Living a Produced Life While Staying True to Yourself, with Carolina Groppa
Not only actors but also the people working behind the scenes bring a film or TV show to life. And one of the people behind the scenes is the producer. We know that a film or a show cannot exist without a producer, but do we know what exactly is it that they do?
In today's episode of Radically Loved, we're joined by a fantastic guest, Carolina Groppa. She is an Emmy-nominated film producer and the host of the Life With Caca podcast. She will talk about the reality of being a producer and her experience producing films. Also, she will share how yoga and meditation have helped her deal with the demands of her profession.
This episode is full of firsthand insights. Check out the episode highlights below and make sure to tune in to the full episode!
About Our Guest
Carolina Groppa is an Emmy-nominated film producer for her documentary, Autism in Love (2015). Her work also includes Miss Virginia (2019) and The Female Brain (2017). Aside from being a producer and an actress, she is also the host of the Life With Caca podcast. There, she holds intimate conversations with other producers about their experiences in the industry.
How Carolina Stays True to Herself
Life With Caca
- Even among people in the industry, they don't know what the different types of producers do.
- Life With Caca is a podcast space for producers, especially women in the field. Carolina invites colleagues to understand how they got there and what the lifestyle of a producer is like.
- “Caca” is not just Carolina's nickname. In Portuguese, it means “something messy.” The podcast looks deeper into how producers go through both the wonderful and the messy parts of their lives.
- The lifestyle conversation also tells stories of diversity and representation in the industry.
Mindfulness and Meditation
- Most people in this field are very anxious people. They're good at problem-solving and thinking about problems that don't exist yet. It is an excellent skill to have in the job but not in personal life.
- When she discovered yoga, she didn't fully understand it. A teacher broke it down for her and made her love the physical practice. Eventually, she learned that yoga starts off the mat.
- Yoga helps her lean into a place of love instead of fear.
- Be patient and kind to yourself when meditating. Set realistic boundaries.
- Without mindfulness, we can get caught up in the motions of life. However, once you are a “woke” person, being absent from your body and the world is harder.
- Living a balanced life means hitting your goals, big or small, one day at a time.
Becoming a Producer
- Carolina is originally from Brazil. Her family moved to Florida when she was nine.
- In her early teens, she discovered acting and auditioned for a conservatory in Los Angeles. However, that coincided with the writers’ strike, so she didn't get the traction that she wanted.
- She started producing to create acting opportunities for herself.
- She did everything from producing the show to marketing it and playing the lead; it was a huge success.
- Your brain has to be wired for multitasking to be a producer.
Life of a Producer
- Some producers take advantage of their colleagues, and that breeds a lot of misconceptions about the profession.
- You will never know where your experiences will lead you. But if you put in the work, success will find you. And you will only connect the dots looking backwards.
- You're never going to learn until you work on something.
Honesty and Authenticity
- There is a disconnect between reality and what we see on social media.
- Carolina started her podcast to break away from that mirage. The life of a producer is not glamorous every time.
- The more you practice yoga, the more you can realign with the most authentic version of yourself. That, in turn, creates a ripple effect.
- She feels authentic when she can make someone's day a little better or inspire and motivate people through her podcast.
- Because of social media, we spend zero time grounding and going into our bodies.
- Before she interviews her guests, she aligns with myself so that she can be connected with them. It allows her to have profound conversations with them, and they respond to that.
5 Powerful Quotes From This Episode
- “There's a lot of actors and comedians and writers and directors with podcasts, and they're all fantastic. But nothing, no one is talking to the producers. And as a producer, I know how frustrating that can be to have something you work on so hard, get a ton of visibility, and then you rarely get to have a moment to share your story or your perspective on that experience.”
- “I think with social media, oftentimes, we can just get a very myopic, one-dimensional view of what it takes to get to that one photo that you're seeing. And I've been using this metaphor, a lot, of a garden. It's like you're seeing someone's garden in full bloom, and you're not seeing the years of planting seeds, and weeds that you have to pull out, and things that you thought would grow and blossom that didn't, and the frustrations that come with that, and then what is it that makes people keep going.”
- “Lately I've been thinking that this idea of a balanced life is not an overarching thing. It's a balanced day. Every day you have to decide, “Okay, today I want my day to be 60% work and 40% home life.” Or “80% I'm going to relax, and 20% I'm going to do the work.” And if you can hit those, whatever that is for you daily, that is living a balanced life one day at a time.”
- “Frankly, you're never going to learn until you're just in it. And that's so much of this career path, which is why it's so well-suited for my personality of you just figure it out as you go along. And that isn't for everybody. Some people are terrified by that… It's always evolving. And in a way, it's terrifying. But it's exhilarating. And that's why I think because it can have these two very diametrically opposed extremes to yoga and the mindfulness is a thing that brings me back to try and find the middle of that pendulum. Otherwise, I spiral out of control.”
- “I think [freedom is] having autonomy. There's the freedom that we can discuss of, like I live in a country where I can walk out of my house, and as a woman, I can go pretty much anywhere, and do anything, and wear anything, and say anything, and most of the time be okay. There's still precautions, of course, as a woman, you always have to take, but there's that freedom. And I think having that freedom gives you ammo to have autonomy and to feel empowered, go after the things that you want to do.”
Resources
To know more about what she does, visit her website, lifewithcaca.com. You may also reach her on social media, @carolinagroppa.
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Thank you so much for listening!