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Serious Lady Business is the podcast where we dive into the serious—and sometimes not-so-serious—realities of being a female business owner. Host Leslie Youngblood keeps it real about entrepreneurship as we dive into the hard lessons no one warns you about to the surprising wins that make it all worth it. Tune in for honest conversations, unfiltered insights, and stories that prove you’re not in this alone.
Leslie Youngblood (00:01)
Welcome to Serious Lady Business. I'm Leslie Youngblood, your host, feminist, and founder of Youngblood MMC, a marketing, media, and content agency. And I would like you to meet Trinette Faint today. Trinette has been a storyteller and creative entrepreneur all her life, with a career spanning starting out as a model in France at 19 to working with celebrities like Matt Damon and Will Smith's production company to a six and a half year stint at Google.
Trinette has always been a creative writer, having published two novels and is now a screenwriter with her two TV pilots placing a semi-finalist in the ScreenCraft 2025 TV pilot competition. And in addition, she earned a certificate in feature film writing from UCLA at 53, all while continuing her modeling and acting career. Trinette continues to reinvent herself and defines her own version of success as a black female standing tall at 6'1".
Trinette uses her wide range of background and experiences to continue to persevere and inspire fellow women in the industry. She is founder of Shea Faint and Floor 51 Productions, which just premiered her short film Party Pants. Trinette, welcome to Serious Lady Business.
Trinette Faint (01:15)
Thank you, Leslie. I'm so glad to be here.
Leslie Youngblood (01:19)
am so excited to have you. mean, my goodness, what an incredible journey, career, all the things Trinette, and we're talking today about creative destiny and path and owning your story, building that legacy. When it comes to creative destiny, what does that mean to you personally right now with all the things you've been able to do and continue to do and drive for?
Trinette Faint (01:34)
Thank you.
and
Yeah, I won't just say though, I got my certificate at 52. It was right before I turned 53. Yes, because I'm turning 54. I will be 54. Yeah, it's kind of crazy. Okay, yeah, so creative destiny to me, you know, that means basically like living up to my potential.
Leslie Youngblood (01:50)
You too? OK. ⁓
Happy birthday!
Mmm. Mmm.
Trinette Faint (02:14)
And I've always been
this creative person. I started modeling, I guess I was around 15 or 16 in Chicago. I'm originally from Joliet, which is south of Chicago. So I went to the city, my mom sent me to modeling school when I was a teenager and I started doing some jobs up there before taking off to France and to New York and stuff. And I've always just had this...
Leslie Youngblood (02:22)
know.
Trinette Faint (02:40)
does need to express something creatively in me. I've never been the sort of person where I've been satisfied just kind of doing one thing or doing, I don't know, I guess what is normal or kind of expected, you know, of me. So for me, that means like living up to my potential, like in the best way that I can and most fully, you know.
Leslie Youngblood (03:09)
you
Trinette Faint (03:10)
I often think about what my mother, my aunt, my grandmother, my ancestors would have gone through in this country where they didn't have the options that I have. And I only have these options because of them and so many other people who have sacrificed so much for this country.
Leslie Youngblood (03:18)
⁓ Sure.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, definitely. Looking back, were there moments where you felt like you were being prepared for something bigger, even if you maybe didn't see it at the time, Trinette?
Trinette Faint (03:46)
Yes,
actually. So shout out to my mom. She was single mom. when I was an early teenager, an early teenager, what is even that? early teenager. I was a kid. Like that. That is true. She used to take me to Chicago a lot. And it may seem like a small thing, but a lot of...
Leslie Youngblood (03:57)
Yeah, young teenager, 13 is like a young compared to 19 when I feel like you've come, grown tons from when you're 13 to 19. So that makes sense. I'll watch you.
Trinette Faint (04:14)
Parents just were not doing the things that that my mom was doing at least that I could see like she would take me up there We would take the train up on the weekends just go walk around just to like kind of get out of the house where a lot of folks were just kind of staying local and I think about that now and I realized that she was like really exposing me to a bigger world something bigger something else is out there So when I was 16 and 17 and modeling in Chicago when she'd start letting me go up
to the city by myself on the train, ⁓ that was really like laying the foundation for me being in the world by myself and like navigating around big cities. So by the time I got to Paris or, you know, New York or LA, nothing really terrified me. I mean, Frans was a little intimidated because of the language thing back then, but, but.
Leslie Youngblood (04:55)
and
Trinette Faint (05:07)
You know, I could get around that and most people spoke English and stuff anyway, so it wasn't like super, super difficult. So I think her just like having faith and like always praying for my safety and just knowing that she has to like put me out in the world and like let me go like her only child was pretty remarkable. Like I already know that.
Leslie Youngblood (05:32)
Mm-hmm. ⁓
Trinette Faint (05:33)
we would get off the train and we're like walking down the street going to the John Cuswell office, think is where I went to modeling school. And because I'm so much taller than her, ha! She's one. You know, I'd be walking like more quickly ahead of her. So.
Leslie Youngblood (05:42)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (05:53)
I would basically wait for her at the next block to the light change and she would kind of catch up and stuff like that. So as I'd be walking, she would take note of, you know, the construction workers and men calling and, you know, all the stuff that women have to deal with. And I would kind of handle my business, handle my own, either ignore them or throw them a look or whatever. But at times she reached them, she would...
Leslie Youngblood (06:15)
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (06:20)
She would say to them, ⁓ that one, she would nothing, like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And she would get into their faces, Leslie. She would lay them out. She would be like, that is my daughter. I do not appreciate you talking to her like that. I do want people talking to your mother, sister, know, cousin, whatever, like that. They'd be like, no ma'am, no ma'am. And I will never forget, this is one of the...
the best memories of my mom. I mean, she's still with us, but like in this context, I was shooting with Matt. were down in Savannah, Georgia and every day.
Leslie Youngblood (06:53)
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (06:59)
I would walk to the production office. I'd have to walk through this park and there was this man there who was a street ⁓ artist. He had paint. Every single morning I'd walk through and he would be just saying very like loo things to me and I would, you know, usually ignore him and I'd be on the phone with my mom a lot of the times like, ⁓ God, I'm gonna walk through the park. ⁓ I say that again? Girl, she came down to visit. Okay. And we were walking through the park.
Leslie Youngblood (07:08)
huh.
Trinette Faint (07:29)
went to the production office and I was like, that's that man. My mama went over there. Now you have to imagine this. She's probably, I don't know, maybe she's five, six. She was wearing some like overalls, over shoulder rolls, like those ostrich ones, you know? She had these sunglasses on, these wraparound sunglasses. She looked like the Terminator, okay? And she goes up to this man.
Leslie Youngblood (07:40)
Mm-hmm.
Trinette Faint (07:56)
And his friend, some other guy is there with him. And I'm just kind of standing like, wait and what's gonna happen here. And she tested this guy and she's like, oh, that girl there, whatever. Something to that effect. And he's like, yeah, she's cute. And she laid his ass out, girl. She was like, do not talk to my daughter that way. Like, I would appreciate it. I hear you on the phone every day. You show her some respect. And she was going on and on and on.
Leslie Youngblood (08:10)
them.
Trinette Faint (08:25)
So much to the point where he was like, I'm sorry, ma'am, I'm sorry. And the man next to him was like, man, I told you not to be talking to that girl. That girl like that. Yeah. And then he said, I was just trying to break the ice and my mom said, the ice is broken.
Leslie Youngblood (08:31)
Thank you.
Have some respect! ⁓
you broke it! Alright sir! You broke it. my god.
Trinette Faint (08:50)
It was hysterical.
Well, I never had a problem with that man again, needless to say. But I guess the point of that whole die drive was to say, you know, her like sort of leading me out into the world and giving me this confidence and showing me how to basically protect myself in the world was definitely preparing me for life, really, not just something big, but actually for life.
Leslie Youngblood (09:09)
Yes. ⁓
Welcome to us.
I mean, what a gift to, you know, as a young, beautiful woman and to not only to take you out and to give you that exposure to, you know, the world as a young person when you're, you know, learning so much and it's such like a formulative time in your life, but then to also demonstrate how to advocate for yourself, how to stand up for you, to show you that it's, you need to command, you're just as much part of this world as all these other people and to not let them walk all over you. my gosh, I just love that so much.
Trinette Faint (09:35)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yep.
Leslie Youngblood (09:46)
That's
just so, so incredible. And yay mom, yeah, like all the moms in your know, like that's just, hell yeah, I love it. ⁓ Yes, I love it.
Trinette Faint (09:47)
Yeah.
Yeah, right? I don't want to pervade forever. The ice is broken. Yeah, and
actually in the Terminator sunglasses, like looking at this very large man. Yeah. Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (10:01)
I have a visual. Overalls in the Terminator sunglasses, I feel like is like a
really awesome visual. You need to like work that scene into a show or a movie. Trinette, somehow like put some like lady in like the overalls as an homage to your mom one day.
I love it. Was there, Trinette, like, you know, a pivotal moment in your career where you realized you had to trust the path, even though it didn't make sense because of all the, you know, the wonderful pivots along the way for you in your journey? you know, I'm sure like starting out as a model in Chicago and going to France and maybe thinking, I'm gonna be a model my whole career and then working in movies and production. Nope, this is what I'm gonna do in Google. And I love that so much because I think a lot of times we get
Can I see this with young people? When you have to pick when they have to pick a college where it feels like it's the be-all-end-all or even a job, right? It's a be-all-end-all if I don't get this job or if I make the wrong choice to go to the school and it's like hey, guess what? If it doesn't work out you get to choose a different one like right and like might not in but you just it's one decision and it's not the be-all-end-all decision So I would love to just hear about your take on any of those moments where you're like, no, I don't want to do movies anymore I'm gonna do this now and how you like
Trinette Faint (10:47)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Leslie Youngblood (11:16)
allowed yourself to follow that nudge.
Trinette Faint (11:19)
Yeah,
yeah. One thing that comes to mind is when I finished my time working with Max, I was his assistant for like three years and you know, I really wanted to express my own creativity. ⁓ Having been around him and around, you know, on movie sets and things like that.
I was just constantly inspired. So initially I started with photography and I was doing photography and stuff and eventually I would transition to more on camera stuff. But I think when I left that job and I kind of did something like radical that people might think today, like I moved to Maine for a summer. I just think I wanted to fully step back from
the business at the time and from that world and like get my head clear on like the direction I wanted to go into next. So I went up to Camden up to Midcoast, Maine, which is where I ran into my second novel, Midcoast Star, second acting place there.
And I just like waited tables, like to the outside, they'd be like, what the hell are you doing? know, like you're on a private plane to go serve monsters. And I just like really, it just felt like what I needed to be doing like at that time. And it really kind of.
Leslie Youngblood (12:30)
Wow.
Mm-hmm. I love that so much, Trinette.
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (12:52)
It was like a palate cleanser, you know, like the business is so like frenetic and chaotic, especially when you're at that level. Like, I'm still in the business, but I'm at a very different level. But when you're operating in like these A-list spaces 24-7, you know, there's a lot of responsibility and you just, there's just like a lot that has to be managed.
Leslie Youngblood (12:54)
Good night.
Sure.
Mm.
Trinette Faint (13:18)
And
I just really needed to just take a step back and figure out my own creativity and how I wanted to start to express it. And so I did that by going to Maine for the summer and just working in a restaurant and nobody knew me. I mean, I knew a few people up there in the town I was in, nobody was trying to push a script on me to get to him.
like authentic and true, whereas I, in the situation of being in LA where the first thing people would ask me is like what you do, and then you try to downplay, like oh I'm working production, oh what are you working on?
just a little film, oh what is it? Oceans 11, oh yeah, what are you doing? You know, it's just like this, pick, pick, pick, pick, pick. And then finally, you you say, and then they're like, oh my god, I was trying to get the script to hand, like, can I send it to you? You know, like that sort of thing. And that got like really tiring, and it makes you question your relationships and things like that. So, I, taking a step back and going to Maine was my way of like taking control.
Leslie Youngblood (14:15)
course.
No more.
Trinette Faint (14:28)
of my own narrative again and just like kind of restarting on my own terms.
Leslie Youngblood (14:34)
Yeah, yeah, like
going back.
to like humanity, truly. mean, I think so much like customer service, especially in restaurants, because like we work with restaurants and I've worked in restaurants before, right? And there is no truer way to one, stay curious and open to people and two, like stay humble and like level headed and think on your feet. And like, it's just such like a ripe training ground. like, I just think that is so profound of you to
to understand this is what I have to do to kind of reset in so many different ways. And I'm sure people were like, what? That's crazy. But to know that you had to do that and be true to yourself, and that's what you needed to do at that time, I just think is just so incredible. Was there, with some of that time, how were you thinking about your creative destiny at that point? And were you looking at customers like, yeah, they're going to be in my next screenplay? Or like, yeah, this person's
Trinette Faint (15:14)
Yeah.
Thank
Leslie Youngblood (15:37)
Definitely a character
in a story. Tell us a little bit about that in that place and time and what you were mapping out as next, Trinette.
Trinette Faint (15:46)
Well, I was really thinking about photography ⁓ more than writing, guess, at that time. I was writing, I guess, more essays, you know, starting, I guess this was like when blogging was a thing at the beginning of that whole thing. So I was like capturing my thoughts there. But, you know, it actually turned out to be
a very positive experience and I met so many people. I had a chance to model for Joyce Tennyson, she's a famous photographer, like portrait photographer, and she was doing a class up in Rockport, Maine at the main workshop up there. So I able to meet her, I met all these people and I entered some of my photography into a contest and I actually won a Judge of Choice Award.
I had taken classes at ICP International Center for Art and Design in New York before I'd gone up to Maine. you know, we had, there was an exhibit that was in a New York gallery and all these things. And then when I got to Colorado, because I did also, my next step was something a bit unorthodox. I moved to Denver, actually to Boulder first. had a good friend who was living there and she's like, oh, you should come.
and you know, it's really pretty. I was like, what the hell am gonna do in Colorado? But I felt like, okay, well Maine has been this like wonderful experience and it's kind of a precursor to Colorado in so many ways. And I knew that I was gonna come back East and you know.
really kind of settled down at some point. And I was like, you know, let me try Colorado. Like, what do have to lose? Like I can always, it's not permanent. Exactly. You know, quite earlier. So I went out there and I just had like this fantastic experience and I started doing photography for ⁓ a show called etown.org.
Leslie Youngblood (17:25)
Exactly.
Trinette Faint (17:37)
It's like a public radio show and all these wonderful musicians that would come through. And I had an opportunity to photograph me in the Staples. I was working at a newspaper there in the photo department. And then I got a photo published in the Denver Post. And it was just amazing. And I had a modeling agent there. So I was booking a lot of jobs. Just everything. It was 100 % positive.
Leslie Youngblood (18:03)
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (18:05)
And
during that space where I was deciding on going back to graduate school, and I knew I wanted to come back to school back east. So eventually I left there after a couple of years and I moved back to Boston to go back to school here. But yeah, so that's how I was thinking of my destiny, expressing myself through photography.
Leslie Youngblood (18:26)
you
Trinette Faint (18:26)
And
I was able to fully express it. And I met all these wonderful photojournalists. So I had this completely different insight into photography as before, just shooting portraits from a journalistic standpoint and just understanding how they put together a story. And I'm still friends with most of those journalists and you know.
Leslie Youngblood (18:37)
I'm here.
Trinette Faint (18:49)
They've since moved on to other papers around the country, including the New York Times. Long one was that San Francisco Chronicle, like all these things. it's all good. it just, for me, just reiterates that you have to take chances. And when things don't seem like they make sense, they only have to make sense to you. They don't have to make sense to anybody else. So many people just kind of get stuck in this rut of a...
Leslie Youngblood (18:52)
Please.
Mmm. Mmm. Yes.
Trinette Faint (19:17)
you know, sort of thing. You know, when people have families and stuff, I get that. I understand that. Like not everybody's like me with this mind that's all over the place. But you still can't be afraid to kind of follow that instinct. If it leads you to Colorado, to Maine, you never know like what it could lead. Like the photo experiences that I had there, I...
Leslie Youngblood (19:36)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Trinette Faint (19:43)
would not have necessarily gotten those in New York City. And the other big thing that came out of my being in Maine, I would have never have anticipated this, I had an opportunity to start modeling for this knitting magazine. And it was crazy. At the place I was waitressing, the hostess was the daughter of
an editor-in-chief of Interweave Press. And she approached me one day, and I hardly had any chips for her. She's very nice woman. And she's like, oh, my mom is the editor of this. She's looking for models. I told her about you. And so I started modeling for them, which led to a year's long relationship with this publication, which eventually led to both knitting that I did over Coby when I was undercover. And fun fact, that hostess
she went on to become like a big actress in Hollywood. Yeah, and so she has been out like doing her thing. She was in a real street movie, Caitlin Fitzgerald, you know. She's married to a famous Irish actor now. So you just never know where things are gonna lead. And then ironically, like with that...
piece that started in Maine, their headquarters were in Colorado, so when I got to Denver, I was able to continue to shoot for them and to work with them for years. So something may not seem on the outside like it makes sense, but as long as it makes sense to you and you allow yourself to be open to whatever is out there for you, know, great things can happen.
Leslie Youngblood (21:21)
to our right. do think
right. That's so I want to like prep that like frame it, put it in a pillow like right like it has be you and to be open to those things. But I also think of course it comes down to you might see that opportunity but like having the courage to actually take action. So how do you feel?
Trinette Faint (21:25)
you
you
Thank
Leslie Youngblood (21:45)
you know, with your specific journey to Trinit, like what role did courage play and what would you say to somebody that's like, but I'm scared ⁓ to do that and to follow that nudge.
Trinette Faint (21:54)
Yeah.
Yeah, it's real, it's definitely real. ⁓ I really think that all the rejection that I took as a young model, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 years old, ⁓ really prepared me for living a fearless life.
Leslie Youngblood (22:14)
Bye.
Trinette Faint (22:15)
And I say that because initially when I was getting started, you know, I would go on these castings and I would not get the job for whatever reason. You never really know. Although sometimes, you know, sometimes they would tell me because I was black. Like we don't need one. That's a whole other story. But,
Leslie Youngblood (22:31)
Yeah. you can talk about that, because that's fucked up.
Trinette Faint (22:36)
But I would come home and I would be like crying or in tears and stuff. And my mom would be like, if you're going to do this and be in this world, like you can't be crying every time you don't get something. Or she goes, if that's how you're to react, then I'm not going to let you do it. So I had stopped crying if I wanted to sort of keep pace with this. ⁓ Yeah. So I'm telling you, ⁓
Leslie Youngblood (22:47)
Mmm. ⁓
Mmm.
out.
I'm like your
mom, does she, she needs to write down all these, like write a book and capture all this. Cause you know, and especially as a mom where I'm like, yeah, like you, whether it's a parent or a mentor or a friend that's like shakes you and like writes you and like gives it to you real. Cause that's the real truth there. Like, and that is profound. And there are some people that never hear that and it holds them back. And that's really sad because then they're not living their.
Trinette Faint (23:20)
Yeah.
Yeah!
Exactly.
Leslie Youngblood (23:32)
and they're not living for themselves, they're trapped by their fear, like their fear of failure, their fear of not getting picked. And it's like, what are you gonna do? Just box and not do those things? like losing is part of the game, this game of life, right? And I just think that is so wise of your mother. I just love it.
Trinette Faint (23:41)
Yeah.
Yep.
That's it.
And she would
always tell me, because I was the only child, like if I wanted to go do something, like let's say I wanted to go to a movie or go to the park or something and nobody else was around to go with me, either a cousin or a friend or something. And I'd be like, well, I guess I just won't go. And she would tell me, she was like, do not wait on anybody. If you want to go do something, Trinette, go do it. Do not wait. And I'd be like, uh, okay, I guess I'll go to the movie by myself. And so I just did. So I started playing young,
just doing things by myself and all that stuff like really kept me unstuck in fear to do anything. Something as small as like just going to a movie by myself as a teenager, know, like that again, that just like laid the groundwork for for many things that were to come. So I think that's like a huge piece of like where that courage and stuff came from.
Leslie Youngblood (24:28)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. Yes.
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (24:50)
But also because, I'm so tall and I just always felt like it was seriously my destiny to do on-camera work. And I've just like met it in me. And I would just be like, well, okay, they said no, this, that, or the other. Well, I'm still gonna try, you know. I know I'm this unique presence at 6'1", and this is the way the good Lord gave me. I'm...
Leslie Youngblood (24:58)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yes. Yes.
Trinette Faint (25:17)
This is the gift that I have been given to me tall and thin, know, by the grace of God.
Leslie Youngblood (25:25)
kind and curious and creative and all
those things, right? like that's really, cause right, just like you said, like you are special and unique and to know inherently that value that you bring just being present in a room and like that makes it better and that you have something to give is I think a huge lesson for anybody listening right now and everybody out there to understand like, yes, you do have to do that to have learned that lesson and to have somebody that in open
your mind to that and expanded it I think is so powerful and important. If only everybody again had a parent like that or somebody in their life that did that the world would be a better place. And I think something
Trinette Faint (26:04)
And you know, being this tall, when I'm
in the room, it almost gives me, you know, just stand up straight because I instantly know that I'm going to be commented upon because my height, I don't think of anything like that unusual because I've been in this body forever. But I always know that it's going to be some kind of conversation starter or something. I just sort of naturally have.
Leslie Youngblood (26:17)
Mmm.
Yeah.
Yes.
Trinette Faint (26:33)
I guess I'm confident to walk through because I can see everything. you know, not wearing short heels, you know, I was like very tall. I've been very used to have been looked at and talked to just by my height. kind of just growing up in this body. It's like, you know, I can't be afraid of anything. Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (26:36)
Yeah. Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Right, yes, you have to own it. And that's when you
embody your true power, which I think is so important. And I love too, when you said about going to the movies alone, don't let that hold you back. And I would be curious, anybody listening right now, anybody in our lives, who has ever gone to a movie alone? And I will tell you that when I moved to New York City, when I was in my young 20s, I...
Trinette Faint (27:19)
Thank
Leslie Youngblood (27:22)
I wanted to go see a movie and I didn't know anybody, I I knew one person in New York and the roommates that I lived with, I don't know if they weren't around, I'm like, well I'm gonna go see it by myself. I went to the movies by myself, I'm like, I'm a big girl, I'm in New York now, I'm gonna go see the movie by myself, like this is what independent people do, I went and I got like a popcorn, I remember it was Across the Universe, which was the Julie Taymor Beatles songs, musical that they like tuck and like made and I got like my popcorn
Trinette Faint (27:31)
Thank you.
Thank
Leslie Youngblood (27:52)
popcorn
in my pot, my pop and had like the perfect seat and I picked up the cup the very first time went to.
Trinette Faint (27:56)
First of all, let me get
a clock. I love that.
Leslie Youngblood (27:59)
Yeah, Midwest night, my soda pop,
my soda pop, right? My pop, ⁓ my soda. And I picked up the cup and it exploded all over me. And I'm by myself in this theater in New York City and I'm covered in sugary soda pop. And I was like, no. And so I got up, right, and I'm trying, so I'm drawing attention to myself and I'm alone and I'm like, God. And I go to the bathroom and I'm trying to dry myself off. And I remember in the bathroom being like,
you got two choices right now. You can leave and and slink out of here or you can go back in there and finish that movie. And I went back in into a different seat though, and I finished that movie. And I feel like what a formative experience to learn. Like, well, you did it alone and you, you fucked up, but you kept at it. And like, what a big deal. Big whoop.
Trinette Faint (28:38)
Thank
There you go.
Yeah, yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (28:51)
It's the worst thing
that could happen. Maybe I guess but like it didn't kill me and it was a great movie So it's like you got to do those things in though The shit is gonna hit the fan and you're gonna maybe make a fool of yourself. You're gonna feel awkward But guess what it doesn't kill you. So keep doing you know ⁓
Trinette Faint (28:57)
Yeah.
Exactly. Exactly.
Leslie Youngblood (29:09)
So I just, I think that's
so important and I love that. How have you helped others in your orbit, Trinette, like recognize their experiences, even their hard ones are part of empowering themselves and then building their creative legacy as well.
Trinette Faint (29:26)
Peace.
Well, I used to be a big sister. I was part of the big sister program for a number of years. I did that in Colorado and in Boston. And one little girl that I was a sister to here in Boston when was in grad school, where I worked for, was grad school. I could see that she had like so much talent, you know? you know, obviously, but her home life was not like spectacular.
So I would make sure that every time I was with her, I would impart upon her how special she was, how she could do anything, but you gotta study how you could do anything, and that she should not be afraid of things. I said, you're at this really pivotal age. I think she was 12, and that is that age where...
Leslie Youngblood (30:22)
and
Trinette Faint (30:26)
make one wrong choice, like, and then you start to turn. So I tried to just show her a different, a different way. Like every time I was, every single time I was with her. I got to go to museums, I took her, you know, to movie.
Leslie Youngblood (30:28)
Word.
Trinette Faint (30:47)
And I was working in the president's office at Harvard at the time. And I brought her to work with me and I had this like great office. I mean, that's the best office I've ever had. I'll just say that right now. Yeah. was the president's office. I had like a couch in there. I mean, I shared it with another person, but it was just this really like down earth space. So she was in there with me. And so I was explaining to her, you know, what my boss did. He's a scientist because I was working for the
Leslie Youngblood (30:56)
The Harvard office.
Trinette Faint (31:16)
president and the provost and she mentioned somehow it's came up that she loves science and has a say so he was talking to her like about science and stuff and on our way home I told her I said I said yeah I said you you can go you can go to school here too like just because you live in Southie doesn't mean that you can't
go to school here and it was like the first time anybody was like telling her this. That was like really sad for me to like understand that like now that you know stuff about my mom who always told me I could do anything and here is someone who had
Leslie Youngblood (31:46)
Mmm.
Thank
Trinette Faint (31:56)
was never hearing those messages. And she's like, really? And I said, yeah, but you know, but you got to study. I said, you know, have to do your homework. You know, you got to learn. I said, you can't get kind of caught up with, you know, with people who are doing like, you know, kind of bad things and stuff. said, because in 10 years, I know, said, no, that seems like forever, but it's not that far away. You'd be at Harvard and they might be someplace else, you know, I said, but you have to
Leslie Youngblood (32:18)
.
Okay.
Trinette Faint (32:26)
do your homework now and get good grades but you can go there you can go there for free like it's not going to cost you anything but you you have to like to do that and she just like had this look on her face as if she had just unlocked the seventh wonder of the world she was like oh
Leslie Youngblood (32:32)
and we are.
Wow, I love that. Yeah,
I love it.
Trinette Faint (32:47)
So,
you know, I know that wasn't an answer about creative destiny. But ⁓ I was, when I was trying to impart to her that she could live up to whatever destiny was meant for her. But she had to like do the work and find the confidence in herself to make choices in her everyday life and her environment to think about her future.
Leslie Youngblood (32:50)
No, it is.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, sure. Mm-hmm. Yes, and also see that that's a possibility and that somebody else sees that as a possibility for her and for a person. And I think that's so huge because so many times, you know, you say, you can't see it, you can't be it. How could you ever know that you could do that if you can't see it? Nobody tells you about it. And even with, you know, all the ways that we are connected now with the internet and organizations and education,
Trinette Faint (33:16)
and
Yeah.
Leslie Youngblood (33:43)
is
that like to get that type of feedback from somebody you look up to or like in somebody in your world that you respect it like completely changes the game, you know you and I just think that is so that's why it's so important to expose our kids and young people to things because there's things where I'm sure as grown-ups were like, ⁓ I could do that. I could do that. Yeah, why couldn't I do that? Like that's something higher lives that we go through because
Trinette Faint (33:54)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Bye-bye.
Leslie Youngblood (34:13)
just for what you know all the reasons we get our blinders on and we only think like we're this or that or the other and it's like no we can be anything that we want can change our mind
Trinette Faint (34:23)
Exactly. does a
good job of trying to keep us all in our respective boxes.
Leslie Youngblood (34:27)
Yes, yes. And I love that I know that you are not somebody to ⁓ give into that or to accept that for yourself, right? And it's not easy. you know, when we talk about creative destiny and the path, you know, that means you're not taking somebody else's path. There's no path. Like when you're making this creative destiny and this creative path, there's nothing but force and brush and danger all around. it's like, and you're doing it like getting scratched and right.
Trinette Faint (34:47)
Right.
Leslie Youngblood (34:57)
proverb like pushing things out of the way and in just trusting that it's going to work out and there's going to be something there and I I think about that work, know in whether you're you know in the arts or business or science and it's like okay I see this person who's successful and they took this path so I'm gonna take that path and then you try to take it and you're like why isn't this working for me what's wrong with me well guess what you're not meant to follow in that person's path you're meant to follow your own path and that person why they were so successful is because they followed their
Trinette Faint (35:25)
Right.
Leslie Youngblood (35:27)
own thing and it's like this great like conundrum right this like dichotomy of like I have to follow this path and I have to do that to be successful but it's not working what's what's wrong with me and it's like no there's a path but it's your path and it's like now we're getting like it gets like deep but it's like truly you know the truth
Trinette Faint (35:41)
Thank
But they're true.
Yeah, yeah. Because everybody is just figuring it out and doing the best they can and you just don't know someone else's circumstances, like how they were able to take the journey they took. You just can't know. You don't know like what their family situation was. You don't know...
Leslie Youngblood (35:58)
Mm-hmm. Yes, 100%. Yeah.
Trinette Faint (36:07)
who they may have known to help them get the line up in the company and help them get promoted or whatever the case may be, you just cannot possibly know.
Leslie Youngblood (36:16)
Right, 100%. Is there a myth about creative destiny that you like to bust open or that you're always like, I hate that. Like, no, that, I wanna like, that's not true. Like any type of myth that comes to mind, Trinette.
Trinette Faint (36:33)
I think that...
that it's easy in the sense that people will say, oh, follow your passion and you'll never work a day in your life like that sort of thing. There's truth to that, but there's a lot of work that goes into following your gut and taking the path that is for you. You have to really believe in yourself.
Leslie Youngblood (36:40)
Mmm.
Mm-hmm.
Trinette Faint (37:06)
And you have to believe in the story that you're trying to tell. You have to believe in your end game. You have to see it. you just talk to yourself all day. mean, well, that's what I do. But you know. Yeah. But I think that in society, we see too much of the output of someone's.
Leslie Youngblood (37:17)
Yes, yes, in a good and healthy way. I like to scare people.
Trinette Faint (37:33)
journey, you know, we see the book published or the film or the song or whatever it is or the getting the big job. But rarely do you see all the sacrifices that go into something like that. And it is scary. And, know, at least creatively, maybe less corporate wise.
Leslie Youngblood (37:34)
⁓ no.
and
Trinette Faint (38:03)
It's like unstable, it's terrifying, but it's also like liberating and joyful and knowing that you're doing what you are meant to do. You can't put a price on that.
Leslie Youngblood (38:20)
Yeah.
Trinette Faint (38:22)
So I would just say that people should just really understand that things are not as easy as they look on outside. if you know somebody and that person is suddenly doing something that looks really cool, that's creative or something. Yeah, but you know, there's a lot of work involved that goes with that and stuff and you just have to, you have to be
Leslie Youngblood (38:42)
Sure.
Mm-hmm.
Trinette Faint (38:52)
poof just really ready for the work and and honor it and do it and just trust and and have faith yeah
Leslie Youngblood (38:56)
Mm.
I love that. I love that
so much. When you think about legacy, you've done so much, accomplished so much, and so many wonderful things, and now you have the movies and the Screenplay Awards turnet. What does legacy, how do you define legacy for where you're at right now in looking at?
Trinette Faint (39:24)
Well, I will say this past year has been quite a ride creatively, you know, I was at Google for a long time and I lost my job and This was right after like I lost my dog. I had like a knee surgery So it was a really fucked up time and it was very dark ⁓ but it was a palate cleanser and a release of me into my creative self more fully I guess and
am extremely proud of everything that I've managed to do, that I've survived, first of all, the last year. that now I've got this film coming out that I wrote, produced, co-directed, and starred in. I could not, if you had told me this last year, that this is how...
the year after all the sort of darkness, what was going to happen out of this? I would have called you crazy. You know, things were just very bleak and cold, dark winter that just seemed to go on forever and stuff and like physical recovery of the knee surgery and but I used the time to like really fully step into my creativity. I was like okay, you know.
Leslie Youngblood (40:25)
Mmm.
and
Trinette Faint (40:44)
Obviously, that's for a reason and this allows me the opportunity to really kind of be more where I want to be. Because I've always been doing stuff in the background of like, you know, any jobs and stuff, but like now I was in this like really rare space to do it. And I started just taking all these different sorts of classes, like acting classes, French lessons, just anything to sharpen my game and kind of me a leg up.
So now where I feel my creative legacy is, is like if I die tomorrow, I would be enormously proud of like what I've accomplished and what I'm leaving behind and leaving in the world, you know?
Leslie Youngblood (41:30)
Mmm.
Trinette Faint (41:31)
The people who have seen Party Pans so far have said that it's very resonant. It's basically about a woman, she's kind of through the lens of never having been to Paris.
Leslie Youngblood (41:37)
you
Trinette Faint (41:44)
She is facing her insecurities and vulnerabilities and anxieties on the morning of her 53rd birthday. She's like, getting to her husband's ass about this, that, and the other and questioning her own life. Her daughter is going to college, so she's an empty nest. Her body is changing. A bit of us is not kind to most of us. So she's dealing with all these things. And it's just speaking.
Leslie Youngblood (42:02)
Hmm.
I don't know.
Trinette Faint (42:14)
to a lot of people because it's real. So I am very proud that I've been able to create something that is relevant to where women are, lot of women, and that it just resonates.
Leslie Youngblood (42:35)
can't wait to see it. And it's coming out soon, right? And how will people be able to watch it, Trinette? Tell us more about Party Pants and this important movie that you've done so much to bring to life.
Trinette Faint (42:50)
⁓ I will let you know. I've got the premiere set. The premiere is on the 11th here in Boston. So I wanted to do something great for Boston creatively and... ⁓
Leslie Youngblood (42:53)
I hate that.
Trinette Faint (43:04)
We're having a lovely panel discussion right after about building your own creative path in Boston. And I'm still working on the larger distribution, but I suspect that's going to be sorted out in the next couple weeks. So before this hits, will be. So just check the website, Floor 51 Productions. It'll all be there.
Leslie Youngblood (43:09)
Amazing.
Perfect. And for our listeners, where else can they
find you Trinette outside of this conversation today? Flow51productions.com. Tell us more.
Trinette Faint (43:35)
Yes. So that's my production company that I started when I was 51. I was actually on a mental health break from work from Google. I was in a not so great situation, toxic manager, toxic environment, the whole thing that is part of the course these days for people. And I said to myself, okay, well, the first 50 years of my life have looked a certain way. How do I want the next 50 to look? And it was in that space that I started doing these screenwriting classes.
Leslie Youngblood (43:48)
and
Mm-hmm. ⁓
All right.
Trinette Faint (44:05)
⁓ and I started just taking classes at night and on weekends at UCLA and started adapting my novel Colleges Caleb that I wrote ⁓ as a result of being in the entertainment business. ⁓ My heroine there, ⁓ she's basically in this love triangle between her boss and his co-star, was not my story, but Lucy inspired by my time in the business in general. So started adapting that in Green Play and really just kind of
started to really go for it. So that's why it's called floor 51 because I was on 51 at the time. So yes, so things there. then Shay faint is my networking events company that I started early summer this year, I guess.
And that was born out of this idea that, you know, I've had nine lives and I just know so many people from these various points of my life. It would be great to just start like bringing people together in the spirit of like helping people, their networks, you know, because I think we all get a little tired of just doing things online and traditional networking platforms. So, you know, I just started bringing together entrepreneurs and creatives in these different cities.
Leslie Youngblood (45:02)
Thank
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Trinette Faint (45:18)
And it's been going like extremely well. ⁓ And you know, there's nothing that can replace in-person networking and just getting to know people. So that's that. You can find me there. And then my website, trinettefaint.com. And that's faint like you pass out, not saint. That doesn't break. ⁓ Where you can see like, I don't know, I guess all the other stuff. My novels you can connect through there. My writing.
Leslie Youngblood (45:28)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Thank
Trinette Faint (45:49)
and you know the real...
So it's been quite a ride, it's a lot of fun, and like I was saying earlier, for as unstable as this sort of journey can be, like you were saying, like, you know, kind of going through the bushes, getting cut up and stuff like that, like, it's just so...
worth it because even though you're like fighting your way through the trees, the bushes, you can still see the light ahead. It's just not clear. You just know, okay, well I pushed this branch out of the way, I'm a step further than this branch and so on and so forth. So that's what like this year has been like for me and just honoring all that and like going through the, through the process of it. So, so yeah. And on Instagram, trent.faint. That's right.
Leslie Youngblood (46:19)
Yeah. Yeah.
Thank you.
Perfect. I
love it. We'll put all those links in the show notes too for everybody listening so they can easily connect with you. And I love it, before we wrap up, Trina, I just also think it's so important for anybody listening to Take Away, no matter what age or stage or position you are at right now in your life, it can be totally different. Like you said, if you told me a year ago that I'd be doing this right now, I would have thought you're crazy. And I'm sure when you were working at Google, like 49, 48, what's gonna change? How could this possibly?
we get better and like now two years ahead, like you see where you've come. And I just think that's so important for you know, to understand because I think we all put that, you know, we're in a culture obsessed with youth and achievement at a young age. And you think like, oh, I don't have an, I'm 50 and I'm gonna retire, I'm 40 and this and that. And it's like, you can't let that stop you. Like that path is still your path and own that path no matter where you are. Because we, like you said, like we need,
Trinette Faint (47:14)
Yes, yes.
Yeah.
Hello.
Leslie Youngblood (47:41)
We need you in the room. We need you sharing your story. We need you blazing that path. And so I just think I'm so grateful for you coming on here and sharing your story with us today to share with us.
Trinette Faint (47:53)
And it only
gets better. mean, turning 30 was like hard, like hard. Ask my best friend, she'll tell you. I'm not telling you that, But now, people with years, you know, I'm not here, I'm not there, whatever. 40 was a lot better. And then I got to 50, I was like, what the hell was I so upset for? Like now the party, the party started.
Leslie Youngblood (48:07)
Yeah.
Right? Party pants! Party pants!
Trinette Faint (48:15)
Exactly! Party fit! Except
now I'm wearing pants that fit, you'll ⁓
Leslie Youngblood (48:25)
Exactly,
exactly. I love it so much. Trina, if you could leave as we wrap up, leave our listeners with one piece of advice, what would it be?
Trinette Faint (48:34)
Just get out there and do it. You just never know. Unstick yourself from whatever is holding you back. Don't let other people get into your head. Don't spend too much time comparing yourself to people on social media. You you see one image, you have no idea what's behind that image, if it's even real or not.
Leslie Youngblood (48:45)
Mm-hmm.
and
Trinette Faint (48:58)
Just listen to yourself and follow your own path. Like whatever is that thing that's inside you that's itching to express itself or to get out. Just do it. Just start. Baby steps. Nothing has to be permanent and it doesn't have to be this huge thing. But it can be something so small that satisfies you in a way that gives you a bit of joy like as you go through the day and especially in this fucking
Leslie Youngblood (49:27)
Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.
Trinette Faint (49:28)
in right now. Like
we all need to honor ourselves and give ourselves as much joy as possible because Lord knows we can all be gone tomorrow.
Leslie Youngblood (49:37)
Yes, amen. Amen. Well, thank you again so much for that, Trinette, and for again, joining us on Serious Lady Business to share your incredible story. I'm so excited for everything you've done that you're doing. I can't wait to watch the premiere of Party Pants and ⁓ hear you on through that. And just thank you again so much for joining us today. It was a true pleasure.
Trinette Faint (49:38)
Yeah. ⁓
Bye.
Yes!
Thank you. Thank you so much.