28 - Bridgett Burrick Brown: Vajeans

Kate Davis  0:02  
Music, hello. I'm Kate Davis, and this is humor in the C suite, a show about how leaders use humor to create an extraordinary work culture. My guest this week is Bridget Burke Brown, CEO and founder of the Beyond beauty project, empowering individuals to embrace their self worth beyond societal expectations. Bridget combines certifications from Holistic Health, body image and eating disorders with a unique perspective gained from two decades of professional model. Bridget also hosts the beyond beauty project podcast and advocates for women's issues, mental health and body diversity. We had an amazing chat and time about how humor, how it brings really brings us together, and how it affects people of all ages, this crazy pressure for us to be perfect, and how nothing ever is we had a great laugh with incredible insights. And you guys are really gonna enjoy it. I love doing it, so please welcome our guests. Bridget, Burak, Brett boom. Bridget, I was so thrilled that you said yes to being a guest. Oh, my God, because I love everything you do. Oh, it's so inspirational and so important as a mother of two daughters and as a woman who's absolutely insecure about her body, and which makes me a great comic, by the way. So welcome to here in the C suite Bridget. Oh,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  1:38  
thank you so much. I'm excited to be here.

Kate Davis  1:42  
It's so funny. How many people stress about telling their favorite joke? You

Bridgette Burrick Brown  1:47  
know what I think it is, is like, I wouldn't say I'm like, terribly funny, but I feel like I'm funny. I'm a very good audience, like I will laugh at everything you say. So I have a lot of funny people around me, but I feel like, when you think of like, what's your go to joke? Because even my my husband is hilarious, and so is his best friend, and they're like, we're just like, funny. Like, we're just funny, like, off the cuff. And I'm like, no, no, I need a joke. Like, come on, guys, that's like, the joke, you know. So now, for your entertainment, I have multiple jokes, right? Oh, I

Kate Davis  2:26  
love it. Well, let's start with one.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  2:30  
What do you call a guy who's really loud? What a mic

Kate Davis  2:40  
so dumb is good.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  2:41  
Oh man, yeah, okay, child proved my house somehow they still got in

Kate Davis  2:53  
True, true, horrible.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  2:58  
I told my wife she should embrace her mistakes. She gave me a hug.

Kate Davis  3:03  
Oh, that's a good one. That's a good mistake.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  3:10  
And then I heard a really kind of raunchy one, but

Kate Davis  3:14  
Yes, can

Bridgette Burrick Brown  3:16  
I do it? Yeah. Okay, so we'll end with this one, because they don't get better. Why? Why can't there be a pregnant Barbie? Why because Ken came in a different box bottom, and we're done.

Kate Davis  3:39  
We're done. It's over with. You're good, I'm good. Now we're just gonna chat. I'm amazed how much it stresses people out. But you know what? I've had like, Mitch Hedberg jokes. There's been so many, like, just people quoting their favorite comics and stuff like that. Yeah, but I've had so many C suite people say, but my favorite joke is is filthy. And I love the fact we all have to hide our our our like for filth. Why? Why? Let's just embrace our dirtiness as as a society.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  4:13  
I like that. Let's,

Kate Davis  4:16  
let's do it.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  4:17  
I gratefully wasn't that stressed out about it I have, but I had a lot of fun with it and not do this thing where, like, when I have a dinner party, everybody brings like, 10 jokes, and we like not laugh, or something like, do something funny with it. Anyways.

Kate Davis  4:38  
Okay, that's actually a great idea. Who the last to laugh. Win surprise.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  4:43  
I'll send you this YouTube video I found after where I got an inspiration from, and you'll see I

Kate Davis  4:49  
actually have a really good new camel toe joke I've been working on. Oh top, my daughter moved back home. I was an empty nester, and then my daughter moved back home, and she's like, it's like, we're. Roommates now. And I was like, oh, you know what? I don't want to my in my 50s. Yeah, roommates, yeah. Anyway. So she's back because they don't leave. They just come back with more people, right? But then I get great fashion advice. So I went up to her after a show, and I'm like, Look, I gotta know I'm going to a show Dwight, camel toe. And she's like, camel toe, is it? I didn't know that. And she's like, Yeah, you can buy stuff on Amazon to go in your knickers just age myself by calling them knickers to make your lips look bigger. And I'm like, I don't know, I swear to God. And I'm like, I don't know if it's fashionable, but I know I wear it every day.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  5:41  
So good is like, when he is bored at like a dinner party, he'll just start making like stuff up, and he created virgins and the whole and he basically, like, he'll be sitting there bored, he'll come up with a whole situation, and then before you know it, he's actually selling it to the person. And they're like, trying to invest, and I'm just like, the solution to your to your problem. See,

Kate Davis  6:17  
so good. Oh, my God, the jeans. Jeans, yeah, oh my God, to go along with your Oh, what was that? Drink? Good.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  6:29  
Look, good.

Kate Davis  6:30  
The probiotic.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  6:31  
Gotta have the probiotics this, oh,

Kate Davis  6:34  
my god, I just read today because Kentucky Fried Chicken in I think 2018 had a crisis where they were like they ran out of chicken, basically. So they so for crisis control, they put an ad in the paper saying, We apologize for running out of chicken because the chicken crossed the road but didn't make it to our restaurant.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  7:00  
No, I don't know what's really funny is I actually had a go to joke once in my life, but I was seven, and it was about a booger, and I was do it, we're not doing that one really, come on, really long, and it's not was it? Yes, I but I used to think it was so funny. Yeah, really did, because then I'm like, joke again that I'm like, so I tell it to my daughter, and she's like, No, she's only nine. She's like, not, not funny, mom. So I'm like, maybe I forgot a part, so I looked it up and I didn't forget

Kate Davis  7:40  
that. You just didn't think you were that funny. That is so good bad kids are, you know, they're, they're a hard audience and an easy audience. Yeah, let's rewind for a second, because I'd love you to just tell people your story and where you come from, what you're doing and all the good work, so people have just a reference to what's going on here.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  8:04  
So I have a company beyond beauty project, and we are helping people embrace their self worth beyond all the societal expectations. I focus a lot around body ideal, or, sorry, beauty ideals and body image and the success ideals. I still do a little bit of modeling, but I was a model for 25 years. Grew up in Michigan originally, and moved to sort of Miami and New York, Paris when I was around 19. We moved around everywhere, and yeah, and I landed in the modeling world. I was trying to make a better life for myself. My I grew up, my mom had multiple sclerosis, and my dad worked like 70 hours a week as a welder. And, you know, so I was going to college, and I was paying, helping pay for that by working full time. I was a I was a secretary, secretary at Big Boy headquarters, Bob's Big Boy. And I had like, remember, like, oh, people told me I should model. So I tried it out. And next thing I knew, I moved and I never, kind of felt comfortable with the way we were constantly judged or told, you know, to lose weight. I was told to lose weight right away. It came from like a competitive dancing background, and had muscular legs and you know, so throughout my long career, there was one time I really walked away and I was a little bit of a disaster. I was partying. I was, you know, getting skinny in all the wrong ways, and moved back home, and I said, need to really just get myself grounded. And I kind of started, I would say, I started studying, sort of like holistic nutrition. I got certified as a first. Personal Trainer then, and a couple years later, I went back to work, and I was like, Okay, I'm gonna, if I work as a model, I'm gonna work at my size like, and I told them, so I did that for a long time, and then I just had this, you know, really hard time in my life where I lost my mom, my dad, my brother, in under two years, and I went on to a string of miscarriages, where I lost twins at five and a half months. I had went back to my agency that I had for a really long time, and like I wanted something, you know, to feel normal. And they said, Well, you know, first you need to lose weight. And I was 41 and I was a size six. I had a daughter. I was a size six. Yep,

Kate Davis  10:45  
I haven't been a size six since I was two. I'll be a size six when I'm biodegrading,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  11:00  
then you will have one, though, Kate,

Unknown Speaker  11:02  
that's right.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  11:05  
So, yeah. So that was sort of my moment where, like, beyond beauty project kind of bloomed because I got off the phone, I cried hysterically because someone told me I was too big, and I just thought, like, what am I doing? You know, and I had a little girl, so I walked away a couple days later, and I started a podcast, and it's sort of grown into this really beautiful community. And I do workshops and keynotes, and we are we just launched. Well, we're in the process of launching, but we have applications coming in for an ambassador program, and yeah, so it's really exciting. I love what I do now. Oh,

Kate Davis  11:47  
I love that all so much. Yes, I'm sorry for your loss, by the way, or losses, I should say that's so intense, and it's we always grieve to the extent we loved. That's what I say, right? So, yeah, I've been there anyway. It's not a grief podcast. Guys come over that one. Boom. We both are crying. So good. It is interesting, because I do have two daughters, and I watch them struggle with all the standards of online. And I watch them go on, you know, delete all their apps, and then go back in and, you know, try and keep themselves healthy, happy and whole, and, you know, as and then I don't think I've been the healthiest, because I'm always like, I'm too fat. I

Bridgette Burrick Brown  12:42  
don't fit anything. Nothing looks good. And, you

Kate Davis  12:46  
know, you go through that panic, I have to go out and and I'm, you know, a bit like a yo yo. And especially after menopause for me now, and it's just like you, you have this whole world you feel like judging you, yep, which, you know, honestly, I've, I've just always had to be funny anyway. So it's amazing that I found, personally, I found solace in jokes and connecting with people with humor. Yeah, I just love the fact that you're doing this now. Are you using humor when you're dealing with these topics? I

Bridgette Burrick Brown  13:24  
probably should more, but not no, you should help me with that.

Unknown Speaker  13:29  
I should help you,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  13:32  
you know, I will laugh with myself. I'll use humor with myself, like, you know, like, Oh, great. Stomach or, you know, but I do think if we could bring, you, know, the pressure off of this perfectionism and see more of like, I don't know, I don't know how you would bring humor into like your body so much, but,

Kate Davis  13:54  
well, I love that one woman, and I don't know her name, but she imitates all The models just with a normal body, yes, right. She's hilarious. Do you find like when you're dealing with your podcast, and obviously you have a team working with you now, where they'd be on beauty project, when you have like, collaboration days or stuff with them, are you using like, team building exercises or anything like that with them?

Bridgette Burrick Brown  14:19  
So one thing about my project is I feel like I'm healing along, yeah, like I'm healing so much by doing it, right? So I think our team building is we'll have these, like, really nice conversations about something. Maybe it's like a content around aging or anything, embracing your self worth. It's like group therapy, and we grow. And I've had a bunch of interns that have went through our program, and I feel like that's one of the biggest things they say, is that they've learned, you know, some tangible things around maybe social media marketing, but they also learn a lot about themselves. I would say we're. Or maybe I bring humor is in is just, yes, we have a mission, but like, we're doing social media, or we're like, doing a podcast. It's like, not brain surgery. Like, let's keep it light. Like, if we make a mistake, I'm the first one to laugh at myself. Like, yeah, the point where people are like, you laugh. Mean, you are the only person that can just sit there, then all of a sudden, you're just cracking up, you know? So I think a lot of that goes on like we're doing something that's so mission driven, and it's a movement really, and it's really needed. But how can we create something that is a little bit more serious? Because sometimes we're talking about eating disorders, we have to have moments of like, okay, we need to make sure this information is correct, the stats and the data is point. But then maybe the next moment, there is a Celes barber video that we like just as much, you know, I said in the beginning I lost, like my parents and my brother and I had just, was I married to Jay yet? Had we? No, yeah, we had just gotten married, and my brother was really sick. I won't talk about the incident, because this is a humor podcast, but it was something horrible, like, and it was the two of us together, and we were at my parents house. My brother was there. We're like, we need to, like, go on a walk and, like, shake this off. And like, within like, three minutes, I was peeing my pants, laughing at something my husband had said. And I remember thinking like, like, life's gonna be okay, you know, like, that was one of the worst things I will probably ever experience. Yeah, now I'm laughing with somebody I love. I remember really that being like, this moment of like, God, you gotta keep laughing. You really do prerequisite. How do I say that word pre now for like, friends, I'm like, Are you funny?

Kate Davis  17:14  
That's their job interview. Like, how funny Are you like?

Bridgette Burrick Brown  17:17  
Can you laugh at yourself? Because I think it's important just to be able to, like, not you have to be like, self deprecating. But like, yeah, much more thoughts on this than me. But like, can you lighten it up? Well,

Kate Davis  17:28  
I find the self deprecating is great when you are the C suite, when you are head like, self deprecating humor really is a great way to connect with people when you're in a in a leadership position, you know, you never punch down at all, you know. And it's really not about telling the next best joke is, how does this make people feel and showing humor in in different ways? And I love that story because I've been beside people who were dying, and they say comedy's hard. Dyings easy. Well, then you've never been next to a dying person, because it's horrible, though. So I get that, and the fact that your husband could find light in that situation to point where I remember one of my uncles always complaining, why are we you know, when my grandfather was in the hospital. Why are we making light of this? You know, Why does everything have to be funny kind of thing? But it really, it does help in those situations, and it brings a different perspective onto it.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  18:32  
I agree. It's like the even the funerals. I think it's like, we would all hang out and just like, laugh after and like, have wine and just, like, just be crying laughing about something, you know, because it's

Kate Davis  18:46  
a great tension release.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  18:48  
It's good memories, yeah,

Kate Davis  18:50  
and they bombed us as well. Like, when we do laugh that hard together, like the fact that you're bringing that up, and how many years ago, yeah, it's still such a core memory. And the fact that you, you know remember telling a joke as a seven year old, lends to the power of what humor does to our psyches, our souls and and the connection that it makes, not only with each other, but with ourselves.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  19:14  
Oh, love that. Oh,

Kate Davis  19:17  
thanks. You know.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  19:18  
Can you tell me more about that? I don't know. More about that. I love connection with yourself, yeah? Because I guess you kind of tap into a part of yourself. Yeah, you know what that makes me think of, too. Sorry. Oh, please. HD, today is because now we're sort of talking about like death and then laughter. I guess that's the theme of the show, but

Kate Davis  19:44  
it is today. Apparently,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  19:47  
life is so like has so many parts to it. And I feel, I think, because I experienced loss young now, a lot of my friends are starting to go through. Know those things, and I find that people, they're almost shocked, like we're almost shocked in society by the bad things that happen. Yeah, we're not prepared for them. We're just sort of like we're striving for this perfectionism, right? Like, when my life gets perfect enough, I'll be happy enough.

Kate Davis  20:20  
That's how I feel when I'm posting on social media. That's why I never post on tick tock or anything. I'm like, because I make a video and I'm like, that's not good. I can't post it. So we are practice. Yeah,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  20:33  
I can tell you about my 4p if you want. But all right, finish that thought of you're like, all right, that sounds boring. That thought up. It's like, you know, in that moment, like it was a horrible situation that me and my husband, then we went on a walk, and then he wasn't trying to make me laugh, but it's like, just cool, the like, different, all the different parts of life. Yeah, you can embrace the laughter more

Kate Davis  20:58  
absolutely and right? That's all you can do make light of those situations that happen. You know, I was talking to someone who was terminally ill, and our conversation went to so what are you going to be wearing?

Unknown Speaker  21:11  
Yeah,

Unknown Speaker  21:12  
have you picked out your outfit? Sounds

Bridgette Burrick Brown  21:14  
bad.

Kate Davis  21:26  
Hi, it's Kate. I can't believe you made it halfway through the show. Look, if you or anyone you know would like to be a guest on humor in the C suite, I would love to have you. So email me kate@katedavis.ca so when you're dealing with multi generational within your industry, because it is so multi generational, you're going to be dealing with people like me who are middle age and feel insecure, and then you're dealing with teenagers who have so much pressure, or, you know, and even younger than that, you know, the industry, the beauty industry, and, you know, 30 year olds getting Botox and this and that it 20 year olds, yeah, yes. And I, actually, I have nothing yet. And then I'm always like, do? I don't. I do I don't look I got my teeth bleached. Once cried for eight days. So I'm

Bridgette Burrick Brown  22:22  
maybe you should do. Anything, then I don't

Kate Davis  22:23  
think I should do anything. I

Bridgette Burrick Brown  22:25  
like, no, like, I remember, I think I did that too, and I was like, you want me to wear this every day? It was like, one of those I had to wear, like, one or something.

Kate Davis  22:38  
Yeah, no, absolutely. Yeah, no, there's so much pressure. So when you're doing your you know, dealing with your ambassadors and everyone working with you on this, on the beauty project, do you find that humor is playing a part within it and not taking ourselves so seriously within that industry?

Bridgette Burrick Brown  22:56  
Yeah. I mean, to be honest, you're making me really think about how I should add in some more humor, because I'm not using it that much. I might be using it in different ways. Maybe we should brainstorm this. How could I bring some humor into the beyond? Well,

Kate Davis  23:13  
maybe we should do another episode where I coach you into doing some humor. I like that. I like that too. Actually, I haven't done that.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  23:21  
I really want to honor everybody's path, in their journey and where they are, because I think I love, like the Celeste barber thing, because it's really funny. I don't know if I know of anybody doing anything funny, because I think it can be such a sensitive subject, and that people are, they're really they're struggling. Do you know the younger girls have so much pressure now because of social media and the constant media messaging, that's like, they can't get away from it. There's

Kate Davis  23:53  
another girl. I'll get her name and but I she does makeup tutorials, watching a makeup tutorial really badly.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  24:05  
No, I know we are talking about and I died. I've watched that video where, like, she has a black face,

Kate Davis  24:13  
yes, yes,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  24:14  
my son, I tried to show that to my daughter, she's nine, and she was like,

Kate Davis  24:20  
Oh, I don't get it. Yeah, no. Kids are very literal. They're very literal in their humor. Yeah, they don't get sarcasm or nuance, so, yeah, but they will. So there are, there are people playing within the industry and making light of it and all that, which I think is really important in such a huge industry. And I do think there's just as much pressure on men nowadays. And yeah, I mean, it is a gender definitely more on women. But I know just from having a son and knowing the pressure, you know, seeing him under pressure as well, and just really loving yourself and. Humor has done that for me. Humor has allowed me to do that because I spent my whole childhood hearing I should get a nose job, and it just always thinking, you're not you're not good enough. Yeah, and it's still growing, like, I'm screwed. You know what I mean is, like, the nose and the ears, I'm like, Oh, this is it. I'm just going to be one big nose and ears by the time I'm 80, and then you start getting the hairs anyway, does it? Yeah? Good times guys, good times.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  25:28  
Yeah. But the pressure for men has increased recently, yeah, but obviously I do think women have more pressure, especially in like corporate America. Yes, absolutely. The pressure on men and even young boys has increased, and it's become more of a problem. I just actually got off of an interview for my podcast with this lady who's embraced her silver hair, and she gave me the coolest advice for anybody wanting to sort of embrace their aging self. And she's like, I don't know, I don't know if I'll be able to do it, because I just, like, I was, like, drawn into her while she was saying it. She just envisions this beautiful, like, older version of herself, and like, almost like, she's like a goddess, and like, What is she doing? And, you know, she's out in her garden, and she's like, I just, I accept her, and I try to be her.

Kate Davis  26:33  
Oh, I love that. And that's so

Bridgette Burrick Brown  26:37  
cute. And then when I asked her at the ending, I said, Who inspires you right now? And she goes, that woman that I described, Oh,

Kate Davis  26:47  
stop it. They're gonna make me Oh, my God, you have to have my mom on your podcast. She is 81 feisty, and will absolutely never go gray, ever. And her strength is in her hair. It is down to her butt, red, red. Always a redhead, fiery redhead. Yeah, she's never abused herself, really, other than sugar. That is her vice. Yep, she will live to 100 I think, just out of anger, but

Unknown Speaker  27:18  
I love her and

Kate Davis  27:20  
a Mars bar a day. That's her a mark, yeah, she's never cooked for me, a Mars bar a day.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  27:27  
Wait, a Mars bar. Yeah, for you, that sounds like me,

Kate Davis  27:33  
my mother. Her oven is just full of snacks. She hasn't even turned it on in years.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  27:38  
My oven in New York City used to be full with Converse high tops down my apartment one time when I decided I was gonna cook for my new boyfriend.

Kate Davis  27:50  
Oh my gosh. That is so great. That's a great story. Smells

Bridgette Burrick Brown  27:54  
rubber, like someone told me to go out too. Oh, no,

Kate Davis  28:02  
that's so great. No, yeah,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  28:07  
like we have to get to this place where we're not taking our parents so serious. And the thing is, is we have the pressure. So how can we do that? You know, how can we not make it such a big deal when all this noise is around us? And I think that's part of what we're doing at beyond beauty project is helping you, how can you silence some of that noise from the media, from your social media, from your parents, from your peers, and get back in tune with yourself and do what feels feels good to you and authentic. Because I always quote beauty redefined. They say, if beauty is the thing that makes you, beauty is the thing that will break you. And the problem is, is when we make our appearance so important, it might not break you overnight. It could if something big happens. Usually you get, you know, something happens to your physical health or something, but you're good at age. We're not gonna We're not escaping that. So it starts to break down your confidence, like little by little by little. Yeah, how can we change that narrative? And I think it's little by little by little, like practicing self love, yeah, and just being with ourselves as we are, and embracing that cell our ourselves fully,

Kate Davis  29:38  
what a gift it is to age. First of all, yep, we forget that absolutely. And second of all, like my husband and I, we've it's so interesting aging together, because I've been with him since I was 21 Oh yeah. And we're 35 years in, we've been very different people. He see me at my best. Do you see me at my worst? And you know, I laugh now, because we used to run to bed to make love, and now we run to bed to try and fall asleep before the other starts snoring.

Unknown Speaker  30:13  
Seriously?

Kate Davis  30:16  
And then I joke. I'm like, I don't need to shave anymore, because he needs readers and he can't see anything anyway. So there are benefits. There are definitely places where you can find humor in those situations and really embrace all those funny, funky moments of of where you're at in your beauty career, and what's going on, whether you choose to go gray or choose to keep your hair color and all those things. And I love what you've been doing with all that you're so inspirational, and also you're just so funny, the fact that you're just wanting to be goofy and having what, what?

Bridgette Burrick Brown  31:01  
That's compliment. I think I've ever got writing this

Kate Davis  31:04  
down, we don't have to tell a joke to be funny, like you said off the top. And it's really about not taking ourselves so seriously, bringing that to every element, but it doesn't make light of serious things.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  31:18  
I think also, though, it's like when you're going through something serious, don't forget to laugh. If you can, doesn't mean you don't have to. You can't find things to laugh about. Because when I tell that story with my husband, I always, sometimes I'll say, like, it wasn't like, inappropriate for him to make me laugh, because, like, I don't want people to like, judge him that he made me laugh, but now I've cut that part. Yeah, I think it's like, don't forget to laugh when you can, because you know what life is hard, you know or like, work is hard, or being in the C suite is hard. So how can we make it more fun?

Kate Davis  31:56  
Yeah, and make ourselves more approachable and more vulnerable in a healthy way. You know, laughing at our our looks, or this or that, is just, yeah. I mean, I used to just get my eyebrows waxed, and I'm like, you just do my whole face, please.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  32:16  
I because I was asking my friends. I'm like, so now I have to have a funny story too.

Kate Davis  32:20  
Yes, you do. Let's do it. Oh, God,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  32:25  
I didn't. Okay. So anyways, she, this isn't the story, but she goes, Well, you should tell the story about how you walked around New York City and your eyebrows were orange, and you didn't know. She goes, and then, because, so basically it was like when I was really in so apparently, if you get self tanner on your eyebrows over time, they will turn orange. Oh, okay, yeah. So that happened to me, and then I went hit them, died, and then I walked around with black eyebrows for a while. That was good, the eyebrow. The eyebrow thing reminded me of that.

Kate Davis  33:06  
Oh my gosh, you gotta, you know, eyebrows are big. They're our big deal. They're, they're the eyebrows, have it. You know, when I grew up with Groucho Marx eyebrows, like I had the thickest eyebrows as a kid, it was just, what was that

Bridgette Burrick Brown  33:24  
that's probably good though. Like, look at is your hair that thick? Your hair looks My hair

Kate Davis  33:29  
is so thick. My mother's hair is double as thick as mine. It's like eight horses manes.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  33:34  
That's why she's like, I'm not dying it. I'm just, she's

Kate Davis  33:37  
never, no, no. She dies it. She will never go gray. She's like, her powers in her hair. Yeah, it's, it's pretty incredible that, like,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  33:46  
that's actually a pretty hot topic, I would say, around beauty and like, going gray. It's like, there's some judgment around it, you know, if you're Gray, like you're not doing that. It's like,

Kate Davis  34:01  
I feel like it's like breastfeeding. Do whatever the hell you want, whatever makes you feel good, whatever is good for you. Like, I know if I put on a blonde wig, I look so bad like that. Gray washes me out. Blonde washes like I look like a psychopath, right? But I do feel like I'm that's another judgment, you know, us judging each other. Oh, you're so insecure. You can't like do your natural hair color, or I just think we have to respect choices, yes, and

Bridgette Burrick Brown  34:33  
be able to have full agency over our choices without you telling me what I have to do or judging me on what I do. Yes, I am real about like, just, do you, like, if it feels good to you, then, then do that. Yeah, it's tipping over into where you don't feel good, or you're absolutely more insecure. It's getting a little. You know, out of balance, then that's something to pause and say. Like, hey. Like, I need to check in with myself,

Kate Davis  35:06  
and everything has changed. Like, so much. Like, they say, this is good for you, and then, you know, a year later, it's bad for you. Like, who knows? You know, no one. I feel like you have to that be very just listen to yourself. Yeah, when I'm using humor as well in in different situations with different people, you know, you always have to listen to that. But there is room for levity in all these situations, whether we're dealing with beauty, whether we're dealing with, you know, people passing, I don't want to say the D word no, right, like all these things are so taboo, and we get so drawn into, you know, can I say this or that instead of the actual, you know, important stuff that's going on is, how does this make me feel? And how am I making other people feel within this? And I think for me, that's always been the power of humor in those situations. So,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  36:04  
yeah, I really, I love that, and

Kate Davis  36:06  
I do love this, because I do feel like I have so many people come on and they're like, you know, they're like, I'm funny. I'm with this and that. So I use it. I love this fresh take up. Yeah, I don't know how to bring humor into this, you know, because it is such a serious topic, and I think that's a really important point as well. Yeah, you know. And I've

Bridgette Burrick Brown  36:28  
been thinking about my keynote, and I'm like, I need to add in, like, a couple times where people have a little giggle, yes, it's actually been something that I've thought of. So we are going to talk absolutely

Kate Davis  36:41  
so let me hear your funniest story. Let's let's do, okay, it's this is, I love the fact you're dreading it.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  36:52  
Not my funniest story, but it's the only thing I could think of. Okay, so, okay. So I go to a casting. I'm in New York City, is a modeling casting and I walk in, I'm excited, I feel prepared, and I hand my portfolio, which is, you know, the picture with all your book with all your pictures to there's two men at a casting table, and I hand it to them, and I'm just standing there, like with my arms behind my back or something, and they're they're flipping, and they're flipping and they're flipping, they flip, and there's a tampon. And I'm like, Oh God, and I and I grab it, and I just put it behind me back, and I just stand there, and I'm like, Did I get it fast enough? Did they and then I look at them finally, and then they're like, Yeah, we saw that. And I'm like, and I'm like, Well, you're welcome. Good for you. And then I left, and I'm like, well, not getting that job. And then I got booked for the job, and then I then I just told the story the entire like, five days we were on the trip. I was like, Well, I You got books because they really liked the way you looks, but I got books because they're in my portfolio. So can do get things a couple different ways get to things, a couple different ways. I

Kate Davis  38:23  
love that. That is so great. How old were you?

Bridgette Burrick Brown  38:27  
I was like, oh, 27 or something. Yeah,

Kate Davis  38:30  
yeah. It's brutal. It's it's so yeah, because that never happens. No,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  38:38  
God, I was actually looking because sometimes when they're looking at your book, you're kind of like dude to do. You know, it couldn't

Kate Davis  38:45  
be any more awkward. I could imagine someone listening to my jokes going, like, while I'm standing there, like, listening to my comedy album. That just sounds brutal.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  38:55  
Yeah, you could go, but thank God I was kind of paying attention, and I was grabbing there. That was the funny part. I

Kate Davis  39:03  
was just like, do you ever miss modeling? So I I miss the connections.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  39:10  
I miss the laughter. We like a lot. Like, when, when the sets that I liked and the teams that I didn't were like, there was one team that I worked with a lot, and the stylist was just a hoot. I mean, we would end up doing, like, choreographed dances and fun and we were laughing. I miss the connection. I miss laughing on set. I miss finding out, like, what people are listening to or reading or learning. I don't miss any of the judgy, oh, I don't fit into those clothes or, yeah,

Kate Davis  39:49  
of course, you know, I

Bridgette Burrick Brown  39:51  
don't miss that, but I miss the and I miss the creation. Sometimes it's like, you create this really cool image. And everybody you know collaborated on it, and that part's really I miss you always

Kate Davis  40:06  
think, you know, on the sidelines when you're not a model, like how silly that job is, and oh my god, anyone could do it. They were just born with good looks. And then you try it, you're like, oh my god, this is so much work and so hard it is. It really like just getting headshots down to me smiling. Ah, poor guy. Oh, my God.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  40:30  
It is a whole, you know, there's a whole talent to it, for sure. Get better as you do it more like any, like

Kate Davis  40:38  
anything, which includes looking for where things are funny and just noticing them. And that's a great way to bring, start bringing humor and more humor into you know what's going on in your world, because we we find what we're looking for totally

Bridgette Burrick Brown  40:55  
I think one of the first videos that went sort of viral with this, like women really embracing their cellulite, stretch marks, dimples, whatever was Megan Rose lane, and she had done a video. She was in her bathing suit, and she was like, just shaking, but she slowed it down.

Kate Davis  41:19  
It's already funny in my head.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  41:23  
I think for some it was hilarious, and some were just like,

Kate Davis  41:28  
what? Yeah,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  41:29  
could she do that? Yeah, absolutely, it was shocking, you know. So, yeah, oh, I

Kate Davis  41:36  
love all of this Bridget. Thank you so much for being a guest today. I so appreciate your time and the beauty project like honestly. It's, I should say, beyond beauty project. Beyond beauty project, honestly. Thank you so much for being guest on humor in the C suite, and I'll probably have you back on to go over all your jokes for now,

Bridgette Burrick Brown  41:59  
whatever you want.

Unknown Speaker  42:00  
I love that.

Bridgette Burrick Brown  42:04  
I love chatting with you. Thank you.

Matt Cundill  42:09  
Thanks for listening to humor in the C suite. For ways to get more humor in the C suite, just head on over to Kate davis.ca, produced and distributed by the sound off media company in.