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DO IT TODAY is a podcast hosted by Kara Cutruzzula, who asks friends and notable figures across creative industries about what they're doing that day—and how they're going to do it. It's an up close look at process and practice, a reminder for you to do your most meaningful work, and a mini dose of encouragement in 20 minutes or less.
Kara Cutruzzula: hi everyone.
Welcome to do it today.
I'm Kara Cutruzzula and today I'm
talking with Florencia Iriondo, a
writer, performer, and showrunner.
She is currently performing her one
woman musical South right now at
the Soho Playhouse in Manhattan.
It's about family and belonging
and finding home away from home.
Florencia, thanks so much for being here.
It's.
It's Wednesday, just after noon,
um, what are you doing today?
Florencia Iriondo: Kara, first
of all, thank you so much for
taking the time to talk with me.
I still remember our first conversation
years ago when we were first starting,
or I was first starting the BMI Musical
Theatre Workshop, and you were telling
me everything about your career.
So I really appreciate you taking the
time and us having this conversation now.
this is Wednesday, and I
have a show in a few hours.
Kara Cutruzzula: Oh my gosh,
Florencia Iriondo: A little bit
of, um, resting in between shows
because I have shows Monday, Tuesday,
and Wednesdays at Soho Playhouse.
also getting ready and
doing lots of things.
You saw the show, so you know
that throughout the show I
also give away some food.
So I am also baking as we speak.
Kara Cutruzzula: oh my
goodness, what are you baking?
Florencia Iriondo: I
wrote it into the script.
And every time I think about taking it
out because it's a lot of work, I think,
no, there's a reason why I did this.
my goal with the show is that
I share a little piece of.
my culture and a big part of that is food.
So I want this show to feel like I'm
opening the doors of my own living room.
I welcome you into my home and
we're sharing stories and songs.
And when I talk about certain things, like
how my mom would give me chipas, which are
cheese breads, whenever she had something
serious to say, or if it's a birthday.
We share birthday cake.
I want to have those out
there so that people can get
a sense of what that was like.
So right now I am, taking
some pre made chipas.
But I did a few days ago and I froze
like little balls of this little
cheese bread and I'm gonna wait
a little bit until it's defrosted
and then I'll put them in the oven.
Kara Cutruzzula: that seems like a
very smart move instead of baking
them from scratch every single day.
I mean, they're so delicious.
and, the show, the show is incredible.
And you're exactly right, you know, it
feels like you're welcoming us into your
home and telling the story of, your family
moving from Argentina to New York City
and all of the changes that ensue and
what is your kind of mindset right now,
since you've been doing it for a couple
of weeks and you've been living with this
story and developing the show for a number
of years, how does it feel to sort of
be at that moment of sharing it tonight?
Florencia Iriondo: been quite a
journey and I started writing this.
Eight, nine years ago, I auditioned
to the BMI writers workshop with
some of this music many, many, many
years ago, and it's been reshaped and
it's been redeveloped several times.
And it's always a different feeling.
there are some elements that
are very true to my experience.
the themes about family and home for sure.
But then there are plot points that
are not necessarily autobiographical
so that allows me to have some sort of
perspective and talk about difficult
things gives me enough perspective
for me to do this, um, day after day.
And so, for example, I moved to
New York by myself 10 years ago.
And before that I lived in New Zealand
and I lived in Ireland and I've
been sort of building my own life.
on my own for the last 20 years and
meeting new people and making new friends
in different countries as I moved along.
My family, they're all still in Argentina,
while the show talks about an entire
family that moves together to New York.
And that gives me some space to talk
about certain things, but something
that's very true to my own experience,
and it's also included in the show, is
this big gap, age gap, that I have with
my siblings and how I choose to live
abroad, even though I love and miss my
family and my hometown every single day.
And I think that sort of nostalgia
and also joy with what our
decisions are, comes across.
So I'm able to come in and out of all of
these feelings with every performance.
Kara Cutruzzula: what does it feel
like to share that with people who
are now coming to see this version
of something that you've, poured so
much time and energy into, because,
you know, the audience is It's, It's
basically part of the show, you know,
we feel like we're, we belong, with you.
So I just wonder about that sort of
like energy transfer between, people
who are so eager to talk to you how
do you sort of find that balance
between what you give to everyone else
and what they're giving back to you?
Florencia Iriondo: this
is completely new for me.
This is the first time in
my life that I am performing
something every single night.
And I didn't know how my
body was going to react.
I'm 40 and I spent 20 years working.
for a company.
Monday through Friday, nine to five,
going to an office and working for
someone and being around people sitting
down on my desk, doing different things.
I was a TV producer back home in
Argentina, working also behind
the scenes in all of these other
countries, doing different things.
I built the whole video on.
Podcast production and strategy for
LinkedIn here in New York at the Empire
State Building for 10 plus years.
So I was always behind the scenes and
I knew what my days would look like.
And this year is a major year.
And there's been so many ups and
downs with the decision of leaving
corporate America, leaving tech,
leaving a world where I felt so
I knew exactly what was going on.
I felt that it was my.
Place.
I had so many friends and mentors.
My boss the editor in chief.
I think Dean had been the
same boss for 10 plus years.
And he's just a wonderful person
who opened so many doors for me.
So leaving that world and really taking
a leap and thinking, okay, I came to New
York with a dream to have my own show.
And it's what I wanted to do.
Since I was a kid, I finally have The
means to do it, and by means I mean
meeting people and having some sort
of resources and some experience with
workshopping this show for many, many
years and just believing that I can
do what this show, what I did with
my career in production, which was
meeting people and, working hard and
building something that's very small.
And then growing it.
So it's a leap of faith.
And I really didn't know
how it was gonna go.
And going from every single day of
my life, knowing that I wake up and I
go to an office, or even before that,
going to school, going to college, I
had a routine to starting a new routine
from scratch, where if I don't do
this, Nobody's pushing me to do it.
So it's very easy to, you
know, I'm feeling down, I'm
feeling sad, I'm losing purpose.
Why am I doing this?
So I could just let it
go and not keep pushing.
And nobody, I would have no boss
saying, Hey, where's this show?
And I have to be my own boss now.
I have to not hit snooze and just
wake up when the alarm clock.
That's ringing and build a routine
from scratch and do all of these.
I'm self producing and I'm also writing
and I'm performing and I am selling
the tickets and making sure that the
theater, you know, everything is fine
behind the scenes and building a team.
that's helping me do this from lights and
sound and production and the musicians.
So it's a lot and it's very exciting,
but it's a new way of doing things.
So I was.
very scared and I'm finally sort
of getting rid of that duality.
For 20 years I had like my day
life where I was going to an office
doing things and then my night life
where I was writing and performing.
Now I'm removing myself from that
duality and trying to be one person
and that is new and I'm still
finding myself in that space.
And there are days where I am
so happy and I enjoy everything.
And there are other days where I'm
still wondering what's going on.
Kara Cutruzzula: And how do you
encourage yourself to keep going?
You have the, show and this run and
that is a ton of work and you have
all the momentum that, that led you
up to that, But when you're having
that kind of off day or bad day or,
oh gosh, wouldn't it be easier if I
could, clock in and answer some emails?
What are the kinds of things
that you tell yourself?
To turn that around.
Florencia Iriondo: I, I am the core.
I'm a very optimistic person.
So whenever I'm feeling down,
I tend to punish myself.
Like, why are you not
grateful for all the good
Kara Cutruzzula: Mm
Florencia Iriondo: are
happening and the luck and the
opportunities that are around you?
I'm starting to learn that whenever
I'm feeling down, I need to just
let and allow myself to feel
sad because there's a lot of.
Uncertainty that comes with this, like
what happens after this run is over?
I don't know.
And it will most likely depend on how
hard I push or what else I want to do.
And that requires a lot of energy.
So whenever I am feeling down or I'm
afraid, trying to let myself feel that at
least for a day and I curl up and I watch.
friends or the nanny with my
mate, my, my Argentinian drink.
And I'm like, okay,
I'll do this for today.
and then I have people that have
known me forever and I call them and
I tell them, this is how I'm feeling.
And then they remind me.
Of why I'm doing what I'm doing.
My sister is one of those people.
She's 10 years younger than me, but
she's so much wiser in so many ways.
And she always tells me, Hey, you are
doing this for the 12 year old you.
That's it.
As long as that 12 year old you
is proud and happy that you get to
do this every day, then that's it.
And I have other friends in Argentina.
Who have seen me perform on
stage in Argentina when I was 15.
And they're like, somehow you made it to
New York and you get to do this every day.
That's it.
Enjoy it.
Whatever happens happens.
It's out of your hands.
Just try to be yourself and be authentic.
And then hopefully that alone will open
doors or, or we'll see what happens later.
But enjoy what you're doing now.
And that perspective from people
who know me very well helps me.
I need to stop chasing what other
people are chasing or worrying about
where I think I should be and just
enjoy the time that I have here now.
Kara Cutruzzula: that reminds me
of a quote that I saw yesterday,
probably on Instagram, but it was
by Rick Rubin, the music producer.
And he said something like, if
you like what you're creating,
that's all that matters.
you really can't control The audience,
you can't control the critics,
you can't control what comes next.
But I think it just really sounds
like you have that satisfaction of
this is exactly what I wanted to make.
And you're getting to make it
the way you want to make it.
Florencia Iriondo: Yes, yes.
And you know, I think I couldn't
have written this the way it is
now 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
even the show that I had written eight
years ago was different from The way in
which I rewrote it during the pandemic.
everybody had their own experience
during the pandemic for me was very
isolating, because I live by myself,
and I was working for a tech company
from my home and I'm very lucky that
I had a job during that tough time,
but I was alone for many months.
And in that time is that I thought.
Okay, the show that I was creating
before used to be bigger with more
characters and flashy and a bigger band.
And now I really want something that's
small and intimate and authentic.
And I just want to go to someone's
house and hug them and feel that
that I belong somewhere, even if
it's for a short period of time.
So it was then that I decided to
completely change this and turn it into
a one person, storytelling experience
where there's music throughout.
And I really do want to make
sure that people feel that I'm
welcoming them into my home.
And I couldn't have done that
without all of these years.
so yes, certainly I'm here now and
I'm, I'm glad that I went through the
experiences that I went through before.
Kara Cutruzzula: you know, you honed
all of these skills at LinkedIn, where
you develop podcast and video series and
interviewed celebrities and ran a team.
And I'm just wondering how those
things that you learned to do.
There have applied to building
this show How, how are they
similar and how are they different?
Florencia Iriondo: think that they're
very similar and skills are transferable.
All my life I've been writing
and performing and singing
and doing all of these things.
And at the same time, I actually love the
fact that I am entrepreneurial and for
a long period of time, when I was with
my artist friends, I was kind of feeling
ashamed that I also had this sort of.
Business entrepreneurial, uh, hat.
And when I was with my tech producer,
people, um, working in a studio, I
always felt the shame that I'm also
like this, what they would see like
a hippie artists doing other things.
So I always felt like I
didn't really belong anywhere.
And I was trying to adjust myself
whenever I was in one of those rooms.
And now.
I'm finally embracing those two worlds
and I am proud to, to, to, to be
both a little bit of both of those.
And I think that those skills
really are transferable.
You need to be creative to
in anything that you do.
Human beings are created by nature.
No matter what we do, no
matter what job we have.
And I am also a very scrappy person.
I feel like I can fix things, that
if you throw me in any environment,
I'll more or less build my
world, um, or my way around it.
And I moved to different
countries knowing no one.
And with no job, I went to Ireland
and I didn't know anything.
And I just, I figured it out.
I got a job in a restaurant.
And, you know, I, I can make things happen
and that is exactly what we're doing when
we're creating something from scratch.
There's nothing there and
somehow then there is a show.
And during my 10, 12 years at LinkedIn,
when I was building this video and podcast
production team, There was no video there.
So we had to start small.
I just pitched an idea and I had a vision.
We had never done
anything like that before.
So I built it from scratch and I like
that energy that comes with that.
And When I finally had my conversation
with my boss and I told him, I think
it's time for me to move on and I am
not actually applying for another job.
I'm going to build this
thing with my own show.
He said, you know, I've been wondering why
you weren't doing that with your own show
all along because this, you know, he also
saw these things that we are describing
now, how skills are transferable.
And now I'm.
building a team, and I
am pitching the show.
So I am writing submission pieces, like
you said, and applying for grants and
pitching my show to different theaters.
So it is very similar to the
things that I was doing before.
It's just that now I'm doing all
of that for theatrical piece.
But it's exciting to see how
these two worlds have combined.
Kara Cutruzzula: I, I just love
that word scrappy that feels, it
feels so, appropriate for that.
so right now it's 1 o'clock what
does one o'clock through the rest
of the day look like for you?
Florencia Iriondo: I have so
many alarm sets on my phone.
every day.
I wake up in the morning and the first
thing I do is I set different alarms
for all of the things that I need to do.
And then I can rest and relax and
enjoy the moment the pockets of time
in between them knowing that my phone
will remind me of what I need to do.
Kara Cutruzzula: Interesting.
Florencia Iriondo: Yeah, otherwise I
would be either panicking all day that
I need to do things but not actually
doing them because it's too early
and not even enjoying my downtime.
So I found that having all of
those alarm sets allows me to enjoy
the different pockets of time.
So I have one alarm for 2pm, which is
when by 2 the cheese breads need to
be in the oven so that they're ready.
Uh, and I can forget about that and at 2
30 I start warming up then I take a quick
shower and I start doing my makeup and
I go through the entire script around 3
34 PM only because I, even though I've
done this a million times, I want to
make sure that I go through it again
one last time and then by five another.
You know what I do, Cara?
Maybe you'll find this funny.
At 5 p.
m., I watch, every day before
the show, the opening scene
from the movie Tick, Tick, Boom,
Kara Cutruzzula: Oh my gosh.
Florencia Iriondo: Because at 5 p.
m., I start getting nervous.
to, you know, it's like a presentation.
It's, I have to go somewhere and to be
judged, or to face like an exam every day.
And watching those first eight, nine
minutes of Tick, Tick, Boom, Reminds me
that I'm lucky enough to be doing this
and that we're all trying to do this.
Whatever this means to anyone, because
it can be a sport, it can be a show,
it can be writing a book, it can be
a job or an exam or something, we're
all trying to do something every day.
And I don't know, that
puts me in a good mindset.
And then I started walking to the theater.
And we do soundcheck and at 630 we open
doors and at seven we have the show and
then I'm so happy and then I go to bed
and the following day I start over again.
Kara Cutruzzula: are you going
out after the show, or just
going straight home, yeah?
Florencia Iriondo: straight home and
also because I didn't know how my body
was going to react and I was scared
that this was the first time that I was
doing this every day and I have to sing
all of these songs, every single night.
I'm kind of testing and pushing my own
boundaries just to see how this goes.
So I'm trying to come home every
night and rest and during the weekends
also trying to, if I see people not
go to places where it will be very
loud so that I don't raise my voice
because I'm very, I am a loud person.
So I always.
my nature to go out and hug
people and start being excited.
Oh, how are you?
I missed you.
And I can't do this.
Kara Cutruzzula: When the show, you
know, when the show closes, or you have a
little break, then the hugging can resume.
Oh my goodness, I love that you mentioned
Tick Tick Boom, because think it's a
perfect, sort of reminder and sort of
like centering it right Representation.
Florencia Iriondo: that's
the word, Cara, for sure.
Centering and Jonathan Larson's personal
story and his professional story is so
moving that, yes, it's very centering.
Kara Cutruzzula: these like essential
reminders to of like why we're here, why
we're doing these things, why we sort
of deal with the, difficult parts, you
know, and how we can sort of push through
those, to get to that cathartic moment of,
Oh, I am sharing this with other people.
I am actually in charge of my future.
And, Remembering that all of the effort
actually does lead up to something and
sometimes those things are unseen and
sometimes it's very tangible, right?
Florencia Iriondo: Cara.
I want to thank you so much for
the kind words that you're saying.
You are very thoughtful
and your perspective.
It's very meaningful to me.
I connected with you years ago because
we both have, I think, shared experiences
where we had also this duality where
we were doing things and we also, we
had a job and we were sort of paid to
do certain things, but there were other
things that were passionate to us.
And you've always been someone
that I've been very inspired by.
I have now here with me, your do it today
book, and you say the word deadline can
often inspire dread and we should try
to approach deadlines as milestones,
and I cannot, reinforce how important.
That is to me with everything I do,
especially now that I'm self self
producing and writing and everything.
This is very important and
it's a constant reminder.
So I want to thank you for everything
that you are doing with your
Kara Cutruzzula: Thank you.
Well, thank you for, for saying that,
um, and that does remind me, you know,
that with something like this too, with
an ongoing creative project, looking
ahead, do you think about future
milestones that you want to achieve?
And do you think about those,
as a kind of guiding force?
Like, I just wonder what that future
milestone, the big dream milestone would
look like for you and, and this show.
Florencia Iriondo: Yeah, I
need deadlines to push me.
And I think I feel like even though
I have big goals and aspirations and
until I have a deadline, I am still
delaying and procrastinating and
thinking, Oh, I'll get to that later.
So I need deadlines.
And I'm already sort of worried
about what happens after November 15.
I'm already thinking I
need another deadline.
And I need to know that I'm going
to be doing the show again in X
month or X date, just to know that
I, what I'm going to be doing later.
And for, for 20 years, I've been
making a living out of other
things like being a producer or
a showrunner behind the scenes.
So now my big goal is.
To be able to make a living out of
this, out of producing my own work
and my own writing and performing.
as you said before, these are similar
skills to what I was doing before.
It's just that now instead of producing
for another, company, I am producing
fiction that I am writing myself.
So that's my big goal
is to continue to do.
I feel very lucky that now
I'm finally doing what I've
been wanting to do forever.
So just continuing to do this.
It's my big goal.
Kara Cutruzzula: I love that it
sounds like a sort of life milestone,
continuation and you don't actually
have to cross a finish line.
You can just, keep going and
keep getting people in there and,
and seeing your beautiful work.
Well, I feel like a timer's
gonna go off any second now.
And, uh, the, the cheapest are
going to be put in the oven.
Thank you so much for taking the time
today to talk us through your Wednesday
and, I can't wait to see the show again.
I just urge everyone who's
listening to go see it It's called
South at the Soho Playhouse.
Florencia Iriondo:
Cara, thank you so much.
I always love talking with you.
So thank you so much for your time.
Kara Cutruzzula: thank you.
I'm gonna go watch a little
bit of Tick Tick Boom now.
You inspired me.
Florencia Iriondo: Yay!