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Pull up a seat at our table, where badass women from all walks of life—fashion, beauty, design, music, philanthropy, art, and more—come together to share honest stories, serve truths, and dig into the realities of modern womanhood.
Johanna Almstead:
Hello, everyone. I'm menu planning for my next guest, and it's feeling very autumnal where I am. The leaves are gorgeous, all different colors. The vibes are cozy. It's chilly outside, so I'm going to go kind of cozy fall for today's episode. I am going to make a butternut squash soup with a little bit of creme fraiche and toasted pumpkin seeds to start. And then I'm going to make this kale salad, which I cannot believe, I don't know if I've talked about it on this podcast yet, but I'm kind of famous for it in my circles. It's a kale salad with toasted pine nuts and Parmesan cheese and a really yummy lemon Dijon dressing. Maybe I have talked about it and I just can't remember. Anyway, I'm going to start with that. And then we're going to do a roast chicken, like a proper just French style roast chicken, really juicy and moist. I'm going to do that with some lemon potatoes and some French green beans with a little bit of toasted almond and shallot on them.
And for this guest, I don't always do dessert because I'm such not a dessert person, so I kind of forget about dessert a lot. But this guest in particular loves chocolate. So, I have to figure out some sort of fun dessert. To be honest, I'm not much of a baker, so I will probably just go to the bakery and get something gorgeous and chocolatey. And she doesn't really, she's not a big drinker, so I think I might make some kind of fall spritz sort of situation, like apple cider, cranberry juice, ginger ale, spritzy with some cherries or something. I think that sounds fun. So, an apple ginger fizz situation, and I'll probably drink a little pinot noir.
And for the vibes, she lives a very crazy, hectic life, and I know her downtime needs to be calm and quiet, so I'm thinking maybe a little jazz for the music. I've been listening to Bill Lawrence. He has a new album out and it's just lovely and cozy, and I'm going to do that. My next guest is bold. She's wise, she's kind, she's hilarious, she's brave, and I cannot wait for you guys to get to meet her. So, let's dig in.
Hello everyone, and welcome to Eat My Words. This one is a really good one, guys. I know I say I'm happy every time, but I am so happy today because I get to be with a guest who I have known for very, very many, many, many years, but we do not get nearly enough time to spend together or to talk. She is an incredible self-made businesswoman who was a lone wolf comedy nerd, who turned her passion for comedy into a career of representing comics as a publicist. She had no connections, no fancy background, and no official PR experience when she set out 11 years ago to build her now thriving agency. She is the owner and founder of Sechel PR in New York and Los Angeles. It's a boutique public relations agency that represents several recent Emmy-nominated artists, and one recent Emmy winner, right?
Samantha Srinivasan:
This is true.
Johanna Almstead:
This is true. She is also a devoted dog mom, which we're going to talk about because it's a hot mess to four rescue dogs. She is a cancer survivor. She's a devoted daughter, a sister, and a wildly supportive friend. She is kind, she is hilarious, and she's one of the hardest-working ladies in Hollywood. Samantha Srinivasan, welcome to Eat My Work.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Wow. I hope this is like nobody would ever care about my in memoriam, but if they do, let that be. Somebody put that on a TikTok or whatever new version-
Johanna Almstead:
I'm going to put it on TikTok and your tombstone.
Samantha Srinivasan:
... Yeah, yeah. There will not be TikTok probably by then because in two years it'll be something else, but I'm thrilled. What a wonderful friend intro.
Johanna Almstead:
In the meantime, maybe I'll just print it on a T-shirt for you and you could just wear it around.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, I like that. My hubris will be just handing out. It'll be like t-shirt cannon people when they come to my home and be like, "You have to wear it. You have to."
Johanna Almstead:
You're like, "This is everything. This is me in a nutshell."
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Well, this is kind of funny because we are two publicists who are not usually the ones that are in the interview chairs. We're usually the ones that are behind the scenes. No one cares about us.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I don't ever, and also, I don't know, I feel very uncomfortable because what do I have to say that's of interest? But I love you so much, and if I get to hang out with you for an hour, I'll do it.
Johanna Almstead:
Well, you know that's my secret MO of this whole podcast is just making people hang out with me who I really like, who I don't get to see enough.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I mean, smart. I like it. I mean, truly, you know are one of my dearest friends, and even though we do not talk, I consider you one of my dearest friends because I know you're out there in the world raising two wonderful children and have a wonderful husband, and you're constantly creative and you're always been an inspiration. So it's like, "Oh, you're asking to give me an hour. I'm going to give it to Jo."
Johanna Almstead:
You're so sweet. Thank you.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's true. Oh my God, you were a publicist before me.
Johanna Almstead:
I was. You're right. Damn. I was. Okay. Well, this is a good segue, because I do always like to tell our listeners how we know each other, and ours is a good one. Ours is a very good origin story. Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yes. So crazy.
Johanna Almstead:
It's so crazy. And it so starts in one place, it ends in a very different place.
Samantha Srinivasan:
None of us could have seen where we started to where we are.
Johanna Almstead:
No. Okay, so you and I had both been living in New York. We did not know each other. We had both been living in New York.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Correct.
Johanna Almstead:
You were a model and actress. I was an actress. I mean, we were both [inaudible 00:06:21].
Samantha Srinivasan:
Model just because I was tall.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean actress, just because I was going on auditions.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let's be real.
Johanna Almstead:
Let's be really clear.
Samantha Srinivasan:
There was no cash exchanged in this modeling world. It was just paying for head shots and walking around New York
Johanna Almstead:
With a portfolio and-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
... yeah, some head shots.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Old days when you had to actually...
Johanna Almstead:
Physically carry around a portfolio. Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh my God.
Johanna Almstead:
And then we had separate, again, we didn't know each other in New York, but we happened to move to Los Angeles right around the same time. I think you were there a little bit earlier than I was.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I think so, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
And we both moved to the west side. And as one does, when you are chasing your Hollywood dreams, you have to get a job at a restaurant. And so, you and I met when we both became hostesses at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Shout out Brad Korzen.
Johanna Almstead:
Shout out Brad Korzen. Oh my God, what's his name? Remember that guy Tad? Thad?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Which one?
Johanna Almstead:
Tad? Tad.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, Tad. Bartender?
Johanna Almstead:
No, Tad the customer.
Samantha Srinivasan:
No.
Johanna Almstead:
Do you remember him? He was a regular.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh God, yeah. I forgot. Had to have that table.
Johanna Almstead:
Shout out to Tad and.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Sam Nazarian.
Johanna Almstead:
And Sam Nazarian.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Shout out to Sam Nazarian.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God. This could be an entire episode of just the customers and investors.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Truly.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So at the time, the Viceroy had just opened up. It was the hottest place in town. It was crazy. People would-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, this was Brad Korzen and Kelly Wearstler, obviously now massive designer.
Johanna Almstead:
... Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Her first project.
Johanna Almstead:
And this was her first project. Yes.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yep, yep, yep, yep. And this was right when they were about to get married.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. Right. Oh my gosh, I forgot about that. Okay, so yeah, so she was this budding interior designer, and she did her husband, or her fiance's hotel fiance. And this was one of his first hotels too.
Samantha Srinivasan:
This was such a sexy story because he was this hotel heir and his hot new wife-to-be was this designer, and they were this young kind of power couple to be in LA.
Johanna Almstead:
Totally.
Samantha Srinivasan:
So, yeah. It was a sexy little story for those two, so it made it this hot destination.
Johanna Almstead:
I mean, and it was gorgeous.
Samantha Srinivasan:
We did not know that when we walked in, to be fair,
Johanna Almstead:
We just heard they gave health insurance.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Correct. I just knew that there was a time card, and if I punched it twice a day, somebody would pay me.
Johanna Almstead:
Somebody would give it to me. So, we weirdly and inadvertently kind of became these gatekeepers to this really hot restaurant and to the dining room, and we didn't know what the hell we were doing, but we were New Yorkers.
Samantha Srinivasan:
This green host stand was our world.
Johanna Almstead:
That was our domain. And you know what? We killed it. We were so good.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I mean, Jo, I don't want to jump ahead, but I just need to, you went up ladders there because you left the host stand.
Johanna Almstead:
But you did too.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I remained. Eventually.
Johanna Almstead:
But you did too.
Samantha Srinivasan:
But I was, again, I think I was following your lead where I'm like, there's more to do within this Viceroy world.
Johanna Almstead:
I'm going to spread my wings and fly from this host stand.
Samantha Srinivasan:
From that stand to that desk.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So, we both had going for us though, because we both had been born in the Midwest but had been living in New York, and so we had sort of the combo of the kind and nice, but the New York Edge. So, we weren't afraid of people. And I also always say that being a hostess at a hot restaurant is one of the best training grounds to be a publicist.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, yeah. I think honestly, my-
Johanna Almstead:
We became publicists after that.
Samantha Srinivasan:
... It's crazy. You're totally right. And I would also say that at the time, not to jump ahead, but to jump ahead, I then went to Concierge at the Viceroy Hotel, and that became like, I still do shit that I learned as a concierge almost daily that I do as a publicist.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I was going to say that. That was going to be my next little part of this script.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's crazy that I'm like, oh, I could always go back and do that.
Johanna Almstead:
If all goes haywire, we'll call Brad Korzen and see if he'll give us a job.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I mean, I think I still had to make a dinner reservation for a fancy guest two weeks ago, and I'm like, well, I know how to do this.
Johanna Almstead:
And then, didn't you eventually move into the corporate side with that too?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I did. Yeah. I have to actually do the shout-out to Brad Korzen because he really was a gift to me. He was so nice, and I think he took a liking to me when we were hostesses because him and Kelly would come in and his dad, Erwin, I think RIP, who owned bowling alleys, would come in from Chicago. And I always remembered, I had a good thing at least of remembering things about people. And I think that Midwest connection, his dad took a liking to me. So then I think Brad, for whatever reason was nice to me or took some sort of interest in me. And so, when I was the concierge for a while, it was great. And then, personal life happened where I got married very, very young. So, during that time, as you're very aware, I was dating a guy that I'm new in New York, and then we got married very young. And then, I mean, I guess he slept with everybody that wasn't me. Which is fine. You know what, looking back, right, thank you.
Johanna Almstead:
Wait, let's talk about how young you were because how old were you when you got married?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh yeah, 23.
Johanna Almstead:
23 when you got married.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Everybody should shut their laptop off right now. That is disgusting. I am very upset by this. I forget though, at this point, at the ripe old age of 43, I forget that I was married at this point, but I was. I was married from 23 to 28 years old. S,o I got divorced at 28, which is good that I didn't have a lot of peers that were also going through divorce at 28. But also, it's very isolating because most people are dating and planning a wedding, and you're like that miserable person that's like, oh, they'll be divorced in a year.
Johanna Almstead:
Wow, that's crazy. I never thought about the fact that you really didn't have anyone around you who had gone through this before. No one was getting divorced at 28.
Samantha Srinivasan:
No. No, no. I mean, thankfully, thank God. But also, yeah, you're a little isolated from your pack, right, where you're like, oh, this is a hard thing to probably identify. And it's probably really hard for friends at 28 to be like, "What is happening? You're what? One, you're married and then two, now you're not." It's a weird thing altogether. But when Adam, that was my ex, he and I were getting divorced, at one point we're moving back to New York to try to fix things. And as you very well know, I don't know if I should say if this matters, but I caught him in the shower sleeping with somebody, which made it very uniformed of...
Johanna Almstead:
Very cut and dry. This was very cut and dry.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, yeah, where I'm like, oh, I can't unsee this, so we're definitely not getting back together.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I called Brad Korzen, and I remember I wrote him an email and I was like, "Hi, I'm divorced and unemployed and I'm living in Minnesota. I haven't lived here since I was 18. Is there any job I can do?" And he literally, and I will forever be grateful, was like, "Get out to LA, I'll find you something." And he found me a job in the corporate office.
Johanna Almstead:
No way. I don't think I knew that part of it.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, he was so nice to me. It was a lifeline that I will forever be grateful for. And it was crazy because he found me a job and they had a real estate end of things, as you know a lot of their hotels at that point, they owned the Columbia building downtown. It was a fancy LA building. And so then I started, I was working in the corporate office on the top floor of [inaudible 00:13:47], I mean LA and downtown LA, they've been trying to revitalize for 30 years, but there's like, this one's going to do it. And so, we had offices down there. I was living in K-Town. It was the first time I've lived alone. I was crying every day by myself in a bathroom stall, eating a sad lunch by myself because all of the people on this floor were analysts and boys that lived in Google Excel sheets, and then just me because I had no job. Literally, I don't think he had me do anything except data entry on stuff. It was just like he made a job that gave me...
Johanna Almstead:
He just had you show up to work and paid you because he's a nice person.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, and paid me. And it was crazy, and I just cried. I'd go to the roof of the building and call my parents and be like, "What am I doing? What is my life?" But forever, I will be grateful to Brad Korzen because he gave me a job when I was pretty, I was rudderless.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Wow. Isn't that amazing when you think about that? You look back and there's these little angels that come into your life and you're like, how, why, and what would've happened if he hadn't dipped in? Would you have stayed in Minnesota?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
Married the high school quarterback or something?
Samantha Srinivasan:
The high school quarterback in any chapter of my life was not going to happen. I am not high school quarterback material.
Johanna Almstead:
First of all, you're probably taller than them.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Obviously. And I could probably throw better in all honesty, but it's not a thing. But I feel like that's one of my favorite things now that we're vintage. I like to tell the youngers that you're like, you don't know where these things land and you don't know who shows up for you. And I've had so many wonderful surprises like that where you're like, oh, it's not necessarily the people you think that show up that do show up to be angels or whatever. And that's kind of the coolest part I think about life of like, oh, you think you're going in with this, but you actually are coming out with that, right?
Johanna Almstead:
You thought you were going to LA to be married to your actor husband, and the two of you guys were going to be a Hollywood power couple.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I mean, I'll tell you this. I sat through a lot of black box theaters with that guy. It was not happening, and I knew that very early on. So, there wasn't inner public [inaudible 00:15:53].
Johanna Almstead:
Really?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, Jo.
Johanna Almstead:
But you still married him.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I mean, because you're dumb. I was dumb. I remember very distinctly that he did a movie, early movie with Chris Pine, and we went to the thing, and this was before Chris Pine even did diaries or whatever, and I'm like, that guy's going to be some...
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, that's horrible.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I was like, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, when you know, you know. But I think the other part of that too is I was so insecure. I think that I feel like I have a lot of self-confidence when it comes to, like you said, when we're at host a scene, I'm like, when it's about somebody else, I'm very capable of being open or direct or whatever with kindness, of course. But when it came to my stuff, and especially men, right, or relationships like that, I'm like, nobody finds me attractive. That's not a thing. So, I think with Adam, when you're young and I didn't date a lot, you're like, this is it and this is going to be all it's going to be.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, he's like the best I could ever get.
Samantha Srinivasan:
This is the best I'll ever get. This is it. And again, my tool belt as a young person too at that point from an emotional IQ level, was so minimal that I felt like, oh, I have to make this work. And also you have an ego death and everything, which is also I think important. The important thing about the ego death of my marriage helped me for my health issues later, where I was like, oh, this is the hardest thing. And I have to admit to all these people who sat around watch us be married, and family from India flew in and they have no money, but they came there to be there for me, and I feel terrible that I let them all down. And you have kind of faced that.
And then you're like, oh, that wasn't, they still love me? Oh wait, I'm not my worst mistake? Or, oh, you can try something and you can try really, really hard and still not have it work the way you want. Those are all really valuable lessons. And then, when I had my health, as you mentioned in the intro, cancer, you're like, and cancer came. I had a real banger. It was my twenties were divorces, my thirties were cancer.
Johanna Almstead:
You had a real banger of a few years.
Samantha Srinivasan:
We'll see what forties are. I guess it's COVID and whatever world we're living in. But when I then got cancer, I was like, okay, I can handle this. I can figure this out. I know I'm stronger than I thought I was due to what I just went through here, so I know I have more in me than I thought. So, it wasn't so debilitating in the sense of I'm stronger than I think.
Johanna Almstead:
It's so interesting to me because when I first met you, I thought you were the most confident person I've ever met. I was like, oh my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's the height.
Johanna Almstead:
No, it was just your way of being with people. But you pointed out that it was like when you were with other people, dealing with other people's stuff, you were so capable and strong and forthright and eloquent and articulate and all those things. And I was just like, God, she's like, fucking she can own a room, man. She's so good. So, it makes me so sad to think of you like that young you that was inside not as confident as what the outside was to be.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, and I think my whole life though, honestly, even building this company is you kind of fake it till you make it, right? And I have confidence in one area, right? I have so much love in my life with my family and support. I've never wanted for that, as you now, anybody who's a friend in my life knows my family. You just know my dad and my mom. They're just part of my world for better or worse. But I think when it came to that personal stuff, I really have struggled where you're like, oh, nobody could possibly take this on. Or, oh, I'm not...
Johanna Almstead:
And that makes me sad as a parent, because I think of your parents, when I think of parents who have made an impact on a woman, right, because I'm raising two women, and your parents are in that bucket of like, oh my God, there was such unconditional love, such unconditional support, such presence. Like you said, I knew them from the very beginning of knowing you. I knew your parents and they were spent a lot of time with you and you guys traveled together. And it makes me sad that even with all of that unconditional love and attention and whatever, that you still were on this flip side, wanting for a different kind of confidence that you didn't have on the outside.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I think that it's such a weird thing, right where you're like, oh, but I also feel like one part of you grows, right? And another maybe doesn't. And I feel like even actually, just jump ahead to where I'm at now, right? And I just had this realization this week where I'm in a relationship with somebody now that's really healthy and good and kind and fun, and we have fun. And I don't think I've had fun in a long time. In terms of prioritizing joy, if you will, because I think I've been grinding to create this business that I did not seek out to do as you know. I was like, oh, I just need money. And I like this comedian. There was no grand design, even publicist. It wasn't like, I want to be a publicist. I didn't know what it is. I still don't really know what it is. I don't fully understand.
I'm like, are we child daycare or adults? I don't understand. But I feel like a nice shift also with age and then a little bit of success of confidence of like, oh, I can let the other people know that work for me, sort of step in here and I can check out maybe at 3:00 PM on a Friday, if you will, and go enjoy time with my family or my people, right, and not feel guilty because I think there's so much guilt about it. But I think when I look at those early years of you're grinding, you don't quite know who you are, you're figuring stuff out, right?
The beauty of when you get to a certain age and then you have a minimal amount of success or even, I don't even know if it's success, I think it's just comfortable of what you are, where you're standing, I find that re-prioritizing joy is something that's actually very important and something that I've left. I really, I feel like this is maybe the first time, if not ever, which is so kind of sad, right, to be like, oh, I haven't had this much fun in a long time.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, that's so good.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, this is nice. So I do feel like, and it kind of goes back to what we were saying of, you don't know who enters your life and when, and what they bring and what they do, right?
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And that can be from lessons of partners or friends, parents, whatever. I just feel like I've learned a lot about, you can't really, nobody knows. You just don't know.
Johanna Almstead:
You just don't... No one knows anything.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You don't know anything. I mean, listen, I got throat cancer and I never smoked a cigarette my day in my life. You know what I mean? So you're like, you can do all the things right and you still end up on a pile of surprise. So, what do you do?
Johanna Almstead:
So, let's go back to that a little bit. Let's go back to the cancer diagnosis. How old were you when you were diagnosed?
Samantha Srinivasan:
30.
Johanna Almstead:
You were 30 years old?
Samantha Srinivasan:
So I got divorced at 28, and then I cried for two years at my store in corporate, and then I got cancer at 30. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
So, you're crying on the rooftop in downtown LA?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
And how did you know you had cancer? How did you figure this out?
Samantha Srinivasan:
It was very, very random. At this point, I'd left the Viceroy actually, because I looked around and I saw these women that were lifers at the core group, that's what it was called, and they just seemed not happy. They were making good money, but they didn't seem happy. And I was like, okay, I'm not sad anymore about my divorce. I've mourned through that and I have a choice of, I could probably just become a lifer here and get a decent salary and be a cog in a wheel, or I can figure out what I actually want and who I actually am. So, I quit my job, which wasn't probably smart, and I did my version of Eat, Pray, Love at that point, but it wasn't, I was super morning, but I just traveled all around the world and did some great adventuring, if you will, and went probably through money-
Johanna Almstead:
How long did you do that? How long was your trip?
Samantha Srinivasan:
... Six to eight months.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And it was great. I met up with different friends along the way, and it was great. Then I came back and I was broke.
PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:24:04]
Samantha Srinivasan:
... and it was great. Then I came back and I was broke, divorced, and I'm like, oh, what am I going to do?
Johanna Almstead:
Did you come back to LA or did you go back to Minnesota?
Samantha Srinivasan:
No, I went back to Minnesota.
Johanna Almstead:
You went to Minnesota. Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I remember being like, "Oh my God, what am I going to do?" And I blindly emailed a company called Bread and Butter Public Relations that was looking for somebody who lived in San Francisco. I'd never been to San Francisco.
Johanna Almstead:
God, I forgot about this. Yes.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Never been in San Francisco, and I was like, "I love the city. I live here." I got the interview. Again, I lied out of my teeth, did a whore's bath in I think the Marriott at the airport before I met them, to be like, "I love this city." I flew in with my last $20 and met the owner of the company, and I'm like, "This is the greatest city in the world. We got cable cars and the Golden Gate."
Johanna Almstead:
Sourdough bread.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Sourdough bread, y'all. It was great. And for whatever reason, Rachel, that was her name, she was great, she was like, "You got the job." So I had to find an apartment in San Francisco over Memorial Weekend, because I was going to then do this company, their West Coast, San Francisco office out of that apartment that I clearly already owned, right? Found an apartment, brought my dog, Ella.
We lived in San Francisco and we built this company up on her end for food PR in San Francisco, and I ended up, again, faking it until I made it, got all these fancy clients that nobody had heard of before, like Dominique Crenn. I got her her first Michelin star, and I was like, "Oh my God, this is a thing." I didn't even know what that was, and then Cezanne, and we were doing Flower and Water. We were doing all these cool things that were happening, but one, I have a garbage palette. I could eat the same thing every day, and San Francisco's super fancy about their food. And I was like, "I don't know what any of this is. What are these tasty meals?"
And I ended up then running their New York office and the San Francisco office, and again, I was like, I don't love this city. I made no friends in that city, despite having a very busy and fancy job, and I remember being like, I want to do... San Francisco did have a cool comedy thing where they had a sketch fest, which is a January... They do a big comedy festival. And so it's like, oh, I went to that, and they had Cobb's Comedy so I'd go there, because I was a comedy nerd. And even when I went to school in New York, I'd go to UCB and stuff, but I never wanted to actually perform in that, like comedy or anything.
Anyway, so I blindly emailed Stephen Merchant who co-created the British Office with Ricky Gervais, and I did this from sam.srini@gmail. And I was really unaware of the ecosystem of agents, managers, publicists on that side because I really didn't work with them that much, so I didn't understand that you don't talk directly to talent, you talk to seven other people before that. And so from Sam.Srini@Gmail, I was like, "Hey, you should be more famous. You should be in this GQ," to some random email in the UK at UTA. And I was like, okay, whatever. And then for whatever reason, his actual UK publicist, Amanda Emery, who's a dear friend, she reached out to me and was like, "Hey, he's a gazillionaire because The Office is in every country in the world, so he doesn't actually need to work. But he's decided he wants to do stand-up for the first time in the US, and if you're serious, I could use help." And I'm like, "Oh my God."
So I had a full daytime job of running a San Francisco office in a New York office, and then my side hustle, which I was doing for free because I did not want, if I failed, I'm like, I don't want them to sue me. Do I go to jail? I don't know what this is.
Johanna Almstead:
Go to publicity jail?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, publicity jail. I'm like, I don't know what that is, I don't want to deal with it, and so I did this whole campaign for free.
Johanna Almstead:
Because you were truly flying by the seat of your pants. You were making this up as you went along.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I had no idea. I was pitching people from my Gmail, which if you talk to any publicist, they're going to be like, "What?" It was wild. And I ended up getting them on Letterman, NPR, New York Times, whatever. HBO then comes calling and they want to do a show based on the stand-up called Hello Ladies. I'm like, "I can move back to LA, blah, blah, blah." And I was going to fly over, because I became friends with his team, to the UK, and on the stopover, I stopped in Minneapolis, which is where my family lives and my dad's a doctor, and I was having night sweats. And I love sugar and also we're Indian, we're South Asian and our whole entire birthright is getting diabetes, so I was like, "It's here. I got it. Dad, what's my insulin number?"
And it turned out that they found some nodes in my neck, and they're like, "Oh, let's do a biopsy." Anyway, it came back as stage three throat cancer and I had a 32% survival rate, and here we are. So I honestly found it because of night sweats, which is wild, because I was tired-
Johanna Almstead:
Is that common for people to find cancer through night sweats? I've never heard that before.
Samantha Srinivasan:
No. I think it was very... One, my case was very odd and weird. There's no family history, but I think that for me, that was just a signal that I picked up on. I was exhausted, but I also was traveling so much that to me, the math mathed where I was like, well, yeah, I'm on planes to New York all the time and I am doing this, so it felt like why I would be exhausted. But then looking back, my dad and I went to India and I'm drinking coffee and I could fall asleep immediately. There was things, but the thing that actually, I paid attention to was like, "Oh, I have night sweats. This is weird." And to me, I thought I was going in with a diabetic diagnosis and then I came out with a cancer one, so then the next three years of my life-
Johanna Almstead:
And what was that like? I mean, you're 30, you're still a baby. How did that hit you? What was that mentally like?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I was in Paris, which is why I don't think I love Paris. Every time I've gone to Paris, it's like I found out my husband was cheating on me, embarrassed the first time. The second time, I find out I have cancer, and I'm like, I [inaudible 00:29:37]-
Johanna Almstead:
Just don't go to Paris anymore.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm like, you might have good pastries, but I'm done with you. I don't care. But it's life-changing. I think anybody who's had that happen to them, it's very scary, but also, I think there was a beauty of being young about it too, because in my head, I was like, "Okay, so now what? What do we do?" And luckily, my dad is a physician and having an advocate within the system is massively helpful, and he was able to move heaven and earth to get me to the best oncologist and the best endocrinologist, and I didn't do a lot of that heavy lifting that so many people have to do on their own. I had a wonderful advocate and guide that truly, he saved my life, and I really feel for everybody who goes through the system and doesn't have that. And he was my community. Again, talking about being divorced and isolated, cancer and isolation was another chapter of my best friends were seventy-year-old women that were incredible, but they were my crew. You know what I mean?
Johanna Almstead:
Right. I remember talking to you in your chemo sweater. You were like, "This is my chemo sweater. It's what I wear when I sit with the old ladies."
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yep, and they became like my best friends. And I worked through that entire time, I freelanced, so I would be getting chemo'd up and on my laptop, and-
Johanna Almstead:
I remember this. I remember talking to you like, "What are you doing?" So you had quit the agency at that point though?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yep. I had left right when the Stephen Merchant stuff was taking off, and so then I took a couple of freelance jobs and I had some clients that came with me, which I don't think Rachel probably appreciated that, but unfortunately, it happens, believe me, and karma. I've had people leave that take things, so I'm like, don't worry. It came back. I get it.
Johanna Almstead:
You're like, I have cancer. Is that okay? Am I allowed to say a client?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm like, "Sorry." The only time, by the way, is when I think it was Southwest, because again, I had no money, and I'm like, "Hey, I have cancer. Can I board early?" I'm like, "I don't want to have to fight for a seat." It's the only time that I use the cancer card where I'm like, "Hey, Southwest, can I just get... I need that window seat."
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I remember my friends use it all the time, and I'm like, well, there's other people, military families, whatever, but yeah, it was wild. So I left there and then I freelanced and I was responding to Yelp reviews for Bear Burger, which is a great New York, Queens chain, and my job was responding to unhappy Yelp reviews and then sending those people gift cards. And I'd be in the middle of cancer, and they would be like, "Fuck you, you ruined my night. I didn't get my Sir Kensington ketchup, organic ketchup." And I'm like, "Let me send you a $25 gift card." You're like, "You ruined my life." I'm like, "Let me send you a $30 gift card and a t-shirt," while I'm going through it.
Johanna Almstead:
So you're like, "P.S. I have cancer, fuck face."
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, you're like, "I'm losing my hair. Fuck off." But you're like the polar opposite-
Johanna Almstead:
I'm in the twilight zone.
Samantha Srinivasan:
... that these are the worst things that are happening to these people is their organic ketchup didn't come with their fries, and I'm here with these old ladies who are on their fourth round of fighting for their life, and those women became my truly good, great friends. And again, going back to what we talked about earlier, the people that showed up for me during cancer were not who I thought it would be. It was so humbling and it was so moving, and it gave me one of the best lessons to, one, let people show up for you, but then on top of that, some people's capacity of, oh, really, people that I was really, really close to, I don't think could handle it or it was too much, or they didn't know how to do it so they just disappeared. And then other people that just came out of the woodwork that you were like, "I can't even believe you're remembering me. This is so kind and I've never known kindness like this." So that was such a cool part of it that you-
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, that'll change you forever, won't it?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. That you're like, oh, this is a thing. And then the deal that I just tried to make to myself is if I got through it, if I am lucky enough to continue to be a card carrying member of this community that I did not sign up for but here I am, I just want to show up and be there for people that, whether they're there for you or not, but the people that you really love, and obviously, my parents are at the top of that list. My whole thing is if I get through this, it is my job to take care of them because they had to take care of their 30-year-old daughter, 30 to 35-year-old daughter during that entire time of picking me up off the floor and taking me to doctor appointments. And you as a parent, it's probably your worst nightmare to even think of that, but you think like, oh, you get past 18, maybe they're going to be okay, and then you have this.
So there's that, and then just being a great sister, being a great aunt, being a great partner, being a great friend. My bench is small in terms of I don't have the capacity or the energy to have 40 friend groups, but my one-on-ones, I'm like, "I care. I love you. I hope you know it." I'm sure I let people down, but my hope really is just be like, I hope people know how much I love them. I want them to know if they called me, I would be the person to be like, "All right, I'll get you to the airport. We'll figure it out. What do we need to do?" And that was one of the lessons or at least the hopes that I had while going through that, of I really want to be able to show up.
And then I think that that also correlates to how I built this company to some degree too, of I'm not a big agency, I don't want to be a big agency, because one, I don't have the time to do it, and also, we're only here for such a short amount of time, and I don't want to work with people either that don't get that there's more to life than work.
Of course, 90% of our life is work, but I feel like one of the reasons that I really do like comedians and so many of them made me laugh while I was at my lowest, where I'm like, I know the capacity of what art can do when you are sitting in a hospital room and you're super scared and you're waiting for test results or you're waiting for the next blood draw, and you have a dumb, funny thing on TV that gets you out of your head for 10 minutes, or even if it's something else, drama, whatever, it has the capacity to really heal in a weird way, or at least let you not think about how hard everything is for five minutes.
And I think I have such a love for comedians in that space, because one, they really helped me so much during that time, but then on top of that, there is a self-sufficiency that I really appreciate where you're writing the joke, you're out there, you're doing these things, and I really gravitate towards people that are like, "Let's do it." And you can't do that for 400 people to do it right, so it all kind of comes together.
Johanna Almstead:
I think it's interesting, and I think some of the best publicists I know, best managers I know, best agents I know are at their core, really big fans of art. And when I think of you, I think about you knew bands and comedians and all these things that I had never heard of, and you were a fan. You were actively going to see them at clubs in LA and in New York, and I remember just being like, "Huh, I'm not really a fan like that."
Samantha Srinivasan:
You're like, "I would not leave my house if I didn't have to," but you had that with fashion and food.
Johanna Almstead:
I have that with fashion, right. I have that with design.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You had that with fashion and food that I always found to be so inspiring and so great, and you had such a fine eye, and your linens were always great. I remember you always had the best napkins, and I'm like, "We're 20. This woman has great napkins? This feels so adult." Remember Sarah's beautiful apartment in Venice?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes.
Samantha Srinivasan:
That cute apartment that they had? I remember it. Did you live there for a minute or no?
Johanna Almstead:
No. I just used to throw parties there a lot.
Samantha Srinivasan:
That's right. You had great parties there. I remember being like, "Joanna is so sophisticated. I want napkins. These are great linens," and you had great glassware, so you always had that thing in that different area that I always really appreciated.
Johanna Almstead:
That's so funny. I'm a fan of linens. I really am.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, I know who you are. I'm not joking though when I say this, and this isn't just blowing smoke up your skirt, you legitimately have always been somebody that... I mean, God, remember our hikes, when we'd do that crazy hike up in Malibu?
Johanna Almstead:
Was that Topanga?
Samantha Srinivasan:
No, the other one. It was Miramar or something, or Paseo Miramar, remember?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes. Paseo Miramar.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yes. I don't know how we found it. I've never found it again by the way, but I just feel like you and I would have these great talks and we would talk about what we want to do and what we hope to do and how we want to be and partners we hope to have, and you made a movie and you were always just doing, and I think what I look back at that time of those early friends, we had that drive and we lifted each other up. And it wasn't competitive, but it was like, "Oh, I'm so excited that she's doing this. This is so cool," and it's inspiring. It makes you want to up your own game to be like, oh, okay, I'm not going to do that but I like this, and I think that when you're around that sort of energy, it's really inspiring, so I feel like you've always inspired me.
And then when you went back to New York and you were doing Kate stuff and I was like, look at you go, this is incredible. And then even with this podcast, you never cease to amaze me, and it continues to inspire me always. So I feel like I'm always just in awe of my good friends that are doing cool things, like, oh, I want to meet their moments too. This is cool that we're all doing our thing, and there's a little bit of overlap.
Johanna Almstead:
I think it is so... Well, thank you very much, first of all. That's very nice of you to say and I appreciate it, and I feel like you were equally inspiring to me. I feel like we just kept pulling each other up the hill, literally.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, truly.
Johanna Almstead:
And I also do think there is something about, especially for our younger listeners because there's a lot of young women out there, you are who you surround yourself with. I think it's so important to be inspired. Half the reason I did this podcast is because I have so many women in my life, not necessarily my best friends all the time, but I have exposure to so many extraordinary women who are doing-
Samantha Srinivasan:
So true.
Johanna Almstead:
... such badass stuff and who are changing the world for the better, I think, on a daily basis, and it really does. It's contagious, I think. I think it is about if you hang around with people whose standards are lower, your standards go down I think, and if you hang around people who are not fucking around and who are doing cool shit and who are inspiring you on whatever level, you're going to do more. And again, not to say everyone has to be crazy high achievers or alpha people, whatever, but-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. What you were saying too of I think I have to fall in love with each client a little bit. I have to have a crush on them in some way. Not in a sexual way, but I got to love them a little bit because you're out there selling them, and then that's also how I feel about my friends where I'm like, oh, I love my friends. I'm in love with my friends in a way that I'm like, I want their best, I want to figure out how I can help them, whether they want that solicited advice or not. But again, my friend group, you got to love the people you're with, and hopefully the people that you're with, like you said, are at least uplifting in the sense of there's some inspiration, or I don't know.
I feel very... You meet the moment with the people you're around, and to me, it becomes our lives. And then you realize that you're like, oh, you're in the driver's seat of your life. You get to choose who you surround yourself with. You get to choose who gets your energy. You get to choose that, and when you realize that you actually have a choice in that, it becomes very different. And that I think took me a minute too where when you're building something, you're like, I got to take it for the money because I got rent, I got to do it, and you realize really quick that those jobs you take for the money end up being the worst.
Johanna Almstead:
I always call them the most expensive jobs because-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, the most expensive.
Johanna Almstead:
... you lose something else. You might make money on it and you might get a paycheck, but you lose your soul, you lose your patience, you lose your-
Samantha Srinivasan:
All of it.
Johanna Almstead:
In some cases, your credibility because of whatever. I think there are some expensive jobs out there.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, so many, and we're all guilty of it and we've all been there and we get it, but those are lessons you learn along the way, and then that applies, I think, too, to relationships. I think that you realize too, like a friendship breakup or whatever that is, I feel like it becomes... You're like, I'm not capable of giving this person what they want or they're not capable of giving me what I need, and so you choose that energy. I feel like there's a thing that I find where I'm at now in this stage where I'm like, oh, if you don't want or understand or contribute in a way that is not just fluffing but is additive, then I don't quite know what we're doing. And I feel that way about clients and I feel that way about friends, or just people in your life where you're like, "I think we hit the end of the road. We've done all we could. We did great. High five, but this is no longer..."
Johanna Almstead:
It's so wild though.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, it is. After I got divorced, I had a great therapist. I did one session, it worked. I was fixed immediately.
Johanna Almstead:
Totally fixed.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It was all good. Totally fixed in one session.
Johanna Almstead:
It's like a drive through.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Uh-huh, did it. Happy Meal number one. But she gave me this incredible thing that I always used where she gave me the house metaphor of this is your home and you have a fence, and do you let people know what street you live on? Do they give you your address? Do you let them into your front yard? Do you let them into your porch? Do they get to go in your kitchen? Do they get to go in your bedroom? And different people at different points get access into your kitchen, and then sometimes they lose refrigerator access where you're like, actually, you know what? You're going to be back up on the front yard and know-
Johanna Almstead:
[inaudible 00:43:28] front porch.
Samantha Srinivasan:
"And sir, you do not get to know my longitudin and latitude. I am gone," and that always sticks with me where I'm like, oh, and nothing's forever. People come and go, and I feel that way about how I approach work in terms of, hey, some of these clients are clients that are going to be in my kitchen forever. I'm going to make them a meal because I love them and they love me, and there's a respect here, and then there's other clients where I'm waving to you over the fence and like, "Nice to see you. You too," and we do that. And then that's also the way that I approach the people in my life that I love, where you're like, oh, you're in my kitchen. You have access to my room. You can use my bathroom, whatever you want, and then there's others where you're like, "Take your shoes off and please sit down."
Johanna Almstead:
Do not bring those dirty shoes into my house.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Thank you. So it's funny how it all goes together.
Johanna Almstead:
And I also feel like it's taken me almost this long in my life to get comfortable with that. I'm like, "That's somebody I don't need." Especially as a parent, you end up with a lot of people in your life that you are physically often with because they're the parents of your kids' friends or whatever, or they're are people in the community, and there are definitely people who are like, "I'm going to just keep you at an arm's length. I get it. I see you. I see you, and it's cool. It's fine. We're good. We can be happy, we can be civil, we can be kind and polite to each other, but you're not coming into my kitchen."
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, you don't get to go in the kitchen.
Johanna Almstead:
You don't get refrigerator access.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, and it's such an interesting thing, and I try to tell that to my youngers where they get really worked up about a text from a client and they take it really... And I'm like, "You can't. They're visitors and we're here to... You can't." You just-
Johanna Almstead:
They're visitors, they're from another planet.
Samantha Srinivasan:
This is customer service. Yeah, they're visitors guys, guys. Some of them are toddlers. It's okay. And then some of them are like... Because everybody's coming with what they're at. And then also on our job, I'm a personal publicist so so much of what we do is the most vulnerable part of a job for these people, and it is their image and it is... And also comedians, a lot of them, they're the smartest people in the room so they're like, "We know more." And in many ways they do, and then in other ways, you're like, "I'm here to help you on this end. You are a hundred percent right, but I'm telling you, let's meet in the middle here and compromise." And you just have to be able to navigate what that is and not take it overly personal, and then put them in your metaphorical house of like, listen, this isn't a person that's in your bedroom, so if they're feeling it, one, acknowledge the fact that they're super vulnerable, they're very tired. They're also human beings that are dealing with whatever, and-
Johanna Almstead:
And they're creative. They're constantly having to put themselves out there.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Constantly. And these are people with families too, and they're taking care of... I think that's the thing that I try to at least remind, again, the youngers, to be like, "Hey, just remember, they're carrying a lot too." They have us, they have lawyers, they have agents, they have managers, they have partners, they have children sometimes. They have sick family. No one is unscathed. I don't care how successful you are, no one is not carrying something that's heavy, and so I just always try to remember that in those moments of like, "Hey, you're doing the best you can and I am here as a job, and you're not in my living room."
Johanna Almstead:
Right. Okay. So I want to get back to how you actually started to build this business, because you were surviving cancer. You were in your parents' house, puking your guts out in your chemo sweater. You were sick as a dog and you were-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Sucking on popsicles. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
... sucking on popsicles. Then you get better, you become cancer-free, and how does the re-emergence into real life happen again? Because you had been in this twilight zone where you're remotely in real life, right? You're still working, you're working remotely, you're doing these freelance jobs, and then all of a sudden, you're like, okay, I'm healthy again. I've gone through this thing. What happens next?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Again, going back to what you were saying earlier too about people that show up. So when I left Bread and Butter Public Relations, shout out to them, they're very successful, not because of me. That was not a humble brag. They're thriving on their own. But there was a girl that worked there, Marissa, who when I was really sick and I had some freelance jobs, she would help and show up and do it so I had some minimal income coming in. And then when I booked Stephen Merchant on Conan O'Brien out here in LA, my friend, Ashley Olivia, she was the booker over there, and her and I...
PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:48:04]
Samantha Srinivasan:
My friend Ashley Olivia, she was the booker over there, and her and I remained friends. And she checked in to meet with me every week while I was going through cancer. And after three years of all of that, I had a furlough as I like to call it from cancer, because my doctor's like, "We need to give you a break. Let's see, come back in six months." And this was going to be the first time that I didn't have surgeries or any of that for six months after three years. I was like, "Oh, my God." Ashley Olivia, that's such a great name that I always have to say first and last, she called me and she's like, "I'm on the train to Comic-Con with Rob Corddry," who at that point had the Hot Tub Time Machine coming out and he had this great, it was the first digital short series called Children's Hospital.
She's like, "I was on the train to Comic-Con, I told him about you. He just fired a very fancy publicist. Here's his email, email him." So again-
Johanna Almstead:
No way.
Samantha Srinivasan:
From that sam.srini@gmail, I emailed Rob Corddry. I'm like, "Hey, my friend told me that you're looking for a publicist." And again, I don't know where that gumption come from. But he emailed me back and he's like, "Cool. You want to meet?" And again, Baby Boom is a movie that is my inspiration in so many ways and it has been, but I legitimately had $8 in my pocket and I flew myself out to LA. I met him for sushi in the Valley. I was sleeping on different friend's sofas. And he was ordering copious amounts of expensive sushi, and I can't have sushi because of the raw and the cancer, so I'm just sucking down ice chips and I look like shit. And I'm like, "Hey." I'm like, "I love you, I watched you do Naked Babies." That was his improv team at UCB. I'm like, "Children's Hospital made me laugh the first thing after divorce," which his actually true. I'm like, "But I do have stage three throat cancer and I don't know if I'll be alive in a year. But if you give me a shot, I'll give you everything I got."
Johanna Almstead:
Shut up, you said that?
Samantha Srinivasan:
And he's still a client and we've won four Emmys.
Johanna Almstead:
No way. That makes me love him so much.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Him and his family are clients, they have full access to my house forever. I love them so much.
Johanna Almstead:
They get to eat out of the fridge, don't they?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, they get to have whatever they want. They can have shoes on, whatever they want.
Johanna Almstead:
They can sleep in your bed.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, they get all of it. And he took a chance on me when I was still working from my Gmail address for five years. And people then saw what I was doing for him and the comedy community is so small. I didn't know this at the time, but then his friends started seeing what I was doing, they're like, "Whose she?" And then they started to hire me. I was like, "They're going to all find out that I'm a fraud. This is wild." I can't get an apartment because I am going to publicist jail, it is catching up with me, this is going to be bad. And then it just kept growing. I'm like, "I think I need a company name. I can't just be sam@gmail anymore." And then agents and managers were like, "Who the fuck is this woman? What's going on? Is she real?" And it just was very by accident, and then it just kept going by referral, by referral, by referral.
Again, these white men, Paul Scheer, Rob Corddry, Matt Walsh, they all took a chance on a mixed race lady from a Gmail address. And because of them I was like, "Holy shit-"
Johanna Almstead:
Who was possibly dying also.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Which sometimes I'm like, "Did I die and I'm a ghost and I don't know it? I don't know." But here we are. They have truly, truly changed my life.
Johanna Almstead:
Shout out to the middle-aged white men for once because-
Samantha Srinivasan:
The bald middle-aged white men, for a while, I was cornering the market on bald white dudes and thank God. They changed my life and I will forever be grateful. And those three men in particular, Matt, Paul, and Rob, are dear friends who I truly, truly, truly love. Where I'm like these are people that, even if I did not work with them, we are forever imprinted. They're just so meaningful to me.
Johanna Almstead:
Wait. Do you ever look at Rob now and are you like, "What was wrong with you? What fucking crack were you smoking that you said yes to me?"
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know. I'm like, "How? Why?" And he's like, "I just liked your vibe." I'm like "I had no hair and I was sweaty. You're like what?" Maybe he saw himself in me because I was basically bald.
Johanna Almstead:
There you go. Maybe so.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Maybe it was that. But I think because I was never at a fancy agency and I never was an assistant, every contact I have is because I got it myself. Every client I have is because I pitched it myself. There was no I was an assistant who was abused. I have none of that. So I think in many ways, that's both maybe my superpower and also my weakness. And that if you want that, I'm definitely not the person for you. Of, no, I'm not going to go have a fancy building in Sunset Boulevard just to be like, "Hey, come look at our view." But I am going to work really, really hard. And if you're cool with somebody who works really, really hard and wants to deliver on results, I'm that person and I'll be honest with you, but I'm not for everybody. There's some people that want the flash and the thing.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm not that.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm not that. And I think that that's probably why so many comedians ended up gravitating to me in those early years, is because I wasn't trying to sell them on, "I have an assistant and I'm doing this." It's like, "No, it's one-on-one. I get you, you're out there hustling, I'm equally hustling. You got to tell a joke every day on stage, it doesn't work, you're getting on three hours later to find it. I'm trying to figure out what fucking email address and I'm going to keep finding it." We are speaking the same love language.
So I think that when I sat down with the Robs and the Pauls and stuff, I think that it wasn't a hard sell because I didn't know what I was selling. But I think it was just an authenticity that I was unaware of because I was so naïve in that I did not know the ecosystem of all of this fanciness. I remember I showed up on my first red carpet not knowing that publicists had to be in a certain area, and that publicists had to only wear black. I'm like, "I look good in red."
Johanna Almstead:
And you're fully walking the carpet, getting photographed?
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I'm like ... Oh, never. There's no photos. You will never find a photo. You know that of me, there's no photos. But I was, "Hi, guys, I'm Sam." And they're just cool, and looking at their phones. And I was like, "Oh, this is high school and I still don't belong. Okay, got it."
Johanna Almstead:
I'm not allowed to sit at the cool kid lunch table, am I?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I will never be at the cool kid lunch table and that is okay. I've made my peace with it. And sometimes it works in my favor, where I get all of the ones that nobody wants.
Johanna Almstead:
You get all the ones that also probably didn't sit at the lunch table.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Correct. I like my little band of misfits that we are, where I feel we're all little renegades. We're like, "All right, we don't fit with the cool kids and that's okay."
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
But that's how my company started.
Johanna Almstead:
That's so nuts.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Again, I can ... It's interesting to be able to go through, to be like there was a Brad Korzen, there was an Ashley Olivia. There's so many people. By the way, Ashley Olivia is one of my best friends to this day.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I love her so much. And she built her own company and she's incredible. So going back to what you were saying of the people that you're around. When she left Conan and built her own booking company, and she's massively successful. Yeah, you're right, the people that you surround yourself, everybody's just there. So yeah, it's crazy where you don't quite know what you get out of it, but somehow the puzzle pieces do end up fitting.
Johanna Almstead:
Talk about faking it until you make it, dude.
Samantha Srinivasan:
That's my entire life.
Johanna Almstead:
For real.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It is my entire life. I could not possibly ever give a TED Talk to anybody because I'd be like, "Just lie."
Johanna Almstead:
This is my TED Talk. Hi. Decide what you want to do and then pretend to do it.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And honestly, I don't wear sunscreen all the time either. You guys, I don't know what to tell you. I am not doing it right.
Johanna Almstead:
Holy shit though.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
It's incredible. It's such a testament to your tenacity, which is one of my favorite words.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's a good word.
Johanna Almstead:
Your tenacity and your focus, and your commitment to keeping your word. You could have promised Rob Corddry the world, and then hit a bunch of obstacles, because I'm sure you did-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
... because it's not easy to make your way in Hollywood. And bailed. You could have been like, "Oh, this is not for me, I don't know how to do this." And you didn't.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
You never stopped.
Samantha Srinivasan:
No, I'm still on that hamster wheel. And I think you're right though, there is something about. I don't know if it's my Asian roots mixed with my Midwestern roots, but I have a very hard time looking somebody in their eye and being like, "I'm going to do this," and then not doing it. And that's why I can't over-promise on things either. Where I'm like, "We're going to do our best. We're going to do this and I'm going to do that, and we're going to get in there." But I think there is something that I'm like these people are all little small businesses, and if they're putting their hard-earned money towards you, I don't take that lightly. This is a vulnerable thing that we're making a deal ... And you know, publicity is so gray. You don't know-
Johanna Almstead:
It's so mercurial and weird and vague.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You have no idea whose going to take what. I don't know why we do it. In many ways, we are all crazy because it is so wild that you do not know, but you're like, "I'm going with my gut and I think I can do it, and I'm going to do it and I'm going to make it happen."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And sometimes you can't.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I've had clients where I'm like, "This is a great story and I feel like this," and you're trying to find the right person. And you're like, "Fuck, I can't believe ..." You think you wrote the best pitch. You're like, "This is a killer pitch, I'm going to get 10 responses." And you're like, "How did not one person-"
Johanna Almstead:
Nobody wants it, yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You're like, "This was brilliant, I am brilliant." And then you're like, "Oh not so much."
Johanna Almstead:
Not so much.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It keeps you humble.
Johanna Almstead:
It's true.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It keeps you humble.
Johanna Almstead:
But it is so interesting. I think about this a lot and I always say this. I think it's so weird that there's public relations classes now, you can major in public relations.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I had somebody send me a resume and they're like, "I majored in publicity." And I'm like, "Why? What?"
Johanna Almstead:
What does that even mean?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
And I always say 90% of my job and me being good at my job was my gut instincts. It was just like I'm flying by the seat of my pants-
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's stuff you can't teach. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I look back at some of the things I did that were wildly successful and I had no idea what the fuck I was doing.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I was just like, "This feels right and I'm just going to make it happen."
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, that's my entire life.
Johanna Almstead:
And I look back on it and I think about everyone's like, "Good job, good job." And I was like, "Yeah, I guess? I don't know."
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
It's wild.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's wild.
Johanna Almstead:
It's wild.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's so wild. And I do think, listen, I had a healthy amount of luck. I think its luck in life and you do something with it. I feel like when there was an opportunity that bounced my way, I feel like I at least tried. Where I was like, "Okay, let's try to do it."
Johanna Almstead:
You sent the email. You sent the email to Brad Korzen, you sent the email to Rob Corddry. You did it.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. But I cannot overstate how little I've planned any of this. There has been no actual I saw that. No, there's none.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Well, that brings me to the question. Did you have an idea when you were younger of what success would look like and does this look anything like it?
Samantha Srinivasan:
That's a great question. I feel like, going back to RIP Diane Keaton and the Working Girls of it all. And I grew up on TV and that's why I bring up movies and TV because I'm obviously an '80s girl. But I feel like success always felt, or at least looked like to me, being able to have a job, and you were able to-
Johanna Almstead:
A working lady job.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I wanted shoulder pads, even though my shoulders do not need it, I'm already big enough, but I still love a pad. But I feel like that to me maybe felt like that. But I think then, as I got older, success feels like not content-ness, but confidence in your choices and love. And I got that early.
I do think the cool thing about cancer on my end is that I felt like I did get the secret of life very early, earlier than most people do, in that none of this actually matters. Yes, we're in a capitalistic society, yes, we need to have money to do these things. But when you are sick and you are at that bed, and you were waiting for results, you're not like, "Oh, God, I really hope I get that job. And oh, I hope I get that person in the New York Times and I can't believe I didn't do it." You're like, "I would give anything to have one more birthday so I could show up for these people," or be there for my dad's birthday, or be there for my friends. Or fly out for your wedding. Or show up for my friends' 50th birthdays. Those are things that I feel like are successful now, where I get the opportunity to be able to show up for ...
Last year, I had lot of friends, and even not close friends, that turned 50. But I'm like, "If they invited me to their birthday I'm going to show up because what a wonderful thing, to turn 50."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And if you're inviting me, I want to be in that room to toast you because it's such a beautiful thing. So I think that success early on felt maybe like the apartment and the thing and the job, but now it's very much about the community and the people that you have and really, truly showing up for them.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I think that that's what to me feels like success. And I feel like I'm learning that still, that's active learning.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
As we get into this next chapter of taking care of aging parents, and then friends getting their own health diagnoses. Now all of a sudden, I'm a go-to. I'm basically an MD.
Johanna Almstead:
Basically.
Samantha Srinivasan:
What do you need? Yeah, come on. I'm the cancer resource for many people. I'm like, "I've got the best endocrinologist, let me share all of this." That feels successful.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Where you're like, "oh, good." Success is being able to help.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
That's the thing, I think success honestly feels like being able to show up and help. But when I was little, it felt very '80s-
Johanna Almstead:
Like a power suit.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I want to farm, yeah, and I want to make applesauce.
Johanna Almstead:
Right, there you go.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Damn you, you think I can't do it, I can do it. And I still have that pettiness inside me where I'm like, "Oh, if you can do it, why can't I?" I do have that. That hasn't fully left me.
Johanna Almstead:
Something's got to be driving you, right?
Samantha Srinivasan:
That, or the dead inside just takes over.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. So what is something that you once believed about yourself that you've since outgrown?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, wow, that's a good question. I'm not sure. I'm trying to figure out what that would be. Maybe it would be-
Johanna Almstead:
What's something you believe about when I first met you, when you were in your early 20s and you were getting married?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
What did you believe about yourself then?
Samantha Srinivasan:
God, I feel like I was on a trad wife track at that point.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, God, yes.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Making dinners, walking dogs, and I was like, "Is this it?" I feel like I think when you're in that cycle, you think this is forever. When you're so young, you're so up your own ass that you forget that there's so much more life happening. You know what I mean?
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I don't know if you felt this way, too. But, God, I was so skinny and my boobs were so good then and I hated my body. And you're like, "Oh, my gosh, what? You looked so good!"
Johanna Almstead:
I know, man.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You were going to wish you could eat that ice cream and not worry about it. You just feel like that time, you're going to be that way forever.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I feel like you don't know that life can surprise you. And I am stronger than I ever knew, I will say that. I feel like I can handle crisis in a way that, back the, I probably thought would break me or I'd run away. And I'm very cool under crisis and I didn't even know it was a thing because I was so unaware.
Johanna Almstead:
You didn't know you had it in you.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And so many people don't until all of a sudden you're confronted with something that you're like, "Oh, my God, wait. What? I have to go left or right, what?" And I am confident in my decisions. I will say that's another thing that maybe back then, I wavered more on. But I feel very, "I made the decision, right or wrong." And if it's wrong, I own it.
Johanna Almstead:
You're sticking with it.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. And it's like, "You know what, I chose wrong."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, that's a good feeling. Being able to say you're wrong or being able to say, "Well, it wasn't the best choice."
Samantha Srinivasan:
I got a whole graveyard of those.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Well, you just realize it's just one choice of nine million choices that we make every day.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And that's the thing.
Johanna Almstead:
So you have some perspective on it.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. And that's the thing of when you're younger, you feel like everything is so highs and lows lives on that. And you're like it doesn't.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I wish I would have smoked cigarettes when I was younger because I could have been living that sexy New York life with a cig out of my mouth and still got throat cancer.
Johanna Almstead:
Right.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Man. I could have worn Cadio et Adele jeans in a size 28.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, my God, those Cadio et Adele jeans. Wow.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
Throwback. RIP.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Throwback. By the way, I still have a pair of the cords that I bought for her that were very, very expensive. And only one leg can get in them, but I refuse to throw them away.
Johanna Almstead:
God, I wonder if I have those pants? I had a pair of black pants from her that were the live and end. They were just the best.
Samantha Srinivasan:
The best.
Johanna Almstead:
I felt so cool in them. I forgot about them. I wonder what I did with them?
Samantha Srinivasan:
There's on fashion thing that haunts me, that it still comes up and I'm like, "God damn it." But remember the Barneys, when it was downtown by Cafeteria?
Johanna Almstead:
Yes, I worked in that one.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It wasn't the outlet. But yeah, there was a Marc by Marc Jacobs military green jacket, but it had the little metal hook things that went all around, but it was tight and fitted. I remember I put it on my dad's credit card and he was furious because it was possibly overpriced and a college student probably should not be buying that type of wear. And I returned it because I felt guilty and I regret returning it. I'm like, "God damn, I wish I had that jacket."
Johanna Almstead:
That was such a good jacket.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I went on eBay, the RealReal, "Does anybody have?" Nobody. It's gone.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay, if you're listening out there and you know about this jacket, come on, send us a message.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It was such a good jacket.
Johanna Almstead:
I have faith that this jacket is going to reappear in your life. We're going to find it. We're going to find it.
Samantha Srinivasan:
But that was where I was wrong, where I was like, "I'll get that jacket." No.
Johanna Almstead:
No.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Nope, it disappeared.
Johanna Almstead:
No. Okay. How do you nourish yourself now? How do you nourish yourself spiritually, physically, mentally? You work a lot.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
You have four doggies that need a lot of attention.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
How do you fill your cup? How do you make sure that you stay whole?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I think that this is a work in progress because there's seasons for what I ... I get when you own a company, it's yours, so you can't ever just be like, "Peace." Somebody texts you on a weekend, you're like, "Okay, I got to deal with it." But for me, I am an introvert in an extroverted job. So I genuinely need my alone time. I like being alone probably too much.
Johanna Almstead:
Me, too. Me, too.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm too comfortable with it. Where I'm like-
Johanna Almstead:
Me, too.
Samantha Srinivasan:
... I'm fine to go to places alone, I like to be alone. But I have this beautiful home that I love and that is a place that ... My dream, actually going back to the other question. When I was sick I was like, "I just want a home that I can welcome all of my friends where they feel super comfortable in. Where they can feel like they have nice linens, things to enjoy, and we can enjoy this home together." It's a space, a co-op if you will, of this is everybody's West Coast home. And I feel like I've achieved that because now that I've had this house for the last couple years, it is like a little hotel where friends come and go. I see them, sometimes I don't. And I love that, and that fills me up in a way of just being to offer comfort to people I love.
But on the solo side, I love to hike with my dogs. I do my little rebounding workout, my little LEKFIT where I'm getting my little trampolines in and that's for my mental health, which I enjoy. But honestly, I like being in nature. I like to swim, I like to hike, and I like to rest. I am a person that likes to be alone on a sofa, reading a book. And I can listen to comedy podcasts because that feels like homework. I can't watch a lot of TV because it feels like homework.
I can't read a lot of magazines because it feels like homework because you're like, "Who wrote that? Why didn't they cover my client? I pitched them. Why didn't they do that?" You're like, "Motherfucker." Then you're like, "Hey, I saw this article." To be able to turn that all off, it is reading. I like a dumb beach mystery book. Five people go to an island, one's alive. I love that, that's my favorite thing. They're all the same formula, give it to me all the time.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
But I like to be alone. I need to be alone.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Not talking to people is a joy for me. And it's been hard honestly, for that, with some new friends in my life where they'll be like, "Hey, let's get on the phone on a Saturday." And I'm like, "I haven't had a weekend off in three months, it's my first Saturday, I have about 10 errands to run for these derelict dogs that I love." I got a house to clean, I like to cook, and I just want to be alone and not have a conversation because I'm talking-
Johanna Almstead:
You have no more words left.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I have nothing left.
Johanna Almstead:
This is what I say all the time.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I'm going to use that. It is that. Also, my job is so ... I was just in New York last week for a whirlwind five days and I was exhausted. It was one of those things where going out is actually exhausting for me at times. To be in my own home, to sleep in my own bed, to do a face mask and snuggle with a dog and not talk to one text, one single soul, I need to disappear.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
That is how I have to refill.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Some people understand that and then other people don't.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah, I have that in my life, too. I always say I just need to shut it down.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
I need no screens, I need nothing in my ears. I need nothing around me. I need a book, and a bed, and a nice smelling candle, and some animals.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Horizontal.
Johanna Almstead:
And dogs laying on me.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, that's it. I love a heated blanket. Give me a heated blanket like an old lady, which I happily-
Johanna Almstead:
I have my heating pad. Mine's even worse, mine's a heating pad.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I travel with a heating pad. Are you kidding? Yeah, duh. Also, you haven't been to this house yet, you have to come. There's a heating pad in every bedroom-
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, yeah!
Samantha Srinivasan:
... for every single person.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, heating pads are just basic. We have to.
Johanna Almstead:
Just a basic necessity.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You have to have that. I sleep with a heating pad, but then I also make sure my room is 65-degrees because I am multitudes.
Johanna Almstead:
You have so many layers.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I want that back hot, but I want everything else cold.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Again, the fact that there's a person dating me is shocking.
Johanna Almstead:
It's wonderful. There's somebody for everybody, guys.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Thank God. Thank God.
Johanna Almstead:
The lesson here is there's somebody for everybody.
Samantha Srinivasan:
AI boyfriends are great, you guys. No, just kidding.
Johanna Almstead:
Gross. Oh, no.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know, it's a whole new world.
Johanna Almstead:
You'll tell me that later. You're like, "And by the way, he's actually AI."
Samantha Srinivasan:
He's AI. He's great. He shuts up because I just power him down.
Johanna Almstead:
He loves me so much.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I power him down.
Johanna Almstead:
He really believes in me.
Samantha Srinivasan:
But yeah, the quietness. I'm glad to know that you're like that, too.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I have some friends though that take it really personally.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Where they're like, "You didn't call me." And I'm like, "I couldn't."
Johanna Almstead:
I couldn't.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I legitimately couldn't and it's not personal. I don't know if you feel this way, but sometimes I wake up and I'm like, "I'm already behind."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Oh, my whole life. All the time.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yes.
Samantha Srinivasan:
You're like, "I'm already ..." I'm playing catch up forever.
Johanna Almstead:
I have not set foot on the floor yet and I am behind the ball.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And then the call log of just friends you want to catch up with becomes ... And then you also feel guilty. You're like, "God, I'm a shitty friend. I really do want to know how they are, but I don't have it in me to do."
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's tough. I do think those times where ... I think a lot of personal publicists and probably publicists in all things, we do go through this thing where at least there's a great community of women, there's majority women in this industry, that I've met along the way that you're like, oh, we're all in this cycle of you disappear. Awards season, I'm gone. I'm barely ... This year alone, I think from January to August, I was maybe home for three days in a row maybe a couple weeks. I was never home for a span.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And when you're doing that and you're international and you're doing that stuff, and also I'm not 20. International travel is exhausting, and then you're running a company and you're in multiple timezones. When you get to actually be home, and then as you know, you got-
PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:12:04]
Samantha Srinivasan:
...get to actually be home. As you know, you got to deal with home stuff, and you got to deal with life stuff, and then you got to try to catch up. So I try to tell my friends where I'm like, "I promise I love you, but I am gone." And then I resurface like, what is that, Punxsutawney, whatever, like that chipmunk.
Johanna Almstead:
Punxsutawney Phil.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. What is he a gopher?
Johanna Almstead:
A groundhog.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Groundhog. Yeah. I come up the groundhog and I'm like, "Hi, guys," and I want to know what's going on. But in many ways, everybody's life moves on and you can't take that personal because you're busy doing this. And then when I need to go underground to refill my own cup, that's why I do need friends around me that understand that because I don't have the capacity to constantly be able to be there, which is both upsetting, but it's also the reality.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. Yeah, it's hard. I always think about the difference between our kinds of jobs and then people who are behind a computer with a spreadsheet all day and don't talk to anybody. And I'm like, God, that must be such a different experience coming home from work.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Such a different experience.
Johanna Almstead:
But I am like, done, can't do it. They must be ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I feel like when I get to a Friday, I'm like, I'm going to bed. And people will be like, "Let's go out on a Friday night." I'm like, who are you? That's incredible for you. But no, I cannot leave. If I make it to a Friday and I don't have an event and I don't have to get on a plane, I am going to sleep.
Johanna Almstead:
Shut it down.
Samantha Srinivasan:
What time do you go to bed?
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, so early. So early. Now it's like I actually want to go to bed before my kids even want to go to bed, which is so bad because-
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Well, because they're teens now, right?
Johanna Almstead:
Well, they're almost. Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Tweens.
Johanna Almstead:
And they're like, you're lame. And I'm like, I'm tired. I also am up out the door at six o'clock in the morning, so I have many hours logged. So my kids go to bed at nine, which is pretty early for the older one, but she actually is very much like me. She hits a wall and she's like-
Samantha Srinivasan:
She needs sleep?
Johanna Almstead:
I got to go bed. I got to go to bed. My little one actually has a little bit more stamina than the two of us. So they go to bed at nine. So by the time that I'm done with that process, I like to be in my room by 9:30. Some nights I go down a rabbit hole and start scrolling and do things and whatever, but I will try to go into my room and not look at my phone and read and then go to sleep by 10:15. But last night I was having an anxiety attack about all the things being behind. So I took my laptop and my phone into my bed and did that at 10:45. And then I was like, oh shit, I should probably check social media. And then I did that then. So then that was like 11:30.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, you went down the rabbit hole. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. So then that was not good. But I tried. If it were up to me, I would totally be in bed by 9:00.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Lights out.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm very similar of, I get the dogs ... And I'm not equating dogs and children. I'm not one of those crazy people. But because I have four of them, it's like I have to carry each of one of them up the stairs because they're all again, broken.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
By the way, my back is completely gone.
Johanna Almstead:
You carry them up and then carry them down every morning, because they can't go up and down the stairs?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's chaos. Which is also why I have no time to hang out with anybody because I'm doing dog daycare. But I am at like you, at 9:30. We're all tucked in, drugged up. They're drugged up. And then I just fall asleep at 30 Rock or Happy Endings, just shows that I love that I can repeat in my head and they're comfort. And I'm usually lights out by 11:00 latest. But it's so funny that I'm like, I think the other day I'm like, I got in bed by 8:30 and I'm like, this is fucking great.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God. I mean, if I could, I would.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Is Michael on the same schedule?
Johanna Almstead:
No. He's much more of a late night person. He's a late night night person, so that is not great for the love life. But we try to respect each other's boundaries.
Samantha Srinivasan:
That's how it goes though.
Johanna Almstead:
I just am useless though. I don't watch TV really at night because this is part of my extreme personality. Once I start, I can't stop. You got to go. So I'm not somebody who can watch one show and then turn it off. So if I do watch TV at night, I will be watching it until one o'clock in the morning, and then I'll think about it all day, and then I'll start it again the next night and watch it again. It's a very, I guess I don't really have an addictive personality except for that, so I guess that's what it is.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I get that though. I can understand that.
Johanna Almstead:
And I also think because I don't really watch TV that when I do, I'm like, oh my gosh, this is so fun. I'm going to do this until one in the morning. You mean people do this every night? Such a grandma.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I love it. It's so interesting though. Sleep has become such a important, I mean, it's always important, but I just feel like, oh, it's such a luxury.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh God. Yeah. Totally. And you don't even have babies, so I feel like that you didn't even have to learn that the hard way.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I don't even know how you guys did it. I don't know how to do it. But I feel like a six-hour night sleep versus an eight hour is very different for me. I am two different people.
Johanna Almstead:
I am two different people. A hundred percent. My whole day's success is entirely reliant on how much sleep I got.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's so true.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It's so, so true.
Johanna Almstead:
We could talk about this forever, but now we're at the very exciting time where we have to do the lightning round. Some of them are food related, but they're not all. And I know you're not a big foodie, but you do like to cook.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Clearly. Yep.
Johanna Almstead:
So don't overthink them. And just go with your gut. Favorite comfort food.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Favorite comfort food, eggs.
Johanna Almstead:
Weird. Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
How?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Scrambled. Give me scrambled eggs and toast. That is my favorite comfort food.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. That's a first.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know.
Johanna Almstead:
What is something you're really good at?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Let's think. I know this is supposed to be quick. Very good at-
Johanna Almstead:
Other than faking it until you make it, because we know that.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Taking care of animals, I guess. I don't know. That's probably lame.
Johanna Almstead:
No, but you are.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Actually, I'm really good at making a hot chocolate.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God. You've always been into the hot chocolate.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I'm good at hot chocolate.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay, what's something You're really bad at?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Saying mo.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Favorite word?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Fuck, probably.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Yeah. Least favorite word?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I don't like the word shit.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, interesting.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Least favorite food?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, anchovies.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Anchovies, capers. Anything in that area? No.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Anchovies and capers are not in the same area.
Samantha Srinivasan:
They just smell to me. They're smelly and slimy to me. I can't. Anything in that area I'm like, no.
Johanna Almstead:
Salty?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I can't have a Caesar salad, the smell. And there's something about it that I'm like, I can't. It's like some people with cilantro, which I don't understand because I like that, but I just, they're not for me.
Johanna Almstead:
Anchovies and capers, which I think are weird that you've combined them too. But that's okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know. I'm not sophisticated.
Johanna Almstead:
Your garbage pallet. That's my favorite quote you've ever said, by the way.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It is a garbage pallet.
Johanna Almstead:
That makes me sad though, that you miss out on Caesar salads. Especially traveling, because I felt like when I was traveling all the time for work, a Caesar salad and a hotel room service late at night was often my go-to.
Samantha Srinivasan:
It is hard. It's hard. I do not have choices.
Johanna Almstead:
You do not have choices. Okay. Best piece of advice you've ever received.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Don't leave fun for fun. Got it at Bonnaroo. From a guy that was giving us out jello shots, and it became the most prolific where you're like, right. You're having fun-
Johanna Almstead:
As things do at Bonnaroo.
Samantha Srinivasan:
As things do down there in Manchester. It was the most prolific piece of advice I ever got where I was like, you're right. If you're having fun, why are you chasing fun somewhere else? So it's really being in the moment.
Johanna Almstead:
That is amazing. I think we should make a T-shirt.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Never saw that guy again.
Johanna Almstead:
Never did. But he doesn't know how much he changed your life. Guy, if you're out there-
Samantha Srinivasan:
He really did.
Johanna Almstead:
Bonnaroo dude.
Samantha Srinivasan:
A green jello shot.
Johanna Almstead:
Green jello shot. Don't leave fun for fun?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
That's so good. Okay. I'm so curious about this. If your personality were a flavor, what would it be?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh God. I hope not vanilla, but I feel like, I mean, there's probably something good about vanilla. It's classic, maybe strawberry, because I'm looking at a Neapolitan. You have your classics and vanilla is like, it's good. It's chocolate has some sexiness to it, which I can't necessarily identify, but strawberry, you're like, you fit within this, but you also don't. And I like you. I love that. But also, you're not for everybody. Not everybody likes strawberry, so I feel like I'd be strawberry.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. All right. Last supper. You are leaving this earth tomorrow, but you've made it a really long way and it's not sad. What are you eating tonight as your last meal?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Well, the most important thing is there's this restaurant here in LA called Connie and Ted's, and they have my favorite halibut, but they also have this great chocolate cake, and it is my favorite chocolate cake to the point where when it went off the menu, I was calling them to be where it's going on with this cake. And there was an investor fight. I'm like, can you guys figure it out? The cake came back. So the cake is going to be on the menu. The cake is for sure there. And probably my grandmother has this chicken recipe that I love.
So I feel like my grandma's chicken with chocolate cake and maybe a fun non-alcoholic drink. Because again, I'm not sober, but I can't drink alcohol because I get migraines right away. And also, I'm not sophisticated, so I never know what to actually order, where it's like, oh, what is this drink? I don't know. I had to Google what's the sexy drink once, and was like, what was that? A champagne 75 or something? I was like-
Johanna Almstead:
A French 75.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Not a champagne 75.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I was like let me get this. And it was terrible. So I think grandma's chicken, chocolate cake from Connie and Ted's and then like that.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Is this grandma from India or grandma on your mom's side?
Samantha Srinivasan:
No, this is grandma, American grandma.
Johanna Almstead:
American Grandma's chicken.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Chocolate cake. And a fun little non-alcoholic drink.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Non-alcoholic-y, somebody mixes me some fun, sweet drink.
Johanna Almstead:
Right. You like sweet. I always forget, you are a very, very sweet thing.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Again, I'm a child.
Johanna Almstead:
A child who has gone through a lot. What's a moment in your life where you've had to eat your words. You're a publicist, so, so many words.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I will tell you one moment that haunts me to this day was when I was working for Viceroy and I was opening up the Miami Hotel, and this is a good lesson for every child out there and every person where we were getting on a call and there was this girl on the one side who was being kind of annoying and not giving us answers. And I walked into the room and I was like, oh my God, she's such an asshole. And they're like, we're not on mute. And I was like-
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, shit.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Okay, cool, cool, cool. And I had to write her and be like, I'm the asshole and I'm really sorry. And you had to eat your words. And it was a great lesson to be like, you don't come fucking guns blazing and you got to own it when you sit in it.
Johanna Almstead:
How did she respond to your email?
Samantha Srinivasan:
She was actually very nice in that she was like, thank you. But hurt and rightfully so. She definitely didn't want to be my friend nor should she. But that was one that still haunts me, where I was like, okay-
Johanna Almstead:
Not your best moment.
Samantha Srinivasan:
And I will tell you that un-send feature that happens for now on the iPhone, people are very lucky that exists because that did not exist for us.
Johanna Almstead:
Totally. Totally. Un-send. Okay. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, you don't have to worry about nutritional value, it's going to keep you alive. What would you eat all day, every day?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Probably that chocolate cake, honestly. That chocolate cake and my chai.
Johanna Almstead:
This sounds like a pretty prolific chocolate cake. This is a-
Samantha Srinivasan:
I'm sponsored by them, so I'm obligated to say it. I got to get it in three time.
Johanna Almstead:
This episode is brought to you by the chocolate cake.
Samantha Srinivasan:
By Craig's chocolate cake.
Johanna Almstead:
Craig's chocolate cake. Okay. Where's your happy place?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I think in my house with my dogs and my friends and my family. It's my happy place. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. What did you have for dinner last night?
Samantha Srinivasan:
What did I have for dinner last night? Oh, we actually had a little Uno party because I play Uno. Again, if I could not get cooler. And so we did a dip party where everybody made different dips, so I had lots of different vegan dips because that was the theme with different vegetables and I guess crackers. That sounds the guess. Crackers, I think they were crackers. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Some sort of-
Samantha Srinivasan:
So that's what I had.
Johanna Almstead:
... crispy bread type thing. Okay.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
What do you wear when you feel like you need to take on the world?
Samantha Srinivasan:
I am very much, I like a blazer. Going back to the shoulder pads. I like a good blazer, a nice collared shirt, and a nice cut jean with a comfy shoe. That's my uniform.
Johanna Almstead:
Yeah. Okay. Go-to coping mechanism on a bad day. So going sideways. Your clients are, everyone's crazy. Your employees are crying in the bathroom. What do you do?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Well, I want to scream, but I don't. And you're like, how can I get to bed? I'm very, take deep breaths and kind of just take it as it comes. I think that it's very much like this chew shall pass. This is not what we'll be. And then I probably honestly call my dad and bend to him to be like, everything sucks, blah, blah, blah. And unload on him.
Johanna Almstead:
And he's like, you're brilliant. I love you.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Or he'll be like, I can't hear you anymore, so what? And then the other thing is I'll take the dogs out for a walk where I'm like, let me just get out, get in nature, do that. And then also when there's a tough season, I will volunteer because not that I only do that for selfish things, but I do think that it's nice to remember that there's other things going on in the world versus your own view.
Johanna Almstead:
That's for sure. Your own drama.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. Dream dinner party guest list, dead or alive?.You can have anybody. You can have as many people as you want and you can serve them all the chocolate cake you want. Who's coming to the party?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Okay. I think Princess Diana, I just really want to know where she was at and what was going on, and was she going to marry Dodie? So I want to know that. I feel like maybe Catherine Hepburn, because she was such a badass, also had such good suits.
Johanna Almstead:
Such good suits.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. And then I think, let's see, probably my dad because he's so fun and welcoming and everybody would enjoy and fall in love with him. And I probably should have somebody thought leader in there that's going to tell us, Hey, we're all smart, or This person's really smart. I should think about who that would be. But I feel like I don't really want a bunch of billionaires right now because they're all kind of, so it's like, I don't even want a Bill Gates, but maybe like a John F. Kennedy.
Johanna Almstead:
Maybe Barack Obama? Oh, JFK.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, he's great. I think a JFK would be interesting. And then maybe a Barack. I do love him. So maybe that would throw it out. And then I wouldn't mind maybe a Cary Grant too. I want to know-
Johanna Almstead:
Like a sexy movie star.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. And also I feel like he was bisexual in a time where he couldn't be, so I'd be like, let's get into who you really are. I want to know who you really are. So I feel like that.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay. All right, this is a good party. What is one thing that you know for sure right now, today, you don't need to know it tomorrow, you didn't need to know it yesterday. What's something you know for sure?
Samantha Srinivasan:
That nothing is forever.
Johanna Almstead:
That is very true.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I feel like everything's in sand, nothing's forever.
Johanna Almstead:
Right, right. That is a hundred percent true and a good thing to remember when shit feels crazy.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Too heavy.
Johanna Almstead:
Or wen shit feels great, right?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
It's also both.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Highs and highs. Lows and lows.
Johanna Almstead:
Can you please tell the nice people where they can find you if they're looking for a publicist, where on Instagram or on the interwebs, on the superhighway?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. Yeah. We are @sechelpr on the Instagram, which is probably your best way to find us. So, S-E-C-H-E-L P-R.com. Which by the way, we didn't talk about this, but those friends that I had when I was going through cancer, the reason that the company is named that way, it's a Yiddish word, and it's this idea of wanting to leave the world better than how you found it using street smarts.
And my first friend, Myrna, who is in chemo with me, she's the one who's like, you know what you have. And I'm like, yeah, Myrna, I have stage three throat cancer. She's like, no, you have Sechel, but I'm not saying it right, because there's a throat that I can't do. And so when she passed away and this company was started, that's how I'm like, well, this is the only name that I can have.
Johanna Almstead:
I did not know that.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Everyone's like, oh, it's like the islands. And I'm like, no, it's actually-
Johanna Almstead:
No. It's not spelled the same way.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, not that. But yeah, so you can find us at Sechel PR.
Johanna Almstead:
You know Yiddish comes up on this podcast a lot, which is very fun.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yes.
Johanna Almstead:
So now we have a new Yiddish word for all of us nerds who really love Yiddish.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. And I did get her approval as to not appropriate.
Johanna Almstead:
Okay, good.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Because I'm like, I'm not Jewish, so I don't want to misrepresent myself.
Johanna Almstead:
She said it was okay, Myrna?
Samantha Srinivasan:
She gave me permission. She was like, I think that's a beautiful thing. And then I lost her and she was kind of my first employee because her and I would be, we would make our schedules around each other to get treatment, and she'd watch me do those Yelp reviews. And she gave me a list of things that I have to do, things she didn't get to do, like have sex on a roof.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh, she gave you bucket list things?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Oh, I have a whole group of women that gave me bucket list things that are no longer here that I do as I get them, I get letters.
Johanna Almstead:
No way.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, that's amazing.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. I went to Colorado during COVID to help this one woman who said the lover that she wished she would've married. He was there and I was able to go find his gravestone to leave her letter for him. I've done cool things.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, we have to have a whole other episode about this.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I know. I've done some really cool things. That's when I did Kilimanjaro when I turned 40, because they're like, I want you to climb a mountain. I'm like, I would never do this, but I'm going to do it.
Johanna Almstead:
Good for you, man.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
Good for you.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah, those ladies.
Johanna Almstead:
Those ladies, angels, right?
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah.
Johanna Almstead:
You don't realize they're angels.
Samantha Srinivasan:
Yeah. You don't know where they come.
Johanna Almstead:
You never know where they're going to come. Well you, my dear, are an angel in my life and I'm forever ever grateful for our friendship and for its tenacity and sticking with us, even though our lives have been crazy. And I'm so grateful for you for taking the time today. I know your life is crazy. I know there's four doggies that need you. I know there's clients that need you. I know there's employees that need you, and I'm so grateful that you spent this time with me and that you shared your story because I know it's going to be wildly inspiring to people, and so I'm so appreciative of you, and I just want to say thank you for being here.
Samantha Srinivasan:
I love you. I'm so proud of you. Thanks for even thinking of me. It's awkward for me. But I love you so, so much, and I'm so grateful and honored that you thought of me.
Johanna Almstead:
Oh my God, that was amazing. You guys, isn't she incredible? She's brave. She's so smart, so committed to doing what she says she's going to do. I hope you guys are feeling inspired by her story. If you are and you think someone else might be inspired by it, please send this episode to them. You can copy it and paste it. You can put it in a text, you can put it in an email. You can share it on social media.
If you're not doing so already, please follow us on social media. We are at Eat My Words, the podcast on both TikTok and Instagram. And every like, every follow, every comment, every little interaction helps us build this community, which you guys are helping us do every day. So thank you, thank you, thank you for that. As always, I'm eternally grateful to you guys for tuning in every week, and I can't believe I get to do this. So thank you, thank you, thank you, and I will see you on the next one.
The Eat My Words podcast has been created and directed by me, Johanna Almstead. Our producer is Sophy Drouin, our audio editor is Isabel Robertson, and our brand manager is Mila Buzhna.
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