my time. I have a cookbook coming out in May. So that was kind of one of my outlets is that.
Conscious Success Co (38:02.238)
Let's talk about that.
Meredith (38:04.174)
true to my thing where I'm like, I'm just gonna do this. In the pandemic, I was by myself, which I love, and I was cooking for myself, which I don't love, and I just found that I had the same dinner for eight nights because there were so many leftovers. I'm like, this is crazy. There's gotta be something for a smaller serving, and there really wasn't. So I'm like, I wanna write a cookbook, but I put that in the back of my mind because I was still working, and then...
The writer's strike was the most delicious five months of my life because I couldn't write. I am someone who will always write, but during that period I couldn't do it. I couldn't really do meetings. So I finally had the bandwidth and space to be like, well, I guess time to get a good cookbook. So I called my TV agent and I knew that she had worked with books. And I said, Hey Olivia, can you put me in touch with a book agent? She put me in touch with Anthony and I said, Hey Anthony, I don't know how to write a cookbook, but I'd like to tell me how to do it. And he's like, great.
some examples for proposals and I hired Allie Slagle who if you are a one sheet pan person she's known for that and among other things that for the New York Times cooking but I hired her to help me sort of organize the proposal because again I didn't know how to do it but I thought let me ask someone who can help me and I said this is what I
Conscious Success Co (39:18.666)
How did you just hire her? Did you just like reach down and were like, can you help me with this?
Meredith (39:22.456)
Well, this is where having an agency is very helpful, where my agent reached out to her agent and we had a meeting and I said, this is what I wanna do. Can I hire you? And she said, yes. But I expressed that I want a cookbook for single servings, help me put that together. And so she, we made a mass list of recipes I wanted and she sort of organized it into chapters and categories. And then I did the proposal, which is basically, what is this a book for? Why me? Why should it be out there? What's the audience? And then,
We sent the proposal out. I had one meeting and they bought the book and that was Union Square publishing and so that was 2023. So this has been like a three-year journey of just me being like here's something that I want how do I make this happen?
Conscious Success Co (40:02.746)
my gosh, okay, I so much about this. One, it started with a genuine problem that you had in your life, which for any good idea or business is like, I have experienced this pain point and this is something that should be rectified and solved. And then two, you're like, okay, yeah, I can write a cookbook. You didn't have that limiting belief of like, well, I'm just a TV writer or like, I don't know anything about that. You're like, all right, well, yeah, I can do that. And then three, you're like, great.
I'm gonna call my agents, I'm gonna ask for help, I'm gonna bring the right people in. And then you sold it. I just think it's so cool. You have done TV and film writing, you've done producing, you've done directing, you've written a cookbook. I know we were just talking before I hit record. You've renovated a place in New York, you've run marathons. You are literally just someone who's like, yeah.
I want to do that, I'm going to do that. And you make it happen. It's just so rare, I think. And it's so cool to see that. What was that moment like when you then sold the cookbook on your first pitch?
Meredith (41:09.142)
didn't think it was real. didn't really, I always felt, I always thought it was gonna go away. And it took me to finally holding the actual book in my hand and be like, my God, it's real. So it was a lot of gratitude for, I am so grateful for the people who helped me. Cause again, I'm not a cook and I hired a, her name is Emily Stevenson. She's a recipe developer. And so she actually wrote the recipes of like, she does the, this is how many tablespoons you do. And she tested everything. And then I tested them. So it's gratitude and knowing that, and being like, I can't do this by myself. I had people help me get here.
But it is, it is, I think, one of the greatest things I've ever done because with TV, with writing and feature writing, it's never really yours. It's not really tangible. This is the first thing I've ever done where I can hold it in my hand and be like, look, it's real! So, I imagine that's kids are like. Yeah, sure, yeah, Awesome. But it felt incredible.
Conscious Success Co (41:56.715)
Yeah, with a partner, guess my husband gets a little bit of credit even though it's really mostly me, but yeah, no, totally. That is so cool. So it's called Party for One, right? And it is like, as I understand it, about how cooking for yourself is something to celebrate, not apologize for. And I also know from being your friend and following you on Instagram for all these years, you do like...
Meredith (42:11.086)
Mm-hmm.
Conscious Success Co (42:24.742)
yearly posts on like your birthday or on Valentine's Day where you're like loving on yourself and shouting yourself out and doing like a whole carousel of photos of you from that year and like that celebration is a part of like who you are and how you show up in the world like how like tell us more about where that came from or how you've like leaned into that perspective and how that came through in the cookbook as well
Meredith (42:30.254)
you
Meredith (42:35.118)
Mm-hmm.
Meredith (42:51.054)
I used to be really insecure about it because I really do love being alone. Whenever you see gravity or a movie where someone's stuck in space, like, that sounds awesome. I love my alone time. so I think, receptively, a lot of times when I was in my 20s and early on, I was really insecure about it and felt the way that people looked at me was with pity of like, oh, she's single. I'm single. I've been single forever. And it was a lot of like, oh, you are alone at this party. You don't have this. And there was a lot of this thing, this culture of shame
for not having somebody with me or doing things by myself. And so I, at some point, think traveling by myself helped me get over that kind of nervousness and become a celebration of like, wait a minute, why am I allowing people to make me feel bad with something that I love? again, it was a reframing of, instead of saying I'm alone, it's I'm alone. And so it's again, a reframe and a celebration where...
For me, a big milestone was moving out an apartment by myself. And so it was going from having a roommate to being able to afford living alone. It's like things like that of like, wow, sometimes being alone can be a rewarding experience. And I don't think we look at it like that a lot of times. I had a friend who recently got divorced a year ago. And she said that people always tell her, I'm sorry. And she's like, I wish she would tell me congratulations. I think a lot of times society tells you that this thing is sad and bad when it should be like, great, congratulations. I'm so happy that this thing is happening for you.
And the book isn't necessarily just for like if you're single it's also a celebration of you know what? Husbands on a business trip, kids go to sleepover, you have the house to yourself, you're having a bubble bath, you're having some cookies tonight. It's sort of that too. It's finding ways of like being able to enjoy you in your own skin which is my thesis for life is that whoever is in your life it's still important to love who you are and enjoy being by yourself.
Conscious Success Co (44:19.167)
Mmm.
Conscious Success Co (44:38.058)
Hmm.
Conscious Success Co (44:43.972)
yes. I remember being in my coaching institute and getting coached by one of the master coaches who was like, you know, because at the time I was considered myself a very like extroverted person and I really didn't like being alone. To me, being alone was being lonely because it was like, who am I going to talk to? What am I going to like do with myself? And I think I didn't really have, I didn't at that point, I hadn't built a deep relationship with like my sense of self, right?
It was all this external focus. I remember her coaching me, like, what if you were to cook a whole meal and open that nice bottle of wine and set the table and get flowers just because you're treating yourself well? And that really opened something up to have this whole journey and now experience of, I crave my time with me because I am important. And I think that being in my own brain can be interesting and all of that and developing that.
connection to a sense of self, right? And there's such a difference in my mind from being lonely and being alone, being with yourself, right? And you've developed that relationship with yourself. And it is so beautiful and so worth celebrating. And I think it's so cool that you're like tapping into this thing that our culture doesn't see or honor or validate.
But again, you're like, well, this is true for me. I enjoy this and I'm going to celebrate the shit out of it.
Meredith (46:10.865)
Yeah, that's exactly it. That's really great way to put it, of alone versus lonely. Because there different things. There are times where I am lonely, and then I'm like, hey, can someone hang out with me? But I think it's important to have that distinction. But I think you really just nail that on the head.
Conscious Success Co (46:23.861)
And so you have described yourself as a carb loyalist. Can you talk to us about like, what is this actual book? Like if we pick it up, it comes out next month, right? Like is this, okay, May 19th, set the calendar, people. Like are we getting a lot of carb recipes? Are we getting all kinds of different recipes? Like what is the nature of what you're cooking?
Meredith (46:34.69)
May 19th.
Meredith (46:47.758)
I wanted this to be big demographic for the masses. there's eight, nine chapters, but there's like a soup chapter, there's a salad chapter, there's a sizzled and crisp. It's based on cravings. So the book was written on cravings. So it's sort of like, what are you craving today? My dog's being annoying, hold on. This is peanut. So it's based on cravings of like, you know what? I want say that's kind of like cheesy and gooey, because it's sort of, it's reframing of like, what do you want to be eating right now? And so if you want something cheesy,
Conscious Success Co (47:03.957)
Hmm.
Meredith (47:17.712)
and gooey you can have the know the there's like cheesy breadsticks in there there's a pizza for one if you're like I want something like hot and sizzled there's like lamb chops if you're like I'm feeling decadent there is an individual beef Wellington if you're like I want some that's a little crunchy and cold that's the salad chapter so it's based around cravings but in it's mostly like full kinds of full kinds of meals and there's also of course a dessert chapter
Conscious Success Co (47:42.816)
love that it's all based on what do you want? What are you craving? What do you desire? Truly desire is something I talk about with my clients so often. It's something that so many women are blocked. And when I ask them, what do you want? They're like, come again? What does my husband want? What do my kids need? What does my boss want from me? Versus being like, no, what do I want? And it can be, I often talk with clients about starting with the smallest things.
Do you wanna go to a coffee shop and pick up coffee or do you wanna like make it and have it in bed? Like what do you wanna cook out of a cookbook? What do you wanna order on a menu? And so often that can feel like really stretchy even to do. And so I love this. You're like, what do you want? Open up this cookbook, cook something for you. Like this is like the radical counter-cultural revolution that I am here for. You are changing the world. Truly. Oh my gosh.
Meredith (48:32.782)
I'm changing the world, one recipe at a time.
Conscious Success Co (48:37.451)
Well, I'm so excited about that. I distinctly remember, granted, now I have a husband and two and a half kids. But I love my alone time. And I love getting to cook for one. I will be getting this cookbook. But I remember that being such a pain point in my 20s, where I like, I loved cooking. But buying things and eating the same thing, or having so many things go to waste, or whatever, it felt impossible. How do you also get around that from a grocery shopping perspective? Does that factor into how you?
Write the recipes.
Meredith (49:07.096)
Yes.
This is where Ali and Emily came in together because I was very clear of like I hate when recipes are like but use one chive and you have like a thousand chives like what am I gonna do with this? So every recipe was chosen with the intent of okay, you should not have a bunch of stuff left over but there's also a section where if you have at the front of book there's a whole if you have this then you can use it in that. There are some things are inevitable where you may have a little extras but each thing was considered of like okay, what can we avoid having leftovers because I hate throwing out food. I hate having leftovers. I hate
random vegetables in my fridge that I use from one thing. So everything was designed with that in mind. So that's the goal. I don't hit it 100 % of the time, but that is the intent and goal with all the recipes. oh, think, I'm trying to think about the most annoying thing I have to buy. It's always some kind of like fresh vegetable. like, what am I doing with this?
Conscious Success Co (49:56.62)
Totally, 100%. I'm so bad at it. And then I have that like, oh shit, like every two weeks I'm like cleaning out the bottom of the fridge and being like, oh, again, I didn't use that. So, okay, well, I will look forward to thinking and reading about more creative ideas as well of repurposing that all of those goods and produce. So, I mean, to me, it strikes me like you are the definition of my mind, in my mind of a creative, right? Like you just...
Meredith (50:05.432)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Conscious Success Co (50:24.347)
do creative things, you have a creative brain, you like whether it's writing a cookbook or writing for TV or you know redesigning an apartment whatever that looks like. Do you think that everyone is creative but some people are more expressed or not in it or how do you think about creativity as a whole?
Meredith (50:45.166)
people, if everyone is creative and I wouldn't want them to be because we all should be this nuts, but I do believe everyone should, it has an opinion on what they like when they don't like. And I think that can help inform you. So I did, I renovated this apartment in New York from full scratch and a lot of people are like, well, how did you do that? It's because I just have an opinion and I spend a lot of time looking at Pinterest. I mean, like, I like this, I don't like that. I like this, I like, don't like this. So even if you are not someone who has a vision or creative, you can find resources where someone's like, do you like this? Should I do this? And then you say,
yes or no. I think in that aspect creativity is a spectrum I would say where you may not be able to come up with and create from the ground but you can you know you may be able to do zero to a hundred but you can get 85 to 100 you can fill in that gap and just know what you like and what you want and be able to articulate that. I think that is a big part of creativity too.
Conscious Success Co (51:35.348)
And I mean, it seems to me that that's also been a part of your career. Like even if you haven't known something like how to write a script, you've gotten in rooms where you're like, okay, let me learn, let me get closer, let me see how it's done. And then that increases your creativity or like, you know, renovating an apartment. You're like, okay, I can go on Pinterest versus those of us who are like, well, I'm just not a creative. I don't know. To me, like, yes, it's a spectrum and it's something that you can move on the spectrum as you get closer and more informed. And I think that yes,
Meredith (52:00.781)
Mm-hmm.
Conscious Success Co (52:03.817)
Maybe some people have these brains that are constantly firing with all these creative ideas and you're saying you don't wish everyone to be that crazy. But I think that you've leaned into that, but you've also, again, learned and gotten close enough to things to have your creativity fueled and be able to be actualized.
Meredith (52:21.356)
Yeah, and to add on that, think that everyone has an aspect of creativity, but how it is performed is differently. Like I think, I imagine an engineer is creative because they see, you if you're a civil engineer, you see a site, you can design what it should look like, where I can't do that. So I think there's a different aspect of whatever your skill, your talent, your passion is, there's a way to be very creative in that and what you do and being able to problem solve. think that is what creativity is, is how do you problem solve and think outside the box, which I do think everybody has and can be able to do and should.
Conscious Success Co (52:36.619)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (52:51.403)
100%. Yeah, I mean, I define creativity not as like being artistic and knowing how to paint, but being able to like see a problem and develop a solution to that problem that didn't exist previously. And even someone who's like creating an Excel spreadsheet to solve a problem, like that's creative, honestly. Like you created something that didn't exist before anything. Sometimes we can be too constrained in our thinking about what's creative. We have different creative outlets or different creative gifts and our minds work in different ways.
Yeah, I do think that everyone's capable of creating something from nothing.
Meredith (53:25.654)
Yeah, but do some people want to? No, and that's fine.
Conscious Success Co (53:28.085)
Totally, and that's fine and own that. How do creative ideas find you and how do you know which are worth pursuing and have legs or which need to be put to the side?
Meredith (53:39.362)
This is where I don't sleep at night because I'm always seeing things and stories where I can't read fiction anymore because I never really read fiction because I'm always thinking of how would I adapt this? can't enjoy fiction so I only read like dense hard nonfiction books but every time I meet someone that's interesting and that's staged with me for a little bit I'm like hmm there's a kernel. I have a little Google Doc of like notions that are interesting of things that I read or people I meet or careers or things that I see. It's always just being compiled in like a big list.
there's the sponge again. And so when something really interests me or I'm like, how does, how does that work? Or when I'm really curious about it, that's usually the, the telltale sign of something that I should pursue or something I love and figuring out what's my version of this. So I love murder mysteries and that's why I want to write one to be like, well, what's my version of this? so it's usually the asking that question of how can I do this thing that I like or I'm curious by or scared of anything that's driven by a strong emotion is usually where I, where I am drawn to.
Conscious Success Co (54:38.476)
And then what does your creative process typically look like when as you like take that from an idea and bring that into this like 3D reality? Do you work in like manic sprints all night where you're just like totally feeling that creative energy and then produce it or is it like very disciplined and you like reverse engineer and break it down into digestible chunks or like what is that actually that process look like for you?
Meredith (54:39.216)
I'm
Meredith (55:04.639)
I'm very type A. I'm overly organized. have a to- I'm everyday I make a to-do list of things I like to do during the day. have everything is very organized. I'm not I'm not a sprinter. I'm very much like here's what I need to do to the day and it changes so if I'm in a script and I'm actively writing it my to-do list would be like write five pages because I think for me I have obsessive tendencies so if I don't set that boundary I will go writing all day all night and then feel bad that I didn't do enough so if I just say write five pages and I then I do that and I could say great
You can move on that you are allowed to move into something else or you can choose to continue and so that kind of releases the guilt of I'm not writing enough, but I think it's very common for writers because a lot of times you can just keep going I don't want to be the one of those people I gotta have a work-life balance. So I set boundaries for myself. There's no like you work from 9 to 5 It's more of task oriented because my day is don't start till 12 p.m I probably won't start writing today until like 1 but I usually go late in the night. So I think When I the to-do list is
how I navigate each day versus setting a specific time period because that can you know life gets in the way and then it be it I'm trying to avoid the cycle of I didn't do it or I should avoiding the word should of what I should have done trying to get away from that because that is unhealthy
Conscious Success Co (56:21.292)
And I love that you're breaking it down into small enough chunks where it doesn't feel that daunting. It's like, I can write five pages, but then you have the option, do I want to write 10? Or you can be like, I've done enough. And giving yourself those enough points of like, okay, great, you can go pour yourself into other parts of your life now versus always feel like you're falling short. think that's also so important in being able to like stay in the game.
Meredith (56:43.638)
Yeah, I also have a reward system so that when I accomplish all my tasks, like a little treats, or if I do like the really hard, I get to organize something. I have like a really messy, organizing makes me very happy. So it's like, okay, if I accomplish these two little tasks, I get to put my laundry away or I get to like organize this garbage bin or something. I'm.
Conscious Success Co (56:48.938)
What do the treats look like?
amazing. Go on with your bad self.
Conscious Success Co (57:04.982)
Girl, I wish that was motivating to me. If I accomplish these tasks, I get to put my laundry away. Talk to my husband. I'm the person who comes home from a trip and my suitcase just lies on the floor unpacked for two weeks and I don't see it.
Meredith (57:17.49)
I'm doing laundry the same day I am back. Everything is gone by time I go to bed. Again, I'm very organized and I'm a very big control freak, but a nice treat is I get to go for a little walk or I get to make a brand new coffee. They're really small things, but things that I would do eventually, but I get to move them up the list. It's simple, but it works.
Conscious Success Co (57:33.1)
Yeah, simple but effective, which are all of the hacks and tips that we all want. So I love it. Okay, I wanna end with some rapid fire questions. What does, yeah, don't get stressed. What does that conscious success mean to you?
Meredith (57:42.476)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Okay.
Meredith (57:52.842)
It means someone who can define their own terms of success and what that looks like to them and being aware of knowing that is, boy, okay, I'm nervous now. Consciousness X means an awareness of a value system in what people are choosing to do and their intentions. That seems like an answer, I think.
Conscious Success Co (58:17.644)
Totally. So it's like, know what I value. I know what success looks like to me, and I'm being intentional about creating that.
Meredith (58:25.674)
Yes, it's defining, okay, it's defining, it's how you define success and what are your intentions to work towards that. That's my answer.
Conscious Success Co (58:35.072)
I love it. Well, yeah, and it seems like you've obviously gone about success in that way from everything that we've talked about today. So why I had to have you on the pod. But even the people that we admire most are still growing and evolving. So what's one area of your life where you're currently being stretched or learning something new right now?
Meredith (58:45.87)
You
Meredith (58:59.214)
I'm learning to write different genres. Back to the murder mystery, it's really been hard figuring out how do you do the math mystery. So that is humbling me. I also am working on an action movie. And so it's just like, how do I challenge the things? How do I do these things I don't know how to do? So it's really hard learning an entirely new genre of something, because it is, I mostly remain at comedy, and that does not fly in an action. They have to be written a certain way. Things have to happen at certain point. So it is the challenges of how do I?
sort of unlearn everything that I know.
Conscious Success Co (59:30.336)
Hmm, and you're doing that to stretch yourself to challenge yourself or because you just like feel Desire to learn a new genre like what fuels that?
Meredith (59:39.926)
combination of to challenge myself I'm always like how could I my brain hurt and then also expanding my repertoire like I never want to not get a job because I don't know how to do something so someday I want to be able to be able to pitch on an action movie and I don't want them to go well you haven't written one before and I want to be like here so I'm always somebody who's like I have the receipts I gotta have the receipts so and it's just part of becoming a better writer just learning what other people what other styles there are
Conscious Success Co (59:58.029)
Mm.
Conscious Success Co (01:00:05.26)
So good. Who is someone in your world today who you admire for how they live, lead, or succeed? And what is it about them that inspires you?
Meredith (01:00:16.526)
I gotta go with Mindy Kaling. She is also somebody who I think thinks I'm going to do this thing. I wanna do this thing, I'm going to do it. So I think that is something that I really admire. And to build a multifaceted empire and also have kids and have different facets of your life that are not just work, to be able to succeed in multiple areas simultaneously is really hard to do. And I think she does it with grace and panache.
Conscious Success Co (01:00:43.008)
And so do you, absolutely. I hope, no, truly. If you could give your 10-year-old self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Meredith (01:00:45.23)
Thank you.
Meredith (01:00:52.024)
Girl, go make some friends. No, you gotta have us. 10 year old advice would probably be...
Conscious Success Co (01:00:53.548)
Get out of the house, stop playing all the roles.
Meredith (01:01:04.433)
It wouldn't be advice, it would be, you're not as weird as you think. The advice would be is all the things you don't like about yourself right now are the things that will be great when you're an adult. that's so sad, but it's true.
Conscious Success Co (01:01:18.624)
Totally, I'm like, gotta go write a little letter to little Meredith. No, that's so sweet.
Meredith (01:01:24.074)
I was a big, I was a big, I was a, I was different, I'll say that. Also because I was black, we're run to mostly white people, so that didn't help.
Conscious Success Co (01:01:29.365)
Yeah.
Conscious Success Co (01:01:33.65)
But I think that those are the things that end up being the reason we're successful and the reason we have a different take on the world and seeing that as not a flaw but as a gift. It's so true.
Meredith (01:01:46.86)
Yeah, if I were to rephrase it, would say to my 10 year old self, other and different is not bad.
Conscious Success Co (01:01:53.349)
Mm. Yes. If you could give the women listening right now who have a creative idea but don't actually know the next steps or know how to realize it, what would you tell them?
Meredith (01:02:05.134)
Find your North Star. Who is doing what you want to be doing? Find out how they got there. Figure out what their steps were and sort of do that. I think the biggest thing I would say is what do you want and what is, defining what you want and then defining what the obstacles in your way of getting it are. think that's a lot of, once you figure out what the actual obstacles are, I think a lot of people are overwhelmed but when you.
label it, you're like, okay, well, that's, I can do that. I can figure that out. When it feels sort of ethereal and not real, it seems like a bigger problem in a mountain decline. figure out what you want, label the obstacles, tackle that first one.
Conscious Success Co (01:02:43.927)
And it makes perfect sense why you've been able to achieve as much as you have because you figured out, what do I want? And how do I get there? What are the obstacles? How do I overcome them and continue to take that action? I often talk about how success leaves clues. So when you find the people who have what you want, then you get to be like, OK, well, what was their path? And what did they have to overcome? Or how did they show up? Or what did they learn? And then back to what we were talking about of believing that.
You're capable of learning that too. You're capable of taking those actions and going and doing it. I think that's literally one of the healthiest mindsets and one of the most important foundations you need to have for any type of success to really be a reality. So I love that you said that. I co-sign so much. and then lastly, tell us where can we buy your cookbook?
Meredith (01:03:31.394)
Yes.
Conscious Success Co (01:03:36.065)
Where can people follow you or support your work? Give us all the goods.
Meredith (01:03:40.298)
Cookbook is called Party for One. It comes out May 19th and you can buy it anywhere you buy a book. Barnes and Noble, Amazon, your independent bookstore. Why don't you go on in and then purchase it yourself? That sounds great. But it is available for pre-order now, which is crazy. I have a copy in my apartment. It is real. It is happening. And then I'm on Instagram, but it's mostly just me running, which I don't think anyone cares about. But at Mayor Dawson if you just want to see some running content.
Conscious Success Co (01:04:07.565)
I love it and I love you and you're just such a light and so inspiring in so many ways. So thank you for taking an hour out of your day to have this conversation. It's been such a joy.
Meredith (01:04:20.462)
Thank you for having me and thinking that I'm worthy of your time and your beautiful podcast. it's so good to see you.
Conscious Success Co (01:04:23.799)
Alright.
