WEBVTT

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One little act of kindness can go a long, long

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way Two little acts of kindness can brighten

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anyone's day Three little acts of kindness can

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make a beautiful sound Many acts of kindness

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Hi, and welcome back to season two of Tell Me

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What Happened, the podcast that features people

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from all walks of life talking about childhood

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experiences that have impacted them as an adult.

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I'm your host, Jay Rehack. And like you, I've

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had my share of childhood experiences that have

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impacted who I am today. Some of them great,

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some of them not so great. Tell Me What Happened

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is sponsored by Sideline Ink Publishing, publishers

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of quality books, including Susan Salador's classic

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children's book, One Little Act of Kindness,

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also a song which is available on Spotify. Today

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I have as my guest, a family friend and also

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the co -host of Nina, Hannah and Emily in Paris,

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Nina Schlesinger. Welcome to the show, Nina.

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Hello, thanks for having me, Jack. Really fired

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up about today's Tell Me What Happened because

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I do know you for a number of years. I've known

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you for a number of years. I know you're a friend

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of my daughter's, of course, and she's your co

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-host on Emily in Paris podcast. Through the

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years, I've known you, but I don't know you.

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And so what I mean by that is, is that what happens

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in real life is that we know people and then

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it turns out there's some background that we

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don't actually know about that actually probably

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impacts our, would help us have a deeper understanding

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of who that person is. And so I'm looking forward

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to hearing your childhood story, Nina. Are you

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ready to tell it? Yeah. All right. Take it away,

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Nina. Okay. So I'm going to tell a story about

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when I was in high school, when I was probably

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16, I started a music blog and I started just

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writing about the music I was listening to and

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songs that I liked and concerts I went to and

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I don't know how but I started to get a bit of

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a following on on this project to the point that

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I got like record labels would send me free CDs

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and records in the mail and I would be on the

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list for concerts and I got to interview bands,

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you know, like, I would just kind of cold call

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artists managers and be like, Oh, can I can I

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interview this DJ girl talk for my blog? I'm

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16. And I have and I write about music. And I

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think maybe because I was a feisty teenager,

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they often said yes, I think I was like a little

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bit of a curiosity. So I basically got access

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to this whole world after school, like via my

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computer. and got to go to all these concerts

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and go on, I went on a band's tour bus and got

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to interview them and it was so much fun. But

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the kind of other side of that is that I didn't

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tell anybody about it. I didn't tell a single

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friend. I didn't tell my parents. I managed to

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keep it completely a secret. I would just sort

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of do it on my computer after school when I was

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supposed to be, I don't know. chat chatting on

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AIM or doing homework probably more likely. That

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probably went on for a year at least. I think

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I ended up having to tell my parents at a point

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because I needed a ride to go interview a band

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on their bus and because I couldn't really swing

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that lie on my own. So I did end up getting you

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know launching the big reveal eventually and

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and my parents supported it and thought it was

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awesome and and I got a lot more rides from then

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on. But I remember this one big concert that

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was happening. I grew up in Washington D .C.,

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just outside, and there was a big concert on

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the National Mall, and I was going with a friend

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of mine. And this friend and I both worked for

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the school paper. So I had my music blog, and

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we both worked for the school paper. I remember,

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you know, 16, maybe, maybe 17. And... I think

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it was a big Earth Day concert. There were a

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lot of bands. There were a lot of celebrities

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speaking. I think Edward Norton was a speaker,

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and Chevy Chase was there. And we were walking

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around, and we were going to maybe write about

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it for the school paper. I think that was sort

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of the pretense we showed up on. And we get there,

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and there's an area, there's a table for media

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check -in. And we're writing for our school paper,

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and I just have my secret music blog. We're definitely

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not part of the media. But I think because I

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have this confidence from all of my, you know,

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cold calls to record labels and all the access

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that I've gotten just by sort of asking and assuming

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that I should have it, which just says a lot,

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that I, that my friend and I, Emma and I just

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went up to the booth and we were like, oh yeah,

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we're, you know, we're media. And we had our

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little reporter's notebooks and a camera. And

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we were like, we're, we're media. We were writing

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for a paper. And I don't know who was writing

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this table, but they let us in. and they gave

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us media passes. And so then we basically got

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behind this gate and we turn around and there's

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Edward Norton. And we go and introduce ourselves

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to Edward Norton and he's so sweet. And he gives

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us a quote for our tape recorders and our notes.

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We go and we meet Chevy Chase and he signs our

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books. And then we interviewed some bands on

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their tour buses. We just had a field day. We

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were so thrilled talking to all of these artists

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and bands and talking about you know, this big

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Earth Day concert. No, I couldn't, could not

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tell what anyone else there was thinking. These

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two teenagers just sort of bopping around. Who

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knows what paper they thought we were writing

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for. Probably not our school paper, probably

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not my music blog. And yeah, and then we got,

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I think we probably took the train back into

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the suburbs and I had my reporter's notebook

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with all, you know. Probably another tell that

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I wasn't a reporter is that I kept getting autographs

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from everyone I met. So I had my reporter's notebook

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with my notes, but also, you know, to Nina from

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Chevy Chase, which was a fun one. Yeah, and then

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summers after that, I ended up getting internships

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at some music venues and turning this sort of

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secret hobby into something a little more real.

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But I remember taking it the most seriously,

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being the most committed when it was like my

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private project. it sometimes feels, sometimes

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when I watch the movie Almost Famous, I'm like,

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oh, I think I kind of did that for a couple of

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months. And that's my story for you, Jay. Not

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much of a beginning, middle, end. A lot of color

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in there. Yeah. Well, you know what? That youthful

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courage or bravado, I think is one of the things

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that some of us, many of us lose or diminish

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over time. And yet, if you can have that bravado

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early and have some early success, maybe it translates

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into a little bit more courage later on. I don't

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know. So here you are now. And I know, as I said,

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I know you co -host the Emily in Paris podcast.

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But beyond that, do you feel that the experience

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that you had with the Secret music blog and just

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sort of breaking into a media area in DC, how

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has that impacted you today, do you think? I

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think that, I think a couple of things. I think

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in one sense, there's what you were saying of

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like, it's a kind of, it's like a courage, a

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courage that we lose. I think sometimes I have

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to remember that I once was like that when nowadays

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I have trouble starting a project because I get

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caught up in what it should be instead of just

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doing it for the sake of doing it. And I think

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remembering that sometimes you should just do

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something and see what happens instead of. assuming

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you know what the end result might be. And I

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think that's something that I need to work on

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a lot now as an adult that I didn't apparently

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didn't need to work on at all as a teenager.

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So I think it's something that maybe was innate

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that then I somehow got in my head about and

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took out of myself. And now I sometimes need

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that reminder, that push to start a project.

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But I think something that I haven't really lost

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is I think I kind of have a perspective with

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things of like, oh, it doesn't hurt to ask. You

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never know what you can get if you just ask someone

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for something. And I think I've gotten some cool

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opportunities from just, you know, if there's

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someone who seems kind of intimidating, such

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as the person guarding the media booth, just

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being confident and being like, I think I can

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do something cool if I have access to this. So

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can I do it? And I think I've had many more opportunities

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where someone enthusiastically says yes. than

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opportunities where, or than moments where someone

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says no and I feel embarrassed. I don't know

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if I have really any like that. I think usually

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people want to do something cool and you just

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have to bring the idea and they want to be involved.

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One last question before I let you go. Do you

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feel like you're more courageous now or less

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courageous now as a person? I'm less courageous

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now as a person. I'm sorry to hear that. But

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I'm working on it. It helps to remember things

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like this. And now I feel more courageous today,

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just even thinking about it. Love it. Well, listen,

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thank you very much for your story. I consider

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you a courageous person, but again, you're the

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only one who can judge who you are and who you

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aren't. I mean, everybody else is just noise

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around you, you know, making judgments. You know,

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I do enjoy your podcast, Emily in Paris. I watch

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the show only because of your podcast. You too.

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But beyond that, it's good talking with you.

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I appreciate your time. Thanks so much, Jay.

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Thanks for having me. All right. That's our show.

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I'd like to thank my guest, Nina Schlesinger.

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Thank you for coming on, Nina. I'd also like

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to thank our sponsors, Sidelining Publishing.

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Publishers of quality books, including Susan

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Salado's classic, One Little Act of Kindness.

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Also, laughsaver .com. Visit laughsaver .com

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and record your laughter. We'll keep it for you

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now and forever. It's free and your family and

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your descendants will thank you for it. All right.

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As always, I'm going to end this show with Susan

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Salado's classic, One Little Act of Kindness.

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and remind everyone and ask everyone to please

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stay safe out there and try not to hurt anybody.

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Can make a beautiful sound Many acts of kindness

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Help the world go round One little loving word

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Can go a long, long way Two little loving words

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Can brighten anyone's day Can make a beautiful

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sound Many loving words Help the world go round

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One little seed sown Can go a long, long way

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Two little seeds sown Can brighten anyone's day

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Three little seeds sown Can make a beautiful

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sound Many seeds so Help the world go around

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One little child's laughter Can go a long, long

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way Two little children's laughter Can brighten

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anyone's day Three little children's laughter

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Many children laughing Help the world go round

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And many see its own Help the world