Manifesting An Emmy + An Honest Chat About The Reality Of Seeing Change In Hollywood with Emmy Nominated Hairstylist Victor Jones-Moore

Today's episode has been a long time coming and is hands down one of my most favorites that we've recorded. I'm chatting with Victor Jones-Moore about all things The Originals, manifesting an Emmy nomination, and the racism that's still happening bts.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 10:36 What it's like to work as a white woman at Tyler Perry Studios
• 15:39 How Victor got into film & television
• 38:31 Proving yourself as a black man doing hair for white women
• 45:36 Fighting racism in film
• 59:29 Manifesting an Emmy nomination

Transcript

Savannah: 0:05

Hello. Hello friends. Welcome back to another episode of the savvy said podcast. My name is Savannah AKA, the savvy behind what savvy setting guys today's episode is a beast she's packed with so much. Goodness. This is the episode that I had been wanting to record for a while over a year when I sat down and originally came up with a podcast idea. This was the first episode that I had on the docket to even want to create. I knew that I wanted to sit down and talk to Victor. I knew that he had so much information to share from working with him, but even just in keeping up with his Instagram and following along with his journey, since I've stepped away from film, I knew that Victor would have just a ton of things that would really help us. And honestly, this episode took a complete turn from what I thought it would be in the best way possible. There's so much vulnerability and such truth in such rawness in such a great conversation happening today that I am so excited for you guys to be a part of, I will give a D a few disclaimers. There are quite a few things that I cut out of this episode. So if for whatever reason, something seems like maybe I missed a point or we referenced something that we're not actually talking about is probably because I cut it out because we got real chatty real quick. And there are some things that you guys. Could probably live without knowing, but there are also some things that I think would probably protect a few people if we didn't talk about on the internet. So I cut those out just because why not? Um, but there so many other moments in this episode that has stuck with me in the weeks that I've been kind of sitting on this since we recorded it and things that I know I'll go back to and the moments of vulnerability and the conversations that Victor's sharing with me about things that he's recently dealt with and the people he's recently talked to. And just so, so now, if you don't know who Victor is, Victor terms more as a Emmy nominated hairstylist, you won't have known his styling from shows like legacies, vampire diaries. The originals. He is a gem of a human. He has created so many styles that you would love. And he tells us today all about getting an Emmy nomination, manifesting the Emmy nomination, recent confrontations on set, where he's had to bring up racial conversations and how uncomfortable it was, but the importance of those conversations and working through his own trauma as a black man and what that experience has been like. And we talk about the experience of being a minority on whether you're black or white and working at teller very soon as we kind of go through all of it. There's so much. I know that in a few years, Victor, and I will have like a, another conversation because he's just growing so much and has so much to share. I'm really excited for you guys to dive into this. This is one that I would probably just grab a glass of wine and just sit and listen to it. Cause my jam lately has been to like listen to an audio book and color so I could totally see myself listening to this episode with a glass of wine coloring on my iPad. That is a current thing for me. I'm not really loving TV right now, but how are you feel like listening to this episode? I do want to kind of warn you. We're going to go into the depths of things. We're not really holding back from anything. We're having those in-depth conversations. I don't know what trigger warnings I should give you upfront, but just be prepared that we are not holding back on any tough kind of conversations with this episode. That being said, let's get into this week's gratitude. So I've really been tweaking my routines over the last few months and I feel like I say this all the time. Maybe it's because I record so many things I don't actually share with you guys, but I've really spent the last month or so looking at all of my routines and looking at the things that. I did in 2020 that served me or 2019 is kind of the year that I'm going off of, because I had a really good groove in 2019, but I'm really just kind of focused on the things that are serving me, the goals that I have, what are the things that I need to focus on. And even if I've got maybe a bigger goal that sometimes it might need to be pushed a little. So you guys know if you follow me on Instagram, that I have a half marathon on the brain that I want to do it. But over the last, you know, six months, my mental health kind of took a bit of a turbulent moment. And with that came some not great habits and that meant I've gained weight. And I don't really have an issue with gaining weight. I definitely know that I feel like I look better in certain capacities, but I'm also a runner. And guys, if you run and, or you've kind of gone through the experience of gaining weight as a runner, or just have gained and lost weight in general, but specifically with running, it just really changes your ability to run because you're carrying that extra whatever on your body. And so I've really just looked at, you know, kind of going through the energy of the last year. I tend to be somebody who's very easily able to kind of pull back from stuff and not really be caught up in everybody else's energy and excuses, or at least I try to be, and I did not do a great job of holding boundaries in 2020. I will be a hundred percent honest with that. So the last few weeks for me have really just been honoring where I'm at in my journey, what my goals are, what do I need to shift around and how do I need to prioritize things? So they actually work for me so that I'm actually getting things accomplished. And part of that is saying, okay, well maybe I need to push things or maybe I need to. Focused on something else right now. So I feel very grateful for the kind of peace and flow that I'm getting into and just acknowledging what I need and the continual process of acknowledging what I need. Because before I was very much somebody who was like, I have to be a woman of my word, I have to be on these things. If I say I'm going to do it, I have to do it. And I still try to live to that. About 99%. But I like to be somebody who is constantly honoring myself and setting those boundaries. And that's kind of what I need. Like, I need to be able to put things on my calendar and be booked and look forward and have that kind of hope and have those things. And if I get to a space where I'm like, you know what, I need to reschedule that. I honor that for myself, rather than like jumping in on the last minute, because I'm somebody who needs to have plans. Like I need to be busy to be happy. So honoring that space, having that grace for myself has been major over the last few weeks. And the other thing that I feel like Atlanta is heavily on the gratitude space for me is med pro. I bought it for myself for my birthday. It's been on my list. And I had these ideas of how it was going to use it. And I haven't quite gotten to all of those ideas because on the list to do is to write a book this year, that is one of my goals for the end of this year. We're slowly building up the things that work for that, and kind of tweaking and tuning the content that I'm putting out and just prioritizing what works for me. Um, but I bought the iPad pro for myself and I feel like one of the things that's really done for me is that I've been coloring and doing puzzles a lot and not so much that I'm like scrolling on my phone. Like if I want to wind down at night, I might, the last couple of nights has been an audio book. I will put an audio book on. I will listen to some audio book. It may be something I've read before. It might not be something I read before and I'll just colorful color for a bit. And that's been such a calming way to kind of end my day, or I'm not scrolling through things. Kind of bouncing between everybody's energy. That's the one thing that I don't adore as much about certain aspects of social media. I love social media. It's part of my job. I love talking to you guys. I love interacting with other creators. I love seeing what other people are creating, but the one thing for me is an impact, especially when I'm unwinding at the end of the day is just going through all of the very emotions can be a lot if I'm feeling extra sensitive to it. So having that nighttime routine has been very major for me. I'm very appreciative of it. I am really excited to have it in my life, and I'm really kind of loving the flow that I'm getting into right now. So I'm definitely sharing more little bits of that on Instagram, some of the little tips and tricks that I'm doing that are helping me find balance, especially while I have a goal to kind of shed some of the depression energy that I'm carrying right now. Um, and other things in my life, I'm kind of sharing those tips because I don't really believe in being that person that like cuts everything out or has a really strict diet like I've learned over the years. What doesn't, it doesn't work for me. And how my body interacts with that. And I still have a life filled with light and I still have, I filled with chocolate, French fries, those things, but it's the balance of it. And so, yeah, I'm sharing all of my tips and tricks for that on a regular basis. There will also be more podcast episodes coming. I am manifesting that we do two episodes a week kind of situation, maybe a solo episode on Monday and an interview on Thursdays is what I'm thinking, how that pans out. I'm not a hundred percent sure, but that is what I'm speaking to the world right now. So if you guys have requests for stuff, let me know. But yeah, we are going to get into this juicy episode, all of the goodness manifesting an Emmy nomination. It cannot even, Victor has so many fabulous things to share, and I hope you guys loved this episode as much as I had fun recording.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 8:58

I feel like Atlanta's almost like the happy medium between LA and Southern culture. Like you still get people who are really involved and really intelligent and really want to like pursue things. But it's a slower pace. There's a little more of that. Like you're gonna wave to people in the neighborhood, like, it's that harmed hometown charm

Victor: 9:18

yeah. I can see that. Yeah. It's that balance, you know, I've heard people say it is that balanced. And with Georgia been so conservative on one hand, they, people always say that Atlanta kind of feels a bit different because it has that balance of like city and you got the arts and you get the culture, but you still have that Southern charm. And so it's like a good balance for some people, so, yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 9:43

it is. And I I've talked about it with friends and I'm just like, I don't, I don't want to raise my children in the same environment that I was raised in. Like, I just feel like the lack of getting to know other people's culture and experience and understanding, you know, their world. I'm lucky that I had the experience that I did at TPS and to be a minority in that kind of situation, and to just get to experience everybody else's life and to learn that people pin dollar bills on people for birthdays. That was like one of those things where you're like, wait, what is, what is this.

Victor: 10:20

we don't do that in my culture.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 10:23

Just little stuff where you're just getting to experience it. And everybody's like, this is so normal. And you're like, wait, what do you mean? This is normal.

Victor: 10:32

Right. You've never heard of this before. What is wrong with you?

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 10:35

Exactly.

Victor: 10:36

how is, how is that? Because you know, so many times as the global minority as being an African-American and being somewhat the global minority, I'll think that we already more, even though we're still referred to this such how is it being like in a black setting for like a white person? Like what, what is it like? I don't think I've ever asked that question. I don't think, does it feel like no one cares? How is it? How is it as a white person?

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 11:02

I think the difference, I think the difference is that I'm a white female and not a white male. I think white males aren't used to like checking it, entering a space in a little more caution and just being a part of it. Whereas a female we're always adapting and listening and learning and second guessing ourselves cause that's natural. I mean, I was, I feel like I was so blessed that everybody just completely embraced me and encouraged me and nurtured me and wanted me to succeed. And it was never like. I mean, for lack of like, I've had conversations where it's like, I didn't see color in the sense of like, I didn't see anything different and I'm in a position where I don't need to see any different, like, I'm the minority here. I'm the palest one in the broom, even Jonathan over here is Hispanic and he's got more of a tan than I do. Like, but it was such, I had the best time. I don't feel like it was ever, it was, it was never a bad situation for me. There's definitely been, you know, one of my best friends is black and we have a lot of those conversations of just sharing her experience. And it's never know we're very open about what's going on in the experience happening and what she's feeling. And we have the conversations of, you know, well, what if this is because you were a black woman raised in a predominantly white community and you're transferring some of that experience into this moment. Like the psychology that just comes from how you're raised, no matter what, you know, we

Victor: 12:31

Oh, yeah, the

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 12:32

our expectations into that moment.

Victor: 12:34

I'll call it the trauma, the life trauma that, that we don't know that we're walking around with no matter where you come from, whatever your background is, like, everybody has a bits of trauma that they kind of carry around and they don't deal with, or maybe some have, but you should know that it's there and it really does affect some decision-making. It really does.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 12:58

Yeah. But no, I. That experience for me was incredible. And just, you know, having such a wonderful people around me at any given time. And because of that, I think because I, I mean, if I was a white male, I can't say that it would have been the same thing to just have people who want to invest in you and believe in you. Because we, I think we did an entire series run and I was helping the sh like the producers of TPS, like working for will ruin all of them and getting to see all of that super up close. I wouldn't have gotten that anywhere else. I learned a ton

Victor: 13:39

yeah, yeah. Oh, great. Great. Good for you.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 13:43

for me. It wasn't bad, but I don't know. I feel like that might've been different experience. If I was a white guy, to be honest,

Victor: 13:50

Maybe I don't know. It was like, what is a white dude doing here? What are you doing here, sir? But you know, I'm glad, I'm glad that wasn't your experience. Cause I always wonder, like, you know, does anybody feel like she should not be here or like, is it, is there a black female that feels like, Hmm, that space should be field for a state for a black woman and she should not be here and have they. And because they feel that way, that they kind of like project that at you, that they felt that way. So the fact that you didn't have the experience was like amazing. So I'm glad she did not.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 14:31

think part of that was also that I wasn't, you know, it's a lot, it's a lot of who, you know, in that bubble. And I was like, the fact that I was, there was enough that people are like, how did you get a job? You don't know a single person in here. Like the fact that I got the job out of that was enough that people were just like, okay, she's here for a reason.

Victor: 14:54

she's worked to get here. Yeah. And she's, she's doing it, you know, it wasn't like nepotism

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 15:01

so, and that job got me a lot of other like random jobs from that. Like even people in props would help me get jobs because my first round of stuff there was helping kind of facilitate all of the chaos of all of the shows, with as much as we did, I got to know all of the departments really well in a way that I don't feel like you normally get to. And so, yeah.

Victor: 15:28

makes sense

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 15:30

so how did you end up in film and television? Or did you start commercial? Like what, what was your like entertainment, entry point.

Victor: 15:39

Well, I feel like I was supposed to be here for one, because I've always been, I don't know, this has something to do with being like a male from the LGBTQ community and being in like theater and stuff all the time. But my passion has always been like singing, acting, dancing, like the theater, anything that was about a production. I have not, I look back over my life. It has always been there from like what I was somebody to me. That's probably because I'm just building BTQ, you know, more so than passion because you kind of get like pulled into that realm of like the category that that's what we're going to do. That's what happens when you, from that committee when you're from the community. But it's always been a passion of mine. I like film and television characters and building characters, making characters. I remember being in school and being super excited and now we can't do that anymore because now it's like cultural proficient and very inappropriate, but super excited around Thanksgiving time and was tying to make like the Indian the hit dresses and things like that. I was like, oh my God, my India is going to be the best, you know? And just the look of it. I was like, that was so wrong now, but you know, it was just the excitement of building that character and building characters. Even being pilgrims, whomever, like I wanted it to be the best. So that art form has always been there. So going into college, I went to Fort valley state university. The main thing I wanted to do a course get into the theater program, get into the theater program. So when I getting into like hair and makeup, where it was really secondary, it was my sister had a salon and she needed help in her salon. And she was like, Hey, you you're sitting there. You're not doing anything. I need help. Come help make some money. And it became natural to me because I was an artist. I started off as an artist so I can make and move things with my hands. So that coloring, all those different things, kind of like fit into that same realm of like, you know, building a character to make an art. In my mind, it was always like making some type of art. So getting into film and television, I was just in the salon one day and a friend of mine said a dream girls happen with Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson. And he could Manny grows. But the original dream girls were Cheryl, the wrath Jennifer holiday. And oh my God. She teach, why can't I remember her name right now? I love her. They're out of divine. So so they were their original dream girls. So I had a friend of mine when new Williams had just came out. It was like her first year and a friend of mine called me from DC. He said, Hey, he said, I'm supposed to be doing Jennifer holiday for the Wendy Williams show. And he said, but she has some different events to do when she gets back to Atlanta. And she wants me to come. She loved me. She wanted me to come do her hair. He said, I couldn't do it. He said, I just can't travel down there for that. So I tell her that you can do it. So that was like, my first celebrity was Jennifer holiday. So I was like, sure. He called me out. Like, sure I can do it. She gave me a call. She told me what she wanted to do. And then she kind of slipped in that Shirley RAF was doing a book tour defining a diva, I think was the name of the book. And like, she was like, she's doing a book tour. And she wants to invite me, invite me along to do a few interviews. Can you come along to do the both of us? And I was like, yeah, you thought I was coming to do one original dream girls. I get two original dream girls. Perfect. So at that point I became focused. Like I got the bug all over again. I was like, okay, I don't want to, I don't really want to go back to the salon setting. So how can I get into like film and television. And I started to voice that this, I believe in manifestation because I started to voice what it is that wanted it, how I wanted it and what industry I want it to be. And those things there's sometimes we are afraid to say, because people like I was just saying, people will say, well, that's not what you do. You have a salon full of clients. Like, what are you talking about? You're making a thousand,$2,000 a week in this salon. You're crazy. They want to go on the road and try to figure out and start your career all over again. And I was like, no, I'm not. So I was at a party one night and I was at a nightclub. It's a historic nightclub in a LGBT nightclub in Atlanta called bulldogs. Yeah. So thank you. That's room service. So So she thought about that. So I was employed docs and I was dancing and this guy came up behind me. He was like dancing with dirt, our thing, you know, like, Hey, we had a great time. And I was like, what is your name? He was like, you don't know me? And I was like, no, I don't know you. And he was like, I just, just came off of project runway. My name is this, this and this. And I was like, oh, congratulations. I was like, I heard about the show, never seen it. And he was like, obviously I was like, great job though. And so he had a conversation at night and he was like, you know, what are you doing here? Like, you know, the basics. And I was a course that went through my host, real, what I wanted to do, where I wanted to take my career. And he was like, oh, I have a friend that's that does that. I give him your information. And so that's pretty much how it happened. They gave the information, the guy called one day when he needed somebody to work in background. I came as a day player and I've pretty much been working every, since.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 21:22

Okay, so you started in background?

Victor: 21:25

Yeah. I started in background. Well, I can't really claim that for the people who really did background. Cause we have some backgrounds, soldiers who really went through the process. I did, I worked back two days. I got called for another show to do an actress who needed a fish tail braid and the department heads didn't know how to do one properly. And they called me to do that. So that was my first time. So the second time I got called, I got the call to actually do an actor or actress that was on the show. Number three on the call sheet, which is kind of like pre-baked to be like, just two weeks ago, you was at background now you're doing like an actress. So it moved pretty fast. Then right after that I got called to do an actress, Kiki Palmer, who had a certain type of extension in that I specialized in. And they were like, she's in Philadelphia, we're doing a movie. She has these extensions. And no one here knows how to do them. We heard that you do. Can you fly out to do that? So here's the third call now being flown somewhere. So I get there and the producer is pretty smart, pretty much saying to me, oh my God. Since we've called you all, everything is all healed as like broke loose. And I was like, okay, so where is she? I can still do it. I can do it or whatever. She was like, no. Do you know how to hit a department? Ah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 23:01

it.

Victor: 23:03

Yeah, right. So I was like, no, this is like my third call. So of course I'm going to be honest and go, no, because I know at this moment, this is huge. This could make or break my career. If I do not know how to do this properly. And she said, that's fine. I can show you. She reached over and pulled out of the script out of her bag, open up. And she said, this is hair department head one oh one classes in session, play attention, young, man. It was just like that. And I was like, oh my God, what is going on? So

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 23:38

you don't know what a hair department head does that he's in charge of all of the continuity, making sure everybody looks the same in charge of the budgets, making sure that that's a, that's the law to go from one person to like everybody's face and hair on that screen.

Victor: 23:53

yes. Yeah. Design from designing. So breaking down the scripts to breaking down the background, how many people are going to need the background, hiring employees buying supplies, keeping up receipts all of, all of the budget stuff

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 24:05

But to do that in another city where you don't even have your resources.

Victor: 24:10

I don't have my resources. I don't know anybody. I don't know what the beauty supply stores are. I don't know. I've never even heard of a friends. I never even heard of a Nammie's I've never even heard of us cinema secrets and these all the big LA shops that we ordered things from as hair and makeup artists. So I've never even heard of any of these things. So it was kind of like, okay, she gave me the rundown and this is like an Emmy award-winning producer. So this is a huge producer. This is a queen. Latifa is the head producer is one of her projects on the meet her label. So this is like huge. So, and like, you know, you see it, you're driving down the street, I'm driving down the street. And I see queen Latifah's face everywhere, like, cause she was on the queen campaign and like, this is her project. This is something that she's producing. She's not acting in or a star in it, but it's something that she's producing something that she's paying for. So now I have like access to queen Latifah's money and I can either, you know, do well with it or ruin it. So it was a lot of pressure. I did not sleep. I tell people to this day I did not sleep for 30 days because I thought the process, the project was 30 days, but I always felt like something was going to go wrong or I always felt like I was missing something. So like my sleep at night would literally be naps. Like it was literally. Like naps. So I was like, oh my God. Like, cause every time I would go to sleep, I could not sleep. I was just thinking about the script. I was thinking about the changing change in the scenes. So it was like, it was terrible, but she knew it was terrible. And she knew it was like, I didn't, I thought that I had like, this is a great opportunity. And I thought that she had, did me a favor, but she understood that she had just later burdened in my lap, which I love her. Her name is Shelby stone. And you know, she knew that she just put a burden in my lap because at the end of the project, she said, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. And I promise, I will look out for you for, you know, I, you know, and once people know, she's the, I promise I owe you one and people always say, you know, I've always been told that in film and television, when someone says to you, okay, you won that. That's pretty cool, much like money in the bank. Like they don't forget that it's like a verbal contract and they take it seriously. And I was like, I didn't see it at the time. But when I tell someone else, you know, she told me she owed me one, but I felt like she did me. You know, it was a great opportunity for me. So I don't feel like she owed me anything. And a friend of mine was like, no, she says, she owe you one, like that's huge and television. Like, they're going to call you again. And. She called me again. She called me to do a project in LA. She was like, listen, I have a movie out in LA. I told y'all, oh, you won, but this isn't what, this is, no, what I owe you? She said, it's a bull crap project. She didn't use crap. She used the other word. And she said, listen, we can't pay for your lodging. She said, you're going to have to come work as a local. She said, we can't pay for your logic. And she said, the budget is $2,000. So out of all the supplies and everything you'd need, we only have $2,000. Do not go over weeks. Everything included the show that I'm on now, just to give you a tidbit on legacies, the cheapest wig, I think I've purchased was $2,000. The actor, the main actress week is $9,000

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 27:50

I always want to text you about who's in a wig every time I watch, I want to text you and be like, I have questions. I'm a start texting you honestly.

Victor: 28:00

aye, never tell. I will tell you, but I would never tell him his podcast, like as one character is obviously in a week. And but you know, some people they can't tell, they was like, is that a week today? Isn't isn't that a week that she has on. So, and they're not that comfortable with me telling for some reason that I'm like once a week, once a week, let me stop this.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 28:23

You're so good.

Victor: 28:24

So I don't know what they're trying to contact me all of a sudden.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 28:27

I mean, it's more, I love, I feel like Claire posted about her wig from the originals the other day about

Victor: 28:33

yeah, she called it precious. Yes it's okay.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 28:39

who was it? I think it was, it talked about it years ago when I don't remember what season it was, but she was talking about how they brought Kimmy's character back in. And you guys put her in the wig too. And it's like, I, I think from our perspective, it, if I was an actress, I'd be like, that's 50 more minutes of sleep. I can get, put a wig on my head pulley.

Victor: 29:02

Yes. Well, that's a lot. We do it primarily production loves it because it cuts down on those rainy times. The base camp PA of course loves it because you know, you can get your actors ready and ons and breakfast and all kinds of different things and much faster because we're doing it like once someone is in makeup. If I don't have another actor in my chair, nine times out of 10, I prep the week, the night before, once you're in makeup. I'm styling the wig high over that, you know, the final style from whatever I, however, over I said it the night before. So once it actually goes on the person or the actress that takes every bit of 15 to 20 minutes, and they're out of there compared to an hour long blowout or hour and 30 minute type of hairstyles. So it cuts down time, tremendously for production. Also, they love it when doing what we were just talking about, where reshoots and inserts, like you can put that same wig on another person, shoot them from the side in the back. Do you think it's the same person? She doesn't even have to be there, you know, or if an actress gets sick and you can shoot the other person's coverage, put the stand in, in the wig, shoot from the back, get all the other person's coverage and then, you know, get the other actors. Who've gotten sick coverage at a later date. So they love that.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 30:27

but there's also hair health too. Like, I, I, I mean, I shoot constantly, but still I'm like, I only want to put that much heat on my hair.

Victor: 30:35

Yeah. Yeah. I have actress actresses now who have hair that is down their back, almost touching it, but because they've been doing the show now for two or three, no three or four years, and haven't had like heat on it. Ha you know, we just trim condition and go, or they use trim Olaplex and go or whatever. And they love the hair. Like I have an actress now who natural curls are like so beautiful. Who, you know, that she's been blowing it out for years. It was now since we haven't been putting the heat on it, like her hair is like back to its natural state. And she was like, my hair hasn't looked like this in years. So, you know, anytime I talk about going to do anything else or maybe doing a different project sheet or doing a project over the break, the first thing she asks, hold on a minute, you're coming back. Right. Because no one has taken care of my hair like that. And I was like, I don't think it's me taking care of your hair. I think it's the fact that you're in a wig that, you know, your hair health has completely changed.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 31:35

I want to bookmark that because I want to go back to you talking about going to other projects, but so you did the, so you went into the indie film. Did you run and you ran the department on that. What did you do

Victor: 31:47

Yes.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 31:48

that? Cause you, you just went straight up the ladder

Victor: 31:52

to the top, straight to the top. So it's yeah, so it pissed a lot of people off too. Like I went from being like this guy that everybody thought was like cool to this person that cause people didn't feel like I deserved it. Like they didn't know like why I was getting these projects and why was I leading these departments? And they was like, he has no experience. He doesn't know what he's doing. Like, why does he keep getting these jobs? And it was like, I, my, my reputation amongst my peers started to like plummet, you know, people will say, yeah, people would say things and didn't know why they didn't care for me. You know, because it was just an air that was getting passed on from, you know, one person or a few people who thought that I didn't deserve it. And once my name came up, it was more of a. You know, like Hmm. You know, like, yeah. Cause they forgotten why they did not like me, but they, it was like inherited energy or why they didn't care for me. And I, you know, I started to meet other people in the streets or at other projects and they would say, oh, you're not like at all, what I thought you would be like. Cause I think yeah. So, cause I think because you know, when someone gets something so fascinating and go through the process and I've experiences with people, who've gotten things pretty fast and they go through the process, a certain air comes with that and you know, a big hit comes with that because you've gotten it so fast so that humbleness and I know, but you know, I'm always like chill. Like I was like, oh, that was great. But you know, onto the next, what are you doing? And congratulations for whatever you're doing. But that was not how I was received in amongst my peers for quite some time until people actually start to get to know me. And then those little soldiers kind of went out and changed the narratives for me. And I can say that because once people got to know me and started to work for me, then when they would go to other projects and my name would come up and someone would say something that was against me, they would defend me and they would go best, not. No, that's not my experience at all. I don't, I don't not, I don't know who you talking about with that. That's not correct. And they would come back and tell me, you know, someone said this and I had to let them know that, you know, you're not like that. And they should come in. I was like, well, give them my name, you know, have them come over here and work, you know? Cause I could provide employment for other people and they would come over at work and they would say to me, you know, oh, I got, I didn't think he was going to be anything like that. I was like, why would you think that? Because it was an inherited narrative. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that crazy?

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 34:26

that. And I feel like the worst part about that is that. You have to reaffirm that for yourself too. Like you have to choose to not believe it and ignore it and not let that infect your environment.

Victor: 34:40

Well I knew it.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 34:41

degree, when you're in a film bubble, you're in such a bubble for like, you know, three, five, six months, you don't talk to anybody else anyways. So it doesn't really matter, but

Victor: 34:49

yeah. Yeah. I knew it. Wasn't true. And I kind of learned early on what was being said. So I began to it. I think it kind of helped me to not become what they thought that I would become, you know, because I was on a mission at that point to prove to everybody that, you know, it's all chill over here. It's all good over here. It's all love. It's all like creativity. And I pride myself, you know, I would have some people come work for me and they was, they wouldn't like. That I would give others opportunities that they felt as though they should have went through a certain process. But I'm that leader who all, wasn't always say I'm a leader, not a boss, because a boss is to me. And so who bosses people around and a leader is someone who lead by example. So I w as a leader always want other creatives to feel the freedom to create. I will always like ask them to give me their ideas. What do they think about certain things? And how do you think the hair should look for this particular thing instead of me coming to them, and this is what we're doing. Like, I love to collab and, you know, and pinch off other, other artists and younger than me older than me, you know, everybody got something to give from their different experiences. So, and different walks of life and different areas. Some are from Detroit, some were from, you know, all, we all look different from different places. So I like to kind of like mesh all of those things together and see what happens.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 36:14

I think that's the one thing that I missed the most and his kind of come a little bit more full circle for me. But when I left the home, I didn't realize how much of the creative collaborative process that a, I mean, I didn't get to experience as much being in the department. I was, but it's just, it's so much more fun when it's, how do we bring this full vision to life? And it's what I love about film and television is it's, there's so much detail. And so much of the experience that goes in that yet. Yes, you have an actor and they're a beautiful, wonderful human, but your first experience of them is always going to be their hair and makeup and their costume and the production design that they are standing in.

Victor: 36:52

yes. Yeah. That's what the camera, that's what people see when they, when they watch, you know, that's the first thing we, even, when you think about projects like that, Titanic, like the first thing you see is the pan up roses dress onto her umbrella onto her hat, you know? So it was like a whole moment before worse, even spoken, spoken that, you know, it's kind of like, whoa, like I'm, I'm all in now. You know, if it's something from a sunrise that captured a certain actors from sort of the waking up out of the bed, you depend on the sun, through her hair onto that face. I should turn around good morning. Beautiful. Like you all, these are the different things that kind of like bring you all in at first. So they're very important, like very, very important.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 37:38

I love that. Okay. Pause. Before I lose my brain here. It is why I feel like we've covered some of my questions, but I want to touch on these. You asked me what it was like to be a white person working in a predominantly black environment. I'm curious for you if, as being a black man, if there was, I don't know if there was like, I don't think expectations the word, but was there a, like, did you feel like you had to prove yourself in order to feel like people were like comfortable with letting you do white people here? Cause I know that, I know that you said it before that like there's a serious lack in the ability for white people to do black people hair. Like I had, I had London explained, I was like, please explain to me how your hair works because it's a different texture. We talk about how this is going to take you five hours. My hair process is different. So can you explain this to me?

Victor: 38:31

Yeah. Well, it's, it's kinda it's oh my God. What is the proper word? Is is it a double conundrum? Is the word that I'm looking for because lists are a catch 22. However, how, how, how, how those things mesh together, how those phrases mesh together is so oblivious. Let me explain what I'm talking about. Cause I'm rambling right now. Okay. As a black man doing white hair walking into a room, walking into a room and a production meeting as a black man I don't feel as though that entered the room as a black man at first, I think I was more so focused on trying to get convinced people that my tiny Tyner resume could suffice for his brand. That was so big as the vampire diaries, because manpower diaries was so huge in the Georgia area because it was like the first major, you know, show that kind of like took off like this huge fame. And it became like an entity of his on his own. And so walking in trying to prove that I could, you know, design and deliver and work the budgets out for that and keep up with those moving pieces. We'll split my first, you know, frontal of my mind. So I think the black man portion took a back burner to like actually getting in the door. Then once I got in the door, for some reason, I don't know unspoken, but for some reason I think that we're expected to know how to do a here more so than white people are expected to know how to do black hair. And I'll explain because in school, and I've said this before, we're given a mannequin that has bone straight hair. And we learn how to add curl by doing like purr terms. And we learned coloring on it, all these different things. There's no mannequin that has hair like mine. That is set before me, even as a black man. So I know is not set before, like a Caucasian male or female in a cosmetology school that all of the mannequins have straight long Caucasian hair

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 40:39

well, that's great for all the curly headed people.

Victor: 40:42

Yeah. Yeah. So even if you like a Caucasian person where curls, like it kind of get lost in the sauce, that's why now that we have curl products for all colors across the board, because people are starting to realize that even Caucasian people needs, you know, products for curly hair, because they do have curly hair as well. And they don't have to be Jewish to have curly hair. Like it's like, come on. So, so it's like a whole thing now. So it's a different understanding for it now. So that black man element was not at the forefront of my mind, although it started to bother me later, I would get like some side eyes, like when our Caucasian actresses would walk into the trailer and didn't expect for black men to be there. And it was kind of like, oh, okay, well, but it went from like, oh, okay. To like oh, okay. If you're here, you must be fabulous dollar. You know, cause it, me being from the LGBT community LGBTQ XYZ, I always say, cause he, Adelaide is every year community that is, is always kind of like assume that you must be fabulous, you know? So I can say I got a pass that kind of trumped the black card. You know what I mean? From that, from my ex, just from my experience, I can't speak for others or even like straight black people or a straight black woman. Like I'm sure her experience may, might be completely different. I'm sure it is. But I kinda got that felt, but I did feel as though, like I would see other hairstylists that will come to set. And they will be in like jeans and a t-shirt and they've come for work. And they came comfortable for work because they had work to do. I never felt as though I could show up, like that always felt, this felt like I had to be like dressed to the nines. Like I had to look professional. I had to be professional. I had to dress for success cause I've always been taught to dress versus Cisco. I kind of came from that Southern brand of black people always call it the, the Martin Luther king brand of black people where everybody's like dressed and suited and booted. That's kind of how that was how I was raised. If you want to be successful, if you want to be taken seriously, you have to look like that. So I always thought if I put on some sweats to come to work, that I wouldn't be taken seriously. So so I did feel as though, as a black person, I couldn't let my guard down and just come to work comfortable if I wanted to. So that was the thing at one point. And it became also taxing on me year after year being a part of the fan prior diary brand and being at the originals, going from the original. So legacy to go into it, induction meeting year at the year episode at the episode. And. I was still the minority, you know, it wasn't like half and half, you know, and Julie pleck is wonderful when it comes to like give an opportunity to women and people of color. So you have directors that would come in, that was of different colors. You have directives coming. It was male, female. So, you know, I would feel comfortable to see who the naked director for the episode would be. Cause it would be somebody that looked like me. But I remember her saying once when, and this was like the first season, first episode of legacies and she was directing, she would always direct the first episode. And I walked up to her, she was taken off her headset and she was about to go give some directors for, for something or someone. And she said, and I said to her, Julie, I just wanted to say to you, you know, you know, thank you for building a cast that was like multicolored and you know, and male and female. And she said, instead of her taking insulin, thank you. You know, I'm receiving them. That lady, she looked around and said, yeah, but it needs to be reflected behind the scenes as well. And she walked off like she in return, you know, kind of implemented to me that there's still work to do. And that she recognized that there was still work to do. And I was like, I think I'm in the right place D working for the right person, you know? So I've, I've felt comfortable in that in spaces when sometimes I did not feel comfortable, you know, when, like I said, when no executives are no department heads kind of look like me, so it can become, you know, texts. And sometimes I would say but I know that me being there, I can't leave and go, go to a project that I guess I could, but for me to leave and go to a project where everybody looks like me, I feel like I just gave up a seat to where I can make some changes more. But yeah, so that whole black, that black man thing I'm not unaware of it. And like I said, my experience has been different since I've been here, but that is not always been the case, you know, on other projects. I recently did movie where a sound guy did not know that I was listening to him and he, he was talking about a black actress on camera and referring to an animal that she kind of looked like. And I had to like, turn that guy in and start a whole big union thing and start a whole big production thing. And it was one of those, I was in a position where it was like, Hmm, Do you say something, so there can be some change or do you not say something because you don't want to be looked at as like the troublemaker and it was right before it was 2019, so it was a, for 2020 and everything that happened in 2020. But it was like, so what do you do as a black person? Like, I don't think people, sometimes I don't think people realize how hard it is to even step up for one another in those spaces, because you could be seen as, you know, a troublemaker or as somebody who's always taken offense to something because you are black or, or they didn't mean it like that. So, you know, so I had to sit with myself and say, Hey, did he actually say that? Did he, was it, you know, was it racist? I have to ask myself these questions over and over and over before even saying anything. And so the fact where I looked over in the midst of me, like contemplating what to do, I looked over to my right. And there was a makeup artist who, you know, she was of age. She had been in the industry for quite some time. She was a black lady and tears was running down her face. So she had heard the exact same thing. And she wasn't, I don't think she was going to say anything, you know? Cause I think because he had been in the industry for so long and she had, you know, she saw how hard it was to be in her position and to get to her position. Right. I think that she's probably contemplating the same things that I was contemplating. So like, do you don't want to be looked at as a troublemaker or did I, you know, you have to ask yourself before you start any conversation or any type of problems when it comes to something like this, you have to make sure that you heard what you heard. You know, it's kind of like a sexual harassment charge, you know, for a male or female, the same thing. Like, did he mean what I thought he meant when he put his hand on the smaller, my back or, you know, when he called me sugar, was he, did he just, is he Southern? And he just called everybody sugar? Or was he being like, was, you know, it's, it's a hard place to be. And I don't think people realize how tough that is for the victim at that time. You know, it's like, well, you know, and if it also will, they believe me. And, you know, people came back and asked me after that situation producers who came back and asked, said, think God, I was working for like these wonderful producers at the time. And but he came, one of the producers came and asked me, he said, okay. He said that he was, I forgot his, his excuse. And he said, he said, he was saying this because of this. Or he wasn't talking about me. He was talking about this person. And I said, no, I said, That's not what he said, and that person was on the, on the monitor. So to give you like the clear up to kind of give you like some insight on what happened. So the director is in the scene and she had came to that, give directors to give directions to two actresses, a black one and a white one. So at the time the camera had, you know, what a director is doing, giving directions to camera a and B camera takes their time to like zoom in on like each actress to make sure that you're not alive in his right to set up his right, while the directors in a given direction, this way, your body make the adjustments, Cameron, you know, hair, makeup come in and make their adjustments. Costume will make the adjustments. So when the guy said, when he said the sound guy, it was on the Caucasian actress. And he said to her, oh my God, no, he didn't say this. There was someone standing beside him to say, oh my God, the camera loves her. And he said, yeah, she's a beauty and wants to be cameras, zoom in on the black actress. He says, unlike this one, looking like a monkey in the zoo.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 50:12

stop

Victor: 50:13

I'm I know, I know. So, and then, you know, Then it was like a fool, you know, pull out too. Like we can see that white actress, the black actress, and then the director who was also Caucasian and Caucasian, a woman. And said that, you know, he was talking about, I think he said that he was talking about the director at the time. And I was like, Hmm, no, he was not because I was watching, you know, we're sitting right there behind the monitors and I just happened to, as they was panning in, you know, that's my opportunity to see what adjustments that I need to make, because we were downstairs in a house we're on location. So I don't want to keep running up the stairs if I don't have to, this is how I know that, you know, for sure who he was talking about because I'm in front of the monitors, very, very close, picking out little things, you know, the CFL. Okay. Should I go change this? Do I need to change that? And I wanted to see before going upstairs, what the African American actress look like before going upstairs to make the adjustments. And of course, like I said, they pan in on the African-American actress, I look closely to see what I needed to see. And at that moment he says, so he says, and I was like, wait a minute. Did he just say. You know, and I thought that he might not have said it, you know, I was like, oh no, I was just talking to this guy yesterday. He was just hanging out at a different location. You know, we were, are, are set up. So right beside each other, you know his daughter was on set. You know, I love his daughter, you know, I was getting things, coffee and stuff for her. When I went to Starbucks, like we love each other. What do you mean? He did not say this Victor, stop it. He did not say this until I looked to my right. And I saw that the one actress, not one one makeup artist, it was crying. And I looked to my left to see my hair, my key hairstylist. And she was there, her head, her legs was like shaking. And I said, did you hear, she was like, yes. She said yes. And I don't know. I think he realized how loud, because he was in the sound department. And so he had big earphone phones on, I don't think he realized headphones on, on, I don't think he realized how loud he said so. Yeah. So it was different, well, place to be as though that was a more recent thing that I've experienced as a black man, more so than, you know, me having to convince people that I can do what I can do and walking into a room

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 52:57

but the fact that you said something protects even more people than you can even imagine. Cause I can think of a production that was in place years ago and everyone knew that the first, the first AD was making crude comments about everyone and they did nothing. And. It's a TV show. It's not even a movie. I think sometimes productions, like it's not worth it. There's a week left. We don't have time to retrain somebody. We'll just get through it,

Victor: 53:27

yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 53:28

for everyone that has to endure that. But I had a friend go work as a day player and had it happened to her on the one day that she was there and she's already a sexual assault victim. And they're like, do you want to protest? She's like, hell, now I know how this shit goes. Nothing happens. Like

Victor: 53:44

yeah. Wow. Wow. You see what I mean? Well, this guy, luckily, this guy was fired. They called me and they said, you know, we can't fire him, you know, to tomorrow he will, you know, he will work tomorrow and then after tomorrow he would go. And we will look for somebody to stay over the weekend to fly somebody that's over the weekend. And we were in Pittsburgh. So this is a very heavily union protected town. Like this wasn't like Georgia was, which is a right to work state. So in order to fire somebody in Pittsburgh or New York, you really have to go through some paperwork. You really have to be ready to, to battle with these unions who are there to protect people. But you know, I was ready for the battle and I think God, these producers were ready for the battle as well. And that guy was not there on Monday. He came to me on that Friday. Cause he did have to work there Friday. He said, you know, I think that, I didn't say I didn't say that. And I was like, yeah, you said that. And I was like, yes, she did. You said it. And one of the guys that, you know, the one who originally made the comment that the camera loves her. And then when he made his response of, you know, unlike this one, looking like a monkey in the zoo, when he made the guy that was who originally said, the camera loves her, it came to me the next day. He was like, you know, I don't, you know, are you sure? I don't, I'm not, I'm not sure. And I was like, what? So if you're not sure what was his response? Tell me what was his response, if you're not sure. And he was like, I just don't want to get in. And I was like, yeah, you just want it to die down and you don't want to get it. And I get it as I get all of that. I said, neither did I, but I was like, if you can't tell me what was his response. And if it wasn't, if you can tell me, you're not sure if that was what he said, what did he say? Tell me, what did he say that, you know, he was talking to you, what did he say? And he couldn't tell me. And I was like, exactly, like, you just want this to, you know, you just want it to die down. And I understand that no one wants to go, no one wants to be asked these questions. No one wants to go through these types of interviews. No one wants to be called by. You know, the PR people from, from Amazon goes the Amazon project. So, you know, Amazon is very new when it comes to producing movies and television. So like, it was a huge thing, huge interviews, lots of phone calls, lots of people asking questions and times and frames and all of these different things. And I just happened to know the timeframe as well that it happened and I could give them the exact timeframe and they roll camera back to that timeframe. And guess who was on the monitor, the black actress. So it was kind of like, yeah, he's, he's not lying. This, this happened just like he said, it happened difficult place to be in. That was the most difficult thing for me that I can think of to date as a black man in film and television. More so than someone not hiring me because they can't, they can't think I can do black hair or whatever. But when I talk about that, like that catch 22, here's the thing as a black person though, I have experienced from my own people because I have done a brand for so long that it's consistent of mostly Caucasian characters that I can't do. Black hair.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 57:14

That seems so crazy to me. Cause the first, the first show I met you on and the only projects you and I have ever worked together, you have style predominantly black actresses. So the fact that that is now

Victor: 57:27

They forgot fast so quickly. Right. I was like, what do you mean? I started out on single ladies. I started out on oh my God, what was the name of the other show? But it was on bet. And then TPS Tyler Perry studios from there, then Greenleaf, you know, which is the own project from from over referee Oprah Winfrey's productions. So to be with the vampire diary bread for so long for six, six years now, six years now, seven years now, some people will say that I'm known for doing Caucasian hair. I know. It's

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 58:06

can't win them all. Kenya

Victor: 58:07

be at man. You cannot win them all. That's what I said. I was like, big, listen, you just can't win them all. I, you know, you just have to be grateful. It was kind of like what people, when I got these positions so fast and people had, you know, they said what they said about me. And in that moment, you know, you just have to kind of like take it with a grain of salt, keep moving. And I try to give everybody a little grace because I just know some ideals are just picked up along the way in conversations in a it's like tumbleweeds and they get bigger and bigger and bigger as they go. And I just have to kind of like, I'm so busy that I just have to like, whatever when it comes to me, I'll deal with it when it's, when it sits. You know, I deal with things as it sits in front of me. Like once it hits my plate, if I'm ever asked in an interview, you know, I see here that mostly your shows are Caucasian shows. Are you comfortable with doing black hair? Do you have a portfolio that have examples of black hair? I deal with it in that moment, but other than that, I can't walk around and think, oh my God, my own people think, I don't know how to do their hair. Like, no, it's too much to carry.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 59:15

that's true.

Victor: 59:16

There's too much to carry.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 59:18

true. It's nobody has time for that. Just

Victor: 59:22

No one.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 59:23

at a time. So, okay. Two questions in that regard, one

Victor: 59:28

sure.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 59:29

you're Emmy nominated. How did you find out that you were Emmy nominated? How does that now? I mean, I feel like it would be on social media and sometimes we find that find important things out when it's reported to the rest of the world. But

Victor: 59:42

yeah. Yeah. I'll okay. So, okay. I was interviewing for the vampire diary brand and of course I didn't have enough credits, you know, like I said, this is a huge show. And and this was one of brothers and most of the production companies I had worked for at the time were BT Tyler Perry studios, and it's kind of his own world. And of course, the things that I had done with queen Latifah's company flavor unit bake up to flavor, your honor, they changed my life. Thank you so much, queen the teeth that Dana Ms. Dana Owens has a real name for those of you who don't know. So I was very grateful for those, those projects, but I was interviewing for this Warner brothers Warner brothers project, the van ride diary brand. And they did not think that I had enough credits and I was speaking, I don't want her to produce it. And she was like, you know, you came and you, you know, you, they play it over here and you feel then for us to do, you know, Phoebe Tonkin's hair and, you know, she loves you. And of course she wants you to, to come back and be the department head and Joseph who's number one, of course, he's supportive of you and wants you to be department head. But she was like, we trying to get it because studio approval. And she was saying to me, and just right now is just, don't look like we can get your approved by the studio because you know, You don't have the credits, but let's go back a bit to Shelby stone who says, I owe you one, you know, so Shelby calls me after doing the bullcrap project, she calls me and she says, has Lawrence called you yet? And Lawrence Davis is a huge hairstyle is been Emmy nominated before I know, you know, Lawrence, right. He's done entire banks. He was, yes, he was, he won an Emmy for that, for doing that. I think the tire bank show or American next top model. I can't remember which one. And she said, has he called you yet? And I was like, no, he hasn't called me. And she was like, oh, I tell him he has to call you. And I don't think at the time he wanted to hire me. I think he had in mind who he wanted to hire, because to be fair, this was a a period project and it was for HBO. So it was a huge project. And he wanted somebody that was versed in doing period styles to the 1920s, thirties, and forties. This is for Bessie Yeah. So she, he calls, he calls me once she calls him. And I think she calls him and was like, listen, Call him. Now I owe him a favor. You're going to your brother, you going to call him? So he calls me, he was like, Hey baby, how are you? How are calls everybody, baby? I was like, I'm good. He was like, yeah, I want you to come along and do best with me. And I was like, okay, sure. He was like, it's 1920. Are you first with that? And I was like, I can be, I was like I said, Lawrence, listen, I can do anything. Like, you know, give me a minute. When does it start? He was like, in two weeks I was like, oh crap. So I was like, okay, I got you. So you told me to call this guy nine months and we called him months. He, his real name is Montgomery shoot. I called Monte Monte was he's the king of period hairstyles and months. He was like, okay, come on my house this weekend. And let's just do a quick little workshop. And I was like they're like, what do you mean? One-on-one like these classes now, mind you, these classes cost anywhere from like 1500 to like $2,500 to take these classes. This guy was offering it, offering it to me for nothing. He was just like, come over on the weekend, you know, bring a bottle of wine. I don't have anything to do. I feel like being creative. So it was like the stars well or aligning. I was like, okay, well how much does it cost? And he was at cost. He was like, no, he was like, I'm working on it. I just, I want you to, you know, know what you're doing. So I want, I want, I see what you can do. So he for free, like he show me one-on-one. We went from 18 hundreds. And when he was only supposed to be showing me like 1920 to 1946, we went from like 1890 something all the way. Cause he wanted me to see where it all came from that the basis of it all the way through like 1970. So it was a long,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:03:56

though.

Victor: 1:03:57

oh my God. Oh God. It was like, he just cracked his head open and threw it all at me. Like, and as an artist to be in his wig room and you see all, like you see like five and six, 700 wigs and all different colors and you know, different types of lace and different skin tones and threads. And just, it was just like overload, like Elvis, just taking it all in. Like, I was like, I had like a panic attack. I was like taking it all there, you know? But I, I retain all the information I came. We did basically, we killed it. It was a very easy project for me because I think we did have, I had that, that crash course. So it was very beneficial and I will S best word to that being over a year later and interviewing for the vampire diaries brand. And they tell me that, you know, unless, and this producer says to me, unless you're like nominated for an Emmy or something within the next week or two, I don't see this happening.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:04:59

you have manifested some of the craziest stuff. I'm just going to have a list after this. do I, I need a lesson in Victor's abundance energy.

Victor: 1:05:11

I'll tell you, have you, have you seen the three 69 book?

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:05:16

Nope, but I'm going to write that down right now.

Victor: 1:05:18

So let me, let me, let me grab it for you so you can see what I'm talking about. So I'm a big believer in project three, six, nine, and it's project three 69. I am the creator of my own reality and you can get it at Instagram at my three six, nine project. But this book is amazing, right? So it explains to you the power of the number three, six, nine. I've been doing this for quite some time and you start your morning. Oh, this is a new one because I got some new things to manifest and you start your morning out by, you know, with three. And then you write it down three again. And by the time by mid afternoon, you're writing down in the form of 16 and nine. By the end of the day, you write these things down and you just, it just helps you practice manifestation. So, cause I'm a big believer in it. Like, like you can't tell me what's not going to happen. If I want it to happen, this is going to happen. Like we're going to do it. Like I just put it out there. I believe it's going to do it and it's going to happen. And I was like, Ugh. And I just say it randomly when she said that, I was like, yeah, I'm going to have a UV by yeah. I'm going to have a minimum. There's a yeah. But by the end of the week. Yeah, sure. But I was standing in a way of being like sarcastic, like okay. But I can remember hanging up the phone phone with her. Right. And I was sitting at my bar at a bar top of my little downtown Atlanta apartment at the time, a little, one bit real studio. And I remember putting down the phone and saying, well, that could happen. I don't know how it was going to happen. I was like, well, that could happen. So like, not even a few days later Lawrence called and he said, are you sitting down? And I was like, No. He was like, sit down. And I was like, okay, I'm thinking like, oh my God. Cause I'm thinking of the person who originally called Lawrence for me too. They played for him, the guy that I was dancing with and in the club nightclub, I'm thinking, oh my God, something must be wrong with Anthony. Like this, this is about to be something terrible. He said, do you have a computer? And I was like, yeah, I don't have a computer, but my head is like pounding right now. Like, so I can't figure out where to do that. Just go, go get crappy computer for him. I want you to look something up for me. And I was like, okay. Okay. All right, Jesus Christ, what is going on? So I pull up my computer, he said, he said, check your email. It's going to pull up your email. And he said, I'm about to email you something. And I see it there plain as day. It was like HBO. Congratulations. You're just nominated for an Emmy, right? For busy. And I was like, you haven't got to be here to me. I literally took my laptop and closed it down. I slammed it down like, oh my God, like, what do I do with this? And that's when I started, like, it wasn't a screen. I tell people it was more like a squeal. It was more like, so we're the skirt weirdest scream. You've probably heard before your life, because it, I was trying to scream, but something was like suppressing it some way. I'll be like, oh my God, what is going on? And he started laughing and he was like a congratulate, you know, he called me baby. Congratulations, baby. That's what I was saying about the sexual harassment. Cause some people just say baby all the time, you know? So you just never know. So he was like, congratulation, maybe he's like, you're on your way. And I was like, oh my God. I said, what does this mean? How does this work? And he was like, click on the email. It'll, it'll tell you everything. Cause I got some worse stuff to get together right now. And he said, but I'm going to throw a big party. And of course, you know, you'll want it to honorees because we're nominated together. And I was like, okay, thank you. Oh, okay. All right. Thank you. But you know, in that moment, so I opened back up the email and I click on the email and it was like a full, like I had got a sign on assistant and like, they was like, hi, my name is such and such and such and such. I will be your assistant, you know, guiding you through the award, winning the award process. And I was like, what is the award process? So there's like banquets when you're nominated. There's like banquets and governors balls and like a showcase two nights too. It's like a whole week leading up until the Emmy's. Okay. So I'm thinking most of them, oh my God, like, what am I going to do? He was like, you know, you've got to hit your car. We're going to hit you. So you get, you get assigned a limo, you get a sign assist, an assistant, you get assigned, you know, a hotel. And they want to know if you need any assistance with what you're going to wear. So like, you know, they were like, have you ever had a tuxedo design? Are you printing on purchasing wine? You're going to wear something custom. And I was like, oh, of course I'm wearing something custom. Are you crazy? What's the Macy's like, I'm not going to Macy's like, what are you? Are you crazy? Like, I have a friend who was a fashion designer who was on project around where you, oh, of course I'm wearing something that's designed. But you know, in that moment I will, I will tell you this. I went straight from like celebrating to, I have to call this producer back. I have what I need now. And it was like, guess what? She was like, hi Victor, you know, I said, have you guys filled the position yet? And she was like, no, she was like, you know, we're still going through the approval process. You know, they haven't gotten back with us on you. She said, you have you thought of another credit or something you want to add to the project? And I was like, yeah, I just got nominated for an Emmy for Bessie. And she was like, you gotta be kidding me. And I was like, yeah. She was like, well, you know, I don't want to, like gene say anything. She's like, congratulations. She was like, you know, welcome to vampire to the vampire, welcome to the originals. She was like, you know, I'm sure you're going to be pick on that except you after this. And then they did. She sent everything in. I had to have someone she said, so send me another resume. So I had to call somebody, get them to do another resume. Does now say Emmy nominated Victor Jones, you know, so I had the whole setup had to change even the format and what it looked like and the paper, everything. Cause it had to be a little bit more phone. Well now, you know, so I sent that in, everything went through and that was that. And

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:11:38

you call to get a resume? Like what does that difference look like?

Victor: 1:11:43

so when you're doing, when you're, when you're nominated, like I actually asked someone to like, that was nominated to see me what theirs look like, you know? Like how does it change? Cause it goes from being like a regular credit list to now the format. Cause it's the T is the television academy. So now you have like the television academy format that you get to use. So it was like presented in front. The television academy is a different type of letterhead that they'll give you that's from the television academy to kind of like, prove that you're in, when nomination is real and you kind of go from the, yeah, you kind of go from there and you kinda redo the critics list underneath, but because the format is different, it doesn't look like her creator list. Like it's all kind of like spread out like this, like in blocks now, more so than straight up and down because the television academy laid things at the top. The, the letterhead is at the top and then along the side panel is the actual picture of a naming all down the side. And so then the block form is coming down from there that somebody did it. Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:12:48

that's so interesting. I've never thought about that. Yeah.

Victor: 1:12:51

I know everything, everything kinda, everything kinda changed. Your rates changed everything. Like, so the type of money you ask for changes, your accommodation changes when putting you up in certain places and send you certain places like so it's a bit of a difference. Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:13:06

Union at that point?

Victor: 1:13:09

I was 90 million at that point. Didn't even qualify. Did, even if I

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:13:15

for an MBA kid joined the union.

Victor: 1:13:18

Yeah. And can't even join a union. Isn't it amazing. It was crazy. But here goes back to what people were saying about me originally. Like it's kinda like how, why, like there's not enough credits, like how did he even get that project? Like how did you know, he's not even, he doesn't even have enough days. Like he's only done a 30, 30 day movie in a 30 day movie there and, you know, TPS, you know, Iran so fast, you know, but one day I can say about TPS because we do so in this helped me a lot. I have my qualms about TPS and in the, in this format to how fast it shoots or whatever I have my concerns. But what's helpful is you can get so many credits in a shorter period, shorter amount of time because you're doing a full television show. I think happened to have not so many between the two episodes. We'll be filmed in six weeks. So in six weeks you can get nine months worth of credits, something that would take you usually takes you nine months. And then you have if loving you is wrong or right behind that. And then, you know, the other three little 30 minute shows that was like 16 episodes. So you got 22 from having have not. You have 22 credits from if loving you is wrong, then you have like I think that was 16 episodes, each of those 30 minute running. So that was like 16 and 16. So he re go now with what? 32 that's 32. So you have a abundance of credits within like a two or three month period on top of Emmy nomination. So it just, it just made my resume looks so much, it just stacked it up so much better. So that was, that was a blessing as well, but it was just a lot at a shorter period of time. So I can understand why people were somewhat upset. Like, you know, I've been doing this for a long time and here's this kid they came through and was able to achieve, you know, a lot really fast. But I try to like, hold them up. I understand where they're coming from with it, but I tried to hold them up and think about the people that came before me and kind of like, hold up that honor of how they want things or on, you know, maintain the, my end, my dignity when it comes to certain things and implementing certain rules and standing up for certain things like I did in Pittsburgh, like I try to really like pay for my seat. By doing things behind the scenes that a lot of people, you know, don't see standing up for certain rates and standing up for certain accommodation when it comes to my people that a lot of people just don't see. But I do that in honor for those who came before me, because I understand that I'm standing on their shoulders, like, okay, I got this fast that I was able to get this fast because you did it the long way, or you did at the slow way, you know? So you made it a better path from oneself. So I won't just trash that experience because with my own ego, and now this has nothing to do with me. I stand in honor.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:16:17

you found such a crazy journey. That's I mean,

Victor: 1:16:21

I know.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:16:22

that's amazing, but I think at the same time, like when you're in the, I have one of the things I think I saw and you've probably seen is that people who've been doing the job for a while are able to spot potential and new people really quickly. And if they see the potential, they're willing to do whatever they, like, I had not the same, but a similar experience to you with the first movie that I ever did after I quit my job in my nine to five. And I went from being a PA to Brunning to being essentially there filling second ID. And that was what I had right before TPS. But that was the first, you know, I had a first who understood and saw that potential. And I think. Being able to stay humble. And that was something that I wanted to talk about too, is that,

Victor: 1:17:15

you have to

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:17:16

such a, I think it's really easy in that environment to feel so detached or to feel the energy that could exist. But isn't actually real about anything to do with anybody's job. Like all of these jobs are so grounded, but we idealize them. It sounds like you've stayed really humble with that, but I know that some of that's been a journey for you too.

Victor: 1:17:42

it has, because I always tell people that there is a thin line between confidence and ego and as a department head, excuse me, especially, what did you say as a black department, as an LGBTQ department head? I carry all these different things to be it that I need a certain amount of confidence sometimes to go into a room, but confidence and ego kind of teeters a certain thin line. But when I have to stand up for certain things because I know they are right to more so. Then what I want because Emmy nominated Victor Jones more. I know like, no, no, no, no, no. I had to really like decipher between what it is that, you know, what is it that is a very necessary or people to be treated correctly. There it is, you know, also to create a like are around where people can grow and elevate and fight for them. If they are working hard to get certain positions behind me it can kind of like Teeter a line of like, am I, you have to kind of ask yourself, am I doing this because this is necessary for this process to move forward? Or am I doing this? Because I just want these things as Victor. So that's what you kind of like, have to think is stuff in third person. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And even to even think he has stuff in third, first night, what kind of ego goes behind that? You know, so it's like a whole bunch of work best you have to constantly do mentally, but because I'm so engulfed, I think with my family and my kids and stuff that I'm able to kind of stay in that world more so than this one, I still see this is work. Of course this is a dream of mine. Yeah. And, and I enjoyed, and I have passions passions there. But to keep myself grounded. I have to constantly remind myself that I'm standing on the street. Like I would not be here if there wasn't for Charles Gregory, I would not be here if it wasn't for Ken Walker. Like I w I just wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for Carol sheet or any of those black people who really went through it, they have some horror stories. And I'm still lucky that I was able to even hear some of those horror stories and it actually passed them on what not to do and what to do. There was this, there was a crazy story about a makeup artist, African-American lady who was taking home an actor, and you know, how we call martini at the end of the night? Well, that's a comes from a real thing, and they actually used to drink a martini or a do a shot at, or at the end of the night. Like this was a thing, you do a shot and you go home. Well, this actor did a shot. This makeup artist did a shot. And you know, this actor couldn't drive a didn't drive and transport was supposed to be taking him home, but he and the makeup artist had become very close with one another. And so she was like, yeah, we live in the same area. I take you home. And he was like, oh, great. I didn't want to wait on the transport van anyway. So they went home. Of course, those an accident was not her fault. Another car hit them, but because they found alcohol in her system and the active system, you know, she's pretty much lost her whole career. And yeah. Got charges thrown at her. That was like humongous charges that, you know, she wouldn't have gotten if she was a, a Caucasian woman, you know, driving this act at home, it would have. And the fact that the accident was not even her fault, like somebody like slammed into them, you know, it's so, but the, the production company sued her it's it was crazy because they have to not hire an actor to feel the spot because they can't use this actor anymore. So they ended up suing her for his salary, for the upcoming salary or the next person. It was like a huge day. It was like people throwing the book at this lady left and right. And it's this horse or that we all get, you know, tote. When we come into the industry of like, don't become too close. This is why we say don't become too close with the accurate, this is why we say, don't go over to actors homes. This is why we say, you know, don't be in cars with them. Like kind of keep that professional distance because if something happens, they're not going to blame the actor. They're going to blame you. And it all stems from the core of that original story. And everybody knows that that story would have went completely different. If, if, even if you was driving them home, you know what I mean? Well, we all take a shot at the end of the night and that, you know, that was just a shot, you know? And that was not even her fault. Well, no, it did not go that way. If she got the sheep went to jail, shoot. No, I'm sorry. She went to prison. She got out of prison with lawsuits and she has no career.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:22:34

that is, I have no words for that.

Victor: 1:22:38

Okay. Yeah. So it's things like that. They keep me humble because I know I stand on people's shoulders like that, you know, that pave, you know, that gave some major sacrifices for me to be here. I have no room for ego. It's like, how dare, how dare I, you know, how dare the next person that comes up behind me to have like some type of ego, because they've gotten something so fast, she was able to get it so fast because other people make so many sacrifices, but we have to tell those stories.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:23:08

It's crazy to me that we treat actors that way. Like,

Victor: 1:23:13

Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:23:14

I mean yes, her experience, but also that we glorify them so much that they are, so their value is so much more than 300 crew members. Like it's just,

Victor: 1:23:26

Any, any day of the week, any of the other week. And it's also sometimes crazy that they allow it. I must say Joseph Morgan really should really just set the standard. I remember one day it was raining really bad and. They was putting some actors on a van and we was crew members just standing there. You know, we were standing in the rain as well, and I'm starting to light. It started lightening was starting to flash and they was like, hold up, you guys can't get on the same God, this is the actress van and Joseph slung until the door opened. And he was like, are you kidding me? He was like, it is like me. He was like, no F that, come on, everybody come on. If we have to sit in one another's laps, come on. Let's go. And he was like, what? And then the PA was standing there with the umbrella once we got on. And he was like, what are you waiting for? Come on. Cause she was even like confused on whether or not she should get on the van or not. And he was like, no, come let's go. But you know, I can't say that every actor would have done that. You know, we hope that they would, but we've seen examples where, you know, they would've just let somebody to bust them right off and everybody else got away in the next van, but he wasn't gonna have it. But yeah. And so I think they also have to set the standard or change the narrative, the things like that. If you want to see a change in things like that. But you know, the fans on who you get.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:24:58

that it does.

Victor: 1:24:59

Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:24:59

that's crazy. set life.

Victor: 1:25:04

Yeah. It's been an interesting run, right?

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:25:07

Yeah. Now I'm having flashbacks to having what jeans for 10

Victor: 1:25:11

I saw that I saw that I thought I brought out some trauma for you. See, I told you, we, we started off talking about these traumas that we don't deal with. That was some

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:25:20

in my season of healing right now. I have been doing my future self journaling in the morning and I've set a goal to run a half marathon, partially because I want that time as like my designated time to just sit and whatever it is, I need to sit in every day like have it as a part of the journey, but it's there. You just kind of have to be willing to get your shovel and dig it up and not bury it deeper.

Victor: 1:25:48

yeah, definitely. It's beneficial to do so. And so you can go ahead and release it because certain things that are triggers, you know, and just now when I brought it up, it was kind of like, Ugh.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:26:04

oh yeah. You always remember those experiences, the actors who do say something that actors who don't say something, the ones that you're just like, okay, cool. Can you go to set now? That'd be great. Thanks.

Victor: 1:26:14

Please. And thank you.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:26:16

Then they're like,

Victor: 1:26:19

Yeah. You get some real dolls.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:26:21

get in the van?

Victor: 1:26:23

Yeah. You get some real dolls and sometimes you just get some real deaths too. It's kind of like, it's unfortunate.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:26:29

All right. Things that you're doing to stay motivated. Now that you've kind of, I mean, you hit the top really quickly. So how are you keeping yourself creatively engaged in staying in that space? Like what are you doing for yourself right

Victor: 1:26:47

Indie indie projects and, and things to that nature. Definitely. Working with other writers and directors who are doing like little indie projects and giving my 2 cents on that from like I'm here and I'm gaining all this information, all this free education, I would say. So to pass that on to people who want to be in the industry, different writers and directors, and they want to do independent films and they call somebody like me and they go, what I know, or they reach out to minister grim. Like, I know I couldn't afford you. But if you can give me any advice and I want to see it, and I was like, send me an NDA and let me see, let me read what you're working on. And it was like, What's the NDA, you know, they don't even know what an NDA is. And I was like, it's a non-disclosure agreement, which means I can't take her script. Like everything. She should never send this script out to anyone without sitting in India. They're like, oh my God, I didn't even know that. So just teaching in that way. And also once I read something and I will go, you know, oh, I'd love to come do this. I would love to, you know, help you with this. And, you know, and they're always like shocked, like shocked is my time to like be creative and do some projects and do some things that I want to do in the way that I want to do them. So although it seems as though helping them, like they're helping me to kind of get my hands into like different pots, because I don't want to just be on the hair and makeup side of things. Like I said before, I've always, Bulkeley say it, what I wanted. And I do want to get into like, to produce your side of things. There are producers like the producer who I, who first gave me my start, who gave me my hair makeup, you know, department writing one-on-one her primary job was just the looks of these characters. So I want to be that producer in that position that, or just oversees that portion. There's like so many different stages. That directors have to go through before even, or costumes and hair and makeup have to go through even before presenting something to a director. So I want to be at that stage of like being that final person of this is what we present instead of like, just sending it all to them. Kind of cutting out that middleman and in that, in that way of sending hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of photos, instead of just like extending the best five or 10 or whatever for them to choose from, I want to be that person that sits there and the status or what they see when it comes to stuff like that. Because Shelby is that person who decides what they see when it comes to stuff like that. She kind of eliminates some of the stress and, and trust me, a director don't want to see a hundred photos. Like they, they never want to see a hundred photos. It's just overwhelming. They want to see like the top 10 of what costumes, the top tens of hairstyles and makeup choices of, they don't want to see, you know, five shit. They don't know what five, most men or even women don't know what five shades of red look like. You know, they know one is a little cooler than the next, and one is a little warm, but you know, there's like oranges and reds and blues and, you know, there's different types of reds. So. And they don't always know what they're picking because like, I will know the lighting setup. I know, you know, or we shooting inside or outside. Well, there's a black and white or color, like how that look we're reading. Cause the blue red and we'll shoot them black and white. Of course it's going to look black, but if it's like a orange, red and we're shooting in black and white, it, it won't look, it looked like Lucille ball, you know, so things like that. And they'll just pick colors because, okay, I need to pick one out of just the 100 and they'll just pick things. It was like, no, I'm presenting to you in the light. And the filter that I noticed you're shooting me and what's going, it looks best in that, in that filter. And you choose from those. So pushing to get positioned like, like that. Now it's kind of like at the top of my, having those meetings with different producers. And let me tell you some things to that that is hard to do. Like I said, once again, to come out is it kind of reminds me of when I was coming out of the salon, going into film and television and I was trying to explain, or I wanted to do this and how to actually get producers on the phone to talk about certain things and, and give certain ideas and say, I want to do this. And sometimes not getting any calls back at all or even getting called back. I think sometimes getting the call back is almost worse than not getting a call back at all. You know, it's kind of like, okay, I just got a call about a month ago. And I was like, what you, wasn't you telling me about a project? For this. And, you know, Netflix just came and gave me this huge deal and I got to get some content out. Are you still interested in and doing this and just kind of like, yeah, but I didn't think he was taking me seriously. So am I prepared to do, you know, so you gotta, at that moment, you gotta be ready with your pitch in that. So tell me about it. It's kind of like now, while I'm driving down the street, he was like, yeah, tell me about it. I said, you have to, you have to take a deep breath. And here's what I say that confidence has to come in. Or you kind of go through your whole spiel, not only why what you want to do, why you want to do this. Why is it important for this time? Why people want to see it? And it can't just be like, well, listen, Netflix, Hulu, and everybody else need a whole bunch of content right now because people are just sitting at home watching TV. So it does not matter. You can say it that you and this may maybe what I'm thinking. Like, it doesn't matter. You just need content. Let's go, oh, but you have to go, you know, this is what the world needs right now. And why, because you know, either that point of view isn't present or we need more of this point of view from this time period because of this is, you know, a Andy Warhol time period like that, you know, a big fashion, a big art movement happened at this time. It's solid. You have to do radio with it. So like I said, those callbacks can sometimes be. Overwhelming more so than not getting laid off. And I was like, okay. I knew they wasn't going to call me back. I knew they wasn't going to take me seriously. But because I believe in three, six, nine, I kind of knew that it was going to call you back. I'm like, what I'm talking? Am I talking about like, what do you mean Vic? That you knew they were going to call? And so you have to be prepared. So that's what I'm doing. That's how I keep myself. I have a lot of independent projects. I want them because I want to move to another level that I'm just like working on pushing towards like getting my name out there, flapping my mouth as much as I can about, you know, what kind of value can I bring to this project and why, why, why you need me and how can I help you more so than why I need you is all have to be focused on why you need me in this moment. Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:33:38

think that's good business advice in general though, even as you know, that's I hate pitching, pitching is my least favorite part of my job. It exhausts my energy, but if you can't tell why you're valuable and why somebody would work with you, I mean, you've lost the conversation.

Victor: 1:33:59

you kind of lost it a while ago. Yeah. You lost it before it started, actually. Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:34:06

very true. Okay. What is your wellness hack? Because film hours are long and you are a very busy person. So what's something that you feel like has really helped. You just stay healthy and strong all that you do.

Victor: 1:34:23

I definitely, I always say the key to physical health is definitely mental health. Like we can not be gate meditating, spending some time alone, some types of practices, yoga. Like it's also, it's something very good. And I, and I was one of those people to go, ah, I hate yoga because I'm stiff and I am not flexible at all. And I always feel like my poses look, don't look like the person's all along and lean. I want my pose. I'm an overachiever. So I want my poses to look like the lady poses on a dang film. If it doesn't look like that on the Le on the video, like the lady on the video, I'm probably not going to do it. But I have to keep telling myself like, listen, you feel better than you felt yesterday because you did it and your poses would get better as you go forward. But I do during the pandemic I started to, I've always been a person who watched what I eat. I was a, yo-yo a diner. I am still a yogurt yo-yo daughter. And I'm now not. This is the first time I'm saying to myself that I'm no longer doing that because it come to me in so many ways. Right? Thank you. It has come to me in. So from so many different messages from the universe that this is not good, you should stop doing this. And I've confirmed and I never believed it. I always thought, you know, thinner is better. You must be fit. You know, if you're Dan or you must be fit and that's not always the case, you know? So I've gotten out of that mindset. It's like, no matter what size I am, cause I was much heavier at one point. So I always tell people, no matter how many times you lose the weight and you lose weight, you're still the person that you originally started off. And you still that 300 pound person or that 250 pound person, whatever size you started off in your mind. So any amounts of weight gained you immediately go back to, oh my God, I feel, you know, I can breathe. I feel like my legs are hairy. I feel tired. And I don't know that it's a mental thing. So during the pandemic, I was like, I am going, this is the time I'm at home. I'm going to get in the best physical shape of my life, whatever apps I want it, they will show up this time. However, I want my arms look. They will show up this time. And in the midst of doing that, Savannah, what I learned is because I was spending a lot of time alone and doing a lot of stretching in between because I was tearing my body up in such a way. What I learned is like, oh, I originally started off doing this for the physical aspect of it. But my mental space, like too, let me, let me tell you something to be a black man in America. And you see at a ma Opry happened and brought daylight in 2020. The traumatizing effect of that is like, you think this could happen to me, that looked like the street that I live on, like in her run on the street that looked very similar, like full of trees, curve like that, where the houses are spaced out. Like this could just happen to me. And my neighbors wouldn't know it was happening to me in that way, until it has happened, no one would come out and you always think, well, this could happen, got people around and be like, what are you doing? Stop that. Like, are you guys crazy? Like, what are you doing? But that did not happen so that you think, oh my God, my son looks like this. This could happen to him or a cousin. So like this whole mental depression thing happens that it's becomes like this huge weight on you. So in the midst of like that, it was like, I want it to not only be physically stronger for what physically, what I look like, but also want it to be stronger for just in case this happened to me. I could be strong enough to defend myself. You know, like thinking that I had to be like a warrior now, like this, I gotta be able to fight to the death and I didn't never in my life. However, have I ever contemplating ever having to fight to the death? Like you see that on like movies, you know, you don't just does not happen in real life like that. So it started off that way, but I didn't realize how traumatized I was until I started to like work out and imagining like doing like air boxing. And imagine you, if I had to like air box somebody off of me, like then realizing in that moment why I was doing that and why I felt like I had to do that. And then tears started to like run down my face and I started to realize like, oh my God, like I am in a state of shock and trauma. Like I am doing this because I am traumatized. But in that moment, once that those tears start to run down, it's kind of like, okay, There's something there's something mentally wrong. And so then the exercises started to turn something to, to fix my mental health. And it was kind of like, oh, okay. So my mental health is most important in order to even to get to like certain Xs or to get to certain AB workouts and to push myself to that next level, when, you know, I'm sore or whatever, like, oh, all of that stuff is mental. I never got there before because I wasn't mentally zoned in to like, okay, my legs are going to hurt, but you know, I got to do my recovery stuff. I know what I gotta do. I gotta get up. I gotta do this, the discipline behind it all. So I started with my I'm saying all that to say, trying to do something that was based off vanity at first, then trying to do something that was based off being in defense of myself. I realized that my mental health was most important. And I started to like zone in and started to like read and meditate and get back into like my manifestation for what I wanted for my life. And also try to figure out what I could do against something like. This whole situation. Like what can I do that? You know, that it isn't physical, that I have to go out and fight against something like this. Like looking at certain organizations of actually on the ground, doing certain things, certain protests, serving at blue in different organization that needed money. And I had extra funds to do X, Y, and Z just to try to help in that way. So I just had to kind of like rechannel everything. But in the midst of that, I was healing myself and I didn't even know didn't even know I needed healing at the time until I was just air and myself to death one day and realized that actually imagining, oh my God is my first time ever saying this out loud. I would actually imagining that I was punching at somebody with a KU Klux Klan hood on in 2020. Yeah. Cause it cause my workout at the end, the evening and it started to get dark. And I was like facing like my deck area. And it was just all woods. And that imagery went from like the sun going down to being darker and I was punching and that I could see like something white moving between the trees. And before I knew it, whatever white was moving between the cheat trees, it was like somebody in a quick clips plan who all black front and bottom down, just the hood on up top. And they were like standing right at the end of my porch. Or right at the end of my deck and I was punching at that, that had mentally showed up. It was like, okay, something is wrong.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:42:10

it's crazy. What movement will bring out in you and like trauma that you're physically holding, you don't even know, and then you

Victor: 1:42:19

Didn't even know

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:42:20

like, oh, that was a landmine.

Victor: 1:42:23

Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:42:24

probably deal with that.

Victor: 1:42:25

Yup. Yeah, we should do with that. Yeah. This is more than a workout today. So yeah. Go deal with that. Grab your glass of wine and figure some things out. Yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:42:43

I am so sorry that you had to go through that, but I'm so grateful that you created this space and held the space for yourself to acknowledge that you were going through that and

Victor: 1:42:55

yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:42:56

taking the time to sit in it, even though it's hella uncomfortable. I can imagine

Victor: 1:43:02

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. And then it didn't stop. So it was kind of like, okay, you, you got, you got to figure out how to navigate through this so you can function so you can still function. And then I started to like, think about what everybody else in the world that was going through, who didn't have my privileged lifestyle. Cause I will be the first to vocalize that my lifestyle is very privileged compared to in almost the people that look like to me. And I became, and it's the moment of gratitude started to come over me. But then it started to like even having to sit in that like at the end of the day, no one knows who I am and what I do for a living, all those different things. Like when they, if they're doing something crazy racist and they could be doing something against me because they feel as though, right. I shouldn't be in this neighborhood because my neighborhood is predominantly white. When I walk out of it neighborhood and go for a run, most of the signs that was up and down my street were Trump Pence signs. And it doesn't mean everybody who vote for Trump. Pence is a racist. That's not what I'm saying, but I'm just saying most of the people that did not look like me or identify, but what, you know, my life looked like growing up or even going forward for people who look like me. So even having to say it in that, like, okay, but yeah, I don't have, you know, I have some protections because I'm not exposed to certain things, but do I feel protected because I am a neighborhood of people who may or may not protect me.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:44:38

that's a lot.

Victor: 1:44:40

It's a lot girl.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:44:42

I mean, I can only speak to the small portion of walking through it, having a female black best friend, and, you know, having those conversations of, if you're going for a run, some, one of us needs to know. We need to know when you leave, everybody needs to know your location, like our precautions. But

Victor: 1:45:01

it. Same way with my daughter. It was, it was the same way. It was like, turn on, like share your location, wherever you go on. Like, you know, share location until you're back home. And it's, she, you know, she, she didn't grow up like that. So she grew up in Midtown Atlanta. So it's kind of like what all of her friends look, none of her friends look like her, you know, that she had Jewish friends, she has Muslim friends. She had all her friends are different Hispanic Raina she's African-American, but Raina is also biracial. So she was the only person that was like fully African-American and out of her core group of friends. So this is culture shock for her as well, to even have to, like, I

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:45:45

so important, but it's, it's not, it's not as simple conversation. I won't say. I mean, I think they're conversations where people are open and it's easier to have them. And peop everybody wants to show up the people who want to show up to the table and say, listen, I always know that I don't know something. So please tell me, but

Victor: 1:46:08

Yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:46:08

still

Victor: 1:46:09

yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:46:10

I cannot cannot be in pat. Imagine being parent. Okay, well, let's make it lighter beauty or a

Victor: 1:46:17

an on a light note

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:46:18

Yes. Beauty or hair tip. You wish that everybody knew.

Victor: 1:46:24

hair hair is like plants. If you think of hair like plants, you will be, your hair will be just fine. So when there's a root, okay. There's like your hair, your, your strands are like leaves and the pores on them, like open up to receive water. The not the follicle. Why, why can't, why am I? My brain is going crazy, but your hair hair's actually scales that open up to receive water. We hair gets frizzy is because it's missing some type of moisture. So what it's doing is, is it opens up to receive the moisture out of the out of bed air. And it can do that. It's kind of like putting a plant in a bathroom. If you have a bathroom that has a window in it, And you put the plan in there that plant would do better than any other plant in your home, because unless you take a shower every night, there's like a steam treatment that happens for that plant. And it receives like that water at night and it gets like more water than your other plants in a way that is not over-watering because it opens up and just take Sam what it needs more so than it does when you just dump it all on the roots. So if you think of hair like that, you will know how to then and create our control, like the moisture and the maintenance, the maintenance of your hair from being like, so poorest of the porosity of it, you can kind of bring it down when you think about it like this. So we want to add more surface.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:47:56

routine.

Victor: 1:47:57

Oh yeah. If you seen your hair before adding conditioner, or if you steam your hair before adding any type of moisturizer and then blowing it a mistake down before adding any kind of moisturizer on it, if he's feeling kind of dry, like it receive this so much better because that water opens it up so they can kind of Zuora it more so than sitting, sitting on top. Oh

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:48:21

that's going to be my new hair hack and very excited to incorporate this into my life. Thank you for your wisdom.

Victor: 1:48:26

Steam was savior your skin and your hair. So if you have a little Amazon steamer at home, you just steam your face and steam your hair and then start your whole routine. You'll see a big difference immediately.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:48:39

good to know. Okay. And then last question. Well, two last questions, book, movie, or quote, that's changed your life.

Victor: 1:48:51

cool movie that changed my life. What definitely. Oh my God. There's so many different ones in different. Okay. I will tell you this this is kind of crazy beaches. If you ever heard of beaches with Betonville, there

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:49:08

I haven't seen it, but I've heard of it. Yeah.

Victor: 1:49:11

is one of my favorite movies because it gave me it was my first introduction that everything doesn't last always, and also that there's also beauty in what's left behind. Okay. Because I, if you haven't seen the movie, there's someone that passes away, but their daughter is left behind. So it goes, the movie goes from there, but that was one of the quotes that are definitely one of the movies that changed my life. What was the other quote that changed my life.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:49:42

you could pick quote, movie, book, whatever, whatever works for you. I know that some people

Victor: 1:49:47

What? Well, well, yeah, well, beauty beaches is definitely one of them, a Coke that changed my life was definitely by oh, I have a few, one was definitely by Maya. Angelo is someone shows you who they are. Believe them. Like that is one of those things that have really changed my life because it helps me to navigate I used, I used to be one of those types of people that try to fix people and try to like, you know, give them a second chance. They might be having a bad day or whatever, but, you know, whatever they present once they present something different you kind of like, believe them, even if gives you, give them some grace here and there for certain things, you kind of like have to like, believe, like, what's that thing, that common denominator that keeps coming up, what's at the core of that person. That's within relationships that within job employees, employee, employer family members, you name it. And one of my favorite books is the past. And I can't think of our native son. I think native son would be one of my favorite books. And I can't think of

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:50:51

the show notes. I

Victor: 1:50:53

I feel, I feel as, yeah, I feel as though I feel bad because I can't think of other native son, but native son is definitely like one of those books that I can kinda, I can get lost in. And it kind of hits on so many different re Richard Wright is the author of names done. And it, it just kind of hits on like so many different life's experiences. Even though it's fun. This one particular care response point characters points. And for you, it definitely hits on like life experiences that you can apply across the board. Yeah.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:51:26

perfect. Okay. And last question. If there was something missing from crafty, like the entirety of some food, what would you be accused for taking.

Victor: 1:51:41

that is so funny. It has

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:51:43

great question because everybody has actors always want the sugary stuff. Every actor I've talked to takes all the doughnuts or all the mens or all of the sweet stuff.

Victor: 1:51:56

It has changed over the years. It started off as there were, oh my God has really changed over the years. There were these peanut m&ms that used to be like in a container that used to sit off to the side. I'll always still those. But then it changed to kick cat came out with a mint chocolate covered Kit-Kat that was chocolate going to end up with mint covered on the outside. I'll always go still those girls definitely something sweet. But then as my diet began to change, I started to steal like anything that was like, non-dairy. Like, so if it was like a non-dairy creamer, that was like in little crafty cooler. Yeah. I was definitely taking that whole creamer because I knew throughout the day that I was going to be drinking more coffee to anybody else and that they only bought one non-dairy creamer for four to 300 people. And yeah, I was like, no, I'm taking this non-dairy creamer because you know, everybody else is just fake vegan and I'm like going at it for real, for real. And I want the nine day recruitment. Right. They're

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:53:01

at, based on set, but I've been raiding the hair trailer.

Victor: 1:53:06

I'm not, I'm not base anymore, but I'm still dairy free. So, you know, to this day, Estia, don't do the dairy we're out and we're at some fancy restaurant and someone orders, a lobster Mac and cheese tastes, you know, oh, I gotta hit my head that in so long, I'll taste a fork full. But I'm always like, ah, I shouldn't have done that, but it's not definitely not in my day to day, but I try not to deprive myself of things. Yeah. I've tried not to what I feel. I feel like everything in moderation, that's so funny. I'm quoting my Angelo again. She said, you know, everything in moderation, in moderation for your moderation. And I was like, ah, okay, I get that. And like, I don't know why I get that, but I get exactly what you say. Yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:53:53

so true.

Victor: 1:53:54

yeah,

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:53:55

thank you for catching up with me. I miss you guys. I feel like

Victor: 1:54:00

No, come back.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:54:03

in, I mean, it's the plan I would love to be back in Atlanta and about six months, I'm manifesting that for the next year, but I have two weddings in December here and I'm made of honor for one and I'm like it's just, let's just get through.

Victor: 1:54:20

yeah, one step at a time. Yeah, I understand.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:54:23

but I am so, so grateful that I got to spend the time talking to you and hearing your story and just catching up with you in general, but actually getting to sit down and have time to have this conversation.

Victor: 1:54:41

Yeah. I appreciate it. Thank you for inviting me.

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:54:45

to see what you manifest next.

Victor: 1:54:48

Okay. I'm going to write it down. We're going to start writing it out and then I'm going to like show you once it kind of like comes to fruition. I'm going to show you like, look, I wrote this down after talking with you and

savannah-wss-x-victor-jones-moore: 1:54:59

text me and send it to me. I love it. Cause I've been manifesting some stuff lately too. And it's, it's so fun. It's also kind of terrifying. Cause then you're like, what did I not get? Because my energy was not in the right space.

Victor: 1:55:13

yeah. Yeah. You get what I'm telling you. You get what you attract. The law of attraction is, is definitely like a real thing.