Episode Transcript
Hello, my name is Aziz and I'm the son of a divorced mother.
She is really my superhero.
That's why it's important for me to support women to share their uniqueness, their personalities,
perspectives, and emotions about this world.
In these difficult times in human history, we need to bring the people of the world together.
And when we hear the voices of women.
When we listen to real lives of women from other countries, we connect our cultures without
differences or stereotypes, and we get inspired by their stories to live a better life.
That's what this podcast is all about.
My guest today is Andra Mushat.
Andra is a Romanian girl who is part of an acting group.
She loves painting.
Sometimes she sketches fashion designs,
and she went with her acting group to two different theater festivals
where they won two trophies,
one for best act and one for special play.
Right now, Andra is preparing for her finals and for UNATC, which is a university for acting and cinematography that is hard to get accepted to because the exams are difficult and the admissions are very competitive.
So, Andra, how are you today?
I'm feeling good. I really wanted to do this interview. So, yeah.
I'm honored, I'm lucky, I'm blessed, and very excited to share your voice and your story,
so I'll begin with this nice first question. Andra, if your friends and the people who know
you best could describe your personality, what would they say about you?
Well, most of my friends and family would tell you right from the beginning that I'm lazy,
but that's not true actually they would describe me as a good friend or at least
I hope so it's really hard to think about that because most of my friends
are introverts and they don't tell me how they feel about most of anything
I'm the extrovert so I have to talk about feelings always and I always have
asked to ask them. Sorry. And it's really hard to get an answer from them. But I think
they would describe me as creative because they've seen most of my paintings. And also
as an optimist, almost too optimist, like overwhelming optimism.
I love that and I have so many questions related to that and I'll begin with this one.
As an extrovert, why are so many of your friends introverted?
Is it because they balance you out?
Is it because too many of the actors and actresses are actually introverts?
Or why is it that you have so many introverted friends?
What do you think is the reason?
Well, I love talking to people and it's really easy for me to make friends and that's why
when I'm put into a social gathering and I see a lot of people talking like a group
of a lot of people, I don't go straight to that group.
I go to the people who aren't there, who stay alone and have this whole, I don't
want to call it loneliness about them. I don't know. That intrigues me because
extroverts, they are open books. They tell you right away everything about
themselves. While introverts, you have to get to know them to learn their
story and that for me is amazing because I love learning about people
and I love surprises and it's like amazing to meet someone who's an introvert. They tell you
their name and basic stuff at first but as you get to know them you actually learn who they are
and that's that's really lovely because it's a whole experience you know and I also bring make
them, I help them become more open to socializing and to talk to other people. And yes, they
balance me out. Whenever I feel like I give all my energy out, I go to one of my introvert
friends and they talk to me, make me feel good, I get my energy from them, they get
their energy from me. And it's it's a wholesome moment.
I love that so much. And it's related to a principle that this
podcast stands for, which is supporting women and girls
finding their confidence and their ability to go out of
their comfort zone. So you are actually and actively helping
introverted people do that. What's your advice? Let's say
some girls, they live their teenage time too much
in the pandemic with social isolation
and then they become too much on social media
where they're not really interacting with people
and they lost their confidence
because they compare themselves to girls on social media.
What would be your advice for them
to not fear new social interactions
and also to find their own self-confidence?
You know, it's very hard to go and meet people. I mean, I started as an introvert and I kind of became an extrovert by myself by just talking to people and finding humans that I like, personalities that make me feel comfortable.
And I think my advice for these girls is that, first of all, social media is fake.
Anything you see on social media about perfect lives and perfect bodies and everything,
that's a lie.
Most of those people post just to be admired and they don't post it just to be proud
of their lives. And it's kind of impossible to have a perfect body and a perfect life. I mean,
if you ask me, it would be kind of boring because I love imperfections and imperfections
make you perfect and make you more real. And second of all, the advice is to try. It is
very hard, but once you do it, you won't fear it as much, if that makes sense, because you
go to someone, you talk, they reject you, it's okay, it feels bad, but you go to another
person.
That person may tell you, hey, I like that movie too, or I like the same hobbies that
you like or things like that and you may make an actual connection.
It's really important to try and ignore that little voice in your
head that tells you no, no, no, don't do it.
You're going to get hurt.
I mean, yeah, you are going to get hurt but hurting it's part
of the process and if it doesn't hurt, then you won't remember
as much when you have the whole process done, when you have the little reward at the end.
Thank you. I love that and I'm curious how does that relate to your interest in acting?
Was acting part of your process and journey to find your extroverted skills as an introvert?
Is acting a way for you to have experiences and to experience new characters
and new things because you said when you help introverts open up it's a whole experience
or how is this point that you shared related to your love for acting?
Well, my passion for acting, it started a long time ago. I was in my
second or third year of elementary school, yeah I was in third grade and I
remember I was at school and at that moment I was doing fencing instead of
acting and any other hobbies I had fencing and it was kind of fun but it
didn't click with me it wasn't I didn't feel like yeah I was made for
It just felt like a hobby, but then my teacher, Kristina, she came into our class and introduced
herself as a new acting teacher, acting coach that would do an after school activity in
school and if we wanted to join that club and she gave us flyers I went home and I
told my mom look mom we got these flyers about an acting group at school I think
I'm gonna go and my mom said yeah sure you can go and I went there and at
first I was alone because most of the people there already knew each other
And I didn't have, like, someone who I could talk to, but I managed.
I was pretty closed off in the first two years, but then in sixth grade or seventh grade,
I don't remember, but I think it's seventh grade, yes.
In seventh grade, my best friend, my actual best friend right now, moved in our school
and I told her about our acting group and she said, yeah, sure, I think I will come.
We went there and that's how I became best friends with her and that's how my love
for acting grew even bigger.
and then we moved to a different,
when we started high school, me and my best friend,
we moved to a different acting group
and it was amazing because we actually had shows
in different theaters and we went to festivals.
It was really cool.
And I'm really glad that I did it with my best friend
because I think that's why I love it even more,
the whole feeling.
It's not just you that plays there on the scene.
It's on the stage.
It's actually the whole group.
It gives you a whole family feeling.
I don't know, it's amazing.
And I've never felt it before.
And I want to feel it every day right now.
That sounds absolutely delightful and amazing. Thank you,
Antra. And even more to know about you. You are from
Romania and mainly from the capital, Bucharest. What is it
to be a teenage girl from Romania in 2023? Is your
culture mostly traditional Romanian? Is it more the
Khans? Are you European? Are you a mix of Japanese culture with the anime, Korean culture with K-pop
and K-dramas and Hollywood and the US and a mix of everything? If you could share with someone
who might not have visited Romania, what is the culture, the attitude, the younger generation way
of being when it comes to being in 2023
from Romania as a girl?
Well, our culture is a mix of everything.
Somewhere along the way, the traditional culture,
the traditional Romanian culture got lost,
but it's still here.
it has like little hints in there like on Christmas we eat traditional dishes and
Easter as well and we have different traditions from other cultures like Valentine's Day
and we also have Drago Bete which is the same as Valentine's Day but is a Romanian tradition.
I still don't understand why we celebrate both of them, but I mean, why not?
They are both days that celebrate love, so why not have them?
And yeah, a lot of girls watch anime, watch shows from other countries, movies from other countries,
and it's it's really just a mix of everything put together and it actually creates something
interesting and for me to be a teenager in this country it's really it's really interesting
because we uh i think we are a different species as romanians i don't know it's like
We have our own insights that the whole country knows
because I don't know how to explain it. It's just the language.
It gives you this whole feeling of being completely different from any other culture.
And our traditions, like sarmale, is one of my favorite traditional Romanian dishes.
but I've learned it's actually bulkanic.
Yeah, bulkanic.
And we also eat a lot of shawarma,
which is from Turkey, and it's a whole mix.
I still can't get my head wrapped around it,
but it's a whole mix, the whole Romanian culture,
present Romanian culture.
Thank you for that.
I really, really love what you're sharing,
and I want to know even more about you because you're dedicating your life to acting and to
such artistic endeavors. What is your favorite part about acting? I have interviewed a while
ago a Ukrainian actress who's living in Canada and she said that she was boxed into a specific
thing that people expected to be her identity. So acting for her allowed her to be any kind
person in the world to experience freely everything so she's never limited by one identity and to her
it was like a defiance and an act of freedom. Other people say it's fascinating to them to
study and learn from the people they meet in their lives how those people are, their mannerisms
and then they try to live and be that person and inspired by those people within their acting
endeavors and therefore they feel they understand other people better or what is it for you that
makes you love it so much you want to dedicate your life to it especially in a time where
there is a stereotype of a starving artist that maybe your family or other people will say no go
be a doctor go be a lawyer make money first and then have it as a hobby or something yeah i've
financially stable and as an actress in Romania alone it's very difficult because actors don't get
well paid and aren't well paid and it's also very difficult to become an actor
because you don't know if you're going to have your big break or if you're going to become
broke. It's a whole gamble. It's not about skill as it's about luck, but I believe I have a lot
of luck. I don't know. I just feel it like I'm lucky, you know? And what I love about acting is
that I love what that girl, that girl from Ukraine said, that it gives you the chance to
have another identity to see the world from another perspective. I love that but my favorite
thing about acting is putting something that you started from scratch, putting it on a stage
and when it's all done and everyone applauses you, you just feel it's a combination of
at what you did because you start with a piece of paper which is the script and
then you get to creating a whole universe and making the audience
making the audience feel what you feel I mean that's amazing just playing on
a stage and knowing that I make someone in the audience, even
one person feel what I am feeling as my character.
And that is for me, it's impossible to understand it.
It's amazing.
It's just a whole, another experience and another feeling.
I really, really love how you describe that.
And I'm wondering, how is that similar to you
going to the people who are introverted,
who are in their loneliness and helping them get out of it?
Is there any similarity in creating something
out of scratch or anything that you describe
that makes acting as an experience
similar to your ability to help and connect with
and bond with and discover people who are more alone?
I think these two are very related because it's the same thing. They are both very similar.
When I meet an introvert, I like to get to know them and to find out their story.
And when I play, I like to start from scratch and have the whole story at the end.
It's like the story you find out at the end, it's a reward because you had patience and you were dedicated to finding out.
It's really rewarding in a way, I don't know.
And it also gives me an opportunity to work with people.
I think I'm a people person.
I have people skills and I'm really social.
I love talking with people and understanding them and making sure they feel okay with me
and communicating through emotions and words and all this stuff.
I mean, I'm really good at talking because I talk a lot.
At least that's what my family and my friends say that I talk a lot.
That's really, really interesting.
you also shared how some people try to dissuade you from your love and desire
to pursue acting but you still persist. Can you share what within you gives you
that? Is it related to your desire for going through the experience in order
to enjoy the reward or any other advice for girls or women who might be
a moment where they have to decide, do I live to my potential but people and society will judge me
and I don't know how to handle that? Or do I break my own soul and follow what society wants
even if I hate it? So what makes you decide to go after your big dreams and what is your advice
or inspiration or the way you think that can maybe be a good input for other girls and women?
Well, I am very stubborn and when someone tells me that I can do something, I am going
to do it.
Even if it's a good thing or a bad thing, if I really want to do it, I'm going to
do it because I hate the whole what if situation if I don't do it.
I hate to regret things.
would prefer to do something stupid that I really want to do and feel the
consequences but I could say at the end that hey at least I did what I wanted
and I don't think people should ever listen to society like right now there
are a lot of things that should be normal and are perceived as weird or
abnormal or different. And I don't know, society thinks that different is scary and it's horrible,
but I think that different is amazing. It makes you unique and it gives you substance.
It gives you structure. It gives you the whole story. Like I said, it's not, you're
like small book your whole volume you know it it's hard to describe it but
it's very different to feel this and to be like this but it's not that hard
you just have to follow your heart I mean if you want to become a
hairdresser but your parents think oh yeah but hairdressers they don't get
paid well, they are cheap, it's not good. Well, don't listen to them. Do that. And if they
are right, fine, time will prove you wrong. But at least you did something you wanted
instead of becoming an accountant if you don't like it and thinking every day at
work about your passion. It's a waste of time to think about your passion and doing
something you don't like, then to do something that you like
that may not give you the best results in the end.
I think it's better to follow your passion
than to listen to what other people think.
I agree 100%.
I live this way too.
And I call it the regret minimization strategy
where at the end of your life,
you don't look back and think,
oh, I made mistakes or I took too many risks,
but you wish you have done more.
So even if we fail by doing what our heart desires,
we will love it more than succeeding doing the wrong thing
that breaks our spirit.
Thank you, Andra, so much.
It was my privilege and my honor to include you
in this project, to interview you in this podcast.
I wish you all the success.
I wish you successful admission in your dream university
and to get your lucky break
and be able to live your life happily doing acting.
Thank you, thank you so much Aziz.
I enjoyed this a lot.
And it's a funny thing, when I was younger,
I would imagine someone would take an interview with me
and they would ask me questions and I would have to answer.
So I can say I was a little bit prepared for this,
even if it was all of a sudden, you know.
Well, I'm proud of you and I'm happy you already see yourself as a superstar.
Thank you. Thank you, Aziz.
