How to Pitch National TV & Going On Air with Host & Producer Vanessa Rae – Podcast Transcript

Episode 63 – How to Pitch National TV & Going On Air with Host & Producer Vanessa Rae – Pitchin’ and Sippin’

 Speakers:

Vanessa Rae, Lexie Smith 

Lexie Smith 

Today we are talking with the hostess of the most Nope, we’re gonna read you that pregnancy brain. Today we are talking with the hostess is the most is Vanessa Ray, you just heard her incredible bio. She is an absolute expert of her craft and I am beyond honored to have the opportunity to pitch and sit with her today. So Vanessa, welcome officially to the show. I always like to start off with where is home base and what do you like to do outside of work for fun?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Amazing. Thank you, Lexie. So home base is Manhattan born and raised. But I also spend a lot of time in South Florida. And as far as what I love to do for fun, I’ve so many things that I love to do for fun. So I love traveling. I love dancing, you know, usually by myself back in the day in clubs was a lot of fun painting, singing, fitness, and I have a almost four year old son. So a lot of my free time is now spent with him. But I try to incorporate things that I like with him. So he loves to paint. He loves singing and dancing. And for a word to the wise if anyone you know you’re pregnant if anyone is having children. Choose very wisely what Disney movie you show them first. I had never seen Frozen. I was like yeah, I’ve never seen Frozen. Let’s watch this. And you know, like more than a year later, he’s still obsessed with frozen. We always sing all the songs together. So just make sure you know like where you’re putting your ladder as far as far as the Disney movies go, because we’re now officially team frozen. And even if I didn’t want to be I have no choice. Another funny thing that he did, actually yesterday, while he was taking a bath, he started hosting, like a web series or a YouTube channel. He literally introduced the segment, did the segment and then asked people to subscribe. And I’ve no idea how he picked that up.

 

Lexie Smith 

Maybe from his mother

 

Vanessa Rae 

But it was like, it was like the weirdest thing because we had like a meeting with his teachers today. And I mentioned it and they were like, No, we don’t show him YouTube video. So I have no idea how he knows how to host his own show at three years old.

 

Lexie Smith 

Oh my gosh, is this the new generation, they’re just popping out of the womb and they already know all these things. Social media,

 

Vanessa Rae 

like I’m gonna be out of work because some three year old is going to come replace me.

 

Lexie Smith 

Oh my God, that’s hysterical. You know what I’ve my three year old nephew. Niece also is in a huge frozen phase. She only wants to wear frozen dresses. She only wants frozen dress or present. She only wants to watch frozen. So that’s actually really great advice. I don’t know at what age maybe you can tell me At what age do I need to be mindful? Probably not when she’s a newborn. But is it like two?

 

Vanessa Rae 

I think like, I mean, he started speaking really early, you know? So? Yeah, maybe even like, one I’d start. You know, there they absorb a lot like they are sponges as people say so. Yeah, just just choose Choose, choose wisely. Because you may be stuck in it for a long time

 

Lexie Smith 

stuck in it. I don’t you know, my regular listeners might know this about me. But my husband’s concerned because I’m a true, true crime fanatic. So I love true crime shows I love true crime podcasts. I’m like doing laundry listening to murder stuff. He’s like, you know, when the baby comes out, you might need to watch that a little bit. Or her first words are going to be like, stuff. So I’m like, do I have a year until she starts repeating these and I really need to keep her separate? I don’t know.

 

Vanessa Rae 

That’s a really good question. Yeah. And there, they definitely start, you know, let’s just say that. My husband was listening to a show with Nicolas Cage, who was the host, and it was the history of curse words. And from down the hall. I don’t know if my son heard it in his sleep or something. But he definitely like dropped a bomb. And I was shocked. So they can even absorb things when you have no idea that they’re absorbing.

 

Lexie Smith 

Absorbing. Yeah, even in the womb. She’s been exposed to quite a few shows. So hopefully I haven’t ruined her already. 

 

Vanessa Rae 

yeah, that’s what I did. That’s why I did the Mozart music because I was you know, in case he was getting it in the womb. There was a lot of Mozart going on while I was pregnant.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yes, which the books tell me I should do. I’m a loss. We’re five weeks to go And here we are. So anyways bad. I’m already terrible enough with how I’m already. Um, let’s talk through your career a bit share yours. Oh, tell me rewind time, how did you even get into hosting?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Wow, that’s a great question, as I’m sure people answer questions that way all the time. So I knew that I wanted to be a host, I went to journalism school. And I already had a passion for acting. So to me, I thought hosting was an amazing combination of the two because there is a performance aspect to it. But I also like that I’m telling real stories. And I love the fact that I get to interview people meet new people all the time. So I got to college and you know, had a traditional news journalism, education, but always kind of with the goal of doing something like more MTV ish, a lot of the packages that I was doing in college were like, you know, ballroom dancing or, you know, drink well, I wasn’t drinking wine. But you know, like, you know, how to know which one is great, you know, all kinds of things that would improve someone’s life or make it fun. I wanted to do things that made people feel good. I did want to do some serious journalism as well. So when I was, first of all, I did like more than 13 internships, I did a lot, a lot. A lot of internships. I wasn’t allowed to do it might have even been 15. Like I could list the places I intern. And I wasn’t allowed to do that many internships, but I kind of took the form that they gave me, and just like sent it to everybody. And then a bunch of people said, yes, so I was like, Great, we’ll do it. So thank you to my mom, who one summer drove me to like three different internships. And so I was interning two days a week, wanted a local news station wanted a new station that let me do promos. So I was doing like, it was a promo department. They actually let me do two promos and air them. One was like a Seinfeld promo and one was for The Simpsons. So and then I was interning at CNN in Miami, because I grew up in Manhattan, but I went to high school in Florida. So I did that. And then for part of the summer, I also went to New York and interned at a at a PR firm. So I kept doing that. So I had internships all through college. I went to Boston University, they own the station. So I interned at that station. I interned at like a local station in Boston, and I just kept interning, like I interned at lifetime, they had a really cool series of programming aimed towards women. So basically, my point is, by the time I graduated, I had a really good idea of what I wanted to do. And I had studied abroad in London. And rather than take an internship with CNN covering economics, which was like something hard to turn down after interning for CNN already, it just my gut felt like I should really explore something more fun. So I was offered an internship at a place called Fashion file, which was an amazing experience, because I got to see all the London shows and literally sat inside the tripod that our camera crew was using. And so models walking down the catwalk, and it was just so exciting. So from there. I just kind of took a job at an advertising agency as someone’s assistant and figured, you know, I that way I have income, I moved to New York City back to New York that well, I’ll have income and then when the right job opportunity presents itself, then I can move there. So I called every connection I knew. 

 

 

Vanessa Rae 

And I just knew like, you know, I’ll spend time looking for the right job, but this way I have an income. And then I basically called everyone I knew that I had interned with and I said, this is what my dream job would be to work at MTV house style. Or MTV News. So it turned out I don’t know if you’ve seen Devil Wears Prada. 

Lexie Smith

Oh, yeah.

Vanessa Rae

Okay, so um, the woman I ended up working for was like the television version of Devil Wears product. She was amazing, but she was just like, totally a character. And I guess the last decision she had before me It ended in a screaming match. So she was answering her own phones. So I call Turn it was like, hello. I was like, Hi, my name is you know, I tried to be like really upbeat Hey, this is Vanessa, you know, I heard you may have an opening. So I went in interviewed, got that job. So I was the assistant to the executive producer of house style, which is like in fashion was like, one of the only TV shows there in existence, but very a cool show. So once I had my foot in the door at MTV, you know, I eventually I worked at that show loved it eventually moved over to MTV News. And then I worked my way up there to being a segment producer. And then kind of from there, I just kind of went back and forth between producing and hosting shows. And one of my bigger breaks was, after working at EA in LA, I came back to New York. And I went to a party for a place called GCTV, where I’d hosted a teen talk show, and they do a lot of amazing documentaries there. And it so happened that a producer from NBC had also interned there. And he was at that party that I went to it was like a, it was like a storm. It was cold. I didn’t want to go. But I had this gut feeling that I needed to go to that party. And he asked me to audition for they were auditioning for a travel show. And I absolutely love travel. And then also for a gadget in technology show for sci fi, and I wasn’t really like things break in my presence sometimes like, I’ve literally been in an editing room, and they’re like, We don’t know what’s going on. None of the none of the equipment is working. We don’t know why this is happening. And I’m never surprised because like, that just tends to happen. But for some reason, they gave me this gadget to figure out while I was like talking and they asked me to describe the room, and I as you can probably tell from this interview, I have no problem talking and talking and talking and talking. So I was like, I’ll just keep talking. And like, miraculously by the end of my audition, I figured out whatever kind of like test he had given me on the tech side. So I followed up, I was like, here’s some ideas for the travel show, you know, I really wanted to travel show, I kept following up with the producer. And he’s like, Hey, I’m sorry, like, you know, they hired a four year old male model to be the host of the travel shows. So that was like super disappointing. But then a few days later, he called me back and said, but sci fi wants you. And that ended up being one of the most amazing jobs which also led to the work that I did for the today show for their website. And since then, you know, I’ve just been going back and forth between producing and hosting.

 

Lexie Smith 

I mean, I think everyone just heard probably some of the most coveted dream jobs. We heard, you know, MTV, the today’s show he news, right? These are even little Lexie. So it’s funny, actually, I wanted to be an actress. And then I decided I don’t want to be an actress. I want to be in broadcast journalism. And that used to be my dream. And then I got to college. And I did the whole TV station thing and a couple internships and I’m like, Nope, can’t watch myself on camera. Anyways, I digress. My point being you had such incredible roles at some of the worlds and the United States. First Class stations and companies. Is it common to see someone going back and forth from a hosting role to producing

 

Vanessa Rae 

I think it’s more common now, when I first started, it was not common. And I actually Yeah, and I had to when I was going for producing jobs, not mention any of my on camera experience. And I actually tried to go on camera at MTV. So I had a couple of pieces. You know, I was I’ve always been very, like, you know, gutsy. As far as my career goes, like, I’ll ask and I’ll try, you know, it was not from lack of trying. So anytime I had a really good piece that I got a lot of praise for, like I had one piece and they I didn’t know why they were doing this. They were circulating it around the newsroom. And I was like, why is everyone coming to my desk asking to see it. But it turns out, they liked it a lot. They thought it was a really good piece. And they wanted people there to see it. So the second that happened, I like went to the head of news. And I was like, Hey, I’m getting like a lot of really good feedback on this piece. And, you know, is there any opportunity for me to go on air? And what they said was, you know, what we told there’s a one of the original newscasters was Tabitha Soren for MTV News. And he said, What I told Tabitha and what I’ll tell you is like you need to leave and get some experience and then you can come back and try but by the time I left and got the experience, then it was like, you know, I don’t know that I was a fit for MTV anymore, you know. So, yeah, I mean, but now, producers go on camera. And now hosts are producers. So that’s great because you know, anyone out there who’s a producer, if you will Want to put together a your own podcast or your own YouTube series, or if you want to pitch somebody where you’re working, that’s actually an asset to them. But for some reason, in the past, people want to do too. Even agents wanted to put people in two separate boxes. I remember meeting with an agent, and he was like, Well, are you a producer? Are you a host? Which one are you? I was like, Why do I have both of the skill sets? Like I studied journalism, so I can produce? But I’m also can interview people, you know, as a producer, you interview people. So it’s the same skill set?

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah. And you know, I know through the internships that I had, in more traditional smaller newsrooms, it’s very common for the reporter to also be editing and doing all the things right. So having that full skill set is really important. But I think I was initially a little surprised here at some of the larger ones that there’s a crossover, too. But that being said, let’s put on your hosts hat for a second. Yes. So the host host hat, talk us through like a day in the life and I’m sure differed per station, but what is a host? Job look like? What is your day to day look like? Yeah,

 

Vanessa Rae 

so it does definitely depend on where you’re hosting what the project profile is, but basically, like a good host. You know, depending on if you’re covering what you’re covering, before you even get to work, you hopefully have done a lot of research about whomever you’re interviewing or whatever you’re covering. A lot of times, if there is a script, you’ve gotten it very last minute. So I’ve definitely done shoots, where it’s like, oh, here’s the script. And it’s like, you know, 10 o’clock, at night the night before. So then you’re kind of like up all night, researching it, memorizing it, in some cases, because you don’t always have a teleprompter. And hopefully you don’t have like bags under your eyes the next day. Many times, depending on the profile, or the resources of where you’re hosting, you may be doing your own hair and makeup. I’ve done a lot of my own hair and makeup, which is why when someone else does my hair and makeup, I’m so excited because I think I look so much better. But really, the host responsibility is to I think, first and foremost, make people feel comfortable when they’re on set. And then you’re really telling a story. So you’re presenting information, but you’re guiding people through a story and you’re allowing, if you’re interviewing people, you’re allowing them to feel comfortable and have their best self come out. And if you’re presenting information you are really cognizant about, to whom you’re speaking who your audience is. And you’re trying to make the information clear and comprehensible. But also, you know, if it’s a fun show entertaining, and if it’s a serious show you you want to make sure that you have the right sensibility when you’re delivering the copy, or when you’re delivering news.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, so I’m sure some of your interviews, you know, more high profile or celebrities or large companies probably had the backing of a PR team or media coach, what have you. Have you ever also interviewed kind of the other side of the coin, where more smaller business owners? Are those a little less experienced?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Oh, absolutely. I mean, I’ve one example I won’t name like who we were interviewing where it was. But when I was hosting for the today’s show, you know, they were not always going through the PR people when they would book a lot of producers, myself included, we just go directly to accompany or directly to a person who we find online. And we’ll just book them directly. And a lot of times those people have zero media training. So I’ve been in a situation where I interviewed someone who was very uncomfortable on camera, including one person who, you know, it was like every five seconds, we had to stop. So I felt really bad for the producers of that and all I could do in that situation was just trying to make that person feel as comfortable as possible. Yeah. But that does happen to people so if anyone is a business owner, you know in today’s world everyone is kind of you know your brand and being on video as part of your brand. I would definitely advise anyone if you don’t feel that you’re comfortable on camera first you know, practice with friends, like do zoom calls with friends. And then if you feel like you need more or you just want to fine tune how you’re coming across then absolutely do coaching. And in a lot of I’ve never had have taken some classes and hosting but I’ve never had like proper media coaching. But a lot of the bigger networks will bring in media coaches to work with their talent and now We’re seeing a lot of talent that aren’t traditional hosts, they’re just somebody who had a business or someone who had a really popular social media following, or whatever way they end up becoming a host on on air talent. So they will bring people in to work with you. But that’s not necessarily guaranteed. So people should definitely do themselves that service give themself whatever tools you need to make you the best brand that you can be.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, and you literally segue perfect into my question, which was going to be for those those who don’t necessarily have the backing of the PR firm or the media coach, you know, what are some things they can do? And I think that the Zoom practice is actually brilliant. Practice with someone other than just yourself in the mirror, do a mock interview, I think that’s, that’s great advice. Um, the other question I had for you, but you just spurred for me. You said, sometimes you guys went directly to companies. So that brings me to where you got your ideas for stories? Did you always proactively find them? Or do you? Did you personally ever find yourself being pitched

 

Vanessa Rae 

yet both. So a lot of times, I actually enjoyed the process of finding people. And you know, that’s like kind of the investigative journalism side is finding people and kind of putting the puzzle together. So that’s fun for me. But I’ve definitely been pitched. And I’ve definitely featured people who I was pitched by. And the the number one thing I would say with that than to two really important things are do your research. So you’re making sure that you’re pitching somebody in the right way, who covers the kind of content that you’re pitching, and two is enthusiasm. So if you’re not like psyched about what you’re pitching, and if that doesn’t come through, then you can’t expect someone else to think it’s a good idea to cover that. And I like a combination of like, sort of getting to the, you know, getting to the gist of what you’re talking about maybe with bullet points. But also, if you think about journalists, journalists, they’re storytellers. So if you make it interesting and tell a good story in your pitch, then that’s gonna make it much more translatable for an actual, you know, video segment about it. And I would pitch it, I would usually pitch more than one idea in your email. So and you also want to know, maybe like three ideas, but also something that’s relevant. So if something has recently been in the news, and you can find an angle of your service or your product, you know why that’s relatable, then journalists are always looking for something that’s like slightly a different twist, but related to something that’s really trending.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, that’s golden advice. Would you be down to do a quick I haven’t done this in a while. Yeah. But I love doing rapid fire preferential questions any today, someone who gets that show no, right or wrong. I’m just gonna do this or this. And whatever comes to mind you gave me like, which I rather cover. Like if I got, for example, I’m going to ask you questions like, I’ll give you. Let’s pause real quick. Kaylee, let me give you a quick example. Like, do you care if you’re being pitched from a company? Or does it need to be a PR firm days of the week? Any preference any days off limit? So just like, okay, like or dislike when being pitched?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Okay. Sure. I mean, a lot of these are like, good to be I probably don’t have a preference, but that would be different for

 

Lexie Smith 

others. That’s, that’s even helpful to hear. Really, there’s no right or wrong answer I find okay. Okay, so let me I’m gonna back up and re introduce. Okay, Vanessa. So I’m going to run through some preferential rapid fire questions right now. No, right or wrong answers. I’m just going to fire Matt, you whenever it comes to mind. So first one, would you open and consider a pitch from someone you don’t know? Absolutely. Great. Do you care if you’re being pitched directly by a company? Or PR firm? Do you have a preference? Um, no, I

 

Vanessa Rae 

don’t. Because I think that if you have a good subject heading, and it’s something that’s interesting, then I will open it, especially if it’s something I’m wanting to cover or something that’s very timely,

 

Lexie Smith 

perfect, okay, days of the week, any days you prefer or any days off limit to be pitched.

 

Vanessa Rae 

I don’t think any day is off limit. But I don’t think Monday is the best day because people are just getting back to work. Of course, if people work on the weekends, then Monday might be their Wednesday. So that’s that’s a great reason for knowing kind of when it shows on air and trying to understand what the show schedule is.

 

Lexie Smith 

Ooh, let’s just like pause for a second. Make sure you guys heard that because I think that was a golden piece of advice, too. So let’s kind of dig into that real quick, where possible, rapid fire. How can someone go about knowing that sequence or the scheduling of a show and making those inferences. Yeah, so

 

Vanessa Rae 

depending upon the show, but obviously, if it’s a live show that airs on a Sunday, then their week is going to be a different week. Or they might, you know, they’re, if the show airs on a Sunday, then they’re probably working on a Saturday, if someone is a weekend anchor, and they’re on Saturday, they probably, you know, if you send them something on Friday, you know, they’re not out galavanting, you know, they’re not out on the town, because they know they have to wake up. So no matter who you’re pitching, you just want to have watched at least a few episodes of it. If you want to find out who to pitch that’s in the credits, you know, so you can see, usually, you want to pitch a producer or a segment producer is really great, because a segment producer is often the person who’s working on a particular story. Whereas a producer, or supervising producer, an executive producer has more of a they’re involved, obviously, in the telling of the story, but they also have more of a managerial role. Someone who’s a segment producers really like out in the field, or they’re really interviewing people a lot of time, that’s a great person to pitch. But yeah, like that, that knowledge comes from watching the show a little bit. And, and, and understanding the show. And then you’ll know, you’ll know how to curtail and tailor your pitches, specifically to the type of content that they will cover. Also, you can I mean, you know, you have to be a little bit of a hate to use the word stalker, but you have to be a little bit of a stalker. So you see someone in the credits, you can just find that person on social media and on LinkedIn, and you can get a feel for what that person is into, based on their social media.

 

Lexie Smith 

I literally have a part in my program called professional stalking. The professional stalking this, it’s really it’s in really it’s research, right? Like,

 

Vanessa Rae 

yeah, it’s research and you do the same thing. Like before I have an interview with somebody, whether it is someone you know, whether I’m going on their show, or whether I’m interviewing them for a show that I’m on, you better believe I’ve completely stopped them. And that’s how you find some of the gem questions. Because if you’re interviewing a celebrity, some of my best answers have come. Because I did like ridiculous amount. Like I went back two years on someone’s Twitter, and found out that they were taking salsa lessons, you know, so then I got them to teach me salsa on camera. Really also, like if you’re seeing a movie. If you’re watching a movie, you’re doing a movie junket. You’re not just watching the movie for entertainment purposes, sorry.

 

Lexie Smith 

You’re totally fine. Actually. I’ll take a sip too.

 

Vanessa Rae 

If you’re watching a movie, and you’re doing oh my god, sorry, my voice. If you’re watching a movie, and you’re going to be doing a movie junket, when you’re watching that movie, you’re not there for entertainment purposes. Like I’ll literally go in with a flashlight and a pen and take notes. I saw a movie many years ago with Samuel L. Jackson and Eugene Levy. I think it was called the man. And I noted that there was a line where Samuel L Jackson, they kind of have a role reversal where like some of the bad guys think that Eugene Levy is a he’s the guy who’s in charge. And Samuel L. Jackson is like his peon. So Eugene Levy kinda like plays the role and he calls Samuel Jackson, his bitch. So my first question in the junket, I turned to Samuel Jackson and I say, what was it like momentarily? Being someone’s pitch. And he looked at me and I swear, if you’ve seen Pulp Fiction, he has like the exact zekiel rant, like right before he shoots someone, and he like stared at me with the same glare. I was like, wow, did I just ruin this entire interview? And then they both burst out laughing. And that’s an example of one obviously taking a risk. But to no one else asked them that question. So because I was like, so tuned into whatever could be like something unusual, that kind of like keeps them on their toes. You want you don’t want to ask people the same exact question that everyone else is asking them. If you’re an entertainment, it’s boring for them. But even if you’re a news, that’s how you break stories is by asking questions that are different from what other people are asking.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I love that story. By the way. He’s phenomenal. Okay, So quick summary to would you quit? Would you pitch the segment producer over the host?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Probably, but it really depends on the show. Okay. I might pitch both. But you also don’t want to be the person who’s kind of pitching everybody, you want to pick just like one or two people. And if you are going to pitch both, you might say, like, Hey, I also mentioned this to so and so. But I wanted to send you this email as well, because I know that you’re like, super into dogs. And we’re partnering with this rescue, you know, you don’t want to pitch they probably get a lot of pitches too. So if you are going to pitch the host, you want to pitch them only something that you know, they’re really into. But if it’s a small show, a lot of times the host is the producer.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yep. Which we learned today from you. So thank you for pointing that out. Okay, and one rapid fire, which now it’s no longer rapid fire, but I wanted to know, and when someone is pitching you for TV? Do you want them to include assets? Like photos? Or B roll? Or is that? Does that not matter?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Oh, absolutely, it does matter. And you should, you know, when someone is looking, I do a lot of research, but it’s much better. If somebody sends you all the information, a lot of people don’t have a lot of time. But what you don’t want to do is send like an I’ve done this myself when I send people emails, but you don’t want to send a ton of attachments or other places people have to go look. So the more the more organized your links are. And you can do something like a Google Doc that has all of the information in one place, you know, so that they just click on that Google Doc, and then it’s like, oh, great, here’s a video from this or here, you know, so that you make it very easy for them to see if it’s a good fit. But if if if someone’s looking to bring someone on as an expert, 100% they’re not going to bring someone on, unless they see that that person can talk because of because of the issue with some people freezing. So you know, it’s their reputation if they’re bringing you on. So they need to make sure that you, you that’s why if you don’t have experience speaking, being on local news, or being on a podcast, have somebody filmed something with you, so you have video to show

 

Lexie Smith 

people. Great advice. Okay, so we’re going to begin to wrap things up that could hostage for so long. You’re giving so much great advice. So quickly, it doesn’t it Yeah, no, I’m, I want to know what you’re working on today. Is there anything today you want to call out any projects right now?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Yeah, so I, um, I’ve been a vegan for more than 20 years. And I am kind of taking all of that experience and my love for entertainment and fashion and sustainable living. And I’m launching a new content and lifestyle brand called Lovely and lush. And it’s all about living a fashionable vegan lifestyle with no compromise. So kind of all these amazing brands that I’ve discovered throughout the years and continue to discover because there’s always like new amazing vegan brands launching. It’s covering those. It’s curating those for people so they don’t have to dig through. I enjoy digging through lots of information, but a lot of people don’t have time. It’s interviews with founders of those brands. It’s lifestyle tips. It’s all of that goodness. So I’m super excited about that.

 

Lexie Smith 

Where can people go to connect with you in general, but also learn more about this new venture?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Absolutely. So if you want to connect with me directly, I’m on most social media platforms. You can also hit hit up my website, which is www dot Vanessa ray.net on Instagram, I’m the Vanessa Ray and that’s VA N E SSA ra E. I’m also on Twitter at V rageous. And for lovely and lush, it’s the website is lovely and lush, calm. And I’ll spell that out to Ello VLYNDLU. Sh calm, and it’s lovely and lush TV on Instagram.

 

Lexie Smith 

Perfect. And you guys don’t worry. We’ll put those all in the show notes. I have one last very important question for you, Vanessa. We’ve talked a lot about pitching, but we haven’t yet discovered what we can find you sippin so what is your favorite beverage alcoholic or non alcoholic?

 

Vanessa Rae 

I mean, I’m one of those people who when you ask me a favorite question, I’m going to give you like a million different answers. So it’s kind of like, What day are we talking about and where are we and what are we doing? So like you know if you’re going out, having a night out on the table I’m definitely like a margarita, possibly Mohito type person. I love a nice red wine and shout out to vegan wines calm if you’re looking for some vegan wines because not all wines are vegan. I’m a non alcoholic tip. I really love like a soy or an almond chai latte, and I’ve been making some of that stuff at home. There’s a company called Bloom, which has like, I don’t know, they have like reishi mushroom and stuff like that you could have like super healthy hot chocolate or pumpkin spice latte. And there’s also a company called a NEMA moody which makes plant based botanicals so you could be drinking things that taste amazing, but have like all of these healing properties. They have elixirs tonics. Just really cool stuff.

 

Lexie Smith 

I love all these suggestions. And this is a very uneducated question. But what what makes a wine not vegan?

 

Vanessa Rae 

Yeah, so what makes an a why not vegan usually has to do with like how they strain the grapes. Okay, so in some cases, they’ll use like fish products or like animal bones or things like that. So the other benefit though, of like a vegan wine is you can also often find like a biodynamic wine, which means that some people get have like allergies to wines, like their face turns red, and a lot of times like a vegan or a biodynamic wine won’t have. I think it has to do with. It has to do with the process of how the wine is made, and I’m forgetting the name like sulfites. So a lot of times a lot of yeah, a lot of times you can find organic, biodynamic wines that are also vegan that don’t have sulfites. And they actually have that at Whole Foods too. I wish I was like super excited when I walked into Whole Foods and found a whole vegan wine section.

 

Lexie Smith 

I don’t know about you guys listening but I just learned so much today from biodynamic and vegan wines to all the gold you just dropped in the world of TV and hosting and producing. I can’t thank you enough for coming on Being so candid. And I assume your evening will probably entail something with frozen. So I wish you all the best with that. Just want to say thanks so much for coming on the show.

 

Vanessa Rae 

This was so much fun. It went by so quickly and you are an amazing host so don’t don’t act like you’re not you’re really great at this and and I feel honored and thank you so much for thinking of me for your podcast.

 

Lexie Smith 

Thank you so much. You’re so sweet.