EPISODE 9: Dominique
INTRO CREDITS
Cheyenne Arnold 0:03
This is this is fine. This is fine. This is a poor substitute for therapy, but an excellent substitute for Joe Rogan. Other podcasts. Were not like other podcasts. Join us as we find the answers to the universe's biggest questions like is butter carb just crying burn calories? And what am I doing with my life? We're here to be a part time therapist, astrologer concierge doctor and fairy godmother. Do you need someone to validate you today? Cool, cool. Cool. Come on in. We're fine. This is fine.
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Dominique Astorino 0:35
Today's episode is brought to you by brava in my own words, the Tesla of ovens, the goat of kitchen appliances and my very own Easy Bake oven for grownups. This is something I actually use every single day all much like how an f1 car goes from zero to 60 and like a millisecond. I don't know I didn't actually look it up. This countertop smart oven goes from room temp to 500 degrees in one second. Seriously, it does the job of super oven pizza oven, Instant Pot, dehydrator airfryer crock pot, and so much more do I sound like I'm on QVC and it's about the size of a microwave. One of the coolest parts is that it can cook multiple ingredients at different temperatures on the same pan at the same time. Being the strong independent woman that I am brava has made my bachelorette pad cooking unbelievably easy. It also makes eating healthy simple even when I'm exhausted from running a podcast building brands writing articles and raising an extremely high maintenance golden retriever. This appliance has been an absolute game changer for me and I want it to be a game changer for you to this is fine listeners can get $200 off a new brava with code dominique200. I'm going to let you figure out how to spell it I believe in you. Visit shop.brava.com and enter Dominique200 at checkout to get your discount, save that money in this economy and start revolutionising the way you cook and feed yourself.
INTRO + INTERVIEW
Cheyenne Arnold 1:49
Great greetings listeners. As you may have surmised, I am not Dominique. I am Cheyenne, Cheyenne Arnold, you might know me from such things as being Dominique's number one hype girl and her Instagram comments, or maybe you're familiar with my photography, or perhaps you follow me on Twitter and are deeply concerned for my well being. No, but for real. I don't have any qualifications for guest hosting, other than being the resident expert on Dominique. And that's why I'm here today, commandeering that this is fine Podcast. I'm the captain now. Our goal today is to help you guys get to know your friend and mine. The lady behind this one woman show Dommy Michelle a little better. And it's honestly one of my favorite topics. So let's get into it. Hello, Dominique. How are you today?
Dominique Astorino 2:27
Hi. Thank you for being here. I'm fine. Okay, yeah, I mean, I'm not fine, but I'm pretending to be fine today. But I'm just so grateful. Thank you for that beautiful intro.
Cheyenne Arnold 2:43
Yeah, I think it's probably best if we just jump right into the nitty gritty of it. Yeah, let's do my first question. Yeah. How many times do you think you've seen my butthole? And how many of those times were in our place of employment?
Dominique Astorino 2:58
Okay, I'm seeing your butthole. Probably, I would say upwards of 10. Does that sound right to you? 10 times?
Cheyenne Arnold 3:08
I would say I'd say definitely 10
Dominique Astorino 3:10
more, if not more and in place of employment. All right, Pete or former place of employment? I would say four to six probably like maybe like a 50 to 60%.
Cheyenne Arnold 3:23
Right. And I seem to have no shame on the internet. So I'm just gonna backpedal and, and, and give some context. I used to struggle a lot with hypochondria, and domine is sort of my standard doctor. And as such, uh had the pleasure of inspecting the
Dominique Astorino 3:44
Proctology is my specialty. Yeah, this started out real gross.
Cheyenne Arnold 3:49
Yeah, I mean, do you want to start over because we don't have to put.
Dominique Astorino 3:53
Let's just keep it rolling. Thank you. It's 845 in the morning.
Cheyenne Arnold 4:00
Yeah, well, it's a little later here for me in New York. So sorry. Um, yeah, I think that definitely, I mean, we were already really good friends. But seeing someone's butthole is definitely something that, you know, gets you to that next level.
Dominique Astorino 4:15
It crosses that barrier of intimacy. Yeah, I'm not in like a sexual.
Cheyenne Arnold 4:22
Yeah, no friendship is, you know, a good friendship is based on a lot of intimacy. And I do. I want to say thank you, I'm sure in the moment I did, but I just want to reiterate, thank you, because most people wouldn't do that.
Dominique Astorino 4:33
I got you. Yeah, I can look at potholes. It's fine. I should have gone to medical school. But that's another story.
Cheyenne Arnold 4:40
I mean, in your spare time, you basically do on top of like learning Japanese and French and I simply don't know how you do it. So yeah, I have the privilege of knowing you pretty well. But you know, we're here today to give everyone else a little peek behind the curtain. So tell us what were you like in high school?
Dominique Astorino 5:00
Well, I was the president of my show choir senior year. Which at my high school gets you a varsity letter. And why my legs separate? What is it like three degrees separation from fame or whatever. We competed against Blake Lively like my freshman year, she was a senior. And I thought that was like so cool because she had just recorded or filmed rather, the sisterhood movie. So America Ferreira and Alexis bledel were in the audience at our show choir competition.
Cheyenne Arnold 5:31
Where did where did she go to school?
Dominique Astorino 5:33
She was at Burbank, either Burbank or John Burroughs. They're both in Burbank. And those were like, the big schools that had all the money like I think it was over $5,000 and this is like the, you know, mid early 2000s to participate where our like, public high school in Carlsbad had like no money and when we won first place one year, we were screaming so loud from like, shock and disbelief. We got like reprimanded by like the board.
Cheyenne Arnold 6:00
Like in the NFL. US you celebrated too hard.
Dominique Astorino 6:02
Yeah, we celebrate. We were just totally balls to the wall with the celebration and yeah, definitely. I don't know anything about sports. But that sounds right. But aside from that
Cheyenne Arnold 6:12
Take it from me. Yeah.
Dominique Astorino 6:16
I guess to like, trying to think of a way to summarize it. Like I were at one point like a baby pink soak, pleated mini skirt from Hollister with like, white and pink, like heel like peep toe heels. And, like an Abercrombie top. And we're just like we're that is like a regular outfit to school. So like a cross between Gretchen wieners and a choir person.
Cheyenne Arnold 6:42
Yeah, I mean, I'm I'm shocked to 0% but were they were they were they kitten heels. We need to know I'm assuming
Dominique Astorino 6:48
No absolutely not they were like three and a half inch Steve Madden. I thought they were the most beautiful thing that I'd ever seen. My dad had a conniption when I bought them and I was like I'm expressing myself through fashion. I like CO produced one of the fashion shows we had like a fashion club or something. So we did fashion shows. I took clothing. I thought I was gonna go to FIDM, the first half of high school and then pivoted and thought I was gonna go to music school. I actually did go to music school for like a hot minute. But yeah, a lot of directions.
Cheyenne Arnold 7:21
Yeah, wow. I really thought you're gonna say kitten heels like you think you know someone.
Dominique Astorino 7:26
Or and then it's a three and a half inches to let so yeah, just imagine many like silk pink miniskirt and stilettos. Just an average like Wednesday.
Cheyenne Arnold 7:37
Well, on Wednesdays we wear pink.
Dominique Astorino 7:38
Yeah, literally like
Cheyenne Arnold 7:39
To this day. Yeah.
Dominique Astorino 7:41
Like I had the pink razor flip phone. In PE. I like rarely would dress out because I'm like exercise, which is so ironic. But I would be like talking with the girlfriends on like, I don't know, is it a baseball field or whatever, where you like do gym stuff. They're playing handball or something. And the girls were talking and the gym teacher told the boys to like throw the handball, like at our heads, because we were just like gossiping on our like flip phones.
Cheyenne Arnold 8:11
Alright, well, that's like an actual scene from clueless. So go cool, cool. Cool. Yeah. I mean, I think they were tennis balls, but Well, yeah.
Dominique Astorino 8:19
That for sure. For sure. All right.
Cheyenne Arnold 8:23
Yeah. This is an interesting question for you, because you've sort of touched on it. Your career trajectory has gone a bunch of different ways. But when you were little what, what did you want to be? What did you think you were going to be?
Dominique Astorino 8:35
How much time do we have? I like, I know you have stuff going on. So no, so given the erratic and overscheduled nature of my brain, this month, and a lot of directions, I remember having my first like, Oh, my God, the universe is so big moment when I was like, six, ish, and like looking up at space and like realizing what space was, and my parents got me a telescope. And I was like, hell, yeah, planets and stuff. And I thought I was going to be an astronaut. So that was cool. When I was two years old, my mom who is a feminist was like, What are you going to be when you grow up? Like, what do you want to do with your life? And I was like, I be mommy. And she was like, what? I'm gonna be mommy. Like, I want to be a mommy, which is also crazy. Then at one point, I remember wanting to be a chef. I remember writing that for like a school saying, like when I grew up on, I'm going to be a chef. And then got we moved around so many times, and it's kind of like a chaotic, you know, not terrible, but chaotic upbringing, we moved like 20 times. So my direction just kept. I mean, I guess it's parallel with the moving just kept pivoting
Cheyenne Arnold 9:44
Like when you lived in New Jersey, you wanted to be like on a reality show? No. When I lived in
Dominique Astorino 9:51
New Jersey, I wanted to be anywhere but New Jersey.
Cheyenne Arnold 9:55
I don't want to live in New Jersey.
Dominique Astorino 9:59
No disrespect. It is Beautiful state, but I wanted to go back to California so badly got I'm trying to remember at that point, I wanted to be Britney Spears. She was my ultimate idol of the moment. Actually in the third, maybe fourth grade, I put on a Britney Spears performance at the like lunch recess or whatever. There was like a stage on the playground, I brought a boombox. My friends made posters. There was no like occasion for it. It wasn't a talent show. But I had like VHS recorded TRL I learned all the dance moves to oops, I did it again. And I just decided that I was going to put on a lip synching performance as a gift to my peers. So so that was fun. And by the time I got to high school, like I said, I I wanted to be in fashion I had, my ego was really gassed up, because in middle school, I got best dressed in the yearbook. And so that was all the permission I needed to just think that I was like, Anna Wintour or Diane Von Furstenberg at the time was like a big one for me. So yeah, I got really into fashion. And, for some reason, pivoted, I got really into the music thing. I know that's so nerdy with like, the show choir and stuff. But I had so much fun, like, doing the Glee thing. And, yeah, then it was like, Oh, I'm gonna be a producer. Or I'm gonna be a music supervisor. And like pick sick songs for movies and TV. Alex, I think Patsavas I actually don't know how to say her last name. We've only just read it. But she did the soundtracks to like the OC, and like Twilight and Grey's Anatomy. And I remember at the time, like she is defining cool music. And I wanted to do that. So that literally an icon. Yeah, right, like down. So that brought me to like, 18. And then, as you know, but maybe no one listening knows, well, I'm assuming the listeners right now are like my mom, and like, us listening back.
Cheyenne Arnold 11:57
They know, they know,
Dominique Astorino 11:58
you know, that I changed my major, a whole bunch in college, too. So career trajectory has been very unexpected.
Cheyenne Arnold 12:06
Yeah, cuz you were, I mean, when I met you, PR was your life.
Dominique Astorino 12:11
But yeah, I had just, I just switched into PR, which was like you had to apply to get into it. It wasn't just like, you could switch majors. So I had put energy and effort into that. So at the time, I was like, Okay, I'm gonna write this out. When I interned It was the summer after junior year before senior year for me. And I had switched from music industry, to neuroscience to public relations in the journalism school, and at that point, I was like, Yeah, I'm gonna do PR for Hurley like, This is it? This is my like, lifetime career. I'm going to be a VP. By the time I'm, you know, 28.
Cheyenne Arnold 12:48
Cool. I think it all worked out for the better. Yeah.
Dominique Astorino 12:53
Yeah. I think we're on the right paths.
Cheyenne Arnold 12:58
I've heard this story, but I think it would add some context to the podcast. You started talking when you were really, really young? I believe the story I know is that in a grocery store?
Dominique Astorino 13:14
Oh, yeah, yeah, I can tell this story. So um, my mom says that I started talking around I think it was eight or nine months. And not like babbling, she's like, very clear about that. Not like my my dad, like actual words, which is a little scary. Like, I think I would be terrified as a parent, like, my child's possessed. So I think spectators also felt that way. So my mom tells this story that she took me as a baby to the grocery store. I was sitting in like, a little, you know, not carseat what's that thing called in a grocery basket, the baby See, whatever. And I was just like talking to her about something. And this woman like, stops my mom. And like, this is very telling that this happened in the 90s. She stops my mom and like very concerned but curious, like, looks at her and goes, is she a midget? Or sorry, it just it never gets old. It still brings a laugh after you've heard this. And like no one would ever I mean, I hope no one would ever ask that today, but yeah, it's just it's so fitting for the times. Is she a midget? I mean, honestly a little bit, but the doctors told my parents when I was really little that I would be lucky if I made it to five foot and I'm like, I'm almost five three bitches.
Cheyenne Arnold 14:34
Look as tall. Yeah, so huge. Congratulations to you.
Dominique Astorino 14:37
Thank you so much. I worked really hard on it.
Cheyenne Arnold 14:40
So you went to USC, as you know, you let everyone know.
Dominique Astorino 14:45
I didn't fake play water polo, though. I would love to make that very clear that my parents, one could not afford to pay someone to pretend I played water polo. And two no one wouldn't believe it.
Cheyenne Arnold 14:58
But as such, you know you were living in LA, I just feel like in general, you do run into celebrities maybe like with more frequency than others. What would be your favorite celebrity run in?
Dominique Astorino 15:08
Oh, okay. So yeah, the LA thing, USC, when I was a freshman and the music industry program, there was this club called Grammy U and for some reason I like won a seat filler position at the Grammys, like the 2009 Grammys, like
Cheyenne Arnold 15:25
I keep, I keep hitting my vape pen, and then I started Puff the Magic Dragon. What's your favorite celebrity?
Dominique Astorino 15:40
Okay, so 2009 Grammys, let's see, I bounced around a lot. So I remember my first like, seat filling moment, it was like one of the first like, you know, scenes or sets or whatever, of the Grammys, and I looked behind me and I'm like, oh, that's Questlove. And then look to my left, and it was like Kid Rock. So telling him the times, Katy Perry was there, then they moved to me. And I remember I had to take this one spot, like kind of in the middle. And it was between Jason Mraz, Jason Mraz's mom, I assume it was his mother and T PAIN and at the time, like, obviously T pain like King of auto tune into like February 2009, right, like, peak T PAIN time. And I like go and like kind of squeeze myself in there and like, sit down, and he looks over at me and he goes, sorry, baby. My friends sitting there. He was in the bathroom. I was like, I'm so sorry, Mr. Pain. Get back up and like shimmy back out. And like hanging out on the sides to watch like Radiohead and the USC marching band play a song
Cheyenne Arnold 16:46
well. That is his last name, right?
Dominique Astorino 16:48
Mr. Pain? Yeah, I assume.
Cheyenne Arnold 16:50
Shit
Dominique Astorino 16:51
One can only assume.
Cheyenne Arnold 16:52
Yeah. What does the t stand for?
Dominique Astorino 16:57
True pain.
Cheyenne Arnold 17:01
Well, besides that moment, what are you most proud of when you look back on your life? As we stand at this present junction?
Dominique Astorino 17:10
That's a great question. Because like a while ago, I'd be like, Oh, getting into college. That was a big deal. For me. I think it's a big deal for a lot of young people. Especially like, it wasn't a huge thing in my family. Like my dad didn't go to university, he went to like EMT and like medical training before going into the fire department. My mom went to [SDSU] so it's not like, um, first gen college. But, you know, getting into school at that point. Felt pretty good. Now, at this point, I guess like working for myself and having my small business for the past four years is kind of crazy. Like, I haven't gotten into an office or had a paycheck, like a, you know, a salaried paycheck in four years, and that's pretty crazy. And I don't usually think like, Oh, I'm so proud of myself. But now like thinking about it. I'm like, okay, it feels pretty cool. Like, I did that. And maybe raising Stella, I feel like, that's been kind of a feat in and of itself. I don't know. Is that a good answer?
Cheyenne Arnold 18:07
Yeah, I was just gonna, I was just gonna chime in. Like I stand back in awe about it every day like, and like your little beach cottage, Diane Keaton as a young woman lifestyle.
Dominique Astorino 18:19
Can you further elucidate on this? Because I think it's so funny. This concept?
Cheyenne Arnold 18:25
Yeah. It's like Diane Keaton movies. She's always living in some like very chic, somewhat French inspired, coastal cottage. Yeah. And she don't need no man. I think, yeah, I just I remember when I met you, the it's just like the character arc of you has been really beautiful to watch. And I've told you that before, but you know, there was shock of oven Mrs. degree, you know, which was I don't have a typical college upbringing. But to those to those who don't know what the Mrs. degree is, it's like, you know, you go to college, you find your husband? Yeah. You know, as we've gotten older, I think we've both realized that there's so much more to life than following societal rules and you know, timestamps of what you're supposed to do when and I think we both struggled with, like, you know, feeling like we're behind from our peers in certain ways, but have come to a really beautiful place of like, you know, what, I'm really happy with what I have, and anything else is like the whipped cream, right, you know,
Dominique Astorino 19:29
yeah, it's so true. And, you know, being able to do that with you, obviously makes it a lot better. But I've been thinking a lot about independence as, like a skill and a muscle you have to build and also a privilege like being able to be independent. Like this really is a privilege. It's kind of crazy.
Cheyenne Arnold 19:45
Yeah. And then I guess this is a good segue, most embarrassing and most embarrassing person you've ever dated.
Dominique Astorino 19:54
Can I just say the whole roster?
Cheyenne Arnold 19:57
Yeah, I think that that sums it up
Dominique Astorino 20:00
All of them, which is... uh... I have a broken picker and uh... it has been out of commission like the the ice cream machine and McDonald's... the McFlurry machine is broken and it TBD on when it's coming back into commission so yeah, yeah, I've benched myself. Sports reference.
Cheyenne Arnold 20:19
Yeah, you got it.
Dominique Astorino 20:22
Nailed it
Cheyenne Arnold 20:22
Put me in coach.
Dominique Astorino 20:24
Don't don't put her and she's bad.
Cheyenne Arnold 20:27
My My brother has a podcast and I sent in a question once and him and his co host chose it as an opportunity to tell their listenership.... I believe that is the actual word? That I was single and looking for a boyfriend. So I'm just going to pay it forward. Dominique is uh single, just, you know, there's any one, you know, male out there listening?
Dominique Astorino 20:52
Yeah. Anyone who wants a dog daughter?
Cheyenne Arnold 20:53
Anyone who is worthy. Yeah, there are, there are many requirements you'd have to meet. And I would be going through the application. So
Dominique Astorino 21:02
head of standards
Cheyenne Arnold 21:03
Yes, head of standards.
Dominique Astorino 21:05
Thank you for that. Taking over the position.
Cheyenne Arnold 21:08
I think I know the answer to this. But what's your iPhone wallpaper right now?
Dominique Astorino 21:12
Oh, it is Hold on, I gotta look. Oh, it is. It is a picture of Le Plongeoir in Nice. It's a restaurant that's on this like, like stack of stone. In the middle of the water. It's so beautiful. And I am hoping to go there on August 7 or eighth. And I don't know if this was going to come out before after that point. But it's in Côte d'Azur and the French Riviera. And that is where I'm headed in August.
Cheyenne Arnold 21:42
With who? just kidding. I know. It's me, kind of
Dominique Astorino 21:47
with you kind of except you didn't want to come to France.
Cheyenne Arnold 21:51
Yeah, so I really thought you're gonna say Stella and we'll get to Stella but I feel like French is a very prevalent thing. France, French culture. You're a francophile. How does that happen?
Dominique Astorino 22:01
Yeah why? Can you psychoanalyze me?
Cheyenne Arnold 22:04
You know, it's like I always knew you liked Chanel. And then one day it just became like, not your entire personality
Dominique Astorino 22:10
My entire personality.
Cheyenne Arnold 22:12
A solid, a solid 79%. So what was it that got you so deep entrenched in the culture of it all?
Dominique Astorino 22:19
Well, when I was a little girl, I you know loved fashion and wanted to go to France, I had always, like, dreamed of going to Paris. And in my mind, like, that was like the coolest thing ever. It was like chic and sophisticated and colorful. And there's history and beautiful architecture, and the food is the best and yada yada, yada. And then, you know, when I got more into fashion and my like, tween teen years, I thought, Okay, well, I have to learn French because that's like, the language of fashion. And just really loved the language. And I thought it was so beautiful. I went to Paris for the first time when I was 18 with my friend Jen, who is actually my, like, podcast supervisor. Like my consultant, she actually like loves podcasts so much, and she listens to all my episodes while I'm editing them to, you know, make sure they're up to snuff. So Hi, Jenny. I fell in love again, as like one would expect in Paris like being 18. It was springtime, you know, like frolicking around seeing all the sights. It was just, it's magical. It sounds so cliched, and it's such a trope, but like how... I don't understand how anyone could go to Paris and not love it so much. So yeah, that was like kind of the beginning of my adoration of French culture, my like, I guess progress or progression into being a Francophile and to be honest, I don't really know I would like love a psycho... psychoanalysis on why I'm so obsessed, but I love all the French skincare I love the culture in general. I love the food. And I have as you know, a French tutor Isabelle who helps me a few times a month with my listening and conversational skills and grammar and all that stuff. Yeah. Oh, when went to high school, I was so obsessed with like Coco Chanel, that I'd befriended the Chanel manager like the beauty counter and she was so like just charmed by the fact that I was so into Chanel. Like I wrote my book reports on her and stuff like that. So I would bring her my book report she would ask for printed copies. And when she saw that I got like As on my report card she would make me like samples like put cosmetic bags together with little Chanel samples and was so sweet and my dad would go and get me perfume for Christmas and she would like wrap it all special and put more samples in it and her name was actually Stella which is funny because I didn't think about that when I was naming my dog but now it just makes so much sense like I loved Chanel Stella and no, I've got my little Stella Yeah,
Cheyenne Arnold 24:53
That makes a lot of sense, because like a couple months ago. We were in Hawaii in Honolulu at the Chanel store and you and the The beauty counter lady were just like talking shop like basically in French and I was over there like your toddler just like playing with the lipstick. And she's like, "Oh, don't put your mouth on that!"
Dominique Astorino 25:11
Literally, she was like, please don't put your mouth on that. Oh my god, wait but if you okay, like, I know I'm being interviewed, but I'm flipping a little bit if you were to psychoanalyze my obsession with French culture, what would the summary be?
Cheyenne Arnold 25:26
A super scientific take? Well, as you were talking, I'm like, Dude, it's very obvious that in a past life, you were you were either French or possibly, like French royalty, something like, you know, you were a significant figure in France, probably Paris. tuning into my psychic abilities. So I would suggest looking into that, for sure. Yeah,
Dominique Astorino 25:50
I want to believe that so much too... Shannon, if you're listening. At one point, Shannon told me that my Jupiter in Leo conjunct my South Node like indicates like royalty in a past life. So I'm like, really hoping everything you're saying is true. Like for the sake of my self esteem and my entire personality.
Cheyenne Arnold 26:09
Ya know, I've got all my fingers and toes crossed for you and honestly so much. There's I saw a psychic once who asked me like we pointed out some like longitudes and latitudes, so maybe there's something there.
Dominique Astorino 26:20
Ooh Astro cartography, that could be fun
Cheyenne Arnold 26:22
that's the frickin word. Yep. What would What do you think would surprise people about you?
Dominique Astorino 26:29
Absolutely nothing. I am an open book.
Cheyenne Arnold 26:33
I disagree.
Dominique Astorino 26:35
Okay, okay. Right Hmm I don't know did Did anything surprise you about me? The fact that I wasn't blonde I think was a big one.
Cheyenne Arnold 26:42
Yeah, so when I first met you, it was the internship and you're this like, in my mind this like USC Barbie who would not stop talking. For some reason. I just like USC, I made you blonde in my head. And then I finally got to know you. And I was like, This chick is funny as fuck. Like, no one beats me. No one makes me laugh as hard as you and yeah, so
Dominique Astorino 27:09
you're making me cry
Cheyenne Arnold 27:12
It's fricken true, so
Dominique Astorino 27:13
well. I love you and ditto seriously, every time you come and visit I feel like you get in the car and like three and a half seconds later we're like, crying crying from laughing like Scream laughing
Cheyenne Arnold 27:25
peed my pants for sure
Dominique Astorino 27:27
a little bit of pee. It's funny that you did think I was bald though. I feel like at the time my hair was so light from basically not having a roof like I was outside all of the time. My hair photobleaches so it gets like that red color. And it's close to blonde. I'm just trying to make you feel better.
Cheyenne Arnold 27:44
Think you no I should I should be the one apologizing what
Dominique Astorino 27:50
you are blonde which is hilarious
Cheyenne Arnold 27:54
what would your MySpace song be right now? If MySpace May it rest in peace? Were still around? Actually I think it is still around? I don't know. I can't log in and it's such a bummer.
Dominique Astorino 28:03
At the time. Can you can you guess what it might have been at the time?
Cheyenne Arnold 28:08
But either? No. Fuck... Rebecca Black Friday?
Dominique Astorino 28:13
This is my answer. "What would surprise people?"
Cheyenne Arnold 28:16
Okay, yeah, just just tell us.
Dominique Astorino 28:19
It was a song by Breaking Benjamin.
Cheyenne Arnold 28:21
Okay, I'll cut Yeah, see, ya contain multitudes.
Dominique Astorino 28:26
I got really into like screaming emo music screamo you know, still love me some like early 2000s emo, mid 2000s emo. But yeah, I was going through a MySpace music phase. That was like real hard. There was like a dashboard confessional moment. Obviously.
Cheyenne Arnold 28:43
You had like your hair. Like severely side parted, camera angle up, eyeliner.
Dominique Astorino 28:48
Oh yeah, like the deepest, deepest side part. So much eyeliner, my mom at one point called me the princess of darkness because my room was still Victoria's Secret pink, like the color. And, you know, had the Paris posters and stuff on the wall. But then I was listening to like, stab my heart out because I love you. Like, literally I think it was Bullet for My Valentine is the name of the band.
Cheyenne Arnold 29:10
Like, well, this, this would be the time that I'm I'm letting you know. I'm seeing saves the day next week in New Jersey. So
Dominique Astorino 29:16
Yeah, and in New Jersey, the spirit of New Jersey. Yeah. That's gonna be beautiful for you.
Cheyenne Arnold 29:23
Alright. When do you feel the most beautiful? Like,
Dominique Astorino 29:26
ooh
Cheyenne Arnold 29:26
wholeheartedly, not just on the outside?
Dominique Astorino 29:31
Oh.
Cheyenne Arnold 29:34
You're the you can answer that however you want. I'm sorry.
Dominique Astorino 29:36
Yeah, I was like, I was gonna have an answer. But I was like, this is 100% on the outside. Like, I love getting dressed up. And like the whole princessy thing. And that's got to be the Libra moon I think. Hmm. I really don't ... this is so sad. I don't know. I usually when I do my makeup.
Cheyenne Arnold 29:54
Well, great
Dominique Astorino 29:55
when do you feel most beautiful?
Cheyenne Arnold 29:57
I think when uh, yeah, when it I mean, when I take the time to like, write in my journal, I don't know.
Dominique Astorino 30:05
Oh, yeah. You know what I do have an answer when I'm regularly exercising and not just like to be skinny, but like, I'm taking care of my body. This is a real answer. Actually, when I'm taking care of my body, I'm moving like walking, you know, regularly exercising and treating my body well, I'm not like depriving, but I know eating like, a lot of nutrient dense foods. And just like really taking care of myself in that way, I tend to feel like I would use the word radiant instead of beautiful, like, I just don't typically, like, I think ... think about myself with that word, which I don't know if that's good or bad. But I feel like that kind of inner and outer glow, not to sound cliche, again, but I think I am a walking cliche anyway, so we're just gonna lean into it.
Cheyenne Arnold 30:52
I think that I could have seen this coming. But speak to the irony of you getting an emotional support animal who then required Prozac.
Dominique Astorino 31:02
At this moment, she's coming to the room, the recording room, jumped on the couch, and curled up until like a little cinnamon roll. It's just staring at me with puppy eyes. Yeah, so I took my mental health leave from my former employer, and knew I had made a resolution at the beginning of that year, regardless of what happened. It was like I'm getting a dog this year, I'm getting a golden retriever. And I'd been making calls to this place that trains therapy, Golden's. You can get them at like 12 weeks or 20 weeks, and sort of the usual eight, and they train them for either, you know, four or 12 weeks to be a therapy dog, which, in retrospect is not a lot of time. But at the time, I'm like, oh, yeah, this was great. I was on that list. And then I realized, after inquiring a bit further that those dogs are $20,000. And I said, I would rather have panic attacks. So I started looking at what I would call responsible breeders through AKC and people who had met certain standards, and, you know, we're maintaining the health of the animal, the temperament, all that kind of stuff versus the aesthetic of the animal. And I wanted to, at least if I'm, you know, going to a breeder instead of adopting, because I had been on the, what's it called? Southern California Golden Retriever rescue list as well. And that is, like, harder to win in the lottery. So I found I found a breeder in San Diego, because, you know, I wasn't going to be one of those people who flew to another state to get a dog. I wanted, you know, a healthy golden baby who I could, you know, raise on my own, who was local and met the criteria, I saw a picture of Stella's litter. And I'd never seen white Golden's before. And I was like, what the shit is this!? and I thought I was just gonna go meet this dog, you know, she says, I contacted her. She said, I have one pup left. And this litter, it's a girl. And I'm like, Cool. Went to go meet her thinking that, you know, I'm just feeling it out. This is the first you know, dog, I'm meeting in this process. I'm just going to see you know, the temperament of the parents, blah, blah, blah. You don't go to see a four week old Golden Retriever puppy, and leave without leaving a deposit like you just yeah, it's just one of those things. You can't do it. So I get my sweet pup and I start training her for, you know, therapy work. My plan is still to bring her to like children's hospitals and pediatric wards, because she loves kids. But yeah, she is on Prozac. Still has very intense separation anxiety, which I think really came on more so during COVID. And yeah, the poor thing just like really hates when I walk away from her and doesn't understand why she can't see people on the other side of the fence. So she barks. She has a lot of wonderful qualities. But my emotional support animal has now made me her emotional support animal. I am very much there to comfort her. Last night for example, I almost went to the hospital I was in like a severe amount of pain. And you know, it would have been a great dog. Great dog great time for my dog to provide some comfort or at least alert someone for help. And instead she said in her in her brain I imagine I don't like what's going on here. I'm going to see myself out. And left the house like went outside. She was like I am uncomfortable. Walked away.
Cheyenne Arnold 34:19
Amazing work Stella yeah, yeah, good. Yeah.
Dominique Astorino 34:21
She's doing the most. She really has boundaries. You know, she's looking out for herself. If she's uncomfortable. She's just like, aight imma head out. So yeah.
Cheyenne Arnold 34:31
Boundaries,
Dominique Astorino 34:32
yeah. boundaries are good.
Cheyenne Arnold 34:35
We are at 35 minutes.
Dominique Astorino 34:37
Okay. Do you want to wrap it up? You wanna keep going? How do you feel?
Cheyenne Arnold 34:40
I guess I have one more question.
Dominique Astorino 34:42
Kind of like okay, yeah, let's do it.
Cheyenne Arnold 34:45
What compliment Do you hear the most and is there a compliment? You'd like to hear more?
Dominique Astorino 34:49
Oh, that's cool. This is you know, this is hard for me because I get self conscious like, any sort of praise for myself. I hear Are those your real lashes? Probably every day that I go outside that I'm wearing mascara and have heard that since I was a child so thank you to everyone who is acknowledged my eyelashes it is the part of me that I am most secure about when all else fails. I'm like, well at least I have long eyelashes.
Cheyenne Arnold 35:21
Kay we're gonna we're gonna work on that
Dominique Astorino 35:24
my therapist retired, I'm fine. A compliment. I'd love to hear more. I love your podcast, and I showed it to all of my friends and subscribed and joined your Patreon.
Cheyenne Arnold 35:37
Well, that actually leads me to one of my final questions.
Dominique Astorino 35:40
Okay.
Cheyenne Arnold 35:41
What is your dream partnership for this podcast?
Dominique Astorino 35:44
Great question. Gosh, I've been so focused on just getting everything done, you know what I mean? Like scheduling and recording and, you know, writing outlines for episodes and coming up with topics and publishing that I haven't been able to like really think big. I don't even have a marketing plan yet. God, the first thing that came to my mind was Paris Hilton just because she has a podcast called This Is Paris, which I only found out like two days ago. She uses Barbie font to and I was like, eff my life like
Cheyenne Arnold 36:17
Yeah, honestly, maybe that's a better question. Who's your dream? Guest I find that interesting.
Dominique Astorino 36:21
Yeah, wait so what do you mean by partnership? I just assumed guest
Cheyenne Arnold 36:24
Yeah, like, oh, I meant like a spot. I'm trying to get you a sponsored ad.
Dominique Astorino 36:28
Oh giiiirl thank you! Dream sponsor would be Chanel but they would never because they are way too exclusive. The country of France, France tourism. Sanrio maybe
Cheyenne Arnold 36:44
Yeah. Mmhmm that'd be cute
Dominique Astorino 36:45
Yeah. That'd be like sponsored by pompompurin would be like, huge for me. It's a very niche, if anyone knows what I'm talking about. Yeah, something like that. Or like a skincare line or perfume line would be really cool. But yeah, guest. Someone like Paris Hilton I think would be really cool. I think she's, she plays dumb very well, I think for her own entertainment and anyone who's like it on the joke. But she's actually like, very smart and very eloquent. And I think she's hilarious
Cheyenne Arnold 37:12
when I heard her actual voice. I was shooketh.
Dominique Astorino 37:15
Yeah, it's all that like Aquarius brain. Like she's just like, weird. You know, she has her own weird sense of humor. She's entertaining herself and honestly being very smart by playing so dumb because she could build, you know, a very prolific brand around it. But I love her, like attention to early aughts, late 90s trends and styles right now. And she's just kind of ageless. You know, I think she just turned 40. And she's still you know, planning on having a baby. And she's just as like, youthful and vibrant as she was 20 years ago. So yeah,
Cheyenne Arnold 37:50
she honestly.. she seems like a chill hang.
Dominique Astorino 37:51
Yeah, super cool. Hangs.
Cheyenne Arnold 37:53
Yeah, I feel that way about Selena Gomez, too. And Taylor Swift
Dominique Astorino 37:56
She would be so cool. Both of them. Oh, my God. Well, that's pie in the sky dreams to have all the girlies. But yeah, I've been truly like just enjoying talking to people that I know. And sharing, you know, their lived experiences and their stories with more people. And on episode three, Les Alfred from balanced black girl said, you know, networking across and even not just like in the networking sense, but just working with people who are kind of on like, your, your, I don't want to say fame level. But you know what I'm saying? Like not Paris Hilton has been really rewarding. So I really love that.
Cheyenne Arnold 38:30
Yeah, actually, that's, that leads me to I guess my final question. What was the impetus? Like what made you want to start this podcast?
Dominique Astorino 38:38
Oh, great question. Okay. So most people know if they're listening to this, I've been in journalism and writing for, you know, major, mainstream international publications for the past, like almost seven years ish. And the thing with that is you have to go through a lot of channels to tell the story that you want to tell. And then from there, you're still gonna get edited, whether it's in word count, or tone, or sometimes even the content of what you're saying. That part's hard for me, not unlike an egotistical, like don't touch my words, right. Like, that's definitely a part of it. But there are a lot of things that I want to share and tell and stories that I think need to be told. And it's hard to get that done a lot of times, especially know in more of a freelance position where I'm writing for multiple publications. You know, every once in a while you pick out some ideas of things that you want to talk about. And if they're not clicky enough, if there's no commerce, you know, angle or shoppable angle, or it's not like a highly searched term yet. It's really hard to tell those stories and I've wanted to do long form. I've wanted to do funnier articles like, you know, this like my natural state, when I'm writing my natural tone and voice is much more. Not necessarily self deprecating, but definitely more tongue in cheek and humorous and sarcastic and that gets filtered out almost completely With the writing that I do for more than mainstream stuff, I would say like InStyle definitely lets me be a little more goofy. Thank you to Kylie if you're listening. So yeah, I guess unfiltered stories, more stories, not having to go through hoops to tell them having that creative control and being able to fully share things and help people. And I don't know, no one's truly altruistic, but in my own altruistic way, like, I just want to help people, whether that's by, you know, making someone laugh for, you know, a few minutes, or teaching them something about their health, or helping them feel validated and less alone in a certain experience. Like, Oh, someone else goes through that too. Like, I feel a little bit better about it. Yeah, I just want to like help people and tell the stories. Sorry, that was a little rambly.
Cheyenne Arnold 40:45
No, I mean, I've seen what some editors have taken out of your work and honestly, jail to them jail,
Dominique Astorino 40:52
straight to jail
Cheyenne Arnold 40:53
straight to jail. Yeah, you just have such a great way of you know, boiling down information that is normally so complicated and hard to understand and make it easily digestible for people like me, and that's because of your sense of humor and, and just your colloquialism. And it's like reading a friend which you know, you are my friend, but I think other people who don't know you pick up on that as well and so, very stoked that we're taking it to the airwaves in this medium.
Dominique Astorino 41:23
Thank you, my angel friend. And that was so sweet. That's the compliment. I want to hear more. Thank you no but truly that. That hits my heart very, very strongly. Thank you.
Cheyenne Arnold 41:34
Okay, well, I want to cry.
Dominique Astorino 41:36
I'm gonna cry.
Cheyenne Arnold 41:39
Actually really fine. I really have to pee. So this might be the end of the bathroom break. Yeah, it would be keeping it on theme if I brought you all to the bathroom with me, such as I have brought Dom to the bathroom.
Dominique Astorino 41:55
So many times. Chy Thank you. This is so weird, but fun.
Cheyenne Arnold 42:00
Yes, it's been really great. I'm going to start my own podcasts now.
Dominique Astorino 42:05
Please do I would love to be on your podcast.
Cheyenne Arnold 42:10
This is good for me. Thanks.
Dominique Astorino 42:11
I'm the captain now.
Cheyenne Arnold 42:12
I'm the captain now! All right. Oh, that was a pleasure, and an honor and a privilege.
Dominique Astorino 42:18
It's an honor and a privilege. Thank you Chy Chy.
Cheyenne Arnold 42:21
Love you.
CREDITS
Dominique Astorino 42:25
Thanks for tuning in to this episode of This is fine. I've been your host Dominique Michelle Astorino. We're based in San Diego recording in studio at DLI productions in Pacific Beach with Emmy award winning sound designer Dan De La Isla. This is a comedy and advice podcast but for legal reasons. This entire podcast is a joke and none of it is medical advice. To download a transcript or learn more visit thisisfinepodcast.com
