Uzo Aduba: Restoring Joy & The Road Ahead with Her Mother's Legacy

Get ready, because this week in The Coop, we’ve got the one-and-only—Uzo Aduba. You know her as the unforgettable Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren from Orange is the New Black, but Uzo’s story is so much bigger than her iconic characters. Her new book, The Road is Good, dives into a life filled with resilience, joy, and the unstoppable strength and spunk she inherited from her mother.

Growing up as a Nigerian-American in a Boston suburb, Uzo faced challenges fitting in but learned to embrace her identity (and gorgeous tooth gap), thanks to her mother's wisdom and love. Her mom’s lessons—like insisting people learn her name instead of changing it—taught Uzo about self-worth and pride. Uzo nearly walked away from acting, but on the very day she quit, she got the call for Orange is the New Black and life’s trajectory took a powerful, joyful turn.

Oh, and did we mention Uzo is a classically trained opera singer, former figure skater, AND a track star? Holy talent, people.

This episode is packed with joy, grit, and laughs as we explore staying true to your roots, and your Mama. So, trust the stage—let the universe do its thing—and join us in The Coop for this unforgettable and heartfelt conversation with Uzo Aduba.

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This episode was produced by Kit Hoover and Harper McDonald. Business Development by Casey Ladd.

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Transcript

This transcript was generated using AI. Discrepancies may be present.

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Kit: We are thrilled to have Uzo Aduba in the coop today known for her unforgettable role, of course, as Suzanne crazy eyes Warren on orange is the new black. Uzo's journey has been every bit as powerful as her performances. Her name means the road is good, and it perfectly reflects her story.

A journey marked by resilience, talent and the influence of her mother's unwavering strength. Today she shares insights from her new book which [00:01:00] dives into her experiences growing up as a Nigerian American in a predominantly white Boston suburb.

She shares how she almost quit acting before that fateful Netflix day and the lessons her mother instilled in her. Uzo's story is awesome because it reminds us while the road may be tough, it's absolutely worth it and it's completely filled with joy. Here's Uzo.

 hi, my friend. How are you? 

Uzo Aduba: I'm great. How are you? I love your sweater, by the way. East Coast. I wore this for 

Kit Hoover: you. can't believe your childhood grew up in Massachusetts. We're going to get into all that, but I was like, I'm going to put this on for my friend, Uzo, my little East Coast friend.

Yeah. and let's just brag about you right now. You're on this massive tour that you had to like do this interview in your car. Where are you on the way to right now, Uzo? 

Uzo Aduba: I'm actually on my way to the Home Depot because I need to go get a pumpkin carving kit. For the Halloween little kitties, party that we're having tomorrow, we're carving pumpkins, [00:02:00] carving pumpkin pumpkins.

This is my favorite thing. And what I'm learning is that like, mama, they get things done.

You know, like when they got to go and get something done, got to make it happen, you know? 

Kit Hoover: You just became our most relatable guests so far. We've had on the fact that you're outside home Depot right now. That is greatness right there. I am not kidding.

That is multitasking at its finest that we could all relate to. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Well, Uzo, we always start the podcast with, give me one word to describe where you are in your life right now. 

Uzo Aduba: I had one word to describe where I am in my life right now. It would be joy. It would be joy. And you know, the reason why I would choose that word is because, life has so many different ways and times and trips that it can take you on.

 You know, if I could say one thing that I definitively know this experience has given me, being able to look back at it. Has brought me so much joy because it has brought so many [00:03:00] central main characters in my life back to life with such, freshness and celebration and excitement that it has brought to me.

Joy, true joy back into my life. 

Kit Hoover: Have you always been joyful? Like as a little girl and just your essence, I sort of feel like that's in you. 

Uzo Aduba: yes, I was always optimistic, you know, my mom, she would always say like, you want to always keep a positive outlook, positive, positive attitude, an optimistic outlook on something.

and so I've always, believed. Things are possible that I probably sound ridiculous, but I've always had that that has always brought me joy because it's getting me excited, you know, with every thing that I encounter and pursue when I hear great things happening for my friends. It just gets me real, real jazz.

Kit Hoover: I love thinking about your childhood and your trajectory and where you've ended up. What was it like for you growing up in Massachusetts? 

Uzo Aduba: You know, it was [00:04:00] a mix. It was, a quiet, community, a small town where super sick stoplight in my hometown, very, very connected community, but it was also mixed with feeling at times really alone and like, I didn't know where I fit in.

I didn't see a lot of myself outside of my house. the community, it was rich, rich, rich with love. My parents didn't have a lot, but they had so much love. My mom had so much love in particular to give to me, and my siblings. And just, they were always encouraging us to go for life, you know, to, reach out and try and figure out and grab whatever it was that our American dream.

Was my family's from Nigeria. So 

 was always this really thirst filled, appetite for going as far and as hard as you possibly can after [00:05:00] your dreams. 

Kit Hoover: My mom always says, life is not a dress rehearsal. And I heard that my whole life.

She sounds a lot like your mom, but for you growing up, not seeing any representation, what was the hardest part of that? 

Uzo Aduba: The hardest part of that was sometimes finding a model for a path, like an example to sort of laser in on and use that to create a path for myself. so that could be challenging at times.

And then also sometimes it would be hard to find moments A relationship, things to relate over with friends who maybe weren't having similar experiences with your hair or You know, living in the world, those could be some of the real, real hard parts. just figuring out 

Kit Hoover: elementary school, Uzo, like what was elementary school?

First of all, your beautiful name alone, like kit is a weird name and everything rhymes with it. I was thinking, Oh my gosh, what about my friend Uzo? Like what was elementary school like for you? 

Uzo Aduba: Uzo. Uzo does not rhyme with [00:06:00] much. I was like, trying to think about it. Uzo, Uzo, Bobuzo, Banana, Banana. 

Kit Hoover: Banana, Banana, Fofama.

Yeah, 

Uzo Aduba: yeah, 

Kit Hoover: yeah. 

Uzo Aduba: You know, having a name that was, Nobody, it was really difficult. People wanted, me to fit into their smaller box, to be smaller, to change my name. And I wanted to do that myself, frankly. It was kind of figuring out how to fit in where I was, because, you know, even with my name, it was, Nobody knew how to say it.

Right. Nobody knew what it meant. It was really complicated for most teachers and classmates to fit in their mouths, which makes you stand out when you're a kid. You just want to fit in. You don't want to stand out at all. So, you know, that was I one time tried to get my mom. asked her if she could call me Zoe, and she was like, absolutely not.

She was like, if they can learn to say Tchaikovsky, and Dostoyevsky, and Michelangelo, they can learn to say Ozamaka. You know, things like that. My gap, I wanted that [00:07:00] closed. Cause everybody was getting braces at the time. And my mom would tell me every day that don't, you know, that a gap is a sign of beauty and in Nigeria where we're from.

And I was like, but we live in Boston, Massachusetts, you know, we don't live there, why are you torturing me this way? But honestly, it was the best thing that could have happened to me. My mom's insistence that we embrace. Who we are, because I couldn't imagine today being called anything other than Uzo or Uzamata.

You know, that people, I, it erased so, it would take away so much of who I am. 

Kit Hoover: Oh, all of it. What does your name mean? 

Uzo Aduba: My name means the road is good. And that means, it has a little bit more depth to it. It's like, it means the journey was worth it.

It was hard, but it was worth it. And so, if you came to my home, and were scheduled to meet at 3. [00:08:00] but, You walk out the door and you see you have a flat. So you gotta wait for AAA. And then you get in the car and it's bumper to bumper. You're on a torrential downpour. And, you know, there's a leak in your roof and your hair falls flat.

And, you know, oh, you forgot the dip you were supposed to bring. And then you show up. And if I say to you, okay, how was, you know, how was the trip? The clouds cleared and now it's a beautiful sunny day. And you would say, Liz, the journey was hard, but it was worth it. 'cause I'm hearing it with you. Yeah. It was, you know, not, it's 

Kit Hoover: finding that silver lining, your mom sounds so remarkable, Uzo.

And one thing I loved about your book, it's a love letter. To her I thought it was just so beautiful and what was the most cathartic part about writing it? Oh my gosh, I think 

Uzo Aduba: that knowing that people who maybe have never met her I've only heard glimpses Maybe I've seen like a couple pictures on my Instagram Might get to [00:09:00] know the woman that I know and love so dearly that they might Understand better the framework that made me, you know, the foundation on which I'm built, the shoulders on which I stand, I think for me, it was really so wonderful.

even, you know, being on this tour to, your first question, one of the most amazing things have been because my mom, you know, has since moved to heaven. One of the most amazing things has been, and what was cathartic. She feels alive again when I get to talk about her like this with you and that's been a joy restored because grief is such a interesting pathway, you know, and losing my mom, who was an excellent mother.

She wasn't a good mother. She wasn't a great mother. She was excellent. She took that job really seriously. She loved her kids. you know, grief is nothing but love reflected and feeling in that you have those experiences, you have those emotions that are tied to it that are rough ones, you know, frankly, to walk [00:10:00] through, but this experience of getting to talk. About her. I kid you not kid. I only just realized this on Tuesday, like a week ago, Tuesday, and I was in a hotel room and I like burst into tears with joy because I felt joy pour back into my heart.

I felt alive, like, it was because I got to talk about her in this way. 

Kit Hoover: Talk about her. Uzo, I just had Lindsey Vonn, you know, the incredible skier on, and she had Such a relationship with her mom, like you have with yours and I have with mine. But she said the coolest thing her mom said before she passed, talk to me as if I'm here.

And you through your book are sort of naturally doing that. I just had never heard that before with grief. 

Uzo Aduba: Yes, and it really, I love that, and I want to keep talking, as the, I love, I love that, like, talking as if she's here, because, and even, I don't know if it's talking in the air, or just, it gave me a permission to say her name in a way that I hadn't been doing.

And with such joy and excitement, my mom was hilarious. [00:11:00] And that's what's so much in the book of, you know, talking about all these funny things she would say to me and this just encouragement she would give me all the time. And it's just that piece, that encourager, that voice that I was missing, like in the background, just always sort of cheering me on rooting me on hugging me.

This experience has been one that I could find. Feel her arms, you know, like wrapped around me and I'm so, so, so, so grateful for that. 

Kit Hoover: And her voice, Uzo, tell me what she would say about you as a mom with your daughter. Like, what would she say? 

Uzo Aduba: My mom would say something like, Uzo,

 you're doing great. In our language, which means like, keep going, keep it up. 

Kit Hoover: and what would she say about your book and these stories about her? 

Uzo Aduba: The same. my mom's highest, highest compliment. Would be, and I hope I would receive with this would be well done, just a real thumbs up. And she always pumps the thumb up thumbs up.

She pumps up like [00:12:00] this. It's never just like thumbs up. She's got to put a little cloth on it. I like it. 

Kit Hoover: I'm going to start doing that now. That's going to be my nod to your cute mom. In what ways, Uzo, are you like her and what ways are you different? 

Uzo Aduba: Well, number one, I can talk a lot.

I'm like her in that way. Number two, I love family. She and I are very, very deep, deep, deep in family, immediate and extended. we're strong. We're both very strong women. we die gently with our, Friends and advice. It's a gentle, a soft touch. 

Kit Hoover: I like that combo. The guide gently. That's a wonderful word to add to that.

Uzo Aduba: Yeah, guide gently. both. Spunky women. I think she . I love a little spunk. Yeah, we're both spunky. Women we're different. I say the number one difference, and it was something that I always admired about my mom and wished that I had more of, frankly in her.

My mom was. [00:13:00] Incredible with forgiveness 

Kit Hoover: Forgiveness is a big one, Uzo. Easy to say it, really hard to do some way. In what ways? How did you see her do it? 

Uzo Aduba: She 

Kit Hoover: just did. She was like, 

Uzo Aduba: when she let something go, she let it go.

Like, she really just moved on and, let people have their grace. In that way. Yes. and I did not have, I do not have it to the degree that she has it. Like, She can forgive without apology. I think I need apology. she can forgive without apology. 

Kit Hoover: What a gift, Uzo. I think if, you know, people always ask those questions, what would your superpower be, what an incredible superpower.

To truly have that, that just opens your heart. That frees you for your mom to have that. And I can only imagine all the experiences in her life coming to the United States from Nigeria and to have that. Wow. She is a superhero. 

Uzo Aduba: Yeah, absolutely. 

Kit Hoover: you read your mom's journals. when she passed ouzo, first of all, what a [00:14:00] gift and how wild was there anything in there that you're like, okay, mom, look at you go.

Uzo Aduba: Well, you know, I would say in and I was able to put it in the book My mom had always told me of this love that she had, you know growing but she never married this gentleman the one man She always thought really really loved her and who she really loved and he would come and visit her at school And he had a record player that he had bought her one year for, you know, a birthday or as a gift.

Then he would come every so often because he went to another school, you know, separate. So this is when 

Kit Hoover: she was, how old is it? give me timeframe here. 

Uzo Aduba: This is like, she's in her twenties, early twenties. And she's 

Kit Hoover: in love. Okay. And what happens? 

Uzo Aduba: he'd save up a couple, you know, Box or whatever and would buy a record and come ride his bike to visit her at school They would sit and listen to records and talk and And then he'd ride back to school and she loved him and I never knew his name Never.

And, she would always say, Oh, I don't know. You know, I don't [00:15:00] know. And then I would say that's the one thing. And one of her journals, she was writing many years, many years later. 

Kit Hoover: We've got to find this man, Uzo. Is he alive? 

Uzo Aduba: He's not. He's not. Well, they're in heaven together now. I know. I do think about that, you know.

That he had passed away some years before, but she did know his name is what I thought was interesting. Oh, yeah. Oh, 

Kit Hoover: no. She knew that name. Uzo, she had, yeah, she knew that name very well. wow, what a gift to read those and sort of discover all these other unique parts about your mom. And just, the mom stuff is just where my heart is.

I love it. And now you're a mom, Uzo. Did you always want to be a mother? 

Uzo Aduba: Always. I love kids. And I like, you know, have tons of nieces and nephews, but I, yeah, I always wanted to be one. I always wanted just my own and that I have been able to have one has truly been the biggest gift of Yeah. I love her so much. 

Kit Hoover: and Uzo, similar to you, I always, I think [00:16:00] my number one dream my whole life was to be a mom. And then I knew I wanted to do something creative, but when that's in you, and then I felt so blessed that I was able to have children because you never know.

And I was up for it. For anything adoption or anything. I just knew I loved kids and I wanted that. So when I was lucky enough to be able to carry a baby inside of me, I thought, well, this is a hoot. I mean that I was like, here we go. How was your pregnancy? My pregnancy 

Uzo Aduba: was okay.

You know, first trimester was a rough ride, not going to lie. Like it was a ride I couldn't get off of, but here we are. but outside of that. It was fine. I would get up every morning. I would take a walk. We didn't know what we were having. Oh, so that, and we didn't find out until the, she was born. Same 

Kit Hoover: on me.

I love it. There's so few surprises, but I really like 

Uzo Aduba: doing that. That's what my brother said. He talked us into it. My little brother, Jr. And I was like, You're right. He, cause he had kids. He was like, there's a few surprises in this life. Why not just have like one real surprise? I was like, fair enough. [00:17:00] And so we did.

Did you 

Kit Hoover: have a feeling Uzo of what you were having? 

Uzo Aduba: You know, it's funny. Initially, yes. I had a dream that it was a girl and then I never felt that again. I never, never, it was early too, like maybe five months, something like that. I want to say four months. I had a dream one time, I had a dream and I remember it was on the phone with my sister a lot.

I was like, it's a girl. And then I never had a dream about a girl again. And for that, I kept having dreams about boys, like a boy after. But I remember the girl dream was so strong, and then I just kept having boy dreams after that. I was like, well, I guess must be a boy, you know, I guess it must be a boy.

And what I didn't know, I'll tell you this, I was totally fine with it being a boy, being a girl, I truly just cared then. They were healthy. That was the only thing I cared about. What I didn't know until the doctor said it's a girl is that If, you know, we would hope to have more if we're so blessed.

What I [00:18:00] didn't know was that I didn't necessarily need this child to be a girl, but I do need it somehow. What a beautiful way to think about it. Yeah. I didn't know that, like, if we had three kids, what I didn't know until that moment, it was like, I would prefer not three boys. I would need one.

I did want a daughter. I'm going to keep going until I have a daughter. Yeah. 

Kit Hoover: , tell me about her name, Uzo, and what it means. Her name is Adeba, 

Uzo Aduba: and it means the daughter of the kingdom, which means she belongs to the father.

First granddaughter, which makes her And means the daughter of the people, means the daughter of the people. So she's the first granddaughter. Born, in the family, she's the first granddaughter on my husband's side, so that's the proper, proper name. 

Kit Hoover: Oh, I love that. okay, wait, I want to double back to your career because I really think our listeners, Uzo, you and I talked about this when we were together.

I love that here you are, you've graduated, you've got all these accolades. We're going to get into you being a classical opera singer, figure skater, like there's nothing you can't do. [00:19:00] You're going to go to law school. You get into acting, you're plugging along and there comes a moment where you think you're going to stop.

Uzo Aduba: What ended up happening was the day that I quit and the one and only time I had always, like I said, kept a positive outlook on this business, but then there was just one day where I felt like everything is telling you no, that this is not for you, and you're trying to make something happen that is not yours.

You need to go to law school. And that same day that I truly quit was the same day

 I got the phone call that I'd been offered a role on a show called Orange is the New Black on this pioneer streaming platform known as Netflix. And what changed my life. 

Kit Hoover: And what do you think that is? Is it the power of letting go? I think 

Uzo Aduba: so. yeah, because I really truly let go and I didn't have such a grip on, I guess what I, Thought it should be.

I needed to do. don't know. Yeah, I think it's letting go, [00:20:00] letting go, and letting go. Yeah. And let the way be made. to sort of enter the stream my purpose. 

Kit Hoover: Your purpose. Because for our listeners, I think a lot of us, especially women, as soon as you get in your forties too, and I'm in my fifties, there's different pivots and twists and turns.

And sometimes the stuff you're holding on to so tight never happens. It's hard to go to sort of lean in with the music. The flow, but it seems like from the moment you decided like, okay universe, I'm seeing this isn't the way I'm supposed to go, then it hit okay. So you get Orange is the new black. You weren't supposed to be crazy eyes were you?

Or was that always your role? 

Uzo Aduba: No, I wasn't supposed to be the crazy eyes. I auditioned for a part of a track star 'cause I ran back in college and that felt like the right fit and ended up. Offered, not even auditioning, which is like, I don't know if that's a compliment or what. Offered the role. The part of crazy.

Kit Hoover: What did your mom say about this role? What was she saying? 

Uzo Aduba: She was, well, it was funny because when I [00:21:00] first started, she asked me, 

Kit Hoover: I was like, What? 

Uzo Aduba: She's like, You did? Congratulations. What is it called? And I was like, it's a show called, orange Is the New Black. She's like, aha, where is it? I was like, it's gonna be on a platform called Netflix.

She's like, oh, and what is it about? And I was like, oh, don't worry about it. Sound boring. Don't you worry about that, mom, be bored. Not boring. It's just good. Just don't worry about 

Kit Hoover: Think about what a renegade show, Uzo. First of all, being on Netflix, it was the first I subscribed to Netflix because of Orange is the New Black at the time, because I'd heard about this show.

Female lead, female driven, female behind the scenes. For you and all the women you're working with in that moment, what did that feel like? 

Uzo Aduba: Unbelievable. you can't describe it being, it felt like being When we were making it before the show came out, it was so thrilling, so exciting, so fresh.

I remember reading the pilot and before my audition [00:22:00] and falling in love with it. I thought it was just the smartest, coolest thing. And then to make it was so exciting and it felt fresh and everybody was so remarkably gifted on the show. It was just a joy to be on. And then once it came out, it was like, Being shot out of the cannon, you know, the experience of people watching a show all at the same time, cause it all drops at the same time at all different parts of the world was not anything I had ever seen or experienced before.

So the show dropped on a Friday and then. On a Monday, all of a sudden, everybody, all these people had been watching you for 13 hours. That wasn't something that I was familiar with, because I also had never done anything on television before, so it was so new. 

Kit Hoover: Where's your Emmy 

Uzo Aduba: in my office 

Kit Hoover: in me's I should say yes plural wait, I got a double back I forgot you're a track runner in college. I ran at University of North Carolina. We could have been teammates. What did 

Uzo Aduba: you run? Yes, I ran What I'm gonna [00:23:00] guess were you like what Yep. 1, 500. 1, 500. 1, 500. 1, 500. 1, 500. Cross country. All of it.

1, 500, I wish. I did 100, 200 meters, and long jump. 5 jump. No. 5, 4, uh, long jump. 

Kit Hoover: I was gonna say we're like the same size. And what about figure Uzo, you're an incredible athlete. So you grew up figure skating? 

Uzo Aduba: I figure skated, yeah, I figure skated for 10 years before I, started running track.

I actually ran track because my parents, you know, figure skating is a pricey sport. And because it started being costly, I had to stop. And that's actually how I started running track because my mom was like, Well, you can't sit at home all day. You gotta find something to do after school. but yeah, I figure skated for 10 years and I loved it.

Kit Hoover: Absolutely. What's your move? Can you do the triple salchow spinny leg over the head thing? 

Uzo Aduba: No leg over the head thing, but I can do, quite a few jumps and I really just love the speed and speed and [00:24:00] it's funny we're talking about that because today I was just talking with a friend when I was looking at my daughter, she's quick on the floor, like she's still crawling, but she was like quick.

I was I can't wait to get a pair of skates on that.

Kit Hoover: I love it. Okay. And now you're a classically trained opera singer. Like what? 

Uzo Aduba: That's what I went to school for. 

Kit Hoover: Wait, so you went on a track scholarship slash opera singer.

Uzo Aduba: Yes. Correct. You're 

Kit Hoover: unbelievable. With a side hustle in figure skating and a theater background. You're the smartest one in the class with a law degree. I gotta get a t shirt with all this credit. 

Uzo Aduba: You're hilarious. 

Kit Hoover: Wow. 

you miss singing? What do you miss about it? 

Uzo Aduba: I do miss singing. I get to sing to my daughter, which I love.

my mom used to sing to us every single morning, this song that's at the front of my book, for the words are at the front of my book. And I sing that song now to my daughter. so I do that every morning and she knows it now, which I love because that means my mom just lives on with her [00:25:00] through that.

I love singing. I love the words. I love, I can feel it in my heart and it feels kind of like flying, I think, I don't know what flying feels like, but what I do, cause you've 

Kit Hoover: been on the ice. Oh yeah. my gosh, there's nothing you can't do. Okay. We only have five minutes cause you got to get that pumpkin carver.

Okay. Let's play a quick game. Uzo, are you ready? 

Uzo Aduba: Yeah. 

Kit Hoover: Born ready. True or false. Brian Adams was your first crush. 

Uzo Aduba: Yes, true. 

Kit Hoover: did you love? 

Uzo Aduba: Well, no, not that. Brendan Adams. Sorry. Sorry. Brendan Adams. I had Brian Adams. Brendan Adams. 

Kit Hoover: who's Brendan Adams?

Uzo Aduba: I was like Brian Adams. I was like the musician that I was like, Oh, she means Brendan Adams. Tell me who's Brendan Adams and I should know. Brendan Adams is an actor who, if you've ever watched the Michael Jackson music video, music video movie, Moonwalker. He's the lead kid playing Michael Jackson. he's like, I can't even describe him.

Like I, well, I [00:26:00] can, I know his resume because I loved him that much. he also was, if you've ever watched Fresh Prince, And the episode when Ashley goes on the date where Will has to chaperone and they go mini golfing, like he's the boyfriend. I know it, Will. He's the boyfriend. 

Kit Hoover: Now I get it. Now we get it. Okay, the coop over here. This is my 

Uzo Aduba: very, very, he's my very, very, very, very, very, very first, like, little girl schoolyard crush followed. Quickly by JTT, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, who is second. Oh 

Kit Hoover: my gosh, the hair, the hair on both of them. Well, if you haven't seen us blaring Bryan Adams over here for you, Uzo, we're like, should we play with a come in song?

That would have been funny.

Uzo Aduba: Uzo, 

Kit Hoover: what's your favorite vice? 

Uzo Aduba: Oh, favorite wife. I mean, I love a sour cream and onion Pringle. I will never 

Kit Hoover: try that 

Uzo Aduba: again. Ever. The green 

Kit Hoover: box. Yes. 

Uzo Aduba: That's classic. The green cylinder. 

Kit Hoover: It's 

Uzo Aduba: not 

Kit Hoover: even a box. Yep. Yep. Favorite body part. 

Uzo Aduba: My arm or my lips? Yeah. Mm-Hmm? . [00:27:00] Yeah. My arm. Mm-Hmm. 

Kit Hoover: What's in your bedside drawer? 

Uzo Aduba: What's in my bedside drawer right now? Atomic Habits. The book, atomic Habits . 

Kit Hoover: Oh, it's a good one. 

Uzo Aduba: Yeah, 

Kit Hoover: Last time you were on, ice Skate. 

Uzo Aduba: The last time I was on ice skates was Christmas 20,

 22, 21, yeah, 22, 21, yeah, somewhere around there. Like riding a bike? Yeah, but I wasn't really skating. 

Kit Hoover: What makes you laugh at yourself? What makes me laugh at myself? 

Uzo Aduba: I mean, so many things.

When I start making, like, random, like, words and songs, like, up, just, like, I don't know, like, random words, or if I'm, like, sometimes I'm, like, talking to myself, like, having, like, full on, like, thinking through something, and then I'll be, like, I'll stop and be, like, who are you talking to? 

Kit Hoover: I'm glad I'm not the only one.

 Do you have a go to karaoke song? 

Uzo Aduba: Absolutely. It's a duet with [00:28:00] my sister, Chi Chi, Wilson Phillips, all done. 

Kit Hoover: Oh, gold, pure gold. oh, this is gonna be a good one. Weirdest thing in your purse, Suzo. As a mom and especially your daughter's age, you got to have some weird stuff in there.

Oh, she's getting her purse everybody. 

Uzo Aduba: Weird. Yes. Nail glue. We'll take it. Yeah, that's like the weirdest thing right now that I can say. You're so 

Kit Hoover: cute. Uzo, fill in this blank. Aging is what? 

Uzo Aduba: Yeah. And something we should all embrace. I remember, I still have, of course, this email that I love pulling up, on my birthday.

And I was turning 27 at the time, I believe. And my mom sent me this email and she was, you know, rattling off a bunch of different things. And then at the end, she was like, tomorrow is your special day, it's your birthday. You're continuing to get older and closer to 30, which here, you know, some people celebrate, don't [00:29:00] celebrate.

She said, I hope tomorrow you celebrate it with pride and with energy and the way our culture, we embrace aging and remember you have that power, that blood in your veins, your mommy's blood. You know, I remember loving that always the celebration of getting older. So aging is a gift.

Kit Hoover: I agree. Was there anything cut from your book, Uzo, that we could look forward to hearing later, any big story, any nuggets you're holding onto? That might be in the next book. Oh, hold that. That's what we call it teaser. And final question, Uzo, and I just can't thank you enough. What makes you happy? 

Uzo Aduba: My family.

And all the dreams I get to pursue, I am joyful that so many amazing things have like, come into my life, crossed my path, gotten to experience, I'm so grateful and thankful for that. know that there's still so much more yet to come. And I'm so, so, so, so happy. To know that I [00:30:00] have gotten to do those things.

So many members of my family and people that I love and friends and get to have these experiences Good enough for more. 

Kit Hoover: Uzo, keep spreading that joy. I can't wait to see what's next for you. As your older wiser friend over here, I'm telling you, you haven't even hit your stride.

I cannot wait to see everything. And just thank you. And, text me to let me know that you got the pumpkin carving. Okay. Let's talk. Get in that Home Depot.

 Thank you.

 Thanks for everything. My love. 

Uzo Aduba: Love y'all. 

Kit Hoover: Harper, we have to laugh. That was our first guest that did the whole interview in her car, which I loved. What mom is not multitasking? She had to get to Home Depot to buy that pumpkin kit.

Harper McDonald: Yes, she did. She, it was, she goes, hold on, let me pull over. Isn't that the best? What was your biggest takeaway from the interview? When she spoke of forgiveness.

Forgiveness, her mother's 

Kit: biggest trait. 

Harper McDonald: Yes, so, she was talking about, I think it was, what was the things [00:31:00] that's the same as her mom and things that are different. And the fact that her mom just forgives. That is so powerful. 

Kit: Powerful. You know, it's one of those things, Harper, you can say it, but it's hard to do.

Mm-Hmm. . I'm always asking these like silly interviews. Everybody says, well, if you had a superpower right, what would you like it to be? Wouldn't that be the greatest superpower to be able to effortlessly? I hope we're good at it, but to truly forgive, to always set yourself free. Yeah. what a gift, by the way.

The way she talked about her mom, I'm seeing a theme with our podcast. We just saw it with Lindsey Vonn, kind of a love letter to her mother. I am so inspired and moved by these, mother daughter connection. 

Harper McDonald: And She feels like her mom's alive again in the journey of writing this book and reading her mom's journals That was fascinating.

What about 

Kit: the mom had the guy that she always loved? Oh my god. That's gotta be made into a movie I love that 

Harper McDonald: The fact that she feels like she's alive again and she felt flooded with joy of having her mom in her and hearing her voice and talking to [00:32:00] her and it really almost made me cry.

I mean, it's just so beautiful to see. Have a project that allows 

Kit: you to go there. And you're right. It's the word she uses, flooded with joy, so it wasn't like I just felt her. She was overcome with that feeling of her mom. I love too when she would talk about it in her mom's accent.

Oh my god. And think about, honestly, for her mom, what that must have been like to move to that suburb. Uzo had no representation growing up. Nobody around her looked like her. And she seemed to have found her place, but that must have been incredibly difficult. 

Harper McDonald: And when Uzo wanted to change her name, I think it was to Zoe, that her mom was saying, Nope.

Nope. If they learn to say, I'm not going to try the accent, Tchaikovsky, they're going to learn to say Uzo. Gosh, I love her mom. It's so badass. 

Kit: I love it. And now she's a mom herself. And I just think of all those traditions, um, that will be passed down to her daughter, and she knows her mom would tell her, 

Harper McDonald: Well done.

Kit: Well done. And the way she would say that, oh my gosh, I love that. Well done. Well done. What about Uzo being a, classically trained opera singer? Oh my [00:33:00] gosh. figure skater. Slash track star. Track star. I forgot she's a track star in college. I mean, 

Harper McDonald: those are literally like Halloween costumes, not something that people would excel in on every single level in just the earlier years.

I mean, 

Kit: the other thing that you and I really took from the interview, or at least I think we both did, is we've all been in those moments in our life. where we sort of think, like, okay, this has run its course. She's like, the universe has told me, this isn't it, Uzo.

It's time for the next thing. Like this acting thing. And then, Orange is the New Black hit, Crazy Eyes hit. I just love that moment. It's sort of like, stay with it. Listen to the signs, but sort of don't give up. 

Harper McDonald: Well, and you said it. Almost when you release it. Release it. When you release it, it will, come back and, it'll come back in just the right way it's 

Kit: so true. I feel like sometimes, I always say like loosen the grip on the bat and whenever you hold on too tight, you don't get a hit, right? Loosen the grip on the bat and things will come. And the universe will show up. It'll show up. Alright, well Uzo better send us a picture of that pumpkin carving.

I'm sure she did it well done. That's great. well, thanks, Uzo. I hope you guys liked that as much as we did. We'll see you next time [00:34:00] in the coop.