Acclaimed writer, director, and executive producer Ericka Nicole Malone joins Lesley to share her journey of reigniting old dreams and exploring new ones. In this candid conversation, Ericka dives into her latest documentary, The Bucket Wish, and reflects on how embracing life’s challenges has deepened her purpose and strengthened her confidence. Through her insights, Ericka encourages others to pursue their passions, overcome perfectionism, and live authentically.

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In this episode you will learn about:

The making of The Bucket Wish and Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story.
Ericka’s “Bucket Wish” framework for uncovering new possibilities.
How new experiences can build confidence and resilience.
Conquering self-doubt and overcoming perfectionism.
Embracing failure as part of the creative and learning journey.
The importance of protecting your dreams from negative influences.

Episode References/Links:

Ericka Nicole Malone Website - https://erickanicolemalone.com
Ericka Nicole Malone Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/erickanicolemalone
Ericka Nicole Malone TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@erickanicolemalone
Ericka Nicole Malone Twitter - https://x.com/ErickaNMalone
The Bucket Wish Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/bucketwishofficial
The Mahalia Jackson Story on Hulu - https://www.hulu.com/movie/remember-me-the-mahalia-jackson-story
Backward Wish Documentary - https://erickanicolemalone.com/the-bucketwish/
Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - https://a.co/d/6TGbonV

Guest Bio:

Ericka Nicole Malone is indeed a multifaceted entrepreneur in the entertainment industry. Her roles span from being a playwright, a producer, to a lifestyle expert, each showcasing her diverse skills and expertise. As a playwright, Malone crafts compelling stories, dialogues, and characters for theatrical productions, demonstrating her creativity, storytelling prowess, and understanding of dramatic structure and audience engagement. In her role as a producer, Malone oversees various aspects of bringing a creative project to fruition, whether it's a play, film, or television show. This includes securing funding, assembling talent and crew, managing budgets and schedules, and ensuring the production's overall success. Beyond theater and production, Malone also shines as a lifestyle expert, offering advice and insights into various aspects of living well. This could encompass fashion, beauty, health, wellness, and personal development, leveraging her experience and knowledge to help others enhance their lifestyles. One of her latest and most exciting projects is "The Bucket Wish. This documentary follows her personal quest to live the life she always imagined. It captures her journey and is meant to inspire others to chase their dreams. This project is a testament to her versatility, adaptability, and comprehensive understanding of the entertainment industry. Her multidisciplinary approach allows her to pursue her creative passions and leverage her skills and expertise across various domains, maximizing her impact and success as an entrepreneur in the entertainment field.

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Episode Transcript:

Ericka Nicole Malone 0:00

It's just jumping into it, right? Sometimes you don't know that if you just jump into something new what will be on the other side? And how many people have died never tapping, never looking behind the curtain. At the end of it, you may not hold the trophy, you may not get the Oscar, but you tried and there's beauty in it.

Lesley Logan 0:24

Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.

Lesley Logan 1:05

All right, Be It babe. I am so excited for this episode to be in your ears today, and if you're watching on YouTube, you're gonna see that I'm in a different place in the pod room, because our guest is in my seat. Ericka Nicole Malone is our guest today. She is multifaceted. We can add so many different titles to her, but she's a writer, director, producer, executive producer. She is also a singer songwriter. She's doing a lot of amazing things. She's got incredible series out on Hulu right now, and then she's also going to be releasing an incredible documentary called The Bucket Wish. And we talked about confidence and negative people and getting your ideas out in the world and doing things for you. It was just really beautiful and authentic and really fun. I'm excited for you, not only to hear this amazing interview, I'm also excited to watch her girl documentary, which will be out this fall. I hope that you write down your own quotables. You know, we put them on the podcast interview Instagram, and hopefully you save those and share those. But seriously, grab a stack of Post-Its, and every time she says something you want to remember write it down, because you're going to have a bunch of little Post-Its you can put around your room to remind you that you're doing beautiful things in this world and the world needs to see your beautiful things. And that is what Ericka Nicole Malone is here to tell you.

Lesley Logan 2:18

All right, Be It babe, I'm really excited. I have a guest in the house today. This is so fun. It's so fun when there's a guest that's local. And I can't believe our paths haven't crossed before. But thank goodness for our dear friend Allison, who made sure I heard all about Ericka Nicole Malone and what she is up to does nothing short of kind of amazing. She is a multifaceted human, singer, writer, director. Forgive me if I put a title in there, you're not doing but I'm sure youre gonna do it soon. Ericka Nicole Malone, will you tell everyone who you are and what you're rocking at?

Ericka Nicole Malone 2:48

Yeah. My name is Ericka Nicole Malone. I am a writer, a playwright, a screenwriter, author. I am a woman who is always about reinventing herself and inspiring others to reinvent themselves. And I am also an executive director, executive producer, and just full of life and wanting to live life and wanting other people to live theirs.

Lesley Logan 3:12

Yeah. Okay, so you said I want to inspire people to live their life, and we're helping people with that. Where did that kind of come from? Is that something you want to do always? Is that, was there something that happened in your life, and then you're like, I've got to help other people. What's that impetus? What was that beginning?

Ericka Nicole Malone 3:27

I feel like it's kind of innate. I remember being little and just really caring about other people. It was. I remember being six or seven and going to the bank with my mother, and they'd hand out these suckers, which I think they still do. So this has been going on a minute, and I just remember they say here honey, here's a sucker, you're so cute. And I was like, but can I have a sucker for my brother? And they were like they give me a sucker. I was like, but I have two brothers. They give me, you know, two suckers. They're like, oh my gosh. You just, you don't care about just getting a sucker for yourself. You care about your brother getting a sucker. And I've always been concerned about other people making it too. And the world and people hurting and just people in bathrooms. Whenever there's a housekeeper or maid in the bathroom, I'm always tipping them. I always, I'm always concerned about people being looked over and forgotten and it's just so important to me that people find I get so shocked when people don't realize when they don't see people, they don't see homeless people, or they don't see people who are around them, or shoe shine man, that I'm always wondering how he's feeling throughout his day. And so yeah, it's always a big part of who I am.

Lesley Logan 4:42

Yeah, I understand that we were talking about before we hit record, and it's like, it's really easy for people to put themselves in places where they don't have to see anybody. Yeah, I'm so used to having all the different types of people around that it would make me uncomfortable to not see them. I have this funny story. My dad is really funny. He'll say, I don't want to talk to anybody. I don't wanna go there. I have to talk to people. And the first thing we do when we're out of the car, he talks to everybody. He talks to every, we go to the gym at the Plaza Hotel and Casino, and we park in VIP, and he talks to every security guard always, even if he just said hello to them, because they let us through the gate, he still makes sure to talk to them. And I just laugh so hard because he's always like, I don't want to talk to people. But then he talks to everybody, to everyone, and I but I love it, because he sees everybody. And I think that that's something that like it's hard, it's not hard to do. It's actually quite something we could all do. But we get so busy in our phones and things like that, we don't see every people. And we also get really concerned with what's going on with ourselves that we forget to be concerned with others. You have been, you mentioned all these different amazing things. I also saw that you are learning to play the flute. So I guess what I think a lot of people will wonder when they heard all these things that you do is, how do you have, how did you have the time? Are you doing or are you learning different things at the same time? How did you go from producer, director, executive director, like, what was that line? What was that journey?

Ericka Nicole Malone 6:01

Well, when I wrote Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, my business partner and I, I'm the executive producer of that, along with my business partner, we wanted to finance it ourselves, and so that people could see the story. It's now on Hulu, but at the time, we worked with amazing director her name is Denise Dowse, but at the time we produced it and it was done, it was an amazing feat to see something that you created come to life, but it was like, now, after I did that, before I wrote another script, I've kind of felt in my spirit I needed to create something else, and it was to push the limits within myself. What are some of the things that I could have done that I didn't finish, or things that I did try and I failed at? What are some of the things and as I started writing the documentary for The Bucket Wish and creating the documentary, I realized that even though I have these huge feats that I have accomplished, there were things in my past that I quit on, like playing the flute, and when I was 10, or swimming, when I was around, I think it was eight or nine. What are some of the things that I didn't succeed? And something I realized that when I failed at something, I just pushed it to the side. And I really wanted to explore that. Writing is something I excel in, right? So, of course, I'm not going to push that to the side, because I can do that in my sleep, right? So I'm gonna, I can write something, you know? What do you want? I can get that done tomorrow, but something that you don't do well, you know what I mean, and part of that is where your confidence is, things that you, I'm saying, not everyone's meant to be a botanist. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm saying, if it's something that you yearn to do, say, you yearn to play the guitar, or you yearn to play drums or something, right? It's in your spirit, and it's calling out to you, and maybe you just don't do it as well, it doesn't mean you should stop doing it all together. Right? And I would just stop doing it all together and just focus on what I was good at. And that's not necessarily what builds your confidence. I think what builds your confidence is you have a yearning and a sense of wonder, and you're thinking, I want to try this or that, but maybe you fail, but you get back up and you keep trying. That is what builds your confidence. Doesn't mean you're going to do it as a career. It just means that you're living.

Lesley Logan 8:20

Yeah. I think this is really beautiful, because one of the things this podcast is about is ditching perfection. And I think we expect ourselves, we have to be good at the thing we said we're gonna do. We don't allow us to be beginners anymore.

Ericka Nicole Malone 8:32

Exactly.

Lesley Logan 8:34

And so people.

Ericka Nicole Malone 8:35

Or look silly.

Lesley Logan 8:36

Look silly. Exactly. So we were, we weren't good at something. And I also think even kids today, they're like, in one sport their whole lives, and I remember playing seven sports, and my dad's like, it's okay that you're not good. You're gonna keep going to practice, and you don't quit until the end of the season, and if you don't like it, (inaudible) you don't have to do it again. So I love what you're talking about, because confidence really is kind of it's about following through. It's not necessarily doing it for your work. And also, since when do we have to make everything we do make money, right? We could just go swimming.

Ericka Nicole Malone 9:06

You can just go swimming. And, you know, I use this as a, I don't know if you saw Willy Wonka when it came out. I'm a big Willy Wonka fan from the very first inception, but also the new Wonka. But what I love about Wonka is it's just jumping into it, right? Sometimes you don't know that if you just jump into something new, what will be on the other side. And how many people have died never tapping, never looking behind the curtain. At the end of it, you may not hold the trophy, you may not get the Oscar, but you tried and there's beauty in it.

Lesley Logan 9:44

Yeah. Okay, so Bucket Wish is this, is the documentary of you trying things out?

Ericka Nicole Malone 9:48

Trying things, you know, the flute, I don't know. And so funny is there's different nuances of flute I don't like, specifically spitting. But, I hate germs and so it's a lot for me, but I'm gonna, I'm gonna finish the lessons, right? Because that's the whole point. But I don't know if I'll do it, but I'm going to finish the lessons, but I might be a drummer. Doesn't seem like there's as much spitting with drums. I'm not sure. There's that and there's swimming. I need to learn to swim, all those kinds of things, photography, I'm really attracted to taking pictures, and so I bought the camera. And so it's just different things. I'm gonna try and hopefully inspire people who have thought about giving up on their life, taking their life, that there's more out there. Don't quit. There's more. Keep walking.

Lesley Logan 10:39

Yeah. What is it like to kind of put yourself to be a beginner over and over again, though, because I think that's a special I mean, it does build confidence. But also it's like to be a beginner at swimming, to be a beginner at playing the flute, to do these different things that are in your Bucket Wish. What was that like?

Ericka Nicole Malone 10:55

You know, it was, it was scary. That's the best word I can say. I had gotten into The Groundlings in Los Angeles when I auditioned, and I didn't finish. This was about six years ago, but I was, I was like, this is gonna be hard. I'm gonna have to come to class every day and they do these little projects and they, they do experiments. I'm like, this sounds like forever. I just don't have it. And so I did, but I, so I did comedy in the The Bucket Wish because I was like, there was obviously a yearning for me. I graduated from youth performing arts high school in theater. So theater has always been a huge talent of me. So to do the comedy and do stand up was pretty scary to say the least, but because I'm a huge comedy fan. I love Tina Fey, I love all of those people, but I can tell you, it grew my confidence. And again, I thought I was confident because I'm a writer. I have a movie on Hulu. But I wasn't as confident as I thought I was. And that was shocking, because I'm like, I did modeling. What do you mean? I've some passions. What? But I wasn't and it wasn't until I did The Bucket Wish that I really became as confident as I know I could be. And now I'm shooting a new series. It's a lifestyle series I'm the host of, and I don't think I would have been as confident to do this had I not did The Bucket Wish.

Lesley Logan 12:18

It's really funny. You may remember that I didn't finish a comedy class. I signed up for one in LA called Pretty Funny Women.

Ericka Nicole Malone 12:25

Didn't know that.

Lesley Logan 12:26

Uh huh, yeah. So Pretty Funny Women, if you, I mean, you're back and forth in LA, that woman, you have to know her, like, I will find her email and connect to she is amazing. And I went to the comedy class. I was on Monday nights, and I was late. It was, like, at eight something at night, which means, and I was in the valley, so I had to drive. But you know what I mean?

Ericka Nicole Malone 12:42

It's such a track.

Lesley Logan 12:43

Such a track, right? Which is the thing about trying new things, it's getting the routine around it. Anyways, she was like, yeah, you guys have to go to open mics. And I was like, that's fine. I'm okay because they won't know who I am anyway, so it doesn't really matter to me, but open mics are like, one in the morning, guys, 11 o'clock at night. I'm like, I'm in bed. (inaudible) Yeah. So then I was just like, are there lunchtime comedians? Is this like a thing?

Ericka Nicole Malone 13:07

Cafe comedian? It's like, we're drinking morning coffee.

Lesley Logan 13:11

Yeah, yeah. I think that maybe this is not the vocation for me. I know because I was just like, I can't even do the homework. And she really, bless her soul, she really, really, really tried to get me come back. She's like, you're really funny, I think you've got some great experiences to share. And I was like, I agree with you, and I'm grateful that you saw that in me. Is there like an 8pm open mic?

Ericka Nicole Malone 13:33

I totally, I totally need an 8 pm.

Lesley Logan 13:35

I don't care if there's one person in that room, I just can't do two in the morning. I'm not that person.

Ericka Nicole Malone 13:42

Yeah, like, what are we doing up? Let's laugh about that. Why are you still up at one in the morning? So it's, you know, but comedy was fun. I mean, I always knew I was funny, but I'm like, bougie funny, you know? Like, I'll be funny depending on how I feel or something. But it was great. That was the hardest thing. Swimming was actually the hardest, but comedy was pretty amazing. Yes, please keep me in contact with that lady. I'll try, I'll try it and finish it. Maybe, maybe.

Lesley Logan 14:08

I mean, sounds like you already did, but swimming, I think swimming is really hard, depending on how you were your experience was, if I remember you had a kind of a traumatic swimming experience.

Ericka Nicole Malone 14:18

Yeah, it was someone who pushed me in the water, and you just find (inaudible). I gotta tell you, when I was shot at the swimming, it's still hard. You're immersing yourself and it's what it says I have a huge pool in my backyard. I just look at like, I look at it like it's a lake. I enjoy it like a resort, but I don't get in it. It's just like the water is just like you feel like you're, you have no control. I feel like I'm drowning even though I'm not. So it's so definitely psychosomatic. But I am going to keep doing swimming because it's life or death. You know, you have to learn how to swim.

Lesley Logan 14:52

Yeah, it's a good skill to have. Okay, so I mentioned a few times, but can you tell everyone a little bit more about Bucket Wish? I mean, it's you trying out new things. What can people expect from it? Are you hoping they try like they start their own Bucket Wish? How do we write a Bucket Wish?

Ericka Nicole Malone 15:07

I'm just basically using myself, you know? Because when you think of the bucket list, it's like, here's my last list before God takes me out of here. I'm gonna do all these things, God, I'm gonna jump. But this is not, this is what are your wishes? What are the wishes for your life while you're living? These are wishes for you to complete while you're living. It's a whole other dynamic, because you're gonna live say, I want you to be 20 and do a bucket wish. What are some of the things that you've always imagined you could do? Maybe it's animation. Maybe you want to write a children's book, I don't know, but I want you to believe that you can do it, and I want you to try, yeah, I want you to try, even if you have to put a little pin it, put a little note card in and say okay, I'm gonna need a little break. I'm gonna come back here. Follow through. Follow through on your wishes for you.

Lesley Logan 15:59

Okay I really love the way you describe that, because I think it's true. There's the bucket list, which is, like, I want to do this before I die, which means you can kind of postpone it till forever (inaudible).

Ericka Nicole Malone 16:08

Yeah. I will be 80, like, I must do my bucket wish.

Lesley Logan 16:11

I know people are always people are surprised, because I haven't been to a lot of places in Europe, and I'm like, guys, I've not been to Paris, it looks beautiful. It's on my list.

Ericka Nicole Malone 16:19

It's on my list. It's our bucket wish.

Lesley Logan 16:22

Yeah. But we, I think if I put it on a bucket wish, it becomes something that's a little bit more like, it's not gonna happen now and I gotta be thinking about it.

Ericka Nicole Malone 16:29

Yeah and it's shocking, because when I had those in front of me, by the way, that I was fresh off, I mean, I had no idea what my wishes were. It's like, oh, my God, do I have to do these things? And you're gonna tape them.

Lesley Logan 16:43

Yeah. So, okay, so you had people. So here's the thing, because everyone listening here is like, okay, I wanna write my Bucket Wish. You not only wrote The Bucket Wish, you actually then did it, but you had to let people watch you do it, which means you had to do, you couldn't back out.

Ericka Nicole Malone 16:56

It was like, it was trauma. And I'm telling you when I was gonna do the comedy in front of that microphone or in the back, I'm in the back dressing room with hair and makeup, and I'm like, I just hope this inspires people. You know, I had no idea how emotional I was because I was so afraid of being you have no idea how private I am. I am so private. So for me to do this, it's my love of humanity that wants to inspire people to jump. I mean, as just so many people, they were like, I feel like taking my life during COVID. I don't know what to do and I didn't recognize people really just don't know what to do. And even now, after the strikes, you had COVID in the strikes in LA, a lot of people are just trying to recapitulate. A lot of crew people trying to recapitulate. It's not the easiest thing to do is to, you know, so make some wishes, and you might not know that in that wish is a career or a path. Yeah, you know the way it is. You never and for me, it's God. For someone else, it might be something else, but for me, it's like you won't know until you take the step, as Dr. King said, take the step and the staircase will appear.

Lesley Logan 18:06

Yeah, yeah. I think you're, I think that's true. So many people just do what they did before and then it's scary when there's time on our hands. We don't know what to do with time on our hands, you know. And so.

Ericka Nicole Malone 18:17

What do we do?

Lesley Logan 18:18

But if you had tried out different things, even if you weren't good at them, even the act of the connections, like my husband, I, everyone's like, how did you raise me? And I'm like, we're in just by a mutual friend, and that friend is not even in our lives now. And she's like, and it wasn't even a bad thing. Nothing bad happened. She was kind of just like in for the season of one summer.

Ericka Nicole Malone 18:38

And then, and then she drifted away.

Lesley Logan 18:39

And she drifted away, and I still see what she's doing on Instagram. She got married. Congratulations. It's really funny, but I put myself in a different position, and that year to meet a new friend, and I was trying out new things with her, and that's how I met him. It's just you never not saying you're all gonna meet your husband, but you might meet a future business partner or a best friend, or no. You just don't know. But you have to try out things that are a little scary and a little bit like, what am I doing this for? What's the purpose behind this? Because it helps you find more purpose.

Ericka Nicole Malone 19:07

It really does. And so much of my life, I tell people all the time, everybody's like when am I gonna make it? I'm gonna, I just don't know. I don't know if it's gonna happen for me. And no big signs are coming, big movements, but all of my biggest blessings have come in small things. It's the small things that you're like, I don't know, just something like, it's worth my time. I don't know if I'm gonna do this. And you turn things, you turn your nose up, and then wrapped up in that is this big, precious jewel that you'd never see had you not taken a step so just be open to the small things. Don't always think hmm, this, I'm too good for this, because maybe it's not the person, but maybe it's two degrees of separation from this person and the next.

Lesley Logan 19:55

Yeah, yeah. So okay, I kind of want to go back to before the Sun Dance before the Hulu story that you wrote, what was it like to try to get your dreams that you had on paper out into the world? Because I think I know from living in LA it is not. There are so many scripts that so many people are going to say, oh, I want to do that. I want to do that, and it can get shelved. All these things would happen. How did you keep going? What was that journey like? And what was, what were you telling yourself to just keep putting one step in front of the other, like you were saying?

Ericka Nicole Malone 20:26

I feel like I'm a great manifester. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I'm from Louisville, Kentucky, originally, and I lived in Los Angeles for a little bit, in Burbank in Glendale when I was selling the sitcom pilot. But I always get my house in Kentucky up till about five years ago. But when you're a black woman writer in Kentucky, so it does kind of help you to be really mentally tough and definitely, when I grew up, there weren't, you know, it's a sports town, and I'm like, yeah, I'm a writer. And they're like, okay, she's strange. Yeah, I mean, that's good, you know, I went to performing arts high school, but I think everyone kind of just thought I had a lot of lofty goals, and they thought I was delusional, I would say, but I just believed it was going to happen. So, you know, after I wrote Remember Me: The Mahalia Jackson Story, my business partner and I, you know, I shopped around Hollywood honestly, and another movie came out. It was in similar vein, but we just believed that it was going to happen, and we would put it in film festivals. It just took off and we ended up winning 40 film festivals, 58, 60 nominations. And from that, then I was able, we were able to get it licensed on Hulu, because it had already gained traction for itself. So I think it's just the belief in your own project and belief in your vision and film festivals are always a plus, especially if you're a new writer, burgeoning writer. For me, I wasn't new, but a lot of people hadn't heard of me. But, you know, I wrote plays to pay for tuition in college, and I believe that people would show up. And they did. I'd have 800 students in college when I was, like, 17 years old, $2 a ticket, and in my 20s, thousands of people would come to the plays. I just believe they would. I guess I just always believe it's gonna happen. And I believe that if I create a project, someone's going to buy it. It just depends on your perspective. I think if you're like, oh God, this is I'm gonna create this I wrote this magazine, or I did this animation, nobody's gonna buy this comic book you know, I'm just wasting my time. I should. Nobody's gonna buy it. Why should I buy your comic book? If you don't like your comic book or your animation or your children's book, you have to believe oh, my God, I wrote something. You just did not understand how amazing this is going to be. It's going to be really earth shattering. It is, and you're gonna love it. And they're like, Well, I mean, I don't know I wish I was gonna be if it's really good. Now, here's the thing, you have to have the quality. You can't over promote and under produce. I'll say that. But if it's really good, you have to believe that what is meant to be will happen for you because it will happen. It is possible. And so I tell people who don't have the money, they're like, I don't have the money. I want to, I'm a writer. I don't have the money. How do I do it? But do you have a phone? Do you have people that are actors that you can produce something on your phone? People have won awards for their phone movies. Then you put it in festivals, and then it'd be all of a sudden, next thing you know, this happens and that happens. Believe it's possible. So my next thing was, like, The Bucket Wish. I'm just gonna do a documentary. Never done one. Let's do it. I want to do it. I want to have this idea about wishes. If it comes to me, I believe it's supposed to manifest. I just believe it. I don't ever not believe it. And something else I don't do is talk to naysayers. If you know your cousin Trudy is always negative. Why are you calling Trudy? Trudy is gonna say the same negative thing no matter how good the idea is. It's okay to believe in your own vision and talk to people who will get behind you because they believe in you. And a lot of times, if those one people who say something negative that are stopping that seed from growing that could be the one they say in everyone's life you come up with 15 million, a million dollar ideas in every single person's life. But what happens to them? And you say, I have had your videos, and nobody's gonna buy that. Nobody's gonna buy that.

Lesley Logan 24:44

I mean, everyone needs to rewind that and hear that twice, because it's so true. First of all, the idea came to you because it wants to be born, and, it wants to be born, so in Big Magic, which I've read several times, she, Olivia Gilbert, talks about how ideas come to you because they want to be born, and she shares a story about how an idea came to her, and she did all the research, all the things, and she put it aside. You're a writer, you know, like you can talk about some of the stuff you do, but you keep a lot of the parts that you're writing close to your vest, because you're still writing it, and you're figuring it out. She met this other writer, and she didn't tell her what she was writing on, and the other writer didn't tell her what she was working on. And then eventually, months, months go down the road, and she finally says what are you working on? Just tell me, I'm, you know, whatever it is. And the woman tells her what she's working on. And it's the exact book that Elizabeth Gilbert was writing and had stopped writing because she had other stuff going on. It was to the T every single thing, and she's like do you want my research? Because she didn't steal my idea. The idea was like, I'm jumping from you to her because I want to be born. And so I just want to highlight that, because I fully believe that you're 100% correct. If an idea comes to you, you are meant to make it happen. And also, there was a podcaster who said 98% of people will not act on any idea. So you can actually even tell people your ideas, because only 2% of them will have, people will take action on that, which is so small.

Ericka Nicole Malone 26:02

Really, I mean, and, you know, and also, an idea can't be copyright and only the expression of the idea, and they do that because of exactly what you said. A lot of times where you're thinking that someone's took your idea, it's really, is coincidental, believe it or not. But I have had things that I'm like, okay, this is too much like what I created, because it was so new. But you know, the best thing to do is it's okay to not tell everyone your idea, too. But it is okay, like you said, if you don't tell anybody, then at least do yours. Because if you don't gotta give the seed to somebody else, somebody else will think of that idea. So it's really important to, to that's what the Bucket Wish is about, like you said, it's very immediate. I have went ahead and forward and put down payment on all of these things. I've done 12 things in this movie, and I've put a down payment on all these things. Still making payments, still making payments.

Lesley Logan 26:06

The documentary is going to be out, y'all can watch it this fall and she's still finishing out these.

Ericka Nicole Malone 26:57

I'm still finishing out, because people are holding me to it. What's going on with the flute? I'm like, I'm still doing the flute. What's going on with the photography? Did you finish swimming? I mean, now you got people wanting receipts on things, you know, so it's forcing you. I have people inviting me to comedy clubs now. I mean, I'm like, okay, I said I have a single that's out now. And they're like, so we keep performing. Like, wait a minute. Hold on. Let me just put that (inaudible). It's grew my confidence because I honestly didn't think I was as multi-talented as I think I am.

Lesley Logan 27:29

Oh, we, I think we are all creatives. And you got, you get to, you got to test all those different craze and see what you could do. I watched your music video. It's amazing. I was like, she sings too. I remember Alvin telling me she's got a music video. I'm like, as you've done films and shows you already have filmed things before, but filming a music video is a whole different experience.

Ericka Nicole Malone 27:49

It's a whole different dynamic. And I honestly it's dope. And it's just, it's performance driven. And there's so many singers I've talked to, and they sound like, Midler and Celine Dion, and they sound amazing. And they're like, yeah, I'm just gonna get out and just sing at home. I'm like, if you don't put this album out so the world can be blessed by your voice. I was like, kind of using myself as a way to inspire all these amazing people to get out there and get back up and sing.

Lesley Logan 28:16

Yeah. I want to highlight one more thing that you said. You said you have to believe in your idea, and you can't do that. So it's gonna it's this little thing. It's like, not this big deal, because it is true. We have to believe in our own ideas, because we are the ones. We're gonna fight for them the most. The best. And if you do, then there are other people who will spearhead and make connections because of your excitement. You're so excited about it. People are like, oh my God, so and so has to do that thing. If you keep it to yourself, you're just like, oh, it's this, this little thing I'm working on on the side, no one's gonna take you seriously. So no one's going to tell their friend about it, because why would they make that connection or talk about a thing that you're not excited about?

Ericka Nicole Malone 28:57

Yeah, and I honestly, I'm not arrogant or anything, but I always knew I was special, and I think that's okay. I always knew I was different. I wasn't like everyone else in my class. I think people had that. They're like, I'm just like everybody. I don't think I am just like everybody else. I think I'm different. I think everyone's special in their own way, but I think I'm definitely special my way. So I think having the confidence to believe that you have something special, and I want to also say this, because a lot of people deal with depression, you have to stop talking to negative people. If, if you don't stop talking to negative people, you might as well just tell your dreams, just be honest with your dreams, and just tell them, look, we're not going to, we're not going to do anything, because I got to talk to Trudy, and Trudy has gossip, so I got to hear gossip. So I mean, it's more important than my dreams. And also fall to the middle. Don't fall all the way down, because in that it's time, if you are dealing with depression, try to fall to the middle. And tell people fall to the middle. That means it's okay. You're gonna have bad days, but just fall only so much. Don't go all the way down where it takes you don't get out of bed for two weeks and crying for three and. Don't do that because time is our most valuable asset. It wouldn't, money, you can let somebody have every bit of money you have, but just really time and your health. You have those two things you're all right.

Lesley Logan 30:12

Oh my gosh. Ericka Nicole Malone, you have so many gems. You have these little quoting moments that I want to like just put on Post-Its to remind myself, because we all will have some bad days, but just fall in the middle.

Ericka Nicole Malone 30:23

Fall to the middle. That's it. Don't fall all the way down. You don't belong there. There's nothing down there.

Lesley Logan 30:28

Yeah. And I know you're all listening and saying, oh, but it's my mom who's a negative one. I can just not talk to my mom. You can. You can also just not tell her the dream you're working on. Dreams are precious. Tell it to the people who get excited for you and let mom talk to you about the weather.

Ericka Nicole Malone 30:42

It's okay to have conversations that you're not giving all of yourself into. Yes, we have to check on our parents and everything, but you don't have to go so deep and tell every emotion just like, good morning, okay, have a good day. All right. Well, I'll talk to you later. Okay. Save the people for the safe space. Be careful on those. Don't tell safe dreams to unsafe people. Be very, very careful. You are your most valued treasure you have. Protect yourself. Protect your heart.

Lesley Logan 31:12

Yeah, okay, we are gonna take a brief break, and we're going to come back and find out where people can find you, follow you, watch The Bucket Wish, and your Be It Action Items.

Lesley Logan 31:21

All right, Ericka Nicole Malone, where can people follow what you're working on, watch your stuff, where can we send them?

Ericka Nicole Malone 31:28

Please follow me in all my grandmother's wisdom, @ErickaNicoleMalone on Instagram and @ErickaNicoleMalone on Facebook, @ErickaNicoleMalone on TikTok, ErickaNicoleMalone on Twitter. You can follow me @ErickaNicoleMalone, that's E-R-I-C-K-A Nicole Malone.

Lesley Logan 31:46

I love it. We'll have all those links in the show notes. You can follow her on your favorite social platform. You can watch The Bucket Wish this fall, yes?

Ericka Nicole Malone 31:54

Yes.

Lesley Logan 31:55

Awesome.

Ericka Nicole Malone 31:55

I'm very excited.

Lesley Logan 31:56

And do you know which platform it's on yet?

Ericka Nicole Malone 31:57

I do not know yet, but it's going to be starting out in film festivals around the world.

Lesley Logan 32:01

Perfect. You guys. Go see a film festival. They look so fun, like.

Ericka Nicole Malone 32:05

They are amazing. They are blessings. Blessings to creatives. Thank you. Thank you, Film Festival.

Lesley Logan 32:10

Go see a film festival. Put that on your Bucket Wish.

Ericka Nicole Malone 32:13

That's right.

Lesley Logan 32:13

Well, so okay, we always like to tell the listeners, because you gave us so many gems. But just in case they're like the overachiever, perfectionist, they need the action item, bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted steps they can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us?

Ericka Nicole Malone 32:26

Number one, I'm gonna say, be kind to yourself. Start with that. Stop beating yourself up. You are a good person, and you are trying, and you woke up this morning. So start with that. Make clear goals for your life, and don't give up. Don't give up. You do those three things and you'll be on your way.

Lesley Logan 32:47

Yeah, yeah. And then they should make a Bucket Wish.

Ericka Nicole Malone 32:50

Make a bucket wish. Make a bucket wish today.

Lesley Logan 32:53

And tag Ericka Nicole Malone in when you're doing your Bucket Wish, so she can celebrate you. We can celebrate you. Tag the Be It Pod. You guys, share this with a friend who needs it. Share it with a friend who's been saying they want to do something and like, oh, I wish I'm gonna do that thing. Get this to them, because maybe this is a reminder that they need, that they can go try new things, and that's where their confidence is gonna come from. And leave us a review. Of course, we always live off of those. That is currency for us, just so you know. So we'd love that. Share this with a friend or leave a review, or do both, because that would be really helpful, and until next time, Be It Till You See It.

Lesley Logan 33:26

That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.

Brad Crowell 34:08

It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.

Lesley Logan 34:13

It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.

Brad Crowell 34:18

Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.

Lesley Logan 34:25

Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.

Brad Crowell 34:28

Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.

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448. How Trying New Things Builds Lasting Confidence