The Speak Up: Talk Too Much 💁🏼♀️
How Reneé Rapp can inspire us all to communicate authentically and continue to break "the rules".
In this newsletter:
You don’t have to love Reneé Rapp to love how she is showing up and speaking up for herself
The Reneé interview that people should be talking about
Let’s look at the alternative to media training
Friends,
You know someone or something goes viral when someone like me with zero social media platforms hears about it. And when that viral someone is being criticized for how they are showing up and speaking up during their public appearances and press opportunities, you know my ears perk up all the more.
Who I am talking about?
Reneé Rapp.
In case you missed it… Rapp was on a massive press tour for her role as Regina George in Mean Girls the Musical the Movie and social media was a-buzz with criticism saying she was a hot mess, lacked media training, and showed up in an unhinged way.
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Before looking into this for myself, I knew I would disagree with the discourse and that I could share this disagreement in this very newsletter, but a few writers beat me to it.
Like this article by Palmer Hassch for Business Insider.
What's different about Rapp is that she isn't being wantonly chaotic. She's just self-assured.
So much so, that she cracked a joke about “court-ordered media training” when she was the musical guest on SNL.
Reneé captioned her own IG post: “her lack of media training is outrageous”
Reneé is a breath of fresh air in a sea of polished PR statements. She is not afraid to say what’s on her mind, in incomplete sentences peppered with Gen Z slang. While every talk show appearance cues up the same Mean Girls movie clip to do the actual promoting of the film1, she is choosing to share fresh takes, new stories, and even change her point of view from interview to interview.
While I know that my communication style is completely different from hers, as is my life experience, and the topics that I want to speak on, I would love to channel Reneé’s unapologetic, present, dynamic, and engaging energy. It’s going to come out of me different than it is coming out of her, but the spirit is there.
While I am not an expert in the inner workings of large PR companies, networks, and entertainment conglomerates. I do know that people in the public eye — whether they are leaders in big corporations, Reality TV stars, authors, or actors — are encouraged to go through some sort of media training so that they are primed to promote what it is they need to promote in a “professional” and “polished” way.
But who gets to define “professional”?
Who gets to define “polished”?
Take a few guesses…
Traditionally, these definitions are dictated by the people at the top… or the people who were at the top decades ago, and their demanding expectations and creative limitations were passed down and down and down.
Hence the status quo.
Hence why people are up in arms about someone who is breaking it.
The cultural commentators were so up in arms about Reneé calling herself ageist on Andy Cohen’s Watch What Happens Live, or telling a story about being drunk on her 24th birthday on Seth Myers2, they ignored the fact that Reneé also chose to reign in her nighttime talk show energy for some of her interviews, like this one that she did for the Associated Press.
The AP interview is a beautiful example of showing up with presence, communicating what you stand for, talking about your craft, and sharing personal stories that are connected to the questions being asked, but also expansive and supportive. It’s professional and polished with Reneé’s definition of what those words mean to her.
And let her serve as inspiration so that you can define what professional and polished mean to you. And it doesn’t have to look like anyone else’s definition.
You can also explore what your nighttime talk show energy looks like and show up with that as well.
Speak soon,
Hillary
Ps. I just added Rapp’s song “Talk Too Much” to the Songs from the Speak Up playlist on Apple Music. And let’s think of the song title as an invitation to speak up more and more often, not silence what it is you have to say.
FYI…
📣 Last week I published the first of the monthly DIY Speak Up Sessions for the lovely paid subscribers of this newsletter. This month was all about crafting an artist/vision statement that will support you as you expand your visibility and ground yourself in yourself. There’s a video guide, links to resources, and more.
The Speak Up: What do you want to be known for? 👩🎨
Hillary Rea • Jan 31, 2024
In this newsletter: Why it is important to craft an artist and/or vision statement before you speak up A video guide, resources, and prompts for how to write an artist/vision statement of your own I share my own artist/vision statement Next steps for using your statement(s) out in the world
Read full story →
📣 I have room for two new Crafting Your Narrative: Solo Retreat clients to start before the end of February. If you are looking to show up and speak up in a true-to-you-channel-the-no-f*cks-attitude-of-Reneé-but-in-your-own-style kind of way, this two-month 1-on-1 deep dive into crafting a new narrative for yourself will set you up for freedom and success when putting yourself out there in the public eye. The more you focus on narrative reframing (and owning that narrative) the less you’ll think you need (you don’t) traditional media training.
And speaking of the public eye… you don’t need to have a forthcoming press tour for Mean Girls the Musical the Movie for this kind of work. If you have a podcast of your own, frequently speak on others’ podcasts, are feeling misunderstood when other people speak on your behalf, put out your content on YouTube or other socials, or are speaking on both virtual and real-life stages, the Solo Retreat could be for you. The best way to explore doing this work together is to book a Compatibility Call with yours truly. Let’s do this!