TRANSCRIPT
Office Ladies | Episode 246 – The Mentor
Jenna [00:00:04] I'm Jenna Fischer.
Angela [00:00:05] And I'm Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [00:00:06] We were on The Office together.
Angela [00:00:08] And we're best friends.
Jenna [00:00:09] And now we're doing the ultimate office lovers podcast just for you.
Angela [00:00:14] Each week we will dive deeper into the world of The Office with exclusive interviews, behind the scenes details, and lots of BFF stories. We're the Office Lady 6.0.
Jenna [00:00:27] Hello.
Angela [00:00:27] Hey there.
Jenna [00:00:29] Today we're breaking down another webisode, The Mentor. And we're also gonna share mentor stories.
Angela [00:00:37] From you guys who wrote in, plus some of our own.
Jenna [00:00:38] Yes, but first, before we get started on all of that, can I do a personal share?
Angela [00:00:43] Yeah, what's going on?
Jenna [00:00:46] Do you want the long, medium, or short version of this story? Actually, just pick medium or short.
Angela [00:00:54] I'll go medium.
Jenna [00:00:55] Okay. So I got up this morning, and I thought today is a drawstring pant day.
Angela [00:01:02] Oh, I love those days.
Jenna [00:01:04] I mean, I've been putting in more effort when we come into the studio, I only have to work outside of the house one day a week, okay?
Angela [00:01:14] Only one day you need to look super cute, unless there's a school thing.
Jenna [00:01:18] True. But today, even though it was not a work from home day, I was like, I just feel so good in my pajama pants. What can I wear? But then I took a shower, and after the shower, I thought, you know what, make the effort, Jenna. It's one day a week. Now I am still wearing a drawstring pant, but I put in an effort, and I thought I'm gonna put on the makeup, because by the way, I wasn't gonna put on makeup either.
Angela [00:01:45] But when you say drawstring pants, you're not in sweatpants. These look like sort of a khaki kind of green trouser.
Jenna [00:01:54] They are an elastic waist trouser.
Angela [00:01:57] I'm here for it.
Jenna [00:01:58] Thank you, I mean, it's a happy middle ground. But this isn't even about my pants. I don't know, that's the medium part of the story, which was that my instinct, the point of this is my instinct was make almost no effort today and that will make you happy. And I went against my instinct and I decided to put on makeup and all the whatever. And while I was putting on my makeup, I stabbed myself in the eye with my mascara wand.
Angela [00:02:24] Oh God.
Jenna [00:02:26] It still hurts, like.
Angela [00:02:28] It's so painful when that happens.
Jenna [00:02:30] I hope I don't need to go to the eye doctor after this recording. I mean, I think I'm okay.
Angela [00:02:35] Can I guess which eye it is looking at you?
Jenna [00:02:37] Guess which one.
Angela [00:02:38] Is it your right eye?
Jenna [00:02:39] Yes.
Angela [00:02:41] Because it's a little puffy in the corner.
Jenna [00:02:42] Of course, yes it hurts.
Angela [00:02:44] Oh honey.
Jenna [00:02:44] I am still recovering and it that was a good like 90 minutes ago.
Angela [00:02:49] I wouldn't have noticed right away, but since you said it, I now I'm looking at it and lady, you've got yourself good.
Jenna [00:02:57] I really did. I don't know what the moral of that story is, but I think if you are feeling like it's a low effort day, just listen to yourself. I wish I just listened to myself. Why the mascara today? Clearly I didn't want it.
Angela [00:03:10] You were rejecting it. Your whole body was like, no.
Jenna [00:03:15] That's it. That was my share.
Angela [00:03:17] I hope it gets better.
Jenna [00:03:20] Thank you. We also had a guest in our studio today.
Angela [00:03:22] We did, we have a guest in our studio, the cutie patootie Ramen is here. Can Ramen say something into the microphone?
Sam [00:03:30] Sure, please hold.
Jenna [00:03:34] Sam's dog is Ramen for anyone who doesn't know I guess.
Angela [00:03:38] Raman you wanna say hi to office ladies?
Sam [00:03:40] You wanna say hi?
Cassi [00:03:41] He's licking the mic.
Angela [00:03:43] He is licking the mic!
Jenna [00:03:44] Yay! Oh my gosh he's so cute. Okay well let's get into it because I think this is gonna be a really fun episode despite my achy eye. I wanted to kick things off with an article actually this is from Screen Rant and it's about the webisode The Mentor, which Angela, you are the star of.
Angela [00:04:07] I don't know about that, I mean me and Ellie it's not a solo like we're a dynamic duo and it was so fun.
Jenna [00:04:12] It's a nice two-hander.
Angela [00:04:14] Yeah
Jenna [00:04:14] But this is like, this is an Angela Martin A story.
Angela [00:04:17] It is, and that, you know, didn't happen very often, so it was really fun.
Jenna [00:04:21] Well, when I read this article, it made me smile, so I want to read it. Here's what it said. The mentor is such an incredible work, it's a shame it never aired on TV. In this webisode that released in 2010, we find Erin, bored of her job. She wished to be as collected as the accounting department and asked the group if they'd be willing to help her. Shockingly, Angela tells Erin she'd be her mentor because she sees great promise in Erin. Not only did Angela teach Erin how to do her job, but she taught her how to dress, sit, and behave.
Angela [00:04:55] And she delighted in it. Angela loved having a trainee.
Jenna [00:05:00] I know!
Angela [00:05:00] She was like so animated.
Jenna [00:05:02] I do think this speaks to the point that some of these webisode plot lines, they would have made great full office episodes as well. That's why they're so good.
Angela [00:05:16] I think so, too. Well I'll share about it as we go and you know one thing I did remember is that we did like a little mini press day and Ellie and I did interviews and I found one on TV Fanatic all about the webisode. I'll share it in our stories but it did feel kind of special you know.
Jenna [00:05:34] Well, we also reached out to Kelly Cantley about directing The Mentor because it was her directorial debut.
Angela [00:05:41] Mm-hmm.
Jenna [00:05:42] I also spoke with Nate Fetterman who wrote it along with Jonathan Hughes. I asked him, how did this one come about? And Nate said that Kelly Cantly, our first AD, was assigned to direct, but since she didn't have a writing background like some of the other directors we worked with on other webisodes did, he said he believes Aaron Shure, who was on our writing team, was asked to supervise the writing. And so Jonathan and Nathan pitched ideas. And of all those ideas, the one he picked was the mentor. And then Nate and Jonathan wrote it from there. So that's how this one came about. And then Kelly got picked to direct.
Angela [00:06:25] This is something I loved about our show, that people would get an opportunity to sort of like spread their wings and really shine. And I went into my digital clutter lady to see what I could find from this time. And not specifically to this webisode, but in 2009, I found an email from our second assistant director, Stephanie Kinch, you remember Stephanie? Of course. And Rusty Mahmood, who was our other assistant director. And they wrote an email saying, hey guys, we're part of the DGA, the Directors Guild of America, mentor program, and we're gonna be having some trainees on set that we're going to be mentoring.
Jenna [00:07:06] I remember them! I remember our DGA trainees. Yeah, if you wanna get into the Directors Guild of America Union for like assistant directing to be part of the AD staff, you have to go through this mentorship program and you get assigned to different sets for like a certain number of hours, if I remember correctly. Yeah, they would usually be at base camp, which is a pretty crazy way to enter the business, I think.
Angela [00:07:30] Right, you're wrangling all of the actors.
Jenna [00:07:32] Yeah, you have to get them to hair and makeup, and you have get them back from lunch, and you get them out of their trailers and changed into their clothes.
Angela [00:07:40] Yeah, it's a big job. But I just thought that was great that even on our own set, we were mentoring people. And you know, I do wanna talk about working with Kelly as a director because we knew Kelly as our assistant director. And we asked her how she prepared to direct for the very first time. This was her first time directing. And her response made me chuckle. She said, I remember asking a few directors I liked working with if they had any advice for me. Charles McDougall told me to wear uncomfortable shoes. So I would stay alert and aware and to stay on set so anyone could find me if they had a question. Oh my gosh. Uncomfortable shoes. You're on your feet all day.
Jenna [00:08:21] All day. Well, what was it like working with Kelly as a first-time director, Ange? Do you remember her feet being uncomfortable?
Angela [00:08:30] I don't remember her feet. But I do remember that she showed up with a blazer and sort of like a really cute little scarf.
Jenna [00:08:38] Which is very different from how she dressed as our first AD, which was usually in like a hoodie and like cargo pants.
Angela [00:08:43] Yes, yes, I feel like as our first AD, she had tons of scripts in her pockets and a walkie talkie and all this. And so she really showed up sort of like in this new look. Yeah. And she looked fantastic. And of course she was super prepared and she knew exactly what she wanted for every shot. There was no kind of waffling, like, oh, do I put the camera here? No, she had a vision. And that made it a really fun, easy day. And you know, of course she knows the show so well and the characters so well. So it just was a great experience and I really enjoyed revisiting this episode. I can't wait to talk about it. And I reached out to Ellie Kemper and she shares some of her memories about it too.
Jenna [00:09:26] Well, before we get to all that, to kick us off, let's share one of the letters we got. When we reached out, we said, we put a call to action into the world, we said we want to hear your mentor stories, because we're going to be talking about this webisode and about mentorship in general. And this one came from Grace T. In Massachusetts, who said, hi office ladies, I'm 15 and I'm a huge fan of The Office and your podcast. I've been through a lot of stuff in my life, but my mom, Emily, has always been my greatest supporter and mentor. I just love that this 15-year-old is like, referring to her mom as her mentor. Grace went on to say, even when we don't get along, I know she's there for me. And the biggest thing she's mentored me in has been running. And when it isn't cross-country or track season, I run with her almost every day. Gosh. She's really fostered my love for the sport and since she ran in college herself, she's been helping me improve so much. I hope you share this on the podcast so she knows how much she means to me.
Angela [00:10:28] Aw, I love that.
Jenna [00:10:31] I love they're bonding through running. You know, Grace's letter reminded me that my sister is in a mentorship program that is centered around running and physical activity and it's called Girls on the Run. And my sister has been one of the coaches for, my gosh, years now.
Angela [00:10:49] That's awesome, I have never heard of that.
[00:10:51] Yeah, she does one of the local St. Louis chapters, but it's a national organization. And I looked it up, it started in 1996 in Charlotte, North Carolina, with a team of 13 gals. And then they just got together and started like running together. But also you're not just running, you're sharing stories, you're pumping each other up. And also, if you don't feel like running, you just walk it. But it's just this way to get girls together with female mentors. Yeah, community support. Yes, exactly. Yeah, and they host like 5K events across the United States. And my sister does one every year. It's really sweet. She sends me the pictures.
Angela [00:11:38] I love this. I did not know this about your sister.
Jenna [00:11:41] And you know, my sister is not a runner or anything. She's not like, it sounds like Grace and her mom are like, they are pretty serious about it. But this is just about like, activity. Just like, you know, like you and I know ladies, some of our best shares are when we're on a power walk together.
Angela [00:11:58] Oh, I know.
Jenna [00:11:58] Right? A walk and talk.
Angela [00:12:00] A walk-and-talk. That's where it all comes out.
Jenna [00:12:03] That's right.
Angela [00:12:04] Well, I love that. I think we should share about Girls on the Run in our stories. Definitely. And let's take a break. When we come back, we're gonna break down the mentor webisode. We're gonna share more stories of mentorship. And for those of you who want to watch along with us, you know, some of these webisodes are on YouTube. And then some are on Peacock. Again, we are not sponsored by Peacock, but I just want you to know where they are.
Jenna [00:12:25] Why are we not sponsored by Peacock at this point?
Angela [00:12:30] But I want people to know where they can watch them.
Jenna [00:12:31] I mean, I think, yes, good to share. But like, hello, the people at Peacock. I'm just saying.
Angela [00:12:38] Jenna's like hello but I do want to tell you even if you do go to the website it's kind of hard to find them like you have to go under the office thing you know you click on the office and then you have to go under collections and then you scroll down and there's this is on the Peacock website yeah and then there's the full library of webisodes so if you're looking for them I know they're there and a lot of them are also on YouTube.
Jenna [00:13:03] The reason we're probably not sponsored by Peacock is because we're giving them too much free advertising.
Angela [00:13:08] Oh.
Jenna [00:13:09] So I don't know. Maybe moving forward, I'm going to say you can find it on you-know-where.
Angela [00:13:15] The internet.
Jenna [00:13:16] Until they start paying me the big dollars.
Angela [00:13:20] They're definitely not going to pay us anything now.
Jenna [00:13:24] All right, let's take a break. And when we come back, we're going to break down the mentor webisode. All right, we are back. Here we go. It's The Mentor, directed by Kelly Cantley and written by Nate Fetterman and Jonathan Hughes. The cast for this webisode is Angela Kinsey, Ellie Kemper, Brian Baumgartner, Oscar Nunez, Creed Bratton, Kate Flannery, Mindy Kaling, and B.J Novak.
Angela [00:13:57] Yes, BJ and Mindy are really funny in this, too.
Jenna [00:14:00] They really are.
Angela [00:14:01] Well, this webisode series starts with part one titled The Pupil. And Erin is at front reception and she's looking over the partition into accounting. And I think she just thinks they're having the best time.
Jenna [00:14:16] Well, I mean, she's looking at them as if they are eating a giant buffet dinner, like very longingly. She is like entranced. I saw the shooting schedule for this. Kelly Cantley sent it to me. And this was the very first thing you guys shot. Oh. And in fact, you shot this whole first webisode basically in order, which is so unusual.
Angela [00:14:39] Oh yeah, because sometimes we would bounce around. But that sounds like Kelly, doesn't it? Very efficient. Yes, here it is.
Jenna [00:14:45] She knows how to lay it out.
Angela [00:14:46] Yeah. Well, you know, I did reach out to Ellie about this and I sent her the link so she could watch and she said, oh my gosh, watching that webisode just turned my day around. Thank you. Like five exclamation points. And then she sent in an audio clip. Let's hear it.
Ellie [00:15:03] Okay, I loved every webisode for The Office because you got to be a little more, I'll just say stupid in them. Like they were pretty silly. I mean, a lot of The Office was silly, but these were like particularly stupid in a great way. And the mentor was so much fun, Angela, because you and I, Angela and Erin, didn't always get to have that many scenes together in the show. So it was so wonderful to have a chance Be together in a story. And it's just so ridiculous. The entire getup is insane. Like Angela, why are you wearing that to work to begin with? And then my like minioning of you, like my copying your outfit, I don't know what I look like, but it's not this century and it is bananas. So I remember that the whole webisode was a ton of fun and just stupid and silly. Just overall ridiculous. And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Jenna [00:16:11] Aw, that's so sweet.
Angela [00:16:12] I know, it did crack me up when she said, I don't know where this outfit is from, but it's not from this century.
Jenna [00:16:17] Well, we'll have to talk about those outfits when we get to them.
Angela [00:16:21] Well, Erin is gonna have a talking head where she says, you know what? Sometimes she gets really bored at reception and she wonders what's it like to be an accountant. The mystery of the accounting department. And she goes up to Oscar in the kitchen and she's like, look, I want your life. How do I get it? And then he asks her, is she good with numbers? And she does her impression of the count from Sesame Street.
Jenna [00:16:45] Mm-hmm.
Angela [00:16:46] I think we need to hear it.
CLIP [00:16:50] Erin: The count used to be my favorite part of Sesame Street. One apple, two apples, three apples. Ah, ah, ah! Oscar: Maybe it's not for you.
Angela [00:17:09] First of all, you can see that Ellie is breaking at the end of it. Yes. But secondly, the reason why I wanted to play this clip is that Erin is not the only person in the office that does an impression of the count from Sesame Street.
Jenna [00:17:21] Yes, there was an Office episode, is it Kevin that does the count, when he's the Girl Scout cookies?
Angela [00:17:27] Kevin gets made fun of by Oscar as Cookie Monster. And that clip goes around. And then Kevin tries to make fun of Oscar by making Oscar the Count, but Oscar's just his normal voice in the video. But the person that does the Count impression is you.
Jenna [00:17:44] What? I do? What? How did we just rewatch this whole show and I don't remember this?
Angela [00:17:51] And I was cracking up. So here you go, dueling the count impressions.
CLIP [00:17:57] Jim: Yeah, I mean the Count has a very distinct voice. Pam: Yeah, I want to count to ten.
Angela [00:18:05] Wow, that cracked me up. Our two gals from St. Louis, both doing the count from Sesame Street.
Jenna [00:18:12] That's very funny. Well Oscar is gonna tell Aaron that he does not think that accounting is for her. Erin's like very dejected but all of a sudden Angela who's sitting at the table in the kitchen is gonna chime in and say you know what, I'll mentor you.
Angela [00:18:28] But she's so snarky, even in how she offers. She's like, I mean, I'll do it. I do everything else around here.She's so put out.
Jenna [00:18:35] I love it.
Angela [00:18:36] But she'll do this project.
Jenna [00:18:38] You have a great talking head, Angela, where you say, you see potential in her. Right now, there's nothing but there could be some potential.
Angela [00:18:48] Well, right away, Angela starts training Erin in the art of sealing an envelope. Yeah. I guess you don't do that at front reception. You're gonna learn how to do it over in accounting. So you guys know I had a very hard time saying self-sealed.
Jenna [00:19:05] Self-seiled.
Angela [00:19:06] Self-sailed.
Jenna [00:19:07] Self- sealed.
Angela [00:19:09] Self- sealed.
Jenna [00:19:10] There it is.
Angela [00:19:11] There it is that's what I had to do on the day. But it's a vowel before an L. My Southern folks out there, do you struggle with that? Angela goes on to say, you know, licking is for idiots. That means you, Kevin.
Jenna [00:19:24] Kevin likes how they taste.
Angela [00:19:25] I bet he does.
Jenna [00:19:26] I have a question. Do you lick envelope?
Angela [00:19:28] Not if I can help it. I don't like the taste.
Jenna [00:19:32] When I worked in an office, I had to do a lot of mass mailings. Like a lot.
Angela [00:19:36] Yeah, we did too. When I worked at 1-800-Dentist, we sent out a company Christmas card, hundreds.
Jenna [00:19:42] Oh, this was like, I would have to send out, for whatever reason, like marketing things or like sales charts or like, I don't even know. So many mass mailings. I guess that today are just emails?
Angela [00:19:56] Probably. Newsletters on the emails.
Jenna [00:20:00] Well, I would get one of those things that like holds water.
Angela [00:20:04] A dauber.
Jenna [00:20:06] Yeah, and then that's what I would do to seal my envelope.
Angela [00:20:10] Are you ready for this?
Jenna [00:20:10] What?
Angela [00:20:11] They had a machine that you loaded the envelope in and it went through the machine.
Jenna [00:20:16] A licker machine?
Angela [00:20:17] A licker-machine.
Jenna [00:20:19] Like it would lick it?
Angela [00:20:20] Yeah, you just ran it through. And then you seal it and you run it through and seal it.
Jenna [00:20:25] Well, my office didn't have that fancy machine.
Angela [00:20:27] Maybe you should get one.
Jenna [00:20:29] You know what this is reminding me of? One time I was a temp at a healthcare company, like an insurance place, and my boss went on vacation and she showed me, before she went on a vacation, I was supposed to watch her desk or whatever, and her job had something to do with giving people coverage or not giving them coverage, and I was suppose to look up stuff on a chart.
Angela [00:20:55] Determine if they got coverage or not?
Jenna [00:20:57] Yeah, for whatever their thing was. I found it confusing and I also just didn't have it in me to not cover things so for one week I covered everybody's s**t and I don't even know whatever happened. I don' know if my boss came back and was like what the hell?
[00:21:14] Oh because you just temped the week she was gone?
Jenna [00:21:17] Yeah for one week.
Angela [00:21:18] Oh my gosh.
Jenna [00:21:19] And it was like an automated system. But I had to enter a code and I had to code it and then I had to say I just had to hit a button that was covered or not covered. And so for one week under her code, I just covered everybody's stuff. Everybody got coverage the week I was a temp.
Angela [00:21:37] I feel like it's such a, I would think, a big responsibility to just like leave to someone you don't know at all who hasn't learned your job.
Jenna [00:21:45] She was a big executive. I thought it was so bizarre.
Angela [00:21:48] I'm thrilled that everyone got covered.
Jenna [00:21:50] I mean. I know. I was like, I don't work here. I barely understand these forms. I have to put covered or not covered because if you're gonna put that in my hands, everyone's covered because God forbid, I don't cover something that should be covered.
Angela [00:22:04] I know, I know.
Jenna [00:22:04] I'd rather error the other way. And you know, it's on you, big company. But I mean, it's like paid. Just paid them. Wow. It's like you get paid, you get it, here's your coverage. But also, ever since I worked there, I've thought about just how incredibly random, like hit me on a good day, you're covered. Hit me on day that I feel like I have to go by the quote unquote rules, you are not covered. Like it was so impersonal.
Angela [00:22:35] Yeah, and these are people's lives.
Jenna [00:22:37] Yes, and their healthcare. And it's always left an impression on me.
Angela [00:22:42] Yeah, how could it not? Oh man that bums me out.
Jenna [00:22:48] I'm so sorry.
Angela [00:22:49] It's okay this is a story from your life.
Jenna [00:22:52] It's just a story from my life.
Angela [00:22:54] These things happen.
Jenna [00:22:55] Also at that job I had to do a mass mailing.
Angela [00:22:57] And they didn't have a licky machine, I bet.
Jenna [00:22:59] They didn't.
Angela [00:23:00] Well, Erin. Where are we? Well, we're in the conference room. Angela is showing Erin how to do her makeup. She wipes Erin's mascara off. She says, listen, if a fleck of this were to fall onto the ledger, it could look like a decimal point, and that's a thousand dollar mistake. I know we just went off topic, but I was gonna tell this story, and it's so embarrassing, but I just went to the dermatologist for her to look at my rosacea with that super high powered. It's like, it looks like a little wand they hold up and then it flashes your face on the computer, like the pigmentation. And so it shows your pigmentation super like magnified, right? And you know, cause I have rosacea, it's like red, red, and then all of a sudden there was like these two black dots. And I go, oh, I go sorry, I guess my face is also dirty. I should have washed it, you know? Trying to make a joke. And she goes, no, those are probably hairs.
Jenna [00:24:02] Wait, what? You were thinking they were mascara flecks.
Angela [00:24:04] Yes.
Jenna [00:24:04] And she's like, no, you have two tiny black hairs growing out of her cheek.
Angela [00:24:09] Yes, and I said, that is horrifying. She said no, it happens, it's perfectly normal. Hashtag menopause. I hope you guys are still listening.
Jenna [00:24:26] This happens, it happens. Hairs grow out of your face when you get older. All right, listen, we're gonna talk about the mentor now. Okay, here's what's happening. Erin is now transformed into Angela. She is wearing the same sort of like high neck, white blouse.
Angela [00:24:45] With so many buttons, very Victorian looking. Angela has sawed off Erin's high heels and they walk into the break room together in sync. They're like just two little marching people walking in saying, hey, expense reports are due by lunch, no late exceptions, no excuses, Meredith, and they turn and walk out.
Jenna [00:25:05] She's even walking like you. She's dressed like you, she's got the braid like you and she is starting to mimic your physicality as she walks out of the conference room.
Angela [00:25:15] I do remember Ellie looking at me like we were on set and I was sitting and I said, what are you doing? And she said, I'm trying to sit like you.
Jenna [00:25:25] I could tell. All right, that ends webisode number one. Part two is titled, Reimbursements. And I wanted to share some more from Kelly Cantley.
Angela [00:25:38] Okay, great.
Jenna [00:25:39] About her directing. She said she really prepped the hell out of this.
Angela [00:25:43] I believe that.
Jenna [00:25:44] You sort of mentioned that she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She said that she bugged Randall Einhorn every day at lunch or wrap for about a week. Talking to him about how she was planning to shoot this because she said this was 11 pages of material and you had one 11-hour day, including lunch, to get all this work done. I looked at the schedule and you shot this on Monday, October 19th, 2009, which means it would have been during our sixth season of the show. I remember we were on a hiatus that October because Steve was doing a movie. Kelly said that on the shooting day, you guys would rehearse, and then Randall would give like, grip and electric lighting notes, and then while they were lighting the scene you just rehearsed, her and Randall would run to the next scene and prep that, and that's how you guys-.
Angela [00:26:40] Kept going?
Jenna [00:26:41] Yeah, she said it was really hectic, but it was a lot of fun. She said she could have never done it without Randall's support, and she also wants to give a big thank you to Paul Lieberstein and Steve Burgess, who gave her the chance to direct. Aw. Well, this second episode of the webisode is gonna open with an Angela and Erin talking head.
Angela [00:26:58] This talking head is going to reveal why the whole office isn't there. Apparently Michael took everyone out to spaghetti eddies and a lot of them got food poisoning. But I also do love that in this joint talking head they are starting to sit alike and their mannerisms are becoming more alike. And I imagine Kelly as the director was really happy that they wrote this talking head because it meant she didn't have to just have certain angles that didn't show the whole bullpen.
Jenna [00:27:27] Which we had done in other webisodes, and it made it difficult. So adding that one little story piece, now she can show the whole bullpen. Well, next up, Erin is going to start passing out reimbursement checks.
Angela [00:27:40] Meredith notices hers is short and Erin kind of feels bad and kind of starts being like, well, and Angela is behind her and goes, ahem, ahem. And then that's when Erin is like, hey, we only reimburse up to 30 days and your receipts are 32 days old. Meredith is pissed. She says, how am I supposed to get the boot off my car now?
Jenna [00:28:00] When I saw this part, I was like, what is Meredith's job again? Why is she getting reimbursement checks?
Angela [00:28:06] Client services?
Jenna [00:28:07] I went to the show Bible.
Angela [00:28:08] And?
Jenna [00:28:09] She is service rep slash supplier relations.
Angela [00:28:14] Oh, right, supplier relations!
Jenna [00:28:16] Yeah, I remember she was sleeping with the one guy from the-.
Angela [00:28:19] To get free paper or something?
Jenna [00:28:20] Paper, and then there was steak involved. Yeah, but- Yeah, so I could see her taking suppliers out to lunch. Yeah. To a boozy lunch? And then she has to get reimbursed.
Angela [00:28:31] Yeah. Okay. Erin and Angela now walk into the kitchen and Erin's like, that was such an adrenaline rush. And Angela's like you did great in there. Angela's so tickled. And they walk past Creed and Erin says, hey, we don't reimburse for rhino horn as it's not work related. And then I have a little bit of an improv.
Jenna [00:28:51] Is this when you tell Creed to shower?
Angela [00:28:54] Yeah. I say you need to shower and shave. So, if you look, Creed is not shaved in this webisode. Well, I mean, it was our week off. It was his week off, and so we had sort of like given him crap about it between scenes, and so I improvised it in the episode.
Jenna [00:29:10] Oh, that's very funny.
Jenna [00:29:13] Well I deep-dived the rhino horn.
Angela [00:29:14] What?
Jenna [00:29:14] Should you be interested..Why is Creed getting a rhino horn?
Angela [00:29:19] Why IS he?
Jenna [00:29:20] Well according to worldwildlife.org, for centuries rhino horn has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat a wide variety of illnesses ranging from reducing fevers to stopping nosebleeds and preventing strokes. My internet AI search, because now if you google something, you get like that weird AI compilation of of like suggestions of what it could be. Yeah, so rather than showing me all the articles for me to click on, it does like that little AI summary. I don't know, do I trust it? I don' know, I like to read the articles, but full disclosure, that little summary thing said that some people also believe that rhino horn is an aphrodisiac and some black market dealers claim it can cure cancer, but there is no scientific proof that it can cure anything.
Angela [00:30:08] Yeah, leave the rhinos alone.
Jenna [00:30:10] It's a problem, yeah. ScientificAmerican.com confirms that rhino horn has been used historically in traditional Chinese medicine. The list of historical uses also includes headaches, hallucinations, high blood pressure, typhoid, snake bite, food poisoning, and even possession by spirits.
Angela [00:30:29] Stop it, leave them alone.
Jenna [00:30:31] However, the president of the American College of Chinese Medicine said. Every historical documented use of rhino horn in traditional Chinese medicine was for treating conditions such as fever and infection. It was never used to improve sexual function or to cure cancer. So it was used, but very sparingly, but a lot of black market dealers claimed that it can do all kinds of things. So what Creed was using it for or what he wanted it for, I don't know, but leave the rhinos alone. Don't buy this. There are so many websites where like, Please don't buy this. Item because...
Angela [00:31:09] They kill the rhinos.
Jenna [00:31:09] They kill the rhino just for the horn.
Angela [00:31:11] Yeah, it's horrible. It's not good. Well now Erin is gonna have maybe the toughest person to give her bad news to. She's gonna go up to Kelly and Ryan in the annex and she gives Ryan his check and then she turns to Kelly and says, listen, you can't get reimbursed for your business dinners. And Kelly's like, what? And she goes, we didn't talk about business on those dinners, rules are rules.
Jenna [00:31:33] Mm-hmm.
Angela [00:31:33] Kelly is ticked off and Ryan is like enjoying it. He's like drama.
Jenna [00:31:40] And then Kelly has a talking head that's basically just her being like, Angela, Angela.
Angela [00:31:47] I get sent that.
Jenna [00:31:48] You do?
Angela [00:31:49] It's online and I've been sent it before.
Jenna [00:31:53] Well, Kelly is not seeing Angela as a proper mentor for Erin. This is where we end this episode. And in the next episode, Kelly is gonna take matters into her own hands. Part three is titled Lunchtime.
Angela [00:32:05] Kelly and Ryan are gonna approach Erin at reception and they say, hey, we're gonna go to Farley's for lunch and we'd love for you to join. And she was like, yes, I'd love to. Yes, and then Ryan says, Kelly, go get your wallet. I'm ready to go. He's such a turd.
Jenna [00:32:21] I know.
Angela [00:32:22] Angela is watching all of this and she does not want Erin to go with them for lunch. And so she says, hey Erin. Do you wanna have lunch? And over lunch, we can go through invoices, ooh.
Jenna [00:32:33] Yeah, she says maybe we'll even use the Kohler method.
Angela [00:32:36] And Erin's like, what's that? And she was like, it's accounting. Would you like to learn it? And she's like I would very much like to learn it. And Angela's like great, we could share my Fig Newton.
Jenna [00:32:44] I have a question for you. Were you curious if the Kohler method was real or made up?
Angela [00:32:50] I was.
Jenna [00:32:51] What do you think?
Angela [00:32:52] Real.
Jenna [00:32:53] It is real. It is. So this guy, Eric Lewis Kohler, was an American accountant and he wrote like the dictionary of accounting, like the show Bible of accounting that is used to this day.
Angela [00:33:10] To this day?
Jenna [00:33:11] Yes! His dictionary is considered the comprehensive resource for understanding accounting terminology and principles. It covers a wide range of accounting topics, including auditing, cost accounting, and financial accounting. It is the show Bible of accounting.
Angela [00:33:30] He wrote it way back then and we're still using it. That's some old tech.
Jenna [00:33:35] It's old academia.
Angela [00:33:37] There you go.
Jenna [00:33:37] Right?
Angela [00:33:38] You did it.
Jenna [00:33:39] I did it?
Angela [00:33:40] You did. Well, Kelly and Ryan are ready to go. I guess Kelly went and got her wallet and Erin is gonna say, I can't go. And then Kelly's like, what? And starts to bribe her. Like, do you want these earrings? You know, they're yours. Would you like to have them back? And then Angela's like I have triple carbon invoices and they're kind of doing this back and forth. And Kelly's like, you can write in the front seat. And Angela says her earrings have depreciated. Would you like to know what that means? She was like, I would very much like to know that means. And I have to say this. I actually am like bummed that Kelly isn't supporting Erin in this moment, because Erin clearly wants to learn some stuff.
Jenna [00:34:19] Well, Kelly's not a real friend.
Angela [00:34:20] I know, I know.
Angela [00:34:21] Why am I even going there? Why am even going there? Ultimately, Erin does not go with Ryan and Kelly. Kelly is still so ticked. She's like Angela, seriously? And they leave and Angela's just so tickled.
Jenna [00:34:35] This episode is gonna end with Erin telling Creed that he is also not gonna be reimbursed for buying a monkey paw.
Angela [00:34:44] Please tell me you didn't look up Monkey Paw on the black market.
Jenna [00:34:44] You know that I did.
Angela [00:34:46] Why?
Jenna [00:34:46] Well, why would he have one?
Angela [00:34:49] Well, he's clearly like dealing in some black market trade ring now.
Jenna [00:34:55] OK, well I thought, is this medicinal? You know, no. Here's what I could find. The Monkey's Paw was a horror short story by English author, W.W. Jacobs. It first appeared in Harper's Monthly in September 1902. And here's what happens in the story. Three wishes are granted to the owner of the Monkey's paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate. Also, the 1983 novel Pet Sematary by Stephen King was reportedly inspired by the monkey paw.
Angela [00:35:32] I mean, Pet Semetary is so scary.
Jenna [00:35:34] Yeah, I read it a long long time ago.
Angela [00:35:36] I watched part of it and couldn't finish it. It was too creepy.
Jenna [00:35:42] Well lady you don't like horror stuff.
Angela [00:35:45] I do not. Don't say it.
Jenna [00:35:48] We have an episode coming up where you have agreed to watch the first 15 minutes to 20, because I picked a movie and I'm going to need 22 minutes of your time.
Angela [00:36:01] All right, you watched 30 minutes of John Wick?
Jenna [00:36:04] At least. I might have watched close to 45, honestly. I don't know when he gets the adrenaline shot from the doctor, but that's how far I watched. It's pretty far. OK. I got to the whole rave. But anyway.
Angela [00:36:15] The assassin's rave?
Jenna [00:36:17] I've picked the movie for you.
Angela [00:36:19] You have?
Jenna [00:36:20] And I watched the first 22 minutes and it's gonna be very intense, but it's not gonna be, I cut out before gory stuff.
Sam [00:36:29] You're going to love it, Angela.
Angela [00:36:32] Gory!
Sam [00:36:33] Yes, yes you are.
Angela [00:36:34] So it's not just like suspense horror. It's like gory stuff. Oh God, I'm not going to like it. Are you going to tell me the name of the movie or are you saving that for a reveal?
Jenna [00:36:44] Do you want me to tell you now? John Carpenter's The Thing, starring Kurt Russell.
Angela [00:36:49] Is the thing something out of a swamp?
Jenna [00:36:52] I'm not gonna tell you. Sam is thumbs upping my choice.
Sam [00:36:57] You're gonna love it.
Jenna [00:36:59] Is she? It's such a, it's a great film. It's like a truly great film.
Angela [00:37:07] You know what I'll do is I'll have Josh film me as I watch the 22 minutes. All right, well, we should point out that that webisode also has a Kevin talking head where he says, what does depreciate mean? Yeah. How does he not know that?
Jenna [00:37:24] I wanna save that for this next webisode because it's gonna come up later for me. We are on to part four titled BFFs question mark?
Angela [00:37:34] Question mark. Yeah, this webisode starts with Erin, she's walking in the kitchen, she actually walks up to Creed, and right as she does, that little, I don't know, what is it, a janitor's closet that Ryan has made his office, the door opens up and he grabs Erin and pulls her in and shuts the door. Yes. Creed doesn't even raise an eyebrow. It just goes about his day.
Jenna [00:37:57] This is when Kelly is going to force Erin to watch a slideshow of all of the fun times they've had together. It's pictures of the two of them together. Kelly is complimenting herself a lot. How cute she looks. Look at how cute I am in this one.
Angela [00:38:11] This slideshow is all about Kelly, it has nothing to do with them being good friends.
Jenna [00:38:16] No, Erin happens to be in the pictures. And she gives Erin an ultimatum. I love this line. She says, are we going to be BFFs or just Fs? And that would be pretty effing awful.
Angela [00:38:28] Erin is gonna admit that they did have some good times. Ryan tries to pull them in for a group hug. So we also learned during the scene, because Ryan has a talking head, that he's been laying the groundwork for a threesome.
Jenna [00:38:38] He thinks he's about a week away. Lady, I'm sorry to tell you I am having a hot flash. I need air.
Angela [00:38:45] You look a little sweaty.
Jenna [00:38:46] Well, I am sweaty, as happens with a hot flash. Would everyone be OK if we just took a break? I'll cool down a little. We'll come back.
Angela [00:38:56] I'm going to have some cheese.
Jenna [00:38:58] And then we'll finish breaking down this last webisode, and we'll also get into our mentorship stories. How does that sound?
Angela [00:39:05] Sounds great. I have a thing when we come back, I'm calling wig gate.
Jenna [00:39:09] Oh, okay. All right, we're back. And I just want to give everyone an update that my hot flash has passed. I'm sure I'll get another one before the end of the podcast. I'm getting these because I'm on tamoxifen, which it suppresses by estrogen absorption. It is part of my breast cancer treatment. This is an ongoing thing. I have to take it for five years. And hot flashes are a side effect. I'm basically like a woman white-knuckling her way through menopause, because I am allowed no support, because...
Angela [00:39:49] That's horrible.
Jenna [00:39:50] I know.
Angela [00:39:50] That's terrible.
Jenna [00:39:51] I know, all I'm allowed to do is like have fans and like drink cold water. I can't take anything. But let me end on an up, my eye's feeling better.
Angela [00:40:02] Oh, yeah. Well that's good.
Jenna [00:40:04] So I don't think I need to go to an eye doctor today.
Angela [00:40:07] Oh, that's a relief.
Jenna [00:40:08] It is, now where were we? Oh yes, Angela and Erin are sitting side by side. They're working together. Erin's gonna have a talking head where she says, you know what, both Kelly and Erin are her friends. She feels really conflicted.
Angela [00:40:21] Yeah. She's torn. She is.
Jenna [00:40:24] Is this wig gate?
Angela [00:40:25] This is wig gate for me. All right. I know this sounds crazy, but if you go to a minute and 23 seconds, her bangs look different. Something is different.
Jenna [00:40:37] Erin's bangs?
Angela [00:40:37] Yes, and I'm like, what happened? I actually texted Ellie, but she hasn't gotten back to me yet, because I'm, like, Ellie, don't think I'm crazy. Is there any world where you would have needed to warn a wig one day? It's only in two talking heads.
Jenna [00:40:53] I know, but you shot this all in the same day. Why would she have had regular hair earlier in the shooting and then suddenly be in a wig?
Angela [00:41:00] All I can think of is we broke for lunch and maybe whoever had done her hair left for the day. It's different. It is different. Look, I took pictures. I need you to look at this.
Jenna [00:41:12] I looked at the schedule. There were no pickups. You did this all in one day.
Angela [00:41:16] That's fine, fine. I am telling you, whoever did her hair left and then they had to redo it. Maybe she took a nap at lunch. I want you to like her hair. Look at her bangs line. Look at her bangs. I'm coming over to you. I mean, you have your glasses on, but you're across the table. I'm come over.
Jenna [00:41:38] Now we're together on one microphone. Okay, I see it.
Angela [00:41:41] This is how she looks the whole entire episode. And then in this talking head, it's some-.
Jenna [00:41:48] Oh!
Angela [00:41:49] Look at that!
Jenna [00:41:50] What? Wait, I don't think those are her real bangs.
Angela [00:41:55] I know.
Jenna [00:41:56] I think those clip-on bangs.
Angela [00:41:58] Yes!
Jenna [00:42:00] What is this? Yeah. Oh, lady, you have done it.
Angela [00:42:08] What the heck is that?
Jenna [00:42:09] That's a mom detective right there.
Angela [00:42:11] I know and I texted Ellie and as soon as she gets back to me about it. I'm gonna share I even if it's in another episode I'm going to be like you guys remember the wig gate in the mentor.
Jenna [00:42:23] I bought fakey clip-on bangs when I lost my hair, because I wondered if I could kind of put them in, like on the little bit of sprig of hair that I had left, I know a clip- on bang when I see it. By the way, the answer was no, because they were all awful, but that is a fakey bang.
Angela [00:42:41] Look at the line of it.
Jenna [00:42:41] It's a fakey bang.
Angela [00:42:42] I know. And you know what they do is they do a thing because I've had on a show one time they try to give me bangs and I didn't have bangs. They pull some of your hair down and then they clip under it. And she has this overlap. So I don't know if that was a pickup that we did and she had grown her bangs out. I don't know. You know, listen, something happened.
Jenna [00:43:08] You did it, you uncovered that. Okay. I give that all to you.
Angela [00:43:11] Thank you.
Jenna [00:43:13] Well, now Erin is gonna unbutton her blouse a little bit in front of Angela. This is her way, I guess, of reclaiming a little of herself. Yeah. Oh, Angela is not having it.
Angela [00:43:26] Yeah, and then she's like, just stop. And then Erin tells Angela she rounded down rather than up, that Angela has made a mistake. And Angela says, get out. Talk about no wiggle room for forgiveness.
Jenna [00:43:40] And this is when Kevin offers to be Erin's mentor. This is when I would like to call back the Kevin talking head where he doesn't know what depreciate means.
Angela [00:43:49] Yeah. I'm not so sure he's the best mentor for Erin. Not that Angela was great, but she was actually learning things from Angela. Yes. Because now we're going to learn that Kevin makes a lot of errors, even with his adding machine. So Kevin and Erin are now in the kitchen. He's teaching her how to be an accountant. He showing her how to use the adding machine, she's kind of heavy handed with it. So he takes over and she just starts reading him numbers and he's entering the numbers, entering the number.
Jenna [00:44:14] He's doing it like without even looking at the at the counting machine, his fingers are just like going over the keys and she's like, that's amazing.
Angela [00:44:24] And I know some people can really do that, but Kevin says, yeah it's a gift. 70% accuracy. Yeah. Lady, 70% accuracy. That means 30% of the time he's wrong.
Jenna [00:44:37] Yeah, he's just made nonsense.
Angela [00:44:42] Well, this made me think of a letter that we got. It cracked me up. It is from Claire F. In Brisbane, Australia. She wrote in and said, a friend and colleague of mine, let's call her Kate--.
Jenna [00:44:54] Oh, I love any letter that's like, let's call her... Go on.
Angela [00:44:58] Let's call her Kate, is a music teacher, specifically band, and woodwind instruments. OK. When our department got a new manager, she put in parentheses, let's call him Ron. I love it, I love a code name, Claire. She said, we all figured out that Ron really didn't know what he was doing quite quickly. One day he called Kate into his office and said that he had been impressed by her work. And seeing as she is young and still relatively a new teacher, would she like to have him, Ron, as her mentor? Kate was hesitant, but what could she say to her boss? So she agreed. And so began a series of patronizing and unhelpful meetings and rehearsal observations. The mentorship came to a swift end when Ron offered Kate a lesson on oboes, an instrument he does not play. Claire shares with us that obos are notoriously hard to play due to the type of reed they use. There is an incredible amount of back pressure when you blow into it. Ron started the oboe lesson with Kate. He blew into the obo, made a quick sound, then stopped abruptly with a grunt. He left the room in a hurry and did not return.
Jenna [00:46:15] Had he pooped himself? What happened?
Angela [00:46:18] It turns out that when Ron blew into obo. The back pressure had been so much that he'd given himself a hernia.
Jenna [00:46:26] Oh, oh.
Angela [00:46:28] And then Claire says, that was the end of that.
Jenna [00:46:32] Oh my goodness.
Angela [00:46:35] So I just had to share that because I was like, this is the example of not being a great mentor. Yes, for sure. Thank you, Claire, for writing in. Kelly is now gonna burst into the kitchen crying. She said her sister was named prom queen. This is obviously really upset her. Erin looks to Kevin like, what do I do? Kevin says, go to her, go comfort her. And she gets up and they embrace and Kevin has a talking head where he says, she's going to blossom under his tutelage.
Jenna [00:47:06] Yeah, and then Oscar has a snarky talking head, where he just says, yeah, Kevin can be a great teacher if you wanna learn how to eat pizza. Geez, Oscar. Why'd you even have to chime in, bud?
Angela [00:47:17] Just to be a snark.
Jenna [00:47:19] Just to be a snarky snark.
Angela [00:47:21] Erin is going to end this webisode series with a talking head. I want you to know, fakey bangs are back. Two minutes, 53 seconds. She says you can have it all. Be BFFs with Kelly and crunch Numbers. She's one lucky duck.
Jenna [00:47:38] So she got her friendship back with Kelly because she soothed Kelly through this drama with her sister becoming prom queen.
Angela [00:47:46] She gets to be an accountant because now Kevin is her mentor. So I guess that's her win-win-win. Oh, wait, Ellie just texted me back.
Jenna [00:47:54] What did she say? Is it an answer?
Angela [00:47:56] She put in all caps, look, absolute wig, right?
Jenna [00:48:00] What?
Angela [00:48:00] And then she has like four question marks and then she says, I have no memory of a wig one way or the other, but those bangs, I mean, what was going on? And why would I need a wig? It's so confusing. Didn't I have bangs already? Was the wig for the French braid? Literally, what is the situation?
Jenna [00:48:19] So she has no memory, but is also confirming that it is a wig.
Angela [00:48:23] Oh, yeah, she said it's absolutely a wig, but I can't remember why. Well, there you go. Mystery solved? Ish. We may never know.
Jenna [00:48:33] We may never know.
Angela [00:48:34] That's kind of our thing.
Jenna [00:48:36] Well, this whole mentor webisode did remind me of a letter that we got from Katie M. In Richmond, Virginia that I wanted to read, because it's about women helping women in business, because that's what this is. Angela's helping another woman in business. Katie said, I've been working at my company for five years and roughly two years in. I started working with a young woman who was about five years older than me, and she very quickly became my work BFF. We tackled many projects together and also made it through some rough times from sexist coworkers to surviving a series of layoffs. After a big restructuring, she ended up being on another team and while we knew we wouldn't be able to work together as much, we still made an effort to have a long chat at least once a month. It was through these chats that we began talking seriously about career trajectories and she inspired me into taking on more serious projects on my team and advocating for myself. At the end of last year, a position opened up on her new team and she went above and beyond in helping me prepare for interviews, market myself and boost my confidence. Because of her, I ended up getting a serious promotion and I am now directly in the field I want to be. Because of her, for the first time in my professional career, I am on an incredible team of all women. Let's break the narrative of women kicking the ladder down and promote stories like mine of women lifting each other up.
Angela [00:50:01] Aw, that's great.
Jenna [00:50:03] I loved that.
Angela [00:50:04] Thank you, Katie. And you know who it made me think of was Terry Weinberg.
Jenna [00:50:09] Oh, yes. Terry Weinburg was one of the executive producers on The Office. She worked for Reveley, which was the company that owned the rights to the British office. And they were part of developing the show for an American audience from the very beginning. Terry was part of our auditions. She was on the set of the pilot. She is just an amazing woman. And after the office was over, and I wanted to maybe get into some producing myself, I had gotten a script and I didn't know where to start. I really liked it. It was from a writer submitted it to me. And I thought, how do I get this into the hands of the studios? Like, how to I try to sell this? And I called Terry and Terry said, send it to me, I'll read it, let's have lunch. I mean, do you know how much, she's so busy and like that she took the time to read this thing that I thought maybe I could do something with. She had lunch with me. She gave me all her thoughts. She laid out like, here's what I would do. Here's what wouldn't do. And I ended up selling it to Warner Brothers. Now the show didn't get made, but under Terry's guidance, like, and she said, always call me about stuff like this, Jenna, always. This is what I do. Like, this is what love doing. I love helping other women in this industry make their mark.
Angela [00:51:30] Yeah, she has been incredibly supportive to us over all these years, is still in touch with us, is still such a huge champion. Whatever marker happens in our career, she celebrates it. When we wrote our book, when we got the podcast, just on and on.
Jenna [00:51:45] I'm sure if you look in our comments on Instagram, you're gonna see cheerleading from Terry in our posts. Yeah,.
Angela [00:51:52] She's the best.
Jenna [00:51:54] Well listen, that ends the webisode series. Mm-hmm. It was such a pleasure to watch.
Angela [00:52:00] It was, it was really fun.
Jenna [00:52:01] But before we go, we wanted to share a few more of your stories of mentorship and our own.
Angela [00:52:05] I'm gonna kick us off with a letter that I just loved. It's from Kristen from Virginia and Kristen says, when I was in my mid-20s I became infatuated with calligraphy. I received a gift certificate to take classes with a local woman named Betsy. She was probably in her 70s and was left-handed, which is a challenge for calligraphers. So she wrote upside down. It was incredible to watch. Wow. Yeah. She was so thrilled someone under the age of 50 actually wanted to learn calligraphy. I was hooked on the art for my very first class with her. I signed up for every class she offered and eventually asked her to be my mentor. I started taking private lessons and she exposed me to so much about the art, different tools and supplies, lettering styles, artists, historical references, and so much more. I learned something new every week, and it really put me ahead when I started engaging in professional work and networking. Because of her, I started a business, wrote a book, started teaching, and became very involved with a professional calligraphy organization, of which I am currently the president. In 2020, Betsy was diagnosed with advanced ALS and was unable to continue working. Shortly before she passed away. She referred a few jobs to me and told me that I was one of her best students. And Kristen put in parentheses, crying.
Jenna [00:53:34] I am crying. Chills.
Angela [00:53:36] She goes on to say she wished me the best of luck with the calligraphy community. This year I got to host a calligraphy conference in the very city she taught me in and it's a really beautiful full circle moment for me. I wouldn't be where I am today without Betsy. I think of Betsy often and how selfless she was. She had no secrets. She just wanted to pass along her knowledge. The style she taught me called copper plate is actually a style she didn't love love, but she taught it in memory of a dear friend of hers that passed away. The mindset of generosity and legacy is something I carry with me daily. That's making me tear up.
Jenna [00:54:12] Yeah, me too.
Angela [00:54:14] Betsy was and continues to be an inspiration to me and I'm so lucky I had the chance to learn from her. Thanks for the opportunity to share about this mentorship experience that means so much to me. Isn't that wonderful?
Jenna [00:54:28] I just love that legacy that Betsy has that she passed down. She changed that woman's life, truly. It's become her whole career now.
Angela [00:54:41] It just took such time to share her knowledge and didn't hold any of it back. Gave it all freely to her to share with her, to build her up. Kristen, thank you so much for sharing. That letter really touched us and we're so happy now to know about Betsy.
Jenna [00:54:57] Angela, do you wanna share about a mentor you've had in your life?
Angela [00:55:01] Yes, we both decided we wanted to share for this episode about someone who meant a lot to us and mentored us. And I just knew immediately who I was going to share about. And it's my grandmother, Lena Mae Kinsey. So much of who I am, of my values, of the things that I connect with that mean something to me, they all started with her. I've shared this before, I moved around a lot as a kid, just with my dad's job. But my grandmother's home was the one constant place I had. And I would go and stay with her in the summers and looking back on that time, oh my gosh, I just cherish it. She just taught me so many things. I mean, I started to list them out in no particular order. She taught me how to work a riding lawnmower. She taught how to drive a car. She taught me how to crochet. She tried to teach me how the quilt. I was just not very patient. She was an amazing quilter. She would put us all to work, all of her grandkids in her garden. The woman could grow anything. And I would spend hours with her in her kitchen. She always had something from her garden that she was making or chores that she would have us do. And it's so interesting because, you know, your parents might give you a chore and you're like, oh, but my grandmother would give me a chore. And I delighted in it. I was like, what can I do? One time she taught me how to make a homemade ice cream using the peaches that she had picked from her garden. And you know, in sort of going back and remembering, I have this book that she made me and I started to go through it. I had saved all of her cards and letters. She was a very big believer in writing letters and cards. You got a card every year on your birthday to all of your grandkids. She had a ton, and her great-grandchildren, but she also wrote me a lot of letters. She put together this whole book for me. When I asked her one time, once, I said I would love to know more about our family tree. She put a whole book together for me.
Jenna [00:57:09] Wow.
Angela [00:57:10] Birth certificates, and marriage license, and just on and on about our family history. Jenna, here's a picture of all her peaches. She would just send me pictures from her yard. And these are the things that just mean so much to me that I still find ground me in my life now. She had a real heart for service. She volunteered in her community. She was a firm believer in, if you don't have something nice to say, then don't say anything at all. And I have these tangible mementos of her now. She made us all quilts by hand. She made each of her grandkids a little lacy cover for their baby Bible. But I look now in my own home and I see all of these touchstones that are her. If you went in her house. She had so many pictures, like it almost looked cluttered because she just wanted everyone to see her family. And my house is so full of pictures. I once had a friend who was dating this new gal and she was very chic. And she came over to my house and she walked in and she goes, oh, she goes I feel like I'm in a grandma's house. And I think she meant it to be snarky but I took it as such a compliment. I mean, my kitchen cabinets, I purposely picked the color that was my grandmother's wallpaper in her kitchen. Anyway, she was just full of grace and kindness. She was hardworking and earnest. I just loved and admired her. And as I went back through her letters and cards that she sent me over the years that I saved, I wanted to share just one sentence that she wrote to me. And it just kind of sums everything up. She had written me a card because I had just moved to Los Angeles. And I had shared with her that I was really struggling on how to start this dream of being an actor. No one in my family was an actor, this was a crazy thing for me to go to Los Angeles and do this. And the first sentence of her card she sent me said this, I believe you are on your way. There may be bumps in the road, but that makes the smooth part seem much better. She's one of my biggest mentors and I, you know, my happy place is my yard with my plants and my hummingbirds. She had the most amazing hummingbird feeder. It was just a regular one, but it hung outside her kitchen window and she would get a gazillion hummingbirds and we would just sit there and visit at her kitchen table. And yeah, I'm so thankful that I had her in my life.
Jenna [00:59:48] I am so like moved by your description of her because everything you're saying It is just living through you. Like so clearly to me as your friend. Like when you said that when you walked in our house she had tons of pictures. I mean, this is a thing about you. Like guys, Angela's fridge is covered. You put pictures in frames and I love how your home feels. But also like how many pictures of your hydrangea can you take? And that's the picture of the peaches right there. You know, like. She is living through you like this. I see her impact on you. So clearly as you described this, all the handwritten notes you've sent to me, all of your digital clutter, it's all like, I'm just seeing her. Oh, thank you for sharing that. Yeah. I feel like even after all these years, I just got to know you even more deeply because you shared that. Oh, you would have just loved her.
Jenna [01:00:52] I have no doubt, I love you.
Angela [01:00:55] Well Jenna I know you have a letter that really moved you that was sent in to us that you would like to share.
Jenna [01:01:00] I do. So this letter was from Omar R. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Here's what Omar said. First of all, day one listener here. Your show and podcast has brought me so much joy and anytime I have anxiety, hearing you ladies talk really relaxes me and makes me feel like everything will be okay. My mentor story is unique in that I didn't know they were my mentors when I was younger. I was 21 years old at a bar in Brooklyn. And two older gentlemen sat next to me and they overheard me talking to my friends and they said hi. They had just moved to the United States from France. We ended up talking most of the night and found out they had a dog who needed walking and taking care of every other month when they were back in France for business. They taught me everything I know about etiquette. They brought me to my first ever dinner parties, events, Broadway shows at 21. I didn't know about decorum and honestly, I didn't know very much about respect. They believed in me and always encouraged me to work hard and make something with myself. Their kindness and motivation was what I needed as a lost 21-year-old. I walked their dog and sat their home for years. They moved back to France a few years ago and I never fully got to thank them for everything they taught me about life. So, say yes to those who are older and wiser. Say yes to those who motivate you to pursue your dreams. Say yes those who have positive intent for your life. I now help run a creative department for a tech company, a position I would have never had if they didn't always believe in me to pursue my dreams and never give up. And then Omar said, thank you ladies for all that you do. Looking forward to hearing more and more stories y'all have to share. Also, finally watched The Edge because of your podcast.
Angela [01:02:53] Oh my gosh.
Jenna [01:02:54] And I now say to my friends, a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow. And I have now become a mentor to my younger friends, and I owe it all to two random Frenchmen I met in a bar when I was 21. I'm 31 now.
Angela [01:03:11] Aw.
Jenna [01:03:12] I just loved it.
Angela [01:03:14] I did too, because it's the kindness and you know, they were strangers, they were kind, and they helped this young person like have a sense of security, community, and that's a lifelong friendship. That's wonderful. Well Jenna, I know you have a really special mentor you would like to share about.
Jenna [01:03:40] I would. I want to share about my breast cancer mentor, Clea Shearer. In all of my talking about my journey so far, I haven't had a chance to share about Clea, maybe because it's so emotional. But after I got my diagnosis, the only person I'd ever known who had had breast cancer was Christina Applegate. We had done a movie together, Hall Pass. It was after she had been through her surgery. And we shared a lot about it on that movie. She's such a wonderful person. After I got my diagnosis, I texted Christina, and I said, hey, do you have a minute to talk? And are you somewhere private? I have something personal to share with you. She texted back, I'm alone, call me. And I called her, and I say, I have breast cancer. And Christina, who is amazing, she goes, knew it. I knew it was breast cancer or MS, I knew that's why you wanted to talk to me in private. She was like, damn it, damnit! It was just so perfect because I was like I know, right? She's like, God, I mean, God I just love her. So she was talking to me and it was very clear at this point that I was going to have a lot of treatments, that chemotherapy was gonna be part of my treatment, and she said, Jenna, my breast cancer journey was so long ago, and it- did not include all the things that you're gonna have to go through. But I have a friend who just went through so many of these similar things. Her name is Clea. Can I put you in touch? I know she's a stranger to you, but trust me. So I texted Clea.
Angela [01:05:19] Just someone you'd never met.
Jenna [01:05:21] Never met.
Angela [01:05:22] Right.
Jenna [01:05:23] She sprang into action in a way that I don't even know how to ever thank her for. She answered every question. comforted all of my nerves. She offered suggestions and guidance, but most of all, she was just a person who had done it before and was okay. And I needed to hear from that person so much. And she has become an absolute dear friend of mine through all of this. We are still friends. She still counsels me. And she has inspired me to take on that role for others. And so-.
Angela [01:06:05] And you are.
Jenna [01:06:06] And I have been. Yeah. And what it taught me was that going through this whole thing, this whole mess of breast cancer and treatments, if I could somehow make it useful, if I can somehow help another person feel less scared, less alone. If there was any part of my sharing, that was a comfort to another woman.
Angela [01:06:31] Anything you had learned, anything that-from this experience where you could help someone.
Jenna [01:06:35] Yes. I wanted to do that. So while I haven't shared maybe a whole lot publicly, I have shared privately with other breast cancer patients and it's a thing that Clea taught me how to do. She absolutely taught me how to be that for other people because she was that for me. And that just kind of like open book sharing just meant the world to me. And so thank you, Clea. You guys might know Clea from the home edit or she's one of the hosts of ABC's Home Makeover Home Edition.
Angela [01:07:11] Oh, I didn't know that.
Jenna [01:07:12] Yeah, she's amazing.
Angela [01:07:13] You've always talked to me about Clea, but I never knew anything about her other than that she was the person that you could confide in during this time and get knowledge from.
Jenna [01:07:24] I mean, since we're talking about her, you can actually watch it on Hulu. It's so great. If you want to know this woman and how great she is, like there's a whole type of like mentorship that happens as she's going through and helping people like build a new home and like rebuild their life through their homes and, like, who she is is so clear.
Angela [01:07:48] I've heard her name for a year and this is the first time. I mean, I just knew how special she was to you. Yeah. I'm so glad you shared about her because I have never met her. I just hear so much about your friendship and what she's helped you journey through. And I just want to give her a big hug. So I need to meet her.
Jenna [01:08:11] Well, you have to meet her someday. And you know, she works with her best friend, Joanna. And I got to go out to lunch with the two of them. And Lady, I was like, is this what it's like to go to lunch with me and you?
Angela [01:08:22] Oh, really?
Jenna [01:08:22] Because these two are such BFFs. They're so cute. So we have to have a total BFF lunch sometime.
Angela [01:08:27] Let's do that. I'd love that. But I feel like I'll get emotional when I meet her just because I just know that there were so many things that you needed during that time that myself and like your friend group and even some of your family members, we didn't speak the language, you know, we did have the understanding and we gave you everything we could. But you needed a community that understood what you were going through. And Cleo was a big part of that for you.
Jenna [01:08:55] She was. I mean, you would say to me, if I was nervous about something, you'd say, well, what does Clea say?
Angela [01:09:01] Yes.
Jenna [01:09:02] What did Clea think?
Angela [01:09:03] Yes.
Jenna [01:09:03] Like, have you talked to Clea about that?
Angela [01:09:05] Yes.
Jenna [01:09:06] So you definitely know her.
Angela [01:09:07] I know her, yeah. I'm so glad you shared. I know how important she is to you. I'm happy that you shared.
Jenna [01:09:17] Thank you everyone for listening to this podcast that has gone in so many different directions today.
Angela [01:09:23] This is a joy. We love doing it. So thank you so much for listening. Thank you for your letters that you write in just all of it.
Jenna [01:09:30] Yeah, and thank you Kelly Cantley, Nate Fetterman, Ellie Kemper for helping us out with this episode as well.
Angela [01:09:37] Yeah, well, we'll see you next week.
Jenna [01:09:38] See you next week.
Angela [01:09:39] All right, go hug your mentor.
Jenna [01:09:48] Thank you for listening to Office Ladies.
Angela [01:09:50] Office Ladies is a presentation of Audacy and is produced by Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey.
Jenna [01:09:56] Our executive producer is Cassi Jerkins, our audio engineer is Sam Kiefer, and our associate producer is Aynsley Babaeko.
Angela [01:10:04] Audacy's executive producers are Jenna Weiss-Berman and Leah Reis-Dennis.
Jenna [01:10:08] Office Ladies is mixed and mastered by Chris Basil.
Angela [01:10:10] Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton.