EPISODE 19: Rebecca Rankin

Erica Ehm chats with Rebecca Rankin about going from a modelling career to covering grisly crime scenes, how she landed her job at MuchMusic, and why a hot tub ended her video hosting career at VH1. Rebecca shares the behind the scenes story of interviewing the President of the United States, why her marriage to one of Hollywood’s top filmmakers fell apart, and how motherhood lead her to an unexpected career path.

Show Transcript

0:03

The guys from kiss have arrived this snuck in the back door to spend your whole life during the first few albums and

0:09

then suddenly everybody needs your attention.

0:11

Good vision of the vj a flashback on the career that made them who they are today. On this episode,

0:20

I know now that compared to a lot of people I know I was actually really fortunate. This

0:25

is Erica Ehm reinvention of the vj. Now, here's Erica Ehm.

0:31

Hi there. I'm Erica Ehm. And thank you so much for tuning into this episode of reinvention of the vj podcast. Also, I really want to thank you for subscribing to the show, assuming you have for leaving reviews Did you and for sharing the show on social media, I hope you did, and most importantly, to reaching out to me with feedback about the show. I mean, I just I love it. And it really, it means so much to the success of the podcast when all that comes together. So just like when I had to interview bands that much, I still do a ton of research for each episode of this podcast. And I actually enjoy going down the research rabbit hole discovering little tidbits about each person that I interview. So for today's guest, it was her LinkedIn profile that spoke volumes to me. It starts with her job as a reporter producer videographer for much between 1994 to 1999. It takes several really interesting career twists, sometimes through the Hollywood elite. And then it ends up with a masters of social work. interesting plot twist, right? On today's show, I'm chatting with Rebecca Rankin about her years in front and behind the camera. And I'm really looking forward to hear her story about how she chose the road less traveled to completely reinvent and do what she loves. But before we jump into that conversation, if this is your first time tuning into my podcast,

2:07

oh my god, there

2:08

are so many episodes that you've missed, you can go back and listen to. But for now, let me give you a bit of background reinvention of the vj is my unscripted and upclose conversations with the eclectic and much loved on air hosts that you may have grown up watching on muchmusic. While our personalities and approaches were often very different. There's one thing that we all have in common. Each of us played a small part in Canada's most influential pop culture platform. And then we left at different times for different reasons. But in the end, each of us set off on our next adventures. It is that story of what happens after much the reinvention, the resilience, the glam, the disappointments, the surprises, the struggles, and the perspective that really intrigues me, especially as I start to consider what might be next in my chapter of life. Right. And I'm sure the same thing goes for you. I'm hoping that while you listen to Rebecca and I chat, that you'll find some interesting ideas or insights into what it takes to get what you want in life, or reinvent or deal with tough times, because a lot of us are going through tough times right now. And maybe you will even redefine what successes so that you can apply that to your own life. And speaking of redefining I'm so excited to have this conversation with Rebecca rank. And thank you so much for joining in on this podcast. Hey, Rebecca.

3:48

Hey there. Thank you for having me. I feel so honored.

3:51

Rebecca,

3:52

I mean, you and I have we've never met in person did we? We did meet in person. Near the end of my tenure at much we were connected. Maybe by David Collins. I can't remember but ultimate connector. We had. We had a very, you know, short meeting but you and I, we kind of I was coming into much as you were going out so I knew you you didn't know me because I came in answering telephones for Denise and David.

4:23

So you said to me that you just listened to Denise downlands interview with me. Yeah, you were Denise downlands assistant to some degree. So what was listening to that conversation like for you?

4:38

I was very much her assistant. I mean, when I went into city TV muchmusic I applied for a job I sent Denise a resume because we I was coming from Vancouver grew up in Toronto, but I lived in Vancouver for a while and had worked at a place called the agency which booked tours for bands for bands. Yeah, and the agency and Sam fell Haldeman Feldman associates got together and Feldman took over the West Coast. The agency was just doing the East Coast. And Sam Feldman. I said, You know, I want to move back. I miss being around my family and stuff. I've been in Vancouver for a couple years. And he said, we'll go and talk to my friend in East donlin. At muchmusic. I was like, you know, Denise Tomlin. And so that was kind of my in. And I went from there, I sent her resume, and she happened to be looking for an executive assistant. And that was back in the days of answering machines. I dropped off the resume at the front desk with a, you know, a cover letter, saying, Let me drop some names right off the start. That was my first wife, Sam Feldman told me to call. And from there she and Dave kinds who's the Director of Operations at the time, we're looking for an assistant. So I went into that job, and was answering her phone. So listening to that interview, back to your question, listening to Denise talk. I mean, it just, it's astounding to me how, you know, she is so driven, but she was also very nurturing to all of us. When I came in, too much, you know, she was really all about she to teach me a lot. I knew nothing about television. And, you know, you just hit the ground running. And I was an assistant for a couple years, and sort of learn camera, but she really allowed me to use much music, honestly, like a, you know, a college like some people went to Ryerson, I was an executive assistant, for Denise donlin. So that really helps the listening. I mean, I was I was sort of touched, I like hearing her stories, and just all the stuff that she has done and accomplished. I mean, she's really been an amazing, amazing force. For women, for women. And just for you know, for Canada, I think just, you know, Canadians, and just for a lot of us to sort of look to and go like, Oh, yeah, you can get it done. And I really liked listening to the vulnerability when she was speaking with you. And she kind of lets down because sometimes you'll see like a professional, or you'll read something that's been done a professional interview, and, and you can tell that everybody sort of got their the professional close up, but she lets you in a little bit, and I liked that, you know, like, I didn't know anything about her childhood, and growing up with, you know, her dad, her dad was really strong, obviously. So, you know, that was interesting. You know, I thought your question, asking her about when she, you know, left Sony and that was the end of that chapter, just being able to say, Yeah, like, you know, your egos hurt, you're hurt. Like, it's, it's hard when you you know, leave a job. And it might not be your first choice, you know, although in the end, it ends up being the right thing for her. Right. So just keep moving. I think that's what I took from it.

7:43

Absolutely. And I think that a lot of us are having those experiences more so these days now than ever, as the world sort of implodes. And we're not just in the health crisis, that health crisis translates into employment, and career choices and reevaluating. And that's why I think this podcast is so timely, yes, we're going to go back and talk about the past and get all kind of nostalgic and hear your stories from back in the day. But I also want to understand the choices that you made, which were in many cases, very surprising to understand what the motivation was and how it worked out for you. Some things worked out well, some things not so well. And that's life. That's life.

8:31

You got it. You got to keep going. Right.

8:34

So all right, I'm going to go backwards. Okay. I know that you started off at much helping out Denise, and David kinds, but let's go in reverse. We're going to sort of go backwards. So you mentioned Vancouver, but you're from Toronto. So what drew you to Vancouver,

8:54

initially skiing Whistler. I had started working when I was 14, I did a milk commercial. I was kind of just picked up. I was getting my hair cut. One day a casting agent cast me in this milk commercial. And from then I just started when I was I was about to turn 15. But I was at the end of ninth grade. And he said, Come do this. And from there.

9:21

Wait a second. I'm stopping you. Okay. He didn't just say come do this, like, come on what really happened? You were getting your haircut. I was getting my hair cut. He

9:30

this man came up. It turned out that he was a casting agent. He said, you'd be perfect for a milk commercial that I have to cast for tomorrow. And I'm there thinking as a 14 year old girl being told don't talk to strangers especially don't talk to strangers if they say they want to take pictures of you. Things like now as a mother, I'm telling my own 15 year old daughter, like don't go with creepy people, you know? And he said, and he he goes oh well here's your here's my phone number. Why don't you come Here's the address. And I'm sort of going yeah, sure, whatever.

10:03

It was this casting agent.

10:05

I'm blanking on his name because I never saw him again. He wasn't actually even that. Well, he wasn't even at the casting. He was saying this one Yeah, well, okay, so but he did, but the guy who was actually changed my life who had me into the hair, who was cutting my hair was a guy. It was called Elmer Olson, it was Elmer Olsen's hair place and they were doing some pictures. They said, Oh, come and get a free hair cut. And you'll do some photos for us. So

10:32

something crazy. My son is with Elmer Olson models.

10:37

Well, Elmer used to have a hair salon. Right. That's how he learned. Yes. So he used to find girls who would be appropriate from you know, he was right in the middle of Yorkville. And so we'd all be sort of walking by and our, you know, coming home from school or whatever. So I was in there getting a haircut. An Elmer said, No, no, this guy's the real deal. They gave me his number in the address. And then the man said to me, you should have your mother call me. And I said, I said, Okay. So I went home that night, I gave the number to my mother, I explained what happened. And my mother had worked in advertising for mchem. Before, so she knew a little bit about, you know, the agency world. And so she called this man and they had a long conversation, he said, You should come with her. So we knew it was legit. He wasn't saying she needs to come all by herself or anything like that. And I went down, and I was in the middle of exams. My mother said, she doesn't have a ton of time, there's a big lineup. They let me skip the line. I just did a little, you know, bit. And then there was a few of us and there was a campaign for milk. We all had individual, like a TV ad and a billboard. And it would say irreplaceable milk. And then your replaceable the name of the person. So mine was Rebecca Rankin, and it was the summer of the 84 Olympics. And I was kind of jockey I was a high jumper and ran track. And so I guess people thought I was an athlete, which was so ironic, because I was just there in shorts and a tank top. So that happened in June, they went up in August. And by the time I started high school in September, my billboard was on top of the high school. So that was a bit of a nightmare, quite honestly, was not that like for you? I think it was, you count your blessings, right. So in hindsight, it was great, because I got the whole It was the beginning of an opportunity that I was able to travel and, you know, make some money and put myself through school, eventually, etc, etc. But at the time, you know, when you enter it, I was starting at a new high school, I'd been at an all girls school, wanted to go to my local public school get there and the billboard was right above the school. And I was just like, Oh, no. And you know, it's hard because

12:50

I was kids were up to you,

12:53

somewhere nice. But you know, you're 15. So you know, kids are kids, right? There's a lot of cattiness, you know, and I luckily one of the older guys who, I'm dating myself, but there was grade 13 at the time. And he was actually at my the same agency, I'd started with an agency at that point. And so he sort of took me under his wing, and I was his kind of little sister. So I had kind of a group. But there was a lot of girls who didn't like that, because I was now friends with the popular boys even though I mean, I was like my little sister, so but you get through it, and I think makes you tougher, right? In some ways,

13:32

and jealousy. Yeah. Jealousy

13:35

plagues.

13:36

A lot of us for sure. are most of us in some at some point in our lives. So what happened was, you went to get your haircut got spotted for this commercial? Yeah. You did the commercial. Did you have an agent at that time? Were you a model?

13:57

No, I didn't before. But as soon as I did, that Elmer Olson was very good friends with and he was sending a lot of girls to because he didn't have an agency he sent us to Judy Welsh. So Judy Welsh agency had a lot of young people who, you know, this is the middle of the 80s. Right. So they were, you know, we would go and we would, you know, work after school. You know, there's a whole crew of people and we did you know, the bay and, you know, at that time there was still Sears and you were

14:29

a working model

14:31

model, but I was a horrible actor. So I was always what they call SOC, silent on camera, the commercial, so I'd sit there and like, doo doo doo doo doo. But didn't say anything. They never gave me lions because I was horrific. And so I did that. And then you know, if you do that in the summertime, you usually go away. So you go they send you you go to Japan or you go to France. So you go to Germany or you go to a tube.

14:58

Yeah. So all This place yeah,

15:00

so I would get sent or I, you know, I chose to go. So all back to kind of by the time I got to Vancouver, I, you know, I was I went through high school was modeling the whole time, and then went to University of Toronto, U of T did a degree there. And by the time I was done, wait, what did you do your degree in history and poly sigh like a bachelor of arts? Yeah. But by the time I was done going to U of T, I felt like I was just burned out. I wanted a quote unquote, regular job. So I worked at roots for a bit, you know, got hired at roots, folding sweatshirts, and selling shoes. And that was lots of fun. And then I decided to move to Whistler just to get away from everything. So what

15:43

was it like working at roots folding shirts, were people not coming up to you and saying, aren't you Rebecca Rankin?

15:49

They did sometimes, you know. It was like, I really liked it, because I thought, you know, I, you'd work like a full eight hour shift. Feel like a real person. And, you know, I don't know, I hadn't had that experience. As crazy as it sounds. I mean, I worked I am certainly spent a whole lot of time working. But you know, when you go when you do a Bachelor of Arts, and you take a lot of you know, humanities courses, you become much more aware of the world out there, then I probably was in high school. And I remember a model agency. And by that time, actually, Judy had kind of retired and Elmer had sent me to Germany, this was at the end of u of t. And she and I went over to Germany, and this woman said, she called me in and I had skinned my knees, and I'd gone to a job and had these scars on my knees, rollerblading. And the client was very upset, because when I got there, I didn't know that they were that upset. But when I got there, they had to cover everything over with makeup. And I was like, Well, whatever. And so they call the agency, and she calls me and she said, Can you please take on your pants? I mean, now it's like, right. Now you're like, and I thought, you know, as a model, they would usually they'd sometimes feel like you had gained weight. And they'd be doing these, like, you know, these little checks, like touching your size to see if you were chunky and stuff like that. I thought was this a check to see if I've gained weight? And I, I said, What are you talking about? And she said, Okay, we'll just pull them up to your knees. And I had these jeans on, I pulled them up. And she said, she says, You've got scars on your knees? And I said, Yeah. And she said, You know what, I got a call from the client saying that that's really unprofessional. You're supposed to be doing the summer, you know, spray it with a catalog company, right? So you're supposed to bring the shorts. And I looked at her and I said, You know, I could be missing a leg sort of thinking about like people in different situations, because now I'm this scholar, you know, I have this humanities degree. And she said that she was you know, and she was very nice about it. Because I'm going to say to you, you It feels like you don't really want to do this job anymore. And I said, Hmm, I don't think I do. And she said, I think you should go and you should think about it. And if you want come back, we have to change the attitude. And I said, Okay, so I went it came back to Toronto, I got a job at roots. And I was so happy because I was just burned out on just having to look physically one way and be something all of the time. You know, I was in that rebellious, you know, in my teens, you know, you want to do whatever you want to do so.

18:26

But it also is, I think, challenging for a young woman to grow up or to be judged. And given accolades, because of how she looks.

18:39

Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. And I was, it's funny, I've been talking to my brother about this because he has a third grade girl, and she's very cute. And she doesn't really know it. But we're all making an effort because there's a tendency like oh my gosh, she's so you know, even, you know, you go and people and he said, you realize like when a girl's cute, people are always commenting on it. And he said, I don't think it's a good message. He said, I want them to say like, oh, aren't you smart? Her name's Ray. Aren't you smart? Like, aren't you clever? Instead, they're always like, Oh my gosh, you've got beautiful hair or too beautiful or something like that. And he's always saying like, I can see it's like probably really damaging. So you know, it's true. You don't you know, she's little.

19:24

And but yet you chose a career still in front of the camera? Yeah. Could you rolling your eyes, I can see you because we're doing this interview face to face on zoom. And you you, you still subjected yourself to a career where people will continue to judge you on the way you look. Yeah. And

19:47

I think I fought that. And you you know, I think you could probably attest to this as well. Right? So somebody said to me one time you know the guy I was dating I He said, you know, the women who are known for being smart intellectuals, he was actually, you know, at University of Toronto doing PhD. So he knew a lot of very smart people, intellectually smart. And he said, the people, the women that are known for being smart, always want to be prettier. And the women that are known for being pretty, you know, ie, you know, you're at muchmusic, like, or attractive or interesting, whatever it is that got you there always want to be smarter. And I thought, you know, that's so true. And I think I had I struggled with that for a very long time. And in some ways, you know, even you know, when I was at school, I mean, I was a pretty good student, but by the time I got to university, I was burned out. So I wasn't trying 100%. And that's part of probably why I went back to school as a mature student, because I was like, I need to go, and really focus and see if I can do you know, more schoolwork, you know, at a certain level, you know, and succeed. And, you know, because I needed to sort of show myself that as crazy as it sounds right.

21:03

not crazy to me whatsoever. Because I think that, you know, it's interesting when I was talking to people, you know, doing my research about, oh, I'm interviewing Rebecca Rankin. I don't know her really well. Give me feedback. And it was interesting that a lot of people said, Oh, she's so gorgeous. Or they said things like, men, Eric Clapton was all over her. And I could relate to that. Because there, they didn't mention how you were able to conduct an interview while shooting. You know, you were a videographer at the same time. So they weren't, no one mentioned that to me, nor did they mention the fact that you are a producer. That is not what comes to mind. Even though it is actually what made you so good at your job. Definitely, I

21:55

think, you know, going back too much, and city TV in general, because I worked for city for the news department for a bit too. That's actually how I got my start as a camera person. Because Steve hurlbut, who was the director of news, I worked for Denise and David during the week. And then he came in, he said, Oh, so and I've been going out with, you know, different people trying to learn camera on the side. And that's the beauty that was the beauty of that building is that if you wanted to do something, you could learn to edit, you can learn to you know, watch, you know, direct live shows, you could learn to interview, you could learn whatever you wanted to do if you wanted to put in the extra time. You know, Moses, I think and Denise they set it up like that for us. So we had places to go and you could aspire. And so I really wanted to do camera, I'd always been probably from back working in fashion, I was always really attracted to images and camera work. And so I ended up going out and learning how to do camera and and Steve hurlock came to me and he said, Listen, you can do you really want to do camera? Do you have a strong stomach? And I said, let me said well, you can do the overnight hot shots, which basically means your your shift is from midnight until 9am. And nothing really good happens in the middle of night in Toronto. house fires, it's, you know, home invasions, it's horrible accidents. It's, you know, drug deals. You know, it's the hard cost. I mean, there were suicides we'd go to I mean, it was hardcore stuff, and you have to shoot it. And I just kept on remember thinking like, if you look through the viewfinder, it's black and white. So I couldn't see. You know, really long did you do that for I did that for probably about eight months, I was so exhausted. So I started remember it was started in the winter. And then and then a spot came up at much. So now I knew how to do camera, right I interviewed you know, I had the you know, you're it's not videography, 100% but you know what much you don't have a sound person and citytv you're holding the mic and doing the camera and driving. So yeah, it's a little bit all over. And Denise then had a spot as a videographer. There was some movement at fax, which was the new show. And I guess maybe Monica was moving on to do something else. And Kathleen rasp took Monica spot as the main host. And then there was a videographer spot, maybe Larissa moved over. There was like a bunch of Laura golka moved over to the new music, like there's some shifting, and there was a videographer spot. And she said, do you want to do it? And I said, Sure. So I went back over to entertainment, and gave up my night shift. You know, you

24:37

must have been so happy.

24:39

Yeah. But you know, it's funny. I still look back on that time. And I think oh, Isn't it crazy? Because when things seem really tough, right when something's really hard for me a challenge in life right? And they don't come up all the time. But those those big things. I remember when I was doing those those first couple of months of going around the city. I mean, I didn't know where I was going, or all that stuff, I would get really scared. Getting to that, you know, thinking like, Oh my gosh, what am I getting into now? Like, I don't want to see somebody who's dead on the concrete from a motorcycle accident. And I would just think, okay, you just have to get through this minute by minute, you know, living in the present. And still to this day, I look back on that time, when something seems makes me feel really uncomfortable. And I'm like, not as bad as that. You know? not as scary as that was, because that's scary. You're in the middle of the night and you're by yourself, right?

25:36

I can't even imagine you. Are you replaced? Denise donalyn is my new hero like that is how old we are when you did that.

25:47

I must have been I probably started when I was about 2025 25. Yeah. But I have to say, you know, you get out there and there was a bunch of other videos, CTV had a camera man out there. CBC would have a camera. They were always men. Some of them are freelancers. And those guys were amazing. Even at city there was some of the guys there. At the very beginning. There's a man named Pedro. I was like, that's like wonder where Pedro. But he was really good about helping me and teaching me and be like, you're gonna be fine. And everybody's really supportive. You know, it's interesting

26:24

that you did that job and that you mentioned that it was mostly men, because that's what I was thinking. Yeah.

26:29

There. There were.

26:30

I think there was Sheila, there was a woman in

26:35

camera. Yeah. Well, she high enough up in the ranks by that point that she was not going anywhere near a graveyard shift. Yeah, right. Like she was working. She was good. And then, right around the same time, there was a woman named Cynthia Mulligan, who course worked at Citi. And then she, and she was doing she was into daytime camera, and then she became a videographer. Right? Like, I think she is

26:59

a producer or star now. Yeah, he's one of the top reporters. And so

27:03

Okay, see, I Oh, yeah, we got back to Toronto. So climatized to the

27:09

check out, check out Twitter. Okay, look her up. Say hi. Tell her that I sent you. And you will see she is quite ferocious. Amazing. She's amazing. She like you is a gorgeous blonde. So I think probably has been underestimated. Yeah.

27:28

She was a camera woman. Right. She knows how to work that camera as well. So

27:33

there was something about city TV and much music that was decidedly unsexiest. where women were given the same chances as men. Am I right? Or do you have a different memory?

27:46

No, absolutely. I mean, I it's interesting, because we've gone through in the last few years, this me to movement, how to present. And, you know, I have, you know, I'm still close with Kathleen rasp. And she and I have had this conversation. And, you know, it was decidedly unsexiest while still being a relatively sexy environment. You know, like, I'm not going to tell you that city TV muchmusic was completely politically correct, right. I mean, this was the 90s. And so there was like a lot of, you know, people flirting and maybe inappropriate comments and things like that. Maybe? Yeah, I didn't at the time, you know, and a lot of women from my generation go like, gosh, I mean, I didn't even know like, we're sort of ignorant because it just happened. Like, you know, you you'd wear a miniskirt and somebody would comment on how much they like the miniskirt. And if that person happens to be your superior, it's like, Okay, oh, that's bad. You know, it would never happen now. Right. But I think that it was, that's the beauty. And I think that's probably Moses's vision is that he took different people. And just I guess, even behind the scenes and in front of the camera, and it was just like, if it was unlikely, Cynthia Mulligan Rebecca Rankin holding a big EMG camera, and being a camera person and lugging all the gear if that was unlikely, he loved it. and that in turn opened doors for us. That got us, you know, to where, you know, we ended up going right gives us opportunities. Right? So he made us think outside the box, which I am forever grateful

29:26

for 100% Yeah. And I am also grateful for having been given this incredible platform that I built my persona, my personality on and then have used my skills from back in much to build a whole bunch of other things. Yeah, yeah. Is that true for you? like have you have the things that you learned picked up at muchmusic Have you been able to apply those skills to to your future jobs that are not on camera? So obviously, when you were moved to VH, one, for example, of course, you have learned your on camera skill goes, Yeah, you've done many other things that were not specifically on camera. Did your time that much in any way help you in unusual careers?

30:18

Well, first of all, I want to say that I don't know if anybody can hold a flag to where you have gotten to, you know, with all of the platforms and the different, you know, you've got your, your fingers in a great way into so many different pots, it seems right. So you've been able to sort of capitalism, to me, it's amazing that you've been able to take a media career that began in the 80s, right? And, you know, and then built on it, and built on it and built on it and built and now you've got this, you know, this platform, this branding, this influencer, job persona, you know what I mean? career, right, which is very in keeping with 2021. But it's like you're built on, that's a pretty remarkable feat, because I'm not going to tell you that I don't think that's easy, I think a lot of us would get stuck. It's sort of like with me with a cell phone, and we get a new cell phone, and my kids are like, just give it to me, I'll set it up for you. You know, it's like, as much as I want to be the savvy person, I'm still a little bit stuck on the Oh, we have to do it this way. We have to do this way. And my kids can jump and you have been you've seemed to have grown along with the technology, you've kept pace, which is amazing. I think the biggest skill and again, Denise touched on this, which I think I was thinking it's so true. You asked Denise a question. You said, What is the Is there anything that everybody who's on air at muchmusic had in common when she was interviewing, choosing talent? And she said I think curiosity, right? And I thought that is so true. Right? So that's that curiosity that muchmusic allowed me to sort of foster I had that before I grew up in a family where my father was, I used to call it nosy, but could be curious. I mean, we could ride on a subway and my father would have sat beside some man from, you know, Turkey. And by the end of the subway ride going from like, you know, King where his office was up to Eglinton or Lawrence. And my father would have figured out from this guy exactly where his next vacation was going to be starting in Istanbul and where he was going to vacation to all just information he got from some man on the subway. And so I grew up in that family that was curious or nosy, however you want to phrase it. I think that curiosity carries over to so many different fields, right? And I always say to my kids, it's like, you can ask questions, be friendly, you don't want to be like to in somebody's face, but show an interest in other human beings. So that's a big, huge quality, I think. And I think much allowed me that that skill, and the ability to sort of speak to people in different situations, has come through. And so I'll give you a great example. I went from obviously, interviewing musicians and entertainers, people who are there to usually sell a product to into the world of social work. And now I'm interviewing families, and you know, maybe children or caregivers or educators or doctors, and you know, you're putting together a court report that's going to be presented to a judge. And so those skills come out, because I have a little bit of an ability, I would hope to sort of kind of connect really fast I somehow I'm able to break that down. I think that comes from the skills for much music, right? Because you sit in it, you know, if they say, guess what, you're interviewing Mick Jagger, and you have five minutes, right? You know, those little tiny tidbits, those kinds of percent, and you have to you have to hit the ground running, you have to be able to win that person over if you're going to get it fast. And so those skills carry over into a lot of things. And I think social work is a big one, when you're, you know, I used to work and do you know, court reports for people in different situations and being able to win over caregivers and try to figure out relatively quickly what maybe the child needs as an advocate or what they think the educational issues are, whatever it is. It's a great skill. Yeah, yeah.

34:30

So let's talk about interviews back in the day, everyone, I'm sure asks you Do you have a favorite interview from back at much and I want to ask it a little differently. Yeah. Is there someone that you interviewed, that taught you something that you still keep with you, but someone that that the conversation really stuck with you or they stayed in your life even that you became friends with people like I'm just curious, I don't care about the cool People are more interested in the ones that you went a little deeper with,

35:05

or that you connect with right like I, I've watched your Kurt Cobain interview. And there's a definitely you know, Kurt Cobain could not have been an easy interview, especially at that time, right. I mean, that, to me would have made me nervous. Um, but you connected with him. And I was like, Wow, she really got in there fast. And I think it's the question about the book, right? Favorite book? Because that was, that's not what everybody else was asking him. Right. So that was what you know, because you had the show and your books. And, you know, so there was that? Hmm. So I think in terms of like, sort of unexpected, you know, she's an older artist, she's not necessarily Top of the Billboard charts. But I remember I had a choice between a kind of a pop sensation. It was fact I was doing it for facts. And there was two interviews on a Saturday one was a pop sensation, that very, like, you know, top of the charts, you know, of the moment that you knew everybody was soon as they knew that interview was coming. They were gonna watch it right, like, so that would have been like, kind of the choice. And then the other person was Patti Smith. And I chose Patti Smith, because I just loved Patti Smith and I went to her hotel room. She's very, I mean, I was very intimidated, right? Because that could have gone really wrong. I felt like she's, she's tough. She's like, No joke, but I really sort of admired her. I was sort of curious about her. And I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go with Patti Smith one. And she came in I had the camera we sit down on the floor, she says she's suggest Can we sit on the floor was a hotel room, it's the same old You know, you're in this sort of bland hotel rooms. So we sit there and she's right by the window, sort of Allah your Kurt Cobain on the porch, in the balcony. And Patty's there, and we just had this amazing conversation. And that will always stick with me because I loved the fact that she was, to me an icon. She could have been, like a complete nightmare, quite honestly. She's definitely an artist, but she warmed and she was made me feel so at ease. And she was, she seemed to sort of really appreciate from like, female to female, Woman to Woman. You know, here's this younger woman. She's trying to make it. She's doing this camera on her shoulder holding the mic. This cannot be easy. And she was amazing. So that always sticks with me. Yeah.

37:31

What did you say to her? Do you remember what you said to her? That opened her up?

37:38

I don't think it's what I said to her. I walked in, and I kind of broke down right away. With all my gear, it was like the winter time I was like, okay, and she was like, Huh, and I think she appreciated the fact that I was all by myself. I didn't have like a lighting and makeup person. And I didn't have an audio person. And I didn't have a producer, and all the things that she would have been getting. I didn't even know this, but she would have in the States, but interviewed by people who came with, you know, a whole crew of you know, 567 people. And, you know, because I know I do, I figured out that other world when I worked at VH. One, like, oh, there's another side to it.

38:14

Why did you leave muchmusic um,

38:18

I always had wanted to live in New York. I was about to turn 30 when I left. And I just felt like, you know, I have to if I'm going to try it, I'm going to try now. You know, and just go you know, much. I think I had gotten to where I could go there. You know, I really liked doing facts and doing news. I actually didn't think when I first started trying to talk to people in New York about getting a job that I would get a job. And then it just happened.

38:50

Like so who did you reach out to when you said you were talking to people in New York.

38:54

I reached out to Alan Greg, and he actually I guess there was a there was something going on between MTV and trying to come to Canada and he was kind of the Canadian liaison. I'm not sure. But I knew that he had something to do with MTV. And so he made a couple of calls for me. And he said, yeah, if you want to interview with my, you know, with my friend, he, what he did was he called john Sykes it, and or VH one, and then he called somebody else at MTV. And I went in and interviewed with both of them. And did and they're all it's all the same company. But there was two different divisions, right. So I went in, and then I had to sort of figure out what I wanted to do. And at the time, I really liked behind the music. So I chose the h1, you know, and I thought MTV, if I go there, I'm kind of at the end of the age range. You know, because I was 29 I thought, I want to have some longevity. So I chose VH one which was great.

39:53

So that tendon

39:54

and in terms of learning from this, yeah, you'd never works. You use your network to get you in? Do you do that a lot? Is that a useful skill for you?

40:09

I guess. Yeah. I mean, I've just told you two examples getting the job at muchmusic through Sam Feldman, who I just knew through, you know, being at, you know, places watching bands, and Sam would be there watching his bands. And so I got to know him a little bit. And Alan, Greg, I didn't know well, but you know, again, part of my extended extended network. So yes, I think that's a, I think those are really, those are good skills. I didn't look at it the time as networking, I was just kind of, I really want to move to New York, how can I pull this off? You know, that was my mindset?

40:45

Well, I think if you were to ask me, yeah, what do all the x v J's have in common? I would say it's a fearlessness to go after what they want. Because it was an intimidating job. And yet, we went for it. And I think that if I look at your career, actually, your life, you keep on making things happen by being proactive. Nobody for VH, one called, you know, into them, said, here I am. I'm going to do this. And I'm going to tell you why I'm the right person.

41:23

Right, right. No, that's a good point. That's a good way to put it, I do think you bring up the idea of this this commonality that we have, and I think if you think back to being at muchmusic, and interviewing the number of interviews that you do when you're at a muchmusic, as you know, when you're on the floor as a vj, for example, or I was at fax, you do, you're doing one at least one a day, right? And you're churning this out. And inevitably, there's going to be glitches almost daily, because you can't control the person you're interviewing the record label or whatever. So you don't know. Yeah, exactly. They could be a good builder of admin, right? Yeah, you could, you know, the camera could work the camera could not like there's always going to be these glitches. So you learn to be a little bit more resilient. And I think as a result, you get a little bit of a thicker skin, right? So even though I'm a relatively sensitive person, when it comes to professional stuff, I am pretty good at the rejection. Because I always say it's like, you know, I've been kind of knocked down like, lots, you know, and I'm not gonna say like, oh, hard knock life. Like I haven't had a really tough, tough time. I mean, I've been, you know, I'm extremely privileged. Right. And I've had lots of good luck. And I've had lots of people helping me. And like you said, I have an extended network. And that's, that's a privilege, right that I have been afforded, and built and built. But I do think that you also, you know, you're not doing the same job every day. So you get used to, like, well, I'll just try. And if it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Like it never really occurred to me that, you know, if it doesn't work, I didn't really think about what Plan B was going to be. It wasn't very, nothing was very planned out. It was just like, well, I'll try and we'll see what happens, you know.

43:11

So what is the difference? When you're I'm always I've always been curious, I've never been able to ask anybody. What was it like working at the H one slash MTV, as compared to much music.

43:24

so different? so different? I mean, you tell me. So you get to the States. And first of all, you appreciate all of the stuff that you have learned in Canada. And by that, I mean, it's just because we, again, as Canadians you working in broadcast, you have to know how to do stuff, right? You can't just be reading a teleprompter. And I was so thankful when I got there. And I think I got the job. I know, I got the job because of that, you know, there's a whole lot of women who would just go in and audition for them, but they didn't know music, you know, they didn't know production, they didn't know anything. Whereas, you know, if you're coming out of muchmusic, City TV, you know how to produce TV by the time you move on. Right. So I think that I appreciated having those skills. And I think that people respected me more for it. Which was great. I also think that I was able to probably problem solve on the go. And I think that my bosses appreciated the fact that you know, they didn't need to babysit me all the time. Right? Because really, by the time I got to the h1 I mean, as much as I you know, had a work visa, right, because I had to go in as you know, as talent, but I was talent and producer, because you had to prove from my visa that there was nobody in the states who could do my job. And you think that sounds crazy coming from Canada but there's not. You either have talent there. Or you have the people behind the camera. That producer

45:00

Right. You're also the irreplaceable Rebecca Rankin, you can't be replaced there.

45:08

Well, evidently, I haven't been replaced. There's lots of people out. Um, yeah,

45:15

I think that that's what I want to know is what was it? Like? I mean, did you get baby? Did you know, like that much. We were just working on the floor with everybody else. And we had to do our own research and our own makeup and our own wardrobe and all that kind of stuff. I know. And when you got to the h1, which is the big time, how is it different?

45:42

Okay, so yeah, you have a makeup artist, you have a hair person you have, you know, a full on board, you have a wardrobe budget that the wardrobe people go out and buy you all these beautiful clothes. And, you know, I would love to have that wardrobe budget now. Right. You know, and it's, it's funny, because VH one and MTV, let's call it MTV Networks. They are one entity that falls under Viacom right at the time, especially. I, there, you're getting a whole lotta stuff thrown at you, right? So people are, you know, taking on trips, and you know, you're going to Super Bowl and you're staying in this hotel, because so and so's paying for it and whatever, you know, so there's a lot of that, right? Nobody really care, perks, the perks. nobody really cares. Then after VH one, I went to W abc news, right, which is ABC, New York, right? And when you get there, they are very strict about perks. In other words, if somebody gives you a lip gloss, forget about you cannot take that lip gloss. You're not supposed to because you're doing now news, right? So there's two different sides to it, but definitely an entertainment. Yeah, there's a lot of perks. It's you know, it's lots of fun. And it's a much they work you really hard meaning you have a lot of hours where I you know, just because I was on salary. But you're not having to do all the like, you do research, but people are handing you a package of research, right? They've got like, some stuff that they you know, and I knew enough because I was doing music. I knew enough about the questions, the artists and stuff like that. But certainly there's teleprompters. There's a whole bunch of stuff, right? You know, yeah. And I used to go in and rewrite all my copy because I didn't like that it was so stayed on the teleprompter. I'd be like, No, no, I need to rewrite this. And they were like, what? No, but the producer wrote it. And I was like, No, no, no, no, no, no. I have to do it. Because otherwise, I felt it seemed unreal. And I didn't like the way it sounded in the way it looks when I would watch any tape back. Yeah, you

47:53

just hit the nail on the head in some ways, because what I think about the difference between something like MTV VH one and much music was the authenticity. And people still talk about that. To me today. Where you guys were so you. And then when you look at them a mainstream broadcaster like VH one or or MTV, it's it felt it felt. And that's what I'm curious about. More scripted, less personal.

48:22

Yes, yeah. Because often they're choosing people, not for their love of music. And let's go back to the day when those channels were all about music. They're choosing them because they are Sports Illustrated model, or they are an actor who's got a new show on CBS. So now they're going to do the video throws, you know, they're going to do flow for the next four hours or whatever, right? And they've just written copy, and they have a producer and they read from a teleprompter and then they go home. Right. So that's definitely different. I mean, like I said, I had a contract, which was partly a visa and immigration issue. I had to have a contract. But a lot of those people just come in and they do reads. Right. And they are just, you know, talent, so to speak, and then they go home or they go to their other jobs. They all had other jobs. I mean, I worked with for a long time I worked with Linda Lopez, JLo sister, little sister, and we had a show together and you know, Linda would leave our show, and go back to another radio show that she was doing. Right. But, you know, then I would go on and do more interviews. Like she just had the one show and she would just do the prompter and then leave, right. And her you know her her really well. She really wanted to do news and she ended up doing is that was her thing. She didn't you know, who was just because she was JLo sister, and it was you know, the year 1999 2000 everybody wanted J Lo sister on air, right? So that's how they're choosing people a lot. And if they're smart, you know people will take advantage of that. Use it like Linda did as a stepping stone to what they want to do. Right.

50:05

You know, you used your or the fact that you are in quotation marks smart, because you ended up doing an interview with Clinton. you interviewed the president.

50:19

I know. Yeah. That was good. He was Yeah. Yeah. Like, what

50:22

was that, like there? Was there a lot of pressure on you at that

50:25

time? They never been so nervous in my life. You know, and you know, who came right before me? We were in a public school. So it was a VHS, VHS one, I used to have something called save the music. And, at the time, VH one, the man who was running bH one as a guy named john Sykes, and he was very good friends with the Clintons. And we would do concerts at the White House. It was like crazy. Now looking back, you know, in honor of each one. So that's, you know, you brought up Eric Clapton before, like Eric Clapton would play and Sheryl Crow would play and we'd all be at the White House on the lawn. Doing these.

51:00

Cool. That's cool. We're cool.

51:03

So he, yeah, it was, I didn't even really, I mean, I knew it was fun. Because like, you know, I was like, oh, like, This is fun. I had to go through serious like Secret Service to, to get here. But then Bill Clinton came to New York, and he went to a public school out in the Bronx. And he was set up there for a day, and he was gonna do save the music, because they have put a lot of money saved music, put money into this school, to have the orchestra and there was a lot of research, there is a lot of research saying that, you know, when kids learn music, there's actually a connection between music and math, music and science, like, you know, these are all building blocks, right? So you want to teach kids, you don't want to just cut arts out of their education, because those actually help them. It's number one and escape from the regular curriculum. But, you know, when we got into brain formation down the road, it was helping them. So Bill Clinton comes along, he's doing this interview. And the today's show was there as well. So Matt Lauer was in the room beside me all set up. And he was going first I was thinking got to have to follow Matt Lauer. But I'll tell you, it's wild because American presidents in my father said this to me going in, he said, Oh, you wait. American presidents are like you've never met anybody who can schmooze like an American president. Right? Like, they are very charming, because that is a lot of what they do is charm, right? They're not they're not in the House of Commons, you know, building up their debating skills and getting to the top of their party, they don't have to have any of that, as we've just seen, right? They can, but they don't have to have that you're usually incredibly charming. And Bill Clinton is the charming issed of charming, right. And so he comes in, within 30 seconds, he kind of takes control of the interview in the best way possible. And puts me completely at ease. And it was a great interview, not because I did a good job, but because Clinton is a master at getting the message and the vibe that he wants for his, you know, his media, I mean, you know, the king of the kings, right? And then I did meet him another year or two later. And it was another VH. One, save the music. And at the time, there had been like, you know, there's lots of stuff about Clinton, obviously. And he was kind of at the end of his tenure, and he walks up the back of a school and he my cameraman, the mic was already running. And it was just going to be a standing interview very quick. EMG. So the mics running, and they because we knew he was coming, and they said, Okay, he's coming. He's coming now, you know, and producers are getting the call. And he walks up and all you hear the cameras not pointing at him. Yeah, cuz you don't want to point at the guy until, you know, are we ready? But the audio and so on the tape here. It's nice to see you again. I can't even do the accent. But my camera was like, How does he know you? so well. I interviewed him before. He didn't remember me, obviously one of his aides and said like she's interviewed you before like, you know, they're they've got people telling them that. But you know, again, super charming, right?

54:05

He may have remembered you though? I

54:07

mean, I don't think so.

54:08

And he may watch, he may have watched the h1 because he was a big music fan. Yeah. So he might have,

54:17

he might have he's also very you know, what people forget about Clinton, is that he was a Rhodes Scholar, you know, he's a very smart man. So he might have one of those crazy memories. My son's got that crazy memory. He's not a Rhodes Scholar, but he's got this. He remembers everybody's name from preschool.

54:35

So my career so much.

54:37

I'm not good at remembering people.

54:40

I'm interviewing somebody and go

54:44

Okay, so you were moving along on her twisting and turning career. You gave up a cushy job at VH one, or did they kick you out what happened?

54:55

So a combo we change job which I had a contract, so to speak. Similar to what Denise, you know, was talking about, obviously, different jobs, but I had just signed a contract, I had like two years left. Everything was good for like the first year, and then my boss and the people who kind of surrounded me, who had brought me in what you find a lot, you know, in certain positions, they all of a sudden were gone. You know, they were moved out their contracts, they were probably paid out on their contracts, and they were all of a sudden gone. And we got a whole new crew of people. And I remember, when you get to VH, one, there's like, MTV is God, these people who are like, they're sort of like talent managers, I forget, the real title is, but they basically, if your talent, they'll help you with things, right. They kind of advocate for you and stuff like that. They would also do the casting, you know, when if they're getting new talent. And I remember one of the women say, I think you should get your butt over to the other building, you know, in Times Square, because we work just up the street, I think he should get over there and do a little schmoozing with the new boss. And I was kind of like, what, what do you mean, like I like PA, then it came to my attention that they wanted us to do the people who were there to go on some sort of spring break thing, and I was supposed to do my interviews from a hot tub. Oh, here we go. And I was like, What? I'm not doing your job, I do news. My contract says that I'm a news person. You know, I do interviews standing up or sitting in chairs. And so I kind of balked at that. I guess the people around me told, you know, probably said, Well, she doesn't want to do a hot tub to feel comfortable doing a hot tub. And you know, and that was kind of like the beginning where I was like, Oh, this isn't going to work out. And at the same time, we'd also come through September 11, a few months before all this went down. And I had started to get some calls from some other because I had done something after September 11. I was stuck in LA when it went down. And so I did a some stories as I drove back to New York, because I lived in New York, but I was in LA. So I drove back. And I got a couple of news channels, local news channels, who had called me and said, Hey, are you interested in working for us? Because now I'm doing news, I wasn't really doing entertainment for that week. So got a couple of people that were calling I had, you know, an agent working for me. And he made some calls. He said, Well, she's in a contract that she's just signed. So she can't really like, you know, do anything. But you know, like, he kept them on the radar. And then within a couple of months, we had these new job bosses. And I was just like, I'm not doing it. I'm not doing the hot tub. And one particular person didn't like that he was then gone. It turned out like eight months after I was gone. But he said, Well, you have a choice, you can do the hot tub, or you know, that's the, you know, the metaphor for you, you can do it my way. Or we can figure out a way for you to move on. So I was like, Okay, well, I'll move on, you know, that was kind of the that was the end. So I guess I could have stayed if I did the hot tub. But I also had this, you know, 911 really kind of shook me up in terms of like, wow, what am I doing? I feel like it's time for me to do something else. I feel like maybe this isn't what I want, you know, just it felt meaningless, interviewing popstars at that point, and I don't think it's meaningless at all now, but it was just a phase that I went through. Where I was like, No, I think I should do something, you know. And I wanted to do these feature pieces with regular people, you know, so I went over to news, my, the guy who I was working with, he was really good about figuring it out. He made some calls. And I actually got to leave early for this other gig. So everybody was happy.

59:07

Amazing. And so that gig you were suddenly doing not hard news? No, no lifestyle pieces,

59:15

right? They call it is a feat, what they call a feature reporter and I took over for another woman who was moving over. I think she went to the morning show. But she was Yeah, she already like it was kind of a franchise that was set up already. It's called life around here. So that was great. I mean, it was really interesting. It was like the five boroughs of New York. And you would just go I mean, we would do everything from you know, like the last guy who was delivering milk door to door in New Jersey. And you would do you know, Ronald McDonald House and talk to you know, families who were, you know, in from, you know, maybe the Midwest or something as they were going through cancer treatments with their children. This

59:57

would have been a job that your dad would probably have done. Love to do? Yes,

1:00:01

yes. My dad would have loved it. Although my dad isn't the type of person who would stick to the prompter. You know what I mean? He marches to his own drum. So, yeah, yeah, there might have been

1:00:17

a little bit of that, though. in you, Rebecca.

1:00:20

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think looking back, like I was thinking with you, I wanted to know from you, you know, if there were things that you sort of a cliche, but things you know, now that you wish you had known when you were back at muchmusic. And you know, what you can eat? I want you to answer for me, but I was thinking, you know, if I was coaching a young Rebecca, I'd be like, maybe you don't have to just take the hard road. Maybe you could go along a little bit with the hot tub plan. You know what I mean? Like, I don't know, but maybe not the hot tub. But maybe I could have gone over and made nice with the new boss, as opposed to be like, you wanted to get our hot tub, I'm not gonna be nice to you, you know, I always sort of dug in. And maybe that wasn't the smartest way to do things. But you know, you live you learn?

1:01:12

Well, you also have principles and values, and you are in touch with them. So you have, I think I, to me, I have respect for those decisions. But I understand that, what you're saying is you stood up for what you believed in, and now you're like, man, I missed out on all those perks. What was I doing? You know, that kind of thing. But not just that. I

1:01:35

mean, I think that you could still stick up for your principles. Like it, you know, you have these, these ideas, but maybe just go about it and a little bit more, like a softer way to be. Yeah, there's certain i think that

1:01:54

that does come with age and wisdom. Right. And I think that, you know, you as a Master of Social Work, might know this fact. But our our strong emotions last I think 20 to 40 seconds.

1:02:06

Yes. Yeah.

1:02:08

So we as you if once you know that, and you're in a situation where you feel your temperature going up, and for whatever reason, walk away.

1:02:19

Yeah, no, no, don't say a word.

1:02:21

Yeah. And think about it. Yeah. And thanks to somebody, and then answer was,

1:02:27

yeah, no, so true. So true. Like now I write emails to myself. I don't even put in who I'm supposed to be who I'm writing to. And I just leave them in my draft box. Because I know I probably, you know, demean them sort of, like, you know, if you only want to send this in 24 hours, you can send it that's my role, but don't send it right now. You know, if something is is irking me, you know, but yes, so that's, that's what?

1:02:54

I'd like you to be my BFF By the way, even though we never really hung

1:02:57

out. I just, I really like you. when when when can we go for we have like some wine when the whole world opens up. That's right.

1:03:06

Yeah. Okay. So let's, let's talk about how you met your now ex husband. Oh, my gosh. Well, you have to tell me because that's Hollywood royalty. Like, come on.

1:03:17

He lived in LA. I did not live in LA. And I had just started that job at W ABC. So I had no plans on moving. You were in New York. I was in New York. Yeah. But I would do, you know, through work, I was doing various video shoots. And there was a company, a production company that was was actually Michael Bay's Michael Bay, being a movie director. He had done Pearl Harbor, I guess it was and he done, he was doing a video shoot. And I was sent to like, middle of nowhere, Texas, to cover this video shoot. And his producer was a guy named Scott and Scott. And I became friends because I had to sit around and wait, you know, most of the day to get my interviews. And so Scott was there and he and I would talk and Phil we became friends. And then we ended up I guess he came to New York a couple of times with you know, just different people. He's like, he and his wife, his kids, like we all went for dinner. And then he caught an eye. Oh, and he used to make fun of the guys I was dating. And he said, Oh, you have to stop dating these like these guys. And I said, well, then you find out what was wrong with guys. There was there was nothing wrong with them. They were all super nice and lovely and sweet. It was just that, you know, they were partying a lot and they maybe we're like not taking life too seriously. And he was like you need somebody who's gonna like you can sort of have a future with and like an adult basically. You know, that was the idea. So he Scott came to New York. He said, Oh, my friends here. It turned out. It was my ex husband now the father of my children Yana. And he said, You and Yana should meet on a bike, like go out for a drink. I said, Oh, no, I don't do blind dates. And he said, he goes, come on, come on. And he's like, I can't do it, or I'd come with you. And I said, No, no, I don't do blind dates. And he said, Listen, he's already got a girlfriend. So it's not really a blind date. And so that one me All right, that Oh, there's no pressure. So he Janusz and I went out yonder is called me. I avoided the call at first and then I called him back, and we went out, we had a great time. And then we just kind of never parted. He moved to New York. And that was the end of it.

1:05:42

Yeah. You just moved to New York for you.

1:05:45

He moved to New York. He was so young, he makes movies. He's a filmmaker. He's a director of photography cinematographer. And

1:05:52

he was named drop a little mammal namedrop Come on.

1:05:57

yonder. She is a cinematographer who has done a bunch of movies for a bunch of different directors, but his primary director that he works with is a guy named Steven Spielberg. And Steven hire deonar. She Yana is, came from Poland, in the mid 80s, actually defected. And when Steven had to do Schindler's List, which, of course, was shot in Poland. He found Yana ash and took him with him to make sure there's less so that was their first project together. And they've made every movie together since that Stephens directed. So, you know, from there, you had a Private Ryan and Alma Stodden. At the time, when I met you honestly, just finished Catch me if you can. And he had a little break. So he moved to New York. And we spent a year, you know, he was doing commercials, and I was working at WEC, and you know, we were there. And then we ended up moving back to California because he had another movie that he had to do there. And we were thinking, like, you know, we make things more serious. And we ended up going back and then getting engaged. And that's what happened.

1:07:09

And the rest is history.

1:07:11

And you have babies. Yeah, twins, twins that are not babies anymore. Yeah, so they are boy girl. And, yeah, they were born in California. And Yana she, of course, he still lives in California. And we have moved the kids and I have recently moved back to Toronto, largely because of this pandemic. I just really wanted to be an in person school, you know, because they need that. My son has some disabilities that really affect his learning, and especially his school functioning. So he just really, right now he's doing online school, of course, distance ed. But, you know, I'm looking forward to another couple of weeks and they go back because he needs that he needs to be

1:08:02

there was every every teacher on the planet. Okay, so here's, I want to go back to your LinkedIn. Yeah, please. So I started off the our interview with LinkedIn. And now I'm going to talk about another linked in submission. Parent CEO, the professional sabbatical dates employed 2005 to 2011 employment duration, six years. Location, Los Angeles raised twins, one with special needs, volunteered at willows, community school and various programs, including library community outreach, fundraising and yearbook photography, volunteered at Park century school as class parent for three consecutive years. Park century teaches children with moderate to severe learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, and neurobiological disorders such as ADHD. I think it is brilliant that you put that into your LinkedIn. Why did you do that?

1:09:08

Because I had this huge gap in employment. You know, I had done some I had produced a little bit like I produced a small film for a really good friend of mine or short. You know, my kids were, I don't know two years old. But other than that, you know, they were full on. I mean, we moved to Los Angeles. I moved to Los Angeles, they were born in Los Angeles. I don't have family there. We didn't have a support system. You know, their dad doesn't have family there. So it was kind of me their dad works and film. He has gone for eight, nine months of the year. Oh, we would go when they were really little I would go often with them. But once they started school, you know, kids can't travel when they're so he'd be gone on a movie and then commercials and here and there. And so, you know, it's like you're going okay, I just be here. It just for two parents to be doing jobs where they're not necessarily going to be home that night. I just was like, You know what, I tried way too hard to get pregnant to do that. And so I felt like I have to put something in this, you know, in here in this like break of time, right. So that's why I put it in there.

1:10:19

So you had trouble getting pregnant? Yes.

1:10:23

Yes. Oh, man. Yeah.

1:10:24

You know, we spend our lives on all kinds of birth control, and every kind, we take every kind of precaution. And then when we're ready, we're go Come and get me. Yeah, yeah. And the world laughs Yeah.

1:10:37

Yeah. And, you know, I, there was, you know, sort of other contributing factors. But, and I know now that compared to a lot of people I know, I was actually really fortunate. But, boy, you're so right. You know, I spent all my time in my 20s being like, oh, no joke. I'm not bringing it up not bringing the guy in a boyfriend. You know, I was so careful. You know, and then all of a sudden, it was time, and I didn't have to be careful. And it was a lot harder than I expected.

1:11:08

But safe to say that motherhood completely changed your life?

1:11:12

Oh, absolutely. Does it not change? Everybody's?

1:11:15

Oh, 100%. Yeah, yeah. Not everybody admits it.

1:11:19

Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, no, no, no, it completely changed. Not just the motherhood, but just, I guess, you know, parenting. So again, I am in a very fortunate position where, you know, my, my, my children's father makes a really great living, and he's able to provide support to us. But that's financial. And other than that, I'm kind of doing, you know, the 24, seven, you know, support for them. And so that is, it's like, you know, kids are, I guess, different people have different experiences. But, you know, my kids are a lot of, there's a lot of stuff going on, you know, there's a lot of driving and a lot of doctors and a lot of me and all the stuff that you talk about, you know, you know, on your website, and what you've talked about in your mummy, yummy mommy club. It's just, it's over the top. There's a lot of stuff. So

1:12:13

yeah, yeah, and, and not only the amount of time and heart that we put into our kids. But that time is time that we don't apply to our own lives. And so for many of us, we put our lives on the backburner and dedicate that time to raising our kids. And I feel like this, what you wrote on LinkedIn says that I, my job became taking care of my kids. And you're unapologetic about it. And I have full respect for you doing that. And when I say motherhood really changed your life. It seems to me that there was a correlation between having your twins, especially one with special needs, and you pivoting to going back to school for social work, and now working as a social worker. So am I reading into this? Or

1:13:15

no, no, no, no, I mean, I think I got, I had no idea about sort of this systems that are available and in place, both in the States and in Canada, you know, for families and for children in particular, when something is not. Exactly, you know, the way it's supposed to be I you know, I you know, mainstream mean, means seems a good word. Right. So, you know, with in our situation, it's a lot of, you know, sort of the learning cognitive issues. But some people have physical issues. And I think I was, we had some of those struggles near the beginning, like there was different things that needed some interventions with, you know, my own kids. But I think I then started working. I started first of all volunteering, and then working with an organization that works with children in foster care. And you basically, it's called Court Appointed Special advocate, and you get assigned to a family. You know, it could be one child, it could be a sibling group, who was in the foster care system, and then you end up sort of advocating for them, especially when the kids are kind of falling through the cracks, and maybe they keep going to court. And the judge will say, Hey, what's going on here? Why is this kid not moving ahead? Why is this kid still got, you know, this health issue, this school issue, this, you know, issue with the court system, right, sometimes it's it's in they're also involved in juvenile detention, right. So we would get assigned to these families and work with them and sort of do an independent investigation, because the social workers that are assigned by the county often don't have the time. I mean, they might have 30 some odd cases in California.

1:15:10

But how did you get this position like you had no skills that I

1:15:15

know, that's the crazy part, I think that they, you know, I went and I talked to him, they do a very extensive sort of interview process with you, you do have a supervisor, when you start out, you have a supervisor who is a social worker. So basically, they'll have one supervisor, and that person will be overseeing, you know, five different people. So the idea was actually a program was started of Seattle, out of the court system in Seattle, and one judge said, Hey, you know, we have to do something better for these kids. And this started back in like the late 70s. And he said, we have to, we have to serve these children who are in the system in care better, we have to get them the help that they need, because their parents might be struggling. And so therefore, they're not with their parents, and they're with these other families, maybe, you know, maybe they those, the other families are actually sometimes their relatives, sometimes they're just complete strangers, but we have to get them some help. So they started doing this, it's a pretty big program over there. So I started doing it, you know, it's often retired people who are doing it, but I started doing it just because my own son had a lot of, you know, I was working a lot with, you know, educational consultants, and I was working with neuro Sykes to get him the help. And then I kind of So with that, I ended up sort of going into this world of, you know, special educational needs, what they call IEP s individualized education plans, and getting help for various kids in the system whose maybe their parents couldn't do it. And I worked at a law firm, just as like on the social work side, and then there was the lawyer side. And what happens is the social workers tried to get stuff done. And if it doesn't get done, and the lawyer sometimes get involved, so it's, you know, usually the child or the, you know, caregiver, trying to get services, because most of that stuff is offered through the school. And if the school won't supply it, then the lawyers would get involved and, you know, then it gets to a different level. But, you know, a lot of times you can figure things out, but there's a whole lot of history that has to be taken. Because you know, these services are expensive. So the school district wants to make sure that they're getting exactly what they need.

1:17:23

How did you go back to school?

1:17:26

What was that process

1:17:27

like for you being scary? And, and going to school?

1:17:33

So I did a master's in social work, which is typically a two year very full time program, because you're doing internships, both both years, right. So you have basically three days full days a week of internships, and two full days of classes. So I started out in the two year program, and after about a week, I was like, there is no way. So I asked, I went and they would they they would allow you to do it, if you had you know, a job was, you know, apparent, whatever. I was at USC. So very big social work program. University of Southern California. No, no, it's in Los Angeles. And so they are used to people who are doing other jobs. And they actually really like when people have other experiences, right? You know, you're not just an undergrad. So they're like, Okay, great. She's a mother of a kid with special needs. She's done work with in the, in the foster care system, she's dealt with educational advocacy. You're a journalist, yeah, I was a journalist, so I could, you know, interview people and be nosy. And so I think that's, it wasn't my UFC grades they got me in, it was that they got me in. So going back to school was like, it was an eye opener, it's very different process than when we were young. You know, it's what we used to go to library. You know, it's all online. Now. I mean, you go, I would go to the actual class, I was I always did in person, cuz I don't like doing online school. But you know, all your research and stuff is, of course, online. Right? You know, very rarely will they actually go into a physical library. But it was good. I mean, I think my props, really, I've still really good friends with two of my props. One was my policy prof and the other one, you know, taught me, you know, it was just about interventions and sort of more sort of micro level intervention programs. And I, you know, I was kind of their age. It was good that way. I think that there was, I think getting into the school was good for me to see that because my kids are going to be my daughter will definitely be sort of applying to universities in a couple years. And I would have had no idea what that application process was like. You know, so that was it was good. And then I would just go to school and then I would come home. I sort of did it like a job where I was going, you know, I would leave the house at like seven in the morning. I had a I hired a babysitter. She would come she take my kids to school, and then I would either do my internship or my my class. Depending on the day, and then I would come home, I'd be home by dinnertime. Like, you know, I'd take my last class, be home by five, six, put the kids to bed and then just do work at night. You just have to really keep up in there during my lunch breaks. I was always reading like, you just have to keep up with it. You can't get behind.

1:20:17

That's I, I interviewed Theresa renkon. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And she also went back to school, she did. And she said that it's the older ones, like you and her who always get the best grades. Because you don't fuck around. You know, you're just, you're in it to win it

1:20:38

now. And yeah,

1:20:40

so I was smiling as I'm hearing your story, because it really, it really reflects what Theresa said as well. And that's something that I think about doing, you know, one day going back to school, but it's hard when you run a business at the same time? Yes, I still don't feel like I have the bandwidth to be able to do it. But one day, I will be brave like you. Yeah.

1:21:03

But I think I think Teresa's right. And you if you go back, you'll choose something that you really want to do. And so you're invested in it. And also, you've got this real life experience. So I think what really helped me is I'm writing all these papers, and I'm able to, like actually draw on real life experience. I'm not, it's not just a textbook, you know? So, I mean, it was fascinating, because I would sit in class, and you know, you're doing a whole host of classes, right? So social work, unlike, say psychology is, is kind of like a macro level look at you know, both the systems and the individuals that interact. Whereas I would say psychology is really not about the system so much in policy, it's way more about the individuals, and it's much deeper look into that. So you think like traditional therapists can either be licensed clinical social workers, or they can be, you know, psychologists or sometimes masters family therapy, right? Family Therapy, too. But so there's like, there's different sort of levels of that. But you go in, and you've got this real life experience that all of a sudden is useful. Who knew? But there would be people in the class who would say like, Oh, well, if I walked into a house, and I saw that the dishes weren't done, and the children sheets were dirty, and the beds weren't made, then I would know that there was definitely neglect going on. I'm thinking I really

1:22:23

like my house.

1:22:26

Don't go there cams house, that's for sure.

1:22:29

And I'd be excuse me, Professor, I'd like to just say that sometimes parents can't get it out. Sometimes parents raise their voices. And it doesn't necessarily mean they're being abusive, just means that there may be tired. So let's have a glass of wine. So if you come into the house, and there's a bottle of wine, it doesn't mean you need to film the police. That's hilarious. But you know, if you're 23, and just said, have an undergrad, you don't get that right. Because you haven't had that experience, you think you have this very sort of utopian idea of what Parenthood is going to be and how you're going to be the perfect parent, I think, oh, you have no idea.

1:23:06

I have this image of a GIF of a professor like facepalming. Like, every time they say something like that is like Oh, so not realistic? No,

1:23:17

yeah. Yeah, I

1:23:18

would, I would love to know, for you. You have been through an awful lot. What has been the hardest thing you've ever done? To date? Because you've been doing a lot of tough things, as we've heard along your journey. What would you say has been the hardest thing?

1:23:41

Well, I have one, but it's kind of, I don't know, maybe I should just say it and just be vulnerable. So my, my son, as we discussed, has some various disabilities. And a couple years ago, he was really struggling. But a year and a half ago, he was really struggling. And we made the decision for him to go to a boarding school for about six months. Just to kind of, we had to do a reset with him. And that process. I mean, I was there every month visiting and everything, but this was right before the pandemic started. So like it like literally right before, so from summer 2019. And he, you know, I think you know, he was fine. But for me, that was unbelievably hard. Because I felt like, you know, number one, did I fail as a parent? Is this me? If I'd done something wrong, like I was going through all the things I've done, what have I done? But I also knew after I got through the first couple of months because I've talked to a lot of people who have had similar situations and I always say like listen the first you know teenagers are hard anyway and puberty and if you have any kind of neurologic Nicole, issues, then I think puberty can really hit with a bang. And, you know, I was really scared that he was going to get to a situation where I couldn't help him, like, do something, you know, where he was going to either physically hurt himself or, you know, maybe like not hurt somebody else physically, but, you know, like, just not be thinking and not, you know, he was just sort of all over the place. So, we made that decision. And even though we made that decision, and it was well thought out, and we did not, was not a life decision, you know, you do second guess yourself, because you get, right. So that I think was definitely the hardest making that decision. to have him go and not be at home. wouldn't have been his first choice. But he's

1:25:49

back.

1:25:51

He's back. And I think now, it really helped him. You know, because he sort of realized that some of his behaviors were not acceptable. Because it wasn't just mom saying they're not acceptable. It was, you know, other people to write saying, hey, you can't talk like that. Or you can't say that, you know? So that's, that was be the hardest one. No.

1:26:11

Yeah. Wow. That's intense. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for sharing that with me. Okay. My my last question to you is, thinking back to the irreplaceable Rebecca Rankin back in the day, when you were 14 to today, tell me how has your definition of success changed?

1:26:33

So going back? Probably Gosh, I don't even know if I thought about successful at that point. Um, I mean, it's, uh, gosh, I'm embarrassed. But I'm thinking it's like, I used to measure success based on how much the job was going to pay me. Right. So I fell into that trap, especially coming from the world of, you know, when you're just doing, you know, when you're modeling, you just do job by job, you don't have a contract, you don't have a salary, you're just like, job to job. And so I think I measured it, it was like, well, was it a catalog job? Or was it editorial? So editorial is good, because you get get photos, but catalogs really good money, right? So my thing became, like, I just wanted to make money. You know, and it was not like, I was making millions of millions of dollars, but I was making more than I would have been if I was, you know, doing another job during high school, right. And I was able to put myself through school and live on that for a long time. So that was good. And now this is like the cliche one, but it's so true. I think success now to me is, obviously your inner peace. You know, how are you feeling? Because I'm very, sort of in touch with that doesn't mean that I've always peaceful, but I'm very aware of like, oh, how am I feeling agitated or right? Like, you're anxious about something? Or am I okay, I'm like that. So there's that. But also, to me, it's the connections you have with other people. I think that if you are, for me, I feel successful when I have good connections with other people. So our conversation today makes me feel good and successful. Because I feel like oh, I really enjoyed talking to Erica. Right. And my dad actually said that he he had a very serious something called an aortic dissection, back in 2013, where basically, your aorta explodes. And he survived, but was in Toronto in general for, you know, months and months. And when he came out, he said, you know, the interesting thing is, when you're there, and you might not make it to the next day, you're not thinking about your bank account, you're not thinking about your car, you're not thinking about anything like that, all you're thinking about is your connection to the people that you really love. That's really what it's like really boils down to your connections. And who are you connecting with, right, but who do you want to see in that stuff? And I think that's true for me. So I think success is probably about my feeling of connectedness with various people.

1:29:11

I feel very connected to you. Yeah, I really do. I am so happy. I love this podcast so much. It's

1:29:18

such a great idea. Well, it's

1:29:20

not just the idea. It's that I get to meet you and interesting people who I've touched a little bit in my life, but we get to have these conversations that are meaningful. Yeah. And yeah, and and I'm just so grateful, by the way, a little bit of Did you know, you're not gonna believe this? Are you sitting down? I know that I think it's a 1998 we both were in the same movie.

1:29:56

Oh yes. was hilarious, because that's the only movie I've ever been in

1:30:03

me to know I've been in other ones, but always like in a really tiny role. But I was, you know, when I was researching you owe us a friend came up. So I looked, I was looking at

1:30:14

me out of that. You're in the you're in the clip,

1:30:18

and right after you. It cuts to an anchor person on a TV screen, and I went, What the fuck loves me. I remember doing it, but it was me. I remember them saying. So you have to Google. You have to Google, Mr. Music, Mr. Music, right clip and you will see us within 15 seconds of each other.

1:30:44

That's crazy. See, I remember that. They said to me, I was I had such a bad headache. I was so nervous about that. Don't ask Denise asked me to do it. She's like, Oh, you got to go do this thing for us. And like be the one because we had like, it was like much music and be represent. So off I go and the directors like okay, just be yourself. Just say who was supposed to be in a press Scrum? Just ask the question is if you're yourself, so I did that. And he goes, Well, no, not exactly like that. Like, I can not act to save my life. I mean, it's really sad. It's it's, you know, it's funny.

1:31:22

Well, or he said to you Just be yourself, but didn't actually understand what that means.

1:31:28

Right? And I was like, well, I

1:31:29

wouldn't say it like that.

1:31:32

I need to Rebecca waco. I couldn't, you know, I would say it like this. Yeah, he didn't want but that's funny. So I have to go and yeah, so you were the anchor. Okay. But I want to ask you a question before you do your thoughts. Okay. So, I would like to know, I mean, because I'm just sort of curious about this. Erica circa night, teen 88 say 89 versus Erica Ehm. Today? What is it that you would tell young Erica, to do to say to, you know, accomplish back then?

1:32:13

Okay, I'm going to answer it two different ways. The first thing I would tell Erica is to not be so explosive. Because when I was working there, that year, the next year, I found out that I was making less money than all the men. And so I went to speak to Dennis Fitzgerald, who at that time was, I believe, the Vice President of the city and asked him for a raise. And he said, No, because I was difficult to work with. And my response was, fuck you. I quit. Like, literally, I stood up. I said that. And I walked out. And I didn't answer my phone for four days, I was so angry. Well, really the best strategy. I literally quit my job. The good thing to come out of it is I ended up calling my friend Tim 30, crying to him, I quit my job. And he asked if I could write songs. And I said, I don't know. And he said, we'll come over and we'll try. And we ended up becoming songwriting partners for a decade. And eventually citytv. Or john Martin called me and said, Erica, come on. And I said, I want that race. So they gave me the race. Hmm. But I'm not proud of how I did it. So I would say, to my younger self, that there are better ways of negotiating than just telling people to fuck off.

1:33:48

Yeah, I'm very similar to you. Yep. So I understand that. I'm not doing that, you know, but

1:33:56

yeah, okay. And the other thing is, I wish that I had taken the time to spend more time with the people that I worked with. I was incredibly insecure, and uncomfortable around people, and just assume that they didn't want to spend time with me. So I stayed home an awful lot. I didn't go out very often. And I think to some degree, I missed out. So I would have told myself that I could have loosened up and had more fun. For me much music was less about fun, and more about work. Interesting.

1:34:38

Yeah. But also, in fairness, if you were feeling if you had those insecurities, I think that is it's like you have to tell yourself to go and have more fun, but also, hey, I'm okay. You know, I'm good the way I am and people like me the way I am. Right and I didn't have that either. By the way. I mean, I had different things, but I, you know, my gosh, why he wasted so much time thinking about that? Like, we all do. Yeah. And that's what

1:35:09

evolution is. And that's, that's where growth comes in. And, and that's what this conversation really is all about is that we are all going to go through changes in life. We're all going to make mistakes. We're all going to have fantastic times, we're all going to have terrible times. And you can have great conversations about it and know that you're not alone. Yeah,

1:35:33

connection.

1:35:35

On that note, thank you, Rebecca. Thank you for an amazing conversation. So if you're listening to this right now, I would love for you to of course subscribe. And obviously if you like this to review the show, rate it, review it, share it with people ask people to listen, and you know, just make this podcast meaningful for you in some small way. So remember, here's to lots of music and meaning. And many reinventions.

1:36:11

Thanks for listening. Follow Erica Ehm is a reinvention of the vj podcast, subscribe and follow more episodes. Click to reinvention of the vj.com podcast produced in collaboration with Steve Anthony productions, editing and coordination the flower Communications Inc. Copyright 2020

Transcribed by https://otter.ai