Guest: Erinn (singer, social worker, american idol contestant, educator)
[Currently the time stamps are just estimates]
Phill 0:06
This guest and I have known each other before the Matrix came out. One of our One of my earliest memories was a was of us bonding over Sailor Moon during our high school media class. I've seen her perform on stage in high school, and also on TV. It's been really cool. It's been amazing being her friend over the years and seeing her make all kinds of badass accomplishments. I would like to welcome a hero I call by their first name, Erin.
Erinn 0:38
Aw, thank you so much for having me. Phill. I'm so excited to be here and talking with you. And thank you for the super sweet intro. It's cool to think about the people that you've known for a long time in your life, for sure.
Phill 0:50
Yeah, yeah. You know, um, you know, when I was thinking of guests and stuff, you know, you one of the first people that came to mind because, you know, I was trying to think of like, my oldest friends that I've, you know, had for years, you know, it's over, you know, 20 years. But, uh, you know, was something that really that flashed in my head was like us singing the Sailor Moon theme song, I think in class or something like, I was like, "You watch Sailor Moon?" you were like "Hell's yeah."
Phill 1:32
Yeah, so can you tell me a little about that. Like how you got into it?
Erinn 1:34
Oh my gosh. Yeah, I was- it was funny, I was so excited to meet you guys because, you know, I had always as I was always a creative kid, but I never felt felt like I fit in with the cool girls. Um, you know, I didn't like the same things and I didn't have the same interests. And, you know, it was neat to I guess to enjoy Sailor Moon. And it was one of those things that at that time, like maybe early High School, you know, you think oh, like no one else is into this or, you know, people would laugh at me. And then I end up in a media class and I'm like, these dudes seem really cool and fun. And it was so cool to find out that you guys were into anime and comics and video games and I really wanted to be friends with you guys. Like it was so funny because I remember thinking like, "I- Oh, wow, these guys are cool. And they are like the same things as me. They won't make fun of me." And like Adam, and you were like kind of wise crackers, right? Like, yeah, you know what I remember like giggling at little side comments and stuff like that. And I think that was a really cool class to make friendships because you got to work on projects together, which we made some really weird projects in high school. Yeah, I have a video where like, you and I played secret agents. Yeah. We're trying to arrest Adam because he was like crazy and gonna destroy the school. And yeah, and you and I thought we were like, really cool. And I watch it down. I'm like, we're hysterical. I have to put it on DVD, but it was just fun to create with your friends and like do those kinds of, you know, like geeky things and you know, laugh it up and then- and also have something to show for it. I mean even Gosh, like 20 years later, which is really funny.
Phill 3:16
Yeah, it's nuts. It's so nuts thinking back on those times and yeah, it's really cool that you that you brought up like working on projects together.
Erinn 3:26
Yeah.
Phill 3:27
Yeah to really think about that, like, that was such an important part of- like-you know, education for me because yeah, we had to, like, have our different roles. You know, like manage each other we each had turns you know, being director, being camera person, being sound person. Yeah, that's, you know, as a teacher now-
Erinn 3:52
Yeah, we sound and like that little, you know, in Brentwood. It was a temporary tiny foley studio, right? Using that using that term loosely. Right? You know, yeah.And I think this is cool because I think all of us were (and I mean this with the kindness heart) I think all of us were a little bit outsiders as compared to like, the cool popular kids. But I thought we became powerful when we got to walk around the school with cameras, right? And equipment. It was all of a sudden, like, oh, now we're like, kind of cool. Now you're wondering what we're doing. Right? You know?
Phill 4:26
Yeah, yeah, it was really, it was really empowering. And yeah, and we had to kind of earn earn that you know, class like not because if you could give that to a bunch of other kids and would like destroy it and stuff, you know. So it was nice to have that responsibility and that trust from the the teachers, yeah.
Erinn 4:45
It was cool. It was a it was a really like I think a fun time and i think you know, it's nice when your school you don't realize it at the time, but hey, how cool that we even had that as an outlet, you know?
Phill 4:56
Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah,
Erinn 4:59
'cause I was definitely one of those kids that, you know, I in high school, I didn't want to go into the cafeteria, I was so afraid of other students or being
Phill 5:06
Really?
Erinn 5:06
bullied and Oh gosh, Phil, I had the worst anxiety in high school. And so I saying and so I would just take music and art classes, and I would forge my mom's signature to get permission to not take lunch, because my mom would say, you know, I want you to go to the cafeteria and talk to people. And instead i'd sign a little slip that said, "You know, I give my daughter permission to skip lunch and take art instead." And so,
Phill 5:31
Mad props, man.
Erinn 5:32
Really my anxiety and being a little sneaky. That kind of brought me to that media class even because I was already in chorus and theater and really didn't have any time in my schedule. But I didn't know how to make friends outside of the creative arts. So I was like, "I got to get out of lunch and into an art class, you know, and make friends."
Phill 5:52
That's Wow, that's like awe-because like, yeah, part of like my job and my learning advisor and what we try to do is, we try to You know, foster learner autonomy and students and like self-directed learning. And like you have, like, when you were younger, like you just went full on just like, "Yo, I'm gonna skip lunch forge signatures, because I want to, you know, you wanted to be around people that you- you know, can relate to but also like you- did a good job in immediate as well, right? And you were really, you know, it definitely helps you I think in your life course, right?
Erinn 6:29
Oh, yeah, you know, classes like that kept me on track also, because, you know, like a lot of young people I had, you know, tough things going on in my home. And, you know, I do remember times where it was like, "If you don't pass biology, I'm not gonna let you do the musical or your art class or-", you know, so if those classes kind of kept me on track to also say like, well, "I want to see my friends I want to sing I want to make art. So Oh, gosh, I guess I better you know, do my math homework, or I better pay attention in French class or-", you know, I always had that looming over my head. But I always in my mind, you know, thought I knew kind of what was best for me and I and looking back now I think I was still right. You know, I'll say to my mom to this day, "I think I made clearly, you know, more long lasting relationships in art and theater classes, then, you know, hanging out in the cafeteria." Which is not to say that hanging out in the cafeteria is a bad thing either. It just was not for me.
Phill 7:22
There you go. So, um, so yeah, so it's cool. Can we rewind a little bit back in time to before we met because we met- we didn't meet to like high school, maybe 9th grade or 10th grade?
Erinn 7:34
Yeah, I think it was probably 10th grade. I met Adam briefly in the ninth grade center. And then I think I met you guys in 10th grade in media class.
Phill 7:43
That's right. Okay, yeah. So if we can just rewind a little bit back and if you can just kind of Yeah sh-, if you if you want to, could you share like how you got into singing and, also you always had a very interesting way of expressing yourself, with your clothes and stuff and fashion like- Yeah, so yeah, yeah,
Erinn 8:02
Yeah, I- you know, growing up, I was always the "black sheep of the family" right is a very popular saying for someone who's a little bit different. And I also grew up in a home where my father struggled with substance abuse his whole life. And so it was like, you know, a single mom type situation, you know, but my father was around like they were married and stuff, but you know, he would come and go, really trying to take care of me and my brother and my sister. And I, as a very young child, I never felt like anybody heard me. You know, I felt like when I talked, nobody listened. And so very early on, my mom kind of pointed out to me and when I was maybe five or six that even then I wanted to pick up my own clothes. I dressed a little funky. I liked the patterns and you know, kind of loud things. And my mother is a lot more quiet and reserved, but she said, You know, I would let you dress yourself or pick out what you want. And I remember being about seven years old and I remember hearing My mom talked to a friend of hers over lunch and they didn't know I was listening. And I remember my mom saying, you know, yeah, "Erinn marches to the beat of her own drum. And Erinn is very eclectic." And I don't think it's seven or eight. I knew what eclectic meant, but I thought it was an awesome thing. Like, you know, I ran with it as this was the 80s. So I was like, I'm eclectic. I marched to the beat of my own drummer. I didn't realize my mom was saying it in a way that like hey, Erinn is a little different than other kids. You know, I just was like, that's cool. I'm gonna do my own thing and you know, wear neon clothing and a ton of bracelets and all this funky stuff. And and I fell into watching musical theater. I saw the musical a chorus line on TV, around the same time and I thought, wow, I want to do that. I want to sing
And I was in elementary school, and I remember saying to my mom, you know, I want to take chorus The next year, and I took chorus in elementary school. And after a couple of weeks, the chorus teacher said, I want to call your mom. And I thought I was in trouble and was crying. And he called my mom and he said, you know, "Your daughter, um, I think your daughter has perfect pitch." And my mother was a nurse. She was like," I don't- what are you talking about?" You know, and he said, "I think your daughter can match pitch, you know, like, in a way that a mathematician can do math really quickly. Like, I think there's something about her and I want to test her and, you know, I want to introduce you to a voice coach." So when I was like nine years old, I was really fortunate. My mom took me to a voice teacher for like, an assessment or whatever. And the woman said to my mom, you know, this, "She's very talented for her age. You know, I think Like to train her, I'll give you a discounted rate. But she has to work for it." And yeah, and so we really have like eight or nine years old, I started taking voice lessons. And my voice teacher became like a second mom to me. And now I'm so grateful as an adult because I think as a child, I didn't realize how much money my mom was paying, or, you know that my mom worked a 40-hour work week and still drove me a half an hour, once a week to voice lessons and bought music books, because, you know, we didn't have the internet so you had to buy your, you know, manuscripts of songs and things like that. And my voice teacher encouraged my mother to get me into a regional theater program for young people. And it was outside of the school district and it was something that was really neat, and I auditioned for a musical and I was about 10 or 12 at this point. Um, you know, when I got cast as a lead in a kids show, but I didn't know any of the other kids. They weren't from Brentwood. They were from all over. And so I never really fit in and I did Long Island Theater like children's theater and performed as a child for a while. But I just never. I never fit in. I wasn't like, you know, the cool girls. I wasn't down with them. And I also wasn't really confident in myself. And then in 9th grade, there were auditions for the Brentwood High School Musical. And we were in. We were in ninth grade and the musical took place at the high school, which was 10th, 11th, and 12th. And I remember telling my mom and my voice teacher, I want to audition for the High School Musical. And Beatrice went with me and her and I auditioned and we got in and we were the first ninth graders to be cast actually in the High School Musical in like four or five years. Yeah, I was cool. And I got a lead role. And I was a ninth grader surrounded by Jay Rodriguez from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. He became You know, he did musicals and became famous and I remember For a moment, one day singing on stage and I remember being a 9th grader and still not knowing how to talk to the 10th 11th and 12th graders, and somebody said, Wow, people really listen to you when you start singing. And it clicked in my mind. And I was like, Well, if I want people to listen to me, you know, I'm going to sing I'm going to open my mouth and I'm going to sing. And it started two things is started me- and I have a long history with positive self talk. Right? So like me repeating at that age you wow people listen to you when you sing and and that's become a lifelong practice is trying to talk to myself positively build myself up. So it was really auditioning and getting into that musical that made me realize, "Hey, you know, maybe I'm pretty good at something. And, you know, maybe if I sing, I won't feel so invisible", right? I didn't worry about not fitting in. I didn't worry about my family situation. And so really, the 9th grade musical in our high school was like a very pivotal moment. For me, particularly to be cast as a lead amongst, you know, all these cool high school students. And so yeah, it really taught me like, "Hey Erinn, like, be serious about this, you know, like, Don't fool around and focus on singing." And then it also taught me just the power of, like positive affirmations for ourselves, right, which became a lifelong practice that I think is really one of the reasons why I've gotten as far as I have in my life. Yeah. Yeah, good old Brentwood high school that really opened that door for me to say, "Hey, you know, maybe you do have a little something here you can rely on when you're anxious or you don't know what to do or, you know, things like that." So it also became quite a party trick. In high school and in college. Yeah, like in college, my, when my friends realized I could sing, they would take me to karaoke bars that were having contests and enter me in the contests to win you know, money or free beers or things like that. And I said, Oh my gosh, later in life, you know, my friends turned me into like a Karaoke hustler
Phill 15:08
Wow, that's awesome. Yeah, like-, yeah, thank you for sharing. You know, it's amazing to see-, you know, to hear, you know, just how everything kind of fell in place and and through through school right this it's-
Erinn 15:25
Through school and I think, you know, I'm fortunate because like I know one of the things you, you know, you had talked about prior to this podcast was, you know, early influences, right? And people always laugh but you know, I always say that one of my earliest influences was myself, you know, because I was a kid who was just trying to figure out what was going on in my family situation and, you know, where I stood in the world and once I felt like, "Oh, I can do a little bit of something." I realized, you know, hey, "Erinn, don't (at a very young age)" like, "just try to be the best self you can be. And you're going to inspire yourself to go further and set another goal" and stuff like that, you know, so it's funny because even in a work meeting one day, my boss was like, "Who are some of your earliest influences?" And I went "Myself," and my coworkers all started laughing. And I said, "No, guys, I'm not like a selfish person. But I think if more people, you know, we're influenced by themselves in a positive way...", you know, and so they kind of got it. But it was definitely like this self-talk combined with, you know, a talent that was given to me by you know, whomever but- and hard work right, you put that together.
Phill 16:33
Yeah. Wow, that's- Yeah, that's awesome. And it's, you know, what to think, um, you know, that's really something that a lot of people should, you know, do is like, kind of appreciate, you know, the hard work that we put into ourselves, right? and you know, like we don't we don't we don't get anywhere until we you know, can trust ourselves and and listen to ourselves as you did you know, and
Erinn 16:58
Oh, yeah. Oh, Yeah,
Phill 17:00
Go with the flow.
Erinn 17:01
Yeah, I mean, I work, you know, I work with college students, and I tell them, "Don't spend your life seeking affirmation from everyone else to build yourself up", right? Like, you know, your mom or your partner or your teacher, thinking you're wonderful is great, but you have to be able to think that independently of them, for you to be able to go further in your life. You know, and I really do believe that that like, very early on (and I was fortunate I had people around to, you know, help me) but I believed in myself for whatever crazy reason, you know, and I think, yeah, I think more people, you know, would benefit from realizing, like, "Hey, I should build myself up the way that I built other people", you know? So I've always been about that life kind of talking positive to myself, even when things are kind of hard.
Phill 17:50
Yeah, that's, it's, you know, and I think something, um, you know, hopefully some of my students that are language learners that are listening, that's a big thing that they always struggle with, especially the first year students, they're always comparing themselves to their classmates and that "Oh, this person speaks speaks better English than me" or "This person, you know, you know, sounds more like a (quote-unquote) native speaker" and stuff and, and, you know, a lot of conversations I have is just trying to get them to realize like, "Yo, just do, do you homie, like don't worry about other people, you know, like sort yourself out, you know? Yeah, you know, embrace how you talk. You know, don't try to sound like nobody else. Just do you.
Erinn 18:36
Yeah. And also like, don't only tell yourself what you're doing wrong. You know, I tell my tell myself and students all the time, "Wait a minute, did I tell myself something I did right today?" Right. Rather than beating myself up or comparing myself to someone. You know, I think it's really important to to say it when we get caught in comparing ourselves or beating ourselves up to say, "Well, wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait. What did I do right today?" You know, that I should say to myself, even if that's just like, "I drink water and made my bed", you know, like, I think it changes but, you know, we do we compare ourselves, we beat ourselves up and it's, you know, I did that as a teenager, you know, and a young adult for sure. And I think in some ways as adults we still do. It's just how much power do you let it have ove your? right?
Phill
Yeah, like that's like, like, positive psychology, right? Like,
Erinn
Oh, yeah.
Phill 19:27
Yeah. You know, that's one thing I did a workshop last year about, like savoring. And it's kind of like, this is kind of exactly what you said. It's just, you know, we always kind of, you know, do coping, like, kind of think about the negative things that we- happen to us. We kind of like mull over it and try to think about it but it's like, "Yo, like, do the opposite too, you know, savor the good moments, share them with people." I think a lot of times we think, "Nobody wants to hear that. I did some good." It's like, "No man that- I want to hear the good stories of my friends and the people I love", you know? Yeah. So
Erinn 20:05
It's that positivity. You know, everyone's got rough days and definitely challenges but I think it's more about you know, are you do you let it weigh you down or do you let it kind of move you forward? Right? The things that are challenging in life for sure.
Phill 20:19
Awesome. Yeah. That's some great advice, there. That's- Yeah, thanks. Got me feeling good.
Erinn 20:26
Getting wise now that I'm 40 it's crazy.
Phill 20:30
Awesome. So, yeah, so, you know, if you don't mind, can we talk a little bit about the musicals because, um, I think I saw my first musical at Brentwood. Like, and a lot of these guests I'm having, you know, I'm gonna have Annie, you know, Adam. So the first musical I saw I think was in eighth grade and they did Little Shop of Horrors. And that's like one of my you know, favorite movies as a kid just you know, cuz it was cool with the plant. You know
It's so cool, man, like I've ever seen. I was like, "What, wait, what? like this is a thing?" There's like a music pit and people are on stage and you can- you make the you know the the set and I was- just my mind was blown away and you know and I was just like, "Yo I really want to be a part of this." It's similar to you you know I had private lessons like with piano and bass who my father's friend Stanley (much props to him) and so yeah, like having that, you know, knowledge just about music and just you know how to work like I was able to have something to focus with- I wasn't like as gung ho as you about it, like I was, you know, you know, was more like, you know, I wasn't my punk stuff like, counter- is this and so you like but I mean, you know, I think, you know, I finally just, you know gave myself over to- you know my my interest in this kind of follow what I liked, and I was able to be in the pit for I think the Wiz I think
Erinn 22:30
Oh wow, that was the year that I moved.
Phill 22:33
Yeah. So can you just like to talk a little bit more about the musical so like 9th grade, which one was that
Erinn 22:35
9th grade was this old Cole Porter musical called anything goes which was a lot of fun. And then 10th grade was Gypsy. About the famous burlesque dancer Gypsy rose Lee, and then 11th grade was leader of the pack.
Phill 22:58
Okay, remember that? Yeah, I played guitar for that one.
Erinn 23:00
12th grade was The Wiz and like Regina and Beatrice were in it, I had come and seen it. But we had moved at that my parents moved our senior year. So, but it was just great. It was like, a neat place because there were so many different kinds of students, right? You had the pit and the crew and the cast. And, you know, I think the adults even looking back now who, you know, we're like the music teachers and the theater teachers, you know, now I'm like, "Hey, they were probably a little different than their peers also." Right? And here we all were, you know, learning these routines, and I loved entertaining people. I mean, it was just such a nice feeling to think that, you know, so maybe someone had a really bad day or, you know, a fight with their boyfriend or whatever, and they can come in, they could sit in a theater, even in a high school and be transported for a couple of hours. You know, I loved like, I love dancing on the stage and looking out and seeing people smile, you know, it was so fun to think like, "Whoa, I can, you know, change people's mood for a little while with what I'm able to do. And I can do it with my friends. Like how neat is this?" You know, so high school theater programs, you know, I really think for me for a lot of young people are are life saving and really carved out some of the bigger friendships in my life, you know, and moments like that for sure. And it taught you training and it taught you, you know, for me it did. Once I was in high school and like some of the teachers realize like, oh, Erinn can sing. Um, you know, then I was at times forced to do like singing competitions for the school and things like that. And I never wanted to do NYSSMA and SCMEA Oh, and I was so mad because our music theory teacher, she was crazy Miss Dasibio, Oh, do you remember- she would enter me in statewide singing competitions and then she would tell me afterwards and she said, "Well, I sent your cassette tape already your audition tape" and I'd be like, "But I don't want to go" you know, "I want to stay here with my friends." So it was interesting because then I realized like, "Oh, you know, I guess I have to really like at time study this or practice this." and so for me it gave me kind of good discipline and it gave me a great coping skill you know, because if you love to sing you know then you know if you're in a bad mood and you start singing and you know it can change your mood and your day which is why I still sing professionally even, you know.
Phill
Yeah, awesome. Yeah, Miss Dasibio. Oh, yeah, so like you moved 11th grade?
Erinn
I moved to I moved in November of our senior year, dude. Yeah,
Phill 25:38
Wow, what a time to move.
Erinn 25:40
Yeah, and I feel that you know, at the time I gave my parents hell for it. But now as an adult I understand that when a house is sold, you know there's not much you can do if you got- but yeah, I- so I moved 12th grade but I still came to Brentwood, prom and Brentwood graduation and I came in watch the musical and you know, because I drove so I was, you know, fortunate enough that I was kind of comfortable still, you know, driving over there and seeing folks and things like that, and you want to laugh is, uh, you know, years later when I was in graduate school I was an intern for a year in Brentwood, right? I requested. Oh, yeah, I requested to be a social work intern. My office because Brentwood is so overcrowded. My office was Mrs. Dasibio's office room in the back of her classroom. That was my Social Work office. And I was like, tripping out hanging out in that hallway every day as an adult, you know, knowing that this is where we did like, you know, filmed our funny media videos and practice for the musicals and all that kind of crazy stuff. It was really, it was fun.
Phill 26:43
That's so cool.
Erinn 26:44
Yeah, it was a lot of fun. And you know, some of our old teachers were still there.
Wow. Who was there?
Yes, I remember. Mr. schine was like this very friendly history teacher who was still there and a wacky English teacher named Mrs. Kimball she was still there. And, and a teacher I had in like Middle School was now like a hallway aide and retired at the high school; it was wild times. So you know, it's really interesting to walk around your old high school as a social worker, right? And you know, knowing you know what your experiences were and yeah, I'd always be like trippin thinking like, "Oh my gosh, we hung out here or we did this or we had so many laughs in this hallway." You know, walking by the media rooms, right? How cool that was. It was a lot of fun. I used to send Regina my best friend from high school. I used to send her pictures all the time when I was in Brentwood.
Phill 27:39
How is it? How's she doing?
Erinn 27:41
She's doing really good Rogina and lives in North Carolina. She's been here since college because she finished at UNC. She got married about a year or so ago. And she still loves music but she and her husband are like concert connoissuers. So before COVID they would go to a music concert or a show or to see live music like almost every weekend. Yeah. So she's, you know, she's doing really well, I- The last time I saw her was about two years ago. But I've been thinking about taking a drive down, maybe like in the fall when things cool off here a little bit and when my COVID situation changes a little bit, but yeah, we still we text every day. And we still talk all the time. And she has some of my VHS is from high school. The last time I visited her, we watched them and she said, you know, can I borrow these? So I was like, "Alright, but don't ruin them. Because when I come back, I want them" you know.
Phill 28:38
That's nuts, man. Well, you know, I'm glad she's- Waddup Regina.
Erinn 28:44
Right? I will tell her if I visit her wants to FaceTime you.
Phill 28:48
Yeah. All right, cool. So yeah, that's that's awesome. So you know, you have stuff friends from from back then and still keeping in contact and That's one thing, you know, was really cool about being from Brentwood is, you know, I think it was, you know, maybe it's everybody I'm not sure but I kind of feel that we were able to like really form these, like, lifelong relationships with a diverse group of people like I think- and it definitely has, you know, influenced how I interact with people and kind of, you know, how, how I grew up as a person.
Erinn 29:26
I think we were fortunate to because I think, you know, like the, those circles of us that kind of keep in touch, I think a lot of us were creative kids who were looking for other people who are gonna, you know, be cool with what we were into or how we wanted to dress. You know, I used to love to dress really weird and, you know, and you know, you guys and some of my friends were the only people who didn't make fun of me, right? So, you know, I think that we were all a little different in a good way. But I think in high school, you know, you don't realize that your different is good. You know, you just think because it's not mainstream or Like the cool kids, and then you get older and you're like, Whoa, that is a really good different to have, you know, to be creative and artistic and to seek out people who, you know, want to be your friend authentically, I think that happens too when you're a little bit different as a teenager, you know, I think those friendships sometimes are a little more authentic because, you know, you're looking for people, you can be yourself around. You know, and they're not going to laugh at your interest so you're singing or your art or you know, all those kinds of things. And now to this day, so many of us are still making a part- making what we love a part of what we do, right even in this podcast, you know, when I hear you preparing and talking about doing you know, editing and post, it's, it's amazing, you know, because I think a lot of young people don't realize that not everyone is going to become a famous pop star or Broadway star or celebrity but you can still make what you love a part of what you do. Right? You know, and I tried to still do that, you know, even to this day.
Phill 30:59
Yeah. Well, yeah, I mean if let's, um, so I guess let's fast forward a little bit, you know, you know, so you graduate high school. So what happened after that? So you finished high school and then so here you have all these accomplishments with with music, you know. Yeah, by by remember by by senior year. You definitely were like, coming into your own I kind of felt I was like, like, definitely like I remember like, all like a rainbow stuff and I was like it was just like whoa, like, you really just like owned it and I was like I remember this talking about it with like Adam and Jeff like, "Yo man like Erinn got, you know, she got mad skills yo like she's gonna go-" like even not even then I was like, "She's-" like, I was just really curious where people were heading. Yeah senior year because I didn't know what the fuck I was gonna do. No, I yeah, so yeah, anyway, yeah. So what happened after he graduated? Because I think that's when we kind of like, you know, stopped chilling but you know, we we obviously linked up later on.
Erinn 32:00
Yeah, I mean, after high school, I had no idea what the hell I wanted to do. I, um, you know, I had moved my senior year. So I spent the second half of my year in my new high school really being difficult. So like getting into fights and not going to school. And you know, I was just so angry that I lost my friends and my circle. And so, I worked also though, I actually had a job in high school at a pharmacy in Commack, which was near where we grew up. So my mom, let me keep my job. And so I would drive still, you know, two or three days a week, I drive like 40 minutes at like, 18 years old on the highway. I'm like, "Mom, what were you thinking?" You know, to go with my job. And I said to my mom, like, I don't know what I want to do with my life, but I love singing I want to pursue it. So my mom said, "Okay, why don't you go to community college, some of your friends are going", um, you know, so I said, "Sure." I wasn't ready to go away. And I went to community college and I majored in theater and the performing arts for two years. And again, I was I worked really hard, but I was also very fortunate to get to be sort of the star of a lot of, you know, the shows and the awards and things like that. And I hated it. I hated it. I- still I again, I found myself in college, surrounded by theater people that I didn't know and I'm not a competitive person. I'm a real, like, I'm a real softy kind of person. And I wear you know, I wear my heart on my sleeve. And, you know, even though I have some bite, and I didn't like how, how mean and competitive people were in terms of singing and theater, and I finished the program and I remember I wanted to tell my mom that I didn't want to do this anymore. I don't think I want it to be on Broadway and you know, and my mother was shocked. She was shocked. She was like, "Uh, what do you plan on doing with your life? And I spent years driving you to lessons." And you know, things like that, and I I really didn't know So I finished my theater degree. And it took me three years. So you know, it's interesting too, because there's this myth that you're supposed to be done in and out of college and you know, two years on Community College. And it took me three years to finish because I also had an eating disorder. I think that, like, I grew up in a household where, you know, things were really out of control and chaotic. And so I funneled a lot of that into this control or desire to be like really thin and fit and he got very out of control in college. And so my mom was like, you know, I still don't think you should go away to school for the rest of your education. I don't know if you're ready, you're you're trying to get better. So I went to Stony Brook. And and I think like you were there, and Mike was there because I remember hanging out a couple of times Lee was there, right? And somehow I came across you guys. And at Stony Brook, I didn't know what I wanted to do either with my life I felt like, "Oh, I like singing but I don't think I want to be on Broadway anymore. And I don't know what to do." And so I got a job working in a group home for folks that had autism and developmental disabilities. And it was really cool because I was just kind of doing my thing at college and I was majoring in women in gender studies. Very funny. And, and at the same time, I was working in a group home with people with disabilities. And one day one of my coworkers was like, Hey, you know, I hear you singing in the work band, sometimes you should sing to them. And it became this thing that like Friday nights, I would do like a concert with the guy. Yeah, that guy that lives in the group home and, and I graduated Stony Brook. And you know, after another three or four years, and I still didn't know what I wanted to do, and someone had said to me, "Well, why don't you try to be like a manager of a group home?" So I said, "Okay, cool", right? So, I did that for a few years and then I became a case manager for folks with disabilities. So helping them get medical services and finances and things like that. And a supervisor of mine had said, you know, she said, "You know, you're really talented, Erinn, you work really hard, you're very personable, you should get a master's degree in social work, because" she said, "This is a dead end job", like, you know, "you're never going to make money, you're not going to be able to do the things you want". And so it took me a few years, but when I was 29 years old, I went back to university to get my master's degree in social work with the goal of learning how to be a therapist and learning how to help people and learning about social justice. But I've always wanted to integrate music into it.
Phill 36:42
Okay.
Erinn 36:42
So it was really great because I thought in graduate school for the first time in my life, I'm doing what I love. I'm loving what I do, and I'm learning how to help people and make society a little bit better, you know, so, and all along the way, I kept singing so even though I decided not to major in theater in college, I sang with bands and I sang for, you know, we had lots of, we had lots of wannabe rap stars in our neighborhood. So I sing backgrounds for God knows. I mean, God knows what's out there, right when I think about it. And then when I was 24 years old, because I had been singing my whole life, I was again floating through college, not really sure what I wanted to do yet, um, a friend of mine moved to Florida. And he said, "Erinn, they're having auditions for a show called American Idol down here." And I was like, "Oh, I think I know, I think I've heard of that." And "you should come in audition." And I actually told him, no. And I told him, you know, "No, I'm not about that life anymore." And "That's a TV show, and those people don't work hard." And he said to me, yeah, he was laughing. And he said, you know, You're so stubborn. He said, "I'll tell you what, Erinn, I'll pay for your airplane ticket". So I said, "Alright, cool. Sure." Like, sure whatever and So at 24 years old, I flew down to Orlando, Florida, and I auditioned for Season 4 of American Idol. So this was when the TV show was like at its- it was the number one show on like 50 countries or something crazy like that. And, and I auditioned. And I- So if you've watched the show, there's the celebrity judges table, right? You actually have to go through three or four rounds of auditions with production staff before you even make it to what was Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul and Randy Jackson. And I made it and I made it another round and another round and I made it through what they call on the show Hollywood week, which is- which was way more than a week, but we live in college. Right? TV is crazy. We saw I saw a lot of how reality TV is guided. And so yeah, I got to live in California for the better part of a year and compete on American Idol and I was kicked off the show as a semi finalists. So I was in the top 34. And I was kicked off the show right before it went live, which was a bummer because I knew if it went live, I could have won people over. I knew it. But it ended up that year. That was the year that Carrie Underwood who's like a now famous country singer, one. And she was always really talented from the beginning. And it was wild being in college. And I remember I started the spring semester. And I walked up to- I was taking American Sign Language. And I walked up to my sign language teacher, and I had to tell her, I said, "Listen, I'm, I'm gonna not i'm not going to be in class next week. And I'm either gonna come back after next week, or I'm not going to come back this semester. And I can't tell you why. And and I'll reach out" and you know, Like people in my class were like, what the heck, what the heck. And someone had found out someone was like, "She's on- She's a contestant on American Idol. So it was funny because when I got kicked off, I went back to college. And one of the professors was like, "Well, you know, did you make it?" And I was like, "Well, I can't say but I'm here." It was and it was wild. And you know, that I went back to college. And you know, like I said, sort of got on a path to case management and getting a master's in social work. But always singing and still singing as I sing solo now and but being on American Idol at 24 years old was was a trip. It was crazy. I you know, because I was by myself. I didn't have a parent or guardian with me. And it was before social media. So, you know, we didn't have like social media to communicate. We had cell phones, like it was the early cell phone days like 2004, but they actually used to take our cell phone away from us when we would get to California, because they didn't want us like ruining, you know, who was being kicked off of American Idol. And I had to sign a lot of contracts and I had to share a lot of personal information about my life and my family. Oh, yeah, they even you had to give them the names of so if you were over 21, you had to give them the names of people that you had been romantically involved with over the past seven years.
Phill 41:27
7? Damn.
Erinn 41:28
And I had both men and women on my list and I remember having to call like an ex boyfriend and say, like, "Listen, you might get a phone call from American Idol. And they're gonna ask you about me and please say that I'm a nice person." And, and I, you know, I've identified as bisexual for a very long time. It took me a long time to feel comfortable with that, but American Idol in 2004 did not want me to talk about that. Yeah, so they had said, you know, we're not going to bring up You know that you've dated women and we really don't want you to bring that up either. So when you're on the show, and you make it as far as I do you get a media coach. And yeah, you have to work with a coach and you know, they tell you kind of, you know, like, he told me "I should tan more and don't talk about dating women and", you know, all this, like, kind of wild stuff. And I was 24. So I, you know, I thought I think about, you know, people who navigated that at 18 or 19. And it was, it was also very tiring. I had this perception that it was like a joke and you know, oh, American Idol. Yeah, right. It was one of the toughest experiences I have ever been through in my entire life. Yeah, American Idol is boot camp for singers really. And so if you're not already talented, and if you're not already a hard working singer, you won't make it far. And you know, you had to be most days you had to be camera ready by 7:30 in the morning and they would keep you out from filming until you know, 1am, 2am sometimes. So there was a lot of push to try to, you know, either make you tired or cause a little drama, you know, or things like that. But at the end of the day, you know, I at 24 years old, I was 34 out of over 400,000 people chosen and how neat that is. And to this day, I am still friendly, and keep in touch with a handful of folks that I was on the show with as well because it was just such a crazy shared experience. You know, it was wild.
Phill 43:34
It sounds- Yeah, it sounds like an adventure.
Erinn 43:40
It was an adventure and a half and, you know, even coming home when the show aired, like, you know, newspapers would call my house and I'd be like, "I didn't win." like "Why are you- Why do you want to talk to me?" You know, and people all like watching the show and watching you and then like when I got kicked off, you know, then you have to relive it with everybody. But it was cool because I was ready to go home what being on American Idol did teach me very quickly that I didn't want to be famous and that the decision I had made at, you know, 21 to not pursue theater full time was the right one. Because I wasn't comfortable. I didn't like again, there was, you know, competitive culture, but also on American I know you were forced to film commercials. One day they forced us to walk down Hollywood Boulevard and take pictures with tourists, and I remember making a joke and saying like, hey, the person who's dressed is Ronald McDonald, like he gets to charge. You know, why do I have to take pictures for free with tourists ,right? Because I was 24 honey, so I was like, "This is not adding up." Um, it was just a lot of work. And it was- even not being famous, you got to see how, like your privacy was invaded. I had blogs like make fun of the way I looked and stuff so I was like, I was like, you know, this is not for me, I'm gonna go home, maybe think about getting a master's degree and, you know, sing on the weekends. But it was really, really cool and and, you know, I'm still my- you know, I'm very fortunate to this day and my mother, you know, God bless her. She has a picture of me hugging Simon Cowell hanging up in our living room, you know, and my brother and sister have to look at it every time they come over and their friends are like, "Is that Simon..." and my sisters like, "Yes, yes, it is. My sister was on American Idol."
Phill 45:27
I'm sure your mom was so proud. Because, you know, she's like you said, Man, you know, she was driving you, you know? Yeah. You know, that must be you know, so rewarding for her. You know, to see that it's so proud of you. You know, so...
Erinn 45:41
And it was cool because even the way- that I when I got kicked off the camera like they interview you right away. So you're crying and you're you're shocked you're going home and they stick a camera in your face. And I- and they aired it and I had said- they said, you know, "How do you feel about going home?" and I said, "I'm fine with going home." You know, "I'm getting kinda tired and I have a lot of friends and family that love me."
The best way to handle it is to accept whatever the decision is gracefully. You know, I think that that's the mark of someone with real talent and true performer; someone who handles it well.
Wow. Well Aaron handle the judge's decision.
Unknown Speaker 46:19
feeling. I feel good. You brought a lot of joy and competition, but not always consistent.
Unknown Speaker 46:28
I'm sorry to say the journeys gonna end here today. Thank you very much.
Unknown Speaker 46:31
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Erinn 46:35
This is not the end of my world. I go home I have a great family and a lot of people that love me, so I'm lucky you know, I lost nothing doing this I gained a lot.
And when I got home, that was what my mom was the most proud of is she's like, you know, "What you said is what's really more important", right? that you have people who love you that you don't forget where you come from. So I was glad that You know, she was proud of that as well. She said, you know, "All my co workers said you handled getting kicked off with such grace", you know, and I was like, "Yes, I did cool", you know, but we laughed because now To this day, like Carrie Underwood comes on the radio, and my mom like, kind of rolls her eyes a little bit. Yeah. And I'm like, "No, mom, that was 16 years ago. You gotta get over it." Like, "she's cool, but it's cool. Mom, that was not- never gonna be me."
Phill 47:32
Well, we have to thank you for sharing so much like,
Erinn 47:35
Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome.
Phill 47:38
Wow. So all right. Yeah. So we've been talking for about a year about 45- a little over 45 minutes already. So I try to keep keep everything within an hour. We will be over that. That's fine as well. So yeah, yeah. So there's a few things that you know, if you want to talk about them fine. If you don't that that's cool, too. So yeah, one Um, was you know, talking about like being bisexual in, you know, post 2010 I think after 20 after 2010 it's kind of like Yeah, whatever.
Erinn 48:11
Yeah, but before 2010 it was like, "Shhhh"
Phill 48:16
so if you know first about that, that's fine. Also, um, yeah, I wanted to just kind of go into kind of your career in into into social work and yeah, and as well, so
Erinn 48:27
I'm an open book. No, I love it. Um, so, yeah, so I had mentioned how you know, on American Idol. I had dated women in the past, and they wanted to know about that. And I was 24. But I had known most of my adolescence that I was attracted to both men and women. And I didn't realize that anything was different about that, until I was like 12. So one day my sister and I and some of the girls in the neighborhood were riding bikes around the neighborhood and the girls were talking about which New Kid On The Block they wanted to marry. And New Kids on the Block, right? A hysterically funny pop band boy band from the 80s and 90s.
Oh baby.
Phill 49:19
Oh man, I hate it- I think a lot of guys- Well, at least I hated them because all the girls loved them.
Erinn 49:24
Yes. I remember one girl was like, you know, I'm gonna marry Johnny and two girls were fighting over marrying Joey. And this was maybe like, 1993 and I went, I'm gonna marry Janet Jackson. And all the girls stopped on their bikes and looked at me.
Phill 49:43
Yo, yo, She looed good in those IF videos. Remember?
Erinn 49:50
I loved her! She was on TV. I mean, she was just everything. But all the girls stopped and looked at me and I was like, "Oh, no, just kidding. Joey I like Joey" right? Even at like-
Phill 50:01
Janet look better than all of them.
Erinn 50:02
She better than all of them- Janet Jackson is better than all of them. Absolutely, still to this day. But I realized right at 13 like, "Oh, this is not what other people say or feel or think." And in high school, and she knows it if you want to laugh, you know who like my first love was, Phill? with Christie. Yeah, she knows because we met up in in, like, we tried to meet up in North Carolina like years ago, um, just to chat, you know, she's got kids and stuff. And I was like, Oh, you are my first crush. Um, but I realized also because we grew up in Brentwood, and there was, you know, pretty in the 90s, there was still prevalent like homophobia in terms of, you know, negative language being used. And I remember seeing some of the guys we went to high school with, who appeared to possibly be gay. And I remember seeing like, Fernando get- Yeah, I remember seeing him get picked on and I remember hearing you know, awful slur terms for gay people and thinking like, "Oh, no, I was No, I'm not gonna say anything about this." And then when we were like in 10th or 11th grade, Vanessa and Amy started dating publicly, and I was so jealous. I was like, "Two girls." Yeah. Yeah, "I was like two girls. I know two girls are dating What? Oh my god, what?" You know, in the inside, I was freaking out, I was like, "How could this be?" But I was also so scared. Like, I didn't want people to know that that's how I felt that I stopped being friends with them in like, you know, sort of like an internalized homophobia type thing, right? Yeah. Yeah. And, then in college, I just kind of ignored it in community college, like my first two years and, you know, I had a boyfriend and I remember I would talk to him about it and say, You know, I think I'm bisexual. Like, I do like girls. I am interested in dating women. And it was, you know, you didn't know much so he was a good guy, but he was like, "You're dating me. You're straight. Right?" So Okay, buddy. Um, right now we know that's not how this works, right? Yeah. And so I didn't pay much attention into it until I finished Community College and I went to Stony Brook. And I remember it was a goal that I set for myself to kind of figure out what was going on for me. I've always been like, I like to set my own goals. And you know, and I remember thinking, Okay, you know, your first semester, like, you have to figure this out. You've got to see what's going on with this. And one day, I was walking across the campus quad, and I stepped on a piece of paper, and it was a flyer for a meeting for a club for LGBT students. And I'm like, "Whoa, that's a sign." You know, so I started going to these club meetings in college. And in the beginning, I would just sit in the back and I really didn't talk to anybody. I really didn't know anybody. It was very hard for me to make friends. And then I met another girl who was sort of the same way and she was from Australia. She was an international student. And she was carrying on athletic scholarship. So she didn't really have a lot of friends outside of the team. You know, so we started hanging out, and we ended up dating and she was sort of like my first girlfriend. Um, and then, you know, throughout my life, I mean, I'm pretty fortunate because I'd say even in the early 2000s, I was like, um, I think that this is kind of who I am. And I'm not gonna let people tell me negative things about it. And I waited a long time to talk with my mom about it. And my dad, and my parents were very incredibly supportive. When I was in a long term relationship with a woman I said, You know, "I want you to know", and, you know, they were not necessarily surprised. And, and I think being a part of the LGBT community, it drove a lot of the work I ended up doing sort of now in my life. You know, I understood what it felt like to be scared to tell people who you are or to be afraid you would get hurt or kicked out of your home. And so in my- during my master's program, I also studied in particular working with LGBT young people, and did that kind of work and still do, you know, since my master's degree. So, you know, I think, again, I think I'm lucky because I always would remind myself to believe in myself, and I know that that's not what every kid does, or adolescent. But even when I was trying to, you know, figure out who I was, I was always like, I'm not gonna, you know, beat myself up. And if I want to date women or date men, I'm going to do that, but I'm going to keep myself safe. And I'm going to be who I am, um, you know, not for the sake of other people, but for myself, and it's been great. And what's nice is that now I'm able to talk to a lot of other people about you know, LGBT folks or, you know, now we have friends who have, you know, gay and bisexual teenagers and, you know, I'll get Facebook messages like hey, "Erinn, you know, I'm not sure what to say and I want to support them." And it's just wild. It's wild to me. But, you know, it's not to say that throughout my time I haven't had, unfortunately, you know, experiences with homophobia. I mean, I've been followed and I've my girlfriend, my one of my girlfriends and I, you know, we're almost physically attacked. And, you know, I've been harassed at times. But I think it's so important to be your authentic self, no matter what if it's safe, you know, it's very different, where where I live is safer. You know, and I have that privilege, right?, but I, you know, I do think it's so important. I've always told people that I just love everyone and I have a lot of love to give and so, you know, you know, I just I like I said to someone once they said, you know, but who do you like better, you know, men or women? And I said, "I just really like everybody." That's my problem. You know, like, I've, I've always found the beauty in who people are, and I've always been attracted to people, you know, not necessarily first for the way that they're face looks now, um, you know, I and I, and I think it's a gift because I feel really lucky that I've gotten to develop relationships with so many different kinds of people in my life, you know?
Phill 56:11
Yeah. Yeah, that's, that's beautiful. Thank you for sharing. Yeah, you know? Yeah, I think. Yeah, it's just, um, I like how you put it, you know, "You have lots of love to give." And, you know, I, you know, I hopefully in time, and I think, you know, we're seeing it, you know, even today. I remember growing up, and, you know, I, you know, I like musicals. I like theater, but, you know, that was kind of, I guess. Well, yeah, I guess a homophobic way of me not really. listening to it publicly?
Erinn 56:43
Oh, so much stigma. Right? Yeah. Like you won't get boxed into something.
Phill 56:49
Yeah, yeah. And, you know, I'm, you know, I'm, you know, I'm kind of a dude, you know, but, uh, you know, I think I definitely yet had a relearn who I was growing up as well, and, you know, making lots of friends. And, you know, people began to, like, you know, come out more and stuff, and I had to learn how to even speak again, you know, like, a lot of the language I used, you know, wasn't appropriate. You know, like, you know, and, you know, by doing that, I kind of, you know, kind of learned more about myself as well about getting rid of getting rid of these kinds of ways of thinking and these kinds of- I think, because I didn't like that. I thought that way- like, I wasn't like a big I was a big homophobe or anything I wasn't like beating anybody up or anything, but you know, just like, you know, just having like, these kinds of thoughts of, "Oh, I shouldn't wear that" or "I shouldn't listen to that because...", you know, and yeah, so I think, um, it's definitely cool. And I think a lot of people today you know, thanks, you know, to what's a good word to use? Like, thanks to like the the awareness raising that has happened in the past, you know, 20/30 years. I think people are better off for it Today society is.
Erinn 58:11
Yeah. And I think where we grew up has a lot to do with the way that folks like you have maybe unpacked right? Feelings about LGBT people that were just sort of indoctrinated or ingrained in we lived in a town where like, there was so many different cultures, ethnicities. And so I think growing up we in Brentwood, it was normal to have to unlearn things about people that you didn't know. Right? You know, it was normal to be like, "Oh, now I have a friend who's Hindu. Now I have a friend who's Dominican. Now I have a friend who's Trinny. This is how they pray or how they eat. And wow, maybe you know when when my parents or teachers or whatever, make jokes about a certain group. Maybe it's like not cool anymore, because those are my friends." Like we were always learning about different kinds of people where we grew up I think that I think like, I'm really proud. I mean, there are like, bro type dudes that we went to high school with that will reach out to me, you know, and just try to show support. And I think it's a testament. Like I think there's a lot of people who have unlearned a lot of that homophobia that have grown up in Brentwood, because it's like, well, there's so many people who are so different, you know, and I've always been really proud of that, you know, because you're afraid at times to, you know, go to a high school reunion or, you know, see people that you grew up with, and I will say, for me that since coming out and doing the work that I do, I've been nothing but kind of pleasantly surprised by, you know, folks we grew up with and, you know, I've even had people reach out to me to say, like, oh, sorry, I believe you or, you know, made fun of you.
Phill 59:46
I had to send those emails. I did that when- especially when Facebook really was popping off.
Erinn 59:50
And that's the process, right? It's the people who are not able to self reflect and and unlearn. You know, I think that have an issue but when you're open to saying, "I used to think one thing, but now I know people and I think different." I think that's a great thing, you know, to learn and grow like that.
Phill 1:00:09
And I think, you know, too man, I think not everybody is as straight as they, as they think they are.
Erinn 1:00:14
Ain't that the truth? Well, you know, research shows that, you know, over 'cause now I'm the data geek right in my real life in my nine to five. And it's funny because in the United States of America, I'm a nationwide study that was conducted over 5000 adults between the age of 19 and 51 showed that 63% of Americans have fantasies different from how they articulate their sexual orientation, right? So like a lot of people are thinking about other kinds of people and hey, that's okay, you know.
Ain't nothing wrong with that.
Yeah. And it's nice to see more of a space because now I work predominantly with LGBT college students. And so it's nice to see that they have more space and spaces to have those conversations earlier on to find support and then, you know, sort of figure out who they are.
Phill 1:01:07
Wow. All right. So like, I guess transitioning to the yet to kind of what you're doing now. I when I was looking, looking up your name, I saw someone cited you in one of their books, man. I don't know if you were aware of that. But uh, yeah, so yeah. Can you just talk about what what you're doing now?
Erinn 1:01:25
Yeah, absolutely. So for the past 10 years, I've been a licensed professional social worker, and I work predominantly in higher education. So universities, my full time job, I work on a college campus, and most of my job is doing training, outreach, and education on mental health. So I have a big background in suicide prevention. And so I do suicide training workshops on campus. I work with faculty and staff, and then I also work a lot with LGBT youth. So I'm we're fortunate in our universities to have programs to support lesbian and gay and transgender students. So I run a lot of programs and clubs. I am the faculty advisor to what's called the Gay Straight Alliance, which is a student organization. And then I also teach social work at the graduate level part time. So I've been fortunate, and this is when I think like, "This, who? Is this really you, Erinn?", because depending on the semester, I teach, and this feels even weird to say, but I teach at either NYU, Fordham, or Columbia University. And yeah, and there are moments where I'm like, "What that is so weird when you say that that's really you." And I think you know about myself being a young girl walking around Manhattan, you know, thinking, "Oh, I want to be a Broadway star." And now, you know, there are days where I go to teach a class at NYU, and I'm like, "Wow, you really did the thing." Like, "How'd you do that?" My focus in social work, again, is either suicide and crisis prevention, LGBT youth, or human rights and social justice. So I teach a lot of university graduate classes on human rights on social justice issues and topics on human rights violations. And then I use that framework to train social work students to be therapists, that approach their work with a social justice lens. So, you know, I think growing up with lots of different kinds of folks, again, really contributed to- I just have this love of people and their stories and there are differences. You know, and now I get to work on a daily basis, supporting college students and then also teaching college students how to be social workers. And I try to integrate music into it wherever I can. So, you know, I'll sing at my university, if it'll help fundraise, or I'll encourage my students to, you know, work on a creative arts project and you know, really- still am always preaching right? You can make what you love a part of what you do. And you know, you just think about how to do that creatively. But yeah, it is weird to think I've been like cited in publications, and teacher like Columbia and stuff, you know, so my mom, she doesn't she doesn't care. She's still, you know, treats me like me. But um, but it is weird, you know, because I think what we started talking about, you know, feeling like you don't fit in and you don't belong and you don't know what your contributions are. And you know, I've always been a big proponent of, you know, telling yourself positive stuff and setting goals and I've always been a big proponent of, you know, forging your own path and not letting the things that happened to you in life hold you back, but kind of push you forward. Which is not to say that I don't have bad days, right. Everybody definitely has the days where it's like, "I gotta get out of bed today. Oh, no." But you know, overall, I feel really fortunate because I still sing on the weekends. When COVID is not going on. I get to sing at bars or clubs and entertain people. That way and then I get to share my love of music with, you know, social work students and clients and things like that. So it is it is really trippy because I like we were saying in the beginning sometimes I still think of myself as 24/25 but then my knees remind me otherwise right, my joints. But yeah, you know?
Phill 1:05:24
Thank you so much for sharing.
Erinn 1:05:26
Thank you so much for having me. It's just great to hear your voice and talk. And Regina said that if I come to visit her Yeah, we definitely will have to video chat you together, yeah.
Phill 1:05:37
All right. So I got five minutes left. And I just want to ask I'm asking every guest this question, I didn't realize how ablest it was because you mentioned that you that you spoke American Sign Language. So yeah, didn't wasn't really thinking about that. So if you want to send a video of yourself doing something yeah silo is that about I can put it on the on the website. But yeah, can you speak any other languages?
Erinn 1:06:04
I don't. I do. I don't speak any other languages. And I really wish I did. I think again, back in high school when I was really struggling with kind of even going to class, I didn't see the value in speaking another language. And then in college, I tried to take French and Spanish, and I didn't do well. And a theater professor said, like, "Why don't you try sign language? It's kind of like dancing with your hands." Which is so funny. But it made sense, right? Yeah. And so sign language was like the only thing that kind of clicked for me for a couple of years and I had a really cool sign language teacher, she- one of my sign language professors was deaf. But when I got back from American Idol, she would come and see my band play and dance even though she couldn't hear she feel the vibrations and dance around and you know, say oh, "That's my student." So I don't speak another language but I really wish I did. I'm sure my American Sign Language is rusty but it's still good to know.
Phill 1:07:05
Yeah, yeah. So if you if you'd like- you can if you want, you don't have to, but you can send a video of just like saying some words, whatever.
Erinn 1:07:11
Sure.
Phill 1:07:12
I'll put it on the blog.
Erinn 1:07:14
I'll do a little something for you tomorrow. Awesome. Thank you. Oh, thank you so much, Bill. This has been really cool. And it's just great to hear your voice. And I think it's great that you're doing something to inspire students in a whole other kind of creative way, you know?
Phill 1:07:27
Yeah, well, yeah. Well, thank you, Erinn, thank you for taking the time and, and sharing and thank you for being A Hero That I Call By Their First Name.
Erinn 1:07:36
Thank you. I'm honored by that. The same to you, man, I really look up to you. So thank you for today.
Comments
Post a Comment